Ambimama - India

Tamil Dialects in major cities with meanings”
Madras
Enna Naina – Greeting a friend – like Hi, What news?
Nasta Thunnia – Did you have breakfast?
Va Vadyare – Hi (respected) leader! Welcome to a elderly/powerful man in the area
Voodu katradu - Ready or making preparations to for a street fight
Savu grakki – bad and scolding word meaning deadly customer! Commonly used by Auto-rickshaw drivers to bargaining passengers.
Porambokku – again a slang bad word – ‘wasted land’ - to scold careless walkers on the road, those who overtake on the wrong side or any person doing an unlawful thing.
Thalaiva – ‘Leader’ – Addressing to a local or big leader
Peechangai – Left Hand
Sothukai – Right Hand
Bardu – ‘Bastard’
Thottam – A slum area where hundreds live with popular rowdies.
Dappan koothu – A dance with no music – only drums and usually played when a slum fellow dies.
Rascol – slang for Rascal
Pazahm - A sarcastic word to address a fool. Pazham actually means ripe fruit and a knowledgeable person.
Egirade – ‘Do not over act’ or ‘put an act of jumping for no reason’
Aye – A threatening word used commonly in Tamil cinema to address an enemy or gangster – meaning ‘Hey Dare You!’
Kadalai – Talking to a girl for a long time to impress her
Dhuttu Keedha? ‘Do you have money?’
Sarakku – slang for country liquor (like Taqila)
Bemani – slang word for a person who has cheated or misbehaved.
Vanaam Engayile Vachukade – Warning an opponent ‘ Do not rub me on the wrong side. It will kick back on you!

Thanjavur
Tootham - Water
Athukku – Home
Eiyna Enge Vango – Respectful address by wife to husband – ‘Please come here’
Pozahcu Kedanda – Word with Philosophic meaning for doing a work the next day ‘I we are alive, we will do that tomorrow’
Thinnai - A verandah like place in front of the house in villages – where discussions, debate, card playing (mostly Rummy) and travelers take rest.
Arattai – A useless discussion on any topic local or national in Thinnai
Utsavam – Normally it means a holy celebration in a Temple. But in slang it means ‘Great Joy in home’ like marriage, honeymoon or travel to river banks for swimming.
Kondattam – Same meaning as Utsavam but relates to making merry like playing, eating, singing and dancing.
Sowkyama? - How are you? Fine?
Nokku Enna Theriyum? – ‘What do you know?’ (You know Nothing)
Amavasaikkum Abdul Kadarakkum enna sambandam? – A proverb meaning ‘What does a Muslim person has to do with No-moon day? (which is auspicious to Hindus). The actual meaning is ‘Do not relate irrelevant matters in serious discussion or happenings.’

Kovai (Coimbatore – Kongu Tamil)
Ammani – Respectful address to a woman
Enunga – Respectful address by a woman to man
Ravaki – For the night

Madurai
Vaga - Welcome
Varihala ‘Will you please come?’(Famous song by Nagesh and Manorama - Muthu kullikka varihala)
Aela - Hi

English
Well this will be covered later There are Irish, Polish, American slang –North Indians famous dephinitely (for definitely).

But what surprises me most is the tongue tip slang Rambo English that Indians returning from States (of course America) speak. And none is impressed with them. They are looked at funnily as though they were from Zoo!

Hindi dialects topic is again a lengthy subject and my favourite. May be later in the day. I am watching the Ashes. England is fighting! Collingwood made 96. And Peterson is on 78. They need 386 to win with six

Ashes – Australia starts the first test with a Bang and Revenge, making 602 for 9 and declaring.

OK Aussies won the match by 277 runs. But look at England. They made 370 and what a fight back!

England all out for 157 in first innings. Australia though lead by 445 runs did not force follow-on. They want their bowlers to rest and torment and torture England further, ensuring a definite victory. They played again and declared at 202 for 1. England in their second innings at stumps on 4th day
Pieterson is on 91 batting.
England require another 355 runs with 5 wickets remaining Not an impossible task. But Shane Warne and Brett Lee to finish the tail is there. But a good fight back by England! And sure my prediction would come true!

