Inner & Outer World of Anshul

The 57th Filmfare Awards 2011: Nominations

2012-01-15T19:06:00.000+05:30

The following are the nominees of the 57^th Filmfare Awards 2011 and the ones which are in bold font are my personal choices forthis year awards…

Best Film
Delhi Belly
Don 2
No One Killed Jessica
Rockstar
The Dirty Picture
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

Best Director
Abhinay Deo - Delhi Belly
Farhan Akhtar - Don2
Imtiyaz Ali - Rockstar
Milan Luthria - The Dirty Picture
Raj Kumar Gupta - No One Killed Jessica
Zoya Akhtar - Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

Best Actor In A Leading Role (Male)
Ajay Devgn - Singham
Amitabh Bachchan - Aarakshan
Hrithik Roshan - Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
Ranbir Kapoor - Rockstar
Salman Khan - Bodyguard
Shahrukh Khan - Don2

Best Actor In A Leading Role (Female)
Katrina Kaif - Mere Brother Ki Dulhan
Mahie Gill - Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster
Priyanka Chopra - 7 Khoon Maaf
Vidya Balan - No One Killed Jessica
Vidya Balan - The Dirty Picture

Best Actor In A Supporting Role (Male)
Abhay Deol - Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
Farhan Akhtar - Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
Naseeruddin Shah - The Dirty Picture
Pitobash Tripathy - Shor In The City
Vir Das - Delhi Belly

Best Actor In A Supporting Role (Female)
Juhi Chawla - IAM
Kalki Koechlin - Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
Parineeti Chopra - Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl
Rani Mukerji - No One Killed Jessica
Swara Bhaskar - Tanu Weds Manu

Best Music Director
A.R.Rahman - Rockstar
Ram Sampat - Delhi Belly
Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy - Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
Sohail Sen - Mere Brother Ki Dulhan
Vishal-Shekhar - RA.One

Best Lyrics
Gulzar - Darling - (7 Khoon Maaf)
Irshad Kamil - Nadaan parindey -(Rockstar)
Irshad Kamil - Sadda haq - (Rockstar)
Javed Akhtar - Senorita - (Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara)
Vishal Dadlani & Niranjan Iyengar - Chammak challo - (RA.One)

Best Playback Singer (Male)
Akon & Vishal Dadlani - Chammak challo (RA.One)
Mohit Chauhan - Jo bhi mein (Rockstar)
Mohit Chauhan - Sadda haq (Rockstar)
Rahat Fateh Ali Khan - Teri Meri (Bodyguard)
Shafqat Amanat Ali - Dildaara (RA.One)

Best Playback Singer (Female)
Alyssa Mendonsa - Khwabon ke parindey (Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara)
Harshdeep Kaur - Katiya karu (Rockstar)
Rekha Bhardwaj & Usha Uthup Darling (7 Khoon Maaf)
Shreya Ghoshal - Teri Meri (Bodyguard)
Shreya Ghoshal - Saibo (Shor In The City)

PS: What are your choices this year do let me know...

Ganpati Festival in Tokyo

2010-09-14T23:42:00.054+05:30

Ganpati Festival always excited me, especially after coming to Mumbai. I don’t know why and also can’t figure out any rational behind it…

Somehow I always wanted to see and to be part of Ganpati Puja & Visarjan; and this wish came true in Tokyo. I couldn’t have imagined, even in my distant dreams, that I would get such a chance to be part of Ganpati Puja in Tokyo; when I didn’t get any in Mumbai.

How it started? One day, Tarun-san said that he’ll organise Ganpati puja this year, in his house. I don’t know how serious he was at that time. But his wife, Rakhi insisted that once he committed, he should definitely keep Ganpati. And this was the beginning…

Finding a Ganpati Idol: Now the question was how to get a Ganpati Idol, which should be made of clay / mud. Available options were to get one from India through courier or to search in Tokyo itself. The easiest option would have been to get from India, but the risk associated with it was that courier company wasn’t ready to give any guarantee for safety of idol. So Tarun decided to first search in Tokyo. Later he and I went to a Japanese store selling Indian handicrafts and believe-it-or-not we found the Idol in the 1^st attempt itself. So first milestone was achieved…

Implementation: 11th September 2010, the Ganesh Chaturthi day. Preparations began from morning, house cleaning and decorations were done, stage was set and the wait was only for Ganpati to come.

Around 3:45 pm JST puja started. Ganpati sthapana was done with Panditji reciting Mantra over a VOIP call, from India. Later our own pandits, Hemant & Tarun read few more mantras from Internet and Puja was completed. During Aarti, “Jai Dev Jai Dev” and “Jai Ganesh Jai Ganesh Jai Ganesh Deva” were played on YouTube. Later in the evening, we saw live Puja in Tarun Mumbai’s home, participated in Aarti and recited Ganpati Morya, over a web-conference call.

The delicious Prasad / Bhog were prepared by Manu Bhabhi; it included Modak, Besan Laddu, Gari ke Laddu, etc. For lunch and dinner, we had Poori Sabji, Kachori Damaloo and Chole Poori, prepared by Manu Bhabhi & Tarun; other significant contributors were Hemant, Puneet and Puran.

Night was the time when everyone was tired and feeling sleepy too, but someone needs to be awake since Diya should continue glowing. So we started playing cards to pass time; we also slept but in shifts of few hours each.

Next morning the series of Puja, Aarti and Bhog started again and continued till evening. After doing 5 Aartis and Bhogs in one and a half days, time came to say goodbye to Ganesh Ji, that is, Visarjan.

Tarun’s family, from India, participated in pre-Visarjan Puja through a web conference. Then we did a small Puja on the doorstep of Tarun’s house and also at the canal / river side. Later in midst of slogans of Ganpati Bappa Moriya, Ganpati had to be submerged in water. Two days of festivities came to an end…

An unforgettable weekend passed with Ganpati’s bhajan in the background, doing preparations & Puja, time pass and playing cards. People who participated in this Puja were Tarun, Puneet, Manu Bhabhi, Krunal, DevD, Hemant, Puran and I.

Thanks to Tarun-san for organising the Ganesh Puja at his home…

Ganpati Bappa Moriya,

Pudhchya Varshi Lavkaryaa !!!

A month in Japan

2010-03-01T22:02:00.010+05:30

Recently I completed a month in Japan, so thought of sharing some of my experiences and observations with you all. These experiences couldn’t be new to you but were definitely new to me or excited me in some manner.

Apartment: The first strange experience was when I reached B-Site (my accommodation) in Tokyo. I expected that atleast a guard or front desk person would be there; but to my surprise no one was present in the building for supervision. Everything was self managed from collecting the keys to finding the room, etc. The apartment was compact but nice studio type apartment; it had almost all the necessary items required by an individual. In fact, till date I haven’t seen any guard standing outside any residential building.

Toilet: Just to inform my readers, after experimenting for few days and watching 3 videos on YouTube, I came to know, how to use Japanese Toilets (commode) properly. So all those, who are planning to come, my suggestion is kindly watch those videos online, it would be of great help.

People: First day in the city and lost my way from station to my apartment. I was trying to confirm the correct route from people, who didn’t understand a single word of mine. And vice versa, I too didn’t understand a single direction from them. Finally managed to reach the apartment in an hour, which was hardly at a distance of 10 minute walk. But Japanese people are really very helpful, even they don’t understand your language, they’ll try to help you as much as they can. Once I went to a bookstore and wasn’t able to find the English books section, so asked at the counter. The lady at the counter went with me, almost to the other corner of the store to show me the book section. Unlike India, people here aren’t required to know English language in order to succeed in their respective career.

Juices: Another strange thing which I experienced is that a small bottle of mineral water is costlier than 1 liter tetra-pack of fruit juices. Even 1.5 liter bottle of cold drink is costlier than juice packs.

Sewage Bill: Recently came to know that we need to pay sewage bill also with water bill. The authorities calculate the amount of wastage done by every household and then bill accordingly. Just imagine, if someone has loose motion then he’ll not increase his medical expenses but also his sewage bill; so please take care.

Travelling: According to me, the most common mode of communication is Tokyo would be trains followed by bicycle. The local train network here is very different from what we have in Mumbai. In Mumbai all trains move from North to South or vice-versa; but here there is no. of different train routes and that cover almost the entire Tokyo.

Like others, I too drove a cycle for going to a friend’s place; it was amazing as I was riding a bicycle atleast after a decade. Although here there are rules for a cycle driver; rules like: driver should carry the registration papers for that cycle, the cycle should have a headlight, and you can’t park a cycle in No Parking zone else they’ll tow it.

Here people walking on foot get preference over the car owners; policeman will stop the cars and let the people walk. First time in my life, I saw the proper use of the Zebra Crossings; unlike India, here they’re very effective and convenient too.

Shopping: On my way back from my friend’s place, I shopped for groceries (mainly vegetable & fruits) at 3:00 am in the morning; and believe me, I wasn’t the only customer at that shop. In India, I couldn’t have imagined buying potatoes or onions at 3 in the morning.

Garbage: Few days ago, I went to the basement of my building for dumping the garbage. The garbage room was so huge that I can’t even describe, it was definitely 4-5 times bigger than our flat. Here normally people throw garbage in 2 different containers, one for combustible items and other one for non-combustible items.

I’ll keep adding more items to the above list, as and when I find something interesting enough…

Kurbaan

2009-11-21T01:43:00.011+05:30

Kurbaan is a romantic movie with terrorism as the backdrop. But you shouldn’t compare it with Fanaa or New York, the basic theme of all these movies are totally different from one another. Although, there are few similarities between Kurbaan and Khuda Kay Liye, the widely acclaimed Pakistani movie.

Kudos to Renzil D'Silva, the director of Kurbaan, for choosing such a topic for his debut movie. After seeing the movie, one thing I strongly felt was that this guy knows his work, his treatment of the subject, camerawork and other technicalities are better than most debutante directors. Rensil is also the co-writer of the story, alongwith Karan Johar, who is the producer as well as. I would also like to praise KJo for producing such a movie. The story and screenplay are the major USP of this movie; the movie is well written, where a love story between a couple and the story of Islamic fundamentalists have been shown in parallel. There are few flaws in the script but overall it’s worth watching.

The camerawork and the editing is good. I really liked the way, how the cameraman has captured the monuments of Delhi and also how they have shown some parts of New York, especially the Tube stations. The background music by Salim-Sulaiman is fabulous, complimenting the screenplay at every point and this is what makes the movie a real thriller. Although I feel that songs of the movie, done by the same composer duo, could have been better; my personal feeling is that unlike other KJo movies, the songs of this one won’t rule the chartbusters for long.

