Hello! Is there anybody in there?

For the past few hours I have been alone at the hostel. And by alone, I really mean it. There's absolutely nobody around me, in a place where I'm used to all sorts of loud noises. The solitude is somehow getting to me. I don't know what to do. There is just nothing happening around here. The distant thud of a slammed door and the barking of a dog are the only sounds that I get to hear. And even they are somehow reassuring, in fact, almost welcome. Why have I selected this seclusion? I do not know. But I guess I must enjoy this solitude as long as I can, for I shall be going to Mumbai for Mood Indigo tomorrow and I definitely won't be getting any solitude there. So might as well enjoy it as it lasts. And watch the video of Comfortably Numb once more...

Being Santa

Of all the people you love as kids, one person definitely features very high up in the list - Santa Claus. All of us, for some time or the other have totally believed in the existence of Santa. In fact I used to believe in him till I was about 7-8 years old. But of course all of us grow of the I-believe-in-Santa period and then do not care much for him till maybe lots of years into the future when you would pretend to be Santa for your kids. For me however, going around this circle has taken very little time.
As some of you might be aware, my mother runs a nursery school. And over the last few years I have been involved with the school in a variety of roles ranging from sweeper to substitute teacher (but mostly as the computer expert). But today I donned a new role - I was Santa Claus! It wasn't easy I tell you, wearing a cushion inside the Santa pants so as to look fat, but it was definitely worth it. My job was pretty simple - ask the children their names and give them each a few chocolates. Needless to say they had a blast! They even ended up mobbing me towards the end! All this even brought a smile to my face - it just felt so good to be loved so much. I hope the children loved it and that they would believe in Santa Claus for some time more. After all , its important to believe in something .
And yes, before I leave, Greetings from Santa - Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas to you all!

I did it...

I've done many crazy things in my life. In fact, it is one of my major, and most enjoyable, hobbies. And today I added another item to this ever-expanding list.


I saw No Smoking.


And I actually liked it.


And I seriously recommend the movie to anyone who hasn't seen it yet.

Check your traveller IQ

Think you know a lot about the world? Think you're damn good at geography? Think you can locate any place in the world without a second thought? Well, if so, take the Traveller IQ test to check your traveller IQ. I scored a 115 in my first attempt. So what's your score?

Put your running shoes on

That's right. This Sunday is the time to stop being lazy and to get some of that fat off your body. It's the 22nd Pune International Marathon. And do you know what is so special about this edition? This will be the first time that the AIDS Charity Run would be featuring - me!!!
So are you in or are you out?

Om Shanti Om

It's been a long time since I saw a movie on the first day of its release. The last time was way back in 1998 when I saw the Govinda starrer 'Hum Tumpe Marte Hain' (Prizes for those who remember the movie). Anyways, even back then I didn't regret watching the movie and even today, watching OSO turned out to be quite an experience.
The start of the movie is lovely. It begins with Rishi Kapoor swaying to the beats of the song 'Om Shanti Om' from the movie Karz. The first half is set in the 70s with all the stars like Dev Anand, Rajesh Khanna, Manoj Kumar etc being represented by their duplicates. But what I really loved was the first hour or so of the movie. It's full of references to Hindi movies. In fact the story doesn't start at all during the first half an hour - it just has sequences from 70s movies recreated brilliantly using CGI. The way Rajesh Khanna, Jeetendra & Sunil Dutt are brought to life is just brilliant. You wish it never ends.
But unfortunately it does and then begins the story. It isn't much of a story and actually who cares. The main attraction of the second half is a song which features almost all of Bollywood. For further details read the list at the bottom. The portrayal of Bollywood is brilliant. Other than that, the movie goes on and it has its fair share of funny moments. All the songs are a treat to the eye. In fact the whole movie itself is great eye-candy. Not one moment of it is boring - a total masala flick. The songs might not be that good, but there's a lot going on even during the songs so at the end of the movie you remember the video but have no clue about the songs or their lyrics. As I said earlier, who cares anyways? All that matters is that the film is a total entertainment package and is definitely worth a look.
And now for the list. I spotted the following stars in the movie. Let me know if you spot any more:
Sanjay Dutt, Karisma Kapoor, Rani Mukherjee, Abhishek Bachchan, Amitabh Bachchan, Rakesh Roshan, Hrithik Roshan, Feroze Khan, Bappi Lahiri, Akshay Kumar, Subhash Ghai, Rishi Kapoor, Shabana Azmi, Jeetendra, Tushar Kapoor, Arbaaz Khan, Zayed Khan, Vidya Balan (looking great), Shilpa Shetty, Priyanka Chopra, Preity Zinta, Bobby Deol, Dharmendra, Urmila Matondkar, Aftab Shivdasani, Malaika Arora, Amrita Arora, Dino Morea, Rekha, Mithun Chakraborty, Suniel Shetty, Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Bipasha Basu, Sanjay Kapoor, Lara Dutta (also looking great), Ameesha Patel, Diya Mirza and Karan Johar. Whew! That's it, hopefully.

P.S: Do NOT miss the Sooraj Barjatya reference. It's too good!!

Height of Cricket Fever

For all of you who thought that I was bit too cricket crazy, read this and change your mind. It combines two of my favourite passions - trekking and cricket. And I wish to do something similar one day.

The truth is out...

Circa 2004: Gen Pervez Musharraf is impressed by Dhoni's locks and begs him not to cut them off
Late October 2007: Dhoni crops his hair to sport a new, shorter cut.
Early November 2007: Gen Pervez Musharraf, disturbed by recent events, declares a state of emergency in Pakistan.

Now we know why.

