'Rear Window' experience

'Rear Window' directed by Alfred Hitchcock which was nominated for Oscars is a movie in which a man in wheelchair spies on his neighbour through his telescope and becomes convicted that one of them has committed murder. He enjoys being in the wheelchair as he is entertained by the various activities of his neighbours. Same way......

.....few weeks it was a great experience for me who had sprained my leg due to a minor accident at home.Sitting sedentary with a remote on my hand at one place(my bed) made me discover thousands of new ideas.Food, water, paper, books,junk all to my place. I can say I enjoyed this.Doctor advised me not to move for few days.There were in fact talks of buying a mobile commode.God saved me from that worser situation.For the first time I spent weekday afternoons at home, discovering what neighbours do. Same as what happened in the movie, I heard and saw a lot of fights,romances,chatting,cooking etc. I was not eavesdropping, but had no choice but to hear it, as my room window was on a corner of the plot closer to my neighbours respective windows.

In one window, a young girl was seen always on her mobile, I assumed she was engaged with a guy and was staying at home. The other window where a boy was yelling (a+b)^2=(a^2+2ab+b^2), and stuff. Probably his maths exam the next day(You guessed it right! I wrote this post during Half-Yearly exam time but forgot to post it then).Third window was a kitchen window where the magic of spices were disturbing me so much while I should be on diet. When I got bored with the windows I would pick my remote. Thanks to the sprain! It kept me away from so many things!

Last minute rush-up (December month)

2008-My first post this year! Let it be about 'the last few days'!

Do you postpone things to the 11Th hour and struggle at that moment? Well, I do! I do a lot of postponement and I admit I do multitasking in the 11Th hour. A lot of time goes waste thinking whether to do it or not, how to do it, what will be the consequences etc (merely speaking planning consumes a lot of time while actual implementation has to be rushed up).One good example is I never eat the whole day and finally stuff a lot of food compensating for the whole day! (I know you never expected such an example :-)).

If we give it a serious thought and look at the events (exclusively bad) that had taken place in the last week of December, that's called real postponement or last minute rush-up. No one expected Benazir's death during the year end. What about Tsunami? Well, that's god's postponement. Maybe god decided of a Tsunami in 2004 and kept postponing it till last week of the year.

The Thread!

//It denotes that one who wear the sacred thread should be pure in his thought, word and deed.//

A person I know replied for this saying, absolutely not necessary; and removed his thread. The explanation he gave for this was, "A person who wears it is not all that great. Why should a thread differentiate me from others? Let the world consider me equally from now on..."

Three cheers for him (for thinking uniquely and rightly) on behalf of me and my blog!!!

Wine shop!

The intensity of crowd at various shops fluctuate for various seasons...

Diwali/Festivals-Cracker shop, Saree houses are overloaded.

Start of academic year-Book and stationary stores are fully packed.

Religious occasions/auspicious days- Flower business go up. Valentine's day-Crowd at 'Gift' shops.

But if there is one shop which is always packed with people at any season and for no reason at any time of a day is the Wine shop (at least here in Chennai).

Are so many people addicted to alcohol? Occasionally consuming it sounds OK, but getting addicted to it needs a second thought. A man under poverty line becoming irresponsible and getting addicted to alcohol will lose a lot.

A search from a website says...

• Advantages: Better cardiovascular health, Improved blood vessel function, Value in religious systems, Social interactions at low to moderate use levels

• Disadvantages: Fetal alcohol syndrome, Driving related problems and violence, Alcoholism, Increased risk for various diseases (Many types of cancer), Interaction with several medications, even OTC drugs

Sedentary men!

Year 2007, booming or rather bloomed IT has a lot of men working for it. Long long ago, men went to the fields to earn some money for living while their counter-parts acted home-makers. Man is different from a woman by what means - physical appearance and the physical strength? That is the reason why men went out for hunting a little later while women still continued to stay at home. Years went, civilizations changed, culture bloomed; still men were stronger by body and mind and they volunteered the 'outside' job while the ladies took over the 'family-shaping' job.

