Its been quite a few days since I posted. At work, project has began - officially on Jan 2nd 2007 but unofficially a couple of weeks ago. And work is slowly and steadily getting hectic.
2006 is ending..I wanted to write a post on that, but don't have the time. I haven't even gone to ashram with Guruji in town.
But have a wonderful video. Its the comedy round of Nach Baliye1. Check out Varun and Rajeshwari. This is the comedy dance I've ever seen.
Dec 30, 2006
Dec 26, 2006
12 days of Christmas
Check this out...totally hilarious. Note the mallu accent..
Thanks to Sowmya for the video.
Thanks to Sowmya for the video.
Dec 22, 2006
Dhoom with Hrithik
I watched Dhoom2 a few days back. Its Hrithik all the way in the movie. He dances like a rubber doll, he looks like a Greek God (he is also acts like one in the movie) and he steals not only the whole movie but also your hearts.
I found these two videos on YouTube. Man he looks absolutely fab. First is the Dhoom Again song
This is Dil Laga song. I'm a big fan of Abhishek Bachchan but here its only Hrithik.
The quality isn't so good. But you can't miss Hrithik!!
I found these two videos on YouTube. Man he looks absolutely fab. First is the Dhoom Again song
This is Dil Laga song. I'm a big fan of Abhishek Bachchan but here its only Hrithik.
The quality isn't so good. But you can't miss Hrithik!!
Dec 20, 2006
My Grandmother
My grandmother passed away yesterday. Its a great loss for all of us.
The void she has left behind is immense. She was a bhandar of knowledge and stories. I remember how me and Arati would ask her to tell stories about our dad's childhood, and how we used to feel good when she told us how dad was beaten for his antics during his childhood. She would tell stories about her childhood in Maasur - how she would make tamarind balls, how she would steal mangoes - the memories are too many.
She was the head of the family and we would turn to her for most of the issues. She was an absolutely amazing cook. I just loved her cooking. We would eagarly look forward to go to her house - mainly for the food. Her rasam was the world's best. Even my mom can't make rasam like her. (This is something because my mom's rasam is out of the world.) Whenever we went, I would call her up and tell her to make extra rasam for me. And I would drink the rasam like water.
We are going to miss her, but life goes on. May her soul rest in peace.
The void she has left behind is immense. She was a bhandar of knowledge and stories. I remember how me and Arati would ask her to tell stories about our dad's childhood, and how we used to feel good when she told us how dad was beaten for his antics during his childhood. She would tell stories about her childhood in Maasur - how she would make tamarind balls, how she would steal mangoes - the memories are too many.
She was the head of the family and we would turn to her for most of the issues. She was an absolutely amazing cook. I just loved her cooking. We would eagarly look forward to go to her house - mainly for the food. Her rasam was the world's best. Even my mom can't make rasam like her. (This is something because my mom's rasam is out of the world.) Whenever we went, I would call her up and tell her to make extra rasam for me. And I would drink the rasam like water.
We are going to miss her, but life goes on. May her soul rest in peace.
Think again
Piyu sent me this long time ago. Really thought provoking...
If we reduce the population of the Earth to a small town with 100 people and keep the proportions, it will look like this:
Also think about the following:
If this morning you've woke up healthy, you are happier then 1 million people that will not survive next week.
If you never suffered a war, the loneliness of the jail cell, the agony of torture, or hunger, you are happier then 500 million people in the world.
If you can enter into a church/mosque without fear of jail or death, you are happier then 3 million people in the world.
If there is a food in your fridge, you have shoes and clothes, you have bed and a roof, you are richer then 75% of the people in the world.
If you have bank account, money in your wallet and some coins in the money-box, you belong to the 8% of the people on the world, which are well-to-do.
If you read this you are three times more blessed because:
1. somebody just thought of you.
2. you don't belong to the 200 million people that cannot read.
3. and... you have a computer!
If we reduce the population of the Earth to a small town with 100 people and keep the proportions, it will look like this:
57 Asians 21 Europeans 14 Americans (northern and southern) 8 Africans
52 women 48 men
70 coloured-skins 30 caucasians
89 heterosexuals 11 homosexuals
6 people would own 59% of the whole world wealth and all of them will be from the United States of America
80 would have bad living conditions
70 will be uneducated
50 will be underfed
1 would die
2 would be born
1 will have a computer
1 (only one) will have higher education
Also think about the following:
If this morning you've woke up healthy, you are happier then 1 million people that will not survive next week.
If you never suffered a war, the loneliness of the jail cell, the agony of torture, or hunger, you are happier then 500 million people in the world.
If you can enter into a church/mosque without fear of jail or death, you are happier then 3 million people in the world.
If there is a food in your fridge, you have shoes and clothes, you have bed and a roof, you are richer then 75% of the people in the world.
If you have bank account, money in your wallet and some coins in the money-box, you belong to the 8% of the people on the world, which are well-to-do.
If you read this you are three times more blessed because:
1. somebody just thought of you.
2. you don't belong to the 200 million people that cannot read.
3. and... you have a computer!
Dec 19, 2006
Nach Baliye2 Finals
Raju Shrivastav ended his performance in Nach Baliye by talking or rather joking about how the results are announced in reality shows. I had a taste of that last night.
It was the finals of NB, and they took such a long time to announce the results, that I gave up and slept. Anybody who was somebody in the show danced. Whether they were good or bad didn't matter. The only one who didn't dance was Kunal Kohli - thank God!! The comedy of the anchors was like the sensex, sometimes on a high and sometimes very cheap.
I watched till 11.30 and gave up. Got to know in the morning that Tina-Hussain won. Expected. They were better than Yash-Gowri yesterday. Also their (T&H) dance steps and choreography was far superior than Y&G. Worthy winners.
It was the finals of NB, and they took such a long time to announce the results, that I gave up and slept. Anybody who was somebody in the show danced. Whether they were good or bad didn't matter. The only one who didn't dance was Kunal Kohli - thank God!! The comedy of the anchors was like the sensex, sometimes on a high and sometimes very cheap.
I watched till 11.30 and gave up. Got to know in the morning that Tina-Hussain won. Expected. They were better than Yash-Gowri yesterday. Also their (T&H) dance steps and choreography was far superior than Y&G. Worthy winners.
Dec 18, 2006
Dec 15, 2006
Tina and Hussain - Blind dance
I loved this performance or should I say preformance like Saroj Khan.
Art of Living Marketing Model
The guest editor for today's Times of India is none other than H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. I grabbed a copy (we get Hindu at home) from a newspaper stall on my way to work. Luckily, I got a seat in the bus and could read some of the articles. There is a report about TOI's experience in having Guruji in their office. There He talks about various things - criticism, marketing, WAR, and 'The choice is yours, blessing is mine'.
The marketing part caught my attention - it reminded me of my Greenpeace days. (Main Greenpeace ke liye chanda ekhata karti thi.) Here is an excerpt from the paper
During one of our pep talks, Rahul (my boss at Greenpeace) had mentioned about the marketing model of Art of Living (I hadn't done the course then). He asked us to observe the dedication of the volunteers of the foundation and imbibe that in ourselves. He was awed by the enthusiasm and energy of the volunteers. He used to ponder on the theory of getting volunteers to do the marketing not employ people for marketing. The whole lesson to be learnt according to Rahul, is that - You make such an impression on the person you talk to that he/she should next become the ambassador of Greenpeace.
Now I look back and smile at those words. Yes AoL is a indeed a great marketing model that needs some study, but what people sometimes don't understand is the grace behind the model.
The marketing part caught my attention - it reminded me of my Greenpeace days. (Main Greenpeace ke liye chanda ekhata karti thi.) Here is an excerpt from the paper
So how does he react to charges of being well marketed Guru? "Its like commentary after the match is over", he shrugged.
"People can study the movement's success and turn it into a marketing model now, but no model was designed to make it a success."
During one of our pep talks, Rahul (my boss at Greenpeace) had mentioned about the marketing model of Art of Living (I hadn't done the course then). He asked us to observe the dedication of the volunteers of the foundation and imbibe that in ourselves. He was awed by the enthusiasm and energy of the volunteers. He used to ponder on the theory of getting volunteers to do the marketing not employ people for marketing. The whole lesson to be learnt according to Rahul, is that - You make such an impression on the person you talk to that he/she should next become the ambassador of Greenpeace.
Now I look back and smile at those words. Yes AoL is a indeed a great marketing model that needs some study, but what people sometimes don't understand is the grace behind the model.
Dec 14, 2006
Bhanu didi, Narayan Murthy and Nandan Nilekani
Yesterday I had the privilege to share a table with all the three esteemed people mentioned above. I unwillingly attended a wedding which played hosts to these people.
One of the Arvindh's acquaintances' (Manju) daughter was getting married and since he is taking a course, I was to represent us in the wedding. I didn't know Manju, but went along because - first, Tithi was coming (It was long time since I spoke to her) and second, the wedding was at Taj West End. I wasn't even dressed for the occasion.
I was pleasantly surprised when I saw Mrs. Sudha Murthy welcoming the guests. Then Tithi told me that Murthys and Manju's family are friends. Manju's husband was also a part of Infosys for sometime.
The bride and groom could give a complex to Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan - the groom was about 6'6" and the bride was just 5'!!! We met Bhanu didi and Sens and were hanging around her. After we wished the couple, Mrs. Sudha Murthy was there again to graciously request us to proceed for dinner. For the first course, we shared the table with Bhanu didi. A honour. (For those who don't know, Bhanu didi is Guruji's sister and a very senior teacher of Art of Living courses.) She had very little (just curd rice) and left soon.
By the time we served ourselves the second round, our table was taken. We found a table with a couple of chairs free and seated ourselves there. We put our plates down and look up to see Narayan Murthy and Nandan Nilekani seating almost opposite to us. With them there was K. Dinesh and someone called Paddy. We put our heads down and had our dinner. I wanted to say something, but nothing came to my mind. I kept thinking about Arvindh - I'm sure he would have loved to speak to them. I tried to overhear the conversation the greater mortals across the table were having - they were speaking something about the Croatian President and then about some land in Chennai. And they didn't eat much, NRN had only bowl of curd and we were hogging away!!
This is surely one story for my grandchildren. Well, its not everyday you share a table with such distinguished people!!
One of the Arvindh's acquaintances' (Manju) daughter was getting married and since he is taking a course, I was to represent us in the wedding. I didn't know Manju, but went along because - first, Tithi was coming (It was long time since I spoke to her) and second, the wedding was at Taj West End. I wasn't even dressed for the occasion.
I was pleasantly surprised when I saw Mrs. Sudha Murthy welcoming the guests. Then Tithi told me that Murthys and Manju's family are friends. Manju's husband was also a part of Infosys for sometime.
The bride and groom could give a complex to Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan - the groom was about 6'6" and the bride was just 5'!!! We met Bhanu didi and Sens and were hanging around her. After we wished the couple, Mrs. Sudha Murthy was there again to graciously request us to proceed for dinner. For the first course, we shared the table with Bhanu didi. A honour. (For those who don't know, Bhanu didi is Guruji's sister and a very senior teacher of Art of Living courses.) She had very little (just curd rice) and left soon.
By the time we served ourselves the second round, our table was taken. We found a table with a couple of chairs free and seated ourselves there. We put our plates down and look up to see Narayan Murthy and Nandan Nilekani seating almost opposite to us. With them there was K. Dinesh and someone called Paddy. We put our heads down and had our dinner. I wanted to say something, but nothing came to my mind. I kept thinking about Arvindh - I'm sure he would have loved to speak to them. I tried to overhear the conversation the greater mortals across the table were having - they were speaking something about the Croatian President and then about some land in Chennai. And they didn't eat much, NRN had only bowl of curd and we were hogging away!!
