3 Idiots - Not too close to the script, but pretty decent..

Chetan Bhagat might have had more heartburn than just for not being credited at the beginning of the movie (he apparently took umbrage at being mentioned in the end credits). The essence of "Five Point Someone" novella has been diluted to a big extent in "3 Idiots". However, this movie belongs to the category of films that are to be watched for the director, cast, and marketing blitz.

I can’t comment on the first few minutes (including the ragging scene which is now the raison d’être for someone to slap a notice on the movie producers) which as usual, I missed. Farhan (Madhavan) is the voice over for the narrative sequences in the movie, which chronicles the lives of 3 Idiots (Farhan, Raju-Sharman Joshi and Rancchoddas Shyamaldas Chanchad - Aamir) predominantly in their college (ICE and not IIT) and a little bit post their graduation. Professor Viru Sahastrabudhhe (Boman Irani), the head of the college, gives an exaggerated, but likeable, performance as a strict custodian of the exam-cram methodology. Aamir, along with Maddy and Sharman, predictably, tries to foster a feel-good factor and emphasize the importance of seeking knowledge without mugging up the textbooks. Some of the gags in the movie are genuinely funny, the most notable one being the time when Aamir outsmarts a random supervisor who declines to accept his answer sheets. But as many people have noted, majority of the antics are predictable and the cloying goodness is far removed from one what sees in real life. Pia (Kareena), Prof Viru's daughter, comes as a fresh addition to the rather overgrown college-goers.

Rajkumar Hirani has tried real hard to keep the goodness of his reputation intact, while also striving hard to do to justice to the original book. Aamir, quite surprisingly, and Sharman are made to look the part of the college crowd, while Maddy tries to muscle his way in. The song "All Izz Well" looks much better with the visuals, but the other songs are rather insipid. The plot involving Aamir's growing up, his achievements at the end of the movie, and Prof Viru's elder daughter giving birth in the college premises, seem forced and at times impractical. The message of the movie pretty mocks at the mentality of our education system and does succeed to a very small extent. After all the movie is intended to follow the Munnabhai franchise. Watch it for the laughs, Aamir, Kareena and reminiscing college days.

Vettaikkaran - The Vettai has truly begun

Watching a Vijay movie on the 2nd day of release doesn’t equate to the euphoria one feels when watching a Rajini movie even on the 2nd week of its release. However, I went to the movie wanting to experience the hoots and whistles, which duly unfolded when "Ilaya Thalapathi's name" flashed on the screen. The excitement moved up by few notches when Vijay's clear image gradually emerged from his hazy silhouette. And the 7:15 AM start on a Saturday and Rs.100 ticket was money well spent, just for the decibel levels inside the theatre.

The story gains rapid pace as Vijay sets off running behind a corrupt and drunken cop's police vehicle and just as when we think he has given up, we find him resuming the chase with a Stetson hat on a horse - the most widely advertised poster of "Vettaikaran". As expected, he confronts the cop and dishes out a rather short and sans overtly jarring punch dialogues (Compared to his recent duds, he has reduced the punches). He plays the role of "Police" Ravi - a struggling student (he apparently has tried scaling XII exam thrice with no luck) who aspires to emulate his idol Devaraj IPS (Sri Hari) in becoming an upright police aapicer. The introductory song of Vijay received maniacal response from the audience and the peppy number also features his son towards the end. The introduction of Delhi Ganesh as his father in the movie evoked muted peals of laughter, for reasons known to our gang.

After somehow scaling XII, Vijay goes to Chennai to enroll in a college and opts to drive an auto-rickshaw to fund his studies. On his way to Chennai he encounters Susheela (Anushka) and her grandmother (Sukumari), and is bewitched by the heroine's beauty. Now comes the time to expose the scary looking villains one-by-one. Chella (Ravi Shankar) looks really menacing and gets his way with whichever lady he sets his eyes on. Unfortunately, he lusts after Vijay's college mate and so follows the first action sequence between the hero and villain. After being beaten to pulp, the villain's dad (Salim Ghouse - of Vetrivizha and Chinna Kounder fame) takes over spilling evil on screen. What follows is Vettaikaran (Vijay)'s quest for hunting down the Mirugam (Salim Ghouse). There is a clear explanation on these lines to justify the title - "Vettaikaran".

The dialogues are preachy only in places and the punch dialogues seem to have been inserted to spur the massive hysteria he commands with his huge fan base. Vijay Antony has sensed the pulse of what Vijay means to his fans, and the peppy numbers have accentuated the hero's reputation. One should find the costume designer and stylist for Vijay in the pleasant duet - "Chinna Thamirai, and ask in all earnest, the reason for the outrageous makeup.”Puli Urumudhu" and "Karigalan" (He has added some really astounding moves in this song) are the other good numbers. Vijay has managed to carry the movie with his screen-presence, action and dance sequences, and even the lighter moments. Anushka literally dwarfs her co-stars with her height, and hence her contrived dance movements appear magnified. Sayaji Shinde - the bad cop with comic timing, and VM Hanifa and Sathyan - Vijay's sidekicks, and Srinath - the dude from Vijay's college, add to the comedy track.

On pure entertainment quotient - this movie scores over Aadhavan and with Sun Picture's astute marketing should most likely help Vijay lose the bad reputation he has gained at the box office and with the masses too (The email forwards relating to Vettaikaran are testimony to this). Apparently the "Vettai" runs for 2 hr 54 mins, and the second half hurtles towards a predictable and violent climax. The villains and stuntmen in Tamil movies sporting those full white veshtis folded up to their knees, with aruvals and similar hacking weapons appear to be way too menacing for family audiences. Guess its high time the directors and casting group take note of this.

Verdict - Definitely worth watching (Provided one sets aside any positive expectations about the movie, and just goes only with the intention of getting entertained. That means, be ready to suspend your disbelief)

High on Caffeine

High on Caffeine ( HoC ) is probably an apt place to go, when most of the time one feels sleep deprived. And then comes an article in IBN stating that traditionally 93% of us Indians are short on quality snooze. But, HoC is tucked away neatly into the Mitsubishi showroom on LB Road Adyar, opposite Globus. One cant miss the advert board craving for attention, just before the Indian Oil petrol pump.

The western world's influence on Indian coffee shops are quite noticeable, and this one is no exception. The sport bar/coffee theme has been generously borrowed from the quaint one-off sports bars in the US, especially with the motor sport logo graffiti at the entrance. The day I went, there wasnt much crowd to be seen around, and few youngistan junta had plopped onto the generous sized bean-bags, sipping away to glory. There are couple of pool and foose ball tables, nintendo and playstation consoles, few neolithic white/gray leather lined chairs alongwith the centerpiece tables, and ample space. There is also a separate enclosure for the mild-mannered folks who wouldnt prefer the din of people going crazy over sport on the big screen. The biggest USP of this place could be the really good quality giant screen, which incidentally was broadcasting the T20 between India and Srilanka. It was just a happenchance that we dropped into this place, and given the smattering of crowd seen around, looks like word hasnt gone around about this relatively new-in-town coffee abode. We ordered cappuccinos ( the first drink to evaluate if we would return to a coffee shop ) and some kind of cheese loaded crouton type bread which came with few potato chips. The coffee cost Rs.50 while the crouton order cost around Rs.90. HoC lived upto its name with the cappuccino being pretty strong without we asking for it be so, but was little thin in the density aspect. The end result was that it was not too great a serving of the caffeine, but made up for it with the salivating prospect of watching more cricket games at this place. Would surely recommend for sports fans who prefer to see the big and bad games with friends to argue and cheer collectively.

P.S : Few short quips on the movies
Kurbaan - Rensil D'Silva's commendable movie on terrorism and love. Good music score, backed by strong performances from the lead pair and the supporting cast. Good watch, wont be disppointed.

Inglorious Basterds - Slash fest coupled with trigger fest. Oodles of bullet piercing the bodies and generous spurts of blood. Smug and cocky portrayal of a nazi slayer by Brad Pitt. Eli Roth ( "Hostel" director ), in a meaty role that sure looks like tailor made to suit his thought, action and direction of evil. Must see for Tarantino fans.

Vettai - Its in a league of its own, even before the release. Slated for an early morning show at Sathyam this Saturday. Watch out this space for an "objective" review ( trust me on this one ).

