Distant stars, at home up in the heavens.
Wonder what they see, are they watching me?
Christmas Star, you spin your strands of silver.
What a sight to see, are you there to guide me?
Star light, shine bright.
See me through the dark night.
Light mine, half way;
Guide me home for Christmas Day.
Midnight stars, they sail the sky in silence.
Hearing all they see, are they hearing me?
Christmas Star, you watch the world so wisely;
At my journey's end, will you be my true friend?
Star light, shine bright.
See me through the dark night.
Light mine, half way;
Guide me home for Christmas Day.
Christmas Star light,
See me on my way.
Light mine, half way;
Guide me home for Christmas Day.
(Composed by John Williams, Words by Leslie Bricusse, Featured in the movie Home Alone)
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Formula 1 Season 2010 – Qualifying – Bahrain
After qualifying today the one thing that strikes me hard is Force India’s pace. I’m a known FIF1 baiter and looks like I’m going to eat a lot of my own words this year, inflation be damned. The pace shown by Adrian and Vitantonio is stunning and I hope they have a nice race tomorrow.
The silence of the Ferraris was expected, their pace today is a result of a good design and excellent talent behind the wheels. I’m so glad Felipe Massa has out qualified Fernando Alonso. Despite not setting scorching pace in testing Sebastian Vettel has taken pole for RedBull and Mark is starting 6th, expect nothing less from an Adrian Newey design.
Jenson Button was seen caught with under steer more than once, the McLaren’s are losing some race pace in the medium speed sections of Sakhir. Lewis manages to start the race in row 2 while Jenson will start from P8. It’s going to be a classic shootout from the start line between Fernando and Lewis, I hope they don’t get wrought in emotions and lose the car on turn 1.
The pace Robert Kubica is showing with his Renault is surprising, let’s hope he has a good race tomorrow. The heat, no refuelling, tyre wear and the uncertainty of the new rules and regulations in play make tomorrow a day where anything can happen. Over to race day everyone, I’m missing the Iceman already.
Sunday, March 07, 2010
Geo’s Talkies – Kerala Cafe
Kerala Cafe is a collection of 10 short films filmed by different directors and technicians while Ranjith steers the overall idea and concept and also produces the film. I have to start this post with a disclaimer. The only other movies of similar nature I’ve seen are Paris, Je’ t aime & New York, I love you. Thanks to Joshua who made me see the former, the movie was very good while the latter wasn’t a laudable effort.
Ranjith is a prolific script writer and director who over the past decade or two exhibited expertise in writing scripts to cater to the masses and also scripts which tread the line between art and popularity rather carefully. Some stories he has written / adapted for the screen are lilting and poetic. The list of directors comprises people who direct popular mass entertainers and people who make sensible movies that appeal to the class audience. The central theme of Kerala Cafe is journey (yatra) and all short films incorporate this into their theme.
Nostalgia is the first short film starring Dileep, Navya Nair directed by M Padmakumar, shot by Anil Nair based on a poem Naaduvazhikal . Two minutes into this short film you are shaken by the contrast of feelings in the protagonist played by Dileep who is an NRI from Dubai visiting his hometown in Kerala. Navya Nair plays his wife is the cynic in the frame who sees through Dileep’s actions. Sudeesh plays the role of Dileep’s friend in his hometown who works as a waiter in Kerala Cafe.
Island Express written and directed by Shankar Ramakrishnan has been shot on film by S Kumar. Based on the derailment and loss of 100+ lives when the Island Express derailed from the Peruman bridge in Kollam district of Kerala, this film brings together characters who have lost a loved one on that ill fated night. Sukumari, Maniyan Pilla Raju, Jayasuriya, Prithviraj, Rahman, Geethu Christie and Kani play warm roles in this short, each one having lived through the loss visits the accident spot. Maniyanpilla Raju plays the role of the engine driver from the night of the accident, to even attempt to describe all the subtle emotions on his face would be an exercise in futility.
