tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23746439884474758442024-03-13T06:28:11.000+05:30Yenna MeeeningManojhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017038500577540339noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2374643988447475844.post-66372300733433441542013-08-02T05:44:00.001+05:302013-08-02T05:44:34.233+05:30Crowd sourced decisions, anyone?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
With the DRS being lambasted by everyone these days, especially in light of some horrendous decisions in the ongoing Ashes, here's an idea that the ICC could consider.<br />
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Crowd-sourcing umpiring decisions.<br />
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Let's face it. Real-time media like twitter has cricket fans/commentators/ex-cricketers pouring over opinions about the nature of a decision(out/not out) the moment they catch it live anywhere - stadium, television, internet, etc. They opine their own POVs after watching replays/snicko/hawkeyes. And this operates in fantastical real-time. So, why not make use of it?<br />
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The idea I think is for ICC to invest in such a decision making mechanism that lets users vote on every decision *only* when given an option. Of course it goes without saying that everyone gets only one vote per decision.<br />
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Some points to consider:<br />
1. What if there are not enough voters?<br />
2. What if you can "fix" the outcome by hiring a load of people to work for you?<br />
3. How quickly?<br />
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(1) I doubt if this would be the case given that these days most(okay, I don't have a statistic to back this up) of the cricket watching public spends time online too. Also, the commentators, ex-cricketers are all active in this space as well.<br />
(2) Well, I think there are enough mechanisms already to fight this - like assigning ratings to users based on their past voting history. A good start to such a scheme could be to enlist ex-cricketers, commentators - who are *trusted* - and eventually rope in the general public.<br />
(3) Say 30-40 seconds should be good enough once the replays/hawkeye/snicko show up on TV. Umpires seem to need this time anyways in the current DRS scenario.<br />
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Of course, this system is far from perfect but atleast the idea of a single decision making authority making a blunder could possibly be alleviated.<br />
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And why shouldn't people have a say? It's their game too after all.<br />
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Manojhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017038500577540339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2374643988447475844.post-52736963561370564572012-04-13T04:00:00.001+05:302012-04-13T04:03:08.417+05:30Do we actually cherish photos?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
533, 345, 478 , approaching thousand...<br />
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The numbers are the sizes of the photo albums posted on Picassa, Facebook and other online photo repositories that I am privileged to see. The sizes are colossal, the events are diverse - friends meetup, baby shower, baby born, marriage, random trip, random clicking, etc. On any normal non-album viewing day, I probably have to register about 40-50 images of the surrounding milieu on my retina (I am not going to scientifically prove the validity of this claim). But 300s and 400s is a tad too many, good enough to create retinal chokage. I can't help but feel exhausted around the 40th or 50th photo (see what I did there?). To alleviate boredom, I then switch to thumbnail view of the album to quickly scan through photos. That way I can completely ignore one set of similar looking photos and quickly shift focus to the next set of similar looking photos. Our eyes are so powerful to grasp these differences, you see. In one instance, a friend of mine actually posted their honeymoon photos which had detailed shots of the interior of the cottage that they were staying in, including the restrooms. Apparently, when they entered it, it was all so neat and nicely laid out. But let's not kid ourselves here, this is no <a href="http://www.virtual-burjalarab.com/tours/32767/">Burj Al Arab's Royal Suite</a>.<br />
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After the viewing session is over, I get pings on chat - "Machi, endha photo irukkardhuliye range?" or "Check 186th photo, andha scenery chance eh illa" or "Dei..andha photo la avan semma comedy". The responses to such questions/observations undoubtedly lie in the assumption of me having had a whole-hearted viewing of the album and that the answers are at the tip of my typing hands. But I know that's not true. So, then begins the unenviable task of second-viewing of the album, looking for specifics. Especially the questions concerning photo numbers are tricky because online albums don't number their photos in the thumbnail view(a feature which ideally you would want). So, now it turns into a math problem that I have to solve.<br />
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"Hmm...5 photos in a row, so.. 5 3s 15, 5 7s 35, 37th row, okay 186.."<br />
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Let's set the facts straight, we are in an era of uninhibited clicking. It's so mandatory these days that you aren't ready to buy a phone that doesn't have a camera in it(the phone-activity on the phone forms hardly 1% of its usage). The point-and-shoot-ers and DSLR-ers are running amok with the things that they can do, especially the latter, whose actions were <a href="http://sarcasan.tumblr.com/post/8251825662/you-and-your-dslr">hilariously captured</a> by a witty blogger. And the results are there to see.<br />
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"Cha..I shook it..". Click.<br />
"I closed my eyes..". Click.<br />
"I want my side view..". Click.<br />
"I am not in the centre..". Click.<br />
"Align me in the corner..". Click.<br />
"Need another one, just the bust". Click.<br />
"Machi..Semma kevalama irukku..". Click.<br />
"One more..". Click. "Just one more.." Click. "Last one..". Click.<br />
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If a professional photographer is hired to capture the essence of an occasion, you would expect him to go about doing this business of serial-clicking and finally filtering out the ones that captured the best moments. Logical indeed. But regular lazy people that we are, we don't have the patience to sit and sift through all those that we have clicked. So, as long as my Picassa account allows, I shall just load it up with all that I have clicked and when I am out of space, I shall create another google account and start doing the same. I shall also send these albums to my friends and families for their viewing, ignoring the fact that the sheer number of photos don't cover up for the lack of any sense of aesthetic appeal that the album might have or the weariness that the repetitive nature of the photos might cause.<br />
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This is not a polemic owing to my not being a part of some of these photo albums, though I don't deny it partly is. But let's face it, how many of us are so full of enthu to repeatedly look at albums of events that even you were a part of? Most of our viewing happens during the trip/event itself on the 2.5'' - 3.5'' camera LCD screen and towards the end we are already full of it. And finally, it's all "I'll just go home and dump everything online".<br />
