Greg Chappel has been walking around saying he is a person who cannot take anything mediocre or below par. Where did this so called Iron man vanish?,
R.P.Singh in particular kept banging the ball at some where around 10 or 11 yard marker – technically half pitch Frankly R.P Singh could have used his skill set to complete someone’s religious commitments [“நேர்திக்கடன்”] - Breaking 2000 coconuts in Ganesh Mandir. This guy does not seem to learn kept on bowling short balls and captain did not come near him to advice him or kick his butt. Zaheer on the other hand was almost close to R.P.Singh but some what better, he kept his coconut breaking count to 1000. When compared, Pathan bowled well however he seemed very slow why? And tried - Too much work load on him? The only bowler who did not try fancy stuff and kept his line and length was Gangully. Seeing this Kiran More dropped him from the one day squad right away.
I never saw Dravid mentoring his bowlers. They were let to go free on their own. Where is the coach? What does he do there sitting in front a Sony Vio lap top? Download mp3 songs from Coolgoose or prepare script for his next tussle with Gangully? Coach after all this bowling utsav has told “bowlers bowled well”, “the pitch did not help them”, halo! Bowling good length and line is nothing to do with the damn pitch condition, we call it basics. Going back to the first innings, I feel Dravid let them of the hook. From 38/6 how can he let the hooks loose? How can his team let someone like Shoib Akthar score 45? He had a wide gully and point for Akathar ? For what - Rest area for Kumble? Poor field changes like there was no midwicket - singles kept flowing freely.
What about these?
1. No Game plan to get Yunis Khan and Mohammad Yosuf, both have scored about 1500 runs against India.
2. Bowlers failed to bowl a tight line and length regardless of the damn pitch condition
3. poor field placement and changes
4. Never displayed any aggression
5. Missed chances.
It about time we get a bowling coach. I feel someone like Javagal Srinath would give better leads than Chappel. I am beginning to feel that Coach is riding his luck using Dravid’s capacity. I want BCCI to give free right of speech to Dravid and other players. We will then know the reality here.
India will have a target of around 550+, we do have a lineup that can bat till 9 [also till 9pm for next 2 days], in fact I was happy and comfortable to watch Afridi play fluent shots, and this means Pitch is slowly becoming a car park space, unless the curator has an on/off switch to change these conditions we could see more runs. But we could never know, bottom line it is a tough ask and we need to save the test. One thing, Dravid and Co please! Don’t go for a draw from the word go. And better get Gangully in the team for the one day. Frankly he played better than everyone in the first innings including the Lord. And Pathan , scoring runs is definitely a feather in his hat, no doubt however he needs to worry about the hat first.
1/31/06
1/30/06
Bollywood Dhamaka, a fantastic musical evening. The program started on time and it was almost a full house [about 500 people]. The instrumentalists were fantastic and supported the vocalists well. The band consists of a drummer, a bass player and guitarist, Keyboards, Tabla and Alto-Sax/key Flute. The Sax player Ramesh was simply outstanding. I have never seen an Indian sax player with such musical body language while playing, he was moving all round the stage and was pumping air to generate fantastic music. I had an informal chat with him, he plays jazz in NYC and he is actually from the West Indies.
Vocalists, Rajag need no introductions, from the word go he simply rocked audience with his vocals and stage presence. RajaG has lots of Spb Built in him – a compliment, [he also looked similar on stage] and however surprise! Being a Hindi show, there was very minimal SPB references in vocal Tone. His modulation was more of Kishore Kumar and Rafi. I never heard him sing this fashion and was amazed.
In my opinion the Sangathees and placements he sang for manjolai kilithano was better than original. Also RajaG played the MC role, after every song he gave tidbits and explained the composition with raga quotations from few other songs etc, this added lots of value to the show.
Alisha - had lots of local following, when she walked on stage I heard lots of applauses already. She was as amazing as she used to be in the studio, this is rare quality for singers. Be it Recording or live, Alisha’s singing sounded just the same – fantastic talent. After the show I told her that she is so famous now, very soon I would have to take an appointment to schedule a recording with her. Though I joked, for the amount talent she has - I wish this happens;
Rohini, another Local female vocalist from Dc area, already had some of her fans out sitting in the crowd. She sang all the numbers with ease and was never tensed. More than anything her range in the lower octaves got my attention. She seems to have the husky tonal quality that would work best for modern rowdy teen songs.
There are certain things this band was different from others I have seen. 1st All of them met just 2 hours before the show. The musicians or the vocalists did not have any tension or stage pressure. This is a great quality. I have seen bands where most of the members would shift into a fussy mode and will be touchy just before the show. Pressure will eat them alive. Here it was different; I did not witness any tension or pressure on or off stage. Musicians kept really cool and coordinated well with the lead singers’. In the professional circuit I have seen bands in Chennai, where they will have one good leader who is in charge and will have a good control over the production. When you have one good band leader giving instructions and everyone following it things seems to work well, here it was Rajag. He controlled the execution very well.
There were about 30 songs in the program. Every thing was done well; my song of the Evening Vote goes to Kora Kagaz Tha from Aradhana. This fantastic S.D.Burman classic was sung by RajaG and Rohini. This song still keeps ringing in my ears. Maine Chukar Dekha Hai by Alisha from the movie Black [Music: Monty], it was an excellent composition which she rendered it to perfection.
With singers from 3 different generations, and band of professional musicians, the whole evening was a fantastic experience. Frankly I never expected it to be this good. Kudos to the Organizers from the Art of living foundation - Mr. Bhasker and his team of volunteers for a fun filled evening. It was really worth spending my money and my precious time.
Vocalists, Rajag need no introductions, from the word go he simply rocked audience with his vocals and stage presence. RajaG has lots of Spb Built in him – a compliment, [he also looked similar on stage] and however surprise! Being a Hindi show, there was very minimal SPB references in vocal Tone. His modulation was more of Kishore Kumar and Rafi. I never heard him sing this fashion and was amazed.
In my opinion the Sangathees and placements he sang for manjolai kilithano was better than original. Also RajaG played the MC role, after every song he gave tidbits and explained the composition with raga quotations from few other songs etc, this added lots of value to the show.
Alisha - had lots of local following, when she walked on stage I heard lots of applauses already. She was as amazing as she used to be in the studio, this is rare quality for singers. Be it Recording or live, Alisha’s singing sounded just the same – fantastic talent. After the show I told her that she is so famous now, very soon I would have to take an appointment to schedule a recording with her. Though I joked, for the amount talent she has - I wish this happens;
Rohini, another Local female vocalist from Dc area, already had some of her fans out sitting in the crowd. She sang all the numbers with ease and was never tensed. More than anything her range in the lower octaves got my attention. She seems to have the husky tonal quality that would work best for modern rowdy teen songs.
There are certain things this band was different from others I have seen. 1st All of them met just 2 hours before the show. The musicians or the vocalists did not have any tension or stage pressure. This is a great quality. I have seen bands where most of the members would shift into a fussy mode and will be touchy just before the show. Pressure will eat them alive. Here it was different; I did not witness any tension or pressure on or off stage. Musicians kept really cool and coordinated well with the lead singers’. In the professional circuit I have seen bands in Chennai, where they will have one good leader who is in charge and will have a good control over the production. When you have one good band leader giving instructions and everyone following it things seems to work well, here it was Rajag. He controlled the execution very well.
There were about 30 songs in the program. Every thing was done well; my song of the Evening Vote goes to Kora Kagaz Tha from Aradhana. This fantastic S.D.Burman classic was sung by RajaG and Rohini. This song still keeps ringing in my ears. Maine Chukar Dekha Hai by Alisha from the movie Black [Music: Monty], it was an excellent composition which she rendered it to perfection.
With singers from 3 different generations, and band of professional musicians, the whole evening was a fantastic experience. Frankly I never expected it to be this good. Kudos to the Organizers from the Art of living foundation - Mr. Bhasker and his team of volunteers for a fun filled evening. It was really worth spending my money and my precious time.
1/26/06
Looking forward for it
I have met and still meeting fantastic musicians in my 20 year old musical life. Few whom I would prefer to forget but there are many whom I simply cannot forget.This weekend I will be meeting one such person.
