7ஆம் அறிவு - Tamil Jingoism in top gear

7ஆம்  அறிவு - Tamil Jingoism in top gear

Thanks to my friend Jaya and Shankar,  we got to see the much awaited Tamil movie of the year yesterday. As with any movie with such sky high expectations, there is bound to be divergent opinions and mine is not flattering.

After Gajini became a super dooper hit in Tamil & Hindi, expectations were running high as AR Murugadass, Surya and Hariss Jayaraj teamed up again.  With a open checkbook from Karunanidhi family, 7ஆம்  அறிவு has been shot in exotic locales and in a grand scale. 

First the good stuff..

Udyanidhi Stalin (producer) 'proudly' presents this movie and it shows in the movie.  He has spent lavishly, be it for exotic locales or for outlandish fight sequences.  Besides the open checkbook, producer also seem to have given his prized possession for the film, car.  Udayanidhi's Hummer is the villan's transport in the city.  

The marketing engine of Red Giant has gone all out to hype this movie and if one were to just go by the media buzz, the change in power (from DMK to ADMK) doesn't seemed to have affected this movie at all. 

Suriya (lead actor), as usual has worked hard for this movie and it shows in every frame he appears.  He clearly compensates for  the lack of charisma with his sheer hard work.  He must have worked really hard to get and retain '8 pack abs' all thru the movie.  Suriya has come a long way in the last few years.. well done Suriya.. I applaud your dedication and hard work.

Thanks to AR Murugadass for putting the spotlight on Bodhi Dharman.  I wouldn't have known or read about this 6th century Tamilian if not for this movie.

Fight sequences have been shot on a grand scale and are riveting.  I particularly like the crashing of vehicles and theme in the fight.  I also liked the first fight sequence in a Chinese village.

I liked the elephant ride sequence and the song sequence shot in the busy Ranganathan Street.  Also, several portions of the film have been shot in South Chennai and I personally could relate to some of those.. like IITM, Thiru Vi Ka bridge, Vet clinic, Elliots Beach etc.,

Now the not so good stuff..

Harris Jeyaraj music is just passe.  Expect for a couple of songs, his music score is very average and the background music is jarring in many places.  I expected much more from Harris.

Shruthi Hassan, the famous daughter of a famous actor debuts in this movie as a actor and does a decent job.  But she should have gone for voice over.  She pays glowing tributes to Tamil in a heavily accented delivery which takes the sheen away from the message.  Brush up you Tamil & delivery before you attempt to lend your voice again for Tamil movies.

Plot - AR Murugadass's treatment of the story line is very shallow and weak.  He shows China as attempting to launch a biological war on India but fails to show the motivations for such diabolical war.  Worse, he wants you to believe that it can be handled by a lone scientist with no broader Govt. involvement.  And what will this scientist do? She will do DNA re-sequencing on a living human being.. never mind the fact that it has never done before.

Jingoism - AR Murugadass has put the spotlight on the forgotten Bodhi Dharman, but in the process he has shown the present day China in a poor light. I wonder why?  What was the need for that?  Also, there are factual inaccuracies about 1962 Indo-China war, which India lost badly. 

AR Murugadass shows Tamils as victims in many parts of the world and talks about the துரோஹம் perpetuated on Tamils in Sri Lanka by a group of 9 countries... where is he getting the facts from? 

AR Murugadass also gets very preachy urges Tamils to 'Awake & Arise'.. and that perhaps is the 7ஆம்  அறிவு?

Overall I give ** (out of 5) for this movie.

Revolution 2020 - Written with Movie contract in mind?

This book is more about Love than about corruption and  ambition

Revolution 2020 is Chetan Bhagat's fifth book and follows the familiar theme of someone telling the story to him.  In this book also, one of the main characters tells the 'story' to Chetan Bhagat in a Hospital.  This time though, the story is told via a character who one might not want to see as the main protagonist if this were to made a movie..

