Daily Jot

My Latest Playground

2011-12-10T22:12:00.001+05:30

Stock Markets !

Yep. I've decided to help out the troubled Indian economy by lending a helping hand. And I've been putting my money into stocks that are going from red to 'redder' :-S

But then, this is turning out to be a great timepass (if it could be called that...) Nothing like throwing your bucks into thin air and seeing them vanish. BSE and NSE have become such good friends of mine, that a market holiday leaves me bored, with nothing to do :-D

Along with operating a demat account comes the most important aspect of investing - reading and researching. Moneycontrol.com helps me control the outflow of money. Economictimes.com gets its share of time as well. Then there are fellow traders (Gasper, Bin etal) whose red-redder-reddest profile stories keep me inspired. The market "guru" of all times, Dipu has now stopped helping the Indian economy. Sad state of affairs :(

There are self-proclaimed market analysts - the kinds of Udayans, Sukhanis - who are always busy giving tips and predictions. Some typical lines "Sensex to remain flat today", "Nifty to open lower", "Euro fate to decide market movements". They seem to be right most of the times. Is that the "Probability Theory" at play ? Who knows..

There are these statistical games that I dont understand too much - the candlestick pattern, the 30-day moving average and jargons like that. I would blame it onto the BTech curriculum for not including Statistics into the course line. (Or was it part of the course ? I really dont remember ! )

Reading through news, and having seen a lil bit of markets over the past 5-6 months, I've started coming up with my own predictions. Take this one for instance "Sugar stocks are beaten down, but will be a good long term bet". Nice one, huh ? :-P

One smart thing I've done is to diversify the portfolio to a decent extent. So there is automobile, metal, IT, oil, telecom - all of them balancing the anvil. When one sector goes southbound, there is someone else going green and keeping the overall picture pleasant. During bad days, everyone goes down, and its "red" all over..

Going green has new meanings to it. The greener, the better :-)

Chung Waaaaaaahhh

2011-03-23T13:37:00.000+05:30

Sounds very scary, doesnt it ? Chung Waaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh...
More like SRK shouting 'Bhaagoooo.....' in Om Shanti Om.

Quite a nice analogy - for the fellow diners :-D

So, after stuffing the tummies sufficiently at Gasper Residence (we once named it Vuvuzela, but he seemed uninterested. We should have got, rather, inspired to fix that name, after his response), we headed off to our treat venue - Chung Wah at Koramangala. It was long since we tasted some Chinese stuff, and this seemed to be a good option at hand considering proximity and budget. Budget shouldnt have been a major factor of concern for somebody who almost acquired permanent citizenship in the US with his extended 5-yr stay there. But we dint want to make others (hoteliers) rich , while we ourselves remain poor :-D

The traitor..er... treater, Dipu, was all the way trying to make a point clear by asking "So, whose treat is it?". We chose to ignore this, as we (and he) knew , his turn would come :-P

A comfortable travel in wagonR was in the offering, but Sowji preferred to beat the night cold (perhaps, to take a break from the non-stop "push" from Dipu). We reached the place well in time. But wagonR didnt. They took a 'short-cut' to reach the place, thanks to Rat for the route suggestion, and landed 10 mins late :-s

Even before the wagonR reaching, Sand arrived. With KK and the wagonR arriving, all had come but for Geo. (Geo has had real 'good' experience last time for his treat, reserving two tables - hugging one, laying foot on the other - at a busy eat-out in Koramangala. Eventually, he was thrown-out by the restaurant guys. We turned up at the venue after an hour :D ). By the time, Geo arrived, we had managed to empty 4 platefuls of starters, and 3 tablefuls of eaters. KK was a major contributor for the latter development.

Soon we saw that the bearers were guiding prospective eaters who dived into the restaurant to the upper floor. A daring family of 4 that managed to seat at the table adjacent to ours soon went into pensive mood. The big-hearted (bit-tummied) head of the family was staring at our table all the time. But then, we chose to ignore them altogether. Why would we want to get into trouble. We continued to be at our noisy best...

The food was good.. Some dishes couldnt be emptied, perhaps due to the fact that most of us werent hungry. In the end, the waiter came with the bill along with a broad smile .Did I hear him murmuring "Finally the termites are leaving". Dipu did the honours and we were out.

Tail:
1. The 'noise-less' discussions extended even after we came out of the restaurant. The discussion was primarily between Geo, Dipu and Sow on having some 'dessert' after the treat :-P
2. KK left soon (we dint hear much of noise, hence this conclusion)
3. All all guy-get-together, we had some real good time, with uncensored recollection of old times :)

Tea Kudikkaan Povaam

2011-03-18T14:38:00.000+05:30

'Tea kudikkaan povaam' is one of the few malayalam sentences that a kannadiga friend of mine can utter with ease. He is now in a different location but the tone and the pace at which he says this is unique and stays at the back of the mind.

Now to the point... It took me 8 months and several bashings from Soo to come back to this place. First up, approved some comments amidst tons of spam entries. (tons =18 :-D ) This happened yesterday.

Today I have an extra hour of free time (that takes the total available office free time to 8.5 hrs - 1 hour for lunch, you see...). So took this brilliant opportunity to scribble a few lines about our recent 'surprise' home visit to Gasper's house for tea :)

We dont go just like that to any house for tea, you see.. .We "BARGE" in :-D
Luckily for Gasper and Joel , mummy was home, and things were easier for them.
Otherwise seeing a bus-ful (okay, 4 of us) any by-birth generous host would have found respite on floor.

Our 'surprise' visit, actually ended up to be a surprise for us. The delicacies that were dished out onto the table were hot and freshly prepared. Chakka-puttu (scientific name Jackfruit-steamCake) was one of a kind, and a first for me. Then there was the jackfruit itself (which somehow managed to escape the wrath of Gasper). A few other plates of home-grown fruits and we were full. Nobody dared go extra-full, coz in an hour's time, we had Dipu's Chung-Wah treat (details of that in a later(???) blog) to go to.

With mummy around, it was Gasper's turn to keep shut. We recollected some of the super jokes that were cracked by mummy during our visit to the Kalathippady House. Phew what a treat that was. We also had good times reminiscing the table-emptying exercise that we carried out at Mridul's residence, having visited the place soon after a wedding feast (Bin's bro's).

Sowji did a rather close-to-formal wedding invitation to mummy. But mummy outrightly rejected the invitation discarding it a informal. Sowji was bowled out :-P.

All of Dipu's attempts to show off went down the drain when he heard the comment 'even otherwise, Kottayam natives are all selfish and rude minded' :-D

Bin was busy finishing the jackfruit.

Jim was half asleep, but managed to munch in his share of goodies.

Gasper, as expected, remained silent for most of the time - perhaps cursing himself to have invited the noisy fella's home.

Tail:
1. While zipping tea, Rat sent an sms to Geo "dipu's treat at Chungwah. Time 7.30PM". Came his reply "okay see you there at sharp 8.30PM" :-))))

My Mobiles

2010-07-08T11:35:00.000+05:30

It was in September 2003 that I landed up in the IT city to pursue my professional aspirations. Most of the guys in our gang were also posted here. So that meant regular weekend meetings, going around the (then hot) Brigade Road, occasional movies, dining around a table in one of those house-converted-mess eateries..

I was not a big fan of a miniature tracking device (read mobile phone). Not that i keep a distance from gadgets, but simply because I wasnt yet ready to own one on my own. I was still getting paid sack-ful of peanuts during those days, and every nut saved helps retain the digits at the right place when I check my bank account online.

KK was either too annoyed by the miser named Rat, or he was too much in love with me that he wanted to talk to me every 15 seconds to express his feelings to me. Odds favor the former. Whatever it is, I ended up losing almost half of my salary one fine day. I still remember the day.

As usual I dress up nicely on Saturday (yes, thats right... on working days, I look rather shabby) and head for JB Nagar. That used to be the hub with maximum 'friendly' population under one roof. I still get reminded of that dreadful day when I pass by this house on my way to office/home. KK has this bike and I enjoy doing the role of navigator (The navigation story way back in the college days with KK riding and me pillion riding is a hillarious episode altogether)

So here we are on the bike. What appeared to be a casual ride on a fine evening took a rather ugly climax. The shopkeeper was delighted to show all the fancy handsets - the newly launched / now in India types. But the scapegoat in me was advised by the relatively better expertised KK to buy a funny samsung device. It had this thing protruding from top - they call it antenna.

Nevertheless, it didnt take long to get used to this samsung beauty with a blue backlit screen and all that. Pouches took turn to protect it. Charger made sure it is never short of any bar on the metre. A loyal buddy for many years...

_________________________________________________________________________________
Sharp TM100

It was time to get real fancy. And the only hope was my onsite-returning bro. Expectations never run dry with him. And I was spotted with a super cool color screen slider handset - 'sharp' written in the front and 'T Mobile' written behind. Taking pics in mobile soon became my favorite pass time. And to boast, it had a 200 sms storage capacity. (SMS is my bread and butter, in case you dint know :P). It was so much in demand that I even had to display martial arts skills one evening enroute home, to save it from prospective hijackers.
Fate has it that I ended up losing it after having misplaced it somewhere in a restaurant premises :(

I remember getting sentimental after the loss of this mobile, since it was a priceless gift. Bro said forget it, but how can I :'(
_________________________________________________________________________________
N-series !

Year 2005. Mobile revolution was catching up. The funny egg shaped nokia handset was popular. Kiron had it. And he attached good value to it since it helps him remain grounded if he has it in his pocket. Other manufacturers were picking up with the Sony Ericsson and Motorola eyeing the younger generation.

But having seen the 'challenges' of owning a hi-fi mobile, I decided to settle down for a mobile set that had anti-theft feature. The nokia 1108. No thief would dare touch it.

A very useful piece of mass. 3 days battery backup. Torchlight for Indian conditions. Camera-attach option. Water-resistant (tested in one full bucket of hot water). Stress-tested (multiple uncountable occasions of free-fall ; at times, along with the user). child-proof (RockMon completed beta testing of this feature, but going by the google way, he has opted to keep it in beta forever)

I think it is a priceless masterpiece. It is pretty much a head-turner. I find people finding tough time to take their eyes off my mobile, particularly when they find me reading news on it, while in lift. Though their first look lands on the mobile, the 2nd stare is directed towards me - envy ? jealousy ? I dont know. I didnt bother to find out.

Tail:
1. The total expense altogether incurred in owning multiple handsets till date has not yet crossed my first peanut payout. Quite an accomplishment, isnt it :-D
2. There is one fellow in office who uses an old fashioned nokia butterfly mobile - 2300 or something. I pity him. I think he envies me.
3. Recently I purchased a sony ericsson handset - color screen, fm, speaker phone.. J200 I guess. It cost me just 1200. Less than half the cost of my N-series mobile!
4. During my wedding week, people were surprised and shocked to see a new mobile in my hand. Silly people. It was just a new all-white make-over pack. The mobile was the same :P

Superhit Movie

2010-07-06T15:40:00.000+05:30

അല്ല അറിയാന്‍ മേലാഞ്ഞിട്ട് ചോദിക്കുവാ .. ഈ superhit എന്ന് പറഞ്ഞാല്‍ എന്താ അര്‍ഥം ? നമ്മളെ ഒന്നും അറിയിക്കാതെ ഈ TV ഭാഷാ പണ്ഡിതന്‍മാര്‍ പുതിയ നിഘണ്ടു വല്ലതും ഇറക്കിയോ ആവോ..

എന്ത് തന്നെയായാലും കൊടും ക്രൂരത തന്നെ.
"Winter" എന്ന് കേള്‍കുമ്പോള്‍ എന്തെങ്കിലും തോന്നുന്നുണ്ടോ ? വെളുത്ത മഞ്ഞും , കൊടിയ തണുപ്പും, ജനല്‍ പാളികളിലെ ജല കണികകളും ഒക്കെ ഓര്മ വരുന്നുണ്ടാവും.

"Superhit ചലച്ചിത്രം Winter" എന്ന് കേള്‍കുമ്പോള്‍ എന്ത് തോന്നുന്നു ? ആദ്യം ചോദിക്കാന്‍ തോന്നുന്നത് "ഇങ്ങനെയും ഒരു പടം ഉണ്ടോ?" എന്നല്ലേ ? മലയാളി എന്ന് പറഞ്ഞു അഭിമാനം കൊള്ളുന്ന ഒരു സാധാരണകാരനു ചിലപ്പോ ഒരു ചെറിയ ചമ്മല്‍ തോന്നിയേക്കാം.. ശെടാ.. ഇങ്ങനെ ഒരു പടം...ഇതെങ്ങനെ miss ആയി പോയി..

അധികം desp ആവാന്‍ വരട്ടെ. ഈ പടം ഇറങ്ങിയത്‌ ഇതിന്റെ director പോലും അറിഞ്ഞു കാണില്ല.. Theatre ഇല്‍ ഒന്നും എത്തിയ മട്ടില്ല.. ഇതിലെ പാട്ടൊന്നും ഒരു സംഗീത ചാനലിലും കണ്ടിട്ടില്ല..

ഇങ്ങനെ ഒക്കെ ആണെങ്കിലും TV ക്കാര്‍ പറയുന്നത് ഇത് "Superhit" മലയാളം ചിത്രം ആണെന്നാ !!
ഹാവൂ...
എന്തൊക്കെ കാണണം !
കാണാന്‍ കൊതിയാവുന്നു എങ്കില്‍ നിങ്ങളുടെ പ്രിയപ്പെട്ട മലയാളം ചാനല്‍ കണ്ടു കൊണ്ടിരിക്കു ...
വരും... വരാതിരിക്കില്ല..

Movies & Weddings !

2010-05-26T13:45:00.003+05:30

The last movie we watched in Bangalore was.. Oh My God.. MNIK !

Phew.. what a shame

:-D

But the most recent memories of a movie in theatre happens to be "In Ghost-house Inn"

How we landed up in the theatre is another interesting story. Let's start from the beginning...

The place is Gasper's house. The day is Labor Day. Also happens to be the eve of Gasper's wedding. Rat, Jim and Mridul creep into an almost deserted house. A typical Malabar wedding would have the house thronged with neighbors, relatives, strangers, friends, enemies and all categories of people. But this was one peaceful house, against all our expectations. Alright, there were 12 red color plastic chairs in front of the house (But then, they were piled up one on top of the other, making it slightly difficult for you to rest your bottom, unless you are quite good at rock climbing, cliff hanging and the likes...)

So it is late in the evening.. the sun had already bid tata bye bye.. there was slight drizzle - just the right amount to make the Bangalore expeditors feel like at home (as far as the weather goes).

All was well till we barged into the 'palace' at level 1. Seeing absolutely no soul at level1, we climbed up to level2. There was a small crowd (read 5 ppl) sitting around a table and engaged in small talk. Lucky were we to spot our hero, stealing himself into one room (perhaps he saw us coming? :-S ). We chased him down, and we got a comfortable seating in front of the TV. Some stupid cricket match was going on (was it the ever so stupid IPL?). Finding it odd to be looking like 'having come all the way from Bangalore to watch a cricket match being played in some other continent', we shifted base to the sit-out. We were succesful in dispositioning the elderly people already seated it. That gave us a seating option..

So far so good... And then....

An army of tiny toddlers, out of nowhere. The eldest of them, probably 6 yrs old. But absolutely 'flamboyant' and energetic gang. They got straight into action, when we played 'friendly bros' to them. Jim was beaten up the most. Mridul managed to save himself by keeping safe distance from all the 'riots'. Rat enjoyed Jim getting man-handled (even though Rat himself was getting his share of bash onto the head, when the 'protesters' got bored of Jim).

Juice came from inside. There was a small lull.. The army went inside.. And we got a breather.. Not for long ! They had perhaps gone to 'energize' themselves with a drink or two. The attack gained more strength and vigor. And there was no Gasper to save us from being massacred. Jim threw this (brilliant) idea to the fellow-sufferers. Why dont we go for a movie ? Not thinking for a second, we waved tata bye bye to the folks and carried us on our feet. Phew! We missed the dinner, but we saved ourselves !

The theatre is an odd one. It happens to be a theatre complex, and the only parking space available is the narrow road beside the KSRTC bus stand that leads to the complex. The smarter lots sacrifice the first 15 minutes of the movie and park at the extreme back. They are the ones who get to leave first. You can also read this as "Nobody goes home, unless that fellow gets out of his show!". Interesting !

We admired the fact that we came walking and not by car(As if we had our S-class getting dry-washed while parked in the hotel)

The movie was nice. Mridul and Jim had already watched the movie once in Bangalore (150 bucks per tkt.. eekz!). And here we are, for 150 bucks, we had our 3 tkts, interval-time popcorn, ice-cream and coffee for Jim :-)

For the record, the wedding next day was smooth (but a lil lengthy proceedings at the church). It was a nice gathering of our gang - most of 'em into the knot already.. We packed back by the evening train. A/C compartment , you see ;-)

Tail:

1. A few other good movies to watch - Loudspeaker, Neelathamara. Loudspeaker is a very homely movie.. And also boasts about "live" dubbing to the credit of our own Pookuti :)

2. Our Day2 breakfast was awesome at Kottayam. Some 'bhavan' near the place we stayed - Arya Bhavan ? I think so..

3. Not breaking the tradition, we got our 'special' gift carefully wrapped up for the couple. It was a mixed bag with Balarama, Balabhoomi, Balamangalam, Kalikkudukka all in one pack. Boy, they would have enjoyed a lot :-D

Latest Hobby

2010-05-20T10:46:00.002+05:30

Pluto is relatively deserted these days.

We were always able to maintain a headcount of 4 or more any time of the year in Pluto. But now due to multiple reasons, it is consistently at a number less than 4.

Sowji -> onsite

Bin -> long leave, thanks to his bike adventure

Gasper -> another tragedy code-named 'marriage'

Rat -> what the hell am i doing here! I'm married too. But madam is gone on a 1 month vacation to native. PG Entrance Preparations !

So here I am in Pluto, with Mridul and Jim.

Mridul, if he is not cleaning his bike, would be riding it.

Jim has this strange shift such that I always see him sleeping.

(He would be of the same opinion about me :P )

Alright, so all this sounds like a dull situation.

But wait.. there is a positive side to it..

We are 3 in pluto and there are 6 bikes (okay 5, exclude that R15) at your disposal.

It was my good old pulsar for the first week (I'd been here for 3 weeks you see ! )

Switched to Zma for the next week (had to fill petrol in it - thats the down-side of it :(

Now on avenger - boy what an experience...

People keep guessing what is this fella upto, today..

Zma is a power bike (it is 225cc, mind you!) and you would have gone a few kilometres, before you realise that every other vehicle is behind you..

Avenger is the Feel like God machine. I now know, why they have this as the punchline. We all look up to God for anything and everything.. And if you are on an avenger, all eyes are on you (okay, on the bike..). Add to that, the "keyless entry" and remote lock features that does the "Blip Blip" sound when you are already a few metres away from the parking lot with the remote in hand. Definitely a head-turner..

It is fun all around.. but lasts only till tomorrow.

Madam is back ! And I'll be back to RockHome..

Back to playing with Rock and laughing at his gimmicks :-P

Tail:

1. Bangalore is back to normal, thanks to Laila :)

2. Been to two weddings in the interim. Bin's cousin Neethu got married end of april. Gasper's was on May2.

3. It was a long time since I attended any weddings... The previous most recent one was mine :-S

4. Nice to see the final verdict on the 26/11 killings. The sooner the verdict is executed, the better. 30 crore bucks from our tax money has gone into "protecting" a national "hero"!! Pls get rid of him soon.. I dont want to see him contesting the next general elections..oh plzz!!!

Kemman Video

2010-03-10T21:21:00.000+05:30

MUA : Travelogue - Kemmangundi Trip

2010-03-09T13:02:00.010+05:30

Aarokke eneetaalum illenkilum...

Had been saying this for more than 2 months till one fine Thursday evening. I did one final round of calling the concerned parties on phone, before heading for my abode2 - Pluto. Nothing there had a trip feeling. No packing, no maps, no plannings.. I had my shoulder bag packed up. Inspired from me, Gasper too did his bit. Bin and Jim hadnt reached yet from office. Their shift time ends only by 11PM. I slept...

4.30AM... I got up to find "logs" of sleeping beauties beside... Kicked the ass of one and all. Once all booted up, it was (finally) for sure that the trip is going to happen.

Destination: Kemmangundi

Trippers: Rat,Bin,Jim,Gas. Mrid to join on day2

Mode of transport: Bike ! :-)

At 6.15 all were out and on the roads... We did our bit of 'preparation' by filling an empty fuel tank, and also checking the tyre pressure..

Little bit of truck traffic in the initial stretch to Tumkur, but all plain road after that..

Breakfast was at Tumkur..

Toll roads were magical. And the best part was "No Toll For Bikes.. Yippeee". That, pretty much, justified our plan to do the trip on bike :D

The onward route was : Koramangala -> Yeshwantpur -> Tumkur -> Tiptur -> Arsikere -> Chikmagalur

The initial stretch is NH4 and then we hit NH206. The final 40 odd kms to Chikmagalur was not good.. There was a better route to take, but we were unaware..