Now let’s come to the other important factor in making any movie a hit or a flop, that is, its Actors & their performances. Saif Ali Khan, gives another solid performance, looks equally cool and dashing. Kareena Kapoor was not as good as she was in Jab We Met but definitely far better than Tashan and Kambaqt Ishq and for all her male fans, she is looking stunning in the initial portion of the movie. The couple “Saifeena” look great onscreen.

Vivek Oberoi, after a long long time did a good job, audiences might have forgotten him but this movie could prove to be his comeback film. Om Puri, as usual, is brilliant. Kiron Kher acts more or less in the same way as she has been doing in her recent films, except in the climax where she too is good. If I’ve to dissect the performances of the actors in one sentence, I’ll say that every actor has done played his or her part beautifully.

People going to the theatre should remember that it’s not a normal Bollywood or Karan Johar movie but it’s an intense movie. Overall Kurbaan is a good movie to watch, I’ll give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Four Years

2009-11-07T23:27:00.003+05:30

Today’s date (7th November) was, is and will be very important for me always; four years back on this date, I got my first (till date the only) job…

For me, today I not only completed four years in a company; but lot of other things which how small or big, matter to me in some way or the other:

Most importantly I’ve gained four years of professional experience. It’s not that I was waiting for this landmark to take any further action but I’m happy to do so.

Four years back I made some friends and needless to say we’re still good friends . Infact in the due course, our friendship have become better and matured too.

Since last four years I’ve been living in Mumbai (city of dreams); actually it was sort of a dream-come-true when I got a job in this city.

Four years of financial independence.

The above mentioned four points are the ones, which I can remember without thinking. In the coming as this count of years will increase, I want to do lot more things but only God knows that where I'll go from here...

New York

2009-07-03T22:35:00.012+05:30

New York is a movie on a concept, which film makers in Bollywood haven’t tried much. The story starts with the friendship of 3 friends but mainly revolves round the aftermath of 9/11.

Aditya Chopra, the writer as well as the producer of this movie have taken a bold step by making this movie. Also as a director, Kabir Khan does a good job in his second film and had made an entertaining movie while maintaining the essence of the movie.. The good thing is that these people have chosen a concept which is different from normal Bollywood movies. Firstly, this is not a romantic movie unlike the trademark of Yash Raj Films. Secondly, this movies tries to bring out the other side of the story of the 9/11 attacks, brings out the effects of those deadly attacks on the normal people and their lives.

As far as the characterization is concerned, the story revolves around 4 people: Irfan Khan, John Abraham, Katrina Kaif and Neil Nitin Mukesh. It’s always worth watching Irfan Khan’s performance, he fits into every character so naturally and provides an uniqueness to all of them. He did a good job as always.

John Abraham too is maturing by every film now; he too has done a decent job in fact in some scenes he has done a fantastic job but at times he could have been better too… Neil Nitin Mukesh has done the best job amongst all the actors. He is so natural in the film and suits the character. Definitely slowly and steadily he is gaining the ground in Bollywood…

For Katrina Kaif, I think it’s her career best performance in terms of acting. After this movie, filmmakers would offer her more performance based roles instead of the ones she was getting till now. This movie can help her to come out of her Barbie Doll image and may bring her in the league of good actresses like Priyanka, Kareena, etc.

The music of the movie is soulful and few of the songs are already ruling the chartbusters, even the placement of these in the movie is very appropriate. Like all other Yash Raj movies, this one is a visual treat for all the audiences. Another aspect which I found good was the editing of the movie. The editing of the movie keeps it the story moving at a good pace and also intact. The director and editor have remembered to show the Twin Towers in all the scenes which were supposed to have occurred before 9/11.

There are few loopholes in the script, mainly towards the end of the story. This movie, especially climax could have been made in a better way but for me, then too it was a good, a different and an entertaining movie…

Overall I'll give New York, 3.5 out of 5 stars...

General Elections 2009: Indian Political Bazaar

2009-05-16T01:35:00.003+05:30

The counting of votes for Indian General Elections 2009 will begin today at 0800 hours.

And the leaders of various National and Regional Political Parties have already negotiated with each other, against their parties support to form the Government at the Centre. Still few hours are left before any trend / results come out but these people have already heated up this political market, where governments are not only formed by the peoples’ votes but also by horse trading.

Similar to Cricket IPL, here to the regional parties which are believe to win more seats are commanding better prices and portfolios in the cabinet ministry. JDU leader, Nitish Kumar wants special status for the state of Bihar, Naveen Patnaik of BJD wants to become the Chief Minister of Orissa while Mulayam Singh and Amar Singh of SP , and BSP Supremo Mayawati wants best portfolios for themselves and their party MPs’.

Even this is not enough, politicians like Mulayam Singh, Mayawati and also Sharad Pawar of NCP , who all belong to Regional Parties and their parties have major presence mainly in their respective states, have ambitions to become the Prime Minister of India after these elections. I’m not saying that being ambitious is wrong; but the problem is that anyone of them can only become the PM, only when all of them come together, with many other parties to form the Third Front and form the Government at the Centre. And this to me seems to be a major problem and distant possibility for a stable government.

Anyways let’s wait for tomorrow and days to come to see the final outcome of this Political Bazaar, which is currently going on in New Delhi. And also at the same time let’s hope that any government which comes into the power does something good for the country and its people…

Do VOTE !!!

2009-04-29T20:31:00.010+05:30

On the eve of the third phase of voting for General Elections 2009 in India, I request all my readers and the voters of this country to Vote…

Yesterday I watched a video on YouTube, Kuch Nahin Ho Sakta... This well-edited video, starring lot of young Bollywood actors and actresses, conveys the message to vote in a classical way…

This video in some strange manner, reminded me the dialogues from the Hindi movie, Rang De Basanti: There are 2 types of people, one who sit out and curse the system, and the other who jump into the system, to change the system…

The problem with us, Indians, is that we are great in discussions and debates but we don’t believe much in execution. We can sit in our drawing rooms, offices, tea stalls, pubs and at other such places, and discuss how corrupt our politicians are, what they should do for our country’s welfare, why should we not vote for them and blah blah. But what we never do, is to question these politicians. People will say that in India we don’t have any public forum where a politician can be questioned for his / her deeds; very true. But don’t forget we all have a stronger weapon than a public forum, what these politicians also fear, i.e. our Vote…

I believe that we should vote for those candidates who have proven themselves in the past and have done something relevant for their constituencies as well as for the country. In case of candidates fighting elections for the first time (fresher), have a look at their qualifications (resume) before voting in favor of them. Don’t only vote on the basis of the candidate’s party, caste, religion or their name/family. Consider electing Parliamentarians, similar to selecting a candidate for the job in your own organization, if the candidate doesn’t fulfils all the requirements or doesn’t suit the profile, you should never offer him that job. Also if you had voted for the right candidate in the past, then this is the time for his/her appraisal or assessment of his/her work in the last 5 years...

Another problem with us is that only the educated lot will understand the analogies mentioned in the above paragraph, but most of them don’t vote. For one reason or another, we always have excuse for not voting. We have time for our leisure activities, for professional and personal commitments but no time to vote, although voting day is a holiday almost everywhere. And the majority of the people who vote are uneducated or are below the poverty line, who don’t understand much and vote on basis of the caste, religion, etc. Hence to change the system, the laws, the politicians and their politics, it’s necessary that educated people vote…

So please vote this time, and don’t think that what will happen with 1 vote of yours; cause if everyone start thinking like that then nothing will change in our political system… And vote for a stable and a good government, which can take us forward from here…

Vote for your country, your future generations and your own future... Do VOTE !!!

8x10 Tasveer

2009-04-09T19:58:00.015+05:30

8x10 Tasveer is a different movie, with a unique plot which Bollywood have never experienced before (correct me, if I’m wrong)…

Nagesh Kukunoor, writer and director of this movie, had done a far better job as a writer than as a director. According to me, the ending could have been better; for me it was difficult to digest the correlation used to derive the ending. Screenplay was decent and some scenes were really good. There is only 1 song in the movie and which I believe wasn’t required too; also if the film makers wanted to keep that song then they should have inserted it somewhere before… The movie is shot beautifully at various countryside locations; in the initial parts, except for the cast everything looked similar to a Hollywood flick…

Apart from Akshay Kumar, who does a good job, there are many other talented artists like Girish Karnad, Javed Jaffrey, Benjamin Gilani, Anant Mahadevan and Sharmila Tagore; but all these actors were wasted since neither did they have a strong character nor did those characters’ had much length. Ayesha Takia too didn’t had a great role, unlike to what she had in Dor…

A Nagesh Kukunoor movie having a superstar like Akshay Kumar could really have been a delight for the audiences and to some extent, it was… But this combo too wasn’t able to keep the cash registers ringing at the Box Office for long…

Overall I’ll give this 8x10 Tasveer, 3 out of 5 stars…

Delhi-6

2009-02-23T20:34:00.008+05:30

Delhi-6, a Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra movie… A movie much hyped and awaited too but definitely not worth all that...

After seeing the trailers of Delhi-6, I felt that it has all the masala (indegreints) which is required to make a Hit Hindi movie. Scores of brilliant character artists, amazing lead pair, soulful music, amazing background setting, etc etc and I was sure that this movie will definitely strike the chord with both Indian as well as foreign audience.

Good points about the movie were definitely its music, especially songs like Masakali, Arziyan, Delhi and also acting by actors like Vijay Raaz, Divya Dutta, Pavan Malhotra and Atul Kulkarni; but these actors weren’t also able to save the movie… For other actors like Rishi Kapoor, Om Puri, Waheeda Rehmaan, Supriya Pathak, Tanvi Azmi and for that matter even Abhishek Bachchan, I think their talents were wasted and should have been utilized better… Sonam Kapoor looks beautiful and gorgeous in the movie and she is definitely better than her debut movie.

More than blaming the director, the script was the primary cause of such a debacle. The first half of the movie was boring, even the number of songs and so many Ram Leela sequences (although I liked them) could have annoyed the audiences. Second half was much better except for the climax which I think was written in haste, in order to bring a dramatic ending to the story and also to send out a social message like RDB…

Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra really thinks differently but such out of box thinking, to which audiences aren’t able to relate, may land him in difficult situations; cause at the end of the day what matters for a commercial movie is its box office success.

