RGV & Pune

Not for the trivially disinclined

I don't know what affiliation Ram Gopal Varma has with Pune, but there have been quite a few references to this city, mostly in passing, in films directed or produced by him. Recall Kaun (I forget the exact reference, but I remember Manoj Bajpai mention it), Ek Hasina Thi (Sarika Vartak's parents are in Pune), Ab Tak Chappan (Sadhu Agashe is given an errand to do there). Now Vaastushastra's trailers obliquely refer to the city in a shot of a milestone.

AdSense question

This one is for fellow "Blogger" users. I'm sure, like me, you would have seen an invite to add AdSense. I wonder if anyone's tried to add this? Any potential problems etc?

Faux News - 8

Faux News bulletin

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

Page Three does not cut it with paper recyclers
By our Media correspondent

In a strange controversy, paper recyclers in the city are nonplussing sellers with their discriminatory paper rates. The neighbourhood "raddee" shop will now offer you much lower rates for city supplements of a certain newspaper.

Traditionally, paper recyclers offer greater rates on English newspapers over vernacular editions because of better paper quality. However, recently the Pricing committee of the city recyclers association has decided to offer lowered rates on English papers that contain popular city supplements which feature "Page Three" type news. Speaking exclusively to this correspondent, Mr. K. A. Agaji (spokesman for the association) said this was because of fierce opposition from the "Bhel & Other Puris Organisation" whose members were principal consumers of used newspapers. Apparently, the BOPO finds it difficult and embarassing to sell bhel and chana in cones adorned with sizzling snaps of the latest "item" actresses, for families in turn are their main consumer base. These families at the end of the marketing chain are averse to corrupting their children with the same, and the whole shockwave has rippled up to strike at the rates of the "raddeewaalaas".

When contacted, the PRO for the newspaper was nonchalant, claiming that it didn't have any readers in the bhel-eating segment and anyway, their faithful readers preferred to cut out the supplement ("collector's issues" as he described it) instead of selling it where it would be fingered (sic) by some greasy purveyor of cheap snacks. He also offered to run this very interesting story on their First Page with other human interest stories such as the model who sacrificed her all to bring back the trend of bell-bottoms with polka-dots and the TV actress who discovered a cheaper alternative to glycerine.

Right now, the middle class seems the most miffed, but as Mrs. Teena Paan, a faithful reader, put it, she'd wait for direction from the popular celebrities in their responses to the weekly poll on such issues.

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Click here for a free look at the earlier editions.

Marathi cinema looks up

Two Marathi films, Shwaas and Saat_chya Aat Gharaat, have set the box office registers (atleast in Pune) ringing for the last few months, and have produced a possibility of urban Marathi cinema finding commercial stability on its own. This is highly welcome of course, for the film fraternity here boasts of some good actors, technicians & creators, but that hasn't always coalesced into cinema that is both critically acclaimed as well as monetarily viable. These two films, however, have threatened to change all of that.

One may argue that in Amol Palekar's Anaahat began the upward trend. Like it, these two films also benefited from tremendous word-of-mouth publicity (Shwaas now is springboarding on its awards and Oscar entry status). All three films had a certain boldness in their story content that merits applause, for they also boast of good production values and above average quality acting. For Marathi cinema, this is a huge break from the inspid family-sentimentality and slapstick-rural-comedies that tended to plague most plots. The makers of these new films are now taking advantage of a "multiplex" crowd that wants to see alternative cinema in their language, and are able to use the depth of artists that the theatre circuit has always supported.

Incidentally, both films are set in Pune, of which in Saat_chya Aat Gharaat this is a key (background) element of the plot. Directed by Sanjay Surkar, it has an ensemble cast that has managed to use the next generation of actors. If you've been in Pune for about 4-5 years (or any other city going through a similar transition), you'll instinctively react to the idea of the film. Using a real-life incident as its core, it explores which to me has always been the most important dilemma in Pune over the last couple of years - the overt frictional strife because of westernization and the "new age" urban lifestyle that accompanies big paypackets in the white-collar industries. Strife not only among generations, but among people in different strata. A latent animosity against the more hedonistic aspects of such a life comes to the fore when incidents like the ILS ragging incident take place. Pune is churning and that Saat_chya Aat Gharaat is about a certain viewpoint in the middle of this.

Shwaas (dir: Sandeep Sawant) has been commented upon in length by Gaurav & Sarika, so I'll throw in some other aspects. There was a certain singlemindedness in the story that few successful Indian movies are able to demonstrate. No songs were thought to be necessary (Saat_chya Aat Gharaat sadly fell prey to this), minimalism was in play in the length of the story and in small points such as the faceless wife of Dr. Sane (btw, they portrayed Puneri doctors/clinics brilliantly). The expansiveness was reserved for photographing the Konkan coast in all its glorious dimensions, again something that is relevant to the story. Getting real nurses/doctors etc. is something that worked. Interestingly, Ashwin Chitale, the actor who won the Best Child Actor award still seems to have no comprehension of what all this acclaim means, as a recent interview of his displayed.

