We go to the movies to be entertained. But, once in a while a movie comes along that asks us to invest ourselves into it completely. We need to be watching very closely since each scene will tell you something. You might not understand the movie in ‘one watching’, it happened for Inception. It happened for Interstellar and Arrival joins these prestigious films in making the viewers think and Dennis Villeneuve has made sure that his vision has been translated into the screens to the fullest potential setting the right moods with his scenes and backed up with a beautiful OST.
Late last night, pretty much every Indian who follows cricket as a religion came in for a rude shock. MS Dhoni, Indian ODI & T20 team captain had decided to stand down as skipper in both formats and continue just as a player.
Dhoni is without an iota of doubt the very best ODI & T20 captain for India. Infact, he was the person who had brought in the dynamism in fielding & running between wickets into the Indian cricket team. If ever there was someone better than Michael Bevan and deserved the finisher tag more than him, it was MS Dhoni for all his last over exploits. Dhoni gave us many such memorable moments, ill mention my favorite 5 which are etched in memory;
I precisely remember where I was during this game. At my aunt’s place, watching the game with my brother. I remember my uncle calling to ask for a score update and I was on the phone updating him regularly. Last over, 13 needed, and he threw the ball to Joginder Sharma. First reaction, is he mad? After the 6 off the 2nd ball, we all but lost hope. My uncle was still on the line and I am giving him running commentary. 6 needed from 4 balls, 1 wicket to get. Sharma bowls, Misbah goes for a paddle scoop, I tell my uncle, it’s a six(on first impression of the shot), then it dawns. No, it’s a catch.(honestly, Sreesanth always looked like dropping it until he caught it!). I am shouting and jumping at the same time while still being on the phone. India win and thus dawned the era which a few years down the line we will call the Dhoni era.
Yet another World Cup, yet another game I remember where I was and what I was doing. Friends gathered at my place watching the final. Sri Lanka amass 275 owing to a classy century from Mahela and India start in rocky fashion losing big guns Sehwag and Sachin for just 25 runs. Harrowing memories of South Africa 2003 return. Gambhir steadies the ship with his 97(for me, the deserving MOM). Dhoni promotes himself and partners Gambhir to consolidate and bring it close. Dhoni scores 91*(78) and the final 6 to seal the deal will be an image that no Indian watching would be able to forget in their lifetime.
Ravi Shatsri’s words still echoes in my ears:
Dhoniiiiiiiiiiii finishes off in style. A magnificent strike into the crowd! India lift the World Cup after 28 years, the party starts in the dressing room and its an Indian captain who’s been absolutely magnificent in the night of the final
Here is something from my archive reminiscing that fateful day; ON TOP OF THE WORLD!
This was the early years of Dhoni the captain in the making. Dhoni actually opened the innings with Sehwag and went on to score 96. This is the innings that I consider ranks highly than any other century he has gotten. The pitch was a seaming track and the Indians were falling like 9 pins. Dhoni with Ramesh Powar for company compiled a well crafted 96. It was disappointing to see him not get that 100 and India lost the match too, but then his innings had really made an impact on me and hence I remember it fondly.
One of the matches that brought about the class of Dhoni the finisher. India chasing a meager 201 to win the Tri-Series lost the 9th wicket in the 47th over with Dhoni still at the crease. The target went from 19 off 18 balls to 15 off the last over. He sure loves those last over finishes. Eranga was given the big responsibility. The pitch was not helping the batsmen,so this was Sri Lanka’s game to lose. But, Dhoni had other ideas. 0,6,4,6. Cool as they come. Another trophy in the kitty. They don’t call him captain cool for nothing!
5. KXIP v CSK, IPL 2010
Whatever happens, Dhoni will fondly be remembered forever as captain of CSK. This one from the archive is one of the favorites of every CSK fan. Typical Dhoni territory. 16 needed off 6 balls to qualify for the semi finals. What does Dhoni do? Decimate the bowling off course. And this is even more famous for his ‘helmet punch’ after hitting the winning six. This was a rare show of emotion by Dhoni on the cricket field and surprised many.
But, Dhoni the test captain was a bit of an enigma. In tests, he was mostly resigned to the fact that the fast bowlers were ‘not fast enough’ or are always injured when more is needed from them. He let the games drift(especially abroad) whenever there was a chance to tighten the noose. Cue cut to England in 2011, India took a meager lead in the first innings of the 2nd test and had 2 quick scalps in the second innings, enter Ian Bell, and the game was gone. The game was infamous for the ‘recall of Ian bell after her was run out‘ incident. Then, New Zealand in 2014, yet another 2nd test and NZ were all but out of the game with half the NZ side back in the hutch for less than a 100, when India let them back in the game after a swashbuckling triple ton from Baz and centuries by Watling & Neesham. In the spinning pitches of India, Dhoni was a master and marshaled his resources like a king, but when there was less on offer for spin abroad, Dhoni was always found wanting and was at best a defensive captain.
