Harbhajan said "Teri maa ki"

Apparently that is what Harbhajan said, and Symonds and Hayden mistook it as "Monkey". For the uninformed, this means "Your mother's....". A word for word translation would be the same. Teri = your's, maa = mother, ki = 's in feminine gender. Now this makes more sense, with the Indians saying we said nothing and the Australians claiming they heard abuses. I picked it up from here. The Australians are real cry babies.

The wonderful gifts of letting your eyes wander

I love to watch the world around me, look at things, wonder why they are that way, find patterns, compare..
The first one I'd like to write about is when just after the exam, the girl (let's name her Z(I don't know her real name anyway)) handed her paper in to the prof and immediately started walking back. Prof started turning the pages and set his eyes upon one question. I looked at her, she was looking at the prof as she was packing her stationary. He grimaced his face, indicating he didn't approve of that answer. She in turn made a made a face showing that she was sort of caught-in-the-act (stretching the skin on your neck and moving the sides of your mouth downwards). All this happened in the space of a few moments, and was real fun to watch.

Events like meetings are really exciting, because you have so many people and their reactions are equally interesting. Some will be bored, some will wonder what the hell they are doing there, some will be the epitome of a meeting-attender, taking notes and stuff..

Another day, I happened to eye this arousing act 'in front of me'. It involved two girls, one was sitting down, talking on her phone and the other was getting ready to go, packing her bags. And that's all I will write here as it is too 'bad' for this kind of a blog. Maybe you'd want to ask me directly about it.

Coming Soon!

Coming Soon! The prestigious 2006 US Presidential elections! Story is in pre-production. Will release soon.

That haughty guy... I'd like to hang him out to dry..

Once in a while, you come across those kind of guys who are so haughty you wonder how they survived college. Not that they were popular. I'm venting my anger over a guy, and maybe another too, who were in Pearl, but I won't take their names because neither will I gain nor lose anything if I reveal/keep unknown their names. The very thought of their faces smiling away brings a frown to my face and given a chance I'd banish them to military service so that they learn some manners. I am most pissed off because they just don't have the least courtesy to reply when approached for help. They way they respond when looked upon as the ultimate solvers, filled me with despair and hate. I hate it when people of such stature, knowledge and ability just don't wish to lend you an ear. I'd love to see them fall down the corporate ladder if they haven't changed their ways.

"Live life to it's fullest. You never know when it's your time...."

Live life to it's fullest. You never know when it's your time....

These were a few philosophical words in the description of a video dedicated to Heath Ledger. I was attracted to Heath when I saw the Joker in the tralier of the latest Batman installment, The Dark Knight. The character impressed me so much, I had to know who was the man behind that makeup. I expected to see a middle-aged, psycho as the actor, but was surprised to say the least when I got to know it was Heath Ledger.

It takes some talent to play a madman - the Joker - Heath seemed to fit it so well. I was shocked when the headlines announced that he was no more. The Joker was no more. Now I'm just waiting to see The Dark Knight - just for Heath. If you haven't watched the trailer, you should - and see for yourself - the Joker. I haven't watched Brokeback Mountain as yet - many say it was awesome - some were hailing him to be the new Marlon Brando. He definitely had great looks with a handsome square jaw.

As of this post the causes of his death are still unclear and toxicology tests are awaited. Many speculate it was due to overdose - of sleeping pills. He had said he was having trouble sleeping after playing a psycho like the Joker - but he was also deeply affected by the breakup with his wife. Reports say she left him - they had had a child - and Heath was dejected with the divorce. It brings to light how much relationships can affect a person..... No better example, next to Heath's, is Britney Spears - just imagine, you are a happy parent one day, and the next, your partner files for divorce, takes away your children, and then the world's media hounds your every move - not even allowing you to be at peace in hospital - and you fall into the deepest depths of trouble - your good fitness fails you - you are the laughing stock of all of the known universe..... It all started with a good happy family splitting..... Life is such you never know what it has for you the next moment..... the title of this post stands true to every single word, every single letter. Heath Ledger, RIP.

A girl I didn't know talked to me

I was coming back from the Student Union when all of a sudden a girl, Buchtelite in hand, said to me, "As if they give this newspaper.." My senses went for a spin. For a moment atleast my mind was processing at lightning speed.... A blonde, until now, unknown girl, was asking me something. My reply was almost ready. "Yes, this newspaper is free. It's called the Buchtelite. The mouthpiece of the university. Pretty interesting stuff too. Take one! Well... Take two... Or even three if you want.. Noone's gonna(gonna, not going to) stop you!"

But just as that split second ended, she had that surprised look on her face, I was a bit perplexed, and then she said the golden words...."Oh I'm so sorry, I thought it was my friend actually.." Yeah right, miss-unknown-girl-of-one-second. That wonderful monologue I had prepared so well vanished into thin air. All I could manage was a meek thumbs-up. I guess it was divine intervention for such meetings to be just an aberration. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh.

Ear filling music

Rajesh is playing music on high volume next door, with Sriram's 5.1 speakers. I can feel his room reverberating with the wonderful beats of music.... flooding me with memories of when I filled my own room with Krishna's speakers(thanks to him once again for those wonderful days)... I played almost all kinds of music - Hindi, English, Tamil, Gulti... It's actually a different kind of experience to sleep with loud music, I've found that loud music helps sleep when you're really tired.. Once I remember sleeping really well one hot afternoon with loud rock music(Rob Zombie I think) after a hard morning(though, I have serious doubts if my immediate neighbours Seeni and Murugan would agree with me). There were different songs to be played for the mornings, sad times, when I needed to shake a leg(atleast in dreamland)...

The other day I was wondering if that sort of an experience would be possible, ever, in the future, elsewhere. Pearl hostel, was in the middle of nowhere to say the least, like all hostels, isolated and separate. So loud noises would just dissipate into thin air. Having wingmates who put up with you is also a gift. After moving into individual careers, we get to live in apartments, with family, new friends.... So,

• since apartments are close together, noise is not expected from you
• families wouldn't prefer loud music
• playing it in a neighbourhood would probably get others to think you're a madman, since you're a grown-up

In effect I really don't see where we can still play really loud music, of your choice and your volume. Plugging your ears with earphones or headphones isn't an option because one, you can damage your ears, two, it just doesn't give you the experience of the bass ringing through your body. Let's just hope we get rich, own a big house in the middle of nowhere, a wonderful, understanding partner with the same tastes as you... But, well, those are found only in an ideal life, aren't they.....

