Unstoppable - A Denzel tour de force

It was a tossup between a 3^rd row from the front viewing of Harry Puttar against the charisma of Denzel Washington in “Unstoppable” form from the back rows.  One dude was pretty hung up on seeing the former even at the cost of the rest of the gang suffering the towering screen presence of Daniel Radcliffe from very close quarters. Few plates of egg chilli and tandoori chicken helped us pacify him and finally he did come around to see Tony Scott’s “Unstoppable” at Inox, Jayanagar.

I have been accused (albeit unfairly) of dragging my classmates to proven blockbusters such as Inception and Shutter Island, which they didn’t appreciate the least bit. It is a different matter that these movies called for undivided attention during the screen time and we mostly went for night shows following late evening classes/exams. Few of us dozed off, and few were in inebriated condition. And I get blamed for all that!!

Thankfully, this true story (based on events in 2001 in Ohio) of a train on the loose (Train # 777) in Pennsylvania proved to be a no-brainer from the plot perspective. The story begins with two railroad employees unwittingly unleashing a train carrying toxic and combustible content that progressively gains speed and is headed for a disaster within the city limits of Penn state. Denzel Washington, a veteran, and Chris Pine, the understudy, are seen ferrying cargo in another train somewhere in other part of Southern Pennsylvania. The two don’t get along too well, which is further compounded by Chris adding unwarranted additional coaches to the end of the train that proves to be an inflection point in the storyline. Meanwhile, Rosarie Dawson, the railroad control room supervisor, tries to reason with her boss Kevin Dunn not to attempt derailing 777, based on Denzel’s counsel. 

The duo of Denzel and Chris, attempt an overtly ambitious plan of chasing down the hurtling 777 by travelling at incredible speeds of up to 80mph in their lone engine coach. There is the usual family heart strings attached, running on top of the train, and near death experiences for the lead pair. While the movie is replete with clichéd dialogues and twists, the performance of the lead protagonists, coupled with some spectacular cinematography of the wilderness and winter of Penn state manages to engage the audience for the entire duration. The movie doesn’t have a very intelligent plot, instead relies on the visual impact and sound effects to make up for the predictable story line. If you are one of the "Independence Day" fans and don’t mind enjoying popcorn thrill ride, Unstoppable is a must watch.

Bday Bash @ Legends of Rock, Bangalore

The original "Wellness Committee" founder and now affectionately referred to as the "Ring Leader" celebrated his birthday with us hoodlums on a rainy Wednesday evening, instead of doing his rightful duty of a familyman. So more special the evening, the better will it be for him to drown the domestic disturbance later. The painful drive to Purple Haze was a damp squib when we figured that the shutters were down on this one for good, and GP looked like a very realistic proposition. One of the deep guzzlers in the gang suggested "Legends of Rock" and few "punk" dudes amongst us forced the idea on the rest of group.  Our Page-3 contact,. using his extended network, got us a good corner side of the bar to go with a 10-15% off the final bill ( the percentage was contingent on how much we splurge on F&B). The starters and power drinks flowed, and a special recommendation for the tandoori chicken, wedges, lollypop and the paneer tikka. The bar had a juke box and predicatably we dedicated few of the legendary rock anthems to the birthday boy, and cried ourselves hoarse in the name of lip-syncing few lines we knew from the songs. To make matters worse, there were the actual videos of the songs being played out which encouraged people who otherwise would not have opened their mouth, to cause more misery. At around 11:30 we were politely and symbolically ushered out of the bar, and the usual culprits who were always suspect in handling their drink, caused quite a ruckus. It was a while before we got back to our apartments, instead we went chose to hang out on the streets with the cops manning the streets giving us a good stare. Oh...by the way this episode was ages ago ( So this is in a way anachronistic !! )

The art of "lazy" living

Caveat: Nothing do with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar!! More to do with spending a lazy Saturday morning when you know that next 3 days are there to catch up whatever reading we are expected to do. Vish, Sushant and I helped ourselves to dosas with Gun Powder (Idly podi) for side dish, and followed that up with 3 cups of ilachi flavoured chai over some general gossip at my place.  Having been denied this pleasure for some time, it was quite invigorating to sit back and just absorb in the mundaneness of doing basic things in life. Life is made up of these small moments than the adrenaline pumping survival instincts - one which have been the basis since the beginning of the course.

Vish, a connoisseur in true sense, brought along the traditional “Dosa Kal” (Tawa) and we borrowed another sophisticated contraption from Kavitha needed for the complex art of making paper thin dosas. The batter was sourced from the convenience store within the apartments, and so was the gun powder. We couldn’t help gush about the experience of having dosas made at home, compared to the ones we have been having at the Shiv Sagars and the staff canteen in the college.

Earlier yesterday, due to the sudden downturn in my healthy disposition, I couldn’t join my classmates for a second show of “Knight and Day” at Inox, but made up for it with a partial screening of Guy Ritchie’s “Snatch” on my laptop. The tablets took their toll and I dozed off with the lights and laptop on, and woke up to the sounding of the door bell by our maid at 6:30 AM.  

