Rambling Mutterings

Godparents.in

2011-09-21T23:23:00.001+05:30

(Cross posted from Byte Channel)

Of the many startups that try to build up a social network in one form or another, this one is different. It does not have games, apps, or sharing in circles, but has profiles and pages, and has an asymmetric sharing. Pages are for organizations and can be linked from profile pages of children, which can be followed by the second kind of members, the Godparents.

Godparents.in is not just another internet startup. It is a platform that brings together thousands of underprivileged children in need of money for basic necessities like nutrition and education to willing donors. You would say there are numerous other organizations that do that, like CRY, Akshaya Patra, Smile Foundation et cetera. Godparents is different because it goes a step ahead and establishes a connection between the donor and the person.

By giving the child a name, a face, and a background story. And allowing you in making informed decisions on your donations, track where your money goes, how it is used, and most importantly how it impacts the lives of children that you choose to support, making Godparents.in a data-rich, transparent social-service-network specifically focussed at facilitating one-to-one financial support to underprivileged children.

Sample Preeti Upadhyay, who is a 10 year old girl studying in VII standard. She is good in studies and likes drawing, singing and reading stories. Her father is a daily wage labourer and mother a domestic help. She has two sisters and their parents meagre income is insufficient to meet her educational expenses. She requires a sum of Rs 8,600 per annum to take care of her school fees, uniform, books, and commute to school.

In addition to the above details, Preeti's profile page has a photo of hers, a list of her grandparents who have contributed towards her needs along with their contributions, and the NGO (with a link to the NGO page) that takes care for her.

So, Godparents.in establishes a three-way relationship between needy children, patrons, and NGOs.

A donor can go through the entire list of children's profiles and choose one or more of them to god parent. Every child has a total requirement and the amount left to raise. You may help a part or full of the remaining amount required. Godparents.in collects the money on behalf of the connected NGO, on which they have already had a due diligence done. The fund transactions are quite transparent with the incoming and outgoing funds listed on the site, including breakups of funds raised by NGO. Also accessible are regular updates on your Godchild's progress (through updates on child's profile) and the annual reports on the activities of recepient NGOs.

You can also connect to other godparents through their profile pages that have their brief bios with email ids and phone numbers If you feel good deeds should not be boasted, you can remain an anonymous Godparent. However, a public contribution adds to the transparency of the process. Your choice..

The novel idea was innovated by Shubham Shrivastava and Shivam Shrivastava. The creation and maintenance team for Godparents.in consists of a total of 17 volunteers, many of them IIT graduates and working in corporates in India and abroad. Apart from individuals, the effort has support from a few organizations as well. Microsoft supports Godparents.in under their 'BizSpark Global Startup Program', and Flipkart provides free publicity by distributing Godparents.in bookmarks along with the books that they sell online. As of today, the site has 15 NGOs and 415 godparents.

All the best Godparents.in. This will make a difference. I am signing up for a god parent right away.

Sound Cloud

2011-06-15T12:55:00.000+05:30

Cross posted from Byte Channel

If you thought Google Music was cool, take a look at Sound Cloud. While Google Music, very much like all the other apps by the search engine giant, does not create/store data, but crawls the web and filters relevant data, Sound Music lets you create and share your own sounds!

SoundCloud works in the same way as Flickr; the way you click, upload and share photos in Flickr, SoundCloud lets you record, upload and share your music. And yes, very much like Flickr, you will have to buy one of the annual subscription plans available from €29 to €500 if your total tracks go longer than 120 minutes. Very much like Flickr, when you upload your music, it gives a unique url to your upload, and hence you can embed it on any website you wish to.

A short trip to the homepage, and I was impressed with the design and especially the 'Timed Comments' in the form of a waveform sitting at the centre, which I later learnt in the tour, can be generated for comments on your shared sounds as well. The footer features a list of features that SoundCloud provides, including a visualization for your sound, direct links to share it on FB, Twitter, Blogger, Wordpress and other popular websites, and connect with over 100 apps.

This Berlin-based startup had the initial intention of allowing musicians to share recordings with each other, but later transformed into a full publishing tool that allowed musicians to distribute their tracks. Over around four years, it has evolved into a general-purpose music sharing tool. I was surprised to find recent Bollywood albums like Delhi Belly and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. (Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara had its music launch just yesterday, but the album was available on Sound Cloud 10 days ago. All these albums are also available for download. I am sure they keep encountering copyright issues from time to time.

Anyway, I find this a useful site, I only wonder why is it not that popular--not popular in Indian/American circles at least, since I had never heard/read of it till last week, but the kind of music shared on this cloud tells otherwise. Google tells me they have over 3 million subscribers! I don't see any publicity for it anywhere, probably because of the European base.

While I am sceptical about the copyright infringement part of it, recalling the fate of Napster, I believe SoundCloud has a huge scope as a platform for musicians, keeping to the original intent. And I wonder why do we still not have any such startup in India/US?

Fly with Indian Rail

2010-05-05T09:57:00.008+05:30

I was in for a surprise when I visited the IRCTC site to book rail tickets and this banner welcomed me. I was instantly reminisced of the chain mails last year stating the irony that IRCTC hosted an ad for SpiceJet.

Not bothering with the irony, I went ahead to explore the air.irctc.co.in site, realizing that it is just one of the myriad OTAs Indian Railways has stiff competition with.

The simple looking UI is powered with ajax, and provides a highly responsive and smooth process of searching and booking your tickets. The rates are a couple hundred more than had you booked them directly with the airlines, but the 10% cashback reduces the total cost by almost the same amount.

However, I could not help wondering on these lines:

Why does Indian Railways have to sell out flight tickets? Granted, it is not a direct competition, but they are still modes of travel; and come to think of the comparative fares between IR and lost-cost airlines.
How many people would actually go for this sarkari subsidiary of the state-owned Indian Railways, which doesn't work for even rail bookings half the time?
How much money does IRCTC make out of the OTA business? Is it worth the share of travellers that is liable to shift towards flying?
Since IRCTC does not allow bookings during 11:30pm to 8:00 am, I was left to wonder if the air booking would work at night ;). I hope it would, let me try it out tonight.

Anyway, an appreciable attempt by IRCTC. IMO they could strike a good deal if they come up with a functionality that lets you combine the two modes of travel; connecting airport cities to smaller ones, providing direct bookings for the two legs of travel, the way 90di does. Lets wait and watch if the alliance between rails and skies opens up a new era of domestic travel.

90di- Simple Search for complex travel

2009-10-29T12:21:00.004+05:30

Crosspost : vcbytes

90di, a new travel search engine in the already flooded market of online travel sites, stands out because of its unique features. First, it is not a travel agency, it simply searches on various modes of travel and redirects you to the respective booking sites, much similar to ixigo. But the best feature lies in the integration between various modes of travel, bus, train, and flight.

With its simplistic google-like homepage sans any ads (I wonder what their revenue model is), 90 Degree Internet Travel lets you combine all modes of travel between a pair of destinations. The search bar is simple, again like google’s, and one can enter source, destination, dates, and modes of travel in plain English and the powerful parser parses them to generate a list of meaningful search results. Of course you have the form-like search page too.

Another interesting feature is the ‘near search’, which lets you search routes to lesser-known destinations, that do not have an airport, or even a railway station. Once you search for such a destination, 90di gives you a list of close by locations to choose from. These are the much-needed features that the founders of 90di used as the USP for their travel site and will definitely take them far and ahead of competitors.

One improvement that can be done in the inter-mode search is to include the transition time. For example, in Bangalore, a one-hour window between landing at BIAL and boarding a train at Majestic is utterly insufficient. Intra-city travel times can be taken into account to not show such a result.

Blogger's Block

2009-06-10T12:23:00.003+05:30

One may call it another chic excuse for not having blogged in a long time as against the drab I-was-very-busy and I-was-getting-married-and-honeymooning-in-Switzerland and I-was-trying-to-strike-a-work-life-balance excuses. Or one may dismiss it with the arguement that just because there is a term like that, you'd like to term your inactivity Blogger's block. And that just because you read about a condition like that, you'd condition yourself to being afflicted by it.

The condition of Writer's block, in its originality, doesn't apply to blogging, at least to Rambling Mutterings, but then I need something to mutter and scribble to break this spell of inactivity, and what is a better way of overcoming the Blogger's block by blogging about the Blogger's block. A little off track, here is a good list of tips I found for beating it.

The last time I couldn't blog for a long time I had attributed it to quarter-life-crisis. Things are pretty different now. I am happily married, have enough workload to keep me busy at work, have lots to write and share, especially in the travelogue part of my blog (yes, Switzerland indeed!), experiences of my new life and all; there are a few draft posts sitting in my blogger account that I did not complete and post lest they should have shooed away prospective brides. I had taken resolve in my last post three months ago, that was one after a gap of two months, that I shall try to post at least once a week. Almost all my readers have asked me at least once about my next post. I had many things and lots of reasons and enough time and peace of mind.

I still couldn't write.

If I try to analyse and list down reasons for it (in order to justify it to myself):

I actually had no time when I was taking nuptial vows and was touring the Alpine land.
Nocturnal habits die hard. I realized I was more creative in the dark, and now the nights are not that free, not that I complain.
I used to look forward to a large chunk of time to write a new blogpost: composing, Googling and Wikiing, editing, and then posting all in one go. Drafts remain drafts for ever. Don't get those large chunks now.
I try to come up with a well-written, complete piece of essay-like post, half-baked, hurriedly written posts are something I don't want to do.
Didn't watch any movies, thanks to the multiplex-owners' strike and an almost diminished torrent-downloading interest among colleagues, else would have come up with some interesting movie reviews.
I have too many topics to write upon, so when I pick up the pen, I lose interest by the time I decide which one to begin with.
Time and again, I have this urge to split up my blog into many, a travelogue, a movie review blog, a personal one, a photography one etc. This thought hinders me from writing under the general Rambling Mutterings umbrella.

and so on and so forth.

Let me wait and see if I am able to produce more posts soon. To start with, this one is an incomplete post ending with an incomplete senten

Ashes' Rashez

2009-03-02T02:50:00.007+05:30

When I analyze the above graph that depicts the number of posts on my blog per month, retrospect on my state of mind, and read my previous posts, it gives, to some extent, an indication of my stress level over the past 21 months. There have been many months when I posted quite frequently, and when I look back, I find that I was stressed, frustrated, or depressed. That I was real busy and not low was only for the months of Feb and April 08. Blogging came as a real help for most of the other times. Writing gives me the kicks and acts as an anti-depressant. Related viral activities like Googling or Wikiing when required also helped keep the devil away from an empty mind.

Q4, 2008 saw me getting inclined towards reviewing movies, which was useful in killing up a huge chunk of my free time in more ways than one. Watch movies, explore IMDB and wiki etc, write reviews, find out more related movies, download them, watch them and review them again, thereby creating a circle I was very happy with. People started liking my reviews and I started getting requests for more reviews, making new friends in the process. Rambling Mutterings was proving to be a friend in need, indeed.

The onset of 2009 saw me giving lesser time for this friend I visited every few hours, and then one fine day, I abruptly didn't feel the need. No time for getting stressed/depressed. Rambling Mutterings did not complain but its readers did. Despite getting multiple reminders from many of you in the forms of comments, emails, and IMs, I didn't keep the friend whose existence depends on me. I had so many plans (ideas to write about) for it but nothing materialized.

There is a beautiful reason called 'rashez' behind the neglect, and I am not at all sorry. It’s a month and a half that I met her for the first time. I still remember the way she turned, bouncing her hair back, when I called from within my car waiting for her at MG Road. She was a bit lost initially but then grew comfortable by the end of our first date and things have never been the same since then.

Not only are our names similar and our birthdays concur, but our behaviour, likes-dislikes, and tastes match to quite an extent. We even share the same fooding habits; we have exactly similar favorites, though I need to develop in her a taste for Italian food, and teach her using chopsticks. I enjoy spending time with her, teasing her, irritating her, and then going back appeasing her. We love and quarrel, and keep pulling each other’s leg, I over her अशुद्ध हिन्दी, and she over my lots of other things.

Our story is more like an express, things clicked and everything happened so fast, we have already become the closest of friends. We have shared so much, gotten so close, that we often feel we’ve known each other for ages. I know she is The One. The One I can spend the rest of my life happily. I only wish I had met her earlier.

Anyway, I am not going to forget this good friend and would be loyal to it. Shall visit regularly and though I cannot promise, I shall try to write one post a week. Or lets start with three a month.

Chandni Chowk To China

2009-01-20T23:57:00.003+05:30

Under normal circumstances, I would have waited for Chandni Chowk to China to be chipped off on DVD or torrent but RS insisted and I could not resist. So we went off on a rather busy Sunday for this over-hyped, widest-US-opener-Bollywood-film, first-Indian-movie-shot-in-China, first-Warner-Bros.-Hindi-movie, that managed to make 33 crores on the opening weekend owing to expensive multiplex tickets in India and some more crores out of tickets sold in USDs.

The new mantra of Bollywood is: have star, will sell. It doesn't matter how much amount of crap you fit in. Yuvraaj, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, Ghajini, and now Chandni Chowk To China. Akshay Kumar has carved his way into stardom no less than the Khans, in fact deeper than a few of them.

CC2C goes a step ahead in trying out something new. Blends of kungfu and bhangra, a rustic Delhi vegetable cutter and rural Chinese vegetable sellers, chequered shirts and flowered mandarin gowns add a lot of colour and vigour to the streets of Chandni Chowk and The Great Wall of China. Amid all this you'll find a bumpkin of Akshay Kumar duped into travelling to Chinkiland and falling into a kumbh-ka-mela-separation-revenge sequence that is intelligently weaved into funny antics and a few serious action scenes after a prolonged practice session.

The opening scene of the war on the Great Wall of China had actually thrilled me. Brilliantly shot in shades of gray and a lot of mist, it reminded me of scenes in movies like Gladiator. However, that excitement slacked as soon as the scene shifts to the present Chandni Chowk. Zooming in and out of Delhi as Akshay flies up with smoke-propelling rockets up his you-know-where and falls down on earth, sets that do not quite look like Chandni Chowk, and very stupid TV ads, the movie moves on to a very jittery pace that makes you look lustfully at the Exit doors. However, the pace is checked as the plot shifts back to China and you are glad you didn't satisfy yourself.

If you liked one or more of Singh is King, Welcome, or Golmaal Returns, you will like CC2C's comedy too. You'll find Akshay Kumar blabbering and jumping with his gaon-waali-moustache and punditji-plait, using physical jokes a la Jim Carrey, though much more gimcrack and much less witty. Akki is the only one acting funny though, most of the other characters are serious and genuine, though humour has been attempted by mocking Chinese stunts you'd seen in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the like. A few of these and other comic stunts would look good only in Tom and Jerry. In short, a lot of nonsensical comedy in a make-believe setting.

Deepika Padukone simply looks stunning in both her Indian and Chinese avatars. The long-legged lass kicks butt the martial arts way where she looks as sexy as Charlize Theron in Aeonflux, though her newly-developed skills could have been used for a longer screen time. Ranveer Shourey wastes himself being a loser sidekick the way pal Vinay Pathak did in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. Actors like them should not try to enter mainstream cinema; they know they cannot look better here, these roles do not demand good acting, and they lose the already niche audience their kind of cinema has.

The music is mediocre, and I had dismissed it initially. But when you keep listening to it, you start liking it. The extra rap song by Akshay was fresh, and the mixing of Chinese rhythms added a new form. The melodious Tere Naina is pleasant to hear to, a few others by Kailash Kher.

Overall, CC2C can be a one-time watch that will sure fetch you some giggles and laughs. Talk of cinema that will be remembered, and you'll have to be content that films like Chupke Chupke and Andaz Apna Apna were made only in yore. Watch it out in a light mood with friends and you might agree for a 6 on 10.

Emotional Attyachaar

2009-01-10T02:56:00.010+05:30

No, this is not a post where I rant out about my own emotions or crib about emotional attyachaar to me by any of my girlfriends, this is the belated music review I had been planning for quite some time on the encouragement given by AM, but could not bring it to screen for want of a different blog for movies since this blog gets an emotioanl attyachar at the hands of crazy directors and weird actors and mindless producers. That I still do not have a separate blog can be excused by a lack of time and a hunt for a service provider to my own domain name, which you shall anyway see shortly. How short is shortly can be contested, but lets move on to the review presently.

Dev D had two A's that I had admired, Anurag Kashyap and Abhay Deol. The music adds a third A for Amit Trivedi, the music director who gave different but okayish music in 2008's Aamir, who comes up with an album with an assortment of 18 tracks, quite varied in music, lyrics and treatment, and in lyricists and singers as well. The album running just 93 seconds over an hour consists songs in quite some genres, from rock to classical, techno to folk, and dance numbers to soft melodies. The 18 tracks do not seem too long and boring, and none of them is unfit or unsound. The movie might have most of them in the background, adding to a rich background score, rather than interrupting the flow.

The best track that takes you off track is Emosanal Attyachar, that comes with a brass band, prominently the trumpet, the one you'd have heard in any Indian baaraat. The lyrics are quite funny and the video stars Patna ke Presleys, adding a 70's look. The brass resonator is a very fresh and likeable concept. Bony Chakravarthy sings it with an intonation that keeps getting on the head. The only other track he sung is a rock version of the same song, where he pronounces it correctly.

The second place would be shared by the classical melodies Paayaliya and Dil Mein Jaagi. Shruti Pathak, whose first song was the superhit Mar Jaawan (Fashion) with her husky voice, goes very soft and high pitched for the Indian classical Paayaliya who she wrote herself. Amazing song! Anusha Mani also wrote and sung for herself her second track, which, though sounds a tad similar to Piyu Bole (Parineeta), has a western classical touch and superb lyrics.

There is a list of folk songs in Rajasthani and Punjabi, all six written by debutante Shellee. Khuda Jaane (Bachna Ae Haseeno) singer Shilpa Rao, in her second song, renders her beautiful voice to Dhol Yaara Dhol and` Ranjhana along with Kshitij, for the only two duets in the album that are a pleasure to listen to. Toshi sings the third Rajasthani track Pardesiin a brilliant fusion music. The only experienced singer Labh Jajua sings the three Punjabi songs Maahi Mennu Nee Karna Pyaar and its sad version, which is much better, and the foot-tapping Hikknaal that will surely rock dance floors.

Amit Trivedi gave voice to four tracks in addition to music, which have been written by another first-timer Amitabh Bhattacharya. Saali Khushi is the best with a sad undertone, and almost gets you pensive. A very different Nayan Tarse is again a fusion between classical and rock and has amazing lyrics. The techno Aankh Micholi and Duniya are serious and light respectively and Amit Trivedi sounds different in each of them. The toughest words in the album can be heard in Yahi Meri Zindagi, sung in a sweet voice by Aditi Singh Sharma.

There are two tracks with Dev-Chanda themes that has good vocals. The only song I did not quite like was Ek Hulchul Si, quite run-of-the-mill, not bad though.

Dev D is going to be a movie with new talent who thinks differently; it is said Abhay Deol struck up the idea and proposed Anurag Kashyap for the movie. Amit Trivedi experimented with young and new singers and lyricists, and has delivered an amazing album. The movie is already a favourite of mine, the music album has been on a repeat-album setting in my car and on my laptop at office and home since the past week and I seem to have grown upon it. Highly recommended. 9 on 10. Grab a copy and experience yourself.

Ghajini the Fighter

2009-01-03T09:28:00.004+05:30

Having seen the first 20 minutes, I had adamantly argued with KS that Ghajini was exactly Memento. Polaroid pictures with names on them, tattooed mirrored text on a well-built body, the same underlying revenge plot, all remind you of Memento. I was quite wrong though. Memento was a much intelligently made movie with an unknown actor (Guy Pearce) as the protagonist, still reaching #27 on IMDB's all time top 250. Ghajini, on the other hand, terribly depicts an Indian masala replete with action, romance, drama, dream song sequences, and stars the best Indian actor. There can be no comparison between Christopher Nolan’s masterpiece and A R Murugadoss’s Ghajini. Even Aamir Khan did not understand Memento [You might have to sign up on AK's blog to read the post], and you might want to keep your brains at home while watching Ghajini.

A business tycoon (who rolls up already shorter-than-half sleeves of his shirts in his business meetings) cannot register fresh memories after an incident that killed his romantic partner. He manages his memory through tattoos, notes, pictures and reminders. Finding Ghajini out and killing him is the ultimate goal of his life. The story now follows two parallel plots, the present, and the flashback through an over-stretched diary-reading session, where AK introduces the reader to his associates and romantic adventures a la Tom Riddle from Harry Potter, and there ensues a normal romance-revenge drama. Once you survive through, the although predictable end is sort of likeable.

Aamir Khan, no doubt, worked (out) a lot for the film. The concept of anterograde amnesia is very fresh and novel for Indian cinema. But alas, there it ends. Murugadoss forgot to pay attention to the other pieces. So while the movie is a blockbuster, looking at things other than AK's abs would reveal tons of plot loopholes, a dragging narrative, repetitive jokes, and pathetic acting by almost everybody else. Despite his new-found muscles, the short and stocky Aamir incredulously thrashes equally well-built men a foot taller than him.

Jiah Khan couldn't even act properly to drink water. Kalpana was satiatingly cheeky and moronically funny and a huge fan of Mother Teresa, but Asin did some justice to the role. Pradeep Rawat definitely did much better as Sultan in Sarfarosh and as Ashwatthama in B R Chopra's Mahabharata than as Ghajini where he looks a South Indian unsucessfully faking a thick Haryanwi accent. The other nobodies looked acting schools aspirants. ARR's music too was a let down. I liked only Kaise Mujhe Tum Mil Gayin, the others have silly lyrics and catchy beats.

The clone has heavy undertones of the Tamil version. The extras, the accents, the ambiance. Anyone would have better watched the original instead. Another big blunder was the nomenclature. The Tamil movie is about a concept 'Ghajini' from Mahmud of Ghazni, who invaded India 17 times till he succeeded; but the history link has been screwed up by naming the villain so.

The length of the film is a full three hours. Had I edited it, I'd have retained the first half an hour, the last half hour, and extracted another half from the middle two hours. Ghajini, which could have been an seat-gripping psychological thriller, ended up being a predictable romantic revenge drama, which had to have a stupid epilogue. Aamir Khan is the only good thing; the movie failed to live up to my expectations, and would fetch only 6 out of my scale of 10.

The Yearend Post

2008-12-31T22:23:00.008+05:30

Reflecting upon the last year, I find that it has been quite a tumultuous one. Things happened. Shit happened. Learnt a lot. Gained a lot. Lost a lot. Made new good friends. Broke up with a very good old friend too. Handled huge responsibilities. Failed at a few. Rose again. Fell again. But then that is life. That happens all the time, but we don't stop and think about them unless it is the turn of the year. We tend to account a lot of things for this largest unit of time. Things and shit keep happening throughout, we never list them otherwise. This fact irks me the same way it irks Dhirendra Kumar of valueresearchonline.com when everybody celebrates the Sensex passing the 13000 or the 16000 mark, or any other thousand. And that is why I was reluctant to write a year-end post.

Come year end and you have all sorts of lists being compiled up from all directions and on all media. As the clock ticks away to the last few moments of 2008, I am thinking about my lists. I had wanted to blog about my favourite movies, my top-ten songs, my most memorable moments, best blogposts I read, coolest photographs I clicked, my resolutions, things I want to improve next year, basically tens of top-ten lists of the departing year and lists of resolutions for the new year in gestation. But I was either short on time or deprived of genuine inclination. Or maybe I could not decide where to begin, what to pick first from amongst the plethora of ideas I had in mind.

Anyway, however hard I might try not to, I cannot stop myself from considering the new year as a fresh start in life. Have many things in mind, haven't listed them though. Listing them and not being able to fulfil them hurts. But sometime or the other, I need to list them down, else I'd forget them. And I'll have to fulfil what I list. Oops...I already listed down the first and the most important resolution. Before I end up listing a few more of my (dark) secrets, let me wish you all a Happy New Year and bid 2008 adieu!

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi

2008-12-19T22:41:00.007+05:30

As I drove back from work last Friday, I was sort of worried seeing the traffic from Windsor Manor onwards, and dreaded another Kumaraswamy rally like last month when I had got stranded for five hours on the road. As I inched ahead towards Cauvery Circle, I realised it was not Kumaraswamy but Shahrukh Khan who was holding the traffic. At the Cauvery Theatre. No, the King Khan had not descended there incarnate, it was only his new Aditya Chopra flick. I drive the same road everyday at almost the same time, but have never encountered such congestion due to a release. This was despite the fact that RNBDJ was the only Hindi film released that weekend and Cauvery is a rather mediocre theatre.

This huge turnout can be attributed to intelligent marketing, good promos, and of course the banner's and actor's reputations, a year-long wait for a Shahrukh movie, who appeared only in a cameo in Bhootnath this whole year. Despite dozens of idiotic poor jokes, scores of plot loopholes, and hundreds of irritating jis, the movie still made a whopping Rs 60 crores worldwide on the opening weekend, per YRF. “I have become like an ISI mark on a product, so people think, ‘dekh toh le, kuch toh hoga, since it is SRK and Adi together’,” is how Shahrukh reacts on Economic Times, and for once I see a slightly modest SRK.

