Women's Game

Rolex. IBM. Anything else?

It wasn't like I was searching for jobs in multinationals. And Rolex would not offer me one anyway. It was the things I was seeing in the last match of Wimbledon. Reason: It was mens' singles.

First of all, please be clear I have no knowledge of tennis except that Leander Paes lost to America's Andre Agassi in 1996 Olympics (hope I'm correct on year) and that it's the game played by Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, and of course, Sania Mirza.

So, back to the topic, I was seeing this 'boring' Mens' singles thing between Roger Federer and Marat Safin. And though I could understand by the way the match was going that they were playing well (otherwise I wouldn't know their names, too) I didn't find it very interesting, or not at all interesting if compared to the last two matches where respectively Venus and Serena defeated their Russian and Chinese opponents.

I mean, seeing those girls playing those strong backhands and fronthands (I don't know if that term exists in tennis) is something worth watching. It's mesmerising to see how one little girl makes the big lady in front of her move here to there with her tricks (though it didn't happen that many times) and how beautifully (or dangerously) they show their joy when they win their games, sets and matches. (phrase lifted from Suhail Seth's articles, eventually a 1988 movie too)

But what is there to see in those Mens' Singles?? (or even doubles, for that matter) Why do people see them at all? I mean, if you want to see muscular men doing big action, why don't go for some Hollywood movie? (I hope there are not many 'bollywood only' people who watch tennis, that too mens')

Or maybe there is something worth seeing in the game too. Since I see Cricket, I know men like games, and maybe those guys play really well, so they can watch them play. But then, in a game where even the audiences don't shout during the game, what's the whole point in watching the GAME??

So, I think, I have thrown it out in the last sentence. I didn't, don't, see tennis for game. I see it for timepass. And for those girls. After all, I feel it's a women's game.

Mark Burnett is Smarter Than a Fifth Grader

Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass se Tez Hain?

Well, if you really are smarter than a fifth grader, you are going to admit that you are NOT smarter than a fifth grader. At least on the show.

"Main Paanchvi Pass se Tez NAHI Hoon!"

If you have seen the episode of 'Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass se Tez Hain?' where Pragjyoti Samal won a crore rupees, you must have seen the rules and must be clear why I think so. But if you have not, keep on reading.

'Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader', the show which is copied in India as 'Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass se Tez Hain' was created by British television producer Mark Brunett. And the guy made a little pocket in the game which not only saved millions of dollars of television producers, but also kept the sanctity of the game by proving that nobody was smarter than a fifth grader.

The pocket is that after answering ten questions, when the winner has a crore rupees in hand, she is told that she cannot use cheats anymore (completely fair) and told that she WILL HAVE TO ANSWER THE QUESTION ONCE IT IS DISPLAYED.

That is, the players are not allowed to quit the game at the last question. If they see the question, and fail to give the right answer, they are sent down to rupees 2 Lac, from One Crore. (Bad, actually.)

I think any person who is smarter than a fifth grader will like to save the crore rupees in hand rather than risk them, and proudly ADMIT that she is NOT smarter than a fifth grader.

PS: To Guys, Sorry for the use of female pronouns. But then, no guy has won a crore rupees on the show yet.

My Name on TV

19th May, around 10 AM. It was the SRK vs ICC story running on Times Now, a channel I haven't seen much and is not on my list of favorites. But as I was surfing channels, I liked a story, started watching it, and soon made an opinion.

Pretty normal.

And then I decided to send my opinion through SMS at the number they were displaying.

Quite rare.

Soon I sent a message to 58888. (I didn't read the number actually on TV, I remember the 8888 from the days I used to read The ToI and know that we've to add 5 to all such numbers now) The message read, 'Cricket never had franchises. And now that it has, the owners should be allowed to boost their teams' morale in the way they like.', followed by my name and city.

I waited for a few minutes (thus seeing Times Now for the longest time ever, more than half an hour) and saw the ticker running which read, 'I see nothing wrong in SRK sitting in the dug out. He has the right to support his team. Harshit, Najibabad.'

Thus, I saw my own name on the TV (for the first time of course) with a different opinion than I had stated, an opinion that was being given under some other name sometime earlier.

Thankfully they had not flicked my opinion to the other side of the question and my opinion shown there was at least supporting the same cause as mine. Still, I got some truth of the news channels and once again felt that blogs are the best medium to express oneself since TV can twist the opinions of even existing-nowhere people like me.

'Touch' me

'Touch' matters. But I'm not in a mood to talk the physical touch here. I'm talking of the 'touchy' things, rather ads, that TV is bringing to us, more and more.

