Life has been EXTREMELY busy this last month. I promise to be more regular on my blog in the forthcoming year.
And with that, I draw a close to a personally very-eventful 2008.
Welcome 2009 !!
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY !!!! :)
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Have a rocking 2009
Life has been EXTREMELY busy this last month. I promise to be more regular on my blog in the forthcoming year.
And with that, I draw a close to a personally very-eventful 2008.
Welcome 2009 !!
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY !!!! :)
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Boys will be boys
After a late lunch (5 o' clock in the evening) yesterday which consisted of a samosa, a masala dosa and a sandesh (dude, I'm in Bengal... sweet is a part of every meal), I really wasn't very hungry at dinner time. So, I was more than glad to take up Horse's suggestion to go to Ordnance Club for a drink and snacks.
Over a couple of beers and a few plates of dal pakora (me) and chilly chicken (him) and a club sandwich (both), we lounged out at the bar and watched the highlights of India's epic victory over England at Chennai yesterday. Personally, this match to me seems a watershed in Indian cricket history. The authority and clinical approach with which India did this echoes what Sehwag said after the match about "this team believes it can achieve anything".
I told Horse that this was a perfect evening. Work till late and then hit the local watering hole for a couple of beers and watch a brilliant test match unfold on the telly. Life could barely get better on one of the "regular" days.
Horse laughed. And said, "I agree but I must say, this reminds me of that ad which went: BOYS WILL BE BOYS".
Over a couple of beers and a few plates of dal pakora (me) and chilly chicken (him) and a club sandwich (both), we lounged out at the bar and watched the highlights of India's epic victory over England at Chennai yesterday. Personally, this match to me seems a watershed in Indian cricket history. The authority and clinical approach with which India did this echoes what Sehwag said after the match about "this team believes it can achieve anything".
I told Horse that this was a perfect evening. Work till late and then hit the local watering hole for a couple of beers and watch a brilliant test match unfold on the telly. Life could barely get better on one of the "regular" days.
Horse laughed. And said, "I agree but I must say, this reminds me of that ad which went: BOYS WILL BE BOYS".
Monday, December 15, 2008
The case of the missing cell phone
The last week was action-packed with a promise that the next week is gonna be even MORE action-packed. Let's see how things pan out.
Couple of interesting things about last week:
1. My laptop was with Bulla, he needed to work urgently on some stuff.
2. I worked, I worked and I worked some more. ~grins~ I can work under pressure.
3. My phone got stolen.
:(
Now, that's the real sad part. I was travelling in a bus back home at the end of a long day, only to realise once I reached my destination that my phone was missing. I'll have to buy a new phone tomorrow and will be getting my old number back by tomorrow evening. Folks, do please message me your number by tomorrow evening.
Couple of interesting things about last week:
1. My laptop was with Bulla, he needed to work urgently on some stuff.
2. I worked, I worked and I worked some more. ~grins~ I can work under pressure.
3. My phone got stolen.
:(
Now, that's the real sad part. I was travelling in a bus back home at the end of a long day, only to realise once I reached my destination that my phone was missing. I'll have to buy a new phone tomorrow and will be getting my old number back by tomorrow evening. Folks, do please message me your number by tomorrow evening.
Monday, December 08, 2008
Blogathon 1: Part 4
Well, I promised you a lazy day and it was one. With Mom and Dad away from home and friends out with their respective better halves, I had the Sunday all to myself. I must congratulate myself for I spent it well... I slept through most of the day.
Bulla called up in the evening and we decided to go out for dinner. Before dinner, however, inspiration struck us and we decided to go to the Gurudwara to which we used to go to as college-kids a couple of years ago. Must say, visiting a holy place lifted me up entirely after the extremely lazy day I was trying to shrug off.
Dinner was brilliant!! Makki ki roti and sarson ka saag at Balwant Singh's dhaba. It has been quite a while since I had enjoyed this amazing combination and the onset of winter was just the perfect time to get back into the rhythm of things.
Dinner was followed by "Maharathi".