Flintoff commented that due to enormous hype created, England was nervous. But he was confident that his young team would recover and fight back.

I agree with Shane Warne who had cautioned that England has the potential and young blood left to meet the challenge and may retain the cup.

Ashes have generated more interest in India than the Pakistan vs., India matches. The history of Ashes series is around 125 years old.

The question now is who will win this Ashes 2006-2007? Sure according to me it will be a drawn series, with England retaining the Ashes. Sorry, betting is not allowed in India.

My prediction is the first two matches may be won by Australia. And after Vaughn arrives England will win the next two. The last one will be a draw. And England will retain the Cup.

England’s Strength
England has four pacemen. Then Collingwood and Ian Bell will contest the No 5 batting spot. Bell finished the English summer in fine form but Collingwood’s superb fielding may just give him the edge. With Flintoff at six and most likely Chris Read to retain the gloves for the first Test filling the No 7 position, England look to have a well settled batting side with tail-ender Ashley Giles also batting well. And bowls very well too.

England’s Kevin Pietersen is an exciting batsman in world cricket -Full of confidence in his own abilities. His duel with Warne will be worth watching.

Steve Harmison: according to Ian Chappell the most important player in England’s chances of retaining the Ashes. On his day almost unplayable

Trescothick decision not to play due to stress is a pity. But English team is young and bold and free of stress.

Australia’s Strength
Brett Lee, the world’s fastest bowler is fit and hungry for success, Lee may just be Australia’s bet for a win.
And Mike Hussey is like Rahul Dravid. He never fails and has waited a long time to make his dream come true and play in an Ashes series.
Flintoff has a very special ball for Adam Gilchrist and sure he may not shine this season also.

First Test
Australia declares at 602 for 9 on 2nd day at Gabba stadium in Brisbane. Ricky Ponting played a captain’s knock of 196.

With an hour left, England loses 3 wickets with the score on 53. Though McGrath is old, his accuracy and experience is same or better and took prize wickets of Strauss, Cook in successive deliveries.

History of Ashes
The origins of cricket’s oldest international contest go back to 1882, when the third Australian team to tour England achieved the unthinkable.

Until then, the English had never been beaten on home soil, but Australia, led by WL Murdoch, shocked the “Mother Country”.
England, with the legendary WG Grace in their ranks, lost by seven runs, Aussie fast bowler Fred Spofforth taking 14 wickets for 90 runs.
The following day, a mock obituary ran in the Sporting Times “in affectionate remembrance of English cricket, which died at the Oval on 29th August, 1882″.
It added: “The body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.”
Those mythical ashes became a reality when the next England team to tour Australia, led by the Hon Ivo Bligh, were presented an urn containing the burnt remains of a bail after beating the home side 2-1*.
Thus “The Ashes” were now a tangible sporting prize, although they remain in the safekeeping of cricket’s spiritual home, Lord’s.
After regaining their honour, England went on to win the next seven Ashes contests, starting with the first home Test series against Australia in 1884.
That winter, England beat Australia 3-2 in the first five-Test series Down Under.
But it was a tour marred by controversy, including a walkout by the Aussies over payment and a fight in the first match.
Ashes Tour 2006-2007 itinerary
Nov 23-27 - Australia v England (1st test), Brisbane
Dec 1-5 - Australia v England (2nd test), Adelaide
Dec 14-18 - Australia v England (3rd test), Perth
Dec 26-30 - Australia v England (4th test), Melbourne
2007
Jan 2-6 - Australia v England (5th test), Sydney

Vijay TV abruptly stops serials without showing the end to viewers. The reason for ending the serial without showing the end is not explained or a proper excuse given.

Examples of soaps and serials stopped:

Chalanam
Unjal
Kannadi Kadavugal
Ammu
Asai

The serials attracted many viewers and they have the Right of Information to know.