At 12.30 we had already done 245km and checked into a hotel in Chikmagalur.. All bikes and all bikers in good condition.. Bath, lunch, sleep... Just before the noon nap, it was announced "aarokke eneetaalum illenkilum 3.30 aavumbo blah blah blah". We got up at 5.30 :D

Chikmagalur is a nice tiny town, buzzing with activity all the time. Not much of tourist spots as such, but short rides around the town give as much pleasure... We left for MG Park. Gas tried horse riding. An inspired Bin tried too.. Horse riding is not for kids.. So Rat and Jim stayed out.

Back to room...Eat sleep.. End of Day1

Day2:

Contrary to expectations, guys were out by 6.30 in the morning. But still we missed the sunrise deadline.. Something in the wishlist was to ride 30Km upto Mullyangiri to view sunrise :D

Nevertheless, if not at Mullyangiri, we caught this on the way:

Mullyangiri was awesome.

Trekking would have been a nice experience. But that was never in our agenda. Common sense says that trekking leaves you exhausted. And with 3 persons required as riders at any given time, trekking was an intelligent thing to be left behind.

Lots of gimmicks here at Mullyangiri:

Mis-reading a signboard, we reached Dattapetta (or something like that..) Looked like a gated community stuff.. And one fella came with a receipt the moment they spotted us.. Dint spend a minute there.. Saved some bucks :-)) Back on track to K'gundi...

By 11.30 we reached K'gundi. Multiple disappointing things here:

1. The route which we used was the worse of the two available routes. "Worse" is not the word.. There was no road.. It was all gravel and dust. Poor bikes :(

2. The previous day, in approximately the same duration of time, we covered 200+km. But today, it is just a meagre 60km :'(

3. There is NO room available at K'gundi. The "special officer" was rude when he said "no booking? no room"

4. To top it all, there is ABSOLUTELY no crap thing to see in Kemmangundi. Echoing words of another group of santro-trippers "Hey, there is nothing here.. Its more of hype that was passed on over the years"

Rock Garden, Z Point, Shanthi falls.. my foot..

Rock Garden is no better than an average park in Bangalore.
Hoping to get some breathtaking view from Z-Point, we rode up hill.. but only till a certain bike-able point. Thats when ppl returning from the Z-point said with anguish "Pls dont go there, it is waste of time.. And you will tire yourself..

Phew.. that was one good piece of advice.. After all, the point num 3 above turned to be boon in disguise :-P

Now the only thing left was to visit the Hebbe falls.. Deciding to go against the odds, we said NO to jeepers. They claimed no other vehicle will be able to 'climb' the path. We were adamant and wanted to prove them wrong. We could prove them wrong only for half the distance...beyond which it was the kind of off-road hill climbing that we see on TV, that even hummer-types climbs with difficulty.

The day was turning out to be a flop show.. The only hope ahead is the Kalhatti falls.. We hoped there is at least a micro mini water fall there. In the end, it wasnt too bad. We did our bit of water games at the base.. And trekked to the top, high up, almost till the source of the stream.. Enjoyed the chill of water. Extremely relaxing times...

Had a lunch sorts at around 3PM. Planned to stay at "Birur". But a good samaritan enquired our plans of further visits and suggested we halt at Chikmagalur itself. The roads were good - it was NH206 again. So had a pleasure trip back to the base..

Mridul joined us in the evening. And we checked into another hotel, not wanting to tolerate the poor room service of Malnad Tourist Home.

Back to Jim's Experia.. GPRS.. GPS... and next day's plan was fixed for Belur, Halebidu (and ShravanaBelagola if time permits) Well, Jim says ShAravana Belagola :-))

Using all the info from net, Rat proclaimed "Belur is a must watch. It is 800 years old". Jim couldnt resist screaming "We are all living on earth and it is millions of years old". Rat retired for the day :-S

Day3:

It was only in the morning that we came to know about Mrid's strange dream...His R15 was stolen! Our hero rushed downstairs at 2.30AM to check if the black beast was in place.. He would have hardly got any nights sleep after that.. Cant blame him either. It is a 1.2L thing parked over there !

Checked out from Soundarya Residency at 7 in the morning.

Straight to Belur.

ChennaKeshava TempleAmazing place.. Built over 100 years.. This temple is said to be covered by sand to hide it from Muslim invaders.. Interesting! Not an easy thing to do with just man power..

Jim discovered that even in those days, technology was in good shape.. Chariot wheels hat nuts and bolts on it :P

Off to Halebidu.

Breakfast was from here. It was around 9.30AM. Halebidu is another Hoysala architecture..and pretty much similar to Belur temple. All rock.. All cool.. Places to sit and relax.. And lotsa greenery around.. Left the place at the scheduled 11AM.

Almost got blocked at this "burning tree" but we managed to squeeze ourselves thru..

It was power biking times ahead. The 85km stretch from Tiptur to Tumkur was done in 1hr. Phew!

Lunch at 3PM @ Kamat, Tumkur. For a change, we saw Gasper finding it difficult to finish what was on his plate.. Quite unnatural of him :P

We were at our juice shop near Pluto at 6PM

Tail:

1. The success of the bike trip has inspired into doing more such ventures. But Jim has strongly declared "Next trip will be a car trip". Jim paranjaal appeal illa :D

2. Rat had a day off on Monday on account of Holi. Gasper took leave and slept at home. Bin, Jim slept at a training :D

3. 700km in total

4. Nine days after purchasing his bike, Mrid had already done 1000+km on his R15 :-s

5. Kemman Video is coming soon ! Featuring VTV song :P

Random Bursts of Intelligence

2010-02-18T16:06:00.002+05:30

It used to be constant flow of intelligence.....and then I happened to watch MNIK.

Bangalore Elevated Highway

2010-01-27T10:51:00.006+05:30

Hosur Road had always been a nasty route on earth for many - particularly the SilkBoard to ElectronicCity stretch. This is the stretch that probably has the greatest amount of 'intellectual' transportation in India - the supposedly top cream of Indian youth sits in EC the whole day to facilitate foreign money inflow into Indian Economy.

No wonder that the government took the matter seriously when people complained about the inadequacy of Hosur Road to handle peak hour traffic. 800+ crores, 3years. And here we have one of the landmark constructions of Bangalore - The Hosur Road Elevated Highway.

Inaugurated on Friday, the 22nd of Jan 2010, the highway will be operated toll-free for the first week. Post that, through traffic towards Hosur is free, I believe, but entry to EC comes at a premium.

I already did multiple trial trips on this highway. The first time on Saturday (2-way) and the 2nd on Tuesday (1-way). On day1, I would have hardly taken 6mins to glide thru the 9km stretch, touching a top speed of 105km. The speedlimit on this road is 80km :P Sensing that bro wasnt appreciating the 'glide' too much, I had to slow down to a comfortable 70. The return was at a slower 50kmph and I felt like watching an art movie, riding at that speed for the entire stretch.

On day2, it was only the return trip that was on the elevated highway. This time, we (me and Doc) did some time-analysis. From the start, to the end of the highway it is 8km. At a consistent 50kmph, it took 8mins to cover the distance. (Now dont use the equations from Kinematics and prove me incorrect!)

A few thoughts on the highway:

1. It eases traffic for sure

2. Gives a good reason for the lousy techies to go to office (no more 2 hr trips to work)

3. Beautifully lit up in the night..

On the flip side:

1. With the road below widened to 10 lanes, traffic was at manage-able levels. Add a fly-over/under pass at 2-3 places and the job would have been done. 80Cr vs 800Cr.. Big waste

2. The side-rails of the elevated highway arent high enough to stop a 'flying' vehicle from landing on an unsuspecting pedestrian/biker on the road below. With vehicles screaming at top-speed on the highway, this is not an impossibility.

3. The lanes are very narrow. One car breaking down would mean congestion on the track.

Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable trip on the highway, as long as it was toll-free :D

A bigger irony is in the waiting, when the toll-gates start getting functional. The very intention of the 800Cr project was to reduce the travel time on the stretch. Starting this week, expect long queues at the toll-gate. 8mins of drive. 10 mins of wait at toll gate.. What a wonder..

This is where it begins...

And we're on top! See the Bosch building..

Almost at the EC-side.. Thats one of the crazy Infy buildings

Tail:

1. We did take some pics. Will post soon. [Update at 8.07PM - Done]

2. It was a peaceful Republic Day this year, but ppl who (accidentally) tuned into Zoom TV would have got frustrated to the end of the world, thanks to their "Phir Mile Sur" telecast in a for-loop. These national integration songs give goose pimples while in front of TV. But their effect stops there! And the re-mix sounded more like a re-mix. Sonu Nigam trying to give it a Rock touch??

A New Rajiv Gandhi In the Making ?

2010-01-12T13:00:00.002+05:30

It has been quite a while - 2 decades ? - since we saw one spirited dedicated social worker at a high command in Indian Politics. In a badly scripted play, where every single actor is at the mercy of another for survival, this gentleman stands out as an exception. And this very much explains why his straight-forwad remarks and view points on contemporary and bygone issues invite so much of media attention and develop into controversial stories.

The man is Shashi Tharoor (not Rahul, if you thought so... He is very much part of the 'script'!). If you are not too keen a news-grabber, or your arena is restricted to national news or state news, then this name would sound like belonging to a newcomer. But he comes with immense level of experience handling international issues, during his tenure as Executive Assistant to the UN Sec General Kofi Annan. An ardent cricket fan, his command over the language (English) will sweep many off their feet.

In this dirty game of politics, where people shamelessly 'plead' for media attention - be it in the form of "hunger strike" or in the form of "throwing mud at each other", this is one gentleman who is 'paparazied' by the media... He is a hot seller for them.

He is never away from controversies. A famous(?) one was when he referred to the economy class of airliners as 'cattle class'. Perhaps, too much of command over the language... Here in India, we are blissfully ignorant of the usage 'cattle class'.

Recently, I happened to watch a press conference of his, live on TV. I dont remember, when was the last time I watched any such event live on TV. Is it that they dont telecast it live, or becoz I stay away from TV ? Anyways, this was a big coverage, and unlike showing snippets of the press conference, the channels were dedicating considerable airtime, keeping aside their regular activities. Interesting !

Incidentally, this press conference happens to be the aftermath of another controversy, where he was alleged to have criticized the foreign policies of Nehru and Gandhi. His presentation was nothing short of captivating to watch. Excerpts (put down from own memory): "Did I ever criticize Nehru or Gandhi ? Gandhiji was never a minister, so what foreign policy of his are you talking about? You have the tapes of my speech with you. Please play it again and listen to what I have said. In fact, it was a seminar involving serious discussion about foreign policies with delegates from high ranks. It is discouraging to know that the attendees did not have a minimal level of understanding of the topic."

To one of the irking questions of a journalist, he responded "Next qn pls, I'm not going to listen to this nonsense" without losing his calm.

Check that video out on youtube or some other source, if you manage to come across. Be a fan!

Here is a printed version.

Is this the making of the future leader of the country ?! I wish it is...

(Isnt it visible from the fact that he has enemies in his own party ? :D They cant visualize a third person (first is Manmohan, 2nd is Rahul) coming anywhere near the proximity of the coveted chair)

Tail:

1. These days, the news channels do not seem to be airing news. Instead what they have is 'story'. A news channel almost always have this on their ticker - "Developing Story"

2. We should also be thankful to him for glorifying the name 'Shashi' that has been associated with all silly things for humor - Palarivattam shashi, for instance..

3. Shashi Tharoor is famous on twitter as well. I havent created an account, but this makes me re-think...

4. For some authenic reads : website , active website, wiki , twitter

Bizzarre Thoughts

2010-01-08T08:36:00.002+05:30

1. I wanna do my Masters in Oz

2. Do an interview with...who else...Prithviraj !

3. Dance on stage with MJ (a lil too late)

4. Bang Open that CD drive of Jez one last time

5. Go for a Sallu movie (these days we go only to good movies.. but let this be a change.. :D )

6. Walking up the Himalayas on a bright sunny day would be a good idea too

7. Read one book in full (non technical, non-Balarama, non-BobanumMoliyum)

8. Fast one full day !
9. Put Gasper on fast one full day :-D

10. Go to Lakshadweep....once again !

11. Compose, write and sing a song (w/o informing our hero in point 9)

12. Do bungee jumping (this would be the last thing I do.. I'm sooo scareddddddddddd)

A Long Year-End Vacation

2010-01-04T10:29:00.002+05:30

How pleasant a thought it is to lie flat on the floor in front of the TV, and then after a long while, get up to find a pillow tucked under the head to aid the sleep.. Blissful lazy days.. Thanks to the year end shutdown at the work place, I could enjoy a good long 9 days of no going to office. 2/3rd of this was at native.

Having enjoyed a similar heavenly feeling last year, it was a much anticipated thing this time around. If last year's vacation was mostly spent amidst the smell of dettol, this time it was different. Special dishes by mom, visits to home, visitors at home, Christmas Cakes!!!, RockMon's gimmicks. Also in the list were a trip to OV (olde veedu - typical kannur slang :D). And Movies...plenty of 'em. Not on the boring TV, but on a friendly PC. Just one movie outing to screen - 3 idiots. What a movie !

Homeland hasnt changed much. It was a hartal on Tuesday Dec29. A protest against rising prices. Dad commented on that day "Tomorrow, we'll buy rice at 10Rs per kg". A sarcastic line on an impossible outcome of the hartal drama.

A quick rating of the movies I watched:

1. Mulla - a movie from Lal Jose, but has no qualities of his usual movies.

2. Moz n Cat - Fazil's movie. Rubbish.

3. Bhayadevatha - Sathyan Anthikkad took a stupid subject. No good a movie.

4. Passenger - Good one in the lot

5. Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani - Average.

Adikkurippu:

1. How I wish a movie of Aamir Khan flops... His qjada is hitting the roof these days. But 3 idiots is yet another smash hit. Go watch it !

2. Do you know you can read manorama weekly for free at weekly.manoramaonline.com ?

3. It was a foggy blind 1st day trip to office today. The fog from North India seem to have found its way to here

4. Its raining weddings in our group. Unforunately due to the timings, could not go to a single one

വിഭജനം

2009-12-14T13:46:00.004+05:30

Kerala Cafe - Movie Review

2009-12-04T19:27:00.004+05:30

It was with a lot of speculation that we started off to this movie. We were 8 of us. Perhaps the highest headcount for an MUA in the recent recession-hit times.

For one thing, the movie is hyped a lot. With Renjith (the movie "organizer") himself appearing in the promo videos. The promos were good.. Nicely done trailor. The song that accompanies has got a different feel to it.

As we have seen and heard umpteen number of times, this is not a movie - it is 10 stories, done by 10 directors. If you peep into the poster, you realize that you havent heard 60% of those names tagged as a director of a malayalam (or for that matter, any language) movie.

But then the 2.5 hours spent inside the screen was involving. Not that it was the greatest of the times spent in a confined space, but it was worth nevertheless. It isnt one of those Salaam-E-Ishq kinda movie. Not all the stories are interlinked. But they have a connection with the Kerala Cafe remotely or otherwise. Except for the big names (Mammootty, Suresh Gopi, Sreenivasan, Dileep, Prithviraj, Siddiq) most of the other actors are seen sipping a coffee at the cafe.

Each story had a nice name - I can recollect some of them - Happy Journey, Off Season, Nostalgia, Lalitham Hiranmayam, Makal, Mrithyunjayam, Puramkaazhchakal (somebody pls complete the list!). The stories evolved nicely. Happy Journey brought smiles to many in the theatre - thanks to Jagathi. The girl, Nithya Menon did a good act too (Did we see her somewhere else ? In an ad ?)

Off season was an attempted humor. But it is a big flop. Rest of the stories were very nice. It is highly appreciated that an emotion or story be evolved and conveyed in a 10-15 odd min clip. Puramkaazhchakal was the promising one of the lot. It started off as a trivial oh-not-again type of old memories of an unfruitful love, but ended up giving everyone a heavy heart. This one is from Lal Jose.

Agonies of a Gulf NRI, recession-affected IT head, helplessness of a poor mother, negligence to the old, life-after-train-tragedy - all the themes were good.

In the end, when the last story was over, the crowd was still glued to the seats. They wanted to know whose creation was what. This, I think, announces the success of the venture.

Good job, Renjith. Good job, all the directors. But I sincerely hope, this doesnt become a trend. Or.....will it be good, if it becomes a trend ?!!! Who knows !

Tail:

1. At 100 bucks a ticket, it turns out to be one of the most cost-effective outings of recent times :P

2. CAT is a flop. RAT rules. Buhahaha :D

3. Interval break snacks were chocolates from Thailand. Thanks Sand Soo !

4. A word to the reviewer in contemporary news magazine "Kalakaumudi". You have no right to call the talent of Sreenivasan "mentally challenged". Get your act together, before you write a review. Reviews need to be constructively criticising.

Sagar Alias Jacky - Review

2009-11-07T23:05:00.003+05:30

A 2nd part to a movie originally released a decade back.. Sounds interesting due to 2 good reasons - the original film was a super duper smash hit. And reason 2 - coz of reason1, the expectations are sky-high.

But then, they say it is "not the 2nd part of the 20th century" - quoted from the title song. The title song is one good thing about the movie. Nice rap and nicely done song.

The movie has nothing much to talk about. A very weak story-line, nothing gripping in the plot, a heavily outgrown hero romancing a girl half his age (whats new?). Obviously the movie is a disappointment in all these trades.

But then I liked the movie ! The cinematography is simply superb. And it is so stylish a Malayalam movie. Undoubtedly the most stylish movie so far. (Mammootty starrer BigB comes very close by). The man behind the camera is the director himself. Amal Neerad. I dont remember seeing this name anywhere else though..

Well done, Amal !

Pazhassi Raja - A Constructive Review

2009-11-06T10:26:00.005+05:30

Let me get straight into the verdict.

With due respect to the crew and kudos to the idea and implementation, it was nothing but throughly mis-cast actors and lacklustre fight scenes that disappointingly bring down the expectations of the viewer. Barring Sarath Kumar, Padmapriya and Manoj K Jayan, rest of the character portrayals were disappointing. Not that I'm an A+ in History. But when you embrace the idea of filming a movie based on freedom struggle, you OUGHT to pay special attention to the acrobatics. The fights were nothing but mockery.

The movie is still fresh in my mind. I recollect only 2 occasions of applauses while inside the cinema. One was when the following lines were printed on the screen:

Special Thanks

Mohanlal

And the 2nd was a spirited act by Sarath Kumar when he went to the British Collector with a message from Pazhassi.

So where did the director get it all wrong ?

1. Casting, as I told, is one thing. Mammooty is a great actor. And when you cast him for a role that demands acrobatic maneouvres you should have your support crew ready - this involves camera-tricks and "realistic" graphics support. Both were missing.

2. Jagathy has seldom appeared in character roles. Rather, the crowd never can digest him in such roles. Coz they expect comedy and nothing else from him. Am attempt to get comedy out of him for a relatively serious role as in this movie was nothing but stupid.

3. The make-up works are worth not mentioning. Dont they get a lil more realistic looking moustache pieces ?

4. Fight scene - too much of attention at some places (why do they need to fly vertically up - the Matrix style?) and too less at some other (when Pazhassi locks sword with his most talented Army Chief, with the entire regiment looking on, there need to be some sparks)

5. The movie looked stretched too much. A song or two more?

So what are the take-aways ?

The story-telling part was good (this should be more of a negative f/b than a compliment)

I cant think of anything else.

The movie disappointed me.

Tail:

1. Geo seemed to have got it all wrong. He invited frowns from everyone around when he missed the syllables a little bit to say "Kerala Varma Parasuraman" :P

2. Thanks to a late start from home, and a heavily clogged highway, we (me and she) missed Geo's bday treat at McD :(

3. The movie started 10mins late, at 8.45. And it was 12.18 when we stepped out. Loooong !!

4. Of all the names, Sarath Kumar's character had the best one - Kunkan :)

5. All said and done, the film is reportedly raking in a lot of moolah all over Kerala..

You Have Changed A Lot

2009-11-03T08:56:00.002+05:30

You dont have time for us...

How is life treating you these days ?

These are just a few of the 'write-able' lines I get to hear these days.

But why all of a sudden ?

B'caz I'm married !

Its not the first time that a sub-30 average looking fella got married. But then, perhaps an engineer-doctor combination would have amused a few. Yesterday a fella caught me on gtalk.

He: You got married ?

I : Yes, I did.. I had sent a group invitation..

He: What is she doing ?

I : She is a doctor at ABC hospital

He: Doctor ? Isnt it difficult to manage...blahblah..

Whats the big fuss ? IPC has no section that makes it difficult to live with a doc (for her, with an engr)

All said and done, here is another very popular question:

So how is life after marriage ? (this qn is not always as decent as is typed here :D)

After having evaded witfully from the first 17 instances of this question, I gave it a thought.

So, how really is life after marriage ? What has changed ? Let me try to bullet some things down

=> A constant (consistent) pillion rider

=> Familiar lines narrated by a new voice - "Lunch?" , "Dinner?", "Walk?", "How ws the day?"..

=> No through-ventilation in the night - the door ought to be locked, by all means

=> Not avid shoppers, both of us (good for me and my pocket :P)

=> Lesser time at work-from-home in front of the lapie

=> Suggestions, advices, gyaan ! (I make sure I'm seldom at the receiving end :D)

=> Better dressing sense (from NIL to some sense!)

