A Moment Of Clarity

Your new food: EARWAX??

2008-05-11T11:23:00.000+05:30

Hey whats that buzz I hear?? Let me check it out with a cotton bud...Lemme twist and turn, dig deeper inside, round and round, searching through the crevice.

And voila, out comes a mosquito from inside my ear! All dead and ready to decompose!

This is but one example highlighting the mosquito menace plaguing Chennai. Things only seem to be getting worse with every passing year!

Is the government only concerned with bringing MNCs to dote the business landscape but allow the civic scape to rot? How long does the govt think foreign expats or dignitaries or business visitors would bear the alarming mosquito brigade in the city?

The lines that perhaps best describe the stand to be adopted by the government against mosquitoes and civic hygiene are from a past edition of the Christmas Pantomime, "Romeo and Julieto from Mexico" which goes like....

"MOSQUITO PARASITO CAPITO FINITO!"

BOX THE POX

2007-07-01T01:00:00.000+05:30

Whew, a blog after a long time. Life seems to have taken a complete U-turn nowadays and things are rather hectic! This blogpost comes rather belatedly. Realised that I'd saved a draft of this while I had fallen sick 2 months ago. Anyway here goes.....

" Box the Pox - That's precisely what I've been trying to do over the past few days as I'm experiencing Chicken pox for the first time( and medically the last) time ever.

It feels strange and uneasy to have a sudden break inbetween hectic work. Things seem so boring and every minute seems to drag.

The body seems to be having a million scabs all over and they all are ready to unleash their irritation-stimulus on me shortly.

The worst thing is having to be in this state without even taking bath! Inspite of the airconditioner running, there's still a certain sense of stickiness and uneasiness coupled with an unhygienic sensation."

But what followed was that mine was a very mild version of Chicken pox. So no itching at all! Maybe I was one of those blessed souls who didn't have to suffer the torture surrounding the pox. Happy!

AMBUSHED!

2007-03-05T23:35:00.000+05:30

Yesterday morning, I was attacked by a mob of men on the streets while riding on the bike. They manhandled me until I was all Black and Blue. And did I mention Pink too?

And their weapon was "Holi Powder"! The main reason behind the attack was an old school friend who'd spotted me quite a long way back and readied his arsenal of colours, to attack whenever I was to pass by. As soon as he attacked the rest of the gang joined in, artistically playing upon and unleashing all their reserve stocks on me until everything was completely exhausted!

The spirit of holi was reverberating all around and I was sucked into it unwillingly. A Perfect Ambush, sweetly executed! :-)

CUPPY YUPPY YUP YUP!

2007-02-20T15:03:00.000+05:30

If you still haven't had the chance to hear this song or watch the video, then move no further! Watch the song being rendered by the most adorable 3-year old and the following bloopers video as well. Aaah cute!

Lyrics:

"You're my Honeybunch, Sugarplum Pumpy-umpy-umpkin, You're my Sweetie Pie You're my Cuppycake, Gumdrop Snoogums-Boogums, You're the Apple of my Eye And I love you so and I want you to know That I'll always be right here And I love to sing sweet songs to you Because you are so dear"

PIQUED RAMBLING

2007-02-13T18:59:00.000+05:30

Do luck, fate and willpower collaborate with each other? I really don't know. The willpower to achieve something could overcome a million obstacles no doubt, but if fate had a different idea then what's the use of willpower, optimism and where's the question of luck playing its part?

Life just when it seemed rosy and challenging up ahead, suddenly took a 360 degree turn and landed me in shit again.

Sometimes people don't make a conscious decision to tread down the 'untrodden path'.......especially when the ride isn't going to be too soft.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT ?

2007-02-04T22:11:00.000+05:30

Had been to the new Singapore Rex restaurant off Spurtank road. It's an excellent chinese retaurant that brings about a perfect blend of Chinese and Indian tastes to all of it's dishes.

We first ordered the Hot and Sour Chicken soup, which was thick, creamy and really spicy. And then followed up with Chilli Garlic Fried Rice, Veg Hakka Noodles, Chicken Pepper fry and Fried Lamb. And trust me, it was a very enjoyable and pleasant meal. The taste of each dish was unique to this place. A must try.

The next stop was Sree Mithai, probably the most famous brand among all sweet shops in Chennai. Packed up a lot of stuff namely Bengali Sandwich sweet, Kaju Katli, Jalebi and their irresistable Badam milk. Aah, a day to remember!

But my current favourite restaurant without a doubt is Cornucopia. An excellent continental restaurant that specialises in food inspired from quite a few European countries. Who could resist the Veg Bruschettas, Chicken Imperiale, Chicken Nanterre, Chicken Lasagna and a host of other delicacies? And for desserts the awesome Mississippi Mud Pie, Chocolate Mousse whipped with Whisky(Oh yeah!) and Fruits dipped in honey. Yummm....A place for everyone to check out! A tip: For help in choosing the best dish ask for Chef Anand, who also owns the place. A pleasant and friendly guy who takes pains to explain each and every detail to any inquisitive soul. He suggests custom dishes too.

Both restaurants are a bit on the expensive side, but the quantities served and the deliciousness of the food justify it!

P.S. Apparently this is my 50th post! Man, I'm glad i blogged about my favourite topic without myself realising it! :-)

LPG, BABY!

2007-01-28T22:47:00.000+05:30

We(my family) have purchased a brand new Maruti Wagon R Duo. For those who didn't know, the 'Duo' stands for the dual advantage of running it on petrol or LPG with just the flick of a switch!

The upgraded design now makes the Wagon R look cute and adorable as compared to its previous boxy and bland looks. It's got all-new front headlamps, taillights and bumpers, a more pronounced bonnet grille and newer metallic colours.

We've bought the metallic black model. The paint job is excellent but we're now debating upon the wisdom of buying a black coloured car which has an AC that's relatively less powerful as compared to higher-end cars. Remember, Chennai has horrid summers! Anyway, with better reflective window tints, we're hoping the heat stays out.

From the initial runs, there doesn't seem to be much of a performance difference while transitioning between the two modes. Which means, Maruti has done a great job in bridging the performace gap of the LPG with that of petrol. The mileage is around 12-13kmpl on LPG and 13-14kmpl on petrol. But LPG costing just half of petrol translates to monstrous savings each month!

And needless to worry, the car has a myriad of international certifications guaranteeing that it's explosion-proof! Presently, Motor LPG is available in 16 bunks across Chennai and that number is expected to rise rapidly. All in all, a rather pleasing buy.

TUSKER TANTRUMS

2007-01-21T23:10:00.000+05:30

Here is a real life encounter experienced by one of my close friends against a huge tusker. He's happy he's alive. His name is Niranjan.

Niranjan had moved to Coimbatore for work. On a particular day, he'd hired a cab to go to a small forestside town at the base of the Ooty hills in order to conduct a survey for his organisation. During the journey, he was constantly on the lookout for the herds of elephants which were famous in that part of the forest. While on his way back, the driver was casually warning him that they couldn't stop the car even for a minute fearing attacks from any stray elephants in a foul mood.

As these words were just trailing off his mouth the car turned around a corner and was greeted with the horror of a HUGE elephant approaching at full gusto!! This horrific sight froze Niranjan upto his bones and all he could see was imminent death from a stampede or a stab! And to add to his terror was the fact that the driver had brought the cab to a complete standstill and was staring at the tusker ! Panic set in and Niranjan was hollering at the driver to move at once. But on the contrary, the calm and composed driver said that it was too early to move, and that if he tried dodging so early, the tusker being the smart creature that it is would immediately adjust accordingly.

While Niranjan watched with bated breath, the elephant drew closer and closer. When it was just about 5 feet away from the cab, the driver expertly maneovered to the left, which was just enough to dodge a head-on collision but still not enough to avoid a ramming to the rear portion. The door lost its shape and its ability to close. And the fuel tank was jammed from the inside.

