I promised in Oct 2010 to post four articles on the various phases of my cricketing career. You can read that post here. After 4 months, I managed to complete the first part of the four part series, "Uncrowned King of Gully Cricket @ PAK Stadium ". Hope you enjoy it!!
The earliest memory I have about my initiation into this game of cricket goes back to when I was 5 years old. Remember Tortoise and have a flashback!! We were staying for a brief period at New Colony in Tuticorin and the youngsters in that locality used to play cricket in front of our house during the weekends. I used to watch them play. I don't remember ever getting a chance to bat or bowl. Guess nobody gets at that age!! During the same time, one of my relatives presented me with a wooden bat and even took a photograph with that (am searching for that to upload the photograph). My first and last cricket equipment of my own!! More on that in the later posts.
We moved to Andal Street from New Colony and there I was lucky to have a big playground in front of my house. It wasn't a playground actually, but it was the Pathirakali Amman Temple with a huge open space on the front side of the temple. The open area is used for temple festivals and for the rest of the days in the year, it is for the boys of the locality to play and engage in all sort of activities. Between the temple ground and our house, there was a railway line which added practically extra space. In those days, there were few passenger trains to Tuticorin and the odd goods train. Therefore, practically it was railway land with no traffic at all. I really doubt if there is any place like this for kids even in small towns like Tuticorin now. The last time, I visited this place 2 years back, the temple has diligently built a compound wall, railways have installed a raised railings and there is no ground for the children to play. Alas, what a deprivation!
Coming back to my days, we conveniently named it PAK Stadium after the the temple, Pathirakali Amman Koil (PAK) and for the next 5 years or so, I played so much of cricket with my friends there. There was a good bunch of guys of my age and we instantly formed a group. Quite a few of them are in regular contact even to this day like Balaji and Sonachalam. Our typical cricket session would start in the evening once we return from the school. We gang up by 5 PM and we used to play for atleast one and half hours everyday before light goes off and people get back home to watch DD News! If you are lucky, you get to watch Scooby-do in Rupavahini TV (Srilankan TV) No tuitions, no paatu class or karate class. Evenings were all for us. I pity the present generation, including my Junior!
We played with rubber ball. We bought rubber balls for Rs2/- at the Muthukumaran Stores on the East Car Street or from the Bajrang Store on the WGC Road. We never played with the Tennis balls. We used to collect money among the friends and go as a group to the shop to buy a rubber ball. The elaborate process of rubber ball selection includes testing the bounce quality, ruggedness and the shape!!!
We drew stumps on the temple wall with the charcoal picked up from the nearby charcoal shop or from the left-overs of the pongal panai, which were offered to the Pathirakali Amman. We had our own rules which were unique to PAK stadium environment. There was only one batsman and no runners. Most of the times we played only with runs allowed on the leg side. On a normal week day, we would have 7-8 guys split into two teams. Both the teams have to field and the matches at times goes over couple of days. The innings were not restricted by overs. But we never played underarm bowling!!
I used to be an allrounder, who can bat and bowl. I remember always being the first batsman from my team. Batting came to me very naturally and used to be a big hitter. I rarely got out without hitting couple of sixes or fours in any innings whoever may be the bowler. My sixes used to be huge ones, which I wonder now, how I managed, considering the fact that I used to be a short and lean boy at that time. For that matter, even when I studied tenth standard, my classmates used to call me "kattai" and one of my friends till date calls me "kattai" (Dr Kesavan, who, by the way, is shorter than me now!!!!) The bowlers were treated with disdain and contempt and invariably the team I was in won the match. I am not really trying to boast myself here but I guess, the team I was in always won was a fact. So there naturally a competition to be in my team, the winning team! When it came to bowling, I tried to bowl fast and at times ended up chucking. But there was never a problem with that and nobody complained about this. We had no Daniel Harpers those days, even when I played league cricket in Tuticorin, a fiery fast bowler who went by the "Kaattan" Murali literally chucked the ball. He even went on to play at the District level. So much for the 15 degree bent and other rules we have now for the bowlers)
I am trying to recall the names of the guys who played cricket with me in PAK Stadium. The names I can remember are Balaji, Sonachalam, Arumugasundaram, Appu, Kali, Selvam and many more. The last two names are definitely not a pleasant mention here because, they used to be the bad boys of our locality and who would bully us for a free gaugee. They will not field and when they want they will just ask us to bowl to them. They were of our same age group but somehow they became the "dadas". They behaved like that because of their ancestry. Selvam, was the son of the temple trustee and Kali was the grandson of the yesteryear rowdy in Tuticorin. I guess every growing cricketer would have a story like this to tell.
