Journeys - Jan 2007

2007 is promising to be a journey filled year. I have to make a trip on all weekends in January and the following is how I have planned it out.

5th & 6th Jan 2007 - Avoly, Ernakulam District - Sanu's wedding
13th to 15th Jan 2007 - Madras a.k.a Chennai - Break from the routine
20th & 21st Jan 2007 - Madurai - Ravi's betrothal

Back from God's own country

Though I got back to Coimbatore on Sunday I could not get myself to put up a post about the weekend primarily because I was tired to the bone driving and the next day (Monday) was pretty hectic at work. The route was better than I expected and since we started in the evening, half of the driving was with the headlights on. Surprisingly the total distance was covered in 4 hrs which included a 20 minute tea/snack break.

One reason which contributed to the reduced running time (previously it was 5 hrs) was the improved state of roads in Kerala and the 25 km stretch in Tamilnadu which has been repaired though in a shoddy manner. I must admit that the roads after Angamaly all the way upto Avoly are super smooth and well laid. Ofcourse there will be 3 or 4 places where the road is ruined because of some work but otherwise this stretch is a drivers dream. It also does wonders to a vehicles mileage.

Sunday was the feast of the Epiphany and the main Catholic Church in Muvattupuzha (The Holy Magi Church) was draped with lights. The Church was brimming with people at 2200 hrs in the night and vendors were selling all sorts of stuff from rosaries, dollars, pendants, prayers books to halwa and other eatables. Festivals in Churches are celebrated in grandeur in Kerala and the whole town/village takes part in the festivities. I wanted to shoot some pictures and post it in here but guess what, Murphy's law simply cut me out. That's right, there was no charge left in the camera and I had to get home to recharge it. Lesson learnt and time to invest in some sort of a charger that will work in the car.

After taking part in some festivities we got to bed around midnight. The weather was pleasant and it was not sultry as I expected to be. Early in the morning around 5 the chill was getting to the bones and the sound of early morning mist falling on tin roof woke me up. For a city slicker like me, the joys that a country setting can instill is priceless. Walking across fields drenched with dew kissed blades of grass to the sounds of chirping birds and the sun sneaking across the horizon painting the sky in various hues of oranges and yellows can take one to another world.

The wedding next day was another grand celebration. Sanu wedded Deepa (she's from Manjapra which is near Kalady) in St.Sebastin's Church, Anicadu in the presence of friends and family. The wedding ceremony was conducted by Rev.Fr.Matthew Vellangal (retired Vicar General in Kothamangalam Diocese and Sanu's grand uncle) alongwith Fr.Varghese Paul , Fr.Matthew Paul (both Sanu's paternal uncles), Fr.Shyju (Sanu's cousin) and a couple of other priests from the brides side.

I was amazed at the beautiful music the choir played. It was bad that I did not find out the names of the people in it. The two female voices effortlessly navigated the complex swaras in the songs and the lone male voice was adequate to say the least. Keyborad (Korg) was deftly handled by a man who was thirtysome a tabla added support. The orchestrations that were preprogrammed were done well. There was this one time when the priest didn't keep up with the tempo or sang the wrong note, but that's bound to happen every now and then. Especially when you consider the fact that the priest and the orchestra would never have practised together previously.

We started back to Coimbatore after lunch at 1530 hrs and except for a flat tyre which was fixed in Vadakkanchery, the journey was hassle free. When we finally made it to Coimbatore, the time was 1930. We passed through St.Sebastin's Church in Ukkadam thanking God for the safe trip, this has almost become a ritual. Anytime I leave in in the South West direction by road I make it a point to pass through this Church. The statue of Christ standing atop the Church with open hands is a reassuring sight to me.

I will be travelling to Madras (Chennai, I still like the old name though) this weekend since Monday is going to be a holiday anyway for Pongal. If I make the trip to Pondicherry, it would be worth the trip otherwise Roy Maama's family will make it special anyway, especially the kids Mia and Mishma.

Off to God's own country

I am gearing up for the first travel in 2007. Where else but what's now quite popular as God's own country though I'd be glad to call it the 'Devil's own'. I hope the roads are better than the last time around, but the chances of that are remote given the fact that the worst stretch between Coimbatore and Palakkad hasn't seen any repair works in about an year now. The nice thing this time is going to be absence of rain (I love Kerala's monsoon, I love it's sun more) and the late winter weather which should make living there less sultry.

Travel notes or interesting observations will follow in the next 24-48 hrs. Let's hope it turns out to be an enjoyable weekend.

Mullaperiyar Dam - Another perspective from the Kerala side

This is the URL to a Kerala government's video about the Mullaperiyar issue. The video somehow looks sensational and appears to be made to instigate fear in the minds of people. On the other hand Kerala's concerns appear to be valid too. But amidst all this smoke, what is the status of the Idukki dam? Word is out that the monitoring systems setup on it have not been working or are giving erraneous results since 1990. A little more light on the Idukki dam could open another can of worms and this time Kerala won't be able to deflect attention anywhere else.

