Gurgaon

Long time. Again. I'm not making any promises about posting regularly henceforth any more.

I'm now in Gurgaon, and have been here for a week. And i'm pretty disappointed. Not bored mind you! I have a great room, a free wireless internet connection and Cable TV. But something's missing.


And it's not just about being away from the city I love. It's being in a city I hate. The first thing that I look out for in a city (apart from the nearest store which sells chilled beer) is a reason to feel a sense of belonging, a reason to take back fond memories home. And Gurgaon gives me absolutely no reason to do so.

Gurgaon (or Gudgaunva, in the local dialect) is a village that saw quite a sudden transformation. From arid farmland, Gurgaon has now turned into a concrete jungle, with many high rise apartment complexes and malls. As a result of the real estate speculation that ensued, there has been a steep rise in prices of almost everything, making it virtually impossible for a middle class society to thrive. Everything here seems to be in extremes, either you see very rich people or the very poor.

You can build cities our of bricks and mortar, plan it well enough to have broad roads, but you cannot give it a soul, a culture...... and that, exactly, is what Gurgaon lacks.

Act till the age of 100...

“Act till the age of 100, I have taken away only six years”
“Don’t get perturbed for you have many years to go and work like ‘Mackenna’s Gold’ actor Gregory Peck”

Heh. This. Kode is one heck of a comedian. But his timing sucks. No, really!!!!!

Shah Rukh to play world's first stammering robot

In what appears to be an interesting development, Shankar (of Sivaji fame. If you still don't know,I'll safely assume that you've been living in a cave all these years) has signed on Shah Rukh Khan to play a Robot in his next venture, which is titled, err, Robot.

As the years have passed us by, when the toasters and the microwaves rule over us, they're gonna be particularly cruel to all those who paid to watch and enjoyed the movie, what with the stammering robot who can cry like the world's gonna end any moment, bringing disrepute to an entire race of robots.

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Performancing - ScribeFire

I've now Installed the ScribeFire add-on to my Mozilla Browser. Hopefully this should make posting much more easier. You, dear reader, can expect to find many more posts henceforth, with a lot of links to a lot of (mostly) useless stuff, in here.

Yay!

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The first one in ages!!

The ol' blog, after several months of neglect, is the object of my affection again.

Call it therapy, but it seems to be the best way to beat the boredom I feel here in Deutscheland. Well, things look better anyways, with the return ticket home all booked. India beckons!!

And now, I get back to what I do best. Pass unwarranted comments on Misc.

Even after the shock World Cup exit, I have always had faith inthe Men in Blue. There is no point in blaming them for trying to milk the cash cow. Any sportstar in their situation would do that. Also, if we lose faith in our national team, then which other team can we support?? Where's the sense of patriotism in rooting for the Aussies?? And don't give me "For love of the game" crap!

Anyways, their complete domination of the Bangladesh tour has made me very happy. Firstly, because the selectors did not do the stupid thing that was expected out of them, which was to sack Dravid. Secondly, the emergence of Dinesh Kaarthick and Dhoni as reliable bats. Looks like the future of Indian cricket is in good hands.

Moving on.....the movie front has been pretty dull lately. No new DVD buys, no theater visits for most part. 300 was the last, and I quite enjoyed it. I'm sure Frank Miller is proud of it too. The reason for the lull in movie watching is because I have taken to watching several Television shows on DVD. At first, I finished watching the entire set of The Wonder Years, after which I saw, and continue to watch, Lost, Prison Break and Heroes, all of the great shows in their own right. Watch 'em. They're higly recommended.

More will come. Promise. The holy cow has mooed.

Big Brother, the West Indies series and Movies

All this hullabulloo about racist taunts on the Celebrity Big Brother show has me quite amused. What's new about racism anyways? We all know that it exists, and most of the Indian's living abroad have faced it, one time or another. And on Big Brother, most of the comments are either because of petty jealousy and sometimes immaturity. But the entire episode has given a great boost to the image of Shilpa Shetty, whose star was definitely ont he wane here at home. Guess all the publicity she's getting out of ths will bode well for her, and hopefully some international offers may also come her way.

