The importance of being Dravid

Your team has an exciting new talent whom you have to play. You decide to jettison one of your openers to play him. Who will now open the innings? Simple send Dravid to open (irrespective of the fact, he is one of the best No.3 ever to occupy the spot)

Your team lacks balance. You need to play 7 batsmen & 4 bowlers. Your wicketkeeper can give McGrath competition with the bat. What do you do? Simply ask Dravid to don the gloves

Your team brimming with exuberant talent stumbles when ball fizzes past their throat and your next assignment is on bouncy tracks. What do you do? Dial D for Dravid (despite the fact, that the man was unceremoniously dropped from the test team)

Your next tournament is in India on tracks where if the ball bounces more than your chest, implies that it is a tennis ball being bowled. Drop Dravid (inspite of the fact that the man performed admirably well in the role designated for him)

If it had been anyone but Dravid, I am sure there would be lengthy press conferences and not-so-quiet rumblings but being the gentleman that he is, there was nary a sound from him. Instead he spoke louder through his actions, scoring a sublime unbeaten century proving a point again.

Proving a point. That has been Dravid’s story. Branded as an unidimensional player at the start of his career, he has reinvented himself and scored over 10,000 ODI runs at an average a shade under 40 to prove his detractors wrong. For people who wrote him off after the disastrous tour Down Under in 1999, he replied by amassing over 600 runs the next tour.

A quiet unassuming man, not for him the genius of Tendulkar or the magnificence of Lara or the power of Ponting. Instead, he has ground out attacks. Unflinching in the face of adversity and capable of absorbing anything thrown at him, he earned himself the sobriquet of “The Wall”. And that solid he has been for Team India.

Look back at some of Team India’s greatest overseas victories and it is replete with instances of Dravid being instrumental in achieving those victories. The phenomenal double century in the first innings and the gritty unbeaten 72 in the 2nd innings where he was just going on empty, at Adelaide. The master class of 148 in blustery, damp, dank, wickedly swinging and seaming Headingly track leading to a famous victory. The twin fifties on a devilish minefield at Sabina Park where one only player apart from him scored above 60 in a low scoring scrap.The massive 270 at Rawalpindi where despite not being in the best of touches, he hung in there and ensured that India won the match and series in Pakistan. Throw in over 180 catches, a captaincy stint that led to series victories in England and West Indies and a first ever win in S Africa, Dravid is veritably the finest No.3 that India has produced.

In a team replete with stroke makers, Dravid is the glue that holds it together and provides solidity. Over the last 2 years, when the man was not as solid as he normally is, the team had a shaky feel to it, capable of imploding spectacularly.

Dravid has spent most of his career under the shadow of Sachin. However, in the near future (when Dravid retires), Team India will realize that he cast an equal shadow and had an equal influence (if not greater) as Sachin.

PS: Last Word. Ponting – 136 Test matches – 11345 runs. Dravid – 134 Test matches – 10823 runs. Just 500 runs behind in 2 less games. Does that make him a lesser player?

2012 – “Disaster” Porn

Alfred (Michael Caine) in The Dark Knight remarks, some men just want to watch the world burn. He was in fact referring to guys like Roland Emmerich and Michael Bay, who after all love to do nothing but to blow up as big a thing as possible. Its almost like Emmerich and Bay have a competition among them on who can spend the maximum amount in making a spectacular blow-out. Emmerich’s last big disaster release was the mega spectacle Day After Tomorrow and he needed to find a way to better that and thus decided to make 2012.

 

2012

 

 

2012 is the year when Earth’s crust is supposed to melt and could potentially lead to the “extinction of the species” (Yes, the movie throws as many cliches as the number of misfields by the Indian team). Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) discovers this and along with the President of the US (Danny Glover) and other heads of states, come up with a plan to survive this. Meanwhile, we have John Cusack playing a failed author Jackson Curtis who now drives limo and has been separated from wife and 2 kids, taking the kids out to Yellowstone National Park where he encounters a heavy government presence and runs into Woody Harrelson, who runs a radio program supporting the 2012 apocalypse prediction and conveys to Cusack that the government has built ships to survive the impending doom. Rest of the movie is about how John Cusack and his family escape everything that Mother Nature has to throw at them right from earthquakes to volcanoes to tsunamis.

