Review of Loki: Glorious Purpose(Episode 1, Season 1) ..Beginning of the "Multiverse of Madness"

After a long break, here is the newest MCU series on Disney+(Hotstar) which had lots of buzz created ever since we had that scene in Avengers Endgame where Loki escapes with the Tesseract during the "New York 2012 battle" time heist episode. Every one was wondering what a dangerous thing to happen. A dangerous villain taking control of the space stone(hidden inside the Tesseract) means that the move watchers were wondering how his timeline goes and what does loki do with it!

There were unlimited possibilities to think of and the one we see in the first episode not only sets up the upcoming episodes but also sets up the MCU multiverse pretty well and with lots of expectations.

Okay, so the plot goes like this:

Loki escapes from the present timeline by using Tesseract due to a combination of funny events, which we all know from Avengers Endgame. He lands in Gobi Desert, Mongolia, where the TVA(Time Variance Authority) arrests him. What happens and how it happens next was explained in a very funny and interesting way: the hallmark of Loki.

He gets a ticket to be tried for his crime of creating a new timeline and there he learns of the origins of this TVA.

Origins of TVA

When long time ago there was a huge multiversal war: battle between different timelines for supremacy. The ancient "timekeepers" were the one who created this organization called "TVA" which monitors the main timeline(called the sacred timeline in which all the MCU stories happened till now)

As the head of TVA(Mobius) tries to use Loki as a means to fight other variants, lots of twists start taking place, including a sequence where Loki sees his future, especially the crucial moments like his mother's death, his father uniting with the universe, joining hands with his brother Thor, the destruction of Asgard, him stealing the Tesseract, till his raw, real death at the hands of Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War. This does something to him. It makes him realize the things that he did in his life.

Powerless Loki and Powerless Stones

Loki is shown to be completely powerless in this TVA many times.

At one point of time, all the Infinity Stones were seen hidden in a table drawer and the TVA officer claims that they use them as paper weights. This scene itself shows the hilarious nature of this episode which makes us laugh, especially when we were told how powerful the infinity stones were in Avengers Infinity War and the power of Loki. He couldnt change his shape/identity, nor can he fight off with his power. But when he gets one of the gadgets that TVA officials use to control the variants like him, he looks like a kid in a toy shop, playing with it to see its abilities to the fullest.

Two years are mentioned in this episode where certain events take place:

1. aix en provence, france: 1549(At the beginning of this episode)

2. salina, oklahoma, 1858(Towards the end of the episode)

At the end, Mobius convinces Loki to fight another variant like him at the end of the episode, which is the not-to-be-revealed-yet-spoiler.

The excitement for the next episode will only get higher once viewers watch this one.

"Loki" is currently streaming on Disney+Hotstar and new episodes are released weekly every Wednesday.

With love.. Anil

The Falcon and The Winter Soldier season 1, episode 4, “The Whole World is Watching"

Shocking. Twists galore. Action. Clash of ideals.

The episode 4 of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier has it aplenty.

This episode explores more of the MCU's past and gives a twist to some of the the moments. Some moments were delved well and showed how the characters felt during the crucial situations. Below are the key moments that will make an impact on many viewers:

In the previous episode we have seen how Bucky and Sam were guided to the place called "Madripoor" and their adventures there before the big reveal came about at the end: Bucky finding out that Wakanda's Dora Milaye is following him, based on the beads(called as Wakanda's "Kimoyo Beads") that he spotted outside a building where he was supposed to enter, behind Sam and Zemo.

"

8 Hours White Wolf. And then We come for him"

Oya of Dora Milaye gives Bucky just 8 hours before she comes back to take away Zemo. During this time, he has to convince the ones tracking them: John Walker and Lemar Hoskins(who later becomes "Battle Star" in the comics) to allow Zemo to guide them to the location where Karli is operating from. This task, as expected turns out to be tougher than anticipated as the people of Madripoor dont trust anyone, not even the Avengers. By the time they are close to tracking Karli, John Walker and Lemar Hoskins track them out. After some conversation, John agrees to give Sam 10 minutes of one-to-one time with Karli before he would go out and catch her.

Clash of Ideals

Sam and Karli have a conversation thats well balanced with none of them getting into the aggressive mode. Things do get messy when the others start to join. There is justification for Bucky to stay close to Sam, but others? No. That really spoilt the situation in the building, which is really like a maze with lots of interconnected rooms on several floors.

Restless Captain America

One thing we can He has very little patience during moments that are crucial. He does have the ability to welcome other people's opinion and show compassion towards them once he is off duty, but on duty, he is torn between his emotions and duty. He is also unaware of the etiquettes to be followed when dealing with complicated situations and foreign personalities in a foreign land. The way he behaved with Dora Milaje's Oya needs to be noted. He very casually put a hand on her and the reaction to it is highlight of this sequence during which Zemo escapes from the room, not to be found again. We wonder how he will be caught again, and what he could do in the mean time.

Shield in Blood

He spoils the image of Captain america and this could have huge implications not just in the upcoming 2 episodes but also could lead to sub-plots in MCU's future going forward. John Walker will have lots of explanations to give to the government. This is one of the very few scenes(if ever) in the whole of MCU that we get to see plenty of blood sticking to a weapon. The background music goes grim from this point, indicating darker times are ahead of us in this series.

This end scene makes us think: If the original senior Captain America had been in a similar situation, how would he have reacted? The loss of your closest partner was never experienced by Steve Rogers, but he did stick around with his friend Bucky no matter what he did in his past and no matter how much enmity that created between him and Tony Stark. Does John Walker too have a similar trait?

What next?

The next episode(#5) will definitely be focussing on the repurcussions of John Walker's deadly act in full public view and will be interesting to watch the whereabouts of Zemo as well. After all, it is due to his escape that all of the events cascaded and lead to this tragedy of sorts. The image of "Captain America" would be at an all-time low, and the world would also be sceptical about the Avengers after what they saw: Sam and Bucky were there among the crowd, not able to bring the situation under control. Will Karli play a bigger game to trap Sam and Bucky and will there be a surprise entry of another character? Fingers crossed!

With love.. Anil

"Jaati Ratnaalu" review: The non-stop comedy super fast express movie..

"cricket lo nenu goal keeper ni".. This is the exact dialogue that this 2021 movie "Jaati Ratnaalu"(Telugu) ends with.

