Episode 3: The litmus test

Episode 3: The litmus test

Welcome to all the listeners who've anxiously tuned in this early monday morning. Behold the third installment of the series.Match 3 could be tag lined -"The litmus test", we were scheduled a real match ever since our first match against Trustpuram locals. The match read IS vs Rest of Bally, and officially read as Phoenix Pals VS Falcon friends. The match was scheduled near Meenambakkam at 6:00 in the morning and that too on a November Saturday morning. What the fact (f**k)!. I got to say I have never seen both the birds. If seeing these birds is too much of an ask being an early bird coming in from 25 kms away is officially a wacky guiness record that I could boast of. Vice captain - "Mano cousin" - Vimal, requested his team to come in blue for that match. LOL .There it was, darkest of dark blue, the brightest cyan blue, the faded windows task bar blue, washed denim blue. Not to forget bright reds as well, some have color blindness you see.

I reached Beach station at 5:15 AM in the morning and took the 5:20 train to reach at 5:50 at Guindy. Baskar and Aravind arrived shortly in Vimal's car. The twilight was slowly lifted by the ever so creeping sun light. We waited for Veera and Nagammai's brother Chidambaram who came in the next train. Got to ARIVA grounds at about 6:20 . Early morning seems to be the only time when there won't be much traffic. Subbiah and Partha were waiting there already. The grass was thick and wet with the fog and seasonal rain. In the center of the ground, a known figure was standing with overgrown moss in his head. Oh!, not moss just his hair looking like 18th century English man with artifical wigs. Other fellow Ballians were stretching and settling in.

Match got to start, lost the toss and we were asked to bowl. Srini and Madhu got to open and the innings. Vimal and Sridhar got to open the attack. Vimal bowled a good first spell, marred by a few wides. Even with the thick grass doing its bit in cutting down twos into singles. The run rate was about 6 RPO. In the second over Srini was removed by Sridhar, who hit a simple lobbed return catch to Baskar at mid-on. Srini was not playing flamboyant shots but deflected them of the bat's face for irritating singles. Madhu looked good for playing through the innings when he got adventurous and lifted one around Parthasarathy's territory. Partha running backwards, seemed to misjudge the ball and settled in just to scoop the ball with his left hand behind his head. He was thrilled by it that he ran through from deep square leg to the bowler to celebrate the wicket. Soon Partha, Veera and Ashwin took over. Runs were coming in fairly well with extras, singles and occasional boundaries. We took 7 of their wicket just to note that their remaining players chose to sleep tight in their home. We offered them final man stay and Ganesh their final batsman made us pay. He scored about 15 odd runs which lifted their target to 82 runs from 12 overs.

Raj and Chidambaram got to open, amidst much antics Raj was bowled in the first over and Chidambaram came perilously close to getting hit out. Baskar, Veera, Ashwin, Vimal came in and did their bit in cutting down the target. Subbiah and Sridhar joined in when the equation read 21 runs from 24 overs. Both played
very well cutting, driving and scoring runs at will. The final over read 6 runs from 6 balls. Subbiah just got out to a tough call, there was a sound nevertheless and he got beaten to one that was pitched up and kicked from good length. Madhu who bowled the 4th of his overs amongst the total 12 bowled a half volley in an attempt to hit the middle. Sridhar thankfully lifted over mid-on to the the long-on boundary. Won the first match. Subbiah had to be the man of the match if there had to be any.

The second match started shortly and we opted to bat after winning the toss. Myself and Partha opened the innings, I took strike. I hardly gave Partha strike in my 4 overs stay at the wicket. I faced two overs from round the wicket and over the wicket each. Ganesh bowled over the wicket and was looking less menacing though he managed to hit off stump line consistently. The lines were probing and there were virtually no extras by team Phoenix in the second match.

There was one well directed short ball, which I picked early and pulled it over midwicket boundary. I also launched several balls over the bowlers head and on-drove one to an individual score of 17. I retired my innings to give way for others. Partha at the other end had no complaints at least verbally during our stay. Our batting did not kick off from that point, have to say Chidambaram played better in the second match than the first. Vimal and Veera scored some quick runs to leave the team score at 60 runs from 10 overs.

We were way past our booking time in the grounds and a cricket team in whites got assembled already. Team Phoenix had a cake walk over us and scored the runs in less than 5 overs. Though it did not have many moments, it did pose an interesting stumping from Subbiah off Madhu caught midway in the pitch not trying to hit it but drive it. Would you believe it. Srini from Phoenix was in murderous mood and hit many shots in his stay and that ended it. Good start I would say.

