Movie Review – City of God

City of God, I had watched during my initial days of movie viewing. I was charmed by its exuberance at that time. It’s one of the very good foreign movies to start first up. It has enough mix of action, violence, twits and some fast paced editing. The narrative needless to say is brilliant. As I had forgotten almost the whole movie except for the stunning climax and the tracking shot of Shaggy, the movie was entertaining. But it would have been even more entertaining for people who had watched for the first time. I’m not sure whether I’m getting tired of action movies as such or I’m getting tired to watch the same action film for the second time.

This is a curious reason. Because Terminator 2 never got me bored, what I watched like 20 times? But City of God in spite of being a good movie didn’t charm me like Terminator 2 did. What’s the reason? Is Terminator 2 a better movie than City of God? That’s debatable. But whether Terminator 2 charms you more than City of God. Hell yeah!

The best thing about City of God is a guy like Rocket wins at last, even if he doesn’t he stays alive. The concept of ‘eye for an eye makes the whole world blind’ is superbly shown. You get into violence, you die of violence. Rocket gets a lot of chance to be one among them but he chooses the more straightforward path, a boring path. It’s not easy to be a normal loser guy in the midst of so many hoodlums. But rocket does that.

Much has to be credited to the way City of God was written. It exactly conveys the emotion of a teenager. It doesn’t tell you anything philosophically in a direct way but gets you intrigued with its philosophy. That’s the beauty about City of God. For example there is a scene where he has so many photos that would make him famous and rich. He carefully chooses the one which would make him rich and avoids the one which would make him famous. That’s the kind of guy Rocket is. Even though Lil’ze had killed his brother, when he gets the camera from him he has a smile in his face. In return making us smile too.

I liked the younger version of Lil’ze i.e. Lil’dice, especially during the shootout scene where he massacres the hotel residents. It was fun. It had to be cruel, it was but it was fun. In fact I liked the whole of hotel scene. The reaction from one of the tender trio, I guess Shaggy when he enters into the room where people involve in threesome act, he says, “what kind of hotel is this.” That was epic. Editing needless to say was fabulous for the hotel scene, in fact for the whole movie. The treatment given to the movie is what made the movie special.

Even though I wasn’t remembering a lot about City of God while watching Slumdog Millionaire, I felt Slumdog was a dubbed version of City of God. If City of God had been shot in English it’d have become like Slumdog. Slumdog as a standalone movie was decent but whether it was as appealing as City of God is a big question.

This movie made me more intrigued about Rocket than anything else because it’s through him we hear the story. He’s one hell of a happy go lucky guy. If he could be so content in a surrounding like City of God, think how happy he’d have been in a less violent society. Like the camera scene I mentioned above, look at the scene where he initially gets the camera as gift from Benny. Benny has the girl whom Rocket wants to be with but instead of being jealous he enjoys the DJ and gets happy for camera. His sadness is always short lived. I loved that guy Rocket.

If only people could be as charming as Rocket, life could be very less complicated.

Movie Review – Kaaka Muttai

There is always a problem with going to a widely acclaimed ‘art’ film. You never know how much of ‘art’ people could take in. Kakka Muttai had a variety of audience when I viewed. Mostly upper middle class with a eenie meenie bit of people from lower strata. Kakka Muttai is a film which was mostly targeted to be the slap on the face of people from higher strata. But here we are appreciating the film for its subject and rawness.

I mean, why must a film always have to be issue based to get national award or any other country. Kakka Muttai cinematically lacks a lot but that’s to the issue and stellar cast, it steals the show. Even the portrayal of kids isn’t as awesome as Iranian films where most of the times it’s always the young actors who are protagonists.

Kakka Muttai like any other issue based film too opens up in the similar fashion. We get to know about the title in a nice way. And as expected an upper class landlord takes the place where these kids play to convert it to a restaurant. The time frame it takes to convert wasn’t clearly shown. One day the land is taken, the other day you see the restaurant. The pace could have been gradual.

In the mean time you see how ‘happy’ people are in spite of having no money. If there is one actor who stole the show other than the china Kakka Muttai, it’s her. She was fabulous as a mother of two. The way she rejects the offer of joining the protest, the way she gets angry on the kids, the way she talks with her mother in law and best of the lot, the scene where she has a conversation with one of the MLA’s assistants to take his husband out. He asks whether the boy is her brother, she says it’s her child and pulls him closer. I was praying that the film shouldn’t go in an angle where the MLA would want her to sleep with him for the husband’s release. Thankfully it didn’t happen.

There were few scenes which were beautiful, like the one where the Periya Kakka Muttai to irritate his mother, asks his brother about his name. Once he replies as ‘Chinna Kakka Muttai’ he says his name is Periya Kakka Muttai and leaves the place. It was one of the beautifully choreographed scenes in the movie. Similarly when they both get enough money to go to Citi Center, Chinna Kakka Muttai says, “Namalla sathiyama ulla vida matangada.” It was brilliant. But the scene leading to it where they had to buy tickets for 12 rupees could have been made better by conductor asking two rupees from them.

For these good scenes there was equal number of bad scenes too, like the one where their mother says, why they would keep costly shops in those areas and the scene where the Kakka Muttai waits with a stick to steal the phone but at last moment goes against it. We know this is what the movie is trying to say. Why make it so obvious.

Climax even though a bit clichéd was lovely. When they got down the car to trumpets blowing, everyone felt happy for them.

Remember at first when I told about the irony of higher strata people watching this film and appreciating. It could be irony but it could also be because of the fact that everyone has a child’s heart inside. Everyone has a kind heart inside and everyone wants to know how every other person lives. It could be as simple as that too.

Movie Review – Inception

The first time when I watched Inception in a huge deserted Devi Paradise, when totem spun in the climax and was about to fall, the pleasure was enormous. I was at my happiest phase in my life. The same couldn’t be said when I watched the film in lap top for the second time. Much has to be attributed to my mentality towards the movie but various other factors like sound, lighting too played its part.

This was the first time I was watching a Nolan movie for second time, I wanted to know what it feels like watching a Nolan movie after knowing the twist. To be honest I’ve got bored of Nolan. It only feels good in theatre with all those effects but after that it becomes a stale product. That too watching Inception for the second time after Interstellar, it just didn’t create an impact.

Nolan is a great craftsman, a very good writer and a meticulous planner. All the traits that’s needed for a blockbuster director. I got a chance to see the making of Inception, the way he had handled the famous zero gravity scene and the sound effects in Paris café scene. It was all so meticulously planned, a great effort involved. These are the traits a blockbuster director must have. Problem arises when they take Nolan to godly stature.

