Monday, November 28, 2005

Sehar - Review

During the weekend, I happened to watch two movies – Sehar and Yahaan. Watched the DVD of Sehar, while Yahaan was aired on Sahara One. I had always wanted to watch these two movies right from the time I heard about their release. Unfortunately these movies were never released in Chennai, and I had to be content with the reviews from my friends in Bangalore and Mumbai that these movies were really good.

Both the movies have a simple, but realistic storyline. A strong message at the end, and a sincere effort from every individual related to the movie.

Spoiler Warning: Ending of the movie, alongwith major sub-plots discussed below.

Sehar, which means dawn in Urdu boasts of a superb storyline and excellent performances from Arshad Warsi, Pankaj Kapur, Sushant Singh, Suhasini Malay and Mahima Chaudhary. Its directed by Kabeer Kaushik, who has also penned the story. I was amazed at the richness of Hindi which the actors spoke in the movie.

The story set in the backdrops of the upcoming organized crimes in UP during the late 90’s and the attempts made by a sincere police officer to curb it. Arshad Warsi plays SSP Ajay Singh, whose father commits suicide when he was young over accusations of deserting the army due to cowardice. This incident plays a major role in Ajay’s life as he is determined to become a righteous and fearless police officer and to remove corruption and crime out of the society.

His work ethics results in a number of transfers in a year, and he lands up in Lucknow. Lucknow is the breeding ground of crime and corruption. Railway contract related corruption is at its peak. A new entrant in the field, Gajraj Singh (played by Sushant Singh) wants to claim absolute power in the crime world.

Initially the police remain mute spectators as Gajraj kills all his opponents in the crime world, since he is wiping out people who have been wanted in many police cases, but have been avoiding arrests. Things starts to turn sour when Gajraj shows signs of being linked to ISI and expand his business from Railway contracts to real estate and politics.

Gajraj’s mode of communication is mobile phones, which were recently introduced in the country. The local police are unable to trace the calls and obtain information regarding Gajraj’s operations. They enlist a professor (played by Pankaj Kapoor) from the local college, who is an expert in telecommunications, to track the criminals.

Unable to enlist the local police for operations against Gajraj - since the information is leaked to Gajraj who easily escapes from the police - the UP police constitutes a Special Task Force, under the leadership of Ajay. These police personnel have special privileges, which helps them in tracking Gajraj and a majority of organized crime in UP.

The end is what made me love this movie. Ajay goes down trying to capture Gajraj. All the police men who were part of the STF are killed, while on the other side all of Gajraj’s men are killed and he is wounded, but alive. Pankaj Kapur, who had a distaste for firearms and violence, and who was a mute spectator to all the killing of his team members, takes up the pistol and shoots Gajraj.

The facial expression of Pankaj Kapur, the anger, the fear of using the pistol is excellent. In his anger, he pumps 2 cartridges into Gajraj.

Mahima as Ajay’s love interest does not have a big role, but she looks very beautiful in her sarees and sleeveless blouses. The song “Palkein Jhukaao Na” was brilliant and you keep humming the tune even after the movie is over.

Suhasini Malay as Ajay’s mother is also good. Her fears for her son’s safety, her agony over her husband’s suicide and being branded a coward are very well captured in her actions.

A final word about Arshad Warsi – he is an amazing actor, who has been unlucky not to have got a lucky break. His performances in serious roles are as good as his performances in comic roles.

Its disappointing that good movies like these have not performed well in the box office. If movies like these are not encouraged, then there may be a dearth of good cinema and story in the near future.

Saturday, November 26, 2005

Last Week - Khushboo, Maniappan, Manjunath and The MIB

There was a time not so long ago, when I used to make 2-3 posts in a day in my blog. Over the past two weeks, the frequency has reduced drastically. The main reasons being that I have been put into a new role in my job. Also I have a feeling that the initial honeymoon period with my blog seems to have ended.

There was a time, when after every incident in my life, I would be wondering how to put it in my blog. As soon as something interesting happened, I would start to record the incident in words – in my mind – and make a blog out of it. I am beginning to sense that I am not doing that anymore; lets see how long my blogging habit continues.

After the Aurangabad trip, there were many things that I wanted to blog about. If I had been my usual self, I would have made a post out of every topic. I am in no mood for that, so am planning to put all the topics into a single post.