Another advertisement from The Hindu published by the Govt of Kerala

New Year wishes

Here's wishing each one of you a blessed, joyful and fun-filled New Year 2007

Mika is back

Mika Hakinnen, two time world champion whom Michael Schumacher once described as a driver he respected and enjoyed racing with is back into Formula 1. Not as a race driver but as a test driver. A press release from McLaren Mercedes racing team says that Mika will take over from Pedro DeLa Rosa from the 30th of Nov 2006. Nevermind that Mika is not back on the competitive racing track. The feedback he can give as a test driver should help fine tune things up in the McLaren Formula 1 team. After the departure of Adrian Newey (aerodynamics) McLaren seem to have lost an edge they used to have in car design.

I for one would love to read about Mika's lap timings and test results from now on. The car must have changed from how it was in 2001. The last race Mika drove was the Japanese GP in 2001. Welcome back Mika Hakkinen. Now why am I hoping he'll start racing sometime soon?

McLaren press release

Supreme Court judgement - Mullaperiyar - Feb 2006

After trying to get the original judgement delivered by Supreme Court in the Mullaperiyar dam issue, I found the judgement delivered by Supreme Court. The following are some specifics pertaining to this issue.

Case No - 386 of 2001

Petitioner - Mullaperiyar Environmental Protection Forum

Respondent - Union of India & Ors

Date of Judgement - 27th Feb 2006

Bench comprising of - Y.K. Sabharwal, C.K.Thakker & P.K. Balasubramanyan

The judgement exhibits in a rather crystal clear manner in which the Supreme Court of India has looked into various facets of the case and came to a conclusion on this issue. The arguments raised by both sides are as follows. Before getting into the details, here's a short background. In the year 1979 water leakage was detected in the gallery of the dam and the full reservoir storage level was brought down to 136 ft. The Central Water Commission [CWC] was brought to inspect the safety of the dam and come up with its recommendations. The state of Kerala raised reservations to the CWC report and it's representative appended a dissent note stating that he water level could not be raised beyond 136 ft.

Kerala's argument

# Technically the life of any dam is 50 years and this dam was already over a 100 yrs old and hence this dam was well beyond it's safe useful life.

# If anything happens to the dam, the disaster could completely wipe out the three adjoining districts in Kerala.

# The dam was constructed at a time (1887 - 1895) when the design and testing processes were at it's infancy in British India and hence there's been no real measure of stress and tension because the dam has been holding water in it since the first time it was filled.

# The dam was situated in a region prone to frequent tremors and an earthquake could cause large scale destruction of life and property.

# The CWC which did the initial study didn't take into consideration all points raised by the official of the State of Kerala. Hence their recommendations can't be considered as binding on it. It was also added that he CWC was not the highest technical body in the country for giving technical advise.

# The reservoir of the dam is part of the Periyar Wildlife Santuary and is a 'Project Tiger' reserve. The loss of flora and fauna upon increase of water level would be invaluable. The raising of the storage would also affect the ecology and economy of the State of Kerala. The totaly area covered currently is 777 sq.kms.

# The agreement between the Madras Presidency and the State of Travancore executed in 1886 was null and void since it was done under pressure and was written to be valid for 999 yrs.

Tamilnadu's counter argument

# The CWC was the highest technical body with sufficient expertise on the subject. The CWC had inspected the dam and found that several allegations raised by the State of Kerala were incorrect and baseless.

# The CWC report allows the State of Tamilnadu to raise the water level to 142 ft after certain strengthening measures (this was already done immediatly after the CWC report) are undertaken and upon completion of the Earthen bund, Baby dam and other measures the height was be raised to the full reservoir level of 152 ft.

# The Kerala govt did not co-operate in this matter and refused to allow raising the height of storage to 142 ft.

# It was not open to the State of Kerala to not co-operate and accept the recommendations and suggestions of the CWC.

# Increasing of water level from 136 ft to 152 ft (the full reservoir) level increase the inundated area by another 11.6 sq.kms. The percentage of area that would be submerged would be 1.44% which is meagre.

# The increase in strorage level would not affect the flora and fauna and would only better the wildlife habitat. There will also be an increase in tourism which would translate into higher revenue earnings for the State of Kerala. The increased aquatic life would mean more revenue too since the State of Kerala had the fishing rights in the reservoir.

The Supreme Court's observation

# The water level on the dam was brought down to 136 ft to facilitate Tamilnadu to conduct strengthening measures.

# The total area of the sanctuary is about 777 square kilometers. The leased area of about 8,000 acres is a part of the total area. By raising the water level, the boundaries of the sanctuary do not get altered. The total area of the sanctuary remains 777 square kilometers.

# It is on record that animals particularly elephants and tigers like it when the water level touches the forest line. Birds and animals love water spread and exhibit their exuberant pleasure with heavy rains filling the reservoir resulting in lot of greenery and ecological environment around. The apprehension regarding adverse impact on environment and ecology have been found by the experts to be unfounded.

# Regarding the issue as to the safety of the dam on water level being raised to 142 ft. from the present level of 136 ft, the various reports have examined the safety angle in depth including the viewpoint of earthquake resistance. The apprehensions have been found to be baseless.

# Despite copious rains the Idukki reservoir was filled only to the extent of 57.365 tmc though it's full storage was 70.500 tmc. The Idukki dam which is situated further downstream ahead of the Mullaperiyar dam can take in excess of 11 tmc water should the worst happen.

# The concerns raised about earthquake appear to be baseless since an affidavit failed in April 2004 showed that no damage was caused to the structure.

