Desicritics Category: Media: Games

MTV Roadies - Hell Began In India

Deepti Lamba — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 10:33:07 EST

I used to consider TV game shows to be below my dignity. Yeah, add your idol frenzy to it or that damn dance Nach Baliye type of crap till one fine day my husband made me see two bald men take the trip of goonks who had come to audition for MTV Roadies - Hell Down Under. (I woke up to the show on the sixth season; shame on me)

I watched them fuck around with people who could best be classified as losers (of course there were exceptions) with dreams of being the next Roadie in their eyes. Raghu and Rajiv, the two bald twin brothers had this strange synergy between them that only twins apparently have. They picked up each others' conversation as if they knew what the other was thinking and they ripped apart the participants' self esteem within a matter of few minutes and that too in classic Hindi vulgarity that I so love.

Some left with tears in their eyes. Yeah, well, they had been warned. The two brothers weren't there to make social chit chat but to select people who had nerves of steel and sadly the one who truly was Roadie material in my books was voted out in the first episode itself- Sufi.

It was obvious why Sufi had been voted out. The man had the makings of a Bollywood hero. He had camera presence, seemed to be a man of stable character and integrity. When he was voted out he said he wanted to use the money to help build his parent's business. His words seemed genuine and I felt bad watching him go.

But a man like Sufi seems to have the will to make it big and I sure hope to see him make it big in Bollywood.

There are three other people I have taken a liking for - Bobby, Roop and baby faced Sandeep.

Bobby and Roop seem to be the only girls with intelligence in the show and I especially liked the way Roop took Gurmeet's trip.

Gurmeet tried her best to project herself to be a hip girl with a devil may care attitude but she turned out to be a chicken shit babe unable to deal with criticism when it came at her headlong from Roop. At the truth or dare game she tried to put Roop in a spot but when Roop turned tables on her she pulled the - 'I don't want to play this game' shit and had the other contestants guffaw.

The less said about Gurmeet the better. Actually the less she shows of herself the better for the viewers. Her bulky curves in tight t-shirts and thunder thighs in tiny shorts are complete eye sore. But the one person who beats Gurmeet hollow is Paulami.

Paulami thinks she is da bomb! Wait! she thinks she is a Bipasha look alike and thinks she is the best dressed and hottest babe amongst the Roadies. Fact is anyone who meets Paulami would die to ask her if her plastic surgeon had botched her face.

The woman looks like witch out of one those horror Ramsay brother flicks but even witches are allowed to think they are hot- its a matter of self esteem and who am I to disabuse them of these notions.

The women of substance on this show are Roop and Booby. They are witty and can easily take the other women up and shred them into bits and on Roadies cat fights are always hot especially when the air headed 'I am so hot' babes gets slammed by the real street smart goddesses.

The men become insignificant at that point. But the men I am rooting for are Sandeep and for Pradeep.

Pradeep is a street smart surd and knows how to manipulate his way through the game. He understands its better to have a wise enemy than a foolish friend. He sidelined Gurmeet when he backed up Roop. Gurmeet, he seemed to have realized was nothing more than a dumb babe with a loud mouth and he didn't want to be seen siding with her. Clever dude.

Sandeep till now has stayed out of controversy but been yakking a lot in front of the camera. I know this baby faced dude with thick Delhi-ite accent would not last on Roadies Down Hell Under but then again it would be fun to see how a gentle giant handles himself amongst poisonous snakes.

The other Roadies wanna be players are insignificant in my mind since they have not done much to get my attention. And for those who want to read up more on them there is stuff about them on the main site but it would do them good to get a bit more in the limelight because the audience doesn't care much for wall flowers no matter how pretty (yeah like Suzanne with her hooked nose) may be.

The behind the scene peek was also fun to watch and Ragu's departure was indeed a loss to the show but these people are weird enough to keep us entertained in Hell Down And Under for an entire season.

Racist Web Game Muslim Massacre Taken Down By Developer

Aaman Lamba — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 05:38:07 EDT

The limits of free speech are tested more sorely on the Internet. While protecting the space where wrongs can be criticized freely, and truth can be spoken to power is essential, there are obvious limits to what is appropriate and what needs to be held to account.

