Men and Shopping

It’s been quite a while since I wrote anything here, and I’m sorry to all you friends out there who were still caring and sweet enough to make a check on me. It wasn’t really due to the world cup, though I was following it religiously all this while and it’s just a coincidence that I’m back after the Azzuri have won the cup yesterday. While Brazil losing out to France was a heartbreak, I’m happy the Romans took their revenge on the Gauls.
Most of this time (and even now) it’s just been too much work that’s kept me preoccupied, as I’ve been programming as a 1 man team for my current project. At times Life seemed to be limited to the dizzying routine of coding computer programs, and coming back here is like a scratching the long due creative itch.

Getting back to the theme for this write up, this pair might stand in the list of infamy as being next only to the ever elusive combo of Blondes and Brains. Predictably though, I beg to differ.

Well in case you’re talking about long, overstretched and pointless shopping sessions where the buyer goes to buy commodity X, bargains for commodity Y and brings home a totally different commodity Z (hmmm so there was P and Q free with it, huh ?), then I’d agree that Men are not half as adept at this art as the fairer sex is.( With all due respect to the ladies :p)
Hmmm but at least in my case, when I go “shopping”, more often than not I know when I like something I see, and then it’s as simple as paying for it and walking out. (Bargaining too in case the sum involved is substantial). But yea, I’ve had my fair share of annoyingly long shopping marathons with my mom, sister and friends, and honestly I never could decipher why most females would spend an hour deciding on something which a guy would in 2 minutes.

Now before I start practising to catch the online brickbats that would be coming my way, let me steer this to a related disturbing trend, which is the rise of the new breed of uninvited shopping critics.
Now I strongly believe that every person has his/her personal and unique taste while shopping ( specially clothes and accessories), and even though what’s fashionable for one might be outrageous for another, yet I really do feel that it’s quite rude to impose one’s biting opinion on another unless of course it has been specifically asked for.
Now I really do know what suits me and what doesn’t, yet the same has happened to me on quite a few occasions.
I remember shopping for a pair of black\white striped leather shoes a few months back, and a friend who accompanied me mocked saying I should act like a mature working guy now. Now I never really understood what that meant, coz I know for sure if and when I can carry something off, and I don’t think it’s anybody else’s business to decide what I should/should not wear.
Similar remarks were given when I got myself funky large brown shades and cowboy styled leather patched Wranglers.
Well my take on it is, this TIME is never going to come again. Do whatever makes you happy, wear what you feel like wearing, and never let anybody else’s comments prevent you from doing things the way you really wish to (as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone), coz the last thing you’d want is to someday look back on your life and regret not having done something you could but chose not to.

P.S. – Speaking of shopping…. After doing a lot of comparative analysis I recently got myself a new handset…the Sony Ericsson K750i… which doubles as a 2 MP camera with a 2 GB mp3 player that plays upto 1500 songs…. Going to and from the workplace isn’t boring anymore!

Bend It Like Ronaldinho

Late night action is all set to take a new meaning as football widows the world over take a backseat while an estimated 30 billion people would keep their date with the idiot box.
It really doesn't matter whether one is a regular follower of premier league games between the likes of Arsenal,Real Madrid,Chelsea and Manchester United, but once every four years, one has to keep track of the progress of their favourite team in the world's biggest carnival,which in my case,as for most of the world,happens to be Brazil.

I mean it's as obvious as saying America has been screwed up in Iraq, or that Shiloh Jolie Pitt would grow up to be a bombshell.The whole country seems to play football for God's sake, and there's so much talent that the biggest challenge for them is not who to select but the other way round.

Ronaldo and Ronaldinho have,in true Brazilian style, transformed the game into an art,with seamless dribbles,dodges and passes that are as smooth as a baby's butt.As if they were not enough,Robinho,Adriano,Cicinho and Kaka further contribute towards a team that is as perfect as can be.It would be a sheer disaster if such overwhelming talent couldn't lift the cup.

A brief overview of the various groups:

Group A:
Germany,CostaRica,Poland,Ecuador

No doubt about who's going to top this group,almost everyone expects Germany to have a smooth sail to the next stage.Key players being their striker Michael Ballack,the legendry Oliver Kahn and the guy who's replaced him as the goalie....Jens Lehmann.Though whether they reach the finals is yet to be seen,but as they say,"Never underestimate the Germans!"


Group B:
England,Sweden,Paraguay,Trinidad



Again pretty much a 1-sided group....the English talent is most likely to emerge at the top.With stalwarts like David Beckham,the much talked about 20 yr old "injured" Wayne Rooney,Michael Owen,Aaron Lennon and John Terry.Also my 2nd favourites for the Cup.

Group C:
Argentina, Netherlands, Serbia, Ivory Coast

Though Argentina are the favourites here,Netherlands are close behind.Major talent here is Drogpa,Crespo,Messi the "New Maradona" and Marco Van Basten.

Group D:
Portugal,Angola,Mexico,Iran

Portugal and Mexico are said to have some real good talent, and Portugal even said to have serious chance at the finals.The main portugese talent lies with Deco and Cristiano Ronaldo.(Yea another lucky chum)

Group E:
Italy,Czech,Ghana,America

Italy remains the favourite here with Czech a close 2nd, and best Italian talent in Luca Toni,Fabio and Nesta.

Group F:
Brazil,Croatia,Australia,Japan

Do i have to say the words ?

Group G:
France,Switzerland,South Korea,Togo

It's France all the way with the star Arsenal striker Thierry Henry and '98 star Zinedine Zidane.

Group H:
Ukraine,Spain,Saudi Arabia,Tunisia

Though Spain is the favourite here,Ukraine are said to have a good chance in this round.Alonso and Villa form the major Spanish talent.



So that's about it. This promises to be a long month of good late night sporting action.My personal ranking:

Brazil
England
Germany
France
Spain
Argentina

6 6 6

Now this is supposed to be my take on 1 of my 2 most eagerly awaited movies from Hollywood in recent times. Both belong to my favourite cinematic genre i.e. Thrillers, both have their roots in biblical literature and both have aroused public curiosity in their own unique ways. The other one I wanted to write about was The DaVinci Code, but already so much has been said about it that not much is left to be written. It’s not that I didn’t like it, but when you’ve read the book it’s impossible not to make comparisons between the two, and one should understand that it’s indeed a hard job to do justice to a 3-400 paged book in a 2 hour movie. In the case of 'The Omen', however, the movie was made first and then the script was novelised by it's author, and i found the movie so engrossing that i did read that book later.

So this would be a review of the cult Hollywood 1976 horror flick ‘The Omen’, often quoted as the best work of Horror from Hollywood and my personal favourite Horror movie cutting way above The Exorcist and even The Ring, and whose remake is about to be launched globally on the day that is associated with the mark of the Devil – 06/06/06.

“…From the Eternal Sea he rises
Creating armies on either side
Turning man against his brother
‘Till man exists no more”

The plot is based on this prophecy from the Book of Revelation, which is believed to point to the birth of the Anti-Christ, the son of Satan, who’s branded with the number 666 – the mark of the Beast, and who would receive his powers directly from Satan, and unless he’s stopped he would threaten the very existence of mankind, a plot brilliantly exploited by the scriptwriter David Seltzer.
Well no need of spoiler warning now, since most people would have seen the original movie, and even if you haven’t and you read on, trust me the movie(at least the original) still has the power to send a chill down your spine.
Robert Thorn (played brilliantly by Gregory Peck in the original) is a senior American diplomat whose wife Katherine who’s already suffered 2 previous miscarriages, undergoes a painful delivery in which their newborn child dies. The hospital priest presents him with another child born that night whose mother he says died during childbirth, and compels Thorn to present this child as their own to Katherine, to avoid any trauma for her. The child is named “Damien”.
Life for the Thorn family seems perfect and Thorn is promoted as the American ambassador to Britain and they settle in a mansion near London.
But soon events take an eerie turn, first with the birthday celebrations of Damien at a party in their lawns, everyone seems to be enjoying the upbeat mood, suddenly someone is heard screaming out for the attention of Damien, and to everyone’s horror his nanny is standing outside a window of the house, and with a terrifyingly lunatic smile on her face she says “It's All For You”, and jumps to hang herself from a rope.
Soon a new nanny Mrs. Baylock introduces herself to the family, whose credentials seem impeccable and her demeanour kind and soft spoken, soon followed by a mysterious ferocious Rottweiler, both of whom maintain a constant vigil on the young child.
Another weird incident happens when his mother drives the young kid to a zoo, and as soon as they enter all animals get freaked out and go berserk.
Events start taking a nasty turn and soon Thorn is contacted by a Father Brennan, who claims that Damien is the son of the devil, born of an animal and bearing the mark of the beast, and the only key to stop him lies with an old man called Bugenhagen who lives in Jerusalem.
Thorn refuses to believe and as soon as he’s gone, Father Brennan is impaled in a freak “accident” by a cross struck down by lightning.
Further down Damien becomes wildly hysterical when they try to take him for church, and then more and more people around him start dying in mysterious circumstances, arousing suspicion in his already scared mother.
Thorn is again contacted by a British photographer called Jennings this time, who shows him pattern of mysterious blurred pictures of all people who recently died, claiming this to be a clue to something much more horrendous.
They both now investigate the claim by Brennan of his real child being murdered by the hospital staff and buried in a cemetery, where they encounter a vicious attack by a pack of guarding dogs.

