Super Sunday!

6 AM, Sunday,  and the alarm rings, contrary to usual practice of snoozing it, put it off and promptly got up from bed…..The last time I did something like this on a Sunday was to attend a friend’s marriage, but this time the agenda was something else, Chepauk stadium to witness the 3^rd day of play between India and Australia, more importantly to see Sachin reaching his century, who began the day with an overnight score of 71.

Rare are the days when I wake up before mom does. This day was an exception. Plan was to meet Gopi at A2B Velachery at 7.45 AM for a quick breakfast and catch the train to avoid parking woes. Everything went well as planned. Pongal Vada, a natural anastasia did not play spoil sport either.

Met Prasanna mid way and we were at the venue well before time. As always he helped me with tickets, he does that tirelessly every time.

The massive crowd that had gathered on a Sunday morning to buy day passes reiterated the enthusiasm for test cricket in India, understandably to watch Sachin reaching yet another ton, that too in his favorite ground in India. “Even if test cricket would ever lose its charm….never will it be in Chennai”.

Crowd ensured that we had a tough time sighting our entrance gate and with the help of ever helpful Chennai police we entered the stadium to find we had missed just an over of the morning’s proceedings. Only one mantra was reverberating across Chepauk “Sachin, Sachin and more Sachin”…promptly we joined the chanting which was short-lived as he departed soon at 81 and the enthusiastic crowd swiftly changed chants to “Dhoni….Dhoni…and more Dhoni”… and the game started to gain momentum..

Virat Kholi reached his century in no time and Dhoni was progressing well in the game. Impatient Gopi and me paid regular visits to canteen and grabbed whatever we could in short intervals as Prasanna was cemented to his seat determined not to miss even a single ball. All snacks and lunch items were fairly priced except water, which was selling for Rs 10 /- a glass.

The game in the 2^nd session was indeed a treat to watch as India started losing wickets at one end and at the other Dhoni was striking at a rate of 80., Every shot he played conveyed a message to his critics. As the session ended, Dhoni was 2 shot of his well-deserved 100 and India 8 wickets down. We decided to leave early to avoid post-match rush in trains and waited for Dhoni’s century.

The wait was indeed short and the crowd gave a standing ovation as Dhoni raised his bat in the humblest manner possible. Modesty is the one simple word to describe his greatness!!

The stadium by now was to its full capacity and the crowd was amazing as always with their group chanting and Mexican waves. The most entertaining part was the giant screen displaying SMS texts sent by the crowd.

Few interesting texts:.

1.       My mom asked me to visit temple today, I have come to Chepauk

2.       I’m in heaven, God is here.

3.       Clarke, can you do a Gangnam style with Warner….for which they sweetly acknowledged J

4.       Powerstar fans show your strength .......and the crowd erupted

Good, no one sent a message reading “Divya I love you” in Sun Music style!!

The way Dhoni played with the tail ender debutant Bhubaneswar Kumar was commendable, reminding me of Steve Waugh’s innings with Gillespie against India.

Then, anticipating a quick fall of wickets we decided to leave the stadium to avoid crowed trains, only to regret later.

Dhoni reached 150 as I checked scores on my mobile and we started cursing each other. It did not take much longer to reach home and as I switched on the TV, Dhoni was at 199 as if he was waiting for me to return home to watch his maiden double century. Felt happy to watch that live as I updated the status in Facebook.

Overall, it was a wonderful experience and a well spent Sunday which would live in my memory for a long time to come.

End Credits:

Tickets arrangement: Prasanna

Good company: Prasanna & Gopi

Entertainment: Dhoni and crowd

Statistics: www.ndtv.com

Edits: P3

Passport Chapters

Circa 2005

 Jobless and fighting the uncertainty of getting my CA qualification, decided to do something responsible, apply for a passport.

After, multiple enquires (sans Google) and numerous unsolicited advices, figured out the requirements and finally was ready with my application.

Early morning 7 AM - Shastri Bhavan

Was surprised to see a sea of people lined up to get an appointment. Made up my mind and stood in the ever increasing queue.

My turn came at 10 AM, an hour after the counter was opened and was told my turn to meet the officials would come at 2 PM.

2 PM.... Although damn tired, joyfully approached the officer..... the happiness was something more than getting a first day ticket for a Rajinikanth movie.

Gentleman scrutinised my application and informed "all is well". A sigh of relief as heard him utter “You will get it in 1 month after local police verification”.

Days later, an unexpected guest arrived at home, had a look at all my credentials and thus police verification was done!!

Days passed, even months.... me and my mom took turns to miss opportunities of going out in anticipation of the great Indian messenger - Post man!!!

Neighbors and relatives started enquiring on the status, as if I was flying to US immediately ferrying parcels of pickle and homemade stuff to their sons.

