The Ashes...........................

To start with let me tell you that I am a die-hard Aussie hater. I hate them for the way they go about playing cricket. Cricket is a game of passion where the heart and not the mind, should rule. For the aussies it is just a job which they do well and the arrogant bunch that they are they think there is nobody to compete with them. They also look down upon non-whites and Kumar Sangakkara will definitely testify for that.

THE ASHES...what is the speciality behind the Ashes. Is it really worth all the hype and hoopla surrounding it. Well to be frank the ashes for the past two decades have been very boring. An India-Australia or even a Srilanka-Pakistan series would rank higher on interest. Legend has it that the ashes is actually an urn which contains the remains of a burnt bat/ball/bail (it has not been confirmed as to which it is) and which is always kept in England no matter who wins the series. The pattern the last few ashes have followed has been that Australia would win 3 tests and then england will win the inconsequential final test match. Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath between them have almost 250 test wickets against England alone.....that is massive. Infact it is the Ashes that has made Warne what he is, starting from the magic ball he bowled to Gatting. English batsmen shake in their boots when Warne comes onto bowl and they are out even before he bowls a ball. A case of a good bowler made to look great. More than a 100 of his 500 odd wickets have come in the ashes. It is normal for a bowler to have a couple of batsmen as his bunny, but a whole team....sheesh. Wonder how many wickets Murali would have if he too got to play so many matches against England.

Ashes'05 promises to change the trend. The English are an improved lot with a lot of recent successes and the Aussies are looking shaky with a lot of old legs in the team. Vaughan has spoken brave words in saying that England will rip into the Aussies, but it is to be seen if his young team can carry that out. A closely contested series is what the cricketing fraternity is hoping for and if England indeed manage to topple the aussies, Cricket will definitely be the winner.
So I hope and pray that Ashes'05 will be the beginning of the end of the Aussie domination!!!!!

Today's Quote:
"A great deal of talent is lost to the world for want of a little courage. Every day sends to their graves obscure men whose timidity prevented them from making a first effort."
-- Sydney Smith

ANNIYAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The eagerly awaited weekend finally arrived, and with it the excitement of watching Anniyan. Having booked tickets for Saturday evening at Padmam I was thrilled to be able to watch the most expected movie of the year. The evening did not start too well though, because of some traffic problems near the theatre which cost me the opening scene. But then on it was absolutely smashing!!!!!!!
For starters Anniyan is an amazing movie. It is visible that Shankar has been inspired by Sidney Sheldon's "Tell me Your Dreams" for Vikram's characters and the theme of the movie is a bit like "Indian", but the movie has been taken brilliantly and the characters extremely well defined. Best thing in the movie is obviously VIKRAM. He essays three totally different roles and almost makes you beleive they are indeed three different people. The best was the climax scene with Prakash Raj where Vikram alternates between two characters throughout a dialogue.....hats off!!!!
Vivek makes a brilliant comeback with this movie, he appears both with the hero and with the antagonist which is very different. Other highlights of the movie are some great sets (Sabu Cyrils work), and some great camera work. Only negative point could be that the "Anniyan" character is made to look supernatural at times which takes it out of the realms of plausibility, but then Vikram makes it watchable all the same.
Bottom line: Anniyan is a must-see, not once but twice or thrice.

Today's Quote:
"I wash my hands of those who imagine chattering to be knowledge, silence to be ignorance, and affection to be art."
--Khalil Gibran

Sania Mirza

I know I promised post on Cricket, but after watching Sania in action at Wimbledon yesterday I just had to write about her.
The stage was Centre Court at Wimbledon, the third day of the All England Lawn Tennis Championships(Wimbledon in Short). It is the Mecca of tennis as is Lords to cricket and it just does not get any bigger than this. To add to all this it has been 20 long years since an Indian has stepped on this exalted grass. Out comes this little 19 year old kid, her first Wimbledon and up against the No.5 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, the current US Open champion. No nerves, no inhibitions, it would have been completely normal to be overawed by the occasion but it was not to be. Sania came out firing on all cylinders, like she had played here all her life and it was a moment of pride for all Indians. With spitting ground strokes she made her opponent sweat and was onto an early lead in the first set. But her achilles heel is a weak serve and that let her down once again. She went down in the first set but showed great resilience in the second and totally dominated her opponet before winning a long tie-breaker.
At the end of two sets it did not matter if she won or lost, she had made all her fans proud and had won over the entire centre court crowd.
It was a pity she lost the match but she was'nt far and she left a lasting impression.
Sania is special and has all the makings of a great great player and icon.
Go Sania!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Beginning

Finally I am all set to blog......I never really thought I would be blogging, but working in a s/w company has given me enough motivation and enthu...and I am here!!!
About my Blog:
Pearls of Wisdom...well dont take this too literally...just what came to my mind. So please dont complain if you read my blog and dont end up any wiser!!!
The cricket fanatic that I am, you will probably find a lot of cricket related blogs here........and will try to keep the posts short and sweet......so Happy reading!!!!
Till next time....it is me signing off!!!

Quote for today:
"We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them."
---- Khalil Gibran