prajnahegde

Each day spent vertical is a blessing goes a saying and so, it's a nice feeling to see another year roll past and a new year roll in. Birthdays and new year days are times when one feels happy for just having made it through all the tests and turmoils that the previous year saddled one with.
Year 2010 promises many changes and challenges, on the work front, on the personal front and even on the entertainment front. At work, I'm gearing up for new responsibilities as I'll be personally looking over a yet to be formed team which will focus on bleeding-edge R&D in HPC. On the personal front, I hope to continue to be regular at the gym and get into a much better (read as leaner and meaner!) shape. I also have a sneaky suspicion that my single days are now in extra-time, an end seems to be somewhere, just around the corner. On the entertainment front, my all time favorite Formula 1 driver, Michael Schumacher is back! This time around, instead of the familiar red livery of Ferrari, he will be donning the silver of Mercedes. I have always rooted for Michael and largely, because of Michael, Ferrari. I loved the professionalism demonstrated by the Ferrari crew, race after race, coming good even when the chips were down.

The period following Michael's retirement was a tough one for a Michael fan. There were so many occasions when one could not but feel 'If only Michael were to be around, things would be different!' but one moved on. I loved the way Felipe Massa took on his much more highly reckoned teammate Kimi Raikkonen and came out winning, time and again, be it the scorching qualifying laps or the race starts (where Massa time and again grabbed positions, even if he didn't start on the front). This year, it'll be tough as a supporter for I'm torn between rooting for Massa/Ferrari and Schumacher/Mercedes but I think that one can root for more than one driver/team at the same time. May the best combination win!

This year's Formula 1 season also sees some brand new names, both in the teams and amongst the drivers. Campos, US F1, and Virgin are the new names while Lotus makes a comeback into F1. Last year's zero-to-hero Brawn GP are now Mercedes GP. Bruno Senna (nephew of the great Ayrton Senna), Lucas Di Grassi and Nico Hulkenberg are the new drivers with confirmed drives while the late surprise sprung by Toyota last season, Kamui Kobayashi is expected to get a drive in one of the new teams. With more teams and drivers than ever before, the rules have been radically changed too. The new points system awards points to the first ten finishers in 25-20-15-10-8-6-5-3-2-1 instead of the older eight points winners in the 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 format.
This year also does away with in-race refueling, forcing drivers to drive around with a full race-load of fuel in their cars, significantly affecting strategies and outcomes. Formula 1 has changed and tinkered around with rules several times in the recent past, some changes being more successful than the others, one of the worst rules in recent times being the one-set of tyres per race rule which backfired horribly.

It remains to be seen how exciting the sport would be with the new changes, but the season promises to be full of excitement with the spotlight on being able to see Michael in action alongside the current F1 'heroes'. Will Michael kick butt in this innings too? He sure would try! That's for sure! It's now just a 69 day wait!

Veteran Kannada film actor Vishnuvardhan passed away in the early hours of 30th December 2009 upon sustaining a massive heart attack. Vishnuvardhan, originally called Sampath Kumar was an extremely talented theater artist who caught the eye of maverick theater and movie director Puttana Kanagal, who set about grooming the youngster for the silver screen. It was Puttana Kanagal who gave young Sampath Kumar the screen name 'Vishnuvardhan', the name by which countless fans would know him by. Vishnuvardhan made his silver screen debut in award winning Vamshavruksha, but it was his starring role as an angry, egoistic and highly opinionated young man in Puttana Kanagal's 'Nagarahaavu' (Cobra snake) that won him rave reviews and kudos from just about anybody who was a somebody in the Kannada movie industry. The movie went on to become a smash hit and won Vishnuvardhan the first of his many screen awards and acclaim.

Vishnuvardhan went on to change the very look of Kannada movies with his dashing image and presence with his next three movies. Since the only major stars at that time were Ambarish and Rajkumar, comparisons could not be avoided. It was not long before the audience craved to see Vishnuvardhan alongside Dr. Rajkumar, who by then had over 150 films to his credit! This unique duo got to work with each other in Gandhada Gudi, Dr. Rajkumar's 152nd movie and Vishnuvardhan's 5th movie! Unfortunately, disaster struck. In what is an extremely controversial incident which remains unexplained to this day, in a scene in the movie where Vishnuvardhan shoots at Rajkumar, the blank bullet had been substituted with a real, live bullet. Rajkumar was fortunate as bullet missed him by a whisker and thudded into some props placed behind him. This incident caused a huge furore with fans of Dr Rajkumar claiming that Vishnuvardhan had plotted to kill Rajkumar while Vishnuvardhan fans claimed it was an act of sabotage which was aimed at maligning Vishnuvardhan. Though the cause could never be properly ascertained, Rajkumar never allowed Vishnuvardhan to act alongside him ever again.

Vishnuvardhan however went on in his inimitable style, notching up hit after hit. Most of his roles were of adventurous young men, many of which included portrayals of police and army officers. He formed an alliance with Dwarakeesh, a notable comedian who went on to become a director. The Dwarakeesh/Vishnu combo movies became extremely popular and they went on to share screen space in as many as twelve movies.

Even after growing too old to portray the typical hero, he kept getting a steady flow of scripts custom-written to suit him and went on to star in many movies as the stern but fair patriarch. Many of the roles played by Vishnuvardhan have been portrayed by Amitabh Bachchan, in the Hindi remakes of the movies.
Vishnuvardhan led a spotlessly clean life, both on and off the screen, unlike many of his peers, including the famous Dr. Rajkumar who had two wives and a son out of wedlock. Vishnuvardhan was deeply religious and made several trips to Shabarimala (Lord Ayyappa's temple). He was also deeply philanthropic. He converted his palatial house into an old-age home which he took keen personal interest in and moved to a smaller accommodation himself. He married actress Bharathi and went on to adopt two daughters, all of whom survive Vishnuvardhan.
Vishnuvardhan will be sorely missed and cherished for a long time to come. May his soul rest in peace.