=> The one-point-stop for all the household engineering needs

(read, tightening the cooker screw, re-filling mineral water can and all such similar "extreme" engineering activities)

=> A few envious bachelor faces (the frown on their face tells - ivanum pennu kitto ? athum oru doctor pennu! )

=> And not to forget, FREE treatments! (medical, i meant :D)

Tail:

1. After outlining a hi-fi mega super duper honeymoon trip abroad, we finally managed to pay a visit to Ooty. (Which abroad country hosts Ooty in it? :-S )

2. If you thought stretching a few hours, seated in a cozy cushion chair in AC room is the toughest thing to do, then there are somethings to learn from docs. No sitting, no proper food-timings and lot of hopeful eyes on you... A bug in code is better by miles.

So go code bugs ;-))

Three Natural Calamities

2009-10-12T13:10:00.004+05:30

1. Flood !

Nobody would have missed making this guess, seeing the title line. These floods are just like pink slips. You dont get to the seriousness of it, until u get a first-hand experience of it. So while we sit here on our cozy sofa, "enjoying" every bit of the TV news visuals, blaming the Government for not having 'foreseen' this happening, and for not taking the right steps to curb it, we dont really get the real picture. If a page of your passport gets wet with a few water droplets and the prints wash away, then that is serious thing ! Imagine the plight of 100's of 1000's.. Their immediate life, their near future, their far future all washed away in the furious waters..

When water entered a unit of our office in the vigorous rains of last year, it was only a few machineries and data that went lost. But then we had backups and everything was fine. To top up things, everything was insured. Do the farmers of the lesser known areas have all these priveleges ?

I heard a colleague who had returned from a home visit this week. Should be of a funny bone. He said "All silk sari's of mom are gone". If the sari's kept safe in the almirah are gone, then what in the house would have remained intact ?

Alright, 3 long paragraphs. What is the point ? Read the flood-articles in Sunday Times (Oct 11, 2009). The writer asks "Is it a natural calamity or a manmade disaster?". The CM's of the affected states were quick in crying at the top of their voices to get relief packages - 1000 crores each. Where this money will is anyone's guess, in a corrupt country like ours. But havent we heard this proverb over and over again, so many different occasions ? "Prevention is Better Than Cure". The article talks about possible (highly possible and altruistic) causes that led into the flood of this kind. The article also highlights the reasons for death and devastations of this kind, and how it could all be minimized, if not, avoided..

2. Thekkady Tragedy

Not a calamity, but a tragedy of sorts. Thanks(?) to the above flood calamity, this one went reasonably unnoticed at a national level. A much hyped enquiry, a suspended driver. The story ends, at least to most of the print/electronic media. Everyone would be in one voice, advocating the usage of life jackets, safety measures and what not. If you go to the place on a normal busy day, then you would know reality is very far from theoretical talks. Standing in queue for hours to get a ticket, one would simply want to get into the boat and get the best seat on it, preferrably on the top. Who would want to listen to the safety talks ? When was the last time you paid attention to the on-flight safety announcement ? The first time u travelled in a plain, that is..

The bottom line, make it a compulsory thing by providing infrastructure - larger boats can accommodate more people (oh really?!) and can be a good tonic to beat the rush.

3. Mayawati

If the calamities listed 1 and 2 could have been averted, I wonder if a slight ancestral foresight would have helped us do away with this (bigger) one! How can a person sitting in the supreme seat of a state act so outlandishly by creating monuments of herself at busy streets ? Let her do that if she wishes, but please, not with our tax money. Pity to the electoral role of UP to have placed this "calamity" high up and not down under !

Update[Oct14, 2009] : Mayawati issues order to check unproductive government spendings !!!!

Tail:

1. A very very grim face, full of make up , hair-do , lipstick and glare "Our reporter Maya Gupta is present at ground-zero with more info on this unfortunate event". And what we see next is a fat lady in salwar standing dipped into waist-high water and delivering lines in an even grimmer face (but this time, no make-up. where do you find a beauty parlor in a flood hit land?). Another "ground-zero" reporting was during the Chennai Marathon (or was it Mumbai?). The reporter Mr Gonsalves is seen running along with the participants - all aged retired gentlmen - holding mic in his hand. And asking questions and getting answers even while they are all running. How innovative ?!! Will there be a ground-zero reporting of a volcanic eruption ? I would luv to see that

2. The close-up Ad is doing rounds! It was Sow who first pointed out the ad and the song, I guess. Now the song has become such a big hit that they hav launched another ad with a remixed version of the same song. Way to go :)

3. Long time no movie, and post wedding first movie - Wake Up Sid. The regular team - Sand/Soo, Gas, Bin, Sow, Mridul - and my doctor. Good movie !

4. Cousin had been to K.Gundi. 300km from here. Looks heavenly! So what's next ? :)

(Or in a non-syntactical Samsung manner, Next is what ? :D )

I'm Wedding !

2009-08-27T20:59:00.002+05:30

What a stupid title ?!

Forget the grammar, and watch this video:

New Songs... New Faces !

2009-08-20T09:11:00.003+05:30

While the movie buffs and music lovers are stunned at the new release "Puthiya Mugham" debate is still on, whether the title song is entirely sung by Prithvi himself. The tone of the voice changes dramatically from the initial low pitch to the punching high pitch. We could give the credit to the actor, and blame the tone variation to a miscued mixing. Coz even the music director Deepak Dev has reportedly said that the entire song is sung solely by Prithvi.

I still ought to disbelieve. Watch this video and you will know why.

I still ought to disbelieve. Watch his lips carefully at the high pitch rendering part and you will know why. (Again, a bad video mixing? Who knows!)

Whatever the outcome of the debate be, this a nice creation by Deepak Dev. The movie has other songs that are on top of the charts. "Picha Vecha" by Shankar Mahadevan is a quick-like romantic melody. "Thattum muttum" is by Jassie Gift. Listen to this on a 5.1 :)

KK has sung his first Malayalam song "Rahasyamaayi". Pretty average song.

Tail:

1. Ee padam koode hit aayathode nummade payyante jaada angu kombathethi. Entammo!!

2. With Mohanlal and Mammootty doing stupid movies, no wonder that "Puthiya Mugham" made it big. Even otherwise, I heard that the movie is nice.

3. Do you know DD is part of the panelists of Amrita Super Star 2 too ? Good quality program. Dump ISS, and welcome ASS (this is an abbreviation, FYI :D )

4. What has happened to Bollywood ? Not a good melody to listen to!

All Lines In This Route....

2009-08-13T09:13:00.003+05:30

Taking cue from Soo , I thought I'll touch upon another interesting aspect of weddings. To be specific, the "journey between engagement and wedding". Apologies, if that sounded like the punch line of a Suraj Barjatya movie :-S

New age weddings have this "forced" social drama, that typically starts post engagement - Phone calls ! You dont follow this 'ritual', and you will be tagged unexcited and disinterested in the whole proceedings...

I know a friend. He is more of an average human being till his marriage was fixed. Even a few days into the engagement, he was pretty much norma. That is when he got a call from his fiance in a low shy complaining tone "Why dont you call me?". The last I heard about this pair is that their calls end at 3AM in the night. I have no clue, what time it starts !

People who commute to office/home on foot are highly benefited. They have the so-called "privacy" while being on the phone. Of course, the unfamiliar passer-by who doesnt know the word "bluetooth" may wonder if this fellow has lost his senses talking all by himself..

Now, the most interesting question...
What do they talk for so long ?!!!!!

These are the typical topics:
How was the day ? What color do you like ? blah blah blah...

After initial days of blah blah, they run of topics, and this is what happens:
So.... ? What else... ? You say something....

The most commonly dragged-into subject for conversations would be friends. And the fun-aspects take the centre-stage. The speaker makes sure that he/she is depicted as the hero in the story and the rest of the crowd has that clown attire.

Then movies, news, cricket(?), preparations, invitations....

Phew! I envy the Mobile Companies.. They sure are reaping the harvest of the season.
Particularly if the pair talks across the state border....

Tail:
1. Did you know ? The call drops all by itself when the ticker hits 60mins !
(That was news to me :D )
2. Ever heard of a 27second call ? :-P
3. Think of a doc-engr pair. The parties will have a lot of "variety" topics to talk. The words, ASIC, router, backbone doesnt make any sense to the doc. The words pathology, duty hardly makes any sense to the engr :-S
4. How do friends react ? If you dont call him/her, they say "What an idiot you are". If your phone is busy, they say "Give some rest to that mobile". Friends....!!! sigh... :P

നാട്ടു വിശേഷം

2009-08-07T10:05:00.003+05:30

നാട്ടില്‍ എപ്പോഴും എന്തെങ്കിലും ഒക്കെ പുതുമ ഉള്ള സംഭവങ്ങള്‍ നടന്നു കൊണ്ടേയിരിക്കും.
നാട്ടിലെ ആരോടെങ്കിലും ഒക്കെ ഫോണില്‍ നാലു വര്‍തമാനം പറഞ്ഞാല്‍ എന്തെങ്കിലും ഒക്കെ ചിരിക്കാനുള്ള വക ഉറപ്പ്. ഒരിക്കല്‍ അമ്മാവനോട് സംസാരിച്ചത്‌ ഞാന്‍ ഓര്‍ക്കുന്നു.. എന്തൊക്കെയോ കാര്യങ്ങള്‍ പറഞ്ഞു കഴിഞ്ഞു അവസാനം ഫോണ്‍ വെക്കാന്‍ ആയപ്പോ ഞാന്‍ പറഞ്ഞു ബൈ. അമ്മാവന്‍ പറഞ്ഞു ഗുഡ്‌ മോന്തി ("മോന്തി" എന്നത് മലബാര്‍ ഭാഷയില്‍ "രാത്രി" എന്നര്‍ത്ഥം") :-)

അതൊരു പഴയ കഥ. ഈയിടെ നാട്ടിലെ പ്രധാന വിശേഷം എന്താണെന്നറിയാമോ ?
മഴയും ഉരുള്‍ പൊട്ടലും ഒന്നുമല്ല..
പനി !

നാട്ടില്‍ ഇപ്പൊ പരക്കെ പനിയാണല്ലോ. നമ്മടെ പന്നി പനി അല്ല.
ഇതു മലബാറിന്റെ സ്വന്തം പനി. നാട്ടുകാര്‍ തമ്മില്‍ തമ്മില്‍ കണ്ടാല്‍ ചോദിക്കുന്ന ചോദ്യം: "പനി വന്നോ?"

ഈ പനിക്കു അപര നാമങ്ങള്‍ ഏറെ. ചിലത് താഴെ കൊടുത്തിരിക്കുന്നു :
൧. തക്കാളി പനി
൨. ചേന പനി

ഈ പേരുകള്‍ വീഴാനും ഉണ്ട് കാരണങ്ങള്‍
തക്കാളി പനി വന്നാല്‍ ദേഹം മുഴുവന്‍ വ്രണം പോലെ വന്നിട്ട് ചുവന്നു തുടുത്തു തക്കാളി പോലെ ആവും.
ചേന പനി വന്നാല്‍ ചൊറിച്ചില്‍. ചൊറിച്ചില്‍ എന്ന് പറഞ്ഞാല്‍ നിര്‍ത്താത്ത ചൊറിച്ചില്‍. രാത്രി ഉറക്കത്തിലോ മറ്റോ ആണ് തുടക്കമെന്കില്‍ പിന്നെ കാര്യം പോക്കാ.. രാവിലെ ആവുമ്പോഴേക്കും ചൊറിഞ്ഞു ചൊറിഞ്ഞൊരു വഴിക്കാവും..

മലയോര മേഖല പൂര്‍ണമായും ഈ പനിയുടെ പിടിയിലായിട്ടുണ്ട് . ഡോക്ടര്‍മാര്‍ക്കൊക്കെ ഇരിക്കപൊറുതി ഇല്ല. ഹെല്‍ത്ത്‌ സെന്റര്‍ , ഹോസ്പിറ്റല്‍ , ക്ലിനിക്‌ ഒക്കെ കണക്കായിട്ടുണ്ട്. എവിടെ ചെന്നാലും പനിയന്മാര്‍.

മറ്റൊരു രസകരമായ കാര്യം ഇതാണ് - പനി ഉള്ളവര്‍ വെറുതെ ഇരിക്കില്ല.. കൂട്ടുകാര്‍ക്കും വീട്ടുകാര്‍ക്കും അത് പകര്ന്നു എന്നവര്‍ ഉറപ്പ് വരുത്തും. എന്നാലേ അവര്‍ക്കും സമാധാനം കിട്ടൂ.

ഈ പനി വന്നാല്‍ ഒന്നോ രണ്ടോ ആഴ്ചത്തെ കാര്യം പോക്കാ.. ചിലര്‍ക്കു ശരീരം മുഴുവന്‍ വേദന. ചിലര്‍ക്കു ക്ഷീണം. ചിലര്‍ക്കു നില്‍ക്കാന്‍ വയ്യ... ചിലര്‍ക്കിരിക്കാന്‍ വയ്യ.. ചിലര്‍ക്കു ... :-സ

(പണ്ടാരം... ഒരു സ്മൈലി പോലും ഇടാന്‍ സമ്മതിക്കില്ല ഈ കുന്തം)

ഗൂഗിളിനോടുള്ള പ്രതിഷേധം അറിയിച്ചു കൊണ്ടു തത്കാലം നിര്‍ത്തട്ടെ...

വാല്‍:
൧. എനിക്കിതു വരെ വന്നില്ല ഈ പനി - (തൊടു-തടി)
൨. മലയാളം അക്ഷരമാല അറിഞ്ഞിട്ടു കാര്യമില്ല.. മലയാളം അക്ക-മാലയും അറിഞ്ഞിരിക്കണം.. ഇല്ലെങ്കില്‍ ഈ വാലിലെ ഒന്നും രണ്ടും മൂന്നും ഒക്കെ കണ്ടാല്‍ ഒരു കുന്തവും മനസിലാവില്ല (എനിക്കും ഒന്നും മനസിലായില്ല :ഡി)

5 Intelligent Interview Questions I Asked

2009-08-06T11:39:00.003+05:30

Read along to find out, what interview I'm talking about :D

1. What time does the Chennai Mail leave from Calicut ?
2. Do you dance ?
3. How often does it rain here ?
4. How has recession affected your company ?
5. Achhan pattaalathil ayirunno ? (Pointing to Subhash Chandra Bose's pic on the wall)

Okay okay... the last one is cooked up. But the rest are real incidents :-D
Now you know what interview it was !

The Ring !

2009-07-30T18:16:00.002+05:30

Details Coming Soon...

ITR Time Again : How To File IT Returns AY 2009-2010

2009-07-09T09:36:00.004+05:30

This is the assessment year 2009-2010.
And the assessment is done for the Financial year 2008-2009.
Confused, right ? The confusion ends here.

Keep this aside, and the IT Returns filing for this year is simple and very much (well, almost) similar to last year.

This is how we filed returns last year.

Here is a copy paste from the above link:
Steps in Summary:
1. Go to IT site and register yourself using your PAN number
2. Fill up the excel utility (use form16 for reference) and generate the xml file
3. Upload the xml file to the IT site, in your login.
4. Get the ITR-V, download it, print it, sign on it.
5. Go with it to the IT office and get it stamped.
(The printed ITR-V should be stamped at the IT office within 15 days)

The step 5 is now changed. You need to complete the first 4 steps and then send the signed ITRV to the following postal address:
Income Tax Department , CPC, Post Bag No - 1, Electronic City Post Office, Bangalore - 560100, Karnataka,

This has to be sent BY ORDINARY POST within 30 days of submitting the data online.

Some useful points:
1. You need to fill the "assessing officer details". Find it here:
http://www.incometaxbangalore.org/jurisdiction/juri_indiv_sal_blr.htm
2. The excel utility that is needed at step2 is here:
https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/portal/downloads.do
3. Some instructions to help filling it up is at the bottom of above link.
4. For filling up the excel sheet, you need to enable macro..
You would be prompted to do so when you open the excel sheet.
5. I happened to read somewhere that you should not fold the ITRV form while posting it. But nowhere in the Income Tax Site, it is mentioned so. But be cautious and dont tamper the BAR Code at the bottom right of the ITRV form.

NOTE: The details above are for IT filing in Bangalore. For other locations, steps 1 to 4 still remain the same. But you need to find the correct assessing officer detail and send it to the ITRV collection point in that location.

Happy Filing !

Malayalam TV Channels

2009-05-28T13:00:00.007+05:30

At Rock's place, the TV is more of a decorative electronic piece that is seldom used the way it is intended to be used. Not to blame it, when we have the complete entertainment package that goes by the name RockMon.

Nevertheless, there are occasional switching ON's and thumb exercises. Barring a few good channels (Discovery, CN, Amrita) the rest are all thoroughly Boring ! Between 6 and 10 there is no stupid malayalam channel worth watching. The so-called "reality" music program on the first ever Malayalam Satellite Channel has drooped to such boring levels that the thumb gets auto-reflexes when the blue-painted screen appears. It is a unanimous voice that says "the quality of contestants is far better compared to last year's ". But then, if there is no variety in show-packaging how can you expect the intellectual common Malayali man to sit in front of the screen for an hour at a stretch ?

Let me not talk about the "politically" operated, "cinematically" directed Malayalam channel. Having procured such a close-to-heart name - the literal name - of the channel, they have failed miserably to give any sort of entertaining or informative programs to the viewers. A few programs that stand out are Fresh N Hits and Hello Good Evening. HGE used to be far better in the initial days, but now it is just okay.. Forget the Palee-spear-headed programs. He is still in a fantasy world. Gandharva-Sangeetham -- total crap. It is so pitiable to see talented singer Srinivas sitting in the judge panel. His time should be used for better things - for instance, singing! The song from Dost - Manju pole - still remains favorite to many a person..

There is this Satellite channel, that goes by the name of a Star. Isnt that an anomaly in itself :D

I'm forced to watch this channel, thanks to mom, from 7 to 7.30. A soap by the name Mazhayariyaathe. It is interesting :P But then there is this SP madam who is leaner than a police laathi. How did she become an SP at such a young age?

(But then, what is your problem. She is the SP...period !)

This channel, gets alive at 11PM, with the long-running comedy-scenes program. Follows the "pazhayathum puthiyathumaaya paattukal korthinakkiya" music program. The comedy program doesnt have a commercial break :P No sponsors ? Good for us :D

Then there is this channel, which is the best thing to happen to Malayalam TV industry - keep aside the "exclusive" coverages to "Amma's programs" during the News Hour. Super Star was a reality music show on this channel, with popularity going sky-high. Stephen Devassy is a priced contribution of this channel - alright he was talented, but the channel showcased him in the right manner. Today, he plays in stage shows of Hariharan and A.R.Rahman ! But again, the channel has its own share of soap-offerings. So most of the prime time is gone down the drain. And for Heaven's sake, pls stop those stupid dubbed movies on Sundays. At least spare the songs, and let them be played in the original :(

Tail:

1. Sony kept telling "25 May se Badal Rahe Hai Hum". Ppl (or rather, I) kept thinking it could be some new looks, new logo... But phew... Its only a new set of soaps and then the game show 10 Ka Dum. The sale of Vicks cough tablets will go up, with Sallu bhai requiring a truck load of those after each episode :D

2. Zee TV has this super natural dance competition program by the name Dance India Dance. Talent in abundance. Keep aside the drama, the grand salute, the emotions, and it is an amazing dance performance by all the contestants !

3. Something about the ads... Seeing all these umbrella ads, I keep wondering.. Doesnt it rain in other parts of the country ? Or is the umbrella industry in India monopolised by brands from our tiny state ? Need to find out !

അറിഞ്ഞോ ?!

2009-05-22T19:58:00.001+05:30

ഇനി മലയാളത്തിലും ബ്ലോഗ്ഗാം.
ബുഹഹഹ

അടിക്കുറിപ്പ് : മലയാളം അറിയാത്ത വായനക്കാര്‍ സദയം ക്ഷമിക്കുക :-)

Where's the land ?

2009-05-22T18:08:00.002+05:30

I'm concerned about the ever increasing tree felling and the steady pace of constructions in cities blowing up every piece of land. But I asked this question, not in one of these contexts...

6 in the evening, these days, is reserved for rain. Leave from office either at 5.30, or past 7 and find yourself like a wet cat. This is what happened yesterday. The result was a lil different... I became a wet rat :D

A glance at the sky from Eejipura signal towards Domlur wasnt pleasant. It looked as if one of those black holes came down from outer space and landed upon earth.

Racing against nature is no good.. An attempt is all I made.. But I lost. Rain came down in bucket-full drops. And I took refuge at a shop shed. The shop looked like one of those village kinds, wooden shutter nostalgic ones...

The shelter was 8x4 sft. And there were already 2 bikes, 5 guys and a dog. I found my place and settled down, enjoying the rain droplets in the yellowish headlights of passing vehicles...

There were a few crazy bikers - both ladies and gents - who dared to go against the rain....all wet. I opted not to join them.

15 mins into the rain, and the road disappeared. It was water everywhere. My dry land disappeared too.. What felt like rain falling directly into my socks , was in fact , muddy ground water trying to dip me in.

I discovered an interlock brick.. Tapped it to stability, and stepped over.

I felt like a triumphant warrior on the war-field.. Wanted to raise my helmet in pride. But the helmet was still on, to save that part of the body from being drenched.

The victorious posture didnt last for long. Soon water level popped up, and the brick disappeared under thick brown stream... The fate of my shoe wasnt any different..

