Life is a Cool Breeze

Mysore Palace

2011-12-16T03:22:00.001+05:30

Mysore Palace,
Mysore, Karnataka

You are what YOU think you are!!

2011-12-16T03:19:00.001+05:30

A classic example of if you think you are weak, there is always someone to take advantage of you!

The bird on the left brought food and it was about to eat when the one on right just came in, scared the left one, snatched the food and started eating. Both the birds seemed of same size, I donno why the left one didn't fight!

I am like a Bird, I'll only Fly Away!!!

2011-12-16T03:17:00.001+05:30

Stone Plover
Ranganatittu Bird Sanctuary
Karnataka

Ajji Koodlu!!!

2011-12-16T03:11:00.002+05:30

Snowy Heron
Ranganatittu Bird Sanctuary
Karnataka

A model for Hard Gel!!!

2011-12-16T03:09:00.001+05:30

Cattle Egret
Ranganatittu Bird Sanctuary
Karnataka

The light within YOU!!!

2011-12-16T02:56:00.002+05:30

Kollur Mookambika Temple,
Karnataka

Distance ella Moon-u Moon-u, Moon-u coloru white-uu!!!!

2011-12-16T02:54:00.001+05:30

Kollur Mookambika Temple
Karnataka

Hope shines through!!!

2011-12-16T02:51:00.001+05:30

Kollur Mookambika Temple,
Karnataka

My beak is sharper than knife!!!

2011-12-16T02:47:00.001+05:30

Lalbagh, Bangalore

Standing Tall

2011-12-16T02:42:00.001+05:30

Lalbagh, Bangalore

Hunt for food

2011-12-16T02:33:00.004+05:30

Dublin, Ireland

My Old Office

2011-12-16T02:25:00.002+05:30

Samsung India Software Operations
Bangalore, India

Flower Power

2011-12-16T01:13:00.003+05:30

Opportunity!!!

2010-02-03T20:28:00.007+05:30

"Jesintha..." Someone was calling loudly in a mall. With that came a sea of memories. Memories so old that it feels as if it was in some other life. When looked in that direction, it was definitely not her. For a moment I liked to believe it to be her.

She was my classmate when we were studying in second standard in a small village called Javali. My father being bank manager used to get transferred to different kind of places every now and then. Even at that tender age she had a very strong liking for studies. She always used to come 1st. At that time I never used to care and preferred more to roam around the forest. Soon came the summer holidays.

My aunts kids had visited our place for summer holidays and we had a blast. This place is very scenic. Everywhere green with coffee and tea estates. There lies a tea factory which is called as Kelaguru tea factory. Aunts kids were very very enthusiastic to visit the tea factory and we decided to go to factory the next day. It was an excellent trip in & around the tea factory, till I saw Jesintha in the tea estate. She was there among hundred's of people, with a long basket hanging at the back of her head. Yes, she was employed there to pluck tea leaves.

Initially I was shocked to see her. When I went and spoke to her, I got to know her schooling is also stopped. She wont be returning to school after summer holidays, to attend the 3rd standard. She will be one of the breadwinners of her house. I missed her very much after the school commenced. In the same year, my dad got transferred again.

Many a times, her thought plays peek-a-boo. What if she were to be born to some other parents like mine, where she would have had the opportunity to study further, to do whatever she wanted to, at the appropriate age. May be she would have been an engineer or a doctor or MBA grad or a scientist. She would have had endless opportunities to pursue her career or to build her life. If she were to have an opportunity!!!

In all the little things achieved in life, we would like to believe everything worked due to our own effort. But somewhere at a very basic level we are far more gifted to be born to people who could give us at least the basic education to think and shape our lives. Today she might be happy with her life or she may not be. But in any case, to decide the path of our own life is something which every human being should get!!!

Time...

2009-05-21T23:36:00.007+05:30

How Time changes and how we change with time. The thing which looks utterly important looks totally stupid a few years later. I always have admired people who have killer instinct to achive something in life, to achieve greater heights in short span of time, the go-getters. Now if I see some people like that, I feel what losers they are. They don't have anything else or anyone in life that they are so tragically after one goal in life, ignoring all the blissfully happy small small moments? Money, fame, success all important, true, but a blind folded run towards it seems so much waste of life!

Rain...

2008-08-15T18:19:00.006+05:30

Just on Wednesday I was wondering whether the rainy season is over!!! As if just to prove me wrong, it poured and poured HOW!!! Having forgotten my track suit, I thought I would quickly go and get it. Ignoring mom's umbrella suggestion, I started back to office.Voila!!! All of a sudden as if somebody threw a bucket of water, it rained. In no time I was drenched and dripping :( Somehow made it to the office gym and changed quickly. After an hour of work out my mind refused to change back into the cold and wet dress. I decided to go back home in the track suit it self. But it was still raining :'( Waited for sometime and then thought of taking a quick walk to home. Took the back side door which is closer. The moment I came out I realised I am standing in front of a river. No way anyone can distinguish where the road starts and where it ends. Most importantly where the gutter is. The river was brown and black at times carrying all the wastage.

Now my mind was in splits. Whether to risk and try navigating myself through it or to go back. Sudden memories of pathetically dug up road made me to take a reverse turn and go back Thought I would take an auto from the front gate. Rain was getting stronger. Just as icing on the cake, my sandals were getting slipped out of legs every now and then. At one frustrating moment I removed my sandals, folded my pants and started walking. When I reached the front gate, there were only 2 autos. Nothing can go better than this :) As expected both refused to come for a short distance trip.

There is a kannada proverb, "Once you are drenched, whats rain and whats cold" Cursed them and started towards my home. Nobody seemed to care for anyone around. There was one guy who was carrying two umbrellas but didn't even bothered to help!!! When all the vehicles were rushing past splashing water and just when I was about to conclude that this is how we HUMANS have become, one gentleman in bike stops and asks "Mam, do you want a drop?". Normally I don't take favours and never from a stranger. But thought of giving it a shot, just to see whether what I was thinking so far is correct or still we have left with some humanity + decency. I asked him to drop just near a major landmark, not very far though. After he dropped, I was pleasantly surprised and thankful. He was William working for Target. Still there are helpful people :)

Walked to home. Though being drenched and wet is not sucha comfortable experience, especially in a cold night, I was thrilled and happy at the same time. I felt good that I am not dependant on anybody in any condition. Neither on people nor on curse worthy autos. Just like Calvin says, "they can chain me, not my spirits" I felt like yelling, "rain can dampen me but not my spirits" :P That happiness led to some sinful indulgence. I desperately wanted to eat something spicy and ate one packful of chips. Consoled myself that, it will just compensate 6km walk, the effect of one hour work out would still remain right? :P :P

But then there was only one worry and just like the sweet kid, I prayed God - " No fever on the weekend pleasseee OK?certainly not on a LONG weekend" :P

Kids...

2008-06-12T23:14:00.013+05:30

Recently during our lunch, my friend was telling about her friend who is about to get married and how the girl who is marrying him is indecisive about the marriage. The guy provided an explanation "she is like a kid" for her indecisiveness. My sudden and involuntary reaction was " c'mmon yaar, don't humiliate kids!!!" Though the reaction was very much unthought, it became more real when I pondered on the thought for a while!!!

More often, we sum up a person's behaviour as kiddish or childish when we find the person immature, indecisive, stubborn etc. But given a slight observation to kids would change the entire notion about kids. Till kids learn to ape the behaviour of their elders, they are very much decisive about what they want. They never think whats profitable, they just listen to their little hearts and go by that. May be sometimes thats been named as stubbornness of kids, as they want what they want. Most people are indecisive because they want best of both the worlds. The profit of one side pulls back when you are about to go towards the other side, profit is not always monetary mind you!!!

Now that I have started thinking about this aspect of kids, there are so many things which keep coming to my mind. When a kid starts doing some work, its very tough to distract him, he will stop only when its done and only when he is completely satisfied. The amount of concentration is commendable. They put their heart and soul into whatever they are doing. Another best aspect of kids is forgiveness. They never carry the baggage of hurt, resentment and hatred. They might fight ferociously in a moment and the very next moment they will be playing again as if nothing happened. They love everyone, having no bar for caste, class or the colour. How innocent!!! How sweet!!!

I shudder to think of world without kids. It would look like a barren field having no rains since ages. The unconditional love, the innocence, the care, the forgiveness will vanish from this earth. More dangerous is the fact that we are making them grow unnaturally faster. I wish kids were allowed to nurture the innocence, tenderness at least for few more years before they are cruelly pushed into the worldly rat race. I wish kids were more often used in comparison scales for all the positivity they have. I wish everybody were to keep that kid in themselves alive, so that we could have a planet with love, care, innocence devoid of materialism, greed and hatred. Its so refreshing to see a smiling kid, seems like all the stress is melting like ice in front of sun!!!