And this makes you go crazy and at the same time makes you laugh at the way this script was written from the beginning to the end. Not a single minute goes by without punch dialogues and pj(pakaau jokes). Some may say there isn't much of a story, but no one expects story in a movie which has comedy as its only strength. And it capitalises on it very well.

"Play to your Strengths"

What this move teaches us in terms of movie making is irrespective of which genre you are looking to make, give complete dedication and focus on it and you will see the results. I heard similar critics blasting #Baahubali when it came out, saying it doesn't have anything new to show and it is just another masala movie. But the director of that movie SS Rajamouli played to his strength instead of trying to satisfy the so called critics. I am not comparing the director of Jaati Ratnaalu to SS Rajamouli, but this is just a similarity that caught my attention. Its been a long long time since we saw a 100% comedy movie that makes you laugh so much that your stomach will start to pain.

Voice modulation by the lead actor

The film's lead actor Naveen Polishetty roles the ample screen time that he gets. Yes, all the supporting cast does well but the way his character keeps the energy up even during the twists and turns is just unparalleled in recent times.

Story: Do we even need it?

Coming to the story, our lead protagonist wanted to be a software engineer instead of working in his ladies emporium. He term comes to Hyderabad and what happens there after he meets the girl "chitti" forms the crux of the story. Lots of funny chases actually give us a feeling of watching the evergreen "Tom and Jerry"and kind of "Mr Bean" live action movies. There may not be much logic in the happenings, but we don't care since we get enough of laughter to forget all that.

I know it's a little late to give out a review of this movie after more than 2 weeks of its release.

Director Anudeep KV had a winner in his hands and he has delivered exactly what was promised. That is very rare in any movie industry where audience expects something and the director delivers something else! Just go watch, have fun and forget everything else.

With love.. Anil

Review of "The Falcon and The Winter Soldier Episode 2: The Star-Spangled man"

Disclaimer: Even though there are lots of dialogues and character reveals, this is a completely "spoiler-free" review. I can only give you the points on the canvas. You have to connect them yourself to form the big picture! Still, this review gives pretty much everything that will catch viewers' attention when they stream the episode. I ll only give the highlights of each top moment and character reveals here.

Introduction of Captain America(John Walker aka US Agent):

It starts off with a dive into the new Captain America's mind and his way of handling things. He does seem to be very friendly and patient with others and also confesses that he is not trying to be Captain America nor does he have any super power except his guts.

In the comics, he is known to be very violent but he is shown to be wise and generous in this episode. This is how Marvel Studios is trying to mislead the audience. At the end, we could see him show his slightly angry moment and it looks like this series will definitely have a face off between him and those who come in his way. At one stage, he gives an advice: "Stay the hell out of my way". You could try to find out why he said these words to whom!

John Walker said these words to _____!

Falcon and Bucky meet and sparks fly: 

The main leads of this series: The Falcon and The Winter Soldier finally meet in this episode. They have many conversations that have that fun factor which viewers will enjoy even more with references to previous movies like "Black Panther" and "Captain America: Civil War", like "Little time in Wakanda and you come out White Panther", "No. White Wolf".

The staring contest feels funny but it helps in breaking the ice between the two. We cannot say that these two did finally bury their differences by the end of this episode, but we do see that they are getting closer with every assignment that Falcon is taking up. Bucky definitely wants Falcon to take up the shield but Falcon disagrees every time.

"One World, One People"

You hear the line: "One world. One People" many times during this episode from the flag smashers who are being tracked by the power brokers!

We are really clueless as to what their motto means and how they have people who could sacrifice their lives for their goal. It would be a challenge to not just the duo here, but to many other superheroes out there when they are dealing with people brain-washed with some kind of belief about changing the world order. They do have some super strength and it needs to be seen how they got this strength from.

"androids, aliens and wizards"

There is also the talk about this line: "androids, aliens and wizards". Watch carefully you will also get references to others like Doctor Strange, which raises questions about how did they forget about Wanda Maximoff who is an equally strong magician, if not more than Doctor Strange. May be there were so many things happening around them and their lives that they couldnt keep a track of each and every super hero that they fought with against Thanos in the battle of earth. We could understand that. Wanda could also be living her own life far away and in secrecy, which means other Avengers(maybe except Doctor Strange) might not be knowing where she is and what is she upto after the local events of "Wanda Vision".

The aliens refer to Thanos' army in the first Avengers movie, androids definitely mean the ultrons in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

But what are the wizards being talked about? Is it the Ebony Maw whom Falcon did not encounter? Falcon did fight against the Black Order but it is not clear if he knew about Ebony Maw in that. He could have witnessed magic being done by Ebony Maw though and thus might be referring to that wizard.

Isaiah:

"Isaiah" is the black super soldier that no one knew about, except Bucky Barnes. Not even the original Captain America knew about him and the things he faced while in prison despite being a "hero". What happened to him and what is his relation to the Falcon and the Winter Soldier?

There wasnt much of a chemistry or dynamics between him and the others in this episode, but he could make a return as a surprise cameo sometime later on as the story evolves.

It ends with Zemo:

Just like the first episode, this one too doesnt have any post-credit scene, but the ending itself is worth it. Helmut Zemo makes an appearance in the most unexpected way. The last minute appearance of Zemo does create many questions: Will he try to do his mind-control thing again on Bucky in the next episode? I guess Bucky will resist with his inner strength this time. Else, how does he grow up as an independent character and be known for good? How and why he comes into the scene at all? Watch the show to find out!

Overview and feel:

Just like how Falcon feels like the shield is someone else's, we too feel that this show feels like it isnt a web series to be seen in a living room, it needs to be watched as a movie in theaters! This belongs to not the TV or small screens, but to the theaters! It has all that big-screen experience that people have missed during these pandemic times. I would rate this episode better than the first due to:

1. The chemistry between Falcon and the Winter Soldier

2. The way the new Captain America's path crosses with these two free-spirited avengers.

3. The pace at which the story is narrated and balances everything so beautifully in true MCU movie style.

ps: check out the new Marvel Studio anthem BGM which is peppy as well!

With love.. Anil

iPhones without adapters: A genuine concern for environment?

Ever since the iphone 12 came without a charger in the box, there has been a massive level of discussion among the users and critics alike as to the logic behind this and how effective is this in controlling e-waste, which is obviously one of the concerns going forward.

