Don’t ask me, Not to love you.

"I’m not begging you to love me.
I’m not really even asking you.
But, isn’t it alright
If I cherish that hope in my heart?
If I dream of just holding your hand,
It will hurt me – not you.
I will try to keep my eyes from shining
When they see you.
And I promise
I will try not to smile a special smile
When you say hello.
But please
Don’t ask me
Not to love you…"

...Writer unknown. Found in some friend’s orkut profile.

The Day When Boys Turned Man.

Again I came up with a scrap I wrote to one of my friend yesterday. Lot of things are there in this junkyard mind to be said but not today. B'cos Today is the D day!
After all, it’s a long tale. Six months back 2 big names in cricket face the worst in the game. World cup, big hopes, early first round exit.. Dumped. Effigies of the team had been burnt in both countries. Time gone by and captains are changed. A new format is introduced called T-20 and 2 young man emerged. MS and Shoaib gave us hope. Hope that our cricket is still has the power to beat Australia and S. Africa. It’s not all about machine. It’s still and always about heart. Go boys. Show us your mantle.
.................

There u go... its India vs. Pakistan World Cup final! Really it’s Dream come true for all cricket fanatics like us ;-) and Dhoni is looking so confident, in last after match presentation he said to ravi shastri that I red your article yesterday in crickinfo and u wrote in that...
Wow! Here is a captain who reads also. Damm good stuff. I like that. I love that...
Now they do whatever they want in the final. I don’t care. With Yuvraj’s divine incarnation v got what v want. The mighty aussies are dumped! That’s all. And now I can say that:- V found our Dada again in MS. play the game 'Dil se..' It’s called no fear cricket. He shows the steal he got in it. All the best guys. Enjoy!

CHAK DE INDIA -"A simple film with a good heart."


This is a strange comparison. Last Friday I saw amitabh talking about one of his favorite movie AMAR, AKBAR, ANTHONY on CNN-IBN. He said that when manmohan desai was making this movie no one believes that so illogical plot works. So much stereotypes and so much cliches are there that we all laugh on that. But there was something in it that connected direct to the audience. All stereotypes, cliches were vanished and plot worked. So.. What was that?
I called it heart on the right place! Last week when I was watching CHAK DE INDIA I felt the same. With such stupid scenes like the one when kabir khan leaving his home and a boy said to his father, "papa manu bhi gaddar dekhna hai." Bad. Or all the board meetings where the board head is saying, "ye chakla-belan chalane wali bhartiya nariya hain." Hey man don't create cliches like that again and again. Indian cinema moved beyond that. But still with all that I like the movie. It has something in it like the A3.
At the first place. Acknowledge this fact that in Indian mainstream cinema u didn't saw a Muslim as a hero for long time. As our biggest icon and idol, SRK also playing raaj, rahul or veer pratap singh or mohan bhargva after a small role in hey ram' as amzad khan. Acknowledge that as a writer it's difficult for jaideep sahni to convince yashraj on a story which has a leading man called 'kabir khan'.
CHAK DE INDIA is an average film. Nothing new that stands apart. But chak de is a film with heart. As a sports film it captures the right story, the underdog story. Hockey is the most wasted sport for India in our times and in women's hockey the case is worst. So like the most celebrated sports film India had... LAGAAN, chak de is also blended with the same underdog becomes winner story line. And u all know this fact that if Tom and Jerry fight happened, tom came out as winner each time! This is the main essence of storytelling.
Shahrukh is acted with none of his KING KHAN style first time after SWADES. Although it's true that SWADES is a much better film in every department, Chak de is in the same compartment. With a good storyline (that's the biggest good in the movie) it ensembles a rainbow of characters from each part of the country. The challenge for coach is to build a team from 16 different identities. And With that he provides the ultimate strength India has, "unity in diversity".
The stand out character is komal choutala with his hariyanvi accent but special mention to bindiya naik. Only girl stands with srk on acting level. Shilpa shukla played this character with all his skill she acquired in her theatre life so far. Actually the credit goes to the writer who defined every small character so well. Jaideep... You proved me again. What I wrote after KHOSLA KA GHOSLA, you maintained my words. Keep the good work going!
I don't have much knowledge but it looks like the camera work is little loose. The match is not looking that great as an ESPN telecast looks. Give your opinion on that? All movie technocrat friends are invited on this. Shammi, sanjay, nidhi... I am waiting on that...
The climax with penalty shootout was too predictable. Create little more drama next time.
After all... A simple film with a good heart. The rating is 3/5.
Enjoy rain...
Bye...
...miHir :)

Feluda again!

