Boredom

In months of March-April this year, ICC scheduled the World T-20 Qualifiers for associate teams in Ireland and Scotland. Two spots were reserved for 12 teams in World T-20 scheduled to be played in India in March 2016. Tricky scenario is that they will again have to participate in a qualifier event before the commencement of actual world cup where they will compete against the likes of Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. So you see how tough is their journey to the center arena of World Cricket. So in the aforementioned qualifier event, Nepal and Oman were competing in a match. I wanted to see the match live on Star Sports 1 which was the official broadcaster of this event. But I didn't get to see it for Star was supposedly broadcasting only 16 matches from the tournament. I was dumbfounded for I wanted to see the progress made by teams such as Papua New Guinea, Jersey, Oman, Namibia, Hong Kong, Nepal and many others first hand. But then again, some of my favorite teams qualified for the ma...

If there is one movie that I miss the most from my collection, it's got to be 'Immortal Beloved'. I remember deleting it but not really the reason for doing so. I feel almost gutted whenever I find a mention of Gary Oldman and his unforgettable portrayal of legendary German Music Composer, Ludwig Von Beethoven in the Bernard Rose's film, 'Immortal Beloved'. I am feeling quite low especially today for today is not an ordinary day, it is the day commemorating Beethoven's 245th Birthday. And if you have logged on Google today, you will have already known that. Beethoven need not an introduction to all the music lovers across the world but those who are unaware of him, let me tell you that he was the LION of European (or Western) music jungle in early 19th century. He composed divine music that resonated through both classical and romantic era of western music scene and his compositions remain as influential today as they were in his prime. Beethoven started l...

'Unanswered' is a book penned by Mr. Kunal Uniyal and it's his third book. I am calling it a book, using a common noun to describe it and I have a good enough reason for doing so. It's a book that consists off both poems and prose and I was in real dilemma picturing its prognosis in my mind. It started with a poem named 'You and I' and beautiful it was, all poised and lyrical. And then came a snippet of a prose by the name 'Life of a Yogi'. They were really not connected and I was perplexed. Then I allowed myself some comfort and decided to dig up some more. Some more beautiful poems and accompanying yet again not quite related passages of prose followed but now they looked more in shape and very much in order. Now I was beginning to realize that there was more to this book than met my eyes earlier and it's scope is much wider that what I originally thought. You are required to engage yourself with this book and once you do that, you will know you ar...

Two observations from the just concluded first ever day night test match between Aus-NZ: 1) Australia were 116/8 in response to NZ's first innings total of 202. On a helpful pitch, a handy lead of 80+ would have done wonders for NZ. Then Lyon-DRS imbroglio happened and every cricket-fan's mood got spoiled. With NZ Cricket's honest, hardworking and clean image (and Australia's supposedly exact opposite), everyone wanted NZ to come up as a winner more so after their stellar performance in Perth Test. But as luck would have it, Australia prevailed, once again like those days of Great Australian (yet match-maligned) era. Australians again showed that if they are given a little sniff, they are still able to turn the tables on you. I'm glad that they showed their 'Australianism' once again and John Arlott, who coined and defined this term at the first place, must be smiling in heaven after witnessing their bravado performance.....perhaps, World Cricket needs a r...

"Confessions of a Drenched Heart: Turning on the Fife of Life" is a work of poetry from a promising writer, Ms. Shweta Kesri. As the title of this poetry collection itself suggests, the poems indexed are glimpse of writer's psyche or I should rater say, heart. I must admit that poetry was off my mind's radar for a while so when I got my hands on this book, I was little bit skeptical of its chances for scoring my likeness. And this is not to say that I don't like poems but as of late, I have been so immersed with works of prose that I almost forgot what a good poetry collection really means for its readers. Ms. Kesri's debut poetry collection gave me that surreal, enjoyable feeling back. This is in no way a made-up work, this is an honest work and it stays true to its title. It confesses and thus makes you reach out to your heart too. The Positives You will probably call me biased if I keep on going raving about this brilliant work but believe me when I sa...