Still trying to figure out the arrangements for watching the world cup finals on Sunday mid night. 

Shutter Island - Sans the review

The much anticipated Shutter Island put me to sleep in the plush seat of PVR Cinemas in Bangalore. I have never gone this long (2 months) without catching up on a movie and the excitement post all the trailers and the personal guarantee from one of my close buddies on the quality of the movie (He had watched it 4 times already and was planning on watching it for the 5^th time @ Sathyam Cinemas). The momentum for the movie built up gradually, with no takers initially, but I ended up making 7 separate reservations for 17 of my friends. The look of the girl behind me in the automated ticket printout queue at Forum Mall conveyed the message that I was crackpot to have done so many reservations when I could have done it in one shot. Forum mall was abuzz on the Friday night and it was just good to be out in the normal world after a 1.5 month hiatus. I tried hard not to give up on the movie more than once, but such was the plot and the flashing delusional images, that I doubted my then existence on the face of the earth. It was a night show post a hard exhausting week, and the pit-stop at firangi paani didn’t help matters much.  The initial euphoria of getting out the campus and venturing into a mall died down, thanks to Martin Scorcese’s convoluted plot that seemed to me as a rehash of earlier movies of this genre. The most insulting impact came from one of my classmates who along with his walked out in the middle of the movie, and then later paid for the tickets as well!! The great guy that he was, in order to reduce my misery to tolerable levels, remarked that he liked the movie but had pressing reasons to stage a walkout.

CSK - Third time lucky

Despite the course work, I couldnt miss CSK batting in  IPL finals for anything and the plan was to just watch Chennai bat and then hope that Mumbai falters. But one thing led to another and I ended up squaring-off with the Mumbaikars in Milind's apartment. There were friendly jibes plenty  from the Mumbai supporters when CSK was going slow with the scoring and it continued on, until we saw the back of the little master. (He was in such sublime form all through the tournament that anything seemed possible with him around at the batting crease)

Dhoni called right at the toss and he made the most of a slow and turning pitch at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai, by first opening with Ashwin and then employing Murali to further tighten the noose.  It must have felt special for the CSK team to exorcise the demons of losing the first year final narrowly by conquering Mumbai in their own backyard. Moreover, given the spate of injuries the team just didnt seem to have the right combination at all and struggled for most part of the tournament. I personally had not entertained any hopes of CSK of even making the semi-final cut, but thanks to some brutal assault by MSD against KXIP, we just about managed to get there. The show of emotion from the otherwise "cool" captain, just went on to show how much it meant for him to take CSK through. His post match comment hinting that he owed it to India Cements for paying such a handsome salary to the players goes onto show his "straight" from the gut talk. I felt extra special for not having to listen to Srikanth with his over-the-top comments while sporting the hideous shades.

Vijay, Raina, Bollinger and Ashwin shone quite well at the IPL, while the likes of Hayden and Morkel flattered to decieve. Bollinger (now nicknamed just "Eagle" instead of his earlier name of "Bald Eagle") bowled few hostile spells and capped it off with a stupendous catch to dismiss Yusuf in one of the critical games. Raina looked ill at ease while playing the short stuff, but he managed to survive long enough to keep the score moving at a brisk pace. Vijay stood out for his pick up shot of his legs and majority of the sixes that he hit, were over the midwicket/long-on region as the bowlers just fed him length balls on middle and leg. Hayden's Mongoose reared its head only once at the beginning of the tourney, and thereafter it retreated to its shell. While rumours are strife that Haydos may not play the next season, I hope he would be associated in some capacity or the other with CSK, given the reason that he is likely to open his academy in "namma" Chennai. Another notable point is that unlike other teams studded with superstars and ultra-glamorous owners, CSK collectively reflected the austere perception one associates with India Cements. Hence it came as no surprise that the CSK players mostly gave the post-match IPL parties (which are now in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons) a skip, or at the most made the perfunctory appearances before retiring to their rooms. While the younger players and even some senior pros from other teams found it tough to resist the temptation at these parties, a seasoned "party" animal like Warne alone outdid his off-field performances with some fruitful on-field performances.

The Tharoor-Modi spat has reached dizzying levels, with both to blame : the former has been coined as the good looking Appam C (from fakeIPL blog), while the latter just assumed that he was bigger than the game. Both came crashing down and hope that they are away from controversial tweets long enough to realize their follies. On a positive note, India made it to the super-eights of T20 WC without any major hiccups, but only time will tell if we are able to regain the crown we lost to Pakistan.

P.S : Thanks to Milind for hosting us !!

Old times sake

Another trip to Bangalore, but it was for just two days and we were exhausted by the time we returned to Chennai on Sunday morning. Vasant and me had been planning to attend Sunil’s marriage in Delhi and had gone to the extent of coaxing another 5 from our office to join us.  During this trip, we had set our sights on 4 days of Rajasthan royal experience and 2 days of Delhi daredevilry.  Brother’s marriage reception date was fixed too close for the Delhi trip comfort and hence we had to abandon the North Indian sojourn.