Freelance developer Sigvatr found this out the hard way when he released an online game Muslim Massacre in which the protagonist is an "American hero" who lands in the Middle East with the mission of 'wiping out the entire Muslim race', training his guns on Muslim civilians and terrorists, "the Muslim leader Osama bin Laden, their radical cult leader Muhammad and finally Allah" . He went on to defend his actions, saying,

"Ultimately it's just a game where you blow the gently caress out of Arabs...I don't even know how to interpret it myself any more. The bottom line is that I enjoyed making it and it's fun to play.

The Muslims represented in the game aren't meant to be based on actual Muslims. If I was to try and come up with a meaning for the game at this moment, it would probably be something along the lines of metaphorically destroying the stereotypical depiction of a Muslim.

The initial reaction of gamers ranged from "love the audio" and "can you fix the spawn points" to "why would you do this?". Other quarters were less forgiving, calling for the game to be taken down. The developer finally took the game down and cleared the website, posting an apology.

I would like to make a public apology for any offense that I might have caused through releasing this game, and to Muslims in particular. My intentions when releasing this project were to mock the foreign policy of the United States and the commonly held belief in the United States that Muslims are a hostile people to be held with suspicion. I would like to make it clear that I have never shared such a belief and my intention was to mock those who actually do believe these things.

It quickly became obvious to me that releasing this game did not achieve its intended effect and instead only caused hurt to hospitable, innocent people. I believe removing this game and website will do much more to attain my desired effect than leaving it on the internet, so I am doing just that.

I would like to ask for the forgiveness of Muslims around the world and to make it clear that I did not release this game with ill intent. So without further ado, I would like to say that I am truly apologetic for what I have done and will take full responsibility for all offense that has been caused. I can only hope that any further misgivings can be laid to rest.

While there can be no doubt as to the offensive nature of the game, and self-censorship was the right step in this case, it is likely there will be renewed calls for blanket censorship on games and the like, a policy which is difficult to enforce, and which prefers to err on the side of caution, and thereby limiting potentially important creative efforts.

Genocidal Indigenous Forces: Teaching Kids War Games

Harold Bergsma — Fri, 8 Aug 2008 03:28:30 EDT

Kids love it! They get to ride in Humvees or Black Hawk Helicopters and hold weapons and shoot at the evil ones, the genocidal indigenous forces. The American soldiers and uniforms are real but the enemy they shoot at is sort of vague, but they are the genocidal forces that will kill you unless you kill them. Terrorists!

Joseph De Avila’s article, War Games: Army Lures Civilians by Letting them Play Soldier (The Wall Street Journal, July 28th, 2008) describes the new war games that the army has developed as a recruitment device. They present a new way “…to relate to the public, they also present an opportunity to shape their tastes,” says Col Casey Wardynski from West Point. Some $9 million have been spent to develop these war games as recruitment devices. And, they are realistic. When you shoot the bad guys they fall down dead. Try not to hit the friendlies; that’s a no, no. How exciting to shoot at the ‘genocidal indigenous forces.”

In the Old Testament it says, “Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (Prov.22.6) They knew their stuff back then, long before Christ, even if they didn’t have military psychologists to tell them how to motivate youngsters. Somehow, what you learn as a kid, particularly about modeling adult behavior, seems to have some effect on them in later years. Amazing. The US Army sure got it right. The way to get young people to enlist as soldiers is to make them feel it, put a gun in their hands and go bang, bang. That’s powerful stuff. A bit violent, perhaps, but hardly any different from what the kids watch on T V. Oh, I almost forgot, soldiers are trained to kill the enemy.

Of course teenagers also play the Army game and if they are over seventeen, they soon get a call from recruiters with ideas about incentive packages and the like, and it seems to work. You see, the terrorists are out there, but you can’t really see them. Sure there was 911, but even Bush got it wrong, where the terrorists came from, but look, if they are ‘genocidal indigenous forces’ that are radical and insurgent, go for it. The war on terror is frustrating because the enemy doesn’t play fair, doesn’t show his head, just sneaks in and explodes a bomb or two and kills a bunch of innocent people and then later in the press, some strange group takes happy credit for it. The “genocidal indigenous group” called the faithful warriors of the almighty was responsible for the latest killings. Sound familiar? It happened in India not too long ago, bomb blasts, and revenge killings for past killing of the ‘faithful’. The old Pathan ethic, the pushtunwali, still is very much alive, revenge, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. But the problem with bomb blasts and suicidal killing of others is that so many innocent die or are maimed.