Pallu.. the Murugavel...

Nattu:

Place: Restaurent....... Date: Jan 22 2008...... Time: 10 pm Murugavel :Give me seven Lime Juice........ Waiter: Sweet or salt sir Murugavel: SWEET cum SUGAR both!!!!!!!...... Waiter: &*@#$#$@

Murugavel... A simple, gullible guy, the punching bag of the hostel, but he punched the volleyball even harder, mind you.... What a smasher... Set up by Anil the Hacker, the splendid volleyball final behind Pearl was an absolute treat, all credit to Murugavel. He was in superb form(perhaps doping tests should have been conducted before the match... but whether they would have played even better otherwise is debatable :P ). An awesome athlete, too. Pretty determined guy. His awesome smile studded with braces and his frequent 'holy words' are still fresh in memory. His room was not his room, to say the least.. A movie theatre is better fit. Lots of seats, big speakers, big screen, lol....Very, very nice attitude. I actually took Hacker's word when he said Pallu had cracked CAT... heh heheeheheh....

Dragging the seeker in VLC for .flv files

I just discovered this, you can actually drag the seeker when playing .flv files in VLC, provided, it's already been played. I.e., say you play it normally till 50:36, you can drag around for times before that. So, you can drag the seeker to say, 35:05 or anytime before 50:36, but not after. My guess is that VLC loads the file or 'caches' it as it plays. I actually discovered this before once, but was left wondering why it didn't work when I opened a file immediately after it.

How I discovered it the second time is, I had watched part of the video, and had closed it, so I fast forwarded it, but passed the point till which I had watched, so I just dragged the seeker back, and lo! The video didn't end like it would end otherwise!

AAA Part 3

This is a continuation of the AAA series

• Most food items contain some form of 'meat' content - e.g. animal fat. Since Americans have meat as a main dish and rice/others as side dishes unlike us, it doesn't matter to them. So this means if you are a pure vegetarian eating a packaged product isn't easy. Most items will have meat; if not then they will have it in other forms such as '..... and/or processed animal fat....'. You'd want to check the labels for the complete list if you really want to avoid all forms of meat. Also, everytime you order any food, it's always better make sure with the person behind the counter what you're going to have doesn't have anything you don't want to eat. However if, like me, you don't like cheese and cream and mayo, that pretty much rules out everything from the fast food chains.
  
• American food is very bland. I once tried to make ready-to-eat soup, but it was just too awful. People here like sweet things a lot, and someone told me the Coke here is sweeter than what we have in India. Even if you order spicy-hot food, chances are it will just be mildly hot to our tongues.
• Folklore has it that a desi (what we call our brethren outside our country. e.g. 'There's a desi!') told his parents, who were not-so-urban, and were concerned with his drinking habits, that when you open a tap in America, only Soda and Beer flow. His parents, who did not have reason to believe otherwise, kept cajoling him to go it slow on alcohol... This is true to some extent, because you will find soda-vending machines almost everywhere, either in bottles or cans or the soda itself. And beer is also very popular, associated with American football, although you need a state id to buy some - because rules are enforced strictly and underage drinking is prohibited(either 18 or 21, varying from state to state)
• Americans like their drinks ice-cold. Everything, coke, pepsi, milk, tea, coffee, water, they will drink ice-cold. This means it is available ice-cold. Ice cubes are available in the vending machines itself, if they dispense the soda directly, and one lady filled her cup with ice cubes, and put a little bit soda. In the middle of winter. Water, is dispensed from water fountains, is free, and will spurt out when you keep a button depressed, and you have to catch it in midair. I took a while to drink all the water that spurted out, but water fountains usually result in wastage of a lot of water. And that too is ice-cold. This means you really can't get room-temperature water to drink from a decent source.
  
• However, since all water supplied is potable, you can drink from a tap too. So, say you are in the shower and are thirsty, just open your mouth and quench your thirst.

The day the world knew Australia were a bunch of over-priced cry babies

Jan 19 2008 will go down in cricketing history as the day the world realised that the Australian cricket team were nothing but a bunch of over-rated guys who tried all they could, including cheating, to win. That day, an Indian team, touted never to win on a Perth pitch, but looked upon, beat them, and that too, convincingly.

After the fiasco in Sydney, any team at the sad end would've given up, but not this team, because it was lead by a war horse who actually knew the rules of war. Look your enemy in the eye. And that he did with flair. For once Australia were in unknown territory: one commentator calling for Ponting's head, the public venting their built-up anger, even non-cricketing greats wanting the team to behave itself. The upper hand was clearly with India; Kumble knew exactly how to prepare a brilliant counter attack; Ponting was left pondering. 4 fast bowlers is something special, but not getting the full out of the much-hyped comeback of Tait and slow bowling did Australia in. Kumble knew exactly what he wanted: Sehwag cutting away on a bouncy pitch and an accurate seam attack in RP, Irfan and the young gun (who I rightly bet on to perform well) Ishant. VVS again was so special, and now we have 10 batsmen in our team. Ishant's spell against Ponting in the fourth innings has already started attracting attention because of how uncomfortable Ponting was. Welcome back, Irfan. We only hope you're here to stay.

And so the Aussie wagon wheel stops at Perth(it should've been Sydney) and since Adelaide's India's ground, looks like India will level the series 2 all. Australia, say goodbye to happiness. Say hello to the new world order. Ha.

Rajni at a function?

I wasn't surprised to know Rajni got the 'Entertainer of the year' award from NDTV, but my eyes nearly popped out when I got to know he actually went to Delhi for the function. That's because, he's a very reclusive person, rarely giving interviews or attending functions as much as other film stars do. So at once I headed to NDTV's site to see the clip for myself - wanting to see the proof for myself - and there he was, unshaved, white beard, accepting the award from our PM. Which other film personality even dares to come like this to an awards function? Probably Kamal. But atleast he's more 'presentable'. But, that is what makes our Superstar THE Superstar. A very simple, down to earth man, unassuming, God-fearing..... He believes in destiny though. And seizing the opportunity, the Srinivasan Jain asked Rajni about his joining politics - and as usual the reply was ambiguous. As they were to all the other questions too.