To appease Sunil and knowing very well that he might become even harder to reach in the future, we landed in Bangalore on the 26^th March morning. We proceeded to Sudha didi (Sunil’s elder sister)’s apartment off Hosur-Sirjapur road. Tucked away quite far from the core city, the apartments in that area were huge and luxurious and for those fancying an apartment in Bangalore, they don’t come cheaper. We got the usual bear hug from Sunil who was all smiles and it brought back flashing memories of our school days in Chennai.  Uncle and Aunty were their usual loving selves, and we were glad to see the entire Sharma family on this trip. Their granddaughter - Saira, wasn’t too amused with our presence and didn’t chat up with us, but her poses for the pictures made up for the disappointment. 

Sunil’s mom makes amazing food, and so we didn’t waste much time in kicking off our breakfast with some parathas, kofta curry, aloo sabzi and sweets. We were very keen to know more about Shikha (Sunil’s newlywed wife) and we connected really well over the course of the day, in spite of Sunil butting in with his horrendous jokes J. She briefed us on the wedding ceremony which stretched over 4 days and made it all the more miserable for us for having missed such a fun filled ceremony. We proceeded to the Forum mall to do a bit of shopping and catch up on old times, and the biggest purchase came from Vasant : he bought a Puma shoe very similar to the one I had. Well its another story that he picked an ill-fitting one initially and roamed around flaunting it for a good 3 hours, before returning it to pick the more comfy one.  The lunch at the Forum food court featured an assortment of dishes from various parts of North India – Dhokla, Samosas, Masala Rotis, Aloo Parathas, Chole Bhatura, and the best dessert that I have tasted so far – The Rajasthani Malpua dipped in Rabadi. Shikha, seeing our laggard figures, mentioned that we were in a food “coma”, and true to the word it seemed to have lasted for a good 3 hours. Constant pit-stops at the coffee shop helped us stay afloat, and we dragged our weary souls to the apartment with a steely determination to go easy on the dinner. More tasty Chole and unique Shikha style parathas followed, and we let things adrift only to end up staying overnight at Sunil’s place, which wasn’t part of the original plan.

After seeing off Shikha and Sunil to Delhi, preceded by a 6:30AM breakfast, we hopped onto a cab and navigated our way to Vasant’s Uncle’s house. More hospitality was in store for us and second round of breakfast featuring plain dosas followed. Sudhi, (our KOH and he seems to be getting worse day-by-day) whose birthday I missed narrowly, was waiting in ambush and after being fed some cakes by him, we met up with few of our friends for lunch at the uniquely named “Gufa” restaurant. The restaurant is a glorified version of “Rainforest” Adyar restaurant and the decor (including the waiters’ attire) was well done to heighten the feeling of being in a cave located in the Afghan North-Western province.

Vasant was gung-ho about the shopping and I had serious problems in walking after all the food that we have been consuming. We roamed the MG and Brigade roads doing a bit of shopping, and not before long we seated ourselves @ the “Donut Baker” – the best doughnuts in the whole world. (Pardon the exaggeration - I have tasted doughnuts elsewhere as well. But the truth is the ones in Blore beat Krispy Kreme hands down.) After having spent nearly 4 hours on the prowl in the shopping malls and lanes, we went to our usual SLV for typical Kannada food. In all this mayhem, we just assumed that our train was scheduled for 10:45PM, and on the way to the station I realized that it wasn’t. In fact, our train wouldn’t leave Blore at least until 11:45PM, which meant we had to kill time at a rather spacious restaurant where we were the only customers to be attended to. We were absolutely shameless in sharing one coffee pot, while watching the IPL game on a giant screen...all for Rs.29, ie until it was time to catch our train.

Thus ended another eventful, fun-filled and nostalgic rail-trip.

Brother's Wedding and Reception

The entire cycle, starting from the exchange of horoscopes to the actual wedding, was all done in a month. It helped that there were clear demarcations in the responsibilities – wedding ceremony to be arranged by the bride’s side and the reception by the groom’s side. As usual, there were apprehensions if there were would be adequate time to do all the necessary arrangements. Casting it aside, we decided to go ahead and I promptly put in my papers in office.

