Reanimated Corpse

Adios Blogspot!

2007-03-15T14:37:00.001+05:30

I am moving. Actually I have already moved! It has been while I was here at Blogger.com blogging irregularly. I will no longer be available at Blogger anymore. I would be blogging now at my new blog home:
http://creepsterinc.wordpress.com.

Please update your records if you ever did record my blog. And do keep visiting, I would be blogging far more regularly in the coming days.

My Celebrity Look-alikes

2007-03-05T13:50:00.001+05:30

Got my celebrity look-alikes from MyHeritage.com. Check it out - its good!

The Golf Club Duo sinks Barcelona at Nou Camp.

2007-03-02T13:32:00.000+05:30

That sounds like a cheesy headline. After the Portugal golf swinging incidence between that problem-child Craig Bellamy and ice-cool John Arne Riise, Liverpool seemed to be practising all the wrong moves. And to think the fight started because Riise turned down Bellamy's request of him singing a karaoke.

Rafa ended up fining 15 off the 22 players on the team. The shit had well and truly hit the fan and Liverpool which already was the underdog to beat Barca at Nou Camp was written off completely.

The only problem was nobody told Liverpool they were supposed to go down and roll over, and what followed was a scintillating game where we came back from a goal deficit to stun the title holders.

Dejected at being one goal down, but
You'll Never Walk Alone.

The mother of all ironies - Bellamy and Riise scored the two Liverpool goals. Rafa might have known something that we didn't when he said "This incidence should inspire the players do something special". Only Rafa could have seen an inspiration in this.

Flying header by Bellamy and
the golf swing celebration to snub the media

Bellamy sets-up Riise and Riise tees it off into the goal
Nice way to Kiss and make-up :)

What a result, even the staunch supporters would have taken a 1-1 draw as a good result, to go to Barca and come back winners 2-1 was an amazing result. Barca have only been beaten twice at Nou Camp by any English club, the second team to do so was 1976 Liverpool team.

Since then we steam rolled over Sheffield United and for the statements he is making after the match - Neil Warnock must have had his head knocked in by that defeat.

Big 5 days for Liverpool now. Liverpool play ManU at Anfield on 3rd March and then play Barca in the return leg at Anfield on 6th March. Exciting times. I am looking forward to weekend.

On a separate note Jose Mourinho seems to be loosing his top floor. First he went after Roman Abromovich saying he is not supporting him to make a complete team. Funny, since Roman has already poured in millions of pounds in that bottomless pit called Chelsea.

Then Jose goes after Arsene Wenger saying he is better than the Arsenal manager because Jose has won the CL and Arsene has not. And now he says ManU has had all the luck that's why they are at the top of the league.

Somebody needs to tell Jose to stop cribbing and get on with the game. But then I would not want him to go quiet - he definitely gives a lot of laugh riot material in between the match days.

Living life - city size - country wide - tolmolbol.com!

2007-02-27T18:13:00.000+05:30

We recently launched our first portal offering for the Indian web (& mobile) users! Please do visit http://www.tolmolbol.com.

What we are!

Tolmolbol is a consumer-centric city portal that helps ordinary folks like you and me get to know our neighbourhoods better. We unveiled tolmolbol.com at Proto, 2007 (Jan 20th, 2007) in Chennai (the Indian version of Demo), a conference that brought select Indian start-ups together.

Our goal is to make tolmolbol your friendly neighbourhood web-guide where you can:
* search for information about local businesses or professionals,
* voice out your opinions and reviews,
* forge a network of friends,
* communicate and discover upcoming events,
* place classified ads,
* reach out to your community,
* share information with others to make informed shopping decisions, and
* SMS information regarding businesses, events and classifieds to your mobile phones (for free).

What we are not!
* an out and out social networking site.
* Orkut, Hi5, Low5 or for that matter any other USD 300 script copying MySpace.
* Yellow Pages - yellow pages don't tell you if you should be visiting a place, we would like to be the one who can help you decide that.
* Niche/lifestyle reviewing site
* We are not an auctioning/bidding site :) (due to the confusion with Tol Mol ke Bol programme)

Our slogan - "Get local, be vocal!". So we hope to see you on www.Tolmolbol.com, giving back to your community and your neighbourhood.

iLeher.com (a top-notch blog covering Indian technology startups) covered the interview with the tolmolbol team on their blogs. You can find out more about tolmolbol at this link.

Ever The Twain Shall Meet...

2007-02-08T02:24:00.000+05:30

Mark Twain, undoubtedly, was the master of wit and sarcasm. And his work lives on, as hillarious (if not more) as it ever was. I obviously am in no position probably to comment on Twain's literary genius but everytime I read piece of his work I find hard not to laugh even if I am reading the same work for the nth time now.

I was recently reorganizing the books that I have piling on in the bottom shelf of my almirah. And I found Mark Twain's Selected Works. Its a small collection of Twain's stories and essays which I was probably reading for the third time. And the most interesting of his essays must definitely be "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offences". Though I do like James Fenimore Cooper's - "The last of the Mohicans", but I still love the way Mark Twain goes about dismantling Cooper's style of writing.

