Q: Why are Indian husbands "Silver" while their European and American counterparts "Gold"?
A: Because of their wives.
E: Indian wives call their husbands "Aey jee", while European and American wives call thier husbands "Hey (h silent) you".
PS: If you still don't get it, imagine you are a wife (I said just imagine) and call out your husband as explained above. Still no? Recollect your periodic chart then. Now if don't know what is that, then I am sorry, can't help you.
signing off,
Take a look at the picture in the right hand side frame in the 'About Me' section. Can you see it? Good. That means your vision is not affected.
If you enlarge it, you may find me lying there nearby a boy and wondering why on earth someone would want to take his snap.
- The Rock, December 2002.
Prologue (from nku): The text above is a part of the very short autobiography of the rock on the Viewpoint (as it is called in those circles) which is on the way to Munnar, Kerala; as told to the boy in the picture. Complete book is ready now, but no one is keen on publishing it (reading the lines above, I have little doubts as to why). So he contacts me because he has heard that I am a rock fan. So I allow him to write something here.
Epilogue: I give this guy the publicity amongst my 2 readers for which he waited almost 3 years and he is wondering about my photos? Genuine admee ki kuchh value hi nahi hai yaha pe!
signing off,
* Courtesy few of the fellow countrymen, who were having lunch at the same table as mine, obviously unaware of the fact that I was eavesdropping their discussion, albeit quite boring. Whenever I was not watching the girls around, I was able to catch these thoughts (if they don't make any sense, you know whom to blame):
... How does my productivity is going to be affected, boss? Things will not change for me if even a cat or a dog is made the CEO.
... Outsourcing is really much more than what you think, boss. In 2002, a threat by some European company, that because of the almost warlike situation in South Asia, they would like to cancel their outsourcing contracts to Indian BPOs, saw the government of India taking a decision of not declaring a war against Pakistan.
... You know these contractors have to pay the bribes in lakhs to get a place near Railway station which would earn them decent profit. If they set up their shops far away, they are doomed. So everyone is fighting for a good place. That is an onsite for them. Every job has an onsite boss.
Damn there weren't enough girls around to keep me distracted all along.
signing off,
You know I am completely out of my mind when I search for the driver for my SanDisk Cruzer Mini for Windows 98, and copy it on the SanDisk to install on the Windows 98 machine.
signing off,
Having lost someone I didn't even know, because of none his faults, is a strange feeling. There was an accident yesterday night involving a mechanical failure of one of our company shuttles while heading home, which resulted in the shuttle falling into a ditch on Hosur Road which proved fatal to one of it's travellers and inflicting injury to many others. Looks like, contrary to usual belief, it was none of the driver's fault, save he could have got the tyres checked up regularly.
What pains me was the fact that other shuttles en route to the same destination, did not even stop or slow down to help those victims. They all seemed in a hurry to reach somewhere.
That brings me to the question I was discussing with dis just day before yesterday while heading home. Why are we in such a hurry? Why is each one of us is heading at their unknown destinations with such breakneck pace that one does not even have a time to stop by? Not even to help someone - In this case that someone could have been his project mate, someone sitting next to you for more than half a day, someone who you share your lunch with, someone who stands by each time your code does not work! I frankly donot know. And I am sure not many from those zooming shuttles knew this anyways.
signing off,
Rejoice boy, you should. Sensex has crossed 7000 for the first time in the history, before slipping back a bit, thanks to the end of Reliance saga. Look forward to some interesting situations in near future, you can. But careful, you will be. Unknown territories lie ahead now.
I did not watch Sunday's GP and neither was updating myself through any news channels (This is the drawback of not having a tv at home). So I knew about the fiasco that ran large at Indianapolis just today. Michelin's request to change the track on Sunday was ridiculous, I think. They should have anticipated the problem well ahead. It's not the first time a F1 race is being held at that track, so everyone concerned should have been familiar with the conditions there. Or so I thought. Their request seemed similar to say that the pitch does not suit our batsman/bowlers, change it. It doesn't happen that way dudes (on the second thoughts, it might, if your name happens to be WG!). It's just not cricket buddy.
And talking about cricket, Ponting must be wondering what possibly is going wrong with their team that they have been beaten in both of their opening matches. It is the defeat against Bangladesh would sear their ego much more. Though they are looking unperturbed outside, this serves them as an alarm that they are not invincible. It's good for the remaining one day series and the Ashes ahead. I hope the English are able to give them a good run for their money. For a fan's interest at least.
signing off,
There goes a saying amongst we Bangalorians (as of last month this entity had two + two members. Now it is reduced by one) that we don't decide where to meet, but just when to. Because the answer to the question "Where to" always turns out to be the Forum!
I miss other locations in Bangalore. For ages I haven't been to MG n Brigade road to chill out. I haven't been to Innovative after 'Ab Tak Chhappan' last year. I haven't been to places like Indira Nagar, Majestic, Malleshwaram except only in emergencies. I trust that places like KR Puram or Cox Town or Chamrajpet (I still don't know how is this name pronounced) exist in Bangalore just because I hear and read these names in everyday's newspapers and Radio City. I can neither tell ....
Yes I know, I know that I have got carried away a bit. Back on track. The reason why I started this post was because of the meet me n my college friends had in Mumbai last weekend. And as usual it was at R-Mall in Mulund. We have been part of this R-Mall gathering once too often now! It's high time that someone opens a mall at any other available station .. come to think of it, not at Chinchpokli please!
That reminded me of quite a few meets of my college friends I have been part of since I left Mumbai in 2002. First one was at Bandstand in Bandra in May 2002. Not a single one from those assembled can forget this meet (the reason cannot be stated here, because this is a family blog). Next one was in Thane December 2002 when one of our friend had returned from US for his wedding (220V AC shock it was to all of us). Next one I don't quite recollect, but I think it was sometime in April 2003 at R Mall (remember photo with Ronald?). Next to this was in September 2003 in Thane when I had gone to my friend's house for Ganapati festival. Next to this definitely was in April 2004 in Pune at Coffee Day on J.M. Road and then at R Mall in Mumbai. Next in October 2004 in Mumbai at our college (with a royal tang by many ppl). And then in June 2005 in Forum oops at R Mall.
Sigh. Woh Lamhe!