Object Of My Affection

2008-06-06T22:53:00.011+05:30

I am back :D ... and feeling so good to be back. Past few months were very gruelling but very gratifying. Any new change brings in lots of enthusiasm and spice to life. Thanks Sumana for tagging me. I was super excited with this idea and I was longing to write about it all those moments which gave my mind some time to relax. I hope you don't mind if I change it a bit. Instead of Object of my Affection, I want to make it as Objects. Here is the list of my Jee ka tuk tuks :P

1. Pepper Spray :

Ok, Don't laugh. This is one of the gifts my hubby, (then a friend) gave me on my birthday. Those were the days when we were slogging like hell having no clue what time we leave office every night/day. The route which I needed to traverse was secluded and lifeless. When many of my friends rubbished this saying "when guys themselves are not so ambitious, when they can leave office early why can't you?" or "In my office girls leave sharp by 6, why can't you?", my hubby brought this as one of the gifts on my birthday. I loved it the moment I saw it and I was atmost touched. This has been with me since then and has seen all the time of day and night with me. This would top my list anyday....

2. My first gift after marriage:

My marriage was after my dad's death and in noway I wanted anybody's favour. I had set budget for all the expenses. When we had gone for jewellary shopping, I saw this piece of jewellary and we fell in love with it instantly. But after buying so many essentials I didn't wanted to use my buffer money and said "leave it". Thats the time when my husband had lost his purse. Having no money in hand, no cards he tried to make me buy that, but in vein. After my marriage, the same night, we both had been to drop all our friends to a nearby place for their respective buses/trains. On the way back, I felt blessed to be in silence from morning's rituals, noise etc. The first thought that came to my mind was about this chain. I never had much fascination for yellow metal. Most of the times, I love to be without much ad-ons. I am the happiest when I am simple, but this was different. Whether it is still there? If not, I should tell the jewellary guy to make exactly similar one etc. Reached my in-laws' place and the moment I came to my room, my hubby gave this to me. My heart skipped a bit. I just fell in love with him, again :P He went and bought it the next day it seems but kept it as secret till we got married :D

3. Books:

I just love books. I can read anything to everything. From fictional to realistic, from biographies to novels, from motivational to cartoons. Diving into the books is as good a vacation as running in the hot sand in the blue lined beach. I see to it atleast I read a minimum of five pages a day, whatever the time I reach home. They are the best friends any body can have :)

Since this is my first tag, I tag all those who read this. I am curious to know what objects of affection you have :)

Hanuman Returns

2008-02-12T00:06:00.002+05:30

After a long time I saw one cute and innocent movie. Hanuman Returns. Its a complete joy ride. Hanuman who is pissed off seeing the same faces (read as GODs :-P) wants to go to earth. He persuades Brahma to agree to it and to send him to earth. Brahma agrees and tells Hanuman to take human birth. From here begins Hanuman's journey.

The most exciting part of the movie would be the way Gods are treated. Unlike the usual way where Gods talk in "Shuddha" Hindi, here Gods are contemporary. They talk "taporish" hindi, even mixed with English!!! In order to scare Hanuman of human beings, Brahma asks Chitra Gupta to show him the crime rates in earth. But whats Chitra Gupta doing? He is surfing through Menaka.com in his posh laptop!!!! Wowiieee. Also, Brahma shows some bandaged Gods who were posted in earth!!! Finally when Brahma agrees to Hanuman's pursuation to give him human birth, he says " Tumhare poonch ka mein kuch nahin kar saktha. Yeh detachable nahin hain" :-P [I can't do anything with our tail, thats not detachable!!!]. Hilarious!!! If Chitra Gupta carries a laptop and draws graph showing crime rates, there is this eagle which uses X ray goggles, hands-free headset to communicate with fellow people. Quite advanced huhhh!!!

Fun is not only limited to this. There is Gabbar Singh coming in between & there is a matrix act my Hanuman. There are nice peppy foot tapping songs with beautiful imagination. Full of life and enthusiasm. In short a movie, not only for kids but for all generations.

Hanuman once takes his Hanuman form, can not get back his human form again. That was the contract Hanuman would have signed before leaving swarg. When Narada reminds him about this, Hanuman says, "Brahmaji acche hain, main unko manipulate karke dharthi pe phir aa jaoonga!!!" (Brahmaji is good, I will manipulate him and come back to earth!!!

Excellent movie!!! Hope such movies keep coming in!!!

Why ME #$@^&$!!!

2008-02-01T23:31:00.001+05:30

Everyone in one situation or the other would have certainly thought, "Why Me??? Why is that everyone is so happy and its only me who gets into all the troubles, pains? I am the most neglected child of God... There is nothing called luck in my life"... Even I used to think so...

It came as a shock when my dad died. Through he had suffered a mild heart attack ten years ago, he maintained himself so well that nobody could have figured out his illness. I was quite young then. All of a sudden, I felt as if I have been left out in a lonely dark world. In a place where I will have do everything myself, with extra caution. With nobody to guide. Future seemed gloomy. A tunnel without an end. Though had a good job to support I felt very very insecure. I didn't wanted to cry, as I thought it would break my mother. Then I asked to God one day, "Why me???" I could see many girls happy being in their father's shelter, having to worry about nothing. "Why me then???" Girls who are taken very good care of, with no responsibilities. Then "Why me? Why I was targeted to undergo such misery? Why is that I have do every damn thing?". I felt terrible, left out and lonely. Joined Yoga. Funny, the girl who never used to get up early even for the studies started getting up as early as 5 AM in the morning. Started working like maniac, for 16-18 hours on an average and sometimes even straight 48 hours. Just with one desire to crash on the bed. Strange, sleep was eluding. Most of the times I cried to sleep. Again thinking, "Why me??"

Nature has strange laws. If those were the plight of night, I was a clown during the day time. I laughed, laughed and laughed. Narrating Yoga mates' terrible postures, funny incidents or seeing fun in any damn thing. We laughed till our stomaches ached. During my times with my self, I still continued to think I am the only one under pain. Till one day... Suddenly I wanted to look deeper into everybody around me. To see how protected, well sheltered, how happy people are. But more I saw, I realized, its not only me. A friend struggling to convince her orthodox parents about her love, a friend who is not happy with his job, a friend who has back breaking responsibilities, a friend nursing broken heart, a women recovering from husband's death, a woman facing in-laws wrath, a man suffering because of his just-born's illness, a man undergoing a divorce....

This reminded me of "Law of Equilibrium". Everybody has their own pains, sarrows, challenges at one point or the other. There can never be a single person on earth who might not have any pain during his lifetime. This suddenly changed the way of thinking. From "Why me" to "How lucky I am".... Indeed I was lucky, always. My father died an easy death which anybody would love to have. No suffering even for 5 minutes. Most importantly, he died when he was happy. Happy of himself, for being able to fulfil his dreams, to marry of one daughter and to see other independant, doing very well. He was quite a fighter. Even in the end-of-the-world sort of affairs he kept his calm and faced things head on. When I saw myself next time in mirror, I didn't see a person low with burden but a person with confidence to face everything came by. There I could see self-worth.

It indeed brought in many changes in me. It showed me who are really with you and who are not. It made me strong to keep the wanted and leave the unwanted. Even a certain name sake relations. It made me wise, it made me mature. It made me a human being out of career and success obsessed robot. It made me realise, the first and last love in this world is, "Self Love". One who is happy can keep the world happy. One who is not, sees unhappiness and short comings in everything. It made me realise, life must go one. It stops for none, literally. I love all those who were there with me that time, they are the pillars of my life. I thank all those (without a hint of sarcasm) whom I thought would be present, but weren't. If you were to be there, may be I wouldn't have become so strong.

If I look back, all those incidents which made me mutter "why me?", are the ones which shaped me. I would have been never this way if I were to be taken complete care of, sheltered without any responsibilities. There were several testing times later, but I knew I am shaping up even better. It somehow didn't seem to be so painful as it used to be earlier. Decisions were easy. Its a great feeling to be in control of your own life. Life looks all that beautiful. Thank God!!! For all those circumstances, without them I wouldn't have become "Me". Today if I am happy, peaceful, kind & focused, thats only because of those testing times.

Next time if you have to undergo difficult times, belive me you are shaping up. Belive me you would come out as a person of worth, strong in everyway. You are a beautiful sculpture in the making.

:o)

Deleted Movie Scenes

2008-01-30T22:49:00.002+05:30

I was watching some videos and "Related Videos" tab showed me couple of deleted scenes of various movies. Believe me, deleted scenes are lot more fun. Let me start with a few which I watched,

1. KANK
This movie however was made would have attracted lots of opposition. Somehow, though reality, still we can't take movies on infidelity . But I felt the movie was good. (I know this line itself would attract lots of opposition now ;o)) Many people asked me "What was the reason for Rani to leave Abhishek?" According to many people, Rani had no reason to leave him. True, but if proper reasoning were to be applied, don't you think more than 50% of the breakups/divorces would never occur. Anyways, following video tries to touch reason. Rani being cleanliness freak in the movie hardly enjoys life. Abhishek teases her saying "your idea of holidaying is vacuuimng, cleaning, scrubbing...". Now look at the video,

2. Rang De Basanti
Why did they cut these scenes??? Every scene is so very beautifully shot. It would have added more meaning to the movie. Loved the scene where Atul Kulkarni though mouthing "this land is yours as much as mine", hesitates to touch Kunal who is a muslim in the movie. But with every repetation, he tends to overcome his inhibition. A nice subtle scene indeed.

