Sunday 8 November 2009
Ajab movie ki ghazab kahani
Tuesday 27 October 2009
Nostalgia
woh phir nahin aate,
woh phir nahin aate
phool khilte hain,
log milte hain
phool khilte hain,
log milte hain magar
patjhad main jo phool
murjha jate hain
woh baharon ke aane se khilte nahin
kuchh log ek roz jo bichad jate hain
woj hazaron ke aane se milte nahin
umr bhar chahe koi pukara kare unka naam
woh phir nahin aate,
woh phir nahin aate
subaah aate hai
raat jaate hai
subaah aate hai
raat jaate hai yuhi
waqt chalta hi rehta hai rukta nahi
ek pal me ye aage nikal jaata hai
aadmi theek se dekh paata nahin
aur parde pe manzar badal jaata hai
ek baar chale jaate hai jo din raat subaah shaam
woh phir nahi aate
woh phir nahi aate
zindagi ke safar mein,guzar jate hain jo makam
woh phir nahin aate,
woh phir nahin aate
Tuesday 13 October 2009
Time please!
I want change, change for good, good that stays good long enough
I believe in a fair world
I don't believe in destiny, but I just like to blame it
Did this recession change my life?
or wait is the recession over?. banking analyst at home thinks otherwise
I think KRK should win big boss season 3
And Nandita Sharma is the perfect bride
Kannada is my mother tongue fine, but some one tell me what this movie title means "Chamkaisi Chindi Udaisi"
Does anyone know that there is cricket tournament going on right now ? some champions league or something ?
Joke: Shashi Tharoor this time angers home minister PC for tweeting about something he heard on the BIG FM.
Facebook & Farmville done .. what fad next?
Ok. Break over. Now back to work
Sunday 27 September 2009
Bai Heart
Tuesday 15 September 2009
Two trips and a hundred stories to tell
Trip - 1 (Mt. Abu & Udaipur)
My trip advisor widget on facebook, indicated that most parts of India were fairly well visited by me, except for a large part of Rajasthan. Rajasthan has been on my travel radar ever since 1985, when my grandparents ditched the 3 year old me and went visiting Mt. Abu, Ranakpur and Udaipur. The paeans they had been singing about the places ever since, had built up a cherished desire in me to check out these places especially Dilwara temples in Mt. Abu and City palace & lakes in Udaipur. But being far away from any of the metros, they had been lying idle on my wish list until recently.
Trip invites were sent out to all my buddies, but somehow none of them could take time out. So I ventured out on my hippie trail - lonely backpacker on heritage sojourn.. or rather to "journey to rediscover my soul" in true hippie parlance. Jokes apart, Lonely backpacker trips are not so lonely, if you have planned it out well. Like I had already booked one day/ half day hop-on-hop-off tours at each of these places, from mumbai itself. So I always had a big group of people to travel with. Moreover, these tours provide the additional benefit of a free local guide, who becomes really important, if one has to enjoy a heritage trip, which means understanding the local history, culture, art & architecture.
First hop, Mt. Abu. It was a pleasant surprise to see so much greenery in a place I least expected - Rajasthan. The place is nice with a sprawling lake to add effect. But what sets the place apart from any other hill station, is Dilwara temples. I have seen beautiful temples before - Belur, Halebidu & Somanathapura in Karnataka are black granite marvels. Temples at Khajuraho & Konark are exquisite. Swami Narayan temples in Delhi and Ahmedabad are spell binding. But they are still no match, to the sheer beauty of the 10th century white marble carvings of dilwara temples.
If I say not an inch is left uncarved, It would not be an exaggeration. Where would you find, entire chandeliers carved out of marble and hanging down the roof!. Just the 30 mins I spent at the 5 temples, were total paisa vasool for all the pains taken to travel to Mt. Abu. When in Rajasthan, eat rajasthani food. So it was Daal baati for brunch, followed by churma for evening snacks and bajre ki roti with subzi for dinner. The company of Scouts and guides from the local school, a travelling group of friends from Slovenia and old retired couple on perhaps one of their last honeymoons, were among the many different people, I got to know on the one day spent at Mt. Abu.The early morning journey from Mt. Abu to Udaipur was a breeze . A quick 4 hour drive through more greenery and much talked about Rajasthan highways made it unexpectedly comfortable. At first glance, I felt Udaipur, rated as the best travel destination in the world by some reputed magazine, is more hype than substance.
Why has it succeeded, when so many others failed you might wonder ?. The reason is simple, most heritage properties in the town are managed by private business of the local Raja, a shrewd businessmen in his own right. Everything is so neatly organised, the guides are supremely knowledgeable with plenty of anecdotes to spare, tourist facilities are all top notch. All these together elevate, an average fort & palace day outing into a superb heritage experience. Now, I do find the top rating for Udaipur somewhat justified. Other than the city palace, the only other place worth a dekko here is boating on Fatehsagar lake. It is nice with park built on the island right in the middle of the lake.