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I sometimes wish we get back to the good old roll-camera days when albums were a physical possession not a virtual one. We took photos because we wanted to not because we simply could. There was a price associated with photos, literally and figuratively. But now, it's a case of abundant availability resulting in negligible value. There's simply no time nor interest to put an effort into making an album minimal these days, convey it's essence to the people who you want to send it to. It's not as if we did all this before the advent of the digital camera. We didn't have to maybe because we didn't we an option but then we were content with whatever limited number of images we could create. Why can't any event be captured in 40 to 50 different frames? Isn't that enough to gauge how it went and check out the people and the places they were in?<br />
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For now, photos is just "yet another online thing we do".<br />
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<br /></div>Manojhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017038500577540339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2374643988447475844.post-18892076251331062652012-04-06T00:16:00.000+05:302012-04-06T00:16:27.616+05:30<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Excellento! Bravo!</div>
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Quite an achievement for mainstream media, considering competition all round.</div>
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Just begs the question on why we never saw a tweet/blog/news report that went</div>
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"Received request from a corporate media manager to broker for them regarding a cabinet post. Refused. Will not be part of lobbying."</div>
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Why is self-trumpeting selective?</div>
</div>Manojhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017038500577540339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2374643988447475844.post-7595565433055034122011-12-09T05:29:00.000+05:302011-12-09T05:29:52.016+05:30<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">My contribution to why Harris should never be written off..<br />
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUz8CbrVcM0&feature=related">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUz8CbrVcM0&feature=related</a></div>Manojhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017038500577540339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2374643988447475844.post-12688947906229254112011-06-08T01:28:00.001+05:302011-06-08T01:33:06.254+05:30Daemonizing a script in UNIX<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">There are occasions when you would want to execute a script as soon as your OS boots.<br />
The point of interest is a script <i>my_good_work</i> written in your favorite programming/scripting language. I have taken the example of a Dtrace script and so <i>my_good_work</i> becomes<i> my_good_work.d </i>for this post.<br />
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I describe how you do this in a UNIX based OS (Solaris to be precise)<br />
Demonizable scripts need to be placed in /etc/init.d/. In my case, I created the boot-driver script <i>dtrace </i>which does nothing but sets up the command line for running <i>my_good_work.d </i>with its runnable parameters. The <i>dtrace </i>script plugs into the OS's boot framework. You need to specify actions that need to be taken when the script is executed with <i>start</i> and <i>stop </i>as command line arguments.<br />
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For example, I did (in bash)<br />
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case "start"<br />
// start <i>my_good_work.d</i> script<br />
// /usr/sbin/dtrace -s ~/my_good_work.d<br />
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case "stop"<br />
// kill `pgrep dtrace`<br />
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esac<br />
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You can find a plethora of examples to do this in the /etc/init.d/ folder.<br />
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After this, you need to create a hard link to <i>dtrace </i>and place it in one of /etc/rcN.d/ folders. It really doesn't matter what N is (as far as I know). You need to create the hardlink as [S|K]NN<i>dtrace.</i><br />
S - Use this if you want to execute the script during startup<br />
K - Use this if you want to execute the kill the script during shutdown<br />
NN - Sequence number that is used to specify the order in which the scripts are executed.<br />
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In my case, I did<br />
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# ln /etc/init.d/dtrace /etc/rc2.d/S09dtrace<br />
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And you are done!<br />
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Note:<br />
- Creating a copy and renaming it instead of creating a hard link will most likely won't work, neither will a soft link<br />
- You need to be <i>root </i>for doing this entire exercise, because messing with boot options is not a joke!<br />
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</div>Manojhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017038500577540339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2374643988447475844.post-78463743228896957182011-03-17T05:57:00.000+05:302011-03-17T05:58:57.126+05:30Revival...VeraivilSettling down, be backManojhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017038500577540339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2374643988447475844.post-69835718784882724572009-09-24T10:35:00.002+05:302009-09-24T10:40:29.579+05:30FunkinessIn the midst of intellectual tumult, do come such wonderful gems (so, I say since there is none else to say)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">cReAtEd him, iNiTialized to JoiN me but he didn't yIeLd. I lOcKeD him up, sElf . He uNloCkEd and eXiTeD. I had to cAnCeLl and TERMINATE.</span><br /><br />By now, you should have guessed what this means.<br /><br />In any case, something that can help to figure out<br />1. I am a grad student.<br />2. I have an assignment deadline to meet tomorrow.<br />3. I still have to go the distance.<br />4. It's crapping time and what better place than Facebook to share crappiness and get recognised for it too.<br /><br />So, there you go...<br /><br />Still can't figure out?<br />I can't help iy, Google definitely can..<br />Go find it!Manojhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017038500577540339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2374643988447475844.post-31745438763561631662009-09-17T10:46:00.004+05:302009-09-17T10:52:39.204+05:30InspirationSample this...<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">If you'Re not faiLing eveRy now and again, it's a sign you'Re not doing anythiNg veRy inNovative - Woody Allen<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span><br /><br />One of the most insightful quotations that I have come across in the recent past.<br />I happen to notice it being quoted from one of my old colleague's blogs. So, it's thanks to him!<br /><br />Inspiration, seldom can, not be generated through such amazing wisecracks.