This is surely one story for my grandchildren. Well, its not everyday you share a table with such distinguished people!!
Dec 8, 2006
Trishul - Amitabh all the way!
The 70s beyond any doubt belonged to Amitabh Bachchan. He gave some really memorable movies and performances, to name a few would do injustice to the others. For this month, let’s revisit one of Amitabh’s greatest performances as Vijay in Trishul. Trishul had the memorable Deewaar team of Amitabh-Yash Chopra-Salim-Javed delivering yet another powerful movie.
Raj (Sanjeev Kapoor), an honest and hardworking engineer is in love with a simple, poor clerk Shanti (Waheda Rahman).
Raj’s mother wants him to marry Kamini, his boss’s only daughter and become a partner in the construction company he works. Raj’s mother successfully brainwashes him and he marries Kamini. Meanwhile, Shanti bears his illegitimate son and brings him up the hard way. After her death, her son Vijay (Amitabh Bachchan) decides to avenge the wrong done to his mother. Raj is now RK Gupta, a rich businessman with a son Shekar (Shashi Kapoor) and daughter Babli (Poonam Dhillon).Vijay also tries to separate Shekar and his lover Sheetal (Hema Mal
ini). But when Shekar gets to know the truth about Vijay, he deserts his father and joins Vijay. Vijay also helps Babli elope with There is also another character, Balwant Rai (Prem Chopra) who hates Gupta and initially helps Vijay. But later turns against Vijay and joins hands with Gupta.
The music by Khayyam is just apt, no comparisons to his previous movie Kabhie Kabhie. All the songs are well placed except for Kabhie Kasame Na which seems to slow the pace of the movie. Yash Chopra as the director has extracted great performances from all and has done full justice to the powerful script.
The script and screenplay by Salim-Javed is one of the
There are some really amazing and memorable dialogues in the movie. Who can forget Mere paas na apane baap-dada ki daulat ki nahi ek pai hai aur nahi mujhe chahiye, mere paas agar kuch hain to apane maa ka diya hua aashirwaad, or Main panch lakh ka sauda karne aaya hoon aur mere jeb mein panch photi kaudi bhi nahi hai or Aaj aapke paas aapki sari daulat sahi, lekin aap se bada gareeb maine zindagi mein nahin dekha and many more.
The characters aren’t stereotypes, no just black or just white, but they are grey and very real life. The only disappointing character is that of RK Gupta’s wife. We can guess that she knows the truth about Vijay and accepts it easily!!
The movie completely belongs to Amitabh Bachchan. He is the angry young man again but with a difference. He is super cool yet has that burning anger underneath. Hats off to the Badshah of Bollywood. Also take nothing away from Sanjeev Kumar. The initial helplessness and later the arrogance and ruthlessness have been portrayed perfectly. Shashi Kapoor and Rahkee are fine. Hema Malini and others don’t have much to do.
Personally, this is the best ‘angry young man’ movie of Amitabh.
Dec 7, 2006
Tamil and me
From my childhood, I have been surrounded by Tamils. Well if you grow up in Bangalore you'll have at least a couple of Tamilian friends. But Tamil never invoked any interest in me, no offence please but I have always resisted learning the language.
In school, I had 3 close friends (Anitha, Arati and Nita) or best friends like we called them then, who were Tamilians. During my middle school, I spent a lot of time with Nita and picked a bit of Tamil from her. Then I picked more Tamil from Anitha - we used to study together during 10th standard. In college, Sowmya and Sumana represented the Tamilian community in my life. But we always spoke in English and I was happy to forget whatever Tamil I knew. But I watched Tamil movies. With filmmakers like Mani Rathnam, its difficult to keep away from them.
Then came Arvindh. I agreed to meet him because he was from Bombay and thought that he would speak Marathi. He said that they (his forefathers) were Kannadigas settled in Tamil Nadu but he was born and raised in Bombay. He spoke a bit of Marathi, fair enough. But after marriage I felt that its the other way round - they were Tamilians who spoke a bit of Kannada - they speak Kannada with a Tamil accent and a lot of Tamil mixed in it, they watch only Tamil channels and movies (Hindi and English too, but no Kannada), they read Tamil magazines - I'm the only one in the family who can read Kannada!! Once one of his uncles suggested that I learn Tamil, I smiled and resisted.
In MS also, my roommate was Mallika, a staunch Tamilian. But my resistance was almost broken when I decided to go to Chennai for my MS project. The project was too good to resist. I dug out whatever little Tamil I knew and picked up some more words. I managed pretty well. I could negotiate with the auto drivers there, bargain at shops or basically, learnt enough to survive.
I almost broke my resolve when Gurudev spoke to me in Tamil. I understood whatever he said and answered in my limited Tamil. I decided it was time to break the resolve, but the interest faded when the next time I spoke to HIM, it was in English and thankfully HE answered in English.
But that urge to learn is creeping in again. The resolve not to learn is turning to resolve to learn. I am slowly and consciously picking a few words here and there and registering them in my memory. Who knows, in a couple of months, I might speak fluent Tamil. So much for my resistance!!! All it needed was Sri Sri.
In school, I had 3 close friends (Anitha, Arati and Nita) or best friends like we called them then, who were Tamilians. During my middle school, I spent a lot of time with Nita and picked a bit of Tamil from her. Then I picked more Tamil from Anitha - we used to study together during 10th standard. In college, Sowmya and Sumana represented the Tamilian community in my life. But we always spoke in English and I was happy to forget whatever Tamil I knew. But I watched Tamil movies. With filmmakers like Mani Rathnam, its difficult to keep away from them.
Then came Arvindh. I agreed to meet him because he was from Bombay and thought that he would speak Marathi. He said that they (his forefathers) were Kannadigas settled in Tamil Nadu but he was born and raised in Bombay. He spoke a bit of Marathi, fair enough. But after marriage I felt that its the other way round - they were Tamilians who spoke a bit of Kannada - they speak Kannada with a Tamil accent and a lot of Tamil mixed in it, they watch only Tamil channels and movies (Hindi and English too, but no Kannada), they read Tamil magazines - I'm the only one in the family who can read Kannada!! Once one of his uncles suggested that I learn Tamil, I smiled and resisted.
In MS also, my roommate was Mallika, a staunch Tamilian. But my resistance was almost broken when I decided to go to Chennai for my MS project. The project was too good to resist. I dug out whatever little Tamil I knew and picked up some more words. I managed pretty well. I could negotiate with the auto drivers there, bargain at shops or basically, learnt enough to survive.
I almost broke my resolve when Gurudev spoke to me in Tamil. I understood whatever he said and answered in my limited Tamil. I decided it was time to break the resolve, but the interest faded when the next time I spoke to HIM, it was in English and thankfully HE answered in English.
But that urge to learn is creeping in again. The resolve not to learn is turning to resolve to learn. I am slowly and consciously picking a few words here and there and registering them in my memory. Who knows, in a couple of months, I might speak fluent Tamil. So much for my resistance!!! All it needed was Sri Sri.
Dec 6, 2006
Wake up!!! Majority vote bank wake up!!!
There were two incidents that made me write this post:
1. My colleague, Surajit is from Assam and he was telling me about the politics in Assam. He was saying that there are a lot of Bangladeshi immigrants and form a vote bank for the Congress led govt. So to keep them in Assam, the govt had made the Foreigners (Tribunals for Assam) Order, 2006, which puts the onus of proving if someone is an illegal foreigner on the complainant rather than the accused. Its the opposite for the rest of the nation. This order was today squashed by the Supreme court. For more details see this article
2. I was as usual googling for Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (My usual routine to update myself about Gurudev's where-abouts) and I found this blog Vichaarah. It has a small post about the Argentina incident of Gurudev's. What got me interested in the blog was the post about violence in Maharashtra. Again, for the vote bank, the politicians/govt refuses to condemn it.
Minority vote bank!!!When will the majority vote bank wake up???
1. My colleague, Surajit is from Assam and he was telling me about the politics in Assam. He was saying that there are a lot of Bangladeshi immigrants and form a vote bank for the Congress led govt. So to keep them in Assam, the govt had made the Foreigners (Tribunals for Assam) Order, 2006, which puts the onus of proving if someone is an illegal foreigner on the complainant rather than the accused. Its the opposite for the rest of the nation. This order was today squashed by the Supreme court. For more details see this article
2. I was as usual googling for Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (My usual routine to update myself about Gurudev's where-abouts) and I found this blog Vichaarah. It has a small post about the Argentina incident of Gurudev's. What got me interested in the blog was the post about violence in Maharashtra. Again, for the vote bank, the politicians/govt refuses to condemn it.
Minority vote bank!!!When will the majority vote bank wake up???
Ways of the Divine
Almost daily I pass through a temple, the one in BMP's premises, but never go in. I keep thinking I must go someday, but everyday I'm late and keep postponing. Finally, I had to go in today.
While getting in the bus today, I hurt my hand and it was bleeding. I wanted to wash it and didn't have any water. So held it tight with a tissue to stop the bleeding. I got down at corporation and as usual, I went into BMP premises. I asked the watchman there about water. He said there is a tap inside the temple. Well, had to go in. Its a beautiful temple. It felt really nice to be in the temple.
Guess the Divine wanted me to go to the temple. Ways of the Divine are truly strange!!!
While getting in the bus today, I hurt my hand and it was bleeding. I wanted to wash it and didn't have any water. So held it tight with a tissue to stop the bleeding. I got down at corporation and as usual, I went into BMP premises. I asked the watchman there about water. He said there is a tap inside the temple. Well, had to go in. Its a beautiful temple. It felt really nice to be in the temple.
Guess the Divine wanted me to go to the temple. Ways of the Divine are truly strange!!!
Dec 5, 2006
TV Shows
I used to follow a lot of TV shows before I went to Advance course. But when I returned wasn't interested in any of them. The only thing I like watching or following is Nach Baliye. And I want Tina and Hussain or Yash and Gauri to win not Tanaaz and Bakhtyaar. I used to like them (T&B) earlier, not anymore. There is an arrogance in Bakhtyaar's way which I'm allergic to.
I also used to watch Big Boss. I liked Rakhi Sawant's frankness and her body language. She is one confident babe!! But now that she is out, there is absolutely no interest in the show.
Shah Rukh Khan is going to host KBC. Oh my God!! I can imagine him hamming 'Lock kkkkkiiiiya jaye!!!' or 'Kkkkkya kkkkkarna chayenge aap....' I'm waiting to watch the spoofs on MTV or Comedy Show.
Talking about spoofs, I like Raju Shrivastav's take on Gabbar Singh. He makes Gabbar an old man or a forgetful person or a total bhondu. Absolutely hilarious. He is one person who comes up with something new almost all the time. Wonder why he did win the Great Indian Laughter Challenge.
Below is his performance in Nach Baliye. Absoultely humourous.
I also used to watch Big Boss. I liked Rakhi Sawant's frankness and her body language. She is one confident babe!! But now that she is out, there is absolutely no interest in the show.
Shah Rukh Khan is going to host KBC. Oh my God!! I can imagine him hamming 'Lock kkkkkiiiiya jaye!!!' or 'Kkkkkya kkkkkarna chayenge aap....' I'm waiting to watch the spoofs on MTV or Comedy Show.
Talking about spoofs, I like Raju Shrivastav's take on Gabbar Singh. He makes Gabbar an old man or a forgetful person or a total bhondu. Absolutely hilarious. He is one person who comes up with something new almost all the time. Wonder why he did win the Great Indian Laughter Challenge.