# The experts having reported about the safety of the dam and the Kerala Government having adopted an obstructionist approach. (Observed twice in the judgement)

The Supreme Court goes on and concludes the following on this matter which is very concise and clear to both sides.

Under the aforesaid circumstances, we permit State of Tamil Nadu to carry out further strengthening measures as suggested by CWC and hope that State of Kerala would cooperate in the matter. The State of Kerala and its officers are restrained from causing any obstruction. After the strengthening work is complete to the satisfaction of the CWC, independent experts would examine the safety angle before the water level is permitted to be raised to 152 ft. The writ petition and the connected matters are disposed of by permitting the water level of the Mullaperiyar dam being raised to 142 ft. and by permitting the further strengthening of the dam as aforesaid.

Disclaimer : The views expressed in the article are simply a condensed form of the Supreme Court judgement. The author assumes no legal responsibility from anyone using it's content in part or in full and will not assume any liabilites for any consequences arising out of it's usage. This article is written in good faith to present a fairly balanced point of view to an issue which is of importance to both Kerala and Tamilnadu. This article has also tried to be fair and objective in putting forth the facts of the matter and has stuck to the Supreme Court verdict closely. The author does not intend to violate any law and would be glad to comply with existing regulations of any part of this article is offending or unwarranted.

Blog rechristened

'Pacem in terris' which means 'Peace on earth' is the new identity I have given this blog. With this makeover I have promised myself to be more regular in posting to it and voicing my opinion on a number of issues which strike a chord.

Mullaperiyar and Madhani

Just got reminded of the camaraderie exhibited by Chief Minister VS Achuthanandhan of Kerala upon assuming office in Kerala with Chief Minister Karunanadhi of Tamilnadu. There were a couple of letters exchanged between them about the fate of the PDP leader Abdul Naser Madhani currently lodged in the Coimbatore Central Prison undergoing trial for alleged involvement in the Coimbatore bomb blasts case of 1998. They even met in Madras and the Kerala CM's delegation visited Madhani in the Coimbatore prison. Sherlock Holmes would have seen a link between something gone awry in one of these talks to have irritated the Kerala Chief Minister who has been going hammer and tongs against the Tamilnadu Chief Minister ever since and Mullaperiyar appears to be caught in the cross fire. Or all this could be simply a figment of Holmes' imagination, who knows?

Mullaperiyar dam

The 110 year old Mullaperiyar dam is in the middle of another water controversy. Tamilnadu which is still battling Karnataka on sharing of Kaveri waters gets yet another one on it's hands and it so hard to see which side is apolitical. It all started with a Feb 2006 Supreme Court verdict allowing Tamilnadu to raise the dams storage to 142ft from the current storage level of 136ft. The apex court would have taken most/all of the concerns of both sides before delivering it's verdict in this matter and one of the prime areas it would have looked at would be the safety of the century old dam made of slime and mortar.

This verdict surely didn't go down well with Kerala which promulgated an ordinance in it's assembly stalling any increase of the reservoir storage level. The Kerala government has also raised it's concerns about dam safety and the fall out of a disaster should the dam burst are all valid apprehensions which need to be considered. The Tamilnadu government and all it's politicians cutting across party lines are sticking to the stand on implementing the Supreme Court order with the AIADMK and MDMK gunning for the Chief Minister's scalp. This has caused tension on both sides and politicians raising the ante each time by rhetoric directed at inciting passion.

What makes me comment on this issue? As a concerned citizen I hate it when two federal states in the dominion of India fight with each other as though they are competing countries. I can't but refrain from using the cliched 'like India v/s Pakistan' phrase. I am a regular visitor to Vallakadavu, Thodupuzha, Moolamattom and other places in Kerala which are right in the eye of the storm about this issue and could be wiped out from the face of the earth should the worst happen. On another note, I live in Coimbatore which is a multi-cultural, mlulti-lingual and plural society and has a large number of Malayalee population and is one of the main transit points into Tamilnadu from Kerala.

Traffic between Coimbatore and Palakkad via Walayar and via Pollachi was stopped yesterday because of alleged provocation from the Kerala government by bringing in Navy personnel to the dam site under the pretext of inspecting it's safety. Now, this act of bringing in people to the dam to inspect it's safety should have been intimated to the Tamilnadu side by the Kerala government and going by the press this was done. However, good statesmanship would have called for keeping all these actions in abeyance till the Centre govt mediated interstate talks scheduled for the 29th of Nov was held.

In order to understand the importance of the traffic between Kerala and Tamilnadu through Walayar one has to gauge a number of aspects. The NH-47 is the road that links Coimbatore and Palakkad and Walayar is one of the highest revenue generating checkposts in India. Almost all of the goods transported out of Kerala to the North passes through Walayar and the movement of people between the states is the highest in this sector. The Sabarimala season has just started and a large number of pilgrims from Tamilnadu, Karnataka and Andra Pradesh were stranded because of this blockade which somehow has political overtones to it. The following are some questions which can be raised:-

# A national highway was blocked by a group of people (reports suggest that they were about 500). Why didn't the state police remove them and clear the highway for traffic?

# The argument that these were farmers doesn't hold good for Walayar and KK Chavady. There aren't any farmers who would have been affected by this problem in this region and the Aliyar dam has sufficient water this season to cater to the irrigation needs of the Pollachi region which is the agricultural region of Coimbatore.