Orchestra lives on

Orchestra

How many times have you been to marriage receptions lately. Unless you have a gang, it becomes a real yawn!. The same place hosts generations to generations of events that transpires over our lifetime. Whatever be it you can't miss out on the orchestra. The singers never show any emotion or joy in their face, utter professionalism. It seems a tough job, after all you can't really call it a working team, since each of them are busy with their own life until they meet for a stage. Some seem to feed of each other, enjoying what the others do, some seem to be standing like a lamp post with their mouth stuck to the microphone - being oversized doesn't help either. I appreciate the very fact that it is a job opportunity for music artists. How many gonna hit it big time, but there is talent a plenty. So atleast there are numerous bands like these doing a steady job of hosting local artists.

So what? Nothing really, this post is about a few interesting things that transpires generally during such events. Almost all bands have a male singer who
can do female voice. This was a necessity when they have to sing gilma songs in the yesteryears. I dont really mean that coz, they all are good sensuous songs which require a bit of emotion in the voices and ladies find it hard doing that amongst a crowd. They are damn good, sometimes I wonder whether they really have two voices or if it is a synthesizer job. I bet you they could sing in two voices.


With SPB and Mano having sung many yesteryear hits it becomes an absolute necessity for male singers who could at least try hit that range. Mostly the orchestra owner or lead will be donning that voice. The instruments arrangements are the characteristics of each band. Some ride on Keyboardists with 2,3 doing the entire job. Some have traditional arrangements like mirudhangam, thavil, naadhaswaram. In one strange such classical encounter, there were 2 saxophones playing lead to mirudhangam. Found it to be quirky but it was good. I am a percussionist and the last such reception had my toes tapping with 6 different drummers hitting it over latest tamil songs. I found that transition for latest songs and old songs to be amazing. Just how much of practice and foresight does one need to get it going.

Guess you all remember "Uyirin uyire", the beats that make up the songs are disco beats very fast and lots of drums. A single loop burnt over and over for that song. Though the singer sucked, the drums elevated the song to a different level. The next song was a retro number "Pani vizhum malar vanam", which had some drums as well. The point being I enjoyed the noise though I was left gaping alone. As I type in this my friend starts another argument, "Why the hell do we need receptions in our community". It sounded radical, so I said I'd deal with it in afterlife. For now I am still reminiscing many a moments lost in photos and videos.

Episode 2: Trustpuram Talkies

Episode 2: Trustpuram Talkies

The menacing rain just started to cease down a bit, a week of action got skipped in between. Since episode 1 was a hit, we were hell bent and earnest towards another day of cricketing action. The day marked the debuts of Opener Surya and a sensation called Parthasarathy (we missed the services of Kovai express who was busy in derailing another train of its track).

The day before I slept late. I was watching a mock tamil action film(peraanmai) with a good script but poor fight choreography. The movie went real good till the ultimate clash. It failed to fit the bill when the bar was stepped up for the climax bout. Nevertheless a valiant effort.

After a couple of practice sessions we went into the match. We were about 10 in number so we have to split between ourselves for a five on five match with 8
overs per team. Due to the personnel count problem we have to restrict the field of play to offside. Veera and Surya got to open. Veera got out in the first over which Mani got to bowl. The scoreboard read 1 and I dropped in the non striker's end for the second over which cut short our 8 overs match into 3overs. The bowling was not menacing though, he ran in with gentle pace took a good look at the batsmen and hurled in at the batsman like a collapsing canon. The ball was short and wide. I went back to cut the ball and edge it to the keeper. An extravagant shot but the ball was there but I missed it. Partha followed it up with two more wickets one caught and another bowled (middle stick yorker). So there it was the target 4 runs. Tough score, yes I know.

We all settled into our fielding position I was standing in the inner ring of a football practice match setup. The first ball went above my head and was declared four - done - match 1 - over. Stop laughing and continue to read the blog. So we went on with the second match (winning gaaj). Vimal continued his innings and launched many a balls over my head. The ball ideally would have landed between mid-off and long-off. An outstanding diving effort catch running sideways got rid of Vimal and brought in Mani. I dropped a tough chance of Mani to the right of me - grazed my fingers. He nevertheless hit one back to me and I promtly settled beneath it. I got to bowl and slipped in a quick over giving away 2 runs and took a wicket (keeper caught). The target was 25 runs.

