World's Greatest Dad!!

Its 1:30am in the morning. My 11 month son has no idea of going to sleep. My wife tried to feed him milk to make him sleep. Not much effect. I take him to the living room, sing all kinds of non-sense while rocking him in my arms to make him sleep. He starts to doze a bit... Good sign!! But unfortunately, we had closed the living room's doors and windows, coz we thought we're gonna crash soon. We start to sweat a little. As he starts to doze, I rush him to his bed. The sound of the door wakes him up and he starts to act cranky. My wife feeds him again hoping he'd sleep again. Nope!! It doesn't happen. Its her turn to rock him for a while. He gets agitated with his crankiness, shouts with his inner throat that makes you fear that it might damage his voice... That makes me pissed off!! So my wife gets furious at me, gives him to me and goes to clean the dishes. Now comes the main part...

I stand up holding him in a rocking position in my arms. But he's least interested in staying still, let alone going to sleep. I give him a little swing and a little toss to make him relax in my arms. Then, slowly rock him while singing all kinds of non-sense(again). We're already in the bedroom with the A/C on, so there's no chance of him sweating. (I always end up freezing, but that's a

different thing.) I keep rocking him in my arms until he starts to doze... I can start to feel the pain in my arms. The pain you feel before the start of cramps. But, I dare not put him down. He's barely started to doze. It takes about 10 to 15 minutes before he's fully asleep. But I dare not put him down immediately for he might wake up. I know I might get cramp in one of my arm any minute, but still I continue to rock him. At this point, the feeling is jus too good. You feel some one in a Military uniform jus pinned a "World's greatest Dad" badge on your chest!! I rock him until the last second before I know I have the cramp on my left arm. I very slowly move onto the bed. (We have a floor bed, so that he won't fall off). I adjust the pillows for him with my feet. Very slowly and delicately I go down on my knees and even more delicately put him down. My right arm is stuck under his neck.

Before I can think of a way to remove my arm, he rolls over, moving his legs up and down, opens his eyes, within a fraction of a second he's up and sitting on the bed giving me fresh look as thought he jus came back from the gym. I try to force him to lie down, and he gives the same noise from the bottom of his throat. I crash at the spot where he was supposed to sleep while I see him stand up holding a nearby table and trying to reach for the mouse of my laptop. The only thing that runs through my mind when I desperately try not to sleep is that - Can there be a much worse dad than me??

Amazing service at an Indian government office!! Am I dreaming???

A couple of days back I had a crush on the Indian postal service. Since yesterday I have fallen in love with its amazing service. Anyway before you can make out anything, let me explain the situation I was in.

After marriage, my wife moved immediately to Singapore. Her address on the passport had her Bombay address. Even when she was working in Chennai she did not have much proof of her address in Chennai. We couldn't add her name on the ration card unless her name is removed from the Bombay card. So after our son was born, we realized we needed a proof of her address in Chennai. When we tried to change the address from Bombay to Chennai in Canara Bank, even they needed a proof of address. They gave a suggestion that we apply for a proof of address card at the Post office as the marriage certificate was in my Chennai address. And we can use it to change the address at the bank.

And so began our trip (my mom and I) to the post office after nearly 10 years. All the events mentioned are as it happened, no exaggeration...

Day before yesterday we went to the Mylapore Post office at Kutchery Road at around 4pm just to inquire on the procedure. First we were surprised by the big free parking spot at a government office. Then we walked in towards the post office with the words "Confused" written on our forehead. We were thinking whether to go up to the first floor office or down to the basement office. Just then a guy walking out of the basement office asked us what we were looking for and guided us to an officer at the basement. As we walked in to his office, we saw he was talking to a few guys. He stopped mid way to help us. He explained in detail on what to do. For normal application I had to apply in our local post office at a charge of Rs.220 and for tatkal I had to go down to the head office at Mount Road at a charge of Rs.600. He also gave us an Rs10 application form. We came out surprised at the pleasant attitude of the officials. (Actually we were more surprised at the non arrogant attitude of government officials). More was yet to come the next day when we went down to the head office...

