Notes to self

Next time you eat a generation of crab, strike that two generations of Crab. Think twice.

Actually think of it other than the coughing I don't see a down side. Firstly, I got to eat so much of crab meat. Top that with the 5 days of complete bed rest. Three great movies. 1. O Brother! where art thou 2. House of sand and fog 3. Barton Fink. Read 1984 leisurely. Eat all the home food. Chocolates, soups, cookies and warm tea (love you mom). Spoke the least. Man I dont think I had a better holiday.

But come to think of it, I wouldn't want a throat infection to do all this. Especially when the doctor said "eh.. you have a throat infection, and its spreading to your lungs..." All I could Imagine that day was globules of histamines and its reactants slowly crawling into the dark alleyways of my lungs. But the phrase was use full, it got the required attention and the sick leaves. Trust me, next time quote a doctor verbatim and see your sick leaves get approved without an extra word!

The cough is still there I hope I get rid of it fast. A staunch believer in homeopathy had to take antibiotics to speed up the recovery. The Antibiotics, the doc prescribed is lets say interesting. Today morning while in the bus, they took effect. It was like a sunday morning in a green spread lawn over looking a valley of beauty with varicolored flowers and sparkling rivers, and the sun rising in the background with the parrots flying swiftly.... and one strong concoction of old monk and coke.

Its fun, I like to squeeze that out from wherever I can.

Inglourious Basterds - My view.

The plot is ready, Sushana has the reel in place, editing is in place. As soon as the movie ‘Nation’s Pride’ reaches it climatic dialogue from its protagonist her scene burst in - Laugining like a maniac, a devouring, Big Brotherish maniacal laugh. The Nazi audience complete with the countries top Director, actor and ofcourse the Fuhrer are astound. Literally behind the screen, her negro boyfriend flips his burning cigarette towards the mound of nitrate coated film reels (Samuel Jackson is the narrator and he explains the science behind it). The camera follows the burning cigarette in complete focus. In the front, the screen starts burning while Sushana continues to laugh. Ironically, Sushana is dead. The basterds are in place too, ready to bullet down each and every man, woman wearing a SS uniform. Then comes the culmination of one of the best scenes in the movies, the projector continues to project the laughing image of sushana over the smoke rising from the burning cinema. While 350 nazi’s are being roasted to death, Her revenge is complete.

A revenge born from a brilliant piece of screenplay in the beginning of Inglorious Basterds. Col. Hans Landa, played by Christopher Waltz squeezes out the information of the hiding jews, out from a seemingly tacit Dairy farmer. For nearly 15 mins, the dialogue between the two is telling you that something ominous is going to happen and when it does its simply is a masterpiece that is unfolding infront of your eyes. The farmer breaks down and gives up information of the hiding jews, while Landa sips on milk and brags about his ‘jew hunting’. Landa calls his men and they massacre the jew family hiding in the basement. There is one survivor, Sushana.

Meanwhile, Lt. Aldo Raine and his basterds have created havoc in south france. They are hunting down SS suited Germans and scalping their heads off. The news has reached the Fuhrer and the frustration is obvious. This is 3 years after Sushana escaped from the dairy farm. The style of Mr. Tarentino comes out in full color and yellow in these scenes.

The mans got style and knows how to flaunt it on screen. His long drawn conversation between his quirky characters is engaging and weirdly informative.

The strongest part of this movie is its writing. To spawn an imaginative alternate history and execute it so convincingly with flesh and blood characters, with their idiosyncrasies is simply mesmerizing. Two main plots and many a sub plots with Hans Landa as the common factor makes him the true poster boy of the movie.

The last scene though comical, I had my reservation of how easily the character of Landa gives in. Nevertheless, the superlative dialogues cover up the blotch.

Well written, well executed, good music and Mr. Tarantino is his iconic style makes Inglorious Basterds one of the best in the decade. Carry your burger and tasty beverage to enjoy this cinematic experience.

Gulaal, Kaminey aur Anek aur

So there was a luck by chance, there was a Dev D and then Delhi 6. These were just the starters or touchings, whatever you prefer. But the gourmet is yet to be served. Through the transparent wall of the hindi movie industry kitchen I could see my course getting ready. Here is what I am ordering!!

