IPL-Cheerleaders,Slaps,Kisses...& Cricket

IPL has caught the imagination of the whole cricketing world and has turned out to be a bigger success than that was predicted. The controversies has added to the popularity of the tournament. Am sure no one will ever forget the great crying scene starring 'tough guy' Sreesanth. This single scene is said to have melted the hearts of women across India and they are now watching IPL regularly instead of their staple diet of 'Saas-Bahu' serials. According to an unofficial survey conducted by this blogger, they are expecting more tear-filled episodes in the IPL thamasha. Teenage guys who were moving away to more fashionable sports like formula 1,NBA and EPL have suddenly started loving cricket. No prizes for guessing the reason. Cheerleaders, ofcourse. The teens find it economic and safer to watch them when compared to renting an adult film cd and secretly watching them. Now they can watch all these safely in front of their parents under the pretext of watching 'cricket'. Even middle aged and expiry aged old men are watching this sport for the first time for this reason alone. And then there are the politicians. Their new hobby is dressing up the cheerleaders. My request to them is-"Please leave alone the poor girls and let them do their job. There are millions of people who don't have money to buy clothes in India. Why don't you think of some policies and aid programs to give them adequate food and shelter rather than investigating on which part of which cheerleader was exposed in the latest match of IPL".

The local chaiwala as well as the high end pubs are also enjoying the fruits of IPL as people crowd around TV shops and big screens every night to watch the matches. The cricketers are all happy except men like Charu sharma and teams like Bangalore. There've been unworthy men like Ponting who played and got paid and are now back home blaming the IPL. He's now asking his countrymen to switch off from IPL and stop paying attention to some retired australian cricketers sweating it out in India. Then, why did he keep quiet while he was busy playing in India? The film stars are also enjoying their night out at the various grounds around India. Shahrukh is seen dancing and screaming for his knight riders but sadly that dance won't last long as they will exit without seeing the semis. The lucky guys are the ones from Kings XI Punjab. Whenever they win a match, they get free hugs and kisses from their pretty owner Preity. Its no wonder then that the guys are competing with each other to win the honours. The list of top wicket takers in IPL is dominated by guys from Kings XI. Wondering how many kisses each of them got.

The star or better to say, the wannabe star of the whole show is undoubtedly the IPL boss Lalit Modi. He's a publicity hungry man who never lets go a photo op. My favourite scene was during the press meet after the Sreesanth-slap, Farooq Engineer made Bhajji and Sree shake hands and make up. The three of them were holding hands together and smiling when a third hand appeared from behind holding them. Then a head popped out and it was our glam boy Lalit. He also has this dirty habit of sitting with and cheering the team that is playing well at the moment. During one cliffhanger match, he had to switch ends atleast 5 times. Anyway, at the end of the match, he would be sitting with the winning team. Meanwhile, Mr.cool 'forever young' Vijay Mallya is having a bad time, with his team discovering news ways of losing with every passing match. His outbursts against Dravid and his team of attacking 'test' players hasn't added anything to his public image, rather it has taken some beating. But there was no shortage in the number of hot damsels accompanying him to watch the matches.

Coming to the cricket part of IPL, despite some so called purists calling it a 'rape of cricket', the matches were well fought in the right spirit and is one great dazzling advertisement for the game of cricket. It tests the skiils of the players to the maximum and puts their quick thinking ability to a hard grind. The old players who were predicted to perish in the tornado of slam bang hitting has infact shone even better than the young guns. Players like Sanath Jayasurya, Shane Warne, McGrath and Sachin Tendulkar are as athletic and spirited as any 20 year old. Their presence has infact turned out to be a blessing for the young ones who get the right guidance from these giants. The greatest gain of the IPL has been the bringing of some unheard of cricketing talents to the limelight. Players like Shikhar Dhawan, Gony, Saha, Abhishek Nayar and many others who were unheard of just 2 months back are now household names. Really, the future of Indian cricket is in safe hands. And there is a big talent pool in place now.

