What would you do…..

When your mobile phone is in water?That too, rinsed in water for about half an hour..

Google “save a wet cell phone” and you get 2,520,000 results in 0.24 seconds. Happens with such frequency I s’pose!

But, none of the results I found even closely resembled my case. And so I promised myself I’d blog the incident for the whole world to look up to,in case it happened to anyone!

Well, I’d put my cell phone in my pant pocket and the servant had accidentally rinsed it. After searching for it around the house, I realised what I’d done and found it in the bucket!

Panic.Fear.Sorrow. And I immediately took out everything and got it rid of all the water. Then, not realising the perils, I switched my mobile on immediately. And it said “Contact Service”. Shit, its a Sunday. No service I realised.

With stupid curiosity, I tried switching it on and off a couple of times. In case your phone gets stuck like mine and somehow you are led to this post of mine, PLEASE DO NOT SWITCH YOUR MOBILE ON immediately. It might lead to short circuiting internally.

After getting my battery and sim rid of all the water, I tested them with another mobile. Thank God it worked fine.

And then I googled, and found various ways to restore a phone. Among them were
1. Use Vacuum cleaners( I dont have one)
2.Use alcohol to wash ur phone (ditto)
3.Use dessicators (what is a dessicator?? )
4.Use Silica gel (where on earth would I find a silica gel?)

I found that all these instructions were meant for users in the US or some other country where all these products are easily accessible, or part of every home.

And, all these,according to what I found, were applicable if you’d not switched on your mobile more than once after it got wet. So, that left me with very little hope.

There was one other thing which people advised, to restore a phone. And that is to put it in a vessel full of uncooked rice,preferably with the battery and the rest of the phone separately, so that moisture is absorbed faster.

Right now, believe me, about five hours after I did that, my phone’s back on track.So, if u have hope and some luck, you can save 700 bucks and do what your service person would say is “NOT POSSIBLE”

UPDATE:The speaker alone doesn’t work. Vibrator’s fine.  Though it’s just a Nokia 1600, it’s been my life for a year now. So, very happy to have got it back on track..well,almost!

 

Slumdog Millionaire-A review

Here goes my movie review number two…and I heard from people that review no.1 wasn’t all that bad..

I guess this is one review I MUST write..Here’s why

Over the past year or two,there’ve been books about that India which gets trampled and humiliated amidst  terms like “economic boom” and “emerging superpower”..not to forget other lingo like “Nuke deal”..”123″,etc…which seem far away from it… The anger and purpose of authors like Aravind Adiga and Chetan Bhagat(I mean that unromantic,serious part of  ”3 mistakes of my life” which tells us about some of the religious issues in North India) have been followed by this movie now…

And now this movie..which combines parts of these two books.Some of the ingredients of these..to say the least..have been inspiring…as in..inspiring the REAL India..which suffers due to various socio-political issues

1.All these tell us that when slavery and ambition..which seem to come together at times like in Adiga’s book and Boyle’s movie..when blessed with a little bit of luck and a lot of valour..can yield many good  things..

2.Underlining issues like Hindu-Muslim problems not only reflect the real state of the country at the grassroots level..but also inspire us to come together..whatever our faiths be.These things have been stressed upon for quite a while,but I guess when they are expressed through media like bestsellers and blockbusters..people will think about it more seriously..

I’m really bad at analysing the finer technical aspects of the movie..so.I guess this is all I’ve to say..and finally…4 stars on 5 for the content and Rahman’s background score..

 

Vaaranam Aayiram-a review…

Here goes my first ever movie review

Let me try to make it short(unlike the movie…wink!) and meaningful..

Well,apart from the length,the movie had more plus points than flaws..For a story like this one,few heroes(in fact,none in the present generation) could’ve carried the movie through like Surya did.He does all the homework,slugs it out at his gym,works hard on his acting all the time…and the fruit of it all is there for everyone to see…in this typical Gautham movie.Harris’ music blends with the picturisations,though the re-recording could’ve been better..’specially the choice for “dandanakka” type music when Surya fights in the army..