Lets analyze and think more about this:

The launch of iPhone 12 and Apple's claims:

The iPhone 12 was launched on 13th of October 2020 and as usual it brought with it a bunch of enhancements and hype and some flak as usual. Nothing new in that. But the biggest topic of discussion has been the lack of charging adapter. Apple says it has done away with the charger in the box to decrease the carbon footprint by a few million tonnes every year(they say it is equal to reducing over 2 million metric tonnes of carbon every year, according to their own studies). Fine, lets agree with the numbers for time being. Statistics might tell the same more or less. But is it enough to measure just how much cardboard apple packs its products with? Is iPhone all about the phone inside it and the cable it comes with? The answer is "No". Now for any new iphone


user, instead of using the charger with the latest technology if they have to contend with their several years old chargers, will they not order a charger seperately?

The impact of this is that people will end up buying a new charger which comes in a bigger packaging. So if you add up the packaging of iphone and that of the charger, it results in a bigger carbon footprint than the existing one. Let me explain it in further detail:

Will customers get stuck with their old inefficient chargers?

Lets assume that Apple believes that users will continue with their existing chargers. Even if they do stick around with the older chargers, their inefficiency(a significant percentage of the electric power ends up being wasted as heat) will mean more wastage of power and therefore more carbon footprint.

So either way, there is going to be higher impact on the environment if chargers werent given as part of the package.

Why other manufacturers followed suit?

Samsung, initially making fun of Apple's move has followed suit, which wasnt a big surprise since there is a business reason behind that.

What Apple and other smartphone makers who have followed it, have done is that they were offloading their packaging size to third party companies which make accessories. And it feels like a good business deal between them, since it will be a win-win situation, a symbiotic relationship if you could say that. The OEMs make more profits by lesser packaging costs, while the third party accessory-makers will jump up and lap up this new opportunity of higher demand for them.

Another reason could very well be the cost of including the 5G Radio components in their smartphones: It is clear that Apple(and even others by the way) has to reduce its costs by removing certain items from the packaging, and power adapter is the one that faced the axe in this case.

Initially most people thought xiaomi will also go the same way with no charger in the box, but it chose to be different by giving the users the option to include a superior charger in the box. More on this in the next section.

What could be the ideal solution?

Provide the customers with the latest chargers with higher efficiency: Gallium Nitride chargers, in the box.

Even if the phone companies sell the chargers separately, let those be efficient ones like Gallium Nitride ones instead of the same old type of chargers wheather they are normal slow chargers or superfast turbo chargers.

For example, xiaomi is giving a 55W GaN charger in most markets with its top of the line smartphone mi 11 which was launched this year(2021). This isnt to promote any particular company but to bring out the actual truth: Any claim from a profit-making company which claims to save environment by removing some of the items from the retail box is actually a smart tactic meant to mislead the public into believing that they are saving environment, but in fact they are contributing more and more towards environmental pollution or exploitation.

The Analogy:

What Apple did was something like the below:

There used to be a restaurant called "Apple: An Apple a day keeps hunger away" which is heavily popular in its area. One fine day, the restaurant claims to cut its carbon footprint by removing 10 menu items out of its 50. People praise it of being truly a green restaurant. But what this does is create an opportunity for other small restaurants and road side vendors and this lead to even higher pollution with more plastic waste for packaging and serving the removed menu items.

If the smart phone companies really care about environment, let there be no phone launches at all for a certain period! That would cut billions of tonnes of co2 or pollutants worldwide!

Conclusion:

Irrespective of which company started off this trend of eliminating the charger from the box, the announcement should always be taken with deeper thought. Think before following any company's announcements. They are "smart" enough to decide where to make money, where to reduce costs and how to justify that with silly reasons.

With love.. Anil

Falcon And The Winter Soldier review: A deep delve into the post-EndGame world..

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Okay, lets get this straight:

This new Disney+ web series from Marvel Studios isnt meant to be all about what actually happened in the MCU movies but an independent exploration into the MCU. 

This doesnt criss-cross or reference other series that exist in the same MCU, for example the just concluded WandaVision. 

Falcon refuses taking up the mantle: Good or Bad?

This first episode picks up almost immediately with the life of Sam Wilson aka Falcon that continues after he was given the shield and Captain America gets old. Nothing is said about where Captain America is right now, but there are hints that he might have passed away during a conversation he has with the War Machine(James Rupert Rhodes) during a scene.

The scene where Sam is asked the whereabouts with some funny conspiracy theories like "Captain America was sent to the moon", is actually an important indicator of how much Sam knows about the whereabouts of the original Cap. 

There is also another debate that could come up about Sam's decision of not taking up the mantle: Is it right to refuse taking the responsibility of a role that is looked like a role model by the public? Fingers crossed.

Sam does refuse to take up the mantle of Captain America, but the end-result or a twist(a minor one if you could say so) is when the US Govt announces someone new to be the new Captain America.

Whether that is for good or bad will be seen in the coming episodes, but my feeling is this: There is a lot going on in the background.

The first episode starts off on a high energy aerial chase where our Falcon is rescuing a certain Captain Vasanth from LAF and this action seems very energetic and with some thrilling moments, showing off the full powers of the Falcon Suit. And then goes on to delve into the life of Bucky James Barnes, aka "Winter Soldier" as he gets nightmares of his past and attends counselling classes, giving us an insight into things that he is doing to show that he is no more an assassin but trying to do good things.

Apart from setting up the characters, where this episode really excelled is when it showed what it meant to be converted to dust(the blip by Thanos) and then come back with the second blip(Hulk). 

Super Heroes do have their Financial Struggles

One thing that really catches your attention is the scene where Sam Wilson, visiting a bank along with his sister fails to get a bank loan to fund their small business. This scene shows the reality that the world is facing, when the officer says they dont have many options when so many people are coming back after this 5 years of absence.

Being high on octane action is one thing, but coupling with the struggles that "super" heroes face in their daily lives and their respective families face is something that was done very well indeed.

There may not be the suspense that Wanda Vision created but this show feels more grounded and set up to show the lives of Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes more and more in the coming episodes, including the real enemies that these two will fight.

I, for one would like to see how Sam Wilson will react to the new Captain America and how Winter Soldier tries to clear his past and move ahead.