After watching the movie I think that except for the music, everything else will find hard to strike any chord, with anyone. Two positive points points which I can draw after watching Delhi-6 were Rehman’s melodious compositions and in my memories, I revisited Chandni Chowk…

For me watching Delhi-6 could be a sheer wastage of both your money and time. I'll give Delhi-6, 1.5 stars out of 5...

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi

2008-12-17T00:58:00.009+05:30

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (RNBDJ) was among one of the most awaited movie of the year. It is a film by none other than the team of DDLJ, from the duo of Aditya Chopra and Shah Rukh Khan.

After coming out of the theatre, the first thought which came to my mind was now SRK is the strongest candidate to win the Best Actors Award, for his role of Surinder Sahni, Punjab Power, Lighting up your Life…

RNBDJ will definitely have mixed responses from the audiences. This movie might not have a straight reponse; but some people will definitely like the simpleness and lightness and others might figure out the flaws in the story / screenplay. According to me, the movie may do more business in single screen than multiplexes because of the plot itself. This movie definitely has the guts to become the biggest hit of the year…

Shah Rukh Khan plays the role of Surinder Sahni (Suri), a common man who works in an electric company. The character written beautifully and also played vibrantly. SRK does a fantastic job while potraying the character; the way he talks, walks, thinks, every action he does, justifies the simplicity and characterstization of the character, which the director would have wanted the audiences to see.

SRK also plays another character Raj, which is totally opposite to Surinder Sahni, but I think that SRK does an ok job there since this a character which he had been portraying since years. But one thing here is to appreciate that the both the characters were different and we really got to see 2 different people in the movie.

Anushka Sharma, the debutante actress looks confident, is a good dancer and does a good job considering the fact that this was her first movie. Initially when I saw her in the promos, I thought she is not so pretty as other new actresses these days are; but certainly after watching the movie I agree that she fits into the character well. She is both traditional as well as modern at the same time. Vinay Pathak aka Bobby Khosla, is also another character to look for in this movie…
I agree with some of the critiques that the writing department wasn’t upto the standards of Aditya Chopra. The story and dialogues were simple but by any chance you not comparable with the likes of DDLJ, and for that matter neither with Mohabbatein. The dialogues weren’t heavy but they were surely similar to what a common man like Mr. Sahni will use in his daily life. The screenplay was one area which really wanted some more polishing; the first half was good but I felt some scenes of the other half were long and bit monotonous.

The music by the duo of Salim-Suleiman is very soulful and catching up with the audiences well. Haule Haule had already become a hit while Tujh Mein Rab is out an out romantic song. Chance pe Dance is a song which has the capability to teach dance even to poor dancers like me; it can be used for dance teaching lessons in the future. These songs are liked by the listeners not only because of the music but also due to their lyrics. The lyricist Jaideep Sahni had written some very beautiful and touchy lines; he is equally responsible for making the music so wonderful. The choreographers Vaibhavi Merchant (Haule Haule) and Shiamak Davar (Dance pe Chance) had given their 100%, both were successful in bringing out the innocence of Suri and the studness of Raj.

According to me, RNBDJ, a movie with a simple story, light comedy and full of romanticism, is definitely worth watching…

I’ll give RNBDJ 4 out of 5 stars, where 1 extra star is only for Mr. Surinder Sahni…

Mumbai: The Battleground

2008-11-28T00:58:00.016+05:30

After 24 hours of the ongoing War against Terrorism as I walk on the streets of Mumbai, the life here seemed to be somewhat normal. People were seen moving in and out of the bars & restaurant, enjoying the delicacies like vada pav & chat, youths roaming around; even the buses were running almost full. Nothing as such has changed except for the mental peace of the common man or the common Mumbaikar…

Last night, Terrorists attacked our Financial Capital, the city of Dreams – Mumbai at 10 different locations… But the attacks were different in terms of the modus operandi this time. Till now, bombs were placed secretly and terrorists never attacked from the front but this time they came out openly to spread the terror amongst the innocent citizens, using AK-47 guns and Grenades. They opened gun fires at many places. The second unique thing about these attacks were that the places like temples, trains, airport where common Mumbaikar would have been, weren’t targeted; but terrorists have chosen places which people might not have thought off, even in their nightmares. The terrorists attacked 5 star hotels – Taj Mahal Palace and Oberoi Trident, Café Leopold and peace loving people living in Colaba, etc. The attacks in the hotels and café were done at the time when various foreign tourists would have come back to the hotels and while corporates were having seminars and meetings.

As of now, the death toll has risen to 155 including atleats 14 policemen, 2 NSG commandos and some foreigners, while approximately 327 people have been injured in these Terror attacks. The dead also include Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare, Additional Commissioner of Police Ashok Kamte and encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar. It’s a really sad day when so many people have lost their lives but our politicians are only making false claims or as usual playing the blame game. My heartfelt condolences to the family of the all the people who died in these attacks… And I would like to salute the NSG commandos, army men, navy men and policemen for fighting bravely, continuously for almost 2 days now.

The titles like “War on Mumbai” or “Warzone Mumbai” can easily be justified after viewing the various footages available on Internet / TV. It simply reminds me of the Kargil War that time infiltrators captured Tiger Hill and other points; while this time they captured Taj, Trident and Nariman House. The only differences between the two were that it was in J&K while this in Mumbai; in Kargil War the terrorist might have taken months to capture those points while this time it took only few minutes for them to enter the targeted places and make hostages. Only thing which have changed that the attacks now are more planned, organised intensified and more terrifying…

A lot have been spoken about the spirit of Mumbai and Mumbaikars, whenever any such calamity had happened, but I would like to ask that till when this spirit will continue? If the people of this city or may be our country have good fighting spirits, this doesn’t mean that they should suffer from such attacks, blasts, etc. The government or the authorities should not take as an excuse for treating such matters lightly. Let me warn the government that these spirits of Mumbai could dampen too, if something concrete is not done. And let me clarify that alongwith the spirits, the common man is full of anger against these terrorists, terror groups and also against the government.

Something more disappointing was to watch our politicians giving interviews about Islamic & Hindutava terror, their election meetings, vote banks, etc. They’re saying that we need Federal investigation agency and police reforms but why do we only realize these necessities after something of such a magnitude had already happened? Why can’t be more pro-active or be more prepared? Where was our Intelligence agency when the recent attacks were being planned or was it an Intelligence failure? Or are the govt and the agencies were more than happy after catching few terrorist from so called Indian Mujahedeen or Sadhvi???

I would also like to ask Mr. Raj Thackeray that these attacks are on Aamchi Mumbai and after almost 2 days of these attacks, we hadn't heard any statment from you, pacifying the Mumbaikars. And just for your information, the NSG commandos who have been fighting here with the terrorist, have come from North and all of them may not be Marathi’s. Shouldn't the principles of MNS for a common man in Mumbai, i.e. not allowing North Indians, should have also been applied on the NSG commandos? Sir, this is a time for our country when we should be unite to fight against these Terrorist groups and not against our own countrymen.

Honourable Mr. Prime Minister and the Cabinet Ministers, I think this is a high time to take some concrete steps and not just make speeches. They have entered almost everywhere in our country and it’s really difficult for an ordinary citizen to live peacefully in his / her own motherland.

(PS: The blog was originally written on 27/11/08 but was updated on 28/11/2008)

Dostana

2008-11-23T22:23:00.011+05:30

Dostana - as the name suggests, is a film about friendship...

Some people might say that Dostana is only one time watch or may be not worth watching et al but one thing which I witnessed in the theatre was that audiences present there were laughing out loud...

I too agree that the story in general is predictable and the weakest link of this movie but overall the plot of the movie is new for Bollywood... The screenplay and dialogues were the areas to look forward too...

People to look for in this movie are Priyanka Chopra and Abhishek Bachchan. Priyanka looks ravishing, even hotter than what she looked in Fashion and definitely deserves the introductory scene showing her sensuous lips and curvaceous body. She once again gave a solid performance... Abhishek was best among the male actors, his expressions as a Gay were mind blowing, especially in the scene where he narrates the incidence of first meeting with John Abraham... John and Bobby Deol did an ok job but definitely they could have been better... Definitely for girls, it would have been a retreat to watch John bare chest... Characters of Boman Irani, Kirron Kher and Sushmita Mukherjee are also worth watching and had good comic timing...

The music of Dostana is good but that not great like any other typical Karan Johar flick... Songs like "Maa Ka Ladla" and "Desi Girl" are foot tapping numbers while "Jaane Kyun", "Kuch Kam" and "Khabar Nahi" are soulful and romantic songs... You'll like the songs but may not remember them for long as we remember KKHH, K3G, KHNH songs... But as any other KJo movie, the cinematography and editing are awesome... It was a pleasure (and tonic for the eyes) to watch the Miami beaches...

Tarun Mansukhani, the debutante director overall does a good job... The chemistry between the 3 (Abhishek, John & Priyanka) of them is certainly a thing to look for...

I'll give Dostana 3.5 out of 5 stars...

I've been Tagged...

2008-11-14T00:08:00.010+05:30

Thanks to Narayanan for tagging me, actually this gave me a reason to Blog after few months...

1. If your lover betrayed you, what will your first thought be?

- What happens; happens for good…

2. If you can have a dream coming true, what would it be?

- I’ve lot of dreams, so mentioning here about one and ignoring others would be sort of injustice.

3. What is the one thing most hated by you?

- Hypocrites

4. What would you do with a billion dollar?

- Only a Billion Dollars, that’s it.

5. Will you fall in love with your best friend?

- Maybe, but only if the friend is a girl…

6. Which is more blessed, loving someone or being loved by someone?

- Definitely, being loved by someone…

7. How long do you intend to wait for someone you really love?

- If I really love someone then I’m ready to wait for my entire life…

8. If the person you secretly like is already attached, what would you do?

- Look out for a better prospect… :D

9. If you like to act with someone, who will it be? Your gf/bf or an actress/actor?

- Dunno.

10. What takes you down the fastest?

- Attitude

11. How would you see yourself in ten years time?

- To know the answers, you’ll have to wait till then…

12. What’s your fear?

- Losing my family & frndz…

13. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is?

- Narayanan: Smart, intelligent, techie and a friend…

14. Would you rather be single and rich, or married but poor?

- Neither.

15. What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?

- Want to sleep more…

16. Would you give all in a relationship?

- Can’t say since I’ve never been into it…

17. If you fall in love with two people simultaneously, who would you pick?

- Both.

18. Would you forgive and forget no matter how horrible a thing that special someone has done?

- I believe in forgiving but not in forgetting…

19. If you get to go back in time and fall in love all over again, would it still be with the same person?

- May be Yes… May be No…

20. What will you do about climate crisis?

- No idea.

