"I thought you only enjoy rock concerts and not the Bollywood ones"
"That's right"
"Then how come you are going for Rehman concert"
"Isn't he our own rock star"
Yes I think so... you can't put A.R.Rehman in the same category with likes of Anu Malick and Udit Narayan. He is class apart! And how on earth I can resist the opportunity to listen to the maestro live in concert ... Despite the hubby's protests against standing for hours together in cramped crowd with feeble possibility of getting a good look at the man, the wify made him attend the concert. I was sure Rehman would make him forget all the agony and oh boy ... ARR did that in most spectacular way !
As expected, there was huge young crowd and all Pune roads seemed like flowing towards the Balewadi stadium. But there were aunties and oldies too and even families attending with 2 year olds. Hats off to Pune's music lovers... they attend Sawai Gandharv and Rehman with equal enthusiasm !
Given our great time management, we reached the place dot on concert time. I had slightest hopes of catching any good view of the stage given my previous concert experiences (and my not so good height). So first thing we did was to find a good position in front of one of the screens and settled down on the ground. What I didn't expect was that I would be able to enjoy almost whole show sitting right there. People were more interested in sitting comfortably and watching the screen than jumping up and down to catch a view of the stage. I guess it only happens in Pune !
I really didn't have any choices for songs to be played given vast number of songs of him that I adore. He started with "Jage hai der tak" followed by a Tamil song. I thought ab toh gaya... people will boo him for playing Tamil song. They just waited patiently for next one to come. The patience was paid off very well when he started "Jiya se jiya". That song has enchanting beats which make it more enjoyable live.
There was Hariharan singing "Roja janeman", Rashid Ali singing "Kabhi kabhi aditi", Sadhana Sargam singing "Chupake Se"... all the Delhi6 songs were sung and so were "Kaise muze tum mil gayee" and "Maiyya Maiyya". No singers were introduced apart from Raja Hassan whose name flashed across the backstage. I really wish he doesn't sing again after the way he almost killed "Masakkali". Sivamani made a brief appearance. We were hoping to get a small solo peace from him but in vain. There were some dancers and light show but who had time to pay attention to them, while dancing to those songs and cheering our hearts out.
The man himself performed "Dil se", "Rehana Tu" and "Maula mere maula". What I loved most was that the man did less talking and played more music save a futile attempt to "interview" people from audience.
Turn offs of the show, RJ's who were anchoring as if they were on air...( RJ Shrikant you suck big time) and the winglis speech by Karad. Yes we saw Lata Mangeshkar and also one lady snoozing in the front row.
My verdict ... awesome show!!! Still have hangover of it. Afterall You don't get to listen Rehaman playing piano live with Hariharan singing "Tu hi re", Roop Kumar Rathod singing "Roshan Sama" "Bhini Bhini" (just awesome!) everyday...
ARR you ROCK !!!
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
Thursday, March 05, 2009
His friends...
Whenever any of my close friends decided to get married, there was a part of me which used hate that idea. Marriage would mean sharing the friend with his better half which most of the time means not having the friend at all or getting a new package deal of sorts. However good the spouses were/are, I would feel the distance, being intruded by someone. I never liked them knowing our secretes or gossips.
However selfish it may sound... I admit that I did feel like this most of the times.
Now that I am married, mostly hang out with my husband's friends... given lack of my "own" friend circle and the fact that they are really interesting people to hang out with.
... I wonder at times, do they feel the same way .... :-)
However selfish it may sound... I admit that I did feel like this most of the times.
Now that I am married, mostly hang out with my husband's friends... given lack of my "own" friend circle and the fact that they are really interesting people to hang out with.
... I wonder at times, do they feel the same way .... :-)
Friday, February 06, 2009
Marriage : random thoughts
It was Sunday afternoon. After shopping in the scorching sun for hours together in the busiest and most crowded markets in the city me and sis sat down for a quick grab. This was just another road side joint where you need to grab plates and chairs by yourself. A family followed us in. The tired wife was taking all the pains to feed the family while the husband sat lazily bearing 'I am the king look'.
If you are expecting I will start blasting the so-called male domination in the society and lecture on plight of women, you might just be wrong. I mean I would be writing all that if it were few months ago. Perspectives change after marriage, you see! And as the the hubby says, 'we should think about a situation from various dimensions'.
If you consider this particular situation, it is possible that the wife herself had offered to do the work the husband is really tired or the wife is too dominating to let anyone handle any work or the husband is too dominating to do any work by himself etc etc... Lets just talk about what I thought I saw and what I felt about it.
First thought that came to my mind was what would I be thinking if I were in the wife's shoes. From the way she was carrying out things I felt she might not have realized that there something not right about the whole situation as she thinks it is her 'duty'. That's what her mother (the whole society) has taught her right from her birth. "A woman should always take a second place in her life be it as a mother, sister or a wife. That's the society tradition."
I guess I wouldn't have felt so. I hate such imposed traditions which have no logical inference in today's modern world. People (men, society whomsoever you may want to address) have moulded the (so called) traditions as per their convenience and comfort.
Though I claim to be 'open mined person' now, as a child I didn't even know what my mom's likes and dislikes were. She never imposed them on us and we seldom tried to understand what she really wanted. Even she might not have thought about it herself. It was so natural to her to cook our favourite dishes, shop for us, get our homework done... zillions of things... And we never realized till we grew up that it was not right.
It all comes back to me now when I am trying adjust myself in the new family. A newly married girl is expected to leave her past behind and start new life from scratch and adopt to new rules from the day one. How is that possible? Here it is not the question of having a good or bad family ethics. Its just different...!!!
Have you attended any soft skill training on behavioural patterns? The science says, it is basic human nature to react to any change with a shock or denial. A girl like me who is used to finding her way in most of things, finds it difficult to adjust to suddenly being dictated to do things, observed and judged about every thing she does. Coming from a family where you are pampered and given highest priority, it's hurting to realize that you will be the last person to be considered after marriage... you no longer are part of the family you love and adore so much.
There are times when life feels totally frustrating and beyond logical thinking and then there are times when I feel totally blessed.
As I adjust with the changes and learn my way to enjoy them, I wonder at times what does marriage actually means to me... ?
If you are expecting I will start blasting the so-called male domination in the society and lecture on plight of women, you might just be wrong. I mean I would be writing all that if it were few months ago. Perspectives change after marriage, you see! And as the the hubby says, 'we should think about a situation from various dimensions'.
If you consider this particular situation, it is possible that the wife herself had offered to do the work the husband is really tired or the wife is too dominating to let anyone handle any work or the husband is too dominating to do any work by himself etc etc... Lets just talk about what I thought I saw and what I felt about it.
First thought that came to my mind was what would I be thinking if I were in the wife's shoes. From the way she was carrying out things I felt she might not have realized that there something not right about the whole situation as she thinks it is her 'duty'. That's what her mother (the whole society) has taught her right from her birth. "A woman should always take a second place in her life be it as a mother, sister or a wife. That's the society tradition."
I guess I wouldn't have felt so. I hate such imposed traditions which have no logical inference in today's modern world. People (men, society whomsoever you may want to address) have moulded the (so called) traditions as per their convenience and comfort.
Though I claim to be 'open mined person' now, as a child I didn't even know what my mom's likes and dislikes were. She never imposed them on us and we seldom tried to understand what she really wanted. Even she might not have thought about it herself. It was so natural to her to cook our favourite dishes, shop for us, get our homework done... zillions of things... And we never realized till we grew up that it was not right.
It all comes back to me now when I am trying adjust myself in the new family. A newly married girl is expected to leave her past behind and start new life from scratch and adopt to new rules from the day one. How is that possible? Here it is not the question of having a good or bad family ethics. Its just different...!!!