When you see the trailer with DiCaprio in close up telling, “I specialize in a very specific type of security, subconscious security.” You get wooed by the film. DiCaprio is again a charmer, who would perfectly suit for a film like this. No one had used him like Scorsese did, be it both Departed and The Wolf of Wall Street but he adds the necessary charm to a movie like Inception. If one has to portray a person who is in tyranny he’s the best. Got to know that DiCaprio had rejected Nolan’s offer for a lot of time and finally agreed for this one. He might be correct in doing so as Nolan’s movie revolves about plot more than performances.

The entire cast is so well organized and hand-picked. Joseph Gordon Levitt, needless to say would be the perfect ban to be ally, a man who doesn’t complain. Tom Hardy comes as a charmer. No one could have portrayed confusion in a better way than Marion Cottilard. Then there are regulars who are destined to play their roles well, like Ken Watanabe, Michael Caine etc. Ellen Page was the most curious and charming character in the movie, that’s actually a genius picking.

There were few scenes which were cleverly dealt, like how Saito watches the safe when told about secret, how the watch hand moves in a different pace in each dream and his explanation about the dreams. Even though his explanations are literal, when you hear it for the first time it makes you say ‘wow’. It’s both his boon and bane. You of course want to be wowed by a film but if it happens on your own and not by some spoon feeding it’d be good. Whenever a discussion about Inception happens people tend to forget everything about the look, feel, impact of the film and discuss only about the plot.

But I’ve to give to Nolan for still sticking to film reels and more importantly not using 3D. He could have easily used 3D in Inception where the roads bend, the car crashes, the trains run in the middle of the road creating havoc. All these would have looked even more majestically in 3D but he stayed out of it. He has some policy and that is appreciable.

Movie Review – Premam

When you watch a couple of movies and want to write about a movie which doesn’t stand first in the order you watched, it pretty much tells the story. I was smitten by Premam. I confess! It’s nothing new that I haven’t seen, but it was a pure happy movie. Coming from a new gen director, a movie with positivity and not about positivity itself is a huge relief. When black comedies and negative characters are ruling the roost, here is a movie which woos you, charms you, sweeps you out of your feet with its cuteness.

Premam stars Nivin Pauly as George, a charmer that he is, carries the whole movie in his shoulder. And has a couple of friends in the form of Koya (Krishna Shankar) and Shambu (Shabareesh Varma). They don’t have much to do. But they always remain with him, right from the time they have chaya to pazampuri to Absinthe. They’ll always be there. There aren’t any overtly emotional filmy friendship dialogues or there aren’t any big deeds as to why they become friends. But they don’t go out of focus but that doesn’t stop from George taking the center focus. They are like the Tamil Alphabet ‘ஃ ‘. George directly goes to the top settles for the center spot and they both settle for the below spot. They think that’s where they belong. I have a couple of friends, Lokesh and Arun, neither am I a charmer nor do we get involved in any heroic activities. With others generally complaining of my bossy attitude I’ve asked them whether I’ve been selfish or bossy. They’ll give a blank stare. I stopped asking after a couple of times. Made me think that they are comfortable and knowing that I was comfortable.

Don’t know why, but quite recently, acting bug has bit me. Well, who wouldn’t love to do a role like George. He was perfect. Only two actors of current era can be perfect in the roles. Before it was only Ranbir and now it is Nivin. I’m a fan of Vikram but that doesn’t mean he’s perfect. Ranbir and Nivin being perfect don’t mean all they touch will be gold. But they are perfect. That’s that.

The opening credits of the film where they show a butterfly and camera slightly moving here and there like a balloon trapped inside the box which floats here and there but gets stuck to the boundary and returns. Even when the balloon touches the walls of the box it doesn’t look harsh, it’s cute. It doesn’t look like a tennis ball hitting the wall. This is one movie where I have to hurt my ego and use the word ‘cute’ a lot of times. At certain points you feel as if the camera will move out of the fence but it peeps out and gets back to the same position. The whole film has that effect emotionally as well as that type of framing.

It also takes a lot of effort to make a poster out of a simple insect like butterfly. It’s like making a poster with heart symbol for a movie called ‘Love’. The way he uses the butterfly to symbolize various stages of love was brilliant. The usage of food in all junctions of the movie and how the hero turns out to start a bakery was a brilliant way of storytelling. (Credit for this point has to go to my friend.)

We get to see George’s life from his 12^th standard. Like everyone in the tea shop he’s also behind Mary (Anupama Parameshwaran), a true village beauty. Like him even I fell in love with her. The best thing about the part where these people go behind Mary was, no one gets ridiculed and George doesn’t get to be better than the others or worse than the others. He’s as much in the chaos as the others are. For Mary they all are same. If we had taken out George and followed other guys, I’m sure it’d have been the same story as that of George. And Mary, what a girl she was. I’m still to come out of the web she cast on me and yet to stop humming Aluva Puzha. Add to it, the brilliant use of center framing to depict two sides of story was a treat to watch.

Next part, for most would have been the favorite. Right from the time where ‘Palu kadikunu…’ song starts I was hooked. Heroism at its peak. The way the scene intercuts between slow mo and normal speed was a treat to watch. It’s not that these three guys are doing something extraordinary, they rebel without cause but they do it in style. Especially when they get together in the climax and this song plays in the background, it was a riot. The second part wasn’t awesome only because of his heroism but also because of Malar (Sai Pallavi), whom he falls in love similar to me who again fell in love. Malar is ideal, she’s beautiful, rustic, intelligent, has a great voice, charming and best of all elder to you. In addition to that, special mention has to be given to Malar’s makeup artist. It was brilliant with pimples, slightly oily face etc. In her first scene she would be called by George and gang for ragging. She would say she’s a teacher and George would lower his sunglasses to see her and say, “oh Tamil ah.” It was brilliant. The whole second part of the story shows George’s confidence. The romance was brilliant. It didn’t have to end the way it had to. I’d have preferred them to part ways without telling each other about their love, right after the dance program but this meant that we could curse the destiny and not them.

