Anyway, there is no point in crying over spilt milk and broken TVs. We have to go for a new one any way and we have decided to go for a HD TV. Researching on which is better – LCD or Plasma. Any inputs will be much appreciated. Thanks in advance people.

Fast forward to 2010, we all know the state in which New Delhi is w.r.t. Commonwealth Games 2010. With less than two months to go for the Games, CWG 2010 is in the news for all wrong reasons one could imagine. From toilet rolls to treadmill, everything has cost the tax payer a fortune and the blame game is happily on. Sooner or later, these allegations of corruption and mismanagement will soon be forgotten, just like how we have forgotten 2G Spectrum and numerous other controversies. Given some luck, I am sure that the organisers will also find a way to get the stadiums and other venues ready, as there are reports that ‘work around’ is being done to get the venues in shape. No prizes for guessing if these workarounds will stand after the Games and if the venues will be usable at all.

If all you get to see and hear is about the rubbish that comes out of CWG 2010, I was more than curious about the state of affairs in my adopted country for the forthcoming Olympics. With less than two years to go for the Olympics, it looks like London is far ahead in terms of getting the venues ready. All the venues are ready and will be available for trial runs twelve months before the Games. What I am really worried about is how good the Olympics opening ceremony will be, as the Chinese have set the bar so high in Beijing 2008. However, after watching the happenings in CWG at Delhi, what matters most is not the opening ceremony – but a fair and clean Olympics and am confident that London as a host city will do a good job on that front.

* I had so many stories to blog about in the last one month, but each of them had at least one element that stopped me from discussing anything in public.

* Watched Kalavaani and Madharasapattinam. Both of them could be watched at least once. Could smell the greenishness of Thanjavur district, in Kalavaani taking me back to the days we lived there.

* Facebook is beginning to excite me these days. Catching up with so many people from previous life. Well, almost.

* Anirud’s summer holidays has just begun and we are wondering how to maintain our sanity for the next six weeks.

* We are seeing a slight increase in the trickle of NRIs in our circle who are relocating to India.

This is a nice tweet about the match: Perhaps fitting that Tomas Berdych, whose father was a train engineer, has knocked out the Fed Express.

One issue with Maniratnam is his past performance. He has set the bar so high for himself that one starts expecting so much in three hours, comparable to fans expecting Sachin to hit a century everytime he walks in to bat. One must commend the manner in which the film opened. No filmy introduction of hero, heroine or villain. Mani came straight to the point. Locales were great. Kudos to whoever chose them and full marks to Santosh Sivan for handling the camera. Scintillating scenes all through the movie, as his camera traverses through the mountains and jungles, most of the time in rain.

For some reason, may be because we know the story line – the film was not gripping. Especially the first half, where we always seem to know what is going to happen next. Who doesn’t know that Aishwarya is going to survive when she jumps off the cliff? In my opinion, that is biggest setback for the film. The thing that was sadly missed is a riveting screenplay like that of Roja’s (again, a known story treated with brilliant screenplay).

Vikram’s characterisation was just okay. Did Mani want to differentiate his hero by making him utter rubbish like ‘dan dan dannn…’ and ‘Bak bak bak..’? That was simply annoying. Aishwarya looked good and a lot better than any of her other Tamil movies of the past. In my opinion, she acted too. What to say of Prithiviraj? Apart from looking like Aishwarya’s younger brother, he was totally clueless about his role in the movie. Shouldn’t one show some emotion when his wife is kidnapped? A total misfit. Perhaps Surya, or may be even Arya or Vishal would have done a better job.

How about the Oscar winner? Good, if not great. Perhaps, Maniratnam is missing the services of writer Sujatha. He could have turned to pros like Balakumaran or Jeyamohan, rather than letting his better half handle that responsibility. That was another big let down. Comparitively, the second half was a lot better than the first and the manner in which the film ended was also nice.

Overall, the movie was worth watching once for its visuals. If you watch it as one another Tamil movie, it is a lot better than so many masala stuff that come out every other month. But if you go expecting one another stellar performance from Maniratnam, you’ll be disappointed. Watchable once, certainly not ‘unforgivably boring’. Forgivable, for it is Mani who taught us to expect class in Tamil movies.

Well, I started this post with the intention of writing more. But, more I think about this, more annoyed I get. Let me end here and I promise that this will be my last post on Bhopal.

For Health & Safety reasons, we were given the high visibility vests. As I walked on the street wearing one such vest, an elderly gentleman approached me and asked, ‘Excuse me, Officer! Can you tell me if the buses will be plying today in view of the procession?’. I turned around to ensure that he was addressing me and indeed, it was me he was talking to. Perhaps, he took me for a police officer, who were also present in the vicinity sporting high visibility fluorescent coloured vests. Needlessly, I got reminded of the comedy sequence in the movie ‘Indian’, where Goundamani would sarcastically wish Senthil ‘Good Morning Officer’. Even while I was answering that gentleman, I couldn’t control my laughter and was really hoping that the guy will move away soon. He did, but not without a parting shot – ‘Thank you very much Officer. You are very kind’.

** After a long gap of 6 years, we had a family holiday to Switzerland. The break was great and it was really refreshing. More importantly, Anirud enjoyed every minute of the trip about which we are more happy about. Already, we are looking forward to the next great break.

** I started blogging 7 years and 41 days ago. Time sure flies in the relative sense too that I started this blog exactly 42 days before I got married.

