Australian Open serves it up hot!

The Australian Open has been very interesting and eventful this year. The men's final is about to start. The men's tournament has been characterised by stun defeats, with a large margin. Look at the way Federer defeated his friend, Djokovich defeated Federer, Ferrer defeated Nadal, and Murray defeated Nadal, all in a very convincing manner. That makes the margin of defeat cumulatively very large. The winner would actually, theoritically, be way ahead of the others.

There is an emergence of a new breed of good players, so we're able to move away from the Federer-Nadal fixation. Federer and Nadal have both had their best chance this time in the Australian Open. Nadal could've won the fantastic four and Federer could've added to his tally. I don't think both of them would have a chance later. I think their time is about over.

Meanwhile in the women's segment, the final was the highlight. Kim Clijsters prevailed over Li Na, but only after a real contest. The match was more about who would hold on to their serve, rather than who would break the other's serve. It made me think whether, for women especially, the serve is actually a disadvantage. Their return of serve was much better than the serve itself.

There are two reasons for this, as I see it. The serve cannot be done with two hands, whereas the backhand return, why even the forehand return, Nadal would confirm, can be done with two hands. Thats more power and precision at your disposal. The second reason is that the serve is done from high above, and with lesser power of the women, actually goes slower than other shots.

A thought. If the rules permit, why can't the women serve like they play shots. Have to read up the rules of tennis to find out if that is feasible.

The Genius in the gene

As I return back home from office, I listen to Tamil songs on my Sony mp3 player. Its been a while I've listened to my selected list of songs, accumulated over a period of time. There are many songs of AR Rahman and Harris Jeyaraj, and this thought crosses my mind. Harris Jeyaraj, at times, is better than Rahman, especially in the clarity of the lyrics in his songs. Listen to Nenjukkul Peidhidum, Kumari, Andangkaakka and you'll know what I'm saying. And he is good with the instruments and the arrangement. What else can you ask for?

Compared to that, Rahman doesn't focus too much on how clear the lyrics are in the song. He's too busy with experimenting with the music that he ignores the lyrics. After all the music is what is important. And I was reminded of the movie 'Music and Lyrics' in which Drew Barrymore says that the music is important at the start, but for the song to be truly good, the lyrics are also important. I agree with that. And with the lean patch that Rahman is going through, I almost conclude that Rahman is no longer what he used to be.

But then I listen to his songs on the playlist and find that Rahman is not just a good music director. He is a genius who believes in experimenting. Listen to Newyork Nagaram and you'll know the amount of gamakkam he has brought into the song. And not the traditional sort.

I paused to find the meaning of the word genius. And where else to find it except Wikipedia. Genius is ability, creativity and originality that is associated with achievement of unprecented insight. And I realise that only Rahman fits the bill completely.

And I remember the biography presentation I had prepared a few months back about Rahman. I had said then that whatever the state of my mind were, my mood was, I could find a song here and there in Rahman's discography that could put me further into it or pull me right out of it. In some ways, without really defining in words, Rahman's music was like therapy for me. Genius, for me, is being able to touch someone ordinary in a profound manner.

I'm not saying Harris Jeyaraj is bad. I remember how I answered a question during my presentation when someone made a comment that Ilayaraja was better. I said 'A lion is a lion and a tiger is a tiger'. There is no comparison. Having said that let me reiterate 'Rahman is a genius'

Pricing for stags and couples

I was wondering how party entry tickets are priced for stags and couples, and what should drive them. For the new year party we went to, couples were charged Rs. 6500 and stags were charged Rs. 5500. I was thinking why. The most apparent reason is not driven by any logic or formula, but from the fact that more stags are out to get into a party than couples. So why not price it high for them, and thus earn more. But is that the only reason. I'm thinking.

Is it associated with the requirement of bouncers to oversee the party if more stags are around? Thats based on the presumption that stags come to a party to be noticed and looked at by the girls in the couple. So they would require supervision and thus the increased charge to cover costs. But do parties really increase the security and bouncers when there are more stags. No they don't. Their setup remains just the same.

Is it to encourage couples to come, even the stags to find someone to come along with, thus maintaining the sex ratio. That way the club looks good, and we're promoting balance. But can that not be achieved by only saying that stags are not allowed. That will force the stags to find someone to tag along. I don't think club owners have so much to think about.

I didn't need to think too much on this though. I thought why I had asked the owner whether there would be too many stags in the party. It was because I would feel more comfortable with other couples around. Because the males in the couples will be more comfortable without the competition. Thats the reason. The club will not attract too many couples if stags are in the majority.

Many a time, the answers are right in front of you. You just have to see.

Get on with life

I ended 2010 by doing what I hate the most, something I’d give my life not to do! And I began 2011 by doing exactly the same thing. We were at a disco and I was dancing away amid the lights and the sound. And I lost myself in the crowd, not really bothered what the world thinks of me, not conscious of whether they’d think I was being crazy. It all changed less than a couple of months ago, when I got drunk at a friend’s birthday party, and danced away, realising that I did it better than most others who don’t hesitate doing it. And I did it again today, and it was to become a habit.

My leadership guide always tells me to do something that you wouldn’t normally do; that helps in stoking your creativity, she says. I once said I’m not good at picking up languages and that I didn’t have a flair for languages, and she insisted I learn French. I still haven’t tried it, nor have I succeeded in anything like this, but that’s not the point, she says. It only matters how your attempt changes you. And the last thing you should be bothered about is how the world views you. It doesn’t matter, not to anybody of consequence. So here I go... to live the moment... and get on with life.

Commonplace philosophy

Sometimes you can find philosophy at the most unlikely of places. I heard it from a taxi driver recently. I was on the way to the airport on Sunday afternoon and struck a conversation with a Meru Cab driver.