Below is his performance in Nach Baliye. Absoultely humourous.
Dec 4, 2006
The pink bundle of joy...for Sweta
Sweta gave birth to a baby girl on December 1st, 5pm. Nithan informed Nrutya and assumed that she'll inform all of us. But Nrutya too assumed that Nithan will inform the rest of us. So finally none of us except Nrutya knew.
On Saturday, I was leaving a note in Sumana's scrapbook, and I read this message from Nrutya about the good news. Called her immediately and as usual couldn't get thru. Finally got her in the evening, she was driving and didn't speak much but confirmed the news. I decided to call Sweta on Sunday.
Finally Sunday morning, Sweta only calls me up. Guess she was wondering why none of us called. I told her I'll see her in the evening. Called Aparna and Sowmya - both of them also didn't know about the news. NRUTYA!!!!!
Anyway, I and Aparna met her yesterday. It’s something amazing to see a new born baby. She (the baby) is really cute baby and very expressive too. She is totally pink and becomes a deeper shade when she cries. She has beautiful eyes and lots of hair. She has also learnt a few tactics to trouble Sweta...she insists on being carried all the time she is awake. The moment you put her down, she starts crying.
Sweta is fine and recovering...she'll be discharged mostly by today evening. She has promised to send us snaps of the baby in a couple of days.
There were a few things that surprised me...the baby was wearing new clothes and also a diaper. I remember Chetna aunty telling me that new borns don't wear new clothes till some n days. She had also said that diapers hurts the skin of new borns so they use cotton cloth. When I discussed this with my MIL, she said that now-a-days moms and docs insist on new clothes and diapers for the baby. Hmmm...interesting.
On Saturday, I was leaving a note in Sumana's scrapbook, and I read this message from Nrutya about the good news. Called her immediately and as usual couldn't get thru. Finally got her in the evening, she was driving and didn't speak much but confirmed the news. I decided to call Sweta on Sunday.
Finally Sunday morning, Sweta only calls me up. Guess she was wondering why none of us called. I told her I'll see her in the evening. Called Aparna and Sowmya - both of them also didn't know about the news. NRUTYA!!!!!
Anyway, I and Aparna met her yesterday. It’s something amazing to see a new born baby. She (the baby) is really cute baby and very expressive too. She is totally pink and becomes a deeper shade when she cries. She has beautiful eyes and lots of hair. She has also learnt a few tactics to trouble Sweta...she insists on being carried all the time she is awake. The moment you put her down, she starts crying.
Sweta is fine and recovering...she'll be discharged mostly by today evening. She has promised to send us snaps of the baby in a couple of days.
There were a few things that surprised me...the baby was wearing new clothes and also a diaper. I remember Chetna aunty telling me that new borns don't wear new clothes till some n days. She had also said that diapers hurts the skin of new borns so they use cotton cloth. When I discussed this with my MIL, she said that now-a-days moms and docs insist on new clothes and diapers for the baby. Hmmm...interesting.
Dec 1, 2006
Kanoon ke haath bahut lambe hai
Kanoon ke haath bahut lambe hai - Remember this cliche statement from Hindi movies? For the past few days we have been hearing so many verdicts that this statement seems true.
First it was punishing of the Bombay blast victims, Sanjay Dutt included. The Shibu Soren and today Navjot Singh Sidhu. And all these are high profile people, themselves politicians or related to politicians. Looks like our judicial system is waking!!
First it was punishing of the Bombay blast victims, Sanjay Dutt included. The Shibu Soren and today Navjot Singh Sidhu. And all these are high profile people, themselves politicians or related to politicians. Looks like our judicial system is waking!!
Nov 30, 2006
Will to win
Yesterday India again lost to South Africa by a huge margin. Well nothing new!!!
The saddest part of the whole series is the inability of Indian batsmen to bat or in cricketing terms, inability to apply themselves. There is no will to win. It looks like they have already decided that they'll lose the match or series... So why try!!! The same bunch of people we all raring to go and full of confidence and energy after the Pakistan tour. The downfall started from the West Indies tour. Then the DLF cup and Champions Trophy.
With the world cup barely 3 months ahead, I see absolutely no hope for Indian cricket. It pains me to say that but its true. Only a miracle can get them to a respectable place in the World Cup. We can just pray for a turn around like in the previous World cup.
The saddest part of the whole series is the inability of Indian batsmen to bat or in cricketing terms, inability to apply themselves. There is no will to win. It looks like they have already decided that they'll lose the match or series... So why try!!! The same bunch of people we all raring to go and full of confidence and energy after the Pakistan tour. The downfall started from the West Indies tour. Then the DLF cup and Champions Trophy.
With the world cup barely 3 months ahead, I see absolutely no hope for Indian cricket. It pains me to say that but its true. Only a miracle can get them to a respectable place in the World Cup. We can just pray for a turn around like in the previous World cup.
Nov 28, 2006
The Cow Essay
I first got this cow essay forward when I was in college. Aparna had taken a printout of it and the seven of us used to sit in the parking lot and laugh over it. A couple of days ago, I got the same forward again. Posting it...enjoy!!
Note:There are no typos in this essay. Everything is legal and as it was written in the exam.If you develop cramps reading this or find your English gone haywire after reading this, please dont blame me :-)
___________________________________________________________________________
CALCUTTA's Telegraph has got hold of an answer paper of a candidate at the recent UPSC examinations. The candidate has written an essay on the Indian cow:
"The cow is a successful animal. Also he is quadrupud, and because he is female, he give milk,but will do so when he is got child.He is same like God,sacred to Hindus and useful to man.But he has got four legs together. Two are forward and two are afterwards.
"His whole body can be utilised for use. More so the milk. What can it do? Various ghee, butter,cream, curd, why and the condensed milk and so forth. Also he is useful to cobbler, watermans and mankind generally.
"His motion is slow only because he is of asitudinious species. Also his other motion is much useful to trees, plants as well as making flat cakes in hand and drying in the sun. Cow is the only animal that extricates his feeding after eating. Then afterwards she chew with his teeth whom are situated in the inside of the mouth. He is incessantly in the meadows in the grass.
"His only attacking and defending organ is the horn, specially so when he is got child. This is done by knowing his head whereby he causes the weapons to be paralleled to the ground of the earth and instantly proceed with great velocity forwards.
"He has got tails also, but not like similar animals. It has hairs on the other end of the other side. This is done to frighten away the flies which alight on his cohoa body whereupon he gives hit with it.
The palms of his feet are soft unto the touch. So the grasses head is not crushed. At night time have poses by looking down on the ground and he shouts his eyes like his relatives, the horse does not do so.
"This is the cow."
P.S.: We are informed that the candidate passed the exam.
Note:There are no typos in this essay. Everything is legal and as it was written in the exam.If you develop cramps reading this or find your English gone haywire after reading this, please dont blame me :-)
___________________________________________________________________________
CALCUTTA's Telegraph has got hold of an answer paper of a candidate at the recent UPSC examinations. The candidate has written an essay on the Indian cow:
"The cow is a successful animal. Also he is quadrupud, and because he is female, he give milk,but will do so when he is got child.He is same like God,sacred to Hindus and useful to man.But he has got four legs together. Two are forward and two are afterwards.
"His whole body can be utilised for use. More so the milk. What can it do? Various ghee, butter,cream, curd, why and the condensed milk and so forth. Also he is useful to cobbler, watermans and mankind generally.
"His motion is slow only because he is of asitudinious species. Also his other motion is much useful to trees, plants as well as making flat cakes in hand and drying in the sun. Cow is the only animal that extricates his feeding after eating. Then afterwards she chew with his teeth whom are situated in the inside of the mouth. He is incessantly in the meadows in the grass.
"His only attacking and defending organ is the horn, specially so when he is got child. This is done by knowing his head whereby he causes the weapons to be paralleled to the ground of the earth and instantly proceed with great velocity forwards.
"He has got tails also, but not like similar animals. It has hairs on the other end of the other side. This is done to frighten away the flies which alight on his cohoa body whereupon he gives hit with it.
The palms of his feet are soft unto the touch. So the grasses head is not crushed. At night time have poses by looking down on the ground and he shouts his eyes like his relatives, the horse does not do so.
"This is the cow."
P.S.: We are informed that the candidate passed the exam.
Nov 27, 2006
Advance Course
Just back from an Advance Course (Art of Living Part-2 course). If I have to describe it in one word - ZHAKAS!! And for once I could do most of the processes and meditations completely, 'Giving 100%' as Swami Vishnupada said. One of Gurudev's hard hitting talk on seva was played. Man HE was so subtle and yet so firm.
And the silence this time was really amazing and complete. All this thanks to my roomies. All of them maintained such good silence that there was no chance of being disturbed. Oh...my roomies..a bunch of really cute people...Priya, Seema and Pavitra. Well, I've made 3 more friends for my life.
And the most exciting part - Gurudev met us twice and He gave His typical all-knowing smile twice to me. He had invited some naxalites from Nagaland. When they came on stage He was all praise for them for they were caring for Nagaland so much. He gave them fruits and all His love. The transformation was immediate. When they came in they had rigidity and hatred written all over their face and when they left the stage, they were totally soft and smiling. One of them then recorded the whole Q&A session too!!!! Thats how our Master works!!
After four days of satvic food, my stomach refuses to digest the crap I eat. Hopefully it'll get back to digesting crap in a couple of days.
And the silence this time was really amazing and complete. All this thanks to my roomies. All of them maintained such good silence that there was no chance of being disturbed. Oh...my roomies..a bunch of really cute people...Priya, Seema and Pavitra. Well, I've made 3 more friends for my life.
And the most exciting part - Gurudev met us twice and He gave His typical all-knowing smile twice to me. He had invited some naxalites from Nagaland. When they came on stage He was all praise for them for they were caring for Nagaland so much. He gave them fruits and all His love. The transformation was immediate. When they came in they had rigidity and hatred written all over their face and when they left the stage, they were totally soft and smiling. One of them then recorded the whole Q&A session too!!!! Thats how our Master works!!
After four days of satvic food, my stomach refuses to digest the crap I eat. Hopefully it'll get back to digesting crap in a couple of days.
Nov 22, 2006
Buttering the toast
Today morning when I was buttering the toast remembered a very funny incident from my hostel days.
In the mess everyday we would get toast and butter (rationed - only 1 spoonful) for breakfast. There were other items like idli, dosa, pongal etc, but after tasting them, I decided to stick to bread and butter for the rest of my hostel stay. Over a period of time, I mastered the act of dividing the given butter equally among my 3 toasts. I would first methodically and neatly apply the butter to the toasts and then eat them with the newspaper in my other hand.
Anyway, one day while was going through this routine, a girl sitting in front of me was observing intently. When I pickedup the newspaper, she interrupted me and asked, 'Have you studied in a boarding school?'. I gave her a puzzled no. She went back to her coffee. Now it was my turn to interrupt her. I enquired, ' Why do you ask so?'. She smiled back and explained, 'I saw you buttering your toast so neatly, so thought you might be from a boarding school'. When I still had a puzzled look she explained, ' You know, in boarding schools they teach you all this'. I was still baffled. She went on,' One of my friends was telling me. She is from a boarding school'. ' I'm late. Bye', she said and left.
I finished my toast and went straight to Mallika (she had studied in a boarding school) and told her this incident and asked her if they actually taught buttering the toast in boarding schools. She too was amazed by what I said. She said that in her school, breakfast with toasts buttered would be kept ready on the dining table. I tried to catch the girl again, but didn't find her around and after a few days I forgot about the incident. Until of course today morning.