Overall, 2016 was a decent year for Captain Dhoni, but, the pressure on batsman Dhoni was mounting to no end. His mantra of taking it to the final over began to work less, bowlers had become more skillful and wily while operating to Dhoni and Dhoni was at the receiving end of the pressure quite lately. Dhoni has always been a selfless statesman, be it his retirement from test cricket or the announcement that he is standing down as skipper from the shorter formats and with this announcement, I feel that the 2017 Champions trophy will be his swansong.
or does he still see himself playing the 2019 World cup?
Personally, 2016 for me was a fairly innocuous year. There were periods when a lot of things happened and there were periods where there was a lull. But, hey, I survived it all. Here is a rewind of my 2016
Attended a christian wedding right at the start of the year, of a colleague in Manila, dressed in a traditional Filipino dress(The Barong Tagalog).
Applied for a Singaporean PR, got rejected in record time(29 days). LOL!
Traveled to El Nido, Palawan, Philippines with friends. Had a wonderful time. 5 full days of masti.
Watched KABALI, first day first show(FDFS) @ Mayajaal, Chennai, India. Woke up at 4am and traveled about 40 kms.
Got my AADHAR CARD. w00t w00t!
Got my Philippine driving licence.
I broke something. Something important, something very precious and I dare not speak about it now.
Traveled by train and returned by flight(my first domestic flight experience) to Trivandrum, Kerala, India to attend the wedding of my dearest friend. Yet, another Christian wedding. What are the odds?
Had a family trip to Phuket & Bangkok, Thailand. Was in a cage with a live tiger, pro-kart raced and drove a jet ski. Three things ticked off the bucket list in one trip. And family time 🙂
Returned back to MNL after the trip and was hospitalized for one full week with Dengue. Darn the mosquitoes! More than the stay in hospital, what bugged me most was each day, anew nurse inquiring ‘Are you alone?’ and not to forget my veins beaten to pulp with needle pokes for blood tests(19 times, yes I kept count.)
Learnt that my company had a travel insurance in my name(since I am posted abroad). FULL REFUND!
Fitter than I was in 2015. Still a lot of weight fluctuations and bad diet practices. One step at a time.
Watched a hell lot of movies and series once again. Don’t see that changing one bit in 2017 too.
Planned to go skydiving, did not!
Failed miserably in my reading challenge for 2016. Read 8/15 books. The good thing though was that I had read all the 8 books by mid year and read bits and pieces the remaining 6 months. Will set the record straight in 2017.
Turned 30 this year. 30 years of pure awesome.
First Christmas and New years in Manila.
So, that was my 2016. If you read this, do leave a comment on how your 2016 was and wish you all a very Happy New Year 2017. Cheers 🙂
2016 was an average year music wise with not many great songs to choose from. A.R.Rahman was at his standard 2 albums a year, Anirudh was much out of sorts and D.Imman was churning out albums like an assembly line(think he had 11-12 releases this year). Harris Jayaraj is still searching for his missing omakaziya and Santhosh Narayanan is moving further away from his brand of music with his recent releases(read Bairavaa). There were some bright sparks though coming in from young upcoming composers like Nivas K. Prasanna, Leon James, Sean Roldan and K. So here goes my best 10 of 2016, songs that I loved and listened to on repeat this whole year.
We have heard so much about global warming over the years and probably even know some of its effects on our environment. But, how far have we come? Is everything we have known about it true? Is there any hope left?
Watch the trailer of this thought provoking documentary below;
UPDATE: The documentary was available to watch for FREE on YouTube for just a short while. If you are still interested to know more, you can follow the links below;
Woke up early morning to the tragic news of terrorist attacks in Paris. No one is immune from such barbaric inhumane unleashing of terror. Prayers to everyone in Paris. Stay strong. We are with you. The world is with you. Let us embrace peace to triumph over terrorism. Let’s us bring back the love.
Father, Father, Father help us
Send some guidance from above
‘Cause people got me, got me questioning’
And so comes the festival of lights, a time for festivities and family gatherings and a day to signify the triumph of good over evil. Light over darkness. it’s Diwali time.
My earliest memory of Diwali was the times spent together with extended family. When it was Diwali, it was the time everyone would get together. Periappa used to get the best crackers that were available in the market, always! And then who can forget the new dresses and food. And bursting crackers with everyone was great fun. Our biggest challenge was to find a bottle to launch our rockets. We(me along with my cousins) would have great fun during this time as it was the only time, probably year round where all of us would be under one roof. Later, during my college days there was a craze to watch movies released during Diwali. I can still remember vividly watching 4/5 major movies released that year(think it was 2006). Good times!