I opened with Veera this time and we put up a decent partnership. I dealt in singles and around 4 overs we were 12 odd runs. We used one over from feroz and
Mani to hit a four each and reached 20 runs. In the process lost wickets. The bowling was tight and was aimed at legs. Now you can't hit it over mid-on or glance it fine, neither can you rotate to square leg. All these will get you nothing. Each had different tactics to over come this and Subbiah tried to walk down and mow it over the fielders but hit it on the leg side. One such attempt was caught single handedly by the nemesis Partha. I stood very wide exposing all my stumps in a view to hit it over through covers with the angle. For that a straight slow delivery came in which I missed to drive with no feet movement and got bowled.

Last over two runs to take, last batsman standing. Taken aback by the negative tactics we declared the first ball which hit Surya's leg as wide. The bowler came back to bowl five dot balls. The last ball was promptly hit into a no man area and another single was stolen in the overthrow. Winning gaaj. We played for about 2 overs and it started to drizzle, it got heavy forcing us to leave early than expected. I rode back home completly drenched not to find a single drop of rain beyond Parrys. Chennai IS a big city.

Tune in for the next episode.

New Epic 3D game engine toolset: Fabulous, fun, and free!

Another wowie, game engines are in simple words the virtual worlds in which you plugin your 3D subjects into. The big deal is that they have to control the rendering part for starters. Their main role is to control Physics in the virtual world like gravity, wind, levitation, speed. Secondarily provide support to control animation and collision detection, artificial intelligence. Thats a whole load of gizmodo. Now all you need to do - if you are a "wannabe -game developer" is to get this momma and plunge into the 3d realm.


This is big: Epic Games just announced the release of the Unreal Development Kit (UDK), a free edition of the Unreal Engine 3. It’s available to anyone interested in using 3D game engine technology, including game developers, students, hobbyists, researchers, creators of 3D visualizations.

The Unreal Engine is the technology behind popular PC and console games such as Gears of War, Unreal Tournament, Bioshock, Medal of Honor, Army of Two, and Batman: Archam Asylum. It’s one of the best game engines available today. See the UDK features page for more details on all of its capabilities.

Previously, if you wanted to use the Unreal Engine in your programs you had to enter into a very expensive agreement with Epic for access to the technology. A few years ago, Epic reportedly asked for up-front payments of as much as $8 million before your game was even developed! Now anyone can download the PC version of the UDK and immediately try it out without paying a cent or signing anything. As a former professional game developer, this is just amazing to me.

The Unreal community was going nuts this morning after the announcement. Some were shocked that Epic chose to release the entire engine and not just a crippled subset. As one poster put it,

“Man, one thing I hope you guys realize is that this is almost EXACTLY the engine build that we’re using here at Epic! You get every single feature that we’ve been using here that aren’t even in any games yet! We only got some of these features last week!”

Use of the new UDK is free for noncommercial purposes, but it can be licensed cheaply for commercial uses. For example you can use it to write a commercial PC video game and pay nothing up front and no royalties until your sales go over $5,000. See the licensing page for all the details. Currently, the free kit is only offered to PC users but Epic says console support is “under consideration”.

“Unreal Engine 3 has been used to create games in a wide range of genres, as well as military simulations, 3D architectural walkthroughs, animated movies and more,” said Epic VP Mark Rein. “Users are only limited by their imaginations. Go ahead, make something Unreal!”

And finally 3D, televisions. What next Holographic display?

Three-dimensional images are expected jump out of movie theaters and into living rooms by next year. I am already seeings advertisements from ASUS and others regarding 3D displays. It may hit you earlier than you expect and again the first generation of 3D displays may not be the best.What follows in this blog are excerpts from various sources on how this works



Sony and Panasonic say they will release home 3-D television systems in 2010; Mitsubishi and JVC are reported to be working on similar products."TV finally becomes real" in three dimensions, said Robert Perry, an executive vice president at Panasonic. "You're in it. It's the next frontier."

Perry compared the 3-D transition to the switch from black-and-white to color television and the shift from standard- to high-definition images.ESPN is test-recording some sporting events in 3-D, using cameras with two sets of lenses, which would make football players appear to jump out of home television screens during live 3-D broadcasts.

