What was Ganguly of trying to achieve by allowing the kid (Partheev Patel) bat first while he was having a tiger like Shewaq sitting there praying for his turn to come? This decision didn’t pay off at all.

Ganguly’s wicket was such an easy one and he did nothing but to pose so badly that the ball found the way to the bat and back to the short mid-on fielder’s hands.

Dravid is a darling. Truly. Though we refer to him as the Wall Of India, he proves time and again that he is capable despite his slow start. But, why does he look so sober look in the Hutch Ad. It looks to me as though he is forced to do that Ad. Becoming the MTV youth icon of the year, this year will be a hallmark for him. I am soon looking forward to Captain Dravid.

We know Vaas is one hell of a pacer. Now Sri Lanka has managed to manufacture one more. Zoysa, with the number on his shirt as 00, did a great job in keeping Indians from runs. And Sangakarra, the wicket-keeper of Sri Lanka, is classy. Great Find.

But for the bad breeze that blew Balaji and his T-Shirt, we would have managed to win by scoring a few more in the early overs.

Tendulkar may be 31 by age, but he still rules the cricket kingdom. And those who demand or even think that he should retire watch the straight drive boundary of yesterday’s match are take a pilgrimage to Badrinath immediately. This guy has been in form for most of his career.

And finally, I found the reason why India might even loose the Asia Cup. The man of the series gets a car. A Car. Yes, Maruthi Esteem. Huh! When these players think of paying taxes for Ferrari cars where the tax itself could cost more than 15-20 esteem, who would aspire for a Man of Series title. Doesn’t that explain that bad stroke of Ganguly yesterday? It does to me.

LBG: Just Arrived. Unable to find record companies ready to promote an all-English rock album, the band members pooled in Rs. 20,000, recorded their album and put the copies out for sale during a concert last week. They sold 50 albums at Rs.75 within an hour.

If you are regular to the IIT Saarang, friday evenings @ Unwind Center or other places of rock in Chennai, you know what they are talking about and you can(!) stop here. Others read ahead about how Chennai Rocks in Rock.

Check out The LBG.

There can be no adjective to qualify the fire accident that happened yesterday. The Mahaamaham temple town Kumbakonam‘s worst fire accident took away close to 90 lives. All of small kids. If you were watch the tamil television yesterday and the whole of today this kumbakonam disaster has occupied the space.

Being associated to kumbakonam through my relatives, I personally feel the pinch. But it isn’t necessary to be associated to mourn for such an incident.

Except for The Hindu daily, nobody from the media have even warned of the graphic scenes that were displayed from this accident. The Hindu did put up a box news that photographs displayed could cause distress to the readers but the enormity of the accident makes such visual news presentation unavoidable. Three Cheers guys, for their professionalism.

Although, we need to pat the media for the importance that they have given for this news. Jennifer Arul on NDTV was on tears when she reported and walked through the debris in th accident spot. Even the news reader who was watching the video was on the edge of tears. Not to ask the people in the house, who were all upset and in tears witnessing the horrible happening in the television.

People’s prayers from all over the world for this incident will be the only solace for the parents of the kids who died. Nothing else can match the prayers.

Guest Blog #23 – Anand C

[No Spoilers Ahead]

Fahrenheit 9/11 and Control Room (made by Jehane Noujaim) were both released within a month of one another. One starts from several parts of the world (Michigan, Texas, Iraq) and concentrates arguments from these multiple sources to mount a coherent forced attack on the Bush administration. The other starts from a dusty broadcast room (of the Qatar based Arab news agency Al-Jazeera) and paints its view of the outside world through that media lens. One spews hatred and has no pretense of an “independent” film, the other is a sincere portrayal of a very controversial topic, and deserves praise for sticking to its “independent” stand even though there is ample temptation to succumb and ride the controversy wave!

Both leave their mark, but not as staid, sober documentaries.

In an already polarized country, F 9/11 provoked like none other (maybe JFK brought forth this kind of intense reaction…). Democratic groups like MoveOn.org are organizing Fahrenheit parties to get people to carry their anger all the way to the ballot boxes! In fact, it’s probably fair to say Michael Moore is an activist who uses film as his propaganda tool, than a director who portrayed a sensitive (and controversial) issue (judging from his themes in Roger and Me, and Bowling for Columbine).

When Quentin Tarantino handed Michael Moore the first ever Cannes Pale d’Or for a ‘documentary’, he made it evident that the accolade was for the film, not its political statements. Did he see the coming of a new genre before the public did?

Wonder if we are seeing the arrival of the “opinion-entary”?

PS: Stupid comment of the month: Ray Bradbury’s (awesome writer and author of Fahrenheit 451), whining that Michael Moore did not ask him for permission to use the title!

[Pic : Vijay TV]

Chinni Jayanth and Santhanam are back to rock the Sagalai Vs Ragalai show in Vijay TV. That guy Ragalai (Santhanam) is extremely funny and has superb timing for his comedy. This show was stopped long time back. Now, they are trying to give it a 2nd life.

The most talked about political talk show Makkal Yaar Pakkam was stopped abruptly in the same Vijay TV. No clue why they stopped it. Probably not much is going on socially and politically here except the Kutti Saamiyaar and Budget.

The kid is called Kutti Saamiyaar & Bala Sanyasi by tamil and english dailies respectively. Let the name be whatever but I think it’s should be a case of Child Labour.

Talking about budget, last week in a very ‘famous’ tamil daily, Rabri Devi calling Laloo’s railway budget as the best railway budget ever, was a big box news. Was that a mock or serious news reporting ?. If it wasn’t a mock, I pray to nanganallur anjaneyar that the reporter gets tranfered to rajasthan to report on camel feeding techniques.

Today’s FM played Kaadu Potta Kaadu from Karuthamma. While listing Vairamuthu‘s songs, this was also one hell of a song that should be included. It talks about the pains of a villager and his lifestlye. Bharathiraja‘s rocky voice really sounded well. I know that Vairamuthu got a president award for Poraaley Ponnuthayi from the same movie. This one also deserved one.

“Fantasy films are not for me. I can’t do films that I can’t relate to. Middleclass is my milieu. That’s why it’s a recurrent feature in my films. And when your subject is middleclass, it can’t be removed from reality. So the earthy feel comes naturally.”

Nagesh Kukoonor, the guy who brough in a paradigm shift for independent movies talks to hindu on his second serving of Hyderabad Blues. Having been inspired by Hyd Blues during my college days, I am waiting to get some time to watch Hyd Blues2. More here, Blues Boy.