Come weekends, the number of people wanting to play cricket increases and we would have much bigger teams. At times guys from the locality who were part of other teams also join with us and we play together. There used to be a Deiva's team from Raja Pillai Mudukku, a Ranganathapuram team (where Anand Rajagopalan lived) and Nandagopalapuram's team. One instance I vividly remember is that of me causing a bump on the forehead of the bowler. I hit a lofted straight drive with so much force, it landed on his forehead even before he could complete his bowling action. He developed a swelling immediately and ran back home. Next I remember was his mother cursing all of us for causing hurt to her son. Can't help it! Many summers came and went and we spent all our time on the cricket ground. I still being "fondly" called by my Aunts and Uncles as "Care of Platform" for the time I spent on the ground.
Couple of senior guys who happened to watch me play, asked me if I would like to play with the "cork" ball. I accepted the offer and started playing with Seenis. Yes, two of them with the same name. One is "Katta" Seeni and the other "Nettai" Seeni. Yes, those days, we played with cork balls before you graduate to cricket balls, because of the the longevity and the bounce of the ball. You can play on the beach or on a muddy surface with the cork balls. So, here I go from a rubber ball cricketer to a cricket ball cricketer via cork ball.
More to come.
My opinions on many things this life offers changes very frequently.. some call it flexibility some call it fickle-mindedness.. but that is what I am!!
Yuddham Sei - interesting movie!
Yuddham Sei is a thriller movie without gory fight scenes and blood on the screen. It is from Mysskin, the successful director of Anjathey, Chitram Pesuthadi etc., This movie once again establishes him as a thinking director and he definitely takes the Tamil cinema to a higher plane. Of course, there are noises being made about the "inspirations" he gets from world cinema, particularly the Korean and Japanese movies. That can't take away the fact that YS is a well packaged movie.
The story starts with the mysterious appearance of mutilated parts of the human body in Chennai, packed in cartons and the Police desperately trying to establish the identity of the killers and the motive. The directors unravels the mystery and the reasons through a CBCID officer, Cheran, who besides being a Police Officer is also on the lookout for his missing sister. The director has taken the concept of "Peep Show" where innocent girls are sexually exploited and a whole bunch of perverted individuals pays for watching the show. The film is well-crafted and fast paced during the first half but loses steam in the second half before finally picking up some pace towards the end. If Mysskin has been merciless with the editing, the movie would have turned even more slickier.
Mysskin, as a director has always impressed me for his ability to show things visually rather than depending on dialogues. After all, Cinema is a visual medium, right? In this film, his adaptation of the screenplay with emphasis on the visuals is astounding. The total dialogue portion of the movie would not be more than 40% of the movie time.
Cheran, as the Police Officer has done a decent job if not a fabulous one. He has underplayed the role without any melodrama and I guess the credit should again go to the director. Another point worth noting is the apt selection of actors for various roles in the movie and their very natural acting. Cast includes Y Gee Mahendra, Jayaprakash, yesteryear hero Selva, Manickavasagam etc., I think Jayaprakash gets one of the best roles after "Pasanga" and he is very natural. Would love to see him more often.
The story has the necessary twists and turns to keep the audience glued. Mysskin's "yellow" saree song is there in this film as well. Background music supports the screenplay very well and it is by debutant music director "K". Yes, thats what his name is!! Camera work by Sathya deserves special mention for its clarity of work and the angles. It deserves even more praise because 75% of the film is shot in the dark or night scenes.
If at all something could have been done different, it is ought to be on the screenplay part. Mysskin could have worked little bit on the second half to make it even more absorbing. Secondly the movie travels in such a pace that there is every possibility of people missing track of what is happening. For the sake of audience, he could has paused a little bit. There is also no clear explanation of the "peep show" and there are no scenes which explains that as well. As the concept is new, he could have dealt with it in little detail.
In spite of having enough opportunity to expose the skin, Mysskin hasn't done that. Kudos to him!! Overall, I enjoyed the movie for its fast paced nature, good acting and interesting visuals.
PS 1: Tamil writer Charu Niveda wrote many pages about this movie in his Ananda Vikatan column few months ago. He wrote how he shot for a single song for days, where he appears as a Muslim singer with Harmonium hanging on his shoulder. In the film, Charu Niveda appears for exactly 3 seconds or so in the only song in the movie. Not sure, if that was the only shot he acted in that movie or Mysskin has edited out all his portion after their recent outbursts against each other!
