Invictus

Invictus is a beautiful film. Its a tale of how sport can unite a nation. Invictus tells the story of 2 men, 1 sport & 1 nation. And how they came together.
For some reason, this movie slipped under the radar and is yet to release in India. Given the divisive forces currently prevailing all over the country, Invictus is must watch for everyone. Sports unites, brings people together and helps in healing wounds. Thats the message of the film.

The movie is set in South Africa just coming out of the apartheid era. Nelson Mandela (in my opinion, one of the greatest human beings alive today) had just become the President. This is not the story of his struggle. Its a story of how he used the sport of Rugby (described as a game for hooligans played by gentlemen) to unite the people of his country after the apartheid had ended. South Africa was hosting the Rugby World Cup in 1995. The Springboks (as the South African rugby team was known) were considered the representative of the apartheid era and rugby was not a game popular with the largely African population. Mandela called upon the captain, Francois Pienaar, and asked his help. Inspired by Mandela & Pienaar, the Springboks went to work both on & off the field. The team entered the tournament as underdogs and went on to win the World Cup. Mandela himself attended the final dressed in the Springboks colours with Pienaar's number on his back. And after winning the Cup, Pienaar says "We had the support of 43 million South Africans"; justifying Mandela's faith in the power of sport to unify the "Rainbow Nation".

Invictus is one of the more inspiring movies of recent times. It never goes over the top or tries to over-dramatize anything. Clint Eastwood's direction; good performances by Morgan Freeman (as Nelson Mandela) & Matt Damon (as Francois Pienaar), a good soundtrack make for an almost perfect film. 

I thank whatever Gods maybe 

For my unconquerable soul

I am the Master of my Fate

I am the Captain of My Soul

Republic Day

"Bharat ke nikame batcho Valentine Day ya Friendship Day hota tou ab tak 50 sms ajata. So wish everyone Happy Republic Day"

This was the text message I got from one of my friends on 26th last month. It may have been written in jest but was pretty thoughtful. Left me wondering, does Republic Day have any meaning as such. I sang the national anthem when the President hoisted the Tricolour, watched the parade. And spent the rest of the day watching India take on Bangladesh. Otherwise it was just another normal holiday for me. Didnt really feel much patriotic ferovr as such.

Just wondering...

Give Me A...

The following are not my words. I take no credit for the modifications to the lyrics. And if the anonymous lyricist wishes, I'll be glad to mention your name here.

So here goes, the office-goer's take on the song "Give Me Some Sunshine" (from 3 idiots)

Saari umr hum

Targets chase kar liye

Ek pal to ab humein

Jeene do Jeene do !!!

Na na na….Na na na….Na na na….Na na nana na….

Give me a Holiday

Give me a break

Give me another chance

I wanna go home once again

Kandhon ko Targets Ke bojh ne jhukaya

Jhoot bolna tho khud

BOSS ne sikhaya

Target complete to chhuti, varna kismat futi

Likh likh kar pada hatheli par

Commitments, Escalation Mails, MIs ka chaala
Risk, Product & Credit Team ne poora..

Poora bheja pakka daala
Career to gaya

Biwi bhi gayi

Ek pal to ab humein

Jeene do Jeene do
Saari umr hum

Targets chase kar liye

Ek pal to ab humein Jeene do Jeene do

Give me a promotion

Give me an increment

Give me some bonus

I wanna see some money again
Na na na….Na na na….Na na na

Indians & the Aussie Open

The year's first tennis grand slam, the Australian Open has begun. 3 days into the competition and we have seen some good tennis action and a couple of upsets. This time both the Men's & Women's sections are relatively wider open.

Federer & Nadal have lost just that bit of their top form to ensure that others now have a little chance against them. Davydenko & Del Potro would also count amongst the favorites. Likes of Djokovic, Murray, Roddick & the local guy Hewitt cannot be ignored. The Australian Open does have a habit of bringing in surprise finalists over the last few years (Johannson, Tsonga, Baghdatis). Lets see if there are some surprises in store this time around.

