The Indian Idol-2 at last

The Indian idol 2 juggernaut after lots of hype, excitement and controversies concluded with a grand finale yesterday. Sandeep Acharya emerged as the winner walking away with a Boleno, One Crore Sony Contract and a host of other prizes leaving the ever smiling Karunya from Hyderabad all alone. To me Karunya was the better singer of the two by miles though Sandeep had the key X factors like stage presence, personality and looks which all seem to count in the ultimate analysis
There were many glamorous faces like Kajol, Alisha Chinoy, Isha Kopikkar with her sizzling number and last year's Idol Abhijeet who seems to have literally grown by leaps and bounds at least going by his waistline if not anything else. Well, it was a great contest all the way with the boy who was widely expected to win during earlier rounds, Abhey standing in the end along with the background crowd clapping for Sandeep like a true professional thanks to the biased SMS voters on that day when it all mattered for him!

RK

Pramod Mahajan- Battle for survival

I am a great fan of Pramod Mahajan as he is one of the few politicians who has terrific administration skills coupled with excellent communication and organizational abilities and above all is one of those few tech savvy leaders in India. Though he was not a populist like some of his contemporaries, he was a darling of the media and definitely has it in him to become one of the youngest Prime Ministers of this country if BJP wins the elections next time and is indeed a refreshing change from the likes of Singh, Vajpayee, Advani and the Marxists

Hope he survives the brutal attack by his own brother though at this point of time he is fighting a grim battle with multiple organ failures and is surviving thanks to mainly to his own determination and the skills of Country's premier Doctors at Hinduja. Let's pray and hope that he comes through this ordeal and becomes an exception to the tragic fate which has happened to many such blossoming Indian politicians like Sanjay Gandhi, Scindia and Rajesh Pilot at such a young age

RK

Tale of One city and Two matches

Abu Dhabi became the 158th One day international venue when it hosted the DLF cup between India and Pakistan. We were there on the first day with some friends and need less to say were disappointed, not because India lost the match but the it was outright boring from ball 1. Venugopal RAW (I have re-christened his Surname in line with his 'aruvai' batting display) and Yonus Khan who saved the blushes for Pakistan were the ones to go beyond the '50 mark'
Only consolation was the brilliant lazer show, trademark salutes of the Pak President and the glamorus chinkara fame Salman, Fardeen, Isha Deol and a host of bollywood heart throbs

The second match was better with 'Viru' coming back with a bang as he only can and the 'Wall' adding one more brick to his layer as an opening bat. Zee TV Compeer on 'Cricket Cafe' was cute and for a refreshing change, we have a female sports anchor other than Sonali of NDTV. Imran Khan and Ajay Jadeja(the guy still looks street smart) along with irrepressible Sidhu and the soft veteran Ayaz formed the expert team and except Sidhu who kept literally shouting his oft repeated Sidhusims others were balanced and articulate in their views. Mr. Sidhu-Gives us a break-U just don't allow others to speak and keep repeating comments like 'form is temporary-Class is permanent etc ' and you are highly predictable and noisy
The inside stadium architecture and lights were magnificent but the security arrangements and seating left a lot to be desired. Even Malcom Speed and Sharad Pawar were delayed entry by so called security ring and not allowing water bottles inside the stadium in 40 + temperature was atrocious especially when the limited stock available inside was sold at a premium. More pathetic were the popular grass mounds where thousands of taxi walas and laborers had spent their hard earned money just to watch the match out of sheer passion and they had to starve without water and basic toilet facility as a reward. The approach roads and sign boards were pathetic and AD has long way to go before they can really boast of an international setup to organize matches of this nature.

The Indians deserve a 3 week break after a marvelous half season and credit goes to Chappel and Dravid for moulding this young team

RK

Rajkumar's Death and the aftermath

The Demi god of Kannada Silver screen affectionately called as' Annavu' passed away last week after almost 50 years of unparallel popularity and 200 odd movies to his credit. But what shocked the Nation was the mob fury after his death for no rhyme or reason resulting in deaths of few policemen and loss of property and business totaling more than 200 Million USD in just 2 days and that too in the Technology Capital of the Nation. Instead of waiting patiently to see the mortal remains of the departed soul given the limitations of the palace grounds and the circumstances it was very unfortunate that some of the irate public took law into their own hands and unleashed a fury which was shocking and uncivilized to say the least. Though as a Country We are on the right path to becoming a potential superpower and World Knowledge capital by the end of next decade we have centuries to travel before we are seen as a civilized and self disciplined Nation in the eyes of the World at least during times of crisis, calamity and sad events such as the present one. The sight of lone policemen with a lathi being beaten mercilessly by the Public and the body of a Police Constable lying on the mortuary all alone bore a mute testimony to all the meaningless fury and loss of lives

Let's only pray and hope that such events do not happen again!