12 Angry Men

I don't know why but I have this fetish for movies entirely, or at least mostly, shot in one place. Like Reservoir Dogs, which was largely based in a warehouse, Phone Booth and Dog Day Afternoon (another Lumet movie). These movies stand out because of their brilliant direction, acting and screenplay. It's pure cinema - no action sequences, no dreams, no beautiful locations, no frills - just pure brilliance.
The reason why I'm mentioning it here is because I just saw another movie of the kind. The movie in question is 12 Angry Men starring Henry Fonda and directed by Sidney Lumet. The plot is simple - it's about a jury reaching a conclusion in a case of murder. Everything is kept simple - the entire movie (except for 3 minutes) is shot inside a Jury Room in a courthouse. Even the characters have no names and are called by their numbers. The movie has a great pace and is never dull. The manner in which the jury members turn, one by one, is shown brilliantly. No wonder it's ranked as high as 13 on IMDB's all time list.
It's a pity there are very few (if any) such Hindi movies and also few recent Hollywood movies of the kind. So until the next one comes along, watch 12 Angry Men, you won't regret it.

Tumne mujhse mera khoon cheen liya..

I have a very strange quality. I feel very little pain. It's amazing but true (though this doesnt give you the freedom to hit me). I have a long history of cuts, wounds and other such injuries going entirely unnoticed just because they didn't pain at all. Most of the time I dont even realise that I'm hurt until I see a pool of blood on the ground due to my injury. This had become quite a joke to my friends who called me 'insensitive', a 'stone' and said that I ' had become comfortably numb'. As for me, it meant that I am always on the lookout for new ways to test my lack of pain. And mainly because of this reason, and also because of a desire to prove to myself that I'm still brave, I went for the blood donation camp in college. I figured getting the blood sucked out of you had to hurt. So I turned up, got my haemoglobin levels checked and then got ready to donate blood. Though I did feel a bit nervous I decided that going through with it was important for me to check my pain quotient. So with a purely selfish motive I did it. I put on my stoic face, which is reserved for such occasions ( others call it the extreme constipation look), and got ready to get a needle injected into me. And it was nothing. It didn't hurt a bit. The entire procedure, I barely felt anything. I had also heard stories of people fainting and all after donating blood. But I didn't feel a thing, neither during it, nor after it. In fact, within minutes of donating blood I was back riding my bike. So it was just another addition to the list of things that don't cause me pain (other items on this list include swallowing bubble gum, cutting myself while shaving & watching pathetic hindi movies). In fact the only time I got really nervous was when I was being injected with the needle. Not because of the needle, or the pain, but because of the fact that they were playing Kal Ho Naa Ho in the background. I mean come on, here you are, with a needle in your arms and the last song you want to hear is a song about a guy who dies in not so different circumstances than the one you are in. But that's what they decide to play. That's life I guess. So my quest goes on. So if anyone else has a painful plan in mind, do contact me. I'm ready for anything!

Dirty Dancing

If you were fortunate enough to be present in SGS Magnum Mall on Thursday at around 5 pm, you would have had an opportunity to see one of those rare sights - a sight that you rarely get to see and one which was definitely worth watching. Because at that time, me and my pal Kalpak were dancing to the tune of Dhoom Again to the unbounded delight of the entire crowd present there. Sad but true.
What happened was that McDowells was having a promotion stall in the mall for the Shankar Ehsaan Loy concert which was scheduled for the next day. And they were distributing goodies to anybody who would accept their challenge. Never one to shy away from a challenge (or from a bag of free goodies) I immediately accepted and went on stage along with Kalpak. It should be noted that all the challenges before ours consisted of silly stuff like shouting 'Cheers to Life' as loudly as possible. So I expected this to be something similar. Unfortunately fate had something else in store.
There was a guy dancing to Dhoom Again at the other end of the mall. So we were given a simple task - to copy his moves. What followed was possibly the funniest dance ever - me and Kalpak trying our best to imitate the other guy (who was pretty good) and making a mess out of it. There was no such thing as synchronisation - in fact at times it seemed that all three of us were dancing separately. And some of the moves were so stiff that some of the audience even fell over laughing at our incompetence. Kalpak even stopped once in between but seeing me dancing with gay abandon, he continued, pathetically, to sway to the beats. Unfortunately were not able to record this to add to our existing stock of bad dances, but by the common consensus of all those present, it was a pretty bad dance all right. And what we got was tickets for the concert. I didn't go there myself and neither did Kalpak but guess what, the whole show got canceled. Which was a pity. I guess we should have been there. If not a music concert, the whole public would have at least got a chance to see a great dance. As I said, a great pity indeed.

And the winner is...

I had secretly decided to award the 2000th visitor to my blog. And guess what, today the target was achieved. And the winner is....

Me.

I get a chocolate.

Yippeee!!

Goodbye Aloo

To be quite honest, initially I wasn't a very big fan of Inzamam-ul-Haq. He seemed to be a very lazy cricketer to my innocent eyes. Slow between the wickets, slow in the field & even slow while playing his shots. It was as if I was watching the game in slow motion. But as I grew up, I realised that his laziness was not a vice but something of a virtue. He seemed to have the time in the world to play his shots. He was never hurried into anything, never bullied into submission. And plus his laziness had a sort of elegance to it. I have to admit, Inzy had charm, the sort of charm the rest of the so-called "professional" cricketers lacked. He was like the common man's representative in the world of cricket. He was one of us, and yet while batting, he became one of them. Or even better than them.
And then who could forget the great fun we had watching Inzy giving press conferences. He was the one who made post match press conferences interesting with his style of talking & the stock phases that he consistently used ( " Inshallah, the boys played well today"). He might not have been the shrewdest captain and definitely was not the most media-savvy one around but he led by example - and his record speaks volumes about his dedication to the game.
But alas he's gone now and we shall miss him. Cricket really needs more characters like him and not the automatons that we see nowadays. And before I leave, I'll leave you with my favourite Inzy story, as told by Aamer Sohail.

