Monday, September 26, 2005

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!

Sunday, September 25, 2005

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!

Monday, September 19, 2005

Saturday, September 17, 2005

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!

Monday, September 05, 2005

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?