5th best movie made in 2005 - TIME

Cut to March or April 2005. I took my grandparents to watch the new movie that was making waves... @ PVR Bangalore. It was the movie about a little deaf and dumb girl who is taught to live like a normal person by another mercurial teacher who uses unorthodox but practical methods to teach. Teacher. The word had a new dimension since then. My grandfather, who is a stickler for good cinema and seriously despises modern run of the mill commercial flicks, was over awed by the performances in the movie. A few months later, we both got our own copies of the DVD. And it happens to be one among those great movies in my collection.

Today, we get to know that the great movie has been voted as the 5th best movie in 2005 by none other than TIME. And the movie is BLACK.

Click here for more the above news article.

Also, another great movie: Read about the movie "12 Angry Men" @ Ferrari's blog.

Change of Name

Just began thinking about what has been happening of late. And decided to change the name of my blog. While the link remains the same, the name of the blog is more in tune with how I have been updating my blog. Also, the template has been changed to something more inline with the blog name. Observation Point. Welcome to my observatory!

Merry Christmas

Did you ever wonder about the significance of a Christmas Tree? Well, much like the Ganesha Utsava being propounded by the great Lokamanya Tilak, another great man, Martin Luther King, espoused the cause of the Christmas Tree.

But what did the tree come to signify?
Triange - Trinity, Points upwards towards God.
Evergreen - Forever Eternal, Full of Life
Needles - Grow upward, like praising God
Lights - Heaven
& Gifts - Charity and Love

Such a profound statement just by including a Christmas Tree in our celebrations. There is even an argument that there is a reference to this tree in the Bhagavad Geeta.

All paths are one. The One is for all.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a great New Year to follow!

Best Regards,
Gauri, Sujatha and Gajanan

Maturity beyond years

An interview article appeared on THE HINDU Magazine this Sunday - 25th Dec. The interviewed? Samhita Arni - daughter of a diplomat. She is the author of the book "Mahabharata - A Child's View" which has been received very well in different countries. If you read the interview, you will find that she has maturity way beyond her age. I wonder, how this was possible. Probably moving from one place to another, making friends with a diverse set of children from equally diverse cultures... and most importantly - reading. Reading has been a favorite pass-time of mine too. Reading inculcates in the minds the quest to know more, and sparks up the thought faculty. It is this that determines the development of intellectual faculties of our brain. Cutting back to the topic, Samhita utilitized her free time in, probably, one of the most fruitful ways. In her interview, you would realise that she displays maturity way beyond her age. There are comments like why she liked Karna the most, and how even the Good had some evil and the Evil had some good. Wonderful...

Click to read the interview

Lame excuse to omit, Lamer excuse to include!

The new is that Ganguly has been included into the Test team for Pakistan tour. The reason given to omit him from the team that played SL was that they wanted to play Yuvi. And within the last 20 odd days, committee feels that SG is required for the series against Pak. What is the reason given now? SG's experience would come in handy against the Paks. Wonderful. What was probably not useful against the SL team becomes very important against Paks? And Yuvi cant play Pak well? If I remember correct, Yuvi and Kaif did particularly well against Paks in the last series. When then this time? Also... an amuzing thing to note is that SG was included into the team by the "Administrative" committee. Selectors did not.
Accepted that SG's omission from SL series was very crude. But that does not mean SG can bully his way like this... This is not in the spirit of the game. Should SG just wane away? It is said that it best to move away from the spotlight when you are at the highest point in your career. SG somehow seems to stick on. Does his ghost of yesteryears chase him? He seems to be running hard... Stop SG. Stop and deal with your ghosts first. You can play later. If you can.

To ovur yesteamed Chettas and Cheychis, WeLCome aboard Air Kerala flight to Thubbai.

Air Kerala ready to take off .:. NewKerala - India's Top Online Newspaper

:-)

Bangalore to be re-named Bengaluru

Bangalore to be re-named Bengaluru

Only thing left to do now!

Dont despair... there's hope!!

Wanted: Bride for my 55-yr-old dad!- The Times of India

And modern thinkers call this progressive choice. Seen the movie "Pyar mein twist"? You must, if you havent watched it yet. Maybe then we all would understand that we have to understand our parent's needs and hopes as well.