This is a good time to be making Marathi films for the people are receptive and the financiers may be more inclined than ever before. Since there seems to be no active media funnel for receiving news on upcoming films, we don't know what lies in store in the immediate future, but the opportunity is knocking loudly right now.

Spot the difference

man/woman, young/old, patriot/alien, earthling/ET, north indian/south indian, introvert/extrovert, urban/rural, brahmin/non-brahmin, upper-caste/lower-caste, left-wing/right-wing, msft/unix, democrat/republican, hindu/muslim, mumbaikar/outsider, tall/short, fat/slim, rich/poor, lata/asha, rafi/kishore, vegetarian/non-vegetarian, sane/crazy, hot/cold, shia/sunni, protestant/catholic, shaivite/vaishnavite, iyer/iyengar, indian/pakistani, israeli/palestinian, irish/british, rahman/ilaiyaraja, kapil/gavaskar, wasim/waqar, pele/maradona, man utd./arsenal, ferrari/rest, gandhi/viruddha gandhi, secular/communal, savarkar/anti savarkar, mgr/karunanidhi, karunakaran/nayanar, sachin-can-win-matches/no-he-can't, TOI/indian express, clever/stupid, beautiful/ugly, manager/programmer, editor/staffer, sweets/savouries, hindustani/carnatic, western/desi, aishwarya/sushmita, latif/moin, aamir/shah rukh, kamal/rajni, labour/tory, disraeli/gladstone, 0/1, analog/digital, software/hardware, development/testing, c++/java, blue-collar/white-collar, odd/even, dmk/aiadmk, nehru/patel, nixon/kennedy, true/false, up/down, left/right, left-hand-drive/right-hand-drive, melody/rhythm, matter/anti-matter, happy/sad, many-more-of-this/complete-or-less...

Which minority do I belong to?

Swades - the soundtrack

Much awaited, but I wasn't in town on the day of the audio release. Came back, looked around in the morning, but all shops still closed. Alas. Evening it took to get hold of a CD. Nice cover (T-Series!!). Even better inlay card, with extensive credits and full lyrics. Inserted with anticipation. Nine tracks! Liked some on first hearing. Lukewarm towards the rest. Great lyrics! Second round. The familiar "growing" feeling. Goosebumps felt with some interludes. Listening repeatedly since to get a complete feel. Settled opinion now.

The trailers were very interesting for Ashutosh Gowariker's Swades, especially among those who had been keeping an eye out. With a repeat offering of the Gowariker-Akhtar-Rahman-nationalism combination in store, most were inevitably looking for Lagaan - Redux. Sadly, that hangover is going to influence people's opinions, and given the choice of singers & song themes, that sentiment will not go away.

I found it curious that with this album, different people have reacted positively to different clutches of songs. Also that most have recalled whiffs of older ARR songs, but - and this is interesting - not every recalls the same songs! Perhaps, with a canon that is getting larger each year, this is inevitable. However, this is not to suggest that the score is repetitive. Anyway, let me plunge into some personal reactions to the 7 vocal tracks and 2 instrumental pieces.

Swades is an album that you can soak yourself in. It has a consistent texture (if that is the right word), for which I would primarily credit Gowariker. A music director cannot impose his will on a film's foreground score and contrast it with the possibilities in the script. In some sense Swades is to Lagaan what Lakshya was to DCH, in that the two scripts had (seem to have) music needs that people can (and they're usually dying to) draw parallels between. The lyrics are a huge draw, with Javed Akhtar being in top form in most songs. I say this because of the relative lack of clichés and the richly evocative words, to which ARR has responded well.

Yeh Tara Woh Tara is the pleaser that the trailers have chosen to launch from. A lone strumming begins and is followed by Udit Narayan. A short "mukhaDaa" and a long, early interlude isn't accompanied by the full-blown song, rather there is quiet but rich evocation with dulcet tones. We then get into more heavy strings ( strings & the flute are a preponderance in this album). A little bit of Navin on the flute, quiet philosophical optimism continues, and suddenly! - trademark higher-pitch voice, of a little boy (Vignesh, sounding better than Udit Junior has in the past). This is a lengthy song, and the lyrics on the inlay cover are a good accompaniment. At times, Udit gets a little too saccharine for me, an old failing. Third voice, small girl (Pooja), and now all in part-chorus. Crescendo follows soon.

It isn't surprising to hear people invoke "Mitwa" (with the singer, the strumming, the "type" of song). Somehow, I never felt that even once till date. I liked this instantly, without almost any reservation.

Sa.nwariya is all Alka Yagnik's, and reminded me of her efforts in The Legend of Bhagat Singh. A single, fleet-footed beat accompanies her almost throughout, which sometimes lapses (in my opinion) to a more conventional North Indian beat in the "a.ntaraa"s. It's a really quiet song, with female harmony filling in the spaces. Interludes are quite pleasing. It is one of those that needs some time to grow, but will never attempt to grab you by the collar.
I remember a Lagaan interview, where Yagnik said she liked words like "Goriya/Sa.nwariya" in "O Rii ChOrii". Well, she got to repeat that.

