Eleven Minutes

The common myth is that it takes eleven minutes for a man to experience sexual pleasure to the maximum while being with a woman. Though how much we hate to admit it, the fact is that a major part of our lives resolve in these eleven minutes- they make, break, create and destroy lives, relationships, and the walls that we build around our lives up until that eleven minutes.

And the most less-talked about individuals in this world are the women who trade their body for money, and also the men who pay stashes of hard-earned money to experience these eleven minutes of pleasure with women they have never met before, with women whom they do not know whether the enthusiasm was genuine, with women they ever talked to before. The mention of this people induces filth in at least two-thirds of major societies in the world, not to forget the fact that prostitution is, afterall, the world's oldest profession.

And yet Paulo Coelho is one courageous man, as he boldly explores all these dynamisms in his resounding novel Eleven Minutes. A strictly adults-only fairytale, Eleven Minutes is inspired by the true story of a Brazillian woman who is lured to the prostitution world in Geneva, Switzerland with the promise of great money, and narrates her year-long experience being on the job and eventually finding what she thought she'd be unable to find in the annals of this profession- true love.

Just like Coelho's 1997 work Veronika Decides to Die, which talked about insanity, this book raises various questions about life and sex, and fervently undelrines the significance of an effective sexual life in order to increase enthusiasm towards life itself, and how much those eleven minutes contribute to spiritual enhancement of a human being.

Reading Eleven Minutes is a challeging experience for any reader, it opens you up to a frenetic world where all the morals of the society we live in are simoly placed into a backburner, and a prostitute is given a voice to narrate her desires, her dreams, her strivings, her relationships, and her motivations and uncertainties and a blatantly honest manner.

And that, once again, highlights Coelho's brilliance as an author. Another inspiring and blatantly good Coelho work.

Oy!- Music Review

Coming on the back of the success of Konchem Ishtamga Konchem Kashtamga, or fondly known as KIKK, Sidhharth is quickly establishing himself as a household name in the Telugu industry when it comes to romantic entertainers. Bommarillu, NVNV, and now KIKK have all been huge hits and he is looking to add Oy! into that list. Oy! marks the debut of 'Baby' Shamili, the younger sister of prominent Tamil actress Shalini, who had gone into self-inflicted retirement since tying the knot with actor Ajith in 2001. Shamili is probably more well-known to be referred as Anjali, after playing the role of an autistic child named Anjali in the 1991 Mani Ratnam classic of the same name.

And having lured the Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy trio to the Telugu industry for the first time by having them compose for KIKK, Sid has now lured in Yuvan Shankar Raja to compose for Oy!. This is only Yuvan's second direct Telugu album after Adavari Mataluku Arthale Verule, the film which marked the directorial debut of Selva Raghavan in Telugu, which was later remade in Tamil as Yaradi Nee Mohini. After attaining great success through AMAV, Yuvan follows it up brilliantly through Oy!, making it one of his best all-round albums in the past couple of years.


Anokoledenadu

Not great, but this is nevertheless pretty good soothing number. The regular heroine introduction song, but Yuvan gives a masterstroke by having the sweet Shreya Ghosal croon for this song, and she takes the song to another altogether. Instrument use is consistent even though not spectacular, but the song is in the right mood, and light in general, so you could keep expectations a bit low, and just enjoy it as it plays. Interludes are also soothing.

This is good.


Seheri

Yuvan goes offbeat in his regular style in this hip romantic duet, and attains some excellent results on the way- Seheri is a winner. Toshi steals the show with his singing, and Priya's light crooning gives the song a great slow tone in the middle. Throw into the mix some western rapping in the middle, the changing intermittents are brilliantly handled by Yuvan, and this is certainly one of Yuvan's best compositions in recent times.

Very good.


Saradaga

Delightful. Nothing spectacular again, but its a delight once again. Yuvan keeps it simple in this romantic number, but gets his choice of singers spot on once again with Karthick and Sunidhi Chauhan getting behind the mike and you do not need to push singers of their calibre much to get a good number. This is yet another soothing number that bodes well with the romantic theme of the movie. Light, simple, and delightful.

