Lessons from the other MJ

Of course you know him, at least if you are under 40 years Or if you remotely follow sports in some way, you cannot not know him. Ladies & gents, I'm talking about "His royal airness" "The best ever?" "?the greatest athlete of all time"....standing 6 foot 6, less than 5% body fat, soaring over guys almost a foot taller than him, poetry in motion ....the greatest Basketballer you would have ever seen -MICHAEL JORDAN.

Ok maybe I overdid the intro....and yes I'm not going to talk ablout him or his life but rather another basketball great....nicknamed The Admiral....the 7foot center of San Antonio Spurs - David Robinson. At the start of his illustrious career, MJ was at his peak, winning the NBA championship 3 times in a row. When Robinson watched that momentous ceremony on TV seeing MJ kissing the trophy, tears flowing down his cheeks, he thought "Something is wrong with this picture", "Is that what I want to be doing in my life?" "Sweat, bleed and give my all...so that in the end I can kiss a piece of metal?"

David Robinson rose in his career to be inducted into the NBA hall of fame, remembered as onr of the best Big Men to have played the game, won the championship and gave a beautiful testimony professing his faith in God in front of millions of TV viewers. He is also a well known philantrophist, an exemplary role model who has donated thousands to help kids finish their schooling.

David Robinson saw the big picture; he saw what many people missed out; saw what really mattered, rather at that point, he saw what DIDNT or WILL NOT matter in the big picture of life. Like many other basketball stars, his biggest inspiration was the great Michael Jordan, but of course, how? quite differently!

Patience - All we need is just a little

On a scale of 1 -10, I would consider myself score maybe 8, if you ask me how patient I am. Maybe bordering on to 9 if you take the subset of the Indian population. Thankfully,over the past 3 decades I have learnt to control my once fiery temper and fidgety mind to what I would now label serene, calm, somewhat still-irritable-but-stable and a little laid back.

However certain things in life, however silly they may sound, still do tick me off like-

1. Mosquitoes (especially those which start buzzing after u turned off the lights)

2. Child labour and unwarranted beating of children

3. Indians never able to queue for anything

4. Auto drivers cramping the roads trying to overtake other vehicles when it least matters

5. People lighting a cigarette in my house without taking prior permission

6. The sight of all Indian passengers rising up from their seats as soon as the plane touch down ( is it too much for them to comprehend that we all will be waiting together for luggage to arrive anyway)

7. Cruelty to animals

8. Those who treat the whole world as a big dustbin

9. The ever increasing cost of chicken biryani (or the shrinking serving portion)

10. People who think that elevator buttons have a “hurry” sensor which responds to excessive and rapid pressing

Hey I’m not that gloomy or “recess”-ed. Many things do make me happy as I have already posted and will do again. Til then, happy thanksgiving!

It's a small victory

It's a small victory for the common guy like me

1. To check out your old school snaps and realise that you are now taller than the big bully of Class5
2. To find Rs.100 in one of ur pant pockets/in a book/under the matress
3. To cook a full course meal (rice, alu & dal) and enjoy it thoroughly
4. To meet ur high school crush (who gave u the cold shoulder) and finding out she's not all that hot
5. To top-up ur pre-paid mobile phone with full talktime offers
6. To score a 3-pointer in a basketball game OR hit a six in cricket
7. To meet a celebrity
8. To wake up at 6 am and not feel sleepy
9. ...and to have a good "go" in the morning
10. To be able to complete this post knowing that I have night duty coming up, form entries and a seminar the next day and still feel good enough to be able to post this

An Evening Ride

Ol ye Faithful - O'Pooja at the start of the climb of Balumathi Hill, Vellore countryside


One of the 10 hairpin bends on the way to the top


Miles to go


a breathtaker on the roadside


Glazed


Going back


Mansion on the hilltop


Btw, my bike broke down on the way back

UNSUNG SONGWRITERS

Of course pun intended...ur welcome

Last week witnessed the 68th birthday of Bob Dylan, the undisputed best songwriter of all times. When any self-proclaimed music pundit talks about great songwriter, his would be the first name mentioned- respect. And also Lennon, Paul Simon, John Denver, Roger Waters and relatively contemporary-Billy Joel. I would like to portray a few of my favourite songwriters (tho i'm not that into music, jus happy to listen to good tunes...i'm not a fanatic) who I believe deserve a lot of appreciation, hence I call them my UNSUNG SONGWRITERS (list is not exclusive)

1. Björn Ulvaeus - The main lyricist of the world-rocking Swedish band ABBA, his songs (as well as music) transcend all ages and music lovers everywhere. Remember FERNANDO -

Can you hear the drums fernando?
I remember long ago another starry night like this
In the firelight fernando
You were humming to yourself and softly strumming your guitar
I could hear the distant drums
And sounds of bugle calls were coming from afar
..there was something in the air that night......

or OUR LAST SUMMER (from the movie Mamma Mia)
Those crazy years, that was the time
Of the flower-power
But underneath we had a fear of flying
Of getting old, a fear of slowly dying
We took the chance
Like we were dancing our last dance

These songs are pure delight in both music and lyrics department. Of course there is also Slipping through my fingers, Andante Andante, SOS.....i could go on and on. And dont forget, he also wrote music for a few musicals - one such is CHESS; check out One night in Bangkok & The Arbiter, they rock.

