நேற்றும் இன்றும்

How funny was it? How crazy was a life of a bachelor!!!

No plans. No savings. No tension.

Eat all around. Whatever you want. Wherever you go. No rules!

Sleep any time. Dont even bath. Who cares!

I was just thinking as I recollected posting an episode in a bachelor's life here.

I had to laugh at myself. So why is all the past tense...I recollected...was a bachelor....yup...I had to move on to family circle shedding out the single status four months ago! Well dont ask me, which one is better! No matter, changes are inevitable !! So if you ask me how is life as of now, I should be crisp saying "All izz well for now"

Personally so many changes!!! That too for a guy who had stayed away from family for some time...the changes are evident and welcoming. Thoughts come naturally when I write in my native language!!

அன்று !!!!

Late ஆ எந்திரிச்சு... 5 ரூபாய்க்கு...

பக்கத்து டீ கடையில் சின்ன plastic கப்பில் காபி குடிச்சு,

அவசரமா  குளிச்சு  Aunty மெஸ்ஸில்,

அந்த அதே breakfast menu வ பாத்து,

வேற வழி இல்லாம அத சாப்பிட்டு,

Office க்கு போறதுகுள்ள போதும் போதும்னு ஆச்சு !!!

இவன் Bachelor,

எவ்வளவு நேரம் ஆனாலும் இன்றே முடிச்சுடுவான்

என work குடுக்கும் மேனேஜர்!!!

Queue வில் நின்று அந்த 40 ரூபாய் meals வாங்கினா ...

இன்றைக்கும்  பிடிக்காத அந்த கொவக்காய் சாம்பார்! 

ச்சே  ச்சே..

வேலை முடிச்சு

பின் இரவில் வீட்டுக்கு வர்றப்போ அவ்வளவு tiredness!!

அடுத்த நாள்...Repeatu !!!

இன்று!!!

காலையில் எழுந்தவுடன்  சூடான filter காபி,

இன்று என்ன lunch செய்ய என்ற அன்பான உபசரிப்பு,

குளித்து முடித்ததும்... பசியை போக்கும் இட்லி காரச்சட்னி,

உடல் ஆரோக்கியத்துக்கு பழச்சாறு,

என Office க்கு கிளம்பும் முன் அவ்வளவு அக்கறை !!!

மாலை வீடு திரும்பியதும் மறுபடியும் காபி...

இடையில் சில பல snacks..இன்று

வேலை எப்படி இருந்தது என அழகான விசாரணை!

பிறகு Tension இல்லாத dinner...

நிறைவான தூக்கம்!!!

இந்த மாதிரி சினிமாவிலோ இல்ல மற்றவர்கள் பேசும் போது,

இன்று நம் வாழ்விலும் இது நடக்கிறது  என்று என்னி மனம் மகிழுது !!!

நாளை ??

இதெல்லாம் கொஞ்ச நாள்  தான்,

அப்புறம் கதையே வேற என்று மூத்தவர்கள் சொல்லலாம்.

நாளைக்கு நாளை பார்ப்போம்!!

Diwali...Then and Now...

Needless to say,Diwali is one of the biggest festivals in India, being celebrated differently for different reasons in different parts of the country where every person finds a reason to rejoice, reason to do business, reason to have sweets, reason to meet relatives, reason to relax, reason to wish, reason to shop....its diwali time!

First I hated Diwali this time, for it fell on a Wednesday!! Then I liked when my one week vacation got approved.However the rains at this time has been interrupting the schedules intermittently. Even now had plans to go out...but started blogging as it is raining now outside....so was just thinking what to blog and then i thought i could scribble about my previous Diwali celebrations and how I celebrated this time! Wow...lots of changes!!! 

It was during schooling, the excitement was at its peak. It seemed like I longed for this occassion every year. The festive mood starts well in advance where the count down begins as early as atleast by a month! I used to finish off the home work once I reach home and then bug amma for 15 Rs or so to get the 'seeni vedi' from the petty shop nearby and then spend the rest of the evening bursting one by one. In the mean time I would have gathered few of my street mates. Diwali also indicates new clothes for me. It was only during this time I get four to five sets of new dresses and keep it for all the occassions till next diwali. On the Diwali day, I get up early rather forced to get up. Then have an oil bath, put on the new clothes and make sure that I burst the 'busvaanam' and 'sangu chakram' before any of my neighbourhood does.  I used to go to my grandma's house and other relatives...primarily to fill my pockets with 'Diwali kaasu' and seeking their blessings was secondary though!! Well all i knew that time is puthu dressu, vedi, diwali kaasu! Funny aint it ?