Man, I tell you, these broadcasters based in the north with a predominant non-MadrasMetro-style audience just couldn't take enough of Rajni. The way the presented news about him sort of seemed to indicate how they couldn't digest the facts that a non-Bollywood film personality was the highest earning in the whole country and a non-Hindi film was the most expensive ever made, notwithstanding other facts like maximum number of theatres released in, prints, etc(of course, I'm talking about Sivaji: The Boss). And add to that a media shy character. Somehow the major networks managed to get a couple of interviews with him before the release. That must have taken some effort.... Not to forget, given that news is mostly about politics, these media fellows want to know if he'd join politics or not, but I frankly don't know why they always ask him this, maybe, it's because, it's the only arena he has faltered in in his career. They just want to look at the donut and say, 'hey look, there's a hole in it!' Damn these fellow. No other movie star comes even close to the charisma of Rajni. He's just so good in Sivaji: so many different roles and he stands out in all of them. Hats off to one of the best entertainers in the history of Indian cinema.

Thermocol??

(Discussion with Prof)

Prof: So we can use this to find out that

Me: But the problem is it becomes bloated, something like thermocol... So I don't think this will work

Prof: Thermocol? What's that?

Me: :-8 (wondering if I would be technically correct to say if it was polystyrene, I was unsure, which it was as I later discovered)

Prof: Do you mean styrofoam?

Me: Yes, yes, styrofoam(correctly guessing it was something similar)... We call it thermocol in India

Prof: (chuckle chuckle)

AAA Part 2

This is a continuation from All About America Part 1.

• It is said America revolves around credit - I read somewhere that if all the debts in the world were settled, there would be no money in circulation.
• In America there is something called 'credit history' which every single American is obsessed about. It is basically a record(score or number to be exact) which shows how well you are willing to borrow money(credit) and repay it on time. The more, the better. The highest you can get is 850(FICO), and this is determined by how perfectly you repay your loans, how much risk you are willing to take(for e.g. how many credit cards you have), how often you take it(uniform usage of credit cards), variety of credit you have taken(mortgage, car loan, etc) and many others. FICO,or Fair Isaac(Vetti Suresh is in that company), is one such company which calculates the score. Three other agencies also calculate this score.
• What the basis of credit history is shown by a simple story I read on some financial site: A lender lends $100 to a beggar who has zero bank balance for a month. He also lends $100 to a millionaire with millions in his name for a month. Suppose, the beggar repays that $100 on time, and the millionaire does not, the beggar will have a 'good' credit history and the rich man will have a 'bad' credit history. So the money you have does not matter, it is your ability to repay in the future which counts.
• Why this is so important in America is because buying almost everything which will need a monthly maintenance - your car, your house, even your cell phone - is affected by your credit history. A good history will get you a lower rate of interest and a bad one means your ROI will be higher. It applies to cars and housing if you take it on a loan, not outright buying. When buying a car or renting a car or applying for a housing loan the agency will check on your history and accordingly grant or deny the loan.
• This forms the basis for the famous sub-prime mortgage crisis. Some time back, when the interest rates were as low as 1%, banks started lending out mortgages to families with bad credit history - mostly African-Americans - but soon rates started increasing, and since many couldn't repay their loans, there were many foreclosures - repossession of property - and soon the lenders started shutting shop. The problem didn't stop there - the banks had sold these mortgages as financial packages overseas - basically these were investments funding the mortgage - so when their value started declining, they were cashed in, reducing the value further. As of now most of the major banks have posted losses in their earnings including Morgan Stanley which posted it's first ever loss last year.
• To help with identifying each individual there is an SSN - Social Security Number - which is issued to every born citizen when they are children and to non-immigrants like me when we start earning in some form. This SSN is unique and is sufficient, with your other personal details, to check your credit history. It also helps during tax payment and pension, known as Social Security(I am not sure about this; please help yourselves).
  
• This leads us to identity theft - divulging your SSN and personal details or discovery of these to or by some crook - is a major problem in this land and in UK. With these details, anyone can open an account, apply for a credit card and spend as they like - bothering never to pay, because the bills will come to you.
  
• An SSN is essential to get a credit card - mostly an unsecured credit card(unlimited spending) will need you to have a good credit history.
• I mentioned earlier that a cell phone will need a credit history. The 'wireless' industry as it is called here is pretty funny and damned compared to ours. Most of the cellular connections are post-paid(contract) and few are pre-paid('Pay-as-you-go). Many plans exist where you can get a phone free with a post-paid connection - if you have a good credit history that is - but usually these are not the latest in the market. So since businessmen aren't running charities to give away everything for free, it can be safely assumed that the cost of the phone is included in the monthly charges you will be paying. These charges consist of a fixed charge(rental) and a charge depending on how much you speak/message/browse. Even then, there are a lot of 'free minutes', so if you talk within those minutes, you would be paying only the minimum charges. Again, we can assume these are factored into the charges we already pay.
  
• You will mostly enter into a contract for a period of time - usually two years - when you take up a service with a wireless provider. The cell phone he provides is 'locked' - and cannot be used with any other sim card. The cell phone is 'unlocked' only when you the contract ends or you break it, paying a hefty fine, usually roughly 4 months-worth rent.
• I think you can bring your own cell phones and buy a sim from the service provider, as my U of Florida friends have done, and I guess post-paid works out cheaper than pre-paid.
• It also has interesting situations for the mobile phone-manufacturing companies - since switching phones is unviable because of the contract, mobile phone companies have to approach the wireless companies to release their phones - so the wireless companies dominate the proceedings. This means sometimes you can't have your choice of phone and network - because either will be from rival networks.
• Hence some phones are exclusively part of one network, like the iPhone from Apple, Inc. If you want an iPhone, you will have to buy the phone for $399(as of date of this post) and take a 2-year contract with AT&T with a minimum of $59 monthly charges. Apple allegedly arm-twisted AT&T into an agreement skewed in favour of themselves, but that is a story worth of another blog post altogether. This why some predict this business model to fail in India - but they will simply do what they did in France - sell it for regular price bundled with a post paid connection and sell it for a much higher price for use on any other network. Let's see how this 'prediction' ends up.
• Most Americans love flip-phones(just an observation), the Motorola Razr is a very popular model.
• Of course, the Apple range of products are very popular here, almost every fifth person will have his ears plugged with an iPod. The Apple enthusiasts seem to be a bunch of ultra-loyal people, they look to have such undying faith and hope in Steve Jobs they would be ready to hunt down the other bad boy Bill if needed. It's also a wonder, how, Apple has maintained such a large 'fan base'.
  
