The thrill lives on… RIP MJ

I’ve not posted anything since over a month, what with a tumultuous month of May and all (more on that in another post). As the world mourns the loss of the greatest musician/dancer/performer ever, here’s my little tribute as well as what I can recall about him. Well, I may not be able to remember his birth date or His story, but the music still rings clearly. I grew up with Bad and Dangerous (pretty much anyone who was old enough to remember Music in the early ’90s). My first ‘original’ tapes were of Bad and Dangerous. The world didn’t give him peace in his last years, making a mockery of the man who gave us all reason to dance (yes, even I’ve badly imitated the Moonwalk and the Robot at a point in my life, as well as jumped around madly listening to ‘Blood is on the Dance Floor’). Something inside of us has all died, the part that makes us sit up and notice, and tap our feet unconsciously when we hear Beat It. In fact, even the ordinary Mallu who’s never listened to him can never forget this song (I’ve been playing it non-stop, annoying my neighbours, after I heard of his death), as it’s been used quite a lot in movies (many lame) to stereotype the ‘yo’ Malayali youth. Such was the impact of the boy faced man. Ok, I’m not a singer (not even a bathroom singer), so I can’t understand when people say he was their ‘musical influence’, but yes, for a young boy at 5 years old (yours truly), his music meant the world, irritating everyone listening to it from my first Walkman (heard of those anyone?). I realised my fascination with music (the listening part, I can’t hum a song to save my life), because of MJ, and every new song I like, it’s because of Bad. And yes, if I ever was naive enough to consider a career in dancing, it would have been only due to him. And yes, the time before hitting teenage, when dancing hysterically with my sister listening to HIStory. Can still recall singing ‘We are the World’ with my class back in UIS. So, so many memories. Only the body is gone, the soul remains.

Michael Jackson, RIP the King of Pop

Let’s not remember him for the negative press and the ‘Wacko Jacko’ days, but for the music, the dance, and the life. I guess it’s time he’s to set heaven on fire, dancing and singing for God. He wasn’t a genius, in music, he was perhaps sent to make a lasting impression on all our lives. Peace to the man, who’s given us only happiness. I guess, heaven’s a better place now!

No One Wants To Be Defeated
Showin’ How Funky Strong Is Your Fight
It Doesn’t Matter Who’s Wrong Or Right
Just Beat It, Beat It, Beat It, Beat It, Beat It

What a week

If I counted my week that was taking into consideration, everything that’s happened around me, the week till now from last weekend would top my worst times ever. I am not supposed to get sick, but yes, I’m down (but not out) with a bad cold as well as being more broke than Mammootty’s movies (you get the picture). I’ve lost my serious voice to be replaced by a flat squeak. And then there was chaos. Saturday night, Barca ripped apart Real Madrid (I’ve never seen such a one-sided match, not even when we won at Valladolid 7-0), and now by some twisted cosmic joke, they ditch Chelsea (who were less than 5 minutes away from repeating last year’s CL) through some poor refereeing. Yes, this has to be Barca’s year in football. With 2 of my most hated teams facing off for the best football title (see, the Euro and World Cup don’t count, since how can you support a country so dearly, if it’s not your own?), my football dream is dead (till next season atleast). Ferrari are proving why Kimi is useless in a rundown car (unlike Schumi). Terrible year for sports then? Wait, there’s more, Mumbai Indians chose right in the colour of the team jersey as they’ve been beaten black and blue by everyone (Why Sachin, why?), and yes, there’s just 2 things on our papers these days. Dumb politicians and idiot cricketers.

Ok, atleast I should return to being a couch potato and catch up on some TV shows and DVDs? Non. It doesn’t work that way. Chuck’s over (maybe for good) and Heroes season 3 has wound up. So bored I’ve started this show called Reaper. More on that later. Movies, ehem? Yeah, there was this Fast and Furious which was so bad, I was calculating my total economic loss midway through the movie, sitting in a theatre full of people, half of whom don’t really know what the plot was or get the dialogue (which was English), the time wastage (is the minimum pay now USD 7/hr?) and rising petrol costs and dropping mileage. In this moment let me take a moment to curse the woman who rode head on into my car on Easter night (May you find the better side of a tipper truck across your bleeding carcass). The only respite has to be music. Finally saw this movie, Zack and Miri make a Porno, and a song playing in the background got my attention (1.5 hours waste of movie for this song), Tell my Why by Supermode. More music, Metro Station, Starsailor and Silversun Pickups. Check it out. I am gonna puke. Where are my meds?