PS 2: Yuddham Sei is the third movie I have seen in the last 2 weeks. I think Sunday afternoon is the best time to hit the theatres, when everybody at home is busy with their own things or slowly slipping into their siesta. I did that exactly last week and watched Yuddham Sei at AVM Rajeswari.
The story starts with the mysterious appearance of mutilated parts of the human body in Chennai, packed in cartons and the Police desperately trying to establish the identity of the killers and the motive. The directors unravels the mystery and the reasons through a CBCID officer, Cheran, who besides being a Police Officer is also on the lookout for his missing sister. The director has taken the concept of "Peep Show" where innocent girls are sexually exploited and a whole bunch of perverted individuals pays for watching the show. The film is well-crafted and fast paced during the first half but loses steam in the second half before finally picking up some pace towards the end. If Mysskin has been merciless with the editing, the movie would have turned even more slickier.
Mysskin, as a director has always impressed me for his ability to show things visually rather than depending on dialogues. After all, Cinema is a visual medium, right? In this film, his adaptation of the screenplay with emphasis on the visuals is astounding. The total dialogue portion of the movie would not be more than 40% of the movie time.
Cheran, as the Police Officer has done a decent job if not a fabulous one. He has underplayed the role without any melodrama and I guess the credit should again go to the director. Another point worth noting is the apt selection of actors for various roles in the movie and their very natural acting. Cast includes Y Gee Mahendra, Jayaprakash, yesteryear hero Selva, Manickavasagam etc., I think Jayaprakash gets one of the best roles after "Pasanga" and he is very natural. Would love to see him more often.
The story has the necessary twists and turns to keep the audience glued. Mysskin's "yellow" saree song is there in this film as well. Background music supports the screenplay very well and it is by debutant music director "K". Yes, thats what his name is!! Camera work by Sathya deserves special mention for its clarity of work and the angles. It deserves even more praise because 75% of the film is shot in the dark or night scenes.
If at all something could have been done different, it is ought to be on the screenplay part. Mysskin could have worked little bit on the second half to make it even more absorbing. Secondly the movie travels in such a pace that there is every possibility of people missing track of what is happening. For the sake of audience, he could has paused a little bit. There is also no clear explanation of the "peep show" and there are no scenes which explains that as well. As the concept is new, he could have dealt with it in little detail.
In spite of having enough opportunity to expose the skin, Mysskin hasn't done that. Kudos to him!! Overall, I enjoyed the movie for its fast paced nature, good acting and interesting visuals.
PS 1: Tamil writer Charu Niveda wrote many pages about this movie in his Ananda Vikatan column few months ago. He wrote how he shot for a single song for days, where he appears as a Muslim singer with Harmonium hanging on his shoulder. In the film, Charu Niveda appears for exactly 3 seconds or so in the only song in the movie. Not sure, if that was the only shot he acted in that movie or Mysskin has edited out all his portion after their recent outbursts against each other!
PS 2: Yuddham Sei is the third movie I have seen in the last 2 weeks. I think Sunday afternoon is the best time to hit the theatres, when everybody at home is busy with their own things or slowly slipping into their siesta. I did that exactly last week and watched Yuddham Sei at AVM Rajeswari.
Two movies, Kavalan and Manmadhanambu in a week
Watched two movies the last week. Kavalan, the Vijay starrer and the Manmadhanambu, the Kamalhasan movie.
Kavalan:
A completely different movie from the likes of Sura, Vettaikaran etc., As everybody has written about this movie, you now know this is of different genre. No super-duper fight scenes, no crying mothers, no heroine(s) who idolise the hero and most of all no punch dialogues (except for one scene where Delhi Ganesh speaks something which says that Vijay will not let down people who believe in him, should check with Jayalalitha after the elections!!) Vijay has underplayed his character to such an extent I felt he is kind of a newcomer to the industry. People keep equating this to Kadhalukku Mariyadhai but I think this is a better work from Vijay compared to that. He has definitely improved over the last 10 years as an actor. The credit for this anyway should go to the Director Siddique, of "Friends" fame. The movie has his trademark twists and turns, particularly towards the end but where is the comedy. Vadivelu looks pedestrian in this movie and it is no comparison to the all time best comedy of "Friends". I really expected better work from Siddhique on the comedy front. Songs were decent if not great. You can watch this movie if you like Vijay on the big screen. Asin is also there for you as a bonus!!