Having been there at the Chinnaswamy Stadium to watch the grand opening of this great sporting fest, am happy to see its astounding success. All in all we can say that the IPL party is here to stay. And 20-20 is the future of the game.

PS-The team is support is Mumbai, just for the simple reason of it being Sachin's team. Even after it lost 4 matches and friends made fun of me for supporting them, I continued my support. And now see what they've done. 6 straight wins and almost won the 7th, if not for some crazy run outs and some umpiring errors. Hope they'll win the championship.

your crusader Praveen

Cooking an art movie

Yesterday, saw a post in infyblogs about the ingredients of a horror movie. That inspired me to think on what are the main rules that make up an art movie[or better known under the pet name of award movies].

Rule No.1-The editor is always on bench during the production of the movie. He's only there for the sake of an editor's name in the credit roll. For example, in a movie that I saw recently, there was a crippled child walking along a long road. The scene went on for almost 4 minutes with the whole walking distance being shown on screen.

Some art movie editors are known to do part time job as barbers because they hate a day without cutting.

Rule No.2-Rate of dialogue delivery is one word per minute. In case of a full sentence, you may have to wait for anything from 5 to 30 minutes.

Rule No.3-Words are best left unsaid. For conveying important matters, words are never used. A meaningful glance is enough. Sometimes this can be in varied forms like utterances of "mmmmmmm","aaahaaaa", "aarggghhh", "huhhhh", "aaah","ooooh","ohooo" etc.

Rule No.4-This is a kind of corollary for rule no.3. Speak lots of sentences about obvious and mundane things.
For example-Take the following dialogue between artan and arty


Artan(coming towards arty who is brushing her teeth.Reaches near her after a 5 minute walk)-"I think you are brushing your teeth."[As if a toothbrush inside your mouth is meant for something else]

Arty(slowly raising her face which takes another 2 minutes)-"Yes, I have the habit of brushing my teeth every morning."[Only she has that habit]


Rule No.5-Background music is mostly slow and depressing. The pivotal scenes are usually silent.

Rule No.6-Cameraman is the man getting to sleep the most on the sets. He needs to move the camera only once or twice during the whole shoot.

Rule No.7-The theme of the movie mostly deals with the lower strata of the soceity. There will be lots of scenes of sufferings of one way or the other.

Rule No.8-The actors are the most patient people you can find anywhere in the world[Next to the viewers i.e.]. They should be able to sit for long hours without a single movement, leave alone doing anything. Those who have done tableau in school can shine a lot in this field.

Rule No.9-Forces of nature like wind,rain,sunshine and creatures like dog,cat,crow,eagle get almost the same screen space[sometimes even more] as the lead actors.

Rule No.10-There is no beginning and there is no ending. The movie will be just like saying "and life goes on".


Inspite of all this, I've seen some really touching art house movies that will always be in my list of all time favourite movies.

your crusader Praveen

Never postpone this(only this!)

Many of us has this habit of dreaming of a better tomorrow all the time that we forget the fact that the present time is part of 'the better tomorrow' that we dreamt some days or years back. I guess that must've confused you all. Good, a little confusion is a nice way to wake you up on a lazy morning. Well, what I meant was that we always postpone enjoying life thinking that we'll do so after achieving some goals. For eg, in school we think that we'll enjoy after we pass 10th. After 10th, its time for preparation for entrance exams and all that stuff. So enjoyment is postponed to post-entrance. Then Its life in college and we are all thinking of campus recruitment. Life will be rocking once we pass out of college and start working. And, when we start to work, we realise that enjoyment is possible only after retirement. But who knows what awaits us after retirement.

