Gunners in finals

The beautiful game...

There is nothing like a good football game with lots of goals. I was watching the vintage World Cup matches in Star Sports the other day and cannot but admire the beauty of the sport. The climax of the show was the 1986 WC performance of the man they call Maradona. His goals and his skills saw Argentina win the WC.

Whatever Barca or Chelsea achive at the end of their leagues, doesnt matter when it comes to the WC. This is where many have burnt their fingers, eg. Henry has never been as impressive when playing for France as he is when playing Arsenal. He will never be forgotten by his countrymen for that and I think this year he will be in the peak of his career. Lets not talk about Pele, Cryuff, Maradona and Zidane. A lot has been written about their playing days and skills.

What does this WC promise. I think there will be two rising stars. I am going purely by their current club form and they are the most impressive youngsters.



Of course our man, Ronaldinho will be surely mentioned in the same breath as previous four WC heroes after this WC.


There was this black and white quarterfinal match, forgot which year between Brazil and England. Brazil finally win the match quite convincingly and the commentator says " Brazil go through to the semis and England back home". Such a simple sentence but hits you hard, if you are an English supporter, such is the beauty of this sport. I sometimes wish India could play as good as the Europeans and we could cheer our team in a world cup match.

Narmada Bachao Andolan: A recap

• Narmada Bachao Andolan has been active for around two decades now. But that has not stopped planners from increasing the height of the Sardar Sarovar Dam.
• Of the 30 large dams planned on river Narmada, Sardar Sarovar is the largest. With a proposed height of 136.5 m, it's also high on discord between the planners and the Narmada Bachao Andolan.
• The government claims the multi-purpose project will irrigate more than 1.8 million hectares - most of it in drought prone areas like - Kutch and Saurashtra.
• But Sardar Sarovar spells doom for close to three lakh twenty thousand people, mostly tribals who'll get displaced. The state government had promised to rehabilitate these people, but it's failed to do so. And despite that, the height of the dam has been increased several times in recent years.
• In February 1999, the Supreme Court gave the go ahead for the dam's height to be raised to 88 metres from the initial 80.
• In October 2000 again, in a 2 to 1 majority judgement in the Supreme Court, the government was allowed to construct the dam upto 90 metres.
• Then in May 2002, the Narmada Control Authority approved increasing the height of the dam by another five metres.
• And a couple of years later, in March 2004, the authority allowed another raise - this time to 110metres.
• Now the most recent move in March 2006, the Narmada Control Authority gave clearance for the height of the dam to be increased from 110.64 metres to 121.92.
• It was after this last judgement that protestors gathered in the capital and activist Medha Patkar went on an indefinite hunger.

Role Models

NBA is very popular in India. Guys stay awake to watch the game and keep track of the playoffs. I just hope that this generation also reads and understands something about the other NBA too - Narmada Bachao Andolan.

This NBA has been one of the longest non-violent movements in India. You do not have to go to Gujarat to find out or understand the reality of the situation. Now it has gained prominence in the media because Medha Patkar went on a hunger-strike. Our government as usual will have excuses to give for not rehabilitating an entire village. Otherwse how can they make their 1% in the whole deal.


Amir Khan and Rahul Bose have also supported the cause and Khan had to come in for a lot of stick for his endorsement of Coke. Lets see how he reacts to the situation. The only Sportsperson who I remember turning down an endorsement for the Colas is Pullela Gopi Chand and the only Actor in India who did something similar is Mammooty.

~Sujith

P.S. Another interesting read would be this very rare Amir interview in Tehelka

Mourning Leftovers

This is my office...

An insecure city, Demi gods in South India

When I left office on wednesday hearing the news of the death of Rajkumar, the first thing that came to my mind was 2001 RECT, when Veerapan had kidnapped the same person and for one week or so no companies from Bangalore came down for placement. As I got off near my house and walked towards the apartment, I realised that I was in for some hard time. All the shops and restaurants near Ramaiah college were shut down. The 2 petrol pumps in that area were closed. People were there on the roads, heading home as if some cylcone was going to hit the city.