He questioned the extra police bandobast near our area and I mentioned to him that recently a wall of a place of worship had fallen and that members of the community had expressed their anger by assaulting whoever they could place blame on, even if those unfortunate souls had no clue of what hit them and why, just like so many of our countrymen who don't know what they're fighting for.

This was in the backdrop of the impending judgment in the Ayodhya title suit.

He gave his philosophy of how God resides in every person and not in mandirs or masjids. We've heard of this before. He added a new aspect to this explanation which I've not had occasion to ponder over, and hence refrain from agreeing or disagreeing.

He said that before a person is born, he/she has darshan of God every day, and he requests God to release him out of this bondage, not knowing what awaits him in this world, with the promise that he/she would pray and salute the Lord everyday for the rest of his/her life. God has subjected the person to a tapasya which he has to break in order to take birth and experience the world. But once a child is born it forgets this promise, and gets entangled in worldly prejudices. Our true purpose is to find our promise and the earlier we find it, the better.

We could argue about this forever, as to whether what he said was right or wrong, but we shouldn't miss the point. Philosophy is found in the most unlikely of places, and has nothing to do with what strata of society one belongs to or which school one attended.

He also added later that our humilty and politeness define us as human beings. For this he told of a time when he had cancelled a booking of a person who addressed him disrespecfully. It was good to hear a person who was so sure of himself and knew exactly what he is! I have a recording of what he said, which I'd preserve. I can say its no less than what modern-day babas rant about!

More than just abandoned machinery

...a piece of machinery, abandoned in a corner.... it had not been worn out, it had been rotted by neglect, eaten by rust... I feel a scream of protest against injustice... this is beyond just an old piece of machinery.... Ayn Rand

God must be an artist!

God must be an artist, to come up with countless variations of morning, with only a few tools at his disposal, the sun, the clouds, a little rain, on a canvas of nothingness... These are images from my window over the last week or so....

Every moment has its music

Every moment has its music. Bombay is experiencing rains of the season since the past few days. This certainly is a good spell.

Saturday mornings are relaxed, since it signals the beginning of the weekend, and despite any trouble that one may otherwise be in, there is a certain ease that takes over. I walked to the station to board the train to office. And there was a light drizzle.

I had Hosana from Vinnathandi Varuvaaya, playing on my Sony Walkman, and something prompted me to not open the umbrella. With the light rain falling on my face as I looked up, I felt the music take over, and Rahman weave magic.

En meedu anbu kolla, ennodu serndu sella  

Hmm endru sollu podhum, Hosanna  

Somehow, life felt good, meant more.

Every moment has its music - line borrowed from Sony Walkman 

A lovely morning

I woke up to a lovely morning. The beginning of the weekend, despite the fact that I have to attend office today, somehow felt good. I could see the sun's shape, like the moon, through a cloudy sky, as if the clouds were filtering out the harsh rays and giving us a view of the sun as we saw in our school drawing book.

Swami and his 'fiends'

Self-styled Swami Nithyananda (Swami is just a name, like it was in Malgudi days; its not a title and there's nothing divine about it in this case) has been permitted by the court to preach! There's no use in not allowing him to speak or preach, as he will anyway have some work to do to regain his audience. But I'm amused by the fact that he actually petitioned that his freedom of speech was being curbed. After going through so much, see the man's pluck!

Anyway, its a pity that learned judges, the judicial system has to waste its time on this despicable being. The judges have considered separately whether he could be allowed to preach and whether he could be allowed to conduct yoga and meditation classes. And the system has to be seen to be hearing him out! We've done this with Kasab, so why not with Nithyananda! But the guy seems to be unmoved. He has the arrogance of suggesting that the police visit his ashram every 15 days for verification, instead of he reporting! And he has also petitioned for his belongings to be returned to him, his laptop and his work! After all, so much effort has gone into this! I admire the guy's record keeping, something that even corporates fall short in. He has all the underlying paperwork in place!

On this issue, there are two parties affected, his devotees and himself. I'm wondering what his devotees must be going through. Those who have given up all of what they had, could have, or could not have and followed him, those who read what he wrote and were influenced and in awe, those who served under him - what must be on their mind now! After the usual denial, the hope that all of this is false, somewhere they must be thinking their faith has been compromised. We are not here to judge what happened, and the jury is still out on this, but faith once shaken, is difficult to restore. Also look at this from his point of view. After all of this, when he comes forward to give his first lecture, what will he say? And how must he position his future discourses, to win back the trust people placed in him. I'm sure of one thing, his job is easier!

As always, the system is to be blamed! The place that religion has in society today is the reason why such godmen thrive. Pain will never end in the world, if any - there'll be more of it in the years to come. This is going by how humanity is on the path of degeneration, if you believe in evolution! And if you believe in the machinations of the yugas, then we will have more negatives in this yuga to maintain the balance required by nature. So pain is not going to end. At such times, religion offers the only solace, and more so if it comes with perks of power.

Obama was not wrong when he spoke about people clinging to guns and religion. In our case, it definitely is true with religion. So with more pain, godmen will gain! They give you what you ask for: escape from responsibility, to give up your duty! But as God said in Bruce Almighty 'since when did people know what they wanted'. So it pays for them to keep the troubled class under ignorance, in the dark. And telling them its ok to not do your job, to ask for submission, allowing them an escape.

And who will tell them that such self-styled godmen have a very limited understanding of what life. They haven't read enough, and they certainly haven't introspected enough, to be able to fathom the depths of human nature and the universe we live in. Such thinkers come far and few - there's only one Bertrand Russell, and only one Swami Vivekananda!

I feel pain at this: when I search for swami on google, Google Suggest throws up Swami Nityananda before Swami Vivekananda!