Dad's 60th Birthday and Thirukadaiyur

28-29 Nov 2009:

It is dad's 60th birthday and we set out on our way to Thirukadaiyur, which is where Lord Shiva apparently saved Markandeya from Yama's noose of death. The bus journey from Tambaram to Mayiladhurai was agonizing, thanks to the Ultra-Deluxe's (UD)late departure and then the magnificent stink of the pillow covers. We were so relieved to reach Moogambigai Residency in Thirukadayur after hopping onto another transit bus under the cover of early morning rain. I bought the Trichy edition of Hindu, which I spread out on the dining table at the hotel's attached restaurant. I settled for a modest plain dosa, a set of puris and a coffee. It felt good to just read the Sunday Hindu with a cup of coffee with rain splattering outside. Soon after, I flopped onto the hotel bed to snooze for a while even as the rest of the family had their breakfast. We took an auto to go the main Abirami temple to keep up the time with the usual abhishekams and archanais.

The overall experience at the temple could have been better if only the priests and the devotees had showed little more patience and consideration. Everyone seemed to be fighting for vantage spots, while the priests recited the mantras in an seemingly disinterested way and appeared to be too keen on winding up the entire process. We took few photos of dad and mom with their garlands and new attire within the temple premises, which normally is prohibited in majority of the temples. After about 2.5 hrs of activity within Lord Shiva's abode, we proceeded to the nearest hotel for a sumptous lunch ( sumptuous more because of the prolonged gap between breakfast and lunch ). Even though I was full to the brim, I checked out the prasadams after returning to the hotel room and another disappointment was in store. Of late, many temples disperse prasadams more as a rote and show no genuine interest in making the bhojanam tastier. There might be few detractors who might think prasadams are not meant for satisfying the taste buds, but I beg to differ. If someone makes and offers any kind of food in any of the holy places, it is a reflection of the mindset of the people in charge of those places. The heavy lunch ensured that we got decent rest, before we packed our things and headed to the bus stop to take us to Thiruvarur. Bro set on what turned out to be a long journey of close to 13 hours, from Thirukadaiyur to Erode. Man, he has some patience and perseverence, be it at work or travelling:-) The government UD bus back from Thiruvarur to Chennai was very comfortable and we reached Tambaram bus station on time at 4:30 in the morning. For all the humid climate in Chennai, the bus ride was unusually pretty chilly. To drive away those chills we had piping hot coffee at the long standing Bhats hotel in Tambaram junction. But for the hot beverages ( read as coffee, T and masala milk ) the rest of the hotel is in absolute dumps.

Update for 4th Dec - A morning visit to the temple followed up with rava kesari and ven pongal :-). An afternoon siesta, Indian batting collapse of sorts against SL on teletube, and a long drive to Sathyam for Kandaen Kaadhalai. To round it off, 3 aloo parathas and one samosa and then a bite into the butterscoth cake bro got home for dad' s bday. Wasnt that a fruitful day ? ( Had a banana and a guava as well :-))

P.S : I was clueless when my supervisor at work asked about the significance of the temple at Thirukadaiyur, so for ignorants such as truly yours -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirukadaiyur
http://www.pariharam.com/TempleAbiramiAmman,Thirukadaiyur.aspx?

2 States - Chetan Bhagat

This is pop-corn fiction, modelled on a bolly/kollywood movie. The book costs the usual Rs.95 ( so wouldn’t have to worry buying pirated copies ) for its 269 pages. It’s a quick read with a very simple plotline, with dollops of humour, mostly at the expense of Madrasis ( verbatim...as used in the book ). Not to cause much consternation, there is self-deprecating humour in the form of the so called over-the-top lifestyle of Punjabis :-)

The book apparently is inspired by Bhagat's real life and takes off from the time how the two protagonists ( Krish-the Punjabi thambi and Ananya Swaminathan-the Madrasi kudi ) meet at IIM-A's mess. Bhagat doesn’t spend too much real estate on developing the romance between Krish and Ananya, since the expected plot is how the two families are going to play a big role in this love saga. There is the usual muted profanity and some Un-Indian ( as claimed in the book ) behavioral pattern to remind us that our society is in the midst of a major westernization flux. Krish and Ananya land their dream jobs and the next step is to figure out how to convince their respective families.

The hero opts Chennai as his Citi posting in order to befriend the austere tam-brahm family of Ananya's. His IIT brains are put to test by the typical nerdy younger bro of the heroine, while the Tamil maami-mom is a budding carnatic singer. And of course, the dad is a devout Hindu reading "The Hindu" which he can’t do without. To complement this Tamil family caricature, Krish's side has a retired army officer for dad ( in his chauvinistic best ) and a loud blink-i-will-cry mom who loves food and is always on the lookout for more dowry and status show-offs. There are the usual Punjabi names and the mandatory family wedding and similar such predictable references. After all machinations, Krish does end up getting the consent of Ananya's family and soon after Ananya goes to Krish's house in Delhi for a week at HLL's expense. After some tear-jerker contest between the Krish's mom and Ananya, and one wonderful act of persuasive talk by Ananya at a Punjabi wedding, Ananya wins over Krish's mom.

Not to be satisfied, the lead pair decide to force the two families to like each other. Out comes the overbeaten rivalry between Northies Vs Southies, and one must say that this part could have been played down without the crude references. However, after much ado, the families try to reach a common ground by catering to each other's preferred lifestyles. The desi drama has a happy ending with lead pair getting married in Chennai in a deliberately chosen "Arulmigu Kapaleeswarar Karpagambal Thirumana Mandapam". C’mon, it’s that not difficult to pronounce...

What carries the book are some heavy doses of humour involving Krish's first tamil boss-Bala and the loud mouthed Rajji mama from Krish's family and some sensitive moments involving Krish's dad's sudden change of heart ( cant explain what caused it though ), and a short dip into philosophy with a Pondicherry saint. Chetan Bhagat says he doesnt want to be remembered as a paragon of high pedestal english literature and so he keeps the sentences simple, and the narration just flows through. One doesnt have to wrack his/her brains to keep up with the pace of the plot. Would rate this just below "5 point someone" and definitely way above "3 mistakes of my life".

Pondy - The first official road trip in India

Nov 21-22/Chennai-Pondicherry/ECR :



Notorious for planning dime-a-dozen trips, I should thank "bangalore se aaya mera dost" for what turned out to be the high-octane cruise on the bump-free and beautiful ECR. OK, that is not true, not possible with a 2000 model Maruti Zen loaded with 4 not-so-size-zero-guys.

Sudhi (tamilian in the guise of a kannadiga) and me set-off to first replace the wiper blades and have our bat-mobile checked for any major performance barriers. After a mathematical mess-up of epic proportions at the spare parts shop, we picked up the ever-so-popular Raghav and the new kid on the block-Narasimhan, from the latest addition to Chennai city maps - Tambaram. Never one to keep up the sanctity of punctuality, we were behind our schedule by a mere one hour.

The recent rains ensured that we bumped our way to the ECR road and then in a yahoo moment, pressed on the accelerator and the engine cried out loud for some mercy. Every trip of ours ( dating back to the US days ) has centered around food, and so I took a U-turn after we missed Don-Pepe" by a whisker, only to order some "kewl" cool drinks and a chimichanga and enchilada. Satiated, I laboured into the driving seat and hit a steady 80kmph. Mamallapuram looked not so appealing in the hot sun, but to showcase Chennai to Sudhi, we did the mandatory pit-stop. To ask directions, we could not recollect the historical monuments in local lingo and it was a comedy of sorts trying to explain arjuna's penance, and I blurted out "rocks".



We reached Pondy and checked into GINGER - a TATA enterprise. The hotel offers a freshness not to be seen in the more pricey options or cheaper ones - thanks to the "citrus" theme. We had our dose of caffeine from the in-house coffee day and I couldnt help buying India Today and Sports Illustrated from the miniature landmark. The rooms were very convenient for the Rs.1800 tariff. After stretching our legs, we hit the streets and navigated through the chaotic JN street ( we wanted to shop even in Pondy...for a pair of Cargos to ease the pain of wearing trousers ) without much success. The beach front reminded us of the Besant Nagar stretch, and the slight drizzle made our distant gazes across the dark waters more special. Soon after, we wandered off to the Asian House and then to Le Terrasse for our dinner. We retired to our rooms for a well-deserved rest and Raghav was very adamant that we witness the sunrise the next day.