Firstly, there is going to be Gulal. Anurag Kashyaps's next. The movie was 5 years in the making. All thanks to censor boards show of no confidence to Kashyap's maverick style of movie making. But the nevertheless, Its here.

Whats it about: This is purely my guess and is based on various articles and clippings that i have seen. Its kinda about the dog which chased a car, and upon reaching it didn't know what to do with it. Squirting out of the Pyaasa song 'Yeh Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaye To Kya Hai'. From a shallow chase to the goal being shallow. Its about the Rajputana movement mixed with personal gratification of the rich spoil brats. Its Dark and self Cynical (check out the trailer).

What to expect: Gripping Drama. Rustic Realism. Amazing music. Corny Dialogues followed by the socio politically motivating Punchline (self cynical). Music from Indian Ocean. Hard hitting lyrics like Aarambh hain Prachand (here comes the Big revolution).. to Jaise Bina baat ke baj gaya afganistan ka band. And ofcourse our Neon hero Anurag Kashyap.

Then, Kaminey. Saw this trailer during Delhi 6. Its Vishal Bharadwaj's next. After movies like omkara, maqbool, makdee you cant help but eagerly wait for his next. Omkara was one of my favorites at that time. It had some amazing dialogues, great adapataion and ofcourse Beedi Jalaile, NITK anthem - 2006-07 .

What its about: Not much has been given away but looks like a movie about confusion, loud characters and lots of humor. Its about the twin brothers stuttering Guddu and aw'f'ome charlie. Its peppy, young loud mouthed gansta mixed with dignified life kinda comedy.

Why am I waiting for it: Fun. Amol gupte starts his acting career, the guy who gave us taare zameen par. Loud mothed maharashtrian salgi mulgi Priyanka, music for the 'chappars' but in the same time classy(Very possible after Beedi jalile). Chal chal sadko par hongi Tan Tan Tan Tadaaa... Ta tada tada... Its going to be pulp, it going to be crisp. Mark my words. Tasty beverage anyone??

Paanch: Another Anurag Kashyap's. Made in 2003. Kay Kay.Banned by censor board for Sexuality, sex, drugs and action. Now, that we have a recipe for a cult and a cook like anurag. I cant help but celebrate, 'cause its relishing umm eh releasing!!.

What is it about: Joshi Abhyankar case, If you dont know about it. Read about it. Mix it with great music, Some neon. Some Shock. Great actors like Kay Kay and Aditya Shrivatsav (baadshah Khan from black friday). and ofcourse the magic of Kashyap's madness. An order you cant refuse.. slruppp...

Many more to come and Many more to satisfy this hindi movie industry lovers... we want the mavericks, we want the hatkes, we want the oye lucky's we want the Aamir's. We want Shreyas Talpade's getting nominated for best actors and Sajjanpurs being economically viable to make and last but not the least we want the Amit trivedi's!!!

Aaj ki taza haal!!

Yeh kya haal hain mera,
Na khane me ras hain,
Na peene ka mann hai,
Hai re, chain hain mujhe chahiye,
Koi tho de de mujhe koi upayay

Confrontaions that are waiting to happen

As I write down these lines on my blog, my life, over the last five passes by like flashes of photographs. I have wanted to write since then, also did, albeit it was futile. Since I have written two lines now I can pretty confidently say that this is going through.
So what has been happening since my last blog. Life has been super fast and super disapointing. Being brutally frank I call it disappointing, but also being foolishly optimistic those photos (scenes of despair) don't appear too frequently. Work has been hectic and could easily be the reason why I haven't blog since. But what kept me alive and kicking was music. My cousin, passed her ipod to me and ever since this ardent lover of great music has been magn. This looks like one of the best decades of hindi music. Way better than the last two. I have been immersed in kailash kher. I love his voice. There is something about music which is not polished or post processed and his music is tribute to that. I love the rough edges of his music. Tere naina, niharwa, saiyyan are my favourite. Kudos to vinay pathak to choose him for music director, lyricist and singer for his movie Dasvidaniya. The song mumma, alvida and muskura have remained on my top 25 list ever since.
Next fish on my hook is Eddie Vedder, Pearl Jam. I rememeber 'jeremy spoken' as the song that came up once in a while during my shuffle play. But the trip back from nagarhole was last time it appeared as just another song. The minute Su started reeling out the lyrics of the song as it played, I good immersed. There is something about the baritone ish symphony that his voice exudes. Also the completely arbit lyrics of jermy made it more fun to sing along. Also for the uninitiated this song ends with voice modulation that would put atif aslam to shame because not only is Eddie vedder the creator of that sound he is the master of it. I am mine is the other song that features in my top 25. I love the very defined nature of the lyrics.

