U, Me Aur Hum is for all of us!

When I sat back to watch U Me Aur Hum and saw those beautiful lines on love springing up the screen in the background of the blue sky, I reconciled with myself that this is going to be one of those mushy romances in the Chopra- Johar style that Kajol has been associated with in the past. Mushy romance it is to start with, but Ajay Devgan, the director along with the assistance of his scenarists (Robin Bhatt, Akash Khurana and another credited with the screenplay and Ashwini Dheer credited with dialogues) manages to steer the movie into a different territory as it progresses. U, Me Aur Hum is the story of Ajay (Ajay Devgan), a rich psychiatrist and Pia (Kajol), a waitress on a luxury cruise on which Ajay is holidaying with his friends- Nikhil (Sumeet Raghavan, brilliant) and Tina (Divya Dutta, typecast), doctor couple who are constantly fighting with each other; and Vicky (Karan Khanna, passable) and Natasha (Isha Sharvani, No comments!)- jeweler and dancer respectively looking forward to get married. They eat, drink and make merry while Ajay keeps flirting with the girls till he falls head over heels in love with Pia. He tries out every rule in and out of the book to woo her and she does fall for him. Confusion follows confession and Pia comes back to get married to Ajay. Life is all rosy for both of them till the day when Ajay discovers that Pia is suffering from Alzheimer’s. Pia starts losing memory- she forgets her anniversary, she forgets her home, she forgets her husband’s name and phone number- and it gets into a major problem when she puts her baby in the bathtub and forgets to turn off the tap. Ajay is broken and confused and decides to leave Pia at the care centre. The rest of the film is about the course that their lives take hereafter. Ajay Devgan makes an impressive debut as a film maker. It is not that U, Me Aur Hum is as perfect as perfect can be. It does have its flaws, like an abrupt start, a dragging second half and a few scenes and dialogues that are completely out of place. However, the playfulness of the first half and the sensitivity of the second half has been handled deftly by Ajay and one should give due credit for his debut as director. Ajay has also been credited with the story but it is heavily inspired by “The Notebook”. The script is powerful and cohesive. The dialogues are beautiful. The use of the same word throughout a lengthy piece of dialogue has been resorted to at least 5 times to good effect. Technically, the movie is brilliant. Excellent camera work and larger than life production design are a treat to the eyes. Editing could have been sharper. Vishal Bharadwaj comes up with an album that is so unlike his kind of songs and he impresses with all the songs. Monty Sharma’s background score is commendable. Kajol is as effervescent and lively as ever. However, her spontaneity gets overshadowed by Devgan’s intensity throughout the film. Yes, and I mean it. This is one of those rare films where Kajol’s performance is superceded by that of the leading man who in this case is her husband himself. It is a treat watching Ajay play the flirtatious doctor in the first half to the same effect as that of the brooding and confused husband in the second. U, Me Aur Hum might not work completely as a film but there are moments that are unique to this film and such moments are quite a few in number making one forget the flaws! The gentle hints that Devgan drops during the first half on Pia’s disease- she serving tequilas instead of vodka or turning up for salsa at 7 instead of 6; the constant bickering between Nikhil and Tina as opposed to the sugary romantic life of Ajay and Pia and the best of the lot is when Ajay is with his friends at the bar telling them how he watched Ek Duje Ke Liye 11 times and how he used to love “Hum bane, tum bane” and how he thinks the song is so fake since his book of psychiatry says human nature is such that everyone cares only for that person and that is the self- defense mechanism that humans are endowed with and you along with the other characters in the frame realize how deeply Pia’s separation has affected him… Sequences like these are what make U, Me Aur Hum special and that is why I recommend it to all!

Oh! These women!!!

God created the world and took some rest. Then he created man and took some rest. Then he created women, after that neither God nor man has been able to take rest.

This is one of the funny (but true) quotes about women that I have heard in the past. Honestly, I have not had much issues with understanding women and many a friend has complimented me on what they thought was a very significant aspect of my personality!

