15 February 2009















Time to introduce some fellow bloggers. I generally do this without their permission and I have been let off without a penalty until now. After all, who does'nt like FREE publicity. Do you know the word 'free' is one of the most included words in Google search? Yeah ... man is a cheap animal!

Since he's a part of family ... and carries 25% of my genes (him being a cousin brother type) ... naturally I give him precedence. Bharath's
http://bharathstransientthoughts.blogspot.com/ is a portal for ... for ... for ... I dunno. He writes everything ... movies, Federer Nadal matches, VTU exams ... anything and everything that comes into his mind. He, sharing 25% of my genes, is therefore only 1/4th crazy. But he writes well ... don't trust him to blog forever ... he keeps changing his blog addresses like the email ids of spammers ... but whatever he posts, he writes damn well. And there's a variety in the topics he chooses ... the randomness, the missing theme ... that's what I like. Check that out.

Then, there is Mouna's
http://mouna-creations.blogspot.com/ for the more deep readers who think I need to be assassinated with immediate effect. She reads a lot of Indian literature ... sees a lot of well-made movies ... and writes a lot of posts that get you to think. Nope ... she doesn't preach ... she doesn't ask you to pray or work for India's progress or orders the government to go to war against Pakistan or orders Dravid to try square cuts more often. She writes good articles in suttle ways ... there's a simplicity mixed with intensity. And yeah ... she paid me well to write all of these.

And then there's my personal favorite ... Janani's
http://unpolishedmirror.blogspot.com/ for people who live on the earth ... meaning, you can immediately connect with what she writes. From Bangalore's autodrivers to her lab monkeys ... her posts are hilarious ... straightforward ... and makes a strong point. She tends to preach at times ... but the kind of preaching which makes sense ... the kind of articles you like to read. I love a couple of her posts and wish she writes more.

Then there's the legendary Rahul's
http://missedcallfromiim.blogspot.com/ which ... defies every law that exists in Einstein's science. I dunno if he got a missed call from IIM ... but I believe IIMB is a much safer haven now without his presence. He writes intense (and good) poetry ... and some posts that motivate you to suicide immediately. He does feel threatened by my presence in the blogging world and often targets me for his taunts which I take with a grain of salt. He's got potential ... to write good stuff ... or to increase the number of suicide cases in the police files.

And do read my
http://down-in-the-pitt.blogspot.com/ which breaks down all barriers of sensibility and sanity. I do realize there are more blogger friends that I have ... but I hardly get to know who blogs and who don't ... coz i'm the only pathetic one who forces people to read what I write. Thank God there is no 'Do Not Disturb' for emailing ... how will human antagonists like me survive then?

02 February 2009



















Who says America is clean? When it snows here ... Bangalore's Kalasipalya is a lot more cleaner ... i mean it!
















It was to be a one-sided game from the beginning. It was said ... the Steelers could only lose if they beat themselves. And ... they almost ended up doing that. The match turned out to be one of the best ever with a thrilling end with the Steelers winning 27-23 in the final seconds. Santonio Holmes will remember the day for a long time ... if not for his winning touch down in the final 40 seconds ... Steelers would have had to face one of the most major upsets in their sporting history. You got to give it to the Arizona Cardinals ... they maintained good momentum most part of the game and even turned the tables against the Steelers in the last part of the final quarter. And as i keep telling ... Steeler fans are known to be the craziest in the world. It was frenzy in Forbes avenue ... the atmosphere was just like India's victory over Pakistan in a world cup ... fireworks ... parades ... dances right in the middle of the streets ... strangers shaking hands with you ... i even began believing the next day might be a national holiday ... heck! That never happens!


Back home ... its great news too. India had its best ever Australian Open. Bhupathi and Sania won the mix-double finals becoming the first all-Indian pair to win a grand slam. Yuki Bhambri became the first Indian to win the Australian Open Junior's title. Nadal once again proved he's better than Federer ... and Federer's dream of equalling Sampras' record shattered. India take on SriLanka this 4th Feb ... and with India's 2 wins behind already ... they are hard to beat. That's the sport news for the week!

