I have a Dream!

I have a dream,
Of a life,
That I can share with you.

Of being with you,
Through thick and thin,
Through every day of the rest of my life.

I keep trying,
To walk up to you,
And tell you - what you mean to me!

You said 'No' once,
When I gathered all my courage,
And shared my feelings!

It took a long time,
For me to win back,
Your smile!

I am scared,
If I ask once again,
I will lose you forever.

The smile on your lips,
The twinkle in your eyes,
And the joy that you bring.

I am scared that -
I would lose all -
Of this - forever.

So life goes on,
And my dreams,
Continue to remain just a dream!

If only...you would say yes!

I look into your eyes,
And I wonder,
What secrets do they hold?

I watch you smile,
And I wonder,
How do you always manage to smile?

I listen to your laughter,
Which rings out clear,
And wonder how you always seem full of joy?

There is so much to learn,
From the simplest of actions that you do!
If only you would realize ---

What you mean to me?
Do I get a chance to express - my thoughts?
If I do so - would you refuse to speak to me?

I am scared,
That I would lose the joy and cheer of your smile,
The little conversations that we have.

If only you would give me a chance,
To prove that you are special,
Would you let me hold your hand?

If only you would,
I would show you a world,
That's different and simple.

Away from the daily complications,
Of a busy-rushed life.
A simple life - full of joy.

I promise to fulfill,
Every childish whim and fancy of yours,
If only you would say - yes - and be mine!

RCB Implode - DC - Charge - CSK - Sneak in

Well the unimaginable happened! CSK have been gifted a place by RCB who lost a match they ought to have won.

Now CSK need to win not just for the sake of their own fans but also for the fans of the Chargers!

Come on yellow brigade do your stuff :)

CSK - How the mighty have fallen!

CSK's entry into the play-offs now depends on the outcome of the remaining matches - with Gayle's carnage yesterday I guess CSK are out!

A mathematical possibility still exists that the men in yellow sneak through but RCB should lose their next match for that and none of the other contenders should exceed 17 points!

Asking too much!

Francois du Plessis should have played yesterday :( Dhoni's boys missed a trick if they would have won all these permutations could have had hardly any effect - now it's all down to net run rate :(

Let us see what happens now!

Movie Reviews

Aravaan - Tamil:

I have been a fan of Vasanthabalan since 'Veyil', not many know that he made a movie called 'Album' before it. Aravaan is based on a section from the award-winning Tamil historical novel 'Kaaval Kootam'. The movie set in 17th-18th century Tamizh Nadu focusses on a clan of thieves and their actions.

How a stranger joins their group, and what his secret is - forms the crux of the story. Good cinematography, below-par graphics, good songs and great performances by Aadhi and Pasupathi.

Definitely worth watching once :)

Second Show - Malayalam:

Mamooty's son Dulquar Salman makes a power-packed debut as a thug/drug-trafficker with the story starting in flashback-mode - worthy of a Tarantinoesque twist - the movie has great camera-work some wonderful lines a great support cast and Sudesh Beri as the menacing villain Vishnu Buddhan. Special mention for Rohini who plays Salman's mother :)

One line that remains etched in my memory - 'Annum, Innum, Ennum - pennunu pannam aana kamughan!'roughly translated as - 'Be it then, now or ever after for a woman - money is a woman's preferred lover!' - The intensity with which he delivers this dialogue when in jail realizing that the girl who promised to be with him through thick and thin has now married someone else has to be seen to be believed!

A great start by D. Salman :)

IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT - A short story

IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT

The private bus-stand was moved from the main bus-stand at C.M.B.T. or Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus to ease traffic. This move brings untold misery on all folks who have to take a bus to visit places like Coimbatore, Bengaluru, Trichy, Madurai etc.

It's absolute chaos as harried announcers look at a clip-board coordinate on the mobile phone and announce bus departures and arrivals on a public address system. The P.A. system functions on a strange audio frequency that mysteriously converts sound waves - 9:45 PM to 10:45 PM and vice-versa.

I was travelling to Coimbatore to attend a school-mate's wedding and looking forward to meet my batchmates after a gap of almost ten years. With great difficulty I managed to navigate through the crowd of passengers - mostly the 'IT-group' on their weekend getaways!

I found my bus - Bhagyalakshmi Travels - semi-sleeper non-A/C coach. The bus was painted in a combination of black, silver and shocking pink - a standout piece in comparison to the other demure and dull white and black buses in the terminus. I boarded the bus - J-18 window seat and looked at the other early-bird passengers. Seated in the adjacent row were a mama and mami enjoying a dinner of chappathis and brinjal curry - the row before me - a couple of nuns were arguing in Malayalam about a passage from the Gospel.

Suddenly - 'Kaadhalin Deepam Etrinale Yenn Nenjil...' started playing on the bus's sound-system and that is when she entered the bus dressed in a pista-green salwar kameez embroidered with rose-petalled flowers and silver sequins. She was carrying an Adidas adventure back-pack and held her mobile phone in her right hand.