Yesterday evening around 3pm we(my mother and I) went down to the Mount road office. And with the usual words written on our forehead we slowly walked in. Too many counters, none mentioning anything about address proof or anything loosely similar!! A guy walking across asks us what we were looking for, and he directs us to the customer service in the nearby room. He then directs us to look for Mrs.S***** in the 3rd floor of the next building. And so we go hunting for the lady. On the way there every guy approaches us to direct us on where we need to go. As we finally found her, she comes to us with the biggest smile possible and says she is indeed the one in-charge, but we will have to go back to the counter near the customer service and pay for application and come back to her. This was the only little mishap that ever took place at the post office. We went back to the counter, paid the 600 bucks. I thought the guy at the counter was rude, esp when he loudly announced that the personal identification marks column was not filled. After filling it, when I returned to him, he accepted it and with the biggest smile he could possibly give he directed me to go to Mrs.S at the 3rd floor of the next building. When I went back to Mrs.S, we saw she literally came out from a meeting to collect our application. She informed that the card would be ready in exactly a week's time and she would send a SMS to my mom's mobile number once its ready. I inquired if my wife will have to come personally to collect the card. Getting an affirmative reply I told her that she just delivered a son last week. She thought for a second and asked me to come and collect it as the verification officer would in any case confirm my wife's presence at the given address.

We left the place around 4pm with a totally different respect for the postal service. But it did not end there... Today at around noon, less than 24hrs has passed since we had submitted the application, there was this guy from the post office at our doorstep to do the verification. It was just a few minutes, he confirmed that my wife was home and double confirmed with our marriage certificate and left. He did not even want to have any drink when my mom offered. No lanjam was even mentioned anywhere let alone given to anyone. I'm yet to see how fast we receive the card. But as of now, I'm totally impressed by their service.

The Indian postal service is unbelievably so good....

Seriously.

I love Chennai and I'm proud of its rich postal heritage.

Thaali thevaiya???

Before I start writing anything to in this thread, I wish to clearly say that the views expressed are solely mine and not intended to hurt anybody!!

I recently received a fwd frm my sister in law. It was abt someone opposing one specific argument in the 'Neeya Naana' show in Vijay TV. The argument was - Thaali Thevaiya. A guy who was totally against this idea had written a (very) long article. The following is the link to what was printed in some local magazine.

http://www.tamilhindu.com/2009/11/tele-medias-degrading-hindu-religious-feelings/

The person who had originally written (the attachment about culture and other similar stuff), has clearly written out of his sentimental heart rather than his brain. And avarukku vaela vettiyae kidayatha?? Or is he similar to someone in Maharashtra in the making. He's written (goddamn) 29 pages!! I read about 10 pages of the attachment and I didn't bother to continue as I felt it was a waste of time. I had already spent quite some time on hunting the "Thali Thevaiya" episode on the internet!

I saw the episode and I agree that both sides had a few rude and illogical people. But that does not mean the idea behind the argument was wrong. A person wearing or not wearing a thali has to be her own choice and I firmly believe that any married women who does not wear a thali is not in any way insulting our culture. What is culture anyway?? A couple of centuries back widows had to be burnt alive with the husband's body. What was culture centuries back is totally stupid to us now. Our great grand parents got married when they were 10 and 8 yrs old. What was culture then is now illegal. Few decades back, widows were forced in to wearing white sari and tonsuring their head, do we follow that now?? Aren't we educated?? Don't we know what is right and wrong?? Even now 'Jallikattu' is so common in our villages. We also know people die in this sport and yet we continue to torment a anjarivu mirugam in the name of culture.

One girl argued that when she was still a bachelorette, men at her work place used to flirt with her. Now after marriage it seems, everyone shows more respect. All because of a single thali!! She feels secure after wearing a thali!! It is very true. But what the naduvar - Mrs.Nambi Aarura asked a question made me think a lot!! Lets say a lady gets married at 28, from about 16yrs to 28yrs she does not have any security, but only when she wears a thali she gets that security. Weather married or not shouldn't women get the same respect?? Don't you think we need to change attitude of the society??

Anyway, in the show, whatever is telecast is personal opinion of the participants. If a person does not want to wear a thali and she wishes to let people know that she does not like to wear one, its her right of speech. At the same time no one can force another person to wear/remove a thali, especially in the name of culture. Even though I was born and brought up in a Tamil culture, I do not like to wear a veshti, does that make me guilty of hurting Tamil sentiments. Even though I am a Hindu, I go to Church for Christmas, so am I against Hindu culture. This is stupidity to say people do not respect culture jus because they do not wear a thali.