Accidental Humanity

I don’t pride myself to being the best driver out on the roads (or patches of asphalt) but I’m still not that careless (as my folks make it out to be). Why, even Schumi of all people had lots of nudges and crashes on the track (and behind the steering he is God), several accidental and a few intentional (Damon Hill, David Coulthard et all will agree). The day (the night of Easter) and I’m cruising back home in my beloved black Swift ‘06, when I get blind sided by a terrorist-look-alike (I can recall several of my past Arabic teachers) in all black with two of her dozen plus brood (in similar black head to toe garb). It was quite a loud one, thud an’ all. However, going a few metres ahead of the junction and safely parking my car, I return to the spot (I’d be damned if I fled), as a few cars on the track stop behind me to reach the accident prone witch in black (she must be in her 30s, but with the headscarf and other pre-historic clothing you can’t really say).

Now, the real story. I’m crossing the traffic signal on green following and being followed by other cars. Now, I don’t call it fate’s sadistic ploy to hinder my progress (to my house), but there’s something when they hit you and not someone else. Apparently I was doing the right thing, going along, following the signal. The witch (let’s call her this, because other than causing stupid accidents the only thing she must be doing is breeding), and her 2 kids are up, scratched but not hurt. People from cars near me already have come to my aid, saying how we were on green. In fact, even after I had come back, our signal was still in green, and her’s (the black witch) was still in red. A small crowd had already developed, and guess what there are more of her like of the semi-male variety to support her in her useless tirade against us (me and 2 friends). One of them, let’s call him clown-face (this wierd hair style he’s got, like that Kuttichathan kid in the Asianet TV show), is already on the offensive, saying how I was going while the signal was on red, and I’m responsible and similar vitriole. Now, I don’t give a crap what these Mullahs and their ilk say, and my friends were itching for a fight (let’s fight ‘em terrorists), but again, the witnesses (save Clown face) are already telling to leave the case, the black witch being on the wrong. Now the elder of her abaya-clad spawn does say something about my indicator and me being in the wrong, while my friend (name withheld give her cold stare of  “WTF b***h?”). Deciding to rise above petty issues, I take them to EMC (the hospital, not the company), me being the good samaritan though I could easily have left the scene, having proved my innocence. Half an hour of tests and XRays ensue, no one’s even mildly hurt, Clown face and Mr. Witch are meanwhile hatching plans to squeeze out what they can from me (I reckon they might even bring in the entire districts of Kozhikode and Malappuram, as well as their bearded leader Madani). We aren’t budging, arguing how they’ve totally messed up my front fender, and asking them to pay for the repairs (which didn’t happen). So leaving them scratching their heads, and silently swearing enough for their entire generation (all 4 wives and 40 kids) to have to get their ears fixed and brains installed, we return home.

Why did this event actually happen?

1. Some old Mullah and his half dozen wives came to Cochin to set up their breeding program, resulting in this witch in all black robes.
2. A moron, actually gave her a license (or she didn’t have a license to begin with and cops were too chicken to check if she had because of her ‘community’ card.
3. Some random tipper truck missed killing her earlier, saving me a bumper and half an hour.

At the least, I’m thankful to the Almighty, that unlike their normal behaviour (like crows), they didn’t come to her rescue, but maybe it was because it was already past 10, and her kind had gotten into reproduction mode by then to bother.

Moral of the story : Keep your distance from abaya/hijab clad women riding scooters or driving cars, as most of them are too ignorant of the traffic laws like not crossing a red light, or they don’t know how to ride/drive to begin with. There are many good people among them, but such examples that we oome across in our daily lives, make us question the purpose of their woeful existence.