Does Damien succeed under the protection of the evil nanny and his mysterious guards ?

What happens to Katherine who has begun to openly doubt the origins of this child. ( Her end is among the most shocking scenes.)

Would Thorn and Jennings be able to contact Bugenhagen in Jerusalem and bring the evil to an end before it’s too late ?

Hehe …. this might sound like your average popcorn thriller, but trust me, whether or not you know it already, the movie (at least the original) was among the best horrors of all times. No ugly faced blood sucking ghosts, only a terrifying background music and the sheer impact of a story well told.

According to the the trivia by IMDB, there were a lot of freak accidents involved with the caste and crew while shooting for the original movie:

“Gregory Peck and screenwriter David Seltzer took separate planes to the UK...yet BOTH planes were struck by lightning. While producer 'Harvey Bernard' was in Rome, lightning just missed him. Rottweilers hired for the film attacked their trainers. A hotel at which director Richard Donner was staying got bombed by the IRA; he was also struck by a car. After Peck cancelled another flight, to Israel, the plane he would have chartered crashed...killing all on board. On day one of the shoot, several principal members of the crew survived a head-on car crash. The jinx appeared to persist well into post-production... when special effects artist John Richardson was injured and his girlfriend beheaded in an accident on the set of a movie.”

The spooky incidents seem to have followed into the production of the new movie as well. According to their official website, some prints of the movie were lost due to unexplained technical glitches, the visual affects supervisor when measuring a special shot realised that his meter read 666; a measurement it had never given before, one of the lights on the sets exploded mysteriously while shooting, then on Oct 6th (note the #) the whole crew came down with food poisoning, though no bacteria was found in the food on later tests, and the spookiest being when a still photographer developed a series of photographs, he found some images of the actor playing Father Brennan blurred with movements striking downwards, like a javelin.

Real spook or marketing gimmicks ? You never know, but one thing is for sure – come 06/06/06 and you get another opportunity to see some quality horror from Hollywood, and scare the hell out of yourself!

Related Links:

The Omen(2006) Website

The Omen Chronicles (Website for entire series)


Download the awesome Trailers from these links:(Right click and Save Target As)

Trailer 1 - Rarest of the rare trailer of the original 1976 movie (mov,23.69 MB)

Trailer 2 - 2006 -Damien alone in a swing(windows asf,8.41 MB)


Trailer 3 - 2006 - Scenes from the new movie(mov,5.91 MB)

Reservation Blues

I had a dream recently – well probably more of a nightmare. I dreamt that 25 years from now, my son (let’s call him Junior for now) had given his high school exams and topped his school. (talk about great expectations even in dreams!)
Now he wanted to apply to a medical college to get an MBBS….and this was the conversation we had:

Me : Well done, my lad! So how many seats do we have for this course in your desired college?
Junior : Umm about 10 but I guess I’ll just about manage….

Me : Hmmm hold your horses for now! Let’s do some simple calculations first. It seems there are lots of other brilliant and deserving candidates vying for those coveted seats! Ah do you remember your schoolmates Bubloo and Dubloo? Yea those same fine prodigies of 3 generations of IAS officers, who even though they failed each year, your school principal had the privilege to forcefully promote to the next class for the greater benefit of mankind. (Son of an IAS destined to be an IAS you see!)
Ah, so what if they scored only 10% marks in the entrance exam, our law says that 2 of those 10 seats should definitely go to the Scheduled Castes, which their certificates rightly identify them as, and hence as deserving as anyone can be! (Not to mention once they complete their MBBS, they’d be fine deserving candidates for IAS too!)

Now how can you forget that bright child Abracadabra – whose dad is a surgeon and who has a certificate claiming his ancestors jhingalala’d in the jungles of Andamans. Surely we can oversee a minor issue like him not writing the exam….well at least he filled the form! Since as per our constitution 1 seat has to go to a member of a Scheduled Tribe.

And in May 2006, the then honorable government passed a bill that ensured a seat for Other Backward Castes(OBC) too. Of course, Tommy fits that bill, and it doesn’t matter that his school uniform was designed by Donatella Versace, according to his certificate he’s still backward!

The 5th seat of course has to be given to the highly athletic and competitive Milk-Kha Singh, who represented our country in the World kabaddi championship and got us a gold medal. Err so what if there was just 1 team participating, he surely deserves that 1 seat for Sports quota.

Another seat, my child, is undoubtedly deserved by your Italian Indian friend Rah-Hool Gandhi, whose surname is sufficient proof that his great grand daddy must’ve fought in our freedom struggle, enabling him to be eligible for the freedom fighter quota.

And how can we be so cruel as to deny the claim for the 7th seat by your schoolmate Free-thick Roshan – whose disformity of having 2 thumbs on a hand is indisputable proof of his crippling handicap – hence the rightful candidate for the Handicapped persons’ quota.

Darn, the 8th seat would have to be given to Arj – June singh, whose daddy is a professor in that college, putting him up for the management quota.

Of course no one dare deny admission to your friend Lux-Me Mittal, considering his dad is a rich NRI businessman and more than willing to shell out a lakh pounds for that NRI quota seat.

Whoa, there’s still 1 seat left! Go get it Tiger.

Junior : I just called up and they said that it’s been taken up under the “No Reservation” reservation.
Me : Uff, how did we forget to get this certificate made ! Don’t worry my child….better luck next time!



P.S. - I’m sorry if I’ve offended anyone but I’m really taken aback by this reservation issue right now. For those who are not in touch with the latest news here our government is going forward to pass a bill that would reserve 50% of seats in top educational institutes for people based solely on their castes.(irrespective of their scores in the entrance exams)
It’s common knowledge that India is one of the most competitive countries in the world when it comes to education, and the cut-off percentages for the premier institutes keep getting higher each year. Imagine the plight of students like those in the medical profession, where lakhs of people appear for exams each year for sometimes as few as 10-15 seats, and what would happen to their morale when they would see some people walk off with more than half those seats just because they belong to a certain “caste”, and irrespective of their scores.
Nobody denies that the caste system has been a bane of the Indian society, but surely this would be the worst possible way to try to “uplift” the downtrodden, since majority of these seats are enjoyed by children of SC/ST’s who’re already enjoying the spoils of reservation by being in the highest of public sector jobs, leaving the rest in a status quo.
Even when reservations were started by B.R Ambedkar after our independence, he had asked for them to continue only for 10 years. Still they have been continuing for more than 60 years after our independence, primarily due to the votebank politics being played by each major political party which is trying to appease the voting population belonging to these particular castes, and in the process only further deepening the caste divide in this country.
A sensible approach would’ve been giving scholarships, fee-waivers and study material to the deserving candidates in these classes, yet the government wants to take the easy way of total appeasement out.


As if this wasn’t enough, peacefully protesting medical students in Mumbai were brutally lathi-charged by the police as if they were gangsters, reminding one of a similar scene in the recent RDB, and this has further flared up the protests in the student community all across India.

Well if vote bank politics is what a democracy is all about, then perhaps an autocracy might suit us better.

(Thank God at least The DaVinci Code is finally getting released here next week .... with a disclaimer and an A certificate)

Guilty As Charged

YES your honour, I do plead guilty to the charge of taking up too many tags in recent times (* In Sunny Deol’s “Tareekh pe tareekh” ^4 dialogue’s tone *)
Now please allow the defendant to throw further light on some of the points mentioned by the public prosecutor-cum-tagger Ms. Ramblings :


Culinary Guilt:

Hmmm well yea kindof….though my entire khandaan is a vegetarian yet I’ve given in to the pleasures of the flesh on some occasions since last year, and yes I did find the “reshmi kababs” to taste better than anything I’d had in the vegetarian platter. Having said that, I still prefer vegetarian on 14 days in a fortnight, and my future culinary status would most probably depend on my partner, since I have no qualms about either foods right now.
Oh, and I still have to learn to cook stuff beyond Maggie noodles. I’ve promised my mom next time I visit home I’m gonna learn a minimum of ‘chapattis’, ‘paranthas’ and ‘pulao’ (a promise I’ve been making since the last 2 years).


