UNPREDICTABLE it is!

“Indian bowling / fielding isn't frustrating. It’s just their way of keeping the betting scenario interesting!” – That was my Facebook status during the India – England match. Call me over-skeptical, but I am not the only one who is overtly vexed with how the World Cup is turning out to be.

The Indian team concluded both the England and Ireland matches quite interestingly. There were moments when I could literally tear my hair. 338 on the boards, Sachin’s smashing spell and I was quite confident that India is going to have a sweeping win over England; kind of forgetting my own rule – never EVER predict a game. Speculations were rife, Dhoni’s over-confidence and many divisive twists and turns later, the result was more than anyone could handle. A tie early on in the series, with such a high score was definitely a sheer entertainer – though India could have used the match–winning 2 points (instead of 1). I could almost feel my heartbeats before the last ball – a result that could favour three decisions – a win, a tie or a loss of course. Phew! 

Despite the pathetic bowling and fielding by the Indian members, Dhoni’s criticism of the ruling that went against the team bore fruit. At least something good happening on the LBW decisions! The ICC issued new guidelines on the controversial 2.5m rule of the Decision Review System (DRS) to lead to "consistency" in decision making.

Now for the match against Ireland, luck (and the toss win) was India’s saving grace. Indian players are superstitious, and at the turn of this century, with Sourav leading the team, the mass believed that the team should always bat first. I guess they are finally breaking that spell and the decision to chase against Ireland was crucial – given the all too frequently used pitch in Bangalore. Of course, Yuvi did his bit and made us proud with his 50 runs and 5 wickets. Creating a record amongst a mass of great cricketers, and first time in World Cup is definitely commendable. It’s always one player who absorbs the winning streak, gets lucky and pulls the match through.

The flip side of the match was, the team huffed and puffed to cover the chase. Too much importance was laid on Kevin O'Brien – he got lucky once, doesn’t mean he was destined to replicate his heroics from his last game! And the Indian team should have known better. It was Ireland after all; they had absolutely no reason to complicate the inning. Even England for that matter – they were not considered formidable contenders when the World Cup began. Well, as I said – UNPREDICTABLE it is!

So far, I didn’t take into account the match against Bangladesh, and they definitely are out of the charts. For the further matches – three more to go, against Netherlands, South Africa and West Indies – I wish the team all the very best! Considering their current top position in Group B, the consolation is that they have qualified for the quarters. Happy cricket watching everyone!!!

O. Henry or Kunal Basu – same thoughts centuries apart?!

When was the last time you tried to hide (literally) the ending to a short story so that you can relish the penultimate paragraph to the fullest? When did you last feel nostalgic about being part of a story, empathetic to the extent that you want to deep dive into the characters and live in that era / time to see how they are continuing with their lives? And did you ever feel that you should definitely meet the author and quiz him, and applaud him for his unique writing style?

Maybe O. Henry or William Sydney Porter was one such person. To actually have such pathos and elegance of contemporary living, his short stories had a mix of overpowering love, sacrifice, and fantastic emotional exchange (both between the characters, and between the characters and the reader). The mere difference is Kunal Basu doesn’t give a stark anti-climax as O. Henry. Well, you can safely say that I never hoped I will be able to come across a collection of short stories, which will sweep me off my feet, in our era.

A long hiatus to writing, a book review on ‘The Japanese Wife’ was very much required for me. It is one of those times when, even in dire adversities, you need to express the happiness that you encountered. And I would like to thank Kunal Basu ten-folds for such enthralling exuberance (regret the alliteration) in his short stories.

None of the feelings in my first paragraph are imaginary. I have this weird (and painful) habit of reading a paragraph multiple times if I love the language before moving on. With ‘The Japanese Wife’ it became worse. Usually we tend to get involved with a novel, but to achieve that in a short story is truly commendable. Whenever I realized that I am about to reach the end of one of the 13 stories, I used to hide the ending with my palm and re-read the penultimate paragraph to my heart’s content.

With his vast knowledge of various locales, you won’t just wonder at his exquisite language but will also feel like asking him if he has actually lived in Russia and China, and in a particular era. You will want to know if he has come face to face with Hitler, with the students’ revolution in China, if he has encamped with the poachers in Sunderbans, if he has seen his own past-life, and experienced the pain of a spouse having an extra-marital affair with an American. And these are just snippets of his exquisite collection of short stories. Based out of Kolkata (hence almost all the anecdotes have a Bengali protagonist), he has definitely traveled far and wide to provide such vivid description of the places.