Almost all of the national media (NDTV, IBN, Times NOW) are sided with Kerala's point of view and I haven't seen statements by the Tamilnadu ministers. On a lighter note this could be due to the fluent manner in which Kerala ministers can converse fluently in English. Surely Tamilnadu has a point and that is about the lost crop each year due to lack of water. Kerala is a water surplus state and Tamilnadu is a power surplus state. Why can't we complement these with each other? Share power with Kerala which undergoes half hour to an hour of load shedding each day in the Summer. Why aren't we seeing unity in diversity? Why are our politicians playing power games? What can we do about the problem and get both sides to move ahead?

The following are genuine concerns that need to be addressed :-

# The safety of the dam should be of prime importance. All concerns raised by the Kerala side should be studied, investigated and addressed by a mutually agreeable authority. This is an aspect which should be deviod of any political overtones and no compromise should be done on an issue which hangs like a sword across the necks of the people in Idukki, Ernakulam and Kottayam district in Kerala.

# The reservoir storage in this dam when raised is going to inundate more areas in the Kerala side which will need to be addressed in terms of loss of flora and fauna and relocation people.

# Both sides should refrain from rhetoric and not talk anything more about this issue till the talks scheduled for the 29th are finished.

I am no polticial analyst nor am I an authority on dam safety. I am just a concerned citizen in the Union of India and have loyalities towards it's constitution. I hope this doesn't escalate into a Kaveri sort of dispute where there anti-Tamil attitude in Karnataka and the fallout of such actions would be despicable. We belong to the same country, this should be the mantra in the minds of both sides. Having put forth my views, I guess it's time to simply wait for the likes of Arundhati (Roy) and Medha (Patkar) to come and take over this issue. Now that would put a different spin to this issue which we can't predict.

Mr.Clean is back in business

Arackaparambil Kurian Antony a.k.a A K Antony is back in the union cabinet as the Defence minister. Widely respected across party lines for his clean image and non-corrupt public life, AK Antony is truly one among the rare breed of politicians in India today. Born in Cherthala, a small town in the district of Alapuzha in Kerala, this two time chief minister was written off when he had to vacate his Chief inister's chair due to intense infighting in the Kerala Congress party. He went on to head the chair of the Disciplinary committee of the Congress party and was last seen in the media when Natwar Singh' was hauled up for indiscipline in the party. Surely, no one else had the moral right to pull up Natwar except for AK Antony in the Congress party. Let's hope he manages to stem the rot in the Armed forces which is facing too many corruption charges in the past couple of years.

Faith in the criminal justice system in India

The lower courts in India have always raised questions of the law being above partisan considerations but time and again and High Court in each state the the Supreme Court have stepped in to prove that the law is indeed fair in dealing with criminals. The conviction of the rapist and murdered of Priyadarshini Matoo today bring back the faith one needs to have on the Indian judiciary system. The media also cashed in on the case in a constructive sort of a way and got people to unite by calling for SMS campaigns and emails. Let's these sentences deter possible criminals from committing acts of brutality and instill a fear of having to face the law for their doings with no hope of getting away from them.

Into God's own country ---- Sep 2006 - Coimbatore to Avoly

Crossing into Kerala at Walayar from Coimbatore, I've always looked at the way greenery shapes out on either sides of the border. I love Coimbatore. I love everything about Coimbatore, it's weather, it's people the opportunities that it throws up. This time the drive to Muvattupuzha which is about 210 kms south west of Coimbatore wasn't exactly smooth. The reason, bad roads. The stretch from Coimbatore to Walayar was perhaps the worst in the whole journey due to the pot holes on the road which could at times bury a car in them. Driving into Kerala, crossing Walayar check post proved to be a challenge partly due to bad roads and more due to the number of lorries already parked on both sides of the road.

The route from Coimbatore to Muvattupuzha is fairly straight forward. One has to drive to the Athupalam and take the right which goes to Palakkad. Shortly after crossing Madukkarai one rejoins NH47 which connects Bangalore and Kanniyakumari. One has to drive on the NH47 till Angamali via Alathur, Vadakkanchery, Mannuthy, Chalakudi and take the left from Angamali junction to join the MC road to Muvattupuzha via Kalady and Perumbavoor. This journey will take one through a variety of scenic sights. The rice fields in Palakkad region on both sides of the high, the mini hill that one has to ascend and descend (Kuthiran) just after Vadakkanchery. Greenery between Chalakudy and Angamali are sights to capture on film.

Additionally, I tend to notice a large number of chapels, churches (Catholic, Orthodox and Jacobite) lined on both sides of the road after Vadakkancherry right upto Muvattupuzha. Some notable chuches are the one in Kodakkara which is right next to the highway, Koratty Muththi church which is a little off the highway and is famous for it's annual feast. The ferry that comes from Athirapally joins the highway near Angamali. There are a number of dams which are close to the highways - Peechi and Chimmoni are two of them which can be reached by motoring off the highway without too much of strain.

