No Man's Land

Last weekend I had a chance to watch the movie No Man's Land. The Hindi film Lagaan had lost the oscar for 'best foreign film' category to No Man's Land. Rightly so. No Man's Land deserved the oscar and other numerous awards that it had bagged.

A powerful movie showcasing brilliantly the futilty of war. The film brings out the hatredness among waring regions, the hypocrisy that prevails in the media, the uselessness of United Nations splendidly. The story is universal. Consider any war torn regions the film fits aptly everywhere. Appreciate the director's talent in narrating a sensitive story seriously and with great wit.

Do grab the DVD if you haven't watched No Man's Land yet.

FM Radio

Many new FM Radio stations have come on air in Bangalore in recent past. I believe this is the case in many other metros in India. Radio listeners will have many choices now. But I have found them wanting. The talk of the radio jockeys leaves lot to be desired. To listen to a good song I will have to bear senseless chattering of the hosts, ads lacking in creativity and many songs of not my liking. The most irritating is the lack of sense in the talks of the hosts. This is more so if two or more are conducting the show. And I can’t understand why a radio jockey should repeat a catch line of the radio station a hundred times every minute. It’s painful to ears to listen to same wordings again and again. Add to this the listeners interacting with the hosts and sending SMS. The hosts will have to keep repeating the numbers to dial in and message. All this makes me to avoid the FM radios particularly when I am traveling and switch on my iPod which is loaded with songs and podcasts of my preferences. I do agree there are shows which are worth listening but those are few and far between. I can enjoy songs with my iPod sans all things that are boring with the FM radio stations. I hope the quality of shows improves, given the powerful media that it is, with people at all levels of society listening to it, imagine how effective the FM radios would be in bringing about a useful change.

Indian Cricket and Fighting Spirit

Rohit Brijnath is one sports columnist whose writing I follow keenly. He writes for The Hindu regularly. Be it Cricket, Athletics, Tennis or any other sport, he writes with great élan. Read his comments on the recent slump of Indian Cricket here.

"Fighting is many things. It is the constant warding off of impatience. It is battling the waistline. It is the honest struggle to lift personal standards. It is the desperate hanging on to concentration…Part of the contest of sport is not with opponent, but with the self, the ability to find faith and courage when the hands quiver. Furthermore the great player separates himself from the pack because he asks more from himself than others do"

Indian Cricketers should learn from their mistakes and others else they could well forget about the World Cup.