A phenomenon called the Beijing Olympics

What better day could the Chinese ask for their maiden Olympic hosting, 08-08-08. The games opening ceremony started at 8 o’clock exact. Everyone, with the possible exception of those wanting to cherish the ‘auspicious day’ of 08-08-08 as their wedding day or stuff like that, were gearing up for the greatest sporting extravaganza on the planet.

Having a keen interest in all kind of sports, I was sure to catch up with the Olympics. But, with China being the host, I had expected a good deal of grandeur in the opening ceremony. The preparations too were kept very low key. True to all the expectations, the function was just phenomenal.

Olympic opening ceremonies were always a treat to the eyes. I had watched the last two Olympics - Sydney and Athens. Many had also mentioned that the 1992 Barcelona Olympics’ torch was lighted by a blind archer. They said that he had shot a lit arrow towards the torch. Although, I wasn’t expecting that kind of an opening, this blew me off. I had read somewhere that the performers were trained for 10 months. They were given half-days at offices and were trained. Such rigorous implementation can only be realized in a communist country like China. True to the country’s population, the number of performers for the inauguration was – believe it or not – 15000! The visual treat provided by them was jaw-dropping. The synchronization was so meticulous that anyone watching could have forgotten to blink till they ended. The firework display that followed was exquisite too.

With all things going great, the only thing that was disappointing was the Indian contingent. All male athletes dressed in traditional Sherwanis, the female counterparts came to the stadium with sorry looking attires – a few in saris, and the rest in track pants and mismatched jackets. I don’t expect India to be in the medal’s tally, but at least I wished they had caught a few eyes on the opening day with a descent appearance. With things like Monika Devi - the weightlifter’s fake doping scandal going IOC and SAI’s way, I guess they didn’t have enough time to spare for this kind of stuff. Anyway, with a ghastly start, things may turn for India – although I think that’s not going to happen. Enjoy the 3 weeks of action.

Back from time travelling…

Remember the early days of this millennium, how you passed time? Computers could be seen only at classrooms. TV’s were there, but I doubt we were hanging around that (esp. when there was no cable). Scratchin’ your head why I’m dragging you backwards in time? Well, the last 10 days for me, it was like being catapulted by a time machine back to the period I was talking…

It all started on 16^th. Phone line went dead. I had plans for the next week that followed, so, didn’t bother to get that repaired. A week from then on - thanks to the rain god - load shedding of 6 hours was “formally” announced. So, what was I supposed to do? No computer, no TV and no phone to talk. Wasn’t this how it was in the late 90’s?

But, this was a welcome change for my boring lifestyle. Vacations till now meant watching movies, listening to repetitive tracks or watch some crap on TV. Occasionally, I’d go visiting cousins or relatives. Eventually, days would run out of my so called vacation. This time around, it was different. Time was so abundant this time; I had to find ways to waste it. Thanks to John Grisham for writing “A Time to Kill” and thanks to my buddy Shiva for lending me this book, I returned to my old avocation of reading novels. It was followed by Chetan Bhagat’s “Five Point Someone”, Agatha Christie’s “Hercule Poirot’s Christmas”, Sydney Sheldon’s “Naked Face” and “Stranger in the Mirror”. I even tried my hand in cooking.

Well, these sorts of things were what I used to do back then. I had interest in all such extra activities, which till recently I never cared to give a thought. Thanks to all the irregularities in the government run institutions like BSNL and BESCOM, I’ve been carted to new-found interests whom I hope to keep alive in the coming days.

Movie Review - The Dark Knight

Why does this happen to me always?! Come vacations, I become damn busy. Asking me why? Well, I don’t have enough time to what I do best – waste it! What better way than watching movies…! Let me tell you the 2 days that went by, I watched 3 movies. Two in theatres, sweating out 150 bucks each (Thanks to my cousin, the interval snacks came free)

The first one was “The Dark Knight”. I wasn’t a fan of batman till recent times. It was “The Batman Begins” that made me like this character. He’s the closest superhero to reality with no superpowers. Having no knowledge of batman stories, I had disliked him till this movie. Such was the effect of The Batman Begins that it not only was one of my favorites, but made me eager to wait for the sequel.

The cast – Christian Bale, was just the perfect guy who fitted the caped crusader’s shoe. The darker side of him was an enhancement to the Batman character. But, it’s the Joker who steals the show. It’s his cunning lines, awful looks and psychotic thinking that takes this movie into another league. Sadly though the actor played by the Joker is no more – Heath Ledger. But what a performance he has left with! Veterans like Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart and Morgan Freeman add dimensions to their roles. The female lead is played by Maggie Gyllenhaal (Katie Holmes played the role in the 1^st part.) All in all, it was a dream cast, played to perfection.