The car plunged into the side ditch with stones prodding into the underbelly of the car. As the driver desperately tried to pull the car out of this and bring it back onto the road, the tusker had stopped, turned around and and begun moving back towards the cab, wanting to completely satisfy its mad urge!

The driver, with a frequent grinding of gears and using all known driving techniques had been desperatelty trying to pull the car out of the ditch while he suddenly glimpsed at the rear mirror to catch a sight of two huge, sharp, pointed white tusks gleaming in the sun and moving at a high speed at its target, the cab! Previously, the fuel tank had been jammed by the elephant and there was no way the car would move.

Both Niranjan and the driver scurried out of the car and managed to run for their lives managing to hide behind some bushes. The tusker had by then reached the car and then thrust both its tusks into the rear door, lifted the car upto a height of 5 feet and slammed it back to the ground again. Then all of a sudden, it mellowed down and disappeared into the forest.

This was one of the scariest incidents in Niranjan's life. He considers this to be a Near Death Experience(NDE) and seems to have become much stronger as a person!

GIMME MORE!

2006-10-20T16:20:00.000+05:30

Today was one of those days when I discovered something absolutely new about Chennai, albeit being strange. I was at Pudupet, the bike modifier's haven! But I'd been there just to plug my leaking tank, which had been spewing petrol all over me thanks to a few big holes formed as a result of corrosion!

While I was assisting the guys in removing the tank and getting it tinkered there was an intriguing occurance. Beggars kept appearing at the garage and murmuring something and the shop boys would invariably mete out a few coins of currency. The beggars would collect it and then move on, repeating the same procedure in adjacent shops. I then realised that this was the first instance of Organised Begging that I were to ever witness!

Everything was absolutely systematic. The beggars were allowed to visit this particular region on thursdays, and they would have to quote the number of people constituting their group. Depending on that, they were given an amount calculated at 25 paise per beggar. It had earlier been just 10p but a 'consortium' of beggars had decided to hike rates recently, as a result of inflation!

On further inquiry, I learnt that this practice has been going on for ages, and that the beggars would all flock in huge groups to collect their quota. Supposedly between 60-100 groups! The shop men themselves still seemed amused about the whole system. They were sympathetic and yet very amused by the demanding spirit of the beggars.

Ofcourse there were those rogue beggars who'd misquote the number of people in their group, claiming the onset of illness. But then its all a part of the game and donors didn't mind.

Perhpas we'd have to coin a euphemistic term for beggars too, now that they're more organised....Monetary-Seekers, Financial-Demanders, Mobile Collection Personnel(MCP)....

BLOGGER RETURNS!

2006-08-16T00:40:00.000+05:30

Well, what do I say?! This break has turned out to be much longer than I'd anticipated. All thanks to my home comp which had been crashing on and off until it finally fell into a comatose a few months back! It sadly now rests at one insignificant corner of my room while the spotlight is on a spanking new high-spec comp! :D

For those who'd like to envy me and for those geeks who'd think mine's no big deal, here 's the configuration:

*AMD Athlon 64-bit 'Socket AM2' 3000+ Processor (much much more powerful than a plain 64-bit 3400+)
*ASUS nVidia nForce Chipset Motherboard
*Transcend 1GB DDR2 RAM at 533Mhz
*Samsung Syncmaster 19-inch Wide Screen Monitor
*XFX nVidia Geforce 7300GT Graphics card with 256MB RAM onboard
*LG 16x DVD Writer
*Klipsch GMX-2.1 Speakers
*Seagate 250GB SATA Harddrive
*Microsoft Wireless Keyboard and Mouse
*Creative Live! Soundcard
*APC 650vA UPS
*Zebronics Platinum 400W SMPS with cabinet

God, I simply love the performance of this comp, although there's a lot more to explore. Let's hope it inspires me onto higher levels of blogging!

BREAK

2006-03-05T14:54:00.000+05:30

Well...its gonna be yet another long break from blogging. The place at which i'm gonna be away for training doesn't have access to computers, so its not possible to blog. So until then, ciao!

YUMMY...GIMME SOME WORMS!

2006-03-01T15:45:00.000+05:30

Got to hear an interesting story today about how the Japanese cultivate worms for edible purposes. They are supposed to be a delicacy there and the Japanese simply love 'em! This story was told by the CEO of a leading Japanese pharmaceutical company to a person I know.

Basic requirements:

A pig the size of a cow.
A closed space or enclosure.
Lots of mud.

Procedure:

1.The pig is slaughtered and is buried inside the mud which has already been placed inside the confined space.

2.Now this carcass is allowed to decompose thereby allowing germs to act upon it and completely degenerate it.

3. Once all the flesh and other parts of the carcass are done, the germs have nothing else to do. So they start cannibalising on themselves and slowly become round and juicy worms.

4.The cycle keeps on continuing until all the worms have eaten one another and there's just one HUMONGOUS worm left behind! The Japanese neatly remove this worm, slice it up, and relish upon it.

They claim that that particular worm contains the energy and nutrition of an entire pig!! They say they gain all the energy at almost nil fat! Well, what more do I say...

Bihari?...Naaah...Johari!

2006-02-26T15:46:00.000+05:30

Here are the results of a Johari window survey that i had asked my friends to fill up. Well its pretty interesting and there's nothing much for me to say! Take a look....

Arena

(known to self and others)

cheerful, happy, witty

Blind Spot

(known only to others)

bold, calm, complex, confident, dependable, dignified, energetic, extroverted, friendly, helpful, intelligent, knowledgeable, logical, mature, modest, reflective, relaxed, searching, self-assertive, sensible, spontaneous, trustworthy, wise

Façade

(known only to self)

adaptable, brave, observant

Unknown

(known to nobody)

able, accepting, caring, clever, giving, idealistic, independent, ingenious, introverted, kind, loving, nervous, organised, patient, powerful, proud, quiet, religious, responsive, self-conscious, sentimental, shy, silly, sympathetic, tense, warm

Dominant Traits

54% of people think that Vikram is friendly

All Percentages

able (0%) accepting (0%) adaptable (0%) bold (9%) brave (0%) calm (9%) caring (0%) cheerful (36%) clever (0%) complex (9%) confident (18%) dependable (36%) dignified (9%) energetic (18%) extroverted (36%) friendly (54%) giving (0%) happy (36%) helpful (18%) idealistic (0%) independent (0%) ingenious (0%) intelligent (18%) introverted (0%) kind (0%) knowledgeable (27%) logical (9%) loving (0%) mature (27%) modest (9%) nervous (0%) observant (0%) organised (0%) patient (0%) powerful (0%) proud (0%) quiet (0%) reflective (9%) relaxed (36%) religious (0%) responsive (0%) searching (9%) self-assertive (9%) self-conscious (0%) sensible (9%) sentimental (0%) shy (0%) silly (0%) spontaneous (45%) sympathetic (0%) tense (0%) trustworthy (27%) warm (0%) wise (9%) witty (27%)

Created by the Interactive Johari Window on 26.2.2006, using data from 11 respondents.
You can make your own Johari Window, or view Vikram's full data.

In the NICK of time

2006-02-21T08:32:00.000+05:30

Yesterday, I sat to ponder upon all the nick-names that i have been given since my chidhood. And here is the evolution of my name into something unexpected at the end!

First nick name: Vicky - Its quite a normal and common spin-off from Vikram and extremely widepread. My mom was the one who started off with this and so everybody in the family started calling me 'Vicky'..But in later years, as I kept outgrowing the image of a 'Vicky', it was the same parents who felt that it sounded more like a dog's name or the name of a tamil movie villain! So they started correcting everybody around, spreading the rumour that I was getting offended with the name 'Vicky' and that I demanded to be called 'Vikram' henceforth! But in reality, it felt strange when near and dear ones started calling me by my real name, after i had gotten accustomed to Vicky for a loooong time.

