Why 'Family' tv soaps are not good to watch !

I am writing this while I am 'actually' watching: ' Saloni - Saat Pheron ka Safar ' . I think Indian television has got it all wrong. They always depict a person in ideal state - be it villain or the hero (being agnostic to the sex). They must come closer to reality. Indian mass is a very confused lot. Generally they never hate or love other person to the extreme. They are always objective. They love or hate people on issues. It's not like a 'saas' thinking all twenty four hours devising a plan to ruin her 'bahu's' married life.

I can't stop myself from hating this particular moment in the serial - Saloni is the most devoted wife on Indian television. She has stood all tests inflicted on her (by her family members - not surprising, huh). The husband is suffering from a deadly physical ailment (say 'brain tumour
or 'blood cancer' - two most abused diseases on Indian television and cinema - Indian kid knows (right or wrong!) that these can't be cured even before it is born.) Now comes the bummer. Saloni announces based on her trust and devotion that she will leave no stone unturned in winning her husband's life back.

I don't know what will be the fate of poor husband. But I definitely hate this extreme. We love reality shows !

Change... I am waiting.

Rahul Does a Rang De Basanti..

When I watched Rang De Basanti, I felt that the only unrealistic part of the film was the climax where army opens fire on five friends without trying to catch them alive. But yesterday's incident in Mumbai, where Mumbai Police didn't even try to catch the 'Hijacker' Rahul Raj from Bihar; has proved me wrong. From the video footages telecasted on TV, it appears as if Rahul was too scared already and he only fired one or two rounds in the air. Was police scared that the boy would kill the GREAT Raj Thackery.

Police has yet again left many questions unanswered.

damn !

Cricket Again...hilarious article

Ganguly can have his Kolkata mansion, 48 bedrooms in the old family home, 32 cars, many nicknames (Dada, Lord Snooty, Prince of Kolkata, Bengal Tiger, Maharaja), road named after him (Sourav Ganguly Avenue), restaurant chain (Sourav's), odd vegetarian habits (only on Tuesdays and Saturdays), red Mercedes convertibles, billions of rupees, 111 Tests and 7000-odd runs, and record as India's most successful Test captain.

His biggest accomplishment has been getting up the noses of a team which succeeded in getting up the noses of everyone else — Australia.

This is the final paragraph of an Hilarious/awesome/stupid (choose the word after reading it) article published by 'The Age'  - an australian newspaper. But I found the last two lines very very hilarious indeed specially after going through the whole article. ha ha ha....

http://www.theage.com.au/news/sport/cricket/hero-or-villain-ganguly-made-his-mark/2008/10/18/1223750407510.html?page=1

Another article on Sachin Tendulkar... tells you how much 'Australians' respects champions in sports and also gives you an Australian perception (racist) of INDIA (which I think is really rude.)

a snapshot ..

 Indians spend billions of dollars every year trying to lighten their skins. India knows that its film stars have not crossed cultural lines. Booker Prize winners cannot inspire a nation half as well as the sight of a demonstrably brown boy repeatedly cracking feared bowling around.

But is a very interesting read...

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2008/10/16/1223750232341.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

Enjoy the aussi way of telling things :D :D !

Notes From Chinnaswamy

My observations from the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore: (I watched third day's play of first test match between India vs Australia LIVE at the stadium)

Logistics...

0. Getting on the spot tickets for one day of a test match in Bangalore even on a weekend was not at all difficult. You only need to reach stadium two and a half hours earlier and stand in a queue. Everything else flows smoothly.

1. I loved the first sight of the ground. Such a beauty! But my idea of cricket grounds was hit big time. C'mon! Even I can hit a four (or a six for that matter) on Chinnaswamy. Ground did not at all seem too big.

2. There was a decent arrangement of chairs in the stand. Refreshments were available just outside the stand on a little highr than normal price. Whole stadium is covered for spectators so one need not carry an umbrella even if ones' Yahoo! Weather widget predicts thunderstorms.

Now coming to pre-match scenario..

3 . One hour before the start of play, Gary Kirsten arrives into the stadium with MOST of the team members. They divided themselves in two groups and played a rugby-like game (part where players fall over each other- was missing) . Senior players other than Sachin were least bothered to get the ball and score a goal for their team. Dhoni and Bhajji were the most active players. Others were just making up the numbers.

4. Next, all of them formed a circle. Gary took the center and started exercising. Players tried to follow him. But sad part is that they were never in sync even while doing the exercises.

5. A peek into pre-match batting practice time: Sachin (1-2 minutes), Dravid (2-4 minutes), Saurav (5 minutes), Laxman (3-4 minutes), Sehwag (3-4 minutes), Gambhir (5-7 minutes)........HARBHAJAN (15-20 minutes). NOT surprisingly Harbhajan ended up as the highest scorer of the day (with a half century). After all, practice makes a man perfect :D.

Cricket :) ....the game begins...

6. If you are not sitting in the stands right in front of the pitch, you won't be able to guess the line of the delievery :( , which happened with us. You also struggle to notice if somebody gets out.

7. And the worst part is that, they don't show replay for dismissals even on that large electronic screen. They do show replays for a few select delieveries (which don't raise a umpiring error concern) .

8. Harbhajan was definitely the best batsmen on that day. Everybody else struggled more than him. Dravid edged more than ten delieveries and Ganguly was very uncomfotable at crease. Sachin looked good but did not last long.

9. It also drizzled for some time and play was held up. Got bored during the break. But Harbhajan made sure we got the worth of our money. He played some exquisite strokes all around the ground.

summing it up...

10. It was a great experience for a cricket addict such as me. I loved every part of it.

I Love media :D

Just a few months back, when India and Australia were giving each other some really hard time ..media was all over it, debating what does the 'right spirit of game' mean. Most of them came out with the conclusion that they should limit themselves to exchanging prolonged stares and nothing more than that, they should not claim contentious catches etc etc.

Now when India followed the 'ICC Guidelines' ...they were taken aback. They wanted some news. Whole seven hours of play went by and no news of exchange of words ! They also need something for telecasting till next day :P. Few of them came up with stupid headlines which marked their frustration more than anything else.

"From fierce to antiseptic cricket' claimed one news channel.