The first transformation came during the college days. The focus gradually shifted from crackers to movies. I used to watch a couple of movies during diwali holidays. It was during college, I had this habit of watching movies during the release weekend it self and diwali was no exception. I used to come home the day before diwali. It is one kind of excitement on Diwali eve, when I used to gather some local friends and roam around the west masi street and netaji road, do some petite shopping..probably belt or socks or t shirts and swim through the crowd to reach Sunnambukaara street to bargain some local brand footwears. Man you have to be on these roads on Diwali eve to witness the crowd. Probably I did not know much about Ranganathan Street or Commercial Street then!

Well, the enthusiasm today might even not be near, to what I did then. The way I see diwali today has changed a lot. Diwali seems to be a sign of relief after long working hours in office. So what do I do during diwali! After failing through irctc.co.in which never opens during peak times and managing a costly ticket from ksrtc for what they claim as SPL, which is only little better than the BMTC buses, we reach home tired. Then you unpack the sweets you got the previous night after leaving office and before catching the bus.


New Clothes - If I thought new dresses are worn on Diwali and other festival occassions, then I have to take any day in a month as diwali. Almost every weekend is a shopping weekend! So now the zeal of wearing new clothes has gone. After all its another day!  Blame the IT-Lazy-Bachelor culture. I do make a visit to temple and grandma house. However, I still keep getting the diwali kaasu, but then it has become secondary now. :) Then come home, eat lots of sweets, scan through the tv channels, take a nap!

Crackers - Oh I dont even think about it these days...just go to the terrace or outside for some time....watch out the fireworks clearing the dark sky..have a sigh of joy and relaxation..come down...have some bajjis that mom prepared..watch out for one of the block buster movie that is aired on the satellite channels....greet and exchange wishes with friends and relatives..and that is diwali as of today!

Well one may think, what is in a celebration! However, sitting back and rewinding a few years makes one feel nostalgic! Doesnt it ?

Happy Diwali!!!

Lame Excuses!

I would have wanted or not wanted, 

I would have known or not known,

It is intentional or unintentional,

It is the truth or a lie,

Somebody asks or not..

Excuses! Excuses!

Lame Excuses all the way!

When I wake up late...I say Bangalore is very cold in the morning!

When I dont jog..oops.. its already eight, I have to get ready for office!

When I skip office...I think i am not well!

When I spend unnecessarily.... salary had just been credited!

When I hardly talk to my old friends.....busy at work, you see!

When I skip a friend's marriage...project release on that day!

When I dont pick up a call....I am riding my bike!

When I party hard...weekend you see!

When I fail to impress... lets look out for another!

When I dont wash my clothes for the week... well who cares!

...And many more!

Excuses! Excuses! 

Lame Excuses all the way!

Its been a couple of months...

... I had been scribbling in this space. Half the blame to the company I joined....I had been into a hectic project after a week I joined here and since then, there is no looking back. Somehow I felt that, I had been actively engaged with work in this project for the past three months.Well dont ask if I am able to deliver? :) Well I dont know. Am I trying to showcase or is there a pressure really? May be both are right. Sometimes had to work more than office hours..slog almost every day. Well more salary, more work!!! Wait Wait Wait!! Is that statement correct..no not at all...its not always true...May be its an inconvenience of being a bachelor. But in spite of all the wierd thoughts about work, slogging, working on weekends..I somehow managed to relax as well. I didnt miss to go to friend's marriages and engagements ...I still managed the weekend get to with my ex colleagues..  As usual I didnt miss to watch newly released movies. I did not miss to attend the A R Rahman concert here in Bangalore. None of my pastimes changed. Just that there is no free time. Its all occupied. I would say the lazy time of mine had just reduced. Somehow I am content about it. If you are wondering what a lazy time is, I would say its a time spent by me on a weekend or weekday doing nothing. Nothing means literally nothing.

