The next steps in Blog Tools

Follow an interesting discussion on A vision for the next generation of blogging tools here. The comments there have already thrown out a number of extremely thought provoking ideas.

My own personal yearning right now is for the ability to index, organize and group my blog posts based on content, areas and perhaps intended audience. Right now, I'm organizing my archives to do part of this albeit manually. Wouldn't it be great to have your post automatically added into a collection of your previous blogs on "Films" or "Cricket"?

The good Doctor(s) is(are) back

Star World has a new season of (probably my most favourite comedy series) Frasier. Quite appropriately, the cracker of an episode featured a profusion of Oedipal urges and typically sardonic wit. No Eddie in sight, but Rita Wilson (more famously known as Mrs. Tom Hanks) was a guest star.

This was our world once

The Pune pages of the Indian Express feature a small write-up on Dear ol' Boat Club a.k.a the nerve centre of COEP. Of course, there's no mention of the Quiz Club, you woud be hard pressed to find any resident COEPian who professed any knowledge of that.

Related: Ode, Elegy, Paean & Requiem to the Boat Club quiz

Life back then wasn't so different

Was good to see this one again, this time in the pages of Eric Steven Raymond's The Art of Unix Programming.

It's a well-known fact that computing devices such as the abacus were invented thousands of years ago. But it's not well known that the first use of a common computer protocol occurred in the Old Testament. This, of course, was when Moses aborted the Egyptians' process with a control-sea.

-- Tom Galloway, rec.arts.comics, February 1992

A LOI rule suggestion

We know that bowling sides are sometimes reduced to being punching bags for batsmen who wield the 15-over rule, only 1 bouncer per over rules etc. to rein in the spinners and seamers. I've always had a small improvement in mind in the ODI rules that I think can address this imbalance. I find it a little unfair that a batting side has the opportunity to use an in-form batsman for as much of the 50 overs as possible, while the bowling side can give its in-form bowlers only upto 10 overs each. Additionally, with the balance of teams tilting towards a buffer batsman, the bowling side always has a weak 5th/6th bowler that is targeted by the opposing batsman; this only causes a spiralling effect in the imbalance. I clearly rememebr a match between India & Australia in the tri-series Down Under in 1999 (the third team being Pakistan). I think it was at Sydney, where the conditions were exceptionally favourable for the seamers. India was out for a low score, but the Aussies got into trouble straightaway with Srinath bowling grenades and bombs in a straight 10-over spell. The fact that the Aussies were able to play out Srinath's 10 and that Symonds could give the other batsman (SRW or Bevan?) some support meant that they won.

My suggestion to allow the bowling side the option of allowing atleast one bowler to have a quota of upto 12 or 13 overs. You want to see the best batsmen of one side take on the best bowlers of the others, not them wait for those 10 overs and bash the 5th bowler up. By allowing an increased quota (it could even be 11/12 overs each for two bowlers perhaps) would give beleagured captains an fair chance to overcome situations where one other bowler is having an off day. If Srinath had bowled a couple of more overs that day, India might've won!

I look at it as easing some of the restrictive trade practices in cricket :-).

Faux News - II

Faux News bulletin

(You know it's time if it's faux pas nine!)

Boring vandals at it again!

From our Culture correspondent in Pune

In yet another protest from the morality police that seems to have estabished an outpost in the old cultural city of Pune, activists of yet another organization have threatened agitations and even vandalism against what they claim to be "lowering of standards in the Indian society".

In a press conference, the spokesman of the hitherto unknown "Rambhau Anna's Moral Bunch Of Gentlemans", also known as the RAMBO-G Brigade, Mr. Gaurang Zebadkar protested the recent decision of baker-turned-director Essel "Buns" Ali to cast renegade star Prem Kahn and star-child Premi K. Dev Annie in the title roles of his upcoming multi-million historical magnum opus Budgie Row & Mist-Annie. Mr. Zebadkar claimed that Maharastrian self-pride could not accept such a mis-casting. He said that these two Bollywood stars in particular epitomised the growing rot in Indian culture. Ms. Asmita Gujarati, leader of the women's wing of the Brigade and well-known garments manufacturer, accused the stars of polluting many young minds into following skimpy fashion trends, directly affecting the livelihood of several cotton mill workers. The RAMBO-G Brigade laid out a set of 6 demands, including the dropping of either one of the lead actors and replacing him or her with a local Maharastrian performer, in keeping with the "sons-of-the-soil" policy adopted by the organization. Taking a tough stand, Ms. Gujarati said "We've not worn bangles to see some outsiders make films on our heroes and misrepresent our culture". Both Mr. Zebadkar & Ms. Gujarati refused to comment on whether they had read the film's script to ascertain its validity.