<br />Absolutely loved and loving it. At 1:19 AM early morning with a paper commentary beckoning, this should push me, hopefully :)<br /><br />PS : I am a proud ".com" domain owner now. Thanks to the constant pestering of my room-mate Uday who wouldn't let me go without lapping it up.Manojhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017038500577540339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2374643988447475844.post-47707492655410479962009-05-28T17:37:00.006+05:302009-05-28T17:47:01.510+05:30What to call 'emI came up with this today, spotting a Nissan Teana, a grandiose car on the road.<br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><br />Austria capital Vienna<br />Nissan Caru peru Teana<br />Asin ah Nayana?<br />Adhunaala enakku enna palana?</span><br /><br />"<span style="font-style:italic;">Mudila machan</span>" - I know!!<br /><br />When India triumphed in the T20 World Cup in 2007, this was my song of success<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Indha team ah gavani<br />Captain peru Dhoni<br />Vuttadhu World Cup Sani<br />Thodarattum ivargal pani<br />Ye! Dandanakka..Ye! Danakunakka<br /></span><br />Summa..toooo much la :P<br />I know!!Manojhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017038500577540339noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2374643988447475844.post-77600567029479349792009-05-25T14:03:00.029+05:302009-05-26T12:44:11.302+05:30Goodbye 800, Welcome i-20(s)More than 13 years ago, we bought the Maruti 800, India's first budget car, the one which swept across the country's automobile industry for its simplicity, comfort and affordability. Owning the Maruti was immensely pleasing as we were among the first in our street to have a car. I was not bothered nor aware of other cars in the market back then. Apart from 800, the ones that I knew were <span style="font-style:italic;">Maruti Esteem</span> and <span style="font-style:italic;">Maruti Zen</span>. Infact, it took me about 3 years to question what the "800" actually signified. I simply didn't care!<br /><br />Thirteen years later, it was time to move on. Senility and outdated technology of the petite car forced us to think beyond. The natural inclination was to have a bigger and improved hatchback. A hatchback is the most preferred choice that fits well into the Indian transport and parking space set up, a constraint that any middle-class car owner will acknowledge. Inquisitive about the car market these days, and with the multitude of information available on the internet, I looked to shortlist the best cars in the class.<br /><br />The market is teeming with a variety of budget models - <span style="font-style:italic;">Maruti Swift Diesel and Petrol, Hyundai i-10 and i-20, Maruti Swift Dzire Diesel and Petrol, Tata Indica and Indigo</span><span style="font-style:italic;"></span>. Apart from the existing ones, some new models that caught the attention were <span style="font-style:italic;">Honda Jazz</span> and <span style="font-style:italic;">Maruti Ritz</span>.<br /><br />Choosing a car in this segment turned out to be quite a task, nevertheless an enjoyable one at that. <span style="font-style:italic;">Swift Petrol</span>, though the initial favourite, returned poor mileage figures and both variants(diesel and petrol) ultimately lost out to the "toad-like" body image. Again, the sprawl of the bumper on the Swift was uninviting, as though the toad setting himself up to launch upon his prey. <span style="font-style:italic;">Tata </span>was not a natural choice for a home car since their models have been widely popular only in the Taxi domain. And both the models weren't attractive either. <span style="font-style:italic;">Honda Jazz</span>, not yet launched in India lost out to the risk factor with Honda never having known to manufacture budget automobiles.<br /><br />Coming to Ritz, Maruti's hatchback offering against its extremely popular and ubiquitous Swift. My first look at the design of the car was enough to put me off. It looked as if the Dzire's back was beaten flat and then dented in the middle to shape the Ritz. There is a popular Mallu line that goes - "<span style="font-style:italic;">Adichu Ninde Shape Eh Nyaan Maathum</span>", meaning, "I will thrash you that your body will change shape". <span style="font-style:italic;">Fitting! </span>It did have its "butt flattened"(a phrase that might cause JLo's insurance company to panic). <br /> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fTDRmVLFPpI/ShuDLH_XZdI/AAAAAAAAB1c/3Bx3FrbNMJ0/s1600-h/ritz.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 104px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fTDRmVLFPpI/ShuDLH_XZdI/AAAAAAAAB1c/3Bx3FrbNMJ0/s200/ritz.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340006010324477394" /><br /> </a><br />A look at that car and you will know what I mean.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Swift Dzire Diesel</span> and <span style="font-style:italic;">Hyundai i-10</span> were very strong contenders. While Dzire was ably backed by a strong fuel economy, the necessity to switch to a diesel engine was always going to be a question mark given the limited driving that we do. The additional one-lakh for the diesel engine made sense only if the usage matched the investment, which in our case, didn't. The i-10, from the outset looked like the Big Brother of its cousin Santro, a car which I felt was too tall and flat both in the front and rear. The need of the hour was a stylish, trendy and curvy automobile.<br /><br />The <span style="font-style:italic;"><a href="http://www.hyundai-i20.co.in/">i-20</a><span style="font-weight:bold;"></span></span>, designed for the European market came across as the car to beat. No bumpy headlights, lots of boot space, sleek, sophisticated, the Korean maker's impressive interiors, lovely add-on features and Hyundai's reliable record in the Indian market. The car's performance was reasonable not considering statistics like the time taken to reach 0-60 km/hr and the mileage was comparable to some of the other diesel cars.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fTDRmVLFPpI/ShuKf4F6urI/AAAAAAAAB1s/Jz_W1kJR8mQ/s1600-h/i202.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 104px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fTDRmVLFPpI/ShuKf4F6urI/AAAAAAAAB1s/Jz_W1kJR8mQ/s200/i202.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340014063415638706" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fTDRmVLFPpI/ShuKftmPiMI/AAAAAAAAB1k/9FfnyAPTG2c/s1600-h/i201.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 104px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fTDRmVLFPpI/ShuKftmPiMI/AAAAAAAAB1k/9FfnyAPTG2c/s200/i201.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340014060598429890" /></a> <br /><br />Having booked the car and waiting for its delivery, I am reminded of the fact that, co-incidentally, there are a couple of I-20s that I am eagerly awaiting for right now. One coming all the way from the States and the other from Europe. Both have caught my imagination in equal measure.<br /><br />Go, Uber Cool!<br /><br />Some car related technical jargons that I have deciphered<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Hatchback <span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span>- The typical small car like the <span style="font-weight:bold;">Swift, Santro</span><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Saloon/Sedan<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span> - Three compartments clearly delineated - the bonnet, the seating space and the boot - <span style="font-weight:bold;">Corolla, City<span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="font-weight:bold;"></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Limousine<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span> - A chauffeur driven car with a separator between the driver and sitting cabins<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">SUV<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span> - A Hatchback with larger boot space and a boxy design - <span style="font-weight:bold;">Innova, Qualis</span>Manojhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017038500577540339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2374643988447475844.post-35552317933086548182009-05-04T12:58:00.002+05:302009-05-04T13:05:53.086+05:30Meter correction?I am gasping for breath as I realise, for the third consecutive office<->home trip, I ended up paying 54/-<br /><br />Questions that throng me now are<br />1. Have ridiculously priced auto-meters been cracked down and normalized?