That takes me to a special mention to my song of the moment. I know it's quite an old song now and you must have heard how nice song that is for hundreds of times. But still. There are two versions on the CD. Looks like it is an 'in thing' these days to remix your song yourself, before someone else takes credit for it. And while this remix is well done, I like the original much much better. The fast remix beats do not at all justify the song's quite haunting piece of lyrics by Saeed Quadri. The opening strings alone are enough to get you lost in it's beauty. Do listen it in the silence of a chilly night like I did yesterday and you will know what I mean.
signing off,
After much of intro and retro spections over last two-three weeks of vacation time, I am pretty convinced that,
* Air Deccan is not the best no-frill airline. I have to try something else next time.
* Not all Bangalore autowallas are bad.
* Marriage is not the place to enjoy food. Sometime you may get hit hard!
* Not all Mumbai autowallas are good.
* So are cyber cafes in Kurla. You know this when you find them using Windows 98 with Internet Explorer 4.5, without any other browser. And here was me carrying my pen-drive everywhere.
* And so is Aishwarya Rai. Just see her in BnB. Tch. Tch.
* Staying without tv is not difficult. But I missed Canadian GP.
* The songs 'Dhadak Dhadak' and 'Bunty aur Babli' from BnB are too good.
* I don't know what to do if a lady (good looking at that and unknown of course) sitting on next seat falls asleep and rests her head on my shoulder.
* I am not getting married soon, whatever they say.
* Su-Doku is cool.
* Cellphone networks suck only till you go roaming. In roaming you could get a call even in Jhumritalliaya.
* I should start exercising.
* This one's interesting. At home I used to wake up and get ready by 7:30 AM. Two days in Bangalore and I am not even out of bed by 8:00 AM. I've got to do some brainstorming on this if I don't want to drive all the way to EC.
* Nadal could not have been beaten with that form.
* Mr n Mrs Smith is a good movie. Angelina Jolie is very beautiful.
* If I get married, it will definitely not be in June.
* Last but certainly not the least, home is the best place to be. Staying alone has it's merits, but largely you need to be with your people.
More on Mumbai soon.
signing off,
The countdown has long back begun in my mind and this is it's current state. It is my remaining days in Bangalore before I go for a long vacation in Mumbai. For the first time I'll be away from workplace for 16 days! But I don't think I'd be able to be away from work :-( Currently I am trying to setup my account so that I can login to my machine from my home and can handle any problems.
Let's hope there is no problem and my next two weeks aren't spent in front of the idiot machine #2.
signing off,
I am a lazy person. In my previous posts whatever I might have gloated about me exercising or biking, you may as well trash it. So now when I decide that I will get up on a Sunday morning at 0645 hrs (mslds*: kya?) and drive all the way to office (mslds: kya??) to play tennis and swim (mslds: kya???) be damn sure that I'll not do any of such sort at any cost.
But this Sunday is different. Even though I sleep at 0045 hrs on Saturday night
(mslds: Kya be.. Kya kar raha tha itna late? Naughty naughty! Uncle ko phone karoo kya?
miaws**: [daring to speak for the first time]: Yaar wo .. umm .. stitching kar raha tha.
mslds: Yeda samjha hai kya mujhe?
miaws: Nahi yaar, sachchi. Ye dekh ..
mslds: faints for some time looking at my art)
I wake up early morning next day. Get ready and hit the road towards the office on my
(mslds: Abe dhakkan, teri nahi, tere dost ki.
miaws: Haan yaar wohi. Abhi ek minute chup baithega, to main ye complete karoo?
mslds: Teri to .. Bahot aawaj chalne lagee hai be .. Dhishum dhishum ..)
bike. Now my friend here who is accompanying me for the game, calls me informing he has lost his wallet in the bus he was travelling. I reach the pickup point as soon as possible.
(mslds: Ye bhi chirkut hai. Itna subah uthake khelne bhi nahi diya..
miaws: Yaar uska wallet kho gaya hai, tu chup baith ek minute)
Trying to figure out what to do, we are left clueless for some moments on the road. We even try to chase a similar looking bus to find out whether it can be recovered. After some time when we are sure that it is indeed gone, a stark reality, that all his credit and debit cards are inside it, hits him again, this time hard. He calls up the banks to lock those cards. (One of them even tries to sell him a new better card. Her argument is now that he has cancelled his card, he'd definitely need a new one! Smart one I say!)
The experience at Police Station is mixed. First at Madiwala police station we are told to go to Kormangala police station as the incident happened in it's jurisdiction. Then at Kormanagla we are told that they can neither give us FIR (as their is no crime, just loss of property) nor any assurance that it can be recovered. Moreover, the ASI urges us not to put any amount in the missing list. "Agar wallet mil bhi gaya, paisa to milna kafi mushkil hai!". It's quite clear now why there are many crimes in Bangalore city that go unreported :-)
It is already 0930 hrs and now it is not possible to go and play. So we decide to go to my friend's house in Marathalli. Not quite far, just 12-13 km from where are we now. We go to his house, have some breakfast, purchase a t-shirt at Megamart (Marathalli is quite famous for factory seconds stuff. They have quite a good collection, if your waist doesn't measure 28". For those with 28" waist and 39 cm shirt size, god is just cruel.)
Then after this, I decide to head back home to get ready before we can go to the movie in afternoon.
(mslds: Kyon? Tujhe koi ladki dekhne aane wali thee kya?
miaws: Are yaar! Mera matlab tha ke because of the initial plan of playing tennis and swimming, I am in my bad jeans and worse tshirt. Ye pehen ke Forum mein to nahi ja sakta! Samajh ja bhidu!)
The only problem is that my home is around 23-24 km from Marathalli. So after much debate, I decide to go to the movie in whatever state. Now my friend, who thinks he owes me something, offers me one of his shirts. It isn't a better idea for me, as he only uses > M t-shirts! But finally he persuades me to wear one his printed t-shirts. Not only it is quite loose on me, it has a slogan that he assures (with a snigger that I am not able to comprehend) will be a super hit in a place like Forum. And for the first time the whole day, he turns out to be quite right. The problem being it is hit with only boys and men. Not a head (belonging to males, if at all) crosses me without turning their eyes at my tshirt.