And, although television makers haven't released specifics, the price of 3-D TV -- which requires a new television, broadcasting content and 3-D glasses -- is not expected to be substantially higher than some high-definition televisions on the market now.

Still, there are skeptics who say that 3-D is not ready for prime-time home viewing.
There are concerns that 3-D broadcasts, which require twice the data, will gobble up an unworkable amount of television bandwidth. And some worry that 3-D glasses and graphics won't make a smooth transition to American living rooms.


* Will 3-D 'Avatar' change cinema forever?

All 3-D technology relies on the idea that if separate images are presented to the left and right eyes, the human brain will combine them and create the illusion of a third dimension.

TV makers go about this in different ways, though.

Panasonic and Sony, which demonstrated their products for CNN at a recent tech expo in Atlanta, Georgia, use "active glasses" and TVs with high refresh rates to achieve the effect.

Two images, one for the right eye and one for the left eye, alternate quickly on the TV. Shutters on the 3-D glasses swap the viewer's vision from right eye to left eye at the same rate: 120 hertz, or 240 hertz for the images together. The TV connects with the glasses through a sensor that's placed between the lenses on the glasses.

"It's like a little Venetian blind: open, close, open, close, open, close," John Wyckoff, a Sony content manager, said of the glasses.

The effect moves so quickly that it tricks the brain into merging the images and creates the perspective needed to see images in 3-D, he said.

Glance away from the TV, though, and you can see the lenses opening and closing, which irritates some people.

Those who saw the technology at the recent Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association Expo seemed wowed by Panasonic's 3-D footage of Olympic events and skiers who appeared to send snow flying into the laps of the audience.

David Lesch fidgeted with his 3-D glasses during Panasonic's demo but said the 3-D picture on the company's 103-inch plasma screen was excellent.

However, it may not be effective for all TV programming, he said.

"I cannot imagine that I will watch CNN in 3-D," said Lesch, sales director at AV Media, which sells electronics. "But for sports, yes. To watch soccer and ice hockey -- anything -- that would be great."

These next-generation televisions would be able to play shows in 2-D or 3-D. They also would be able to show video games in 3-D, which Sony demonstrated at the expo in Atlanta.

Sturgeon, of HDTV Magazine, said JVC is working on a type of 3-D technology that's different form the strobing glasses used by Panasonic and Sony.

JVC's version uses polarized glasses to separate the right-eye image from the left-eye image and is more pleasing to the eye, he said.

Aside from the kooky glasses, people who want to watch television that jumps off the screen will need something to watch. The process of making live television work in 3-D probably would involve a major conversion of broadcast equipment.

Also, Blu-ray is said to be working on a product that would play three-dimensional movies at home.

Panasonic and Sony said they're still working out some kinks in their 3-D entertainment systems. The TV makers hope to ride the wave of popularity of improved stereoscopic 3-D movies, such as recent hit "Up," that are being shown in theaters.

Panasonic, say it expects 3-D TV to be common in homes within five to 10 years. Technology that will make 3-D TV possible without glasses should be ready in 10 to 15 years.

SmilePlease

While visiting India, George Bush is invited to tea with Abdul Kalam. He Asks Kalam what his leadership philosophy is. He says that, it is to Surround him with intelligent people.

Bush asks how he knows if they're intelligent. "I do so by asking them the right questions," says the Kalam. "Allow me to demonstrate."

Bush watches as Kalam phones Manmohan Singh and says, "Mr. Prime Minister, please answer this question:

Your mother has a child, and your father has a child, and this child is not your brother or sister. Who is it?"

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Manmohan immediately responds, "It's me, Sir!"

"Correct. Thank you and good-bye, sir," says Kalam.

He hangs up and says, "Did you get that, Mr. Bush?"

Bush nods: "Yes Mr. President. Thanks a lot. I'll definitely be using that!"

Bush, upon returning to Washington, decides he'd better put Condoleezza Rice to the test.

Bush summons her to the White House and says, "Condoleezza, I wonder if you can answer a question for me."

"Why, of course, sir. What's on your mind?"

Bush poses the question: "Uhh, your mother has a child, and your father has a child, and this child is not your brother or your sister. Who is it?"

Rice was puzzled and finally asks, "Can I think about it and get back to you?" Bush agrees, and Rice leaves.

Rice immediately calls a meeting of senior senators, and they puzzle over the question for several hours, but nobody can come up with an answer.

Finally, in desperation, Rice calls Colin Powell and explains the problem.

