Manju and Rang De Basanti...

For those of you in India, please read on. For the rest, maybe we can get that capsule recorded and put it up on the web somewhere...

Apparently Aamir Khan himself asked for Manju's story to be included...

At 12.30 p.m on Monday, 2nd October, watch Star Gold. Why? Because, prior to the 1 p.m. premiere of Rang De Basanti, the channel is showing a feature 'Rang De Basanti salaam'. This feature offers a salute to ,quote, 'five unsung heroes who have risen above and beyond their everyday lives" unquote; Manju is one of the five. Manju's 5 minute story will cover (based on what was shot), his family, friends and the Trust; as also shots of one of the IIM campuses and recreation of the incident. The other four stories are also really worth watching, from what we have heard.

Volunteers for Manju's Death Anniversary and an update

Message from the trust
Starts Here
->
A nation-wide activity is being planned around Manju's and Satyendra's death anniversaries (19th and 27th Nov resply). We need a strong, small and focussed team to drive this, in partnership with actual implementing agencies.
We need:
- 4-5 people, India based
- work is not much but will need responsible and dedicated effort
- should not 'drop off mid-way'
Your chance to contribute in a big, sustained initiative; via a close-
ended, short term effort; email me immediately. Work will start by
within the next 2-3 days.
<-
Ends Here

People who are willing to volunteer their time may contact Anjali at anjaliATcorporateacademyDOTcom

For further updates on Manju's case and the trust's activities, please visit this site

The latest update has been that Manju's boss at IOC testified in a hearing on the 22nd. Read about it here.

Bangalore Half Marathon 2006

1 hr 43 min.

About 3 mins more than I wanted and thought I should achieve even while I was at 16km. But then, like I wrote on an email to RFL, I will live. And hopefully run more races. So that shall be overhauled, maybe even next month.

Ran the 1st 15 km alone. Then Hari who finished about a km ahead, gave me company for abt 2 km, but I couldn't keep pace with him.

Had 2 bouts of stomach cramps.

The day was overshadowed by my car's front wheels landing in a ditch and hence the event of the day was that my car got out, thanks in large part due to Shagun (RFL) and some very helpful public. God bless India.

RFL rocked for the day with wholesome participation all round in every event.
My man from Bombay Marathon, Deepak finished the marathon in about 3 hrs 50 mins!!!
Arvind owes 2 coffees now.

And we have a cool new Dri-Fit RFL Tshirt. Do we rock?!

For all the general (and fairly warranted)skepticism about Cross Over's handling of the event, this year was a welcome relief for the half marathoners. We got certs of timing.

Life is lovely.

How to spend a weekend in Bangalore

Staying On by Paul Scott
Scoop by Evelyn Waugh
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
The Barber of Seville and The Marriage of Figaro by Beaumarchais
Agee on Film by James Agee
Movies and Money by David Puttnam
Of Mice and Magic by Leonard Maltin

(The last mentioned is a history of American animated cartoons).

The above 7 books just walked into my arms today. How could I refuse?!

Mysteriously, they displaced some money equal in value (or perhaps less) out of my wallet. Archimedes was right. Eureka!

Also attended the book quiz, which my team missed by 1 point! :( Sat thru the finals anyways. Was good fun.

Attended a solo quiz where I was the only one to get 2 questions. Its another thing that I got not too many more than 2 questions :( Thankfully they didn't announce the results.

Got run over in the open quiz and hence decided to take a walk along MG Road, when the books above sprung upon me...

And the weekend is still not over. There's the run t'row. More when I finish it. Already feeling very cozy in the new FREE members only Tshirt from RFL...

More when I come back from the run.

Falling In Love all over again…

I wrote this a week ago, but was swamped with work to post it...

Amongst my latest loves is Billy bhai's writing
Ok fine, I was lying, Brenda Vaccaro from Midnight Cowboy is also on the crush list. But what the heck?!

Maybe, its to do with the fantastic evening run I had today, maybe it’s the plain pleasure of reading about Wodehouse in his latest bio that I started 2 days which has rubbed onto everything I am reading or maybe, Billy is just good.

Also started reading, “Notes from a Small Country” borrowed from the ever generous Majji, who always says, “Take Its” to anything you ask. Beer from the fridge, Breezer from the freezer, Haldiram’s from the table, …

Ze Pleasures of being a bibliophile shall be doubled next weekend when we are back with our baby Bangalore for the Book Quiz…

And while we prepare for the Bangalore Half Marathon on the weekend, a day after the book quiz, we are grappling with whether to run in the NJ marathon or the London marathon or both in 2007?! Not only are we short of money, but also of strength and women at the finishing line! (this is shamelessly filched from a friend's idea of finishing a race...)

And finally, a plug for the generous organizers of the Hutch Delhi Half Marathon who are gifting us some goodies for being an early bird entrant to the race next month.

Midnight Cowboy and the weekend

Jon Voight could act in 1969! For those of you who thought Jon Voight was only Angelina Jolie’s dad and that he did only negative roles such as the ones Dennis Hopper’s portrayed, you need to see this movie. And oh, this is the last X rated movie to win the Oscar for best picture.

Dustin Hoffman does a class act as the crippled sleazy con-man named Enrico Rizzo (that is most of his description from the DVD jacket). But this is just short of his role in Rain Man. The movie has a lovely storyline, with Jon Voight playing the role of this cowboy costume clad Texan named Joe Buck, in NYC who thinks he is god’s gift to women. How the lives of Ratzo (as Rizzo is called for his not so unobvious sleazy tactics) and Joe are intertwined till the rather sober ending, makes for a fine movie with a believable plot.

All other characters just play their parts including two, curiously named Hansel and Gretel McAlbertson!
Definitely Must Watch.

I also did watch The March of the Penguins. Strictly for movie buffs although the movie is only for about 83 mins. Great camera work especially the underwater scenes with the penguins in some absolutely inhuman conditions where the average temperature is -40 C. And some sweet music by Emilie Simon who hums right thru the movie. This won the Oscar for best documentary for 2005

79th National Spelling Bee

Ursprache – that was the word that won Katherine Close the Scripps Spelling Bee competition in the US.

She and Finola Hacket battled it out over 19 rounds of obscure words that included Weltschmerz, Kundalini (yes, you are right, it’s the Indian yoga form), Psittacism, Tmesis, Koine, Aubade, etc.

Personally I think the kid Finola didn’t have luck on her side as the word she couldn’t spell was Weltschmerz. Ironically, the word deals with mental depression!

Now, you know what I watch on television! This must be the first time in sometime that I actually got to watching anything on TV for almost half an hour and that too on ESPN