Very good again.


Povodhae Prema


The pick of the album! The sad pangs in Yuvan's voice reminds you fondly of the masterful 'Oru Naalil' number from Pudhupettai- this meanwhile is a song about the separation of love. Yuvan uses a western theme for this song- which heavy usage of rock band styles of electric guitars, yet the the song retains the appropriate mood, and Yuvan's minimal usage of instruments allows him to expose his low-toned voice excellently. Largely effective in bringing the sad mood.

Excellent.

Oy Oy

The title number of the album, and it is Siddharth crooning the song by himself. Yuvan goes innovative once again, and brings out a hip, peppy number, but the lyrics could have been much better, and could have done without the repeated 'love at first sight' lyrics, which were simply un-poetic at the first place. There is a heavy usage of English words in the song as well, but Siddharth modulates well in singing this with panache.

This is good, enjoyable.

Waiting for You

Give an emotional love song to Kay Kay and he knows what to with it. The second best number of the album, Yuvan and KK almost reach the heights of 'Kathal Valarthen' with this number, though the English lyrics of 'I'm waiting for you baby' seems a little out of place in a largely well constructed poetic Telugu song. KK is simply brilliant and Yuvan knows how to use instruments to effectively compose an emotional song and he does it with total panache.

Excellent.

Overall album rating: 8/10


This is one of Yuvan's best albums in recent times, given the fact that it has been sometime since he last gave a good all round album, all the songs in Oy are worth repititive listening and grows well on any listener. Nothing spectacular, but its a very effective album that will definitely raise the anticipation for the romantic Oy! when it does come out.

Siddharth does seem to be a defining factor in extracting good music from composers who compose for his films. After bringing out a great album from SEL in KIKK, he seems to have been able to make Yuvan hit near top form in Oy!.

The Observer- Episode 6

Pride and Vanity

It was yet another day in which we had finished our squashingly fun Mrs. Nagappan tuition at Methodist High School (MHS). We threw insults at each other in our regular process, went through the majority of the class Not paying attention to the teacher's lessons- Umesh had his fair bit of 'treatment' from us as usual that day- it was all in all a regular brat day we had in tuition, and it was time to go back.

My cousin brother was at Sitiawan as he studied in MHS to repeat his Form 5. so he too was attending Mrs. Nagappan's tuition classes, so that allowed me to coax my parents into giving us the bike so that we could go to tuition (I didn't have a license, so I technically couldn't and shouldn't be riding). And that was a glorifying day for all our bike riding panaches.

As my cousin brother is riding the bike, a fellow tuition-mate passed us by on her bike. HER. So it was a girl. And our pride got hurt in it, not ours, but technically, it was my pride which got hurt- 'why do you even let a girl pass you like that?' I asked him. As silent and non-responsive he was to my question- the next thing I knew he was sprinting the tyres off in overtake the girl in return, and I must mention here the girl in question wasn't an easy spring either, she was literally sprinting her way back home. Once we passed two traffic lights and still found her some good ground ahead of us, I decided to call it quits- but I wasn't the one riding the bike.

My cousin was too far immersed in it that he did not want to call it quits when it looked like an obvious 'defeat'. As if magic struck, she slowed down just before the corner to our housing area arrived. But she wouldn't slow down for no reason wouldn't she? There was a Transnasional bus which is making its way back to the road after being parked at the roadside for sometime, and she had slowed down to allow the bus to take its place. My cousin brother however kept going. I figured he must know what he was doing- he had a license afterall. But that was when I understood licences are nothing- it was too late by the time urged him to step on the brakes. He rammed his enthusiasm straight to the back of the girl's motor, but largely thanks to his pysichally tall figure, he got our bike under control, but she definitely did not share our luck. I looked back at her as she tumbled and screeched onto the road, but my cousin was too panicked to bother, he simply overtook the bus and landed me straight at our house withoutthe slightest of stops.