In keeping with the tradition, there was an official “Nichaithaambulam” ceremony at the bride’s home in Tanjore wherein the priest prepared the sanctimonious “wedding invite”. It was the first of many official congregations of relatives that ensued during the entire wedding process. After returning from our hometown, we booked the reception hall, gave wedding cards for printing and most of all, finalized the caterer. I realize how much food plays a major part at weddings and receptions, so I took extra effort in drafting the menu personally y for the reception. While my parents wanted to have a kids show by “Apaswaram Ramji’s” group, I wanted to have an instrumental performance. My brother had seen the Saxophone Sisters performance (http://saxophonesisters.com/) at one of the reception functions and another name which came recommended was Coimbatore based “Perur” Raja. The YouTube videos of the sisters (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qb0VTnIA5t4 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rj-Ka6qLdNU ) kind of cast a spell on my mom and she finally relented :-)

Post the official “Maapillai Azhaippu” on 4th March evening at the Chozha Marriage Hall, preparations were on in full swing for next day’s (5th March) wedding rituals. The next day’s proceedings started with a sumptuous breakfast, even as more guests started arriving for the 9:30 Muhurtam. There was one thing that I dreaded, which duly unfolded – answering the almighty question from few guests : “Do you recognize me ? How could you know, you haven’t visited us for a long time”. I was embarrassed for good measure and looked for refuge, even as I mumbled a so-so response. The priest was a real hustler and things on the wedding dais were moving on at a brisk pace, even as the photographer screamed for people to make room for the shots . Relatives never miss an opportunity to confuse and add more complexity to the existing rituals, and there was more chaos and anxiety than usual. Post the knot-tying moment, the newlywed couple sought the blessings of the elders and posed for photographs with the well-wishers. Lunch followed and the heat was such that, we ran out of water bottles and I ran out to get additional supply to last for the rest of the afternoon.

The next two days was all about food, and the biggest of em all was the “Karee Virundhu” ( Non-veg feast ) from the bride’s family. Alas, gone are the days when I would have devoured multiple servings of biriyani and the succulent pieces of chicken ( the feeling reminds me of the craving for the burger in the movie “Harold and Kumar go to Whitecastle” ) . I wandered off to the big temple in the evening and after the simplest meal of the last one week, boarded the bus for Chennai. Back home, we chose to outsource our part of the Karee Virundhu to “Ponnusamy” and I overestimated the amount of food required. Visibly upset about the leftovers, I heaved a sigh of relief when we were able to distribute all of the food to neighbours and friends.

There were genuine moments of unease when negotiating for prices and service with the marriage hall managers, the photographer and the caterers. I specifically requested for custom decorations for the reception ceremony and a custom menu, which meant there was no frame of reference for the prices quoted by the providers. On the day of the reception (14th March) the reception hall seemed well ventilated in the afternoon that turned quite humid and sultry in the evening. Due to pressure from my mom, I yielded to wear my suit and felt sorry for myself. With errands to run, I ditched my suit for a more sensible formal shirt that allowed me to smile while welcoming the guests. After the majority of the guests had left, we finally sat down to listen to some of the most melodious saxophone tunes. After a month of tension and tiresome work, mom smiled and enjoyed the music, and it seemed well worth just for that !!

Last Days @ Work and Thereafter...

1st Mar 2010: Every outward movement (read as onsite and resignation) @ TCS has guaranteed me a fair share of last minute rushes. Last day at TCS and the day preceding that was no exception. The admin in charge wanted my ID cards by 5 PM on my penultimate day, since he wouldn’t be in office the next day and there was nobody to back him up in his absence. However, all the friendly smiles coupled with wishes from co-workers, and the usual barbs directed at me ensured that I could tide over the temporary frustration. I cleaned up my cube and comp to the best of my time-bound ability and hurried home to continue with my brother's marriage arrangements.

2nd Mar 2010: It was next day at Lloyds road office, where I waited for a good 45 minutes at the reception before I was called in to fill in few forms and get my relieving letter. The security personnel there normally disburse the revenue stamps and the one on duty, just couldn’t locate it. Furious arguments ensued between him and his well-wisher, who wanted the security guard to just head to the source of revenue stamps in Lloyds office. But our pal didn’t move an inch and waited for the stamps to be delivered at his doorstep. Another good 30 minutes. However, the associate who issued the letters was very helpful and wishes me good luck.

9th Mar 2010: It was nice to see a good number of my ex-colleagues turn up for my farewell lunch at Esthell, Besant Nagar. There was the usual banter and few photo-ops, and time just flew by (guess it lasted a good 3 hrs or so). Actually NO, time didn’t even take flight. The food was delivered at snail's pace and some really hungry souls just gorged onto whatever came to their tables, while even hungrier souls looked in great anticipation at the door through which the waiters blasted their way to our tables. We didn’t spare those unfortunate ones and called some cheap jokes on them :-). The food at the restaurant was really good and felt it was worth the wait, and would definitely visit again to kill time (Guess that would be guaranteed for no additional charge). My farewell gifts were sweeter than the sumptuous desserts we ordered, and I should be spared for putting such a cheesy line here. But truth be spoken, I really liked what I got.

