Hibernating...

Well, the chill has really set down on Bangalore with the minimum temperature falling to 13-14 deg! For a guy who likes riding late in the night, well, its a mixed feeling. The fingers get numb after a few minutes on the road and you do not know if you are pressing the horn or the start button :-D Hence, been in hibernation for some time and not been visiting the blog world of late. Got a few moments today and thought that I shall resurface. For people who missed my updates, well, thanks for the return visits. For others, well, you don't miss much anyways!
Talking of horns, most Bangalorean drivers have a peculiar habit. I guess during driving classes, they teach that at any point in time, your hand should be either on the accelerator or the horn. Always! You see people who, as soon as they depress the accelerator, start honking! Very irritating. My vocabulary during my 30-40 minute drive to and from office is pretty limited. For example - "You ****** ***** $%$%# #$%#$%^# %^^& ~%%&^ ********". Whoever said driving improves your swearing skills was right on dot! I even invent custom ones as well ;-)
And then the usual bike stickers et al. Almost all auto rickshaws have "Hai so-and-so". Always wondered what it meant. Was it a greeting or a put-downer??
I saw one a few days back - "Babu Doll". Make your own meanings out of it :-D

Had been to Rajajinagar Habba and Bangalore Book Festival few weekends back. Will talk about them in more details some other day. Me too sleepy now. Hope to be more regular.

Listening to Yellow by Coldplay. Very good. Period.

~prashanth

Post-Diwali update

Well, the last weekend was really long. We got 2 days of holiday - 31st and 1st on event of Diwali and Rajyothsava. And since Saturday and Sunday were off anyways, it was a 4-day long binge :-D
But how else waste a day than by lazing around! ;-) Lazed around like a log all day in front of the TV. Watched about some 6 movies on TV - Mummy, XXX, Lost, (and a horde of others that I dont recollect) and 3 movies on DVD - No Entry, Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya and Chocolate. Among the three, No Entry was the personal best. Funny acts put up by Fardeen and Anil Kapoor.
Salman Khan in a highly exaggerated role of a philanderer husband who is not even doubted an ounce by doting wife, Esha in a horrible role! Lara, in a surprisingly deglamourised role and Bipasha, trying to look hot but somehow failing. Maybe only John can get it out of her :-D The climax had me in splits!
MPKK was pretty ok as well, though Sohail was over the top and Katrina under the top (in terms of acting, people! No double entendre here ;-)). Sush looked ravishing and was easily the best part!
Chocolate, hmm...watched it from 2-5 in the morning so wasn't really able to appreciate its slickness! No one's touting Tanushree as the new Mallika yet? Surprising! Though the frivolity of the ending really took away the sheen off the rest of the movie. Maybe people would like it. I surely for one, didn't!
Was so bugged by Tuesday that I had to go out somewhere! So went out to a movie (Oh yeah! pretty innovative eh?). First tried at Inox at the Garuda Mall. Even with the ticket prices at 170 bucks, there was a huge rush! Man do these Bangloreans have lots of disposable cash! The madding crowd surely drove us away from there and thus we decided to try out Rex, our favorite English cinema since Pre-Univ days (11th/12th Std days, for the uninitiated). Sure enough, we easily got tickets at 625 for the 630 show of 'Legend of Zorro'. The movie itself was so-so, pretty similar to the prequel with all the swishing swords and funny moments! The funniest was the addition of Zorro's kid who imbibes some of the legendary fleet-footedness which he displays at school. And Catherine Zeta-Jones. Beautiful as ever! Sultry as ever (hee hee, thankz to Vyb for introducing this word in my dictionary :-D)!
Movie over and the now common rains made its appearance, albeit after a week's let up.
Week's been pretty busy; and cloying with all the Diwali sweets coming in from everywhere. Office, friend's place, relatives' houses, wherever I land, there are sweets! And crackers too! Though as a personal decision, didn't burst any of them. Though watched them polluting the air in all their fiery, smoky splendor! (nothing against people who burst! I used to do it till about 2 years back. Then stopped!)
Before I go, as is the flow in the recent past, an attempt to make you people groan!

If Zeenat Aman had an affair with almost every man she met, and each of them fathered a child with her, she would be singin this for each of them.....


