Chung Waaaaaaahhh

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

'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" :-))))

Movies & Weddings !

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

MUA : Travelogue - Kemmangundi Trip

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

Kerala Cafe - Movie Review

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.

I'm Wedding !

What a stupid title ?!

Forget the grammar, and watch this video:

All Lines In This Route....

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

OPT - Movie Review: 2 Harihar Nagar

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"

QnA Interactive Blog !

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?

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

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

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.

OPT: Movie Review Vaaranam Aayiram

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 !

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

Vagamon Video :-)

Diwali Trek

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

A cooked up video of the trek:

Skanda Giri / Kalavarahalli Betta Trek

[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

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

Now Thatz What I call Qjaada!

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!

To a warm welcome at the base...

Check this out :-S



Am I an Engineer or a Doctor ? :-$