11the Mar 2010: Haven’t had the time for the fact to sink in: I don’t have a job as of today and I resigned my job of nearly 9 years. Already feel out of place calling up my close buddies at work who would be busy designing solutions or thinking of the next big idea (including whats for evening snacks or what movie to catch up after going home or who to chat with. Pun intended here)

Unwinding @ Chikmagalur and Penance @ Sringeri

Feb 6th – Feb 8th 2010

This was probably the most hastily put together plan and expectedly there was more fun to be had. While our railway ticket sponsor, Mr.PR/Nakeeran/Sivaji opted to serve the interests of Norway and ditched us at the last minute, we decided to express our solidarity with him by not deciding to pay for our share of the train tickets. Hence, the distraught four of us – Srini, Simba, Raghav and me, boarded the train to Bangalore on Feb 5th night, while Sudhi ( King of Hospitality – KOH ) was expected to join us from BLR for the journey ahead. Deciding to build on our energy reserves for the 3 day trip, we bought some healthy snacks to the tune of Rs.250 from Saravana Bhavan shop at Central. This was supposed to make up for the rather light dinner we packed from the same outlet and which Simba had no business to share. However, he did, in spite of stuffing himself at home before he met us at the Central. Some people never change!!

We reached BLR on time and dragged ourselves into the IRCTC cafeteria, and with nothing else to do ordered coffee, samosas and idlis at 5 in the morning. Sudhi joined us at the BLR station and we proceeded onto Jan Shatabdi, which had only seats that dared us to sleep. To the amusement of few and to the chagrin of the majority of the co-passengers, Raghav switched on the collection of his LolluSabha and the early morning snores were rocked by some callous laughter from our gang. We reached Birur (after 3 hr and 45 minutes) a little late than expected, and soon after hired an Omni van to take us to Ozone Valley in Kemmanagundi. The trip through the ghats took us 1 hr and 40 minutes on one of the most mangled tar roads and the last kilometer leading up to the homestay (ozonevalley.com) was equally perilous.


Our tenacity took a hit with all the travel we had undertaken so far and we retired to the dorm style accommodation that we rented for Rs.1100 per head (all meals included). We decided to cover Hebbe falls and Z-point for the rest of the day and given the rough terrain, we opted for a Mahindra Jeep from Ozone Valley that cost us Rs1300. We were glad that we wised up to the idea of a 4-wheel drive, for there we no roads leading up to the falls and neither were there any protective barricades to prevent the mighty plunge into the valley deep down below. Shaken and royally stirred, we were happy to reach the end of the drive and after few photo-ops with pepper, coffee, teak and other plantations in the background, we started on the last mile trek to the falls. Lack of sporting activity can’t make up for the laziness we wallowed in, but we labored on and crossed ice-cold rivulets flowing over moss-laden and slippery rocks, to catch the first glimpse of Hebbe Falls. The breathless upsurge came to a welcome end as we gazed with relief and amazement at the beauty of the falls.

We began our descent in quick time and proceeded to Z-point to witness the sunset. Around 20 minutes of drive from Hebbe falls led us to horticultural park on the Z-point and after a short climb thereafter, we took a vantage spot to see the sun in its orange hue. Nature, stripped off the urban sham, brings out moments of self-reflection, but even here we had shared good amount of bollocks between the 5 of us. Easily, it was the best part of the trip!!

Our tired limbs and soul were resuscitated by the sumptuous dinner and “roars in the form of snores” from few of my comrades. The breakfast following our night cap, tasted extra special and we tipped the housekeepers and soon after, we began the descent to the nearest bus stand. With the best part of the trip behind us, the worst was upon us. The public transport that we took to Sringeri had the worst suspension under the chassis and after the 4 hour journey all that we wanted to do was check into a hotel and get some rest. Some of us were visiting Sringeri after many years and it seemed to have undergone significant change with respect to the accommodation facilities and the shrine itself. The bridge over Tunga river was relatively new and there was just about enough water underneath to sustain the large swarms of prosperous looking cat fish. We visited Sringeri Mutt, sought the blessings of head guru - Sri Bharati Tirtha, and Sharada Temple during the course of our 1.5 days stay there.

We hailed a Toyota Qualis for our trip back to Birur station, and on the way we stopped by at Belur, a UNESCO heritage site and under the purview of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). Years of neglect and constant vandalism probably seemed to have eaten into some of the sculptures and figurines. We reached Birur well ahead of time and were reminded of the true essence of “Indian Standard Time”, which meant we reached Bangalore just few minutes before the train to Chennai pulled away. Empty stomachs, heavy hearts and urge to get back to work on Tuesday, played a big part in ensuring that we got quality sleep. Just before that, Simba scared the wits of an old passenger under his berth, by not putting the supporting latches in place. Such callousness :-)

A Friends Wedding

Jan 23rd, Erode, Sakthi Duraiswamy Wedding Hall (Owned by owner of Sakthi masala)
One more core member of “Varuthapadha Vaalibar Sangam” (some might claim that we aren’t “Vaalibars”any more) took his marital vows, even though he didn’t do much other than smile all through the ceremony.