Set in Varanasi, its about 3 youngsters and their 'not so cordial' relationships and the usual 'love triangle'.  Reading through book, one gets a feeling that it is written with a 'movie contract' in mind including a dramatic climax.  It is quite easy to 'guess' the cast, if this were to be made a movie soon, which is quite likely.

Revolution 2020 has the familiar cinematic themes of love and deception but fails to come out strongly on the title of the book.. revolution part..

The key takeaway from the book seems to be "Everybody has to sacrifice something for the revolution and the main characters in this book end up sacrificing LOVE"

Net net: Easy weekend reading.  I would give this book a mere Average (B) grade.. Forget IIT or AIEEE not even 'Kota coaching' colleges material.

Look for a better one next time from you Chetan Bhagat..

A Visionary is no more

Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011) - Photo from Apple website

I am not a fan of Apple products, but a great fan of Steve Jobs.  I try hard to avoid Apple products, be it iPod, iPhone, iTouch or Mac air.  I could try rationalizing it by saying I work for IBM and / or by saying I am a Google bigot. But none of these takes away the loving admiration I have for Steve Jobs, who I truly believe has changed the world.

There will be many things said and written about him today, but there are two things that I will remember him for.

1. Revolutionizing Consumer Technologies - Steve Jobs not only changed focus of Apple in his second act but also made consumer products cooler and smarter than the corporate technologies.  Many of us have the latest gadgets from Apple for personal use but wait a few years to get lap tops or phones refreshed at work.
2. Stanford Commencement Speech - Steve Jobs gave the commencement speech at Stanford University in 2005.  It's a great speech with just 3 stories from his life.  If you have not seen it before, please do see it today, you will be glad you did.. it takes just 15 minutes.

There are few people, I wish had spent more time in this world and Steve Jobs joins that list.  Other people in that list are: Bharathiyar, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King.

Steve, I will miss you.. Rest In Peace

One Laptop per Child - A dream come true in Tamil Nadu

One laptop per child might soon become a reality in Tamil Nadu (TN). This will go a long way in reducing the digital divide. Call it a sop or a election gimmick, of all the freebies launched by Tamil Nadu Government on September 15, 'free' laptop scheme stands out. It stands out because of its tranformational nature.

This program will make millions of TN kids computer literate and make them more college ready and employable.  I only wish the TN Government takes it to the logical next step, and provide Internet access to the students.  While computers in itself would be of value, its value is enhance manifold with access to the Net.   All of know and have benefited from access to Internet, I only wish every student have access as well.

Road to Comrades - Dream run or Gone Crazy?

Imaging your truly with the BIB # 449078

Yes, call me crazy, have signed up for Comrades marathon to do my dream run.  After a few clicks and USD 200 poorer, I wondered whether I made the right call in doing what I did.  But, washed away that 'toxic thought' immediately only to dream about running past the finish line within the stipulated time.  Tired, beaten but happy.  As they say, most of the things are created at least twice, once in mind / imagination and then in reality.  I got the first part covered, now I just need to work on the second part.. small details..:-)

Now talking about executing the dream, I have one more hurdle to cross and that is to qualify.  In order to run comrades, I should have run a 'qualifying' marathon in the past year under 5 hours.  My last qualifying run was Big Sur on May 1, 2011.. but I need something later and by May 2012 to run this in June 2012.

Though I did not plan for it, I am hoping to use Colombo Marathon as a qualifier and jump past the 'qualifier' hurdle.

Now, another crucial question I need to deal with is.. 'How do I train for a 90K run?'.  a distance that I have never done before.  The farthest I have gone is just 48k (Chennai - Mahapallipuram) and comrades would be more than double of that.  All along, I have simply be sticking to 3 core principles and they have been serving me well...

1. No two days missed
2. Min 10k per run
3. 50k per week 

I am not sure if this would suffice for Comrades.  What do you think?

My goal is to simply come under the stipulated time and nothing more.  Can you suggest few practical training regimen?  Looking for your input to shape my Comrades run... Come help me realize my dream.

Where is this in Chennai?