2. Jim Steinman (for Meatloaf) - Writer for the trilogy of Bat out of hell albums (the 1st installment being the 4th largest selling albums ever). I don't know much about his hardrock songs but we all know his song -I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That) with that horror-cum-love-story-movie style 12min video (yes longer than November rain) and the song I cud listen over and over again Rock&roll dreams come through. And one for the ladies, the passionate It's all coming back to me now (popularised by Celine Dion) goes like-

There were hours that just went on for days
When alone at last we'd count up all the chances
That were lost to us forever

But you were history with the slamming of the door
And I made myself so strong again somehow
And I never wasted any of my time on you since then

3. Babyface (Kenneth Edmonds) - The list of stars he had worked with is amazing - Madonna, Whitney Houston, Bobby Brown, Phil Collins, Brandy, Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, Toni Braxton, Pink, Michael and Janet Jacksons (whew anyone left?) , TLC (remember the cute Left Eye), Ev Vogue...etc etc.
But I would remember him most for the songs he wrote for BoyzIIMen - End of the road which was the longest #1 on billboard charts and I'll make love to you ........respect

4. Freddy Mercury - One could laud him for his amazing vocals (best ever in my opinion) or stage performance. But dont overlook his (as well as the other Queen members) talent as a songwriter. Why, he wrote the great Bohemian Rhapsody.....need i say anything more?
Check out Good old fashioned lover boy , it rocks and the well known to the younger generation number Too much love will kill you was written by Brian May.

Other notable lyricists include Elton John, Kurt Cobain, Eminem, Neil Young, Van Morrison, Dan Seals, Tom Petty, Bono etc etc...well its a matter of opinion...in this case my blog -my opinion!

Growing up in the 80s (Part I)

Anyone who had the privilege of seeing the 80s rolled by wud agree how magical it was.

Forget the technological re-tardiness, you had to be there to see it...unfortunately you cant now.....so let's reminisce and go back to Aizawl in the swinging 80s.

TELEVISION - TVs came to Mizoram in the early 80s (late 70s actually), but the common man could afford it only in the late 80s. No cable back then, we had to be content with cartoons on sundays (HeMan, Spiderman, Jimmy & the magic torch, few others i forgot). Those whose adobes happen to be located higher up along the west hills (McDonald, Dawrpui, Chanmari) and westward had reception to Bangladesh network which aired far better programs including cartoons everyday (see how small our joys used to be) and MacGuyver. I remember seeing my first episode of Thundercats at a fren's house after hearing so many lively discussions amongst the exclusive priviledged lot.

Of course, Chitrahar and later Rangoli were the only source of music videos. But what we'd really be waiting for were the commercials/ads/fakna which often run upto 30mins at a stretch (and ppl nowadays curse long ads tsk tsk). On saturday night, there was this informative "The world this week" which my bro never missed.

Saturday and Sunday nights meant...Movies - colour flicks, then later Sunday's was black n white. News in Hindi - never missed them, even tho nothing made sense without the video footage. Lots of serials and soaps....saw few, actually followed a couple.

Coming back to Sundays, after HeMan came Ramayana (later Mahabharata) which we couldnt watch fully cos of Sunday School. And, right after Sunday school, i remember seeeing an Indian version of star trek aired for a year or so. Much later, the sword of Tipu Sultan was aired.

World cups - My 1st WC goes back to 1986 with Maradonna's magic and hand-of god goal. I saw the semis and final at my uncle's, slept thru most of the matches. And i had actually seen (but dont remember) the final of Euro84.

Olympics, especially the opening and closing ceremonies were a must-see. Saw Ben Johnson winning the 100m sprint, Greg Louganis smashed his head on the springboard and USA beating USSR overall in the 88 Seoul.

Saw Pat Cash winning Wimbledon with his trademark checked headband. Saw McEnroe and Boris Becker battled it out, Martina-Graf rivalry and later Graf-Seles.

Movies of the 80s are now described as cheesy. But hey, nothing can beat the thrill of seeing the hero beat up and kill villains after villains in the one-man-army flicks - Rambo or Commando. Action movies like Karate Kid, Rocky series, Bloodsport, The Champ, American Ninja have become cult movies. To top it all, the martial art movies (Kungfu film as we wud call them) like Jackie Chan's, 36th chamber of shaolin(lost count of how many times i saw) and the countless Chinese movies were pure joy.

But i guess as far as movies in Mizoram go (at least in Aizawl), if you had been there in the 80s, you would have seen at least half of these listed

1. Grease2

2. Girls just wanna have fun

3. Terrence Hill & Bud Spencer series

4. Qayamat se quamat tak

5. Khoon Bhari Maang

6. Indian version of Tarzan( Vai tarzan)

7. Raiders of the lost ark

8. Terminator

9. ET

10. Evil dead

and Ka nu khawnge i awm

Movies were rented at Rs10 per night and Rs5 for half-day. If u borrowed 2 or more sometimes they will throw in an extra one free of charge. But u had to check that the film(the reel as we called it) was even and not serrated(a tlang kir) at the edge as that wud result in jumpy pictures and cause "dirty head" (a head bal) to the VCR player, and rewinding the tapes seemed like the longest 2 minutes of a lifetime.

Hulkamania conquered the entertainment world with his crazy antics, superhuman strength and showmanship, and everyone caught the wrestling bug , then available only on VHS tapes. Music videos were available only on tapes as well. I remember seeing Starship's Nothing gonna stop us now, Dire Strait's Money for nothing and Queen's I want to break free.

Those were the magical days for ppl like me...i can go on & on but that's it for now. I'l try and cover music, video games and other forms of entertainment in Part II, til then LONG LIVE THE 80s.

The Day Before Tomorrow

It rained again today, bringing a much needed respite from the sweltering summer heat. And there was a spectacle in the form of a rainbow, tho a short and faint one as opposed to the ones we used to see back home.

And oh there was a battle for supremacy amongst the elements - the unforgiving sun and the relentless rain (called ni leh ruah indo in my language) - with the latter winning by a good margin. I didnt mind getting wet on my way back from work tho I was wary of my cell phone in my pocket. And there was a brief hailstorm (rather shower of hailstones) a couple of days back. Vellore's weather is becoming less predictible than ever.