Inorder to reach Athirapally, one will have to drive all the way upto Chalakudy town (there is a traffic signal) and then take a left (a hair pin turn) and drive for about 2 kms and take the state highway towards Athirapally via Kuttichira check post and Konnakuzhy. There are three very popular Christian retreat centers which are very easily accessible from this highway. The first one passes through is Jerusalem Retreat Center which is on the stretch after Mannuthy when driving towards Chalakudy. Jerusalem is just a couple of metres away from the point where the road from Thrissur joins the NH47.

Potta Dhyana Kendram is situated on the right side of the road when driving toward Chalakudy about 2 kms away from the town. One had to drive for a short distance before reaching there. The Divine Retreat Center is situated after the river Chalakudy when one is driving towards Cochin. Right after crossing the Chalakudy river one reaches a junction named Muringoor. To the right of the road is the retreat in Tamil, Malayalam and other vernacular languages while to the left of the road is the retreat in English. Once in Angamali it's not difficult to spot the Joy Alukkas wedding center which is famous for the wedding shopping whose business runs into lakhs each day.

After taking the diversion from Angalmali one passes in front of the Little flower hospital. The next town is Kalady, famous for Shankaracharya. The tower where there is a memorial for Adi Shankara is visible from a distance. Upon getting into Kalady town, one has to proceed straight without taking any diversions. Taking left will take one to Malayatoor where St.Thomas once took refuge. It's a site of reverence and prayer and is famous for the feast that is held on the preceding Sunday after Easter. Taking the left would take one to Aluva and Cochin International Airport which is outside Ernakulam city.

The bridge across the river in the town of Kalady is one of the longer bridges in Kerala and is a little short of kilometre in length. The next town that one passes through is Perumbavoor after which one gets into Muvattupuzha. Muvattupuzha derives it's name from the fact that three rivers (muvaattu) meet in this town. It's an old town with a strong Muslim population. There is harmony between communities and the people here are light hearted. Now since I had to go to this placed called Avoly which is further east on the Madura highway, I have to pass through Kacherithazham and drive for about 1.5 kilometres and then take the road to the left from what is called the post office junction.

These roads were widened recently and it shows. One can cruise along in 100kmph if needed but normally it would take about 10 minutes to reach Avoly which is hidden from the highway a bit.

Geo's Talkies - Lagay raho munnabhai

Munnabhai MBBS was a landmark film in the history of Indian cinema. Humor was restricted to slapstick or double entendres and this movie came like a welcome relief emphasising the need for a good story and dialogues and actors to carry it off. When the makes decide to make another movie on the same lines, it definitely stokes curiosity and does the second movie in this league live up to the expectation? It does and it better the first one.

The story

Murliprasad Sharma aka Munnabhai and Circuit are this time thugs who take care of vacating flats and property for a high profile builder called Lucky. Munnabhai this time is smitten by the voice of a Worldspace RJ Jhanvi. He's glued to her voice each morning and when he gets chance to meet her after taking a quiz content on air, he wins it in typical Munna/Circuit style which will bring the house down. On air with Jhanvi Munna get's into further trouble by telling that he was a professor and also a big fan and follower of Mahatma Gandhi.

Munnabhai gets a chance to go to Jhanvi's place to give a lecture on Bapu for which he spends time studying about Bapu and meet Bapu in the process. Bapu agrees to help him in the process but wants a favor from Munna in return. Jhanvi lives with her Grandfather and his friends in a place that is named '2nd Innings house'. Munna delivers a zabardast lecture and answers their questions making Jhanvi fall in love with him and earns the goodwill of all the old men there.

The story takes off in a different direction from here caused by some twisted events which bring Jhanvi's life to a standstill and from there on it's Munnabhai fighting for Jhanvi and her gang of old men. Not the typical dadahagiri that we know he is capable off. But Gandhigiri, yes Munna embraces the path of non-violence and truth and keeps us in splits during the process. Keeping up his word with Bapu, Munna discloses the truth about the real person he is to Jhanvi and looses his lady love.

What happens next? Does the path of truth ever work out well for individuals? Does Jhanvi come back to Munnabhai? How can one possible explain the presence of Bapu in the movie? All questions are answered in the movie sensibly with some surprises toward the end.

Credits

Sanjay Dutt looks like he was born to be Munnabhai, he might not have been one amongst the great actors in our country. But by now I am sure that nobody else can play Munnabhai so well like he does. Arshad Warse as Circuit does a splendid job. The scene where Munna apologises to circuit deserves special mention.

Jhanvi is a character ably played by Vidya Balan. She's beautiful and one of my friend felt her beauty was coming between the audience and her character. I thought otherwise. She excels in the role and somehow showed how much more effective Gracy Singh's character in the first part could have been. Boman Irani as Lucky proves once again that he's one of the finest actors in the country. He plays the role of a Sardar to perfection and amazes us with his body language and dialog delivery. Dia Mirza makes an appearance in the second half and so does Parikshant Sahni a Jimmy Shergill. Abishek Bachchan makes a cameo appearance in the last couple of minutes. Kulbhushan Karbanda and Saurabh Shukla play their parts well. The doctor from the old movie appears in this movie as a lawyer for a minute or perhaps two.

Every single character in the movie play their part to perfection. One song deserves special mention for the innovative way it's been shot and that is 'Samjho ho hi gaya'. All songs in this movie are simple and hummable. Shanthanu Moitra has delivered the good without complicating things on the aural arena. The background score also is fitting and appropriate. Camerawork by Muraleedharan is adequate and neat. Goa is always beautiful, it looks superb in the movie. All credits for this movie should go to the director Rajkumar Hirani, he's simply taken his original characters and set them in a new ambience and has bettered his first attempt.