But, of late, I have come to realize that I am no better than anyone else belonging to the men folk when it comes to understanding women! They mean what they dont mean, they say yes when they mean no and vice versa, they say they will do something when they actually mean they wont and no one can ever understand the how, when and why of their changing of minds and decisions!

I think it is high time medical sciences recognized women's psychiatry as a branch of study and encourage research on this subject! Probably in another 500 years we might be able to come up with a theory or a reasoning to explain the queer behaviour of women folk in general.

I hope there is some movement towards this at least during my lifetime. I am hopeful and am keeping my fingers crossed...

4th Amritha Film Awards: A lacklustre affair!

Malayalam cinema has also started having its own share of award nights. Earlier it was only the Film Critics Awards and the State Film Awards. Now, we have Asianet Film Awards, Mathrubhoomi Film Awards, Vanitha Film Awards and finally, Amritha Film Awards. Invariably, the same set of actors and technicians get honored at all of these and by the time the last awards are distributed, both the audience and the award winners get bored of the routine! This is precisely what happened with the 4th Amritha Film Awards. Add to it the fact that the function had to be postponed by a week due to rains!

All this took away the brightness of the whole affair with hardly a handful of stars attending the do. Thus, you had the awards being distributed by a couple of ministers and folks holding executive positions with the many sponsors of the award night. Jagadeesh was the MC for the day and he did a strictly OK job. Suraj Venjarammodu's jokes evoked yawns instead of guffaws. Muktha (never been on work) and Rambha (completely out of work) were the dancers chosen to entertain the crowd. Muktha struggled while Rambha succeeded fairly. Naresh Iyer, Vineeth Srinivasan and Shwetha Mohan did a good job with their songs. Shwetha's melange of award winning songs from Vinodayathra, Ore Kadal and Nivedhyam deserve special mention.

The only big star who made it to the do was Mammootty and all through he carried an expression that said- "What am I doing here?" The person who had the last laugh would have been Shyamaprasad with Ore Kadal winning awards for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Music Director and Best Playback Singer (Female). Amritha Awards more than compensated for the raw deal that was meted out to Ore Kadal at the State Film Awards.

The channel also came up with a new concept of honoring its celebrity MC- Jagadeesh was honored with a Flexi- Actor award. Dont know what it really meant. However, so much for another completely out of work actor and a model for other award nights to follow if they want to rope in a celebrity MC!

Altogether, a totally lack lustre affair!

Aparan: Scary thought

It is the same 20 year old Aparan that I am planning to write about here. I had seen it in theatres when I was 9 years old and I have always remembered it in bits and pieces for its strange subject and unique treatment (I was too young to understand and appreciate it then, you know)

In spite of the onset of sattelite television and all movies being telecasted and re telecasted time and again, Aparan remained a rarity. It was with tremendous pleasure that I sat down to watch it this saturday when Amrita TV was generous enough to telecast it

Aparan is the story of Vishwanatha Pillai (Jayaram making a strong, impressive debut) who hails from a small village in Alappuzha district. His family comprises of his father, a retired headmaster (an aptly cast Madhu), mother (Sukumari) and sister of marriageable age (Parvathy). His mother is constantly worrying about his unemployment and he gets a call for an interview in Kochi.

In a restaurant in Kochi, he is manhandled by a couple of local thugs and taken by the police into custody. That is when he realizes that he has a look alike in the city who is on the wrong side of the law. Thankfully for him the sub inspector (Mukesh) is an old classmate who recognizes him and releases him.

Life turns topsy turvy for Vishwam with even an alliance for his sister getting cancelled thanks to the antics of the look alike. He finally lands a job in the city but is ousted out of it because his look alike had failed in the past to supply a prostitute to his MD (M G Soman) after taking money from him.

Vishwam finally decides enough is enough and sets out to find out the "aparan" (look alike). His efforts yield result and he is handed over a sum of Rs.1.5 lakhs by a person who had hired the aparan for a murder. Vishwam decides to hand over the money to his father for conducting his sister's wedding but is hunted down by the aparan and his goons on his way. In the confusion that follows, the aparan is murdered by his own folks and Vishwam's parents accept the dead body thinking that it belongs to him.