As of late, checking the news on TOI/Hindu App first thing in the morning after waking up has become one of my standalone habits. It helps me in opening up my eyes, widening them after a 6 hrs sleep. So today as well, I followed up the same routine. Terrorist Attacks in Paris: The first and only news flashed across my Mobile Screen. Eyes Wide Open, Jaws on the floor and mind completely numb. Next moment: TV Switched on. All the infamous Indian News Channels blaring their coarse voice, their necklines sore. Irony: Some are making news space for Ind/SA test matches like the Indians are caring for it too much now. Perhaps tomorrow. Perhaps day after tomorrow but at least, not today you morons. Tickers are running at a frenetic pace. Emergency Numbers flashing across TV boards. World Leaders showing solidarity in condemning the gruesome attacks. Pretty common stuff, regulation you can say. Talk about 'growing intolerance' now. I'm listening. Lives and achievements of 160 citize...

I have been following American TV Series 'Lost' as of late. Couple of weeks ago, I was down with two seasons and wasn't really sure whether I should go ahead with rest of the seasons. There are six in total. So I asked my friends for an opinion. Popular notion wasn't really favorable and opined on a 'no go ahead' signal. I didn't coincide with it for I always thought there was enough to 'Lost' that meets the eye and now when I'm done with two more seasons, I'm glad that I made a good decision. Lost is awesome in most truthful of literary senses. And so are its cast members. John Locke, James Sawyer, Jack Shepherd, Sayid Jarrah, Charlie pace, Hugo Reyes and Kate were the series regulars and terrific from the beginning. In came season 2 and I was introduced to characters of Mr. Eko, Ana Lucia, Henry Gale aka Benjamin Linus and Desmond Hume. They outdid the regulars in their guest star roles. However, the season 2 finale left me aghast for it ...

The first out and out Hollywood action film that I remember having fallen in love in first sight with was Apocalypto. It was directed by Mel Gibson and going by its environmental setting and language, it wouldn't appear a Hollywood-ish affair to one at all. This was a film set in America before the arrival of Jesuit missionaries there and actors, several of them native Red Indians, spoke Mayan (Yuktan) language. This unconventional movie filled with the thrills of a gore, blood-drenched, slasher film, scored huge acclaim from audience and critics alike. Narrative was clearly overshadowed by action of fallen-back, savage, uncivilized generations who understood the language of revenge only. This was the type of a film that has never been witnessed before or since and for conceptualizing such an artistic piece, Mel Gibson was accredited a 'creative genius'. He cemented his legacy even further by directing another masterpiece few years later in form of 'The Passion of the C...

Spike Lee is an important filmmaker of our generation. He carefully picks up the subject for his movies and turn them into something beautiful and significant. Upon the recommendations of Late Roger Ebert's Great Movies List, I managed to catch up with two of Lee's films: "Do the Right Thing and 25th Hour". Needless to say, Roger was right about them. They were doubtlessly good. 'Do the Right Thing' chronicles the lives of two teenagers who want to make up to marquee NBA draft. For those who know about NBA Basketball and American Society would also know that making into any of the big NBA franchise is a dream come true for any growing-up teenager in USA. This film gives us a detour of their college lives, societal lives, playing styles, struggles and triumphs and by triumphs, I don't mean that they make it to any of those NBA franchise in the end but how they finally learn their lives in peace. The movie was an outstanding success with both critics and ...

This post is about professional wrestling icon, Mark 'The Undertaker' Callaway. Yesterday I was watching the re-run of WWE Hell in a Cell 2015. After Summerslam, WWE straightaway came up with a second great PPV and those who are a loyal audience of WWE products know that it doesn't happen that too often with WWE. Some great matches and moments were there: Alberto Del Rio made a triumphant return, Charlotte put up an absolutely fantastic match with Nikki Bella, Bray Wyatt and Roman Reigns stole the show with their brutal 20+ minutes (you don't get to see that too) Hell in a Cell match. The show was however headlined by Taker and Brock Lesner. It was dubbed as the 'final chapter' of Taker-Lesner storied rivalry. Their match defied all the expectations especially keeping Taker's physical condition and age in mind. It was one of the nastiest, bloodiest and most physical matches in WWE history. Brock came up with a win and Taker got a much deserving standing ov...