Sudhi, is the epitome of perfection and so he woke up by 5 AM and surprisingly Raghav came into our room hoping to beat the daylights out of me. Luckily I was awake by then and we started off to witness a bright start to the day. Well, the clouds played spoil sport, but we still had a great time just sitting on the rocks with umbrellas to give us cover from rains ( Narasi....under the umbrella...hmm...he wandered off in his thoughts... ). It was very calming and refreshing to see the waves hit the rocks under the cover of dense clouds, which I preferred over a bright orange circle arising out of distant horizons. Food - we never forget food. So back at GINGER, we were as usual pestering the hospitality boys for the buffet breakfast, and not surprisingly we did the honours in inaugurating the rather conservative buffet( Rs.99 ). I went back to my room and deciding to rejuvenate my aching muscles and sore back to take the trip back home. The trio visited Auroville meanwhile and just came back in time to check-out by the customary deadline of 12 Noon.

We bought quite a few "Off-beat" printed casual Tees, before heading to "Promenade" for our buffet lunch(Our motto - more the buffet, the better ). Priced at 575 per head, the food was as good as the beautiful view of the ocean side. We felt that the overall lunch experience was awesome, which meant my job as a driver was that much more difficult ( for obvious reasons ). The return trip was very pleasant - en route we stopped for a tender coconut drink. The next drink for us was coffee/T at besant nagar CCD. Overall, it was a very welcome break from the hum-drum of city roads and the constant chaos. The best part is that we proved people wrong by proving that we can execute our plans as well as we plan them ;-)

Chennai Rains

The northeast monsoon is causing much havoc among the sun-capped denizens of Namma Chennai. The met dept had predicted that the rains would subside after the initial few days of downpour, but yet again, they have been proven wrong. That too in an almighty way.

Normally in Chennai, the 3 best indicators of the intensity of rains are :
1) the mixing of sewage with the relatively pristine waters
2) the diameters of the craters formed on the Chennai roads
3) the auto fare.

Residents have had to put with the innumerable suffering brought upon them by the poor design of roads, while the government is claiming credit for the so called storm water drainage system. Newspapers are awash with pictures and related public outcry on the sewage water seeping into their households. Since the onset of these rains, I have had to navigate around daily addition of new potholes. Enough said about the toll linking roads; just makes us wonder how on earth, newly minted roads turn so tricky after a heavy downpour. Auto drivers' suddenly show a heightened sense of social awareness by reducing the fare from 200 to 150 ( on a normal day, it would have cost 50 ) and talk so much about the risk they undertake to ferry us across the dangerous waters to the safe harbors.

Gone are those days when we used to just take out the bike for a zip in the rains; there arent many proper roads to enjoy the steady stream of rain, with the focus now more on avoiding the pitfalls that wait in ambush under the murky waters.

P.S: The accompanying pic looked good, and was more of a foreboding of heavy rain in Chennai, than the rain itself.

The Hyderabadi Biryani

I set off on my quest to taste the ever-so-popular Hyderabadi Biriyani from "Paradise" hotel in Secundarabad. The biriyani had what we would call, "larger than life image". Now please dont argue about the not-so-wise choice of analogy. I started off from my borrowed space in a cab - one hour package for Rs.300 within an hour or 20 kms, and every additional hour would be Rs.100 + Rs.18/km. Luckily I reached my destination within one hour and paid Rs.350 in all.

I found my way to the 2nd floor of "Paradise" :-)( there were many different mini-restaurants of Paradise in different floors ). There was another dude, who was waiting eagerly for his quota of hyderabadi cuisine and I took the table next to his. The menu had the usual non-veg fare, but I looked for the word "Biriyani" and they had a separate section for it. The "Paradise Special Biriyani" was listed for a whopping 660 rupees and another one was for some 550. I am assuming it would serve a group of 4 or so, else, dont see why would someone charge so much for a biriyani at a non-star restaurant. However, I scanned down for what would serve my needs - a chicken biriyani for Rs.165. I saw big servings of Biriyani in a copper vessel being taken to different tables and thought maybe it was the special biriyani. But to my surprise, I got mine too in a similar vessel and was horrified at huge the quantity of rice.
The chicken piece buried in the rice, was as tender and well-cooked as it can get. The offering had general doses of saffron for sure, which was very dominant among other spices used for the rice. It was more close to the kerala biriyani, where the masala is not fully mixed with rice, than to the traditional chettinad biriyani. The accompaniments included, a rather plain raitha, a very ordinary mild chicken gravy and some slices of onion and lemon.

A friend of mine had remarked that "Paradise Biriyani" is more hype than substance and unfortunately, that was the case. It was really good, but wasnt good enough to generate the "Aahaa" feeling. The biriyani my friend made in a typical mallu style and the one at Anjappar-Nungambakkam restaurant are the best I have tasted so far. Lucknowi biriyani is next on the list. However, for now my first big agenda of the visit was done and dusted, and I wondered if I will be able to eat or drink anything for the next 8 hours after this bountiful biriyani episode. I proved myself wrong- had a aaloo paratha to satiate the 4-hour delayed hunger pang. Long live spicy Indian food, and the wait for Irani chai continues....

Cricket Rant - Way back in 2007, after India's WC exit

The write-up which I unearthed while cleaning my hard drives :-)

Lets talk reviving Indian Cricket - the obituary for the current one

Junta, guess not a bad time to talk about a shakeup of the current bunch of bozos, who call themselves the creme la creme of the indian cricket system....
Few of the radical changes, but effectives ones could be...
1) Relegate the current team's overhyped and ineffective players to either retirement or to the regular grind in the domestic cricket
2) Scrap the crap called the state teams in domestic circuit. consolidate them into at the max, 8 teams
3) Ban the players from endorsing products. Just pay them adequately ( performance based payments ). This will save the common man from losing his time, money and sleep.
4) Restrict the players from giving the outlandish press statements. Let them not go to town with their grievances of not being given enough chances, not being selected, not having enough girlfriends and all sundry....
5) Dont invest blindly in so called youth. Nothing to be ashamed of in aping the australian system of selecting players, who are on the wrong side of their twenties.
6) Have some experienced cricketers, cricket-wise heads in the so called BCCI ( which is basically a joke...one should just look at their office in mumbai...the caption reads...."wolf camouflaged in sheep's attire"...the financial behemouth has a shanty and ramshackled office )
7) Accountability of all parties involved - the administrators, selectors, support staff and of all...the players themselves.
8) If a player is not good enough to show positive results in few games and tricky surfaces, then they are not good enough to represent their country.
9) Set up result oriented cricket academies, not just some run of the mill ones, which solely aim to rake in some moolah.

It hurts to see that people are beguiled into following this game so passionately, only to be betrayed by their esteemed players. If they had any sense of "consistent" self-worth, they should take the rap on their wrists and evolve into more competitive and dedicated cricket players. Its now becoming a rote for dravid to support his players and his own thought process, even after such inexplicable and shocking losses. I just feel he got the wrong end of the bargain : when ganguly used to be the captain, dravid sweated it out for the team's sake, but the current group lacks a player who could help his captain unerringly

Any more suggestions or counter arguments....? Lets kill some time guys, now that our players are busy packing their bags in the carribean for the sojourn back home.

Aadhavan - KSR's Killing Machine

OK, I had to write this. Precious waste of time with "Aadhavan". Thought Surya was done with mundane films after "Vel". Whatever maybe the reason for him choosing this script, still quite unpardonable. The movie might go on to attract A,B and C audiences, but has eroded the stature of Surya to some extent. Every character, except that of Surya and Vadivelu, stood out like a sore thumb - the super artificial Nayantara, the movie storywriter Ramesh Kanna ( guess he lost his marbles for good ), the washed-up Sarojadevi, the jokers aka villains - Shayaji Shinde and Rahul dev, and finally....the super comical Anandbabu ( son of the great Nagesh ). KS Ravikumar sure has joined the league of Perarasu with this flick. The less said about the story, screenplay and direction, the better.

I just cant think of any positives about this movie. 3 of the better songs which sounded good, have been now corrupted with the sorry picturization of the same. The songs were painfully inserted at inopportune moments to provide the so called relief from the hopelessness of the movie. The background score was a scare too. Every movie of KSR now seems to be pre-dated in a regressive manner by a 5 year margin. We sure did laugh at the brainless plot and some genuine comical moments involving Vadivelu, and were really surprised to see one guy sitting ahead of us filming the movie on his mobile. Wonder what he intended to do, given the fact that the movie was dumb and an insult to the audience . The knockout punch was KSR making the depressing appearance and this time, he dragged in the producer for good measure. Please save your money and time, dont watch "Aadhavan". I shudder at the thought of Surya's next flick being wielded by the "Aruvaal and Tata Sumo" friendly Hari. Post this tragedy, we sought the temporary solace of "Amethyst".