• I got to know that Americans don't save money as much as we do - they spend for today and worry about tomorrow tomorrow, which works hand in hand with the logic of credit history. I believe that is the strength of the American economy - instead of stashing away the money earned, they spend it - they buy today and repay it slowly later. So while we have black money, in America that money circulates within the economy, and this has 'a feel good' factor about it, as economists bank on it to make predictions and project sales. Americans just keep spending - new, in-fashion clothes for Christmas which are dumped by next Christmas, electronics, cars..... We don't care much about branding, but that is seen as a status symbol in business circles - you have to have branded, in-fashion gear and clothes on yourself or else you end up at the sidelines.
• The consolidation of American companies has led to an unfavourable situation - a few market leaders manipulating and dominating the market. I seem to get the impression that the companies look not at serving the consumers but their stockholders, which is very dangerous, because the common man doesn't gain a thing from this.
• The highest denomination of the dollar is $100. But if you withdraw money from an atm, the highest denomination you will get is $20. This is because many many establishments do not accept $50 and $100 notes - change may be harder to get, but another reason I guess is to avoid possible burglary. Robbing shops and eateries is big business, guessing by the number of video seen around the world. Given the fact that guns are easily available, burglaries(hold-ups) seem to be common. Maybe due to the fact that shops are spread over a large area, far from one another, and also because they are open late and dotted with customers.

• Observing closely, you can notice various steps taken to catch burglars - video cameras in the establishment, notices saying : * "...we do not accept or keep $50 and $100 notes...."(which can thwart a potential robber because he will have to haul more), '... you are being watched on a video camera....', '...say cheese, you're on camera!', '......this keep more than $50 in our registers after 6pm..', in case of delivery boys, the pizza box has this printed: '... the delivery person has no more than $50 with him...' One other thing is that the exit doors will have a sticker indicating height in feet on their frames - obviously to guess the height of the robber as he exits the place.
• And most transactions are cashless - credit cards or through university id cards - which have a magnetic strip and can be loaded with money for sake of transactions.
• Internet banking is awesome - you can even set your ATM preferences via the your online account. Cheques(Checks, they are called in this crazy country) do not carry any charges, you get a certain number of check books free, they have multiple security features making forgery very difficult(as a result of years of experience at the receiving end of forgers...e.g. Catch Me If You Can)
• For this post's final fact, what we call a rubber in India should be called eraser here. Because, here, if you ask the person behind the counter for a rubber, he'd give you what you wanted if you and your partner wanted temporary bliss but not a 'bundle of joy'.
  

More coming soon.

P.S.: I'm not a very good economist, please excuse my crude explanations. I'd be very happy for comments on any of the posts.

I just can't enjoy myself at McD's

Most of you will be smacking your lips at the thought of eating at McD's or Taco Bell. For me it's more of I'd love to eat it but I can't eat it. I just can't eat cream or cheese. Even if I eat them without knowing something tells me they're there. I once asked for a some chicken burrito(a rolled up chapathi stuffed with various ingredients) and once from the first bite itself it was strange. I just couldn't eat more. So I unravelled it and lo - cream mixed with the contents of the burrito. I didn't want to waste it and ate it unwillingly. When eating a bean burrito, the same problem - this time it had cheese. And I didn't go searching or checking if it had cheese. I discovered it because my subconscious told me too. The McD's is even worse. I had the bad experience of eating a Mac with all of it, so the next time I decided to eat it without those obnoxious things. So I told the guy at the counter, "No cheese, no cream". He gave me this long stare with a cunning smile as if to say, "What? No cheese no cream? That's all a Mac's got, dude". I've never attempted to eat sandwiches or burritos or whatever ever since and don't see myself doing it in the near future. So that really limits my options of eating out.

It's the same with milk - plain milk I hate absolutely. I'm bothered about spending the extra buck for Boost in this place, so I've improvised - chocolate cereals. After all, it's the colour, smell and taste I can't stand, so mixing chocolate cereals with hot milk solves the problem. But mom says all these are exactly opposite to what I loved when I was a little kid.

Taare Zameen Par

I've debated for over 48 hours whether to write this or not. Anyway here goes...

The first thing is that the movie plays into Amir's hands. Of course, it's his film, isn't it. That's what I didn't like about it.
Second thing is that the songs are 'perfect' - they are composed to situations in the movie and not as an independent money spinner.
The scene which stands out in the entire film for me is when Amir asks the kid to switch on the lights, and simultaneously asks who the inventor of the light bulb is. That spontaneous response is, I would say, the best executed in the entire film.
The painting of the boy, supposedly by Amir, is a superb one.
If you give it a good thought, the logic behind 3*9=3 is awesome - I would call it lateral thought and the power of imagination - it combines a lot of things - current affairs(Pluto no more a planet), knowledge of the solar system(knowing which planets are where and how they look) and futuristic thought(time travel/travelling so fast as to reach the last now-no-more-planet quickly).
I correctly guessed that Amir was taking interest in this boy because he saw himself in the boy.
Thank God Amir had the good mind of not having a deadly romantic side to the movie.

The film makes a very good example of an off-beat one highlighting dyslexia amongst children, but to be really frank I was very surprised to see many people relate themselves to the boy, not only in the comments section of a websites but elsewhere too. The parents were definitely going over the top in pushing the young boy too far and not identifying his true nature. Inspite of all this, in the wake of so many comments, which I found to be sort of 'admission of not succeeding', I would say, as the film rightly says, every child is unique, but not everyone is dyslexic. It's just that as Manju(maniac) said, I'm modifying it, 'a hammer can shape steel into a katana, yet the same hammer can shatter glass'. It's up to us to be what we want to be, and applies to most of us. Of course, identifying if we are glass or steel is tough, our parents make that decision for us becuase we aren't mature enough, which sometimes as a tactical ploy misfires. But not always. I know of several such. When it's up to us, we too will face the same situation in the future, we will be forced to take the decision many have taken before us, but we can definitely try not to make the mistakes they made.

13 member cricket team

Quote from NDTV's website:

"Virender Sehwag and Irfan Pathan are set to play in the third Test in Perth. However, Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh have been left out of the playing eleven."

Right. As though it is possible to play 13 players for the game.

All About America (AAA) - Part 1

Starting with this one I will present America through the eyes of an F1 student from India. This will be a multi-part series.

• America, though may refer to the continent, is referred to USA within the country also.
• They drive on the right side of the road with left hand drive.
• Most of the cars have automatic gears - so no clutch. This also means they consume a lot of fuel (a lot of energy is used up in the automatic gears). This also means that slamming the accelerator will not immediately increase the speed.
  
