Happy Birthday Rajnikanth

Rajnikanth - a bald, ageing person , a grand father, sporting a saint look  in a very simple outfit and having a  fashionable Premier Padmini to his name. Yet you come to Tamil Nadu and say his name, be it a youngster, a senior citizen, a house wife, a kid, a baby or anyone for that matter, the reaction is the same and its something that cannot be explained but experienced.

Being a Rajnikanth fan is more than just a unique feeling. It is being a part of a huge world wide group that is driven by a common factor for the love of one extra-ordinary actor and a human being.

Rajnikanth may never get to do a series like Terminator, he may never get Hans Zimmer as the music director of his movie, he may never get a chance to do a role like Will Smith in Pursuit of Happiness or Bruce Willis in Die Hard or Christian Bale in Batman. He may never sport a six pack rock hard abs, he may never perform some daredevil stunt sequence on his own, he may never get to act in an epic adventure like the Lord of the Rings. But the thing about him is, he doesn't have to. 

He is Rajinikanth. Period.

It is very common for people to judge his acting, find his style statements funny/childish or feel that the fan following that he commands is over rated. They make the common mistake of seeing things keeping in mind that Rajinikanth is just an actor. But to us, he is something more. People follow many super heroes and go to comic con or a Halloween dressed as a superman or a batman or a wolverine or a iron man. We don't need superheroes to follow. We have Rajinikanth.

There is no particular definition to the phenomenon, that is Rajinikanth. There will never be. Every person will have his/her own version and will be happy about it.

At 63 years he earns more than anyone in the country in his field, gets instant recognition throughout the world and has his birthday celebrated like a festival. He cannot be compared to any other successful people from any field as he has scripted his own fairy tale and is leading a life that everyone wants to but only a very few have led in the past.

Down the years, he might call it quits for the showbiz industry and continue his simple life. But he will never retire from our hearts. Rajnikanth playing the arrogant cop in Moondru Mugam, a robot in Enthiran, a struggling family man from Aarithilirundu Aruvathu and a flamboyant comedy role in Thillu Mullu will be among the best performances ever. His avatar as Basha redefined what a mass entertainer is.

With New Rajinikanth jokes coming up on the internet every day for the past year and gaining popularity among wide(influenced by the Chuck Norris jokes) audience. If someone were to walk along the roads of Chennai and share a Rajinikanth joke with a typical Rajinikanth fan, there is no second thoughts that both of them will have a good laugh about it. After which, when the person moves on, the fan calmly hopes in his/her heart that one day Rajinikanth will do exactly in the joke in real life and make that dumbass(who cracked the joke) look stupid. 

If some neutral person comes across this and terms me a crazy fan, I would encourage him/her to watch a Rajinikanth movie at theaters in Tamil Nadu, feel the frenzy and read this post again. 

(Rajnikanth songs were played during the whole time of writing this post)

-a humble Rajinikanth fan. 

Happy birthday thalaiva !!

"Nee oru thadava sonna, nooru thadava sonna madri"

Down the Memory Lane

Fifteen years from now, I will still claim Sourav Ganguly as my favorite player. I will still be admiring Rahul Dravid's impenetrable defense. I will still enjoy replays of VVS Laxman's shots. I will still feel proud on seeing Anil Kumble's 10 wicket haul. Cricket will never be the same to me again.

With Ricky Ponting coming out to the press and calling it quits, everyone is expecting the same from SRT. That call will come from him, may be not today, not tomorrow but some day and that day will leave in the cross roads. I can move on and support the Kohlis and Dhonis and Amlas. But I would rather collect all the videos that are there of Sourav, the Waugh brothers, RT Ponting, M Atherton, A Stewart and reminisce what was a golden age of the modern day International cricket.

Its been 15 years since I started following cricket. It was the finals of the Sharjah cup between India and Australia. I will never forget the 24 made by Sourav Ganguly. I will always cherish the days when I used to wake up 5 in the morning to see India bashed by the mighty Australians led by Stephen Waugh day after day, match after match.

There was something about Michael Slater that caught my eye. He proved it was not a bad idea to score at 4+ run rate in a test match. I could see perseverance paying big time for Justin Langer and Rahul Dravid. Adam Glichrist was out of the world. VVS and Mark Waugh were creating magic using their bats. Ylou could high just seeing their cover drives. Sangakkara and Mahela belong to the same class. M Azharuddin's footwork was one of the best.

Sourav Ganguly was different. A horrible fielder, an arrogant man and vulnerable to bouncers. In spite of all these, he can make Eden go crazy just by walking into it. I have seen the sixers from Afridi, Sanatha Jayasuriya, KP and every other strong built cricketer, but nothing came close to the sight of Sourav dancing down the track and lofting one outside the stadium.

Brian Lara was a craftsman of his own league. I always wondered how he could have so much time in having such a high bat lift and even after that he was able to strike the ball so clean. If SRT was Batman, Lara was Wolverine.

M Atherton and M Atapattu tested the spectators' patience. They would sweat it out, grind into the opponents nerves and would never want to leave the field. Rahul had the similar trait. He seemed to hate getting out. He just was not fond of that idea.

Brett Lee and Anil Kumble was warriors. Cricket meant more to them than almost anything. They get hurt, you see them back on the field in no time with a band aid. They along with M Hayden  and the big Inzaman-ul-Haq had such a dominating presence over the opposite team.

Nathan Astle was a different story. He was the earlier version of B McCullum but with less dancing. The innings when he almost took NZ home when they were 9 down against England, those 4 sixes of Andy Caddick's over was quite a sight.

Glenn Mcgrath, SR Warne, Ambrose, Walsh, Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram were just too good to bat against. M Muralitharan was a fox.

Gone are the days where the above mentioned players took the field and produced such excellent cricket. I am and will always be proud to have the most of the cricket played by them.