Bangalore city has been peaceful today...

sms alert in the morning.

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Saturday, 10:31 AM. 31-12-05

Please be informed that Bangalore City has been peaceful today. All rumors of armed persons in the city are baseless. Commissioner of Police, Bangalore City.

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About a month or so ago, I had visited Delhi. Two friends and I were travelling around the city meeting up with old friends, and on occasions we had to take the Metro rail. What surprised me was the amount of security (body-checks and bag frisking and all) that was employed at the stations. I remember having commented to my friends, "Ah, what a life you have... My Bangalore is, thankfully, peaceful". C’mon, what could terrorists find in Bangalore? No riots, no rabble-rousing, no shit. We make money, we have fun. We make love, not war.

It's one thing to read about terrorist attacks on the newspaper and to hear about the aftermath on NDTV, and a totally different thing to actually have it happen in your home. You are supposed to feel safe at home, and it takes some time to digest the fact that this safe haven of yours is not that safe after all. And then comes this sense of helplessness. Very similar to the sense of helplessness that I felt on January 2002, when terrorists attacked the US embassy at Calcutta, home to my family.

The city has recovered really well from the shock. Ushering in the New Year, we Bangaloreans will do what we do best. We will party hard. We will have fun. And come 2006, it will be business-as-usual.

But there’s that sms alert I received today morning on my cell phone.

Bangalore is home. And unfortunately, home will never be the same again. Entering a movie-hall, attending a seminar, before the Friday evening binges at Purple Haze, or just walking down the crowded MG road on a Saturday evening, we will mutter a tiny prayer to ourselves.

It’s still alright, trust me. Bangalore is still awesome fun. It’s just that the 28th of December thingie at IISc did happen. And it did happen here in Bangalore.

The Bartimaeus Trilogy

So what do we have? A young apprentice magician. Evil, evil foes that are out to rule the world. Murder and mayhem. Teenage crushes and all that.

Ah, another wannabe Rowling I see! Right?

Wrong.

I wish JKR has the courage to do a Jon Stroud. To stick to her story till the end and not sell out to popular demands of thrill-a-minute entertainment. And coming as it does from an unabashed standing-in-the-line-for half-an-hour-on-the-first-day-to-buy-the–newest-book Harry Potter fan, that’s quite a bit to say, trust me.

Yes, this series is good. THAT good. Take my word for it.

Coming to the storyline (one could relax, no spoilers ahead), Nathaniel alias John Mandrake is an ambitious young apprentice magician, with big dreams and supreme confidence, with an unhealthy concoction of cockiness and pride to boot. Present day London, where he lives, is literally the centre of the earth in terms of power and prestige, and that comes with the city boasting of the greatest magicians of the day, and Nathaniel too has dreams of reaching the hallowed pantheon of the likes of William Gladstone (Oh yeah, the same guy you read about in history books, the same scourge of Benjamin Disraeli and prime minister and prime mover of the British empire of the 19th century.. Just that, you did not know that he was a great magician, indeed one of the greatest, and thus came his repute). So, that’s the parallel universe we are talking about here. Stuck as he is as understudy to a rather vain yet quite mediocre magician, sometime in the past, Nathaniel was humiliated by a powerful magician called Simon Lovelace. A plan for revenge is hatched.

Here I have to mention that magicians, all powerful as they are, have as the only source of their power other beings, often referred to by the magicians themselves as demons, who are the ones who have the power to do magic. They live in the other world and the magicians can call upon them, and use them for their magical biding. Once a being is called upon (with a correct summoning of course, these beings are capable of, and eager for in most cases if I may add, immense devastation and if the summoning of these beings have not been proper, a magician is liable to be attacked and even destroyed by the being) the being is not released from its chore unless its master (i.e. the summoning magician) agrees to do so. These are, in an increasing order of power, imps, foliots, djinn, afrits and marids… of course, stronger beings than marids are also to be found, but being tougher to handle, are summoned rarely.

