Indian music at Olympics

I was watching Beach volleyball finals for women and during point break I heard a familiar tune...and surprise surprise it was a song from the movie Bluffmaster - "Say Na Say Na".
Bolly going global!

Found the song...finally!

I was listening to a song by Bad English: "When I see you smile" on last.fm. I had a classic rock CD where I had heard this song.
The initial music reminded me of some Hindi movie song which has been "inspired" from this song. I did all the googling without any luck.
I think I have finally found the song...its Dil to Pagal hai song "Ek duje ke vaaste".

Listen to these two songs to see the similarities.

Record breaking heat

DFW (Dallas Fort worth)-Metroplex area has been having a record summer. The temperature is constantly hovering around (generally above) 100 F (round about 40 C).
Its been one of the driest summer so far as well with rainfall just shade of 1.5".

I am from Delhi and I can relate to such long hot and dry spells, but this year even Delhi has been faring much better compared to North Texas. It did not get that high during summers and monsoon have hit Delhi and brought some relief.

Hoping for some relief to North Tx as well.

U.S of A

After a great rendezvous in Europe, I am now in United States of America. Its been great 3 years in Europe. Made many new friends, learned a lot about different cultures and countries.
U.S has been a different experience so far. It really makes you realize its vastness. As I have heard so oft from different people..."Initial 2-3 months are the toughest in U.S, if you can survive them, you will have a great time there".

1 month has gone by...basic settling issues, things seem to be falling in place now.

Been a long time since I last blogged (similar story like my last few blogs I guess. hopefully will have new things to write about)...

Indian sport this week

Nothing much to cheer about if you are an Indian sports fan...
In Malayasian tri series...Rain is playing spoilsport. Though it was nice to see master is back to his masterwork.
Though I still feel, Tendliya has lost his motivation to play. I don't blame him. He has achieved everything he set out for, more than most (if not not everyone) who ever played the sport.
Why do I say this when he scores a century in the very first proper innings after a 6 month layoff?

Thats the precise reason. There was a question mark on his performance after a layoff (and before it)...he finds a challenge and he destroys it as he has done many times before. But now what...its tough to set challenge for him...
I hope there is some stupid bowler (and team management) who challenges him in the tournaments to come...then we will see the Tendulkar we all want to see...

India @ Field Hockey World cup
They were hoping for a podium finish..they may from the bottom...Its been a pathetic performance to say the least. And guess what effect it will have on the person who is responsible for the dire state of Indian Hockey..KPS Gill..NONE.
And thats the problem, its the politico-bureaucratic state of our sports thats eating into it like termite.
I hope someone wakes up to set the change rolling.

Kudos to Paes for winning the US Open doubles while Martina goes out in style of champions. Roger Federer proved too strong for Andy Roddick while Maria found answers to Justin Henin Hardine.

Moto GP : Valentino moves closer

Madhouse, it was at Australian GP. Melandri won it and Rossi was Third...But Nicky Hayden was fifth..hence a 5 point gap between the two...
What it means for the bigger prize..a gap of 21 points remain with 3 to go...
I am rooting for Rossi...wats ur take

Schummi does it again as does Valentino!!

Repeat of the earlier post.
But this time Schummi does it in Monza, Italy and Valentino in Malaysia.

I have to say the MotoGP was much more exciting with lead changing hands between Rossi and Capriossi many times. Rossi awaited the last few turns to take back the lead and win.

While Schummi did it between his first pit stop and Kimi (who pitted earlier and for 1 second less time after leading schummi by a 1.44 sec)...

What these wins does to this season?
With Alonso retiring, Schummi is within 2 points of his lead...boy will it be close.
And Rossi also is bridging the gap with Niki Hayden.

So keep watching these sports in fast lane.

And yet another blast...

I will keep to my theme, sports and blasts.
Well there were another one , this time in Malegaon. Blasts in small town (after injuring Mumbai)...why would terrorists do that ?
Its a town that doesn't make the world sit up and listen (perhaps thats why?) but but but...
What if it leads to something bigger, something the terrorists would want.

Just to reiterate my point, just see what Indian administration is afraid of as a result of blast...nope not another blast, its the communal violence.
And what if there is one then I am sure as in past, it will have enough sparks to reach the bigger cities/towns like Mumbai/Ahmedabad.
And thats what terrorists want.