Kansas Raja or popularly known as RajaG - for about 7 years we have been good friends, in fact I would say he is the one who opened the doors for my music productions here in the US. I am really grateful to him till date for this deed.
Flash back - Last Century [1998] - It was a cold wintry Iowa weekend; RajaG called me and enquired my musical talents. I had known him via Tfmpage.com. After few phone chats about music etc, he told me that he is going to drive down for the weekend to meet me. “Kansas to Davenport Iowa during the brutal winter months?” yeh! He said No problem! Any thing for music;
At about 12.35am on Saturday I get a call from him, it seems his Van got stuck in a Snow pile, sure! I thought because the local news channels were busy measuring snow in feet. I set off at wee hours on a slippery road condition to pick someone whom I know only by voice. This is how I met RajaG and from that day till now he has been encouraging my musical quests and been a good friend. I have recorded many times with RajaG [ மோகத்தை கொண்று விடு, பொன் மாலை, வண்ணத் தமிழ் ]. However never seen him live on stage, this it the first time.
Wait there is much more to this show, call it icing on the cake - Alisha Thomas would be also singing along with him. Let me also rewind how I met Alisha. Thanks to Praveen who gave my contact number to Dr. Thomas. He called me, introduced himself and told about his daughter who had sung in Malayalam albums. I auditioned Alisha, and never looked back. Alisha soon recorded பாரதம் followed by Daddy’s girl for me and was an automatic add in my recent album H1bees. She needs no further introduction in the DC metro area.
The Banner on the right Side, Bolloywood Dhamaka, a fantastic light music show is on cards by Kansas Raja and his Band. With other top musicians, two of my favorite vocalists will be on stage singing. Folks, if you are around the DC metro area please try to attend, the proceeds goes to a good cause. A fun filled musical evening is on cards. I am Looking forward for it
Kansas Raja or popularly known as RajaG - for about 7 years we have been good friends, in fact I would say he is the one who opened the doors for my music productions here in the US. I am really grateful to him till date for this deed.
Flash back - Last Century [1998] - It was a cold wintry Iowa weekend; RajaG called me and enquired my musical talents. I had known him via Tfmpage.com. After few phone chats about music etc, he told me that he is going to drive down for the weekend to meet me. “Kansas to Davenport Iowa during the brutal winter months?” yeh! He said No problem! Any thing for music;
At about 12.35am on Saturday I get a call from him, it seems his Van got stuck in a Snow pile, sure! I thought because the local news channels were busy measuring snow in feet. I set off at wee hours on a slippery road condition to pick someone whom I know only by voice. This is how I met RajaG and from that day till now he has been encouraging my musical quests and been a good friend. I have recorded many times with RajaG [ மோகத்தை கொண்று விடு, பொன் மாலை, வண்ணத் தமிழ் ]. However never seen him live on stage, this it the first time.
Wait there is much more to this show, call it icing on the cake - Alisha Thomas would be also singing along with him. Let me also rewind how I met Alisha. Thanks to Praveen who gave my contact number to Dr. Thomas. He called me, introduced himself and told about his daughter who had sung in Malayalam albums. I auditioned Alisha, and never looked back. Alisha soon recorded பாரதம் followed by Daddy’s girl for me and was an automatic add in my recent album H1bees. She needs no further introduction in the DC metro area.
The Banner on the right Side, Bolloywood Dhamaka, a fantastic light music show is on cards by Kansas Raja and his Band. With other top musicians, two of my favorite vocalists will be on stage singing. Folks, if you are around the DC metro area please try to attend, the proceeds goes to a good cause. A fun filled musical evening is on cards. I am Looking forward for it
1/25/06
Being in Washington DC area for few years now, I learnt one thing quite well here - Wasting money. Jingoistic circuits in my brain forced me to spend on this drab test series against Pakistan. There are millions of viewers who are disgusted as I am now. Pakistani board has to be penalized for simply killing the sprit in the sport. First test had a car park converted to pitch while this one resembled Mambalam highway. [Road that runs parallel to the railway track from Mambalam to Kodambakkam]
Both teams scored about 1600 runs, bowlers proved and sent a message, they established the fact that even they can score runs in such life less tracks. Zaheer and R.P Singh [Man of the match] managed to get some thing out but by then lead was about 400+, the crowd began to move out as soon as Abusing Afridi got out. Dravid never wastes free coupons – he boosted his average. What ever, Never! I will spend to watch test cricket played in Pakistan. One good thing about this game, I got my usual quote of sleep. For $150 I would have got another Channel strip module, something I have been longing this year to upgrade.
Firing arrows in my wound – Mr. Michel holding! Why and who selected him to be the master of ceremonies, English language had its final ceremony. Dean Jones would do a better job, why don’t they get him. Holding might be great bowler etc, but his accent - we need subtitles and closed captaining in English to understand what he is referring to, prudent Dravid just took a copy of his speech from the last game and read it again, Inzi followed him. The whole Circus now moves to a parking space in Karachi.
American Idol, in spite of sarcasm, everyone gets attracted to this program. Yesterday I came across witty and humorous comments from Simon. He rejected a contestant by giving a very funny reason - “Frank opinion - The reason for my NO was - it sounded just like the original” – contestant sang a Back street Boys number.
One guy showed up in green dress and long golden hair and dark green eye makeovers – Simon on seeing him - “You just look like Incredible Hulk’s wife” of course his voice was just like Mr. Hulk. -- Sounds Crude? but hey a great presense of mind. Another guy who introduced himself as the best ever singer and can sing any style but when tested - sucked right royally, Simon asked him about his music training – if any, the guy says “I learnt it from the DVD of Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson” Simon went to him and congratulated him for his fantastic talent. He was very funny all through the show.
Is it right to insult people on TV? This is a big debate!, however when you see someone yapping too much about their talent but when tested before Judges their voice often resembles a cat suffering from an early morning constipation – I feel they do deserve the Simon treatment. Most musicians who pass the selection hardly speak loud or Yaps, they are calm before and after the audition.
However my above conclusion is based on Fox production. A good screen play with proper edits can change any ones views, or I call it the MichelMoorph’ism. We will never know the true colors of this show.
Good day.
Both teams scored about 1600 runs, bowlers proved and sent a message, they established the fact that even they can score runs in such life less tracks. Zaheer and R.P Singh [Man of the match] managed to get some thing out but by then lead was about 400+, the crowd began to move out as soon as Abusing Afridi got out. Dravid never wastes free coupons – he boosted his average. What ever, Never! I will spend to watch test cricket played in Pakistan. One good thing about this game, I got my usual quote of sleep. For $150 I would have got another Channel strip module, something I have been longing this year to upgrade.
Firing arrows in my wound – Mr. Michel holding! Why and who selected him to be the master of ceremonies, English language had its final ceremony. Dean Jones would do a better job, why don’t they get him. Holding might be great bowler etc, but his accent - we need subtitles and closed captaining in English to understand what he is referring to, prudent Dravid just took a copy of his speech from the last game and read it again, Inzi followed him. The whole Circus now moves to a parking space in Karachi.
American Idol, in spite of sarcasm, everyone gets attracted to this program. Yesterday I came across witty and humorous comments from Simon. He rejected a contestant by giving a very funny reason - “Frank opinion - The reason for my NO was - it sounded just like the original” – contestant sang a Back street Boys number.
One guy showed up in green dress and long golden hair and dark green eye makeovers – Simon on seeing him - “You just look like Incredible Hulk’s wife” of course his voice was just like Mr. Hulk. -- Sounds Crude? but hey a great presense of mind. Another guy who introduced himself as the best ever singer and can sing any style but when tested - sucked right royally, Simon asked him about his music training – if any, the guy says “I learnt it from the DVD of Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson” Simon went to him and congratulated him for his fantastic talent. He was very funny all through the show.
Is it right to insult people on TV? This is a big debate!, however when you see someone yapping too much about their talent but when tested before Judges their voice often resembles a cat suffering from an early morning constipation – I feel they do deserve the Simon treatment. Most musicians who pass the selection hardly speak loud or Yaps, they are calm before and after the audition.