No point in going forward to describe our experience at the movie show of Kya Kool Hai Hum.
signing off,
*MSLDS = my satanic, lazy, dominating self
**MIAWS = my innocent (mslds: muhahaha), active (mslds: muhahahaha), better (mslds: abe teri to .. ye kat de .. ghar nahi jana hai kya dono pairo pe?), weeny (mslds: pehli baar sach bola) self
Sometime back I read on Kiruba's blog that there is this site called 43 Things. And because I did not have anything to write about, I thought I could compile the list of the things I intend to do in my lifetime and write about it. Writing about 43 things would take quite some time and of course, quite many blog entries. So naturally it is going to increase my blogging frequency and so will it increase my blog's readers stats, I hoped. Some day it is going to make me as a top most blogger. News reporters would want to interview me. Ekta Kapoor would want to make a tv serial on it. Or better a cartoon series on Toon Disney. Or even better .....
But alas, as of now I am not able to get beyond these 13 things. Nothing much to do in life eh? :-)
signing off,
I have resolved to consciously drink more water in a day, meaning I'll keep a count of how much water I have consumed in a day. Before I was not doing this counting stuff, so just could not realize how less water I was drinking. Recently for a week I did that and found out that on an average I just used to have 2.5 bottles of water a day, a tad lesser than 3 lt. :O
Which, I announce, before Maharashtra Government hears and assuming that I am not getting enough water, plans for some new kind of ban against Bangalore authorities, is entirely my fault, and I am trying hard to improve.
Now in case you are wondering that Maharashtra Government can really do something like this for you, I hear from the insiders that it can. Just that you need to be working against some dance bar for that privilege.
My day so far is reminding me of the famous Beatles lyrics ... :-(
Yesterday
- The Beatles
Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away
Now it looks as though they're here to stay
Oh, I believe in yesterdaySuddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be
There's a shadow hanging over me
Oh, yesterday came suddenly
signing off,
Today has not been a good day. At least not for the Indian stock markets and for the Indian cricket team. Both have been slaughtered by enemies called Q4 results and Shahid Afridi.
Of course this is a time of Q4 results and people (read all tv business experts) were expecting this to be a little bearish period on markets. But no body did think it yesterday that it would hit it so hard. Sample this: Sensex down by some 220 points, Nifty down by 70 odd. Infosys itself is down by 145 points! Indeed quite harsh.
Speaking of harsh reality, Rahul Dravid would now realize it much better. He himself played well with Kaif and batting first we managed 250 on a wicket which has a record of low scores. At lunch he would have thought it was a fighting score. Unfortunately he did not account for Afridi. He blasted everyone on field without showing mercy. 100 of 46 balls usually means it is a piece of cake for rest of Pakistani team to achieve the target. And indeed it turned out to be child's play for them.
Now all I can do is to hope that the market and the team recover soon to come back strongly.
Amen!
signing off,
There have been movies made in India since eternity. And given so many languages we have, it comes as no surprise that no one wants to miss out on a opportunity to cash on a successful commercial movie made in some other language. Quite logical? It is.
Pardon me for such a boring start. But they say only way to get rid of bad mood is to spread it! :-)
Ok, back to the thing that has been bothering me for some time now. That is, why these people go ahead and "translate" even the songs from the original. Like the one I was hearing today from the movie Yuva. It was "Jana Gana Mana" from "Aayitha Ezhuthu" originally in Tamil, now sounding suspiciously like "Dhakka Lakka Bukka". Is this some kind of cryptic language, Mr. Mehboob? Or are they phoren language words? I may never know. Given that my Hindi or Urdu knowledge is quite poor, I even tried to look up these words in the dictionary. The dictionary hanged at my attempt.
There are some people specialized in this area it seems. This guy Mehmood leads the pack who has names like Bombay, Thakshak (Remember Jumbalaka?) and some more on his belt. There is one P K Mishra who had written the lyrics for Roja in Hindi. After that quite good effort, his subsequent works (like Hindustani) seemed that he was indeed writing them PK. I am tempted to divert to Srivastav PK after this, but first thing first.
In my opinion, one of the best dubbed lyrics have come in the movie Saathiya. Penned by the master Gulzar, one may never had found out that the songs were originally written in Tamil for Alai Payuthey unless he/she happened to know it. Writing lyrics for the music is never easy I hear. Gulzar saab has done it with panache. Just listen to the gem "Saathiya" sung by "Sonu Nigam"; music given by "A R Rahman". And you'd know what I mean. Some lyrics go like this:
kabhi neele aasmaan pe chalo ghumne chale hum
koi abhra mil gaya to jameen pe baras le hum
teri baali hil gayee hai
kabhi shab (=raat) chamak uthi hai
kabhi shaam khil gayee haitere baalon ki panah mein isi yaah raat gujare
teri kaali kaali aankhen koi ujli baat utare
teri ek haseen ke badle
meri yeh jameen le le
mera aasmaan le le
No wonder the combination got most of the accolades in music industry that year. Beautiful, beautiful song!
Now after writing this, I think, my Urdu and Hindi have definitely improved a bit :-)
signing off,
I am quite disappointed by our team's performance on the last day of the test match at Bangalore.
I was reading an article on rediff and couldn't have agreed more with the author when he said,Had this Indian team gone out and played to win, it would have won the hearts of all those watching, even if it eventually succumbed to defeat. The greatest test of courage is to bear defeat without losing heart.
I am not expecting a win every time you go out. But at least you can try it, or at least show that you are trying for god's sake. Hard to imagine that this is the same Indian team which was winning against Australia and Pakistan some seasons ago.
Today, on the cricket field, Ganguly's team lost heart.
And if there is anything in the world that hurts the team's fans more than losing, it is losing without putting up a decent fight.
I had sent a mail to my friends when Sehwag got out: "Sehwag is out: the guy who could have won us the match. Now according to me Indians would go into the "save match" mode. And this might be "the" chance for pak to win!". And the Indian team proved themselves just like an overtly predictable bollywood flick. Pakistan would have been too foolish to let go the chance. I heard Inzy saying in an interview that "Woh log defensive khelte rahe. Maine socha main hi kyon naa attack karoon?". Luckily it did not rain yesterday, while today in Banglaore it's all cloudy. Come to think of it, the future looks more cloudy for the one-day series from here.
Too many negatives and no positive make a dull day anywhere in the world.
signing off,
That's me. I mean, that's one of my nicks over the years.
Btw, even "niks" is my nick.
So is "nku".
