Idle musings

Sunday, 14-Jul-2019 saw two superb finals that will be remembered for a long time to come. In Wimbledon, Novak Djokovic defeated Roger Federer in the men's singles tennis final. Some time later, England narrowly pipped New Zealand in the cricket World Cup final at Lord's stadium. There were two deserving winners at the end of the day, but it is the spirit of the runners-up which stands out. I believe that the term "loser" is unfair in both matches ! Both, the New Zealand cricket team and Roger Federer fought valiantly and had victory beckoning at times. Until the 30th over or so in England's inning, New Zealand were the favourites to win. It was Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes who led the fightback for England. Similarly, Federer had a couple of championship points in the fourth set. Djokovic saved them, won the fourth set, took the decider fifth set into a tie-breaker and then won it to seal an amazing final ! Since the cricket World Cup final was also in progres...

    On last Sunday, my wife and I watched the Hindi movie "Mary Kom" at Vision Cinemas, K. H. Road. I paid around Rs. 170 for a ticket, which was OK, considering the prices in the other multiplexes. This blog post is my review of the movie and also a tribute to Mary Kom.     Of course, I have had a week to let my thoughts settle, but the initial favourable impression of the movie lingers. I commend the effort that Priyanka Chopra has put in to the role. The producer and director deserve credit for converting the autobiography of a remarkable and courageous Indian sportswoman. There are very few world champions that India has produced in sports and fewer still from the north-eastern part of India.         Mary Kom's website is at http://www.mcmarykom.com/ and provides some information about her background. Her real name is Chungneijang, but since that is quite a mouthful, it has been simplified to Mary Kom. The wikipedia link ...

    A bright dawn broke over the village. The handsome and broad shouldered Nirmal had been up long before the sun rose, as was his custom. Today was an eventful day  : the day of his final race with Samarth. Nirmal and Samarth were the two famous climbers who had earned the admiration of all villagers. Among the two, Nirmal was the clear favorite of the villagers.     Their village was surrounded by hills. It was natural that the villagers appreciated mountain climbing and trekking. The village was famous primarily for its hills and for its climbers, who often set up races to climb the hills and return. The races lasted hours and beginning early in the morning, would end in the evening. The people of the village enjoyed the climbs and the races. A good race and a good climber could stop work in the village for a few hours easily ! To each villager, climbing was a natural progression from walking. Outsiders visited the village to see the hills and mar...

Review of "Lucia", the Kannada movie     It has been a long time since my wife and I watched a movie in the theatre. On 22-Sep-13 afternoon, she, her parents and I watched "Lucia", a Kannada movie. After Mathaad Mathaad Mallige (my review is available http://fewidlethoughts.blogspot.in/2007/09/review-of-mathaad-mathaad-mallige.html for my blog on it. For some reason, the first hyperlink in my blog does not work when I see the preview. If it does not work, please don't bother clicking on it !), this is a Kannada movie that made me think. The movie is the first crowd funded Kannada movie as specified in the website http://www.hometalkies.com/lucia/ .     "Lucia" is directed by Pawan Kumar, who deserves credit not just for the direction of the movie but also the excellent screenplay. I looked up Pawan's website which is  http://pawantheactor.com/  . It shows that he has been an actor and a screenwriter among his other talents, which include ...

    A TRIBUTE TO LEONARDO DA VINCI     A month ago, I came across a remarkable presentation in SlideShare.net, available at http://www.slideshare.net/bunky34/design-like-davinci-sxsw-2013 for reference. The presentation specifies how Leonardo Da Vinci's design habits can be adopted even today and is readable, if only in that context. To me, it revealed a lot more about Da Vinci himself.     I shall explain why I am curious about Da Vinci now :     Like most others, I knew about his most famous painting Mona Lisa and Dan Brown's book "The Da Vinci Code" provided further insight into Da Vinci's personality. In school, a teacher I respect had spoken of two geniuses : the first was Mendeleef (or Mendeleev, as Google prompts). Mendeleev was a chemist who brought structure into the organization of elements. Da Vinci was the second genius that my teacher referred to and I remember him telling us that Da Vinci could draw a perfect...

REVIEW OF "BLACK", THE HINDI MOVIE     My wife and I saw "Black", the Hindi movie today. It is a moving film, which is a director's showpiece all the way through. I am an Amitabh fan and this is one of his best performances as an alcoholic teacher Devraj Sahai to the deaf-blind Michelle McNealy, played by a deglamourised Rani Mukherji.     Sanjay Leela Bhansali likes playing with light, shade and the elements. A case in point is the scene where Aishwariya Rai runs towards the gate in search of Devdas in that movie. The white sari that blows in the wind behind her, in my view, represents both wind and water when I see the sary billowing like the waves of the sea. The elements of light, water and wind are always present in all of Bhansali's movies.     "Black", despite its name, is no exception. The movie starts predictably with the screen in darkness and Michelle introducing us to her world of blindness and silence. It is later that the eleme...