The return of the Belgian duo of Clijsters & Henin has added to the unpredictability in the women's section. Add the Williams sisters, the Russian brigade (Kuznetsova, Dementieva etc), Ivanovic, Jankovic and it becomes even tougher to predict. And you never know what the likes of Wozniacki, Wickmayer could do.

This time around India is also pretty well represented (relatively speaking). We have Sania Mirza in the women's side (she lost in singles first round though). In the Men's doubles we have 5 players representing India (must be some sort of a record for the country). The two big guns Bhupathi (with Mirnyi) & Paes (with Dlouhy) are there. Neither of them has the won the Men's Doubles in Australia, the only slam missing from their CV. But unlike earlier they have more company in Prakash Amritraj/Somdev Devvarman and Rohan Bopanna (with Aisam-al-Qureishi).

At least in doubles we have the numbers. Its the singles where India is still struggling. Though there are some hopes on that front also with the upcoming Yuki Bhambri coming through the ranks & Somdev in the top 150 currently. Hopefully the singles representation would also increase. With Sania saying she'll quit after marriage, the women's side would again become empty.

here is hoping for a couple of Indian winners at the Australian Open.

The Noughties

Another decade has come to an end (or not if you go purely by mathematics, but I prefer Mr. Zaltzman’s logic that no right thinking person would consider 1990 as a part of the eighties). It is a decade (2000 A.D. to 2009 A.D.) which has also defied proper naming. Many names were suggested, some referred to it as “the zeroes”, others called it “the oh ohs”. I personally prefer “the noughties”. So here is a tiny glimpse of what I went through in the noughties.
It can be summarized pretty quickly. Decade started with exams. Lots of them. Class 12 boards & various engineering entrance exams. And dropping a year made this period last 18 months instead of six. They were tough times, but a certain goal was there, which was realized though not fully. Following this was a four year golden period of college at ISM. End of it some new thoughts arrived. Further studies or a job? I chose the latter. However climbing X-Mas Trees, Well Killing, attending to nitrogen pumping didn’t exactly suit me. Couple of months later, a bit disillusioned decided that the first course would have been better. Cleared CAT, got into IIM-I. (It was as simple as that). So after a year in the oil fields was back in college. Two more years spent in college, quite a few myths broken, it was time to be back in real world. Now it’s about filling excel sheets, making ppts & word docs. And that’s what I have been upto in the last 18 months of the decade.
Ten years is a pretty long time. I entered the noughties stepping out of teens and end it going through a full blown quarter life crisis. Quite a few other things have changed. My home town for one. First half was spent calling Jamshedpur as home and second with Patna as home, without actually spending much time in either of them. Friends made, friends lost, new friends made, old ones regained. It’s been a decade of change. To be honest, the noughties were pretty exciting times.So that was the noughties for me. Would love to do a review of the tens here (that would have meant 13 years of blogging). I know it wont be as exciting as the last one but lets see. After all tomorrow is another day.

Growing Bihar - A New Hope

The first good news from Twenty Ten is here.

Bihar's economy has grown at an annual rate of 11% over the last 5 years, quite a bit higher than the national average of 8.5 %. These are the first official stats to prove whats been already felt in the state. The state is changing and hopefully for the better. The post Lalu-Rabri era has been showing positive signs. The roads in and around the capital are in a far better shape. Flyovers have been built all across. The railway station is in a far better shape than most would want to believe it. Shops & hotels are open for longer hours. Roads dont get deserted by 8 in the evening. More flights are going to Patna. Institutions for higher education are also coming up in a big way. Schooling had always been good because the people of the state have always valued education as the means of earning a good livelihood. Cinema Halls are again attracting families. Shopping malls & multiplexes are coming up. All this I have seen changing in the past 3-4 years. As I am more of an occasional visitor to the place now, the changes are far more visible (in and around the capital at least). However quite a bit needs to be done. And firstly some other urban centres need to be developed fast in Bihar. Patna will not be able to sustain this growth alone. The city does not have too much scope for expansion left. Rajgir & Gaya would be the most suited in this regard. But a start has been made. We can only hope for the better.