The recent squad announced for the West Indies series does not come as a surprise for many. As expected, Sehwag and Pathan got the axe, while Ganguly makes a comeback. But I'm pretty friggin' excited about Robin Uthappa making a comeback into the national team after playing just 2 ODI's the last time around. He's been in great nick in the domestic season this time around, and hopefully he'll carry his form into the national side, putting pressure on Sehwag to retain his spot for the World Cup.

It's been quite some time since I saw a movie, be it on DVD or in a Movie Hall. However, this weekend promises much excitement on that front. I have quite a line-up of movies which are waiting to be watched. Will update and post reviews of the movies later.

Kodachadri beckoned again...

I had to answer the call. Almost 2 years after my first trek there, I got a chance to revisit the place, thanks to my enthusiastic bunch of trekker friends. This time though, I was better prepared for the trek, thanks to my regular work-outs at the gym.

This trek was quite different from all my other previous treks. For one, we had a guide (a local kid called Ganapathi) who ensured that we visited the local Idlumane Waterfalls before we set out on the trail to the top. Secondly, the trail we took was not the most popular one. This one was longer than the other trails. And thirdly, after the trek, we ended up beach bumming in Kapu! All in all, a trek to remember.

Booze and Cricket do not mix

Lots of expensive champagne, wine etc etc etc. And what does our cricket team do? They use it to trash their dressing room. And as a result, there might be an embarassing situation with the BCCI having to foot the repair bill (seemingly beyond cleaning, the dressing room), because the guys did not, in Rahul Dravid's words, drink their drink.

In other cricket news, Karnataka is now in the second place of Elite Gropu A of the Ranji Trophy. With one game to go against Saurashtra, Karnataka, on current form, and with the return of Dravid and Kumble to the team, can be assured of a place in the Semi-Finals.

Depressing

Molestations in Mumbai. Murders near Noida. Attacks on tourists. Quite a grim day to be reading a newspaper. So much so, that I desparately tried to look for some good news. And I found none.

What grabbed my attention though, was the claim by the PWD minster of Uttar Pradesh, Mulayam Singh's brother, that these murders were normal and regular occurences. Whoa! What an irresponsible, insensitive piece of shit this guy is! Maybe his kid must be cut up, organs removed, and thrown in a gutter packed in a gunny bag for him to realise how heart rending this can be. And the cops, well, the lesser said about them, the better. Their lack of interest in doing their duty borders on the criminal. I pray for mob fury to boil over, and that they attack and lynch those shitheads.

Apart from a few people, the generation before us has failed our country. Sad, but true.

Karnataka's re-emergence in Cricket?

Venkatesh Prasad was appointed coach of Karnataka, after the erstwhile champions seemed to have lost their way in the wilderness, doing pretty badly in the previous couple of editions of the Ranji Trophy. Also, this season saw the return of the prodigal son, Yere Goud, who gave up his spot in the Railways team, to lead Karnataka.

The scene this season is quite different. Though the season began on an ominous note, with a huge defeat against Baroda, Karnataka has gone from strength to strength, with wins against Haryana, title holders Uttar Pradesh and a draw against Andhra Pradesh, after reaching a seemingly hopeless position. As I write this, Karnataka has scored 420 odd runs in their first innings against Tamil Nadu.

The team packed with younsters is doing a commendable job. Stalwarts Yere Goud, Thilak Naidu and Sunil Joshi are shepherding the flock quite well, with coach Prasad doing a seemingly good job. The star performer for Karnataka though has been Robin Uthappa, with an aggregtae of around 66 in this season. He has been quite consistent in his performances for India A, and a consistent season (and possibly the title) this time around should give him more than a decentchance to make it back into the Indian squad.

Let's hope that the glory days of Karnataka cricket are back.

Get more info about the Ranji 06-07 season here.

The Quick Guide to classy insults

This is good fun. I got this in a forward, and thought i must put it up. Read on, enjoy and make sure you use them at least once everyday.