Lalitham Hiranmayam is the next short directed by Shaji Kailas, stars Suresh Gopi, Jyothirmayi & Dhanya Mary Varghese. Rajesh Jayaraman writes the story while GSujith Vasudev captures the visuals on film. Suresh Gopi and Jyothirmayi are a married couple with a girl child, disaster strikes in the form of a confession Suresh Gopi does to his wife about an affair he’s been having with Dhanya Mary Varghese. This short was the one big surprise to me personally, I never expected Shaji Kailas, known for mass masala entertainers, to demonstrate skill and craft in narrating the travails of a man torn between love in a manner that is poetic and subtle devoid of swooshes one is normally used to associate with his name.
Mritunjayam is a story by Ahmed Sidhique, directed by Uday Ananthan, shot by Hari Nair. It’s a thriller, an IB officer seeks the help of his half sister to crack a case of murder in a haunted old anchestral mansion. Thilakan as the custodian and Rima Kallingal as his granddaughter light up the screen. Anoop Menon plays the IB officer and Meera Nandhan plays his half sister. This short is full of solid thrills, be prepared to get spooked. Audiophiles can use this short to setup sound levels on their sub woofer.
Happy Journey stars Jagathy Sreekumar, Nithya Menon and Bindhu Panicker’s voice. Written and directed by Anjali Menon, this short has been shot by MJ Radhakrishnan. A lecherous co-passenger played by Jagathy get’s the experience of his life when the teenager he’s been feeling up on a journey from Ernakulam to Kozhikode (Calicut) turns out to be a suicide bomber or so she says. There is palpable tension if you don’t double guess the direction the narrative is going.
Aviraamam written and directed by B Unnikrishnan, shot by Shamdat is the story of Siddhique and Shwetha Menon. IT businessman Siddhique is neck deep in dept due to the the recession. One fine morning he decides to take his life after packing off his wife and two kids to their grandparents house. There has to raw sensuality when Shwetha Menon is on screen in a Ranjith production, there is. However at the end of this short the difference between a good and bad actor is shown when Siddhique and Shwetha are shown on screen, one excels in conveying remorse, pain and the other leaves us confused.
Off Season is directed by Shyamaprasad, written by Joshua Newton, shot by Azhagappan. Suraj Venjaaramood narrates the story of a Portuguese couple which sorts of gives out an accurate picture of the backpacking foreigners we keep bumping into on trains and buses, the types that dont drive into a 5 star hotel the moment they land. This short is the funniest in the whole bouquet.
Bridge is a story by TR Unni, shot by Suresh Rajan and directed by Anwar Rasheed. It takes us in parallel through the life of a kid and an old lady. The kid adores a kitten with whom he plays, his Dad throws the kitten out of the house causing heartbreak to the little fellow. On the other side of the bridge is Saleem Kumar and Kalpana, dhobis by profession. They struggle to make ends meet and Saleem Kumar’s mother is getting too old to manage in a poor man’s house. The title is probably an allusion to the connection it makes to two different strata or segments in society.
Makal directed by Revathi is a story by Deedi Damodaran. Canned by Madhu Ambat, this short is a story of adoption, exploitation of the girl child where the naive and gullible are taken for a ride by the well heeled. One cant have anything less when someone as capable as Revathi is wielding the megaphone I guess.
Puramkaazchakal is an adaptation of CV Sreeraman’s story by Lal Jose, Vijay Ulaganathan plays the role of cinematographer. Sreenivasan takes a bus to Chalakudy via Malakkapara. Midway through the journey joins Mammootty, who appears impatient and arrogant much to the irritation of the crew and passengers. Mammootty is the only superstar in India who doesn’t distract me from his role, any role he plays I see the character and not the star. In a master stroke of a narrative this is the best short in the whole collection to me.