I’m short a fender and a bit of cash. For people who are driving in Cochin, I’m posting a picture of the witch’s hot ride, without blanking out the numbers, so that you can be careful in it’s vicinity.

P.S : In the event of this happening, I was almost certain to miss the MotoGP at Qatar, which however was cancelled due to rain!

Disclaimer: Though, I’m against categorizing people, there are times when generalizing is needed to prove a point. I believe there are good people in the world, but again people do their level best to create this negative image of their community. It’s a case of bad apples again. This is not open to discussion. There are Madanis and Osamas and Mullah Omars, and then there are Abdul Kalams, just to push the argument. Again, please do follow traffic rules and don’t cross red lights, the ‘witch’ here was lucky that I wasn’t too fast or that she didn’t come right in front of me, which would have resulted in a few corpses, which they won’t mind, and it’s not the fault of the car driver in such incidents. Human life is more important than that of witches in black, so drive safe. And hoping she has a gruesome end under the tires of a ‘red killer’ or a tipper of immense proportions.

Circus!!!

Yes, the circus is in town, with all the bells and whistles. It is officially the Indian election season. As people ‘Rock their Vote’ proving plainly how stupid the public are, the clowns that run the show, Left, Right and Centre have put on their biggest grins and smiles, folding hands aplenty, after all this season, the voter is King. The minions of the jokers have started brandishing party symbols (the Hand, the Sickle, the Lotus, the Elephant anyone?) and making fools of themselves sloganeering against anything and everything. Two people who’ve made the biggest mockery of the craziness that is democracy have in their own ways clearly defined played to the masses, in turn becoming the biggest fools in the process. Now, only if the Supreme Court (yes, thank you, Mr Chief Justice, you have made us all a bit more trusty of the legal system) didn’t bar Sanju baba (yes, I don’t figure why people call that Dutthead that), then we’d have Munnabhaism’s in the Lok Sabha to add to the stupidity the other clowns generally spurt out in the Lok Sabha. Does this prevent more criminals from contesting? Obviously not, Laloo’s at it again, and so are a half a million other criminals and politicians, who have successfully blurred the thin line between politics and crime (what line you may ask). Another guy (now most people actually equate him as a Gandhi too), has courted controversy and played to the gallery (then again, there’s a bit of truth in his rhetoric too). See you in jail, then? By the way, have the people of India forgotten that the dumb Dutt actually served a lot of time (that too in TADA) for terrorist activities? Talk terrorism, and one word that comes to mind, is ‘Madani’, who’s (the entire three-fourths of his that is) like the communist poster child now. First they idiot comrades equate Saddam Husein on the lines of Marx and Lenin (the last of the real communists) and now they lift up half a man (I don’t have anything against cripples, as long as they are not terrorists), to get the votes of his followers (aren’t they terrorists too?). Communalism, yes that’s what politics are becoming. Maybe if we could deport the Madanis and the Sanju babas (he’s done what a few noticeable movies maybe) and the other clown, Govinda (he’s an MP from Mumbai of all places, shows even the urban elite lack the political brains, then why complain about Laloo in a 33% literate Bihar?)

Yes, there’s a new front, it’s like these loser type movies, where the weaklings and the black sheep join together, (let’s call them the Underdog project). It’s got the left (Karat and co.), Jayalalithaaa (who keeps adding ‘a’s in her name), Mayawati (she’s like this huge ‘Dalit’ thing), Andhrababu Naidu (TDP) and other also-rans. The fact that none of them are national parties shows how pathetic the whole exercise is as they’ll probably stick to the Congress (if they win) as the Left sides obviously have no clout nor any principles to speak of (unless you can call China-love one of those).

A word should go out to the media from the most sensational (HT, Times of India etc.) to the most partisan (Deshabhimani) to the utter crap (the Malayalam channels like JaiHind and Jeevan) for taking so much interest in all the foolishness the politicians and their ilk conduct at the height of the election season.