The ending to each narrative was a sweet shocker. And almost all of them gave a hope – to live your life on your own terms and to stand up against a difficult situation. There is an almost unimaginable twist to each and EVERY tale in the very last couple of sentences, and that is when you get the urge to read the story all over again, and desperately want to know how it feels to dream big and have the courage to reconcile to your fate. You will want to know how one becomes a widow to a husband she has never met, how to cope with the knowledge that the love of your life (whom you married) has brain tumor, how extreme lust can be misused to lead to your death.

Again, I was desperate to watch the movie (as I do with all remakes of the books that I read). Aparna Sen is a talented director, and with a versatile star-cast, the movie is really well made. It takes you to the old Bengali movie sophistication of Satyajit Ray’s era. It was a bit slow, considering Aparna Sen translated a short story to an entire movie script. But the visuals from the infuriated river Matla during extreme monsoon are a treat for the eyes. And the evergreen Mousumi Chatterjee was as loveable as ever!

I will suggest the cynics to stay away from the book. The less-sensitive don’t deserve to partake of such emotional upheavals. Well, the choice is theirs to take.

As for me, I intend to pick up Kunal Basu’s other reads, just for his sheer writing style. And hopefully pave my way around to meet and chat up with him someday ;).

Nobody’s purr-fect...

And Chetan Bhagat definitely isn’t one! Well, what did you think? I am going to whine about my life story too? Naaah! There is time for that.

“Two States” – as his new book-cover cries out – is about his struggle to marry the girl he loves. If you remember well, his character is the same person from Five Point Someone – Krish (the loser who falls in love with the professor’s daughter).

In the newest release, the loser turns over a new leaf. He becomes an IIMA graduate, with one of the highest packages in his batch with Citibank, and has a sky-high dream of quitting his job to become a writer.

Chetan Bhagat has been famous for his witty and simple way of delivering his thoughts, a kind of manifestation of how a common man thinks. The success can be measured in terms of the number of directors jumping at his stories (true, no genuine concepts with our Bollywood nowadays)!

But who am I kidding, even though there is no great literature or whatsoever, I have actually ended up reading all four of his books! It can be slapstick humour, or a snail-paced monotonous biography, his stories does pick up pace at the later stages. Though “One night at the call center” was complete bogus, I did enjoy the rest of his books.

Enough of analyzing Bhagat, now back to the book at hand. “Two States” is about the girl from Chennai and the Punjabi munda from Delhi. The initial chapters are snail-paced, as I said. The writing style similar to his other books, at one point of time I was wondering why the hell I actually picked up this book. The culture difference is quite stark, with the garrulous, property-laden North-Indians and the hyper-educated, “The Hindu”-loving South-Indians (for the dumbstruck ones, no it’s the newspaper The Hindu, which it appears from reading the book, is the staple breakfast in Chennai!).

But as I entered his Final Act (which says – Delhi & Chennai & Delhi & Chennai), I actually had bouts of tears and giggles! You can call me over-engrossed or over-indulged with books; I do tend to empathize with characters. And with Bhagat, it is like a conversation with the next door guy, who is venting out to his close friend. Anyways, the book begins with sweet / half-matured / peer-pressured / impulsive / over-spoilt love, which inculcates into a long-drawn struggle of different cultures, misunderstandings, too much of effort and patience to pacify all parties, leading to a short-stint of break-up before things fall back into place.

I was really flabbergasted with one thing – if the book is actually a reality-narrator then it is quite over-whelming to know that Bhagat’s Dad is the way he has portrayed. Maybe that is the first question I will ask him if I ever get to interact with him (high-hopes there!). Whoever has read Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan’s “You Are Here” will know how blatant and frank one can get in her blog / book. Bhagat’s style is similar and he has definitely marketed himself well, IIM graduate after all!

One more thing kind of struck a chord, his decisiveness and aim since early on in life to become a writer. A goal that was so adamant that he knew he had to save some money before he could sit down to write full-time. Does give some hope to folks like me… Snort!

Trip to the land of clouds! – I

A much awaited and wondrous voyage to the Scotland of India – two days seemed so less.

I am talking about Coorg guys and after a long time, words fail me! Even as I write this travelogue, I am apprehensive that I won’t be able to do justice to the small town nestled in the hills.

For a change, we had made extensive planning of the places we would like to visit and on which days, where to stay (which we inevitably ignore every time), when to start exactly, and when to return – all courtesy my cousin. We were a group of five hence booking a Qualis seemed to turn out cheaper than taking a bus. At a decent rate of 6.5 bucks per km, we were quite happy with the deal.