Following the 'dead rubber' (DE DUDE certainly made it one in Wankhede) of Ind-SA Series, I have come to made peace with certain facts that would definitely accompany Team India for quite some time (hope they would prove me wrong as early as they could) in future. Here they are: 1) I'm proud of our cricket team and I'm not being sarcastic here. We are NOT the world's best team and with the limited resources (read bowling department), we have managed to achieve some extraordinary heights. In ODIs, we are the third best team in the world and in Tests, we are the fourth best behind AUS, SA and England (This is not per ICC ranking, it's an observation with which most of you agree). And till the time we remember these ranks and can be candid with it, there wouldn't be anything bothering us about our team's terrible performances. 2) Keeping the above ranking system in mind, I had already made peace with the fact that even if we go down in this series again...

Couple of days ago, in the space of 6 hrs, I watched Chaitanya Tamhane's 'Court' and Christopher Nolan's 'Interstellar' back to back. The one element that's common to the making of both these 'powerful' film is that they both are directed by young, enterprising filmmakers who challenge the conventional wisdom of their respective film-fraternity. 'Court' is the debut feature film of Director Chaitanya Tamhane and this film has been loved the world over by prominent film critics. American publications such as 'Variety', 'The Hollywood Reporter' and 'New York Post' have praised the mockumentary style of film-making inhibited by Chaitanya for 'Court' and it's indeed a slow-burning film which at two-hour length will make you feel more uncomfortable than pleasant. It discusses a 'petty' court case throughout its course and in-between you will find instances that make you both wince and wink. But If you w...

We Indians used to have a 'fab four' in Indian Cricket some 7 years ago. The moniker of Fab Four sometimes changed to 'fab five' for either Jumbo (Kumble) or Veeru would come up with a superlative performance and equal the aura of 'fab four'. But it never became 'superb six' for the reasons unknown though it exactly deserved that. Nevertheless, Kumble, a cricketer par excellence and an obvious contender for the fourth spot had there been any vacancy, called the day first on his remarkable career (in 2008) and thus our anxiety eased a little. But Sourav had already announced his official retirement before the commencement of Border-Gavaskar Trophy (2008), so at the end of this series, we had two vacancies to fill up. And since Sehwag was the only capable cricketer to fill that spot, we quickly signed him up. No doubt, he truly belonged. Was Sehwag incomparable like the other occupants of Fab Four? Let's see. Sachin was God (Incomparable). Dravid, ...

I assume you all have watched BBC's Documentary on Nirbhaya a.k.a Jyoti Singh (I don't know whether I'm legally entitled to speak up her name publicly in India or not, but let's take the risk). It goes by the name 'India's Daughter' in India, but at the same time, it's banned here. Though it was released way back on 4th March and I downloaded it right away on the very next day for my relatives but only yesterday, I got to watch it and that's only because Meryl Streep vouched for it for an elusive 'Oscars Nomination'. That's not to say that I was skeptical of its content or plot but somewhere I was afraid that I couldn't quite grasp its central idea. So let me tell you that if you are a parent or a certain male chauvinist, you can certainly do away with a strong stomach for it will certainly test your strength of character. Awaneendra who was accompanying Jyoti that fateful night, was when asked later to comment on this documentary, ...

There come occasions in your life when you find yourself at loss of words to describe them. Your vocabulary loses you midway and you get rolled over in sense of awe. I had only one such occasion to moon over until this moment of course, it was when Sachin retired. To this day, I don't know why I didn't write anything about it but I am probably wiser now to not fret about it anymore. Dominique Lapierre's magnum opus 'City of Joy' is what induced my second moment of 'blackout'. I am not entirely sure whether I would ever be able to read a book as good as this one again in my life. It comes from 'non-fiction' genre and is a profoundly religious books that mixes the elements of 'compassion' and 'generosity' from all religions in a mythical proportion. At the core, however, it's a book that tells the story of 'Anand Nagar' or 'City of Joy' as more popularly known from the viewpoints of two persons: Stephan Kovalski, a...