I am so sorry to say, all terrorist need to do is kill people of one religion (whether hindus or muslims), and then sit back and enjoy the fruits of their seeds.

I hope we Indians are smarter this time.

Its interesting time in sports ...(3)

Its quite interesting time in sports in general these days(contd):

7) Greece defeated star-studded lineup of USA in Basket Ball
Well well well...NBA stars lost out to Greece. Underlining the fact its players and not stars who matters.

8) No Nadal-Federer final in US Open
I am a bit saddened by it. Nadal and Federer have been treating viewers to the best tennis. Their match in Rome masters was the best I have seen in long time.
Its good to see Andy Roddick back in form and blasting his way. But I doubt if anyone has the arsenal to dislodge Federer unless he self destruct.

9) Paes flying Indian flag high as Sania sees reality of staying on top
Leander is in finals...yuppie. This guy gives us something to cheer about always when Indian sports is in doldrums. I hope he wins.

10) And the big one Andre Agassi retires after creating flutters in his final tournament..ADIOS
And its goodbye to Andre Agassi, the most revered tennis player of all time. He had a fan following that supersedes all his rivals put together.
The colorful personality that he has been and the resilence that he shown when he came back from 100 + ranking to win US Open witing one year in 1996 speaks volumes.
Tennis world will be poorer...Adios Agassi

11) Martina Novaratilova bids her final adieu to Tennis..I hope in style
And another retirement thats also bring an end to the greatest legend of all time...Martina Navaratilova. I can't believe she was my favourite in 80s..its been long time.
She finally hangs her boot at a young age of 50. And guess what she is in finals...again. I hope she wins and ends in style that a champion like her deserves.

Its interesting time in sports...(2)

Its quite interesting time in sports in general these days(contd):

Formula 1 is again carrying most of the excitement:
4) Schummi is within 12 points of Alonso and people are awaiting his retirement announcement.
Schumacher has made a fight out of a seemingly smooth sailing of Renault. Ferrari from being second best car has definitely become the best car on the tracks with many podium finishes for both the drivers.
They have also gained from erratic performance from McLaren and its drivers. As they prepare for Monza tomorrow, Ferrari bosses would be very happy: reason their current driver is 2nd on the grid and their future driver (supposedly) is on pole.
Everybody is speculating that this season would be Schummi's last. Let me come clear, I am not a fan of his. He is not the one who brings out a fan following for you. He is cold, calculative and competitive (well he is the one who had his season annuled for deliberately causing his nearest rival to crash ).
But this guy holds every record of reckoning in F1 and he wants to finish off in style. But I still see no reason for him to retire if he can compete like he is doing. Don't want another Borg out of him.
But Ferrari is not letting things hold them up and that brings me to the next piece...

5) Ferrari to announce its next year lineup (Kimi Raikonnen moves on to hunt for elusive Champions title).
Ferrari would be announcing their next year line up at the end of the Monza GP. As much as people await if Schummi can lessen the gap with Alonso, they are also interested to know, if Kimi moves to Ferrari next year.
Kimi tried to kill speculation by claiming that he is yet to decide and for him its importatant what committment the team will offer.
Lets face it, McLaren have failed to do justice to a driver of his caliber. Last 2-3 season they have turned up cars that have been unreliable or not quite good enough. And apparently Kimi doesn't want to be the best driver who never won a title.
Its almost sure that he joins Ferrrari as Renault has announce another finn to be their 2nd driver.
Though Kimi can still remain with McLaren but with Alonso coming to McLaren, that seems unrealistic. Its like having Senna and Prost in the same team. It happened before and it was ugly.

6) Renault has a fin(n) added to it
Continuing with F1, Renault announced its line up and added Heikki Kovalainen to its fold. Lets see if he is as exciting like my last 2 favorites Mika and Kimi.