Second nickname:Vicks - Quite obviously from the popular 'kich-kich' candy.

Third nickname: Vikram.H - Since my class had a total of 3 Vikrams, people started referring to us along with our nicknames. Thus, I became associated with my inital more than my maiden name.

Fourth nickname: H - Slowly, people started getting more comfortable with just calling me by my nickname. Thus, I became unique with everybody remembering me by just one alphabet! The H became as synonymous to me as the middle finger was to the holy word!

Fifth nickname: Hay-ch - Now, I had a brilliant English teacher whose english aptitude was extremely high. She was a permanent member of the British Council's teaching group. She started correcting people and telling them that the actual pronunciation of 'H' was indeed 'hay-ch'...So there it stood, as the butt of jokes. I came to be mocked as 'H', not because it had any double meaning but simply because people found the new pronounction to be very funny!

Sixth nickname: Ai-ch - This very 'hay-ch' spread around as badly as messages do in the game Chinese whispers. The pronounciation got so distorted in everyday speech that people started calling me 'Ai-ch'

Seventh and final nickname: Now this was precisely the same time when awareness about a killer virus was causing panic waves all over the world. The unfortunate part was that its name sounded quite similar to my own 'Aich', which led people to call me.....'AIDS Vikram'. :(...So, that I was for a long time to come. A man who was a killer disease!

Apart from my sad nickname of Aids, I found out the meaning of my real name too. 'Vikram' means a 'Glorious king'!! :)

P.S. A sir in college used to pronounce my name as 'Viggirum'. And another childhood school aaya used to call me 'Vikrawwwwwwn'! :)

Unexpected Guests!

2006-02-17T23:13:00.000+05:30

Recently I had bought a box of Ferrero Rocher chocolates to gift a friend for her birthday and guess what we found in the box apart from the delicious chocolates?...A few squirmy little wormy friends!

When I took it back to the shopkeeper he immediately apologised and blamed the stockist's poor storage conditions for this mishap. He then proceeded to show me the rest of the boxes from that rotten batch, and unbelievably they all had loads of worms moving inside along with some cob-web like dirt hanging from one side of the box to the other! I was then given another fresh one from a new batch after opening up and scrutinising every one of it's corners.

The pic below is not of good quality because of the antiquity of the camera that was used, but then its proof enough....

My Dream Girl (Tagged)

2006-02-15T16:08:00.000+05:30

Owing to a number of compelling reasons such as my computer's crash after repeatedly unheeded threats and also the stubborness of my mom to entertain any of my requests due to my seemingly unhygienic room, I had been busy for quite a few days! The computer has been painstakingly re-installed, although its in a near senile state as of now!

Well, this is the first time that I have been tagged. And the culprits here are Matty and Revatechnic. Both for the same questionaire. And what better time to fill up a 'Dream Lover' questionaire than during the season of love, with Valentine's Day having just passed by. As for me, just like any other single out there, it was only an 'Independence Day'! :)

Well to be frank, I have never ever given a thought to this before, cos everytime I do I've only ended up becoming more confused than before!

But lemme try to explore this time around. She....

Should be nagging: After all, what is life without some irritation and argument? ;)
Should be health conscious but at the same time be a complete foodie! She must also be able to dish out new recipes at my insatiable demand rate!
Should to a certain extent love intellectual talk, but never expect too many inputs from my side!
Should be able to appreciate things for what they are, and look at the lighter side of things.
Should LOVE music and movies as much as I do!
Should be a balancing force and should be able to bear with my idiosyncrasies!
Must be able to smile unconditionally and also during times of adversity.
And last but not least...Should be reeeeeally good in bed too! Oh come on people, I'm sure everybody thinks about it but wouldn't actually blog it out! :P

P.S. No, I'm not gonna make anybody cry by tagging them!

Turbulent tongues!

2006-02-04T12:49:00.000+05:30

One of the most fascinating languages around is the chinese language, simply because the speakers always seem to be musically expressing the language to each other! They sing, they chant, they hum, and they also yawn the language out but very rarely 'speak'! Their funny nasal twangs have become trademarks of their own!

I had been wanting to know more about the language ever since I heard that there were no 'tenses' in the Chinese language. I had also known that the language doesnt have a prescribed set of alphabets but instead a series of symbols some of which conveyed a whole sentence by themselves. The only way people expressed the time factor in the language was by altering the tone of the spoken word. I recently got to discuss more about the language with a friend in Singapore who threw a generous amount to light on the subject.

Some of the shocking facts that i learnt were...

Chinese has a set of 10,000 characters which are never completely mastered by anyone in a single lifetime!
Students generally carry a Chinese dictionary into the exam hall!
Even a minor change in a single stroke of a symbol will result in a completely different word or phrase!
A single sound such as 'ma' can be expressed in 4 different tones viz. starting with a high and ending with a low tone, starting low and ending high, a flat tone, and then another where it starts with a high, goes low and then ends with a high tone again!!! And each of these carry completely contrasting meanings!
The natives speak at such blistering speeds that the sound has to be reduced to a super slow-motion inorder to pick the actual word!

Now then, since when did languages cease to exist as a communication medium and instead begin to test the frontiers of human creativity and retention power?

Om Shanti...Chinese-aaya namahuh!

Punch Lines

2006-01-31T22:56:00.000+05:30

Two of the best ad punchlines that i have come across recently are

"Life's Calling, Where are you?" - Smirnoff

and

"When was the last time you did something for the first time?" - Emirates Airlines.

Herbal Beer!

2006-01-28T21:53:00.000+05:30

People, this is one of the best oxymorons that i have ever heard in my life....A 'Herbal Beer'!!! Yeah thats right, an Indian doctor after 10 years of research has invented a herbal beer, but the buggar isn't gonna sell it in India! But still, for all those pot-bellied beeraholics out there, I'm sure there's respite!

Also, let's hope that guzzling a good portion of the beer gives us a 'high' instead of giving "tranquility and calmness" like all other ayurvedic products claim to bestow upon us!

P.S. Found this link through our fellow blogger Padmavathy.

Alarmaaaa!

2006-01-24T15:49:00.000+05:30

Recently I had been with a friend to watch a show of Evam's latest production 'Chapter 2'. Now this friend of mine is generally very sensitive towards public displays of affection. She generally finds it hard to digest the fact that people could smooch one another or caress on stage!

As the play was progressing, she was tipped off by another friend that there was gonna be a hot, passionate smooch on the stage! Arrrgghh...her mind was racing, and she started imagining things and was sitting with the anxiety of every scene being 'the' scene!!...she couldnt control the nervous excitement until it finally happened!! And when it did, her internal alarms went on an overdrive!

As the scene was going on, she was mumbling 'Oh my god, i cant believe they're doing it...He's married, how could he?...I can only see, i cant hear anything...My mind has blanked out...It's all hazy to me...I can see smoke all around myself...Whats happening...' and was constantly looking around trying to judge other people's reactions to the same. In the meantime, I couldnt help but enjoy the show in front of me and simultaneously admire the mini-circus that was being enacted right next to me! :)

Movie Mania!

2006-01-21T01:21:00.000+05:30

Just came back home after watching a special screening of the movie Hotel Rwanda at Studio-5. The movie was brilliant and worth a number of watches! Its not often that one sees movies with simple stories such as these so brilliantly executed. I was extremely happy with the fact that I rounded of my last 100 movies with this one!

As for Sathyam, the usual celebrity fest continued with Shalini, Richard, director Vishnuvaradhan(Arindum Ariyamalum), and a few other not-so-well-known celebs coming to watch the movie. We even got to speak to Swaroop Reddy,a member of the Sathyam family, to complain about the poor sound quality in this particular movie.

