South Africa : A country one must visit

After a year’s stay in this beautiful country, its time for me to pack up. I wasn’t optimistic a year ago when I set off from Singapore as most of my mates only warned me of taking huge life risk visiting this unsafe land. I must say they are as good as ignorant. Ofcourse, the country is not best place interms of safety but its just like any other country. All you have to be is RATIONALE. I had few friends who had horrible incidents like losing their mobiles, laptops etc but I know a lot (including myself) who had their best time living in SA.

Apart from the living, safety etc., this is a must visit place for any type of travel freaks. You can get pretty much everything that you wish on a travel sports, game drives, scenic drives, beaches, snow you name it. Here is the list of places I visited and enjoyed ranked from bottom to top.

Johannesburg

This is the economical capital of SA and my home for whole 1 year. Also, this is the city with most crime rate in Africa. Luckily, I lived all my time in the suburb called Sandton which is supposedly far safe than others. Regarding places to visit, all I could find worthy was Lions park (where you can hug white lion cubs and take pictures), Cradle of mankind (the first humans lived here), Montecasino (Off late, iam a casino freak) and Pretoria Zoo (well maintained and some rare animal species too)

Durban

In theory, it has a lots of history but practically, its just another beach city. The Ushaka marine world is defntly worth a visit for its maintenance and aquarium. I enjoyed the south coast watersports (Jet Ski) Skip this city if you are tight schedule. FYI, its 7 hours drive from Johannesburg.

St. Lucia (Elephan Coast)

7 hours drive from Joburg. Another coastal city where my son cut his cake on his second birth day. Unexpectedly, we enjoyed the place very much with cheetah farm, lovely beaches (specialy body boarding) and a decent game drive there. Go there only if you stay long term.

Drakensburg Mountains

Lies around 4.5 hours drive from Joburg. The trek to tugela (worlds second largest water falls) Was completely exciting and any trek freak would love to go here. The beautiful view of the frozen water falls made my day and will never forget the painful/exciting trek we had.

Blyde River Canyon/Kruger National Park

The only place I went twice in South Africa. Its not too far (4 hours drive) from Joburg but I suggest this place for any one who visits Joburg. This is the worlds 3rd largest canyon and the largest green canyon. The whole drive is eventful with scenic landscapes around. The whole panaroma route has lots of view points and this is an excellent stop over on the way to Kruger National Park. The Kruger National Park is one of the largest in Africa with 360 KM in length and 70 KM in width. Make sure you spend quiet some time and complete seeing all the big 5 (Leopard, African Elephants, Buffalo, Rhino, Lions) Make sure you stay inside the forest to get the real Kruger Experience

Cape Town

Arguably, one of the best cities in the world a tourist must go. The table mountains are the must watch along with Robben island meuseum. They are world heritage sites and good learning for history lovers too. The drive from Table mountains to Cape point is another experience altogether. The boulders beach was awesome full of penguins and I guess one of the few beaches in world with such a huge collection of penguins. However, the beaches are not ideal for swimming due to cold temp. Tip : Stay in Stellenbosch for best countryside experience and what more you want than sitting in the middle of vineyards on a sun set sipping true South African Wines

Scroll down to see my individual blog posts on few of the above mentioned places. If you are visiting South Africa keep two things in mind. Enjoy your best and keep the safety precautions in mind where ever you go. If you rent a car, always have GPS with you. Happy travelling

Durban Diary

03/11/2011

Its Vimala’s birthday tomorrow. We wanted to celebrate in a far away place and we chose Durban. We left around 3 PM from Joburg. Babu and his family joined us too and we all set for the launch

It was a tiring 7 hours drive and finally we reached Hibberdene (1 hour drive south from Durban) around 10 PM. The kids had a good sleep in car and terribly fresh until midnight.

Babu’s family surprised us with a cake for Vimala’s bday. So, all set for a cake cut at 12 with 2 active kids around. Off to sleep soon after munching the cakes.

04/11/2011

Had breakfast at the beach house we stayed and did a quick walk around the place with kids. It was a decent choice as I always prefer out of the city stay.

Reached Ushaka marine world (Durbans famous tourist attraction/ Water theme park for all ages) around 10 AM and started getting wet. Did my first time Shark cage snorkeling inside. Though its just a small, I felt nice to get closer to those most dangerous creatures. At one point, I realized I wounded my self an hour ago and my legs are still bleeding. Slightly scared if that will distract the sharks but ironically, they didn’t give a s**t

Vimala did her first time under water ocean walk and was too excited about the experience. Her son didn’t seem to miss her at all ;) However, had a tough time to keep him occupied while she was busy with her under water mates

The dolphin show was well organized. I still liked the Singapore one except for the hot and humid part in Singapore (against the chill and pleasant viewing in Durban) Achyut enjoyed the show very much and shouting ‘Fish Fish Fish’ everytime the dolphins jumps.

The Aquarium was also a pleasant viewing. Lots of collections and very well clubbed with the viewing of snorkelers, shark cage divers and the ocean walkers on the go. Altogether, a good walk for us around the huge aquarium.

Did lots of water slides and loved it very much as it was less crowded and I gave a pat to myself for choosing this place on a weekday.

This is the memorable part of the day. The dinner we had in a restaurant called Kashmir is just horrible. The hospitality in the restaurant is close to zero. Friends, stay away : ) To make things worse, my GPS was broke and we have to navigate back on our own. Luckily, Babu was an X resident in Durban and he made it like a piece of cake.

05/11/2011

Got up around 7 AM and had a lovely walk to the beach with my family. We had to cross a hanging bridge and a river (where we got drenched till our hips) It was nice and fun. Even funnier, was the sky started drizzling as we reached the beach and then got back through same route immediately

Got back home, got read and drived further south to a place called, WILD COAST SUN which is like 45 minutes drive from hibberdene and the place lies along the easter cape border. Now, this was a surprise for me. This place had a huge water sports collection all I liked. We all did the Water Scooter ride (called as Jet Ski in South Africa) for the first time. I was bloody thrilled to go at top speed and turned at will with the same speed still not drenched. That was the best experience for me in the whole trip. Again, the sky started drizzling and we couldn’t catch up with other sports there.

06/11/2011

No plans. Just went around shopping in a huge GATEWAY mall. Later, went to this Funfair land for kids. Off to Joburg after a quick lunch in Copper chimney restaurant. Over all, our experience with food in Durban wasn’t all that great : )

Luckily, I managed to fix the GPS and we had a rainy first half drive then sunny as we get close to Joburg. At 7.30 PM we are back home in Joburg. It was a pleasant trip with lots of adventures and misadventures. My wife and me decided to do more water sports in future after this experience.

7aam Arivu : Tamizhan’s Pride

Until a month ago, I don’t even heard this name Bodhidharma and all on a sudden the term ‘wiki bodhidharma’ went on to be the popular search in India during last 1 month. That’s the massive success that the movie ‘7aam Arivu’ achieved. I was a bit disappointed to see mixed reviews until I watched the movie on Saturday, as I expected this to be a clean-sweep hit like Gajini. Here is my personal review of this movie.

The first 20 minutes of the movie gives the best impression due to heavy money shed on the locations and most importantly recreating the historic events that happened 1600 years ago. Surya as Bodhidharma just impresses with his expressions and stage presence though he haven’t delivered much of dialogues. The Chinese song in the first bit was just cherry on cake. Later, the story gets back to present day and we see Surya again as an entertainer working in Circus. The whole story plot can be told in 3 words Bodhidharma-DNA-Aravind. Here are the good and bads about the movie.