Where is this in Chennai? 

We generally find 'beware of dogs' sign in residential areas.. but this in a residential area in Chennai?  What's your guess..?

Dilbert Cloud Definition

Everything is moving to Cloud.... I like it..

My First Experiment with Vibram

Raghav, my son says that I go crazy buying 'stuff' in marathon expos.  He may be right, I am a perfect sucker when it comes to running gear particularly at marathon expos.  I blame it on the atmosphere.. Once I paid double the street price for a pair of Crocs and the other time ended up buying costly Asics running socks sold to me as an 'investment'.  This time at Big Sur marathon expo it was Vibram five finger running shoes.  The only redeeming aspect this impulse buying was that I may have just paid the 'fair' price for it (USD 100).

Though, I have been talking about experimenting with Vibram shoes, I wanted to transition in to it via the cheaper Bata PT shoes, but ended up directly plunging in to Vibrams at the Big Sur marathon expo.

It has been 3 weeks since I bought but was kind little hesitant / scared to use it for a run. But I finally took the plunge today and glad I did.  I was traveling all of this week and didn't get my run fix for 4 days, so decided today's run is going to be big day for the Vibram dive.

I am glad to report that it wasn't as bad as I afraid it would be.  My legs are ok even after 3 hours now.  They do feel little different but I am on my feet and walking around.  Isn't that a good sign???

I will give myself a pass, meaning would continue to experiment with it.  I went to Anna University with a my regular ASICS shoes as backup.. just in case.  but there was no need for it.

First few minutes were dreadful as I wasn't finding the rhythm so I slowed down but continue to run at 9k pace.  I did feel the change in landing rhythm particularly with my left leg.  It was lot of tentative and cautious.  Also, my stride length reduced considerably.

I am not sure whether it was the draining humidity or the Vibram, took couple of walk breaks.  Nevertheless managed to run my quota of 10k for the day at pace of 7:02.  It is slower than my regular pace which is generally around 6:00 per k but no complaints.  Being the first run with Vibram, I am happy with 7:02 pace.

Now that I got my first Vibram run out of the day, I would continue to experiment with it in the coming weeks.  I have no plans to switch to Vibram completely, but would like to do one run per week with it to optimize my landing and improve stride.

Another new release tomorrow.. -:) Yes, I got myself a new ASICS 2160 during my recent US trip and planning to 'release' it tomorrow.

Gas Price - Where is it cheaper?

With the recent hike in gas (petrol) price in India, a liter of unleaded gas is around INR 68 in Chennai.  How do we compare with other places?  Here is one sample from my recent travel.  Last week I filled gas near San Francisco Airport for USD 4.35 a gallon.

With little bit of math (1 US gallon = 3.78 liter) it comes to around INR 52 per liter.  California which has perhaps the highest gas price in USA is still cheaper than Chennai.

Gas price in India has been moving at regular intervals, set by the oil companies (with the Govt. approval of course..).  Why not peg the price to the international crude oil price (like the Gold metal) and bring in some amount of transparency to the price of the gas at the pump?

How not to clean fuel belt bottles

They say humans collectively, don't learn from their past mistakes.. I certainly haven't learn't the lesson from Senthilanand's mishap with trying cleansing the fuelbelt water bottles with rice cooker.   My water bottles met with the same fate yesterday.

I tried to clean / sterilize my fuel belt water bottles on a regular basis by putting them in the rice cooker.  Yesterday also, I tried to do the same thing with disastrous result.  Despite Sita's warning against putting the 'weight', I did exactly that to better wash the water bottles. I did turn the off cooker after 5 sounds, but that was enough for the bottles to melt, disfigure and cling to the cooker lid.  The only solace in the whole thing is that the water bottle caps survived.  Now I have four spare ones..

So Here is what not to do:

1. Don't use rice pressure cooker to clean / sterilize you fuel belt water bottles.
2. If you do use the cooker, don't put the 'weight' (I am referring to the Indian model rice pressure cookers).