Are women better managers?

The Hindu : Magazine / Issues : Better managers?

The raging debate seems to find a definitive lead.

Pashmina goes Chinese?

And now 'pashmina' Chinese shawls!- The Times of India

What next? Gongura Chutney. Made in China? :-))

A crow's story - a short story

The Hindu : Magazine / Lifestyle : A crow's story

Definite read! njoi...

2 great things in last 3 days!

2 great things in last 3 days.

1. ARR's non-historical composition "Rang De Basanti" released. Brilliant composition. Need to know more? Check Ferrari's Blog.

2. Maestro hits his 35th 100. Almost a year after hitting his 34th. A year plagued with injury and rest. And yet, he returns as if he was never away! Thats Sachin!



Congratulations, Sachin!

"itter" is the answer.

Aiming for the sun: India joins the world

India always stays ahead where science and technology is concerned. Only hope that civic sense, social upliftment and road sense also increase.

Passengers flying by "Indian" flight IA123 please proceed for security check!

IA to be called 'Indian' now

A much needed makeover is finally showing up. And how! Looks like KF effect is catching on... and the new aircrafts sport a very vibrant look. Lets hope the vibrancy rubs on the crew as well and we get to see some spirited service from the national carrier.

Free Fallin'

Reminds of the hit song by Tom Petty... (excerpts below)

And I’m free, free fallin’
Yeah I’m free, free fallin’
Free fallin’, now I’m free fallin’, now i’m
Free fallin’, now I’m free fallin’, now i’m

I wanna glide down over mulholland
I wanna write her name in the sky
Gonna free fall out into nothin’
Gonna leave this world for a while

And I’m free, free fallin’
Yeah I’m free, free fallin’

Enriching classrooms with manure

Here, classrooms are used to store cow-dung

Probably they thought of using manure in classrooms so that students start having very fertile imagination.

It happens only in "Bhaiyya"Land. :-)

An eye for an eye. Quite literally.

Saudi court orders gouging Indian’s eye out - Sify.com

We all have heard how brutal punishments are meted out to wrong doers in nations that have Islamic law as the governing mechanism. This one exceeds all the stories we have heard...

Sweden is not safe for goats. Yes, I mean goats.

BBC NEWS - Weird ritual of the burning goat

:-)

Hello, Can you get me that Jai's CNT-rich Eyeliner?

You might as well wonder what that was all about. Well, read the news article below and it should become apparent to you.

Kaajal births nano e-devices!

FYI - Jai is a leading brand of Kaajal that is sold all over India.

Someday Jai's packaging will start sporting a caption like "made with nano technology"

// chuckle

Extended Release Time Bomb called "AIDS"

On India's Roads, Cargo and a Deadly Passenger - New York Times

It is not a bomb that is waiting to explode. It is slowly poisoning the population. Like an extended release capsule. It is like a deadly biochemical weapon that can be dispersed in free air - like anthrax. Slowly, it is engulfing the rural mass. The problems are mired deep into various social problems including poverty, illiteracy, poor awareness and social structure. These in turn impact the effectiveness of various awareness programs being conducted.

Overall, it is a very sorry state of affairs. It would not be long before India overtakes South Africa in its tally of AIDS infected people.

How snobbish can Americans be?

Goodbye, Moon - New York Times

Read the above article to find out just how scared or how snobbish can Americans be. Well, they would call it domestic safety and best practice in child care and the like. To me, it sounds like being snooty!

Just relax, dudes!

Top `Made in India' software products

Top `Made in India' software products- Infotech

I thought about Tally and Flexcube being among the list. The others were news to me.

5 IT lessons that cannot work!

You gotta read this one too. I read the earlier article that spawned off this one. I did have some questions from that article with respect to relevance of context. The authors have brought out the same question in an elaborate manner. This article is something that most of us can identify with.

5 IT lessons that cannot work!

Neat! Eh?

The woman who redefined 'positive'

This article is a definite read for each one of us.

Amazing! Despite being cheated into this state, she holds much more energy and ambition than most of us.

Saludos!