Diwali in Munchen

I don’t know the exact figure of fellow countrymen in Munchen-a city renowned for its beer than the lack of a south-indian restaurant (Not that there are hardly any north-indian eateries), but few of us planned to make the most of whats doable for celebrating diwali. So, sans the few mandatory rituals on this festival of lights, such as the early morning oil bath, a temple trip, flipping through the various TV channels like a high strung cat, mom's cooking, feasting on the goodies from neighbours...rest was all in place. The steering committee members of the respective families colluded to make some lip-smacking sweets and savouries on a Friday, while Saturday afternoon was reserved for a get-together at a meeting hall. The highlight was the delicious dinner spread with the falooda and sweet beeda at the end. The obvious big miss was the intoxicating smell of cracker aftermath.

Diwali in Chennai is not complete without a trip to the theatres for at least one of the major releases. Not surprisingly, going to a movie is not laborious in these foreign shores as it in India. The downside of such a orderly trip in Munich is, you miss all the fun and fight to get the tickets, the absolute mayhem inside the Chennai theatres, and of course the assortment of 'desi' snacks and filter coffee during the break.  Of the 5 speculated releases, Aarmabam (A swordfish inspired set?) was the most hyped one and like a death row inmate walking the green mile, I knew what was coming - it didn’t help that I had seen 'Captain Phillips' just couple of days ago.  The biggest gripe started obviously with the music and the least one was the holes in the screenplay, which were bigger than the ones created in the bullet vest by the villains' guns (the movie's whole premise is based on scandal in procurement of bullet vests for the police force). The key actors/actresses:

Thala Ajith - If the editor were to single out Ajith's footage, around 80% of that would be in super-slo-mo. He has however aged gracefully and is the george clooney equivalent with his salt-pepper looks

Arya - Big and tall, he has the best one-liners and provides the intended comic relief.

Nayanthara - One of the few actresses I used to like, but all she does nowadays is pout, wear glasses and try too hard to appear tall.

Tapsee - If only she knew to lip-sync and make an effort not to appear too-cute

Rana - Seems to be the guest-appearance material in tamil movies...and oh the coolers

Mahesh Manjrekar - Looked villainous enough, inspite of the tamil dubbing for his hindi dialogues

Verdict: "Aa-rambam" (Blade Runner)

Nevertheless, a very happy diwali in Munich I would say.

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 !! )