3. DDLJ
After a long time I got an urge to strangle someone's neck. This video would have been a great watch only if film maker were not to speak non-stop from the background as why he cut the scene, what it means to him blah blah blah. Idiotic. Strange since this is the film maker who gave sucha nice film like DDLJ!!!!

Would have loved to see the deleted scenes of so many movies. But no luck this time. Hope to see much more such videos, thanks to the DVD releases of movies these days...

:o)

Age Vs Maturity

2008-01-23T14:07:00.001+05:30

Maturity is always associated with age. "He is so old, he has seen life. Listen to him". Those who question this theory are rubbished as "bajaari" or "bajara" (Don't know the male version of it, so ;o)). Thats exactly why when a youngster though talks sense, he is silenced, "Keep quiet, you are so young to talk about it". Though I don't have much objection to this theory, there are times when I actually wonder whether that really holds good. Below are a few instances which I have come across.

This instance is when I decided to buy a four wheeler. After giving much thought about the total expenditure, the usage, etc I zero'ed on Santro. My uncle, on his visit to my home got to know about it from mom.

Uncle : Why don't you buy a big car?
Me : I don't know how much I am going to put it into use. Also I don't want much of financial commitment now.
Uncle : No no, you should buy a big car. Your 'that' uncle has a Wagon R and you should buy something bigger to it. Next year I will buy a Ford, I would love to see him jealous.

As if I am buying a car not for my own comfort but to belittle the other person. No doubt, we can stretch and some how go for bigger things in life. But is it required, unless my inner voice tells me. That too just show someone that I am better to you!!! Not that they hate each other or something, its just the baseless competition.

This particular incident happened once between two elderly people and once with two youngsters.

Elder 1 : You know my son is going to foreign.
Elder 2 : (Bit offended) My son will also go to foreign within six months. He will go for a very long duration. [The son standing there clueless...]

Youngster 1 : Hey, I am going on site man.
Youngster 2 : Reallyyy!!!WOW man, congrats!!! Where are you going? Good for our career man. Don't hesitate if you need any help OK?

Now... its the same situation, same matter. But the reactions are pole-apart. Youngsters these days realise that their chance too will come. Every one will get what he deserves. They are mature enough to realise, all that matters in their life is only what is happening in their 'own' life. There is no point in feeling bad at what we don't have and what someone else has. All that matters is "what we have and how best we can make it work for us".

This lady is around 55 in age, with normal behavior. All of a sudden hell broke at her house. She started making issues out of even small small incidents. Started judging her kids' action in a completely negative light. If they do something, she would crib and cry the whole day for doing it. If they don't, she would create an issue for not doing. Kids completely puzzled. After a few days, lady comes back to normal. When one of the kids asks her what had happened, she tells she was so upset that she is getting older. Wrinkles have appeared, hair is graying off. What will others think? How will they treat if she doesn't look good, if she looks old etc.

Its these elders who have seen life, who at sucha respectable age give so much unnecessary importance to the outer appearance. The people who gracefully accept this change look even more beautiful. Every wrinkle gives a sense of warmth. The twinkle in their eye gives enough confidence to challenge life. Every age comes with a new-ness which itself is a spice of life. C'mmon, can you imagine a guy who is at his 20 all through his life and be not bored!!!! It will be like eating the same sweet day and night, all the three times, year after year.

Maturity never comes with age. Its comes with the experiences the person has gone through. The challenges, the victories, the hurdles, the pains, the achievements, the smiles, the roles, the adversities, the world, the people, the LIFE.... every small lesson learnt adds up to experience. Looking at every experience in a different angle each time makes the experiences worth while. Such experiences bring in maturity.

:o)

Where to draw a line???!!!

2008-01-13T13:40:00.001+05:30

From past few months, I have been an active blog reader. Blogs ranging from personal to philosophical, technical to humorous. There is an old saying which says, book is a mirror to the author's mind. So true!!! Some blogs touched my heart, some made me laugh my heart out. Some made me wonder how people can go so much low to get traffic into their blog. Some left me disgusted for its content. That left me thinking, "Where to draw a line?" Here is what I feel.

1. If you want to forget some bad thing of life, never ever write it down anywhere. Not in your diary, not in your blog, nowhere. When you write something, your mind registers it for long. It makes your healing slow. At the same time, you will be making your private life public, to both good and bad part of people. You should be ready for both support and brick-bats. There will be a part of public who takes specific interest in analysing other's life and giving their precious valuable(?) comments. That either can give you solace or put you into mental misery. If you are making your private life public, be ready for both. Or the best choice is to try erasing all the traces of it, from your life, from your memory, from your blog space.

2. Never ever take names. Be it of people or the companies. Everyone goes through the angry phase and when we are in that phase we tend to think,speak & write more about it. When the heat dies down, you may later think you reacted a bit more than required. But the damage is already done. World is a small place. You might end up being in the same company again or you might end up interacting with the same people. At the same time, life is so small to keep grudge about someone. Even a hint of such grudge can pull you away from happiness. Is that required? Ignore which is unpleasant to you and move on towards happiness!!!

Its not bad to vent your feelings out. But that also depends on whom you are confiding. In a place like blog space everything is accessible to everyone. There may be a few real good people who would honestly lend their shoulder for you. But there are also people who either raise their self esteem by supporting you and there are also people who though at current time support you, later might use the same instance to judge or hurt you. There are also chances that overwhelming sympathy may lead to self-pity. Why give chance. God gives everyone enough strength to fight for their well being, to come out of any terrible conditions, just like Gold out of fire. Every tool can turn out to your benefit if used thoughtfully. Next time when you want to vent out, take a deep breath, ask yourself "Would you like to read the same stuff few years down the lane?"

Happy Blogging :o) & Happy well being to everyone :o)

Taare Zamin Par

2007-12-31T12:12:00.001+05:30

Taare Zamin Par - its a beautiful tender dream anybody would love to pick from dream and give a hug. The movie can be best described as "NATURAL", no overly done emotions, no high drama. Everything and everyone seems so much a part of this visual & intellectual extravaganza.

Ishaan, a dyslexic child who is the Indian version of our Calvin. Always in the world of weird imagination. Alphabets dance if he tries to read them!!! This bunny teethed pretty boy dives into your mind with all the innocence and pranks. Who doesn't remember his own childhood after seeing Ishaan. The movie out-an-out belongs to Ishaan, played by Darsheel Safary. What can be a maximum surprise is when you see credits rolling during the beginning of the movie, its Darsheel Safary, Aamir Khan & rest.... You really feel good at Aamir's maturity. When all other heroes are fighting for their name to be displayed first, this comes as a mature gesture.

Aamir deserves a STANDING OVATION for this movie. For the belief he had in this kind of story and for not going over board on emotions just to lure the audiance to theatres. Its a right mix of laughter, joy, sorrow, pain, disgust, helplessness... Just like a perfectly made coffee. To get such wonderful performances from the cast, especially from a small boy is no easy job. Everyone breathes life into the role. Be it Rohan Awasti (Ishaan's brother), be it his mother or Raju, who plays his boarding schoolmate. Choice of characters are so neatly done that no one would help but feel irritated towards Ishaan's father's indifference and sad towards his mother's love and helplessness. Darsheel is the best choice and find. Loads of love to this little magician. Aamir excels in acting department too. He becomes even more dearer for his selfless genuine effort to convince Ishaan's parents about Ishaan's dyslexia. The movie is made with so much conviction, so much passion.

Songs when heard after the music launch seemed childish & average. But with the movie going on, songs just pump emotions slowly into the viewer, who silently watches the proceedings with a lump in the throat. "Tumhe sab hain pata, haina maa" would be my pick. The silent shiver of the boy to the start of engine which would take his mom away is nicely combined with this song. How much you feel to hug Ishaan and comfort the little thing :o| "Kholo Kholo" would make your spirits fly high.

Animations is another department which is taken with extreme care. It looks absolutely from a boy's imagination. Just beautiful. The entire crew of TZP must be applauded for the terrific job done. Every little detail is attended with passion.

This is one movie which would be a hit, more by word of mouth publicity. Its the best movie of the year 2007. What a way to end the year, WOW!!! It would have been a big loss if I were to miss this movie. Aamir every time sets the expectations high and he manages to exceed too!!! After Lagaan and TZP, what can be his next movie??? Thought itself gives goose bumps.

Lead India - Tum Chalo To Hindustan Chale

2007-12-11T10:06:00.002+05:30

I simply love this video!!!

One night @ Kitchen

2007-12-08T00:15:00.001+05:30

Well, this has nothing to do with Chethan Bhagat's One Night @ Call Centre, but certainly, it was an inspiration for me to write my experience in Kitchen, one night!!!

All through out my student days, I never even peeped into the kitchen. I used to study as if I would be extinct, if I weren't. During holidays, my mom used to pamper me, saying "anyways you won't get any free time during school, so take rest atleast now". So the big word kitchen always remained alien to me. It never bothered, until one day, oops night.