Let's talk about Indian Cricket. Yes, it's a coarse topic but its been a while now since I last discussed it. I have some observations and conclusion that I gained during this period of incubation and those need to be laid down here, so let's start: 1) Rohit Sharma has undoubtedly become the cornerstone of Indian One Day Cricket Batting Line-up and these are the first instances since Sachin's departure that watching a batsman at crease gives you same sense of assurance. I can recollect Ricky Ponting's observation of him after the conclusion of India's victorious CB Series Campaign of 2008 where Rohit opened the batting with Master himself and Ricky singled out him as the 'future batting star of the world'. Then the label of 'outrageous talent' got stuck to him and he through his later performances (until this golden period) seriously undermined it. But then he was awarded the Captaincy of Mumbai Indians and he regained his lazy, saintly composu...

I've been watching a lot of TV series lately. About a month ago, I finished watching the fifth season of Game of Thrones and immediately started looking for my next pick. LOST followed till season 1 and then I picked up on Wire. Undoubtedly, they made for excellent viewing but my hunger of a fantasy TV show was far from satiated. And this was not to say that Game of Thrones is only a fantasy show, it's far from that for it mixes every enjoyable item imaginable in a 45 minutes show and thus rightfully was awarded a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding TV Series, finally. It isn't a popular TV show only with the masses but also with TV critics. It has attained critical acclaim unlike any other show in history of American Television and has thus become an 'immeasurable' phenomenon. HBO would have been poorer in its absence. But prior to Game of Thrones' arrival on HBO, it came up with a TV production of Rome, an epic TV Series that tells us the story of Rome's tra...

Rom-Coms are a popular movie genre in film-making. Directors from every imaginable 'Wood try to cash on them by fiddling with audiences' emotions. I wouldn't go as far to say that I don't like them. Actually, every once in a while, I devour them. I munch on them to feel like a little 'humane'. I pull my hair on their quirkiness, laugh on their silliness and sometimes even weep on their tragic endings. Many movie stars owe their mercurial success to this everlasting genre and this brings me to talk about two rom-coms that I watched in last two weeks. One is from Bollywood, second from Hollywood. Both are immensely watchable rom-coms, taking into account all the rubbish both 'Woods come up with every year. So let's discuss each one of them. My first entry is Tanu weds Manu Returns from Bollywood's Anand L. Rai. I became a huge Rai fan after watching Rannjhanaa. Absolutely fantastic that movie was and he didn't disappoint me that much with this on...

Amidst the unprecedented brouhaha over PM Modi's Digital India campaign, my good friend Ms. Enakshi Johri couple of days ago questioned its effectiveness over the timely issuance of her ration card and one Aadhaar card. Her grievances were justified for I too went through a more-than-enough waiting period to avail mine but still her chiding the digital media campaign disturbed me slightly. I believe the principle reason behind such discomfort was my admiration towards PM Modi and all the wonderful initiatives he has been coming up with in both India and abroad but I too found myself questioning their effectiveness today after learning about a very unfortunate incident that happened in Dadri, Ghaziabad; famously known as the doorstep to Capital New Delhi. Mohammad Akhlaq was killed by an angry mob belonging to an extremist group following the rumors that his family was consuming beef. His son is severely injured and his wife and daughter are currently crying their eyes out. His da...

I'm a sentimentalist by nature. Keeping that in mind, let's talk about 'The Theory of Everything'. Yes, according to the principles of esteemed theoretical physicist 'Stephen Hawking', there is a single theory that explains the origin of everything, be it universe, black holes, time et al. That seems an absurd notion, especially when the theory is still to be pronounced or 'invented'. But Hawking has, all through his 'deformed' life, kept a confounding research going on that's relentless in its pursuit. There and now we all believe, must be a single theory that explains everything. My introduction to Stephen Hawking has been a chance one. I never knew that there was a scientist existing completely stuck to his wheel chair, his whole body paralyzed and could speak only with the help of a computerized machine that’s been attached to his wheel chair. But this all had to change came the Pragati Maidan Book Fair of 2014. My Friend, Ashish Chaudh...

