Chennaiyil oru Mazhai Naal

Everything is Normal today in Chennai, as if nothing happened yesterday.I was one of those few chennaites who went to work yesterday watching the rains lashing the city. It all started when the electric supply to our house was cut down yesterday morning. Till then I was not interested in starting to the office. I then called up a colleague to find out if he is coming in and then decided to go to office.

• Since my parents were not allowing me to drive my two-wheeler,I decided to go by auto. I stepped out of my house and waited for an auto in my street for almost 15 minutes.I did then realise that all the vehicles that went past me have been routed back because one of the trees on the street has uprooted.I then walked over the fallen tree to the other side of the road to the auto stand.
  

• I couldn't bargain with the auto driver as he clearly understood that I'll agree for whatever rate he demands. Huh...It really needs lots of skills to bargain with these drivers.I know i'm not good at it, so I didn't try too much of it.
  

• As usual the road between Pammal and Pallavaram is totally flooded and my auto driver with all his skills maneuvered the vehicle out of the floods and we reached the GST road. To my surprise I found that the GST roads too are flooded with water. At some places the authorites had to break the median on the road inorder to allow the water that has filled one side of the road to flow to the other lanes also.
  

• I was surprised to see the Tidel Park entrance flooded.This was totally unexpected.What was more surprising is that I saw some 10-15 of the so called Software professionals waiting outside the entrance.I initially thought that these guys were waiting for some transportation to home. I removed my socks and then rolled my pants up and started walking through the water. Just then I realised that those people waiting were looking at me like an alien.They were also waiting there to enter TIDEL and were not planning to go home.Come on people...dont you know how to walk through water or do you expect the water to be drained amidst those heavy rains or were you expecting TIDEL authorities to arrange a shuttle service to take you from entrance till your office.They were behaving as if they are on a sea shore. Every time a four wheeler passes through water, these onlookers would go back or sideways to avoid the gushing water. I just wanted to tell them that its not a beach.The security officer at the gate was trying to convince them to walk through the water.Funny people!!!
  

• How many times have you watched winds hitting hard, from10th floor of your office and how often have you tried to open a window in 10th floor amidst these heavy winds.I did it yesterday and its not that easy.There is chance that you will fly out of the window every other time you do it.The hot coffee that we drunk after our lunch with cold winds striking our face is the elixir of life.What we missed is a hot Bhajji.
  

• The way back home was also quite adventurous and this time again the auto driver won the verbal duel and I paid whatever he asked. We again had to swim through Guindy and Pallavaram to reach my house. Relatives who are not living in chennai were worried and were continuously inquiring to know if water has entered the house.
  

After so much happening yesterday it would be very hard for a person to say the first lines of my blog. But that is what almost all of us(not sure about North Chennai) would be saying now.Both the artificial and natural drainage systems have worked perfectly and effectively in a city which does not receive rainfall frequently. And beleive it or not Chennai receives rainfall hardly for a single month in a year.

Kudos to all those people who were responsible for helping chennai return to its normal life within a day.

Top teams falter

Valencia win at Bernabeu

Valencia won their match against Real Madrid at Santiago Bernabeu with the scoreline of 1-2. Looks like Valencia scored from a freekick and a Penalty. Real Madrid were able to get a goal back with the Raul and Roberto carlos combination from a free throw.As usual the penalty granted to valencia created a controversy with the real faithful's claiming that the ball did hit Ramos only at his elbows and that too it was not a purposeful one. I didn't get a chance to look at it and so I dont want to comment on it. But what is disheartening is two of the Real Madrid players Gravesen and Beckham were sent off. Beckham who is the proud captain of England team with loads of experience was given a second yellow card for sarcastically applauding the referee's decision. Its identical to the way in which Rooney got his sent off during an International match and at that time Beckham said that Rooney should try to keep his cool and control his temper. I think the same applies to Becks also.I know its not that easy to control ones temper when he is frustrated and especially the team is trailing by a goal.Its during these times that one should keep his cool and use his talents for raising the spirit of the team and that is the difference I beleive between a good and a great player.As of now Real currently are without Ronaldo, Baptista, Salgado, Becks and Gravesen for the next away match at Deportiva la coruna.