In the end, the people’s vote will decide the winners, but whatever the case we are still the losers as another 5 years of mis-governance, apathy, corruption and backwardness will be the resutlt (but then isn’t Congress the opposite of Progress?). They say bad government is the result of good people not voting. But it doesn’t really matter does it? After all they are all wolves in Munnabhai’s clothing.

Watch the circus unfurl, while listening to Britney Spears’ album Circus!And yes, please go out and vote (though I’m not).

Jai Hind!

Quick One

Ah, marching on. Long break, lots of stuff happening, so little time. I’m in Kuwait. It’s cold, and dusty. Good combination for sleep! What happened in February. Became a swami for the first time on that long and arduous trek to Sabarimala, and boy was it hot! Seriously, it was an experience on it’s own. Will be redoing the whole thing again, but not too soon!

Who are you fooling?

This must be my first post of ‘09. I was actually busy; busy doing nothing, and who said nothing could be more exciting? In fact I’ve never been busier. Coming back to the whole ‘09 thing. There’s this movie ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, all of you have seen it (thumbs up to illegal online file-sharing), and that too in a PC/ DVD player near you. After all, how stupid do these film makers take Indians to be? Making a ‘Hinglish’ movie then dubbing it to Hindi and releasing it here, when almost everyone whose wanted to watch it already has seen the Dvdrip/screener. Yes, it’s nominated for 10 (actually in 9 categories, 2 in the Best song) Oscars, and won lots of awards. Coming to the point, barring AR Rehman (or is it Rahman?) if anyone’s going to win an award for the movie, it’s probably a Brit, and the media are all like this is an ‘Indian’ movie. Really? Who are you kidding here Mr. Times Now, Prof. Indian Express, Ms. Manorama, Dr. Hindu etc? Like the old man Big B said, there’s nothing too great to say about the movie, it’s a good watch, but who’s watching it for a second time? (I know a guy who’s watched the Tamil movie Anniyan like 30 times. Lamer!)  And yes, Rehman has had movies with better music. The movie apparently portrays India in a bad light (again quoting the Big B), but then there’s nothing much to portray in a good light to begin with, is there? Poverty still exists (you don’t need me to tell you that or a Brit Danny Boyle either). But imagine if this movie was made by an Indian director, with an Indian screen-writer, in the same ‘Hinglish’ format. This would have been just another of those movies idling away in the film-can (much like our current Malayalam movies). But, seriously we needed some random Brit to actually film the whole thing, (the story was actually written by an Indian, but who cares, he’s not nominated) and lots of publicity from the West to actually have the movie finally reach here. Way to go India! The movie was good, in fact much better than the crap that Karan Johar or Yashraj or any of the big Bollywood moguls throw at us. People actually liked Dostana and Rab Ne whatever (one depended on a ‘gay’ couple and the other to a ‘fake’ moustache, wow, What an !dea). Finally, the movie will win awards, Indians will go ga-ga over an ‘Indian’ movie winning the best film (Oscars tend to award movies that are more offbeat and less entertaining), and it will be all Brits holding those as the world watches not even knowing there were Indians involved. It’s no secret that these movies are made with the critics in mind and not the common man (now who’s that?). All said and done, when the flashlights fade, the dust settles, and the red carpets rolled back, the golden statuette is going to UK! And like fools, the media is going to hail ‘Shining India’. Only if AR Rehman could get one of those in here, we could frame it, place it in a museum, and read about the Oscar being stolen after 10 years. Acres of newsprint has been dedicated to the Slumdog, in fact slum dwellers have even objected to the film’s name and pressed charges (this is India, anything goes). If they could actually divert that effort to get out of the slum, ah well, nothing beats free publicity. There must be some kind of record for India having the most dumbest reasons for court cases lodged. The fact that movie has been universally aclaimed must really mean something. There are actually people in the world who like the idea of Indians as poor slumdogs, no wonders they want to see this. Yes, and the movie is their ultimate fantasy come to film.No one’s praising Mani Ratnam’s Guru, because the guy got rich.