This correspondent was unable to reach Mr. Essel "Buns" Ali, but his secretary informed us that Mr. Ali had no reaction to give to the press on this matter. Mr. Ali is said to be in South Africa scouting locations for his film. This is not the first time that the one-time baker has had to face criticisms over his movies. It may be recalled that the Alcoholics Anonymous group had been up in arms over Mr. Ali's last venture. Ms. Dev Annie was also unavailable for comment, and is said to be wrapping up work on her film Chum Maali - The Friendship of a Gardener. However, an irate Mr. Kahn did react strongly against his detractors and dismissed all criticisms that he was not the right choice to play the role. Friends of the actor say that he almost jumped out of his clothes in indignation when he heard the RAMBO-G Brigade spokesman claim that Kahn didn't even know how to speak Marathi. The same sources refused to confirm if Kahn's exact words were "Tya.nchaa Ai**** Du*** **** ***".

Budgie Row & Mist-Annie is a classic early 20th-century tale of love and sacrifice. Buddhijeevi "Budgie" Row, a seller of birds, rescued young Annie in a daring bid in the mist and rain from Hash Wednesday Chowk, (the flesh-trade bazaar of ancient Pune named after a notorious English opium trader who established it) where she had been forced to live by an evil uncle. In time, they became the leading lights of Puneri society and established a famous hotel called The Saturday Sambaar (some say it was by virtue of their close relationship with the then Vice President). Mr. "Buns" Ali has sought to portray their tempestuous courtship and happy marriage on screen as a tribute to his memories of the dahi vada during his college days at The Saturday Sambaar. He plans to release it on Valentine's Day 2005, a move that has further irked the militant members of the Brigade who have threatened to burn down The Saturday Sambaar in protest. It still remains to be seen which of the two parties will blink first, clearly this is a game of blinkmanship.

---

Jest like that!

Q: What did Fardeen Khan have to say when he found Pepsi was in trouble over the pesticides scam?

A: "It always happens to me. If I'm with Pepsi, this happens. When I tried Coke, the police got after me. Damn!"

Contributed by Faux Muddler

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Click here for a free look at an earlier edition.

ROTK revisited

I have been reviewing my reactions to LOTR - ROTK and have a few more points to offer. The principal reason why I stayed away from reading the books was to find out for myself how that affects the way how I react to the filmed version. In most cases where a film is based on a well-known book, I know a bit about the plot, but in the case of LOTR, I was completely ignorant of it. It was a very interesting exercise in forming an opinion of film adaptations and the difficulties in doing them - David Lean's biography (a BCL copy of which I had read a few years ago) had dwelt on the many pitfalls accompanying screen adaptations.

Most LOTR fans (those who've read the books) I know are primarily excited in seeing how the Jackson trilogy brings to screen Tolkien's grand and complex vision. They are already aware of the plot, so they can set aside any anxiety in that regard. This doesn't not hold for those who haven't read the books and they wonder what else is in store ahead. Unfortunately, I think the story in the last segment is very inevitable and everyone recognises it - it is, after all, a straightforward tale of good versus evil at its core. Even within that limitation, the grey areas as signified by Gollum/Smeagol do provide an excellent counterpoint to the plucky Hobbits and the conventional bravery of the other heroes. I think the film's plot would never have had any surprises - in a book, this predictability can be overcome with the elements of wordsmithy, character development etc without worrying too much about the length. In a film, this has to be done with the elements of locales, acting, battle scenes et al, which do need the viewer to be looking out for them. Those viewers who aren't watching out for the development of the plot can do this better, and especially those who must have read and marvelled at Tolkien's imaginative settings and character sketches, which apparently Jackson has done justice to on screen. But for viewers like me, it cannot be achieved on the first viewing where the story is always paramount - there is such a profusion of participants that it is hard work keeping up with the multitude of interwoven threads in the first place.