As one newspaper review put it…the movie has a storyline which would be enough to make three four movies.Sameera Reddy’s done well,particuarly her lip sync,which is creditable for a first-timer in a tamil movie..Some of the wigs look comical(simran’s one when she’s in her college..and the father suriya’s…when he’s about to die)..These minor things can be overlooked since Surya’s acting and looks erases it all…

After some time…one movie with a serious storyline,less comedy,for you to watch with your family!

Though I’m not one professional reviewer…I’d give this one 4.5 stars on 5…

 

Young World Quiz ‘08 Trichy Regionals-A review

Most Indians,inclusive of myself,get this special happiness and pride when they realise that they know answers to questions. Quizzes for long had been these run-on-the-mill routines, flooded with mundane trivia like countries and capitals,world leaders’ names and such other obscure trivia…

For the beginner….Quizzing in general here could be classified into two genres:

1.Trivia Quizzes, where all the above types were asked…and those people who considered themselves “non-quizzers”(there’s this thought prevailing that quizzers are a special breed of people who spend all their time memorizing trivia…!) would be bored of all those questions…

2.Fundae-based quizzes,which tested the depth to which the participants knew their  trivia and their ability to connect stuff…Guesses too played a role in these…and hence those “non-quizzers” found it interesting and likeable as well…

This classification,in the recent past,has started becoming obsolete and the former brand ceases to exist now…well,almost…

It’s well and truly a change for the better,’specially when you start exposing children of 10-12 years old into it..The YWQ regionals here happened three days back,and it was the usual Ramana-style questions…making the participants think…This has been one quiz which has managed to merge the plain trivia-logical fundae quite seamlessly…And so it was this time..

With a record number of teams in attendance(quite a few had to sit on the floor,in the aisles and all!), it was fun,fun and fun all the way for the li’l kids, most of them first timers in an event as big as this one..Well,it’s big cuz places like Trichy don’t have such an active quizzing scene,with open quizzes and all.I’ve felt many times,that,despite some inter-school quizzes we had here,we never got to fight it out with the “Big Boys”,those city-based wizkids who,from our eyes,knew everything under the sun…

People are ready to do open quizzes here,but there are very less people who are ready to invite them…

Well,there are people like The Quizzociates,probably the best quizzing club Trichy has seen for a long time now.And they’ve been trying to improve the quizzing scene here,and,to an extent,succeeded in bringing people into this wonderful thing.Places like Trichy,despite all the odds and exposure problems,continue to put up a fight in their bid to emulate those “Big Boys”…And yours truly is proud to be part of this group!

 

Review of Dr.Kalam s speech at SASTRA Univ.-Tanjore-2nd Oct ‘08

Humble,unassuming,non-controversial,knowledgable…The list of adjectives is endless when you start raving about Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam-probably the best president the country has seen and the sort of citizen any country would call “valuable” to its development

No matter how many times you hear his “Dream big…Have a vision” speeches, his ideas are inspiring every time he graces stages around the country. This one,again,was a case in point. He calls students as his “friends” every time he refers to them.

The crowd was in raptures right from the moment he arrived, treating him and applauding like they would for a rock star. Such has been the man’s contribution in changing,or to put it mildly,influencing the Indian youth’s mindset and thought process.Addressing the crowd at the inauguration of the University’s Silver jubilee year celebrations, he stressed on the crying need to carry out research in various fields,especially those relating to bringing technology to the common man. One sentence from his speech still rings loud in my mind: “With improved research comes better teaching and better teaching encourages more students to carry out research”…Right on the Bull’s Eye that was.

The University also has a special centre for excellence in Mathematics,named after Srinivas Ramanujan. The former president told the audience the story of how Ramanujan was a genius in mathematics despite being weak in all other areas. He explained that students for the mathematics centre should not be selected based on their regular academic scores.Instead, he asked the management to select students through a procedure which would identify the best math brains and thereby improve chances of producing more “Ramanujan”s…

It was typical of Kalam when he told stories of how Nobel Laureates sacrificed a lot to carry out their researches. The story of CV Raman writing a polite letter to the then President Dr.Rajendra Prasad, expressing his inability to attend the Bharat Ratna awards function,since he had to help a research student submit his thesis within the deadline,was indeed touching. 

