just another day...

why so serious?

2008-07-18T20:37:00.006+05:30

This town sleeps at night. Deserted highways, creepy by-lanes and egregious exits were encountered us as we made our way to the midnight premiere of The Dark Knight today morning. (Ok, the exits weren't that egregious)... As we made our way into the mall half an hour before midnight sufficiently pleased with our idea to come early to get good seats, the mile long queues to enter the movies just as quickly got rid of all our smugness. Batmans (batmen?), Jokers and Two-Faces filled the hallways. Holy weirdness, Batman!

Feeling out of place in a t-shirt and jeans, I quickly put my head down and strolled into the theatre... I could swear the ticket checker was smirking at me. Luckily, we did end up getting good seats - way back in the last row. Not all together though - no way! The last fifteen minutes are always the worst. And here we go... cheers all around as the film begins...

Frankly, I just can't come up with words to describe this movie. In one word, I could say - unbelievable! I may be biased here by the initial euphoria seeping through, but somehow - anytime, any day - I think this is a five-star movie.

Simply put, Chris Nolan's 'Dark Knight' is simply the best movie of the superhero genre ever made. And the Joker is up there as the best villain ever to be seen on the silver screen to date. The nightmarish look with the white face paint and the ever smiling scars, the menacing voice, the sadistic mind games - I cannot imagine anyone surpassing this performance anytime soon. Heath got into the mind of the Joker - and that's why I wonder if this was what killed him. Did he die for his art? Because undoubtedly, this was the performance that will make him a legend.

The other actors have done their part - I thought Aaron Eckhart handled the transition from Gotham City's white knight as Harvey Dent to the coin tossing maniac Two Face great. And did I mention the make up job on Two Face? Classic.

In discussing them, Christian Bale has been reduced to a mere supporting role. Doesn't mean he didn't do well - in fact, he was great as a Batman confronting his demons - once again. He's been my favorite Batman so far - but this movie - it totally belonged to the villains. Batman was totally owned by the Joker here.

The visuals of the movie are awesome - Gotham City has never looked so dark, dismal and scary at night. (Loved Batsuit 2.0, btw) The story was gripping, fast-paced and exciting - leaving you wanting more. All the characters and roles are given the opportunity to mature - you can actually see the slow transition of Harvey Dent as he fights against all odds and loses everything. All through the movie, I kept wondering how this movie was going to end. The tone of the movie said it all. The ending was particularly fantastic - something I never expected.

Looking at the academy award nominations for the last few years, I just hope that the Dark Knight is not overlooked - commercial successes tend to somehow fail at the Oscars. Heath Ledger is undoubtedly my choice for this year's best actor - not supporting, mind you - this movie belonged to the Joker who will give us nightmares for years to come.

Gotham needed a better class of criminal. The Joker has given us that - and more. I pity the poor soul that has to fill in his shoes. RIP, Heath Ledger, and thank you for the role of a lifetime.

the dark knight - tonight!

2008-07-17T20:09:00.003+05:30

It's just about time for my most awaited movie of this summer. The Dark Knight hits theatres tomorrow, and I'm going in for the first day's first show - a special screening at 12 am tonight! Wow, right? If not, please have the courtesy to act impressed.

Of course, that's assuming we're getting tickets. As I write this, one of my friends should be in possession of 8 tickets to tonight's show. He better be - or else he's going to be having a close encounter with a different kind of bat.

There are two reasons why I'm pretty excited about this movie - the first of course, being Heath Ledger's much hyped about performance. Of course, that's the reason that would also disappoint me - will it live up to the hype? That's the scary thought.

Secondly, the prequel to this movie. Batman Begins was, for me, the best Batman film ever. I hadn't like any of the earlier movies because of the toned down 'family movie' feel of them. Of course, the favoritism could be highly prejudiced because the film drew inspiration from the books of Frank Miller - especially Batman: Year One. I'm a big fan of the graphic novels of Miller - and B:Y1 is no exception. The fact that this story continues in this vein - it's enough to make me salivate. Add to the mix Christian Bale - you got the ingredients for what could arguably be the best movie of the year.

I say it once again, graphic novels make the best movies. Remember Sin City? Rock on, Frank Miller.

summer's here....

2008-06-30T17:08:00.003+05:30

The end of June... which means summer's here, and as oxymoronically as ever, we've got thunderstorms popping up all over the place. To adjust, spring was hotter than summer is right now.

On the bright side, the 4th of July is coming up, and that means long weekend! I need that... it's off to sunny Florida for me! Tampa - Orlando - Daytona, here I come!

July's also great for another reason - it's Kingsport's fun fest time! The annual local festival around here starts in 2 weeks time... there ain't a whole lot of events that interest me though - hopefully I'll write about it - don't hold your breath though!

Also, my new handy dandy camera's finally here! The Canon Powershot SX100IS - 8 MP & 10x Optical Zoom! The initial assessment - Awesome! I'll be checking it out in Florida more thoroughly, of course...

I guess that's about it for June... sometimes makes me wonder if it's worth it keeping ze ol' blog updated any more. :(

the smokies, yet again

2008-05-25T07:53:00.004+05:30

The last days of spring before the usual June heat wave sets in. Which means it's time to take a break from work and head off for some rafting in the only tourist attraction nearby - the good ol' Smoky mountains. It has something for every season.

Rafting was the only thing we did y'day, and I ended up with a close encounter - being the only member of the group to start on one raft, and end the trip on another.

Sitting with a laptop in the Smokies is not an ideal way to start the day, so here's a couple of rafting pics from yesterday 'til we get back home. Maybe, just maybe, this time I will blog. :)

a year in the good ol' us of a

2008-04-27T19:40:00.004+05:30

And here goes my customary post for the month of April, just to let the world know I'm alive (barely) and (in the) well.

It's now been a year since I landed here, in what I refer to as the good ol' US of A. It was a hot summer day in India on the 7th of April last year, as I walked down the tarmac to board a Kingfisher flight to Mumbai. Now as I think back over the last year, and its ups and downs, it seems as if it was a lifetime ago. (excuse the cliché)

I've travelled extensively over the past year - probably more than the rest of my life put together - which brings me to the reason I call Kingsport the good ol' part of the US. It looks exactly how someone uninitiated doesn't expect the US to be.

Most of the folks back home imagine the US to be endless miles of concrete jungle and skyscrapers - an extension of New York City. Heck, I've had friends visiting from US metros shocked by the greenery around. The biggest building over here is the office I work in - it has three whole stories!

Kingsport is the sort of place where people can still leave their doors unlocked (although I wouldn't advise it, and I hope my insurance agent isn't reading this)

When someone asks me where I am in the US, I almost never say Kingsport. Simple reason - a conversation would generally go like this:

Uncle/Aunty: "So beta, where in the US are you?"
Me: "It's a place called Kingsport, uncle/aunty" (and knowing fully well that no one apart from Kingsport-ians? would know that this place exists...)
Uncle/Aunty (if I'm not fast enough): "Accha beta, which state?"
Me: "It's in Tennessee, uncle/aunty"
Uncle/Aunty: "Haan, is that near California? My son is working there..."
Me: "No uncle/aunty, it's in the East"
Uncle/Aunty: "Oh, does US have a east side? I thought US was in the West"
Me: "No no uncle/aunty, US does have a east side, that is where New York is..."
Uncle/Aunty: "Oh, my nephew works in New York, you should visit him some weekend"
Me: "I'll try to... New York is also pretty far from here, nearly 10-12 hours by drive"
Uncle/Aunty: "Acchaa...." (still wondering about this mythical state of 'Tennessee' and convinced that I'm making it all up to avoid meeting their relatives)

That's why most of my conversations go like this:
Uncle/Aunty: "So beta, where in the US are you?"
Me: "New York, uncle/aunty"
Uncle/Aunty: "Acchaa...."

Happy belated anniversary to me.

spring has sprung...

2008-03-30T17:54:00.002+05:30

Spring has sprung,
The grass has riz,
I wonder where
the flowers is?

aquarian thoughts...

2008-02-29T23:32:00.005+05:30

Finally, a post for February. On the very last day of it. Just before 12 am. Just to let folks know... if they still visit this blog... that I'm still around.

I've been virtually incommunicado for the past month - for various reasons that simply take up space here. Since the last snowfall, which was literally, a 'snowstorm' in our case, it's been pretty decent weather... with a tad of rain in between.

January ended with a trip to sunny California - a re-union of cousins. From three different parts of the country - Kingsport (yours truly), Minneapolis & Los Angeles - we ended up at a fourth cousin's place in Fremont.

The trip was great, except for the storm on our departure day, which caused me to miss my connecting flight to Minnesota... I was planning to meet my cousin there and fly with her to SFO. I took a direct flight to San Fran instead, and ended up waiting 4 hours at the airport because her flight just wouldn't land!!

Apart from that, the trip was pretty good... the usual California spots were visited, the Golden Gate bridge was walked, photos were taken, and photos were uploaded. In case anyone has time to waste, they're here.

Here are a couple anyway:


The Golden Gate bridge	A streetcar named Desire

February's my favourite month of the year. Of course, that could be due to the fact that my birthday falls somewhere in there. This year's birthday came and went, and I hardly noticed. There was, however, the 'surprise' birthday party at 12 am.

A few pics just for the heck of it...


Bal-loony!	Life begins @ 25!

Cake cutting...	...followed by face painting

The surprise was, however, a bit unsurprising, especially when one of the surprise givers-to-be turned up earlier than the others to my house at 11.30. When the unknowing surprisers knocked on my door, I was on the floor with a laptop on me. And of course, laziness abounded. I yelled 'Come in'... and they didn't. So the friend opened the door for me.... to find a few balloons thrust in his face, and being yelled 'Happy Birthday!!!!!!!' at.

The surprisers became the surprised.

winter wonderland

2008-01-19T14:50:00.000+05:30

Last week, in a remote, little, relatively unknown town on the eastern edge of Tennessee called Kingsport, it snowed. Living in this place, I am but naturally biased, but this town, pretty as is it is during the rest of the year, transforms into a magical-looking white wonderland (Pretty much like Narnia - we even have a lamp - Pic 2) when it snows. Which itself is pretty rare - happening maybe a couple of times every year. We finished that quota last week.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. (cliche warning!!!) In that case, this will probably be my longest post yet! More pics here, and will be updated if it snows again!


Pathway to....?	Narnia?	Snowy trees...

Allandale falls...	... where I live!	17F... way below freezing!

More photos to follow, when I get 'em from other seemingly reluctant cameras, and of course, when it snows more!

an old friend returns...

2008-01-13T10:27:00.000+05:30

Last week, I met an old friend who I haven't seen in months. Haven't heard from for longer. When I saw her, I wondered why we ever lost touch. I missed listening to her.

This story begins with me cleaning out my room last week. I was just pondering over the mystery of how junk in a closet can defy the law of conservation of mass as I picked up a couple of my t-shirts and dumped them out. And there she was - my brand new (when bought) iPod Nano (black, of course - with a six month coating of dust brown)!

It's been a long time since I've used the iPod... quite some time. In fact - I can't remember the last time. After landing in the US, my use has been minimal. Maybe for a couple of trips way back in June perhaps, and then I don't remember when I stashed her in the closet.

Now that she's back, I have to find some time for her. I think I'll join the gym, so that I can show her off proudly while running on the treadmill (unless the guy next to me is wearing an iPod touch). But ah, he will never know. The new fancy-schmancy iPods will never have the heart and soul of my classic iPod. Mental note: Despite all that, be very selective in choosing my treadmills.

Now, Sunday is movie day. I've started downloading and watching movies by the dozen - right here at home on a 42" Plasma TV, and Philips home theatre system. Yes, the iPod is probably jealous. Now that I think of it... is that why I lost touch with her?

six degrees of separation?

2007-12-15T20:11:00.000+05:30

Frankly, I can't think of anything to write about. It could be 'coz I haven't done anything much worth writing about in the past couple of weeks, except for lazing around at home. And of course, watched a few movies. Actually, seems to me it's the cheapest thing to do. The weather's been relatively good over the past week, and I even got to come home with the Mustang's top down a couple of days.

Speaking of weather, I keep hoping for some snow, but I don't see it happening anytime soon. So if the snow won't come to you, I'll probably do the next best thing - go to it. I'm planning a few trips over the next couple of months, but I'll keep the destinations to myself until I really get around to them.

Speaking of my blog, I don't know when this happened, but some of the pics I've linked to in Picasa have had their links changed, and I get a page not found error. Thank you, Google. I've got to check out them pics and get 'em fixed now. I've also been thinking of changing the look of ze ol' blog, but at the current rate of my procrastination, I hope to get around to it by next Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas, it's just around the corner, and half the folks in my office are already off on vacation. I've got two four-day weekends coming up - one next week at Christmas, and one at New Year's - for which I really need to think about going somewhere. Get out of Kingsport at least a couple of days.

Speaking of Kingsport, the ol' city's really getting spruced up for the holidays. Downtown's already been prettied up... although I must say, it's not much of a downtown compared to other cities I've been to. Yet, it's our downtown. Hope I can get some photos before it's over.. if I ever get time to visit. Work reduces my life by about 50 hours every week. And that of course, is just at the office.

Speaking of work, I've got a test coming up on Monday that I absolutely need to pass. By the way, have you ever had an exam that you didn't need to pass? Jokin' apart, I thought I was done with exams once I left college. Unfortunately, my employer doesn't see it that way, and they figured we could do with a couple of tests every year. Also, they saw that the only way to get folks to write these tests is to link them to their performance review. You don't get nothin' if you pass, but you're screwed if you flunk. Nice, no? I can't wait to get this over with, so that I can last here for another year, and start lazing around the house some more.

Speaking of lazing around the house... read from the beginning.

so short, and thanks for the vacation - II

2007-12-09T22:09:00.000+05:30

Author's note: This post is so long overdue that I had to pay a fine on it. I was lucky they didn't revoke my blogger membership...

As I was saying before I rudely interrupted last time, Thanksgiving weekend was a movie-ful weekend. Friday night was, as usual, guy's night out. Except that we stayed in, and watched another RGV classic, Darwaza Bandh Rakhna. I don't know if it was a bad movie since I nodded off for most of the movie. For some reason, it reminded me of those hour long lectures that we used to have back in college. I kept expecting the bell to ring any minute.

Saturday was a lazy day, and I nodded off till 10. After the usual boring morning, Nithya - the only other person in our gang who skipped travelling on Thanksgiving - came over to watch Om Shanti Om. And I sat watching - for the fourth time! And on Saturday night, the guys got together again for two movies - repeat telecast, of course - Men Of Honor, and Kal Ho Na Ho. Worlds apart. I don't know what we'd been drinking. Luckily, common sense prevailed and I didn't watch a movie on Sunday. I don't even remember what I did on that Sunday though!

However, the week before that, Monday to be exact, we visited TriCities very own Nascar racing track at Bristol, about half an hour's drive from here. No, it wasn't for a race, it was at 9 pm to check out the Christmas lighting at the place. It was a drive through show of sorts with a dazzling display of moving lights. It's hard to describe, and unfortunately, there aren't too many good photos.


Lights @ BMS	More o' the same


Even more!


Scrambling for a photo!	Drivin' in an open sleigh


Missing the train...

We stopped at a 'village' midway through the display for a hot cup of chocolate. Dev's winter tip: Keep the top up on your convertible. And the obligatory group photos were clicked here. Dev's any season tip: Do not pose for a photograph below a person with a cup of hot chocolate in their hands. Following my chocolate shower, we were on our way back.


All together now...	Let's pour chocolate on him!

Dev's impossibility theorem: It's impossible to get all the chocolate out of your hair.

so short, and thanks for the vacation - I

2007-11-25T18:44:00.000+05:30

As the end of my 4-day Thanksgiving vacation approaches, I feel a strange sense of sadness. While most of the folks around here made plans to go all around the country, yours truly spent the best part of the last 4 days just lazing around the house. After the hecticness(!) of the last few months, a big break like this was just what the doctor ordered.

Perhaps apart from the Chicago trip, this was probably the best vacation I've had in the US. And of course, the best part is that it was the cheapest. I finally rolled up my sleeves... or at least I would have if I wasn't wearing Ts... and managed to get the house in good shape. The last time the house looked so clean, Alam Ara was being released. The kitchen floor looks clean enough to eat on (although I prefer a plate). Here's a pat on the back for me.

And of course, there were the movies. I've watched 11 movies in the last 4 days. Most of them were once-agains, with only a couple of new releases. Starting with Murder at 1600 on Wednesday evening on DVD, and continuing with RGV ki Aag. Yes, you read that right. I watched RGV ki Aag online. I'd wanted to see this film, ever since I've read the reviews - Jabberwock's for example. And how was it? Pure paisa vasool entertainment! Of course, that's because I didn't pay anything. I pity folks who might have shelled out their hard earned cash to watch this movie.

On Thursday, it was Fight Club (my favourite - for the nth time), and the new Italian Job (for the 5th or so time) on DVD, and Rush Hour 3 (for the 2nd time) on TV. No reviews for these... they're too old to review. Friday of course, was the day for new releases. The first was Beowulf in 3D. This movie is a must watch just for the animation. In 3D, the movie looks so real. Contrary to popular belief, I didn't go to the movie to see Angelina Jolie in the buff. That is one of the fringe benefits however. Wonder that was why they were charging $2.50 extra? Well, I must say that Angelina 3D is better than Angelina 2D.

You know, I have a very simple way of rating movies. Awesome movie - no. of times I glance at my watch = 0. Great movie < 2. Good movie < 5. Bad movie >= 5. Cant-take-it-anymore movie - when my watch seems more interesting than the movie.

Anyway, immediately after that, we rushed into the next theatre to catch Hitman - which was also released this weekend (I think). Starring Timothy Olyphant (or some guy like that), this was based on the supposedly popular video game. Good movie, worth the money. Short movie, which is just the way I like it. And of course, I don't do reviews. At least, not yet. Perhaps one of these days, I shall see the light...

If you've read the title, it shows a little 'I' at the end. This was, as a matter of course, added about 5 seconds ago, when I thought it was time to end this one right here. Part II will have the rest of the movies, and a small flashback to about a week ago when we visited the Bristol Motor Speedway. At night. And not for a race. Till then.

i'll be down in an hour mom!

2007-11-04T01:21:00.000+05:30

In less than an hour from now, it'll be time to set the clocks back an hour as we 'fall back' to Standard time. Must admit, it does feel kinda odd to know that I'll be living the same hour twice, as 1.59 am becomes 1.00 am. Any TV shows that should've run for half an hour tonight between 1.30 - 2 am, run for an hour and an half. Wonder what they're gonna show during the extra hour. Musings....

If I was sleeping, I'd have had an extra hour to sleep. But not me, oh no! I'm looking at it as 1 hour more that I'd be staying awake. Blame it on the caffeine.

You know, I'm pretty excited though. It's my first daylight saving change and I'm just bursting with questions - what do they do with all the daylight that they save? How do they store it - I mean do they just like, y'know, keep it in a box or something or is it stored in a maximum security vault? Huh? Whaddyou think? And while we're at it - why do they do the daylight saving thingie during night? There isn't any daylight to save at this time of the night, is there? If you know any of the answers, drop a comment below. Wowee.. it's almost time! I'm so very excited! (duh)

of fall colors and holloween

2007-10-30T18:17:00.000+05:30

October, right here in the US of A ushers in three things - Fall, freezing weather and Halloween. And when it's Fall, it is but obvious that it is the 'in thing' that you go out and take lots and lots of pictures of the "fall colors". After all, you don't want people thinking you're not impressed with all the flora and fauna around, do you?

So that's what I did for the last couple of weekends - a drive down to the Smoky mountains - I'm sorry... to the Great Smoky Mountains nearby. Some people tend to get a tad upset when I leave out the 'Great'. It's a trademark. There's a national park down there, which provides you ample opportunities to do the things you've always wanted to do - or at least pretend you wanted to do. So we went there and did some o' them touristy things - taking pictures, hiking of sorts... you get the idea.

The first weekend was when Vivek came down to return the Chicago visit. This was in the works over the course of 2 months... which basically meant that he would call every weekend to ask "Are the colors there yet?". He finally confirmed his visit the night before he left, after I assured him of seeing every color in the rainbow here.. including black and blue. I spent the next day searching for cabins nearby... what we finally got was eerily named 'Bear Skin Lodge'. I was fine with it as long it wasn't Bare skin lodge. I had my doubts though, since the cabin next to ours was named 'Romantic Retreat'. Wonder if they ever change the letters around and offer a package deal.

Anyway, the trip did go pretty smoothly after a bit of mish-mash at the beginning. Fall season is peak time in Gatlinburg... which means you'd probably find less people in our old filmi style 'Kumbh ki mela'. We did get to see the 'fall colors' and these pics prove it. We managed to get a bit of 'hiking' in there too.

Smokies Trip

The next weekend saw us taking another trip to the Smokies (Great, of course). This was a pure 'fall colors' trip - which meant all people did was go around taking pictures of every leaf and twig they could find. This time, we did manage to take a drive on the Blue Ridge parkway, where you can see all the colors on the trees, except blue. Pics have been uploaded. Before you get in, I must say that the album looks like an ad for National Geographic.

Fall 2007 - Smokies & Blue Ridge Pkwy

The weather's turned a bit cold as well... it's now in the single digit (celsius) range. I'm told this is good weather when it comes to winter here. Mental note: buy coat this weekend instead of next month as scheduled.

And now, it's almost the last day of the month, and tomorrow is Halloween. I plan to scare my colleagues tomorrow by going to office dressed as an employee. And of course, the kids will be at the doorsteps tomorrow night, trick or treating - which reminds me - I need to go get some candy. Or else I might just wake up on Thursday and see my windshield soaped up (which might not be such a bad thing after all - I do need my car washed anyway)... or worse. Adios.

septembrance

2007-09-30T16:39:00.000+05:30

And here I am again, in time for the obligatory monthly report. I really wish I'd pay more attention to this page these days, but unfortunately,

This is my first post on my new laptop - well, not mine actually. It's a client laptop - loaded with Windows Vista. It works great, whatever time it's up. I've to save this post every minute in the hope that it won't crash before then. Seriously, I've had the blue screen of death more often than my wallpaper. Maybe I should just make it my wallpaper.

Speaking of my wallpaper, my new wallpaper has a great pic from my last trip to Chicago. In the 'olden days', this trip would have been on my blog the moment I got back from it. These days, I'm writing it so late that two of the five folks that met for the reunion are already back in India.

(From L to R) Sheetal, Pradeep, Apy, Vivek and Me

Well, in short, it was one of the best trips I'd had since I've been here - probably the best trip. In fact, it was so good, someone up there decided it should extend by a day by canceling my flight back. The trip consisted of a short journey to Lake Geneva in Wisconsin and shopping at Gurnee Mills outlet (which I felt was bigger than Mangalore considering how much I walked around). Apart from that, it was pretty much sitting around and talking about the good ol' days, peppered here and there with some jokes and huge amounts of laughter. That happens when you get five good-humored Konkanis like us in the same room. ;)

And how can I forget the cooking? Sheetal and Apy made some wonderful dishes that I miss even now. We responded in kind by making some makeshift egg curry. Everybody ate it... so I assume that no comment is good comment.

Pics from the Chicago trip here, for folks who're jobless enough to take a gander.

The next trip was during the Labor Day long weekend - the first of September, to the sin city of Las Vegas. Maybe it was the fun of the Chicago trip, or my work took its toll, but I really didn't enjoy this trip as much as I should have. Felt like sleeping away the whole day... and I pretty much did. Of course, that could be 'coz we were roaming around the whole night, coming back to the hotel in time for breakfast. Anyway, we did the usual things - gambling (and losing of course), a show and a lot of sight seeing.

Moving further, a five-hour drive on Monday found us at the Grand Canyon, which is, as everybody puts it, awe-inspiring. How a big hole in the ground can be so much of a tourist attraction is beyond me. And Tuesday saw us at Antelope Canyon in Page, nearby. This was a hole in the wall, literally. Barring jokes, both the canyons were amazing. I don't have pictures yet though. Have been just too lazy to get it from others.

Other than that, there's nothing much to speak of, but there's been a lot happening back home, I see. There's already the done-to-death Indian World Cup victory, for instance. And as usual, there are the jokes surfacing again and again - Kalam's vision of India becoming a superpower in 2020, Misbah ul Haq's not knowing there is a Malayalee in every corner etc etc. If you get these jokes, please do not forward them to me.

