Murali has this to say about his ex-captain Arjuna Ranatunga...
Q: Who was the most influential person in your cricket career?
Murali: Arjuna as my first captain and he did a lot of things for me. During the difficult times in Australia he protected me a lot. If he had not be as strong as he was I may not have broken the record today.
[From cricinfo]
Arjuna will have tears in his eyes... He's earned it...
Even in a simple bulletin detailing out the day's events, Osman Samiuddin shows his class. One of the few good writers at Cricinfo and very few good ones around the world.
By the way, the breed of cricket writers is growing (and the good ones diminishing) at a rapid pace.
It should be Laxman, then Ganguly. Not the other way round like it is now.
Laxman is a better stroke player. Ganguly can shepherd the tail better.
So...
Update: Following my expert opnion, in the test match that is happening, Ganguly has been sent ahead of Tendulkar in the second innings.
I did not pay the bill on time for BSNL last month. After a while, all outgoing calls were blocked. Talked to a few people around and they said it might be a big hassle to get things working again.
After some delay and worrying about the consequences, I thought of taking corrective action. As a start, I decided I will pay the bill. I went to the automated BSNL pay station and paid the bill.
Next day, was discussing with my wife on how to go about requesting that the facility be turned-on again. How can I bring things back to normal with our telephone. Etc, etc.
Lakshmi said she will just check anyway if we are able to make outgoing calls now. Only if we are not able to, we need to do something.
I laughed. We paid the bill last night. Do you really think there is some magical program that runs overnight and releases all lines checking if we have paid the bill. That too, when we have paid it this late?
She tried calling. And she got through.
Yes, BSNL.
It is quite ironical that there is the possibility of Gary Kirsten and Venkatesh Prasad together being coaches for the Indian team in the near future. Gary Kirsten was once Venkatesh Prasad's bunny (atleast according to Prasad) when the latter was one of India's top seamers. :-)
The 1 Lakh Car had to create all this buzz. For a car maker, targeting the 2-Wheeler market in India must well and truly be a remarkable idea. The concept has a few other things going for it too. Like the "gearlessness" and supposed fuel-efficiency. All of this is pretty much in-sync with what the today's Indian Bajaj Scooter owner is looking for to upgrade to.
But, they say they have a "high-end" variant of this car with power windows. Who would want a "high-end" "cheap" car with power windows?
It snowed again in Seattle area on Wednesday. Even though it looks nice outside, its biting cold (18 deg F as I write this). And driving is messy.
Particularly if you are driving ahead of a 4WD SUV whose drivers generally seem to be in agreement that their vehicles never skid. One such almost bumped me from behind on the freeway, then switched lanes to get ahead of me, switched back to my lane and whizzed past in a show of typical SUVish arrogance.
Or maybe, he was really in a hurry for something important. (That makes me feel better)
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Saw a few movies.
Omkara (Othello) - really liked it but thought some characters were given more attention than others. Result being, some important characters didn't have as much impact as they should have had.
Saif Ali Khan's portrayal of Langda Tyagi was fabulous. Both actor and director get a pat for that. Devgan was okay - but he had very few moments in the movie though he was the lead character (blame the director).
Dolly, Kareena Kapoor, was unidimensional. It would have been nice if she could have been more colour (as in character). But then, I don't know Shakespeare's Desdemona that well. Maybe it is a "true" adaptation.
I liked Maqbool better. I knew the story of Macbeth in more detail than Othello, so was able to appreciate it better. But even so, I think character development was more concrete in Maqbool.
All said and done, I am really fascinated by Vishal Bharadwaj's attempt to recreate Shakespeare through such wonderful adaptations. If I were him, I would be doing this too. Shakespeare aside, all of his products so far have been of great quality (music of Maachis, for example). He seems very unassuming in his interviews, though, unlike some other self-anointed "genius"es in Indian film industry.
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We bought the following DVDs!
Godfather DVD Collection (About 20 hrs of mafia talk)
Dead Man Walking
Scent of a Woman (One of my all time favourites)
12 Angry Men
Philadelphia
Father of the Bride (Lakshmi's favourite)
Emperor's Club (Lakshmi's choice again)
Long time mission accomplished. Still few more to go, actually.
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In other news, when Microsoft was busy making the Zune (the brown coloured one, in specific), Apple created the iPhone. Do I need to say more?
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PS: As I write, I am noticing that I am backspacing and rewriting words with English spellings rather than their American equivalents. Like I wrote color and then changed it to colour. Ditto with favo(u)rites. What does that make me?