Those were the days when I had to stay alone. Most of the times, the dinner used to be at office only. But one night at 11PM, I felt like eating Aloo Parota. The urge was so much, that I could hardly resist. I felt as if aloo parota of my imagination getting a physical realization & is calling me "Ba Ba..." I had seen Laddoo's people preparing parotas, that looked so very easy, big deal!!!

I geared up to make some home made (self made, to be very precise ;o)) aloo parotas. The first hurdle was the dough. Thank God, I knew its the wheat flour which is used. I took some flour, some water and salt. Only after trying my hands at it, I realised water was too much. I put some flour, now what, dough is so hard, again put some water. In this trial & error in a typical software engineer style, my dough was ready. Not to mention, leaving me ghost like with all the flour on my face, on my hair. Thank God, I didn't see the mirror else I wouldn't have slept the whole night ;o)

Now comes the stuffing. That was a kinda easy. Cooked aloo, put some seasoning and mirchie, it was all set. The 'not so bad taste' of the stuffing gave me amazing confidence (or over confidence??!!!). "Ha ha, adige enoo Brahma vidyena??? Anybody can cook". Some stuffing, some rolling and my delicious aloo parota is ready.

Round 1: Took some dough, rolled it into a fine circular pattern with some 5cm dia (atleast the graphic design should help somewhere for a electronics gal right?). Kept some aloo stuffing made as balls, here too tried to make it a perfect sphere. Now, took all the edges of the dough and make them meet at the centre. Somehow, the stuffing was properly circumscribed by dough (or I was too early to decide). Started rolling it, loudly singing a song at the same time, as if the 'thing' is going to fall flat for my singing, and become flat automatically. But what the heck!!! A little of stuffing started peeping from the centre as if a mouse from its "bil". Before I could repair it, there were more mice sorry stuffing peeping outside, sticking to the rolling pin. All my enthu burst like tuss pataki of Deepawali. :o( Put it on the tawa as is. Once it was done, I tasted it, not so bad, but need some mechanism to bind the stuffing inside the dough.

Round 2: Brilliant idea!!! I almost kissed myself for having such wonderful brain. Created a similar circular pattern as before. Kept some stuffing exactly as I had done in Round 1. Now comes the twist in the tale. I created one chota circular pattern with almost 2 cm dia. For what!!! Swalpa wait madi!!! I tried to bring all the edges of papa circular pattern to the centre and then immediately applied the chota circular pattern on it. Fevicol ka jodd hain, tootega nahin ;o) The thrill was so much that I felt as if I sealed a Jin inside the Lamp. Now I rolled the 'thing'. Not even a single piece of stuffing dared to peep. The parota was perfectly sealed and well rolled. Patting my own back, I put it on the tawa. Only then I realised there was only dough at the centre of parota, as if it had ruthlessly pushed all the stuffing aside. Disclimer: I don't take any blame if the stuffing reminds you of BSY and dough about KS. On second thoughts, dough was quite sticky, refusing to leave my hand in a same way KS refused to leave his "Gaddi".

Round 3: With the determination of the project manager to meet his last and latest deadline after several postponements I said to myself, now this has to be perfect, aakhir ijjat ka sawal hain!!! :o Ground plan simple, make two quite big circular patterns of the same size. Keep one down, spread the stuffing uniformly across the entire pattern, keep the other circular pattern exactly on top. Seal the edges, all around. Came out quite well, but the edges were :o( By the time I finished all these innovations, it was around 1:30AM. The equation being ME + 3 solid aloo parotas - hunger - urge to eat + lots of vessels to wash + huge mess.

Though the outcome was disastrous, the experience was hilarious!!! Had to switch off the gas several times to allow my laughing sessions. Even today I can't forget the sight of those 3 aloo parotas & the preparation. I think, it is but obvious for you to believe me, if I tell you that I never had any urge to eat aloo parota till now. I might have eaten aloo parota when the caterer had nothing else to offer but every bite of it made sure I had a hearty grin, for the experience which my mom calls nothing short than "Yakshagaana"

:o)

Configure gmail on outlook

2007-11-15T12:23:00.001+05:30

Finding gmail to be less organised & user friendly compared to outlook? Don't worry, you can configure the gmail account in your outlook. All the mails currently in the gmail account + new mails can be read through outlook, can be organised in folders, labelled, flagged...

Here is a very good demo of configuring the gmail on outlook. The presentation is so beautiful that a layman too can configure it :o)

http://mail.google.com/mail/help/demos/Gmail_POP/788_Google_Gmail.html

Hope you find it useful :o)

Jab We Met...

2007-11-12T16:54:00.001+05:30

From the promos itself it appeared to be a sweet romantic movie, with a touch of comedy. The first plus point in the movie is the music. Pritam has proved his mettle once again with this movie and you instantly fall in love with the songs. The story line is simple to begin with, but throw in some confusions, it can result in a really good script, as this Jab We Met.

The movie is very bubbly, thanks to Kareena Kapoor's character 'Geet'. Be it, "My apni favourite hoon", "Aap convince hogaye hain, ya main aur bolu?", "Main tumhe kaisi lagthi hoon, mast...", "Pls mere behen ki saath bhaag jao.." The movie keeps its pace with lovely dialogues, beautiful locales, beautiful performances and wonderful songs. Performance-wise both Shahid and Kareena excel. I had disliked Shahid in "Dil Mange More", where a village guy keeps yelling "Hang-on, Hang-on" which looked so artificial. Similarly my friends almost tore their shirts after watching "Khushi". During the initial few scenes I felt Kareena's Khushi act will be back, but voila!!!! she carries the emotional scenes with equal ease on her shoulders. Shahid has performed really well, whether as the pessimistic person with suicidal impulse or the optimistic successful industrialist later.

I am just crazy over the music of this movie. Initially it was only the "Yeh ishq hai, baite bitaye...", then "Na hain yeh paana...". After watching movie, even the sad "Aoge jab tum saamne..." & "Aao, Milo chale" felt very nice on the ears. "Aao Milo chale" brings back the "Tanha Dil" memories... I was surprised when I got to know, "Yeh Ishq hai.." is sung by Shreya Ghoshal. The similar kind of surprise when Sunidhi had sung melodious "Mere Zindagi mein ayeho.." after her so many fast & taporish kind of songs. Every singer in this movie deserves a HATS OFF for the amazing job done. The lyrics are very very precise to the situation and with lots of meaning. The picturisation of all the songs makes them much dearer.

Costume of the movie is to die for!!! I am dying to get the Red long skirt, the yellow top, the pink top and the yellow kurthi she wears in the "Yeh Ishq...". They are just awesome. The choreography of this song is also too good.

After all the praises, one thing I felt tough digesting. The gal who takes responsibility of her own actions, who finds life in any damn silly thing, who believes in living life to the fullest, being happy, mourns for an unworthy lover for nine months. In those nine months, she completely transforms herself into a person who thinks all that she had done was wrong!!! Spirit from within is not so short lived!!! "Phir Milenge" is the only movie, where the spirit of the individual is held high. Even after knowing she has been infected by HIV, after a few sad days the gal is back in action with the same spirit & zeal to live life to the fullest.

Anyways, the movie is worth the money. After Chak De, Dhamaal & Jonny Gaddar, I can say only good movie so far. After watching Saawariya, I can say this with much more confidence :o

Strangely, the couple split in their real life during (or before) this movie, but there is not even a hint of it. They rock with each other and their chemistry is great. They simply look made for each other. Even more strangely, the real life couple look very boring most of the times when cast together except John-Bips. Even Shahid & Kareena were criticised for low on chemistry during their earlier films when they were going head strong in real life. Anyways, seeing how professional they are, I would certainly want to see a few more movies with Kareena & Shahid in it.

Videos
Yeh Ishq Hai...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzD4E7ctFCk

Hum jo chalne lage- awesome lyrics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTnH2GtRUkU

Na hain yeh paana
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEoSOT-6bYo

Trailer...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-H9qWQiNFQ

Don't miss this movie :o)

Gufaa @ Jayanagar

2007-10-14T00:43:00.001+05:30

Planning for a nice dinner in a not so common ambience??? Then, welcome to Gufaa. Placed in a nicely lit building at Jayanagar. But be ready to give out a shriek, the moment you plan to get out of the lift. There are special people ready to welcome you, a caveman holding a lantern & a snake hanging from the roof top. :-P All the lights you saw so far are gone, all that is in front of you is a cave like structure!!! Scared!!!??? Think of having dinner amidst hanging snakes, spiders, webs, creeking birds... Belive me, its going to be an interesting experience & worry not, all this setup is artificial :-P

The moment you enter this cave, you find waiters in the uniform of forest officials and the means they follow to move around this cave brings out lots of childhood memories, yes they use fireworks :o) The menu has a good variety of North Indian cuisine & they are quite good too. Though its at the higher end when it comes to price, I was surprised to see the hotel always housefull. You need to plan atleast a day before and get the booking confirmation.

Another interesting thing to watch here are the kids, I had thought, kids might get frightened, but they were very happy looking at the spiders, small artificial falls & other stuff... A Bangalore bred kid really misses the real ones. They were happily running around the entire cave & a few hotel crew happily joined the kids :o)

The major let down for me was, there is no distinction beween the smoking/non-smoking regions or the drinking & non-drinking regions. So you need to be a bit tolerant to ignore what your next table guy is doing & enjoy the evening.