There are plenty of references to MCU, like the "sleep in Wakanda" that Bucky mentioned during one of the counselling sessions, which is a reference to the post credit scene of Black Panther where he wakes up from a tent after being cured by the technology in Wakanda.

Keep watching this space for more!

Marvel Studios' #FalconAndTheWinterSoldier is streaming right now worldwide on Disney+ and in India on #DisneyPlusHotstar.

With love.. Anil

Wanda Vision: A unique spectacle that drives MCU into a completely different direction!

Wanda in Wanda Vision

MCU is taking a big turn. Yes. For those of you who know what MCU stands for and who has watched the just concluded "Disney+" series "Wanda Vision", it would be 

For those who dont, MCU stands for Marvel Cinematic Universe.

It is a dynamic content adapted from the Marvel Comic books and has a long drawn fictitious storyline with lots of thrills, comic references, twists, fun, tragedy, optimism, family-friendly content and variety.

You might think that to understand a movie set in MCU, you need to watch those that came before it, like for enjoying "Avengers Infinity War" movie to the fullest, you need to be aware of what happened to Iron Man, Captain America, and their team(s). But even those without a knowledge of MCU could actually like the just ended web series "Wanda Vision" purely based on the emotional aspect of it. It is basically a deep dive into the life of Wanda Maximoff after she loses her partner Vision, feels lonely and despair and creates her own small world within a real world town called "West View".

Without going deeper into the earlier events related to "Avengers Infinity War" and "Avengers Endgame", it would be fair to say that this web series stands on its own for a change. The same cannot be said about previous MCU content like Endgame or Infinity War or "Captain America Civil War"(The movie that made a big impact in MCU's future).

Wanda Maximoff goes through so much pain that her actions seem to be valid and understandable. She doesnt look like a villain despite keeping the residents of WestView as hostage within a space isolated by a strong virtual-energy-filled wall called "hex", named to simplify its appearance which looks like a honeycomb with lots of reddish hexagons joined together to block anyone coming from outside.

Though giving the complete review isnt possible to avoid spoilers, one can definitely say something on a wider perspective: MCU is taking a new direction with this series and there will be ramifications that will be felt in the upcoming movies and series, like the "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" scheduled to hit theaters in 25 March 2022.

In short, this series is an exploration of Wanda's relationship and dynamics with her love: Vision and the outer world. Her kids: Billy and Tommy. Ultimately she had to sacrifice her reality to free the residents of WestView who, atleast 4000 of them were held captive inside the hex for several weeks. This is obviously not a positive sign for someone called an "avenger". So Wanda is moving further away from being an avenger and more of a magician.

With that being said, Wanda could be changing the way she handles grief when we look at the final end-credit sequence. She could be trying to learn more about herself and controlling her emotions and her attachment to her kids. This also sets up a promising duel with Doctor Strange, either as an ally or as a foe. Some of the actions of Wanda were definitely not nice and wise, and Doctor Strange will have many questions when he comes to know of this.

Instead of giving a "happily ever after" ending that most MCU blockbuster movies have, Wanda Vision has a mixed bitter-sad ending with many directions in which the story could go from there. Wanda could get wiser or get trapped in her emotions again in a different scenario.

With love.. Anil

Aakaashame Hadduraa (Soorarai pottru) : A roller coaster of a ride!

Going into this movie, I expected something similar to other biopics that have come off late:A failing protagonist, lots of challenges, wicked antagonists, gradual rise of the hero, and a big, nail biting finish where the hero succeeds.

Aakaashame Hadduraa (the Telugu dubbed version of Soorarai pottru) does this too, but in an extremely nuanced and wild manner, with lots of fictional elements added to real life incidents.

You may call it yet another biopic like movie with lots of exaggerations and masala elements, but the screenplay and handling of actors and situations was done extremely well. It never strayed away from the plotand everything came together in the end, though what happened in real life later was opposite(air deccan being bought away by kingfisher airlines and later closing the operations completely).

Watch it for surya's performance and the story and thrilling moments.

With love..

Anil

Bolo: An insight into Google's learning app

There are a ton of apps these days to help kids learn something new. It could be a new language, it could be science, it could be history, or it could be about maths or to learn about something just out of curiosity.
But Google has done something that's an instant success and an evolving tool for not just kids but also adults to learn a language.
Initial reports in the media said that it is an app to learn reading Hindi, which is wrong. It is a multi lingual app and supports the below language/language-pairs as of today:
English only,
Hindi-English,
Telugu-English,
Marathi-English,
Bangla-English,
Urdu-English,
Tamil-English.
Spanish-English,
Portuguese-English

The first thing you notice about bolo is its user interface which is very simple and doesnt need too much of navigation. Just tap the story that you want to read/learn and it starts off sentence by sentence.
The screen scrolls automatically as the kid reads out the sentence appearing on the screen.
Another feature that is surely going to create interest among kids is the mini games that were included: simple games like pop the balloons, jumbled words and speed reading are available right now, but may get accompanied by many others soon.
Being an early access version, the app could have some bugs here and there, but so far during my 1 week of testing, I found none.

Important thing is if you kno how to read a language, even if you are an adult, you can get help from this app to improve your pronunciation in various languages, mainly Indian. for example, I can read Tamil apart from Telugu, English, Hindi and Kannada but to learn pronunciation in that language, this is going to definitely help me.
As the name itself suggests, it is meant to teach you how to speak a language and it is definitely worth trying it out.

With love.. Anil

Custom Site for Share

Add Your Favorite Site To Share

This tutorial will explain you the steps to add your favorite website to the Share extension. We assume that you have successfully installed the Share Tools extension. If not, please install it from this link.

If you have installed it successfully, you can notice its icon on the toolbar as shown in the following screenshot:

To add your website, follow these steps:

• Click on the extension icon, which should open its pop-up panel as shown above.
• Now, click on the last (gear or wheel) icon.

• This should launch the options panel of the extension, as shown in the following screenshot:

• From this options panel, you can set two options for the extension: change the default opening behaviour and add a custom website.
• To add a new website or service, you must provide a valid template in the input box. You can find many valid templates on this page. Detailed list is available on this link.
• For example, if you want to add Skype, you need to copy the line # 29 and paste in the input box. This would be:

https://web.skype.com/share?url={url}

• The extension supports only url and title parameters, so remove any other parameter present, like text in the above example.
• After pasting the code, save the settings. Now, this added site would be available with the Share extension. 

