Boredom

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...

I watched Pujara today grinding out an innings in the middle of SSC in Colombo. True grit and defiance was on display and these things don't look beautiful on Television. But their importance doesn't very often lose on the team's fate. Well these were the same traits that made Dravid, The Wall and a bona fide legend of Indian Cricket. But there is a different side of this story too. To the Aesthetics of test match cricket, Pujara was doing exceptionally well but what about the other personnel whose intentions are derived and driven by money only? Sunny Gavaskar is one such person. I have been watching his stance on Pujara's selection and game-play from the very start of this series. He has called him 'inconsistent', 'technically deficient' and a 'one gear only batsman'. In his books, Rohit Sharma presents a much more solid case. We shall not talk about Rohit Sharma here. That would be a serious waste of my Facebook wall's precious space. So...

About one hr ago, I was in midway writing my post regarding my second chosen topic which was a movie called the 'Gone Girl' starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike but the electricity roaster of my city and dying battery of my laptop combindly failed me. Facebook doesn't save the half complete post like MS Word and now I cannot seem to remember one single word from my last post. But the awesomeness of this movie has forced me to write about this one more time and if my phone doesn't hang out in between (which has been the case as of late), I might come up with a useful piece. If you believe that Queen Cersei, Brienne of Tarth (of Game of Thrones), Rooney Mara (of The Girls with the Dragon Tattoo) and Uma Thurman (of Kill Bill) are some of the most wicked, cruel and yet courageous women of celluloid history, you will be in shock after finishing your viewing of Gone Girl for Rosamund Pike would have check-mate you with her suave but manuevering ways. I for one haven...