Excerpts from the essay
He begins with:
"There are nineteen rules governing literary art in domain of romantic fiction -- some say twenty-two. In "Deerslayer," Cooper violated eighteen of them."

While explaining how predictable Cooper is:
"Every time a Cooper person is in peril, and absolute silence is worth four dollars a minute, he is sure to step on a dry twig. There may be a hundred other handier things to step on, but that wouldn't satisfy Cooper. Cooper requires him to turn out and find a dry twig; and if he can't do it, go and borrow one."

On Cooper's defying the logic:
"...even the eternal laws of Nature have to vacate when Cooper wants to put up a delicate job of woodcraft on the reader."

This is mean but its wicked:
"There have been daring people in the world who claimed that Cooper could write English, but they are all dead now..."

Twain's description of native Indians waiting to step onto an ark/boat and overpowering the occupants, is a laugh riot in itself. And Twain ends it like only THE Twain could:
"Counting these out, what is left is Art. I think we must all admit that."

You must read Twain to know what wit is all about, to understand how sarcasm works, and most importantly to laugh your butt off.

Read Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offences at Project Guttenburg.
For great Mark Twain collection go to http://www.mtwain.com/.

Munh ki baat suneh har koi - Who understands the heartache?

2007-01-29T00:59:00.000+05:30

I still remember that slow serial "Neem Ka Ped" on DD National. Though I loved the serial for its sensitivity in portrayal of the life of a bonded labour (Pankaj Kapoor) but the reason I remember it always is its title song "Munh ki Baat" by Jagjeet Singh. I could listen to it the whole day without changing tracks.

It went something like
"Munh ki baat suneh har koi
Dil ke dard ko jaane kaun?
Aawaazon ke baazaaron ki
Khaamoshi pehchaane kaun?"
(Everybody can hear whats spoken
but who can understand the heartache?
Is there someone who can understand the silence of noisy markets?)
P.S. - Forgive me for the poor and semi-literal translation.

I have been listening to this song for over a decade now and its still my favourite. (And I am listening to it as I write.)

Life, journey, aspiration, reflection, everything that makes you and most importantly looking inwards to find yourself. The song is so philosophical and relevant, that it never stops amazing me.

The part that draws me most to this song and that which I feel I relate to would be:
"Woh mera aaeena hai ya
Main uski parchhaee hoon!
Mere hi ghar mein rehta hai
Mujh jaisa hi jaane kaun?"
A word for word translation alone would not do justice to this peice , so let me give you my interpretation as well.
Is he my mirror or am I his shadow.
The "he" here is in essence you and your reflections about yourself.
And I find that the person staying in my own house resembles me but is not the real me.
This goes on to build from the line above and explores/suggests how what you are on the outside is different from what you really are!

Its a must listen for everyone of you who like gazals and philosophy. Let me know if you need a copy!

Meme Indian...

2007-01-23T17:45:00.000+05:30

Found a nice city culture meme and here are the results.

Your personality type is SCOAI

You are social, calm, organized, moderately accommodating, and intellectual, and may prefer a city which matches those traits.

The largest representation of your personality type can be found in the these U.S. cities: Salt Lake City, Oklahoma City, Nashville, Tucson, Phoenix, Memphis, W. Palm Beach, Portland/Salem, Louisville, Cincinnati, San Diego, Los Angeles and these international countries/regions Slovenia, Luxembourg, India, Croatia, Romania, Taiwan, Middle East, China, Caribbean, Iceland, South Africa, Czech Republic, South Korea, Hong Kong

What Places In The World Match Your Personality?
City Reviews at CityCulture.org

So in essence it told me that my mindset matches the country I am in right now. Hmm.. that explains - no wonder I never wanted to be anywhere else!:)

The Red Celebration.

2007-01-22T16:40:00.000+05:30

One of the biggest wins for the Liverpudlians this EPL season and I was travelling. Such a shame! As I hear it we outplayed Chelsea (at Anfield) in every area. Considering the 2 goals lead earned within the first 26 minutes and a 40 yard screamer by Riise rebounding off the bar, a 3-0 scoreline would have been sweeter but we wouldn't mind the result.

On its way to the goal - Jermaine Pennant unleashes a piledriver,
to score his first goal in Liverpool colours and to make the lead 2-0.

I need to catch up on the highlights or the re run of it.

We play West Ham next and our city mates Everton. Hammers and Everton should be disposed without a hick-up hopefully but the Man U at Anfield should be game to watch!

Henry's last minute goal gave the Gunners a great win against Man U even though it means Gunners continue breathing down our neck on League tables.

Go Liverpool. YNWA

Desh ke Naam Sandesh...

2006-08-16T03:27:00.000+05:30

So arrives the 60th Year of independence and as usual I am feeling more patriotic than the other days of the year. I should have done something extra today but it was not to be. Afterall it was a national holiday and the government gives you an off to watch Pradhan Mantri's sandesh to the nation, though it also means that it gives you an off to watch zillionth re-run of Border, LOC, Gaddar, Haqeeqat or premier of Jo Bole So Nihaal on the telly.

So over the years after seeing so many of my Pradhan Mantri's messages to the nation, I thought let me take this opportunity to give some peice of my mind to my nation as well. Bear with me will you!