A word about the director: Christopher Nolan. I’ve seen his all 6 movies he has directed. Of the 6, 3 feature in my list of top films. He’s delivered it big time here. Not surprisingly, this movie is now officially the highest grosser for the opening day. Today, the Friday it’s all set to become the highest grosser for any movie in one week. I would not be surprised even if it breaks Titanic’s record for the highest box office collections of all time.

My suggestion: Don’t have second thoughts and don't even think of watching it at home on DVD. Give up watching 2 Hindi movies, watch this instead. You would be blown away.

Rating: For the Joker’s role itself, I would have given a “5”. Add to this the CGI effects, storyline, the dialogues, the cast, the screenplay, the background score….. oh man, it is what I call a PERFECT MOVIE with a PERFECT 5 rating.

Movie Review: Hancock

From one superhero to another – Hancock. I had no such high expectations as I had for The Dark Knight. With Will Smith and Charlize Theron in the lead, I jumped on the idea of watching it. I knew it would be a lighthearted, timepass kinda movie – Truly so!

There are not many characters in the movie. Will Smith plays Hancock. Jason Bateman plays a PR professional – unsuccessful. Charlize plays Bateman’s wife. Will Smith is awesome to watch. Having seen him in serious roles in “The Pursuit of Happyness” and “I am Legend”, it was good to see him venturing into new roles like this. In fact, this suited him to perfection. Charlize is a treat to watch- damn gorgeous. There was an unexpected twist; I was caught completely off guard. The ending, quiet different, was apt to the story. By the by, it was the story that lacked the punch. Not bad though. It was worth the 150 bucks I had paid.

Ratings: My rating, 3.5 on 5. Brother Sumanth’s rating: 3 on 5. Cousin Suhas’s rating: 3 on 5

But these guys are mean. They don’t go beyond the 3 star marks. So, take my advice, spend another 100 bucks for this movie if you're free…

The day all Federer fans would like to forget... or probably not...!

Guess I'm pretty late on this topic, but couldn't refrain from writing about it...This Sunday was the day...

Being an avid sports fan, I wasn't ready to miss the Wimbledon. That too, the duel between two most talented and probably amongst the greatest of tennis players ever - Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. True to the hype around, this turned out to be a whacker of a match. With all the interrupts in between, the play, which began at 7.05PM ended probably at 1.55AM. Having finished my penultimate paper the day before, it was a breather; in fact, it was more than what anyone could ever ask for. Those Federer serves, Nadal’s cross-courts, well, words fall short… I had heard that the 1980 final between McEnroe and Bjorn Borg (help me pronounce…) was a legend. This had surpassed all such legends I think. The match lasted 4 hours and 48 minutes without counting the interruptions, that says it all. I was lucky to have watched the match and lived every moment of it…

Being a Nadal fan I expected him to give up a big fight for Federer, but the way he played made Federer look like an amateur. By the end of the fourth set when both of them had won 2 sets apiece, it didn’t matter who won. The way each responded to the other’s aggression, heated up the centre court. The only guy who lost by the end of the match was Bjorn Borg. Both Federer and Nadal were set to break his record which he had held for 28 years. Had Federer won, he’d have surpassed his record for most consecutive Wimbledon titles. Now Nadal has equaled his feat of winning both French open and Wimbledon in the same calendar year. But, Borg didn’t seem sad. He was witnessing this melee, and applauding every point won. Even he too may have felt what all tennis lovers would have… It was a match to be cherished for a long long time…

Hooked to ESPN Star Sports...

With Wimbledon final on the cards, the game that was dealt a blow was cricket. It was the Asian cup final that day. Being a Formula1 fan too, I had to dump cricket because of the British grand prix. Good that I missed the cricket final. A bad day for Indian cricket…
But, what a day for sports lovers was it; tennis final, a cricket final and an F1 race. I was relishing the week that had gone by. It was a week I had watched the Euro cup being played. This had been a great treat. The only spoil sport was… er… VTU. Damn, what time to have their stupid exam…

Kyunki kahani abhi baki hai mere dost...

Hey folks, I’m back yet again. This time though, I plan to stay for a lot longer. Great right, blogging in between the exams! Well, who gives a damn for exams that are bound to go bad…? This way atleast, I’m not just wasting the gap between the exams.

My first venture in blogging didn’t go down too well. In fact, I became so weary; I didn’t even want to check my mails. Now, here I am, as a different Bharath

Although this semester was really very eventful, I was kinda out of sorts. Academically, I can always say, this was the worst. The start was auspicious (or was it?) – A week long trip to Delhi with family. Then a couple of weeks later, a trip cum trek with buddies, and the hangover of the trip were for about 2 weeks that followed. Family get-togethers were happening so thick and fast. Functions followed… Then viola! Exams! Oh god, I had wasted the whole semester… Courtesy to all the happening around me, I had a shortage of attendance! But that was only an indicant for what might follow… a disastrous exam.

Anyway, I’m almost done with the exams, with the last on a distant 15^th. To kill time, this is what I’ll be doing this season. Get ready to have enough of me. I'll keep posting, you keep commenting...