Extracts from a Diary

I had planned to write on another topic, but a recent experience proved far more compelling. Personal Context Yesterday, the wife, her parents, and I had gone for a musical theatrical play – Humare Ram ft Ashutosh Rana and Rahull Bhuchar ( link to BookMyShow listing of it; may expire in future). The wife and I had booked the tickets mostly hoping that the parents would enjoy it. And, generally expecting a great performance from Ashutosh Rana, who was playing Ravan. Myths, Biases, and a Misunderstood Ram Few disclaimers are in order – I’ve been an agnostic + atheist since mid-teens and between Mahabharat and Ramayan, I’ve always been a bigger admirer of Mahabharat. And so it goes between Shri Krishna and Shri Ram. I have not read the reputed translations of these epics but mostly relying on pop-culture and TV adaptations, I’ve found the Ramayan’s narrative fairly straight-forward as against the layered narrative of Mahabharat. The use of grey characters with different (and changing) m...

In the past, on these pages , I've written about my love for the South African cricket team. There have been so many heartbreaks, what-ifs, if-onlys, near misses, and so close but yet so far.  Let's just look at the past 12-18 months as a build-up to this moment. The South African board has been facing some financial difficulties for a fair period now. They attempted to raise funds by starting a domestic T20 league and after a few unsuccessful attempts, they finally launched in Feb '23. Following that, they had the second season in Feb '24. What that also meant was that all the marquee players were playing in the domestic T20 league and of the 14 players they sent to New Zealand, seven were making their Test debuts ( Cricinfo link  for article). They lost that series 2-0. June '24 was the T20 World Cup final between India and South Africa ( match scorecard ). Having played well through the tournament, South Africa were now in a solid position, 16 overs into their ru...

(Courtesy: Zeitgeist Films; distributors of the movie) I normally don't do reviews. I can't pin down my reasons for the same. It's probably a mixture of the fact that it takes an 'inspired' (no, not in the sense Hindi film industry/reviewers use it) movie to inspire me to think about a movie enough. And, it takes more than that to inspire enough to write something about it. It might be something to do with my need for pushing a certain movie (which, in turn, can be broken down but I would rather care not to, at this point), or something to do with sparking off a thought. Or, something that effects me emotionally. I felt Chaitanya Tamhane's debut movie, Court (trailer here , synopsis here ), achieved those and more. It had its issues. The biggest of them all being, essentially, this tendency of characters to just generally stare at blankness while driving/walking/existing. And, 'slowness' (or my need, as a viewer, for the movie to just 'get o...

As far back as I can remember, I always supported South African Cricket Team. I remember being conflicted about supporting Indian cricket team at various points through my childhood (and beyond?) but always remember being a Proteas' supporter. Maybe not such a strong one during the '96 world cup, which is also among the earliest memories of cricket I remember.  Now, for some reasons quite a few of my friends and acquaintances associate me with being rational, lacking emotion, or just lacking in empathy. I don't think that is completely true but that's for another day. What is not, is the next paragraph. (Yes, this paragraph was put in here randomly, without caring much about the flow and as an afterthought.) By the '99 version of it, I'd read about their readmission in '92, come to know about and admire their players like Fannie de Villiers (oh the action!), Brian McMillan (strictly an okay old-rounder says my cynical-of-nostalgia brain but as a kid...