And as for the rest of my movies, here they come....

1.Anniyan
2.War Of The Worlds
3.Spy Game
4.Fight Club
5.The Last Boy Scout
6.Seven
7.Roman Holiday
8.My Fair Lady
9.Memento
10.Pulp Fiction
11.Matrix
12.Ayudha Ezhuthu
13.Forrest Gump
14.Aviator
15.Unbreakable
16.Shawshank Redemption
17.School of Rock
18.Hitch
19.Usual Suspects
20.American History X
21.Goodfellas
22.Big Fish
23.Saw
24.Kung Fu Hustle
25.The Green Mile
26.Identity
27.Before Sunrise
28.Animatrix
29.Crash
30.Beauty and the Beast
31.Before Sunset
32.Polar Express
33.Insomnia
34.Amelie
35.Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark
36.Madagascar
37.The Butterfly Effect
38.Sin City
39.The Godfather
40.Sideways
41.Finding Neverland
42.Cinderella Man
43.The Untouchables
44.Love Actually
45.Reservoir Dogs
46.Ghajini
47.Kill Bill
48.AMADEUS!!!
49.The Interpreter
50.Kill Bill 2
51.Scarface
52.A Bug's Life
53.Shrek
54.Monty Python and the Holy Grail
55.One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
56.The Pianist
57.Chinatown
58.O Brother Where Art Thou?
59.Amores Perros
60.Motorcycle Diaries
61.12 Monkeys
62.Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
63.Rear Window
64.Psycho
65.Million Dollar Baby
66.Collateral
67.Maria Full of Grace
68.Shaolin Soccer
69.The Last of the Mohicans
70.A Fistful of Dollars
71.Kanda Naal Mudhal
72.City of God
73.Run Lola Run
74.Monty Python - Life of Brian
75.Almost Famous
76.Unforgiven
77.Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
78.CINEMA PARADISO!!!!
79.Chocolat
80.For a Few Dollars More
81.Jackie Brown
82.Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
83.Empire of the Sun
84.King Kong
85.Majaa
86.X-Men
87.X2
88.Sandakozhi
89.Lawrence of Arabia
90.Corpse Bride
91.Oldboy
92.Jerry Maguire
93.Elephant Man
94.Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
95.Once Upon a Time in the West
96.Requiem for a Dream
97.21 Grams
98.Talk to Her
99.Raging Bull
100.Hotel Rwanda

A majority of these movies are great ones and classics which are worth watching and re-watching! I wouldn't want to pick out any favourites cos there are far too many! :)

A Surprising fare

2006-01-19T15:35:00.000+05:30

Today i had to travel from Kilpauk to Thousand Lights to collect dad's car from the garage. Since I had to catch an autorickshaw, i knew that i had to shell out anything upwards of 70 bucks for the distance involved.

But to my amazement, the first auto guy who came along asked for just 40 bucks for the entire journey! I was overwhelmed by this generous offer from a person belonging to a clan which is increasingly alienising itself from the general public....the auto men! They have become synonymous with their ridiculous driving etiquette, their exorbitant fare demands, and their brash attitude towards customers who try to bargain.

I took the liberty to presume that this particular guy was either drunk or doped out! He exhibited all indications, with eyes glowing a dark red and voice coming from way down below his voicebox, with a subwoofer like bass-voice. He didnt seem very enthusiastic and was constantly looking in the other direction while speaking.

But the fare was too irresistable for me to weigh-in other factors and immediately jumped in before my sub-conscious could tell me otherwise. Once the auto started moving, my mind slowly drifted away and I got absorbed into my own thoughts.

There was something rhythmic and periodical about a sound that shook me out of my day-dream. I woke up to the realisation that the auto was making some of the worst noises that any moving machine could make! Its joints were creaking like that of an old man's and screaming at me for having placed my entire self in it, thereby increasing its pre-existing burden of carrying itself around!

And the driver didnt wanna disturb the continuum either, so he chose to always ride in a straightish direction. No swerves, no cuts, and no overtakes either!..Rather unique...

By the end of the ride, I had received a much deserved workout, something that my body had been wanting for a quite a long time now. And trust me, travelling by a rickety auto in Chennai is even better than a few hardcore laps in a pool! It juggles you in every single angle out of the possible 360 and in the process massages every single muscle, bone and tissue in the body! It would be a wonder if the organs don't switch places!

The driver gave me a broad smile after receiving the fare, without any sort of disappointment. I still wonder what it meant!

Favourite Phrases

2006-01-17T23:45:00.000+05:30

One of the best phrases that i have come across is an ancient Persian saying ...It goes like this...

"He who knows not, knows not he knows not, is a fool, shun him
He who knows not, knows he knows not, is a child, teach him
He who knows, knows not he knows, is asleep, wake him
He who knows, knows he knows, is wise, follow him."

And another favourite....

"It is better to be hated for what you are, than to be loved for what you aren't."

Aren't they amazing?

Zinda-BAD & Pazhaiya-pet

2006-01-15T14:40:00.000+05:30

It's official now. Zinda is indeed a frame-by-frame remake of the Korean movie Oldboy, except for the ending which has been changed to suit the conservative mindset of Indians who would have protested violently if it was for the original! But every other aspect has been blatantly plagiarised by Sanjay Gupta who has become famous among ignorant audiences who presume he's done all the hard work. All his previous superhits have been remakes of famous movies and he even makes sure to copy their taglines!... Kaante was from Reservoir Dogs and Musafir was from U-Turn.

And the latest rumour is that the movie Pudupet by Selvaraghavan is a remake of none other than the brilliant Portugese movie called City of God(but it may not necessarily be true)!

I personally believe that Indians are the biggest plagiarisers of movies, internally and internationally! Ofcourse there are a few great and original directors, but the rest of them are just survivors. A paradigm shift is what's necessary for Indians movies to come of age. Directors and producers should stop looking at including commercial elements or heroic idiosyncrasies but instead concentrate on technical excellence and originality.

It's alarming to know that most directors write dialogues for scenes only on the day of the shooting and on the sets! Contrast this with the high professionalism of Hollywood, where each and every small operation is taken care of by an expert. I mean, in India, how often do we have specialist script/screenplay writers or casting pros? What we see most of the times is a boastful credit screen which screams out boldly:

STORY
SCREENPLAY
DIALOGUES
DIRECTION
"Mr.I-Know-them-all"

And then we also have these occasional starlwarts(whizkids) in the form of Karadi Man T.Rajendar who would spend endless rolls of film and numerous frames just to put his name under every possible title, including MUSICIAN, LYRICIST, EDITOR, CHOREOGRAPHER, ACTING COACH, POET ...and what not!!

Come on guys, give us a break! Is a movie about representing the beauty in the visual medium or about gratfying one's ego and garnering fame? Grow up India, grow up...And for those of you foreigners who do, please stop referring to all of Indian cinema as BOLLYWOOD!

My Monster name!!

2006-01-14T09:14:00.000+05:30

Your Monster Profile

Infamous Nightmare

You Feast On: Bananas

You Lurk Around In: Corn Fields

You Especially Like to Torment: Blondes

What's Your Monster Name?

Found this funny montster name generator on Shashi's blog and decided to take it up, although I haven't been tagged(Am I desperate or what?)!

Chennai Open - Part 2

2006-01-13T22:34:00.000+05:30

Speaking of the Chennai Open, I forgot to mention my luck with tickets on the day of the 3rd round of matches. As my cousins and I stood at the ticket counter, debating whether to go for the 5o buck or 100 buck tickets, there was this lady announcing that she had tickets and that she wanted to give them to someone who was interested.

When she turned towards us , she judged our apprehension and candidly told us that they weren't for sale and that she had booked for season passes and wasn't gonna watch the matches on that particular day. She just wanted someone to watch the matches so that the tickets don't go for a waste! We gave a broad smile and accepted them gleefully!!!!