Yu.n Hi Chalaa is the other song doing the rounds of the TV promos. "Lighthearted road" song is pretty much how I label it. It's got a lot of engaging strings and acoustic guitars that strum away in the near background. Rahman chooses to go in with three voices (Hariharan,Udit,Kailash Kher), though we see only two on screen in the trailers. Kailash Kher has the kind of unconventional male voice that Rahman seems to dig, so prepare to hear a lot of him in the future. Here, he'd fit Makarand Deshpande's persona well. Hariharan sounds a little flat and renders it in a western tone, while Kher delves into these "aalaaps", "sargams" and modulations quite well. The song has a pop/rock flavour, which sets it apart from the rest of the album, but is melodious nevertheless. One of my favourites.

Aahistaa aahistaa is my least favourite song in this album. A sort of subdued lullaby, I remain cool to this (though several people seemed to have liked this quite a bit). It has the usual Rahman synths and by now I'm a little weary of Udit. Sadhana Sargam pulls things up a bit towards the end, and their harmony together is a little redeeming. This song is going to remind people of "Cha.ndaa Re/VeNNilavé". Santoor (credited to Srinivasulu) is a focal instrument.

Yeh Jo Des Hai Tera/Swades wasn't my pick of the album at first hearing, but many people instantly took to it. I warmed up to it soon, and can now add it to that selective list of good songs that Rahman seems to reserve for himself, but more in the mould of "Vellai PuukkaL". The song essentially consists of a lone beat, a shehnai accompaniment, a faded chorus and the Rahman voice If ever there was a song tugging at nostalgic heart-strings, this is it. Rahman never loses control, and the lyrics don't pretend to be clever, but fit the situation perfectly. Great conclusion of the vocals with the plaintive shehnaai.

Pal Pal Hai Bhaari came as a surprise to me. Who in this age of filmmaking would have a Ramliila song? But Ashutosh Gowariker wants to have one, and Rahman jumps at the chance. Madhushree's "mukhaDaa" gave me that wonderful aural feeling at "aaO raghuviira O"! As the "Baje satya ka da.nka" piece highly resembles a rhythm portion of "If You wanna come along" (New), I was a little miffed at its reuse in this kind of song! But I'm getting used to it. All this is forgotten at the musical response to the harsh Ravana (Vijay Prakash) interrogative lyrics (a good contrast to the female tones): "gin paayegaa...maryaada purshottam" piece is melodious. The third voice (Ashutosh Gowariker is this male voice, I believe) sounds a little orthogonal, and provides a philosophical counterpoint. But the song is vigorous and engrossing, with its mood of despair & moral defiance leading to a happier outcome - quite like "Sarfaroshi ki Tamanna". Wow!

Dekho Na has appeared before, in the vigorously panned "Baba". I haven't heard the original that much, so I don't carry the same antagonism towards this song. I was prepared to be disappointed, but I found quite a bit to merit a repeated listen. The interludes especially. It tends to be a routine romantic song at many places though. I see a mandolin, oud & harp listed in the credits. Am I right is supposing that the mandolin is used in this song?

The two instrumental pieces are a flute rendition of Pal Pal and the shehnaai piece of the title track, both of which are good.

Swades is an instance for the non-Tamil audience that ARR can create albums with a dominance of melody, without having to resort to heavy (Western) rhythms. I think it's time for that debate to be quelled a little. Moreover, this has been about North Indian flavours in melody, rather than using more southern arrangements. It's definitely not up with his best, but it is above average. Rahman fans will obviously love it, and others may like parts of it. I reckon it would take about three passes around the album to make up your mind - that depends on whether you have the patience to make a special case of an ARR album. I'm not so sure if it will attract the greatest mass appeal, for it has no item/dance numbers and by extension, no lack of apparel. Three listens later, and I think one would be sympathetic to atleast 4 out of the 7 vocal tracks.

We, among the people - in Swades

From Thursday 5:30 pm to Sunday 7:00 pm.
From Pune to Agra to New Delhi to Pune.

1. 3rd A/C Sleeper (almost not making it at the start amidst pouring rain in blazing sunshine)
2. Tata Sumo
3. Walk
4. Four-in-an-Auto
5. walk-to-find-breakfast
6. auto
7. crowded minibus w/o leg-space (that had a brick stuck between its wheels!)
8. walk-pestered-by-wannabe-guides-and-shaairs
9. modified-Maruti-van (pretending to be a Tata Sumo)
10. walk again
11. Four-again-in-an-Auto
12. 2nd Sleeper (in a train pretending to be a super-fast express, it also turned out to be "Such a *Fine* Journey")
13. CNG taxi
14. Free-IA-Coach
15. Airplane
16. Auto
17. Pillion-on-Motorbike (belonging to Daemon, laden with luggage and sweets).