 Now that its almost three months, I just got some breathing space and just peeped in here. Reason being, I want to blog, atleast once in a while. And thats why I made a point to scribble here, though this post has no context or significance! I am not a writer or a philosopher. I am not preaching. I may be a liar. But I wanted to blog, and thats the beauty of blogging, you have this liberty to blabber whatever you want. Wish I blog with relevance in future!! I wanted to talk about the movies I watched recently, the places I had gone, the new restaurant I had experimented. Just that I should not be lazy. I know, once in a while I post such scribblings without any specific context. I start of with something and end with something irrelevant. He he, I am liking to do that!!   :)

Run Lola Run!

I happened to see this German flick - Run Lola Run!  Life is all about probability based on time. Athletes win the race by milli seconds and nano seconds. And this movie explains it in a very interesting and fast paced manner. Especially with the style and the fast paced background music, this decade old movie seems to be technically brilliant and makes one sit at the seat edge!

Lola has twenty minutes and needs huge amount of money to save her boy friend. She decides to get the money somehow and run to the destination, where her boy friend is actually waiting. This whole movie is split into three different runs by Lola for the same situation, with the first two runs being a failure and the final run becoming successful. There are flash forward sequences shown for each of the people whom Lola encounters during each run. Even the life of the other people whom Lola bumps in take different directions for each run. The director neither says which one of the outcome is actually true nor he wants it to say as he only gives us a thought that only seconds of your time are required to change the direction of your life! Very true!

I sometimes imagine things in real life in a similar way. Sometimes very crucial turns in one's life happens in seconds. Most of the times we will not have control on it. I know we cannot go back and change things, atleast we have the liberty to dream about it. Knowingly or unknowingly, be it the past incidents or the future endeavours we always have a habit of dreaming those things in the present. We all have a wish to do something in life and most of us end up in doing something else. Like it is said in a Tamil movie - Mudhalvan "How good life be if it has an rewind option?" If every single person in this world is blessed with this option, I bet we will never go forward..what say? :)

First things First!

It could be whatever you do, wherever you live, which ever place you had gone, who ever you have met, the "first" one is always a probable moment. It could give you loads of surprises and excitement. It could be a happy moment or a sorrow one. And irrespective of the outcome, I bet the first things always have a special place in one's heart. Be it your first school, first crush, first date, they all have longing memories! This time its first last day @ work!

Well yesterday was my last day in my first company. In these five years, I had seen people staying around and moving out. I could hardly recollect faces that I saw during my first year! But there are a few people like me hanging around still as if they were anchored deep to the sea bed!  So as usual, it was my turn to send out my last day mail and I could not cut short the content. Whatever I wrote, came from the mind. I did not care if the recipient would care or not. An irony is that I had actually criticised others for their last day mails here!

It was a kind gesture having friends sending me off with all the usual cake cutting, wishes and memento. Finally, it took less than a minute to return my identity card and my longing association with my first company ended abruptly. And particularly when you are associated with a company for a very long time, it definitely takes a little time to get over the comfort zone. Its not only the organisation but the people, with whom you had built a relationship with. 

Its like the timer is reset and again the time starts ticking from zero. I know this will happen and I wanted this to happen! I am a stranger now and I need a visitor pass next time to enter! But that is what life is all about. Every phase you leave something and you search and pick some other thing and move on with taking only the memories about those you had left in the first place!

Five years and still counting...

Okay, its a milestone in my life and I have completed five years in the IT industry! Ooph! Should I appreciate myself or should I think of doin something else? Well instead of talking about my profession, I thought I will recollect what all the irrelevant things I had gained out of this journey so far!

If I am blogging here right now, I dont think I would have done it or even thought of scribbling such crazy thoughts, if I am not in this industry. May be I could have not known what blogging is! Thanks to my "bench" days which actually made me to create a blog!

Something which I can boast of is may be I have learned basic cooking or atleast made some attempts to try to make some regular dishes. No no, dont expect a delicacy, I said basic cooking...!