However my above conclusion is based on Fox production. A good screen play with proper edits can change any ones views, or I call it the MichelMoorph’ism. We will never know the true colors of this show.
Good day.
1/23/06
Sports filled Weekend, in about a decade of my NFL craze; finally a team that I support is in the super bowl. Pittsburg Steelers stunned everyone and are now all set to take on Seattle Seahawks. Go! Steelers.
2nd Test match - Think Tank opted for more bowlers. I was just wondering - we have 3 openers, of which 2 are rested, and 2 wickets keepers of which one is destined to carry drinks. Why carry unwanted resources if they are not going to be used? It is a known fact that our bowling attack is very much below par, so instead of Parthiv Patel, why did the think tank ask the selectors for an additional bowler? If [touch wood] Dhoni gets injured we can always get Parthiv or Dinesh [2 hrs flight from Delhi] to replace him? I don’t get this at all.
Dropping specialist openers then push Gangully to open, media speculation, finally Dravid takes the opening slot. Why such disarray? If four bowlers cannot stop the runs spree I do not know what the fifth would do extra. Just a head count, what ever Zaheer bowled, Gangully can bowl. I am not supporting Gangully, but based on the bowling in the last game, he was never given the ball in spite of good bowling compared to others.
Anyway, India seems to be on right track, thanks to Dhoni and Pathan. Dhoni decided attack is best form of Defense; He hit everyone around the ground and got a well deserved century. Pathan, Pathan compensated for his pathetic bowling and was on 49 when bad light stopped play.
The morning session was too dull; the Indian top order complicated their life; thanks to the super cautious approach. Dravid and Laxman played well but were too slow in my opinion. They could have easily scored about 100 runs more if they had attacked instead of defending. Approximately, the partnership between VVS and Dravid fetched about 197 runs in 400 balls. Just assuming a run a ball, we are left with about 200 balls dot balls. About 30 maiden overs; 3 runs per over would have fetched us about 90 runs extra. But they were busy blocking and giving confidence to the bowlers on a lifeless track. Both the batsmen created unwanted pressure in the middle. Adding to the agony, Sachin ruled himself out and walked. This was followed Dravid’s run out. Yuvraj carelessly hooked a short ball. If not Dhoni and Pathan , we would be following on.
Good day!.
2nd Test match - Think Tank opted for more bowlers. I was just wondering - we have 3 openers, of which 2 are rested, and 2 wickets keepers of which one is destined to carry drinks. Why carry unwanted resources if they are not going to be used? It is a known fact that our bowling attack is very much below par, so instead of Parthiv Patel, why did the think tank ask the selectors for an additional bowler? If [touch wood] Dhoni gets injured we can always get Parthiv or Dinesh [2 hrs flight from Delhi] to replace him? I don’t get this at all.
Dropping specialist openers then push Gangully to open, media speculation, finally Dravid takes the opening slot. Why such disarray? If four bowlers cannot stop the runs spree I do not know what the fifth would do extra. Just a head count, what ever Zaheer bowled, Gangully can bowl. I am not supporting Gangully, but based on the bowling in the last game, he was never given the ball in spite of good bowling compared to others.
Anyway, India seems to be on right track, thanks to Dhoni and Pathan. Dhoni decided attack is best form of Defense; He hit everyone around the ground and got a well deserved century. Pathan, Pathan compensated for his pathetic bowling and was on 49 when bad light stopped play.
The morning session was too dull; the Indian top order complicated their life; thanks to the super cautious approach. Dravid and Laxman played well but were too slow in my opinion. They could have easily scored about 100 runs more if they had attacked instead of defending. Approximately, the partnership between VVS and Dravid fetched about 197 runs in 400 balls. Just assuming a run a ball, we are left with about 200 balls dot balls. About 30 maiden overs; 3 runs per over would have fetched us about 90 runs extra. But they were busy blocking and giving confidence to the bowlers on a lifeless track. Both the batsmen created unwanted pressure in the middle. Adding to the agony, Sachin ruled himself out and walked. This was followed Dravid’s run out. Yuvraj carelessly hooked a short ball. If not Dhoni and Pathan , we would be following on.
Good day!.
1/20/06
Cricket headlines in Google news speculates Inzi to be the culprit who instructed the curator to prepare a flat track. what else you expect from a defensive dude? What ever next Test starts in about 13 hrs; this does not matter now. Bedi’s predicts - “Faisalabad to be another bore. But finally says “only a nincompoop would make predictions”.
Viru had yapped more than his usual. Akathar Sami & company will definitely pump steam and fire some scud missiles at him. I am more worried about Indian bowling, unable to guess if Ajith the “Almighty All Rounder” be dropped. He might escape by blaming the pitch. Weather might play its part, if the weather predictions its worth, we could see some rain interruptions on the 3rd or 4th days play.
My pitch prediction: a pitch with uneven bounce that has room for some turn. After Lahore, btw:I did the prediction based on my drive way.
NFL weekend, Pittsburg Steelers at Denver after their fantastic win over the Colts. Colts lost in spite of getting indirect help from the Zebras and an unbelievable fumble by “the Bus”. Hope Steelers win and make it all the way to Detroit. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Finally,
I was cleaning my studio hard drive. I found a track which I though I would put it here. Vocals by Sundar Rao, a very talented Hindustani vocalist; Sundar has sung many songs for me in the past. This track is from one of my composing sessions.
I compose songs often inspired by Udhaya's poems, I take the liberty of using Udhaya’s lyrics with his consent. At times I also borrow words from Bharathi or use my own words just to give a better picture to the lyricist. This song is about rain, I felt one of Udhaya’s poem had a great pallavi, later for the second part I picked some more apt words from Bharathi, we can call it a lyrics fusion about Rain. Udhaya and I had planned to work on the last portion, however due to time constraint it did not get through the production life cycle. Here you go Udhaya’s pallavi and rest from Bharathi check it out. Hope to complete this some time in future;
Have a great weekend.Go Steelers!
Viru had yapped more than his usual. Akathar Sami & company will definitely pump steam and fire some scud missiles at him. I am more worried about Indian bowling, unable to guess if Ajith the “Almighty All Rounder” be dropped. He might escape by blaming the pitch. Weather might play its part, if the weather predictions its worth, we could see some rain interruptions on the 3rd or 4th days play.
My pitch prediction: a pitch with uneven bounce that has room for some turn. After Lahore, btw:I did the prediction based on my drive way.
NFL weekend, Pittsburg Steelers at Denver after their fantastic win over the Colts. Colts lost in spite of getting indirect help from the Zebras and an unbelievable fumble by “the Bus”. Hope Steelers win and make it all the way to Detroit. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Finally,
I was cleaning my studio hard drive. I found a track which I though I would put it here. Vocals by Sundar Rao, a very talented Hindustani vocalist; Sundar has sung many songs for me in the past. This track is from one of my composing sessions.
I compose songs often inspired by Udhaya's poems, I take the liberty of using Udhaya’s lyrics with his consent. At times I also borrow words from Bharathi or use my own words just to give a better picture to the lyricist. This song is about rain, I felt one of Udhaya’s poem had a great pallavi, later for the second part I picked some more apt words from Bharathi, we can call it a lyrics fusion about Rain. Udhaya and I had planned to work on the last portion, however due to time constraint it did not get through the production life cycle. Here you go Udhaya’s pallavi and rest from Bharathi check it out. Hope to complete this some time in future;
Have a great weekend.Go Steelers!
1/19/06
I was at the Kennedy center millennium stage yesterday to watch a fusion concert by a band from Toronto called “AutoRickshaw”. Their website reads
Yes! Above was a clear Bait for me, and I took it. And let me tell you I did not regret it.
The band members - Suba Sankaran - lead vocalists and pianist, Ed Hanley on Tabla, and Rich brown on the bass. Their regular drummer Debashis Sinh was substituted. All of them were incredibly talented.
The concert started off with a fusion mix of near Thillana, with neat beat placements in semi- classical format. Yah! I thought typical start to such fusion concerts. This was followed by a Tamil song that resembled close to Kavidichhindu. It was more sentimental experience as I heard themadura Tamil in my first visit to a Kennedy center concert. The Tabla, Bass and drum parts were composed and placed tight over the melody lines.
