Hi people
Good news everyone!!! Here comes one extinction that I am extremely proud of and I was looking forward to....... The departure of Saurav Ganguly..... Yipee!!
While we all know that Ganguly was perhaps India's most successful captains ever, in the emotion of his retirement, there are a lot of mistruths being quoted out there.... Here is my attempt at setting the record straight....
1) Youngsters in the team blossomed under his captaincy - Let me state that youngsters, however young they are, are not fools!!! They blossom because they need to in order to maintain their spot in a competitive environment of Indian cricket!!! How many people give credit to Kris Shrikanth, Kapil Dev and Azhar because Sachin matured under them. He matured out of his own self interest and of course with age....
2) He has taken Indian cricket to a different level - Well, with the times changing, Indian cricket had to change at some point of time... The Indian team underwent a change not because of him but in spite of him!!!
3) He brought aggressiveness in Indian cricket - Aggressiveness existed in Indian cricket. He just put it in a new box mainly through display of his arrogance, amateurishness and rudeness.... Making an opposing team captain wait at the toss is no display of aggression... It is more a display of stupidity!!! Removing and playing around with your shirt at the temple of cricket, Lord's is no display of aggression.... it is sheer disrespect towards the home of cricket....
4) It is against public opinion - Agreed if Bengal made up the whole country.... Why the whole of Bengal seems to rally behind him is pretty logical to me...you see, he is probably the only good thing that came out of Bengal after Tagore.. So they are bound to be emotional... And hey, public opinion cannot drive national selection and statistics are not on Ganguly's side....
5) He is the greatest left hander that India ever produced - Incidentally, I agree with this statement. Though I would like to know as to how many successful left handers has this country produced.... 5 , 6, 7... Well best among them is an achievement?? Well....ok....
Call me blasphemous on reading this post, bu somehow somewhere I know that at least someone is on my side....(the former chief of selectors and Andrew Flintoff!!!!)
Eminence
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
Review - Hello!! or Hel(l)(N)o!!
Watched Hello!! yesterday...... 10 minutes into the movie, you get to realize why the name of the movie is Hello!! It is, I guess to ensure that people do not leave the cinema hall halfway.... You continuously hear Hello Hello!! Anybody there... Hello!!
Jokes apart, a truly horrible effort at trying to make a movie out of a book. For those of you who liked 'One Night at a call Center', by Chetan Bhagat, you will hate the movie..... And for those of you who did not read the book, you will hate the movie!!! The only thing that stands out at the end of the movie is the solace in the fact that Atul Agnihotri is a consistent guy. He is as bad at directing as he ever was at acting.... (Remember the song on the bike??!!)
Well, the movie starts off with an item number by Mr Khan with mind bogling lyrics as 'Bang Bang Bang, Boom Boom Boom'!! (what was he thinking!!) After the item number, he gets ready to leave when his departure is delayed due to a technical fault with his chopper!! While sitting there, Katrina Kaif sits next to him as she needs to use the charging unit for her laptop and that is the only place where she can get it. She then starts off the narration of a 'oh so pathetic' story on the consition that Mr Khan makes a movie out of it.... (aka Tere Naam)
Focus shifts to Connexions, a fictionary call center in every sense of the term..... It is a rainy night an everybody is getting ready to get to their shift in time. And whether you believe it or not, everybody has his sob story in life starting from the supervisor Shyam, son of divorcees Vroom, the ever dutiful wife Radhika, aspiring model Isha, aged Military uncle and the soon to be married to a NRI gal, Priyanka. They are all part of the same team which handles Customer care calls for an appliance company... They are all cribbing about their lives at work when we get to know that Shyam and Priyanka were going steady before they broke up and Vroom likes Isha.... Between all this, there is news of employee retrenchment by their manager Mr Bakshi, an America loving SOB manager.... Due to a system issue and rise in tempers, they all decide to take a break from work and go and booze before making their way to office... (Wonder how!!??)
On the way back, Vroom is drunk and so eh crashes through a construction site, the car thus ending up at the very precipice of an under construction 'something'(Never got to know what it was!!) here, amazingly, none of them are able to get any signal on their mobiles... And then God calls!!!!!
Most of the conversation is one sided and illogical.. Basically God asks them to stand up for themselves and follow their mind in what they do. After all this they go back to office, teach a lesson to Bakshi and stop employee retrenchment....
The way they stop employee retrenchment by increasing calls is phenomenally crazy!!! During a fire drill the same night, Shyam and Vroom convince everybody assembled that they ahve to receive more calls to enable retention. Therefore, the suggestion, call up all customers and tell them that there is a mysterious virus attack on the US through appliances (whoa!!) and by keeping on calling, they can somehow annhiliate the attack!! (Basic premise here is all Americans are dumbasses!!!!) And thus all is well that ends well.