When in Udaipur, shopping for souvenirs is the best end-of-day activity. Miniature paintings in the Mewar styles for the drawing room wall, Bandini saree (for Mom, I clarify) and beautiful hand crafted puppets. And yes, Don't forget to get your own photo clicked in the traditional Rajasthani attire. His Royal Highness Maharajah Shreyan Singh Mewar, atleast for 5 minutes if not more.Trip-2 (Kashid & Murud - Janjira)
Well, this is where we left from the previous blog post. Bertie's bachelors party. Destination - Kashid beach & Murud-Janjira fort. After losing our way many times, we finally reached Kashid beach resort, late on Saturday night. It was late enough to douse all possibilities of a campfire by the beach, as we were well past the 11 PM deadline. Nevertheless, we had a nice resort with an awesome sports room. The plan was simple, wake up in time for an early morning beach rendezvous.
Kashid was our beach of choice, clear blue water & fine sand, add to this privacy offered by one of the least crowded stretches of sea, without any stink of fisher men's catch. From jogging to sunbathing, from surfing the waves to building sand castles, From beach football to Frisbee, it was gala time for the bunch of 7 guys and a welcome break from the hectic worklife.After a heavy breakfast, we were off to Janjira fort. The first view of the fort left us all completely stunned. A steep cliff leading directly into the sea and a short distance away a beautiful fort right in the middle of the sea. Very much like Sicily & Greek sea side, as shown in many hollywood classics. The 1 km sail boat journey from the coast to the fort was a first time experience for me. The jitters you get when the wind direction suddenly changes, is something you should experience to tell.
The fort is really cool, with some amazing views of the surrounding area.All in all, two great trips and several memorable moments archived for posterity.
Bertie almost ditched his own bachelor's party, citing bad mood as the ostensible reason. It took the author a lot of convincing using the standard tools of senti, angry, trust, betrayal, gaalis, finally request to get him going eventually
Bertie uploaded pics on picasa web album only after intense screening and censorship by all involved. Some pot bellies are best left to the imagination of the viewer
Yes it is true, u heard it rite. Even at the beach, Da-1 was reading "The house of Morgan", about what else but Finance. Wait, to be fair to him, besides reading he also jogged for little more than 15 minutes
Bansi lost 5 kgs in just 2 hours. How ?. Ask him only
I built a 3 floor sand castle, which survived just 30 minutes, when it was eventually destroyed by Anman's swerving free kick
Our qualis driver Imran was the star of the trip. He made sure, we didnt miss the formula one race on sunday evening, by driving a force india qualis himself. Mr. Mallya ... listening ???, we have just found some real talent at the bottom of the pyramid
Thursday 10 September 2009
7 ways to annoy your newly engaged housemate
2) Call the bluff, just at the wrong time, when the he is on phone with his to-be, promising to build her a Taj Mahal in the Mughal gardens of Dharavi.
3) Get an expensive treat at the best Italian restaurant in the town, by getting him all senti about the last few days of his bachelor life and the impending slavery thereafter. Pasta Barbaruscha with broccoli sauce isn't too bad a return for a little investment in draaame baazi.
4) Steal the special gift (A box of Ferraro Rocher, if i am not wrong), he has bought for her and hide it just in time, when he wants to courier it across to her
5) Watch the engagement pics and finally tell him, his fiancee definitely looks better than him :). Ignore complaints from him that the photographer was from the girl's side and had vested interests
6) Hand him the lion's share of the household work, so that the experience will put him in good stead for managing his future responsibilities
7) Write a blog post on him, telling the whole world, how his housemates take his case and trouble him a lot these days
PS: You are not invited to our dude's bachelor's party, some fun around the bonfire coming Saturday, at a secluded beach somewhere south of Navi Mumbai. Now those invited please answer your roll call
Thursday 3 September 2009
It is that ganapathy time of the year again
For the last 2 years, yours truly had the privilege to get a bird's eye view of all procession on Mumbai's very own Champs Des Elysee's at Mori road, Mahim nested cozily at his 2nd floor apartment balcony.
Today was the big visarjan day. Ganapathies were all heading towards the seas, while I rushed on in the opposite direction towards the airport. With no public transport operating today, I had to walk past each procession tableau. First I saw the small sized gujju society ganapathy. Least noisy, I must say. The Procession ambles along to the sweet sounding chant of bhajans. Not far behind, is huge Kalinacha raja, with the brass bands & marathi songs adding to the excitement. More than the song, it is the dance. I really like this marathi procession dance, but my gujju friends at the garba claim their's is better. But coming from karnataka, u both are better, I would say.
Surprise! Surprise!. The next ganapathy is from shanmugananda south indian society. But it is usual suspect Apdi pode pode blaring from their speakers. The dance is a little wild, with mostly men swaying their lungis.