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Premarital sex - A few weeks back, there was this issue regarding a comment by Tamil cine actress Khushboo regarding premarital sex. During an interview, she commented that in the present days, when girls attain maturity at an early age, men should not expect their wives to be virgins when they marry them. She also added that youngsters should take proper precaution while indulging in any premarital activity to curb the spread of AIDS.

She was absolutely spot-on about the topic, and had she made the comment in any place other than Tamilnadu, her statements would have been welcomed and many AIDS awareness organizations would have lauded it, but she made the mistake of saying this in Chennai, where politics play a major role in any walk of life.

As soon as Khushboo made the comment, a number of political parties seized the opportunity to pounce on her. They said that the comment was against their “tradition”, they said that her comments has hurt the “sentiments” of many people. They even filed a case against her.

Khushboo found support and solace in Suhasini – Mani Rathnam’s wife and a famous actress - , Sania Mirza and Narain Karthikeyan. The attackers did not spare them too. Suhasini was made to publicly apologize for supporting Khushboo and Sania was told that if she was in support of premarital sex, then she would have to renounce Islam, since in Islam premarital sex is forbidden.

In a country where the numbers of rape cases never seem to drop, where a girl is teased sexually at the drop of a hat, I cannot understand why they need to make such a hullabaloo about this comment. According to me, such a row over the comment has happened since the comment has come from a female and also there are many political parties which are silently waiting for issues to crop up so that they can gain the maximum political mileage.

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Maniappan Ramakutty - the lone son of a couple who worked in a coir mill throughout their lives. He joined Border Roads Organization (BRO) and after his parents were not able to work anymore, he became the sole bread earned of the family. After marriage, his family included his wife and two young children.

He was committed to the welfare of him family and wanted to give his children the best of care, so when an offer came to work in Afghanistan, he took it with both hands, because overseas assignments offered better monetary returns. He was supposed to have come to Kerala to meet his family on Nob 8th, but due to the new assignment he could not make it.

He had promised to be back as soon as the assignment was completed. Little did he know that the promise was never going to be kept. Last week he was abducted by the Taliban militia, and for his safe return they wanted BRO to cease all activities in Afghanistan and return in two days time.

The government machinery was slow to react. In India, there was a confusion as to who was kidnapped, and by the time things became clear, Taliban issued a statement saying that the Indian was shot dead after the deadline set by them.

Even when Maniappan’s body was found in the road side, the Indian Embassy in Kabul said that they had not received any communication regarding the demand or the deadline. But at the end of the day, an innocent life was lost; and along with the life a number of dreams and happy moments for his family members became non-existent.

The country gave Maniappan’s body a hero’s welcome, the kind of welcome given to Kargil martyrs. His body was cremated with full state honors. Both the state and the center have promised to take care of the family, so that some of their pains are eased.

My heart goes out to Maniappan’s family – for the parents who lost their only son, for the wife who has lost her loving husband, for the 9 year old Akshay, who at such a young age lit his father’s pyre and his three year old brother, who would have not understood the gravity of the situation.

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Manjunath An IIML passout, who dreamed to work with PSU’s, who wanted to make a change in the way PSU’s function, to make it more transparent and rid it of corruption that plagued every department and person, had to pay with his life for his endeavor.

Manjunath, a manager at Indian Oil Corporation and a native of Karnataka, was posted in UP. He found that a petrol station was selling adulterated fuel, his efforts to close the petrol station cost him his life.

The owner of the petrol pump, whose station was closed down for more than 2 months, had five bullets pumped into the chest of Manjunath, killing the honest officer who was performing his duty on the spot.

In India, you may have to pay with your life if you are planning to live a righteous life. I hope the long arm of the law catches up with the perpetrators and awards them the capital punishment. But then, this is India, there are so many criminals scouting freely. I hope this case does not have a similar fate.

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Men In Blue The performance of the Indian cricket team during the series against Sri Lanka came as a revelation to many, including myself. I have always been a supporter of Dravid, a huge fan of his game, his calmness and according to me he is the real backbone of the Indian cricket. Sachin, Sehwag and Ganguly are great cricketers, but they are not the Indian backbone.

Dravid has given so much for the team. Always performed when the team required him to, donned the additional role of a wicket keeper, knowing fully well that it would add to his pressure and fatigue, but still he has performed, always coming out as a true sportsman.

I can never forget the way he celebrated his century in the Eden gardens, against the Aussies, when we were asked to follow on. The press and the media were going for his throat, since he had been going through a bad patch. Instead of talking back, like Ganguly, he chose to let his bat do all the talking, and he did talk in style. Never has the media or the press criticized his commitment and capability since that performance.