"We were at a warm-up game in Zimbabwe once and the fast bowlers were on with the old ball. I was standing at slip with Inzi next to me. We crouched down as you do when the bowlers were coming in. Four or five balls later, I noticed Inzi was still crouching and surprised, I asked him if everything was ok. He replied, "I'm fine, just trying to sleep. The ball is old and reversing so there's hardly a chance there will be any edges to snap up."

The looong weekend

I'm having an extended weekend right now, thanks to the college having a holiday on friday. I guess that's the main reason why I have so much time to spare. I have absolutely no plans for the weekend. I am not going home, nor am I meeting anyone. I was going to hang out with my friends tonight but that ain't happening either. To kill time I decided to label all the posts on my blog but even that is done now. I have run out of movies to watch. And I just can't study with the exams more than a month away. So basically I don't have the slightest idea of what to do (though this does NOT mean that you can offload your dirty work onto me)
Hence since yesterday I have been working on my homepage. Most of you might not know this, but my homepage has been up for 364 weeks (or 7 years!). However I hadn't visited it myself for months and hadn't edited it for years. In fact before I restarted working on it (which was yesterday) it still read 'I have just appeared for my HSC examination'. So as a part of my massive reconstruction plan, I have already started a blog there which is kind of strange because I have to copy paste my posts from here to there and change all the here s to there s and vice-versa which is kinda annoying and hence I might not do that in the future when I don't have time for such silly stuff. Now I have decided to upload all my photos onto my homepage, so that all those of you who have unfortunately not seen enough of me during the last week can now do so online. But unfortunately my big plans for the website end here, I have no idea what to do next. There's a BCQC session tomorrow, so that's a relief. But that still leaves a day and a half with nothing to do. When will this weekend end? When can I get back to my normal life where I keep cribbing about how long the week is and how short the weekends are? When? There seems to be no end to this..

Johnny Gaddar

Sometimes you have a hunch that a certain movie is going to be great. There is no logic for it. You just do. Johnny Gaddar was one of those hunches. I just loved the name. And I just had to watch it. Which I did today. And I really loved the movie. The pace, the style, the 70s feel during the titles, everything!
And more importantly, I am loving the fact that I actually backed such a wild hunch and it came good. Now why doesn't this happen during exams?

A new beginning

Out of sheer lack of anything interesting to do and also as an attempt to avoid complete google-isation of my online identity, I have hence forth decided to blog here, instead of here. Since most of you are familiar with my old blog, I shall be updated both blogs simultaneously for a while after which I plan to shift here totally. At least that's the plan. And I really don't have a very good follow through record for plans hatched up at 2 in the night. So let's see what happens

Growing up brothers

Growing up brothers is kind of a mixed bag. Strangers, warriors, enemies, idiots, friends. One day you fight to the death; the next, you lay down your lives for each other.
- The Wonder Years

Missing you bro...

Hat-trick!!

For those of you who might have mistaken this for a review of the recent dumb bollywood flick, you can rest assured for it is no such thing. This is a hat-trick of an entirely different kind...
Well my Hostel I-card has never been something that I have treasured. Actually I have plenty of reason to treasure it, as every year I am the last guy to get a seat in the hostel on account of my rapidly degrading grades. But still, somehow, I don't care much about it. And that forms the basis of my hat-trick. Because the hat-trick signifies the third time in three years that my Hostel I-card has been confiscated.
Lets Rewind:
The 1st incident:
Circa Sep 2005. The Mid-Semester examination of my first engineering semester. 6 papers in six days. Back to back. And back then I was a raw, eager first year chap who had scored great marks in the 12th boards and the CET. So at 3 in the night, you would expect me to be either studying or fast asleep. But well, I always have had this penchant for pulling off absurd and absolutely crazy stunts. And this day was just another page in my ever expanding book of crazy stunts. I wasn't studying at 3 am. I wasn't even asleep. Instead I was playing cricket in the hostel corridor. Now you know why I am called a cricket nut. So at 3 in the night, me and my friends were busy playing cricket and making a lot of noise too. This aroused the rector from his sleep and he came to see what was happening. And at that exact time I was batting. I can still remember the scene. I had just played a forward defensive stroke and had been batting for quite a while. So after playing the shot I looked up and hoped to see some appreciation of my technique on the faces of my friends. But instead what I saw was the rector coming towards me. And I couldn't even say I wasn't there, after all I had the bat in my hand. Caught red-handed. And my innings came to a premature end. What a way to end a perfectly fine innings!
Epilogue: Our I-cards were confiscated and all of us were slapped a fine of Rs 100. All my friends duly paid it and collected their I-cards as soon as possible. As for me, well, I didn't give much of a damn. I didn't collect my I-card till after the year ended. And guess what, I didn't pay the fine either.

The 2nd incident:
Well this happens to be the least interesting of the three. It happened in early second year, around Sep 2006 I guess. The day it happened was possibly the third time in the week that I had come back to the hostel after the deadline of 11 pm. And this time I overshot it by a good three hours. So I guess I left the security guards with no choice but to relieve me of my I-card. This time though, I did give a damn and got it back in about a week's time.

The 3rd incident:
This was the third and final blow. And it happened today, a few hours ago. It was my friend's birthday and all my friends got together to celebrate. We ate cake, kicked the hell out of the birthday guy and were gonna go back to bed in peace when suddenly the warden turned up. And I made a great escape from the crime scene and successfully came back to my bunker (or room if you wish to call it so). I was about to celebrate a successful exit when I got a call. Someone had betrayed me. And it turned out to be Apoorv Vaidya who did the treachery. My name was on their list and I was a hunted man. So instead of facing the ignominy of the warden coming to my room and taking my I-card, I voluntarily went to him and handed him my I-card. And that, ladies and gentlemen, completes the hat-trick. Let's see how long it takes me to get my I-card back this time.

P.S. : While writing this post I realised that all three events took place in the month of September. I guess it must be the weather. And I can't wait for September 2008.