<br />2. Is this another common-man-friendly election stunt?<br />3. Am I simply over-reacting to this?<br /><br />I tried googling "bangalore auto meter correction", "auto meter bangalore government rectification". No luck with the results.<br /><br />Somebody please help here.Manojhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017038500577540339noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2374643988447475844.post-5415004120592833452009-04-30T11:28:00.005+05:302009-04-30T11:55:44.518+05:30Nallavanukku Nallavan indha auto meterOn any day, if I take an auto from home to office, the near 8 k.m. journey would cost me 65 rupees on an average. In theory though, I would have required to pay only 7/- per k.m and should ideally be 56/-. But, coming to the world of autos, auto-drivers and auto-meters in Bangalore, things would be "normal" only when you are quite lucky.<br /><br />The last 2 days had forced me to catch an auto during the terribly traffic-y peak morning hours. To my surprise, on both days(yesterday and today) I paid a miserly sum(it's the actual rate btw) of 53 and 54 rupees. Considering that I have hit 90 rupees on some occasions for the same distance on high-speed,super-speeding autoed-meters, this was a revelation! <br /><br />The moment I get inside an auto in bangalore, I can't help but start staring at the meter. I roughly know when the meter should start ticking from the "minimum charge" of 14/-. The meter should starting inching up and above when I cross the Airtel showroom on 100Ft. Road, Indiranagar. Yesterday was quite a surprise. The meter remained still even at that point. I readied myself to tell the auto driver that the meter might not be working(<span style="font-style:italic;">Sometimes I am tooo generous!</span>) I had reached the start of the Domlur flyover. That's when it happened. I saw the transition to 14.50/-. "<span style="font-style:italic;">Good god! This fellow should have the best, untinkered, untampered meter in the whole of bangalore.</span><span style="font-style:italic;">He is the best auto-fella."</span> <br /><br />What followed was an on-the-dot inspection of critical milestones at which I know what rate to expect. The flyover loop exit, Cambridge-Airport road Signal and two other "strategic" points. <span style="font-style:italic;">Sharp </span>the meter was!It was always 2 or 3 rupees below the actual rate. <br /><br />A cheating meter and the driver would definitely be greeted with a sulking countenance. I was wondering if this fellow should be congratulated for maintaining a "legal" meter and charging me the exact amount that I am supposed to give.<br />Getting down,I realized I am always ready to give a mouthful when someone cheats but should I commend this fellow just for doing his job right which is the minimum quality that I should expect from him? <br /><br />I paid the exact amount with the change and walked...Manojhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017038500577540339noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2374643988447475844.post-40137725225348917262009-04-22T09:27:00.003+05:302009-04-22T09:35:29.371+05:30I opinedFollowing are links on "The Hindu", where I voice out my personal(or popular??) opinions<br /><br /><a href="http://www.hinduonnet.com/2008/06/06/stories/2008060654470802.htm">http://www.hinduonnet.com/2008/06/06/stories/2008060654470802.htm</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.thehindu.com/2009/04/22/stories/2009042254740801.htm">http://www.thehindu.com/2009/04/22/stories/2009042254740801.htm</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/02/stories/2008100255731003.htm">http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/02/stories/2008100255731003.htm</a>Manojhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017038500577540339noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2374643988447475844.post-50138043533758859322009-03-21T18:56:00.005+05:302009-03-23T13:06:04.598+05:30FRIENDS maniacLast week I completed 10 rounds of 10 seasons of FRIENDS. Quite a landmark achievement! Roughly calculating the total time spent considering 21 minutes of each episode and 24 episodes in a season,<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">10 * 10 * 24 * 21 = 50400 minutes or 840 hours or 35 days.</span><br /><br />The staggering figure is over a 3 year period since Jan 2006. It was my 3-2 at BITS. I was averse to sitcoms before this. Even now, any other series doesn't elicit the same amount of enthusiasm as FRIENDS does. Getting used to the new characters is awkward having been accustomed to the 'Sooper Six' and I tend to draw out comparisons between the characters which is quite unfair on my part. <br /><br />After ending each round, I would tell myself to stop this <span style="font-style:italic;">addictive behaviour</span>, the results of which have been devastating since the "break time" between successive rounds has only kept decreasing till now.<br /><br />So, why this craze?<br />One thing is for sure - <span style="font-weight:bold;">Easy access<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span>. I secured all 10 seasons while I was in BITS. So no need to hunt for them now. Youtube does have it but in bits and pieces which is quite a mood killer when you want to watch a sitcom.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Useless TV programs<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span> - Entertainment on TV has become horrendous oflate. Nothing more terrible than poor 'Dada' forcing to judge dancing girls to cheerlead his team. What a waste of intelligence, time and money! And our NEWS channels continue to make an overkill of whatever story they are able to get.<br /><br />Small pockets of entertainment with a good dose of meaningful humour served by FRIENDS is a major highlight. Moreover, watching a series just once doesn't give you the exposure to appreciate all the jokes. This is quite true as every time I watch the repeated episodes I happen to listen to a new joke that I haven't understood or missed before.<br /><br />So, gearing for the eleventh round? Of course!Manojhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017038500577540339noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2374643988447475844.post-14940859327089670162009-02-16T21:31:00.008+05:302009-02-18T08:07:35.224+05:30The Curious Case of the Melting GheeThe traffic overwhelms...<br />The signals perpetuate...<br />The mind wanders...<br /><br />Thoughts, in thousands, surge across as the multiple gruelling waits for the GREEN leave me rattled. With nothing to do but wait, I find myself cogitating on the worthless but interesting topics :-)<br /><br />This was conceived at the Airport-Victoria Rd signal today, a lengthy one at that.<br /><br /> <strong>The curious case of the Ghee being served melted</strong><br />Yesterday at a typical South Indian restaurant, where I was having lunch, ghee was offered for the <span style="font-weight:bold;"><em>paruppu saadham</em><span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span>. I took it. It was the melted, flowing version of the ghee.