Have you attended any soft skill training on behavioural patterns? The science says, it is basic human nature to react to any change with a shock or denial. A girl like me who is used to finding her way in most of things, finds it difficult to adjust to suddenly being dictated to do things, observed and judged about every thing she does. Coming from a family where you are pampered and given highest priority, it's hurting to realize that you will be the last person to be considered after marriage... you no longer are part of the family you love and adore so much.
There are times when life feels totally frustrating and beyond logical thinking and then there are times when I feel totally blessed.
As I adjust with the changes and learn my way to enjoy them, I wonder at times what does marriage actually means to me... ?
Friday, November 28, 2008
Whole day I am surfing the web nervously, from one news site to another. Reading minute by minute account of the situation, looking for signs of relief. Somebody report that it's all over. Somebody please report that it was just a bad dream. I have spent sleepless night and breathless days. Not been able to work properly. It's sad very very sad.
Do I have someone there ?
Yes. The whole city !
Somehow the news of rescues and bravery of armed forces don't console me. Why do the have be used at first places? I don't like the phrase "Spirit of Mumbai". The city has no option but to run, it has no saviour. The city has been raped again and again for wrong issues be it jihad or marathi manus or lack of political will of the so-called leaders. It is the price the city is paying for being the most vibrant, accepting city in the world, for providing economical lifeline to a county of billion people.
I am ashamed that I cannot do anything about it but blog.
I cry for you Mumbai, my beloved city...
Do I have someone there ?
Yes. The whole city !
Somehow the news of rescues and bravery of armed forces don't console me. Why do the have be used at first places? I don't like the phrase "Spirit of Mumbai". The city has no option but to run, it has no saviour. The city has been raped again and again for wrong issues be it jihad or marathi manus or lack of political will of the so-called leaders. It is the price the city is paying for being the most vibrant, accepting city in the world, for providing economical lifeline to a county of billion people.
I am ashamed that I cannot do anything about it but blog.
I cry for you Mumbai, my beloved city...
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
How's Life ?
"Knock Knock"
"Who's there?"
"An Idea"
"What's it about"
"Blog topic"
"Great! Lets discuss that later. I am busy"
That's how the conversation goes in my mind every other day. The "sometime later" never seem to come. As usual I have a loong list of reasons to defend that. You will say great person never gives reasons ... ahh let's leave that for great ones wonly!
Now you will ask me where I was hiding for almost a year... A YEAR !!! yes A year. It just feels like yesterday when I wrote my last blog post. A year that has flown past turning my life upside down. For starters I have found the man I want to spend my life with. The way we met and decide to get married and even got married ... Still feels like a dream. Ahem ... It's no mushy love story! A practical decision of two mature grown ups which has turned into the most beautiful one for them
"In this world of uncertainty and confusion
We two have found each other... different yet alike
We have grown grown together in Love and Understanding"
(Quote from the wedding invite)
Believe me... soulmates do exist! All you need is patience and keeping your eyes wide open to find them. (Ohh... Am I sounding mushy here ?)
Things have changed so fast which left me with no time and less (interesting) topics to blog about (remember many of posts were about marriage and things related to the process ;-) ). All the time was spent in talking, chatting and talking even more with the hubby, shopping (spending a fortune over it), getting educated about the "shadi-shuda life's Do's and Dont's" etc etc. I have discovered whole lot of patience in myself for listening to useless advises, shopping for unwanted things, doing pooja's you don't understand, meeting relatives I never heard of and so on. Most important discovery is that marriages are not that bad after all and I can also play a good wife/bahu :-).
I know even after all this description you will have the obvious question, "So hows married life?". This is just advanced one in the "How's life?" series of dumb questions.
"Married life is great!" that's the expected answer for the question you may ask. I guess that's the most dumb answer to most dumb question. How can one expect a girl (correction... a woman) to judge her so called "married life" in just about 3 months?
Anyway I have so many things to talk about, that have changed due to this "married life"... I am living in a new house , with new family (!), in a new city (sigh!), have new job and the 'new's list is never ending. Sometimes my own impression in the mirror feels different.
Am I cribbing about it? Again that's the basic trend in our society married person be it man or woman always like to crib about how life has changed after marriage. I would say life does change whether to feel good or bad about it is all up to you (philosophy haan!). Why should I complain about the married life if the husband makes me a cup of tea after a long tiring day or the m-i-l cooks nice meal for me :-)...
"Who's there?"
"An Idea"
"What's it about"
"Blog topic"
"Great! Lets discuss that later. I am busy"
That's how the conversation goes in my mind every other day. The "sometime later" never seem to come. As usual I have a loong list of reasons to defend that. You will say great person never gives reasons ... ahh let's leave that for great ones wonly!
Now you will ask me where I was hiding for almost a year... A YEAR !!! yes A year. It just feels like yesterday when I wrote my last blog post. A year that has flown past turning my life upside down. For starters I have found the man I want to spend my life with. The way we met and decide to get married and even got married ... Still feels like a dream. Ahem ... It's no mushy love story! A practical decision of two mature grown ups which has turned into the most beautiful one for them
"In this world of uncertainty and confusion
We two have found each other... different yet alike
We have grown grown together in Love and Understanding"
(Quote from the wedding invite)
Believe me... soulmates do exist! All you need is patience and keeping your eyes wide open to find them. (Ohh... Am I sounding mushy here ?)
Things have changed so fast which left me with no time and less (interesting) topics to blog about (remember many of posts were about marriage and things related to the process ;-) ). All the time was spent in talking, chatting and talking even more with the hubby, shopping (spending a fortune over it), getting educated about the "shadi-shuda life's Do's and Dont's" etc etc. I have discovered whole lot of patience in myself for listening to useless advises, shopping for unwanted things, doing pooja's you don't understand, meeting relatives I never heard of and so on. Most important discovery is that marriages are not that bad after all and I can also play a good wife/bahu :-).
I know even after all this description you will have the obvious question, "So hows married life?". This is just advanced one in the "How's life?" series of dumb questions.
"Married life is great!" that's the expected answer for the question you may ask. I guess that's the most dumb answer to most dumb question. How can one expect a girl (correction... a woman) to judge her so called "married life" in just about 3 months?
Anyway I have so many things to talk about, that have changed due to this "married life"... I am living in a new house , with new family (!), in a new city (sigh!), have new job and the 'new's list is never ending. Sometimes my own impression in the mirror feels different.
Am I cribbing about it? Again that's the basic trend in our society married person be it man or woman always like to crib about how life has changed after marriage. I would say life does change whether to feel good or bad about it is all up to you (philosophy haan!). Why should I complain about the married life if the husband makes me a cup of tea after a long tiring day or the m-i-l cooks nice meal for me :-)...
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Back !!!
Finally I am here... Now this is supposedly the most wanted-to-be-at types of place. Confused? Let me explain (Is anyone reminded of Dushyant from Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai?)
The place has meaning as you take it. I am back to blogging - as many of my regular readers (don't laugh.. if you are reading this you are one of them ;-)). I am in Pune - as my family wanted me to be. I am outta my boring work and into a startup - as I alwaaaaaays wanted and lo behold ... I am married !!!
There has been a loong list of To-Dos pending for me. Let me see how many of them I can mark off
Wrtie a blog - Done
Leave the ol' boring job- Done
Shift to Pune - Done
Get a job with a startup - Done
Get married - Done dana done ! ;-)
The place has meaning as you take it. I am back to blogging - as many of my regular readers (don't laugh.. if you are reading this you are one of them ;-)). I am in Pune - as my family wanted me to be. I am outta my boring work and into a startup - as I alwaaaaaays wanted and lo behold ... I am married !!!