Did anyone of you gone throw the detective stories of ‘feluda’ in his or her childhood? If you are a reading creature like me then of course you are. This satyajit ray’s own ‘Sherlock holms’ is the most interesting thing in my childhood reading. In most of the stories feluda goes to some new, peaceful place and suddenly things going wild there. A robbery or a murder and feluda on his job! “sonar qila” is the ultimate suspense thriller for me in my dreamy, not-so-happening childhood in rajasthan.
In 9th osian’s cinefan film festival I saw navdeep singh’s new film “MANORAMA 6 FEET UNDER” and my old ‘feluda’ memories again came fresh to me. With an impressive principle cast (abhay deol, vinay pathak, gul panag, raima sen, kulbhushan kharbanda and sarika) ‘manorama’ set in an small town in rajasthan.. lakhot (somewhere in shekhawati) and the main protagonist ‘satyaveer’ has the ‘lalmohan ganguli’ impact on him! suspense novel writer and interested in thrills.
This is the main plot:- Satyaveer who works in the public works department is bored with his middle-class existence, his small-town life and its small problems. There seems to be no challenge or adventure to excite the young man. He has dreams of becoming a writer, in fact, he has even written a detective novel called Manorama. But he is disheartened by the fact that it hasn't fared well in the market. And then, one day, an incident occurs that sucks him into a conspiracy. A woman called Manorama, who Satyaveer meets and who asks him to look into her ?husband?s? affairs, dies under mysterious circumstances. Satyaveer wants to solve the mystery, and takes up the task as a challenge. The act gives a new meaning to his life, a chance to live it differently. A homage to the noir genre, Manorama is about an amateur detective in a small town who finds himself caught in a web of lies, deceit and murder.
The film will be in theaters in one or two months. A good watch I must say. Vinay pathak is 1s again the best in his performance. And u remember maharani’s last laugh long...
Love u all...
Enjoy rain...

dead poet’s society

"Just watched a movie ‘dead poet’s society’. It’s about poetry, it’s about literature, it’s about emotions. And it’s about doing what u want to do..."
"a sweet film about a English literature teacher and his class... a mad bunch of boys. And a jurny btwn them... very emotional movie... I loved it. Gud nite!"

...A month back, in 3am night I had sent these 2 sms 2 one of my friend. This is a recommended movie. And these 2 sms are the best recommendation from my side. Watch ‘dead poet’s society’. This movie is a regular item on zee studio. Watch it.
...Enjoy the hot summer
...miHir :)

"THE NAMESAKE"

Hi friends,
In the summer of 2006, I enjoyed the jhumpa lahiri’s novel ‘the namesake’ and after that gogol’s story always with me wherever I go. This review I wrote just after I finished the novel (in a raining august night in 2006) and after watching the meera nair’s version I thought that I should tell you my version. So this is not the movie review. This is the book review. Enjoy…


"i miss you nikhil"
he nods
"what about the New Year's Eve?" she says.
“What about it?”
“Do you still want to try to go to New Hampshire?” For they had talked of this, going away together, just the two of them, Maxine picking him up after Christmas, staying at the lake house. Maxine was going to teach him how to ski.
“I don’t think so.”
“It might do you good.” She says, tilting her head to one side. She glances around the room. “To get away from all this.”
“I don’t want to get away.”
This is the point where the change begins. Just after his father’s death. Death of “Gogol’s father”. And if we wish, we split the novel into two parts from here. As I call…
1st part- going away
2nd part- coming home
Ones you realize that “the namesake” is Gogol’s story, you go ahead with him. and this name ‘gogol’ has his own story. This is the main story and all other stories came together with this main story.
To bring this “dual identity” to us, jhumpa lahiri creates a grand narrative. She used a tradition very common in Indian families, a different name in private sphere and public sphere. Ashok and ashima choose the name ‘Gogol’ for his son because Ashok had a special kinship with “Nikolai Gogol” (it has his own story). And in a dramatic sequence ‘Gogol’ became his official name.
Gogol hates his name. Because there is no one here in America who has this name. And after some time he knows that also in Far East India, there is no one who has his namesake. This is a terrific symbol for a generation who is not like their Indian counterparts and not like their fellow county mates. They are unique in terms of culture. A transforming generation. But they want to be like their country mates.
Googol changes his name because he wants his identity back. With name ‘gogol’ he has a feeling that he belongs to ‘nowhere’. Like ashima feels in the starting,
“For being a foreigner, ashima is beginning to realize, is a sort of lifelong pregnancy –a perpetual wait, a constant burden, a continuous feeling out of sorts. It is an ongoing responsibility; a parenthesis in what had once been ordinary life, only to discover that that previous life has vanished, replaced by something more complicated and demanding. Like the pregnancy, being a foreigner, ashima believes, is something that elicits the same curiosity from strangers, the same combination of pity and respect.”
And this same reaction takes moushumi (a character who has the same identity like googol has and in the novel she was ‘by-chance’ gogol’s wife) to France. And she finds her lost identity there. But googol never finds his lost identity and after running corners in America, finally ‘comes back’. He comes back to his father, after his death. And after some pages an unforgettable scene comes,
“Will you remember this day, googol?” his father asked, turning back to look at him, his hands pressed like earmuffs to either side of his head.
“How long do I have to remember it?”
Over the rise and fall of the wind, he could hear his father’s laughter. He was standing there, waiting for gogol to catch up, putting out a hand as googol drew near.
“Try to remember it always,” he said once googol had reached him, leading him slowly back across the breakwater, to where his mother and sonia stood waiting, “remember that you and I made this journey, that we went together to a place where there was nowhere left to go.”
Jhumpa lahiri not write her story in dialog often. This is a difficult style of writing but she manages well. And when she uses dialog it is a hard-hitting effect as you just saw in the review before.
‘The namesake’ passed throw your eyes like a picture. If you want to see the ‘picture perfect’ scene, just go throw the googol-Maxine summer holiday scenes. Just Two bodies down on the lakeside and moonlight everywhere. I am still in a sad mood because they are not together, but now I know that ‘perfect ending’ is not always the best one. And see in the last pera, gogol (in first time in his life) reading ‘gogol’!"