The climax of the film is its major highlight where Vishwam hands over the money to his father and walks off declaring that he has no other way but to continue living as the "aparan". The very thought of having a look alike who is in no way related to you is scary. Even more scary is when that person is on a route that is completely opposite to yours. It is on this scary premise that Padmarajan has built up a taut script. Kudos to the master filmmaker for having come up with such a novel thought and giving it the kind of treatment that is so unique to Padmarajan.

Venu's camera, B Lenin's auditing and Johnson's authentic background score add to the proceedings. The movie has a plethora of artistes- but other than Jayaram and Madhu, the others do not have enough screen time or well written scenes to contribute to the narrative.

Aparan is considered a classic for treading a road less travelled and making that travel a very exciting one! And did I tell you that this was the first time Jayaram and Sobhana came together on screen providing an early hint of a crackling on screen chemistry that regaled the audience for another decade?

Gifts Galore!

Working with a young group helps, if not anything, at least to keep you younger than what you really are! I discovered this last week when I was gifted a shirt by my team for having won the quiz competition held at office!

It was really a joyous occassion and the gesture forced me out of inaction and made me act upon something that I had been discussing with my colleague for the past few weeks. We decided that it is time to honor the toppers in the team and we set out to buy some gifts with this end in view!

Buying gifts for someone is quite a task but an enjoyable one at that! It was after quite a long time that I had set out for something like this. I enjoyed it thoroughly and I hope those who received the gifts liked them as well!

Vishu Biriyani!

I myself experienced it only yesterday. So I wont be surprised if you have not heard about Vishu Biriyani before :-)

It all happened in my team when they decided that we are going to have a small party in connection with Vishu. With the working hours being in the dead of the night, we decided that we would get something special ourselves for our late night snack and lo and behold, it was decided we would have Biriyani (Chicken and Vegetarian) to celebrate Vishu in all its splendor! There we were munching Biriyani to our hearts' content at unearthly hours like 2 in the morning. It might not have been a great experience gastronomically, but the fun of enjoying with a group of 30 people is something unparalleled!

I salute the spirit of my team members for having come up with something as novel as Vishu Biriyani! Guiness book- here we come :-)

Does familiarity really breed contempt?

I always thought so, till I joined the group with whom I have been working closely for the past 30 odd months. This is the first time I have spent this much time on an employment completely out of choice and I think I should really thank the 4 great senior colleagues of mine without whose love, support and encouragement this would not have been possible. They have always been there to help me, support me, encourage me, dare me to do things which I thought were difficult and to put me in my rightful place, whenever I went overboard!

It really helps to have such great professional associations (in this case, a highly personal one too!) and if you have not had one, all I can do is to pity you. Because it is extremely difficult to find such people! Good friends and good colleagues happen, just like good weather and all we can do is to hope, wish and pray that we land into great associations in life at least once and work towards maintaining that association throughout our lives!

I dedicate this post of mine to those 4 great individuals, I wont tell you who they are, they will know if they read this and that is all that matters to me!!!

Take a break!

If you feel, I am getting a bit too boring and uninteresting, I would like you to take a break to read something interesting here. My cousin is in his first assignment to the US of A and he has penned his very interesting insights into the life and culture of US and its citizens!

Read and enjoy :-)

I, me aur main!!!

The title of this post is definitely inspired by the Ajay- Kajol starrer, but this is not an attempt to review the movie. Instead, this is what I feel I should be very soon. Honestly, I am sick and tired of being this please- all person and these days, I am not really bothered about what others think about me either! It is time I decided that my life is about what I want to do with it and with this end in view, I am going to bring about significant changes in my way of living! Going forward, if you feel I am nasty now you know why! Looking forward to my I, me aur main days...