With love.. Anil

SHARE. Simple and Straight Forward

I have been looking at so many different ways by which we can share the websites that we visit daily.
How to make sharing as simple as possible and one that involves just 2 clicks?

That is when I stumbled upon an idea to create an extension or modify an existing extension and enhancing its features.
Being the first of my browser apps, it is indeed a challenge to learn how to do it. Technology? Its ready. Coding expertise? ready.
The only missing thing is the infrastructure and means to publish the idea, however simple it may be.

Thats when I tried my hand at the first chrome web app: SHARE.
Below is the link for the same:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/share/imfnjaolefblebhdphcenbeihpljinkn

Since this is the version 0.0.1, expect many more updates and feature additions as and when needed and based on feedback.

With love.. Anil

MCU's perfect culmination of the Avengers series!: Avengers EndGame.

It has been a long time checking out an epic movie that actually feels epic in theaters.

When I say long, it really felt like a long wait! The last time I felt like this was Avengers Infinity War(April 2018) and before that, it was Padmaavat(early 2018) and the biggest Indian movie of that time and still the highest grossing movie in Indian market: Baahubali: The Conclusion(2017).

But Marvel's Avengers Endgame is completely different in tone and expectations when it arrived: It had massive expectations to reach, massive plots to hide, massive stars' fans to satisfy. In a way, it is the biggest multi starrer in terms of having super stars like Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, leading others.

When it did come out, it wowed everyone, not just the fans of Marvel or the stars, but even others who might have started to follow MCU from 2018, thanks to the other biggie: Avengers Infinity War.

The experience was perfect: The crowd was able to react in a way that directors want them to: They were pin-drop-silent when the plot was moving with all seriousness. They laughed when the funny scenes seamlessly mingled into the storyline. They screamed when the action started. They whistled when the "Marvel Studios" logo came up. In short, they made it their own movie and started experiencing it much in a much closer and intimate way.

The difference between this and Infinity War is this: There was higher emotional connection with the characters now. The plot was perfectly set to show off the dynamics of the characters not just in the present but in the time travel as well. By the time the intermission break came in, everyone were holding to their seats and discussing the plot and many of them avoided going out.

I particularly loved Tony having the chat with his father as well as how Steve Rogers lived his life to the fullest by finally having the date with Peggy in the past, and also the brilliant emotional moment
between Thor and his mother, how she listens to him patiently, and asks him to eat
salads so he could slim down! There were so many moments to list out here.

Of course when they did find out that there were no mid-credit scenes or post-credit scenes, they were disappointed, but still waited till the end, till the red "Marvel Studios" logo and "Distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures" came up on the screen! This is what it meant to them: Experience the full movie, including the small details!

Such interest was second to none in all my movie experience. The only instance when the crowd was so excited and interested in watching a movie in theater was for the Indian biggies like: "Baahubali: The conclusion" and "2point0".

Now the debate has started about if it will break Avatar's USD2.7 Billion record or not. But as far as I am concerned, it doesnt matter as it has won the hearts of millions of people!

With love.. Anil

A mountain of expectations gone awry..

We have expectations, however small they may be.
We have dreams, however crazy they may be.
We also have a sense of purpose, however inconsequential it may be.
Well, this is not a poem.
But what we are seemingly losing is an ability to judge ourselves which is right and which is wrong.
Just because some popular personality says something, we
For the past several months, there have been so many events that changed the way we look at the world. The world is no longer something that could be saved by a super-hero like leader. The world is also no longer an entity which takes criticism in a positive way.

Coming to the current scenario in India, there came a big split between the centre and the state.
When Modi and Naidu broke up, it was a big news. But more importantly the media ought to point out the reason why it went that way instead of just making noise.
They ought to make sense when they say "TDP dumps BJP". It is nothing more than half baked news.

There is a long history to the decision taken by the TDP to break its ties with BJP and it is not about blackmailing. Many media channels have even went to the extent to say that due to some of personal demands of Naidu not being met by Modi, Naidu broke off their partnership.

In all this political games, it is the people who were compromised. It is the people who suffered the most. And it is the people who have seen their mountains of expectations go down like a crashing meteorite.

That, is the biggest harm that any leader/s could pose to any society.

The only advice to the media and the political class now is simple. In fact very simple: Dont create unreal expectations and try to fool the people when you know it could not be fulfilled.
The result will be faced by the BJP and to a certain extent even TDP for continuing for so long with the central government despite knowing very well that the promises will not be kept in a straightforward way.



With love.. Anil

Competing with the best!: "Write India"

There is an ongoing writing competition that is going on, which is called "Write India" and this is sponsored and run by Times of India. While some may have reservations to accept this as the best platform to test and hone your writing skills, many have been taking part in this competition for the past few months with the hope that they will get recognized by the top writers of english literature.

It is into its second season and the craze for this competition has been good.

Each month a passage is revealed by the author of the month with certain rules, and list of winners(usually top 10) is announced after 45 days of the contest's last date. Many people await it with wide eyes, checking for their names! The announcement happens quickly over twitter. I have seen many tweeple getting frustrated and some vowing to not write again, but I beg to differ.
Some people I have interacted with have even went to the extent to demean the platform and said that it only favours a select group of people based on their region or other irrelevant things. This made me think.

Writing is something that takes a lot out of someone's life and energy. To think of a good plot, develop that plot into a story, map out the characters and their details, create logical links between the characters, and then write the actual story(or even a short story) means a lot. To write a proper short story(maximum of 3000 words in this case) is much more difficult than writing a large story.

I believe that this is a platform which not only makes us put our best foot forward into the world of writing, but also teaches us how to respect the hard work of others, the judges and how to keep up the spirits in case we don't get selected among the winners. This spirit is most important and needed the most in the long run because as we keep writing, we need to keep a level headed approach towards the result. We need to first ask ourselves: Are we enjoying our work? Are we enjoying the process of writing a story or a book? If yes, then nothing should really dampen the spirit.

Instead of blaming the judges or authors of showing partiality and getting disheartened, why not take heart from the lost chance and try to better next time?
This "Write India" is a rare opportunity where we can compete on a national level directly without going through the regional levels. It is like playing in the ranji trophy directly without playing the state level competitions! You may not succeed initially, but it gives you a lot to learn and look forward to.

That's been my way of writing and I hope most people agree with me.