Third part was my least favorite for two reasons, Nivin Pauly didn’t look good. May be he was supposed to look boring and it got quite evident that a conclusion is going to happen. Next to it the Scene Contra song and liquor sequences seem to be purposefully injected, even though ‘Absinthe’ scene gave me laugh and I’m sure would have made all my close friends laugh too. Funny thing was Koya exactly says my dialogue of ‘68% alcohol’ when he opens the bottle. The third heroine looked plasticky to me, many called her cute. She seemed to be a nice person but remained my least favorite because there wasn’t any curiosity about her. If instead of showing Celine (Madonna Sebastian) as a young girl occupying Rosy, if they had shown her as Mary’s own sister it’d have been even better. Because that’s how I understood the movie.

This is not a story which has never been seen before. We of course have seen similar films like this in the form of Autograph, Varanam Ayiram, Boyhood etc. but the charm Premam packs to itself couldn’t be put into words. Makes me love Malayalam movies love more than Malayali girls. Adipoli!

Premam, come fall in love.

To Dad, With Love

To Dad,

As far as I remember the very first incident that comes to my mind on this special day is when my dad took an ailing me in bike to school during my 4^th standard, may be, from my house in Chellapa Gramani Street to Sathya school which was five streets away from my home. I had this peculiar habit like every kid to get ill on the mornings to school. I get headaches on the mornings before going to school but the moment I see my friends it vanishes off. Similarly I had headache that day. My mom generally neglects whenever I say I have headache as she thought I was acting. She somehow knew when I was really ill and when I was feeling like I’m ill.

On that day she thought I wasn’t really ill but my dad who was always concerned about my headache no matter what, was skeptic about me going to school that day. But with much reluctance I went to school. I have a habit of sitting in my dad’s scooter facing the road and not him i.e. in the opposite direction, if you know what I mean. On that day as I was not feeling well I sat with my face facing his back. We had to cross Purasaiwalkam market to reach school. After crossing a couple of streets. I vomited on him. I was very much embarrassed as I vomited on him on a place where he is known. And that too during school hours the area used to be crowded beyond imagination. A street dweller there asked my dad, “Em pa ipdi odambu sariyilatha payana schooluku itunu porae?” He gave a smile and dropped me back home. I slept for a couple of hours and got up. My fever totally vanished and I forgot the incident. But ever since then I’ve wanted to say sorry to my dad for embarrassing him in public. Dad, sorry!

If I have to say sorry there are millions of incidences. Being a parent one is bound be on that side, that’s a fate. But when it comes to humiliations the closest that comes next to this is my dad standing in front of teachers during my parent teachers meeting. One thing I absolutely hated. I have hated studies ever since I remember. However I try I couldn’t concentrate during a lecture, I couldn’t study for more than ten minutes at a stretch. After my dad faces humiliation in front of my teacher, after every term exams, after every birthday and after every New Year I take an oath to get good marks but it never happened. Well… that’s me for you. A sorry again Dad!

I’ve been to his office a numerous times and I see almost all the people praising and lauding him and I see him mingling well with a lot many people. No partiality and stuff. His jokes which are worse at home works very well in office. He talks very less in office. Though our criticism to stop cracking stupid jokes has made him a person who cracks good jokes, credit has to be given to him for implementing it so efficiently.

Not only in office, every time I go to my home town the immense respect he gets is truly commendable. My mom’s side relatives naturally don’t like my grandma i.e. my dad’s mom but they themselves have said that they were keeping mum because of my dad.

Just because my dad is retiring today I don’t want to say he is perfect in everything he has his own flaws; he has things that irritates me the most. The first thing that comes to my mind is his optimism. I’ll quote an example. The nearest railway station from my home is 1 km whereas the bus stop to home where we previously stayed is about 500 meters. Instead of considering this as an issue he says that it’s good as he could walk which in turn is good for his health. People who hear it, third person won’t know how much it irritates. It’s okay to say that it’s good to walk but sometimes facts have to be accepted. Never is all izz well.

The second most annoying thing is his attempt to get perfection. He doesn’t want even a single criticism against him. Be it during house warming ceremony or the recent 60^th birthday celebration. He wants to hear only good words from people. He’s 60 but still he’s not able to accept that perfection is a myth.

But say whatever he has worked for 42 years and 39 years in the same company. A true workaholic, a term that he doesn’t like to be termed with but a term which defines him. My mom hates him for being so. I’m amazed as to how some person can be a workaholic for 39 years. I’ve barely managed 3 years in office but the amount of insults, criticisms is more than ever. He 39 years in office definitely wouldn’t have been all fruitful. Though he’s facing a few problems now I have never seen him complain about his office. For his sincerity he definitely deserves a bow.

Finally, something which I always wanted to say but always felt shy to say, particularly coming from me this might sound even more cheesy. Whatever, Love You Dad. And as usual this piece too will go public without anyone in my family knowing about me.

And as for the title, E.R. Braithwaite To sir with love is one of my dad’s favorite books which I’m still to read. I found this title apt to tweak so that it fits the piece like a tee. Apt enough isn’t it?

With love,
Your son
M N Vikram

Travelogue – Ouster to Orissa

First of all thank you Panda, not for getting married but for making us plan a trip out of the blue. Orissa was never in my checklist for the year. Further I had just returned from Palakkad, the weekend before. Even worse I was to travel on my birthday. But it was all worth it. One of my friends said when cutting a cake in train, “For a person who likes to travel, he is cutting a cake in train.” But as usual when I said that you didn’t wish me, you were like, “Ahnnn June 4 Environment Day” (which itself was wrong) and giving me your Mehandi hand to shake hand. Seriously?

But still I don’t know what sort of drug was induced in you to make you fair and glow. The head scratching, here and there walking, meditating in public, loading icons in desktop Sushrita was never this pretty. Enough of telling good things about you. Let’s come to the travelogue.

It was just a two day plan. One day in Behrampur and another day in Puri.

Day 1 – Behrampur and Gopalpur Beach

Most part of day went in attending marriage celebrations. For some strange reason my parents, in fact all parents get really curious when someone is getting married. I told you a lot of times Sushrita. If you just say a word my family would accompany me. They are as hopeless as I am. But you did the mistake and we all were there.

The hotel room was great. It felt different to be in a good room after a lot of time. A room which would cost more than my entire trip expense. But felt very comfortable. I don’t know how we would have survived there without AC. This was the first place which I felt to be more humid than Chennai. But thanks to the lady luck. We were garnered with showers here and there. So we were saved.