Kerala State Film Awards 2008

The Kerala State Film Awards 2008 have been announced and as always, it has sprang up quite a few surprises! Debutant director K G Sasi's "Adayalangal" bagged the awards for Best Film, Best Director and Best Camera- 3 major awards with 2 more adding to its kitty! No one would have seen the movie but the surprising fact is that it scored over expected winners like Adoor Gopalakrishnan's "Naalu Pennungal". The jury did have its own funny theory for not selecting Naalu Pennungal- that it is not a feature film in the real sense, instead it is a collage of 4 stories. How funny, right? A film that has bagged awards and accolades worldwide has been mercilessly rejected by the learned jury for a reason as trivial is that. What probably the jury did not understand is the mastery exhibited by Adoor in selecting 4 stories with a common theme running through them relevant even in today's modern world! The next surprise came through when Sathyan Anthicaud was selected as the best script writer for Vinodayathra. Now, this is taking it a bit too much. I have immense respect for the director Sathyan Anthicaud but I would definitely not vouch for his literary abilities. In my opinion, Rasathanthram and Vinodayathra can easily be considered the worst scripts filmed by him in his 25 odd year long career. The biggest flaw of Vinodayathra was its hackeneyed, lacklustre script that was meandering between characters looking for an opportunity to preach. With this end in view, one could come across situations that had no relevance to the plot but were pushed into the narrative to broadcast a message to the audience. The director Sathyan towered over the scriptwriter Sathyan and could make a success out of this script, thanks also to a competent starcast! Apparently, Sathyan was competing with Sreenivasan for Katha Parayumbol. In my opinion, the award should definitely have gone to Sreenivasan, if not for anything, for the honesty with which he penned Katha... After winning all popular awards, one was naturally expecting the best actor crown to sit on Mammootty's head for his scintillating performances in Katha Parayumbol and Ore Kadal. However, fate (read jury) had other plans and it went to Mohanlal for Paradesi. There is no doubt that Mohanlal is a wonderful actor, but his performance in Paradesi was definitely not worth an award. He did not get the slang right and he suffered from weak characterization and cold script. P T Kunjumohammed's direction was so bad that he could not lift Paradesi beyond the standards of a High school fancy dress cum drama! I am not complaining though since the actor in question is Mohanlal. The jury did some good things as well- Meera Jasmine, Murali and Lakshmi Gopalaswamy walked away with the honors for Best Actress (Ore kadal), Best Supporting Actor (Veeralipattu, Pranayakalam) and Best Supporting Actress (Thaniye) respectively. M Jayachandran, Vijay Jesudas and Shwetha Mohan were awarded in the music category for that lilting "Kolakkuzhal vili" from Nivedyam. Vinod Sukumaran and Ouseppachan were rightly honored for their razor sharp editing and fabulous background score respectively in Ore Kadal. Katha Parayumbol bagged the award for the most popular film, something that the public would agree. Jagathy Sreekumar was awarded the special jury prize at least 10 years later . It remains to be seen whether the actor would accept the honor! It was good to have Jahnu Barua (Assamese director) as jury chairman since if it was a malayalee holding the position, the awards would have given rise to n number of controversies. As of now, Shyamaprasad has expressed his unhappiness, Jagathy has made his thoughts public and Mammootty- Mohanlal fans are fighting all over the internet! Compared to last year, the cultural ministry has reasons to cheer this time! All concerned have definitely got over the shock of Urvashi being awarded the best actress last year for that apology for a performance in the dreadful "Madhuchandralekha" Lets hope the awards get fairer as we progress!!!

Miss India 2008

India has produced a lot of beauty queens in the past who have done the country proud- Rita Faria, Nafisa Ali, Zeenat Aman, Persis Khambatta, Madhu Sapre, Aishwarya Rai, Sushmita Sen, Lara Dutta, Priyanka Chopra, Dia Mirza, Diana Hayden to name a few. Due to this reason, it was with bated breath that I was looking forward to Miss India 2008. However, the event, in my opinion, turned out to be quite a damp squib considering the number of dumb damsels who made it to the final 26! As all of you might have been aware by now, Parvathy Omanakuttan, Simran Kaur Mundi and Harshita Saxena were crowned Miss India World, Miss India Universe and Miss India Earth respectively. What made the show a lackluster one was the fact that there was no real competition for the beauties who made it! Parvathy was a winner from the very beginning- she had a figure to die for, was smart, confident and comparatively better when it came to intelligence. Simran was strictly OK and the audience along with the judges was wondering who will make it to the third spot considering the number of dumb girls who were vying with each other. Thankfully for Harshitha she made it, but unfortunately she has had to surrender the crown following controversies regarding her agreement with another fashion business house!!! None of the other contestants were impressive except for the fact that all of them had that perfect hour glass figures and looked good in the creations of designers as varied as Shaina MC (she looked hot!), Romolika, Shanthanu and Nikhil (classy outfits) and the indefatigable Ritu Kumar! Bollywood was there expressing its solidarity to the contestants- Kareena, Bipasha and Sameera regaled the audience with their dance numbers! Sameera danced gracefully to Zeenat Aman’s songs from the 70’s and looked adequately hot! Tabu, Katrina Kaif and Zeenat Aman were the bollywood beauties judging the show along with J J Valaya, Rina Dhaka, Shaimak Davar and Arnab Goswami.