...Aap jaisa koi mere zindagi mein aaaye, to Baap ban jaaaye, haaan, haaan, Baap ban jaaaye!

Till then, Adios Amigos!

Baar, baar Baarish!!

After three days of incessant rain, all I am reminded of nowadays is the nursery rhyme 'Rain rain go away'. Not so much because lil' Johnny wants to play, but more because big John wants to get to work and back! It was never a new story of the Bangalore roads getting clogged whenever there was a slight bout of rain. After the Mumbai deluge, the proud Bangalorean used to say 'It can't happen in our Garden City. We are not near the sea, but on a plateau. So all the water's gonna flow down'. Well, I guess the average Bangalorean doesn't know that there were 255 lakes in 1965, out of which only 88 exist now. The rest of them are either shopping malls, apartment high-rises or IT companies. Well, all it needed was 88mm of rain to get the reality check. Whole of South Bangalore resembled a big lake with buildings in it. Every lake overflowed onto the roads. At the same time, all the older localitites, be it Malleshwaram or Vijayanagar or Basanvangudi, were pretty dry. They have better natural drainage, I guess. All the water drains towards the outskirts of the city, which bore the brunt. At the IT lifeline, Hosur Road, traffice was moving at 0.5Kmph all day! Wow! Unimaginable! All this rain is really turning the climate into a dull mood! Shopping establishments are really taking a hit with not many people venturing out for Diwali shopping.
Enough of all this ranting. Am bored talking about it. Had been to Hebbal lake last Sunday. Was passing by the lake and saw it full and overflowing. So just stopped the bike, went into the adjoining park and clicked some snaps. The park was half submerged with the overflowing water. But still, lots of couples found the marshy environs romantic enough to cuddle up ;-). And there were an equal number of peeping Toms who were very interested in the activities of the couples there. Here are some of the pics I took.









Well, as has been my wont these days, still in the mood for my PJs. Here goes another one. Bang your heads people, bang your heads ;-)

There was this atheist who always pooh-pooh-ed the idea of God and such religious principles. One day, another person took up the challenge and decided to try and convincing the atheist about God and his power. After days and days of discussion and argument, finally the religious man could make the atheist believe in God. After this, the ex-atheist started singing a song....


Aasthik Banaya Aapne...

Its raining....and how!!

Bangalore's been getting a fresh bout of rains from the past week or so. And its not the normal Bangalore showers that last for about an hour and disappear. Its more like the ad for Energiser - Goes on and on and on...! Today's been a bit of respite, though the clouds look murky and threaten to burst open anytime soon.
Got lots of expected 'ugh' reviews for my last mongol pandey joke. Heh heh, am so used to those groans in response to my jokes :-D But I loved it :-)
I go through those phases - there was a phase when I was into PJs.
And then poems (had posted them here. Take a look - My Collection of Poems); well that is a pretty niche area. You really need to tax your thoughts to come up with a poem - even a bad one requires quite a bit of effort. Wonder about Wordsworth and the like. They must have been driven by a strong passion. And yes, a love of nature. I can never forget 'Daffodils'. I think it was it was in 8th Std that we had it in our English textbook. Still haven't forgotten it. 'They flash upon the inward eye, Which is the bliss of solitude'. Beautiful, that poem is.

Next there was a phase for really short stories. Captured my imagination for a while. Need to think to write such stuff as well, the 55-word kinds.
Now I am back to my PJs. I have always been interested in the 'pun'-ny side of words. Just a small play on them words and you have a good laugh in your hands. Here's one more. This was inspired by the Federation Cup ads that are on Zee TV. Noticed one of the hoardings near Forum Mall.

In Italy, they have special road crossings for ladies in lingerie. In fact, they even have a special nomenclature for such crossings. And they are...

Ze-bra crossings.

Ha ha, I know I know. Maybe its not funny at all. Big deal, get out your guns and shoot me. I laughed out loud when I made it up.

Here are some of the pics that I took during my visit to Mangalore last weekend. Nothing great. But, am still learning and still very low on the learning curve. Need to keep taking pics to get to some level. I have pretty good friends in whose steps I can follow - Suprada, Vikas and Sathwick. Who, not long ago, used to think a camera is to capture social occasions and functions. Now its a lot more. And with digital cameras, no requirement of developing the film, one can really make it a passion. (Click on each of the pictures to get a larger image)

Back to my jokes...