Manmadhanambu:
Before I write anything about the movie, let me first warn you that you dont go to this movie thinking Kamal and KS Ravikumar combination would make you laugh and fall down from your seat. This is not Panchathanthiram, a real classic! The story, screenplay and dialogue is by Kamalhasan himself, so you can expect the quirkiness which is inherent in Kamal's thought process. I cant understand why Kamal didnt take "Crazy" Mohan along! The story is no great and it goes like this. A suspecting lover boy (Madhavan) appoints a detective (Kamalhasan) to spy on his film actress girlfriend (Trisha) who is on her vacation in Europe. How the detective becomes the lover boy of the film actress is the story with some tragic flashback for the detective. As usual, Kamal rocks as an actor and he should just stick to that. Leave story, screenplay and direction to others. I should also mention that Trisha is not just a glamour girl but a good actor as well. She speaks in her own voice in this film after some 8 years of being in the industry and on top of it, being a Tamil!! Madhavan and Sangeetha fill up the rest of the characters. Sangeetha does act very naturally. Well done!! Don't go with much expectations and you will like this movie.
Kavalan:
A completely different movie from the likes of Sura, Vettaikaran etc., As everybody has written about this movie, you now know this is of different genre. No super-duper fight scenes, no crying mothers, no heroine(s) who idolise the hero and most of all no punch dialogues (except for one scene where Delhi Ganesh speaks something which says that Vijay will not let down people who believe in him, should check with Jayalalitha after the elections!!) Vijay has underplayed his character to such an extent I felt he is kind of a newcomer to the industry. People keep equating this to Kadhalukku Mariyadhai but I think this is a better work from Vijay compared to that. He has definitely improved over the last 10 years as an actor. The credit for this anyway should go to the Director Siddique, of "Friends" fame. The movie has his trademark twists and turns, particularly towards the end but where is the comedy. Vadivelu looks pedestrian in this movie and it is no comparison to the all time best comedy of "Friends". I really expected better work from Siddhique on the comedy front. Songs were decent if not great. You can watch this movie if you like Vijay on the big screen. Asin is also there for you as a bonus!!
Manmadhanambu:
Before I write anything about the movie, let me first warn you that you dont go to this movie thinking Kamal and KS Ravikumar combination would make you laugh and fall down from your seat. This is not Panchathanthiram, a real classic! The story, screenplay and dialogue is by Kamalhasan himself, so you can expect the quirkiness which is inherent in Kamal's thought process. I cant understand why Kamal didnt take "Crazy" Mohan along! The story is no great and it goes like this. A suspecting lover boy (Madhavan) appoints a detective (Kamalhasan) to spy on his film actress girlfriend (Trisha) who is on her vacation in Europe. How the detective becomes the lover boy of the film actress is the story with some tragic flashback for the detective. As usual, Kamal rocks as an actor and he should just stick to that. Leave story, screenplay and direction to others. I should also mention that Trisha is not just a glamour girl but a good actor as well. She speaks in her own voice in this film after some 8 years of being in the industry and on top of it, being a Tamil!! Madhavan and Sangeetha fill up the rest of the characters. Sangeetha does act very naturally. Well done!! Don't go with much expectations and you will like this movie.
Man with the Android!!
It sounds little phony, but it is!! Yes, I have a got a Android phone couple of weeks back after a nerve-wrecking decision making process!! There are two aspects to this Android phone which I would like to tell, one is the process of identifying the phone itself and second is the post-purchase experience of using a Android.
Before I move any further, I just want to make it very clear. I am not a gadget freak and can be considered a novice in these areas. You can understand better when I say that used my old phone's USB cable first time in 4 years to transfer the phonebook to the new phone.
When I decided to change my good old Sony Ericsson W810i after 4 years of use, the hottest thing on the phone circuit was the touch phone. Coupled with the pressure from the Junior, I didn't have a choice of buying different phone. He wanted a touchphone and probably that started the discussion on changing the phone.
Once it was decided that its going to be touch-phone, Android, seems to be the logical choice. I limited my budget to Rs10K knowing my usage habits and who is going to use it more. So I started shortlisting Android phones in that range, which resulted in Samsung Galaxy 5 and Micromax Andro as the top contenders. Doubts were also raised about the Android apps, so I started looking at alternate platforms like Symbian, Bada etc., Iphone was never in contention because of the huge price tag of Rs30K. No doubt why Apple is sitting on USD59.3 billion cash!!
It was a nerve wrecking 3 weeks period where I spent most of my time looking at the options available in the market. Somewhere down the line, the gut feeling was telling me to go for a time tested Symbian Qwerty phone from the Nokia stable instead of a touch phone. So it was a competition between my gut feeling and what I read and heard about the usefulness of Android phones. Finally, I over-ruled my gut feeling and bought a Samsung Galaxy 5 phone! It was definitely a moment of great relief if not ecstasy!