01 February 2009


















Mixture + Badam burfi + a Rajkumar movie ... and you forget that you stay 8000 miles away from home. Perhaps, the perfect antidote for homesickness too. It was a Sunday evening ... with beautiful weather outside that significantly explains the slow climate change from harsh American winter to a pleasant spring. I'm seeing movies alphabetically ... the ones in my laptop ... it started off with 'A Wednesday' yesterday ... and today i was sure it would be 'Batman Begins' ... but secretly ... 'Bangaaradha Manushya' slid in ... and made my day! I knew i couldn't complete watching the whole movie at once ... with loads to study ... but i also knew i couldn't be able to stop myself too ... after all, its the legend in action.


Rajkumar is a household figure in every Kannada family ... most people of our previous generation ... especially the women folk regard him to be a part of their family. They worshipped him more than their husbands ... mom used to cry when Rajkumar would return home from the fields, after ploughing land, with blisters in his hands. Coincidentally, if dad burns his hands when trying to cook (he does some exotic dishes sometimes) ... forget mom crying, dad would actually be reprimanded for being careless and also finding trouble!

Few might be surprised ... for Rajkumar was actually 'Singanalluru Puttaswamayya Muthuraju'. He became Rajkumar only after his debut movie 'Bedara Kannappa' ... he was given this name by the movie's director H L N Simha. He acted in a total of 206 movies in his lifetime ... excluding guest appearances. Two of his most famous performances were his own productions - Kaviratna Kalidasa and Shankar-Guru. What was notable is ... most of his movies carried social messages ... which explains the fact that he never smoked a cigarette or consumed alcohol in any of his movies. Ask SRK to even try not smoking for a single movie!

A Rajkumar movie, especially of the 1960-70s genre was accompanied by amazing songs ... by none other than another legend - P B Srinivas (PBS). His voice was so apt for Rajkumar that ... it was commonly said ... even Rajkumar's own voice could not be that apt for himself. Few know that, in the movie Babruvahana, while Rajkumar sang for Babruvahana, PBS sang for Arjuna. Even more surprising was the movie 'Muddina Mava' wherein Rajkumar lent a voice to S P Balasubramaniyam who had acted in that movie.
  • He won 10 filmfare awards for the best actor category
  • He won 9 state awards for the best actor category. State awards for films were started off in 1967 by which half of Rajkumar's career was over
  • He won a national award for the best male playback singer
  • He has received both the PadmaBhushan and Dadasaheb Phalke for his contributions to the Kannada film industry
  • He was awarded Karnataka Ratna in 1993
  • He received an honorary doctorate from Mysore University
  • He won the prestigious Kentucky Colonel award and the NTR national award
There was no role that Rajkumar couldn't do ... comedy, action, romantic, double/triple roles, mythological characters to a person fighting for modern day social causes. What makes him different (a favorite word in filmland) was his persona ... he was never 'big' ... ask your grandmom about him and she will talk about him as though he was her own son ... and Rajkumar was one ... a son to every mother ... a brother to every sister (except Parvathamma of course ... and maybe Leelavathi too ... but we will not talk about that) ... he showed what a happy family is like ... he taught people how to live ... he taught people how to love ... his movies were never a figment of imagination. Every child that sees a superhero ... like SRK for example ... wants to look like him ... have his hairstyle ... be as charming and perfect as he can ever be ... dance like him ... fight like him ... and in the worst scenario, be able to smoke like him too. But anyone who sees a Rajkumar movie certainly wants to be like him ... but also look after a family like him ... love people like him ... work hard like him ... be healthy and fit like him ... help people like him ... be noble like him ... truthful like him ... and be a great brother/son/father like him. This is what you call a true legend ... and a legend lives on forever!