1 day, two movies.
10 AM : Huffing and puffing, reached the cinema.. got the 3D glasses on and quickly settled into the seats. That was the last time before intermission, that i looked at Tina and another dear friend.
The concept was new and the movie was AVATAR.

The name sounds pretty Indian, but that's where the similarity ends.
After that the way we were taken into a dream of fantasy was so fulfilling that were left gasping for breath by intermission.
The visuals, the world, the creatures were so stunning that maybe God could take a cue and create a new planet like this once ours comes to an end.
The Na'vi tribe had a language of their own language to speak.. they had customs, love for the fellow creatures.
It made me cringe to feel like a human being.
We are, yes we are the most hypocritical race ever produced.
We lie to ourselves when we say that we want to save the planet. We kill all other living things in our sight, so that we could reign.
We are 'THE ALIENS', we pollute the world and if its anyone who doesn't deserve to live on this beautiful planet, it is us, it is you and it is me.
Every single thing that we do, pollutes our planet.
This feeling of mine, was vented by Cameron too, through AVATAR.
And that's why I respect him. He showed a mirror to the world by making a film which shows the human race's real ugly face.
We are the villains.

Now the technical brilliance part : This is THE BEST cinematic experience unfolding in front of you in terms of stunning visual effects, dramatic 3D, hair raising fights and the oh-so-brilliant creatures.
Nothing might be real, but the intent of the film is...
So real, that it tells us what garbage we actually are and how we are proud of being this garbage.

I liked a few lines from RGV's(Ram Gopal Varma, a weird and erstwhile intelligent indian film director who gives a few good ones in between) blog.

"When someone asked me if the special efx of AVATAR will inspire other filmmakers, I said that on the contrary they might have a reverse effect. What I mean is that we can only aspire to become someone when we can atleast have a belief that we can reach someone’s potential but James Cameron in AVATAR created a bench mark so high that it will take years for us lesser folk even to comprehend it let alone attempt to execute it.

It’s like if you aspire to be a runner and somehow hope to run at a speed of 20km per hour which may be the world record and then when on the track you see a guy running at 200kmph you would rather give up and come back and make family dramas and TV serials and leave the running to James Cameron.

Titanic was fantastic but it did not shake me up inspite of everyone else around me back then saying that James Cameron is God of cinema.

But with his second coming “AVATAR” I have surely turned religious.

I want to pray to him for making “AVATAR”.

I hate him for making all us so-called filmmakers in the world feel like ants. (Read ch*****)"

When I came out after the movie, the hangover remained for a few hours.
I am still ashamed of being a human.
The human being is the most intelligent creature on this planet, but also the most selfish, calculative, manipulative, hideous, ugly, sinister and unfriendly creature on this planet.

Avatar is par excellence. If you miss it, you miss knowing the real face of being human.
I give it a 10 out of 5.
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Movie over, had nice lunch, chatted, bought a new carry case for my nice 'near -professional' new camera!
Time to head for another movie now..
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Avatar had taken the wind out the the sails of other movies and that's the reason why another brilliant movie "Rocket Singh" was 'easily-available' on a weekend.

The movie starts with Ranbir Kapoor, who's a duffer at everything passing his BCom just marginally.
He thinks of taking a sales job. He gets rebuked, beaten, bruised and screwed all in the first few days of his job.
He does everything he can for his job and his boss, but he cannot be unjust to his job and this rubs his boss the wrong way.
How Ranbir puts every piece together to make a company of his own to bring his boss's company to its knees is the main plot of the film.
I wont give away more.
Now talking about this boy, Ranbir, I somehow am impressed by him, he acts, dances well, looks good and is confident.
All these are really difficult to find in today's actors, more so in star kids.
He manages to pull off the whole show on his shoulders.
The scenes where his boss finds him doing some odd job in an electronic store really touched my heart.
My heart went out to him when he said to his manager "har aadmi ke paas do qualities hoti hain.. upar jaane & neeche aane ki, aapne mere liye sirf neeche aane ka raasta chhoda, what could i do? what did i come to you for? just one chance"
Now at most times, all of us working in any industry have felt this against our bosses.

