Movies

Peepli live: 3.5/5

Aakrosh: 2/5

Toy Story 1: 3/5

Toy Story 2: 2.5/5

Toy Story 3: 3.5/5

Hazaar Chaurasi ki Maa: 3.5/5

Crook: 1.5/5

Cricket

The evening was beautiful. It was just the right weather…neither too hot…nor too cold. The cool breeze made it better. I was on my way home passing through one of the posh localities of Pune.

This particular locality was home to the super rich. The CEOs, the CFOs, the business tycoons. Hence there were no buildings and flats here, only huge bungalows! And the people actually walking on the private road were either passersby or servants of the residents. The families staying here only moved around in big fancy imported cars.

As I approached the big private playground of the locality, I saw some kids playing cricket. They were obviously residents of the locality, since outsiders weren’t allowed to use this playground. Most of them would have been around 8-10 yrs old. There were some things I couldn't’t help noticing. Apart from their fancy clothes and expensive shoes, every kid seemed to own a cricket bat. There were some who even owned the famous “Mongoose” bats. There was a box full of tennis balls and some cans of energy drinks lying in a corner guarded by a servant.

The next thing I noticed was the sophistication. Most of the conversations were in English and everyone around was well mannered. There was no shouting or swearing or dancing around, just casual claps, pat on backs and smiles. It kind of reminded me of the British. Somehow the quality of cricket was not up to the mark and there was a dull touch about the whole affair.

As I exited the gate of the locality and came back to the normal world, I passed by a slum. There was very light traffic on the road. The footpath was inhabited by hawkers. I could see three small stones placed to one side of the street and a kid with a small piece of wood standing next to the stones. As I tried to make out a pattern in the crowded street, I could make out a few more kids. Most of these kids were bare feet and not even dressed properly. Before I could analyze what they were up to, a small kid same running out of the crowd and threw a rubber ball at this kid with the wooden stick. The kid swung and missed and the ball crashed into one of the stones. The very next instant there was a roar and all the kids converged into a huddle and started shouting and dancing.

Cricket (or baseball) whatever these guys were playing, they were enjoying it thoroughly.

This definitely was the Indian way.

On a completely different note, childhood is awesome! Nothing can stop a kid from having fun, whether he is born in a sprawling bungalow or a small hut.

Ig Nobel prize winners of 2010

Presenting the Ig Nobel prize winners of 2010.


PHYSICS PRIZE: Lianne Parkin, Sheila Williams, and Patricia Priest of the University of Otago, New Zealand, for demonstrating that, on icy footpaths in wintertime, people slip and fall less often if they wear socks on the outside of their shoes.

PEACE PRIZE: Richard Stephens, John Atkins, and Andrew Kingston of Keele University, UK, for confirming the widely held belief that swearing relieves pain.

ECONOMICS PRIZE: The executives and directors of Goldman Sachs, AIG, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, and Magnetar for creating and promoting new ways to invest money — ways that maximize financial gain and minimize financial risk for the world economy, or for a portion thereof.

MANAGEMENT PRIZE: Alessandro Pluchino, Andrea Rapisarda, and Cesare Garofalo of the University of Catania, Italy, for demonstrating mathematically that organizations would become more efficient if they promoted people at random.

MEDICINE PRIZE: Simon Rietveld of the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and Ilja van Beest of Tilburg University, The Netherlands, for discovering that symptoms of asthma can be treated with a roller-coaster ride.


...My personal favorite for 2010 is....

CHEMISTRY PRIZE: Eric Adams of MIT, Scott Socolofsky of Texas A&M University, Stephen Masutani of the University of Hawaii, and BP [British Petroleum], for disproving the old belief that oil and water don't mix.


For detailed references and previous years winners please refer to the follow link:

http://improbable.com/ig/winners/

Movies and books

Dabangg : 3/5 (Without Salman it would be around 1.5)

Ek ruka hua faisla: 3.5/5 (Excellent performances by Pankaj Kapoor and the other theatre actors)

Paanch: 3.5/5 (An Anurag Kashyap masterpiece all the way..)

Juno: 3/5

Pulp Fiction: 4/5

The Man from St.Petersburg-Ken Follett : 3.5/5