Those were the days!

I recently happened to book a movie ticket online which reminded me of the first time I booked a ticket online. Having received the confirmation on my mobile, I had approached the counter to collect my tickets whereupon they guided me to a machine from where I could collect the tickets.

Me being naive requested for assistance and one of the impeccably dressed assistants stepped out from the counter and showed us how it should be done. In the end, it all seemed ludicrously simple. Booking movie tickets had become so simple. Log onto the web-site, select your show, class, seats etc., pay through credit-card, swipe the card at the cinema, collect your tickets and you are done. Easy! 

Now, you might be wondering why I'm going ga-ga over something as simple as this. Well, the thought of just relaxing on your favourite couch at home and punching a few keys to book your tickets brings back some old memories of the struggles we had encountered in our quest for the movie tickets.

The one movie that springs to my mind instantly is the Superstar starrer Baba. It was the movie to watch in those days and much-awaited flick released on a Thursday, which happened to be Independence day. So, we lined up outside Urvashi hoping that somehow through some divine intervention we would lay our hands on the tickets that would provide salvation to us. But alas, that was not to be and we were left staring at the "House full" board and the movie posters with a host of other guys who shared our fate.

Then someone hit a brilliant idea to go to one of the other theatres Naga which is half way across the town, and we all hit the road again with rekindled hopes. Only god knows what made us believe that we would get tickets at Naga when we didn't at Urvashi. Surprise, Surprise!!! Tickets are available, but only in Black with each ticket costing around Rs.400/- or so (don't remember the actual figure). We returned home disappointed, but not defeated. We vowed to resume the battle soon and sure we did!

The next day, we were back in the Urvashi queue at the break of dawn much to the ridicule of a few passers-by. This time the queue was not very long and we were almost certain to lay our hands on the damn tickets that would clear our path to Nirvana. But then, as they say on National Geographic, Disaster struck!

The Tamilian movie-goers at Urvashi have this peculiar habit of breaking queues in a unique manner (perhaps they should patent it). They rush forward as a group at the same instant, as if predetermined, and then spread out and join the queue at different locations much ahead of where they were! The lone constable who was posted there to prevent this from happening was left standing clueless. He did make an effort with the help of the other victims (of the queue-breaking conspiracy), yours' truly included.

There was this particular guy who had quietly slid between us and claimed that, he had been standing all the time! So, as quiet as him,  I pointed him out to the constable, who charged at him with his Lathi raised and was about to strike him, when the guy coolly slipped out like an eel, and I who was latching on my Brother in front so as not to be pushed out of the queue got hit on my arms!! My thick pullover saved me. The constable sheepishly smiled and moved away.

Anyway, as a result of this melee, we were pushed back by at least 30 places, and it looked touch-and-go. Luckily there no more break-ins, at least, no more that affected us and we just about managed to squeeze in!! Yoohooooo!!

The movie was lousy and to top it there was a guy sitting in the back-row just behind us, who was hell-bent on expelling the secretions of his mucous membrane every quarter of an hour.
Thankfully, he didn't fancy us much and we were spared from being the target of his misdirected missiles.Wish the Superstar had made good our losses too along with those of the Distributors. Another instance, I can recollect was even earlier, a good 20 years back, when Oru Kaidiyin Diary
was released. Same theater, different group. That time, the whole family, around 12 of us, had descendedon Urvashi to watch Kamal Hassan's astonishing performance in a double-role. We joined the serpentinequeue and in half-an-hour were at the counter. Someone from our group put in their hand and asked for12 tickets, but got only 2 instead. Those were the last 2 tickets available. We returned those andspent some time at Lalbagh instead where the elders gossipped and we kids ran around!!!. Yes, those were the days!! More recently, when Lagaan was released, it was the talk of the town. People you knew were
going back to watch the movie again and again, and if you hadn't watched it, you would get that lookfrom everyone, "What, which planet do you come from?!!" It had already run for over a 100 days, andwe estimated that we could get that we could get through without facing a hell a lot of trouble. Wiser from our previous experiences, we didn't want to take chances, and we formed strategies around getting tickets. We collected information from those who had already watched it, as to whattime they went to the theater, how long did they have to wait for it etc. After Saturday morning's cricket, we directly headed to, where else, Urvashi, again. But the crazy crowds beat us again and all the shows were "House full" for both Saturday and Sunday!!
Never the ones to give up, we repeated the Baba strategy of turning up at day-break the next week
and indeed watched the movie. But unlike, Baba the movie rocked and it felt like watching a cricket match at a movie theater. Rocking atmosphere! Well, I could go on and recount a couple of other experiences, but I think got the point across.
So, before you begin to curse me, I'll close this post here. Thanks for reading. Have a good day!

IPL 2009

Its that time of the year again! The auctions are done with. The tentative schedule for IPL 2009 has been announced. The producers of TV soaps have started biting their nails and tearing their hair out, one strand at a time, not knowing how not to lose audience for nearly 2 months.