Everton 1 - 1 Chelsea

Chelsea's impressive nine game winning streak was halted by everton when the David Moyes's team held on to their defenses not letting the champion team get a goal.As always there were complaints from both the coaches about the referees. Jose Mourinho complained that the Drogba goal wasn't offside whereas Moyes said that the Hand ball appeal against Terry should have been given.One cannot conclude that Chelsea might be depressed with the loss with such a wonderful team and a determined coach in Mourinho, but could this be considered Everton's come back, atleast I hope so.

It was a weekend where Real Madrid lost a match and even chelsea couldn't salvage a draw. Losing so many of the players I dont expect Real to win against Deportiva , But I would like to see them bounce back and provide some exciting soccer action. As for chelsea it is just one off match and Mourinho would have set his sights for a thunderous victory in next match.

Ten more days to Go...

This is not a countdown for some soccer match.This is to inform that my association with my company is coming to an end in 10 days.I had been working with my current company for the past three and half years, and had decided that its time for a change. As everyone says it was not an easy decision.Huh..these days it is not very easy to get another job fitting your needs and I mean it in Software Industry in India.But I do not have anything against my current firm, Its just that they were not able to satisfy my unfair needs.So no complaints.
But I just thought I would take time off and think about those people who made my stay happy for the past three and half years.

Quantitatively the Income tax I paid last last year was the highest in the past three years.I would be surprised but happy if i pay the same amount of tax this year also. The only attibute responsible for my additional contribution to Golden Quadrillateral or Kathipara flyover( I hope my tax money is used) was my brief but pleasing onsite trip.The credit definitely goes to my managers and I'm thankful to them for helping me view New York city from Empire state building.
Additionaly I always feel that the Infrastrucure facilities in my current firm was excellent. One of the reasons I dont get Backpains or eye problems is purely due to the infrastrucure facilities.I dont sit at my desk continuosly for more than 30 mins and in those 30 mins I might not stare only at my monitor. That explains the other reasons for me not getting either back pains or eye problems.

Qualitatively if I think back to see what did I gain in the past three years apart from the technical knowledge, I would blindly say friends.This is my shortest stint with any institution (school -12 yrs and college 4 yrs) and the kind of friends I have gained here are in par with those I have gained during those longer durations.I'm not refering to those professional colleagues here.Let me try to be specific.Those people with whom I stick around during tea breaks, lunch breaks, batch mates,people who were and are my neighbours, fellow trekkers and travellers. Life has been beautiful with these people all along inspite of a lot of stress at work. Whats important with these friends of mine is that apart from happiness I had gained a bit of knowledge from each and everyone of them.To name a few skills, I learned about management principles and tactics, art of thinking laterally or literally, change the way I look at girls(No..Not that I meant my attitude towards girls) and the energy one gains mentally after some trips and travels.I'm not sure If I contributed to others knowledge or happiness.But one thing I realised is that I would be missing all the above people once I move to my new firm. I would like to apologise had I hurt their feelings by any sarcastic remarks.Those remarks were not truly from the bottom of my heart and is not an intended one, should have been just for fun.I wish you all a very Happy and Prosperous life with all the things that you hope to get.

Summarising it I would like to thank all those be it my managers, project leads, friends,trainees and active passers by through my desk(a glimse of whom will make one euphoric and energetic) for making my stay happy and pleasant.

PS: I really did want to make this a last day at company blog. These champions league fixtures start only at midnight(IST).Not sure how to stay awake. So decided to advance my last day blog by 10 days.