Even before ganapathy festivities begin to fade from your memories , Gujrathi's begin their dance till you drop, dance all night garba on all the Navrathris. Tired already, amar banglo bandhu have kali pooja to follow. Diwali soon after needs no introduction. But the fireworks spectacle at marine drive's golden necklace is quite unlike anything you might have seen earlier. This diwali the govt. promises to do sydney harbour bridge on our very own Bandra- Worli sea link. That would be one firework display worth waiting for.
Mumbai truly lives up to its reputation as the nation's cultural pot pourri.
I really love the festivals here.
Wednesday 2 September 2009
The First Martian

Monday 31 August 2009
The Good, the Bad & the Idly
To begin with, let me tell you this is no movie, it is a spoof. Mind It!. Circa 1982, Cowboy the protector of cows tries to protect only veg hoteliers from serving non veg, as under the orders of evil don Rice plate reddy garu. Mindless you might say, but still Mind it!. Who cares, when our cowboy's acting in the entire movie is performed by his two guns - QUICK gun and MURU gun. The various permutations and combinations in styles of firing the two guns forms the crux of our hero's special abilities and accounts for nearly 1 hour of this 1.5 hour movie.
Technically speaking this a double cross spoof movie. First, its a western crossed over into kollywood, with that distinct accent and style like in the 70s. Now you not just spoof this idea further, but make a second cross over into bollywood's mumbai. To be honest, the movie's first half is mostly dedicated to characters resembling Tamil movie stars of 70s and 80s, with hero serenading his lady to some vague tam songs, which most non tams would have rarely ever heard before, let alone identifying with them. Only If they had included a classic crossover tam song, the likes of Apdi Pode Pode Pode, half the audience would have been drawn into a informal jig.
Now the spoofgate does'nt end there. Elevating himself to the standard hollywood fare, the script writer tries to bring in more elements. The villain is a Ghajini lookalike in the first half with his fetish for violent indulgences, suddenly turns into a evil corporate honcho with a Mogambo look alike attire in the second half. Helloo!! Will someone with a dictionary read out the meaning of the word consistency.
Thankfully, the second half slips into some semblance of a story line, however amateurish it might have been. In Rowdy MBA and Matunga mummies, there is a hint of humour snaking its way back into the story. Rowdy MBA is a satire on how consultants armed with MBA degrees hoodwink clients with the GYAN. The sequences involving matunga mummies are the most hilarious, in the search of the one exceptionally tasty dosa preparing mummy.
Yes, there are heroines. Anu Menon aka Lola Kutty trying to do Priya Tendulkar in Hum Paanch. What is Lola Kutty without her outrageous Mallu accent and Gajra fitted attire ?. A damp squib. Thankfully, there is Rambha, the mumbai moll trying to seduce the conservative tamilian boy in murugan. Some credit to the director, for attempting to bring out the cultural contrast between conservative south indian boys and modern mumbai girls.
For a very long time, I have been waiting for a really bad movie to write a review on.
Spare the dosa and spoil the batter.
Can we have some idly instead please!
Wednesday 19 August 2009
Absolute humour

But all laughter need'nt be funny. I came across this facebook community - Random laughter when remembering something. It says, laughter is evoked, when an event invokes positive memories of the past. Well, that might be my excuse. This giggle-sniggle has other positive side effects also. Once a friend had asked me, how do I manage to remain a happy guy all the while. I was at loss to answer that one. I did'nt want to sound gloomy with the outpouring of my grief. Neither could I pride on my exalted state, as I am not privy to measure of other people's feelings or emotions. It nevertheless is a cool facade to put on, without much effort.
Everything comes at a cost. For one, you might sound the most immature of the lot. The intellectual depth of your thought process might be put into some questioning. But there is little you can change, even if you want to. Now when I say, Dhamaal is one of the funniest movies I have seen over the last several years, I am so so damn serious and definitely not sarcastic in criticising the slapstick humour of bollywood movies. Let me strenghten my case, by saying the Revered SWAC-C of our esteemed alma mater is also equally in agreement. It is quite another case, that we both watch every slapstick movie that is released from Fool N Final to Singh is King. It has in turn refined our ability to appreciate the finest of nuances in slapstick.
Now Hangover was okie, well written & funny in parts. But at times it was crude and gross for no particular requirement of the storyline. Any comparison with all time classics like Not Another Teen Movie, is over the top and totally inaccurate. The funniest character in hangover to me was the Chinese guy and not the weirdo brother of the bride, whom most in the audience seem to like. It still would rank quite lower than the many spoofs I have been watching these days like Naked Gun series, Super Heroes, Scary Movie.
May be my sense of humour is aroused in witty misrepresentations of facts. Yay!. If I have got my analysis right, I need recommendations on books to read, movies to watch. Just the right ones for me, Now that you know what works.
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