The US Army recruitment efforts, targeting kids and young people to enlist, is not a new idea. One of the earliest schemes to use children to foster the state’s programs occurred in 1948. The Stalinist apparatchiks established a children’s train and recruited hundreds of children to run a train with the intent of creating a cadre of enthusiastic rail workers for the state, and to “instill political obedience in youth.” By the way that same train system has been modernized and is back in service in Hungary and, yes, the kids run it. To be admitted to this training program requires high admission standards but the pay is great, and the added bonus, they get a good dose of “old style discipline.” See Daniel Michaels’ article, ‘Is this any Way to Run a Railroad, In Hungary, They Put Kids to Work.” (The Wall Street Journal, Aug. 8, 2008.)

But wait, it is not only the western world that is targeting kids with subtle messages to gain their support. Have you heard about Islamic Superheroes who battle injustice in America? The new series is called The 99 and is a whole series of comic books which feature hero characters that each; personify the 99 qualities that the Koran attributes to God. Interestingly enough, the comic book series is doing well in the Islamic world after the creator of the series, Naif Al-Mutuwa guaranteed that great respect would be given to Islamic religious beliefs, which resulted in a major Islamic bank supporting his project. Imagine, “Jabbar the Powerful” or “Noora the Light” fighting the, now get this, the evil indigenous forces of evil in America. An illuminating review of this by Camille Agon, called Islamic Superheroes Going Global was reported in Time on 8/7/2008.

Yes, bring them up in the way they should go and when they become adults they will not depart from it. Ancient wisdom is being applied in modern situations by many different groups, and the system works.

I wonder how youth are trained and motivated to support and even become Taliban, Al Qaeda? War games in which vague figures are dressed like Americans which can be shot at in video games? Hardly, no. Madrassas are sometimes the answer! The difference is dramatic. In the American War Games, they shape their tastes: the youth sit in a Black Hawk Helicopter, safe and secure and kill genocidal insurgent militant forces from a distance and don’t even see the blood and guts, just hear the roar and the thunder of the explosions. How different from the youths, say from the NWFP of Pakistan, whose religious beliefs are so honed that they will put explosives on their own bodies; beautiful young men and women, and blow themselves up for the sake of the Cause. That is real commitment based on very strong faith and belief that the rewards in the next life will be great and eternal. With US Army war games, they “shape their tastes” now for active recruitment: for the faithful, religious training could lead to personal suicide shaping their eternity in the great bye and bye based on a combined set of motivators, hate for the infidel Zionists and a passionate love for Paradise.

The beauty of the American system is that it is supported NOW, not by eternity, now, with lots of high tech killing machines and lots of computers that make striking the target an almost certainty with a feeling of anonymity as the trigger is pulled. Training, simulated killing of the enemy, the evil ones and that is sort of fun; and you even get to keep score while you are at it. Play soldier. What a strange concept. There is nothing playful about killing another human being, whoever she is. Certainly, for the suicide bomber, play does not enter the picture, nor is there anonymity involved, it is highly personal and by pulling the trigger the ‘game’ is over. It is not a game but a choice for death based on a belief in life everlasting with a knowledge that as you die you take a hundred of the enemy with you, you know the accursed American infidels who are in Afghanistan and Iraq. Madrassas may get a bad rap because a few of them do train youngsters to do violence for a greater cause and even teach them how to handle weapons and explosives. The US Army should get a bad rap for developing a recruitment tool that is insidiously and philosophically awful; motivating young people to become killers with a game. But, oh well, as long as it is for a good cause, you know, obliterating ‘them-thar’ genocidal indigenous forces. We all know who those guys are, right?

We have a generation of youth whose ‘tastes have been shaped’ by violence on television, daily doses of it. Even as a pre-school youth, long before television was invented, I remember running around playing cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians, a toy gun in my hand going bang-bang, you’re an Indian and you are dead. I had no idea who Indians were, nor even where the Punjab was located. Later it was water pistols and now I see they have graduated to guns that shoot blobs of dye so that you can record a ‘kill’ with colorful evidence. Yes, mea culpa. I loved guns. I was an excellent marksman and a pretty good shikar and shot many helpless critters in India, Nepal, Africa and America. Jim Corbett was my idol. Yes, my tastes were shaped, and I think the war games will be effective recruitment tools for the Army since many American youths have a taste already established. Is that called appetite? Yes I think the Islamic Superheroes comic books will be a big success and create the zeal for justice that the authors’ seek.