Be sure to take the chooze (if you are a non vegeterian), stuffed full mushrroms, some stuffed pomgranate starter and the dry fruit rotis. Be sure to savour the evening slowly & peacefully. Don't worry, the curries won't loose their heat, as they put little burners on your table to keep the curries hot till you finish. :o)

The location is Jayanagar 3rd Block, near the ICICI Bank.

Strange...

2007-10-07T23:33:00.002+05:30

"You laugh when you are crying from inside,
You cry at the moments of joy,
Strangely, thats the maturity life teaches you,
Otherwise, wouldn't you be a kid who doesn't have to care before laughing or crying???"

Devils Workshop - 2

2007-08-25T18:36:00.001+05:30

Just like my previous Devil's Workshop post, this post is also meant only for a small set of audience, the set which has the weirdest sense of imagination and visualization. Rest of the people, please press Alt-F4 and go back to see the world as-is, this monitor is not going to develop canines in a jiffy and bite at your neck.

Life is lot more fun, if you see what you don't normally see ;o) I had this friend of mine who used to speak very very slow. Me being very impatient at that time, felt an all time high urge to hold his neck with both my hands and shake it so hard that all the letters on their way to his mouth loose balance and fall out at rapid successions and I can arrange them to read it much faster than he utters a single word.

In fact this weird imagination was lost somewhere in the time valley, but a similar thought yesterday brought this memory back. I am a very good girl until I am hungry, once I am hungry all my mannerisms go on a vacation. As usual yesterday afternoon we went to this Punjabhi Dhaba which is located just at the back of my office. Me being very hungry felt like crying when I saw the huge crowd there. But luckily, there was a troop of three gals who had almost finished. One gal in them especially thought that she is being captured over Cam with slow motion, slowly she was breaking the roti, slowwly she was dipping in the curry, slowwwly she was carrying it towards her mouth (as if, if she were to increase her speed, the roti piece would feel giddy!!!) and then slowwwwly chewed it. Mummyyyyyy!!! I am hungryyyyy!!! Again a little devil in me came out and I felt like breaking all the rotis into pieces in a sec, stuffing it in her mouth and forcing her chew fast by holding her head at chin and the top and moving it at the speed of light.

Till sometime, I used to think I am the weirdest imaginer on earth, only to realize there are a few more cartoons. Once my friend, out of context to the current talk, told me, there should have been a way to carry the baby (in womb) on sharing basis. How good it would be if I can say to my partner "Pleaaasssee Janu, I have a deadline in office, please carry the baby for 1 more week and I promise, I will keep the baby for one more week when my turn comes up".

My mom's biggest dream in life was to put some flesh on my body ( now she regrets :P ). In my college people used to tell me "Keep a paper weight on head, otherwise you'll fly off!!!". Never realized when did I put on weight and when my name was changed from "kaddi" to "dummi". Sighhh!!! In my office there is this "Junk Girl", ( A model for Moto Pebl, having hour-glass structure, whose big hoardings have been placed at couple of the lift lobbies at office. I named her Junk Girl, for my fellow colleague+friend's admiration towards her plus a bit of jealousy) And these junk people used to pull me to her hoarding and show her to me, "immediately" after lunch or a yummy snack time :'( Grrr!!! Initially I used to close my eyes and run from there, but after sometime, I started going to her hoarding, typically with my right hand thumb on nose and other four fingers moving (A typical kiddish teasing gesture), "I ate paneer fried rice gottaa!!!", "I ate onion parata, ningilla, kuyya mama!!!" Then I used to imagine her weeping for those yummy stuffs!!! Devil in me being completely satisfied :oP

There is no end for imagination, if I go on, this will be a never ending saga. But be nice when you write comments this time. Beware of a little devil getting into the comp, swimming through all the TCP packets, reaching you, only whip her hunter the moment you write anything nasty in the comment box. Ha Ha Ha :o) [Devilish Grinnn!!!]

There is a tomorrow, day after too...

2007-07-14T22:09:00.001+05:30

" I don't care about what work I do, I am getting a great pay" Does these words sound familiar or heard too often these days?? I have, neither once nor twice but innumerable number of times. In the age of booming software industry everybody is a prince. Is this software boom eternal? Is this going to keep us in the same princely manner as it is now?

An acquintance changed 6 jobs in 2 years of our course completion. An year in call centre, then in quality, then in testing and then welcome to development. A complete domain change does not deter people now, all they want is money. It might not affect when you are a fresher or a few years old in this industry, but whats going to be the future after a few years, when you need to lead, you need to manage...

I want to present a small story, rather a real one which is often heard in my hometown, a place which is famous for its coffee and the scenic beauty. There came a period when the Brazil coffee saw a down-trend and there was an immediate surge of demand for my-town coffee. The estate owners packed all sorts of coffee beans they had, good, bad, new, old, spoilt.... as if that was their only chance to sell coffee at the export rate(Read it as High Rate). As if there is no tomorrow!!! All the people made tremendous profits, land prices went sky-high, the life style of these "blessed few" changed drastically and the city saw a complete makeover. There was a saying, whichever new car coming to India, first comes to this-town. I have seen all kinds of cars doing rounds on those terrible roads. They were a class apart....

A few months later, all the exported coffee was rejected stating bad quality and there was no taker for coffee from this coffeeland. Being used to all the amenities and luxuries of life for a few months, these people were unwilling to down play, they continued their classy lifestyle at any cost, even through loans. A city which could have been a mark on the global map, sits their in half anonimity.

Do we see any resemblance here? India is a low cost centre for all the service industry. In a hurry to grab the financial mirage are we under-playing the work? Are we dreaming of building a sky scraper without worrying for the foundation at all? Once we were blamed for grabbing the jobs of those poor fellows in west. If we don't show the quality of work, if being the low-cost land is the only factor, then we might end up blaming Chinese & other potential nationals for grabbing our jobs!!!

What it takes us to be consistent? A good quality service, which-ever the field it may be. If we make our foot-hold strong, people would still give us jobs for the better service, for the greater product. If we are making money now, we could still CONTINUE to do so... If we build our capabilities and expertise in whichever field we are in, the financial factor would surely search us, where-ever we are. Afterall money is also one important aspect of life. Its not a run for a few miles, its a continuous run, till exellence and beyond. In the course of time we might stand up as a leader in technology and services, in short as a nation developed, self sufficient and strong.A great man has said, its always good to have answers to three questions at any point of your life, even if the current state seems bright and strong,1. What would I do if I loose my current job?2. What would I be five years down the lane?3. What would I want to see when I am in death bed and look back at my life till that instant?Its always very satisfying to pamper yourselves with all that appeals to your mind and eyes. Afterall for whom are you earning all that. Still its good to have some ready money (liquid cash) with you always for any unplanned events or emergencies. Its very good to live in present. But its also very important to think of your future, after all its the "today" of tomorrow. :o)

Don't let the cups drive you... Enjoy the coffee instead

2007-06-30T00:45:00.001+05:30

When I thought of starting my blog, one thing I promised to myself, "I will not post any forwards!!!". I lived with my promise for 11 posts. But something kept compelling me to break my promise. Here it is which touched me with its simplicity and the utter truth which shows mirror to the today's generation (read it to US).

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to hot coffee. When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups and were eyeing each other's cups.

Now if life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, but the quality of Life doesn't change. Some times, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it."

Don't let the cups drive you... Enjoy the coffee instead.

I don't know how many times I have read this, I don't even know how many times in life I am going to read this, more interestingly, how many such incidents will happen which would compel me to read this article. Great truth of life wrapped up in simple words and presented in easy-to-understand manner.

Our fathers had decent salary yet, they raised their kids, married off their daughters, fulfilled all their responsibilities with that meagre salary.

WE, started our careers with the salaries which our fathers retired at!!! Still, there are only few who are happy with what they have, what they are doing. Reason... the next cube guy just flew to US of A... a friend got a huge hike in his company... relative's daughter got promoted to a higher post.... A neighbour's son got a seat in IIM.... reasons can be many... as they say, "nice looking expensive cups"... Result, long working hours, weekend slogs, work from home... just to reach the goal a little early!!!

A collegue and a good friend of mine once said "I am not here to compete with the guy who over-works and slogs 24X7, what if I don't get the rating as that guy, my time is spent happily with my family, what if my hikes are lesser to his, I invest my time networking people. At the end of the day, I may not be considered as THE GUY of the company, but my time, each and every minute spent, speaks quality in themselves". A nice reprimand to once over working habbit.

More often, the journey traversed becomes more enjoyable than the ultimate destination. Quality of life is finally accounted by the number of minute moments "lived" with your loved ones, than the number of flats,cars or the medals won.

They are just the cups to hold the life, enjoy the coffee instead :o)

Traffic, traffic, traffic.....