Parvathy Omanakuttan is promising, but except for her, Miss India 2008 was all about the three C’s- Clothes, Cleavage and Cinema (read Bollywood!)

Book Review: Inviting Murders

Thrillers have always been a genre of writing I have enjoyed. In fact, I have been a big fan of thrillers as far as movies are concerned. This was the reason I did not think twice before adding Inviting Murders to my collection of books when I came across it in a book shop. After reading the book, all I can say is I am happy that I made the right decision. Inviting Murders is written by Priyanka Nath who has to her credit only a collection of poems till date. For a debutante, she has done a good job. The only aspect of the book that stands out is that the protagonist is a lady detective, something that female Indian English writers always go for. Clichéd, should I say? Inviting Murders is however a start- to- finish read and a highly engaging detective story. It is about a murder that takes place in the midst of a family reunion at the Suri’s and how two private detectives- Charles and Maya- with the help of the local Inspector manage to nab the culprit. As is the case with any good thriller, there are quite a few characters and each of them has a skeleton in the cupboard. This is utterly confusing to the reader and one is not able to guess who the murderer would be even towards the end of the book (at least, I could not) It is the authoritative patriarch Mr. Suri who is killed and you start suspecting everyone- his wife of many years, Asha, who is not happy in general; his oldest son Chirag who has been forced to be his father’s shadow; Chirag’s wife, Aparna, a strong willed woman who resents her father- in- law; his second son, Deepak who is good for nothing or his highly possessive wife Chithra; the youngest son Sagar who is loved by his father but hated by others, the unexpected and mysterious visitor Sheil; Sagar’s erstwhile sweetheart cum Deepak’s ex wife Nita who is an unwelcome guest for the function! Priyanka succeeds in making us believe that each and every character in the plot has a reason to kill Mr. Suri and you are left pulling your hair. In the process, you find it difficult to take a break while reading lest you lose the continuity. The identity of the culprit and the motive behind the murder may disappoint you slightly because one feels it is not motive enough for a murder. That said, a thriller can be considered successful if it holds the reader’s interest from the beginning till end and if we look at Inviting Murders that way, one should say that Priyanka Nath has come up with a good one- thanks to the characterization, the build up of the plot and the simple, lucid language she uses. Highly recommended, this one!

Wasting away time…

I was a good student ever since I can remember. At the cost of not sounding immodest, let me tell you that I was one of the top three students in class all through my school days and improved when I stepped into college. I have had the usual fun and frolic that you associate with your school and college days but have always been focused on what I really wanted to achieve. I completed my professional qualifications at 24 and it has been four years since then. The first couple of years I was busy with switching jobs or job hunting. By the time I was settled in a job in the Middle East and decided to put my time to good use, it was time for me to come back to India for personal reasons. It has been more than 2 years since then. My job requires me to work in the evening till past midnight which leaves a lot of time for me in the mornings. All these 2 years, I have been planning to take up another course of study. Unfortunately, things have not progressed beyond the planning phase till now. All these years, I have been planning whether to take up X, Y or Z but the fact remains that I have taken up neither. I am in 2008 now. Time is flying away, so is age. I think it is high time I started ticking items off my task list for the year which reads something like this- learn four wheel driving and obtain a driving license (should have done it 10 years back!), lose at least 20 kg of extra flesh that I am carrying (should have started 13 years back) and start with a new course of study (should have thought about it at least 2 years back!) Well, all these days I was thinking- better late than never. But, now I feel it is time to put into action what Kabirdas said- Do today what you want to do tomorrow, do now what you plan to do today. There could be a flood the next moment, you may never know. What would happen to your task list then? Do pray for my success with the tasks on hand!

