Posts

Showing posts from March, 2007

A Week Without “Appa”

Image
Quiet. How I'd like it to be sometimes. I went to the temple almost every day. I didn't have anyone asking me, “Appa, are we done?” I could just cement myself there, without hurry, for a few hours. I could recite the Rudram without somebody tugging at my sleeve. And yet, every now and then, I would think that it would have been nice to have the kids there too. I didn't have to worry about picking up Akhil or Sahana from somewhere. I didn't get messages from my wife asking me to make a pit stop at the Indian store or Costco. I didn't have to look at the clock and suddenly remember that someone had basketball or tennis. It was as though life had come to a standstill. And I liked it. In the middle of a normal workday, I could be in an important meeting when Akhil would come charging into the room. “Appa, please approve.” For a brief second, I wouldn't even understand what he was asking. Then I would realize that I had absentmi...

Bye Bye India!

Image
Right now, the most common topic of discussion for an average Indian would be the performance of the Indian cricket team at the Carribean world cup. An endless list of adjectives will easily ooze out on the slightest provocation. A country of close to a billion cannot find the right combination of eleven to succeed in the most passionate sport in the country. Truly disgusting! Where are we getting it wrong? Is the selection committee not able to find the right eleven to represent the country? We do not care about how we fare in the other sports, but when it comes to cricket, the common man is ready with his views. India has been knocked out of the first round, thanks to the ignonimy of losing to the minnows of world cricket Bangladesh, and to Sri Lanka, who have improved leaps and bounds in the last few years. The lack of pride was so evident in the way the Indians played on the field. There was no sense of passion or commitment to enforce their way to winning positions. One felt that ...

Emotion(less)!

Last week, we had a discussion about the different facets of emotion in human beings. The movie field is a fascinating field just because it is such an important source of entertainment for the common man. Of course, it has its share of controversies and other big issues, but over a period of time, it has emerged as an important industry in terms of revenue. Movie business is really big money. Getting back on track about emotions and movies, where is the relation? We have our special actors and actresses who gladden our hearts during those two hours, and we are taken to an ethereal world, where imagination takes over everything in an atmosphere filled with pure gloss. This is when we felt how difficult it is for newcomers to cope up with this profession. Any actor has to display various emotions in those two hours, which actually would have taken months of filming involving different artists, and at the end of the day, he has to come out unscathed from the reel life experience. That is...