Sometimes I was even "bachcha" and "kiddo".
For some, I am "shonu".
For some other hostile types, I am "dukkar", "shembdya", "khadoos" or "kanjoos".
At times, I am "stupid". And yes, "kuska" too.
For one of the classmates, I was "kuls" (or "kulks", I couldn't tell the way he pronounced).
In short stints, I was even "tau", "backbencher", "ghatotkatch" and "Pentium II (after sunset)".
signing off,
If you have some new one in mind for me, please let me know :-)
Great weekend this was for the Indian sports lovers. What more could have they asked for?
First it was team India coming back very strongly to beat Pakistan quite convincingly (so much so that my friend here is tempted to term it as crushing). But it was never a one sided game. In fact had it not been Dravid and Kaarthik in second innings, Pakistan had a fair chance of winning. Again if Afridi hadn't given away his wicket, who knows? Once again it proves how much we underestimate Kumble as a match winner, when he has delivered time and again with his relentless efforts on the field.
Second, Narain Karthikeyan finished 11th in Malaysian grand prix. Mind you, to go from 15th to 11th in only second race is by no means easy. It's a feat which would give the young man immense self confidence and recognition on the f1 circuit. As I said earlier, he would grow only better from here.
Keep it up men! You are making us proud.
signing off,
A day in the life of me, that is. Without any earphones.
Imagine, from the morning I haven't got a chance to listen to any of the songs I got from friends yesterday. As it is I am not in a particularly good mood since -
- my report is not working out to be *exactly* same as the users want,
- my stomach has finally given up to my eating habits and is on non-cooperating terms since couple of days,
- Pakistan have a bit of upper hand in the second test match at the Eden gardens. (I'd say they can win the test match too!)
And I don't have my earphones to listen to "Do Naina" to take my mind off all these.
Goddamn dis, why didn't you tell me it earlier?
signing off,
Well, she was not mine anyways. So why should I be unhappy that the bike I was driving for some time is not with me anymore?
But frankly this bike was starting to grow on me. In fact, she already had, I think. She had taken me for a ride all over Bangalore. Well, not literally though! Alone, sometimes with friends, sometimes with strangers. People changed, but the bike was always there. It was quite an old bike and the age was starting to show. The gearbox and clutch and brakes were giving some trouble. Hopefully now that she's in the owner's hand, she can hope a better treatment for herself. :-) Bless you.
Btw I am doing my annual appraisal today. If I finish it today, I can write a book, "Appraisal for Dummies in 21 hours". And I am sure no one is going to buy it.
signing off,
I am quite busy these days. And missed Mark Knopfler too on Monday. It's no less than a criminal damage! Why he had to come on 7th when on the very day I had an important release?
Life ain't no fair maan!
Btw, before leaving for the day, I thought I'd just listen to some retro songs, and I stumbled on Def Leppard's Vault in my collection. They say each song can make you forget of present and takes you somewhere in past. It is indeed true. Vault was one of the first 5 cassettes I had purchased from my own earnings long back in Feb 2002. Those were quite happening days really. And every time I listen to Photograph or Let's get Rocked or Love Bites or Pour Some Sugar on Me or Hysteria, my initial days in corporate world come back to mind. It's like your first crush, isn't it? Magical.
But this is not to say today was not magical. :-)
signing off,
Last week sometime, I was watching Derek O'Brian's quiz show on some channel. The participants were young kids from India, China and Korea. After all of them introduced themselves, Derek came back to the Indian kids' desk, and called upon the other kids. What he said exactly I don't quite recollect, but the gist of it was that he was calling the other kids to the desk of the greatest country in the world.
I found this quite arrogant. Come on Derek, those were just kids of probably 8-10 years of age and do you want to enforce your feelings that India is greatest country of them all, on these kids? I doubt what prompted him to do so. Clearly if he had been quizzing older people, he would not have pulled the stunt, would he? China and Korea are two beautiful countries themselves and he had no business belittling them. I wonder what would his reaction might have been, if one of the Chinese or Korean kid had argued with him on this.
Call me preachy, but like Mohan Bhargava (Swades hero, in case you have forgotten), even I don't think we are the greatest country in the world. And with such people having an illusion at large, we have light years to go.
signing off,
The other day I was watching NDTV's some programme featuring Navjyot Singh Siddhu and a mimic artist. Not surprisingly, in recent years, position of commentators has changed and they too have become glamorous like cricketers. So it seems, a person who can imitate one of those has same glamor value as an entertainer for these TV shows. This guy was indeed good at his skill. He started by imitating Geoffery Boycott and then came back to Imran Khan and Siddhu's conversation last year, which is why I am writing this stuff.
The incident goes: Imran Khan was saying something about Pakistan's chances in the series when Siddhu broke him, "Wait, Imran bhai, wait. Optimist is one who thinks bullshit is a fertilizer!"
You can imagine the scene after this, my rolling on the floor laughing hysterically.
signing off,
What do you need to do to watch Indian Idol on Sony? Go home, switch on the tv, [optional:] get yourself some cotton to stuff in your ears and enjoy!
Indian Idol is clearly a case of bias over talent. What ranked Ravinder Ravi in the top five while denying same for some more talented people? Why people are urging me to bulk SMS for Amit Sana, while I think Abhijeet has better evolved as a singer and performer over all the ten rounds? What makes Aman and Mini to boast whatever Amit does but shun Abhijeet's exploits? What makes the judges to be in favor of Amit clearly sidelining Abhijeet?
It is bias my friend. Even I am biased towards Abhijeet. :-)
But alas, just my thinking is not going to make Abhijeet win this. Amit Sana is going to be first Indian Idol, you like it or not. I do hope that all three toppers work hard on their singing and get ahead, rather than just being Indian Idles, oops Idols.
signing off,
One award at least, I could not have argued over in Saturday's Filmfare awards list was the Best Singer award given to Kunal Ganjawala for the gem Bheege Hont he sang for the movie Murder. It could not been sung better by any other singer, and I mean any. For a moment I feared that the award company would stick to Udit Narayan for the not-so-phenomenal Aisa Des Hai Mera, but thankfully they broke shackles.
Surprisingly enough, as I wrote in my previous post, they have not been able to do it in other categories.
But for the moment, let me forget that and offer my bow to Mr Ganjawala.
signing off,
Trivia: What made Veer-Zaara the best movie of the last year?