My huge problem now is that I no longer believe that the world’s problems can be solved by violence and by killing each other. In Luke 3 vs.14 it says, “Do violence to no man.” I must have missed that verse earlier on in my youth. Strange, how selective our perception is based on age, taste, experience and belief. Consider this; “Not one blow, O Madhusudan! will I strike to gain the rule of all Three Worlds; then, how much less to seize an earthly kingdom! Killing these must breed but anguish, Krishna!” Out of context, assuredly, but not out of mind.

We maintain the right to bear arms in America, and this is a deeply held liberty based on the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Most American homes have a gun or two. I checked on this and came up with the figure of 215 million guns in homes in 1999 and that since that time about 60 million more have been added. (You see, there are many gun collectors who have many guns.) Imagine a country with 250 million guns in the hands of its citizens. Yes, I can see that the U S army has developed a recruitment winner with its new war games, especially since they have connected shooting and killing with patriotism and getting the bad guys, the evil genocidal indigenous forces that live over there somewhere and speak weird languages and scribble stuff from right to left and set the price of gas way too high. Let them play soldier. A satirical cartoon would be redundant in an atmosphere in which comic book cartoon superheroes bespeak the reality of international nuclear control, not mere guns.

Travel Review: Bangalore's Innovative Film City

Anuradha Goyal — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 00:11:55 EDT

If you have enough money in your pocket, all the wonders and attractions in the world will walk up to you and park themselves near you, so that you can visit them as and when you want, without having to go around the world and hop cities. The Innovative Film City is one such ambitious project that brings a lot of world attractions to India. It is a place that is aiming to be one stop shop for all forms of modern day entertainment.

The Innovative Film City is located about 40 kms from Bangalore on Mysore road, a good strategic location as it will be accessible from both Bangalore and Mysore. The whole city is said to be spread over 58 acres, but to me it looks slightly larger than that. The place is still under construction but was opened formally in April, 2008. There are few attractions and amusements which are operational, some are in the process of coming up and some are planned to come.

The Film City is planned to provide 360 degree solutions for entertainment, both for the customers of entertainment industry and the industry itself. Its website says three major planned sections of entertainment. The first is Innovative Attractions which covers amusements, attractions, museums and entertainment. The second is Innovative Style which covers shopping, dining, leisure & lifestyle. The third is Innovative Studio which would have an academy, studio and facilities for film shooting and production.

Of the attractions, most are ready or almost ready. There are museums like Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum, Ripley’s Believe it or Not! Museum, Guinness Book of World Records and Jurassic Fossil museum. There are attractions like Dinosaur world, miniature city, Snow Park, mock sets, cartoon city, haunted mansion. In Amusements, they have Funplex where you can play many video and high end games and also see a 4-D movie. Then there is go-karting, mirror maze, mini golf, aqua kingdom where you can go and play around for some time. There are two amphitheaters - one an open one with a seating capacity of more than 5000 people and another for children. A 21 screen multiplex is planned too. The other two segments Style and Studio are yet to come up.

The facade of the city gives a magnificent look. As you take a turn from the road, and enter the city it makes you feel as if you are entering something majestic. As you go inside, at this point in time you see a lot of construction going on, but you can also see that something world class is being built, both in terms of attractions and the way the facility is being managed. There are a lot of employees spread across the length and breadth of the city who keep guiding you towards various places, though there are well printed maps and guides that they hand you over with the tickets. The facility is very well maintained even though half of it is still under construction. There is a food court where you get various cuisines at reasonable prices, and there are Cafe Coffee Day outlets for your caffeine and snacking needs. Drinking water is available at various places.