• Public transport(inter-city) is almost non-existant(not that intra-city is great either, in major cities like NY & DC it's 'ok' but not every place else). The only pan-America means of 'public' transport are Greyhound(bus service) and Amtrak(rail). This is because almost everyone has cars(on average one household has 3 cars) and road services are excellent. Highways are awesome and you can get from point A to point B at an average speed of 50 miles an hour. Every city/town has a by-pass, and driving in a new area is just not possible. You have to plan which exits to take and where. This is aided by online maps like Google Maps, which will give you road-by-road distance, estimated times and exact locations as to where to take turns, etc. GPS handhelds are also very popular.
• Each state has its own set of laws and can vary very widely when just crossing borders. Due to the history of the US, each state has its own liberty to a large extent. In conversation with an American friend I found that it is the responsibility of the town to fund and maintain a police force. So if a town can't afford a police force, there is no effective police.
  
• Rugby as played here is called Football. Football as we know it is called Soccer. The irony is their Football doesn't involve the foot even as much as Rugby does. All the while, Americans are obsessed with sport. Football is most popular; Baseball is a favourite pastime; Basketball season starts when winter sets in, after the end of the Baseball season, mainly because it can be played indoors; Soccer has a good following too. They are very very loyal to their local teams. Local teams usually mean teams from a university and teams from major cities. eg: Cleveland Browns; University of Florida Gators, so almost all universities have their own team. Whichever sport, they don't mind spending some money to come out to support their teams.
  
• This in turn means there is atleast one football match at any given time all weekend; there are football matches on weekdays too; so you can keep yourself occupied with football all the time. Also every university has its own grounds for all the sports.
• There's lots of space in America, so instead of building to the sky, you might as well build on the ground itself. There are malls, some small(half a soccer field) to really big ones. Of course, this is the land of skyscrapers too... They stretch as far as the eye can see....
• Pricing is a bit funny: 99% of the items in malls do not have the price printed when procured from the manufacturer; so if you search for a price on the product, all you will find is the retailer's sticker. I.e. there is no price printed on the product, which means the retailer is free to charge how much ever he wants for that product. So a loaf of bread can cost $1.29 at one store and the same loaf can cost $2.39 in another store. The consumer has no clue about 'cost effectiveness' by looking at the cost from one store. The only items to have prices displayed on them are <$2, like peanuts for $0.99 and Lays also for $0.99. A similar discrepancy exists for items such as cameras, laptops and almost everything. An example is though the 'suggested retail price' on a jacket was $100, the selling price was just over $50. So it's up to the store to make money as it wants. The price between stores can vary as much as 40%, online. And yes, a lot of things are bought online. Generally things are cheaper on the internet (because they don't include dealership fees, I guess). With Google Checkout and PayPal and eBay and Amazon.com items can be bought cheaply and quickly. Courier services, namely US Postal Service, FedEx and UPS are very good in service, helping fuel online sales further.
  
• Malls, I noticed, have as much parking space as they have floorspace. I was later told there were laws requiring some ratio of area as parking space. Which means parking in these places isn't too much of a problem, but shows that there are so many cars around and land is aplenty.
• There is a legal right(fundamental right) to own guns. It's as simple as walking into a store, paying money and walking out with your own gun. It does fuel violence, but this right is backed by a powerful National Rifle Association, which said after the Virginia Tech massacre, "...this could have been avoided if everyone in the university had a gun of their own..." Ironically though, it is illegal to carry firearms into most buildings. So basically that means you can own keep a gun inside your house and vehicle.
• Going to jail is apparently no big deal: I once overheard a group of persons having this conversation: "... you ever been to jail?" "yeah, once, I was driving drunk..." "you know my brother was arrested for DUI(Driving Under Influence, i.e. drunken driving), and he cried the whole night!" Mind you, the first two were girls.
  

More in part 2.....

Harris, something new, PLEASE....

'Rangu Rangamma' from Bheema struck me at once: I had heard those tunes somewhere. No wonder, that song is a mix of 'Veerapandi Kottaiyile', 'Rakkamma' from Thalapathy, 'Kokku' from Kovil and 'Kalyanam than' from Saami. It took me a while to figure out all of these many songs. Not that Harris Jeyaraj composes original tunes, but almost always most of his new songs will ring a bell in your mind as though you're not hearing them for the first time. As is the case with Bheema.

Kalloori... I'm still reeling...

I saw Kalloori (with the help of Narn), and enjoyed it thoroughly from start to almost the end where the movie finished leaving me with the thought of 'why Balaji, why?'. In fact, in the few minutes after the movie ended, I was feeling sad for Muthu, who until the climax had two prospective future partners who liked him very much but was ultimately deprived of both. And in the few hours after the film I felt sympathetic for the family of the girls.

The problem is that Balaji Sakthivel has portrayed the film such that these feelings come spontaneously... The scenes when Shobana(Tamanna) feels angry when her advances to Muthu(Akhil) are rejected, strike a chord within you, showing how true to they are. Akhil as a new comer has done well. Tamanna is good. Hema(Kayalvizhi) and Ramesh(Bharani) have put in excellent performances. Their 'acting' is as close as it gets to reality. As a matter of fact all the members in the cast give you the impression they're having an enjoyable time onscreen. Some scenes stay pegged in my mind: 1, the actual distance Akhil has to walk before he gets home, even though it seems such a short distance when he waves goodbye from the bus stop, and how it is portrayed when Tamanna goes in her bike, and 2, the continuation of the previous scene when Akhil's sister tells Tamanna she had to drop out of school so that her brother could pursue his studies.....

Overall, what keeps coming back to me is even though it may be just a movie, how those situations apply to everyday life - times in college, the people we meet, their story, rough patches in friendship, a crush on somebody, disasters - and they make me reflect for a while each and every time.... But I liked Kadhal, except for the ending that is, and this movie too leaves my heart broken and makes me wonder, 'why Balaji, why?'

Static pisses me off!!

I get so infuriated with damn static. It's winter and sometimes things like sweaters are essential. And being such good insulators they generate SO much static, looks like you can start your own electric company or power your own house. DAMN! Everytime I am 1 cm away from touching metal equipment two things happen, a tiny crackle is heard, and the next thing you know is your hand is hundreds of feet away from that piece and you are in a daze wondering what just happened. It's not just once or twice or thrice. It's zillions of times. I even experienced discharges with cotton t-shirts(I can't work in the lab naked, can I? Hmmm... No cameras, nobody's around anyway... Could give it a try... But what if Prof comes in? I don't think 10 seconds is so sufficient.. Hmmm....) So I tried touching a metal spanner before touching the actual equipment. Guess what happened. I got zapped by the spanner too.