Once the marriage got over we were advised to go to Gopalpur beach. It was a kind of different beach where you need to walk down the stairs to reach the shore. Being in Chennai any beach wouldn’t look magnanimous like Marina. But thanks to the nice weather the beach was awesome. The ride to beach was fabulous. Bad that we had heavy lunch that day and I lost my lens cap. Otherwise I would have been in a better mood to enjoy beach. But the beach did change my mood.

Have to tell about street food. The flavor of the place can be identified by the street food joints in the place. The previous day we had just the Pani Puri. But just is an understatement. You need to know how to hold the twisted leaf plate he gives otherwise it’d be a mess. Every place has its own variety of pani puri. This by far for me was the best. Especially the free puri at the end.

After beach we had Mutton Sheekh Kebab for 20 rupees, on a better day I’d have feasted on that. Chicken sheek kebab was for 10 rupees. Add to it 5 rupees flavored soda. My day was made. We came back to Behrampur and tried out the vada, pakoda stall which my dad found out the previous day. One plate of Sambar Vada and mixture of mirch pakoda, dal vada etc was too heavy for us, that we were left for gasping.

But the best thing about that day was we ended up with milk for 10 rupees. Whenever I don’t have milk at the end of the day I feel as if something has gone wrong in my system. Good that I had milk, so slept peacefully. Escaped from the bed bugs or whatever that was, which didn’t let me sleep the previous day.

Day 2 – Puri and Konark

I actually told about this Orissa plan to my parents because of Puri Jagannath temple. I was under a self-imposed obligation that I should take them there. So here we are. Our train was at 5’o clock from Behrampur. When we asked the receptionist whether we’d get auto at that time he said quite nonchalantly, “mil jayeaga” (You’ll get it). But when we came out at 4.30 that day morning there wasn’t an auto to be seen. Luckily an auto with two passengers passed, who asked us whether it is okay for us to share with them. We were more than okay.

Auto from railway station to the hotel cost us 70 rupees but the auto to station at 4.30 in the morning cost us only 50 rupees as there were couple of other passengers who shared the remaining amount. The auto guy too was very helpful, telling us there would be a train to Puri at this time. He wasn’t aware that we had booked tickets.

The train was half an hour late. I used the time judiciously by reading a Murakami short that I got from someone. I of course didn’t understand what it was trying to say. As soon as I finished the story I slept and got up only at Puri junction.

It was hot like hell at 10 AM. Thank god dad’s friend was there with AC car. Otherwise it’d have been horrible to go around in public transport. We had idly, aloo, chenna and vada in the morning. I found it out to be fabulous but others didn’t. Our total family breakfast was for 55 rupees. I feel happy when things like these happen.

After getting freshened up we went to Puri. It was the most pathetic temple I’ve ever been too where priests literally pull money from our hand. When we were giving 10, 20 rupees for darshan, the priest wasn’t accepting anything below 100.

We went to the huge cooking room where they cook with one center flame. But that again, before giving it for free, they sell as much as possible. Horrible place. Add to it, the heat was taking its toll on us.

After having thali lunch we relaxed for an hour and got ready to go to a Buddhist temple and Konark on the way to Bhubaneshwar, from where we would be catching our train. The road from Puri to Konark was fabulous. Called Marine Drive, the shady roads which thanks to the weather was even better with winds and twilight. Driving would have been awesome there. Both bike and car.

Having heard much about Konark temple from a friend of mine, I was skeptical to step into it. But much of the sex positions was either depleted or wasn’t understandable in one glance. I wonder what the guide would have told about the sculptures. But I overheard one guide telling that, “What we really think about Konark is not what it really is.” My conscience doesn’t let me have a guide. I feel cheated. But to know better I have to start hiring a guide.

Konark was fabulous, the brown sculptures with green background, twilight. It was a photographer’s delight. Great place to shoot song sequence. It’d have been great it no one had been there. Photos would have come out really well.

As we wasted too much time in Konark we couldn’t cover the Buddhist temple. We had to go to Bhubaneswar, have dinner there and start to catch train. Coramandel express was said to be best by couple of my friends but it was crowded like hell with open ticket people. When you travel in the east coast most of the people are workers. You feel pity for them but you can’t help. You have to have your seat. In a way everything is an experience.

Movie Review – Siberian Education

This movie could have easily been a cult blockbuster if had been made in India. With the treatment which Ram Gopal Varma gives, this movie could have been a great blockbuster film. Siberian Education had every bit of character that was necessary for a blockbuster film. Initially I misunderstood this film to be a famous extremely violent movie. I wanted to watch one such movie to sooth my nerves as I was getting restless but it ended up to be a different type of film.

Many scenes remind you of Eastern Promises but definitely the movie wasn’t of that standard. But the set up was similar. The lead characters talk in thick Russian accent, they look like characters taken right of Dan Brown books. The difference being the Russians here are both antagonists and protagonists, unlike James Bond films where Russians are only villains. How long have I been thinking that Russia is another Afghanistan where their only job is to make bombs? Even in Afghanistan we don’t know what’s happening. We only know what is projected to us.

John Malkovich aka Granpa Kuzja does a Don Corleone here. In fact all actors do their job perfectly even though they’re all type casted. A don with heart of gold, a good gangster, a bad gangster, an innocent girl and their set of naïve friends. It’d have been better if there had been more of grey characters than just being black and white. Because the tension isn’t much. When you see Gagarin you almost get that he’s going to be the villain. It’s the same with Kolima, you sense he’s going to end up victorious. But how is the matter and they do it in style.

All the characters develop in a curious way. Granpa’s way of teaching and the way he held command was awesome. The way we get to know about his character, slowly, from bad to good was terrific. We see two disciples of his, the safe guy Kolima and the more adventurous guy Gagarian. Gagarian turns out to be the bad fella. You can say that he has it in him, citing the scene where he takes gun to police or you can say that he was made into a bad guy because of his stint in jail. May be Gagarian would have been good if he had his Granpa along with him throughout. May be he’d have had his evil nature at least in front of Grandpa. Kolima on the other hand grows up to be a well cultured boy who firmly believes in his Granpa’s teachings. When Kolima goes to jail he’s already grown up and he knows what he is. So the jail life of Gagarian and Kolima really can’t be compared.

I loved the climax which I’d not like to reveal. But editing I feel could have been better. The way it goes here and there was not done masterfully. It happens out of a sudden but it doesn’t surprise us. It just ends up irritating, not letting us get involved in any of the story. But Kolima’s revenge story was terrific, the way he goes about finding Gagarian and the pain that he takes was terrific.