There is absolutely no disputing the top-notch cinematography, locales, special effects. There are some glorious cinematic moments too, some of the battle sequences, the grateful bowing of everyone to the Hobbits, the opening with a brief flashback to Smeagol are all well-done. But I still carry my criticisms of the unravelling of the plot for the last edition, and hence my opposition for a Best Picture nod for this particular film taken alone, though everyone knows it is more in recognition for all the three etc. I think the last two editions couldn't carry that section of the audience that had not read the books, and while that may be excellent motivation to read them, as a cinematic endeavour, it hasn't been quite that successful. LOTR-FOTR did a marvellous job (as one commentor rightly pointed out) in introducing us to the world of Middle Earth, the context of the conflicts, the various traits of the different races and unveiled this grand canvas that previously lived in the minds of the LOTR fans. The Two Towers, but for the Gollum development, was the weakest of the three to my mind. I'm sure a lot of details didn't make it to the screenplay from the books, and I still feel some of the last scenes (those that book fans, on the contrary, may feel aggrieved that they had been only fleetingly referred to in the film) didn't add much cinematic value and only succeeded in diluting the end to an intense plot.

I'm quite happy that my decision to stay away from the books has helped me in thinking about these things from an alternative point-of-view. When I finish reading them and watch the films again, I'm sure I'll have a completely different experience and understand even better the classic dilemma between books and film adaptations.

Kal-yawn-am

Would you really want to get married in front of the cabinets of 10 states and 2 Union Territories, one national cabinet, the casts of 5 multistarrers and assorted junta (both civilian and military ruling) ? If you would, consider being born into the household of the Sahara Shri (that sounds more like a bodybuilding title, to be honest).

I hope the younger Roys aren't anything like Augustus Fink-Nottle, whose nuptials caused him grave stress & exhalation. If they are, then they are in for trouble. At most wedding receptions, the broom-and-ride have a torrid time meeting hordes of people, shaking hands, nodding heads, smiling and receiving "Best Wishes from Mr. X and fly.". I have been a strong advocate for the use of modern technology such as flash cards and smiling mukhautas (a wonderful Russian storybook called Captains' Island had a female villain with a fake smile pasted on her lips) which may prevent the h(m)arried couple from being permanently disfigured and disabled. Fathers have to cop much of the blame, for they love to introduce all and sundry to the kids - they don't apply a filtering process. They have no pecking order, no list of most-wanted. They try to be egalitarian and introduce everyone who shows up. "This is my aunt's brother's third cousin". "Oh ho! You must meet him. He is the guy who didn't show me three answers in our XIIth Board exam, as a result of which I got into Engineering and not Medical".

The point I'm trying to make here is that I hope the Senior Shri is more considerate on this ground to his sons and dottirs-in-law-to-be, but having invited such dignitaries, he's gotta make sure he gets everyone on stage according to protocol. Even then, greeting ministers of every description is bound to take its toll. The Union Minister for Information Technology is ok, but having to shake hands with the Madhya Pradesh Minister for Animal Husbandry and Cow Protection is a little too much. I'd make sure the latter washes his hands first.

Don't even get me started on the phillumy guests. The rumour is that Karan Johar might shoot his next two multistarrers in three days in the scenic locales of the Sheher, for where else can you get these guys under one roof in the same block of dates? Rajkumar Santoshi bagged the contract for shooting the wedding videos, it is reported. That's quite a leg up for wedding video cameramen all around the country. Once Santoshi gets this entered into IMDB, the Union of W.V.C will make a collective representation to IMDB for inclusion of their credits, and to the I & B Ministry for the inception of a National Award in their category. Gone are the days when W.V.C would pan to catch the bride and her pretty companions, and the odd shot of an uncle easing a finger into his nasal cavities. Wedding Videos invariably left out recalcitrant relatives who would complain later that they never got to even one of the shots. Are they telecasting this wedding live on the Sahara channels? Will the guests wear the Sahara uniform with symbol pinned over their hearts like the newsreaders? Ooh, I'm all agog!

And is that why Bryan Adams was/is in the country? For the sangeet ceremony?