I think the answer is Yash Raj Banners.
In bollywood, there are good movies, there are bad movies and then there are very stereotyped , and hence mediocre and unintuitive movies. In the last category, we can blindly put any recent movie of these two gentlemen, Yash Chopraji and Karan Johar. Yash Chopra (who was brilliant in his early movies like Waqt and Kabhi Kabhi to name a few) has clearly given up on the pressure these days. I don't say making love stories is not good. But why same thing over and over? And don't tell me that Veer Zaara was any different just because it had old SRK.
Karan Johar is one pampered baby, who according to statistics is yet to see a flop. In my diary, he is yet to see a decent movie. What made Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, a story of a boy who is out to seek two girls and helped by his own girl child, a hit, frankly I would never know. If in real world, assume I, after my wife dies 6 years hence, try to woo a old girl friend, who probably has settled in life in her own way. I'd be clearly out of my mind to do so. Then Kal Ho Naa Ho was ditto Anand. And I'd watch Baghbaan thrice a day, if I have that as a choice over Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. Totally unimaginative, I say.
I think the only reason why Yash Chopra succeeds is his music and KJ because of his lavish star cast. But pardon me in saying, Veer Zaara cannot be ranked as Yashji's better efforts, even considering it had music by Madan Mohan and Times of India had given it better stars (I don't know how many). And people would not have watched K3G if it had not been those Shah Rukh Khans, Amitabh Bachchans, Hritik Roshans and so on. But if you ask me, I'd prefer SRK in Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, Baazigar; AB in any of his 80s movie and Roshan Jr in any other less sillier movie.
Again, this is not to say that the experimental movie would always be good. Take a look at Gayab and you'd know what I mean.
But at least spare me from the obscene display of your wealth and your idea of 'good life', people. Get a life yourself and move on.
For the precise reason I admire Hrishikesh Mukherjee or Sai Paranjpe a lot. They don't make those kind of movies any more. On second thoughts, I seem to be repeating this line quite often, I am stereotyped myself! :D
signing off,
Goto Google.com and type "movie: blue pill red pill" and see all Matrix related movie searches coming up. Impressive, huh? It is!
The humorous side of Google's technicians does show up at the end, when they say,
No movie critics were harmed or even used in the making of this page.
ha ha ha ha!
signing off,
Read this.
Man I am thrilled! Can't wait to see the man! Dire Straits have remained one of my favorite rock bands all along.
More on them later, busy right now!
signing off,
Having watched Black last weekend, a few stray things come to mind. (Busybee styled? Probably!) Here they are:
1. It is a superlative cinema making experience, rarely seen in bollywood. People claim maybe SLB was targeting Oscar, which might explain the movie's short length, no songs and so on. But this trend is not new to us, is it Ramu?
2. The performances SLB achieves out of each one of his cast is simply marvelous. The last time I saw an awesomely portrayed child artist was Anjali. Ayesha Kapoor is the most impressive in the movie.
3. AB, thankfully, is not playing a police officer or an army chief. Last year saw him in uniforms for an obscenely large number of times. But not anymore. He essays Debraj Sahay with panache.
5. Another highlight would be Rani Mukherji, who, I think has a lot of potential still untapped. Some people think she has reached her highest with Michelle, but don't get surprised if she manages to surpass even her.
6. We can say our movie making are state-or-the-art affair too. Forget clumsy editing, patchy cameraworks. Bollywood cinema has really evolved.
7. Thanks SLB for making such a movie. Even if Black's collection at box office may not mark it as a hit or something similar, it is really a gem of an art.
signing off,
I was preparing my birthday treat invitation on Friday. First I thought of sending a simple email to everyone. But because of a friend's suggestion, I thought this would look good. (The link does not work anymore, I've removed it because of many spam emails received!)
The best part was when we published that blog, in a matter of few seconds there was a comment on the blog! By Katie (Forgot her blog URL), which mentioned that 'She should be there at the precise time and can't wait to see us guys.' I prompty disabled comments on the blog so that I didn't end up broke instead of generous in case more people accepted the invite, but that was something very amusing! :-)
Katie: if we meet anywhere, the treat is due from my side!
signing off,
The world is not a small place. And there are quite a people living in it. India alone has a huge share of 1 B+ of world population. And there are only 365 days in a year. (Don't get rather technical and say it is 365¼). Analyze these facts and you may not wonder that someone else you know is sharing your birthday. But why it has been that in all the classes I attended of about 60 people, the day turned out to be 9th Feb always?
It started in my school. A friend of mine, whose real birthday was unknown to many of us, used to celebrate it on 9th Feb. Come engineering college and there were two more to share my birthday. Come to corporate world and, yes, there is someone I know who shares the D-Day. It has been really amazing. No two people from any of my class shared the birthdays, as long as it was not on 9th Feb. :-) So amongst my friends, I am one of the very few, who has always got to say 'Same to You!' when wished 'Many many happy returns of the day!'. :-)
Anyways, for now 'Happy Birthday nku, SP, RP, TG!' Enjoy your day.
(On second thoughts, it is kinda weird when you wish yourself! :D)
The basic thing you need to understand is that I am not a fitness buff. At all. Rest of the post is based on this assumption, so if you do not agree to it, you may navigate to some other site right away.
For years and months, I have just somehow managed to get through the routine without putting my body in too much trouble. As of now, my daily exercise includes the walk from my cubicle to canteen for lunch and (if I stay back late, owing to fact that when there are no direct buses to my home) the walk from the bus-stop to home. And it does sum to 30 min (±15 min), I am damn sure.
I very well remember two lone incidents in my life where I was dragged into someone else's fitness regime. One was when I was in Mumbai, after my BE examination. Because of some inexplicable enthusiasm of people like me, my brother, his classmate and our neighbor, we used to go to a gym every night (don't you dare defend that 5:15 AM is a day) and used to work out for an hour and a half. And to everyone's astonishment, we did not miss a single day. That was till, after about 3 months or so, on one fine day everyone felt an equally inexplicable longing for laziness. And we were prompt to switch to less demanding sleep till 9 o'clock.
Next one was a quite recent venture, just the last year. It was when my room-mate started having trouble seeing himself in the mirror completely without having to shift sideways. Suddenly there was a collective need for jogging and I obliged as a moral supporter. Interestingly this time too, the stint lasted only about three months.