Anyway, I guess that's about it for September. I don't think I'll be going on too many trips. I'm currently on a saving mode, for a trip to India next year. Dharmu has threatened me with severe bodily harm if I don't make it to her marriage. And this time, she's serious.

august files

2007-08-18T04:54:00.000+05:30

I guess it's time for my monthly update. As I write this, I'm at the Charlotte Intl airport in North Carolina, waiting for a flight to take me to Chicago for the second time in three months.

I have been a busy little (big) boy recently - firstly, I finally got my new car! A bee-yoo-tiful Silver Mustang convertible! Pics have been uploaded here, for gloating purposes. Most of my friends would have seen this already, but hey! It's a Mustang!!! No harm in visiting again now, is there?

Secondly, I've moved into a new apartment, which I've already decorated with a 42" plasma television, and a Philips home theatre. Haven't had a chance to upload those photos yet, but maybe sometime soon. Or maybe not. It all depends on when I feel like doing something good in life.

It's time for my flight now. I'm off to Chicago. Be back Monday - to yet another week in the office. Drudgery, I say. Just don't feel like opening up my laptop anymore these days. Is it any wonder why my blog lies neglected?

4th of july...

2007-07-05T05:13:00.002+05:30

For the first time, I've a holiday for an independence day other than the 15th of August. And I celebrated it with my first visit to a casino in nearby Cherokee. Call it beginner's luck if you want, but I started with 5 dollars, and walked out with 85 bucks. I was up 145, but lost quite a bit at the Blackjack table. :( But heck, a profit like that - I can live with it.

As I write this, I'm watching another in a long list of movies in a marathon spree I've been on since last week. It's a Telugu movie, and I cannot understand a word, but I've a faithful translator in Sangeeth beside me. This is the second Telugu movie I'm seeing this week, and it seems to be becoming quite a habit!

It's been a barrage of movies since the last weekend, starting all the way from Ocean's 11, ending with Ocean's 13 on Sunday. In between was the Silver Surfer, a Telugu movie and Ocean's 12. Yes I know, Ocean's thirty-six over the weekend. Of which, unfortunately, the sequels as usual were not even close to recreating the magic of Ocean's 11.

And of course, it's back to work tomorrow. *deep sigh* Luckily it's just two days to the weekend. I just can't wait. After a barrage of travel over the last month, it feels really good to sit back, kick off your shoes and relax over the weekend. And speaking of travel, I've finally uploaded (most of) my pics, and here are the links, if you're jobless enough to check them out...


Florida - Seaworld and Disney!	Chicago

Indianapolis!

the month in review

2007-06-27T06:23:00.000+05:30

Today, I logged into blogger after a gap of over a month. I really can't help but feel guilty over the way I've been neglecting blogging after reaching here. I console myself by saying that I don't have the time, which is true, sort of... to an extent. Well, maybe it's not all that true.

Ok, you got me. The truth is that I am a very evil (non) blogger. Once a month, when the moon is full, this evil blogger updates his blog. *cackles evilly* (Is there any other way to cackle anyway?)

Actually, it's been a fun month. Loads of travelling all over the East Coast, road trips left, right and center. Every weekend this month was pre-booked for yet another journey. Starting right from Florida the first week, where we visited the Disney world theme parks and Universal Studios. Next up was a trip to Chicago, the land of Al Capone. Coming in third was a trip to Indianapolis, where we caught the F1 Grand Prix. Amazing pictures were taken, which will be shared soon. Finally, last weekend was a trip to Atlanta, which at 7 hours of travel one way, was by far the shortest! Our motto for the last month, in short, was that a journey of a thousand miles, begins with a single turn of the ignition.

Yes, I just put in a month of travel into one paragraph, when I could've written at least 5 posts on it. But it's just the evil blogger in me. Maybe I will write an entire post or two about the highlights, but for now, that's it. People who know me well will not hold their breath for that post, though.

The highlight for the last trip to Atlanta was that we bumped into none another than A R Rahman and Hariharan. We were just hanging out at the mall on a lazy Saturday afternoon, getting bored out of our skulls, nursing a cup of tea, when we saw Rahman stepping off the escalator! He was in Atlanta on tour, and had come to visit the promotions office. Unfortunately, before we could recover from the shock, he'd already gone in, and all I managed were a few grainy pics with my mobile. We'd no cameras with us, since we were just in the mall. As we went down the escalator, we see Hariharan going up the other escalator. We must have set a record for running down the escalator and running up the other. We finally caught up with him, and managed to get one quick pic. And luckily for us, Rahman was about to leave at the time, and we managed to get another pic with him. One which I can cherish for some time to come. Check these out.


With AR Rahman!	Nitin & Debu with Hariharan

If you've got it, flaunt it, I always say. Until the next full moon then.

just another post...

2007-05-23T05:29:00.000+05:30

Well, there's been complaining from all corners that I don't update my blog often these days. Heck, I thought that was something to cheer about!!

It's been a month and a half here in the US of A, and things have been moving. Finally got a mobile (phew! Was that a struggle) and my driver's license. Ooh la la! Now all that I need is a car... :)

My cell arrived over a week late since they were apparently 'out of stock'. I can't complain though, when I got the actual phone for free. They more than make up for it with the phone charges though. The driving license was ok, though. Luckily, they dont make you parallel park here... phew!

One thing about being in the US is that you miss all the good stuff that's happening back in India. Not really. With all the Indians out here, I was treated to a detail-by-detail synopsis of the Ash-Abhi wedding. I knew more about the wedding than the bride n groom themselves. Does anybody even remember that it happened last month???

Hmm... and so on and so forth, I found a lot of folks who paid 200 dollars to watch Bangladesh & Ireland battle it out on a fine Sunday morning last month. I really do hope they weren't expecting India v/s Pakistan. Tch tch.

Man, I've really dulled out, filling this page with month old news. I think I'd better stop now.... and post a couple more pics of my new surroundings. Until I get something to write about.

a long awaited conclusion

2007-05-13T18:53:00.000+05:30

It's been what, a month since I was stuck at the Amsterdam transit lounge as per my blog? The Terminal, anyone?

Well, moving on, after a delay of about an hour, it was soon time for my flight to Detroit. The flight itself was uneventful. I did catch the movie, 'The pursuit of Happyness' on board, and although it'd been nominated for the Oscars and had gotten rave reviews, I really didnt like it that much. Perhaps I really didnt grasp the 'intricacies' of the movie, or whatever, or maybe it was just that I watched it on such a small screen with headphones, but I found it real boring. In fact, I think I fell asleep, coz I couldn't remember the end later!

Ah, Detroit! My first point of entry to the US of A. I had a seven hour wait over here, and with my immigration over in a matter of an hour or so, I had about 5 hours to kill. I started by checking out the Starbucks counter. After all, it's the first thing that one does in America, no? Especially if you're a caffeine addict. I settled back, with a good book and a steaming cup of coffee for a couple of hours, but there's only so much you can wait. Then I started the five cent tour of the airport. And boy, did it turn out to be a long walk!


Starbucks - the first sign of America	A funky tunnel

Dancing fountain @ Detriot	A travel weary me

Well, to cut a long story short, I managed to somehow while the time by. And soon it was time for my final flight for the weekend - to my final destination of Kingsport, Tennessee. After a couple of international flights, this plane looked a teensy weensy bit small to me. Seemed to me that if they had one more passenger like me, the plane would have had a bit of a problem taking off. A very relaxed plane journey later, it was 9.30 at night when I saw the lights of Kingsport a few thousand feet below.

The sun and the clouds - a bird's eye view

As we came in to land, I could see the logo of my client, a little distance away from the airport. Must say it was strange to see a logo I've seen only on document headers for the last two years, all lit up live for the first time. Made me realize I've actually arrived half a world away already. And as I climbed down the gangway onto the tarmac to take my first steps in this far off country, I thought to myself, "One small step for Dev, one giant leap for America!" Actually I didn't, but I thought I'd have a grand ending for this post.

there's no time like snow time

2007-04-17T07:17:00.000+05:30

Well, I was supposed to write about the second part of my trip to the US. But something happened this week that pre empted that. It snowed! :)

Here's a couple of pics of my first tryst with snow in the US of A...


This is summertime?	When in America, do the style...

Slippin' n slidin'	Snowy trio

This photo session was followed by a full fledged snowball fight, unfortunately which could not be captured on film. Everybody wanted to get in on the act!

All in all, a great first weekend in ze ol' US of A.

amsterdam ahoy!

2007-04-12T19:45:00.000+05:30

For those who might have been wondering where in the world I am, here's the answer. I've crossed half of it and, as I write this, am getting settled in the sleepy li'l hamlet of Kingsport, Tennessee. Finally, I've shaken off the jet lag and feel awake enough to write a small mail on my journey to the land of the great American dream. After days of sleeping off in the evenings to clear my poor li'l head, a post from the lonely traveller finally graces this diary.

This tale, a journey of a thousand miles (ten thousand, more likely) began at the airport in Mangalore. The time, last Saturday afternoon, 2 pm IST. Actually, the tale began a week earlier with the arguments about packing with my mom about what to pack and what not etc etc etc. My mom started calling up all my cousins, my uncles, my aunts, my friends, my cousins' uncles' aunts' friends and a host of other folks for advice. If you ever needed an example for too many cooks spoiling the broth, this was it. No matter, as the packing was going along smoothly, in the sense what whatever my mom added to the suitcase, I removed from the other side. Finally, as we managed to compromise, 2 suitcases were filled with clothes, food and the usual knick knacks and weighed. Just right for the international limit.

Coming back to Saturday afternoon, an early lunch and lots of goodbyes later, we were at the airport. A long drawn farewell with family and friends was on the cards, as long as my mobile was in range. Among those who came to see me off was Dharmu who, for a change, presented me with a Rum n Raisins chocolate.

The announcement for passengers on Kingfisher airlines to Mumbai to proceed to security check was er... announced. As I walked through security, a strange twinge of homesickness hit me, as I realized I would not be seeing my home for more than a year. However, it was soon quelled by the sight of the Kingfisher airhostesses in their skimpy uniforms. I boarded the flight and started on a long, long journey that was to conclude at Kingsport, Tennessee nearly 40 hours later.

I spent most of the flight to Mumbai thinking about how different life was going to be for the next year. I was missing Mangalore and my friends already. Loneliness was personified. Sigh. I'd a 9 hour wait in Mumbai, which I'd planned to spend at the airport, counting on my fingers. However, luckily for me, one of my dad's friends was in town, just for the weekend, and I could go to his home. He's travelled far and wide, and gave me the total fundae on things, which really helped me a lot on the trip. He dropped me off at the airport at night and waited for nearly an hour as I completed my check in. I can't really thank him enough.

With the check in done and over with quickly, I'd over two hours wait at the airport before my flight in the lounge/post security check area. The last calls from India with my now defunct hutch number (God bless its soul) were made. Then off I was, stepping into the aircraft, and off the soil of India, for quite some time. By that point, it was 1 in the morning, and as soon as the flight to Amsterdam took off, I was out like a light. Slept like a baby (a very large one, at that) for most of the 10 hour flight. I wouldnt say I was snoring much, but my co-passenger had ripped his pillow and stuffed the cotton in his ears.

When my eyes opened (literally, not metaphorically), we were just about a hour and a half away from the Netherlands. I always wondered why that place was called so. Perhaps because it's neither here nor there, wherever that is. If you're confused, don't worry. So was I. Ahem. Moving on, it was 7 am local time when we landed, which meant it was about 10.30 back home. Used my credit card to call home and assure them I was in one piece... almost.

The Schizpol (I think) airport was huge. And I'm just talkin' about the transit area. And here it was that I waited. (a bit monotonous, no?) After a quick trip to the restroom, I made my first transaction in foreign currency (for some years) for some breakfast here. The only thing that looked palatable on the menu was chocolate donuts, so had that and a cup of coffee (old habits die hard). The caffeine withdrawal syndrome, and all that. Then it was off to wait, another hour or so, before my connecting flight.

... to be continued... with pics!

not a funny story at all...

2007-03-19T23:17:00.000+05:30

A bit out of character for me, but I must say I'm well and truly shocked. I'd mentioned in my last post that I'd a funny story to tell. However, moments after I published it, a story by no means funny broke half a world away, and rocked the cricketing world with the force of a hurricane.

Barely 24 hours after Pakistan became the first team to be knocked out of the World Cup, Bob Woolmer was no more. The stress seems to have finally got to him. And he paid the ultimate price.

Sometimes, I wonder if he's been given a divine way out. Let's face it, he wasn't a popular man in Pakistan at the moment, and heads will roll soon. I just wonder...

Make no mistake about it, the pressure that the subcontinent teams face to succeed, especially India and Pak, is incomparable. As some bloke once said, "If you play well for India, they name a street after you. If you fail, they chase you down the same street." As I write this, India have just hammered 413 against a hapless Bermuda, and the paint cans are coming out for the street signs. Deja vu - once again. Remember 2003?

Coming back though, one of the best coaches ever has ended his career. Unfortunately not in the way he would have wanted. Pakistan cricket is now at it's lowest ebb. And he will be sorely missed.

Rest in peace.

a journey of sorts...

2007-03-18T22:27:00.000+05:30

Yes, I know. It's been another long 'short break' here on my diary - which seems to be becoming a regular feature these days. I guess I've become real apathetic as far as the ol' blog goes. *sigh*

Haven't been logging on to the net at home for various reasons since the last couple of weeks. Which is why most of the blogs I frequent haven't been blessed (or tarnished - as you see fit :P) with my comments. Firstly, our Electricity Board has been following Murphy's law to the letter. I swear they must have some sort of a sensor which causes a power cut as soon as I come home. *double sigh*

Secondly, a lot has been happening in my life recently - good and bad, in spades - and I've been taking time off to reflect on all that, which is why I don't feel like spending much time in cyberspace. Sometimes we tend to forget that a real world exists outside this virtual one, anyway.

Which brings me to thirdly, loads of travel and books. Been around for the last two weeks, travelling here n there. Too many places to write about - and too lazy too. Apathy at its worst. The last bit of travelling was with Dharmu to Moodbidri, a small town about 40 kms from here yesterday. The day was good - to the temple, followed by lunch at Padiwal's next door. Dharmu, being on a diet, had considerably less than her usual meal, which meant she hogged from everyone else. No ice cream for her as well - since she ate more than half of her sis-in-law's 'Padiwal Special'! :)

Also been devouring books by the dozen, thanks to the power cuts - finished a huge 2 tome Ruskin Bond omnibus - the usual short stories. Followed it up with John Wright's 'Indian Summers'. This is an amazing book - recommended reading! And now started up with Mark Tully's 'Heart of India'. As I maintain, I'm bad at reviews - which is why my review is limited to either a thumbs up or a thumbs down.

Anyway, this 'self realizing' journey of sorts continues, and until I see an end - some sort of sign perhaps - I need some time for myself. Perhaps I'm being too melodramatic, but that's the story. I know Mel would lurrrrve to put it down to mid life crisis. Huh!

However, the fun in being unpredictable is that for all you know, I might start blogging tomorrow itself. Yes indeedy, tis very likely - as I've a veddy nice humorous story to tell! :)

new look for de ol' blog

2007-03-01T22:08:00.000+05:30

As Melody has so sagely commented on my last post, they came, they saw, and they commented. On the template that is. So, to give you all a chance, I shall, with extremely great enthusiasm, write this post about my spankin' new template, so that people may comment on the movie I saw yesterday, thus redeeming themselves in my (and Mel's) eyes.

Well, the first thing you might see here (if it loads) is a shiny banner on top. At this point, I must endow regards of the highest order, with full credits to Adobe Photoshop, and to my stone age 2MP Fuji A305. As you can see, I have captured the poignancy of those sublime moments in the subtle simplicity of classic black and white. There were a couple of other pictures which were initially part of the banner, but were sadly withdrawn later owing to some encouraging suggestions from the initial reviews. If you have managed to get this far without a dictionary on your lap, I humbly request you to continue.

Archana, the lovely lass, second from left in the center photograph here, has requested me to move the description to the left, so that she could be seen. Here you go, milady. Your wish is my command.

I'd decided to go for the two column template solely for one reason - photos. With my old template being a two column one, I'd generously used the wide space offered in the main column for a table to display two photos side-by-side, as you see in most of my recent posts. To keep the ol' bloggy looking neat and clean, the wide main column stays.

With my new project at work being mainly in the area of Microsoft's CMS for website development, it'd become a sort of a dull thing, doing the same thing at home and work, which is mainly why I pushed doing this template way back.

And as a side effect of this now, one of the main things I look for after the look n' feel is user comfort. Of course, along with the compliments, I would like to know if there is anything that you might feel is difficult to use or not properly working. This is a work in progress, and if you'd like something different, please lemme know. :)

For those rare folks (god bless you) who might feel the need for the feeds from dev's all new diary, feeds are provided for a couple of feedreaders at the very end of the sidebar column. Do comment if any other feedreader may be needed as well. After careful consideration, I wisely decided not to show off how many people are using the feeds, so as not to chase away my only reader.

I've never been one for widgets on my blog. Clocks, dropdown menus for previous posts are all well and nice, but the fact is that they take too long to load, and they mean unnecessary download bandwidth. The only thing I've used right now is blogrolling for my blogroll, and at most, I might go in for an archives widget after a couple of years, as the list increases, but right now I see no need.

If you have made it till here, congratulations! You can now stop yawning and comment. Or alternatively, you may also contact me @ udmallya(at)gmail(dot)com. I must thank you for your patience and perseverance, especially since I dozed off in the third para itself while reading this.

a 'prestigious' mission

2007-02-28T22:17:00.000+05:30

Just got back home from watching 'The Prestige'. Adlabs, planning (rather badly) to capitalize on the Oscar fever(?) has been running a week of 'Oscar movies', if you would prefer to call it that, over the last week at 7 pm daily. What beats me though, is why in God's name do you want to tout Blood Diamond as a special Oscar movie showing, when its regular shows are still running?!

It's been a week of dismal showings. I expected a lot when they first announced the plan, but alas, Happy Feet & The Devil Wears Prada are not my idea of 'Oscar movies'.

But one thing I took note and made plans to attend, was the movie 'The Prestige'. I'd heard a lot of reviews about the movie - both good and bad - and had made up my mind to watch it someday. The fact that it was about magic had tilted the scales in favour, since I've always been interested in the area of prestidigitation, even if I could barely spell it.

All done and said, last Friday I saw the date of the showing - 28th and for some reason I fail to comprehend, firmly entrenched it into my mind... as Thursday. Around 5 pm today, I realized that today was the 28th. Rushing through my office work skipping my usual 5.15 (& 5.45) coffees, I beat all odds to finish off work by 6.45 and rushed to the theatre. Mangalore being Mangalore, made it with five minutes to spare. The theatre, as expected was 90% empty, which allowed people to buy 60 buck tickets and sit in the upper rows. Btw, I didn't.

So the first part of my mission complete, I sat engrossed in the movie, which no matter what people might say, I felt was extremely dark, brooding and entertaining, just the way I like it. The chemistry between the lead actors, Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale, was too good. They brought the obsession of the magicians (Angier and Borden respectively) to out do one another to life. The story, adapted from the novel, was much more entertaining than the novel.

The movie is all about the two magicians trying to outdo one another to perform the greatest trick of all time - The Transported Man. The twists and turns through out the movie keep you engrossed and at the edge of your seat (although it does get a bit out of hand sometimes). And of course, the climax - or shall I say the reveal - was mind blowing.

Christoper Nolan, take a bow. The funny casting of the set, I must admit, was to see David Bowie in the role of Nikola Tesla. :)

And as a nice side note, I won a DVD of Robert De Niro's 'The Mission' in a lucky drawing on my seat number. :)

Now if that is not a prestigious mission, then what is?

it's all official...

2007-02-24T18:01:00.000+05:30

It's official. I now live only for the weekend. After a blast of a birthday last Saturday, this week as usual has belonged to the rat race. Blogging during the week has officially become an impossibility, either due to timelessness, (Is that a word? If it wasn't, it is now!) or sheer laziness. Yes sir, two dozen and counting, and the ol' mind's already started to rot (sigh)

My new template, which I'd wanted to put up last weekend on my birthday, has been officially (there's that word again) postponed for next week, because of my *&$#&* screwed up router. The final touches are being er... touched up, with some suggestions from friends (and foes) who've had a official sneak preview of the all new Dev's Diary. It'll be officially launched... on just another day. You'll know.

So there I was, officially net-less at home for the last week. Friday saw the official rebirth of the Phoenix, as I finally figured out the settings to make the darn thing work. After that, the first thing to do was to respond to all the Orkut scraps that had piled up over the last week, wishing and otherwise. So guys, if you reading this, here's an official sorry for the delay!

In other news, Amit Varma has officially launched his long (and I mean long) awaited site, the all new India Uncut. Do check it out. I love the new sections launched, and officially recommend Workoutable for all the geeky quizzards around.

And now I'm off. It's officially time for the evening show of Ghost Rider. Reviews if I think it's worth it. :) Ta, folks.

two dozen of the best!!

2007-02-18T19:20:00.000+05:30

First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to offer heartiest congratulations to my parents. Because on this day (well, yesterday actually), twenty four years ago, a little bundle of joy was born to them, who has since become a bigger bundle than they can handle - of 6'3" and a couple of hundred pounds, and been pestering them ever since.

It's been a great birthday. In an absolute rarity, I spent almost the entire day at home. After the usual happy birthday calls at midnight, Dharmu woke me up early in the morn, when she landed up at my place at 7.30 to present me with a beautiful T-shirt. Needless to say, I wore it to lunch with her. Following which my mom asked me why I didnt wear the T-shirt she presented me. Sigh, women! Two are too hot to handle.

Anyway next up, god came over (which made it three), or rather I picked her up at her house, and we went to the Taj. What a way to start the day - a cup of steaming hot tea at the Taj! Then we decided to watch god's gift - a DVD of Golmaal (the old one). But unfortunately, the DVD just wasnt working on my comp (sigh). So we decided to check out Chalti ka Naam Gaadi instead. Riotous laughter ensued.

Why do you think Dharmu is feared so?

Dharmu joined us for lunch at Abhiman, and accompanied us back to the house for the remaining part of the movie. And yes, she brought with her a cake. I haven't cut a birthday cake for nearly 10 years, so it was a bit of a throw back to the past. So, in a small, quiet, private ceremony, the cake was cut, photos were clicked, and the cake was eaten. Grand, ain't it? :)


The cake - yummy for the tummy!	Happy birthday to me!


Make him eat! Make him eat!	Mom n Dad - congratulations to them!:)

Finally, after a evening of chatting, acting stoopid, and other general activities, it was time the end of a great day. Went to the bus depot to say 'bye to god who was leaving to Bangalore. I'll miss you, girl! Take care, and have a great life ahead.

As an afterthought, how many people can say that they've actually had conversations with god? :)

Also, to the loads of people who scrapped on Orkut to wish me, thanks a million. The net at home is down, and I might take some time to get back to thank you personally. If you reading this, well, thanks loads! :)

a social life... finally

2007-02-17T18:24:00.000+05:30

It's been a long week, with the net connection at my home conking out. And that, coupled with the fact that Dharmu's back, has resulted in the scarcity of posts at your very own Dev's diary.

To be honest, there wasn't anything much to be written about anyway. The work's been pretty decent, and so the I've been having a bit of a social life :)... finally! Been hanging out with friends over the past couple of weeks, and been visiting almost all my old haunts. After all, old haunts are the best haunts.

Visited Iceberg with Dharmu, which was a visit long long overdue. Apparently, since the only business that he had was ours, the old owner has since sold the place. Under new management, and a new menu (but the same old ice creams) which is even more difficult to read than the old one, business seems to have improved. There was actually a customer in the place when we entered. There were three actually, but it turned out that the other two were waiters.

Also visited the place where you eat charmuri upkari a couple of times with a fellow charmuri enthusiast, Chathura, who is nicknamed, and shall henceforth be referred to, as 'god' (with a small g). She left to Bangalore last night on a transfer, and shall be missed sorely. :( After all, it's hard to find a girl who's so enthusiastic about the Taj as she is. What say, god?

A small reunion of sorts was had at Hao Hao, the good ol' Chinese restaurant of Mangalore which has recently been renovated... funny, seems to me as though it was just renovated last year as well. Oh well, just deja vu, I suppose. Must be a glitch in the Matrix. Basically, it was five of us - four bloggers (somewhat) and a non - myself, Harsha, Aps, Dharmu & Pradeep - from the Canara 2000 batch. Some pretty pictures were taken, and some not so pretty ones too, which have invited a blanket ban on the pics. At great personal risk, I have posted a couple of the least harmless ones here.

One for all, and all for one - FOOD!

