The Wareblog

THE PLOT –

The story is set in modern day Punjab (India), more specifically in Amritsar.
Surinder Sahni (Shahrukh Khan), who works for Punjab Power, gets married to Taani (Anushka Sharma) in very Bollywood-like circumstances. The simple and soft spoken Surinder is then told by Taani that she wouldn’t be able to love Surinder all her life.
Enter Raj Kapoor (Shahrukh Khan), who takes Taani out of her shell and brings fresh colors into her life.
Will Taani choose Raj’s love over Surinder’s dedication?
It’s all there for you to find out.

THE CAST –

Aditya Chopra comes back after almost eight years with this directorial venture and with a surprisingly small budget and starcast.
Shahrukh Khan, Anushka Sharma and Vinay Pathak are perhaps the only full-time characters in the plot.
As for their acts, they all come up trumps. Anushka Sharma is exceptional on debut (much better than Asin in Ghajini – as will shortly be reviewed) and Shahrukh Khan is superb in his portrayal of Surinder Sahni, a character very much like yester year’s Amol Paleker –kind-of-roles.

THE MUSIC –

Very hummable and in-sync music by Salim-Suleiman. The duo seem to have started off from where they left off in Chak De India. They do not disappoint with any of the scores and come up trumps in the overall score. Tujhme Rab Dikhta Hai and Haule Haule have already become very popular on the charts. Dance Pe Chance was pretty apt for the sequences. However, Phir Milenge Chalte Chalte was the ace of the album and full justice to the song was done while shooting the same. Almost time that folks like the much-over-hyped A.R.Rehman took a leaf out of their notebook.

THE VERDICT –

A family movie plus an entertainer with that feel-good touch. If you have loved SRK over the years, you will not be disappointed with this one. On hindsight, I did ‘review’ this one in the fullest sense – yes, saw it twice on the big screen before writing this.

THE SCORE –

8.00 / 10.00  (Revised)

AND…THE SONG –

NOTE : I have not written this; I received it from one of my friends.

An atheist professor of philosophy speaks to his class on the problem science has with God, The Almighty. He asks one of his new students to stand and…..

Prof: So you believe in God?
Student: Absolutely, sir.

Prof: Is God good?
Student: Sure.

Prof: Is God all-powerful?
Student: Yes.

Prof: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to God to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But God didn’t. How is this God good then? Hmm?
Student is silent.

Prof: You can’t answer, can you?
Let’s start again, young fellow. Is God good?
Student: Yes.

Prof: Is Satan good?
Student: No.

Prof: Where does Satan come from?
Student: From…God…

Prof: That’s right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?
Student: Yes.

Prof: Evil is everywhere, isn’t it? And God did make everything. Correct?
Student: Yes.

Prof:
Student does not answer.

Prof: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don’t they?
Student: Yes, sir.

Prof: So, who created them?
Student has no answer.

Prof: Science says you have 5 senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son…Have you ever seen God?
Student: No, sir.

Prof: Tell us if you have ever heard your God?
Student: No, sir.

Prof: Have you ever felt your God, tasted your God, smelt your God? Have you ever had any sensory perception of God for that matter?
Student: No, sir. I’m afraid I haven’t.

Prof: Yet you still believe in Him?
Student: Yes.

Prof: According to empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your GOD doesn’t exist. What do you say to that, son?
Student: Nothing. I only have my faith.

Prof: Yes Faith. And that is the problem science has.

Now the student said can I ask something to you Professor.

Student: Professor, is there such a thing as heat?
Prof: Yes.

Student: And is there such a thing as cold?
Prof: Yes.

Student: No sir. There isn’t.

(The lecture theatre becomes very quiet with this turn of events.)

Student: Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don’t have anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can’t go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.
(There is pin-drop silence in the lecture theatre.)

Student: What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?
Prof: Yes. What is night if there isn’t darkness?

Student: You’re wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something.
You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light… But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and its called darkness, isn’t it? In reality, darkness isn’t. If it were you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you?
Prof: So what is the point you are making, young man?

Student: Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.
Prof: Flawed? Can you explain how?

Student: Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can’t even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it. Now tell me, Professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?

Prof: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.

Student: Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?

(The Professor shakes his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument is going.)

Student: Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher?

(The class is in uproar.)

Student: Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor’s brain?

(The class breaks out into laughter.)

Student: Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor’s brain, felt it, touched or smelt it? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, sir. With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir?

(The room is silent. The professor stares at the student, his face unfathomable.)

Prof: I guess you’ll have to take them on faith, son.
Student: That is it sir… The link between man & god is FAITH. That is all that keeps things moving & alive. .

This is a true story, and the student was none other than

DR. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam , Former President of India

I remember a place not far away,

I remember a time not long ago;

I remember being with you too..

And I still remember you in all that I do.!

But it’s not with love… daggers of pain!

And I promise…

I will never look into your eyes again..!

The maple tree stares down upon me,

And reminds me of a time I was here before;

The path leads me to a field,

Which shows me it still has life galore;

But I recognize them all..

Same old chaff.. Yet different grain..!

And so I promise…

I will never look into your eyes again..!

Alone I meander through the crossroads,

And I see a coffee pub I had frequented before;

This very street! That very day!!

I wish I had thought of it before..

Before letting go of your hand..

One fateful moment and you were no more..

All I had with me was lost..

And washed away in that autumn rain…

And so I promise…

I will never look into your eyes again..!