The movie begins with a situationally forced wedding between the blander than common-man Punjab-Power-lighting-up-your-life employee and his teacher's commoner than the girl-next-door daughter Anushka Sharma. Following which, they inhabit, but do not cohabit, in the mansion the small-town average man lived all alone. The moustached, oil-haired, bespectacled, white-full-sleeved-baggy-shirt-clad cartoon transforms into another spike-haired joker donning red/yellow/orange/peach/lavender/plum/violet tees and sporting large fashionable shades, in an attempt to win his wife's love. And the wife does not recognize the new guy as her husband, because she abhors him so much she never even saw him properly, and falls for the outspoken blabbermouth who emerges from the shy introvert every evening. There is another toon who provides all the paraphernalia required for this double life. And I still wonder what part did poor Rab play in all this.

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi goes an as SRK shifts hamming from one character to the other, going through several emotions and changes of minds. The simple Simon character keeps smiling secretly and mischeivously, as if he is the forged one, or is playing a prank. The good-for-nothing Anushka prepares lunch boxes for one (and asks them back in the evening without fail) and teaches choreographic steps to the other. She doesn't have any charm or appeal whatsoever, and an extra would have looked better. Vinay Pathak disappointed immensely. Sirji, you are not made for this kind of crappy shadowy roles when you can run an entire film on your own.

The only good part lays exactly at the end of the first hour, when Kajol/ Bipasha/ Lara/ Preity/ Rani appear on screen for less than a minute each, and SRK mimics Raj Kapoor/ Devanand/ Shammi Kapoor/ Rajesh Khanna/ Rishi Kapoor, to the tunes of an intelligently written and choreographed song even with stupid lyrics: Hum Hain Rahi Pyaar Ke, Fir Milenge Chalte Chalte. You can listen to Haule Haule too.

Shahrukh's last venture, the year-old Om Shanti Om is closely paralleled in Rab Ne.... SRK in two characters, one introvert, timid and sincere (an underdog there), the other flamboyant, smart and vivacious (a successful superstar there), one new girl in the lead role, one good actor screwing up his reputation being a sidekick to SRK, a star-studded light-hearted song, even the release timing at the end of year, coinciding with another actor's who allegedly has a dog named after him.

How much ever money RNBDJ would have made, SRK-Adi's third project together is nowhere compared to their first (DDLJ). The second one, Mohabbatein, was likeable too, maybe because of AB and Aish. But I would nevertheless agree with Shahrukh, SRK and Adi ek saath hain, kuchh to hoga, dekh to lo ek baar, though I'd rate it only 5 on 10.

Monday Blues and Shopping

2008-12-16T03:53:00.006+05:30

Come Monday and you get the blues. I look for excuses of not going to work on almost all Mondays, and more often than not, end up working from home. Actually it starts sprouting up Sunday afternoon, latest by the evening. Add some greys from the skies on Monday morning, and you have a dirty, gloomy concoction of blue-grey tinges that keeps you troubled throughout the day. And a bad start to the week tends to create a bad taste.

With my contrarian style of working and the flexibility at work I generally sit with the code late nights on weekdays and afternoons on weekends, becoming the object of suspicion of colleagues with my short hours at work (Hope my manager doesn't read this...), getting up as late on a weekday as on the weekends, there is no reason I should get depression-filled Monday mornings. But I still get them. Monday is like getting up for the week. A parallel can be drawn between nights and weekends, between dawns and Mondays, between being night owls and flexi-workers.

So anyway, come Monday and you get the blues. There are several remedies to it, the one I usually follow is going out on Sunday evenings also. Well, the popular idea of staying indoors Sundays helps me because I find lesser traffic on roads and lesser congestions at restaurants and theatres. And going out on Sunday evenings leaves lesser time to worry about the next morning.

Another cure I discovered this Monday, though it was practised by female colleagues from my first job and I never realised it, was to go out shopping on weekends and wear the loot to work on Monday. Okay that can be a girly thing to do but I really felt lesser impact this and the previous Monday. I could beat the blues by donning new pairs of denim blues (and new shirts too) to office, and receiving compliments. However, this leaves me in a lurch for the next 50 weeks; two pairs of jeans is almost the upper limit I buy in year.

Going out for lunch on Mondays can be of help too. This is inspired by another friend; she doesn't eat out on the weekends, but makes sure she doesn't have dinner cooked at home on Mondays. For me, good food anyway serves as an anti-depressant at all times. And the best part is that unlike clothes, I do not have a quota on eating out.

Talking of melancholy and food, I am already feeling sad about not being able to finish this piece on Monday, and about getting up five hours later and going to work. Let me visit the kitchen and eat something before I retire. By then, you let me know how do you deal with your Monday blues.

[Photo courtesy: Vicky Walsh]

Cognitive Dissonance

2008-12-09T16:54:00.003+05:30

To be or not to be, that is the question;
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing, end them. To die, to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to — 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
...

The Shakespearean Prince Hamlet in his soliloquy above talks about his indecisiveness. There are conflicting views among the literary intelligentsia on which one is the to be option and which is the not to be. I feel facing the highs and lows of life seems the more difficult to be option, and the braver option of taking up arms and fighting against and dying is the not to be. Hamlet continues in his monologue and observes that death is not an absolute annihilation and end of problems, you might still dream and God knows what you'll dream about and what dilemmas you might face therein. So the decision-making might never end.

Thoughts flutter. They make you fall in situations you need to make a decision. You have both the choices equally viable, both of them seem right, you have a tough time deciding which way to choose. You have a fight within yourself. You try to logically eliminate one of the options available, but you always have the fear of thoughts quivering and you regretting on The Road Not Taken at a later point in life.

There is another kind of situation you tend to fall in, which is more difficult than to-be-or-not-to-be. That is one after you have made a decision. Thoughts still flutter. You've made a decision but are unable to stick to it. It is not necessarily between the good and the bad, the two options available may be equally right or equally wrong. Correctness is anyway a relative concept. You choose one from the two roads equally travelled, and since there is no one less traveled by, there is nothing that has made all the difference. But two things cannot be the same, and you end up struggling with yourself.

Or, you know you've made a wrong move, but you tend to find excuses to yourself trying to justify your decision. Thoughts flutter again and you have a battle within yourself. Usually it is a tussle between the heart and the head. Invariably the heart wins, and the head ends up helping the heart win by providing excuses to you. A case of induced compliance without sufficient justification. The cognizance of your acts being against your own (and that of others') wellbeing makes you fall to abysmal depths and think very low of you. The moment you try to get up and stand against, something comes up that forces you to give in yet again. The more you give in, the more troubled you feel, the deeper you fall, and more difficult it becomes to emerge from the recesses of depression and self-criticism, and the more prone you become to giving in. A vicious circle follows, the exit from which is visible to you but you are not strong enough to follow the path. All this could have been avoided had you nipped it in the bud. Had you not let the uncomfortable feeling of dissonance come in the first place.

...

...

...

Sorry Bhai! Say Dasvidaniya to Dostana of EMI and Karzzz

2008-12-04T09:58:00.002+05:30

This month's edition showcases more Hindi movies than English, more new than old, and covers all seven Bollywood movies released in November, and the remaining six out of 10 in October, four of which I wrote about last month. I have tried not to have any spoilers in any one, and I think I've succedded. Let me know if you feel otherwise.

[Parenthesis after the release date contains the country it was first released, if the movie was/is not released in India. Mentioned alongside the title in brackets is the IMDB rating at the time of writing this post, if the movie features in the top 250 list. The last column contains a rating I would give them on a scale of 10.]

*Title (IMDB Rank)*	*Release(Country)*	*Rating /10*

*Sorry Bhai!*	*28-Nov-08*	6
Sorry Bhai is an interesting concept, a bit bold for the Indian audience, perhaps the reason it is shot entirely in Mauritius. Director Onir defied stereotypes again after My Brother Nikhil, but he could have treated it better. One, the movie begins slow and dull, where everyone is cracking jokes with a long face, as if they've been tortured to produce humour. As the movie progresses, the heaviness reduces and characters open up, giving out some light moments. The interesting ensemble of cast had mixed performances. Sharman Joshi was wasted. He simply cannot look and act serious at all, doesn't have that talent. Boman Irani was the star here. These are the kinds of roles he does well, where he does witty one-liners acknowledged with a self-smile. Chitrangada Sen looked hotter than in Hazaaron Khwahishein Aisin. Shabana looked fatter but acted the usual. Sanjay Suri was sidelined after the interval. A short movie that could have been made better by using good timing of humour, lesser of melodrama, and more natural acting. There are quite some scenes that look very artificial, though some other look real good, like the one where Sharman-Chitrangada slide down the staircase railing. The ending could have been improved. Despite those shortcomings, Sorry Bhai can (and should) be watched once for the freshness and boldness of the subject.
*Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!*	*28-Nov-08*	8
A hilarious drama that takes you through the streets of Delhi and through the life of an intelligent thief. Quite an interesting one, a detailed review can be read here.
*Yuvvraaj*	*21-Nov-08*	5
A drama shot in opulent sets, pretty European locales, and presented with rich music. Poor script, bad direction, insignificant acting; only the music steals the show. I wrote a detailed review earlier, which can be read here.
*Dasvidaniya*	*14-Nov-08*	9
Do you have a checklist of things to do before you die? Because that is what Vinay Pathak does before he says Dasvidaniya to the world. Now this is no spoiler; this is revealed by the time you settle in your seats, after which the timid protagonist starts fulfilling all he had wanted to do in life. Following his uncanny habit of preparing a mundande TO-DO list every morning, he does a list that he carries along as the clock ticks. Vinay Pathak, in a brilliant performance that can be said as his career best, above even Bheja Fry, makes you smile, feel sorry, evoke pity at different times. The scene where he enacts out the Dumb-C way his love to childhood sweetheart Neha Dhupia is stunning and quite moving. Debutante producer-director Shashant Shah treated the subject quite sensitively, though there were influences from Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Anand (on a similar subject, where the protagonist lives his life to the fullest in the event of impending death of the same cancer) and Raj Kapoor's Mera Naam Joker. The movie has sad and poignant undertones with quite some light moments also, but it does not depress, rather makes you think about finding out your ambitions and wishes and ways of fulfilling them. The music is meaningful and melodious. A must watch, one of the best Hindi movies this year.
*Dostana*	*14-Nov-08*	6
I had dismissed this one as a Karan Johar movie but then came to know that KJo had only produced it, the director was Tarun Mansukhani, and therefore it could have been watchable. I was very wrong though, little did I know Mansukhani was the assistant director for KKHH, K3G, and KANK. Not much different from a regular KJo movie, Dostana carries on a tale of two strangers who pretend to be gay to get a place to live. The third flatmate is the gorgeous female and the three develop bonds of friendship. What follows is the very predictable plot adorned with poor, cliched jokes, cheap gimmicks, a few tear-sheds, innumerable references to Karan Johar movies, and the declaration of the guys' fake sexual inclination every five minutes that gets you in the head. The good part is obviously Priyanka Chopra who, like in all her other flops earlier this year, gets you interested. The songs are good and catchy, The school-skit-like drama is watchable once.
*EMI*	*7-Nov-08*	5
Another new face Saurabh Kabra could not live up to other debut writer-directors who have been bringing up fresh ideas and delivering great movies. EMI-Liya hai to chukana hi padega has a funny tagline, and has its moments at places though they are far and few, and the storyline was novel too, but somewhere it lacked the fizz. EMI is about four parallel tales of people who've taken loans in some form or the other default, and a recovery agency is employed by the bank to--well--recover money. Four stories become a bit too much and do not flow in tandem. Some of them like Kulbhooshan Kharbanda acted well, a few others sucked. Sanjay Dutt was good, and his character seemed inspired by Munnabhai. The movie comes with a message, but fails to convey it properly. Nothing remarkable about EMI, not even the music.
*Ek Vivah Aisa Bhi*	*7-Nov-08*	5
Another product from the Rajshri Production house which is no different from the earlier ventures. The opening scene was exactly like an Indian wedding video, and the storyline revolves around a wedding. But this is a different one, and that is what the movie about. The plot gets too goody-goody as it moves ahead, and both the lead actors Esha Kopikar and Sonu Sood are ever-smiling and so composed it almost looks they are stoical. Esha Kopikar does look pretty and innocent even in this non-glamourous role, and has the biggest role which is powerful and determinant. Sonu Sood's love for her is extremely selfless and idealistic. Alok Nath, the signature Rajshri father, thankfully got a smaller role. One good thing about Rajshri movies is that the families are getting smaller, but that also means smaller houses and less of grandeur. And also less of music, which again uesd to be a plus point of Rajshri movies; the music of Ek Vivah Aisa Bhi is inconspicuous. For all the above reasons, this would not be a hit even with uncle-aunty audience..And no, this is not a sequel of Vivah.
*Fashion*	*29-Oct-08*	6
Another movie from another renowned director that disappointed me. I feel the newcomers perform much better than the seasoned directors these days. So Mr Bhandarkar picks up another issue, that in the modelling industry and the hardships faced by models and the means used to reach the top. However, the treatment of the subject was rather weak this time. After delivering great works like Chandni Bar and Satta, he was a let down in Fashion. And then he uses exaggeration to prove his point. Six gay fashion designers in the movie? Depicting gaydom was fashion in today's movies but following fashion just for the heck of it? I mean, every designer cannot be gay! And there is one who changes his sexual preferences! All the girls looked good, but Kangana was in the typecasted role of a drunkard and druggie. Priyanka was good, and the new girl Mugdha Godse acted well too. The plot has many loopholes, and the ending unsatisfactory, though he tried to make it a happy one this time. Perhaps that is where Fashion sucked big time. With a happy end in mind, a well-built plot was screwed in the last half hour. Bhandarkarji, are you following Subhash Ghai and leading a downward graph?
*Golmaal Returns*	*29-Oct-08*	5
Sequels are not generally as good as the original in Hollywood (with the exception of a few like Terminator), how can they be in Bollywood, though I was not a very big fan of Golmaal anyway. But it was definitely better than the Returns. The sequel manages to get some laughter, but most of it is corny, cliched, and cheap, revolving around homosexuality or Ekta Kapoor's K-series. Too many people and too many subplots that fail to flow into each other. And then there is this irritating mute Tusssshhhhar (I am sorry if I missed an 's' or an 'h' there) Kapoor, who can utter almost all syllables, and repeatedly keeps appending "Uck" whenever someone says "What the". Sister Kareena cannot get over his real-life-sister's serials and tries to draw similarities between real life and soaps every instant. Arshad Warsi keeps on laughing, while Ajay Devgan's character keeps on trying to look smart. Shreyas Talpade was underutilized, and Vrajesh Hirjee was a joker as always. The other actors are okay, and the Cadbury girl Anjana Sukhani looked hot. And yes, the music is catchy and foot-tapping. The end was a mockery where Tusshar is speaking and the others mention him not being in the third. Somebody please save us from a Golmaal Returns Again.
*Roadside Romeo*	*24-Oct-08*	5
Disney's debut into Bollywood. Yash Raj's entry into animation. Jugal Hansraj's first direction and script. Tata Elxsi's expanse into animation from special effects (Dhoom, Spiderman 3, Iron Man). Saif and Kareena's first voice-overs. India's first animation movie not based on mythology. So many firsts and the movie garnered high expectations, but sadly enough did not live up to it. First, the animation is good but does not appeal because all the dogs are naked except for a neckwear, and they walk oddily enough on two legs. The backdrop is not given attention and is not very good. Second, the story is predictable and not gripping enough. It is about a polished pet dog abandoned by its owners into the dark streets of Mumbai occupied by unkempt, dirty strays. After initial bullying, they are taken into the smooth talks and start a business. Then comes the hafta-vasooli and the villains. Third, the dialogue-delivery is poor, and the only humour that is attempted is by using mimickry of Bollywood dialogues, which sucks. The love-story between the lead couple is fantastical, and is depicted by means of music and dance, which is okay. Not much, but can be watched once as the first non-mythological Indian animation.
*Heroes*	*24-Oct-08*	5
You get put off at the opening parallel scenes that have been directly picked up from Five Point Someone and Friends. What follows is a cheap comedy sequence that could have done away with in this otherwise serious movie with a subject as earnest as depicting war heroes. Two film academy students choose to make a documentary on "Indian Defence Forces kyon nahi join karni chahiye", in the course of which they deliver three letters from slain soldiers to their families. So you get to see Preity-Salman, Sunny-Bobby Deols, and Mithun-Dino Morea in three different subplots that change the mindsets of filmmakers Sohail Khan and Vatsal Shah. The idea is novel, seemingly inspired from Che Guevera's The Motorcycle Diaries, but the frivolous inital half hour was needless and lessened the effect. Sunny Paaji could not help show his antics even on a wheelchair, when he kicks of an entire team of firangi goondas, and ends up making a mockery of our heroes in war. Disappointing scripting and direction, and loud, tasteless humour spoit the idea that could have done wonders had it been treated the RDB way, but writer-director Samir Karnik chose to make a masala movie and ended up making a mishmash.
*Karzzz*	*17-Oct-08*	4
Subash Ghai commented in an interview somewhere that he had wished Karzzz to be a hit. That was really generous of him. I had expected it to be crap and Karzzz lived up to my expectations. A perfect example of how an excellent script can be ruined by incompetent direction and poor acting. Karz had a haunting music and an intriguing narrative but despite being the same story, Karzzz had a rather idiotic plot movement, laced with stupid unnecesary jokes only director Satish Kaushik can crack on screen. Farhan Akhtar's Don at least had a classy treatment of the original Don, interesting shooting locales and sets and a new twist in the end, but Karzzz had Himesh's silky mane and nasal twangs. He can neither act nor sing but takes on the role of a supposedly charismatic rock star flanked by girls. The part after the revelation of renaissance finishes off instantly and ridiculously. Urmila looked older and fitted the role, and perhaps she was the only charm, otherwise the movie is a burden to finish once you start it.
*Cheenti Cheenti Bang Bang*	*17-Oct-08*	5
I had heard the movie was an animation, and had assumed it would have been in some way related to the 1964 book (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) by Ian Flaming. To my utter horror, it was about two kingdoms of the industrious Cheentis banging against each other. The movie is about a war that had sparked because the royal daughter-in-law of red ants was teased by the prince of the black ants (or vice-versa wrt the colour). Both the sides have larger reptiles as accomplices, a chameleon that never changes colour, a frog that never stops croaking, and a wheat eelworm Ghunn who crosses sides, instigating the war. The voice-overs by stars like Mahesh Manjarekar and Asrani turned into creaky dialogues, and did not grab any interest either. The story is dimwitted, and the animation crude 2-D. Having said that, I am glad that animation movies are increasingly being made in India, and are getting creative and out of the realm of mythology. Cheenti Cheenti Bang Bang was a small movie, targetted only at kids; the Indian still believes animation is meant for kids. However, a few dialogues like woh hamare badan par toot pada cannot be really in a movie for children. Cheenti Cheenti Bang Bang went on completely unnoticed, I don't know whether it was screened even in multiplexes. There is still a long way to go before we can start seeing jewels like Ice Age and Wall-E in India.
*Babylon A.D.*	*10-Oct-08*	5
Hollywood seems to never get bored of plots set in the dystopian future, where survivors are fighting for--what else but survival. Babylon A D, adapted from French novel Babylon Babies, tells us the story of a veteran-turned-mercenary transporting a young woman from Eastern Europe to America. What follows is an intercontinental drama-action-drama-action series that fails to flow smoothly. The movie, set a mere decade into the future, demontrates sleek advancements in technologies that cannot be imagined in such a near future. There is an interesting technology shown that seems to get lost in all the commotion. The French director Mathieu Kassovitz was unhappy with his own creation a week before release, and admitted "It's pure violence and stupidity", and that he had wanted to communicate a message which it couldn't; he didn't get to do a scene the way it was written or the way he wanted it to be. Producers 20th Century Fox instead cut 70 minutes to make the running time to 93. That explains the incoherence. Vin Diesel acts the plastic messenger, and Michelle Yeoh looks old, but the movie can be watched only if you enjoy action scenes, some of which shot on ice-covered mountains on sledges.
*Flashbacks of a Fool*	*3-Oct-08*	7
A ageing Hollywood star who leads a narcissistic lifestyle of sex, drugs and celebrity status in his plush house by the sea, caretaken by a laconic personal assistant, learns about the demise of his childhood friend at a time when his own life is getting lonely, and he is no longer the charm of moviemakers. The next hour-long flashback takes us to the lazy English hamlet in the seventies when the adolescent protagonist goes through a lot of emotions, good and bad, set to the beats of Roxy Music and Bowie. The movie switches back to the present when the young boy leaves home in search of a new life. At present the actor visits his friend's funeral and learns new things about his past. Though slow-paced, the movie holds attention throughout through a emotion-filled poignant drama, the kinds I find rare in Hollywood. The stark contrast between the east coast America and the countryside in Britain, the present and past lifestyles, is beautifully shot. Daniel Craig did not have to do much in a non-Bond role but the younger Harry Eden who occupied more screen time as the protagonist was superb. Overall, a nice watch.
*Wall-E (# 32)*	*29-Aug-08*	10
This is what is called a modern classic. A cute story set up in a futiristic era. Intense feelings depicted through lifeless machines. Great direction, script and soundwork. Superb chemistry between the lead couple. Amazing animation by Pixar. Huge attention to detail would have been a key point in the extreme hardwork in designing the animation and everything else. The movie begins with the eponymous solar-powered protagonist doing about his chores on a lifeless earth 800 years hence. All the other WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter- Earth-Class) robots have perished but this one, who over seven centuries, has developed a personality and a sense of curiosity, including his fascination for the old musical Hello Dolly! that he watches every evening after returning from work. The small but rought-tough tank-like robot is joined by the cute and svelte egg-shaped Apple-product-like EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator), who is sent by humans living in a space liner to evaluate the possibility of life on the devastated earth. It clicks in at the first meeting, and an unrequited romance develops which takes him after her to the space liner where the story becomes all the more interesting. The dance in the space where WALL-E uses a fire-extinguisher to move is terrific. A cool score, some from the classic Hello Dolly add to the sentiment. The movie ends in a very feel-good way. A must watch, I would rate this much above Kungfu Panda earlier this year.
*Taken*	*27-Feb-08(France)*	8
This French movie in English is an action-packed, fast-paced thriller with a simple plot that does not have too many twists and suspenses. The end is predictable from the beginning but that does not reduce the excitement. The daughter of Liam Neeson, the ex-CIA 'preventer', is abducted on her arrival in Paris by Albanians who deal in trafficking of women. The sharp, poised, courageous, trigger-happy dad who has 'a very particular set of skills acquired over a very long career' travels from the US to Paris. The one-man army is fast, agile and resourceful, and 'makes a mess' in Paris, killing anyone who comes in the way. The movie starts with a slow pace but gains momentum the moment she is kidnapped. The prologue had resemblance to Kidnap closer home where a powerful father goes out to hunt for her teen daughter who used to live with his ex-wife. The plot is rather unbelieving but you enjoy the confidence with which Bryan moves among the criminals in a foreign land. This was almost like James Bond sans the gadgets and the babes. The movie was a one-man-show; the other actors were rather unknown, except the X-Men star Famke Jannsen, who looked rather haggard. The dialogues were crisp and powerful. Overall, an exciting watch when you are feeling lazy and want some thrill.
*Nishabd*	*2-Mar-07*	5
Had wanted to watch this movie because of the hype about Jiah Khan and her legs. When I finally saw Nishabd, I was wordless at the ostentatious publicity it had garnered. The hypes and the promos would have told that it is the story of an older man falling in for a younger woman. If that rings a bell, yes, you are right about Lolita, American Beauty, and Joggers' Park. The last one is quite close because that's the theme with an Indian ethical angle; the plot here has nothing new to offer, the screenplay and direction poor, and the movie as a whole much worse, even though the older man is a much better actor here. Actually Amitabh Bachchan did a very good job as one more Vijay, his only shortcoming was that he signed this movie. Jiah Khan looks like a malnutritioned nympho brat, and the camera always finds her below the belt, or between her stick-like legs, with AB's face in the backdrop. RGV needs to learn, among many other things, the concept of subtlety. The concept of older man-younger woman is preposterous with the traditional Indian, and the way Nishabd is made shows that RGV is one of those Indians that find it wrong. That is why he should not have made this picture. I had initially rated it a 4, but as I write this, I recap AB's acting, and raise it to 5.
*Æon Flux*	*2-Dec-05(USA)*	7
A scifi that takes you to life 400 years hence in a walled city that houses the last bunch of human survivors on earth. True to the name, the movie belongs to Æon Flux, the long-legged assassin who is hired to kill the ruler of the ruling Goodchild dynasty of scientists. What follows is a series of action sequences in the futiristic city with the assassin and her partner fighting an entire army. What strikes throughout is oscar-winning Charlize Theron in a very sexy and the very same leotard almost throughout the movie, open in a weird but sensuous manner under the shoulders and above the cleavage, and shows her 5'10" figure from every angle you would like to see. The martial arts fights are good, but there is a lot of unbelievable stuff that looks magical, wrapped under the realm of science. The story does have an interesting revelation towards the end, that makes you go wow. An interesting watch, if not for anything else, for Charlize Theron.

Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!