Benn some time since I posted...more because I was out of town last weekend during Dussera to Mangalore and my native place. Was raining pretty much there and the whole place looked like a hill station. Felt good to drive around there amongst the hills and wafting mists.
Did take quite a few snaps which I am too bored to upload now. Will upload them soon.
Here a joke I just created few hours ago.

Genghis Khan, after beingn defeated, came to Uttar Pradesh and settled in Benaras and started a small paaan shop. This post-war life of his was chronicled in a famous Hindi movie titled....

Mongol Paaan-De

I know, I know...but I am like this only :-))

Short of the Day...

Well, its raining cats and dogs agian in Bangalore. Strange to have so much rains in October. And its slated to continue for another week at least. Guess lots of Navratri festivities are going to be dampened. So, if any place, Mysore is the place to be during Dasara. Grand grand spectacle it'll be.
Here's another short one:

He loved her. A lot! To the point of obsession. But she never reciprocated. So here they were, all alone, and he scanned the horizon for company. There was no one. He realized the opportunity he had and grabbed her from behind close towards him. She expected this. She wheeled around and let go a fierce kick towards him. He stuttered, then fell headlong. She too couldn't hold her balance and stumbled forth and rolled downwards behind him. He checked himself - a broken collarbone. Damn! She had better luck and only a few scratches.
Down below, their uncle thundered - "I sent you to get water. Jack! What the $&@!# were you doing up there with Jill?"

~prashanth

Team outing...and another short story!

We had our team outing today to Guestline Resorts on Hosur Road. The funniest thing was that we almost spent as much time at the resort as the time travelling to it :-)) Hosur Road past Silk Board junction is a nightmare if you drive/ride! I really pity all those software engineers who drive to E-City and around! (maybe that is how they are able to handle and cope with all the stress on the job ;-)) As I read in a cartoon a few days back, Life's like Hosur Road - no shortcuts!
The outing itself was good fun - to start off, the eternal favorite of all trip bus journeys, Antakshari. Heard some songs which I didn't even know existed :-) Once we reached the resort and refreshed ourselves with a welcome drink grape juice - which suspiciously tasted like wine to me (ona tangent, isn't wine old grape? Is there a connection, I wonder), we immediately started off playing cricket. Wonderful game we had, in the end, it was tie. Great effort by Bharath who took a lost cause (we were 0 runs /3 wickets after 1 over) almost to a win. Yours truly also helped a bit in the resurrection. After cricket, it was the badminton courts that needed to be conquered. Did that, then it was time for lunch. There were about 3 companies who had their outing that day. So it was clear struggle for the lunch and desserts. They should have put up a first-come first-serve board out there :-D After lunch, it was again some badminton, then fooling around in the swimming pool and finally after the customary group snaps, head back home. And as usual, the Hosur Road traffic didn't disappoint in the least. 2 hours for 15KMs. Government, please note. At this rate, making Bangalore Wi-Fi is the best option. People can work from a traffic jam itself!

And yeah, these short stories have really caught my imagination. Here's another try fro me (though I don't promise that this will be less than 55 words. Give an artist some leeway, yaar. No good constricting creativity ;-)).

He was the most brilliant in the class. He knew it. As usual, he sat dreamily under his favorite tree in his uncle's garden. At the same time, few of his jealous classmates were plotting against him. They discussed - "He's such a teacher's pet. And he gets all the girls' attention". Another one said, "Let's take revenge." All agreed to this.
They hid under the huge apple tree and the best marksman amongst them picked up a rotten apple fallen on the ground and aimed at their adversary. The aim was perfect. It hit him right on the center of his head.
Isaac stumbled from his dream with a start. He could feel a sharp pain on his head.
Immediately he wondered - "Why did the apple fall down instead of flying up?".

~prashanth

Tagged!

Well, was just wandering and came to know that pensive Meeta had tagged me. Well, its simple. You got to try and tell a story in 55 words! Well here's my try. Fictional, of course :-)

The tall, young man was despondently thinking at VT. All his efforts had come to naught. He had bought the ticket back to Allahabad. Suddenly he felt one ray of hope surge within. He told himself determinedly - "Amitabh, you are destined to succeed". He tore the ticket and walked back into the milling Bombay crowd.