Good good, I Like it

Obviously, the first 20 minutes are amazing with well done cinematography, stunts and extraordinary BGM. Then, enters the villain Johnny. Stand out part was he never talked Tamil (unlike many vijaykanth movies where all country terrorist speaks good Tamil) and he carried himself well with gestures & emotions. Surya’s acting in both roles shows how matured he is getting in the art of acting. Surely, he could better what Kamalhassan achieved ( I sincerely wish) Next note worthy point is the actual intentions of the Director himself. He just showed his class by going out of the box, pick a forgotton character in Tamil history and showed how he went to be the founder of Shaolin Kung fu. As ARM mentioned during the launch, this movie will make Tamil, PROUDER. Indeed, if not for Bodhidharma, for AR Murugadoss who showcased what a class means to modern day Bollywood directors. Tamil Cinema for sure travelling in right path.

What the #$@$!@

While I enjoyed the never been attempted stuffs in this movie, there are few let downs that I felt, though I am not too worried about that. Shrutihassan, pretty & makes good chemistry with Surya, irritates with her Tamil accent. It’s a shame that the daughter of a legend in Tamil film industry can’t get her accent right. Is it attitude? Probably. The needless songs are another issue. I personally felt the heart-broken-surya’s song in the railway tracks and the second duet song totally messed up the flow of the movie and made the audience feel waiting-for-the-song-to-finish rather enjoying it. Besides, all the songs always reminded Harris Jeyaraj’s old tunes. Next thing that hurts is the over exaggeration of the art, Hypnotism. I agree this is a art and achievable but when you see this villain uses this as primary weapon at will is like actually insulting this art. Also, the over lengthen stretch where Johnny does rapid-hypnotism at every one to kill Surya was a bit annoying and why in Indian movies, all the civilians should die except the Hero and his pair?

Wow moments

Bodhidharman’s stunt, neat job by stunt team.

The explanation of what is DNA and how it works. Also, the explanation about Bio-war. These are a bit documentary type but much needed to know. I wonder if this actually reached C center though.

When Surya says ‘There is a difference between courage and betrayal’

Editing, the way they showed how the virus spreads was brilliant (though tiny bit)

BGM, especially first 20 minutes and the rest of the movie

Verdict

A must watch movie for Tamils to know how proud they can be and a must watch movie for Indians to see a good out-of-the-box content and some quality acting from the hero.

P.S : There was a dialogue that says 9 countries together attacked Tamil race. I know who the Tamil race was but what are those 9 countries ? Please leave it in the comment if you know.

Puzzle Time

I am always a big fan of brain teaser puzzles. Though I am not a great solver, I love brain teasers. During my childhood, my uncle always gives me brain teasers to solve and I succeed in few as well. Later, I found its nice to solve puzzles to keep your brain sharp. Specially in IT Industries, its very common to get few brain teaser puzzles during your first interview to test your aptitude skills. Here are some puzzles I enjoyed. The first 3 are the ones I had in my first interview and luckily, I solved them all :)

The answers are at the end for your reference. Have fun solving

1. Cut a perfectly cylindrical shaped cake in to 8 equal sized pieces. Remember, you can make only 3 slices.

2. You got 2 candles; each will burn for an hour. You have no markings in the candle to measure it. Now, how will you measure 1.5 hours using just these 2 candles?

3. There is a 20 feet well. A Frog, starting from bottom, jumps 5 feet high and drops down 4 feet. After how many jumps the frog successfully comes out of the well?

4. You have a 3 liter can and a 5 liter can. Also, you got a tank full of surplus water. How will you measure 4 liter of water with just these 2 cans?

5. By moving one of the following digits, make the equation correct. 62 - 63 = 1

6. You have 12 black socks and 12 white socks mixed up in a drawer. You're up very early and it's too dark to tell them apart. What's the smallest number of socks you need to take out (blindly) to be sure of having a matching pair?

7. U2 has a concert that starts in 17 minutes and they must all cross a bridge to get there. All four men begin on the same side of the bridge. You must help them across to the other side. It is night. There is one flashlight. A maximum of two people can cross at one time. Any party who crosses, either 1 or 2 people, must have the flashlight with them. The flashlight must be walked back and forth. It cannot be thrown and other tricks like that are not needed to solve the problem. The solution is simply a matter of allocating resources in a certain order. Each band member walks at a different speed. A pair must walk together at the rate of the slower man's pace: Bono: 1 minute to crossEdge: 2 minutes to crossAdam: 5 minutes to crossLarry: 10 minutes to crossFor example: if Bono and Larry walk across first, 10 minutes have elapsed when they get to the other side of the bridge. If Larry then returns with the flashlight, a total of 20 minutes have passed and you have failed the mission.

8. You are a cook in a remote area with no clocks or other way of keeping time other than a four minute sandglass timer and a seven minute sandglass timer. (The kind you turn over - hourglass shaped) You do have a stove, however, with water in a pot already boiling. Somebody asks you for a nine-minute egg, and you know this person is a perfectionist and will be able to tell if you undercook or overcook the eggs by even a few seconds. What is the least amount of time it will take to prepare the egg? And how will you prepare it so that it is neither undercooked or overcooked?

9. You are standing outside a closed door. On the other side of the door is a room that has three light bulbs in it. The room is completely sealed off from the outside. It has no windows and nothing can get in or out except through the door. On the outside of the room there are three light switches that control each of the respective light bulbs on the other side of the door.Your assignment is to determine which light switch controls which light bulb. You are allowed to enter the room only once, and once you come out, you must be able to state with 100% certainty which light switch controls which light bulb.

10. You are given eight coins and told that one of them is counterfeit. The counterfeit one is slightly heavier than the other seven. Otherwise, the coins look identical. Using a simple balance scale, can you determine which coin is counterfeit using the scale only twice?

Answers:
1. 2 slices on top of the cake to get 4 pieces. Then, make a slice side wards

2. Let the first candle burn to get 1 hour. Now, burn the next candle on both ends.

3. 16 Jumps. On the 16th jump, the frog goes out of the well.

4. Fill the 3-liter can.
Pour the 3 liters of water into the 5-liter can
Fill the 3-liter can again.
Fill up the 5-liter can with the 3-liter can, leaving you with 1 liter left in the 3-liter can.
Empty out the 5-liter can.
Pour the remaining 1 liter of water from the 3-liter can into the 5-liter can.
Fill the 3-liter can.
Pour the 3 liters of water from the 3-liter can into the 5-liter can leaving you with 4 liters of water in the 5-liter can.
5. 2^6 - 63 = 1 (I cant make 6 as power hence used '^' symbol)

6. 3 socks. If the first sock is black, the second one could be black, in which case you have a matching pair. If the second sock is white, the third sock will be either black and match the first sock, or white and match the second sock.

7. Lets take the names as 1,2,5 and 10. First, 1 & 2 goes 2 returns. Next, 5 & 10 goes and 1 returns. Then, 2 & 1 goes together.
8. The answer is 9 minutes. First, flip both hourglasses over and drop the egg into the water. When the four minute timer runs out, flip it again. When the seven minute timer runs out, flip it over. The egg has been cooking seven minutes. Now when the four minute timer runs out again (after eight minutes) flip the seven minute timer back over. Since the seven minute timer has been running only a minute between flips, there's a minute worth of sand left. And when that minute runs out, the egg will have been cooking for exactly nine minutes.
9. Turn one light switch on, wait a few minutes, then turn it off and turn another light switch on. Go into the room and feel the light bulbs. The one that's still warm is connected to the switch that you first turned on, the one that is on was the second switch you turned on, and the last bulb is controlled by the switch that you didn't touch.
10. First weigh three coins against three others. If the weights are equal, weigh the remaining two against each other. The heavier one is the counterfeit. If one of the groups of three is heavier, weigh two of those coins against each other. If one is heavier, it's the counterfeit. If they have equal weight, the third coin is the counterfeit.

