Its Rahmania!!!!!!

Finally finally, a chance to see the 'Mozart of Madras' live in action. The musical genius and his equally talented entourage fired up the passions of thousands of NY area desis. He lives barely a 5 min. walk from my home in Chennai! yet this is the first time i saw him in flesh and blood (though from a few hundred yards away)!The 3 hr traffic congestion ridden drive from jersey to Long Island was really worth it. The moment we reached Nassau Coliseum , we realized the reach of Rahman's music. We could hear a multitude of languages on our way to the entrance. it is true. music transcends barriers! The almost jam packed stadium roared as if on cue, when Rahman appeared for the first time. And then what followed was 3 hours of bliss. There were a few things though which proved to be dampeners. The acoustics were really not worthy of a Rahman concert. Due to last minute changes in the schedule, the troupe had to do a concert in Dallas friday night and perform again Saturday night here in NY.The voices of all the singers sounded strained. And then there were no fireworks.....literally! But despite all this , the kind of energy that flowed amidst the audience more than made up for these! Chanting, Shrieking, tapping, clapping, dancing.....the crowd was alive and kicking! As Rahman was delivering one hindi hit after another, the enormous 'SI-VA-JI' chant thundered! and Rahman yielded. It was pure madness after that! Rahman left out most of his 'staple' hits from movies like 'Lagaan', 'Rangeela', 'Minsara Kanavu', 'AlaiPayuthey', 'Gentleman', 'Kadhalan' ....etc!!!But then u can deliver only so much in 3 hours. Besides, he had to cover his recent hits like 'Guru', 'Sivaji' and 'Rang de Basanti'! He had a generous share of tamil hits to satisfy a big number of tamil fans in the crowd. But if you are a true Rahmaniac like me , you wouldn't care about languages! Blaaze and Sivamani added colour and energy to the show. Neeti with 'Mayya Mayya' left the crowd spell bound. Hariharan did some crazy antics but singing wise he was spot on as usual! Sukhwinder was good but he really has to know when to stop. the white guy with his 'jathi' was awesome!My picks for the best renditions of the night were 'Mayya' and 'Secret of Success'! At the end of the show I wondered if any other musician can cast a spell over the entire cross section of Indians (across languages, regions, musical tastes, age...!)like Rahman did. He is GOD of MUSIC..at least for the current Indian generation!

Howdy Spidey?

I reluctantly trudged to the cinema to watch spiderman - 3! For me the second installment dulled the hype! Part 2 was more of a 'Karan Johar' type sob saga!Spidey 3, thankfully, had more action. yes there were several melodrama spills along the way, but in the end was my money's worth. The visual effects were as expected stunning. Tobey had to bring his histrionics to the fore in this one without his famed mask. He did a decent job till the climax. The supposedly tear-jerking scenes in the climax though, had the audience in splits!Even TR would have bettered that. He was crying for his friend Harry. It looked more like he was crying for candy snatched out of his hands!Bryce Howard looked stunning with her blond URBAN transformation from 'The Village'! The noises made by the Eddie Brock (Venom) character, was more like he was preparing to spit!The phrase 'Spitting Venom' makes sense! In the end, the movie was not a bad watch. But the spiderman cartoon i used to watch back in India , is still my favorite!

Violence : A way of life?

Cho had schizophrenia! But what about the hundreds of others who meticulously plan murders for monetary gains, revenge, etc..! How would you classify killing spouses for insurance money, mob hits, armed robberies, prison cell torture and not to forget all the cruel wars! Violence has existed in human brains right through his evolution. Earlier either there were fewer individuals who went over the top or due to the lack of world wide media communication, many went unnoticed. But you would come to expect some progress in human behavior with the aging of civilization. These events seem to suggest otherwise. Terrorists say they have a cause to achieve! Psychopaths say they have suffered social rejection, abuse or isolation! Mobsters say they grew up in brutal surroundings with little to live on. These feelings are shared by many of us in all walks of life. the difference is....these guys dared to take the deadly next step. So why them and not us. Education, relatively better life, religious faith, closer family ties, fear of sin and plain common sense! Lack of access to weapons is an undeniably significant reason too. We have to realize that understanding our fellow humans' troubles and fears can play an important role too.Society is not about each man for himself. it is also not about just your family! Society is the entire world, humans, plants and animals. All criminals are not born mad people who inexplicably flipped all of a sudden. Circumstances are the most important ingredients in these recipes for disasters. we have to examine our thoughts, actions, beliefs which create these circumstances. Let us all strive together to erase violence before we get used to it!

Blood over Books!