Jaanu and his wife, Raghav and his mom, Nanda and I boarded the day train – West Coast Express at around 11:30AM from Chennai central. This was the first time I met Raghav’s mom and she probably would have concluded that I too was one of the lost for good guys in Raghav’s circle. The first thing Nanda and I did was start the honours of brunch-Podi coated Idlis from Raghav’s mom and some accompaniments from Saravana Bhavan. Even as we were made fun of, owing to our ability to not say “NO” to any offerings in edible form, we continued on until we ran out of resources. As usual, there were jokes plenty, some involving those present, and quite a few on those who were not present in the scene. Time passed by and we reached Erode junction, where Raghav caught up with his partners-in-crime with whom he had collaborated in harassing Basha during the engagement ceremony. There were stories plenty about Basha and there seemed to be no love lost between him and his cousins/friends/his wife’s cousins…

Moorthy, Basha’s college mate who sported a Kakha-Kakha style moustache, was scurrying around doing all the hotel check-ins and local commute arrangements, even as his employer BSNL sought his assistance in fixing some outage. The true friend that he was, he told BSNL in no uncertain terms that he was not be disturbed. And we complain about BSNL’s services !! After freshening up in the hotel room, we headed to the wedding hall, which was one of the biggest and grandiose ones we have ever seen. Basha was beaming ear-to-ear on the dias with his bride. We couldn’t help smiling mildly (we never laugh out loud) as he appeared to repeatedly dive-in (he had to do that to owing to his custom made dress)while seeking blessings at the feet of elders. The bride for the evening literally had a knight in shining armour by her side– Basha chose a dazzling all off-white outfit that radiated. Guess who helped him choose that thundering dress – our own Raghav.

The hunger pangs did us in and we proceeded to the buffet style dinner laid out in the front of the hall. The food was delicious and the best part was the 3 types of dosas which were being made in front of us and served hot. More useless talk followed at the expense of some beleaguered friends (primarily Prabhu, another do-gooder for the function) . My biological system had initiated its shutdown sequence and we had to literally drag Jaanu, who is the ultimate sociopath given to prolonged bouts of conversation with everyone at every given opportunity, back to the hotel room.

The next day morning we got the expected dressing down from Raghav’s mom owing to our slippage with regards to being on-time. We reached the venue to see Basha tie the sacred knot with Sathya, which was a very quick affair compared to the versions we have seen so far. There was no recital of Sanskrit hymns or the “homam” which would have left the bridegroom teary eyed. We somehow forgot to buy a gift for our pal and hence tried our level best to get an envelope in which we could pledge our monetary support to the newlyweds. That plan has been shelved temporarily and we have vowed to take care of that once Basha returns “officially” to work. Meanwhile, Basha tried hard not to be overly concerned about the jokes we were cracking amongst ourselves about his outstanding qualities. M.Ned who had joined us in the morning and being the senior among the guys, led us to the dining hall for the customary breakfast. My next shutdown sequence had started and I coaxed the entourage to head back to the hotel for a short nap.

Raghav and his mom headed to Coimbatore, where Raghav decided to implement our close friend Simbu's copyrighted move of gifting “used” laptop to one of the unsuspecting relatives in exchange for a bigger item in return:-) After a sedate lunch at the nearby Hotel Jardin, Nanda and I took an autorickshaw ride to the station that turned out to be the most exhilarating and heart pounding ride I have ever taken in any vehicle. The driver displayed a maniacal zeal to take us to the station, and the way he drove his vehicle, I supposed he had “higher” plans. However, the journey back to Chennai on the Allepey-Dhanbad express was relatively sedate and tiresome.

Our heartfelt best wishes to Basha and Sathya !!

It’s not just about Cricket

Pakistan is crying hoarse about being "snubbed". N.Srinivasan from BCCI, who happens to be one of the franchise owners, gives bland and non-committal statements - as good as they come. While the roots of this stand-off can be traced back to the 26/11 attacks, the political machinations seems to have been spun after Jan11th, leading up to the auction day of Jan 19th. Jan 6th was the deadline for lining up the players who were to go under the hammer ( the Pak players alone have been singled out for literal hammering, at least their egos have been ), and at that point of time it would have taken at least one franchise to express interest for a player to be drafted for the auction. So at the end of that deadline, 11 Pak players, including the combustible Afridi and the T20 miser Gul, are identified as worthy enough of bargaining for.