Must watch for Speed Freaks

I am a rash driver in general and i used to think its a MAN THING. I am always crazy about speed whenever I drive. Even after marriage, I didn’t change a bit. Fortunately, my chances turned lesser as I moved to Singapore and stopped driving at all for a while. Wait a minute… How does this relates to the context of this post ? You will know… It’s the review for the no-hype-but-full-of-quality Tamil movie, ENGEYUM EPPODHUM


A simple story, two buses collides and the flashbacks of the travelers. What hits the bulls eye, is the screen play. The initial 30 minutes where a bit confusing with too many cuts and moves with characters and locations but slowly you are pulled in to the story.

The director is a new comer M Saravanan and produced by the Gajini fame A R Murugadoss along with Fox Studios. ARM did a worthy gamble with debutant director and full credit to him for choosing the best possible crew for this movie. Besides screen play, another stand out part was the acting performances of the 4 lead characters. Specifically, Anjali who is maturing exponentially after each movie. I was under a opinion that Angadi Theru will always be her best performance but I am sure she wont stop at anything. After a long time, Tamil Cinema got acting potentials from female leads.

Ananya used her limited scope very well. Another cake walk for Jai, he is sure a directors actor. Debutant Shravanand impresses too. The comical events between Jai and Anjali,, not so practical but a unique flavor and enjoyable. The few minutes characters in the movie also makes a good impact and that for me, is another highlight.

The underline theme of the story is the value of life. Accidents and the associated deaths are just yet another news in the media but this movie did a good attempt to shows the emotions of many who are affected by the accident. The mind blowing bit was the actual accident and what happens inside the buses during those few seconds of the accident. This gives a feel of how gory it will be when you are physically there. I felt the movie was a bit too long with too many songs but, over all a wonderful movie to watch for the thought provoking Screen play.

Getting back to the driving habits of mine, I decided to come out of the adventurous age and be rational when am on wheels again. Looking forward for the pleasant Durban road trip next month : )

An Enigma called ‘Arulmozhi Varman’

What an exciting last few months… How lucky I am… How proud should I be… Conspirators, Assassins, Spy game, The great Indian dynasty.. you can title it anything but in Tamil, its called PONNIYIN SELVAN… By par, the best book I ever read so far.

I read first 200 pages of the book several times in the past but never got a good stretch of breaks to finish the rest… few months ago, I decided I should do what ever it takes and finish the book.. Lots of my friends suggested me to read this book for past 8 years and finally, I felt lucky, privileged and proud that I managed to enjoy every page of this amazing art work by Kalki Krishnamoorthy.

The base line story is a series of true historic events blended with fictions. The title Ponniyin Selvan is actually the greatest king of chozha dynasty, Arulmozhi Varman who never wanted to be the emperor in the beginning. Ironically, the circumstances forced him to take up the throne and went on to be the THE ONE

I have downloaded the ebook in to my ipad and disastrously addicted reading the book. Though the story title is about the king Arulmozhi Varman (Raja Raja Chozha), the actual hero is Vanar kulla Vanthiya Thevan who went in to lots of adventures to serve the Chozha Empire. There are like 1 million characters in the book. Most of them play significant role in this historical wonder.

More than the history and the narrational beauty, I really really admire the indepth knowledge of the writer (Kalki) on the geography. The names of the cities 1000 years ago, the various routes that connects the cities, the transportation methods they used, the communication methods they used, the names of rivers, the various events/festivals etc., Remember, this book is written in 1950 way before the internet and other modern communication techniques existed. One needs extreme patience and pure passion for history to come out with such a master piece. Read the book and you will agree.

Dear reader, if you know to read Tamil and if you have passion for history and if you think you already read best of best thriller/action/drama books, read this before you die. The first 100 pages or so will test your patience with too many characters and unconnected incidents but keep reading if you wanna get addicted.

I truly wish this should turn out to be a movie and here is my favorite casting if at all a movie could be made out of this book.

Direction : Sankar / Maniratnam
Production : Only Sun Pictures
Music : A R Rehman
Vanthiya Thevan : Vikram
Arulmozhi Varman : Surya
Azhvarkadiyaan : Rahman
Aditya Karikaalan : Sampath (the gay character in Goa)
Kundavai : Vidya Balan
Vanathi : Tamanna
Poonguzhali : Anjali (Angadi theru fame)
Manimegalai : Amala Paul
Periya Pazhvettarayaar : Satyaraj
Chinna Pazhuvettarayar : Prakash Raj
Anbil Anirudhar : Naasar
Sundara Chozhar : Jayaprakash (Pasanga fame)
Mandagini (Oomai raani) and Nandini: Nathiya – Double act
Maduranthakar : Aarya
Senthan Amuthan : Abbaas
Parthibendran : Arjun
Kanthamaaran : Sonu Sood
Pinagapani : Karthik (America maplai character)

Whatever the casting is, if given to right directors, heavy budget producer and good technical crew, am sure the movie will be a milestone in Indian cinema. I am so looking forward.

Here are the Ebook links if you are intrested...

To read it as Tamil PDF book

To read it in English

To read it Online

I am now all geared up to start reading the sequel, UDAYAR by Balakumaran :)

Krishna Scores over Sam

Recently watched Deiva Tirumagal and as a fan of Vikram’s versatility, I enjoyed the movie very much. However, I decided to watch I am Sam from which the Tamil version is hugely inspired from. Here is the comparison analysis of the movies.

Story and Screen play : The story is pretty much similar in both versions. The first half is inch by inch remake from English version. However, I didn’t liked the second half in both versions. In English, it suited for western audience and there fore English was a better one. In Tamil, the inclusion of needless comedies like chasing each other in hotel was rather annoying. If Anushka is not getting married to Vikram, why should there be a un necessary romantic song ? not convincing in Tamil.

Casting : Full credit to vijay. The casting is just perfect for every single character. Vikram as usual did a walk in the park. Special mention should go to the baby Sara and Anushka who made an impact. Though came for short time, the 4 friends was really a delight to watch. Santhanam, black pandi, m s baskar did the home work well for the story. Highlight in tamil version is the addition of mynaa fame Amala paul she very well added the sweet flavor part

Music : Again full marks to GV Prakash. The beauty of Inidan cinema are the songs. In this movie, the songs gelled so well with the story. The story telling song is excellent one, the initial papa song is feel good, the background song when vikram raises sara alone is heart warming. Above all, I really loved the 2 theme music moments were vikram and sara exchanges the actions. Eye jerking. This is the highlight difference from English and so touching moment. Music can speak a lot better in emotional scenes.

Vikram Vs Sean Penn : Sean got the Academy award for his performance in 2001. Personally, I liked vikram’s performance better than Sean but I can see he got lots of inspiration (synonym for copied) from Sean and in many scenes he just repeated it. However, one needs talent to do that too ;) What keeps vikram at top is he is the same one who did multiple personality disorder in Anniyan, visually impaired poor singer in Kaasi, rough and tough seeyan in Sethu, grave yard maintanace villager in Pithamagan etc., the history that Sean doesn't have.