But now as we see men working sedentary in front of the monitors, are they still stronger by mind and body? Ages back women at home used to send their sons to the battle field to fight for her country. Now every mom wants her son be a 'Software Engineer' instead and earn lakhs of money sitting at one place. Even now there are people who join the army and navy but are they recognized when compared to the ones working at 'Infosys' or 'Wipro' or 'TCS'?

Sometime back a bus in which I was travelling was full of IT janta and accidentally it hit a two-wheeler.Fortunately nothing had happened to the person on it. The angry two-wheeler guy came inside the bus and started hitting the bus driver wildly, as the fault was on the bus-driver's side. The whole scene took place for at least two full minutes and during that time none of the 'software men' in the bus went forward to stop the fight. Either they were busy shuffling songs in their i-pod or enjoying their sleep. My thought here is, how quickly will these sedentary men react to any critical situations?

Also, getting a girl is not so difficult these days. Girls easily fall for a corporate tag or for a visa stamping. Reminds me of 'Suyamvara' ritual during olden days or the traditional 'Jalli-Kattu' (cow-chasing) where a guy has to prove his braveness to get the girl's heart.

A good 'Song'!

Usually ARR songs will become hot favorites amongst many, but after listening to it for a repeated number of times. ARR songs are very reliable. Recently I heard a song 'Maduraiku Pogadhe' in one of the many 'FM' channels. Way different from the usual numbers this one created a curiosity in me to know who was the music director and which movie it is from. Unfortunately the 'RJ' did not announce that. According to me a song and its composition becomes good only when the listeners get the 'feel' of it and search for its details. Obviously, for any good job done don't we ask 'Who did this?'

While browsing through the channels, I violently came back to the channel where I heard this song again; just to know who has scored the music. A perfect folk song or a 'Kuthu' paatu or a 'Masth' song or whatever you mention; this one is from ATM (Now for people in Tamil Nadu ATM is no more Automated Teller Machine but Azhagiya Tamilmagan). I basically(and acidically ;-))don't like actor Vijay but ARR has proved that his fans will never be cheated! After knowing this song was a Rehman's product I felt 'No wonder'! Rehman rocks!

Experience with Mrs Manirathnam-fame is not everything!

Money, fame, status, power will definitely change a person's behaviour or will definitely put in some kind of weight-to-the-head is my friend's notion after this incident happened. But i strongly disagreed to his point saying I can prove that there are people who throw away their 'everything' when it comes to maintaining a good 'attitude'. Dr.Abdul Kalam is a very down-to-earth person though he has his own international status; is what i heard and saw. But there are people who are not like that.

This incident happened when I met Suhasini Manirathnam(actor and wife of popular director Manirathnam)this week at a shopping mall when I was shopping with my friend. I initially saw her and shouted 'Hey hey, look. Its Suhasini.' My friend was astonished looking at her thinking, a big shot coming out to public places so comfortably as he said, 'Hey come lets talk to her. I want to tell her that my dad is one of her crazy fans.' I said 'OK, lets take a snap with her', as we ran towards her. She was busy taking a snap with a foreigner after which she started moving. My friend stopped her shouting her name. At least she had some courtesy in responding our call by turning back. Once my friend said what he wanted to, she(Mrs Manirathnam) did not even respond to it, and she left the place with a not-so-interested smile.

The immediate statement i got from my friend was 'We made a mistake talking to her.Good that we did not take a photo with her'. Of course, we understand it is difficult to meet hundreds of fans everyday; but a smile with a 'thank you' is not going to charge her anything is all what we concluded!

Rat-a-too-ee

What a movie! A must watch!

Worth the money and time. A brilliant animation work full of laughter and fun.Its all about rats and cooking!Its not that someone cooks and the rat eats it, but in 'Ratatouille'(this is how its spelt) the rat cooks!!!

Best animation movie I have ever watched!!!

Recipe - Vegetable Crunch!