Dharmu shares a joke with Aps - even if she didnt mean to

Newkia - the phone for people who cant afford anything else

Work's been pretty fun too. With god leaving, she's made sure I'm going to miss her by popping into my cubicle and eating my head away to glory. And there was a party planned as well... a bowling party! All the details of the party were enthusiastically worked out by god. She fixed the teams, booked the lanes etc etc etc. Three teams were picked by lots, with the three girls in our project as captains, and it was decided that the losing two teams must treat the winning one to dinner afterward. Unfortunately, on the day of the party, the owner of the lanes called up to tell us that out of the 4 lanes, only one was working. Fifteen people bowling on a single lane isn't actually a pretty sight, I must say. So the party was indefinitely postponed, and poor god will miss it. :(

Finally yes, today's my birthday! Spent the day at home with Dharmu 'n god, who came over to spend the day. A detailed post, with pictures, shall soon grace this blog. Happy birthday to me!

surprise, surprise!!!

2007-02-07T12:13:00.000+05:30

Just yesterday, I was the lucky recepient of a very wonderful surprise. "Ding dong", rang the doorbell at my house last night at 8.30 pm. "Who could it be?", I wondered (in true fairy tale ishtyle) I opened the door, to find standing outside... Dharmu. *stunned look*

Yes, she's back. My bestest friend and the only girl I'm truly afraid of. And she's given me a wonderful surprise. She'd convinced me that she would be back at the end of February, and she'd done everything to make sure I believe her story, right from telling me from months that she would be back at the end of February, to making her mom call me and reconfirm the fact.

If I don't tell the circumstances that led up to last night's events, I would be doing a grave injustice. It was a pukka fillum story.

Firstly, for months, this girl has been telling me that she would be returning only by the end of February. And that she would not reveal the date, since she wanted to 'surprise' me. And poor gullible li'l me believed her. *mental note - never again*

Then came the confusion over the plane tickets. This was the only part of the charade which was real. Poor Dharmu! :(

Last weekend, she tells me that she's going to her aunt's place for the weekend. And yes, I believe her, since I have no reason not to. *mental note - never again* Then, she calls me on Saturday from her "aunt's place", while actually in the airport boarding her flight.

Then on Sunday, she mails me from Malaysia, chiding me for not mailing her over the weekend. At that point, she's still mum, and as far as I'm concerned, she's back in San Diego, to finish her packing. Bad, bad Dharmu!

Note at this point sometime yesterday, I have a semblance of a doubt on whether she's on her way, since she's not called for the past three days, which is pretty unusual. But poor ol' me puts it down to her hectic schedule. (sigh)

To put in a final show, her mom calls me up yesterday morning, and asks me to accompany them to Bangalore to pick up Dharmu next Sunday. Hesitant at first, since Dharmu had insisted that I dont come there, but at her mom's insistence, I finally agreed. All this while, Dharmu is sitting next to her mom. *angry smiley*

Finally, the charade ends as last night, she lands up at my doorstep, just as I'm about to leave for Blood Diamond (review & comments in next post, perhaps). I was so surprised... speechless in fact. To sound cliched, a wave of emotions ran over me... surprise, happiness, anger... I just cant explain it. And as you might expect, my mind was not at all into the movie last night. :)

The next month will be spent roaming around. If you find my blogging frequency going down, you know the reason, and you know who is to blame. So no complaints to me, please. ;)

Welcome back, sweetheart. I missed you.

Afterthought: Where are my gifts? And buy a phone soon, ok?

you choose the title

2007-02-03T20:32:00.000+05:30

So here it is, the end of another fantabulous week, in which the most exciting thing that happened to me was a dentist's appointment. (sigh)

It is at these times that I truly envy folks that have the ability to make a dentist's appointment sound so exciting, that their readers actually look forward to it... so much that they reach for their phone and call their dentist.

Reader(frantic): "Doc, doc, you gotta make an appointment for me right away!"
Doc(even more frantic): "But why? Have you got that bad a toothache?"
Reader: "No, not at all... I just want to feel your drill in my mouth..."
Doc: "You sick pervert!!! Stay away from me!!!" (bangs down the phone)

Now that I've got the customary sick joke out of the way, let's start with more serious matters of international importance in my life.

The flavour of this week has been movies. On Thursday night, managed to catch the last ever show of 'Naayi Neralu' [wiki] (for non Kannadigas, literally translates to Shadow of the Dog), the internationally acclaimed movie by Girish Kasaravalli, based on the novel by S L Bhyrappa. Generally, as most people would know, such national award winning art movies are definitely deep (read boring), but this was an amazing movie. I was engrossed in the movie 'til the very end, and the climax was just too good. Of course, I'm speaking on the basis that you might enjoy these kind of movies. I had a tough time finding someone to go with! The basic theme of the film deals with reincarnation and how three generations of women - grandmother, mother and child deal differently with the situation, when a person claims to be the dead son of the grandmother. And yes, keeping with the tradition that I'm extremely bad at reviews, here you go!

Also went through a couple of my DVDs, the first being 'Coffee & Cigarettes' [wiki], a collection of short vignettes built one upon the other, of people discussing diverse themes... all while sipping coffee and/or smoking a cig. A series of 11 short stories where movie stars, rock stars etc etc play themselves. Quite an entertaining movie... but some of the stories were unnecessarily long drawn. Others were pretty good.

By the way, coincidentally I hear Ram Gopal Verma is planning to release a film called 'Cutting chai & Beedis', which may have been inspired by the above.

The second movie, currently in progress is 'To Sir, with Love' [wiki] starring Sidney Poitier, based on the novel by E.R Braithwaite, about how a black teacher turns a bunch of cynical teenagers into respectable students. 'My fair lady' in the classroom, if you will :). I loved the novel... let's see if I like the movie as much.

I already have a list ready for the next week... Parzania has released finally in Mangalore. And of course, there's Blood Diamond which is a must watch. Let's see how things work out.

the emperor, and the could-have-been

2007-01-28T20:41:00.000+05:30

7-6, 6-4, 6-4. And so it was. The Federer Express steamrolled yet another victim en route to his 10th Grand Slam title. And yet, the numbers don't tell the story. An enthralling match from beginning to end, which meant that I was glued to the set for 2 and a half hours today, watching the undisputed king of tennis, and a serious challenger battle it out on a cool Australian evening.

Fernando 'Speedy' Gonzalez, started off in style. For the first time in ages, Federer found himself needing to put in an effort to win the match. The first set could have gone Speedy's way, but the king wasnt about to give up easy. Federer was easily below his best, neither man could produce their earlier forms. However, the Speedy break was broken back, and a 9-deuce 12th game followed. In the end, however, the tie break was all FedEx.

The second set went through in a similar fashion, with the guys holding serve. One crucial break was all he needed. Federer took the set in style, and was as scroogey as ever, allowing just 2 points off his own serve. The third set was the same, and thus the king retained his crown, being the first person since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to win a Grand Slam without dropping a set, and the first ever man to win 3 Grand Slam titles at least thrice.

However, no review can ever do justice to the way this match was played. The points, rallies, the atmosphere - it was definitely a you-shoulda-been-there sorta match. A few points in the match were a treat to watch. No way I can describe them here. If you missed it, too bad.

Anyway, reviews are boring, ain't they? Besides, I'm feeling the Monday morning blues already after the long weekend. (sigh) It's back to office tomorrow.

Roll on, says the FedExpress. Roland Garros, here he comes!

the week... in review

2007-01-27T22:32:00.000+05:30

So there I was, on the chair, staring at the bright lights shining in my face. A masked man, with an instrument of torture more popularly known as THE DRILL, hovered inches above my face. I closed my eyes, and waited for the pain to begin....

Yes, familiar scenes at your friendly neighbourhood dentist's. I'm just back from a dental appointment where I'd had a filling done, and been informed of needing two more (sniff) Getting all the overdue dental work done, much to the satisfaction of my mom who's been pestering me to do so since Mahmud Ghazni raided India (damn, he stole away all the toothpaste!) And so, here I sit with a swollen cheek. No photos, please.

Before that, however, I went to check out my new flat, which is almost finished. Although... I probably plan to sell it. I don't plan to be here much longer (in Mangalore, that is... before you jump to some unobvious conclusion)... so I aint gonna be around to maintain it. Been getting some good offers... :)

The highlight of the day was, of course, a double coffee I'd had at Woodlands (check the link out - Taj Mahal gets a mention as well), the grand old hotel of Mangalore. A drive-in, nonetheless (probably the world's first.... it's been around like forever). Two words... simply amazing! Made my day.

The week's been routine, though... same ol' same ol'. Was pretty upsettin abt Dharmu's ticket goof-up :((, but hope things work out. Saw 'Guru' for the second time.. still lovin it for some weird reason. :P

Went to a place in Kerala called Vatakara last week for a colleague's marriage. To make a long story short (or rather a short story shorter), it was the shortest wedding I ever saw. Just under half an hour. The groom arrived after us, and the bride was wearing so much gold, that I wondered if they ever needed to work again for the rest of their lives. But I liked the wedding, though, whatever I could see between the 20 odd photographers that crowded around the stage. Man, I'm sure that there would be lesser photographers for the much hyped Ash-Abhishek wedding!

The journey was really good though, through some sightseeing on the way back. Had a quick stop at Thalasserry fort (I assume that's the name) where we had a small tour of the dungeons underneath. Also made our way to the Muzasomethingsomethingthingamajiggy beach (I dont remember the name, but the number of letters is correct), which claims to be the only drive in beach in Asia. The sand is hard enough for vehicles to drive through. That just inspired me to go and have another double coffee at Woodlands!

The final stop (before home of course) was Bekal fort. Just another fort, presenting loads of photo opportunities. Grand, aint it? Pics are currently stored at office. Will upload if, and when I get time. Comprende?

That's about it for the post. Enjoy the long weekend folks. It's drizzling here in January, and the power's off. Happy Republic Day and all that.

Update: The beach is Muzhappilangad. :)

a month, and a day...

2007-01-19T21:52:00.000+05:30

... 'tis been, since a post has graced the pages of my blog. For those of you who've been pondering over my continued existence in the blogosphere, yes, sadly, I'm still around.

It's been good to take a break from blogging to put things in perspective. (That's blogger talk for 'I didnt know what the heck to post')... But 'twasn't planned, and somehow I never felt like updating the ol' blog over the last month... Mainly due to the fact that after a continuous 12-13 hours of staring at the monitor at work, the last thing I wanna do is sit at my desktop at home again. I just flop on to my bed, and that's the last thing I remember. :)

Along with not writin, I havent been reading blogs either (except one of course), thereby making my absence from the blogosphere near total. I've missed Christmas on the blogosphere, and New Year's, and I hope someone, somewhere's written some interesting posts. Yes, siree, have loads to catch up on!

As of now... that's all for today. Beddy bye time. Hope to continue posting somewhat, somehow, someday.

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaack! But to stay or not, that is the question. The answer? Hopefully, soon. Adios, amigos.

of coffee, parties and an early morning trip

2006-12-18T00:00:00.000+05:30

Well... the story of my life remains the same... Loads of work and a largely ignored blog. Haven't even had time to reply to comments, and comment on other's blogs... awwww guys, don't feel ignored... I'll comment soon! :P

Starting with coffee (yes, my favourite), one of my team members, Archana will be leavin the company soon, and she's just written a wonderful post on our coffee club. Just the fact that I'm there in the post makes it magnificient, you know. Besides, I'm first in the list! As it says, I'm very well respected in the team... for my height.

So, with that happening, Archana's been getting very senti these days... and we've been having so many get togethers and parties that I've lost count somewhere last Wednesday. But I'm still working as well... most of the time. *guilty look* Obviously, poor lil me has been puttin on weight and becomin poor big me. So it's off to the gym to get back in shape. I even had to stop playing basketball coz the players were confusing me with the ball.

It's been a fun weekend though. It all began very unfunnily with Archana getting the urge to have a walk on the beach at 6 in the morning. So she calls me up at 5.30 on Saturday morning. Saturday morning! That's highly unethical, and I'm sure it's somewhere on the borderline to illegal. A yawning me joins five other unfortunates at 6 in the morn in front of office, and the seven of us drive down to Sultan Battery. That's a fort-ish sorta place (but actually just a tower) of Tipu Sultan nearby, and that's how it's spelled, so don't blame me.

From there, we took a boat to the Tanneerbavi beach, which gave occasion for many what I term Dil Chahta Hai-ish photos. Pics will be put up as soon as I get them. :)

After a fun time at the beach, it was time for my favourite part of the day - coffee at the Taj Mahal! :) A (relatively) heavy breakfast later, it was time to get back home and catch up on some well deserved sleep.

Also caught Kabul Express this weekend. And my thoughts - watchable. Definitely, not as bad as people made it out to be. I truly enjoyed the movie. Short, and to the point... about an hour 45, including the interval. At no point did I feel bored. The story is a bit, perhaps, on the under prepared, flawish side, but it's fast paced, enjoyable, and definitely worth a watch. If you get a free ticket, that's even better.

Arshad Warsi, is as usual, the star. Still in Circuit mode, this clearly under rated actor gets the best lines of the film, and delivers. Watch this movie for him. The argument with the Taliban guy on who's the best allrounder in cricket - Kapil or Imran - is just fantastic. John Abraham is just eye candy + wooden acting. So basically no good to me. :(

As of now, I just wanna sleep. So good night, as this post comes to an abrupt end. Will put up some pics soon. :)

qwertyphilia and other stories

2006-12-12T00:07:00.000+05:30

This blog (owner) is currently suffering from a disease most software engineers suffer from most of their lives - Qwertyphilia. This rare, but oxymoronically common disease is easily recognizable by the symptoms of late nights at office, dark circles under eyes and unupdated blogs.

There have been cases of certain software engineers staying late nights at office under the guise of Qwertyphilia, but they're just trying to get laid with the hot colleague who actually suffers from this dreaded disease. I know most of my friends would think I'm the latter (the pretender that is, not the hot colleague...) given my so-called 'reputation', but I assure you poor lil me is not. Besides, I already achieved that objective last month.

Moving on, I've had quite a few ideas for blog posts this month, but unfortunately the time just ain't there. It's called Murphy's law. I hope to be posting them soon, but anything can happen. I should be rolling in posts by next week, as per plan, as long as the world is not taken over by a mad scientist. You may think that's funny, but as long as he's in league with the government, anything can happen. Eminent domain, for example. Singur was just a frightening beginning. If you ain't down with this story, check the timeline in the sidebar here.

In other stories, I've watched a couple of movies over the last week, Dhoom-2 & The Departed. And I'm too lazy to link to either of them. And even lazier to review them. If you want to know how they were, just watch 'em. And tell me how they were. And I'll tell you if I thought the same. I'll just point you to this fantastic review of Dhoom by GreatBong. Miss the movie if you wish, just don't miss this review.

'Til I recover then. Qwertyadios, folks.

more stuff, more nonsense

2006-12-07T00:14:00.000+05:30

As the title says, read this at your own risk, and only if you have time to kill. The author is not responsible for any mental anguish caused by this post, and any people you might have encountered in and around Mangalore who have been roaming around like a zombie saying 'Must read diary', 'Must read diary' are merely a coincidence. Honest. Sacchi. God promise. I'd even swear, but my mommy taught me not to.

Well, it's now 12.15 midnight, so it's already tomorrow tonight. And this is the only time that I get to write this post. And then I'm off to sleep. *yawns.. actually yaaaaaaawwwwwwnnnnnnnns* Have to get up early and get to work tomorrow (which I plan to, but never seem to achieve). Life's back in the rut. Although it's better than being in the ditch.

The unread blog posts seem to keep piling up day by day. This is one gripe I have against all the bloggers whose blogs I read. They seem to post the most (hey, that rhymes!) when I don't have time to read and comment. *Hmph* mean, mean bloggers. No comment for you. (At least until the weekend)

Inspired by the rhyme in the previous para, I shall now embark into a journey named as the Limerick of the Loony. Read on if you're still in control of your wits.

A dreamer, of whom it is often said,
"There's a blogger, who's soft in the head"
He wrote without a thought,
And his brain started to rot,
So now he's working for the government instead.

Man. I really do need some serious sleep. And no, I'm not smoking anything.

As an afterthought, perhaps I'll just give up my day job and write limericks all the time. What I have to do, I have to write limericks. I mean, if people are bored, and they're not looking where they're clicking, my blog has to come out of somewhere and catch them. Yes, that's what I wanna do all day. I'd just be the limericker in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be. I know it's crazy.

stuff and nonsense

2006-11-29T21:22:00.000+05:30

Well, a quick update on yours truly... not much has changed in the past two days. A lot generally doesn't happen in 2 days, except of course, when it does. But in this case, it hasn't. And I don't see a lot happening in the next two days as well. Ah well, that's life. Let's take it two days at a time.

Anyway, that's just the problem. What do I blog about? For one thing, not about the Indian cricket team getting their asses handed to them by South Africa. Although I find it hilarious that politicians are frickin' getting involved in the matter. Their harping on the Indian team's performance reminds me of a small saying of pot calling the kettle black. Heh!

The newspapers are abuzz these days about Sanjay Dutt's conviction/acquittal. Yeah, yeah, we're all happy. Justice has triumphed and all is right with the world... tra la la la and all that.

Speaking of news, I totally wanted to blog about this, but I'd forgotten completely. I'd caught the episode of Ram Jethmalani (for those who might not know, he's defending Manu Sharma in the Jessica Lall case) on Devil's advocate when I was in Bangalore last week. To say that Karan Thapar demolished Ram Jethmalani would be a understatement. He massacred him.

For those who might have missed it, here's the transcript.

One of the replies by Jethmalani that made me roll on the floor laughing though:

Karan Thapar: Mahatma Gandhi said that means are more important than ends, are you telling me that in the law, it's the other way round?

Ram Jethmalani: Not at all. But I am doing much better than Mahatma Gandhi in this case, I assure you.

Oh, stuff and nonsense anyway. You know, writing about all this is sooo boring. Why doesn't something exciting happen?

Better be careful, though. Sometimes, we might just get what we wish for. :)

geeky weeky

2006-11-26T21:44:00.000+05:30

As the title suggests, I've been pretty busy this week, in a geeky sorta way. Having joined a new project recently, I've been working on (trying to, that is) Microsoft's Content Management Server (geek alert!)... Have taken up quite some additional responsibilities at work, so my calendar's pretty much packed for the week!

Unfortunately, my social calendar's quite the opposite. I'm becoming a regular Dilbert!!!! Somebody save me!!!!

Ala Dilbert, the weekend's been pretty much around the comp as well. Been working on a template for the blog. Felt like a change was needed. This one's been around too much for my liking... Been pretty much writing the code myself, although it's based on an existing template... :)

Also caught up and commented on quite a few posts that have been pending unread over the past few weeks. I must have read over 200 posts on Saturday. Duhhhhhhhh! :P

Most of Sunday was spent at office boning up on the code that's going to take over my life for the next few months (at least), thereby completing the geeky weeky to perfection. 'Tis frustrating, it is.

Veni, vidi, vesuvius. I came, I saw, I blew up.

south side story returns II: it was never about the maggi

2006-11-23T22:24:00.000+05:30

(Author's usual note: First part here)

Well, after waking up refreshed, a couple of us decided to catch the new Bond in town at Casino Royale. The caretaker of the guesthouse quite optimistically.. in fact over optimistically, I thought, assured that we would get tickets if we went there just half an hour before showtime. Bingo! No tickets.

So.. we decided to check out the Spencer Plaza in Chennai, which advertises itself as Asia's biggest mall. After the disappointment at the ticket window, we asked a random guy passing by how to get there. Random guy passing by answers "Just go straight and left". So we walked. And walked. And walked. What random guy forgot to tell us was that you needed to go two miles straight and two miles left. ^%*&$#%%$# random guy.

Anyway, we finally managed to reach there, and it was pretty big. We went in. Sorta disappointing though. Forum, it aint. Well, the first impression I got when I went in was more of a grey market on a big scale. Mangalore folks would get the impression of a bigger version of Burma Bazaar. :) But I did discover the big name stores.. at the back of the mall. Nothing much writing about though. We got bored fast, and left faster. Guys and shopping just don't mix. (yawn)

Nothing of interest happened as the day progressed, and I finally got on the train that night to Bangalore. Reached Bangalore at 4.15 in the morning, and woke up a very sleepy Varad. :) Anyone else would have left me at the station, but this golden hearted chap actually came to pick me up. And once back at his place, what else could we do but sleep off for the next 5 hours?

Finally managed to catch Casino Royale on Saturday. Unfortunately, the audio system at the only place we could manage to get tickets was so bad, that I still don't know why Bond did half the things he did in the film. However, whatever he did do was so good, I'm gonna watch it again here in Mangalore. And I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that this is one of the BEST Bond movies I've seen. And Daniel Craig was simply amazing! It might be too early to herald him as the best Bond ever, but he does give serious competition to Sean Connery. On the topic of Bond, I've always argued that Timothy Dalton was the most under rated Bond. I'm soooooooo glad to find someone who agrees with me. Dalton's always been my sentimental favourite, although Craig might soon change that if Bond 22 is half as good as this one.

Anyway, I also met Anima that evening, after almost a year. Boy, it's expensive waiting for her though. I was waiting in Coffee Day, and had a sandwich and two hot chocolates before she finally turned up. Bangalore traffic is not to be believed, and neither is a girl who says she'll be there in five minutes. ;)

Anyway, as a side note, next day was CAT time. And as everyone knows, it was a shocker. Easy quant and DI sections this time 'round, but a verbal section that looks as though it came directly from Buckingham palace. Or perhaps a first standard school teacher. Same thing. :P

To make a long story short, I don't think I did well enough this time round. But you never know. Anything can happen. Kalyug hai bhai... kuch bhi ho sakta hai...

Had planned on going to Forum that evening, but the plans were abruptly changed, as I blew a thousand bucks on DVDs at National Market. And the covers, as usual, have yet to be opened. Next week, I promise myself.

So that's it for this south side story. The next trip to the south will be tomorrow. To the Taj (in Mangalore, of course) for a cup of hot, steaming coffee. I missed that last week.

home alone, but not bored...

2006-11-22T00:59:00.000+05:30

I normally don't post stuff like cartoons over here, but this one is too hilarious. It made my day. Been laughing ever since.

Courtesy: The Garfield site

south side story returns I: it was about the maggi

2006-11-21T22:45:00.000+05:30

A journey of a thousand miles (give or take a couple of hundred) began with a single step last Wednesday. It has to. I'm yet to meet anyone who started his journey with two steps. I mean, once you take the first step, you've already started.. I mean... aah, you get it. (Due credit to vague inspiration by the moldy old 'Eating 5 biscuits on a empty stomach' joke)

Well, after the horribly embarrassing intro in the first para, if you're still here, I thank you for the patience. Read on as much as you can. Your post starts now.

I might be slightly wrong in calling this a south side story. I spent more than half the time in Bangalore, which aint south of here, but I've started, so I'll finish. Wanted to put this post in last night, but I was too tired n slept off early. The travelling's been sooo hectic that I've been sleeping at five different places for the last five nights. That may sound sorta odd, but it really isn't, as I was, unfortunately, alone. After that journey, and courtesy of the Chennai water, my hair now looks like chopsuey (Chinese, not American, that too the Indian Chinese variety). My companion on this journey? Aptly, my good ol' H2G2, which accompanied me during SSS-1 too.

Anyway, as I'd mentioned previously, Wednesday night, and most of Thursday was spent on the train to Chennai. Nothing of note happened, except that I finally managed to solve a hard Sudoku puzzle in the Hindu, after around 6-and-a-half hours of laboured mind wracking. I can already hear someone say to me at 10.30 am tomorrow, "If this stupid fellow put half the effort in CAT..." :P

We were put up at a guesthouse in the Kotturpuram area in Chennai. The road was called Gandhimandapam, which I could not for the life of me remember, and kept referring to as 'Gandhigiri road'. We reached very late in the evening, and all of us were ravenous. The caretaker then made Maggi noodles for all of us. It was definitely one of the best Maggi I'd ever eaten in my life. Of course, it might have been that way coz I was hungry, but hey... Anyway, it was heaven. As a friend of mine commented, this was better than a five star hotel. Can you ever imagine asking for Maggi noodles in a five star? (sigh) *reminisces about Maggi - therefore break for dinner now*

Back again, next up was the D-day of the visa interview. I'd my appointment at 7 am, which meant getting up at 5 (yawn)! Luckily, we managed to wrangle a cab to take us to the US Consulate (or if you're a Chennai auto driver - the 'America aapis'). I'd prefer not to bore you with details, since all we did was wait for 2 hours for a 2 minute interview. Of course, the brand name that my company carries is enough to get your visa approved. Cheers! :)

By 9.30, we were all back to the guesthouse, and with the entire day on our hands, we decided to put it to the best possible use by catching up on the sleep we missed.