Why Zee won't stand for Zenith

Now even the telecast of the Ind-Aus Test series is in serious doubt. All thanks to this never-ending wrangle over the rights to telecast all Indian matches for the next four years. As usual, the BCCI & its never ending love for more Taakaas land us, the viewers, in danger of losing out.

Like some good historian, I lay the blame squarely in the past. The BCCI is directly to blame for this situation, though it may seem to be acting very holy now. They kept squeezing the goose, not to kill it, but to make it lay more than one golden egg at a time. And fast. So came all these bears demanding a lick of the honey (Yeah, the allegory sucks). I don't even know how much money the BCCI is demanding. Just consider the fact that Ten Sports reportedly sold each 10 seconds of Indo-Pak cricket at Rs. 300K. The action may, by some stretch, be worth that much, but most of the ads weren't. If I were a client, I'd force my ad agencies to come up with something much better. Frankly, I wonder if 30K/sec was worth the actual sales of those products. But we can't help it. Indian cricket on television is being courted like never before and the BCCI stands at the gates of the swayamvara. The BCCI doesn't seem to care who the suitors are. Zee and the businessmen running it don't want to see the prospect of easy money go away unfought.

Those who have seen ESS's recent readiness to "appeal" to the masses will wonder what differentiates all these channels now. I agree that potentially all of these could end up serving the same dish, but I think the inbuilt maryaada will lie in their backgrounds. All said and done, ESS come from a sportscasting tradition. Their marketing men, their producers, their staff is geared to show sport. SET & Zee think in terms of "entertainment". Their primary instincts are rooted in Bollywood, and in film-based TV. To salvage a situation, they will veer towards the arclights (incidentally, bollywood is inclined to get cricketers to do the same for it!). SET-Max did exactly that. The biggest impact is that in doing so, they've forced ESS to follow suit, if not to the same extent. Zee have claimed that Ten Sports will produce their telecast. However, will the Zee channel be a sports channel or a Max-like "entertainment" one? Whatever be the claims, Zee wouldn't know what to do with that channel in non-cricketing hours, so following a Max model will make sense for them. I'm sorry to do this, but I must quote Ms. Mandira Bedi on this, whom I recently saw saying this: "Cricket drives India. Wait, actually cricket and films drive India". It is the sign of times that even someone who has been a proven failure at her first job, and not much better at her second is able to dish out "truths" like these. Is it really a fact that mixing cricket & films creates the Philosopher's Stone? It has been hammered into our heads continuously - whether it really is a fact, no one can prove. However, I have yet to meet anyone who tunes in to watch the cricket only because of "Extraa Innings".

Many viewers have criticised these "extraa toppings", so I won't bother doing that. However, witness what this kind of content and competitors coming from non-sporting fields have done - they have thrust upon us a crew of incompetent commentators.

Not all commentators are freelancers, and so usually 'belong" to a channel's production. Which means that most channels have to find droves of ex-cricketers (usually Indian) to do the job. In turn, these ex-cs have no powers of articulation, no fresh insights and even worse, are even heavily partisan at times. It really tells you that even if you've played at the highest level, you need not have the mental faculties to present or ponder over it. The Australians are no doubt the best in this business as well, especially after the emergence of Healy & Taylor (some of them may no be as good, but the difference in quality is evident). From among the rest, we have only a few good commentators, be it presenters or experts. The wide panel of SET-Max is one you hardly feel inclined to listen to. Even worse, is that on the few occasions that there is any analysis on, the Bedi-Sharma comedy duo perched in the middle cut them off bluntly. It was a little painful to watch Arun Lal & Mark Nicholas protest, albeit mildly, saying that (in response to one such attempt), "Wait, let us finish this point, before you go off to whatever you have got". If Zee has to get more anchors & commentators, it's only likely to get even worse.

I'm not convinced that Harsha Bhogle is the only Indian who can speak with a feel for cricket. I have no clue, but would someone like Rohit Brijnath be good at this? Perhaps an SOS to him. I'm sure hardly anyone at Zee or SET-Max would think of good cricket writers donning this role. (OK, people like Ayaz Memon have signed up, but they've merely joined the bandwagon, so expect less criticisms of these things from them). Their instinct would be to get some glamourous figures. This is not to say that only men can do this job - some of the sports correspondents with ESS & NDTV are pretty decent, and easily more knowledgable than Ms. Bedi. If it's a criterion, they are good looking too. The problem is that we can even overlook the prologue & epilogue of the match telecast (missing the toss & the post-match interviews is fine) to avoid the mindless chatter. But when you have to listen to Srikkanth blabber away all the time, it is too much. I would've given it to ESS just on the basis of having dropped Sidhu.