Skepticism started creeping in and ended up enquiring neighbors, only to discover that the postman had indeed arrived a few weeks back knocking at an apartment a few blocks away only to be turned off quickly as none with that name lived there.

Panic struck, quickly headed to nearest post office and enquires led me to post master's office....and there saw a passport cover lying ready to be returned to the issuing authority.....

Pleaded him to hand over the cover to me, but he refused since the flat number was wrongly mentioned and started doubting the veracity of my identity. After much negotiations and document proofing, convinced him to open the cover to check if the passport was indeed mine....

Thank God it was!!!

But my happiness was short lived,

Flat number, DOB and father's name was wrongly mentioned.....I couldn’t believe it had happened with a document which is considered of highest.?????

After signing a declaration, took custody of the passport and returned home. Poor mom, couldn’t bear to see her face, her reaction was much more than her earlier ones when I had failed my CA exams.

Now, all started again… 7 AM.... long queue..... Further long wait...... met the Public Relations Officer..... explained my situation..... he patiently listened and asked me to file a complaint stating the facts.

I did immediately hand over the one prepared last night and he assured me of suitable action.

I asked him “what action?”

He replied “Leave the passport here, we would look into your handwritten application and figure out where the mistakes were from”. Had no choice but to accept his answer and handed over the passport to him and returned home.....

Again, Mom and me took turns to miss opportunities of going out in anticipation of the post man!!! And one fine noon arrived the most expected guest giving a great deal of confidence that this time at least the address was right, if not others!!

Next 30 secs was nail biting as I opened the cover, something comparable to a last ball of a Cricket World Cup Final..... Mom started praying and smiled as I raised my thumb … All was finally well!!

Happy moments of this kind are usually experienced in most middle class south Indian homes when passport returns from US embassy HIB visa stamping, well mine was much earlier... not knowing if it would used for the intended purpose.

2006-2012 - 50 international flights, 10 Visa stampings, numerous immigration stamps and Passport pages exhausted...... :)

Feb 2013 – Reissue required...

Started enquiring and couldn’t believe that the system and process had changed a lot!!

Entire passport services outsourced to TCS.

15 mins for filling up online application.

Arrive at the Seva kendra 15 mins before.

No long queues....

Friendly staff, guided services, no chaos

15 mins for a token, 1 hr for verification.

In all at the end of the 3^rd hour and my was job done.

Now, my father joins the team to take turns to welcome the expected guest and take delivery of my new passport.....

Everything has changed.....except the uncertainity of usage of this new passport!!

All said and done………of all the countries I have visited, there is nothing like being in India!!

Sorgame endralum adhu namma oru aa polla varuma!! Jai Hind J

Vishwaroopam - A Visual treat

First things first, the title Vishwaroopam translates to a form of God, technically Lord Vishnu, in which one can see the entire universe in the God Himself and honestly, Still wondering where is the connection.

Now, after much unwarranted controversies and hype, the movie released in TN weeks later than Rest of the world (though I had watched the unedited version in Kerala). Thanks to the controversies and the temporary ban which created immense interest in the minds of even a non regular movie goer, leave alone his diehard fans.

Disclaimer: Spoilers ahead, read at your own risk

As the movie begins, middle aged Pooja Kumar, a nuclear scientist settled in America narrates her affair with her boss to a physiatrist and expresses her wish to divorce her husband Kamal who is a Kathak dance teacher (Kinked towards feminine body language), To overcome her guilt, she appoints a private detective to find if Kamal has an affair too…to her surprise she learns he is a Muslim and together with her boyfriend confronts Kamal to the truth behind…..

While trailing Kamal, the private detective accidentally trespasses into a warehouse in New York’s suburbs which houses Jihadis and gets killed. The incident also provides a lead to Jihadis on Kamal’s presence in New York.

Kamal and his wife are captured by terrorists and just when they are about to hurt him he pleads to pray… now, as he starts praying in the Islamic way and within a blink of an eye he does a massive stunt and escapes with his wife…..that’s where the transformation happens (kinked towards masculine body language) and starts narrating his past to his wife….

In the past Kamal (shown as a Kashmiri separatist) joins Omar (Rahul Bose), who heads Al-Qaida’s operations in Afghanistan and helps him train their fighters for war against the US….as time passes Kamal becomes his close confidante and learns of his wish to attack New York with a nuclear bomb. In fact Kamal also accompanies Omar on a visit to Osama Bin Ladan only to drop hints to American troops on the whereabouts of the most wanted man in the world….American forces strike the hideout and all of the key operatives escape….and thus it is revealed to the audience that Kamal was indeed an Indian spy helping America in the war against terror.

The rest of the movie is all about how Kamal with the help of FBI tries to save New York from a nuclear attack and the movie ends with a prelude to a sequel planned in India.

Positives

1.   Movie was a visual treat with great cinematography, locations and special effects…

2.   Kamal, Pooja Kumar and Rahul Bose all did their part well… Kamal’s effort to learn Kathak is commendable….He continues to prove himself!!