Yuvi's revenge

They say that in cricket, as in life, things tend to level out over a period of time. In case of Yuvraj & Dmitri, it has happened pretty soon.
No one can forget the 5 sixes that Dmitri Mascarenhas hit off Yuvraj Singh during the ODI series last month in England. However, soon after, Mascarenhas got a taste of his own medicine when he was clobbered for a few sixes against New Zealand. And today, finally, Yuvi got his revenge. Six sixes in a single over. Unbelievable. And spare a thought for the poor Stuart Broad. He is one of the best bowlers England have produced of late. Let's hope he doesn't suffer too much mentally as a result of Yuvi's onslaught.
And another important thing about Yuvi's sixes was that for the first time ever, despite years of watching cricket, I was present for a major record being created by an Indian. I have great timing when it comes to such things. I can still recall the day Kumble took all ten wickets. I was watching the Pakistani innings till they reached a hundred for no loss when I finally gave up. Kumble took his first wicket when the score was 115 and the rest was a glorious chapter in Indian cricket history, but just another short afternoon nap for me.
Amongst others I have also missed Dhoni's 183*, major portions of Sehwag's 309 and Laxman's 281 and all of India's recent test victories. But it seems now that the tide is changing and my timing is improving. Lets hope I get to see many more great Indian feats in the future. And I also hope poor old Stuart looks at this with a broad perspective (pun intended). After all, his name is also permanently entered in the record books.
But for now, England have got off to a flier. And though I know they have no chance of winning, I don't want to miss a single moment of the action. So see you later..

Watching Sholay

Yesterday I saw Sholay for what must have been the 40th or even the 50th time in my life. And I still feel really bad every time I see Amitabh die during the movie. For me, Sholay is a timeless epic, the greatest movie ever. And therefore the emotions in the movie too are very life-like. And that is something no amount of Aag by any director can recreate...

(I CAN'T GET NO) SATISFACTION

I can't get no satisfaction
I can't get no satisfaction
'Cause I try and I try and I try and I try
I can't get no, I can't get no
Satisfaction

Dhekun 2 : Evolution

All those who have ever spent time at the College of Engineering, Pune Hostel must have had a number of close encounters of the fourth kind with the Dhekun (bedbugs). Especially all those who were unfortunate enough to spend time at the dreaded I-block. So when I finally left I-block after one year of suffering, I thought that my tryst with the Dhekuns had ended. However, it has proved to be otherwise.
I have now come across a new species. They have evolved from their predecessors and have grown resistance to all forms of insecticides. In fact, they seem to thrive on them because everytime I spray insecticide, they seem to grow in numbers. And whereas all these years I was happily Dhekun - resistant myself, I used to be fast asleep even though I had lots of them crawling over me, it seems that these new suckers have found a way to trouble me too with their constant biting and their penchant for exploring all parts of my bed. And it seems that the new species has evolved intellectually as well, they have started their attack right during my exams - the time when I am least likely to bother them and also the time when I spend most of the day in bed. They have decided not to let me sleep and I have decided to fight it out like a man. It's war now - Man v/s Beast. And though the man may not be doing much on the war front right now, I'm warning you Dhekuns - I'm gonna getcha !

An extract from the little master's diary

I promise not to be dismissed in the 90s again.
I promise not to be dismissed in the 90s again.
I promise not to be dismissed in the 90s again.
I promise not to be dismissed in the 90s again.
I promise not to be dismissed in the 90s again.
I promise not to be dismissed in the 90s again.
I promise not to be dismissed in the 90s again.
I promise not to be dismissed in the 90s again.
I promise not to be dismissed in the 90s again.
I promise not to be dismissed in the 90s again.
I promise not to be dismissed in the 90s again.
I promise not to be dismissed in the 90s again.

The ICC World Twenty20

Now here's a tournament that I'm really looking forward to. Even though I am somewhat a purist when it comes to cricket, especially since I prefer Tests to ODIs, I have to admit that I love the shortest version of the game. It is a lot of entertainment. And although it is very hard on the bowlers, I don't feel so bad because it is good for the crowds, which is what you want, and also because I no longer belong to the category of bowlers, since it is quite a while since I last bowled my Shane Warne-ish leg spin. (The comparison is made purely on the basis of the action and nothing else. Though I do not deny the presence of a few zooters in my repertoire)
But coming back to Twenty20, I first fell in love with the game when it was first introduced in England as a domestic championship. I remember watching a lot of matches at that time and I found it very refreshing since the matches lasted only as long as a bollywood movie and had a much better plot. The plethora of big hitting, the non-stop action and the inevitable close endings made me a big supporter of this new format. I hoped that there would soon be more Twenty20 matches in the future as I was already pretty bored with the 50 over format. And now that dream is finally coming true. The location for the event seems proper as hard pitches will be aplenty. Also the idea of having a tournament with the inauguartion and the final only 13 days apart is very appealing, especially to one who has suffered the pains of an excruciatingly long world cup. And then again there is the added attraction of an Indo-Pak encounter, which thankfully is on the night when my exam gets over. I really thank my college for its thoughtful consideration while planning the exams.
However, I do have a small complaint against it. It's the name. It is called the ICC World Twenty20. That's it. No championship, no series, no cup nothing. Come on ICC, is that what you name the event which might change cricket forever?

Surprise test blues

Well to be quite honest, I wasn't expecting to do very well in the new surprise tests that the college has forced on us. Since the start of my BTech innings I have always relied on heavy slogging towards the end to get me through. Regular studies, attending lectures et al has never been my forte. So maybe I should have been expecting such a scenario.
But then I always had faith in myself, that somehow I'll get through the tests unscathed but it was not to be. I had just 3 tests to deal with and my record has been totally miserable. I missed the first, was mediocre in the second & totally clueless in the third. Even Manchester United had a better start to their season. Maybe it's because I am yet to get used to the whole pattern. Maybe my approach was wrong. Maybe there's something missing in my preparation. Maybe its something psychological. Or maybe I just didn't study. But somehow something feels wrong. Just need to figure it out.
But there is always hope. And the mid-semester exam is coming close. Maybe it's time for me to finally score. After all, Man U did win their next match...