Entry to the city is priced at Rs 50/- per person and each attraction comes at an additional cost which ranges from Rs 50/- to Rs 200/- . You can plan for Rs 800-1000 per person for a day to visit to the film city, and I am sure you can see only a part of it in a day. Once it is complete, it looks like there will be many things that will keep bringing people back to the film city, especially the huge and well designed amphitheater. I think this is going to become a major destination for the future shows in the city. Parking is outside the film city on the road at the moment, I am not sure if a proper parking area is planned, but I hope there is one, otherwise that may become a bottleneck very soon. Probably they may also want to come up with differential pricing for people who might not be able to afford the current or the future pricing. Maybe something like happy hours on weekdays…

Overall, this is a good project that brings something new and different to the city to keep it engaged. I usually do not like visiting artificial places but I would still say that it is definitely worth one visit, post which you can take a call if you want to visit it again.

Book Review: Quondam by Jayel Gibson

Deepti Lamba — Mon, 2 Jun 2008 02:10:02 EDT

Avid video gamers tend to gravitate towards story lines that are action packed, are believable or as such bring strong magical realism to the games. Movies based on games such as Lara Croft, Resident Evil etc have been box office hits. The influence of video gaming has not only heavily influenced contemporary literature especially in the Scifi and Magic genres but have also reflected the strong feminist presence in modern times.

Take for example Jayel Gibson's book, Quondam which happens to be the last of the four part The Ancient Mirror Series. It has strong female characters. The main character Cwen finds herself falling through a portal to a world devastated by the cruelty of a nymph of the woods who is cursed to live in the flesh and becomes a cruel queen driven to destroy magic and extends her rule over mankind and only through Cwen can the world be saved. A lot rides on her shoulders and the other female characters in the novel are as strong in Cwen in spirit and in magic.

The feminist tone in the book is as strong as it is in the gaming world where the women fight shoulder to shoulder with their male warriors. And like the characters in video games the women in Jayel Gibson's book are beautiful, feminine and yet burn with fierce inner spirit.

What makes this book a novelty is that Jayel Gibson is herself a gamer and believes that video gaming is actually good for people. And her books prove her opinion as the characters are complex, their missions difficult and the storyline is action packed. The books are immersing and deal with human frailties as well which not only hooks the readers but also lend the story lines credibility for in the end its not only about good winning over evil but about the indomitable human spirit - a concept that many games are based on where one continues to try and overcome hurdles and conquer missions despite repeated failures.

Jayel Gibson's novels are well written, refreshing and are light reads. For more information on the books visit: Wix.com

Laser Questing

Blokesablogin — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 12:47:56 EST

I was all set to take the boys to yet another birthday party. My friend, the mother of the birthday kid, suggested if I would like to go Laser questing too. I said, "What is the harm in checking out what goes on behind those closed doors?" I had no clue what awaited me behind those doors.

We were taken into an antechamber that was totally dark except for some strange lighting that picked out our teeth and made it look like Dracula's and made our eyeballs become milky white. We looked totally weird. The only thing visible were strange doodlings in fluorescent colors and the eerie light that made us see the outlines of the other bodies in the room. We were taught the basic rules of no touching each other and no covering our epaulets and chest and back "strike" zones.

We were led to a hallway where we picked up our gear- a heavy laser jacket that had the "strike" zones on it surrounded by flashing lights and a laser "gun" just as you would see in Star Wars, only there was no "shhhh" sound coming and neither was a steady light band. Thin red streaks of light emitted from these guns when the trigger was compressed that could "strike" the jackets of the other players in the game room.

The trick was to strike others as many times as you can while protecting yourself from getting hit. The game room was a labyrinth of passageways, hideouts, corners, wire meshes, stairs, corridors and outposts. When you get hit, your laser ceases to work for 5 seconds and all your lights on your jackets goes off. You become invisible to get back on.

It was easy to make out the "pros" from the amateurs. They had clear strategies that ensured a high score. Every hit won 10 points and if you get hit, you lose points. My 7 year old was so innocent, his score was in the negative! It was interesting to observe sweet children becoming obsessed about winning at all costs- ganging up on some as a group and striking, covering their strike zones on their jackets.

Within 5 minutes, I could see my brain function from a sense of preservation. When I was outside, it was calm and serene. Inside, it was like, where can I hide so that I will not get hit and which will be the right "ambush" point to take a strike at others without being noticed.