Overall, a must watch film (Deiva Tirumagal) for the individual performances and music.

Mission ‘Frozen Water Falls’

Trekking was always my favorite activity and the urge only increases every time I attempt one. This time it was yet another unique trekking experience. Here is my experience on the pursuit to world's second largest waterfalls in South Africa.

We left on Saturday morning 3 AM from Sandton. It was 3 of us and its all boys trip. Our objective was to go to the top of Tugela falls which is the second largest in the world next to Niagra. It wasn’t an easy drive after 1 hour with all mist and fog. We finally managed to reach the place called Witsieshoek Resort around 7.30 AM. They serve a decent break fast even to visitors at 65 Rands per person. We further drived for around 20 minutes in a bloody-muddy road to reach the trek start point. We also stopped in between to click pics of the ice layers along the mountain walls.



We finally reached the departure point. The parking lot is quiet good with guards there. You got to register yourself in the office there and pay 40 rands per head for the entry. The weather was absolutely perfect with bright sunny sky and uber cool 5 degrees temperature. We set off with a medium warm jerkin. It was cool walk initially for 20 minutes or so and then slowly steeping up. The path gets rough and rougher but the scenic view of the mountains kept us going. My mates were almost rookies in trekking but they were motivated enough and we kept pushing keeping the destination (Tugela falls) in mind.

We took couple of breaks in middle to get a breather. However, we havent felt the real pressure of high altitude trekking until we reached this dangerous thing called CHAIN LADDER. This ladder was long enough that even if you climb it fast, would take 10 minutes to reach the top. For me, that was the most stunning moment of the whole trek for 2 reasons.

Reason 1 : I never climbed the chain ladders on a mountain trek with no safety harness but I always waited for a chance to climb chain ladders (thanks to the training I once received in SAP Labs outing in Bangalore)

Reason 2 : This is not a pleasant one. Will reveal at the end.

We 3 took our time to get to the top and there after it wasn’t tough walk any more. We reached the top of Amphitheater valley and therez lots of snow all around. It was a serene atmosphere after a long grueling ups and downs. We ran around, jumped around, clicked pictures of snow etc.,

Then we patiently walked forward to see the ultimate view of the frozen long Tugela waterfalls. Man, this is the worlds second largest and 90% frozen.

The sound of ice blocks breaking away with the rising heat is awesome. It was like music in the echo friendly amphitheater valley.

We chilled out there for like 30-40 minutes and enjoyed the unique experience for a while. Sadly, we didn’t get any food with us and we are not camping there like other dudes around there did. We got to leave before its dark ( we havent got the torches either) We then had a relaxed walk until the same chain ladder spot. The climb down activity was more scarier than climb up as you got to often look down with uncertainty.

All 3 safely landed and we continued the walk all the way back through the same route. Once again, lots of ups and downs. The sun slowly getting down and ice started growing again every where. I (with my few other old friends) always have the habbit of doing brisk walk for the final 1 hour or so just to keep the spirits high. So, I jumped out of the path, took the steep shallow down way to reach the bottom and had a quick brisk last leg to the car parking area we started from.

By around 5 pm we managed to get back and kick start the car to our resort. It was a bloody long day with only 4 hours odd sleep over night and there fore you feel like almost beaten to the death.

What was the reason 2 that I was bragging about in the chain ladder point ?

When I finished climbing the ladder, I swung the back pack to front to pick my Nikon D90 and at that point it happened. The zip opened up. The camera flew over and effortlessly, travelled to the deep. Woefully, hit the rocks. Inevitably, shattered in to pieces. There was 2 seconds silence. I couldn’t believe it. I lost the best non-family-companion who was always with me since I got him. In all these, I managed to recover the data card. The best part of the incident is that the heavy D90 camera just missed a girl’s (from another trek group behind us) head who was standing down. Now, I am waiting for the entry of Nikon D7000 in to my life ;)

Must Watch Classics

It was only last 5 years I came out of the shell of Only-Indian-Movies-are-best-in-all-genres and started watching Hollywood/British movies that were splendid than I thought it was. Ever since I moved to South Africa, my urge only doubled up and thanks to my Colleague and other friends who keep suggesting tried-and-tested movies. Going a step further, I watched a couple of non-indian-non-english classics that really made me feel WoW.

La vita è bella (Italian) – Life is Beautiful


The Italian classic that won many awards took me to surprise with the humor screenplay they built on a bloody-serious-story. The hero (director himself) Roberto Beningi is an Italian Jew who arrives to a new town, fall in love with a non-jew, got married and living happily. When his son was about 4 years old, the family was arrested by the German army as an attempt to eliminate Jews from the country. I thought the movie will take a u-turn and will get traumatic. Further, my wife was worried to see a father and son suffering in a German prison. However, our thoughts took u-turn as the father projected the whole prison life as part of a game and the lil one should survive with the rules to win the maximum points to get the big prize of army tank. Thus moving the story with all humour.

Though the whole movie was funny (felt like watching tamil classics of Nagesh (Ethirneechal), the determination that the helpless father had to give the utmost comfort to his son inside the prison was absolutely eye squeezer. The stunning climax where Roberto sacrifices himself playing a gimmick and got executed will really make any one feel heavy. My wife finally smiled only to see the son rejoined his mom at the end. A must watch movie for a movie lover.

Das Leben Der Anderen (German) – The Lives of Others

This one got academy awards for best foreign film in 2006. This is a classic German drama that showcases the emotions going through between a state security spy (Police officer) and his victim.

Here is the plot…

East Germany’s state security deployed a police officer to spy a stage play screen writer

The officer is a honest and staunch socialist. In our language, a good guy

The screen writer is a communist. A good guy but angry about East Germany’s ongoing dictatorship

The minister who used his influence to assign the spy basically wants to get the writter’s girl friend for good in spite of the fact that she doesn’t like the minister

The honest officer gets to know this and use his intelligence and honesty to reach the inevitable, save-the-good-people

Again, I loved the last sentence of the movie and that’s the Midas touch. Watch only if you like classic movies.

Hey Raam (Tamil)

This is an old Indian-Tamil movie starring Kamal hassan. I watched this movie long ago and didn’t really like it but not after reading this analysis report by a final year film institute student. I strongly suggest you to read all the chapters in the following link and watch the movie again to understand how Tamil movie attempted to match the international standards to deliver a classic.

http://theseventhart.info/2008/06/20/hey-ram-an-analysis-part-120/

Sports- Emotions- Movies

Its always a wonderful feeling when you hit the winning boundary in last over of a world cup final, when you win the Wimbledon finals in the final set, when the goal keeper stops the penalty shoot to win the champions league, when you show who you are in sports when the odds are against you. The movies all over the world never failed to capture the adrenaline and emotions the players go through on the pursuit to improbable victory.

Since I love emotional movies (like Shawshank redemption, Pursuit of happiness, 500 days of Summer, Anbay Sivam (Tamil), Happy Days (Telugu) etc., ), theme based on sports are always special. Here are some of the movies I enjoyed heart out associated with sports

Rookie of the year : The 1993 American film I watched in my younger days and so inspired with the theme. A young boy accidentally gets a golden shoulder of pitching at more than 100 mph in baseball and turns out to be star. However, the twist is that in the finals of the championship, he loses this gift and gets back to a normal person. How he tackles this to get the team to victory is the climax. Though it’s a movie under comedy genre, I liked the way the movie was filmed.