My latest addiction

If you have met me of late and have heard me constantly mumbling the same tune all over again, then it was probably Tangled up in blue by Bob Dylan. I am slowly coming to love all of Dylan's songs but somehow it is this one which appeals to me the most. Maybe it's the beauty of it's lyrics - simple & yet moving. Nobody writes such stuff anymore. It's a pity.
And here are the above mentioned lyrics:

Early one mornin the sun was shinin,
I was layin in bed
Wondrin if shed changed at all
If her hair was still red.
Her folks they said our lives together
Sure was gonna be rough
They never did like mamas homemade dress
Papas bankbook wasnt big enough.
And I was standin on the side of the road
Rain fallin on my shoes
Heading out for the east coast
Lord knows Ive paid some dues gettin through,
Tangled up in blue.

She was married when we first met
Soon to be divorced
I helped her out of a jam, I guess,
But I used a little too much force.
We drove that car as far as we could
Abandoned it out west
Split up on a dark sad night
Both agreeing it was best.
She turned around to look at me
As I was walkin away
I heard her say over my shoulder,
We'll meet again someday on the avenue,
Tangled up in blue.

I had a job in the great north woods
Working as a cook for a spell
But I never did like it all that much
And one day the ax just fell.
So I drifted down to new orleans
Where I happened to be employed
Workin for a while on a fishin boat
Right outside of delacroix.
But all the while I was alone
The past was close behind,I seen a lot of women
But she never escaped my mind, and I just grew
Tangled up in blue.

She was workin in a topless place
And I stopped in for a beer,
I just kept lookin at the side of her face
In the spotlight so clear.
And later on as the crowd thinned out
I was just about to do the same,
She was standing there in back of my chair
Said to me, dont I know your name?
I muttered somethin underneath my breath,
She studied the lines on my face.
I must admit I felt a little uneasy
When she bent down to tie the laces of my shoe,
Tangled up in blue.

She lit a burner on the stove and offered me a pipe
I thought youd never say hello, she said
You look like the silent type.
Then she opened up a book of poems
And handed it to me
Written by an italian poet
From the thirteenth century.
And every one of them words rang true
And glowed like burnin coal
Pourin off of every page
Like it was written in my soul from me to you,
Tangled up in blue.

I lived with them on montague street
In a basement down the stairs,
There was music in the cafes at night
And revolution in the air.
Then he started into dealing with slaves
And something inside of him died.
She had to sell everything she owned
And froze up inside.
And when finally the bottom fell out
I became withdrawn,
The only thing I knew how to do
Was to keep on keepin on like a bird that flew,
Tangled up in blue.

So now Im goin back again,
I got to get to her somehow.
All the people we used to know
Theyre an illusion to me now.
Some are mathematicians
Some are carpenters wives.
Dont know how it all got started,
I dont know what theyre doin with their lives.
But me, Im still on the road
Headin for another joint
We always did feel the same,We just saw it from a different point of view,
Tangled up in blue.

The Simpsons Movie

Well, let me keep this real short. The movie is amazing. Just too good. The best movie to have been released recently. In fact one of the best ever. It's the grand-daddy of all other movies. Beats the hell out of all other animation movies or in fact all other movies.
But that's not why you should watch the movie. The reason why you should watch the movie is that if all of you who haven't seen the movie yet, to quote Homer, "are a total bunch of suckers. All of you. Especially YOU!"

The New Look

As you can very obviously see (and for all my braille readers - 'as your fingers can very obviously feel'), my blog has undergone a major revamp. I request all of you to please send me your valuable feedback regarding the makeover. Both bouquets & brickbats are welcome!

A word of advice...

I know I'm not the first one to mention this and might not be the last one to do so either. But this is really a piece of wisdom worth sharing.

Thought of the day (or maybe month):

"If you die a virgin, in heaven you have to have sex with a terrorist."

-Timothy Dreier, commenting on the Reason Hit and Run Blog.

Quoted by Kunal S in Ceteris Paribus

So do the right thing before it's too late.

And for now, excuse me. I have some, eh, work to do.

Rain rain don't go away!

I actually managed to get up at 5:30 in the morning today. And it might well be due to the constant patter of the rain on the roof. So I got up and looked outside and I saw puddles of water forming on the ground outside. And all this made me very happy. That's because I was planning to go on a trek for quite some time but couldn't because there was no rain. But it's evening now and it's been raining almost throughout the day. So I guess the rains have finally arrived! So I would definitely be going on a monsoon trek next weekend. Yippeee!! I could start shouting out of sheer joy.
In fact the sight of the heavy rain early in the morning made me so happy that I promptly went back to bed. After all, you can't seriously expect me to stay awake at that time on a saturday...

Just another post

I have been online for more than two hours now. And the reason why I came online was that I felt like writing something here. But I forgot what I wanted to write about the moment I signed in. So I opened the 'Create Post' window & the window has been open for the last two hours now without me writing a single word in it. And I still can't remember what I wanted to write about. And in between I must have visited a million sites.
The only reason for me writing this is that I have been criticised as being too lazy, especially with respect to my blog. So I would like to take this chance to justify myself by saying that sometimes, there is nothing to write about. Or I just don't remember anything to write about. Either ways , not my fault.

The Count

1. Avinash Kunder
2. My tailor
3. My Aunt
4. Puneeth Shetty
5. Samarth Shrivastava
6. Sneha Das
Enough people have told me that I have grown fat over the last two months. So I'm sending a warning - the next one shall receive a free punch in the nose.