Literary Guilt:
Well OF COURSE yes. I’m a self confessed bibliophile – all my friends would vouch for it. Whenever I visit any mall here the 1st shop I attack is the book store and normally my friends have to drag me out of it.
Such is the extent of this addiction that I’ve ended up buying at least 8 new books recently which have been piled up at home and I’m yet to start devouring them. Then there are some or the other amazing new titles I keep hearing about everyday….somehow I’ve managed to hold myself back till I finish the ones already pending.

Audiovisual Guilt:
Well this time I’m guilty of NOT seeing enough movies lately….even though I might’ve already seen enough for a lifetime (over 200 dvd-rips in my collection). Still I do manage 1 movie in a theatre per fortnight.
As for TV, I just hit 3 channels on my remote…. CNN-IBN for primetime news, VH1 for the classic videos, and History channel for the Biography show.

Musical Guilt:
Ummm nahh no guilts here. I know the kinda music I like(from almost all genres) and I have it both on my PC at home as well as at work. So no wonder I’m mostly found with my headphones on at work.
But yes, I do have to get myself either an IPod or an mp3 cellphone soon.

Celebrity Guilt:
Well I’m certainly not the kinds to go screaming if I see or meet any celebrity. Though I do look upto Mr. Amitabh Bachhan for his overpowering personality, his acting prowess and the way he speaks with his command over both English and Hindi.
In college I used to have only wallpapers of the supermodel Laetitia Casta on my desktop (around 200 of them!)…..and I’ve put up 1 of them here!

Shopping Guilt:
Hmmm well if I see something I like(and need), I don’t think too much about it and would go for it. But yes, I’m biased towards seasonal sales and discounts….and prefer to do most of my shopping during these times.

Clothes guilt:
Nahh….I’m satisfied with my wardrobe. Though I do feel guily that ever since I started working, I’ve been able to wear the ultra casuals only on weekends.


Is there more??...

Bad Critic Guilt:
I do find it hard to criticize anything/anyone…. And somehow always look for the good points even in the worst. I do realize that this is detrimental at times and sometimes you just have to be blunt with some people, but hey I’m working on it.

Procrastinating with job guilt:
YES. This is the single biggest guilt that I have right now - even though I know I have to switch my job, I don’t understand what is preventing me from applying to new companies, especially since the Indian IT sector is real Hot right now. On that note, I’ll go and at least update my CV right now.


Well with that I rest my case. I also refuse to divulge the names of other fellow bloggers who might be guilty of the same charge, and leave it to their conscience to surrender before the honourable court and declare their personal guilts.

The Motorcycle Diaries - Kudremukh Chapter

The heat is on but I’m on a roll right now…what with a 2nd trip within 2 weeks I guess I must’ve been in a real vacationing mood.
The real trigger again was the long weekend as this Monday was off for labour day (funny name) but the plan actually materialized at the very last moment on Friday night.
Initially there were 4 of us planning to go for a trek to the famed Kodachadri peak in west Karnataka, but as usual being the procrastinators that we are, we found all tickets to the place had been sold out.
Still not being the kinds to admit defeat so easily, me and my college buddy Prabudh were positive about not letting this 3 day break go wasted. So we did a quick search on google for hills in Karnataka, zeroed in on a place called Kudremukh national park, downloaded the road map and made a spur of the moment decision to make it a 2 day road trip on my Thunderbird.
So on Saturday morning we left Bangalore just at the crack of dawn at 5:30 am for this place which was supposed to be a good 360 kms away. So abrupt was the decision that we even forgot to carry a spare set of camera batteries, a blunder that made us miss a lot of good photo-ops later on.

As soon as we got out of the city limits I was surprised to find a smooth, wide and almost empty highway unlike the bumpy and traffic infested Bangalore roads, and I easily started zipping at almost 110 kmph, something this cruiser is specially designed for.

It’s a very different feeling zipping for a long stretch of time on a bike at this speed, with the trees and the vast open fields swooshing by when seen from the corner of your eyes. It’s almost as if your life’s running past by you, and at occasional times one can easily loose the sense of time and perhaps even switch to a philosophical mode. It’s something hard to explain and maybe only another rider can relate to it.
Another remarkable difference that one notices while riding a bike is that unlike in a car, where you’re in relative rest with respect to your immediate surroundings as you’re kind of boxed inside an enclosure, on a bike you’re no longer a passive observer of your surroundings, but become a part of it. With the wind slapping in your face you can actually “feel” the changing landscape around you, and when this threshold is crossed, the journey becomes more pleasurable than the destination.

Also, with the power of a 350cc engine producing the pull of 19 horses thundering under your legs, you simply feel like the king of the road.
For the uninitiated, the cc(cubic centimeters) refers to the displacement of an engine, that is the amount of fuel mixture that the piston can sweep through from the top to bottom. So obviously the more fuel the engine can burn up in a cycle, the more power it can pack to the wheels.

Anyways, we kept taking breaks for snacks and to ask directions, and as usual I found that the humble villagers or small town people are always more than eager to help. The bike and it’s unusual registration no (CH- Chandigarh) invited a lot of curious questions though, and people assumed I was driving it down from Punjab! One restaurant owner even identified Chandigarh as the hometown of Yuvraj Singh and started citing examples of the brilliance of his own Karnataka boy Dravid as the captain, though all with an innocent rustic charm.

By the time we hit the hills after riding for 250 kms, we were already a bit exhausted and the steep inclines had to be carefully negotiated, however the beautiful greenery around soon made us forget all the fatigue and we reached our destination at the base of Kudremukh peak’s trek around late noon.

We asked a local shopkeeper about taking the bike up the mud track to the top of the peak, but he warned us that we shouldn’t go without taking permission from the wildlife officials, since this area was being combed for the Naxalite(Maoist) militants taking shelter in these forests. We were warned that the security forces had a shoot at sight order for anyone seen inside the forest without permission, and this was enough to deter us from going for another misadventure. Permission not forthcoming due to a holiday, we were a little disappointed, but then another localite came to our rescue and suggested that we pitch our tents at the camping grounds of a deluxe resort nearby.
So we finally got the necessary space within the boundaries of the beautiful “Silent Valley Resort”, and had an awesome stay at the resort where they’d organized a flute music program in their open lawns amidst a bonfire. Eating a 10-course scrumptious buffet, especially when you’re dead tired and in the middle of a forest is also a uniquely gratifying experience.
Next morning the resort guide took us to a small trek in the hills around the area, and after absorbing all the natural beauty we decided to start back, since in any case the main purpose of the trip was the ride itself.


The return ride saw me zigzagging with a renewed passion along the sharp and dangerous turns of the hills, sometimes tilting the bike to almost 30 degrees to negotiate the deadly turns. It was again a smooth and enjoyable ride till the last hour when darkness fell, and I had to ride in the glare of the high beams of the incoming traffic, which makes one literally blind to the road ahead, and then losing your concentration for even a second can mean the difference between life and a painful end.

Anyhow thanks to our guardian angels, we reached Bangalore in the evening after having covered almost 800 within 48 hours, and spent the next day discussing the trip and tending to our sore backs and bottoms.

Trip Info:-

Route: Bangalore - Hassan - Mudigere - Kalasa - Kudremukh

Distance: 360 kms (1 way)

Road Condition: Excellent

Close Calls: 3

In God's Own Country

Indeed, that phrase befits the description of the beautiful state of Kerala to which I had a lucky chance to ‘escape’ to during this last weekend.
Kerala being only 1 of the 2 states (other being Gujarat) that I’d never traveled to, this 3 day weekend was a good time to satiate the traveler bug in me, as well as get away from the stress of city life.
So on Thursday night, I along with 2 of my friends, Prabudh and Jeetu, took a Volvo to Kochi. We reached there next morning and had a few hours before we could catch the next bus to Munnar, so we thought of checking out some local landmarks like Fort Kochi and the old Santa Cruz Basilica built in 1505.
We reached the beautiful hill station of Munnar late in the evening and checked in to a room in the “Kanan Devan Hills Club”.