(BTW, worst Indian pair: Atul Wassan & Srikkanth. Has you reaching for the noose and Fevicol. And, while on the subject, the best Indian commentator is still playing. I'll await the day when Rahul Dravid hangs up his boots and picks up a mike.)

Whatever the Shazzes & Wazzes & hospital nurses, ESS will probably not go the way of their competitors. But don't the other channels ever fear saturation? How long can you get jobless film stars & unheard-of TV wannabes to profess their undying love for the "Men in Blue"? This to a nation of so-called "cricket jaa.nkaars" of which 80% still don't know what the LBW rule is, even after 20 years of live telecasts.

What is the way out? ESS seem to think that having a more flashy Hindi channel might help. Atleast they're of that inclination. The BCCI apparently runs cricket as custodians on our behalf, but they prefer too count their cash and not worry about intangibles such as high-quality broadcasting. It just struck me that most recent improvements that the BCCI touts emanate from being able to sell the team better. Foreign coach, psychologist, best medical advice. All so that they can get the goose back to laying eggs. People think it should rest a while, but that doesn't seem to strike the BCCI as a good idea.

I've also realised the source of all this frustration. From all corners, the media are telling people like me that we no longer matter. We aren't part of the lower reaches of the common denominators, so we cease to influence. I have to put up with it, I have no alternatives. The day someone brings a blogger-like revolution to broadcasting, making it cheap (and somewhat unreliable, yes), maybe I can pick. But today I have to stand in the corner and follow someone's else's idea of fun.

Related links

: * Cricket for Dummies
* ICC intent on telecasts being 'less commercial'

End Note: Saw Mr. Dalmia on "Walk The Talk" saying that he was voted in "patron-in-chief" by the BCCI to continue negotiations in complex financial settlements. Did he have to be "P-in-C" to do that, one wonders? A friend had remarked to me that the next step for him would be to be nominated "patron saint" of the BCCI.

BC Quizzing article

Thanks to Sarika, the BC Quiz Club has a little article on it in today's Pune Times of India (despite what we've been saying about it :-) ).

Links:

* Read it here
*or here (this one may render a little weirdly on most browsers).

My name is PBolnnD, James PBolnnd

No self-respecting P.G.Wodehouse hero or Drones member (even the odd feisty lady) will have a name, preferably long and excessively formal, without possessing an equally frivolous nickname. Gussie, Freddie, Oofy, Bingo and Stiffy are among those that spring to mind.

Barmy Fotheringay-Phipps is definitely a classic PGW specimen, but I only just found out the other day that the "Fotheringay" is to be pronounced something like "Fringee"! This reminds me of the other Brit-name-pronounced-radically-differently case: "Cholmondley" which, if my informers are to be believed, is pronounced as "Chumley".

Of course they must all reside in Worcestershire or Gloucestershire!

Perhaps a post exploring PGW namespaces for the Lit Blog beckons!

More and more Blogs

* Some of us pay tribute to the Pune Times of India (You can join if you wish)

* Arka has a lot to say as usual

* Sud tells all what it is to be an outsourcee

* The Cricinfo India cricket blog: something I have been following for a while and been meaning to link all that while. Now that I've met Amit, I can procrastinate no more :-) And after you browse through the above, perhaps you'd like to read my verbose post on the Booker Prizes at the Lit Blog

Quiz Blog resurrection

The quiz blog has been cruelly neglected, with no posts in July and almost none in August. I have resolved to rectify the situation a little by showering my attention on it for a while. Patrons of Interrobang, kindly turn your eye to the recent updates which contain some results, notes and cribs. More coming up shortly.

Sholay: large and mighty

Finally saw Sholay on the big screen. Have seldom been so thoroughly entertained at a film screening, despite anticipating almost every bit of dialogue. Should we be sad that no other Indian film comes close to this in terms of critical & commercial success?

The trivia-mongering mind was rewarded even at this nth viewing. 3 notes:

* Confirmed Mushtaq Mohammad as being the only actor to appear twice in the film (as the train driver & as the Parsi at the beginning of "Yeh Dosti" (the sequence prior to that obviously being cut)).

* Had never noted the reference to "The Great Dictator" which appears when Asrani stands quiveringly with the globe and spills it at the news of the tunnel & the pistol. Easily reminiscent of Adenoid Hynkel in the Chaplin film.

* Astonished to note that contrary to popular notion, Samba (MacMohan) has another line apart from "puure pachaas hazaar"! This occurs when 4 of the dacoits, Samba included, are playing cards when Ahmed (Sachin) is riding to leave for Jabalpur and appears below them. Samba tells the next player to play.

The Editing was really great, and as usual the dialogues sparkled. Even in this age when we are used to the Bollywood versions of UP, Bihari & Bambaiyya ones, the dialects in Sholay continue to be unfamiliar and hence fresh. Salim/Javed display a range from chaste Urdu to Hindustani to Bhopali (assuming that is what he speaks) to the one used by the dacoits.