Ring and the King

Ticked off The Return of the King yesterday from the to-view list, and I did come back rather disappointed. It's strictly average, me thought. True, some of the battle sequences were stunningly created, but at the completion of the film, I was just tired. Perhaps it was because I haven't read the books (wanted to hold off till I finished watching all three), but I think they would've been more captivating. My perceptions are coloured by the end of the film being stretched for atleast 15 minutes - everyone in the theatre just lost it at the endless extensions into the future. Guess it's not easy to adapt a sprawling set of fiction.

Was I the only one to see parallels in the screenplay of both the last installments of The Return of the King and The Matrix Revolutions in how there were three very similarly structured threads? One, the main force fighting a seemingly losing battle, the second being a small force bringing succour to the main force from an alternative and difficult route, and the third being the main protagonists moving towards the "source" through difficult terrain and the elements for sacrifice and doubt et al. Very similar to me. Of course, both exhibited a benumbing array of characters (real and fictional) to fill the screen. Gollum's characterization and presentation was keenly detailed as before. That was done very well. Perhaps, my movie watching habits are veering in the direction of more dialogue and less action based films. Still, I liked the Fellowship of the Ring the best. And please don't tell me LOTR-ROTK will win an Oscar! (that is, for Best Pic) I really agree with one BBC film reporter who hoped someone else would beat the force of the reel Ring. I don't think this must've been the best film of the year, and that the direction was top notch (I'm strictly talking in terms of Part III). But everyone's being "oh-so-inevitable" about it, so don't rule out a result similar to Spielberg & E.T at the Oscars (in 1981, IIRC).

*** The king whose return I was really interested in scored 11, took a catch and didn't bowl yesterday. The Lord of the Spin : The Return of the King (as one Aussie poster put it) didn't last long due to rain, but attracted the most crowd ever for a Victorian Second XI match of any sort.

The Aussie selectors have always exhibited some sort of perverse pleasure in dropping big names - it may serve to show the rest of the world their reserves and non-reliance on the aces. Though one is faithful to one's favourites, the Aussie selectors have got it right more often than not. Dean Jones mentioned the rumour that Warne would probably not be picked for the tour to Sri Lanka in response to Bhogle's comment that Warne would walk into it, especially given the troubled Indian series for their bowlers. It reflects the opposing positions of the romantic and the hardened pro - the romantics would love to see as much of Warne and his ilk for some more time.

Grab me a Grammy

Not being much of a Western music (especially pop) follower, The Grammies usually held only quizzing significance to me. Partially, I attribute it to the fact that there are so many of them to hand out, much like the Olympic golds for swimming. It's easier to remember the top Oscar categories, or the sprint golds, but when you have categories like Best New Male Country and 4 x 400 medley among many other similarly titled prizes, it is excusable to be washed away with the flotsam.

Many "performers" win more than one awards - this seems to be a manifestation of the Pigeonhole Principle: there seem to be more awards than people wanting to win them, so it's obvious a few of them will take home a clutch.

But the Grammies do push a limit or two - they seem to have categories for anything that can be done with an open mouth (well, alright, almost anything!). Take Best Spoken Word for example. This year's winners included Bill Clinton and Mikhail Gorbachev. Given that Hillary Clinton won a Grammy some time back in a similar category, they're just waiting for Chelsea to say something into a tape, so as to complete the family album. But seriously, how Best can Clinton's Spoken Words get? His UnSpoken Words would be more interesting. And Gorbachev? Did they understand what he was saying? I cannot see how Bill and Mike can speak better than Pu La or Solomon Poppayya (I know I've got the spelling wrong there), but then we shouldn't kid ourselves that these are international awards.

*** We had our own version of the Gs, called the IMMies a few months ago. Needless to say, the range of music was as Indian as Bollywood is representative of Indian cinema.

Intransitive

A Transitive relation is one in which if an element "a" is related to element "b", and element "b" in turn is related to element "c", then "a" is also related to "c".

Cricket definitely does not exhibit the transitive property. Or else, if people think Sachin Tendulkar plays like Don Bradman, and Virender Sehwag plays like Tendulkar, wouldn't that make Sehwag play like Bradman?

"Leave 'em alone!"