‘Kannan Devan’ is the name of Munnar special brand of tea. There are tea estates spread around all hills in this region, and we were told Tata’s have tea estates in an estimated 37,000 hectares of land here.


We had a nice dining n chat session in the open lawns of the club late into the misty night where we discussed almost everything from Indian economics to Global politics to the entertainment industry!
The next morning we checked out and left for a place called Top Station which was supposedly the highest point in the region and where we intended to camp for the night. The drive to this place was absolutely stunning, and I would not be exaggerating if I said it was better than any other hill stations I’ve seen in South India(Ooty, Kodaikanal, Coorg).

On the way there was a dam with a huge lake on the other side almost 10 kilometers long, and it offered a stellar view, arguably even better than a similar lake in Nainitaal.
Though the destination “Top Station” in itself was a kind of disappointment since we couldn’t find an open grassland where we could pitch our tents. Since this was a dense forest area with no other hotels to stay, we decided to move back to Munnar.

I think there’s something about places near coastal areas; probably the moisture and humidity in the air, that gives brilliant shades of orange, red and purple during sunrise and sunsets here, and which I somehow managed to capture even though a little blurred due to the moving jeep. (These pics have all natural colours....no modifications!)

Back in Munnar we were faced with another problem, since we arrived late and it was a festival holiday season, all hotels were fully booked. By sheer luck we found a guide who told us he could take us to an isolated cabin in the forest just outside the town. We were told that this place was normally preferred by foreigners who’re never scared of trying a (mis)adventure of this sort, and since we were anyways out for some thrill, we decided to give it a shot.
When we reached the place, it actually did look like a haunted house in the middle of nowhere. 1 of my friends immediately backed out saying he would rather return to the town with the guide and look for a place there, moreover he had to leave back early next morning due to some urgent work.

Anyways we 2 stuck to our guns and decided to spend the night here itself. The guide arranged for a bonfire just outside the house and then they left for the town.
We even found a pickaxe in the house which we kept with us and somehow at this moment, all those long forgotten horror movies of a group of friends dying in old jungle rest houses came alive in our minds.(Friday the 13th, Evil Dead, Blair Witch, House on Haunted Hill etc. etc.) And we were not even a group… just 2… easy job for any killer. Lol.
Thankfully we were carrying some “Somras” (divine nectar :p ) with us and loads of snacks, which helped soothen our frayed nerves. Pretty soon we got engrossed in another discussion on life, the past and the future, and this kept us occupied till late into midnight.
When we finally decided to have lights out I saw an ancient looking b/w picture of an old man in the back room who must’ve lived here some looong time ago, and it did unnerve us a bit, but thankfully the room we slept in had a poster of Goddess Durga on the wall, which was reassuring indeed. So cracking jokes and laughing at ghost stories, we ultimately fell asleep.
Next morning we trekked back to Munnar across 4 hills, and were captivated by the stunning views all across the way.
Post lunch it was time to bid farewell to this beautiful place and back to the artificial city life…..though rejuvenated with a thrilling trip!

Escape

A maddening city where tempers are flaring and your senses are being overpowered with extremities of all variations...

And all you want is to escape.


A vicious circle of lies,pretensions and false allegations where honesty is the name of the bird long extinct, and 'nice' guys are always meant to finish last...

And all you can do is escape.


A weird world where well intentioned concern is more likely to be seen as some cunning scheme with an ulterior motive or personal gain...

And all you think of is to escape.


A lifeless drudgery where days slip by with the uncanny knowledge that your untapped potential is going to a waste and that oh-so-helpless feeling that you can't do anything about it...

And all you crave is to escape.


A sickening feeling of seeing hypocrisy rule the roost all around, and standards being altered to suit the palate of the privileged few...

And you know the time has come to escape.

Da 4th TAG

Hmmm 1 would imagine I’ve run out of ideas to write something, now that I’ve been taking up so many tags lately. But hey…I feel it’s fun and I enjoy doing them.
So Phoenix_Rises tagged me with this questionnaire and here I go…

1.Grab the book nearest to you, turn on page 18 and find line 4.
Ok I just have an e-book with me right now…Catch-22 by Joseph Heller.
“…Even when he cheated he couldn't win, because the people he cheated against were always better at cheating too.”

2.Stretch your left arm out as far as you can.
I can touch my clipboard. I don’t get the point.


3. What is the last thing you watched on TV?
Bon Jovi on MTV Unplugged


4.Without looking, guess what time it is?
5:00 PM


5. Now look at the clock, what is the actual time?
5:05 PM.
Hmmm not bad…

6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?
The beeps of the electronic swiping instrument at the door near my cubicle


7. When did you last step outside? What were you doing?
This afternoon went outside office campus for lunch


8. Before you started this survey, what did you look at?
My current webshots desktop wallpaper…I’ve put it up here(It’s a painting!).

9. What are you wearing?
Ah…ThankGodIt’sFriday …. So I’m in my full fundoo casuals…cowboy styled leather patched Wrangler jeans and a black tee!

10. Did you dream last night?
I mostly do but I hardly remember what the exact dream was….except when I get woken up by the alarm and then put it on snooze and go back 2 sleep….
I often find myself dreaming about walking in snow covered mountains….wonder what it means….maybe I’ll do a whole post on it sometime!

11. When did you last laugh?
Saw the spoof Rendezvous with Simi Girebaal hosted by the hilarious Cyrus on MTV…. Guests were Funmohan Singh and George Tush…. Damn funny!

12. What is on the walls of the room you are in?
On the wall of my cubicle there’s a pin-up that says “Bus stops at the bus station, rail stops at the railway station, and this is my workstation”. :D

13. Seen anything weird lately?
Saw “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” on my comp last week ….. damn weird movie I must say…. Still Johnny Depp makes it worth a watch.

14. What do you think of this quiz?
Good when you don’t have anything else to do.

15. What is the last film you saw?
“Being Cyrus”, again another dark movie …. Can’t say that I “enjoyed” it but Saif Ali Khan is a transformed actor now!

16. If you became a multimillionaire overnight, what would you buy?
A Harley Davidson, a Lamborghini Murcielago and a bungalow overlooking my own apple orchard somewhere high up in Himachal.


17. Tell me something about you that I dunno.
Hmmm… I have a teeny weeny goatee below my lower lip that I’ve been sporting off and on for 4 years now, also i make good chai.

18. If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do?
There should be 1 universal religion where everyone worships a nameless God as I feel that’s the root cause of almost all conflicts worldwide.

19. Do you like to dance?
U kidding me…. OF COURSE I CAN PUT THE BLOODY DANCE FLOOR ON FIRE

20. George Bush:

My favourites amongst his gems:
"The vast majority of our imports come from outside the country."
"If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure."
"The future will be better tomorrow."
“Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."

21. Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her?
Ahaan now that’s interesting!
I lovee the traditional Indian Sanskrit names….but it wud have to be unique yet sound Kool.
Umm the girl wud be Naija – which means the daughter of wisdom ;)
But seriously I luv the name Lavanya (means a beautiful girl)


22. Imagine your first child is a boy, what do you call him?
Arnav ( means the ocean)


23. Would you ever consider living abroad?
I don’t see any reason not to.

24.What do you want GOD to say to you when you reach the pearly gates?
“Ok dude you’ve been a reasonably nice guy down there….here u can have all the apsaras” ;)

25. People who may do this memo in their journal:
Hmmm now I won’t leave anyone this time !! All who’ve come here ….

(alphabetically)
Amy
Anand
Alive_n_Confused
Deepa
Dewdrop
DeVile
Ekta
Elle
Icyblue
Keshi
My_Ramblings
Nidhi
Sebia
Shikha
Shivangi
The_Ego_Has_Landed
White Forest


Just do it if you haven’t yet!

Work It Up !

Yea finally after a gap of about 2 months I’ve managed to rejoin a gym, this time the one at my workplace itself. Even though working out without any company can be monotonous and difficult to maintain as a routine, yet the importance of some kind of a daily workout can just not be overemphasized, especially considering the sedentary lifestyle of most of today’s young generation.