Kamaal Khan burst into the Indian Music Industry as the refreshing new voice of Salman Khan, a title that was held by S.P.Balasubramaniam for close to a decade. But the singer was never actually given the credit that was due and mostly rubbed away as another IndiPop singer, a treatment which rooted from the mushrooming of a huge number of blink-and-miss artistes during the late 90s and early years of the millennium. Kamaal nevertheless is still going strong and being a huge fan myself, look forward to the forthcoming album ‘Khanfusion’.

This is just a start….

This post is about my dear friend – Dipraj (Yes, the very Dipraj who owns this portal).

I once asked him, may be in our second lap of college, “You seem to be quite intelligent.. what are you doing here in LNCT? You deserve to be in IIT!!”

He replied,“Had I made it to IIT, how would I ever meet you?”

It is always very nice to hear such lines from a guy in your appreciation but for him, it was his way of hiding his pain of not getting into IIT.

Third lap of college, Recruitment Fair; he got into TCS, the very first company that came for recruitment. He was happy or pretended to be so. But ask me and I’ll tell you, he was not made for TCS.

He also took CAT, got a 90+ percentile but again, ask me and I’ll tell you, he is IIM material. He, for a change, himself confessed, “I didn’t get into IIT, but nothing less than IIM this time..!”

He has always been a person who dreams big and also works hard to achieve it but, there still was no end to his misfortune.

Faculty members of his department then played foul to deny him the ‘Best Student’ and ‘Best Project’ awards funded by Tata Consultancy Services at that time. Needless to say, his performance card in both the categories was unbeatable.

The College Course Ends Here.

Now, ‘On The Job Time’:

Tata Consultancy Services, Noida: He gave a mind-boggling performance during his training days, only to miss out on the ‘Best Associate’ award.

But still, he never let us gauge how heartbroken he was.

But just a few months later came the chance for him to show his flair and he grabbed it to blow the minds of ’em all.

A game of luck for three days and everything changed.

He moved to Hyderabad..

Let me correct myself.. He moved to Microsoft, Hyderabad.

That ‘ultimate’ destination for a software engineer and he has made it within seven months of his professional life.

He doesn’t need razzle-dazzle. His personality is enough to knock you off.

But this is surely not the end…

Picture.. Abhi Baaki Hai Mere Dost..!!

P.S.:  I never told you Dipraj but you have always been my role model and I will keep following in your footsteps.

God Bless You..!!

Raghav Sachar at 26 years of age is one exceedingly gifted artiste who can actually play more musical instruments than his age ( 32 instruments as on date ). If his formative years in the Indian Music Industry are anything to go by, we have a rarity on the cards. With contemporary sounds in his compositions, he manages to effortlessly pull-off one chartbuster after another. Perhaps, Kabul Fiza from Kabul Express is one song that one wouldn’t have lost from their mp3 players altogether. Give some more of his numbers a try and you may soon be humming one random piece.. go for it.!

Anjaane Chehre – The most amazing bloopers are here

There could not have been a better occasion for a champion to show his class, especially for the sake of fans like me who have been waiting for the same for almost an eternity.!

The ‘Rawalpindi Express’ (He’s probably too fast for the tag anyways) as they call him, chose such an opportune moment to vindicate his class and passion for the game and on the receiving end were the Delhi IPL team.

With the first half of the match witnessing paltry yet dogged batsmanship from the Calcutta team, the bowlers and the fieldsmen had to perhaps play the match of their lives and am glad that they did and in doing so gave the spectators moments that would become the highlight of this edition of the IPL when seen in retrospection.

But the whole show was setup by a man who had been on the receiving end of blow after blow from his national cricket body and had been at the centre-stage of severe criticism with former players even doubting his attitude and sincerity towards the game.

This was his first competitive game in a long time but he chose this very moment to weave magic, the way only he can.!

One would exaggerate to say that he silenced them all with his show but it would only be an understatement if I said that Shoaib Akhtar’s passion and flair for the game is still burning; in fact, it’s exploding..!

And every cricket fan who witnessed yesterday’s match would agree that the champion bowler single-handedly blew up the opposition.

It’s ironical that when the nation was burning with the Pink City blasts and alleging foreign hands in the same, here was a foreign hand which was blasting away in a very different and appropriate way, much to the delight of the masses.

Perhaps, we will never learn to treat our champions the way they are due.

Well played Shoaib Akhtar, the cricketer..!

The old warrior still sports that heart-of-a-lion when it comes to standing up and being counted.

On Sunday, the scene was no different when The Prince of Calcutta towered with his all-round performance to almost single-handedly vanquish Team Hyderabad in the ongoing Indian Premier League.

Controversies and misfortune may have found favour in his fate-line and yes, his ‘jobfront’ but to put it in the right perspective, they have all been outside his ‘workplace’.

And for the umpteenth time, he once again stood out with his show when he had just been involved in yet another fuss-controversy but more importantly, when his team needed him the most..!

Sourav Ganguly may never be called say, A Braveheart-Personified, but in context of what he has been to the game of cricket and its true admirers, he goes beyond any such title.

May the Sun never set on The Prince of Calcutta..!!

Way to go Dada!!

Google Labs is one place you will be anything but disappointed once you log on.

I hadn’t been there for sometime now and this afternoon’s visit left me wanting to go through more with little time at disposal.

From the racks I just got my hands on this CodeSearch application and played around with it from the “Hello World”s to the “request.getParameter”s.

And the best part is, the lab is a click away from you.

http://labs.google.com/

And the CodeSearch page goes here:

http://www.google.com/codesearch