My two-bits about the film:
* I thought I'd placed my bets on another dud after "Oh, My God" when I realised there were only 6 people at the evening show for this film
* Within 5 minutes of the beginning of the film, I knew that my doubts were unfounded
* Naseeruddin Shah in his limited role is damn good
* Paresh Rawal was also very good. However, I did feel that he was too old for the role. Perhaps, as suggested by Bulla, Neil Nitin Mukesh would've been a better choice. In fact, if this had been his follow-up film to the successful caper "Johnny Gaddar", he would almost be bracketed in the league of actors who do good crime/caper films.
However, I doubt whether Neil would have done as good job at the comic bits as Rawal.
* Neha Dhupia does exactly what was expected of her: look stunningly HOT. Period.
* The movie is AWESOME. It has a chilling note to it ever since we step inside the world of Jaichand Adenwalla (Naseeruddin Shah), a successful movie-producer of yesteryears who is now out of luck and, by his confession, has more whisky than blood in his veins. Subhash (Rawal) is a petty thief who gets employment at his house as a driver. Mallika (Dhupia), Adenwalla's wife, would love to see her husband dead 'coz that would mean a bounty of 24 crores of insurance money. Adenwalla, however, tells her that he's instructed the insurance company not to pay a penny to anybody if he commits suicide. And, to throw spanner into her works, Adenwalla promptly points the gun at himself and goes 'BANG'.
How Mallika must utilise the wit and resourcefulness of Subhash so as not to arouse the suspicions of the family lawyer (Boman Irani), the ACP chief (Om Puri) and the house-nurse (Tara Sharma) forms the rest of the plot.
The execution is almost Hitchcockian in nature. All in all, this is the second movie after Johnny Gaddar which deserves to be called a good Hindi suspense thriller in recent years. Two thumbs-up.
And with that, ladies and gentlemen, my first blogathon ends. Not many posts during the course of the weekend but it has been fun. Cheerio, folks. Have an awesome week ahead.
Bulla called up in the evening and we decided to go out for dinner. Before dinner, however, inspiration struck us and we decided to go to the Gurudwara to which we used to go to as college-kids a couple of years ago. Must say, visiting a holy place lifted me up entirely after the extremely lazy day I was trying to shrug off.
Dinner was brilliant!! Makki ki roti and sarson ka saag at Balwant Singh's dhaba. It has been quite a while since I had enjoyed this amazing combination and the onset of winter was just the perfect time to get back into the rhythm of things.
Dinner was followed by "Maharathi".
My two-bits about the film:
* I thought I'd placed my bets on another dud after "Oh, My God" when I realised there were only 6 people at the evening show for this film
* Within 5 minutes of the beginning of the film, I knew that my doubts were unfounded
* Naseeruddin Shah in his limited role is damn good
* Paresh Rawal was also very good. However, I did feel that he was too old for the role. Perhaps, as suggested by Bulla, Neil Nitin Mukesh would've been a better choice. In fact, if this had been his follow-up film to the successful caper "Johnny Gaddar", he would almost be bracketed in the league of actors who do good crime/caper films.
However, I doubt whether Neil would have done as good job at the comic bits as Rawal.
* Neha Dhupia does exactly what was expected of her: look stunningly HOT. Period.
* The movie is AWESOME. It has a chilling note to it ever since we step inside the world of Jaichand Adenwalla (Naseeruddin Shah), a successful movie-producer of yesteryears who is now out of luck and, by his confession, has more whisky than blood in his veins. Subhash (Rawal) is a petty thief who gets employment at his house as a driver. Mallika (Dhupia), Adenwalla's wife, would love to see her husband dead 'coz that would mean a bounty of 24 crores of insurance money. Adenwalla, however, tells her that he's instructed the insurance company not to pay a penny to anybody if he commits suicide. And, to throw spanner into her works, Adenwalla promptly points the gun at himself and goes 'BANG'.
How Mallika must utilise the wit and resourcefulness of Subhash so as not to arouse the suspicions of the family lawyer (Boman Irani), the ACP chief (Om Puri) and the house-nurse (Tara Sharma) forms the rest of the plot.
The execution is almost Hitchcockian in nature. All in all, this is the second movie after Johnny Gaddar which deserves to be called a good Hindi suspense thriller in recent years. Two thumbs-up.
And with that, ladies and gentlemen, my first blogathon ends. Not many posts during the course of the weekend but it has been fun. Cheerio, folks. Have an awesome week ahead.