A big thumbs up to Ranjith for this fine effort, this is a laudable effort and needs to be encouraged in the interest of good cinema.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Geo’s Talkies – Vinnaithaandi Varuvaya
Almost a decade after “Minnale”, Gautam Menon’s debut movie as a director in Tamil cinema comes another love story. The movies Gautam directed after the first weren’t out and out romantic movies though romance played a nice part in the overall narrative.
Initially reported by the media as “Chennaiyil oru mazhaikaalam”, the movie took the title of “Vinnaithaandi Varuvaya” when it was confirmed that Silambarasan was being cast to play the male lead. “Vinnaithaandi Varuvaya” is a nice warm love story, it’s takes you through the life of Karthik and Jessie. The former is a Mechanical Engineer by education who aspires to become a filmmaker, the parallels one can draw to Gautam’s education and profession are just too obvious.
Karthik also plays cricket and practices boxing as a hobby, which really turns out to be an excuse to a superbly set action sequence in the middle of the movie. Jessie is a young IT professional in Chennai, loves mathematics and we don’t get to know anything more about her. Karthik is instantly smitten by her right from the first time he sees her. Of course, the fact that Karthik and his family live in the ground floor of Jessie’s house gives him ample opportunities to ogle at her every now and then.
So here’s the first act play out on screen, you have a premise and two smart, charming and beautiful people who inevitably have to fall for each other. What’s going to be different with this movie is that this is Gautam Menon’s story, someone who has fascinating attention for detail and can write at least some characters in 3 dimensions. So conflict comes in the form of 1) religion: Jessie is Syrian Catholic Malayali Christian and Karthik is Hindu, Vellalar; 2) age: Jessie’s a year older than Karthik; 3) will: Karthik is completely enamoured by Jessie while Jessie is slightly more of a realist.
Karthik get’s introduced to KS Ravikumar through Cinematographer Ganesh and get a shot at interning under him. How does Karthik convince Jessie about his love? Does Karthik break into the big league with his film making? These are core plot points whose resolution can’t be spelled out in a blog and spoil the experience for you.
Silambarasan as Karthik has tried his best to portray on screen his characters sans histrionics. He’s done a good job at emoting, however I still have bones to pick at his dialogue delivery. Trisha Krishnan as Jessie is a pretty sight, she emotes slightly better but has a long way to go in that department. I thought she looked awful in at least two close up shots.
Full credits should go to the director and the dress designer for dressing up Trisha in immaculate drapes of saris, superbly cut and fit salwars and some very elegant western attire. Babu Antony plays Jessie’s Father and Kittu plays Karthik’s Father.
The opening title sequences are innovative and appear to have been filmed on the Vembanad Lake, the same place where the Rajiv Gandhi snake boat race is held with much fanfare every year. Manoj Parahamsa has canned the backwaters of Kuttanad in all it’s splendour wonderfully for this movie, it can easily pass off as advertisement for God’s own country’s tourism department.
AR Rahman’s songs have already been a rage, this movie has one of his most complete background scores for Indian movies. I’m still not able to recollect a melody from the score however I remember enjoying their richness. They didn’t distract me from the narrative and they probably helped take the narrative forward. I got to mention about the 5.1 mix which wasn’t distractive even once, that’s rare for a Tamil movie and full credit for that should go to KJ Singh.
Finally kudos to Gautam Vasudev Menon on writing a nice warm love story which isn’t all sugary and fluffy and keeping it’s decent enough without the usual trappings of masala cinema like a parallel comedy track and an item number. “Vinnaithaandi Varuvaya” is an honest effort, worth watching in the halls for it’s clean content, decent performances and a nice love story.
Trivia:
1) Clever references to Rahman’s hit music pieces from the past, “Mustafa Mustafa” plays on when a reference to friendship is made between the lead pair and “Pa sa ni sa” (sung by Shankar Mahadevan) from Bombay is talked about in a similar scene where lead pairs eyes meet.
2) The church that is featured in this movie is St Mary’s Forane Church, Pulinkunnu, Alapuzha district. One has to drive down the Alapuzha to Changanasserry road to reach this place, probably 20 or so kms away.
