Sunday, March 31, 2013
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Himmatwala: Show Himmat to watch Himmat - wala
All movie lovers must be aware of the today's release an old movie "Himmatwala". I haven't watched this movie, neither the remake not the original. So, all my views expressed here are out of the impression I received from people around me and critic's views I came across.
I was wondering what is a criteria for a movie to be remade. For me, if there is a story which can be told again by molding it in real time situations. The story will then get accepted. For example a movie like "Don". I think it is a movie that one can remake many a times since the story can be adapted to real time situations. I am not sure if "Himmatwala" fall in the same category.
I haven't watched the original "Himmatwala", so, I am not really sure why this movie made it big back then. Personally, I am not a Jitendra fan. I fall in Amitabh category. So, no question of watching his movies. Second, as far as I understand, this movie had good songs that was the USP of the movie. But, I did not liked the songs of old "Himmatwala" either. Back then, while watching these songs on "Chitrahaar", I could not understand why those songs were filmed keeping so many Tamboras around and what not.
So, I am not sure why this movie is remade. To add to that, the ingredients of new "Himmatwala" doesn't appear impressive. Movie director is Sajid Khan. I did not liked any of his movies. Jitendra' role guess is played by Ajay Devgan. I am not sure what criteria he uses to select his movies. As far as I feel, he is an impressive actor with some very good movies and also national award in his kitty. How does he manage to slide down from his fascinating roles in movies like "Gangajal" to this role in "Himmatwala"? I have never watched Tamanna's movies, so do not really know what to expect from her. I guess the only thing that could be little relieving is the character played by Paresh Rawal. I guess he is playing the character played earlier by Kadar Khan in old "Himmatwala".
I went through some reviews about the movie and the comments on it by people. Based on that, I would wonder if watching this movie, even if some body pays you for that will be wise decision. Just read the comments on this review:
I also heard a review on a TV channel. I have never seen anybody bluntly criticizing any movie so badly as this movie. I remember hearing a sentence some thing like "It would require lot of courage "Himmat" to watch this movie "Himmatwala". I would wonder if even Jitendra and Sridevi would want to watch this movie.
If anybody of you could gain enough courage "Himmat" to watch this movie, kindly share experience here and let us also know if there is really any thing worth watching.
Friday, March 29, 2013
Bazooka: threat to internet
For last couple of days, all bloggers like me probably must be feeling little depressed. One thing that is common among all the bloggers is their eye towards traffic visiting their blog. For past couple of days probably every blogger must be little worried and might even have started introspecting whether they are on right track in blogging or is it over for them with no new traffic attracting posts in mind. There was a sharp decrease in traffic observed by bloggers and at a point it even became pretty much stagnant.
The sole reason for the worry was a cyber attack named "Bazooka" which apparently is the biggest cyber attack of its kind. The story goes like this. A Geneva based group called "Spamhaus" is involved in creating a list of site that falls under spam. All different networks use this list to keep their networks free from spam by blocking all the addresses provided in the list. This group is the reason why our email and other internet services remain clean. Recently, this group put one of the dutch website group on the list. Now the website owners feel that this move was wrong and they should not be blacklisted. Apparently this cyber attack started only after blacklisting of this website. The attack was targeted towards "Spamhaus" that creates the black list for spams
The tactics used behind this cyber attack was little different as one understands. Instead of targeting the customers, it attacked the network providers. It is little difficult to understand how it managed to slow down whole internet system, but apparently the effect was significantly observed in European domain.
I believe the worst is over. I can once again see growing traffic on my blog. Hopefully, this does not get worse and we enjoy worry less browsing.
.JPG)
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Sanjay Dutt's brave decision
After all the churning by different celebrity MPs and retired judge, one good thing has come out, Sanjay Dutt himself has made it clear that he will respect the decision of Supreme Court and will not ask for pardon. At the same time, he also requested the media to let him and his family be at peace in the time, Court has allowed him to surrender.
This is a big and courageous step by Sanjay Dutt. May be he realized that he won't get the clemency or may be he is really a changed man, but his decision is going to have a big impact on people. On one side we all know this is going to be difficult time for Sanjay Dutt. In spite of that he has made his decision clear and that is one brave step. By following this route, he will set up a good example in front of people. I totally appreciate his stance.
On the other side, I am not sure why Markendey Katju is hell bent to get Sanjay Dutt out without completing his punishment. He is trying to set a bad example. Is Supreme Court decisions are not be followed, then why all this drama running for 20 years?
I think Sanjay Dutt's words should be respected. Every body should stop trying to get him free without going through punishment. That will only bring the best out of him and he will come out a more better person. On the other hand, media should stop keeping hawk eye on his every move and should leave him free to spend some good time and have some good memories that will help him spend those three and half years little better.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Should Sanjay Dutt be pardoned?
This news has been making rounds since the time Sanjay Dutt was given a punishment to complete three and half years in prison. This plea to relieve him from punishment is basically forwarded by a retired judge and supported by a bunch of MPs who belong to bollywood fraternity and that's why close to Sanjay Dutt.
