2nd Place

The finals of Mosh was something I was really looking forward too because I hardly messed up during practice.

We played Born to raise Hell by Motorhead, Let me entertain you by Robbie Williams and The Saints are coming by U2.

The first song was good. We performed the second song well too, but I dont think the judges liked the song selection. The third song was supposed to be our crown jewel because we had practiced this song very well, but something went wrong and Aditya got the timing of the drumbeats wrong. So messed it up. No amount of on-stage antics by me and Ganpati could take that away.

The competition was ok. Three of the bands tried to do difficult songs only to mess up the vocals. We were pretty decent on that front so we were the runners up. The band who came first were good. Their timing was just perfect. Still, I feel we could have done better.

The guys who came first all got cellphones. Hope we get something good too. I heard talk of bluetooth headsets, ipod speakers and even 3 pairs of slippers(dont ask).

2nd place in my very first gig. A sign of good things to come?????????????

Rohit with Paradigm

I just played on stage for the first time ever today. I was the stand-in bassy for Paradigm and we participated in the elims of Mosh, the Western Band Competition, at Umang 2007.

Jinju called me up yesterday afternoon and told me he needed a bassy. Though I have never handled a base guitar in my life, I was eager to try things out and went for the jam. I actually played the acoustic for practice as there was no bass guitar available at Echo Point.

I managed to hit the right notes and we were ready to roll. Jinju has an awesome voice and we have two amazing guitarists in Ashwin and Nandan. Aditya Talwar is great on drums.

We covered Born to Be Wild by Steppenwolves and Animal by Pearl Jam. After our performance, the cheers told me we were making it to the finals and by God we did. Top marks and we are playing in the finals on saturday baby.........yeeeaaahhhh!

A New Season Begins

11th of August brought back the English Premier League to our screens and what a beginning it was!!!

I was really happy to see Roy Keane back in the EPL, this time as the manager of Sunderland. A brilliant opening match saw Sunderland edging out the Spurs right at the death, thanks to a stunning goal by Keane's latest buy, Michael Chopra. I was especially happy because now the Spurs will have to think twice about breaking into the top 4. Thanks Michael, all Arsenal fans love you.

Newly promoted Derby County had a good match against Portsmouth at Pride Park, drawing 2-2 with Andy Todd equallising just a minute after Etuhu gave Pompey the lead after 82 minutes.
Harry Redknapp has much to worry about when he meets Sir Alex Ferguson's side this Wednesday.

Another match worth watching was Liverpool against Aston Villa, in which Liverpool just shaved it thanks to a stunning free kick in the 87th minute by Gerrard. Torres seems to be good but will he go the Cisse way remains to be seen. Liverpool are still looking shaky which serves me just fine.

Florent Malouda proved yet again why he is worth 13 million pounds when he scored against Birmingham to put Chelsea up 2-1. The match was a hard fought 3-2 victory for the Blues, and Birmingham showed their strength by giving Chelsea a hard time.

Manchester United were held to a goalless draw by 10 man Reading (Woohoo!!!). Not an auspicious start for the defending champions. Steve Coppel's boys were brilliant as they held on to thwart wave after wave of Manchester's attacks.

At long last, coming to Arsenal. A new start against Fulham. What the hell was Lehmann thinking? He tried to be clever and ended up conceding a goal in the 51st second itself. Arsenal dominated, with some excellent performances by Bakary Sagna, Gael Clichy and Alexander Hleb. The defence was shaky though and there were a couple of scary moments. But as usual, we equalised in the 84th minute thanks to a Van Persie penalty and took the lead in the 87th with a goal by Alex Hleb. Same old story? Hope we win more convincingly next time.

Special mention must be made of Nicholas Bendtner. He came on as a substitute for Rosicky in the 74th minute and was brilliant throughout. He is the man to watch out for this season. Amazing physical presence. I am sure we would have scored in the first half itself had he started. I am hoping for a better performance next week against Blackburn. And I am also counting on Arsenal thrashing Sparta Prague 5-0 this Wednesday

Go Gunners!!!

Chak De Hockey

I just saw Chak De India and I have to admit it is a fine movie. A bit melodramatic, but surprisingly down to earth and true to life for a Yash Raj Films venture.

We have all heard of such stories and watched many movies on this theme. A ragtag bunch of sportsmen come together to form a dream team. It is a tried and tested formula and it has almost always worked. However the question is, will it work for a game like hockey?

The answer is yes. Shahrukh, is Kabir Khan, one of India's finest centre forwards. Its the finals of the Hockey World cup, and he misses the decisive penalty which costs India the gold. He is accused of match fixing and retires into obscurity after being branded a traitor by an unforgiving public.

7 years later, the Indian Hockey Association needs a coach for the women's hockey team for the World Championship. Enter Kabir Khan, who feels this is his one chance for redemption. The attitude of the association is, these women are going to come back in the first round itself, so why even bother? Kabir thinks otherwise and is determined to prove his point.

In the training camp, he becomes a strict disciplinarian, as he almost kills the girls during training. He brings them together as a team, teaching them to put the team ahead of their egos. They hate him at first, but soon realize his good intentions and start to believe in themselves. A stuttering start to the cup, then a resurgence, sees the team enter the nerve wrecking finals, and the rest is history.

What I really liked about the movie is the cast, and the relentless cricket bashing. For the second point alone, I am ready to give this movie a 5 on 5. I loved the way the team members are portrayed. Like the two girls from the North East, who are called Chinese or Nepali by the rest of "us" or the girls from Jharkhand, who cannot speak proper Hindi. They are stereotyped but I think that was required to get the message across that it is the country that is important, not the state.

What I did not like, was the unnecessary melodrama and the predictable dialogues.

But overall, it was a decent film. Shahrukh was good, but hammed it a bit in the middle. This movie seems to be a somewhat accurate reflection of the attitude of people, and the authorities, towards hockey. A cricketer even calls it Gilli Danda. Also women are always looked down upon when it comes to Indian sports. The conditions they train in are truly appalling. The movie also seems to prove one thing - people have short memories because immediately after the team's triumphant return, the public forgets all about his missed penalty and fall in love with him again.

Definitely worth a watch. I would say, 3.5 on 5.