2008-11-30T23:54:00.010+05:30

After last Sunday's burns caused by Yuvvraaj, I was not willing to go out for a movie this weekend. Anyway there were not many releases this Friday, and I had almost seen all the previous ones. PP had wanted to watch one, and had suggested Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!. But to her sheer disbelief, I had not bought tickets in advance and had half expected we wouldn't get them over the counter. I knew this was only wishful thinking because all theatres were less than half-booked even by late afternoon, I guess due to a sense of mourning for (or fear of?) the Mumbai Massacre.

So we still had seats available after the bloke ahead in queue had wanted 9 tickets and took 9 months deciding between Gold and Silver. As we settled in our seats and went through promos, I prayed for Abhay Deol, Paresh Rawal and Khosla Ka Ghosla director Dibakar Banerjee. None of them disappointed me in the comical drama that takes us first through the adolescent life of Lucky, and then his excursions in his profession, giving us a detailed tour through residential areas of Delhi from Tilak Nagar to Rajouri Garden and Rohini to Defence Colony.

The narrative keeps you bound and you don't feel bored for a minute. Intelligent use of still photographs has been used more than once to fast forward the movie. The screenplay is great, and the humour is good, non-cheesy, and light without much of other emotions, though you feel a bit sorry for the parents. Otherwise the movie is strewn with laughter throughout, both during the present Lucky and the past. Money is shown as the biggest power. The music is all Punjabi but not that good, except the title track. But since most of the songs play in the background, they did not seem to be needlessly inserted and did not obstruct the flow.

Abhay Deol seems to have developed a knack for signing up the most hat-ke low-budget movies that are all different from each other and are critically acclaimed. OLLO is no exception. The dimpled actor keeps his innocent smile even when he is wanted by the police. Paresh Rawal was not his usual timid, mindless comedian but played three powerful, intelligent characters, as Lucky's father (not as strong as the other two), and the other two characters who patronize Lucky at different times. Some good serious acting on his part. Neetu Chandra was sweet but did not have much screen time.

Though it might be too early but Dibakar Banerjee's second venture shows a trend here. Quite a few similarities can be drawn between national-award winning Khosla Ka Ghosla and this one, the most prominent being being shot in Delhi and the use of local Delhi language, a mix of Hindi, Punjabi and Haryanwi. The movie might not qualify for the national award this year, nor the director, but he has nevertheless done a very good job in writing and directing a script so well.

To sum it up, Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! was full paisa-vasool, though I would have loved it on the small screen too. My verdict: 8 on 10.

Grey Skies and Glooms

2008-11-27T20:47:00.007+05:30

I have been trying to start writing since the past two hours but it is not easy. I had originally started yesterday evening mentioning an overcast Bangalore the whole day and the gloominess it brought upon me, adding to my melancholy of the past few days. I would have ranted about the new grey template on my blog that sort of counteracted the grey skies by totally engrossing me in the various widgets where I got deep into css, javascript, and HTML to tweak the widgets according to my taste.

But things are quite different now. Today was overcast again and was dripping the entire day, the only thing that reminds of the 64 lives claimed (till the time of writing) in Tamil Nadu by Cyclone Nisha, a news subdued by the live coverage of terrorism in Mumbai since the past 24 hours. The war going on between creators of terror and NSG, RAF, Black Cats, and Mumbai Police at three sites in Mumbai has made the entire nation edgy. The grey moods and my kvetches are not even a drop against the oceans of depression and gloom brought in by the largest-ever terrorist attack on India and her populace.

The use of AK-47s and other automatic weapons did really create more mayhem and terror than bombs, which have anyways kept blowing intermittently. Firings could be heard throughout. The Indian financial capital has come to a standstill. Friends in Mumbai told me every Mumbaikar was afraid to go out today, nobody was sure whether they would come back. At times like these you feel very vulnerable and helpless. You don't know whether to cry over it or to blame the authorities for not having taken enough measures to foresee and prevent such acts of terror.

The entire sequence of events looks straight out from a Hollywood action movie, but the entire world is shaken. But that also depicts how cheap a human life is, an Indian's all the more. One 9/11 happened, and the US screwed up the entire world. Let us see what the Indian offices of power do. By evening the number of miscreants was decreasing, and various ministers could be seen on TV. Hostages who were spared the gun were being evacuated to safer places. The war is still on, and I know the armies and the forces will win; not reaching back alive would sure have been a part of the intricate plan the terrorists would have drafted.

The media has been sickening and overkilling, with all news channels removing everything else off the screens; even the tickers that keep shouting of Breaking News are all occupied by this horrendous incident. However, the media is the reason we know the exact picture out there and have so strong sentiments against both the terrorists and the lawmakers. Switching off news streams and delegating to the corrupt ministers won’t help. We need to do something proactive, starting from the root level. We need drastic reforms in our society and constitution and law and order. Don’t ask me where to begin; I don’t have an answer, we’ll have to find one.

PS: Rediff has a live commentary here on the ongoing war.

Yuvvraaj the Musical

2008-11-24T21:45:00.014+05:30

Hire the prettiest face in the industry, the best music director and the best lyricist, and shoot in picturesque European locales and grand, opulent sets. Take an Oscar-winning script, beat the shit out of it, and add a shallow direction to it. Insert an extra 'v' in the family name, and you have Yuvvraaj. And yes, I forgot, add some jokers and crappy acting according to taste, and you have the full recipe.

Even though you have the recipe, it is not easy to waste big names like Allah Rakha Rehman and Sampoorna Singh Gulzar on the pretext of creating a musical movie. Music did they create, and quite good one at that, but using it inappropriately at the wrong places, with gaudy and tawdry costumes and portly female side dancers spoilt the fun. Yuvvraaj does not look like a musical at all, only the Manmohini track seemed to fit, and to some extent Zindagi. The others could have been not in the movie at all.

The storyline has no meat at all; I was trying at interval to recap and realised to my utter disbelief that the plot hadn't moved. The second half brought no surprise. Katrina Kaif had nothing to do but look pretty as always, and beau Salman Khan couldn't stop hamming. Anil Kapoor tried to copy Dustin 'Rain Man' Hoffman, but he was not even close. The only good part was Mithun, and the three new faces, who were hot, especially Aimee Maghera. Even Boman Irani sucked.

One mystery I was unable to solve was how does everyone in Prague, London, and Austria speak Hindi? And those who spoke English were vexingly subtitled in Devanagiri. Now who does that and why? And who translates 'sexy' as 'jaaneman'?

Subhash Ghai said in an interview he has more competition than Subhash Ghai (whatever that means); he has competition with Khalnayak and Ram Lakhan. You are partially right Mr Ghai, but you have competition with Kisna and Yaadein. And congratulations, Yuvvraaj wins. Your golden period was the 80's where you gave memorable hits. The 90's have been an advent of your downfall. Except Black & White earlier this year. Now that was a movie that had an interesting plot and did not call for unnecessary display of grandeur. That is why I liked it, and perhaps that is why it did not do well at the box office. But yes, movies like Aitraaz and Iqbal were good. Good that you only produced them. You are getting older and senile, why don't you sit back and sign cheques and hire someone else for the director's chair?

Overall, a huge let down. Watch it at your own risk. You might want to walk out after the Tu Hi Meri Dost Hai track. I'd suggest buy the music CD instead.

Conspiracy

2008-11-20T23:51:00.013+05:30

Ok, like the last time I participated in Cuckoo's Le Titre in an eleventh-hour-rush, here is my entry for this month's topic: Conspiracy.

Four people conspiring under shadows

Sifting through my photographs, I had found two photos that I sent to someone to help me decide one from, and soon I saw this third one which both of us felt was more appropriate for conspiracy. The reason: four people conspiring in shadows.

This time's participation is better than the last one because I am writing this before the deadline and shall upload the photograph too before the contest closes, unlike last time when I had simply created a blank post and posted the url on the participation, and finished up later.

And this takes me back to the state of mind I was in sitting at that beach in Pondicherry, and though the sea was calm, I had tides within. I was wondering at the effect the sea had on my mind, and was thanking someone (To Whoever it may concern types) that I lived far from the sea.

Tu Hi To Meri Dost Hai

2008-11-19T04:40:00.002+05:30

Listened to this number on FM a few days ago, and before I knew it was from Yuvraaj, written by Gulzar and composed and sung (in part) by A R Rehman, I was humming it all the time. I simply can't get it off my head. Everytime I listen to it, I find myself in a different world.

Gulzar is superb, much better than Akhtar, who disappointed me with his kale-neele-peele songs in Rock On. Plus the refrain by Rehman. You have to listen to it to feel it. One more reason this track is particularly intriguing is because it talks about a 'dost' rather than the hundreds of synonyms for a beloved. There are a lot of songs on dosti but not often do you listen to 'meri' dost.

I could probably put it as my most favourite song of 2008. A very close contender would be Teri Ore from Singh is King, which, though quite soothing to the ears, lacks in the emotional content in this one.

There were a few more ear-friendly songs this year, not listed in any particular order:

Teri Ore (Singh Is King)
Bakhuda Tumhi Ho (Kismat Konnection)
Khuda Jaane (Bachan Ae Haseeno)
Kabhi Kabhi Aditi (Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na)
Zara Zara Touch Me (Race)
Chaar Dino Ka Pyaar (Jannat)
Pichhle Saat Dino Mein (Rock On)
Pehli Nazar Mein (Race)

What do you think? Do you feel this is the best song of the year or am I getting too emotional?

Aaja main hawaon mein bitha ke le chaloon/ Tu hi to/ Tu hi to meri dost hai...

Drona Kidnapped by Hari Puttar?

2008-11-15T17:12:00.009+05:30

Okay, the title of the post would have been of relevance a month ago, but those were the latest movies I could write a review upon. So, like the last month, the movies are listed in reverse chronological order of their release dates except where there is a series or movies based on the same book and like.

Parenthesis after the release date contains the country it was first released, if the movie was/is not released in India. Mentioned alongside the title in brackets is the IMDB rating at the time of writing this post, if the movie features in the top 250 list. The last column contains a rating I would give them on a scale of 10.

*Title (IMDB Rank)*	*Release (Country)*	*Rating /10*

*Hello*	*10-Oct-08*	*6 /10*
Good treatment of the book. The movie adds or subtracts nothing. If you liked One Night at Call Centre, you would like Hello. If you didn't, you wouldn't. I found Five Point Someone quite gripping but Chetan Bhagat's second venture was rather mediocre. If you thought the first one was far-fetched, which I believe was not, this one is much more. If you haven't read the book, you might like this short movie based on a few friends in a rather empty call centre office. Acting wise it is okay with Arbaaz, Sharman Joshi and Sharat Saxena playing their usual roles, and Gul Panag, for a change, a slightly glamorous character.
*Drona*	*2-Oct-08*	*3 /10*
Drona, for me, was shattered expectations. The starcast, the promos, the publicity, all seemed promising. But it turned out to be a superhero who is slow and dumb, portly and bearded, stoic and expressionless. The movie is slow paced, almost as if shot entirely in slow-motion, everyone takes ages to understand and react. The plot has one bit from Indian mythology, the treatment of the yet-to-become-superhero from Harry Porter, action sequences from Mummy and Torque, and has almost no substance. The only bit of attempted comedy is clichéd and boring. Abhishek and mommy's jobs were done easy by director Goldie; they had to carry the same stupefied expression throughout. Kay Kay is more comical and stupid than terrifying, this is perhaps his worst ever performance. The only good thing was the great locales, and the sexy, smoke-eyed bodyguard in Priyanka Chopra, whose character was a bit nimbler. The open end hints at a sequel, and I shudder at the thought of it.
*Kidnap*	*2-Oct-08*	*4 /10*
The promos show you the nouveau physiques of the kidnapper and the kidnapee. And the kidnapee's bikini in which she gets kidnapped underwater. That is it to this Kidnap. The recently-turned-adult Minissha is kidnapped, and the über-rich father Sanjay Dutt is asked for odd errands in return. What follows is a series of phone calls and some supposedly confusing clues that fail to scintillate, and changes of one-after-other mini-dresses for Minissha in captivity. Irfan looks better in this non-chocolaty-role, but cannot act and deliver dialogues properly; his pout comes in the way. The storyline is rather bleak and predictable and music short-lived.
*Hari Puttar*	*26-Sep-08*	*3 /10*
Home Alone the Indian way. Even the title is not original. Saurabh Shukla's getup had glimpses of the great Rubeus Hagrid. I love kid movies but I doubt if children would like this. The movie had no substance at all. The jokes are poor and at times improper for a younger audience the movies targets. Swini Khera looked quite dumb after her remarkable performance in Cheeni Kum, the other two kids are hopeless, and the elders didn't have much on-screen time.
*Journey to the Center of the Earth*	*12-Sep-08*	*7 /10*
Also known as Journey 3-D, this would definitely have looked amazing on 3-D. True to the name, the movie is about a journey, a weekend trip to the centre of the earth by a volcanologist, his nephew, and a beautiful mountain guide. The movie is more of special effects and thrills and striking visuals, and is like an amusement park more than an adaptation of the serious eponymous 1864 classic by Jules Verne. The book and notes on it by the scientist's late brother are used for the journey, similar to the notes by Arne Saknussem in the book. The major incidents are picked up from the book, though very little care is paid to explain the scientific facts as there. The cast is only three people for the entire movie except the first and the last 5 minutes; the Icelandic beauty Anita Briem looked gorgeous though she did not have much else to do. The roller coaster and other rides do not let you feel time passing by. The witty one-liners add a welcome lace of humour. Overall, a good watch, but do not expect the science and math that were an integral part of the Jules Verne novel.
*Journey to the Center of the Earth*	*16-Dec-59 (USA)*	*7 /10*
This one is the original movie based on the book by Jules Verne, and is quite a good adaptation. There are a few changes of course, but the movie stays close to the idea. The movie has quite a depth compared to the contemporary Brendan Fraser counterpart, and tries to explain things and make sense rather than being just a visual treat. The interior of the earth is depicted in quite a detail, and the special effects are commendable for a movie of the 50's. The journey takes them almost a year, and that is the core part of the movie, as opposed to the three minutes of free fall in the younger movie. Excellent use of imagery and light gives an eerie and frightening touch. The performances are good but you easily notice the differences between two movies half a century apart. Overall, an interesting watch if you haven't read the book.
*Death Race*	*22-Aug-08 (USA)*	*8 /10*
2012. The US economy has crippled, unemployment and crime are on the rise, and private corporations run prisons for profit. Terminal Island is one such prison, and Death Race is broadcasted live on the internet and viewership charged. The cars are highly modified, the drivers are convicts, and the rules are simple: there are no rules; win and win your freedom, or die trying. Such a plot calls for high action and thrill, scheming and conspiracy, courage and intelligence in a fight against the authorities. The movie is like a modern Gladiator, the heavy metal armours replaced by tank-like cars, and swords and maces by machine guns and force fields, but slaves fight and kill each other to entertain the masses. At times it looks like a video game. A few killings are quite violent and gory. Jason Statham's abs would make the Shahrukhs shy. His role was energetic and powerful like the one in Transporter. The Mustangs and the Dodge Rams and the Jaguars and the Porsches are amazing, and the 18-wheeler Dreadnought breathtaking. Overall, a fast-paced adrenalin-pumping thriller that keeps you at the edge of your seat throughout.
*Tropic Thunder*	*13-Aug-08 (USA)*	*3 /10*
Tropic Thunder is the story of filming of a war movie Tropic Thunder wherein pampered lead actors are dropped in the middle of the jungle with hidden cameras so that the movie can be shot guerrilla-style. Very soon the director dies in a landmine, and the cast are caught by a heroin-producer-gang and it is quite some while before they realise they are in the real and not the reel world. The movie failed to humour me at all, the action scenes are quite realistic and grand, and therefore, again, do not create humour. Some of the comedy attempted is by means of people getting killed or their limbs getting cut off, disgusting things like eating bats. Probably the producer-director-writer-actor Ben Stiller could never make up his mind whether he wanted to make a satire or a mockery of war movies or a slapstick comedy or simply a drama. I fail to understand how could this comedy lacking totally in wit be on the top of box office for three weekends.
*Hancock*	*11-Jul-08*	*9 /10*
Superheroes are smart, fast, attired in sleek dresses and masks, and generally live under cover. Hancock is just the opposite: dirty, unkempt, smelly, and lazy, dressed in baggies, and sleeps on a roadside bench. But he helps innocent people and fights crime, is disliked by police and authorities. Extremely powerful, completely scratch-resistant, doesn't even budge when a locomotive hits him at full speed. Flies without wings or webs. Blows up a house when sneezes. Leaving apart all these superhero traits, what is most exciting about Hancock is his history and the chemistry of his existence. The last third becomes all the more interesting, also because of a bigger surprise, and the end is satisfying. The movie is proper masala: emotion, comedy, drama, and obviously action, perhaps the reason for such a high rating from my Indian palate.
*Ramchand Pakistani*	*10-Jul-08*	*6 /10*
My first Pakistani film. Didn't seem any different than Indian movies. Not even the language. So, the movie is a good adaptation of a true story, that of a seven-year-old and his father who accidentally venture into the Indian side of the border and are held prisoners, and the wife-mother fights for survival. Provides a counter-view of the oft-used topic in Indian cinema. Good screenplay, realistic acting, rich emotion and drama, is what Ramchand Pakistani offers. Though it gets a bit slow at times, and the only Indian actress Nandita Das did not live up to the expectations. The kid who played the young Ramchand did an appreciable job. The movie was showcased in India in the CINEFAN festival in India even before it was released in Pakistan.
*Ek Chalees ki Last Local*	*18-May-07*	*8 /10*
The movie begins with a romantic angle but turns out into a dark, quirky, slapstick comedy with quite some gore, unnecessary violence, crude and cheap jokes and expletives, sick characters and a somewhat incredulous storyline. I still give an 8 to the debutante writer-director Sanjay Khanduri for giving Bollywood a pulp fiction in the true sense. Bollywood has grown up in time, and while this one will not be taken well with the family knd of audience, it is good that people are trying out things. Another thing Khanduri should be commended is the real-time narrative, set in a night between the last local train in the night at 1:40 am to the first in the morning at 4:10 am, 150 minutes packed in 143. So much happens in that short period, and it still does not drag at any point. Watch it for crude humour, shooting-without-talking, and a few interesting plot twists, and of course good acting by Abhay Deol.
*28 days Later*	*1-Nov-02 (UK)*	*8 /10*
The London metropolis. Silent. Devastated. Empty. Nary a soul. These are the most intriguing and brilliantly shot scenes when the protagonist wakes up after his coma 28 days hence his road accident, and discovers Britain is evacuated. Perplexed at the vacant city, he soon realises he is not alone. His company is zombie-like people who are infected with a 'Rage' virus and are out to infect anyone who doesn't have it. This interesting but unimaginable idea is not the only thing that makes this movie good. The entire treatment of the savage zombies and the rage, the escape and fight by the uninfected few, the always crowded London locales completely empty, the ever-suspenseful ascending background score, all make up this one an interesting watch.
*28 Weeks Later*	*6-May-07 (UK)*	*7 /10*
I like it when the sequels are named so intelligently, and are made just because they have an original movie and an interesting name for the sequel, but the sequel still does well. 28 Weeks Later follows the sequel-can-never-be-as-good-as-the-original axiom, but it is only slightly below, even though the idea was no longer novel. This was gorier, had less of logic, and was predictable at times, even though it was the story of a family rather than an entire populace in general. The best part of the movie is the very good background score that sort of intensifies the suspense and thrill. The epilogue hints at another sequel.
*Julie*	*23-Jul-04*	*5 /10*
I did not quite get whether Julie was intended to be a hot movie like Jism or a thought-provoking one like Chandni Bar. Perhaps it was tried to have the best of both. And there is where it failed. Julie is a prostitute falling in love with a business czar and standing against the society, in a wide and reaching-the-masses fashion. No doubt a bold movie but a decent plot is lacking. The story of she becoming a prostitute is what we've heard and seen many times, and the latter part of the story goes almost in fast forward. The motive of her daring act to feature on live TV was inexplicable. Neha Dhupia showed more skin than she acted, and Priyanshu Chatterjee was dumb as ever. Some bold dialogues are added that are aimed to hit hard but they fail to, because of the way they are delivered. Some changes to the plot and a decent direction and concentration less on skin-show could have improved the movie considerably.
*The Animal*	*21-Mar-01 (USA)*	*6 /10*
Okay flick. A weird, inexplicable, incredulous concept that gives the cop Rob Schneider animal powers. He outruns horses, beats dogs in chasing Frisbees, chases cats, and dances like dolphins. His animal powers help him in his duties as a policeman at times. Whether his newfound celebrity continues can be found by watching the film. The antics are good, the 'animal's' girlfriend Colleen Haskell beautiful and mature enough for her only movie, and the storyline comical though nonsensical. The combination of so many animal powers in one human is good for a thought-experiment, but the movie has simply too much of it. Enjoyable without the brains. I missed Jim Carrey and his facial expressions for the role of Marvin.
*Cube*	*9-Sep-97 (Canada)*	*8 /10*
This Canadian film is all about cubes. Seven people caught in a huge labyrinth of cubes try to figure their way out. I had disposed off the film after the first scene where an inmate reaches a particular cubical room and is cut into small cubes that fall apart one by one by a huge dicer that swings from the ceiling. When I later took up the film 7 years later, I found it interesting, puzzle-like, where the prisoners use a lot of mathematics and logic to understand the mechanism of the cubes and save themselves from deadly traps set up in some of the cubes. And not gory apart from that first scene. The film appeals because of its Kafkaesque settings, not much is explained about the cubes; how did those people reach there, and nothing about the outside world. The people discover there are 17,576 such cubes, and, with the help of numbers at each door on each side of the cube and colour of the cube, and some more interesting observations, they try to reach out, following power struggles and clashes among themselves. Overall, a gripping, horrifying watch puzzled with riddles and logic and math. Interesting.
*Hypercube*	*29-Jul-02 (Canada)*	*7 /10*
What else could the sequel have been called? Add another dimension to the 3-D cube, and make a movie out of it. The extra dimension makes things more complicated, abstract, and somewhat weird. The tagline says it as a new dimension in fear, though I did not feel so. While the Cube gave a surreal feel, and was based on logic, science and mathematics, the Hypercube gives a perplexing feel, and anything defying laws of science is added as a part of the fourth-dimension: horizontal gravity, slower and faster passing of times for different people, parallel universes and moving of people and objects between them, an expanding tesseract that cuts anything like blades that occupies the same space/time as it. There was a single cube this time, which existed in multiple times and parallel universes and kept interacting with itself. Also, this cube is brightly lit, and the characters have colourful dresses compared to the dark cubes and prison robes in the first one. This reduces the terror but overall the movie is too complex to watch and comprehend even for someone who studied science at college.
*Cube Zero*	*15-Oct-04 (Canada)*	*5 /10*
Since a cube in five dimensions was impossible to create even on the computer, a prequel of the original Cube was made, in an attempt to explain some mechanisms of the working of the Cubes and the life of people controlling them. A lot of detail is given on how people enter the cube, why do they not remember anything, how the traps operate, how are people killed inside, and what happens to their remains. This film is more gruesome than both of the others in the series, has deadlier traps, and gives faces and names to unknowns that control it all, or was supposed to be an experiment gone wrong. While this aspect is more horrifying, it sort of makes the first one diminutive in effect. Cube Zero does not explain everything clearly though, and does not give any explanation for the Hypercube. Perhaps that was too surreal, else you could have expected a Cube One-Point-Five sometime soon.
*Twelve Monkeys (# 183)*	*27-Dec-95 (USA)*	*10 /10*
The best time travel movie I've seen so far. I generally find Bruce Willis a better actor but Brad Pitt overdid him in this one, not that Willis did not act well. The plot is intriguing, oscillating between past, present and future, and has quite an element of abstractness in the storyline that keeps you glued. A new paradox or rather, a new form of time travel paradox is depicted: an attempt to find the cause is the actual cause. No sooner than this is realised than every piece of the jigsaw falls into place. The various small subplots make quite sense and no single shot seems unnecessary or out of place. No next-century gadgets or computers working with sounds at animations. I could not help getting amused at a news channel covering the story of a child fallen into and stuck halfway in a borewell, a la Prince and several other children who've followed him in India. Anyways, a movie worth spending two hours of complete attention. The movie ranks # 183 on IMDB; I would place it in the top 20 in my list.
*La Jetée*	*1962 (France)*	*8 /10*
La Jetée is credited in Twelve Monkeys as the inspiration. While the adaptation is a real good one, the original is almost a piece of art. Constructed entirely through black and white still photography, this 26-minute French film has a post-World War III plot, and one of the earliest time-travel movies. The movie has no dialogues, only a French narration and therefore still photos with English subtitles was like reading a comic book with a background score. The plot becomes quite abstract due to the brevity, and is elaborated much better in Twelve Monkeys. Quite a few things are left unexplained and to the imagination of the audience. This is where Twelve Monkeys scores over this; the plot is still very intriguing and abstract though elaborate, and of course a motion picture is more expressive against a still-photo-film.
*Vertigo (# 41)*	*9-May-58 (USA)*	*9 /10*
This quinquagenarian Hitchcock classic is a delight to watch. The intriguing thriller revolves around a retired detective afflicted with acrophobia, who falls in love with the woman he is hired to tail. That this is just a part of a very large scheme is revealed towards the last third in a shocking twist. And the way the mystery unfurls and the protagonist goes into and comes out of his shell again at the revelation. The black and white winter scenes in high winds give an eerie feel, and the crisp dialogues and the long silent scenes add to the mystery. Oscar winner James Stewart looks almost like Sherlock Holmes in his investigation, and the gorgeous Kim Novak looks beautiful in all her getups.