And hey btw, if you are not bored by the sheer idiocity of it all, you come to know at the end that Katrina is God!!!! My God!!!
The movie to talk about in a few words is a slap on the book, a slap on the faces of each and every employee of the burgeoning back office industry through its potrayal and and therefore deserves a slap on the face of Mr Agnihotri, Mr Bhagat and all of the cast!!!!
Even if you are supremely bired, I suggest you watch a crappy movei on Zee Cinema or Set Ma rather than sitting throught his joke of a movie!!!!
Eminence
Jokes apart, a truly horrible effort at trying to make a movie out of a book. For those of you who liked 'One Night at a call Center', by Chetan Bhagat, you will hate the movie..... And for those of you who did not read the book, you will hate the movie!!! The only thing that stands out at the end of the movie is the solace in the fact that Atul Agnihotri is a consistent guy. He is as bad at directing as he ever was at acting.... (Remember the song on the bike??!!)
Well, the movie starts off with an item number by Mr Khan with mind bogling lyrics as 'Bang Bang Bang, Boom Boom Boom'!! (what was he thinking!!) After the item number, he gets ready to leave when his departure is delayed due to a technical fault with his chopper!! While sitting there, Katrina Kaif sits next to him as she needs to use the charging unit for her laptop and that is the only place where she can get it. She then starts off the narration of a 'oh so pathetic' story on the consition that Mr Khan makes a movie out of it.... (aka Tere Naam)
Focus shifts to Connexions, a fictionary call center in every sense of the term..... It is a rainy night an everybody is getting ready to get to their shift in time. And whether you believe it or not, everybody has his sob story in life starting from the supervisor Shyam, son of divorcees Vroom, the ever dutiful wife Radhika, aspiring model Isha, aged Military uncle and the soon to be married to a NRI gal, Priyanka. They are all part of the same team which handles Customer care calls for an appliance company... They are all cribbing about their lives at work when we get to know that Shyam and Priyanka were going steady before they broke up and Vroom likes Isha.... Between all this, there is news of employee retrenchment by their manager Mr Bakshi, an America loving SOB manager.... Due to a system issue and rise in tempers, they all decide to take a break from work and go and booze before making their way to office... (Wonder how!!??)
On the way back, Vroom is drunk and so eh crashes through a construction site, the car thus ending up at the very precipice of an under construction 'something'(Never got to know what it was!!) here, amazingly, none of them are able to get any signal on their mobiles... And then God calls!!!!!
Most of the conversation is one sided and illogical.. Basically God asks them to stand up for themselves and follow their mind in what they do. After all this they go back to office, teach a lesson to Bakshi and stop employee retrenchment....
The way they stop employee retrenchment by increasing calls is phenomenally crazy!!! During a fire drill the same night, Shyam and Vroom convince everybody assembled that they ahve to receive more calls to enable retention. Therefore, the suggestion, call up all customers and tell them that there is a mysterious virus attack on the US through appliances (whoa!!) and by keeping on calling, they can somehow annhiliate the attack!! (Basic premise here is all Americans are dumbasses!!!!) And thus all is well that ends well.
And hey btw, if you are not bored by the sheer idiocity of it all, you come to know at the end that Katrina is God!!!! My God!!!
The movie to talk about in a few words is a slap on the book, a slap on the faces of each and every employee of the burgeoning back office industry through its potrayal and and therefore deserves a slap on the face of Mr Agnihotri, Mr Bhagat and all of the cast!!!!
Even if you are supremely bired, I suggest you watch a crappy movei on Zee Cinema or Set Ma rather than sitting throught his joke of a movie!!!!
Eminence
Thursday, October 16, 2008
The White tiger...Mans Booker winner 2008
Hey All
I know its been a long time since I was here......
All of us must have seen the latest news, Aravind Adiga, another Indian won the Mans Booker Prize for 2008 for his book, 'The White Tiger'. I made it a point to buy this book as soon as I heard about it because it promised to potray a side of India nobody knew about....
The book starts off on an altogether different note... This guy Balram Halwai is writing a letter to Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier as he hs just heard that the latter is visiting India. He spends a better part of the first chapter cynically pointing out the various things that will be shown and provided to the Chinese premier as part of the official protocol.... He goes about therefore starting to explain what his India or the real India is like....
In a nutshell, Balram Halwai is a guy who starts his life in a not-so-important village somewhere in rural India..... He then describes his life as a toddler and a young man talking about the hardships that any young man faces in rural India even today... There are the regular cliches about right and wrong, poverty, lack of Infrastructure, zamindari etc...