The best part of the show was yet to come. - Jazz standards. Jazz standards are well known tunes played by Jazz musicians, something similar to Pallavis in Carnatic music. In general Jazz bands will improvise these standards using on the fly ideas. Jazz artists have full freedom to explore [or freak out] and it is very near to our Kalapana swarms in Carnatic music. The band took a jazz standard and presented it in typical Bolloywood fashion or I called it the R.D.Burman method. This was new to me; I felt the idea to be very unique. The vocalist was very fluent in mixing Jazz scats and Dance “Solukatus”. I have heard standards changed to Latin, Ska etc, however Bolloywood mix was new. Some might remember the song “Palinginal oru mAligai” this might be first the Jazz standard in Kolloywood format.
This was followed by a composition in Charukesi, It was good in places but has room for more. I also felt singer went off key in various places. She sang while playing the piano, this might have distracted her. Next one was a nice melody in Kalyani, typical Carnatic methods used over English lyrics. The concert ended with a fantastic blues about train journey from Chennai. The song took me around Chegalpattu, Maduranthagam, Villupuram till Erodre that brought back nostalgic memories.
I had an informal chat for few minutes with Suba Sankaran after the concert. She has her own recording studio and she is also a recording artist. Her parents hail from Chennai and her dad is a renowned Mirudagam Vidwan Trichy Sankaran, a popular and famous musician from Tamil Nadu. Dr. Sankaran is the Founding Director of Indian music studies and Professor of Music at York University, Toronto, Canada.
The only concern I had in the whole concert was off-key issue. The “Simon side” of my brain kept pushing me about this every now and then. Still over all package was neat, the band has unique and inspirational ideas that should be encouraged; Their CDs are available here. Music has no Language, Borders, Culture barriers, AutoRickshaw is another example.
Good day!.
“Autorickshaw is a world music ensemble that embodies the essence of new forms of expression that are emerging on the Canadian music landscape. Their integration of South Asian tradition with jazz and other popular music forms represents an innovative and refreshing new standard. “
Yes! Above was a clear Bait for me, and I took it. And let me tell you I did not regret it.
The band members - Suba Sankaran - lead vocalists and pianist, Ed Hanley on Tabla, and Rich brown on the bass. Their regular drummer Debashis Sinh was substituted. All of them were incredibly talented.
The concert started off with a fusion mix of near Thillana, with neat beat placements in semi- classical format. Yah! I thought typical start to such fusion concerts. This was followed by a Tamil song that resembled close to Kavidichhindu. It was more sentimental experience as I heard themadura Tamil in my first visit to a Kennedy center concert. The Tabla, Bass and drum parts were composed and placed tight over the melody lines.
The best part of the show was yet to come. - Jazz standards. Jazz standards are well known tunes played by Jazz musicians, something similar to Pallavis in Carnatic music. In general Jazz bands will improvise these standards using on the fly ideas. Jazz artists have full freedom to explore [or freak out] and it is very near to our Kalapana swarms in Carnatic music. The band took a jazz standard and presented it in typical Bolloywood fashion or I called it the R.D.Burman method. This was new to me; I felt the idea to be very unique. The vocalist was very fluent in mixing Jazz scats and Dance “Solukatus”. I have heard standards changed to Latin, Ska etc, however Bolloywood mix was new. Some might remember the song “Palinginal oru mAligai” this might be first the Jazz standard in Kolloywood format.
This was followed by a composition in Charukesi, It was good in places but has room for more. I also felt singer went off key in various places. She sang while playing the piano, this might have distracted her. Next one was a nice melody in Kalyani, typical Carnatic methods used over English lyrics. The concert ended with a fantastic blues about train journey from Chennai. The song took me around Chegalpattu, Maduranthagam, Villupuram till Erodre that brought back nostalgic memories.
I had an informal chat for few minutes with Suba Sankaran after the concert. She has her own recording studio and she is also a recording artist. Her parents hail from Chennai and her dad is a renowned Mirudagam Vidwan Trichy Sankaran, a popular and famous musician from Tamil Nadu. Dr. Sankaran is the Founding Director of Indian music studies and Professor of Music at York University, Toronto, Canada.
The only concern I had in the whole concert was off-key issue. The “Simon side” of my brain kept pushing me about this every now and then. Still over all package was neat, the band has unique and inspirational ideas that should be encouraged; Their CDs are available here. Music has no Language, Borders, Culture barriers, AutoRickshaw is another example.
Good day!.
1/18/06
Yesterday was the season premier for the popular TV show, American Insults oops Idols. About 50-60% percentage of the viewers watch the show for “what Simon says”, and some feel disgusted about his blunt opinions. Nevertheless he is very witty and judges the talent with accuracy. This ability of Simon is such he is often pardoned for his verbal abuse and instant participant tease. I do admire his judgment. However after watching yesterday’s show I felt Simon went overboard. He started to insult and score points on “physical” appearance of the participants. The biggest sufferer was a little guy about 4 feet tall. He did sing mediocre however instead of talking about his vocal cords, Simon hit a wrong chord citing his height and physical appearances. He called him a Wasp and he made fun of his physical appearances. He also ridiculed few others by asking to increase the stage size. Scoring sadism points in the name of Show business. Shame on Simon and Fox network; a participant who was jumping around like an elastic band and screaming in the name music was given a ticket to Hollywood. Thanks to Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson.
The movie Gajinee - I watched recently, and man Harris Jeyaraj what was he thinking when he scored those dreaded background music. He picks hooks like “BoZo” “BoZo” and Zolo lozo and creates a crackpot theme. And some were inspired from Passion of the Christ. The DTS panning to the right and left surround speakers made it more awful and painful. Few more Harris Background hooks can be found here.
First half was nice; Suriya and Asin play their part well. But the second half was simply worthless. The dual role villain [Bill O Reilly look alike] , he just goes around and kills people. Director totally lost his way may be he had to return the original novel [Memento] to the library. The villain spin reminded me of good old and pathetic Anatha oru Nimidam. In this movie Major [the director] goes over board in his imagination. Instead of killing the bad guys he makes Kamal and Co kill the audience. Kartik vocals rocks in “Oru Malai” and Suriya dances well in Rangola , Salsa ஆடி கலக்கரார். I think Surya has the smart looking hero charm and fantastic screen presence when compared to most of the “modern day heroes”.
My screen presence rankings –
Power struggle - Suriya, Vikram, Chimpu;
Romance Struggle – Maddy, Suriya;
Audience Struggle: EEOV - எனக்கு ஏங்க ஊர் வம்பு
Cricket, do you know that Rawalpindi Express wheels oops shoes costs around 55k [$1400]. Specially designed for him; and it seems he has five pairs of these designer shoes. What ever, if the next test gets rained off, I have better uses for those shoes. Indian board rebelled out of the Champions trophy next year. Good for them, this tournament always coincides with their peak test season. ICC has warned stern action against India. Oh YA! The five star banquet gatherings where they make such decisions are being paid by Crazy Desi Cricket Fan.
Good day.
The movie Gajinee - I watched recently, and man Harris Jeyaraj what was he thinking when he scored those dreaded background music. He picks hooks like “BoZo” “BoZo” and Zolo lozo and creates a crackpot theme. And some were inspired from Passion of the Christ. The DTS panning to the right and left surround speakers made it more awful and painful. Few more Harris Background hooks can be found here.
First half was nice; Suriya and Asin play their part well. But the second half was simply worthless. The dual role villain [Bill O Reilly look alike] , he just goes around and kills people. Director totally lost his way may be he had to return the original novel [Memento] to the library. The villain spin reminded me of good old and pathetic Anatha oru Nimidam. In this movie Major [the director] goes over board in his imagination. Instead of killing the bad guys he makes Kamal and Co kill the audience. Kartik vocals rocks in “Oru Malai” and Suriya dances well in Rangola , Salsa ஆடி கலக்கரார். I think Surya has the smart looking hero charm and fantastic screen presence when compared to most of the “modern day heroes”.