 



If I am lazy and not active, thanks to most of the weekends spent literally by just staying at my so called bachelor family home and not doing anything. Sometimes we dont even go out for breakfast! And now we dont even do the basic cooking. Andhra Mess is our rescuer for most of the weekend afternoons. Birds of a feather, flock together, Bachelor guys mock Andhra Mess together! Any area you are in Bangalore, there will be one such eatout. Full meals with dhaal and egg burji! Wat a combination!!!

With the increasing factory outlets and shopping malls in the city and given the fact that we have to push the weekend going, we land up in these places and have most of our money exchanged for new tees and casuals almost every alternate week! Gone are the days, where you purchase clothes only during Diwali festival!



When you are in this industry and when restaurants offer corporate lunch buffets and when colleagues throw birthday treats and farewell parties and particularly when you are in Bangalore where you have lots of eatout options ranging from south indian to international, Almost, you can say you will become a foodie and so have I! It is very obvious, you get to go to all the team outings or fun trips and so did I. No matter if its Coorg or Las Vegas, it is the enjoyment and break you get out there!

In movies, policeman are portrayed with their pot belly, soon they may show IT people in a similar way. If its one thing I think I should take measures atleast now, is to control my tummy level! In fact I know, how much lean I was in my college! Thanks to KFC and Dominos and of course Andhra mess!

Almost I have watched most of the movies in this five years. I have learnt to admire good movies. If I am not in this industry, I would not have known the torrents site and wikipedia. May be its a very useful site for all purpose, but for me mostly I have used this site searching information about movies,actors and directors. I just love to click links in a link in a link and browse information.

So far so good....Five years and still counting!

It striked me when..

... I went home for Diwali. I was occupied more with my laptop than with my mom! And this was not the first time. She was surprised when I started talking to her when the power got cut. She enquired for which I replied there is no power and there is no internet! She now understood the fact and asked me to disconnect the internet connection permanently.  Lately there has been such cribbings in my home that i am being a guest at home and not spending most of the time with them. Very true, now there seem to be a sort of addiction among we young guys. Either we meddle with our high end mobile or glue to our lap tops all the time. 

I guess, soon there might be a substitute name for a mobile phone as it is used for more than the required telephonic conversation. There will be no surprise at present if some body asks you that apart from being a teetotaller, how many hours you waste before the internet or how often you use your mobile phone per day. I dont know where it will lead, the destination is still unclear! And definitely not a healthy destination. On the other hand, its high time we can imagine being without mobile or internet! Its like the earth stood still and have a feeling like having losing something close to the heart.

I admit its important to stay connected when we are away from our dear ones. But, is it required when they are close and near is the next billion dollar question... Well then I can call it addiction! If you smoke or drink, it takes time to quit or you dont quit at all, may be you reduce the frequency and so is this..atleast stay away when you are at home ! 

Which generation are we?

Off late, this question had been provoking frequently in my mind…which generation are we in? Any guy in the mid 20’s and 30’s can almost feel like being in a 50-50 generation…neither previous nor the next…Being in India and keeping the fact that it is a developing nation, there are day-to-day improvements in our happening life. Be it technology, culture, movies, education, food, travel, relationship and what not…


I don’t know, I always feel like a testing rat being tested with all the changes and developments happening around us. Or may be I am glued to this digital world so much that, I am forced to think so!


My uncle cherishes his nostalgia by recollecting the letters he used to write to home when he was in hostel. I can’t even do that...all I should have done is to have recorded my telephone conversation then.


During college days, my mom used to ask frequently, with whom are you talking over the phone. My dad used to ask why the phone charges are high. And now it’s mobile. You call it privacy..But yet you are not alone!


I cannot forget my cassette collections. Then CDs. We had to pay a huge price to get a CD player. By the time we get used to it, and then came DVDs and now Blu ray! Come on give me a break!


I could recollect using an ordinary Kodak camera with film rolls during my late school days. You don’t even know how the output is unless you finish it off and give it to a store to take prints! Then came the digital camera. They were tested on us. We paid more initially. Our first expression was Wow! Being able to see instantly the snaps we take and the capability to store it in our PCs without even having to print it. One single photograph in hand is worth more than the thousands of jpg files you store it in your PC! What an irony!


I still have a pass book of my first bank account. I was then thinking will there be any way to reduce the queue for money withdrawal. Now I don’t even need to know where my bank is present physically. But the queue has not reduced but switched places from banks to ATMs. I was thinking what would happen if a day comes when the internet world goes black.