Half an hour inside my apartment I realised that I do not have anything to eat. Just a bottle of mineral water was too little for 2 days. A friend was willing to give me Maggi. Then I thought the best thing to do is take a rickshaw and go to my friend's place in Indira Nagar. Atleast he stocks food and I would have some company for the next 2 days, if it gets that bad. So there I was in Indira Nagar after paying twaice the meter charge. Also on the way picked up a family pack of Maggi and some biscuits.

Around 1 AM in the middle of an Arsenal Portsmouth match the sports channel conked off. Some channel surfing made us realise that only the news channels are working. Blame it on the Rajkumar factor. Thank god there is braodband connections in this world.

The TV channels said all the shops closed down due to respect for Dr. Rajkumar (he is basically a third standard passout I guess). The real reason being that people were forced to close down due to the fans pressurising them to do so. There were these youngsters on the bikes, parked in the middle of the road, with Karnataka flags in hand and shouting slogans for Rajkumar. Police was not there to help these merchants open and operate shop. A good percentage of the population are working bachelors and how many of the would have stocked food, god only knows. Shivaji Nagar area, which is a muslim-dominated area in Bangalore functioned without any disturbance, these 2 days it seems.

Now why would a film star command so much respect in this state. After all he had acted in only 200 movies. Prem Nazir has acted in more than 600 movies in Malayalam and when he died, I dont think anything like this ever happened. Lets forget that for a moment as in Malayalam, unlike the Tamil, Telugu and Kannada film history the bigger movie stars do not command any respect in the political circle. Well after all they are just actors and not politicians, who can run a state. Let take some examples

NTR, was the biggest of them all in Andhra Pradesh. He was just like Rajkumar, acted as the ideal man in most of his movies and later on moved to politics and was hugely popular. He was the chief minister and did a lot of good to his people. If he dies and there is public mourning and reactions, I can understand.

MGR in Tamil Nadu, commanded equal respect and his death also led to some paranoia in TN. But he was also the chief minister and did a lot of good for the state and its people. Rajnikant is the next in line for similar treatment. Everyone knows that he has a invisible presence in Tamil Nadu politics and has played an active part in some of the elections, through his movies or through his fan clubs. Another actor who was very famous and well respected was Sivaji Ganesan.

Lets not talk about Mallu movies. They either make sensible movies or porn and are equally accepted. But people know that movies are movies and politics is politics. You maystill show the photo of MGR and win elections in TN, but you cant do that in Kerala. Couple of the film stars who came in through the theatre movements in Kerala invariable support the Communists, like Murali, who fought elections in Allepey.

Now what is Rajkumar's contribution to Kannada. 200 movies and doesnt it stop there at that. He set up one of the best studios in Karnataka, paved the entry of his sons to tha Kannada movie industry. Otherwise what good has he done to the common man, other than acting in movies in which he plays the common man. Well sometimes, people have to be kept in thier place. Rajkumar was also chosen as the most popular person in CNN -IBN poll where he won hands down over, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Narayanmurthy etc etc.

Girish Karnad summed it up nicely in one of the news channels. He said this is the pent up emotions of the average Kannadiga coming out in the streets. The Kannadigas in Bangalore have been given a second class citizen status in their city and they wanted to prove a point to the outsiders that, if they want they can hold the entire city to ransom. Well nothing more to say, other than "Thank god Rajkumar died of a heart attack and not get killed by anyone/anything".

Kuttanad in black &white

A New Spirit in the Indian Team

The Indian One-day team has got something about it that makes them invincible. I know we have not played in Australia/NewZealand or SA or WI for that matter. But who cares as long as we have been winning consistently chasing targets. Something which was our undoing till some time back.