Rocky : No doubt, truly amazing film making in the field of Boxing and Knock out stuffs. Sylvester Stallone turned out to be a big inspiration lived as Rock Balboa for the whole Rocky series. I vaguely remember this movie as I watched it long back but I remember the opponent in the first part becomes his coach in second part was an interesting sequel and I suggest any one to watch the whole series. However, the last part is a bit let down.

Wimbledon : Not the best of sports movies but if you like Tennis, you may like this movie. All about an average British Tennis player in twilight of his career determined to win the Wimbledon and prove a point on his worth. Watch it if you get a chance. Tennis victories lies in the mind on top of the skill.

Psye : Well directed and well shot Telugu (Indian) movie based on Rugby. The story of how the college Rugby team wins a match against the bunch of hooligans to retain the College land captured by them. I was astonished by the way it was filmed made the sport looked so real. Kudos to Telugu cinema for the brave attempt.

Lagaan : The masterpiece sports based movie ever made in Indian Cinema. Set in pre independence era, a team from a village in India should win the 3 day Cricket game against ruling British to save the tax for the year. A R Rehman was a genius in setting the tone with good background scores and songs. The climax scene where Aamir Khan hits the ball-caught-by-captain-but-crossed-boundary just made every one in the cinema jump on the seats and clapped unanimously. The movie was nominated for Oscars.

Chak De India : Well directed and a lovely movie to watch. I however didn’t liked the plot where a complete underdog womens hockey team in India goes on to win the champions Australia in their own soil. Excuse me, this is height of drama. How will you feel when Zimbabwe releases a movie where the Cricket team under a months time comes from zero to beat India in world cup in India which never happened in history. Hence I rate Chak de India as hypothetical fiction. Ignoring that, Sharukh Khan did the role well of a Coach and the way he builds the team is amazing. A very good entertainment.

Hansie : This is not really a sports movie but all about one of the greatest captains of South African Cricket team, Hansie Cronje suffered by his one mistake and the emotions he went through all the time until his dramatic death. Watch this and you will change your opinions about Hansie Cronje

Invictus : This is the movie that drived me to post this article. I just saw last night and still cant get the movie out of my mind. Its not the conventional sports movie with full of dramas. It’s the true story of the first president of Democratic South Africa, Nelson Mandela inspired the South African Rugby team to achieve the world cup on their first appearance in their own land. It’s a marvelous movie rated based on the accuracy of history. The true story of 1995 Rugby World cup. I was overwhelmed when my South African colleague explained the whole world cup on how it happened. Don’t expect those hi-fi drama like Lagaan or Chak De India in this movie. Its pure classic by Clint Eastwood. Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon lived in this movie. A must watch for the fact of True story. Know what ? I learnt the rules of the game now ;)

I am not sure if I left out anything but guys do leave a comment if you think of any good movies based on sports.

IPL 1 – 1990

I just struck with this idea of imagining, how it will be if IPL was introduced in 1990 and the players during that period had played. Here is the end of tournament summary report

The Reliance IPL had a grand opening this year thanks to BCCI for making it as huge success as this took Indian cricket to heights ever since 1983 world cup win.

The Calcutta Choker Kings owned by Bollywood fame Anil Kapoor who was confident that the team had a right mix of players like Navjot singh sidhu (Captain), Martin Crowe, Manoj Prabhakar, Wasim Akram etc., with young talents like Ajay Jadeja and Vinod Kambli. However, the team failed to progress after a stunning opening match win against Madras Murderers led by Kapil dev. Anil Kapoor criticized Navjot Singh’s captaincy by suggesting he could rather take up some laughter challenge show as he spotted Sidhu making fun of other teams losses instead concentrating on his job. Calcutta apparently, lost 6 matches in a row out of 7 matches and Anil kapoor is confident they will come back with a bang in next IPL.

On the contrary, Madras Murderers made a poor start with a shocking loss to Calcutta failing to chase the mammoth total of 100/7 posted by Calcutta at the end of 20 overs. Opener Srikanth tried hard by hitting a six with opening ball and a 4 in the following over but very expectedly, got out with a simple catch to the slip. Martin crowe later joined Kiran More to achieve this improbable target but eventually the Madras ended up with 67 all out in 19.2 overs. It was a steady raise after that for Madras murders but only finished fifth in the points table before semi finals. The local star L Sivaramakrishnan was show stealer with his consistent performance

The Hyderabad Himalayan Blunders was never in the contest with series of defeats right from the beginning. The captain Sunil Valson who condemned the franchise owners ‘Zandu balm’ as a bunch of useless management team and the team selection was never right. He however mentioned the under 19 local talent named Mohammed Azharuddin is extremely tolerant in extreme situations showing no emotions for anything and could be right captain in future.

Semifinals :

The first semifinals were between Banglore Backpackers Vs. Bombay Beeda Eaters. The Banglore captain Syed Kirmani led his side to a tight contest. Batting first, the backpackers scored a modest 80 / 8 in 20 overs with Duncan Fletcher scoring an impressive 23 of 26 balls. With easy task on hand, the beeda eaters started well with the openers Allan border and Mohinder amaranth almost scoring run a ball in first 3 overs and then both lost their wickets to Backpackers young strike bowler Anil kumble. Eventually Kumble took 6 wickets in 3.2 overs and got MOM match award. The Beeda eating losing captain Ravi Shastri seriously stated ‘It was an event ful day and the team was confused if this kid (Kumble) is a spinner or pace bowler and no excuse we played poor’

The second semi finals were between Kerala Lungi Masters Vs. Delhi Dum Maaro Dums. The Kerala team owned by Appu kuttan Textiles (Lungi manufactururers) was the only team with out any local talent but still gave a tough fight to the mighty Delhi but the Dummers smoked the lungi and eventually burnt them out of tournament. The Lungi master captain Roger Binny mentioned he is proud of being here and mentioned they are no match to Delhi’s Clive Lloyd who was dominating with both bat and ball.

Finals :

The finals was called off as it was scheduled in Madras and shockingly no one turned up to watch the match as that was the day Super stars Rajnikanths ‘PANAKARAN’ movie was released and all were queued up in Cinemas and proved IPL carries no priority to this Demi god of Tamil Nadu. Clive Lloyd was shocked and frusturated initially but spotted in the night show of Rajnikanths movie 2 days later. Apparently, the trophy is shared between Banglore and Delhi.

ஒழிந்தான் பாதகன்...