Ride Away to Glory...

2006-01-10T23:12:00.000+05:30

Riding a bike in Chennai is quite an experience. As your bike travels over the cross-country like terrain you keep getting a "tot-a-tot-a-tot" feeling similar to riding a horse.

Inbetween the cool evening weather and the tottering, I felt like pouring out my emotions in the form of a song. So i took a deep breath, and starting singing away to glory, with just my heart for company. Just as i was going "Oooooooooohhhhh.....Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh...Lalalaaaa...." ala a soprano, there was this "eeeeeeeeeeennnggggg" and a feeling that something bumped into my upper palate!

Yuck!! What else could i do except rue over my rotten luck and try to force-blow the MOSQUITO out from my mouth! Thank heavens that I didn't close my mouth or try finding out what had landed, with the help of my taste buds! :(...When will India's civic amenities ever improve?!

Chennai Open!

2006-01-07T23:22:00.000+05:30

A majority of thursday and friday were spent in the Chennai Tennis Stadium , witnessing the 3rd round and quarter-final matches of the Chennai Open! Believe it or not, this is the first time in the competition's history that tickets for the semi-finals and finals were sold out almost a week in advance! So much so that the shutters of ticket counters were permanently closed today, and will be tomorrow! So thats precisely why I'm sitting at home typing this, while the match is going on there!...*sob*...

All the matches were terrific with the sole upset being in the form of Paradorn Srichapan who lost tamely to an unknown player Kristof Vleigen. We were later informed that he was suffering from a left thigh injury, but one never knows. All we see is a new girlfriend accompanying these tennis stars, every other time! ;)

The personal highs and lessons from the two days were

1. I clocked speeds of 88 km/h and 111 km/h in the 'Serve Challenge' which is a fun competition where one is allowed to serve into a netted enclosure in the presence of a speed gun which measures and displays the service speeds! For a guy who's never caught a tennis raquet before, i was mighty pleased!

2. Truckloads of 'Mercedes' sponsored babes!!!! Everytime a match heated up, there a visual distraction to cool ourselves with!

3. Buying tickets at 50 bucks most often guarantees one a place in seats which are four times the price(how do u think i got to sit in the very first row !). Hint: Keep a straight face to the cute ticket-checking girls and pretend to know a LOT about the game!

4. It was very easy to shout profanities at Charu Sharma, being sure that he hears us too, and let him know that he's not the smart-ass that he thinks he is!

5. Learnt how to get all the attention by constantly supporting the player who's not the crowd favourite!

6. Learnt to swear at the linesman, who we presume are always erratic, while we conveniently forget the presence of a term called 'Parallax Error'!

Well thats just about it, and here's another BIG tip. Get to know someone who owns a Merc. Cos that way, you are guaranteed a few passes for the last two days along with a buffet dinner from 'The Park'!

The Year that was...

2006-01-04T23:20:00.000+05:30

Looking back at the past year, it has been quite a mixed bag. But let me recall the brighter side.

One of the most memorable things was the trip to Singapore, along with just three of my cousins. It was my first ever trip abroad and very memorably so! It was the first time that I experienced the true taste of Indian(Airlines) hospitality, with all its stewards and hostesses openly displaying a hostile attitude! Upon any requests from passengers, they would bark, stare, scream, groan and mutter profanities under their breath , desperately supressing their natural urges to bite back...or atleast so it seemed!

There was this clash between a not-so-decent-passenger and a particularly snobbish hostess....

P: I asked for a non-veg meal but u have served me veg.
AH: I'm sorry sir. We have run out of NV meals.
P: Oh no, you've not. I'm sure u have hidden them away to sell it to somebody and make money!
AH: How dare u speak like that...You think we are that cheap...Blah blah...dishum dishum ...thump... thwack...

The guy was sitting there all the while having a smirk oh his face. He seemed to be enjoying the one-sided brawl. Perhaps that was his idea of in-flight entertainment!

-------------------------

And how could i forget my amazing 21st birthday! My near and dear friends had put in 3 days of painstaking work and effort into arranging for an amazing birthday surprise whilst i was boasting to everybody that i could never ever be surprised by anyone! So much for me and my mouth...

They organised a complicated treasure hunt, with decorative clues all over and around my house, making me sweat on-route to collecting the treasure! They even took care to play one of my favourite songs while i was just about to find my bounty! At the end of the day, i couldn't help the streams of joyful tears that rolled down my cheeks...I am indeed a lucky guy!

Happy New Year!

2006-01-01T19:19:00.000+05:30

Here's wishing a very HAPPY NEW YEAR to all fellow bloggers!

The only resolution that I made this year was that I'm not gonna make one at all! I have never ever managed to follow resolutions, so what's the point?!

Intel outside, juveniles inside!

2005-12-31T15:24:00.000+05:30

Recognise these? Of course you would! These are two of the most famous and popular logos ever! And its a blind guess that they belong to Intel, the world's biggest chipmaker.

After 37 years, Intel has now released its latest logo, the 'Intel 2006' logo and it thoroughly sucks!! The logo looks like it belongs to a third rate company, which has been experimenting with MS Paint! The font and colour look drab and the calligraphicallly styled circle, around the name, is one of the most cliched design ideas.
For a logo set to gobble up a significant portion of all marketing media , it has neither style nor class. With millions of dollars on hand, it is disheartening to see such a feeble effort from Intel.

Santass

2005-12-30T16:06:00.000+05:30

This was the best joke that i heard this Christmas...

Person 1: What did Santa gift you this time around?

Person 2: Sigh...Absolutely nothing!

Person 3: Hehehe..While descending down your roof, he would have been greeted with the shock of an electric chimney!..After all, who would want their ass to be electrocuted!

The King has arrived!

2005-12-28T15:23:00.000+05:30

This is not a movie review but instead a representation of my excitement after watching this MONSTROSITY of a movie!

People are now investigating into the title of Jackson's previous movie "The Return of the King" for secret messages and connotations ...Perhaps, he was hinting at the 'King' (Kong) himself!

The often misunderstood love scenes between the lead character and the ape are not of the romantic variety but more of a deep emotional bonding. She is extremely attached to the monster because of its unexpected compassion towards her, and that's about it. I mean, dont people love their pets and share their own emotions with them? Observing all the hoopla surrounding the issue, I was expecting a smooching scene between the beauty and the beast!! Mannn...that would have been quite a scene!!

Those scenes where Naomi Watts sleeps nestled in the cozy hands of the creature are all a simple and beautiful portrayal of human emotions.

The biggest surprise is that there are very few dialogues in the entire movie! Quite understandably so. What can humans possibly talk with beasts?! Also, inclusion of dialogues would have hindered the flow of the mindblowing action sequences!

On the whole, this movie is nothing short of a masterpiece etched by the hands of a genius! It is an amazing achievement in film-making and elevates the quality of graphics and animation to the next level! At times, Kong looks more like a real, living, breathing and combating animal than a construction of computer pixels! And thanks to Andy Serkis, he is by far the best actor in the movie too!

pant...pant...

2005-12-26T21:47:00.000+05:30

Whew....It was a tiring few weeks with a few scary exams lined up one after the other, making for a terrifying time! Now that its all over, I can finally heave a sigh of relief!

What these exams can do to one's psyche is equivalent to asking a person to stand at the edge of a cliff and instruct him/her to climb down without any aid, unsure of when that one fatal mistake can cost their life! While some would choose to refer to an exam as an 'uphill climb', i would rather call it a 'downhill stagger'! One inifinitesimally insignificant miscalculation could spell doom!

But one thing that i keep realising time and again is that studying for an exam is about the only time that i enforce any sort of control over myself and deliberately try to 'focus'!....Discipline sure is a tough act!

