Dogs - More than a man's best friend

I have never had a pet and so have never had a chance to be close to any animal. The closest I ever got to a pet is when my bro-in-law got a German Shepherd puppy for my sister. My in-law was an absolute dog-lover and my sister who was pretty much like me till then, got close to Vincy as the dog grew and became very much part of the family.

Then they moved onto a bigger independent house and the most obvious happened. There were more dogs. They bought a Great Dane pup (Britney) and also started taking care of a Boxer (Tara) and a Miniature Pinscher from known friends. They were as awesome and lovely as much as they were naughty. I used to visit them frequently during holidays and my love for dogs kept growing little day by day. I used to be very reluctant to even go near them, but then they used to recognise me very well and started playing around and then we used to take pictures with them too. They were never just pets and more of a part of the family.

All was well until they had to plan for shifting their house. These days, independent houses are a rarity and they decided to move on to an apartment somewhere closer to their offices. But there, its impossible to have so many dogs with you. So, they had to take a hard decision of giving the dogs away (except Vincy as it was their very first dog). Britney like all Great Danes is very reserved and doesn't move well with people so easily. She is so fond of my sister and wasnt so close with anyone else. A family in AP was ready to adopt them and today they took the dogs with them. Really felt so bad. It was like parting ways with a member of the family. If someone like me who wasnt so close to the dogs, could feel so much, I can understand how sad it must be for my sister and bro-in-law. Feeling very sad for them. I sincerely hope that the dogs are in good health and stay happy wherever they go. Am sure they will stay so as they are very smart and intelligent creatures.

Pets are wonderful. Pets like dogs are not just Man's best friend but more of a companion and an integral part of the family. Hopefully I shall adopt a pet soon. But the difficult thing is when they have to leave you, either due to death or due to some circumstances like the one above.

Vincy (German Shepherd)

Tara (Boxer)

Britney (Great Dane)

Raavanan - Dus sar wale

It is Mani Ratnam's modern day reproduction of one of the most epic mythological stories.
Having said that, I was a touch disappointed towards the end but we will come back to it later. For one, I felt Mani Ratnam need not have to so strictly stick to the Ramayan story through out like the nose reference to Surpanaka (Priya mani) and Monkey like behavior of Karthik (reference to Hanuman) At least I was happy seeing a slight deviation towards the end.

Vikram really proved as why he was worth the billing. He was splendid throughout. Even though you feel that the movie might fall apart, you can never stop enjoying watching this guy act. He grunts, he shouts, he howls, he says that 'buck buck buck'. He does everything in this movie to make that character work. I can't wait to watch his performance as Dev in the Hindi version.

Prithivi does a decent enough job as a tough cop. No one seems white/black in this movie. Everyone seem to have a gray shade to their character. Dev is not all-good and Veera is definitely not as bad as Raavanan (from the Mythology). Aishwarya justified her role.

One more disappointment was that few songs were never fully shown. Veera veera was part of the initial credits. Kaatu sirukki only had an old lady humming it once in the movie. I wanted to hear Shankar Mahadevan/Anuradha Sriram's version. Only three songs Kodu poatta, Kedakkari and Kalvare had some screen presence. Usire Poghudey had a couple of dialogues in between.

The big plus of the movie was the Cinematography and the camera work (V. Manikandan and Santosh Sivan) which were ably supported by the splendid background score by Rahman.
I have definitely heard a lot of bad reviews for this movie and know that many people felt cheated and disappointed at Mani's work. As I said earlier, it could have been better. But I guess it works for some and doesn't for the rest. Whatever it is, it was definitely worth a watch for Vikram's acting and the way in which a bright and green rural India was shown through out.

And namma makkal inum thirunthavey illa, do you know who got the loudest cheer in the movie? No, not Vikram, not Prithvi, nor Ash. It was Ranjitha!!

Paranormal Activity - Movie review

There has been a lot of hype for the movie. Tags like "Don't see it alone" "Nightmares are guaranteed" have been generously thrown around.


Well, the movie never gave me nightmares, actually not even made me think about it again.
I read that the movie gave the chills to a director who made one of the best horror movies till date, the Poltergiest.
May be watching it alone might have had some effect. It had a few scary moments and the climax was little disturbing.
Towards the end of the movie, you get a little tired of the lead pairs that you actually want the demon/ghost to thrash them so that at least then they would abandon the house or do something really solid to get rid of that thing.