Verdict - Must Avoid.

Deepavali - The 2009 experience

I love the smell of the crackers in the early morning fog ( when it used to be the case few years back, even in Chennai ). Deepavali....a festival which used to bring so much joy and festivities, seems to have lost its sheen over the years. While I can understand that people climbing the age ladder are burdened by day-to-day issues, whats wrong with the kids and young adults ? There are tell-tale signs of waning interest among the public - the reduced uptake of crackers, relatively less of the milling crowds in areas other than T.Nagar, families preferring to outsource making of sweets, far fewer exchanges of sweets with friends and families, and the most of all....the near death of sending greeting cards on this auspicious day.

I made all the right noises of making sure that this Deepavali was better than last year, when I burst crackers to my heart's fill with my companion - my neighbour's son who is now into his 2nd year at college. I couldnt even spot him this year, he was busy watching TV :-). My dad, the perfectionist that he is, got lists of crackers and also took a stock-check of last year's remnants. He dutifully gave me the price lists and also ticked the items that I probably should buy ( that was to ensure that I dont go on a spending spree, which I normally do ). Another lazy friend of mine, was given a similar onerous task and we decided to set out on the hunt together. There were very few cracker shops around, and I recommended a factory outlet type pile-up of the "Cock (Seval)" brand. However, one look at the queues at around 7PM and we tucked our tails between our legs and decided to pay them a visit at 10 PM, when there would be less clamouring. What I thought was a smart move, proved to be plain dumb in the end. The smart move was a camouflage for our signs of irritability, impatience, and most of all...plain laziness in doing the simple tasks, while we worried about the bigger tasks on hand. At 10 PM, we scrounged for whatever remained in the cracker shop and I bought exactly 3 packs of crackers worth Rs.231 ( am sure my dad thought that suddenly I had become prudent ) to add to my arsenal from last year, while my comrade bought for Rs.780 to meet his and his little cousins' demands.

On the D-day, I got up late at around 8:30 AM ( my buddy from school said he was supposed to getup at 3:30 AM, and I got to check with him if he really did that ) and was in a state of trance for the whole day from that moment. Who on earth will watch "Revolutionary Road" until 2AM and then read something upto 3 AM on a festive occasion. Well I did :-). I had the perfunctory oil bath, and lo and behold - I had a Van Heusen shirt to go with the brand new lungi, since I couldnt find Louis Phillipe all black trousers in the few shops I checked. I sleepwalked through the lighting of two "sarams" and then hounded back to dig into the most interesting event of the day - the vadais, the suliyums, the idlis and the amazing vegetable sambar and cocounut chutney. Man-o-man, what a relief and I couldnt help but snooze for about an hour or so. I was back again with my laptop and my parents were probably sick of me sitting like a yogi with laptop and "the-quest-for-truth" type expression on my face. Soon enough, I watched "Nadodigal" alongwith my parents and I must say that it was one of best movies propounding "friendship" without any pro-longed monologue on the subject.

The day was drawing to a close after I paid a visit to the neighbourhood temple with my parents. It took quite a bit of effort to coerce my mom to light few sparklers, she seemed to be tired after the last one week's labour in kitchen and was surely worried about something, and missed my brother ( who was helping the Serbian Broadcasting Corporation ). I took few photos of my mom in her new sari and dad, who looked dapper in his corduroy brown pants and the sandalwood coloured shirt. Another Deepavali was over and I got back to the CL20 where Sehwag was providing the missing fireworks.

Pokhran II - questions raised

A real shocker - Pokhran-II in May,1998 may not be what we have been told. The thermonuclear (TN) explosion was supposed to yield around 45KT, but it probably ended up generating a measly 20-25KT. However, the fission device which was supposed to set-off the TN, yielded the desired result and the perfunctory crater; so did the third device - a sub-kiloton device. While the fission device is still capable of causing irreparable damage, the TN device was supposed to be 3 times as potent as the Hiroshima bomb. The implications of this episode, as it unravels, are quite disturbing and leave many unanswered questions :
1) The credibility of former president Mr. APJ is in serious jeopardy. Apparently he was aware of the official post mortem of the TN explosion. So why did he keep mum then, and why does he continue to support R Chidambaram ( the then AEC Chairman ) and the incumbent MK Narayanan ?
2) If the tests didnt do anything to the "White House" ( relax...its the shaft in which the TN device was placed. Wonder why BJP didnt raise a red flag to the American reference in the desi tests ), why didnt we go for further tests without much delay ?
3) If it is really true that the tests fizzled out, then we do not have the minimum nuclear deterrence against a diabolical Pak state and the muslce-flexing Chinese republic. This would also be fodder to the terrorist organizations to mount another offensive, and if we do not have the nuclear werewithal, we cant take the swift and decisive riposte which our home minister has been crying hoarse about.
4) We cant be rushed into signing the CTBT, which is what Mr.Santhanam ( the then project leader of Pokhran-II ) claims as the reason for his disclosure after these many years.
5) Did the BJP government put pressure on the Pokhran project committee to carry out the tests prematurely, to gain political brownie points ?

The more we read in the media about the cover-up, one is inclined to think that we have been fed a false sense of security and pride. If the tests were really botched, then we are in a classic catch-22 - 1) Given the US India nuclear deal, it wont be easy to carry out any more tests 2) On the other hand, we cant sit idle without proving our minimum deterrence both for the Indian public and to the doubting world.

Super mess this. Who and how are they going to clean this up ?

Inspired...

While most, if not all, of us do have the urge to contribute to the society, we sometimes get lost in the madness around us. A poignant reminder about the "power of giving" unravelled on my trip to Bangalore. I was at my very close friend's house visiting his parents and his brothers, when one of the younger brothers - Giri, got a call from a bus driver. A day earlier, the driver had blanked out in the middle of the road while driving the bus - he couldnt see or think clearly. The entire passenger lot just got off the bus, except for Giri who went on and enquired about his health. He took him to a hospital where the driver didnt have enough money to get the necessary tests done. Giri paid for the tests and ensured that the driver was in good hands, before he went back home. While I was at their residence, the driver called Giri to extend his gratitude and wanted to pay back the medical expenses, which the latter politely declined and wished the driver good health.

Many years back, while I was in the US, my brother had saved the life of a total stranger ( Pandian ) who was hit by a speeding vehicle and lay on the roads in rain, struggling for his life. With none coming to his rescue, my bro alighted from his bike and took him an auto to a hospital, checked him in and as movies would have it - the doctor uttered those magic words : "had it been few minutes late, the patient was unlikely to survive." The difference this time was that it was no movie scene. In his quest to save a life, my brother forgot that his cell phone had lost its power, while my parents were frantically trying to reach him. The patient received deep stitches and had to undergo progressive surgery to reduce the injury marks. After recovering, he called and visited our home with his mom. It was a touching moment when his mother thanked my brother for saving her son's life. Since then, Pandian has become a very close friend of our family and visits my parents, even when my brother and me are not around.

These were stirring moments of selfless help that make us admire and appreciate the good samaritan in us, and serve as an inspiration to do our best towards helping people - irrespective of religion, caste and creed.

Ind Vs Pak - Resumption of the battle

I have more important things to do than worry about a cricket match. But I have been doing this mistake for years together now, the heights being watching the Netherlands Vs UAE match hours before my XII grade Maths exam. Today's ODI is being played between the two neighbours after more than year, and hence the heightened sense of tension and an overwhelming desire for an Indian victory. Few of the Pakistani players have made all the right noises, including their captain-Younus Khan, whom I equate to Wasim Akram in the stakes for artificial behavior driven by camera consciousness. The injury to Yuvraj could not have come at a more inopportune time, with Sehwag and Zaheer already nursing their injuries back home. The Centurion brings back good memories for an Indian fan, owing to that spectacular chase against Pak in 2003 world cup; thanks to the superlative batting from Sachin and co against the likes of W&W and Shoaib. Experts say Centurion, with its relatively low bounce and even carry, would suit players like Raina and Yusuf whose suspect technique against short stuff was brutally exposed during the world cup. However, it is no secret that Pak batsman arent too good on seaming or bouncy tracks either. So things are even-stevens with regard to the pitch conditions.