I am sure Sanjay Dutt is a changed man and he is doing good deeds to get into everybody's good books. He has totally changed his stance in last couple of years. Since he returned from the jail and he started working in movies again, he got into roles which will try to paint a good picture about his character. Most effective among these were the two roles in the character of Munnabhai that brought lot of praises for him and created a soft corner in every body's mind. People of new generation almost forgot the reason why he went to Jail. In addition our Judicial system is so slow that it makes everybody tolerant over the time. By the time, the verdict on some case is made, people forget the bitter truth about the case and does not react as aggressively as they would have done, had the verdict been made immediately after the incident.
Supreme Court found Sanjay Dutt guilty in 1993 bomb blast case. Verdict took 20 years to be finalized. A lot happens in 20 years. 20 years is one generation time. It is really difficult to decide whether to sympathize with him or still keep accusing him for an act he did 20 years back.
If this plea goes through and Sanjay Dutt is free, people probably would stop believing in Judiciary. Already it is a long process. In addition, if after the verdict, people know there are other ways to avoid punishment, every body will start taking other routes. It will also make it clear that law has different definitions for different people and it varies depending on who all you know among politicians. If Sanjay Dutt can get relief from punishment in spite of the kind of crime he was involved in, we should really forget that other celebrity people involved in relatively petty crimes will surely get through this Judicial farce.
I believe the Supreme Courts verdict should be respected and an example should be set to let people know that all people are equal in front of Judicial system of the country.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Holi and unfortunate incidents
Today's post is dedicated to those who become victim to people's insensitive fun activity.
Its a time of Holi celebration in India. A festival of colors. one of the basic ideas behind this festival is to indicate that we all are equal. Once you are drenched under different colors, it is difficult to recognize you as you. You look like everybody else. You loose your unique identity. Its a time for fun and getting together irrespective of your caste, creed, religion, social status.
(Photo courtesy: check for more colorful pictures at : http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/03/holi_2010.html)
But what happens when some of these people lost control over themselves and start having fun which is insensitive towards others. Worse things happen, but the worst form of it we witness in cities like Mumbai. People in Mumbai over the years seems are becoming insensitive towards others. They try to have fun without giving a single thought that some people around might be troubled because of their fun. Among such activities, one activity is throwing water balloons on the commuters of local train. Mumbai locals are open and always crowded. People have to stand at the doors, sometimes hanging from the doors with only an inch of ground for support. When somebody from outside throws a water balloon on running train, some people looses controls and balance ending up falling from fast running train. This is very common in Mumbai local trains. Many people loose their lives. Others end up loosing their body parts making them pretty much useless for rest of their lives.
Mostly people who enjoy such insensitive moments are those who live in slum area around the local train routes. They don't really care if some body dies out of their fun. Because they don't wait back to see the consequences of their mischievousness.
This time even before Holi celebrations, people have started loosing lives. I wonder how worse it can get in coming two days. Police has ordered 5 years imprisonment for those who will be caught in such acts, but I doubt they have any strategy to arrest such people during the act. My suggestion to all the commuters would be to prefer stay at home. Your lives are more important that your job. And if it is still impossible to take a brake, try to make a safe journey.
Wish you all a very happy and safe Holi.
Monday, March 25, 2013
Puran Utilities - a useful software for a faster system
Few days back, I had troubles working on my laptop . It had become so slow that sometimes if I wish to open a file, I used to click on the icon and leave it to prepare a cup of tea for myself. By the time I return with hot cup of tea in hand, the file would just be opening. I used to regularly perform disk clean up, defragmentation and disk check. I also had a software for registry cleaner. But none of these really helped me. I was thinking to reinstall the operating system or convert it totally into Linux or any such drastic measurements which might help to make my laptop little faster.
During such a time of desperate need, I came across a software called "Puran Utilities". I am little surprised that it is available freely on net. Its a collection of some 24 different utilities in a package which are pretty useful to make your system perform faster. In addition to routine disk clean, defragmentation and disk check utilities, it also allows you to do registry cleaner and registry defragmentation. In addition, it has few more useful utilities like cleaning empty folders, fixing short cuts, a utility to uninstall software's which needs to be forced to uninstall as well as managing the start up booting. In addition of providing utilities separately, it also provides a maintenance wizard which allows you to apply minimum necessary utilities to help your system perform better.
I would just caution anybody to be careful because Puran Utilities also include utilities like "Permanent Delete" or "Wipe Disk". These might be useful for some but otherwise one should be careful not to mistakenly apply them.
I personally used Puran Utitlities and found amazing results. My laptop has sprung back into life and is delivering a much better performance now. I don't see any chances of reinstalling or moving to Linux or selling it in near future.
I tried to visit the website for Puran Utilities, but it is not working anymore it seems.
But if you wish to download it, here is link on CNET Download which is working:
So, Use Puran Utilities and make your system better for use.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Drought in India
I have been hearing a lot about the worst ever drought situation in western India this year. Apparently, this is the worst ever situation in last 4 decades. So, I tried reading a little bit to know what actually is ground reality. The above picture is one I found on the following link:
To those,who are not facing any such crisis, this is a wake up call. Water is precious and should be used very cautiously. Not only proper use, attempts to save water are also important
There are two set of people, those who have to struggle to get water, and those who don't have to care at all. One can fall in either of these sets at any point of time. Normally what happens is when someone is in such a situation, his/her social awareness quotient suddenly rises and he/she start taking all the precautions to make minimum use of water. But as soon as his situation improves and he/she has a liberty with water, awareness quotient suddenly drops. Water becomes a substance of leisure. Washing Cars without wondering how much water is lost in it, becomes a routine. Bathing time triples and throwing water on each other just for fun doesn't seems wrong anymore.