That is the first time I genuinely felt like a criminal. Have we killed her? That was the question which was raised in my mind. The next day, I received a phone call from Dayalan and he told me the girl has identified who had hit her, because I turned around and looked at her while she fell from grace to the tar floor. She was his friend, and she knew that he is my friend. My cousin brother was too nervous to do anything that he just blatantly handed over RM100 to me and asked me to settle with the girl. And I met her the following day, and she demanded RM50, and I was the most relieved person in the world to see that she has sustained minor bruises here and there and thats about it. However, called her a 'vanity brat' and that ringed up the compensation charges straight up to RM100. Two words later, and the compensation charge was a good RM50 more expensive. Enough said.

But what I saw the following week was a blossoming romance between my cousin (the hitter) and the girl (the hitten). And as always, I have become the negotiator for it, though this time in different dynamics. The romance did not last long though, soon enough we all went in our own ways. And we still have a laugh about what happened back then.

From then on- I dropped my own pride, and disclaimed women with an ounce too much of vanity. However cheapfully fun they may sound, both could make you hit and could make you fall (literally).

And there ended my sexist pride, when I was only 16. Now all my pride resides in who I am as a human and what I am doing to better myself. My gender is just an existing fact, I do not use it as a measurement tool of better or worse.

Love Aaj Kaal- music review

Imtiaz Ali and Pritam are at it again. Bollywood has hit a dry spell of late due to the strike which was caused by the misunderstanding between multiplex owners and film producers. The much-criticised strike has finally ended, and one of the biggest releases lining up for the theaters now is 'Love Aaj Kaal', featuring Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone. The film is written and directed by Imtiaz Ali, who wrote and directed the delightful 'Jab We Met' back in 2007 with Shahid Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor. And combining with him again is Pritam Chakraborthy- who gave what I personally rate as his best album to date in Jab We Met; so the expectations are pretty high for this film.

Twist

Who can forget Mauja Hi Mauja from JWM? Many think that is one of the best fast-beat feet-tapping numbers to have come out in Bollywood in past few years, and if there is any combination could better Mauja, it has to be the same people responsible for making Mauja. And Twist IS better than Mauja. Unlike Mauja, which was more straight-to-the-beat fast number; Pritam this time around gets much more innovative, using different interludes and great catchy music to compose this. As usual, Neeraj Sridhar who sings almost all of such feet tapping numbers composed by Pritam (including Mauja) does a great job in modulating to ooze superb energy to thos song. Classic Bollywood club number!


Ye Dooriyan

Well, this falls on the same lines as 'Tum Se Hi' from JWM, which was my favorite number from the JWM album, and is also one of my most favorite tracks of all time. And it has the same singer, Mohit Chauhan, who is now a oh-so-popular name is the industry after crooning 'Masakali' for AR Rahman's 'Delhi 6' album earlier this year, which turned to be immensely popular. This song, however, doesn't quite get to the heights of Tum Se Hi, but still it is a delightful song that is wirth listening to. Only that Pritam and Imtiaz have set such a high bars with numbers such as 'Aao Milo Chalo' and 'Tum Se Hi' previously, and Yen Dooriyan doesn't reach to that level, but it is good nevertheless. A lack of innovation in the intermittent portions of the song are probably the downside.


Chor Bazari

I can't remember the last time I heard a love duet as funky as this. An absolute winner all the way, Pritam's innovation once again oozes through with great results making this such a delight to hear. To opening tunes are great all the way, and once again, its Neeraj Sridhar crooning with oomph and accompanied by the energetic Sunidhi Chauhan, this number is so feet tapping it makes you feel really eager to see the picturization. Wonderful!
Main Kya Hoon

Kay Kay croons for this lightweight romantic number without attaining any much great results, its fair to say that the song is good enough just because of Kay Kay's voice and the way he sings it with typical panache. Passable.