Catching up with friends

One definitely has to be forward looking all the time, but it really does not hurt to look back once in a while to check out what or who all you have left behind in life. It is even more interesting to catch up with old friends once in a while. Who does not like it when one receives a call from a long lost friend at the most unexpected of times? This is precisely what I got into yesterday when I decided it is time to ring up some of my friends out of my articleship and school- college days who are spread out across different parts of the country. I was unlucky with 4- 5 of them who did not pick up my calls, but I still managed to catch hold of 5 of my friends. It really was enjoyable speaking to them after a very long time and I felt as if I had traveled half a decade back into my life. All of a sudden you are bombarded with information on who is doing what, who is working with whom, who got married to whom, who is engaged to whom, who all had kids, who all are expecting kids, the kind of stuff that you get to hear when you are enquiring on friends who are in their late 20’s to early 30’s. All of a sudden you start reflecting upon the time you spent with each of them when both of you were younger, the many discussions, dreams, hopes and anticipations on life that you have shared with each other and comparing those to where each of them have reached presently. It definitely is a great feeling and it puts you on a high when you hear that all your friends are doing well in life one way or the other. For me, personally, it is something that just refreshes and recharges me to take on something new and go ahead for a reasonable period of time before I think about catching up with my friends for another time…

If you have not done something similar for a long period of time, don’t hesitate to pick up the phone and call a few of your friends. Just analyze how you feel after say 30 minutes of conversation with your old friends. I bet you will definitely feel special and high spirited. It is for no reason that one considers friends as flowers in the garden of life!

Tribute to Kadammanitta

One need not be a strong fan of Malayalam poetry to understand Kadammanitta Ramakrishnan. If one has listened to Kadammanitta reciting one of his poems or has read any of his poems, that person is sure to remember Kadammanitta for the rest of his life for such is the power of his words. In the midst of a lot of writers who remain in their own world, Kadammanitta has always walked a path less trodden. He has always drawn themes for his poems for the lives of the under privileged and has always worked with them closely for their uplift and improved living conditions. He has had a successful stint with politics and even in his capacity as a Member of the Legislative Assembly, he has fulfilled his responsibilities very well. A strong supporter of Communism, he has lived the life of a true blue communist all along. Kadammanitta could always gather a decent audience at all his public appearances thanks to his strong oratorical skills and unabashed criticism of whatever went against his ideologies. He belonged to that rare breed of writers who practiced everything that he preached. Kadammanitta’s death is a big blow to the cultural and political milieu of Kerala and he is truly irreplaceable. Thanks to his magnificent personality, Kadammanitta will continue to live in the hearts of Keralites for a very long period to come.

Tribute to Raghuvaran

With the death of Raghuvaran, Indian cinema has lost a stylish, dynamic actor who could portray any kind of character in his own unique, distinct style. Raghuvaran has always been about his personality and style. He has always had an acting style rooted in reality as opposed to the loud acting propogated by Tamil cinema of the 80’s which witnessed his debut. He is one actor who has never been conscious of an image and has played a wide gamut of roles- hero, villain, hero’s friend, elder brother, father, you name it, you have it! In the course of his 30 year old career, he has been part of more than a 100 films with many of them standing out for his magnificent performance. Be it the hapless father in Anjali or En Bommukutti Ammavukku, the professional killer in Kaadhalan, the doctor in Shivaji, the magician in Daivathinte Vikruthikal, the professor in Sivappathigaram, the loving husband in Thirumalai, the twin faced brother in Aaha or the straight of story book villain in Baadshah- Raghuvaran has left an indelible imprint of his own on all the characters he played.