Bosses are not friends, they just pretend to be friends.
Kaam nikla, fir tu bhi nikla.
That's what bosses are about. Aah.. let me not get started about the boss thing..
These days there is very high amount of negative polarization against him and if someone just nudges me, i will burst out and spew ash and lava like volcanoes :)

So lets stop here.. Ranbir Kapoor was brilliant.
A must watch for all people who feel that they can do something and hate their bosses for not letting them do it.

Some days are just not meant to be yours..

Had a hectic day at office! The joy of a breakthrough in an issue quickly evaporated.
Was witness to a marathon fight in which i wasnt directly involved.. but it was between 3 members of my team...
My personal opinion.. the way the younger members see things is not right.
They need to just improve their vision.. all this poisoning is not helping them in their careers.
The way they deal with things, they are only doing more harm to themselves...
And it was also sad to see that they managed to poison others' ears as well!

Saw a video sent by another colleague. This is about sixth sense computing which was showcased at TED, Infosys Mysore.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tv/TED-India-Pranav-Mistry/videoshow_ted/5231080.cms
The capacity of the human mind amazes me!! I mean just look at the idea. 10 out of 10 for the idea.. and an additional 10 for the simplicity of thought process.
Another 10 for making it opensource.
So that makes it 30 out of 10 for this guy Pranav!

And we choose to waste our mind in fights! that too trivial ones.
God! bucketing.
Painful.

V Day

I remember the college days in Nagpur.. 9 years back.. the first year in college..
the excitement in the dudes of our hostel was palpable.
I was way too timid in the first year to do such things :P
The guys were all getting ready... in the morning.. gelling their hair and making plans to go to the law college square in the evening (That was one of the happening places with a young crowd).
Few guys thought this day would change their life.. buying roses from florists across the road.
Few had cards and goodies ready.. one guy even came into my room at 630 am, woke me up and showed me his card asking if what he had written was fine...
Me :"heck, she is your target.. not mine.. how would i know?"
Friend : "dekh le yaar... meri english achchi nahi hai"
Me : "hindi mein likh de yaar, uski bhi english aise hi hai :P"...
Believe me, the euphoria in the hostels of the colleges was so huge... people just expected that 'The day is today.. the time is now.. if not now.. then never'.
There V Days were more about showing someone.. that i am with Ms. XYZ ... marking territories.. showing off.
All that hoopla.. and then popat.. instances of a few girls.. rejecting.. few guys not able to say anything at ground zero and getting the cards back..
Finally at EOD, all of them came back dejected... mouthing expletives.. and then a crate of beer from the bar across the road ordered generally to drown in... and bunk the college the next day..
All the 4 years, 15th feb was zero attendance day in our college.. poor lecturers always wondered what the students were upto on 14th. Most of the lecturers were SRS sympathizers.

I really wondered where the students got all this enthu from..
Then one fine day during second year... i fell for a girl from another college... and the funniest part was i started beahving in many ways like the guys from my hostel... thats another story though..

V Days in the college were really funny.. but the spirit and never say die attitude - exemplary. It was one of things that money cant buy.

Fast forward 9 years.. and now I am married, will celebrate it in a more civilian way :) with my wife. Life is a lot more organized now.. but I still miss that fun.

aashiq banaya.. aashiq banaya... aashiq banaya .. aapne!

The generation has moved ahead! and i feel like a grandpa already :)
there is a post on the BB...
How to make my girlfriend miss me soooooo much!
not so long ago, people used to think twice before posting such things on general BB... forget about bigger & better things like PDA! :D
People are replying left right centre... buy a bouquet and switch off the mobile for a few days... then call her and see.. how she tells you how much she missed you these 3 days!
mind blowing yaar!!
The talent for aashiqui has always run deep in our blood... right from the days i saw anil kapoor wooing madhuri dixit in the 80s and 90s.. or aamir and juhi coochie cooing and saying... 'tumhein pata hai... aaj maine tumhe kitna miss kiya??'
All these years, from the transition of India from the age of scooters to mobikes, from landlines to cell phones, and from girls to chics... the 'aashiqui' thread has remained common!