Let's see what they come up with. By the amount of posts I am putting up today, looks like I don't have much work. Which is definitely not the case. I am an efficient worker, you see (this is just in case my manager comes across this blog ;-))

~prashanth

My online collection of snaps...

Am trying to create an online consolidated album of sorts of all my trips/treks...
Have put up 4 albums till now..will add the rest later!

check out http://community.webshots.com/user/prashee26

Lemme see if Google offers something...there is somethnig called 'Hello'..haven't yet gotten around to trying it!

Ping pong and much more...

Well, this weekend turned out be lazier than the earlier adventurous weekends! Just lazed around at home on both the days and donned the role of a couch potato.
Watched almost all the movies that were aired on television in the 2 days (with a pleasant overdose of good, recent Amitabh movies) - Black, Aankhen, Khakee, Hollow Man, Rocky, Zeher, Paheli. Watched reruns of F.R.I.E.N.D.S for the umpteenth time.
Also watched Salaam. Guess you wouldn't have heard of that movie (chuckle!). Actually, watched half of Salaam Namaste...that makes it Salaam right (guffaws!). First half was pretty funny. Saif in his elements and Priety, bubbly as usual. But the scene stealer for me was Jaaved Jaffri (or Jaffrey or Jaaafri or whatever!). His aaastraaalian accent was too hilarious! I very much THE like THE ozzie accent. Got it mait? (sorry)? Eggjacktly!! Ha ha ha! Truly hilarious!

Listening to Mann ki Lagan from Paap! Nice soothing song to the ears! With that nice little classical touch to it!

Signing off now with a tickler (my modification to an existing joke):

What is similar to a king's son, a monkey's mother, a PTA meeting, spilt sugar, and a
bald man?

One is a Heir Apparent, one a Hairy Parent, one Hear a Parent, one Here Appear Ant and
one No hair apparent.

~prashanth

P.S: Late update: ping-pong refers to the TT tourney happening in office :-D There is a real crowd nowadays! Strange that people who never got one stair above the training room, are now flocking the TT room in droves!

Few Snaps from my Canon S1 IS

(click on each snap for a larger picture)

From last weekend's trip:

Adventurous Weekend at Sitanadi Rafting Camp

My blog's turned out to be more of a weekend update now :-)

Finally got some time this weekend to just chill out and relax. Last weekend was pretty hectic what with white watwer rafting and beach-ing. Good fun it was.
Rafting was a great experience as you try to conquer to rapids in a rubber boat that looks like more of a garden pool tub. But looks do deceive and it was as sturdy as Rahul Dravid (and Steve Waugh) in a crisis situation.
We were at Sitanadi Nature camp in the wee hours of Saturday morning where we were supposed to spending the night as well. There were 10 of us. As soon as we reached, we were taken in by the splendor of the jungle and the river.

We were quickly shown our accomodation - spacious tents each having 2 beds. Each tent could have easily accomodated about 20 people sleeping on the floor. But we had the luxury of 3 per tent. All the tents were facing the jungle and the sounds of crickets were something different altogether!

After breakfast, we were told that our rafting session would be post-lunch so we just walked around into the jungles on a beaten track. After about half an hour of walking, we reached the main road where we just lolled around. Then we reached the camp in time for lunch. Had a sumptuous lunch that almost put us to sleep :-D
Finally, we got into our rafting gear (life jackets/helmets et al) and onto our dinghies. The ride was too good. Vikram once fell off the raft. Pulling as person back is pretty diffucult from both pulling and pulled parties :-))
Then at the midlle of the journey, you get a calm spot where you can dive into the river off a huge rock. All of us took a dip into the river which was refreshing after the rowing.
Finally, after about 3 hours of rafting, we were at the destination point after crossing about 6-7 rapids.

On the way back to the camp in the jeep, we shopped for the night. Snacks, soft drinks and the like.
Once darkness fell, the jungle really came alive with all the insects creating a real racket of a noise. We took a walk again just to savor the darkness.
Finally, went to sleep, exhausted. Next day was a trip to Udipi temple where we had our lunch, ice cream at Diana parlour, then off to TannirBavi beach in Mangalore. Frolicked around in the sand, played football as well (we bought a football especially for that).
That was how our weekend went. Next day morning, it was back in office as usual, tired n sleepy.
Photos can be found at http://community.webshots.com/album/452401787YqqMVe

Listening to songs from Aashiq Banaya Aapne. Good one. All the songs are catchy n peepy with a few remixes thrown in as well. Aapki Kashish especially is a great track! Again looks to be sung by a Pakistani singer...at least sounds like one.