Following this sort of childhood and with a stroke of luck, the guy lands up as a driver for a former zamindar.... Here, he works his heart out but the rough upbringing has resulted in a sort of covert brutality and roughness in the guy... He starts observing the life of his master in the city and also starts to dream big...
In a quest to achieve this greatness and to get rich quick, this guy murders his husband on a lonely night.... and then starts his escape from the arms of the law.... Thus carrying on , he finally reaches Bangalore, the IT capital of India...
The end of the novel shows Balram Halwai running his own Call Centre cab company and as a rich man, who on his self reflection believes that in spite of all his money, he is still missing something and that is a guilt free life....
Overall,an awesome read.... Truly shows a lifestyle that you never know existed in our country... A must read for the youngsters (20 - 40)...a large bracket, I know!!
Eminence
I know its been a long time since I was here......
All of us must have seen the latest news, Aravind Adiga, another Indian won the Mans Booker Prize for 2008 for his book, 'The White Tiger'. I made it a point to buy this book as soon as I heard about it because it promised to potray a side of India nobody knew about....
The book starts off on an altogether different note... This guy Balram Halwai is writing a letter to Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier as he hs just heard that the latter is visiting India. He spends a better part of the first chapter cynically pointing out the various things that will be shown and provided to the Chinese premier as part of the official protocol.... He goes about therefore starting to explain what his India or the real India is like....
In a nutshell, Balram Halwai is a guy who starts his life in a not-so-important village somewhere in rural India..... He then describes his life as a toddler and a young man talking about the hardships that any young man faces in rural India even today... There are the regular cliches about right and wrong, poverty, lack of Infrastructure, zamindari etc...
Following this sort of childhood and with a stroke of luck, the guy lands up as a driver for a former zamindar.... Here, he works his heart out but the rough upbringing has resulted in a sort of covert brutality and roughness in the guy... He starts observing the life of his master in the city and also starts to dream big...
In a quest to achieve this greatness and to get rich quick, this guy murders his husband on a lonely night.... and then starts his escape from the arms of the law.... Thus carrying on , he finally reaches Bangalore, the IT capital of India...
The end of the novel shows Balram Halwai running his own Call Centre cab company and as a rich man, who on his self reflection believes that in spite of all his money, he is still missing something and that is a guilt free life....
Overall,an awesome read.... Truly shows a lifestyle that you never know existed in our country... A must read for the youngsters (20 - 40)...a large bracket, I know!!
Eminence
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Geographically Divided, Historically Seperated!!!
In the course of my endless and mindless pursuits in the evening yesterday, I seem to have glanced up from my laptop towards an India map on the wall as Prabhu Chawla was trying to allow one of his guests to speak, forget who!!! And I was staring at that map, a lil thought crossed my mind...... If I were to draw a line beginning from somewhere near and in the whereabouts of Varanasi and extend it diagonally across UP, through Jharkhand and into the Arabian Sea, I would have single handedly ensured India's GDP growth at 12 - 13% instead of the 8% we are at now!!! I somehow saw 2 Indias on there.
On the one side which I shall henceforth call the front side (for some strange reason), you had pretty high literacy rates, pretty decent mortality rates, pretty good growth numbers etc as compared to the national average. On the other side, which I shall call the backside (for obvious reasons) you had dismally low literacy rates, abysmal levels of mortality and growth numbers better not shared in a public forum.....
If you have agreed with me so far, then will it be too far from the truth if I said that 30% of India is pulling back 70% of India from realising its true potential... (Pareto Zindabad!!)
Because whether u agree or not, it is true!!!! States like UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal (yes, West Bengal) are pulling India back to the Hindu Rate of growth days. Well, we all know UP, Bihar, Jharkhand et al but West Bengal must be shocking to you...... Even if it is, please do not call a bandh..... pleeaasssssseeeee.....
When did you last hear a news that read, 'New factory comes up in West bengal', or 'Bengal top state for FDI in India'. Well, I have never heard any. I somehow cant relate West Bengal and development. I dont think anybody can. It is very saddening to note that Bengal was once the seat of Imperial power in India. But the problem started when Bengal never came to terms with the fact that the British had left.... Sad but true..... In a lot of other places, Mumbai for example, the Gateway of India was a hisorical monument and a place worth seeing, so was Victoria Terminus. Today, people still go to see these two monuments but what they also go and see is the Bandra Kurla complex (BKC)... Well, my great grandfather's greatest memory about Bengal was Victoria memorial and my greatest memory about Bengal....Victoria Memorial... That is sad...