What I thought in a computer was then a black and white monitor with some programs running. And thought computer programmers were genius! Am I a genius then? No not even the first letter of it. Yesterday they talked about internet, google, blogs, facebook on a larger screen…and now micro applications. We are forced to cope up or else we become obsolete.

I can say that these kind of thoughts will not strike the future minds as they donot have a chance to realise the transformations from what it was to what it is, like we realise it.


Changes are happening so rapidly that what has happened yesterday is outdated today. Somehow, we are in this period of time. Should I call it a boon or bane? It’s become an additional burden to strike a balance between our elders and our juniors. Nowadays even a short gap of two to three years between us and our juniors have a lot of differences in terms of ideas, education, technology, communication etc. So you cannot even call it a generation gap. What do you call then? The people who have hard times to stand these are our elders. It’s not their fault though. Most of our parents would find it hard to even understand what a computer is. So definitely they have hard times to cope up with the current trend. Imagine your father asking how to surf the net and your younger brother asking details about iphone. You know where you stand now!

Its been a regular routine....

... to start my blog with.."its been a little while i blogged..." i wondered if i could try out some new way to start off with...

Now its been over a month, I am back to namma Bengaluru. Seems nowadays i feel even more lazy to tweet...some how made up to scribble here...so what shall i talk...should i talk about my stay abroad or should i talk about the way they see a guy after he returns abroad or for that matter how you take it....I am no exception..u could atleast find some symptoms of an onsite return..... and whatever i scribble here is the fun teaser my colleagues had to tease on me...

Once when my colleague looked at my playlist - Rihanna's Rated R...thats it gone...they even asked if i changed my name to Kish..or Ken or something...

The lift was really slow in the new building of my office...Should nt i ask about it ? It was the talk of the cubicle the next moment.. :) :)

I was a liitle cautious in whatever i speak...some how when i was speaking to my manager... "okay" turned "k"..and it repeated a few times and he also didnt leave me without making fun.... :) :) I was extra cautious in not using the word 'appreciate'.

One afternoon, I had my parota at the road side opposite to my office. It added more flavour to the talk...They had to tease me somehow and started like "See the simplicity of this US maapillai having parota in the roadside...(now i am not an Indian it seems :( :( ).

Mostly you will find a Cheroke brand in the Mega mart stores here. Is it my mistake to buy that brand? :) :) It had the eagle logo...They were asking if i remember our national bird.... :) :)

..i think its been a month and hope the fun teaser is over...you go away for one month or one year...they dont care...your legs need to be pulled...

What to blog? Why to blog?

Hey ya! This piece may not be something interesting! Its a sort of cribbing at my own!

I have been into this space for quite a while. I was just lookin back at my own piece of scribbling. Either I just pour my thoughts on a movie or exagerate one of the place I visited or contemplate about my wierd cooking or some nostalgic memories to cherish! Is that all ? Why am i doing all this in the first place? Am I self centric and trying to attract with my extended testimonies ? Should I talk philosophical ? Should I comment on what is goin on the surrounding ? Am I not using the space properly ? Should I crticise something on a current hot topic ? Is it like being selfish and not thinking about others? Is it I am single and want to impress ? Who?

Hmmm...I dont know... The one that turns me on or at which I am interested more, drives me to scribble in this piece! I dont say that you judge a person completely by his writing here. It may be partial result. Of course I dont record bad memories or negative thoughts here. So why? Is it because people who read my blog might have a balanced impression on me? If so, should I care? So am I marketing my self in this arena ? Well whatever! At this moment, I didnt know what to blog and wanted to blabber something here! Blah..Blah...Blah!

No offence if this piece is boring and irrelevant or out of the context! I think I had given a warning at the start! :)

Cooking Confessions !