Till next time, adios!

Sporting Weekend

Well, this weekend, for a change, was completely sporting. A move away from the recent wanderlust. Stayed put at home and stuck in front of the TV. There was lots of sports to look forward to over the weekend. US Open, WC2006 qualifiers, F1 Italian GP, Tri-Nation Series cricket..well, my two days were just packed!
Yesterday was the best..first the fightback by Yuvraj and Dhoni against Zimbabwe. When Yuvraj is in form, he is atreat to watch. And Dhoni was a revealation with his controlled innings. He earns new respect from me from now onwards. Hope India can break its finals jinx and lift the cup on Tuesday.
Another awesome match was the Sharapova-Sania US Open match. The final scoreline did not do a bit of justice to the fight that Sania put up. Her groundstrokes were consistently harder and faster than Sharapova's. It was only her serve that let her down. Too many double faults and also Maria took Sania's second serves to the cleaners! Otherwise it was almost an even match-up between the two talented (and hot!) 18-year-olds. I guess now Sania's raking should go up to the high-30's which would automatically seed her for all the Slams. Way to go, Sania. Sania Mania was visible all over town, on TV channels and even the crowd at Centre Court at Flushing Meadows. So here's looking forward to a Top-tenner from India soon.

F1 too was pretty enthralling with Kimi trying to pull Alonso off his perch. But the 11th placed start didn't help and looks like Renault will be on tops finally. But that Mclaren is one helluva car. Nothing even closely as fast! And with is funky styling, the car really stand out among the rest of the F1 crowd. JPM did a good race which is so much of a rarity nowadays! Good for him! But still, my mantra will be Gooooooooo Kimi!

Other than sports, Saturday was lunching outside at Magnolia, the quaint little place near BDA complex in Koramangala. The cuisine is mainly Chinese with a dash of Thai (though I could not make out the difference between both :-D). The food is good and is not too hard on the pockets as well. Good place to try out if Chinese is the one that tickles your palate.

Watched Mr and Mrs Smith on Saturday. Drab movie, except for the sparks between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie (how hot can one get man! she's just drool-maaal). The chemistry between them is pretty evident. Some of the one-liners were moderately funny but nothing to write home about. Can easily give it a miss unless you are a Jolie fan (which most are).

Listening to the remix of Aashiq Banaya Aapne title track. Very good sounding and seems to be following on the footsteps of Woh Lamhe remix as a chart topper. But that guy Emraan Hashmi is one lucky dude. Gets a chart topper song every movie, gets to do the lip-locking thingie with each of his heroines (is that a rider when he signs a film??).

The rain gods seem to be in a playful mood this week. Been raining in and out. Got drenched to the bone thrice in 3 days! And still no signs of any cold/cough/etc. Touchwood! But my bike's getting a good beating treading watery roads (umm, ok no roads, streams rather). Got to take of it now.

Am tired now. Will update more later. Still got to write my travelogues of all my journeys! Btw, got a new Canon S1 IS camera. Fell in love with it! Awesome camera. Still fiddling around with the controls to get a good hang of it!

Random Thought: Why is Roomali Roti called so? It is because it looks/feels (and tastes?) like a roomal/handkerchief or because it was first made in Ali's Room?

Guess?

Ha ha...another day...another funny thing.
Was going to lunch with 2 of my colleagues in Koramangala. Then there's this girl walking towards us. I usually have a fascination for reading printed messages on tee-shirts and this female had one. With bold letters it was written "Guess?" right across the tee-shirt. My almost immediate reaction was to go ask "32C?". Then better sense prevailed and I decided to shut my mouth and grin to myself.

Lightning Update from BizziMan!

Well, came by my blog after long and felt that it lacked something...was thinking hard what it could be....after long hours under the peepal tree and various other flora, it STRUCK me..what this blog missed most was updates :-D guess I need to be more regular...