I start by reciting the lesser know National Integration Pledge.
"I solemnly pledge to work with dedication to preserve and strengthen the freedom and integrity of the nation.

I further affirm that I shall never resort to violence and that all differences and disputes relating to religion, language, region or other political or economic grievances should be settled by peaceful and constitutional means.

In their well being and prosperity alone lies my happiness."

The more I analyse our National Integration Pledge, the more devoid it makes me feel. To start we pledge "to work with dedication to preserve and strengthen the freedom and integrity.." WORK? but aren't we supposed to be on a holiday on the Independence Day? First of all why a holiday on Independence Day? It was a momentuous day for sure, but why do we take this as a country wide off. I know Americans go for a week's holiday and you may feel whats wrong with a day off for us in comparison. However, IMHO, Independence Day should be made a working day and every Indian should work harder on this day as a gesture to the world and our erstwhile masters that we are going to overtake them soon and by working on this auspicious day even sooner.

"I further affirm that I shall never resort to violence and that all differences..." Father of our Nation would be glaring down at us from the heavons above in pale horror at what we have done with this part of our National Integration Pledge. The HAVEs flex their muscles to bend all the rules and laws, the HAVE NOTs are mute spectators of the plight of a common man on streets, courts and Meerut Parks. The religious extremist go berserk in the name of Religion, the leaders of our country run it mafioso-like, and self appointed moral torch bearers pulls down posters, break glasses and shed blood in the name of ethics (their own not withstanding). And the "aam junta", well "aam junta (I included)" wait for our deliverer to get rid us of all our miseries without us doing anything. We surely must be reading different National Pledges.

"In their well being and prosperity alone lies my happiness." Need I say anything about this? Yes? Aaj ek Bharatwasi apne dukhon se utna dukhi nahi hai jitna dusaron ke sukhon se hai. :(

OK! So you must be cursing me now, calling me a negative character who only sees shadows when the sun shines. To some extent you are right, magar bhai kissiko to shadows bhi dekhna hai. No doubt we have progressed. We did well economically, SENSEX crossed 10K, World was prepared to see India in a new light, Cricket Team created a record of consecutive Wins batting second, Amreeka increased the allotment of H1Bs to India, Prince was rescued from 60ft well and Jessica Lall's murder trial was re-opened. In fact we have done tremendously on all the economic, development and technology indices, but we have made very little progress in Human Development Index. Which points to the fact that the common Indian is still not prepared to stand up and demand his/her rights, is not prepared to question their Government on why PSUs are still not performing, and is resigned to their fate and destiny. I think with the 60th Year - our highest priority should be Justice and Rights, the sooner we start demanding these the sooner the public sector and their office bearers will become accountable to the Public. And of course, with so much money flying around in the economy we need to also start working on that 35% Poverty figure and people who lie below it.

To end my "Desh ke Naam Sandesh.." from the altar of my Desktop, I would like to recite these four lines of our General Pledge:

"India is my country. All Indians are my brothers and sisters.

I Love my country. I am proud of its rich and varied culture. I shall always strive to be worthy of it.

I shall love and respect my parents, teachers and elders.

To my country and my people I pledge my devotion!"

Jai Hind!

Nanny Nanny Go Away!

2006-07-23T15:19:00.000+05:30

Its been a couple of months since I got a TV and I am now eternally hooked (all over again). Wasting away the precious hours and minutes of my life, glaring insensitively at the pictures being thrown at me - I keep telling myself "Shut the damn thing off". But its always program-up button. Anyway, the TV stays off except an hour or so from now on.

Roaming through the 100 channels that my cable provider is giving me, another thought keeps crossing my mind. Where did we loose those good old days when the whole family used to get together on Sunday 5:00 pm to see the sole weekly DD -1 movie. What a craze it was in those days, if you didn't have a TV, you just gather at your neighbours place to watch the block buster serials. Telly drew up than some memorable characters - Bheeshm Pitamah of Mahabharat, Hanuman from Ramayan, Raja of Ye jo Hai Zindagi, Karamchand, Mr. Y I Patel of Mr. Yogi and the list is endless. True we have Tulsi now to much chagrin of Ekta Kapoor hateclub (me included) but she would never be able to match the following our earlier heroes got.

That reminds me of the ad-jingles, like "Tandrusti ki rakhsa...", "Washing powder Nirma, iske jhaag ne...", "Yaad aa gaya mujhko...". Show me one Indian from my generation or the one before who doesn't know these jingles! And now who watches an ad when you have the power of remote in your hands. Well, DD-1 in its glory days, sure did give sponsors a value for their monies.

Enough blabbering for now. Need to sign off and delete that junk post somebody made on my Blog about selling me some B Com, BCA degree while I was away.

Resuscitation Post!

2006-02-21T03:39:00.000+05:30

I revive my blog with a few more pics. And for those selected few (if any) who take the pains of looking at my blogs and thought I fell off the side of the earth - "I am still Alive". I think!

OK! So I present an old event but I realised while I was going through my Flikr album that they were fun. So click on the image and go to the complete album.

Here is an amazing (read fluke) pic captured by Anand. Enjoy the gallery and keep dropping by. Signing off...... vrrrrrrrrooooooooooooommm.