P.S. There does seem to be lot of goodwill for Bihar specially in some parts of the media.

The Lone Idiot

A big, useless, needless, media hyped up controversy is going on over 3 Idiots credit issue. I have read Chetan Bhagat’s “Five Point Someone” and have seen Rajkumar Hirani’s “3 Idiots”. The two have similar stories. I can’t measure what percentage the similarity was, but it’s substantial. Good book, good film, film evolved from book. End of story for me.
However this post isn’t about the controversy, after all it’s their business not mine. 3 Idiots is amongst the better movies of 2009 (haven’t seen all, so shouldn’t tag it as the best). The characters I could easily connect with. I have seen them all (maybe not as one person but as bits & pieces amongst my engineering friends) with the exception of Rancho. He is different. After all no one I knew studied for the sake of learning, it was mostly for passing exams, getting a job. Our education system does create machines. I am not sure how many people are really doing what they wanted to do but are just trying to fall within the society’s norms. Rancho says “Engineering karke MBA kar liya, phir bank me naukri kar raha hai, to engineering karne ka kya fayda?” Quite true (I have done almost the same, so I know). However the problem is we don’t even know what we want to do. I did an engineering course which I had not even heard of prior to the entrance exams (After all, you don’t give IITJEE with the intent of doing B.Tech, Petroleum Engineering from ISM).
The movie did make me think about what I have been doing so far. Maybe it’s a time to change? Not anything drastic; just try to live life better. After all I have just been through the lousiest year of my existence. So things can’t really go much worse. And it’s never too late. I don’t know where I will be or whether I will succeed; but have to give it a try. Twenty Ten is going to be better year for this “Lone Idiot”.

P.S. This was drafted 30,000 ft in the air on the back of the printout of the ticket. Anything to pass time :)

Goodbye 2009

It’s the time of the year, as the Earth completes another journey around the Sun, when the annual reviews are done. So getting into the spirit of things I decided to pause and think about the year that went by from my eyes. I know I am a bit early but I don’t expect anything earth-shattering/life-changing to happen in the next five days. So here is what 2009 was for me.
For me the year began in the most pathetic fashion. No running water at the flat. Had to carry buckets full of water to my 14th floor flat for the first few days of the year. And it ends with me flying off to be home (the real one). [All is well that ends well :)]

The Lousiest Birthday Ever - Worked in office till 11 in the night. Then missed my own officially organised birthday party (memorable for all the wrong reasons).
Now for a confession. I did not make any train journey the entire year. I know it sounds a bit weird for someone who has stayed throughout the year in Mumbai but that is the truth. Flights for going outside Mumbai and bus/taxi for traveling within. The Thane Creek has become a sort of marker which I crossed very rarely.
Destination added to my travel map – Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh. My first trip south and it was an official trip with the entire stay lasting seven hours. The first impression was of the lush green paddy fields everywhere. It was also the day I saw both Arabian Sea & Bay of Bengal, a so called trans-sub-continental journey and back as I call it.
New things in life – Online gaming (Mafia Wars, Famville). The online gaming was there earlier but not to such an extent as now. I am also officially addicted to Twitter. Orkut has taken a back seat. This blog completed a century of posts. There are more and more means of staying in touch but the effort seems to be decreasing. Existence seems to be becoming more virtual and less real. I have a classmate from school whom I haven’t seen in nearly 10 years now. We are friends on Facebook and are both hooked onto Farmville. We send each other presents; help out in each others’ virtual farms but apart from this don’t have any other interactions.
Most Poignant Comment – “How did people pass time in office when they did not have internet connected PCs at their desk?” – “They talked”.
Looking back at 2009, I can’t really find any positive to take from it. My bank balance grew a bit but the place became lonelier. More people seem to be disappearing from the life then getting in. Close friends are drifting away. And the worst feeling of all is I am unable to visualize any targets for myself. It’s the empty horizon syndrome, as I call it. Too many existential questions keep coming up (“Main Kya Hoon”; the song from Love Aaj Kal is the one which sums up the situation best)
So with this I bid farewell to 2009, (a year hardly worth remembering; a total waste in my opinion).