My screen presence rankings –
Power struggle - Suriya, Vikram, Chimpu;
Romance Struggle – Maddy, Suriya;
Audience Struggle: EEOV - எனக்கு ஏங்க ஊர் வம்பு
Cricket, do you know that Rawalpindi Express wheels oops shoes costs around 55k [$1400]. Specially designed for him; and it seems he has five pairs of these designer shoes. What ever, if the next test gets rained off, I have better uses for those shoes. Indian board rebelled out of the Champions trophy next year. Good for them, this tournament always coincides with their peak test season. ICC has warned stern action against India. Oh YA! The five star banquet gatherings where they make such decisions are being paid by Crazy Desi Cricket Fan.
Good day.
1/17/06
The Agony ended. To cover the cost, the Lahore cricket ground was leased to a wedding party for the evening. The play was called well ahead of the time for the guests to arrive and settle down for the function. The pitch area was quickly converted to a valet car park while a quick kitchen was built near the pavilion/long off region. The glamorous wedding took place under lights with 5203 guests - twice the match Attendance.
Match Drawn, Waste of time and money for pathetic pitiable cricket fans including “yours faithfully”. Next one starts at Faisalabad, a pitch that is going to bounce, swing a.k.a bowlers’ paradise Yawn, we were told the same for Lahore.
Suggestions to make next one interesting
Reduce the pitch size by 11 - Half pitch.
One Pitch One hand [except Danish Kaneria]
Over arm throw [Bedi says "in that case Shoib Akthar need not change his action”]
4 stumps and 4 bails
Keep the press and TV involved - During lunch time a small street play about Gangully, Dravid, Chappel and Kiran More titled, "Dada becomes a sAda"
Inversions [lefties should play in Right while rightist Play in left][will also be a Cheesy concept for the next FOX TV show ]
A question to the Pakistani board: During the previous historical, geographical, political tour - the stands were empty. Pakistani board failed to get people to the ground. The Stands were even missing the “filler” - flies and the crows. The same trend continued again this time, where did the damn cricket loving crowds of Lahore go? Few Indians who had traveled all the way across the border were seen cheering all alone. Why schedule a game in place where crowd is not interested to see the sport. ICC needs to take a note of it. Just ban the grounds from next few games if promised crowd fails to shows up. May be - Buy 1 and get 21 free tickets with a flag of your choice could work.
Indian openers failed to break the record and missed the land mark by 4 runs. There was also a presentation function and a “ceremony” for the pitch. Sehwag boldly mentioned about the pitch “it lacked international quality”. Dravid gave a nice speech; when Rameeze Raja asked about opening and team selection issues he dogged it quite well and told we picked the best team on cards. Period; He also mentioned that he was thrilled to watch Viru from the best seat in the ground, he also told never once he tried to compete with Viru. He played his own game and left the hitting job to the specialist. Gangully was given the “best catch of the match award”. Mmm..
Indian board has lined up more matches with Australia next few years; board is also considering India Pakistan games on neutral venues like Toronto etc what ever! For now, buzz around my office is some how get tickets to the Steelers Broncos game in Denver!
Good day.
Match Drawn, Waste of time and money for pathetic pitiable cricket fans including “yours faithfully”. Next one starts at Faisalabad, a pitch that is going to bounce, swing a.k.a bowlers’ paradise Yawn, we were told the same for Lahore.
Suggestions to make next one interesting
A question to the Pakistani board: During the previous historical, geographical, political tour - the stands were empty. Pakistani board failed to get people to the ground. The Stands were even missing the “filler” - flies and the crows. The same trend continued again this time, where did the damn cricket loving crowds of Lahore go? Few Indians who had traveled all the way across the border were seen cheering all alone. Why schedule a game in place where crowd is not interested to see the sport. ICC needs to take a note of it. Just ban the grounds from next few games if promised crowd fails to shows up. May be - Buy 1 and get 21 free tickets with a flag of your choice could work.
Indian openers failed to break the record and missed the land mark by 4 runs. There was also a presentation function and a “ceremony” for the pitch. Sehwag boldly mentioned about the pitch “it lacked international quality”. Dravid gave a nice speech; when Rameeze Raja asked about opening and team selection issues he dogged it quite well and told we picked the best team on cards. Period; He also mentioned that he was thrilled to watch Viru from the best seat in the ground, he also told never once he tried to compete with Viru. He played his own game and left the hitting job to the specialist. Gangully was given the “best catch of the match award”. Mmm..
Indian board has lined up more matches with Australia next few years; board is also considering India Pakistan games on neutral venues like Toronto etc what ever! For now, buzz around my office is some how get tickets to the Steelers Broncos game in Denver!
Good day.
1/16/06
Gameகூபாம் கபீம் Day
India vs Pakisthan
Day, 2,3, 4
கூபாம்கபிம் *** கபீம்கூபாம் *** கூபாகாம்பீ
[Sub title: kUbAmkabIm kapImkUbAm]
[ps:Technical specs about these punishments can be obtained from 1-900-Anniyan or Anniyan.com]
These were the punishment bowlers were made to face in the first test at Lahore. When compared with Indian bowlers, though they got more wickets , Pakistani bowlers did bowl some tight line. But Genius in Sehwag keep them hitting really hard. When கூபாம்கபிம் was ordered on them them, at least Indians were happy to get few wickets. But yesterday Viru was simply “பிச்சிடுவேன் பிச்சி” on a mummified pitch , that was recently excavated from the near by Harappa and Mohendarajo.
Inzi’s agony continued, When ever they showed him, for some reason I recollected the background from the movie Gajini “Bo zo Bo zo Bo zo”. He resorted to some top level captaincy and was seen using “inki piny ponkey” to choose his next bowler. In the second half when Sehwag was around 180, bowlers start to toss coins amongst themselves to pick the next bowler, Poor Rana lost the toss and had to bowl – donation of 4 ruthless boundaries to Sehwag.
The fun part was Dean Jones commentary, he started to play a game, using his computer and mouse he started to draw arrows to guess where Viru would hit the ball. Rameeze Raja little bit ticked by this, was giving a அசட்டு smile and took the sarcasm, but he also defended the pitch, it seems it is not yet dead, yawn, I agree but should be born before being dead.
Indians will break records, CDS, Cassette tapes, what ever, the sun god on vacation to the down under, what to say, I feel for Gangully, Why? It was speculated that he was asked to open, but did not want to , poor Ex missed this free run spree. What ever, Tomorrow another day of கூபாம்கபீம் ensured.
The NFL Play off final four, - my prediction a.k.a Guess, a.k.a blind luck - Steelers, Broncs, Panthers, and Seahawks – did come true. Go Steelers!
Good day.
B R E A K I N G N E W S
To save their bowlers Indian team and Pakistan boards have come to an agreement to use modern technology.
Check here for details
Day, 2,3, 4
கூபாம்கபிம் *** கபீம்கூபாம் *** கூபாகாம்பீ
[Sub title: kUbAmkabIm kapImkUbAm]
[ps:Technical specs about these punishments can be obtained from 1-900-Anniyan or Anniyan.com]
These were the punishment bowlers were made to face in the first test at Lahore. When compared with Indian bowlers, though they got more wickets , Pakistani bowlers did bowl some tight line. But Genius in Sehwag keep them hitting really hard. When கூபாம்கபிம் was ordered on them them, at least Indians were happy to get few wickets. But yesterday Viru was simply “பிச்சிடுவேன் பிச்சி” on a mummified pitch , that was recently excavated from the near by Harappa and Mohendarajo.
Inzi’s agony continued, When ever they showed him, for some reason I recollected the background from the movie Gajini “Bo zo Bo zo Bo zo”. He resorted to some top level captaincy and was seen using “inki piny ponkey” to choose his next bowler. In the second half when Sehwag was around 180, bowlers start to toss coins amongst themselves to pick the next bowler, Poor Rana lost the toss and had to bowl – donation of 4 ruthless boundaries to Sehwag.
The fun part was Dean Jones commentary, he started to play a game, using his computer and mouse he started to draw arrows to guess where Viru would hit the ball. Rameeze Raja little bit ticked by this, was giving a அசட்டு smile and took the sarcasm, but he also defended the pitch, it seems it is not yet dead, yawn, I agree but should be born before being dead.