There is an undying spirit... which says... when a lion also needs a lioness... what wrong am i doing??
Perfect sir! You are doing no wrong... i am just discussing the bird's eye point of view.
I remember.. while in college.. all this was pretty normal... infact guys of the same hostel.. same room try to upstage each other to win the lioness!

I salute the 'aashiqui' spirit.. just like India salutes the Mumbai spirit.. i love the fact that no matter what the odds.. no matter where you are.. no matter how many people are there around you.. no matter which platform you choose(including the BB) ... the famed 'aashiqs' just 'do it' anywhere!

Salaam.

Yuck aaj kal

i knew what was coming my way.. when i saw the tacky guy naming his tacky production house 'Illuminati'.... what?? does he operate that secret society or something?? or is he Robert Langdon??
Fine.. i have a negative bias against the one time national award winner... but then i thought deepika and rishi kapoor might neutralize the strong negative undercurrent.

but no... 1st scene of the movie.. deepika and saifoo (sounds like a dog's name... saifoo - sheroo .. nahi?)
main pile on nahi karna chahta... bullshit.. i know where this is going... bloody youngistan lingo.

Deepika had a plastic expression.. her voice never conveys the feeling that her face wants to.
She is a perfect depiction of a plastic doll gone famous!
She would now have to learn acting after becoming a superstar!
Similar things were said about Aishwarya 'Plastic' Rai... during her 'Taal' days.. but now she has brushed up her skills and also got herself the tag of first lady of Bollywood... so what's wrong with Deepika.. so i discount her! afterall she is a newbie.

But Sheroo.. sorry .. Saifoo... man this guy amazes me.. i sometimes think i shouldn't be discriminatory about his Donald duck voice modulation..
but then his acting pisses me off so much that i end up targetting him :)
His dances so badly that i can dance better than him.
he looks old now... and when he does the youngistan lingo.. it pretty much looks like the neighbourhood friendly uncle trying to flirt with the girls on the streets.

The sardar scenes were quite nice .. though sheroo looked unconvincing as a sardar.. but the intent was good and the romance looked fresh.. so liked that part.

Apart from that.. pretty avoidable fare.

holiday planning is so much fun!

Yeah some of the things i love!
done with the holiday planning for this year.. somehow it just reminds me of the holiday last year..
It just feels like yesterday.
Though the holiday consisted of Corbett, Nainital and Agra.. for the sake of my love for wildlife, i would call it the Corbett trip.

Lots of planning had gone into it. Right from the bookings for the trains and flights to the stay in the forest.. everything had to be taken care of.
Thankfully for me, Tina my wife, also has an eye for detail and that makes the planning part a lot easier. Had even one of us been the causal, 'chalta hai' traveller who is content with 'flight-nahi-toh-train-and-train-nahi-toh-bus' attitude like the current XBox generation, our holiday life wouldn't have existed.

We readied the plan for March in December itself. Took half a day off from office to go to the KMVN office at Hyd to book the forest lodge. Got the air tickets to Delhi done and we were done to go!

Day 1 : Flight from Hyd to Delhi -
4 people, me, Tina, Vijay(my college pal) and Vyanks(the Finacle wonderboy) were onboard. Night flight, what else could you expect? Dozed off till we reached Delhi.
There, my overzealous cousin picked us up from the airport and took us home for the nightstay and we were served yummy home food.

Day 2 : The trip begins -




Early morning, a decent looking car picked us up from our house and we started the trip to Corbett. The journey was dusty as expected on Indian roads.. but the highway was pretty good except for places where we encountered villages and overcrowded towns. We stopped somewhere in UP hinterland at a dhaba for breakfast which was amazingly cheap and good in terms of food. Paranthas aren't the prescribed food for road journeys but with a Punjabi foodie on board.. paranthas were the way to go!
The journey lasted for about 5 hours and we kept ourselves busy by talking ... mostly about college :)
Once we reached KMVN in Ramnagar, we were taken to a decent looking but old guesthouse where we were asked to wait for getting the permits. It pretty much functions the old sarkaari way, but then they cannot let every tom dick and harry into the tiger territory :). I just couldnt wait to get in, the wait was killing me.