'We are the Champions'

If you think that I'm going to write the lyrics to the famous song by Queen then you are wrong.In fact it was sung by someone from the Renault team after the team claimed the constructors title for the year 2005. Thanks to the new system to overhear the team Radio communication.Congratulations to the whole team for their dedication throughout the season. They will be also remembered as a team that dethroned Ferrari as Champions.I was not able to catch the action live because I was glued to Sun Tv watching thalaivar's Chandramukhi 200th day celebrations.But from what I saw during the commercial intervals, there were a couple of incidents that brought the safety car out.At one instance I saw our very own Narain crashing his car, but fortunately came unhurt.Could this be the end of an Indian's reign in Formula1.As it has happened throughout the season Montoya did not finish and Raikonen was chasing Alonso and the fastest lap of the race was the last lap by Kimi.

Chelsea 5 - 1 Bolton

Its not going to be too late before Chelsea can sing this song. One would not have predicted this scoreline after chelsea were one goal down during half time.Magician Mourinho sacrificed Del Horno and brought on Eidur Gudjohnsen with an all out attack strategy.The next 20 minutes chelsea scored 5 goals and played the kind of football which everyone would have liked to witness. But had Bolton got one more goal, I think it would have been different. Even though it was the usual defensive chelsea in first half, they played like true champions to secure an overwhelming victory.

Atletico Madrid 0 - 3 Real Madrid

Real Madrid won the derby with Ronaldo scoring two goals against the 10 men Atletico. But unfortunately Ronaldo got injured and his participation on Wednesday's CL match against Rosenborg looks doubtful.
I would definitely like to sing this song at the end of the season for Real Madrid.Come on Galacticos,its been a long time we have had an oppurtunity to sing it.

Riding a Thunderbird

I had another oppurtunity to ride a Thunderbird today. If it was to Tada falls last time, this time it was to the Enfield Factory at Thiruvotriyur.Since I had been visiting temples more often these days, I wanted to take a break and so decided to go to this factory visit.Even though I'm a Computer science graduate,I'm always fascinated by these Motorbikes.I was under an impression that these macho looking bikes might not suit me(to be more appropriate I might not fit them) before my ride to Tada falls. To tell you what it was not that bad.I atleast think so. Hence I was more than happy to visit the factory.

We(Me,Bala and Prabhakar joined by Sriram and Srikanth) started from Adyar in 3 Thunderbirds.The ride was totally different this time.It was on a highway last time, but this time it was through those narrow and dirty North madras roads.So we could not really touch those top speeds(110Km/hr) that these bikes are capable of.

Though this is not my first visit to a manufacturing unit, this is the first time I'm visiting a automobile factory unit.Rajesh from Royal Enfield took us to the Engine assembling unit , testing unit and various other assembling units.The whole setup has a slow moving belt around it, on which the part assembled is placed.Each employee has to finish his job before the part moves to the next person. So it is not possible for a tea break or other interruptions during work hours.

One thing that surprised me is the painting on the Petrol tank.I was under the impression that the design(ellipse) on the tank was a sticker, until I saw this guy in the painting section drawing them.Yes thats correct. He is doing a free hand drawing.Practice makes one perfect. After this we came back to Adyar showroom and I was as usual elated after riding on a thunderbird.

Here comes the twist in the tale.

Prabhakar already wanted to check out how the Electra 5s feels.After reaching the showroom, he rode on an Electra 5s for some 5 minutes. He never spoke a word about how it felt , gave the key to me and told me to try it out.Electra is not a stylish bike with a Normal looking Handle Bar, but almost the same configuration as Thunderbird.The moment I started it I could feel that I'm on top of the world. Its is a 350cc bike that weighs 165Kgs, but was such a wonderful delight driving it.I speeded up and as the slogan says 'Everybody made(makes) way for the bullet'.The manoeuvering was too good that I did a U turn, which I would not have been so comfortable with in my 110 cc bike.It just took me a 5 minutes ride on this bike to fall for it and made me think that it is better than my long time admired Thunderbird.After all of us tried our hands on it, we were awestruck by it.Here is a picture of this Beauty of a Bullet(From Royalenfield.com).