I don't know what enmity the writer has got against Vijay TV and the sponsors. Though he's not said much about one of the naduvar Nirmala Periyasami, he did add sarcasm to whatever he wrote about her. I wonder who gave the rights to him to write about her. A few weeks back I saw an episode abt inter-caste marriage. The show definitely did not show as what the (inter-caste married) people did was right, even though the only mistake they did was to fall in love. I saw the same show for Bankers. A lot was said against the bankers and also in support of the bankers. I got to know a

lot of info I didn't know. It could really help a lot of financially struggling students. The show is actually very good. In the same "Thali Thevaiya" show, before every commercial break, they showed different types of thali in Hindu culture. It was clearly show casing the vastness of our culture. I think the writer jus want to publicize himself. That's why he's gone to this level.

My point is simple!!

You want to follow culture or not depends on each person (avaravarudaya thani patta karuthu).

Jus because a person does not follow culture does not mean he insults the culture.

And regarding the boycotting of the sponsors!! I felt it was funny!!!

Assume a cricket match scenario... Lets say its the Pepsi cup final. India and Pakistan are playing. India loses to Pak in the worst way possible, added to the fact that Paki players sledge indian players a lot!! Now will you stop drinking Pepsi becoz it sponsored the match in which India was humiliated!! 'Boycotting the sponsors' logic apdi dhaan irukku. The sponsors are jus doing it bcoz the show had good TRP rating. They have no idea what arguements are taking place.... Anyone with basic common sense should buy a product because of its quality and not because of its cover and definitely not because of what programmes its sponsoring!!!

And lemme say again, the views expressed are solely mine and not intended to hurt anybody!!

Thamizh MA is a sensation

I recently read the following interview of debutant director Ram on his movie தமிழ் M.A (Thamizh M.A), now renamed கற்றது தமிழ் (Katrathu Thamizh).

Interview was done by Mdm.Shoba Warrier.

http://in.rediff.com/movies/2007/oct/08ram.htm

Shoba Warrier is my favorite and usually I don’t skip her articles and this was no exception. When I read it, I thought Ram was exaggerating and (as most first time directors) was over confident.

But anyway the interview was by Shoba Warrier, so when given a chance I managed to catch the movie on its first day-first show in S’pore last Friday.

It was truly a masterpiece!!

A super serious movie with an amazing theme. An untold story, fantastic screenplay and down to earth dialogues.

The movie revolves around one person, who happens to like Tamil and wants his career to be the literature field. How he manages being an orphan, his poverty, his love life, his career and his fate is the story. The movie beautifully portrays how the stereotyped western culture has seeped into our Indian culture and how it’s affecting our community. How the IT field though is increasing the economy, seems to damage a majority of other fields due to the imbalance of salary. It’s a full and full Jeeva’s show.

When I saw Jeeva in his first movie, (actually I didn’t see the movie, jus a few scenes…) I thought “yet another rich producer’s son has come to act that too with no talent”. But I appreciated his later movies “Raam” and “Dishoom”. And now I’m totally impressed with this fellow. What an awesome role he’s taken, that too at such a young age.

In a single phase the director has brought out the different faces of love, poverty, humiliation and also the genius of a single soul. The transition of a child from happy family to being an orphan, from love to an obsession, from a young, aspiring and poor Tamil teacher to a tramp like figure due to the ill treatment of the society. It would be an understatement if I said it was marvelous. Its much more than words can describe.

The heroine, Debutant Anjali has done the role to stunning perfection. Her innocent question “nejamava solra?” can even bring tears to the mild hearted.

When I came out of the theatre I really felt, it didn’t have the right ending. He didn’t have to confess everything he did to the world. But when I thought about it again, it was indeed the right ending. There couldn’t be a better choice after he justifies the reason for his confession.

The music is stunning. Yuvan has done a fabulous job. Not high metal songs, but jus stupendous music with beautiful lyrics. Also no dancing around trees with extras, no foreign locations, in fact there isn’t a song where an actor actually sings. It’s all in the background score.

I believe the movie will definitely win a few awards, may or may not be national awards, but still will definitely grab a few film fare awards. So totally the movie gets a rating of four out of five from my point of view.

P.S: I’ve tried my best in not letting out the story, so that you people will watch the movie.