The ghost psychic who runs away saying that this is the work of a Demon and he is not a demon expert was funny and frustrating. He could have been of a little more help for sure being in the Paranormal business for so long. He says that his presence in the house angers the spirit more and more. They could have very well met somewhere outside and discussed about this. I don't understand why they want to do everything inside the damn house.

Couple of moments were really creepy like when Katie wakes up and keeps staring at Micah for hours together at night.
The movie might not work so well with the Indian audiences as we do not come across such situations frequently. A couple of people all alone in big house. House fully made of wood where you can hear a lot of squeaky noises. And for sure if it happened in India, first thing in your mind would be to vacate the house and go and stay with family with more people around. Not sure how much this would work but at least the demon would have had more people to scare this way.
We really don't know the background history about the pair. Katie's family survived the inferno when she was young and shifted to a new home. I guess there must have been more people out there to support them.
Overall it was a decent movie with few scares. And would work more if you were a couple like that leaving alone in an almost deserted home somewhere in the US.
Watch it alone at night and check if it works for you :-)

Hot, Hotter and Hottest

You guessed it right. It's about the Chennai weather.
Its an irony that am writing this post on a relatively cooler day this summer thanks to Laila. Laila seems to have had a short stint and could last only for a couple of days. But that has definitely brought some respite to the fried Chennai crowd.
Due to the effects of global warming, the summers could get only warmer each year. Can't imagine how life would be some 5 yrs down the lane. May be people would walk around with Air conditioned suits similar to what MJ had.
Everyone of us can do something about this heat.

• Plant more trees.
• Water your plants daily, don't let them dry out.
• Save water as much as you can.
• Whenever you see a leaking tap, take steps to repair it immediately even though it may not be your home.
• Make sure your home has proper rain water harvesting system (one mighty helpful thing that Jayalalitha did during her tenure) Might be helpful if Laila returns or Bandu visits.
• There are more small things than you can do as part of your daily life without spending much time or effort. Awareness is the most important thing.

My Dream Fantasy team - IPL 3

As with the last IPL, here is a composition of my Dream team of 11. It consists of players who have impressed me in one way or the other this season.
First the list of players, then a little about my selection and those who almost made it and then the final line-up.

Batsmen:
The only Orange cap contenders (Sachin and Kallis) throughout the tournament earn their place right at the top of the order. Sachin is the only player to have scored 600+ in a single IPL so far. Well we can always keep talking abt this guy day in n out.
Surprisingly Kallis wont be opening the innings. It will be Sachin's mate Dada who scored nearly 500 this season @ 47 opening for KKR.
Raina, the best ever IPL batsmen earns the call after scoring 520 @ a SR of 140+
Pollard and Symmo have been the pick of the all-rounders this season with Symmo failing in small patches and Pollard being excellent towards the end of the tournament.
Those who almost made it:
M Vijay (huge transition from tests to T20s), Jayawardene and S Tiwary were in close contention. Rohit Sharma and I Pathan were the next best as all-rounders.
Bowling:
Ojha, the Purple cap holder is an automatic choice. Mishra is a tough omission, but Bhaji had the edge with a little help in batting, not to mention his 17 wickets this season @ an economy of 7
Fast bowling is not complete without 'Slinga' Malings these days. The choice of next pacer was very tough. It was a toss-up between Dougie and Harris. Bollinger makes it coz of his better Econ rate (6.6)
That said Kallis, Raina, Pollard and Symmo should be pretty handy with the ball too.
Those who almost made it:
Fast: Harris should have made it. Others were Zaheer, Vinay kumar (a good young talent) and Steyn (little patchy this season).
Spin: Mishra, Kumble and CSK's find of the season Ashwin. He has it in him but just that he has to play more games.
Wicket-Keeper:
Dhoni is the only guy who came to my mind. He doubles up as my Captain too :) (No.. am not being partial here. Seriously considered Sachin/Ganguly for the role. But Dhoni has that lucky charm to lead the sides)
Those who were a bit close were Sangakkara, Gilly and Uthappa (only for his batting)

Here is the batting line-up with the 2 stalwarts opening


It's quite odd that only Raina and Malinga made it to the current team from last year. Biggest disappointments from last year were Yuvi, Hayden, Gilly and ABD
Lets see how the season is, next year with more teams and more players :-)