I think I can trace my penchant for fitness to my roots – my great grandfather who expired last year at age 97 used to religiously take his morning walks till I saw him last. To the best of my knowledge he never suffered from any major ailment, used to read without using spectacles and best of all – took his tea with full 2 teaspoons of sugar…. A rarity beyond age 40 these days! My grandfather also continues uninterrupted with his Yoga and walks to this day…ever since my granny passed away he keeps touring around the country and on tough pilgrimages…all thanks to his fitness level. Though unfortunately my dad had to stop gymming after suffering a back injury during his body building days….. which shows how cautious one should be with heavy weight training.
So even while I wasn’t ‘working out’ in a gym, I used to ensure that I did my daily dose of the bare minimum activity required….using stairs instead of the lift at home and work, a nightly walk to the local restaurant for dinner etc. besides some basic simple exercises that I’ll share with you.
To begin with any kind of exercise, you must first know your body type and hence the category of workouts that would best suit your requirements. Those who’re fortunate enough to be blessed with a lean framed body that doesn’t accumulate much fat despite voracious eating habits, can easily concentrate more on weight training exercises to shapen up and strengthen the muscles, while those with a broader and heavier frame with tendency to gain weight should focus more on stamina building cardiovascular workouts that also help them to keep flexible, such as jogging(or treadmill), aerobics etc.
Ideal Height-Weight Chart
Again it depends on what’s your ultimate goal…pumping up those muscles or loosing that extra flab.

In case you’ve joined a gym there are any number of workouts that the instructor can help you out with, however I’ll discuss the ones you can do at home and still be fighting fit. You can do these at any time of the day (at least a 2 hour gap after a meal) and they just take around 30 to 45 minutes of your precious time.

1.Warm up/ Cardio :
To start off, just find any open space like your balcony/terrace and start with warming up by stretching and then jogging / skipping for a minimum of 10-15 minutes.

2.Push-Ups:
Lie flat on the ground with your stomach against the floor. Place you palms on the ground just below shoulder level and raise your entire body in a straight line, then back down and repeat. Females can take upto 2 sets of 20 each while guys should increase to about 100 – 2 sets of 50 each. Good for strengthening the arms and shoulders.

3.Crunches:
Lie flat on you back, keep both hands behind your head and slowly raise your upper half to a 45 degree angle, then move back and repeat in 2 sets of 20 each. Awesome for working up the upper abdominal muscles of your tummy.

4.Leg Raises:
Keep lying flat on your back, join both feet together and raise both your legs slowly upwards to a 90 degree angle with the floor, then slowly bring them down and keep them suspended just above the ground. Repeat in 2 sets of 20 each and you’ll feel that ugly fat on your lower abs melting away. Also good for hamstrings.

5.Sit-Ups:
Stand straight and hold a chair or any waist level object with 1 hand for support. Raise your left leg and fold it behind the erect right leg. Now bend your right knee and sit all the way down and then slowly raise yourself up. Repeat for about 20 times and then the same with the other leg. Great for knees and shins.

That’s It! Still it’s unfortunate that an overwhelming majority of us Indians continue to ignore the basic minimum workout needed by their body mostly citing excuses such as ‘unnecessary narcissism’ to paucity of time. Well my friend, if Anil Ambani can take out 1.5 hours daily from his schedule for his body, I’m sure we all can spare at least half an hour.
Remember your body is just another machine, and like any machine needs to be constantly oiled and checked to prevent repair by a mechanic, so should you work up this one to prevent damage control by a doctor later. It’s not just about a longer life, but a healthier one where you can make full use of this God given tool.

It’s your body.
Love it.
Pamper it.
Take care of it.
It just might be the only thing that would serve you till your last moment on this planet.

The 7 Song Tag

Well i think tags are a fun thing to do.... specially when u feel like you're suffering from the blogger's block!
I was tagged by The_Ego_Has_Landed for the 7-songs-you've-heard-lately tag, and i'm only too glad to put it up. Some of them are older numbers....and most of them are Dance tracks.....as they lift up my mood whenever i'm feeling down! (You can download the tracks by right clicking links and clicking Save Target As)

7. Pump It - Black Eyed Peas (Download)
After the super success of 'Don't Phunk With My Heart' and 'My Humps' the funky group comes out with their own version of 1 of the best dance themes of all times - Theme of Pulp Fiction.

6. Axel F - Crazy Frog (Download)
Another remake of a superhit theme from the 1984 flick 'Beverly Hills Cop' in which Eddie Murphy played the role of funny cop Axel which shot him into superstardom.
The music is reallly catchy even if there are those annoying 'frog' sounds added to it!


5.Fix You - ColdPlay (Download)

A slow but nice song...typical Coldplay style.
Good lyrics too....
"When you try your best, but you don't succeed When you get what you want, but not what you need When you feel so tired, but you can't sleep Stuck in reverse When the tears come streaming down your face When you lose something you can't replace When you love someone, but it goes to waste... Could it be worse?"


4. Hung Up - Madonna (Download)

The dance queen is back... and with a bang.... now who can say she's 47 and a mother of 2! A strict practitioner of Ashtanga Yoga .... she has superbly managed to maintain her Hot Bod... which she flaunts in most of her videos for her new album 'Confessions on a Dance Floor'.
Though i'm listing it here for it's shake-your-booty dance beats.... 70's style !


3. PartyStarter - Will Smith
So, tell the DJ to play my song& we could dance all night to the early mornin"


2. Teri Deewani - Kailash Kher "Tune kya kar daala
marr gayi main
mitt gayi main
ho gayi main....
Teri Deewani...Teri Deewani "


1. Get Right - JLo (Download)

JLo got back with a very very contagious number...1 that you just can't resist dancing to. Though the lyrics aren't too great...this is the 1 i find myself listening to most often.


Standin' just a little too close to me
Ya sayin not quite enough to me
Ya sippin' just a little too slow for me
No doubt ya playin' real cool homie
Got me thinkin' what is it you do for me
Trippin' ova it, a little more than I should be
So let ya self go and get right with me"

HUNG UP (Madonna)

Video Code provided by VideoCodeZone.Com

Home Sweet Home

Ok i'm back after a short but much needed break to my hometown.It would be an understatement if i just said that i missed this place and my co-bloggers here...and i'm certainly glad to be back doing what i enjoy doing most these days.
A brief update on the trip - Reached Delhi on 11th(Friday) and spent the next 2 days catching up with my college buddies there, and hanging around in Vasant Vihar,GK(M block) and Noida.
Thereafter reached home in Chandigarh on Sunday and enjoyed the usual royal treatment courtesy my doting mother.
On Monday i met up with 3 schooltime pals and almost immediately a plan was hatched up to do a trek to the closest hillstation to Chandigarh - Kasauli.
Chandigarh is basically a plain but is beautifully located right in the shadows of the Shivalik range of the mighty Himalayas.The hill station of Kasauli is actually visible from my rooftop at home...it's just a 2 hour drive away!
So on last Tuesday morning all friends gathered at my place at 6am (it was after ages that i woke up on tht unearthly hour) and i took dad's car and drove us down to Kalka which is a small town at the bottom of the hills on the Chandigarh-Shimla national highway.We left the car there and asked the locals for the mud track to Kasauli which was used under British rule as the only way to ferry goods.The track of about 20 kms meandered through thick vegetation and a steep gradient, and would've been pretty straightforward had it not been for the rough weather.
Initially no one felt the strain of the climb as we cracked jokes and recollected old memories along the way....the entire forest around us was lined up with himalayan monkeys and langurs...and an amusing incident was when 1 of them ran down and snatched a packet of Chips from my friend and went back up a tree...my friend had done the mistake of offering a few chips earlier. Afterall that's what the Chips' punchline in the ad says..."No one can eat just one." Lol
After about a third of the way, we were almost abruptly surrounded by a thick cloud cover all around us, so much so that the visibility was reduced to less than 10 feet.Though none of us was carrying any warm clothes, we were still enjoying that chilly walk in the clouds....but only until it started raining cats and dogs. We tried to take shelter under a rock on the hillside,but were soon dripping wet. The weather god's fury ended as soon as it had begun,but the damage was done and to make matters worse, icy cold gusts of wind kept blowing the remaining way, and when we finally reached our destination after the 5 hour long ordeal, we were all literally shivering in the freezing cold.
Kasauli being an army cantonement area, it's a small but extremely well maintained and beautiful place,untouched by commercialisation and most of the houses are legacies from the British Raj.Anyways we hurriedly found a decent resteaurant at the mall road and thought of warming up with some vodka. So we literally hogged at the piping hot lunch and washed it down with some Screwdrivers. Then we too tired for anymore sightseeing so simply took a cab down back to Kalka.
Wednesday was Holi...and after a loong rest,i was raring to go to celebrate the fest i was here for.
I got myself some gulal(coloured powder) of red,green and blue colours and after colouring my parents and elusive sister,i went straight to my friend Gaurav's place and we started the usual Holi plan...touring around the city visiting all old friend's homes and colouring everyone.Next Gaurav and i went to Rajneesh's place, then Amit,Shivani,Anshu,Radhika,Nishima and Sweety.
It being a rare cloudy Holi this time most people were not playing with water...but at Anshu's place it got different. We were looking for her when she crept up from behind carrying a bucket full of water to throw...i was quick to notice and caught hold of the bucket and poured it back on her! Lol. Suddenly her brother came out with another bucket and poured it on me...and then all hell broke loose and soon everyone was throwing water on everyone else.In the end we all were drenched and sat together enjoying sweet gujjia's with tea, and recollected which teachers we liked and hated in school...all the pranks we used to play etc.
Then we did some more rounds of the city and it was a joy to see the festive spirit around...guys and gals with unrecognisable multicoloured faces taking rounds and basking in the festive madness...it was like a desi version of Mardi Gras or the Rio carnival.
The remaining days were spent just checking out the old hangouts and meeting up other friends n relatives....most of whom seemed to have just 1 thing to talk about....my marriage plans. Lol, they seemed to be more interested than me!
Anyways i managed to escape unscathed this time too.Hehe...like i joked to them..."Abhi to mere hansne khelne ki umar hai!"
Another thing i noticed for the Nth number of time...why do these air-hostesses have to put up the biggest artificial smiles ever....it's amusing to see them change like a chameleon...grinning at 1 moment....frowning at each other the next!
Whatever said and done....one thing's for certain....there's nothing as sweet as Home.