Wishing all the writers out there all the best!

With love.. Anil

Tears of a Legend

100 million views. The most awaited sequel to the biggest Indian movie. The costliest movie in the history of Indian movie industry. The biggest Indian franchise. A movie coming with the largest release, to be followed with the first VR Live action movie from India.

And there it came. The moment finally came when the promotions took the power that was expected of a big movie, going ahead with full speed.

Once one of the legendary music composers of Indian cinema took to stage and gave a re-rendition of the famous "Yevvadanta yevvadanta.." song, the captain of the ship came up to stage on his request and that was the moment: the moment when I saw the first tear of another legend, caused by the overwhelming emotions created and churned out by the first legend through touching lyrics. I just hoped the tears dont touch the earth so that the earth could remain immune to the immense effect of them! Why?Because those were not ordinary tears: They were the tears which evolved from just a water+salt mix to something so intense, so compressed with ambition that a single drop of that tear would have burnt the earth below! So just wanted the legend to control the flow of that immense pent-up energy so that he could show it in his next non-baahubali project and keep entertaining the society to levels unknown to us!

Citing a few words: "Eyes are not meant for tears and Heart is not meant for fear, Never get upset but always cheer.. Because you are the one who can make people smile for years."

By the way for those still wondering what was this all about, the first legend I talked about is M M Keeravaani(ఎం ఎం కీరవాణి), the second is S S Rajamouli(శ్రీశైల శ్రీ రాజమౌళి), and the event is the pre-release function of the movie "BAAHUBALI: THE CONCLUSION"!.. దండాలయ్యా దండాలయ్యా మా దర్శకుడివి నీవేనయ్యా!

With love.. Anil

The post-demonetisation era of digital payments and the irony!

Everyone knew the after effects of the demonetisation on India and the positive impact as well as the negative impact that it had.
But hardly did anyone think about the opportunities that lay unexplored, whether it is for the good intention or the bad. In fact, there were so many instances where merchants accepting digital payments or the customers making cashless payments were taken for a ride.
No doubt people were forced into this digital payment business due to lack of cash during the initial 1-1.5 months of demonetisation, but later the situation improved to such an extent that the ATMs again looked empty despite having the cash.
The biggest irony here is that once things came back to normalcy, there was a sudden dearth of cash in several ATMs and some bank branches. Is this due to the sudden cash flow or due to the uncontrolled printing of notes by RBI or exaggerated demand for cash from certain sections of the society?
It has to be noted that this is how the society behaves. Once the limit on daily withdrawal has been increased significantly, again the people will start to stack up the cash in their homes/offices. This is not unusual since the public's confidence in banks came down during the demonetisation. It is not the note ban itself that caused this distrust, but the fact that the banks were not able to serve the general public with the honesty expected from them. This is due to the few bad apples found in almost all departments and the situation could only get worse until and unless the govt doesnt encourage digital payments even after the availability of cash. How do they do it?
To convince the public that digital payments are better and more beneficial to them, they need to be given incentives: For example doing away with the petrol surcharges, giving cashbacks for digital payments just like how it is being done for fuel stations where a fixed 0.75% cashback is given for every fuel using debit/credit cards. Hope such promotions are given across several merchant locations.
It is here that the BHIM app is really useful and needs to be expanded and enhanced with some attractive features where cashbacks are given on certain categories of transactions.
Anyway, the present situation reminds me of a simple story: The king was given a new security chief since the existing chief has been proved to be corrupt and stealing valuable stuff from the palace. But the new chief is not popular with most of the palace staff since he is too sincere and nothing could go wrong under his supervision. So what did the staff and inmates of the royal palace do? Slowly started the misuse of their rights and brought back the previous chief in disguise. The king could not do much here since the staff are much smarter than him and they wanted to exploit the royal resources as much as they can.
So the moral of the story is that until and unless the people's mindset doesnt change, even a king cannot do anything to root out the malice of corruption and black money which go hand in hand.
The note ban was a temporary measure but the fake notes and money hoarding as well as other ways of black money strive until and unless the govt is not agile enough. Conduct review meets with the RBI and all major banks and track the money that they have in the banks or ATMs and track those dealing in huge amounts of cash. Sadly, this doesnt seem to be happening now since everything has settled and anything related to black money is hardly discussed these days on news channels or in the govt.
So the irony is that despite the hike in usage of digital payments, the usage of cash could actually increase now since the banking network is hardly enough and even if there are enough banks in india they are suffering from the lack of trust in the eyes of public. No one has any idea of what new charges are applied on their own hard earned money in the form of not maintaining AMB(depite the jan dhan yojana being touted as a movement to open crores of "zero-balance" bank accounts, many of those accounts, including those from the govt-owned banks are making it mandatory to maintain a minimum balance). Unless the financial system works in a coherent way and remain constantly in sync with the PM's vision of financial inclusion, any number of demonetisations or remonetisations will yield peanuts.



With love.. Anil

Expanding the world of Maahishmati!

Some movies make such a huge impact on you that you start getting into the world in which that movie was set. Baahubali is one of the best examples of how a complete world has been created just for the main kingdom Maahishmati and other smaller kingdoms like Kunthala.
The visual treat was nothing but the best, as is the background music.

Such is the impact of all the characters like Baahubali, Kattappa, Shivagami, Devasena, Bhallaladeva, Avanthika, etc. that I have created my own ebook which has the extension of the movie as imagined by me. Not a big book, but definitely took some time to weave origins story for each of the main characters of the movie. There are so many storylines that could possibly be weaved around Baahubali: The Beginning that my ebook becomes one of the multiverses of them!

For example, there are so many questions left open in the movie like why is Kattappa helpless and completely living like a slave to Bhallaladeva despite he getting an offer of joining hands with Aslam Khan.
The intensity with which Bhallaladeva converses with Devasena as well as her oath to fry him on the pyre set up by her means there is a very intense flashback that must have happened decades ago involving Kattappa, Baahubali, Bhallaladeva and Devasena.