Half an hour flat, our over friendly driver, Sunil got us inside the gates of Dhikala which is one of the four zones that the park has. Do not confuse Dhikala to be a small area... it could be of the size of a small city like Mysore or Pune.
The entry was symbolic. Something like this :



Once inside, the feeling was surreal.. our driver was over enthusiastic but had a very good eye which amazed us. He kept spotting fauna which were camouflaged. We then had to use Binoculars or the video cam to zoom in and see...
He also tended to exaggerate a lot.. he said that the last time he came here, he saw a tiger on the road which we all just laughed off :)

Dhikala FRH(Forest Rest House) is about 40 kms inside the jungle from the gate.. the road is anything but motorable, so dont take your car :) .. but if you are in a taxi.. then there are very few things that you will ever compare to the nature beauty on platter.
We reached FRH by 3 pm. It was a nice decent block with a few buildings. The mistake people make is that they book resorts.
I just wanna say, are you in tigerland to do the sauna? You need to be close to nature and feel the pressure of living in the dark. Thats what makes the experience worthwhile.

Anyways, had very nice tea with some snacks and the person at the front desk was kind enough to us.. he was ever smiling.. the pahadi people always do. Thats why i love them!
He got us an elephant safari arranged for the next morning.
We wandered outside the cafeteria when we saw some commotion in the grasslands in front of us.. people said.. "Tiger, Tiger..."
I got my binoculars out and saw a tiger chasing a herd of deers and scaring away a few kid elephants far away...so far so good..
It was dusk and darkness was approaching.
The beauty was surreal...


We had dinner and were walking to the rooms.
Then the fun began. Suddenly we realized that we couldn't see the path. The darkness in Corbett is to be seen to be believed.
To add to that, there were all kinds of sounds and calls of animals. Tina was afraid if there was a snake on the way to the room or worse still if there could be a tiger looking at us with his night vision eyes.
But then it was just about 10-20 metres which was dark. We heaved a sigh when we saw our rooms :)

Me and Tina went into our room when Vijay called out from the other.. "Akshay, do u need odomos??"
Boom.. not again.. i stepped out of my room in total darkness.. and before taking the next step jumped back in again.. "Vijay, you get it in my room please" I shouted back..
Vijay : "No ways"
Then i just took Tina to the door and showed her the darkness. It's hard to believe but i haven't seen anything as dark as that night ever.
Somehow i managed to go to their room and get the damn thing.

Day 3: Corbett -





Next morning, elephant safari was wonderful.. we got onto an elephant whose name was 'Chanchal'. I wish i had a better camera.. there were so many birds and other species that my point and shoot couldn't click.
Just before the end of it, we saw couple of other elephants which had stopped in the middle of the path.. just waiting and doing nothing.
The mahout told us that there is a tiger around. We could see the deers in alert state ready to sprint. The sound of the air was twitching their ears. The hunt was on the cards and the silence deafening.
But nothing happened. The king was around but chose not to show up in front of so many people.

All great beings on earth are solitary. I am solitary too :)

We went back dejected, but the feel of the jungle had gripped us by then.. our hearts were pounding sometime back but now we were having the yummy breakfast in the middle of the jungle.


Evening 3 pm :
We were ready for our jeep safari... we roamed the grasslands, the riverside and the reservoir.. clicked some amazing snaps.

Few of them :












We were more than happy with the sighting of the herd of wild elephants and hyenas and deer.
Just then our tour guide got a call on his walkie talkie..
watering hole 24.. he asked the driver to rush.. watering hole 24.. 24.. quick...
our jeep zipped through with amazing speed.. it was a 4*4 drive.
We were asked to hold ourselves firm.. the ride was bumpy but we were there in about 3 mins... We saw an elephant charging towards the bushes.
We were told that whenever a tiger is sighted all the resort elephants charge and create a huddle so that the tiger doesnt get violent.