There are many fans of this game and I saw a championship advertised for the veterans at the entrance. There are local awards and points for the highest strikers. Within 15 minutes (duration of one game) I had a score of 230 while the top scorer had 900 plus points in the same game.

It was an extremely illuminating experience but it also set me wondering if I would like my child at such a young age to learn to win at any cost. I am sure, this could be an interesting psychological study.

PS: While looking up Amazon for books on this subject, I was amazed at how the virtual reality of video games has reinvented our vision of this world. The best joke is, that it is now a myth within a myth, if the Maya (illusory) concept of the world is to be believed!!

Government To Regulate Video Games in India

Deepti Lamba — Wed, 9 Jan 2008 07:19:38 EST

Games like Grand Theft Auto may not be legally available in India soon. Video game players may shrug this off since most aren’t dumb enough to buy legal games when pirated ones are available at less than half the cost of their legal brethren.

The point though is, who wants the Indian government to play au pair to our children? Mrs Pataudi reportedly bought her grandkid a Sony PSP, and helped him get a game he had been wanting for ever from the US and let him merrily hack away on his PSP without blinking an eyelid. But once the lady realized the game, Jigsaw Killer, was banned in UK, she decided to act as Bharat Mata and drafted a proposal to censor and regulate the kind of games that enter into the Indian market.

And now the government will debate over this matter .

This does not come as a surprise to most of us. Censorship comes easy to our politicians. Ban pornography, ban books, ban people (at least rap them on the knuckles and say I told you so as they did to Taslima and Hussain) and become the custodians of Indian morality.

The anti-obscenity law could easily have stifled the creative spirit in India but Indians, being enterprising folks, always find ways of getting what isn’t legally available; pornography, books, movies, electronics and even video games are easily available even in the smallest towns of India.

As with Internet usage, parents need to make their own informed decisions as to which games their kids get to play.

In fact, video games can be great bonding activities between parents and their children and I have frequently seen fathers come with their kids to the local pirates and buy games for their children after much entertaining discussions.The Big Brother approach rarely works with Indian citizens, yet people revel in the same nevertheless. When children find creative ways of breaking family rules, how does the state with lax legal institutions and enforcement agencies curb adults from indulging in activities they don’t consider to be illegal in the first place?

Does censorship really work in India or is it just a paper tiger?

Since when have we let these Bollywood actors and socialites dictate what the citizens of India can or cannot do? Maybe it’s time Mrs Tagore sorted out her own house, paid more attention to the kind of games her grandkids played especially when the games have big letters saying MA printed on them instead of urging the government to baby sit the nation’s children at the expense of the tax payers hard earned money.

Why should others pay for her blatant ignorance and negligence?

Snakes and Ladders

Sam Siddiqui — Sat, 1 Dec 2007 00:45:45 EST

Vaikuntapaali or Parampada Sopanam, better known as Snakes and Ladders made its appearance in India somewhere around 2 B.C.

Like Life, the game is full of ups and downs; like Hinduism, being swallowed by the snake (evil) brought death which lead to the cycle of rebirths, going through the entire process, again, subject to the same roll of dice or cowries. Good deeds (aka ladders) took you higher and away from the cycle of karma.

Interestingly, the positioning of the ladders and snakes had deeper moral implications.

    The squares of virtue on the original game were Faith (12), Reliability (51), Generosity (57), Knowledge (76), Asceticism (78).

    The squares of evil are Disobedience (41), Vanity (44), Vulgarity (49), Theft (52), Lying (58), Drunkenness (62), Debt (69), Rage (84), Greed (92), Pride (95), Murder (73) and Lust (99).

    One opines that the final square is release or Nirvana.

The game was "discovered" by the British in the 1850s; their Victorian values probably identified with the values in the game, though they sanitized it for the religious implications and exported it as a game for children.

There are indications that the game may have been derived from the dasapada another game that was played on a 10x10 grid, while still others cite Sant Gyandev, a 13th century poet as the author, this game being originally called Mokshapat, or the path to salvation.

Andrew Topsfield (Artebus Asiae, 1985), while lamenting the ephemeral nature of the original cloth and paper boards, believes the game to be a secular version of the gyan chaupar (loosely translated as 'the chess of knowledge'), no dated version of which survives from before the 18th century.