Indians will break records, CDS, Cassette tapes, what ever, the sun god on vacation to the down under, what to say, I feel for Gangully, Why? It was speculated that he was asked to open, but did not want to , poor Ex missed this free run spree. What ever, Tomorrow another day of கூபாம்கபீம் ensured.
The NFL Play off final four, - my prediction a.k.a Guess, a.k.a blind luck - Steelers, Broncs, Panthers, and Seahawks – did come true. Go Steelers!
Good day.
B R E A K I N G N E W S
To save their bowlers Indian team and Pakistan boards have come to an agreement to use modern technology.
Check here for details
1/13/06
Game Day
India vs. Pakistan
Day 1
After all the hype, the game started at around 11.45pm EST, there was no Pitch report or Toss etc, Dish Network took us directly to the game. I am sure they would blame the other end. On the other end there came the poor picture quality. The clarity, color, contrast were substandard. I tried adjusting my TV, but “if only food in pot, you get in the xxl-spoon”, that was turn off for me right away. So much “Gaga” over mediocre coverage.
Dravid lost the toss and was put in, since no pitch report was shown, I had to guess the nature. There were many speculations in the media about this - Green & Grassy & Bouncy etc. First it cannot be a bouncy track, Why? because Pakistan chose to bat. It just took few overs for me to guess the nature with pin point accuracy.
My pitch report: The pitch more or less resembled a temporary parking space created during state fairs. Bowlers are in for a roller coaster ride. Bad bowlers are in for slaughter
Irfan sent the first over with some level of accuracy however too dry.
Ajith “the All-Rounder” Agarkar had reserved tickets for a morning show at Local Lahore Malik theater, but was forcibly selected in the team and adding to his agony he was asked to bowl by the captain. How dare!, displaying his frustration over missing a good movie, he sent down tons of Donkey, Monkey [few were at KingKong's size] Mule, Dinosaur, Penguin droppings and called it bowling. Agarkar will be a good candidate for “Bogi” celebrations today. How he gets selected in the team in spite of continues mediocre performances? Only “Balaji” knows it, I am referring to the “Balaji” standing in Thirupathi.
Pakistani Batsmen were all set to score big with ***** comfort [I meant 5 star]. None of the Indian bowlers troubled them. My trouble multiplied thanks to the commentary team, Dean Jones, Rameez Raja, L. Siva Oh! Lord Please protect my Ear Drum-Bucket-Mug! I already started to feel the effect of Friday the 13th.
When everything was going well for Pakistan, Salam Butt decided that he should gift something to the visiting team, he overshot his follow through on the north Striker end. Yuvraj Singh who had recently acquired few acres of Mango orchards threw a direct hit and Butt along with rest of his parts failed to make the line. He was out. Younis Khan escaped a close LBW call from the umpire. From this moment on nothing worth while happened for the Indians. They went on donating runs.
Anil Kumble did nothing and went back to his good old Donkey Droplets technique. While Harbajan bowled well but for some reason Dravid had a very defensive field for him.I like to mention that Gangully also bowled and infact bowled well when compared to others. Ganguly also hit the stumps directly once and tried a run out. They showed some pictures of Gangully arguing or speaking with Dravid while Chappel was watching them clueless, it looked like "Srikanth" [me] when watching a Hindi TV Serial.
Bottom line, India does not have good bowling attack. Let us get it loud and clear. Pathan tries hard. While Agakar had tickets to KingKong and was upset about missing the movie. Kumble’s attack looked like the Red Skins offence, while Harbajan tried but Dravid did not give him a good field.
The play was unofficially called off at 5.00am - yes by me - I went to bed, and then learnt from rewinding the DVR that game was also called off little later due to bad light. What ever, Pakistan will score about 700. Frankly with such poor Indian bowling line up and a Parking lot turned Pitch - 700 seems to be a low score.
Wish you a happy bOgi, pongal , Matu Pongal, Kannum pongal, veN pongal, sarkarai pongal, semiya Pongal pongalo pongal “Indian Team” pongalo pongalo Pongal .
Day 1
After all the hype, the game started at around 11.45pm EST, there was no Pitch report or Toss etc, Dish Network took us directly to the game. I am sure they would blame the other end. On the other end there came the poor picture quality. The clarity, color, contrast were substandard. I tried adjusting my TV, but “if only food in pot, you get in the xxl-spoon”, that was turn off for me right away. So much “Gaga” over mediocre coverage.
Dravid lost the toss and was put in, since no pitch report was shown, I had to guess the nature. There were many speculations in the media about this - Green & Grassy & Bouncy etc. First it cannot be a bouncy track, Why? because Pakistan chose to bat. It just took few overs for me to guess the nature with pin point accuracy.
My pitch report: The pitch more or less resembled a temporary parking space created during state fairs. Bowlers are in for a roller coaster ride. Bad bowlers are in for slaughter
Irfan sent the first over with some level of accuracy however too dry.
Ajith “the All-Rounder” Agarkar had reserved tickets for a morning show at Local Lahore Malik theater, but was forcibly selected in the team and adding to his agony he was asked to bowl by the captain. How dare!, displaying his frustration over missing a good movie, he sent down tons of Donkey, Monkey [few were at KingKong's size] Mule, Dinosaur, Penguin droppings and called it bowling. Agarkar will be a good candidate for “Bogi” celebrations today. How he gets selected in the team in spite of continues mediocre performances? Only “Balaji” knows it, I am referring to the “Balaji” standing in Thirupathi.
Pakistani Batsmen were all set to score big with ***** comfort [I meant 5 star]. None of the Indian bowlers troubled them. My trouble multiplied thanks to the commentary team, Dean Jones, Rameez Raja, L. Siva Oh! Lord Please protect my Ear Drum-Bucket-Mug! I already started to feel the effect of Friday the 13th.
When everything was going well for Pakistan, Salam Butt decided that he should gift something to the visiting team, he overshot his follow through on the north Striker end. Yuvraj Singh who had recently acquired few acres of Mango orchards threw a direct hit and Butt along with rest of his parts failed to make the line. He was out. Younis Khan escaped a close LBW call from the umpire. From this moment on nothing worth while happened for the Indians. They went on donating runs.
Anil Kumble did nothing and went back to his good old Donkey Droplets technique. While Harbajan bowled well but for some reason Dravid had a very defensive field for him.I like to mention that Gangully also bowled and infact bowled well when compared to others. Ganguly also hit the stumps directly once and tried a run out. They showed some pictures of Gangully arguing or speaking with Dravid while Chappel was watching them clueless, it looked like "Srikanth" [me] when watching a Hindi TV Serial.
Bottom line, India does not have good bowling attack. Let us get it loud and clear. Pathan tries hard. While Agakar had tickets to KingKong and was upset about missing the movie. Kumble’s attack looked like the Red Skins offence, while Harbajan tried but Dravid did not give him a good field.
The play was unofficially called off at 5.00am - yes by me - I went to bed, and then learnt from rewinding the DVR that game was also called off little later due to bad light. What ever, Pakistan will score about 700. Frankly with such poor Indian bowling line up and a Parking lot turned Pitch - 700 seems to be a low score.
Wish you a happy bOgi, pongal , Matu Pongal, Kannum pongal, veN pongal, sarkarai pongal, semiya Pongal pongalo pongal “Indian Team” pongalo pongalo Pongal .
1/12/06
Team India is all set to meet its Arch rivals; Pakistan team will take this game as seriously as the Indian Team. Akthar has picked 37 wickets in past 7 games. He is a changed person -physically and mentally, he has developed stamina to keep on bowling for a long period of time. Get it clear - It is going to be serious cricket from Akthar and Co. Indian opening pair [though Think Tanks would shuffle and might get a joker in the deal] Sehwag and Gambheer have been struggling to get into tight batting form. For start of any serious, the opening stand is vital, they have to take on Akthar & co, and should prevent the dreaded Indian domino effect which we suffered in the hands of Shane Bond. Gangully factor, in about T-14 hrs we would know if he would play or carry drinks. Captaincy to 12th man, I remember vaguely of Venkat Ragavan who faced this crude change of fortunes.
