Nothing to say about this picture. I like it.

Eklavya

I do not normally miss an Amitabh Bachchan movie but Eklavya was an exception. It was released during a time when me and my family was not going through the best of times. My father was to undergo a critical surgery and watching a movie was the last thing in our minds. I missed watching Eklavya in the theatre and for some reason I did not watch it till yesterday, almost 7 months after its release.

I had heard mixed opinion regarding the movie. Some people found it great, some found it boring since the pace was slow....some thought that its not worth watching in the theatre since it is a short movie (1.47 hrs).

I watched it yesterday and I found the movie simply great. (I do not think that my words are doing justice to my feelings). Amitabh Bachchan was simply superb. He had few dialogues in the movie yet he created an amazing impact with his expressions. When he was silent, his eyes did the talking. Every budding actor should see this movie to learn how to emote through the eyes.

Eklavya is a crisp film in which everyone has come up with good performances. Vidhu Vinod Chopra's direction is great as it always is. It is a simple short story and Vidhu Vinod Chopra has treated it beautifully. Not even a single scene or song that are there just for the heck of it. A small, simple story so a small, simple movie. We have to give the credit to the director for that. I don't think the other, more famous and successful Chopra would have taken up this subject but just in case he had, I am sure the duration of the movie would have been the usual three plus hours, with 14 songs!!!! I hope that Vidhu Chopra directs more movies from now on.

I would like to share a funny incident attached with the movie. Me and my wife were watching the movie on TV in our living room. There is a scene in which Amitabh Bachchan is going to hug Saif Ali Khan. It is an emotional scene since Amitabh Bachchan, inspite of being Saif's father has never hugged him. Several times in the movie, it is shown that Amitabh wants to hug his son but he could not. That made this scene pretty emotional and I was absolutely glued to the screen. But just when Amitabh steps forward to hug his son, I heard a strange voice in my living room. I was surprised and turned back to see what made that sound.....and there was my lovely wife, rubbing her eyes and yawning. The sound was actually the sound created by a huge yawn!!! I was like......how can you yawn in such an emotional scene!!!!!......but amidst all this...I missed the hug!!!!

Duracell Ad

This video was shot when me and my friend Amit bought new cameras and were shooting all kinda crazy videos. This one is called the "Duracell Ad"

High time they start the use of technology

India won the second match against England and the series is now level at 1-1. The victory will give a boost to the Indian plans but the margin of victory was too narrow for comfort. India, after posting a total of 329 won by 9 runs. England started brilliantly with Matt Prior and Alistair Cook giving the English a dream start. Two quick dismissals led to a loss of momentum but the English never gave up the chase. They fought till the last over. Kudos to Dimitri Mascrenhas for a spirited performance in the end.

Earlier in the day, India started well with Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly looking in good nick. Later on, Sachin pressed the accelerator and came up with an innings that reminded us of the Sachin of late 90s. He was simply brilliant. He got out on 99.....once again due to a misjudgement by the umpire. Sachin missed out on a century twice in the recent series against South Africa, then he got out in the 90s in the second test against England and now he once again got out in the 90s in the last match. Though, at least couple of those dismissals were due to umpiring errors yet its very unlike Sachin. ICC should look into these matters and should bring in the usage of technology for controversial decisions. Like in tennis, players are given three calls for technology intervention in each set. Something of similar sorts shall be brought into cricket as well.

After Sachin's dismissal, Yuvraj and Dravid took control of the proceedings. Dravid came up with an uncharacteristic knock of 92 n.o off 63 balls!!!! Usually Dravid is technique personified but more often than not in his innings, he was cheeky. He was declared the Man of the Match and very rightly so.

Overall, it was a good win for us and it ensures that we are still in the series.

Prachi's Fall from Grace

The video was shot at Bheemeshwari Fishing camp when my friend Prachi was trying to lie down on a hammock.

Poor show by the Indian Team in the first One-Dayer

India is one down in the seven match ODI series against England and they have to sort out more than one thing if they want to come up with better showings in the remaining matches. Dravid elected to field first, which seemed a very good decision as the weather was overcast. We started well with the seamers bowling decent line but all the soon fizzled out. Apart from the three seamers, India had picked young Piyush Chawla as the spin option. Chawla is indeed a promising spinner; he flights the ball which certainly is a rarity these days, but he is short of experience. Plus the pitch had nothing for him. Ramesh Powar would have been a much better option but that's okay as picking Chawla was not a real bad decision. What India really missed was the fifth bowler. We relied upon Ganguly, Tendulkar and Yuvraj to do the job for us but there was nothing in the bloody pitch. It was a complete batting paradise and I think that Dravid made a wrong decision at the time of the toss. Agreed that we all thought that it was a good decision but hey......I am not as experienced as Dravid is. Plus if one has to make bad decisions and play the way Dravid did, then why am I not playing instead of him? I don't mind the job if it pays so well!!!!