Here is a hilarious thing I witnessed a few days back...
the ride to office in the morning is pretty boring and I tend to look around others driving and at signals. Thus there was this young female (ooops...lady) who I guess was working for Huawei Technologies (wait...I'll tell how I found out!) who was riding a scooty in front of me on the Mysore Road flyover. She was wearing her company jacket with the company's slogan boldly splashed across. I was trying hard to read what it was. And guess what, the slogan read "Ovation Never Stops". I couldn't help not notice and wonder. Then it struck me. She had a bit more than shoulder length hair and her hair had blocked the "Inn" in the beginning. Man, was that a funny sight.

More for later. Me tired.

Emotion: Sleepy. Much more.

Music: Crawling - Linkin Park

Wanderlust!

Been long since I posted...but then its understandable. Every weekend has been pretty interesting. Was out on trips in 3 of the last 4 weekends. Good to get back to travelling days. Wanderlust hits back with a vengeance!
So first weekend stop was to Agumbe. It almost didn't happen for me, as I was a last-minute entry and there was no place in the Sumo we were supposed to be travelling in. I had opted out but then, just as luck would have it, we somehow managed to squeeze me in. So, finally left Bangalore at 2AM on Saturday morning putting a tyre puncture and change of vehicles behind us. I generally don't sleep on journeys and this was no exception. Was awake and watching the driver skillfully manoeuvre the Qualis along the highway with reckless truck drivers and idiots driving on high beam always! Was just thinking thatb the Qualis should have been just about 3-4 inches wider. Would have fit in all of us snugly. Right now, it was just a bit less shoulder room. The driver drove continuously until we took our first break for tea sometime at 7AM at Aldur on the Chickmagalur-Sringeri highway. The greenery looked awesomely fresh and it was just nice to walk around there. We had our tea and set off to Sringeri. Reached Sringeri at about 10AM and booked into a room very near to the famous Sringeri Math (. It was a weekend so it was pretty diofficult to get a room but we managed to get ourselves a huge room capable of accomodating about 15 people. We then freshened up and had a bit of breakfast. After that, all of went went to the math (established by Adi Shankaracharya loong, loong ago!). The whole area was calm and serene compared to the cacophony just outside with all the vehicle drivers and shopkeepers blaring songs of different genre in different languages. The Math is situated right at the banks of the Tunga river. One unique feature here are the huge number of catfishes that swim at the banks. They are fed puffed corn by the thronging devotees. Some of the catfishes are so big, they could give even Garfield a complex. We sat at the banks for sometime and then visited the temple for the 'aarthi'. Then, we had lunch at the temple itself where they serve food for all the people who visit the temple. Though the food was just plain rice with sambar/rasam/curd, it was pretty tasty. There was even payasam as well. Its pretty mind-boggling to see the logistics that they need to take care of feeding thousands of devotees each day.
After that [i am bored now...will write some other time :-D].

My collection of poems...

Every once in a while, when I am usually in a despondent mood, I start writing bits of writing that finally tend to look like poems. I feel pretty happy with that. Am posting the stuff that I penned...

A Friend in Need

Life feels like nothing more than a bubble
One moment glistening, the next, mere rubble
All the dreams that are built along the way
Comes crashing down in less than a day

Tears stream down, the sobbing gets loud
Where is that silver lining in the dark cloud?
That is when you yearn for a friend
Who can give your broken heart a mend

In the times of joy, be there to share
In times of grief, be there to care
Oh, how I wish for such a pal
Will I ever come across one at all?



Contemplating Life

Its the feeling I get then and now
And it is not any idle thought
Everytime I wonder how
Whether this life is really worth or not

Somedays it is boring existence
With nothing to look forward to
And all around, you feel a pretence
True friends too far and few

But most days is filled with sun and shine
A jump in the step, a lilt in the voice
Then life feels all good and fine
Bantering with friends, with lots of noise

And as this wondering turns deep
Life, I realize,sometimes make you smile
And sometimes makes you weep
But all in all, its been worth this while


Leaf In The Wind

I am drifting all alone
In this wide, wide ocean of life
There is no one to call my own
Empty feelings and loneliness cut like a knife

I have so many questions to ask
But still they remain unanswered
Now I am just wearing a mask
Nothing is as it seems, nothing is as is heard

