One of the best known landmarks in Madurai, its huge pillars have been captured on film by many a Kollywood directors. The song Kannalanae in Mani Ratnam’s Bombay was beautifully shot here.
Thanks to some recent restoration/renovation work, the place has gotten a face lift. I have mixed feelings about the paint job on the stucco work though. It looks too clean and colorful. I would have preferred a somewhat antique finish befitting the age of the building.
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As I write this at the half way mark of the ODI between India and Sri Lanka at Rajkot, India have posted their highest score in one day cricket – 414/7, giving themselves more than an excellent chance to go up 1-0 in the series.
The batting display was superlative. Sehwag continued his excellent form and smashed 146 off 102 balls, aided brilliantly by Tendulkar (69 off 63) and Dhoni (72 off 53). With 43 hits to the fence and 12 over it, there were plenty of excellent strokes. Being a Tendulkar fan, I immensely enjoyed the two upper cuts he played in 15th over against Fernando’s bouncers – first, initially ducking, before deciding at the last moment to cut to third man and the next, even better, swaying slightly and delicately cutting it fine, just wide of the keeper.
Despite the batting heroics, I found Dhoni’s shuffling of the batting order, baffling. Instead of using his experience to shore up the inexperienced lower middle order (especially, with Yuvraj out to injury), from his usual position at five, I couldn’t understand why he had to promote himself to three. This is even more baffling considering that he came up at the expense of Gambhir, who arguably is the best top order batsman currently in the team. Gambhir, pushed down to five, looked totally out of sorts in the lower order.
Next, Harbhajan was promoted ahead of Kohli and Jadeja. If the Dhoni – Gambhir swap was baffling, this was outright illogical! I mean, with more than 300 on the board and more than 10 overs still left to be bowled, what was the need to send a bowler to throw his bat around, ahead of a specialist batsman and a batting all-rounder? And what kind of message does that send to the youngsters – that their captain thinks a bowler with no batting technique, can bat better than them on one of the flattest of the batting pitches you would ever see? In the end, after Harbhajan’s ugly swipes failed, both Kohli (27 off 19) and Jadeja (30 off 17) played smart cameos proving Harbhajan’s promotion wrong.
Despite the absence of Sehwag and Yuvraj, everyone knows that India’s bowling is their weakest link, especially considering that the loss of Sehwag and Yuvraj has considerably weakened their part-time bowling options. So, shouldn’t they have bolstered their weak bowling attack with another specialist bowler?
Over the years, I have tried everything from the disposable plastic razors to the Gillette Mach3s to a variety of fancy electric razors in search of a comfortable shave.
A couple of years ago, I chanced upon an article in the internet and discovered the lost art of ‘classic shaving’ - lathering up using shaving cream & a decent natural bristled shaving brush, and shaving using an old fashioned safety razor with a single double-edged steel blade. After years of razor burn and irritation, I have been enjoying close, comfortable shaves ever since.
While the initial cost of getting a classic shaving kit might seem expensive, comparing the cost of the currently popular Gillette Fusion cartridges (a few dollars) to the double-edged blades (a few cents), it’s easy to see the cost savings in the long run. Also, the steel single blades are probably more environment friendly than the plastic cartridges.
To every man looking for a comfortable shave, I say, ‘ditch the plastic five (or is it six) blade razor and switch to the single blade safety razor’.
I am a Hindu. But, I don’t believe in a personal God, prayer or rituals. So, on our monthly trips to the Hindu Temple in Livermore, I spend my time napping in the car waiting for my wife and daughter to return back with some prasadam.
Last month, as we were getting ready for the trip, I threw on a t-shirt that had some funny quote involving beer. Answering my wife’s disapproving ‘Are you wearing that?’ with a curt ‘Yes’, I made the 45 minute trip from our home to Livermore.
Usually, I park the car in the shade, roll down the windows, push back the seat and settle down for a quick nap. But, this time, the weather was hot and parking was hard to find. So, I ended up parking in the sun, switching on the A/C, turning on some music and watching some guy treating his new Toyota Camry to a car puja.
When my wife returned back, I mockingly pointed the car puja guy to her, who was now walking around his car with bowed head and folded hands following the priest’s orders. As he concluded the puja driving his car over four lemons placed under each of his car’s tires, I remarked how the lemons would have been better served as lemonade for the hot weather and how the moron and his car ritual has provided some humorous material for my next blog post!
We settled down in our seats and got ready to leave, only to realize that the battery having powered my A/C and radio for 30 minutes didn’t have enough juice left to turn our engine on! After calling AAA, who said they would be there in 30 minutes, only to call back 45 minutes later to convey that they won’t be there for another hour, searching for and finding a jump-start kit at the temple’s office, fumbling with the kit and managing to start the engine, we were finally on our way back home after a 90 minute delay.
As my laughing wife whispered ‘karma’, ‘No, this is not God’s vengeance for my blasphemous behavior’, I said, realizing that I have gotten myself into a no win situation, ‘This is just….me being stupid’.