reply is waiting...
love u all...
...miHir

Hi friends,
Firstly a tale then followed the meaning…
My father is a lecturer in a university. I remember when he was doing some other work, not related to his university, and he was earning some money throw it, it was necessary for him to take permission from his institution. He was doing work related to his subject (like some examination or research work) but permission is must.
The same case is now for our cricketers, if they are playing for India (or cricket board) the cricket board has the right to say to him that you are not spending more than 10 or 20 days on shooting or endorsements.
One more thing, The board also in question. If our cricket board having 3000 crores in a year from international cricket, then why not they gave 500 crores to players. And then say to him, “you just play cricket, we will manage your money.”
This is a turmoil time for Indian cricket. (one of my friend who wrote ‘cricket’ in his orkut profile’s ‘sports’ column bfore the world cup, now writes, ‘Epl, f1... TO HELL WITH THE CRICKET”.) Every one knows what are the steps to be taken (improve the domestic level cricket, make good pitches, groove the junior level cricket properly etc.) but no one knows what is exactly the solution.
Read an article on cricket/market/media relation by P. Sainath (my favorite!). I am not agreed by all his arguments but some of them are really 'to-the-point'.
And... Enjoy the World Cup… enjoy the good cricket...
…miHir


And now for a commercial break... .
P. Sainath
Knowing that big money is undermining the game as a whole and pussyfooting around it just isn't cricket.
"Advertising is like the arms race. Once you start, there's no way to stop."
— Jeffrey Campbell, Chairman, Burger King, 1986
AND FINALLY, the business of endorsements in cricket is on the table, however briefly. Thanks to recommendations credited to a bunch of ex-captains. But some of the ex-skippers have begun to jump ship. A couple say they did not press for limiting the number and nature of product endorsements a player can get into. And the Board of Control for Cricket in India, despite wide public approval of the idea, has begun to waffle under sharp attack in the media. Such is the power of corporate rage.
Whether the curbs first announced were the most appropriate ones is another matter. The massive corporate backlash is against the very idea that their rights to milk the game — no matter what damage it causes — can be restricted. Just when it seemed something positive might have come out of our World Cup exit, after all. But the debate at least highlights that corporate pressures on the game are real and dangerous. A fact long known, but little acknowledged. My favourite is a clause reported to be in the corporate contracts of two players: the more time you spend at the crease, the more money you earn. What happens when the interest of the team demands a hurricane, do or die knock? Or if taking root at the crease loses your side the game?
If you've got crores of rupees riding on your shoulders, it will at some point affect your play. More so when you have contracts from sponsors that make failure financially devastating. So many of our cricketers play like gods in their early seasons. There is no fear of failure. Then, they're playing for India, enjoyment, and fun. Soon, they're playing for Brand India, endorsements, and funds. When a team returning from one tour sees some of its players dash off almost straight from the airport to ad-shoots, something is awry. More so when another series is to begin within a very short time. So the ban on shoots 15 days prior to a series, if enforced, might do some good.
Even the most experienced and strong-minded cannot evade the effects of endorsement raj. So imagine a 21- or 22-year-old caught up in this. A kid who has been blazing away at the best bowlers in the world without fear of failure. Once the endorsement web closes in and you have crores riding on your next performance, it's different. That too when you've had a couple of bad outings. With what freedom will you play that next innings? Will you play safe or with spirit? Will you go for the bowling or will you hesitate on that big, bold stroke? Of course players should not be barred from income outside of the game. They have a right to that. But the nature and effects of this source of income went way over the top ages ago and need checking.
In 1986, a study of a single India-England one-day match showed that 72 ads from about 20 companies had been telecast in under seven hours. At that time, this was thought to be a matter of some concern. How trivial those numbers seem today. Not just the match but what Erik Barnouw called the "surrounding territory" is suffused with the sponsors' material. There are pre-match, lunch interval, and post-match programmes designed to showcase the sponsor's products. There are curtain raisers, cheerleader shows, and post mortems that do the same.
There are no more boundaries in cricket. There's only Corporate X's Fantastic Fours, Business Y's Super Sixes and Company Z's Magic Moments. Not to forget some other concern's Sizzling Catches. As this whole culture takes root, the successful player drowns in sponsor money. The distinction between cricket player and product peddler blurs in more ways than one. Logos and uniforms proclaim who owns the players and it's not the country. Once it was just an annoying bunch of ear-splitting ads between overs. Now it's a colossal money-spinning industry in which the game is smaller than the revenue.
