Mysorean

That’s what my son calls Cricket!

And that’s exactly what I am upto nowadays on the weekends. This game makes me look forward to my weekends. There is a club called RunsNwickets – which was formed by some wonderful people (KK, Anba and Guna) that I have had the fortune of coming in touch with. The unique aspect of this club is that any cricket enthusiast based out of Chennai is welcome to join in! And that’s exactly what this club is excited about – cricket enthusiasts. If you are one and are in Chennai, just walk in.
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Yesterday my colleague and I had a longish discussion on ‘free will’ and ‘determinism’ (Ok ok, don’t close the window, they are in fact the world’s way of communicating simple things. Look at these links [1] and [2]. Don’t read in detail – just the first couple of lines will give you an idea of what they mean) and his conclusion was that ‘Illusion of free will is necessary for society to carry on’. Okay so at a fundamental level I don’t believe in either of them. And no this is not going to be a long post about my philosophy and all that. Just a word on how my experience transcended both the above-mentioned concepts!
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This is by far the best dance performance for the song I have seen till date. Great formations and near flawless coordination. Considering that these are kids who are doing this, its even more awesome. I just wish I can get my hands on a more professional video version of this. For now, this will do!

I am yet to come up with a way of writing this. Rahman won the Oscar – not one but two. And he did it in his characteristic matter-of-fact style. His acceptance speeches have already attained legendary status. He was christened a ‘Living Legend’ by one of the news channels. Another channel was discussing with one of the great Bollywood personalities who was saying some stuff about Rahman that we have already heard a million times. And that’s precisely the problem with Rahman – you cannot say anything about him that has not been said before. And he never gives you even a hint of a chance to say something about him!
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…and I am here. God Bless!

Those were Rahman’s words on winning his second Oscar (for Best Original Song – “Jai Ho” alongwith Gulzar) of the day. This is his full acceptance speech [Link]:

I just want to thank again the whole crew of Slumdog Millionaire, especially Danny Boyle for giving such a great opportunity. And the whole, all the people from Mumbai. The essence of the film which is about optimism and the power of hope in the lives, and all my life I had a choice of hate and love. I chose love and I’m here. God bless.

When he one the first one too he was quite at ease with the whole situation. This is what he said when he won his first one [Link]:

Before coming, I was excited and terrified. The last time I felt like that was during my marriage. There’s a dialogue from a Hindi film called “Mere paas ma hai,” which means “I have nothing but I have a mother,” so mother’s here, her blessings are there with me. I am grateful for her to have come all the way. And I want to thank the Academy for being so kind, all the jury members. I want to thank Sam Schwartz, I/D PR, all the crew of Slumdog, Mr. Gulzar, Raqueeb Alam, Blaaze, my musicians in Chennai and Mumbai. And I want to tell something in Tamil, which says, which I normally say after every award which is… “God is great.” Thank you.

If you didn’t know he won two Oscars today, then you have been living on the Moon or something! What a day! Thanks to all those who passed on their congratulatory wishes on the win! Really value each and every of those calls, sms’es and mails! Thanks guys! Thanks!

To get to what is beyond our comprehension is not impossible. The technology is available. It’s our perception that needs to go beyond. “What is Real?”, as Morpheus asks in Matrix. See this video to get a clearer understanding of what spiritual leaders have been saying all through the existence of civilization:

Check this out.
Law of averages had to catch up with India! We desperately needed this tonic of happiness. And who else to provide it to us than Allah Rakha Rahman. Let me just taste this moment. It’s so wonderful. I am in no mood to make a technical evaluation of whether he will win or not but look at the “Original Song” category he has two out of the three nominations! Its too much for me to take now. Let me first close my mouth!

PS: This is my 300th post. Somehow I waited and waited and waited till I posted this and didn’t know what I was waiting for. Now we know, right?!

See this:

Source: http://www.goldenglobes.org/nominations/index.html

And this:

It was just a matter of time. If you followed the American press you would have predicted this easily. But for me, I was still doubtful because I thought ‘Water‘ was good enough for an Oscar nomination atleast. Anyway, here we are today. While the press is glossing over the first Indian to be presenting an award at the Golden Globe awards ceremony, here we have a fellow Indian citizen winning one. You know who means business!

And I hope the comparisons of ARR with the other Indian music directors stop now atleast. I am in this mood to take these infinite potshots today! Let me let that instinct be for now…

Photo courtesy: Arijit, fellow ARR fan.

This is my moment. This is every Indian’s moment. Let’s celebrate!

I am sure by now you are innundated with mails and news reports about how and what Ramalinga Raju did to Satyam. Of course he built it up from 0 to 50,000 employees but he also has put all of their careers into serious uncertainty. Do you appreciate this man for having built an organization so far or just plainly accuse him of fraud for his confession as the standard reaction has been? As far as I am concerned, I am still reeling under shock.
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To all:
For a Happy New Year!

To Rahman:
On his birthday! Hoping that this is the year that people actually recognize his talent!