Rendez-WHO?

2005-12-13T13:01:00.000+05:30

The year was 1998. I was in my 10th standard. I was staring at the bright board which held the bold name of the orthopaedist. It was a new addition to our neighbourhood but wasn't just another run-of-the-mill private clinic. It had well-carpeted floors, an air-conditioned lounge with luxurious sofa sets,a music system playing peppy songs in the background, and a rather stylish receptionist.

I slowly limped into this clinic, eager to know what else was different with this modern avatar of our country's ageing private clinics.After a loooong wait, the doctor finally arrived, with a fully clad designer suit! When my turn arrived, I went in to show him my bloated ankle which was the result of a basketball match.

The doctor went about his duty just like any other would do. But at times, he would curiously stare at some parts of the ankle, giving an dumb expression. After the regular x-ray, he proclaimed that it was indeed a hairline fracture. And then, all of a sudden, he turned towards his PC, opened a document in MS Word and took a printout of all the pre-defined medicines! Voila! There they were, all stored conveniently in Word documents, thereby reducing the doc's burden of remembering them!

A few days and a few crepe bandages later, it was time for another appointment. The doctor,after closely examining my foot suddenly shouted out in triumph "BEAUTIFUL...BEAUTIFUL...IT WORKED! IT WORKED!" over and over again! I was flabbergasted!! Was the doctor so unsure of his own treatment?? Had he taken a chance with my ankle? Was i an experimental guinea pig in the hands of a Dr.Jekyll??

A few years down the lane I heard that a particular doctor had been caught in a sex-tape scandal filming young people in the 'act', lured through the internet. When I heard the name of this doc, the nameboard outside my orthopaedist's clinic flashed across my mind. And then suddenly, there was clarity! Both the names were that of the very same doctor...DOCTOR PRAKASH!!!

It had been a few years since I had seen him. In the meanwhile he had shifted base to a different area of Chennai and had started with his operations! From what I had seen as a neighbour, he had a good wife(who also was a doctor) and a cute kid and belonged to a very good family. And at the end of it all, I'm happy that I never got a taste of being a porn-star!! :D

MOVIE SPOOFS!

2005-12-11T17:54:00.000+05:30

Slinkity Hinkity Ho!

2005-12-07T23:45:00.000+05:30

"What walks down stairs, alone or in pairs, And makes a slinkity sound? A spring, a spring, a marvelous thing, Everyone knows it’s Slinky… It's Slinky, it's Slinky, for fun it's a wonderful toy It's Slinky, it's Slinky, it's fun for a girl and a boy"

"The Walking Spring Toy"

"It walks, bounces and springs"

...and so went advertising jingles for the springly toy called 'Slinky'.

I was first introduced to a Slinky when my aunt brought a brand new one from the UK, a long time ago. Apparently, I was a kid and didn't fancy the toy too much from its initial appearance. I mean, of what use was a twisted piece of cheap metal to a kid who would rather have beautifully-moulded action hero figures as companions!

But only when I was exposed to its potential wonders did I get sucked into the wonderful world of a Slinky! The Slinky has a personality of its own, what with the curvaceous and rather seductive movement and the ability to mould into different shapes of varying dimensions during every stage of its movement. It was always admired for its ability to spring-down staircases with ease!

The slinky teaches numerous lessons for life! One notices that it exhibits the flexibility and mouldability that the human mind is supposed to possess to crawl out of tough and sticky situations! Its movement is as free and dynamic as the human mind ought to be in order to achieve greatness! It also taught me to compete for possession against my sister! :)

Unfortunately, the slinkies that are available nowadays are made from inferior plastics or low grade metals, unlike the original American metal that was used. This alters its characteristics to such an extent that it loses its inherited charm and magnificence!

P.S. Check out the world's largest slinky!

Unconditional?

2005-12-01T11:25:00.000+05:30

The first time that i ever did this was when I was in my 12th standard. This is that time in one's life when there's an insatiable need for money! Especially if the "one" keeps bunking school on and off! ;)

So I always used to secretly wish that there was some source of income for me, about which my parents would never know. And when i was presented with one of those opportunities, I accepted it gleefully! I went to the designated place, finished my job and got paid for it too. But once it was done, a terrible sense of guilt enveloped me and clawed deep into my consciousness.

That was when I pledged that I would never ever donate blood again for anything other than complete unconditionality! And the pledge has been kept up until now, by donating blood once in every 6 months!

"IMAGINE"

2005-11-29T11:05:00.000+05:30

Imagine there's no heaven,
It's easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people
living for today...

Imagine there's no countries,
It isnt hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people
living life in peace...

Imagine no possesions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say Im a dreamer,
but Im not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.

These were the amazing lines penned down by the immortal John Lennon, for his song IMAGINE. The song mesmerises one and all. Wonder how anybody could assasinate someone with a heart such as his!

The song itself was a result of a book titled "Imagine" ,presented to Lennon by his then girlfriend Yoko Ono(who later married him), which stimulated his thought processes to such an extent that it culminated in this magnificent song.

The song is supposed to be referring to utopia but many nosy economists have raised their ugly heads, claiming that it points towards anarchial socialism....Dumb!

Funniest Indian(Tamil) Video!

2005-11-28T11:31:00.000+05:30

Hey people, i couldn't update my blog for so long because my home computer was busted! Boohoo...It was quite a torrid time! Anyway, hoping to be quite regular hereafter.

For a start, I found this amazing video that every Indian should check out, simply for its amazing humour! Check it out here.

Am I good or what?

2005-10-28T11:45:00.000+05:30

Came across this site today and took up their test. And my personality was matched with John F Kennedy himself! Whoa!...But I wouldn't particularly endorse the comments at the bottom of the photograph! ;)

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

AMADEUS!!!!!!!!!!!

2005-10-26T19:03:00.000+05:30

Stunning!
Mesmerising!
Enchanting!
Marvelous!
Unbelievable!
Stupendous!

These are a few, honest words of appreciation that pop up in my mind while describing the movie "Amadeus"! This movie, above all doubts, is a masterpiece! Anybody who loves music, and who knows how to appreciate a genius to the extent of Mozart must definitely watch this movie!

Each and every one of the 8 oscars which it won, are perfectly justifiable. The ingenious usage of Mozart's music throught the movie couldn't have been brought about better.

The movie is all about the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, inarguably one of the foremost musical geniuses of all time! The surprising thing is that the movie is a tight package, without unnecessary scenes or drags. It is a perfect blend of fact and fiction indispersed with humour,emotions, and mystery resulting in a stunning marvel of a film!

Each and every actor has played their part to perfection! One wouldn't be surprised as to why Murray Abraham was awarded an oscar for this role! Tom Hulce has also pulled off a stunning performance as Mozart. Mozart was often described in real life as a brash teenager who was immoral. A noble man once said of him "He has the mind of a genius in the body of a fool"!

The Tagline of the movie goes....

"The Man... The Music... The Madness... The Murder... The Motion Picture..."

It stands for everything said above and more. The heart beats ever so subtly with a feeling of warmth and the mind feels thoroughly stimulated albeit remaining calm, while watching the wonderfully choreographed operas which seamlessly blend with the ingenious music!

It is said that listening to classical music increases human intelligence for a small duration of time thereafter...So trust me friends, there's no better way to experience that than by watching this movie!

The Man Who Pukes Gold!

2005-10-22T14:46:00.000+05:30

Here is a man who is being revered by more people than one can imagine! He supposedly has fanatic devotees from 165 countries of the world!! He proclaims to be god, and a man of miracles. But on the contrary, his past activities have raised several embarassing questions on his integrity and his ingenuity!

