Day Trip To Warangal - The Thousand Pillar Temple

It's been on my mind for a while now. I wanted to visit Warangal and see, really see, the Thousand Pillar Temple, the Ramappa temple  (which I visited when I was very young) and the Warangal fort (which I never visited). We stayed in Hanamkonda, which is a town contiguous to Warangal, for four years in my childhood but I never made it to the fort for some reason.Bhongir fortMemories of the Thousand Pillar Temple were vague and old and I remember...

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Some T20 Bowling Recipes

For bowlers who are hoping to make it big in T20 formats here are some areas to work on. Bowling in T20 games is the biggest challenge and it's something that all good, skilful and big hearted bowlers would love to do. One over, can change the game, and that's how critical bowling can get in this format. 1) Learn to hold your delivery until the last moment. This comes naturally to those who fall into a good rhythm quickly and who understand the biomechanics and process of bowling, But there are far too many bowlers who merely run up and bowl and...

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The Foreigner - Arun Joshi

Arun Joshi was born in 1939, has a Masters degree in Management from the M.I.T., wrote five novels and short stories and was selected for the Sahitya Academy Award. He is considered an author of rare sensitivity and talent. If friend Vinod had not discovered him, I would never have known of him. Which would have been a pity because 'The Foreigner' is an exceptional tale that stands good even today and will stand the test of time for a long time to come. It is a tale of love. And as with all tales of love, it is also about betrayal, hate, jealousy...

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The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Movie Review

This one is an adaptation of Milan Kundera's novel of the same name. Reading the synopsis of the movie after watching the movie I realised that the movie left me with a totally different understanding of the story.The 1988 movie (as I understood it) revolves around a surgeon in Prague in the 60s. The surgeon is an intellectual, an artist and a womaniser too. Women are drawn to him and he sleeps with them. He believes that sex and love are different....

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What Are The Coaches Doing?

What are so many coaches doing in the IPL with such large support staff? If that were not enough we have mentors and other experts as well. I have an issue with so many people advising the team because then nobody has a clear responsibility.In fact I think that a coach at best, with his support staff, should be more than enough if one does not have a captain who can handle the strategy part. Shane Warne did a wonderful job as captain, coach and mentor for Rajasthan Royals. It makes sense because one individual takes the call, follows his procedures...

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Between Clay and Dust - Musharraf Ali Farooqi

This is a classic too. Rarely does one come across a story that is told with such brevity, such clarity and such purpose. Musharraf Ali Farooqi impresses right away with his sparse and direct tone, the short chapters that do not go beyond 4-5 pages and no unnecessary flourishes in the language. A story must be told and nothing compromises that in 'Between Clay and Dust' and it is this feature that I loved about his work the most. It is very visual...

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The Bicycle Thief - Movie Review

Classic movie. How does one define that. To me its the kind of a movie that does not necessarily rely on technical wizardry, musical and locational brilliance and still tells the story in such a manner that you do not wish to miss even a wee bit of it. I could not tear myself away from the screen for the smallest moment and savoured each and every scene as if it were a favorite dish that I hid for myself. So rich and so well told is bicycle thief.Directed...

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Keep The Faith - Theodore Roosevelt

I received this quote in the mail from Ramaraju today - a quote by Theodore Roosevelt on critics. In a world full of promises, hopes, expectations and intentions, it is finally the work done that matters. All else remains just that - words. "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose...

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Anjali - I Will Not Give Up

There is something that happens when we decide upon certain things. It is that thought that helps us rise over the mundane and be what we were meant to be.Faced with the daunting prospect of climbing up the rather steep and stark granite steps that lead up to the top of the Golconda Fort I was pretty much geared up for some carrying her up at some point. But halfway up he hill, some warrior spirit awakened within her and she said, her face resolute...

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Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf - Movie Review

Made in 1966 this movie is adapted from a play of the same name written by Edward Albee. I never saw Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in such intense roles before and was pretty stunned by their acting prowess and screen presence. Taylor strides the screen with such ease and power, slips into her role so easily and with such grace and beauty that you wonder when we will see artistes like her again. Ditto for Burton. It is apparently the only film to have been nominated or all 13 categories in the Academy Awards and won five including one for...

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No One Knows About Persian Cats - Movie Review

An Iranian movie made by Bahman Ghobhadi 'No One Knows About Persian Cats' is a docu-drama about the underground music movement in Iran. The storyline is thin - it explores how humans find a way of expression despite all the restrictions that governments and societies thrust upon them. This movie more so focuses on the restrictions that Iran probably has on rock music and more specifically the underground Indie-rock (alternative rock) scene in Iran.The...

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Golconda Fort in Pics

Went to the Golconda fort yesterday as part of my new-found know-my-heritage trips these days. Raja was keen and Anjali had a school project so she decided to join in too. One of the outer gatesThe curtain wall, I thinkSo the four of us, Shobhs and I, Anjali and Raja headed off early to Golconda fort which opens at 9 a.m. Why? Why not 6 a.m. when it is much easier to climb up and take some fine shots? Maybe its too early for the ticket counter...

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