3) For a change “Amazing grace” is played when Jessie is ushered into the Church for her wedding, usually it’s Wagner’s wedding march. Mendelssohn’s wedding march features in the song “Anbil Avan” though.
4) In Syrian Catholic Churches the engagement or manasuchodhyam is mandatory before a wedding. In the movie Jessie directly get’s ready to be married which can be considered a cinematic liberty.
5) Gautam Menon himself has dubbed for Jerry, Jessie’s brother. Chinmayi Sripada has dubbed for Trisha. Chinmayi’s tamil is spot on, but Malayalam leaves a lot to be desired. Case in point: First time when Jessie talks Malayalam on screen and then the lines she says at her Granny’s place when Karthik is in police custody.
6) Silambarasan continue his Ajith reverance with a reference to the Thalai and Billa in a conversation with Ganesh.
7) I’m wondering if the difference in age thing in this movie is yet another attempt at portraying Silambarasan’s own dalliance with the superstar’s elder daughter in the past.
8) KS Ravikumar steals the show in every scene he is featured in. Also nice self deprecating humour when Ganesh says to Karthik that Gautam Menon makes movies over a long time and with English dialogues.
9) St Alphonsa is seen in the frame in the dining room of Jessie’s house and at a bus stop in Pulinkunnu. Is this an attempt to hint the time this scene is set in? In 2009 Blessed Alphonsa was declared a Saint and could be seen at every nook and corner in Central Kerala.
10) Naga Chaithanya & Samantha play the lead roles in Telugu version of this movie, they also play a cameo in Karthik’s movie in the Tamil version.
Friday, February 12, 2010
We are the world 25 for Haiti
Fans of music have been stunned by “We are the world” written by Michael Jackson & Lionel Richie and produced by Quincy Jones for the group USA for Africa. This song featured Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Rogers, Cyndi Lauper, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles to name a few.
25 years later the co-writer of the song and the producer team up yet again to re-create the magic, to help raise funds for Haiti. Michael Jackson is no more and Quincy Jones is probably a tad too old for today’s consoles, synthesizers and other equipments, I’m kidding, this man can still work his magic on a record.
RedOne, is a producer-songwriter who collaborates writes-produces works for Lionel Richie, Akon, Enrique Iglesias, produces the new version, Paul Haggis shoots the video. This song features a whole range of artists from across the world, almost 75 is what the official website says.
Jamie Foxx, Nicole Scherzinger (Lewis Hamilton’s ex girlfriend, Pussycat dolls), Celine Dion, Barbara Streissand, LL Cool J, Jamie Foxx, Miles Cyrus, Josh Groban, Janet Jackson, Usher, Lionel Richie, Carlos Santana, Michael Jackson, AR Rahman and a lot of other artists.
The new rendition is as good as the old one if not better, I’m glad it didn’t end up like the “Mile sur” experiment conducted in India, that was a disaster. Aishwarya Rai strutting on screen lip syncing to Shreya Ghosal’s voice is unacceptable, by any weird suspension of disbelief logic. Rahman on the continuum fingerboard was lovely and so were many of the real musicians featured in the video.
Coming back to world25, to compare how long an artist features in a collaborative track is debatable. However Nicole Scherzinger getting the most frames in this song is a little too boring. She’s pretty but is she the best vocalist? Hardly. Jamie Foxx however does a nice Ray Charles gig towards the end of the song.
Apart from the rap towards the end there isn’t anything new done to the music. AR Rahman is relegated to the choir, no solo act and even in the choir he’s lost despite being on the front row. I personally feel AR Rahman should have produced the track as a whole or co-produced.
I believe AR Rahman could have added that extra bit or charm and clever interludes or orchestrations if he was enlisted to join the production crew, paucity of time could be the reason. Doesn’t bode well for Rahmaniacs like me. I liked the inclusion of Michael Jackson’s footage and Janet Jackson singing a duet with him.