A special thanks to Sriram and Royal Enfield for giving us this wonderful oppurtunity to visit their factory.It was quite a very interesting visit for me. To get a closer look at something that you admire, always makes you happy be it a beautiful girl or a beautiful Bullet for that matter.

Weekend Pilgrimage

It was Sholingar last week and Kancheepuram this week. We(myself, Bala and Prabhakar) decided to visit the temples in Kancheepuram.Since the proportion of temples in the city is very high we decided to limit our visits to the divya desams around the city and the famous Kailasanathar temple.

We started on our bikes on Friday night and reached Kancheepuram sometime around 10.00 P.M.On saturday morning at 7.00 a.m after a refreshing tea at Saravana Bhavan we started our trip.
Ulagalandha Perumal Temple
The following divya desams are found inside this temple as separate sannidhis.

Thiru Ooragam (Ooragathaan)
Thiru Neeragam (Neeragathaan)
Thiru Kaaragam
Thirukkaar Vaanam

One would not realise what is he/she going to witness before entering the temple.The moolavar in this temple is stunningly big and beautiful.He seems to be growing in ones vision and thats what is the story behind this temple. It depicts the Vamana Avatharam, with the King Mahabali at Lord's feet.The credit goes to the sculptors for wonderfully carving the Lord's face.I was also fascinated by the details present in the dress.


Sri Kamakshi Amman Temple

The temple is a very popular one and hence more crowded.There is a divya desam inside this temple (ThirukKalvanoor),in fact inside the Garbha Graham. But we were not fortunate enough to go inside the sannidhi. In other words we were not aware on what conditions one will be allowed inside.

Sri Ekambareswar Temple
This is one of the temples that impressed me due to its size.Some painting and repair works are in progress.There is a divya desam inside the temple(Thiru Nilathingal Thundam). The pillars inside the temple has some carvings that are really impressive. The pillars and the mandabam are by themselves far more impressive.The temple is also famous for a Mango tree that is supposed to be 3500 years old.
The beautiful Mandapam inside the temple.
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The reflection of the temple gopuram.

Thiru Varadaraja Perumal temple
This again is a really huge temple.As it was a puratassi Saturday there were bunches of people in every sannidhi. We waited patiently for the darshan of Lord Varadharaja which almost took 30 minutes in queue.This a divya desam by itself which is famous for the Atthi Varathar Utsavam and Garuda Sevai. Since we were frustrated by too much of people and hot sun we didn't get a chance to enjoy the beauty of the sculptures in the temple.

The following Divya Desams are present near this temple.

Thiruvekka - Sri Yathothakaari TempleWe had to come to this temple three times to darshan the lord.The Utsavar was decorated beautifully(think on account of Navarathri!!!). The Moolavar was aranganathan and was majestic in his pose.

Ashtabuyagaram (Ashtabujam)
The moolavar in this temple has eight hands and contains a weapon in each of his hands.

Thiru Velukkai
It is easy to locate the temple if the name Yoga Narasimhar is used. Quite an impressive one too.

ThiruthankaSimilarly using the name Deepaprakasar one could locate this temple. SOme renovations are in progress, so we ditn get a chance to have a darshan of the lord.

ThiruputkuzhiThis temple is some 7 kilometers from Kanchipuram and is located near the Bangalore Highway.The lord in this temple is called Vijaya ragava perumal.

Thiru Paadagam (Pandava Thoodhar)
I was very much impressed by the sheer size of the moolavar in this temple. If the lord was standing in Ulagalandha Perumal temple, he is sitting here as Lord Krishna.(Pandava Thoothar). The designs on the Lord's garments are fantastic.

Thiru Pavala Vannan and Pachai Vanna perumal
These are two separate temples situated in opposite directions in the same street.It is said that if one visits one temple, visiting the other temple is also mandatory.Another uniqueness is that these two temples collectively form a single Divya Desam.
The temples below are the ones that impressed me too much.They also gave me a terrible feeling that in the past twenty five years of my life,this is the first time that i'm coming to such a wonderful place, an abode of art and architecture.Do not miss them when you get a chance to go to Kanchipuram next time.