But I guess it is time that I do something about it. And blogging is certainly not going to help. So if you would please excuse me, I have a few crunches to do.

And I'm not joking about the punch in the face.

Seriously.

Movie time

Yesterday turned out to be a movie day of sorts. After all its not everyday that you watch three movies in a day (actually four, but i barely saw half an hour of Rockford). So lets go through them one by one.

Movie 1:
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
To sum it in one word : brilliant! This has to be the best Harry Potter movie ever. And though I totally despised the book as I found it very boring and very slow, the movie suffered from no such problems. It was totally dark, which I particularly liked as the book was very much the same. It was action packed, even though it had no Quidditch. And I really loved the whole 'revolting against the school authorities' part. That part of the book was really good and it has been brought alive on screen very effectively. Plus I happened to like Harry's new hairstyle. Makes him look much more mature.
But the best part (or maybe the second best part) of the movie was not on screen. It was in the form of a young girl who was sitting right beside me. She was about ten and had come with her mom to watch the movie. She would laugh out loud, and I mean really loud, and that too for no apparent reason. Many a times she would shout out "Mummy usne kya kaha??" after which her mother would very kindly explain it in short in Hindi as she too was very busy watching the movie. Only once did she fail to do so. That was when Ron asks Harry about his kiss with Cho and then asks "She was crying even while snogging?". That was too much for the mum and even she broke out into laughter (and the gift of laughing loud very obviously ran in the family) following which her daughter, who was totally oblivious, asked her the same question very innocently. Actually it's good the mother didn't explain that one.
Also the girl got very bored in between and since the theatre was empty she decided to move from her place and sat on the armrest of the chair in front of her. And I guess the armrest wasn't very comfortable as she started jumping while sitting there and soon came back to her own seat.
But fortunately, or unfortunately, they left with about half an hour to left. I can only think of three reasons why someone would leave a movie theatre before the movie ends :
a. They positively hate the movie, which was certainly not true in this case.
b. They receive an urgent phone call telling them about some emergency. Nothing like that happened.
or
c. I actually forgot the third reason.
But anyways, with half an hour left, the girl just looked at her watch and said that it was noon. And immediately both of them got up and quietly left the theatre. They weren't even in a hurry. They just left very casually. As if it was written in their day's schedule

1200 hrs Leave movie theatre

And they left with all the popcorn lying scattered on their seats and the floor. And a glass of soft drink too. Some people just have no sense I guess and I decided to think no further about the matter.
And that led to the best part of the movie.

MP3 : Mera Pehlaa Pehlaa Pyaar
I generally dont see such films. Honestly. But as I was just lazying around and the fact that all my friends wanted to see it made me watch the movie. And happily enough, it wasn't that bad!
The movie is very obviously a love story, between a guy Rohan and a girl Ayesha, set in high school. A few minutes into the movie you realise that there is absolutely nothing logical about the movie. For eg: Rohan is very rich. He asks his dad for 2000 bucks for his date. He actually drives his dad's car while dropping the girl home. Yet, he goes to school everyday on a bicycle. I guess he must be one of those environment friendly kinds. So basically it's best if you just kept your brain out of the entire matter.
The second thing you realise about the movie is that nobody can act. Not the guy, not the girl and definitely not the gang of boys who are Rohan's friends. I have seen better acting in Inter-house dramatics competitions held in schools for the mentally challenged.
But you know what, who cares about the acting skills (or the lack of it ) of the cast. Because one thing that you definitely notice is that the girl is cute. Really cute. In fact she actually makes the whole movie worth watching. I hope she signs more movies and, if possible , this is just a very polite request, polish her acting skills. Though it must be said that her performance was better than the guy's, though that is not saying much, if it is saying anything at all.
And yes, here comes the best scene of the movie. You have to love it.

Rohan is detained by the Indian embassy in Paris. He is about to be deported. He then starts thinking about what he can do. He reminds himself that he is the man and that he can handle the situation effectively. Then he decides to play tough guy and goes to the officer working there and says
" Aap ye nahi kar sakte. Main ek Indian citizen hoon aur meri rights jaanta hoon. I have a right to make a phone call!! "
The officer thinks for a long while and then quietly says,
" Mr. Rohan. Humne aapko detain kiya hai. Arrest nahi kiya. Aap jitne chaahe utne phone calls kar sakte ho"

Too funny!

Shrek 3:
This happened to be the third movie of the day for me. Before watching the movie I had got a lot of negative feedback about the movie. And though the first two movies were better, I must say that the third wasn't all that bad either. And I'm not gonna repeat the plot as all of you must have obviously seen it but it must be said that the movie was very good, had a good story, had good moments and was very funny. Come on, what else do you want from a movie? And yeah, I just loved the baby ogres that Shrek and Fiona have in the end. They look really cute.

Though not as cute as the girl from MP3. Not even close.

And I'd better leave now. Have to watch MP3 again.

Man, she is too cute!

So long.... and thanks for all the fish!

Over the last few days I have been charting Arthur Dents's journey through the galaxy through the book, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. A totally remarkable book indeed. And possibly one of the best ones that I've ever read.

This post is not about the book.

Well, at least not entirely.

And honestly, those who think that this is a book review which will end in me awarding a rating in terms of coloured shapes with 5 edges ( or "stars") will do much better if they stop reading at this point.

This post is about My journey while reading The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

Read on..

I first heard about the existence of such a book about a year and a half ago. It was in some quiz I guess. I would love to give you the exact date, time, what the question was et al but fact is that I have totally forgotten. But as far as I can remember, which is not very far actually, it was in some quiz. And I was confronted with questions based on H2G2 (as I shall now call it) in many a college quizzes since then. And my reaction to every one of these questions was to make a face which would be very similar to the one an earthman would make when asked for directions to the Restaurant at the end of the Galaxy.