I wont talk of plausibility here as a disaster movie offers no scope for that. I mean this is a perfect leave-your-brain-at-home movie and yes, it has been spectacularly shot. Emmerich has certainly destroyed everything remotely possible on Earth in his movies. One feels he definitely cant better it unless he decides to blow up the moon in his next venture.  Tremendously rendered, there is an almost visceral feel watching California slide into the ocean or watching a battleship carried atop a tidal wave crashing into the White House (Really!)

Of course, there is only a limit to which one can watch John Cusack and co escape from everything including the kitchen sink that Earth has to throw at them. The movie could have been made much better with reduced flab. There are some interesting questions that the movie raises in terms of how to communicate that the world is ending, how to select people who should be given the chance to survive etc but then this is a disaster movie, all these questions are given only lip service.

The real star of the show is Ejiofor. He carries his role with admirable passion. He is uncomfortable with the fact that a great part of humanity is not given a chance and struggles to come to grips with it. He raises a lot of moral questions and displays great conviction in his role. John Cusack and the rest just have to be present in the movie and dont attract special attention despite being in the movie for large portions.

Full of cliches and predictable sequences, the movie is nonetheless a visual treat and should be experienced on a large screen. However, there is a limit to which one can watch things go boom and fatigue does set in.

Rating – 6/10

PS: Moral of the story, For a family in an Emmerich movie to come together, the whole world has to suffer

 

The making of Veg Sambar – The Anatomy of a Culinary (almost) Disaster

Step 1: Soak Tamarind in water and Boil Dhal in the pressure cooker. Vegetables to be cooked separately with minimum water. A little salt to be added while boiling the vegetables

Step 2: Extract Tamarind juice and add Sambar powder, turmeric and salt

Step 3: Heat a little oil and add mustard seeds. When they crackle, add fenugreek seeds and asafoetida.

Step 4: When they become red, add tamarind juice and boil for few minutes

Step 5: Add the dhal and the boiled vegetables and let it simmer. Add water as required and Voila! tasty sambar is ready

The Real Story -

Step 1: Woke up and after performing all other necessary activities, finally decided to make Onion Sambar

Step 2: Hunted for Tamarind in the kitchen, fridge and all possible places and finally found it. Dithered on the amount of tamarind to be added and guesstimated an amount (guessed from vaguely remembering mum doing it ages ago and estimated from POTA – pulled outta thin air – numbers) and soaked it in water.

Step 3: Went to nearby supermarket to buy onion and other provisions. Chanced upon a packet of readily cut mixed vegetables. Quick decision. Onion Sambar upgraded to Mixed Veg Sambar.

Step 4: Back in the kitchen, basic confusion on which Dhal is the Thur Dhal. Tried to guess but realized it was a high risk aspect. Called up Subject Matter Expert (SME) aka Mum, got an approximate description of how it looks, did not help and then mum ,in all exasperation, described the container in which it was kept,(Bless her) and located it.

Step 5: Added 2 spoons of T.Dhal and top up the container with water. Placed the contraption without dropping it into the cooker and (most important) added water to the sides of the container in the cooker and let it boil/cook/do its job.

Step 6: Took the pre-cut vegetable and mulled over whether to cut them further. Realized it was a task beyond me and let it boil in water with little salt added.

Step 7: Extracted Tamarind juice from Step 2. Guesstimated amount seemed to high. So used only half the tamarind extract.

Step 8: One spoon of Sambar powder and a pinch of turmeric powder to be added. Question is how to differentiate between the 2? Both to me looked similar. Compromised by adding quarter spoons of both, hoping that roomie could identify which was what. Salt also added in little quantity. (Salt can be added anytime later, so its better to not overadd it)

Step 9: Determined which oil had to be added. (The cookbooks just say oil!! How is one supposed to determine which oil) by vaguely remembering that Sundrop is meant for cooking and not for oil bath. Heated it and added mustard seeds to the same and added fenugreek once the mustard seeds started to boil.