Its been a great cooking experience these days, though painful sometimes. I have been cooking almost all evenings since I landed here last month and I used to cook for the next afternoon too. Its all new for me. I have never been like this. Usually, I dont eat the food cooked the day before. Things had to change now. If I want my native lunch, I had to cook. Well most of the days, I prepare rice and sambhar. Sometimes, I go to a lighter version, Rasam! I have almost tried dumping most of the vegetables in sambhar. One reason is I dont want to waste time cooking a side dish or I am lazy rather. Sometimes, I start cooking sambhar and end up in dhal. Being my only judge, my colleague has no other option...be it tasty or not, he has no way to go. Mostly I get a positive rating on my Sambhar though, the taste is unique each time I cook. :)

I am getting used to the open-heat-eat concept. Whenever I go to the stores, I look for the most possible ready-to-eat dishes that are available. It actually helps when I am very very lazy. :) I now wonder, how my mom got used to this all time cooking activity. Its indeed a tough task in the long run.

Above all, whatever it is, I feel satisfied and content when I eat what I cooked. Its because, when I do something and expect an outcome, my mind tries to console and also appreciate it .

Happy Cooking!

I am in a world...Experiencing the change!

Its been a long time, I blogged here. I was lazy, rather. I have been experiencing a lots of transformations in self for the past one month. Been seeing new things, people, workplace and of course the culture variance. Sometimes its nice, sometimes its difficult, sometimes wondered, sometimes excited, sometimes bored, sometimes no thoughts...

I am in a world where people believe in rules be it in roads or anywhere. I am in a world where I feared to travel alone. I am in a world where I did not eat idlis or dosas in the morning but corn flakes. I am in a world where I rely on the internet and GPS. I am in a world where I was cooking full time. I am in a world where I am not @home.

Its almost a month since I flew all way from Bangalore to San Diego here in the United States for a short term assignment. Its been a new experiment through out. Be it the flight travel or landing in a foreign land or travelling alone in a taxi to a unknown place, the FIRST experience is always a mixture of all the expressions I could think off. Now things are settling slowly and I have started to explore in this world. I am now trying out the different varieties of food here - American, Mexican, Thai, Chinese etc. Of course, I had these flavours in Bangalore but I had preferred or relied mainly on my native rather. I still have a long way to explore out here!

See you then!

Unnai Pol Oruvan - Kamal's flavour of the original !

I had not scribbled anything on “A Wednesday”, but some how wanted to for this tamil version. May be, because it’s a dual Padma shri movie, may be I saw the original version a couple of months later its release or may be this is something new to the “Tamil” audience.

This movie should be enjoyed in theatres as I did. This movie which has been released with hardly any hype unlike the previous venture “Dasavatharam”, is a fast paced political thriller involving five to six characters with absolutely no songs and the total duration winding up in less than 2 hours. It’s also very un-common in Tamil cinema to flash the hero’s name without a title, and this movie is one such. There is no “Ulaga Nayagan”. There is no “Padma Shri”. Of course there is no publicity required for this proven star. The whole movie is about a series of incidents happening in 3-4 hours duration of time and Kamal Haasan raises question on every one's mind about his portrayal of character in this movie until a few minutes before the end credits. His only company being a set of hi-tech gadgets which includes laptop to routers to cell phones and others. He has only phone conversations with two characters, except for the climax scene. Neither his name nor his religion is revealed in this movie though he gives hints in a few scenes. It’s always difficult for me to understand his dialogues which most of the time has an inner meaning. I saw Dasavatharam twice to grasp some. I think I should do the same here too.

Padma Shri Mohan Lal is the serious and responsible commissioner of Chennai, who speaks Tamil in his own Malayalam accent. His character just shows how, who and what kind of decisions will be taken at the time of an emergency situation and its impact. No doubts to his performance. He has done this role like a cake walk. The other guy, worth to mention was the clean-shaved-smart-rough cop. The interrogation scene is one of the scenes which just shows the attitude and power of that particular character with less action and dialogue. They have showed the female press reporter as a smoker in this movie. To avoid controversies, they never show the lady smoking. I am still not very clear on the point of such a characterization. Is it the job that is stressful or I don’t know why?

I enjoyed the dialogues in this movie. In fact the dialogues play a prominent role in this movie. It had a good number of sarcasms and revolves about the current affairs, especially the conversations between the both legendary actors. Unlike “A Wednesday” the character of Lakshmi was an addition in the Tamil version and was interesting too, especially her political heated arguments with Mohan Lal.

Shruthi Haasan’s background score was apt. I liked the song “Unnai Pol Oruvan” which was played at the background during the end credits. It remembered the end credits of ‘The Matrix’, when this song started with the lines from the holy “Bhagavad Gita”.