Looks like again I am in the same mood to start this 3-months course to get fit. My new room-mate has already booked me for the new gym that is coming up in our office (it is the opposite probably). Let's see how things go this time.
And finally, for those who need an extra push for working out, there is a good reason why you should exercise at least 30 min a day. Much amusing it is than what I have blabbered so far. Here it is.
signing off,
Suddenly it has started raining here in Bangalore. It is a welcome relief, I might add, from the heat which was continually on a rise over past few days. The weather today morning is absolutely splendid (I tried a lot to find a fancier word from my wordweb, but I guess you'll have to settle for this.) It is the kind of weather when you just want to put a chair in balcony, prepare a cup of hot tea/coffee for yourself and for someone you like to savor the lazy moment.
Alas, I am in the office, designing a particularly unromantic Crystal report.
By the way, this title does not necessarily mean that it was raining and I was the fool, but because I invariably remember the Led Zep's classic "Fool in the Rain" from album "In Through the Out Door" at these times. Here are the lyrics for you. (Ctrl+Ins from www.led-zeppelin.com, without any written or otherwise permission from Jones/Page/Plant). Do listen if you get a chance.
Fool In The Rain
(Jones/Page/Plant)
Well there's a light in your eye that keeps shining
Like a star that can't wait for the night
I hate to think I've been blinded baby
Why can't I see you tonight?And the warmth of your smile starts a-burnin'
And the thrill of your touch gives me fright
And I'm shaking so much, really yearning
Why don't you show up, make it all right?
Yeah, it's all right.And if you promised you'd love so completely
and you said you would always be true
You swore that you would never leave me, baby:
What ever happened to you?And you thought it was only in movies
As you wish all your dreams would come true
It ain't the first time believe me, baby
I'm standin here feeling blue
Yeah I'm blueNow I will stand in the rain on the corner
I'll watch the people go shuffling downtown
Another ten minutes no longer
And then I'm turning aroundThe clock on the wall's moving slower
My heart it sinks to the ground
And the storm that I thought would blow over
Clouds the light of the love that I foundNow my body is starting to quiver
And the palms of my hands getting wet
I've got no reason to doubt you baby,
It's all a terrible messI'll run in the rain till I'm breathless
When I'm breathless I'll run till I drop, hey
The thoughts of a fool's kind of careless
I'm just a fool waiting on the wrong block, oh yeah
Beautiful, beautiful song!
signing off,
:-(
I was so sad! I wanted him to win! Sigh!
I read that the match between him n Safin was a wonderful one. I should catch it if I get chance.
More on my favorite matches sometime later. Now I'm off to catch my bus!
signing off,
My brother and sister were here in Bangalore this week. We had a good time together. It's been almost 4 months since we last met and had fun. But we did it this time, mainly because as no one had offices to go to. :-)
Usually when I go to Mumbai, they do not get as many days off, so we just end up settling for couple of days of roaming around. But this time we had total 4 days for us. We went to Mysore on Republic Day, wandered on M.G. Road, Brigade Road, went bowling to Amoeba (in which I beat them comprehensively - he ha ha ha ha), played judgement and 5-3-2 for a long time - in fact we were at home for a full day playing cards! And to settle scores, they beat me in cards comprehensively! We also went to Lalbaugh to watch flower show (- that reminded me of our very own flower show we used to have in our college.) We also celebrated my bro's b'day, which was on 24th, on 23rd night. We did not wait till midnight though. We were all feeling very sleepy that day!
Let me hope their stay was enjoyable all the way. At least my 4 days have been very good. Already started missing them!
signing off,
Am I so? I dunno. For all I know, I might be. Because at times I do feel I just cannot mix with others around me, whoever they might be and however hard they are trying.
It does cause a lot of inconvenience to them, I must add.
signing off,
You know, for ages I used to believe that He-Man says "By the Power of Graystar" and not "Grayskull". I don't know what or who tipped me off for this, but I did. In turn when I lost a bet to my friend, I corrected myself the hard way.
I remembered this because yesterday I got to listen to this. And suddenly all my Sunday mornings when we used to wake up with Rangoli and stay in bed till He-Man got over, came flashing before my eyes.
They don't make Sunday mornings like that anymore! :-(
signing off,
I have always been fascinated by the computer. But not so by it's rat. Primarily because easy and accurate though they claim the mouse as pointing device is, my experience has been quite the reverse.
For the first thing, the mouse I got with my first computer was not a very sleek one. It was also susceptible to the slightest of dust particle around, when it was impossible to imagine our room without any dust with the kind of environment Mumbai has. So not a day passed without it's endless squeaking and screeching. And many a times it would just do Scabbers, pretending to be dead so that we'd not disturb it anymore. I think because of the sheer fear that someday it would be used in a battle against a manticore, it went literally dead a couple of times, and we had to take it to a vet to cure it. And I was left with good old keyboard to interact with my machine.
It was 'same old wine in a new bottle' kind of story when I joined my first job. The machine I got in my Chennai workplace was nightmare for a programmer-who-is-handicapped-without-his/her-mouse. The mouse would just not respond in the morning when I tried to boot. A couple of restarts and a lot more disconnections/reconnections were some of the things his majesty would require to wake up. Luckily, because of previous experience with a houserat, I had quickly adjusted to work without an officerat too. This earned me a new nick from my team - 'Keyboard Wiz-Kid'.
I almost forgot why I started scribbling this. A couple of days back a support person arrived to my desk and announced that I needed to upgrade my Norton Antivirus as per the policy. Now if policy said so, nothing in the world could have stopped him from taking control over my mouse and start installing. But something did. Clicking on Start, he froze midway. I could not understand why he was staring at the screen for 5 seconds. "He must be recollecting the dump path", I explained to myself. Then he clicked and right clicked all the buttons he could see: All Programs, Control Panel, Accessories, Entertainment, SAP Logon Pad, Microsoft Games (?). After nearly half a minute, he resigned and asked "Where is Run?". "Oh my god!" I exclaimed to myself. In a state of hysteria to clean up my desktop and Start menu that took over me some months back, I had made all unused icons disappear. And now because I use Windows+R to invoke run, even that had to go. I pressed those keys and Run appeared. Cursing something in a Filch-like manner about administrative rights given to programmers, he proceeded to install.