Many encounters between the two sides have been decided by individual heroices, however, the strength of the current Indian team lies in having a cohesive batting unit. Stats do support that theory and Sachin too rightly pointed it out. One can also expect the current team to stand upto the verbal abuse by Afridi and co, with Gambhir and Bhajji leading from the front. The best performances of many new comers have come against India ( remember Franklyn Rose, Jimmy Adams etc ) and hence special attention has to be given to the performances of Umar Akmal, Saeed Ajmal, and Mohammed Aamer. Prior to the last 5-6 years, Pakistan were for most part the favourites. Things have become better since then, with the Indian team growing in confidence with the emergence of some quality players backed by aggressive instincts, while Pakistan team hit new nadirs owing to one controversy or the other. Since Younus and Intikhab have taken over, things are looking better, with the W20 cup being their biggest gain so far. The leak of the India team dossier prepared by Kirsten, on the eve of an important match is yet again a stark reminder of how the feudal BCCI functions.

Cant wait for the 6 PM start, when after the first few overs, the nerves start to settle down. As always, wishing for an Indian victory and better performances from Mr.Nehra ( who grimaces at a misfield off his bowling, as if he is the epitome of modern fielding standards ), Ishant ( he definitely has some injury concern or is on a high most of the time ) and our own RP ( talk about pedestrian fielding standards and inconsistent bowling form ). No wonder, MSD is greying since he took over the captaincy.

Unnaipol Oruvan - The remake

Me and my dad dont agree on things normally, but we agreed that the hindi version - "A Wednesday" was better than the tamil remake - "Unnaipol Oruvan". Naseeruddin Shah is good at underplaying his roles and the "common man" billing fit him to the tee in the movie. The biggest disadvantage the tamil version had to do with the aura surrouding the two super stars - Kamal and Mohanlal. While it was a very subdued performance from the former, the malayalam star played his role with aplomb. Casting of Lakshmi as the chief secretary and the May Madham kid as the IIT dropout with his forced accent was a real letdown. Adding Santhanam Bharathi as one of the mercenaries diluted the seriousness of the context to a certain extent. The two police officers aiding Mohanlal, were too fit to be believed to be from the Tamilnadu police. Kamal for all his creative skills, is often culpable of trying to be too preachy in few of his movies ( his trademark...aaa....aaaaa....was missed in this movie ); luckily in this one he doesnt go over-board on that count.

Shurti Hassan's debut score is pretty average and I believe the rocker image of hers is evident in her music too. Believe Kamal did strain his vocal cords for an operatic segment of the background score.

Strong points : short duration, muted patriotism, no glorification of the superstars, no songs
Weak points : mis-casting, the reason behind Kamal's reason to do what he did in the movie isnt as convincing as one in Hindi, dubbing was out of place in few segments

Still a very good movie, compared to the punch dialogue laden fare from Kollywood.

The wonders of driving on Chennai roads

1. The rip-off that is called the toll – Rs.17 to use the road leading to the toll and the one beyond it is littered with moon craters that need special driving skills, especially if one is driving the Zen.

2. The 3 kings of the road – cab drivers ( tata indicab ) and the shared autos ( the regular autos look less menacing ), and the screaming yellow lorries ( fully loaded dump lorries really make you hold your breath, and if you trail them long enough, they will even take your breath away )

3. Live spitfest – few samaritan bus commuters and drivers, socially aware and environment friendly auto drivers, biker boyz with a hung-up attitude who want to paint the town red.

4. MotoGP wannabes – zipping through crowded roads with helmets resting peacefully on the petrol tanks or slung stylishly by the helmet locks, and a riding posture to remind us of the professional bike racers taking high speed turns.

5. Unofficial Force India F1 circuit breakers – the sparsely seen Mercs and BMWs and the custom made desi brands, who give a run for your money and life too.

Disclaimer : This by no means includes all the straight thinking citizens who also just happen to use the roads for pure travelling reasons and pleasure.

My Friend Sancho - A quickie

Amit Varma's "My friend Sancho", short listed for the Man Asian Literary award is a very quick read. Published by Hatchette, the book costs 195 Rs and is around 220 pages. With a larger than life font size and ample spacing between short paragraphs, it is a fast food novel readable in an hour or so. This book was listed on the most selling list in Odyssey and Landmark, on each of my visits within the last month or so. I finally visited his blog www.indiauncut.com a few days back after hearing so much about the man and his blog. He apparently has received some kind of journalism award and he contributed to telegraph, HT etc over the years, in addition to serving on the editorial board of Cricinfo. After reading numerous coming of age, new age early 30s indian male drunk on booze and lost love, ABCDs type stories, I had become kind of tired. But the quick visit to his blog made me buy this book and give it a shot inspite my tight schedule. So I gave in and bought the book, with the usual guilt feeling.

The story is wafer thin. Abir Ganguly, the protagonist, is a bong who is on a crime beat with the Afternoon Mail. He is called upon by a typical police wala - Inspector Thombre, who wants his share of fame, to cover an arrest in one of the city's suburbs. A case of mistaken identity resulting in killing of Mohammed Iqbal is covered up by Abir in his article. The victim's daughter Muneeza ( named Sancho by her father who himself was Don Quixote ) enters Abir's life when Abir is directed by his superfluous boss to cover the life of Iqbal. Romance is in the air between the two and Abir gives a peek into his life led as a bachelor hard done by laziness and creative urge to cook up stories for his paper. Meanwhile, his new boss at work, Sandhya, gives him the veiled managerial talk to cover not just Iqbal, but also Thombre and leave the judgement to audience on who really is the culprit. Inspite of loathing Thombre, Abir does take the pains of getting to know his subject and in the due course empathizes with the police wala and his like. The chemistry between Abir and Muneeza is not evocative and is done in by Abir's revelation towards the end that he was witness to her dad's killing. As expected, she does flee from him and the book ends with Muneeza saying just a "hi" to him. I was left with, "what the heck" type feeling, but since I didnt waste too much time on the book, I came over the disappointment and went back to what I want to do best....snooze.

Abir's supervisor at work and few other bosses are caricatured along predictable lines. A talking jealous lizard from Abir's delusional mind is supposed to be his alter ego or rather his straight talking self-conscience. There are few really good laughable lines, such as the unique way of stating something outlandish towards the end of a very normal list of things, and then disclaiming that he didnt really mean the last sentence. I guess, those things and their essence cant be recreated in any review or blog. So if one is curious, please feel free to borrow it from me :-)

Kaminey - the lovable one

Going for a night show at Sathyam has its own charm and ease - the road back is not so fraught with the unnerving traffic. So it was me, vasanth and his friends. Wonder why Sathyam wont have hot coffee during night hours, doesnt quite make sense to just have only cold coffee especially for the night shows. Anyways, enough of the complaining part.

The only other movie I watched that of Shahid was "Jab We Met", which was Imitiaz Ali's debut as director, and surprisingly I liked the movie. Never thought too much of Kareena and Shahid - the latter seemed to be quite happy to be called as the pocked sized Shahrukh, not just for the hamming bit but even in the unkempt hair and over the top antics. From the first frame in Kaminey, it promised to be a mad caper, with one Shahid twin lisping and the other stammering. Vishal Bharadwaj, director-music director-singer-screenplya, doesnt take too long to sketch the main characters. And come the twins, come the flashback - so we are shown rather in a short burst how the twins grew to hate each other. Charlie ( the lisp bro ) says "fortcut" for "shortcut" and carries off his part as a wannabe horse racing bookie with consistency, while Guddu stammers his way through the role of a NGO activist. Add in Priyanka as "Sweety" as the emotional Marathi spewing love of Guddu who gets "knocked up" in her inebriated moment with him. The script writer of Taare Zameen Par, Amol Gupte, plays the venomous Marathi devout "Bhope", an aspiring politician who hates the sight of Mumbai immigrants. He also happens to be Sweety's brother and does everything possible to stop Guddu's marriage to Sweety and eventually knock him off too. Tenzing Nima plays Tashi, the remorseless drug dealer, who is after a guitar filled with cocaine which accidently lands in the lap of Charlie. Few of my friends were disoriented by the camera work and rapid edits, especially the strobe filled "Dhan Tana Tan" song, which tries to bring forth the potent mix of drugs and loud music. At the intermission, the corrupt police backed by Tashi get hold of Guddu, while Bhope gets hold of Charlie. A rendezvous on the local mumbai train is staged to exchange the guitar and the twins, with each group planning to outwit the other.

The second half gives scope for the audience to engage in the love hate relationship between the twins and the visceral scheming of Bhope and Tashi who leave no stone unturned to meet their personal agendas. Add to this mix a bookie gang of bongs, who employ Charlie and have a fascination to spend on assault weapons, and wear their hearts on the sleeve. The movie moves at a rapid pace and we end for an "all for guns and drugs" type shootout including police, bhope, bongs and tashi with their respective cronies. The baddies kill each other as expected, and at the end of the movie we see the sweet couple Sweety and Guddu ending up their own pair of twins, while Charlie goes after the bigger riches in the bets on horse stables.