Campus massacres! Austin clock tower, Columbine, University of Iowa, Montreal, Amish school and now Virginia Tech.....! More and more blood is being spilled on the campuses. The formula is simple! Bullying, social rejection, drunk/divorced parents, sex abuse in childhood lead to dejection, isolation and violent thoughts! These often combine with easily available guns/ammo and culminate in terror & tears! While everybody is brooding over campus security measures, I think the problem is ..... no prizes for guessing ..... the gun! Stricter gun laws, better student counseling, clamping down on domestic abuse and bullying etc. Now those are ways to curb bizarre mass killings. We have to realize, seemingly petty things like bullying can have serious implications on a child's psyche! The aftermath of such incidents and natural disasters are just terribly maddening. The victims' families never achieve closure! There is no sane individual or group to be blamed, tried in a court of law, made remorseful and punished. They can just clutch their hearts and wait for the pain to subside, which seldom does. They can only blame their fate! The guy in this particular case has been described a loner who left a note condemning 'rich and deceitful charlatans'! But in some cases , the perpetrators belong to seemingly normal families who just flip suddenly! I don't know how anybody could ever identify such individuals and prepare a plan of action for such events in advance! All we can do now is pray for the dead and their bereaved families and hope this never happens again!

Men in 'Cricketing Blues'

Greg Chappell's controversial Indian affair has finally ended. A coach who 'might' blame senior players for their haughty attitude, senior players who 'might' testify against Chappell and his arrogant ways, a captain who 'might' incur the wrath of the rest of the team by siding with the coach and finally the sport's governing body who 'might' turn this board into a Fortune 500 firm. All these 'mights' , collectively known as the Media Might, have knocked the nation's most secular religion in the underbelly and the whole nation is gasping for air. Add Woolmer's mysterious murder with suspicion on the betting mafia to this mix and you have got u'rself a .................Bollywood movie!!! Chappell woos BCCI with his laptop and wins her hand. They have high hopes for their family, the Indian team. Their kids Ganguly & Sachin turn against dad even as BCCI reaches dizzy heights in her career. Chappell unable to stand his kids, divorces BCCi and his family. BCCI feels betrayed by both her kids and Chappell and is worried if this is going to affect her professional life. She comes to know Chappell got scared coming to know of his friend Woolmer's fatal end to his marriage with PCB. The betting mafia don wiped him out before his kids got him. Did the don threaten Chappell to leave? Will BCCI and her kids settle their differences? Will Woolmer's killers be brought to book? Will the Gavaskar-Ponting comedy track integrate with the main plot?...............for the answers , keep watching.......SABSE BADA 'BAT'MAASH! The MEN IN BLUE now wish they were MEN IN BLACK, who could erase their memories in a flash!

India wins the WC.......................Woe Cup!

Well Well! My fears were confirmed. India is out of the world cup. Actually this is good news. I don't have to see the men in blue being bashed black and blue by the Aussies, proteas, kiwis etc...!Thank god, Bermuda didn't beat Bangladesh! imagine the humiliation then - India pipping Bangladesh to enter the super 8s thanks to Bermuda! As is the norm per our 'Culture/Kalaachaaram/parampara', the effigy burning has started again. Dusshera should really be our national festival. This has become all too common. Falling on the feet before the event and pulling the feet after the disappointing results. The Indian bowlers never looked menacing & the batsmen were too timid! It's all in the head! There is just no 'Killer Instinct'! 'India has the strongest batting line up on paper' - well , seems like some donkey had that paper for lunch! It was just baffling to see Tendulkar, the leading ODI run getter, nervous and unsure at the crease like a debutant. Ganguly did his best, Sehwag peaked too late, Yuvraj was great till it mattered, Dhoni was dismal, Uthappa was too carried away, Dravid had nothing special, Harbhajan was not incisive, Zaheer was a meek spearhead, Agarkar kept undoing his own work, Munaf could'nt hurt a fly and Pathan/Karthik never got a chance. After the first game, i expected a GIH (Great Indian Huddle). I got that but unfortunately it was for consoling each other! For millions of Indians, it was WAKE UP, FORGET THE DREAM and GO BACK TO WORK!

Budget ramblings, Cricket Fever.....

Budget 2007 drew a slew of criticisms especially from business houses and the salaried middle class. Tax exemptions or the lack of , seemed to be the biggest dissapointment! Well, agreed it was not a dream budget ( a la 1997), but had many bright points. I was just wondering if India would get consumed in it's enormous corporate growth and sideline several other life lines of the nation. But , benefits for farmers, duty cuts for agricultural equipment, increased funds for educational schemes & AIDS research etc... allayed my fears a little. We have all been so fascinated with mega malls, international brands, IT firms, cell phones, credit cards etc., that we seldom spared a thought for the masses in the villages and towns. I thought this budget atleast took a step in this direction. Was impressed with Lalu's railway budget too. Good to know he is planning to channel some of the profits towards sanitation. Train toilets have been the biggest deterrent for customers. With the domestic airline industry booming, Railways has to match international standards to draw not just the people who cannot afford air travel but also those who do (ofcourse if time is not a major issue!). The World Cup is almost here. The men in blue are raring to go...and so are their faithful followers!lets hope they atleast match the 2003 performance if not better it. I would probably miss most of the games since they are all day games though! :(! But the games i do catch, would be great on 50". WOW! can't wait! The large screens on the Chennai beaches are clinchers though!