Dog-catchers

Yesterday was an extremely sad one for me.

The municipal dog-catchers came and caught all the stray dogs in our locality. This happened yesterday afternoon.

The streets are empty. Tiger and Brownie the two dogs near my house will be missed.

The municipality does not fix broken lights, bad roads or open drains but they are ready to capture the dogs.

A bigger menace are the huge black pigs that roam about. No one captures them.

The Lovely Bones

A fascinating movie.
Detailed review coming soon.
Do not miss this movie!

"Catches win Matches"

Mumbai Indians learned this the hard way. Suresh Raina was dropped twice once when he was on 13 and then when he was on 28. The mistakes proved to be costly as he went on to score a match-winning fifty.

CSK won the toss and batted first. A steady start saw the opening pair cross 40 runs in the sixth over. Hayden and Murali Vijay fell in quick succession and at one stage CSK were 68 for 3 in 12 overs. Then Raina and Dhoni blasted the ball to all corners of the park. The last 8 overs yielded 100 runs and CSK set a target of 169.

Ashwin started the proceedings by bowling a maiden over. As wickets fell at regular intervals courtesy a strange shuffling of batting positions as Harbhajan was promoted above Pollard, Sachin tried to bring stability. Run-outs were aplenty and in spite of a counter-attack by Pollard where he plundered 20 odd runs of an over Mumbai Indians lost the finals.

Dhoni found form when it mattered most-the match at Dharamshala against Kings XI Punjab. Under his inspiring, cool and calm leadership CSK XI have been crowned champions of IPL-3.

The ICC World T:20 Championship starts in another five days in the West Indies. Can Dhoni inspire Team India to lift the trophy?

Time will tell and a lot depends on Yuvaraj Singh's form!

Bollinger's Charge Discharges the Deccan Chargers

In a low scoring match CSK defended a target of 143 and bowled out DC for 104.
The finals against Mumbai Indians will be tough and let us see if Dhoni can manage to lift the trophy.

Batting is a big cause of worry and the one-day rest will have Stephen Fleming wondering what to do?

Will Hayden be dropped for the finals?

Sachin is highly unlikely to play in the finals.

Let us see what happens!

Kailash Parbat-Restaurant Review

Kailash Parbat is a famous chain of restaurants from Mumbai. It has made its entry in Chennai courtesy the Oriental Cuisine, which runs The French Loaf, Wang's Kitchen, Planet Yumm, among many other famous restaurants.

My friends from Mumbai always raved about this place and I was planning to visit this place for some time now. Today I thought OK lets go check this place out. I reached the restaurant at about 1:15 PM the place is located near Lady Andal School on Harrington Road in Chetpet above The French Loaf. Spacious restaurant with lots of glass decor, natural light and courteous attendants dressed in chocolate brown shirts.

The restaurant had about 10 people dining in it, may be the crowds come in for dinner and on weekends! The waiter asked me if I wanted a bottle of mineral water? I said I was OK with the normal water from the purifier:) The menu card was detailed, well-designed and without any visible spelling errors.

Everything is priced slightly on the higher side. I settled for a Shaad Manna Thali.

The thali arrived in ten minutes. The contents:

One huge gulab jamun.
Two chappatis (big)
One paneer dish (gravy)
One potato-okra curry
One curry that was a mixture of cabbabge and mashed chappatis.
A sambar like concoction with okra, potatoes and drum-stick.
A bowl of white steamed Basmati Rice
A bowl of vegetable pulao (Basmati Rice)
Two small pakodas made of besan and onions
One pappad.
One slice of carrot and one slice of cucumber.
One glass of spiced-tangy buttermilk.

The price on the menu card - Rs. 160.
Price on the bill plus taxes - Rs. 171.

The food was good but not great. Just a slice of cucumber and carrot does not do justice to a salad. The sambar was sweet. The gulab jamun was simply out-of-this-world, neither too syrupy and soft nor hard, just perfect. The pakodas were great and the paneer dish was usual stuff not a match for the ones served at Punjabi Dhabha.

Overall Rating-4 out of 5 . The staff are courteous and polite and ask you before taking the plates away. I guess the chaats are the big sellers that need to be tasted once. But paying Rs 70 odd for chaats when Gangotri or Sweet Corner or the other small shops provide tasty ones for Rs. 20 to Rs. 25 is a bit too much. Well ambience and brand value command a premium price :)

So if you want to catch up with old friends have a filling meal, or need a cosy get-together with your girl-friend/boy-friend and enjoy contemporary Hindi Music-Kailash Parbat is the place for you.

Carry enough cash or have a couple of credit cards and enjoy your meal.

Pollard Seals Royal Challengers' Fate

Pollard's all round performance with bat and ball ensured that the Mumbai Indians entered the finals of IPL-3.

Today's match between Chennai and Hyderabad will determine the other finalist.

Keeping my fingers crossed!

Omar Mukhtar-The Lion of the Desert

Fantastic movie, with a great performance by Anthony Quinn in the titular role. Based on a real character who tried fighting Mussolini's Fascist army in Africa during WW-II.

Authentic shooting locations, a good technical crew and a racy narration make the movie interesting.

Definitely worth watching.