In the mess everyday we would get toast and butter (rationed - only 1 spoonful) for breakfast. There were other items like idli, dosa, pongal etc, but after tasting them, I decided to stick to bread and butter for the rest of my hostel stay. Over a period of time, I mastered the act of dividing the given butter equally among my 3 toasts. I would first methodically and neatly apply the butter to the toasts and then eat them with the newspaper in my other hand.
Anyway, one day while was going through this routine, a girl sitting in front of me was observing intently. When I pickedup the newspaper, she interrupted me and asked, 'Have you studied in a boarding school?'. I gave her a puzzled no. She went back to her coffee. Now it was my turn to interrupt her. I enquired, ' Why do you ask so?'. She smiled back and explained, 'I saw you buttering your toast so neatly, so thought you might be from a boarding school'. When I still had a puzzled look she explained, ' You know, in boarding schools they teach you all this'. I was still baffled. She went on,' One of my friends was telling me. She is from a boarding school'. ' I'm late. Bye', she said and left.
I finished my toast and went straight to Mallika (she had studied in a boarding school) and told her this incident and asked her if they actually taught buttering the toast in boarding schools. She too was amazed by what I said. She said that in her school, breakfast with toasts buttered would be kept ready on the dining table. I tried to catch the girl again, but didn't find her around and after a few days I forgot about the incident. Until of course today morning.
Nov 20, 2006
Guru - Music Review
I just downloaded the music of Guru. This was one music album which I was early waiting. The combination of AR Rahman, Mani Rathnam and Gulzar - must be great!! But the album, atleast on the first hearing, sounds just ok.
The best song is Ay Hairathe - both lyrics and beats. Close to it comes Tere Bina, which has similar beats but is still different. Both are pretty unique. The next best is Jaage Hain which has great orchestra. Mayya Mayya is pretty ok...might grow on you. It has a sort of international feel to the music. Barso re is also pretty ok...again another song that you might start liking after repeated hearings. Baazi Laga doesn't sound like a Rahaman song. Its a song that any other composer could have done. Sort of a let down. Another big let down is Ek Lo Ek Muft. This the one which Bappi da has sung. It sounds like a Tamil song translated to Hindi. Pretty sad.
Overall - pretty decent. Like many of Rahman's albums, this too might sound better after repeated hearings
The best song is Ay Hairathe - both lyrics and beats. Close to it comes Tere Bina, which has similar beats but is still different. Both are pretty unique. The next best is Jaage Hain which has great orchestra. Mayya Mayya is pretty ok...might grow on you. It has a sort of international feel to the music. Barso re is also pretty ok...again another song that you might start liking after repeated hearings. Baazi Laga doesn't sound like a Rahaman song. Its a song that any other composer could have done. Sort of a let down. Another big let down is Ek Lo Ek Muft. This the one which Bappi da has sung. It sounds like a Tamil song translated to Hindi. Pretty sad.
Overall - pretty decent. Like many of Rahman's albums, this too might sound better after repeated hearings
Me
When I joined the new company, I was asked to write something about myself, which wold be published in their monthly magazine. After some thought, I decided to write a poem on myself. The final result was pretty ok.
Born in Aurangabad, raised in Bangalore,
About me, let me tell you a bit more
Father is a scientist mother is a housewife,
Sister and husband complete my life.
Ramaiah gave me a bachelors, MAHE a masters
Inbetween them got a Master and life partner.
Helping, friendly, lovable but moody,
Reading is my favourite hobby.
Love movies, music, cricket and cartoons
Always will be humming some tune.
Chauvinists, egoists beware...
Cross me and I shall not spare.
Now that you had a small peek
To know me more, please come and speak.
I think I should put a full stop
Before you think I'm a big show off.
Vivah
On Saturday I watched Vivah with my mother and granny. I was sort of looking forward to watching it - mainly because of the mixed reviews I read for the movie, but my expectations weren't high. Out of the previous Barjatiya movies - I loved Maine Pyar Kiya and Hum Aapke Hain Koun, managed to sit thru Hum Saath Saath Hai and walked out of Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon.
The story is simple - rich city boy Prem (Shahid Kapur) meets middle class, simple, town girl Poonam (Amrita Rao)
for marriage. And in the first meeting they say yes!!! Then there are a couple of songs showing their courtship. The second half is more interesting. The bonding and understanding between the couples is shown. The twist in tale comes in the last 40 min.
Honestly, I liked the movie. Mainly because it reminded me of the many wonderful moments in my life. And also there is a honesty in the story telling. Let me just list out the plus and minus points in the movies.
First minus points:
- Some songs could have been removed and the movie could have been shorter- this comment is always there in most Barjatiya movies;-)
- Poonam is too good to be true. She could have been a little bit more modern. It would have then made a very interesting courtship.
- One thing that irritated me was 'jal'. They use the word jal for pani!!
- The 'town' Madhupur is almost a village - no mobiles!!!
- The small black phone is too old for 2006.
Plus
- The moments. Shall write more abt this later.
- Sweet simple love story.
- No extended family - no mamas, doctor chacha, etc.
- The end 40 min when Prem supports Poonam thru her troubles. Pretty well shot and enacted by the actors.
- Liked the sets.
- Small kid - Rahul
The moments were the wonderful part of the movie. I guess I liked it more because I could relate to some of it. The part when the guy's family comes to see the girl. It was almost like how it happened in my life. The girl and the guy stealing glances at each other. Loved that. The song Milan abhi Adha Adhura has many more such cute scenes. A bit old-fashioned but still cute. Then the way Poonam awaits for Prem or his calls. Really cute. And of course the end when Prem says 'I'll do the dressing'.
In the acting department I liked most of them but Amrita Rao is sometimes too obvious. Music is a big let down. I only liked Do Anjane Ajanabe for its relavent to the story. Direction good but the script could have been tighter and the movie shorter by atleast 1/2 hr.
When I was getting out of the theatre I was thinking would Arvindh have married me if I had a similar mishap. The answer came immediately, YES! Was wondering why I ever got this thought.
The story is simple - rich city boy Prem (Shahid Kapur) meets middle class, simple, town girl Poonam (Amrita Rao)
for marriage. And in the first meeting they say yes!!! Then there are a couple of songs showing their courtship. The second half is more interesting. The bonding and understanding between the couples is shown. The twist in tale comes in the last 40 min.Honestly, I liked the movie. Mainly because it reminded me of the many wonderful moments in my life. And also there is a honesty in the story telling. Let me just list out the plus and minus points in the movies.
First minus points:
- Some songs could have been removed and the movie could have been shorter- this comment is always there in most Barjatiya movies;-)
- Poonam is too good to be true. She could have been a little bit more modern. It would have then made a very interesting courtship.
- One thing that irritated me was 'jal'. They use the word jal for pani!!
- The 'town' Madhupur is almost a village - no mobiles!!!
- The small black phone is too old for 2006.
Plus
- The moments. Shall write more abt this later.
- Sweet simple love story.
- No extended family - no mamas, doctor chacha, etc.
- The end 40 min when Prem supports Poonam thru her troubles. Pretty well shot and enacted by the actors.
- Liked the sets.
- Small kid - Rahul
The moments were the wonderful part of the movie. I guess I liked it more because I could relate to some of it. The part when the guy's family comes to see the girl. It was almost like how it happened in my life. The girl and the guy stealing glances at each other. Loved that. The song Milan abhi Adha Adhura has many more such cute scenes. A bit old-fashioned but still cute. Then the way Poonam awaits for Prem or his calls. Really cute. And of course the end when Prem says 'I'll do the dressing'.
In the acting department I liked most of them but Amrita Rao is sometimes too obvious. Music is a big let down. I only liked Do Anjane Ajanabe for its relavent to the story. Direction good but the script could have been tighter and the movie shorter by atleast 1/2 hr.
When I was getting out of the theatre I was thinking would Arvindh have married me if I had a similar mishap. The answer came immediately, YES! Was wondering why I ever got this thought.
Nov 17, 2006
Khosla ka Ghosla - Very Real
I wanted to watch this movie mainly because of its interesting title and promos. But couldn't catch it in the theatres. Last weekend, finally rented it. Arvindh wasn't too keen but finally enjoyed the movie. Yes the movie is very enjoyable. It kind of reminds me of the simple-theme movies, portraying the Indian middle-class, made during the 70's and early 80's. Something like the Hrisikesh Mukherji-Basu Chatterji type movies. Chalo, lets meet the Khoslas...
First there is the father Kamal Kishore Khosla/KK Khosla (Anupam Kher), a retired govt employee who has bought a plot in the outskirts of Delhi and wants to build a big house there - with a floor for each of his sons. Next there is the elder son, Chironjilal Khosla/Cherry (Parvin Dabbas), a workaholic software engineer, who wants to change his name and chases the American dream. The second son, Bunty(Ranvir Shorey) is idle-minded and lives to eat. Then there is mother (Kiran Juneja) who always is the sandwich between the son and father and finally a tom-boyish daughter to complete the Khurana.
The plot that Khosla senior has brought is unfairly encroached by the manipulative
KishenKhurana (Boman Irani). All their efforts - complaining to police and getting goondas to help them, to get the plot back goes for a toss. The visa agent of Cherry, Asif Iqbal(Vinay Pathak) offers to help. He was an old aide of Khurana and knows how to handle him. Cherry and Asif along with Cherry's theatre artist girlfriend, Megha (Tara Sharma) and her theatre troupe lead by Bapu (NavinNischol), fool Khurana and get the plot back. The second half revolves around how they plot and win against Khurana.
What makes KKG charming and lovable is the screenplay and the actors. The script is almost flawless. Kudos to Jaideep Sahani for he has got the problems, emotions and also the helplessness of the middle-class family perfect in the script.
Debutant director Dibakar Banerjee has done well too.
Coming to the actors all of them deserve a mention. Anupam Kher as the father portrays the helplessness and emotions very well. Boman Irani plays the bully encroacher in his own characteristic style. Its nice to see Navin Nischol back. Pravin Dabbas and Tara Sharma too do well. But a special mention has to be Ranvir Shorey. His earthy accent and comic timing is amazing.
All in all a must watch mainly because of its unusual plot and realism.
First there is the father Kamal Kishore Khosla/KK Khosla (Anupam Kher), a retired govt employee who has bought a plot in the outskirts of Delhi and wants to build a big house there - with a floor for each of his sons. Next there is the elder son, Chironjilal Khosla/Cherry (Parvin Dabbas), a workaholic software engineer, who wants to change his name and chases the American dream. The second son, Bunty(Ranvir Shorey) is idle-minded and lives to eat. Then there is mother (Kiran Juneja) who always is the sandwich between the son and father and finally a tom-boyish daughter to complete the Khurana.
The plot that Khosla senior has brought is unfairly encroached by the manipulative
KishenKhurana (Boman Irani). All their efforts - complaining to police and getting goondas to help them, to get the plot back goes for a toss. The visa agent of Cherry, Asif Iqbal(Vinay Pathak) offers to help. He was an old aide of Khurana and knows how to handle him. Cherry and Asif along with Cherry's theatre artist girlfriend, Megha (Tara Sharma) and her theatre troupe lead by Bapu (NavinNischol), fool Khurana and get the plot back. The second half revolves around how they plot and win against Khurana.What makes KKG charming and lovable is the screenplay and the actors. The script is almost flawless. Kudos to Jaideep Sahani for he has got the problems, emotions and also the helplessness of the middle-class family perfect in the script.