SMS tail piece on Rajkumar's death - the lighter side
' Rajkumar kidnapped to emalogam by Veerappan and his aides'- Nakeeran Gopal not ready to visit as a mediator this time for obvious reasons!

RK

Tamil New Year-Iniya VIYA VaruzhaPuthandu Vazhthukkal

As the Viya year in the Tamil Calendar steps in, just did a little bit of study on how the different names come along for each year and what's their significance. I found huge amount of information all over the net and also came to know for the first time that the Tamil New year names are 60 fixed names which keep repeating after every 60 year cycle and we are now in the 20th year which started in 1986-87 and would end with the year 'Akshaya' in 2046-47 before it starts all over again. Those who have time can go through this interesting link to get all the 60 names
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_New_Year

Tamil New year coupled with Vishu was no different in Dubai with all the Tamil and Malayalam friends shopping in supermarkets till mid night to pick up all the kalan/olan stuff as well as the plantain leaves which became the super star of the vegetable section along with green vegetables like drumstick and pumpkin for the traditional 'Aviyal'. The milling crowds were trying to get hold of some left over plantain leaves which were already in bad shape torn all over the place and when few of them got hold of the same the exhaustion and triumph was similar to that of an Indian Olympic sprinter who just managed to finish in the penultimate place . As usual the hotels made merry with 20 AED thali with some claiming 30+ dishes and I am sure they must have included even water, plantain leaves and pickles as part of the menu just to reach that magical figure. Panchangams of different specifications were up for grabs near the temple area with 'Perumal Kadai' walking away with most of it's traditional clientele and parents on visit who visited the place yesterday might have been wondering for a minute whether they were in Bur Dubai or Ranganathan street in T.Nagar. The place is so vibrant and beautiful that it can cater to the needs of all festivals of the different states of India in no time ranging from Aavani Avittam Threads and Nonbu Saradu all the way up to Pambu Panchangam as and when the situation demands.
No wonder most of the expats in spite of all the recent increases in cost of living still love this place!

RK

TN Elections and Defections

As usual the defections have started between the Dravidian parties in full swing in TN as the D-Day nears with some notable names like Sharat Kumar (Radikaa??) former speaker Muthaiah (remember the guy who never spoke in assembly though he was supposed to be a speaker), Baghyaraj etc and the reasons they have given are funny and can be an ideal script for the next Tamil comedy movie. Karthik seems to be fast becoming a comedian switching from the role of a hero at least in politics stating that his party AIFB would stand in all the seats and in the process refusing the offer of 3.5 crores given ruling party as reported in press. Film stars like Simran, Kovai Sarala, Murali and even Sanyasins like Madurai Adheenam have also got into the fray to give that glamorous touch which always brings out the crowds though it's a mute point whether these are converted to votes at the end of the day

But so far to me the stand out performance have been the interviews given by AMMA in Jaya TV. Though the questions have been framed in such a way so as to bring out her best she has gone about answering the questions with facts, figures, Chinese proverbs, quotes, anecdotes which is really astonishing and her mastery over both Tamil and English languages is a delight to watch. Some of the statistical piece of analytical information reeled out by her on increase of revenue in duties and taxes would do even software analytics professionals like BO and Cognos proud

Some tail piece jokes and SMS floating around on TN elections before I end:

'Ennadhan Kalignar Veetu DMK Maada irundhalum AMMANNU DHANE KATHANUM'

Captain was very upset when he came to know that his party’s' campaigns and interviews appeared under sports page as' vilaytattu cheidhigal'

A Popular warning to Electorate: Please Elect Captain in the next elections as otherwise he may come back to acting'

Who would win the dumb charade contest in TN politics- First GK Vasan and second Karthik-Both seem to talk but nobody understands and only air comes out with some hand mouth coordination

Most Confusing statement on eve of elections- Super Star's read out by his secretary-Nobody understands what he wants his fans to do or which party he supports

Vaiko to his mother on why he supports AMMA-'nee ennai patthu masamdhan ulle vachhi sumande-Ana AMMA ennai 18 masam ulle vachindrundga'

Radikaa's next title serial on Jaya TV- 'AMMA' of course following Chitti and Selvi on SUN