21st Century Healthcare

2008-11-11T01:38:00.008+05:30

"The storm is now over. Me back to blogging makes me feel things are falling back in place. I shall be back in full action very soon."

These were the closing lines of my last blogpost. I stand corrected. If anything, it was the calm before the storm. The very next morning (of writing that post) I woke up with quite a pain in the arm. An hour later, it had started bleeding profusely and I had to be rushed to the hospital. I was glad I had changed to Columbia Asia from Ramaiah a week ago. The doctors in the casualty could stop bleeding by the evening but I had to spend a few days in the hospital.

The first couple of days were painful but the next two turned out as an extended weekend where I rested well, watched a lot of TV, read, and enjoyed hotel-like facilities while under good medical care. I haven't visited Apollo but this was far better than Manipal, which is regarded the best in Bangalore by people living close to it. But Manipal isn't half as sleek, efficient, and clean.

Columbia Asia looks like a corporate office more than a hospital. A huge reception where reps help you in the queue and then escort you till the respective department/doctor, a spacious lobby sided with a CCD outlet and a bookshop, and a smart decor and lighting take you in surprise. The wards look like hotel rooms with Sony Bravia TVs and Italian couches for attendants, and wifi internet. I, however, stayed away from my laptop else I'd have been blogging this from my bed or would have been w-f-h (hospital). The bathroom had Biotique toiletries. Good-looking bellgirls serve food to the patients' rooms from a choice of menu; I had delicious pasta one day, noodles another day, and different soups everyday. The normal thalis were tasty and filling too. I was put directly on line with the chef when I had wanted to have a variation in a side-dish.

The doctors and nurses were patient and quite dedicated. I had a surgeon, a haemotologist, and a physiotherapist visiting me frequently and following my case keenly in an almost VIP-treatment. The finance guys visited me at my bed to help me when I wanted to file a claim. You are known through your MRN and your entire case is accessible from any computer on the hospital network. Your prescriptions are ready at the pharmacy even before you reach there to collect them. Ok, it is a bit expensive (my room was twice as expensive as a room in Ginger Hotels, and everything followed suit), but the comfort is worth it.

Constructed in a 130,000 sqft campus by Brigade group adjacent to their upcoming 30-storey state-of-the-art office space with a helipad, this was the Seattle-based consortium's second center in Bangalore. There are 12 more Columbia Asia facilities in operation in India, Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia, and 26 projects under construction/design.

The cool facility rose my spirits instead of dampening them as it generally happens when you have to stay in a hospital. Good care was taken of my arm, and though it will still take some time to heal completely, here I am, exactly one-week later, all praises. There is another facility near Hebbal, and one coming up in Bangalore South (Jayanagar?) and one in Whitefield, by 2010. I would not wish any of you visiting a hospital, but if need be, I'd definitely recommend Columbia Asia.

The Glass Wall

2008-10-30T23:33:00.019+05:30

This Saint-Gobain advertisement always used to make me smile. This and this are more amusing Saint Gobain ads that end up embarrassing people. Yours truly had a similar experience with such a clear glass last fortnight. However, it was more than just embarrassment I had to endure because I failed to see a glass wall. I had wanted to write this since the incident but typing with just three fingers of the left hand is much more pain than I had imagined. Here is how it happened:

Saturday Night Fever. It was one of the those Saturdays when I keep sleeping the entire day and spend most of the conscious time with my beloved I am typing on right now. 18th October 2008 was one such lazy Saturday when at 8:11 in the evening popped up an IM window titled Kushagra, asking me to come to the paani-batashe-waala exactly midway our apartment complexes. Now I am not a big fan of gol-gappe but my sister definitely is, and we decided to go out. After all it was Saturday night.

We teleported there in a minute, and after sis and Kush had their fill and Pawan and I tasted a few paani-puris, the question of what next on Saturday eve arose again. I suggested tea and junta readily agreed. There were numerous options thrown at me: the Day Fresh bakery behind where we were standing, the tea stall beside Spencer's, mom-made tea at my and self-made at Pawan and Kush's house, MSRIT Canteens, Freska, CCD, and Barista.

Final Destination. The two smaller joints were ruled out because they do not have good tea. Going back home was out of question. We wanted good tea and not coffee hence CCD and Barista were eliminated. Pawan and Kush had been to Freska the day before and had good basil tea, so we narrowed upon the MSRIT canteen. Kush picked up his car and we went out in an expedition to the Engineering College canteen I had been to once, five years ago when I had visited Bangalore on a college project. Despite walking around half an hour, and thanks to some really helpful and knowledgeable security guards, and my brilliant memory, we could not locate the canteen. Almost giving in, we went to the Food Court, but they did not have tea. Similar was the answer at the doors of four other canteens in the campus we knocked.

Someone suggested we go back, but how could we accept defeat after wasting an hour in the quest of tea on a Saturday eve? We decided to (or were destined to) visit Freska, a small but nice Continental restaurant on 80-feet Road, Dollar's Colony.

The Happening. We park. Freska looks crowded. Now this place is like a boutique restaurant with different compartments. There is a huge table seating almost a dozen people in the front room. I, leading the group, see the passage to the other room beside the overcrowded table and move my rudder towards that vacant passway.

I had not even entered the place when I stopped in my tracks. For almost three seconds I did not know what happened. Ruhi later tells me I stood there in shock and exclaimed "Abe!" thrice. The door was in front of the table, and I had walked into the very clear glass wall beside it. The whole glass had come crashing down. I looked down and cursed aloud when I saw blood gushing out of a one-and-a-half inch deep and equally wide wedge in my right forearm.

Rush Hour. No sooner had I exclaimed than everyone realised the gravity of the situation. Kush swung the car into a quick U, and we headed back towards the Ramaiah Campus, which was luckily only 200 meters away. We were stopped by a gang of four cops in this small distance, but they easily let us go without even seeing my arm that soaked the car seat completely. Ruhi had started crying though I had absolutely no sensation of pain, maybe the shock was higher than pain.

Pawan and I were dropped at the hospital gate and Kush and Ruhi went to park. They later followed my blood trail on the tiled floor to locate us in the emergency. A team of three doctors greeted me and went to action on my arm. They asked me not to look but I rather took this photo. (Disclaimer: Click at your own risk.) I was xrayed and cleaned and administered local antihaemorrhagic agents, and later sutured.

The Others. There is a wound on the little finger of the left hand, and I refused taking a suture there. There are at least six scratches and bruises on the right wrist. And there is a huge slash on the dorsal side of the right forearm that I noticed when the doc was about to stitch the deep one, over an hour later. This slash led to a flap of the skin bent up, which was put back and required more stitches than the deep one. This flap has necrosed now, and a thick, hard clot has formed over and beneath it, and doctors and I are still worried about it.

Office Space. The ensuing two weeks saw turning my room into office and my bed into workstation. The crucial release made me work with three gauche fingers. Office was manageable, but everything else is hindered, from brushing the teeth to eating to bathing. Clumsily, gauche'ly in the literal sense, struggling like a toddler, I've been doing everything with the left hand till today, when I can move the mouse around and press backspace and delete with the right. Now the right hand is behaving like an infant and I'll have to teach it many things.

The Great Escape. I am really thankful the glass did not cut any tendons/veins/arteries. The glass did not hit my face/head/eyes. Or the chest or neck. The outcomes are unimaginable. Worse could have been had it fallen a few inches north and slit my wrist. I shudder to think how vulnerable I was during those few seconds.

The storm is now over. Me back to blogging makes me feel things are falling back in place. I shall be back in full action very soon.

Movie Time

2008-10-01T04:16:00.006+05:30

Amid many other pending posts, this is one I have been wanting to publish since almost two weeks but could not complete it. Could not leave it either.

I watched a lot of movies in the month of September, some new, some old, and this post serves as small reviews. The movies are listed in reverse chronological order of their release dates, mentioned alongside the title, and a rating I would give them on a scale of 10.

*Welcome to Sajjanpur*	*19-Sep-08*	*8 /10*
Nice comedy set up completely in the rural India, with jokes that make good sense in the local dialect which should not be difficult to comprehend. Ace director Shyam Benegal has made a perfect movie, albeit quite different from the serious classics he has directed in the past. Shreyas Talpade as the aspiring novelist ends up being a scribe, and therefore has a peek into everyone's lives in the village. Ends up manipulating people's lives through letters, especially his love interest's. Quite a number of funny sub plots follow, and the humor doesn't let you feel they are getting too many to remember. A few melodious numbers add to the movie.
*1920*	*12-Sep-08*	*7 /10*
A typical horror movie composed of all the elements--eerie winds and big empty bungalows, darkness and candles, mirrors cracking and moaning sounds, possession and exorcism, love and lust, betrayal and revenge--you name it and you get it. Set in 1920, it has tremendous similarities to The Exorcist. Though it failed to scare me, it was an okay watch despite the rather funny ending, where both Christianity and Hinduism were used to exorcise the evil spirit. Adah Sharma acted well, though the completely non-glamorous white maxi gown she wore all the time actually became an eyesore.
*The Last Lear*	*12-Sep-08*	*9 /10*
Rituparno Ghosh. Amitabh Bachchan. William Shakespeare. I had already started loving the movie when I knew these were the names involved. An intriguing movie in typical Ghosh style, where people quietly sit and talk and the narration is by means of flashbacks. The story is that of an ageing and ailing stage actor being persuaded to act in a movie, which happens to be his last, and has been left in a coma as the aftereffects of the shooting. Idiosyncratic, vain, impetuous he is, occasionally lashing out at the modern world, and using too much of Shakespearean verses in normal conversation. Though AB looks funny in the poster, he looks amazing in the movie, and has delivered an intense performance. Preity Zinta's role is her most un-bubbly one, and her English dialogues are only slightly better than the rest of the cast, in which case they sound like recitals. Out and out an AB film. Watch it for him.
*Saas Bahu aur Sensex*	*12-Sep-08*	*6 /10*
Another interesting title. I had half expected Saas-Bahus fighting over PE ratios but was wondering how would the saas-bahu clashes blend with the stock market. I am still wondering after watching the movie. The movie had too much--a multi-cultural neighbourhood, call center classes and frolic, share market excitements, women empowerment, and even a love triangle, without which most movies seem incomplete these days. The sensex part was very little, so was the saas-bahu part. It was good to see Farooq Sheikh after long, and a slimmer Tanushree Dutta, but then the movie did not have enough substance, and also that I had expected something else.
*A Wednesday*	*5-Sep-08*	*9 /10*
An interesting title. A very interesting and well-made movie too. The plot is simple but provokes thought: a bomb threat and a demand to release four terrorists is made by an anonymous caller perched at the terrace of a high-rise in Bombay. The alert police tries to locate him and foil his attempts. The climax has a totally unexpected twist that makes you go into the thought mode. Naseeruddin Shah was at his intimidating best and gave a power-packed performance, maintaining the thrill throughout. Overall a very good movie; the only out-of-place thing was the hacker's one-minute dialogue.
*Hijack*	*5-Sep-08*	*5 /10*
Small films are in. Shot completely inside an aircraft, the movie, as the name suggests, is about a plane hijacked by 6 terrorists demanding release of their boss. Shiney Ahuja, the ground maintenance engineer, manages to sneak in when the aeroplane is forced to land at Chandigardh airport. Nothing other than the expected follows when he kills them one by one and frees the hostages, his daughter being one of them. Oh yes, the starcast has Esha Deol too, as an airhostess who doesn't have to do anything anyway. The movie failed to create any interest, the age-old formula used, with no thrill whatsoever.
*Rock On*	*29-Aug-08*	*7 /10*
The movie failed to rock me as much as the hype. Farhan Akhtar chose not to direct but do everything else. Produce, sing, act. With a lisp that becomes irritating at times. Wonder why did he trust one-film-old Abhishek Kapoor to direct a somber, serious, 'grown-up-DCH', and made Papa Akhtar write some Kaale-Neele-Peele rock songs which became nonsensical and had to be somehow fitted in the drums and guitar. The soft ones like 'Tum ho to gaata yeh dil' and ''Kabhi khud pe hansa' are very good though. I did not like the basic premises of the plot that four very good friends don't interact for 10 long years just because of a stupid altercation. The pony-tailed Arjun Rampal and beautiful Prachi Desai provided some saving grace to the otherwise boring cast.
*Chamku*	*29-Aug-08*	*6 /10*
Another one-film old writer-director Kabeer Kaushik presented Chamku the same Friday. However, it failed to match his earlier venture Sehar. Chamku is the story of an eponymous character played by Bobby Deol, whose parents were brutally murdered by naxalites when he was a kid. He later gets picked up under a covert Govt intelligence program to carry out political assassinations. The character is almost unbreakable as he survives several gun shots and multiple murder attempts. Though a female character was not required, Priyanka Chopra looks good in a perpetual blue chiffon saree with a stringed blouse in her kindergarten teacher role. An outdated revenge drama, Chamku failed to shine at all.
*Wanted*	*29-Aug-08*	*6 /10*
The promos made me go wow over the action scenes and Angelina Jolie's new avatar with smoky eyes and tattoos visible. There was not much more in the movie than the trailer. The plot begins very well but ends up pathetically. A software engineer is kidnapped by Jolie and Morgan Freeman, who head a secret Fraternity, and is made believed of his 'elite' assassin lineage when he is able to shoot the wings off three houseflies when a gun is put to his head. The movie progresses with a boring and somewhat gory training in the Fraternity, and then he is ordered to kill people from the Loom of Fate, a loom that gives names of targets through binary code hidden in weaving errors of the fabric. A twist comes towards the end, and excellent Rajnikant-style bullets that can curve in mid air are used extensively. The end pisses you off and makes an otherwise good movie turn average. Watch it for the sexy Angelina and some good stunts in the first half, but keep your brains at home.
*C Kkompany*	*29-Aug-08*	*4 /10*
Balaji Telefilms hired debutante director Sachin Yerdi to write and publicise a long advertisement for their soaps and their stars. Targetted to be a comedy, the movie failed to humor me. The jokes are bad and acting poor. The plot revolves around three losers who are troubled with their lives, and threaten the son of one of them under a fictitious underworld company called C Kompany. The prank turns serious and people start getting afraid of them. Don't know what is Anupam Kher doing among a bunch of jokers here. Mithun the don irritates with his patronizing soap stars, and tear-shedding at soaps. Tusshar Kapoor is repulsive as usual. A total crap. Watch it only if you want a reason to pull your hair out.
*Phoonk*	*22-Aug-08*	*5 /10*
RGV and producer Azam Khan had promised a reward of 5 lacs to anyone who sees the movie alone in the theater. I wonder how can someone live in such a big misconception. Did they not watch the movie themselves? It is a below average movie where you feel like laughing in the first half at the strange camera angles and sounds and ear-piercing laughter Ramu used in a failed attempt to induce horror. The clichéd demonic possession, exorcism, and black magic remind you of Bhoot and Exorcist. The only good part was the kid Ahsaas Chhanna's acting.
*Mumbai Meri Jaan*	*22-Aug-08*	*9 /10*
A brilliant movie that showcases few days before and after the Mumbai serial blasts of 2006 in the lives of five different, unrelated characters: Software Engineer Madhavan, constable Paresh Rawal, roadside coffee vendor Irfan Khan, TV reporter Soha Ali Khan, and a Hindu fanatic Kay Kay Menon, and everyone has lived to expectations. Each parallel plot is a story in itself that becomes interesting as the movie progresses. The movie touches many issues: Soha being interviewed by colleagues about her fiancé’s death, the loser constable reflecting on his idle police service at retirement, software engineer considering fleeing the country, Hindu extremist bridging the Hindu-Muslim divide. Light traces of humor can be found in Kay Kay's anger, Paresh Rawal's sadness, and Irfan's helplessness. The blast scene is a bit gory and painful to watch, but could be very close to reality. Amazing talent shown by director Nishikant Kamath in his first Hindi movie after just one Tamil and one Marathi movie. Though a bit heavy, a must watch. The end leaves you lighter with the evergreen song from CID that gave the movie its name.
*Maan Gaye Mughal-e-Azam*	*22-Aug-08*	*7 /10*
A comedy on the lines of the classic Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron, starring the hit Rahul Bose-Mallika Sherawat couple from Pyaar ke Side Effects. The sexy, naughty actress bored from her married life with Paresh Rawal wants to have fun, and Bose is on a secret mission to save the world from a disaster. The entire drama company joins hands to save the country from a bomb blast. Performing multiple roles in disguise, they make you go crazy. Paresh Rawal is as usual the best, even Kay Kay Menon acted well in comedy. The movie would be a good watch to kill time with friends.
*Bachna Ae Haseeno*	*15-Aug-08*	*7 /10*
One guy, three girls, 12 years. Three heartbreaks, first two girls and then the boy. Realizing it now, the hero repents and goes back to make up for his deeds even after suffering humiliation, and gets pardoned. The story is okayish, the narrative swinging between past and present, and all the girls Deepika, Bipasha and Minnisha look gorgeous. The music is good. Light humor at times. Overall, a good one-time watch.
*Prom Night*	*25-Jul-08*	*4 /10*
The expected fun at a prom night is ruined by a psychopath who turns out to be an obsessed lover. He had murdered the protagonist's parents some years ago and she had witnessed it. He stays in the same hotel as the prom night, and kills everyone including friends and the staff who cross his path. Nothing remarkable about the movie; ends a normal happy ending.
*Via Darjeeling*	*27-Jun-08*	*6 /10*
Tried to make a Rashomon. Except it was a love triangle instead of a rape. Did not work well though. The different versions of the same story are told in an unreliable fashion; it looked more like fantasies or amateur creativities of the inebriated narrators. Even good actors like Vinay Pathak, Rajat Kapoor, Sandhya Mridul and Kaykay Menon could not make the movie interesting.
*De Taali*	*20-Jun-08*	*7 /10*
Good timepass. A cheerful comedy with no toilet humor. Even the sad and emotional moments are laced with humor. The movie is about three childhood friends and a triangle, when the fourth character, Rimi Sen's arrives and makes matters interesting. Some scenes are really good; in one such scenes Rimi is tied to a chair and tortured by making her watch RGV ki Aag. Light movie with a happy ending. Innocent Ayesha Takia looks cute and the vampish Rimi looks sexy.
*The Happening*	*13-Jun-08*	*6 /10*
As always, the Shyamlan dude had a very intriguing concept. Very gripping apart from the last half hour. The movie carries on throuhout the mystery factor typical of Shyamlan, and you keep expecting a very interesting end. However, this one has the crappiest ending ever. It was like he had an idea, and started making the film, but could not think of a decent way to end it, and abruptly ends it explaining totally incredulous things through 5-seconds TV news clippings. Mark "Departed" Wahlberg was underused, though he tried to overact at times.
*Traffic Signal*	*2-Feb-07*	*8 /10*
A typical Madhur Bhandarkar flick with the lives of a small sect of professionals as the subject. The traffic signal includes a microcosm of people who derive their daily livelihoods from it. There are beggars, prostitutes, tricksters, eunuchs and others who sell clothes, flowers and trinkets who owe hafta to the Signal Manager, Silsila. Kunal Khemu, Ranveer Shourie and Konkana Sen perform as expected. Life goes on through ups and downs but the movie ends on a sad note, as expected from Bhandarkar. But the movie entertains you throughout, especially with the Bambaiyya lingo, at the same time makes you think about people you normally never do.
*Final Destination 3*	*10-Feb-06*	*7 /10*
Very similar to the earlier two movies in the series, this involves a different accident (a roller coaster one) that is avoided as the result of a premonition. However, since all those people were on Death's list, they die one by one in freak accidents: you cannot cheat death. I liked watching this thriller even though it was an old concept. And I am already awaiting Final Destination 4, scheduled to release in Aug 2009.
*If Only*	*11-Feb-05*	*8 /10*
Cute romantic movie with a nice concept. The protagonist gets a chance to relive a day, everything happens the same as the previous one, and he knows his girlfriend is going to die at the end of the day. He tries to avoid it, but realizing he can only slightly change it, tries to give her all the happiness in that one day. Though the movie ends with a twist, is one of those feel-good movies you like to watch when you are feeling down.
*Sixth Sense*	*6-Aug-99*	*10 /10*
One of my all time favourites. The reason I love Manoj Night Shyamlan. An intriguing concept, and a drama directed and acted out well. Most of the movie revolves around the young boy seeing and talking to dead people and the child-psychologist trying to cure him. The last 10 minutes provide a drastic twist that jolts you along with the two main characters and makes you re-think the entire movie in a new light. Chilling and thrilling, serious and scary at times, Sixth Sense makes an interesting watch, a must for all movie goers.

Le Titre - I won

2008-09-25T03:48:00.005+05:30

Though I later rued (in the update to my previous post) about not choosing and submitting the best pic for the monthly photo competition at Cuckoo's blog, the judges seem to have liked it and awarded my entry as the best photograph of the month under the title Clouds. As the winner, I get this running trophy for a month, and a T-Shirt from Inkfruit.com. :)

I feel honored, to say the least. Thanks Cuckoo!

There were around 15 entries from amateur photographers. I chipped in just in the last minute and did not hope to win the first time I participated. But I think the trick worked :P. The next month's topic is "Life and Death". Let me start rummaging through my archived clicks.

Clouds

2008-09-20T23:57:00.022+05:30

Well, this post comes in like an unplanned baby among many other posts I had in drafts or on my TO-BLO [sic] list. The motivation comes from Cuckoo's request to participate in her monthly photography contest on her photo blog. You participate by creating a post on your blog containing a photo related to the topic for that month, and then posting a comment on the host blog with your blog's url. Here are the rules.

By sheer eleventh-hour-habit, I just drafted this post 3 minutes before the close of contest. And one hour and seventeen minutes later, here I am, having passed my 3000 odd photographs through 4 levels of sieves, but still left with seven photos where I think I did a not-bad job.

I would make the official entry to the contest with the above photograph. However, if Cuckoo wishes to, she is free to consider any one of the pictures below as well for the contest.

[On reader's choice, increased the above photo's size]

Okay, after enough free publicity of Cuckoo's blog, let me shut up and wait for the results. Other readers please let me know which of the above photos you like the most.

[Update(23 September): It seems I made a wrong choice of photos. Everyone who commented seemed to have liked the second one more than the one I chose; it actually makes sense because that shows clouds, the one I chose shows the sky in general, but I liked the colored clouds there.]

A Nature Retreat

2008-09-13T03:23:00.005+05:30

If you have a trek in the forest, some cool sports among dense trees, a coracle ride and unrestricted swim in Cauvery waters, zero mobile and internet coverage, no pollution and no concrete structures, you agree with the owners of the Anandadhama resort branding it as a nature retreat. I am glad we could not attain majority from one of the four resorts that were suggested for our team outing, and finally this fifth one was chosen.

Having started from office at 7, we had reached there by 10, travelling 100 km. After a rather uninteresting breakfast, we went out for this trek in the jungle, a major part of which was a flat track, at times a few streamlet would accompany us. The latter part seemed interesting, which had some rocks and waterfalls, but it was ruled out for a lack of majority. The guide warned us of cheetahs or elephants, but the only species of the animal kingdom we encountered were a couple of spiders, a snail, and a dog.

View Larger Map

Half of the team went to play cricket after the trek, and the other half decided to rest on the lone hammock and chairs around it, or wander about in the woods. This was okayish, but the real fun began post lunch. There were a series of activities clubbed under Jungle Gym.

The first one was called Trust Fall. You stand at the edge of a high platform, and fall backwards, arms outstretched, onto a mattress placed on a net 8 feet below. It was really difficult letting go. The second activity was the Tarzan Jump. You jump down a high platform, holding a rope, and swinging like Tarzan. Great fun, but no one could oscillate back and land on the platform.

Another interesting sport was balancing yourself on a semicircular beam. We were divided into two teams, both of which started simulataneously at the ends, and had to reach the other end crossing the other team on a beam 3 inches wide. This was followed by archery with quite lethal (per our guide) bow and arrows. Then there was a variation of Tarzan jump where the platform was less higher, the rope smaller, and a water-filled ditch had to be crossed using the jump. None of us could cross, and everyone fell into the slushy ditch. Someone said the water tasted salty, and we wondered if it was the handiwork of the dog that kept accompanying the guide.

The last part was a coracle ride in the Cauvery, which was quite relieving, followed by a swim in the currents. We swam in the river for around two hours, and that was great fun, even though I was too tired in the end to swim back to the shore. Finally we packed our bags after shower, and started back for Bangalore, completely tired and exhausted, but the mind quite refreshed. We had so much adventure and thrill in one day,much more than what we had expected, but one wish still remains: staying back overnight at Anandadhama and wandering about in the woods and watching the sun rise over the Cauvery.

Snakes on a Plane

2008-09-10T02:08:00.007+05:30

I was so occupied with the most interesting news last week (the launch of Google Chrome) that I overlooked the second most interesting news: Crew on an Air India passenger jet discovered a snake coiled up under a seat and were unable to catch it as it slithered around the plane.