Debutant director Dibakar Banerjee has done well too.Coming to the actors all of them deserve a mention. Anupam Kher as the father portrays the helplessness and emotions very well. Boman Irani plays the bully encroacher in his own characteristic style. Its nice to see Navin Nischol back. Pravin Dabbas and Tara Sharma too do well. But a special mention has to be Ranvir Shorey. His earthy accent and comic timing is amazing.
All in all a must watch mainly because of its unusual plot and realism.
Another nostalgic forward...
This is another nostalgic forward I got - 2 in 2 days...have been living in the past for the past 2 days!!! This one is from Ajay. Some guy in his office has written it. Really a wonderful message.
When gulli-danda and kanche (marbles) were more popular than cricket
When we always had friends to play aais-paais (I Spy), chhepan-chhepai and pitthoo anytime ...
When we desperately waited for 'yeh jo hai jindagi'..
When chitrahaar, vikram-baitaal, dada daadi ki kahaniyaan were so fulfilling ...
When there was just one tv in every five houses and When bisleris were not sold in the trains and we were worrying if papas will get back into the train in time or not when they were getting down at stations to fill up the water bottle ...
When we were going to bed by 9.00pm sharp except for the 'yeh jo hai jindagi' day ...
When Holis & Diwalis meant mostly hand-made pakwaans and sweets and moms seeking our help while preparing them...
When Maths teachers were not worried of our mummys and papas while slapping/beating us ...
When we were exchanging comics and stamps and chacha-chaudaris and billus were our heroes ...
When we were in nanihaals every summer and loved flying kites and plucking and eating unripe mangoes and leechis ...
When one movie every Sunday evening on television was more than asked for and 'ek do teen chaar' and 'Rajni' inspired us ...
When 50 paisa meant at least 10 toffees ...
When left over pages of the last years notebooks were used for rough work or even fair work ...
When 'chelpark' and 'natraaj' were encouraged against 'reynolds and family' ...
When the first rain meant getting drenched and playing in water and mud and making 'kaagaj ki kishtis' ...
When there were no phones to tell friends that we will be at their homes at six in the evening ...
When our parents always had 15 paise blue colored 'antardesis' and 5 paise machli wale stamps at home...
When we remembered tens of jokes and were not finding 'ice-cream and papa' type jokes foolish enough to stop us from laughing ...
When we were not seeing patakhes on Diwalis and gulaals on Holis as air and noise polluting or allergic agents ...
the list can be endless ...on the serious note…...
When we were using our hearts more than our brains, even for scientifically brainy activities like 'thinking' and 'deciding' ...
When we were crying and laughing more often, more openly and more sincerily ...
When we were enjoying our present more than worrying about our future...
When being emotional was not synonymous to being weak...
When sharing worries and happinesses didnt mean getting vulnerable to the listener ...
When blacks and whites were the favourite colors instead of greys ...
When journeys also were important and not just the destinations ...
When life was a passenger's sleeper giving enough time and opportunity to enjoy the sceneries from its open and transparent glass windows instead of some superfast's second ac with its curtained, closed and dark windows ...
I really miss these...do u?
Nice one na...
When gulli-danda and kanche (marbles) were more popular than cricketWhen we always had friends to play aais-paais (I Spy), chhepan-chhepai and pitthoo anytime ...
When we desperately waited for 'yeh jo hai jindagi'..
When chitrahaar, vikram-baitaal, dada daadi ki kahaniyaan were so fulfilling ...
When there was just one tv in every five houses and When bisleris were not sold in the trains and we were worrying if papas will get back into the train in time or not when they were getting down at stations to fill up the water bottle ...
When we were going to bed by 9.00pm sharp except for the 'yeh jo hai jindagi' day ...
When Holis & Diwalis meant mostly hand-made pakwaans and sweets and moms seeking our help while preparing them...
When Maths teachers were not worried of our mummys and papas while slapping/beating us ...
When we were exchanging comics and stamps and chacha-chaudaris and billus were our heroes ...
When we were in nanihaals every summer and loved flying kites and plucking and eating unripe mangoes and leechis ...
When one movie every Sunday evening on television was more than asked for and 'ek do teen chaar' and 'Rajni' inspired us ...
When 50 paisa meant at least 10 toffees ...
When left over pages of the last years notebooks were used for rough work or even fair work ...
When 'chelpark' and 'natraaj' were encouraged against 'reynolds and family' ...
When the first rain meant getting drenched and playing in water and mud and making 'kaagaj ki kishtis' ...
When there were no phones to tell friends that we will be at their homes at six in the evening ...
When our parents always had 15 paise blue colored 'antardesis' and 5 paise machli wale stamps at home...
When we remembered tens of jokes and were not finding 'ice-cream and papa' type jokes foolish enough to stop us from laughing ...
When we were not seeing patakhes on Diwalis and gulaals on Holis as air and noise polluting or allergic agents ...
the list can be endless ...on the serious note…...
When we were using our hearts more than our brains, even for scientifically brainy activities like 'thinking' and 'deciding' ...
When we were crying and laughing more often, more openly and more sincerily ...
When we were enjoying our present more than worrying about our future...
When being emotional was not synonymous to being weak...
When sharing worries and happinesses didnt mean getting vulnerable to the listener ...
When blacks and whites were the favourite colors instead of greys ...
When journeys also were important and not just the destinations ...
When life was a passenger's sleeper giving enough time and opportunity to enjoy the sceneries from its open and transparent glass windows instead of some superfast's second ac with its curtained, closed and dark windows ...
I really miss these...do u?
Nice one na...
Nov 16, 2006
Nostalgic forward
Sowmya sent me this forward. Really was moved by this. Reminded me of the good ol' college days. This is how it goes...
Raah dekhi thi is din ki kabse,
aage ke sapne saja rakhe the naajane kab se...
bade utavle the yahaan se jaane ko,
zindagi ka agla padaav paane ko...
par naa jane kyon, dil mein aaj kuch aur aata hai,
waqt ko rokne ka jee chahta hai...
jin batoin ko lekar rote the hum,
unhi par hansi aati hai ab...
na jaane kyon aaj un palon ki yaad bahut aati hai...
kaha kart tha badi mushkil se chaar saal seh gaya,
par aaj kyon lagta hai ki kuch peeche reh gaya...
kahi ankahi hazaaron batein reh gayi,
na bhoolne wali kuch yaadein reh gay...
meri taang ab kaun kheencha karega,
sirf mera sir khane kaun mera peecha karega...
jahaan 2000 ka hisaab nahin wahaan 2 rupay ke liye kaun ladega,
kaun raat bhar saath jag kar padega...
Kaun meri gaadi mujse pooche bina le jayega,
kaun mere naye naye naam banayega...
mein ab bina matlab kis se ladoonga,
bina topic ke kisse faalto baat karoonga...
kaun fail hone par dilasa dilayega,
kaun galti se number aane par gaaliyaan sunayega...
aise dost kahaan milenge...
jo khai mein bhi dhakka de aayein,
par fir tumhein bachane khud bhi kood jayein...
mere gaano se pareshaan kaun hoga,
kabhi muje kisi ladki se baat karte dekh hairaan kaun hoga...
kaun kahega saale tere joke pe hansi nahin aai,
kaun peeche se bula ke kahega aage dekh bhai...
movies mein kiske saath dekhhonga,
kis ke saath boring lectures jheloonga...
mere certificates ko raddi kehne ki himmat kaun karega,
bina dare sachi rai dene ki himmat kaun karega...
stage par ab kis ke saath jaoonga,
juniors ko faltoo ke lectures kaise sunaonga...
achanak bin matlab ke kisi ko bhi dekh kar paglon ki tarah hansna,
aur fir anjaan rahoin pe saath main fasna...
na jaane ye fir kab hoga,
keh do doston ye dobaara sab hoga...
doston ke liye professor se kab lad payenge,
kya hum ye fir kar payenge...
raat ko 2 baje poha khane kaun jayega,
tez gaadi chalane ki shart kaun lagayega...
kaun muje mere kabiliyat par bharosa dilayega,
aur jyada hawa mein udne par zameen pe layega...
meri khushi mein sach mein khush kaun hoga,
mere gam mein muj se jyada dukhi kaun hoga...
meri ye kavita kaun padega,
kaun ise sach mein samjega...
bahut kuch likhna abhi baaki hai,
kuch saath shayad baaki hai...
bas ek baat se dar lagta hai doston,
hum anjnabi na ban jayein doston...
zindagi ke rangon mein dosti kar rang feeka na pad jaye,
kahin aisa na ho doosre rishton ki bheed mein dosti dum tod jayye...
zindagi mein milne ki fariyaad karte rehna,
agar na mil sakein to kam se kam yaad karte rehna...
hans lo aaj ji bhar kar,
un paloin main kho jao...
main bhi is hansi ko apne dil mein basa loonga...
aur jab yaad aayegi tumhari,
yahi hansi lekar thoda muskura loonga...
Raah dekhi thi is din ki kabse,
aage ke sapne saja rakhe the naajane kab se...
bade utavle the yahaan se jaane ko,
zindagi ka agla padaav paane ko...
par naa jane kyon, dil mein aaj kuch aur aata hai,
waqt ko rokne ka jee chahta hai...
jin batoin ko lekar rote the hum,
unhi par hansi aati hai ab...
na jaane kyon aaj un palon ki yaad bahut aati hai...
kaha kart tha badi mushkil se chaar saal seh gaya,
par aaj kyon lagta hai ki kuch peeche reh gaya...
kahi ankahi hazaaron batein reh gayi,
na bhoolne wali kuch yaadein reh gay...
meri taang ab kaun kheencha karega,
sirf mera sir khane kaun mera peecha karega...
jahaan 2000 ka hisaab nahin wahaan 2 rupay ke liye kaun ladega,
kaun raat bhar saath jag kar padega...
Kaun meri gaadi mujse pooche bina le jayega,
kaun mere naye naye naam banayega...
mein ab bina matlab kis se ladoonga,
bina topic ke kisse faalto baat karoonga...
kaun fail hone par dilasa dilayega,
kaun galti se number aane par gaaliyaan sunayega...
aise dost kahaan milenge...
jo khai mein bhi dhakka de aayein,
par fir tumhein bachane khud bhi kood jayein...
mere gaano se pareshaan kaun hoga,
kabhi muje kisi ladki se baat karte dekh hairaan kaun hoga...
kaun kahega saale tere joke pe hansi nahin aai,
kaun peeche se bula ke kahega aage dekh bhai...
movies mein kiske saath dekhhonga,
kis ke saath boring lectures jheloonga...
mere certificates ko raddi kehne ki himmat kaun karega,
bina dare sachi rai dene ki himmat kaun karega...
stage par ab kis ke saath jaoonga,
juniors ko faltoo ke lectures kaise sunaonga...
achanak bin matlab ke kisi ko bhi dekh kar paglon ki tarah hansna,
aur fir anjaan rahoin pe saath main fasna...
na jaane ye fir kab hoga,
keh do doston ye dobaara sab hoga...
doston ke liye professor se kab lad payenge,
kya hum ye fir kar payenge...
raat ko 2 baje poha khane kaun jayega,
tez gaadi chalane ki shart kaun lagayega...
kaun muje mere kabiliyat par bharosa dilayega,
aur jyada hawa mein udne par zameen pe layega...
meri khushi mein sach mein khush kaun hoga,
mere gam mein muj se jyada dukhi kaun hoga...
meri ye kavita kaun padega,
kaun ise sach mein samjega...
bahut kuch likhna abhi baaki hai,
kuch saath shayad baaki hai...
bas ek baat se dar lagta hai doston,
hum anjnabi na ban jayein doston...
zindagi ke rangon mein dosti kar rang feeka na pad jaye,
kahin aisa na ho doosre rishton ki bheed mein dosti dum tod jayye...
zindagi mein milne ki fariyaad karte rehna,
agar na mil sakein to kam se kam yaad karte rehna...
hans lo aaj ji bhar kar,
un paloin main kho jao...
main bhi is hansi ko apne dil mein basa loonga...
aur jab yaad aayegi tumhari,
yahi hansi lekar thoda muskura loonga...