Come the D-day, IPL team owners develop cold feet. Conspiracy theories (some might be for real) that abound:
1. The collective boycott by all franchise owners does not come as a surprise, and would not be presumptuous to rule out the direct involvement of P.Chidambaram and S.M.Krishna. The former is known to be quite close to N.Srinivasan and hence would have not had to exercise any arm-twisting.
2. Indian govt wants to derive the maximum effect of alienating Pak with little effort. No war cries, no build up around the LoC. Just pure last minute volte-face.
3. The dying interest in Ind Vs Pak cricket clashes can be revived with this kind of needling. In effect, BCCI wants to reap more dividends from the next big clash between the two countries, i.e. whenever the cricketing ties resume. But for that the national teams would have had to be in good form coming into that clash. From its current form, Pakistan will have to raise its game by more than just few notches.
4. One way of expressing resentment to the US sale of its drones to Pak that are apparently intended to expedite the latter's offensive in Waziristan against Taliban and Al-Qaeda. This comes in the background of US fears that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal could fall into wrong hands. Wonder how they are so sure that US drones won’t be usurped by the militant groups.
5. To tell Pak to bring to justice the perpetrators of Mumbai attack, instead of crying out loud about lack of credible evidence from India.
6. Warn Pak that it better ensure that a repeat of 26/11 doesn’t occur, given LeT's alleged plan of dropping suicide bombers by air.
7. Bring to knees certain ego laden Pak players, especially Afridi, who sure didn’t make many friends during his association with Deccan Chargers last time around. (Not that our super heroes don’t have one. Ask Bhajji, SSanth, Praveen Kumar and Yuvi)
8. The most buyable one: Given the current tension between the two nations, there is no guarantee that the teams will get to see their Pak sign-ups in India.
9. With 11 games scheduled in Mumbai, Mr.Thackeray's threats for disrupting matches do look real. By then even MNS and the state government would have ran out of ideas to build on their facade for Marathi values and would join hands in playing spoil sport to IPL matches in Mumbai. IPL committee would probably find it too hard to re-schedule matches in different venues, which could affect their earnings adversely.
10. Force Pak to voluntarily break all ties with India, including withdrawal from World Cup Hockey and Commonwealth games.
11. Pakistan would probably want to assume a higher moral ground in this IPL stand-off and it has reacted angrily, as expected. Hence, they would probably be inclined to foist more incursions and foment trouble in Kashmir, but unfortunately their current dependency on US for financial and military aid would mean that they would not be in a comfortable position to back such anti-India activities pro-actively. However, this sort of logical assumption has been proven wrong in the past.

The after effects:
1. Ijaz Butt and Rehman Malik have already spoken their mind, sometimes without even making up theirs. Predictable and along similar lines, just like their political utterances. Mr. Butt butted in first that it didn’t matter to anyone that Pak players have been ignored in IPL, only to take up the issue with ICC shortly. Waiting to hear from Mr.Querishi as well.
2. Afridi standing up for his brothers. Some of the questions he has raised obviously seem pertinent, with regard to players like Martyn being valued higher than T20 exponents from Pak. All that they are seeking are honest and straight-forward opinions, and not to be kept in the dark about being accepted into the IPL fold.
3. The Pak government is calling for boycott of screening Indian movies and channels inside their borders, which they hope would lead to a wrangling between the entertainment industry in India and the Indian government.
4. The camera friendly showman, Lalit Modi, getting another chance to get some media bytes.
5. Maybe, a blog for this year's anonymous IPL player blog is already in the works...

While the above theories are in a lighter vein, on a serious note: Cricket fans would probably feel that the IPL would be poorer without the maverick Pak players. But there would be the other section who would think that this kind of non-engagement serves the Pak establishment just right. They would opine that Cricket and any kind of dialogue with Pak are best relegated to the background for now, at least until the lost lives of 26/11 have been accounted for and credible steps are taken to dismantle the terror network.

Benjarong - An oriental awakening

Benjarong - the name for some reason rings a "gong". But figured it actually means "five colours" in Thai, and the more common usage is for referring to painted porcelain. There may not be many Thai restaurants in Chennai, and when one talks about it, the only name that crops, not surprisingly, is that of Benjarong. The restaurant is located near The Sheraton Towers on TTK Road, Alwarpet.

I reached the destination for once, without losing my sense of purpose and direction :-). The restaurant logo - A traditional Thai dancer with hands outstretched sideways - adorned the front porch type entrance. My two friends lived up the virtues of punctuality, which meant I was the last one to take my seat at the table. This particular drive from Tambaram to Alwarpet on my bike was one of the most painful ones, thanks to billowing smoke from all kinds of vehicles and the mad-rush on a Saturday afternoon. The guys had already started on a rather exotic looking tender coconut water and what I believe, was Jasmine Tea. I was hungry beyond reasonable limits, but decided to expunge the grime and soot on my hands prior to digging in. What followed was comedy of epic proportions!! Preeth made the first move to the wash room, and I opted to wait outside for my turn. While I waited for my turn, I even had time to make two calls and still there was no sign of Preeth. The third call I got on was with Preeth and apparently he couldn’t figure out a way to unlock himself. Like any good samaritan, I volunteered to unlock him from his misery, only to find that I was unable to unlock him and worse, I locked myself too in the wash basin area. Nihal had to be our saviour, so I buzzed him and he responded, tongue-in-cheek, that he didn’t want to lock himself too with us. After some embarrassing moments and good laughs, Nihal turned to be our saviour but he safely chose to outsource the job to one of the restaurant staff. Not to be done with the fiasco, I used the wash room and once again I locked myself in. After the final rescue act, we were re-assured that we were not the only smart-alecs to go through this experience. But am sure we were unique in doing a double-act in this one.