Coming back to Nathaniel’s story, he summons an extremely capable djinni (that’s the singular for djinn), Bartimaeus, a fourth-level djinni, also called the Sakhr-al-Djinni and various other names, for his biding. Five thousand years old (to note, the concept of time is different in the other place that these beings reside in), this Bartimaeus is a rather famous djinni. He has been slave to some of the greatest historical figures (e.g. Solomon, Gilgamesh), has had a hand in the creation of some of the most famous historical structures and had fought in some of the greatest wars in history. And now the story begins in all earnest… but as I have promised, none of that will be revealed here.

Now what about the non-magic people (muggles, did someone say)? Ah, no, you will not find too many of the Dursley ilk here. The commoners have a pathetic existence in this world dominated by magicians. Discriminated against, they are very much second class citizens here, never considered as equals by the more magically gifted ones. And that’s where the parallel story of Kitty Jones comes in. A commoner, she’s quite a feisty girl, and yearns for and plots to overthrow this tyrannical rule. This series is about how the lives of Nathaniel, Bartimaeus and Kitty come together in battles against imposing foes after another. And again, I will say no more. As promised, I refuse to divulge even a teensy little bit of the story.

Read the series, I’d suggest. It’s often hilarious (Bartimaeus, did I tell you, is a master of small talk and backchat, and his altercations with Nathaniel and the explanatory footnotes at the bottom of the pages are often a source of genuine mirth), is a genuine page-turner (I finished the series, three books, each at an average 500 pages long, in three days flat) and does not drag at any stage. The conclusion is heartening. Jon Stroud had a chance of continuing with the franchise (not quite a Harry Potter, true, but successful by all means) by extending the story beyond what it should, he didn't, and that stands for courage in my book.

A good part about the book is that if you are looking for Harry Potter, you will get Harry Potter (or very nearly). That is to say, if you would expect fun and frolic and standard-fare good vs. evil, you will get just that. On the other hand, if you would want to read between the lines and look for discrimination in the rule of the elite, look for vestiges of the colonial rule and the reasons for its fall, if you want to look at history, if you are looking for a satirical social commentary, basically if you are looking for serious stuff, you could find that as well. And the two co-exist, and co-exist well.

Cross-linked to Mount Helicon

I am livid

Ah, Sourav Ganguly again? For what now? Ah, at last for some valid reason this time. He did not play for Bengal in the Ranji Trophy match against Gujarat. And this time, I am livid. I am ready to scream riot.

And no, it is not because of any of the Kiran More-type agitations. We all can see that More has pretty much lost it, and his Raj Singh Dungarpur-ish tirades and volte-faces are a source of much hilarity. And the Indian team cricketers not playing Ranji matches has never been much of an issue previously (in fact, Ganguly is one of the few guys who played his share of Ranji matches whenever he could), and well, if a Shane Warne retires from One-day cricket and a Chris Cairns does the same with Test cricket, to prolong their careers in the other form of the game, one cannot really blame a Ganguly, a Kumble, a Dravid or a Sachin for not playing Ranji games.

Then why am I angry? Well, that’s because this is the year in which (I believe) Bengal can go all the way in the Ranji trophy. We** have a perfectly well-balanced team. IMHO, we have the most potent bowling attack among the teams competing for the Ranji Trophy, with two almost India-level quickies in Ranadeb Bose and Shib Shankar Paul; an extremely competent off-spinner in Sourashish Lahiri and a decent left-arm spinner in Shibsagar Singh. There are three decent all-rounders in Manoj Tewari, Laxmi Rattan Shukla (who bowls sparingly nowadays) and Ganguly (and yes, at the Ranji trophy level, he is quite a decent bowler), and a competent batting wicketkeeper in Deep Dasgupta. In the batting stakes, we are right up there among the best, with a solid opening pair in Subhamoy Das and Arindam Das, Devang Gandhi at one-drop, Ganguly at two-drop, Rohan at five, Deep at six, Shukla at seven and Tewari (or Shibsagar) at 8. Our batting order runs deep, and we have competent bowlers. What’s more, Bengal is one of the best fielding squads of them all. What else could one ask for? We top the pool presently, with three matches left (including the one going on now, against Gujarat), and one more win could see us reach the finals. Not tough, considering that we have only the bottom dwellers in the group, Tamil Nadu and Railways left to play against.