** There is going to be a carnival in our little town of Chesham. Each school in the town will make ready a decorated float with children on it. Anirud’s school too is sending one and that bugger is going to be on it. I have volunteered to be a marshal regulating the traffic. Have been given instructions, high visibility jackets etc. Getting excited about that.

** Something that disturbed me deeply in the recent times was the verdict in Bhopal Gas Leak case. It is one thing to say that US is having double standards by refusing to extradite Anderson and it is another to think that successive Indian Governments lacked the political will to get justice for its own citizens. Seems that the extradition laws with US are one-sided everywhere. It is the case even with UK.

** In a matter of a month, David Cameron suddenly looks very tired, old and ageing. Result of Power Pressure? Perhaps that is why India always elects aged PMs.

** Discovering more and more school friends in Facebook. Feels good when we recollect our activities of adolesence age, many of which appear very silly now.

** Met a nice man called Ken Woodward, who lost his sight in an accident while working for Coke. His case is a warning for everyone to stay safe. Here after, whenever I hear the word ’safety’, I think I will remember Ken.

As it was clear for several weeks now that this election will be a closely fought one, a casual read of the headlines in all the major newspapers for a few days clearly told where their loyalty lie. The way David Dimbleby handled the leaders’s debate and the marathon election night programme was awesome. The next best was Channel 4. Less said the better about Sky News.

This is the third general election in UK in which I have voted. The first two have been eventless and uninteresting. This one apparently wasn’t. The kind of mis-handling that we saw on the election day (not enough ballot papers, people who queued up before the closing time not being able to vote etc) is not only unfortunate, but presented the country in very poor light. As the entire media is busy with the post-election coalition talks, it is not clear if anyo of the voters who could not vote took the matter to the courts. With parties doing whatever they can to get past the magical 326, the effect of any legal action will add a new dimension to the drama that is unfolding in front of us every day.

With the kind of hype that was made over Nick Clegg’s performance in the first debate, I was surprised by the results. As for Labour, it had been a very rough ride for them for the last 2+ years. Given that scenario, whatever they have achieved is quite remarkable. Gordon Brown might not be a charismatic leader, but as a party Labour still has its base. On the same token, having such an unpopular government at the helm, it should have been a cake walk of an election for the main opposition party. Despite this, if Tories could not gain majority on their own, there is something seriously wrong with the party or with David Cameron.

For the last 5 days (it is Tuesday noon now), Liberal Democrats and Conservatives have been holding several rounds of negotiations and face-to-face meetings between the leaders that hasn’t yielded any result. For those who only get the one-liners like ‘We are making progress’ etc, it is really boring. It is a well known fact that Lib Dems are demanding ‘proportional representation’ in the electoral system, which Tories are totally against. Either Lib Dems must accept the fact that with 56 MPs, they are not going to get what they want or Tories must realise that without LD, they are not going to go where they want. All eyes are on them to see who blinks first. There was a gossip that Tories have earmarked Home and Education to Lib Dems in the event of Lib-Con coalition government. Though it is very unlikely to happen, I wish that they hand over Treasury to Lib Dems as well. Vince Cable will on any day be a better Chancellor than the inexperienced George Osbourne. In ethical terms, Tories as the party with most number of votes and seats should assume power. Lib-Con coalition will be the better way forward, but I strongly feel that Osbourne will be the weakest link in such a set up.

Although Lib Dems are holding parallel negotiations with Labour, I feel that it is more of a pressure tactic to get more out of Tories rather than anything else. If the Lib-Lab coalition materialises, they will still fall short of majority and will have to rely on the smaller parties leading to a very unstable government. Such an arrangement will definitely lead to another election within a year and in that eventuality, neither Labour nor Lib Dems will be in a position to face the voters.

It is reported that Cameron is not very happy with Clegg for having parallel discussions with Brown. If Cameron wants to bring around Clegg, he should have some secret discussions with Brown. Think about Lab-Con combination. Wouldn’t it add more spice to this drama?

Beyond the word ‘elections’, I honestly didn’t expect him to know anything more on the topic. We do talk about politics at home to a certain extent, but not all the time. So, expecting him to shrug his shoulders and say ‘I dunno’, I asked if he knew what elections are about. To my surprise, he said ‘We have to select the prime minister of UK’ and added ‘David Cameron is the best man pa. So, I am (?!) going to vote for him’. He was particularly disappointed when I said that I am going to vote for someone else.

All through the morning, as we got on with our morning duties, it was election talk all the way. He was on the mode to persuade me to vote for David Cameron. The reason – he and his friends at school think that he is the best. I really don’t know what these brats discuss at school. However much I was shocked at the discovery of his political knowledge, that came to my rescue as well. ‘Anirud, if you don’t eat your breakfast in the next 10 minutes, I will go & vote for Gordon Brown’. You should have seen the way the breakfast disappeared. Same for wearing the uniform and shoes. The threat of me voting for Brown was too much for him to take. Though I felt sorry for Brown, I really wish there is an election every day.

As politics is my favourite talking point, I asked him what else he knew about the elections.

‘There is a Green Party and some other parties’.

‘Okay, good. Do you know which party Gordon Brown belongs to?’

‘appa, Gordon Brown is from Labour Party, right?’

‘Yes, thats right. How about your favourite David Cameron?’

‘George (his classmate) said that he is from Tony party. Apdi oru party irukaa?(Is there one such party?) It looks like a funny name.’

‘It is not Tony, but Cameron belongs to TORY party. Do you know Nick Clegg?’

‘Yes, I know’

‘Which party does he belong?’

Shrugging his shoulders, he was like ‘I dunno. May be a Birthday Party’.