Things to be done in 2010

• Watch an IPL match
• Try the random bus travel on a 20 rupees holiday ticket (Thought about doing it but never got around to doing it)
• Travel in a train
• Visit at least one new place (and not for an official trip)
• Read more (This year was limited to Shantaram, 2 States, The Lost Symbol)

And finally wishing everyone a Happy 2010

Avatar - The Experience

Finally we have a movie which is able to surpass the pre-release hype that it has created. The pre-release hype was expected. This was the first James Cameron directed film in 12 years. And with his last one being Titanic the expectations were bound to be high. Once the movie opened the reviews were uniformly fabulous. Haven’t actually read a bad review or met anyone who hasn’t been impressed by the film.
I saw it in 3D (my first such experience) and have to say, the reviews were not wrong. They said that you don’t watch Avatar but actually experience it. And the experience was simply mind blowing. You have to see to believe the world that James Cameron has created in Avatar. The film is a sort of mix of “Matrix” with “Lord of the Rings” and then something more.
The story at its heart is simple. Humans have found that a planet called “Pandora” has an energy giving mineral “unobtanium”. To be able to mine it they go ahead and destroy the planet’s residents the Na’vi, a peace loving community who believe that the entire planet with all its life forms is interconnected in a network they call Ey’wa (sounds similar to the Gaia concept of Earth). Humans being humans try to forcefully grab the mineral destroying the homes of Na’vi who then fight back aided in their fight by some humans.
Overall the story is basic and quite predictable but it’s the presentation and the packaging which is awesome. The seemingly magical world of Pandora comes alive from the director’s imagination. And that’s the highlight of the film. However the story also touches just the right emotions.
The humans’ assault on Pandora has a real parallel with the US invasion of Iraq & Afghanistan. One of the characters actually uses the term “Shock and Awe”. Also shows that human greed is the biggest threat to any eco-system (parallel with the Copenhagen Climate Summit).
The aliens are shown to be different from humans but in a beautiful way unlike most film depictions which are disgusting (e.g. District 9). And for a change the audience actually has its sympathies for the aliens rather than humans in this war. Actually in Avatar it’s the humans who are the aliens to Pandora.
And finally for the film’s presentation which is the real highlight. The world of Pandora comes alive with its people, plants & animals. Avatar uses technology unlike any seen before. The use of CGI & live action gets so merged that after some time you forget which one you have watched. And backing up all this wizardry is a simple emotional story.
Overall, I’ll say it again. Avatar is not meant to be watched, it’s meant to be experienced.

Where Has My Life Gone?

How Do I Get My Life Back? This was the question I had raised a couple of posts ago. Well still waiting to receive an answer to that. In the interim got an e-mail with this poem. Thought it captured my life pretty well. So sharing it here. I have no idea of who the original writer is but that person has summarised it beautifully.

Here i am sitting in my office @ night…

Thinking hard about life

How it changed from a maverick college life to strict professional life…...

How tiny pocket money changed to huge monthly paychecks

but then why it gives lesss happiness….

How a few local denim jeans changed to new branded wardrobe

but then why there are less people to use them

How a single plate of samosa changed to a full Pizza or burger

But then why there is less hunger…..

Here i am sitting in my office @ night…

Thinking hard about life

How it changed…..

How a bike always in reserve changed to bike always on

but then why there are less places to go on……

How a small coffee shop changed to cafe coffee day

but then why its feels like shop is far away…..

How a limited prepaid card changed to postpaid package

but then why there are less calls & more messages……

Here i am sitting in my office @ night…

Thinking hard about life

How it changed…...

How a general class journey changed to Flight journey

But then why there are less vacations for enjoyment….

How a old assembled desktop changed to new branded laptop

but then why there is less time to put it on……….

How a small bunch of friends changed to office mate

But then why we always feel lonely n miss those college frnz.….

Here i am sitting in my office @ night…

Thinking hard about life

How it changed….. How it changed……..