In this version of the game, there are 72 squares and the aim of the game is to reach Vaikuntha (the abode of Vishnu), or square 68, through the ladders of virtue, with the snakes of sin hampering progress.

Then you have the Jain version of the game, which can be played online here.

Even the British were pretty imaginative in their interpretations, with a variety of boards designed around the basic game.

Interesting how games evolve with time, culture and players.

I wonder about the rules and level of complexity of the original Indian games, which were designed for adults, rather than children.

Converfession: Heart to Heart

temporal — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 10:39:08 EDT

In Ashes to Ashes Jay wrote:

Some events are beyond comparison, without measure, some events cannot be understood by others, no matter how they try.
Love
Death
Happiness
Terror?

I agree that from an individual perspective we do have our personal interpretation. But wordsmiths paint pictures with words. They are blessed with the tools - insights and communication skills that enable them to decipher for themselves and their readers - convey the sentiment, the sensation, the feelings of happiness, despair and awe. Using their skills they grab the attention of the willing reader on this roller-coaster journey - from the the zenith of emotions to the nadir of despair and other stops on the way.

Hence when you argue so passionately and eloquently from your vantage point, please allow me to take a look from a different perch.

Love

What is so elusive and furtive about an individual's love that others cannot understand? Along with death, love is one of the most discussed, analyzed and written about emotions: metaphors and examples abound. And past masters have used their communication skills to share with us this intense emotion in tales of Laila-MajnooN, Shirin-Farhad, and Romeo-Juliette. Don't think I can accuse those writers of 'imperfect metaphors, images or descriptions.' What is so unique about the fast heartbeats when lovers exchange glances that cannot be conveyed to others?

The masters have shown love in the escaping sigh: in the coquettish smile of the maiden: in the increasing dhuk dhuk of the heart: in the grim expectations of descending doom: in the 'U' turns in life: in the unexpected emergence of paths: in the ever so slight brushing of lover's fingers: in the furtive first kiss; in the last leave-taking kiss on the forehead, in the fluttering of birds. What gamut, what threshold, what sublimity, what facet of love has been left unexplored and hidden from these wordsmiths?

Pain, Sadness, Happiness

Yes I cannot feel the exact invisible pain that unleashes the river of tears in your eyes. But I can relate to that pain because in the past many have written excellent passages and essays depicting the sense of injustice, pain, neglect, hurt or loss of those who undergo similar experiences. Did you not share Rohan's pain?

To borrow from Jao Beta:

jao

jana hay tou jao
yaadouN maiN qaid
khaabouN ki maanind
waq't ki lehrouN per
bikhar-jao
mooskurah-hatouN kay paimaanouN ka
mauj-e-beh'r-e shauq ka
dil maiN mehfooz lamhouN ka
sheeraza bikhair dou
jana hay tou jao
..........................chalay jao.

kitab-e-dil kay safha-e-aakhir pay
kiya raq'm hay, maa'loom hay humaiN
kuh'r-e-oodaasi maiN leh'r-e-gham
phir ik baar hum aaghosh hogi
chund sa'atouN kay liyay
ya a'bud kay liyay
shayad....

leave, if you must
like fond dreams
imprisoned in memory cells
vanish with the waves,
dissolve
---the promises of Smiles
ignore
---the waves from the Ocean of Love
melt away
---those moments ensconced in the heart
go, if you must
................leave.

on the last page of Book of Heart
what is writ large we know,
pensive mist will embrace
the waves of sadness, yet again
for moments few
or forever
perhaps...

The shade of red is subjective I admit, but the murmur of that heartbeat is a universally shared and narrated experience.

Death, Terror, Mayhem

Yes, we may not know the true depth of that father's anguish seeing the bloodied shoes of his son on the idiot box the next day. Or the parents on either side of the divide in Sarajevo who zoom in on the bodies of their children, in a final embrace, lying in the middle of the square separating the warring factions. Or the frozen look in the mother's eyes, in the crowded bazaar, who identifies the little hand clutching a doll as her daughter's.

Their pains, their sighs, platitudes, vows, their separation anxiety, their faith in meeting again, their last embrace - all have been written about and felt by the readers and viewers. So much has been written about the loss of near ones, that we can come very close to sharing those feelings universally.