ஒசாமா பின் லேடன அமெரிக்க ராணுவம் வெற்றிகரமா ஒழிச்சி கட்டிடிச்சி (அப்டின்னு தான் நியுஸ்ல பாத்தேன் .. உண்மையாதான் இருக்கும் ) இதுக்கு பிரபலங்கள் என்ன சொல்றாங்க

கௌண்டமணி : அட்றா சக்க !! அட்றா சக்க !!! தெருவல உக்காந்து பிச்சை எடுக்க வேண்டிய மொன்ன நாய் என்ன அட்டகாசம் பண்ணிச்சி .. மிஸ்டர் ஒபாமா அயம் ஒன் டவுட் ... அந்த பரோட்டா தலயன ( செந்தில் - ஒசாமாவ கொன்ன அமெரிக்க சிப்பாய்) நம்பாதீங்க அவன் எதோ ஒரு சொறி நாயா சுட்டுட்டு உங்க கிட்ட புருடா உட்ருகான்... எதுக்கும் இநோருதடவ விசாரிங்க ஆபிசர் ...
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இளைய தளபதி : எவன் படம் பாத்தா மூணு நாள் வாந்தி வந்து தல சுத்தி இ.சி.யு ல அட்மிட் ஆரானோ அந்த படம் தான் என் படம் (தளபதி என்ட்ரி) அண்ணா அவன கொள்ள இவ்ளோ டென்ஷன் எதுக்கு அண்ணா ... என்னோட டி.வீ.டி ரெண்டு அனுப்பி இருந்தா அவனே தூக்கு போற்றுபானே ... ஒபாமா அண்ணா .. அவன கொன்ன கதைய எனக்க ஈ மெயில் பண்ணிடுங்கன்னா ரீ மேக் பண்ண யுஸ் ஆகும் .. தாங்க்ஸ் தலைவா
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சாலமான் பாப்பைய்யா : அன்பு ஒபாமாவே , அருமை அமெரிக்காவே ... எதுக்கையா அவசரப்பட்டு கொன்னீங்க ... பழகி பாத்ருக்கலாமே ... புடிச்சிருந்தா பிரிண்ட்சா இருந்த்ருகலாம் இல்லாட்டி கொன்னுருகலாமே .. என்னய்யா !!
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நிருபர் : கமல் சார் ஒசாமாவ கொன்னுடாங்கலாம்
கமல்ஹாசன் : ஹா ஹா ஹா

நிருபர் : என்ன சார் சிறிக்கறீங்க ... அப்ப கொள்ளலைன்னு சொல்றீங்களா ?கமல்ஹாசன் : நா எங்க சார் கொள்ளலைன்னு சொல்றேன் ... கொன்னுருந்தா நல்லாருக்கும்னு சொல்றேன்

நிருபர் : @#@#@??

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வடிவேலு : ஐயோ !!! ஐயோ!!! ஒசாமாவ கொன்னது யாரு ... அமெரிக்கா தான ... இங்க ஒருத்தன் கேப்டன்ன்னு சொல்லிக்கிட்டு நா தான் பார்டர் போய் ஒசாமாவ கொன்னேன்னு சொல்லிட்டு திரியறான் ... இத நாம வளர விட கூடாது ... அதனால தான் சொல்றேன் ... உலக அமைதிக்காக அய்யா கலைஞர் அவர்களுக்கு உங்க ஓட்டுகள போடுங்க ....

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நீயா நானா கோபிநாத் : வெல்கம் டு லைன் டேட்ஸ் சிரப் நீயா நானா ... என்னோட நிகழ்சிக்கு அடுத்த தலைப்பு ... ஒசாமாவ அமெரிக்கா கொன்னது சரியா இல்ல பாகிஸ்தானே போட்டு தள்ளிருகனுமா ... தீர்ப்பு என்னானா கொள்ள வேண்டிய நெறையபேர் நம்ம ஊர்லையே இருக்கும்போது ஒசாமா கதை பாமர இந்தியனுக்கு தேவை இல்லாத விஷயம் ...

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இந்த கதைய வச்சி நம்ம தமிழ் திரையுலகம் படமா எடுத்தா என்ன பேர் வச்சிருபாங்க

டாக்டர் ராஜசேகர் : இது தாண்டா ஆப்பு

டி ராஜேந்தர் : ஆமா... இவன் ஒசாமா

கெளதம் மேனன் : கிருமிய கொள்ள வருவாயா

சூர்யா : ரத்த சரித்ரம் - பாகம் இருபது

கருணாஸ் : அபோடாபாதில் அம்பானி

இதுக்கு மேலயும் எதாச்சும் மொக்கை தோணிச்சினா கமெண்ட்ஸ்ல தாராளமா போடுங்க :) மொத்த போஸ்டும் தமிழ்ல அடிக்கற அளவுக்கு வெட்டியா இருக்யானு சத்தமா சொல்ற உங்க மைன்ட் வாய்ஸ் எனக்கு கேக்குது... அரசியல்ல இதெல்லாம் சாதரணமப்பா !!!

Before you die !!!

A Travelogue after a long time. Unsurprisingly, it was a splendid trip to Cape Town. The South Africans are always proud of the rich natural beauty of the country and Cape Town is the primary underlining factor for the statement. I have planned this trip for 4 nights along with my family. Enjoyed every second of it from the accomodation to every meter of the lengthy drives in and around the city. For those who never been here, check out the composed briefing on must see places in and around Cape Town from my experience.

First thing first, mine was a package tour from Johannesburg and the price was 17K Rands (1,12,500 Indian Rupees, 2500 USD, 3120 Singapore Dollars). The price includes for 4 adults and 1 baby return flight from Johannesburg, Toyoto Versa Car rental, 4 nights stay in Protea hotel - Stellenbosch)

Table Mountains : Mr. Nelson Mandela mentioned this as the gods gift to South Africa and rightly so. If you want to use the Cable car to go to top, be there by 9 AM in the morning to avoid crowd and have a pleasant and less-crowded view at the top. Also, the cable car transport will be closed if its raining or heavy winds. You can also do a 1-2 hours trek along the pathway to reach the top. I recommend the cable car atleast to go up as it gives good 360 degree view around and save your energy to spend walking at the top. You can walk like around 1 hour on the mountain top all the way from east to west. I guarantee you will cherish every moment viewing the beautiful beaches and the landscapes around cape town from there. FYI, the Table mountains are the oldest mountain in the world (even older than everest)

Cape point (Cape of good Hope): This is the south western tip of Africa. The drive to Cape point is a pleasant experience crossing the valleys, coasts and several view points along the way. There is a Funicular ride (winch as called in India) that takes you to the cliff. You can explore a lot around the mountain by foot. The more you explore the more you can see and the more your heart will linger with joy. I have seen the views in many many movies and clicked a lot. Good food for my lens. Remember to plan your lunch there in the restaurant (i guess its called two oceans restaurant) in Cape point. Its delicously delicious even for a vegetarian like me.

Robben Island : This is most intresting part. This is an island prison (something like you can relate to the movie THE ISLAND) where the political prisoner (including Mr. Nelson Mandela) was jailed. Before that, the island is the quarrantine area for the leprocy patients. They were isolated and left in the island to suffer to death. You got to take the ferry from VA Water front. The ticket includes the ferry ride, the bus ride and guided tours inside the island. There will be a X Prisoner himself there to explain his experiences inside the prison and how brutal was the treatment inside. At the end, the prisoners where so determined to fight the apartheid with peace so no more from the future generation should suffer in the prison any longer. Dont miss this place, this will make your trip more meaningful emotionally.

Camps bay (Sunset view) : The best i would suggest is leave cape point around 3-4 PM and head on to Camps bay via Kommitije, Houts bay, Chapmans peak to Camps bay. You can stop at several view points along the coast. Refresh yourself and get ready to feel perplexed with the amaizing driving route in the Chapmans peak. The experience of viewing the coast as you drive through the mountains is impeccable. You will love every second of it. Make sure you reach camps bay by around 5 PM. This is for me one of the best place to view the sunset. It was too cold and windy for me to swim in the beach. I guess summer should be best.

Cape town Castle : This isnt visual pleasure as i expected but the meuseum inside the castle is quiet informative. This explains a lot about Anglo Boer war and how the British captured Cape town from Dutch. Besides, there is a Cannon firing session which is a wonderful experience where a representative from SA Cannon Association explains the whole process of firing a Cannon with right tools. Go for the knowledge.