Everyone waited with gasping breath. Minutes passed.. one .. two .. three... there was a countdown.. so silent. Nowhere do a group of Indians sit in such silence.
and then, an overwhelmingly idiotic moron from Delhi who had lost his senses in his Alto just before us got down from his car. People yelled at him.. "Kya kar raha hai be?? Mar jayega(What are you doing man? Wanna get killed?)"
And as lightening strikes, yellow stripes leapt 10 feet maybe couple of metres away from the lost Delhiite.
It had leapt 10 feet from one side of the path into the deep jungle the other side.
It was a tigress.
Our day was made. People were spellbound.
But that guy from Delhi, i am sure would now never get down from his car even in Delhi. His pants were wet.
But we were happy. We just saw the king of the jungle in his territory in full glory.

By now, we got used to the rules of the jungle. We thought like animals. The feeling had sunk in and we were happy that our holiday was so successful.

We had our dinner and slept peacefully.

Day 4 : Corbett -

We got up to another jeep safari.. This time we went to the other part of the jungle.
Had a long drive of about 3 hours.
By now, we were so mesmerized by the aura of the king, that we anticipated it everywhere.
But then, if the sightings were so easy, the fun would be lost. It was like an Indo-Pak match of the 90s, which happened once a year and the tension was palpable.
The joy of seeing the king in its territory is something which cannot be explained in words.
Catching him in his habitat is so different from watching it in a zoo.
We saw a lot of pug marks which indicated that he roamed the territory not so long back.



We did not get to see the king today, but our holiday was so enriching that we had forgotten the mundane city life by now.
We just did not want to leave the place.
But as they say, parting is the most difficult part.. and we had to part.

We recorded our sighting on the tiger sighting board too :)



With heavy hearts and very refreshed minds, we took leave of the king's territory.



We asked the king for permission to leave.. and he gave us a 'Roar of Approval'





PS :
We proceeded to Nainital and Agra thereafter which were beautiful too, but were holiday destinations that people generally do. So you would get a lot of matter on that elsewhere too.

memories.. the ones that leave a sour taste

i was thinking about the past..
one of my past friendships seems so stupid now.. there was a particular person who gave so much gyaan about everything and everyone around thought that the person was a genius.. the mature one among the bunch of immature fools...
but in retrospect.. i realize how much of a bore and an idiot that person was...

Like they say, what you see is not what you get sometimes...

I just feel like going back and doing an erase.
urrrgh....

The mind is so bloody immature during the growing up days... just want to do a Ctrl+Z of many things....

Relationships.. can they be decoded

Yesterday, me with a few friends had a very interesting argument over dinner which brought me to a question about relationships.
There is a friend who doesn't take kindly to Sachin Tendulkar's achievements. There was another person favouring him.
Similarly there was one person on my side.. goes without saying that we were supporting Tendulkar.
Now call it hero worship or pure emotional attachment or plain data in our favour, we were very forthright in our arguments. They, understandably were towing the opposite line. We asked them for data to back their line of argument, they couldn't and we said you cannot.
Typical argument eh!
But wait.. we all were running high on emotions.. whether for or against him. An emotion is still an emotion.
As much as they love to loathe him, no force in the universe can ever make me give into it.. and i will hold the fort.
But why?

This brought me to the next question.. is it inbuilt in our DNA to get emotionally connected to a person whom you have grown up watching... does it affect you to such an extent that you will simply dismiss any counter argument against him or her?
If yes, then why is it built?

And why do humans have this tendency of bonding more than any other species? Why the 'tera mera saath rahe' concept... why the 'saat janmon ka bandhan'? Was it a massive attempt by our ancestors just to keep the race together?
or is it actually inbuilt in our genes to live and let live??

I agree there will be exceptions always.. there will be terrorists who dont care .. there will be rebellious kids who dont think the way their last generation thought.
But in the end, peace will prevail.
Why?

Why do the most stable relationships have the maximum number of conflicts? I feel its the nature's way of ensuring that the spark is always there.. that it doesnt die because of mundaneness of life.
All the mature dads and moms say... jahan ladayi hoti hai.. wahin pyaar sabse zyaada hota hai...
I dont think they have formed this opinion about the relations.. they have learnt it from the nature.

