Chetan Bhagat – Now most of the youths in India know him!

When I go to Landmark, I almost see 4 out of 10 teens pick one of his books. One reason, probably, could be its price – One of the cheapest books in the store. J . The captions were also attractive; it read “Best Selling Indian Author”. Probably the other reason could be because he is an “Indian”. Well I bought his books probably to see why he is the Best Selling Author or why almost all present youths have his books in their shelves.


I have now read two of his books – "One night at the Call Center" and "The 3 Mistakes of My Life". The reason is simple. His books are like an unedited script before making a cinema. A time pass cinema will have all the ingredients like romance, action, comedy, sentiment mixed in suitable proportions. And of course in cinema sometimes the logical element would have been brushed aside. It’s same with his books also. His success lies in his simplicity of relating current day to day happenings, incidents in his books. Some examples to highlight are the One day Cricket match between India and Australia, night life in the metros, reference to Orkut, the communal riots etc. His writing has no complicated English words. It’s easy to understand. Sometimes the producers of a movie insist on an item number showing the hottest models to promote the film. Probably that thought provoked Chetan to include love making chapters in his book too. Movies rarely give a message, while most of them only entertain. It applies to his book as well.

Another reason the reach of his books could be the area where he targets – IIT, Cricket, and Call Centers. What could be his next area of interest?

Subramaniapuram - A Betrayal Drama!

Finally, I saw this movie yesterday. Depicting the darker sides of the unemployed youth in the 80’s in 2008 is a new flavour to Tamil Cinema. It’s really encouraging for the audience, for the variety of quality films that the new upcoming directors give.

The plot of the movie is how two friends decide their destiny and fall prey to the betrayal act of their most trusted set of people.

Debutant director Sasikumar is another feather in the crown of Tamil Cinema industry. I never expected a movie in the time lines of 80’s now. The last half an hour of the movie was fabulous and unexpected, with each and every character showing their true colours, giving shock to the audience. Debutant music director James Vasanthan has given an excellent effort in re-recording. The back ground score is in lines with the movie. Well it’s not like a debutants venture.

I enjoyed the movie very much. The first half of the movie is balanced with the romance sequences while the second half of the movie is where the theme of the movie lies in. The Television set, the heroine’s house, the telephone, the Ambassador car, the tricycle which is used for announcing film releases, the kind of advertisements they do in the walls of the houses, the PRC bus, the central theatre in Madurai and lots more which show the 80’s just bring a nostalgic feeling for my parents, if not for me. Kudos to the team. We had the old model telephone and the Dynora TV set till the 90’s. Well now it had got changed. Actually it was a nice feeling watching a movie which is backdated. It is backdated not too much that it is not history and elder people now can definitely rewind 28 years in their mind.

This movie shows three types of people.

The first is the set of people, who do anything for the other person, whom they feel trustworthy. In this film the two heroes kill a person for the most trusted person. In return they get nothing but ruin their lives.

The second set of people, who are like the cunning fox. They show case themselves as the most trusted person and trap the innocent people to almost do everything for them. In this movie, the ex-councillor’s brother convinces two of his faithful persons to do a murder for his benefit and ignore them totally after the execution. A perfect act of betrayal! Also this kind of people has a unique talent to convince people or create faith in them. In one scene, the ex-councillor’s brother brain washes the heroine’s mind which leads to the barbaric killing of her lover before her.

The third set of people, who are fond of money and can do anything for it. In the climax, the hero’s friend betrays him for money. Atlast the betrayer himself was betrayed by the ex-councillor and sent to jail.

Subramaniapuram – A Betrayal Drama enacted in the stage which is more than 25 years old.

Behold ! After all it’s your money !

Yesterday afternoon, on the way to have lunch, I dropped by the HP Petrol bulk near Tin Factory, Bangalore to fill fuel for my two wheeler. I handed over a hundred rupee note to the guy and told to fill petrol for the same. He was diverting my attention by talking some other unwanted things, and by the time the meter read 100 Rs and the fuel quantity read 1.65 litres. I was shocked. I saw my fuel indicator, which moved only by a mm. I did not move my vehicle. I argued with him that he did not fill petrol for the amount I gave. After a couple of arguments, he accepted that he did not reset the meter before filling mine. Later he put petrol for 50 Rs and I left the place.

I just wanted to share this because; these guys are doing this intentionally. At the time of filling the petrol, they will try to divert our attention and do all the malpractices they want to do. If the fuel hike is more bothering, these kinds of activities add more fuel to the fire.

