Of Naataka, Politics, Caste & Karnataka

The recent happenings in the Karnataka politico ring has been nothing short of shamelessness, sham and an attitude of they-have-done-it-so-i-have-done-it-too.

B.S.Yeddiyurappa got his golden chance on a platter when the power greedy H.D.Devegowda  & his low esteemed cohorts pulled the plug on the BJP-JD(S) combo government. BJP didn’t need to take any larger pains to convey their credibility & intent to the people of Karnataka. The mass voted massively in their favour and they managed to scrape through the required majority to form the first ever BJP government in South India.

Hopes were high, expectations were higher but what did Mr. Yeddy do instead. The greed of land seems to have ensnared all the high & mighty. Favour after favour made to his kith & kin was lapped by the media and they stripped his dealings clean in reams of paper print. And how did the God-fearing, rather God-visiting, CM react? His ice cool response to the opposition was that he would open the land cases from their ruling days and to the media he reacted with such audacious fervor that he done nothing wrong and his deeds were similar to what other had done before. 

Ummm…interesting thought Mr.CM. There is not an iota of shame, guilt, felling of disgust in your bones. (...and Mr.CM, but we didn't elect you to be similar to others in past or to redo their misdeeds again. Much better was expected from you, but you've failed us miserably!) And how does our print happy media react? They decide it’s time for a change of guard and start throwing up potential probabilities for the musical chair. So how is the candidature decided? Age, experience, management skills, ability to garner support from all, pleasing exterior outlook whom the state people can depend on?

NO, none of that actually matters. 

• Jagadish Shetter is a Lingayat and might be a good replacement because Karnataka has such a large Lingayat base. 
• Sadananda Gowda is a Vokkaliga. They are large in numbers as well, so he might be a good choice as well. 
• Suresh Kumar is a Brahmin. He has a clean image, might be a good candidate.

All excellent points indeed, except their capability skills aren’t questioned anywhere. Do I really care if the CM is from a dominant caste, do I care if he prays to the same God as I do, do I care if he observes the same rituals as I do or do I care a damn if he is an antagonist?

Meanwhile, Yeddiyurappa seems to have been born with more lives than a cat’s and has managed to retain his chair based on the point that the Lingayait community would get offended & would not support BJP in future. Wonderful lines of reasoning, indeed! Would a community be so glaring as to accept an incompetent to represent them? Will this social class ever cease to exist? Will there be an end to choosing the leadership based on this spectrum, ever! Will the cattle class ever get anything able?

Questions are aplenty, answers don’t seem anywhere near and neither beyond the horizon!

Now that's what I call "Test" Match

Lalit Modi, being the very shrewd businessman that he is, hatched IPL 20-20 to counter the ICL. And, boy! didn't it become an instant success. Slam bang cricket for 20 overs only, lovely cheerleaders to dance, fireworks and evening matches that get over in about 3hrs. Sure, 20-20 provides entertainment. But there were doubting thomases who were worried that 20-20 cricket kills all technique of the batsman, bowlers will look to bowl only dot balls and what not. Like in the movie 2012, we were warned that 20-20 would kill Test Cricket, there would be no more audience for the longer format and what not.

But, this week saw riveting test matches in two continents. Both test matches had enough ingredients to make the test faithfuls leap in glee, bit nails in tension, sweat in cold & feel the pulse of an extremely closely fought contest.  

At Sydney in the 2nd test match between Australia & Pakistan, to everyone's surprise Pak bowled out Aus for a meager 127 in the 1st innings thanks to Asif's incredible display of pace & swing. Pak managed to get a decent lead of 200. Batting again, Aus again lost way in spite of a strong 100 run opening partnership. They led only by 40 runs with 2 wickets in hand. When day 4 ended, Aus led by 80 runs with 2 wickets in hand. At this juncture anyone would have thought that Pak were the firm favourites to win the match & break their 15 year old jinx of not having won in Aus. On Day 4, when I switched on my TV set at 7am, to my bewilderment I saw that Aus now led by 160 runs with still 2 wickets in hand. Quoting from my fav Pink Floyd song "These are moments that make up a dull day" :) :). Hussey played the major tormentor with a century and Siddle was no less who consumed more than 20 overs. Finally, Aus ended their 2nd innings with a lead of 175. Quite an easy target to achieve. Why, 175 runs are easily scored off in 20-20's, so this was an easy target.

And surprise-surprise, pressure got the better of the Pak batsmenn & the least expected off spinner grabbed 5 wickets to tumble Pak to a 36 run defeat. This was the least conceivable result on Jan 3rd.