Overall, it was an interesting speech,which went on for about an hour and a half,leaving the audience asking for more and mesmerizing them….Something I wouldn’t have traded for a holiday’s leisure….

 

Landmark Quiz 08 @ Chennai

This was my first time at the quiz… Never having been to an Open quiz before..this was a new experience.And how good it turned out to be!Just watching all those smart minds in action in the finals was just a treat. Our team got 17 and a half in the preliminaries…(dont know how good or bad it is…).But for a first timer at an open quiz….it felt very satisfying!Without going too much into other stuff and descriptions..here are the questions from the prelims(as much stuff as I could recollect…and in no proper order)….

1.Sportspersons from which sport have been awarded the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award the maximum number of times-four?

Ans:Shooting(Abhinav Bindra,Anjali Bhagwat,Rajyavardhan Rathore and Manavjit Singh Sandhu)

2.Which two countries apart from India celebrate their Independence Day on August 15th?

Ans:Republic of the Congo and South Korea

3.The religious heads of a religion get their name because they “act as a “ford” across the “river of human misery”.”?

Ans:The Tirthankaras of Jainism

4.This African country had its name changed to its present one …after its independence.Its present name,in Shona language means ” “great houses of stone”.Which country?

Ans:Zimbabwe

5.What is the name given to a a tomb or monument erected in honour of a person or group of persons whose remains are elsewhere?

(clue:it’s the name of a road in Chennai)

Ans:Cenotaph

6.Video-From a movie where a man’s eating a carrot and is talking to a woman.What was inspired from this?

Ans: Bugs Bunny

7.Audio-Kuselan’s theme music

8.Audio- Barack Obama reading from his book” Dreams from my father”

9.Audio-Identify the artist and the instrument

Ans:(dont rem the artist s name right),Instrument Balalaika

10.Who,apart from Arjuna,were the only two people to have listen to Bhagavad Gita directly from Lord Krishna?

Ans:Sanjaya and Hanuman(who’s on Arjuna s flag)

11.What object would u find on the top of the Wimbledon Men’s singles trophy?

Ans:A pineapple

12.Which Hans Christian Andersen tale begins thus: “There once was a woman who wanted so very much to have a tiny little child, but she did not know where to find one.”??

Ans:Thumbelina

13.Which website labels its movie reviews as “Certified Fresh”?

Ans:rottentomatoes.com

14. Scott Fahlman of the US,in September 1982,created which highly popular internet phenomenon?

Ans:The first smiley emoticon

15.Which modern word owes its origin from the Latin term for mask or character? (Other etymological details were given…but this is all I could recollect)?

Ans:Persona

16.James Conolly was the first ever Olympic Gold medallist.For which discipline did he get the gold?

Ans:Triple Jump

17.In Buddhism,what are included in the included in the Khuddaka Nikaya of the Sutta Pitaka,containing literature concerning the previous births of Buddha?

Ans:The Jatakas

18.Pic of Amazon s ebook reader….Kindle

19.Pic of the Red Panda ,also called Firefox

20.Video…Connect Pirates of the Caribbean with Haunted House

Ans:Both are rides in Disneyland

21.In 1987, there was a project to save the Silent Valley in Kerala.Which animal was used as the mascot (if that’s the right word) for this project?

Ans: The lion-tailed Macaque

22.Video from Qayamat se Qayamat Tak..Idenify the child artist

Ans:Imran Khan

23.Which 94-year building in Chennai was used by Annie Besant , is now facing demolition?

Ans: Gokhale Hall

24.Which novel in 1902 rose to the top of the Bestseller lists, thus becoming the first ever detective novel to do so?

Ans: The Hound of Baskervilles

25.Who was declared the patron saint of Delhi in 1857, when any Catholic in the town was stoned to death?