Verdict

Lagay raho Munnabhai is not a sequel by any chance. It's more like the James Bond movies where the characters are known but they are set in different stories in different movies. To sum it up all, Munnabhai is a first rate movie that relates to the human spirit in each of us. It's a must see movie and the laughs that one get watching it is wholesome and deviod of the usual masala that bollywood attempts. For once, I was so very glad to see a movie which had no 'item' number. I only hope they keep the Munnabhai series rolling so that we can get treated to a new fare each time.

Trivia

# Worldspace is a satellite radio service. In this movie it's shown like a normal FM radio service.

# Worldspace doesn't yet have a receiver that can be fitted into cars. I know this for sure since I tried to get one for my car last year. Since it requires line of sight, retro fitting a receiver into a car like it's show in the police's jeep in the movie wouldn't actually serve any purpose unless one was driving on sky scrapers.

# The explanation given by the Psychiatrist in the movie for Munna seeing Bapu seems very convincing.

A hero bids adieu

I was catching the press conference now on TV after the Italian Grand Prix today and as speculated Michael Schumacher announces his retirement from Formula 1 at the end of this season. It's the end of an era of razor sharp racing. Ruthlessly competitive, fiercly hungry for victory in every race he went to fight, Michael got his 90th Grand prix win today and is by far the best driver ever in Formula 1. I am a fan of McLaren for more than a decade now but I have to acknowledge the fact that Michael Schumacher is a legend. Good bye Michael, racing fans will miss you.

Geo's Talkies - Sillunu oru kadhal

What happens when your life crosses with the (once) love of your life when you are already married and happy with your wife and kid at some point in the future? Sound interesting ain't it? It did to me which led me to the theaters to catch the first day first show and does SOK live up to the promise? Not quite I should say.

The story

The film opens in a southern district in Tamilnadu where Gautam is getting married to Kundhavi. Gautam doesn't look too interested in the proceedings and so does Kundhavi who always aspired to fall hopelessly in love. The wedding party breaks into a song, a folkish number with good dancing and locales.





Cut to Mumbai six years later and Gautam is a hotshot husband, a caring and doting father. His daughter Ishu is the hyperactive kid in the block who has an opinion of an adult at times. Gautam is a mechanic who test drives cars in Maruti and Kundhavi is also a professional with a good job. A freak brush with a higher official during a research and development seminar pushes Gautam to do his own research which get's him tickets to New York to present a paper there.

Gautam leaves for America while Kundhavi get's to read his personal diary during his absence. The diary takes us back in time to Gautam's college days and we come to Coimbatore where Gautam was an engineering student and is hopelessly in love with Aishwarya (Ishu). Gautam was a rogue more than a student and is shown bashing up guys on campus and ragging juniors.

Aishwarya, is the daughter of the local MP (Member of Parliament) and Gautam decide to get married outside their families without the consent of their parents. On the day of the wedding the MP's goons bash up Gautam and take Aishwarya away. Cut back to the present where Gautam is back from the US while Kundhavi arranges for Aishwarya to come back to Gautam for one day under the pretext of fulfilling his wish in the diary. What happens to Gautam and Kundhavi? Where is Aishwarya and how is she? Do the relationships that were created by destiny stand the test of time? All these questions will be answered in the movie.

Credits

Surya as Gautam has done a good job as the college rascal, husband and father. He's getting better with each movie. Jyothika as Kundhavi also manages to convince us with her performance. I particularly like the scene where she confronts Gautam with his secret from the past and bursts into tears, the camera maintaining a tight shot all along. Bhoomika as Aishwarya walks in and out of the movie looking dreamy and adorable in her first avatar and sexy in the second avatar. She looks hopelessly thin in this movie though.

There are a number of other characters in the movie of which Vadivelu needs special mention only because if there was one person who should not have been in this movie it was him. That would also have spared us the audience the pain of sitting thorough his horrible jibes in the name of comedy. Sukanya has a small part in the movie, nothing substantial just a walk in walk out role. The movie is canned well, the village looks beautiful in the opening scene of the movie, camrea work by RD Rajasekhar. The length of the movie could have been trimmed by about 15 - 30 minutes to control the lag. Editing by Anthony could have been tighter.

AR Rahman's music and background score are the best things in this movie apart from Surya. "Ammi mithichaachu" has been canned appropriately doing justice to the song. "Munbay va" has also been shot well though nothing was new in it. The picturisation of "New york nagaram" leaves a lot to be desired. I wish this was done better. New york looks like Europe in this song and the transition are right out of a powerpoint presentation. By the way, most of the supporting cast in the movie is very amateur which works for the movie at times.

Krishna, the director does a reasonably good debut. The next time he sits on a movie, he should work closely on the screenplay because what looks good at the script level can be made or marred in the screenplay. This movie will surely hit with the college going romantic crowd and the female audience.