If our bowling was bad, our fielding was pathetic (I have already used two adjectives, now I have to come up with another suitable one for our batting). We gave away two runs when the batsmen should have been restricted to a single. In one-dayers, that makes the difference between winning and losing.

After conceding 288, if was always going to be difficult for the Indians especially with the demons in their heads. We started off with a disaster. Can you imagine.....MONTY PANESAR....out of all the people, Monty Panesar ran Ganguly out. Panesar is an embarrassment on the field but he found his match or we should say he proved to be better than Ganguly!!!!

Sachin looked to be in good touch and was middling the ball pretty well but England did not let me to get off with some good field placements and fielding. India were soon trailing at 34/4.

After that, some senseless cricket followed. Not that there was much hope afterwards but the way Dravid and Dhoni played can not be explained. It seemed that they were trying to save the one-dayer and force a draw!!!!! When the asking rate was around 7, the "management" was scoring at 2-3 an over!!!

Dravid eventually top scored with 46 runs. If you look at the records, Dravid as top scored in many such games. It gives an impression that he was trying but he could not get support. At least I do not agree. In such matches, others get out trying but Dravid on the other hand keeps blocking and nudging. Ultimately he ends up with the highest score of the innings but what's the point of scoring at a strike rate of 50-60 when the asking rate is well above 6 an over? I have always maintained that Dravid is not the kind of player who can win us One-Day matches. He always needs someone to hit quick runs on the other end. Such matches expose Dravid but still get away with a "Captain's Innings" prize!!!!

Let us all hope that India comes up with better performances in the remaining games.

Lot of ho-hulla is going on about Indian Cricket League (ICL), termed as the "rebel cricket league". It is indeed rebel in the sense that it is a step away from the normal. Board of Control for Cricket in India has been managing the cricketing operations in the country and will continue to do so. In a cricket crazy nation, the board has easily managed to become the richest cricket boards in the world.....but what has it given back to the players, the fans and more importantly to the game?

The board may take pride in saying that India has the highest number of cricket stadiums in the world but what about the state of these stadiums. Whenever there is a match in India, majority of the seats are taken up by the members of the concerned cricket association or as go as passes to VIPs. A normal cricket fan has to either pay a fortune to get a decent seat or has to spend the day in the sun. I have not tried often but once I wanted to watch one day of a test match between India and Australia at Bangalore but I changed my mind since the tickets were for 1800 Rs for a day!!!!!

With the kind of bank balance that the board has, it should do something about the stadiums. The spectators should get value for money. Why can not we have good stadiums with good facilities, not only for the spectators but also other facilities like good pitches, big screens, good drainage systems, super-soakers, proper security etc. Why can't we have a good indoor stadium like Australia has? With the popularity of the test matches and the one-dayers going down, such acts will make watching a match an enjoyable experience for a spectator and will help in reviving the longer versions of the game.

Now, all that is something that the BCCI should do regarding the stadiums and the spectators. But with the state of affairs in the board, I don't see all that happening in a long long time.....if at all it ever happens. Apart from all this, BCCI owes a lot to the players as well as the game. The players should be properly remunerated and BCCI should do something to promote the game in India and to identify and groom new talent. Since BCCI was not doing it, ICL came into the picture. BCCI will continue to be "the" cricket body in India but ICL is coming up with formats "intended" towards identifying and grooming new talent. In a population of over a billion, we struggle to find talents like Tendulkar, Kumble, Muralidharan, Warne, Lara, Mcgrath etc. Indeed these are great players and it will be very difficult to find players like them but the fact is that the board is not doing enough to identify new talents.

Today, the criteria for selection in the national team is performance in the domestic cricket (well.....at least officially that is the criteria!!!!). Whenever a youngster is picked to play for the national team, more often than not he struggles to find a foothold on the international arena. The reason is the sub-standard level of domestic cricket. The pitches are far from international standards, they do not use the cricket balls used in International cricket, there is hardly any training provided to them and they are paid pretty badly. The remuneration in domestic cricket should be sufficient for a player to continue playing cricket and make a decent livelihood. That is not the case at present and that is exactly what ICL is "trying" to change.

ICL "intends" to make a pool of promising young cricket players, provide them adequate training and coaching, make them play and learn in company of International players and pay them much more than what they are getting in the BCCI raj. What more can a player ask for?

Having said all that about ICL, I have my share of doubts. Firstly, the kind of International players that are coming up to join ICL are mostly the ones who have retired or are on the verge of retirement from International cricket. How much can they offer is questionable? Now, that can still be accepted as at the end of the day the youngsters will get a chance to be with and play in the company of these "former" greats. But the major concern is that the whole idea behind ICL is getting defeated. The intention of ICL should be to groom young talent so that they can play for the country in the future. ICL may have that vision but that depends upon BCCI as the selectors appointed by BCCI select the national team. If BCCI and ICL are on the loggerheads and if anyone joining the rebel league wont be getting any kind of benefits from the cricket board then it means that the "groomed" players of ICL will play only in ICL!!!! ICL will make money with these star studded cricket matches, BCCI will continue to make money with the International matches, spectators will get to see more cricket……only loser will be the Indian cricket.