But, am happy that 'enjoying every moment of life' is the only one thing I never ever postponed. And looking back as well as looking ahead, I feel really good about that...

your crusader Praveen

No Man's Land

Saw the Bosnian movie "No Man's land" yesterday. If U haven't heard about it, its the movie that pipped Lagaan to win the Oscar for the best foreign lanuage film in 2001. Its a film about the war between Bosnia and Serbia. Thought its a war movie, don't expect epic war scenes except for some odd shoot outs. What sets it apart is the lighter vein in which big issues are commented upon. It captures the travails of 3 men from either side caught in no man's land. One of them is lying injured on a mine, which will explode if he moves. A UN team is sent to rescue them. This movie actually makes fun of the ineffective UN, which has failed to live up to its name in times of crisis. The media which is hungry for breaking news is also made fun of. The exchanges between the 2 enemy soldiers are hilarious. The scene in which the Bosnian point a gun at the Serbian to make him say that his country started the war. And then after sometime, its the turn of the the Serbian to make the Bosnian say the same.

The movie has some great quotes.
Here are some samples(courtesy-IMDB)

1."A bomb disposal expert only makes one mistake in his life."
"Two."
"Two?"
"The first one is choosing the fucking job!"

2.Neutrality does not exist in the face of murder. Doing nothing to stop it is, in fact, choosing. It is not being neutral.

3.The guy from UN talking to a serbian soldier.

Sgt. Marchand: Vous parlez francais?
Serb private: No.
Sgt. Marchand: Do you speak English?
Serb private: Yes.
Sgt. Marchand: We came for people.
Serb private: Yes.
Sgt. Marchand: People between lines.
Serb private: Yes, yes.
Sgt. Marchand: Where are they?
Serb private: Yes, yes, yes.
Sgt. Marchand: Ok, you don't understand a word of what I'm saying, right?
Serb private: Yes.



Also lookout for some breathtaking scenery of Slovenia, where this movie was filmed.

Still, I think Lagaan deserved an Oscar more than this film.

your crusader Praveen

MAD ADs

Its election time here in Karnataka and the campaigning is going on at a feverish pitch. There are vehicles laden with big cutouts of the candidates looking at us with a big fat conceitful smile. And newspapers are also filled with political ADs of one party or the other. Yesterday, there was this AD in Times Of India by the Congress party carrying the pictures of the usual suspects, the Italian glam girl, her brainless son and the puppet with the beard. But what caught my eye were the pictures of the Kandahar plane hijacking episode and the then external affairs minister Jaswant Singh accompanying the Taliban terrorist who was freed in return for the freedom of the passangers. This was accopanied with a question in bold letters-"Which is the party whose external affairs minister accompanied a terrorist to safety?" and below that there's the answer in even bolder letters-BJP. Then they go on to explain how the BJP and its allies were always soft against terrorism and considering the safety of the nation its better to vote for congress. This is dirty campaigning to say the least. Kandahar is one of the saddest episodes in the history of the nation and putting ADs like this will dig up the trauma that the surviving passengers went through.

PS-Am not a supporter of BJP, or any other party for that matter. Its just that I found this AD was in real bad taste
Your crusader Praveen

Food for thought

Its been a long time since I spend a weekend fully at home. This week also I din't expect to be at home. But somehow, it happened. Two days fully at home, except for the odd trip to the nearby store to buy some items for our cooking extravaganza. Coming to cooking, it was real fun and a source of great satisfaction to eat food cooked by my own hand. For the past 22 years, I been eating food, never giving a thought to the work that goes behind it to make it . But now as I cut the vegetables or hide from the smoke of a boiling excercise gone bad, I suddenly realise how blind I really was to the hard working hands that made tasty food to sustain me for 22 years. I would've laughed at you if you were to tell me about two months back that I'll cook and eat my own food. But somehow it started and me and my friends are really enjoying it. The tears that come when I cut onions are partly due to the mischievious onion itself and partly due to the tears of gratitude to my mother for bearing with all my tantrums that I threw up wanting some specific item to be cooked. Hope I can cook a tasty meal someday for her.

your crusader Praveen

'MEGADETHED'

I've always loved his peculiar vocals. I've been inspired and touched by his amazing lyrics. His jaw-breaking solos have took my breath many a time. His band has remained one of my all-time favorites from the time I started listening to heavy metal. So, it was always a great dream to watch the man and his band live atleast once in a lifetime. But that dream is no more. Because, it became a reality this saturday at the palace grounds, Bangalore. Yes, am talking about Dave Mustaine and his band Megadeth which made India headbang to its tunes this weekend. The 'Rock in India' fest was a dream come true for me.