I'm particularly interested in the fortunes of the 'Royal' teams. I'm a Bengalurean, and naturally RCB is my favourite team. I cheered loudly for them last year when they avoided the 'Wooden spoon'. This time I'm sure they would have better luck. 'Rajasthan Royals' would probably be every one's favourite after their own home teams. Led and coached by maverick 'Warney', they showed great spunk last year and their fabulous victory made even management gurus sit up and take a lesson or two on team work and role plays.

I'll go ahead and analyze the prospects of both the teams. I'm no Gavaskar or Chappell, but I would like to think of myself as somewhat knowledgeable in the area and have made a right guess or two in the past. 

First the Challengers. Their problems last year started right at the top. Having made some horrible player selections, they were unable to bond and click together as a team. The couple of matches that they won, they huffed and puffed and barely managed to scrape through. The openers play a crucial role in T20 and RCB didn't have one, let alone two. They tried Jaffer, Chipli, Dravid, Chanderpaul, Kohli and none of them clicked. The arrival of Uthappa solves half of the problem, though it weakens the bowling due to the loss of Zaheer khan. The other half is solved by the acquisition of Jesse Ryder. In addition to being a explosive batsman, Ryder is a dibbly-dobbler who can slip in a quiet over or two. Dravid would probably come in at 3 and look to play his normal role of holding the innings together. KP at 4 and Kallis at 5 would look to get on with it and 6 would probably have White or Boucher depending on the conditions, then Akhil/Devaraj Patil, Praveen kumar, Joshi, Kumble and Steyn would follow. Ross Taylor would get his chance when KP leaves in May. Kohli, Jaffer, Vinay kumar and the others would get their chances somewhere. The cap of 4 foreign players in the 11 places an additional responsibility on the captains to try and get the combination right.

The overall balance of the team has greatly improved by the changes this year and a change in captaincy would definitely add an edge. Dravid has been fighting his demons for more than a year now and would do well to step aside and let KP/Uthappa take over for this edition. Dravid let his personal failures affect his captaincy and took the team down with him last season. Dravid, no doubt, is one of the greatest players to play the game and has a good cricketing brain, but at the moment he should relax a little, let his hair down and try to have some fun.

There are problems areas this year as well. The bowling, though there are some big names on paper, lacked bite last year. Even Kumble went for quite a few. RCB would do well to unearth some fresh local talent in this area. Second, the departure of KP in May would weaken the batting a great deal. So, RCB should look to win as many matches as possible in the first round of matches. 

In summary, the team looks more solid than last year and would definitely win more matches. But a semi-final spot still looks out of reach, I would bet on them to end-up fifth/sixth in the rankings.

[Update (6/3/09) - Apparently I missed out mention of Nathan Bracken who happens to be a Royal Challenger. Not sure what his situation is. He didn't play a single game last year if I remember correctly, and might not be available this time either (pure speculation), if he's in the squad for Australia's one day series against SA. It would be very interesting to watch who he would replace if at all he plays. Probably Boucher/White. 

I also forgot to mention Pankaj Singh, the Rajasthan medium pacer, who might get a game or two as well.

Meanwhile, RCB local talent scouts have called up Tinu Yohanan for trials. Tinu made a comeback to the Kerala squad this season after a long absence. Will be interesting to follow his fortunes. 

And, KP says he'll watch the security situation and will come only if he feels its safe. What a shame it would be if he decides not to tour.]

Now, the Royals. The team has not changed a great deal since last year. Kamran Akmal & Sohail Tanvir are not part of the team anymore. Kamran didn't play most of the games last year, so they won't miss him much, but Tanvir was their strike bowler, his loss would hurt a bit. They have got Shaun Tait as his replacement, but then, Tait is no Tanvir. Shane Watson is just returning from an injury. He is unlikely to bowl if at all he participates in this year's edition (Australia has a ODI series against Pakistan in May). Watson was the star performer for the Royals last year along with Pathan in the batting department.  If Tyron Henderson is as good as his price-tag suggests, the all-rounder would probably  be a worthy replacement for Watson. 

RR seemed to run out of steam towards the later stages of the season, and laboured to get home in a few of the matches. In fact, the finals was almost lost, but for Pathan's cool, composed knock. Since the crux of the team is unchanged, the other teams would already have plans for dealing with them. As such, it would not be smooth sailing for RR this season. But who knows what that magician is conjuring up right now. If he comes up with a new bag of tricks, then it is game on. I still would expect RR to just about squeeze in to the semis, but not go on to win the tournament.

So, who would I back to win this year's edition? Delhi Daredevils! They have an explosive batting line-up consisting of Sehwag, Gambhir, David Warner, DeVilliers, Collingwood, Dilshan, Maharoof and have McGrath, Nehra, Vettori and Amit Mishra to back them up in the bowling. In addition they have guys like Owais Shah, Dinesh Karthick & Rajat Bhatia alongwith YoMahesh & Pradeep Sangwan. The last two did exceptionally well in the last edition. DD have probably the most balanced team this year. So, my money is firmly on them to be IPL champions 2009. 

Who would head to Champions League with them? Hmm, that's a tough one. May be in the next post after analyzing the remaining teams. Till then, have fun and cheer for India in the ODIs. 3-2 to India? Anyone?