Youngsters like Pathan, Dhoni and now Raina have come in and showed maturity beyond their age. Yuvraj in the pinkest of form will be the man to watch out for if his form continues till 2007. I feel sad for Kaif, who somehow seems to have lost the plot. He was at one time the next-man-for-captain, but somehow seems like the next-man-out. ODI has reached a stage where scoring at more than 100% strike rate has become the norm. Kaif will lose out to guys like Yuvraj and Raina who can bowl a bit (if wanted to), field like Jonty, run between wickets like Bevan and score runs at more than a-run-a-ball. This is where Kaif will lose out. He somehow always used to miss out on hitting fours and sixes at will.

Whatever they say about the conditions favouring India in the last 2-3 tours, I think we have the right attitude now to win in any condition.

Arsenal thru to Champions League semis for the first time

Allapuzha Back Waters

God's Own Country, Devil's Own People

"There was no space in hell, so we came back - FUMS".

This is what was (is) written on the blue cupboard in room no 5, Agate Hostel. FUMS stands for F@#$%d Up Mallus, thats what we the 2001 batch called ourselves. Well this arrogance you can see in most of the Mallus, whichever part of the globe you find them. Be it a Mallu living in Kannanmoola or Koramangala, in New Jersey or Tripunithara New Town (if there is somethign like that). They carry this air of being the most notorious as well as the most well-heeled section of the society they live in.

It is true that there is no rural area in Kerala, every adult in this state can write and read, the most number of Skodas get sold in this state, in human development index the parameters are comparable with any developed European country etc etc. But so does the state top in suicide rate, educated unemployed people and most number of people suffering from mental illness etc etc. Somehow the positives outweigh the negatives.

I have not seen a more politically motivated state. Now being the election time, there are news floating thick and fast on the latest controversies, scandals, seat adjustments, chat show with your area candidate etc etc. My family has an inclination towards the left and though I criticise them at home, I wuld prefer the LDF to win than the UDF. At home I have heard the latest crtitcism of the incumbent Chief Minister, be it his policies or him secretly fillinh his Swiss bank accounts with Treasury money. This is an interesting case of some really non-political way fighting elections. The lady in question is a firebrand SFI activist who got injured in the police attack against students last year. She was the face of that protest.

And to top it I went and saw a political movie in the afternoon. Had gone to see another movie, saw the crowd outside and decided to see a movie in more peaceful surroundings. And I dont rememeber how many political movies I would have seen in Malayalam with some reference to the current political scenario in the state. Most of the actors have brought to life a lot of characters from the political scenario. I have see a lot of movies with the heroes being the brave Communists and the villains the British or the corrupt Congress. I wonder why there are no movies with any Congress hero!!! My favourite political movie in Mallu is still "Lal Salaam", with Mohanlal playing the character of Netturan.

I think education can be linked to awareness and that is proportional to the news-saviness of this state. I have not seen people in any other state discussing Politics and Football in tea shops, trying to watch the 6PM, 9 PM and 12 Midnite news of 2-3 different channels. I want to vote in this election and this would be the first time I would be participating in the election process of my country. I wonder why they have postal ballots only for the Military. A good percentage of the educated youngsters in this counry are not in their home-state/city and hence lose out on voting.

Lal Salaam.

Few days in Trivandrum

Well, I am in Trivandrum for the last 2 days and would be here for a couple more. Lots of things happened in the last 2 days. To be brief

• Mummy retired as a teacher on 31st. So there was this small tea-party thrown to some 30 odd teachers who came over to our home. We have decided to call her "Teacher" from now on so that she doesnt miss her school and students
• It was also my Birthday and for a change I had some 30 odd teachers singing "happy birthday", while I cut the cake. Couple of friends came home and had the snacks for dinner
• Today went to a place called Allepey/Allapuzha, better known as the Venice of the East. It has a lot of waterways and houseboats. So we hired one for the day and what a time we had. The pictures will be uploaded soon and I am sure after that each one of you would plan to spend a day/nite on the house boat.

So come back here in a day or two to see the pics