Bro called.. Nothing was audible.. Then he msg-ed.. Where are you ? Are you alright ? Should I come ? Reckoning his worries, I msged back saying I'm alive and safe. Another msg from him "The junction ahead is flooded. Ride only if u see land. Follow a vehicle"

30 mins passed by, and the shelter was empty. Rain had subsided and ppl moved on.. It was just me and the dog..

Already fully drenched, there is not much of point waiting for sunshine. In this part of the world, that is near impossible thing at 7.30 in the evening. So I decided to go.

Not even 100 m into the road, there was a barricade placed. And ahead of it was something that reminded me of the Zeus Canal (when was the last time i visited Zeus Canal?). Following a vehicle in the front seemed the best thing to do..

For a change, the usually busy roads are empty (and flooded). And the usually unused roads are full of vehicles (and less of water).

The rest of the distance (close to 4km) was travelled in 1st gear or the 2nd. Losing balance while at this speed was a dangerous act, coz I would be creating an opportunity to paint my pants brown, till knee level..

Goin along all unfamilar roads, squeezin past numerous stalled vehicles, and helping myself thru the rains, I reached a familiar road... Thereforth, it was ascent, and flood was a thing of the past.

At home, RockMon was all stunned to see RockUnc, completely muddy :P

Tail:
1. Casualties : 1 pair of shoes, 1 laptop charger.
2. The bike is rocking !
3. I found a biker racing amidst stalled vehicles in the flood and almost banging into a residential gate. He had done so , to set foot on dry ground for balancing, not interested in wetting it :D
4. In the Zeus Canal was an auto, "parked" perpendicular at the middle of the road, apparently with a water-logged engine
5. Bin replied to one of my msgs "Eeeeshwarraa... Nee Marichooo!!!" :P

Disproportionate Dependency

2009-05-15T11:42:00.002+05:30

No, I dint overhear that from a routine telecon. I coined it myself.

And this write-up has got nothing to do with any office matter. Nothing official about it.

(I think this was the punch line coined by Pepsi during 99 Cricket World Cup , when Coca Cola bagged the official sponsorship of the tourney. Smart indeed ! )

Back to the topic.

The other day, I was pondering on the dependency that we human beings have on gadgets. And in the list, undoubted winner of sorts is , the mobile phone. Close enough is the ubiquitous mp3 player. But then, thanks to technology, these things are built into one handy black tiny box which goes by the name mobile phone. Did you say camera ? For the amateurs who are not very particular about the image quality of the capture, but are more keen on the "moments", the camera in the mobile phone is the best mate.

Mobile phones are everywhere.. And most of the time in your pockets. And when you go to the terrace to dry your laundry, it follows.. It comes with you when you decided on a last minute shopping to get some onion, that should go into the boiling oil. And when you go to sleep, there it is, at the very easy convenient one-hand distance. (The one-hand distance is for safety aspects - not of the mobile, but of the user.. Heard of radiations ? )

When was the last time, you wished happy birthday to your friend, w/o an orkut or a mobile reminding you ?

When was the last time, you got up at 5 to go to pick a relative at rly station, all by yourself, and not courtesy the beep beeps of your mobile ?

Do we need a gadget to remind us all these things ? Is this a brain drain happening of a different kind ? Dont we already have all these capabilities built into ourselves ?

The answer is a bright big YES.

So here I am.. I no longer have any reminders in my phone (Okay, I dont call it a gadget. Soo may sue me). And I dont remember setting an alarm in it for getting up in the morning, in the recent past. And guess what.. I havent missed a single bill payment (yet). Good going..

No thinking, and all gadgeting makes Jack a brain-less boy !

Tail:

1. The games that come free with Operating Systems are good ones, dont you think so ? Unlike the car/bike games, this one needs thinking ! I play minesweeper and freecell at work :P

2. Added sudoku to the list recently. It aint such a bad game, after all...

3. Off-topic. The new idea star singer is good! The one that finished recently s***ked BIG TIME!

New Song

2009-05-13T23:16:00.001+05:30

Mos and Cat - Thottaal Pookkum..

Singer - Yasir.

Very nice !

Never Before In My Life...

2009-05-13T23:04:00.002+05:30

I have seen people doing it..

And they seem to get a lot of pleasure out of it when they are done..

And I never expected Gasper to join the bandwagon..

What is in it that makes it so addictive ?

Why would Gasper travel all the distance, just to have his quota for the day ?

I made up my mind to try it myself.

So here I am..

In my room..

With Gasper's guidance..

My First Ever..

Sudoku !

45 minutes into the game, on the 2nd last page on The Hindu, and a crazy restless me threw the paper onto the bed. The "satisfaction" of having filled 3 numbers outcast the "frustration" of having left so many columns either unfilled, or erased and erased over and over again and totally disfigured. To Hell With Sudoku. Mathematics is never the cup of tea for an engineer. We always have Start->Run->calc. Hail Microsoft.

Tail:

1. Shortly after this "performance" Soorji offered his i-phone with a real silly simple Sudoku. It had hardly 5 or 6 numbers to be filled. Sudoku for dummies. I cleared that. Phew.. The enjoyment I had.

2. I decided to pursue this game further and master it :P

3. I find it very much similar to the Minesweeper. That is Start->Run->winmine :)

4. Coming are the sudoku days. Ithu mikavaarum ennem kondeyy povuu :-S

OPT - Movie Review: 2 Harihar Nagar

2009-05-07T11:47:00.003+05:30

It was after such a long gap that the OPT-ians got together. 6 of us. And we pledged unanimously at the gathering that we would fight recession. The meticulous anti-inflation programs spearheaded by Geo has now has gone to such extents that the inflation number dropped to ZERO and then going further south-bound. With such a track record, fighting recession would be no big deal. The team has decided to join Kungfu Classes to fight recession.

Forum was very much deserted. Not even window-shoppers... The IT guyz of Bangalore are either toiling their nights in office to hold on to their jobs, or are busy looking for one to replace the lost job. Anyways, getting a ticket was no big deal.

Soorji at the counter. Rat and Bin behind (for moral support - and dont even think of any financial support!)

Soorji : 6 tkts

Boy: 720, Sir

Rat: All in one row please... Aaah.. back seats !

Boy: ( a stare )

Soorji hands over two 500 rupee notes, collects the change, counts, and leaves..

The moral supporters follow..

Boy: Sir, tickets ?

We thought it would be a good idea to have the tickets in hand, coz that is some proof that we watched the movie.. It may also be handy at the cinema hall entrance :-$

Meanwhile, Sow & Gas joined us. They had gone to keep the helmets into the cloak room. This is one facility that comes free of cost. And we make best use of it :-P

Inside the hall, just the farthest 3 rows filled up - hardly 40 people. May be because its a weekday, and may be because the movie had been running for quite a few number of days there.

The movie started off with nice graphics while the title was being shown. And the character introductions (as if we dont know them!) was also good. Its about the friends meeting after 10 long years, for the betrothal of Ashokan. And as always, they get into trouble - thanks to their "youthfulness" and "need for adventure" :-D

The expectation levels set for the sequel of a block-buster movie is very high. This is a boon and bane at the same time. The director has done a good job to meet the fan-expectations. The comic bits are good. The songs remain the same but with a modern touch. There is a bonus track as well towards the end. A decent one-time watch.

Tail:

1. New Punch-lines, adapted from the movie - "Oru aadu kuthaan vannaal enthu cheyyum" :P

2. Sand-Soo missed the train as they were too tired after their trip to native. Geo coined a phrase for them... The Travelling Sand-Soo Syndrome :-S

3. BTW, Soorji is Jim's replacement in Pluto. Not that Jim can be replaced by any other phenomenon on earth :-D

4. Geo almost fainted when he came to know we reached the theatre before 10.15PM! (the movie starts at 10PM :D )

5. Spaar diocle. Jagadeesh - " manja car kandappo kaakka aanennu karuthi erinjathaa.. chillu potteeennaa thonunney"

These Days I Am...

2009-05-02T11:37:00.003+05:30

1. IRRITATED: at IPL and the "special appearance" of that chairman on TV every 5 minutes. Aaarghhh

2. INVOLVED: into too much of office work. An attempt to beat recession ? :P

3. STARVED: of any trips/movies/dances

4. LACKING: any imagination. A direct consequence of point 2 ?

5. CONFUSED: at how MTS can give 10,00,000 minutes of free talk time !

6. LAZY: to even clean my bike ! Phew !

7. WALKING: my way to office.. Walking is a good exercise, you know :D

8. WONDERING: when will this industry start recovering.

9. LISTENING: to Ayan-Vizhi Moodi. Kartik does it again !

10. SHIFTED: to a new office building - though the employer remains the same :P

Lalit Modi - Who the Heck )*$)_($_

2009-03-24T09:32:00.003+05:30

If I get an opportunity to assemble all the media persons covering the recent "IPL Season2 Drama", I would want to arrange them in a line, turn them around, and give whip onto their back. What crap! So much of drama... And of all the people on earth, who is this Lalit Modi ? What is his first class cricket batting average ? How many times did he get a chance to hold on to the ball ?

And how dare he dictate to the Govt of India ?

This, even while the Otis-bid issue remains a hot topic of discussion. Then, the Govt had clearly said - No individual can dictate terms with the Govt Of India. The same rule applies to this Head of the IPL too.

The game has lost its charm. It has become very much like Tirupathi or Sabarimala, where commercialisation and profitability rules. Everything else takes the backseat.

So what if IPL is gone out of India ? Does this affect any of us ? Does this affect the people of the country ? Is there a pro/con listing at all ? Let me try cooking up one:

1. Con1: Revenue/income loss - to the hotels, stadium, taxi's, mineral water companies, beverages companies

2. Con2: Millions of fans lose the opportunity to view the action live in the home grounds

And the pro's...

1. Pro1: Lesser traffic jams, lesser wastage of police/security forces

2. Pro2: More productivity (how?). On TV, its just about 3 hrs. A stadium affair costs you a day :P

There is a very big "hidden" pro attached to this IPL going out of India.

I'll leave it to your imagination, but to trigger the grey cells, do you think the attack on the SL team in Pakistan was an act of some local illiterates who prefer snooker to cricket ?!!

Tail:

1. The only non-cricket-playing-yet-cricket-related personality I admire is Harsha Bhogle. A clean person on screen, with a clean head :P

2. Talking about pro and con, I remember reading somewhere, " If progress is something of a good word, is it a coincidence that we have a ruling party by the name Congress " ?

Hello

2009-03-09T22:38:00.002+05:30

"Am I speaking to Mr Ratheesh P K" ?

Yes

"Good evening Mr Ratheesh"

Good Evening

"As a valued customer you have been offered a very good scheme sir. Do you have 2 minutes of your time to spare?"

Yes Go Ahead

"This is an attractive scheme, and we have selected you as our valued customer to avail of this offer"

What is the offer, would you tell me ?

"Sir, we have the GPRS services that come to you absolutely free."

Oh is it ?

"Sir, you need to pay only for the monthly usage"

I see..

"Sir may I know what model is your mobile"

1108

"Is that Nokia 1108?"

Yes

"Sir do you have an alternate mobile handset?"

"Nice talking to you sir. Have a pleasant evening"

Bye

Jaago Re !

2009-03-02T12:11:00.003+05:30

Isnt it strange that "Jaago Re" would mean "Out, you white" if the space is re-arranged ?

Its sad that even after the whites are out long long back, we still need a Jaago Re campaign in independent democratic India for awakening. Better late than never :)

(That last line applies for me) :P

Visit www.jaagore.com

QnA Interactive Blog !

2009-02-28T18:47:00.001+05:30

I picked this from Gasper's blog. He lifted it off from bluediamond.

Anyways, this was an easy one.

Now its your turn to fill up the comment section with the QnA.

Plz dont disappoint me :)

1. Who are you?

2. Are we friends?

3. A word that decribes me to its best?

4. Give me a nickname and explain why you picked it?

5. Your first impression about me.

6. Do you still think that way about me now?

7. What reminds you of me?

8. How well do you know me?

9. Something I have and YOU want?

10. If you could give me anything what would it be?

11. How do you see me in the future?

12. Ever wanted to tell me something but couldn’t?

13. How did you came to know about this blog?

14. What would you like to see and read on this blog?

15. Which is your favourite post in this blog which inspired to re-visit this site or subscribe to it?

Myths

2009-02-27T22:45:00.002+05:30

1. Party Advertisements do good to the party.

(We all know how much good the India Shining ads did to Bhaajpa. And now LDF has started a mallu version of something like 'kerala shining')

2. The songs that got A.R.Rahman Oscar Award were very much situational in the movie

(Got fed up seeing similar lines being uttered by a multitude of personalities on live television - Manorama News it was. Even now, I consider the Jai Ho song to be completely out of place in the movie. And the dance..aaargh... Gimme a break!)

3. They make a fuss when petrol prices go up. But when prices come down, they are ignorant!

(Did you know ? The bus fare and taxi fare in our God's Own Kerala were slashed when petrol prices came down by almost 10 rupees in a very short span of time)

4. These politicians will ruin the country. The country has gone to dogs. No grass will walk here

(Check this announcement at Jaago Re - "ECI* has recently passed a rule that allows ordinary citizens like you and me to conduct community drives, register eligible voters and submit the forms in bulk to your local ERO". Thats right. YOU can make a difference.)

5. ATMs are always right. And so are sodexo coupons.

(I would still say ATM's are better. At least they give the correct number of notes - at times the denomination might be incorrect. But did you ever bother to check ? Trusting NCR is reasonably okay. But dont extend a similar trust level to sodexo. Count it before you pocket it. I've uncovered a big fraud at my place. The declared amount was not seen on paper!)

6. Balarama is for kids.

(Sowji will kick me if i say this is true. Well, I have just finished reading the latest Balarama. The printed one, mind you. Dracula onnum manasilaayilla :-s )

Tail on point 2.

It was nice to hear actor Mukesh speaking over the phone with utmost honesty when he replied to the news reader's qn "Have you watched Slumdog Millionaire" with a firm "No". Having said that, the mallu news readers found the term "Millionaire" the most complicated tongue twister they ever uttered. Variants like Mill-Nair, Milna-Nair, Milanar and what not , were heard !

Tail on point 4.

This doesnt prove to be much of a myth up north in Kannur district of Kerala. Hope you have read that the Bangalore serial blasts were masterminded and operated by our dear brothers from this area. That and a few related stories will form a new blog altogether.

327 Posts, Last Post Jan9, 2009

2009-02-21T20:43:00.004+05:30

What a pity ! :P

And people have already started picking rocks and rotten eggs..

Before these things fall on my blog, lemme wake up !

As always, a wake up happens, with bulleted points :)

1. The new year is treating me good. More responsibilites - home and office !

2. Lemme not get into the office stuff. Back home, I'm a responsible mamaji. Never did I think, getting a crying baby into a sleeping baby would give so much of job satisfaction :D

3. If Bin sees me, he'z gonna come all the way here to deliver his kicks, but then these days, I sleep by 11 and get up by 6.30. No alarm, no wake up calls. Very strange!

4. To clarify point 3, I am no longer in Pluto. Me with RockMon and his parents - one of 'em is my bro :P Mom is there to give us company. What else do you need :)

5. And long time no trips! Need to break the shackles with a stump stock bike trip. Wayanad?

6. Movies.. hmm.. After the late night Rab Ne show, it was an office-bunk Ghajini last week :P

7. A line on the office.. Its 8 to 8 in office these days. Beating the traffic :)

8. Another line on the office.. We r soon gonna shift to a new(?) location. Pluto is no longer gonna be walkable. And no more internet luxury. WTH !!!

9. What else changed from last year ? Some temporary make-over changes.. This is fast recovering.

10. Right now, at native... Half day was in our coconut plantation. Joli poyaalum enthelum oru varumaana maargam vendey :D

(Ente Blogger Maathavey, njaan out of touch aayo.. oru ozhukku kittunnillallo... Shakthi tharuu ammey.. Jai Hanuman)

Oil Crisis in India

2009-01-09T17:35:00.002+05:30

Even while the strike called by the petrol provider majors are on, HP is finding it tough to control their cash inflow (and kerosene outflow). Big queues in front of pumps, lines of cars.. For once, it was nice to see the discipline among the car operators, in that, they did not get into their usual belief, that they are operating a bike :P No infiltrations, no zig-zags, all nice straight line :)

Had to wait for half an hour, but I too got a chance to fill my tank close to full. Even while all this is going on, the pump fellows are very much on their own nature, and do try the distraction-technique to make extra money. But didnt somebody tell them that I'm smarter ?

For the record, there are a few HP petrol pumps in and around Koramangala, Madiwala area.

One is near St Johns's Hospital.

Another near Maharaja Hotel in Koramangala.

I believe there is one near Sagar Apollo hospital (close to Popular Automobiles showroom) as well.

The Govt should (and I think has decided to) act tough on the striking unions. In my humble opinion, these @$$****es have no right to disrupt normal life of citizens.

Happy Weekend !

Oh did I tell you ?

Happy New Year :-)

If You Love Someone, You See God In him/her

2008-12-18T16:33:00.002+05:30

This is the punch line from the movie Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi.

The long name of the movie is in sync with the length of the movie :)

Well, it was only 2.5 hours long, but i felt i twas close to 3 full hours..

May be , coz it was HEAVILY dragging at some points.

Two points, to be precise.. Keep these aside, and its a very nice movie.

Alright, the storyline is far from realistic.

But then not many movies of realistic story have come in these days.

If you have a hero, in hunt of his wife's killer, you dont call that a realistic movie either.

Let me not get into that :P

The movie starts off at Amritsar railway station, and the entire story happens here.

Our hero (well, he is far from a 'hero' ) is an average Indian - think of 1 litre oil on head, thick glasses, faded dress, and a super boring bag to carry your laptop. Of course, the bag has a boring print on it - that was a complement bag for sure.

In highly unfortunate (?) circumstances, our hero gets a life partner, who is on the other extreme. A jovial, flying, running, chubby, smiley thing. Now, this girl has her own problems. The hero is a decent gentleman, who doesnt bother/trouble anyone. The result - they live under one roof alright, but hero on first floor, and she in the ground floor.

The story takes not-so-believable turns from here, before ending with a few emotional sequences in the end..

The pick of the songs is "Tujh mein rab dikhta hai". Roop Kumar Rathore has sung this. There is a Shreya Ghoshal version too. Then the song "Haule Haule" which has come in promo clips. the good thing about this song, is the way it was shot.

Found the making of Haule Haule here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK60sfqn0s0

The movie has a few moments here and there.

And a few gimmicks by the hero himself.

A touch of humor here and there.

The color sense of our hero is also notable - yellow suitcase, yellow tiffin carrier, yellow car :P

The movie ended at 1.20AM, and the Plutonians had a race between them, to reach home. Gas and Rag should have become Sticker at the Koramangala Water tank signal, had that truck driver not stopped! Very dangerous! Not to be tried again...

Rating: Average
(Must Watch/Average/Dont Go)

Pluto News

2008-12-15T17:09:00.003+05:30

1. Rat got an image make-over, of the unexpected (unwanted) sorts :P

2. Sow went to office again over the weekend, for doing laundry (what else :D )

3. Bin skipped weekend office trips due to unavoidable circumstances in Pluto !

4. Gasper went back home, disappointed and disheartened, as the chapathi

served on Sunday night for dinner in Kairali want good :-)))

5. Jim went out to buy socks for dad, and came back with a brand new mobile for his dad.

The Good Do Exist !

2008-12-15T16:13:00.003+05:30

Thalassery Bus Stand. 8.30PM

At that time of the day, the bus stand premises are more of interstate buses. The crowd will be of Bangalore-bound IT professionals. There is a tall neon lamp post - the umbrella type, with so many lamps on the periphery - that lights up the entire area.

Alright, the ambience description is not going to add any beauty to the story. And well, its not a 'story' either. Its a true incident :-)

Rat reached the bus stand by 8.15PM. Collected the boarding pass from the Travel Agency. And is waiting near the bus bay for the bus to arrive. For a normal IT fellow, who doesnt have an 8GB ipod or a high end mp3-camera featured mobile phone, the only timepass will be to run the eyes through the happenings around.. It was a Tuesday evening. And not the normal Sunday rush could be seen. Just a few fellows here and there..

A gang of 3 caught my notice. Coz they were discussing the Mumbai blasts and the fall-outs from that. Obviously from the IT fraternity, well-dressed and visibly 'informed' about the global happenings..

Not far from me, and the trio gang, was spotted one of those dint-eat-for-weeks persons... Aged, shabbily dressed, he came straight to me. And I nodded him off, as I always do..

He went to the trio gang.. They are not directly in my line of sight now, as they are behind me. Couldnt really make out what they told him. I assumed, they too got rid of him. Not any sounds from there, after some time.. Curious, I looked around.. I found the old man walking towards the nearby street food vendor. He got a plate of meal. The trio paid. All this while, never sympathetic, pun-making or to best put it, not even interested in bothering what the old man is upto.

The old man happily finished his meal, and left.

The trio still discussing global financial crisis :)

What I liked about them is that their thought-process. They could have easily shown him the door. Or rather, give him a few coins to get rid of him. But instead, they extended the right kind of help, in the right amount.

Felt like walking up to them and telling "right thing to do".

But the bus came, and I got in..

(Even otherwise, the Mr.Serious in moi wouldnt have walked up to them :D)

OPT: Movie Review Vaaranam Aayiram

2008-12-10T11:57:00.003+05:30

For quite a few weeks, I had been referring to it as Varnam Aayiram (1000 colors).