I also liked the way they pronounced the word Siberia as Sea-beria instead of traditional Si-beria. This movie didn’t become big, may be because of its forceful translation to English. May be it’d have been a better movie if made in Russian. We’d have got a feel like ‘City of God’

Travelogue – Of Palakkad, Tabula Rasa and Birthday Celebrations

It’s one of the days you want to write. May be I’ve said this more than once but it’s one of those days. Travel is about experience more than happiness is what I think. Being happy has become a norm. So almost every trip has given me some experience. I don’t want to categorize it as good or bad; rather I’d do it as happy and sad. Isn’t there a bit of happiness even when one is sad and a certain bit of sadness when one is happy. Soma asked me sometime during the trip, about the feel that I get in trip, the learning, how long will it last. I replied that it’d go off in few days. When I cut the cake on Sunday night at 12PM in train, it was quiet, it was silent, it was a different feeling, I don’t want to demean the feeling by saying I was happy. I was not. It felt different and it’s an experience. When I completed my performance in theatre I had a kind of feeling which I couldn’t explain in words, this cake cutting was a feeling like that.

Before you go further let me announce that it’s not going to be just a travelogue of Palakkad, it would also include the things that I did for past one year (which I always wanted to write about) and my experience with Tabula Rasa (the best thing to have happened in past one year).

I’m a kind of person whom anybody would think twice to get close to. Rangan in his recent high class Kalaai of Linga had mentioned how tough it is to make romantic song sequence for Rajni because he is of a certain age and has a kind of image where there are severe restrictions in getting close to heroines. He directly can’t come, grab the waist of heroines in songs. I feel I’m like Atul Kulkarni trying to Amir Khan in Rang De Basanti. Think how a disaster that would be. Similarly with me people directly can’t come apply cake on face. Not that I’m against cake cutting or stuff but people who were with me know what I’m talking about. So the train cake cutting served to be a good excuse. There is an advertisement of people silently singing birthday song, it was similar, everyone were tired but the very fact that they all wanted to stay till 12 and cut the cake was commendable.

It was the first time I was travelling with so many people, with so many people I like. First time with couple of girls whom I was not trying to hit on to. I don’t know whether I should attribute it to my growing old or getting wiser. Whatever it was it felt good. There was lot of commotion, confusion before we started on the trip. We were totally 9 people at first to start for the trip. Mani anna had to back off because he had a relative’s sudden marriage to attend.

The rest 7 set off for the trip. But a lot happened between the booking period and the actual journey. It was Ramya first wanting to go to friends’ house warming which happened to be on the day we were leaving. She was in a dilemma whether to go for it or not as she didn’t want to miss our first train journey together. But sadly she had to. Then there was Smitha’s 1000-tone-stone-on-the-head-story of her getting engaged. Being an anti-marriage counselor amongst my friends, my friends had to apologize before they get married. So needless to say I was upset when Smitha said she was getting married. I shouldn’t have been but I was. I’m really bad at masking my feelings. But that was our incident which got us close. She had to undergo the pain of saying that she won’t be coming for trip to everyone during our group lunch. Problem was if a girl drops out, automatically the other one too will. That meant Ramya would drop off but Ramya said, “what if we go for day trip and return to Coimbatore by night.” I felt good. I never thought Ramya would agree for such a suggestion. Once again she surprised me.

But the very next day Smitha’s engagement got called off and we were all on cloud nine (yes, such morons we were, not even having basic decency to hide the joy). Ballons, wide grin smileys, party poppers were all flying across in whatsapp. It was a relieved gang. Smitha told me that she told John that “only death can stop me now.” Wow. That was quite a confession. I felt happy that the rest too wanted to make it to the trip as much as I want them to. Then there was a big miss of Isanaka dropping off due to personal reasons. We couldn’t convince him to get to the trip. That meant we were going to miss a lot of fun. Worse than that, a couple of days before, that Raja too was gonna miss the train journey but it was good as Ramya had some company at the station.  They were set to come in the same train we were to go, just that they’d be joining from Coimbatore. It meant that my long term wish of occupying the whole coupe was still unfulfilled.

Everyone was excited about the trip. I went home by 3’o clock bus. Others came to station directly. Smitha, John, Lakshman and Soma were waiting in station. There was huge traffic outside but being an extra cautious person I started early so reached station on time. I was having views of us missing the train, whenever I was stuck in traffic. I thought even if we miss the train we’d find some way to go to some place. When I was about to narrate the same to Smitha, “I was in bus and was thinking that what if I miss the train.” Before I could complete she was like, “we’d have asked you to forward the ticket.” Never did I think that someone would dare to reply me in that way. Smitha is the one only one who has got the privilege to irritate me in whichever ways she wants. Not that I gave her the privilege. She took it on her own. Smitha! I owe you one!

Next was train journey, from the first Soma was the one who was very excited about the trip. I liked it too. I must say, Soma’s friendship is the biggest plus of the trip. Everyone got close to him. Followed by Ramya’s honesty, which we’ll talk about later. Soma was constantly repeating that he was having a surreal feeling, of us all being together. It wasn’t surreal for me but I felt happy. I felt content. I felt safe. I feel unsafe, insecure at most places. But with these people it felt like a family. Smitha and John too shared the same opinion. As the 3 R’s were not there the fun element wasn’t much. But Smitha and John too shared the ‘nice’ feeling that I had. Thinking of it, the ghost stories, without lights, with train sound, it all felt so nice. Feel like relieving the moment again.

As I had slept in the afternoon I wasn’t feeling sleepy. Smitha, the machine that she is, wasn’t feeling sleepy too but as usual irritating me saying that she wanted to sleep. And only I and Lakshman weren’t having any ghost stories to share. But soon Lakshman, Soma and John set off to sleep so Smitha and I too slept. We talked till 12.30 AM and I slept off hearing songs from Smitha’s mobile, velli kolusu pola… Little did I know that John was to constantly hum and reverberate our ear drums with that song for the next two days. Apart from one other song we kept on listening in awe was ‘yeh jo des hae tera…” I don’t know how it came but we watched it first in train, the MTV video and kept on listening to the song till the end. But more than anything, the important point to be noted here is, a girl giving her mobile to someone else and sleeping. Smitha Seriously? I hate to appreciate you but had to. Kudos!