People are ready to drill many times in the same area spending thousands of rupees till they find a source, but if suggested to spend some money to install rain harvesting system in the buildings, it is a wastage of time and money.
Even after 65 years of Independence, our major issue is providing water to people and millions of them receives water only through tankers. It is a shameful situation. I understand this year it did not rained as well as every year, but it also was not a totally rain less year. It rained well enough in many regions but not all the water was saved. A major portion of all the rain water still goes down the drain in absence of proper system. Lot of funding is provided to tackle the water shortage problem but the problem is still unsolved and nobody knows where does all the money vanishes.
A lot is happening under the name of water relief but looking at the picture above, expecting any such relief in near future doesn't seem probable. If the situation is not contained, sooner more such pictures will start appearing at every nooks and corners of India.
Please follow the link to know the water crisis in India and what can be done to overcome it :
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Standard Chartered: Jaisa Naam vaisa Kaam
Quite often we come across people with mismatching names and personalities. It unknowingly happens that if you know the meaning of a name you start correlating it with that person's personality. Over the time, we realize that it was a futile effort since name does not reflect the real person. The problem behind this mismatch is a person is given a name without knowing the personality. He/She receives his/her name from parents in a time when he/she is not in a position to take decision. Its the choice of their parents and they give name by their wish without knowing the character of the child. Well nobody can change that and so this discrepancy will always be found.
This is the theme that Standard Chartered has used to advertise its good character. Contrary to what one see in day to day life, Standard Chartered savings account delivers according to the name by actually saving one's money and thus sets an example.
It gives 5% cash back on all your debit card expenditures. It also has arrangements to give you as good as 8% interest on your unused money sitting idle in bank. This is as good as having a fixed deposit term without any obligation. The bank also has plans to give cash back facility on home loans though with some conditions.
The ad designed just shows this difference by giving examples of people with mismatching names and characters and in contrast how Standard Chartered savings account lives up to its name.
-----
Problems ke pitare main aur ek problem,
Kai logon ke naam se unki personality ki compatibility hi nahi,
Jaise Mr. Naveen,
Lekin inke khayalat, rahne dijiye.
Exhibit no.2
Prashant,
naam main shant, silent.
(Tiger NO, NO)
Aur kuch naam, baas naam ke liye
Ab inhe dekhiye, naam Ranvijay.
Yaa fir inhe, Ms. Bulbul,
Awaj nikle to kawwe bhi depress ho jain.
In mahashay se miliye, naam Hurry
par inki raftar pe ghadi ki sui bhi fut fut ke roti hai
Shukar hai ek naam hai jo apna kaam kare,
Standard Chartered savings account.
Jo sach much save kare
Jaisa Naam Vaisa Kaam
-------
Friday, March 22, 2013
Sanjay Dutt: A Film like Life Story
I was unaware that the final verdict on 1993 Bomb Blast Case is around the corner. Yesterday, when I came across the news, I was surprised. Suddenly we are seeing that lot of activities under the domain of justice has been happening. Few months back, the news of Ajmal Kasab and later Afzal Guru's hanging hit us and now the final verdict on ~ 20 years old case has come out.
Out of all the convicts of this case, one name is very well known, Sanjay Dutt. I didn't know much about him before 1993. In 1993, his one movie named "Khalnayak" was released. I don't remember if it was before or after the bomb blast. But since then, Sanjay Dutt's image has taken a U-turn. He actually became a "Khalnayak" in people's eyes. I don't know much history of the case, but things didn't looked good for him. He went to jail. For the first time, I witnessed a case where a well known celebrity was taken into custody. It changed our perspective of looking towards the judicial system.Till then, it was a usual belief that common man has one rule and rich people and celebrities have another. But this case made a difference and revealed that everybody is same in the eyes of law.
After spending nearly 18 months, when Sanjay Dutt came out of prison, he apparently was a changed man. He started sounding down to earth and closer to common man. Lot of attempts were made to make an image makeover. He restarted working in movies and this time he came out good. One character that helped him immensely in changing his image was "Munna Bhai". It really brought him back in the lime light. People even forgot for sometime that he is a convict and started appreciating him. He managed to create a soft corner in people's heart. He even tried to cash in on his popularity by entering in politics which didn't worked as expected for him.
All his attempts of image makeover went in vain. Supreme Court's final decision revealed that nobody is different in front of law. One who has attempted crime, must receive punishment. Sanjay Dutt has been given 5 years imprisonment. He has already spent 18 months behind the bars which leaves him to spend three and half years more, away from his celebrity status.
These three and half years could be crucial. He recently started his family.This punishment is a massive jolt to his family. His settled life will again be destabilized. It may happen that after three and half years, he will have nothing to do in his film carrier and he will have to start over fresh. Things are going to change a lot. Not just for him but for everyone. Everyone will learn a lesson. Your crime can bring you under justice no matter who you are and what great powers you possess. A good lesson for every one to remember.