And I thought it was silly from the part of the makers of the movie to mess up the spelling of such a hyped movie.. But then I was wrong. But the fact is , even now, I'm clueless on what 'Vaaranam' means.. The in-house language specialist, Mr Jim, has no clue either :P

About the movie..

There is a very nice write-up on the web, alongside this youtube video of the peppy song "Adiye Kolluthey" from the movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hKC0qlEo2c

For those who cannot access it, I have reproduced the text, with due courtesy to the original author. Find it here .

My views on the movie:

1. Super duper hardwork by Surya

2. Very nice casting

3. Good songs.

4. A lil dragging/lengthy coz it tells the story of the hero from the time he was born (and even before he was born)

What dragged us into the movie was the song Adiye Kolluthe. The song appeared in Channel[V] even before the release of the movie. Bin saw the song, and immediately alerted me of the birth of a new hit in the list. A lil more research, and comes the 2nd hit in the list. Mundhinam Parthene.

And then, Mr Jim was the first in our gang to go for the movie. A non-so-frequent screen-visitor, Jim came back all-high.. And went ahead to sponsor a movie for all of us :)

The trip from the theatre to home was all romantic, with all bikers doing "Mundinam Parthene" all the way :P

The pick of the songs is Mundhinam Parthene - rendered by Naresh Iyer of the "Tu Bin Bataaye" fame of RDB. Among other hits of his is "Uyirile" from Vellithirai - Prithviraj starrer. This movie, is a remake of the Malayalam flick 'Udayanaanu Thaaram'.

BTW, Mr Bin has a video made out of this song:

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=EgZkXKMc3w8

Rating: Average
(Must Watch/Average/Dont Go)

Some Interesting Lines !

2008-12-08T12:36:00.007+05:30

Thought of writing about what happened in Mumbai, what is the gameplan behind it, what has been the result of all this and importantly, what the media had been doing all these days...

But later on decided to just stop at writing a few bulleted lines, that I came across to listening/reading in the recent days.. Of course, all with reference to the Mumbai blasts.

1. "These are non-state actors, operating within the state" - Pak

2. "To be honest, I was reluctant. But I had to listen to the call of duty" - P Chidambaram, after taking over Home Ministry

3. "Is that a hostage. No its a terrorist.. No its a hotel staff. Beg your pardon, that was a photo frame" - all news channels (pls exempt DD from that list)

4. "This is the true Mumbaikar spirit. The never-say-die spirit. Proud to be a Mumbaikar" - so many morons who live in India.

5. "After schooling, every Indian Citizen should be sent to military, for compulsory training. My son is 12 now. I'll send him to military for training, when he is grown up" - an angry Mumbaikar, who thought 'military' is a training centre somewhere near Delhi.

6."Taj should be declared a national monument" - okay, lets add Indian Railways as well.. What about Parliament ?

7. This one was interesting.. One of those talk-shows. Of course, in front of the Taj, where else. An angry political member on stage refuted to the audience cries by saying "Wake up, and cast vote! Then you can consider yourself a responsible citizen". Voice from the crowd "Give us somebody who is vote-worthy". How True ! Though an age-old excuse for no-show at polling booths, the enormous pain and mental agony and calculation that needs to be put through, to create tables listing criminal offences, and then voting for the person with a smaller number of entries is indeed a Herculean Task !

Of course, there were some in-house intelligent lines:

1. "Going to office. Need to do laundry" - Sowji, on Saturday

2. "You are not living for others, Okei?!" - Jim, undated.

3. "Need some catchy name for my cousin's college team. He is doing E&C. I suggested Jalpa" - Bin, on Dec 2

4. " :-) " - Gasper, when interrogated , Do u need some red halwa?

5. " Three Thousand Two Hundred ?? Is that for one pair of shoes ??" - Rat, at Commercial Street. Shopping for Jim

6. Dipu Jose in NY. Now Shobin Jose too, somewhere near/far San Jose. Geo christened this unique happening "Joses to Jose". (An anecdote to this, is suppressed, as it violates blogger guidelines)

7. Not very late, Gasper comes up with his creativity, when he named the Sand-Soo trip to Rajasthan - "Sand in Sand. Soo too"

8. "Strong married relations are like Dinosaurs. They dont exist" - Karan Johar :P

Need to write something on the socio-economical/political situation as well, I being a responsible citizen... !

There has been some strong messages sent out by pals already:

Aish - Beginning of a New End

Geo - Resignation Remedy for Mumbai Terror Attacks

The Mumbai Story

2008-12-04T20:37:00.001+05:30

Geo wrote this. Must Read.

Earthquake in Bangalore ??

2008-11-28T14:53:00.003+05:30

Time 2.47PM. Friday, November 28, 2008.

I thought it was my chair..

But no, it was the entire building..

The tremor was mild, but notice-able.

And it went on for close to 10seconds.

I turned back to find my cube-mate too frantic and feeling the vibrations..

If it was me alone, then I could be assured its my mind gone dancing.

But nope !

Probably, the phenomenon existed in Koramangala alone.. Hope so !

Everything stable now !

(Me included)

:-)

Over and out

Vagamon Video :-)

2008-11-16T18:02:00.000+05:30

Of Wedding Bells & More...

2008-11-14T14:08:00.004+05:30

The population of single's in the group is gradually diminishing. And the latest trend of this happening, is all but interesting. Of the 5 knots that happened in a little less than 2 years, all but 1 are "conveniently" arranged ones :-)

The shift in trend is evident. The literate high intellect Kerala crowd is finding it no difficult to embrace it and make no fuss about it. Or blame it on the high self-reliance of the marrying crowd which really gives the parents no choice at all ? But the ones that have happened do not fall in this category. That is a pleasant thing in itself.

The latest in the gang to get 'wedded' is our Ahuja Speaker fame KK :-) And such a lovely pair they make. Thanks to the wedding, got to catch up with a bulk of oldie friends under one roof. Also got a chance to barge into familiar territories and enjoy the hospitality and food alike :)

On the pretext of the wedding trip, we made a slight alternate plan and landed up in Vagamon! A small trio gang of Rat,Sow & Bin. It was nice to see a mini, lesser-commercialized tourist destination, at such a close vicinity. Hardly 70 odd km's from Kottayam town. And Thekkadi is just 76km from Vagamon. Had we got more days to spare, it would have been better !

Thanks to the shooting of the Jeyam Ravi starrer Tamil movie, with Arnold Schwarzenegger doing the villain's role, the decent resorts of the locality were booked out. And we had to spend the night in a luxurious 5-star , single-room, single-bed facility :P

A few pics of the trip:

Is that a screw ? A latch ? A question mark ??

Tea time, in a stylish traditional tea stall

Ota-kaalil thapas :)

And up comes the hero

Sow n Rat on Air !

Tagged: Past, Present & Future

2008-11-06T21:54:00.005+05:30

Tagged by Gasper !

The tag:

Two questions in each category answer them and then tag your friends from the blog-o-sphere. (Simple enough right?)

Leave a comment on their blog letting them know they have been tagged and you are all set.

I. Yesterday

A. Your oldest memories

1. Driving my (virtual) maruti 800, fell head first onto a strategically placed solid sharp piece of rock. Blood all around the face. All cries, hugging mommy.. Her cream sari becomes all red.

[The incident/accident left a barren land on my right eye brow]. That was pre-school.

2. Fever, or so to say, uncle had to take time off from his office to take home the fever kid. And the young boy wanted to spend maximum time under the sun, while walking, holding the finger of the uncle - so that when mommy feels his forehead, there is "some" temperature. That was Grade 1.

3. A lazy starter in the morning, all envious of the bigger bro who had a holiday in school, got his first beating (and the last) when the school van honked for the 3rd time. Poor mommy.. She should have felt tons more than what the kiddo would have felt ... Grade 3.

4. Naughtiness and childishness rules. Pulled the chair when sis was about to sit. She dint cry (perhaps thinking her nat-kat but cutie kiddo bro may get beaten up). But got very nice dose of scolding from dad. Dad was a dictator those days, and we mere spectators... somewhere around Grade 3.

5. First gift from school. For.... guess what... Painting !! The gift - a sketch pen set :-) Grade 4 or so...

6. First car! Dad got us a white remote audio controlled car that runs on battery. Boy that was some toy! Dad gave a round of demo, and placed it at the topmost slab of the shelf :-)

7. Made my dad n mom proud in Grade 10. Thanks to the oddly times xfer, getting into a school in the capital city was tough. But managed to get through into one of the top brass schools.. Come the results, the Princi sent a batallion home to congratulate. Dad and mom were summoned to his office. He recollected the admission day, the recommendation.. Felt so good for my dad, who had to run around to get me a seat!

Many many fond memories... but I stop here, to pick up the next section ...

B. What were you doing ten years ago?

PDC I year, Brennen College, Thalassery. It was after a lot of consultations and discussions that we opted to get into a Govt College, letting down a private one. The interesting thing about this college - classes are from 9AM to 1.30PM. The whole noon is at your disposal, to spend time at home sweet home, watching all the stupid soaps - the likes of Shanti and Swabhimaan :) And those were the very few months of my student life, where I got to be at Aishwarya - my favorite place on earth.

II. Today

A. Your first thought in the morning

"Sowji is still in bed. So I still have got time..."

B. If you build a time capsule what would it contain?

What is a time capsule ?

III. Tomorrow

A. This year…

The year is almost over. Accomplished a few things this year. One major thing being packing up the group for Goa trip. Completed 5 glorious years in the industry. The industry seems not to be a dependable bread earner, seeing the way the proceedings are. Need to pursue alternate options ? A studio ? :-P

B. What do you see yourself doing 14 years from now?

14 years from now, I would be hiding myself into the bathroom, and dyeing whatever is left on my head :-)))

I'm In Love !

2008-11-06T19:48:00.002+05:30

With this wonderfully beautiful melodious simple song

Lottery Ticket - Manohari nin

Check it out :-)

This is a perfect song to be re-sung (no doosh doosh please) and re-recorded !

Phew...

Diwali Trek

2008-11-01T19:47:00.002+05:30

Destination: Skanda Giri / Kalavara Halli Betta, 75km from Bangalore.

A cooked up video of the trek:

Skanda Giri / Kalavarahalli Betta Trek

2008-10-26T20:16:00.008+05:30

[This blog is a break from Goa blog, to fill up a commitment :)]

Diwali. 3 day extended weekend.
Off to a trek on Sunday morning at 5.30
(Thats right.. The numbers are true!)

A detailed write-up has been already put up by Gasper.

My part, in this collaborative blog, is to add up a few lines to what he has written. Its nothing but the "lessons learnt" from the rigorous 2.5 hours of knee breaking extravaganza. Here we go:

1. Do proper homework. Get the route map. Get basic stuff - water, bread, biscuit. Get glucose and chocolates too - these are quick energizers.
2. Find out a shoe that resembles MRF Nylogrip at the base, and put it on !
3. Do a fuel-check. Carry the documents! (Jim's pulsar had all the documents till 2 km into the trip, before he lost them :D Luckily, all xerox copies)
4. The earlier the better. We found a group that started by 3AM! The moonlit trek ought to be some fun!
5. A hill-climb doesnt necessarily require a 5m network cable in your bag. Thats what we found in Jim's bag, when we did a reality weight-check at the top of the hill!
6. Minimize the luggage (back-pack) size. Split the weight across, rather than stuffing it all into one bag!
7. Jins had a lesson learnt to add up "Shouldnt we have simply slept away at home, instead of all this ordeal?" :-))

Tail:
1. We had a dog to guide our way down hill. The dog would go down quick, take a nap, and then again get on to its foot, when we reach :P
2. The traffic police had big plans for the day. Found them at multiple points on the highway, but nobody was interested in checking our whereabouts. Good for us :)
3. Had a minor accident. Rat the victim. During down-hill trek, in an attempt to get a little hand-support, fell flat on palm, onto one of the rocks. The rock had thick king-sized 'rock-colored' thorns on it. That was a few drops of redness wasted...
4. To our surprise, at the top of the hills, we found a bread-omlette/tea point. It was 'party time' up there :)

A few stills:

Thats flat terrain. Its gonna change soon!

Stay with the flock

Rock-support!

At the peak

Highly deceptive !

Goa Lekar Jawoo

2008-10-23T21:27:00.004+05:30

A very confusing title for a travelogue. But that phrase carries a lot of meaning, and was in some way, the "driving force" for the Go Goa Part II. Incidentally, the Go Goa part I was 4 years back, in Sep ~~2008~~ 2004. Not much of change to Goa. Its still the same. Except that there was a bigger crowd this time around.

The trip was not the usual long planned one. But we wanted to go on a trip with our favorite character Jim to some place or the other, before he flies to Netherlands. Goa became a unanimous choice. But the plan remained on paper for a couple of weekends.

Then one fine Wednesday, Rat and Bin sets out on a ticket hunt to the nearby travels area. There are a few dozens of travel offices lined up there. Got into more than half a dozen and stood on the busy Hosur Road side with a face that would resemble that of a baby, who dint get his chocolate that his dad had promised to get in the eve.

For one last try, got into one travel office, which is seldom visited. The bluently English speaking gentleman posted a few questions:

Q. Did you try KSRTC?
A. Yes. No tkts (But why would he try get business for KSRTC??)
Q. Train ?
A. No tkts! (Is he now working for IRCTC?)
Q. Then try blight naa......?
A. Oh Thats too expensib, err.. expensive
Q. Hmm...
Q. How many ob you ?
A. 4-6
Q. Oh! Then bhy dont you book a taxi and go ?

Taking cue from this, we went back home and dialled a few numbers. And the trip was on! Innova AC booked. We start on Friday evening 7pm.

A highly camera conscious Bin dragged Rat on Friday noon to go shopping, lest he should come for the trip in his age old blue pant and the boring dull shirts.

Sowji, Gasper and Jim landed in time. Mridul landed on time. Packed a few well-thought-of stuff into the innova:
1. one fully flat football
2. three helmets :-S
3. one digicam, one handycam
4. sunglasses - one per nose :)
5. 7 mp3 CD's, 1 parody CD :P

Contd...

Tail:
1. The voyagers made sure that the trip plan is communicated to the respective homes. Sowji was seen 'breaking' the news just before getting into the Innova - probably inspired by Bin :D Mridul had bigger plans. Since none of our plans hit the target, he decided he will tell home, only upon return :D
2. The innova came with 4 bucket seats plus one long backseat. That is just the right seating combination for 6+1
3. Whats with that "Goa Lekar Jawoo" ? Thats for the next day's write-up :)

Go Goa : Trailer

2008-10-20T22:41:00.004+05:30

Statistics

2008-10-17T09:20:00.002+05:30

I love statistics. Not the traditional ones. The weirdo ones. Total whacko. Such as "the percentage of people who step over cow-dung on the same spot for a 2nd time is 1.3 in 100". Number games like this are always nice.

I had read long back in RD. We should be able to go by the method of approximation and estimation. They had cited an example in the book. A better one would be the one in the movie "Alaipayuthe", where Madhavan sees this beautiful lady at the Chennai station, and seeks the help of his buddies to trace her out. (If you remember that scene , well and good) :-)

Yesterday, I did some math on my own. To get an approximate count of the number of steps I would have "conquered" so far. My seat in office is 60 steps away from ground level. That is 120 steps for a round-trip. Add the lunch time climb-down and up, its 240 per day !

That is (start->run->calc) 5280 steps per month.
63360 steps per year.
316800 steps, so far, only from my professional front.

Phew !

Tail:
1. "Goa Lekar Jawoo" is pending, and is up next :-))
2. Many trips are lined up for the rest of the year. And that gives a nice pleasing feeling :)

VaaranamAayiram

2008-10-10T16:30:00.000+05:30

Text reproduced from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hKC0qlEo2c

Vaaranam Aayiram is a forthcoming Tamil feature film currently being directed by Gautham Menon, who with Vaaranam Aayiram will direct his seventh feature film. Surya Sivakumar acts in dual lead roles, whilst Sameera Reddy, Divya Spandana and Simran Bagga also play roles in the film. The film, which has been under production since late 2006, has Harris Jayaraj as the music composer. The film, announced with a budget of 14 crore Indian rupees, is set to be released in the summer of 2008. Following Kaaka Kaaka in 2003, both the director Gautham Menon and Surya Sivakumar expressed their desire to come together for a film in the future. In early 2005, the pair came together for a film tentatively titled Chennaiyil Oru Mazhaikaalam which also featured Asin Thottumkal in the lead role and Daniel Balaji in a supporting role.

However, after a photo shoot, the film was delayed and then subsequently called off due to Gautham's personal problems. Nevertheless, in 2006, producer Oscar Ravichandran signed up the pair for a new film, which they confirmed was not going to be a sequel of their previous venture, and was going to be a romantic thriller. Initially titles such as Naan Thaan and Udal Porul Aavi were considered to be the title for the project but however, Gautham announced the title was decided as Vaaranam Aayiram, with the literal meaning of "the strength of a thousand elephants". Prior to the start of shooting, various technical crew members were signed up and the shoot commenced without a leading lady on 24 November 2006 at a nightclub in Chennai. In 2007, it was announced that a 10 day shoot in Afghanistan would be followed by abroad shooting in Malaysia, Russia and the United States of America, however til date, the film has only completed it shoot at University of California, Berkeley in San Francisco, USA and is unlikely that shooting will be held in Afghanistan, due to fears of safety.

In November 2007, Gautham Menon decided to send the reels of the film back to Chennai from San Francisco. Two of the production managers were assigned the task of bringing the reels to the producer's office, however they stayed in Singapore for a couple of days before returning to Chennai. Following their arrival in Chennai, it was understood the reels went missing in the hotel they stayed in at Singapore, but the search by the police in the hotel proved unsuccessful. The whole crew of Vaaranam Aayiram was in a fix as the reels consisted of various fight scenes, songs as well as other scenes which would have potentially lost up to Rs. 2 crores financially. However, soon after, the reels were with the Singapore airport authorities and the team recovered their loss. The film finished its shoot in August 2008 and re-recording is on.

The film is believed to be based on the Russian film, Character, however others have claimed that it is a remake of the 1993 Hollywood movie, Forrest Gump, starring Tom Hanks. However Gautham has stated the film will draw inspirations from Forrest Gump but will be fixed to suit the Indian audience. Furthermore Gautham stated that Surya Sivakumar will be seen playing the dual roles of a 21 year old and his father and also that the film will be with society themed. The film which was previously set to release in 2007, has been delayed for a October 2008 release After the cancellation of Chennaiyil Oru Mazhaikaalam, originally starring Surya Sivakumar, Asin Thottumkal and Daniel Balaji, Gautham Menon, keeping the male leads the same, wanted to opt for a new heroine to begin Vaaranam Aayiram. Initially, Deepika Padukone was signed up and set to make her debut in Tamil films, however she backed out due to the inactiveness of the film and signed the Bollywood film, Om Shanti Om instead.Soon after another confirmed heroine, Andrea Jeremiah was dropped from the film for unknown reasons.

Asin expressed her desire to be a part of the project, however the male lead, Surya, refuted her offer citing that she had walked out of his previous film, Sillunu Oru Kadhal and refused to act opposite her. The producers then announced the film with Divya Spandana, who was making her comeback to Tamil films and Genelia D'Souza in the lead roles. Soon after the start of the shoot, Genelia decided to walk out of the film, after Gautham refused to pay the hefty salary that she was demanding and was receiving in Telugu films allowing Sameera Reddy to act in her first Tamil film. Simran Bagga signed and completed her shoots swiftly after she was selected to portray the mother of Surya, after Tabu had rejected the role.

Marketing Techniques !

2008-10-10T10:07:00.003+05:30

It amuses me at times, to see non-native people in this metro (almost) city, who not just survive, but do it big time!

There is this bakery near our house. And when u say 'bakery' you can be doubly sure that its run by a Mallu. This fellow, who hails from North Kerala, knows nothing but "Eshtu" (which in Kannada is "How much"). And he runs business at one of the busiest snacks/tea outlets in the area !

the other day, Bin and I went looking for tickets for a trip. Bumped into this Gulte. He speaks Kannada, Telugu, and bits and pieces of Hindi and English. Very much the same as us, except that we dont speak Kannada or Telugu :P

His English was of the funny Bihari type, where there is only bhaiv, and no five. There is only bull buses, and no full buses. But he excels purely on his marketing skill. When the special-bus-with-double-charge scheme dint interest us too much, he started friendly interrogation.

Q. Did you try KSRTC?

A. Yes. No tkts (But why would he try get business for KSRTC??)

Q. Train ?

A. No tkts! (Is he now working for IRCTC?)

Q. Then try blight naa......?

A. Oh Thats too expensib, err.. expensive

Q. Hmm...

Q. How many ob you ?

A. 4-6

Q. Oh! Then bhy dont you book a taxi and go ?

Followed by this, he explained the distance, the cost factor, the luxury factor, and the convenience factor. In the end, it turned out that at a few hundred extra bucks, we would get better facilities, and better time and resource management ! We sat there, pondering why this Helluva-Idea dint strike us before !

The fellow is now in a winning situation, coz he became an instant 'friendly tour guide' to us, giving us so many options, and finally winning a deal for himself (almost)

We left..

We booked an innova (from elsewhere)..

AC !

And we are off today evening.