And as tradition demands in the SSS series, as soon as I catch up on sleep, a chapter ends. Concluding part tomorrow night, hopefully. Don't hold your breath, coz you know, oxygen is real important for you. And you exhale carbon dioxide, which like, plants need to stay alive or something. So... keep breathing. Stay alive, folks!

south side story returns: the preview

2006-11-15T15:29:00.000+05:30

Right, I'm off to Chennai today. II AC ticket, on behalf of the company. Woo hoo. Not as good as the Kingfisher flight with air hostesses to drool over and all that *ducks to avoid rolling pin thrown by a certain someone all the way from San Diego*, but I guess it'll do. *hmpf*

So what am I going to do in Chennai? Well, not a lot really. I hope the weather is good. Well, as good as it can be. I have quite a few activities planned: skiing, sledding, ice skating, if the ponds have frozen over. Of course, all this is if it snows. Otherwise, I'll just have to settle for lazing around in my room, with a movie perhaps.

Yeah, there are a couple of friends that I want to visit, but I hope they're home by now. Last I heard of them, they were still waiting in line for a colour TV and rice @ Rs. 2 a kg. I guess I could ask them to stock up on rice, which I could bring back, but I fear the rice mafia. Rumors abound of a highly organized racket, which surfaced on June 3. Coincidentally, it was the same day the price was slashed. Obviously, there is no connection, of course, but it's just for info.

Next stop is of course, namma Bengalooru, on Saturday morning, courtesy the Mysore mail, which will reach at 4.45 am. I certainly hope I get up then, since I do not want to walk out of the station and find myself at the Mysore palace. The CAT is on Monday.. uh I mean Sunday, or was it Saturday? Tsk, I've to check my hall ticket. Now where did I put it?

Two days (minus three hours) of fun and frolic in Bangalore later, I should be on a bus back to good ol' Mangalore.

Anyway, that's the signal for me to sign off for now, so see y'all in a week's time. I think I just missed my train. Hey, wait for me!!!!!!!!

junque mail... with a touch of class

2006-11-14T20:07:00.000+05:30

Being in a software company means getting forwards every day. Or junk mail. Sometimes, it's hard to distinguish between the two, of course, but that's another story. (Please, please keep sending me forwards :P)

I'm different. And weird. I enjoy reading all the junk mails that I get. In fact, I enjoy them more than forwards. They inspire me all the more. If I was to believe in any of them, however, I would already have had $100,000, and some loose change, transferred to my account by a Nigerian lawyer who promises to give me half if I could get it out of his country. Tch, tch, all these red tape and tax issues. I really pity those poor Nigerian lawyers.

And of course, there're always the usual ads for 'enlargement'. Duh!

However, it's very rare that you get such a profound and impressive mail. I actually read through it twice to understand and comprehend the intricacies behind such a wonderful letter. I reproduce it here for your viewing pleasure.

Warning: Not for people who try to find sense in everything.

"A defendant beyond another grain of sand is worldly. The mitochondrial power drill wisely competes with the usually highly paid globule. The skyscraper of the bartender flies into a rage, because a precise girl scout throws a phony chestnut at a spider. Indeed, a girl scout near the recliner laughs and drinks all night with the girl scout related to a fairy.

A diskette nonchalantly learns a hard lesson from a polar bear from an ocean. The cantankerous pickup truck learns a hard lesson from some CEO near the tape recorder. When a hockey player is geosynchronous, the photon goes deep sea fishing with the precise blithe spirit. A psychotic wheelbarrow makes love to a pickup truck. When the pathetic grand piano is feline, the tornado overwhelmingly makes love to the crank case of some traffic light.

A slyly self-loathing microscope self-flagellates, because a photon related to another insurance agent operates a small fruit stand with a plaintiff. The warranty ceases to exist, and the carelessly impromptu tornado ruminates; however, some pompous scythe buries a paycheck beyond a bottle of beer. If the food stamp over a mortician finds lice on the spider, then a jersey cow around the insurance agent reads a magazine. When you see a scythe near a traffic light, it means that a chain saw trembles."

Ah, the joys of junque mail.

c-a-t, cat maane billi nahin

2006-11-12T23:44:00.000+05:30

Well, its that time of year again, when millions of MBA aspirants with dreams of making it big (careerwise or moneywise, or both) flock to the nearest big city to tackle that fallacious feline, fondly (or notoriously) known as the CAT.

My preparations this year have been extremely good. I finally managed to get my study time table in place. I've also worked out a fool-proof formula to score at least 99 percentile. Unfortunately, by the time I was done with all this, there's less than a week left for the CAT, and there's no time to actually do anything.

Last year, I prepared for about 20 hours in total and managed to get a pretty good score considering that. Hell, I got a pretty good score, even without considering that. So, I gather: the less I study, the better it is for me. Maybe without studying, like I have this year, I could even score 100 percentile! Yes! Yes! Yes! That's the secret! Muhahahhahahhahaha!!! *evil maniacal laughter, rubbing hands together*

I still have the very same pencil box that I carried last year to the exam, untouched, unsullied, unopened for a year. After due carbon testing of the thirty three layers of dust on it, I'm sure I can use the same this year, since the graphite in the pencils has not turned into diamonds yet. (Yes, I know it's carbon that makes diamonds, but this is MY blog!)

I will be leaving to Chennai on Wednesday night. It's another matter that my centre is in Bangalore. No, that is not because I love travelling, but my highly paid feng shui expert (one more of my brainstorms for CAT preps) has suggested that I take this tortuous route which takes me 26 hours, instead of the straight 8 hour path. In fact, as per his advice, the name on my hall ticket reads 'Ddevennder MMalllllya'.

And just because I'm doing all this, don't think I believe in astrology and all that. We Aquarians aren't taken in by all that crap.

Btw, speaking of astrology, my Orkut fortune for today reads, "What's vice today may be virtue tomorrow"

And vice versa, I assume. Or is that virtue versa? Tche, I must warn our vice president.

Yes, dear readers, bad jokes seem to be my vice today. But they are going to be my virtue tomorrow. So just you wait, and bear them. On the other hand, tomorrow never comes. :(

work - a time to play

2006-11-09T23:53:00.000+05:30

So, it took me a couple of weeks to finally get my brain out of neutral, and wonder why I posted that last post. That, I haven't figured out yet. However, what it took to get my brainiac back in action was the fact that a very important reader commented that I was getting too boring by not updating my blog. *hmph*

The last week's been pretty dull, since with my project finishing off, I'm back on the bench. Been spending time in office wondering what to do for 9 hours. Generally, a typical day on the bench goes something like this for me:

9 am: Reach office. Check mails.
9.30: First coffee, at desk.
10: Surf the net, read blogs etc etc etc...
10.30: Coffee break
11: Call Dharmu, failing which she's threatened to beat me up on return
till lunch: Wonderin what to do after lunch (and one coffee in between)
lunch: Loooooong one.
post-lunch: One post lunch coffee + Hindu crossword
3: Mail Dharmu
3.15: Afti coffee break
4 or thereabouts: Check mails et al.
5: Canteen
6: Home - sleep/login/chat etc etc etc

Productivity soars.

However, I've also been taking up a few e-learning courses on the company internal website that's been interesting - assertiveness skills for example. Now, I can always say NO! when i really mean NO!, except to Dharmu, and some other pretty faces, which is entirely based on my discretion. However, I'm generally not very mean, and I usually mean YES, except when I mean NO. Whatever that means.

I've also learnt how to write nice emails. I never knew it was considered rude to address my client as 'Respected fatso'. (I mean, he was! He used to send us two photos everytime he sent us his pic!) No wonder my last feedback was so bad. E-learning says to maintain a friendly relationship with clients. From now on, I'll be a bit more informal, and address him as 'Dear fatso'. I'm sure my feedback will improve. Thank you, e-learning!

I've been put into a project as of next week, and seems I will be busy with a lot of sessions. However, I do plan to learn some cross cultural sensitivity. That's nice. :) Perhaps, I'll be able to wish my client 'Dear fatso' in his own slang, and improve my feedback even more.

Until then.

Update: Forgot one very important thing. At 3, I mail Dharmu. Her first comment was enough. I fear her. (brrrr)

reality continues to ruin my life

2006-11-05T21:04:00.000+05:30

It's been a pretty dull week in general, nothing much happening 'cept work, eat and sleep. Well, even the work part's cut down, with my project finishing, and the only work's been preparing docs to show how badly I've done the project.

Considering that, I've had a lot of time on my hands last week - even a holiday on Wednesday - but I just haven't gotten around to blogging. Simply because I don't think there's anything worth blogging about. Yes, I know, people would advise me to just look around for inspiration - life's beautiful and all that jazz. But looking around is what makes me disillusioned about life. The 'Life's beautiful' thingie works only in stories where everybody lives happily every after. Reality's a sham.

As Calvin would say, reality continues to ruin my life.

P.S Yes, I know... I'm in a rotten mood. :)

south side story III: its not about the coffee

2006-10-28T23:13:00.000+05:30

(Authors note: Read the earlier parts here and here)

Authors log: (still) Day 2: Well, we woke up on the train, after a quick nap, refreshed, ready to face the dangers that fate might have laid in store for us. The train chugged along, taking us back to Trivandrum Central, and it was time for lunch.

Vivek then took me to his (apparently) favourite restaurant in town, Buddha's Delight, I think it was. The waiters were dressed to kill (literally). They looked like the extras that were used in movies who, after being paid 50 bucks, were used to be beated up by Bruce Lee. I went to the restroom, and when I came out, Vivek challenged me to find the menu. I was about to wipe my face with it. Yes, the menu was on cloth. Good intentions, bad presentation. I wonder how many people have already wiped their noses on it.

The food was good, and the service was quick enough. The A/C was the best though. Relaxing. A chinese chef kept popping out of the kitchen, every once in a while, which made us wonder whether that was what he was hired for, to reassure the customers of 'genuine' Chinese food, being actually prepared by underpaid Indian cooks.

The next stop was Sai's house, where we dumped our bags, and then off we went to Kovalam beach. A beautiful beach, ideal for lazing around. Which was what we did. After the sunrise at Kanyakumari, we caught the sunset here. Not something you can do everyday... catching both, unless you live in Kanyakumari, of course.


Lighthouse at Kovalam	Sunset - From TVM_Kanyakumari

Then it was back to the city, and after a quick scouting around the Ananthapadmanabhaswamy (that's quite a mouthful, aint it?) temple to check up on the timings of darshan for the next day, we went into a restaurant. Bad idea. Horrible food. Worse waiters. I'm just gonna skip on that part.

Finally back home, and zzzzzzzzzzz. And for a change, the story is gonna continue here.

Authors log: Day 3: Well, to make a long story short, we overslept. A quick breakfast later, we made it to the temple in time for the darshan. Well, it was amazing, to say the least. It was also quick, as they hurried us through.

After some aimless wandering around the city for sometime, we went off to a dhaba for lunch, and over that, we decided it was too hot to aimlessly wander anymore. So, since there was nothing else to do until the train in the evening, we decided to catch 'Lage Raho..' again! I know, I know. I'd nothing better to do. :)

Post movie, it was time for coffee(yipppeeeee!!) and what better place to have it than the Indian Coffee House. The architecture of this place was, well, different. Sorta hard to describe, but it's pretty much a tower, once you enter and the passage curls around, moving up gradually. The tables and benches protrude from the outer wall. Yeah, I know, its hard to imagine as it is to describe. Well, the coffee was good. And that's all that matters.

Finally, to make a short post shorter, and to end it quickly, it was time for the train. And off I was, on my way back to Mangalore. A great experience, and I certainly did take my time to write about it. Nearly a month. :)

Can't wait for my next trip down south. I'll be off to Chennai next month perhaps. But it's gonna be a short trip, and maybe just for a day. Will keep the peeps updated.

the dreamer and i: the house

2006-10-24T22:53:00.000+05:30

The dreamer stepped inside carefully, watchfully. He could sense it as soon as he walked into the house. It was a nice house. It always had been. The occasional crack here and there, of course. But on the whole, he'd always enjoyed living here. The wild parties, the fights, the love, the depression. It had always been part of his life.

He'd been here through joy and sorrow. He'd even moved out once when the going got too tough. But it always brought him back.

If these walls could talk, they would have hundreds of stories to tell. But as he stared at them, they seemed to say just one thing. He had missed something when he was out.

She had been here.

south side story II: its still about the coffee

2006-10-21T23:08:00.000+05:30

(Authors note: Read the first part here)

Authors log: Day 2: My mobile rings to the tune of Pehla Nasha at 5.20 in the morning. I promptly jump out of bed, eager to catch the sunrise. Then sense prevails, and I promptly hit the snooze button for another 10 minutes of sleep. We finally manage to get our lazy butts off the bed, and a quick brush and wash later, off we go to catch a glimpse of the sunrise.

Going slightly off the topic here, the manager had assured us the previous night that we could very well watch the sunrise from our hotel window. Yes, you could, if somehow you could magically stretch your entire body over the parapet, while balancing on one toe, and slightly twist yourself at the waist. 'I saw it myself yesterday morning', was what his exact words were, making me wonder what he was smoking the night before.

Anyway, we walked down to the beach, and watched the sun rise. It rose wonderfully, as only the sun can, and provided us with a wonderful sight, and loads of photo opportunities. These pictures can in no way describe the actual beauty of the moment, but I tried my best. :) Catch the slideshow here.


As the sun rises - From TVM_Kanyakumari

Moving on, the next stop was the Kanyakumari temple, followed by a quick breakfast. We wanted to catch the first ferry which started at 7.45 to the Vivekananda Rock Memorial. And luckily we did.

The Vivekananda Rock Memorial and the Thiruvalluvar statue - From TVM_Kanyakumari

The Vivekananda Rock Memorial is where Swami Vivekananda meditated for some time before attending the World Parliament of Religions at Chicago in 1893. It stands on a rock about a few hundred metres into the sea. There is a temple as well, which is built around the rock bearing footprints of Kanya Devi, as she performed her penance. There also is a beautiful penance centre there, which is so quiet and peaceful, you tend to forget yourself for sometime.

The Vivekananda Rock Memorial - From TVM_Kanyakumari

The ferry next took us to the Thiruvalluvar statue, which looked just like a statue should, tall and imposing.

As we got back to the mainland, the queue for the ferry was huge! And I mean huge! The last guy on line would be lucky if he didnt turn out to be the first guy on line the next morning. Then as we walked back to the hotel, I had the best cup of coffee I've ever had in a long, long time. It was still about the coffee, you see...

We did catch the train. Which was half an hour late. As we sat on the platform, we saw a guy demonstrate a novel way of drying undies, by waving them over his head and running around, probably demonstrating his undying devotion to Sourav dada.

The train, as expected, would be mostly empty upto Trivandrum Central. We got into a totally unoccupied bogey and decided to have a quick nap, to make up for the lack of the same last night...

to be continued...

(Authors PS: Yes, I know that all my chapters end in us catching up on sleep. What else can I do? I'm not that imaginative...)

the dreamer and i: a world of difference

2006-10-17T21:40:00.000+05:30

The dreamer sat slumped against the wall, as he watched her leave. There was nothing he could do about it. He had nothing to offer her. He couldnt ask her to stay back. He knew that once she walked through the door, there was no turning back. No matter what she might have said, he always knew things would never be the same between them.

But there was always hope. He'd always hoped, against hope. Destiny, however, does not believe in hope. His worst fears have perhaps come true. As he wonders, his thoughts come flooding back, like a bad dream.

Distance has taken its toll.

movie ka side effects

2006-10-17T01:40:00.000+05:30

Finally saw a movie after what seems like a year yesterday. As the title of this post will no doubt gives it away, it was The bridge on the river Kwai. (duh)

Ok ok, I saw Pyaar ke side effects. And my take on it? Good. In fact, pretty good. Rahul Bose rocks! And quite a few hilarious sequences in there too. But anyway I'm not gonna review it here, and the only reason I mentioned it is that I'm hooked... onto one song. Jaane kya... chahe mann!

Those who know me well know that I hardly watch TV, and therefore and herewith, I hadnt heard this song before last evening. But the first time I heard it, I was hooked. That tune's been running in my head all day long today.

Catch the song here, tried to put it on my blog, but this blogger beta is goin haywire! :(

The combination of Pritam and Zubin Garg have spun their magic yet again after 'Ya Ali' (yes, I know it was flicked shamelessly, and I seriously hope this aint). It starts off with a female voice "feelin' blue..." in a classic English style and Zubin's well oiled tunes strike once again. The various musical instruments used in the song, sitars, violins, harmoniums render it a beautiful fusion of classical and western music styles.

Ok... I know that was a bad review.

I'm seriously in no position to understand the lyrics, but here's what I can make out... corrections will be greatly appreciated. :)

Jaane kya chahe mann bawara (2)
Akhiyan mere sawan chala (2)
Jaane kya chahe mann bawara (2)
Akhiyan mere sawan chala (2)

Saghan aanchall saraa borru hovey
Sajannu assu vanney kya joru hovey
Saghan aanchall saraa borru hovey
Sajannu assu vanney kya joru hovey

Kya joru hovey, apney jiya pey
Mann tho mara ye mann chala
Jaane kya chahe mann bawara (2)
Akhiyan mere sawan chala (2)

Pavan purva mein yun uduthaa jaavey
Badira chanda se mann judtha jaavey
Pavan purva mein yun uduthaa jaavey
Badira chanda se mann judtha jaavey

Avaen hawa ka, jhonka phir aisa
Toote patang kee dhorsaaaa
Jaane kya chahe mann bawara (2)
Akhiyan mere sawan chala (2)
Now, I'm listening to this one more time, and then I'm off to bed. I hope. It's 2 in the am. G'nite all!

south side story I: its all about the coffee

2006-10-16T20:45:00.000+05:30

(Authors note: This post has been languishing in my drafts for over a week. I thought it would be a nice touch to split the post into parts instead of the whole story at one go)

Authors log: Day 0: So there I was on a cloudy Friday evening, waiting on the platform to board a train to Trivandrum. Actually I wasn't, but that's a nice way to start any post. Actually, thanks to Sai's non-hurry (if I may call it that), we were just in time to catch the train. I spent my time on the way to the station hoping to find some cute girl who'd pull me onto the train ala DDLJ. Unfortunately it didnt happen, which means good news for all the ladies, I'm still single. :)

The train journey was pretty much like a long and uneventful train journey - long and uneventful and nothing much of interest happened. I finally opened up my copy of the Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy which I'd bought way back in '92 (give or take 15 years) and managed to complete 4 whole pages before the guy next to me decided he wanted to sleep. So off I climb to my middle berth and sleep. (yawn)

Authors log: Day 1: Reached Trivandrum at 8 in the morn. (more yawns) Next stop, Vivek's place. Freshen up and out we go for breakfast. The main problem with Kerala is that you gotta know proper Mallu over here, or atleast a bit of improper Mallu. :) Why am I telling you this? Read on...

Vivek tells me about this nice 'tradition'... and I dunno whether it's everywhere, or just the restaurant we went to breakfast for. Apparently, if you order any item, you get a 'complimentary' vada along with it. And as you happily gobble it up, you realize that it wasnt complimentary at all, and end up paying for it. So as we order two masala dosas, Vivek tries to explain, through a complicated amalgamation (I've always wanted to use this word) of English and Hindi, that we dont want vadas. Waiter nods and goes away, Vivek sits smug thinking he's achieved the greatest breakthrough in communications since Graham Bell spilt acid on his undies. Waiter returns bringing a plate of vadas. If that wasnt enough, he also brings the 'complimentary' vadas along with the masala dosas. The coffee was excellent, though.

After the breakfast, the first visit was to the Technopark. Vivek showed me where he works (or atleast where he's supposed to). Being the geek I am, I used his comp to check my mails. Hmm, only official mails (nobody mails me :( ). Immense temptation comes to shift-delete, but common sense finally prevails. Nothing much happened there, except that we clicked a few photos here and there. You know, the 'WE WERE HERE!' kinda pics.

Vivek @ the Technopark - From TVM_Kanyakumari

Moving on, the next stop was the railway station, to catch the train to Kanyakumari, which we realized we were gonna miss unless we skipped lunch (yeah I know, hurrying to catch trains was becoming a habit). Finally, we reached the station in time to grab a quick bite. We were proud of ourselves, until we realized that it was all in vain as the train arrived half an hour late. Still, it was all fine and good, since we calculated that we could still catch the sunset at Kanyakumari. Unfortunately, the railways had other plans as we were stuck at a station (I forget the name) for nearly an hour coz the signal was against us. Vivek did click a thoughtful pose of me though. You might actually be fooled into thinking that I think.

I'm thinking! I'm thinking! - From TVM_Kanyakumari

As we continued, the scenery just got better and better. I'm just gonna put up one pic here, shot from the train, but do check out the album for the pics. Or check out the slideshow here.

View from a train - From TVM_Kanyakumari

Finally, we reached Kanyakumari, too late for the sunset, and took a room there for the night. It was pretty good, I only managed to find one cockroach. But what I liked more than the room was the guy at the counter, who spoke English better than most Englishmen. I was expecting him to burst out 'Jolly good, jolly good' when we took the room.

We did take a walk down to the Sunrise point before dinner, and totally enjoyed the breeze. That was the time I wished that I could have stayed there for ever. Unfortunately, I aint got the money in the bank to do that. But I did have 3 cups of super excellent coffee from a vendor there. Yes, if there's one thing I truly enjoyed about my south side story, it was the coffee.

Finally, a dinner and a quick retirement to bed. We needed to be in time for sunrise.

to be continued...

(Authors PS: To tell the truth, I'm just too lazy to finish it off now, so just posted whatever I had, and concocted the story about the nice touch. Tche! The Gandhigiri syndrome, you see)

happy birthday to you...

2006-10-11T01:06:00.000+05:30

It is exactly one year to the day when I started blogging with a small little post. I never thought I had the capability to continue through. When I first heard of this 'blogging' thing, I was pretty skeptical. Thought it was for people with fundoo brains and a hell lot of creativity, and an art to write, to keep people interested and entertained. I wasn't one of either. I'm still not.

First of all, thanks a lot to my darlin Dharmu for reminding me of this birthday. I'd completely forgotten. *consoles blog* I pity my wife. I'll never remember her birthday, or anniversary. On second thought, I'd better pity myself. I can just imagine a few years in the future.

'Dev, what's with the black eyes?'
'Well, I forgot it was our wedding anniversary, and my wife threw a vase at me. It hit me in the left eye'
'And what about the right one?'
'I wished her a happy birthday...'

Ups was the one who actually introduced me, in a sense, to this world of 'blogging'. Around April I guess it was last year, when she told me that she had started blogging again. And I'm like, what the heck is blogging? And when did she blog before? I visited her blog. And when I did... I thought it was way above my head. It still is, most of the times. And I must say, that contributed a lot to my interpretation of bloggers, as mentioned in the first para.

As I look back on the past year, with a sense of nostalgia *violins playing in the background, footprints in the sands of time and all that jazz associated with nostalgia*, I see a lot of myself in this blog. A mirror image of myself so to say. I've blogged in joy and in sadness, in boredom and in fun, in ups and in downs. The Guinness Book of World records has listed me as the blogger who quit blogging the maximum number of times. Ripley's has an entire section dedicated to this blog. It's called 'Can you believe this guy? He thinks he can blog! Believe it or not!'

Seriously, I've been very hesitant in putting up personal feelings on my blog. If you don't find updates on my blog for quite some time, it either means I'm really really busy, or that I'm in a miserable mood, although it's more of the latter. It's especially evident during the July-August period this year, when I hardly posted anything. As Smiley would say, I was feeling very very Marvinish.

I must thank all the people who've encouraged me through this tough time to keep blogging. I can't name them all here, but it's most of the peeps of the left side of this post, under the links section, and some non-bloggin readers as well. Vivek, Ups, Harsh among others... a heartfelt thanks to all of you. Mel, thanks loads for the encouraging comment on the pondering post. :) Sho shorry if I've left out people... Thanks to each n every one of you as well. :)

Finally, another very big thanks to Dharmu again... for all the inspiration and support. You've inspired me a lot to write, and write better. Psst.. thanks for the reminder again *mental note to take Dharmu for an ice cream as soon as she comes back* mwah!