Vegetable Crunch

Ingredients:

Carrot - 2

Beans - 10

Cabbage

Coriander leaves

Curry Leaves

Oil - 2 tbsp

Salt

Chilly powder

Corn flour

Directions:

• Boil carrot, beans and cabbage with half a cup of water in a pan for 5 mins
• Cut the boiled vegetables into bigger pieces
• Mix the vegetables with chilly powder, salt and corn flour
• Heat oil in a pan
• Put the mixed vegetables in the oil and fry them till they turn golden brown or approximately for 10 mins
• Serve hot with sauce

*can be consumed as starters or can be had as a side dish for rice and roti.

Look at that!!!

My first look at this female on a movie poster gave me serious thoughts that 'Are they planning to make a Devdas remake in Tamil where she will play Vikram's pair?'. That's because she looks so gorgeous ,very much equivalent to Madhuri Dixit in 'Dola re(Devdas)'.

I never had a slightest thought this was 'Kenny-anna' (that's how a friend of mine calls Chiyan Vikram who is her family friend).

Observe the picture. What I feel is the main motto of the whole 'Kandasamy' team about this particular role of Vikram would be that any guy who looks at this picture should fall for 'her'. Every single aspect from the accessories to the nose-ring looks so perfect. The only flaw i feel about the make-up is Vikram's eyes-which resembles more of a drunkard's, the lens somehow manages to cover up the flaw.

I don't think feminine make-up would have suited any other actor as this one!

Cricket-Pak-Dhoni-Cup-Mumbai-Bus!

Chennai feels jealous thinking,'If I were Mumbai.....' for that lucky bus to go around.Dhoni and men have proved at last that India is 'capable', after all those previous 'beaten-ups'. 'Time' never gave me time to write about our master-blasters for their marvelous show this week. Finally caught hold of this page and not going to leave it till I convey my thoughts about the victory.

That last over was full of tension at my home apart from the lakh homes in India. My dad kept his fingers crossed though he was confident about India's win. Me like a spoil-sport, kept discouraging him by saying 'anything might happen in the last minute'- I was not wrong though! Misbah-ul-Haq(did i spell that right?) almost taught a new style of batting for that last ball, i got reminded by 'Lagaan-village players'. If Sreesanth had not caught that ball, if Misbah had sent the next ball to boundary; the cup would have travelled to Islamabad. Pakistani transport would have had to arrange a bus for the players to go around the city to celebrate their victory, Pakistani politicians would have been in top news to push the players to the back rows in their felicitation ceremony, Pakistani hockey players would have gone on hunger strike as they were not given enough attention. Fortunately or unfortunately that did not happen.

Future India would never forget that 'We' won the World Cup in the first 20-20 series. Dhoni has made history for future India, as Kapil had made for us. After gifting his shirt to one of his fans, somehow he decided to wear that sleeveless alternative for the prize distribution ceremony. Prize money keep flooding into the players pockets as wee see the Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra governments praise 'their' respective players. And can't forget that huge flower garland around rich Dhoni's neck during the felicitation ceremony which I ideally felt should have been around the 11 of them. This reminds me of the stone-attack at poor Dhoni's house sometime back when he didn't perform that well.This is India for us!

Yuvraj Singh's young girls fan club seems to be on the raise after his '6-out-of-6' treat. Oops, did we forget our dada's of cricket - Sachin, Rahul and Sourav? Or did they forget to greet the 11 of them in public as King-Khan did? India won the world cup, and I didn't come across any pictures of these big-shots with the 'Cup' or with the players.This reminded me of 'head-weight-Patashala-Gurus' heard from ancient epics who never appreciate the 'good work' of the youth.

Critics apart, India won! Chak Diya India!

*Pics Courtesy- ICC World Twenty20

Ahem Ahem! Our men are great!

Related to my previous post (September 19Th 20-20 - Dhoni and Men!)

//This time the Kiwis showed their stamina levels as the ball was raising heights. The same attempts for Indians went in vain as they could only raise it to certain extent and gift it to the Kiwis.//

Yesterday's match with the Englishmen has brought in a small correction in my perception towards our men-in-blue. We can't keep complaining them. Yuvi's six sixes in one go clearly proves our men are unpredictable. Party time for Yuvraj! Yet another record! Kudos, Yuvi!