Now I tag Anshul, Dheeraj, Niraj, Rohit & Tammy !!!

ROCK ON !!

2008-08-31T02:37:00.009+05:30

Sometime back I saw a promo saying, “From the makers of Dil Chahta Hai” and yeah after watching it, I can easily say that they haven’t lowered their standards and were also up to the expectations of their audience…

Rock On is a movie not only about a Rock Band but also about relationships and friendships…

Abhishek Kapoor, the director as well as the story & screenplay writer has done a fantastic job. The story is unusual but at the same time very realistic, to which people can easily relate to, all the characters of the story were well defined. First half of the movie consists of many transitions from present to past and vice-versa but well written screenplay and editing helps you in not realising the same. One thing which I feel about the story is that people from metros / bigger cities will easily relate with it while people from smaller towns may not bond with it so easily…

Through this blog, I would like to ask Farhan Akhtar a question “How can 1 person be so talented; an intelligent director, successful producer, brilliant actor and an amazing singer?” Farhan performs excellently in all his 3 roles, acting, singing and dialogue writing. Songs have already become chartbusters and guys believe me; he’ll definitely give a fight to Imran Khan for Best Male Debut Award…

All the other characters were equally important in the movie and they all too did full to their specific roles.

Rock On’s music is very refreshing, youthful, different (with a touch of Rock music) and already ruling the charts. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy once again proved that they are one of the best in the industry and especially when it comes to experimentation; who would have allowed a new singer like Farhan to sing 6 out of 9 tracks of the album. Generally our Bollywood actors sing 1 or at max 2 songs but in this case hats off to the combo of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and Farhan Akhtar.

Javed Akhtar, as usual have written mind blowing lyrics; one may not understand them when listening for the first time but after watching the movie you’ll definitely like it.

Another thing which I also liked is the use of the song, “Tum Ho Toh”. This is a romantic song but in the movie it has been used as friendship song and the placement of the song is so perfect that it fits the situation…

Overall Rock On is a good movie to watch… I'll give this flick 4 out of 5 stars...

ROCK ON!! definitely rocks...

Bachna Ae Haseeno

2008-08-16T22:23:00.004+05:30

I'll give Bachna Ae Haseeno, 3 out of 5 stars...

Jaane Tu... ya jaane na

2008-07-10T00:18:00.006+05:30

Jaane Tu… ya jaane na is a fun-filled, youthful and entertaining movie…

What actually took me to the theatre to watch this flick was its refreshing look, soulful music and some expectations from an Aamir Khan Productions. And believe me I now have many more reasons to watch it for the second time…

Debutante director and well known writer and lyricist, Abbas Tyrewala has done a good job in all his three roles… Although the story isn’t very different from normal love stories, when I say this I mean don’t expect this one to be an out-and-out a different movie like DCH, etc. I won’t be disclosing the story here, since I always believe that Movie Reviews aren’t meant for it… Other aspects of writing i.e. Screenplay and Dialogues have also been handled extremely well and are among the main reasons why this movie is liked so much. The dialogues are funny and one can easily relate to them in their day to day lives. It’s a light comedy movie but not a slapstick one…

One thing, which I personally liked in the movie, was that it’s entirely shot in Mumbai, except for one song. No grandeur sets or exotic locations, no designer wears or unnecessary accessories. Movie showcases its characters wearing clothes which normal people like them wear in their daily lives.

Music by A. R. Rehman is youthful and at the same time soulful. The lyrics, by Tyrewala himself, are written beautifully. Tracks like “Kabhi Kabhi Aditi” and “Pappu Can’t Dance” had become hits, even before the movie released; other songs like “Kahin To Hogi Ho” and “Jaane Tu Meri Kya Hai” also sounds soulful to our eardrums.

Now comes the part, for which many of you may be waiting i.e. how the actors have performed, especially Imran Khan, nephew of Aamir Khan, the perfectionist. Before coming to any particular actor, let me tell you that all the characters in the movie were well defined and every artist played their part well.

Imraan Khan has done a good job and if you consider that this was his debut film, then he has done a fabulous job. People might comment that this was a tailor made role for him, although it wasn’ t but if it was then too what’s the harm in it. He suits to the character similarly as Aamir was to QSQT and Hrithik to KNPH; he’ll surely become the heartthrob of the nation in days to come…

Genelia D’Souza has done a fantastic job , even better than Imran. Only after seeing the promos, my friends told me that she already had done few movies; but now after this one she too will become a known actress. Her facial expression and dialogue delivery was perfect. The movie is equally dependent upon her as it’s on Imraan, for its success.

Overall, Jaane Tu… is a light romantic comedy, which may remind you about your own friend circle, you might be relating characters of the movie with your near and dear ones… I’ll give Jaane Tu… ya jaane na, 4 out of 5 stars…

MTV Roadies 5.0

2008-06-08T02:00:00.006+05:30

MTV Roadies 5.0 concluded 2 weeks ago, with Ashutosh Koushik becoming the 5th Roadie…

This season of Roadies began in Goa with 13 aspirants from across the country. Getting selected in Roadies auditions, after handling the torture done by Raghu Ram and Nikhil Chinapa in itself is a big deal… Hence, these contestants (names are in alphabetical order) of MTV Roadies 5.0 deserve to have their names on my blog:

Ankita
Ankita (Simran)
Anmol
Ashutosh
Ayaz
Nihal
Prabhjot
Shambhavi
Snehashish
Sonel
Varun
Vibhor
Vikrant

I’ve following last 3 season of Roadies i.e. Season 3, 4 & 5 and thought that I know the format/rules of the show pretty well since reality shows generally don’t change their rules frequently… But as far as MTV Roadies is concerned, I feel proud in saying that “I was wrong.” You guys might be thinking that why I’m feeling proud? The answer is simple, this is one of my favorite TV shows and I enjoyed the current season as much as I enjoyed the earlier ones, as everything was unpredictable…

The 1st episode saw two of the participants being voted out… To watch the “Vote-outs” is the real fun in the Roadies… The Pressure, the Action, the Drama all are part of this reality show… Each episode was different from the previous one in some or the other manner… In the 5th season, the best part was the International exposure but what I really didn’t liked was more emphasis on personal decision’s rather than some activity…

Unlike my expectations, the final episode was not that great; especially at the last when Sonel chose the winner of Roadies 5... Atleast the winner shouldn’t be decided that way, Nihal did a better competition than that…

Anyways, I’m eagerly waiting for the next season of MTV Roadies…

IPL: May the best team win !!!

2008-06-01T14:17:00.005+05:30

Today is the IPL finals and I’m to D.Y Patil stadium to watch the match…

But the important question is, whom should I support in today’s match???

Actually in the first season of IPL, I’ve already supported 4 teams out of 8... From the beginning, I was cheering and supporting for Kolkata Knight Riders. Once they were out from the race of semis I started supporting Mumbai Indians, don’t forget Mumbai is my Karmabhumi… After this, it was the turn of Delhi Daredevils but unfortunately they too lost in the semis… Yesterday, in the 2nd semi-final, I supported Kings XI Punjab and my track record continued too; they too lost in the semis…

Now while writing this post, I’ve decided that today I’ll not support any particular team in today’s match and only enjoy the game with my gang…

And I’m praying that the match should be rocking, exciting and May the best team win !!!

Happy Birthday Mummy !!!

2008-05-15T23:41:00.003+05:30

A Very Happy Birthday to you Mummy...

If you would not having been with me, with all your love & support; I wouldn't have been to do anything in my life... Thanks for everything...

Indian News Channels: Quantity over Quality

2008-05-02T20:26:00.002+05:30

Who says Indian news broadcast channels are not mature as their International counterparts? Even Indian channels know how to do their business, how to increase their TRP’s and also how to woo the advertisers, etc. These Indian news channels are not only earning the bread and butter for their owners; but also attaining their break-even points much faster than it was in the past…

But if we talk in terms of the content or the social responsibilities, then I definitely agree that Indian news channels are not as mature as their International counterparts. In fact, the word “mature” isn’t made for Indian news channel.

Actually there are 2 types of news channel in India: First is the Hindi News Channel and Second is the English News Channel. I’ve considered both Hindi and English News Channels as different categories since the quality of the content differ…

Let’s suppose you want to know the news and switch on some Hindi News Channel: No points in guessing what you actually get to see, something which most of us actually don’t consider a news item like “swarg ki seedhiyan (Steps to Heaven)” or “Aishwarya Rai Bachchan ne rakha vrat (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan does fasting on the occasion of Hindu festival)”, etc. Let me also some of the headlines from various of these channels, “Dada pade Sachin bhaari (Sachin’s team defeats Saourav’s Team) ” , “Train ke neeche ke baad bhi Kutta jeevit bacha (Dog is still alive even after coming under the moving Train)”, etc… None of the Hindi news channel shows, a single news regarding more important news like measures which should be used to curb inflation, US Presidential elections, Global warming, etc…

Hindi news channel are also following a pattern these days; when I say “pattern”, I meant to make a point that all these channels show similar news which had a good TRP’s in the past. Like when the incident of Prince falling in a boring well happened, it was something which most of the people saw for the first time , hence everyone was curious about the child; and now after every few weeks we see one more child falling in such wells… If some channels show a program featuring a story related to Ramayan or Mahabharta, then all the other news channels will soon show some related story… I don’t know which and when, one of the news channel started showing the program like “Vaardat” or “Aaj Aapka Din (How your day will be today)” but now we can find such programs on every Hindi News Channel. And how can I forget mentioning about the programs which showcases the items of the Laughter Champions and also about the various reality shows like Indian Idol, Voice of India, etc. And also how can I forget mentioning about Khalli – The WWE Fighter, he is the favorite news item for many of these Hindi News Channels…

The English News Channels here are not better but definitely show better quality programs than their Hindi counterparts… They too some masala news but those are mostly related to Bollywood or Cricket… But the best part is that they try to cover most of the important news too…

People might be interested in knowing about Abh-Ash wedding but are they also interested in knowing whether Aishwarya is observing a fats or not? People wanted to know about the status of children falling in boring-wells but for how long, are we really interested in viewing the Live Telecast from the venue? I agree that IPL (Indian Premier League) has become a big thing in the world of cricket and also lot of moolah is involved in it but has it become bigger than news like inflation, caste reservations, economy, etc which are of national interests?