Closing argument, the movie was good, nearing exceptional, but other than the music (MIA singing ‘O Saaya’ is actually of Lankan Tamil origin) by AR Rahman and the cast plus location, the entire movie was British, and it’s them who’s going to enjoy the spoils. And to think this was from a story by an India author who’s not going to get any recognition. So, stop feeding us this whole Indians at the Oscar thing, and maybe Rehman will win. Jai Ho. And yes, the Dark Knight was the best movie of the year (I’m not a critic, I just love watching movies that entertain).

More on India, I’m watching Paes and his firangi men’s doubles parter get a royal thrashing in the Aussie open semis, after having to stand through Federer winning (how on earth, but wait, Rafa’s gonna get you), we beat the Lankan pussycats in the first ODI and Sania (where was she the last year?) and Mahesh into the semis (or was it the finals) in Australia and also Bhupathi and his male partner (hmm, I mean tennis partner) in the finals.

Let’s talk music. Listen to Lady Gaga’s album ‘The Fame’ especially the songs ‘Poker Face’ and ‘LoveGame’ as well as Angel’s and Airwaves (this one’s for all you Blink 182 fans, the minority that you are).

I’m going off, Paes lost, and maybe I write too much. This one’s to all the Slumdogs out there. Get a life! There’s always a reality show or game show on TV, even if it’s not Anil Kapoor’s who’s hosting it.

I write too much. Everything written here was mend to offend anyone and everyone concerened and I’m don’t regret it in anyway. And I’ve not even uttered the word ‘football’.

Check out the blog from my ex-college (is that even a word) event on Saturday, 31st Jan 2009, Technopreneur 2009.

Ring ring ringa, ring ring ringa, ring  ring  ringa ringa ring…

Heads are rolling

What does a 74-year ‘old’ man have to do with the security of the country? Nothing. But by the time this anwer was arrived to, a 1000 Indians had fallen prey to the bombs and bullets that were pointed at them by the terrorists, who were passively backed by the UPA especially their allies like PDP, the Muslim League and of course the famous terrorist Amar Singh (who bought a few MPs in July, when Singh was King). After the events of last week, obviously one of easiest people to bear the blame would have been the castrated (which is essentially the lack of balls) Shivraj Patil who happened to be the pet dog for the Italian madam (Italy did give us the famous Mafia, and now Sonia’s their Indian lead). Down south (well not all the way down here), the Maharashtra CM (more famously known as the father of a loser actor, Ritesh Deshmukh) too tended his resignation after his deputy, RR Patil (a relative of the President perhaps, and why did she not cut short her foreign holiday?) did the same earlier. It was this same Patil guy who quoted after the Mumbai attack that such small events do occur in large cities. His lack of a even a rudimentary brain could never have been more apparent, as this ’small incident’ did take near 200 lives. But then again asses were never known for their intelligence. Coincidentally, it brings us to the point that to be a politician, and specifically a Congressman, there are a few criteria:

1. Must show behaviour similar to a canine.
2. Must have lost brains in a ’small incident’.
3. Think ‘Sabhi Pakistani hamara bhai hai’.
4. Pray in front of Sonia’s photo 5 times a day.
5. Bray like a donkey after every terror strike.
6. Call a sword, a cucumber.
7. Lack of balls.
8. Be old enough to rot in a grave.
9. Should be able to fit under the Sari of Sonia.
10. Should state categorically that Rahul Gandhi is the future PM of India.
11. Should show huge concern for the state of Pakistan
12. Should hate Indians.
13. Do the weekly pilgrimage to 10 Janpat, Delhi (the Congress HQ).
14. Shouldn’t be human (refer points 1,2,5), or have human emotions including empathy and love for a fellow human being.
15. Should wear white to hide all the black inside.
16. Both their tails and tags should wag endlessly.
17. Promote terrorism as a vote generating scheme.

These are just a few characteristics of the various Congressmen, India has seen in the past and present, though many of these attributes do hold true to the Communists where the only difference is instead of Sonia, it’s Mao’s and the Hu’s in land of the red.