If you wants to show some concern for the tragedy in Haiti and contribute towards the relief effort do buy this song from iTunes, don’t download it for free. If some of us can stand up for celebrity no-brainer causes like MNIK we certainly should do our bit for worthy causes like this.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Dosas in Ernakulam / Cochin / Kochi?
I can’t say how much I used to dread having to eat vegetarian food in Ernakulam (Cochin / Kochi) when it’s not the usual puttu, appam, idiyappam. Most hotels that have the Udupi tag in this city serve trash in the name of Dosa and hence when Benoy Chettan said “Let’s go to Pai thattu, they have a huge variety of dosas” I wasn’t quite enthused. Lijo Chettan came that night and said “Have you tried Pai thattu, I go there every night with Benoy, the dosas are amazing” and then I thought I should go there just once and see how the foods is.
Pai Brothers is on a small lane off MG Road, the lane is called Pai Brothers Lane and shows up within a kilometer of turning into MG Road from Banerji road. They’ve advertised that they have 36 types of dosas however their price list has more than double that number. There is no service at the table and guests are expected to pay first, get the bills and produce them at the cooking counter to be served piping hot dosa. Butter dosa, egg dosa, duck egg dosa, VOLVO dosa, family dosa, tomato onion dosa, kanchipuram dosa are some items which stood out from the usual masala dosa, onion dosa fare.
The dosas were tasty, the chutney wasn’t. The sambhar served with the dosas were very nice. A meal for two would cost anywhere from 150 to 300 bucks depending on if you want to eat 1 dosas each or 3. This eatery is open from 6 PM in the evening till 2 AM early morning, Benoy Chettan says that it’s actually open till 4 AM. So the next time you are driving through this city and dread eating the dosas served in all the Udupi places head to Pai Brothers, just make sure it’s in the evening. Their address is:
Pai Brothers, Pai Brothers Lane, MG Road, Ernakulam - 35
Formula ONE Season 2010 Preview
McLaren get to retain number 1 & 2 on their cars this year by poaching Jenson Button. There’s no doubt that he’ll drive car number 1 while Lewis Hamilton will drive car number 2. Martin Whitmarsh takes additional responsibility as the Chairman of FOTA, the association of Formula 1 teams. Mercedes has taken over Brawn GP, Norbert Haug will get to play a larger role in the new team and Ross Brawn retains the role of Team Principal.
Michael Schumacher makes a return to active racing with Mercedes GP. Would anyone ever have imagined Michael S to don an apparel which had the silver arrows on it after such a long, passionate and successful sting in Maranello? The Tifosi are going to be disappointed, but I hear German pride will kick in this time. I feel sad for Felipe Massa, he earned his stars under the tutelage of Michael Schumacher and was blooming into an exquisite driver in his own right when fate intervened.
Felipe returns back to racing only to find Fernando Alonso as his teammate, this is the one big bit of ill luck I’d attribute to his career through out which he’s been denied a little luck. Though they won’t accept this, Felipe will be expected to play no 2 to double world champion Fernando otherwise we all know how it might end up given Fernando’s days with McLaren with a certain rookie named Lewis Hamilton who was making his debut in F1 in 2007.
12 teams are listed on Formula 1’s official website, which means we’ll see 24 drivers on the grid. A 13th team might just make it on to the tarmac eventually, and that’d most likely be Sauber who lost BMW’s backing and have been left to fend for themselves. The 2010 season will see the return of Cosworth as an engine supplier. Teams that commit themselves to the £40 million budget will get slightly more freedom technically and commercially. Lotus makes it’s return to F1, Campos and Virgin are the other two teams that will race in 2010.
Such teams will be allowed to run movable front and rear wings and also have an engine with no rev limit (current max is 18,000 rpm). Commercially there are more incentives like an annual payout of US$10 million, free transportation of two chassis and freight of up to 10,000 kgs in weight along with 20 air tickets for each event held outside Europe. These are certainly welcome moves which are bound to excite the new teams but will Ferrari or McLaren be enthused? That’s something we can all debate on.