As we grow, the enthusiasm to burst crackers waned off. They were no more the exciting thing they used to be. As the name of the bombs kept changing(Laxmi, atom, nuclear and what not!), the interest too deteriorated. Also contributing to this was the fact that crackers cause pollution(noise, smoke) and Diwali was never the same again. There were restrictions everywhere, for everything.
Once you move away from Chennai(Tamil Nadu), Diwali is never the same ever again. You hardly feel any festivity and given the fact that some countries I’ve stayed in do not even declare Diwali as a holiday. It is just another day in the calendar. Except for the wishes you receive on social media, where you get the same msg/video/text forwarded in multiple groups. The spirit of Diwali is lost in its entirety.
Every single time I think of him, it always flashes through my mind. The telephone conversation we had just couple of days before he passed. It was the last time we spoke and it was after a long time he had called. He spoke about his career, his ambitions and what not! He even spoke about settling down. We joked about everything. That’s how we always speak. That chirpy voice, the enthusiasm with which he spoke keeps echoing in my mind. And then, two days later it was all gone. He lay there, motionless in the morgue in his favorite black shirt and beige pants. No, it was not HIM. It failed to register. Everybody there wished it was just a prank. But it wasn’t. He was gone for real taking with him the hopes he had, the dreams he shared, the life he wanted to live and a part of our souls.
He has been gone for 7 years. If there is one thing I wanted to change, I just wish September 15, 2008 never happened!
AN AMAZING REAL LIFE STORY I EVER HEARD Here is an amazing story from a flight attendant on Delta Flight 15, written following 9-11: On the morning of Tuesday, September 11, we were about 5 hours out of Frankfurt, flying over the North Atlantic . All of a sudden the curtains parted and I was told to go to the cockpit, immediately, to see the captain. As soon as I got there I noticed that the crew had that "All Business" look on their faces. The captain handed me a printed message. It was from Delta's main office in Atlanta and simply read, "All airways over the Continental United States are closed to commercial air traffic. Land ASAP at the nearest airport. Advise your destination." No one said a word about what this could mean. We knew it was a serious situation and we needed to find terra firma quickly. The captain determined that the nearest airport was 400 miles behind us in Gander, New Foundland. He requested approval for a route change from the Canadian traffic controller and approval was granted immediately — no questions asked. We found out later, of course, why there was no hesitation in approving our request. While the flight crew prepared the airplane for landing, another message arrived from Atlanta telling us about some terrorist activity in the New York area. A few minutes later word came in about the hijackings. We decided to LIE to the passengers while we were still in the air. We told them the plane had a simple instrument problem and that we needed to land at the nearest airport in Gander , New Foundland, to have it checked out. We promised to give more information after landing in Gander .. There was much grumbling among the passengers, but that's nothing new! Forty minutes later, we landed in Gander. Local time at Gander was 12:30 PM …. that's 11:00 AM EST. There were already about 20 other airplanes on the ground from all over the world that had taken this detour on their way to the US. After we parked on the ramp, the captain made the following announcement: "Ladies and gentlemen, you must be wondering if all these airplanes around us have the same instrument problem as we have. The reality is that we are here for another reason." Then he went on to explain the little bit we knew about the situation in the US. There were loud gasps and stares of disbelief. The captain informed passengers that Ground control in Gander told us to stay put. The Canadian Government was in charge of our situation and no one was allowed to get off the aircraft. No one on the ground was allowed to come near any of the air crafts. Only airport police would come around periodically, look us over and go on to the next airplane. In the next hour or so more planes landed and Gander ended up with 53 airplanes from all over the world, 27 of which were US commercial jets. Meanwhile, bits of news started to come in over the aircraft radio and for the first time we learned that airplanes were flown into the World Trade Center in New York and into the Pentagon in DC. People were trying to use their cell phones, but were unable to connect due to a different cell system in Canada . Some did get through, but were only able to get to the Canadian operator who would tell them that the lines to the U.S. were either blocked or jammed. Sometime in the evening the news filtered to us that the World Trade Center buildings had collapsed and that a fourth hijacking had resulted in a crash. By now the passengers were emotionally and physically exhausted, not to mention frightened, but everyone stayed amazingly calm. We had only to look out the window at the 52 other stranded aircraft to realize that we were not the only ones in this predicament. We had been told earlier that they would be allowing people off the planes one plane at a time. At 6 PM, Gander airport told us that our turn to deplane would be 11 am the next morning. Passengers were not happy, but they simply resigned themselves to this news without much noise and started to prepare themselves to spend the night on the airplane. Gander had promised us medical attention, if needed, water, and lavatory servicing. And they were true to their word. Fortunately we had no medical situations to worry about. We did have a young lady who was 33 weeks into her pregnancy. We took REALLY good care of her. The night passed without incident despite the uncomfortable sleeping arrangements. About 10:30 on the morning of the 12th a convoy of school buses showed