And Gujarat is one of the weakest team in Group A- Elite. With an in-form Ganguly, we could have been well-nigh unstoppable against them. Remember, with Ganguly in the team, we took two points home against Maharashtra, one of the stronger teams in the group. And I agree that we won against Delhi without him, but Ganguly does give the team a lot in terms of his batting, his bowling, and even in the general boost to the morale, when he is playing.

Ganguly should have played this match. We needed him in the squad. Yet, for whatever reason, he did not play. Sad.



** I use ‘we’ rather than ‘they’ for both the Bengal and Karnataka teams. And if you are asking who I supported in the Bengal vs. Karnataka match, I will agree to have been supporting Bengal. But I would not be in denial, I was quite happy at Bharath Chipli filling in admirably at the opener’s slot with Uthappa, and would not hide my mild displeasure at Rowland Barrington’s indifferent form this season. I remember him unleashing a few exquisite cover drives at the RVCE ground, playing for St. Joseph’s. If he could put all the pieces together, I think he still has a shot at playing for India in the future.

Linking

to a post written exactly a year ago.

22nd Feb 2006.

Victor Valdez

Gio van Bronckhorst
Carles Puyol
Rafael Marquez
Juliano Belletti

Marc van Bommell
Andres Iniesta
Deco

Ronaldinho

Lionel Messi

Samuel Eto'o


v.s.

Petr Cech

Asier Del Horno
Ricardo Carvalho
John Terry
Paulo Ferreira

Claude Makelele
Michael Essien
Frank Lampard
Joe Cole
Shaun Wright-Phillip

Hernan Crespo

Being chased by wild elephants

Location: Masinagudi, TN, India. A narrow road in between the Madumalai forest.

Time: About 1830 hrs, give or take a few minutes...

Date: 18th December, 2005, Sunday.

Synopsis: Safari with office colleagues. Piddling little jeeps. Exasperation at seeing only a few deer. Anger at the driver for cutting the safari short by an hour. Almost set sun. Rather dark. Sudden, loud trumpeting. Huge wild elephant. About 5 meters from us. Not a tusker. Charging straight towards us. Fast. Were all scared shitless. It charged us for about 15 seconds. Then suddenly stopped. We saw the calf at a distance. Motherly instincts. Could not leave the calf behind and chase us.

So I survive to tell you the story. I live.

Absolute, genuine terror? This was it.

The Forbes Fictional 15

Courtesy the legendary MNB.

The Jolly One's philanthropic work continues to outweigh accusations of elf exploitation and lax safety at his workshop. Lex Luthor and Montgomery Burns aren't so lucky.

Have a dekko.

Recent discussions

Between my roommates and I


1. Indian movies don't have slapstick humour of the types of "School of Rock".

Tentative verdict: They cannot. The success or failure of slapstick humour is a result of the socio-cultural backgrounds and roots and sensibilities of the viewer population. And the "School of Rock" brand of slapstick humour will reach out to a substantially low viewer population in India. The kind of slapstick humour that would sell in India will have to be distinctly Indian (or GovIndian).

2. Gandhi is sacred. Jinnah is bad. And the two statements are mutually inseparable. Or even if it is in the contrary, one cannot accept it from a foreigner.

Tentative verdict: That's just being dogmatic. Yes, all (three) of us accept the amazing thing that non-violence in the face of brutality is, and Gandhi commands nothing but respect for his conviction, and yes, it was Gandhi's conviction which was a major reason for eventual independence and yes, Jinnah was responsible for the creation of Pakistan. But did Jinnah have a choice but to go for Pakistan? The two above statements are mutually separable.

3. Linux is just a techie's wet dream, it's hardly a revolution. It does not touch the common people (or rather the small corporate) anyway.