P.S I did not rip this off from an Oscar winning speech, although it looks like I very well may have.

freedom begins (and ends) at 7

2006-10-10T20:40:00.000+05:30

A bright Tuesday morning. 8 am. I step out of my house finally today after 3 days of virtual house arrest. Complete with boot, suit and tie. No, that's not to celebrate the relaxation of the curfew, its just the Tuesday dress code. Remove the cobwebs off my bike woven so carefully and intricately by members of the genus Arachnidia (or whatever... biology freaks, refrain from commenting), and head to office. A deep sigh of relief is sighed.

The city of Mangalore is slowly and steadily limping back to normal. Well, as normal as it can be. After all, it's a relative term. The curfew's been relaxed during the daytime - 7 to 7 - happy hours for the citizens of Mangalore.

Back to office after a 5 day break that began last Wednesday (although I sneaked to office on Thursday and couldnt sneak back out), I delved right into work that was waiting for me, after a cup of coffee (three, actually), a visit to the canteen, and a couple of hours of chatting. The enthusiasm was evident, as I finished an hour's worth of work in just 4 hours (it usually takes me six). After all, we had to start leaving office by 5 pm, so that we could reach home before the curfew was enforced back. I made sure to watch the clock every 2 minutes so that I could pride myself on setting an example to the rest of my project team on punctuality, and experience the satisfaction of leaving office on time.

Out of office, I made my way straight back home, with a small detour of 4 kms to the Taj on my way. Mr.Sachin Rao was more than happy to accompany me for a cup of coffee/tea (which means I had tea, he had coffee, duh), so picked him up on the way. The waiters now have gotten so used to me having tea more often than not, that when Sachin ordered 2 cups of coffee, he actually went 'Ivarige cha alla?' (He wants tea, right?) Makes a man feel good. Next time, I'm just gonna swagger in, cross my feet on the table, and say 'Yo dude, my usual please' like they do in the movies. The only problem is, I'm not sure whether they watch movies much.

The Car street area, fully replete with cops wielding machine guns and the like, reminds me of pics that I usually only see in newspapers, that of Kashmir mainly. Spare a thought for the people there. Makes me feel really lucky to be living in a place that's so peaceful (or rather was, until a few days ago).

Well, that's all for the day (or knowing me, week). I gotta log off, and get ready for a big day tomorrow. Actually it's not that big, just 24 hours as usual. But after all, we have just 12 hours of freedom. Got to make the most of it, and spend 8 hours in front of a computer screen, freaking out on VB.Net code. A post on Trivandrum/Kanyakumari where I spent last weekend is still in the draft stage for a week, and the photos are being uploaded. Adios, amigos.

good ol mangalore: riots rule the roost

2006-10-05T20:29:00.000+05:30

Well, it's been long time no post (I think I say that in all my posts though). I'd been to Trivandrum and Kanyakumari over the past weekend, and had started a post on that. But it's been a week of holidays over here, (which means however that we'll work on Saturdays to make up :( ) but for all the wrong reasons.

Of course, the week started with the now famous 'dry day', bole toh... Bapu ka budday. That day was spent in Trivandrum though (which will be talked about in the next post), and I got back on Tuesday morn.

A day later, Wednesday was the Karnataka state bundh over the Belgaum border dispute that's been used and abused by all parties for political mileage.

To make a long story short, Belgaum is a town in Karnataka with a majority of Marathi speaking people. Therefore, Maharashtra wants Belgaum. Our beloved(!) CM says no frickin way, hosts the five-day special session of both the Houses of the Legislature at Belgaum to drive the point home.

Thankfully, it was a very peaceful bundh. And as for our good ol' city, it was just another holiday. All buses ran, rickshaws plied, and shops were open. We got a day off work (although it came with the fine print of workin on 14th the Saturday)

And today, it was communal riots. I hate communal riots on Thursdays. I hate it on other days as well, but Thursdays are my favourite days most of the weeks. (Dunno why though) I have no idea how it all started, apparently some Bajrang dal activists beat up a bunch of Muslims illegally transporting cattle to a slaughter house as per this story. More updates here and here....

Usually, Mangalore is a pretty peaceful town... and I guess in my 20+ years here, this is one of the worst incidents that I've seen occur. Even the Taj Mahal is closed.... :(:(:(:(

Last update I've heard of is that a curfew with Section 144 has been clamped in the city, and loads of policemen keep patrollin... hopefully things should be back to normal by tomorrow.

And yes, we're working this Saturday too. :(

Any updates will be posted, as soon as I get to know of them. Keep watching for more details, and thereby increase my page hits. :P

Update Oct 6: More stray incidents in the city, however seems largely better than yesterday. Some incidents here.

Update Oct 7: More incidents in and around Ullal, Surathkal and Mangalore rural. Curfew strictly enforced. Shoot at sight orders have been issued. More news here and here.

Overall, it seems pretty peaceful now. I'm going crazy sitting at home. Hopefully, curfew seems to be in a situation of being lifted tomorrow. Thank heavens for that. I just want to go out somewhere.

Update Oct 8: Curfew was lifted for a couple of hours today, so that we could buy essential stuff. People thronged the streets, stores were crowded, stocks depleted before you could say 'Curfew'. Been spending 2 days in basically what is house arrest, and my mind's a blank. Seems that it's probably going into a third day tomorrow. I need some fresh air.

This is probably the last update. I'm tired, and sick of all this.

P.S Yes, I know there are a lot of comments pending to be replied to, I'll get around to them.

a point to ponder

2006-09-23T16:40:00.000+05:30

Do I blog because I have a blog, or do I have a blog because I blog?

Sometimes I wonder. Even though the above sentence is funny, in an odd sorta way... it does make me think (unbelievable as it may sound, yes, I do think). I started blogging about a year ago, because I found life interesting enough to blog about. However, I notice my blog over the past 3-4 months, and wonder why I'm still blogging. The frequency's come down, the thrill aint there no more, and life's pretty dull - the ol' work-eat-sleep routine was really taking its toll on me. Maybe I should take up skydiving in Siberia... that ought to get some of the ol' thrill back.

I even took a serious break from blogging, a couple of months back. I didnt think I would post again, even though I did. Now I wonder why. Maybe I've lost my muse.

I've never been much for personal posts, barring a couple. My thoughts rarely come out on my blog... for me, it's more of a fun thing than anything else. When I'm upset, I dont blog, it's as simple as that.

The only thing I actually have done in the last couple of months apart from eat-work-sleep is go to the Taj Mahal (no, not in Agra, the one in Car Street) on a regular basis, which explains my only post of substance lately. :D

Anyway, if I do continue blogging, the only posts you'll be seeing is ones like this which, if you've read till here, make you wonder why you did. Adios, amigos. :)

P.S This ain't goodbye.

speakin of rebuttals...

2006-09-20T23:08:00.000+05:30

Scene 1, year 2000 AD, just after the release of KNPH...
Act 1, 1st year classroom in college. Free period.

Friend 1(F1): Friend F2, you are gay. You saw Kaho Na Pyaar Hai two times. You went to see Hrithik Roshan.

Friend 2(F2): No man, I went to see Amisha Patel.

F1: Amisha Patel what is there to see?

F2: Then YOU are gay!

:|

P.S Clarification added later: I'm neither F1 nor F2. I was in the audience watching this drama unfold.

P.P.S I got a couple of comments for the 25 year post saying that they saw a lesbo ad on top. Tch tch. I wonder what they're gonna see for THIS post. :D

a funny thing happened to me on the way to the taj...

2006-09-17T21:38:00.000+05:30

If you're from Mangalore, you'll certainly have heard of the Taj Mahal. Of course, if you're anywhere else in the world, you'd have heard of it, but that's not the one I'm talking about. The Taj Mahal restaurant(s) here is one of the seven wonders of Mangalore (and we're still trying to find the other six!)

So what if Agra has a Taj Mahal? We have three of them, and besides, I'm sure the one at Agra doesnt even have 'especial' coffee like we do. Eat your heart out, Agra.

Ok, after that short intro, for the info of non-M'loreans, let me have a brief description of the Taj(s). There are three Taj Mahal restaurants here in good ol' M'lore. By restaurants, I mean the kind which serves coffee in stainless steel glasses and tumblers. There's an art to drinking this too. You need to pour just the right amount into the tumbler, take a sip from it, close your eyes, and give a satisfied smile, as if you're in total peace with the world.

This place however does serve excellent coffee, generally topped off with some addictive stuff (investigations pending to find out what exactly). How else can you explain the people queueing up for a taste of the world-famous-in-Mangalore Taj Mahal coffee?

Now, there are certain rules you MUST follow when in the Taj. There are highly punishable offences, often called the seven cardinal sins of the Taj Mahal.
1) Asking for a menu. (Huh? What's that?)
2) Having soft drinks.
3) NOT drinking coffee/tea after snacks. The waiter will give you a weird look if you dont have them and you'll be blacklisted.
4) Flagging a waiter. They'll come when they are ready, not before.
5) Asking for a 'rotti' (ref: a spicier version of the puri, if you didnt know) in the afternoon. It shows you're a rookie. Don't you know that 'rotti' is only served in the mornings?
6) Asking for the bill. Even that, you get when the waiter's ready. If you're in such a tearing hurry, get it from the cashier yourself.
7) The most important one: Not having the Tuppa Dosa atleast once in your lifetime.

However, there's one thing I've noticed: The word 'Taj' means different things to people, depending on your... shall we say, social status? The other Taj that's in Mangalore is the only 5-star hotel in 276.818-km radius, give or take a few kilometres. So... if you gonna say 'I was just coming out of the Taj...' to somebody who's not the sort you'd catch at the Taj Mahal, do specify what you're referring to. I could state quite a few incidents of confusion, however I'd prefer not to, since I've been asked to be pretty discreet in these matters of local importance.

Having said all this, I've seen people queueing up at 5.45 in the morning outside, waiting for the 6'o clock opening. (No, I'm not one of them). I do enjoy a cuppa at 3.30(pm) on weekends (that's when it opens in the afti), but hey, it's more of an excuse for a bit of fresh air and a break from sitting at home doing nothing. You see, there's nothing much you can do in Mangalore otherwise.

So, what are you waiting for? If you're in Mangalore, get off your butt and get to the Taj Mahal right away. If you're not, drop in while you're passing by sometime.

Ek baar jaaoge toh jaate reh jaaoge,
No one can go just once.

Disclaimer: The post above is based on the author's experiences at the Taj in Car Street over the years. Any resemblances to restaurants dead or alive is pretty much unavoidable. The author sincerely apologizes if the sentiments of any Taj Mahal fanatics have been hurt. Please do not go on a rampage, burning buses, and shouting slogans against the government. Thank you.

25 years ago...

2006-09-09T22:00:00.000+05:30

...seven men started a company with a vision and a dream to succeed. Today, that company provides employment to nearly 60000 people. As for me, I think I'm getting too inspired by the videos they've been throwing at us for the last couple of weeks, as can be seen from the previous two sentences.

Last night, we celebrated 25 years since the company started in 1981 from an apartment in Pune to several development centres across the world (I'm really inspired by those videos, na?) and all that and yada yada yada. Also, it's been 11 years since the Mangalore DC started (Sept 8, 1995).... and so we had a gala celebration at the new TMA Pai auditorium last night.

Our CEO, known to us as Nandan, and to the rest of the world as Mr. Nilekani, came down to the office for a small open house session. I must say he dealt very nicely with the 'bouncers' and 'googlies' thrown at him by the crowd. :D We found out, for instance, that just like any other man, he's afraid of his wife. :D

Anyway, we quit office at 5, and off we went to the TMA Pai auditorium. The auditorium is simply amazing, I must say. After the usual feel good speeches and speeches and speeches later, during which the number of people on stage was more than the audience, we finally got to what everyone was waiting for... Rahul Vaidya (the Indian Idol-1 second runner up, if you remember) and Mukesh (whose last name I dont know)! Well... not yet. For some inexplicable reason, the guys in the lo(w)cal band which was playing in the background decided to showcase their talent (or the lack of it) before these guys came on. From a screechy voiced anchor, to screechier voiced singers and pot bellied dancers (seriously, his idol must be Ganesh Acharya), it was, to put it in a nice way, weird.

Finally, Rahul and Mukesh did come on.... just as I went to dinner. :) I did hear a couple of songs... Rahul's good as far as singing goes. Mukesh is pretty good too. That's all I can say. :)

Well, more importantly.. the dinner, was good... could have been better sorts. I'm too sleepy to describe it anyway.

P.S Wrote this post on Saturday.. my comp's been acting up for the last few days. #@^#&* finally posted it today. :)

the changing face of mangalore

2006-09-05T21:38:00.000+05:30

As the title suggests, these pics sorta suggests the changing face of Mangalore... from quaint little seaside town to a bustling city.

The tree in question is one that I've seen ever since I was a kid, right in front of my house. Seems the ol' tree was around forever. Must be a hundred years old or something. And now it makes way for progress - a four lane concrete road. Off with the old, on with the new as they say.

Well, they ain't cutting it down. No siree, they're just moving it. Huh, you say? Yep, they dug a huge pit about a hundred metres away (on the other side of the crossroad), pulled up this tree with the roots, and as I write this, they're moving the tree with the help of a coupla huge cranes. I sit here in my room, lookin thru the window, as 'Operation Ctrl-X Ctrl-V' happens.

Oh, and the building in the background? That's my good ol' alma mater. :)

Three against one - the power of nature?
Current mood: Mixed - melancholy perhaps.
Current music: Pal pal.. har pal - Lage Raho Munnabhai (don't miss this movie!)

an august ending

2006-08-31T20:42:00.000+05:30

So I'm back. Maybe.

It's been a long time coming. Frankly, the last few weeks haven't been particularly good for me. Stuck neck deep in work. Sitting in front of a comp the whole day... and finally coming back home, you just don't feel like doing the same thing again. Besides, nothing big has actually happened for me to blog, and lots of little stuff has been happening to prevent it. Duh.

In recent news, I finally got a haircut. Phew, say a few people.

Last Saturday, a few of us GSB M'lore Orkuttians decided to get together (and do nothing worthwhile). It was a huge success, with a grand turnout of 5. Not too shabby, considering the member count of the community, is at this point, 576. We were a bit doubtful whether Pabba's could hold a huge party like us, but in the end they were very accomodating, since it was not too rushed. I don't remember what we talked about much, but it was mainly nonsense. As usual.
Typical amchigele meet - no gals :(
More pics here... :D

Moving on, a funny thing happened to me on the way to the blogosphere last week. I was chatting with Sandi in the US, and he asked me what's new, except for the robbery. 'Robbery? What robbery?' The Ms. Gulshan one, he says. And I'm like 'Dude, who the %#@% is Ms. Gulshan?', and he sends me this link. Now, I don't know whether to laugh or cry. I'm here and hadn't heard of this (and I'm sure most Mangaloreans wouldn't have either) and he sits in the US and sends me the link. Dude, you totally rock! P.S The officer's comment in the last para really makes me LOL though!

Running along now, I just got a bonus! I was thinking in terms of a laptop when I first heard that I was getting one, but had to settle for a new keyboard and mouse for my desktop instead.

What else? It's been a busy month of work work and work. Although, I did manage to catch 3 movies on DVD on the weekends. Yes, I finally started going through some of the DVD's I bought long ago, when Pluto was still a planet. Speaking of which, it's pretty bemusing to think that such a basic fact of life has changed... the nine planets of the solar system have now been reduced to eight. Sigh, poor li'l Pluto, way out there, in a orbit of it's own, all alone and unwanted.

And continuing with the countdown from 9 to 8 to.., Se7en was the first movie I watched. I'd watched this before, of course, but still a good one to watch again. No reviews for now... I'll keep this for the next post (if I write one... ahem ahem)

The other two were real old ones.. 'A fish called Wanda' - a really old comedy, worth a watch, and the inimitable Peter Sellers in the original 'Pink Panther' [Wiki]. Both laugh riots. I needed a bit of a cheer up, you see. Hoping to catch Munnabhai this weekend to continue the trend. :)

Well, this is my first post on the new blogger beta! Moved this week, but yet to check out the features. Will keep y'all updated (yeah, right).

P.S Wrote this post last night.. but posting it today coz the power went off last night. Didn't get a chance in office today. ;)

soon... sometime soon...

2006-08-03T21:14:00.000+05:30

I have been recently (this afternoon, to be exact) threatened with dire consequences of being relegated from the lunch table if the promised post on the lunch table gang does not appear on my blog by Monday. According to my calculations... hmmm.... that gives me THREE whole days to do that.

Taking advantage of this loophole, I hereby proclaim that the lunch team post (if anybody else except the concerned people care) will be up... soon.

In other unrelated news, Harsha has tagged me with a humongous post, much like himself. :P Dude... I still have 2 tags pending before yours, so get to the end of the line. Chal phut! Go eat your upma.

This reporter has breaking news that Dharmu has also been reported to be slightly upset after pigging out at a baseball game last night. Also, she's even more upset that her messenger list will feature one name less tonight. Cheer up, gal. ;) I'm still waiting for the jhadoo pocha. :P

Somehow, I really have lost the touch of making my posts any longer than this. :P (sigh) Life's like that. Quality, not quantity, I say. Too bad this post has neither.

an august beginning

2006-08-03T00:06:00.000+05:30

Well, it's been nearly a month since my last post. I really didn't know whether I'd take to blogging again, but for the encouragement (and threats) I got from a couple of friends. Thanks to all of you for being there.

It's been a month of ups and downs, highs and lows, enthusiasm and dullness, happy times and sad, and well... you get the point. Somehow, this month, it seems I've lived completely either in black or white. There hardly seems to have been any gray at all. I've either been in a really good mood or a really depressing one. Why? Most of the times I've had no idea.

One thing I've noticed recently is that nothing really turns to be what it seems. I reaaaaaally don't want to elaborate - this post seems cryptic and boring enough already. For the moment, let me savour this new beginning. I'm back! :)

I'd promised my lunchtime gang I'd write about them soon. That was months ago, and I never got around to it. What they don't realize is that 'soon' is relative. Don't worry, you guys. I'll get around to it... soon. :)

this one's for you...

2006-07-11T02:36:00.000+05:30

I don't know why, but I just got up in the middle of this night to write this post. I guess it's because I know that if I don't write this now, I'll never ever write it.

The earliest memory I have of you is a chubby, pig-tailed gal in primary school. That, however, was not your earliest memory of me though, as I found out later. When I heard her name, I was vaguely aware of being classmates with you in kindergarten in a chota sa school called Little Angels, although ironically, neither of us were.

We ended up being classmates for a further seven years, although the conversation between us never crossed more than a couple of lines over those years. I remember, although, that you were the class clown even then. Sigh... my deepest regret is still not getting to know you better in those seven years. Then we went our separate ways, to study what we wanted (although I'm still not sure I ended up doing what I wanted :))

Well, all that said and done, I guess the first time that we actually talked to each other past a few words was at the first reunion of our pre univ group. (Thanks to Harsha for the community ;)) Well, after the gang all dispersed, leavin just the five of us, you were the one who introduced me to the beauty and the solitude of the helipad. The friendship just took off from there, didnt it? The late night (sometimes all night :)) calls, that too on earth shattering matters like Antakshari, the way we shared the ups and downs, joy and sorrow... ok ok that's enough, I can almost hear you say.

I was shattered the day you left to the US. On one hand, I was really happy that you were going places in your career. On the other hand, I was sad that I wouldn't see you again for two years. I cried that night after a long, long time.

This might be a short post, but it's all I need to say about one of the greatest friends I'll ever have. The sweetheart who can always manage to bring a smile to my face no matter how bad I'm feeling, and still the only gal I'm afraid of. ;) Missin you, sweetie.

In case any of you dhakkans (due credit to Sayesha here) haven't figured out who I'm talkin abt, click on the first name in my blogroll. Or to make it simpler, here's the don. And no, she didn't pay me to write this. :)

end of story

2006-07-08T11:20:00.000+05:30

This blog is closed. Thanks.

Update: This one's for the numerous people that have mailed/called me to ask why. It doesn't take a genius to realize that the above line was written by a very upset me. Why was I upset? That's one reason I'm keeping to myself.

But it's true. I've quite lost the sort of enthusiasm I had for blogging. Maybe I just need some time off, hopefully. So I'm taking a break. I may blog soon, or I may not, and it really, really depends on my mood. Like totally.

Once again, thanks to all of you. I'm posting one last one tonight, which will probably be my last for sometime.

And Reshma, whoever you are, if you reading this, I'm replyin to ur comment here. Go ahead, start your blog. I'll be readin it definitely, even though I may not write on mine.

how could it not happen?

2006-07-05T21:49:00.000+05:30

The blogger sits at his desk, wondering what to write. He cracks his knuckles as he ponders what to do next. He predicted the end of the world last night. What were the chances of it not happening??? Man, that has to be like the worst possible luck he could have. Now he'll have to write a post. Oh, the agony of it all.

How could it not happen? He had planned the end to the very detail. When the world was sleeping (well, half of it atleast... those who weren't up watching the Germany-Italy match), as soon as the second goal was scored, the world should have ended. The shock wave had to start with the stadium itself, and travel east. And the last person to die should have been the fish vendor to the west of the stadium. And his last words were to have been "So long, and thanks for all the fish!" That was the level of detail to which he had planned it. How could it not happen?

Then it strikes him like a flash. He forgot the most important thing of all. Even Murphy's law is not immune to Murphy's law. When Murphy's law can fail, it will.

Sigh. Another moody plan down the drain. Maybe I'll just go grab a bite at the restaurant at the end of the universe.

so long, and thanks for all the fish

2006-07-04T22:19:00.000+05:30

Last weekend, I sat down to write about my trip to Aanadka waterfalls nearby. But somehow, I simply didnt get around to writing it. Perhaps, it's just my mood, but I really don't feel like blogging these days. Even my blog reading's come down way drastically... my bloglines unread counter reads like a Bangalore rickshaw meter nowadays. There are just about 5-6 blogs that I read now. And I comment on even less.

I really can't recall what it was that made me start blogging. Maybe it was just the initial enthusiasm that carried me through all this time. The good thing about blogging is... there's no pressure on you to update your blog anytime. My blog is my kingdom, and I update it when I want to.

A blog's a reflection of yourself, much like a diary. You blog when you want to, and not because you have to. You ever blog coz you have to, it shows. Pretty badly I might add.

Heck, I'm just rambling on here, writing my thoughts. That's what a blog's for aint it? You cant force me to write a post coz you want to, get it?

It's been a reaaaaaaaal dull and stupid week, and it's completely ruined my mood. I had thought of once deleting my blog, but I figured it's too much a price for one bad moment. So, much to the chagrin of all readers, the blog stays. Unupdated, disupdated, inupdated or whatever.

And that is also why the comments to the last couple of posts remain unanswered. Sorry folks, but thats the way the blog rolls. (pun intended)

When am I gonna blog again? I dont know. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe next week. Maybe next year. Maybe never. After all, the world may even come to an end tonight.

And if that happens, so long, and thanks for all the fish.

musings on a rainy sunday afternoon

2006-06-25T20:00:00.000+05:30

Well, it's actually Sunday night now, but heck, my net at home is down, and I jotted this down in the evening.

Last night was a guys night out. Well, actually it was a guys night in, as a few of us gathered at Mayank's new place to catch the World Cup action, with snacks, non-snacks, booze and non-booze. The night got off to a flyer, with Germany netting 2 goals in the first 12 minutes against Sweden. Woooooooooooohooooooooo! Then they took a no goal vrat. Both teams. :( Even Sweden's Larsson missed his penalty shot. A great match nonetheless, Sweden coming back strongly in the second half. The amazing thing was that the Germans had nearly 30 shots on goal. Ballack must have missed about 10 shots by himself. :)

The next match was Argentina time!!!!!!!! And they did not live down expectations, setting up a royal quarterfinal, Germany v/s Argentina on Friday! The seats at Mayank's place have already been booked.

In between the matches, the discussions on matters of national importance like onsite (US) opportunities, and girls were on in full swing. The quote of the night came from someone who did not wish to be attributed.

"My fantasy is to sleep with the client" :D:D:D

Well, I got home at 3(am), and since Dharmu has added a weirdness I have in my last post, I called her up. Hmph!

Today, it rained. It is still. I got bored of sitting in the house at around 3(pm), and for some inexplicable reason, thought I'd have a shave at the saloon today. So went I to the barbershop. The moment I sat in the chair, this guy starts to drape the cloth around me, and I mention that I'm there for a shave. He looks at me increduously. Ok, I havent had a cut for three months and my hair looks as stupid as Tom Hanks in The Da Vinci Code, but heck, do your job dude.