My heart skipped a beat - what an angel - truly lucky would be the man who would get to marry this beautiful girl! She walked slowly looking at the seat numbers displayed atop the window-frames. She stopped next to the J-row - looked at her ticket said 'J-17' and smiled at me. Then the song changed to 'Inji idippu azhagi, kalla chirippu azhagi..' the smile turned into a full-throated laugh as I too joined shared her laughter and helped her put her back-pack in the luggage-rack.

A quick round of introductions followed - she was Priya a fourth year engineering student, she was going home to Coimbatore before she began work on her final-year project. The bus made it's way slowly outside the terminus and we spoke about each other family, friends studies, etc. - time flew by in a flash and I was lost in her hazel eyes and angelic smile.

The bus picked up speed as we left the city limits and the bus came to a scheduled stop just beyond Sri Perumbudur. The bus attendant announced a 15-minute break before the journey would resume.

Priya looked at me and said - 'Can you get me a couple of bananas and a Lays packet?'
I said yes and in spite of my protests she tucked a 100 hundred rupee note in my shirt pocket. The bus stood in a clearing and about 100 metres away on the opposite side of the road there was a petty shop a small hotel and further away a row of shacks that served as pay-and-use toilets.

I went up to the shacks took a leak and paid the attendant two rupees and stepped out making my way to the petty shop to buy the bananas and the Lays packet. Then there was a deafening blast followed by flames and burning metal everywhere. The impact of the blast hit me hard as I flew across the air and landed back near the row of shacks. I got up bleeding from my face and noticed that the bus was no longer there it was replaced by a strange metallic skeleton. With tears in my eyes I attempted to run to the bus but I was pulled back by the attendant from the pay-and-use toilet. He said - Saar vedigundu saar - evannum thapikka mudiyadhu - correct ka date a paatu kuri vechanga! - Then it struck me the last two weeks had carried news of the capture and death of LTTE leader Prabhakaran and there had been umpteen protests and gatherings throughout Tamil Nadu.

I fell down in despair crying thanking my lucky stars having escaped with a few cuts and bruises and then I realized that Priya had been on the bus and then realization dawned - when I had helped Priya keep her back-pack up on the luggage rack I had heard a discernible tick-tock sound and I had joked - 'Bomb' and she had said with a smile - 'No, no it's a fancy alarm clock for my younger brother.'

I felt at my shirt-pocket and took out the 100-rupee note that she had thrust so forcefully into my pocket - on it was scribbled - 'Sorry - May be in another life - Love P :(' - I fell down to the ground in tears - disillusioned, angry, hurt and as a range of emotions flowed through me the tears stopped.

The sirens of the ambulance vans and the police-jeeps broke the uncanny silence of the night. I got up and walked towards the approaching police-jeeps.

The Avengers - Movie Review

I have always been a comic book - super hero fan and have enjoyed Christopher Nolan's Batman renaissance and the Spiderman movies to a certain level. Iron Man with RObert Downwy Junior's sarcasm and with was an instant connect. The two Hulk movies did not actually set the cash registers ringing but were OK. Thor, Captain America well did not actually enjoy - felt Thor deserved better treatment because of the background material available.

Now to come to The Avengers - America's - super-force of super-heroes and 1 super-heroine - Black Widow played by the lovely Scarlett Johannson. Samuel L. Jackson plays Nick Fury head of SHAFT and he calls in the elite group to rcover the Tesurrect an alien energy source now in the hands of the Norse God of mischief - Loki who plans to use it to open a portal in time and bring in an alien army conquer earth and become its ruler. That in a nutshell is the beginning - the movie narrates how the super-heroes fight against Loki and his army and save New York where the aliens launch their attack.

The chemistry between the actors is crackling - special mention for the exchange of words between the Hulk portrayed by Michael Ruffalo and Iron Man. Hawkeye - played by Jeremy Rattner and the Black Widow have some romantic angle which never came out on screen. Gymneth Paltrow has hardly six minutes of screen time but looks lovely and slightly anorexic in her short denim shorts and white shirt!

I loved the scene in which Loki in anger says - 'Enough you mere mortals - I am a God and you mere men....(or something similar to that) and the Hulk picks him up like a rag-doll and bangs him on the floor about 10 times.

The Hulk got the most claps and desrvedly so - Mark Ruffalo brought out the inner struggle in a much more believable fashion when compared to Edward Norton.

The last thirty minutes where the fight for New York is staged is a visual-effects spectacle and when viewed in 3-D really wonderful.

People don't miss the movie. It is worth every exhorbitant rupee that the cineplexes charge you - not to be seen on 'thiruttu DVD' - folks watch it on the big-screen in 3-D.

All credit to the director Joss Whedon :) and his script-writers!