(Pics - Top: Kasauli as seen from Chandigarh, Bottom: View from Kasauli)

Return To Innocence

There are times in your life when you just want to be like the innocent kid that you once were. When you just want to enjoy the simple joys around you without having to worry about all the politics, jealousies, relationships and insecurities rattling the world around you.
I had a chance to relive that phase of my life this weekend as our entire project team went for a team outing to the new theme park near Bangalore touted as the best in India, called WonderLa.
Even though our complete project team had around 15 people - 9 singles and 6 married, yet when the idea of going to an entertainment park was first suggested most people just laughed it off and the seniors suggested going for a dinner to some 5-star instead. But the young crowd being in the majority, it was our choice that counted in the end, and soon everyone was to realize that far from being kiddish, many of the rides were scary enough to send a chill down the spines of the bravest of the bravehearts around.

So on Sunday morning the whole team got into our company bus and reached the venue which was around 40 kms outside Bangalore. Being a holiday there was a substantial crowd and most of them were IT people.
As soon as we entered the park, most of us were just raring to go. We soon split up into 2 groups – 8 of the ‘chicken hearted’ ones who went for the kiddish rides like bouncing cars etc. and around 6 of the so called ‘lionhearts’ (including yours truly) for the rollercoasters and other gut-wrenchers.

The very 1st ride we ran to instinctively was the 1 we heard most of the screams emerging from, aptly titled ‘Maverick’ which was Tom Cruise’s codename in Top Gun. People were buckled onto their seats on 2 rows on a platform. It first starts rotating in a circular motion up and down, then sideways and then it suddenly goes upside down…and then sideways up, and all this churning continues for at least 5 minutes!
Obviously most of the females were screaming their lungs out and 1 of my colleagues even started crying!

Next we all headed for the rollercoaster called WonderSplash(top and bottom), where everyone’s seated into a carriage resembling a raft, which goes twirling upto an elevated rail and then hurtles down a steep incline at an awesome speed before making a big splash in the water that drenches everyone to the core.
Another interesting ride was called the DropZone where everybody is seated on a platform that is raised to a giddying height of 17 metres and then makes a freefall to the ground! Before anyone got a chance to breath it rises up and falls again and again continuously for at least 5 minutes!
The last ride worth mentioning in the dry rides(and the scariest for me) was called the ‘Twister’. It looked almost like a Giant Wheel, but instead of the basket like cubes it had 2 seats at each point, where we were strapped on our shoulders, with our legs hanging in mid-air. Now as the wheel moved up, the seats swung to and fro like a pendulum, and just as each pair moved to the top, the seats went upsidedown! There we were at the top of the wheel looking down with all the blood rushing to our heads, and desperately clinging on to dear life with the support of only 2 straps on our shoulders! And then the wheel moves down with us in the same position facing the ground, and this goes on for at least 20 rounds. DAMN scary.
After some more of such freaky rides we decided to take a break for lunch before jumping into the water park.
Here most of the rides were water slides at various elevations and inclines. Obviously we went for the highest ones. The 1 that got me real claustrophobic was where we had to climb 4 stories high, and enter the mouth of a black pipe lying down on our stomachs and facing downwards. From here you go twisting and twirling into multiple circles in the pitch darkness around you, and your body catches a breakneck speed before splashing out of the pipe into a pool at the bottom.
This unbridled fun continued till late evening, and everyone was literally exhausted from all the frolicking around. However, everyone was unanimous on one thing….this was certainly the most fun team outing we had in a long time.

(Pics from Top: All raring to go for the rollercoaster....with me grinning from ear to ear as if posing for a toothpaste ad...lol.
2nd the platform in Maverick before turning upside down.
3rd the platform in DropZone while going all the way up.
Last all of us at the end of the coaster ride....i'm like man...wht the hell was that!
)


P.S. – I’ll be leaving for Delhi this Friday, and then move on to Chandigarh to celebrate Holi with my family next week. So might not be able to put up another post till end of next week. Hope you all have a rocking time!

RETURN TO INNOCENCE (Enigma)

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The Promised Land

If there is any other country besides my own that I have gradually grown to respect, then it has to be Israel.
I do not have anything personal against the Palestinian muslims, in fact I support their demand for resettlement in the West Bank and the Gaza strip, but as long as it is done in a civilized manner, and not through Fidayeen suicide bombers.
But the reason why I admire the Israeli’s in particular is to see the resolve of a long suppressed and persecuted race to have a country of their own on the face of this planet.

At the heart of this struggle is the most bitterly fought for piece of land in the history of humanity – the ancient city of Jerusalem, which the Jews call the land of Zion (After Mount Zion) and which is deemed sacred by 3 prominent religions – Jews, Muslims and Christians.
Jews hold it sanctimonious as it contains the only remaining wall of the temple to Yahweh built by King David originally around 1000 BC and then destroyed through the ages by Babylonians, Greeks and lastly by Romans in 70 AD, aptly called the Wailing wall.
Muslims deem it pious as it contains the Dome of the Rock, the site from where Prophet Mohammed is said to have ascended to heaven.
Christians consider it holy as it is the place where Jesus Christ spent his last days, and the location of the Church of Holy Sepulchre built around 335 AD by Constantine the great over the site where Christ was crucified and buried.

For over 2000 years, Jews dispersed the world over harboured an innate desire to reassemble all Jews in their ancient homeland, and finally have a country of their own; a desire which came to be known as the Zionist movement.
These were also the millennia of unprecedented persecution for them, starting with their mass and systematic slaughter during the Crusades. They were barred from owning land in most countries. The Roman Catholic Church forbade Christians to live among Jews.
In 1215 a law was passed in Europe forcing all Jews to wear a distinguishing badge. Later French, British and Spanish kings expelled Jews from their countries and seized their properties.
A 100,000 Jews were wiped out within a decade during the Cossack revolt in mid 19th century in Poland. It became worse after the Czars took over, as Jewish women were not allowed to live in city centres without the badge of a prostitute.
After the assassination of a Czar, the mobs butchered all Jewish communities they could find – which later came to be called Pogroms.
Of course the last nail in the coffin would be the slaughter of more than 6 million of their kind in Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust.

So after the 2nd world war the Jews of Palestine had just 1 objective, to demand from U.N. their own separate country and to gather the survivors of the Holocaust there.

The Britishers had ruled Palestine after defeating the Turks in the 1st World War, and just like in India, after the 2nd world war they were only too keen to relinquish the burden of their weakened empire and push off any responsibility as early as possible.
They forwarded the task of dividing Palestine to U.N. which divided it into 2 parts – Israel for Jews and Palestine for Muslims, but as soon as the British left the muslims refused to acknowledge the existence of Israel and together with the support of 7 nations of the Arab league – Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Jordan, waged war on the newly formed Israel.
How the Israeli’s gathered people to fight that war – all able bodied girls, boys, men and women, how they trained them, how they gathered weapons and cash for their newly formed country, and how they eventually won, is a miraculous tale of human courage under fire.