The day started with the metal army from my hometown, Trivandrum, landing here in the morning. We all proceeded to Palace grounds by afternoon. But the crowd outside the grounds were not as big as expected. The security was checking every inch of our body to make sure that concealed cameras and cigarette packets didn't make its way to the venue. We got inside only at the end of the 2nd band Prestorika's performance. We missed the first band 'Casino blues'. Anyway, I was happy that we were there in time for one of my favorite Indian bands, 'Junkyard groove'. This was my first time of watching the guys from Chennai live. I love most of their songs that I listened from their myspace page. Songs like 'its ok' and 'been so long' were lapped up by the small crowd. The vocalist with his drunken antics and able singing stole the show. Lots of people din't care to come near the smaller stage set for the Indian bands as they were waiting near the main stage to be in front by the time Megadeth performs. Next in line was 'Motherjane', the rockers from god's own country and the best in the country, IMHO. They belted out their great numbers from the old 'Insane biography' album as well as the unreleased 'Makhtub' album. We all enjoyed a lot by headbanging from the front row and singing along the lyrics. We also got a copy of the rare 'Insane biography' cd and got it autographed by the band.

We went around for a drink of cola(the only other things available were alcoholic drinks) and also visited the merchandise shops. By the time, we came back Thermal And A Quarter[TAAQ] were on stage. They played crowd favorites like 'Paper puli'. Though I liked their show, it was not as big as I expected. Then came the oldest guys on the Indian rock circuit 'Millennium'. Before the show, I haven't even heard their name. But after their show, I was wondering where these guys were hiding all these days for me to miss them. What I liked most about them was their in your face attitude. It was a power packed show all through with heavy riffing and stage antics like the 'metal army' chanting.

By the time Pentagram started, we were searching for a place near the main stage to watch Megadeth up close. Still, from there, we enjoyed the Pentagram show especially 'Its electric'. Am still wondering why vocalist Vishal Dadlani went behind bollywood music when he had such a great band at hand[obviously, its the money :D]. So, the side shows got over. Though it was supposed to be a side show, almost all the bands performed really well to underline the fact that the future of Indian rock is in safe hands.

We made our way through the crowd waiting impatiently in front of the main stage. About 6 rows from the front, the crowd was so dense that we couldn't move any further. The lights went off and then it blasted on to a sudden assault of heavy metal. 'Machine head' were on stage led by their evergreen front man Rob Flynn. I haven't heard much of them except a few songs from their new album 'Blackening' and the old song 'Davidian'. Still I enjoyed the show and headbanged to their songs. There was some heavy moshing happening right beside us and we had to do lot of expert maneouvers to save us from the assault. Lots of people[many of them with their GFs] were escaping from the front rows to stay free from the moshing and pushing. That paved the way for us to move forward a couple of rows. Rob Flynn said that when they started the band he never ever dreamed even in his wildest dreams that they would ever play in India. He was visibly surprised by the aggressive Indian crowd singing along their lyrics. Their show ended after 8:15.