Oh yeah! and read bottom up to enjoy my punchlines.

Do in Rome, as Romans do!

2005-10-13T14:10:00.000+05:30

I happened to be in Coimbatore last weekend. The company is on a recruitment drive and we ended up in Coimbatore for some brain searching.

First thing you take notice of Coimbatore is how laid back the place is. Its a stark contrast to Hyderabad. Don't take me wrong, it has its own hustle-bustle but nothing compared to the mad circus that goes around in Hyderabad. It definitely is a welcome relief!

The next thing you notice is the dearth of good hotels in the place, you can count the number of better hotels on your fingers and don't be surprised if you have 7 fingers to spare after the count.

Then comes the reality, no one talks in Hindi! :) I heard it from others earlier, but I experienced it first hand on the streets of Coimbatore. You can not merrily use your favourite term - "Ek Chai Dena". Staying in Hyderabad, I never had to learn Telugu, everyone here understands Hindi. In Coimbatore, you need to know Tamil or you should let go your street urges of talking in Hindi. So its "One Tea" then - for poor linguistically dis-inclined people like me! Plus points being that you can bitch about anything and everything with only the slightest trepidation of somebody understanding your ramblings.

The three days went off in a daze with candidates zipping in and out of the shady Hotel Surya Board Room. The place would not have been that bad if the hotel buggers had the couresy to chang the greasy tablecloths. But who can blame them they just (I heard) bought over by Taj Group for their upcoming Five Star hotel to come up in Coimbatore.

I would not be surpised if some Andhra-ites commit suicide in Coimbatore. There are very few Cinema halls and don't get your hopes soaring by these few, as all of these except one play only pure, unadulterated Tamil movies. For multi-lingual freaks - hop right in! For those like me who find learning new languages as not an interesting enough timepass - feel dejected!

Before I even knew, it was time to head back, but not before vitnessing some incessant rainfall of the unpredictable Coimbatore climate. The roads were clogged with water, specially towards the airport. Not very different from Hyderabad in that respect though. The trip wasn't very exciting as it was business all the way.

Somehow the city grew on me. Empty streets and easy going people. The first impression I have after the trip - a nice sleepy old town to settle down in. There is something in the Coimbatore air, you feel sleepy all the time.

Just a foot note on Autorickshaw!
This composite entity is broadly divided into two component parts:
1. Auto - A machine that runs on petrol in rest of India, but here I doubt if it was Kerosene. Siblings of this machine in Hyderabad, go 0-40 even before you can say "Oh My God!", but in Coimbatore you would need to get down and push if you want it to go over 20 kmph. In Hyderabad, you would see a working tarrif meter on this machine, in Coimbatore please do not make a fool of yourself by asking the autowalas to "Go by meter". Incidently, I did make a fool of myself.

2. Autowala - This is the grim-looking, care-a-damn person sitting inside the Autos. They do not understand Hindi - so spare the effort. They are walking talking tarrif meter, so bargain as much as you can. It is generally a good idea to know exactly where to turn in order to reach the destination because the final amount is bound to go up if you don't - in addition to listening to Autowala's take on the Petrol prices and unfair practices.

Anyway, I would be returning back in November (this time for a break) and I would get to explore the city a bit more.

A Road Trip to FAR FAR AWAY!

2005-07-26T14:44:00.000+05:30

Its just one of those things that you do just for sake of getting away. Anand came up with an(-other of his bright) ideas for a trip to Nagarjuna Sagar. It wouldn't have been such a mad dash, had it been at a more humanly hour.

Anand was beseiged with this idea at around 3:00 in the morning. So we packed our bags, looked up Google for directions and the most helpful direction we found said "keep-going straight till you hit the dam". We did just that. By 3:30 am we were away on the bike.

The ride was perfect, the weather was cool (which was such a relief), the dawn and panorama was amazing. Checkout some of the snaps from the trip to Far Far Away.

The Morning Madness Guy!

Somebody better put him to sleep.

The dawn breaks - and it was such a sight!

(OK! Well i haven't seen too many dawns lately).

I was only too happy to ride.

Partially because of the road and weather, and partially

because the helmet holder had made my backside numb.

Thats the Sagar.

Supposed to be huge at one time,

but the water seems to be ever receding.

The dam is an impressive structure. You seem so puny in front of it!

You need to take a ride on one of those small round

basket type boats to see how huge it actually is.

We checked in and boy did we get a room with a view.

Time to get back - the clouds were gathering up

but we didn't think it would rain. Not just yet!

We were wrong - the Storm Commeth!

Finally, we were drenched even before we started back. There was 15 minutes of strong winds and heavy rain, that seemed to be lashing us for returning so soon. We wouldn't have minded staying back, but work beckoned. The trip was amazing, we did 320 Kms within 24 hrs and we were back in Hyderabad at 11:30 pm.

The Ace of Airbase!

2005-06-16T21:17:00.000+05:30

One of my more socially acceptable habbit has been reading. I happen to read a lot and but please I am not that art and philosophy kind of a reader. I use those books only as sleeping pills! One of the things I love to lay my hands on is live account of war of the worlds by the one's who were in it. Again I dont like Churchil and Mein Kampf type stuff because thats full off propoganda and self forwarding effort. I like the soldier's tale!