There has been a loong list of To-Dos pending for me. Let me see how many of them I can mark off
Wrtie a blog - Done
Leave the ol' boring job- Done
Shift to Pune - Done
Get a job with a startup - Done
Get married - Done dana done ! ;-)
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Once upon a time …
Once upon a time this blog used be active… there used to be at least one post a week. It used to change color every now and then just like its blogger it liked to show off. Change and activity were the buzz words. Some people used to drop by and actually read it. It was all happy to get that attention. Those were the glory days and all of a sudden it became silent one day. For no apparent reason, it stopped update….
*Krrrrrrrr kch*
Stop Stop Stop
Before someone starts writing obituary for my blog, I am back. At least to show that this blog is not totally abandoned (*applause applause*)! Sigh, it feels like eternity since I have blogged. Every time I comeback after a break I promise myself that I won’t let it happen again and as obvious next break just gets longer. As usual there is office work to blame. But I am really amazed where the time is going. I mean I am not working 24x7. These days I am trying more and more to make life organized and regularized. I get up at midnight i.e. 6:30 am, reach office at dawn i.e. 8:30am and I come back from office by afternoon 6pm, I hardly stay back late, I don’t work on weekends (Errrr… except few recent weekends). Still I don’t find time to blog. Forget blogging, I don’t even find time to do usual stuff on weekends. I don’t feel like I have taken a good rest for a while. Some thing or other comes up and time is just flies away. I don’t know when was the last time when I slept till late morning on weekends or just lazed around whole day.
Being bored seems to be constant state and work is the main reason (as usual !). I donno when was the last time when I got up in the morning really looking forward to go to work. Someone once told me that the day you feel like not going to work you should recognize it as a signal to change the work place. I am not in favor of jumping work places frequently like the current trend is. The people I work with are really good but then that’s not the only thing you see sometimes it gets really frustrating that I feel like leaving everything and running away.
Well, it is not as frustrating as watching the political drama in Karnataka or even worse the over-hyped-so-called-classic movie ‘Saawariya’. I want to lock both HD Deve Gowda and Sanjaya Leela Bhansali in a room and let them torture each other. Spare us from those stupid dramas people! One runs government in sleep and other makes movies in sleep. I mean, what is happening to political will power of this state? Don’t they understand they are making fun of themselves and the whole country? I think Bangalore politics is watched more closely in the western world than even Delhi politics. And these people behave worse even than vamps of those saans-bahu soaps!
Only phrase that can describe ‘Saawariya’ is ‘barbad movie’ !
It’s time to go. See you soon!
*Krrrrrrrr kch*
Stop Stop Stop
Before someone starts writing obituary for my blog, I am back. At least to show that this blog is not totally abandoned (*applause applause*)! Sigh, it feels like eternity since I have blogged. Every time I comeback after a break I promise myself that I won’t let it happen again and as obvious next break just gets longer. As usual there is office work to blame. But I am really amazed where the time is going. I mean I am not working 24x7. These days I am trying more and more to make life organized and regularized. I get up at midnight i.e. 6:30 am, reach office at dawn i.e. 8:30am and I come back from office by afternoon 6pm, I hardly stay back late, I don’t work on weekends (Errrr… except few recent weekends). Still I don’t find time to blog. Forget blogging, I don’t even find time to do usual stuff on weekends. I don’t feel like I have taken a good rest for a while. Some thing or other comes up and time is just flies away. I don’t know when was the last time when I slept till late morning on weekends or just lazed around whole day.
Being bored seems to be constant state and work is the main reason (as usual !). I donno when was the last time when I got up in the morning really looking forward to go to work. Someone once told me that the day you feel like not going to work you should recognize it as a signal to change the work place. I am not in favor of jumping work places frequently like the current trend is. The people I work with are really good but then that’s not the only thing you see sometimes it gets really frustrating that I feel like leaving everything and running away.
Well, it is not as frustrating as watching the political drama in Karnataka or even worse the over-hyped-so-called-classic movie ‘Saawariya’. I want to lock both HD Deve Gowda and Sanjaya Leela Bhansali in a room and let them torture each other. Spare us from those stupid dramas people! One runs government in sleep and other makes movies in sleep. I mean, what is happening to political will power of this state? Don’t they understand they are making fun of themselves and the whole country? I think Bangalore politics is watched more closely in the western world than even Delhi politics. And these people behave worse even than vamps of those saans-bahu soaps!
Only phrase that can describe ‘Saawariya’ is ‘barbad movie’ !
It’s time to go. See you soon!
Thursday, October 04, 2007
रुकावट के लिये खेद है !
I know I know I know ... its been really really long since I have written anything and none of you really missed me. Only 25% percent of my readers ( that is one out of four ) enquired about my absence :-(.
For a change, I was all worked up for last month or so ! So much of work that I even didn't get time to check my favorite blogs forget other activities. I even worked on weekends... How bad is that!
Koi baat nahi .... Now I am back to the blog-world. Yayyy!!!
Keep watching this place for interesting post (might be boring for you but who cares... we will keep on writing anyways !!! :-D)
PS: Did you see my nu blog-pet 'Chiu'? She is chhoo cute, isn't she ?
For a change, I was all worked up for last month or so ! So much of work that I even didn't get time to check my favorite blogs forget other activities. I even worked on weekends... How bad is that!
Koi baat nahi .... Now I am back to the blog-world. Yayyy!!!
Keep watching this place for interesting post (might be boring for you but who cares... we will keep on writing anyways !!! :-D)
PS: Did you see my nu blog-pet 'Chiu'? She is chhoo cute, isn't she ?
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
साठ साल के बुढे या साठ साल के जवान !
My country turns 60 today… or I should say the new age country turns 60. For country that has thousands of years of rich past, this is mere another chapter history. What makes this day special is that it represents our struggle for freedom, struggle to get our birth right. It is something that makes us make our head held high with pride.
I will not preach too much like I have already done here. There are so many blog posts, news paper articles, talk shows talking about what we did right and what we did wrong. To my surprise Google and even Orkut are celebrating Indian Independence day!
I celebrate by putting up flag in at my work place and on my blog too !
अपी स्वर्णमयी लन्का न मे लक्शमण रोचते ।
जननी जन्मभुमीश्च स्वर्गादपी गरीयसी ॥
“Laxaman, thought Lanka is made up of gold. I don’t like it. Motherland is greater than heaven for me”
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Why wouldn’t I drive to work?
The office is shifted and I am traveling to office by bus again. I have to rush for but by 7:40am and back home by 6:30pm. The office is not that far and I could have easily taken my Dio Baby. (I had decided to name my vehicle something when I was planning to get it. I got vehicle number containing ‘EW’ so I started calling it ‘EW Baby’. Shirsha thinks the vehicle name resembles Sunny Deol so calls it ‘Sunny Deol Bike’! ) It is really hectic to get up that early in the morning after you have got used to waking up by 8:30-9am. I can still go back to my previous routine if I want to but I have lot of reasons for that.
First is that I am getting organized again. I have my cloths ironed and kept aside, veggies cut on previous night. And I get ready in the morning within 40 mins! It’s a welcome change to my otherwise lazy life you see. Some people say it is like going back to school but I say its discipline!
I am also one of those extra environment conscious people. I am one of those who would walk short distances and take BMTC bus instead of auto and preach others to do the same. Sometimes I feel guilty of buying vehicle and adding to the pollution. One of the reasons for me not buying car is that it drinks way too much petrol than a bike. Now that I already have company bus running why should I add more? The bus is enough to do that, isn’t it ?