And to add to that, we have a group of nincompoops in power sitting on their nest laying eggs of wisdom which nobody wants!!! Ever wondered why they are called the left.... not because of their ideology, but I think they are called more so because they are never right!!!! Cos I am a 100% confident that Karl Marx did not see it this way....Whatever little was there to grow and develop on the left made sure it never reached the right places at the right time.... The idiots!!! They then come in at the Centre and make sure they screw things up for everybody....
It is not that Bengal lacks opportunities. The opportunities are there...loads of them.... If it lacks anything, it is the will to succeed and for that will to come to the forefront, Bengal will have to come out of its mummified exterior and realise that it is the 21st Century and things work differently... It cannot afford one more Singur or Nandigram..... What also needs to happen is that the lefts need to be thrown out and thrown out in such a way that they do not dare to contest again...... I think the logic of using the left to clean sh** is in our way of life.... but hey the left is itself in so much sh** and 2 lefts will never help!!!
To continue from where I left off, if Bengal were to improve its GDP growth to atleast around the national average, it would help us as a nation.....
Analysis of other states in the BIMARU to come soon.....
Eminence signing off!!!!
On the one side which I shall henceforth call the front side (for some strange reason), you had pretty high literacy rates, pretty decent mortality rates, pretty good growth numbers etc as compared to the national average. On the other side, which I shall call the backside (for obvious reasons) you had dismally low literacy rates, abysmal levels of mortality and growth numbers better not shared in a public forum.....
If you have agreed with me so far, then will it be too far from the truth if I said that 30% of India is pulling back 70% of India from realising its true potential... (Pareto Zindabad!!)
Because whether u agree or not, it is true!!!! States like UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal (yes, West Bengal) are pulling India back to the Hindu Rate of growth days. Well, we all know UP, Bihar, Jharkhand et al but West Bengal must be shocking to you...... Even if it is, please do not call a bandh..... pleeaasssssseeeee.....
When did you last hear a news that read, 'New factory comes up in West bengal', or 'Bengal top state for FDI in India'. Well, I have never heard any. I somehow cant relate West Bengal and development. I dont think anybody can. It is very saddening to note that Bengal was once the seat of Imperial power in India. But the problem started when Bengal never came to terms with the fact that the British had left.... Sad but true..... In a lot of other places, Mumbai for example, the Gateway of India was a hisorical monument and a place worth seeing, so was Victoria Terminus. Today, people still go to see these two monuments but what they also go and see is the Bandra Kurla complex (BKC)... Well, my great grandfather's greatest memory about Bengal was Victoria memorial and my greatest memory about Bengal....Victoria Memorial... That is sad...
And to add to that, we have a group of nincompoops in power sitting on their nest laying eggs of wisdom which nobody wants!!! Ever wondered why they are called the left.... not because of their ideology, but I think they are called more so because they are never right!!!! Cos I am a 100% confident that Karl Marx did not see it this way....Whatever little was there to grow and develop on the left made sure it never reached the right places at the right time.... The idiots!!! They then come in at the Centre and make sure they screw things up for everybody....
It is not that Bengal lacks opportunities. The opportunities are there...loads of them.... If it lacks anything, it is the will to succeed and for that will to come to the forefront, Bengal will have to come out of its mummified exterior and realise that it is the 21st Century and things work differently... It cannot afford one more Singur or Nandigram..... What also needs to happen is that the lefts need to be thrown out and thrown out in such a way that they do not dare to contest again...... I think the logic of using the left to clean sh** is in our way of life.... but hey the left is itself in so much sh** and 2 lefts will never help!!!
To continue from where I left off, if Bengal were to improve its GDP growth to atleast around the national average, it would help us as a nation.....
Analysis of other states in the BIMARU to come soon.....
Eminence signing off!!!!
Frustrations Unlimited!!!!
I am back.... after a longer hiatus this time around.... 6 months....I am becoming a semi annual blogger nowadays!!!
Anyways, cutting to the major story of the day.... An another sect in India ended up getting 5% reservation yipee!!!! India has matured that much more as a democracy today!! A thought just struck me on reading about the whole fiasco about the issue. I have already iniated the process of getting all of my family together for this protest that we plan to have on getting some reservation for the P family..... I figured that if the world really did start with Adam and Eve, the P family (extended) must atleast have a half a million people, far higher than the small community that got 5%. I am sure we will manage atleast 8.5% - 9%. All it takes is blocking a couple of major roads, burning some public transportation and the likes.... In my home state where I got educated, if we did get 9% reservation that would mean 69% to one caste plus 12% for another plus 3% plus our 9%..... Darn!!! Still leaves about 7% untouched.... Gotta think of something for it.....