Now, it was time for what I waited for all these years. The huge drum on stage was replaced with another one, specially for megadeth. The stage backdrop of Machine head was replaced with a huge one reading MEGADETH. The band crew was busy running around setting things up and sound checking. The impatient crowd began chanting 'MEGADETH, MEGADETH'. The huge speakers were playing songs from metal greats like Ozzy, Maiden and Pantera. And then at exactly 8:45 PM, the opening riffs of 'sleepwalker' from the new megadeth album 'United abominations' began streaming in. The crowd let out a huge roar. There he was, standing near the mic with his guitar in his trademark style. The lights went on in full bloom. I couldn't believe my eyes. Mustaine the great was standing before me and singing "No one is safe when I close my eyes, I come to take your life". Yeah, he almost took my life. He looked thinner than what I've seen on video. But the voice was still the same as was the guitaring. Chris Broderick was also great, playing the leads to perfection. As was Shawn Drover, pounding hard behind the drums. The only bad thing was the sound system, from which nothing was audible at first. One had to strain one's ears to hear the guitar leads. There was a slight drizzle right from the time Megadeth were on stage but it disappeared after sometime. The show really picked up with 'Tout Le monde' when the whole crowd sang along the lyrics. This fired up Mustaine and his bunch and the complexion of the show changed from there.

For the next 1 hour and 15 minutes we were treated to a mix of old as well as new favourites from the Megadeth discography. The crowd loved the old ones more, evident from the singing along. Maybe, they were more familiar with the old lyrics. The crowd, though small in number compared to Iron Maiden's show last year, played along well with the band. One such thing I particularly loved was the 'Megadeth, Megadeth' chanting that accompanied the guitar rhythm part in 'symphony of destruction'. During the last song 'Holy Wars', the band suddenly switched to the 'Mechanix' song after the arabic solo. Then again after the song, they switched back to 'Holy wars'. That was one surprising and nice touch to end the concert. It brought back memories of the long standing fued between Metallica and Mustaine, which actually paved the way for the birth of MEGADETH. Was this is a sign of Mustaine 'buying peace' with Metallica or declaring 'Holy war' on them? One can never be sure...

The playlist of Megadeth was as follows[not exactly in the same order]

1.Sleepwalker
2.Wake up dead
3.A Toute le Monde
4.Peace Sells..But whos buying
5.Symphony of Destruction
6.Tornado of souls
7.Trust
8.Burnt Ice
9.Skin o my Teeth
10.Washington is next
11.Hanger 18
12.In my darkest hour
13.Take no Prisoners
14.Holy Wars...punishment due
15.Mechanix[played in between Holy wars]

Some songs which I expected them to play[but they didnot play] were 'countdown to extinction', 'sweating bullets', 'United abominations'[I was sure of this since this was the title of the tour],'This was my life', 'Addicted to chaos' and 'Captive honour'. But still this was a great concert, a once in a lifetime experience. And I wouldn't have missed it for anything, not even work :P. The concert ended faster than expected at 10PM and we were left craving for more. As if he read our minds, Mustaine announced that he really loved playing here and that they would be back again to rock us...Now, am waiting for that day...Until then, its memories of this great day all the way

PS- Couldn't put up the pics I took there online cos its still in my mobile. Would do that soon.

PPS- Do checkout this interesting blog on the concert by young metal head Hari, a 10th standard student- http://hari-musicmania.blogspot.com/

your crusader Praveen

The STALKER

First it was orkut. Then it was all the e-mail sites and video sites. Now Blogger is also blocked in my company. But can it stop me from writing and blogging more? Never. So, here I go again, using a proxy site. This is the 1st song I wrote after completing my training and starting work at office. Donnow why, this subject came to my mind all of a sudden. Is it because an idle mind is a devil's workshop?

******STALKER*********
Obsession fuels my ride
On a duel to decide
In me, the devil reside
Its me, always by your side.

I am the thorn in your flesh
U r the smile on my face
U can't see me in the haze
Behind you,here I rush.

chorus:
You call me the stalker in black,
the man without a name
and the man without a face
Yes, am the stalker at your back.


You see a psycho behind you
But I am a macho, out to save you.
Am not the evil lurking in the woods
Am just a dreamer, with a mind full of wounds

chorus:
You call me the stalker in black,
the man without a name
and the man without a face
Yes, am the stalker at your back.