I was actually thinking about the sixth six, what was running in his mind after he hit the fifth ball beyond the boundary line.

20-20 - Dhoni and Men!

I have never seen a match so 'fully'. I have never had patience to sit and watch a 6-7 hour match continuously listening to Mandira Bedi yapping in between, with her little knowledge about the game. This 20-20 series seems to be a nice idea for people like me who prefer everything short and sweet. I was glued to my seat last Sunday watching India play New Zealand. I have heard from most of my friends who believe superficially that; if they watch the match, India loses; if they move away from their seat, a wicket goes; if they utter a word, the ball goes to the boundary. I am not going to blame me for watching the match as India lost. I enjoyed watching it especially when the whole burden was on poor Sreesanth. Precisely a sportive spectator, I am.

Be it India or the opponent team, I enjoy watching the ball fly beyond the boundary line. This time the Kiwis showed their stamina levels as the ball was raising heights. The same attempts for Indians went in vain as they could only raise it to certain extent and gift it to the Kiwis. I thought our men's energy level could not match their meat and pork built stamina. As I was watching I discovered; that when it comes to fielding their men don't hesitate to fall on the ground to stop a ball going to boundary; whereas our men watch the ball go or to the maximum they run behind it. Cricket lovers reading this post don't search for me, I am a crazy cricket fan too! This guy Dhoni has got a lovely smile apart from his silky hair which attracted General Parvez and many others like me.

Good to know that 20-20 series might get included in Asian games and Olympics where Indian Cricket will get more popularity all over the world! While few of them feel importance to other games in Olympics might reduce once cricket is in.

Frustration!

When you know you are right; when you are confident about your capabilities; when your journey has been smooth and successful till date; when you had planned to implement a proper strategy in your near future; when you are all set to attain your goals; when you have put up ways to balance your personal, official and social lives together; when you actually feel you are growing - suddenly, when you come across certain slight tremors deteriorating your performance; what would you do ideally?

Reach the heights of frustration spoiling your in and out of everything? Face a miserable period in life?

As I am migrating.....

SMS alert said 'Tsunami warning. Do not go to beaches. Avoid coastal areas'. I replied back saying 'I live in coastal area(with a sarcastic smiley)'. Again got a reply saying 'very funny!'. After all that happened, my legs mildly started shivering thinking 'what if?'. When the same Tsunami happened in 2004, I got the news at around 5 in the morning when I was coming back from work. We people moved like nomads to safer zones. I remember, the next day was a holiday declared by the company!

Now, a little later, made up my mind and started to think about my important assets to be taken along with me; just in case of emergency. Immediately a flash in my mind 'Will I get a leave tomorrow?' and what reason will I mention for taking a leave? Tsunami Migration?

India Vs Australia!

*Disclaimer : To understand my review better, watch the movie! A must-watch,big time patriotic,sports-based entertainer after Lagaan!

With a penalty shootout for Kabir Khan, it all begins in a hockey field for a final match against Pakistan in the Men's Hockey Tournament. As Kabir fails to attain the goal India loses the match.Mr.Khan is blamed for match-fixing against Pakistan-the media covers him shaking hands to the opponents; while he was actually trying to prove his sportsmanship by wishing the winners. After a span of 7 years with a burden in his heart he re-enters the field again, not to hold the stick but to train 'them' play with it. Kabir Khan, the new coach for 'Indian Women's Hockey Team' starts his journey saying 'Chak De India'.

SRK as Kabir stars against 16 heroines in the movie, probably making a record in Indian cinema. But this time not for a duet in France or Italy but for a game! Being brought up in a traditionally-bound country like India even P T Usha, Shiney Wilson or for that matter even our very own Miss.Mirza would have come across enormous physical and mental disturbances throughout their sports career. Study till twenties, get married, give birth to a kid in the early twenties, spend the rest of your life bringing up the child and serving your in-laws is probably a thought which is a little deviated these days. Keeping this in mind, the director has shown the 'dream' of the 16 girls who constitute the 'Women hockey team'; and also that of a black-marked coach.