Three blind mice Three blind mice…
Darrell Hair, Rudi Koertzen Match Referee: Ranjan Madhugalle (Sri Lanka).Rudi Koertzen (South Africa) is a good umpire. We can depend on him. But I am worried Darrel Hair and Steve Bucknor [thank god he is not standing for the first game] who are notorious for dubious decisions. Mr. Hair in past has had “super problems” in concentrating and judging decisions, but still finds his place. Ranjan the fine collector Madhugalle will be disappointed - Gangully is not leading, collection will be far less.
Weather conditions will play a major role; Indians have never won in Lahore, All the best India!
Dish Network is yet to announce its coverage,
Hey so what! Switch to web streaming. I hear it, but I would have to think twice before making a decision; apart from the content legality most websites have a crude refund policy. Buyers beware is kind of not accepted in America.
Dish Network, seemingly a worth less and disorganized TV, don’t seem to realize the potential here. Few years ago [1998-99], Cricket telecast were offered via Dish by a company called Kelly Broadcasting System. Cricket telecast was kind of organized. However after dish network took over cricket, the golden goose was chopped and stewed. It is not right for Dish Network to buy the copy rights and flush it down the drain or exploit its customer for a high price. World cup is round the corner, Direct TV will be getting it live here. So…is it time to switch from Dish?
Finally,
Why did I quote this here?
If you need a break from your work stress just go and read this latest Blog! from Praveen, the funny guy from Chennai. :) Praveen's satire writings are witty and hilarious. It is about time for him to find the next generation “S.V.Sekars” and “Madhus” and feature his scripts as stage plays or TV Sitcoms. - jimbly suberb!
Good day.
Three blind mice Three blind mice…
Darrell Hair, Rudi Koertzen Match Referee: Ranjan Madhugalle (Sri Lanka).Rudi Koertzen (South Africa) is a good umpire. We can depend on him. But I am worried Darrel Hair and Steve Bucknor [thank god he is not standing for the first game] who are notorious for dubious decisions. Mr. Hair in past has had “super problems” in concentrating and judging decisions, but still finds his place. Ranjan the fine collector Madhugalle will be disappointed - Gangully is not leading, collection will be far less.
Weather conditions will play a major role; Indians have never won in Lahore, All the best India!
Dish Network is yet to announce its coverage,
Hey so what! Switch to web streaming. I hear it, but I would have to think twice before making a decision; apart from the content legality most websites have a crude refund policy. Buyers beware is kind of not accepted in America.
Dish Network, seemingly a worth less and disorganized TV, don’t seem to realize the potential here. Few years ago [1998-99], Cricket telecast were offered via Dish by a company called Kelly Broadcasting System. Cricket telecast was kind of organized. However after dish network took over cricket, the golden goose was chopped and stewed. It is not right for Dish Network to buy the copy rights and flush it down the drain or exploit its customer for a high price. World cup is round the corner, Direct TV will be getting it live here. So…is it time to switch from Dish?
Finally,
You can't make up anything anymore. The world itself is a satire. All you're doing is recording it. - Art Buchwald.
Why did I quote this here?
If you need a break from your work stress just go and read this latest Blog! from Praveen, the funny guy from Chennai. :) Praveen's satire writings are witty and hilarious. It is about time for him to find the next generation “S.V.Sekars” and “Madhus” and feature his scripts as stage plays or TV Sitcoms. - jimbly suberb!
Good day.
1/11/06
Just did some rough stats digging. Here is what I got. Need one more round of accruacy check.
Abigail Tucker of The Baltimore sun has an article about me and my musical ventures including H1bees. Kindly check it out when time permits.
There are many amazing people I meet everyday in my life, they have been guiding forces and inspirations in my path. In fact, some of the most difficult ones have taught me the most!. I am really lucky and honored to have talented friends around me
| SACHIN - 126 Test in 52 centers | ||
| Test | Test-centers | |
| Home | 57 | 12 |
| Tour | 69 | 40 |
| PONTING 100 tests in 36 test centers | ||
| Home | 57 | 8 |
| Tour | 43 | 28 |
Abigail Tucker of The Baltimore sun has an article about me and my musical ventures including H1bees. Kindly check it out when time permits.
There are many amazing people I meet everyday in my life, they have been guiding forces and inspirations in my path. In fact, some of the most difficult ones have taught me the most!. I am really lucky and honored to have talented friends around me
1/9/06
The Umpires/officials for the Pakistan India series have been announced. Darrel Hair in the elite panel. It is rumored that his appointment was due to the sponsorship money received from a top Vision lenses manufacturer, who will be testing their new state of the art PerfectHD-Vision lenses that helps to control myopia and postpone evening blindness.
Spin Guru Bishen Bedi recently trashed Shobib as a professional Chucker. Let us wait and see what Mr. Hair is up to.
Ranjan Madugulle will be the fine collector for the test while Chris Broad will do the needful during the One day matches. ICC hopes to install the state of the art coffee vending machines in their new office building.
The TV telecast, this is another major racket that is to be decided. In USA dish network will bring it live, [as per their website] the pricing is yet to be announced. Hope it is affordable.
Australia Beat South Africa in the first Twenty20 game. Talking of Australia, RajDes [Full name?] had posted a very interesting observation in the comment box.
The familiarity factor, a very interesting observation;
Good day.
Spin Guru Bishen Bedi recently trashed Shobib as a professional Chucker. Let us wait and see what Mr. Hair is up to.
Ranjan Madugulle will be the fine collector for the test while Chris Broad will do the needful during the One day matches. ICC hopes to install the state of the art coffee vending machines in their new office building.
The TV telecast, this is another major racket that is to be decided. In USA dish network will bring it live, [as per their website] the pricing is yet to be announced. Hope it is affordable.
Australia Beat South Africa in the first Twenty20 game. Talking of Australia, RajDes [Full name?] had posted a very interesting observation in the comment box.
| Ricky has hardly made it in Sri Lankan and Indian pitches. They just happen to play an assured quota of home tests every here - and here also it is predictably Sydney, Melbourne, Perth Adelaide or Brisbane- each having its predictable characteristics. It is no wonder that the likes of Hayden, Langer, Ponting score with regularity in these pitches. Contrast that with India, where in the first place, home test could mean an unknown pitch in Pune or Ahmedabad. And that too, they won’t behave the same way every year. If only we could standardize Madras, Calcutta, Bangalore, Mohali and Bombay as the only centers, and have standard pitches in them a la australia, our test players' home record will be even more monumental - due to sheer amount of familiarity. Also, I have a pet theory. Don Bradman didn’t have to play much in unfamiliar territory like Dhaka or Harare or Motera. It was always the predictable Sydney or at the worst, Lords. The familiarity factor must sure have helped him. When comparing Sachin and Bradman, people hardly take this factor into account |
The familiarity factor, a very interesting observation;
Good day.
1/6/06
"Cricket needs positive games, it doesn't need teams batting out and drawing games,"
-Smith, South African captain.
Yawn!, I pity him, he was too naive to assume that Australia will not score more than 4 per over. When it comes to winning, Test cricket or One day it does not really matter for top teams. And For super teams like Australia where everyone in the 14 knows to bat in such circumstances, it was Cleary a wrong decision to declare with such a low margin of safety.
[1] Without a world class spinner in Sydney; [2] 4 Runs per over for the world champs is not that difficult; It was gutsy or stupid decision? For you to guess; Smith also failed to consider the myopic crowd support for the home team, with 3 blind mice’s technically called umpires making merry on every decision. Smith should have played it safe, yes drawn matches are boring, but loosing a game because of underestimating your opponents is sheer stupidity.
Today Aussie press is speculating that Sachin’s achievement could be soon conquered by Ponting; yes it can happen, and he can be there in quick time. What ever, Please remember this hard coded fact - Ponting’s achievement cannot eclipse Sachin even by a whisker. The world today knows that Ponting gets 2 or more innings per inning, if you know what I mean.