Movie makers have been good at touching since time immemorial. Be it Gulzar or Rishikesh Mukherjee, Karan Johar or Aditya Chopra. But now a number of advertisers are moving towards touchy-feely things compared to previous times.

Of course there have been touchy ads since the TV started. I still remember those Raymond ads which stirred my soul even while I was a child. Remember the school children collecting coins in cap for the leaving teacher? (Principal I think)

But now, a whole new dimension is being added it seems. The surf excel ad (sorry bol raha hai one), the Jaypee ad (the one in which a little boy brings a little girl to show her the dam) can be quoted among such ads.

And then came the ad from Airtel. A whole new thing. An advertisement that India had never seen before. Two little boys across border coming together to play football. Followed by 'Baatein gira deti hain faaslon ki deewaarein' or 'barriers break when people talk'.

Now the thing that made me think. The latest advertisement I saw, from Airtel. In this one, a little girl calls up her 'papa' at night cause she wants to do some drawing where 'papa' is working at a site. And then papa finally brings the girl out under the sky and they both draw on sky together. On an Airtel. Oops!

Waise, the latest coke ad I saw didn't touch me less. Maybe because of the Sufi voices involved in the ad. In this one some guys come back from presumably a party or something and are hungry when everything is closed. And then Hritik performs the magic of coke and there's a beautiful voice singing 'waqt ye na rukta hai, aaj tu Jashn mana le'. (please tell me who's the singer if u know or find somewhere, dying to know that) Yet another hit by music composer Raam Sampat, my old, old favorite.

Deepak Chaurasia in Dhoom 4??

Yash Raj Films is all set to sign Deepak Chaurasia for his next Dhoom for which the cast is not yet decided. This step is taken by the YRF after watching Deepak's performance in the special act played on Aaj tak in a budget special program. Deepak had played a kisaan from Bhaarat in a debate going on between India and Bhaarat.

Shocked?

Well, you must be knowing this is not truth but just a spoof. But do you think we shall be really shocked if we come across such a news one day? I do not think I will be much surprised.

True. News channels today do everything. Acting and hype-making. Animation and advertisement. Almost everything except news.

Fortunately, I have been from the school that is run by the Times of India Group and once got a chance to listen to Shri Sahu Ramesh Chandra Jain, who was the former president of our college and a renowned media person. He was of the view that news should not be mixed with views. He was in favor of strictly giving news where a person was to be given news and put one's own views separate from the news so that the news remains unbiased and people are able to analyze the news on their own too.

But today, news is not just being mixed with views, but the news channels have become full-fledged drama channels, covering reality shows, daily soaps from channels and their own part-horror shows and hype-creating news.

Even DD, that was considered a plain news channel, mostly the papas' choice, now tries to run the race of today's news and sometimes acts foolish. One day i came through a story made on movies or something in which I was unable to listen the voice of the guy speaking there because of the background music that was playing Om Shanti Om.

Believe me, I am really tired of these news channels. Even at home when dad says, "yaar news sunwa de kuchh", now I say, "kya karoge dad, news channel pe besure logon ke gaane sunne se achcha hai aap bhi MTV ke gaane hi sun lo.."

I'm watching TV!!

I was off the TV, except for songs, and some mindless stuffs like 'Sun Yaar Chill Maar' and 'Lagegi' (Now Hass Ley India) of Bindass. Basically, of all the things, I had left series of any type, from those of Ekta Kapoor to UTV to Fox. No Saas-bahu and no Friends either. In fact I have never been a loyal fan of either at any time.

But more than four years after leaving the TV, this time I got back into a series. This one is called Kyle XY.

Yesterday, after watching 'Howrah Bridge' (starring Ashok Kumar and Madhubala, black and white of course) I just 'downloaded' 2 episodes of the series from Varun's computer. (Actually we all stay on a wireless LAN and I just copied it on to my computer) And I thank God that I downloaded just two episodes. I slept after 5. Had I had more, I have no idea when I would go to bed, taking into account that each episode of the series is of 42-44 mins long.

The series is about a guy who is 'born' almost 16-17 years old in a jungle, and has an incredibly sharp mind, through which he learns things fast even though he is as unaware of things around him as a newborn.

Till now, the story is that a doctor of mental patients takes Kyle to her home and he learns to live his life there. Interestingly the guy doesn't have a belly button and there seems to be some mystery behind him.

Well, in less than 24 hrs I have watched 5 episodes of the series that is more than 3 and a half hours. I hope I'll be finishing the season one, consisting of 10 episodes, within a day or two.

Rest of the world is as good as it used to be. Riviera is about to start in the college and preparations are going in full swing. Today there was preliminary round of Sand Castle Sculptures in which there were some beautiful Mahals of sand there.

Hope the Riviera makes the coming week interesting.