Hope people are aware of such activities. Whether the fuel quantity is same as the reading in the meter is a different topic. :)

Cheers !

Tobacco-Free Campus - The Greener Way !

Last week, in my company iGATE Global Solutions Ltd, a new rule was brought with immediate effect that the whole campus will be smoke free and there will not be any smoking zones inside the campus. Instead there will be smoking zone put outside the office premises. This is one of the initiatives taken by the management to bring a greener environment inside the campus.

Its a very bold decision made. My view is that this may also bring down the count of the number of cigarettes a person smokes per day by at least one. The reason is many people may feel lazy to walk out of the premises, which may be approximately 150 metres from a person’s desk. Well being a non-smoker, I don’t have any regrets to this. Definitely it will be a little bit hard for my smoking pals. But it also has a positive side. The whole point of iGATE is not only to keep the environment smoke-free but also a gut feeling that it may tend to bring down the cigarette consumption of its employees.

Let’s say no to tobacco ! Cheers !

Kangal Irandaal - A song to fall in love with itself !

Kangal Irandaal, Un Kangal Irandaal
Ennai Katti Izhuthaai, Izhuthaai podhadhena
Chinna chirippil, oru kalla chiripil
Ennai thalli vittu, thalli vittu moodi maraithaai !

The first stanza of a song from Subramaniapuram goes like this. This song is haunting me since morning. A gentle romantic song visualized very well. Wow, a lovely song with neat facial expressions especially the hero’s romantic smile and the heroine’s cute smile. Simply superb!

Yet to watch this movie as it did not get released in Bangalore. Will have to watch it, probably next week.

If I had fallen in love with somebody now, this song would be in my background for sure :)

Of course this is my current caller tune as well !

Is that what I wanted to cherish ?

I am in Bangalore and it’s almost two and a half years. Still I fuss over the food here. And this is especially making sense for the non-cooking-bachelor who comes from the southern part of Tamilnadu. There are a quite few restaurants that offer food of our style but yet we can’t afford it always. At times when I don’t like the food here, I’ll say to myself… “This time when I go home, I should go to either Konar Mess or Kumar Mess.”

The moment I go home, I never eat out and always prefer eating my mom’s food. Of course nothing in the world is tastier than mom’s food. Kumar Mess and Konar mess never come in my mind. There were days during my childhood when I make a fuss about having milk in the night served at my desk. I should only drink it and that’s the only thing I should do. And Today?

I would not have realised this elixir if I had not stayed away from my mom, dad and of course my Madurai.

Dasavatharam - My scribbles about it !

This is not really a review and more over you would not need it as it’s almost a month since the movie got released. When I read reviews in Orkut or in other blogs, I feel every other person gives their own views on each and every sequel of the movie. One thing is clear from this is that Kamal has left it to the viewer to take the message from the movie on their own.

I feel the whole concept of narrating a four day incident in three hours is itself new to Tamil cinema. Well only people who know this language will understand the movie better.

I enjoyed this movie the most, when I watched it for the second time. Most of us would have enjoyed Balram Naidu’s character in the movie. Another humour character whose attention was grabbed other than Kamal is M.S.Baskar. I enjoyed this character only when I saw it for the second time as I could pay more attention to his Tamil-to-English translation dialogues. There must be Crazy Mohan’s contribution to these two characters I guess. Without him those dialogues will definitely lack the essential sense of humour. Yes I noticed his name when the credits were screened at the end of the movie. I should also bring light to Late Sujatha’s contribution to other notable dialogues in the movie. Though the dialogues were written by Kamal himself, these two persons contribution added more flavour.

Some characters of Kamal were made to feel unnecessary in this racy script. But it was inevitable because that is the main selling strategy of the movie and he has mostly managed to relate them.

Many people give multiple views on the movie that it’s about Theism or Atheism or Science or Environment and again this is also left to the viewer to decide. I personally feel in this movie he has tried to show Agnosticism*, basically trying to express both spiritual and non spiritual aspects of life and nature. Whatever the view may be, one thing everybody who watched this movie must agree - it’s definitely an entertainer for all people.

Dasavatharam – Kamal’s show case of ten avatars with various makeup ingredients including Chaos Theory, Butterfly Effect, Atheism, Global Warming, Bio-Threat, Environmental pollution, Terrorism and the list goes on.

*Agnosticism - It is the position of believing that knowledge of the existence or non-existence of God is impossible. It is often put forth as a middle ground between theism and atheism.