How AR Rahman and the others screw up their songs

I really hate to even imagine that such good songs have been screwed up. I'm talking about 1.Athiradee and 2.Ballelikka from Sivaji(AR Rahman), 3.Santhippoma from E20U18(AR Rahman) and 4.Unnale Unnale title song(Harris Jayaraj). In these songs the tunes are so good until a female voice(1,2,4) or the tune itself (3) meanders off somewhere. Damn... The two from Sivaji are definitely screwed up by the female voices; ARR might have put in shrill, new voices to include some 'youth' in the song, but I feel they've messed up the song. Or maybe he should've modified the songs somehow. Athiradee is one of those rare, brilliant songs like Kelamal from ATM and Girlfriend from Boys - they have no sing-along tune but yet are your favourite and make you sing them in your mind always. The female voice in Athiradee is a clear negative for the song. Notwithstanding the fact that ARR himself sung the song. Talking of Santhippoma, the lyrics for the male chorus are such the tune suddenly wanders off on its own. While hearing it for the first time I couldn't stop from making a face as soon as it hit me. That would have been such a nice song. And about Unnale Unnale, the female voice sings it with too much 'fluctuation'(I don't know what its called), maybe putting in her 300% to make the song sound good. No it didn't.

Then there are some songs which maybe be screwed due to uncontrollable reasons, like Sonu Nigam's title song for Sathiya. The lyrics were such it just didn't gel with the original tune from Alaipayuthe. Unnikrishnan similarly makes a mess of Poongatrile from Uyire - the same song in Dil Se was much much better. (But some songs are better than others - like Aye Udi Udi from Sathiya as compared to Kadhal Sadugudugudu from Alaipayuthe, because of Adnan Sami.)

And that brings me to what I consider to be the worst song I've come across. For some reason, unexplainable, I can't sit and listen to Konjam Neeram from Chandramukhi. I hate that song. Deeply. Kokku Para Para from the same film was actually the worst, but it was ok when I discovered the former(but all this said about Chandramukhi I like Athindom very much, though it too is redone from a Mallu song). The different ways people screw music. Lol.

Why we need superstars and superheroes

Even in today's world superstars and superheroes are very much relevant. The prefix 'super' can be attached to a player in almost any category, who is at the top and commands most respect. Some examples:

• Reliance - Stock market
• Sachin - Cricket
• Karunanidhi & JJ - Tamil politics
• Sonia Gandhi - Congress party
• IITs & IIMs - so called India's password to the outside world
  
• Tata group - varied industry
• Rajni - Tamil cinema/Indian cinema
• Big B, now Shahrukh - Hindi cinema
• Raj Kapoor - Yesteryear Hindi cinema
• Raj Kumar - Kannada cinema

I would best describe a superstar as someone who is looked upon at a moment of crisis and can be a safe bet to bail everyone out of it. But why do we still put our faith in just a handful of individuals to help us out?

I feel it is a basic human nature - when buried deep in trouble, we search for the one who can be depended on, who will definitely have a solution and that too an amicable one. They come into play in foggy times and give a hand in clearing it. Some have been so powerful that they have enormous following - the real life Rajni is simple, unassuming yet unbeatable in on the screen. We always look up to him to deliver a hit always - that is faith. We make him a superstar. Same thing with SRK - all his films end up making crores and become box office hits. A few words uttered by Sonia, Karunanidhi or JJ can move mountains, virtually. The IITs and IIMs, are thought of to be the ultimate destination for excellence. All these individuals will be believed word for word and are given God-like status.

We always regard such superstars to be resistant to all forms of attack and come out unscathed in a skirmish - we rarely believe they will betray us. But a lack of superstars is one of the reasons people will start losing interest. That is why we will always need a P. T. Usha, a Baichung Bhutia, a Vijay Mallya, a Barkha Dutt or even a Sania Mirza. Anyone - who can capture the imagination of the common man - will become a superstar. Sania may not be all famous for her tennis, but the USP is that someone gets up to sit up and take interest. Some very good examples of suffering from not having superstars - in the true sense, is Kannada cinema. There was a Mr. Dependable in Raj Kumar, who is no more, leaving that industry in shambles, so much so that outside films had to be banned. Another example is BJP - noone wields true power in the centre - I am not talking about Modi in Gujarat - whatever he said didn't count and he won the elections much to everybody's surprise. He is a classic superstar. What will happen if there is noone in the central command of the BJP to control him - interesting to watch. We definitely need such people in every aspect of life - team leaders, friends - who can be taken word for word and whose decisions are unquestionable. Such people are hard to find and identify, no doubt, but they work wonders if discovered. Quarrels, tough decisions, anything - will be solved by our superstars. We always look to them for hope.

Even Americans have superstars - Batman, Superman, Spiderman - good people who will always win over the most evil of persons. Bush was a superstar, but not anymore... Steve Jobbs is kind of a superstar... And there are a host of TV personalities who are frequently debated about in the media.. so they must be superstars, too.

Bottom line - we need superstars and superheroes to help ourselves live happily - otherwise we need to create them - quickly.

Tata's new 'Nano' and what it means for everyone

Tata, on Jan 10, unveiled its new 1 lakh car (Rs.1,00,000) - the 'Nano' - at the Auto Expo 2008 in New Delhi. The expo was touted to be Asia's largest, but it was Tata's magic car which was the talk of the town. Two days earlier Bajaj(maybe soon with Renault) had revealed it's own small car to cost 1.2-1.4 lakhs - and a host of other companies including GM and Ford announced their intentions to build their very own small car.

What makes Nano so special is that it will costs just $2500 at the dealership - which is trivial change compared to the cost of a car in the US or under half the cost of the cheapest car on Indian roads. This means it is well within the reach of the average Indian consumer who has a family of 4-5 and owns a two wheeler, who is the intended target. Tata's chairman, Ratan Tata, has said that the car was for every Indian family, and pooh-poohed talk of environmental concerns. Dr. Prachauri, of the Nobel-Prize winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said he was having nightmares because of the same - many foreign reports too indicated the same - but Ratan Tata said it has a great mileage(over 20 km/litre, which is great), followed pollution norms and also passed safety tests.