The title of this post would be my response to the many detractors of the Indian cricket team. Results have not gone our way, but they have gone exactly according to reason. Which is good. Indian cricket always suffers from the flash-in-the-pan success story that flatters its supporters. Let the fans learn the hard route to setting expectations that don't conceal a sting.

Two men spent some time, during the collapse of the Indian innings at Sydney, talking about the series in its entirety and where it left Indian cricket. Both Harsha Bhogle and Dean Jones made the point that this series runs the danger of being judged by the last four games, which would wrongly erase the achievements in the months preceding that week. Jones thinks that this current Aussie team, whatever its performance against India in the Tests, is the best *ever* ODI team in the history of the game. Jones is not one given to tossing compliments lightly, also he is one of the true greats of the limited overs game, and among those from Simpson's lot that charted out a separate approach to this format - so one has to take his comments seriously. It is hard to argue with his statement - rarely has a team played so mightily in all departments as this team. Which is why let us wait before passing judgement on our home team. It's hard to say where we stand - I agree with Harish they're not number 2 yet. Maybe three or even four. For me, the real test will be what India does in the next 12 months against various other countries.

Of the many finals India has lost, I guess half of them have been to Australia? If so, and if we argue Australia are playing astonishingly well, the best ODI cricket ever, then don't weigh those defeats as much as losing to any other team. The only other times we've lost were to South Africa and West Indies, I think. And that was some time ago. This doesn't clearly show where we stand on an absolute scale, especially because in the last few months, India has been constantly playing Australia, New Zealand and Zimbabwe. Results against Zimbabwe & NZ are skewed indicators, the former are half a team in reality and the latter were played met on strange wickets there and here. We play Australia again in the next 12 months, but we also play other tournaments - against Pakistan, England & the Champions Trophy. Those would be better indications as to where we really stand. Till then, don't exaggerate or demean the standing of the team.

People who complain India loses in finals forget that we hardly made finals 3-4 years ago. Would they rather have India bowing out before the knockout stages or India losing at finals? Atleast the latter means that the team is playing worse than just 1 of the participating teams - usually it has been Australia, and that is a fact. I agree that their showing in finals has resulted in demoralising losses, but compared to the team of 4 years ago, this team is winning more matches. Also, we now know that the team has about 5-7 players who can put in top performances - 4 years ago, that number was 1 or perhaps 2. Don't forget that we're still not a well-oiled machine rolling in unison - we commit a lot of basic errors - so don't expect them to be world champs yet. Not until they can show they know how to do those things better than the current world champs. That's why I don't have any bitterness or moroseness - inspite of my optimism, I had no real reason to expect them to outperform the team that's playing better than anyone else has in the history of the game.

There are a host of immediate problems: keepers, spinners, Dravid unable to play his Bevan-like role like he did in the World-Cup, the obvious technical faults of Ganguly, the mental fears of Tendulkar, the stop-start performances of Yuvraj. There are pluses too - 5 medium pacers to choose from, a possible bowling all-rounder in Pathan, terrific catching, the wicket-taking abilities of Agarkar, the indications that there are a lot of runs left in Tendulkar & Dravid, and Laxman's realisation that he may actually have things to do in an ODI match. One thing I must say is - the senior players need to have a long think about their place in history - it is there for the taking, but they seemed to be filled with unknown trepidations in their journey towards it. The next 5 years beckon - they will decide India's cricketing future like never before.

India are in serious trouble of becoming the 2000s equivalent of the England team of the 80s - which got into a lot of finals and had some great individual talent, but never managed to win a single important trophy. This cannot be attributed to "choking" - the finals they lost were never manoeuvred by England into winning positions (except perhaps the '87 WC final). They never looked like winning. For me, "choking" is to contrive to lose from positions of victory. Gavaskar says this Indian team has taken the tag of chokers from the South Africans. I disagree. South Africa invented newer ways to lose from winning positions - like Boucher/Pollock in the '03 WC, and Klusener/Donald in the previous edition. Also, they did so in various stages of a tournament. This Indian team looks like the Englishmen of Gatting and Gooch - they don't know how to get into winning positions in the first place. Incidentally, unless Saurav Ganguly does a repair job as an all-round player, he could end up being the Brearley of India. For a start, he could re-invent himself as a fielder like Sidhu did.