Its been two weeks since I started using the touch screen phone, I have to admit that it is very addictive. The build quality of Samsung Galaxy 5 is very good for the price point and I enjoy the silky smooth touch screen experience. I use the phone on a 2G network and even then the internet speed is good. The sound clarity is good while on the calls as well as when you play the music.
What annoys me the most is the battery drain. I charge the phone for 4 hours on the trot and I use it for 1 hour of browsing, half the battery is gone. I tried reducing the brightness of the screen to the barest minimum, downloaded the Android apps killer and didn't use the music at all. Even then a fully charged battery cant sustain you beyond 8 hours or so. This is ridiculous and I getting fed up with this phone already. If anybody has any idea how to extend the battery life, please mail me or drop me a comment.
Secondly, the data usage on the internet browsing seems to be way too high. This is not related to the phone per se, but I guess this is something to do with the Android OS. I have run a bill of Rs1200 on internet usage just for facebook /twitter updates and checking emails. I have hardly browsed other sites on the net like youtube or something, but still the data usage seems to be very high. It may be related to the service provider as well, but need to check that next month.
Overall, the phone is good if you have an appetite for charging it frequently, which I find totally annoying. In a country like India where during summers you go without electricity for 4 hours or so, this is not an ideal phone at all. Also when you travel, you need to remember to carry your charger even if you don't carry your undergarments!! If these Android phone manufacturers find a way out of this battery problem, I think Android would rule. Else, people would slowly revert back to time tested T9 keypad phones is my guess!
Before I move any further, I just want to make it very clear. I am not a gadget freak and can be considered a novice in these areas. You can understand better when I say that used my old phone's USB cable first time in 4 years to transfer the phonebook to the new phone.
When I decided to change my good old Sony Ericsson W810i after 4 years of use, the hottest thing on the phone circuit was the touch phone. Coupled with the pressure from the Junior, I didn't have a choice of buying different phone. He wanted a touchphone and probably that started the discussion on changing the phone.
Once it was decided that its going to be touch-phone, Android, seems to be the logical choice. I limited my budget to Rs10K knowing my usage habits and who is going to use it more. So I started shortlisting Android phones in that range, which resulted in Samsung Galaxy 5 and Micromax Andro as the top contenders. Doubts were also raised about the Android apps, so I started looking at alternate platforms like Symbian, Bada etc., Iphone was never in contention because of the huge price tag of Rs30K. No doubt why Apple is sitting on USD59.3 billion cash!!
It was a nerve wrecking 3 weeks period where I spent most of my time looking at the options available in the market. Somewhere down the line, the gut feeling was telling me to go for a time tested Symbian Qwerty phone from the Nokia stable instead of a touch phone. So it was a competition between my gut feeling and what I read and heard about the usefulness of Android phones. Finally, I over-ruled my gut feeling and bought a Samsung Galaxy 5 phone! It was definitely a moment of great relief if not ecstasy!
Its been two weeks since I started using the touch screen phone, I have to admit that it is very addictive. The build quality of Samsung Galaxy 5 is very good for the price point and I enjoy the silky smooth touch screen experience. I use the phone on a 2G network and even then the internet speed is good. The sound clarity is good while on the calls as well as when you play the music.
What annoys me the most is the battery drain. I charge the phone for 4 hours on the trot and I use it for 1 hour of browsing, half the battery is gone. I tried reducing the brightness of the screen to the barest minimum, downloaded the Android apps killer and didn't use the music at all. Even then a fully charged battery cant sustain you beyond 8 hours or so. This is ridiculous and I getting fed up with this phone already. If anybody has any idea how to extend the battery life, please mail me or drop me a comment.
Secondly, the data usage on the internet browsing seems to be way too high. This is not related to the phone per se, but I guess this is something to do with the Android OS. I have run a bill of Rs1200 on internet usage just for facebook /twitter updates and checking emails. I have hardly browsed other sites on the net like youtube or something, but still the data usage seems to be very high. It may be related to the service provider as well, but need to check that next month.
Overall, the phone is good if you have an appetite for charging it frequently, which I find totally annoying. In a country like India where during summers you go without electricity for 4 hours or so, this is not an ideal phone at all. Also when you travel, you need to remember to carry your charger even if you don't carry your undergarments!! If these Android phone manufacturers find a way out of this battery problem, I think Android would rule. Else, people would slowly revert back to time tested T9 keypad phones is my guess!