The car may not have many features which are standard in many countries - like power steering, ABS and air bags - but we have driven cars without these features all along - so this won't be something new. It may be funny to note that it has it's engine at the rear, has storage just enough for one suitcase and has just one windshield wiper - but that a car is within reach of the common man is a great achievement - this car might go down in history as one which changed the scene of an auto industry like the T-Ford and the Maruti 800. Given the choice to buy a car for just 1 lakh or a bike which costs 40k-50k, many would make pick the car. It would be more comfortable - no need to balance the entire weight of the family - kids can safely sit down in the back - no need to hang on in front of daddy or be squashed between him and mummy - no need to worry about the weather - rain or sun - it would be a great step forward.

This car stands to truly revolutionise the auto industry with a car every consumer can afford, especially in the developing nations where the incomes are low. One glance at the possible markets for this car and you will see that the opportunities for this vehicle are huge - Africa and Asia, let alone India and China - this car can capture the imagination of people and become an instant hit.

This car means a lot to India - yet another feather in the cap of the Tata group - TCS - Daewoo - Corus - and the expected Jaguar and Land Rover. If this car is manufactured in India and exported, it will establish India's image as a car 'exporter' with value and will generate a further lot of employment, much like the current auto industry is doing. The impact on the world's auto industry is to be seen, because the cheapest cars are nowhere near this price tag. It could lead to cheaper cars being manufactured around the world to meet demands in the rising economies of South Asia, Africa and South America.

However, with the smiles there will be worries too - first and foremost the infrastructure worries. One question asked by a journalist impressed me but it was the reply which impressed me even more - he asked Mr. Ratan what he had to say about the fact that it took him over an hour in traffic to get to the expo - Mr. Ratan's reply was timeless: did you get late because of our cars?(This is a rough transcript, I can't find where I read it) India's roads are already clogged with traffic, not to mention unmaintained roads and the rains to play spoilsport. More cheap cars and it is an urban planner's nightmare. Places like Bangalore are not able to cope up (they could follow Hyderabad's example, but for all that there needs to be a government in Bangalore in the first place) with the current traffic and narrow roads and existing buildings and legal issues make things worse. Yes, the government has to take an active part in constructing new roads and improve traffic conditions in the cities.

I remember when Mr. Tata had announced his 1 lakh car some four years back(see... it still costs 1 lakh.. "A promise is a promise" - Ratan Tata), we were having a discussion about new cars and the government's policy. My views were that for countries like India and China with very high population densities, the policy should be one of mass transport and not individual transport. Rather than encouraging new cars on the road, it should tax them further and encourage people to use modes of public transport, which too need to be developed. A very simple example to quote, from my experience, is that in places like Erode, Salem and Namakkal, many businessmen travel a lot by bus - because there it is reliable, cheap and on time. Of course there is the argument that an auto industry will generate employment and help industrialisation. Again, environmental concerns pop up - burning fuels will reduce drastically if public transportation is used - so will traffic congestion.
I have my own safety concerns for the car - with a rear engine, braking will be a problem - so will oversteering and understeering - because the centre of gravity of the car will tend to be at the rear of the car. Also, one main reason why cars have front engines - 'impact zone' - will be absent, so the safety of the car, even though it claims to have passed safety tests, is a major question. Instead of all welds, the car is also held together by superglue. Given the stripped down version of all the components, wear and tear is sure to be high - which will be even more if driven at higher speeds - so one fear is that running costs will be on the higher side compared to a normal car. Given the current rate of action at the top levels of bureaucracy, it looks like owning a car will be easy, but driving it with the same ease will definitely need another Ratan Tata in politics.

But given all the ups and downs, nothing can replace the joy of a family being able to afford a car, long seen as a luxury item all over the world, and drive around in comparable comfort, safety and self pride.

Referenes: 1, 2, 3, and others in Google News I can't trace

G and Unnale Unnale

G's status message once showed, "Going to Australia next year", before which it was "passed first round of interview" I think. So I asked him if he was going Down Under, he replied that he would be going for a project(he's with TCS). At once this reminded me of Unnale Unnale where the hero, Vinay, goes to Australia for similar work and comes across the bubbly-open-minded-cheerful-every-man's-dream Tanisha in the flight, and later meets his ex-girlfriend Sadha a few days later in Oz land. I immediately told G what flashed across my mind, he chuckled and without a blink referred that he didn't have a Tanisha to come with him, to which I said he would definitely find one on his flight. The conversation ended with a lol from both ends.

If I remember correctly G did not have any 'Sadha' s in his life(rumours abound of his adventures), but what struck a similarity between him and Vinay is that G is a very handsome guy with a cheerful character, and he too was going to Australia. G may not have Vinay's 'Playboy' character, but he has that Madhavan look and hairstyle in him. But, why Unnale Unnale is at the top of my brain is because it is a wonderful take-life-as-it-comes kind of a film, about Sadha, who expects a very loyal relationship with her boyfriend Vinay, who in turn loved the company of other girls too inspite of having a girlfriend already. The two come to loggerheads when Vinay fails different tests which Sadha feel are indications that he would never be loyal in a relationship and so separate. The two meet in Australia, with Tanisha having met Vinay in the plane, where Sadha feels jealous because of Tanisha, who with an open-minded character, likes Vinay very much. Sadha tries to win back Vinay, but is unsuccessful, realising that she wasn't a match for Vinay. She goes into 'exile'(hiding would be a better description) and Vinay and Tanisha happily raise a family. I found the penultimate scenes in the film to be very akward, when Vinay, Tanisha and Raju Sundaram go searching for Sadha across Melbourne as though they were searching for a missing puppy. Raju Sundaram, playing an innocent husband, fit the role perfectly, portraying himself to be a stupid guy, providing for a rich comedy track in the film.

Unnale Unnale had a youthful touch to it; it found fault in no-one - neither men nor women - had beautiful actors (Sadha and Tanisha were gorgeous) and of course Vinay, a modern guy with open thoughts about relationships. The director, late Jeeva, was synonymous with movies targeting the urban youth - 12B, Run and Ullam Ketkume. We were shocked in college when we heard of his death, we had lost a guy who was making out of the box films targeting young audiences which had a fresh appeal to them.

And so I hope G comes across a Tanisha soon.