History may repeat itself, but it's not necessary that the repetition will be a clone of the past - minor mutations are possible. It is equally possible that India learn from these victories and defeats to go on to illustrious deeds. Tendulkar gives the impression that he is playing out two cricket lives in one - the newest one has just begun. And Rahul Dravid - please tell your teammates to hold on to the memories of losing and to do everything possible to not face that feeling again.

Dousing the Fire

Maybe it was the illustrious company of fellow BC Quizzer and one of the Chakravyuuh (COEP's own open quiz) organizers, Anup Mankar, but together we may have cracked one of the many annoying puzzles of recent Bollywood titles. If you're among one of those who likes to keep a close eye on titles of the form X the Y, you would know one of the earliest and most famous was Daag the Fire. Everyone thought this was an awful piece of translation from Hindi to English. But fikar not, here is an implausible theory for it.

Anup told me about the impending meeting with Dr. AAG, a high ranking PIET official (let it be said that samajhdaar ko ishaara ...), on the matter of the quiz. The natural response to someone saying aag was to expand it and say Oh, you mean Aag the Fire? And then, like a firebolt gone astray, it hit us: the makers must have started off with The Aag the Fire which some enterprising sub-editor somewhere contracted, for lack of space, into the now notorious Daag the Fire.

For more of the same (what some Tamil speakers would call "veTTi pech.u"), please visit the Boat Club quizzes, Saturdays at 12 noon. No wonder that the senior Mankar thinks his youngest-born is wasting his time on weekends.)

Pressure is...

Standing on a tiny two-wheeler at a signal with 35 seconds left to the green signal, almost empty roads ahead, with a large and menacing truck edging closer right behind and honking away to hustle you to break the signal.

Magical Meenaxi

It's not quite 241 not out, but it is very, very close.

. Sachin Tendulkar and A.R.Rahman have always had a few things in common. They've plied their wares in the same era, and have been acclaimed for being geniuses at their own talents. Both have a reputation for being reticent and softspoken, but they are always among the two most talked about personalities in the media. And their every output is scrutinised with eagle-eyes. Over the last 12-odd months, their creations have not met the (colossal) expectations of their fans and more so, their critics. But their fans didn't write them off as some others did, especially as they kept offering small glimpses of what they could do, having unveiled their bag of tricks over a decade.

Tendulkar came back to blistering form, but not without a few adjustments forced upon him - he learnt that marrying opportunity with his talent was all that he had to do. His opportunity came, and now it is the turn of the quiet guy from Panchathan.

The buzz around Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities was quite extraordinary among the fan groups, almost suffocating. In fact, this has been counter-productive in the past in terms of setting expectations. A prolonged and tantalising wait for the release was followed by a sneak peek at some of the songs before I finally laid my hands on the album.

I was prepared to be disappointed, given all the hype. The trailers for Yeh Rishta (Reena Bharadwaj, with the trivia nugget that the scratch version was recorded in Rahman's apartment in London) suggested a melodious piece that could be the highlight of the collection. The song begins with a humming almost identical to Konjum MainakkaLey (Kandukondain...). The orchestration is diverse, but toned to enhance the singer's voice - the beats are conventional and do not overpower. In fact, when the percussion rejoins the rest, it sounds quite inspired. John Themis's strings (a constant refrain in the album) are very supportive. Bharadwaj does a good job with her controlled modulations. A very typical ARR melody, harmonious and good, especially with the deft touches such as the sound of rippling water that contributes a great deal to the dreaminess of the lyrics (Rahat Indori).

Chinamma Chilakamma (lyrics and voice by Sukhwindara Singh) is somewhat reminiscent of Gopala Gopala (Kadhalan), in part because of the Telugu lyrics and the folkish portions. The backing vocals grow on you, and in fact get better later in the song. Foot-tapping with the Indian dhols. Anyone who says this is the next Chaiyya is doing all concerned a disservice. Sukhwindara Singh is decent without being extraordinary. Not among the top songs of the album, but definitely not bad. Give it some time and it'll catch on. The flute in the initial sections is different from the usual ARR employment.

Sonu Nigam, in what is becoming somewhat of a trademark, is in another quietly exhortative song on life and is much restrained in his effort with Do Kadam Aur Sahi (the original title for this film). The famed ARR violins coupled with the strummings of Rashid Ali make a collective comeback after a hiatus. A mellow percussive beat and Naveen playing almost unnoticed fill in the sounds, followed by triumphant trumpets.