"Mr. Powell, your mother has a child, and your father has a child, and this child is not your brother or your sister.

Who is it?"

Powell answers immediately, "It's me, of course."

Much relieved Rice rushes back to the White House, finds George Bush, and exclaims, "I know the answer, sir! I know who it is! It's

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our Colin Powell !"

And Bush replies in disgust, "Wrong, it's

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Manmohan Singh!"

And so it begins

And so it begins, I could recollect that we have been planning for having a weekend cricket match for more than 6 months. It started to become a joke, that whenever we plan something for a weekend it is just for timepass but when the time comes it is only for sleep and TV. There was a tournament announced within the company and we said to ourselves, "Nammala vechu mathavanga comedy panrathukku munaadi,nammaley alert aagidvom nu". Therefore we put up a small fund and planned for a weekend cricket match at Trustpuram ground in Kodambakkam.

Oru vazhiya ellaarum vanthu serathukku 7:30 pola aaiduchu, the ground was not totally occupied, but we didn't get a proper place to get started, not having stumps did not help either. We were having a simple bowling session. Frankly our saturday was ruined. Out of nowhere a ray of hope, the local football team got dispersed leaving a huge gap in the ground. We quickly rushed there but could not start playing as we did not have any stumps. Appathaan oru team sikkuchu, "Specs potta sambaar saadham, dress potta noodles" nu oru gang sikkuchu. Seri try panuvomaenu oru match podalaamaanu paesi paathom, konajm yosichittu seri nutaanga. Appaada vanthathukku oru match. Toss pottu batting na odane - innum santhosham - Gaaj maamu Gaaj.

Namma openers Veeravum (paandiya), baskarum kalathula erangunaanga. Personally I got the best viewing position which is the umpire's. Trials nu oru ball pottan paarunga, on the spot first ball. He sort of slanted the ball from off to leg. I was expecting something of the second ball. 7 fielders close in pannathunaalayum, IS team pinaadi irunthu sirichukittu irunthathaalum - satrey focus izhantha nam baskar bold. First ball, deep roast duck. Pathari pochu bally team. All idea bowling - I know, nu erangunaaru team captain subbiah. First ball, good pace - yorker length - yaeri miri, bat la illa, kaal la. Bowler thenaritaan, avanukku purinju irukkum yaaru kooda motharom nu. Second ball thiruppe try pannaan mathikka vae illa same miri. Intha ball la oru leg bye vera. Athukku appuram singles vara aarambichuthu.

Next over veera at the batsman end, baseball kanakkaa - first rendu ball miss panitu third ball oru home run adichaan. But that was a four. Second over la thaan konjamaavathu run vanthuchu. Appuram. Oru maida maavu, around the wicket poda vanthuchu. Seri ivan oru comedu piece nu nenachaa, nallaa bowling potaan. First rendu ball, bat seriya meet panavae illa, third ball Subbiah bowled. Appadiya singles urutta aarmabichaanga. Athukku appuram perusaa ethum bowling illa . 5 overs mudivula 30 runs pola eduthu irunthom. Then rotate panna aarambichom. Karthick, Regin, Sujin and myself we all had some equal chances within those 10 overs. Though we ended up playing around5 balls each. Total was 64 and 65 to win was the criteria.

Mani bowled the first over, veera the second, I bowled the third over followed by Regin 4th, Karthick -5th. The situation was pretty much under control. I would be killed if I forgot to mention the whirlwind innings played by Feroz bhai. He came in my over and pushed my delivery to the right of me. I could have collected it but since it is a gentle push, I thought fielders would cover - I turned back to see the ball in the boundary line. Next ball a well lofted meatier shot in the same region. Subbiah asked me to come over the wicket rather than feeding around the wicket. From then on I pitched relatively stump to stump and completed the over. Not to forget a beaten delivery which was stumped. Feroz stay ended with a catch I believe. The equation was like 3 overs 20 run in the end. Regin controlled his second over giving away nothing much. Vimal came back for his second over and took a wicket (bowled) and by the end of the last over the equation read 12 runs of 6 balls. Veera came in to bowl the last over, he started off poorly giving 3 + 4 runs to start with. He came back with 4 dot balls and seal the deal, and a first win for IS team.

What followed was a juice session with Pineapple, Saathukudi, Nungu + Elani. Followed with a heavy breakfast at Paandiya(Veera)'s house. I skipped lunch that day and felt as if in booze throughout the noon.