My Comment to the editor of that headline: Go get a life..dude !

Another Serial Blasts in Delhi !

They are seriously testing our patience ! Another serial blasts in the national capital...and we are still helpless ! Delhi is under attack. We must retaliate. Ruin the culprits. Destroy the unholy neighbour !

Save my India

Protests in Jammu, violence in Kashmir, Floods in Bihar, Land row in Bengal, Communal violence in Orissa......Please save my country from devastation.

Live Your Dream - Rock On!

I usually read movie reviews in TOI. I was already impressed with the four star rating the movie got there. Under the positive frame of mind, I went to watch it yesterday and simply loved it. It's a refreshingly different story for a bollywood flick. Farhan Akhtar's 'Dosti' touch made the movie one of the best in recent times. Farhan Akhtar played each role with perfection be it actor as the lead, singer or pseudo director. Hats off to you man !


First half of the movie builds the story revolving around a music band portraying their happier times. It can be slightly long for those who don't sit there with a positive frame of mind. Otherwise it's a good first half which doesn't loose focus. Second half displaying the story of reunion of the band for their last concert together (as one of them was dying). And their last concert was surely something!! Climax could not have been better. They never lamented over death of their beloved band mate unnecessary as is portrayed in all other hindi flicks. It was one of the best endings of a bollywood flick dealing with an emotional story ever.

Now summarising why I loved the movie:

(1) Absolutely original story at least for bollywood alone.

(2) Wonderful music - the best part of the movie. You will love the magic of the music of 'MAGIK'. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, you are adorable.

(3) Farhan Akhtar is best when handling scripts based on friendship. He is definitely upto the task. Wonderful execution!

(4) I loved the ending. I hope you also will find it different and good.

(5) Farhan Akhtar outclassed even Arjun Rampal in acting department and was equally good at singing too. Kudos to the multi-talented man !

(6) A different way of taking you to flashback. I liked the change.

(7) Movie makes you feel good about bollywood. It gives you a sense that bollywood has come of age.

(8) Movie gives you a wonderful message to live your dreams, always pursue your dreams. So true ! You will definitely relate it with yourself if you didn't pursue yours.

(9) Movie is simply good!

My Ratings: 3.50/5 (deducting 0.50 point because I didn't find the reason for the split of the band too adequate.)

Random Notes

* Pizza hut in Bangalore (Specifically in Koramangala) does not deliver at home when it's raining. Now it's pretty obvious that they are not handling a very common use case. (educate me if it's true worldwide or at least Bangalore-wide).

* India has clinched its first ever ODI series win in sri lanka against sri lanka. Thanks Mahi, Raina and Zaheer for making us proud.

* Living a day from the year 2050, when you don't have water at your home to even go shi*****, is real pain. Trust me.

* Eating dinner out has started becoming a pain. Don't feel like getting up and go. Time to set up the kitchen!

* Haven't met college friends other then flat mates in a long time now. Need to visit places soon.

* Grid computing is new to me. Cluster set-up is totally alien. If you are the same, visit http://hadoop.apache.org/core/docs/r0.17.1/cluster_setup.html to know about one of the best open source grid software available today.

* Guru of web-services? Teach me how to use curl. Really need to learn using it fast.

* shopping, shopping, shopping...singing for months. Nobody's listening.

* watched 'Bachna ae Haseeno' at PVR last weekend. Watch it on DVD. My ratings : 2.75 / 5

* Can't remember anything else now. Will update the post soon.

Bollywood may die !

Nowadays every second movie produced by bollywood is a remake of some hollywood blockbuster! And Hollywood produces less than half the number of movies poduced by bollywood. So when, bollywood exhausts all 'Different' imported ideas...they basically run out of scripts to build their movies. And on that day world would see death of an empire. :D

PS: thought triggered by a status message which said "Ugly and pagli is a pathetic remake of 'My Sassy Girl".

End of the Road ?

There were days when they were the talk of the town. Bowlers shuddered by the thinking of bowling at them. Many of them could not progress in their careers after being hammered by them. When 'He' arrived at crease to open in an ODI innings, nation came to a standstill to witness the copybook strokes. They held their breath when 'He' used to step down the track to most feared spinners of the world, to hit them over long-off and long-on. 'He' has been named as 'The wall' and Mr. Reliable and is considered technically the best batsmen the world has ever seen. Elegance of 'His' strokes made Australians wonder why 'he' was not a regular part of Indian cricket team.

You would second me that they have been the best in business for so many years now! But it seems that time has finally caught up with them. They are looking straight down the barrel, all at the same time. The batsmen who was the nemesis of the 'Shane Warne', is gasping for air against a debutant!A'The Wall' is simply clueless. 'The god of off-side cricket' has been no different ! 'His' elegance is pleading for some more time to unveil itself !



I don't think it's all about the 'talent' of the 'mystery spinner'. After all he is the same bowler who bowls to the man with big appetite, Sehwag and new find of Indian cricket, Gautam Gambhir. Haven't they faced the same bowlers? Man, they have given some performance ! But the 'FAB 4' are totally out of sorts. And my dear friend, this could be it. This could just be the start of end of an era which saw greatest Indian (or probably world's) best four individual batsmen come together who could never make a world beater team.

If my worst fears come true, great indian selectors (which seem to me the best group of individuals who run A responsible entity in India) could be tempted to try 'young talent' in test cricket in just the next series which is against the world champions at home. If they choose to drop the 'fab 4', it would be marked as most disgraceful exit for a bunch of cricketers who made the game of cricket look more beautiful. I would advise them like most Indians (we are most selfish when it comes to cricket) to announce their retirement right after this test series against Sri-Lanka. World would never discuss their failures again, if they choose to do so, simply because they would have left behind a large enough legacy of successes to discuss forever. Collectively they have drubbed and set more cricketing records than any other four batsmen playing together in a team.

Whatever may be the case, their exit from Indian cricket team would mark the end of an era. The world of cricket will never be same again. It would be deprived of the best batsmen of contemporary times. But whenever we look back, Sachin's fabulous drives through covers will always make us smile; Saurav's sixes of murali will always be the best example of elegant spin play; Dravid's technique will always be considered a model for defense and VVS would always be looked upon highly for his all brilliance against the world champion team.