<br /><br />"This is not ghee", I thought to myself. The viscosity was simply not there. It flowed like water or oil. I have been a <em>NeiPriyan</em> throughout, not so much for the sweets, but with food - YES, especially rice! Ghee is one of the most inviting savouries that has been discovered that can add intense flavour to the charismatic white rice.<br /><br />Ghee is to be preserved in its semi-solid state for serving with rice. The definition of semi-solid needs clarification. Typically, it's the state between the fridge-frozen to the free flowing summer version. At room temperature, during summer, the consistency is ideal. While the frigid version is good to heat on a <em>cheenchatti/vaanali</em> to make a pongal or a payasam, it's no good to be served with steaming rice. The point being, it kills the mood to have to wait for it to melt and mix with the rice. Analogous to this is the case of trying to splosh frigid butter on the mildly toasted bread slice. On a hurried morning trying to gobble whatever you get at hand, when the butter refuses to co-operate, the frustration only compounds. There is no time to heat. Bad still, you don't like the taste of it when heated because it cooks into a ghee-ish taste. Alas! Only if I had decided early morning that bread-butter-jam was going to stave off my fast that morning and having finalised it, I had kept the butter out for it to cool down outside the fridge(oxymoronic?)<br /><br />But things don't work out the way especially during its-getting-late mornings. Coming out of the analogy, the most relishing way to begin the lunch course, is<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Plain steamed rice</span> + <span style="font-style:italic;">Ghee</span> (semi-solid, ablity to melt on rice) + <span style="font-style:italic;">boiled</span> <em>paruppu</em>. <br /><br />It should be mentioned that the viscosity of <em>nei</em> matters much here because, after this serving what follows is the ritual of cupping the palm and receiving the ghee and lickin' away. And that's not possible with the free flowing version.<br /><br />The ideally ghee suited, to be mixed with items are <br />1. Sambhar - For <em>arachu vutta sambhar</em>, it adds to the already smoking hot manam & gunam. For <em>podi potta sambhar</em>, its ability to elevate the taste reaches the pinnacle. But for the ghee with it, I would have disliked podi pota sambhar to the core.<br />2. Rasam - The combination is good not great.<br />3. Morkootan and Vethakozhambu - Average to medium<br /><br />For some reason though, ghee doesn't go well with <strong>Molagootal</strong> that makes me wonder why so....<br /><br />Wooh! Too much for this signal now. I continued towards Richmond with another interesting topic in the pipeline.......Manojhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017038500577540339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2374643988447475844.post-55434771488007219952009-01-18T23:58:00.003+05:302009-01-19T00:27:14.037+05:30A temple has to be a templeAfter a long enough stay to warrant the title of an insider in bangalore, one thing(among many) missing was a visit to the famous ISKCON temple. Situated, comfortably in the old locales of bengaluru, it was a whole task getting there from the outer reaches of the city. A pre-paid auto ride that claimed much more than the normal avaricious auto driver was a surprise. <br /><br />ISKCON temple was gleaming with gold literally. A markedly different construction from the usual south Indian temple styles was noticeable. They followed a nice crowd management tactic where the people waiting in the queue needed to proceed along a path laid with tiles each projected form the floor which could contain only two feet at a time. And the norm was to stay in that square for a whole "(Hare Rama)(3)Hare Hare. (Hare Krishna)(3)Hare Hare" that was being played. There were people who were devotedly following this while others really wanted the crowd to move quickly.<br /><br />The idols of gods and goddesses in gold showed richness. This was in the main hall that housed the shrines of Radhe-Krishna. The exit route from there till the gate was painstaking. All of them had to mandatorily go through series and multiple floors of books, photos, photo frames, jewellery. Get this over with and you see another section with an absolutely wide array of sweets and savories - jamuns, rasmalai,rasgulla and what not. And on the top of it all, the actual FREE prasadham was being served after all this. In between all this there were bursts of pop-corn, ice cream, fizzy drink stalls.<br /><br />A theatre multiplex inside a temple? Hmmm...it did seem that way. People licking away snacks after visiting the deity doesn't constitute a good spiritual experience. The beauty of Indian temples lies in the divine presence that you feel inside the huge walls once you are under the gopuram. Sadly, it could not be experienced in here for reasons mentioned above.<br /><br />Leave temples and devotees alone. Business and temple sanctum need not be mixed. They don't jell. That was the feeling as I came out.Manojhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017038500577540339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2374643988447475844.post-64889742395178314792008-11-27T09:54:00.002+05:302008-11-27T10:07:57.263+05:30Horror!It was gripping to see pictures of hotels, streets, railway stations in a state of mayhem. Terrorists have intruded very comfortably these days. It's clear. Anyone of us is a potential terror target in our country these days. It stuns me when I think about the mind setup of the terrorists who decide to bomb people whom they don't even know and who are not even remotely related to the supposed cause they are fighting for. What do they really want? Nobody can tell. But they, for sure are creating big inroads in the society.<br /><br />Entering railway stations armed with Ak-47 and shooting people as they like is a very sorry state of affairs in the country. Innocent people, people who had no idea what would befall upon them the next minute are getting horrendously inflicted with pain and death.<br /><br />I am speechless literally. This year has been on top of the disaster chart in terms of terror attacks and all big talk from the government after each and every attack is highly unconvincing. It's is not possible to exterminate terror attacks at all places. But <span style="font-weight:bold;">some <span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span>action from the government is necessary.<br /><br />In the end, all the lost lives hurt.Manojhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017038500577540339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2374643988447475844.post-48785721135453529562008-11-26T08:28:00.003+05:302008-11-26T08:47:50.362+05:30A thousand elephants and not a thousand colorsVoila!<br />Just in my previous post, I had mentioned that Harris needs to come out of the Karaharapriya, Natabhairavi closet. And I see traces of Charukeshi in the charanam of "Ava Enna..." (Vaaranam AAyiram), Karthik in the vocals. Nice to hear him sing a beautiful song after a pretty decent gap in tamil. The song is kind of a sequel to Minnale's "Venmathiye...", the feel being the same. The interesting thing about the song is that, it is expected to be set for the dappankuthu genre when it opens. But Harris rarely gives you an outright dappankuthu. There is always a feel of a class in his songs, purely because of his chord exploits. <br /><br />Since the Minnale and Majnu days, Harris has proved to be an outright melodist. At present, I think he is the king of melodies in tamil movies. Even otherwise, Harris doesnt experiment much with the range of his songs. The experimentation that he does is primarily on ways to innovate his own numbers!