Other than music, the main track has been ridden with the season of MBA entrance exam. I didn't do well. I am filled with enough shame and guilt and want to keep them in me, till I have an authority to remove them.

Events wise, the ones in bold are sahana's marriage, nagarhole trip, US baays visits, the super amazing smooth light yellow tequila, durga puja, and the gym on the fifth floor of tejas networks.

This new year was fun, I had some spirit in me this time. First time in three years that I am having something to drink on the eve of new years. It was fun, we danced, made cocktails and cut cakes. (~~~contents missing~~~)I have to keep things in me and they are not going to be revealed until I am ultimately sure about it. More than the fear that I claim to have, I fear that the conviction aint there.

I have seen several mind melts over the last 5 months. I guess this is the age. People go through several of this. I feel these are the direction signs of life. Decisions we take during these stages helf us grow and grow out of it. I have seen people mature to fit in, seen people going the puerile way to just to have some fun. I have seen myself developing taste, I have seen myself faking to feel the difference.

I have observed, I have indulged and now I want to grow.

in the wind...

Ok, Now if u have heard the song 'Blowing in the wind' by dylan,
Then read the couplets in the same way .
If you haven't then please do hear it. Its just too amazing.

How many mines must a man mine,
before he can find his gold.

Yes, and

How many names do I have to strike,
Before the right string is struck.

Yes, and

How many shantis do i neet to meet,
Before she is forever mine.

The answer my friend is blowing in the wind,
The answer is blowing in the wind.

OK, from my perspective this would have been super apt some 5 years back.
But for the blog its always pertinent.
and lets assune the 'shanti' is a female version of 'kumar', 'kanth' as anup would have put it. :)

A Sinusoidal Life.

Its so important to emote. There are times when i feel I shouldn't emote. Or rather not emote in a particular way. But thinking kills the emotion. Kills relationships.

I have been through a lot over the last few months. Not before December did i think of people as losers( in a mild way), people who crib or people go off mood for just a drop of a towel. I never realised i would be in their position just after a few months. I used to have an air of superiority at people being emotional or the ones who dropped a tear before they could blink. Back then i had hit a purple patch in life, work was good, office was fun, friends were closest and life never looked better.

I made merry and how. I drank, I ate, I commented. Then one day looking at the mirror in the changing room of big bazar, I realised I had grown Fat. Now dont get me wrong, there is nothing wrong being Fat, but again everything is bad with being Fat. I had gone far from being disciplined. Life had kinda gone out of my grasps. I had at that time, at that very changing room, taken a challenge. Gonna Be fit withing the next two months.

I hit the gym. I ate good food. I stopped drinking. All was in control. Life looked much better, humility was back. Then all came down. Job didn't look safe, friends didn't look closer and I was fine. I was absolutely fine. Emotion, it was gone. I thought I had conquored it all, Humour I thought was the medicine. I thought wrong.

Recently over a chat with a friend I realised a lot of things that made me percieve things in a way, that reminded me of a 10th standard kid. His tears had rolled fast and he used to laugh loud. He never gave a thought before he emoted, he was a happy kid. But again we are grown ups , grown ups have problems. Very complicated ones at that. How does he prepare himself for it. Most of them have to be solved by you, a veil of confidence to counter a mind filled with deep revere. But when you cant. Revealing emotions, can make you a lesser man. Hiding them, you can be considered just a friend and not the one whom friends confide to.

Dukh baatne se kam hota hain,
baatne waale na mile to kya karein.
Baatne waale nahin rehange
agar tum unke gum ko na samajh sake.

Life is complicated and I soon wanna find my arms to help me come out of the complications, but with a smile and the relationships intact.