To cut the chase last week I happened to be reading Ba Ba Black Sheep by Major Greg Boyington. This guy is a "Medal of Honour" war hero Pilot from WWII, who assembled a bunch of loosers to create Black Sheep Squadron and this squadron went on to kick the Japanese and some jealous American Colonels asses in WWII. Boyington never forwards his own character as being a true hero. He accepts his alcohol problem and doesn't mind being open about it. He never dons the mantle of a hero and doesn't want to. He was on your face, care a damn kinda person. And you like him for being straight and at times selfish. The book is really a good look into how the war was in the air and emotions people felt when the pilot next to you, which you can say at most times was feeling little dejected.

Anyway, along with the things came the Flying Aces. These are pilots who have brought down five or more enemy planes. The most famous of the Flying Aces would have to be Manfred von Richthofen "The Red Baron" who brought down 80 Entente planes in WWI, another of the Germans in WWII has 352 kills to his name (all Russians), which is an all time record. Boyington was able to bring down 26 Enemy planes (then a record for Allied Forces) before he was shot down and captured by Japanese.

I got interested in this Aces business and to the mother of all surprises I found Indra Lal "Laddie" Roy. India has a flying ace to its name. Roy is credited with 10 kills in WWI, though he finally died in action. Roy gathered all his 10 kills in just 13 days in which he saw war. Follow the link to read more. Hats off to Indra Lal Roy.

Whose KAAL is it anyway?

2005-05-19T03:28:00.000+05:30

OK! I admit I have a fetish for Multi-starrer movies (Joshua - I remember you buddy). That might be the only reason I hauled my butt to watch a movie like Kaal. And I was pretty excited about it too, even though my friends advised against it.

Anyway, I should have know better because producer was Karan Johar, whose claim to fame is producing mushy-mushy, sissy Shahrukh Khan movies. Should have known best because Shahrukh Khan was the co-producer and did an ITEM number in it.

The Plaat:
For those who have not seen it yet Kaal is a movie which has John Abraham as National Geographic (NG) researcher( and if you believe that you can believe anything) whose love interest is Esha Deol (Yuck!) who also helps John in his research. It also has Vivek Oberoi, who after Company gave such mega flops as Dum, Road, and a movie with Aish. Vivek's love interest is Lara Dutta in the movie.

So John is sent Orbit Park - only director know why its called Orbit, they might as well have stuck to reality and called it Jim Corbet Park. Where was I? Ya John is sent to Orbit park to investigate killings of tourist and NG researchers by maneaters Tigers/Lions of Orbit Park. And it was an obvious choice to send in the specialist since Police thought it was man eater who was doing the killing. Vivek on the other hand lands up in Orbit park as a punsihment for showing off his latest Lexus SUV.

On the way to the guest house Vivek's gangs driver Bagga, who has a habbit of driving off the road more than on the road, bangs into stalled jeep of John Abraham. So meet Caesar and Brutus and begins the conquering of the worlds. Well you wish anyway! John takes an instant dislike/suspicion of Vivek, anyway, if Vivek keeps acting like that I wont blame John for hating him. Based on the same logic the director should have let Vivek also nurse ill feeling about John. However, thats only my observation.

Anyway, they reach the guest house and live happily ever after! If director Soham would have ended the movie there it would have been a decent enough movie but Soham would not be satisfied by making a decent movie. No Sir, he wouldn't rest in peace till he pulls the plot down, forces the cast to stutter lousy dialogs and dances on the grave of a script that could have been made into a good movie.

So the killings start first a driver, then a Guide, then a friend, then another friend and so on. In between all this killing the Caesar-Brutus gang, i mean Vivek-John gang befriends a new guide who saves them from tigers. The movie then keeps meandering along on a paper thin plot which was so thin that if it would have been any thinner there couldn't have been a movie. The grand finale, the climax of the movie is who will find the Caesar-Brutus gang first? End of the Jungle or their death or director Soham for signing the cast up for Bikram aur Betaal - the sequel of Kaal. As you might have guessed it by now ladies in the movie have no role except giving vocal support in shrieking and lagging behind when running like a rocket with its ass on fire was worth a million $ every minute.

Recommendations: Personally if you ask me the dialog writer should be hanged in public for writing dialogs like "Takdeer hamko yahaan tak le aayee hai, ab hamein takdeer ka saath dena hoga, aur dekhtein hain ki takdeer hamaara saath deti hai ya nahi." Puke Puke! If you still care for my two pence If - the director should be given life sentence for killing the Guide who was the only good character in the whole movie. Also in my far from humble opinion, Vivek and John should be given an option of VRS to save the Indian public from such scum acting. Esha can't be wronged for not looking good because she couldn't inherit good looks from Hema Malini, magar agar Dharam paaji ke dole shole mile hote to she would have a good career in WWE. Lara Dutta? Well its high time she should start getting worried about getting uglier by the day.

Final Word:
Go for Kaal only if you like Multi-starrer movie and if you have a blog to bitch about it.