25/02/2008

your crusader Praveen

Skandagiri-Conquering heights

A 6-lane highway, then some village roads, some steep travel through rocky slopes and bushes, and finally the exhilarating feeling of reaching the top, looking all around and savouring the cool breeze and breathtaking beauty. That aptly sums up the trekking trip that we had on saturday. We heard about this hill called 'kalavarahalli [skandagiri]' from a forward mail that we got some days back. What attracted us to this are the snaps which showed the hill with its head majestically floating over the clouds. And so we set forth from Banglore on saturday morning in a qualis. Our only info about the place was that its 70km from Banglore near the new airport at Devanahalli. The ride along the new 6-lane highway was exhilarating. As we passed Devanahalli, we enquired about this hills to some people we saw on the wayside. But nobody seems to even have heard about it. Anyway, we rode on until we reached a village and got to the foot of the hills after asking atleast 10 people.

After taking the permission from the forest officer, we set forth on our journey. For a group of 6, we only had 2 packets of biscuit and 2 bottles of mineral water for the whole trekking. One old man led us to the path that started from the foot of the mountain. A dog was following us and it was too close for my comfort. We started the climb and we saw one group leaving the place after the night trekking. Other than that, we didn't meet a single soul on our way to the top. The dog closely followed us all through the rocky path. We took rest at regular intervals and this time was spent in taking snaps. The biscuit pack was getting thinner by the minute what with the dog also getting a share whenever we ate. The interesting part was that the dog stopped whenever we stopped and waited for us all to start walking so that it could follow. It wudn't start even if one person is lagging behind. And, so after almost 3 hours of walking through some treacherous as well as beautiful paths, we reached the top. Nothing prepared us for what we saw there. Our jaws dropped as we feasted our eyes on the limitless beauty that was lying all around us. The only thing missing were the clouds kissing the hilltop, that we saw in the snaps. Later, the forest inspector told that we should be there at sunrise to witness that scene and for that we have to take night trekking, preferably on a full moon day. We sat there for a long time enjoying it all.

Then we started the downhill journey which took us another 2 hours. The dog was still following us like a faithful servant. Along the way down, we saw a young guy, about 14 years old, walking uphill to sell buttermilk. Mind you, this is not a place where many people visit. The fact that we didn't meet a single soul during the whole 6 hours that we spent in trekking will tell you how popular this place is. After a sip of butter milk, we continued our walk downhill. As we reached the foot of the hill, the sun was already fading. We took a glance back at the hill. There was that unexplainable feeling of satisfaction in my mind then.

To top this heady saturday, there was a rocky sunday at palace grounds, banglore as part of rock ethos. 13 Indian bands performed all day through and as expected Motherjane topped them all with an earth shattering performance in which one of their new songs 'fields of sound' was also played. Other bands which I liked were 'Bhoomi' and 'Kryptos'. It will need another full post to describe the full fest, which was notable in that it was exclusively for promoting original Indian rock music.

So that was my great weekend for u.....wish every week was like this

NB-The snaps that we took there couldn't be put here because its still inside the cam. USB access is blocked here in office. So I have to wait till I get to work on some computer outside office. The pics displayed here are the ones that I got from the forward.

Info to reach Skandagiri- Proceed along the new banglore airport road to devanahalli. From there, go to Chikballapur. Then to Kalavarahalli[skandagiri]. Its almost 80km from Banglore. And do remember to carry something to munch on and drink.

your crusader Praveen

Wingless,Finless
This is a song that I wrote last week. You can interpret it in any way you want, just as you interpret your dreams...

*********wingless, finless*************

Its pitch black as darkness falls
the shadows are hard to make out
but i ride alone and shine along
the helios glows its heart out.

Its a brand new story, every night
as my unchained mind gallops
along unknown paths and little known worlds
on another aimless quest

Its the power of dreams, they tell u
Never known of these endless boundaries
wingless I fly, finless I swim
But built up are castles of sand.

Its an escape route, when doom looms
Sown are the seeds of inspiration
Its a ray of hope, for the lost soul
Born out of a thought etched in time.

NB-I took the snap of the sunset last year at Kovalam beach. Thought this will be apt for the subject...

your crusader Praveen