The new season will also see a ban on refueling, cars will start with fuels to last a full race, I hope to see cars running out of fuel every now and then. The front tyres are slated to be made narrower, minimum weight of the car has been increased to 620 kgs (currently 605 kgs) and the points system has been revamped. 25, 20, 15, 10, 8, 6, 5, 3, 2, 1 point wait to be awarded to I, II, III, IV …… X positions on the grid departing from the current system of awarding points to the top 8 drivers.
Another interesting move to encourage overtaking is to ban wheel fairings, this year you won’t see those wheel cover like things on McLaren, Red Bull, Ferrari etc which have a vent to direct the hot air from the brakes escape in a particular direction which aids in increasing downforce making the air dirty for the car behind. Ron Dennis is expected to be seen more on the track now that Max Mosley isn’t at the top of the FIA, Jean Todt has already started discussions to find out ways to make Formula 1 more environment friendly.
Force India and RedBull haven’t change their driving line up and 19 drivers have been confirmed by the teams as off today:
| McLaren | Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton |
| Ferrari | Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa |
| Mercedes GP | Michael Schumacher, Nico Rosberg |
| Red Bull | Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber |
| Williams | Rubens Barrichello, Nico Hulkenberg |
| Renault | Robert Kubica, ??? |
| Force India | Adrian Sutil, Vitantonio Liuzzi |
| Torro Rosso | Sebastian Buemi, ??? |
| Lotus | Jarno Trulli, Heiki Kovalainen |
| Campos | Bruno Senna, ??? |
| Virgin | Timo Glock, Luca di Grassi |
| ??? | ???, ??? |
There’s also been a fair share of drama and outrageous ideas been exchanged. The czar who owns F1 wanted medals to be awarded instead of points and recently he was in the news for saying that cars should be allowed to use run off areas, alternate routes a certain number of times in each race to make up track positions. KERS is officially in the reckoning for 2010 however I believe the teams have mutually agreed to not use this system although the increased minimum weight should give sufficient leeway to teams with heavier drivers in trying this technology.
At the end of this year we’ll also know which direction Force India will tilt given the media attention this team gets in India. Will it be a productive year or will FIF1 end up in the also ran list? Currently they have a technical agreement with McLaren where Mercedes provides engines and McLaren supplies gearbox, electronics and other hydraulic systems. What’ll happen to this arrangement now that McLaren and Mercedes are two distinctly separate entities?
There is also news doing the rounds that double diffusers will be banned completely. Given the fact that Red Bull’s competitiveness is almost entirely due to Adrian Newey’s aerodynamics and a good part of that performance comes from it’s diffuser we’ll have to wait and see what the teams are going to do to play around the rules and try to squeeze that wee bit of performance from their respective cars. From next week we’ll start seeing new cars being unveiled.
I hope we get to see tons of good racing and at the end of a year have a worthy champion, over to Bahrain everyone, cheers !!!
Monday, January 18, 2010
Happy birthday - Roy J George
Dearest RJG,
I’ve asked you many things and you have done each of them for me. I’ve spoken to you about many things and you’ve been the best listener I’ve had in my life. There’s a lot we haven’t spoken, we exchanged those amongst us through silence. I’m sure you’d remember the day I was born. When I was a toddler you’d always keep saying “Kuttan give me a kiss” and move your cheeks away till I can’t lean any further. I do that with your daughter’s today, it looks funny to you, I enjoy every moment I spend with them. History repeats !
Do you remember the first cricket bat you had? It was “SYMONDS” and do you remember how you used to stoop and lean while facing a bowler exactly like Krishnamachari Srikkanth. During my school days your commentaries about West Indian bowlers and batsmen were the one’s that kept us hooked to the early morning matches on DD. I vividly remember all the night’s you’d land up our doorstep in Coimbatore and leave by the Eratupetta bus the next evening.