Sickening Cricket

Before I start on this, lemme tell u all. I was a die hard fan of Indian cricket. I was in support of the team even when they failed to enter the Super 8's of the ODI world cup. But now they have won the T20 world cup, I feel its time I started having some distance frm cricket. I really feel, India is over doing it with the celebrations of winning the T20. I can tell u the first and last name of every player in the Indian squad for the T20, but I dun even know a single name from the Indian football, hockey or even frm the Indian Olympic team.

Rs 1Crore for hitting Six 6's to Yuvaraj?? Holy Shit!! This is ridiculous! More than a million ppl in India earn less than Rs30 perday. How can the govt spend so much only for cricket? And that too only for Yuv? Well I am not against Yuv, but what curse did the other sports personals do to have such retarded feeling from the whole nation? How many of us know how many times did India win the hockey world cup? There were so much hue and cry when India failed to enter the super 8's jus 6months back. But do we realise India isn't even qualified for the football world cup?

Honestly speaking, I feel T20 has more to do with luck than talents unlike the ODI and totally incomparable to Tests. Tests may take 5days, but thats the true potrayal of talent. Not like T20, where every Tom, Dick and Harry swings the bat and scores.

Lemme tell a few info I got from Rediff...

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Ostensibly, Wednesday's function at the Wankhede Stadium was to felicitate the 15 cricketers who brought India glory at the Twenty20 World Cup. But you wouldn't have guessed that if you looked at the line up on the dais.

The front row was monopolized by sundry ministers from the Maharashtra government, and the top brass of the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

As a comment on how the BCCI views cricket, that image spoke volumes: It is about the officials; the players are at best an afterthought. In fact, the whole spectacle seemed like a well-organised political rally, with Board president Sharad Pawar, who is also the Union Agriculture Minister and a political heavyweight of the state, playing to the galleries in a speech that would not have been out of place at an election rally.

The 'ceremony' at the Wankhede was a striking -- and unwelcome -- contrast to the scenes that preceded it, when the whole of Mumbai lined the streets in a spontaneous celebration of the team. That public outpouring of joy seemed genuine and heart-felt, the ceremony that 'climaxed' the day seemed aimed at the self-aggrandizement of sundry officials, with little or no role for the players themselves.

They say a picture speaks a thousand words: look at the ones along side; every word it speaks is an indictment of how officials and politicians have taken over the game, from the players and the fans.

___________________________________________________________________

A few months back, the Aussie Captain was made to apologise to the president of BCCI Mr.Sharad Pawar for the 'so called' insult when they pushed him after getting the trophy. Now what do we have to say to this? The whole of the Indian team has been insulted by Mr.Sharad Pawar and his members.

This is the poor state of our cricket in India. Cricket is supposed to be a Gentlemen's game, but it seem more like its more of political game. The BCCI is the richest of all cricket associations, yet it has one of the most pathetic offices. (The new hi-fi office of BCCI was also sponsored by someone I heard)

After seeing all these, I seriously feel, its time I switched over from cricket to something much better. I mite even spend 3hrs watching a movie in the theatre rather than watch Indian cricket, coz I know there's much lesser politics involved compared to cricket...

SRK and Hockey babes...

My friend Sriram was extremely charged up after he came back frm "Chakde..." I didn't bother to take it seriously coz he also used to get charged up on TR and Captain's movies too... But after reading a few reviews I eventually managed to go for the movie yesterday.

I mus indeed say its really a good attempt from SRK's usual love and romance. Nice to see a movie fully based on story without any songs o. Well.... there was one, but should say its merged up as the BG score.

Honestly I was expecting unrealistic patriotism in the movie(like the movie mein hoon na), but chakde was not unrealistic. Its a straight forward story. Right from start, you understand whats happening and and you dun have to be a genius to know whats gonna happen. But still you tend to enjoy the movie.

I was awestruck by the amount of effort the director had put in to get gals frm all over the nation. He's carefully chosen each and every character. I believe he took 6months to find and choose all the 16gals. And also that least importance was given to family sentiments.

I was expecting goosebumps during the scene when they are to face the men's indian national hockey team if they want to participate in the women's world cup. I was praying... "Please god dun tell me they are gonna win against the men..." And god answered me, they didn't. But still they get appreciated by the men which leaves no choice for the management to send them to the world cup. The only time, I felt the commercial part could have been avoided, was when the gals beat up the harassing guys at the MacDonalds.