Coming back to the movie; the team is not given any sponsorship in the beginning and the committee feels its not a good idea to send the 16 of them to the field as they were framed to make 'Roti' and 'Sabji' sitting at home. The committee changes its mind seeing the 'Men's hockey team' saluting the 16 ladies for a brilliant performance against them. For this much fame, Kabir had to take up a lot of blame from the girls during the practice sessions. A strict coach- Well, that's how a coach is supposed to be. Preethi whose boyfriend does not think that a woman too has her own career which is to be respected,Bindhya who feels her seniority could make her always on the top, Komal who hates Preethi and her fame, Kaur-aggressive enough always, Vidya who is tied in between her dreams in hockey and her family ;constitute the team along with the other girls.

During the practice sessions the girls face a lot of physical and mental tortures, 'you or me' fights between them, seniority and jealousy due to it, regional and lingual disturbances ; as the 16 of them have come from various corners of India, including Jarkhand! Apart from the game they learn many lessons in life. They finally arrive to Australia for the Hockey tournament. SRK's yet another stunning performance - a hockey coach tied between the black-mark against his name, girls hatred against him, passion towards the game.

What I liked: The whole movie as such, Komal's pass of the ball to Preethi-a true turning point during the final match. Preethi's sacrifice of the penalty shootout to Komal again during the climax. Preethi's dialogue against her boyfriend about his comments on women's career. SRK's penalty shootout miss (first scene- actually we have watched Indian cinema where the hero never loses). The coach's(SRK) strict behaviour. Absolutely no duets. Bringing Jharkhand to limelight. Unexpected parade of the girls in our traditional Saree. And last but never the least- the girls!!!

'Mom, I'm in love with Saif!'

"It is rumoured Shahid wanted to spend quality time with his girlfriend Kareena." was news on July 31st. In a span of thirty days the media people had to go mad in editing the news and re-delivering info about Miss. Kareena 'Mom, I'm in love with Saif!'

Aaj kal yea bahuth hota hai! Shahid very much expected with a 'devdas' beard in future!

Wrong window!

Many a times I face embarrassing situations in life. Intensity of few being really awkward; even now when I think of it. Makes me use this statement 'Oh Sh**! why did I do this?'

This one happened last week on a weekday at office. Just like any other day I logged on to my system as soon as I reached my desk. Usually, for official chats through messenger I mind my language and the way I handle my words(that does not mean for unofficial chats I am the other way round. But a little relaxed is what I mean).

I had to chat a while with my immediate-senior regarding a forthcoming meeting. A little later a second window popped up;one of my friends started a chat session with me(an informal one). I went ahead and typed 'from morning samma bulb for me' (meaning : from morning I am like a Monkey ,making a fool out of me from others or precisely doing idiotic things and getting a 'you dumbo' stare from others).
Immediately I got a response 'Y?'. One tiny brain cell of mine made me look at the name of the person in that window (which I normally never do) before I typed my next dialogue. 'Oh my god, what have I done' saying this to myself I immediately typed 'Sorry, that was not for you, sorry,sorry'.

I had typed that statement in my immediate-senior's messenger window who does know Tamil. He sent me back a 'laughing' smiley which made me feel 'Oh Sh**! why did I do this?'

When nature calls....

(Scene at Hum-Tum's Bangalore office)

Tum(guy): Wow what a weather? Shall we go for a movie today?
Hum(girl): Hey look at that building.What do you think is the idea behind this construction?(Tum turns innovative at times)
Tum: I thought I asked you something....
Hum: Oh, now leave that alone. Answer my question. I know you can't think better than me. At least make attempts in clearing my doubts.
Tum: Oh ya? now let me take a plunge...... this building? (he points at that building)
Hum: Yeah that conically-square one.
Tum: Well.....don't you know what this building is for? Dear, this is the new toilet-building at our office.
Hum: Wha........at?