The snake was discovered on the plane during a routine check on the Air India A319 aircraft, which had landed at Delhi airport after a domestic flight from Srinagar. It evaded capture by slipping into an air vent and could not be found even when staff unscrewed panels inside the fuselage, opened all the doors and fumigated the plane.

The plane takes off for its next flight for Bombay, and scores of snakes appear from all directions creating panic among passengers. A CBI agent on the flight takes charge and devises a plan to expel all snakes from the aircraft.

Okay, the last part is made up and inspired from the Samuel Jackson starrer Snakes on a Plane. But not the part till Delhi airport. The snake was found and then lost on the plane. The airport authorities might not have noticed it unboarding the plane but they did notice it was not a cobra; I fail to see how does that matter.

While trying to read more about the odd incident and trying to find a photo for the post, I hit upon an even more interesting story: Brian Finkelstein becomes a huge fan of Snakes on the Plane as soon as it was announced; he says the name says it all. The common man wants to attend the glitzy Hollywood premiere of the movie, and launches a blog publishing his quest, and hoping someone who has connections to Hollywood might stumble upon his request and help him with a few "table scraps".

Brian's faith is rewarded and his quest accomplished when he receives an official invitation to attend the premiere from Gordon Paddison, a Senior Vice President for New Line Cinema, a major American Studio now acquired by Time Warner.

In due course of 215 days since he began his quest and it was fulfilled, Brian posted 446 stories on his blog, which had 915,000 visitors and 47 millions requests for files (images, comics, and icons), and he had transferred 1.29 terabytes of data. He was interviewed by 3 TV crews and linked by thousands of blogs and over 6,000 other webpages.

Brian became a celebrity from his hard work of 8 months, and his blog became the biggest fan site for the movie. He was invited to the red carpet by the producers of the movie, and a short movie was made on his blog, where he starred too.

The blog is still running even after two years of the release of the rather flop film, functioning as a digital store house of everything the movie is related to, and with snakes on everything now. Though Mr Finkelstein doesn't believe the film is a dud, and why should he about something that changed his life?

The Colours of Chrome

2008-09-08T02:19:00.008+05:30

Apart from the logo and the name, everything else related to Chrome is almost monochrome, typical Google minimalistic design. Even GMail and GTalk have colorful logos and the rest black and white and a cool shade of blue for the bare minimum borders and bars. The immense power, speed, and security that Google promises behind this plain look should make it the best of all browsers.

Also because it is a product by Google.

However, I could not refrain myself from finding faults since the day Chrome was launched. Without going into the gory details, let me list down the features I missed badly:

1. The Chrome omnibar Google is so proud of, ~~is less powerful than the Firefox 3 'Awesome bar'.~~ [The omnibar learns as you use the browser; it can transform itself into the search bar of various sites you search on frequently, the following limitations still exist.]
a. In Firefox 3 address bar, type in a term and the autocomplete function shows in a dropdown all possible matching sites from your browsing history, bookmarks and tags. On the other hand, the Chrome omnibar only automatically suggests related queries and popular websites, or if your input string occurs in the url of a page you had already visited.
b. It also does not go to the most likely page, the I-am-feeling-lucky feature I am so used to in Firefox 3. (For example, you could type in "firefox features" in the address bar and it would take you to the features page on the official Mozilla website).

2. Does not let you perform a text-search inside text areas occuring on a page. Also, the absence of a toolbar doesn't let you search on pages where Ctrl+F is mapped to something else, like in the new Yahoo! mail.

3. Lets you move only one by one between your last viewed pages using the back and forward buttons, unlike FF3 where the back/forward buttons give you a dropdown to directly jump to any of your previously viewed pages. [Lets you move between last viewed pages by right-clicking or click-and-holding on the back/forward buttons. Not intuitive though.]

4. There is no 'Open' option for attachments, it saves them directly to the designated downloads folder, rather than the temporary windows folder. Also, there is no progress bar for a downloading file.

5. The status bar is temporary and not wide enough. You might not be able to view the complete url when you hover over a link.

6. Zoom in and out works only for the text as opposed to the entire page as in Firefox.

7. The powerful Javascript support does not work for some features for some applications. The place it irks the most was Google's very own GMail, where the alerts do not have the default button selected, so they cannot be operated using the spacebar.

8. Chrome doesn't ask you to save tabs when you exit, and therefore they are lost if you accidentally close the browser.

I believe the above list would still expand. Yes, you could write your own or hunt for addons that provide some of the above missing features and make up for some of them.

Google Chrome, however, is not an utter waste. There are quite a few very useful and interesting features:

0. The omnibar learns as you use the browser; it can transform itself into the search bar of various sites you search on frequently. Or you could configure your omnibar to search on specific sites.

1. It is no doubt faster, even though I felt multiple processes instead of threads for various tabs would reduce performance. Multiple processes, however, seem to be effective in a lot of other problem areas, like security and browser crashes. More details in the Google comic book: Google Chrome: Behind the Open Source Browser Project.

2. Chrome persists data you write in a text area. So if you were typing something in a text area and the browser crashes, you do not lose it. Also, you can expand any text area on any page to any dimension you want to.

3. The smart 'new' tab lists your most frequently used, recently closed, and bookmarked pages. The simplistic look without any toolbars makes sure all tools appear as if they are a part of the webpage.

4. The history is much more exhaustive than in any other browser I've seen. It gives you a minute-by-minute history of every day in a full page rather than in the constricted sidebar. Also, you have the power of Google search within your history: search for any word in the text of the pages you previously visited and you get the pages instantaneously.

5. The task manager that manages different tabs comes handy in the case of a single page crashing/hanging, and also for identifying the high resource-intensive tabs.

6. The minimalistic UI gives you much more space on the page as opposed to other browsers that eat up lot of vertical pixels through their toolbars and stuff.

7. Incognito mode (no trace of visited pages on your machine), application shortcuts (direct shortcuts to desktop like applications without any tabs/address bar), better javascript support by means of a new Javascript Virtual Machine, the Inspect Element, are a few other features of Chrome.

Chrome is being talked about as Google's competition to Microsoft, though I believe it is difficult to wean Internet Explorer loyalists as they are the non-so-tech-savvy ones content with the OS in-built browser. Chrome is built on Apple's WebKit framework, the same used by their Safari, but Apple fans are generally very loyal. Mozilla Firefox is one browser that might feel the heat, if not now, in due course of time.

Out and out, I have mixed feelings for Google's new browser. While the look-and-feel and speed are things I like, it is difficult to un-learn stuff from Firefox. Let me see if I can write some good enough addons for Chrome.

Eatouts in Pondicherry

2008-09-04T14:15:00.041+05:30

[Please read this post as an addendum to my earlier post: Give Time a Break: Pondicherry. That is a detailed one and more generic account of the trip, with more photographs.]

This is the final post in the series of posts on Pondicherry, and talks about various restaurants and eateries I could visit on the way and in Pondicherry.

Ghar Dhaba is a dhaba sans the rustic ambiance and an ideal place for breakfast. Around 70 kms and one hour out of Bangalore, placed by a BPCL petrol bunk, this is the only place to have proper breakfast while going to Pondicherry. Its speciality is South Indian food the Tamil way, but they have quite a few North Indian dishes too. I went for the mini-breakfast tray which was quite filling. It is a part of the Adyar Anand Bhavan chain, or A2B as popularly known, which has outlets in Chennai, Bangalore, Pondicherry, and Delhi too.

Salt and Pepper was the first restaurant we went in Pondicherry. Suggested by the receptionist at Ginger Hotel and branded as a '24-hour AC Executive restaurant', this was an utter disappointment. The ambiance and service was pretty third class, and the food was inpalatable, despite the fact that we were eating at 4:30 pm, having not eaten anything after the breakfast at 7:30 am, and driven all the way from Bangalore.

Le Café is a nice cafe midway on the Goubert Avenue with a breathtaking view of the expansive Bay of Bengal. You can sit on the ground floor or on the terrace or in the lawn, and hear the waves hitting the rocks and enjoy the cool breeze and hot coffee and snacks. The building the cafe is housed in was the Pondicherry harbor office during the French time. We had coffee in the evening and breakfast the next morning. There were quite a few local French people enjoying a lazy breakfast there with a book in hand.

Aruvi, the bar at the three-star Hotel Mass is just a normal bar that cuts you off from Pondicherry. That is why I am so against people visiting pubs and counting that as the 'liveliness' of a place. If you want to dilate your pupils in the darkness and shut your ears in the loud music of a pub/bar, why do you need to travel; Bangalore already has lot of them. We had anyways gone there because some of the others had wanted to, had some drinks and snacks, and skipped dinner.

Rendezvous Café Restaurant on Rue Suffren was a good-looking rooftop restaurant recommended by many people. However, this place was a disappointment too. First, it was quite expensive, not value for money basically. Two, the service was extremely bad. They were slow like anything. I had to shell out Rs 200 for a plate of boiled spaghetti and a bowl of tomato mushroom sauce, and had to wait for over an hour. I could have cooked better pasta in less than half the time. But yes, heard that seafood is quite good there, and there were quite a many French customers.

Baker Street on Bussy Street was the best part of the trip, after the drive, of course. This place was totally French, from the decor to the cuisines to the people, the furniture, tiles, crockery, everything. Though when we asked for something spicy and veg and were told they did not have anything. We, however, tried almost all pastries and eclairs. Floating island, Mille-feuilles (thousand leaves), fruit and chocolate éclairs were a few among the delicious delicacies we tried. A must visit for all Pondicherry tourists. We reached Bussy Street by chance when we strolled past MG Road in search of some souvenir. We were initially reluctant to enter because of the bad experience at Rendezvous that afternoon, but I am glad I was able to pursuade the others. I can still feel the taste in my mouth as I write this 10 days later. Unfortunately my camera battery had given up and I could not take any pictures of the lovely place. [Photo copyright: Neel]

Risque is one of the restaurants at the five star Hotel Promenade on Goubert Avenue. We tried North Indian cuisine for our last meal, and it was delicious and authentic. The ambiance was great, with a swimming pool by the side and the sea at an audible distance, and good crowd. This place was cheaper and faster and much better than the Rendezvous we had eaten at the same afternoon.

Hotel Auro Usha at Tiruvannamalai was again a chance find. We were considering very local roadside eateries for breakfast on the return journey when we discovered this place unexpectedly in front of some Ashram. Very good continental breakfast is served here, and we could see many foreigners eating out here. We had two dishes each, which was more than filling for the entire drive back to Bangalore.

Had I got some more time, I would have visited more restaurants and tried out some more authentic French cuisine. Maybe the next time when I visit Pondicherry...

Related posts:
Give Time a Break: Pondicherry
Bangalore to Pondicherry in an Alto

Bangalore to Pondicherry in an Alto

2008-08-31T22:42:00.057+05:30

[Please read this post as an addendum to my previous post: Give Time a Break: Pondicherry. That is a detailed one and more generic account of the trip, and has some photos as well.]

Driving to and fro was more fun than I had expected, even though I had to do it single-handedly the entire time. The other three people in the car knew as much driving as they knew swimming; they had not entered the water at any beach at Pondicherry, and I had to do that alone too. Anyways, a third of the way comprises of NH7, which is an extremely well-built highway with picturesque green hills on the sides, and is a part of the Golden Quadrilateral. The next two-thirds is NH66, a two-lane undivided road by the countryside, but the traffic is very less and we had to slow down a bit only when we passed certain villages. The following is the best route from Bangalore to Pondicherry.

View Larger Map

The entire stretch is 308 km, measuring from the MG Road-Brigade Road junction in Bangalore to MG Road-Nehru Street Junction at Pondicherry. This can be broken down into seven(eight, if you want to drive along the East Coast Road) segments:

Map Icon	Stretch	Distance (km)	Surface/ Traffic	Top Speed	Remarks

	Bangalore-Hosur	39	Good/ Heavy	80	We started at 5:30 am to avoid all city traffic.
	Hosur-Krishnagiri	52	Excellent/ Average	130	Very good divided highway. Can drive above 100 consistently.
	Krishnagiri-Chengam	77	Good/ Average	110	NH66 starts, undivided, two-lane. Not much traffic though.
	Chengam-Tiruvannamalai	32	Average/ Meager	80	Patched roads that make you downshift frequently.
	Tiruvannamalai-Gingee	40	Good/ Meager	90	Passing through the crowded town Tiruvannamalai takes time.
	Gingee-Tindivanam	28	Good/ Meager	100	The Gingee Fort on the way is a good stop if it is not very hot.
	Tindivanam-Pondicherry	40	Good/ Heavy	70	Pay attention to the right turn, else you will enter the state highway.
Bangalore-Pondicherry		308
	Tindivanam-Marakkanam	33	Good/ Average	50	Single-laned SH134. Have to slow down for oncoming traffic.
	Marakkanam-Pondicherry	34	Good/ Meager	100	Drive on the ECR, fields on one side, Bay of Bengal on other.
Bangalore-Pondicherry		335

A third of the way comprises of NH7, which is an extremely well-built highway with picturesque green hills on the sides. I could consistently drive above 100 kmph on this highway after crossing Hosur, and touched a max of 130 in my Alto. The next two-thirds is NH66, a two-lane undivided road by the countryside, but the traffic is very less and we had to slow down a bit only when we passed certain very small villages.

At some stretches on NH66, you have patched roads, where you have to slow down a bit. Also, some farmers lay down haystack on the middle of the road to dry and crush by means of vehicles going over them. We also stopped at a very beautiful sunflower field by the side of NH66 near Chengam.

Tiruvannamalai is the largest town on the way. It has this Arunachaleswarar Temple, which is supposed to be quite a holy place. There is also a Ramana Maharishi Ashram, close to which is Hotel Auro Usha, where we had our breakfast on the way back. That was a very nice place, quite unexpected in a place like Tiruvannamalai. [Details about the restaurant in my next post: Eatouts in Pondicherry.]

Just 68 kms before Pondicherry is the Gingee Fort, a 9th century fort by the Chola dynasty. We got down to have some snaps, but did not climb up the fort because the sun was scorching hot and it looked like a high trek/climb. We could have done that on the return in the morning but Ashwin had to attend office. We stopped at a small Shiva temple instead, for 5 minutes or so.

We lost tracks at both the places you are liable to. First, after the Krishnagiri toll plaza, where you need to take a left from under the flyover. We had instead gone up the flyover, and 15 kms towards Salem. The second place was at Tindivanam, where you need to take a right from a roundabout atop a flyover, and remain on NH66. We instead went straight on SH134, which was a one-laned road with traffic from both sides. And the bitumen was thick enough, it was difficult to get down the road whenever a vehicle came from the opposite direction; a car and a bus could not parallely cross. After 33 kms of driving on this difficult stretch, we hit the East Coast Road at Markkanam, which was a pleasure to drive on with the Bay of Bengal on your left, and some fields (I thought it was paddy, don't know for sure) on the right. The second detour is highlighted in red in the above map.

The return drive was smooth and fast, and we did not get lost anywhere. It took us 7 hours (6 am to 1 pm), with only 5 hours of drive for 308 km, an hour of breakfast and another of various tea-breaks we had. An overall average of 60 was again higher than my expectations.

The drive was a very important and fun part of the trip. We enjoyed it, even without a music system; Pawan and Ashwin sang the entire way; and Chaitanya complained of all songs sounding the same. On the way back we had a fun game where Ashwin used to sing from the middle of a song and we had to guess the beginning. The drive was pleasant and comfortable, you could cruise at high speeds for a long time. I only wished I had a more powerful car.

Related posts:
Give Time a Break: Pondicherry
Eatouts in Pondicherry

Give Time a Break: Pondicherry

2008-08-30T00:01:00.024+05:30

Giving time a break is what I was exactly doing last weekend, away from the din and congestion of Bangalore, away from this 15-inch screen I glare at for over 15 hours a day, away at this peaceful and passive retreat at the capital city of the eponymous Union Territory, often cited as La Côte d'Azur de l'Est (The French Reviera of the East).

We had been thinking of visit Puducherry from quite some time, but somebody or the other had some work every weekend. Three days of visiting beaches, driving, less-than-four-hours-sleeping, eating at French restaurants, and exploring the laid-back township could sum up the fun-filled tour I could have easily extended for two more days had I been given the choice. Beaches and restaurants were all we could go to. I had wanted to visit a few churches and maybe a museum, but very unlike me, I had not planned at all this time. I had hardly spent half an hour on google, and that too a month prior to the trip.

We went to three beaches. One, the rocky beach besides Goubert Avenue, a great walk very similar to Marine Drive, Mumbai. Two, the peaceful Auroville Beach, with no one there; I had taken my car almost on the beach and it had gotten stuck in the sand. We had planned to be there before sunrise but managed almost 15 minutes later. The water was good and cool, but no one else from our group entered despite my repeated come-on-at-least-taste-the-water yells from within the waves. The third beach was more populous and cleaner, where we had reached through a boat on the Chunnambur backwaters. The resort had scooting and speedboating too, but only two of the four of us could do that because we were short on time and they on scooters (they only had one actually).

We ate at a few French restaurants, about which I'll write another detailed post, but this amazing place called Baker's Street should find a mention here. Everything from the tiles to the furniture, the crockery to the delicacies, the owner to the visitors there was French. [Please refer to an elaborate post on the same: Eatouts in Pondicherry.]

We had stayed at Ginger Hotel the first day, quite a spic-and-spam place with excellent interiors and comfortable rooms. The hotel had free wifi internet and though we initially regretted none of us had brought our laptops, I am now glad none of us took one. The second night we moved to a cheaper Sea Side Guest House on the rocky beach, which was comfortable too, but not as swanky as Ginger. The worst part was that they would not let you after 11:15 pm, so we had to wind up our evening walk short.

The mode of local transportation is autos, who charge heavily. Rs 50 for a 2 km drive to the beach, and Rs 30 is the minimum fare. We learnt that the hard way when the auto we hired from Hotel Mass ran out of gas barely a km away. And the autowaala got hurt when one of us called him a cheater. Next we had to witness a drunk Chaitanya consoling the pony-tailed auto driver for 15 minutes. Quite fun was the following 20-minutes walk at midnight in that unknown place, before another auto skidded menacingly to stop in front of us and charged us 60 for a km of distance. This was the evening we had arrived; the next day we drove to wherever we went.

Driving to and fro was more fun than I had expected, even though I had to do it single-handedly the whole time. A third of the way comprises of NH7, which is an extremely well-built highway with picturesque green hills on the sides. I could consistently drive above 100 on this highway after crossing Hosur, and touched the max of 130 in my Alto. The next two-thirds is NH66, a two-lane undivided road by the countryside, but the traffic is very less and we had to slow down a bit only when we passed certain very small villages. [Please refer to my next post: Bangalore to Pondicherry in an Alto, a detailed one on the route and the drive.]

The aftereffects were very good too. We'd woken up before 5 all three days, and gone to bed not before 12-1. I was so tired that when I came back on Monday and went for an afternoon siesta at 4 pm, I ended up waking up 11 hours later, at 3 in the morning! That was the most undisturbed and satisfying sleep I've had in ages.

Overall a nice place where time actually seems to have taken a break. Do not expect Goa. You won’t find the crowd and the rush and pubs, which are anyways aplenty in Bangalore. An ideal place to spend some lazy lamhe with someone special and enjoy French delicacies. As I repeatedly kept saying while at Pondicherry, I would come here again, on my first outing after my honeymoon.

Related posts:
Bangalore to Pondicherry in an Alto
Eatouts in Pondicherry

Miss You, Love You, Thank You

2008-08-16T18:57:00.012+05:30

Missing you so much, which I always do
But on this day, the whole world is you
Though it is difficult, I wish you were here
But whenever I need you, I know you'll be there.

Brother, sister, girlfriend, you've been so much
Loving, caring, understanding, encouraging and such
Covering up my shortcomings, you had so much to endure
Yet never complaining, you had a love so pure.

Ever by my side, in sunshine or in rain
With that sweet smile, you ease away all pain
A baby at times, a mother at others
You come to help me when I am in smothers.

You're the best friend I could have ever had,
The cutest companion who makes me so glad.
We share everything, and more than often we fight
But all is resolved when you kiss me good night.

You can feel my voice, you know when I lied,
You can read my face, you know when I cried,
You can sense my feelings, from a land so distant:
Whenever I think of you, you ping me that very instant.

Even when you were here, even when we're miles apart,
You shall forever remain firmly in my heart.
I shall love you always, eternity and through,
On this auspicious day, let me thank you my Baebu.

The Wills and The Ways

2008-08-14T09:48:00.004+05:30

If you are born to illiterate parents, and spent your early childhood in a village riding buffaloes, and the latter part a wheelchair and were an object of curiosity to the villagers who wanted to see how a boy without legs looked, would you ever think of cracking the IIT-JEE? And then bagging one of the most prestigious campus jobs, at Google four years later?

This story might seem straight out of an Amitabh Bachchan starrer rising from rags to riches against all odds, but that is what Naga Naresh Karuturi just did.

Born in Teeparru, a small village in Andhra Pradesh, Naga was a normal child till that fateful day in 1993, when the lorry-driver father took his family to a nearby village for a family function. Our seven-year-old hero was fiddling with the door latch and it opened wide throwing him out, scratching his legs in the process. The government hospital he was taken to conducted a surgery as his small intestine had gotten twisted, and bandaged his legs. A week later, they realized gangrene had developed in his legs upto the knees. He was referred to the district hospital where both of his legs were amputated upto the hips.

It requires amazing levels of optimism, courage, zeal, and determination for a seven-year old kid to recover from the shock of losing both his legs, not being a normal child anymore, but still continuing his studies to reach one of the top institutions in the country. The credit also goes to supportive parents and sister. His parents did not know anything about the residential school he later went or about IIT, but they always saw to it that he was encouraged in whatever he wanted to do. If the results were good, they would praise him to the skies and if bad, they would try to see something good in that. They did not just want him to feel bad. Wonderful supportive parents.

His sister Sirisha's contribution to his success was even more. She had to sacrifice two years of her studies to be in the same class as Naga, so that she could take care of him. She never complained. She was always there by his side.

Naga has an unflinching faith in God, and believes He plans everything for you. "If not for the accident, I may not have studied after the 10th, and may have started working as a farmer or something like that. I am sure God had other plans for me.", told Naga Naresh in an interview to rediff.

He also believes in destiny and that the world if full of good people. From MFMS missionary school that gave him and his sister free education upto 10th, Gowtham Junior College that waived the school fees of 50K a year, IIT-Madras where lifts and ramps were installed for him in the Computer Science department and an attached bathroom in his hostel room, to that stranger in the train who took care of his hostel fees from then on, he has been helped by everyone. He says, "I feel if you are motivated and show some initiative, people around you will always help you.", echoing the famous quote from The Alchemist: When a person really desires something, the entire universe conspires to help that person realize his dream..

Visit his orkut profile and you'll see floods of scraps from people congratulating him, asking for interviews and all. I am not sure whether I should contact him. Now that he is in Google Bangalore, I would even like to meet him, but do not know if that would be warranted. But I can get inspired by him and explore and use up my potential rather than procrastinating and leading a laid-back life.

To Abort or Not to: A Win-Win Situation

2008-08-09T13:36:00.017+05:30

The nationwide debate on abortion has rather intensified after the Mumbai High Court's dismissal of Niketa and Haresh Mehtas' plea to terminate a pregnancy to prevent birth of a disabled child. The case has split opinions from two sects: pro-life versus pro-quality-of-life.

Though it was everywhere on the news, a brief about the case for the uninitiated: the Mehtas learnt after their second sonography and echocardiography that the foetus she was carrying for 22 weeks has two abnormalities in the heart and malpositioned arteries, which would require a pacemaker soon after birth and the entire life of the child. Sensing life-long trauma and probable handicaps and shortcomings for the unborn baby, the expectant parents decided to move court to seek permission to abort. However, the Mumbai High Court refused to allow Niketa to abort her 26-week foetus following a second report from JJ Hospital, which had modified "fair" chances of the child having congenital disorders to "few" chances, claiming that to be a typo.

The court quashed the Mehtas' honest and brave act with a viewpoint that it would set a bad example. Isn't a worse example set now? No other parents who face a similar problem will now go the legal way. Mothers-to-be are getting more worried now, and are going for repeat sonographies and other obgyn consultations lest their wombs have foetuses with congenital diseases. The verdict of this case would surely increase the already high number of five million illegal abortions in India every year.

Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said there was no need to change the MTP Act just for a one-off case. But exceptions could be made. Around a month ago, the Romanian government permitted abortion to an 11-year old girl due the exceptional circumstances of her case(pregnancy as a result of rape by an uncle), even though she was 21-weeks pregnant and the Romanian abortion limit is 14 weeks. Abortion laws are much more lenient in India than many other nations as can be seen here and here, but we fail to make exceptions and set examples. Rather, we tend to stick to age-old laws and rule out any amendments, on the contrary claiming that if it has been working for so long, it should work now also.

This is a major failure on the part of our judicial system. They might have saved the law in this case but in the process opened gates for more cases of breaking the same law. The only concern that the lawmakers should have had is how to prevent people trying to legally abort female foetuses under the blanket of congenital diseases. That could have been dealt with deftly by stricter laws for other procedures like amniocentesis rather than outrightly dismissing a very valid case.