Thursday, March 21, 2013
ICICI bank: Khayal Apka
A new ad for ICICI bank has been appearing on TV for some time. It talks about the reward points you obtain on every transaction from your savings account. It is a very beautiful ad. It comes to you as one of the innocent ads you have seen. The ad has a girl as the central character who, while returning from school, often visit a small shop where she buys a candy from the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper is what we call a "Khadus" guy or a scrooge. He doesn't let her take the candy without paying. One day apparently her brother accompanies her to the shop. Unfortunately her pocket gets loose from bottom and her money is lost. Brother's eyes are all set on the candy but knowing that she can't buy the candy, they start returning empty handed. Just then the unexpected happens and the shopkeeper calls them and offers free candy.
Many things make this ad beautiful. First of all, credit goes to the innocent kids, specially the girl who has acted so sensibly and at the same time kept innocence on face all the time. The shopkeeper also plays his part well. Other thing that attracts is the back ground music. I am not expert with music, so I am guessing the main instrument is Sarod. Sarod automatically connects you to Kashmir valley and unknowingly takes you to that marvelous place. The background in the ad is so serene to eyes that you might start wondering where to concentrate on the story in the ad or at the beauty of the nature behind. The best part is the song in the ad. It is sung by some little artist who has put all the innocence in those words. I really tried hard to understand the lyrics but totally failed to make any sense. I believe its in Kashmiri language. I found an upload of the same ad on Youtube which not only gives the complete song in the information for the ad but also provide it with meaning. As I understand from the details provided, this is an old poem which actually has a spiritual connection with old Kashmiri traditions. Better read and understand it at the link given below. Unfortunately, this link has ad running short by ten seconds. So, I am not embedding that link here. Though, you can check the lyrics on this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCHFGUl_lSc
I am embedding another upload where you can watch it complete. This also provides the lyrics after the video, but without knowing the meaning, it might not be fun.
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Border-Gavaskar trophy, 2013
Border - Gavaskar trophy is a 4 test cricket matches contest played between Australia and India. every year. The name Border - Gavaskar comes from two well known and big players of a time, Allan Border and Sunil Gavaskar one each from Australia and India. This contest has started becoming one of the center of attraction for the Cricket lovers. Up till now, Australia has either dominated this series, or in case India won the series, the margin has been mostly minimal. But this time around, things have taken different turn. The series is still going on and already India has put the series in its pocket. Possibly for the first time in recent history has Australia experienced such an embarrassing situation. Out of 4 matches of the series, 3 have been played and India won all of them. India just did not win these matches, but they won it mostly in 4 days keeping one day free to relax. This series has changed many equations.
To begin with, India's batting line up has once again started looking strong. We apparently are finally passing the phase where the likes of Ganguly, Laxman, Dravid, Tendulkar were inseparable part of the team. India now seem to be surviving in their absence too. India has found a replacement for Dravid finally in the form of Pujara. He has lot of patience and has a potential to become the backbone of India test match batting line up. Virat Kohli although inconsistent at times has become an important part of the team. Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan apparently are coming up as a replacement for Sehwag-Gambhir partners. But it is too early to make a strong statement on this. We have already how Murali Vijay went down badly after his stint in IPL playing for Chennai Super Kings. I am doubtful of his survival in foreign land. Same is the case with Shikhar Dhawan. It might be his just once in life time opportunity to come in the lime light. He won't get chance to settle down in the team as he is injured to be able to play in the last test. If he plays next test series, it is against South Africa. He need to survive that test. I have some doubts though. Coming down the line up, Sachin is still playing good. I found it funny to hear the other day when commentator Sanjay Manjrekar mentioned that Stark who was bowling Sachin that time was not even born when Sachin made his debut. I believe Sachin should play as long as he is delivering good. Dhoni is also looking in best of his niche. I admire his composed nature. I think he has brought a new definition to the position of Captain in Indian scenario. Jadeja apparently has been enjoying his new found talent in last couple of matches. He is on the way to become a permanent member of the team. Seems gone are the days when Jadeja was the center of all the jokes spread through social network.
In the bowling section, we now apparently have too many options. Seems like fast bowlers come to play just one or two matches and then they disappear some where. At present, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ishant Sharma are our lead attacks. Zahir Khan seems to be history now. Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron are nowhere on screen. Praveen Kumar is in news for some other reason. A lot more came and disappeared. Spin attack on the other hand is little restricted. It is centered around Ashwin and Ojha. Now that Jadeja is turning into regular bowler, there is not much room for other spinners in recent future. Harbhajan Singh appears to be struggling to be the lead spin attack of the team and it seems as if like Sehwag his future also is not very bright.
Talking about the opponent team, I feel this is the worst Australian team, India has ever played with. There was no substance in the team. I never found Clark as commanding Captain like Ponting. Ponting though an "unliked" Captain on the sub continent had an image in every body's mind. I doubt Australia has any body anywhere close to him. There were some instances where Australia showed some courage, but mostly it failed to stand up against India. When you are loosing your matches in 4 days, there can not be anything worse that that. I won't say, India was a fantastic team who excelled in all parts of the team, but it was a poor show by Australia that made India look like a very strong team.
I hope India does not make a fool of itself going to South Africa carrying this image in mind. South Africa is a totally different ballgame, that new Indian team is yet to understand.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Panasonic: Say Yes to Less
Panasonic brand has a new commercial airing on TV that advertises its new concept of "Say Yes to Less, More to Life". The commercial talks about the inclusion of Green technology in different walks of life by Panasonic which helps their customer to worry a little less. At the same time, the technologies employed makes their products consume less power and less water and thus reduce burden on earth. Commercial indicates the advantages of using Panasonic with the help of small events.
