Archive for the ‘entertainment’ Category

Games and Matches

Sunday, February 8th, 2009

In India, we call them cricket matches, football matches and tennis matches. In US, they call them ‘games’ rather than ‘matches’. Regardless of what they are called, it is interesting to see popularity of sports in different countries. Indians, for instance, cannot comprehend the reason for popularity of American Football in the US. Many of the Americans, I am sure, find Baseball to be more interesting than cricket. Entire South Asia feels otherwise. My friend found my interest in American College Football a bit amusing. That triggered a discussion to rationalise the popularity of sports in different places. Here are some of my views on that. This post can be titled, “why I follow American football?”

The prime reason, in my opinion, for a sport to be followed by masses is that your team (you regional or national team, doesn’t matter) excel at it. Even if your team is not among the best, you are most inclined to follow the sport you team plays the best. Hockey used to be popular in India when we were the world champions. When India became world champions in cricket, the popularity of hockey faded. Given the dismal condition of Indian Hockey today, it has only a few followers. I watch American College Football for the same reason. Penn State is among the top 10 football playing colleges in the country.

This is the also reason why I do NOT follow Baseball in US. State College’s team do not play well.  Had they been good at it, I am sure everyone in town would have followed the team.

From my experience, I find that Indians dismiss American Football as mere scramble for the ball. The problem is that most of them do that without any understanding of the game. Calling American Football as only Quarterback’s game is equivalent to saying Soccer is mid-fielder’s game. I may not understand the nuances of American Football as well as I understand Cricket, but still I do understand the game enough to enjoy it.

Also, when you are cheering for your own team, there is emotion involved. During the Soccer world cup finals, almost everyone in India had chosen their favorite team for the final. There was an equal division between those who had chosen France and those who had chosen Italy. Most of the people were in fact disinterested in the result of the game. I had then read that nothing comes close to cheering for your own country. And I agree! Nothing comes close to cheering for your own team. I cheered for Steelers during the superbowl game because there were from my state. Still, the emotional roller coaster (if i may use the clichéd phrase) I go through when I watch penn state play is way more pronounced than that i went though during the superbowl.

In India, regional cricket is hardly followed by anyone other than the national team selectors. It is natural that we find the popularity of college football, as opposed to professional football,  surprising in America. English Premier League (EPL) is popular all over the world, including India. To me, it is as bizarre as popularity of  College Football in  the US. I think, this is because as a Soccer fan, thats the only thing you get to see. International Soccer is limited to World Cup, Euro Cup and few more.  I have seen arguments that Indians are not really passionate about cricket. So they watch only international matches. But soccer  fans, on the other hand, follow club football too. So they are more passionate about the game. I think that is nonsense.  The sparse schedule of International Tournaments leaves fans with no choice but to follow EPL. American sports have similar fate. The games they play is not played by any other country. Thus they have to resort to watching to what they get, their college teams or city teams.

I was also asked if I watch Professional American Football. My answer was no. My friends reasoned that I am not all that passionate about the game. That may be true. But how many Indians, who claim to be passionate about cricket, follow a series between, say, Sri Lanka and New Zealand? As long as you are disinterested in the outsome of a match, you will not follow it. In world cup, every match matters. It’s a little wonder that every cricket fan tries to watch as many matches as they can during the worldcup.

Posted in entertainment, sports | 11 Comments »

Uncle Tom’s Cabin: A Review

Friday, August 18th, 2006


Book: Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Author: Harriet Beecher Stowe
Rating: 5+ Stars
Publishers: Wordsworth Classic Series
Cost: Rs. 100

Undoubtedly, Uncle Tom’s Cabin (UTC), by Harriet Beecher Stowe, is the best book I have read so far. This book deals with slavery as its central theme. Wiki tells me that UTC is the second most selling book of the nineteenth century after the Holy Bible (and deservingly so). The book can keep you engrossed for a long time. I have tried to minimize the spoilers in this review. I can assure you that no matter how many spoilers any post can reveal, it simply can’t ruin the fun of reading the book by yourself.

The story presents itself in the house of gracious host to enslaved African Americans. Arthur Shelby, a kind hearted gentleman, is the ‘owner’ of several slaves including the protagonist Tom. Being under terrible debt, Shelby decides to do away with some of his slaves. The first chapter, ‘in which the reader is introduced to humility’, is one of the most powerful pieces of writing on human values. The fact that being a ‘Christian’ means possessing sublime virtues which often lack in common people is well reflected. Tom is described as a true Christian for his sheer diligence, dedication to work and for his humility. He is respected by his ‘owner’ to a great extent. Reading first few pages leave you feeling bitter about the fact that Blacks were looked upon as mere objects that could perform work mechanically and that a few of them who had innate qualities were looked upon as ‘features’ that made them sell for a better price.

The language in the book is highly complicated because of the relatively longer sentences used. The innocuous looking 300-350 page book cannot be finished in a hurry. The archaic language also holds the book to high standards of English writing. The language demands reverence. With some effort, if one is able to get through first three chapters where Black pronunciations, like ‘tis’ for ‘this’, ‘tat’ for ‘that’, are extensively used, the readers can look forward to an amazing experience.

In an effort to pull himself together economically, despite great opposition from Mrs. Shelby, who is as warm hearted, Arthur decides to part himself from Tom. Around the same time, George decides to flee to Canada so as to escape from the hand of a new owner who is not at all likely to be as noble as Arthur Shelby promising his wife Eliza (and their baby boy, Harry) to take her back once he finds freedom.