All in all a good gangster movie, with a superb sound track and intense acting by the cast. A must watch, even if one is not a big fan of the dark genre of Vishal Bharadwaj. 4 out of 5 !!

The Amethyst and Mocha Mojo - Coffee with a difference

Two different coffee shops ( as differnet as chalk and cheese, must I say ) in three days...in Chennai. Am sure many of the coffee lovers who prefer to have their coffee outside the safe confines of their homes once in a while, would have visited atleast one of the two - The Amethyst. The fact that it is closer to Saravana Bhavan and Sathyam makes it all the more worthwhile to pay a visit. The place apparently has been renovated to match the splendour of the years gone by : it is actually a colonial mansion. A regular plain croissant used to be a must have for me, until recently when they removed that staple item from their menu. On the latest visit, I found the potato wedges ( 110 Rs ) to be the best of the breed, accompanied by a yummy creamy dip. The crostini was not all that great, but the coffee was its usual self - good :-). My friend ordered a tender coconut which was priced at a hefty 80 rupees, but the quantity made up for the steep price.



The USP of the place are its verdant garden, ample parking space, a stately interior with plush cushion chairs, well placed steel and coir seatings under cool natural shades around the main building, and of course the fresh and well done pastries and the best potato wedges ( as on date ) in town. For those net savvy folks, the wi-fi comes at a price of Rs.60 per hour ; always find atleast one netizen hooked onto a Apple MaC ( it always has been a MaC, wonder why. Is it the same person all the time ? ).
Location : The Amethyst, Padmavathi Rd, Gopalapuram, Chennai



Mocha Mojo is all hip and jazz. Modelled on 70s retro style, with chic colours on brick styled interiors and 70's western music and a toilet to go with the overall theme, the place is a definite stand out. The few times I have been there, the place is packed mostly with college goers but there is proof of middle age and working professionals haunting the place too. Everything about the place is different, be it the glass water bottle with a cork lid and a mint plant suspended within or the hookas on the first floor or the huge mug in which the final hefty bill is brought to your table. The menu is very western and has calorie information, with no room for Indian traditional fare. Me and my friends ordered minced lamb noodles ( Rs.250 ) and a 3 egg white omellete ( Rs.180 and came with some of the best fresh italian style bread, kidney beans based tomato sauce, flavoured butter and amazing french fries ). The coffee shop offers caffeine beverages, shakes, pastries and pies, panini and pastas and more. Not a everyday hangout place, but well worth the ocassional get-together.
Location : Mocha Mojo, 72, 1st Avenue- Indira Nagar, Adyar, Chennai-20

The week that was

For all those hardcore followers of Sivagiri :
Sivagiri - The Crusader

Three issues have been in news over the last week, which probably have garnered more news bytes, second only to the swine flu. Instant hit has been BJP's "over the top - let me be first type reaction" to Jaswant's book on Jinnah; Then comes the media-savvy and smug "My name is Khan....Shah rukh(ja) khan"; and finally "Kaminey" and "Kandaswamy" ( I am afraid the early reports have called the tamil flick a dud ).



BJP is in a downward spiral, with party idealogy ( we are told they are still are not sure what it is ) being relegated to the background and LK Advani being marginalized even at a dottering age of 82. All the hoopla around mild and moderate ex-BJPer Jaswant Singh, his book and his subsequent explusion smacks of BJP's muddled thinking post Vajpayee era. Their internal mess has took roots post the lok sabha electoral debacle. Every credible political commentator vouches that none from the 20 core party members of BJP might have read the 600 something page book on Jinnah, leave alone reading between the lines. Their reaction is being ridiculed on the basis that it is Congress who indirectly are at the receiving end in the book, owing to Nehru's support for the two nation theory; Sardar Patel has not been shown as the troublemaker as is being played out in BJP circles. Jinnah purportedly has been shown toeing the logical line of seeking a separate nation owing to unfavourable bias towards the minority community. The popular verdict on who is the hero and who is the villain in the book, has not been announced as yet. Will wait for that....until then hope BJP doesnt shoot itself all over, while Congress stands by and waits for its turn to hog the limelight. That would mean lesser expenditure for the next elections - something our politicians wouldnt prefer.



SRK has taken his smugness and confidence to greater heights with his over-the-top reaction to his frisking at the NJ airport. While most of them feel that it is a publicity stunt by King Khan, he defended the same by saying that "My name is Khan" will be done only in 8-9 months; we have to give the man the benefit of doubt. He denies that he didnt feel offended because the authorities deliberately failed to acknowledge who he was, but still believe his ego got to him. But we have to appreciate the man for the kind of media empire he has built since his "Hi Chaps, Fauji" days. Congress MP Ambika Soni did put the Congress on the wrong foot when she called for an ill-advised tit-for-tat policy. She did her bit to get some news bytes, alas no match for BJP's "Quick Gun Murugan" reaction.




Kaminey, for all the negative connotations to the word, has been getting thumbs up, unanimously from all quarters. Shahid, post his "Jab We Met" performance, has managed to shrug off the tag of SRK wannabe. Vishal Bharadwaj, seen as a desi version of Tarantino, doesnt mix too much pop-candy in his serious movies - Omkara was a dark drama loosely based on Othello - and now Kaminey. Cant wait to watch this flick.



On the other hand, "Chiyan" Vikram's superhero caper Kanthaswamy is of a mind numbing length of 3hr 20 mins. The length wouldnt have mattered if it were a Lord of the Rings or a Ben Hur, instead the early reviews have been very disappointing. Shriya probably will walk off with the eye-candy honours while Vikram and Suzi Ganesan will have to get over the disappointment. It still might go onto rake in the moolah, but am sure the lead actor's and director's reputation have taken a hit. Wont watch this one, unless dragged into the theatres by unforeseen fateful forcing by faithful friends.

Landmark Quiz 09 - Chennai

Another Landmark Quiz and another bummer. While I have visited the quiz since my 10th grade, never made the cut: the closest we came was during 3rd year of college when we fell short by 1 point, that too when we were at the peak of our quizzing powers. We registered for the 18th edition of the landmark quiz (which apparently will be telecast) as a corporate team and called ourselves the "Quizzards of the Quizditch". Not sure about the total number of teams who sat for the prelims, but the Music Academy hall was full and additionally few folks were on the waiting list.
Dr.Naveen Jayakumar, who apparently is one of the top 10 eye surgeons, along with his even more quiz wise mom and another associate, set the questions for the show. The crowd, as usual had celebrities (read as the ever popular quizzer Kasturi), grandparents and their grandchildren, serious quiz veterans, and people like me - who just hoped to qualify. The prelims consisted of 40 questions, and we ended up scoring a mediocre 21, while we could have worked out easily another 6 questions, if only we had been quizzing regularly. Well, the cutoffs were way too high with the least being somewhere around 33 and the top score was a cool 37.

There were prizes for best team names from school, college and corporate respectively. Some of the whacky ones included:
H1 Anyone, H1N1 Someone, Pigs fly Swine Flu, Born to Rule-Forced to School, Dhakkan Chargers, Mama Machaan Maapillai, No Enthu Da

Incidentally, the regional winners from respective regions didn’t consist of the native folks, instead was made up of predominantly Chennaites who probably migrated to those regions for few days solely for quizzing. The top two teams from Pune, Bangalore and Mumbai joined ones from Chennai finals, and it promised to be a mouth watering affair. After a 10 minute break, the finals started with the traditional team QED lagging behind in the first few rounds. The quiz format was pretty simple - with 20 Qs split into two rounds, two buzzer rounds and one final round of 5 questions. At the end of all, two teams were tied for the top spot and three were tied for the 2nd runners-up spot. After 3 sudden death Qs, QED were crowned champions (consisting of the ever consistent VV Ramanan) while "No Enthu Da" took the second spot with Jayakanthan's team taking the 3rd spot. The winners got gift vouchers in addition to a trophy and PS2 set. Vijay Amritraj, who was accompanied by his parents, graced the occasion and was impromptu with some wisecracks. All in all a wakeup call for the likes of me, who aspire to do well year after year: dead but not buried yet.