Once upon a time, I was wild and reckless
Willing to take on life's idiosyncracies
Now, after the fight, its just a mess
I have been humbled, and brought to my knees

Life will still take its own course
More twists-and-turns, bump-and-grind
And I cannot stand against its force
I am but just a leaf in the wind


Boats On the Shore

The boat is moored at the shore
After getting thrown about in the tempest
Wondering what the future has in store
After the trough, waiting for the crest

All that has happened, all that is done
Is left behind as the forgettable past
Battles may be lost, but the war needs to be won
And that is what matters final and last

In the run of life, sometimes you may fall
Tripped and pushed by the ones you believed
But the one who gets up and stands tall
Is the one who truly has lived

Life has always got the high and the low
Both ways the pendulum will swing
Sometimes utter darkness, sometimes that bright glow
Hopes that are shattered will again take wing


Shadows

As I stand in this bright light
And all around me is a glow
Something suddenly catches my sight
Oh yeah, its my very own shadow

It is your best friend for ever
Though its form is not complete
It will leave your side never
Also it makes your imitation neat

When no one is around, and you are all alone
Your shadow is there, ever by your side
It is one thing you can call your very own
There is nothing from it, that you can hide

But among all these brighter comments
Sometimes the shadow has a question mark
Because it is there at your brighter moments
But leaves you all alone in the dark

Raining cats and dogs...

...the euphemism does not hold good for the Bangalore weather anymore. It can be more well-described as raining elephants and horses! Man, did the rain pour! It was like someone up there just forgot to shut the tap after the water tank was full...gushed down from the heavens. And then, the Bangalore roads..the less said the better. The authorities have got this ability to get their timing right upto a split second to dig up the roads just before the rain starts. And once it rains, God save the pedestrians and motorits. Where the road stops and drain starts, nobody knows. Its just based on pure luck and providence. The area that I work in, Koramangala, is especially terror-inducing. There is no road that does not turn into a veritable slush pool. The authorities seem to have taken to name 80-feet road in the wrong sense. Rather than 80-feet wide, they are turning it into an 80-feet deep road. Half the road is a mud path, the other half pothole-ridden. As someone said, it looks exactly like Om Puri's face!
Today has been relatively non-rainy in that sense. Could walk around office a bit. Though the road in front of office is again pathetic, the less said the better. Wonder if ever the infrastructure will get better.
This weekend was a bit lazier in terms of things to do. Sunday was spent at home entertaining relatives of various shapes and sizes. Now, I have perfected the art of smiling and lolling my head when faced with weird questions and comments on things like marriage and kids and the like. Painful moments, those. Had a sumptuous lunch and then spent the rest of the time chatting away with cousins.

Return from a hiatus

Music of the Moment: Sing (Travis)

Back after a long time. Though I wasnt too busy as such, never found the opportunity to sit back, relax and blog away. Been making good use of my weekends though.
Let me see...Bunty Aur Babli...ok, review time!
One phrase would sum up the movie - flattered to deceive - The promos looked promising, the previews from different sites looked inviting...but in the end, it turned out to be a damp squib. The diector had a golden chance to create a runaway hit...but falters in trying too many things. Not one of the situations are well-developed. Before we know what happened, the twosome are already escaping. Though Abhishek and Rani have put in good performances, the story lacks the fizz. Even Amitabh in a different style doesn't appeal. And the Taj Mahal caper, hah, lacks any conviction. And once, they are caught, the story takes the usual melodramatic route - which could have been completely avoided. But the movie does have its good points too - some of the one-liners and repartees from the lead actors are worth rolling over with laughter. Like Dashrath (Amitabh's comment about people doing such big hungama over 'itni chhoti cheezein' - wonder how many got the joke but), Rani's comments to Dashrath about Abhishek (saying 'aap hi ka rishteydaar lagta hai), Rani's Miss India struggles, are pretty funny. But it does not sustain the length of the movie.
Looks like a sequel will be on the way soon, seeing the way it ended. And yes, please, someone tell Rani she acts well enough and does not need to shed her clothes to gain viewership. She might have lost weight but all those costumes in the song 'Aaja Udiye' look absolutely revolting.