Nov 14, 2006
Jane Bhi Do Yaaron – Classic black comedy.
An awesome cast, enviable crew, an amazing script with unforgettable one-liners generously sprinkled around, an inspiring song – well, I'm talking about Kundan Shah's laughathon Jane Bhi Do Yaroon (JBDY). Produced by National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), this 1983 movie is now a classic in Indian cinema.
The movie begins with two wanna be photographer Vinod Chopra (Naseeruddin Shah) and Sudhir Mishra (Ravi Vaswani) waiting for guests and customers at the opening of their photo studio Beauty Studio. The opening is a flop. But they get an assignment from the manipulative editor of Khabardar magazine, Shobha (Bhakthi Barve). The assignment involves getting proof of links between the power-hungry builder Tarneja (Pankaj Kapur) and the greedy Municipal Commissioner De'Mello( Sathish Shah)
Tarneja with his two side-kicks Ashok (Sathish Kaushik) and Priya (Neena Gupta) bribe De'Mello with Swiss chocolate cake, flat and cash to get their passed tenders revised and to get the contract for another bridge.
Then there is the ever drunk black-listed builder Ahuja(Om Puri). He too bribes De'Mello for the same bridge. Tarneja tries to strike a deal with Ahuja which is spoiled by Vinod and Sudhir. De'Mello double crosses both Tarneja and Ahuja and awards the contract to a third party.
In the meantime, Vinod and Sudhir decide to enter a photography contest. They start taking pictures in random and while developing one such picture, they accidentally discover that they have clicked a picture of Tarneja murdering someone. They go back to investigate and find a dead body. But before they can identify the who was murdered the body disappears. After a few more clues, they guess that it is De'Mello's body. They find the body buried under a bridge built by Tarneja. They take pictures of the body and again the body disappears.
They show the pictures to Shobha and lie to her that they have the body. Shobha tries to blackmail Tarneja but is unsuccessful. Shobha realizes our heroes don't have the body and the heros realize Shobha's shrewdness. They also get to know that Ahuja has the body at his guest house.
Now starts the hilarious ride of the corpse, wheeled by Vinod and Sudhir and followed by Ahuja, Shobha and Kamdar (Shobha's assistant) as one party and Tarneja, Ashok, Priya and the new Municipal Commissioner Srivatav as the other party. They ride through Muslim parties and a Mahabharata drama. The Mahabharata drama is perhaps the most comic sequences in Indian cinema. The corpse being Draupadi and the scene being Draupadi Vastraharan. Vinod poses as Duryodhan, Sudhir as Dushasan, Ahuja as Bhim, Tarneja as Drupad. Later Kamdar becomes Shenshah Akbar and Ashok becomes Shezada Salim. Watch it, I have no words to describe the scene.
The movie was a path breaking movie and is the first black comedy of Indian cinema. JBDY has some big names both on and behind the screen. On screen we had Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Sathish Shah, and Pankaj Kapur. Behind screen we have Sudhir Mishra ( Asst Director and co-writer) who later directed Dharavi, Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, Chameli, etc and Vidhu Vinod Chopra( as Dushasan and also Production Controller) is now a well known face in bollywood. Also note that the heroes in the movie were named after them.
Performance wise there are hardly any flaws. All the actors fit the characters to the T. Same with the direction. For a movie made in a stringent budget of Rs.8 lakhs, they've done a wonderful job behind the camera.
Here are some scenes you must watch out for:
- Vinod and Shobha at De'Mello's house.
- Conversation between Vinod and Ashok at Tarneja's house.
- A drunk Ahuja finds De' Mello's body in a coffin and takes him home.
- Vinod used by Shobha and when Vinod realizes this.
- The skate in Ahuja's guest house on which almost everyone slips.
- And ofcourse the Mahabharata disaster.
JBDY is not just a laugh riot. It a satire which mocks the existing corruption. And also, remember its a black comedy with “Hum honge kameyab ek din” played in the last scene.
Movies
I'm an a movie buff. Thought I'll start posting some reviews of some of my favorite movies. I anyway write an article for my office magazine, I can post that too.
Nov 13, 2006
Tic Tac Toe
One of the most ideal games for a boring class, boring journey, lazy Sunday and also for a coding exam - Tic Tac Toe. The best part of the game is its simplicity.
I googled for it and found a HTML code. I have attached it to my blog. It interacts with you in a language I don't know - seems like some European language. But its a very dumb program, absolutely not challenging.
Nice to play when you feel you are a loser. You can lose here only if you are really really dumb or really want to lose or don't know the game.
I googled for it and found a HTML code. I have attached it to my blog. It interacts with you in a language I don't know - seems like some European language. But its a very dumb program, absolutely not challenging.
Nice to play when you feel you are a loser. You can lose here only if you are really really dumb or really want to lose or don't know the game.
Nov 10, 2006
Some of my fav Calvin strips
This is my screen saver
Wish I could do this!!
Love this because for bug fixing this is exactly what we do ;-))
This is what we do with our clients
Vehicles - cars, lorries, buses - all usually have something written at the back. Its usually God's name or the name of the owners' loved ones. But yesterday saw a couple of interesting messages.
One was behind a car. It said, "I'm only 29 but with taxes I'll be 31". I liked it...is kinda sweet and still keeps you in the late 20s and not in the early 30s.
Second was a case of horrible spellings. It was behind a truck. It said, "Falloow the trafic rulls". Thats "Follow the traffic rules". Guess the painter has spelt it the way we speak.
Shall keep updating this post when I see more interesting 'writings'.
One was behind a car. It said, "I'm only 29 but with taxes I'll be 31". I liked it...is kinda sweet and still keeps you in the late 20s and not in the early 30s.
Second was a case of horrible spellings. It was behind a truck. It said, "Falloow the trafic rulls". Thats "Follow the traffic rules". Guess the painter has spelt it the way we speak.
Shall keep updating this post when I see more interesting 'writings'.
Nov 7, 2006
What you dream and what you get
There was a ad that used to run on doordarshan when I was in school. It was a ghee ad where the husband gets up early in the morning and makes upma for his wife. That was something I used to dream - that my husband would make breakfast for me and wake me up in the morning with bed-breakfast.
Ah!!!!Dreams...
Arvindh does a big favor by not cooking. His friends told me that he had cooked only once and that food was lying in the fridge for more than a week. The only thing he makes well is tulsi tea. And he is proud of that. So that dream is shattered.
But then things always even out. I hate cleaning of the kitchen after cooking. Well he takes care of that. He is a cleanliness freak. So mostly does all the cleaning in the house and I don't have to bother.
Ah!!!!Dreams...
Arvindh does a big favor by not cooking. His friends told me that he had cooked only once and that food was lying in the fridge for more than a week. The only thing he makes well is tulsi tea. And he is proud of that. So that dream is shattered.
But then things always even out. I hate cleaning of the kitchen after cooking. Well he takes care of that. He is a cleanliness freak. So mostly does all the cleaning in the house and I don't have to bother.
Nov 6, 2006
Mother-in-law
The moment you think of MILs you'll surely remember those saas-bahu serials. I'm not talking about them. I wanted to write about my MIL.
When I first saw my, then would-be MIL, now MIL, I was sure she belonged to one of those 'dreadful' category. She has huge eyes and a piercing look - a perfect combination for 'villain' saas. The first time I met her, she asked me a couple of questions and I answered them and then turned all my attention on Arvindh. The second time I saw her was when my wedding got fixed. There were too many people around and neither of us spoke to each other. That night when all of them were returning home, she gave me a piercing stare, like she was judging me. I just smiled back. My opinion of her being monster-in-law was further bolstered.
After that day, Arati and me had a lot of discussions about her. But my mom was of an entirely opposite opinion. My mom had interacted with her a lot more than I had and insisted that she was a very sweet lady. I even told Arvindh that his mom looked very strict and stern. He started laughing and he said his mom was the sweetest thing on earth. Well, all children will say that about their moms.
My next meeting with her was on the engagement day. On that day I had decided to go and speak to her. Actually it wasn't a decision - it was an order - by none other than my mom. After a lot of thought on what to say, I finally said that the saree she selected for me was good and I liked it a lot. There was a wide genuine smile on her face. It felt good.
Soon after the engagement we (parents n myself) went to Bombay. We stayed with my in-laws, much to my dislike, for a couple of days. She was really sweet then. She asked me what all I like, my favourite colors, etc. Even then I was very uncomfortable with her. But one thing was for sure, she was no longer the monster-in-law for me.
During the courtship, I spoke to her only a couple of times. After my wedding, we went to Bombay for a couple of weeks. I really missed my parents then and when they came to Bombay for the reception, I cried like crazy in my mother's arms. After my parents left, my MIL asked if that if there was any problem, asked me if Arvindh misbehaved with me. She was really concerned. That really touched me. I realised how wrong I was about her! She was a wonderful person.
Over the couple of years I have got to know her a lot. She is the most innocent person I have ever met in my life. She also knows the art of taking care. Really, we all take care of people, but she is one step ahead. She really goes a mile farther to make life comfortable for me. Sometimes, when I look back, I think I was too quick to jump to a opinion about her. Mom-in-law not monster-in-law!
When I first saw my, then would-be MIL, now MIL, I was sure she belonged to one of those 'dreadful' category. She has huge eyes and a piercing look - a perfect combination for 'villain' saas. The first time I met her, she asked me a couple of questions and I answered them and then turned all my attention on Arvindh. The second time I saw her was when my wedding got fixed. There were too many people around and neither of us spoke to each other. That night when all of them were returning home, she gave me a piercing stare, like she was judging me. I just smiled back. My opinion of her being monster-in-law was further bolstered.
After that day, Arati and me had a lot of discussions about her. But my mom was of an entirely opposite opinion. My mom had interacted with her a lot more than I had and insisted that she was a very sweet lady. I even told Arvindh that his mom looked very strict and stern. He started laughing and he said his mom was the sweetest thing on earth. Well, all children will say that about their moms.
My next meeting with her was on the engagement day. On that day I had decided to go and speak to her. Actually it wasn't a decision - it was an order - by none other than my mom. After a lot of thought on what to say, I finally said that the saree she selected for me was good and I liked it a lot. There was a wide genuine smile on her face. It felt good.
Soon after the engagement we (parents n myself) went to Bombay. We stayed with my in-laws, much to my dislike, for a couple of days. She was really sweet then. She asked me what all I like, my favourite colors, etc. Even then I was very uncomfortable with her. But one thing was for sure, she was no longer the monster-in-law for me.
During the courtship, I spoke to her only a couple of times. After my wedding, we went to Bombay for a couple of weeks. I really missed my parents then and when they came to Bombay for the reception, I cried like crazy in my mother's arms. After my parents left, my MIL asked if that if there was any problem, asked me if Arvindh misbehaved with me. She was really concerned. That really touched me. I realised how wrong I was about her! She was a wonderful person.
Over the couple of years I have got to know her a lot. She is the most innocent person I have ever met in my life. She also knows the art of taking care. Really, we all take care of people, but she is one step ahead. She really goes a mile farther to make life comfortable for me. Sometimes, when I look back, I think I was too quick to jump to a opinion about her. Mom-in-law not monster-in-law!