I also hate to drive on Bangalore roads. It’s more of crawling than driving. My bike being little taller for my height it is nightmare for me. By the time I reach the destination I am so frustrated that there is no energy left to work. I never used to drive on weekends. Now I can save my driving time and energy to do stuff like reading, completing my unfinished sleep, or just watching the traffic. This one of the things I missed most while driving. I have knack for reading every poster and name plate that is displayed on the road. (That is why I know so many roads/areas in Bangalore). There were many times when I was distracted in reading the hoardings that I almost hit a vehicle or side walk. I should wait for real accident, you see!
Also I have reason to get out of office early.
First is that I am getting organized again. I have my cloths ironed and kept aside, veggies cut on previous night. And I get ready in the morning within 40 mins! It’s a welcome change to my otherwise lazy life you see. Some people say it is like going back to school but I say its discipline!
I am also one of those extra environment conscious people. I am one of those who would walk short distances and take BMTC bus instead of auto and preach others to do the same. Sometimes I feel guilty of buying vehicle and adding to the pollution. One of the reasons for me not buying car is that it drinks way too much petrol than a bike. Now that I already have company bus running why should I add more? The bus is enough to do that, isn’t it ?
I also hate to drive on Bangalore roads. It’s more of crawling than driving. My bike being little taller for my height it is nightmare for me. By the time I reach the destination I am so frustrated that there is no energy left to work. I never used to drive on weekends. Now I can save my driving time and energy to do stuff like reading, completing my unfinished sleep, or just watching the traffic. This one of the things I missed most while driving. I have knack for reading every poster and name plate that is displayed on the road. (That is why I know so many roads/areas in Bangalore). There were many times when I was distracted in reading the hoardings that I almost hit a vehicle or side walk. I should wait for real accident, you see!
Also I have reason to get out of office early.
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Nu week Nu place
The much awaited office move is finally done and here I am blogging from my personal cubical ! This is my fourth work location in the city for same company! (And seventh if you consider overseas locations :-) ). I started with the north-west part of the city then shifted to the southern most part, then to the city centre. Now this campus is in the eastern part. I can claim that I have worked in most part of the city.
I love working in big campus so my first and previous work places were definitely not my favorite. They were in the city centre and very much accessible, alright. But it was like cramping up in small boxes. There were not enough windows and not enough natural light. The roof was so low that I will suffocate there. We had very nice cafeteria location in city office but I could never sit there because it was always noisy with roaring traffic below. Other sad part was that we had to share the building with two other companies and using elevators was big time pain in neck. There was not enough parking space, traffic was pathetic. I would have to wait for three signals just to cover 500 meters distance in front of my office. Sometimes I would feel like leaving my bike on the road and rush for the meeting. In all I had too many complains for the workplace. Though, there were some positive points also. Like I could escape office anytime I wanted. The shopping hotspots were pretty nearby. I have lost (that is spent) lot of money because of that :D.
With all these complains when it was announced that we will be moving to our own campus I was all excited. (Well I am always charged up for new things, you see!) They announced that we will be getting our own work place, good cafeteria, lawns, transport and the place is very near to my house. I was the only one in my team to be eager to shift. I have been making plans about how would I decorate my place and how will I manage my day and all.
So how do I find nu place? The cubicles are nice but the walls are to short, I can see across the floor. It gets difficult to hide from some unwanted people :-(. Half height of the outer walls has glass panels. We get nice view of green lawns and road without being bothered by the noises. And guess what, my cubical is next to one of such walls so I am more than happy. We have a huuuge terrace only on my floor. From one side we can see the top of KR Puram bridge and other side we can see planes flying past. It's the best place to have morning/evening tea, with breeze cool and fresh!
I like the cafeteria most. It's open from one side overlooking the lawns and has fountains on both sides. Fountain side is my favorite place to have lunch. We take a long stroll after lunch in the lawn. The place promises all the facilities like Coffee Day n FoodWorld outlet, Gym, Tennis and Basket Ball courts, Game room etc etc. Bottom line is, the place is designed with greater details and I like it a lot. You should also consider the fact that I have worked in a campus that is ranked amongst 10 best in India (that is true... Our Electronic City campus is ranked amongst one of the best campuses around!). So there will be obvious expectations.
There are somethings which still need to improved but I am optimistic that it will just get better with time. One of the reasons that makes me optimistic is, the way this shift was handled. It was very very systematic and everything started working fine the minute we were in office. We don't claim to be one of world's best companies to work for for no reason :-).
Other nu thing is I am back to my "run to catch bus in morning" schedule. I have to rush out of home by 7:40am. But good part is I am back to home by 6pm! Talk of advantages of having office close to office :-)!
PS: I had started writing this on Monday and could finish only today. The time restriction affects extra-curricular activities in office you see :-(
I love working in big campus so my first and previous work places were definitely not my favorite. They were in the city centre and very much accessible, alright. But it was like cramping up in small boxes. There were not enough windows and not enough natural light. The roof was so low that I will suffocate there. We had very nice cafeteria location in city office but I could never sit there because it was always noisy with roaring traffic below. Other sad part was that we had to share the building with two other companies and using elevators was big time pain in neck. There was not enough parking space, traffic was pathetic. I would have to wait for three signals just to cover 500 meters distance in front of my office. Sometimes I would feel like leaving my bike on the road and rush for the meeting. In all I had too many complains for the workplace. Though, there were some positive points also. Like I could escape office anytime I wanted. The shopping hotspots were pretty nearby. I have lost (that is spent) lot of money because of that :D.
With all these complains when it was announced that we will be moving to our own campus I was all excited. (Well I am always charged up for new things, you see!) They announced that we will be getting our own work place, good cafeteria, lawns, transport and the place is very near to my house. I was the only one in my team to be eager to shift. I have been making plans about how would I decorate my place and how will I manage my day and all.
So how do I find nu place? The cubicles are nice but the walls are to short, I can see across the floor. It gets difficult to hide from some unwanted people :-(. Half height of the outer walls has glass panels. We get nice view of green lawns and road without being bothered by the noises. And guess what, my cubical is next to one of such walls so I am more than happy. We have a huuuge terrace only on my floor. From one side we can see the top of KR Puram bridge and other side we can see planes flying past. It's the best place to have morning/evening tea, with breeze cool and fresh!
I like the cafeteria most. It's open from one side overlooking the lawns and has fountains on both sides. Fountain side is my favorite place to have lunch. We take a long stroll after lunch in the lawn. The place promises all the facilities like Coffee Day n FoodWorld outlet, Gym, Tennis and Basket Ball courts, Game room etc etc. Bottom line is, the place is designed with greater details and I like it a lot. You should also consider the fact that I have worked in a campus that is ranked amongst 10 best in India (that is true... Our Electronic City campus is ranked amongst one of the best campuses around!). So there will be obvious expectations.
There are somethings which still need to improved but I am optimistic that it will just get better with time. One of the reasons that makes me optimistic is, the way this shift was handled. It was very very systematic and everything started working fine the minute we were in office. We don't claim to be one of world's best companies to work for for no reason :-).
Other nu thing is I am back to my "run to catch bus in morning" schedule. I have to rush out of home by 7:40am. But good part is I am back to home by 6pm! Talk of advantages of having office close to office :-)!
PS: I had started writing this on Monday and could finish only today. The time restriction affects extra-curricular activities in office you see :-(
Edited later: Can't resist to post this awesome picture of the fountains
Saturday, August 04, 2007
Happy Friendship Day !!!
So Its the Friendship Day... one of those hooplas created by greeting card companies. But I say what is the harm in celebrating friendships which mean a lot to you.
So here is wishing all my friends a very very Happy Friendship Day!
May you be blessed with most amazing friendships .... always !
So here is wishing all my friends a very very Happy Friendship Day!
May you be blessed with most amazing friendships .... always !