Movie: Kaal
Director: Soham
Cast: John Abraham, Esha Deol, Vivek Oberoi, Lara Dutta, Ajay Devgan, Lots of Side Actors and Gladiator ke Sher.
Producer: Karan Johar and Shahrukh Corn.

An Ode to my Mother!

2005-05-07T04:29:00.000+05:30

Just returning back from a week long lay off due to some UFI - Unidentified Fever Infection! As I lay on the bed wondering what the hell hit me, and as I lay there feeling my fever rise and subside every hour, one person I missed most was Mumma.

The last time I ever got a severe bout of fever was another UFI. I got up one summer morning with a raging fever! At that time I was 12 old and that fever was the worst I ever felt in my whole life. That fever never let up for 10 days but those 10 days still seemed ages. The docs bumbled through one medication to another, diagnosed one disease after other starting from flu to malaria to typhoid to urine infection. So many assortment of injections found their way in my butt that at the end both the cheeks were swollen. I was bed ridden all of 10 days with a temperature of 103-104 degs.

Days were fine, even though I was in misery but light has strange effect on Pysche and I pulled through the days pretty bravely. Nights were absolutely horrible. I couldn't sleep more than an hour at a time. And I kept trying to keep myself from sobbing and whimpering but couldn't help it. The moment a cry left my lips I woke mumma and she put that ever comforting hand on my forehead.

For those 10 nights my mother could not sleep a wink. The moment my sleep broke I couldn't help but cry and the moment I made a noise, mumma was up, trying to make me feel better. She did not sleep a moment those 10 nights as she kept putting that wet cloth on my forehead, then replacing it. She hand fed me each of those 10 days only to see me throw up.

Mumma missed her work for those 10 days to make sure she was always by my side. And me, I just didn't have the courage to get through a day if Mumma was not around. I was scared, I had nightmares every night, I always dreamt I was getting fried on a hot saucerpan.

Finally, one night I slept all I could, I got up and there was only a hint of fever. I felt no fever no pain. Mumma was already up and her hand was on my forehead when I opened my eyes. And she was crying. I didnt understand why she was crying at that time. Fever had left me as abruptly as it had got me. One night! Docs never knew which medicine worked, I never knew what infection got me so forget about what drug cured me. I can't even say if it was a medicine that did cure me.

And as I lay in the bed a week back with fever rising I wished Mumma was here! Not just through bad fever days, Mumma has always felt my pain, my despair, my happiness, my successes, my failures and she has always shared all my feelings. Mumma has always been there. She is the best - of what is my life. She also is the most precious in my life.

Mumma - I love you, and I hope you know I am a proud Mumma's Boy!

Sanyas and the life beyond Karma!

2005-04-23T05:29:00.000+05:30

I must be one of those few who blog at this hour. But then the sub-conscious is most vocal at this god forsaken hour.

Well, the sub-conscious me just woke up and reminded me of my sub-conscious dream. My Sanyas from the life of worldly work! To rephrase it: when I shun all my worldly work duties and start partying. As you can see this is no spiritual sanyas and I have no intentions whatsoever to leave all the materialistic pleasure that I hold so dear.

So here I begin the countdown of my Sanyas from work: 5 Years to go. (Keep yourself updated every year till the last one where the countdown updates would be made daily. Thats on assumption that I would have not taken a sanyas from blogging by that time.) Also I am open to suggestions on things I can do after the sanyas.

Signing off dreamy-eyed.

Million Dollar Blog

2005-04-19T10:03:00.000+05:30

Finally, I got time to watch Million Dollar Baby. Before getting into a truly high profile movie, I was in my usual dillema, to see it or not to see it. I am really terified of high profile movies, specially the ones highly recommended by ones around me. :) Don't kill me for that!

Anyhow, the movie turned out to be out of the world. Excellent acting, well mazed plot, nice subtle humour, lovely direction. Morgan Freeman steals the show hands down. Looking at Mr. Freeman in this movie was a revelation. I never thought he could act for his life if he was not in his stereotyped three-piece suits. Hillary Swank is good and gives the role credibility but don't know if she deserved Oscars for it. Clint Eastwood did what he does best, be gruffy and grouchy, but his timing was mucho good. Somehow I feel Mr. Eastwood is now at a point of his life where he can deliver much more from the receiving end of the camera.

Difficult to find fault with this movie, except that you almost everytime expected things before they happened, like the fight where Danger is beaten up. You always expected it! And you always knew Freeman would do something about it as he was like Dirt Harry reaching late for action and anyway Eastwood (the Original Dirty Harry) didn't look like he could throw a punch.

The final word - if you dont see this movie, you'll regret when you grow up. And dont worry about the faults, they are few and far in between.

The other movie I saw (again) was Beauty and the Beast. I think, I have a crush on Belle (again).

Cricket - The game of UNglorious uncertainties!

2005-04-15T05:11:00.000+05:30

Put a night, wait eagerly for the coming match cricket. Pakistan attack sprayed all over the ground. Your deepest wishes turns true. Tendulkar scores a century, India score 315, could have been 340 maybe, but then again 315 ain't that bad. Hang on for the next two hours see how the Indians bowl. Horror strikes, Indian attack goes for even a more awesome leather hunt.