First past the Wikipedia post

My first ever Wikipedia contribution is this item on R.K.Laxman. Have always wanted to contribute to this wonderful collaborative effort, but didn't know where to begin. Until I found that RKL wasn't listed on the 'pedia.

Exhortations to all (especially to those who use it regularly) to contribute too. If you don't know what wikis are and what the Wikipedia project is, then visit this link for newcomers.

Yeh sab kyaa chucker hai? a.k.a The chucker-view

"Degree of Flex. Straightening of arms. Joints in elbows. Braces..."

"Stop it, stop it!". I woke up with a yell. Sweat poured all around me and even had little tributaries with names. I had dozed off during ESPN's Cricket Show where Murali tossed his deliveries in an attempt to show he didn't chuck. But I had lost all my sleep. It brought back those memories which I had hoped to cast away for ever. It was true: I have a past. I used to chuck!

Now that I have said it, the tale must be told. Judge me not by the jerk in my arm (or for the matter, by the jerk that I am), is all I can ask of you. 'Twas over 12 years ago. Caps went on heads, shops reported an increase in rubber balls. Window panes and band-aids were in demand as well. Summer vacations had arrived. Madras was full of young kids out on bails.

Cricket was now a full occupant of the gully in our little neighbourhood. Till then we were content to play half-pitch cricket and throwing down spinners. But now it was time to go the full distance and face a bowler off a run-up. Till then I had never endeavoured to do any bowling (not because it was my bat due to which I would always bat from #1 to #11). So I tried. To my surprise, I was quick. But so were the murmurings. Folks from home watched me one day and lacking the political correctness of my friends, shouted: "You are throwing the ball!".

Of course, I didn't! I didn't know until that point what "chucking" was when it came to bowling. Whatever it was, the tone in which that announcement was made didn't sound good, so I definitely knew I didn't. People were too polite to tell me I was wrong.

But I could not bend the rules, like I did my arm, all the time. I had to face the facts - like a fellow language speaker in a few years time, I was liable to be "called". That is names like "chucker" or "baseball picture" (Is Field of Dreams about chucking?). I had to go in for corrective action. I found that I could not comprehend the concept of bowling off-spinners (even today) without straightening the arm. So I turned to legspin. I found it impossible to throw the ball from the back of my hand. No one in their right minds turned to legspin, so I was a little bit of a rarity. I had absolutely no control over my flight, all I cared was that I didn't throw! Someone dubbed me as "Kumble". I didn't like him then and plus I didn't have glasses, you see? I couldn't be "Warne" as he was a non-entity then and would be soon thrashed by Shastri(!!) in a Test. Plus I didn't have blond hair and the only meaning of "mate" in my vocab was that of vice-captain on a ship, preferably a pirate one.

They say it was the first manifestation of the kinks in my mental armour. I went back one day to medium-pace bowling, but I was done in by then, my modified action no good, though I once picked up a hat-trick partly consisting of the two worst players in my building in Bombay. A career in dodgy-ball may have been more suited to me.

Now with MM's crusade to exonerate himself comes this idea of "flex". If this had come about many years ago, who knows, it might have saved my all-rounder status. Now the only "flex" in my life is likely to be a Gujarati describing constituents of snow. As for braces, I spent a great deal of time bowling with a brace on. I also spent a lot of time tightening it at my dentist's.

Pity.

Vernon Goodstuff Little

I usually don't hit it off with the critically acclaimed ones. The works of the Nobel laureate, the canon of the Sahitya Akademi recipient, the Booker Prize winner - I've been wary of these. These tend to be complex, referential, multi-threaded and usually end in a confused ball of yarn.

But occasionally, I stray into that side. Going by the sheer effect of namedropping, induced by hearing it in an answer for 10 points, for flavour of the month is usually a popular choice for Q. No. 19. I had heard of the curiously pseudonym-ed DBC Pierre (DBC: Dirty But Clean) and seen clips of him winning the Booker for the similarly curious title Vernon God Little - all this recall helping me pick it off a shelf in the local library. Looking at the back cover for some more illumination, I was surprised to see it set in Texas which struck me as the last place for a Commonwealth literature award winner to be based in (there may be others too, but I'm ignorant).

The story is completely through the mind of Vernon Gregory Little (the middle "G" is a merely a placeholder for a range of moods from Genius to Gucci to Godzilla). He goes from being suspected of aiding a high school massacre to being arrested as the perpetrator of every crime from Martirio to Mexico (sometimes simultanous crimes in two different places) to inspiring a reality show that helps people vote off prisoners on death row so that they can be executed.

No wonder the book is subtitled "A 21st Century Comedy in the Face of Death". The comedy is also undeniably black. Pitch black in fact. That's why given that some reviewers (off the back cover) compare it to "Huck Finn on six packs" and "Catcher in the Rye", I had to find my own analogy. I chose the film "American Beauty". Some of us like to take a superior view and look down at the Americans, tap our foreheads Obelix-style and say "These Americans must be crazy". We'll sit and watch their self-deprecating reality shows, their comedy monologues and their "America's Most" illustrations of behaviour that makes us aghast. While all the time someone is planning a desi version.