Currently, Dravid is doing a great job as the captain of the young Indian team. He is gelling well with the coach, and brining in a new enthusiasm amongst the players as well as the fans of the Indian cricket. Alas, the calm might not last long.

Politics play a huge role in cricket team selection as well. Ganguly was dropped after it was certain that he could not gel with the coach. Ganguly had always been aggressive and arrogant and had earned the ire of many people during his peak time. Now, when the people have got a chance to nail him, they are seeing to it that they are nailing him nice and hard.

With the current performance against the South Africans not going as predicted, and the coach continuing to experiment which has started to raise a few eye brows, it might not be a smooth going for Dravid.

Ganguly’s selection in the test team is based solely on politics, since it was impossible to hold a match in Eden gardens, if Ganguly has not been selected. The crowd would have made sure that not even a single delivery was thrown down during the match.

I don’t know for how long the regional politics will continue to mar our cricket. I feel the BCCI should do away with regional selectors, who try every trick to include as many cricketers as possible from their region in the national team.

A single selection committee for regional matches would ensure that only the best would get into the Indian national cricket team and that would definitely do a world of good both for the team as well as the millions of fans who pray and cheer for every Indian victory.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Aurangabad Trip

I had planned to leave early from my office, since I had to pack my clothes, have dinner and then reach the bus stand by 10pm for the 10:30pm bus. Since things never go as planned, work caught me in office till 8:15pm and I had to rush home, pack things in a hurry and decided to skip dinner. I left home at 9:30 and reached the bus stand at 10pm, and had my dinner there. Two packets of biscuits and a bottle of mineral water!!!

The bus left at 10:10pm, and since it took the Chitoor route, the bus dropped me at the Majestic Bus stand at 5am. Reached home at 5:30am, and was ready for my next travel by 11:30am. Ganesh came to my house, and we both left in an auto to Majestic. Caught up with Sujay and Rachitha there.

The next trip was to Pune, and we boarded a Volvo bound to Shirdi. The bus started at 1pm sharp, and it was scheduled to reach Pune the next day at 5am. It would be my first long journey by bus. I have never traveled in a bus for more than 8 hours.

The journey was good. We stopped at places for lunch, tea and dinner and two movies were played on the way. Bardasht starring Bobby Deol & Lara Dutta and Hera Pheri starring Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty and Paresh Rawal. The dinner was way too oily to be suited to have while one is on the move, and I was awoken at night with a pain in my stomach. There was nothing I could do, other than turn around, change my posture and sleep.

The bus dropped us at Pune by 5am, and we had to travel to another bus stand by auto. There we caught a rickety old bus, a Maharashtra state bus and started the next leg of our journey, which would take us to Aurangabad. The bus started at 5:30am and there were regular stops in the between – the bus was an ordinary bus, with loads of stops. The driver even stopped for breakfast, but the place was so dirty that we decided to skip it. We had guava, Kurkure and tea instead.

We reached Aurangabad by 10:30am and headed to the hotel, where our stay was booked. We were joined there by two more of our friends, Priya and Debanjana. Aditya came to meet us in the hotel, with his newly wed wife. They are a handsome couple.

We had lunch at the hotel, and decided not to waste the 5 hours, sleeping. So we enquired with the hotel, and decided to visit Biwi-Ka-Makbara. It was a tomb, built in the model of The Taj Mahal, by Aurangazeb’s son, during the 1600’s, in memory of his mother. Aurangabad itself is named after the Mugal emperor, Aurangazeb.

The reception started at 7pm, and all of us were in the best of our dresses. I preferred to wear jeans and a shirt, since I expected it to be cold since the venue was the rooftop of the hotel where we were put up.

The party went off well, and we had to rush to the railway station after the party to start our return journeys. I had a bout of wheezing when we arrived at the station. It was due to the coconut oil that I had applied on my hair before I took bath at Aurangabad. I am allergic to it, but since I had not had wheezing for a long time, I thought it was safe for me to use it, but I was wrong.

I was finding it difficult to breath, and it was not until Ganesh insisted me to take a few puffs from the inhaler, that I was able to breath and talk normally. There were not other unwanted incidents during our journey to Mumbai. The train left Aurangabad at 11:45pm and reached Mumbai in the morning at 7:30. Due to the onset of winter, it was cold in the train, luckily I was carrying my sweater and a shawl, which kept me warm throughout the journey.