Interesting time in Sports

Its quite interesting time in sports in general these days:
1) Field Hockey WC is on
Not much excitement about it here in Swiss (actually none at all). I hope its different in India.
But least said about Indian team performance the better. A set back with Sandeep Singh getting shot (Speedy recovery for him is wished).
Loss to Germany (last min) and England (after leading) is not to be excused. In Hockey India has made a habbit of losing in last few minutes. It happened against Pakistan, I remember not long ago and not just once.
Korea is playing Hockey like they play...FAST. Though they were losing regularly in past few months to other Asian giants, but they seem to be better prepared.
Who will win it: My guess still from the 3 usual suspects : Australia, Germany, Holland

2) France managed to beat Italy 3-1 (without the Zidane & Materazzi spice)
This was an interesting scoreline. I saw only Italy score...and then I looked at the scoreline...Interesting.
Seems France is on rebuilding already.

3) Pak is under scanner for ball tampering (wats new). As is Darel Hair for discrimination (Wats new again!!!)
Well people should be thinking whats the news in this. Its not the first (or second or third or..) time that Pakistan has been accused of ball tampering and it will not be the first time that it will be true as well.
Though Hair's connection to Subcontinent is legendary stuff. All the 3 teams (well B'desh can be excused) have at some point or other been on his Ire side...

Another hiatus Another promise

Back after another hiatus and with another promise to myself to be regular blogger...
Will I or won't I , time will tell.

Schummi does it again as does Valentino!!

So another grand prix over and another set of results.
Michael Schumacher another one (Magny Cours) as does Valentino Rossi (German moto GP).
Leadership wise Alonso still comfortably perched on top while Rossi is making the in roads to the top spot.
I have been a bit disappointed by Mclaren this year. Last year, they were the fastest around though unreliable. But this year they are definitely the third best car after Renault and Ferrari.

Next year promises to be interesting due to the Musical chair of lead drivers.
Kimi moves to Ferrari (my most fav driver moves to my least liked team).
Alonso to Mc Laren (Mc Laren has been my favorite team due to Senna and Mika followed by Kimi)
Montoya moves out. Schummi still races on.
I hope Karthikeyan gets another look in. People frown saying that he was last of the lots last year. But to me he was one of the 22 drivers among a huge number of aspirants. And that he did it from India where rupee gets beaten 45 to 1, speaks volumes.

Another Blasts

I wrote a blog sometime back about our non chalance attitude towards blasts and loss of Indian lives.
Many governments have changed hands, we have had countless PM but unfortunately with these coallition governments none have had spine to tackle terrorism. It has more become an election point than a point of action.
And to add to that we have parties like SP which just cares about vote bank politics and without any facts give statements. Like giving clean chit to SIMI even when the investigations have just begun. Also its leader gave a statement like giving money to Pakistan for Kargil war. That was slap on the face of so many young martyrs of Indian Military.

And what we do about this new terrorist attack. We do nothing. We forget and carry on with our lives. We discuss it in cocktail parties and perhaps write a few blogs.
Its called our resilence and we are credited for carrying on with our lives. Our parliament passes a resolution that it was an act of terror (come to think of it, if we have enough stupid MPs, it might not even have been called an act of terror).

PM will now push for Zero Tollerance....haha ha.. After 2 decades of terrrorism, we finally have woken up to the fact that we need to have zero tollerance. Till now it was ok to have some lives expended...WHY?
Because Indian life is cheap! and thats the bottomline.
Cheers to that!

Fuussball Magique

So the world cup fever is reaching its Zenith. Quite a different WC as compared to 2002, with 6 of the QF teams having already won WC previously. This is in stark contrast to 2002 when only 3 of the final 8 were previous winners.
And it seems some of these past champions are only riding on luck rather than good football to reach to QF and beyond.
But then Germany did reach the final in 2002 in an almost slumber like manner. But as it is said, when Germans play well they win else they reach the finals...And this time they are playing quite well and they are not overdoing. Calm, composed, compact and possibly the most well organized team in this world cup. So they are to my mind favorites to win against the Team I root for Sparkling Argentina.
Argentina has for sure been the entertainer of the WC having boring teams like England, Italy and Ukraine (France was in the list till their last encounter). But their strength is also their drawback ..full of youthful exhuberence (most being the team mates who were in the team that won World Youth Football C'ship coached by Jose Peckerman)has added a spark to the WC yet their lack of experience will show when they take on Germany and if at all progress further.

For Brazil vs France - My pick is surely Brazil..France is back from Dead but its like the last breath activity...they will be put to rest admist the Samba beats...
My WC disappointment has been Ronaldinho..though brilliant in midfield and as playmaker, he can do himself good by scoring in last few matches...