Dhuaa.n Dhuaa.n carries the signature elements of an Asha-ARR combo. Kunal starts off with a very curious, initially-hard-to-get humming to the accompaniment of heavy percussions (evidently Sivamani), followed by Asha Bhonsle's na na na opening to yet another heavy breathing exercise in conveying smouldering, passionate lyrics . I rather think she pulls it off. I was quite disappointed with the second half of the song, it seems to run counter to the rush and drive of the first. I haven't quite come to terms with that part yet. Very rhythm-oriented, a la Rangeela.

Alka Yagnik, with additional vocals of Dallinda (a Lebanese singer), sings Rang Hai, another highly rhythmic, quick tempo song. There are a lot of modulations, I'm still not sure if Yagnik's effort works. Easily, my least favourite of the six vocalized songs. But there are some parts that were very interesting and still worth repetitions.
(The opening sequence with the "ra.ng laayiire" seems quite familiar, but I can't place it)

I then heard the first of the two instrumental pieces. These are quite innovative in terms of conception, and the execution succeeds to a certain extent. Cyclist's Rhythm has Naveen on the flute on top of his form, with Sivamani doing his own thing - one can picture him stroking and banging away on his myriad collection of drums, large and small, along with his other percussion thingies (I can picturise them, but can't name them!). And if you are wondering, yes, it is sprinkled with the ringing of a bell.

Potter's Village is for James Asher and Hossam Ramzy to jam away - very West/Central Asian sounding strings and percussion ranging from the ghaTam and jhinchaks to electronic beats. The piece conveys a remote and rural spot, with the mellow sounds of a fantasy village erupting slowly into a frenzy and then subsiding back again.

By this time, my feelings about the album were mixed - I didn't think it had that extra-special quality about it, bar a couple of songs. Perhaps a re-listen would slowly change my opinion? I tracked back through another iteration hoping to assuage my own expectations about this collection. It did not strike me at all that I had missed something I had marked out when I heard the listing. Not before track six began with its alaaps did it hit me that I had somehow skipped the qawwali! And boy, did it rock!

The guys behind the awesome Piya Haji Ali (Fiza) were back to full form in Noor-un-ala. If these are the kind of lyrics an octogenarian painter is going to churn out from a hospital bed, then M.F.Hussain should probably do more of the same. Murtuza Khan and Qadir Khan (no mention of "Mustafa" in the credits) take off where they left last time. Everytime, ARR gets out the harmonium/peti, he has scored. From Bombay's KaNNalaNe to the Wedding Qawwali from Bombay Dreams (Noor is in this fashion) and Piya Haji Ali, he has scored. Noor is a rousing addition to filmi qawwalis, and fits the bill perfectly, different from the reverential Haji Ali. Rahman is even audacious enough to add electronic strokes to it. If you could hit a last-ball six in a music album, this would be it. And definitely a big one at that.

I've never revised my entire opinion about an album based on one song as much as I did with Meenaxi. But Noor-un-ala is just tremendous and lifts the entire album. In any album, if a song like Yeh Rishta plays second fiddle to a qawwali, it has to be one heck of a set of six plus two.

Now I can't take the headphones off. The cover design for the CD is quite exotic and wonderful, with different shades of reds, blacks, yellows and Tabus :-). But I wish they'd included the lyrics (atleast I didn't find them), for Rahat Indori has done a fine job, steering clear of platitudes and clichés. Someone has also remarked how the mood of all the songs are upbeat and soulful - it probably reflects the subject created by the barefoot man with the brushes. All the more reason why the album scores - if there is one word I'd describe it by, it would be "rich". The orchestration is lavish, varied and resonant without being a slave to extravagance. I wouldn't say the songs break any new ground musically, with all the elements having appeared previously in other Rahman collections. But they combine well together. It's too early to say where it lies among the echelons of previous ARR efforts and how it will be received by everyone, but there is a lot in its sounds to be hopeful about. I'm not raving yet and trying to be objective, but its difficult to be so! This is a great example of how creativity from different strands of art could mix to produce a little bit of magic. And apparently, there could be a couple of songs being kept behind, including a Malayalam song.