Hermanus (Whale watching): I knew it wasnt whale season but i was told if i can get a boat, i can able to catch glimpse of those monster whales in the mid sea. Unfortunately, the boat was full and we have to return disappointed. However, the long 1.5 hour drive was exciting crossing the mountians and plains. Plan this if you are excited watching Whales.

Ostrich Farm : This is the delight of my own research to make the trip memorable. I found out this unfamous West coast Ostrich Ranch off N7. The farm has like 200+ Ostriches and a guided tour is all fun with the guide explaining end to end about life of Ostrich. Also, you can feed them, touch them and even sit on them for photographs with Table mountains back drop. Please dont miss it :)

Thats pretty much i managed to cover in around 4 days. I would like to go another time by reaching Port Elizabeth (another city) by flight and drive all the way to cape town (800 KMS) staying at different places along the way each day though the Scenic Garden route.

Few pictures are in my facebook and email me for the pictures link if you wanna have a look. But make it as a point that you visit this place before you die :)

The stamp of dominance

Disclaimer : Please note, the above so-called Poetic lines are absolutely Aravindh's own creation. Any one claiming the rights will be higly intolerated and will be badly bullied ;)

Wolrd cup : The Glorious Moment

The glorious moment for Indian cricket I witnessed last night. The statement was further justified when couple of South Africans mentioned ‘I am glad the Aussies are out of World Cup’. It’s the expression of joy when a team put up more than a brave fight and showed the exit doors of World cup to a team who dominated more than a decade in world cup.

It was 1996 (I was at school that time) I saw the so called minnows Srilankans who murdered the Australians in the world cup finals and ever since, the Oz team only grew stronger, became dominant. With the stalwarts like Ponting, Mcgrath, Warne, Gilchrist, Hayden etc., they formed their own empire in the world of cricket. They kept fetching all the records possible. They won every world cup they played after that. As the talent grew stronger and stronger, the attitude took a stroll and termed as the RUDE TEAM in the cricket field. Sledging, Controversies, Disciplines joined with their Cricketing talents. That’s when the superstars retired but not the teams attitude and fittingly, that’s when they started losing their pride.

The slide (to me) started when India won the CB Series during last time during India's tour of Australia. There was no luck factor, no hook n crook. It was 'best of 3' finals and India kick started the ‘Beginning of the end’. Sachin Tendulkar rubbed off the stupid superstition by scoring centuries in both matches and still made India lift the trophy with one of the histories most convincing win against Australia in Australia by any team in ODI format.

Later, the Aussies suffered poor crash defeat in Ashes against England which put the message across to the arrogant team that they are just as good as any other test teams.

Back to present, the Aussies started the world cup well staying un beaten until they met the most unpredictable super talented team called Pakistan. Crushed ruthlessly and their stint of 34 unbeated worlcup victories in a row ended. I have to mention that its shame on Ponting who clearly edged and waiting for umpires decision to force him out instead of walking out. Fittingly, Tendulkar only grow as a sports man (besides being top class player) by walking away when he nicked the ball that even replay cameras couldn’t spot.

Yesterday, the big stage was set. India (the favorites) but with lots of bowling and fielding issues to face the defending champions. I was taken by surprise to see the new look Indian team with their best bowling n fielding. Took regular wickets, stopped boundaries and batted with utmost responsibility as a team. End of the day, there was 2 people who were on their knees on the ground. Yuvraj, roaring at his loud best looking at the sky. Ponting, heads down forehead kissing the Indian soil for the last time in world cup.

I saw this funny comment on cricinfo.com at the end of the match

Passenger Announcement : Final call for passengers travelling to Non stop flight to Australian on Quantas Airways.

Disclaimer : This post is not to hurt the Australians but true emotions of Non Australian Cricket fan.

More Tennis

Ever since I moved to South Africa, the predominant activity goes in my mind and body is Tennis. With chilly climate (than Singapore), well available and free courts, good play mates, the love of the game only increased. Although I am not a power hitter or super fire athletic in the court, I still love the game the way it works. Adding spice, I got my new Racket (a bit expensive, bloody 1800 Rands = 340 SGD) but the best thing I got since my ipad few months ago ; ) Some of healthy tips and tricks I learnt from other mates/experts. This doesn’t mean I am following it well but with my limited exposure, its working well for me.

Shoes : After 1+ years of tennis exposure, I very well learnt how vital Tennis shoes means if you are frequently hitting courts. I used to get lotsa ankle sprains/twists (the cream of Singapore knows the stories well) and then these Tennis shoes joined me only to give the best to my legs.

Racket : I wasn’t sure which one to buy initially (1+ years ago) So my mate and me blindly purchased a 100$ Wilson racket. Surprisingly, that was a wise choice and served us sincerely for long long time (and it still does for me) Last week I came to know what suits me, if you are a power hitting player then predominant light weight stuffs are the ideal choice otherwise go for a bit heavier one. I am still learning on the right selections but smaller racket with heavy head weight works well for me at the moment (Wilson BLX blade 98 rocks ) Obvious, I am married to Wilson now.

Tennis is a wonderful game for activity. I tried badminton for a while but gave up as its more demanding in terms of fitness and stamina. Tennis on other hands blends activity well with your skill. Also, Tennis is more enjoyable if you play singles and more exciting if you play doubles. Certain things to keep on mind while playing the sport.

Warm ups: Always, warm ups first. Its quiet essential. Tennis is full of continuous hitting, hard running, sudden jerks etc. Your body should be all fine before and after every game. Hence atleast 5-10 mins warm ups and stretching is a must do before you start holding your racket.

Rallies: Play bloody loads of rallies. I was stupid myself gave more importance to the fun matches with my mates than actual rallies (practice). Ofcourse, matches are the intresting bit that keeps you going for the whole session but its rally hits that improves you in the game. So, if you play 1 hour game then make sure you play 10 hours rallies accordingly.

Strokes : I myself still a rookie in making my strokes clear but I am happy am learning now to spot the mistakes. The mistakes I used to do always is using my wrist to generate the power but ideally, it should be the combination of your foot work, grip and swing of your arms that should generate the power. Obviously, this doesn’t come over night and you gotto keep hitting lots of balls to get right swing

Cricket World Cup 2011

It’s a real pleasure and fun being in another cricket mad country that awaits for the upcoming world cup with all the locals being curious. The Cricket fans of SA over here are nice and giving good respect to other teams too in terms of criticizing the game. Herez my analysis of how the teams stand although the groupings looks like the top 8 teams in ICC ranking will go to quarter finals.

Australia : For sure, they are not the god as they were a decade ago. Ever since the last world cup, the team only detoriates with every second with their consistency. No more Gillys, Mcgraths, Haydens or warnes. Winning each game will be a challenge for them. In my opinion, they are not the favorites this time.

South Africa : I could say they are better than Australia but once again they don’t have the talents of Pollock or Klusner or Rhodes or Gibbs which is painful. However, they seem to be the only non subcontinental team who got the potential to win games in Asia against any opponent on any day. IMO, they could give surprises either way. (they still havent got rid off the C****S tag yet)

England : In theory, they are even favorites. In reality, they sweat themselves to win against an associate team in Warm ups. If Kevin Pieterson or Paul Collingwood doesn’t click, England won’t stay longer. IMO, No hopes on them

West Indies : The once superstar of world cricket is not the same now. Gayle is a good T20 player and Chanderpaul got too much load with a less talented team. Bowling is unpredictable. The only impressive news was they gave tough fight against Srilanka in Srilanka during warmups. IMO, no chances even if they make it to quarterfinals

Srilanka / Pakistan : No idea. To me, they are ‘You never know’ teams. They are quiet and less hyped. Supposedly, according to the Theory of Stupid Irony, one of them should lift the cup.

