Patriotic Fervor

 I have been a big fan of republic day parade and the beating retreat since childhood. 26th January also happens to be my late father Shri.MT Solomon Raju's birthday. He used to give a lunch to all his staff where they sat at our family dinner table and he personally served them food. He also gave each of us money. Add a zero to age and that's what's we get. Like on his 50th birthday we each got 500. 

This year being 75th year of independence the republic day parade had Vande Bharat dance wherein Indian traditional dances were performed on the Rajpath. The groups were chosen after a nationwide contest. It was mesmerizing. Also on display were 75 aircrafts used by our Airforce. 

The beating retreat created a big controversy when it was revealed that Abide with me Gandhiji's favourite hymn was dropped from the songs that the band play. Like many indian Christians I too was disappointed. But come the day of beating retreat and I was overwhelmed to watch the tunes the band's played. All the tunes played by the band's are from Indian composers all men of the uniform. Of course the patriotic songs like ae mere waton ke logon, kadam kadam badhaye Jaa or sare jahan se acha are not composed by armed forces they still are I think our nation's pride.

For those who criticize the govt for dropping the hymn please realise that all foreign compositions are gone. It's purely Indian. Also the chief conductor for this year was Vijay Charles D'Cruz. Where is the need for disappointment as an indian Christian? In fact I am more thrilled. The final song was sare jahan se acha written by Iqbal.

No. I have not lost faith in my country, yes the reports coming in from the rural hinterlands of some states are disturbing but hamare bharat ka ekta aur akhandatha kaayam hai. Ekta= togetherness, Akhandatha=indivisibleness. Is always there.

Proud to be a Indian. Let's throw down these colonial shackles and move forward in a new India.

Jai Hind. Bharat mata ki Jai.

The Irishman- I heard you paint houses.

The first thought that came to me when I saw the Irishman posted on Netflix was that it's so long. 3 hours and 29 minutes. The end titles will be long at least 20 minutes as I saw a prerelease interview where Scorsese talked about use of youthifucation software. So 3 hours. But once I started watching it kept me glued to my seat. 

Like all his movies Martin Scorsese takes off in a slow languid manner and once he gets into the thick of it there is never a dull moment.

There are two scenes which really for me showed why  De Niro and Joe Pesci are masters of their craft. When Pesci tells De Niro you are my kid and I made you after giving the ring. The emotions expressed by both the actors are so awesome. The other one is when De Niro is sitting on the plane and going to Detroit . Each and every actor has given a flawless performance. Al Pacino acting with Scorsese for the first time (unbelievable) is on his game. Joe Pesci came out of retirement to do this movie and what a powerhouse performance he has delivered. Bobby canavale, Graham, Jesse Plemons and the best cameo of Norton as Don Rickles.

Based on a book by Charles Brandt Frank Sheeran claims he was the one who killed Jimmy Hoffa but FBI says there are 15 people who claimed that they had killed Hoffa. The historical part apart this is more of a masterclass in directing and acting. 

Where is the peace and quiet?

I try to attend church as regularly as possible. Staying in a campus which is 14 km say from the town, I attend our campus service which is held in the college auditorium. Today the service was a short one, started with praise and worship songs none of which I know, followed by bible reading ,an offeratory hymn, I did not know , a sermon, prayer of intercession ,closing hymn(this I knew) ending with benediction. The whole thing happened in 35 minutes.
I was suddenly taken back to my childhood, we used to attend the English service in St.Pauls church in Vijayawada . The pastor was Rev.Muthyalu . He was the one who confirmed me. Must have been around 65 to 70 at that time. A baritone. He had a wonderful voice. His service was so structured. We used to sing beautiful hymns. Accompanied by a organ , it had to be pedalled to get sound out of it. What beautiful sound it was. The hymns were sung in such a beautiful Unhurried manner soaking all their essence. I get upset these days when I have to sing hymns to a guitar , they rush the hymn. Loses its beauty. Why the guitar has to be at such high volume I don't  Understand. And then those loud clapping and action songs, what's with that? ,Sunday school is in the other room people.
Praise and worship? more like noise and mayhem.
I am not against all this but there is time and place for everything. I find these services don't give the peace that I go looking for, instead I get a headache with that loud guitar.
 I wish I was back  in that church with that wind organ playing and my favourite hymn ' O God our help in ages past and our hope for days to come' is sung by a hundred voices , their voices echoing against that wooden ceiling with those rafters shaped like a funny cross. Those plaques of stone adorning all the walls remembering a loved one, some as old as the First World War .
When the service was over we would walk out to the lawn and linger around a while, Our father would have met with some friends and we would see the cricket game which had started in the school ground opposite the church.
There used to be this old man who used to come to church with his grand daughter , we nicknamed him George Bush, he looked like him ,the senior bush .back then we had not even head of the junior Bush.
I later found out from my mother that we were related to Rev. Muthyalu, how exactly I don't recollect now.
Those beautiful Sunday's will never come back. Those moments of peace and quiet , wonder where they have gone?