Sunday, December 07, 2008
Blogathon 1: Part 3
Good morning !!!
Very very lazy morning and afternoon in prospect here.
Got a phone call at 7:30 in the morning. It was a member of Dad's office staff who has been with us for more than two decades now. He called to ask if I was ok and having my lunch and dinner on time since my parents have left for Mumbai. I said I was fine and thanked him for his concern and hit the bed again. I usually keep tossing and turning around if my sleep is broken mid-way, but today was an exception. I dozed off right away and did not wake up till 8:30 when the maid servant rang the door-bell. I must have been dead tired.
All thoughts of catching a morning show of 'Maharathi' have disappeared as of now. I think I'll just read the e-book which I've been pursuing for the last couple of days. See ya. :)
Very very lazy morning and afternoon in prospect here.
Got a phone call at 7:30 in the morning. It was a member of Dad's office staff who has been with us for more than two decades now. He called to ask if I was ok and having my lunch and dinner on time since my parents have left for Mumbai. I said I was fine and thanked him for his concern and hit the bed again. I usually keep tossing and turning around if my sleep is broken mid-way, but today was an exception. I dozed off right away and did not wake up till 8:30 when the maid servant rang the door-bell. I must have been dead tired.
All thoughts of catching a morning show of 'Maharathi' have disappeared as of now. I think I'll just read the e-book which I've been pursuing for the last couple of days. See ya. :)
Saturday, December 06, 2008
Blogathon 1: Part 2
Oh My God !!! (literally)
I got my day off relatively early today. Grabbing the opportunity, me and Bulla went off to watch the 8:50 PM show of 'Oh, My God'.
The movie wasn't quite what I expected. I walked into the cinema hall thinking I was about to enjoy a light-hearted comedy about the common man and how Saurabh Shukla (playing God) messes up the said common man's humdrum existence. However, the distinct feeling I got at the end of the film was that the director was confused about whether he wanted to direct a comedy or a preachy-emotional tale.
The first casualty of this error is Vinay Pathak's performance. At times he is funny and at times he is dead-serious with the overall effect that he seems weird. Rarely does it happen that another actor steals a scene when sharing screen-space with Pathak. In this film, however, Saurabh Shukla's performance lights up, albeit in bits and pieces. I thought Divya Dutta, as the faithful wife, was wasted in the film.
The editing is frayed at best and there are glaringly bad examples towards what I guess the director wished to be the climax of the film. The music is good in parts but nothing as dazzling as what we saw in 'Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!' or 'Khosla Ka Ghosla'.
Overall, avoid this film. Let's hope I have better luck with 'Maharathi' tomorrow.
Blogathon 1: Part 1
Hmm. I'm in the mood for my first Blogathon (taking a leaf out of Rashmi Bansal's blog).
The idea is to
* post as often as the desire to do so pops up in my head
* post raw and uncut, without too much polishing up
* post even about things which might be relatively insignificant (waise bhi, what else do you expect when a post is labelled 'random musings')
So, here goes....
I was reading about Plato's 'Parable of the Cave' today morning.
From Wikipedia:
During the course of the morning, my thoughts wandered a bit. I realised that it can be argued that a human being is a sum-total of thoughts and ideas. What he / she experiences during the years of their lives just adds to the bank of ideas floating in their head. Hence, each one of us is nothing more but a vessel of ideas. The body is just an instrument which carries out experiments through daily living which enriches our 'idea-bank'.
PS 1: This is just a train of thought which ran through the mind of a 26 year old sales executive who had nothing better to think about during a taxi ride. (Nobody dare bring up 'Taare Zameen Par' here.)
PS 2: Shouldn't the theory of an 'idea-bank' also be applicable to animals, since they too experience, learn and adapt (although at a much slower pace)? Hmm...
The idea is to
* post as often as the desire to do so pops up in my head
* post raw and uncut, without too much polishing up
* post even about things which might be relatively insignificant (waise bhi, what else do you expect when a post is labelled 'random musings')
So, here goes....
I was reading about Plato's 'Parable of the Cave' today morning.