I call this ad smooth on ears and eyes. I took me some time to realize, its Dia Mirza who is the lonely girl in the beginning of ad. Her presence is very subtle and blends well with rest of the ad. The events in the ad are planned to exactly pinpoint the advantages, that Panasonic's Green technology offers. The interesting part of the ad is the background music. If I am not wrong its basically a guitar with little thumping in between which sounds cool. Overall, the music has turned out to be soothing to ears and definitely takes you away from worries for a minute. The lyrics are simple to follow and conveys well what is necessary.
-------
Sath tum ho to hai, kam duriyan,
A little less, is always better, (less loneliness)
Sahi galat bhi kuch hai kam,
Bindass hum,
A little less is always better, (less wastage)
Na koi kami yahan,
Fir bhi ye khayal,
A little less is always better (less expenses)
Dil kai hain amir hum,
Na hai ab koi bhi gum,
Less is always better, (less hurry)
A little less, a little less,
Thoda kum sochna
A little less is always better. (less worry)
---------
Monday, March 18, 2013
Australia.com: Its like Love
An ad for Australia Tourism has been airing on Indian Television for some time. The ad is otherwise old, pretty much by an year, but this is our tourism time, so, why not now. This is a very beautiful ad. This ad can make you fall in love with Australia. The scenic beauty shown in the ad gives you a quick tour of heaven. What works best is the clear and transparent water of sea. It makes you feel like immediately going for scuba diving. The silent walks through the dense forest with pin drop silence around or on the quiet beaches with only sea waves as background sound is one hell of experience that every body should try to get. Australia also allows you to get connected with the natives and look at life from different perspective. Its a different experience to live life in natural habitat with preliminary ways of earning your food. The aerial view either through the rocky mountains or over he sea shore is a sight worth preserving in mind. The views over the large water falls adds spice to it. To add to the flavor, some man made architecture in and around Sydney shown towards the end of the ad fills more colors in the ad. But what makes it complete is the end where one would like to sea side enjoying the setting sun.This Ad tries to bring all the diverse features of Australia together and present to you as one package.
What makes it more interesting is the background music and the beautiful song by Dewayne Everettsmith and Jasmine Beams. The lyrics of the song are available at :
But for my use and for enjoying them along with the video I am putting it here
--------
Life has drawn you here
Feel the warmth pulling you near
Breathe it in and let it fill your heart
It’s like love
Cleanse your soul
Feel it in your veins
Breathe it in your lungs will stain
It’s like love
For the first time
It’ll all make sense you know
Yea you know
Seen it all before
Till you found something more
Breathe it in and let it fill your heart
It’s like love yea
Cleanse your soul
Feel it in your veins
Breathe it in your lungs will stain
It’s like love
For the first time
It’ll make sense you know
yea you know
It’s Like Love
Cleanse your soul
Feel it in your veins
Breathe it in your lungs
It’s like love for the first time it’ all make sense you know
You know you know it
--------
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Shikhar Dhawan: A memorable knock
Whole day yesterday, all Cricket lovers must be talking about this guy. Shikhar Dhawan scored the fastest debut ton in the history of test matches. He took only 85 balls to cross the mark of 100. He did not relaxed after scoring 100 in his first ever outing, but continued up to 185 and still going on. It was a fantastic inning filled with 33 boundaries and 2 sixes. Shikhar's inning might give India another chance to take a grip on the match and think about winning it.
I actually have a different image of Shikhar Dhawan. I see some glimpses of Vinod Kambli's game in him. On his day, he is unstoppable as it happened yesterday. But I wouldn't dare to call him reliable at the moment. I have seen him playing mainly in IPL and few other games around. He has been among leading run scorer in last couple of IPL seasons. But I did not find him consistent. I don't feel assured when he is on the creeze. The moment I started expecting some sensible performance, he blew it off with some stupid shot.
We can not forget a fact that Shikhar's wonderful inning has come against a depleted Australian team which already was struggling to find a pair of good spinning hands on tracks mostly dedicated to spinners.
Hopefully, things are not the same as I have encountered always about him. Shikhar probably would continue to go on and keep giving the same performance even after the Australia series and in the upcoming South Africa tour. It will be little bit too early to start expecting the kind of consistency we have started getting used to from Cheteshwar Pujara. But somewhere I have started feeling that India has now started getting its final line up of dependable players who can finally replace the greats like Dravid, Ganguly, Laxman and Tendulkar.
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Solving Rubik's Cube
Have you ever tried to solve Rubik's Cube?
Most of us at some point of the time has made an attempt to get that completely solved Cube. I was introduced to it long ago when I was a kid. I spent hours trying to solve it. One day, it was suddenly solved. I didn't know that how I reached there. It was a result of hours of patience. I was happy but I was also scared that if I disturb this cube now, I might not be able to solve it again. Guess that was mistake.
Anyway, years past and cube settled down some where in memory lane. Recently, my German friend found it at my home. Surprisingly he had never attempted to solve, so he was instantly glued to it. He wanted to solve it but didn't want to spend time on it. So, as obvious he went to Internet, found some sites showing how to solve the cube. Followed the steps and solved it with in an hour.