Step 9.5: Note to self. Never try to cut vegetables on an uneven surface, as the resulting touch, dexterity and balance from my side with the knife is liable (in 100% of the cases), to ensure that the floor is given a fair share of vegetables

Step 10: Added the tamarind extract + added ingredients to the content of Step 9 and since the resulting mixture seemed too little, added a glass of water to the same and left it to boil. It also helped that I was really praying at this stage

Step 11: Allowed the mixture to boil, while removed the cooked T.Dhal from the cooker (without any incidents. Wow! I really must be getting a hang of things)

Step 12: To the boiling mixture from Step 10, added the T.Dhal in stages. We, after all don’t want to make it a paste do we?. Also added the cooked vegetables and allowed the mixture to boil.

Step 13: Got vaguely concerned when the resulting “sambar” looked very liquidy. In desperation, tasted a bit and determined, it tasted just like colored water. Desperate times calls for desperate measures. Added the other half of the tamarind paste

Step 14: Panic sets in. The “Sambar” now tastes like tamarind water. Roomie sauntered in and determined which is sambar powder. Feeling relieved, added a spoon of Sambar powder to the simmering brew. For good measure, added salt too. As a further back-up, started to dial Just-Dial to get nearby Dominoes’ number

Step 15: Faint glimmering of hope emerged after boiling, as the scent starts to be sambar-ish. Further tasting confirms the first impression and corriander leaves added for flavor and the sambar is ready.

Step 16: Thulped and Thulped. Tasted half decent too. (All this and modesty too, I simply rock)

Step 17: Woke up next day and determined that I was still alive (the power was out. In Utopia, I would not be suffering powercuts and be woken up at 9AM on a Sunday. In hell, I probably would not be even be allowed to go to sleep, So this was Earth)

Moral of the story: Dont be so ready to cook unless you are prepared to wash the utensils and clear the resulting battle-field like mess afterwards

PS: Oh btw, roommate also fine. Thanks for asking

PJ

Q: What do you call a Mallu who set up a tea shop in the 1930s-1940s?

A: Noir

 

 

Hint, Hint, Wink, Wink

There are typically 3 types of people in the world – Those who get the hint and react to it, those who get the hint but refuse to act on it and those who dont get the hint at all. But then has anyone wondered if the person who has not got the hint, has actually got the hint and is pretending to not get the hint, thereby dropping a re-hint back.

PS: Was there a hint there?

Song Worm!!!!

is  a song that gets stuck in your head for a really long time. Just realized how bad it can. This one song called “Oy Oy” from the rather (un)imaginatively titled movie “Oy” has been playing from the morning on my Ipod. Even if I change the song, thats the one that keeps playing in the mind-space and hence, I am forced to listen to the song again so that I dont have to hear my (rather tone- and tune-less) voice singing that song.

Worst thing is it is not like the song is a really awesome song. Just damn peppy and catchy. Oy stars Siddarth and Shamili and the song is sung by Siddarth himself. Music is by Yuvan Shankar Raja.

Arrgh, I have listened to the song over 50 times now. So obsessed over it that I have even have the lyrics and its translation almost by heart.

For those interested, heres the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xh15B6JICcU and heres the lyrics and translation: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090723022049AAuIkge

There the song starts again

PS: Gult songs also rock. Listening to so many of those these days. Would be better if I understood what they are singing though

Love

God’s idea of a PJ, conceived while nursing a particularly nasty hangover

Arbit Rant

When something looks like a pig an ass, smells like a pig an ass, tastes like a pig an ass ,you call it a horse and enter horse races and hire jockeys for the same, wonder who is fooling who here?

“But Doctor… I am Pagliacci”

Rorschach:

“I heard a joke once: Man goes to doctor. Says he’s depressed. Says life is harsh and cruel. Says he feels all alone in a threatening world. Doctor says, “Treatment is simple. The great clown Pagliacci is in town tonight. Go see him. That should pick you up.” Man bursts into tears. Says, “But doctor… I am Pagliacci.” Good joke. Everybody laugh. Roll on snare drum. Curtains.”

Blue – A Colorful Canvas but just short of a Masterpiece

One of the costliest Bollywood movies to come out, Blue is notable as this could well be the last AR Rahman album on the Indian movie scene for sometime as he gets really busy with Hollywood projects (Check out the new ARR score for Couples Retreat). The movie has also been gaining hajaar publicity with Kylie Minogue singing a song, underwater adventure news, the tiff between Akshay Kumar and Sanjay Dutt and the of course Lara Dutta’s costumes or rather the lack of them.