I agree that these news channels are also showing such programs and stories since people watch it but I still believe that if any channel is considering a “News Channel” then please show some relevant news or else start promoting yourself as a “Page3 Channel” or some “Lifestyle Channel.”

Sometimes I really feel that Doordarshan’s National News is still the best in the country since in its half-an-hour duration it tries to cover the maximum news across the globe and from all the fields…

Why can’t these Indian news channels think of programs like which is actually for the betterment of the country and its people...

Tashan

2008-04-29T20:54:00.005+05:30

Tashan: another hyped movie from Yashraj Films was released on last Friday.

Just to inform my readers, due to some differences between the distributors and the exhibitors, this movie was only released in single screen theatres across Mumbai and not in the multiplexes…

Tashan, like many other movies, was not upto the expectations of the audiences; primarily due to its storyline. On the technical front, it’s a decent effort but lack of a good story and direction will definitely disappoint the audiences. I will not disclose the story here, since I always believe that Movie reviews are not meant to tell the story of the movie…

The acting of all the 4 leading actors is ok types… Anil Kapoor’s character is of a don but somewhat similar to the character of Javed Jaffrey of Salaam Namaste fame; where he tries to speak English on every occasion… Initially we laughed at his dialogues but as the film progressed it was a bit irritating too… Also it was unbelievable for me, that a modern day don will use a water canon or a fire pipe to defeat his enemies… Overall, Anil hadn’t been used to fullest of his abilities…

Saif Ali Khan does an average job, nothing extraordinary in his acting too…

Kareena Kapoor is looking gorgeous in her zero-size figure… And she looks extremely sexy in the parrot-green colored bikini, which she wore in one of the scenes; definitely it’s a treat for all the men watching the movie… She does a decent job but don’t compare this one with her performance in Jab We Met…

Akshay Kumar is as usual brilliant in this movie too… His comic timing, facial expressions and dialogue delivery are awesome. He is one actor to look for, in Tashan… Almost all the audiences present in the theatre clapped at his entry…

The music is average type but definitely not what is actually expected out of a Yashraj movie… Few of its songs have picked up slowly… Like all the Yashraj movies, the song-dance sequences and exotic locales are worth watching… Cinematography and background score are good. The film makers tried to make this as an action flick and were also a bit successful in doing that except for the final action sequence, which, in the present day scenario, seems to be more of a comedy rather than an action sequence…

Overall Tashan was a one-time watch movie and not that bad as most of the critics have rated it… According to me, only 2 things which may bring audience to the theatres are the hype associated with the movie and Akshay Kumar’s mind-blowing performance… And no doubt, that this time Yashraj made a big mistake by not releasing this movie in the multiplexes, since it would have brought more audiences to the theatres and hence lesser amount of loss to them…

The director of the movie, Vijay Krishna Acharya will have to think something better next time, in order to woo the critics as well as the audiences… If, I’ve to rate this movie, I’ll give 2.5 on a scale of 5 (1.5 for the movie and an additional 1 point for Akshay’s performance)…

Qualified Politicians required...

2008-04-21T21:17:00.001+05:30

Blogathon today’s topic “How do we change the focus of politics from caste/religion to grassroot issues?” is both provocative and controversial…

If you ask my opinion to the question mentioned above, my answer is very simple: there is no way to change the focus of our politicians, till they are ready to change themselves, their focus and way of thinking…

I might be sounding as a pessimist, although I’m not; but according to me, changing politics and the politicians is a difficult thing, especially in a country like India.

Recently, I was reading somewhere that according to the World Bank data, the condition of Primary Education is even worse than most of the African countries. Arjun Singh, Hon. HRD Minister, who should address the issues of primary education, etc in the country. But he had done nothing except for creating caste differences amongst the people by introducing the quota for OBC’s… I don’t know, why he can’t understand that if the children have proper education (both primary & secondary), most of them won’t require any sort of Quotas for getting into any college of higher education.

Although the conditions of these Politicians or Netas, as we call them in India are not good but then too we may try changing their focus from the caste and religion based issues (actually their vote bank politics since decades) to some other important ones… Few things which we may try doing are:-

· The most important thing for any citizen in India is to exercise our Voting Rights. Whenever election happens in our country, we always find that voting percentage in most of the constituencies is not more than 50%; this simply means that atleast 50% percent of us don’t vote. By voting, we may choose the right candidate, who may actually do something concrete for us.

· We should strictly avoid listening to and voting for Political Parties and Leaders who encourage or are involved in caste based or religion based politics. If we, the people of this country ignore them, then they will have to think on alternate issues for continuing their presence in politics…

· We must also introduce some guidelines to become a Politician such as minimum educational qualificatio background check, etc.

· According to me, more & more young and qualified people should be encouraged to come into politics. Young people will definitely think over issues related to our country and our people and not just about caste or religion vote banks. I also think a retirement age for them is also necessary, may not be 60 but it should be there. If our Constitution also allows young politician then why is it necessary for a person to have grey hairs before becoming a politician?

Why don’t these Politicians don’t understand that the most important need of the common people are proper education for their children, adequate healthcare facilities for their families at cheap rates, good infrastructure in the country, low inflation, food and items of daily usage at low rates etc and not the admission for some of the backward class people in some prestigious institutes…

It’s high time that we all should become more responsible towards our country and discourages these types of politicians, who have the history of taking advantage of common people on the basis of caste or religion… We are proud to be living in a Democratic country and let’s behave like that…

How can we improve the traffic condition in our city?

2008-04-20T22:28:00.001+05:30

How can we improve the traffic condition in our city? It’s actually a million dollar question for the residents as well as the commuters in Mumbai…

Lets first discuss the situation of traffic in Mumbai, the Financial & Entertainment Capital of the country and also the city of dreams for many, including me… The traffic condition here in Mumbai is really pathetic and is getting worsened by every crossing day. Imagine the time one requires, to travel from Borivali to Bandra or Chembur to Goregaon and that too, if he/she is traveling in the peak hours then it will be like an added advantage disadvantage… State / Local Government may be trying to resole these problems, but having said that I would like to mention that till the time these solutions are in place, by then the condition will deteriorate more badly…

Lets analyze, why the traffic conditions are deteriorating, primarily because of our growing economy; as the economy grows, the citizens will become more rich thus buying more and more cars and two-wheelers… As the population of Mumbai is increasing, the government has to increase the number of buses, since BEST buses are one of the most used and preferred way of transport throughout the city and also the number of taxis and auto-rickshaws are increasing day by day, hence increasing the chaos in the city…

I lived in NCR for more than 4 years before moving to Mumbai; if we compare the traffic conditions of both these cities then NCR is far ahead in terms of having better traffic conditions than Mumbai… The conditions there are better, not because the people there have less number of vehicles or the people traveling from the buses are less… So what’s the reason behind the better conditions, the reason is simple: the government had managed the traffic good and also they had taken the necessary steps on time…

According to me, what exactly is needed in Mumbai to improve the traffic conditions are as follows:-

Ÿ Infrastructure is really the need of the hour… More flyovers, skywalks, dedicated bus lanes, Metro rail system, better local train systems, etc. I agree that government had already sanctioned 50 skywalks to be built in the city including in Thane and Kalyan, also the work for 2 Metro routes had already started but Mumbai doesn’t only need 2 Metro routes and 50 skywalks but lot more than that… Why can’t we think of building the Metro network across the city including the suburbs like Thane, Navi Mumbai, etc? If Delhi Metro is taking their routes to NOIDA and Ghaziabad, why can’t we replicate such a system in our city?

Ÿ The second step needed is better and timely execution of the ongoing projects. Projects should not cross their allotted deadlines. Project delays also cause lot of chaos and even till the time they keep going they worsen the traffic condition of the area. If people working in the private companies can match their deadlines, why can’t people working in these government project?

Ÿ More public-private partnerships are required in developing the necessary infrastructure. Private / Corporate involvement is necessary since those are the people, who know how to execute any project in a better way and in less time too.

More such steps could be taken, which may actually prove effective in improving the traffic condition of our beloved city - Mumbai.

IPL: Cricket ka Karmayudh

2008-04-19T15:47:00.008+05:30

Yesterday was the day, when the IPL (Indian Premier League) finally started…

Since long time, I’ve been reading, hearing and watching lot of news and gossips related to this “IPL: Cricket ka Karmayudh”… A lot had been said and written about the big moolah involved in this… From the very first day, people had been questioning the Twenty20 format of the game and also its effect on the original format of the game, that is, Test Matches… Even some analyst, commentators and ex-players have also commented that Indian players were not able to perform up to the mark because of the hype and commitments of up-coming IPL…

Personally speaking, somehow I’m very optimistic towards this IPL thing; although I don’t have the same views and regards for its counterpart ICL (Indian Cricket League, owned & started by Essel Group). My reasons for this optimism may differ from others; but everyone has its own reason to believe in something, so am I…

Few reasons, why I’m optimist and looking forward towards this tournament are:-

· Twenty20 is a shorter format of the game which will easily get over in 3 hours, so more & more people will be interested in watching this game, without affecting their busy schedules. The entertainment factor involved in these games may bring more people closer to the game.

· The IPL had started the Club format in Cricket, on the similar lines of English Premier League; which in turn will be a good thing for promoting and developing the domestic as well as the international cricket. This will make our game of cricket, Global.

· In IPL, it’s necessary for a team to have 7 Indian players and 4 foreign players; hence this is extremely beneficial to our domestic players who weren’t able to find a place in the Indian Team. Even the ex-players, who are no longer part of the Indian team, will find a place in the IPL teams like Sunil Joshi, etc.

· The players will get to learn about the cross country cultures and also will get an opportunity to learn from seniors Icon players.

· Last but not the least, the much talked-about moolah which is involved in IPL will definitely make the cricketers richer and may also prove beneficial for the game of cricket in our country, in terms of infrastructure, coaching standards, etc.

Even the normal citizen of India will be benefited since they will be able to see the live matches at very cheap rates; as the owners of some of these teams like Shah Rukh Khan are selling the tickets of Eden Gardens, Kolkata at prices as low as Rs. 100/-, cause they are looking at quantity rather than quality.

One important point which I missed is that IPL is also beneficial to Indian Actors and Actresses, since they get hefty amount of money (more than what they usually get for doing 1 movie) and that too, just for dancing in 1-2 videos like Hrithik Roshan, who featured in the music video of Mumbai Indians Team. While in some cases, they just have to attend their Team’s (the team which hired him/her) matches or their press conferences like Akshay Kumar for his association with the Delhi Daredevils Team…

I would like to Congratulate the BCCI, IPL Committee and especially Mr. Lalit Modi for planning and organizing such a fantastic tournament, which will make the whole nation crazy in days to come…

I also liked the video “Cricket ka Karmayudh” which came on Television… Even the other advertisements made for IPL are good but the best one is the one which says “Manu-Ranjan ka baap kab aayega?”

