Kal Ho Na Ho - A melodramatic, typical Karan Johar drama with the usual works - romance, engagement rituals, handful of marriage songs, disco, a pinch of patriotism, well timed comedy, a flashback, foreign locales (NY this time), motherly sentiments and lots of sobs !

There was Shah Rukh in his usual sweet happy-go-lucky role playing the usual Hindi film logic - the entry/charisma/ideas of one person changing the lives of a dull family - a repeated but proven logic. Shah Rukh has the usual teary-eyed, quivering lips emotions and the usual dance numbers. Well, everything was As Usual ! And for those who are not yet bored with Shah Rukh's stereotyped roles and histrionics, this is a definite treat. For others, Saif Ali is good entertainment.

All the characters had enough room to sob their eyes out, evoking no sympathy whatsover from the audience (except for some girls next to me, who kept saying 'so-cute', 'how-sweet' every second minute), but driving them to sheer frustration as to when the movie would conclude. The movie could have easily been shortened by half an hour.

Btw, Maayajaal is a very good weekend hangout if you ignore the exhorbitant entry fee. Six theatres playing the latest movies, bowling alley, games arcade, tasty food from Arusuvai, pleasing drive to and fro on East Coast Road & radio FM made it a nice Saturday for us.

Authoring a novel is a difficult task. Authoring a novel that can make the reader visualise the narration effectively and make him/her feel like he's watching a science fiction movie is next to difficult. Thats exactly how I felt when I read Michael Crichton's 'Prey'. Crichton should have been a movie-maker. Heck, no then we wouldn't have such wonderful books. I was simply stunned at the sequence where the hoard of nano-particles arrange themselves outside the car window to reflect Mae's face. How can someone write that so well that you feel you are watching a movie ? Only a brilliant author can make a visual out of mere words. No wonder Jurassic Park, Lost World, Sphere were made into movies. In fact, I heard Sphere makes more splendid reading than viewing. I borrowed The 13th warrior from the library yesterday. Yeah, I am a newly turned Crichton fan. I was a Robin Cook fan before :).

The Kutchery buzz has started in Chennai with the focus having shifted from the Diwali Blockbusters to December Kutcherys. The December Kutcheri Season is now spread over nearly a month from the original fortnight that it used to be. This attraction unique to Chennai is looked forward to by seasoned performers, upcoming musicians and dancers, music critics, inquisitive NRI listeners and music lovers. An added attraction in the past few years has been the catering facilities at the prestigious sabhas.

I have always felt that it would be nice if the musician can announce the Raaga/Thaala/Composer at the end of each piece. This would help people like me who often break their heads over identifying the not-so-very-common raagas and turn to the internet the next day to figure it out. In a NithyaShree kutcheri some four years back, she rendered a krithi set to a rare raaga and the audience couldn't identify the raaga. At the end of the krithi, she announced the raaga - I dont recollect the name of that raaga - it was some variation of ReethiGowlai. Well, there should not be these handouts at the start of the kutchery as that destroys the suspense of what the next song would be. It almost tempts us to evaluate the performance even before it commences.

A complete calendar of the Sabha Schedules is available online for prior planning. I am sure most people agree with me that live carnatic concerts are more fun than music from those high wattage Sony speakers with the 'Hall' or 'Theater' effects on. Am planning to attend the concerts of Aruna Sayeeram and Neyveli Santhanagopalan at the Music Academy this season. Lets see if work permits me to do so.

A whole suite of Color Picker freeware available at Canada Graphics. You can mix and match colors and have the Color Picker generate the Hex codes for them. Cool. A serene blue would soon be the color theme of my weblog.

An impelling article at outsourcing-asia.com on how India as a country has developed a brand in outsourcing. A must read.

Sound when stretched is Music
Movement when stretched is Dance
Mind when stretched is Meditation
Life when stretched is Celebration

These are words of Sri Sri Ravishankar, a spiritual leader who was in Chennai, addressing a large crowd at the Anna varsity grounds yesterday evening. The ever-similing, simplistic, white-flowing-robe clad Ravishankar answered people's doubts in spiritualism, delivered a short speech and frenzied the satsang (communion) with mellifluous bhajans. He was also steering the crowd towards adopting the Art of Living course which aims at bringing back human values and contributing to world peace by realising the peace within.

The meditation session was amazing. The word chosen for meditation was the Sanskrit word - 'Ram'. 'Ram' comprises of two syllables - 'Ra' + 'M'. 'Ra' is the Sanskrit root from which the English word 'Radiance' has evolved. 'M' in Sanskrit refers to the Self and is the root for the English 'Me'. 'Ram' symbolises 'Radiance within Me', making the word ideal for deep contemplation. At the end of the session, when I opened my eyes, I estimated that the session would have lasted for 5 to 7 minutes. But no, a whole 20 minutes had gone by. Relativity, I realised.

When someone asked him as to who is the person within the mind who impels the actions that we perform, he wisely answered - 'find out who made you ask this question'. He opined that - 'sometimes its better not to answer some questions'. There are things which each person needs to find out for himself. His answers were interspersed with irony, wit and wise humour. He said Mukthi was analogous to the feeling that a child experiences at the completion of exams.

He preaches the power of love and compassion, which was avidly seen when 6 men, erstwhile militants at the Kashmir border and subsequently transformed by the Art of Living course, were at the gathering yesterday to testify what the course has done to their lives.

The spirit of humanhood, transcending the trifle barriers of race, caste and language was visible right in front of our eyes when Ravishankar encouraged the enthusiastic Chinese/Japanese audience to sing a bhajan in their native tongue. The happiness and serenity that his face and attitude radiated were contagious, making me smile beside myself.

As one of his disciples chose to put it, Sri Sri Ravishankar has the wisdom of Gauthama Budhdha, the compassion of Jesus Christ, the dynamism of Swami Vivekanandha and the mischief of Lord Krishna. It was a beautiful evening spent in satsang. The open skies, the relaxing meditation and the soulful music had indisputably created magic in the air.

Why Indiana and New Jersey were right.

Were Indiana and New Jersey right ?

The backlash on outsourcing is one side of the story and how its going to lash back at them is the other side of it. The world's one global marketplace. Fighting cut-throat competition would be better than cutting it out of your purview. But then just about everywhere, its about political games and selective memory, is it not.