"Only one team is playing in the spirit of the game"

In light of the infamous Sydney test, Anil Kumble, the perfect character of a captain, said those words. These are reminiscent of what Bill Woodfull, the Australian captain at the receiving end of the English in the Bodyline Ashes series, said: "........ There are two teams out there. One is playing cricket and the other is not." Anil, in the simplest of words, has best described the feeling of the double game the Australians and their cry baby skipper Ponting played out in the second innings. Read what Anil had to say here and here. Also check out this interview after the test match Anil gave to the Indian commentators - he was so composed in his character. Hats off to the wonderful man he is. This test match, will, dear Ponting, be always remembered for you crying like a baby when you got to know you weren't going to win the match. For once my sympathy is with the Indian team. I only hope they do something in Perth and Adelaide.

Australians and cricket

I have always had this in my mind, so here goes:

"In my opinion, the Australian cricket team will be remembered as a bunch of talented cricketers who played hard to win, but sledged even harder to make sure they win."

A match we could have won

I hate to even think that the Australians have won the second test at Sydney. This match will be remembered by many for the dubious decisions given by the umpires Steve Bucknor and Mark Benson, so much so they have been accused of biased umpiring. The ire of the Indian fans is reflected in the status messages of my friends: 'Steve Bucknor is 12th man for Australia', Nattu's 'Australian squad: 11 + 2 umpires' and his own status message after the match, 'Australia won. Man of the Match: Steve Bucknor'.

This is not without reason; Symonds was supposed to be out twice on the first day Australia were reeling at 150 something for six; ruling in favour of Hussey in their second innings; Rahul's and Sourav's dismissals in the final innings on the final day when we were certain to save the match. Of course, Ponting was given out in the first innings off a big inside edge.. There is more here and here but the point is the umpires may be human beings but for only one team to be on the receiving end is more than one can digest. Of course, BCCI will lodge an official complaint to the ICC, but that will not change what has happened: we have lost the test match allowing Ponting's men to equal Waugh's record of 16 unbeaten test matches.

Some fault lies with the Indians too - Jaffer did not contribute to the opening stand; Yuvraj was nowhere in the form he was selected to be in; Dhoni has poor scores in this series except in the last innings. There were many reprieves for the Indians too - many catches were dropped by the Australians, especially Gilchrist. But nothing can deny the fact that so many questionable decisions have cost India the match. Some deserve special mention here: The 'Big Four' of Dravid, Laxman, Tendulkar and Ganguly did the best they could; Harbhajan played a superb knock in the first innings; Kumble had the heart of a lion in the final innings; and finally Michael Clarke who finished of the tail with 3 wickets in the possibly penultimate over of the match. That's the same kid who took 6-9 in the infamous Bombay test which India won on a crumbling pitch which Australia complained about but had anyhow won the series 2-1.

All in all, I will be pitting the Indians to stop the Australian march in Perth, but I fear to think how it may happen - no Zaheer, just 4 batsmen in form and the bouncy pitch Perth is well known for.

New Year's eve & Chak de India & SRK

I spent New Year's eve with King Khan and his damsels watching Chak de (online, where else) through midnight and into the New Year. It was snowing/raining and very windy, so my plans to go to Downtown to watch the fireworks with seniors was cancelled. I was impressed with the film because it was so unconventional, no-masala-only-action kind of a film. All about coaching the Indian national women's hockey team, it shed light on many of the truths that plague our nation - we are so expectant of our players that one misstep can lead to unwanted consequences, like making a scape goat of Khan for failing in the final. I felt good that there were scenes where the muslim coach that Khan plays was made to feel inferior and referred to as a spy and 'told to go to Pakistan during partition itself'. I feel that the country has to put aside religious differences atleast in sport - and not call muslims 'people who should have gone to Pakistan'. I think, the film, by showcasing such scenes, hopefully gets people to criticise others by their specific faults and not for things outside their control - like religion, their name, their state, caste.... Hope the success of the film will bring about a change with 'constructive criticism' - instead of criticising Khan for losing the finals, he should have been praised for taking the team he captained into the finals, or criticised for taking the penalty(I mean in reality, not in the film).

The girls in the film were good - acted well - I thought the short girl in the film - Komal - was actually a boy. Ha... The goal keeper and the eventual captain, Vidya, I remember her in some ads on television, I don't remember which ones, so that means she isn't new to the entertainment industry. The cast tried to represent what all films try to do - bring a little bit from here, there, everywhere - the North East, Andhra, even Jharkhand. I was surprised there were none from Tamil Nadu and J&K ;-). Maybe the scriptwriters thought they would be 'going too far' if they brought in people from there. Anyways, they were all beautiful.

As I watched the film, I predicted what coach SRK would do - and he did do that. Here goes:

• when the coach meets the girls for the first time, I predicted that he would clap his hands and call everyone to a line - he blew a whistle and called them to order(I never thought I'd have a whistle in my hands)
  
• he reprimanded them for 'representing' their states - I too would have done that
• I predicted that coach would keep them on the bench for fighting, and brought them back only when they apologised, which he did
• however, I would have intervened in the fight at McDonalds. That must be why I'm not a filmmaker!(Real life fights can get ugly, but so many men getting involved is unlikely as many will support the ladies)
• I really wonder if it was a good idea to supply new shoes and sticks before the final - it would be a hindrance, I would say, rather than provide an impetus, as getting used to fresh gear will take time....
  

I noticed that the scoreboards were CGI - computer generated images. All the game sequences were shaky-shaky camera, to keep us from actually absorbing the action going on but still enough to follow it. I also noticed, that the commentator refers to the particular team as 'England' but the scoreboard reads 'G Britain'. How'd they miss that?

I definitely wouldn't have watched the movie if it hadn't been for the hype, because, 1. it had SRK, 2. it was about hockey, which I know nothing of, 3. it was a patriotic Indian movie(which can be really irritating if directed by the wrong hands), 4 it had the Yash Raj banner. But the movie is so unlike the Yash Raj stable and I liked SRK's performance for once.

To be honest, I don't like KHNH AT ALL, saw the first 10 minutes of MHN and changed the channel never to return, and seriously think King Khan looks like a school boy in Don. Speaking about Don, SRK doesn't fit the role at all - he's not tall, he doesn't have that 'air of arrogance' which Big B had. Yes, the film was very innovative, but I just can't stand SRK in Don. I really feel SRK will be better off playing a villain's role - rumoured he is doing that in Dhoom 3. Let's wait and watch.

I liked this dialogue-scene from Chak de -

Aussie: *&# #&%&@#$
Soimoi: Yes yes, Happy Diwali
Aussie: What'd she say?
? : Watch out for the fireworks tomorrow!