This has made many viewers getting irritated and switch on to other channels like Jaya TV, which of late is showing really good serials and value added entertainment to attract viewers.

And the dull: ‘Kalakka Povadu Yaru’ is becoming stale with witch like dress by ‘Swarna Malya’ is disgusting.

Sure Vijay TV, with the support of Star is going in arrogant and wrong way, not realizing the taste of Tamil viewers.

No media has presented well or explained Gandhigiri. But they create such uproar about many Universities, schools to include this in text and syllabus. Also it is a worldwide hit.
But still the core of Gandhigiri was not explained. They took the South Indians for granted.

Finally I decided to see Lage Raho Munnabhai for myself. Yes Hindi is in my blood and I speak better amchi Mumbai than the Munna and Circuit.

Circuit

A very good movie and Gandhian principles applied practically is shown. And it works wonderfully. What a humour! I laughed so much that my family members became interested.

The ‘Lucky’ character played by DD fame Bhatti (?) is just casual and humorous. And sure he got well by the flowers sent to him.

I saw it two times, the only one to see a second time after the English movie ‘One flew over the cuckoo’s nest’.

Now I have to watch the film again with my family, explain Mumbai Hindi, the atmosphere and the professional and casual approach in the film by Sunil Dutt, and Co

My family does not know Hindi much. Especially –‘Tension nai lehna ka’ ‘Vat Lag Gaya’ ‘Apun kya bolta’ and ‘Akka Mumbai Janta Re’

But sure I will love to see the film again and make them see again also!

I witnessed along with my friends the historical tie between India and Australia. We used to travel from home early morning in our Royal Enfield Jawa bikes, carrying Lunch, water cans, Binoculars, musical instruments like Trumpets, Bangoes, Bugles and whistles of all kinds. And we used to cheer both the teams.

We start early morning to catch vantage points so that we can watch each ball. And sometimes there was a fight to get the Binoculars to watch tense situations. Those days we were allowed to carry anything inside – including transistors to listen to famous radio commentators like Parthasarathy, Tony Cozier and Richie Benaud. Even crackers were allowed but advised by security to fire so that it does not harm others.

Summary and brief of 5-days of performance:

We witnessed Cricket heroes like Dean Jones, Kapil Dev, Gavaskar, Srikanth, Ravi Shastri, Greg Mathews, Alan Border, Chetan Sharma, Bright and Bobby Simpson the coach. Simpson was involved in the first tie match also against West Indies.

Under the advice of Bobby Simpson, Alan Border was bold enough to declare the innings on 4th day night and set a target of 348 for Indians to win on 5th day. In test match in those days it is difficult to score. You have to play for draw. If you play for draw you lose. The Aussies were clever to sense this and put Indians under pressure – play for a draw or lose, but not a win.

5 days summary and fight back by Indians

The Madras (now Chennai) heat and humidity is unbearable in September. Normally the test matches will be in mid January coinciding with Pongal holidays, and the climate will be pleasant.

Day 1

David Boon scored a fine knock of 122 and Australia was slow in scoring. They made 211 on the first day. I like the moustache of David Boon and his aggressive and clean batting.

Day 2
Dean Jones was the hero. Any batsmen would collapse in the climate of Madras in September. He refused to budge and batted. He had the stamina to beat the tired bowlers and got his maiden Test century. And we, the sporting Madras crowd gave him a standing ovation.

Jones refused to leave the crease, though dehydrated. He dominated the bowlers reaching 150, with the support of Captain Alan Border.

The normal sea breeze in post tea session did not arrive. But that did not bother Dean Jones. He reached 200! He was finally out for 210. He batted for 8 hours and 23 minutes.

The Mighty Mervin Dean Jones, who was put on saline in hospital later.

Alan Border carried on and got his 19th Test century. Aussies declared at 574 for 7 on 2nd day.

Day 3
India was 65 for 3, Srikanth making a quick 53. Gavaskar was out for 8 in the first innings and his 100th Test appearance. (He scored a quick 90 in the 2nd innings, faster than present one-day players!)