<br /><br />As expected, all songs are good in VA. My favorites are Ava enna, Anal Mele, Adiye Kolluthey. The rest remind you of a Oru Maalai, Mudhal naal Indru- his earlier hit compositions. Anal Mele is no different from Munbe Va, Vassegara or Enadhuyire. It's Natabhairavi alright! But I primarily like the song since I happened to hear and see it the first time while watching the movie. You can call this song as one of the most fitting and relevant numbers to the feel of the movie. So even though the tune is a rehash, Sudha along with the picturisation of the song have had a good influence on me. A kind of song that you would want to listen to reclining on a cushion sofa with your headphones on a late night sojourn.<br /><br />And on a subject totally unrelated, I coined this saying today morning - felt good about it.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">"For today's middle class, luxury is a mundane affair and the ordinary is an elusive retreat"<span style="font-weight:bold;"></span></span>Manojhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017038500577540339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2374643988447475844.post-13078022019402878902008-11-03T23:15:00.002+05:302008-11-03T23:24:10.752+05:30Harris! Please leave Karaharapriya aloneMr. Harris Jayaraj! This is a sincere request from me to leave Karaharapriya and her cousin Natabhairavi alone for sometime. You have other zillions of swaram combinations to explore. Agreed that you have given us wonderful melodies using these 2 ragams. But it's time to move on sir. Its been too much of late. And you are trying to make the same note sound different each time using different rhythm patterns and some interesting interludes. But, yeah, after a point, it has become so repetitive that I might lose interest. You are capable of giving us great songs. So, next time let us not hear the same set of swarams set to different beats. My petition is that since you are the sole melody king in the tamil film world now, please provide some quality music to live up to your name. <br /><br />Some suggestions:<br />- The Bombay Jayashree-<span style="font-style:italic;">adi thondai</span>-natabhairavi genre could be put to rest for sometime<br />- Explore swara patterns other than SR2PM1R2S, R2PM1G2R2S, M1PN2PM1R2S (surfeited karaharapriya and janyas)<br />- Try something in a Prathi Madhyama ragam. I think, the only prathi madhyamam that I have heard is your "Mudhar Kanave", that too only as a baashanga in Natabhairavi, your favorite.<br />- Retain the melodious interludes but again, in different ragams.<br />- Compose something in Sindhu Bhairavi, Mayamalavagowla, keeravaani, charukeshi. Expand your repertoire.<br />- How come you have not composed anything in Hindolam, Mohanam or a Kalyani(atleast to my recollection). These are music director's all time favorites. I want to hear your techno blend with ragams like these.<br /><br />Sincerely<br />ManojhManojhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017038500577540339noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2374643988447475844.post-40936649268028909902008-09-24T08:24:00.005+05:302008-09-24T09:20:45.651+05:30rock on - againI am coming back to the wonderfully crafted album by SEL - Rock on!<br /><br />The songs in the album religiously maintain the construction of any typical rock song - i.e. the song has only a <em>pallavi</em>, which is repeated over and over again with distinct lyrics ofcourse, the tune being the same. Typically, there are no <em>charanams</em>. The pallavis are separated by guitar, keyboard interludes. The song gets its variation purely because of the variety in the orchestration employed. <br /><br />This is something new that we haven't seen in Indian film songs. Infact,here, all songs fit the above description. Having said that, is there variety that is in offer?<br />Yeah. Sure.<br /><br /><em>'Socha Hai'</em> is a wonderfully paced, would-make-you-dance song. I especially like the song's lyrics and the way Farhaan has sung it. He seems to ease through the song with a natural flair. Also, I feel this song is more peppier than 'Rock on', the title song. The two probably could have interchanged their places.<br /><br /><em>'Rock on'</em>, again by Farhaan is pretty good throughout. But a defnite zing is missing here when compared with Socha Hai.<br /><br /><em>'Ye Tumhari Meri'</em>, sung by Dominique Cerejo is easily the pick among the slow songs. The whole song has the chord Ri-Pa-Ma-Ri-Sa-Ri-Ma-Pa(all major notes) consistently flowing through. Again, the keyboard, guitar's prowess come to the fore. Accompanied by a wonderful voice, this song has already made me addictive.<br /><br /><em>'Pichle Saath Dinon'</em> is easily bolstered by the electric guitar and Farhaan. The song's, 'Kaise Boloon...' phrase is very catchy, departing from the rock feel of the overall song.<br /><br /><em>'Tum Ho Toh'</em>, is good for its interludes(esp. the ones with the organ), not so much for the voice as Farhaan lack of proper training shows. Nevertheless, yet another good song.<br /><br />The freshness in this album is probably comparable to DCH, RDB. No wonder they were chartbusters. Music of a movie reflects the thought process of the director and his penchant for the kind of songs he wants to have. The best of songs seem to come inextricably from the best of the movies. No wonder then, the director has a major role to play in the selection of songs that a music composer offers.Manojhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017038500577540339noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2374643988447475844.post-20015679521832157042008-09-08T10:33:00.013+05:302008-09-12T16:17:32.786+05:30Rock on!! - The album doesHindi film music has probably not, until now, been accustomed to this genre. The genre is rock and if you thought it was a misfit in our cinemas, this album might make you rethink. No music director has dared to explore this variety of music to my recollection. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and Farhaan have given us some magical music in their previous unions. Farhaan was a director then. Here he is the prime propagator of the trio's music being the lead singer of the rock band. I always feel the best director would bring out the best of a good music director. Farhaan and SEL are no doubt one of the best combos that we have seen.<br /><br />Its not the screaming, stentorian vocals or the blazing guitars of the rock rich western world that you hear in this album. This is the "desi" version of the Rock Music, with a feel fresh flavour to it. The album comes alive purely because of the instrumental arrangements, a novel orchestration compared to the mundane music that are dished out often in our films. Now, you can't classify an album as pure Rock if it has a couple of really good melodious numbers with minimal screeching and drums.<br />The album is fresh with Farhaan as a fresh singer and a host of other new names . All of them prove to an extent that they are novices and yet their singing shows experience. Except 'Zehreley', there is nothing "rocky" about any the numbers. Farhan has sung most of them. With a voice resembling Lucky Ali a touch, he actually eases through the fast paced numbers. He needs to work more on the slow numbers though.