Aahun Aahun

Wow. Thats how I reacted after listening to this song. There is Neeraj Sridhar once again, and this is simply masterful. Great usage of guitar strings mixed with a blues concept, and add to that typical Bollywood beats, and you get nothing short of a full flow flooring song. Pritam definitely is one of the best out there in creating feet tapping numbers, and in this album alone, he creates three great ones, Twist, Chor Bazari, and now Aahun Aahun. Watch out for Neeraj Sridhar's chaging modulations in this song. Perfect.

Thoda Thoda Pyar

Sunidhi Chauhan sings this number, which, in many ways, is all to similar to Yeh Ishq Hai from JWM. However, just like how Ye Dooriyan fared in comparison to Tum Se Hi, this sing failed to replicate such heights of Yeh Ishq Hai, and we end up getting a good and decent but ultimately unpectacular number.

Verdict: Watch out for 31st July, 'cause this film has the potential to rock. JWM will still remain Pritam's best work to date in my eyes, and had the melody department been improvised better, this album could have outdone JWM. However, this album is phenomenal taking into count only its fast numbers, with all three of them proving to be great winners.

With Love, for MJ.

The most famous ephiphet I have heard since the demise of Michale Jackson three days ago was the term- his will live through his music. But the deeper I gave this term a long and hard thought, I realized we can only be hypocrites for using the term again and again.

We humans never let him live his life as a human at the first place. Just like how succinctly Vishal Dadlani put shortly after MJ's death- MJ was a God, then Angel, and then downright branded as a Devil. Where is the human being? MJ is one of us, flawed, a man with weaknesses as much as his strengths. Yes, he was talented and had a gift that was totally out of this world when it comes to entertaining others. He was definitely the very first truly global superstar, his flag waved all the way from LA to down here in Asia, his impact was incomparable. We robbed him of his privacy, we robbed him of his dignity, we robbed his right to live like a regular human being, and now, we have covered up well with a good term for extracting from him his true gift- music. Yes, we have drained this man by taking everything away from him- we profited from his mind-blowing music, we danced to his tunes, and we had a great time. But he was always a separate entity from us- nobody put their arms around shoulders when he was hurt and in pain, when he was dragged down the mud as a pervert. Pain or delight, he had to handle it all by himself. He was alone. And he did so well in handling that.

The first thing that fondly comes to my mind when thinking back about MJ's life is the song 'Will You be There'- where there is a line which goes like 'they say a man should be strong, and walk when not able, when im only human'. He asked whether we will be there for him, and were we? Were we there for him when he needed us? I wrote in my previous entry about Man in the Mirror, that MJ gave back to the world so much from what he took from it. But what about us humans? We took his music, rejoiced in it, got inspired in it, danced to it, and what we gave the man back in return?

Michael Jackson did not depart from us, God simply took him away from us because We do not deserve to rejoice in watching him give us one last hurrah on stage in London. No, it has nothing to do with what he deserves. WE do not deserve it. We did not appreciate enough the gift that was bestowed upon us- a gift called Michael Joseph Jackson. The world and the media battered him and bruised him with their treatment of him, all because he was too good to be true. A kind child dressed in the shoes of a 50-year-old man, a sensitive, soft man, who talks and acts like nothing more than a big kid, with the purest of intentions. He wants to entertain, make other people happy, make other kids happy, help other people, give money to those in need- and his most Childish act is that he wanted to change the world and make it a better place. And all the term we could give him for all that he was in his life was- FREAK.

Those who were in need took his money, the children who needed help and company enjoyed his presence in their life and all the generous things he dedicated and provided to them, his children enjoyed the overwhelming love he gave them, we all took his music and enjoyed, but what he got from all of us? Fame? Money? Fame is something that wasn't exactly a good thing in MJ's life, and the money he earned was earnestly given back to those who needed them. He was a man who thought more about others than for himself, and the screwed up world we live in had taken full advantage of him.

MJ- you are God's favorite child for sure, and we do not deserve you in this earth anymore because we are just bunch of hypocrites who failed to appreciate your presence.

And I will not remember you for your music- not your music alone. I will remember you for the Love and concern and care you had for this world, and I will remember you for the great man and human you were.

Love you always. You will live in the drips of my soul.