After a lot of debates, we finally left at 4.30 am on Saturday morning (22nd Aug) with plans to reach the home-stay by 10 am. After reaching Madhekeri, we realized that our abode is another 30+ km towards Talacauvery (I’ll come back to these places again). With the hilly road conditions, it was almost 11 am when we reached Mount Grass – our home-stay – and received a very warm welcome and a hot breakfast by our hostess.

Even before site-seeing, the thing that really excited us was Coorgi food. It is a non-vegetarian’s paradise, and you need to be a complete foodie and a glutton to visit Coorg. Our hostess prepared a breakfast of dosa, a sumptuous lunch of fish and mutton, there was snacks in between and for dinner (hold your breath) pork and chicken!!! Of course the guys hogged to their hearts’ content, I went to bed without dinner after the heavy snacks.

One can comfortably stay and relax in Coorg for a week. An amazing backdrop of mountains with clouds creating a misty hat, the harvest green in front of your eyes, and the constant spring weather with mild drizzles, all you need is a book and your loved one with you. Trust me, you will just not feel like returning. We have already vowed to make a longer trip soon!

For a hastened site-seeing three days is optimal. To list down a few places – Talakavery, Dubare, Abby Falls, Raja’s Seat, Madhikeri Fort, Golden Temple, Nagarahole National Park, and Bhagamandala (Sangam).

I’ll explain each locale in the follow-up of this article. Till then relish the idea of enormous meals, lazy life amongst hills, reaching out to the clouds, a book, mild music in the background, and croaking of frogs and insects’ buzz at nightfall – heavenly combo!

Trip to the land of clouds! – II

A little delay in the follow up to our Coorg trip, but hope you can refresh your memory from the 1st part of the article. Yummy food, wonderful mountainside and cozy town, that’s all I can harp on again and again. So before you get totally pissed, let me take you to the details of the site-seeing that I mentioned last time.

As I said, we were staying in a home-stay which was just 15 km from Talakavery, it was the first place we visited the day we arrived in Coorg. It is the place where Cauvery River originates and every October on a particular day, water gurgles out of a hole in the ground.

Our hostess / aunty asked us to be there around 4 pm so that we can experience cutting through white fog and rain. Well, she was mostly right because the feeling of driving though sheer cloud is something beyond words! What we missed out on was the climb up 380 stairs at Talakavery. It supposedly gives a panoramic view of the valley below, which the cloud had completed shrouded.

I missed out Bhagamandala / Sangam before Talakavery, which is around 8 km before the latter site. Bhagamandala is a temple set amongst cloud covered mountains and overseeing the confluence of three rivers (though one of the rivers is hidden). The temple itself is very peaceful and beautiful.

Next day we went to Abby Falls, a dangerous but picturesque waterfall. It is known to devour quite a few adventurous ones every year if you are not careful enough. There is no direct access to reach the water, though a bridge is made across it and you can actually feel the water spray at you even when you are standing 100 feet away. All these sites have their own history and lore, so it will be quite interesting if you keep a tab on the trivia for each place.

Raja’s Seat or the sunset point is well-known for its expansive view of the mountains and the wide open greenery across the valley. Due to the on-and-off rains and the fog, we couldn’t manage to see the sunset but the columns of clouds over the mountains were a view in itself. It looked as if the fog is streaming down in pillars and trying to touch the ground. Plus the lush green is simply breathtaking!

Dubare forest, more famous for its elephants, is a place where you can feed the mammals, watch them take baths, ride them and play with them. I was really excited about the place since white water rafting is also present here. But tough luck, we reached the place around 3 pm and the elephant camp gets over by 12 noon. We asked around for rafting, it was 700 bucks per person for a 7.5 km distance and 1.5 hours of dashing across the water. But it started pouring and my desire to go for rafting also went unfulfilled.

Golden temple – my, what an architecture that is! Our initial plans were to skip it, thinking it to be just another temple, but we would have really missed out on the trip if we hadn’t visited it. Vibrant and colourful to the core, this Buddhist monastery reminded us of Sikkim or any North Eastern town. In fact the whole area around the temple was Buddhist settlement, which gave a religious and heavenly charm to the place.

We didn’t have time to visit the other two famous places – Madhikeri Fort and Nagarahole National Park – due to time constraint, but went to see the lighting at Mysore Palace on our way back.

We came back with lots of fresh, aromatic spices, tea and homemade chocolates in our bag. Overall, it was an excellent trip. Two days seemed so less! Three long weekends are coming up guys; the small town nestled in the hills is definitely worth a visit.

Link to our Coorg pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/sanjula.guha/Coorg2223Aug0903#