<br /><br />On hearing the songs, I was transported to my college days where we used to have cultural festivals with independent rock bands performing on stage. Many used to display loads of attitude, the lack of commensurate content only too obvious. If this band had turned up then, I am sure they would have won the competition hands down. <br /><br />I didn't end up disappointed the first time I heard the album because I already knew what to expect from a movie which has rock music as its soul. Any music album isn't first time impressive these days and the same applies here. This album has grown on me over the past week after repeated hearings. I can't seem to not hum the songs.<br /><br />The irony is that the film is about an incipient band though the music is a far cry from being amateurish. After a couple of recent albums from Harris Jayaraj disppointing me, this one has managed to persist and from the looks of it, atleast for a few weeks from now, it will.<br /><br />Rock on!!Manojhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017038500577540339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2374643988447475844.post-59640883403457231792008-08-11T10:42:00.003+05:302008-08-11T10:49:35.757+05:30Sweet..Sweet!!And so...it happens!<br /><br />The elusive 'GOLD' is here finally. Though I am not a big fan of the Olympics nor am I following it, this very piece of news has got me highly excited. It remains to be seen though how this will CHANGE the face of the Indian indifferent attitude to sports in general except ofcourse cricket. Will this encourage people to take up sports as a career? Will the various state governments and the Centre care enough to promote sport as a profession? <br /><br />Questions remain...Nevertheless, Abhinav Bindra has made us proud today!Manojhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017038500577540339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2374643988447475844.post-64794611071345774722007-11-29T13:15:00.000+05:302007-11-29T13:26:42.084+05:30The Board's waysWhat the...!! Is HE going to coach the Indian team? What background does he have as a coach? What do the board think they are doing?........The list of questions goes on....<br /><br />To add to the sorry state of affairs to the already defamed cricket board of India..oops..the Board of 'Control' for Cricket in India, the new suggestion(almost confirmation) of Gary Kirsten as India's coach is nothing but a waiting disaster. To top it all, the Board prides itself that the selection was 'unanimous' by none other than the esteemed gentlemen who have served Indian cricket all these years, the likes of Shastri, Gavaskar and Venkatraghavan. What a pity! Men who have contributed immensely to the game lacking vision and succumbing to the board's pressure. How else could the theory of selecting a national coach who is little known in the field of coaching be explained? What is more baffling is their series of choices for coaches, Greg Chappell, Graham ("who") Ford and Gary Kirsten, the last one being the worst of the lot. But to be fair to Chappell, I feel his methods weren't acceptable to the players. He tried to bring about the Aussie-way, a compelling routine, which unfortunately found no favour with the Indians. It was clearly a case of misfit of his coaching methods in the Indian system.<br /><br />But it does look like the Board doesn't have respect for our own Lalchand Rajput, Robin Singh and Venkatesh Prasad. They took over during tough times and have done a fair job. The Indian team has been doing appreciably well too without any coaches, Indian or foreign. Why then, all of a sudden this idiotic decision to bring about a foreign coach with absolutely no coaching experience?<br /><br />Gary Kirsten…. What does the board achieve by signing up a coach to whom a player can't even look up to? What great credentials does Gary Kirsten have, to command respect from the Indian players? Kirsten as far as I have seen him play was one of the most boring players. There was no grace nor elegance associated with his game. Moreover, the fact that the he hadn't even applied for the post but got a call for it smacks of any sense of professionalism from the board. Adding to this are the remarks of surprise from Kirsten himself on his selection. There is no point in inviting a coach who doesn’t have the required motivation for the post.<br /><br />I hope Harsha Bhogle, during the India-Aussie series down under shoots these questions to both his commentary box comrades. The outspoken host, one of my favourites, will earn my respect even more if he can manage to ask the two gentlemen regarding this decision of theirs.<br /><br />The board has been a subject of constant criticism from ex-cricketers, the media and the public for quite sometime now. Despite the Greg Chappell fiasco, the decision of the board still wanting to get a foreign coach is incomprehensible. How many deserving Indian former cricketers have been overlooked for the post is a matter of concern. The 'Control' that the board is trying to exert is too obvious. A 3000 crore money making behemoth under the firm control of politicians is a well known story. Banning the chief of selectors to write columns, barring players playing in a 'rebel' league to play for India, countering the rebel league with its own, double standards in selection processes, exerting control over players' activities ... a sample of the board's recent activities. The going seems to be nowhere. Improving the cricket scenario looks like the last priority on the board's to do list. What I recommend are the following steps for the sake of Indian cricket <br />1. The government should step in and confiscate the assets of the board. A sizeable chunk of it should go to the PM's relief fund and the minimum that's required to run the board's activities must be allocated to it. All the money sitting snuggly with the board members can be put to much better use. The wealth amassed by the Board only because of the players and the sponsors. Without spending for the game's improvement, they are making no good use of the money other than filling up their already huge bellies.<br />2. Politicians should be debarred from holding any post within the board. The current set up should be completely dissolved and the members be elected afresh. <br />3. A managing committee comprising senior, respectable players should be formed who will manage the Indian cricket board.<br /><br />Whoever is overseeing the working of the Board should be committed to the cause of improving cricket. With a billion people, the world's richest cricketing body and the unmatched passion for the game, its only LOGICAL that we will DEFINTELY find ONLY ELEVEN real quality players out of the billion odd who will be consistent world-beaters. I think this is a very valid argument. Somebody, please listen and act.Manojhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017038500577540339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2374643988447475844.post-5163622630601172292007-11-26T12:32:00.000+05:302007-11-26T12:43:35.808+05:30ATM music reviewMy first reaction on hearing that ARR is the composer for a Vijay movie was "Ohh No! So, only dappankuthus from ARR?". Thankfully, I was proved wrong. There is a distinct flavour associated with the music of ATM. Rahman seems to be in the mood for folkish tunes these days. His recent 'Kummi Adi' from 'Jillunu..' is an example. Over the years we haven't seen too many of these from ARR. Probably because the subject didn't provide him with that scope. The previous ones that comes to my mind are 'Maanoothu Mandayile' and 'Aathankarai Marame'. That was way long back. But coming to the music of ATM, ARR seems to have found the right blend of the modern and the rustic. With 'Sivaji', I was a touch disappointed simply because, it had a bit of overdose of the western. But over here, he pleases with catchy, fast paced and melodious numbers.