But that was not what sparked my interest in the book.

It was the laughter filled discussions that my friends would have about how funny the book is etc etc. And it was during these conversations that I heard that the book consisted of a lot of crazy people with really interesting names like Zaphod Beeblebrox, Slartibartfast, Gargavarr, Zarniwoop and - here's my personal favourite - Wowbagger the infinitely prolonged. That really made me want to read the book. After all, any book with such exotic names is bound to be funny. So I finally bought the book and started reading it.

I really loved the first part and managed to finish it off in three days. The second part I found a bit dull and hence it took me more time. And after some more time, while I was reading the third part, a huge brown coloured humanoid monster who was more depressing than Marvin the Paranoid Android ( I'm talking about Gaurav Singh) converged upon my humble residence and snatched the book away from me. Hence my journey came to an abrupt halt.

And then, for a while , all thoughts of the book vanished from my head as if they had been lost in the eddies in the space time continuum.

But then one fine day the book reappeared in my thoughts when another monster - this time a thin humanoid with spectacles and long hair whose entry in that totally remarkable book Aniket's Guide to the People in the Galaxy reads 'Mostly Harmless' - mentioned to me that he was reading the book and was having a blast. This reminded me of the fun I had had while reading the book until it was snatched by the previously mentioned monster. So I finally decided to confront the monster and after a long and successful war I managed to get back my treasured copy of H2G2. And then I promptly forgot all about the book again.

But the book resurfaced once again in my mind sometime in these vacations. And hence I decided to take a shot at reading the book once again. I spent the first day in trying to find out where I had left reading the book but after a day of false starts I realised the futility of te whole exercise and decided to start off from scratch again. That was about twenty days ago. As I started reading the book for a second time, I somehow liked it more than I did the first time, despite knowing about most of the jokes which form the crux of the content. And slowly, day by day, I once again charted Arthur Dent's totally remarkable journey though space and time in quest for the Ultimate Question about Life, the Universe and Everything! And coincidentally during the same time I was involved in one of those totally useless activities which people indulge in when they have a lot of free time - retrospection. So while Arthur Dent went around the Universe searching for the Ultimate Question, I spent time searching my soul for something like an Ultimate answer to Life, the Universe and Everything! And all of a sudden I began to relate to Dent, as we were both searching for something that somehow remained elusive. And then I decided to finish the book as soon as possible as I thought the knowledge of the outcome of Arthur Dent's quest might just help me in my own search. And so with great hope in my heart I set about finishing the book as possible.

Which I did today.

And on doing so I realised that what I had expected from the book about the quest and the search and the Ultimate answer all was just a lot of shit. And that relating to Arthur Dent was also a lot of bull shit.

So much for the hope.

But then I realised that I did gain something from the book - a lot of fun. And maybe that's what life is all about - having a lot of fun.

I shall accept that as the Ultimate Answer in want of a better one.

And for those who had to tolerate another dose of my philosophy, all I have to say is:

WE APOLOGISE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE

The perfect day

Got up late.
Didn't exercise.
Slept off again.
Chatted on the phone.
Watched TV, slept off while watching the mindless nonsense that was on.
Spent time with my friends.
Had a heavy lunch.
Slept off again.
Started reading a new book.
Slept off again.
Chatted on the phone.
Went to the library.
Had lots of junk food.
Had Tandoori chicken.
Had a heavy dinner.
Followed it up with a lot of ice-cream.
Watched a good movie.
Spent hours online doing nothing.
Still doing that.....

All in all, a perfect day.

Borat

Well I agree it took me a long time but I've finally jumped onto the Borat bandwagon. I wanted to see the movie for a long time but somehow could not find the time. Finally I managed to see the movie yesterday. I obviously couldn't watch it with my parents around so I had to stay up late at night to watch. But it was worth it!!!
Firstly, I loved the movie's name. To state it in full, it is: Borat, Cultural learnings of America for make benefit glorious nation of Kazakhstan (Hopefully I've got it right). What a name!! And then of course the movie itself. I've never seen such a vulgar, obscene, gross and yet completely brilliant movie in my whole life! And mind you, I've seen quite a few of the above stated genre but somehow Borat towers above everything else. The movie starts off brilliantly with a scene depicting Borat's house in Kazakhstan and then reaches greater heights. I loved the live gags in the news studio and also the fake interview with the feminists. Another scene I loved was where he dines with a few high society people. Absolutely hilarious! And though the scenes in which Borat and Azamat go running around (and a lot else mind you) naked in the hotel are mind bogglingly gross and makes an ugly contortion to appear on your face , which was last seen when you were four years old and were force-fed green leafy vegetables , it still remains a very good movie. I know many will loathe and despise it but for the ones who can take it, it is an unforgettable experience. So if you think you belong to the latter category, go out and get a print of Borat. And if you belong to the former, I advise you to kindly stay away.

The new-look Indian team

Let's move away from the topic of who's going to be the next coach for a while. And let's move to the people who actually make more of a difference than the coach - the players ( though a quick scan through all the news channels would make you think otherwise).
The Indian team for the forthcoming England & Ireland tours has been announced. And it has some new faces. Firstly, Ranadeb Bose. I've read his name so many times in domestic cricket scoreboards, and many times the last column in his bowling figures had a 4 or a 5 in it. It's nice to see that he has finally got a chance in the national team. Secondly, Rohit Sharma. This lad has been scoring heavily domestically too. Let's hope he can make the step up.
The one-day team features Piyush Chawla & Robin Uthappa which is great news since these two might well be the stars of the team for the next few years . I also liked the selection of Gautam Gambhir in the one-day side. He is definitely NOT a test match specialist. Also it is much better to have a stable player like him rathe than have both the slashers - Sehwag & Uthappa in the same team. That brings us to Sehwag's omission. You can't say it was totally unexpected, he was out of form for quite a while. He should learn from Ganguly and try to get his form back in domestic cricket. I'm sure that he'll make a comeback , it's just that he needs time out now. The same applies to Harbhajan Singh & Irfan Pathan. All of them have quality and real quality cannot be kept out for long. It's only a matter of time before they return. However this does create a rather interesting scenario - two of the Indian players in the Asia team (Sehwag & Harbhajan) for the recent Afro-asian cup are not in the Indian team. Good enough for the Asian team but not for Team India? Strange but true!
It has to be said that the team looks well-balanced on paper. We have enough fast bowlers, technically sound batsmen & experienced players to be successful on the England tour. Let's see what happens..