Vernon God Little has a preponderance of slang, as seems inevitable when a kid of 15 is narrating his version of events. He is a little too aware of things, at times. However, this lets him refer to pop culture in ways few would in a "critically acclaimed" novel. Most importantly, it has a tidy ending and a subtle twist that will strike you if you've paid attention among the stream-of-consciousness. If you happen to pick the book on the basis of this post and find yourself losing interest in the middle, I'd coax you to finish it. You will see then.

You know you're a driver in Pune...

...when, given a choice between overtaking from the right and the left, *you* choose the left.

...when you have developed the skill of skiing in a slalom without visiting a snow slope

...when you see a vegetable cart crossing in the middle of traffic, causing vehicles to brake sharply, itself coming to a halt in the centre and being rewarded in this zany endeavour by a lady pedestrian who bizarrely starts to pick vegetables asking: "yeh kaise diya?", surrounded by cars and bikes.

K!HGN... & DNJAK

Kyun! Ho Gaya Naa... - Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy

Lakshya continues to remain their top work in recent times. Still.

"Baat Samjhaa Karo": Is the 80s type ambience intentional? Evokes hardcore AB film music of the era. Keep expecting "Jahaa.n Teri Ye Nazar Hai" to pop out. Somehow reminds me of some song I can't put a name to. "Dhiil De" from HDDCS? Maybe not. Apart from all that deja vu, not very special.

"Pyaar Mei.n Sau Uljhane": More Shankar. S-E-L need to explore more choices beyond S, Shaan, Alka & Udit. Tempo changes are interesting. Violins, accordions(?) and tinkling percussion are good embellishments. Conversational song evokes "Strawberry Kanne" (not insinuating any inspiration). Harmony is good. Song is too long though. Nice closing.

"Bas Main Hoon": Robust. A little repetitive. Electronic riffs are vintage S-E-L. Also reminiscent of some remix of some song. Worth listening to. One interlude will remind you of Madonna's "Beautiful Stranger" (fancy me spotting that!)

"Dheere Dheere": Very routine romantic song. Skipped.

"No No": Hindi Disco|Rap. Heavy electronic mix. Not so special.

"Aao Naa": Highlight of the album. Not the entire song though. Fabulous sargam at the beginning - Sadhana Sargam (appropriately!) & Shankar Mahadevan. That part is worth extensive listening. MDs: more work for Sadhana Sargam please. Her mukhaDaa is excellent. More sargam. Then falls prey to the Anu Malik syndrome (in which the rest of the song is ordinary compared the beginning of the song). Especially the introduction of Udit. Rewind to the sargam. Keep listening. (Good synth interludes too.)

Dil Ne Jise Apna Kahaa - A.R.Rahman

Listened (as a true biased fan) to only the ARR parts of the album (three songs, if media reports are to be believed)). Enough of these chuT-PuT offerings. More reason to wait for Swades, 1857-The Rising, Netaji and the seemingly camouflaged Water/River Moon.

"Jaane Tamanna": Kamal Khan. Somehow sounds like Sonu Nigam. Most of it sounds like a pop album piece. I don't know why. Perhaps because of the orchestration. Sadhana Sargam is fine, but with not much to do. Is Kamal Khan just a gimmicky singer? Is that a sax or a trumpet? Synth (Piano?) piece in the middle is the saving grace.

"Zindagi Hai Dua": Trumpets. Actually lots of different instrumental pieces. Reminiscent of Tehzeeb. Or is it just because of Madhushree? Some Arabic strings. Simple beats. The male voices on repeated hearings grow on one and even seem melodious. Again, average overall, but better than "Jaane Tamanna".

"Dil Ne Jise Apna Kahaa": Aah! Slow, melodious number. Sujata Trivedi's voice seems suited to such a track. Those who thought Rahman can only do fast-paced, rhythm-based songs, listen to this one. Nice subdued flute. Synth cords add a lot. Typical flute-violin combo. Uncluttered soundscape. Hmm... Kamal Khan. Does the relative-heavy Atull Agnihoutri-Salman-Khan mix get to ARR? Synth|Piano interlude is decent. Kamal Khan sounds like Suresh Wadkar! This section is a little drawn out. Overall: Redeeming.

Some link additions

This time featuring a journo from Chennai (Samanth), a neighbour (Sandeep), a group blog to discuss literature started by Hirak (Mount Helicon) and a great collection of stories at the Story Blog (Recommending the awesome You get what you ask for?).

More notes on a cloudy day

Crossword, the bookstore, opened yet another store in Pune, this time in Aundh. Had been to check the place out. It's pretty small compared to the other major outlets, but seemed quite serviceable. I found the layout pretty decent, one long aisle really, compared to the JM Road one which always seems a little cluttered. Or was it just the lack of a sizeable crowd? When I entered, there were hardly any, but I as left, there were quite a lot of people inside. I guess inevitably, it will seem a little dense soon.

