Life Etc Etc

Some roads you choose and some roads choose you. On a rainy Saturday afternoon the road led me to Salar Jung museum , the crown jewel of Hyderabad's vintage glory. The monument (Credits: Wikipedia) I had visited Salar Jung musuem before but I couldn't pass up on the chance to revel in history and marvel at the collection of one Mir Yousuf Ali Khan, Salar Jung III . The Man As soon as I entered the main block (the museum has 3 separate blocks) a sense of familiarity guided me through the maze of rooms and I was immediately lost in the lap of history. The only thing missing was a Salar Jung museum app(most museums in the west already have apps) which I could have easily downloaded from the Play Store . The app in turn would have laid out the map of the museum before me, guided me through various rooms and would have also given me an audio commentary for some important exhibits. The technology constraint notwithstanding I spent more than half a day at the museum an

More than two decades ago a 5 year old boy (yours truly) found himself in Abids which was certainly then the microcosm of Hyderabad. Abids in the 80s <Courtesy: OkaTeluguAbbayi > The occasion was a family outing to Zamarrud Cinema. And we are stepping out for not just any movie my friends, my parents decided that nothing less than the Raj Kapoor blockbuster Chori Chori was good enough for us. To be honest I wasn't exactly enthused about watching a black and white film of a bygone era even though the movie had all the credentials of a classic. But that was before I saw Zamarrud, the theatre where the movie was being played. Nested in the heart of Abids, Zamarrud was the perfect amalgamation of Hyderabad's old world charm and new fangled ways. Zamarrud was not just any theatre, it was one of the first air conditioned halls in Hyderabad, a premiere cinema hall which used to host the best of what the film industry had to offer and the place to go for Hyderabad'

Two teams punch their way into the Most Painful Performances in Cricket Hall of Fame  with their sheer misjudgment and lack of direction. Our dual inductees into the Hall of Fame share many similarities and their rivalry goes a long way back. These teams are guilty of burdening us (the fans) with two embarrassing sporting fails on the World Cup Stage. Without any further ado lets talk about the back story which intertwines these Hall of Fame inductions. The year was 1996, school was just about to finish when news arrived that Sri Lanka were 1/2 (read that as two wickets for one run) in the all important World Cup Semi-Final against India. That news was like nectar to my ears, I immediately rushed home, only to find that  Aravinda de Silva  had steadied the ship with a magical innings . Aravinda's fearless stroke play along with Roshan Mahanama's  resilience set India a testing but perfectly attainable target of 252 runs. Flashback India lost Sidhu's wicket quite early

The contest season is well and truly underway here in Toastmasters and this year we once again have a talented field of speakers vying for the foremost honor in public speaking. As an active contestant over the last few years, I have not only seen many success stories but have also seen quite a few trip ups which could have been avoided if only people knew what to watch out for. So here are a list of myths compiled using all my toastmasters’ experience which should probably help a contestant avoid a potential pothole. Have the audience in the palm of your hand <Courtesy:  Alexandre Pellaes > Myth 1– Current Trending Topics are a sure shot way to success : Let me admit picking up a hot issue definitely grabs eyeballs for starters but it’s the conviction with which you convey the argument that ultimately matters. One line of approach which attracts audience to such speeches is a personalized example. Let the audience know your perspective and then support your reasoning with

                                                                                                                                 Melvin Bibo V/S Sushil Kumar - A match made in Heaven  A picture speaks a thousands words but when pictures transcend into motion via live broadcast to tell a story of guts, gumption and glory an epic tale which should be passed down the ages is born. Life is reinvigorated and recharged through these tales. Each of these tales tell you not to give up in the face of insurmountable odds and to forge ahead in life with grit and conviction.  I came across one such tale when I read Ernest Hemingway's immortal classic " The Old Man and the Sea ". While many remember the novel for the tussle between Santiago (old man) and the marlin, I remember it for the arm wrestling match between a very much in prime Santiago and The Great African from Cienfuegos. The match is an epic back and forth affair and lasts an entire night before Santiago triumphs earni

125 years have rolled by since the comic genius, the showman and the master (the epithets will never end) Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin has graced earth and its also the centenary of his " Tramp " character (who first tiptoed into our hearts in the film " Kid Auto Races at Venice "). The timing couldn't have been better for me to pay my tributes to an all time Chaplin classic, The Circus . Charlie Chaplin and Laurel & Hardy films were a big part of my childhood and one of the first films I ever remember watching in a theater was another Chaplin classic " The Kid ". But despite watching several of his short films and masterpieces such as Modern Times and The Great Dictator I never knew that Chaplin made a movie called "The Circus" until a few weeks ago(Thank you Romedy for airing the picture and enlightening me). This won't be a typical review. I won't go too much into the plot but I will say this "The Circus"

Somewhere at the back of my mind I had to publish a follow-up to my previous commentary because in all these years of watching cricket there were lot more than just three performances which caused me pain. You might have already noticed that I am using the word ‘performances’ instead of ‘knocks’. This is because even though Cricket is a batsman’s game all the three departments of bowling, batting and fielding need to work in order to make a team go over the line. So here are a few embarrassing moments in the sport of cricket which have well and truly upped my pain levels. Shastri deadbats:   Ravi Shastri paved the way for many Indian triumphs over the course of his career but the 1992 world cup (which was also his last) came at a time when he was at the nadir of his powers. Shastri started off the world cup with a sluggish 57 (112) against England which India went on to lose by nine runs .   Shastri decelerated further in the next match against Australia where he blocked his way