So many questions have been raised(including the biggest puzzle of "why Kattappa killed Baahubali") and those have an answer in the complete Amazon Kindle ebook here:

Maahishmati Kindle ebook on Amazon

Some of the excerpts from the book are below:

Excerpt 1: Athura: The First War:

"
The sun started to rise a little faster the next morning as the tension remained high. The enemy was baying for blood as their soldiers kept building floating boards to cross the huge river. All their efforts to swing across the river using ropes turned out to be futile as they were punctured by poison-edged thorns coming from people specialized at aiming them. Attacks by wild animals were not uncommon but the enemies warded them off using their shields and weapons.
With a singular aim of wiping off anyone who are not from their faith and establishing their caliphate, the thirst of their greed knew no bounds. With the job of breaking through the defenses getting tougher, they aimed for the offensive by using their weapons like thousands of arrows. In response, the people of Mahaashanthala went back to escape them.
As the attack neared the people, they prayed for the almighty to show them a way. Off the dusty atmosphere, the devils started appearing clearly. They neared them and shouted “Athuraaa! Complete your duty. Why are you hiding?”
The people were shocked to hear the name of Athura from them. In a split second, Athura emerged from behind them, took a special sword that seemed to have been made specially for him, and raced towards the defenceless people. Uttama saw all this from a distance and rushed forward to save the people from him.
But as he was getting close, Athura threw the sword backwards towards the devil army with such a skill and power that it cut the throats of the commanders, went around for the heads of the marching soldiers and returned to the hand of Athura.
“Now my duty is complete”he shouted.
The devil army stood there in shock. They hadn't seen such level of skill from anyone and came towards Athura, with the remaining generals shouting: ”You traitor. You cheat your own people? The prophet will never forgive you. You will die a horrible death for going against us.” as the foot soldiers charged ahead, baying for his blood.
“I have found my people.” shouted Athura, pointing to the people of Mahaashanthala.

"

The above is just a small sample of one of the chapters and this particular piece is about the origins of Kattappa, his ancestors and most importantly how his extreme loyalty towards Maahishmati came into being).

Looking forward to share more info and snippets in the coming days.

Excerpt 2: Post-Kaalakeya War

"

In the aftermath of Kaalakeya being defeated, there is a larger challenge: To control the evil mind of Bijjaladeva and his son Bhallaladeva from playing games that could put the whole of kingdom in danger.

During the war against Kaalakeya, Kunthala kingdom wished that Kaalakeya is defeated, because if Kaalakeya wins, the next target would be Kunthala. And its whole population is not even as large as the strong and highly-inspired Maahishmathi army. Despite not going to the war, Kunthala used the time to sharpen its army’s skills, and one of the sharpest weapons is Devasena. Nayaka’s pride, Maahishmathi’s envy, Devasena has showcased her defensive and combative skills in sword fighting. Maahishmathi’s people saw her as a direct competitor to their loved king-to-be Baahubali.

One fine day, Shivagami called everyone to the palace to decide on the auspicious date for the cornation of Amarendra Baahubali as the king of Maahishmathi. Priests from several kingdoms made their way to the large environs of Maahishmathi. They were stunned to see the advanced architecture and the magnificent style of the kingdom and wished to stay there for some more time than just the few hours that they originally planned for! The large palaces, temples, wide pathways, strong horses, sharpest of weapons, and the huge elephants and energetic people made them stunned.

They entered the main courtyard of the palace where so many important decisions were made in the presence of Shivagami over the years.

“15 days from today there is a fantastic alignment of planets. That is the perfect time for coronation. Nothing can come close to it in the next 5 years!”

One of them interrupted: “But.”

Shivagami responded: “What but? Tell us”

“There is a danger lurking in the next few days. Amarendra needs to avoid mingling with outsiders, especially lower caste people or rival kingdoms during this time.”

There is a growing tendency in the kingdom to get influenced by the kings and segregate themselves based on castes. This split has resulted in a cold war of sorts.

During one of these days, Amarendra Baahubali was walking along the street, when he found something is wrong. He sensed something is wrong at the other side of the street.

A group of people were shouting with each other due to something serious. Amarendra queried them about the matter and found out that the issue is about letting some people from other caste to the largest temple of Maahishmati. He took an instant decision: There shall be no more distinction between the upper caste and lower caste.

To make his statement, he did something no other king-to-be woukd have done:

Washed the feet of the lower caste devotees with pure water and welcomed them.

The royal members who are in the temple were shocked when they saw this scene. They tried to take Baahubali away but in vain. He stood firm in his resolve.

On the staircase to take the lower caste to temple, he found the people very happy and they started seeing them as their hero.

Back in the palace, Bijjaladeva was furious. He warned Baahubali not to mingle with others because that is not only dangerous to his life according to the astrology, but also against the norms of the palace and the royal family.

But Baahubali kept calm and ignored him silently. Shivagami too kept a dignified silence.

"
Another chapter, this time on Shivagami, based on her characterization in the movie:

Excerpt 3: Introduction of Shivagami:

"
The day finally came:
Rudrayya has always been the quintessential free bird in terms of doing whatever he wants to do. On the deciding day, he was taken to Vaidehipuram where he witnessed
the people’s lifestyle. They too seemed to believe in dreams coming true. Rudrayya laughed off.
He was taken to the palace where there is a dedicated area for competitions.
The king finally arrived. Tall, well built and handsome, Rudrayya suddenly saw that the king also seemed to be built well and had more mass. The huge drums signalled the start of the competition.
Both of them started bravely with a huge thud of their thighs and skillfully outwitted each other repeatedly and it was almost impossible to tell who was having the upper hand.
“Actually this is to find the right groom for the kingdom. And my daughter Shivagami is ready for you. I knew no one would marry anyone from our family which is considered inauspicious and a harbinger of bad luck.” He paused.
He called the guards to bring in his daughter Shivagami. She is just a young girl, around 19 years. Out of her father’s urgency to marry off his daughter, Shivagami accepted it hesitantly. But her dreams are loftier than just finding a brave and heroic husband.
Rudrayya found this crazy and immediately replied:
“Is this a joke? I cannot do this. I cannot cheat my wife. I can never ever touch any other woman in my life, let alone marry her.”
The king replied: “Well, here we dont have the tradition of monogamy. If you dont accept the marriage, we are going to be losing our honor”
.
Shivagami kept calm. She didnt knew what to do. Rudrayya refused this offer, angering the king and ministers. Shivagami remained indifferent. She never wanted the marriage nor any kind of relationship at the moment, but she couldnt go against her father’s wish either.
So she chalked out a plan: “I want to talk to Rudrayya.” The court turned towards her when they heard her voice. Authoritative and confident for someone so young.
“Personally”. They were surprised further!
Rudrayya entered Shivagami’s private room. As Shivagami started to say something, there was a huge alarm in the palace, notifying an extreme emergency.
“Our kingdom has been attacked. Save yourselves” the announcer said to all the inmates of palace. The king has been given a special security but the body guards themselves sliced his back before he fought back with extreme injuries. He was brave and fought them off before falling down.
As Rudrayya was coming out and saw the king lying in a pool of blood, the king ordered him to take Shivagami to safer areas and look after her. “She is the only hope of Vaidehipuram. This is the only dream that I have. Go.” Shivagami shed tears upon seeing her father in a pool of blood, but promised him to remain with a strong will and
continue a legacy of justice that her father always believed in. She bid a teary farewell to her father by giving him a final hug. Still sensing danger behind them, Rudrayya rode the horse as swiftly as he can to take Shivagami to safety.
Across the waterfalls and rivers, he rode like an expert, protecting the young Shivagami and entered the kingdom of Maahishmathi. Shivagami looked around as everything seemed like a collection of moving images around her. Her fate took a sharp turn within a few hours and she couldnt believe it. Peeking out of her warm blanket, she saw the emblem of Maahishmathi for the first time in bright sunlight that is just jutting out of the morning sun. Rudrayya told the guards that he is bringing the princess of Vaidehipuram. Maahishmathi’s prince Vikramadeva welcomed Shivagami to the palace and ordered everyone to take care of her and treat her as a guest...
"