A Reference for Future Tho

Hey, last few months have been really stressful. Nearly two months back CEO of my company 'moved on'. When I asked my lead 'what now'?, he very promptly replied 'move on'. As if the universe has its way of teasing us, during the same time Fast Track came up with its new ad campaign with the tag line - 'Move on man...'.

Having stalled the decision to float my resume for nearly a month, I finally did.
The reason for the procrastination was that I was in a two year bond with Epsilon. But as some of my leads pointed out that breaking a service bond in such knotty situations will be innocuous, I finally managed to garner all my foolish courage to apply.

A friend informed me of an opening in his company in the same technology (perl) I was already working on. Gave the interview and after a week I was offered a job at Tejas Networks. Now it required a decision, Tejas or Epsilon. After consulting few of my colleagues and friends I finally chose Tejas. Then began a series of corporate ordeal that almost took the fun out of my life and filled me with so much confidence to take up this evil world, that I had a 15 minutes fight with an auto driver in Kannada and managed to extract 100 bucks out of him for the damage he caused to my Activa.

The next day, I told my manager. He outright disapproved my idea of moving on. His blunt act of defense took me by surprise. I walked out saying give me one more day and I will be back with my final decision (which I had already taken). I had to handle the next meeting carefully, at stake was at least 50,000 INR.

The next man went to was my boss. I told him of my options and pop came his reply - 'leave'. That was like the last nail on my chances of staying in Epsilon.

The Next day. Managers room. Things really went fast. Along went the hope of paying only 50,000 INR. The resignation was accepted at 85,000 INR. I was literally speechless.

One week and few beers later, I am hoping I can get back atleast 60,000 INR.

And in other news, I had been to mulengiri near chikmagalur. A brisk trek with yak, his bro and subbu. The most refreshing thing since a year.
Veena's visit to bangalore and a reunion of sort cause I met Monty after three months.

To God: The last time I had a crush I didn't tell her, I had then decided that the next girl I have crush on I am telling her the very next day. But as they say you have the best sense of humor. I shall learn, I shall learn.

Hope, things go the way its planned.
bbye!!

A little bit of this and a little too much of that

Sup Sup!!!, Its been over a month now since i have added some shit to this Internet. Though a bit of history has been troubling my black cells( they have gone rotten), but i would need to do a little more research on that to clear the fog off.

But a laaaawwwwwt has happened over this one month.
Firstly, India won, ya ahhh i am speaking about the Cricket here and quite deservingly received the grand reception. Symonds who visually lacks a little evolution wise, and our own bhajji spotting that and a bush look alike captain (aka Best batsman) of Australia added so much more to cricket, that watching cricket has never been so much fun. But nothing like a 'show of confidence before the finals and having to eat those words' defeat of Hayden's team. Thats the kind of finish India deserved. I am happy for India and the likes of bhajji. Its like the australians now know what it is to tease the 'present' India team.
Or like i like to say 'Bandar ab jaane Bhajji ka swad'. Dhoni respect.

What the hell is happening to 'Love' as i knew it man. Over the last few months that I spent in Bangalore, I started to develop this heavenly picture of Love. This primariily because people all around me were falling in love, finding their 'life partners' and being all mushy and all.
Then it hit me, the fruit has the hard seed too. Here's hoping that the rosy picture comes back. And god, dude, what about 'whole universe conspires to get that thing'.

Over the last month I have tried to keep my humor up (sadly, my friends dont think so, ahh bandar kya jaane adrak ka swad). Few of the one liners,
On shiiinoy [A Guy who has lived in Dubai] : "Dude are u cut for the dubai kinda life"...
On Ds [ Tall, Dark and Handsome guy] : "Am I a racist if I call your Intellectually Strong jokes 'Dark Humor' "....
To Su [Most fidgety person i have ever met] : Why will a girl wanna have sex with u, Ans: Cause u vibrate da...lol

Thats one thing, humor. It helps a person get through any kinda situation. I leart a lot about that from my dear friend Su. But i have realised a bad side effect of this kinda attitude. You also loose out on your emotional priorities. Its now very tough for me to feel bad about anything, that a normal human being should feel bad about. But as they say, u win some u loose some. what to do....?