Crossword is a good place to check out current tastes in books, movies and music because it doesn't have the reputation of being the store where you can find even a non-bestseller book which you are looking for. Atleast not in my experience. For people from other cities, I must make it clear that Crosswords unfortunately is our only "big" store - there are many other single location stores that are decent, but suffer from being a little inaccessible compared to Crosswords. Add to that the fact that these do not seem to have the financial clout to arrange frequent "discount" sales and other promotionals. Harish raved about Landmark in Bangalore, so hopefully someday we'll see some competition from Odyssey and Landmark here - more choice.

All this talk always is reminiscent of You've Got Mail! - we even have a couple of children's bookshops in the same locality. Some of the employees and some of the service at Crossword can be compared to the Fox Bookstore too. Not sure though that a Joe Fox and a Kathleen Kelly are lurking anywhere near Parihar Chowk.

I was quite tempted to pick up a biography of Rahul Dravid but didn't as I wonder if it's a premature concept - I seem to prefer bios after the career is complete. I'm sure that RD will pen an autobiography some day, so maybe I'll wait for that. There were quite a few other temptations and sadly I yielded to none. Noted for future use, the prices of the complete Tintin set (7 volumes of 3 each), CDs of Casablanca, Limited Manuski, and a copy of Mrutyunjay (Tho' I'm still not sure I have the capacity to read a full length Marathi book).

******** The other thing about Aundh these days that the ambience in that central section (I live on the outskirts of Aundh, away from the hub) keeps reminding you how yuppified it has become. There is no escaping the smells of the next door Pizza Hut inside the bookstore, or the "upmarket" sartorial veneer of the young moms and their kids, or the VFM-seeking bearing of the men. Security guards spend most of their duty time seeking parking spaces, while plastic bags are loaded with celery and broccoli. I always feel out of place - perhaps cultural genes prevent me from merging into this new world, or maybe I am what I kept thinking I wasn't - uptight and conservative. The arrogance (or merely an assertive self-confidence) of it all is strange. Leading a cocooned life, I've never come into any contact with any significant form of class struggle, but seeing that if I, considering myself to be a middle rung middle-class (bourgeoisie?), can feel some sort of a disconnect with the upper rung middle-class, how must it be to the "lower" class? ******** Enough of such sociological musings. Was watching "Finals Day" of Twenty/20 cricket from Edgbaston. I'm not a member of the Dinesh Mongia fan club, but I wonder if there is a strong case for his selection? He seems to be in reasonably decent form with the bat, bowled exceedingly well and most importantly will already be well acclimatised. (If the Indians do badly in Europe, we're going to hear a lot of that A-word). The Board thinks he is a good fielder (re: selection decision for the WC). OTOH, Rohan Gavaskar scored a ton yesterday, but I don't think he will start a match first-choice.

Am still to be convinced about the need for Twenty/20 cricket elsewhere in the world, but in England it makes some sense. It is entertaining most of the times, with the need for some whacky batting and sharp fielding which is helping get some of the English crowds back in. In India, well, I'm still not sure why we don't have a round the year day/night national ODI competition. I don't think Twenty/20 is the answer here. One more note to ESPN/Star - despite the need to spice up things, Sky TV don't seem to have added unnecessary elements in the broadcast.

******** Finally watched Lakshya last week. It was short of one song - either the theatre guys snipped it out (unlikely) or the makers pruned the film to try and improve its chances at the BO. Quite an inspiring tale, and am really happy that my gut feeling about Farhan Akhtar came out right. I'm impressed with this guy - I guess he has the choice of going the way of the Johars, the Chopras and the Barjatyas but he hasn't. I don't think he ever will. Perhaps papa Akhtar deserves some praise here. Oh, BTW, one of the simple reasons why Lakshya is a good portrayal of the army men because heck, it's one of the films in which the hero actually has to cut his hair short! That itself should have told you. More seriously, dunno if the similarities with Vijeta were coincidences, especially the father's "when we came to India from Lahore with nothing" dialogues. Yes, the "Karan Shergill" must have been intentional (as spotted on this blog some time ago). ******** I think the members of the "blogger slice population profile" (i.e. most of my friends) will have been pleased with this year in Hindi cinema - Maqbool, Yuva, Lakshya, Ek Hasina Thi, Ab Tak Chappan and Raghu Romeo (if I may) may not have done much at the counters, but they have been a pleasure to watch. ******** Sholay will have a theatrical release this Friday here (is this a nationwide exercise?) and provides a lip smacking opportunity to catch the all time great in a hall, something I've never done before. Much better that watching an ad-peppered version on Zee Cinema (which is airing the flick on Aug 15). Only one more wish Mr Sippy: if you'd only release a cut with the original ending, either on DVD or in theatres, then we can all go to our graves without any regrets. Kiimat jo aap chaahe.n.