Another incident of note has to be the action of the father of slain Malayali commando Sandeep Unnikrishnan, who literally abused the Kerala CM and Home Minister as dogs and told them in strong works to get the f*&k out of his house, and the media duly broadcast it over and over again. This was just days after the wife of a cop killed in Mumbai said something similar to Modi’s offer. This is something to write about since after every other week the country gets a new martyr, the politicians (the Congressmen mostly), hog the media at the funerals and the family members remain mute. So finally someone’s spoken out. I salute the words of the bereaved father and believe that these men in khadar are pigs who surely need to get much more verbal and physical abuse from the common man. The fact that the home minister of Kerala is the single biggest goonda in state just makes it even more newsworthy.

With Shivraj Patil, the Congress yet again showed how weak they really are. With the senile man taking all ‘moral responsibility’, the Congress has in one move washed their filthy hands (which can never be cleansed, remember Bofors or any of the several thousand ’small incidents’?) What was needed was the entire UPA take blame, the PM, Sonia and Shivraj Patil be tried in court for the murder of all the innocent people they let the terrorists kill. They would have to be hung to death repeatedly for justice to be served. But then this is India, where the one’s in power don’t have to shoulder the responsibility (here with great power comes lots of money, not responsibility).The real terrorists are the people who let terrorists terrorize us. They are the same politicians who come into power just to corrupt the nation even more.

Take a moment (even if it’s just a second) to pray for the brave men in uniform who do the thankless job of protecting this country.

Let’s Hug it Out. Bitch

The guys from Entourage

That’s Ari (who’s funnier than all 6 from ‘Friends’ combined) from season 2 of Entourage. Season 5 has just wrapped up and I keep wanting more. Can’t remember the time I was so hooked onto a TV show. Let’s see 5 seasons straight is not anything new by my long TV watching standards. I’ve even watched Smallville for 6 seasons, for what it was worth, the producers of the teen Superman series is now in straight competition with the creators of the gazillion Malayalam soap operas that make watching TV impossible in Kerala households after 5 in the evening, atleast in those with just one TV set, even if it’s a cricket match. Coming back to Entourage, as any faithful fan, I too downloaded the final season on the fifth season as soon as it was put up online and watched it over breakfast today. Sadly until next summer, ‘Return to Queens Boulevard’ will be the last Entourage episode. Guess, I’ll just have to watch the previous ones on DVD again. And it was the best episode of season 5 too, a bit of drama (not Johny Drama) with the subtle comedy we’ve all grown to love. Yes, there are tons of people who loved ‘Friends’ but seriously, I was not a fan, but then for all those who’ve only watched that, they don’t know what they’ve been missing. Entourage is much more about friendship and being with your guys than ‘Friends’ ever was, and yes, all the actors in Friends were kinda dumb. Think about each of them, you’ll get my point. Yes, as always, I’ve again berated something a lot of people actually like, just because they don’t know better. Open your eyes (yes, it’s also a Snow Patrol Song).

The new Snow Patrol album ‘A Hundred Million Suns’ is a good listen, and the single Take back the City is another run of the mill song that grows on you, just like Chasing Cars. Listen to ‘Forgive Me’ by Leona Lewis (remember ‘Bleeding Love’ ?), in fact, watch the video, nice n hot in a cute kind of way video (yeah, its been repeatedly for hours now on my TV), and I can’t stop watching it! Also check out the new Wyclef Jean album, Memoirs of an Immigrant and  Dido’s single ‘Don’t Believe in Love’ from the album ‘Safe Trip Home’, two albums I’m currently listening to along with Tiesto’s In Search of Sunrise 7: Asia (especially the song ‘Reason to Believe’).

Did I mention anywhere I’ve moved into my new crib, and am living all alone by myself? Hence, too much TV, too much food (yes I can cook, and Google does throw up good recipes) and ofcourse my biggest vice (is it really?), Music!