Thanking you 'Fab 4' for all the contribution you have made to the world of cricket. Cricket will become significantly poorer when you choose to leave the center stage or when you are made to do that .

News I Hate Most

(copyright : timesofindia.com)

It Happens Only in India

07:00 AM
Country 'X' violates ceasefire. one soldier is dead and over ten are injured.

Next Day
18:45
serial blasts...one reported dead so far, more casualties expected
Families of deceased crying bitterly...reporter of a leading news channel 'presenting their plea' in front of the rest of the world....live !

18:48
Investigating Police Officer,"We suspect involvement of foreign hand."

19:50
PM of the country," We strongly condemn this act of cowardice by the terrorists. We will not bow down to such activities. We will continue our fight against terror."

19:50
Home Minister,"Intelligence inputs were provided to the state intelligence beforehand. Warnings were issued to all CMs."
.....
earlier at 19:00
Leader of Opposition," Government has failed on all fronts. Nation has lost trust in the national government.

at 19:05
CM of the suffering state,"We did not receive any intelligence inputs. State police responded immediately. We have diffused one bomb. State has been put of high alert."

.........
20:10
Two more blasts..within a span of three minutes.

Next day:

08:00
Minister of External Affairs of Country 'X' (remember 'Foreign Hand')," We strongly condemn the unfortunate events happened to our neighboring country yesterday. We are ready to provide any kind of support you need to carry the investigation forward. Give us proof of involvement of our agencies, we will act against the culprits."

09:00 AM
Country 'X' violates ceasefire again. FIVE soldiers are dead and over twenty are injured.

More blogging...

Gone are the days when I used to try hard to find time and internet connection together ! I have got a One Mbps WiFi network at home :), so you will hear from me much more often !

just another fact !

I am not the tiniest creature around ! At least 6.67% smaller creatures exist at my office only !! (Startling fact came out during a recent office outing as a by product of a tp event)

PS: All smaller ones were girls though :D !

SSDIP at IISc, Bangalore

Dr. Sitaram (my mentor at HP Labs) told me about this 'summer school on document image processing' at IISc, Bangalore. Since my project was in the same area, I decided to take a plunge into it. They had selected only 40 participants from all over India. Most of them were doing or had done their masters or Ph. D. in Image Processing so i was one odd candidate trying to learn something (or i thought so). I was not one of the forty but i got the opportunity because HP Labs was sponsoring the event. The organisers had invited best people in their area to teach us. The plan was to have two lectures of ninety minutes each from nine to twelve thirty (with a tea break in between) and labs from two to five thirty in the evening.

They also thought of another innovative idea to keep participants busy to the core. They assigned us projects related to document image processing on the second day itself and announced that the best few works will be rewarded on the last day ! So we had to be their at 'Center for Continuing Education' at IISc from nine in the morning to close to twelve in the night ! The assignments were based on the days' talks. I found even the most knowledgeable (seemingly) people struggling with relatively easier assignments in MATLAB !

Tough, it seems. Well ! getting knowledge is never easy. It was a good way of imparting a loads of knowledge to the ones who were most willing to receive it ! I had a tough time keeping pace but i enjoyed it. My main motives to attend the summer school were : 1) Look for my interest in higher studies. 2) Stay at IISc, learn how people research and get a valuable certificate !

Both of my objective were met. I could get an insight as in how tedious and tiring reasearch can be....when i saw George Nagy (must be more than seventy), delivering 3 lectures in a day, i realised once you get in..you will never be able to come out of it, if you do some good things ! Research can make you a millionaire overnight if you make a discovery, on the other hand you may end up banging your head just trying to solve an unsolvable problem !

Coming back to SSDIP, Many of the participants stayed at 'Hoysala House' in IISc which was a great place. Having stayed together just for ten days, many of us bond with other surprisingly well. Groups of people formed and become really good friends. All of us decided to stay connected via a 'yahoogroup' and discuss DIP (may be) after we left IISc. So in all, it was a wonderful and different experience. It has made me rethink my decision on higher studies !

Six eventful months: My PSII at HP Labs

completing a project, 10 days at IISc, getting a publication, becoming a graduate and visiting so many places.... eventful six months !! Tomorrow onwards, i'll say i am a graduate. No more a student (well ! at least for now, till i decide my fate) ! Emotions are flowing....mixed feeling...happy for a few things and sad for others. Most painful of all is to leave BITS, Pilani and my dearest BITSian friends behind....how much you try you usually never catch up again !!

I have to rush now... some other time on PS, IISc and of course BITS, Pilani.......my alma mater !


between everything... cheers to a recent computer science graduate from BITS, Pilani... :)

Wait...it's research time.

Sorry to all who were expecting a piece on SmartTechie Startup City conference. But that is because I have been busy with some research :D. It will come soon though. The wait is worth it. Twenty four hours in a day is very less time..Mannn ! Resources are not available when I need them. I will try to put things together soon :) !

Between my paper got accepted at DAS 2008. The paper is titled: "PaperDiff: A Script Independent Automatic Method for Finding The Text Differences Between Two Document Images"



Hail Research...
will be back soon !

Border, Nayak, Shaurya and Launch of a Book

Well..eventful week ! Wasn't it ? I happened to watch Border (long overdue), Nayak (yet again ) and Shaurya (incidentally) this weekend, all on television. Three movies portraying emotions of different people towards the nation ! Then i also attended the Bangalore book launch of Chetan Bhagat's new offering '3 mistakes of my life'. I will talk about them one by one.

Border (3/5)

I had expected Border to be a great movie. It was a good movie, my expectations were not fully satisfied though. There was an overdose of love-stories and a totally unnecessary suhaagraat scene ! Sunny Deol was literally shouting almost every single dialogue that came his way, unnecessarily many times. Akshay khanna, Sunil Shetty and others have performed well though. Movie doesn't spread anger towards the enemy soldiers. Politics is blamed for the war, for good enough reasons , i suppose. Movie succeeded is sending its message across beautifully.

Nayak (3.5/5)

Another movie showing that Indians do care about their nation. Reporter Shivaji Rao who is appointed as chief minister of Maharashtra for 'one day', displays great knowledge and readiness to deal with the problems plaguing the state. While the problems shown in the movie are very close to reality, solutions are not ! Suspending every accused is a very dangerous way of handling the problem ! That was the only part which I found unrealistic. Other then that, a great movie !