Coming back to life, whats happeneing in the month of may. Eh... hmmm .. ah most of my friends were born in this freakin month. I am not going to pay for most of my meals that i have outside my house this freakin month. Why am i still calling it a freakin month. As my friend Ds puts it 'The Birthday Present Paradox'. Its the joy in giving presents, but it goes kaput when your iterations runs into a big int variable. Its better i dont explain why this isn't 'economically' a great thing. All i'll say is God, dude, 'Jab bhi lete ho chappad phad ke lete ho' :P. Chill da guys i still ENJOY giving u the gifts. 100 caughs.

Finally, why did they arrest a Czechoslovakian who was enjoying himself on a trampolin...
Cause the Czech (cheque) bounced.

Aaaaarbbbiiiiittttt
'Take care' people...

Them and I...

Then There was a meeting,
I sat there Scheming.

Then They started the discussion,
It added to my frustration.

They realised!! 'This issue is primary',
I decided my priority ' Nirvana, Double Apple and Sikandari'.

Finally some respite, they said ' Lets move on to the next issue',
I was elated, my ears heard 'Lets Wrap up this issue'.

Then They said 'We speculate, This issue is complicated'.
I died off. Pluchakkkkkkkkkk..

Shit what a shitty poem. U get the drift right??


BTW: Nirvana, Double Apple and Sikandari -> Flavors of hookah.

Debating the minimums..

Recently the Indian Law Commission headed by A R Lakshmanan decided that the minimum age for marriage for the men (too) will be reduce to 18 years. Also along with that it was decided that minimum age for consensual sex will be set at 16 years.

So here we are, this now raises a million and a half questions.

1. Why simply change it from 21 years?
2. Consensual sex… what the hell does that mean?
3. Ain’t 18 years a little too young for the present age father or mother?
4. Should we have had separate laws considering that child marriage makes sense to only fewer section (differentiated regarding culture, rural, urban or geographical) of people today?
5. What do you think is the ‘appropriate’ age for marriage and sex?

Though presumably my answers or rather views, it will be harmful only to you if you consider it harmful :P

So, Why Simply change it from 21 years?

Since India is a republic that is enrolled in every other, some times non consequential, human rights organization. Which also includes UN ones. They have to abide by something called rights to equality, in this case ‘sex’. So men and woman should not have different laws, cool by me, But is it pragmatic in a predominantly patriarchal society to have same rules for both the sex. But then I ponder over the law and find that’s its just a law to set the minimums, not the compulsories. So that’s that if you have been through your 18 years, u are ready to get married.

Then, Consensual sex… what the hell does that mean?

Thinking like a virgin 23 year old guy, consensual sex is rather a redundant phrase. So what does consensual sex mean? whose permission do we (ahem) need to take before having sex? The law commission says that other than having the permission of those involved, they have to be above the age of 16 years. And hence, even though you have been married before the age of 16 years (socially might have been accepted, but still illegal) you are barred from having sex (again leagally). But there is a catch, the minimum age according to Child marriage act is 15 years and according to A R Lakshmanan law commission any matrimonial where the involved is below the age of 16 will be considered void. Hello?? Can somebody have CVS incorporated in the bars ( and no I am not talking about spirits) .

Now, Ain’t 18 years a little too young for the present age father or mother?

Ok so in this exponentially growing economy of india, can a family where the ‘girl’ and ‘boy’ in their teens survive? Even Rakhi sawant can answer that. NO. but then why set a minimum when it absolutely doesn’t make sense.
Then I see the big pictures, what about say a traditional marwadi family selling saaris in avenue road in Bangalore. I can (though not completely convinced) somehow make sense of the number 18. Then I catch the drift or rather the problem of the law commission which makes them set the minimum to 18.
I feel the govt. has more work on their sleeves than just simply setting minimums or maximums. They got to take the awareness programmers to a completely new high and make the people in the slums realize that just getting your daughter or son married isn’t helping your situation and make the poor from the rich cities to see the big picture.

This brings us to, Should we have had separate laws considering that child marriage makes sense to only fewer section (differentiated regarding culture, rural, urban or geographical) of people today?