Ganesh and I got down at Dadar, and caught a local train to Ville Parle. From there were reached the airport in an auto. We refreshed ourselves in the airport bathrooms and started our wait for the plane.

The wait in Mumbai’s Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport (Strangely, the domestic airport is called by this name), is never boring. So many people around you, well dressed; and I love to watch people (preferably girls). The people whom I saw there and who are worth mentioning here are Arbaz Khan, Pooja Batra and a chick in a micro mini skirt.

The plane was late by an hour and a half, and we took off from Mumbai airport at 1pm. It was the first time I was flying by Air Deccan, and it was also the first time I was flying with my own money, so this one was special. Air Deccan is a no-frills flight, so you need to buy things. It had been a long time since we had breakfast in the airport, and we were feeling hungry, we ordered a veg sandwich and an orange juice for 80 bucks!!! But when someone is taking you from Mumbai to Bangalore, for 2000 bucks in an hour and 10 minutes, who is complaining???

The plane reached Bangalore by 2:30pm and I reached home by 3:15pm. Spent the rest of the time taking about the trip to mom and dad. The final leg of the journey started at 10:45pm. This time it was by train, and I reached Chennai in the morning at 5am.

It was raining cats and dogs, and I had to catch an auto to reach home. The autos in Chennai have a merry time, when its raining, had to shell out 100 bucks to reach home.

At the end, it was quiet a hectic tour. Over 3 days and 4 nights, I traveled more than 3200kms; used various modes of transportation and had a gala time with my friends. Need to take such breaks from office once or twice in a year.

The next marriage in our group is on 30th April, 2006. Lets see how things turn up then.

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Citroen C4 - Awesome Ad

I got this ad as a forward, while I was in my second year of post graduation. The background music, the idea caught on with me. I had stored it in my computer in the college as well as in the hostel, and used to view it every hour or so.

The ad starts with the skyscrapers of Vancouver in the backdrop. There is a Citroen C4 parked in an empty open parking lot. Suddenly, the car is transformed into a robot and starts dancing to the background music.




At the end of the commercial, the robot turns back into the car, and a voice over says, “Citroen C4 – Alive with technology.” The caption goes so very well with the ad.

The background music is ultimate and the dance is fabulous. You need to download and view the ad to understand what I have written here. The commercial is available for download in the UK site of Citroen. (Click on the "Download the TV Ad" button)

Don’t forget to turn up the volume!!!

Monday, November 14, 2005

Rains, Founder's Day, PAN and Weekend Plans

After nearly two weeks of rains, the rain god seems to have had enough of Chennai. Its not rained for two days, but the climate is terrific – Cloudy, with a slight breeze – reminds me of Bangalore now and then.

Saturday (12th Nov), my company celebrated its founder’s day. A hall was booked and an entire set of programs were scheduled. I was in-charge of one of the 12 games for the employees and their families. The game was called “Touch-me-not” and it required one to carry a ring through the length of a radio aerial without touching it. The diameter of the ring was quiet small, which made the task quiet difficult.

The game was open to all, i.e. there were no age restrictions. There were 9 games with age restrictions; the game I was handling was one of the 3 which did not have any age bar, so there were a lot of crown right from the beginning.

The time allotted for the games was two hours, and in the first hour and a half, nobody was able to cover the length of the aerial without touching it with the ring. A few of the were complaining that the diameter of the ring was too small for this task, while most of the took it as a challenge and kept visiting my stall again and again to try to complete the task.

With none of the prizes meant for distribution being disturbed, I decided to relax the rules. I reduced the distance to be covered to 2/3rd of the original distance, thereby eliminating the thickest portion of the aerial, making it easy. So in the final half hour, 7 people went out of my stall with prizes.

I left the place after the cultural programs, which mainly comprised of dances and songs, and went with my colleagues to their house and we had a Saturday night party – booze, chicken and good food.

Back in the office on yet another of the dreaded Monday’s.

I finally managed to apply for PAN, which is a necessity for filing IT returns as well a host of investment options. I applied online and send all the required details by post. I am proving to be the king of procrastination. I managed to apply after 5 months!!! Now there is another thing left in the to-do list, to give my bike for service. God knows which I’ll able to do that.