England vs Portugal - The world including England is perplexed on how they mananged to reach so far...they are playing sleepy football..defensive almost to the point of keeping the ball in Goalie's hand..
Portugal have played rough football. They are an interesting opposite of slumber football of england. They have played as a WC game needs to be played when you don't have enough talent - With lots of urgency (perhaps their iberian neighbour Spain could learn something from this side). They can spring a surprise, though England might just again scrape through..

Italy vs Ukraine- The most boring of the matches on cards in QF. Italy has always been the ultra defensive team..prepared to go in Penalty shoot outs...Ukraine has picked the traits from them...but still Italy as always is a compact unit which do some scoring sometime..so they seem the winners from here..

At this stage..Brazil are still the favorites and they haven't peaked as yet. All thanks to bundle of talent in this country. All 11 frontline players can be replaced by equaly good 11 players...

So will Latinos strike rich in European heartland..only Once it has happened..1958 Sweden WC..team that did it ...BRAZIL.

DELHI BLASTS : Our tolerance or cowardice

Today Delhi got rocked by a series of bomb blasts. Many were killed, many more wounded...but many many affected...
Watching a real good coverage on BBC far from my motherland, I heard correspondent say, that Delhi will fight back and be back to normal...its not the first time it has been under attack from the terrorits.
Yes, true, we Indians have learned to take the bombings/terrorist attack in our stride...forget Delhi, how many of such bomb attacks we hear in our Kashmir...

But is it our tolerance or our cowardice...such blasts happen every year, whenever some festival or national event approaches...
What has been done...I guess while learning to take it in our stride, we have also stopped caring to even think whether something has been done to stop it..or will something be ever done...
Its time I think when India should stand up and say..enough is enough...
Terrorists have to go...their sponsorship (in whatever name) stopped...and it should not be afraid or hold itself back in achieving it...

Condolences to the bereaved families and friends...Speedy recovery to Injured...
God Bless us all...

INDIA WINS!!!

Yes..unbelievable but true, India has won a One Day match. This win reminds of India's win over Sri Lanka in 99 world cup.
But it has one better aspect to it (and I hope and I pray that it sticks)...that everybody contributed.
Good start to the current stint of Dravid as captain...
(and I hope and I pray that its end of Ganguly :), his century at domestic cricket not withstanding)...Remember Laxman keeps hitting Indian bowlers in Challenger, gets into the team and then forgets what he is suppose to do there... Dada seems to be taking a leaf out of Laxman's book.

Also nice to see Sachin coming back and getting into the groove. Would have loved had he got his hundred...

But then who cares..India Won and won in style...

Best wishes to Dravid and his boys...(adieu Gangulyda...awaiting your retirement announcement)

What is the meaning of being Indian?

What is the meaning of being Indian?

Do we use it so callously that we hardly know its meaning. I think we do.

The incident that set me thinking, happened some while back when I went to see the movie “Million Dollar Baby”. The movie was engrossing and in such movies (unlike Karan Johar’s Tearjerkers) dialogues (and even sometimes the lack of them) matter.

Now like typical Indian Movie hall scene, which I am pretty sure everyone would have experienced, kids jostling here and there, cell phones ringing, basically anything which distracts you from the movie.

Similar thing happened, an overzealous kid went talking on and on, and unfortunately his Dad did little to calm him down. We (I and my friends) were sitting just behind them and besides us were sitting couple of foreigners. One of those ladies in exasperation ended up shouting “SHUT UP”.

Rude I must say, but well the movie was being ruined. Had it been Mr. Karan Johar’s movie I would not have least bothered to what SRK was babbling about. But this was a multi Oscar winner and a movie that was really interesting.

When the movie ended, the lady did give a piece of her mind to the Dad of the kid, telling him and I quote “I did not pay the money to hear your kid talk”

Well, well, well!!! A foreigner telling an Indian dad, that his Son was disturbing people, the apple of his eyes, the bearer of his family name, this cute little kiddo- disturbing people. That’s stepping into a danger area and I am pretty sure the lady realized that once Mr. Dad reacted. And I quote,

Dad: “ARE YOU INDIAN?” –Psst Psst..Mr. Dad they don’t look like one

Foreigner: “Excuse me!!!” - Yes lady, this question definitely is the trick question to set you off the track- she continued “No I am not”

Dad: “From where are you?”