Hmm.. still 160 go, surely they cant win. Go take a bath, read some Dan Brown. Come back. 36 of 6 overs. Whaaaaat? Two wickets, now thats evens stevens. Last over 3 runs, Tendulkar back on attack. If anyone can do it. Last ball one run to win. Inzi Four. huhhh huhhh. Down Down Ganguly. Who asked him to come 2 Down? Why not make him Non-playing captain. The most successful non-playing captain. Leads the team from boundary.

Random Rumblings from randomly assaulted mind.

Next morning - Ganguly handed over 6 match ban. Whaaaaaaat?

Heh now the next match would be interesting!

Taxing Tom Tom

2005-04-01T00:47:00.000+05:30

I came across this snippet "Taxing Tom Tom" in "The Week" (The weekly magazine). Goverment goes creative. Goverment goes nasty. Government makes money.

The good citizens of Rajmuhndry, Andhra Pradesh get up everyday to the sound of music. Alright, almost music. The authorities have hired 20 drummers to wake up all the tax defaulters every morning. (Talk about morning alarms). These hapless defaulters are then asked to pay up the tax or go through the wrath the next morning as well. And would you believe it, these drummers have had some success. Authorities have been able to collect 18% of their tax deficit from these defaulters. Or who knows may be from their helpless neighbours.

Its nasty business, but its good to see that someone in the politicians or babus (bearaucracy) still has some sense of humour and quite a bit of imagination.

Orkutting - Its Different!

2005-03-29T04:27:00.000+05:30

Remember that Maggi Hot and Sweet Tomato Sauce ad, featuring Javed Jaffery and Pankaj Kapoor, with its instant hit tag line "Its Different!"

One of my best-est hobby happens to be Orkutting, in fact it rates a close second to Googling. Orkut is fun even though the fact that it gets the most number of hits on its Error page. (Error Page? That Omnipresent Bad Server - No Donuts for you page.) And checking People's Profile (if they have a real image posted) is even more fun.

Go to Orkut and they will dazzle you by "You are connected to 4699212 people through 57 friends." 57 friends - 4699212 people. Bahut Na Insaafi hai re! And you would waste your next 25-30 minutes to seeing some of these 4699212 people. Its Different Mega timepass. In fact it would rate only second to Googling in time pass. Speaking of which it reminds me Blogging at BlogSpot is the first cousin to both Googling and Orkutting when it comes to Timepass. And mother of all ironies, all the sites are owned by Google! (As if you didn't know huh.)

To conclude - Google has sprung up an empire for themselves because people like us are timepassing their time on Google Flagship Products. (My apologies to those who can kill or martyr for Google!)

But what the Hell is common to Maggi and Orkut?
Nothing! Just remembered the Maggi sauce advert, even though Maggi advert was a good timepass.

Later!

The Big List!

2005-03-24T23:03:00.000+05:30

When I was a small boy, my sis always used to recite that longest WORD in english -
"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious". It actually looks smaller than it sounded. But none the less it was ominous. As most in those days no one cared what it meant as long as they could. And I was the poor boy who could not even recite it. Hell! I couldnt even make its syllables and phonetics leave alone the pronounciation of the whole word.

It just struck me today and I wanted to know that wretched longest word and its meaning. Well here goes! It means "Gibberish", nothing, nada. It was a word that was used for a song of Mary Poppins - that Disney Movie. According to some accounts, it was stolen from another song which actually went "Supercalafajaistickespeealadojus". Which according to some was originally "super-cadja-flawjalistic-espealedojus". But it still always meant only gibberish.

Actually the longest word in english dictionary (oxford says) is "PNEUMONOULTRAMICROSCOPICSILICOVOLCANOCONIOSIS" a grand 45 letters, 11 more than "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious". Its a respiratory disease!

Another word "aequeosalinocalcalinoceraceoaluminosocupreovitriolic". (Did i see your jaws touching the floor?) This word was used by Dr Edward Strother (1675-1737) to describe the spa waters at Bath. Huh!!!

But the longest English word that actually means something worthwhile (again thats upto you to decide) would be "ANTIDISESTABLISHMENTARIANISM", which means the belief which opposes removing the tie between church and state. uh huh! And you may find some who just add psuedo to it to make it the "PSUEDOANTIDISESTABLISHMENTARIANISM" to make it equal to the original big 34 letter word.

OK! Thats about it for the longest word. But before you go on to the next blog, could you please give me directions to this place:
"llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch". Its supposed to be somewhere in Wales!

To be a Rock and not to Roll!

2005-03-18T18:35:00.000+05:30

I never really understood why Metal and Heavy Metal ever got so famous. I know I may upset a lot of people who like Metal and they have the right of their opinion. And this is nothing about criticizing their taste in music. But I am just kind of wondering out loud.

I brought out some of my old CDs and suddenly an Iron Maiden popped on my boombox. Now, what kind of freak would make a song called "Bring you Daughter, Bring Your Daughter to the slaughter, Let her go let her go let her go!" I remember hearing this song a long time ago and never liking it one bit, except that the absurdity of the lyrics caught my attention everytime I played it.