He has never had a good personal life- addiction to drugs and drinks, a failed marriage with actress Rohini and the legal battles over the custody of his only son only made things worse for the actor. The 60 year old actor had not been doing well for quite sometime and finally it was time for him to meet the inevitable leaving behind a handful of characters in all four languages of South India that will remain in public memory for a very long period of time! While I mourn the loss of a great actor, I also pray for his departed soul to rest in peace…

Budgets, Pay Commission recommendations and the like

February and March are the months associated with budgets. Budgets of each and every nature is out- Railway Budget, Union Budget, State Budget, Corporation Budget, Municipality Budget, Panchayath Budget, GCDA Budget…all of which that have a bearing on the most common budget- the family budget of every individual. With the general elections fast approaching, expectedly, it was playing safe for P Chidambaram as far as the Union Budget was concerned. The increased exception limits for salaried class and the move towards writing off Rs. 60,000 crores worth of farmers’ debts are the only redeeming features of this Budget with almost everything else remaining the same in effect. With the highly respected trio of Manmohan Singh, Chidambaram and Montek Singh Ahluwalia at the centre, the common man as well as the industry expected a more robust budget. But, it was politics that prevailed over paisa as far as the Union Budget was concerned this year. The results have started showing- inflation rising to a 39- month high of 7% as well as the government’s inability to give a satisfactory explanation to the sources of Rs. 60,000/- crore that has been proposed to be written off. Add to that, the sixth pay commission recommendations that has brought forth a huge hike in salaries for the government staff, it would not be long for the central coffers to go empty. I do agree that the government staff is not as well paid as the ones in the private sector. But, the bane with government departments is that they are all over staffed and at no levels has anything been done to fix responsibility or to penalize for non compliance with work. Till the time a proper monitoring and reward system is put in place to appraise the performance of government employees, nothing is going to change as regards working of the government- ay hike or not. Honestly, I do not see such a thing happening in my lifetime.

All that is left for the common man to see is how the Srikrishna commission recommendations are going to affect the national coffers and what would remain therein by the time the General Elections are announced. I am trying to be calm but positive I am not…

Near Brush with death

Being a part of the IT/ ITES sector necessarily means working late into the night. Having spent more than 2 years in the industry, late night working has become a part of me and I don’t find it as difficult as people make it out to be. However, my recent experience made me look into this matter from a totally different perspective. On a working night last week, along with a few of my colleagues, I was returning from office at 3 in the morning. When we boarded the cab the driver was fast asleep. We woke him up; he washed his face, freshened up and started driving. I was mounted on the front seat adjacent to the driver’s and from the beginning of the journey, I was getting this feeling that the vehicle was slipping onto the right side of the road quite frequently. I was noticing the driver all along and I felt that he was struggling to keep himself awake. 10 minutes into the drive and suddenly, I realized that the vehicle was moving completely to the right. One look at the driver and I started yelling for I found him completely asleep with the steering in hand. My colleagues seated on the back realized that something was wrong and all of us started shouting. The driver got up startled and being in the state that he was, he turned the steering violently to the right and applied the brakes with all his pressure. The vehicle took two complete rotations and finally managed to stop on the opposite side of the road. All this happened in about 5 seconds time and all of us felt that we were facing the inevitable. Thankfully for us, the vehicle did not turn upside down, nor was there a median or any approaching vehicle on either side of the road. It took us a couple of minutes to return to normal and all of us heaved a heavy sigh of relief! It definitely was a near brush with death but I still would not classify the incident as a potential hazard associated with working in the night. Look at the kind of accidents that is happening all around you, most of them in broad daylight. I completely believe that whatever be the time of the day, a good driver would be able to drive well and safely. It is not that all accidents that happen around you happen because it was your driver who was at fault. There definitely is also a risk associated with every other person who is driving on the road and even with every pedestrian walking on the road. Ultimately, it all boils down to the time or fate as people might like to call it. Day or night, if something has to happen, it definitely will happen!