up. We got off the plane and were taken to the terminal where we went through Immigration and Customs and then had to register with the Red Cross. After that we (the crew) were separated from the passengers and were taken in vans to a small hotel. We had no idea where our passengers were going. We learned from the Red Cross that the town of Gander has a population of 10,400 people and they had about 10,500 passengers to take care of from all the airplanes that were forced into Gander! We were told to just relax at the hotel and we would be contacted when the US airports opened again, but not to expect that call for a while. We found out the total scope of the terror back home only after getting to our hotel and turning on the TV, 24 hours after it all started. Meanwhile, we had lots of time on our hands and found that the people of Gander were extremely friendly. They started calling us the "plane people." We enjoyed their hospitality, explored the town of Gander and ended up having a pretty good time. Two days later, we got that call and were taken back to the Gander airport. Back on the plane, we were reunited with the passengers and found out what they had been doing for the past two days. What we found out was incredible….. Gander and all the surrounding communities (within about a 75 Kilometer radius) had closed all high schools, meeting halls, lodges, and any other large gathering places. They converted all these facilities to mass lodging areas for all the stranded travelers. Some had cots set up, some had mats with sleeping bags and pillows set up. ALL the high school students were required to volunteer theirtime to take care of the "guests." Our 218 passengers ended up in a town called Lewisporte, about 45 kilometers from Gander where they were put up in a high school. If any women wanted to be in a women-only facility, that was arranged. Families were kept together. All the elderly passengers were taken to private homes. Remember that young pregnant lady? She was put up in a private home right across the street from a 24-hour Urgent Care facility.There was a dentist on call and both male and female nurses remained with the crowd for the duration. Phone calls and e-mails to the U.S. and around the world were available to everyone once a day. During the day, passengers were offered "Excursion" trips. Some people went on boat cruises of the lakes and harbors. Some went for hikes in the local forests. Local bakeries stayed open to make fresh bread for the guests. Food was prepared by all the residents and brought to the schools. People were driven to restaurants of their choice and offered wonderful meals. Everyone was given tokens for local laundry mats to wash their clothes, since luggage was still on the aircraft. In other words, every single need was met for those stranded travelers. Passengers were crying while telling us these stories. Finally, when they were told that U.S. airports had reopened, they were delivered to the airport right on time and without a single passenger missing or late. The local Red Cross had all the information about thewhereabouts of each and every passenger and knew which plane they needed to be on and when all the planes were leaving. They coordinated everything beautifully. It was absolutely incredible. When passengers came on board, it was like they had been on a cruise. Everyone knew each other by name. They were swapping stories of their stay, impressing each other with who had the better time. Our flight back to Atlanta looked like a chartered party flight. The crew just stayed out of their way. It was mind-boggling. Passengers had totally bonded and were calling each other by their first names, exchanging phone numbers, addresses, and email addresses. And then a very unusual thing happened. One of our passengers approached me and asked if he could make an announcement over the PA system. We never, ever allow that. But this time was different. I said "of course" and handed him the mike. He picked up the PA and reminded everyone about what they had just gone through in the last few days. He reminded them of the hospitality they had received at the hands of total strangers. He continued by saying that he would like to do something in return for the good folks of Lewisporte. "He said he was going to set up a Trust Fund under the name of DELTA 15 (our flight number). The purpose of the trust fund is to provide college scholarships for the high school students of Lewisporte. He asked for donations of any amount from his fellow travelers. When the paper with donations got back to us with the amounts, names, phone numbers and addresses, the total was for more than $14,000! "The gentleman, a MD from Virginia , promised to match the donations and to start the administrative work on the scholarship. He also said that he would forward this proposal to Delta Corporate and ask them to donate as well. As I write this account, the trust fund is at more than $1.5 million and has assisted 134 students in college education. "I just wanted to share this story because we need good stories right now. It gives me a little bit of hope to know that some people in a faraway place were kind to some strangers who literally dropped in on them. It reminds me how much good there is in the world." "In spite of all the rotten things we see going on in today's world this story confirms that there are still a lot of good people in the world and when things get bad, they will come forward.
2016 was an average year music wise with not many great songs to choose from. A.R.Rahman was at his standard 2 albums a year, Anirudh was much out of sorts and D.Imman was churning out albums like an assembly line(think he had 11-12 releases this year). Harris Jayaraj is still searching for his missing omakaziya and Santhosh Narayanan is moving further away from his brand of music with his recent releases(read Bairavaa). There were some bright sparks though coming in from young upcoming composers like Nivas K. Prasanna, Leon James, Sean Roldan and K. So here goes my best 10 of 2016, songs that I loved and listened to on repeat this whole year.
Rajster's Ramblings 