Ans: St.Stephen

26.The bob cut, a style which was created in 1909 by a hairdresser named Antoine,was inspired by whom?

Ans:Joan of Arc

27.Which other team,apart from Manchester United,Arsenal and Chelsea has won the English Premier League?

Ans:Blackburn Rovers

28.What syndrome was first observed in the 1980s,when it turned out that people who had traveled long distances by airplane were at an increased risk for thrombosis, especially deep venous thrombosis and its main complication, pulmonary embolism?

Ans:Economy Class Syndrome

29.Antrix Corp is the marketing arm of which Indian organization?

Ans:ISRO(Antrix comes from the Sanskrit root “Antariksh” which means “Space”)

30.Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw’s nickname came because of the regiment he served over a long period of time..What was it?

Ans:Sam ‘Bahadur’(he served the Gurkha regiment)

31.In Geometry,what is the name given to an egg-shaped figure?

Ans:Oval(ovum in latin means egg….ellipse was what mot people guessed!)

32.Pic of Ilavazhagi,the world carrom champ

33.What weapon, used in the future in Armies,was first written about in the  novel “Daring Adventures in Elephant Land”?

Ans: TASER(Tom A Swift’s Electric Rifle)

34.Pic(s)-A german architect firm has been awarded the rights to construct which building and has proposed the following plans(as shown in the pics)?

Ans:The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly complex

35.What word gets its origin from France,where it was “used to describe anything which brought luck to a household”?(again…couldn’t recollect the minute ety details from the quiz)

Ans:Mascot

36.What geographical feature is the Shiv Ling at Amarnath an example of?

Ans:Stalagmite

37.According to The Economist,which is the toughest management school in the world to get into?

Ans:IIM-Ahmedabad

38.Which Tamil word,meaning “to avoid doing work” gets its origins from the British Army where retired officials where called so?

Ans: OB (adikkaradhu)…gets its origin from OB , which stood for “Off Beat” in the British Army

39.Vinobha Bhave described which period in Indian History as Anushasan Parva or “Time for Discipline”?

Ans: The Emergency period in 1975

Thats all I could remember from the prelims…If you find any errors in the questions..pls write them in comments section

Urs

Srinath S

 

Adieu IPL!Welcome back,Test Cricket

Well…long time since I last posted on this blog….So far its been more about the IPL and nothing much else.

Like any new concept,the IPL T20 excited most of us in the beginning…what with all the glitz and glamor in the Olympics-like opening ceremony.And most of the cricket played so far has been nothing short of fantastic,which is only to be expected considering the quality of talent available in all teams.Though a couple of teams have failed to make a significant impact in the tournament,things are bound to change once the transfer market opens in the off-season…Sounds football-like,doesn’t it?

Flaws:

*Much like the 2007 ODI World Cup, the IPL has been  far too lengthy,and as Wasim Akram has said,the tournament will be a bigger success if it becomes shorter…

*The live coverage on television,to say the least,has been below par.Inexperienced studio presenters and helpless commentators-when one listens to the commentary,the word “DLF” is repeated at least a hundred times within a single innings….so much for the sponsorship…HUH?

*And last but not the least,Lalit Modi comes up with a new rule everyday…we’ll get enough new rules to publish the “IPL-Lalit Modi Rulebook” very soon…check this out

After all the T20,it’s feels much more special to watch intense test cricket  played over five days..’specially the two series in progress now..For all of you folks who think IPL would end up killing test cricket…let me put it this way…too much of any format becomes a bore…be it tests,ODIs or T20..so,its up to the ICC(and yes…BCCI) to make sure cricket lives longer,rather than their multi-million dollars….

 

T20,IPL n Slapgate!

It’s been one amazing year in Indian cricket..Coming to think of it..the BCCI had never wanted to embrace T20 till last year..and the BCCI,for reasons best known to itself, was refusing to allow India to take part in the world T20..Not long before,there was no Sreesanth and his antics..and Bhajji had seemingly grown up from the days when he asked Ponting to “*&%^ off”…Those were probably the first english words he spoke….