Friday, July 27, 2007
Prarthana
The prayer I prayed almost everyday for 10 years of my life. I might forget so many things about school but not the prayer 'Prarthana'. We would sing one Marathi and one Hindi prayer ( the raaga was 'Kaali' I guess). Our music teacher would start the first line and we would follow. It was different experience to sing it, around 8 am in the morning and we would pray the motherland for strenght of our mind. I know many people would just lip sync as they used to consider it stupid to sing that prayer (really!). Funny thing is I used to say wrong words till 5th class I guess. The words are 'labhel devpan tya' and we would say 'labhel dev babantya'; for 'kate kutechi bharale' we would say 'kate kute chibharale' and wonder who was the stupid person who wrote this as it made no sense! It was not until my 5th ot 7th class when they painted this board next to principle's office. This painted by one of our drawing teachers. Here is loose meaning of the Marathi Prayer
" I bow to the land where I was born. It is my 'Matrubhumi' (motherland)
I bow to the land where I grew up. It is my 'Arybhumi'
I bow to the land for whom I toil
I bow to the land where I will rest in peace
There will be lot of hardships in your way
Don't feel sad if you won't have comforts
Cause only the stone that bears thousands blows attains divinity "
I can still see myself surrounded by girls in while kurta and blue salwar, our queue being towards the far end of the crowd. Ah... school memories always make you nostalgic !
Thursday, July 19, 2007
One of those bad days at work...
It's 11 o'clock in the night. You have had a long day... been working for more that 12 hours on a stupid issue which has no head or tail to analyse. You are tired, sleepy and frustrated.
Finally you decide that its time to call it a day and go home. You send update and about to enter the elevator. You get call from someone sitting merrily at home and he starts shouting at you left and right. It is so loud that your ear hurts. You don't understand what is happening. Thankfully your manager comes to your rescue but still the barking rings in your head....
What do you do?
I take cover of tears. I guess I am not that strong as I think for the professional life, isn't it?
Sunday, July 01, 2007
A Thing about Silence
Do you ever feel like not talking at all? I mean you are sitting with bunch of people, everyone is talking, laughing and you just listen to all the sounds but don’t feel like saying anything. Or you want to get away to a silent place where there is no one but your thoughts to accompany you. I guess everyone feels like that once in a while. I know I do and I feel it all the time. There are many moments when I just want to listen or I want things to happen without saying anything. Like when I get up in the morning and get ready for office, I like to do things in silence. I hate if anyone breaks that early morning serenity. I guess I want to have those silent moments some more before I get out on the noisy roads. Believe me whenever I manage to have such mornings, my day goes absolutely perfect. I cannot bear too much of noise. It’s a wonder that I like rock music!
Its not that I am angry with people around me or with the world… I am just out of words. If I am with someone, I want the silence do the talking. Oh no… it’s not “naino se baate” and that kind of romantic stupidity. Sometimes it really bores me to mention each and everything explicitly in words. There are very few people with whom I can be comfortable in silence too. It is a funny thing actually; you don’t want to say a thing to the other person but you can’t be comfortable with everyone that way.
I guess I am not a person of words at least too much of words wasted in speech. I hate to sit in prolonged meeting discussing same thing again and again. After certain limit my mind switches off and goes off to a place far far away. I know this is not good; its not sign of a good professional, good team player… but that’s the way it is. You cannot make your mind function against its will, can you? I was not like this always. I was born a chatterbox. People from my neighborhood still remember how much I used bore them with my gibberish :-). But gradually it changed. My favorite childhood pastime was to watch kids play on the huge ground in front of my house. I could sit for hours doing that. These days my favorite place is my gallery. I like to watch the planes fly past. That is always my favorite part of the weekend.
Meditation experts suggest that silence purifies your soul. I donno if that applies to me. Most of the times I don’t even remember what I was thinking; thoughts just drift wide directions. Some people think that it is weird to be that way. Some think I am too proud to talk to people. I have tried to break that conception but I just don’t find the words.
Do you think it is really weird to be out of words?
Its not that I am angry with people around me or with the world… I am just out of words. If I am with someone, I want the silence do the talking. Oh no… it’s not “naino se baate” and that kind of romantic stupidity. Sometimes it really bores me to mention each and everything explicitly in words. There are very few people with whom I can be comfortable in silence too. It is a funny thing actually; you don’t want to say a thing to the other person but you can’t be comfortable with everyone that way.
I guess I am not a person of words at least too much of words wasted in speech. I hate to sit in prolonged meeting discussing same thing again and again. After certain limit my mind switches off and goes off to a place far far away. I know this is not good; its not sign of a good professional, good team player… but that’s the way it is. You cannot make your mind function against its will, can you? I was not like this always. I was born a chatterbox. People from my neighborhood still remember how much I used bore them with my gibberish :-). But gradually it changed. My favorite childhood pastime was to watch kids play on the huge ground in front of my house. I could sit for hours doing that. These days my favorite place is my gallery. I like to watch the planes fly past. That is always my favorite part of the weekend.
Meditation experts suggest that silence purifies your soul. I donno if that applies to me. Most of the times I don’t even remember what I was thinking; thoughts just drift wide directions. Some people think that it is weird to be that way. Some think I am too proud to talk to people. I have tried to break that conception but I just don’t find the words.
Do you think it is really weird to be out of words?
Sunday, June 24, 2007
The 'Rocking' place
“How come you haven’t been to ‘Purple Haze’?!”
“Oh well I never got a company! Besides it’s a pub!!!”
“You can’t call yourself a rock music fan in Bangalore unless you have been there”
“Uh oh”
“Well no worries. As long as I am here I will be the company”
“Oh wow!!!”
“Let’s not delay the first visit then!”
"Yoooooo"
That was the conversation between a friend(actually friend of a friend) and me. It was very nice of him to keep his words and invite me over. We hit the place on a weekday, last Tuesday to be precise. I was expecting no crowd but the place was already full by the time we reached there. It is just like any other pub, dark, small, smoky and loud. I won’t be able to identify single piece of furniture if saw it in broad daylight. What makes it stand apart is the music that they play! They are known to play the best rock/metal in town or that’s what I am told. When I entered the place, quite a few heads turned. Oh no I was not looking stunning or anything. Your truly was wearing a pink chudidar kutra for the visit. I guess they were pretty surprised to see a gawar looking gal banging head to the rock music tunes. If you have ever wondered, ‘Haah who wears desi cloths to such place’, you have the answer now!
Boy-o-boy, what music they play. The music is system is what metal music needs… the music just gets into your head. Best part is, they have huge screens put everywhere and video of every song is played along. They played many of my favorites like Metallica, Linkin Park, Ozzy’s ‘Mama I am coming home’. I can’t comment on food and other things cause all I had was veg Manchurian which was pretty nice. We were very much absorbed in the music to eat anything. There were some ladies showing off their head banging skills little too much… or were they advertising their hair or probably the liquor was taking its toll. I don’t know what it was, but they made a pretty picture to watch whenever I were bored looking at the video screen.
And yes, don’t let you imagination run amok and eye-brows raise with the thought ‘Whaaaat, you went to a pub!!!’ (and start conspiracy like some people already did… :-P). That’s the place for great music. I can’t help but go… you see :-D Awesome place to be!
If you like rock music by any chance, you know where to go in Bangalore! (If you don’t have company, you also know whom to call :-D).
“Oh well I never got a company! Besides it’s a pub!!!”
“You can’t call yourself a rock music fan in Bangalore unless you have been there”
“Uh oh”
“Well no worries. As long as I am here I will be the company”
“Oh wow!!!”
“Let’s not delay the first visit then!”