Day 1 – Silent Valley

I had asked Soma to inform Raja to call him when he boarded but whenever the train stopped in any station I was having a mental image of Ramya and Raja entering the train. Being the daddy of the gang, I woke up without an alarm in Coimbatore station. Made Ramya and Raja sit in our coupe. Ramya once again surprised me, she was a rocker at 4AM. I was expecting a sleepy faced baby girl giving a quirky smile when she sees me in station but she was like… a stunner. All ‘yo’ with sweatshirt and jeans. As soon as they settled in the coupe Smitha woke up, followed by John, Lakshman and Soma at last. I didn’t feel sleepy; guess it was due to excitement. We decided that we’d take a room and then go to silent valley.

In an hour or so we reached Palakkad, had tea, Ramya had milk, the next day she had Horlicks (bring feeding bottle next time girl) and set off to search hotel. In first hotel we were looked as a group of pimps carrying a couple of girls with us. He was okay to give room but it wasn’t to our satisfaction. So we rejected. Next was an overtly open minded hotel guy who was again and again insisting on having two 3 beds instead of one 3 + 2 bed and a two bed for women. In spite of me repeatedly hinting that there are 2 girls so the rest 5 had to take other room he was mentioning that we were 7 and we could share between two 3 beds. Next time I’m coming with my girlfriend I’m coming there my boy.

Rooms were pretty decent and we quickly got freshened up, ate tomato rice brought by Raja which was divine. Good thing was he also had Tamarind Rice for lunch. That meant that we don’t have to worry about restaurants in the afternoon and food would be healthy. We started off to Mannarkad by bus. From there we had to change bus to Mukkali. The second bus journey was awesome, sitting in last row, with twists and turns.

We reached Silent valley in couple of hours, as we had booked our jeeps there we got into in quickly but to reduce cost we had to share the jeep with others. Raja and Soma got into a jeep. I, John, Lakshman, Ramya and Smitha got into another jeep. I got the front seat, and was satisfied with the camera. I was happy that Smitha was getting a feel of the surroundings. That’s something which you have to experience. It’s so easy to say, what’s there? Just trees and rocks. You either experience or not. There is nothing in between. She loved it. I could see that.

It felt nice to sit in first row, keep quiet and trying to pluck leaves, there were a lot happening behind but I wasn’t interested. Only after seeing the photos I could know what all had happened. It was okay, my experience was in front of me. I relished it, when Smitha behind me was also looking outside, being silent, I liked it. In every trek, travel, one from the group walks with me silently for about 30 minutes. They generally say that they like the stretch, I too do. It was a similar feeling. Another good thing about the group is, anyone could sit with anyone. Raja and Smitha are supposedly best friends (I envy that) and here they were sitting in separate vehicles.

In between the journey we were thinking of eating Tamarind Rice which Raja had brought. We were constantly raving Raja’s decision to have brought food for us. But only when the car stopped we met each other during a waterfall point where we filled our bottles. We got the biggest shock of our life when we got to know that Raja missed the Tamarind Rice in bus. Within minutes he became a villain from being a hero.

Next we were to get a jumping photo. That’s the highlight of the day. People were supposed to jump off from the stage in front of the falls and Raja first tried a trial jump. People who were not there, if you had come to this point of the article, wouldn’t find this paragraph to be amusing but the ones who were there, I’m sure that they couldn’t be reading this paragraph without a constant grin on their face.

What happened next was history. I asked them to jump on the count of 3. Raja asked, should it be on 3 or after 3. ‘On the count of 3’ got a new meaning there. I replied, “It’s on 3”. They all jumped. Most fell off. Raja got hurt in his tail bone, John rolled to my side laughing and we were all laughing. Little did we knew that Raja was going to hold his hips for the forthcoming day like a carrying woman.

After a grueling ride of about an hour and a half we reached the watch tower where only group was allowed to go at a time. I took photos of them at each floor and climbed up. The view was awesome. Got a couple of photos and climbed down.

Next was a short trek to the hanging bridge. The trek even though short was joyful. It had a good tree cover so we didn’t feel the heat much. Also got few good clicks in the hanging bridge. As we were the only ones there, it felt good. In spite of hot sun we were sitting in the hanging bridge for a long time. It felt awesome. While returning it took some effort as we had to climb uphill. Wasn’t that great a climb but still there was a marked difference.

We finally reached jeep, filled our bottles and started going downwards. I thought the whole gang would sleep but only Lakshman did. Ramya and Smitha were sitting with their legs out of the jeep. There was a collective ‘hooo’ when John was getting the leech out of his system. Other than that we all were silent. That’s a rarity. But the moment was lovely. We could attribute it to the fact that no one were willing to leave, no one wanted to get to civilization or everyone were plain silent for no reason. This happens with most of the return journeys. It happened again. It was again beautiful.

Once we came down we were really hungry and were searching for food. But we got to know that John had missed Soma’s cap. Meanwhile there was a gentleman who offered us jackfruit. Even better was his offer of coconut oil and paper. Once we were done with hogging the jackfruit we set off to restaurant. What’s awesome was we got Soma’s cap as the driver was near the restaurant.

The restaurant as such wasn’t anything great. Just a tea stall which offered food. We chose meals, parotta, beef curry, egg curry along with kattan Chaya. Everything was out of the world and completely satisfied our hunger pangs.

Next up we took bus to Mannarkad, thinking that we would go to Malampuza Dam but it got really late so got tickets till Palakkad in the same bus. Mannarkad to Palakkad journey was horrible with Soma on one side and Mark Henry on other. But finally we managed to reach Palakkad. Then I, John and Soma went for Kallu shopping and beer shopping. Finally came to room, took bath and settled. I could see that people were dead tired.

After a couple of hours, with food from restaurant and our kallu bottles we started off with the talks. It was first about whose mind we want to get into and the positive and negative things about each person. It was as honest as it could get. We all felt happy, sad, emotional etc. it was liberating. Opinion about me was as expected. John was all advice. Lakshman bear the brunt for most part. Sorry dude, nothing was personal. For me the worst moment was Ramya’s confession.

I couldn’t have chosen a worse moment than that to get under the fan. She started telling about her story and her eyes were swelling up with tears. To see her eyes getting filled up from that angle was horrible to look at. I was damn nervous as to what to do if she starts crying. If Smitha had been there if she’d have at least given a hug or something but I was sitting there like a stupid not knowing what to do. I was relieved that she didn’t cry. The conversation went on and on till 1’o clock. But we decided not to sleep until 3 AM. Good that even the girls were enthu about it. So we started playing Anthakshari to cool down the situation.