A huge sigh of relief!

The truth is finally out. Nobody killed Bob Woolmer. And I, like millions of cricket fans around the world, heave a huge sigh of relief. After all, cricket can't be so evil. Any other sport, maybe. But not my beloved cricket. It may not be a gentleman's game, but it isn't the devil's pastime either. Long live the game!!

A day of two quotes

Yesterday was a good day. I got up real late(umm no surprises there I guess). I came third in a quiz (COEP Nexus Quiz for the stastically inclined). My laptop finally got a net connection. And I didnt have to worry about the general useless stuff like studies, college, attendance etc
But most importantly, yesterday was a day of two quotes. And to understand why these two quotes were so important, I have to give you a flashback.
Act I:
Flashback:
It's 14 February. Valentine's Day. Today happens to be the 18th V-Day of my life for which I've had no reason to celebrate. And I'm only 18 years old. Every year around this time I feel sad that I'm still single. A beggar in a city of riches. A blind man in a world of sharpshooters (ok, bad example I agree but I'm in no mood to replace it). And many such more sad metaphors. Believe me you don't want to hear them. I guess it's got something to do with the weather.
But this 14 Feb turned out to be different. Today I made a vow - this shall be the last Valentine's day I shall spend alone. And I'm not alone in this, four of my friends join me in this oath-taking ceremony. So there!!

Act II:
Back to the future:
It's been 10 days since the vow. And I've made no progress on this front. I feel kind of gloomy. Pune Times doesn't help by printing an article that states that all those are single are made to feel like losers. Everyone's just rubbing it in. But then there's this flash of sunlight from out of nowhere. One of my friends makes a remark. "I guess I'm in a phase of my life now where I don't really need a Girlfriend".
That just made me feel a whole lot better.

Act III:
The other quote
I'm out with my brother. Now my brother is an E&TC engineer himself. But unlike me, he's a true E &TC engineer. He actually knows the stuff they teach in class. He's a guy who loves his field. And because of him I've always had an inferiority complex. He's the guy who knows everything while I know nothing. And come to think of it, we were brought up in the same house. But today he says something that really shocks me. He says , "Look. Just because you are an E&TC engineer, it doesn't mean that you have to pretend to be seriously interested in the co-curricular events like Robotics etc. It doesn't mean you have to like your subjects. You can't force yourself to like your subjects. That'll never do. If you think that your future lies elsewhere, don't bother about such things. Keep on doing the things that interest you. It is not a rule that you have to a job in a software firm or in an electronics company. You can go into something totally different. And don't ever for a moment think that you are wasting your time studying engineering since your future lies elsewhere. Its the attitude that matters. And once you have the right attitude, no one can stop you".
And I thought I was the one who gives long philosophical lectures. Rushikesh, you just went up many a notches higher in my book. You're the greatest brother a guy can have.

My new cricketing heroes

Everybody loves attacking batsmen, or sloggers if you happen to be a purist, everybody. Even the people who turn up their nose to a cricket match, come running back to see a really explosive player batting. Adam Gilchrist is obviously the first name that comes to mind when one thinks of attacking batsmen. Other cricketers who fall under the same category amongst current players would be Kevin Pieterson, Andrew Symonds, Sanath Jayasuriya & Shahid Afridi. But in the last month we have seen the emergence of two new cricketers to this illustious list - Mal Loye & Robin Uthappa.
At first sight there seems nothing similar between them - Robin Uthappa is a youngster who got through after a string of good performances at the under-19 level while Loye has been playing for ages and made his debut only at the age of 34. But the way they play is pretty similar - they show no regard towards the bowler and try to hit every ball out of the park. Every ball. That's why they're not as successful as other batsmen in the team. However, no one can match their entertainment skills. I'd rather see Loye slog-sweeping Shane Bond (though he did get his jaw broken when he tried the same to McGrath) & Uthappa hitting the poor Bradshaw all over the place than see Collingwood sneak singles. Let's hope that both of them have a long career ahead of them so that we get to see more such memorable moments.

I'm back

Just when all of you thought that I've left the blogosphere for good, I'm back to trouble you!! Why? Well that's a question that even I can't answer... Maybe the only reason why I'm back is that I like shocking people now & then by doing something that they I'd never thought do. Though of course this doesn't even compare to the last shocking thing I did- which was getting up at six in the morning today. Yep, on a saturday. In fact I was so shocked that I immediately went to sleep again, hence my virtuoso performance went unnoticed by the rest of the world.
Well so much for why I'm back. Another interesting question would be what the hell WAS I doing for so long? Well the last time I made a post was on November 30 last year. But since then there have been many occasions on which I've felt like writing a post & have even managed to come up with a title for a few of them. But unfortunately due to the lack of internet access, an extremely long bout of laziness (Hell, I was more active than this during the first six months of my existence) & a general disregard about my blog has lead to this enormous delay.
Publishing the posts which I should have made earlier at this time makes no sense. Hence I wont be doing that. Those posts are now forever lost to mankind. However I shall try to take care that the next time I feel like writing, I'll actually go ahead and publish it without being fettered by my laziness. But that's not a promise. In fact it's also very unlikely since I'm getting bored of this whole blogging business already.....