"Yoooooo"
That was the conversation between a friend(actually friend of a friend) and me. It was very nice of him to keep his words and invite me over. We hit the place on a weekday, last Tuesday to be precise. I was expecting no crowd but the place was already full by the time we reached there. It is just like any other pub, dark, small, smoky and loud. I won’t be able to identify single piece of furniture if saw it in broad daylight. What makes it stand apart is the music that they play! They are known to play the best rock/metal in town or that’s what I am told. When I entered the place, quite a few heads turned. Oh no I was not looking stunning or anything. Your truly was wearing a pink chudidar kutra for the visit. I guess they were pretty surprised to see a gawar looking gal banging head to the rock music tunes. If you have ever wondered, ‘Haah who wears desi cloths to such place’, you have the answer now!
Boy-o-boy, what music they play. The music is system is what metal music needs… the music just gets into your head. Best part is, they have huge screens put everywhere and video of every song is played along. They played many of my favorites like Metallica, Linkin Park, Ozzy’s ‘Mama I am coming home’. I can’t comment on food and other things cause all I had was veg Manchurian which was pretty nice. We were very much absorbed in the music to eat anything. There were some ladies showing off their head banging skills little too much… or were they advertising their hair or probably the liquor was taking its toll. I don’t know what it was, but they made a pretty picture to watch whenever I were bored looking at the video screen.
And yes, don’t let you imagination run amok and eye-brows raise with the thought ‘Whaaaat, you went to a pub!!!’ (and start conspiracy like some people already did… :-P). That’s the place for great music. I can’t help but go… you see :-D Awesome place to be!
If you like rock music by any chance, you know where to go in Bangalore! (If you don’t have company, you also know whom to call :-D).
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
There goes another one ...
Ahh.. here goes another weekend and I wait for the next one right from Monday with sleepy eyes. It takes really really long time for me to boot up on Mondays. First half is generally wasted in remembering what exactly I did last week. Have you seen the movie 'Fifty First Dates'? My situation is somewhat like the lead character. I need to learn my work with a blank mind every Monday ! I know how hard it is when my manger comes to on Monday morning and asks me something I look at his face with puzzled expressions and most of the times I cannot answer to his questions... the answer is sleeping somewhere in dark long corner in the mind and the processing speed of my mind gets terrible terribly slow. I have these Start-of-the week crisis all the time.
Tell me, do you ever have such start of week crisis in office? I mean do you ever go blank and cannot work at all? Last week, my start week crisis continued till mid-week and when it got unable to bear any more, I ran away from office. And found a perfect place to unwind... the "Crossword". There is no better way to relax one's mind than reading books. They talk to you, they teach you, amuse you, excite you, they cry with you and they sooth you... they are the perfect companions!!! I ended up adding 5 more books to my library, the count now goes to solid 25! I wanted to buy my favorite book 'Love Story' but someone tells me romantic books should be gifted and not bought. As per him, getting a romantic book as gift is always good omen to your relationships. Funny beliefs, isn't it? (But I did gift 'Pride and Prejudice' to a friend :-) )
I was browsing through the Indian author section and one thing that strikes me is there are not many Marathi people writing in English. Its not that there are no good writers back home but it seems most of them prefer to express in Marathi. I wonder what all those NRI babies are doing… And I digress!
I should not forget to describe about my weekend. Did I tell you that it’s beautiful outside? It’s neither too hot nor rainy; it’s cloudy all the day and drizzles once in a while. At nights it’s just amazing to sit in my gallery with a book in hand. I finished ‘A walk to remember’ Friday night, beautiful book in beautiful might :-). Apart from that there was mad shopping spree. I recommend what Shrisha calls as ‘retail therapy’ for all as cure of all gloomy mood types. Walk through the buzzing shopping streets, peep through nicely decorated windows, wonder though rows of racks stacked racks, try on beautiful cloths or just look at the people shopping… little girls looking at stuffed toys with saucer eyes, fat lady drooling on short skirt, wife nagging husband to buy her the new appliance in market… your bad mood will vanish in no time. And if there is little money in pocket, there isn’t greater pleasure than coming home loaded with lots of shopping bags :-D. I bought one of those Abhishek Baccha styln hair-bands... people say it looks cool !!!
There was this friend met after a long time… and it couldn’t have been better :-)
Life gets hectic in office and I already wait for next weekend!!!
PS :- I am on Technorati Profile are you there too ?
Tell me, do you ever have such start of week crisis in office? I mean do you ever go blank and cannot work at all? Last week, my start week crisis continued till mid-week and when it got unable to bear any more, I ran away from office. And found a perfect place to unwind... the "Crossword". There is no better way to relax one's mind than reading books. They talk to you, they teach you, amuse you, excite you, they cry with you and they sooth you... they are the perfect companions!!! I ended up adding 5 more books to my library, the count now goes to solid 25! I wanted to buy my favorite book 'Love Story' but someone tells me romantic books should be gifted and not bought. As per him, getting a romantic book as gift is always good omen to your relationships. Funny beliefs, isn't it? (But I did gift 'Pride and Prejudice' to a friend :-) )
I was browsing through the Indian author section and one thing that strikes me is there are not many Marathi people writing in English. Its not that there are no good writers back home but it seems most of them prefer to express in Marathi. I wonder what all those NRI babies are doing… And I digress!
I should not forget to describe about my weekend. Did I tell you that it’s beautiful outside? It’s neither too hot nor rainy; it’s cloudy all the day and drizzles once in a while. At nights it’s just amazing to sit in my gallery with a book in hand. I finished ‘A walk to remember’ Friday night, beautiful book in beautiful might :-). Apart from that there was mad shopping spree. I recommend what Shrisha calls as ‘retail therapy’ for all as cure of all gloomy mood types. Walk through the buzzing shopping streets, peep through nicely decorated windows, wonder though rows of racks stacked racks, try on beautiful cloths or just look at the people shopping… little girls looking at stuffed toys with saucer eyes, fat lady drooling on short skirt, wife nagging husband to buy her the new appliance in market… your bad mood will vanish in no time. And if there is little money in pocket, there isn’t greater pleasure than coming home loaded with lots of shopping bags :-D. I bought one of those Abhishek Baccha styln hair-bands... people say it looks cool !!!
There was this friend met after a long time… and it couldn’t have been better :-)
Life gets hectic in office and I already wait for next weekend!!!
PS :- I am on Technorati Profile are you there too ?
Also, Have you checked the new windows version of Apple Safari browser. Its awsome !
Saturday, June 16, 2007
...
I never told him how much I loved him… neither did he. It was not his kind of conversation… to be verbal about his feelings especially something like this. He wouldn’t even say ‘Happy Birthday’ to me. The sparkle in his eyes or that big grin was enough for us to know that he was happy that he was extremely happy :-). I saw it whenever I scored good rank, got a prize, came home from hostel and when I graduated.
He taught me to walk, to read, to love the music... he taught me to fight the odds. I learnt how be independent from him. We would discuss about all the things in world from the school subjects to world politics. Sometimes he would tell stories about how he used walk kilometers for school or how he used watch movie every night in college. Once I needed some help for school project, he poured over all his medical books to get me the most accurate information. He was like that … always got the best for us.
I missed those sparkling eyes when I got my job, my first salary… moments he had so much wanted to witness. I miss my source of inspiration… my tower of strength.
I hate to write this post in past tense. I wish I could make it present.
... I wish I could call up and say ‘Happy Father’s Day’ to him today.
He taught me to walk, to read, to love the music... he taught me to fight the odds. I learnt how be independent from him. We would discuss about all the things in world from the school subjects to world politics. Sometimes he would tell stories about how he used walk kilometers for school or how he used watch movie every night in college. Once I needed some help for school project, he poured over all his medical books to get me the most accurate information. He was like that … always got the best for us.