Shaurya (3.5/5)

Movie focusses on human rights violation by army officers in J&K. It shows that if there are officers who kill people belonging to a particular faith for their revenge (as sunil shetty does in 'Main Hoon Naa') , then there are 'a few good men' who are not afraid to follow the rules (or discarding them) to preserve communal harmony even if it means a lot of trouble for them. Movie has a lot of content unlike other contemporary bollywood movies. Performances are good if you ignore appalling Minisha Lamba. In short, a good bollywood movie after a long time !

*************************************
Chetan Bhagat : 3 Mistakes of My Life
Book Launch
18 may, 2008
Big Bazzar, Old Madras Road, Bangalore
*************************************
India's most influential youth writer Chetan Bhagat launched his third book ' 3 mistakes of my life' today in Bangalore as part of a series of book launches in different cities of India. Chetan Bhagat himself, Director Atul Agnihotri who is directing movie 'Hello' based on chetan's second novel 'One Night @ a Call Center' and Preeti Vyas - business head of Depot- big bazaar's book shop - graced the occasion with their presence.

Chetan told that the book was about Govind, a young businessman from the city of Ahmadabad and a few of his friends.

A few excerpts from Q & A session with Chetan after the book launch ( There were many other interesting questions but I can not recall them all now. Please pardon me for that.) -

Q: What is your source of motivation for writing?
Chetan: I write for fun. There is no motivator as such. Yes, I started writing to take revenge from my bad boss in Hong-Kong, who used to think I am working, while I used to write books in my office !

Q: How do you approach the publishers ?
Chetan: It's easy now. My first book 'five Point Someone' was rejected by 'nine' publishers. Things were difficult initially. I kept improving the draft and finally 'Rupa & Co' published the Indian bestseller.

Q: Why do you write about small towns ?
Chetan: There are a lot of writers who write about big cities. Only 5-10% of India lives in big cities. Others live in small towns and villages. Somebody should write for them. I have taken up this job.

Q: How do you know that the book will be a hit?
Chetan: If Chetan has enjoyed writing the book, readers will love reading it. I can not compete with my first book but I try to make them as enjoyable as possible.

Q: Were you concerned about the impact of this book on people from different communities as it deals with religion also ?
Chetan: Yes, I have tried to be cautious not to hurt anybody. Book has been received well everywhere so far.

Q: Why do the names of central character resemble the name of Lord Krishna in all your three novels (Hari, Shyam, Govind) ?
Chetan: Lord Krishna was a great mythological personality. He can not be compared with. I try to make my characters as big as him.

Q: Why in all your novels, a girl proposes a boy ?
Chetan: Well. Boys always like it this way (laughs). i also like it this way. I just convey my feelings across and incidentally they get noticed.

Q: Your novel titles contain a lot of numbers ('Five', 'one', 'Three'). Do you have a fancy for numbers ?
Chetan: I am from IIT. I am an engineer. Every engineer loves numbers, so do I. I unintentionally choose the titles. People have started noticing the patterns!

Q: You have written about IITs. Will you write about IIMs too ?
Chetan: I spend four of my best years there. Lot of events tool place so I could draft them into a book. Nothing much happened when I was in IIM, other then getting a life partner. What should I write about that ?

Q: First IITs, then call centers, now a businessman ! Scope of your stories is getting bigger with every book. Will the stage be even bigger for the next one ?
Chetan: It depends on what I choose the topic as. It can even be a lot smaller then IITs. I choose a topic which my readers will enjoy reading. I don't look at the scope, though i try to keep it manageable.

Q & A session was lively. Chetan answered all the questions enthusiastically. Atul Agnihotri presented two promos of his upcoming movie 'Hello' which is based on Chetan second novel - One Night @ a Call Center- starring Salmaan Khan, Katrina Kaif, Sharman Joshi, Sohail Khan, Gul Panag, Dalip Tahil and others. It was very well received by the audience. Each of then had to be presented twice on audience demand.

Event was full of glitches though. Sounds and lighting was not good. Atul had to finish his speech in four parts because of the sound trouble. There was not enough space for audiences. Big Bazzar can learn a few lessons in event organizations from there. But Chetan's presence made up for all that.

Jaipur Blast Aftermath

This time, people of India are not sad or frightened. They are angry. They want a stiff response from the government. The common perception is - if somebody has to be killed in such blasts it has to be the terrorists themselves -not the common innocent public

What

On this Tuesday Rajasthan faced its biggest ever terror attack. Eight (or nine...correct information is not available) bombs exploded right in the heart of state capital Jaipur leaving over 70 dead and 200 injured ! All blasts occurred within a span of 15 minutes in the most crowded markets of the city Badi Choupad, Chhoti Choupad, Johri Bazaar, Manek Chowk, Tripolia bazzzar, Chandpol etc at a time in the day when they are most crowded.

Some points to note:

(1) Terrorists gave authorities no time to react by triggering blasts at different location within a span of 15 minutes. This shows how well planned the attack was.

(2) They chose the most crowded places in the city, peak rush hour and religious places so that maximum damage is done and if authorities are not alert enough they can trigger communal violence too !

(3) Thirteen bombs ( four live bombs are said to have been recovered by police after the serial blasts) were planted in the city. Intelligence agencies be it central or state, had no clue whatsoever. Total failure !

(4) One of the blast took place just outside a Police Station. This shows the level of alertness of police.


How

According to news channels, Bombs were planted on cycles at most of the places. Ammonium nitrate mixed with RDX was used as explosive. Bombs were triggered using timers.


Why

According to unconfirmed sources, some group/person 'Guru-Al-Hindi' sent a small video of one of the places, taken just before the blast. They also claimed the responsibility for the blasts and warned India and also US and UK of more such strikes. They threatened to keep attacking the strong social and economical structure of India with such strikes. They claimed to have chosen Jaipur as the target so as to disrupt flourishing tourism industry of Rajasthan which is the second highest revenue generating source for the state.