That triggered the old memories and since then I wanted to solve it. I remembered some of the initial steps so was able to successfully get through the first layer. Second layer is slightly tricky considering the fact you have to maintain one solved layer. It started taking my time. Now, there are things you require to be able to solve the Rubik's cube like intelligence, foresightedness, patience and time. I have some brain, but am not sure if I am intelligent. I have foresightedness to imagine up to 3-4 steps, but up to ten steps, no. I otherwise have good patience, but one thing I don't have much is undisturbed time.
That killed it. I wanted to solve it but was unable to give undivided attention and could not imagine a strategy to solve second and third layer while keeping the solved part intact. My friend had shown me a gateway which I don't wanted to use. But ultimately I gave up. I had to get through this. I had to know the algorithm to solve the cube. I went some of the sites which my friend used. This is the site I initially followed:
It allowed me to get through the second layer. But as you reach the third layer, it becomes little difficult to follow the steps given. Towards the end of the cube, I found the steps given fail to give me a perfect cube. Call it my mistake or whatever, but this site isn't good enough to get you through.
So, I moved to another site:
Now this site is really good and simple. It actually show you how to make the moves and leaves nothing for imagination or wondering which is clockwise/anticlockwise etc. It makes solving cube much easy.
I was wondering if using internet was a good idea to solve the cubic. Frankly speaking, I would have loved to solve the cube on my own. But, lack of imagination up to say next 10 steps, lack of time to keep trying and making mistakes makes it too difficult. I am happy that a long awaited problem is finally solved for me. Now, I can take cube in my hand at any time and solve it. I have now learnt to imagine those steps in advance. Now I can move on to another problems. I was thinking to go for bigger cubes (4X4, 5X5). What do you say?Friday, March 15, 2013
Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd : Life main Khushi ka khata khol le
Kotak Mahindra Bank's new musical ad with Vinay Pathak playing the central character of Subbu has been airing for past few days. The ad was initially shown just as a musical piece without any reference to the Bank, guess, to create curiosity in the mind of viewers. Vinay Pathak is dressed in bank's color code, the only clue to connect to the bank while rest of the ad is in black and white frame.
Ad has a musical piece which signifies the advantages of Kotak Mahindra Bank over others. It might sound irritating to some, but over the time as the ad keeps hitting your ears, you get used to it. But it certainly is not addictive as the Tzinga or Fanta ad. The lyrics are simple to follow.
--------
Khol le khol le, aankhe khol le
Life main khushi ka khata khol le
Tu 4 par kyon hai atka, le sakta hai jab chakka
Char se bada hai sssss
SIX
50% jyada kama le
Bank ka darwaza tu khol le
Online khata khol le,
Bank ko tu ghar bula le
Tax thoda aur bacha le
Hi hi hi, hai na amazing
Char se bada hai sssss
SIX
Khol le khol le
Bindaas khol le
Life main khushi ka khata khol le
Life main khushi ka khata khol le
---------
Ad does no impress overall, not enough to run and open an account in the Bank. But two things to look for in the ad. First the moment where Vinay Pathak takes a taan at "Char se bada hai" line. It reminds you of similar act by Aamir Khan in "3 Idiots", if you remember what I am saying and you watch movies that minute.
Second, there are few pieces of Bongo played in the ad. Listen carefully. They are fantastic. Not very often, now a days, you get to listen Bongo now a days.
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Etihad Airways: The World is our Home, You are our Guest
A very beautiful ad for Etihad Airways has started airing on TV recently. The ad clearly put forth their motto "The World is our Home, You are our Guest". Every thing about this ad seems beautiful. It tries to convey a message that Etihad Airways takes inspiration from the surroundings and brings them in the services they provide. You can have the same feeling while walking through the lounge of Etihad Airways as you get when you are walking in a tree covered beautiful park. The comfort you have while enjoying the scene outside the plane window is the same that you get in your comfortable chair at home. The ad goes on to show such similarities in parallel windows and thus help you connect with the comfort and the facilities provided by Etihad Airways.
The best part of the ad is the background song that rings a bell. It is a famous song by Bobby Darin "Beautiful Things" long back from 1960-70s. I wonder how all these old songs still has a magic that unknowingly makes to start swinging with their notes and turns anything beautiful. If you realize most of the musical ads I have talked have used some old melodious song in background. The ad covers first three paragraphs of that song with a little twitching to the last line to suit to ad.
The lyrics goes like this:
--------
The world is full of beautiful things,
Butterfly wings, fair tale kings,
And each new day undoubtedly brings,
Still more beautiful things.
The world abounds with many delights,
Magical sights, fanciful flights,
And those who dream on beautiful nights,
Dream of beautiful things.
Beautiful days of Sunshine lazing,
Beautiful skies n shores,
Beautiful days when I can gaze in beautiful people like you.
----------
The original Bobby Darin song has pretty more beautiful things in it. You can listen complete song here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGaaPJAfxD8
and find complete lyrics at this link:
http://www.lyricstime.com/bobby-darin-beautiful-things-lyrics.html
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
ICICI prudential Life Insurance: Bande achhe hain
ICICI prudential Life Insurance has a new ad running on TV. It has a high emotional quotient and is sensitive in nature. In the days, when everybody is talking about Women's freedom and their rights, celebrating Women's day, Mother's day, I guess, sometimes, many men feel forgotten.With all the issues targeting men coming up, it sometimes appear as if men are basically insensitive in nature who do not bother about the well being of women. That may be true, but there surely are few men who are exception. They are emotional, sensitive and go long distance to care and protect their family members. And while they do all this, they never boast about their good deeds which mostly go unnoticed. ICICI prudential Life Insurance pointed out this habit of men and assure these men who care less of themselves and more of their family.