Bottom line:

WE ARE GOING TO GOA !!!!!!!!!!!!

(ithu parayaanaa ithrem valachu kettiyathu :D )

Of Ads - The Good Nice & Ugly

2008-10-04T18:26:00.007+05:30

One Good Ad that is seen playing on TV these days is the jaagore campaign in association with Tata Tea. This is an innovative advertising campaign. The company is not campaigning for its own cause - but for a bigger cause, of national importance. Kudos and applause to Tata Tea for the initiative. Go check www.jaagore.com . It has a lot of information embedded over there. Its for the stupid worthless morons like me, who dont have a voter's id :( - I can always blame on "I'm here, my constituency there" But not a good excuse ! Even for the good samaritans who have the voter's ID and have voted before, there is quite a lot of friendly information there. So go check it out now:

www.jaagore.com

__________________________________________________________

The Nice Ad - The Union Bank is now seen advertising itself, with refurbished looks, and a nice looking logo for itself. The kiddo who cries coz of a teeth coming out onto her palms is consoled by her bhaiyya (Such a young kid and such an elderly bhaiyya? So it be..) And the kid ends up "helping" buy her bhaiyya his dream racing car :) So cute ! Ads featuring such cute lil ones will always be good ones.

__________________________________________________________

The Ugly Ad - This is the Reliance Ad I guess. This goes completely in diverse direction in comparision to the 'Good' Ad featured above. The hubby who is on a business tour is reminded by the wife about the "memento" script that they had written on a historical monument. This is totally absurd. On one side, we are running awareness programs to respect and protect buildings and architectural works of national/historical importance. And here, this ad is totally in bad taste.

>>>No video for Bad Ads<<< :-)

__________________________________________________________

Tail
1. The ban on public smoking is wholeheartedly welcome. Now I dont need to bear the sight (and the smoke) of the so-called-yo-girl in the office smoking-zone (which is now history).

2. But still, while the govt has counted offices, pubs, hotels, insitutions for no-smoking-zone, the roads and national highways are not yet counted as "public". Very odd !

3. The other day, The Hindu featured a full-page feature advertisement. With a huge pic of APJ, and 2 relatively smaller images - of Amar Singh and Forgot-Who-It-Was. APJ, and in turn, these 2 leaders were instrumental in convincing (well, to some extent) and implementing the nuclear deal. Good informative feature.

4. "Socha Hai..." from Rock On is a good number. Try that song out, before leaving to office. The other day, I was singing that one all alone and all aloud on my black beauty all the way to office :)

OPT : Review - Milana

2008-10-04T15:07:00.003+05:30

Image Courtesy: OneIndia

That movie name is familiar to many. Thanks to the super duper song "Ninnindale" which won Sonu Nigam the best singer award in Filmfare South Awards. This one song is good enough to drag you into the theatre. It took quite a while to get me into the screen, though we had been planning it on and off many times.

The hero of the movie doesnt have the captivating catchy chocolaty looks of somebody like Imran Khan, but he is a hard worker. He is the son of the late Kannada Legend RajKumar. He is Puneet Rajkumar.

The heroine is familiar. Parvathy Menon - a mallu.

And there is a guest appearance by Pooja Gandhi (of the Mungaru Malhe fame).

All songs are good. We were welcome into the screen with a wedding song - Madarangiyalli. Either we got in late, or that itself was the start of the movie :)

And then there is the semi-item number Kadhhu Kadhhu. Boy, the hero is a good dancer. And an aerobic expert too !

The movie is a family entertainer. There are a few fights - to add some commercial content. Most of the stunt scenes are performed by Puneet himself. Some of them - very daring and scary sommersaults and fly-in-the-air's.

Some similarity with the Hindi musical (flop) Dhadkan. But definitely a good watch. No wonder the movie has done one year. And is still playing in PVR - Forum !

Check out these songs on youtube:

Ninnindale -

Kadhhu Kadhhu -

Tail:

1. While I'm writing this, Surya TV is playing Praja. Crap Dialgoues ! Is the hero, the 21st Century re-incarnation of Mr God Himself? He seems to know everything !

Back From Exile..

2008-09-29T22:34:00.004+05:30

And this was what was happening over these days:

1. Got terribly busy with work ! With deadlines flying by in quick succession :)

2. Completed 5 years in the industry - all 5 years in the same org, same building!

3. Call it coincidence, but the org decided to "honor" me with a laptop.

The message is "Wanna clinge on ? Do more work :D "

4. Became a chacha on Sep2, 2008 !!! :) He is pet named Rock Mon ;)

(He was given a formal name on Sep28, 2008. The name - Sidhanth)

5. It was a surprise visit to home, after telling mom that I wont turn up for Onam!

6. Got thick bumps on birthday. Wasnt around on the D-day, but the Plutonians

made sure that no butt is left unturned :-S

7. Got my PAN card... woohoooo... The ITD had kept me in the dark for close to

4 years. But not any more !

8. Long time, no movie.. Until Rock On last Sunday. An Okay movie.

9. Long time, no trips! Until a wedding trip to Guruvayur. Got into the temple

for the first itme ever :P

Planning to be alive here. Hope I'll be successful in that !

Map Tharuuuu

2008-09-29T19:26:00.002+05:30

For being away for quite a while
(more than a month?)

There has been a lot of happenings over here
- not the inflation hitting 12+ , and the dollar hitting 47+ kinds news..

But more on the personal front..

It might take a while to compile all of 'em.
And I prefer it to be a single post with bulleted items in it :)
The post will be online tomorrow. Yeh Mera Waada Raha !

In the interim, it was nice to see the fellow writers moving on.
With their experiments with truth :)

Almost all of you relentlessly asked about the well-being of this writer.
And no, there was no alien invasion in Pluto.
(Should that be written as 'human' invasion in Pluto??!!!)

And no, no muscular brother of any gal approached me for an 'appointment'
:)

Well, let me sign off for now, wishing you all Happy Days and Happy Reading.
Rock Onnnnnnnn !!!!!

Emotions...

2008-07-31T23:27:00.001+05:30

What do you do when you are over-ridden with emotions ?

Bangalore Bomb Blasts

2008-07-26T17:59:00.002+05:30

It was a heavy buffet lunch at South Indies on Friday noon. Having done with the lunch by 2PM, we started back in our car to our office in Koramangala. We reached Indira Nagar, when we got a call from Bij. "Get back soon. There has been some unforeseen incidents here. 3 blasts have been reported. One each in Madiwala, Adugodi and in Mysore Road" These were early signs of things to come. We hurried back to office. The news dint seem to have spread to all parts of the city. It was hardly 30 mins from the blast time. The traffic on the roads was normal. And we couldnt see any cordoning or traffic restrictions during our return trip. I alerted all the friends thru sms to be safe.

We reached office by 2.30PM, and greeted by a group of anxious co-workers. Some smiles, some with eyes wide open. We exchanged the news bits. When we got back to our desks, news started pouring in. With every 5 mins, somebody standing up and announcing "one more blast", "one killed", "traffic diverted in silk board area" and the likes. Soon, an organizational announcement came through the PA system informing us about the happenings, and requesting us not to panic. By 4PM an email announcement came from the security desk. Ppl started moving out to their homes. But the security did not allow anyone out, in an act of caution. But very soon, they got green signal, and the willing people were allowed to leave. The security gave traffic updates to all.

We too left the office by 5.15PM. It was a good excuse to leave early on a Friday evening. But a bigger reason was to reach home safely. Reached home by 5.30PM. Ensured that ppl who left along with me reached home safe too...

As we all saw and heard in TV, all the blasts were low intensity and not really intended to take any lives. The blasts dint have any effect on anything at all. Situation was soon back to normal, after the initial set of rumours settled down. Traffic on Hosur Road proceeded as normal. All the interstate travel buses operated as normal.

No conclusion yet, on who did this, or what the motive was. But a few rumours still floating around:
1. Terrorist groups trying to destabilize Bangalore with their main target, the IT.
But this sounds nonsens. No terrorist group would want to play games with bombs, the kinds we get during Diwali.
2. Miscreants trying to defame the BJP government.
This is the claim by the government itself. No better ways to defame ?! How will a mini-blast defame the government ?
3. An ill-effort of local Kannadigas to kick out non-Kannadigas
The root reason for this argument is that the blasts seem to have happened in comparitively densely populated non-kannadiga areas. Madiwala is one for sure.
4. A warning of things to come...
Why would somebody want to warn if their intention is not clean ?!

One thing is for sure. There has been a fair amount of planning behind the serial blasts. 7 blasts in 15 mins proves this. And it surely would be a fairly big team behind this. The blast sites are not very near to each other...

Got calls from home, from unc, from cousins.. The network was congested for a while. But sms was going thru. And calls were going thru too, on a 3rd or 4th try. (With vodafone, this is like any other day). There were questions on whether the network was jammed on purpose. But this shouldnt be true. I had coverage throughout, and I was getting calls/sms very often. And I could make calls with not much of diffuculty.

On the 2nd day, I had to go to Malleshwaram to get my camera back from service centre. Gasper and I started by around 12.15PM from home. Stopped at a tea stall, where we were told that a high intensity bomb was defused at Forum Mall in Koramangala. That comes in our route to Malleshwaram! We opted to take the same route, unless interrupted by the police. We shot this video of the Madiwala Blast Site:

There were outdoor unit vans of all major news channels - Times Now had their unit van parked virtually inside the madiwala bus stop. NDTV van was on the right hand side of the road. Not very far, we could find the unit vans of UTV and Zee. A good harvest day for the news guyz!

And this is the Forum Mall video, minutes after the reports of bomb defusal came in:

The city, which was once considered a safe city is now shaken a bit. But not to the extent to create panic among the citizens. The news channels tried their bit to create panic, by repeatedly telecasting the same old 2 min clip they had, and every now and then saying "Do not panic" blah blah. The expression on the news reporter would have scared you slightly to a greater extent than seeing the blast site in person!

Today is a normal day here. With schools open. Shops open. Malls open. Everything normal.

For the record, on the way, we covered 3 hot spots - Madiwala, Forum and Adugodi. Hmm.. Quite an impressive record!

Vodafone Black-Out in Bangalore

2008-07-21T20:24:00.012+05:30

Vodafone Network Goes Down For One Full Day. Thats right. No Coverage for whole day!

A letter from one of the loyal customers, to the customer care:
I'm Ratheesh P K
Mobile number **********
I had been a hutch/vodafone customer for almost 5 years.

There has been umpteen number of talks about the coverage, peak-time access problem and the likes. But I chose to stay on.

But today, in office, I could not see a single bar, against the antenna on my mobile.
I did not get a single incoming call and could not make a single outgoing call, from the time I reached here.

Its not a one-off case. I confirmed this with many others here.

I made 3 back-to-back calls to customer care (98860 98860) .
The first one was picked by a lady. After a round of qn-answer, she said Pls be online. And the call got dropped. (or did she disconnect?)
The 2nd call was exactly similar.

3rd call - Ajay. He confirmed that there is a "severe" network problem all over Bangalore City including Koramangala (which is where I'm located). I wanted to register this as a complaint and after quite a lot of discussion, he agreed to register the complaint. And then again declined.

I need a reply for two questions:
1. How are you going to compensate for my lost air-time ?
2. Is there any kind of training that you give to your call centre executives ?

A snippet of my conversation with Ajay. (I was in a mood to fight. But felt sorry for this helpless chap)
Me: Hello, what is your name? I need this coz my earlier calls were disconnected in the middle of conversation. I dont want that to happen again
He: Hi Sir, Its okay. My name is Ajay
(followed by what is your name, mobile number blah blah)
Me: I am facing a n/w problem here in Koramangala from today morning. i want to register it as a complaint.
He: We apologize for that sir. But we had been facing this problem in many places in Bangalore. Your place is also one of the affected areas.
Me: What is the problem?
He: We are working to rectify it sir.
Me: I want to register this as a complaint. Please note down...
He: Pls be patient for an hour more sir. The network is expected to be back online.
Me: i cant wait any more. I had been waiting since today morning. I want it to be registered as a complaint.
He: Sir, we cannot register this as a complaint, coz we accept that there is a problem.
Me: Good, then write it down as a complaint.
He: No sir, since we have already accepted it to be a problem at our end, we cant register a complaint.
Me: Alright, I know there is a problem. You know there is a problem. But tomorrow, if I want to take it up with a 3rd party, I need a proof.
(after a lot of talks, and he talking to his 'seniors' and putting me 'on hold' he gets back)
He: Sir, I talked to seniors, we cant register it as a complaint. Could you please be patient till tomorrow morning?
(I knew this is going nowhere. So I tried gathering info for my purpose)
Me: Okay. Since when is the n/w down ?
He: About 8 o'clock or 9 o'clock today morning, sir.
Me: Shall i note it down as 8 o'clock in the morning ?
He: Yes sir.
Me: When will it be back ?
He: Max by tomorrow morning 8 o'clock sir.
Me: Okay. If it doesnt come back online?
He: Pls call up the customer care again sir.
Me: Alright, and then what will you ppl do ?
He: We will look into it sir.
Me: Okay. And what are you going to do with my lost air-time of 24 hours ?
He: We cant do anything about it sir ( Now, isnt that rude? )
Me: What do you mean you cant do anything ?
He: Sir you will have to go to the vodafone store , or write to the customer care.
Me: What is the customer care id ?
He: corprelations.kar@vodafone.com
Me: Okay. What really is the problem ? Is it a hardware problem or something else ? Are other providers facing a problem too?
He: Sir, its confidential. We have only been told that there is a problem.
Me: Okay, thanks Ajay.
He: Is there anything else that I can assist you with ?
Me: No.
He: Good evening sir, have a nice day.
Me: Bye.

The n/w went down on Monday July21 at 8 o'clock. As per the customer care conversation, it should be back by Tuesday July22, 8 o'clock. Lets see !

And they say they are "Happy to Help". Who are they helping ? Themselves ?
Jai bolo vodafone dog kii !!

Update (July22, 08.30AM) - N/w seems to be up. But this email reply is interesting.

"

We would be glad if you could provide us with the following details so that=
we can look into the matter on priority:

?=09Your vodafone mobile number(s)
?=09Handset Model
?=09Alternate Contact number
?=09Exact location/address
?=09Indoor/outdoor problem
?=09Cell info display of the location where problem is being faced
?=09Number of signal bars in the handset
?=09Quality of voice/calls
?=09Error message if any
?=09Are you facing the problem continuously or at any particular time of th=
e day

"

You need to be Masters in Cryptography to find out what '?=09' means.
And for a problem, which the on-call customer care executive said "We accept this as a known problem in many parts of Bangalore", why would this email-fella want my mobile number, my handset model, the firmware revision and the name of my neighbor's dog ?!! If I give these details, 'he would be glad' ! Aargh.. And I guess, he cannot read letters in bold. Coz theer is no mention whatsoever to my "Two Questions". Absolute rubbish.

Update (July22, 09.45AM) - N/w is NOT up. I repeat.. n/w is NOT up. Over Over
(At home it is back to normal. But not here in office. Yummy.. calls for another high-adrenaline conversation with customer-dont-care [phrase courtesy Soo] )
Update (July22, 05.25PM) - N/w is NOT up. Not over.. Called up the customer-dont-care again. As per him, there was a n/w "congestion" in Koramangala area. This was rectified at 12PM on July 21. And he was "really sorry" that I have a n/w problem. Lodged a complaint with the customer-dont-care. Phew.. How happy I am now! &()$&*) $()*()$
Update (July23, 11.00AM) - Breaking News! Vodafone network is up!!

Coming Soon...

2008-07-21T17:26:00.002+05:30

OPT: Hancock: Movie Review

2008-07-17T16:35:00.002+05:30

If you are a David Dhawan fan, then this movie is for you.
Keep your brain (if u hav one) at home, go to theatre and then enjoy the film.

The movie is about a super-powerful hero, who is named Hancock. (Well, how he got that name is interesting.. He was found injured in a hospital room, and he heard the nurse saying 'Hancock', which, was the name of the building. He thought that was his name! He had lost all his memory, you see, thanks to that accident)

Now, this fella can do virtually anything. His goggles and accessories may not be bullet proof, but his body is! He can fly from anywhere to anywhere (remember Matrix?) He is unstoppable - but a hi-speed train is stoppable, given this fella is standing on the track.

All said and done, if you thought, he is the perfect super hero you would want to be around when the "World needs him" , then, hold on, you are WRONG! This superhero is one spoilt chap, who does nothing but boozing around and misusing his power to scare off lil one off the street, and to steel food when he feels so.

But then one fine day, he is a transformed man, and he comes in his 'custom-stitched-outfit' and uses his power to rescue hostages. If this much of the story happens with barely half an hour to spare, then whats left ?

Whats left is the story behind his origin. And a few till-then-unanswered questions of Hancock "Who am I?" "Am I alone?" "Where are they?"

Dont waste your money on this one.
Already we are hit terribly by inflation.
Save your 150 bucks for buying cereals :-))

Rating: Dont Go
(Must Watch/Average/Dont Go)

Tail:
1. At 9.33PM, while we are still near our house taking dinner, this friend comes out of nowhere and shoots this qn "9.45 movie? Boyz, u r gonna be late". The riders and the pillions gave him a grin, before starting at 9.35PM. And v dint miss a scene of the movie :)
2. We did our part to control inflation. Car-pooled to the theatre!
3. The dialogue of the year (thanks to the movie) is "Good Job" :-))

Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na: Round 2

2008-07-15T08:26:00.002+05:30

:-)
When you have 2 mutually exclusive friends group, then this is what happens. But since it is for a good cause (?!) - control inflation (????) - it is justified to the maximum.

There were a few points that I missed to notice/jot-down in the original review.
So here we go! (Its all bulleted. I luv bullets :D )
1. This tyrewala looks to be a genius. He has written the lyrics, the story, and has done the direction too.
2. In the friends gang, there is one fella with a strange accent - Jiggy. And then there is 'Bumps'. Or is it Bombs? Whatever.. Gasper felt so sad coz Bumps wasnt paired up to anyone :P Understandable :D
3. Well, the hero has an arresting charm and a dashing cute smile. His gait is a lil odd, but again, is cute!
4. Did I forget to mention the cameo by Paresh Rawal ? He scores in his lil share of screen-presence. Remember his "Champaaa.. Chameliiiiiiii.. Charulataaa" :-))
5. Amit tells "Toofii betaa.... Come to mummy.." Jai tells "Toofii betaa.. Come to daddy.." ROFL!
6. AR Rahman's new find - Rashid Ali. He is the sound of "Kabhi Kabhi Aditi". Rahman has used him in the songs of "Adaa" too.
7. I've got a question.. If its declared red alert, and if there is a terrorist running in front of you at a 3m distance, and if he is fully in point of sight, and if you have a gun in hand, AND if you are a police officer, then Why On Earth dont you shoot ?
8. The theater was about half full, but ppl had nice fun watching the movie..
9. Last but not the least, "Thanks Sand" :-)))

Tail:
1. That inflation line may look a lil cryptic if you havent read the 20-odd page inflation control mechanism thesis (aka email exchange) of the grouop
2. We again proved them wrong, when they said "Koramangala to Marthahalli in 10mins? Impossible" :-)))

Gmail: Track Your Account Activity

2008-07-14T11:53:00.002+05:30

For quite some time, google had been rolling out all not-so-fancy stuff thru google/gmail labs. (These can be found in 'settings' of your gmail account)

Now, here is something interesting !
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/remote-sign-out-and-info-to-help-you.html

You might have already noticed this 'Details' link at the bottom of gmail page.
A nice n fancy thing, that will also help you track password leaks !

ITR: Registering into the Income Tax Website

2008-07-13T14:51:00.002+05:30

I
Continued from here

Not able to register into the Income Tax (IT) website ?

In the original post, a passing reference was given to indicate, why it is important to first register yourself into the Income Tax Website (https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/portal/register.do?screen=registerPage1) before starting with any of the e-filing process (Yes, that means, even before you proceed to fill up your ITR excel utility). The reason is simple. In a few rare cases you will end up pulling hair out of your head at this very first step.

This is where you will be taken to, when you go to the 'Register' page:

As you can see, you need to enter your PAN number, First Name, Middle Name, Surname and your DOB for the registration process - they say PAN number, Surname and DOB are the mandatory fields. Now here is the trick - If you had gone through agents to get your PAN card, by all chances, they would have messed up your first name, middle name and surname while submitting the PAN application form. (If you have only ONE part in your name, like say, Arunkumar, then you are saved to some extent :D ) If your name is something like Arun Kumar Gopalakrishnan, then more often than not, you are in trouble. If you put the names as First Name, Second Name, Surname in that order, it might really no help you. Coz they would have submitted your PAN form as FirstName-Arun Kumar Surname-Gopalakrishnan.

The best thing would be to go to the Find Your PAN/ Know Your PAN page (https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/knowpan/knowpan.do) and spend a few minutes breaking the Da Vinci Code :-) Once you have solved the puzzle, get back to the registration page.

All the Best !

Tail:
1. They have put a * in red against some fields indicating these are mandatory. And seemingly indicating the other fields are optional. I'm not quite sure, if this is how it works. For me it works, because of the beauty of my surname. But in a country where the population number exceeds the number of fresh water taps, I'm skeptical :)

ITR Time : How To File IT Returns

2008-07-12T17:51:00.010+05:30

Its tax time! Well, no really 'tax' time, but the time to 'prove' that you have paid tax. And the fancy name for this is "filing Income Tax Returns". For most of us, its a dreaded process. A pain-in-the-neck phenomenon.