Reactions

People (9/10): People of Jaipur showed great courage and rushed to help the victims. When there was a shortage of blood in SMS Hospital, appeal for blood donation was very well received by the general public. There were no instances of communal tension in the city on the very next day. People were on the same affected places on the very next day as soon as the curfew was relaxed after 6 PM.

Politicians(3/10): Leader of opposition in state, Mr. Gehlot showed good spirit and called for peace and calm. But very soon the blame game started. State ruling BJP leaders accused the central intelligence agencies of not sharing inputs (Center is ruled by congress led UPA). On the same day of tragic event, such statements made no sense. They exposed every politician in front of general public. If information is not shared, country's security has been compromised with. It should be a major crime in public eye.

Police (4.5/10): Police rushed to help quickly. Initially they had no idea. Some accused HuJI and others talked of a 'foreign hand' into the event. They gathered a few clues later and have even released sketch of a prime suspect. Hundreds of persons are said to have been detained for questioning. We can just hope they don't persuade some innocent individual to claim responsibility for the blasts and come out with flying colours claiming to have solved the case.

Media (6.5/10): Media behaved in a sensible manner (surprise, surprise !!). Yes, they asked politicians about their views on information sharing but it was not made a big issue by them. They asked why can't we hit back hard ? What is lacking in Indian response to terrorism? 'Times Now' brought very elite panelists combining major stakeholders and organized a debate on the topic. the panelists were: BJP and Congress national spokesperson, former envoy to pakistan Mr. G Parthashashtry, People's conference leader Mr. Sajjad Lone, Former ISI chief, a strategy analyst and an expert from Pakistan. It was a heated debate. Few important points that emerged are:

(1) Pakistani experts said it was too early to predict if there was a Pakistani hand involved.

(2) The spokespersons of national parties called for formation of stricter laws and a centralized force to counter terrorism severely.

(3) Debate coordinator Arnab Goswami questioned Pakistan government's control over its military's aid to terrorists. He linked the blasts with infiltration bid in Samba a day earlier and democracy in Pakistan. He concluded whenever there is a democratic government in Pakistan, military control goes out of hand. Terrorists gain help and strike in India. Pakistani counterparts had no real logical answer.

(4) Some one commented over Sajjad Lone's suggestion of peace talks , structural dialogues etc that these cliches will no longer work. Lets strike back hard and put an end to it all. Live with peace.

(5) A personal comment made on Mr. Lone turned the debate little emotional and he said nobody in the panel except him can sympathise better than him with the blasts victims (His father was killed in one such attack.), thats why he wants peace and doesn't support military action.


No wonder, on another news channel, two MPs of opposite parties (you know who) were fighting each other like dogs, as they do it in parliament daily, over the same issue.


As people of India, we can do a few things which can help prevent such attacks:

(1) If you are a landlord, keep details of persons living in your house. Keep details of your household help and verify their identity.

(2) Report stray baggages etc to police even during the most peaceful days.

(3) If you find somebody making suspicious moves like taking pictures, videos, behaving unusually at a crowded place, inform police asap.

Government of India and various states can make following moves to counter terrorism:
(1) Start behaving sensibly when such strikes occur. Start working in national interest at least on this one issue. Don't talk, take some actions !

(1) a central autonomous counter terrorism agency to bring intelligence
inputs, analyzing and disseminating them.

(2) Install CCTVs at crowded and important places in all cities.

(3) Respond to details of suspicious objects/persons sent by public quickly.

It can very well be a big election issue having the potential to topple governments. India must handle terrorism before it threatens national security in a big big way. Everybody seems to be busy chalking out solutions. Ruling politicians better do it ASAP. Time is running out of hand. This time, people of India are not sad or frightened. They are angry. They want a stiff response from the government. The common perception is - if somebody has to be killed in such blasts it has to be the terrorists themselves - not the common innocent public.

.........Smile

...I waved my hand and smiled cheekily..'it' was in a moving auto in its father's lap. And to my utmost surprise it peeped out of the vehicle and smiled back. It was a rare nice feeling in this world which seems so ignorant. It made my day which was so bad with all that work in the office.

Bhoothnaath: A Review

Category: Movie Review
Movie: Bhoothnath
Director: Vivek Sharma
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Juhi Chawla, Priyanshu Chaterjee, Shahrukh Khan, Aman Siddiqui, Rajpal Yadav, Satish Shah
Run-Length: 160 minutes

Rating: 2.5/5
verdict: Buy a DVD/CD and try to enjoy ! You may not enjoy in theater.

..another movie this weekend - watched bhoothnath yesterday. I was not much interested yet went for it considering Amitabh and SRK both were there in the cast ! Movie does not start well. There were a few unnecessary scenes and inappropriate dialogues initially. Movie gains momentum when Amitabh appears. He never appeared fearsome as he was supposed to, in few scenes though his comic timing with the kid (Aman) was good. There were enough funny scenes in the first half which make you smile, to say the least. Transformation from a dreaded 'Bhoothnath' to emotional one, shown in the first half is good.

Second half is a different genre altogether. Comedy seemed to be lost and director/writer turned the movie emotional. Well ! I don't want to be harsh yet again but teary emotions of a 'Bhoot' may seem funny at times. Those who like seriousness will like this part too but such a drastic change suddenly seemed inappropriate to me. Movie can not be classified into one genre. It is comedy in the first half and 'tragedy' in the other. It can not even be said a kids' movie. They will never understand the heavy emotions portrayed in the second half. Movie has tried to address innocence of children, emothions of 'Bhoot', parental love and ignorance of elders all at the same time.

Shahrukh in his short appearance seemed to be warming up for his next movie. He was not at his best. Aman was good enough. Rajpal Yadav and Priyanshu Chaterjee have not been given enough time on screen. They have played their part well. But Juhi's charm has been lost with time. Her performance is only decent. Amitabh is excellent after initial few scenes (his entry). Overall, the script and story were okay. Performances by supporting actors could have been better. Editing was not up to the mark. direction was okay. You may feel lost if you watch it in theater. So just buy a CD or DVD and enjoy it. You may appreciate the effort.

Friday fry !

Another friday ! I have been thinking of getting out of the office at the earliest since the moment I arrived. I have lots of work to do - even mentor pressure for the same ! Still I post it to kill time !

