Broadband problems

It has almost taken a week to fully and properly restore broadband and it has affected my blogging and work a lot. Will have to compensate for the delays now. BSNL is so unpredictable. Your neighbor may have broadband working perfectly and yours could be down. I wonder how.

Post Idea Star Singer and Super Star Global (2007) report

After months, yesterday I get a call from Roopa the winner of SSG. A few days earlier she had sent me a message saying how sorry she was for not calling as she was giving her exams. As I was unable to talk to her I replied a text message informing her about the same. Earlier I have been trying to call her but in vain. I realized after calling her dad recently that she was giving her exams. Roopa confirmed that yesterday. I didn't know she had Mathematics and Sciences in her Musical exams. That was really interesting. She asked me about Praveen and she also shared a similar story. She has also exchanged her Mercedes Benz that she won on the competition for a Maruti Swift Dezire and in the process also had to pay 9 odd lakhs as income tax from the prize money.

Najim the winner of ISS was lucky to have his share of the tax paid (I guess that is 15 lakhs) by the Confident Group and get the flat as prize.

Meanwhile Roopa's debut film song is out. It is for the film Madambi. I did tell her that it didn't bring out the best in her and that Shwetha's solo song for the film sounded better. She agrees the song was done more for music director's Jayachandran's promise to have her sing in a movie of his.

Meanwhile the ISS 2007 contestants have had a memorable concert in Dubai. One of them Varun J Tilak has also been offered a movie role. Varun was my initial favorite for the winner of ISS but somewhere down the lane he seemed to lose interest in the competition and eventually had to go out.

A lovely new addition to the family

The chipmunk I rescued, sleeping on the palm of my hand.



As if to take off our minds on Praveen whose passing away we still haven't overcome God sends us another life. This time in the form of an abandoned Chipmunk baby (I have stopped called it Squirrel) in Chaithanya's school. Both Adithya and Chaithu located it and no one at the school seemed to be caring for the little baby almost abandoned and helpless by its mother. In fact it would have been difficult for the mother to contact it anyway amidst the chaos of the school. I am surprised it wasn't finished off by the crows, a cat or a stray dog.

As of now it stays with my sister as her children have welcomed it as a pet. Here is a picture of me feeding the little one with with milk using one of those ear-drop/eye-drop bottles.



It is actually a miracle to see it feed on the tiny drops I put on its mouth. It hasn't opened its eyes yet. When it does I'll post another pic.

As a coincidence another chipmunk has actually build a nest (a second one) in one of the bathrooms of the first floor of my house. But I think it has abandoned it after sensing some intervention from the family members. They are very sensitive. When I removed the first nest thinking it was empty I actually found two chipmunk babies inside. Minutes after returning the nest to its position I was surprised to see the mother come to the nest and carry away the babies one by one in her mouth to another undisclosed location.

Death comes calling again

The shocking news of Praveen's passing away came as a blow to all of us today. This time my good friend and someone who was more like a little brother to all of us, just 27 years of age passes away after suffering a bout of high fever for just four days. It is difficult to believe how such a sweet person, hale and healthy (weighed 85 kilos and was a regular at the gym) could just slip away just like that. Constantly thinking of him is only throwing me deeper into some morbid depression. Being the only son of his parents he has left a void that can never be filled. I pray God to give his parents the strength to go through this agonizing moment of trial. Iron Maiden's song "Only the Good die young" was so befitting of Praveen. May his soul rest in peace.

"Of course" she's back

If you thought you could do away with her, you got it all wrong. Ranjini is back on Idea Star Singer after Ramya the new host was on the show for a couple of weeks after ISS 2008 began. This only goes on to show how any habit is hard to change. People who has been watching Ranjini and cursing her cannot seem to get rid of her on the show and have voted her back. Music director Sharath who was also one of the judges in the ISS 2007 panel is also back. Although I like most of his comments and his technical ability he is not one of those who you can take easy or for a ride. I have a feeling it won't be long before M G Sreekumaran also returns to the judging panel. Ouseppachan is a bore most of the time.

I have some early favorites in both male and female contestants in the show, I will wait for some more weeks when only the cream of the crop is filtered. The show gets more interesting after that happens.

IPL

Remember the horrendous days of watching Cricket Test matches on T.V where we had to wait for hours to watch a four or a sixer. Cricket both test or limited overs is a great game to play but to watch it is another thing. Ever since limited overs became the norm for competitive cricket watching cricket has been much more easier on the eye than test matches.

I also understand the beauty in playing a Test match but to watch it on T.V or from the stands can be a punishment.

My interest in cricket has waned over the years. A friend of mine and who is probably one of the best experts on the game even gave me adverse reports of the BCCI and several match fixing things of the past that made me ditch cricket for good although I always liked a good match.

The other aspect was the probability of the rate of victory for a team. Except for Australia who have been very consistent there was hardly any other teams that I thought was consistently winning. Worst of all was Ganguly's decision to field in the world cup that India reached after 20 years and lost it purely due the decision of going to field and that too after winning the toss. It was one of the most stupid decisions ever made and asking Australia to bat easily put the World cup in their lap. Australia thrashed India with the biggest scores ever in a World cup final. Who can then forget the way India struggled with under dogs Bangaldesh and even getting a bashing from them.

Enter IPL, the Indian Premier League. It has saved cricket and even got me to change my decision on abandoning cricket. In fact what IPL has served in the last one month of games has no parallel even from the limited 50 over version of the game played all these years. I have a strong feeling even the players who played IPL 20/20 may be reluctant to go back to play the 50-50 format. The Finals concluded yesterday and spectators and viewers got their money's worth. Honestly it feels a big void that there is nothing to watch on T.V from today evening onwards.

Though initially cheerleaders didn't fit in I think gradually the audience and viewers have accepted them. It still looked phony and poorly imitated from the west where even getting into the cheerleading team is considered a prestigious issue.

I have had the experience of watching live in Singapore a Pakistan vs India match live but I never enjoyed it amidst the heat and the sweat and the screaming. A friend who also went to one of the IPL matches in Chennai also had a similar story saying the noise was unbearable and one finds it difficult to appreciate the game. Even here I think imitating the shows abroad is more the norm.

However on T.V nothing came close to the entertainment IPL could deliver. If only they had cut down on the same ads being repeated all over again. But then that's how the sponsors and advertisers make their money, don't they? The excitement of watching live cricket with sixers and fours a plenty was truly a treat. Not forgetting the great, catches, bowling and dismissals. Truly IPL made this years summer vacation a great one. Looking forward to the next season.