3.   Songs were part of the movie and never a hindrance to the screenplay….my personal favorite was “Unnai Kanadhu” by Shankar Mahadevan.

4.   Fight sequences were awesome….the one to watch out for is the transformation fight (also showed in slow motion)

5.   Kamal has set the bar high for future Indian movies…..

Let offs  

1.    Logical flaws, to name a few, a RAW agent is let off by FBI just on the request of the Indian Embassy… (Spy novels suggests they are disowned by their respective countries!),

      One of the most wanted terrorist freely roams around in America…. I would have been happy at least if he had a mole in his face like how MGR sports when he is in disguise.

2.    A seasoned actor like Nazar could have been utilized better

3.    "One too many" fight sequences and terrorists speaking Tamil – Captain's movie style….!

4.    Kamal’s name appears everywhere as the credits roll out ……actor, director, singer, writer, lyricist etc reminds me of TR…..”Do what you do the best and outsource the rest” is this not the mantra for this century?

Overall Vishwaroopam is a good entertainer. Kamal has succumbed to the pressure of taking Tamil cinema to the global stage and has to a large extent made a good headway ….. Just as one realizes at the end that the movie misses clichéd intimate scenes, there comes one along the end credits.

Vishwaroopam – Watch it …..Enjoy it…..Don’t think after!! , I enjoyed it and waiting for V2.

Credits : For,
1. A great movie - Mr.Kamal Hassan
2. Tickets and Refreshments - Rajeev
3. Editing - P3

Thuppaki.......Redefining Vijay

Let me begin by candidly accepting that I was no Vijay's fan at least till I watched Thuppaki....

I had no plans to watch thuppaki the very first day on Diwali until my good friend Prasnna was gracious enough to part his extra ticket (Hope his wife doesn't know abt this!!) for the evening show at Abirami Mega mall...

After getting a nasty look from folks at home, I proceeded to Abirami Mega mall some 15kms from my home on my bike (I was told getting a slot for car park would be much difficult than the movie ticket) and to my surprise reached the destination in about 30mins, thanks to all TV channels which kept most of the Chennai crowd indoors....(Yes Nowadays Diwali is celebrated in front of the "Idiot box".....)

Expecting a grand fun fare outside the cinemas, all I saw was a sea of police presence!! poor guys....do they ever get to celebrate festivals with their families....???

As expected the evening show started late by 20mins and finally movie started at 7PM, noteworthy to mention is 7start screen with its new Spanish theme.

Now, enough of prelude...let me come to the movie!!

The much anticipated movie of the year was there on big screen. Its all about an Army captain who is on vacation at his home town Mumbai with no specific agenda as such, however his parents want him to get married at least this year...

In line with his previous vacations he spends his time with his Cop friend Satyan roaming around the streets of mumbai and helping him solve cases.....Sudden flow of incidents brings Vijay face to face with a sleeper cell agent and the movie is on top gear now....

Vijay with his Army Intelligence background unearths a terrorist attack on mumbai and presence of sleeper cells in the city controlled by an unknown person (Villian ofcourse)

Now the rest of the movie is packed with awesome screenplay on how Vijay destroys them and returns to his camp after vacation...(No sadly he is still a bachelor!!)

Positives
========
1. Vijay in his new stylish look is a treat to watch and sans his "punch" dialog is double damaka....            Like........ "Kanna rendu ladoo tinga asaya"
2. Screenplay is noteworthy..A.R.Murugadoss is well known for this fact...(Except 7AM Aarivu though)
3. Terrorist and all characters don't speak Tamil as always (Like in captain movies)..there are, however     sub-titles or translation for the audience at appropriate places....Sounded logical!!
4. Villian Vidyut Jamwal has a bright future...Tamil Heros should watch him out! He could be his competitor any time soon.
5. Satyan and Kajal do their part well...No let offs....
6. Minimal and pardonable logical flaws....won't strike you....
7. Prelude of 15mins to the Interval was just awesome......Especially the way in which Vijay replies to the villian ..."I'm waiting"

Negatives
========
1. Biggest let off was the Music and BGM by Harris Jayaraj....I feel he has reached his saturation point.....No song except "Google Google" remains in you mind....Few BGM scores were straight pick up from his earlier movies...Sorry state!
2. Editing could have been better. Especially the last song was unwarranted, it tested the patience of the audience. I pity them as cinemas recently have implemented the"smoking ban".

Overall, The movie was a great entertainer, I'm no critic to rate the movie with numbers....but as an audience felt my Rs100/- was worth it...

Going by recent trend of remaking hit movies, for sure this movie is going to be hot cake soon in Bollywood and Telugu!!

Who is it??? Salman, Akshay or Ajay devgan.....My choice for telugu would be Mahesh Babu (Even otherwise Vijay owes him a lot)