We sang and sang and kept on singing till 3.30 and went to bed. It was one of the best nights, with fun, laughter, song etc. We should dance too sometimes guys. That’s the only thing we missed. In all it was an awesome day 1 and we went to sleep fully satisfied.

Day 2 – Dhoni River and Malampuzha Dam

Needless to say we all were tired. What I thought to be 12.30 when I woke up was 8.30 but because of late night stay the previous day we were not able to check out that day morning. We had to pay one extra day rent. But I wasn’t much worried. I knew that I would not be able to get up early the next day morning and I was happy for once to have come out of daddy-of-the-gang role. Rest all too got up around that time. John was the last to get up, after I lied about the time being 12.30. What I thought was going to be a wasted day was eventful beyond comparison.

We started off to Dhoni River. A waterfall for which we had to trek 5Km. Nothing arduous as we had a road to walk through for most part. We got the direct bus to Dhoni base. You know about Kerala bus ride. It was nothing short of spectacular. Also Ramya got her life time wish of sitting in the engine. Don’t know what’s with this girl who wants to sit in the engine, stand near the door in train (which she did while returning to Chennai) etc. Once we reached we got entry tickets and started with the trek. Within minutes we heard a stream and we went there to see the first glimpse of water body. Smitha was excited, rest too were to some extent. They wanted to rest, enjoy the water. Lakshman got enthu to reach the top as soon as he saw the stream. But Ramya wasn’t feeling well. She’s the kind of girl who’d irritate you the most yet you don’t feel like scolding. She was visibly tired, her face showed it off, she said she had cramps and she’d be staying there. Smitha said she too will stay if Ramya stays. It was a tough situation. We couldn’t leave the girls behind as well I didn’t want Ramya to miss the best part. Every time someone or the other gets hurt, develops cramps etc. but somehow make it to the top and say that they took a good decision. I wanted Ramya too to feel the same way. After some cajoling she was fine with walking. Problem was I wasn’t sure whether it was cramps or something else. But she managed to not stop and walk from that place.

Meanwhile Raja too was in severe pain, but the guy whom I thought is good at heart also seemed to be having a heart to carry on with anything. He’s was crisscrossing the roads, like how my dad walks during ascent. He managed to walk, laugh it off and be steady. John and Lakshman were flawless and fast. Soma joined us here and there. Ramya on the other hand always wanted to take the short cut, reach the top fast. After climbing about 30 percent of the trail she said that she was tired and she’d stop there. She asked me how long it was. I said, “We’re almost there.” Smitha and co. let out a hearty laugh. Come on don’t blame me now. That innocent soul needed a little inspiration. Ramya was like, “no you are lying. I won’t come here.” Even though she was in pain it was cute. I don’t know, there is a bit of cuteness in all stupidity she does. Boy, you must see her tying her shoe laces.

She again started to walk. Next time she asked me how much we’ve passed. I said we still have 1.734 Km. Again Smitha gave me a cold stare and asked me to shut up. It was a joke for chrissake. Does anyone have a bone for humor here? I asked Ramya to stretch she didn’t, John asks her to sit in pebbles she does. Lesson learnt. Ramya listens only to John. That was my last instruction to her and that will be my last instruction to her. I realized that quite late though.

She wanted to climb into most dangerous paths, Smitha was kind enough to explain her not to. But on one path she started climbing. I had to stop her and climb first to check if the path is good. I think she knew I wouldn’t let her walk first, so used to the trick efficiently. Well played, Ramya. I’ll remember that. While returning I got to know that she wanted to try a similar route but when John said ‘No’ she didn’t. May be she knew that he wouldn’t walk ahead of her to find whether the path is treacherous or not. That was a good short cut, we went up, Soma took few photos. One of Smitha’s picture was a rocker (Oh Shit, I forgot I shouldn’t comment on your photo na). We reached almost the top and were hearing voices, some weird sounds. That was the best part of the trip.

Smitha was really worried. Ramya was shooing off mosquitoes, seriously? Soma, I don’t know what were you doing man. You were not afraid that I know. I was afraid, needless to say and was thinking about how to fight if a panther comes, I was mentally choreographing the action sequences with the panther and how I’d save all of them and would die eventually, making everyone cry for me. Wow that would have been a nice moment. It wasn’t as scary as the tiger moment in Bababudangiri though. Smitha on the other hand wanted everyone to come and only then she said that we should go. See Smitha you too take decision for others. Totally out of context, when I first heard the name Smitha I had a very demeaning opinion about the girl. Come on what kind of girl has the name as Smitha. You know what comes to our mind when we think of Smitha. I thought her to be like a flamboyant sucker who had joined theatre class just to show off that she’s in theatre and wouldn’t do anything but laugh for all silly jokes. Yes she does laugh for all silly jokes except for mine, with that tear-out-of-the-eye smiley. But boy, what a girl she turned out to be. Sincere, down to earth, punctual, understanding, kind etc. etc. Damn it, running out of adjectives here.

Okay coming back to the story. When John and Lakshman who had taken the long route joined us, there was one of the families who were coming down in the path which we were afraid to take. As we all joined together and the sound of buffalo had stopped we took the route and walked the final 750 meters to falls. The falls was nothing great, but by the time I reached. Ramya was already inside getting scolding from the security there. I also went inside and sat near the shallow water but again security shooed us off. We then took the path to the top of the falls were there were no one.

For the next couple of hours it was pure bliss. Everyone was there in their own world. I could see them happy. They really were happy or not I don’t know but I could see happiness in their face. We liked few photos; I clicked few of the best photos I’d ever done. It was Soma’s idea though. We were there. On top, carefree, happy, feeling our breath, thinking, retrospecting. On top of everything living, for once, we were living, for real.

My thought was mixed; I don’t know sadness stuck me. I watched everyone. I tell people that they shouldn’t judge but I do it all the time. I was thinking about the discussion we had the previous day. How harsh I was on Laskhman. How harsh I was on Ramya. How harsh I was on everyone. I was thinking about my negatives, how I choose the best seat, or decide for the others. Or whatever complaints that I got from people whom I like or the comments that really stuck me. I was observing John, he was clear but was sad. I was observing Soma he was happy but was insecure. I was observing Raja, couldn’t guess much, he was satisfied. I was observing Lakshman, he had a lot to tell but was afraid. I was observing Ramya, again couldn’t guess much but she was deep in her thoughts. She was the one who had biggest space around her. John was the only one whom she allows at least around the circumference. Felt like taking photo, but again why spoil the moment. She likes being alone, let her be alone. Then there was my yaar Smitha, she was in deep thought, may be kind of sad, but she was clear, like the water she was staring at. After sitting alone for a lot of time, I was thinking where to go, whom to talk to. I felt only like sitting next to her. Remember Smitha the Arun incident that I told. I thought I should be the Arun with you being Vikram and you’ll like it. Sometimes people want to be disturbed but I don’t know maybe I’m over analyzing. May be I intruded into your privacy. But I didn’t know who else I should go to. If I start thinking, it’s a problem for me. I start talking. Nowadays I feel I’m talking too much. May be I should become mute for some time. See it’s all coming down to me now.