Foreigner: “Copenhagen”

Dad: “Then go back to Copenhagen and go to the halls there, do you see families there watching movie?”

Foreigner: “Eh!!” – don’t worry he would be getting somewhere

Dad: “We are INDIANS” (and here it comes) “and we have a culture” (yup our most potent weapon in arguments), “we go out as family to watch movies, we don’t leave our kids behind”…(Hmm that’s true)

Till now our foreigner protagonist was totally lost, she was clueless as to what was happening.

And at this point my friend (a good Samaritan he is) stepped in. I am pretty sure overhearing the conversation had made him puke-ish enough…

He said and I quote “ I am an Indian and I too was disturbed by your kids talking” (good entry mate, that should put the dad on a back-foot)

Dad: “Are you a father? “

My friend: “Eh!!” (Gees I hope not, I hope all the precautions worked)

Dad: “So you are not a father, you don’t have a kid and you think you can tell me about children.”

My friend: “I am just saying that kid’s talking did disturb us and nationality has nothing to do with it. So don’t bring it in”

Another guy possibly with Mr. Dad: “Hey! You should not say this, you are an Indian….”

(Aw…whatever that’s suppose to mean)

And at this point my other friends steps in to put an end to an irritating albeit interesting conversation…

“You don’t have to bring Indianness into every argument and there is definitely no need to drag it in this context”

And the conversation ended…

I was really perplexed by the development of the conversation and fascinated by the logic of it. The logic seemed to reflect Saurav Ganguly’s thinking, “I can’t make runs sitting in the dressing room” (True you can’t argue with that, but what about others who are in form and are not getting chance because of you, but then who explain him the logic)

Coming back to the first point I raised. Have we Indians started using the word Indian very loosely? I am an Indian, I can bring a kid (good, Indians do encourage family) and he can howl since we have our culture to protect us.

But Mr. Dad just one point, both my friend and me may not be father (as yet) but we have been kids in our lifetime and have gone to see lots of movies with our parents.

We too have been overzealous like kids that age ought to be but our parents had ways to control us and keep us calm (and for the records I have never been hit by any of my parents), but they could very cleverly keep me quiet.

So I am pretty sure you were enjoying some quality time with your family, but it does not give you any right to infringe upon other people right to have the same.

And why flash being Indian so loosely. Hey the reason most of us are Indians are because, when our parents thought of having kids, they stayed in India.

Had you Mr. Dad or I been born in lets say US of A (a country offering nationality on the basis of birth); we would have been flashing our American Nationality all over. Then we would not have brought being Indian into such conversation. We would have just brought our world policing attitude to the table (but then that’s a topic of its own)

Lets first understand what these 6 alphabet ‘I’ ‘N‘‘D‘‘I‘‘A‘‘N‘ strung together in this order means. Behind it is 5000 years of history. A heritage that is a mix of many cultures each assimilating and resulting in what we today call Indianness. So lets find some other arguments to counter when someone points that your kids talking disturbed them but lets keep being Indian and our culture away from it.

Environment and Poverty

Was just watching TV like any normal day today..and while surfing (well watching TV means surfing the channels or as one of the Saeed jaffrey serial set in london said "Playing Piano with TV remote" ), and I saw this feature on CNN...

It was predominantly about the need of conserving environment et al...but what stuck my mind was this observation by one Mr Khosla ( I forget his first name. His is an organization based in Delhi that works toward economically beneficial yet environmently friendly innovations etc).

Anyways his observation was that the majority of people on earth lives under $2 a day wage and the source of most of their daily needs is the environment...fuel from woods etc.

So while the "Haves" are busy destroying the environment, they are also taking away whats left with the "Havenots"
Some food for thought...

Back

Back after a while to my blog...
Really I envy those who can blog everyday. It sure takes lot of discipline to do that...
Anyways last few days or weeks have been eventful. I am now in the city of Lausanne in Switzerland.
Lausanne is a very beautiful city like most of this alpine nation. In my some subsequent blogs I will try to capture my experience in this small but sweet city...