lessons from lost

lessons from lost

Hello friends ,

i am abig fan of the serial lost. it is was on star movies on wednesday nights.

for those not familiar with the plot here is a brief synopsis.

lost is the story of a group of people who aircrash into an unknown strange island. the serial is about their struggle to survive and to get out of the island. they are hounded by the natives of the island whom we eventually come to know as the 'others'. the others are led by an evil man called Ben who is ruthless and does not stop at anything, even murder, to stop the group of people from getting off the island.

The group has a doctor amongst them Jack who becomes their leader and he is the one who makes all the decisions. he is ably assisted by some people from the group who include saeed-an iraqi soldier, sawyer-an excon, kate-a murderer, locke-a paraplegic who starts walking once on the island. hurley-the obese guy, charlie -a junkie, jin- a korean and his wife sun.

they all discover hidden good qualities in them self while on the island. they have fight off their own insecurities and fears to combat the others. They come so close to each other that they become each others weakness which is exploited by ben. but there comes a day when they all resolve to get off the island and take some hard decisions . they kill many of the others in the process and finally make contact with the outside world.

Ben has his own agenda and tries to convince jack that contacting the outside world would mean death to everyone the island. we get hints that he is conducting some experiments on children but what exactly he is upto we never know.
there are many dialouges in the series which are confusing and which hint that the island is probably not a real place but a state of mind. some times it is referred to as hell and some times as heaven. there is a place called the looking glass a la alice in wonderland. There is an unseen man who apparently controls the island, he is called Jacob. he could be god or satan we dont know.........yet.

what does the island teach us what did it teach me?
i guess one valuable lesson i learnt was listen to myself.
make decisions they may be wrong but you have to make them.
never try to justify any mistakes that you make.
stand up for your self.
your friends are important.
to get some thing you have to give up something.
sacrifice something you like only when you know it will be worth it.
if you want to be a good leader get ready to get you ass kicked,also get ready to kick some.

After a vacation of 5 days my daughter who is five obviously does not want to go to school. She cries and throws a tantrum and well not go for a bath. So I push her into the bathroom roughly and brush her teeth and give her a wash and get her ready. She  keeps calling for her mother in hope of a rescue. In the end she gets ready and goes to school. I get home to receive her from the bus and the first thing she says to me is "Daddy, i did not behave well in the morning . ". And she went on with the other things like taking her bath eating lunch etc. It hit me. That simple statement made so much sense. It was not an admission of guilt. She just stated a fact. Kids are lovely like that. They don't know right or wrong. They know what happened. And that it probably irritated daddy. So she just told me. If only all of  this world  could be so straight forward the world will be a better place. We have so much to learn from children and we foolishly think we have to teach them.

House

I have always dreamed of a big house. I wanted to stay in a big house all my life. My dad being a sarkars karamchari we always had a bungalow. Lawns,flower pots, badminton court, the works. Now the dream has refreshed itself after my visit to Kerala. 5000 sq.foot land with 2000sq.foot house and the rest a lawn. Basement is a must. I will make my music/ movie theatre there. Bose speakers no less.
The problem is paisa. The rate at which I am saving it will be another 15 years before I save anything to get there. So plan is to speed up the process.no apartment for me. It has to be an independent house.
Two storied house with kitchen and hall on the ground, bedrooms on the first and a terrace with a bar. Terrace will have a retractable sun roof. Wine cellar in the basement.
Modular kitchen. Hidden utilities like mixie, grinder ,oven and microwave. A walk in store. 3 door refrigerator. Each bedroom (there will be four) will have an attached bathroom and a alcove between the bathroom and the bedroom which will be a walk in wardrobe cum dressing room .
Garage for 2 cars. One a hatchback and another a SUV.
42 inch TV. With Bose cine mate speakers.

Leather sofas.

My study/ den with wall to wall bookshelves. All full of books. Tolkien, George RR Martin, frank Herbert ,Amish, Rick warren ,Ravi zacharias and of course the bible with commentaries by my favourite author.
Wine and Bacardi in the bar.

Heaven,peace,love,life,forever.

The wheel keeps turning.life keeps going. Where does this pain end? When will I sit and relax. Is there no end to this. Is it possible to die? These are the questions running through my mind.