Trivia

# Is there a road tram service in New York? I doubt if there is one which means 'New york nagaram' was not shot in NY.
# 'New york nagaram' could have been anywhere in Switzerland because I remember seeing the plus sign, which is the swiss national flag, in this song sequence.
# Not many films are shot in Coimbatore. KG Theater, Cross cut road signal, fly over, Brooke bond road, KMCH (Kovai Medical Center Hospital), Agricultural university are all featured in this movie.
# PSB is the name of the engg college in the movie, the striking resemblance to PSG is something one can't miss.
# One of the opening scenes in the movie show a sunflower field in full bloom, was this Andhra? # One can't miss the obvious commercial endorsements - Maruti Swift, Boost, Head and Shoulders, TVS Apache

Geo's Talkies - Vetayadu Vilayadu

Vetayadu Vilayadu (VV) is the second movie with police officers as the central characters directed by Gautam Menon. I have been a big fan of police movies in my younger days and after seeing 'Kakka kakka', I began to like movies in that genre (if you can call it so) yet again. The title roughly mean 'hunt, play' which could actually be meaning the cat and mouse that the police are upto with criminals.

Story

The movie opens in typical North Madras style if you are familiar with this territory. This is the land of Manali Ghajja, Royapuram Mani, Kasimedu Siva, Ennore Chidambaram. The movie opens like a typical tamil underworld movie with Royapuram Mani hurling abuses about a cop on the phone and asking for his eye. Within minutes the protaganist enters the scene which is heroic, forceful and right over the top.Raghavan a.k.a DCP (Deputy Commissioner of Police) Raghavan is a duty conscious police officer who gives two hoots about the spirit of the law when it comes to tackling anti social elements. He's straight and he's fearless and walks into any situation with elan and poise which only a honest and gutsy cop can have. The audience is treated to a melange of visuals as the titles flow in with 'Karka karka' playing alongside. This is Chennai, it's hip, it's happenning and it's sleek and well cut.

In Madurai, DCP Arockiaraj and Chitra are concerned about her daughter Rani's whereabouts since she went missing a day ago on her way back home from college. To add to the fear, Rani's finger is strung alongwith lemon and green chilles and hung over the entrance Arockiaraj's house. DCP Raghavan is summonned from Chennai to crack Arockiaraj's daughter's disappearance and for Raghavan it's simply a case of helping his mentor and associate in a time of need. The case is cracked in a day when Raghavan retrieves the disfigured corpse of Rani from a way side abandoned field. The news shatters Arockiaraj and Chitra and the fact that she was raped and sheared into two pieces adds to the agony the characters go through.

Arockiaraj and Chitra leave for the US for some rest and to disconnect from the memories of the local land while Raghavan get's on with his duties in Chennai when a call from the uS shakes him up. Arockiaraj and Rani are butchered in the US and the cops in the US suspect an execution. Raghavan persuades his boss (the DGP) to send him overseas to investigate this alongwith the cops in the US. During the flight to the US, we are introduced to Kayalvizhi who was Raghavan's wife and was killed by goons in Tirunelveli. It's here that we see that Raghavan also engages in encounters to wipe out anti social elements from the face of the earth. There is a beautiful song which is neatly shot and shows the intimacy that the couple share.

Anderson is the US contact for Raghavan and together they make a fine company. Anderson and Raghavan hit upon vital clue which links the murder of Rani to a string of murders in the US and one of them had a finger cut and strung along with lemon and green chillies like Raghavan has seen back in Madurai in Arockiaraj's house. Raghavan's stay in New York leads him to get friendly with Aradhana who appears to have a sordid past. Deserted by her husband for another woman, Aradhana tries to commit suicide but Raghavan's intervention saves her. Glances turn into interests and Aradhana starts sharing her sorrow with Raghavan while Raghavan develops a liking for Aradhana.

Raghavan's gut feeling leads them to a deserted fort which has four corpses buried under sand. All corpses have been butchered, mutilated and raped before being killed. They lay a trap and wait till the suspects walk into it. The second half of the movie is all about how they find the killers and do they manage to eliminate them and most importantly at what personal loss. Since this movie has released today, I wouldn't want to give away the suspense and as a gesture of encouraging people to watch this movie in the cinema halls, I will leave the story here and get into other areas.

The production

The first thing that hits me hard is the superlative production values this film has. It's a wholesome product technically with excellent camerawork, taut editing (it's not too tight at all), good music and awesome sound. I saw this movie in a dts theater and I should add that the sound mix for this movie is anything but one among the best from South India in recent times. The next thing that is instantly noticeable is the stalwart called Kamal Hassan, as DCP Raghavan, Kamal Hassan oozes charm, pumps in the required elan and poise that is required of a upright police officer. The scene where he hugs his dead wife and cries takes acting to a higher sphere altogether.

This movie has top class action sequences. They are well choreographed and neatly edited out to look as authentic as possible and not overtly relying on the matrix like sequences which our filmmakers have clinged onto in recent times. Balaji as Amudhan has done a classic performance. Telling you what he does in this movie would mean that I will have to give part of the story out and hence I refrain from that. Kamalinee as Kayalvizhi drifts in the part of Kamal's first wife like a dream. She's very beautiful and deserved more footage but in a cop movie we can't expect more. Jyothika as Aradhana for once in her life looks better than her Kushi looks and has atleast attempted to emote. Prakash Raj as Arockiaraj plays his role to perfection, he's got his own share of crying to do which he does with little effort.