There was a kid, must have been about 8 years old, sitting in the chair next to mine. The barber cutting his hair is the jolly one in the shop, keeps chatting with the customers... ho ho ho... and all that sort of thing. Give him a red suit and a big bag and you could call him Santha Klosu (in Kannada). You know, that sorta guy. So I catch snippets of the conversation...

This kid has been shaved almost bald, and he still insists that it has to be shorter. Its a wonder he wasnt charged extra for the search for hair. Huh! Apparently, this kid goes to a school (some ashram actually, whose name I wont mention) which has a strict rule on haircuts too. Huh!

(Snippets of the conversation reproduced)
Kid: Innu gidda maadi. (Make it shorter)
Barber: Innu eshtu gidda madodhu. Innu nange kanodilla. (How much shorter can I make it? I cant even see it)
K: Adu schoolalli innu gidda madthare. (They make it shorter in school)
B: Schoolalli haircut madthara. (They cut your hair in school???... incredulous look)
K: Ooon, schoolalli 8th-10th std makkalige madlikke helthare. (Yes, they tell some 8th-10th standard students to cut our hair)
B: Yaava school re idu? Hesar helu... naavella saloonavaru allige hogi strike madtheve. Manahaani mukaddame haaktheve. Naav yaak ri irodu illi? (Tell me the name of this school. All of us saloon fellows will go there and strike. We'll put a defamation case on them. What are we here for if they do all this?)

Kid looks totally frightened at the thought, wondering what's gonna happen when the teachers find out he told the barbers. Pictures flash through his mind of not being able to sit down for a week. I grin. Barber sees me through the mirror and winks.

K: Aaythu, aaythu (Ok, ok)... names the school.

Finally, the barber finishes off with the kid, and the kid rushes out of the place as if the devil himself were behind him. I dont blame him. A school where students cut each other's hair? I wonder if he was serious. Hmmmm...

Ahh, the joys of a rainy sunday afternoon at the barber's.

Bad joke for the day:
Where do sheep get their hair cut?
At the baa-baa shop.

Now it's England-Ecuador time. Adios, amigos.

tag trilogy 1: the weirdship of the blogger

2006-06-24T11:32:00.000+05:30

Ok, now the reason for this trilogy is that I have tags pending which I never got around to writing, for various reasons.. heh heh. So let's start in reverse chronological order, with Melody's tag, shall we?

So without further ado, ve shall hav ze look into my weirdy psyche... Would you lie on zis couch pleaze? We haff ways of making you talk. *Rubs hands together (Cackle cackle)*

Drumroll starts, Pink panther music playing in the background (dead-ant dead-ant...)

1) I procrastinate like mad. I have a to-do task list, but the only task that I do everyday is to change the dates on the tasks.

2) I resolve to go the gym from next week, every week. (subset of above) Every once in a while, I do go on Mondays. And contrary to whatever Dharmu might think, I do NOT go there to ogle the girls. It's just a fringe benefit.

3) I'm a caffeine addict. I used to drink almost 15-20 cups of coffee/tea a day, but now I've cut down to 7-8. If people ask me, I say "At least I'm not smoking" :D

4) I mail Dharmu every day, as long as there's a comp nearby. Apparently, she thinks it's weird enough to list here. ;)

5) Share this in common with Harsha, I do not shave during exams. And I always skip the meal before one, breakfast if in the morning, lunch if in the afti. Mind you, I'm not superstitious (touch wood!)

6) I like to comment first on blogs... *GOLD*, I say. (Yeah, screw you Harsha :D)

7) I don't get to sleep much. My night job as detective inspector for Interpol takes up most of my time. I keep missing important matches of the World Cup because of it, although I did get a day off to watch Argentina maul Serbia.

8) I dont make things up, unless tagged by fellow bloggers.

9) I blog. Take the hint.

Ok, I think that's enough, and now I need to tag some people, so I'm going to choose people who I'm not going to meet anytime soon. I think most of my friends have already been tagged, so I've a limited choice. Here goes -> Upasna (when did you say you were coming back to India?), Roweena (ditto), Maya (I certainly hope you're in Bangalore), Sirius (pretty safe bet as far as meeting might go :D), and anybody else who's not been tagged and is reading this post. (Muhahahahahaha... weird evil laughter)

of travel quirks, scientists, football, and fading memories

2006-06-19T20:40:00.000+05:30

Just back from a weekend incognito in Bangalore. Just went on an impulse finally. Bought and paid for the tickets on Friday, and rushed off to a quiet, peaceful weekend. Ahhhh... I needed that.

Unfortunately, since I booked the tickets so late, I got aisle seats both ways of the journey. Frankly, I have my quirks while travelling. I don't like Volvo buses unless the journey is too long for a normal semi-sleeper. Say, if I was going to good ol' Bombay. And at 6'3", I'm too tall for a sleeper. I tried going by a sleeper once and ironically, that was the only time I did not sleep. So never again, I say. So the only option for me is the cheap and best Durgamba 2+1 semi-sleeper. (Of course, I'd rather fly on Kingfisher :P if someone would care to sponsor me, but sigh...)

Now again, I'm claustrophobic. No, i'm not afraid of enclosed places, I simply dont like them. I'm the kinda guy who enjoys the solitude of the helipad more than a crowded pub et al. So I'd like a window seat, preferably on the +1 side. The aisle seat is the last preference. Unfortunately, Murphy decided to accompany me too. So I had to make do with aisle seats either way. :( Girls are luckier that way, they have reserved seats at the front of the bus.... (now girls, I'm not blaming you, so don't leave flaming comments on my blog ;) )

Well, I spent two days in Bangalore doing nothing much. No malls, no freaking out, no whatever-you-do-on-a-typical-weekend-visit-to-Bangalore. All I did was hang out at (and around) Varad's for two days (the poor chap), sitting idle, drinking endless cups of coffee at the Matru Sagar restaurant nearby, and watching football. The best part of the trip was shouting out the player's names (like the commentator does when the strikers get close to the goal... FANTASTIC EQUALISER!!! RUUD VAN NISTELROOOOOOOOY!!!) Varad got a slap on the back from me everytime I felt shouting out some name. In fact, I was getting so bored at one point of time during a match which was being played too much in midfield, that I shouted out SPECTATOR!!! when the camera panned the crowd and slapped Varad on the back. Before you start feeling sorry for him, please be informed that he was not sitting quietly all this while. I got a few slaps-on-the-back too.

Well, I did buy a few DVD's, and sneaked a visit to IISc (after much persuasion, I might add) to meet Kudva aka Kuddu on Saturday evening. Pics were taken, long walks were walked, and fun was had. Pics might be updated soon. You know, the one thing that freaks me out about IISc is the brainiacs there. I mean, I'm even afraid to ask somebody how they're doing, coz they might just whip out a notepad from their hip pockets (like you see in Tom n Jerry cartoons), draw a three-dimensional grid in x,y,z axes, plot random points, draw a huge graph, and reply, "As per Krotoevsky's theory of gastro-economical disparity, the maxima of my physical entity is in the region of 327.86 giga-entrotechnokellis, so I should be feeling fine". I'm not kidding! :P

Kuddu, you haven't done that to me yet, so I can safely assume you're the exception. ;) And oh yeah, thanks for the coffee. :D

Sunday was spent entirely at Varad's place, with the occasional (hourly) trip to Matru Sagar for two cups of coffee. Ahhh... one of the best coffees ever. Popped in Varad's DVD of Memento in the afternoon, for a couple of hours of entertainment. Woo! Amazing stuff. This film makes you think and concentrate. Guy Pearce plays Leonard Shelby, a guy with no short term memory, who cant remember anything for more than a few minutes. The film runs two parallel stories, with short jerking scenes of 10-15 minutes max. One story runs forward, the other runs backward, the only way Leonard can think. The end shows the two stories converging, effectively the mid part of the entire story, say. Confusing, huh? Now go watch the movie. Rating - ****

All in all, a weekend well spent. My thanks (and sympathies) to Varad for putting up with me.

a town grows up

2006-06-16T13:11:00.001+05:30

Mangalore. A city which has been my home for 23 years (give or take a few months). An article in TIME magazine making the rounds today, made me recollect my childhood days in this city, which then could be termed only as a bigger 'town' than most. So much has changed over the past 15 years. (sigh)

The story would be the same for anyone returning to Mangalore these days, maybe even after a couple of years. It's so different from what it was. A new multiplex, concrete roads, the works. It's become a big 'small city' now. Not recently, we even had the worst traffic jam the city has ever seen.

So now, sit back and enjoy the recollections of Aravind Adiga, as he returns to his hometown of Mangalore after 15 years.

BHARAT SIKKA FOR TIME
HUSTLE AND FLOW: Once sleepy Mangalore is now alive with chic bars, malls, IT colleges and heady hopes

* A town grows up
"Life is calling"
Returning to his provincial hometown after 15 years, the author finds that it's yearning for some big-city action

The man was wearing a mundu, a white sarong, and a blue singlet, and he had been watching me from his balcony for several minutes. He was curious, perhaps even a little worried. Finally, he came to his door, and shouted: "What do you want?" I smiled apologetically. "I'm looking for my home," I said. "I think you're living in it."

With a frown, he listened. My family, I explained, had built a home of our own here in the neighborhood of Kodialguttu, just before I left Mangalore in 1991. This was the first time I had come back since then, and I wanted to see that house again. It was a two-floor structure with a slanted roof. I had been searching Kodialguttu for half an hour, but I hadn't found it: in fact, I couldn't recognize the neighborhood at all. I remembered a large paddy field that flooded during the monsoons; that was why our friends had advised us against building a home here. When we finished the house, it was the first completed building in the paddy field, and you could see it from a couple of miles around. Instead of that paddy field, I now saw shopping malls, colleges, apartment blocks and a giant convention center sheathed in glass, that claimed to have Asia's largest auditorium. His house, I said, was the only thing that looked remotely like my old home. Had he bought it from my father?

"I'm sorry," he said. "I built it myself, eight years ago."

My story had excited him. He put on a shirt, and together we went looking—in vain—for my house. I told him how bewildered I was by the way Mangalore had changed, and he agreed. Things had changed so much, and so fast, he said. In the beginning he was proud that Mangalore was becoming a city, but now "even we, who stayed back, get confused," he said. "Even we wonder sometimes, what city this is that we're now living in."

Strange things are happening to towns throughout India. Mangalore is no exception. Over the next few days, walking about the streets of my hometown for the first time in 15 years, I discovered that the disappearance of paddy fields like the one in Kodialguttu was a common occurrence. There were new shopping malls, office high-rises and modern apartment buildings everywhere—and most of the construction had taken place in the past five years. Old houses had been uprooted, and old landmarks were gone: the Hotel Woodside, famous for its racy cabaret—one of the few sinful pleasures in a conservative town—had just been demolished. There was no shortage, however, of sinful pleasure to replace it. New bars and restaurants were everywhere, and the town's first multiplex cinema was about to open. life is calling announced a giant Smirnoff poster in the center of town. It all went to prove what I had gradually come to realize in my travels around India as a reporter: that to understand how quickly and explosively the economic boom is creating a new country, you have to leave the major cities and visit places that few foreigners have even heard of—places like Mangalore.

After a decade of rapid growth, Mangalore is now a provincial city with a population of more than half a million. Back in 1991, when I left, about 300,000 people lived there. It was a somewhat larger version of any of the towns that dotted the Indian coastline from Goa to Kerala: hot, hilly, carpeted in coconut palms, and not fully comfortable with the late 20th century (movie theaters, for example, were still called "talkies"). Mangaloreans lived with their extended families in great tiled mansions built by their grandfathers. They went to the schools their fathers had gone to, wearing the uniforms their brothers had worn. It was a modest town. The only immoderate thing about it was monsoon season, which blasted us from June through September each year, flooding roads and closing down schools.

The population was mostly Hindu, but there were large Catholic and Muslim minorities. Young men of all religions were united by shared values of hard work, enterprise, and a desire to get out of Mangalore as quickly as possible. There were no jobs in town—unless you wanted to work in the local tile-making or beedi-rolling factories—and so even the most sluggish youth would eventually crawl over to Bangalore, the state capital; others went to Bombay, Dubai or the U.S. My brother left when he was 18. I left when I was 16. Many of those who got out never returned. There was no need to go back because the place never seemed to change.

But the past decade has seen extraordinary change—and extraordinary excess—in Mangalore. Although the city is full of new shopping malls and apartment buildings, the defining excess—and this is quintessentially Indian—has been in education. Mangalore had one medical college when I left; it now has five. In addition, the city has at least four dental colleges and 14 physiotherapy colleges; an additional 350 schools, colleges and polytechnics are listed in its yellow pages. Every Mangalorean entrepreneur, it seems, has moved into the education business. Dining at my favorite hotel of the old days, Srinivas, I noticed that it too had set up colleges for physiotherapy and hotel management.

A lot of the new colleges, predictably, focus on computer education. Many young Mangaloreans have gone to Bangalore to join India's high-tech industry, and local colleges tempt young recruits with the prospect of rewards that would have been inconceivable before the outsourcing boom. An ad for one of the new polytechnics features a handsome young Westerner, and a caption that says: HE IS A NETWORK AND SECURITY ADMINISTRATOR. HE DRAWS MORE THAN $80,000 P.A. GET SERIOUS—THIS COULD BE YOU!

Of course, most of these $80,000-per-annum jobs are not found in Mangalore, but even within town there are fresh options for young graduates. A few outsourcing companies have opened shop there, including tech giant Infosys, and more are on their way. A flood of new money has arrived, thanks to the combination of outsourcing jobs, fee-paying college students from around India, surging real estate prices, and expatriate remittances. As a result, many locals have suddenly become middle class, upper-middle class, or even rich. Of course, they need ways to announce this good fortune to others. The new apartment buildings, which are generally ugly and unimaginative, are sold as status symbols and given fancy names like Lexington Manor. One ad for "premium luxury apartments" promises: IF YOU'RE IN LIMELIGHT, THIS SUITS YOU THE BEST. AND IF YOU'RE NOT, THIS PUTS YOU IN LIMELIGHT.

It's easy to laugh at such pretensions, and easy to mourn the disappearance of the graceful houses where most Mangaloreans used to live. But I remember what it was like in those mansions, how your one desire was to get out and live in your own place. Everyone had wanted this independence, but few had achieved it back then: it had taken my family half a decade to build a home of our own, even though my father was a well-paid surgeon. Things were different now: everyone seemed to own their own place. And when friends and relatives saw me, the first thing they did was invite me to see their home.

One of the house-proud was Leo Fernandes, my old teacher at St. Aloysius. The last time I had visited him, 15 years ago, he had been staying in a house that he rented from the school; now he invited me to a bright, clean apartment he had recently purchased in one of the city's high-rises. Over candy and pink lemonade, he spoke excitedly about the transformation he had witnessed in Mangalore—how the town had become bigger, almost like Bombay in parts, and how the school had shared in this improvement. For a start, it had opened a massive new computer block. Life had changed in other ways, too, as Mangaloreans grew wealthier, more modern and more hurried. "All the other teachers have bikes. Some even have cars," said Leo. "Only I still walk."

Noticing that I wasn't wearing a watch, he suddenly recalled: "You never wore a watch even in school. I always wondered about that. You were a doctor's son, yet you never wore a watch, like other rich boys would."

"My father didn't let me buy a watch," I told him. "He thought it was an extravagance for a schoolboy."

We both smiled at the innocence of those days.

"Boys now have everything," Leo said. "Computers, bikes, everything. But they don't study as hard as your generation did. Already the old days are a distant memory. You used to talk to your neighbors—they were your family. The people who live around me now, I have no idea who they are. I went to talk to them once, and they didn't have time. After that I gave up."

Others spoke in a similar way of an older, simpler life that was disappearing. I met neighbors, relatives and classmates, and each had done well in some way we couldn't have imagined in the 1980s—one owned his own house, one had a car of his own. But each also had some sorrow we could hardly have imagined. A Catholic friend's daughter had married a Hindu and her family no longer spoke to her. One Hindu friend's daughter had been divorced by her husband. Divorce, extramarital affairs, inter-religious marriages, homosexual flings—the doors of experience had swung open in Mangalore. The small town had grown up.

It had become more complicated and conflicted in other ways, too. At the Nehru Maidan, an open space in the center of town, I watched kids playing cricket. Among the spectators was a group of drifters and homeless men, some of them carrying rolled-up mattresses. Growing up, I had not seen many beggars around Mangalore, which had largely avoided the crushing poverty and inequality of larger cities. Yet it now had a slum that had not existed back then. Most Mangaloreans I spoke with shrugged off the arrival of so many poor people; they were said to be immigrant workers, drawn by the construction boom, and they were expected to go away again in the future. Nobody, it seemed, was ready to acknowledge the possibility that the city might now have a permanent underclass that the boom has left behind.

For better or worse, Mangalore's fate is now in the hands of outsiders. "Tier-two cities" like Mangalore, Cochin, Mysore and Trivandrum are believed to hold the key to the future of the Indian outsourcing industry. With wages rising in big cities like Bangalore and Bombay, tech companies must expand fast in these lower-cost cities. But Mangalore faces the same problem as other small cities with aspirations of becoming outsourcing hubs: It's not an exciting place to live. "Lifestyle is a challenge when you're trying to get people from outside to stay here," Sudhir Albuquerque told me. Albuquerque, an Infosys executive, was taking me around the Mangalore campus, which has 1,800 employees and is the city's most significant tech presence.

"But things are changing," he said. "There is a night life now in Mangalore. There are bars and lounges." He had hopes, too, that the multiplex cinema would make outsiders more willing to live there. Albuquerque added: "There are things you can do here that you can't dream of doing in a big city like Bangalore. For instance, you can still go home for lunch, which I do on most days." But even that may become a thing of the past. Infosys is planning to move to a new, larger campus soon; from there, Albuquerque said sadly, he wouldn't be able to pop home at lunchtime.

The new Infosys project is just one of a flood of investments that may be heading to Mangalore, including a proposed special economic zone. In anticipation, the airport is already being expanded and may soon be upgraded to international status. I asked Mohandas Pai, a senior executive at Infosys, what he thought Mangalore would look like in a decade. "It will grow. It will be a city of maybe two million people ... an international city," he said. But these dazzling prospects could still be derailed, Pai added. "The key to Mangalore is infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure. The roads have got to get better; the airport too. If connectivity gets better, then companies will come here, and then there will be jobs here, at last. Bright people have always left Mangalore. But once the jobs are created, then the prodigal sons of Mangalore will come home, one by one, and the city will really take off."

Before leaving Mangalore again, I decided to visit Court Road once more. This small, steep, winding road—which connects my old primary school at St. Aloysius to the high school up the hill—is a physical embodiment, for me, of a rite of passage. I had gone up this road as a 13-year-old on my first day at high school. Now, as I remembered that day, I stopped to stare at the junglelike vegetation on the hillside, pausing to admire a giant banyan tree with its thick aerial branches wrapped in serpentlike creepers. A hawk flew overhead; there was the smell of raw neem all around. This must have been what Mangalore looked like in 1880 when the Jesuit priests came to this hill to build their school.

I got to the top of the hill, and from there I had a fine view of the city. Two decades ago, when you stood at a high point like this and looked down on Mangalore, the city's puny buildings all vanished, submerged beneath a canopy of coconut palms. That was when you felt a sense of contempt for Mangalore and dreamed of going somewhere big. But now, smashing through the coconut trees, were things unimaginable in my boyhood: enormous white- and pink-colored towers, either apartments or office blocks. Next to them were new towers, still under construction—unpainted concrete structures with dozens of metal rods sticking out of their sides, as if they were ripping a path for themselves through the trees. You cannot feel contempt for Mangalore now. You have to feel a sense of amazement and awe at how profoundly it has changed. But if you look a bit longer at the scene, you cannot avoid a faint inkling, either, of something like fear.

Update: Harsha, who's already posted this on his blog (as he points out in the comments) also mentions the photo essay associated with the story.

Source: TIME Asia

no title, ok?

2006-06-13T09:08:00.000+05:30

It's a lovely Tuesday morning here in the city of Mangalore. The sun is shining, the flowers are blooming, the birds are flying, and the bees are uh... being. Ideal conditions to go home, close the windows and watch the World Cup. But nooooooooooo, I have to come to office, because nobody else wants to do the work I do. *sigh*

It's been a pretty dull few days with the usual routine of work, eat and sleep. Except that the sleeping part has been cut short by the 2006 FIFA World Cup(TM). Just off watching the Italy-Ghana match last night, a pretty sedate affair, which Ghana could have won. They had their chances, but they couldnt convert. I guess that's what makes the difference between a winning side and a losing one. Hmm.. also saw the goal of the tournament, in my opinion, from Rosicky, of the Czech Republic y'day. Great day for football! But leave us not bore non-footballers/football non-watchers now. Tch Tch. Instead, let's bore some non-film watchers.

As I mentioned in my last post, I watched the premiere of Phir Hera Pheri last Thursday. The film did have it's funny moments, but heck... it's a direct rip-off of 'Lock, stock and two smoking barrels'. Even the frickin' improbable ending is the same. Still, the desi version, with all its failings is still worth a watch. The lame jokes (which I remember we used to tell our classmates in school) still manage to elicit a laugh out of you. So, go ahead. Watch it, especially if someone else is paying. Rating - ***

Unless you've been stuck in a Saharan desert, with no water, no food, and more importantly - no TV, the first thing you're going to see on TV is the Mika-Rakhi kiss-and-tell episode. It's been frickin' done to death by the media. Heck, they've even brought in experts, who dream up weirdass theories during their 15 minutes of fame, to analyse the situation. Heck, even the tsunami wasn't this elaborately covered.

Coming back to the subject of laughs, I came to office this morning, and as usual, before checking my mails to see if I had any work, I check my daily bloglist updates. And today, two posts from Amit, had me ROTFL. The post about the rediff message boards of arranged v/s love marriage, and the one about a simple, legal deposit. Check them out. As Amit would say, fun came.

Furthermore, as the title suggests, nothing much goes on around here. So here's hoping I can keep people updated with plenty of nothing. Now, I have to work. So ok, tata, bye bye.

shape up or die!

2006-06-08T19:06:00.000+05:30

And it's the end of another day at the office. No, not yet. I'm moving to a new project, and for the past few days, it's been quite hectic, with all the research going on about some new techie stuff, which would not interest most people. So, to hell with it.

Had been to Anniyan yesterday at Adlabs. For some reason, they were running it this week. Missed it the first time it came around, but had heard people raving about it then. So... went to see it, even though my knowledge of Tamil is only slightly superior to my knowledge of Swahili. Luckily, I'd Sai for company, so I'd someone to pester about what the heck was going on.

So there we were, myself, Sai, her hubby and her cousin, watching the film, and I'm the only guy in the theatre who doesnt understand Tamil. Ok, you might argue that someone may be as crazy as me to go to see a movie without understanding the language, but judging by the fact that there were more ushers in the theatre than patrons, I could be fairly right.

A typical minute went something like this:

Hero: #%@$#@!#@^*#^@*(#&(()@* (something in Tamil)
Me: (nudging Sai) What's he say? What's he say?
Sai: Well, he said...
Me: Wait, wait, I wanna watch this scene. Tell me later.
Sai: Ok...
Me: (as soon as Sai is watching the scene)... Ok, ok, tell me.

I would like to thank Sai for not beating me up after the movie.

Now coming to the movie... It was excellent. Definitely 5-star material. One of the best Indian movies I've seen in a long time. Consider how it would be if you put parts of Fight Club, Matrix and Se7en together. This is it. Multiple personality, freeze frame, and brutal killings.

The story is about a nice ol' chap called Ambi (you know the kind), who's a stickler for rules, and makes the loudest noise over the smallest disregard for them. Being ridiculed and put down, it's too much for him, and his first alter-ego comes to the fore. Anniyan, a cold blooded killer who kills people who hurt Ambi. One thing about the deaths. They arent clean ones, like your usual Hindi movie fare, where it's a nice knife to the gut, or a solitary bullet. These are brutal, and not recommended for weak hearts. His third personality is a lover boy type called Remo, who comes forth when the girl he loves rejects him, and woos her. The director has apparently taken for granted that she can't recognize his face when he lets down his hair. After all when Superman becomes Clark Kent with a pair of glasses...

My review is simple. A must see movie. The climax rocks! For people who would like to wait, the movie is being released in Hindi, under the title, Aparichit. So wait. :)

Well, me off for the premiere of Phir Hera Pheri, tonight at 10. So... adios.

look ma! me got a nano!

2006-06-03T18:52:00.000+05:30

Oooh yes. I finally got my brand new iPod Nano (black, of course)! Well, actually I got it last week itself, but heck, what's a week or two when I get to show off my new acquisition?