For starters, he claims to be able to manifest the holy ash 'vibuthi' and materialistic objects made of gold such as watches, chains, rings from nowhere ! But interestingly they seem to be losing their shine soon after. He also has a penchant for regurgitating sivalingams of all forms! Hahaha....but all these tricks have been performed by some of his critics too!! Even with all this naked evidence out there, way too many people blindly follow him and consider him to be an 'avatar' or a god incarnate, while others believe he has to be incarcerated!

He calls himself a god-man thereby raising a new slurry of questions on the relationship between god and man! If he is a 'god-man' ,then each one of us is, in our own right! He enjoys a strong political clout from the corridors of power, thereby managing to escape from the law and the rationalists until now!

But most of the shocking truths have been revealed on this website, which includes the BBC's special 1 hour show on him, aired in the June of 2004! All the rumours, allegations and tricks behind his gimmicry are revealed with substantial evidence. Please be entertained!

Raining cat'S and Dog'S !

2005-10-17T23:00:00.000+05:30

Well well well...It has been raining in chennai like heaven's bladders were full and were waiting to explode! Chennaites must have prayed with unconditional sincerity to the rain gods this year, who in-turn seem to have been pleased. The phrase that first comes into one's mind amidst such incessant rain is "It rained like cats and dogs". What's amusing is that there isn't a proper explanation to that idiom anywhere! Now, this sets me thinking...

I believe it has been cut short from the original phrase, which must have read like "Rained like cat'S and dog'S...PEE"!!...So is it a similie for the way the heavens work in conjunction with the way cats and dogs pee??

Let us see some interesting aspects of these animals' peculiar pee-ing habits.

For starters, they never pee all at once!
They pee only when they want to and not when forced by others.
They pee at varying speeds and angles, depending on prevailing conditions and circumstances.
They choose the remotest of locations to pee!(just like the rain gods choose every other god-damned place except chennai!)
At times,they irritate by just pee-ing in parts, where just small drops appear at discrete intervals, consuming a lot of time and preventing the master from doing something else!

The above is perfectly true with respect to Chennai's rain patterns, with the following substitutions:

They <=> rain gods(or)clouds(or)skies(or)heavens
pee <=> rain
master <=> common people

But if one is more observing, similar patterns are found in the lavatorial habits of rural Indian people! So here comes the all-important question...Was the above term coined by an Indian, to divert the attention of the rest of the world away from us and instead towards animals??!! ;)

BLOG-SQUASHED!!

2005-10-15T22:34:00.000+05:30

Why have various forms of media and journalism always been taken on a toss by governments, politicians and other influential and often hypocritical corporate bodies?

The latest story in contention is the ongoing tussle between three prominent bloggers and the self-glorified management institute IIPM run by the pompous Arindam Chaudhuri. The bloggers who have been targeted are Rashmi Bansal, Gaurav Sabnis and Varna. They have been served with legal notices(or so they say), threatening a lawsuit unless their blog posts questioning IIPM's credentials and integrity, were removed permanently! And the laughable part is that these very legal notices were sent illegally by e-mail!!

The only thing that the bloggers did was conduct background investigations into its tall claims and offer their perspectives on the institute. This, in principle, is very similar to a technology portal or magazine reviewing a product or service and listing out its pro's and con's. Now, can the company which owns the product sue the website or magazine for publishing their perspective on what's wrong and what's right? Or does the company attempt to reimburse the entire R&D cost by filing lawsuits, defamation and libel cases against the reviewers??

After all the ruckus, when IIPM's dean was asked about the whole controversy, he seemed to be oblivious of such an incident! Looking at the outburst from the blogging community,I'm pretty sure IIPM will retract all it's childish claims and try to redeem it's lost pride and status as a respectable institution capable of mature beahviour. If they choose otherwise, then they would do it at their own peril!

The entire incident is being covered by Desipundit comprehensively, with regular updates.

Ur-in-ate!!

2005-10-12T18:01:00.000+05:30

This post is a supplement to another post by Vinod.

Did anyone know that scientific reserach has unearthed the shocking reality that a majority of the sugar coated fennel seads(sombu) that are given as a digestive aid at the end of a meal in every indian retaurant, contain alarming proportions of human urine ??!!

You might wonder how...Well, it all boils down to the simple habit of men not washing their hands after pee-ing. With the minute quantities of urine still sticking on to their fingers, they hastily dip their dirty hands into the fennel seeds inorder to feed themselves again! YUCK!!

So next time around, remember that you are better off without other people's urine in your digestive system!! :)

So now, are u going to refrain from touching those or indulge in a free bout of urine therapy to cleanse your system?? :) For those who chose the latter, rejoice! Our very own ex-Prime Minister, Morarji Desai lived close to a 100 years following the above therapy(or so he claimed)!

Update: A friend studying in the US told me that research had been conducted on this subject and results published in a newspaper there! Shall put up a link if i get one.

Bangalore Bashing!

2005-10-06T18:03:00.000+05:30

I'm back, after a loooong unplanned break! It all started with a trip to bangalore....

Bangalore is slowly losing its charm! I was born in bangalore and have been there umpteen times, but this time was the worst! Alright,accepted, I had a great time with my cousins, but apart from that, every other aspect of bangalore has been showing a gradual decline!

The weather has been gradually declining from COLD during my childhood, to COOL during my teens, to HOT at present! Although mornings and nights are still relatively cool, it has transformed from a 'multiple blanket' city to a 'bedsheet' city!! Although there is no humidity, pollution has taken its toll, with bangalore's dry heat becoming rather harsh on the skin! Never before has it been so hot in the month of September!

The traffic is chaotic! The entire city has been converted into a series of one-way lanes, resulting in a touch-the-nose-around-the-head route to any destination. The city blames the numerous software professionals who have invaded the city, but they in-turn point to the government's negligence. The Blame Game lingers on....

An amusing addition to the city's pavements have been the ubiquitous "COBBLER KIOSK"s!! But what's ironical is the complete absense of cobblers,who either don't seem to appreciate them or haven't understood the purpose! Perhaps what the authorities tried, was to give an indian touch to a wannabe-globalised city!

The rate at which new shopping malls are springing up is unbelievable! And all the floor space is being gobbled up like hungry hippos, by international designer labels!

If things go on like they are at the moment, the time is not far away when the terms "Silicon Valley of India" and "Garden city" would be replaced with "Silicon-di-oxide Valley" and "Garbage city"!!

Road 'Trip'

2005-09-20T21:21:00.000+05:30

Today was an eventful day. The first big event was the movie "Cinderella Man" that i got to watch, and it was quite an experience! The movie had all the elements of a blockbuster, yet failed at the box-office due to an over-dose of boxing movies in the recent past. Russell Crowe's acting, as always, was outstanding!

The second not-so-important event was the road accident, on my bike. Although I wasn't travelling fast, I was left with lots of bruises all over the body with a few minute ones on the face too. And a few aches here and there....nothing dangerous though! As soon as i got up from the road a BIG smile broke upon my face, thankful of the fact that myself,my pillion rider(my close friend) and my bike were all safe! Perhaps this is life's way of instructing one to stay alert at all times and never give in to distractions!

Well, I'm leaving to bangalore tonight due to an unexpected engagement and wont be back until Monday. Ciao!

Googled!

2005-09-19T12:44:00.000+05:30

Yeah...this one makes me proud! To be googled is a gooooood feeling!! Check out the latest Google Blog Search. It's sure to impress, just like all of their other tools and services!

Actually, to make things easier, you'll can search using the horizontal Navigation Bar at the top of this webpage since Google Blog Search has been integrated into it too.

"FAILURE"

2005-09-19T01:55:00.000+05:30

People, please check this out. This news might be pretty outdated but it's for those of you who didn't know!

Type the word "failure" in google and check out the first search result that appears! Then, you'll know why it's the best and also the most intelligent search engine out here!! ;)

MOVIE SPREE

2005-09-18T14:40:00.000+05:30

Been watching a lot of movies of late, and here are small reviews on 3 of the most recent ones.