I really liked the part where SRK's being harassed jus becoz he's lost one goal. And how least importance is being given to women's sports. The politics and ego within the team are beautifully potrayed.

Overall its an amazing movie. There's been a lot of movies like these in Hollywood. But its a different genre all together for a Bollywood movie. SRK's shown that he's really an amazing actor. Especially jus b4 the final match scene.

Not without anything did they name him the "King" Khan...

Totally positive movie,can watch with the whole family and definitely worth watching in the theatre...

Negative means to a positive end

England v India, 3rd Test, The Oval, 4th day,

August 12, 2007

Rahul Dravid's knock was reminiscent of his one-day innings in the late nineties, when batting became an almighty struggle. Watching Rahul Dravid during his 96-ball 12 was to see a captain ponder with the bat. The tedious innings, drawn out over two hours and twenty minutes, encapsulated his decision not to enforce the follow-on: defensive but perfectly understandable.
When England were bowled out, with the sun still out, India led by 319; when he walked out to bat, with the cloud cover on, they were effectively 329 for 1, few minutes later it was 330 for 3. The big picture remained rosy, the microscopic view slightly more blurred. India sitting on a 1-0 lead, England hadn't totalled more than 355 in the whole series and no team had successfully chased more than 263 at The Oval. Only on five occasions had a team overhauled 350-plus targets in Test history.

The real-time situation was bleak. The scoreboard read 11 for 3, England's fast bowlers were pumped up. India, it appeared, had provided a small opening. Here was a Test to boss over, instead India needed to scrap. Here was a golden chance to crush the opposition; instead India had loosened the vice-like grip. England, for the first time since the Matt Prior- Sachin Tendulkar moment, glimpsed an escape route.

Dravid must have churned, memories of lost opportunities whizzing past. Bridgetown 1997, when a batting collapse cost the series, Cape Town 2006, when another opportunity was squandered. Had he just blown his biggest game? His innings was nervy: 12 balls to get off the mark, 35 balls to get off 2. He was beaten by swing, struck on the body by pace. This was exactly like some of his one-day innings in the late nineties, when batting became an almighty struggle. The crowd booed, he floundered. No boundary till his 91st ball, five balls later he was gone.

He was dwarfed by Sourav Ganguly's brilliance, contributing just five in a 65-run partnership. Like a high-schooler who'd blanked out in an important exam, Dravid groped nervously. He concentrated all his energies on survival, half-hearted drives going straight to fielders. His initial doggedness was understandable but it was soon apparent that he'd cornered himself not to play a stroke. At some level the decision appeared to have got to him.

The decision will be dissected threadbare if England bat out the final day. At that point, though, it wasn't without its merits: India's bowlers would get a rest (it was learnt later in the day that Zaheer Khan was suffering from a thigh strain). Additionally Anil Kumble would get final use of the pitch, on a ground where England had never batted more than 105.1 overs in the final innings.

Fifty years from now Rahul Dravid will not be remembered as a captain who didn't enforce the follow-on in a game India could afford to draw. Yet the move sent out a negative message. Dravid had been positive right through the series, and even said he'd do everything in his capacity to win this Test. England were bleeding and there was no better time to twist the knife. Rain was forecast for tomorrow, another reason to hasten the end. Leave on a high, trample over the opposition, especially when you're in their backyard.

The macroscopic view is instructive. Only once in this decade have India not enforced the follow-on, the Sydney Test of 2004. Then, like here, an Indian captain was at the threshold of a moment so revealing that he chose safety over adventure. An away-series win is such a rarity that Indian captains on the brink are bound to get edgy. Despite all their differences, Dravid behaved just the way Ganguly did at Sydney. First he thought of avoiding defeat, only then did he think of a win.

Like a left-arm spinner bowling over the wicket, it was a negative strategy intended to produce a positive result. It covered all bases - seal the series, yet give yourself a chance to win the match. He first concentrated on winning the war, only then did he think of the final battle. Fifty years from now Rahul Dravid will not be remembered as a captain who didn't enforce the follow-on in a game India could afford to draw. Dravid arrived in England with a job, he will achieve the bottomline. One-nil or 2-0 is purely academic.

Courtesy: Cricinfo