2007-06-10T22:48:00.001+05:30

If you think I am like any other Bangalorean who is cribbing at traffic jams, then let me say I am not. I am just trying to present my experience of driving on one particular day in Bangalore. No doubt, there are some reasons behind these traffic jams which can make any normal man insane and curse each and everyone on the road and off it. There are our so called goody-goody buses who can literally stop anywhere and everywhere. According to my observation, these bus-stands are located very next to a traffic signal. Moment the bus crosses the signal, it stops creating havoc to the vehicles following it. Result, a traffic jam, before the vehicles can actually move, the signal would change and the people in other directions don't even have the patience till these people move out of the junction, they try to get in the narrow gaps between these vehicles and then start yelling at each other!!!
On one such particular day, I take out my car and realise the main road near my house is dug up. All the traffic is diverted to a narrow road where at max 2 cars can pass with a little more caution. Ok, fine... I start driving in that alternate road. There comes a crossing where I see a construction truck with all the load and I stop the vehicle promptly. A maruthi guy behind me honks and honks, showing me signs to move. Thinking a no-daring woman driver, this guy happily tries to surpass me and go, only to realise after coming next to me is that he can't go!!! Now even the truck can't go!!! There was a major traffic jam. One more intelligent person from the other side, tries to go beyond truck just to land his tyre in gutter. What if they were to wait for just 5 min to let the truck pass!!!

After successfully taking my car out of sucha mess, I drive for some more time and had to apply brake instantly. There was no signal, but there were some men crossing the road, slowly and elegantly, turning their face at us, as if they are in some beauty contest and we are the judges. I guess, we were supposed to put handbrakes, take out our pen and paper, rate each and every man for the elegance in walk, the degree of rotation of their face towards us, the time taken by them to cross past each car. Then I realised my mistake, I was wrong thinking roads are meant for vehicles!!! They are meant for people who take their sweet own time to cross at which ever place they want, only when they have mercy on the poor-souls on earth(read WE), they let us take a millimeter distance, before another contestant jumps into the road!!!!

After all such wonderful experiences of the day, I start back to my home in the evening and realise there is a traffic jam again!!!! One guy has come in the wrong side of the one way!!! Ok, that guy has realised and he wants to go back. Just like "rudalis", there are some people who wait for such incidents. A guy comes from nowhere and starts yelling at that guy. He was shouting as if something incorrigible has happened and left him pennyless. He was sitting and chatting with his fellows just a moment below. This jam certainly has nothing to do with him, but I don't know what prompted him to take the leadership. Most of the times, these people just let some frustation out which they couldn't have done otherwise. Thank god, that car guy was cool and he took the reverse in no time and went on his way, giving no ears to that man who still continued to shout!!!

All these incidents left me thinking!!! No doubt there are some situations where we can do nothing for this traffic monster, but there are many many incidents where we, being repsonible citizens can contribute just by being a little more patient and considerate to fellow drive mates. A small wait to let the other go will pay you off by not causing any traffic jam and delay. Following rules like following the lanes, signals, speed limits can make our lives much better. If we don't, then we have no other option left to say Bangalore traffic sucks, conviniently forgetting the fact that in one time or the other we too contributed to this traffic monster to grow.

Traffic is no entity until we take our vehicles out!!! Though we can not eliminate it we can minimise it for sure!!! Now you are the right person to decide what to choose :o)

Mere paas gaadi hain, bangla hain, tere paas kya hain? Mere Paas CREDIT CARD hain!!!

2007-06-03T03:38:00.001+05:30

Though seems to be an exaggeration, I am sure all of you would have silently nodded on reading the post title. Thats the power this small, slim thing has!!! I was dying to possess one till I got hold of a few, now I can't wait to get rid of those. Say good bye to all your savings the moment you plan to get one. You realise it only after seeing the credit card statement. Just today I went to buy a track pant. A thing which normally costs from 100-150 rs costed me 3.5K, oh no!!! Thats not made of Kashmiri silk. There were 2 cute dress pieces which tempted my eyes and I fell prey for them. The result, a fat bill. But then did I buy what I wanted?? I didn't.

Last time when I got my credit card bill, I almost suffered a heart attack. I started wondering where all the money spent?? Luckily I had a list of grocery items I bought from a super market. I started counting the valid and not so valid items. Heck!!! out of 1.3K, only 280 Rs accounted for valid household items. Rest are awonhi junk things which I could have easily skipped. The kinds like realActive juice, some creme, some shampoo, some new product... The best part of this thoughtless shopping is, I won't even be remembering what I bought after 2 days. Result, they go unused. God, why do I go to such super markets!!! Next thing you do after such shopping is swipe the card, sign it and get going. [Did you say checking the bill or amount, grrrr!!!!]

Monetary aspect is not the only misery in credit cards, but their customer care facilities too. If you get 10 calls per day, 8 out of them would be from these dear friends offering life time free, international, gold, platinum, copper, tin and xyz cards. You apply for one card, the bank provides you with the visa card, amex version of the same card, additional cards to your dad, mom, grandpa, grandma, even to chintu who just got his first tooth. But they offer some free entertinement too, if your office phone rings post lunch, don't pick it up, just sit back and relax listening to the melody propagating from one cube to the other. This also increases the co-operation between co-workers, the one who mistakenly picks the calls, drops it and climbs over the cube to tell his next cube guy not to pick, its a CC call. Thanks to credit card and its excellent crew.One part of my mind says pack all the credit cards and throw it in the bin. But then the other cribs thinking of inconvinience its gonna face without a card. Lets see who wins :o)

Kya Aap Close up Karthen haiinnn!!!

2007-05-26T23:42:00.001+05:30

Who doesn't know the magic this ad did!!! Still I wonder what made this ad click?? The guy with all curly hairdo or the nasal singing of "Kya aap close up karthen haiiinnn!!!" This ad became so very popular that so many versions of it came out, was a hot favourite in forwards, many people changed its lyrics to suite their funny situations....

I am the crazy fan of ads from the days when I used to think I was bought by mom for a KG of rice ;o) I used to watch cricket for the sole reason of new ads. More number of ads more happy me!!! Even today I can watch the same movie or serial nth time for the ads pouring in between!!! These days I am in awe for ads as they are at their creative best. WOW!!! SUPERB!!! Some are funny, some are witty, some are melodious, some are pathetically worth-watching for its stupid content. Whatever it is, I LOVE ADS :o) Here are some of the creative ads which are my personal favourites.

1. Happy Dent white => This is an amazing ad by Prasoon Joshi, almost till the end of this ad I was clueless of whats happening, very moment the guy hangs from chandelier and smiles, all the secret unfolds. This is the most creative ad I have ever seen. Imagine this, in a scene where prospectus girl's father asks guy whats your job, the guy says I am the chief lamp of the chandelier!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdesIbwOYAA

2. Fevicol => Fevicol ads are my altime favourites. They are very witty. Be it the egg one or the TV one. They have always maintained their creativity. One which I loved the most was the Rajastani ad where a mother will be cooking having a small baby besides, baby being restless keeps running. Witty mother places child over the fevicol container :o)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBTRv14_Jfc

3. Motorola W220 ads => ok no bias here. The ads of this phone were very interesting. Be it the parents ad or the office one. In parents ad, parents suspect their son doing something un-do-able having proof what looks as an expensive phone. In the office ad, collegue and the boss suspect him for missing money for the same reason. This guy who owns w220 phone in the ad has given ultimate expressions as what to say now!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtrYSe5hoBM

4. SBI ads => These ads were extremely refreshing, very humerous. One favourite in this series is the one where a guy bets with his friend over a SBI product (don't remember properly now :o( ) looses it to get his legs waxed!!! Its hilarious to see the guy screaming over the top of his voice when his legs are getting waxed. Other one is the papad belna, where a husband and wife bets on SBI and husband looses only to roll papads :o) One ad from this series is here,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZNVErGV2x4

5. You and I, in this beautiful road... => One of the beautiful ads. It has the melodious song, cute guy and a cutie cutie cutie doggy, chooooooo chweeeeeeeet!!! The best scenes were when the doggy baby tries to cross a wooden hurdle, when it slips on the steps and they way it sleeps with its legs facing sky, chooooooo chweeeeeeet :o)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTNYf6Nubdk

When it comes to ads, Amul ads needs a special mention. Any big news, Amul is ready with its witty funny version of cartoonising it. In fact there are lots, but then it would become an endless post :o) Hope you enjoyed watching these ads as I did :o)

Its all about perception ;o)

2007-05-12T23:00:00.001+05:30

Perception... Whats this? The way YOU see and understand the things says the Oxford Dictionary. It has been the most intriguing part of human mind for me from my childhood and still it tops :o)

When I first heard/read Ramayana, the usual perception of the mass is that Rama is the avatar of God, he is the saviour of good, he is hailed as the ideal man and what not. According to it he left his wife for the sake of his praja and kingdom. The story goes something like this, during their exile, Ravana kidnaps Sita and captivates her. Its only when Rama kills Ravana in the war he brings back Sita. They finish their exile and come back to Ayodhya. Soon there will be murmurs about Sita being in Ravana's captivation is unpure. Under the pressure of his praja Rama banishes Sita to the forest. Sita was fully pregnant that time. Whatever is the reason no one can justify sending a pregnant and helpless woman to forest. If so why didn't he go with her? If we take Sita's perception, she knows she is pure. For her, her husband left her for the sake of wellbeing of his praja. But was he the only child to his parents? If not he, there were three more successors to the throne, Sita had only one husband!!!