This is going to be a very long piece and I shall definitely be re-posting it. I am also deviating from my original list of 13 topics but this piece shall be worth it. It's not going to be a 'corollary' by any means, It shall stand on its own legs. I watched a Wes Anderson film yesterday. The Great Budapest Hotel. I was planning to watch it for over 15 months and I finally managed to yesterday. So what's special with a Wes Anderson movie? Wes directed 'Rushmore' in '97 casting Bill Murray and Jason Shwartzman in lead. It became a modern classic comic film and beloved of all of America. Repeatative yet magnificent casting became a staple of Wes' movie and Bill Murray, his go-to lead. I must tell you that Hollywood is richer with Bill's presence for you shall never find such an iconoclast, drab and droll with fabulous sense of humor and dry wit in all of America. But in this latest of his offerings, Wes managed to find exactly one like Bill Murray. B...

In the recently concluded first Ashes test match, we got a chance to see two of the world's most impressive and exciting batting talents, viz., Steve Smith and Joe Root. Along with Kane Williamson of New Zealand and Virat Kohli, they form the fab four of any dream modern x¡ batting line-up. While Steve Smith failed miserably during the first test match, Joe Root shone brilliantly. Now let's go back to a series earlier, New Zealand and England. Both Kane and Root were marvellous during that series. Put the clock back by exactly one year and we had Virat and Root facing each other in England. While Virat wasn't able to decide upon his imaginary fourth stump stance (and thus was pathetic during entire 5-match series), Root churns runs smoothly like a recently oiled grinding machine against a quite-competent (yes, you heard that right) bowling attack. Please, for one more time, go back with me to Australia's tour of India in 2013 and UAE in 2014. It's better if we don...

During my MBA years, the one topic in absolute rage was Sub-prime loan crisis of USA that triggered the global recession in year 2008. Heck, it was even more popular than the girls in class thanks in no small parts to some wannabe intellectuals. Helplessly, I was too among the brigade of these unfortunate creatures who had to go to the ordeal of daily devouring the gory details of stock market crises of USA and EUROZONE. I later on submitted a thesis on debt crisis of PIIGS countries for accruing my ill-fated PGDM degree. For those who didn't deal with this calamity in their academic years, I wanna tell them that PIIGS stood for PORTUGAL, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain. Now fast forward the proceedings to 30th June, 2015 and situation is still grim for at least Greece, Italy and Spain. Italy and Spain cumulatively contribute to 28% of Eurozone GDP. Greece has declined the debtors' proposal for repayment of loans over the binding caluses of such agreement. They might have to...

Professional Wrestling is a 'made-up' thing. Especially, in this age of Internet and Spoiler Alerts, we all even get to know beforehand what is going to happen in any of the house shows of any promotion, be it WWE, TNA, ROH, NJPW, etc. So how can a promoter surprise his extra knowledgeable audience? Vince McMahon, the self proclaimed king of the jungle and apparently WWE, had three ways of doing it. 1) Manufacture a botched up ending, one that was exactly the opposite of booking. Example: Montreal Screwjob, Shawn Michaels vs Bret Hart. 2) Throw in a rookie, a young and upcoming superstar in front of an established one and give him the surprise win against all odds. Cue: Chris Jericho pinning both The Rock and Stone Cold in one single night to become the first ever undisputed World Champion of the WWE and World. 3) Introduce a shocking entrant in an ongoing dispute/match and thus giving birth to an altogether new rivalry. Example: The first ever Hell in a Cell match between ...

I always like to think of Indian minorities, their status, development and contribution to the development of Modern India. Being part of a majority strata, I always find it a bit difficult to comprehend their situation in a soceity like India, one of innumerable castes, creeds, languages and religions, and most especially when an incident like Gurdashpur terrorist attack taken place just today morning, takes place anywhere and they were blamed for it. I try my best to keep my emotions in check and never blurt something illogical and stupid on the most popular media of self-expression and very often, I succeed. Religion, as we all know is a very sensitive and complex topic in India and policies of political appeasement and reservation make it all the more difficult to comprehend. I then give up all my efforts and try to think of a scenario where a personnel from a distinguished minority group did any good to this country. This is not to say that majorities have singlehandedly made our ...