Tum: Yes, see..... this building has 4 floors and one corner of the forth-floor ends as a sharp pointed structure just like a jet aircraft
Hum: Excuse me, you think I am from Venus. I know how it looks like and all. You tell me whats the purpose of this building.
Tum: From now on we got to use this buildings for our 'nature calls'.
Hum: (Imagines)!!!
Tum: Ya.....as we already have some 36 odd buildings here at our office the administration decided to construct a separate building exclusively for toilets.
Hum: But then..........this 'toilet' building has so many floors.....it looks like a modern shopping mall!
Tum: Yeah! this is built by international architects with modern facilities. Separate toilets in all floors.

Hum: Oh! but this one is far off from the first building. How will people manage to run from there and reach here when 'nature is calling them immediately'?
Tum: Good question. I knew there is no one brilliant as you are and only you can ask such tricky questions.
Hum: Yeah! even i know that.
Tum: The admin have to think about it I guess.
Hum: OK, then why does the top most floor has a pointed edge just like a rocket?
Tum: Oh that? that's for the Senior Managers!
Hum: Wha.....at? Senior managers? you mean toiletries are divided as per roles here?
Tum: Yes.First floor for engineers, second floor for senior engineers, third floor for managers, and top most floor for senior managers and dignitaries...
Hum: Oh! partiality man! so we people cant go to the top most floor then?
Tum: We can dear, when water pipelines don't work in first floor toilets we can use the ones at other floors.
Hum: Hmmm, now that's gentleman-ship!

Tum: Now, did you believe all that?
Hum: ?!?!?

Bengalooru 1 - The ultimate destination?

I have decided to write my thoughts and experiences, about the 'Garden City', 'Silicon Valley'. I have planned to pen them up in parts as the package is too huge to be presented in a small storage. As a disclaimer I would like to inform that the write up is highly MY perception about the place and has nothing to do with others belief about the place.

To start with, facts about Bangalore which I feel are the visible 'diamonds' of the 'crown' which this destination has been sworn with,

• Bangalore has highest number of pubs in India.
• Bangalore has highest number of cocaine addicts in India.
• Bangalore has the highest number of software companies in India - 212
• Bangalore has the biggest statue of Shiva & Hanuman in the world.
• Bangalore has only 42% of local population (i.e. Kannadigas). Hence a true cosmopolitan with around 20% Tamilians, 13% Telugites, 10% Keralites, 8% European-origin, 7% from other parts of India.
• Bangalore has produced the maximum number of models from a specific area.
• Bangalore was founded in 2ND Century and still has the same infrastructure drainage & sanitary systems - the oldest in the world.

* courtesy Yatish Shivaprasad

Any well-settled or settling person when asked to chose between places in India or rather south-India would opt for Bangalore as 'The Ultimate Destination'. Starting from weather, growth, accessibility, jobs, real estate, education everything is ready-made here. When facilities comes for free who would willingly opt a knotty decision. Bangalore(I love referring places as Bangalore,Madras,Bombay,Calcutta rather than their current names) has developed immensely when compared to any other place is all acceptable. But should the improvement be considered a boon or bane, as insecurity arises along with development.Ask the IT janta, and they would anytime chose Bangalore as their ultimate destination as its popularly known as the 'IT-hub'.

I am somehow reminded by 'Prathiba Murthy's' ruthless murder in Bangalore at this moment. Of course, it is not safe for a woman to travel alone in a night cab in any place for that matter. Still such a merciless killing happened only here. Technology has improved massively is what we all boast about, but these kind of cruel activities still exist.

If KSRTC(Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation) had not given a job for our Shivaji Rao Gaekwad(South-Indian superstar Rajnikanth)we would have missed a legend. I know a person, who was lucky enough to travel in the bus in which Rajni was a bus conductor(bus route- Srinagara to Majestic). I remember traveling in a bus recently in Bangalore when the bus conductor actually refused to help me know where the bus goes(I could not help myself as the name boards in the buses were all written in Kannada). I later found out I was in the wrong bus and was literally begging the driver to open the automatic door of the bus in the bus stand.

To be continued...