Already a lot of domestic players have left their sides to sign contracts with ICL, putting a question mark on the future of domestic cricket. We can not blame them. If they were not making enough money and if they were feeling that with the present state of affairs, they hardly have a chance to play for the country then why not ICL!!!! Certainly not a bad decision by the players. But the quality (if there was any) of domestic cricket will go down. Moreover, if the players of ICL do not have a future in International Cricket then it is nothing put a money making mechanism for the players, the organizers and Subhash Chandra. ICL can not do anything about it…..BCCI has to realize that it is something that they should have thought about instead of the elections, players’ contracts and endorsements. BCCI will have to soften its stand and join hands with ICL. That is the only way Indian Cricket will be benefited.

Tricolor hoisted in England...just before Independence Day

It was an admirable performance by the Indian Cricket Team to defeat England in their backyard. Though I personally do not rate the English side very highly but the fact that Indians are not very good tourists and the English side had been having a good run at home makes the series win something to cheer about. Moreover, as the series win has come after a gap of 21 years, it is special.

The Indian team started poorly at Lords but the weather gods came to our rescue. Nothing to take away from a fine knock by Dhoni. But after the Lords performance, the Indian team recovered pretty well and dominated the last two test matches. At Trentbridge, the Indian batsmen came up with some fine performances, the english fielders came up with some childish performances and Simon Taufel came up with some forgetable decisions. But one man who was truly outstanding was Zaheer Khan. "Khan Dost" bolwed with his heart and was truly magnificent throughout the match.

In the third test, at The Oval, everyone in the much talked about Indian batting line up came good and that helped us post a mammoth total infront of the England team. Then India bowled well to be in a position to enforce a follow on.....which we did not!!! Dravid came under heavy criticism for that decision but for once......I am behind Dravid. Dravid did agree that if he would have been a spectator, he would have been disappointed about the decision. That is exactly what happened to most of us but later the decision made a lot of sense, at least to me. Agreed that we bowled pretty well to bowl out the english side cheaply in the first innings but there were no monsters in the pitch. What if we had enforced the follow on and one or two of the english batsmen had come up with long knocks? (They actually made decent runs in the fourth innings) What if England had taken a lead of 150....I am sure India would have been in deep trouble afterwards. Dravid may be saying that he thought that his bowlers are tired. I do not agree with that. Dravid simply played safe and there is nothing wrong with that. Isnt it common in football and hockey games that a side after taking a lead just keeps passing the ball among themselves to kill time? That's what Dravid was doing. We had the series in our pocket and Dravid was ensuring that it stays there. 20 years hence, no one will talk about whether we won 1-0 or 2-0.....but people will remember that we went to England and won a test series. Now thats not very common. Bravo Captain!!!

Another reason why this series was special is that everyone came good. After a long time, the Indian team "played together". Whenever that happens, it automatically becomes special.

Champ

The "A" on the top stands for Animesh. It is a picture of a bowling scorecard. I won it and its there for all to see. I am good...am telling you...I am good

Munnabhai in Jail

On 31st July 2007, after a wait of 13 years, the verdict was finally out on Sanjay Dutt. He was handed with a six-year jail term in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case by a special court in Mumbai. That led to mourning across the nation. My mom called me up, her voice choking with sorrow, to give me the news. I too felt very bad.

What followed was thousands of hours across channels on television, questioning the judgement. People have mixed opinion about the issue but majority is feeling bad. Now that is natural. If a person known to you is going to jail then you will always feel bad about that. I will not want it for anyone. After all depriving a human being from freedom is the worst punishment that one can give. The person in question over here is Sanjay Dutt. He is a public figure and everyone knows and loves him.

But I have two very different opinion about all this. I am usually bad with numbers but i think there were around 100 who were charged and 94 of them have been convicted. Do we know the story of all of them? No body is questioning the judgement against the rest 93 of them. I am not saying that we should set all of them free. They must have done something wrong but so had Sanjay Dutt. All of us are saying that Sanjay Dutt has learnt his lesson in last 13 years but what do we know about others. At the end of the day, the statue of justice is blindfolded and the justice should be the same for all. Now thats one way of looking at it. Going by that, at least I am okay with the judgement against Sanjat Dutt.

But there is another way to look at it. There was a sub-inspector (Vijay Patil) who was guilty of taking bribe and letting the arms get into Mumbai. These were the arms that were used in the Bombay blasts. I am not very sure but I think he got a lifer for that crime. Now compared to Sanjay Dutt's crime, the enormity of Patil's crime was much bigger. In my opinion, he deserved a capital punishment. Then, if you look at our beloved political leaders, they get away with scams worths hundreds and thousands of crores. Do we know of a single "national level" politician who has been convicted and put into jail? May be Shibu Soren is one but what happened to other cases/scams? Compared to all that, Sanjay Dutt's crime was just a mistake. Seems justice is not same for all!!!!