The 'Hot Rod' Rowdy Roddy Piper has passed away. To all of those who don't know him, he was a pro-wrestling legend, a WWE veteran and in exactly the same league as other icons such as Hulk Hogan and 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin. To a generation of fans, wrestling or non-wrestling regardless, he was the first 'Original Rebel' of an institution. He could very well be the first man to wear the title of ANTI-HERO for, for the entire course of his wrestling career, he defied the company orders and that too by portraying a 'heelish' character on national television and even then went on to become the one of the most loved and admired wrestling characters. And I haven't yet mentioned his wrestling skills and work ethics. He once worked 91 days straight without taking a break for a wrestling promotion. 'Working' for a pro-wrestling promotion as an active wrestler is not a 9am-5pm job, ladies and gentleman. It means you have to grapple with fellow wr...

Ladies and gentlemen, how do you define words like 'incredible' and 'breathtaking'? You must be having some sort of definitions in your minds but I witnessed their first hand account yesterday.....it was Ronda Rousey who epitomised these two words yesterday in Rio De Janeiro against Bethe Correia in her UFC Bantemweight championship bout. It lasted only 34 seconds and at its conclusion, Joe Rogan, UFC announcer was heard saying only two words, 'my goodness, my goodness, my goodness' for about 30 seconds and in front of TV, I was uttering the same words, being awestruck and completely bamboozled by her performance. It was the main event of UFC 190 and I had inserted my pen drive in the set top box to record it, thinking it would last for at least three rounds out of scheduled 5 but boy, wasn't I caught off guard? Ronda Rousey dedicated her championship belt to her inspiration, childhood hero and personal friend, the HOT ROD RODDY 'ROWDY' PIPER. She ...

The year was 1984. It was the first and the only time an Australian captain broke down in front of media and cried openly. That unfortunate man was Kim Hughes. This ghastly incident was coming from the back of a humiliating loss to West Indies at home and a campaign at the backrooms of Cricket Australia to remove him from captaincy amidst the allegations that he was 'too soft' to be both an Australian and an Australian captain. Kim bowed down at the pressure and resigned of Australian Cricket team captaincy at the same press conference. This was also the last time one saw Kim in a baggy green and Australian team jersey. Today another Australian captain bowed down in almost the same fashion. His batting form deserted him. His team deserted him (on field) and his management, well it was never there, ever. Darren Lehmann is as tough an Australian as you find in his continent but Michael Clarke wasn't his type. He was more of a reminiscient of Ol' good Kim. He took every ...

This is about 'Brothers'...... Perfect casting is an integral part of great film-making. Recent examples can be cited of 'Badlapur' and 'Haider' where every small role had a capable actor at its helm. Also, these were the only two films where I would like to swap the 'lead actor' for one another, i.e. Shahid for Badlapur and Varun for Haider. They could have done justice to their roles in altered scenario, regardless. I am a great admirer of Akshay Kumar. He is a true professional and very capable actor who doesn't complain about his roles and choices once he commits himself to a producer and his films. He has been much derided in the past for his choices but those who are aware of his professionalism, knows that he is capable of remarkable feats. So when my great friend, Ambareesh Singh first told me about the official Bollywood remake of 'Warriors' and that Akshay Kumar is the first lead, I was very happy. We were together in Rajasthan ...

It's time to get started with my bucket list (I am pissed off by the two day delay already). The first chosen topic is a movie called 'The Constant Gardener' starring Rachel Weisz and Ralph Fienns and this is one movie that I wanted to talk to you all about for last couple of years. During this time, I have revisited it and the experience was surreal like the very first time. You know, I always find the stories from Africa fascinating. 'Blood Diamond' has become an Iconic film from that part of our world and almost every movie aficionado would claim to watch it. But like the very talented but understated star-cast of 'The Constant Gardener', the movie itself is very subdued but certainly not devoid of emotions and feel and you do know that how much these two virtues are today in demand for great film-making. The movie is based in Kenya and the beautiful, frank and effervescent Rachel Weisz is an investigative journalist who covers the story of distributio...