Although I missed the fabulous opening ceremony of the tournament and also the Innings of my favorite team of IPL - Kolkata Knight Riders but then too I’m looking forward to watch an exciting tournament for next 44 days of my life…

In yesterday’s match, I liked the placard of one of the spectator saying, “I‘m here to watch the girls dancing. And not for Cricket”. Thoughts like these show that the traditional game of cricket, a game which is a Religion in the country like ours, is changing… And changing may be for its betterment…

My favorite team had already won their match and what about your team ???

Blogathon India

2008-04-18T15:56:00.016+05:30

(click on image for official site)

Blogathon means a combination of Blog and Marathon, where bloggers across

India

will blog throughout the week (starting Sunday 20^th April) on the given topics.

The topics for Blogathon India are:-

Infrastructure: Sunday, 20th April 2008
How can we improve the traffic condition in our city?

Politics: Monday, 21st April 2008
How do we change the focus of politics from caste/religion to grassroot issues?

Entertainment: Tuesday, 22nd April 2008
Does Bollywood overshadow regional cinema in India?

Media: Wednesday, 23rd April 2008
Why are Indian news broadcast channels not as mature as their International counterparts?

Gender: Thursday, 24th April 2008
What are the challenges that society faces in accepting the concept of alternate sexuality? How can we address them?

Sport: Friday, 25th April 2008
Are ‘media’ and ‘commercial interests’ in cricket the only reason that are killing other sports in India?

To participate in Blogathon India, all we have to do is choose the topic/s we’re going to blog about, do it on that particular day & then add these Technorati tags to our posts blogathonindia, blogathonindia1

So get, set and start blogging in Blogathon India !!!

Trip to Shirdi & Shani Shinganapur...

2008-02-28T20:08:00.008+05:30

On Friday 9^th February, I went to Shirdi and Shani Shinganapur…

Trip to Shirdi was special to me for 3 reasons: Firstly, I’ve never been to Shirdi. Secondly, since our last Trip to Lonavala I’ve not been to anywhere outside Mumbai, so I was sort of bore with my daily routine and definitely needed a break… Lastly and most importantly, it was the first trip with my team members…

One day suddenly, Hemant and Nishant came up with the idea of going to Shirdi… Few of us agreed to go with them. So, we decided to invite all our team members (both present & ex team members) and I sent the mail invitation to all of them, for our Trip to Shirdi but finally only eight of us (Hemant, Nishant, Pankaj, Pavan, Sumant, Siddhant, Vikas and me) opted for coming on this memorable trip…

On Friday midnight, we left Mumbai and the journey began with fultoo masti & fun… The special attraction of the night was Sumant and his stories of Mumbai, Gujarat, etc… Those stories kept us awake almost the whole night and along with laughter, it brought stomach ache too…

Next morning, one of the most difficult tasks for us was to wake up Sumant… At one point, we decided to let him sleep till the time we comeback from the temple. It wouldn’t be fair if I don’t mention Siddhant’s words here “Yeh sahi hai:- khaya, piya, pakaya aur ab so raha hai… (He is great, he ate, drank, talked and now he is sleeping…)”

Anyways finally he woke up and we did the Darshan (prayers) in the Shirdi Temple… I also liked the museum inside the temple which showcases the photos, portraits of the Sai Baba and various things used by Him…

Later on our way to Shani Shinganapur, we enjoyed the fresh Ganne ka Juice (Sugarcane’s Juice)… It was something which I was witnessing for the first time in my life, that is, Ganne ka Juice taken out by a Kohlu ka Baail (An Ox tied to a lever which is generally used for taking out juices and oils).

For visiting Shani Shinganapur temple, there is a custom that all the male devotees have to first bathe and then wear only a dhoti in order to do the Puja (offering prayers) there, as women are not allowed to do Puja there…

Initially I was a bit uneasy with the idea of wearing only a dhoti but it felt superb after trying something different and that too a dhoti … Actually Siddhant helped me in wearing it in the typical style hence it was looking better…

Later we went to Trimbakeshwar Temple, Nasik; we reached there approximately after 10 minutes of closing time of the temple. Hence we weren’t lucky enough to visit that temple; so only options available to us were to click photographs and do shopping outside the market and we took the advantage of both these options…

On our way back to Mumbai, we halted at Sanskriti Resort for dinner; the setting there was of a typical Marathi Village… We all chose to eat their specialty, the Marathi Thali… The food was delicious and also it tastes yummy, when you are actually eating something for the first time in the day…

Finally we reached back Mumbai around 4 a.m. in the morning…

Before concluding this post, I would also like to mention about few people without whom this trip wouldn’t have been such wonderful: Vikas Bhai who was the trip manager and also took care of the finance department, Pavan for his funny one liner’s, Pankaj who didn’t sleep for more than 1 hour on the whole trip which took approximately 30 hours… And also others who made this trip a memorable one for me…

The Poha Party

2008-02-26T14:34:00.017+05:30

The Poha Party - it wasn’t the usual party which we people generally have but it was something different...

Friday 22^nd February, 2008, Ankur sent a formal mail inviting all of us to his place for this party … What I really liked in that mail was its subject line, which said “1 saal puraana vaada kal poora karna hai…” Actually last year, he promised us that soon we’ll get a chance to eat poha cooked by him...

Next day, almost all the invitees, who were expected there, reached on time… Although the party delayed by 1 hour since the dish wasn’t ready but it was definitely worth waiting…

At last, the delicious poha was ready to eat and we enjoyed it a lot… Everyone asked Ankur to cook poha atleast once in a week…
But guys, party wasn’t over yet, Ankur had one more dish in-store for us – Halwa.

After eating the poha, he immediately started cooking Suji / Rava ka Halwa for us, in which Bhavana too helped him out but then too all the credit goes only to Ankur. The halwa too was very delicious…

The people who enjoyed these delicious dishes on a Saturday evening were Ankit, Bhavana, Mayank, Mohit, Niraj, Sakshi and me. And now after viewing the pics, guys don’t be jealous of us…

PS: All my female readers, if you want to learn “how to cook Poha”, then please contact Ankur and I’m sure he’ll mail his poha.txt file to all of you...

An encounter with "Bollywood Ka Boss"

2008-02-11T13:55:00.000+05:30

In October 2007, I went to give the written test for a Bollywood quiz show on Filmy Channel, “Bollywood Ka Boss”…

The selection process started almost 4 months back when I sent a SMS to some special number and later got 9 questions, one after the another (did I mention that I got all the answers correct).

After few weeks, the organizers decided a cut-off and called approximately 9000 people from across India, to write the test at 16 test centers…

I reached the venue, i.e. Rang Sharda Auditorium, Bandra around 4:30 in the evening. There were already 500-600 people waiting to get the entry, I too waited outside for few minutes before they started the entry process…

In the meantime, I observed few fellow participants; the participant list included everyone from teenagers to senior citizens, from house makers to professionals like me. Some people came there, to support their children while some couples brought their kids along with them. I also listened to the conversations amongst few of them...

While standing outside, some were tensed while some were excited, by the thought of clearing the written test then try their luck and knowledge for the huge prize associated with the title “Bollywood Ka Boss”. Sorry, I forgot to mention that the prize money for the winner is Rs. 50 Lakhs; yes you heard it right its 50 Lakhs…

While standing outside, I saw one gentlemen taking out his laptop, the other guy with him was taking out the Reliance Data Card while the third one was just trying to remember the names of some of the Filmi websites. As soon the laptop started, the thinking man came up the idea to search on indiafm.com while other one suggested some other names. But the gentleman operating the machine opened Wikipedia.org and started searching something. I was simply amused to see such fantastic use of technology…

Looking around, I found people revising something from their registers and notebooks; I still can’t believe that people prepared notes for this contest. Even some people were reading Filmi magazines and newspapers like Screen…

People were also busy in discussing the cut-off scores, which would have decided one’s candidature for the written test and also about the pattern of the written test, which was yet to take place…

Once the entry was open, the mob was on fire. I’m using the word “mob” since everyone was so tired waiting outside and at the same time also excited, eager and in a hurry to get in that we all behaved like a mob… During this entry process, someone just asked the question, “Who was the actress in Hunterwali???” Few people tried hard remembering the name of the actress while few made wild guesses. One of the guys searched his book and was disappointed that he had wasted hundreds of rupee by buying that book… (FYI: Nadia was the actress in Hunterwali)…

While standing in the queue, one of the gentlemen gave an offer to the volunteers that if they allow him to enter then he’ll give them Rupees Fifty Thousand out of the prize money of Rupees Fifty Lakhs, which he’ll be winning soon…

After struggling for more than an hour, I finally got the entry into the auditorium. The scene inside the audi was no different from outside; here too, people who got the entry at the starting, were shouting at the volunteers and the organizers, everyone was asking the same set of questions: “What time the test will start?”, “What’s the pattern of the test?”, “How long will the test continue?”, “Where’s the washroom?” and the most common one was “Will the test be conducted today itself?”

Meanwhile, the guy sitting beside me shouted a slogan several times, “Filmy flop hai, Star Plus top hai…” (Filmy is a flop channel while Star Plus is at the top). Different people were shouting different kind of slogans…

Finally Boman Irani, who is the host of the show, entered the auditorium and then all those who were shouting, again started shouting but this time, in his praise. Few called him “Lucky Singh” while others called him “Dr. Asthana”…

After Boman left, the test finally started and I too completed it before time since I knew the answers of only, half of the questions. I knew that I’ll not be selected since it had been proved that there exist more ardent fans of Bollywood than me...

My best wishes to each and every participant of the show and I hope that this show becomes a HIT !!!