Tashan: A Review

Category: Movie Review
Movie: Tashan
Director: Vijay Krishna Acharya
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Anil Kapoor
Run Length: 155 Minutes

Rating: 2/5
Verdict: Go to theater, if you are desperate because of the star cast. There exists no other reason.

I didn't spend much to watch the movie. The debut director has written dialogues/scripts for a few critically acclaimed movies like guru and the action packed dhoom series. One expects a decent show from such writers/directors. Movie tashan makes first impression with its flashy star cast. Within first few minutes you realize that it's not worth it. Script is not strong. Experiment with 'Hinglish' dialogues of bhaiyyaji(Anil Kapoor) fails miserably. His dialogues were difficult to comprehend at times and meaningless always. When director could have exploited the real life chemistry of saif-kareena in reel life, he surprisingly didn't. Saif is not impressive in his supportive role to Akshay Kumar, who is the only high point of the movie - as impressive in his 'kanpuria sooter' role as always. Any well figured girl looks ravishing in two piece, Kareena is no exception !

Plot demanded quite a number of action scenes. Most of them have been designed to be visibly good with no brain being involved whatsoever. Well ! Tashan means ..style..and this movie has none.

Reasons to watch: star-cast, akshay kumar, slimmer kareena
Reasons to avoid: Bad script, bad performances from kareena, anil, bad action sequences and so on......


Watched it...what do you think ?

T2 on traffic woes

category: Fantasy
target: Traffic problems

26th April, 2008
8.40 PM

One fine day, T2 accidentally lands on earth (So he must be an alien) while on an inter-planet trip. Fortunately (or unfortunately), place where he ended up was a busy Bangalore traffic signal. He was frightened to see some things - having two shiny eyes, different sizes (some small...others larger), different shapes and making different noises. But he was quite intelligent. Very soon he realized that these were sort of vehicles used by inhabitants of earth to go to places. Then, why did they have to stop in between ? Nobody gets down but the vehicle is stationary ! He was pretty surprised when realized(through his own understanding) that because there are too many vehicles in each direction, few have to stop to let others go.

''How could they be so dumb? (Traffic system of his own planet flashed into his mind) Why do they run vehicles only at the surface? Why can't they utilize the whole space God has given them, as we do it ! They could build parallel paths one over another at suitable heights and design new type of vehicles to commute easily, effectively and quickly. Why don't they think in that direction ? They must be technically backward'', he thought. I will look odd if i stay here any longer. He did something with his wristband and flew away in a flash.

26th April, 2008
8.41PM

Krazzy 4 : Review

Category: Movie Review
Movie: Krazzy 4
Director: Rakesh Roshan
Cast: Arshad Warsi, Rajpal Yadav, Irfan Khan, Diya Mirza, Juhi Chawla, Rajat Kapoor and Sazid Khan
Run-Length: 2 hours (Approx.)

Rating: 1.5 / 5
Verdict: You need not watch the movie even once. You can safely assume that it's bad.

I watched it yesterday. Abhinay theater reminded me of the auditorium of my college. For a few moments I thought I was back to BITS, Pilani..but reality struck soon !

Krazzy 4 has some of the finest modern day actors and each of them has his individual style of acting. But even some individual brilliances can not hide the loose script and out-of-the-place dialogues. None of the actors were allowed their characteristic style by the script. It seemed like they (the actors) were the kings behind bars.

Movie does not take off even till interval. Even before you are set in your seats, it's interval. First half fails to generate interest to sit through the next. Second half is slightly better (that's why movie gains 0.5 ratings :D ). When it ends, you can't decide whether it was a comedy movie or a melodrama. It is a terrible mix of things. Story is okay but converting such a story into a two hour movie is rather tricky that is exactly where the movie fails to impress.

Only thing worth watching in the movie is the item number by Rakhi (for male audience),SRK and Hritik (for all :D). Surely you would not like to pay a hefty amount for just that.
You don't expect such products from the same director who gave us 'Koi Mil Gaya', ' Kaho Naa Pyar Hai' and 'Krrish'. Well ! Just avoid going to theater for 'Krazzy 4' !!

Awesome ooty

Category - Travel
Place - Ooty, Coonoor, DodaBetta etc
Time- 3 Days ( Friday morning to sunday night)
Cost ~ 2000 Rs/ head Mode of Transport - Taxi

20th March night --->

We wanted to go to ooty next morning but didn't have a car till 11 PM the previous night. We tried arranging it from some travel agencies but nobody seemed to care. We went to sleep leaving it all where it was and thought we'll see it in the morning ! As the luck would have it, i got a call next morning from the travel agent even before i woke up and he offered us a Tavera at 8 AM. We didn't let the opportunity go by this time :) !

21st March ---->

So we quickly readied ourselves and set off at 8.20 on Friday morning. We picked up two of or friends from koramangala and hit the Mysore road at around 9.15 AM. After coming to outskirts of Bangalore we took our breakfast. We spent an hour doing that. It was already 11 am by then. Journey was quite good. Weather was quite fine...it was raining lightly. We were enjoying the trip.
We reached Mysore at around 12.30 pm. Our first target place was Bandipur national park on the way to ooty. We wanted to make sure we reached there before 4 pm. As it is open only 4 pm to 6 pm in the eve. We reached there at 3.30 pm, got tickets for a safari for rs 95 per head. Though we did not see something great, safari was okay ! But we saw more animals (including elephants) roadside rather than on safari :D !



Well ! After an hour long safari we headed towards ooty. The next few hours were a few of the best in my life. Mood was upbeat. We were enjoying every bit of natural beauty and splendid weather.
We reached ooty by 7.30 pm. Driver took us to a hotel where we
checked in and had our dinner in nearby restaurants (one group took veg and another went for non-veg :D). We headed back to our rooms and had some serious discussions pertaining to trip plan and ...... :D :D !

(The Veg Group)


<<----Saturday 22nd March, 2008 (Holi - Festival of Colors) -->

We had planned to get ready by 8.30 Am and head to railway station to get a ride in ooty-coonoor train but as expected we were late by half an hour and we reached railway station at 9 am. There were no tickets available for the 9.15 am train. We went to plan B. We decided to visit ooty lake. It again proved to be a fantastic experience. We hired an eight seater motorboat and took boating :). We loved it so much that for a few extra bucks to the boatman we took an extra round. We had our breakfast in a nearby hotel and left for the railway station. We didn't want to miss the train this time round :D .