Mr. [Finger] Pointing has also spoken about misbehavior for his team mates. He also did the same in the field. Hey! what if he had lost or drawn the game? I am sure he would never bother to curb such activities and would cover the entire episode with the term “metal disintegration” or some “gizmophic” English word.
After all this, Smith now says South African will take the revenge in their home games. I really like Smith as a batsmen and a captain, hope he really means what he says. Time will tell. but I would also say this - better get some really biased umpires to make this happen, else Ricky the magician will use this magic powder to blind umpires and will snatch the game.
Have a good play-off weekend.
Sriks
Ps: this is my 250 blog!...
-Smith, South African captain.
Yawn!, I pity him, he was too naive to assume that Australia will not score more than 4 per over. When it comes to winning, Test cricket or One day it does not really matter for top teams. And For super teams like Australia where everyone in the 14 knows to bat in such circumstances, it was Cleary a wrong decision to declare with such a low margin of safety.
[1] Without a world class spinner in Sydney; [2] 4 Runs per over for the world champs is not that difficult; It was gutsy or stupid decision? For you to guess; Smith also failed to consider the myopic crowd support for the home team, with 3 blind mice’s technically called umpires making merry on every decision. Smith should have played it safe, yes drawn matches are boring, but loosing a game because of underestimating your opponents is sheer stupidity.
Today Aussie press is speculating that Sachin’s achievement could be soon conquered by Ponting; yes it can happen, and he can be there in quick time. What ever, Please remember this hard coded fact - Ponting’s achievement cannot eclipse Sachin even by a whisker. The world today knows that Ponting gets 2 or more innings per inning, if you know what I mean.
Mr. [Finger] Pointing has also spoken about misbehavior for his team mates. He also did the same in the field. Hey! what if he had lost or drawn the game? I am sure he would never bother to curb such activities and would cover the entire episode with the term “metal disintegration” or some “gizmophic” English word.
After all this, Smith now says South African will take the revenge in their home games. I really like Smith as a batsmen and a captain, hope he really means what he says. Time will tell. but I would also say this - better get some really biased umpires to make this happen, else Ricky the magician will use this magic powder to blind umpires and will snatch the game.
Have a good play-off weekend.
Sriks
Ps: this is my 250 blog!...
1/4/06
How do you win Games? , One method is to play good cricket, but there are also other ways. The famous “Australian” way, use distracting tactics and get the umpire on your side. Ponting, Andrew Symonds and Mike hussy were out couple of times and were let go by the umpire. Adding to this agony Nel the flamboyant South African bowler reported racial comments from the crowd. Nel is also known for his tantrums, but Racial smears from the crowd cannot be tolerated. Aussies needs to re-think their tactics, Cricket Australia and their captain Ricky Pointing [he made 120/1] should be ashamed. Mind it this is not the first time such things happen. Most touring team to Australia has gone through such treatments.
What is the point of being World champs? I really do not know. Gangully made 50% of the score of what his home team made. Kiran more should be happy that Gangully scored runs.
Sri Lanka is yet to regain their form, lost badly to New Zealand. Inzi has commented about Sachin, they have plans to curb his batting. It seems Sachin is not like before, What ever, I really don’t care. When will the act of comparing Sachin25 to Sachin32 will end. His fate is such that even the slightest failure - he would become “Sachin65” for his skeptics. Inzi is more worried about Sehwag and he considers Indians to be the favorites.
“The Top 10” program on SunTV: This program spoofs every other movie. Yesterday was their favorite - T.Rajender, man! It was really funny to the core, they demonstrated how it would sound if all the characters in the movie talked in “high raised language” [அதான் sir அடுக்கு மொழி], Frankly in the world of 6th sensed [பக்குத்தறிவு] Tamil Serials [such comedy skit clearly saves their subscription.
What are 6th sensed Tamil serials? When a sit com has the story line woven in and around false Hindu religious beliefs, Astrology, pulse Astrology [நாடி ஜோசியம்] and mistreatment of women by another set of women, their family husbands [Yes plural] , this can be termed as 6th sensed Tamil Serials. It seems few weeks ago the Selvi that airs late night WTC was shown clearly what is WTC?- Widow Treatment Ceremony. Man! Not 6th sensed - it is 7th Sense aka nonsense. Pathetic!
Good day!.
What is the point of being World champs? I really do not know. Gangully made 50% of the score of what his home team made. Kiran more should be happy that Gangully scored runs.
Sri Lanka is yet to regain their form, lost badly to New Zealand. Inzi has commented about Sachin, they have plans to curb his batting. It seems Sachin is not like before, What ever, I really don’t care. When will the act of comparing Sachin25 to Sachin32 will end. His fate is such that even the slightest failure - he would become “Sachin65” for his skeptics. Inzi is more worried about Sehwag and he considers Indians to be the favorites.
“The Top 10” program on SunTV: This program spoofs every other movie. Yesterday was their favorite - T.Rajender, man! It was really funny to the core, they demonstrated how it would sound if all the characters in the movie talked in “high raised language” [அதான் sir அடுக்கு மொழி], Frankly in the world of 6th sensed [பக்குத்தறிவு] Tamil Serials [such comedy skit clearly saves their subscription.
What are 6th sensed Tamil serials? When a sit com has the story line woven in and around false Hindu religious beliefs, Astrology, pulse Astrology [நாடி ஜோசியம்] and mistreatment of women by another set of women, their family husbands [Yes plural] , this can be termed as 6th sensed Tamil Serials. It seems few weeks ago the Selvi that airs late night WTC was shown clearly what is WTC?- Widow Treatment Ceremony. Man! Not 6th sensed - it is 7th Sense aka nonsense. Pathetic!
Good day!.
1/3/06
Words of wisdom from the Indian Captain:
Indians are all set for the Pakistan tour which is just about a week away. There are concerns about weather playing spoilsport. I would wait before dumping the money for the live telecast.
Aussies are being tortured by slow South African batting; the famous grumpy Australian twin “Mr. Mean Misbehavior” was well under control for past few years, thanks to medications like “World Champs” or “Enormous success”, however South Africans are holding the bull by horns, the Aussie medication seems to fail, the evil twin seems to take over. Brett Lee argued with the umpire over and over again for an LBW decision and was reprimanded by the match referee, mostly he will be let go. Ponting appearing to have angry exchanges with the umpires was linked to its frustration at a lack of bowling success. Yes! If Pointing does it, we can call it is frustration, but if one Mr. Gangully does it is called misbehavior. Indian Board for a change did something correct, they might break away from the ICC test plan, Board wants to play more against Australia and England, current scheduling limits games between these countries.
The New Year is here bright!, 2005 a memorable one for me - my musical journey for past 15 years finally saw a crescendo, thanks to all my well wishers, artists, friends and family. “Desire”, “Determination”, “Action” “Destiny”, - Secret of success WISH YOU A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR.
Building a team is as much about finding the right people as it is about not having the "wrong people around them.
You don't want people whose own insecurities, whose own problems and whose own fears drag everyone else down. That can be a big dampener in teams.-- well said!..
Indians are all set for the Pakistan tour which is just about a week away. There are concerns about weather playing spoilsport. I would wait before dumping the money for the live telecast.
Aussies are being tortured by slow South African batting; the famous grumpy Australian twin “Mr. Mean Misbehavior” was well under control for past few years, thanks to medications like “World Champs” or “Enormous success”, however South Africans are holding the bull by horns, the Aussie medication seems to fail, the evil twin seems to take over. Brett Lee argued with the umpire over and over again for an LBW decision and was reprimanded by the match referee, mostly he will be let go. Ponting appearing to have angry exchanges with the umpires was linked to its frustration at a lack of bowling success. Yes! If Pointing does it, we can call it is frustration, but if one Mr. Gangully does it is called misbehavior. Indian Board for a change did something correct, they might break away from the ICC test plan, Board wants to play more against Australia and England, current scheduling limits games between these countries.
The New Year is here bright!, 2005 a memorable one for me - my musical journey for past 15 years finally saw a crescendo, thanks to all my well wishers, artists, friends and family. “Desire”, “Determination”, “Action” “Destiny”, - Secret of success WISH YOU A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR.
1/1/06
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