I got it through the grapevine that one of our colleagues was coming back from our client location at Kingsport, Tennessee. Arjun was kind enough to order one online for me from Apple. So I got to laser print my name on it and everything. Woo hoo! Serves to send a nice message - "This is mine! Mine, mine, All mine! Hands off!" :) In case you don't believe me, ask my friends. For the first few days, I was obsessed with them having clean hands before handling my iPod. (And even then, I secretly used to wipe it later... :D)

Arjun got it easy, no problem, and handed it over to Ashok, who was coming back. That was the easy part. As Arjun told me, it was the waiting that got you... sigh! I waited and waited, and finally got it from Ashok's place (didnt even wait for him to come back to office) ;)

The first thing I did on reaching home was to take off the plastic from the outer cover (^$&*# why isnt it coming off?) The multilayered packaging was really cool (although frustrating... I want to see my iPod soon!) Finally, after a small game of passing the parcel (to myself), there it was finally - what I had been waiting for nearly a month - my very own iPod nano!! (black, of course).

It's amazing, to say the least. I got a 4gb one (black, of course), which cost $249 (+ taxes - darn you, Uncle Sam!). The display is too good. If there's one thing about Apple Macs that I like, its the display. This was no exception. There are a lot of features, including the lovely Click Wheel, once you get used to handling it (the movement's a pain at the start). The lack of instructions doesn't help either.

So, it's been over a week with the nano (black, of course) now, and the initial enthu has come down a notch. So, in case you want to see my iPod now, you don't need to wash your hands before. Line up! :D

be careful what you wish for...

2006-05-31T18:14:00.000+05:30

... you might just get it, and more.

Mangalore was blazing hot a week ago. Everyone seemed to be wishing for a respite from the heat. And lo and behold, we haven't seen the sun in a week.

Most of the city is under a couple of feet of water. As I mentioned to a friend of mine, it rains just once a year here. The problem is, it starts in June and ends in September.

A small view of the city, as it is now...

dementia sets in...

2006-05-27T19:01:00.000+05:30

So it's yet another Saturday evening - and here I am, bored to death, thinking of something to blog about. And yet I just can't think of a topic. I'm just writing what comes to mind.

I think a lot. I know that comes as a surprise to most people who know me. Yes, contrary to what you people may assume, I do think a lot, perhaps as my friends deem it necessary to let me know, more than is necessary. And I speak a lot lesser (They let me know that too). What do I think about? Anything. And everything. Sometimes, I think of something too. Why do I think so much? Maybe a means of escape.

I look back over the past year, and I think I've changed a lot. I've been through quite some ups and downs in my life. I think back to the beginning of 2005, and how I was then. At that time, I felt a lot less weighed down by emotions and thoughts than I do now. Time passes us by so soon. Things change, places change, people change. For the better or for worse, only time can tell.

Maybe I should cut down on the caffeine.

As a sidenote, I cannot help but mention today is Dharmu's b'day. After all, she says she's a big gal now! :D

a good weekend.. and a bad post

2006-05-25T17:41:00.000+05:30

Well, the last week had been pretty hectic... as can be seen from the lack of posts and the most recent one, as well. Work was piled on last week, although this week has been dull, with a distinct lack of the same. That's the story of my life. What great philosophers (like yours truly) may term the Goldilocks phenomenon... the soup was too hot or too cold. Same thing. The work is never just right. :)

Well, the weekend was marked by a reunion of cousins, quite after a long time. It's not often that we meet up, for reasons various. One of them as mentioned in the above para. The catalyst was provided by my cousin Swarnata aka Amiya, who came down from Minnesota for her holidays. In large families, that's generally the norm. Everybody came to meet the 'foreign-returned' girl. A few stories are told about life in the good ol' (or bad ol', as you wish) US of A. And of course, the usual Bush-bashing is included.

Now, Amiya gets these weird whims at weirder times. To make a long story short, Friday night, 10 pm found us at Adlabs to watch, believe it or not, Ankahee (which I'm not even going to link to). Plus, the Munich night show had been cancelled, and the theatre was full of people who'd come to see Munich. We had to buy the 110 buck (sob) tickets. To make the short story shorter, this movie almost managed to ruin my entire weekend. I still fail to understand why such movies are made. The only thing worse than the acting (hamming?)was the script.

Saturday wasn't much of anything. Spent almost the entire day at home, and went off to meet the cousins in the evening. We went off to Iceberg, which has taken on a new look (good news, Dharmu! :)). The walls've been painted red and yellow. Looks a lot brighter than dull blue. Took a long time reading the menu, as usual. And ordered, as usual. Took a rare pic of the cousins together. Could be very valuable in the years to come. Book your copy now!!! :)

Sunday came, and it was my granddad's (actually, my granddad's eldest brother) 87th birthday. Soooo... we had an (very) informal cake cutting.
Next on the agenda, went to see Munich in the evening. The movie was pretty good, although I felt a tad too long (Come on, 3 hours??) The thing is, you'd never understand the movie if you didn't know about Munich massacre beforehand. Golda Meir is never introduced, and you wouldn't know who the heck she is. But still, Eric Bana and Daniel Craig put on some good performances, and the film is pretty watchable. Once. (No way I can sit through those three hours again!)
And Monday onwards, it was back to office, and now it's time to go home. Good news is that it's now raining consistently in M'lore. We beat the heat, finally. :D

Heck, I'm bored. And I'm not really happy with this post. And I'm lazy to upload any more pics. I really do need a break.

the kid... and the guy

2006-05-23T17:42:00.000+05:30

It was a dark and stormy night. The kid was running. He could hear the heavy footsteps behind him. He knew that it was only a matter of time. He couldn't outrun it much more. And then he made a mistake. He turned into a dead end.

As he turned around, he could see the guy. He was atleast six and a half feet tall, wearing an overcoat, with a hat over his eyes. He was smiling. A gold tooth glinted menacingly. "I've got you now, kid. There's no way out". The kid was cornered. His life flashed before his eyes.

As the guy drew closer, he took off his dark glasses. His eyes were jet black and emotionless. He slipped his hand into his overcoat. The kid closed his eyes. He knew it was all over. But he would face it. He opened his eyes. The guy whipped out a sheaf of papers, and handed them to him. "These are the requirements. Finish the coding and deliver it by tomorrow". And then he broke into an evil laugh. Muhahahahahahahaha!!!

And then I woke up.

Don't mind me. I'm just competing for this.

Hmm... I wonder why I had this dream. Work, maybe? Or maybe I'm reading too many thrillers. Or it could have been the Pistachio ice cream family pack I'd polished off before going to bed that night. Or maybe it could be just plain ol' bloggers block. But I feel the insanity coming on. Let me tell you all about it.

It was a dark and stormy night...

Update (in a saner mood): Why the heck did I write this?

two guys, two girls and a pizza place

2006-05-14T16:06:00.000+05:30

Well, a quick update on the 'reunion'? we had yesterday.

It started off all too well. A little too well, perhaps. We, unbelievably, managed to get a table at 5 pm on a Saturday evening at Pizza Hut!!! Thanks, of course, to the efforts of yours truly, who came 15 minutes early *coughs audibly, waitin for appreciation and doesnt get it*. Aps sauntered in, no sooner than I did get a table (I was a bit suspicious on the exact timing, though), followed by Archana (who shall henceforth be referred to as Archie) and then Sanu.

Now, I haven't met Archie since 12th (no, not 12th May, 12th std/PU). That's six years I guess. The first thing I noticed was that Aps and Archie have become typical 'Amchi mais'. Even before we ordered, we started a heavy discussion (pardon the pun) on weight gain. Aps & Archana resolved to lose 10 kgs (each, I assume) by July. And then they ordered more than they could eat. The reason, also that the post is not accompanied by any pics, is that Aps has resolved to be camera-shy till she does achieve that. And hence my camera remained in its case.

Sanu, like the true medico that he is, has promised to prepare a diet chart for them. Vive la diet! :D

Pizza hut finished, Aps remembered that she had to buy some stuff from Big Bazaar. Being familiar with the intricacies of women shoppers, courtesy Dharmu, I mentally ran down the shows playin at Adlabs. I figured I had time to get in a movie or two before they noticed I was missing. Luckily, they finished quickly... probably coz they couldnt find anything to fit them? (Oooooh, I just signed my death warrant here)

Goin off the topic, I just remembered a good joke here:
Woman (calling up a health club): I need help, bad! My husband just brought me a anniversary gift, and I can't get into it.
Gym instructor: Don't worry, madam. Come down to our club, and we promise we'll have you in that dress in no time.
Woman (hysterically): Dress? It's a Porsche!!!

Heh!

Next on the list was the helipad, of course. So we clambered into my car, and picked up cakes from Bon-Bons (diet-schmiet), and enjoyed them at the Helipad. Aps proudly brought out her iPod nano, a present from her pop-in-law for being such a good daughter-in-law (according to her, that is). So as they were polishing off the cakes (I wasnt havin one)... I checked the iPod out. Sleek, and cool. We chatted there for some time (yeah, what else do we do?).

Finally, we decided to stop for a 'especial' Grape juice at Kadri Park. Earlier, Aps was telling me about it.
Aps: "The grape juice actually has grapes in it"
Me (dumbfounded stare for a few seconds): "I see... and what did you expect? Watermelons, maybe?"
Well, this juice had uncrushed grape inners in it. It was quite good, in fact. Maybe I'll try it again soon.

Also, at this point, all our BMI's were calculated by Sanu. Which means we got to know Aps' n Archie's real weights. A secret which we need to take to our grave, girls? :)
I can imagine my epitaph now 'Here lies he who dared reveal Aparna's weight'. :P

Well, finally after droppin all of them off, I attended Vivek's parents 25th wedding anniversary. Reached there just as the classical music concert was over (Timing!), and just in time for the speeches. Skipped dinner (I was still full after finishing off the pizza), but didnt skip the ice cream.

Ending up, here's wishing Rathnakarmam & Arunamai a glorious 25th wedding anniversary!!!

blogged out

2006-05-13T15:05:00.000+05:30

Every once in a while, I get into this state of mind, wherein I just cant think of anything to post.

This time it's so bad, that I'm not even commenting on other blogs. A 4-line comment, something that I could do without a second thought... nowadays I feel the need to think. For Dharmu, that's why I'm not first on your blog these days ;)

I've always wondered what is it that causes this so-called 'Blogger's block' phenomenon. For one thing, a lot of my posts are empirical (that's a two-dollar word for 'based on experience'), so if nothing happens as I mentioned here, then I can't write anything, can I? Huh?

Secondly, there are times when I don't feel like doing anything, let alone blogging. I work, I go home, I eat, I sleep (with countless cups of coffee in between, black, no sugar). No reading blogs, let alone writing 'em. All the blogs I read, I subscribe to the feed through Bloglines, and I read a lot of 'em. Even if I don't read them for one day, the unread count piles up like a... uhhhh (see what I mean? I can't even think of a simile here :D ). And the main culprits ;) are blogs like Amit's India Uncut, Gaurav's Vantage point & Sayesha's world.

Thirdly, the work itself. It piled on during the last couple of weeks. So not much bloggin durin the week. My last few posts have all been on weekends.

I could go on... but I'll be just borin y'all nice folks.

Actually, at one point of time during this week I even thought of deleting my blog. Coz I dunno when I'm gonna feel like the old Dev again. Then I figured it wasnt worth the trouble. Startin a new blog when I feel like writin again... Naaaaaaaaaah! I'll just let this one gather cobwebs 'til then.

Right now I'm in office (yes, on a Saturday), just listening to some mellow songs... tryin to get my mood back. Will be goin out soon to meet Aps who's come down to Mangalore and a few other friends. Off we go!

but it rained...

2006-05-06T20:51:00.000+05:30

Yesterday it rained. And rained and rained. It rained for the first time this year in Mangalore. I love getting wet in the first rain. And that's what I did, although not very voluntarily.

One of my colleagues is going onsite to Tennessee, and we gathered together (at his expense, of course) to wish him farewell, at the Village, a small restaurant hereabouts. We reached there, just barely, at around 9 pm. It was raining so heavily, you couldnt see 5 feet ahead. *Author pats himself on the back for reaching there safely.* Not many photos were taken, and I have none to post here. And yes, we did have fun, we ate, we drank, we made merry and yadayadayada, but let's get back to the point... the rain.

When it rains, the song that comes to mind first is the Parikrama song 'But it rained'... yes, I know there are better songs that could come to mind, but somehow this song impressed upon me a lot when I heard it for the first time. And I just love the lyrics, even though they didnt make much sense to me at first. (not that they do now :))

Wrapped in a polythene tucked away safe in my mind
A little goodbye maybe or just a passing smile

The birds fly away to the southern sky searching a home
A bunch of paper flowers or a little boy left all alone
Can somebody hear me I'm screaming from so far away
Morning who will calm you now, the evening is eclipsed again

Well does life get any better
More yesterday than today
How I thought the sun would shine tomorrow
But it rained...

Of course, my selection is nowhere near Sayesha's "I"Pod, of course, but I try.

Having said that, the Thursday rain seemed to be a freak storm, as we haven't had much rain after that, and the heat wave is once again taking over. :(

Author's note: This happened on Thursday night, and I wrote about it on Friday, but I been too busy (read lethargic) to post it til today. Went to see 36 China Town and Ice Age 2 today at Adlabs, and boy do I have to comment on those! Tomorrow, perhaps. Or maybe not. :)

the helipad

2006-04-30T21:27:00.000+05:30

A quick update on the impulse I had last week of going to Mysore. It got stifled before it could take root due to a series of extraordinary circumstances.

I've been wanting to write about the helipad in Mangalore for sometime now. Ok, I really haven't been, but Dharmu wants me to. I have no idea why she didnt write it herself. Anyway, I suddenly realized that today was an ideal day for writin about it. The reason's simple. Today is exactly one year to the day that I went to the helipad with Dharmu for the first time.

Flashback to April 30th, 2005. It was a reunion of our pre-univ (12th std, for the uninitiated) classmates at Pabba's ice cream parlour, Mangalore. Well, it was pretty short, and most of the people gave the impression of having to do better things outside. ;) Ultimately, by 5.30, there were just five of us left. Myself, Dharmu, Anitha, Vivek & Sanu. I guess at that point, except for me & Vivek, we were pretty much strangers to one another, with no contact for nearly 5 years after we passed out. Pretty funny, if you consider that me n Dharmu were classmates for almost 15 years until 12th, and yet never spoke a word to each other. None of us had anything better to do, so Dharmu suggested we go to the helipad. I had been to the helipad before, but very few times in between. So we took my car there... and that was the beginning of quite a few beautiful friendships.

Well, there's nothing much to say about the helipad itself here. It does what it's name suggests, and provides a place for helicopters to land. Of course, hardly anybody comes over here in a helicopter, except probably a occasional minister who actually wanted to go to Bangalore, and a confused pilot or two.

However, it does provide an excellent pitch to kids who play cricket there during the weekends. The adults have better entertainment, since when the overgrown grass provides excellent cover. Care has to be taken that the prying eyes of a few aged people, who come there for a walk, do not have a show instead. I've heard reports of a different kind of grass being sold there too, but that's another story.

Jokes apart, I've always found it a great place just to sit alone and think, to reflect on something. Usually, you'll find me there when I'm extremely unhappy or disappointed over something, and just want to be alone for sometime. Also, I make it a point to take most of my friends there, since it's a beautiful place, where you can watch the sun set... that is of course when you go there during sunset...

The best part is to take a chocolate ghatho (I assume it's spelled as it's pronounced, without a silent j or q or whatever), a sinfully rich chocolate/ice cream cake from Bon-bon's nearby, and eat it at the helipad watching the sunset. Dharmu was the one who introduced me to this concept (Thanks, Dharmu).

I've been there a lot of times over the past year, and I find it an extremely relaxing experience. Especially when you go there after a (hard) day's work, you can just unwind, watch the sunset, enjoy the silence, and then have a cup of coffee at Vrindavan (a fast food joint) nearby before going home. An ideal place if you want to have a quiet chat with anybody. Me n Andy (Andrea) had been there the last time she came down to Mangalore, and we sat there for over 2 hours just talking. You'll never realize the time go by...

Ok... I guess that's enough. If I praise it too much, everybody will want to come there, and it'll be as peaceful as Big Bazaar on a Sunday, with a 50% off sale. One of the last few refuges in Mangalore, where you can retreat when you're tired of the hustle and bustle of city life, this is the place to be.

Ending up with a few pics taken exactly a year ago. Happy anniversary, all.

A couple of pics of the sunset at the helipad
From L to R: Dharmu, Vivek, Sanu and Anitha

hasna zaroori hai

2006-04-28T12:29:00.000+05:30

Went to see the premiere of Darna Zaroori Hai last night with my colleagues. The 10'o'clock show, of course. The movie lived up to it's tag as the sequel of Darna Mana Hai. It was soooo predictable, that it became almost laughable after the interval.

First of all, the movie started with a trailer of Satya, the upcoming RGV film, starring his new-found will-star-these-people-until-they-he's-bored-with-'em finds, Mohit Ahlawat and Nisha Kothari. (I really dont care abt the spelling). Nice way to start the show, with a guy hammering nails into someone's head with a sledgehammer. Sweet. Setting the tone for things to come, what?

I'm no expert at reviewing movies, so I refer you to expert opinions here and here (Warning: second link is a spoiler. Dont read if you're gonna see the movie). You can form your own opinions. Well, my opinion is that the movie rates 1/10 in terms of scariness. Only the sound sequence I still laugh at some of the sequences (both - which were meant to laugh, and those that meant to scare). The film starts off with a Sajid Khan-directed funny shtick... That was the best part of it. And then it all went downwards, once the titles started. The main story involving the old lady narrating stories to the kids was a stinker.

My rating however - **1/2. Worth a watch if you enjoy comedy, especially the first sequence, which is unrelated to the rest of the movie.

In other news, I'm off to Mysore tnite, on an impulse. Will be back Tuesday. Sorry, Maya & Dharmu... your posts will be delayed, yet again. :)

coorged!

2006-04-26T19:36:00.000+05:30

Last Saturday was a workin day for us. I begin thusly because it wasn't supposed to be. My project team was supposed to be on the way to Coorg, the 'Scotland of India', as they say. Unfortunately, due to the unfortunate death of Dr. Rajkumar, we had an extra holiday to make up. All of us were actually pumped up for the trip, so we decided to take the plunge and have the trip on Sunday instead.

As I had mentioned in my previous post, we were to start at an highly ambitious 5.30 am. There were 23 of us in total, and we had booked a 20 seater, which actually seated 19. So 4 people ended up being the cabin crew (the long seat on the side in the driver's cabin). We finally set off at 6.30 (surprisingly earlier than expected). The space between the seats was not much, and definitely not enough for a 6'3" frame. I discovered that I wasn't as good a contortionist as I thought I was, and I ended up with a backache (which I still have) and a headache too.. but that's another story.

Let me start off saying that Coorg is not toured in a day. Unless you want to sleep off the rest of the week. Now, we reached Madikeri at around 11. The first stop was Abbey falls. (A major argument ensued over whether the place was spelled Abbi or Abbey... and the fight continues). Also, this time, I took Silverine's advice and did not plunge under the falls. Besides, I had no spare clothes. I did wade through however, and that resulted in me winning the Wimbledon championship later in the day (If you didnt get it, dont worry. It was an inside joke). The place was pretty nice, and we spent about an hour or two there. Pics... There were no less than 9 budding photographers, and here are some of the the results. :D

From the link above, A big attraction for tourists and filmdom alike is the Abbey Falls, 8 kms from Madikeri. Even during the summer there is plenty of water in these falls. The roar of the falls can be heard from the main road, from where a path goes through lovely coffee and cardamom plantations right up to them. The chirping of innumerable birds which are easier heard then seen, fill the air with sweet music. Do remember to take your binoculars and camera when you go there.

The next stop was the Haarangi dam, about an hour's drive away. This was probably one place we could have skipped and saved some time. othing much of note here, as the dam was totally dry. Besides, photography was not allowed here. Apparently, there was a chance we would sell the dam design to the Elbonians. (As a sidenote, the weather was frickin hot!!)

Thirdly, we went to the Buddhist monastery/Golden temple from there. I still fail to pronounce the name of the monastery. Ah yes, Namdroling. Thanks, Google. It's a beautiful place... however, mind your ears there though. There should be a statutory warning on the gongs. They are... well, to understate, loud. Too loud. By this time, half the enthusiasm of the 'tourists' is over.

The final place of visit was the Cauvery Nisargdham/wild life sanctuary... it closes at 5, and we reached there at 5.15. Sweet. We did manage to make it inside, though... and we spent a couple of hours there, elephants and all (no, not in our party... in the sanctuary). The still enthu people played throwball and tossed a frisbee there... in the middle of a stream. And I was deemed the official retriever everytime the frisbee ended up in the stream, as I was the only one who agreed to get into the water.

File photo: Devender Mallya, Wimbledon Champion

There were plans to visit Talakaveri and Nagarhole during the discussion of the original plan. But they were deep-sixed when people took a look at their watches. Also, from the link above describing the Nagarhole national park, "Lucky people may see a tiger or panther or even a King cobra." Oh joy! If that's lucky, I'd hate to be one of the unlucky ones.

Slept during most of the 4 hour return journey, and finally reached back to the office at 1.30 in the morning. Went home, and slept more. Woke up with a backache and a headache. Which I still have, and which explains why this post is abridged, and dull.

I still have Maya's tag to finish, and Dharmu's helipad post... Please pass the blogger's block.

mangalored!

2006-04-22T21:47:00.000+05:30

Big Bazaar opened its doors in good ol' Mangalore today. The result? A great, big traffic jam. Never in my 23 years of existence in Mangalore have I seen such a jam. Heck, I don't think I've seen such a jam in Bangalore, for heaven's sake!

Today, to get from the Lalbagh traffic signal to the Adlabs Cineplex/Big Bazaar complex (I dunno whether it has a name yet), a distance of <100 meters, which normally would take 10 seconds in extremely heavy Saturday evening traffic took me 25 MINUTES, on a BIKE. The Lalbagh traffic signal was jammed to the extent that the only thing which changed was the traffic light. Of course, the change of the light mattered as much as the talent part in a beauty contest, coz you couldnt even move your vehicle an inch.

Factors which contributed to the jam:

First of all, the parking area in the complex is not yet fully ready. Hence, the parking takes place on BOTH sides of the streets, while the cops turn a blind eye. (Mangalore, after all... not much traffic here, no?)

Secondly, the traffic cops were totally inadept. For them, the concept of a 'traffic jam' was a myth, heard of in faraway, exotic lands (like Bengalooru, except that it's not too faraway and not very exotic), but not seen. They were totally out-of-sorts dealing with this kind of rush. I didnt even know Managlore had so many people.

Thirdly, Food Bazaar had this sale of Buy-one-get-one-free stuff or something... like 1 kg potatoes free for every 1 kg purchase. Wow, I say. That's a deal! So, Mangalore being Mangalore, everybody and their mother, aunt, sister-in-law and any other lady in the house, who loved a bargain, was at Food Bazaar. That's a fact. There were hardly any guys in there. (As a side note, I was going there to buy snacks et al. for a trip tomorrow, but that's another story). I got as far as the door and saw the line at the purchase counter. Took an about turn, and bought the snacks elsewhere.

Fourthly, that road is one of the busiest on Saturday evening, because Saibeen complex, the closest thing which remotely resembles a mall in Mangalore, is on the same road, and Saturday evening is when the cool dudes and dudettes (atleast according to themselves) hang out there. 'Oh, hieeeee *some name here*!!! How u doin babe?? That's nice... me jus hangin out in Saibeen, you know... Coool, u here too?'. Also, right opposite Big Bazaar complex is the KSRTC bus-stand. And every five minutes, a bus comes out and blocks the road.

Ultimately to go back home, which was less than a km away, I had to take a detour of nearly 7 kms. $%&*#! Luckily, I was on a bike. Last I heard, the archeaology department was trying to find the cars et al which were stuck in the jam.

Mangalore seems to be goin the B'lore way, day by day.

Hmmm... to end up, I'm gonna sleep early today. Me off with my project team to Coorg tomorrow, and we start at an highly ambitious 5.30 am from office. Might be interesting to see who actually shows up then. The trip details... comin up next.

more unrelated ramblings

2006-04-19T15:29:00.000+05:30

Well, I haven't been updating my blog much in the last few days. The reason for the same is simple. Nothing much has been happenin around recently. So I'm bored, and I just can't think of anything to write.