From Wikipedia:
Plato imagines a group of people who have lived chained in a cave all of their lives, facing a blank wall. The people watch shadows projected on the wall by things passing in front of the cave entrance, and begin to ascribe forms to these shadows. According to Plato, the shadows are as close as the prisoners get to seeing reality. He then explains how the philosopher is like a prisoner who is freed from the cave and comes to understand that the shadows on the wall are not constitutive of reality at all, as he can perceive the true form of reality rather than the mere shadows seen by the prisoners.
During the course of the morning, my thoughts wandered a bit. I realised that it can be argued that a human being is a sum-total of thoughts and ideas. What he / she experiences during the years of their lives just adds to the bank of ideas floating in their head. Hence, each one of us is nothing more but a vessel of ideas. The body is just an instrument which carries out experiments through daily living which enriches our 'idea-bank'.
PS 1: This is just a train of thought which ran through the mind of a 26 year old sales executive who had nothing better to think about during a taxi ride. (Nobody dare bring up 'Taare Zameen Par' here.)
PS 2: Shouldn't the theory of an 'idea-bank' also be applicable to animals, since they too experience, learn and adapt (although at a much slower pace)? Hmm...
Weekend # 49
Four weeks away from New Year's. Just a scribble before I leave for office.
Mom and Dad have gone to Mumbai. The train bogey that they were travelling in had barely 6 passengers in it. Many last minute cancellations owing to the Mumbai terror attacks.
Life has become extremely busy of late. Owing to the nature of work, I keep shuffling across the city. Nice work, but since the business unit that I'm a part of is almost as good as a new business venture entirely, it takes all that extra effort and more at the initial stages.
Chalo, off to work. Hope to catch up on some movies over the weekend. On the hitlist:
a. The President is Coming (has it been released in Cal yet?)
b. Oh My God!
c. Maharathi
Mom and Dad have gone to Mumbai. The train bogey that they were travelling in had barely 6 passengers in it. Many last minute cancellations owing to the Mumbai terror attacks.
Life has become extremely busy of late. Owing to the nature of work, I keep shuffling across the city. Nice work, but since the business unit that I'm a part of is almost as good as a new business venture entirely, it takes all that extra effort and more at the initial stages.
Chalo, off to work. Hope to catch up on some movies over the weekend. On the hitlist:
a. The President is Coming (has it been released in Cal yet?)
b. Oh My God!
c. Maharathi
Thursday, December 04, 2008
T-shirt Idea #3
Spotted a guy in the Kolkata Metro wearing a shirt.
The front side read:
WOMEN ARE PERFECT
The back of the shirt read:
I AM A LIAR
The front side read:
WOMEN ARE PERFECT
The back of the shirt read:
I AM A LIAR
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
Oye Lucky-aa....itthe aa
* It is a GOOD movie
* It isn't as good as Dibakar Bannerjee's debut-vehicle "Khosla Ka Ghosla"
* But it is still good enough to be seen
* Those who have stayed in / visited Delhi are in for a treat
* The soundtrack of this movie is brilliant (special mention must be made of the rap portions in the song "Superchor")
* After "Manorama Six Feet Under" and now "OLLO", I'm now absolutely convinced that Abhay Deol has talent... lots of it
* I thought Paresh Rawal in a triple role was a bit too much
* 'Bangaali', Lucky's sidekick, has some awesome lines in the film
* The Sardar who played the young Lucky was a surprisingly good actor
* Remember what I said about Vinay Pathak? Add Abhay Deol to that list.
* Go watch this film if you like the zara-hatke kinda movies...
Monday, December 01, 2008
Anger over Mumbai
I'm at a channel partner's office and free for a little while.
Although I hate the format in which posts from my mobile appear on the
blog, I cannot overcome the temptation to post something RIGHT NOW.
Obviously, the events in Mumbai have left everybody shocked. No words
can express the anger one feels; against the terrorists, against the
Govt. for its impotency and against sensationalist media personnel
whose use of words to cash in on the tragedy is downright shameful and
dirty.
Although I hate the format in which posts from my mobile appear on the
blog, I cannot overcome the temptation to post something RIGHT NOW.
Obviously, the events in Mumbai have left everybody shocked. No words
can express the anger one feels; against the terrorists, against the
Govt. for its impotency and against sensationalist media personnel
whose use of words to cash in on the tragedy is downright shameful and
dirty.
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