Just my opinion though...

I have digressed a lot from the topic.. but then you see there is a connect between each of these legs...

The Sachin factor... for and against.. this had to do with emotional attachment that we developed with him over the years.. more importantly the formative years.. and on the contrary.. the other guys saw something they did not like about him and have carried on with that sentiment. He would have proved them wrong a zillion times with his bat.. but that few things that 'the other guys' saw in their childhood.. for whatever reasons.. will be hard to erase.
Same case with us.

Now how is this case linked to the next case about human relationships and making peace?
The atmosphere was charged up... the groups were divided and equally vociferous.. infact i should say voci'ferocious'.
People giving their own arguments.. getting pissed off and pissing people off.
But finally what happens? Nature takes over... calms things down... makes you realize how small you are and these things are in the 'larger scheme of things'.
And suddenly it dawns on you that what you have been doing might have been stupid.. i mean its good for passing time.. but its still stupid in the 'larger scheme of things'.
So what do we do next? As an automatic process without anyone making a genuine attempt.. out of nowhere comes out an olive branch in the form of a smile or a sentence which calms everyone down.

I might be hallucinating.. but I am intrigued by the ways of nature.. if at all what i am hypothesizing is true.
So much for the human brain and we still fight over things like Telangana.

The man, the legend, a living one

I thought I wouldn’t write this at this unearthly hour. Its 1:30 AM. But I would lie to myself if I thought I could sleep without putting my words in writing. The match refuses to get out of my mind.

Home sweet home,
1:30 AM,
technically 6th November.

Me, Abhishek, Alankar and Sankar set out from office in the afternoon. We were disappointed with India’s bowling effort which cost us 350 runs.
We thought we would watch Sehwag blasting the bowlers and leave the stadium once Sachin got out.
But boy, God(the real God) proves everytime and rightly so that we humans are just dust. We have no idea about whats gonna happen the next second, and we start planning big things like we have taken over from him.
What awaited us was not thought about by the billion minds in India and the paltry number of minds that exist down under.

If ever there was total hysteria, if ever there was utopia, if ever heaven existed then it was here, here in my city, here in Hyderabad.
The 5 feet 5 inch man came close to the real God when he started waving his magic wand. The wand which earlier was a MRF and now is an Adidas.
But if it were just for the 2 companies, then it wouldn’t have created 31,000 runs. The man has magical skull deep under which exists a brain that is unfathomable by human intelligence.
The brain that can bamboozle Ricky Ponting in sleep mode, the brain that can traumatize the number 1 team in the world, the brain that can make a daunting 350 look like a college team score.
The brain that is the lifeline of a billion hearts.
Yes ladies and gentlemen, he is still the man India looks upto.

Two decades after he rose to dizzying heights, he is still climbing up the stairs. If ever there were a CRR for him, he would blow the CRR meter. 1+ is pittance.

The crowd of 60,000 was a puppet in his hands. When a catch is taken by him, the crowd billows like they have triumphed over an alien planet. When he waves back in reciprocation, they miss a heartbeat.

To any person watching it on TV, I would sound pompous, I would sound like an idiot who is writing peans in his name.
But to me, it was the one of most memorable evenings ever. I have never seen a cricket match more exciting, I have never seen an innings more flawless.

Critics don’t deserve a mention, so I am sparing myself the pain. Chuck the critics.
He remains unparalleled after 20 years.
This man still commands the country.

After the match ceremony was over, he was the last cricketer leaving the field. I had been cheering for him and India all through the day. My throat was sore, my eyes tired and my heart disappointed. But one last time, I pulled in enough air in my lungs and yelled
”Love you Sachin”.

He might or might not have heard me, but the feeling of contentment I had at the risk of sounding gay is everything to me.

Cricket is his life, but he has grown too big for it.
He made my day, he made India’s day.
That man, Sachin Tendulkar, is still the one.

- An absolutely awe struck fan of 20 years who was witness to his 186 and 175 at Hyderabad.

PS : The loss India suffered disappointed me, but I take heart that my country tried and tried so hard that it beat the daylights out of Ricky Ponting.