SATHYAM Cinemas......

I did my BSc in vivekananda college chennai. This college is situated in one of the most accessible spots in chennai, Mylapore. Bus stands all around the college, we had services to every possible corner of the city that we wanted to "VISIT" strictly during college hours. All theatres were accessible from our college as none other presenting us with a lot of oppurtunities and temptations. But one thing mattered most and that we were still in the age where every penny above 10 Rs of pocket money a day cost us as many questions. So we somehow managed to save enough money (sometimes skipping lunch) to go for movies. Then started my love story with Sathyam cinemas, the best cinema hall in chennai by all considerations.

I have been seeing movies in Sathyam complex ever since there were three theatres there of which two were in pathetic state then, only sathyam with its six channel DTS effect sound rendered some respectability to it and it used to show only english films uptil one point. If I rmbr correct then Indian was the first non english movie to be screened in sathyam.

Sathyam cinemas has come a long way from that state to about 6 theaters today all of them in a class that is not found anywhere else in the city. Agreed that they are costly beyond a certain level but the very gloss of the complex makes you overlook the costliness without second thought. Many a time we have gone to the theater without even having a slightest idea of what film we wud want to see. We wud end up seeing even the worst of films there just for the ambience of the whole structure.

I have long since given up trying to understand the maze inside this structure. I just go there, show the ticket to the person at the entry and blindly go the way the way they tell us to go. Such is the level of management that ppl even give up smoking when they are inside (Strictly no smoking insde sathyam compound). The only thing that is always nagging is the torture that we are subjected to while trying to park our vehicles. Fools are those who take this road in front of Sathyam theatre enroute to gopalapuram for they are sure to be delayed beyond their imagination. Hope they do something about this.

Wonder why more such halls have not come up in the city. Naan paathu valattu vitta theatre, inniki ennadana enakke ticket kudukka mattendran....... Ellam kali kalam.....

Cricket VS Football.... The Argument Continues.......

I always felt that cricket was THE game that anyone could come across. I never got to the heck of understanding why it is not the most popular sport on planet earth. I have watched cricket non stop right from the benson and hedges triangular series in 1992 in australia prior to the BIG tournament. Indo-Pak matches have been the best source of adrenaline for me.

Then came the advent of espn and star sports into our lives and I came to know that some stupid game where 22 guys fight for one ball was the most popular and most watched game in the whole world. They call it football. I was never able to understand how ppl could withstand one and a half hour of torture where sometimes all the guyz did was to keep kicking the ball anywhere but near the goal post just to make sure that the other team guys didn't get to have the ball.

I dreaded the game and all its fans too. Early this year i got some forwards containing pics of the new stadiums in germany that had been built to host 2006 football world cup. I was just astonished at the amount of enginerring and effort that these guys had put in to make these state of art stadiums. Only then did i start wondering "What makes this sport so passionate ?". We are as passionate about cricket in India but we still have to put up with stadiums where there are no adequate drain facilities also in case of rain.

I recd one more fwd where they had built a bridge in germany in the shape of Oliver Khan trying to save a kick. I said "ok, so me going to watch this yrs world cup, appadi enna than irukkunu patte aaganum". When i saw ballack play against ecuador, even me, a total illiterate about the game of football, could see that he was a great player. Man, I realised what major level football was all about. It was germany for me all the way from there, too bad that they lost to italy in the last moments of the extra time but their match with argentina was the best professional match i had seen in the whole tournament.

So me geared up EPL, Hey wait, when is the champions trophy in India.........

Come what may, Cricket will be the game for me, Football has to wait until i have relished every aspect that this religion in India has to offer.