The unborn baby is already a hero, and is seeking attention and debate from all over. Pro-lifers like the Archbishop of Mumbai have proposed adoption of the child by his church. The CEO of Jaslok Hospital has offered to bear the complete cost of surgery and pacemakers. The Mehtas did the right thing, and they would now be happy to bring the child to this world. I see them rewarded in a way; this has brought their child already to the limelight. Godforbids the Mehtas' worst fears come true, the child will not suffer because of lack of medical care or finances; I am sure the best possible medical facilities developed by mankind would be readily available. And one day when the child grows up and learns to read and understand, and comes to know of this trial and the nationwide furore, pride for his parents would definitely be one of the feelings.

The Mehtas have been accused of not wanting their child. I don't think it is easy for any mother to think of aborting her baby. What the Mehtas do not want is a disabled child, who might have to face innumerable challenges throughout life. It is more for the baby than for them. They love the child so much they do not want to bring him out to face the atrocities of this cruel world. It takes a hell lot of courage and heart to do so. I hope their efforts do not go in vain and this case acts as an eye-opener and no other Mehta couple faces this.

As Bachi Karkaria puts it, the end of the case will not be the end of the debate. And that itself is a victory.

Image: 26-week old foetus, Courtesy: http://www.deanbryanstewart.com

Menstruation and the Origins of Culture

2008-08-03T20:50:00.006+05:30

That's the title of the thesis submitted by Chris Knight for his PhD at the University College, London, which was later published as a book by Yale University Press. Chris is a professor of Anthropology at the University of East London and a founding member of the Radical Anthropology Group. This thesis presents and tests a new theory of human cultural origins, and forms an interesting read. I've already downloaded it and have started digging my teeth into the 530-page tome.

Christopher Denis Knight mentions in his 32-page CV that he worked as a postman/van driver for the Post Office before studying anthropology. His list of publications counts at 43 now, 12 of which were jointly authored. His thesis was a reconsideration of early twentieth French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss's work on symbolism and truth, and no, that's not the cloth manufacturer.

With that overdose of trivia, let me come to the point. The aforementioned thesis is in .doc format, has been 'reviewed' the MS-Word way, and is available only on the author's official website. It has a reviewed spelling error correcting protohumen to protohuman. So, when I run a google search for protohumen, that is the single place on the world-wide-web (Ok, before I mention that a thousand times on this blog) referring the word. Answers.com does not find the word either, but gives Google reference to the same Word document, still abiding by the Googlewhack rules of having a link to answers.com for each word.

Add one of the 7,114 distinct words from the document (out of a total of 185,108 words) and run a Google search, and you have a googlewhack! The whack engine is smart enough and does not let you record whacks with the same word ~~more than~~ if you use it excessively, four times in an hour, but technically you have plenty of whacks for you unless someone else picks up.

So this is another loophole in whacking. There are now four ways to record whacks:

Method 1 :

Find a pair of words resulting in zero Google search results.
Create a web page with the two words.
Wait for your page to get indexed by Googlebot.
Record your whack on the stack as soon as it appears on Google results.
I used my previous post to record my first whack using this method:
triskaidekaphobia dancegoers

Method 2 :

Find a single word that gives a single search result on Google, and gives a link for definition on the right. I believe you can only get non-existent words this way.
Scan that document for distinct words (Ping me for the java application I wrote to get the above count of 7,114). You can do a few hundreds manually too.
Club those distinct words with the master word, one at a time, and record four whacks, after which you wouldn't be allowed.
Come back after ~~an hour~~ a couple of days to use the same 'uniwhack' again.
I whacked the following using this hack:
         sexual protohumen
         traditional protohumen
         protohumen cosmology
         coherent protohumen
         peasanties forestry
         peasanties oblivion
         peasanties scourge
         ragged bildungsromen
         bildungsromen emerald
         bildungsromen asses
         bildungsromen kush

Method 3 :

Try pairs of words from already existing whacks, you have many combinations possible; they've already recorded 610,000 whacks, out of which the latest 2,000 are visible.
I 'copied' to record these couple of couples:
spreadably outcry
insidious spreadably

Method 0 :

Try pairs of rare, unrelated words (opposites are related; unrelated words would be from entirely different spheres). This is the actual intention of whacking.
I could do a few couples this old-fashioned way too:
         linguaphiles endoderm
         linguaphiles pachyderm
         lactic linguaphiles

I am sure there are some other cheats you can discover to find whacks. I am done with my share of whacking, and none of the methods I mentioned above would work for the words I have in my whacks as soon as Googlebot crawls and indexes this page.

Triskaidekaphobic Dancegoers

2008-07-27T13:49:00.008+05:30

Well, I am neither afraid of 13 nor do I go attend dances, and I do not know anyone with similar tendencies, but this does look a whacky title for a post written to introduce the words Triskaidekaphobia and Dancegoers on the same webpage. Why did I need to do so? To record a GoogleWhack in the Whack Stack.

From the official website, a Googlewhack is that elusive query(two words-no quote marks), that returns a single, solitary result. There are three rules to it:

both of the terms must exist in Google's list of legitimate words on answers.com,
a Google search on the words without quotes should return "Results 1 - 1 of (any number)", and
the two words should not be merely a part of a wordlist.

I tried a few couples of words but could not find a whack, and soon lost patience. Finding two words that occur only once together on the world-wide-web was not an easy task. I instead realised that finding a pair that does not exist at all might be easy, and I can create a page including both the words, and as soon as google indexes that page, I'll be able to record a whack, without breaking any of the rules.

So here I am, with this post. There is no other page on the web that has these two words. Let us hope I am able to record one this easy way. It is not difficult the normal way either. Why don't you too try and log one? Its fun!

The Dark Knight

2008-07-25T07:13:00.009+05:30

Another overhyped superhero movie. When I read the reviews, I had the proclivity to try and find out what was so good about it. The special effects required that I watch it in a theater and not on the computer, but that did not make me concur with 115,340 users (at the time of composing this post; it was 91,097 votes when I first saw it yesterday afternoon) at IMDB rating it at 9.4 making it the Numero Uno on its all-time Top 250 list, surpassing Godfather, Forrest Gump, The Matrix, Judgement Day, and many other movies much more deserving than this one. And this, when it is not yet released in the UK, a majority of Europe, and Japan.

Not considering IMDB's ratings, the movie is indeed good, though not as good to qualify as the best movie ever. The Nolan brothers strike again after Memento, Batman Begins, and The Prestige, and outmatch all their previous creations. It could not have been better for only the seventh movie for director Christopher Nolan, and the fourth for part screenplay writer Jonathan Nolan. Amazing cinema at display with an intelligent blend of action, darkness, iniquity, violence, eeriness, and of course, technology. A gripping tale across the aesthetically constructed city of Gotham, meticulously created sets, awesome Batman gizmoes including his armour and vehicles, The Dark Knight narrates a story of good against evil amid thrilling chase sequences, psychopathic wickedness, excellent roleplays, and a background score as eerie as the rest of the plot.

The best part of the movie is Heath Ledger as the Joker. With that sinister-ly painted white face with dark eye circles and a wide blood-red smile, and the peculiar tongue gesture, you have a tingle down the spine whenever he says "Why are you so serious? Let's put a smile on that face", and starts narrating his psycho stories with a knife inside someone's mouth. He had in his part some really well-written dialogues he delivered menacingly. He was THE star of the movie, and reminds you of sinister characters like Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs. I can put my money on his winning an Oscar for the best supporting actor this year; unfortunately and sadly enough, the Oscar committee does not consider villainous roles for the best actor category. Another unfortunate and sad event is the tragic, untimely, and accidental demise of Heath Ledger, just after the filming of the movie. He was 28. Thankfully the Oscar can be awarded posthumously.

Christian Bale as both the superhero and the business czar is poised as opposed to the rowdy Joker, although I believe he performed better in The Prestige. The veterans Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine too give a serene screen presence.

The review would be incomplete without a mention to the superbike that is 'ejected' out of Batman's supercar when it crashes and fails beyond auto-repair. The bike has 20-inch-wide tyres, and is made to appear as if it is armed with grappling hooks, cannons, and machine guns. That is a machine designed to perfection, and the best bike I've ever seen in any movie.

The one bit that irked me was the extended role of Harvey Dent. His half-burnt face was not scary enough as compared to the Joker's fully-painted one, and he turning rogue after he loses his girlfriend in a plot by the Joker, and then his taking revenge upon authorities and Batman seemed a bit overdone. Also, his uncanny habit of flipping a two-headed coin reminded one of Sholay.

Out an out, an interesting movie. Not IMDB #1 material, but if you love sinister, fearless, psychopathic wickedness, just go and have a watch without a second thought.

Of Serenity, Courage, and Wisdom

2008-07-23T14:35:00.004+05:30

God grant me the serenity
To accept things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can, and
The wisdom to know the difference.

-Reinhold Niebuhr

The serenity prayer has been trying to help me out in various situations in life, but I've been so desperately trying not to pay heed to it. The wisdom to know the difference is something I believe I have. Courage too, but its more of trying to change the way events happen, by influencing others, rather than try to bring a change in myself. However, serenity is something I totally lack.

Now that I introspect and retrospect, I see that I could have solved almost every problem that ever troubled me had I had the above three ingredients in the right proportions. A disproportionate value of one of them screws the entire recipe up.

Anyways, let me start it one baby-step at a time...

God grant me the serenity...

A 25 Billion-Dollar Orange

2008-07-20T09:56:00.022+05:30

This weekend, all CNBC TV18s, NDTV Profits, Business Standards, and moneycontrol.coms have been talking about inflation hitting a 13-year peak of 11.89%. If Indians were extremely distressed a month ago with inflation reaching double digits, Zimbabweans are apprehensive about it reaching nine digits. Yes, there is no typo there, the inflation in Zimbabwe is at 9 million percent, and economists predict it would reach 100,000,000% by the end of Q3.

Zimbabwean government has been introducing new currency notes every few weeks, and the current denominations they are available are 100 million, 500 million, 25 billion, and 50 billion. This Monday, a new 100-billion-dollar-note would be in circulation, with an expiry date of 31st December 2008. This new note, however, would not buy you a loaf of bread in Zimbabwe, which costs at least 120 billion. You can pay for four oranges instead.

An article on timesonline.co.uk reports:

Another friend recounts a weekly shop costing $514 billion, which she paid for by debit card. The shop till could only ring up $9 billion, so the card had to be swiped 57 times. By the time 57 swipes were made, ZWD soared higher and it had to be swiped 8 more times; at the end of 8 one more to finally make it even.

Okay I made the last part up. But the rate at which the currency is falling, the numbers are almost meaningless. Friday's exchange rate was 24,782,853,660 ZWD = 1 USD (Source: oanda.com). That means four oranges still cost four American dollars. But I wonder how do they figure out such figures down to the tenth significant figure.

Sample this restaurant bill dated earlier this year. Today, bills are of similar
numbers, but restaurants ask you to add six zeroes to the end before making the payment in mollars-millions of dollars. They might have to up the amount by a few million dollars if they use a larger sheet of paper and some extra toner to print all the digits. Cheques are refused at many places as their value would plummet by the time they are presented to the bank. Those who accept cheques ask for double the amount than that would have been paid by cash. There is a placeholder for gratuity too on this Jungle Junction bill. How many millions would you tip?

Who wants to be a millionaire? in Zimbabwe would be renamed as Who wants to be a quadrillionaire? next week, and Who wants to be a sextillionaire? three weeks hence. Billionaire lists would contain almost everyone on the census. Organizations have weekly appraisals and salary reviews in order for them to make sense.

Jokes apart, this indeed is a matter of concern. I am astonished at how is Zimbabwe still struggling in the face of economic collapse. Equally surprised I am at the Weimar Republic of Germany having faced hyperinflation in 1923, when people used currency notes in stoves because they would burn longer and provided more heat than the amount of firewood that that money could buy, and today Germany is one of the world's most advanced market economies.

Some more assorted statistics of interest:

At Independece in 1980, the Zimbabwean dollar stood equal to 1.25 USD, inflation at 7%.
In August 2006 the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe revalued the Zimbabwean Dollar by 1000 ZWD to 1 (revalued) dollar.
Burma stands a far second on the list of countries with hyperinflation at 39.5%.
Inflation in Zimbabwe touched triple digits in 2001, four digits in 2006, five in 2007.
Year-on-year inflation for 2007 in the USA was 2.7%, Germany 2%, France 1.5%, Japan 0%, and Naurau -3.6%. The complete list is here. (Source: indexmundi.com)

Nadal's Big Fight

2008-07-07T02:02:00.012+05:30

Or was it Federer's? He fought back to retain his crown but Nadal kept chasing him till into the last point on the ninth game in the final set, and finally dethroned the five-time king of grass court in an exciting, nerve-thrilling, highly suspenseful, extremely dramatic, power-packed, longest Wimbledon final.

For record's sake, the scores were 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(5-7), 6-7(8-10), 9-7. What a match! Between the world No.1 and No.2!

Federer was almost out in the fourth set where he had to acquire 10 points in the tie-breaker to stay back. The third set had been decided on a tiebreaker too, and Nadal had given a real tough fight. But the final set was the most nerve-shredding. It had looked at many points during the final set (and I was praying for), that the reigning champ would break Björn Borg's record of five consecutive Wimbledon titles, but his opponent kept chasing him in almost every point and every game, till he finally screwed one wide and then netted the next, handing the cup over.

Federer's 25 aces couldn't save him from the Spaniard's energetic performance, running after every every shot, even apparent winners. Federer's excellent backhand slices were much better than the other's double-handed ones, but the Swiss could convert only one of many break points he had, could not take up some of the drops, and did way too many unforced errors, each net acting as a nail in his defeat. The two rain-breaks did not affect Rafa, but perhaps Roger could not calm down his nerves. He looked worked up towards the end, and even complained about Nadal's typical long moments before the serve.

"I tried everything," said Federer in his speech at near darkness. "Rafa is a deserving champion. He just played fantastic. It was the worst opponent on the best court." I couldn't agree more, Nadal did deserve this cup. Rafa showed an equal mutual respect by calling him still number one: "He's still the best. He's still five-time champion here and I only have one, so for me it is very, very important." But watch out kiddo, said Roger before parting with his runner's up trophy, "It is a pity I didn't win but I will be back next year."

The 12-time Grand Slam winner is often cited as the greatest tennis player ever, or on the lines of one. What do you call a 22-year-old Rafael Nadal who stopped five years older Roger Federer's winning spree on grass, having suffered defeat for two consecutive Wimbledon finals in the past at the same court against the same opponent?

Rashômon

2008-07-04T00:55:00.012+05:30

Director	Akira Kurosawa
Cast	Toshirô Mifune, Machiko Kyô, Takashi Shimura
Released	25th Aug, 1950 (Japan)
	26th Dec, 1951 (USA)

My Rating	4.0

A woman is raped, her husband killed. A woodcutter finds the body and a bandit is arrested. Next we have four perspectives of the murder: the wife's, her dead samurai husband's through a medium, the rapist bandit's, and the woodcutter's. The four versions are mutually contradictory, leaving the viewer in the end to determine, which of them, if any, is the truth.

The four stories are flashbacks within flashbacks, as told by the woodcutter and a priest (who had seen the couple a couple of days before the crimes) to a commoner, all three of whom happen to be stuck at the Rashômon Gate in a heavy downpour. The narrative style of different perspectives to the same event is adopted by an extensive variety of future films, such as the IMDB# 21 The Usual Suspects, Vantage Point, Courage Under Fire, and closer home, Kamal Haasan's Virumaandi (Tamil).

The mysterious piece of work is considered one of Kurosawa's masterpieces, and simplicity is its biggest feature. The black and white movie is shot at just three sets: the woods where the rape and the murder occur, the supposed court where the all those involved testify, and the Rashômon Gate. Brilliant use of mottled light is made in the woods through tree-leaves, adding to the ambiguity. The cinematography and the background score capture the mood of the movie quite effectively. The epilogue where the commoner flees away with the kimono off the crying baby who has been abandoned by its parents at the gate, and when opposed by the woodcutter and the priest, depicts the changing world then, where every man is selfish. Kurosowa mentions in his autobiography that Rashômon is a reflection of life, and life does not have clear meanings.

The cast contains only eight people, and I felt everyone did their job well. Toshirô Mifune portrays the savage look of an animal as the bandit Tajômaru. The only overdone part was the crazy laughs, the bandit's barbaric and the rape victim's hysteric. The laughs appeared forced and artificial to the point of irritation.

The movie had quite an influence in many aspects, including film-making inside and outside Japan. It also has an effect named after it in psychology, the Rashomon effect: the effect of the subjectivity of perception on recollection, by which observers of an event are able to produce substantially different but equally plausible accounts of it.

Kurosawa was conferred with the Academy Honorary Award in 1990, two years before Satyajit Ray was awarded the same Oscar.

Recipient of high critical acclamation, this movie is supposed to have brought Japanese cinema to the rest of the world. I've seen a few foreign-language-films (French, German, Italian, and Dari), but this marks as the first Japanese movie I watched. It would be inappropriate to consider this sixty years old movie as a representation of Japanese cinema. However, there are quite some similarities with Indian movies of that era, not only in presentation but also in content, the way certain things (read sex) were taboo to be talked about in any form, even on screen, unlike Hollywood. Somewhat gloomy, thought-provoking, ambiguous, freaky, Rashômon was quite a refreshing change from the usual stuff.

Is the Apple still Adam's?

2008-06-30T15:57:00.012+05:30

That's how the Apple India homepage looks. They could rewrite it as: "The phone you've been waiting for a year. Keep waiting. Or smuggle one from North America or Europe and have it unlocked." The homepage on the global site apple.com reads: "iPhone 3G. Twice as fast. Half the price. Coming July 11."

While I am (and other Indians are) eagerly waiting for the iPhone, and love it already even before we know when would it be officially launched in India, there is an entire community of iPhone haters out there. A majority of these haters are feminists, and someone might just sue Apple for being misogynistic.

A very important feature of the iphone, the multi-touch screen, allows sliding to scroll, pinching/unpinching to zoom, and whisking/dragging to flick/flip, apart from all other operations working by touch. But many women with long fingernails find it difficult to use the virtual QWERTY keyboard to type text. iPhone loves skin and does not work with fingernails and hence it becomes technically infeasible for people with long fingernails to provide bare skin for contact with a small key on the screen.

iPhone does not come with a stylus; it is not designed to have one, it responds to electrical charge emitted by fingertips. However, few companies like Ten One Design claim to have come up with aftermarket iPhone styli even though it disturbs the very essence of the smart phone. In the past, Apple has said that it is more natural to use the pointing device you are born with: the finger.

There is another set of companies that manufacture phone fingers to keep your touch screens smudge-free. These phone fingers are made out of very thin latex, and have obvious sexual uses, and can go as another component in the misogynous claims against the manufacturers of iPhone, even though they do not produce or encourage the use of any such protective sheaths.

Long-nailed ladies have been complaining of this on several forums on the web, including one on Apple's own site, but there are few who are compromising enough to have their fingernails trimmed or use the side of their fingers, whereas there are some who do not have any problems even when they have French manicures.

I've already registered for an iPhone. Let me see when do I get my ~~hands~~ fingernails onto it.

Celeblogs

2008-06-25T13:17:00.008+05:30

Gossipmongers are not the only ones blogging. The subjects of gossipers' gossips are also publishing their own gossip online. Writing a blog is in vogue among the nation's who's who these days.

Aamir Khan started blogging a year ago and started with throwing light on some of film making processes, apart from his views on some other things, including his caretaker's pet's royal nomenclature. A much lesser known blog was started by the non-smoker Anurag Kashyap almost a year before Aamir, expressing his passion for cinema, especially his own cinema taking eight years. Amitabh Bachchan joined some two months ago, and has been à la angry-young-man hitting back anyone who says and has said anything against him or his family, including defending L'Oreal's work on his daughter-in-law's Cannes dressing. Ok, ashes was impressed with his writing some time back and had expressed that on his own blog, but now yeh to too much ho gaya yaar.

Next came the aag-baboola Ram Gopal Verma who started up giving dimwitted, (I am sure he believes otherwise) reactions to reactions on anything even remotely related to his movies, and even persuaded the newest and the prettiest member of the Bachchan clan to do the same for him. Lalu Prasad Yadav, who was already popular on the web owing to dating site LalooRabri.com, about which the minister had innocently quipped, "Dating maane to?", has now started real politician-style with his blogposts both in Hindi and English, and for the uninitiated, even with an audio podcast.

Shahrukh Khan wrote his first blogpost on his Knight Riders website. I am glad his was strictly business and not about his dog or someone else's dog for that matter. Karan Johar was late in the bandwagon since he couldn't come up with something and had to think for days of what to write in his first post. Thankfully he is not as prolific as the big B; hearing his voice repeatedly in the mind while reading his posts would have made many a young men desert their women.

Mandira Bedi has announced she'll start soon. Let's hope its not about cricket. We've transparently seen too much of it. There are a few more inconspicuous TV actors who've got bored of the Saas-Bahu saga and have found real-life soaps more interesting.

But what brings these celebrities to the keyboard? "Getting close to fans" is the standard reason quoted. Eliminating the middlemen who manipulate the truth is another. Venting out frustration on failures is one of my guesses. Making a fashion statement, fanmail being blocked by secretaries/wives/girlfriends can be other reasons. Joblessness can be an important trigger too, like it is for yours truly.

As with many other things, celebrity-bragging has been prevalent in the First World countries much before than it arrived in India. Bruce Willis, Donald Trump, Jackie Chan, Paris Hilton, Anna Kournikova, Victoria Beckham are a few well-knowns publishing out directly to fans. Here is a list of such celebrities and their blogs, but beware before you look out and click at the eighth item on the list, it is tempting but would lead to disappointment.

But using mute, poor animals against colleagues they call brethren? Ranting out loud? Chronicling one's daily schedule? Discussing sexual preferences? Reality sells you'd opine, but we already have an overdose of it all around us. Yeah, something on the lines of Truman Show would still be welcome, unless Truman Burbank is a tall old man with a white French beard sitting on an Italian commode with a Macbook precariously balanced on his knees typing a blog with single finger.

Vantage Point

2008-06-21T12:27:00.015+05:30

Director	Pete Travis
Cast	Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker
Released	13th Feb, 08 (Salamanca, Spain)
	20th Feb, 08 (USA)
	2nd Mar, 08 (India)
My Rating	3.5/5

An assassination attempt made on the US President who is holding an anti-terrorism summit in Spain. Secret Service Agents Thomas Barnes and Kent Taylor look for some clues on Howard Lewis's handycam as there is a blast at the podium, leading to further pandemonium. The film loops over and over from different participant's perspectives wherein the plot convolutes as the storyline rewinds and restarts at the same point in time eight times over; the secret service agent and terrorists anticipating each other's moves and outdoing each other. Ultimately the mystery unfolds and you feel good about all pieces falling into place.

The best part is the car chase scene in the end, amidst the already chaotic city, that kept me on the edge of my seat. Fast and jittery camera work during the entire length of the chase keep adrenaline pumping in as you watch the Chevrolet Astra chasing the Police car. It is absolutely amazing and cool!

The locales are spectacular, in the ancient Spanish city of Salamanca, although the golden sandstone buildings occupy only a few frames in the beginning of few perspectives.

Dennis Quaid has done complete justice to his job. He portrays the strong and convincing look of a person handling such an important position, and his sharp, aquiline eyes are on the vigil every instant. Forest Whitaker also played his part of the innocent, courteous, helpful tourist well, who had to go through so much. Israeli Ayelet Zurer looks good as the mastermind's sidekick.

On the flip side are an ending that could have been better, a few goofs and some improbable uses of technology, and no explanation on the terrorists' real motives.

Overall, a fast-paced action thriller that keeps you engaged from beginning till the end, rapid-fire editing and cinematography topped up with a few good actors and an interesting narrative make Vantage Point a must watch.

The Road to BIAL

2008-06-15T03:49:00.005+05:30

I had a chance to visit the new International Airport at Bangalore thrice in the first two weeks of its operation. I found the airport is a huge improvement on the old HAL...quite spacious, good facilities, clean, sleek construction, free wifi internet inside the terminal, better directions and information for passengers, larger parking and drop-off areas, sheltered walkways.

Perhaps everyone would agree to BIAL being better than HAL on the above parameters (apart from a select few who heard somebody say BIAL is not large enough to handle the aiport traffic and they decide that the airport is not up to the mark). Most of the Bangaloreans, however, are worried about the airport being outside the city.

I don't find that as a negative. The airport is outside the city but the traffic is definitely reduced on the old airport road. Many junctions on the roads connecting the new airport have been made signal-free, and that has lessened the average man's day-to-day travel time. It used to take me 40-55 minutes to travel 13 kms to work everyday, and now it takes 25-40 minutes even at the peak hour. Also, you travel to the airport four to six, maybe ten, twenty times a year, but you travel to work around 250 times a year--the time you spend everyday on Bangalore roads has been reduced to quite an extent.

The highway leading to the airport, once you reach Hebbal flyover, is eight-laned. You have proper lights on roads and reflectors on lane markings, barriers on sides. The good road surface coupled with the great Bangalore climate makes it quite a drive. I was surprised to see people overtaking me when I was cruising at 120 kmph, above which my modest Alto wouldn't accelerate me to. The airport is at an exact distance of 30 kms from my home at Mattikere, and I took a little less than 25 minutes to travel that distance, averaging 72 kmph. Not bad. The HAL is 21 km from my place, and I could never reach there in less than 35 minutes, and that too at 3 in the morning. There are humps at the few (four if I remember correctly) signals on the highway though, which are due to the villages on the way. Eliminate the signals by means of underpasses and flyovers and I bet you could average out 100 with a faster car.