Mohinder Amarnath was out for 1. Mohammed Azarudhin made 50, Ravi Shastri 62 and Chandrakant Pandit 35.
India were 206 for 5 and follow-on was expected.

Day 4

Captain Kapil Dev walks in and saves follow-on.

Kapil made an onslaught on Aussie bowlers and they lost their length and morale. Crowd went crazy. Kapil made 119 (21 fours). India was out for 397 and avoided follow-on.

Australia’s lead was 177 runs. With 3 ½ hours left on 4th day Australia made 170 for 5. They were driven by the thought of a draw.

Bobby Simpson advised Alan Border to declare and make India 348 to win on 5th day. Lead of 177 in first innings, 170 in second innings plus one for India to win. In Test this is an impossible task in those days.

A draw or win for Australia. And Aussies took the risk. Sure the Down Under underestimated the Indians. They judged India by their first innings performance.

Day 5
Stadium was almost empty expecting a draw. But we were present to watch till the end. And we were lucky to witness the great event of a 2nd tied test in 110 years.

India had to chase or play for a draw. And the heat and humidity was more intense.

Azarudhin played very slow. Suddenly Gavaskar took the initiative, more risks than modern one-day players and scored 90 in the 2nd innings. He was out when he went on to hit Bright for a six.

India required 118 off 2o mandatory overs, with 7 wickets in hand. But Azarudhin and Kapil were out and Aussies smelled victory.<

But Ravi Shastri came and Chetan Sharma was promoted as Pinch hitter.

India were at 330 for 6. They required 18 off 30 balls to win! Suddenly Chepauk started filling up to full capacity crowd of 50,000.

Aussies plan succeeded. Chetan and Kiran More were out in the same over.

Australians became aggressive appealing for every ball, made it hot for umpires than the climate.

Behaviour of Chetan Sharma and Tim Zoehrer in gestures ruined the gentleman’s game. Crowd was silent and tense.

14 away from target for India to win and 3 overs left.

Australia the fighting team also sensed victory. But Ravi Shastri decided to deny them with the help of tail-enders, taking singles and two’s

Shivalal Yadav joined Shastri. He hit Greg Mathews for a six!

But he was bowled in the next over by Bright. India was 344 for 9.

Suddenly we realized anything was possible – WIN by Australia or India.

We were on our feet, standing appreciating the aggressive Aussies and fight back by Indies.

India was on 334 for 8, requiring 4 runs to win. Bright had two balls remaining, when the last batsman Maninder Singh walked in. He faced the two balls with no runs. Shastri advised him to be cool.

Now Shastri had to face Greg Mathews bowling his 40th over non-stop.

4 runs from six balls. Anything possible. Australia needed one wicket. India, 4 runs.

Battle was between Ravi Shastri and Greg Mathews.

Shastri defends the first ball, takes two runs off the second ball (which could have been a four)

2 more from 4 balls for an Indian victory! And Ravi Shastri batting very well.

Shastri pushes the next ball and takes a run (again it could have been 2 runs)

Scores are equal and a chance of an Australian win is lost.

Now Maninder Singh has to face 3 balls from Mathews. One run to win for India!

Mathews kept his cool. Last of the 3 balls remaining was played by Maninder, with no run.

The watch stood at 5.18 pm. Mathews bowled his 5th ball and Maninder was rapped on his pads. Plumb LBW. No pressure on mpire Vikram Raju.

India was all out with Scores even. That is a TIE!

MOMENT FROZEN IN HISTORY:
Maninder Singh misses, Greg Matthews (left, cock-a-hoop with joy) appeals, Vikram Raju raises his finger… .and Chepauk witnesses the second ever tie in Test cricket

Australians rushed to the dressing room to greet Bobby Simpson who made the 2nd tie. He was also responsible for the first tie in Cricket history against West Indies. He was the opening batsman. That’s another story. I will come to that later.