We all are aware about how it’s of cultural significance or rather cultural pigeon holes to get the girl child married once they reach their teens. But today, it makes sense only to a selected community of parents. So assuming that a bangalorean or for that matter any cosmopolitan city’s laws should be different compared to say jeypore in Orissa or Bikaner in Rajasthan. Simply, because the amount of modern city demons one has to face is much more. So we need more ‘astra’ to fight them and hence higher minimum age??

But having different laws for different region is ridiculous especially the human rights related ones. But the government will have to rely on the presumably higher street smartness (big city common sense) of a city lad or lady.

And finally, What do you think is the ‘appropriate’ age for marriage and sex?

If u ask me this question I would say after 26 and 18 (subject to availability, sadly ) respectively. Simply because I feel this age of infinite growth possibilities will ask for much higher requirements to satisfy the next generation (our children) and hence having the ‘astra’ is very important. Minimum one degree of credibility and a bank balance good enough to support a family of 4 (mom, dad, wife and you) to ask the least.

And regarding sex…. [smilies]

Those Thursday evenings…

No not a Friday. No not a Monday. Yipeee it’s a Thursday. Today is going to be fun.

After a long days work preceded by longer days of work on the last three days, today is the day when there is no ‘weekly meeting’ or a ‘team meeting’ or a ‘Knowledge transfer meeting’. So I am getting out of work soon. 8:30 it will be.

8:30 pm - Boss says, ‘today there no meeting so I am finally going home early’ and starts chatting. My eyes lit up, I send my daily report, press the power button and I am off.

10:00 am- G-talk

Ds: machch

me: solle

XXXX today?

Ds: cant tell so early da

me: cool no probs

Ds: ne ways ordered yeah??

me: not yet.. thinking process

Ds: hmmm .. i think i want for myself da .. neither can i listen to songs frm my phone

me: lol

Ds: nor radio is too clear

btw tat has radio also right

me: nope

8:00 pm – G-talk

me: u there

Ds: leaving in ten min'

me: to?

Ds: XXXX

!!

dude

me: wokay

so when will u be there

do one thing like last time just tell me wneh u are 10 mins away

Ds: 30-40 min max

k

me: cool

i am sitting ready

The call comes and off I go. Escaaaaaaaaaape

Lift->Parking lot->Cauvery emporium circle->anil kumble circle->Lavelle rd->MOCHA.

For me mocha means Hookah and Moroccan mint tea and an hour of uninhibited, non reserved, ‘khulla mann’ chatting with ds.

A perfect Thursday night: Nirvana swirling out of my mouth, the smell of mint laced with scintillating smell of tea and some whacky ass conversation about life, office, friends and everything else on this blue ass dot of a planet.

MC bill please…

Uses of Abusive Language

This .. from my archives...

Its been three days since I joined my company for training. We are being trained to be software engineers or for the more aware product developers. We are learning this high level language ‘perl’. Our trainer is also a employee of ‘epsilon’. He is pretty adept in the subject.

Ramesh is good with his teaching skills and his once in a while cynical joke keeps us awake through the course. But then there was a problem. Between us and him. It was too tough for us to connect. We tried our best. He tried his. He also tried the cliche “ Don’t call me SIR call me Ramesh (name changed), IT industry ‘funda’”. Didn’t help. At least for me it didn’t.

But then there are always these moments that come along, out of the blue, and suddenly what u been wanting to happen for days suddenly happens without a tit bit of effort. We were as usual standing in the stairway section of Duparc trinity, there he was too.
(now don’t expect me to tell why only few people go there during breaks). There it began, the need to connect was there in both us, but it required the initiation. Engineering.

For the unaware there is this habit among engineers who take immense pride in feeling that engineering has spoilt the very ‘intellect’ and has not done any justice to the ‘brains’ of eleventh and twelfth. We were all engineers. So you can now guess the topic of discussion. There it began, our man just went on and on about his experiences with dirty externals and influenced internals and how that’s the reason why he was not the topper in his collage. And how his knowledge in computer science was so immense that even toppers came to him to get an algorithm done and et all.