The high-tech Vayu Vajra buses are real nice and comfortable, and you simply cannot dismiss it as a common man's mode of transport.

The best option that was supposed to be available, but I could not find when I travelled from Delhi and landed at BIAL on its third day, was the rent-a-car service. I had my own car the other two times, but driving an Innova, Corolla, or Endeavour on those roads can be real exciting!

Another late-night post

2008-06-04T03:35:00.004+05:30

Everything was so calm and tranquil. There was almost no wind; the sky was overcast but there was a certain coolness in the air, quite cooler than indoors. Things looked so different and beautiful in the night. After an average day at work and a not-so-good evening just before leaving, I had come home, had dinner, and after my parents had retired to sleep, had gone down to the park in the apartment. It was well past midnight, and the park was completely deserted, which is otherwise full of children playing around on seesaws and slides and monkeytraps, older children playing basketball and badminton, and people on their evening walks. After strolling along for some while in the park, I had sat down by the side of the swimming pool. I just hung out there, quietly, connecting...

The water and I.

A striking contrast at the moment, I still somehow liked it being there. Wanted to draw some inspiration. I don't know how long did I stay there--it was one of those times when I did not want to think anything but could not help thinking. One of those times when I was doing exactly what I was trying very hard not to. The evening's incidents revisited in my head. I was trying to analyse the (f)utility of everything...debating with myself, admonishing myself, getting angry at myself, and so on and so forth. I wished I could get drunk. And on my side lay the waterbody, so calm, still, serene, and unagitated, as if complementing me.

The tranquility and the turbulence.

Bachchan's Big Blog

2008-05-17T13:57:00.018+05:30

I am late by a month and you'd already have visited Big B's Big blog at bidadda.com. I came to know of it last week when I surfed upon an interview of Amitabh on CNN-IBN which mainly concentrated on the blog.

Amitabh Bachchan also seems to have reached the power of blogging to interact with his fans, after Aamir Khan, who started blogging a year ago. However, as opposed to Aamir, who generally has short posts, Amitabh writes at length after his first post, and goes on to publish his interviews and views on various things, shares his thoughts and experiences, talks about his family and work, gets pensive at times and ponders over life and its aspects, like a general blooger. And as a celebrity blogger, replies to articles on the press, rectifies and clarifies accusations, rants out against media allegations.

Reading his blogs make you feel so close to him. You feel like he is directly talking to you about normal life routines, and is discussing his problems with you like a friend. He reads comments and responds to them too. Obviously we cannot expect him to respond to each and every of the thousands of comments he gets daily, but he answers to people's queries, thanks them for their appreciations, and clarifies things.

The epitome of humility and downtoearthness that Amitabh is, his blog reflects that. For example, he writes in his 26th April post about Abhi-Ash wedding: Every member of my entire staff with their families, people who have worked and remained with us for over 30 years, drivers, cleaners, kitchen staff, peons, minders, office bearers, security, helpers - formed the major portion of my (invitation) list. My family, Jaya, Abhishek, Shweta, my grand children and I all sat with them and looked after them, served them food with our own hands and nothing in the world could have given us more pleasure than doing that. For me they were my most important guests.

The blog is much talked about in all forms of media. People wonder why does he have to take the trouble of answering every little matter thrown up by the media and dignifying them. Some daily accused him of being super-sensitive, taking offence at the slightest provocation. He replies back here by saying that after years of accusing him of arrogance, non cooperation and aloofness, after years of pleading for response, reaction and information, now that he is providing it himself through his blog, the media suddenly starts cribbing the other way round. He does play tit-for-tat at times, which goes against his modest image, but I appreciate him all the more for that. However down to earth one may be, they should not let anybody talk anything about them. And if they do, they need to be corrected, in their own language.

There is lot to know about the actor on the blog. There is lot to learn and get inspired. I already look forward to his post everyday and his blog would definitely form one of the blogs I would like to keep in my reader for ever.

The only thing I wonder is, how does he manage so much in 24 hours? Working at odd and for long hours, keeping in touch with friends and family, giving speeches and interviews, reading the print and electronic media and keeping track of who said what so as to hit back on his blog, and blogging on top of it! These are the activities he talks about on the blog. There would be definitely many more. There sure is lot of hard work even for a living legend like Amitabh Bachchan. Is the procrastinator in me listening?

Bilaspur

2008-05-08T00:39:00.009+05:30

Perhaps the few readers I was able to coerce into have gotten used to my irregular posting or are thankful I am not writing for almost two months now, or knew I was busy and did not have the time/leisure/frame of mind to actively blog, even though I always followed up on the blogs I have on Google Reader all these two months but the last two-and-a-half weeks I was off the internet. However, it would be untrue if I concur my friends and attribute lack of time or energy as the reason for non-blogging—I had all the time in the world while at work if not at home, and my computer had uninterrupted incoming flow of energy—the reason is plain laziness. I could even have composed some blogs during my two-weeks stay at Bilaspur and half-a-week travel by rail summing up to-and-fro; in fact I had wanted to draft some from the scene of crime and post later, but couldn't do away with the pleasant afternoon siestas in front of coolers, something you don't get to relish in Bangalore.

Coolers are not the only thing I miss. Visiting my grandma's house brought up memories of childhood, when Mom and sisters and I used to spend our entire summer vacations there—year after year, till I entered college eight years ago. It was the first time after that that I visited the place again, and I could get nostalgic everyday remembering myself sitting bleary-eyed in mornings in the large foyer opening to the aangan, pull-ups at the rod in the foyer, perching at the staircase in the aangan with my summer-vacation-homework, afternoon naps at the room on the first floor, solving Hindi crosswords in archived newspapers, flying kites on the terrace which was accessible only through a wooden ladder I was always afraid of climbing—everything was so fun, and seems so distant now. We would wait for Maama to return from office and take us out to Company Garden and snacks at ICH. I would join my cousins in shopping for the daily needs at Shanichari. The other Maamas and families would visit us on weekends from nearby cities, and we would play cards late into the night; I remember often more than 10 people playing on three decks, and almost an equal number queued up for their turn.

Bilaspur Junction Railway Station

Everyone had visited this time also, but then almost everyone, including I, was busy with my sister's marriage, and we had moved to another, bigger house the latter part of my stay. However, I couldn't help getting emotional every time I visited the 70-year old house to get some stuff. Old constructions always excite me, and this was one I had spent quite some beautiful summers in. The house is located in Juna Bilaspur, Juna being the Chattisgarhi word for old. Its like the Purani Dilli, with all the rush and crowd. And the entire locality has those old constructions, most of them with khaprail tile roofs, which adds to my liking. Then there is the Arpa river which brims up only in monsoons, but the river bed, and one of the many bridges one has to cross to go to the other part of the city, provide a picturesque landscape. I so much missed carrying my camera around in all the rush. It would have been infeasible stopping at the roadside taking pictures when I had so many people to coordinate with and so many arrangements to be taken care of.

Anyways, this was a welcome change away from the click-and-touch world I live in otherwise. I had to get my hands dirty, and go back to the real world where you need to literally sweat out to get things done, and the todo is not a list of online sites you need to visit. Bilaspur is quite different a city than the bigger ones like Bangalore and Delhi, although it has changed considerably in the past eight years I couldn't pay an annual tribute to it. The roads, the marketplaces, new apartments and constructions, malls and hangouts, increased traffic, the new place in the administrative map it has got—there has been a complete metamorphosis, and I cannot do full justice to it unless I put it off for another post.

मन रे तू काहे न धीर धरे?

2008-03-26T02:04:00.017+05:30

मन रे तू काहे न धीर धरे
ओ निर्मोही मोह न जाने जिनका मोह करे
मन रे तू काहे न धीर धरे

इस जीवन की चढ़ती ढलती
धूप को किस ने बाँधा
रंग पे किस ने पहरे डाले
रूप को किस ने बाँधा
काहे यह जतन करे
मन रे तू काहे न धीर धरे

उतना ही उपकार समझ कोई
जितना साथ निभा दे
जनम मरण का मेल है सपना
यह सपना बिसरा दे
कोई न संग मरे
मन रे तू काहे न धीर धरे
ओ निर्मोही मोह न जाने जिनका मोह करे
हो मन रे तू काहे न धीर धरे

—साहिर लुधियानवी

Love at first sight

2008-03-11T11:54:00.006+05:30

Scene 1: The meeting.
Location: Mekhri Circle, from CV Raman Road towards Jayamahal road.

"Excuse me, how do I go to Cunningham Road?", was how she began from within her helmet, her pearly whites forming a magnificent smile, and her beautiful, azure eyes were gleaming with innocence.

"It's 4.8 km from here; you'll have to go straight, and keep following the curves till you reach an underpass on the right after which you'll have to take a compulsory left, and then you'll reach the Cantt station; the road then forks into two, take the right one, at the end you'll find a 'T' where you take a right, and a right at the next signal (approximately 1.1 km) would lead you to Cunningham Road.", blurted I in a single breath.

She had broken into a giggle by then, and obviously could not have followed the entire set of instructions thrown ruthlessly at her. She was perhaps a Punjabi, quite fair, high, glowing cheekbones, skin soft-as-a-baby made her look all the more cute. Amid chortles, she asked in a tone so innocent I was flabbergasted, "How far is your underpass?". I was quick to statistically respond with 3.4 km, and her pillion joined her in the chuckling, perhaps amused by me being such a nerd at numbers.

A sudden flash of realization dawned upon me as I saw the red light turn orange, that the poor girls were on a bike with a Delhi number plate (and hence perhaps new to Bangalore) and that I would pass through the exact route. Just in time before orange turned to green, I told her about the latter part of my revelation and advised her to follow me.

Scene 2: The ride.
Location: Jayamahal Road, Station Road, Queens Road.

I keep glancing on the rear view mirror as she follows me, and enjoy strolling in the third gear at 40 even though the road ahead is clear and inviting. She is quite animated, talking to her friend all the time, often gesturing with her left hand, the right on the throttle, seemingly quite oblivious with her being on the road. Thankfully the traffic was a bit peaceful today.

Scene 3: The parting.
Location: Indian Express Circle.

Seeing they were always on the extreme left, I halted a few hundred metres before the crossing, and she almost banged into my bike. The familiar string of giggles followed. I suggested them to keep on the rightmost lane and take the next right and their road would begin. She took off her helmet and thanked me profusely before parting. Boy, was she pretty! I was completely floored! As always, I was at a loss of words. And numbers. Am even now. Didn't even ask for her number, nor could I note down the registration number of her Kinetic Nova.

Scene 4: The aftertaste.
Location: Prestige Obelisk.

I sit down at my cubicle and ponder as I write this, working intermittently, over the possibility of Love-at-first-sight. And I realise that love is too complex a phenomenon to occur so shortly. There are a host of traits and attributes you'd generally like to have in your partner. Most people who fall in love do not do so blindly. Often it is a well-planned, well-thought series of actions. Ok, you don't have a checklist, but you do have an idea, and you fall in love with the person who falls in the set of ideas you have about them.

This is an endless topic and I can go on and on. But yes, I felt a bit different with this female I met today. I would definitely like to try things out with her. We might be able to, if Miss Giggles somehow chances upon this post, but that's a probability I am not really banking upon.

Blog away the Blues!

2008-03-06T12:07:00.001+05:30

Given the deep blues I seem to be in this week, that was the very apt hyperlink I saw on yahoo.com I saw this morning while logging in to check my mail. I generally am unable to read news online, more due to a lack of interest than due to a lack of time. This article, however, caught my eye, and plunging into it showed me the results of an Australian study.

Quoting the ANI report based on two related studies conducted by Swinburne University Technology in Melbourne, Australia, blogging can boost people's social life, by making them feel less isolated, more connected to a community and more satisfied with their friendships, both online and personally.

The study, published in the latest issue of the journal CyberPsychology and Behaviour, involved a survey on 134 users of MySpace, an international site that offers email, a forum, communities, videos and weblog space. The study involved some users who intended to blog and others who did not, and analyzed their behaviour and stress levels and 'social satisfaction' after a two-month period. Those that originally intended to blog reported feeling more satisfied socially as a result of being a part of a group of like-minded individuals.

"It was as if they were saying 'I'm going to do this blogging and it's going to help me' ", said Susan Moore, one of the researches. That was exactly my belief when I started writing this post, but I always had the intention and it never helped. Let me see if the act itself helps...

Sleep-Writing

2008-01-28T03:12:00.001+05:30

Got an insignificant, or as it seemed from the ‘Esteem’ brought by Pepsi.

It was a cold winter night of 1998; the clock would have read past two. I was at the dining-turned-study table, had a hot cup of coffee alongside. Working out some mechanics problem from Irodov was the last I remember before falling asleep. When I woke up a half-hour later, I found myself face down on the diary I used to maintain then (which I later destroyed page-by-page because it was full of depressing stuff), the above sentence scrawled over it, and cold unfinished coffee spilled on the table. I have absolutely no idea what does the sentence mean, even though I wrote it.

Somniscription. [sŏm-nĭ-skrĭp'shən] -noun.

Under the larger category of parasomnias, the act of writing while the sufferer is asleep or in a sleeplike state; generally occurs earlier in the night when rapid eye movement (REM) or the ‘dream stage’ of sleep has not yet occurred.

[Origin: 2008; from L. somnus “sleep” + scriptus, pp. of scribere “to write”].

The sentence makes no sense, is grammatically incorrect, and the words Esteem and Pepsi are ambiguous. Crap, in short. You don’t expect expert verse from someone who is fast asleep. Like other sleep-related disorders, a somniscribe is not aware of his actions in sleep.

Somniscription is quite rare a phenomenon, which can be ascertained from the fact that I could not find any word on the world-wide-web that describes sleep-writing. Or maybe it is included in the larger umbrella of somnambulism, sleep-walking, which however, clearly includes sleep-eating and sleep-sex (BTW, what’s the fun if you don’t know you are doing it?). The only two resources talking about sleep writing I could google out were:

this page from Encyclopedia Britannica, which talks about people writing in sleep with a mental picture of the page before them and the words they have written. They do not see what they actually write, and the page talks about an experiment that proves this.
this blogpost by one Joel Derfner, where the linguist-turned-musician- turned-aerobics instructor wonders if he was actually setting up e-mail accounts in his sleep and e-mailing himself entries for his own Blogalike contest. He tries to come up with a word equivalent to somnambulate that meant writing in sleep but finds ‘somniscribe’ revolting.

I never had somnambulism or somniloquy, and not even the act by the word I just coined—somniscription. This was one isolated incident that happened, and I don’t think it might happen again; I have anyways become addicted to technology and no longer use a pen and paper to write. Yeah, maybe some day I wake up on my laptop to find I typed a post on my blog while sleeping, in which case I’ll have to come up with another term.

See also: Searching the net about somnambulism and somniloquism led me to a few interesting people who’ve recorded their sleep-talks and uploaded them on their blogs:

Somnography of Somniloquy
Sleep Talking On The Mic
Somniloquy Revelation

Should I watch Saanwariya?

2008-01-25T00:33:00.000+05:30

I refuse to spell it the way Sanjay Leela Bhansali did, even though it is his product and he is free to spell it SSanvarriyaa, or S-A-W-R-Y-A, or maybe S-E-W-E-R-A-G-E. For a detailed reasoning, please visit one of my previous posts here, where I did an RoR on the movie.

Anyways, the question is, should I watch Saanwariya after all the criticism I got from the critics and media and blogs? As per my Review on Reviews, a few people enjoyed the movie, whereas a few others said it sucked! Someone said it is a one-time-watch.

I want to watch it because it is an SLB flick, and I have liked all his previous endeavours. The kind of effort he puts in his film-making, the grandeur, the intensity he shows, the way he makes non-actors like Aishwarya Rai act, everything is commendable. All his movies have had some wonderful music too. While some people (especially the lady bloggers I reviewed) liked the blue-black-green ambience throughout the movie, some others complained about SLB having shot the entire movie only at nighttime without lights. I think I'd love the gray (blue+green+black would anyways make gray). Sonam Kapoor's hairless back, unlike her father's, also tempts me to watch it, even though I'd like to skip Ranbeer's towel-sequence.

Now this colleague Vijay Krishna Mishra had a copy of Saanwariya, but he wouldn't share it with me. In fact, he deleted it because he did not like the movie and thinks he would be considered crazy if he tries to download it again. However, on my repeated and genuine requests, and some emotional blackmail 10 minutes ago, he is ready to download it for me, but with a condition: I write a post about it, asking people whether I should watch it or not, and if a single person answers in the affirmative, Vijay will download it for me. His addendum pops up on the IM as I write this post: I should play a fair game and not coerce anyone into saying a yes.

So all of my readers, especially she who wanted to watch it with me, please give me your honest opinion. All those whose answer is negative please consider if they watched a few memorable masterpieces of the last year like "Dhamaal", "Welcome", and "Khoya Khoya Chaand". If you have watched and liked any of these, you are not eligible to say a "No".

Please go ahead and participate in the poll by putting a comment. Please be frank and do not be afraid of Vijay. He is not Vijay Deenanath Chauhan, after all.

PS: The poll shall be open even after he is filled to his heart's content by one positive comment, and the post shall be open for other comments as well.

The Urge

2008-01-15T09:22:00.002+05:30

As I read one of my favourite blogs in bed this morning, I had this peculiar urge: to work for a company whose office is located in the other end of city. I generally like riding any distances preferred to being time-bound with an office cab/bus, but today I felt I'd really like it, when I could sit down with my laptop, or a book, and enjoy my time up and down. The probability of a book, however, is much lesser, although that is what I used to do when I was in Delhi and used to travel back to my hometown on weekends.

View from my balcony.

Later (when I was completely awake): I realize this is quite a mammoth task to accomplish. Can't do that in one year. Too many strings attached.

My First Scratch

2008-01-13T20:35:00.000+05:30

While reversing the car out of my parking, the bent right front wheel got stuck at the basement pillar. Shifting the gear to first, I inched ahead, but did not get the calculation right and the front of the car kissed another pillar. I did not feel the impact, but the security guard told me, and I got down to see four horizontal, small but visible lines at the corner of the bumper.

This happened barely a minute after I sat down for the first time at the steering wheel without someone who knew driving beside me. I bought a car last week, and this was meant to be a surprise birthday gift for Mom. My parents had been out for a month and had returned early morning last Thursday, and the car was delivered the same day in the evening. When I asked Mom and Dad to come down to the basement, they had thought I had wanted them to meet the girl I had finalized, and she had been shy and hesitant to come up home. Even after they reached the basement, it took them a couple of seconds to realize it were wheels and not heels.

So, the ten-day-old car has a minor scratch thanks to the overconfidence gained through three hours of driving lessons. Just because I did not want to argue, the other day I agreed with a friend otherwise, but driving a car is more difficult than riding a bike, for the simple reason it adds an extra dimension. On the road, a bike can be considered to be one-dimensional, and you don't have to bother about the far left edge scraping something.

Also, a bike is completely integrated with your body once you alight, and you can do everything without lifting either of the hands or feet, unlike in a car, when you have to constantly shift your extremities. Due to the linear nature of a bike, it is much easier to manoeuvre small gaps between vehicles and switch lanes. Of course a car is more comfortable, and poses lesser risk for you (and more for others) on the road.

Well, a four- and a two-wheeler are meant to serve different purposes, and have their own sets of comforts and discomforts. I could ride a geared two wheeler around eleven years ago, even though I had my own only last year. But never started learning driving a four wheeler till I bought one. And now that I have put my money into it, I'll have to learn driving, and no level of listing the problems of a car against the merits of a bike can really help.

A Sleepless Dream Come True

2008-01-07T02:17:00.000+05:30

I have always found sleeping a waste of time. My parents find my nocturnal tendencies pretty normal now and get worried if I go to bed before the wee hours of the morning. I have this bad habit of stretching myself in many things, sleep being no exception—my average slumber on weekdays turns out to be little over 5 hours, and on the weekends to 7 hours. I try to be up with my computer on the lap till I literally fall asleep. Oftentimes my friends on the opposite side of the globe suddenly find themselves talking to a non-respondent, snoring ashes, oblivious of the repeated BUZZ!es on the IM window in the middle of a conversation; the clock might say fivish in the morning then.

I have always wished I could stay up longer utilizing time, though I am never able to make proper use of it; I would rather keep awake and waste time reading irrelevant stuff over the internet or chat about trivial issues or simply surf channels on the television or check my emails several times, but nevertheless, that’s not the point. The essence is I want to waste as less time on sleep as possible. Maybe if I know I would not fall asleep, I’d be able to plan out and execute things in a better fashion.

I had often wished there was some alternative to sleep, a pill or something. A recent study by Darpa-funded scientists at UCLA has made my dream come true. The research advocates a naturally occurring brain hormone Orexin A to be a promising candidate to become a sleep-replacement drug. This peptide could be used in a nasal spray, as it was used in the relatively benign study on primates, which reversed the effects of sleep deprivation, allowing them to perform like well-rested monkeys on cognitive tests.

Such a product could be widely desired by millions of people across the world who feel twenty-four hours a bit too less to do all that they want to. People would use it to work or party longer, or to increase alertness wherever and whenever needed. Students could work and study and enjoy, reducing the inactive time in bed. Working mothers can do full justice to their children and work. Children could stuff going to school and completing their homework and playing—all in a day without the loss of any one of them.

On a larger scale, countries legalizing this drug may develop into faster-rising economies than the ones prohibiting its use, for the simple reason their people would be able to work longer hours. Salaries would plunge because of instant doubling of manpower. Securities can keep round-the-clock vigil with less number of shifts and much lesser risk. Well, there can be several unpredictable uses that can change the world around us.

However, I am not very optimistic about the drug hitting the shelves very soon. I believe it is still “miles to go before I don’t sleep”. For one, some other counter-research might find not sleeping resulting in cardiovascular or metabolic disorders, or worse, impotency and infertility, as half of the studies on half of your daily actions reveal. Second, any commercial treatment using Orexin A would need approval from the FDA, which can take several years.

Till then I can only use caffeine and lose sleep dreaming about an anti-sleeping-pill.

The Destiny of an Innocence

2007-12-30T14:27:00.003+05:30

She is growing up. Looks quite old now. Totally human. Unlike six months ago when her movements were restricted to blinking and random, clumsy hand- and feet-throwing and crying. Now she can crawl, smile, giggle, play, throw tantrums, all of which make her so cute and lively and bouncy and innocent and loveable.

However, as I clicked a few photographs of her yesterday, copied them on to my computer, and revisited them (like the one here), I felt apprehended. For the first time has a child scared me with her photo, and such a pretty child at that. She looks very human now. Very soon, she would be able to understand language, speak, and then think and understand and feel. And then emotions would start cropping up. Doom! There you go!

She would have option to choose. She will start discriminating between people. She would begin loving, caring, and would demand more of the same from others. She would start 'wanting'. She would expect from people. She'd feel bad. She'd feel good. She'd start enoying material things. She would begin a lot of things we do, and...

I am not exaggerating at all when I say I felt a shudder down my spine when I saw her photographs. Why do we have to have feelings? Can this child not be spared from the evils of the world and her innocence be preserved in its original form?

Sometimes

2007-12-23T02:22:00.002+05:30

Sometimes you think you are smart. You have wrong notions about yourself, and there is no one to correct you. You live your entire life with those wrong notions and die with them.

Sometimes you think you are lonely. You know you are, and you desperately try to get rid of either the loneliness or at least the thought. You find someone and the loneliness evaporates. Or you find some engagement and the thought vanishes. But sooner or later, that someone goes away. Or they find some engagement. Or your engagement finishes off. You are back to being lonely again.

Sometimes you go to bed early. You generally do not. Often you don't even try. Keep up and waste time. You vow everyday you'll sleep before midnight or do something worthwhile, but you somehow never manage that.

Sometimes you try not to think. Generally you keep pondering and meditating and musing and reflecting and mulling over and ruminating and contemplating. Often you don't even try not to think. Your thoughts keep fluttering randomly. Keep disturbing you. You daydream or get depressed or plan or fret.

Sometimes you love someone. You know they do not, but you do. Unrequited is the word. But that knowledge doesn't stop you from loving them even if you know there is no future.

Sometimes someone does that to you. You reciprocate back. But you still do not hold your feelings back for the old one.

Sometimes you watch movies. You generally do not. But you always want to. And sometimes you find company. And you watch them. Then they go to sleep. You stay up. Chat with a close pal. Start thinking. And then you compose this "off the split-ends of your long hair" post.

RoR

2007-11-18T01:12:00.000+05:30

Now all of my geeky readers, please do not get salivating. RoR doesn’t mean Ruby on Rails here. AOE enthusiasts also hold on, this is no Rise of Rome either. This is a term I coined on the lines of FoF (Fund of Funds), an investment fund that uses the strategy of holding over other funds rather than investing directly in shares, bonds or other securities, and stands for Review of Reviews.