The 53rd Annual Filmfare Awards: Nominations

2008-02-06T15:11:00.000+05:30

The following are the nominees of the 53^rd Annual Filmfare Awards and the ones which are in bold font are my personal choices for this year awards…

BEST FILM
Chak De! India
Guru
Jab We Met
Om Shanti Om
Taare Zameen Par

BEST DIRECTOR
Aamir Khan (Taare Zameen Par)
Anurag Basu (Life... In A Metro)
Farah Khan (Om Shanti Om)
Imtiaz Ali (Jab We Met)
Mani Ratnam (Guru)
Shimit Amin (Chak De! India)

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE (MALE)
Abhishek Bachchan (Guru)
Akshay Kumar (Namastey London)
Darsheel Safary (Taare Zameen Par)
Shahrukh Khan (Chak De! India)
Shahrukh Khan (Om Shanti Om)
Shahid Kapoor (Jab We Met)

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE (FEMALE)
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (Guru)
Deepika Padukone (Om Shanti Om)
Kareena Kapoor (Jab We Met)
Madhuri Dixit (Aaja Nachle)
Rani Mukerji (Laaga Chunari Mein Daag)
Vidya Balan (Bhool Bhulaiyaa)

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE (MALE)
Aamir Khan (Taare Zameen Par)
Anil Kapoor (Welcome)
Irrfan Khan (Life in a... Metro)
Mithun Chakraborty (Guru)
Shreyas Talpade (Om Shanti Om)

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE (FEMALE)
Konkona Sen Sharma (Life in a... Metro)
Konkona Sen Sharma (Laaga Chunari Mein Daag)
Rani Mukerji (Saawariya)
Shilpa Shukla (Chak De! India)
Tisca Chopra (Taare Zameen Par)

BEST MUSIC
A R Rahman (Guru)
Monty Sharma (Saawariya)
Pritam (Jab We Met)
Pritam (Life in a... Metro)
Vishal-Shekhar (Om Shanti Om)

BEST LYRICS
Gulzar (Tere Nina - Guru)
Javed Akhtar (Main Agar Kahoon - Om Shanti Om)
Prasoon Joshi (Maa - Taare Zameen Par)
Sameer (Jab Se Tere Naina - Saawariya)
Vishal Dadlani (Aankhon Mein Teri - Om Shanti Om)

BEST PLAYBACK SINGER (MALE)
A R Rahman (Tere Bina - Guru)
K K (Aankhon Mein Teri - Om Shanti Om)
Shaan (Jab Se Tere Naina - Saawariya)
Sonu Nigam (Main Agar Kahoon - Om Shanti Om)
Sukhawinder Singh (Chak De - Chak De! India)

BEST PLAYBACK SINGER (FEMALE)
Alisha Chinai (It's Rocking - Kya Love Story Hai)
Shreya Ghosal (Barso Re - Guru)
Shreya Ghosal (Yeh Ishq Hai - Jab We Met)
Sunidhi Chauhan (Sajanaji Vari Vari - Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd.)
Sunidhi Chauhan (Aaja Nachle - Aaja Nachle)

PS: What are your choices this year do let me know...

Source: Bollywood Hungama

Indian Stock Markets: Still A Good Investment Opportunity

2008-01-25T11:14:00.001+05:30

Markets crashed & markets bounced back, a bit… But still the impact of the blood bath, which took place on the Dalal Street, continuously for 2 days, can be seen on the faces of the investors, traders, arbitragers and also the markets watchers…

Some people have lost not only thousands or lakhs but crores of rupees… It’s sad that market had fallen so badly and lot of people including me, have lost their hard earned money but for me it’s part-n-parcel of life… Some of us might not invest from now onwards and may also have to bear the cost of that mayhem for their entire life…

Everytime when the markets crash, we hear all sort of news like people mortgaging their assets, becoming bankrupts or even committing suicides… I do not doubt the authenticity of these news items but according to me, most of the people who face such crisis are not the actual investors… And they are actually day traders, Futures & Options (F&O) segment players or arbitrators, who end-up losing such huge amounts of money because of their greed to earn more and earn fast …

People who think that stock market is a place where one can make quick money are generally wrong, those peoples are the ones who actually suffer the most in these crashes… I’ve no doubt that F&O segment presents a wonderful opportunity to earn money faster than the normal investment; but for that one should be aware of all the risks involved with F&O trading and also he/she should have a good knowledge about the technicals and fundamentals of these stock markets…

In the short span of my investment career, I’ve been lucky / unlucky to see 2 such market crashes, after which people were startled and stumped. Personally speaking, it had been a great learning experience for me… It taught me, how to be cautious when everyone around the corner is bullish on the markets and also how to book profits at regular intervals, so as to have some liquidity… Although till date, I had not followed the second point by myself but I plan to do so in the near future...

For me, the stock market represents a very good opportunity to multiply my savings… I’m a firm believer that if one invests logically in equities then he/she will definitely get better returns than any other mode of investment, whether it’s Mutual Funds, NSC, PPF, Fixed Deposits, Bonds, etc.

Udayan Mukherjee of CNBC fame wrote in one of his articles, "Lessons from January 2008" on moneycontrol.com, “You are happy to put money in a bank FD and then wait for one full year to collect that measly 8%, aren't you? Then why does the stock market need to give you 20% every month?”

As experts suggest, I too believe that these crashes are excellent buying opportunities for a long term investor; it gives a chance to enter the market as well as to average out your portfolios… According to my personal experience, buying bluechips or large caps stocks is a good idea at such dips since they recover faster than the mid caps and the small caps, and by any chance don’t buy penny stocks at such times…

And one thing is clear, I still believe in the Indian Markets. Whenever these experts or our Finance Minister says that the long term investors shouldn’t be worried because the fundamentals of the markets haven’t changed, I agree to them… Indian economy was, is and will grow at the rate of more than 8% per annum, the corporate will continue to deliver better results quarter by quarter and hence our markets will remain good place to invest and earn better returns…

In short,

India

will continue to be a terrific story for years to come…

PS: The above mentioned content are my personal views and may vary according to the markets...

Two Years of ... ...

2007-11-07T14:42:00.000+05:30

Sunday 28^th October’07, we again had a party after a long-long time…

We never had parties without reasons (just kidding, we don’t need reasons for parties instead we only need venues), so we had one reason for this one too: - We all will be completing two years in our company on 7^th November, 2007. Hence, there should be a party…

Frankly speaking, this party wasn’t to celebrate the two year stay but this was to celebrate two years of knowing each other and two years of our Friendship…

The initiative or the idea for the party was suggested by Bhavana; she suggested that we should have a party before Diwali as most of us won’t be there in Mumbai on the Anniversary day, that is, on Wednesday 7^th Novemeber’07… Instead of postponing further, Niraj & I decided to have the party on Sunday else there wasn’t a day, for next two months, on which everyone was free… (You know, these days how busy we all are???)

Any guesses about the venue this time?

What “Pop-Tates”… No, this time it wasn’t the Pop-Tates (PT)…

The venue for this special party was “Happy Singh (HS)”, it’s a sister concern of Pop-Tates and is just next to it… The difference between the two is that HS serves only the Indian cuisine and waiting time is zero…

So the party began with our usual masti & bakar over the drinks… The bakar was in full flow for more than three hours… In middle of all this, we were joined by our special guest from Japan, Narayanan (this was also a reason to have party on that day since he was also in town...)

Just like our every party, one special bakar happened in this too… Atleast it was special for Ankur and me, we got 19 & 18 out of 20 respectively for our decency level… Actually it started when Niraj, in his words, “wanted to expose me in front of all the ladies…” Then I asked both of them present there, to rate me for my decency between 1 and 10, 1 being the lowest… To my surprise, I got 9 out of 10 from both Sakshi & Bhavana while Ankur got 10 from Sakshi & 9 from Bhavana… Although there is no competition with anyone but then I’m happy to get 9 on an average… (Point to remember: Anyone who is interested in giving me more than 9 marks is welcome…)

Later we had dinner and the lot of masti… We surely missed our other batchmates (Anshul Sharma, Rakhi, Rohit & Tammy), who all were here last year when we celebrated our 1st Anniversary…

I was Happy in Happy Singh… I mean, WE all were Happy in Happy Singh…

PS: Today is our 2nd Anniversary, for which we had the party… Congratz to all my Batchmates for acquiring atleast 2+ years of IT experience… And Thanks to them for being such good Frndz...

Political Marketing

2007-10-12T15:04:00.000+05:30

I’m back from the state of hibernation, which lasted for more than two months and now onwards I’ll try to write more frequently…

Last month, Mumbai celebrated the Ganpati Festival. Actually this festival was celebrated all over the country but it has a special place in the lives and hearts of all Mumbaikars…

Ganpati Festival - is celebrated in one of the most grandiose manner’s in Mumbai… What I’ve felt in the past two years was that many people actually wait for the whole year, just for Ganpati to return back… People celebrate this festival at their own homes or in common pandals…

One may find lot of Ganpati pandals of all sizes and statures, everywhere… These pandals are open for common public and organized by a committee / team of people. They manage everything by the help of the sponsorship and also the donation they get from various political parties, residents and shopkeepers of the adjoining area and also from the devotees…

Outside most of these pandals you’ll find a big board or hoarding with the name of the Ganpati’s Pandal name, etc. Out of which, most of them will also have the name, flag and the photos of the leaders of these ~~communalist~~ secular political parties… I truly don’t understand that what Bal Thackeray, Udbhav Thackeray, Raj Thackeray or for that matter any other local leader’s photo is doing on these Ganpati pandal’s hoarding??? Is this a festival or some political gathering???

According to Marketing Principles, if some individual or company sponsors some event then they may like to see their name and logo on the hoardings… I agree that if we can have the name of “Reliance Communication” or “Airtel” on any Ganpati pandal hoarding, then why not the name of any political party; they have also donated money from their accounts but is it justified to cover the 75-80% of the hoarding by sponsor related details? Some of these hoardings have photos of these leaders, which are bigger than actual size of that leader… I’ve even seen few hoardings where these photos covered almost 90% of the area and the Ganpati picture was merely covering 5-7% of the hoarding… Till date, I may not have seen many events or such festivals but from what I’ve seen, I always found that not more than 10-20% of the total space of the main hoardings or backdrops was covered by the sponsors…

During this festive season if you go out anywhere in Mumbai (I’m not talking about any other city because I’ve not see the Ganpati Festival there), you’ll always find lot of such hoardings on roadside and actually they help you to locate the Ganpati pandals… When I came to Mumbai first time, it was Ganpati time; initially I thought that some sort of elections must be round the corner that’s why so many political hoardings are present everywhere… But on close observation, I realized that these were not the political hoardings but they were the Ganpati Pandals’ hoardings… This is what I call “Political Marketing…”

INDIA - World Twenty20 Champions...

2007-09-26T15:19:00.000+05:30

Congratulations to Team INDIA for becoming the first ever World Twenty20 Champions !!!

Three Cheers for Team INDIA
Hip Hip Hurray...
Hip Hip Hurray...
Hip Hip Hurray...