Several thousand miles across, again in Southern Hemisphere, South Africa & England were entangled in a similar battle. With dramatic first innings collapse from both teams, it was left to see who blinked first. Smith bludgeoned the English bowlers all over for a magnificent 182 & SA declared leaving England 466 to create history. The battle was riveting. Fast bowling for extreme good quality was on display, so was a herculean effort of concentration from the batsman. It all boiled down to SA needing to pry out 3 English wickets while the English needed to survive 5 more overs to the close of play. The maxim of it ain't over till the last ball is bowled was apt here. Paul Harris tweaked one to Stuart Broad to have him glove to forward short leg. Broad asked a review, and the decision was upheld. Steyn had pace, lots of it, but was not penetrative. Smith threw the ball to Morkel who produced a beauty on a good length to have Bell edge to Smith at first slip. The English fans moaned & mourned while the SA fans roared. The atmosphere was electric, heavy with tension filled faces, in the crowd and in the dressing room as well. 


Morkel was to bowl the final 6 balls. He delivered a beauty of a bouncer which kept rising at Onions' throat. There was a sound and the whole of SA went up, except the ump's finger. Smith called for a review, and it was seen that the ball brushed only Onions' sleeve & nothing else on the way to Boucher's gloves. Magnificent work from the ump despite the pressure cooker situation. Onions managed to evade the next 4 balls and for the 2nd time this season he thwarted a SA win.


Both these test matches had pure entertainment combined with high quality cricket talent on display. People like me live for such matches and it gladdens my heart to see the test art alive & kicking. Nothing can match such exciting and mind taxing contests.

Mob Mentality or Mental Mob

The Kannada Film Industry woke up on the morning of 30th December 2009 to the newsreel that Dr. Vishnuvardhan, ಸಾಹಸ ಸಿಂಹ of the industry rose to heavenly abode. Apparently he suffered a massive cardiac arrest on the early morning of 30th December. This news comes in the wake of yet another loss to the fraternity when ace singer Dr. CS Ashwath passed away couple of days ago.

From years of being a star, he has encompassed numerous fans all over the state. His popularity is no less than, maybe a wee bit less than Dr. Rajkumar. He even has numerous fans' association across the state. His mortal remains were put on public display for his fans to pay the last homage. As was seen during Dr. Rajkumar's demise, the uncivilised, not-fit-for-society hooligans began stone throwing at shops, people, public transport et al. They made attempts to bring things to a standstill. What sadistic pleasure do these trouble mongers get when they destroy others belongings? General public's vehicles were stoned, BMTC buses were stoned, even police jeeps were not spared. Amidst all these chaos, the ಕನ್ನಡ news channels kept beaming these images titled ಅಭಿಮಾನಿಗಳಿಂದ ಕಲ್ಲು ತೂರಾಟ.

Whose abhimaani's are they? If they cant respect the dead or the alive, they don't even deserve to be called humans, leave alone abhimaanis. Suvarna News had some lady reporting that she was amazed looking at the number of abhimaani's who were throwing stones & footwear. I wonder if she was aware at all of what nonsense she was blabbering. Despite all this, there was no call either from the ministers or the top cops for people to remain calm! Crowd control measures seem to missing from the police minds & manuals as well.

Alas! The ugly side reared its head again and the illogical continues to happen. ದೇವರೇ ಕಾಪಾಡಬೇಕು ನಮ್ಮ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರ್ನ!

3 idiots...unlimited fun

Come December 25th of every year, Bollywood looks forward to powerful entertainers from the Mr. Perfectionist, Aamir Khan. 2009 doesn't disappoint either with 3 Idiots. 3i   is a very endearing story of friendship, love, passion & ability of one's self to identify what one is made of.

Said to be based on Chetan Bhagath's book Five Point Someone, 3i follows the book's plot for most of the part. Unlike other book-turned-movies, 3i is a remarkable rendition on celluloid with the story told impeccably, managing to hold the interest till the very end. Trust Aamir Khan to give a mind blowing performance. He may be 40+ in real life, but his transformation to a 20yr old college student is entirely remarkable. Neither his looks, nor his mannerisms betray his real life identity and this works to the movie's greatest advantage.

Aamir "Rancho" Khan, R "Farhan" Madhavan & Sharman "Raju" Joshi become the inseparable hostel mates & class mates in Imperial College of Engineering. The introductory scene of Rancho is hilarious. While the freshers are being ragged & Rancho refuses to get ragged, the senior threatens to piss on Rancho's door. Rancho counters him practically by holding a metal spoon plugged into the power socket & delivers a shock of life. Farhan recollects Humne sirf pada tha ki Salt Water is good conductor of electricity, isne to practical use kiya. 

The college directory, Boman “Viru Sahastra Budhdhi” Irani (fondly known to his students as Virus), is a proud man who has kept the college on top for years together. His mantra life is a race, tum baagoge nahin to kuchal diye jaaoge. He expects only one thing from his pupils, they should excel at whatever they are doing & earn themselves a fat plum job at the campus interviews. Rancho appears on scene to question each of Viru’s rat-race tactics. To prove that learning by rote without really understanding what it means, Rancho plays a hilarious prank on another student Chatur Ramalingam. Chatur is selected to orate the addressing ceremony on the teacher’s day. Rancho modifies Chatur’s Hindi speech with occurrences of chamatkaar with balathkaar and dhan with sthan. What follows is a total laugh riot. This arguably is the best scene of the movie & half of my money's worth was recovered here. Chatur is humiliated & in drunken anger he challenges Rancho to see who will be most successful in life ten years later.