IPL-3 Semi-finalists announced

Mumbai Indians sit pretty on top of the table and were confirmed semi-finalists more than a week back.

The remaining three teams to make it to the semi finals are:

Chennai Super Kings
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Deccan Chargers Hyderabad.

In a spectacular finish at Dharamshala yesterday, aided by Dhoni's blistering knock CSK overcame a stiff target of 193 posted by Kings XI Punjab.

Going in to their last match Deccan Chargers defended a sub-150 run total and defeated the much-fancied Delhi Daredevils team.

Bangalore meet Mumbai and Chennai meet Hyderabad in the semis which have been shifted to the D.Y. Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.

With regard to the Kochi franchise controversy, Shashi Tharoor has been forced to resign from his post as MOS External Affairs.

The semis take place on April 21 and 22.

May the best teams win.

I have a surprising feeling that Mumbai will lift the glittering IPL trophy this time, with a special knock by Sachin in the finals.

CSK lose to Daredevils

CSK lost to Delhi Daredevils after an absolutely dismal batting performance.
This means that CSK need to win their final match by a comfortable margin to ensure a semi-final place.

Let us see what happens!

Paiyaa

Waste of money!
Songs were OK!
Lingusamy needs to break out of his RUN days and present a better script!

Movie is making money because of Tamannah dancing in the rain.

Milind Somani is wasted as the villain!

Happy Tamil New Year and Happy Vishu

For the folks who celebrated Tamil New Year on Chitirai Thirunal on April 14, Happy Tamil New Year.

For folks who are celebrating Vishu today, Happy Vishu.

The controversy regarding celebration of Tamil New Year on April 14 is unwarranted.

Let the individual decide when one wants to do what:)

24

Got season 1 to 7 of 24 the series on DVD.
Let me see if it lives up to the hype.

Harry Brown

Harry Brown starring Michael Caine is another example of a vigilante popularised by the Death Wish series of movies.



Image courtesy-Filmshaft

Caine plays the titular character Harry Brown, an ex-marine, who stays in an estate in London. The area is notorious for its teen gangs who terrorize women and the elderly people.

One night Harry's best friend and chess playmate Len is killed.

How Harry avenges the death and cleanses the area of its hooligans forms the crux of the movie.

Michael Caine is as elegant and classy as ever and delivers a superb performance.

My rating-***/5.

My latest Acquisition

Folks after lots of saving up and planning I have bought a netbook. The HP Mini 210
I am posting this topic from it.

Still need to learn a lot about using this netbook. Its loaded with features.

Shutter Island-The Novel

This is the first Dennis Lehane book that I have read. I have seen two movies based on his novels "Mystic River" and "Gone Baby Gone" and liked them both to a certain extent.
The curiosity factor was heightened when I learned that Martin Scorcese has adapted this novel into a movie starring Leonardo di Caprio and Ben Kingsley.

The novel starts with two U.S. Marshalls Teddy and Chuck arriving on a secluded island which serves as an institution for violent prisoners with psychological problems. They have come to Shutter Island to investigate the disappearance of a woman patient Rosalin Solando.

The novel starts like a mystery, but slowly we realize that things are not right!

I am not revealing the twist:)

Is Rosalin found?

What exactly is taking place in the institution?

What is the secret?

Read the novel to find answers.

I am waiting for the movie to release!

Maoist Attack

In one of the bloodiest attacks on the paramilitary forces in independent India. Nearly 80 CRPF personnel were killed in a landmine blast rigged by Maoists in Dhantewada, in Chattisgarh.

The Red-Menace is a matter of great concern. With pseudo-intellectuals including award-winning novelists and so-called political thinkers supporting the Maoists, there is something definitely very very wrong.

With some of the most backward districts in the country and thousands of tribals involved no clear solution is visible. The Green-Hunt launched by P.C. Chidambaram claims that 3 years would be enough to wipe out the Maoists. At the current rate with which Maoists are striking the Indian para-military forces will be wiped out in 2 years.

The government has a big problem on its hands! Let us see what unfolds in the next few weeks.

Karthik Calling Karthik

Fascinating but not mind-blowing.

Farhan Akhtar gives a stellar performance of a man with behavioral problems. I am not going to elaborate a lot on the plot as the movie deserves a watch. 25 minutes into the movie you realize that Karthik has some psychological problem. The beauty of the movie lies in its presentation where the reason for this problem unveils slowly.

Deepika Padukone who plays the role of Shonali has nothing much to do except looking pretty, sipping juice and vodka and smoking cigarettes.

The movie has a decent sound-track. A good performance by Farhan, proves that he is not a one-film wonder.

A spoiler-The telephone plays a major role in the movie.

My rating-***/5.

Marriage News

Well the horoscopes were fine!
The girl and the boy were OK with each other!
The girl's dad did not like the boy!
So the story continues.....

The game is afoot!

CSK Break the Jinx

CSK finally returned to winning ways with a power-packed knock by Murali Vijay.
CSK defeated RCB and chased down 163.
If CSK win all their remaining matches it will boil down to net run rate to place the fourth semi finalist.

Delhi Daredevils defeated Rajasthan Royals in another match courtesy a good knock by Dinesh Karthik.