All said and done, the incident was quite an eye opener to me especially to the fact that it takes only a couple of seconds for all your dreams to come crashing down! I am wishing, hoping and praying that things go fine with me as well as each and every person around me and that I do not come to hear of any more of such incidents in future…

Indian Cricket

If there is one thing that is more unpredictable than the monsoons and the stock market indices in India, it is the performance of the Indian cricket team. The latter part of 2007 and the beginning of 2008 gave one a feeling that things were going to be great for Indian cricket. The victory in the T- 20 and U- 19 world cup as well as the controversies and the big win in the Commonwealth Bank series against Australia catapulted the Indian cricket team back into the big league once again. The test series with South Africa started on an encouraging note. Viru, who had been down and out for quite sometime, staged a magnificent comeback with a triple ton and joined the ranks of Sachin, Sourav, Dhoni and Gambhir who were in good form. The Chepauk test ended in a draw but showcased the best of India as regards batting and bowling. However, the dismal performance of the team in Ahmedabad came in as a shocker to many. In the first innings, India was bowled out for a meager 76 and in 3 days, South Africans finished the 2nd test with an innings victory over India. Irresponsibility of the highest order was visible in the performance of the Indian team- be it batting, bowling or fielding. Anil Kumble and his team of boys could not figure out how to handle the media after the disappointing performance of the team. News also has it that many of the players are feigning lack of fitness to avoid playing the test series since everyone is looking forward to the IPL that is scheduled for April. Considering the kind of money involved, the players are making sure that they remain fit to put in their best efforts in IPL. Apart from the money and the media coverage, their performance in IPL could also be instrumental in bagging further endorsements thus fattening their paycheck even further. Precisely, a case of what happens when the players become bigger than the game! I do encourage private participation in cricket and privatization of the whole business considering the kind of activities the BCCI officials are involved in. However, at no point of time should the players be allowed to dictate terms because it is always the sport that comes first and not the sportsman. Further, with the IPL championships also being regularity, it is kinda going to be cricket 24/7 in the country. Cricket definitely provides a big high for Indians and is one of the few things that keep the country united. Nevertheless, with IPL and the many other series charted for the rest of the year, there is definitely going to be an exercise in excess for cricket in India!

With the many issues plaguing Indian cricket (BCCI, players’ attitude, privatization and too many tourneys), only time can tell where the sport is going to end up in the country! I am being optimistic and am keeping my fingers crossed…

Bachelors and Bachelor’s parties

The good thing about working in the IT/ ITES sector is the fact that one gets to work with a very young crowd. Not that I am too old myself, but, in spite of being in my late 20’s, there are days where I often end up behaving like a person just out of teenage, thanks to the kind of crowd I interact with. It is fun of a different nature altogether. When I say young crowd, it definitely has to be one that consists of unmarried people. In spite of majority of the crowd in office belonging to the fairer sex, I have been lucky to be part of teams which have been male- dominated. This fact takes me to the subject of this post- Bachelors and bachelor’s parties. I have always believed that the best phase in a man’s life is the one where he has completed his studies, started employment and has started earning. It is that stage in life where you are not really accountable to anyone or responsible for anything other than your own life. It is sad that this stage lasts only for a very few years and knowing this, most of the bachelors make the most of out this short- sweet stage in life. Right now, I am in the middle of such a group and am enjoying myself to the core. Weekend meetings, lunches, movies, gupshup, the works. It has been more than 2 years since I have been with a group like that and slowly one after the other; the members are getting into matrimony. A bachelor tying the knot means a party for all the other party animals. I have attended a couple of such parties earlier, but the one I attended recently (thrown by 2 of my colleagues who are getting married shortly) was really memorable, for the venue of the party was a boat. It was fun hanging out with a group of like minded people in a boat and cruising along the backwaters of Kochi singing, dancing and making merry! To add to the fun, it also started raining and all of us had to gather into the small compartment within the boat to save ourselves from the rain. The backwaters of Kochi were looking their best drenched in the rain, with greenery and water all around!!! To start with the party was thrown by two of my colleagues turned best friends and I was extremely happy for both of them getting into matrimony. Add to that, the venue, the fabulous crowd that turned out and the rains, it really was a cruise that was mind blowing! The kind that will stay with you for a long time to come, at least till I come across the next bachelor’s party :-)