Excerpt 4: Shivagami and Kunthala's Destruction

"
When Shivagami entered the main courtyard, she saw complete destruction. Amidst it all, Devasena and her infant are struggling to escape a huge fire put up by the enemies.
Still Devasena was fighting against the fire, like a warrior, very similar to Rani Laxmi Bai, with her baby put tightly inside a cloth tied to her back. In a huge blast that broke apart the palace, Bhalla thought that Devasena and her baby were burnt to death. Nayaka left the palace much earlier to fight the enemies and left his body guards to
take care of Devasena, but they were killed by Maahishmati’s soldiers on the orders of Bhalla. With no one to help her, Devasena valiantly fought on her own and killed most of the enemies who were attacking her right inside her room. After the huge explosion, it turned out to be too difficult to find a way out. But luckily for her, in the dense smoke, Shivagami appeared, surprising Devasena and rescued her, taking her baby in her arms. She is happy that her mother-in-law has come to rescue her, but Devasena, feeling very weak, collapsed on the way when they crossed the boundary of the palace where there was no one. Shivagami tried to wake her up, but to no avail. With some of Maahishmati’s soldiers chasing her from far away, and left with no other option, she ordered Kattappa to look after her as she carried the baby away from the prying eyes of the enemies, disappearing in the dark of the woods. No one else saw her again.
Kattappa gently took his daughter in his arms and with tears in his eyes, carried her to a safe place.
“Can I ever tell you the fact? It is my fate. My bad fate that I have to see you in this situation” Kattappa silently talked to himself.
On getting her conscience back, Devasena felt that Kattappa is trying to capture her and tried to fight him. Devasena knows nothing about the truth about her and Kattappa and fears that he may kill her too on the orders of Bhalla. Unable to convince her that he is trying to protect her and also not in a position to tell the truth, a war of words happen between the two and finally Kattappa had to leave the place as Devasena went her own way into the woods, trying to keep distance from Maahishmati’s soldiers.
But some of Bhalla’s forces spot Devasena in some plains of Kunthala’s forest. Bhalla order them to tie her in iron chains and bring her to Maahishmati palace.
Back at Maahishmati, Bhalla wanted Kattappa himself to tie the chains on Devasena and tie her at the main city square.
With no other option than to obey Bhallaladeva’s orders, Kattappa kept low and waited for an opportunity to release Devasena from all the humiliation and imprisonment.
A couple of weeks passed by during which the people were trying to cope with the huge destruction. In Kunthala, Nayaka and some of his staunch followers, who escaped that dreadful night of massacre, await their moment to strike back at Maahishmati, which plays like mute spectator as their queen suffers humiliation at the hands of Bhallaladeva.
Devasena lives in an illusionary state of mind and always waiting for her son to rescue her from Maahishmati. She wants to see Bhallaladeva’s heart, blood, and everything to be burnt on a pyre that she was preparing for the past several years and reveals the same to Kattappa after she realises that he is trying to release her in many ways, officially or unofficially.

Bhalla, in a few weeks, married a trader’s daughter and within a year turned into a proud father of a son named Bhadra. Unfortunately, Bhadra’s mother died soon due to delivery complications. A heartbroken Bhalla took refuge in hundreds of concubines in his personal hall inside the palace and lead a luxurious life at the cost of people’s lives who were heavily taxed and discriminated based on their caste, color and gender too.
"

For more of the above story, check out the ebook here!

Thank you all for your love towards the book at Amazon(ebook as well as paperback). It give me immense pleasure when people support good work and it works like an energy booster to write more books in the future..

With love.. Anil

Bravehearts

When the enemy gives an evil eye,
When the terrorists were given a grand sendoff,
When the attacks cross all levels of tolerance,
The boiling blood gushes out after the surgical strike,
And the heart screams Bharat mata ki jai.

When millions of miles away the jawans wake up,
When the separation from near and dear ones pain the bravehearts,
The heart sends out the best wishes to our real heroes,
And feel like sending a tweet and sweet this Diwali.

When their toes pain with endless movement,
When their eyes burn out of sleepless nights of vigil,
When their stomachs experience hunger pangs,
When their limbs give cramps out of exhaustion,
I feel like touching their feet and just say,
"We are here for you.."

When the chilling environs take all their energy,
When the burning sun roasts your fluids,
When the ammunition flumes asphyxiate the bravehearts,
Thoughts flow out making me think:
"What level of wishes can make their lives a little comfort?"
And my Sandesh2Soldiers goes out.

-Anil Kumar Reddy.

iDonkey goes live!

After several months of delay, the book finally is live and not to mention the excitement that it gave me during the uploading and review process.
Not the first e-book, but yes, the first book to be created with long-term dedication. Of course it is open for review by anyone, but this is a first small step towards more books on varied topics or genres.

Feel free to check it out if you like it. Below is the link to the book:
iDonkey

With love.. Anil