I missed those sparkling eyes when I got my job, my first salary… moments he had so much wanted to witness. I miss my source of inspiration… my tower of strength.
I hate to write this post in past tense. I wish I could make it present.
... I wish I could call up and say ‘Happy Father’s Day’ to him today.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Three movies, a concert and Rum Ice Roy
It’s been a long time since I have written a post about ‘how my weekend was?’ There were lame weekends or I was just lazy to write about them (Lazy is synonymous to me!) Weekends come and go away before I recount anyy details about it. This weekend was no different apart from the ‘Aerosmith’ concert that I have written about in previous post. Three rock-concerts old and I couldn’t be happier. DNA people please get ‘U2’ and ‘Linkin Park’ to Bangalore before I get old to jump in the concerts or lose interest in Rock music (who knows!). On the second thought, I wouldn’t mind listening to ‘GnR’, ‘Goo Goo Dolls’, ‘Metallica’ and ‘Bon Jovi’ live :-) (Human mind is greedy you see)
Though the weekend went insignificantly there was happening week for a change! Three movies watched in a week. It’s been a while since I watched movies during weekdays though my office is in the heart of the city and there are at least 3 theatres within 10 mins reach from here. It is always laziness plus too much of work and I can’t sit at a place for such a long time ;-). This week was definite change with three movies being watched.
Shrek 3:- For a change my company did this good deed of giving away free tickets for the movie it has provided technology for. How proud I feel to tell this!! If you are animation fan and you happen to watch Shrek series you will definitely appreciate the animation created by DreamWorks and rendered on servers provided by my dear company. Rendering for animation of this kind requires high end servers and we provide them! Moral of the story is, there was a contest to win free tickets for the movie and a colleague of mine got 4 tickets to the show in PVR cinema Europa screen. Can you beat that? First day show tickets that too in the most hep theatre of Bangalore! How can I miss such a golden chance? The tickets were collected bunking group wide meeting! The story is not that great, they have tried to add too much of senti-aap touch and made Shrek behave more human like. I adored him more in first two parts. But the animation is awesome! The new character Arthur looks damn cute!
Life… in a Metro :- ‘I didn’t like the movie because it is too realistic’ was the first review I got in this movie and it made more that curious to watch it. It was running houseful for a while and finally we managed to get tickets for Wed 10 pm show. Getting ticket episode itself will make topic for another post! The movie is too realistic for sure. It feels like we are peeping into our neighbor’s life and sometimes our own too! The stories of love, betrayal, infidelity run parallel crossing each other every now and then. The movie handles a good topic but does not disturb you or make you think about the degrading morality in our modern lives. In the end, it goes the ‘happily ever after’ way. What disturbed me more was the writer didn’t allow the married women (Shilpa), to follow her heart and go against her cheating husband. Instead she became typical ‘Bhartiya Naari’ who sacrifices her love and self-respect for the sake of family. What nonsense!!! Do watch it for Irrfan Khan. He is not used much but he sure makes his presence felt in the movie.
I was telling my mother about this movie. I said I don’t think you would like to watch this movie; it would shatter the typical Indian mind like it did for my friend. She plainly says, ‘you know what these things have been there in our society since long. Aren’t there stories of infidelity even in our purana’s? It’s just that these days we have advanced media so the things are being discussed openly and women are getting strong to oppose/expose them’. Mom, you surprise me as always!
Cheeni Kum :- I liked this one more from previous two. Nice subject, good direction and cinematography and amazing actors made the movie worth watching. One dialogue that I remember right now is when Amitabh is trying to convince Tabu’s father about their relationship. He says “Why should you have problem when you daughter is not marrying someone younger than her?” It is generally said that women mature before guys do. They should marry guys at least couple of years older than them so they are on same page. We Indians go little overboard in this theory and consider it immoral when a woman marries a man younger than her. I say why we should have problem in that if two people are ready to spend their lives with each other and fine with the age difference. On the other hand, there are lot of girls who search for security, comfort in their husbands just like they received from their fathers. Just as a guy likes to compare his wife with his mother and expect her to cook, care like his mother did what is wrong if a girl searches for her father in terms of maturity and understanding.
What is your take on this?
And I should not forget to mention ‘Rum Ice Roy’, you are right it is name of ice cream which has rum in it and lot of rum for that matter. Sunday night was ‘Corner House’ time after a long time. I thought of trying this one as name sounded interesting and hoping it will have unrecognizable traces of liquor. But my-o-my, it lives up its name, had the rum taste for real (Don’t ask me how I know taste of Rum ;-))
… I am too bored with work today, hence all this blabbering!
Though the weekend went insignificantly there was happening week for a change! Three movies watched in a week. It’s been a while since I watched movies during weekdays though my office is in the heart of the city and there are at least 3 theatres within 10 mins reach from here. It is always laziness plus too much of work and I can’t sit at a place for such a long time ;-). This week was definite change with three movies being watched.
Shrek 3:- For a change my company did this good deed of giving away free tickets for the movie it has provided technology for. How proud I feel to tell this!! If you are animation fan and you happen to watch Shrek series you will definitely appreciate the animation created by DreamWorks and rendered on servers provided by my dear company. Rendering for animation of this kind requires high end servers and we provide them! Moral of the story is, there was a contest to win free tickets for the movie and a colleague of mine got 4 tickets to the show in PVR cinema Europa screen. Can you beat that? First day show tickets that too in the most hep theatre of Bangalore! How can I miss such a golden chance? The tickets were collected bunking group wide meeting! The story is not that great, they have tried to add too much of senti-aap touch and made Shrek behave more human like. I adored him more in first two parts. But the animation is awesome! The new character Arthur looks damn cute!
Life… in a Metro :- ‘I didn’t like the movie because it is too realistic’ was the first review I got in this movie and it made more that curious to watch it. It was running houseful for a while and finally we managed to get tickets for Wed 10 pm show. Getting ticket episode itself will make topic for another post! The movie is too realistic for sure. It feels like we are peeping into our neighbor’s life and sometimes our own too! The stories of love, betrayal, infidelity run parallel crossing each other every now and then. The movie handles a good topic but does not disturb you or make you think about the degrading morality in our modern lives. In the end, it goes the ‘happily ever after’ way. What disturbed me more was the writer didn’t allow the married women (Shilpa), to follow her heart and go against her cheating husband. Instead she became typical ‘Bhartiya Naari’ who sacrifices her love and self-respect for the sake of family. What nonsense!!! Do watch it for Irrfan Khan. He is not used much but he sure makes his presence felt in the movie.
I was telling my mother about this movie. I said I don’t think you would like to watch this movie; it would shatter the typical Indian mind like it did for my friend. She plainly says, ‘you know what these things have been there in our society since long. Aren’t there stories of infidelity even in our purana’s? It’s just that these days we have advanced media so the things are being discussed openly and women are getting strong to oppose/expose them’. Mom, you surprise me as always!
Cheeni Kum :- I liked this one more from previous two. Nice subject, good direction and cinematography and amazing actors made the movie worth watching. One dialogue that I remember right now is when Amitabh is trying to convince Tabu’s father about their relationship. He says “Why should you have problem when you daughter is not marrying someone younger than her?” It is generally said that women mature before guys do. They should marry guys at least couple of years older than them so they are on same page. We Indians go little overboard in this theory and consider it immoral when a woman marries a man younger than her. I say why we should have problem in that if two people are ready to spend their lives with each other and fine with the age difference. On the other hand, there are lot of girls who search for security, comfort in their husbands just like they received from their fathers. Just as a guy likes to compare his wife with his mother and expect her to cook, care like his mother did what is wrong if a girl searches for her father in terms of maturity and understanding.
What is your take on this?