Ad had been designed very beautifully. Audience will surely connect with the ad as the incidences shown are taken from day to day life which every body encounters. The acting looks very natural. It opens up the sensitive nature of men. Music is apt and subtle as expected for such ads. The lyrics are very simple and seems to be taken from day to day conversations about men. It is a very nice ad worth watching. Men will surely like it and would expect women to watch it, appreciate it and start forgiving silly mistakes men make every day.
---------
Par bande achhe hain
Par bande achhe hain
Bhul bhal jate hain
Thode kachhe hain
Par bande achhe hain
Par bande achhe hain
Par bande achhe hain
Inki aadaton ke hazar kisse hain
Par bande achhe hain
Change vange hote nahin
Par man ke sachhe hain
Par bande achhe hain
Par bande achhe hain
Jo jimmedari nibhate hain, jatate nahin
Unko suraksha dete hain hum, ICICI prudential life insurance
Jimmedari ka humsafar
----------
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Mango Frooti: Fresh 'n' Juicy
A fantastic ad for Frooti has started airing on TV. The ad is watchable for many reasons.First and foremost is the concept of the ad which is very simple and that's why so interesting. All they want to convey is Frooti takes you back to your childhood days. Another interesting thing to look for is the presence of Shahrukh Khan in ad. Initially when I watched this ad, for a moment I thought, what? Shahrukh Khan in Frooti ad!
But then why not? If Salman, Ranbir, Katrina, Priyanka can, then why not Shahrukh. I must say, mere presence of Shahrukh Khan in the ad has turned it into something different, many notch higher. All he does in the ad is drink Frooti and then ask a question "What?" in his charismatic style. To add to the flavor we have a nice back ground song which I guess nobody would understand. I am guessing it is Spanish. It starts on a very slow mode to begin with, but as Shahrukh goes on gulping Frooti down his throat, it swings into fast mode and gives the ad an interesting turn.
What I liked most is the concept behind the ad. Simply put, Frooti takes you back to your childhood days. Ad begins with a bunch of small kids sitting around Shahrukh (apparently the Coach) in a Football ground. When Shahrukh opens a Frooti bottle and starts drinking it, all eyes are glued to his action of drinking Frooti. It apparently is a part of going to childhood memories that ends when Frooti is finished and everybody watching come to senses. What we see then is the reality that its not the children but fully grown Football players who were lost in their sweet childhood memories. This ad is worth watching for the concept and for the presentation.
Monday, March 11, 2013
Slice: iske samne sab fika pad jayega
The new ad of Slice with Katrina Kaif once again, has started airing on TV. This particular ad has many reasons to watch it. Up till now, people watched Slice ads mostly because of the sensuous character played by Katrina. But this ad has added more ingredients to make it more appealing. The ad straight away gives a challenge to its rival mango based drinks for the quality. In the ad, a blind folded guy with Katrina with Slice on one side and another pretty girl with other Mango based drink with general name, Mango ( probably targeting Maaza) moves into a natural environment where no external forces can affect the sensing power of the guy. Slice wins first test of smelling the drink, when guy starts sniffing for Slice even though at far distance than other drink. The test of taste also goes Slice way as the guy could not control himself after tasting Slice and try to grab the bottle to get more.
Many factors that make the ad interesting. First reason as it always has been is Katrina Kaif. She somehow fits in the ad perfectly and takes the Slice ads to another level. Second reason is the background music. It takes you back in the days of melody when the music itself was enough to make swing with it. Even, for 45 seconds you feel mesmerized and gets under control of the ad. Third reason is the song used in background. The famous song " Haal kaisa hai janab ka" from Chalti ka naam gadi. This song is really wonderful. I am confused if this should be the main reason, why this ad grabs lot of attention. The song is sung well and makes the words apt for every action in the ad. Using just four lines from the song, it covers the action of two tests and their results in the ad.
------------
Haal kaisa hai janab ka?
Kya khayal hai aapka
Tum to machal gaye, O, O,O,
Yunhi fisal gaye aa, aa,aa
------------
Whether you like Slice or not, deosn't matter. Its a wonderful ad for many other reason to watch and really make a worth of your 45 seconds spent otherwise.
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Friday, March 8, 2013
Greenply plywood: forever new
Watched a new ad for Greenply plywood. My first reaction was why the hell Arjun Rampal needed to work in an ad for a plywood. It took me some time to understand the theme of the ad since I did not paid attention to the ad. Then one day I saw complete ad and I found it wonderful and realized that Arjun Rampal in the ad is actually a need.
Have you seen movie "The Illusionist"?
The movie revolved around a character who creates illusions. What impresses most is the personality of the character. The basic requirement of illusionist is a personality that can attract and impresses anybody in the first moment itself. Similar is the case with this ad. The theme of the ad requires a personality who will impress anybody coming across him. And I believe Arjun Rampal did the justice to this central character. I would wonder who else could have been fit for the character. May be Hrithik Roshan. Whether he is doing an illusion or a real magic is not a question to be asked here.