Madagascar

Madagascar is yet another milestone in animation movie-making! It has the unique distinction of being the first movie to be shot in the latest cutting edge digital format called DLP Projection(No people, RDX is not its name but just a marketing gimmick; a brand name given by the Sathyam theatres). Sathyam holds the unique distinction of being the only multiplex to have two of these projectors, in India. Each of these projectors cost around 60 lakhs rupees with an additional 15 lakhs for the computer servers!!

The brand of humour portrayed was more on the slapstick variety attuned to younger audience's tastes. But adults beware, get ready to have a laugh riot! The strengths of the movie are the characterisation and the amazing animation. Each character is portrayed beautifully and with a lot of imagination. The quality of the picture was extremely crisp and vivid.

Madagascar certainly isnt an 'Incredibles' or a 'Finding Nemo' but has its own share of pros and cons. But if one watches it without any expectations, it is bound to bring a rather BIG smile!

The Butterfly Effect

A very good movie bordering on science-fiction and thrills to thoroughly entertain the audience. The movie's title is supposed to be based on the "Butterfly Effect" proposed by the theory of Chaos. According to this effect, an event as insignificant as the fluttering of a butterfly's wings can alter future events,across the globe, to a catastrophic level! The name,with respect to the movie, is also supposed to be a metaphor for the shape of the brain in a brain scan report.

The movie is completely based on the hero Ashton Kutcher's childhood blackouts and his ability to transform things by being able to re-live his past, with the help of acquired supernatural powers. There are a number of timelines which appear sequentially, throughout the movie and it makes for 'involved' viewing!

Sin City

Possibly one of the most sophisticated and state-of-the-art movie in the recent past, Sin City stands out as a truly outstanding achievement in film-making. Whats unbelievable is the fact that the entire movie is shot in Black and White, with vivid doses of colour superimposed upon it, wherever required! And the entire movie has an unbelievable comic-book feel to it, without compromising on realism or being classified as a fantasy!

The movie would never release in India thanks to casual nudity and filthy language. But none of these stand as an obstacle in thoroughly enjoying and marvelling at the final product! Its a definite must-see!!

And whats more, a scene in this movie has also been guest directed by Quentin Tarantino(for a publicly accepted sum of US $1!).

Teacher..err...Cheater.

2005-09-13T14:45:00.000+05:30

Yesterday, I was struck with one of the biggest shocks of my life!!! And i'm sure all my 'Bhavan's Rajaji Vidyashram' colleagues would agree. The school's current principal and maths teacher has been awarded the national award for the Best Teacher for the year 2004 by the Ministry of Human Resources !!! It was presented to him by our President, APJ Abdul Kalam. Hmmm...let us further explore the history of this illustrious maths teacher....

To begin with, he used to always arrive 15 minutes late and leave 15 minutes early, for every 40-minute class!! He used to avoid attending more than 75% of his own classes. He was by far one of the worst teacher's i've ever seen and he's the kind of stuff that all teacher-jokes are made up of. The biggest problem with him was..He never ever 'taught'!

He re-defined the very term "Teacher" (and anagram-ed it to "cheater")by being very adept at perfectly replicating every intricate detail of a mathematical problem that was worked out in the study guide,onto the blackboard.Its another story that his office is colourfully adorned with millions of these study guides!

Some of his other achievements are listed below. He was...

one of the main inspirations for many a person to hate mathematics till their grave.
the same guy who completed the commerce students' 11th standard portions after their final exams got over, just so that they weren't deprived of the knowledge!(and ofcourse he never completed their 12th std portions on time)
the guy who had the unique distinction of being able to ride his scooter with both his eyes closed(umm...actually..he always sleeps)!!

There was one instance when a student(inbetween his own blissful sleep) got up and asked him a doubt. Once confronted, he started staring at the guide book continuously and began scratching his head rather stupidly. The student who had posed the question got so tired of standing that he decided to sit down and start chatting with his neighnours. After a while, we realised that our 'teacher' was nowhere to be seen! When we peeped out of the classroom, we saw that he had scurried to the end of the corridor and turned away to vanish for good!!

And listen to this guys...The article also says that he hails from a family of teachers who have, for generations, dedicated their lives to the cause of education... :D :D :D...There couldnt have been a more blatant lie; The truth: He is the kind of teacher that every student's worst nightmare is made up of!!!

Final Question: Are these the kind of vampires(knowledge sucking beings) that this country would honour? Is there absolutely no respite for students?

Answer from 'teacher'(with an evil grin and glinting canines) : Absolutely not! There's no escaping from our clan. The broth brews best with everybody's blood!!

Name: Katrina, Event: Hurricane !!

2005-09-11T00:35:00.000+05:30

For the past few days i had been intrigued by a constantly recurring question... "Why would a devastating hurricane such as the recent one in New Orleans be so incongruously named 'Katrina'?"

The very utterance of the word conjures up sexy images of the Bollywood bombshell(with the suffix 'Kaif'), if not yet another American or Spanish babe!! The name oozes of sensuality and charm, which is in complete contrast with the event currently associated with it!

My moment of enlightenment occurred when one of my US-based cousins popped up on the messenger. I asked him "Hey, why do Americans come up with such fancy names as 'Katrina' for such a destructive catastrophe? Are they trying to dissociate themselves from the realities of the aftermath, by naming it thus? ".

He was initially amused by the extent of my thoughts regarding the baptism! But he proceeded to explain that this was a result of their tradition of naming all cyclones in an alphabetical order in the sequence of their appearance.This helps them identify each storm individually and track their movements across the ocean, thereby eliminating confusion.

The entire name-list comprises of three categories of storms, with six namelists for each. The same lists are recycled every six years, unless certain names are dumped. Now, this was quite a revelation to a guy like myself, who had always thought of America to be an attention seeking country!

Although the Americans claim they dont have enough money to rebuild, their brand-building has been impeccable, thanks chiefly to the media's unconditional help! They have yet again succeeded in building a globally recognised brand at zero marketing costs!

Does anybody agree??

Bang, Bang...Bangalore.

2005-09-08T12:16:00.000+05:30

Here's my first blog ever! This particular incident happened during a road trip to bangalore along with dad,a cousin and my infamous grandmom.

It was a hot summer afternoon and the AC was blowing at maximum pace. Since the highway was deserted, i was cruising at around 120 kmph while my cousin sat beside me, in the passenger's seat. I suddenly noticed something out of the corner of my eye, in the rear view mirror. My grandmom, who was seated at the left rear corner of the car, against the window, was actually tilting to her right by supporting her elbow on the seat and staring at the road ahead with an absolutely terrified look!

Only then did i remember that amidst all her big-talk, she had an eternal fear of speeding vehicles and hallucinatory accidents! I was anticipating a helpless whine accompanied with some advice from her, when instead she gave a huge sigh of relief saying "Ohhhhh 30 km speed-aa?? seri, seri(ok,ok)...continue..." and laid back comfortably on her seat again!

Frankly i was puzzled as to where she got those rather faulty statistics from, and started scanning the dashboard area. And then, i realised her goof-up! From her seating position, she had mistaken the smaller tachometer (rpm meter) to be the speedometer and the number 3 (x1000 rpm),indicated by the needle, to be the 'tens' digit of the speed of the vehicle!!

The entire car erupted into laughter, as my grandmom smiled weakly, trying to cover up her embarassment.

Perhaps its time grandmoms shifted to futuristic versions of their age-old companion...the wheelchair!!

Hmmm...yeah im there...

2005-07-19T14:21:00.000+05:30

Hi people, i've finally decided to take the bold step forward and start blogging!! I was waiting for an inspiration but none seem to be coming out of my rather hard and thick skull!! So Lo and Behold, watch out for my first scrap tonight!!!