Kailasanathar Temple and Vaikunda Perumal Temple

As the name suggests the major difference between these two temples,one is Saivite and the other is a Vaishanvite.Is there any other difference on the basis of architecture.Hardly any.Both the temples are made up of sand stones sculptures.The carvings made on these sand stones are breathtaking.I can even spend a day in each of the temples and try to figure out what are the stories that are being told in the sculptures in and around the temple.Every other time we see a sculpture we identify a new part and try to fit a story to that part. We were infact trying to decode the story written(yes I can call it written or Inscribed, but without even a bit of space between two sculptures).We were quite impressed with the sculptures namely those that depicts the king's court,people dancers,Visitors, army men etc.,

The sunset as seen from Kailasanathar temple.

The array of Sculptures inside the Kailasanathar temple.


Both these places should be visited by each and every one of us,may be not spiritually but as one who appreciates the art.It would ceratinly make one proud of the rich tradition that south India possesed.There are places in world where people protect monuments that are not more than 100 years old. But these two temples if Im not wrong are some 1000 years old.Thanks to ASI for taking care of these temples and maintaining them.I still could not get the sight of the Lions(or Yazhis in tamil) inscribed on the pillars out of my eye. Last but not least Thanks to Prabhakar for all his creative photographs.

Smart Soccer Balls

The experimental process of using the Soccer balls with a micro chip inside them in the Under 17 World cup has received very good responses according to Sepp Blatter of FIFA.
One of the major objectives of introducing this technology into the game of soccer is to decide on those ambiguous decisions on whether the ball has crossed the goal line or not.Looks like when the ball crosses the line the referee and his subordinates will be notified of it.But any decisions on handling the ball during this process is still made by the referee.

In the current system of play a goal is granted when the ball crosses the goal line( that lies between the two goal posts).The decision that the ball has crossed the line is now with the main referee and his subordinate, the linesman.There has been many controversial circumstances where the decisions given by the referees have been proved wrong after watching the replays. A couple of recent incidents that come to my mind

1. In last year's Chamipons league match between Liverpool and Chelsea, Luis Garcia of Liverpool shot the ball towards the goal and if i remember correctly William gallas defended the ball.The referee decided that it was a goal, but it was not a clear case.Some Chelsea supporters still dont agree that to be a goal.
2. The other incident was in the Real Madrid - Celta Vigo match in La liga this season. The third goal from celta vigo hit the top of the goal post and then the ball dropped down. Though the TV replays showed that the ball did not cross the line while hitting the ground, the referee decided it as a goal during the match.Real Madrid lost the game by 2-3.

But I think what is going to decide the success of this new ball is the response time,the time taken to communicate the status of a shot on goal to the referee. Since soccer is played for 90 minutes and not for a whole day, taking breaks during the game to decide on aspects like this is not feasible. The response has to be quick enough so that the referee can allow the play to continue, say if the defensive team can produce a quick counter attack.There are teams which are built on counter attacks, especially during a corner where the central defenders (or sometimes the Goal Keeper himself) go to the opponents box to try to score a goal. In such a situation if the ball lands up to a player on the defensive side then a quick attack could be launched by him.Introducing the new system should not affect these game plans.

As with any technology being introduced in any sport, there could be those traditional soccer fans who might oppose this. But may be if it helped their favourite Club or national team a win, they might appreciate it.This process is going to be tested again when Liverpool travel to Japan, I believe sometime end of this year.If all the testing is successful, I think these Intelligent soccer balls could then introduced during next world cup in Germany.

Premier League and La Liga Results

Liverpool 1 - 4 Chelsea
I was expecting that the two Premier league teams might play defensively again as they did in their champions league match. But to my surprise both the teams went into the game with an attacking frame of mind. Especially the reds, were attacking right from the moment the referee blew the whistle. But in the end the superior team won the match. Unlike as what the scoreline depicts it is not an one sided affair. I beleive one of the reasons chelsea were able to score the third and fourth were because of Reds Manager's strategy to send more attaking players on to the pitch.This meant the quality on the defence was poor and chelsea counter attacked in which they are pretty good with players like Robben and Drogba.