While in Muvattupuzha or Avoly all the cricket matches I and Kanja have been spectators are very fresh in memory. We were barely as tall as the stumps back then and were allowed to bat. We’ve watched umpteen movies on rented video cassette players. One night we even drove an OMNI into a stream, parked the car in the middle of the stream and washed it. I’ve never seen Ammachi go wild except when you ask her permission to watch a movie and your skills in getting her consent to take us to Latha to watch a movie are incomparable.
The visit to Newman college in Thodupuzha to meet Sr. Kunjuorshi Ammayee and all the young women there who’d line up to take a look at you were copied later in Minsara Kanavu with Aravind Swami playing the lead role. Your anti-establishment stance in Nirmala College and later Rajagiri College but still being a good guy to the Teachers was a skill any student would give one hand and one leg to possess. Did you have an iota of idea of where the MSW from Rajagiri would take you when you passed out of college in the late 80’s?
After you moved to the North we did meet up in Delhi every summer holiday. After diploma Sabarish joined us once on a trip to Delhi and he used to say that he had the time of his life in your and Josthy’s company. Every person I’ve known who knows you holds you in such high regard – James, Ravi, Ganesh, Sam, Timmy, Hari, Stanley, Pradeep and the list goes on. There’s hardly anyone I’ve known who isn’t in awe of your down to earth nature and the incredibly humble air you carry around yourself.
Do you remember the first road trip you did from Madras to Coimbatore when I came down the previous night to do the driving? It’s another matter that we ended up doing many such trips all the way up to the last trip we did to Vailankanni in August 2009 last year. What about “CHINATOWN”? Do you know what we ordered the first time we went there? Soup and chicken lollipop, and that’s because you had very limited pocket money as a student those days. We even took Mia to this place once and she loved it. Kanja and I went back to this place last year before he left India but these chaps don’t seem to open anymore.
Do you remember that ill-fated night when Ammachi left this world and you drove down from Madras and I took over from Coimbatore? Do you still remember how close the tanker lorry came in front of you and Kanja before Kanja swerved to the side and avoided a head on collision? “Kanja is a super driver, if not for his reflex we’d all have been hit” is what you said when you got down from the mangled vehicle. How could you remain so cool, calm and composed?
How many times we’ve have discussed prospective business opportunities? You even served a deadline to us: April 2009, and we decided to extend that for a little time more considering the volatile nature of certain things in our personal lives. You persuaded me to get married and settle down but not once did you try to give me a sermon about it.
There’s a T-shirt with GEO written on it which I haven’t worn till now, I got that from you in June and I intend to keep it that way for a while. Our visits to Burma Bazaar, the DVDs we bought, the music system we installed, the road trips we did, all the tech doubts you asked me, the blackberry usage training I gave you, the endless talks we had about AR Rahman, the way you enjoyed Malayalam movies and some Tamil movies, your devotion towards Mother Mary, the way you adore Mia & Mishma, the way you call Josthy “Kuttu” and enjoy it when I mimic it, the way you and Kanja discussed HR practices (as someone from an alien background I used to listen with amazement at the ideas you two shared), the books you read, the course you did with IIM-A, I can go on and on about every little thing that inspires me however I can’t write everything in one big post here. Like our real lives we’ll leave most of it un-exchanged verbally and sync at the levels of our soul, what else can you call the way we connect?
I hope you get a sense of what I’m trying to convey, if you can’t then nobody one else in this world can. Here’s wishing you a happy birthday. Don’t worry about things back home, everyone is ok. Mia & Mishma are doing well in their studies, Josthy’s a star and effortlessly seems to juggle all her responsibilities efficiently. This year I’ll miss not being able to wish you in person; I’ll miss not getting a treat and not going to Church with you.Hhowever our time to catch up will come. Do keep an eye out for us and tons of prayers.
Yours lovingly,
Kuttan (HJG)
19th Jan 2010
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