And I should not forget to mention ‘Rum Ice Roy’, you are right it is name of ice cream which has rum in it and lot of rum for that matter. Sunday night was ‘Corner House’ time after a long time. I thought of trying this one as name sounded interesting and hoping it will have unrecognizable traces of liquor. But my-o-my, it lives up its name, had the rum taste for real (Don’t ask me how I know taste of Rum ;-))
… I am too bored with work today, hence all this blabbering!
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Aerosmith rocked Bangalore ...!!!
After all the confusions and whining… the Aerosmith show has been attended. (For starters, like my dear brother and Apoorv, Aerosmith is the cult rock band and their songs are like anthem for rock fans worldwide). It’s just the next day morning I don’t have hangover of it. I don’t know what it was… the humidity or the stupid crowd or too much of expectation or the band itself.
First it was the friend who was supposed to come with me. He decided to play prank on me and till the last moment kept telling me that he is not going to come. Then we were late for the show. The gates were supposed to open at 5:30 and we reached there by 5. I thought now I won’t even get the glimpse of the stage. But surprisingly there were not many people around. Ooh… has too man bands taken away interest of Bangaloreans or was it the highly priced tickets? I was expecting people crowding the place since morning, after all this is not just another band. They are the ‘Bad boys from Boston’ touted as one of the all time best bands in Rock history. This time the organizers also didn’t seem in the mood of making the show much popular. They had started publicizing for the show just couple of weeks ago. And on the day of event there was much confusion about the exact place of show. You must know that palace ground is a huge huge place. So unless you define exact place to enter, you are bound to get lost in taking rounds of the place and half of the roads are one way. They had not put directions properly so we ended up circling the place in crawling traffic. Thank god we were on bike, I saw many people talking the long walk (almost 2-3kms). Inside there was confusion about which line to stand in for the entry. They had common entrance for both the ticket types. Then there were separate lines for gals in a sideey corner. Even after being so late, we were able to get place pretty much near the stage. Unfortunately there were too many tall guys around me so I couldn’t see much as usual. Rock shows is one of the times when I badly wish that I were taller or least other people were shorted than me. I had to jump and keep searching for the view. My neck still hearts with that pain .
So we were inside by 6 pm. The crowd has just started to build up. We were expecting some band to open and help us kill the time before concert starts. Apart from contestants of some stupid air-guitar contest (one of them won a guitar signed by Aerosmith … luck man!!) and some firangs walking around to check the setting and clicking snaps in various poses, there was no activity on the stage. It was unbelievably hot, and despite all the no-smoking signs there were lot of chimneys around, by 8 pm we were soaking in sweat (how I wished for rain). After a while people started booing and shouting for the show to start… some creative mind started shouting ‘Angrezo Bharat Chhodo!’ After minutes of testing and retesting, they appeared on the stage. The video that preceded their appearance showed their journey through times and finally Indian flag covering the whole screen. There was also a Ganesha Idol sitting next to the drums, Pretty Interesting I say. Steve Tyler was wearing his trademark funky cloths. This time it was a female-ish looking hat, huge butterfly hanging around the neck and too many straps on the microphone. He is too dramatic on stage. They started with ‘Taste Of India’ followed by ‘Love in the Elevator’. They sang ‘Eat the Rich’, ‘Living on the Edge’, ‘Dream On’, ‘Jaded’, ‘Sweet Emotion’, ‘Falling in love is hard on Knees’, ‘What it takes’ among others. Joe Perry sang a number too. He looked cool and according to him the best thing that India has given to the world is ‘Kamasutra’!!! One of the good things was that they had made a ramp, so I got good glimpse of Steve and Joe. Joe is amazing on guitar.
Like me, most of the crowd was hoping to listen ‘Janie’s got a gun’, ‘Angel’ ‘Dude looks like a lady’. We kept shouting hoping they will sing but no success. Two hours of non-stop singing, dancing around stage. For one song Steve was wearing the Karnataka style pagari! Till the end we were hoping they will sing ‘Janie’. But they just vanished backstage. The crowd kept cheering for more and suddenly Steve came on stage ‘I hear someone wanting more songs. How about one more song?’ And he started ‘I don’t want a miss a thing’. That was crowning of the show, I say. We all sang together with the song. It was great show but could have been better.
But what the heck … I listened to Aerosmith live in concert... yayy!!!
First it was the friend who was supposed to come with me. He decided to play prank on me and till the last moment kept telling me that he is not going to come. Then we were late for the show. The gates were supposed to open at 5:30 and we reached there by 5. I thought now I won’t even get the glimpse of the stage. But surprisingly there were not many people around. Ooh… has too man bands taken away interest of Bangaloreans or was it the highly priced tickets? I was expecting people crowding the place since morning, after all this is not just another band. They are the ‘Bad boys from Boston’ touted as one of the all time best bands in Rock history. This time the organizers also didn’t seem in the mood of making the show much popular. They had started publicizing for the show just couple of weeks ago. And on the day of event there was much confusion about the exact place of show. You must know that palace ground is a huge huge place. So unless you define exact place to enter, you are bound to get lost in taking rounds of the place and half of the roads are one way. They had not put directions properly so we ended up circling the place in crawling traffic. Thank god we were on bike, I saw many people talking the long walk (almost 2-3kms). Inside there was confusion about which line to stand in for the entry. They had common entrance for both the ticket types. Then there were separate lines for gals in a sideey corner. Even after being so late, we were able to get place pretty much near the stage. Unfortunately there were too many tall guys around me so I couldn’t see much as usual. Rock shows is one of the times when I badly wish that I were taller or least other people were shorted than me. I had to jump and keep searching for the view. My neck still hearts with that pain .
So we were inside by 6 pm. The crowd has just started to build up. We were expecting some band to open and help us kill the time before concert starts. Apart from contestants of some stupid air-guitar contest (one of them won a guitar signed by Aerosmith … luck man!!) and some firangs walking around to check the setting and clicking snaps in various poses, there was no activity on the stage. It was unbelievably hot, and despite all the no-smoking signs there were lot of chimneys around, by 8 pm we were soaking in sweat (how I wished for rain). After a while people started booing and shouting for the show to start… some creative mind started shouting ‘Angrezo Bharat Chhodo!’ After minutes of testing and retesting, they appeared on the stage. The video that preceded their appearance showed their journey through times and finally Indian flag covering the whole screen. There was also a Ganesha Idol sitting next to the drums, Pretty Interesting I say. Steve Tyler was wearing his trademark funky cloths. This time it was a female-ish looking hat, huge butterfly hanging around the neck and too many straps on the microphone. He is too dramatic on stage. They started with ‘Taste Of India’ followed by ‘Love in the Elevator’. They sang ‘Eat the Rich’, ‘Living on the Edge’, ‘Dream On’, ‘Jaded’, ‘Sweet Emotion’, ‘Falling in love is hard on Knees’, ‘What it takes’ among others. Joe Perry sang a number too. He looked cool and according to him the best thing that India has given to the world is ‘Kamasutra’!!! One of the good things was that they had made a ramp, so I got good glimpse of Steve and Joe. Joe is amazing on guitar.
Like me, most of the crowd was hoping to listen ‘Janie’s got a gun’, ‘Angel’ ‘Dude looks like a lady’. We kept shouting hoping they will sing but no success. Two hours of non-stop singing, dancing around stage. For one song Steve was wearing the Karnataka style pagari! Till the end we were hoping they will sing ‘Janie’. But they just vanished backstage. The crowd kept cheering for more and suddenly Steve came on stage ‘I hear someone wanting more songs. How about one more song?’ And he started ‘I don’t want a miss a thing’. That was crowning of the show, I say. We all sang together with the song. It was great show but could have been better.
But what the heck … I listened to Aerosmith live in concert... yayy!!!
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