Blue

The album opens with the much hyped Kylie Minogue song “Chiggy Wiggy” (the kind of lyrics junta come up with and people call me arbit). Its an interesting song to say the least. It starts of like a western song with the Indian-ness coming through the typical ARR beats. Kylie’s voice is new but there is a feeling that something is missing, which vanishes the moment Sonu Nigam’s voice literally bursts through. After that the song is literally awesome with Sonu in full form belting it out with great gusto mixing high pitch portions with normal sounding portions. (With all apologies to non-Tam junta, the combo is literally like having aavakai ooruga with thayir saadam)

Rahman never ceases to surprise with his choice of instruments and Aaj dil Gustaakh is no exception. Featuring one of ARR’s favorite, Sukhwinder Singh and Shreya Ghoshal, its one of those songs where the piano and chords literally run wild. Listening to the song, one can literally imagine the fingers running wild over the keyboard creating the music. Its kind of free flowing and theres an almost jazzy effect produced. Sukhwinder Singh is his usual irrepressible self. I think he can just wake up and sing these kind of songs straight out of sleep. Shreya Ghoshal is awesome and her voice is like a hot fudge on chocolate icecream. It simply smoothly flows.

Vijay Prakash remains a very under utilized talent and it takes someone like ARR to remind us why with Fiqraana. Its a song that is a cross between Kaala Bandar (Delhi 6) and Dil ka Rishtaa (Yuvvraaj). Its a fairly peppy number and Vijay Prakash’s voice conveys  a sense of strength to the song. Shreya Ghoshal is the female voice and complements his voice brilliantly. In fact, while this song is out and out a Vijay Prakash song, Shreya Ghoshal’s voice enhances the effect.

Bhoola Tujhe is the best song of the album. Theres a quiet reflective quality to the music and in fact, it takes more than a minute for the vocals to start and you are not disappointed. Rashid Ali starts off on a brilliant note and never falters. His voice does perfect justice to the song and the music is very subtle. Theres a phase where the music almost flows in waves, increasing crescendo over each iteration. The lyrics are exquisite and best part is ARR lets the singer carry the song. Easily one of the best songs I have had the fortune to listen to. It takes great difficulty to stop gushing about Rashid Ali’s voice and there is a sense of regret once the song ends. The feeling is quite akin to finishing the full meals at Krishna Kafe. You would want to go on and on but one has to stop.

Next is the theme song. A psychedelic mix of guitars and bass drums, it is fairly ok types. In fact, it is one of the weakest theme songs from ARR in recent times.

Rehnuma should have been the theme song for the movie. There is an almost James Bond feel to the song and the usual firm of Sonu Nigam and Shreya Ghoshal handle the song with great aplomb. In fact, Shreya Ghoshal is the real star of the song pitching her voice perfectly and adding good depth to the song. Theres this portion in this song where Sonu Nigam goes around in his high pitch and Shreya Ghoshal provides a nice contrast going with the music.

Udit Narayan returns after ages for the song Yaar Mila Tha which is a nice folksy song. Madhushree is the female voice on the song. While it is indeed nice to hear Udit, the song itself isnt too special which is  a tad disappointing. There are a couple of typical ARR touches in the song, like sounds of horns honking in between words but still its a fairly routine number.

There is a certain expectation with ARR albums considering his last,  Delhi 6 was brilliant. While Blue is good, there is a certain spark missing. There seems to be not too much experimentation that ARR always brings with his album. Might be due to a time crunch but there are aspects that kind of seem hurried. But then even a fairly average ARR album stands heads and shoulders over other composers. May be we tend to simply expect more from ARR!!!

PS: To be fair to ARR, while the music aspect might lag a bit, it remains one of those albums in which he has got the best out of his singers. Shreya Ghoshal is simply brilliant while Sonu Nigam and Sukhwinder Singh sing with the kind of enjoyment that I have not heard from them in recent times while Vijay Prakash continues to impress majestically

PPS: Continuing with the food theme, Blue is a little bit like going to the Angeethi, having good food but not having the paan. There is a sense that you have had good food but you do have a feeling that you have missed out on something good. You are satiated but not overly so.