It was a nightmare for me too... until I filed my returns this year. All by Myself!
Voila. I consider that an achievement. And the main lakshya of this post is to boast of it.
And a side-lakshya to inspire a few of you to do it on your own.

At the place where you work, you may find those tax consultants, sitting in a stall with the ever-so-boring looking on face, but eager to help - solely coz of the fact that a 10-min job is gonna earn them bucks in the range 120 to 300. (Here, they charge 199)

Lemme tell ya, its one simple thing to do. For those who havent yet delved into the stock market, and the sole source of income is what the company gives you, its just a matter of half an hour!
You fall into the ITR1 category.
Here is the categorization: https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/portal/selectforms.do

All you need to do is, download an excel utility from the income tax website:
https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/portal/downloads.do

(Note that this is assessment year 2008-2009. I initially goofed this up and wasted quite some time to kick out the wrong form and re-fill the right one)

Your Form16 is the only thing that you need to fill up this excel utility.
You can find 3 work-sheets in the excel sheet. You need to ensure that the 'macro's are enabled in excel. The govt is smart. They have given a detailed pdf documentation which will help you in filling up the excel utility. But a lil smartness from our end is required to figure out, where this help-pdf is :-P
It is here: https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/portal/downloads07-08/itr/user_guide/itr1_excel_guide.pdf
(they have put it in the 2007-2008 assessment year webpage, and not given it for 2008-2009!)

One place where you may get stuck is the "Designation of the Assessing Officer".
For Bangalore, find the info here:
http://www.incometaxbangalore.org/jurisdiction/juri_indiv_sal_blr.htm

Each work-sheet in the excel has a 'validate' button. Use this button to check if you have not filled up any column. Validation is required for all the 3 sheets. Once you are done with it, click on 'Generate xml'. And you get an xml file in your working directory.

Now create a login ID for yourself at the IT website:
https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/portal/register.do?screen=registerPage1

In some rare cases, you may NOT be able to register here :-) But its RARE!
(For this reason, better do this step first, before doing any filling ups)

After you have logged in, click on 'Submit return' in the left panel.
You will be prompted to upload the xml file.
Upload it.
You dont have a digital signature yet (by all chances). So dont select that radio button.
(If you had your digital signature, then E-filing is done, at this step!)

When the uploading is completed, you will get instructions on where to find your ITR-V.
Download it, print 2 copies, sign on 'em.
Take these 2 copies to your nearest IT office and get it stamped.
Ho gaya !!!

Steps in Summary:
1. Go to IT site and register yourself using your PAN number
2. Fill up the excel utility (use form16 for reference) and generate the xml file
3. Upload the xml file to the IT site, in your login.
4. Get the ITR-V, download it, print it, sign on it.
5. Go with it to the IT office and get it stamped.
(The printed ITR-V should be stamped at the IT office within 15 days)

For ITR2, the process is going to be the same, except that you may have to fill up a few extra sections in the excel utility!

Dont wait!
Finish it off by yourself!
And save some hard-earned money.
(Inflation Demon is already eating it up big-time!)

Update (July22, 2008): More on "Registering into IT Website" here
Update (July29, 2008): You can now submit your ITRV for stamping at Queens Road office too ! The info I got is that from July25 to July31, all IT offices will do ITR-V stamping. One of my colleagues who went to Queens Road on Monday (yday) said that its 5min job. No queue, no waiting, no delay !
Update (July30, 2008): You can do e-filing till July 31, 2008. And you have 15 days to submit your ITR-V to the IT office. That means, even if you complete your Excel-xml formality and get your ITR-V printed out from the IT website, you have 15 more days to get it stamped at the IT office.

Tail:
There are a few other advantages of filing your returns all by yourself.
1. You understand to a small extent, bits n pieces of the tax machinery functioning.
2. You feel a lil bit of pride (oh yes! u can boast of it :D )
3. And most importantly, You would see that BIG number and say "Holy **** !!! I paid so much of tax this year?!!"
4. The last date for filing the returns is July31, 2008.
5. Where to submit the filled up ITR-V ? Generally all the IT offices would accept the ITR-V. But as of now when I'm writing this post, in Bangalore, they accept only at the GangaNagar, Bellary Road Office. The other offices (Queens Road etc..) will start accepting towards the last days of submission. For acomplete list of IT offices in Bangalore, with contact numbers, check here:
http://incometaxbangalore.org/jurisdiction/add_blr.htm
6. Keep in mind. When you go to the IT Office to get the ITRV stamped, you should go with TWO signed ITRV forms. One is for them. One is for you to take back, after stamping.
7. In case you have a refund, you need to fill up the relevant sections in the excel utility. If you are wondering where to get the MICR number from, check your cheque leaf. Its that number at the bottom, which remains constant in all the cheque leaves!
8. Do you need to go in person with your ITRV form to IT Office ? NO! You can simply hand it over to a friend who is going. No authorization of any sort is needed.
9. Do you need to carry your Form16 along with you to IT Office while going for ITRV stamping ? NO! All you need to carry is 2 copies of signed ITRV forms. Carry your PAN card and a copy of it too, just in case they ask for it. But take my word, they WONT ask for it :)

Vacation Time !

2008-07-04T23:15:00.001+05:30

After a few hectic (?) days, its time to go home and chill out. Off to native on Saturday eve. Back on Wednesday morning. Happy Days :-)

Review: Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na

2008-07-04T21:18:00.004+05:30

Disclaimer: I have tried my best not to disclose the climax or suspenses in the movie. The theme is revealed, but not the full story.. If you wanna go for the movie with ZERO expectations, STOP RIGHT HERE!

A tried and tested theme. But one that has worked too.. Havent you seen this plot in umpteen number of hit movies? Count DDLJ, KKHH and other such 4-5 letter acronym movies.. There is this movie 'niram' in Malayalam.. The theme is same - boy girl friendship. Can a boy and girl remain friends throughout their life? Will this lead to love? Is marriage the final destiny of such boy-girl friendships?

Jaisingh Rathore (Friends call him Jai. But Aditi calls him Ratz) and Aditi (Friends call her Aditi. But Jai calls her Meow Meow) are the boy-girl characters in the movie. Aditi is one blasting character. She never bothers to keep track of the number of fights and gaalis she manages to deliver in a day. Jai is one soft chocolaty guy. He cant see Aditi sad. Thats how the movie opens up. The gang of friends meet up at a funeral program. Someone very near to Aditi expired. (I'm not gonna tell who! I promised, I dont wanna reveal any suspense). Come song "Kabhi Kabhi Aditi". Nice song. A R Rahman, it is!

All fun, naach-gaana, hungama needs to come to an end. (Well, no.. no tragedies.. dont worry!)
The 5 year college life comes to an end (What course is it where you be in college for 5 long years?) Jai is summoned to Aditi's house. A sequence of events there, and the duo is, for the first time, given the seed of thought - Are they in love ? A blatant denial on the face is the first reaction. The dream boy for Aditi, in her own words, is a mascular macho guy, who would save her from any difficulties. And Jai has a dream concept of his own. But then, will they be able to live separate? Lead 2 different lives ?

The movie has so many interesting scenes and characters. Aditi's bro is one typical character. Reserved painting artist, who locks himself into his room most of the day, but never lets go of an opportunity to pick a fight with his sis. After all, both belong to the same clan :) The most common topic for fight is Jai. Amit sees him as his number one enemy - for obvious reasons - that he reveals at some point of the movie :)

There is a slight inspiration from Tom & Jerry show in the movie, when Jai lends a helping hand to Amit, to find his pet - a Rat ! :-)

The friends gang is one fun group. They are found together almost always. The film, in fact starts off when the friends gang meet at the airport, to receive Jai and Aditi. The whole movie is a rewind of happenings...

The star-cast is too good. The acting is very natural. There is a cameo appearance by Naseeruddin Shah. Also giving special appearance are Sohail Khan & Arbaaz Khan.

The songs are nice. The locations are good too. Nice lighting and camera work. Comedies are stitched in, at appropriate places. Not many of 'em, but all are situational and apt.

Overall, a good entertainer !
Pls hit the theatre with bare minimal expectations - like how I went :-)

Rating: Average
(Must Watch/Average/Dont Go)

Tail:
1. Pls note that Pappu Cant Dance :-)))
2. Need tickets for the movie? Forget PVR, hit Vision Cinema on KH Road/Double Road, near new BMTC bus stand.
3. BTW, for the first time in my life, I had a FDFS !!
4. Bottom line - If you love somebody, speak out (not to the mirror, but to the person) :-D

Songs!

2008-06-28T23:13:00.003+05:30

Got some new songs into my play list.. Well, not all of 'em are new. Some are classic ones :)

1. Is Pyar Se Meri Taraf Na Dekho (Chamatkaar) - Romance in the air :)
2. Mujhe Milo Wahaan (Ada...Way of Life) - Thats the familiar Jayachandran + Alka Yagnik !
3. Zara Se (Jannat) - KK rocks!
4. Maine Hawa Ke Paron Pe (Mere Baap Pehle Aap) - Movie sucks. But this song is kinda okay.

And of course, always in the list is... Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna :'(

Add this to the list too...

6. Jaaniyeeeeeee (Summer2007) - A new singer! Is that Kavitha Krishnamurthy Subramaniam's daughter?! Sounds strikingly similar to Kavitha Krishnamurthy's voice :)

Lost...

2008-06-25T20:36:00.005+05:30

I was lost in all the happenings around me..
(That should sound a positive statement!)

More than a week away from the blogger community..
What was going on? Here is the answer:

1. Munnar Escapade! Took the entire h/w team to God's Own Country. To Munnar! Boy, it was one helluva trip. And ppl are in love with Kerala :-) The second consecutive year, that we (Brad and Rat) succesfully organized an all-official trip...

2. Movie Time! Well, after having organized a mega event at office (this is not the tour, this one is on a larger scale. The entire BU, you see!), the organizing committee decided to cool off. And we opted for PVR, ruling out Wonderla, due to the distance and want of time. A flop movie, alright (Mere Baap Pehle Aap), but thoroughly enjoyed the outing, the lunch and the howling and booing in the screen :)

3. A95 Gone again :(
In within a year of the CCD-problem correction, pops up this new bug. The camera wont adjust the shutter speed in accordance with the light level - leading to dull and dark images even in broad daylight. The service centre morons took the camera into their test centre, took 2-3 photos with flash on and came back saying, its working perfectly fine! I had to fight with them for 5-10mins before they even agreed to take another look into the cam. They will send it to Delhi, for an electronic inspection. By all chances, it wil come back with a message "Camera has no problem". Anyways, the cam had been used to its extreme. With more than 20k photos+videos together taken out of it, in a span of just 2.5 years, and having travelled to all fancy places in adverse climatic conditions, I should pat on its back and say "Good Job". But I terribly miss my cam :( And spent a day in office listening to the title track of KANK.

4. Big trips planned, but nothing taking off. Coz guyz are busy doing shuttle service to home. (Even I'm going home the weekend after the next) :D

5. Bday treat this Saturday ! Kaustubh turned 4 :P

Over n out!

Munnar Falls !

2008-06-16T23:23:00.002+05:30

Valara Falls:

Cheeyappara Falls:

Munnar Escapade is On !

2008-06-12T07:34:00.002+05:30

And by 5 in the eve, we are gone !

A team of 24 odd are leaving today for Munnar, to gauge the rainfall received in that part of the world (The news from ground zero is that its pouring heavily)

It would be a smart thing to take a helmet along... A space suit would be the best thing, though. To protect myself from rain is one thing. But to protect me from kicks and blows is the primary reason :-S

The plan on paper is simple:
1. Leave from Blr @ 4PM
2. Land in Aluva at 3.30AM
3. Off to Munnar in a chartered bus. Reach Munnar by 11AM
4. Out roaming by 1PM
5. Back in rooms by 8PM
6. Camp Fire, games, sleep

Day2:
1. Up at 5, check out by 6 (these are interesting numbers)
2. Roam around till 11.
3. Start back to station by around 1PM
4. Reach station by 5.30PM
5. Get into train at 6PM

Boyy its a packed schedule !
And with 24 guyz (they will have 124 opinions and suggestions of their own), time management would be the key. As far as rain is concerned, who cares. If it rains, we'll do a 'Tip Tip Barsa Paani' :-))

Lumbini Park Expedition

2008-06-08T14:35:00.005+05:30

Post the US-return treat at Magnolia, Koramangala I Block, it was 4pm when we started back our long (1km) trip back home on 4 bikes. Waiting at the signal, everyone remarked in one voice "What a nice climate". And one voice outcast the rest "Lets go to Nandi Hills". And soon, the rest of the gang joined the plan. Hit home by 4.45PM. Aasish left for home saying "brb" and came back with his Swift. Well, not a real good idea, to go by car. But then, he wants to go on a long trip. So no one objected. Started by 5PM. And one hour into the trip and we found we are nowhere near our destination. So a sudden change of plan, and we landed into Lumbini Park.

This, in fact, is our second visit to the place. Last time, it was an all guy gang of 4. This time double the number. And all-but-one guy-gang. Pretz joined us this time.

30 bucks entry fee! Phew! And an extra 30 bucks for camera. Too much (for a 2nd visit) :-)
So we saved the camera 'entry-fee', by 'stealing' it in :-P

We had missed boating last time. So this time, headed straight into the boating area. 4 pedal boats. 30 rupees per head is the ticket. For 20 minutes. A pedal boat comes to you at a 40 rupee deposit (perhaps to ensure an on-time return of boats!)

There are a few rules, that we learnt while on boat. (Rules that we should have been aware, even before getting into one!)
1. You shouldnt try hit-and-go. Human beings aint amphibians, you see :-)
2. These boats are better operated in seated position :-S
3. When it rains, you get wet !! (That was the best learning of all !!)
4. The speed of the boat doesnt have a direct relation with the speed at which you pedal. Its all in the rhythm.
5. The boat is usualy for 2 ppl. But if you have a child below 0Kg, then its okay to hav him/her seated too :-S

Having learnt all the rules, and going through an on-the-job training, it wasnt long when we got a call from the base - to get back. Running out of time, you see!

Back to base. Collected safety deposit. And off to an evening walk.

Gasper made an attempt to try a few PJ's of his standard, and we was taken airborne in an attempted effort to nose-land him into the water below... Suddenly we realised that we were inviting a lot of attention from the fella-visitors :-P

The rest of the evening was spent taking profile-pics one after the other in the same frame, in the same spot, in the same background. (And profile-pics are already on air :D )

When light faded, and when there was no one left out to take a profile pic of, we called it quits and left to Pluto. Back home by 9PM. Wondering what would have been our fate, had we decided on to stay on to our original plan (of Nandi!)

Tail:
1. Magnolia is a good place alright. But its expensive! Think of a number between 400 and 500 for per-head expense !
2. Rain did not play much of spoilsport. We just got a slight blessing type drizzling while on boat.
3. The plan of all of us going to drop Pretz to Mlswrm dint really kick-off, coz after a few mins into the return trip, we found all of us split into 3 different directions :-D
4. Voila! There is a new fly-over constructed near Windsor Manor. What a dirty construction!
5. The race course road (in front of Le Meridien) now looks majestic! New lanes added, flat re-tarred road, with rhythmic white lines running over it. Beautiful!

Munnar Escapade

2008-06-06T08:10:00.002+05:30

After the highly successful "Tour De Kodai", this time its "Munnar Escapade" - HW team on tour! It was a tough ask to get an apt name for this adventure trip. Options tried included "Morons to Munnar" and the likes. But dint suit a professional setup. Hence resorted to Synonyms in MS-Word and the name was fixed :-)

As last time, this one is going to be be the same organizing committee (code-named Escapadians). Hope none of the committee fellas 'Escape' to make the name true :-S And challenges remain the same - Will it rain? Will we be able to cover all the spots in time? Will we be able to setup a camp fire? And since the place is in God's Own Country, need to watch out for God's Own Celebration nick-named 'hartal'. (For the record, it was hartal in Munnar for the past two days - one of 'em to celebrate the petrol price hike) :-D These are a bunch of fun-loving (read hartal-loving) ppl!!!

Yet another challenge is a critical project, which might very well lead to a postponed trip (or even a cancelled one) :-D

Whatever it is, the Escapadians do not seem to care. They are on the go !

OPT : Bhoothnath - A Review

2008-06-05T09:07:00.003+05:30

If we asked "Where are the horses" after watching the movie Race, this movie evoked this question "Where is the ice cream" :-S

A bhooth, his newly made friend - a kid, the kid's mom Juhi, and his dad SRK. That sums up the characters of the movie. The constant kicks and cries of guyz to the left and right kept each of us awake. There werent much of ppl to howl or to throw chairs around. The theater was reasonably crowded by the presence of 8 souls (barring us). And when Sowji went up to the counter to ask "Bhoothnath. Are tickets available", that fella gave him a STARE ! Should have guessed what that meant, even before booking the tickets.

But then the time spent inside the theater was enjoyable. Some dialogues off-screen:
1. Ethu ($*()$_)()_ paranjittaa ee padam kaanaan vanney ?
2. Ee bhootham full time dance um paattum aanallo..
3. Juhi kaanaan kollaam :)
4. (A senti scene comes...) "Ippo bhoothathinte vaka oru dappaamkuthu kaanaam"
5. Sowji - "Ithu mikavarum To Be Continued ennu paranju nirthum" And that happened!

While we were not talking , shouting , laughing (not to some 'joke' on screen) we had other time pass. To see if the chair is detachable, Check the floor spacing for sleeping using Bin as a test resource, Check whether the movie would be any better if watched with helmets on...

Well, nothing in the movie is worth a mention.
So here is the verdict:
Rating: Dont Go!!!!!!!!!
(Must Watch/Average/Dont Go)

Tail:
1. The OPT-ians were at their cautious best, riding their machines at sub 60kmph - quite abnormal of them! And the autos and luna's passed by happily ahead..
2. To save petrol, we switched off the bikes near the gate of our compound and got our bikes to the parking in neutral :-D (Petrol price is hiked by 5 rupees, you see!)

On Stage ! (And still alive)

2008-06-03T21:11:00.002+05:30

The show went super good. Neatly arranged (After all who is behind the show!!?!) ;-)
Couldnt get into water or go for bowling.. And couldnt see any of the events on stage :-(
(as expected)

But we are offered a special day off to go out and freak out in WonderLa ! Ooh La La !

A coupla highly edited and deliberately-blurred images :-)

Race is on my Bike !

2008-05-30T03:02:00.003+05:30

Yeah! Kmgla to JayaNagar in 20 mins flat in peak traffic time. And back in another 25 mins. Then a late evening - well its night - full Bangalore Darshan too.. Kmgla-BTM-JayaNagar-MG Rd-Ulsoor-Kmgla-Madiwala-Kmgla. This one was in heavy rain. All this to rent out the dance costumes. The program is today! 7 hours from now :-P

Petrol Price to Increase by 16 Rs per litre ?

2008-05-26T22:15:00.004+05:30

That would be a nice thing to see. With immediate effects like:
1. Strike, hartal, bandh in Kerala
2. Rise in price of commodities (when did it go down, by the way?)
3. Hike in public transport rates - bus, taxi, auto
4. The buying power of the public will go down. (Half of what you earn will be used to buy this liquid, which does nothing but burn)
5. A by-election ? :)
6. Lesser vehicles on road. More ppl into public transport, you see!

The govt regulated oil giants - HP, BP and IOC - suffer pretty decently, while their counterparts such as Shell are selling petrol at 62 bucks per litre. Reliance filling stations have shut down in most parts of the country.

Tail:
1. In an ideal situation, a rise in price of petrol shouldnt have impact num 2 and 3. The nation runs on diesel, buddy ! But is there anything by the word 'ideal' ? :-)
2. It is rumored that there is a source of crude oil in the US. But they never use it. Perhaps, they will start digging when Iraq and Kuwait go empty!
3. Did you know ? Diesel is priced at a premium in the US. Petrol is cheaper there :-)
Now thatz like an env friendly nation.

Travelogue: MUA Kannur Day II

2008-05-24T08:38:00.004+05:30

Saturday night ended with a splendid planning of going to Kadirur Sri Surya Narayana Kshetram (Temple) in the morning at 6. Well, you know what would have happened on Sunday morning. Yes, you guessed it right - Nothing happened :-)
No one even bothered to prove the myth "There is no 6AM in the day - particularly on a weekend" wrong!

Well, the marriage party starts from home by 9.30-10. Muhurat is from 11 to 12. And its a one-hr trip from the groom's house @ Pinarayi to Sadhu Kalyana Mandapam @ Kannur town. We opted to skip going to the groom's house, and hit the Wedding Hall directly. Having ensured that the kitchen is emptied to the fullest extent, we left the house by 10.20. Safe driver Gasper in the driving seat. So nobody expected to reach the venue, any time on that day. He is still in the Avenger 40kmph mode :D But thanks to minimal Sunday traffic, and thanks to my vast "knowledge of shortcuts", we reached the hall, just in time, when the groom and bride got up to the stage.