Below are some of the prelim Qs:

1. The background female voice in the National Anthem - D.K. Pattamal
2. What does M stand for in MR Radha and M Vasanthakumar - Madras
3. The two females from India who passed away recently and were voted by Vogue as top 10 beautiful women in the world years back - Gayatri Devi and Leela Naidu
4. The element which was found by french astronomer Pierre Janssen in 1868 to exist outside earth before it was spotted on earth, and had its existence was determined in the tobacco fields in Guntur ( Something to do with liquid ) - Helium
5. The two marks usually found as footnotes in books/articles - Asterix and Obelisk
6. In FedEx word, where can you find the hidden arrow - between E and X
7. What are a bunch of bananas called - A hand of bananas
8. Where would you find the poster: What does it take to find love - a) money b) luck c) smarts d) destiny - Slumdog Millionaire
9. The answer was swine flu, don’t remember the Q
10. A dish traditionally made from Thamiraiparani River water made famous by a marwari family around 300 years ago in their shop Lakshmi Vilas - Thirunelveli Halwa
11. Which animated habitant of the bikini bottom and belonging to the spongiferes species was recently added to the Madam Tussaud's Wax Museum in NY - SpongeBob Squarepants
12. While travelling by train, at which place did Gandhi stop and was inspired to don his famous dhoti after seeing the local peasants? - Madurai
13. Other than Cricket and Tennis, in which other sport Hawk Eye technology is used? - Snooker
14. Which state accounts for 48% of the area of Pakistan and is the largest? - Balochistan
15. Who pioneered the first rath yatra - NT Ramarao
16. These two personalities were at the Systems Research Institute in Pune, while one won the Magsaysay award this year, the other had an equally profound effect on the corporate world. Who were they? - Deep Joshi and Narayanamurthy
17. Maya Kulkarni stepped in to play the tambura to accompany these two musicians in 1969 to perform in front of a couple hundred thousand of fans. Who were the musicians - Pt Ravi Shankar and Ustad Allah Rakha at the Woodstock festival
18. In HG Wells, war of the worlds, what did the Martians die of? - Common Cold
19. Who or what was part of the initial Apple Computer Corp's logo? - Isaac Newton
20. This organization got its name because the members used to meet in the offices of each other in turns - Rotary Club
21. French Open in Europe refers to the Golf Tournament instituted in 1906. By what other name is the famous tennis tournament referred - Roland Garros
22. Who or what inspired the name Yensid Retlaw for the sorcerer in the story Fantasia - Walter Disney
23. In Mahabharata, one character sought the art of warfare from a character, who had given away all his fortunes and hence decided to teach art of warfare instead. Who were the two characters? - Parashuram imparted the knowledge to Dronacharya
24. What term was coined by the Finns to refer to the weapon used by them against the Russians? - Molotov Cocktail
25. Which fictional character's death was announced in the NY times editorial in 1976? - Hercule Poirot
26. Which Kannada's poet's statue is being inaugurated in Chennai? - Saravjna
27. The decline of vulture population is a cause of worry for which community in India? - Parsee, coz they leave the dead bodies to be eaten by vultures, since they don’t bury or burn the bodies
28. Traditionally vessels are named based on the meaning of words. Which vessel gets its name from the Sanskrit version of "leaf" - Pathiram (from Patram)
29. Visual from Angels and Demons. Link with a road in Chennai - Pantheon Road, and the visual showed the Pantheon which is the temple of all gods in Greek mythology
30. Visual of Kat Kaif dressed as whom in a lakme fashion week - As Barbie
31. Visual of a game whose name is after a very popular quiz show - Mastermind
32. Visual of a building (clue a white fence), which famous American writer - Mark Twain (white picket fence in Tow Sawyer)
33. Clip of Nagesh in a movie, what is the title role - Server Sundaram
34. Visual of a personality in three different movies: Spiderman, Hulk and? - Stan Lee
35. Clip of inauguration of a building? - Hotel Atlantis in Al Jumeirah in Dubai. 7 times of Beijing Olympics fireworks used for this inauguration, which was visible from space
36. A soundtrack which was inspired by a original composition in an 1936 English movie by the maker who composed the music as well - Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times
37. Soundtrack of a movie which was to be released today - Vikram in Kanthasamy

iD - Idli Dosa at Sathyam Cinemas

With two hours to kill before the late night movie show, we stopped by the uber-cool "iD" restaurant on the first floor in the Sathyam complex. As is the case with any hotspot in Chennai, we had to wait patiently for our turn. The only thing traditional about this place was its name, rest everything was chic and novel. The waiters were decked in all black and appeared energetic in serving the fare to the eagerly awaiting clientele. After about 10 mins, we got our due table and requested for a menu card. Instead we were given what looked like a bookmark, on the back of which were listed the dishes in a novel way : Simple traditional south indian fare - broadly classified as Idli, Dosa, Vada, Pongal ( Sweet and Salt ), Beverages ( Chai, Coffee, Lassi etc ), Adai and Paeserattu, with most of them having sub classifications. We ordered Keerai vadai ( which was overdone and was hard to bite into ), Masala vadai ( quite alright ) and Medhu vadai ( the best of the lot ). Once we moved past the initial intertia, the orders just kept flowing - adai, rava and masala dosa, appam, idiappam ( accompanied by cocunut milk/khurma/veg stew ). Once we realized that we had actually come for a movie, we stopped, but not before ordering two masala chais ( very dull and too thick for a T ). The plates were of steel and reeked off modernity, so were the porcelain cups for sambar and chutneys ( green, white and red chutneys ). The prices were reasonable and the meal for the 4 of us cost around Rs.430. A nice place, only if you were to club it alongwith a visit to the movies or need to bite into something as late as 11 in the night.

Public Enemies - A short take

We caught up with "Public Enemies" at Serene/Sathyam for the friday night show. Michael Mann's previous best ones have been - Heat, The Insider, Manhunter and The last of the Mohicans - and so the obvious expectations were set for another pot-boiler. With Johnny Depp and Christian Bale thrown into the mix, the movie sure should have been an exhilarating ride.
Loosely based on the real life story of John Dillinger ( Johnny Depp ), who with Baby face Nelson and Alvin Karpis wreaked havoc with bank robberies around the great depression era ( 1929 - 1934 ), the movie sets the tone with a prison breakaway by Dillenger and his cohorts. Agent Melvin Pervis ( Christian Bale ) enters the screen blazing down Pretty Boy Floyd ( Channing Tatum in a cameo ) in the woods. The scene shifts to Edgar Hoover commissioning the FBI and appointing Pervis as the lead detective to hunt down Dillinger and the likes. The rest of the movie is the cat and mouse game played out between the agents and the robbers, with the law gaining the upper hand as the movie progresses. One by one, Dillinger's associates are gunned down and he is finally left to protect his love interest which ultimately brings about his downfall. The movie is interspersed with Dillinger's love interest - Billie Frechette ( Marion Cotillard ) and 3 clear sequences of bank robberies and an additional prison getaway.

Highlights :
The period setting, gun fights and stake outs.
Handy cam style chase sequences
Johnny Depp's simmering ruthlessness and occasional wisecracks

Letdowns :
Underutilized Bale
Slow pace of the movie
A rather weak background score
The dubbing could have been better. Dialogues appeared muffled in an effort to recreate the southern US accent of that period.

The movie overall doesnt live upto what we have come to expect from Michael Mann, but still delivers in patches. Worth one time watch. Rating - 6/10

Its Not About The Bike - ( Lance Armstrong ) - A short take

This is what I would call a page turner. A close friend of mine got this book for me from Landmark and challenged me if I could read this book within 2 days. Sure I won the bet and I am entitled for another book now ;-)

Not many autobiographies are as engrossing as this one was, which mainly has to do with the language and prose of the book. The book is of 294 pages and is worth the Rs.376. At the very outset Lance lets the readers know that this book is not for the squeamish hearted since he chronicles his fight with cancer to a large extent. He comes across as a brash Texan to start with and these are the very qualities which has helped him overcome the cancer and also most of his cycling conquests. Sometimes athletes have that extra bit of aggressiveness ( not all are as passive as tendulkar or dravid, but we also have bhajji and ganguly to balance them ) which helps them conquer hardships, with otherwise might prove to be quite overwhelming. Armstrong is a shining example of one such athlete.