Barcelona 2 - 2 Real Zaragoza

I was able to catch the action today morning in a Repeat telecast. The scoreline at the end of first half was 0-0. So it was an uneventful first half. The Real Zaragoza team was defending very well and deep, whereas Barcelona were happy holding the ball and trying hard for a goal.And suddenly in the second half after some good play by Savio they were leading the catalans by 0-2.The Barcelona coach realised that he needed some inspiration in the midfield and then introduced Marc van Bommel. Bommel just did what he was supposed to do when he was fouled by Toledo.He went down into the penalty area and did put up a show after being fouled by the defender Toledo. I beleive that a penalty could have been awarded against the defender for impeding, but he didnt deserve an yellow card.The Brazillian Ronaldinho stepped up to take the shot and got the first goal back.After this it was an all out attack from Barca to get another goal and salvage some points out of this game. It had to happen and as it usually happens Eto was there this time to tweak the ball into the goal after some misunderstanding between the zaragoza keeper and defender.Though both the teams pressed hard for the final goal it was not the case.The score stayed 2-2.

Real Madrid 4 - 0 Real Mallorca

I havent watched this match yet but read the reports from some website.Ronaldo has scored one goal and Roberto Carlos scored twice and Baptista gets one. David Beckham has provided two assists for two of the goals. From what I read it looks like Carlos scored one of those fantastic Volley goals from the edge of Penalty area, with a Corner from Beckham.One of Carlos's other goals was a free kick, could have been a thunderbolt.Must check what was the speed of the shot.In all checked the timings on ESPN/STAR and found that there is a repeat tommorow at 5.30 P.M. Atleast the goals, I should be able to watch in Real Madrid TV news.

Read that Sven Goran Erickson is planning to give Crouch a chance in the world cup qualifiers. With Beckham in such a good form, the coach should think about some players who are good in air.Peter Crouch is one such player, the other striker who comes to my mind is Emile Heskey. And For the corner shots, Terry,Rio or Sol Campbell might come forward and all three are good in air and can get a goal if the delivery from Beckham is decent.

Trip to Sholingar

Me and Bala decided to go to Sholingar on sunday.I realised that I would miss the most important sunday morning sleep due to this trip,so went to bed early on saturday.But I would rather say I didnt miss much of the sleep. In fact the moment I boarded the bus to Thiruthani from Chennai, I went to sleep.After having a quick and not so good breakfast at thiruthani we boarded the bus to Sholingar.

Sholingar temple is one among the 108 divya desams and is famous for the Yoga Narasimha Perumal, the 1330 steps in the stairs and the monkeys that dwell in those hills. It was almost 10 a.m when we reached there.I was pretty confident that at this age there shouldnt be real trouble against climbing the stairs for both of us. Also since we had all the food items in a concealed bag, we hoped that there wont be much of disturbance from monkeys.Though we were not climbing the stairs at a very quick pace, we were making a good and steady progress. After some 500 steps I felt my muscles in my legs were a bit stiff. But then we went on and successfuly had the darshan of Yoga Narasimha Perumal.It took about 45 minutes to totally climb up and down the hill.It was quite an unforgetful experience for me. But a couple of disheartening scenes that I would like to forget also happened there.

1. The shops there sell some sticks (or rent, I dont know because we didnt get one) which the people use to shoo the monkeys away from them. Rather than using the sticks against the monkeys that attack them, people were using it in various ways to create panic among the silent group of monkeys,thereby causing disturbance to some of the other true devotees.Additionaly one should realise that the hill is the habitat of these monkeys and not a place for these men, who try to become heroes infront of the other girls, by scaring the monkeys away using these sticks.
2. After having put up quite a bit of effort for the darshan I found the Poojari's (Gurukkal's) inside the sannidhi not dedicated in their work. The moment someone puts a 5 rupee or 10 rupee on the Theebarathanai plate, they are arguing between themselves about who should grab that one.I can understand that it might not be possible for them to have a comfortable living with the salary they get.So im not against these people taking the money, but cant they wait for sometime say till lunch time and then split their collections.