Any other family interested..... 7% at stake..... Contact us....
And to think that all of these were oppressed castes...... Tch tch.....
Eminence
Anyways, cutting to the major story of the day.... An another sect in India ended up getting 5% reservation yipee!!!! India has matured that much more as a democracy today!! A thought just struck me on reading about the whole fiasco about the issue. I have already iniated the process of getting all of my family together for this protest that we plan to have on getting some reservation for the P family..... I figured that if the world really did start with Adam and Eve, the P family (extended) must atleast have a half a million people, far higher than the small community that got 5%. I am sure we will manage atleast 8.5% - 9%. All it takes is blocking a couple of major roads, burning some public transportation and the likes.... In my home state where I got educated, if we did get 9% reservation that would mean 69% to one caste plus 12% for another plus 3% plus our 9%..... Darn!!! Still leaves about 7% untouched.... Gotta think of something for it.....
Any other family interested..... 7% at stake..... Contact us....
And to think that all of these were oppressed castes...... Tch tch.....
Eminence
Friday, December 7, 2007
Back with a Bang!!!!
Hi everybody.....
The Eminence returns.... With a bang!!!! Been a long time since my last post.... around 8 months now!!! Just goes on to show the excitement in life at this point in time... Nothing...absolutely nothing to look forward to!!!
Its marriage season in Delhi and Gurgaon.... and I have been attending marriages for some time now.... And every time I attend a marriage, my faith in myself diminishes by a teeny weeny bit and I start thinking as to where the H#$% am I headed and what am I doing and the most dreaded question...where I see myself in 5 years from now!! During my first job interview, when asked this question, it was a piece of cake as we had rehearsed answers.... but after spending 2 years at work, I think I will still have the need to rehearse answers for these questions, because, simply put... I still dont know... I neither know what i am doing, why I am doing it...and I am trying to find myself in a timeframe 5 years from now!!!
Will keep you posted on where I find myself!!!!
Cheerios!!!
The Eminence returns.... With a bang!!!! Been a long time since my last post.... around 8 months now!!! Just goes on to show the excitement in life at this point in time... Nothing...absolutely nothing to look forward to!!!
Its marriage season in Delhi and Gurgaon.... and I have been attending marriages for some time now.... And every time I attend a marriage, my faith in myself diminishes by a teeny weeny bit and I start thinking as to where the H#$% am I headed and what am I doing and the most dreaded question...where I see myself in 5 years from now!! During my first job interview, when asked this question, it was a piece of cake as we had rehearsed answers.... but after spending 2 years at work, I think I will still have the need to rehearse answers for these questions, because, simply put... I still dont know... I neither know what i am doing, why I am doing it...and I am trying to find myself in a timeframe 5 years from now!!!
Will keep you posted on where I find myself!!!!
Cheerios!!!
Monday, April 2, 2007
Review - Water
Am back after a long time!!!!
Watched Water over the weekend.... A suggestion before you watch the movie- if you think you are frustrated cos you feel discriminated, pls watch this movie.... It will make you think that you are the luckiest person surviving on this earth and in this country... Based in the early 30's, this movie is about the plight of widows then and also explores the idea of widow remarriage...
Halfway through the movie, you begin to get disoriented because we have been told all through our lives that India had a glorious history etc... but one look at this movie takes you to that medieval era in Indian history which could aptly be termed as 'the Dark Ages' of Indian society...
Performances are outstanding as expected... . Seema Biswas, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Lisa Ray (She looks hot as well!!!), and John Abraham.. all have given good performances that make the movie an all in all good movie which at the end of it makes you sit back and think.... on a lot of things....
Was just wondering, if a movie that got nominated for the Oscars and did not win was so good, how good would the movie that won be??? Leave you to munch on that!!!
Regards
Watched Water over the weekend.... A suggestion before you watch the movie- if you think you are frustrated cos you feel discriminated, pls watch this movie.... It will make you think that you are the luckiest person surviving on this earth and in this country... Based in the early 30's, this movie is about the plight of widows then and also explores the idea of widow remarriage...
Halfway through the movie, you begin to get disoriented because we have been told all through our lives that India had a glorious history etc... but one look at this movie takes you to that medieval era in Indian history which could aptly be termed as 'the Dark Ages' of Indian society...
Performances are outstanding as expected... . Seema Biswas, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Lisa Ray (She looks hot as well!!!), and John Abraham.. all have given good performances that make the movie an all in all good movie which at the end of it makes you sit back and think.... on a lot of things....
Was just wondering, if a movie that got nominated for the Oscars and did not win was so good, how good would the movie that won be??? Leave you to munch on that!!!
Regards
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