Guys with camera hav the exclusive privilege of watching the wedding proceedings at one-hand distance from the bride-groom :) I ws one of 'em :D

Post wedding, handed over the gift to the couple. And I wished 'em "Happy Birthday". And the bride was shocked and surprised altogether. Ente oru kaaryam :-S

For quite a while, the camera was in Gasper's custody. And he filled the memory stick with all sortsa colors - orange, blue, violet and the sorts.. There is an interesting anecdote to this episode, when we get back to Aishwarya :-)))

Sadya was super. Payasam was good too.

All the while we were talking about orange and blue. Soo dint seem to appreciate all this, very much. And she remarked "orange um apple um. kekanda enikku" :-S

Now that the most important activity of the whole wedding function is over, we called it quits, and got into the wagonR and left for the next venue. BTW, the 'orange' was at the entrance of the hall, and seemed to wave 'tata' with her eyelashes :D (atho enikku thonniyathaano?) :-S

Straight to Papinishery Snake Centre - the only anti-venom centre in Kerala. Among the different animals on display there, the Goose and the Peacock grabbed our attention. Goose, coz we had a similar version with us:

Peacock, coz he performed a dance show for us :-)

There used to be a snake demo at Papinishery at every hour. We were there at the wrong time, and we were told, it will be 45 mins before the next demo. Since the day's schedule was tightly packed, we left for the next place - Parassini Muthappan Temple. As is the fact, techies usually dont spend much time in divine spots. So we could quit soon from here.

Next is Mridul's house. Boy! Nothing short of a palace! Traditional construction with a 'nadumutam in the centre. When it rains, the nadumutam gets filled with clean bubbly rain water. Amazing!

Mridul's muthamma and mom decorated the table beautifully and called us. By the time, they returned with hot tea, the table was empty :-S
Muthamma remarked "Sadya okke kazhinju varunnathu kondu valya vishaponnum kaanilla ennaa vichaarichey". Gasper was prompt "Athu pinney, ithrem saadhanangal okke snehathode kondu vechaal, enganeyaa kazhikkaathirikkunney" :-D

We got an offer of a 2nd visit plus stay when we are in that part of the state :-)
While parting, muthamma called her elder sis and said "I'm sending some kids with Appu. Take care of them" Kollaam ! Another round of tea/juice and snacks ;-) Finished the table decorations there too and set out to Payyambalam beach.

I had never seen the beach so crowded! For that matter, it was almost 8 years since I came to this beach... It was a touch and go here, coz time was running out.

Dropped Mridul at bus bay, and back to Aish.

Quickly all the photos were copied on to the system, and a pre-view show started. Gasper seated in front of the PC. Sand beside him, and I behind them. Started off with the trip pics, then to the wedding pics... and right when the 'orange,apple' pics came Pop came dad :) Dad entered saying "oh, wedding pics r ready?" Gasper started sweating.. "Yes" - but with no pic of the bride and the groom :-)) Gasper clicks next photo - apple. next one - orange! Sand started giggling.. I quit the place singing a song (Smart me). Sand managed to steal himself out, on the bahaana of taking bath and getting ready. Gasper was left all by himself, switchng between the apples and oranges. Finally he got his breath in place, when a bride-groom pic came on screen. Phew :D

I was prompt to go straight into the kitchen and share the 'news' with mom and Soo. They could see the whole happenings from there, and couldnt stop laughing :-))

Later Gasper unleashed some of his favorite words onto us, before saying "Thank God, uncle didnt ask who took the photos. If he had, I would hav said Rat" :-S

Come dinner time, another comedy.
The table was full with chapathi chicken curry and fruits. The obedient and sincere (to-food) gang finished off teh chapathi container and got up. Later I overheard from the kitchen "ithraykum njaan pratheekshichilla.. njaan vichaarichu, kuttikal kazhichu kazyinjittu achanu kodukkaam.. pinne randennam raathri Julie kkum kodukkaam.. ithilippo onnum baakki illallo!"

:-))) Mom would be better prepared next time !

Out at 8.30PM. At Kadirur Bus Stop at 8.45PM. Into bus at 9.30PM. Back at Kalasipalya at 6.10AM. At home by 7.45AM.

Post-publish-edit
Tail :
1. Soo pointed out that I missed putting a reference to the super hit movie (??!@!#$()*$) which was played during the return trip in the bus. Read it here :-)

On Stage - Yet Again !

2008-05-23T13:54:00.003+05:30

After a lull of over a year, its time again, to show gimmicks on stage. The last time I did something on a stage was perhaps in Jan 2007. Long long time ! The body is grown in all directions, and the kind of things that we are supposed to do on stage may look funny if no tragic :D The body has already shown its disinterest post a day's rehearsal. There could be two possible outcomes - the body finally obliges and i get slimmer, or the entire show flops :-D. Lets 'weight' and see :-s

Travelogue: MUA Kannur

2008-05-19T18:54:00.008+05:30

An MUA to Kannur wont pass by the ears, without a chill in the bones. Kannur ? Isnt there any better option ? Are we not planning any other MUA after this one ?! Do we need to prepare our wills prior to the trip ?!!!

All these proves incorrect. And that was one super successful trip to Kannur. Of course, with a special reason attached to it - Bin's Bro's Wedding. Except for me, none of the touring gang has even seen the groom. But as the saying goes.. "Cake khaane ke liye hum kahi bhi pahonch jaate hain" :D

Thanks to Pritz (she has becoming my official ticketing agent :-s), got all 6 tkts in the same bus, all of 'em paired up. To reach Kalasipalya on a busy Friday evening is a big ask. We 4- rat,gas,mri,jim - got into an auto by 7.15. Sand,Soo had already got into a red volvo from their place to reach the destination. In the end, we were the ones to reach first. At 8.15PM (The bus is scheduled to leave the place at 8.30PM). Sand-Soo too landed in 10 mins.

The privileged duo had already had their dinner @home. The remaining 4 of us took refuge into a 4-wheeled 5-star thattukada. The food wasnt any bad, lemme tell you ! Pritz joined to taste the food, before getting into her bus. We got into our bus, when the driver decided its time. Luckily no 'Kalabhavan Mani' movies in the bus. Nice sleep (of course, keep aside the 1 hour ghat stretch, where there used to be a tarred road) :-D

7AM Sharp. We deboarded at Ponniam Road. 7 mins walk to Aishwarya. Dad n mom welcomed us at the door. We were alloted rooms at level 2. A bed tea, after freshening up. Followed by a heavy breakfast of putt and kadala. After almost half an hour into this exercise, mom came to the table and asked our man "Gasper, mathiyaakkiyo?". Gasper seemed to have taken that to heart, and made it a point to leave no trace in the putt vessel :D

Wasting no time, the team of 5 (note that Mridul continued his journey in the bus, to get down at Kannur) got into silver WagonR to head towards the first destination of the day - Telicherry Fort. Among the series of photos taken were a new set of pics - code named Mat Pics - of Gasper. Mat stands for 'matrimonial' :D After fort, off to Tly Sea View point, Tly Fishing beach (the "fragrance" is still around :D ) and then to the abandoned sea pier. All this, under the hot sun :) Gasper was constantly worried about his complexion. Jim too :-D

Muzhapilangad drive in beach was planned for post-lunch. But all of a sudden, we had a lot of time in hand. And we set off to the drive in beach - the longest in India (I heard a version, where 'india' is replaced with 'asia'. might be true!) Awaiting us, here was a team from Aero India. They had organized a para gliding session - well, not exclusively for us, but we formed a big chunk of adventurers to try it out. A nice thing to do. And for 250 bucks per person, not a big hole in the pocket.. It wasnt as scary as it looked to be. Climbing up was smooth. Getting down was easy too. And to get a birds eye view of the entire place was a thrilling sight.

The bravest among the lot, Jim, opted not to try this 'wild' thing. He preferred to be on ground - which was stabler when it comes to PE=mgh calculation. And he had cam in hand, so we had these images captured, even while we were airborne.

Soon after the last man standing flew and landed, we packed back to Aishwarya. Yummy lunch was waiting us - served hot on plantain leaves. Post lunch, a short trip to Mahe Tagore Park, Mahe Church, back to Tly to the 2-rupee park (:D). Then a call to Bin "Daa... biriyani ready aayo?". A positive reply saw the wagonR charging towards Pinarayi. Since I was 'reasonably well aware' of the route to his house, I asked him to pick us up from the nearest known landmark spot. Reached house by 7PM. Korachu neram thirinju kalichittu nere dining table ilottu chaadi veenu. Koyi biriyani :)

After foodings, Bin took us for a round trip of the place - all the neighboring buildings are his relatives'. There is a temple inside the compound. There is a pond too. And there is a martial arts centre, where he claims to have undergone kalari-payatu training. (lavane kandaal parayoola) :D

We quit the place, dropped the movie plan and dropped into Tly City Centre. Well, this is not Bangalore, and 8PM is shut down time. Nothing much to see there. We aimed for house. Bath. Sleep.. ZZz....

Continued...

Random Shots:

Shadow Play @ Underground Hide-out in Tly Fort
_______________________________________________

Abandoned Light-house at Tly Fort
_______________________________________________

Abandoned Sea Pier at Tly Fishing Beach
(ee naattil ellaam abandoned aanallo :-s )
_______________________________________________

Adventure Sports @ Muzhapilangad Drive in Beach
_______________________________________________

View from the 2-rupee park :)

MUA Kannur: Coming Soon

2008-05-12T21:13:00.002+05:30

MUA Kannur !

2008-05-05T12:50:00.004+05:30

Kicking off a mega MUA plan - the MUA Kannur !

This would count as the most hyped MUA of the century, due to the sheer reference to the mega metro city of Kannur :-D And all the major tourism attractions of Kannur would be covered in this mega event.

Well, not the right time to go for any kindsa mini/normal/mega MUA to any parts of Kerala. But when opportunity knocks, we seldom sit and smile back :)

The MUA will be a 6-member team, hitting the roads on Friday night. Kannur metro will be blessed with the footsteps of the voyagers by early morning 6 on Saturday. Followed by a freak-out session of 2 days which will cover Thalassery Beach, Fish market (:-S), Thalassery Fort, Muzhapilangaad Drive-in beach (the longest in India)...

Well, for the detailed "project plan", read the section below!
1. Get into Ashoka Travels at 8.30PM from Kalasipalya - Seats 21 to 26 :)
2. Reach Aishwarya by 6.30AM on Saturday
3. After BF, go for a pre-lunch roaming.
=> Thalassery Fort
=> Thalassery Meen Market :-s
=> Thalassery city !

4. Lunch at Aishwarya.
5. Post-lunch roaming

=> Muzhapilangaad Beach (Asia's longest drive-in beach)
=> Dharmadam thuruthu (land in sea)

6. Hit Bin's house by 7PM
7. Put and 'Kadala' from his house :)
8. Back to Aishwarya. Sleep!

Day2 - Sunday
1. Early morning(?) getting up and going to temple. 14 mins walk from house
2. Post BF, go to Bin's house.
3. Off to Kannur town with the wedding party
4. Put and 'kadala' again (after the wedding of course)
5. Check out by 2PM.
6. A lil bit of Kannur Town roaming

=> Parassinikadavu Muthappan Temple (bhery bhamous)
=> Papinissery Snake Centre (Kerala's only anti-venom spot)

7. Back to Aishwarya by 6.30PM
8. Catch the return bus to Blr by 8.30PM
9. Back at Kalasipalya by 6AM. There will be drop-buses to Marthahalli, Madiwala

Pls note that Day2.6 would be highly tentative...
Samayam, ksheenam, dooram angane korey constraints..
Patunnidatholam polikkaam.
Samayam undel kalyanathinum povaam :-S

141 Km Flat

2008-05-04T00:00:00.003+05:30

Thats the distance covered in total on Saturday - starting the ticker as early as 6.20 in the morning! A happening day - picked up uncle from Yeshwantpur, went to bro's house for a short 15-min visit, dropped him back to Yeshwanpur, off to bro's place again, bf ke baad off to EC, half an hour there and back to bro's house. Phew! This distance, if traversed in a specific northwest direction, I would have reached Coorg :-)

Tail:
1. Sunday might (?) see an in-situ outing plan !
2. Goal-Enthaanenne mp3 finds its way back into the playlist.
3. Bro off to native to offload bhabhi's grandparents.
4. Rat and gang are off to native next week for Bin's bro's wedding!

Idea Star Singer 2008

2008-04-30T18:37:00.003+05:30

Gasper does a copy/paste of my patented lines, and writes a story of his own.
And the smarter of the two copy/pastes the entire story and puts in his own blog.

Read on :-)

_________________________________________________________________

Idea Star Singer 2008 (ISS2008) has been inaugurated by none other than our Super Duper Dialogue Man of Malayalam Cinema, Mr. Suresh Gopi on 28th April, 2008. And the best part is that I don’t have to see and hear Ms. Renjini Haridas anymore. I don’t hate her, but I don’t like her manglish and disco on stage.

Rat says, “Renjini Haridas was a big hit, you see… Junta generally dislikes English plus Mal in anchoring. But every household liked this gal. (enthu kandittaanaavo… but she was good an anchor, and pleasant in presentation)”. And Soo has a contrary opinion, “M'am Renjini Haridas is unsahikable! lo laval samsaarikkunnatu kekkumbozhe deshyam varum... She s**ks as an anchor! Oh plz, don't tell she has a pleasant presentation!”

So 50% of people liked Renjini while the others didn’t like her. Idea Star Singer 2008 (ISS2008) brings to limelight Mrs. Ramya Ravindran instead of Ms. Renjini Haridas (a good change) and Ms. Devi instead of Ms. Meera Nandan (a sad change, coz (1) Devi is another Renjini and (2) I liked Meera). And after Mulla, I have literally fallen in love with her.

We also have a new jury. The thrones are adorned by (1) Ouseppachan – debut Kathodu Kathoram (1985) instead of Sarath, (2) L R Eashwari – an old singer famous for seducing songs instead of Usha Uthup, (3) Unnikrishnan - National Award for his first song "Ennavale" from "Kadhalan" cinema (I wish instead of M G Sreekumar), and (4) M G Sreekumar previously Sree yettan as Kuttettan.

Idea Star Singer 2008 (ISS2008) brings in a lot of expectations being the successor or Idea Star Singer 2008 (ISS2007). Rat’s of the opinion that, “ISS2007, when Idea Star Singer 2007 (ISS2007) started, not many were glued to it in the initial days. But thanks to the show packaging plus stage plus the quality of competitors, it became a hit”.

The star attraction of Idea Star Singer 2008 (ISS2008) is its prize. The best male and female singers vis-à-vis Mr. Idea Star Singer 2008 and Ms. Idea Star Singer 2008 are going to get a flat worth 1 crore each. That’s a lot of money and a lot of people will be eagerly watching it to know who the lucky two are.

The wave of reality shows started somewhere in 2005 or 2006 and was at its peak in 2008 for the Indian viewers. 2008 doesn’t seem to be any different with shows such as Idea Star Singer 2008, Jo Jeeta Wohi Superstar, MTV Miss Teen India 2008, MTV Roadies, Chak De Bachche, Nach Baliye 3 Results, Champion Chaalbaaz No 1, K For Kishore, Kya Aap Panchvi Pass Se Tez Hai, etc… Opportunities to exhibit talents are increasing and the price money is increasing… All the best to all aspirants…

Rat on Guard !

2008-04-26T19:45:00.003+05:30

Thatz not a typo, and the first 3 letters are not meant to be d, 0, g in that order.

Rat, over this weekend, is on duty, guarding a house in his locality. A nice temporary change of job. Anyways, IT is not doing any good, and alternate work experience will be an added advantage :-s

There aint any salary for the taking.
But the sops include amenities at home - includes fridge and cot (which are counted
as "luxury" items as per Plutonian standards). And a park right in front - which you
can use for an early morning jog ( early morning what?!! ) :-D

Among other updates, Jim will soon become the 4th Plutonian to own a 2-wheeler. After hours of test riding different models (Apache, Pulsar, Hunk) the lot went on to the Bajaj machine which will find its way into Pluto Parking lot in 5 days time.

Over and Out (time to go on guard) :D

My Top Songs

2008-04-24T07:10:00.003+05:30

1. Mulla - Kannin Vaathil (M)
2. Veeralipattu - Aalilayum (Duet)
3. Inthi Ninna Preethiya - Endu Endu (sad)
4. Harindran Oru Nishkalankan - Kannipenne (Duet)
5. Rajkumar - Is Rang Badalti Duniya Mein (old)

Surprised, why there are no nice melodious numbers in Hindi, of late. And no klue what is happening in Tamil industry :)

Happened to see the song 'Tumse Hi' from Jab We Met on TV - with subtitles. It seems a nicer romantic song after that

Vaal:
1. Heard that ISS 2007 is finally over (in year 2008). All said and done, the program is a smash hit across the country. My Kannadiga colleague, the other day, said one of the Kannada critics (who rarely lets go anything good out of his mouth) was all praise for the show, and recommended similar events in Kannada mini screen.
Heard that ISS 2008 is in the making. Hopefully will get over before the next world cup cricket.

Now Thatz What I call Qjaada!

2008-04-23T23:58:00.004+05:30

A bike with remote locking and remote self start !

This is how it looks.

And for a prospective buyer, he has scribbled down some details as well

Congratz Gasper !

Tail:
1. His immediate target is to clock 500km on the bike. The reason - thats when he can do the first service :-S
2. To implement point 1, he has cut out a plan. The office is walkable, and no point going on bike. So on weekends he'll go to Mysore, take a U-turn at the Mysore palace junction and then get back home :-D
3. The bike doesnt have a kicker !!! If your right thumb is non-functional, you can think of alternate transportation means :D
4. BTW, the great man had bought helmet well in advance, even before booking his bike. Seen in the picture below (in the previous blog, I mean) is yours truly, showing off his helmet :)

And Back!

2008-04-16T07:16:00.003+05:30

To a warm welcome at the base...

Check this out :-S

Am I an Engineer or a Doctor ? :-$

Getting Prepared

2008-04-11T13:23:00.003+05:30

With punch lines to deliver...

Some of 'em would look like this:
1. Ogosh this traffic !
2. I cant stand this dust..
3. Why the heck do they honk ?!!
4. Its so hot here...
5. Of course the age-old line - "Nothing's gonna change here"

Geo, Sand, any lines that I missed ?

2008-04-10T12:20:00.002+05:30

3 Movies

2008-04-09T12:09:00.004+05:30

Given an option of 3 movies, which one would be the best recommended order to watch 'em ? These are the movies - "By The People - Mal", "Mozhi - Tamil", "Pranayakaalam - Mal"

Well, from my personal experience (over the last weekend), I'll do it for you.
Go for this sequence:
1. By The People
2. Pranayakaalam
3. Mozhi

(We did not have this information handy, when we watched these movies. Hence we saw it in the order 2,1,3. But best results are guaranteed with 1,2,3)

An insight into each of these movies...
1. By The People -> This is a movie created by a director to kill whatever of him was left, after 4the people. His last riots (hope this is the right word) will be done as soon as 'Of the people' is released.

2. Pranayakaalam -> Soon after 'By the people' change dvd and put this one in. The pleasingly cute face of Vimala Raman. And a supposedly chocolaty hero Renjith. And a totally messed up direction, screenplay, editing - u name it! Will somebody teach that hero - to be a chocolate hero, the rule book doesnt impose that you should keep smiling when the heroine says on your face "Get Lost, and dont follow me again" when they first talk. Why would Balachandra Menon and Tilakan act in such a junk movie? The angeline straight-forward bholi bhaali heroine keeps the back door open, and gives a lamp-glow indication to the hero to get into the house midnight. Crap! Good music. And a nicely choreographed/videographed fast number is there too. Those are the only take-aways.

3. Mozhi -> Super Amaazzzzzzzzzzzing Movie. This is my 2nd time watch. Enjoyed it all the same. That "save me from the doggy" run of PrithviRaj might remind you of the Mohan Lal (of good times). And in many other places too.. Choose to ignore it. Or go ahead and make conclusions of your own. But awesome script and enacting by the entire crew. Nicely blended movie. Stands out from the typicalities of a Paandi movie. Class act by Jyothika. Prakash Raj needs no nice words to be told about..

In fact, movie 3 can be put in any place in the order of watching those 3 movies. But better keep the best for the last :-D

Not For The Light Hearted

2008-04-09T11:56:00.004+05:30

Now, the subject line was deliberate, in an attempt to warn you of what is to come.. You still have time to close this window and spend a peaceful day in front of the PC.

But in case you are prepared, all the best !

If it took thousands of miles and so many years to watch the movie 'Boys', then this one classifies to go even higher up in the list... Hope the idols are still there in the temple, and that they did not flee seeing me :-S

Well, for the record, its a fully air conditioned temple. And has a door, which you have to push open to get in (I told you, its fully A/C). You will be greeted by a big flat TV screen if you take a lil pain to lift your forehead a little bit. Its a colony of Gods - there is Vighneshwara, Siva, Lakshmi, Anjaneya, Rama-Sita Lakshmana, Krishna-Radha... They have smaller abodes for them in there, and you can get in for a closer look. In one of the smaller houses, we got in. While I got into a standing meditative posture, I observed Kiron was also doing the same. But when I opened my eyes, he was gone. Bole to, ek dam gaayab !! But just before I could spell out 'Bhagwan ki maaya' , he emerged from down under - he had gone into a Saashtaanga :-S

I'd better stop here. The lines above are good enough for an imminent car accident/plane crash/lift malfunction :-D

Onnu praarthichekkaney :-S