Being a tiny island surrounded on all sides by hostile countries, they have since been attacked again and again, but unfortunately for the Palestinians, it has only resulted in giving Israel the moral right in international opinion to fight back to defend themselves, and in the process capture more land from the Palestinians – 3 times the originally allocated land after the 6 day war in 1967.
The peace process had gained momentum under Aerial Sharon, wherein he had initiated removal of his Jews from West Bank and Gaza strip, even though amidst protests from the hardliner division of his own community.
That process is now under peril like never before, with the terrorist group Hamas having been elected to power in Palestine, a group whose only claim to fame is Fidayeen attacks and bombings in public places, and whose charter itself calls for the complete annihilation of Israel.
Like Kashmir, I hope against hope that a final solution to this terrible conflict is reached, and no more blood is spilled on that ‘holy land’.

( I might write about 2 famous Israeli operations sometime later – the main reason I thought of writing this in the first place)

The Eye of The Tiger

I’m not a violent person by nature, on the contrary, I see myself as among the most jovial and fun-loving persons around. But then calmness should not be misconstrued for weakness, and if I’m deliberately provoked and rubbed the wrong way, then I’d have to admit I’m not a Gandhi follower to simply turn the other cheek, and I would ensure that the inciter would get a swift and befitting reply.
Despite being physically capable, God knows I’ve never ever been a bully or tried to misuse my strength over anybody, but at the same time I can never be a passive witness to someone else bullying anybody.
The last time I remember losing my cool was in the summer of 2003 in my college hostel. Our college was quite close to the Delhi – Ghaziabad border, and Ghaziabad is notorious for it’s high crime rate and politico – criminal nexus.
Our college also had the best of the crowd from the country, and we had very popular parties every month which inevitably invited some unwanted attention from the local miscreants as well. On the eve of one such party I was casually taking a stroll down the college canteen when a speeding car screeched to a halt barely inches away from me. I walked upto the window thinking it might be a friend while it turned out to be two drunk guys who immediately started hurling a volley of abuses down my way and threatened me saying they were the nephews of one D.P. Yadav (A politician and local mafia don). Before I could react and pull them out they sped further inside the campus.
I had never been subjected to this kind of humiliation ever before, and it was enough to send all the testosterone in my blood pumping. I quickly ran to the only gate of our campus and asked the guard to immediately lock the gate and not let anybody out until I said so. Now the car came back to the gate in a few minutes where I already stood waiting for them. They both came out and stood bang opposite me staring me straight in the eye, and I too returned the favour.( proper filmi style)
They were careful not to utter one more offensive word this time, and I was determined that if they did, I would’ve immediately started pounding their heads. A crowd of students had already started gathering, but I was surprised that not even a one of those rich spoilt brats had the balls to join me against those hooligans. Two of my junior femmes from the crowd shouted they had misbehaved with them as well, besides roughing up a lot of guys earlier.
Now I asked the guard to call up the police which turned their faces pale and they started imploring to get the gate opened. It became obvious to me now that they were bluffing (Yadav’s kins would’ve had the police in their pockets) and I asked them to apologise to me and those females or else I would hand them over to the police.
This standoff continued till almost another half hour but the bloody police never arrived ( I guess they were scared of the mafia themselves) but ultimately those goons did publicly apologise and said they would never enter our campus again, and indeed they were never seen after that.
I was reminded of this incident now since I’m facing a similar situation at work these days which sometimes boils my blood to similar levels, though now the battle has taken a corporate angle.
My current nemesis who is a senior in my team is using similar bullying tactics on me and is mainly responsible for botching up my appraisal as well as the reason why I’m having to sip filter coffee here rather than French wine at a chateau near the French Riviera.
Until now he’s been engaging me in a verbal duel through scornful emails copied to our boss as well, and now that he’s coming back I can’t wait to have a tête-à-tête with him in the meeting with our boss next week.
So he can talk The Talk (so can I and maybe a gazillion times better than him), now let me see if he can walk The Walk!

Risin' up, back on the street
Did my time, took my chances
Went the distance, now I'm back on my feet
Just a man and his will to survive

So many times, it happens too fast
You change your Passion for Glory
Don't lose your grip on the dreams of the past
You must fight just to keep them alive

It's the Eye of the Tiger, it's the cream of the fight
Risin' up to the challenge of our rival
And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night
And he's watchin' us all in the Eye of The Tiger

(I cut this portion from my pic, enlarged it and converted it to black n white....lol it's funny how ferocious it looks now though it had a smile beneath!)

The Season of The TAG - 2

I was tagged again by Shikha recently...so here i go...

Four jobs I have had

Software Engineer

(Unfortunately that's the only job I have ever had)

Four movies I would watch over and over again

DDLJ
Dil Chahta Hai
Troy
Dumb and Dumber


Four places I have lived

Chandigarh
Delhi
Bangalore
(that's it)


Four TV shows I love to watch

Friends
Fear Factor
The Great Indian Comedy show
That 70’s Show



Four places I have been on vacation

Andamans
Srinagar
Gangtok
Dalhousie

Four of my favourite foods

‘Makki(Maize flour) ki roti’ with ‘Sarson (mustard) ka saag’
Any variety of stuffed paranthas
Chocolate Soufle
Paneer – Any variety cooked with a luscious gravy.


Four places I'd rather be now

On my bike cruising to a faraway place
Anywhere in the Himalayan glaciers
Rio de Janeiro
Sleeping at home


Four sites I visit daily

Blogs
Indiatimes
Time.com
Ebay.co.in

I'm 4going tagging 4 others, so kindly 4give and 4get!

That 4 Letter Word

ANYTHING FOR LOVE (Meat Loaf)

Video Code provided by VideoCodeZone.Com

It’s that time of the year again.
I agree that for those who’re really neck deep in love, almost every day should be a ‘Valentine’s Day’.
Anyways these days we have a ‘day’ for anything and everything…friendship day, father’s day, mother’s day, teacher’s day, smile day, blood donation day, aids day, earth day, fool’s day….hell coming to think of it….we might as well have a ‘today is nothing’ day for some days of the year when there is actually nothing happening.
But I’m not gonna be a spoilsport now, perhaps because this particular day is devoted to that most inexplicable of human emotions which has triggered the most creative of human talents throughout time, and continues to be the single largest driving force behind most poetry, music, drama and movies.

To describe something so complex, deep and beautiful is frankly beyond the grasp of a few words, but while scanning my old mailbox a few days back, I came across a mail sent to me by a friend around 4 years ago, which I’d incidentally not deleted maybe because of the beauty of it.
I think I’ll just put it up here as a token of my respect for this emotion called love:

My husband works at office a lot , I love him for his steady nature, and I love the warm feeling when I lean against his broad shoulders. Two years of courtship and now, three years into marriage, I would have to admit, that I am getting tired of it. The reasons of me loving him before, has now transformed into the cause of all my restlessness.

I am a sentimental woman and extremely sensitive when it comes to a relationship and my feelings, I yearn for the romantic moments, like a little girl yearning for candy. My husband, is my complete opposite, his lack of sensitivity, and the inability of bringing romantic moments into our marriage has disheartened me about love. One day, I finally decided to tell him my decision, that I wanted a divorce.

"Why?" he asked, shocked. "I am tired, there are no reasons for everything in the world!" I answered.

He kept silent the whole night, seems to be in deep thought with a lighted cigarette at all times. My feeling of disappointment only increased, here was a man who can't even express his predicament, what else can I hope from him? And finally he asked me:" What can I do to change your mind?"

Somebody said it right, it's hard to change a person's personality, and I guess, I have started losing faith in him. Looking deep into his eyes I slowly answered : "Here is the question, if you can answer and convince my heart, I will change my mind.
Let's say, I want a flower located on the face of a mountain cliff, and we both are sure that picking the flower will cause your death, will you do it for me?"

He said :" I will give you your answer tomorrow...." My hopes just sank by listening to his response.
I woke up the next morning to find him gone, and saw a piece of paper with his scratchy handwriting, underneath a milk glass, on the dining table near the front door, that goes....