Oct 18, 2006
Karwar Part - 2
I thought I'll post the part 2 the next day...but couldn't. Anyway lets continue...
Sunday morning we got up early. The incentive - BEACH!!!!!! After a long discussion on the day's plan, we decided - breakfast, head to beach, lunch around the beach, boat ride, loaf the town, dinner and board bus. And as ususal we didn't stick to our plan.
The first part went as planned. We had a quick breakfast - upma and shera and headed for the beach. I had a bad cold and had made up my mind to listen to my body, which kept shouting - Don't enter the sea. But then sea won over body;-))
We all had a wonderful time in water. We invented and played some games. The 'train' and 'water fight' requires a special mention. Let me try explaining 'train' - person 1 is the engine and holds the leg of person 2, person 2 holds the legs of person 3, person 3 holds the shoulders/hips of person 2 and person 4 - the guard holds the hips/shoulders of person 3. May sound kiddish but is fulto fun. The second was water fight - we didn't invent this - it just happened. There are 2 parties - Nrutya & Aparna and Sowmya & me. One person in the team would be the 'sarathi' and hold the other by their hips. The other would splash as much water on the opposing party. Total masti and dhamal!!!!
There were a few fishermen in the beach who offered us to give us a ride in their boat after their fishing. They said in kannada 'Cha ge dudu kodi saku' (Just pay us for our tea). I was suprised to hear this. I compared them, wrong word there can be no comaprisons, lets say it reminded me of our greedy city autodrivers. The ride was amazing. And the fishing boad didn't stink of fish!!!! The fishermen were pretty well educated people - two of them were graduates and one them knew Tally. They showed us the Goa border, the ship that hit the rocks near karwar an year ago, the light house, etc. They were such simple and enthusiastic people. We gave them Rs.100 and they were more than happy. A fishermen boad ride is an experience in itself. After about 1/2 hr we were back in water.
I guess we were in water till around 1pm. Nrutya and I decided to return to the hotel immediately. Sowmya and Aparna stayed back built a castle (They claim that). On the way back Nrutya and me had musambi juice - really refreshing.
By 3pm we were all clean and hungry. We had lunch at the hotel itself. After lunch we played a few rounds of uno. We cancelled the boatride since we already went for one.
When the sun was down, we all ventured into Karwar town. There was a Sunday sante (market). Was pretty interesting but none of us bought anything. We had 2 rounds of musambi juice and Sowmya promised Nrutya a lifetime supply of icecreams - for what I don't remember. We returned by 7pm, packed our bags and checked out of the hotel. Packed some dinnerto have in the bus, which none of them except me had. Back to Bangalore by 7am.
Well, a great trip, like all good things, came to an end. And like Nrutya said - Don't know when we'll get the time to plan another one.
Sunday morning we got up early. The incentive - BEACH!!!!!! After a long discussion on the day's plan, we decided - breakfast, head to beach, lunch around the beach, boat ride, loaf the town, dinner and board bus. And as ususal we didn't stick to our plan.
The first part went as planned. We had a quick breakfast - upma and shera and headed for the beach. I had a bad cold and had made up my mind to listen to my body, which kept shouting - Don't enter the sea. But then sea won over body;-))
We all had a wonderful time in water. We invented and played some games. The 'train' and 'water fight' requires a special mention. Let me try explaining 'train' - person 1 is the engine and holds the leg of person 2, person 2 holds the legs of person 3, person 3 holds the shoulders/hips of person 2 and person 4 - the guard holds the hips/shoulders of person 3. May sound kiddish but is fulto fun. The second was water fight - we didn't invent this - it just happened. There are 2 parties - Nrutya & Aparna and Sowmya & me. One person in the team would be the 'sarathi' and hold the other by their hips. The other would splash as much water on the opposing party. Total masti and dhamal!!!!
There were a few fishermen in the beach who offered us to give us a ride in their boat after their fishing. They said in kannada 'Cha ge dudu kodi saku' (Just pay us for our tea). I was suprised to hear this. I compared them, wrong word there can be no comaprisons, lets say it reminded me of our greedy city autodrivers. The ride was amazing. And the fishing boad didn't stink of fish!!!! The fishermen were pretty well educated people - two of them were graduates and one them knew Tally. They showed us the Goa border, the ship that hit the rocks near karwar an year ago, the light house, etc. They were such simple and enthusiastic people. We gave them Rs.100 and they were more than happy. A fishermen boad ride is an experience in itself. After about 1/2 hr we were back in water.
I guess we were in water till around 1pm. Nrutya and I decided to return to the hotel immediately. Sowmya and Aparna stayed back built a castle (They claim that). On the way back Nrutya and me had musambi juice - really refreshing.
By 3pm we were all clean and hungry. We had lunch at the hotel itself. After lunch we played a few rounds of uno. We cancelled the boatride since we already went for one.When the sun was down, we all ventured into Karwar town. There was a Sunday sante (market). Was pretty interesting but none of us bought anything. We had 2 rounds of musambi juice and Sowmya promised Nrutya a lifetime supply of icecreams - for what I don't remember. We returned by 7pm, packed our bags and checked out of the hotel. Packed some dinnerto have in the bus, which none of them except me had. Back to Bangalore by 7am.
Well, a great trip, like all good things, came to an end. And like Nrutya said - Don't know when we'll get the time to plan another one.
Oct 17, 2006
Karwar Part - 1
I wasn't too excited about this trip for three main reasons - This was one more outing without Arvindh (he couldn't have come as he was supposed to go to Bombay) , second - the money factor and third was that I had lost my mobile recently and thought it deserved some mourning. But, I had already committed and Nrutya's mail did touch a cord.
Friday was a disaster for me - afternoon had a bad stomach upset. Left early for home, skipped lunch and slept for an hour. Was feeling better in the evening. Went to mom's house - she cooked some dal and rice for me. Aahh...mom's food after so many days - heavenly. Wanted to leave before Pappa returned home (didn't want to hear a lecture on losing my mobile) but bad luck - he came just when I was about to leave. Anyway, he had just started to crib when I told him I am getting late and left. And inbetween all this galata my patidev calls and asks me very sweetly where exactly I was going? GOD!!!!
Since I had time, I decided to walk to the bus stand - turned out to be a walk down the memory lane. Took the road I used to take for school. Also passed our old house too.
Didn't have to wait too long for the bus thanks to the mobile technology. Mobiles...oh...I have lost 2 of them now. Lets get back, Aparna, Nrutya and Sowmya had got into the bus at Majestic and were giving me the latest position of the bus at regular intervals. Finally got into the bus. The threesome had akki rotis (Aparna's mom's) and chapatis (Sowmya's mom's) for dinner. I just tasted both. Were chatting for sometime and then we all fell asleep.
The first sight I see next morning is Aparna and Sowmya synchronously knotting their hair ;-) Nrutya too had the privilege to see the same sight. Reached Karwar at 7.45am. Enquired about the hotel and walked to the hotel. It was a decent place. Unanimously decided to take it. By 9.30 we had finished our bath and breakfast and were all set to go. The hotel manager had arranged for a cab. We negociated a price and left for Gokarna at around 9.45am.
I did the mistake of asking for some music, we got some blaring music which was hell bent on busting our eardrums. After a few requests we got it to bearable levels.
We stopped at a
Ganapati temple on the way. After prayers there we headed to Gokarna. The view around the road was great. Aparna was busy clicking snaps.
As soon as we stopped at Gokarna, a priest approched and wanted to 'help' us get darshan. We entered the temple and another priest offered to do archana for 50 bucks. Aparna and me agreed. He said the same mantras asking for gotra and nakshtra. He took us to the actual shrine and we performed puja there. He asked us to touch the atma linga. It felt like touching Gurudev's feet.
After pradaksina and visiting a Parvatidevi temple, we headed to the Om beach. We planned to be there for sometime and then visit all the other beaches - Half Moon, Paradise and Kudle...well only if things always went according to plan.
There are a set of steps you need to get down to reach the beach. The view was amazing. Guess by the end of this post I'll either run out of superlatives or end up repeating myself a lot. There was a rocky tract which we all ventured into - me with a lot of help from Nrutya. Spent sometime there and headed to the beach. There was hardly any crowd and we found a water crevice. All of us settled around it and enjoyed watching the crevice widening itself. Spent quite sometime there...just sitting sometimes silent sometime chatting away. Sowmya, Aparna and me decided to get into the water. Played for sometime. Then climbed a rock to dry ourself. By now we were famished. Headed straight to a hotel on the beach. Ordered some food, which took long to come - or rather felt long becoz of our grumbling stomachs. The potatos were good.
Finally with stomachs full, we left Om beach. On the way back, we realized that to reach Halfmoon and Paradise, we need to trek from Om beach. So gave up the idea of going to the beaches and headed back to Karwar. The journey back was fun. We laughed a lot (even the driver- Vinod, commented) thinking of our good ol' college days, discussed some future plans, pulled someone's leg...overall had a great time.
We had a lot of time on hand and the driver said he'll take us to a spot in Karwar from where the sunset is beautiful.(I don't remember the name of the place he took us to.) The place was on top of a small hill. What an amazing sight from the top!! We could so clearly see the Kaali river joining the Arabian sea. There were also some carvings on the trees. The carvings reminded me of the Arumbaya Fetish in Tintin and Broken Ear. There was a beautiful stump with carvings like a fort.
The sun played hide n seek with us. By sunset time he was completely hidden in the clouds. We were disappointed. But that didn't stop us from enjoying the view. It was absolutely breathtaking.
We settled on some of the rocks around and a good time discussing what else - life! We decided to walk down the hill and asked the driver to pick us up from the bottom of the hill.
Reached back hotel around 7pm. After a quick bath we headed for dinner. After dinner we had a few rounds of Uno which I kept losing, thanks to the Draw 4 and Draw 2. And Nrutya always lost when she opened her mouth before any game. Uno was fun as always. By 10pm Aparna fell asleep, Sowmya followed and then me too.
Shall stop for the day. Will post the the second days events tomorrow.
Friday was a disaster for me - afternoon had a bad stomach upset. Left early for home, skipped lunch and slept for an hour. Was feeling better in the evening. Went to mom's house - she cooked some dal and rice for me. Aahh...mom's food after so many days - heavenly. Wanted to leave before Pappa returned home (didn't want to hear a lecture on losing my mobile) but bad luck - he came just when I was about to leave. Anyway, he had just started to crib when I told him I am getting late and left. And inbetween all this galata my patidev calls and asks me very sweetly where exactly I was going? GOD!!!!
Since I had time, I decided to walk to the bus stand - turned out to be a walk down the memory lane. Took the road I used to take for school. Also passed our old house too.
Didn't have to wait too long for the bus thanks to the mobile technology. Mobiles...oh...I have lost 2 of them now. Lets get back, Aparna, Nrutya and Sowmya had got into the bus at Majestic and were giving me the latest position of the bus at regular intervals. Finally got into the bus. The threesome had akki rotis (Aparna's mom's) and chapatis (Sowmya's mom's) for dinner. I just tasted both. Were chatting for sometime and then we all fell asleep.
The first sight I see next morning is Aparna and Sowmya synchronously knotting their hair ;-) Nrutya too had the privilege to see the same sight. Reached Karwar at 7.45am. Enquired about the hotel and walked to the hotel. It was a decent place. Unanimously decided to take it. By 9.30 we had finished our bath and breakfast and were all set to go. The hotel manager had arranged for a cab. We negociated a price and left for Gokarna at around 9.45am.