Virus doesn't like his conventional ways to be challenged. Chatur doesn't want to be defeated. Rancho doesn't want to be bothered with any of these. Virus tries to separate the trio but he fails. This is where the movie showcases the true college life, friendship, helping one another, trying to realize one's own potential & finding love as well. Aamir has put in a tremendous performance, while Sharman Joshi excels. Its a pity Sharman doesn't get many roles. Madhavan is good too, but is a bit fat too. Kareena plays Aamir's love interest. While she doesn't have much to do among the boys, she gyrates well, looks gorgeous and puts in a heart warming performance.

Music by Shantanu Moitra is quite good. The song Zoobie Doobie is peppy & foot tapping. Watch Aamir move like Shashi Kapoor in this song. The attention paid to so such small details is amazing. Eccentricities of Virus and the quaint mannerisms is ably enacted by Boman Irani. What a fine find he has been to the industry.

Somewhere along the movie there are echoes similar to Taare Zameen Par; like when Farhan's father chides him when his percentage slid down from 94 to 91; but they do seem inevitable. The gist is that dont try to achieve something because your parent wished you to do it. Learn with passion, learn things so that they can be applied practically & you have got yourself a success mantra to be happy in life. I could easily connect with this thought, because it is the same mundane booky stuff that I too went through in college without actually getting to visualize them in real life.

Rajkumar Hirani's direction is razor sharp. Though there are some things which seem over the top, like Aamir assisting in child birth using a Vacuum Cleaner as the suction cup to pull out the baby, the stress is really on not being a bookie, I mean book worm. This line of thought is superbly collated with other bollywood stuff like comedy, emotions, songs & terrific one liners, that make 3i an absolutely entertaining movie to end the year with.

Ek free advice du, dont miss this movie :)

Meta Blog

Whenever my RSS feeder is launched, the typical dialog box I see if of panic. Panic because I wouldn’t have read 99.999% of the feeds of days ago & FeedDemon wants to keep things neat & clean. I dutifully hit the panic button to clean up the mess followed by, again, updating my entire list of RSS subscriptions.

But, whenever I sift through my subscriptions the mandatory ones I manage to read are the various blogs that I’ve subscribed to. There are a variety of them & I pay most attention to the ones which strike a chord within me. One is laced with humour, one filled up with facets of life, one with delicious aromas of kitchen, one was full of sports masala (albeit fictional, was it or was it not), one brimful of passion for various things and so on.

Here I list some of the varieties of literary & other geniuses in my Meta Blogs' blog!

Ø  iyermatter is a quaint blog name obviously belonging to an Iyer. Jai Iyer is my schoolmate & I remember him as one of the best cartoonist I saw in my formative years. His penchant for toons is abundantly reflected in his blogs. His whacky introduction of himself is as whacky as it can be. Satiate your humour senses with a visit to his blog & like me, you’ll wish that he blogged daily J.

Ø  deponti to the world has plenty of unique perspective on life & everything about it. She has her skills lined up in many things. Not only is she a swell writer, she is also a darn good photographer. Her photos reflect a unique perspective on life & are sometimes philosophical as well. Her blogs are on many different subjects and often bring a smile on my lips. Checkout her blog on butterflies which reflect her passion for photography & more passion for details.

Ø  The Cooks Collection blog came to my notice, thanks to widespread power of Facebook. During my Farmville addict days, I got introduced to Ramya as a farming neighbor and in turn to her cookery blog. A unique combination of passion for writing, shooting & penning makes her blog a gastronomic experience. Mere look at the shots of her recipes are enough to make mouths water. See what I mean, marshmellow cookies or the baingan bhartha or the chocolat-yummy-cheese cake. The mug shots of the recipes are as well defined as the recipes itself. Savour it!

Ø  IPL became a rage thanks to the mastermind marketer Modi. The 2^nd edition in SA had its fair share of controversies too, with what was rumoured as a disgruntled KKR player, venting out his frustration on the management, with plenty of inside masala scoops doled out to lapping netizens all over. Whether the facts hold any weight or not, the entertainment was unlimited. The fake IPL player has a flair for scandalous reporting which the likes of Zoom, Aaj Tak, TV9 would’ve been proud of. Read of some of his initial blogs to have yourself in splits.

Ø  Churumuri has the passion, flavor & enough ingredients to ensure that you have your fill. I got hooked onto this blog when I read a passionate piece on how the author idolized GR Vishwanath. This idol worship is linked to Ganesha worship in this beautiful piece & ever since I’ve never turned back on this blog. Blog on numerous national issues are discussed in true practicality here.

Ø  Through deponti’s blog, I got linked to Mahesh Devarajan’s blog. Mahesh seems to be a class photographer and an avid traveler. Through his lens, view the vivid landscapes of India or the mesmerizing nature of flora & fauna. His shots are a treat to the eyes & are definitely one of the best photo blogs I’ve seen.