We got into the queue and got tickets after 40 minutes (There was
a queue even though the ticket window wasn't opened. :D).We were keenly waiting on the platform for the train to arrive. As expected there was too much rush and we had to put some real effort to get a seat. But the train journey was again memorable because of amazing surroundings on the way and in the train :). The man rightmost in the adjacent picture along with six of us made the trip memorable. We enjoyed the ride a lot and reached coonoor at 1.30 pm. rain had stopped.


We first went to Sim's park. It was a beautiful garden with lots of greenery. We even found rudraksh trees there :). With wide varieties of rare trees, plants, a beautiful boat house, lovely world map made up of flowers...it was worth visiting.



Close to SIM's park we saw a girl who had 'Holi' colors applied on herself. Mohit asked her about the place where she got the colors from. It was a shop we had left behind. Still enthusiastic Mohit decided to hunt for colors. After half an hour the fact that Holi colors were not so common on Holi day itself here, dawned on him. We set off for our next destination in coonoor. Our driver cum guide took us to High-field tea estates. The place was amazing or it seemed so because we had never been to a tea-estate. With beautiful Neelgiri in background, the greenery of tea-leaves was a view to die for. We tasted various varieties of tea - Masala tea, chocolate tea, green tea etc on a nearby shop for free. We even bought packets of tea which cost each of us Rs 180. After taking some lovely snaps, we left for ooty.

We arrived in ooty close to 5 pm. We planned to visit botanical garden for an hour but most of us were unwilling to spend an hour looking at plants. So we decided to skip it. We took something to eat. Meanwhile Mohit found a shop from where he could actually bought small packets of Holi colors. We decided to go to hotel. On the way we found 'vantage Point' being screened in a theater. We were so thrilled seeing the box ticket price (Rs. 30 / head...average ticket price in a Bangalore theater Rs 130 ) that we decided to get in. Anyways we had nothing to do after evening.

It was a nice movie. It didn't took more than 90 minutes. We took our dinner at hotel patel which served us a marwari thali. We hadn't tasted such nice food for months. After having dinner and sweet, we left to our hotel room.

Holi hai....

after arriving at hotel rooms...we changed to our worst possible clothes and started holi celebration s :D ! It was more of a formal celebration to begin with but as time progressed, bitsian spirit caught up with us. Well ! We actually spent some 30 minutes playing holi and another hour cleaning the mess created in the hotel room. It was a nice feeling to have played holi despite all those hurdles (rarity of holi colors, suitable place etc). We formed the plan for the next days trip and went to beds.

<--Sunday 30th March ---->

We started at around 9 Am to dodabetta. It is the highest peak in the Nilgiri's at about 2600 meters from MSL. Supposedly we could have great view of ooty town, ketty valley, film shooting points etc using a telescope located at the top of the hill. Alas ! It was not to be. Telescope house was close due to bad weather. But experiencing the even more chilling weather was refreshing :D ! We set out for our final stop, Pykara falls after an hour. On the way we found some cool places. One was Kamraj sagar Dam. We stopped our car roadside and went downhill to the lake. It was a very nice picnic spot. But due to lack of time, we departed as soon as we could.

After a short while on the way, we found many cars parked roadside at a place. Expecting it to be a nice place, two of us (including me : )) decided to go uphill promising others in the car to be back within 15 minutes. What we saw up their can't be explained here in words. You had to be there to feel it. Amazing blue Nilgiri standing tall all around a green hilly forest in a chilling weather ! After enjoying the beautiful natural sceneries for some half an hour we had to get back into the car to finish the trip in time.



We took another break at ketty valley on the way for two minutes.
We reached Pykara around 12.30 in the afternoon. Well ! We were not too impressed by the place. The fall which we found was only a few feet in height ( Though you may not notice the same in the picture). But we spend half an hour at the peaceful place and got back to a roadside restaurant. We had our lunch there and started our return journey towards Bangalore at 2.00 PM.



There is nothing much to write about it though. Yeah..well ! We also avoided an accident with a scooter- close to Mysore when the scooter driver suddenly took a right turn without giving any intimation at all. It was a real close shave. It could have been really bad had the driver of our car been not alert enough to react quickly ! Apart from that, we had a few good discussions in the car, mostly about the state of politics and education in India; and what could be done to better it. After reviewing the trip everyone was happy ! We left one of our mates at Bangalore City Railway Station as he had to board a train (that's why we tried to be strictly on schedule !). We reached home by 10 PM.

So ooty was indeed awesome. It was once in a life time experience. The kind of environment I saw there for three days is really uncommon. Surroundings were green and handsome too. I would recommend a trip to ooty to one and all as soon as it can get !!

Sayonara .....

Wounds on Goan Glory

With the British newpapers publishing stories of Fiona Mackowen's NOT-SO-GOOD background, doubts are sure to creep in Police's mind in India. There may be truth in her allegations of involvement of police and politicians yet they are largely based on nothing. There are loopholes but the Fiona part must also be investigated.

Goa has been a great and safe tourist spot since long. But a few incidents which took place in recent years seem to suggest otherwise. Criminal incidents occur everywhere in the world. Goa is no exception.British teen Scarlett Keeling's murder was supposed to be just another case of crime against foreign tourists in Goa. But the issue has grown much bigger and seems to threaten Goan glory. After following the news carefully over the last weekend, I have observed that this is not just another simple case. People seem to trying to use it to their advantage. Media is divided in britain over the issue. There are many loopholes. There exist more than one view to the whole issue.

With the British newpapers publishing stories of Fiona Mackowen's NOT-SO-GOOD background, doubts are sure to creep in Police's mind in India. There may be truth in her allegations of involvement of police and politicians yet they are largely based on nothing. There are loopholes but the Fiona part must also be investigated. She plans to settle in a state where her daughter got murdered and where the administrations is faulty! That is worth noticing.

Is she trying to take advantage of her daughter's killing and wants to secure a good future for her family exploiting Goa government by blowing the issue out of proportion? Is she trying to get media sympathy and publicity ? Is she trying to defame Goa ? Is it a foreign set-up for some bigger cause ?