Over the last week, I’ve been doing a small run down of George Lucas movies, and the Indy movies in particular. And seriously those movies are good old fashioned fun and action, quite good to watch too. Other than the trilogy of the 1980s Indy movies, I also saw the animated Star Wars: Clone Wars, which was nowhere near cool as the live action movies, but was still a good one time watch. But to get the laughing bone in top gear, catch ‘Pineapple Express’ with Seth Rogen (he’s the guy who ‘Knocked Up’ Katherine Heigl), James Franco (son of Green Goblin in Spidey 1, Green Goblin in Spidey 3 and ofcourse Peter Parker’s only friend), and Amber Heard. It’s another one of those stoner movies, with lots of weed, swearing, stupidity but comic all the same. Though not upto the standards of ‘Superbad’ which is my pick for the best comedy of the year, Pineapple Express holds its own. No wonders I prefer the stoner comedies about a bunch of losers over those rom-coms that Drew Barrymore and Kate Hudson seem to excel at, and we all get bored of, unless you are a girl. Coming back to Amber Heard, yes I’ve actually watched 3 movies she’s been a part of over the past week, Never Back Down and All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, both being teen movies. All the Boys Love Mandy Lane is one movie, that’ll throw up more questions than answers at the end, and quite a good slasher movie, sadly it suffered from poor marketing.  Though I won’t say it’s fabulous or a great movie, it still remains one of my favourites in the teen slasher genre. Like slashers/gore movies? Try the 80s hit Nightmare at Elm Street, another of my favourite horror-thrillers. Anything that has a lot of blood and guts, surely I would have watched! Especially if it involves zombies. Can’t wait to get my hands on the ‘Evil Dead’ trilogy. More on that once I watch all 3.

More on cricket, either it was boredom or it was the because there was nothing better to do, as most of you I too did watch India thrash England 4-0 in the series. Sadly, the only time most Indians are patriotic is when there’s a cricket match. Sad state of events indeed when all the hopes of the nation rest on a man barely my height, even if it’s the God in cricket gear, Sachin. Did anyone hear about the Indian navy shoot down a Somali pirate ship or about Chandrayaan? Our sense of national pride is severely low borderline null. By the way has anyone seen that Bharti (the Airtel guys) ad with the various famous Indians like Aryabhatta, Gandhi etc.? Trying to raise that patriotic vibe to make money but quite inspirational nonetheless.

As usual, I cannot stop talking football. Tonight, is almost D-Day for Real. A win can keep the Champions League dream alive for Real, even though the club is in a crisis with hardly any players to form a full squad. Atleast Barca dropped points last week, while Villareal lost and Valencia drew and Real are upto second. Big matches coming up with Sevilla, Zenit St Petersburg, and the mother of all football clashes Barca all in December. This is going to be a cold December, only if it was all the white of Real Madrid.

Finishing Line: For those of you ‘Friends’ fans, get a life. Let’s Hug it Out, Bitches!