Got my tickets for the long journey I will be making the coming weekend. I am planning to go all the way to Aurangabad, Maharashtra to make it to the reception of one of my close friend – Aditya Samag – who was married recently. I’ll be going to Bangalore, where a few more will join me. We will be proceeding to Pune by bus, and then by taxi/bus to Aurangabad. After the reception on Sunday, we’ll be reaching Mumbai on Monday, and fly to Bangalore. Then catch the night train back to Chennai.

Lot of traveling and I’m looking forward to it.

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Edited on 26-Nov-2005:

I received the PAN from the IT Department yesterday. The online application seems to be the most convenient form of applying for PAN. Form 49A can be filled online and there are three options of making the payment for the processing fee.

Once the form is filled and applied, you need to send the details of cash payment and proof of identity and proof of residence to the processing department within 15 days. I had sent the details after 10 days, but still received the PAN in 20 days time. So effectively it takes 10 days from the date of application to receiving the PAN.

A word of caution - Applying for PAN and not sending the proof and other details within 15 days is a criminal offence. You can be tried in a court of law!!!

Thursday, November 10, 2005

November 9, 2003

It’s been two years since that unfortunate incident in Kudremukh. On Nov 9th 2003, 21 of us from our college, left on bikes to Kudremukh, a beautiful location in the heart of the western Ghats in Chikmangalur district of Karnataka. It was a 90km drive, and all of us were thrilled since we had heard that the final 30kms would be through dense forests.

We left the hostel at 7:30am, hoping to return by 5pm on the same day. But we returned only at 8pm the next day, and there were just 18 of us when we returned.

On the way, there was a calm looking river, where we had stopped. The location was perfect for us to chit-chat and enjoy the place. We did enjoy the first 30 minutes there, the water was just knee high and there were beautiful rocks, beautiful location and the water was crystal clear. We were planning to stay for another hour and then start our return journey, but fate had others things stored for us.

There was one area, which looked a bit deep - the water was dark -, 3 people who knew swimming ventured in and were swimming around. Three more of our friends, who did not know to swim, but knew to stay afloat joined them.

Unknown to them at that time, the place was 18feet deep. There was a sudden increase in the currents, and the 3 who did not swimming were sucked down. The people who knew swimming tried their best to save them, but the other 3 were very well built, which made the task of pulling them out of the waters and getting them ashore, a daunting one.

The trip concluded in the most unexpected way. We lost 3 of our close friends to a moment of carelessness. People like me, who did not know swimming, were mute spectators to the horrific incident. I did what I could do – I took my bike and dashed to the police station. By the time the police and fire force came, it was too late. They were gone, never to return.

The real trauma stuck only when the parents of the three came to collect their bellowed ones. Their reaction, the pain in their faces, their tears, it can never be wiped from my memory.

It was impossible to sit in the class the next day, nobody was listening to the lectures. Three empty chairs glared at us, making us feel that they were still there, waiting for the lecture to get over, head to the canteen and have fun. A lull had descended on the college, the canteen, hostels. It took us a long time to get over it.

We have moved on, completed our education, got our jobs and passed out of the college. There were many who were wondering where those three would have been placed, if they had still been with us. I kept missed them during convocation and every other important event of the college.

Even though we have moved on, it’s not been possible to wipe their memories off our minds, or forget the trauma we underwent or forget the trauma of their parents. There have been numerous occasions when I have thought, “If only we had not made that trip.” I know it’s terribly late to hope for things like that.

The only thing I can do is to pray for their souls and pray for their parents, who would be missing them day and night for the rest of their lives.

This post is dedicated to the memory of three of my friends - Ajit Binny, Jacob Joy and Syamsundar P.

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Immigration Blues

Parminder Singh Pannu, a Canadian resident Indian, is the current victim of Immigration Blues. For the past three years, he has been waging a loosing battle with the Canadian immigration officials in New Delhi to let his second wife join him in Canada.

Singh has been working in Canada for the past 35 years. Three years ago, his first wife died of Breast Cancer, leaving him a widower. His children, knowing how lonely he felt after loosing his wife and meeting with a near fatal accident, cajoled him into getting married again.

Through his family friends, he got to know of a childless divorcee, Ranjit. He met her, got engaged and married her in front of some 150 friends and relatives in Punjab. The troubles started when he applied to the Canadian Immigration Office, to let Ranjit join him in Canada.

Over the three years, the Canadian officials have been repeatedly rejecting Ranjit’s application. The reason – The couple looks too stiff in the marriage photographs to be real married couples.