My dear,
"I would not pick that flower for you, but please allow me to explain the reasons further.."
This first line was already breaking my heart. I continued reading.
"When you use the computer you always mess up the Software programs, and you cry in front of the screen, I have to save my fingers so that I can help to restore the programs.
You always leave the house keys behind, thus I have to save my legs to rush home to open the door for you.
You love travelling but always lose your way in a new city, I have to save my eyes to show you the way.
You always have the cramps whenever your "good friend" approaches every month, I have to save my palms so that I can calm the cramps in your tummy.
You like to stay indoors, and I worry that you will be infected by infantile autism. I have to save my mouth to tell you jokes and stories to cure your boredom.
You always stare at the computer, and that will do nothing good for your eyes, I have to save my eyes so that when we grow old, I can help to clip your nails, and help to remove those annoying white hairs. So I can also hold your hand while strolling down the beach, as you enjoy the sunshine and the beautiful sand... and tell you the colour of flowers, just like the colour of the glow on your young face...

Thus, my dear, unless I am sure that there is someone who loves you more than I do... I could not pick that flower yet, and die.. "
My tears fell on the letter, and blurred the ink of his handwriting... and as I continue reading...
"Now, that you have finished reading my answer, if you are satisfied, please open the front door for I am standing outside bringing your favorite bread and fresh milk...

I rush to pull open the door, and saw his anxious face, clutching tightly with his hands, the milk bottle and loaf of bread....
Now I am very sure that no one will ever love me as much as he does, and I have decided to leave the flower alone...
That's life, and love. When one is surrounded by love, the feeling of excitement fades away, and one tends to ignore the true love that lies in between the peace and dullness.

Love shows up in all forms, even very small and cheeky forms, it has never been a model, it could be the most dull and boring form.. .

I do not think it can be described in a better way than that.

It's really difficult to pick up just 1 favourite love song, but then after i analysed my list of fav's, this 1 just stood out with it's mesmerising lyrics .....check out the video :

TRULY MADLY DEEPLY (Savage Garden)

"Love is a hidden fire, A pleasant sore, A delicious poison, A delectable pain, An agreeable torment, A sweet and throbbing wound, A gentle death."

Color Me Mustard

I always believed Hindi movies were of 2 types….1 where you come out of the theatre screaming and another where you come out of the theatre silently. And then I saw the 3rd kind.
If I were given just 1 word to describe the movie ‘Rang De Basanti’, it would have to be ‘Refreshing’ (even if that sounds cliché’d).
Yea, I know that with the movie already into it’s 2nd week, the review is a tad late, but then the mad scramble this flick has caused at the ticket windows coupled with my usual procrastination ensured that we couldn’t get the tickets for the weekends, so ultimately me and another friend had to settle for a late night show at PVR on a weekday(Wednesday).
The movie gets it’s name from the color of Basant(Spring), that refers to the bright yellow of Mustard flowers that beautify the vast fields of Punjab when the weather is midway during it’s transition from the biting winters to the sweltering summers.(Feb-Mar….right now!), and was often used to arouse the patriotic sentiments of the people under British rule.

Needless to say all the actors have done a great job, but Aamir Khan once again proves his acting superiority among the Khan’s and Non-Khan’s by getting under the skin of the character seamlessly.
Having spent the 1st 20 years of my life in Punjab, I can safely assure you that Aamir must’ve put in a substantial amount of effort and research to play the role of Dijjayy (DalJeet) to a perfection.
I tremendously enjoyed his antics as the quintessential Punjabi with a Devil-May-Care attitude, always ready to find fun out of the most difficult of situations. From his Beer-drinking entry, to the ‘Oye isko to Hindi aatti hai yaarr!’ and ‘Su kar mere mann ko’ as well as ‘Humare bachhe kaunse rang ke honge’, he’s simply superb.
Now for a low-down on some of the popular phrases used in the movie :-
Pan Dee Tukkee – Sounds like an abuse but is actually a harmless phrase invented by Punjabi’s to satisfy the eternal need to supplement any sentence with a prefix and suffix !
Chuk De Futtey – Literally means ‘Pick up the planks’, used like ‘Bring it on’ or ‘Just Do it’.
Wahe Guru Ji Da Khalsa, Wahe Guru Ji Di Fateh – War cry of the Sikhs, which means ‘ By the order of the Khalsa(Sikh) that belongs to the God, the victory too shall belong to him’.
Soni Kudi – What some call a ‘Babe’.
Tullee – Inebriated.

Soha Ali Khan is a refreshing new face and Alice surprises you with her sweet Hindi. The depiction of some Delhi University students loitering around the campus and inter-group clashes is quite realistic.
The movie tries to revitalize the dormant passion of the youth of the country and I feel it succeeds to quite an extent(the box-office vindicates me).
The soundtrack by AR Rehman is as good as he can get, and even though I’m no fan of Daler Mehndi yet I feel he’s done a good job with the title track.
Even the cinematography and direction are par excellence, and in fact the 1st half is an ideal blueprint of how a movie should be.
The 2nd half has a few minor glitches though, 1st with the Rapid Action Force opening Tianenmen Square styled Lathi-charge on a group of peaceful protestors, and then that being somewhat compared to Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Another is the abrupt decision of the group to assassinate the Defence minister without ever getting any direct proof of his involvement in the crash(Just coz he said a few harsh words on TV).
The last scene of the siege in the radio station is filmed well though, and adds an extra punch of shock value to the finale.
All in all, a fresh, stylish and brilliant piece of filmwork! I’ll get a DVD as soon as it’s out!

‘Ay Saala
Abhi abhi
Hua Yakeen
Ki Aag hai
Mujhmein Kaheen’

- A moment ago
have I realized,
That a fire burns
Somewhere deep inside.

The Best of Him

This Canadian needs no introduction. His smooth soft rock ballads can be appreciated by anyone in any age group. I(and I’m sure most people in my contemporary generation) have grown up listening to his music as I still remember the 1st music album I ever bought out of my pocket money as a kid was his album ‘So Far So Good’.
I was there for his concert in 2004 at Delhi as well, so it was no surprise that when 4 other friends planned to attend the Bryan Adams’ 3rd Time Lucky concert yesterday evening in Bangalore, I also got myself pulled along.
A good thing about Bangalore(besides the weather) is that whenever an international star performs in India, Bangalore is sure to be a part of the itinerary, the other city mostly being either Bombay or Delhi.
So we reached the venue(Palace Grounds) around 6:00 pm yesterday, but the kilometer long queue at the entrance ensured that we could enter only around 7:30, and by that time the crowd inside had already started growing impatient having to watch the silly advertisements on the huge side screens, and some had started booing as well.
To be a part of a concert of this magnitude is always a treat for your senses. Firstly, the arrangements are state-of-the-art, specially since Mr. Bryan carries his own 10,000 kgs of equipment along in his jet. Next, the huge cheering crowd and the electric atmosphere adds that extra zeal to it. Good we got the front section tickets…bang in front of the stage!
So suddenly around 8:00 pm, the entire group jumped together onto the stage and started rocking. The crowd too abruptly broke into a hysteria, with the female majority breaking out into shrieks of ‘I love you Bryan’ and catcalls and whistles.
Among the 1st few songs he sang was ‘Open Road’ from his new album, and thereafter it was song after song of soulful numbers from his long list of chartbusters.

He showcased plenty of talent to mesmerize the 50,000 strong crowd, as apart from his youthful voice and soulful lyrics, he could easily juggle between 5 different guitars – 2 accoustic, 2 electric and a Bass guitar, as well as playing the harmonica in between.
An amusing part was when he pointed out to a girl in the crowd and called her up on stage to sing ‘Baby when you’re gone’ along with him. She introduced herself as Shweta and a Software Engineer(not surprising at all!) before breaking into a nervous rendition of the song, which was understandable considering the humungous crowd.

Expectedly, the strongest cheers from the guys came for the 2 numbers- “18 Till I Die” and “Summer of ’69 “
Other amazing numbers he crooned were Run to You, Cuts Like a Knife, The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me, Back to You, Best of Me, Can’t Stop this Thing we Started, Heaven, Cloud # 9, Let’s Make a Night To Remember, Straight from the Heart, and of course Please Forgive Me and Everything I Do.
Phew! Every single song a masterpiece! The guy sang for more than 2 hours non-stop.
The last song ‘Straight From the Heart’ was a beauty as he asked everyone to take out their cellphones and wave them in the dark while singing along, and the scene when viewed on the huge screens was like millions of bluish fireflies swaying to the music.

So which is your favourite Adams’ number?

P.S. – In keeping with my constant endeavor to enlighten the bourgeois with the crème de la crème from the world of entertainment, I’ve launched 2 new links on the right sidebar….1 would contain my favoured review of the last movie I watched, and another a downloadable link for a song along with it’s lyrics.
Since this has been a Bryan week, so I’m putting up my fav Bryan song for now.