Despair, Intensity, Hopelessness

Despair (sound of hope trickling away), emotive intensity (volume of tears), hopelessness (sensation of life collapsing) are rhetorical musings that have been eloquently shared for posterity in the past also.

The father you mentioned feels a vacuum. All of us have felt similar voids at some point. Writers have expressed it. They can relate to him and in turn so can we.

They come darn near close to experiencing your love, death, happiness, terror - about the only thing thing that eludes those wordsmiths is the shape of hope in the flutters of your heart beat.

Let me borrow from Beta Chala Gaya

aitraaf

humaiN rona hee tou
nahiN aata hay
qatra, aaNsoo ka ban'na
kis kad'r mushkil hay
ma'aloom na tha
qatra, gohar-e-miz'gaaN ka
lakh motiyouN say keemti
ban'na nahiN aata.

bun gaya woh qatra gar maiN
to wa'ada raha tap'kooN ga
---maaN ki palkouN say
---khaamoshi say dhalouN ga
teri bund aankhouN kay kinarouN say
---dostouN, azeezouN ki chasm-e-pur num
bun kar chamkouN ga
---ik bay awaaz aah kay saath
her chahti aank ko ashk-bar kardouN ga
yeh wa'ada raha...

confession

wish i knew
how to cry.
do not know
how difficult it is
to create a droplet of tear.
droplet --- diamond delivered by eyelids
rare, precious, and so impossible
to create for me.
if i ever succeed
promise you, i will
---stream down mother's face
---roll down silently out of the corners
of your shut eyes
---will glisten on the moistened eyes
of friends, relatives
---with inaudible sighs
will caress all caring eyes
promise you, i will...

Heart to heart, I would say I understand your anguish. I understand the pain of losing loved ones in despicable acts of violence that are hard to fathom. And, with you and millions of others I do not understand the mind-set that inflicts such destruction. The misuse of ideology, religion, hurt, deprivation and disenfranchisement baffles - singly and collectively. My mind fails to relate to how a young kid of yesteryears can turn into a brainwashed adult of today, willing to part with that most unique of gifts - life. Even though a loss of any life is a loss of life, perhaps, I might reconcile it somehow if these brainwashed take only their own life. But when they cause innocent deaths it is extremely perplexing.

Am glad you gave me this opportunity to share my thoughts with you.

Indian Cricket: Coach Gone, What Next?

Ashish — Thu, 5 Apr 2007 00:28:59 EDT

So finally Greg Chappell resigns as coach of the Indian cricket team. His tenure saw a lot of ups and downs for the team, culminating in the truly disastrous performance of the team during the World Cup. Not sure whether this is good or bad for Indian cricket as a whole.

His has a been remarkable tenure of 22 months; starting with great promise, and ending in pure disaster with the entire team against him. One thing is sure, he caused a great deal of excitement in the time that he was on top.

First the entire battle with Saurav Ganguly over his performance and final ouster from the team. That ended in a great victory for Greg Chappell and the expectation that now that he is totally in charge of the team, maybe the performance of the team will improve.

He added innovations such as focusing the team more strongly on net practice, also introducing a bio-mechanist Ian Frazer. However, the team only went from bad to worse, and each time, fans were reassured that no matter, the World Cup is where India will make its mark.

And now we know where the Indian team stands. At current ranking, they will be somewhere at the bottom of known cricket playing countries. This World Cup also resulted in a lot of reputations being shattered.

Sachin Tendulkar, even having scored lowly before the Cup, still went into the tournament as a demi-god, but has come out with his reputation severely tarnished. There are now calls for his removal from the team, something that would have been impossible to think just a month ago.

Is it all due to the coach? I would not think so. Unlike games like football or basketball, the coach in cricket does not have the same kind of authority. It is the captain who matters more in day to day matters. And with the kind of batting performances by the India batting line-up, I very much doubt whether a coach could indeed have done anything great. What is required is more accountability, and ensuring that current performance is the only true criteria for a person to be in the team.

Now the board will go through the whole routine of trying to get a new coach, but as long as the current players wield the power that they do and there is no accountability, a new coach is not going to do any wonders. What is needed is a very active league that keeps on throwing up good players, such that there is always a threat to the current national players. And knowing how important endorsements are, it would be good for advertisers to start putting performance parameters in contracts.

Read Greg Chappell Resigns