The story progresses of these two fronts. The story of Tom’s fate of being transferred from place to place subdues the other front of the family’s quest for much sought after independence in Canada. The family’s struggle against their trader’s relentless effort to capture them is plotted extremely well. The trickery, deception and self-centered nature of the trader have been stereotyped, but the build-up is enticing nevertheless. Tom, meanwhile, is passed on from trader to trader, until bought by another Shelby-like host Augustine St. Clare.

The author hasn’t left any stoned unturned when it comes to introducing characters in the novel. Every character has at least a paragraph dedicated to exploring his past to boast about. All relevant aspects of their lives are brought forward by the author. This has paved way for more insightful observations in the novel for common reader like you and me.

The book also illustrates how callous the slave traders have grown owing to the fact that the New England’s society expected them to be so. Incidents of death of a slave or any other major loss to them would not touch the cold-hearted traders emotionally. The description of how carelessly the mothers are separated from son and daughters, husband from wives, brothers from sisters, etc is rich with emotion. Again, the past of the slaves involved has been looked into with a great detail.

Tom lives a relatively easy life for a slave under Augustine. The novel is blessed by the presence of Angelic little girl, Augustine’s Daughter, Eva (Evangeline St. Clare). It was because of her persistent begging to her dad that Tom was bought by him. Eva manages to bond with every one in her house including the slaves insisting on the fact that all of them deserve to be loved. Her mere presence captures the attention of the readers. Augustine’s cousin, Ophelia, who is prejudiced against black, is bought a slave girl named Topsy by Augustine just to show the blacks also have emotions holding them together. Six year old Eva teaches a lesson or two to all in her family about treating slaves a people who need to be understood and loved. Everyone, including her father, is moved by her cherubic nature.

The book is also a grim reminder of the fact that religion is contorted to every possible extent in order to suit the selfish motives. A priest justifies slavery by quoting from bible that things are meant to be the way they are. Africans are meant to be slaves, Whites are meant to rule over them. And that is the word of the lord. After a couple of confrontations between Augustine and his cousin Ophelia, Augustine gave a huge and immensely powerful monologue on Christianity being misrepresented, manipulated by masses and appalling disregard to human values by the so called priests. In my opinion, the monologue was a little too long.

Contrary to expectation that a slave warehouse filthy, crowded little place for slaves to stay temporarily before being sold, the writer has described the place to very luxurious. The intention was, however, to make slaves cheerful so that they can be sold at a higher price. Of course, slaves were given no choice but to indulge themselves in parties and celebration that happen despite their vehement refusal. The author has made painstaking effort to bring out the real truth and motives behind every action taken during slave trade.

By bizarre twist of fate, Tom is sold to merciless plantation owner Simon Legree before spending many days in a slave warehouse. Legree despises the very fact that Tom reads Bible and has a firm faith in Christianity. He is ill-treated in the plantation for helping fellow slaves, and also for not renouncing Christianity. He helps Cassy and Emmeline, two sex slaves owned by Legree. This causes Tom to be further looked down upon by his owner. The book ends on semi-happy and semi-tragic note with some reunions and some sorrow (which I don’t want to reveal).

All in all, it’s a great book. I am compelled to give 5+ stars for it. At Rs. 100 – Rs 130 under different “classic editions”, this book comes dirt-cheap. It’s worth a lot more. And also, I would like to thank Venkat (aka Tak) for suggesting the book in the first place. The e-book is also available here.

Posted in books, entertainment | 5 Comments »

The sound of music

Monday, February 21st, 2005

I love listening to music, my friends would know. Infact, most of our friends define being ‘cool’ to be directly related to the amout of music one listens to. Talking about my g-g-generation, the genre of metal and heavy metal are by far the most popular ones, anything else is way too kiddish. What I don’t seem to understand is the fact that in the effort for being popular among the friends, many of us miss out on so many flavours of music. I should say with a heavy heart that, most of the ‘pseud’ people i know refuse to even explore the other genres of music. There is always an attitude against ’settling’ for pop or rock. What happened to jazz, what happened to raggae, or country?

I live in the campus of iit madras, hostal zone is the most happening place around. As expected, one would find noises of all kind, no pun intended, through the corridors of the hostal. Among them are the rythm of handful songs which are echoed in almost every room. To name a few, ‘for whom the bell tolls’, ‘nothing else matters’, ‘master of puppets’ from metallica, ‘parnoid’ from ossy, ‘trouper’, fear of the dark’ from maiden and finally ‘november rain’ and ’sweet child’ from gnr. Though gnr is rock, it is still cool, no questions asked. Why doesn’t our taste of music grow beyond this?

Our culfest, saarang, is the time when all the geeks of the institute just freak out. The rock show is the most ‘looked forward to’ event. I was among the crowd too. ;-) I was disheartened to observe that the ‘fans’ were interested only in metallica, iron maiden or megadeath. No doubt they are great bands, i like them too, but there are plenty of other good stuff that one can listen to. Why are we Indians so reluctant to accept any change? The change which i am refering to is not just with respect to music, but also, for instance, infuence of western culture.

I recall an avid music lover and a metallica fan telling me that the symphony orschestra actually screwed up the S &M concert. What??? I am under that opinion that symphony had made the music only richer. First time i heard the album, i was amazed at how a talented musician can blend two entirely different spectrums of music.

French band called matamatah performed a set of rock numbers during saarang. The songs were of the eagles kind. The crowd absolutely loved them. Yet again, i was shocked to hear ‘chicken s**t’ as a comment from one of the ‘true’ metal fans.

Several people have told me about their liking for one perticular group, floyd or maiden for example. They have gone on to say that they can’t get enough of them, they listen “ONLY” to them. People, get a life!!!

Posted in entertainment, music | 1 Comment »