If only like Run I could make him disappear!
signing off,
Time sure zooms by. Just a couple of days back I realized that it has been already a year since a bug bit me and I had started learning Japanese. It also has been quite a while since I last opened my Japanese book to revise!
In fact I used to like learning Japanese. It was fun and something different that the routine work I had to do 15*5 then. I don't know what caused this waning of enthusiasm. Probably because I did not get company. Because I got more busy in work. Because I got more interested in other things. Or because I got lazy.
I think it is more to do with the last reason. :-) On some serious thoughts, I am planning to start it again. I can take out some time for this. I definitely can.
sayonara,
Yesterday I blabbered something about forwards. Here I get one more. It is about what my birth month is supposed to mean. Being in a benign mood today, I scrolled through my charateristics. Most of it, though is usual forward stuff, like I'm intelligent and clever (hear, hear!!), I show anger easily and so on. Suddenly, a point caught attention of my otherwise careless senses. Spendthrift. Who me? Come on da! You must be joking!!
But then, when I look back at those 4 jeans (3 Flying Machines, a Wrangler), 2 formal shirts (Excaliber, Van Heusen), 2 formal trousers (Blackberry), a T-Shirt (Globus), a shoe (Lee Cooper), a formal shoe (Red Tape), a sandal (Bata), some books (I lost count, but some of the new ones are - Calvin and Hobbes - An Authorotative Guide, Sum of All Fears, Best of Busybee - 2 volumes, Best of R K Narayan, Merrian-Webster's dictionary) I have bought in a short timespan - less than last 3 months, I had to agree, for once, with this forward.
signing off,
You know what annoys me? The list is quite endless. But the top candidate has to be the forwards which have this kind of message - You have been blessed with this lucky charm. Do not break this chain. Send this mail to 467 more people in next 2.741 sec and you will get some good thing for lunch. If you break it, you will get ****.
I mean, how thick can you get?
Apparently, these kinds of forwards are still famous with techies. I just got one such mail glorifying a white peacock. I sincerely hope the sender would get bitten by that white peacock, if all of them have not died of shame. Also looks like, the shadow of a feather of this godly animal falls of same side of light source.
Err, wait a minute. Say that again?
Also looks like, the shadow of a feather of this godly animal falls of same side of light source.
God help me. My drawing knowledge leaves me here. (Or was it Physics leaving me?)
Ok, for those who still believe it, here I am, having not forwarded a single chain mail in my 6 years of internet and email acquaintance, having broken more than 100 such chains, and having not received a single stroke of heart attack as predicated by quite a few of these mails.
Thought I cannot claim I have not received strokes of utter frustration in the process.
signing off,
Why do people lie? Well, don't ask me! Or I'll have to invent one :-)
Frankly I don't know. Looks like, at times, when truth might effect in pain or unnecessary inquisitiveness, people prefer less demanding lies. I was wondering about the repercussions our lies have on our lives and of those surrounding us. Some times it might turn out to be nothing. You lie or tell the truth, it may just be the same. But some seemingly innocuous lies or indeed even some truths may have more persisting effects than you can ever imagine.
Just for example, when I was a kid, we had gone to visit one of my dad's colleague when he was hospitalized. This probably was my first trip to hospital. Well, second, if you consider the real first one had been when I was born. Ok, bad joke! To get on with story, I asked my dad why uncle was there lying on bed with so many needles piercing his arms. Because I was so young, my dad thought I might not understand what appendices are and it may not be wise to tell me the truth. So he invented that uncle was there because he had eaten a hair by mistake and he is there so that doctors would remove it from his stomach. I believed that story. So much so, that even today after so many years I nearly get hysterical if I swallow hair by mistake.
Worth pondering about?
signing off,
Looks like I'm into one of those moods again. When I think I'd do blah blah blah things in the year to come. And when the year arrives, and passes by, I realize I have not even started half of the things. :-)
In fact it is for the first time in 2004, when I have managed to stand by what I had decided I'd do, or rather I'd not do at the beginning of the year. Never mind it was something very sissy thing! And I am still being ridiculed for it!!
I have not yet decided another silly thing for 2005. But then, I still have some time left!
Wish you and your loved ones a wonderful new year to come!
Before I finish, a request. In case you haven't already done it, please do your bit for the tsunami victims. May you live for years to come to celebrate more and more 31st nights, but unless we do something, those unfortunate souls may not be able to. Liked the post "A Story That Truly Touched My Heart" by Kiruba on this.
signing off,
In introspection, I might be better without the usual hurry I am in while making opinions about others. Some people call it prejudice.
I think, I have to work on it quite a bit.
signing off,
In case you are willing to contribute towards Tsunami relief funds, this site gives pretty good information how you can do it.
I too like my few other friends, now have a share trading account. (Mine is with Indiainfoline.com) It is quite a new experience for me, this trading business. And I have to learn a lot how to do it without burning my fingers.
As of now keeping my fingers crossed and praying that NTPC would soon cross 100. :-)
signing off,
A question arises, about Bangladesh's test status. No doubt they (read Ashraful) fought bravely in first innings of second test match against India. But then they have not been able to do away with their 'minnow' status. For a long period now. Ayaz Menon and my friend disagree with me saying everyone has to start from somewhere. All I am saying is they should be given some more opportunity in less demanding one day cricket, so that they can be at par with other test teams. Having said this, they have to do quite a hard work. Importantly, they should not give away hope. Remember it has taken us 20 years to record first test win!
Again, my personal feelings about creating records against teams like Bangladesh are mixed. Agreed that Anil and Sachin have put a lot of hard work for their 435 wickets and 34 centuries against every cricket playing country. Also Irfan and Zaheer would be delighted to have first 10 wicket haul and a highest score by no 10 batsman respectively. Still (though I cannot comment about them) I would have been happier if these records would have come in some previous series particularly against Australia. Too much hopeful, I am!
Nonetheless they have shown good display of hunger to win and talent in this series. Hopefully the trend would continue in series to come.
signing off,
They just want to be wished on their birthday, preferably with a card or a call or a gift. Even if it means you just have scribbled a few lines in email. Makes their day. And in turn, yours too!
signing off,
Sounds like a routine question. At least in our country where there are fortunes made and unmade every week, in fact every day, in the movie industries across India. There are bollywood crazy cities like Mumbai and Delhi. There are people going crazy over Rajnikanth or Madhavan or Ajith in Madras. Same about Chiranjeevi in Andhrapradesh. So I was not at all surprised when this question was hurled at me out of nowhere. But the consequence was quite interesting!