Harris Jeyaraj has given good songs to this movie and his background score for this movie is a lot better than the run of the mill soundtracks that one hears. The background score is simply awesome in parts, I wish it was more continuous and symphonic. The title bit before the song in a way signalled and tuned the audiences to what was in store. Full credits to Harris and his sound engineering/recording/mixing team for coming up trumps in this venture. Ravi Varman's camera does full justice to New York, Manhattan and Brooklyn. There are crane shots, sunset shots, shots on the river and one song shot in Kerala (Kuttanad to be precise). Cinematography is top class, that's the verdict in short.

Anthony has always had his own place in editing and in this movie he's given a slick and glossy product. Kudos to him. All songs are well shot and are surely going to make business in song DVDs and VCDs. The murder scenes depicted in the movie are gory and tough to watch so be warned of them before hand. One rape scene shown in the movie is very depressing to see despite the absence of skin show. Tight close ups of the lead actors are shot brilliantly. Gautam Menon has excelled and matured as a director with this movie and the fact that all departments have played their part is a big testimony to the work of the director. Come on Gautam, make a cop movie with Rajini, I can't wait to see that. Now for some trivia which I noticed or am adding to here. If anything is wrong, feel free to email me.

Trivia

# Post mortem is shown as 08:30 PM, since when government hospitals started doing this after 06:00 PM.
# This is an example of art direction and good production, check out the photos of Christ in Arockiaraj's house when he is shown first and the picture of St.George in the entrance. I liked the metaphor it was when the severed finger and St.George who is believed to be the destroyer of evil.
# I don't know why the priest shown in Rani's funeral is not Catholic given the fact that we are exposed to he above ymbols. I assume he is orthodox but Arockiaraj doesn't appear to be one.
# Jyothika refers to a Ben Kingsley movie where the main character attempts suicide by tying his face up in a polythene bag, this movie is 'House of sand and fog'.
# I liked the way Kamal responds 'Hardware' to a question by Jyothika asking if he was working in 'software'.
# There is a scene towards the end of the movie where Kamal Hasan is shown wearing a Ray Ban aviator model glass and in more than one occasion the camera directly shoots the cooling glass showing a reflection of Jyothika in it. What's interesting is that we don't see the camera man nor the reflectors in Kamal's coolers which is sure shot good work
# Jyothika calling her daughter Maya (Jyothika's name in Kaakka Kaakka) and Balaji calling his buddy Ilamaran (Balaji's name in Kaakka Kaaka) is bound to draw attention to Gautam's previous movie.
# Kamal's motocycle has a registration plate with number as white instead of black in the Tirunelveli flashback sequences. That's authentic given the fact that the white number plates came into force from the 20th of Feb 2002. This is surely attention to detail.
# In the same period that as above, the OMNI van that is used to abduct Kayalvizhi has a white number plate and so does the minivan which Kamal and Prakashraj drive to reach the goon's den to rescue Kayalvizhi is also appropriate since tourist/commercial vehicles had a white number plate.

Interesting facts

Did you know?

# The market of the TATA group is $45billion and they have spent Rs.4500 crores into acquisitions since 2002 and wait a minute, TATA employs a mind boggling 2,20,000 people.

# NR Narayan Murthy is a Western Classical Music freak and owns the full collection of Mozart on CDs, all 176 of them.

# Rajinikanth took a whopping Rs.15 crore as salary for Chandramukhi and hasn't commercially endorsed a single brand or product till date. Apparently Kamal Hassan also hasn't endorsed a single product for money till now.

I picked these from last weeks India Today which had a list of 50 'powerful' people.

The Pakistani Dictator

Who said the following lines?

Now the other thing that I've said: if he thinks everyone is crossing from here, I've been saying let us fence the border and let us also mine the border. We are experts at mining, they should mine the border on their side. We will fence it on our side. If that is all right I am for it, so that they are not allowed to go across at all. And then let us see what is happening in Afghanistan.

Why don't they agree to this, I've said this openly many times before, they don't do it, for whatever are their reasons. I know how effective the fence, the Indian fence which is about 1,800 kilometres, and they are fencing the Kashmir mountains also, it is so difficult.

Why are they doing that, are they mad, they are spending billions of rupees. Because it is effective. Let's fence this border so that this blame game is killed once for ever

In an interview to BBC the above was the non-chalant reply by General Pervez Musharraf to a question about President Hamid Karzai's allegations about infiltration of militants from Pakistan into Afghanistan. This same bugger fires at Indian soldiers working at putting up the fence to prevent militants entering into India from Pakistan. Doublespeak for Musharraf is like water to fish, way to go General. The full chat transcript is available here

Rajdeep / IBN / Lama Tashi

Rajdeep Sardesai was a journalist I admired due to the the arguments he raised in 'The Big Fight' and during his NDTV days. I wished him the very best when he came up with IBN and here is Rajdeep talking about NDTV, albeit briefly.

Grammy nominations are known to go to the diverse of people. Our Indian Classical musicians like Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Pandit Ravishankar et all have been nominated and have won accolades in this arena. This year there's a Buddhish monk from Arunachal Pradesh, his name is Lama Tashi and he's been nominating for a collection of chants he got recorded. I saw this monk in TV and he was how modest a person could be, no wonder he's a Buddhist monk.