It's not just about match fees, really. Nor so simple as the BCCI regulating players' endorsements. The nature of the game's ties to big money — the Board's own deals and those of the media, too — have all got to be looked at honestly. Those calling for increasing the number of selectors should reflect there already are more. Corporate sponsors and agents. They've got too much to lose from `their' players being dropped or sidelined. They will interfere.
But there's more. In one estimate, three players of the Indian side had endorsement work for 60-75 days each last year. It could overwhelm anybody. Imagine the pressure on 20-somethings. Because some of these players are so very good, they will still perform brilliantly at times. Because the stress of so much money riding on them is so intense, they can falter at crucial moments. That's why the ex-captains have rightly spoken about the need to check performance-linked clauses in the endorsements. It is easy to forget that the same players have also won significant victories. Like it or not, if you drew up a list of the country's 20 best players, it would be hard to exclude many of those in the present team. Their replacements, anyway, would simply be fresh prey for sponsors, ads, and agents.
Now that endorsements have at least begun to be looked at, there's one more thing that should be factored into analysis: the role of the media. Hysterical over-the-top stories, astonishing levels of speculation, intense personalisation, are one part of it. Lobbying, plants, and camp reporting are another.
Meanwhile, the media are bashing the `fickle-minded' cricket-loving public, blaming them for the proposed curbs on endorsements. "This is to appease the public," declared one channel. In truth, the media have been far more fickle. Their own polls show the public's stand on these issues is not much different from what it was earlier. However, the media's rah-rah campaign for the team changed drastically with our Caribbean catastrophe. No more cheer India, right?
There is an important link. The same commercial interests that weigh down the players are also massive advertisers. The money they put in there drives the kind of whipped up, concocted feel-good factor you saw in the media prior to the defeats. The players become super humans. A class apart. No need to consider that other teams might be better. Just have yards of newsprint and hours of broadcast time devoted to halo-building and product hawking. This too obviously piles up the pressure on players of any age, let alone 21-year-olds. Fact: It's a game (or used to be). We weren't good enough, we lost. And Bangladesh played with a passion and energy we lacked on the day.
It's no accident that among the first round of stories that appeared as the team faced an exit was on how much corporate sponsors stood to lose. Quite absurd. They made millions before the first match was played in the World Cup. But those stories had to happen. They reflect the reality that the media was set to lose a lot of advertising revenue. They're furious with the curbs. It's not the `gagging' of players that upsets them. It's the money. All those `exclusive' links with players that translate into revenue.
Meanwhile, the home remedies being doled out will hopefully not drown the new, welcome look at endorsements. Regional bias as villain has surfaced yet again. Sure, such a bias in selection can be a problem but it is not the root cause of the evil. This view assumes that the supermen who will replace the regional system of selectors will be free of such bias themselves. Is there evidence to support that notion? What if they are only familiar with cricket in the major centres they know? Curbing regional bias surely involves more than just doing away with the old method?
The enduring appeal of all these remedies is, of course, that most have some truth in them. But that truth gets badly stretched. The cult of youth is one of these. It's wonderful to have young players do very well as indeed they often have for India. Making this a mindless mantra ignores that Australia's Dad's Army is the most feared team in the world. It is no less true that everybody has to go sometime. But should that be on performance and record or do we just set an expiry date that treats the capabilities of all sportsmen as being exactly the same: "Best before 2008. Shake well before use."
The others too, we've heard before. And they're all very true: quality pitches. Improve domestic cricket. Better infrastructure. Treat the junior level of the game more seriously. Quite right. But all these would apply to almost any other sport as well. Including those that have produced far better achievers than cricket — without any of the sponsorship or attention it receives. The one huge difference between cricket and all these sports is the money involved. And remember that our team got almost anything it could have asked for. Failure too is part of the game. And others can and will often play better than us. But knowing that big money is undermining the game as a whole and pussyfooting around it, that's dumb. It just isn't cricket.