He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire."
-- Winston Churchill

"I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure."
-- Clarence Darrow

"A modest little person, with much to be modest about."
-- Winston Churchill

"He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary."
-- William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway)

"Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words?"
-- Ernest Hemingway (about William Faulkner)

"Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I'll waste no time reading it."
-- Moses Hadas

"He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I know."
-- Abraham Lincoln

"I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it."
-- Groucho Marx

"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it."
-- Mark Twain

"He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends."
-- Oscar Wilde

"I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play, bring a friend... if you have one."
-- George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill

"Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second night...if there is one."
-- Winston Churchill, in response

"I feel so miserable without you, it's almost like having you here."
-- Stephen Bishop

"He is a self-made man and worships his creator."
-- John Bright

"I've just learned about his illness. Let's hope it's nothing trivial."
-- Irvin S. Cobb

"He is not only dull himself, he is the cause of dullness in others."
-- Samuel Johnson

"He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up."
-- Paul Keating

"He had delusions of adequacy."
-- Walter Kerr

"There's nothing wrong with you that reincarnation won't cure."
-- Jack E. Leonard

"He has the attention span of a lightning bolt."
-- Robert Redford

"They never open their mouths without subtracting from the sum of human knowledge."
-- Thomas Brackett Reed

"He inherited some good instincts from his Quaker forebears, but by diligent hard work, he overcame them."
-- James Reston (about Richard Nixon)

"In order to avoid being called a flirt, she always yielded easily."
-- Charles, Count Talleyrand

"He loves nature in spite of what it did to him."
-- Forrest Tucker

"Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?"
-- Mark Twain

"His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork."
-- Mae West

"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go."
-- Oscar Wilde

"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts...
for support rather than illumination."
-- Andrew Lang (1844-1912)

"He has Van Gogh's ear for music."
-- Billy Wilder

"Sir, if you were my husband, I'd give you poison." (Member of Parliament to Winston Churchill)

"Madam, if I were your husband, I'd take it." (His response)

Here without you...

To my love...

A hundred days had made me older since the last time that I saw your pretty face
A thousand lights had made me colder and I don’t think I can look at this the same
But all the miles that separate disappear now when I’m dreaming of your face

I’m here without you baby but you're still on my lonely mind
I think about you baby and I dream about you all the time

I’m here without you baby but your still with me in my dreams
And tonight it’s only you and me ...................

This.

Befuddled

Somethings, you have to believe,
The others are puzzles, puzzling me
- Coldplay , Speed of Sound

At last count, there were a million or so Shanthi Sagar hotels in the whole of Bangalore. For those who do not know what i'm talking about, Shanti Sagar refers to those "self-service with service wing also" hotels that serve reasonably good food, at reasonably cheap rates. But somewhere in the last century most of them came out with a new avatar. They started calling themselves "New Shanti Sagar". And ten-twenty years down the line, they still remain new.

I'm puzzled. I really am.

Update: They even have a website! OK, this is the real deal i guess, but there are lot of fake Shanthi sagars then. After all, i guess the original dudes were not smart enough to copyright the name.

The Best of 2006, according to moi

Movie : The Departed, undoubtedly. Martin Scorsese's Cops-and-robbers drama not only stunned, but also made a lasting impression. Truly, there is no dierctor who can do a better job of blurring the line between good and evil. Also, Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon and Leonardo di Caprio formed one of the most potent acting combos ever. In short, the best ever Scorsese movie. And for this reason, Scorsese is also the Best Director of the year.

When I was your age they used to say you could become cops or criminals. What I'm saying to you is this... When you're facing a loaded gun, what's the difference?

Song : Masti Ki Paathshala. A.R Rahman and Prasoon Joshi get together for Rang De Basanti an give a great album, but the track that stands out is this, purely because the title of the song is something that every fun loving person (young or old) would relate to. Of course, the lyrics dont make much sense, but the dance moves in the song make sure that you have a good time anyways.

Actor : This one's a tie between Arshad Warsi for the Munnabhai movie and Leo Di Caprio for The Departed. Bot these actors could have hammed away to glory, considering the roles they had to play. But Warsi, as the lovable sidekick Circuit, and Di Caprio as Billy Costigan, the gangster who's actually a cop, exercise remarkable restraint, and in the process give their best performances ever.

Actress : I just cannot think of any woman artiste who's made an impression this year. Sorry.

Sporting Spectacle : Sreesanth. India vs SA. Down the pitch. Bat in air. Pelvic thrusts. The new age Indian cricketer has arrived. Not only does he take shit, he also dishes out some. Watch here.

Happy New Year!

'tis the new year. Wish you all a great year ahead. May all your dreams and wishes come true (unless it's that of me being roasted over a slow fire).