Gulkhand – Tastes Healthier !

I had throat pain, which I never realised till I felt my tongue and inner part of mouth burning whenever I had food or tea. For the first couple of days, whatever food, I ate; I felt it was too spicy. As I was staying away from my parents, there was no one to guide me with proper food habits in this situation. While talking to my mom over the phone, I was just saying about this throat pain. She said to take one or two spoons of Gulkhand everyday. I was wondering, if that would set it right. I just thought it is just used as a key ingredient in Sweet Beedas.

I bought one small pack of Gulkhand. I had two spoons daily (morning and nights) for one week and it really worked well. I am not sure that I am cured completely or not but I don’t feel my tongue or mouth burning now. I then realised that Gulkhand is more than what I thought it to be. From the web I found that Gulkhand has a medicinal value, though I am not sure if it is universally approved.

The main ingredients of Gulkhand are rose petals and honey. It is believed that it keeps your body cool and we should not prefer taking it in cold nights or in winter. Apart from being a mouth freshener, it also helps to keep away acidity. Since it tastes sweeter, one doesn’t need to fuss about having it. It is easily available in all super markets at a considerable price.

How is 2008 so far?

It’s been a little long I had visited my own blog. I thought it would be ideal if I pour in some thoughts how this 2008 went so far. Like everybody, with the global markets blooming, I was also expecting a fabulous 2008.
It was only a three weeks of the year that passed and the first blow came. Yes it’s one of the biggest downfall of the Sensex. Being a fresher (IT Terminology) in Stock Market, I was not much affected as I hadn’t had a firm portfolio that time.

I was much occupied with my work mostly these days, as it was the Coding phase of my development project. A little sign of relief came from the Finance minister Chidambaram’s financial budget. The individual tax slabs were raised from 1,10,000 INR to 1,50,000 INR for the current year. I dreamt that I could save some money. My dreams never came real as Inflation rose to historical highs, Basic commodity prices increased. The worst thing is Crude Oil also hit historical highs.

The increased salary after appraisal and the tax slab relaxation seems to just meet the increased petrol expenses and food expenses. So far 2008 has not been a promising year, may be for me!

Thanks!

Wanna naturally pump your Adrenaline ???

“Its already 12.30pm, Saturday!!?”

“So?”

“Isn’t it boring for you, wasting the whole day sitting idle ?”

“Yeah, man, Saturday sucks!! All movies watched…and also bored off with the Forum, Garuda etc..?”

“Phew...Weekend and No entertainment make Jack a dull boy.”

"Then How about an outing?”

“Yeah an adventurous one.”

“Trekking!!?”

“Hmm why not water rafting?”

“Near Bangalore?”

“Yeah, Bheemeshwari. An ideal place for water rafting”


We six guys decided to head to Bheemeshwari this time for a new adventure. We have heard of this place but hardly knew about its ins and outs. Its approximately 100 kms from Bangalore via Kanakpura. We had no other option other than booking a resort as rafting is provided by them with all the safety and guidance. Its good idea to book in advance as it is in demand. The resort is open only on Weekends and other National holidays.


We started from Bangalore around 7 am. We had to reach the place before 9.30 as the rafting time would start around 10am. We managed to reach the place in time though the road was very narrow and not good after Kanakpura. The resort was not very attractive in the front. The gate was closed. Yes, entry is open only to those who had booked in prior. No spot bookings.The place was close to the river. It had tent houses, volleyball court, hammocks here n there. Well the resort looked okay inside. Hmm...We were interested only on rafting. We did not care all about that.





We were all given life jackets to wear on. For each raft, there was a trained guide. He gave us all the instructions, on how to row forward or backward etc. Each raft would carry six to seven people excluding the guide. We dragged/ carried the raft till we reached the river and then sat on the raft. Our mission started.


At the beginning the water was running normal and the travel was not very thrilling and I thought...oh is it for this we came for? But soon we got our adrenaline high. Yes, as we proceeded the water was running very fast and ferocious. It had twists, turns, ups, downs. In between there were rocks. Actually I do not have the right words to express the scenario. Wow it was a beautiful place and was really adventurous.

The whole experience took approximately one and a half hours. They had arranged a jeep by which we returned back to the resort after rafting. A normal lunch was provided and after that, we returned Bangalore by evening.


This is a must visit place and ideal for people who wish to go for a one day outing near Bangalore and return early.


Warm Regards!


PS : The snaps were not taken by us. Its preferrable not to take cameras during rafting for the reason they will get wet.