After that we were told that we should also witness the other Yoga Anjaneyar temple on another hill. It was half a kilometre away from the foot of the Narasimha Perumal hill.One of the notable difference between the two temples is that the stairs to the Narasimha Perumal temple had a terrace with Asbestos sheets covering right from the foot of the hill till the top.But it was not to be the case with the Anjaneyar temple stairs. There was only a natural terrace with the trees providing some shade.Additionaly the sun was not quite hot today.So at 11.30 a.m in the morning we were able to climb up some 500 stairs quite comfortably. It took about 15 mins to climb up and down this second hill.Having had a good darshan both of us were physically tired and could not control our sleep during our return journey.

One kind of those darshans of lord after the completion of which you feel physically exhausted but mentally and spiritually refreshed.

An ordinary Gajini and an unconquerable Gauloisean rider

I went to watch the movie Gajini on saturday. Once again I was very much impressed with the trailer and was hoping that my judgement of the movie based on the trailer might not fail again.(Totti Jaya was the previous one whose trailer impressed me but not the movie). Even the guy who gives the receipt to my bike parking in the theatre was upbeat about the movie and was making me more excited.

First on the postives in the movie.

The story was a new one to Tamil cinema industry. Again Surya was stunning in his role. When I think back he was one of those guys whom I thought wouldn't make it big in the movies some 5 years back, when he was acting second fiddle to Vijay.It is a challenging role for him and he has come out good in it.Asin was looking good and she too has blended well in her role.I already liked a couple of songs in the movie and to me the picturisation of the songs seemed ok if not great.

Now on the negatives.

One is Harris jayaraj, he has let down again in the BGM. This is the second movie after anniyan where I was dissapointed with his work. There were at times in the movie where the BGM was really disturbing me.Except on one or two occasions in the movie the BGM was a total let down.Wonder what would happen to someone who watches it in a theatre complex like Mayajaal.(Chinni Theateru Bettha Soundu)
The second one is the director.Since I was impressed with the story line and the trailer, I was expecting more details on how a person with short term memory loss could survive. I would have been happier if more importance had been given to surya's living style rather than chemistry between Asin and Surya.And what would I expect in a movie like this, a great climax scene or a strategically well planned climax.Then again it was not so.I think the director was hoping that only by mixing the commercial aspects( misfitting songs, Nayan Tara and an unnecessary villain role) the movie could be a hit.Was he the one who beleived that he could give a hit with CAPTAIN not fighting against a Pakistani Theeviravathi!!!

Though I would say that the movie didnt meet my expectations, I dont mind watching it once.(say on a non DTS or non dolby 5.1 surround technology preferably).Mohammad Ghazni may not have been successful at his attempts in conquering most of the territories he invaded but he was able to return home from the war with a vast wealth.I feel Ghajini may be not be techincally a hit among all the audiences, but it could still be a good grosser at the box office.

Now moving on to the second item in the title of the blog. My spirits were already down since Gajini didn't conquer me and due to couple of other news that I received from my colleague.I came home after the movie and decided to check out ESPN/STAR and there was the Gauloisean Rider in his Yamaha 500cc bike around the Qatar Circuit.I did mean the current world champion Valentino Rossi. Rossi once again won the race.He was in the third position 4 laps to the end when Gibernau ran wide out of the track and before the last two laps Rossi came in front of Marco Melandri to take the top podium finish.It was a wonderful race on a good ciruit. There was this long straight in which the bikes reached almost 310 Km/Ph and then there was this three consecutive right handed turns that made the race more exciting.On the whole it was an exciting race and thankfully a consolation to my otherwise down spirit.