Now,after a long,hard season….look where we are…India World T20 champs….and guess what,the same BCCI cash cow wants to spearhead the T20 bandwagon..While the IPL so far’s been a great treat for all fans,laying to rest all doubts on whether fans will back their cities as they’ve been used to cheering their country all these years.

But wait…lets get down to THE topic….Firstly,I wish Sreesanth was an actor..he could give all our stars a run for their money..How well did he emote!And Bhajji…wont he ever change?Enough has been argued by our ubiquitous news channels…so I dont need to go into that too much…

One valid point that was made was by Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi…who said Sreesanth has more antic skills than bowling talent..

On the other hand..people like the versatile Harsha Bhogle,one of my favourite commentators,who,not long ago,was telling all of us from the commentary box not to go too much into the Symonds-Bhajji-monkey-controversy…is finding himself in the thick of things now..as the Mumbai Indians’ adviser….Pity him!He wouldnt have wanted this!

And finally,these days,it feels good that test cricket is returning…albeit the fact that the IPL’s going on in this country…Lets savour the “real” cricket…as Oz take on the Windies..and the Kiwis go to Mighty Ol’ Blighty!

 

IPL-Bring it on!

ahem ahem…..with more and more exams coming up..it’s been quite difficult to even follow cricket.But then,when the entire world is following the so-called “revolutionary” IPL….exams and other stuff had to go backstage…

For the first time,probably,I had a feeling that this country had enough money and resources to host an Olympics,just looking at the way the entire opening ceremony was being presented…short n sweet,and for once,the Chinnaswamy stadium resembled a Roman amphitheatre or a la an Opera house…

Coming to the cricket..well…McCullum showed us why this form of cricket is loved so much by everyone..blistering hitting..powerful shots all around the park…bludgeoning every other bowler..and those amazing Douglas-Marillier-ish-over-the-keeper’s head stuff…And to see Shah Rukh take a bow and the crowd go mad…well,cricket seemed to have travelled a hundred miles from the days when an elegant Atherton cover drive off McGrath would warrant a unanimous applause from the high-class Lord’s crowd

The reception to this new-born baby of world cricket was nothing short of spectacular…or so it seemed on the inaugural day..If that was anything to go by….very soon,the IPL is set to change the face of cricket….

 

Indian Cricket

One of the most compelling experiences of cricket,and modern sport in general,is tracking the rise of a sportsman from an ordinary background,having no godfathers,mentors and the like,yet rising to the heights just due to his own grit,guts and sheer mental strength.Thats why watching this young Indian team perform in recent times has been the experience worth more than all the IPL dollars.

Imagine a coolie’s son rising to the heights of a Hollywood star in a few years time and yet displaying an uncharacteristic level-headedness uncommon among Indian sportsmen of the recent past.And another,born into a family of wrestlers,literally having to grapple his way to selection.Welcome to the world of the Dhonis and the Praveen kumars…

I came across this bit of info in an article in Tehelka.It said that Dhoni used to go to a temple about 50 km from Ranchi.He used to talk to the priest for hours,asking if it was possible to predict his future.When he said yes,Dhoni didn’t want to know about it all..Instead he sought God’s blessings to improve his game.

The priest says

“We used to chat with him for hours and hours together when he came here.I want to do so even now.But I know it is impossible”

Also,just before that home series against Pakistan,where Dhoni’s rise started,he had no one to turn to for practice.All the practice he had before that series was with his school coach,who bowled to him with wet tennis balls on a concrete surface,to train him to face Akhtar and co.And on that hot,humid day in Vizag,all those fast deliveries flew to the boundary like tennis balls would in gully cricket.

While these guys have been rewarded for the hard work they put in,there are many,many more, who,having been given the cold shoulder by the BCCI,have sought employment with the ICL.

I also came across this touching article on one of cricinfo’s blogs about the sufferings undergone by some of our own first-class cricketers.They deserve(d) better.

Today,even as the world is split into two factions,arguing about the viability of the IPL and the ICL,one thing is for sure…these leagues have helped those underprivileged lot earn a living.