<br /><br />Note: This review comes after considerable hearing from me exclusively on head/ear phones. I would advise the same to enjoy the songs.<br /><br /><em><strong>'Maduraiku'</strong></em> is set to the typical '<em>Danda </em><em>Nakka Danakku Nakka</em>' style of folk music. And when you have Rahman handling an ordinary rhythm, you are sure to expect something special in it. The tavil and the nadaswaram have been appreciably used. The 'Karpoora Kannigaye Varaai' chorus is the highlight of the song for me. Especially, the part of the chorus where 'Maharajane....' is sung - simply awesome, wonderful <em>brigha</em>. The male and female voices have done a fabulous job. Throughout the song, Rahman gives a different dimension with an instrumental background which ably supports the vocals.<br /><br /><em><strong>'Kelamal...'</strong></em> is different from the very beginning. Well, this song can be tagged as the only authentic melody in the album. Set to a fast paced rhythm, the song touches the realms of a remix number because of its beats and the lyrics seem to vindicate that claim too<br /> <em>'Kettu rasitha padal ondrai meendum indru nyabagam thoonda....' ;)</em><br />I was actually surprised to see Sriram Parthasarathy used by Rahman in this song because the sangathis in this song aren't 'out of the world' and a singer of <br />his calibre is definitely capable of giving us more. A distinct melody from ARR.<br /><br />When you hear <em><strong>'Valayapatti'</strong></em> for the first time, it makes you wonder how on earth did ARR manage to make a song out of this 'aviyal'. It has many distinct interludes and tunes that are unrelated. A folkish number again, this one has many classical overtones. Rahman manages to get through with quite a number of ragams here Sindhubhairavi, Neelambari, Bhagyashree, Saraswati, Behaag giving glimpses of all of them. Overall, the song really impresses after you hear it twice or thrice and being a carnatic lover, I enjoyed the <em>'swara kattus' </em>very much. The female playback is quite impressive. The song scores because of its packaging<br /><br /><em><strong>'Ponmagal Vandhal' </strong></em>- remix of the old popular number infact pleased me more than the original. This may offend some of the purists but somehow I was not a big fan of the original but after this version, I am definitely humming it. The rap lyrics in the song is humourous. The lines where TMS's voice has been retained are really good especially with the technological expertise at the background. A creditable re-mix.<br /><br /><em><strong>'Ellapugazhum'</strong></em> takes off like lightning from the begininng with some heavy electric guitar usage. ARR oflate has used the same tunes for the intro-songs in his movies. The song strikes a resemblance to the opening numbers of 'Anbe Aaruyire' and 'Sivaji'. The highlight of the song though is ARR's voice and the lead guitar chords. He has the knack of picking up the songs that suit his style of singing. The electric guitar used in the song is inspiring and so are the song's lyrics. A good opening number.<br /><br /><em><strong>'Nee Merlyn..'</strong></em> is a song for the Gen-X. The song oozes with loads of attitute and is promptly backed by guitar chords and drums. Add to it some youthful lyrics and voices, you get a perfect recipe that the urban audience can identify themselves with. <br /><br />Overall, I am happy with this album because Rahman has tried something different. Considering the fact that this is a Vijay movie, the music transcends all limits of ordinary music that we usually hear in his movies. Moreover, the way he has handled it knowing what people expect from a Vijay movie is quite impressive.<br /><strong><br />My rating: 4.2 / 5</strong>Manojhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017038500577540339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2374643988447475844.post-40645044731922515672007-09-28T00:26:00.001+05:302007-09-28T10:55:56.857+05:30To F.R.I.E.N.D.S - Part 1Warning...This post is purely for FRIENDS buffs and all time addicts to the show.<br /><br />In one of my previous posts, I had briefly mentioned about the series - FRIENDS. Here is my ode to that wonderful series.<br /><br />FRIENDS - the most popular among sitcoms, aired for ten years(seasons) from 1994 to 2004 on CNBC in the States. I was initially averse to the idea of such a TV series as my supposed belief was that the "laughing audience" that accompanied the jokes were a hindrance to smooth viewing and that they were more of a make-believe mechanism to induce people into thinking that the joke was funny when actually it wasn't!! <br />Yet, it was during the December holidays of my third year in college that I watched the first ever episode of FRIENDS on Starworld late in the night. I remember that it was one from the last season, just to have a glimpse of how good/bad the show actually was. My hostel wing in my college was a constant hub for FRIENDS viewing. And that induced me to watch the show for the first time. With our hostel rooms being LAN-equipped, we had no better businees to do than to download movies and play LAN games. FRIENDS had always been there on the LAN. Within no time, I had all the ten seasons on my hard-disk once I got back to campus that January.<br /><br />It's been nearly two years now. Woah! Never did I think that I would get so addicted to the show. <strong>Joey, Phoebe, Chandler, Monica, Ross, Rachel </strong>- the six of them, unique in their own ways, have left an impression that probably no other contemporary characters on TV have. <br />First and foremost, the jokes. Each one of them is unique and authentic conforming to the highest standards. The best part is that almost all of them would make you laugh. There are few ones that would cause your face to contort. The script and dialogue writers have delivered in all the episodes with their skilled witticism, manifestation of really good humour, unlike the crass,cheap and slapstick ones that we get to see usually from many other comic capers.<br /><br />Second come the actors. What a choice! All of them fit into their roles with elan. An ensemble of some of the finest actors, the fact that their careers never 'took off' even after this series tells how difficult people found to place them in other roles having seen them in FRIENDS. People couldn't just see them differently. They just didn't fit in! <br /><br />Another amazing aspect is the characterisation of the lead players. They are not only distinct but also non-overlapping and their very nature has been maintained throughout the ten seasons. Joey with his innocence and profound stupidity, Phoebe with her assertive unconventional ways, Chandler and his outright sarcastic self, domineering Monica with her "Live by the Rules" obsession , Ross with his myriad expressive emotions revolving around his relationship conundrums and Rachel with her whiny, girlish self - characteristics of the six protagonists in a nutshell, the setting and the story revolve around them throughout the ten seasons.<br /><br />For a beginner, the ideal way to kick start would be with season one and to progress along the timeline. The season takes you through one heck of a laughing spree as you get used to the humour(the accent and tone - so important to understand the context of a joke) and the characterisations. Chandler easily scores over the rest with his satirical lines, mocking every other in the group. "Ohh! Sorry Ross! I was very drunk and was in someone else's sub-conscious", "Yes! Around 200 others whom I went to high school with"...(to be continued)Manojhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017038500577540339noreply@blogger.com0