New Zealand : Absolutely no chance. They should be happy they are still playing tests.

Bangladesh : Being host, may lift their spirits and I am sure they wont give a easy win to any opponent. Still, they don’t have what it takes to be world cup dominator.

Associate Teams (Ireland, Neterlands and other lands) : Nothing expected other than 1 or 2 shock in prelims.

India : As a world cricket fan, India for sure proved they deserve to be on top few by giving close fight and winning slaps against many teams in their own backyard. Young team, great hitters, terrific fielders, home side advantage, TENDULKAR the god is with them… With all my heart I always wished to see the Tendulkars XI to lift the cup for more than a decade but this time the chances looks more realistic ever before. IMO, the team got all it takes to reach semi finals and then its Dhoni who should exercise the brain to get ther…

Practically, all the top 8 teams (AU/NZ/WI/IN/SL/EN/SA/BG) reaches the quarter finals eliminating the associate teams and then its 3 good days for any of these teams. One thing i am sure about, it will not be 100% win for any team that lifts world cup.

I am all HUNGRY now ;)

Click Click : Rhino & Lion National Reserve

Managed to get some sense of creativity unleashed in this beautiful place.... The Sun factor in South Africa is strange for me as it isnt burning hot as it was in Singapore but get bloody lot of Sun burn. So dont forget a sun screen in South African Summer... Doesnt matter how dark you are... Save yaselves.... Some of the clicks that i thought worth posting


The feeding session was not as exciting as anticipated but the scene of a whole horse been killed and fed to the wild was a bit nerve racking.



At first, thought hardly a human but at one point frusturated with lined up cars everywhere. My advice, keep this safari on a weekdays for your peace of mind.

This one scared the s***t out of us as it fetched the meat and ran across our car. Imagine if it doesnt get its meat and my arm on the way instead.

One of em just had the complete lunch just in front of us with out a courtesy to offer the guests (us... hehehe)

This was the cutest i saw over there... These bunch of lion cubs were fighting so ferociously for a while and then lined up to quench the thirst with all unity.... I felt my effort worth getting there :)

Was quiet happy to see this veteran taking an afternoon nap with out bothering any thing in the world....

5th ODI : India Vs. South Africa

I was all so excited about the fact that am gonna watch a cricket match live in a stadium for the first time in my life… Ironically, I never watched all the time in India (my house in Chennai being only 3 -5 kms away from Chepauk stadium) but with in my first month in South Africa.

This is the 5th ODI between India Vs. South Africa. The series so far is in a balance with 2 wins each. With pride at stake, South Africa should be favorite but you can never write off current Young Indian team. Things running in my mind until the morning of the match…

-- Jo’burg is predominantly cold place so it will be pleasant to chill around in grass
-- Might get good glimpse of players in close vicinity and chat with them
-- get a feeling of the real time pace and look of a match
-- long drive to beautiful centurion supersport park
-- The form of life Indian team is now
-- Can further test the efficiency of my new GPS

How did the day went through ?

The parking was a chaos in Supersport park. As soon as I drived to the stadium there were this bunch of guards rounded me and offered a safe and easy parking space for 50 Rands. I went for it and I was happy that its only less than 4 min walk to stadium. Later, I felt more lucky when there was rain and water level was rising in the free parking space behind the stadium.

The prediction was a thunderstorm for the day and was surprised to see bright sunny morning and the smile didn’t last for ever.. Around 10 am we started feeling the discomfort due to heat and around 11 am we are half fried human meat on the grass… And that was the time the transition took place from choclate brown to dark choclate brown (guess what ??? My colour ofcourse : - ( )

Rubbing salt on the wounds, Dhoni chose to bowl first and made SA feel good toss to lose with their master class batting effort. Harbajhan and Munaf was standing near us in the boundary during the innings and Bhajji was like a robot and didn’t even waved his hands for whatsoever… rightly so, he got the worst swears from the crowd all the 20 overs he stood their.. He complained to the security guards and they didn’t give a S***T

The 40 mins rain in the afternoon was the worst part of my day.. We had to stand all the time with our mats in our hand… luckily it wasn’t a thunder storm. The Indian innings started with wickets flow being generous than run flow… as it looked the match will wrap up before even Indians reach 100, we took the obvious decision ‘TO LEAVE THE STADIUM WHEN THE TRAFFIC IS LESS’

We left after Harbhajan’s wicket thinking there is only a miracle could save India… The Wonderful part is that I was home on time to see Yousuf hammering under the cold living room with snacks and juices on my couch… No regrets as this series was one of the bravest fight back by Indian team with out front line batsmen on a South African pitch. I can still place my money on India for the upcoming world cup.

THE MORAL : Never ever watch an all day match right under the sun. Don’t trust any form of weather.

Just not YET ANOTHER GADGET !!!

This time its most anticipated post by the cream of my circle :) Its none other than the majestic APPLE's creation, IPAD

a month ago i never had a slightest idea of buying this gadget.... Later, started checking out my frinds iphone 4 and i thought 'WOW'.... later, researched about IPAD and on one fine late night as usual my brain started becmg devil and made me order this gadget online .... in a flash, my 1100$ burnt :( (I made a secret resolution that i should cut down expenses this year... enna kodumai sir)

The gadget arrived from apple online store singapore in next 2 days and from that second i am all glued to the master piece.... So what makes it a 'magnet of human mind'

- Internet : trust me, the speed is totally top class when i compared to my laptop on same WIFI

- Games : You wont believe the quality and clarity... also, the feature of touch screen makes it intresting to play....

- Apple istore : the most intresting part of ipad.... apple has the market and demand ... therefore millions of free applications on various categories... u will never be done with this :)

- movies : again, the clarity is the class.. with 64 gb of space, you can very well store good set of videos and images

-Books : i resumed reading the most intresting 1500 pages PONNIYIN SELVAN and this was my primary inspiration to buy ipad

- there are other features like google map, itunes etc which i also use it on and off...

for gadget freaks, ipad is a 'must have' in their armoury.... for others, jus try it out and u will b impressed for sure....

Verdict : I am sure i wont lose this gadget to any one :)

Advice : if you wanna buy this, i suggest apple store online which is arguably the cheapest and reliable source

Warning : dont get this addiction ruin you ;)

2010 Memories

Its 1.1.11 today... while am watching Dr. Vijay's Tirupachi (should i call it as Perarasu's Tirupachi) in SUN TV, i felt like registering my first post of 2011... Here are good things happened in 2010 ... note, jus publishing watz on my mind right now and i may miss out things... (Who cares nu neenga solrathu enaku nallavay kekuthu)

Movies (Tamil) : Endiran (Ofcourse), Mynaa & Kalavani (Warm and classic village), Tamizh Padam (brave attempt and a laugter machine), Angadi theru & Madrasa pattinam (classic)

Movies (English) : One and only INCEPTION

Personal : My son's first Bday celebration in Phuket, Surprise Prague and Guruvayur trip, More Tennis, havent given up on blogging/photography yet

Professional : No Official trips for next 3 years (hopefully)

Disappointments of 2010 :

- Dr. Vijay Movie(s) - (2009 la mattum ennavaamnu kekareengala ... !!!)

- Matured and sensible tamil movies

- Decision to leave Singapore for a while

- My bday (getting old u c)

New year pledges ??? No No !!! :)