Speaking of which, I've always wondered how is it that all the news that happens around the world in one day exactly fits into a newspaper. And what if nothing happened that day? Imagine getting up one day, and opening your morning paper to see a 90pt headline exclaiming 'Nothing happened today!', and 16 or whatever pages of blank paper. Judging by the all the crap happenin in the world today, a day of no news is good news, don't u think? :)

In the past few days, I've had much lesser work than usual. So I've resigned myself to reading others blogs and I've 'discovered' quite a few interesting blogs too. Ok... I don't want to list all of them over here now... coz i've gone through a loooong list, and I've added quite a few of them which I found really interesting on my blogroll already. A couple I'd mention here that I really enjoyed going through are Sayesha's world, Silverine and Abhinav's Dayz. Anything I read regularly goes on my blogroll... so do check 'em out.

Anyway... I'm bored. Maybe it's time to goof around with my template again. Check in sometime for a new template... if I get the time. My team lead seems to be noticing that I'm goofin' off these days... and I wont be surprised if I do get some work soon. And of course, I still have to write about the helipad in Mangalore as I promised Dharmu. So then... 'til next time.

Oh yeah... check out this pic of mine from the road trip. Finally got Vivek's photos.

unrelated ramblings

2006-04-13T13:50:00.000+05:30

The results are out... And as expected (by me), I didn't make it through to the IIMs. I am a bit disappointed, though not highly shattered... After all, it's just another day, as I always say.

What I'm surprised though, is how much others were concerned about me getting through, than myself. I will give them the benefit of doubt, that they were simply not looking forward to being rid of me. I've had countless calls and messages since last morning enquiring about the results. Thanks for all the wishes guys... Let's see, maybe next year, I may (although highly unlikely) finally leave you alone. :)

Well, I assume, as of now, that this would be my first and last try at the CAT. But I've learnt never to say never. Things never work out the way you plan. Writing CAT this year was by accident... and it may be the same again next year. :) Speaking of which, I definitely know where I will NOT be doing my MBA from. Yup, the world famous (for all the wrong reasons) IIPM. Check out this site by the current IIPM students... and do see the issues at the bottom of the page. Thanks to Gaurav for linking to this site.

Coincidentally, my orkut fortune yesterday said...
Today's fortune:
You are deeply attached to your family and home

Looks like I'll have to be home for some more time. :D

In unrelated news, as the world will now know, our 'Kannadada Kanmani' Dr. Rajkumar, has breathed his last. A truly great man, as people who have grown up watching his films would know.

And in more unrelated news, his 'fans' have gone berserk, rioting in Bangalore. Holidays declared all over the state... to serve what purpose, God knows. Pretty peaceful here in Mangalore...

Vinnu has decided that no matter what, he works today. Good on ya, Vinnu.

As usual, 'til next time.

road trip

2006-04-05T21:41:00.000+05:30

Ok, so after delaying as much as possible, I'm finally writing about the road trip. Vinnu has already posted Day 1 of the trip, the Bangalore-Mangalore part where I was missed. :)

The characters (and how!) of the trip (from L to R): Keshava/Keshav, Dushyant/DK, Me/Myself, Vinayak/Vinnu, Vivek(anand)/CoffeeFreak
Pic taken at Lakya Dam near Kudremukh, the only one in which we all made it. Photographer: The roof of Vinnu's car. Auto timer rules!

The story starts the night before, after we came back from Tanneerbavi beach. Vinnu's digicam is missing! A 'thorough' search later, we prepared to head back to the beach when Vivekanand finally had the idea of looking in the side zipper of his bag. And... lo and behold! The cam! Vinnu's relief was quite evident from the fact that he planted a quick peck on Vivekanand's cheek. Ahem.

A freshening up later, we met at Saibeen where Vinnu purchased a cassette of Gangster. Hadn't heard any of the songs before, but when Vinnu says they rock, they do. And they did. We musta played the songs about 15-20 times by the time we drove to Hanumangundi and back, despite the weak protests of our co-passengers.

Now we decided to start at 7 am. Yeah, right. The rest of the gang (apart from Vivekanand, who was stayin at his place) was stayin at DK's place. I get a phone call from Vinnu at 7.05... the guys aren't ready yet. So what else is new? Anyway, I reached DK's place at 7.30, which was near the Kadri temple. Turns out that Vinnu had suddenly found religion after the return of his cam, so we visited the temple before the start of the trip. After a b'fast of dosas at DK's, we picked up Vivek (and had bondas at his place). Now, I thought I was a caffeine addict, but Vivek beats me hands down. Every half-hour, his caffeine system kicks in and we get requests to stop for coffee in the middle of nowhere. The journey starts at Bhattre's where the guys stock up. What with, is your guess. :)

Our first stop was outside the NMAMIT engineering college at Nitte (about an hours drive from M'lore) for, you guessed it, coffee. No coffee though, so we settled for milkshakes. We managed to make it to the South Kanara border without any more coffee, and took a break. It was too frickin' hot though. Phew.

The Western ghats came soon, and Vinnu's protesting but sturdy Maruti 800, struggling under the combined weight of us heavyweights, creaked up the mountains. It got cooler (thank God) as we reached higher, and finally we reached the Hanumangundi falls. The last time I had come here, you had to trek down. Now, we have steps! The lady at the tea-shop near the border had said there were 75 steps down. I can only assume she meant 750. I was relieved that we finally made it to the bottom. (Getting back up was another story altogether)

Now was the best part of the trip. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves for the next 2 hours. The water was freezing and the waterfall was like standing under a chilled shower. (brrrrrr). Toooo good! A few of us brave adventurers even had a lie-down under the falls.

After changing back, we found the car keys 'missing'. This time, they were found in a side pocket of my bag. Side pockets/zippers had a big role in this adventure, I tell you. Never has so much been found in so less side zippers.

Next up was lunch at Kudremukh. We had a pleasant surprise awaiting us there. Apparently, the govt had decided to close the national park to visitors because of a naxalite problem. So basically, we had nothing to do. We decided to proceed to lunch eached the guest house, quite late, somewhere around 2.45. Vinnu had already warned us that there might not be much food left. The waiter came to take our order. "Do you have dal-roti?" "No sir", "Gobi Manchurian" "No sir"... and so on. "So what do you have?" "Sir, only south indian meals". Duh! We look at each other. "Ok then, five meals". :)

The meals were actually quite good. Well, any food tastes good when you're ravenous. But we totally took advantage of the unlimited food clause and proceeded to gorge ourselves. A heavy lunch later, we started on the drive back. Stopped at the Lakya dam for some pics (We were here!). The last stop on the itinerary was Kaup beach (which was decided after the access denial to the national park) and we made it in time to catch the sunset. (although nobody seemed actually interested in it)... Sat for sometime... took some more pics (We were here too!) and started on the drive back to Mlore.

Quite a few places were thrown around for dinner, but we finally decided on Dolphin, a small restaurant in Kadri, the deciding factor being that it had A/C. The food was ok-ish, but all we wanted to was to get home and hit the sack.

Finally made it to DK's place, after which I dropped Vivek off and went home. A good end to an truly enjoyable day. I cant wait for the next road trip.

Vinnu's cam ran out of steam (read battery) halfway (with all the playback, I'm not surprised) and yet to get Vivek's snaps... so guys, wait for 'em. :)

weekend watches

2006-04-03T23:29:00.000+05:30

This weekend (to be precise, Saturday), I did catch a couple of movies at the Adlabs cineplex that's opened up over here.

Called and pestered Anitha to join me for the morning show of Wedding Crashers. The beauty is that the morning show is 40 bucks for the entire theatre, even on weekends. :) And moreover, we received a standing ovation when we entered the theatre, since they were not going to start the movie without atleast 5 people watching it. (Ok, I made that up... but there were only 5 ppl, including me n Anitha) Movie was pretty good. Hilarious, especially the antics of Vince Vaughn, and his (ahem) 'chemistry' with the gay brother. Melody's pretty much written a nice review on it... but I wouldn't give it two thumbs up. If you're looking for some good way to spend two hours, watch this movie. My verdict - ***

The second was the evening show of Crash. Went with my bro n cousin. Well, the general trend for review, as I've seen, is that the movie is nothing short of 'amazing'. Well, I did find the movie quite interesting, and the way the sub-plots weave together is quite fantastic. But on the whole, although I would say the movie was really good, my opinion is that it falls quite short of the amazing mark. I guess it's the Oscar which hyped up the movie more than anything. (Ok, know Brokeback mountain is considered to be one of the most boring pics, so it didn't deserve an Oscar... blah blah). Anyway, my verdict - ***

Went to the beach in the evening, as Vinnu and a few friends drove down from Bangalore. Drove to Hanumangundi falls on Sunday, but that's another post. Vinnu wants to blog that first, and I generously allow him that pleasure (besides, he has all the pics, and I feel tooooo darn lazy today).

Til' next time, then.

an evening in mangalore

2006-03-31T09:01:00.000+05:30

So last evening, I finally made my first trip to the newly constructed (almost) Adlabs Cineplex at Mangalore. Anitha had come down for Ugadi, taking a day off today. She's nuts about the Charmuri upkari (a type of chaat, for the uninititated), a speciality of Mangalore...

So the evening started off at Lighthouse Hill, with reservations at a posh outdoor restaurant tentatively called 'The place where you eat Charmuri upkari'. The owner has done wonders with the decor, using an old Pepsi delivery truck. The seating arrangement is wonderful and flexible. You may sit wherever you wish, as the delicately crafted Nilkamal plastic stools are very comfortable and extremely mobile. The menu is varied with choices ranging from Charmuri upkari to Bhel puri, and you can choose either to take it or leave it.

The 'kitchen' is fully visible from the seats, presumably so that the artistry of the chef at work as he dumps all the ingredients in a big bowl and stirs may be visible to all the patrons. The sheer agility with which he dumps the resulting mixture in a bowl, ah a sight to behold! The charmuri upkari is served on plates of stainless steel, no less, with delicate sprinklings of shredded cucumber on top. The waiters are elegantly dressed in the latest fashion in vogue for chaat vendors, banians and pants, with stains in just the right places. You also have the pleasure of watching them wash the dishes, although I wouldnt recommend it for those with weak psyches. At the end of the meal, the waiter sides over to take your order for a nightcap (or any-other-time-of-day cap) of sugarcane juice, a good year of course. For the less adventurous, there's always the local drink of 'Zaffa' or 'Boon' to sip during the course of the meal.

All this comes at a price, I must say. A good meal can range either from Rs.6 to Rs. 20 per person, depending upon the meal and the person. Tipping is at your discretion.

Well, next was a drive-in at Woodlands, one of the oldest hotels in Mangalore, and probably the only drive-in. I remember my grandfather used to take me here when I was a kid. Hadn't been there for quite some time after he passed away, but started going again recently. I'm amazed, coz most of the old timers there are still around. Especially one of them, whose real name is probably lost in the sands of time, and is called 'Bhatrey', seems to look the same from when I remember him as a kid. Well, you know what they say, 'Old waiters never die. They just wait...'

We decided to check out Adlabs then, just to see how it looked like inside and what movies were playin tomo, that were worth watching. The construction isn't quite done outside, but the inside looks pretty good. Well, we reached at 6.45, and saw that 'Malamaal Weekly' was playin, so we decided to watch it anyway. Tickets are priced at Rs. 40, 80 & 110, depending on distance from the screen. I'm a bit surprised though, since it really doesnt make much of a difference, sitting in a 40 buck seat and a 110 buck seat, apart from the fact that the latter is costlier. It's pretty much the same otherwise. We played it safe, and went for the 80 buck ones. Once inside, I decided - 40 bucks next time.

Adlabs also has the first Pizza Hut in Mangalore, which I'll have to check out next time. I'm just happy that movies will finally come here on time. I'm sick of having to wait for 7-8 weeks for movies (Hindi, of course... English films never get released here $%*@#) Apparently, it is an extremely small section of population that likes to watch good English movies. The only English movies that get released here generally cannot be found in IMDB, and go something like 'Secrets of the bedroom' and 'Unfettered Vixens'. Frickin *@&#^!!!

'Malamaal Weekly' was a big disappointment. The film has a few good scenes, especially the slapstick ones, but otherwise, it's a big let down from Priyadarshan. The plot is extremely dull, and you find yourself yawning through most of the film. Even Paresh Rawal fails to save this film. I really hope Priyadarshan comes up with something better next time. I wouldn't recommend this film, unless you're getting to watch it for free.

Until the next evening out.

tapmi trix

2006-03-30T10:42:00.000+05:30

Well, it was time for another interview. This was at the TA Pai Management Institute (TAPMI) in Manipal, the only other institute I had applied to (coz my dad suggested).

Well, I wasn't even planning to go for this interview at the beginning. I was really tired out, with a lot of work, and the IIM interviews. But, after some, shall we say, external (ahem) pressures from a certain individual, which culminated with a death threat in case of non-appearance, I found myself in a Manipal bound bus at 7 in the morning. Just managed to reach the venue 5 minutes before 9.

The GD was pretty ok-ish... there were supposed to be 18-20 ppl in the panel, I guess. But only about 13 turned up. I was pretty much at the end (no. 16). The GD topic was 'The economic power of a nation bestows upon it it's political power'. In spite of the large number of ppl, there wasnt a fish market, and pretty much everyone got to speak. There was an extempore for 2 minutes... and my topic was 'Statistics are only half-truth'. Managed to speak for two minutes on how statistics make anything look good. For example, did you know that 75% of people make up 3/4th of the world's population?

We were finished by 10, and they asked the latter half of the panel to report at 2, while they would have some interviews in the morning. I went back to my dad's office, at WGSHA (Valley View, Manipal) and spent most of the morning there. Went back at 2. The interview pretty much went off well. There were 4 people, who were pretty much trying to convince me that I was technically strong, so why an MBA etc etc... At the end, one of them noticed that I had learnt Sanskrit in college, so they asked me about Kalidasa and which scene of 'Shakuntala' touched my heart. I told them about the scene which Dushyant forgets about his marriage to Shakuntala (that was the only one i could remember). There was more in between, but heck... nothing interesting.

So that was about it... 15 mins, I guess. I left for home after that... wasn't feelin too good. Guess it must have been fatigue. Had skipped both breakfast (had only a cup of coffee) and lunch. Was really tired and had a big headache by the time I got home, so ditched the plan to go to office, and spent the evening in bed (this isn't what it sounds like) , and got up only to brush my teeth at night and of course, to check my mails :).... so basically a 24-hour period without food for me y'day.

Good practice for MBA, I say.

the return of ponty manesar

2006-03-30T10:10:00.000+05:30

Check out the latest in the Monty Panesar series at Amit's blog.

For those of u who missed the earlier ones... check them out here and here. These are downright hilarious! :)) (ROTFL, still)

And, while you're at it, don't forget to check out Santa & Shanti's hot date! :)

hear ye, all fans of rock

2006-03-24T21:29:00.000+05:30

Check out this hilarious post! Sidin again at his sarcastic best!

I'm an engineer (and a hopeful MBA... waitin for April) myself. After years of all the music blasting away in the hostel at full volume, I'm still to understand the difference between rock/heavy/death metal whatever, so I can really dig where this guy is coming from.

I still can't stop laughing.

its a dog's world...

2006-03-24T14:47:00.000+05:30

Have you ever wondered how it would be like to work at Google?

Now this is a great job.

boredom at midnight

2006-03-23T23:58:00.000+05:30

It's been a looooong week....

And it's only Thursday. The weekend is looming, but it offers no respite for me. I'll be in office on Saturday. Hopin to see the sun on Sunday atleast...

The clock on my desk says 12. Midnight tolls, and the ghosts of old programmers rise from their seats to haunt their cubicles. One of them tells me, as I sip my coffee, about how he worked until he saw a bright blinding light and finally felt at peace.

The bugs raise their ugly heads, as they roam freely through my code, chomping away at vital snippets.

I can feel it. I'm going insane.

Here's to a work-free weekend. Cheers.

more family feuds - the art of revenge

2006-03-20T20:22:00.000+05:30

Messy daughter fights back by humiliating dad

From the Guardian...

An exasperated father has discovered to his cost that cyberspace is not the ideal arena for family feuds. Two weeks ago Steve Williams became so fed up with his daughter's messy bedroom that he built a website featuring pictures of his slothful offspring's lair in an attempt to shame her into action.

But the public humiliation proved a short-lived victory. While it did spur his daughter, Claire, into tidying up her room, it also whet her appetite for revenge. With the help of her father's friends, the 20-year-old business student has now set up a rival website that displays photos of him in a variety of compromising situations."

Loving family, don't u think?

Link via: Amit

bombai nagariya...

2006-03-19T16:16:00.000+05:30

"laakh laakh roz aake bas jaate hai
iss sheher se dil laga ke phas jaate hai"

The city of Bombay. The city of dreams, they say. My experience with this dream city was just for a month. But that one month was, to understate, amazing. If I could live in any city in the world, apart from Mangalore (hey, my loyalties!!!), would be Bombay. I'm not kiddin.

During my second year in college, I had to go to Bombay for my industrial training at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in Trombay. My co-conspirators in this adventure were Vivek and Deepak, classmates then.

Well, one thing I really love about Bombay is the local trains. The rush hour experience is something you should experience at least once in life. If you havent, then you havent lived. I dunno if Bombayites might agree... you guys experience it every day. Would seem routine. But when you've been there for only a month.. well, it's an experience for us small city folks. :)

My cuz lives in Borivili and I used to go to there every weekend. The first week, I was hesitant to take the train. Heard a lot of horror stories about it. Soooo.. rotted on the bus for 2-1/2 hours. But once you get used to the trains... its cool. :)

The other thing I love is the vada pav!!! You just cannot visit Bombay and not have the vada pav over there. Bombai nagariya....

The most important thing I learnt in BARC was how to work like govt. employees. :) Our schedule for the day went something like this (times may vary, of course):
8.45: Catch the bus from Ghatkopar to Trombay
9.40: Reach the outer gate of BARC. Buy newspaper if feel like it. Start walkin.
10.05: Catch the shuttle bus at the inner gate, and reach the place where we are supposed to report (Me & Vivek... Deepak was in a diff dept).
10.10: Go to the canteen for breakfast (subsidized, of course)
10.40: Lope over to a building and report to the supervisor, who'll hand us some docs to read. (We go over to the plant to read... he won't be there)
11.15: Off to the pantry for misal pav - u used to get amazing misal pav over there... Bombay speciality. :)
11.45: Back to plant, pretending to read.
12.45: Canteen for lunch, again subsidized - You could have a full meal with eggcurry and dessert for 8 bucks (Rs, not $)!!
1.30: Back to plant, for the first few days. Once we realized there was no one who cared what we did, went back home. Really. Totally rocked! We got to roam in the evenings! :)
4.30: Back home, if not earlier.

Ok, this lasted for nearly 3 weeks, after which we were transferred to under another prof. This guy was better, he kept us in his office the whole day, and actually made us work out some stuff.... process calculations, what we call. But the flip side was that he was never in the office. And he allowed us free rein on his comp. Just for a lark, I just went over to the cookies folder to check what this guy browses on govt time. And no prizes for guessing what I find.. yeah, take an obvious shot. Its the four letter word that begins with "P" and ends with "orn". Tons of it! And we wonder why India is struggling in the nuclear sector.

Bu the fun was later. After he came back, he asked us how we ranked in our class, and we replied in the top ten. He said he knew it, we were so hardworking. I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing. Just ten minutes earlier, we were discovering his 'collection'. :D

The other misadventures that we went through could write a book. Like the time Deepak wanted to have a drink. So there's this bar in front of our flat. I dont want to remain in the room alone, so I decide to accompany the guys. So we go there, and the guard personally escorts us to the door with a smart 'Salaam saab' and all that. We were totally new to this concept of 'ladies bars', except the fact that it's better to avoid them. It would be tough if we get busted there. :D So we go in, and there's this lady standing there. I mean, ok if she's a looker and all that, but she was huge! I mean HUGE, as in the kind that would stand on a scale and get two readings. We hurried out of there faster than Ganguly back to the pavilion.

Then there was the time me & Vivek went lookin for a Mongini's. For the uninitiated, thats a pastry chain that makes the most amazing cakes. Yummy! I wish they'd start up in Mlore too. :( Ok, so we did find one in Ghatkopar, after walkin for 2 hours. I dont mind that. But as we came back, it started rainin heavily. We lost our way and walked around in the rain for nearly an hour and a half. I had to do with stinking shoes for a week after that. To worsen things, we discovered Vivek's 'waterproof' bag wasn't what it claimed. Our reports were in there. We had to rewrite the entire thing that night.

Speaking of the report, that's another hilarious story. The first prof had given us a report to refer while writin this. All we did was to copy the report, changing the active voice to passive. :) That was for the first few paras. Then we didnt even bother to do that. We submitted the report. The next day he started off sayin, "I've gone through your report, and I find that..." (trrring). The phone rings. "Saved by the bell", I think. After the phone, he forgets what he was talkin. So he sends us off to the other prof. That's the last we saw of him. I wonder what he would have said if it wasnt for that phonecall... :)

There were a lot of other (mis)adventures too... they may be part of bombai nagariya 2, if i ever publish it someday. Keep waitin.

On a sad note, India is strugglin, yet again (as of now), in a borin match at Wankhede. I wonder if Gaurav's getting his money's worth over there....hmmm.

What inspired me to write this post? Well, I saw Taxi 9211 last week. (I can't believe its on Wikipedia!) Loved the movie, although most of my friends didnt like it. Guess it's coz I'm pretty fond of Bombay. :) And somehow, the songs just seem to be too catchy, especially 'Aazmale' & 'Bombai nagariya...livin in the city'. It was a really a refreshing change from the mundane Bolly movies that are churned out these days.

Well, whatever. Till bombai nagariya 2, then. (if ever)

Quote for Bombay:
"In an effort to smarten myself up a bit, I went to a tailor's shop to be measured up for a suit, and we must have had about 25 near-death experiences during the short taxi ride there."
Alastair Cook in The Telegraph samples life in Mumbai and lives to tell the tale - Cricinfo

"shola hai ya hai bijuriya
dil ki bajariya bambai nagariya"

if u think mr. & mrs. smith were dysfunctional...

2006-03-15T19:31:00.000+05:30

Take a look at this story.

From the story... "A Mexican couple were recovering separately after a marital spat got out of control and saw them firing guns, throwing knives and hurling homemade bombs, Mexican daily Milenio said on Monday.

In scenes taken straight out of hit romantic comedy 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith', starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Juan Espinosa and Irma Contreras fought until their house blew up in a homemade gasoline bomb explosion"

Please do not try this at home. And I disclaim all responsibility for people reading this post and getting any ideas.

weekday watches

2006-03-15T19:17:00.000+05:30

There is no mention of it in my previous post, but do you think I could go to Vinnu's place and not watch any movies. Thanks to my interview being first, I reached back by 3.30 (it started at 2), and I did manage to squeeze in 3 movies. Well, 2-1/2 actually, as I had watched half of one movie already.

Started the evening with my 4th consecutive Johnny Depp movie, Tim Burton's Corpse Bride. Depp & Helena Bonham Carter are exceptional in their voice overs. As usual, Tim Burton is at his best. The animation was fantastic. Depp plays Victor, the shy guy who is about to marry Victoria, whom he loves, when he is whisked away to the underworld and married to a 'corpse bride' Emily. The story starts off pretty slowly, and I was tempted to switch to another, but at the end I'm glad I didn't.

I wasn't sure I might be able to finish another movie, so I decided to finish off De Niro's A Bronx Tale, which I had watched half of last time. Robert De Niro gives us one of his best performances. The movie is about Lorenzo's (De Niro) son, Calogero (Lillo Brancato) who witnesses Sonny (Palminteri) murder a man, and refuses to identify him. As a result, Sonny starts treating Calogero like a son. Lorenzo finds out and tries to pull C, as he's called, out of Sunny's influence. But C doesn't listen. Soon it's 8 years later and this is the story of how C's life changes forever.
To quote: "One man lives in the neighborhood, another man owns it. A devoted father battles the local crime boss for the life of his son."
Lorenzo: "The saddest thing in life is wasted talent."

It was only 6 at this time and I headed for another movie. It was a toss up between Hotel Rwanda and Coach Carter. I decided to go for the latter, as I was really not in the mood for serious stuff. In this movie, Samuel L. Jackson plays the controversial high school basketball coach who benched his undefeated team, the Richmond Oilers, due to their collective poor academic record in 1999. A stellar performance by Jackson, but the movie reeked of the usual rags-to-riches story for the basketball team. However, the movie is all about Carter as he tries to show his players that high school basketball is not about winning but about discipline, respect and the confidence to accomplish any goal.