I did the mistake of asking for some music, we got some blaring music which was hell bent on busting our eardrums. After a few requests we got it to bearable levels.
We stopped at aGanapati temple on the way. After prayers there we headed to Gokarna. The view around the road was great. Aparna was busy clicking snaps.
As soon as we stopped at Gokarna, a priest approched and wanted to 'help' us get darshan. We entered the temple and another priest offered to do archana for 50 bucks. Aparna and me agreed. He said the same mantras asking for gotra and nakshtra. He took us to the actual shrine and we performed puja there. He asked us to touch the atma linga. It felt like touching Gurudev's feet.
After pradaksina and visiting a Parvatidevi temple, we headed to the Om beach. We planned to be there for sometime and then visit all the other beaches - Half Moon, Paradise and Kudle...well only if things always went according to plan.
There are a set of steps you need to get down to reach the beach. The view was amazing. Guess by the end of this post I'll either run out of superlatives or end up repeating myself a lot. There was a rocky tract which we all ventured into - me with a lot of help from Nrutya. Spent sometime there and headed to the beach. There was hardly any crowd and we found a water crevice. All of us settled around it and enjoyed watching the crevice widening itself. Spent quite sometime there...just sitting sometimes silent sometime chatting away. Sowmya, Aparna and me decided to get into the water. Played for sometime. Then climbed a rock to dry ourself. By now we were famished. Headed straight to a hotel on the beach. Ordered some food, which took long to come - or rather felt long becoz of our grumbling stomachs. The potatos were good.
Finally with stomachs full, we left Om beach. On the way back, we realized that to reach Halfmoon and Paradise, we need to trek from Om beach. So gave up the idea of going to the beaches and headed back to Karwar. The journey back was fun. We laughed a lot (even the driver- Vinod, commented) thinking of our good ol' college days, discussed some future plans, pulled someone's leg...overall had a great time.
We had a lot of time on hand and the driver said he'll take us to a spot in Karwar from where the sunset is beautiful.(I don't remember the name of the place he took us to.) The place was on top of a small hill. What an amazing sight from the top!! We could so clearly see the Kaali river joining the Arabian sea. There were also some carvings on the trees. The carvings reminded me of the Arumbaya Fetish in Tintin and Broken Ear. There was a beautiful stump with carvings like a fort.
The sun played hide n seek with us. By sunset time he was completely hidden in the clouds. We were disappointed. But that didn't stop us from enjoying the view. It was absolutely breathtaking.
We settled on some of the rocks around and a good time discussing what else - life! We decided to walk down the hill and asked the driver to pick us up from the bottom of the hill.Reached back hotel around 7pm. After a quick bath we headed for dinner. After dinner we had a few rounds of Uno which I kept losing, thanks to the Draw 4 and Draw 2. And Nrutya always lost when she opened her mouth before any game. Uno was fun as always. By 10pm Aparna fell asleep, Sowmya followed and then me too.
Shall stop for the day. Will post the the second days events tomorrow.
Oct 12, 2006
Want to share two incidents - both related to BMTC bus drivers and conductors.
First one was yesterday evening, when I was returning home from work. It wasn't such a overcrowded bus but people were standing on the footboard and the driver couldn't close the door. The driver devised a clever plan to get all people inside and close the door. He stopped the bus and told all to get in. Few obliged. Instead of picking a fight, the driver started the bus and drove so slowly that you could get down and walk and still overtake the bus. This did the trick and slowly people squeezed in. Simple and effective idea. But the end was an anti-climax. The driver over did it and continued his tantrum even after he had closed the door. This irrked the people. What happened I don't know...my stop came and I got off.
The second one was today morning - this is just some statements that the conductor said. They were pretty funny. Or rather they sound funny in kannada. A school kid, carrying her school bag on her back got in. The counductor asked her to put the bag down. Then he went on to say - "Put the heavy bag down, else all the breakfast you have eatten will be used in carrying the bag. Then in school you will not be able to learn anything that your teacher teaches"
Hmm...haven't been doing anything in office these days. Surajit(my teammate) is working hard on the histogram and other stuff. I thought I'll do the process identification - pretty boring work. And to top it all I'm leaving for Karwar tomorrow. And the icing is Venkat(my PM) isn't around. Well...guess work will get done only next week.
First one was yesterday evening, when I was returning home from work. It wasn't such a overcrowded bus but people were standing on the footboard and the driver couldn't close the door. The driver devised a clever plan to get all people inside and close the door. He stopped the bus and told all to get in. Few obliged. Instead of picking a fight, the driver started the bus and drove so slowly that you could get down and walk and still overtake the bus. This did the trick and slowly people squeezed in. Simple and effective idea. But the end was an anti-climax. The driver over did it and continued his tantrum even after he had closed the door. This irrked the people. What happened I don't know...my stop came and I got off.
The second one was today morning - this is just some statements that the conductor said. They were pretty funny. Or rather they sound funny in kannada. A school kid, carrying her school bag on her back got in. The counductor asked her to put the bag down. Then he went on to say - "Put the heavy bag down, else all the breakfast you have eatten will be used in carrying the bag. Then in school you will not be able to learn anything that your teacher teaches"
Hmm...haven't been doing anything in office these days. Surajit(my teammate) is working hard on the histogram and other stuff. I thought I'll do the process identification - pretty boring work. And to top it all I'm leaving for Karwar tomorrow. And the icing is Venkat(my PM) isn't around. Well...guess work will get done only next week.
Oct 11, 2006
Went to see Priya's child yesterday ( he was born on October 9th 1.05pm) . Its something holding a new born in your hand. For some time he was sleeping ad then he opened his eyes. An over excited Harsha started shooting our little hero's first film. Guess our hero too realised and started making all kinds of faces. Cho Sweet...Priya is fine and recovering. We were then discussing names for our hero. Dhruv was liked by most of us.
On the way back was wondering when I'll have my child. Then remember the talk we had. Aah! these responsibilities.
Today, found some more names for him - Amogh, Mayur, Shlok, Akul, Abhav,Darsh,Tarun, etc. Shall pass it to Priya.
Writing after a long time. Hofully this will continue.
On the way back was wondering when I'll have my child. Then remember the talk we had. Aah! these responsibilities.
Today, found some more names for him - Amogh, Mayur, Shlok, Akul, Abhav,Darsh,Tarun, etc. Shall pass it to Priya.
Writing after a long time. Hofully this will continue.
Sep 15, 2006
Sachin's new innings
Yesterday Sachin Tendulkar made an important century...most important for him. When most critics wrote him off and some legends also suggested his retirement...this innings was an important one for him. Though I couldn't watch his innings and also couldn't catch the highlights (when I switched on the TV, Gayle was in full swing, so switched it off), from all reports I think it was a pretty good century. 5X6's indicated he is still has power enough to hit the ball all the way.
India's cricket God is back...with a big bang. He has started his new innings with a huge 6. We have to wait and watch how he unfolds in the remaining of his innings.
India's cricket God is back...with a big bang. He has started his new innings with a huge 6. We have to wait and watch how he unfolds in the remaining of his innings.
Sep 4, 2006
Weekend enjoy maadi
Weekend enjoy madi
Matte baralla e gadi
Mall hogi, movie nodi
Swalpa amma na kadi
Maneyalli chill madi
Bore aadare nanage call madi
Helona kelona swalpa chadi
Swalpa nadeyona nenapena dhari
Weekend chill madi
Matte baralla e gadi
Matte baralla e gadi
Mall hogi, movie nodi
Swalpa amma na kadi
Maneyalli chill madi
Bore aadare nanage call madi
Helona kelona swalpa chadi
Swalpa nadeyona nenapena dhari
Weekend chill madi
Matte baralla e gadi
My Team in GE
I wrote this for my team when I left GE...
Chaile milete hai mere team se
MR S/W kahete hai ise
Hai yeh hamare team ke mezbhan(host)
Sab ko affect karta hai inka kaam
Sab se loud hai team recon
DPServer ke bina inka na koi kaam
Viz karta hai image pe kuch
Doctors dekh ke ho jate hai khush
Ye karte hai help aur support sab ko
Tools team kehte hai hum inko
Is team ke trimurti hai yeh
Sandesh Shyam Amiss hai yeh
Chodke jaa rahe hai inhe hum
Leke thodi khushi thode gum
Chaile milete hai mere team se
MR S/W kahete hai ise
Hai yeh hamare team ke mezbhan(host)
Sab ko affect karta hai inka kaam
Sab se loud hai team recon
DPServer ke bina inka na koi kaam
Viz karta hai image pe kuch
Doctors dekh ke ho jate hai khush
Ye karte hai help aur support sab ko
Tools team kehte hai hum inko
Is team ke trimurti hai yeh
Sandesh Shyam Amiss hai yeh
Chodke jaa rahe hai inhe hum
Leke thodi khushi thode gum
Four Years
I wrote this almost an year ago for my friends....
Four years ago we parted ways
Two went to Bombay for a few days
Chennai took one more of us
And GE the rest of us
We've shifted companies and houses
Some of us have found our spouses
Looking ahead I can't think much
Only hope that we still keep in touch
Four years ago we parted ways
Two went to Bombay for a few days
Chennai took one more of us
And GE the rest of us
We've shifted companies and houses
Some of us have found our spouses
Looking ahead I can't think much
Only hope that we still keep in touch
Sep 1, 2006
The 7 o'clock Deadline
“My dad will kill me”, the girl standing in front of me said. I ignored her and thought she was speaking to herself. She was a good looking girl in her late teens. She was wearing a pink chudidhar. Nice chudidhar, I thought. A minute passed, and she went on “Oh shucks, oh shucks”. After about a minute, she glanced towards me and said it again, a bit more loudly “Its 7.15 and my dad will surely kill me”. It was hard to ignore her this time. I realized she wasn't talking to herself, but to me. But I was in no mood to start a conversation with a stranger in a jam-packed BMTC bus. I looked at her and gave a puzzled look. It was like a green signal to her.
“I'm late today. I should be home before 7.00pm..” I smiled. “ My dad is very strict. 7o'clock is my deadline. I am late.” she continued. I thought about my college days, and the deadlines I had. If my father knew I was going out (this would be for combined studies), then deadline was 7o'clock. If father didn't know (this would be for going out with friends, going for movies etc), deadline was 4.30pm. (My father came back from office at 5o'clock and I had to be home before that). She continued talking about her strict father and I took a walk down my memory lane. How I would come back at 4.55 and mom would yell asking me to come early. “I'll die of high BP” was her favorite dialogue. And how we had our signs. My red towel hung in the balcony meant that father was home already and I better cook-up a good story. I smiled to myself. The driver hit the brakes and I came out of my memory lane. The girl next to me was saying something about her tuition teacher taking extra classes. There were no brakes in her speech.
“Why don't you call up and tell him you are delayed. He'll stop worrying”. I interrupted her. “I lost my mobile yesterday. He is upset about that too.” she replied in a sad tone. “You can call from mine” I said and started digging my bag for the mobile. “Its OK, best not to remind him about mobiles. I'll go and face the music.” she said.
She was silent for sometime and I was thinking of the stories I cooked up for being late – bike tyre puncture, extra classes in college, studying at the library, friend sprained her leg so, had to drop her home, etc. The bus stopped. “My stop” she said. “Thanks for listening. It was nice talking to you.” I smiled and wished her good luck. With so much of westernization coming into the urban Indian society, I thought the 7o'clock deadlines were a thing of the past. This girl proved me wrong. The 7o'clock deadline still stands.
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