But eh! That’s not how it was. It was like this

our man just went on and on about his fucking experiences with asshole dirty externals and asshole influenced internals and how that’s the reason why he was not the fucking topper in his collage. And how his knowledge in computer science was so fucking immense that even toppers came to him to get an fucking algorithm done and et all.

And there it was, we suddenly knew that we had to listen to what he was saying, because he was narrating just like we would have done. For some reason we knew that this guy is ‘cool’ and we suddenly connected.

PS: please dont mind the language. sorry

ADVS. in 2008!!!!

So the verdict is out the 'CNBC TV 18 Advertisement of the year' is the Bajaj Pulsar 220 add.

Not long back in the same blog I jotted down some of bests and worsts of the Indian ads ( ref. 'I am thinking.. '. At the top was the now official 'Advertisement of the year'. I am elated that the best in the industry agreed to my choice (obviously I am not claiming any thing here ). Looking forward 2008 is going to be a real interesting year in advertisement, simply because as the competition among the corporates increases, as the number of people in India earning the larger bucks are increasing and the advertising friend & friend companies of India are becoming more digital conscious all we can do is expect more.

With a traditional, 'conservative' bank like 'CANARA BANK' is taking huge steps ahead with its policies and showcasing those changes with a brilliantly wrapped around advertising campaign- 'HUM BADLE AAPKE LIYE', to a hyped( quite deservingly so), semi philantrophic price (".. is one lakh, because a promise is a promise...".. Ratan Tata) release of the 'NANO', the start has been overwhelming.

Also over the last few months we have been seeing some of the 'DEVELOPED BRAND' ads as oppsoe to the "DEVELOPING BRAND' ads. The AIRTEL's 'lets communicate' ad, about two children across a country border has been a cinematically brialliant ad, can easily qualify for a "DEVELOPED BRAND ADV.'. I think this year promises more such adds, which kinda has a national appeal to it but in way speaks about how majestic the brand itself might be.

Heres hopig for a more 'Interesting' year for advertisement.

A hope forgone..

Voila!!...There she was again...
Hi, i told her, its been a while...

5 years i guess is a lot,
She said a 'Hi', and I knew something was right.

But a lot has not happened in those years,
The love has faded off in those years.

I stole a look, but looking into her eyes was never so tough,
That's when I realized.

She returns not to be,
She returns to say good bye.

Its the new year again...

Om Shanti Om a.k.a Bollywood circus

Verdict: Must Watch!!

When i woke up in the morning yesterday, I never knew that I would be one of the few firsts to see Om Shanti Om in India. But when the movie ended the special feeling 'almost' slipped away.
At this point I can say that i still feel like going and watching the movie again because never ever in the history of hindi cinema have I ever enjoyed the first half so much. It is just too too too too funny. Right from the beginning, the movie starts spoofing the 70's style and statements in a way that no one has every successfully done. Shah rukh khan is simply amazing in the first half with his comic timing. Farah khan's humor quotient is simply at heights with this movie. The quick gun murugan and the 'rascala..' parts are simply too original and tickles your funny bone for 100% of the time. The best part of the movie and the reason I have not spoken about shah rukh (who the hell will see him when u can see her in the same frame) till now is Miss Deepika Padukone. She is classic. She is Serene. She is beautiful. She is all cleavage with no vulgar feeling!!!! She has arrived. (oh wont i love that!!!!) Forget her acting, forget her dialogues, forget everything else in the frame when she is scorching up the screen. She is officially the hottest.





But I had my reservations with the movie which made me feel that farah had diverted too far with her comic doings for her to return to serious drama. In her previous movie she had the control and thus it was a senless logicless brialliant movie (main hoo na) but this was like a small child who played too much to have any concentration left for his studies. The end is terrible. Actually its not that bad but when u have such a dhamakedaar first half you need to be only a scorsese to follow it up with great drama, sadly farha ain't that good.

But lets come to the reason why I call it the circus. If u ever loved any bollywood actor, u will find them in this movie. whether it is mithun da's dance or akshays's action or rani's thumkes or amitabh's sense of humor or abhishek's bacchpana.. its all there for grabs. So at the end of the day all paisa vasool when u see akshay kumar do his stunt. Man this was like way funnier than satish shah spitting at shah rukh khan.