I was waiting y'day in a saloon nearby my home to get my hair cut so that I'd go home and plan for rest of the day. But this chap is not letting me go. First there is the fact that it is Sunday and everyone is out there in the saloon. So first I wait half an hour browsing through latest Filmfare admiring sensuous Bipasha. Then after a while I am summoned up to the chair. The conversation that follows, as it is.
Hair stylist(lets call him S hereafter): (says something in Telegu, I hope. It could have been Kannada for all I know.)
Me: Medium on top, small on sides.
S: Telugu illa? Hindi?
Me: Hindi.
S: Telugu nahi aata?
Me: Nahi, Hindi, English, Marathi.
S: Marathi humko nahi aata.
Me: Telugu humko nahi aata.
S: laughs heartily at my joke (?)
Meanwhile, the TV is showing some analysis of Tendulkar's batting and S is clearly not interested in Harsha Bhogle's figures. He switches the channel and now it is showing someone else's figure. Few moments pass in silence.
S: (suddenly waking me up) Saar, saar .. ye song suno. (The song is Pacchai Nirame from Alaipayuthey -- which was remade as title song of Saathiya in Hindi) Bahot achchha song hai. Ye movie original Tamil hona. Baad mein Hindi mein banaya.
Me: Yeah. Pata hai.
S: Aapka favorite hero kaun hai?
Me: Koi nahi, sab log mujhe achchha lagta hai.
S: Lekin sab se achchha kaun hai?
Me: (resigned) Amitabh Bachchan
S: Maine hero poonchha. Uncle nahi!
Me: (amused) Uncle!! Are yaar, wo to sab se achchha hai.
S: Shahrukh Khan achchha nahi lagta tumko?
Me: Nahi. Hritik Roshan maybe.
S: Shahrukh achchha kyon nahi lagta? Wo muslim hai isliye?
Me: (man! what reasoning!!) Nahi yaar, aisa kuchh nahi. Aamir Khan achchha lagta hai mujhe.
S: Hmm Aamir Khan humko bhi achchha lagta. Salmaan Khan?
Me: Hmm, ok types! (never argue with a man with scissors!)
S: Shahrukh Khan ka naya movie dekha?
Me: Nahi. Ye batao, tumhara favorite hero kaun hai?
S: (With a despairing look clearly suggesting an urgent need to work on my general knowledge and in a tone that would suggest I've asked something like "Tumhara naam kya hai Basanti?")Chiranjeevi.
Nope. I am not discussing the M Night Shyamalan's movie. I am discussing my email signatures over the years, rather over the months.
I will tell you that I am obsessed with music. I like it so much that in fact I just cannot imagine myself without my earphones any time of the day. I almost worship my favorite lyricists, vocalists, guitarists, drummers. So naturally most of my signature lines have come from these sets of people; well on second thoughts, not from drummers!
Two particular ones I remember are the most recent. "Tongue tied and twisted, just an earth bound misfit, I" by Gilmour and ".. so never mind the darkness, we still can find the way!" by Rose.
I have been fascinated by Pink Floyd from the moment I listened to them. With Barret without Barret, with Waters without Waters, I worship them. In my opinion they have written some of the beautiful lyrics to match Waters' or Gilmour's mesmerizing voice. You'd have to listen to Shine on you crazy diamond to enjoy it. The line cited above, though is not from Shine on you crazy diamond. It is a Watersless Floyd creation. From album A Momentary Lapse of Reason, the song is Learning to Fly. If you get to watch the video of the song, please don't miss the chance. It is quite colorful and almost makes you long to fly. But not like the young man depicted there. That'd either be insanely suicidal or inexplicably miraculous!
The second one is from artists whose oeuvre, though rock, is quite different from Floyds. They rely on hoarse voice, heavy electric guitars and less than subtle drums. They too have their large followings. One being me. I used to kind of dislike Guns N Roses at beginning. Because of, to a certain extent, MTv. They never got tired of showing November Rain and Sweet Child o Mine virtually endless times and I got bored in first two/three attempts. But when I listened to more songs by them, esp Estranged and Civil War, I kinda became their fan. This particular line comes from their smash hit November Rain. It is an amazingly positive ending to a song which goes through quite ups and downs.
So here they are. Two of my favorite lines. If I change my sig, I'd love to discuss it here too.
signing off,
My memory got kind of refreshed as I stumbled upon this piece of writing about the goddess on the center court, and had a chance to look at the forwarded video clipping.
It goes,
... She is also known for her sense of humour. During a tight Wimbledon semi-final match against Kimiko Date, she was serving when a spectator yelled out "Steffi!". Everyone, including Steffi, burst out laughing. Composing herself, she got ready to serve again, when the fan shouted "Steffi! Will you marry me?" The whole stadium burst into peals of laughter and play was delayed for a couple of minutes. Steffi got ready to serve again, tossed the ball, caught it, then turned to the fan and yelled "How much money do you have?"
I have worshipped Steffi Graf more than all other sportmen/women combined! She remained an undisputable queen of tennis during her tenure. And no one dared to replace her in my mind, not Navratilova, not Seles, not Sanchez-Vicario, not Sabatini and definitely not new comers like Hingis (well, if I call Hingis a newcomer then those Williams, Henin-Hardennes, Myskinas, Sharapovas are definitely kids). Forehands have never looked elegant and fierce at the same time, after she quit. Her game came with a rather gentle service (with ball tossed up higher than normally people would do) and relatively weaker backhands (but she worked very hard to get it strong). But boy, wasn't it a treat to watch! She had great athletic physique and a graceful presence on court. I don't think anyone she defeated would have been humiliated by it, it least I would not have given a chance. As Sir Neville Cardus would have put it, "Even though she is kicking you in ribs, you might think she is helping you getting up." (Apologies, Sir!) Rather it was an honour to play against her. Her opponents who have achieved rare feats of defeating her would certainly cherish those memories for long. I remember crying in disbelief when she had lost in the very first round of Wimbledon. I'd never be able to forgive Lori McNeil for it.
Finally as my friend aptly put it, she is one of those ladies whom you cannot love enough.
Miss you a lot Steffi!
signing off,