These questions are not right now very easy to answer. Let's wait and see how it turns out. I hope justice is delivered and all those involved are punished. Goa government must step up the security to foreigners in order to prevent such incidents from recurring. It can try to educate people to behave properly with tourists by making them aware of consequences. All this said, case must be thoroughly investigated and Fiona's intentions and allegations must be verified.

(Image Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/15/wgoa115.xml)

A trip to Hogenakkal Falls

Quick Details

Category - Travel
Place - Hogenakkal Falls
Distance from Bangalore - 190 kms
Time required one way - 3 Hrs
Things to carry - Drinking water, cap, fast food is available at the place still i'll prefer to carry it along
What to see - Hogenakkal fallls
I liked - Lovely ride on NH-7 with amazing surroundings, taking a shower under falls while sitting in coracle, playing in calm running shallow water close to small beach nearby.
Total Expense- 600-1000 Rs per head (It was 650 Rs/head for us.)

Bangalore has got good hang out places around. We have visited Nandi Hills, Meekadatu etc earlier. This week the gang planned a trip to Hogenakkal Falls. Most of us, for belonging to north India, could not even pronounce the name of the place and so didn't even have much information about the place just except a little details available from internet.

We booked a qualis and nine of us started quite early in the morning. We left at 6 AM from Bangalore for no particular reason. We weren't even sure of the distance but assumed it to be around 150 kms. Journey to the place was really good. Most part of it was set on beautiful National Highway No 7. Colorful flowers on the dividers and amazing natural scenarios around the highway made the journey outstanding. We reached there by 9 AM. We looked for a place to eat found a small shop offering Dosas nearby. It was the best Dosa (Plain dosa) I ever had in south India. Most of us were really satisfied with that breakfast. Then we went for sightseeing. There were so many boat-riders who encircled us and requested to take a ride to waterfall in their boat. The fare they quoted was very high as per the expectations - 110 rs a head for a round trip to fall and nearby places and double the amount if we stayed there for a while. After some bargaining we settled for 400 Rs a boat (which could carry maximum 6 people). We made an offer to pay extra amount if we wished to stay there.

Ride in the peculiar boat called coracle or puttu was special. It was a round boat which could carry maximum of six passengers. It needed some extra skill to push that boat through the waters in a particular direction. The boat-owner took us close to a smaller fall and made us feel the water. We all were wet and there was quite a lot water in the boat too. But it was a great experience. Then he took us to a small beach close by. After seeing the place we decided to stay for a while in exchange of extra money and enjoy in running water. We played in the running water for almost an hour. It was really fun being in that clean cold water with the group.

We set to depart at 2.30 pm. As we had not taken our lunch, we decided to stop roadside on NH-7. We prepared sandwiches and had cold drinks. Then we went atop a small hill close by. View from the top of it was breathtaking. We enjoyed ourselves throughout the trip and reached to the outskirts of Bangalore around 7 pm. And then it started to rain !! Traffic became really slow and crippled badly. We could barely move our car for an hour. After wasting 2 hours to traffic we could finally reach home at 10 pm. In all, it proved to be an exciting trip- full of fun.

BMTC Buses without Conductors

I am a daily traveler. This post is with regards to bus number 171. I have seen many of these running without conductors daily between Koramangala signal and Adugodi. But I do believe that there exist many other such buses and they complete their route in similar fashion everyday. Anyone more enlightened is welcome to put forth the reasons behind such practice.

Nowhere on the earth (its part which I have visited :D) I have seen buses running without conductors and with driver taking care of their jobs ! BMTC runs several such buses in Bangalore. I am not aware of the reason. Don't they have enough number of conductors ? or are they trying to train bus drivers in multitasking ? Whatever be the reason but the situation is definitely alarming.

I have seen a few drivers in such buses tend to drive while distributing tickets among passengers. They lose their focus on driving while doing that. This is a very very dangerous practice which must be stopped right away as it can lead to serious accidents. Among other problems, these buses stop too much at each bus stop because drivers take enough time to distribute tickets. BMTC also loses lot of revenue because many passengers deceive them easily by quickly going past the driver seat when they get on board. I hope BMTC is thinking to resolve this problem either by recruiting more people to do the job or by taking such buses off roads.

Traveling by Air: A First timer's experience

I have fantasized it for long enough - traveling by air back to my home. Finally the day came on 20th february when i boarded DN-606 from Bangalore HAL airport to fly to Jaipur. I had booked my tickets some fifteen days back, thanks to a very attractive facility provided by Air Deccan to get the tickets booked through post offices. Indira Nagar post office system was out of order so I had to book it through the Koramangala Post Office and what a mess that person created !! He clicked 'print' before the page had loaded. And as was expected nothing came out of the printer.
Oh did i mention- the post office had been using a 1942 model ( the man himself told me) dot matrix printer for printing the flight tickets ! Well ! somehow I got the tickets when a wiser man refreshed and clicked print after the page had loaded. It had to pay more than i had anticipated. Coming back to the main day, flight DN-606 was scheduled to depart at 10.15 hrs. i arrived at the airport by 7.30 and checked with the Deccan counter about the status of the flight. flight was on schedule but check-in was going to start only by 8.15. Right at the starting time I checked in and got a window seat (5A). I also wanted to experience the baggage handling so i gave my only baggage as a check-in luggage. Everything went smooth, from check-in to security check to boarding. It was a good new A320 aircraft and cabin crew was nice and helping. Flight got delayed by half an hour in mumbai so we landed in Jaipur little later than expected. Jaipur airport seemed to be much smaller and baggages were on conveyor instantly ! My cousin had come to receive me.
Well ! The main thing i wanted to post is about the return journey via DN-605 from Jaipur to Bangalore. Even this flight was good enough. Flight landed almost on time and Deccan exceeded my expectation. But after arriving at Bangalore airport, i moved to an empty conveyor to receive my baggage. But Deccan announced that baggages were available at another conveyor which had already been supplying baggages for a Kingfisher flight ! There was a lot of rush and confusion. i received my bag after waiting for almost half an hour. No Body cross checked my baggage with my boarding pass !! It effectively meant that anybody could have got away with any baggage of their liking.
But apart from that one issue my travel was quite comfortable and I enjoyed it.