So first 75% of the movie is just too good that it covers up the really bad last 30%. An overall celebration of bollywood movies, watch it for all the CIRCUS!!!

Durga Pujo

Just today as i was passing by a kabab shop near oakhalipuram (Bangalore), ahhh.. the smell of chicken fried in crimson red chutney. But then i suddenly realised I never liked that smell or even gave it any kind of thought. Then I realised that its the same smell i get every time i pass by the food stalls set up during Durga Pujo (the pujo).

This is what pujo does to you. By itself it lasts for just 4-5 days but what it does to a bengali for the rest of the year is phenomenal. Its like an ecstasy, the experience time is incomparable to the effect time. As i listen to Anjan Dutta's Bela bose, the 2441139 song.. i run into the amazing night of that novomi this year. The night of Maddox square, I was pleasantly drunk on Rum Limon (thanks to Dia Didi for that) and the 'back benchers' (the band that just plays guitars and all of us sit around them in that onion layer form) were belting out the songs i had never heard but wanted to always hear. Prithibi ta (the bengali version of bheegi bheegi), 2441139, coffee house made all of us hopeless nostalgic bengalis go in a trans that will keep the effect for the whole year.

The mixture of anxiety, faith, love, freedom, freaking out helps out await the pujo. I can never forget the amazing aarti's, morning events, the night musicals, the chicken egg rolls, the begging for permissions to go out from parents, the cool drinks, the night dances with the whole family and friends ofcourse. The 'Maangsho Bhaath' (meat and rice) on the novomi night.

The best part of the pujo is that the feelings is the same for all age groups. My mom, my dad, my jethu, my sis every one awaits it with the same kind of intensity, but all have their own reason for awaiting the pujo.

The feeling is always great during pujo, though the gossips are shared the people are also ready for some patching ups. There seems to be a positive energy over the place. Teasing, sharing gossips, flirting, faith have their new heights during the pujo.

But the funny part is that it always rains hard during pujo. Maybe the amount of unusual things (read above) that happen during the pujo could help us reason out the rain!! :)

Oh how i miss the Pujo....

Chauvinists and fads...

I feel like an ultra frigging male 'chauvinist'. Especially when your best friend tells his sister that he is going out with me but is actually going out with his girlfriend. :). Fine thats all right no problem dude, have a great evening.
But wait there is a problem, for the rest of the day i am a chauvinist. Yayi!! so how can i piss some girls around. Here comes to my help the greatest kid ever drawn, yup calvin. read this..





Buahahahaa.. ROTFAFAL.. yesss.. for all the girls who think calvin is cute and i am too(!!!).. take that. Its the greatest irony, just do this, search for all the profiles that have Calvin or Hobbes as their profile pic, count how many of them are girls and viola 90% turn out to be females.

Fine ok ok.. i get it you guys like the comic and dont care what the charecter says or feels. Then it says it all and I made my point. I rest the case.

hehe

Frigging ICICI..

I hate ICICI.

reason: 9 months back i jumped at an oppurtunity given by ICICI and sangeetha mobiles to buy a phone at zero percent emi. Brilliant i thought and there I had my spunky new phone. It was natural for me to have been impressed at the ease by which all the procedure was completed.

The deal was that the amount will be debited in my father's account and they would clear it from there. Fine till here.
6 months hence everything was fine, when suddenly a call centre from chennai calls up on my land line even though the primary contact number was my dad's mobile to inform us that payments have not been coming in. Completely shocked at this my father checks up the statements of his ICICI account. According to that the money came in and went as was the deal. so if the money has gone from the account how could he accuse us of not paying. Fine, a complain was lodged and everything was fine after a few days, but not after my father had to go to the bank and complete the proceedings (aka waste of his time).

Last month: same problem, same procedure. But this time call was from delhi and the worse part is u cant call them back and shout at them cause its just a one sided call. this time we were fustrated but ICICI "promptly" cleared the problem.

This month: Guess what.... again!!! This is the limit, and thank god this is the last month of the emi, so after the "PROBLEM" is solved "AGAIN", we have decided to go and cut the card in front of the manager.

ICICI is a major Fu@#ing loser of a bank. Never get your self a Credit card from there. period