To liberate our senses, we ordered the Thai staple Chicken Pad Thai, a custom ordered Chicken Red Curry and the special Chicken Jungle fried rice. The food portions were quite acceptable, and seemed reasonably priced given the ambience, taste and location of the restaurant. However, the items that are laced with Prawn cost a premium - somewhere around Rs.545. The Pad Thai was little too sweet, but complemented the other two spicy offerings. While the overall restaurant setting was really good, one should not expect waiters adorned in traditional Thai attire, as was the case when the restaurant started off. I am assuming the place would probably look more beautiful during the evenings, when the Thai handicrafts and paintings would come to life in the dim lights. That remains to be tried out though. Of the items that we ordered, I would surely recommend the "Jungle fried rice" which had generous doses of fine fried onions, but the Red Curry was nothing extraordinary. Preeth really liked his coconut water, which apparently had a zing to it :-). I enquired if they had the sticky rice for dessert and unfortunately they didn’t. Preeth recommended that we could head to French Loaf for trying out some pastries and cakes. The overall meal for the three of us at Benjarong cost around Rs.1400, which was expected, given the pricing standards set by most of the restaurants from Oriental Cuisines stable. So with a heavy heart, a relatively lighter purse, and a satiated feeling, we hit French Loaf and tried out the Mango pastry, a Carrot-Walnut Cake and a Blueberry Pastry. All yummy and delicious!! While Preeth and Nihal headed for the Chennai Open, I laboured back home.



Benjarong@Chennai

New Year/Avatar/Kokum

Compared to last year’s New Year Eve in Kathmandu, this year’s celebration in Chennai was more comfortable and enjoyable. First off, we got the official go ahead to bunk half a day’s office – my colleagues at work along with their families descended on Sathyam for the matinee show of Avatar-3D. The chaos called “corporate booking” with Sathyam was a different matter altogether. However, thanks to a complete team effort we did manage it pull it off.


The movie itself was quite spectacular: the visual imagery, as written in every quarter, is breathtaking in the first half and the second half is more action and some loosely scripted plot and dialogues (remember “300” – all that bravado backed by some inept acting and very poor speeches). The toddlers in the audience were awestruck and weren’t scared, and hence made it easier for their dads to watch the movie in whole. Even though, as is my custom, I missed the first few minutes, I picked up the futuristic plot (whatever there was) which talks about a distant planet – Pandora – habituated by Na’vi people. The US armed forces led by Col.Miles (Stephen Lang) is commissioned to extract a mineral – Unobtainium, from that planet. He enlists a paraplegic ex-marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) to aid Dr.Augustine (Cameron favorite – Sigourney Weaver) and her team, with the intention of persuading the Na’vis eventually to settle for a negotiation with humans with regards to the giving up their sacred place which houses the mineral. So Jake and Augustine’s minds take on the incarnation (aka Matrix) of Na’vis to befriend and gain their trust in an effort to avoid the potential mayhem. The love angle is provided in the form of Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), who is entrusted with the job of training Jake in hopping trees and taming wild aerial dragon-like creatures in Pandora. As love blossoms between Jake and Neytiri, Col.Miles runs out of patience and calls for bombarding Pandora and usurping Unobtainium. But Jake and Augustine by now are totally against the military showdown and try their level best to persuade the Colonel against it, but to no avail. The second half is all about flying battleships, dragons, warriors on horses, big elephant like creatures stampeding and some very badly written call-for-war dialogues. As one would expect, its triumph of good over evil, albeit the loss of precious human and Na’vi lives. Cameron is the big bad splurge master, equivalent of our own Kollywood Shankar, when it comes to spending a fortune in film-making. But at the end of it all, Avatar-3D is an enjoyable fantasy laden action adventure, set in a Utopian planet.


Post the movie, a splinter group (8 out of 38) made its way to ID in Sathyam. I had my share of pre-dinner appetizers, while majority had their full-dinner. I had few other friends to catch up for dinner and after some serious thought in deciding the dining place, we settled for Kokum (Another oriental group specialty restaurant). The restaurant is located in MRC Nagar and is pretty cut-off from the city’s hum-drum. The restaurant specializes in predominantly Kerala cuisine, but had fair share of Goan and Mangalorean delicacies as well. Buffet, priced at a princely sum of 545INR, is a very rare feature of this place and they had one, owing to the New Year ’s Eve. I checked out their ala carte menu and figured that the buffet had a representation of the main dishes from that menu. So the eventual price of the buffet works out to be cheaper if one were to try out those dishes from the menu. The place is a well decorated (just like any other oriental group restaurant ), the food is authentic and really good, and has luxury apartment complexes in its vicinity. Apparently Hotel Leela, being constructed there, is set to be inaugurated by Dec 2010. We also met few third party acquaintances who happened to work for Nila ventures (holding company of Hotel Leela) and were currently residing in the apartment opposite to that of Dhoni’s (he bought that flat for Rs 2.crore).

Post dinner, it was drive back home at around 10 PM, by when the roads were already being battered by few crazy drivers in bikes and cars in spite of the heavy patrolling (in numbers alone, not by their ability to chase down the offenders). Back home, I popped in the “Eagle has landed” DVD……

Happy New Year to everyone !!