The original Don 2 and Hawa Hawa

Now that Don 2 is released, this reminds me of the original Don 2.
Yes, just like there was an original Don starring Amitabh that SRK's Don was based on, there is also an original Don 2, but SRK's Don 2 is mostly not based on that.
People who were of the time when Doordarshan was the only channel around and Wednesday's Chitrahaar was religiously watched and not missed, might remember. There was even a song that became famous from this Don 2. And that song is...believe it or not...

Hawa Hawa.

Yes, the same dhin-chak number which is a strong favorite of mine even now! It used to get the pride of place during the assembly and classroom discussions after the week's Chitrahaar was aired.

Well, the story supposedly goes like this. It seems they wanted to release Hasan Jahangir's hit songs, including the iconic Hawa Hawa, and so made a direct-to-video cheesy movie titled Don 2 starring Jeet Upendra. He's the guy who's in the video of the song dancing around the Bandra seaface. I remember him from the serial 'Ajnabee' starring Danny Denzongpa that used to air on DD.

Also, see if you can spot SRK's Mannat during the song before it was bought and renovated by SRK. It is a 3:33 in the video.


Hawa Hawa itself has multiple copies. Bappi Lahiri lifted the tune for Govinda's Java Java.
And well, Hawa Hawa was not Hasan Jahangir's original as well. He lifted it from an old Iranian song titled Havar Havar. Listen to that below.

Rajanikanth typed "Let it snow" in Google and...

By now, all of you must have tried out typing "Let it snow" in Google search and seeing the effects.
Some told Rajanikanth also to try it. He wanted to check it and typed that and....


(Photo original link: https://plus.google.com/106517092226488584705/posts/RqSaTEfFkQW)

P.S: Also check out "Do a barrel roll" on Google Search. Cool Easter eggs.

Bangalore-Mangalore drive

NH48 connecting Bangalore to Mangalore has not been in a better condition in a long, long time than it is now. We traveled on this route on 8th April and it was an easy trip.
The condition of the main culprit, the Shiradi Ghat between Sakleshpura and Uppinangady has been repaired recently. All the potholes have been patched up, the curves are concretized and generally the drive is a smooth one. So until the rains come puring in, if you have travel plans towards Mangalore, surely take the Shiradi Ghat route. Also
Also with the Goraguntepalya-Nelamangala flyover operational which lets you cover the stretch within 20-30 minutes, has led me to avoid the Magadi route which is slightly dangerous (due to the private bus traffic as well as the curvy TG Halli stretch where I've had one nasty experience already) and bad (you got to search for the road among the potholes in the 5Km stretch within Magadi town).
The Nelamangala-Kunigal highway is also smooth and the earlier jarring speed breakers/humps have been removed.
So except for the Kunigal-Yediyur stretch which passes through Kunigal town, the rest of the route is nice and smooth. Once they complete the laning work on this stretch, it should be even better.
Additionally we got an elephant herd sighting near the Kemp Hole. There were 4 of them, 2 baby and 2 bigger ones, standing on the side of the road, we let them be and passed by.

Because of the good road condition we made quick time and were able to reach the destination for the yakshagana and puja that night.

16:15 -> Leave Bangalore
20:30 -> Reach Sakleshpura and stop for picking up an uncle
21:55 -> Reach Puttur via Uppinangady
22:20 -> Reach Vitla and stop to meet a couple of relatives
23:15 -> Reach destination Bayar, Kasargod

Here is a map of the route:

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