Samething about Siddhartha a.k.a Bhagvan Buddha. He sees sick man, a corpse and a monk and renounces familial bonds. He leaves his wife and son in the middle of the night and leaves secreatly. Later he became the biggest monk who founded Buddhism which is very respectfully followed. What might have been the perception of Yashodhara??? Her husband left her for no fault of hers. Afterall all those were part of life. That was not the age when a lady can say "Big deal!!! I earn my own living!!!" That was still the age when woman was recognised as x's daughter, y's wife and z's mother!!! How much agony and humiliation she might have gone through!!!

Not that I am advocating against Rama or Buddha, but when I think plainly as a woman, it pains to visualise a fully pregnant woman leaving for the forest, dejected, unhappy and hurt. Its very painful to visualise a woman, getting up in the morning and realising her husband has left her!!!

All I am trying to convey is perception matters, if somebody says Rama is God, thats his perception, if somebody says Buddha as not brave, its his perception... Reality might be completely different, beyond anybody's perception!!!
When I see any movie, having a hero, heroine and a baddie, how desperately I feel to direct another movie but this time in baddie's view. This time our hero might turn baddie and our baddie might become a hero!!!

Now I have realised the worth of this small word, now if a friend says his girl friend ditched him, my heart says ttcch, he is a victim, my mind says "wait, get the complete story!!", if somebody tells her in-laws trouble her, possibly her in-laws might feel the same too!! Its the usual perception at the developers that the manager does nothing, but just checks mails!!! Only when you become a manager you understand its better banging your head with the obidient computers than with the not-so-obidient humans!!! May be a manager think is better off being a developer, sit in the corner, code and then go home, than to be answerable to so many people both from top and the bottom ;o)

"You see only what you wanna see, you listen only what you wanna listen,you feel only what you wanna feel"

How True!!!

"We Value Opportunities Only In Retrospect"

2007-05-09T23:06:00.001+05:30

Hema Malini, one of the beautiful woman of Indian Cinema. She amazed me whenever she came on screen, even now. She looks damn beautiful even at this age and can put any present actress to shame with her charm, poise and dignity. How can I forget her 1000W smile which lights up the screen instantly and gives a feeling she is our own.

Apart from her screen image, her personal life was something which I was curious about. Well, ofcourse not for the gossip, but a sheer curiosity to know the life of the person who had been to THE top!!! How was it, was that easy, was that painful, was that lonely at top... so many such questions in the small minds of small people like me.

Came to my help was this book, An Authorised Biography of Hema Malini. She is intelligent enough not to give out too many personal details but yes, I could read about a successful person through her journey. Here are some exceprts...

A child artist makes big in the art, Bharathanatyam and gets quite a few offers to act in the movies, then gets dropped from her maiden project for "Not having such star quality". The rejection prompts her to take out bigger challenges with vengeance and she goes to become the Queen of Indian Cinema. She gets to act in lots of movies and rules the world, marries to a successful co-star and now is a mother of two beautiful daughters. Well, who doesn't know this?

Success surely comes at a price. If you want to have success be ready to pay. Such kind of payments Hema had to make at several instalments. A crazy pakistani fan just to have a glimpse of this beautiful star, waits every day in front of her house. Being turned down by her security personnel, he dares once to jump off the compound and get into Hema's room. The scream of the maid alerts family members and while attempting to call for police Hema's father suffers a diabetic heart attack. For a reason as insignificant as this Hema had to pay a huge price of loosing her father!!!

Another incident may be her marriage with Dharmendra, already a married man with 4 children!!!! Its amusing to see how her parents wonder why there is no alliance for their daughter from a royal blood or a politician or an industrialist. Hema had reached the heights which no ordinary man can reach and somehow there was no proposals from not-so ordinary people. Was it pre-destined that Hema was not attracted to bachelors like Jeetendra or Sanjeev Kumar??? As Hema herself say "That time this was the only option seemed appropriate!!!" This marriage brought lots of pains, criticism & negetive publicity!!!

Any earning person however busy he/she is has to take care of their finances was the lesson Hema learnt very late, only after a financial disaster. The Income Tax office slapped her with a tax of nearly a crore which she was completely unaware of. Being a busy star, she never knew what she earned & what she spent. A star who shined in huge banners with prominent stars for astronomical pay cheques, had to work for B-grade movies just to pay her tax.

Bigger the person, greater is the fall!!! But there are people who still dare to dream, to take life as it comes, to stretch their wings still wider... Hats Off!!! May be now I can understand how she can look so beautiful and dignified even after going through so many disasters. Its the strength from within, to be equally strong at the ups and downs of life. May be its this strength and self worth appears as beauty and may be because of this all successful people look beautiful irrespctive of their real looks!!!

Jaya Chakravarthy needs a special mention, if not she, we wouldn't have had any Hema Malini. The success of Hema partly is because of the support from her family. The same bonding, dedication and conviction can be seen in Hema for her daughters. She is the only actress who kept her passion of dance alive even after becoming a huge star. Though she was a wonderful dancer, every new stage performance used to give her a churning sensation before getting into the stage. As Esha recalls "Sometimes I feel we invaded her creative space for being her kids. I remember telephoning her just seconds before her entry into the stage for insignificant matters like a compass box. How could we be so cruel???". I amaze at how she contains everything within herself and gives out such a radiant smile as if she has been bestowed with all the goodies of life.

Next time when I see a "beautiful" person, I am sure to respect the experiences, the maturity, the worth, the struggle & the courage which brings out that "beauty" in him/her. Success does not come in a day. Every successful person has to undergo all the trials God poses in front of them. May be we are too blinded by their success to see their struggles. As Hema rightly states"We value opportunities only in restrospect!!!". Till we reap the benefits of a struggle everything seems to be a pain, only when it turns positive, we call that was an opportunity!!!

Well, wanted to make it short and sweet, but how can I stop abruptly when the person in discussion has a larger than life persona, if you have read till here, hats off to your patience ;o)

Devil's Workshop ;o)

2007-05-03T23:34:00.001+05:30

Do you press '0' in your home land line and waits for a dial tone???

Do you keep your keys somewhere and wish, if I were to give a ring to it!!!???

Do you curse for not having a "Find" option in your book???

Do you commit a mistake and then ask God why there is no Ctrl-Z in life???

If your answer to all the above questions is NO, then what are you doing here???!!! Press Alt-F4, go back to whatever you were doing. God Bless, you guys are going to be happy no matter what!!!

But if your answer to any of the above questions is TRUE, then welcome to the gang!!! Ever wondered what influence these fascinating gadgets have on our lives??? I dared once, and I dare not twice ;o) Once I misplaced my home key and searched like hell to locate it. I couldn't help but say "Wish I were to give a ring to it". This bad habbit I got after misplacing my cell phone several times and asking my friends to give a call to it. The poor thing raises its hand and tells "Yesss Missss".

Reading books is one of the oldest hobbies, thought atleast I am spared there, but nooo!!! The virus attacks there too. Even while reading an interesting book, I wish if there were to be a "Find" button to go to the exact scene which my friend narrated and told me this is the must buy book.

All is fun!!! But there is flip side tooo!!! Can't explain the dependancy we have on these gadgets. I can't even remember a single phone number, anyways its stored right??? Can't recollect my best friend's Birthday, anyways there is a reminder right??? Can't do a simple 354 + 652 without a calci!!! Oh you too are looking at your calci!!!

:o) Now you must be wondering the intent of this post right??? To be very frank nothing, bought a wireless key board and mouse set. Couldn't resist the templation to use them. The only thing I wish now is, "There should have been a facility to ring my mouse, what if I misplace it"

;o)

Lage Raho....

2007-04-21T23:35:00.001+05:30

This movie needs no introduction. This movie won our hearts, made us think and grabbed lot many awards. Truly deserving!!!

Wonderful performances, beautiful picturization, very good acting, amazing direction, list is almost endless.... but the most intriguing part for me in the movie was its presentation. Its presentation of Gandhiwada or as mentioned in the movie, Gandhigiri. I respect Gandhiji as a freedom fighter who struggled to get freedom to my motherland. But the idealism which he presented was far from what I used to think practical. My immediate reaction would be, "C'mmon, if someone acquires your house, will you sit and do satyagraha???!!!" Call it an influence of Netaji and Swami Vivekananda very early in my life, I believed in ACTION!!!

The same concept of Gandhitwa was presented in the movie and can you believe it, I completely agreed with the way of approach Munna solves problems of each caller. The one which stands out is the scene where a guy spits near caller's door and Munna tells the caller to smile at him, forgive him and clean it by himself. The end result was that the guy realises his mistake and apologises. Nobody was offended, no blood, no violence, not even a heart break. But the mission was accomplished. If somebody were to tell me this, may be I would have laughed at it, but not now. On second thoughts, now I feel, if the caller were to scold him, he would have spit more with vengeance making the wall an abstract painting :o)

Now I understand why do we go out to have food at the resturant when mom can cook so well, is it the way they present the food? The food looks so yummy and appealing, before you even taste it, your eyes would have feasted on them. Now I understand the need of a salesman, call it Marketing with added respect ;o) even for a sound product. Unless presented well, any concept however strong it might be, can fail.
Waiting for Munna Bhai goes to America now, for the humour, for the performances, for the songs and then for a MESSAGE :o)

Life is calling where are you???!!!