Tentative verdict: What is a revolution anyway? Hundreds of thousands of people working on a code and improving it, without a monetary incentive; people having the benefit of a genuine choice where previously there were only pretenders; what would you call it? Not a revolution? And as for the common people, there might be meat in what you say, but well, the small corporate now has choice. Beyond either lie and theft (i.e. using pirated Windows); or paper. To start small, start with free Linux, and then buy the bells and whistles as they grow. And how can that be bad? (Contrary viewpoint: Ah, so it is just another business model, isn't it? What's so great in that? Tentative reply: Nothing. You might call it that. Someone else might call it a revolution. So live and let live.)

50-overs-a-side ... is it worth it?

Was reading Angshuman Hazra's imaginative post on World Cup 2007 on Different Strokes, the cricket blog on Cricinfo.

Raised a question on my head. This:

Does one day (i.e. 50 overs a side) cricket really need to survive, what with the coming in of 20-20? Again IMHO, test cricket is for the purist, where you get to see classical cricket at its best. You see a mental game, with tactical battles between the bat and the ball, individual battles within (and adding up to compose) the war that is a Test match. On the other hand, 20-20 invokes the extreme opposite passion, that of pure thrill-a-minute and genuine adrenaline. What they call paisa-vasool. In between the two of these, where does 50-over-a-side cricket lie? It does not thrill consistantly for all the 100 overs, and is not an advertisement for classical cricket the way Test cricket is. Do we need 50-overs-a-side cricket at all? Why? What does 50-overs-a-side cricket have to offer that either of Test cricket and 20-20 does not?

Edit: I'm sure I am not the first person to think about this. The question is, why/ how have I not heard/ read of any discussion on this topic?

Ian Healy... Kamran Akmal, Denesh Ramdin?

With the departure of Ian Healy and the arrival of Adam Gilchrist and Kumar Sangakkara came the reign of batsmen-wicketkeepers, as opposed to wicketkeeper-batsmen, in Test cricket. Notwithstanding that Gilchrist and Sangakkara were very special talents, other nations followed suit, with Brendon McCullum and more recently (and horridly) Geraint Jones ... why, in India we now have Dhoni who is competent as a keeper, but would be rated about third in prowess behind the stumps if compared to his two challengers to the Test spot. South Africa, as of now, have stuck with Mark Boucher rather than resorting to the Geraint Jonesian keeping and manifoldly better batting of AB De Villiers.

And thus, it is a hark back to the past to see Denesh Ramdin and Kamran Akmal, good batsmen in their own rights, but definitely better keepers than batsmen, performing really well for their sides in Test cricket in recent months.

But I would not pass judgment on the demerits of the batsman-wicketkeeper. A team with a (comparatively) weak batting line-up will be served better with a batsman-keeper, as will a team with nos 8, 9, 10, 11 all being bunnies with the bat. On the other hand, a team with a strong batting line-up and decent tail would be served better with either the batsman-keeper coming in at 6 and five bowlers, or with a keeper-batsman at 7 (or even 8).

And well, curiously, we see just the reverse happening in team compositions worldwide. Even with Warne and Lee being nearly-allrounders, Australia does not bat Gilchrist at 6 (Ah, won't MacGill love that?). Cannot say much about West Indies, I think Ramdin could come into the team with his batting merits alone (and that has more to say about the rest of the WI batsmen than Ramdin himself), but New Zealand with Oram and Vettori in their team insist on still using the innocuous dibbly-dobblies of Scott Styris for their fifth bowling option. As for England, I cannot really complain. Pieterson at 5 and Flintoff at 6, hit-or-miss batsmen both, would need a cover at 7. Poor luck indeed that Jones cannot keep AT ALL. And as Chris Read's first class average is 29, he is a bit of a mug when you compare him with the other keepers in International cricket. And India? Well, I cannot see Dhoni batting at any higher than 7 in the Sri Lanka series, even with Pathan's heroics with the bat in the recent series (and Harbhajan is no slouch with the bat either). And that is unfortunate.