According to the officials, the Singh and Ranjit do not show the “comfort levels” that is visible in the photographs of married couples. They feel that the couple looks aloof and distant in the photographs.

Mr. Singh has already spent a fortune as legal bills, telephone bills and travel expenses to be in touch with his lady love. He has collected the telephone bills over the years to show that he has been talking to Ranjit. He also has a collection of letters which Ranjit sends him – two letters a week.

The media has finally taken up his story, and The Vancouver Sun has put up the story in its front page. The print edition can be accessed here, while the online edition of the story can be accessed here.

With the Canadian officials believing that the marriage between Singh and Ranjit is a sham to bring Ranjit to Canada, we need to wait and watch, to see of the loving couple would ever be united.

Meanwhile, for all those who are planning to take their spouses along with you to far away lands, please remember to show the desired “comfort levels” in the marriage photographs, and please do not look aloof or distant. It may have disastrous consequences later.

Photo Feature - Chennai Rains
















I got these photos from a friend as a forward. Most of them were taken on 26-27 of October.

Monday, November 07, 2005

More Rains in Chennai

Chennai received 20cms of rain yesterday. This year the gods have been showering the water thirsty metro with copious amounts of rain. Already the city has received excess rainfall for the monsoon season, but it seems that the current rainy spell will continue for another day or two.

The rains have flooded roads and low-lying areas. People from low-lying areas are being shifted to safer areas. The authorities are trying their best to cope up with the nature’s fury. Traffic around the city is moving at a snails pace, and people are suffering a lot of hardship to make it to their offices, but looks like nobody is complaining.

The water authority in Chennai has released reports that the residents of Chennai would be getting corporation water daily for another year, before the reservoirs run dry. This is good news, since getting corporation water for a whole year, everyday, is something unheard of in Chennai. Such a release from the water authority is coming after a gap of 7 years.

With more rains predicted in the next month, looks like more good news for the water scarce metro.

Other than the rains, my life in Chennai is pretty bland. Could not give my bike for service, due to the rains, so I am continuing my acrobatics on roads.

On Saturday, I had non-veg from a hotel and that resulted in another bout of food poisoning. I was down with fever yesterday, my roommate Gokul had a tough time getting food for me due to the rains.

Friday, November 04, 2005

Hurricanes





Source: Triple Eye

My poor bike

For the past two days, every short journey on my bike has been an adventure. Its because my rear brake lever gets jammed if I depress it, and to get it back to the normal position, I am forced to use my leg. So I use my leg to press the brakes, and then when the bike’s speed has reduced, I use my leg to bring the brake lever back to the original position.

This requires considerable amount of concentration, since there are a number of things you need to do at the same time. Release the clutch, turn the accelerator, change the gear, get the rear brake back in position, keep a finger on the front brake – just in case – and look out for other vehicles, humans and animals.

I’ve been enjoying every ride on my bike since then. Yesterday evening, while returning from the office, I decided to stop using my rear brake totally. So I’m using the gears as well as my front brake, which has disks, to reduce my speed or to stop.

God, why have you made me so lazy? Why can’t I go and give my bike for service in the service station which is less than a kilometer from my home?

I’m planning to give my poor bike it’s much needed service tomorrow!!!

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Back in Chennai

I returned back to Chennai after celebrating my Diwali holidays in Bangalore. I had a whale of a time at home during the 4 days. Watched the cricket match on Monday 31st, and I just loved the way Dhoni blasted his highest and record breaking score. Also watched Titanic, which was aired on Star Movies. I just love that movie, and it seems the latest DVD version has been released in the US. It will be released in India sometime in the 2nd week of Nov, hope to get my hands on them soon.

Most of the time was spent in watching TV and sleeping. I was so lazy that I did not even call up friends and try to meet them. Although there were only a few of them in Bangalore, but still I should have called. The reason for this unpardonable behaviour is that I do not have any mode of private transportation in Bangalore – I hate to travel by the town buses!!!

Throughout the day I was not in a good mood. Lot of thoughts running through my mind, loads of confusion, loads to worry about. Lot of things are about to change this month. Hope things go well.

Finally, before I end this post, a word of thanks to all the people who wished me a happy Diwali, and also a speedy recovery from my ailments – Parth, Sushil, Thanu, Danesh, Madhu, Gaurav and Prakash. In fact, my condition improved the moment I boarded the train to Bangalore.