Finally, I felt it’s a welcoming movie for the Tamil audience and I do like to watch more such fast pace movies with no songs. It’s just like the T20 version of Cricket from the conventional 50 over ODI. It’s more thrilling and exciting you see!

The Road Finally Taken – Bangalore to Chennai

The after-college-life of mine now had been neither too long nor too short. I had not seen most of my friends these days. It had been almost two years I had visited Chennai. It took me more than a year to reach Chennai from Bangalore. Yes, I had said to my friends before a year that I will visit them there. I won’t lie – “I was busy or tied up with my work”. To be frank, I was lazy to travel to Chennai. Somehow I made up my mind to finally visit Chennai last weekend.

Chennai is a great place. Lots of changes had happened - Wider roads, New Flyovers, emerging IT Parks, New Multiplexes and malls. City got bigger and beautiful. I came at the right time when there is no much heat, so I did not complain much about the weather. Earlier when I landed in Bangalore for the first time, I was complaining about the bus fares. Now I am doing the same here. There are hardly normal (green) buses plying. The deluxe buses are in no way cheaper when compared to the BMTC buses here in Bangalore. Earlier I felt the cost of living in Chennai is less when compared here in Bangalore. But now I feel it is almost the same.

I should say the trip was so memorable. Though I couldn’t spend much time with each and every person, it was really good sharing happiness, cracking jokes and pulling each other’s legs. To me it’s a kind of refreshment after a couple of months. We didn’t go out for lunch; instead we did a combined cooking. Too many cooks actually “didn’t” spoil the broth in this case.

We went to Chennai’s most visited places – Spencers Plaza, City Centre, Sathyam cinemas and of course the Marina Beach. Passing a Sunday evening in the beach! Wow, I wish a beach here in Bangalore. Sathyam complex is definitely better than the PVR and Inox here.

It’s a great feel when you get to meet your old friends after an indefinite span of time. I stayed at one of my college friend’s house. There all my other friends joined in and we were all having great fun. We were chatting in all areas – Girls, Job, Chennai, Cooking, Finance, Movies etc. I was able to sense some kind of maturity in each and every person. Alarm raises – Then why the hell are we still single?

I met my school friends in the Marina beach. I need not explain the beauty of the Marina beach at sunset. We sat in a circle nearby the shore, sharing each other’s experience, it was nice you know. We were all laughing together. Sometimes our laughter was louder than that of the sea waves.

I started writing this blog with the intention of penning down all the cherishing moments of the trip here but I am really, really finding words to describe the same here.

Altogether, it was indeed a perfect Bachelor’s meet - All singles, being together. Yet another memorable trip for me!

An episode in a bachelor’s life!

She has recently joined the company…
Somehow she felt to me as the most liking girl…
Was able to see a couple of times in the cafeteria…
Good looking fair girl with an innocent smile…
Seems that she has a couple of friends including one or two guys… (Burns!?)
Was wondering why in this world I don’t get such girls in my project. (Sighs!)
I wanted to say her “You are beautiful” and walk away…
Will she smile or regret?
Will she mistake me?
Will she think I am flirting?
So many unanswered questions…until I go and say to her “You are very beautiful”
No. I will not do that…I definitely know that!


After a couple of days…
She (another girl) joined the company…
Somehow she felt to me as the most liking girl…
Episode repeats…

Wondering how many.…

In the name of God...

Two weeks back a couple of groups knocked each one’s door in my street. They claimed to be the residents of my area and they wanted to celebrate Ganesh Chathurthi. No surprises! It was the usual collection they ask for, every year. Are they theists..(?). Why are they keen in celebrating this festival in the roads? If they are interested, why not spend their money? Why ask me? I am not an atheist, but I was not interested to aid them either.

The day came, the Ganesha procession was being held in the streets of my area! One of the guys was getting liquor from a shop in the corner of my street and was dancing before the idol.

I wondered...Why is all these? In the name of God…

Dhaam Dhoom - Only once!