2007-04-21T11:38:00.001+05:30

Those were the days when I was fresh out of college, those were the days when the recession was nearing to an end, those were the days when people desperately wanted to get into ANY job available, I was one among them....

Having seen my seniors struggling to get into a job, my confidence level had hit the bottom. Besides there was a realization that the knowledge which we have got (???) during the graduation is not going to help much in the world of reality. So I accepted the very first offer came my way, that of a startup, for a very low salary.

Company is real good, started by 3 good people. The problem was with the one or two people who were not very comfortable working with women. Terrible was the feeling when people don't look at you when you are discussing something technically, pathetic it was when they start in their native language in the middle of a meeting and I sit there blinking. No complaints. Sometimes the brought-up decides a lot about a person's behaviour. But must say that company gave me very good projects to work on, to make me an experienced, mature professional from a fresher. All that happened was for good.
That was a low time... The salary was too small to sustain oneself in a city like Bangalore, there was kind of loneliness at work place which was reminding me of the discrimination, there were people who were so happy to prick intensionally to the "topper" who was earning lesser to them. No wonder, I was feeling so down and sad....

On one such day, when I was sitting in the bus, lost in my own thoughts, looking out of the window, in a semi-sad, semi-irritated mood, I hear the creeeech of brakes. I give a damn to it and continue to be in my own world. When the bus didn't start for a long time, I turn to see whats taking the driver so long... Two young pretty ladies, who are getting into the bus. All the irritation and the sadness in me immediately take a backseat when I realize both were BLIND.

They were trying to touch everything in their reach to get into the bus, rather trying to get into the bus. But, there was not even a tinge of irritation, not even a bit of helplessness. They were taking their own time to get into the bus, to see if the front seats were empty, to see whether the other one is also seated. Then they both start talking something very interesting and get lost in their own world of laughter, teasings and momentary silence when the bus stops, to listen to the conductor.

Here I am sitting,cribbing, ignoring all the beatiful and useful things God has bestowed upon me and there they are, ignoring all the inabilities and enjoying life to the fullest. Suddenly the world started looking colourful, suddenly the world appeared to be full of hope, optimism and courage. I had tears in my eyes for them, but it was the self-worth which was prominent in their otherwise-lightless eyes. Their stop comes and they try to get out of the bus, helping each other, giggling all the way, but I couldn't take them out of my mind....

Even now when I feel disappointed about something which didn't turn up as expected, crib about something without which I could still do very well, these two blind people silently creep into my mind, try to touch each and every corner of it, giggle and laugh all the way to show, world is a much better place, if we choose to see it. All those moments I mutter inaudibly "Thank God, for everything..."

As a famous kannada poetry goes... ಇರುವುದೆಲ್ಲವ ಬಿಟ್ಟು ಇಲ್ಲದುದರೆಡೆಗೆ ತುಡಿವುದೀ ಮನ... which says ignoring everything we have, our mind craves for those which we don't. The day when we realise the worth of what we have, that day we are the happiest....

:o)

Brew @Ha Ha

2007-04-07T17:21:00.001+05:30

Accidentally discovered a different coffee shop in Koramangala today. Brew @ Ha ha. Thought of getting into the place just to get a few moments away from scorching sun. The view inside this coffee shop really provided me such cooling affect, of course there is an AC, but there are lot more things than an ordinary coffee shop. At once side this coffee shop has bright lights, drawings of humans on walls and coffee tables. At the other side, there is a carpet area where lotsa colourful jumbo pillows are stacked on GROUND!!! For bean bag fans, there are few tables with bean bags.

Removing the footware, I just fell on those mammoth pillows and enjoyed the cool air. Awesome experience I must say!!! Then comes a guy with nice smile and very good mannerisms. The menu is quite strange, this has Calvin's coffee (with peanut butter which is Calvin's favourite), Beatles coffee with a tinge of pepper and very many things like that. Price is okay too. We lay there enjoying the ambience of the place and I see a rack with lotsa games, yes the menu also says any game at price 20 per hour.

Wow!!! We pick up some penguin catching fishes game and there comes our ordered food stuff. A major quiche fan, I ordered mushroom and spinach quiche and my friend ordered samosas with Calvin's and Beatles coffee. Food is good and I don't say the coffees were outa this world. Coffee was milder to me as now I have upgraded myself from Coffee Day to Barista, for strong coffee :o) ok common, what else you expect from a girl from Coffee Land - Chikmagalur???

We start off with the game and there is this guy, Imran, a courteous and pleasant steward, who sat with us and helped us understand the game. The game started with slow pace but then took up all our interest and we start fighting. We even call Imran to judge our "This is not the right move / this absolutely is the right move" argument :o) Felt as if all those barriers betwee youth and childhood disappeared in a jiffy and there I am a smal girl fighting over a silly game.
Time to wind up!!! The steward comes and asks us politely whether we liked the place, food and the game & whether we wish to come again :o) Oh Sure, this time with a big bunch of friends, to relax, to fight over those silly games & to make up for all the lost time !!!Oops!!! Forgot, this place is just next to Jyothi Nivas College, Koramangala.

How come people can be so very immature???

2007-04-06T12:57:00.001+05:30

Hmmm, wanted to write something good today, but then got disturbed by seeing something... Happened to browse through a Community in Orkut where I am a member. Yes its the "Mungaru Male" community. There I saw a discussion in which a guy very happily says...

I strongly feel that Girls are not brave enuf to unfold their love in front of their parents. Hence its always said "Love is just a chapter in girls life but HISTORY in guys life "

Boss, take a chill pill!!! How many girls have you seen to judge this way??? Are you God or something to get into people's mind and check the bravery quotient???

With the kind of studies, work and responsibilities girls are taking these days I am hardly able to see any difference in the mentality of a guy and girl. There is hardly any difference in feelings, emotions or sufferings in both the catagory, after all both are humans!!! Some people show it, some does not.

I have seen girls going to the end of this world to get the guy they like. Going through all sorts of pains for years to convince their parents. I have even seen guys for whom this is just a timepass activity. But then, there are girls for whom its just fun and there are guys for whom this is the matter of life and death. But can I genaralize it? Akshu, you should be nuts if you gonna do that!!!

What did you say?? he might be uneducated??? Man... He is into Human Resources!!! God save girls who are going to apply to the company where he is the HR!!! Having sucha good education I still don't understand how people can be biased, opinionated and immature!!! If he had any painful experience, my sympathy. But is this an excuse to comment on somebody???

Aaaaaaaahhhhh!!! Chuck it off... Wanted to write about the books I got today and about the books which are man's best friends. Bought "Blink", The power of thinking without thinking, "What do I do, when I want to do everything"... More about them tomorrow :o)

Here I am...

2007-04-06T00:55:00.001+05:30

Finally here I am proving my online existance... Though I had created this blog way back in 2006 never got an opportunity to pump life into it. Here comes that moment ;o)

Considering that this is my first post, let me keep it very simple, and light on heart, yours and mine too.... Then how about a review for the movie which remained to be my favourite for past few months, which set a new standard for kannda movies, utilized in-house scenic beauty, introduced soul-warming melodious & meaningful songs.... Oh the list goes on....

Let me start with the first highlight of the movie, the SONGS. After a long time, here comes a movie with amazingly melodious songs with excellent lyrics. If 'anisuthide' potrays strong love of hero, 'araluthiru' does justice to a woman's thinking. If 'mungaru maleye' makes you feel the initial rains, 'kunidu kunidu baare' touches you with its lighter note. Can't help but to hum...

ಅರಳುತಿರು ಜೀವದ ಗೆಳೆಯ, ಸ್ನೇಹದ ಸಿಂಚನದಲ್ಲಿ, ಬಾಡದಿರು ಸ್ನೇಹದ ಹೂವೇ, ಪ್ರೇಮದ ಬಂಧನದಲ್ಲಿ...

The next highlight is the way Coorg and Jog falls are picturized. WOW!!!! I was spell bound, I felt as if I am standing in the rain. Amazing Job!!!

Then comes our Hero, Ganesh or commonly called Comedy Time Ganesha!!! My first thought about the movie was "ಛೇ ಅವ್ನ ಪಿಚ್ಚರ್ ಗೆ ಯಾರು ಹೋಗ್ತಾರೆ!!!" One tight SSSSLLLLLAAAAAAAAAPPPPP!!! Superb acting, or the character itself was too good, never mind, did complete justice to his character and stands tall as an actor... This guy will go a long way... Waiting for his next movie to get released :o)

Ananth Nag, Sanjana Gandhi, both moms are worth a mention. It was a superb effort by the entire team. I am so happy for the movie, its still running housefull, nearing to 100 Days!!! The best part is to see my northie friends to have it as their caller tunes/ ring tones, a few asked me for the translation too... Feels Great!!!