So, the ad talks about a magician named "Shaurya" who begins his journey from small village when he converts an old , ridden doll of a poor girl into a new one. What follows is then the picture moving fast forward showing his progress at different steps until some people start doubting his ability. To answer back, in his last show, he does something totally unexpected. An old Shaurya enters the box only to be rejuvenated as a Young Shaurya.
Arjun Rampal is the USP of the ad. Had he not been in the ad, probably it would have gone unnoticed. He has given very good expressions for every moment including for the old Shaurya entering the box. His body language is perfect.
The ad is worth watching for Arjun Rampal and for the concept.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Learning French - II - Bon Jour, Merci Beaucoup, Au revoir
To begin with, there are three basic set of words which you will always come across while in France.These are not very alien and you must have come across them some where.
1) Bon Jour - Good day.
In France, no matter where you go, who you meet, a known person or a stranger, some times even a passer by on the road you are walking, you will encounter these words coming towards you. French people are very polite and they will always wish you a good day when you meet them for the first time in a day.
Bon Jour is kind of equivlent to Good Morning in English
2) Merci, Beaucoup: Thank you, Very much
You will start wondering while in France, how many times you hear these words. If you just want to say Thank you, you say Merci, but if you wish to extend more thanks in a sense thank you very much or thanks a lot, you say Merci, Beaucoup. French people are used to use this word a lot. They will thank you even if you allow them to talk to you for a minute.
3) Au revoir - Good bye
Its very common to say Au revoir (Good bye) once your meeting with any body, anywhere, any time is finished. Not just to familiar faces, but even to unknown people you deal with, like a shop keeper, you say Au revoir while leaving the shop.
So, three very important words in French
1) Bon Jour
2) Merci, Baucoup
3) Au revoir
Now, I might not be explicitly talking about the pronunciation of words here, so, I will share a simple rule that I learnt.
If a french word ends with a vowel (a,e,i,o,u), then the consonant coming just before that vowel is pronounced. For ex. in case of Merci. Here, i is the last character in the word and preceding one c, so, c is pronounced while saying Merci.
But if the last character is a consonant, then it is not pronounced. Ex: Beaucoup. Here, p is not pronounced.
Try to put these words in Google translator. It allows you listen to their pronunciation and also know their meanings.
Chevrolet Sail - When life gives you more
Another melodious commercial has been airing on TV for sometime and this time it comes from Chevrolet Sail. It might not be an addictive one but it surely makes you take a break in what ever you are doing and admire the ad.
The ad is about a Father who after finishing his run comes to pick up his Son from games. The Son, enjoying skate board and unhappy to go, sits in Chevrolet Sail. As they start moving he realizes how the car is grabbing the attention from unexpected and other than human admirers.
The ad has been beautifully captured with an interesting concept. It fully conveys the idea behind the ad,
"More style than you expected, more admirers than you asked for". It also subtly shows different features of the Car.The music is fantastic and peppy. With a back ground music of "Tanga-Horse" , it adds a flavor of melody.The voice is also different and grabs attentions as words start pouring in.The lyrics are very simple and fun to follow.
---------------I have been high
I have been low
I have seen smiles,so many miles
I have seen faces, so many faces
Tumsa nahi dekha
Tumsa nahi dekha
You are so hot, You are so smooth
My heart is on a slide
My head is going wild
Tu tu tu turu tu tu tu, tu tu turu too
Tumsa nahi dekha
Tumsa nahi dekha
----------------
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Sprite: Chalo apni chal
Sprite has two new ads running on TV with a theme of "Chalo apni Chal". The theme basically revolves around the idea that you can get what you desire in spite of all the odds and tough situation if you have a good presence of mind and to think different.
The background for both the ads is pretty simple. A beautiful girl and a normal guy wishing to be with her. But in between he has to tackle very tough competitions of three other guys who rank much higher than him. Ad goes on show how with his presence of mind and think different attitude, he manages to overcome all the obstacles.
Music is simple, catchy and little bit comical. Lyrics are simple and apt. good enough to convey message in minimum words. Singing is mostly audible except at few places where it is almost impossible to understand no matter how hard you try. But it really doesn't matter since the message is conveyed.
First Ad
---------
Good morning
Raste main kante the
John
Johny
aur ek koi janardan
Lets start
John ne apna teer nishane pe pakda,
Johny ne apne shikanje main jakda,
Janardan ka vaar tha sabse tagda,
waw! aur tum?
Main!
Aap log fantastic the, ab agle hafte milenge
lekin tum, roj do ghante mere sath bitaoge
ok
Sprite chalo apni chal
----------
Second Ad
--------
Middle main aa tapke
Amar
Akbar
ek koi aur tha
Anthony
Amar ----- (difficult to understand, fill up if you can)
Match dekhne aana, captain hoon
Akbar ka tha yahi dhanda
natak dekhne aana, hero hoon
Anthony that sabse ganda
Concert main aana, lead singer hoon
Aur tum?
Main!
Akeli kahan kahan jayengi aap, sath chalte hain
Pehle match dekhenge, fir natak, fir convert
aah, thats a cool idea!
what?
Sprite chalo aapni chal
--------
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