Amidst the continuous rain in Bangalore, I went and watched the matinee show of this movie on Saturday. This is cinematographer turned director Jeeva’s last movie. I liked his Ullam Ketkume and Unnale Unnale and that had driven me to watch this movie. If it was romance in his earlier movies, it is a action thriller in this movie. The movie is about how an Indian doctor on a visit to Russia for a conference, a week before his marriage, gets trapped in a murder case and how he escapes to prove his innocence in the murder case.

The movie is a mixture of romance and action. And it is not the conventional Tamil action movie where in the hero hits ten to twenty people. It is one of the occasional action sequels in Tamil cinema, in which the hero is being chased by the Russian police force and how he esacpes from them and solves the murder case. Probably director Jeeva would have been influenced by the “The Bourne Trilogy” series and wanted to treat the Tamil audience in a similar way. Certain chase sequences in this movie had similarities with the English flick. Even one of the back ground scores reminds the background score of the Bourne Series.

Nowadays, it has been a trend in movies to involve the current sequel and flashback sequel in a mixed fashion. In this movie, the Russian episode of the hero Jeyam Ravi is frequently intervened by his love memories with Kangna Ranaut in India. In the consequence, the love sequel misses all the logical essence.

Some of the things I personally liked in this movie is the murder plot in Russia, the characterisation of Jeyam Ravi and the chase sequels (usually he does a romance cast), the place Russia which is probably a rare destination for Tamil audience and needless to say, the cinematography. Be it the city of Moscow or the hotel room where the hero stayed or the lawyer’s residence or the village backdrop in India, it was definitely a visual treat. The lighting effect was so natural. This movie also speaks about the Russian nation and its challenges to deal the prevailing crime threats in their country.

The movie would have been better if any one of the sequels alone is told - Either the murder case in Russia or the love story in India and I prefer if only the action sequel is told. The script is so racy and I feel the sequels in India and a couple of songs were the unnecessary speed-brakers. At least in future can I expect a quality action-thriller Tamil movie which has no song interventions?

Amazing start...

Neither do I speak telugu nor I am from Andhra. Yet, I was amazed at the overwhelming crowd yesterday in Tirupathi cheering “Chiru…Chiru” in Tirupathi. It was unusual for the local residents who always hear "Govinda..Govinda". The reason being none other than their own Mega Star’s official party launch. I actually know Chiranjeevi as a telugu super star and have watched a couple of films. And that’s all I know about him and nothing else. If it was NTR and MGR in the 80’s, it’s Chiru’s turn to prove his mettle.

My colleagues were all discussing about this party launch for almost a couple of days. I hardly peeped in as I am a stranger to the topic, which was totally irrelevant to me at any direction. It was only when I saw the party launch telecasted in TV and all the media experts speak about it. In fact I didn’t even understand a bit of telugu. Media people estimated that around 10 Lakh people from various parts of the state would have gathered yesterday during the party launch.

One thing that grabbed my attention is the posters of Dr.Ambedkar, Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa used as one of the USP’s for promoting his party. May be it’s an old trick. The other thing is that many physically challenged persons came all their way to cheer their super star. It reminded me of the Tamil movie “Mudhalvan” (“Nayak” in Hindi).

At times I wonder, how cinema and politics are tied up together, especially in South India. Will Chiranjeevi create a revolution in Andhra politics? (Fingers crossed!)

Last Day Mail !

“Today is my last working day I would like to thank you for all the support you have provided and making my stay here a memorable one. I would like to thank my managers who had shaped my professional career….bla bla… (yawn!)

You can always drop mail to somename@somemail.com”

As if there is a standard Last day Mail template, I see more or less every last mail in a similar fashion.

Is it a custom? Why do you add extra coloured quotes - memorable place to work, dear ones, you have been my role model, bla bla…? Do you really feel sad leaving your company or your managers? Why can’t you say just thank you and say goodbye? It’s only in a college farewell or a school last day where you leave the place with a sigh of sorrow and haunting memories and they are the places where you are in a compulsion to leave at one time. But here this is not the case here. You go happy to another company and that is what you wanted. (Fingers crossed!). If it’s your last day, your manager will never care. If not you there will be another in your place.

This was the thought that came to my mind when I read a last day mail yesterday! I know I will also do the same thing on my last day in office, in fact have collected a few last day mails (smiles!) but was wondering why all these? No offences, crazy thoughts after all!