The motivation behind writing an RoR comes from three most prolific bloggers on my Google Reader coming up with their versions of reviews of a common object—what else could it be other than the most talked about movie these days—Saawariya. And interestingly enough, they published their reviews of the 9^th Nov-released-flick on the same date, the 15^th of Nov, when the Recent blogposts I read widget on my blog looked too replete with Saawariya and I had to increase the number of items it displays by 50%.

I generally prefer reviews of non-professional critics rather than the likes of Taran Adarsh and Nikhat Kazmi; you can relate to views of people you know than to those of people who are paid to review, even if you know them only by regularly reading their frequent blogposts. The professionals are always biased anyways.

The review I liked the most was Washington based Great Bong’s, a disgruntled movie fanatic on the prowl for mind bending experiences, who, in his usual wit and humor, and sentences as long as half a page, puts Saawariya as the worst of the Sanjay Leela Bhansali lot: “a big plastic bag of hot air where dreamy sets, hued lighting and forgettable music is used to divert attention from the fact that there is absolutely nothing in this venture”. He mocks SLB on his belief about his direction and his interviews and his “merger of raga-based melodies with a Brodway style play”, calls Ranbir a “little tinker-bell of a man”, innocent and poor, and describes Sonal as demure and virginal and giving us more than a few glimpses of her back, “devoid of abundant and luxuriant fur”, unlike her dad Anil Kapoor’s. Salman Khan looks confused—he took off his top, but Ranbir went one step ahead and took off his bottom. Great Bong doesn’t even spare Rani: “Rani Mukherjee’s golden-hearted ‘lady of commerce’ performance completes a hat-trick of prostitute acts (which film historians refer to as her ‘blue period’)”.

A Bangalorean blogger, LongBlackVeil, deeply interested in deeply interesting things, especially nonsense, did not regret watching the movie. She finds the aesthetics stunning, likes the black-blue-green ambience, and loves the music. Although she likes Ranbir’s hairless chest and Neetu Singh smile, she doesn’t like his and Sonam’s characters, and the lack of chemistry between the two. She does like Rani’s role, but expresses afsos over SLB’s weak screenplay, mediocre dialogue and absolutely minimal character development. But she likes the movie as a whole anyways and thinks “it’s just a victim of those horrible old beasts: Great Expectations, and What Could Have Been”.

Cuckoo from Bombay terms the movie as an outright flop. She did not see any trailers, didn’t read about it anywhere, and did not even let anybody talk about it in front of her. She wanted a surprise and she admits the movie “indeed surprised her by nose diving in the theatres”. I can see her state of shock—unlike her other posts, this one was quite laconic, filled with a lot of oversized, black ant-like emoticons.

Anadi, a regular reader and commenter on my blog from Tampa, Florida presents his review on a comment on my RoR. He finds the movie can be watched once despite the criticism, because of its freshness. He believes SLB tried to stretch a half-hour movie to over two hours with filler material that just does not fill up. Like LongBlackVeil, he also senses a lack of chemistry between the debuts, who are otherwise impressive. He says Bhansali's fairytale viewpoint cannot be considered an excuse to a lack of script and pathetic dialogues.

Nova, Bangalore-based crazy, eccentric, conceited, independent, emotionally detached and a near fanatic for things she believes in, is the only blogger I read who is all praises for Saawariya. She feels the movie was two hours of pure bliss, a visual delight and music to ears sore of cacophony people sell in the name of music. She believes the new kid has met all tremendous expectations he had set. Now, Ms Nova, he would definitely have met all expectations and made it a visual delight with his towel sequences. She finds Sonam to be ordinary, just like you would expect a debutante to be. So she also met expectations! All tremendous ones! But alas, the poor thing did not get a chance to have a sequence in a towel, let alone drop one. Anyways, Nova warns her readers not to watch it for mindless jokes and dumb action but to watch it if you want to watch a poetry in motion on celluloid! She goes on to quote a phew! comments from people on indiafm.com before ending.

So, will I go and watch the movie? Don’t know. If I get company I might. Am not too keen; might watch the grandeur on my beloved laptop. I shall, however, continue adding RoRs to this post as other feeds on my reader show up Saawariya. But one way SLB disappointed me was by naming it ‘Saawariya’, which is not a word. The correct word is ‘Saanwariya’ (साँवरिया)— one of Lord Krishna’s names, derived from ‘Saanwla’—and I thought SLB was quite meticulous and sort of perfectionist. Maybe kyunkii he is quite superstitious too and some numerologist advised him otherwise, who could anyways not spare him from the wrath of critics and reviewers, and of course ashes’ also for spelling it incorrectly in Hindi too!

Weekend Sunrise

2007-11-17T07:40:00.001+05:30

No assignments to be submitted in the morning, no exams to be attempted, and no deadlines to be met. But it reminded me of the good old hostel days when we used to stay awake through the major part of the night idling away, watching a movie, or simply chatting, or playing NFS or even watch someone else play. I really enjoyed the night-out yesterday reading, writing, watching, playing, crunching numbers, and getting nostalgic doing the various other things I generally enjoy on my computer.

During my joie de vivre, little did I realize the most gratifying part lay at the end of the night. It was just before the break of dawn when I crept up to the terrace, afraid I might wake up Mom, in which case I’d have got chided for being up all night.

The morning tranquil was so soothing, so fresh, and so cool. There were a few stray birds chirping here and there. The entire east side of the sky was a hue of yellowish-orange, getting redder by the minute. And then there was this flock of birds frolicking in the far south, circling about in a huge wave. A couple of joggers caught my eye on the pavement beneath.

And then I saw it. The scarlet disc came out proudly out of the distant horizon, making the sky blush and turn into a crimson red.

I can’t remember when was the last time did I see the sun rise. Must have been ages. In fact I felt I had never felt the same ever before. It was such an exhilarating experience I could see my vision blurred of moistness. The expressions are inexplicable in words.

I never knew the sun rises so fast. One moment (06:22:03 AM) I saw a segment of it, and then suddenly (06:24:18 AM) it was the whole disc, and another moment (06:27:14 AM) it was bright enough to form a glare on my lens.

When I came down, Mom was already awake and was extremely surprised to see me coming from outside rather than from my room. Papa was up too, and I had another exalting experience: I prepared the morning tea for everyone, unlike another long time that my parents have been doing it for me everyday.

PS: The pictures above are actually thumbnails...you might want to click on them and enjoy the full-sized photographs.

BackRub

2007-11-15T15:36:00.001+05:30

Ms Brown was not in a position to haggle. She was recently divorced and living with her sister, so when a small technology start-up offered her a job in 1999, she welcomed it with open arms. The post paid $450 a week, plus a pile of what were then worthless stock options. She was the 41st employee of the organization, which, like many other startups, was incorporated in a garage by two students.

Today, nine years later, the company has 15,916 employees, sports a revenue of $10.6 billion (2006), has a stock market worth of $207 billion, and is the most popular name on the internet—Google. Ms Brown is one of the 1000 employees who have accrued fortunes of at least $5 million apiece from the web-giant.

Oh, did I tell you about Ms Brown's job profile? She was hired as a masseuse. After five years of kneading engineers’ backs, she retired, cashing in most of her stock options, which were worth millions of dollars. Phoebe, are you listening?

Google shares recently hit an all-time high of $747.24, up nearly 900% from their debut. “I saved enough stock for a rainy day, and lately it’s been pouring,” Ms Brown said. “Every time I give some away, it just keeps filling up again,” she told The New York Times of the fortune that she reaped from her former employer in the course of just five years. She now owns a large house of her own and spends time travelling the world overseeing the charitable foundation that she founded with her windfall.

She is also looking for a publisher for her memoir—"Giigle: How I Got Lucky Massaging Google". And as you would expect, these days, at least once a week, she splashes out on her own private masseuse.

PS: The Google search engine was originally nicknamed "BackRub" (because the system checked backlinks to estimate a site's importance). I wonder whether that was Ms Brown's suggestion.

The Sun Also Sets

2007-11-12T22:55:00.001+05:30

People have been complaining of long, boring posts. I have been trying, but could not write small posts. Napolean Bonaparte once said, "Un bon croquis vaut mieux qu'un long discours". So I thought I'd not write this time, but let pictures speak.

Here are a few captures of the Bangalore sky at sunset with different modes on my new camera.

PS: Any references to Anadi's post and to Hemingway's masterpiece are purely coincidental. :)

PPS: Napolean's quote literally translates to: "A good sketch is better than a long speech", which later evolved into "A picture is worth a thousand words".

Book Cover Tag

2007-11-04T13:00:00.000+05:30

I have been tagged. The tagger is Cuckoo in her post here and in a comment to a previous post of mine.

Well, as most of you, I am not well-versed with tagging. Googling did not help much on this ‘tag’. Wikipedia gives me several uses of ‘Tag’, and the nearest is a game in which one child chases the others; the one who is caught becomes the next chaser. So, tagging is a children’s game. But another use Wikipedia gives is to engage in sexual intercourse, which is not exactly child stuff. So, I force myself to believe that tagging is no child’s play, and therefore accept this tag. And anyways, it is not everyday a sweet lady asks you to play with her. [Pun absolutely unintentional!]

From what I learnt from Cuckoo’s blog and the numerous tags she’s been doing, the blog version of ‘Tagging’ involves assigning a task to a few fellow bloggers, who, according to the ‘Tag Etiquette’, would do that task and pass it on to a few more in the blogger fraternity, thereby forming a tree of playful bloggers writing on a common topic. Then probably the best blogger gets a cotton candy or a lollipop. However, if you would seriously like to browse through tag etiquettes, Cuckoo has a ready reference here.

So, the tag given to me is: Go to the advanced book search on Amazon, type your first name into the Title field, and post the most interesting/amusing cover that shows up. This is a sort of egosurfing, the wikipedia link of which I had sent to Cuckoo on my first comment on her blog, and she was quite amused.

Anyways, coming down to business, I did the above exercise with “Ashutosh”, and was disappointed to find only one book: Sir Ashutosh Mookherjea, a character study, by one Mr. Bipin Chandra Pal. Now, Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee was an Indian educator and Vice Chancellor of the University of Calcutta from 1906 to 1924. He was also responsible for the foundation of the Bengal Technical Institute in 1906 and the Calcutta University College of Science in 1914.

That was all I could read about Sir Ashutosh when I started yawning and decided to move on to run an Amazon book search on “ashes”, a self-proclaimed anglicized version of the shortened form of my name, which returned 4,567 results—a prime number.

The first book cover that interests me is Ashes to Ashes (Blood Ties, Book 3) by Jennifer Armintrout. This is what the description of the book says:

Being a vampire is a life or death situation. When I was first turned, I had only my survival to worry about. Now I'm locked in a battle for the existence of the entire human race and the cards are definitely stacked against me.

The Voluntary Vampire Extinction Movement headquarters are destroyed, and their pet horror, the Oracle, is on the loose. She'll stop at nothing to turn the world into a vampire's paradise, even if it means helping the Soul Eater become a god and harnessing his power for her own evil ends.

An ancient vampire, a blood sucking near deity and oh, yeah, my presently human former sire thrown into the mix. I say bring it on. May the best monster win.

Sounds interesting. However, I’ll have to read the Books One (The Turning) and Two (Possession) before picking up Ashes to Ashes. Book Two sounds all the more interesting:
With the Soul Eater and my possessed sire on the loose, I have a lot to fear. Including being killed. Again.

Another interesting book I saw on the same page of the search results was Robert F. Bruner’s Deals from Hell: M&A Lessons that Rise Above the Ashes, which, according to the Wall Street Journal on 26^th May, 2005: “engages in the kind of candid thinking that has long been missing from the high stack of books”.

According to the author, six key elements embedded in disasters are 'complexity, tight coupling, management choices, cognitive biases, business not as usual, and failure of the operational team.' In unison, these are lethal, he cautions. He uncovers the real reasons for mishaps by taking a closer look at twelve specific instances of M&A failure in his three-part book. Bruner dins in before parting: “The growth that matters is growth in economic value. The rest is smoke.”

A few other interesting titles on subsequent pages were “Quit Kissing my Ashes”, “Dropping Ashes on the Buddha”, “Amber and Ashes”, “Ashes to Gold”, “Rising from the Ashes”, “Hearts from the Ashes”, “Ashes of Victory”, “Ashes of Roses”—the list is so long I believe there is a book title on whatever can be converted to ashes, or whatever can be risen from ashes.

An interesting game, and an interesting tag, I must admit. However, I shall not be able to follow the ‘tag etiquettes’ and pass on the baton. But obviously, if anyone wants to pick it up themselves from here, please. Now Cuckoo, where is my lollipop?

Project Dark Chamber

2007-11-03T15:03:00.000+05:30

Thank you Saurabh, who got me the camera I longed for so long, or, actually, was planning for so long to get one, and maybe longed to save a few thousand rupees on the deal.

Thank you Diya, who purchased my camera thrice, from three different websites, but all three times the order was cancelled by the different companies for different reasons:

the billing address not being the same as the shipping address,
their policy not allowing them to deliver at an office address, and
the item running out of stock, even after the order was placed and accepted.

Poor Deepak Garg had to keep haunting online shopping stores for me during his entire stay at NY.

Thank you Andy, who purchased a camera for me online but they wouldn’t deliver it to the hotel Saurabh was staying in. Anadi had to brave against the bank call center personnel who couldn’t spell and pronounce Anadi Misra because despite sitting in North India, they were supposed to be attending a call from the US and hence were expected to fancy an American accent.

Finally I’ve got one; anything could have gone wrong anywhere considering my luck with digital cameras. I half expected half of my savings on the camera would be used to bribe the customs officials. I was skeptical till I actually got the camera in my hands almost five weeks ago, thankfully without further glitches. The credit for the camera goes to Saurabh's luck (and of course, to him as well), and this belated post can be credited to none other than my favorite activity—procrastination.

The one Saurabh Jain smuggled for me is a Sony DSC-T100. As with every other decision of mine, this one too was quite difficult and took a long time. I researched on the host of models available in the market, visited the various camera websites, shortlisted a few (eight) cameras based on my preferences and budget, and tabulated their series of features in another favorite—an MS Excel spreadsheet. After confusing myself and contagiously spreading it to Andy, Bharvi, Dheeru, Diya, Kaler, Sandy, Saurabh, and almost everyone I saw as a camera owner, I finally decided on the T100 from outside my spreadsheet and over my budget.

It was probably not the best choice, but you'd be asking for too much if you expect the qualities of Mallika Sherawat and Gulzar in one person. While I craved for a high zoom, I had also wanted to show off my sleek camera slide out of my pocket. T100 had the highest optical zoom in the ultra slim category. It is a good camera for indoor, point and shoot photography at family functions et cetera, and has a few extra flashy features, and an impressive UI with some sound effects. Well, technically it meets expectations, but let me save the details for another post.

However, as I write this post and visit the Sony website, as it happens with all gizmos and technologies, I discover that DSC-T100 has been refurbished and a new DSC-T200 has been launched, with a wider touch-screen at the same price, and some extra features I did not bother to look into. Thank God I did not have another option to choose from while deciding.

Life or Something Like it

2007-10-21T02:40:00.000+05:30

It has been quite some time many of the regular readers of this irregular blog have been asking now and then about its well-being. Well, I might say my blog reflects my life, and irregularity is a part of life, and so are randomness, uncertainty and unpredictability. This non-linear phenomenon sounds like discrete entropy, but that is what life resembles, only that you cannot measure it quantitatively. The absence of all this causes anything to get stagnant and drain all thrill out of it, be it a subatomic particle, or a highly complex human machinery, or an ever-fluctuating stock market index. They are of interest as long they are volatile. This applies to life as well.

I tried fathom the reason for this four-post old blog not getting any older, and reflected upon what I have been doing for the past few months, in the process of which I realized I’ve been unknowingly following 17^th century philosophizer Baruch de Spinoza’s 67^th Proposition in Part IV of his magnum opus, "The Ethics":

Homo liber nulla de re minus quam de morte cogitat; et ejus sapientia non mortis sed vitae meditatio est.
(There is nothing over which a free man ponders less than death; his wisdom is, to meditate not on death but on life.)

Contemplate on life did I, but coming to, or even trying to come to, a conclusion about life in such a short time would be blasphemous. The egocentric part of me was concerned more about my own life, which is as at ease and peaceful as one would want. But, as aforesaid, stagnation makes it dull. Joblessness adds boredom. A lack of ambition and sense of direction makes it dreadful. Random, silly, stupid, insane, horrendous, impossible, weird, long chains of thoughts keep fluttering in from nowhere and everywhere.

So why was I absent from my not-so old blog? Was I able to get to the root cause? What was keeping me busy? Nothing—there was no worthy reason—as I admitted above, the work load was not enough to cramp me up. Actually I was upset, frustrated, brooding, anxious and irritable; I was cribbing, angry with the world, with myself, was picking up quarrels with most of my well-wishers on trivial issues. My sincere apologies to my parents, sisters, and friends.

I am as confused as to why am I writing this as to why am I living life the way I am—stagnant, boring, lone, insecure, restless are a few fitting adjectives. Procrastination has reached its pinnacle. Basic tasks that require immediate attention stay put for weeks. Life is getting lethargic, routine, and I am getting older. Life is moving at a pace I don’t like. I was (I wish to think I still am) the kind of guy who, given a choice between choosing a stable, peaceful path and one involving hurdles and experimentation, would always choose the latter. Of late, however, things have been quite different. There have been times I want to do many things at a time, and end up doing none. Or worse, start something, reach a twentieth or fiftieth or hundredth of it, and then abandon it. There have been times I do not want to do anything at all—not even lie down and think.

There are a hundred things I could do to keep me engaged, you would suggest. I already know hundred and one. I know the problem, and I know the solution; I have been only too foolish/lazy to incorporate it and find something really engrossing.

In the song about discontent with life entitled "Why Georgia", John Mayer muses:

Might be a quarter-life crisis
Or just a stirrin' in my soul
Either way
I wonder sometimes
About the outcome
Of a still verdictless life
Am I living it right?

This makes me do a double take on whether I am living it right? Am I suffering from a quarter-life crisis? I wonder if that is it, would I automatically get rid of it once I age to the third from the quarter?

Innocent craving

2007-08-09T15:00:00.001+05:30

He wore a shabby, oversized shirt, and his half-pants ended just a couple of inches lower than the shirt. His hair was unkempt, and his dark eyes shone on the dark face. He looked like he was seven-eight years of age. He did not say anything, but started pulling at the hem of my friend’s kurta.

It was a sunny September afternoon. After a good lunch, we had gone out for an icecream. There is this Food World on Cunningham Road, and yes, it is not a great place to have icecreams but it was close to office and they did house Cornetto, one she really liked. We bought a cone and since Food Worlds are grocery stores, we had to seat ourselves on my bike parked in front of the store.

No sooner had she started enjoying her cone, this little boy came from nowhere and started begging. He was exactly the kind of kid you would like to shoo away—the typical child who begs at the traffic signal. Dirty and unkempt, he did not utter a single voice, but started pulling at my friend’s dress. Seeing my friend getting irritated and disturbed out of her Cornetto, I did what almost everyone does in a similar situation; I tried dissuading him but he was stubborn. I generally disapprove of beggars, but offer them something sometimes to avoid their pestering. Thinking he was just asking for money, I gave him a five-rupee coin, which he gladly pocketed. I had believed he would go away.

I was wrong. He continued poking and touching and pulling and gesturing with his little hands. We had now got down from our perch and I again tried to drive him away. He was all the more adamant. My friend had got flustered and wanted him to leave and had started shooing him. I was wondering whether what I gave him was too less and that he wanted more money. Maybe he was hungry, but we could not have given him the half-eaten cone my friend was really enjoying.

She then suggested: “Yeh kahin nahi jaayega ashu, hum hi office chalte hain”. I considered that the best option and drove back the half-kilometer to office, where I joined my friend in finishing up the cornetto, after which both of us went to our respective cubicles to continue work.

It was when I reached my cubicle when I realized what a blunder I had committed!!!! Waves of guilt churned inside my stomach. All this time I was irritated by the child’s pestering and did not realize that he was asking us to buy him something unachievable for him!!! Even if he had the money, he would not be allowed inside a Food World and there was no way he could buy a cone!! Couldn’t wonder at the helplessness of the poor child.

He was probably mute, or perhaps chose to remain silent because he would not speak anything other than Kannada. Whatever the reason be, but all the time he had an eye on the icecream, and was gesturing us to buy him one, which both of us failed to understand. I admit we never tried to. We were too irritated to try and understand what he meant. I still remember those dark eyes requesting in vain and the disappointed and sad face when we decided to run away from him.

Ashamed of myself, I went back to the store, but could not find him around. Perhaps he had dropped the idea of an icecream, or someone more intelligent had understood and quenched his craving.

After this unforgettable episode, I kept an eye for him whenever I went to Cunningham Road, but could never spot him. And yes, we could never go again for an icecream after lunch.

Whose fault is it anyway?

2007-07-31T01:51:00.000+05:30

Two third-standard boys picked up a wire from the ground, tied it around the neck of their classmate and strangled him to death. All over a pencil.

These were the opening lines of an article on the front page of the Bangalore edition of Times of India last Saturday. Apart from the shock, the first thing that crossed my mind was how could this have been averted. Who can be held responsible for this young life coming to an untimely end? Is a human life’s worth less than that of a pencil?

The boys subsequently told the police that they didn’t realize what they were doing.

The boys would have seen this in some movie and had tried to imitate that without having any clue about the consequence of their act. This is similar to children trying out moves out of WWF and TNA shows, and imitating Spiderman and Superman, and even the desi Shaktiman. The inspiration for the act would have been some action sequence the twelve- and the nine-year olds would have seen on TV or a movie. They knew this would hurt, but did not know it could lead to death.

This would have happened at such a normal occasion that none of the school authorities would have paid attention—children do quarrel over small things, but who would have imagined someone getting killed in the process?

Children learn from every incident, every visual, and every sound they encounter, see, and hear. There is no way we can stop any of those. We cannot prevent children from watching TV; banning all forms of violence on screen is not feasible either. Parents cannot, and should not, censor absolutely everything their children watch and talk about. Keeping a check on all forms of tiffs between children is also not possible.

It is not necessary to put someone at fault but there is something that is not right somewhere. Imagine the plight of the three-years elder brother of the 9-year old victim, who went to rescue him seeing him fighting, only to see him collapse to death when they reached home.

Whose fault is it? Is there anything we (read anyone) can do to prevent such losses?

Three years ago...

2007-06-28T22:41:00.000+05:30

It has been three years today that I started working, but it seems a very long time ago. 27^th of June, 2004 was the day I boarded my first flight and the next day I joined Tavant Technologies. Clothed in neat formals, I was apprehensive about how would I survive in this alien software industry and the corporate world as I took the long auto ride. The first thing I did at office was meet the HR person who had given me the offer letter a little over a month earlier. Things look so distant I have actually forgotten what happened next. From my more recent experiences at joining at other places I can guess I would have filled up a few forms, met new people, and tried to be friends with them. I would have gone out for lunch at one of those various restaurants in Koramangala, and would have had coffee later at the office.

I had a three-week long training as soon as I joined, along with eight (or were they nine?) other guys and one girl. But I don’t remember whether it started the same day or the next.

Exactly two years later, 28^th of June, 2006, I bought my first bike. The date was not planned, it just happened to coincide with my date of getting employed. I would not have remembered it at all had it not been the same day.

I don’t remember many of my friends’ birthdays and anniversaries. I don’t remember the date of my first date, I don’t remember when did I start to shave (I am not even able to recall the month), don’t remember the date I had those painful surgeries. But, strangely enough, I distinctly remember today, and I remember the 17^th of July, 2000, my first day at college. Perhaps I had waited too long for these two days. Perhaps because these two days would change my life forever, maybe these were the two biggest ‘incidents’ of my life.

Today when I was riding to my office, I somehow knew I completed my three years of working; I did not have to think about it approaching weeks ahead as we do for birthdays, and this was the most surprising. At times I forget what date is it today, and today not only did I recall the date, it dawned upon me from somewhere the importance of this date. I cannot try and understand completely the reasons of accidental remembering of this anniversary; like at many other occasions, I can only marvel at the strength and power of the human brain!

Finally...

2007-06-25T15:50:00.000+05:30

When I logged into my blogger account last weekend, I found Blogger has metamorphosed: the latest beta version (codenamed Invader) was released and then taken out of beta, there were a host of features never seen before, and Blogger had completely moved out from Pyra Labs’ servers to Google operated ones—I had to integrate my blogger account with my google account to start posting.

Well, I was bitten by the blog bug sometime in October 2005 when I created this blogger account. However, it was mainly to post non-anon comments at friends’ blogs, and with a faint hope that I would start blogging myself sometime. Finally the hope fulfils. :)

I was surprised at how fast things change. (Yes I know I should expect time to fly)—it has only been a year and a half, and I find everything around me has changed. I’ve had two job switches, my parents moved to Bangalore, I’ve grown shoulder-length hair and switched back to crew cuts at least thrice. My friends have been going places, hopping jobs and cities and continents, some coming up with startups, others getting married, some even attaining parenthood—and I couldn’t come up with a single post in this time. But yes, I was busy elsewhere—hunting jobs you might say.

Even the topics I had thought I would write upon are either irrelevant now or I’ve forgotten the details. However, an entire new set of ideas and thoughts have come up and I intend to regularly write on them and publish.

Let us hope I do not get busy in hunting again and present you with some posts soon.