Let’s move forward. That is downward, actually. Don’t know what I was thinking, I was wearing shoes to walk down. Raja or Lakshman I don’t know, asked me why am I wearing shoes as there was water in front. That’s how much absent minded I was. Ramya doing such a thing is natural but look at me, a guy who sees the cinema ticket like some 10 times before going to movie. I was absent minded. We then reached the top of water falls where we were wearing our shoes. Without my knowledge I was staring at Ramya tying her laces. Thanks to Smitha again for pointing it out. I turned away but I wanted to look. You might think I’m exaggerating but you should see her tying her laces. This scene would go well in a Karan Johar movie, remember Hrithik in KKKG. May be that’s why I like his movies. Again it came back to me, damn it!

We then climbed down, I had to be alone, I took the road straight down, I’m awesome at decent, I’ve noticed this every time, when people are tired and exhausted, I become really good. I didn’t want to boast about it to people when descending. So I thought I would walk alone. I was kind of sad too, I wanted to alone. I make it a point to walk alone at least for some part of the trek. It was nice. I was talking, talking to myself, exerting a lot of pressure on myself. I could see the other people being happy. I was confused, am I actually troubling them, would they be happy like this if I had not been there. “You lead,” said John when I said that I was afraid about my role without camera in a group. I felt good. This mirage of thoughts flow upon you when you walk alone. It’s a great way for self-introspection. Being an honest person it’s a problem. I tell everything to people when I experience something. May be they are not going to like this paragraph too but I have to write. I feel this is the honesty which people would like to read in my work. With Arun and Jeeva I’ve never had the problem of being honest. They could understand. John kind of adores me so I think he can understand. Smitha I don’t know whether I’m exerting too much pressure on you. I mean you can tell me when I should stop. Of course I’ll feel bad. No denying that but I’ll be okay. I think I’ve known what life is about. It’s not getting something or losing something. It’s about being there, being there at the moment. Taking in everything, the happiness, the sadness, the irony, the depression and still living. There is hope. There is always light at the end of the tunnel. May be there is not. May be there is no tunnel at all. But we live. We have to. We ought to. I don’t know how many are going to come to this part of the blog but that’s how it is.

Again treading away. Once we came down we were scrutinized by forest guards for getting into the water. One of them was lecturing us with bad English. John came sometime later and kind of eased the situation. For a long time I was trying to get into a fight. But these people are a bad choice. But one thing I was sure, if they had asked to apologize I wasn’t going to. Actually I was happy for the incident. It made me get out of that sad loop.

Next part was the best part of the trip. This is not with respect to me but as a whole, as a group. Thanks to John. It was his decision of going to movie which made us take our own path. He went to movie. Ramya and Lakshman wanted to rest. They did. Rest all went to Malampuza. Anyone could have done anything. That doesn’t happen easily. I would have even gone alone to Malampuza without feeling bad that day. I would have been fine if Smitha had not come. I was fine that Ramya did not come. I don’t know. May be that’s the introspection that I was missing. We got the bus to Malampuza. We got to the cable car. Raja was a sport as always but I was starting to feel bad for him, he was under severe pain. I could see that. In spite of that he was creating situations either intentionally or not, to make us laugh. One such incident was when the security personnel who was directing people towards the ticket counter, talked in Malayalam to Smitha and in Tamil to Raja and Soma. I think he was confused with my identity. They seemed to have asked him about how he knew where they’re from. Then they asked about Smitha. He told that she’s a Malayali. Raja then said that he too is a Malayali. Security replied saying that, “nee pandi…” Made us all laugh.

When Raja asked Soma to give the bottle to Smitha. Soma asked, “En da Pavam? Naan pudichiiraen” Raja was like, “Dei Nee enna pudi da” it was funny. I laughed. It was a carefree laugh. I was seeing them three. They were fine. For once I felt people were genuinely happy with me. Soma was the biggest plus of the gang, being excited all time. Along with it Ramya’s honesty came in as a surprise package. I don’t know whether I had told it before but I’m not in a mood to scroll and look back. I liked it. Cable car with Smitha, teasing people, being honest was good. I say it here, “it is my favorite moment with you”. I think we should do this next time, tell about favorite moment with each one. We should definitely cut off negatives this time. Only positive talk and dance. i.e. if we trip again. Soma was the enthusiastic one who was asking me to plan but rest I don’t know, looked tired. Then we took a walk around the dam. I did something which I regret doing. Got on bus and came back.

I was tired. Everyone was. But in spite of everything they cut me cake at 12 in train. I was saying something about me enjoying the trip, soma corrected and asked me to say ‘we’ instead. Smitha was like, when has he ever said ‘we’. I was happy that she was honest, brutally honest like Arun. Once in class you said that I always think about me first and till this day you don’t accept that. But you said. May be I do. It’s not that things are gonna change of you saying it or not. My best friends have been brutally honest with me. It stings sometimes but don’t know, maybe that’s why I like you people. People were really exhausted so slept as soon as cake cutting got over. Not sure whether it was because of tiredness, I was feeling breathless and tensed. It went on till by birthday when all you guys made prank calls. Again appreciate the effort. Next day there were so many wishes in Movies group too, thanks to Parishad. One by one every group had some members knowing my birthday. It was a birthday with maximum number of wishes. Thanks to you guys. Love you all.

I know it wouldn’t have been the most comfortable tour. But I did my best within the budget to make you feel at home as well as experience the fell of raw touring. Forgive me if I had been harsh during any point of time. Because you have to bear with me in future too. No other go. For me touring was all about covering places. You people gave life to it. Thank you so much guys.

I don’t know whether I should post this or not. But I’ll go ahead and do it. When Dhoni was asked during presentation ceremony as to why he doesn’t change the team combination, what would the bench think? He replied, “I’m sure they’ll understand.” I repeat the same, “I’m sure you will understand”