Well, that's it for the review. I had been wanting to write about other stuff too. Which absolutely captured my imagination in the past few weeks. Like Liverpool's back from the grave comeback in the Champion's League final - absolute champagne stuff! Though I am not a Liverpool fan by any means, I couldnt help clapping and saying 'We'll never walk alone' after that dramatic final. They now have a new-found place in my 'better' teams list.
Another was the Formula-1 races - both at Monaco as well as Nurburgring. What awesome driving.
At Monaco, the overtaking was just breath-taking. The track looks treacherous with its winding curves, but still the drivers managed to rule over it.
The Nurburgring race was amazing because of the way the drivers were tested. My heart went out to Kimi when he crashed out at the last lap. Well, that is the beauty of Formula-1, I guess. Well, Alonso really seems to be turning the heat on this season. The McLarens and the Ferraris, nowhere to be seen in the initial races, look like staging a comeback. Though Michael Schumacher looks pretty pale compared to his previous red-hot seasons. The other cars seem to have got a measure of Ferrari this season, which is good to see. Formula-1 was really getting boring. This season has seen renewed vigour which is good for us viewers too.

Been listening to varied music of late. Alternative rock to Hindi movie to Kannada Devotional. Well, that would be as varied as it would get. Travis has me hooked for the moment with their 'Sing' and 'Why does it always rain on me'. Then, the new song from Dus looks great too - 'Dus bahane karke'. Sounds pretty cool, looks pretty cool!

Well, my hands are aching now. Will step out for a while. Ciao!

Weekend Blues!

Come weekend and I am in a fix as to what to do..well I could come here and put in some words, but then sitting a whole week in front of a monitor tap-tapping away, its a bugging thing to do again over the weekend. Well, till I decide what to do now, will keep tap-tapping away :-)
Well, let me try writing a review. Will start of on restaurants - we were treated at Bamboo Shoots last weekend by a friend of ours who is getting into marriage bliss (did i hear some guffaws? :-D).
Well, coming to the reastaurant, it had authentic Chinese and Thai food. Authentic as in real chinese/Thai chefs preparing the food I guess - not any Indian chef who would put in a whole pack of Garam masala into a bowl of Gobi Manchurian (well, I do hope garam masala is not put into gobi manchurian, its just a guess, what with my culinary skills and all). Well, we started off on the starters (yeah, I know, lame sentence!). We ordered a lot of them, veg and non-veg. The Tiger prawns were especially yummy. We ordered only the Chinese stuff as we didn't want to take any chances with Thai about which none of us knew. And, we always have this scare where we might get a moving reptile on our plates (again I know, a cliched view).
Well, the starters were sumptuous enough that we actually didn't order much of the main course. It usually happens that we end up wasting a lot coz none would have the enthu to eat after the starters.
We just had one item of rice which we shared among 5 of us. We were that full. The rice wasn't too heavy and the gravy went well with the rice.
Then the best part- desserts. That is what everyone waits for.We ordered some 2 items which had all exotic sounding names and the usual lychee with ice-cream :-). Good one!
Really a good place to go to. And not verrrrry expensive as we had thought. 1500 for 5 of us. That looked like a good deal.
Well, thatz about for my review. Looks more like a dear diary thing than a review. But what the heck, its a start!

Another funny incident was the interview I took yesterday. The candidate was really interesting. You try asking him a question- he listens to part of it and then starts off without giving us a chance to complete the question. This is how it went -
Q1. Ok, tell us abt urself.
A. I am so-and-so doing this-and-that. My project was ...blah....blah..3 minutes....blah blah!

Q2. Ok, tell us, in the XML you used in......
A. Oh, XML...that...this...blah...SAX.....DOM...<8minutes>...and that is how it is!

We were fully zapped at this. We were trying to aska question that should have elicited a one-line answer and he went on for 8 minutes! And everytime we tried to cut in, he cut us right back and carried on with his monologue.

Qn. You have used software X?
A. Hmm...not too much, but have downloaded the trailer (?) version and run a couple of examples.

And then finally the ultimate Miss India answer - being in any stream of SDLC is fine but what is important is to contribute as much as you can with your expertise. Phew!!!
Let us a bit dazed after the interview.

Well, am, tired now. Think will sleep for a while and then decide what to do. Have another interview to take this evening. Man, hope that this guy is something good.

Prashanth