Throughout the book, he pays rich ode to his mom who single handedly brought him up inspite of all the hardships she faced in making ends meet. His wife came into picture much later, but she was equally instrumental in him getting back on the bicycle post his recovery. He talks about his mentors, the neighbourhood cycle shop owner who sponsored his first bicycle, his agent, his coach at the US national team and also the coach of USPS team ( for which he raced and won the Tour de France a record number of times ). He also lets us in on how corporates wrangle to sign stars when they are hot property, but wouldnt mind ditching the very same stars when they are down and out. It is quite moving to know how his perspective changed with regard to life, cancer victims, the sport he so loves so much...post his cancer. His cancer foundation, Livestrong, has since become a big movement. The inlaid pictures from his life help to add value to the words.

One gets to know a lot about competitive cycling - the preparation, the physical attributes required, the tactical strategies, ego clashes, doping and more. Its quite a non-melodramatic work, but has an underlying emotional quotient while conveying the values of faith, self-determination, and having an open mind in general. A must read.

The trip to Wayand Apr 30 - 3rd May - Part III

We had a good night's sleep and looked all set to commence the sight seeting part of the trip. We made coffee using the instant coffee and whitener mix with hot water, and it was quite elevating to have the beverage on the terrace overlooking the typical Kerala greenery. Soon after, we had a rather heavy breakfast, consisting of chicken, a traditional kerala muslim roti/dosa type dish and few more traditional items.
We drove first up to the edukkal caves, parked the vehicle and climbed up on a sloping path leading to the heart of the cave. By the time we reached atop, we were pretty exhausted ( more because of a full tummy than anything else ). We could immediately feel the dampness which one would associate with caves, even if they are open and well lit by the sun. There was an option of climbing to the very top, but we felt that it would totally tire us and probably render the remainder of the trip a rather taxing exercise. On the way down, we stopped by an ice-cream cart and munched on some mango bars and cornetto cones.

Before emabarking for Kuruva Dweep, Harris took us to his wife's place ( it is a custom in malabar muslim family for the husband to move in with his wife ), and served us one of the best black teas I have ever had. He also showed some stunning photographs he had his film photographer friend take of him and his wife, soon after their marriage. It looked exactly like the film promos !! We met his wife's younger brother who had set his sights on an MBA program. Wished him good luck and we were on our way to Kuruva. Harris had gone to this place a long time back and hence wasnt sure about the way, which he clarified by asking the local folks on the way. I felt comfortable that I wasnt the only one lost for directions. The last 3 Kms or so was a drive over hard rubble, and at times we werent sure if we were on the right course. But on seeing another vehicle in the vicinity, we took our chances and coursed through a path that no one would want to take in normal circumstances. But the trip was worth it, for when we reached the actual island, we felt so close to nature. It had no fancy travel centric restaurants, gift shops, or anything of that kind. We were famished and eating the local fare cooked in earthen pots and like, never felt so good. There were only 3 pieces of fish left which someone ahead of us in the pack, took it in a parcel. I had too many papads for the comfort of the lady running the kitchen, and she murmurred something in malayalam with a look that asked "are you nuts ?".

This was the first time, I ever stepped on a what one would call a raft made out of bamboo sticks. I couldnt believe that this thing was going to stay afloat the entire distance until we crossed over to the other side of lake. We somehow did, and it was fun. Once in the island, we took the regular course and ended up among lots of boulders, which had a ravine cutting through the lot. We waded through the water and rocks and rested to take in all the nature's offerring. It felt so good just to get away from the humdrum of the city. The crossed back to the main land and were on our way back to our hotel. We stopped in between for some cake and other snacks for the Chennai IPL match.

We ordered dinner, as always lots of non-veg stuff, and after a heavy meal and the match, hit the bed.

Chennai Salem Yercaud (11thJulyNight->12thJulyNight)

We planned for an extended non-work team outing ( the team's strength lies in non-work related matters ) to Kodagu, sometime last year which had to be indefinitely postponed due to my sudden flight to Kathmandu. I had missed the Periyar trip as well, owing to another reason which I dont remember now. Maapillai Senthil's marriage gave us a platform to showcase our skills in eating, drinking and talk "lollu sabha" lingo. Jaanu, the PM that he is, booked the tickets but was also wise enough to extract the fare upfront, knowing our liking to acknowledge debts over email, phone or in person, but doing nothing after that. Being a working day, we had to come to office in business overalls. I slipped into my sandals while Raghav opted for his ultra cool all purpose Skechers. Basha and Jaanu were laying the bait for Nextel ( by including non-existent tasks in a KT plan ), which had to be submitted by the weekend. Basha, fearing that Jaanu might not be on time, asked Raghav and me to wait at the food court and we duly obliged by snacking on a dahi chat. Basha came and was all excited, which he blatantly displayed by barging into the shared auto to the peril of the two girls who were already seated. Unfortunately the tiny bag he was carrying hindered his lunge towards the space between the two girls. From MadhyaKailash it took us around 45 mins to reach Koyambedu, and we talked about JMX, JBPM, Powerbuilder on the way ( if only you believed that we could have discussed all that.. )

Paddy, the man with the right info for the right occassion, was waiting for us at the rendezvous point. Without much ado we went in and ordered what each of us wanted. The waiter there felt really sorry that he couldnt offer what we wanted, much to our dismay. Jaanu joined us shortly and so did Nanda and Vetri. We finished our dinner and boarded the fully ACed KPN with berths. Raghav and me observed that the birth above us had a slight hammock like bend, and it didnt take us too long to realize that the reason for that was Basha.

We reached Salem and had the usual early morning T, and before long, we had a Chevy Tavera to take us to the lodge. Very rarely does one have the need for hot water to take a shower in Tamilnadu, and the lodge guys were liberal in providing hot water alone in the bathrooms. We braved that, and got ready in a jiffy to go to the wedding hall. Our Maapillai was beaming, and that gave us confidence to go right upto the dining hall for the pre-thaali breakfast. One normally doesnt have to stand right in front of the dining benches expecting the incumbent diners to vacate the bench, but we didnt mind it, since that was the norm. To keep a tab on the swelling waistline, we restricted ourselves to moderate servings, except for Nanda and Paddy. We were in time for what he had originally come for, and we were one of the first to give the "moii" to Maapillai and pose for the customary photograph.

Soon after, we set forth for Yercaud, while Basha was thinking of the best reason for his absence from work. We stopped on the way to get some DVDs to kill time, and we were overjoyed to land our hands on the much treasured "Mariyadhai" starring puratchi thalaivar. "Pasanga" DVD was the second option we had. The usual fare of nicknames, lollu sabha, slapstick comedy was on, but nothing came close to the "handwass" and the cellphone shrug from Gabtun. Jaanu, the spoilsport, ensured that we stayed awake through the movie. We couldnt take it and relied upon Zandu Balm to keep us sane. At At the temple, we bent and proceeded to visit the cave dwelling diety while Basha chose to contemplate on his life by laying on his back on the compound wall with a cool breeze to pat him to sleep. By now Raghav had got into his famous "pajamas", while Paddy daddy got into his cool bermudas.

Basha recommended GRT, and I was happy to alight and use their toilet and also order 7 glasses of water. Even though we liked the view and all that, we decided to check out another hotel. I recommended getting their visiting card, so that we could call and order our lunch, when we were ready. This simple act of goodwill for the sake of my co-travellers, was to be the butt of jokes for this trip :-) Sometimes, people are ungrateful, and this lot sure was. We killed time at the grand palace, harassing the waiters, changing channels, commenting on everyone under the sun, but it was pure fun.

Our return was set for 10:30 PM, so we decided to catch up on a movie at Salem, and we felt overjoyed to know that we had two movies for choice - Mirrors, and Angels and Demons. We stopped in between for some T and bajjis, and we felt liberated to drink T by siting on chairs by the side of the road. When we reached the theatre I was shocked to know that the tamil dub was being screened and I begged the rest to check out some other "real" tamil movie. But knowing this lot, I knew they were looking forward to the comic tamil sentences and not to the actual movie itself. I felt like a goat being dragged to a slaughter house, but felt at peace to realize that its been a while since I have slept in a movie. The gang empathized with me when I asked, if they were going to screen "Kal Kisne Dekha Hai" in tamil. The power went out a few times, the audio was supressed ( local censoring ), the AC wasnt as cold as we would have liked.

Post movie, we settled the dues with the driver which worked out to 2K and proceeded for a light dinner. By our standards, it was really a low key affair at the restaurant. It had started raining and we boarded the same bus which we had taken for the onward journey. Paddy and Nanda got a kick out of scaring one poor soul who wasnt sure if he got onto the right bus and kept asking if it was going to Chennai. The wicked weasels, kept talking about the places enroute to Madurai to make matters worse for that chap. We drifted off to sleep, dreaming about work next day, "engal aasan" ...zzz...zzz