The Great Indian Resignation drama

Life throws us challenge after challenge, and as normal people we deal with it. However, unlike the common man, his representatives seem not to be able to meet these head on. Only 2 weeks after another slew of resignations (actually threats to resign), now it’s the chance for the North Indians (why do we distinguish Indians into North, South, Keralite, Bihari?) to follow suit. Only, the whole gimmick had been played out by the cunning octogenarian KK (not our own Leader, but his bigger and better and more powerful version of the state that gave us Rajni movies and our neighbourhood low cost veggie place, ah yes the Ghee roasts, and I’m already drooling). While in both cases it was mostly to do with the whole issue of race or creed, which sadly is a dire turn of events. If after 60 odd years of independence, if our leaders are not ready to act as Indian leaders but rather as Biharis or Madrasis, how can the common man be expected not to follow the same.
However, in either case, the integrity of the whole exercise has to be questioned. For one, the next general elections are just months away, and by resigning the leaders do not stand to lose anything. However, what about the state exchequer? Earlier if it was in support of the Tamil cause in Sri Lanka (last time I checked Sri Lanka wasn’t a state in the Indian Union), now with the JDU it’s mostly a game on one-upmanship over Laloo’s party which was thinking along the same lines. The JDU is led by one Mr. George Fernandes (famous for the Army coffins scandal, and to a lesser extent as the ex-defense minister) from the BJP-led NDA. But by George, old man KK had already stole the limelight much earlier with his own party’s resignation game. Apparently the media were not as interested as the time around, and this should easily be forgotten. The elections are one of the costliest exercises conducted by the government, and foolishly (actually helplessly), the general populace take the strain for a day long wait to cast votes, because there are still some who actually holds a flicker of hope in Indian polity which for all reasons is a lost cause. Why else is the polling percentage only 60% (which again is from those who hold voter IDs, there are a considerable number of Indians who don’t, including yours truly). DMK’s pressure tactic was for India to intervene in the Tamil cause in Lanka, while our own country is simmering with jehadi terrorism. As old adage goes first, let’s try to set our own house in order before copying USA and extending our reach to our neighbours.
Talking of the US of A, they just elected their new president (if you’re reading it first here, then my friend you seriously have been living under a rock). Obama (which rhymes with Osama, Bush’s nemesis numero uno) becomes the first Black American president. The Americans squandered their best shot at having a Vice President who could grace Playboy’s centrefolds with panache. So a moment of silence to the memory of Sarah Palin as she once again fades to oblivion. Oh, and some old guy (white hair and all) was running for President alongside her. At the Chronicles, I don’t even care who won since there’s not going to be a VPilf. Ah, the potential she had (Osama would surely have made peace with the US if Palin was sent, now he’s going to have to re-write all his anti-Bush speeches). If you’re reading, Mr Hefner, do make an offer Palin can’t refuse.
After that slight distraction, yes, our entire political system sucks and there’s no 2 ways about it. The British say God save the Queen, we could all just save God Save India. Well, not the cricket team, but the rest of India anyways. As usual Sachin hit another century. If he hits another 20 more in total (which doesn’t seem too likely), he could have made a century of centuries.
News from my side, I’ve moved to Cochin and it’s good to be back. Is there something to write about? Drop a comment.

Writer’s Block

As most of those who actually take the time to read this (thank you all) are wondering, what is this phenomena they (who are they?) call, ‘writer’s block’? Either it’s my one-sided thinking or more of a case of beer mug half empty, I too like great writers before me (I’m not giving examples, either because there are too many to list or I don’t really have a clue). Now, in this millennium (actually I’ve just lived through 2, like any of you), where people like being lied to than the cold and hard truth, I do it my style. The first time I actually heard of such a thing would have been from a certain Malayalam star’s half hour movie, which was meant to fill the gap between 2 shows at a theatre. The protagonist (the star), plays a writer who loses focus and can’t write to save his life for some reason. However, the movie like the star bombed and all was forgotten. Moral of the story: The actual writer’s block was experienced by the script writer (who has penned some of the best Malayalam movies) of this dud, as told by the lackluster reception at the BO. We, Keralites claim (as does most of the literacy surveys) to be the smartest people around, but somehow, if you’re a teen or young adult, there would be so few of us watching the Malayalam movies. Now what does that tell about our writers and creative minds? Nothing, as in there’s nothing in their heads. So go out watch those Bollywood and Hollywood movies and not waste time/money on the useless junk they throw out at us in the name of entertainment. Meanwhile for those of you really into movies or really bored (like me) watch the British movie, Cashback, which is over an year old but nonetheless a decent watch.
And over to politics, could someone give one word that describes India’s polity. It should be a word that describes the Congress for being so anti-national, the BJP for being noisy and uselessly silly, the communists for assuming Indians to be dumber than Bush, and all those small parties that litter the parliament with the criminals and the liars that rule the nation. Yes, it’s election year, 2009. Do the right thing (don’t vote, not really ).
My pick for the song of the week would be Li’l Wayne with T-Pain and Mack Maine in the song Get Money. Also check out Tiesto’s latest iteration of the ‘In Search of Sunrise’ with the seventh release, the Armani Exchange Limited edition. Yes, it’s the same brand with the logo A|X, whose fake tees atleast a few of us have.
Before I end, a belated Diwali to all of us. Guess, my writer’s block has kicked in.