Which gets to the second part of Metal that I never got to get tuned to - The Vocals and Lyrics. I mean that apart from being lucky enough to catch any vocals at all, you would need to be God to make out the Lyrics without Googling for a little help. But then sometimes you just need to hear Metal to know the music can be made out of noise as well. Well you would feel like drums and guitars all but trying to tear each other apart but they still manage to stay in sync. Amazing!

Being someone who has over the years I have grown into Rock and slowly gone into classic rock, I am just satisfied with my Simon and Garfinkle, Bob Dylan, Pearl Jam, Lynyrd Skynyrd, CCR, CSNY and the kind, where vocals and lyrics either dominate or atleast level up with instruments.

Marketing - The Mafia Way!

2005-03-15T18:25:00.000+05:30

17:15 Hard at work!

17:45 Still hard at work, thinking of taking my hourly stroll and give my back some rest.

18:10 Still working, somebody must have glued my rear to the seat.

18:25 Mail from a friend. Kapish!!! The same ol' mail: Now that you have smiled, send this mail to everyone in your address book and blah blah blah.... (Anyway, my address book is always empty!)

18:30 Now that I have been brought out of my slumber I may as well take my stroll...

18:40 Back to the seat. Impending disaster! Client call tonight! Changes asked for are still far from deliverable. Call to the development floor. Few choicest words of encouragement. (Some times its carrot, this time it has to be Stick! Anyway, I would be taking it it this evening, so why not just have it given.)

18:45 Browsing Internet . Come across a website Save Toby. This website has been gathering a lot of attention.

Some people find it funny and others find it animal rights violation. Personally, I found it hillarious! Heh! this guys is nuts! Holding the little TOBY at ransom and making the good samaritans pay. (But one hell of a business idea. He's even got PayPal integrated to the site for donations :)) )

18:55 Impending Disaster! Back to work! Check out the site and enjoy it. I think the owner of the website actually likes Toby. And he would be nuts to be killing the cute little thing.

Later!!!

The Senseless and the Senile!

2005-03-05T03:49:00.000+05:30

You can't wear Tricolour on your Helmet!

You would think that politicians were born in mars and they are as alien to the earth as any alien can be. And I wouldn't blame you if you feel that way, because all they do is end up acting as a senile bunch, defying all sense.

First Indian to break into the Formula 1 scene ever, just wants to wear his country colours on his helment and share his proud moment with all the Indians. And what he gets is a formal letter warning him to do say and face consequence.

Narain is annoyed and he has the right to be so. So would any person who feels strongly about his country. So would you, if you were told that on the day you acheived your life time ambition (and in doing so making your country proud), you can not don your country colours. The reason "Law of Land" doesnt allow that.

When I read this story on the internet, I was so angry and later I laughed so hard that my friends thought I might die! Ask any kid on street about how many "Laws of Land" these upholders (politicians) of law would have broken to reach where they are now and he would keep reeling on with cases till he well overgrows his puberty.
And yes I am annoyed because like many others, I have waited for 10 years to see Indian Tricolour on the helment in an F1 car.

If the Law of Land does not permit it, then rewrite the law of land! If you cant be loyal to your country yourself, atleast let those who want to be proud and be patriot be so.

It was supposed to be a beautiful day!

2005-01-15T03:30:00.000+05:30

Its a never ending struggle, this life. When you get up every morning (if you actually are an early riser), you feel this "wow I am alive today" feeling. Its been over a couple of months (if you, like me do not consider a caffeine loaded night out) since I last saw the first rays of our might star (thats sun) come up from the east. Its such a sight when you are fresh. To sleep laiden eyes like mine, this sight doesn't mean much. If the night has been cruel to you and you have been actually awake the whole night, you only want to get back home and hit that sack you call bed and get through another day of uncomfortable sleep. You tend to forget the wonders everyday Mother Earth gives you (FOC).

Work its like an acid. It eats away your days, your brains, your rest and your sanity. I get up every morning (or should I call it every Evening) and tell myself, "Buddy you better give your senses a break" and decide well yeah this is going to be day when I put all things into perspective. Fast forward 12 hours, I am still in front of my desktop, typing away to anonimity. And well you got the rest of it. Its back to sleep in the morning, getting up late afternoon and realising its another day of me that just went by and its just another of those days.

Well, I am no role model. I dont manage my time, I dont manage of how I do things. I am freak! And at the end of the day you hate yourself, but atleast you are inch closer to finishing your WORK!

Maybe one day, just one day, I will sleep free of all these illusions of work being so important that its worth loosing your sleep for. All of you out there who sacrifice your sleep to work, try to hit your bed early one day and see what a glorious sunlit morning and a fresh cup of tea can do! And if you thank the God for the beautiful morning, remember you chose your life to be the dark of the night!

Another Blog on the Wall!

2004-09-04T11:49:00.000+05:30

Well, this is where it all begins! The first blog where I guess every body tries to test the waters and I would try to make some use of it.

"So why COMATOSE-d?" Did I hear you say that? Essentially thats what I am right now for those who have known me - Comatosed! Writing to them more infrequently by every passing day.

What do I wanna do here? Nothing much, just want to try to take some heat off me by putting it in here. Don't see reasons why just about anybody might be hitting on this blogger unless I have sent you this link somehow.

Lets weird it out a bit here.