Chak De

INDIA !!!

Thought For The Day – “Virginity”

2007-07-26T21:20:00.000+05:30

Few days ago, read Thought For The Day – “Virginity” on Sakshi’s Blog; It stated that:
“Virginity is not dignity…not security…or not a sign of purity…It is simply lack of opportunity…”

First of all let’s see that what does this word “Virginity” means for a common man: according to Wikipedia and Dictionary.com, “Virginity means the state or condition of being pure.”

These days, lots of people have been influenced by the Western Culture and they may think Virginity as a lack of opportunity but I definitely don’t believe in this logic… Some people might even say “Virginity? It’s a big issue over a small tissue...”

I don’t see any benefits in losing one’s virginity because some people think it as a happening thing or because they believe that one hasn’t got an opportunity to do so… For me, it’s one’s own life and one should decide accordingly, what they should do and shouldn’t decide on the basis of what others think…

The coin always has two sides: One group will say it’s good to experience such a thing like losing virginity but the other side will always be firm in saying that one should wait for the right time i.e. till their marriage…

But I would like to mention one thing, especially for the people who aren’t Virgins themselves that kindly don’t expect your partners to be Virgins when you are not one… I simply mean to say that people who have slept or continue sleeping with others shouldn’t expect that their spouses to be pure and also that they shouldn’t slept with others… Generally we find men sleeping with other women but at the same time they can’t tolerate their wives having a relationship with someone else…

At the moment, Virginity is not that big issue, to have a debate or fight over it but then too it’s an issue related to oneself, one’s culture, traditions and belief’s… I’m not saying that Virginity is good or bad; but I’m just trying to make a point that before taking any step, do think on your own and not on the fact that what others have to say about you…

Tryst with Nature: Trip to Lonavala

2007-07-05T18:19:00.000+05:30

Mumbai witnessed the heaviest rainfall of the season on 30^th June; everyone compared it with the rainfall which Mumbaikars’ witnessed on 26^th July’05. But don’t worry; I was far away from this trouble.

When the people around the city were being troubled by those rains, we were enjoying them in the Ghats of Lonavala… I know it’s bad to put things like this; but actually I’m happy about the fact that I wasn’t in Mumbai else I wouldn’t have got anything to eat, had to live without electricity for the whole day and would have faced many other such problems… Anyways jokes apart, I felt bad too for the people who faced such difficulties due to the rains…

After six long months of Alibaug Trip, we had another trip… Trip to Lonavala. This time Tammy was our event manager and I really liked the last line of his invitation cum registration mail “NOTE: No end time cancellations will be entertained :D”.

Eight of us (Anshul S, Bhavana, Rakhi, Niraj, Nishant, Smita, Tammy & I) packed our bags and were filled with loads of excitement & enthusiasm to enjoy the trip. This time we managed to leave on time…

I forgot to mentioned, on this trip Ms. Rakhi appointed me as her PA… (For all those who don’t know the meaning of PA, it means Personal Assistant.) My duty was to open the car door, hold her umbrella and take care of her bag… But till date I haven’t received the remuneration for the same… All the readers, kindly request her to pay my wages soon… :)

I was surprised to know that Niraj had made Bread – Omlette for everyone before coming and it was really very delicious… He also brought other readymade snacks but no one seemed interested in them… After coming back from the trip, Tammy and I decided that the title “Husband Material” suits Niraj perfectly…

On the way to our destination, we halted at Food Plaza to have some refreshments and also clicked a few snaps there… As we moved ahead, waterfalls were visible everywhere… After reaching Lonavala, we went up to the gates of the Amby Valley City…

On our way back from there, we stopped at one of the points; it was damn cold there… Heavy rains were accompanied by chilly and gusty winds, so we all were shivering from cold… All of us stood in a circle, with all the five umbrellas in such a position so that they cover each one of us; it was a similar scene, where Greek warriors cover themselves with their Shields so as to protect themselves from the enemies’ arrows… Later after having tea and bhajiya, we (only the guys) even danced in the rain… It was fabulous dancing there and then I understood the meaning of the saying, “Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain...”

From there we moved to another point. Actually we never asked the names of these points since we were busy in enjoying… That place was something sort of a dam or a reservoir (there was a wall, which was around 15 feet high and water was falling from it), you may call it anything but it was amazing… We had a lovely time under the waterfall… We sat on the river side, had some cold drink there…;) Later we climbed to the top of that wall and came down, that too in one piece. Then came the most memorable moment of the trip… We stood in the space between that wall and falling water… Trying to get there was also an exercise; the force of water which I felt on my body wasn’t less than 100 or 200 KgF (Kilogram Force). Once I went inside, I never wanted to come out; when we shouted something there, we were able to hear to our own resonating voice… Actually it’s impossible to describe the feelings which I had then… It was an experience of the lifetime…

After this we moved towards Bushy Dam, but our hard luck due to rains we weren’t able to enjoy much there… Even though our own Fantasy Man & Fantasy Woman went up to the dam and came back. Then we came back to Lonavala and had lunch there… There only we came to know that it’s raining heavily in Mumbai and water had logged in many parts of the city…

Finally we left Lonavala around 6 in the evening, with lot of memories to carry along, for the lifetime…

Some Random Facts (About Me)...

2007-06-29T19:53:00.000+05:30

Sakshi tagged me on “Some Random Facts (About Me)”. This is the first I’ve been tagged and I actually thought for some time before writing these random things about me… To me, this appears to be one of the toughest tags ever… Anyways, I will try my best to tell new things about me… So here come 8 random facts about me

I'm a Dreamer by nature...
Always wanted to join Indian Army as an officer; tried once but wasn’t successful… :(
My mother and aunt like the “Pulaav” cooked by me…
I keep the movie tickets after watching the movie. On some of them, I’ve also written the name of the friends’ with whom I watched that movie…
I am passionate about Bollywood and its movies. Can talk and discuss about them continuously for hours. Due to this my friends here also call me “Glamour Lala”… ;)
Apart from Blogging, I’ve also written two short stories…
The compliment which I get most often is “Looks are deceptive”… Although it’s full of sarcasm but I take this as a compliment… ;)
Usually like beautiful girls who have a hair cut and wear spects, but exceptions are always there… ;)

Rules of the game:

Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
People who are tagged, write a blog post about their own 8 random things, and post these rules.
At the end of your post you need to tag 8 people and include their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment and tell them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.
If you fail to do this within eight hours, you will not reach Third Series or attain your most precious goals for at least two more lifetimes :)

As per the rules of the game, I tag the following 8 bloggers: I.D., Poddy Bhaiya, Narayanan, Neha, Niraj, Rohit, Shruti & Tammy.

Amitabh Bachchan in a Sasur-Bahu saga?

2007-06-13T18:31:00.000+05:30

Yesterday Mumbai Mirror posted a story by the title, “Amitabh Bachchan in a sasur-bahu saga?” That article was mainly about that Senior Bachchan may soon return to TV and act in a non-fiction or in some fiction serial. As the title suggests he may be doing some Sasur-Bahu saga or some type of K-serial, as we call them in our daily life.

I always appreciate the experimental movies & the exceptional characters which Mr. Bachchan plays in his movies. I liked most of the characters which he played in the recent times whether it was Sexy Sam in KANK to the one he played in Cheeni Kum. I’m even looking forward to see him as Gabbar in RGV ki Sholay, but somehow I’m not very excited about the fact that he will acting in TV serials. KBC was altogether a different story and I believe that people will accept him again if he hosts another show. But I was just thinking that whether we are ready to see Mr. Bachchan as the male version of our own Baa…???

I told my viewpoint to Nishant that at least actors like Mr. Bachchan should not start doing Sasur-Bahu sagas; doing movies like Nishabd or Cheeni Kum is fine but please no daily sops. Nishant presented a different view that people who are older than us may think opposite to me and will say that daily sops will do but not movies like Nishabd, etc which are against our Indian Culture. I agreed to his point meanwhile Tammy asked us to imagine that Mr. Bachchan will look while romancing Baa on TV.

Although Tammy wanted us to imagine a scene where both the characters are hugging each other; while I imagined a scene where Mr. Bachchan and Baa are seated on a bench in a park. They both are asking each other’s age and Baa replies “I’m 200+” and AB replies back, “very young…”(The scene from the movie Cheeni Kum). This was the third angle to my point whether Mr. Bachchan should act on TV or not.

Only time will tell that whether we’re lucky or unlucky to see Amitabh Bachchan again on TV. Whether we want to see him on TV varies from person to person and it will depend on various factors. But one of the important factors may be the number of zeroes on the cheque which will be offered to Senior Bachchan by his producers.

Don’t forget to tell me whether you are excited about viewing Mr. Amitabh Bachchan in the daily sops or not???

Who says “Marriages are made in Heaven” ???

2007-06-06T20:02:00.000+05:30

Who says “Marriages are made in Heaven” ??? I don’t say so, atleast after what I’ve seen yesterday…

Yesterday I went to a doctor’s clinic for some test, don’t worry I’m perfectly fine and it was a just a routine checkup.

The clinic was crowded with patients except for the place where an elderly uncle (let say Mr. X) and I was sitting. Sofa for three was occupied by only two of us, lucky we. Not much time passed when this comfort of ours was snatched away from us. Another uncle (let say Mr. Y) came with a lady (let say Ms. Z) and both of them fitted themselves in the space which was initially meant for only one.

Let me tell you few of my observations about my sofa mates:
Mr. X: By his looks he wasn’t seem to be a very serious patient. May be he was also there just for a routine checkup.
Mr. Y: He seemed to be a serious patient by the way he walked and talked initially.
Ms. Z: On seeing her one can easily make out that she was definitely not Mr. Y’s wife and she was her daughter which I only came to know later. She was not very young; I mean not the college going types. If not married then she was of the perfect age for marriage.

After having some conversation with Mr. Y, Ms. Z went out for making some call. Just then Mr. X approached Mr. Y with a question, “Are you a Marwari?” (I think he must have guessed this by the accent in which they were talking). The timing of that question was so perfect that it seemed that he was just waiting for the lady to go out.

"Yes, I’m a Marwari”, replied Mr. Y
“I’m too a Marwari from Dausa, Rajasthan and what about you?” asked Mr. X
“I’m from Jaipur” replied Mr. Y in an unpleasant tone.

Initially Mr. Y doesn’t seem to be interested in the conversation but slowly and steadily the chit-chat between the two became friendlier and even interesting for me… They continued by asking about each other’s profession, residence in Mumbai and family backgrounds, etc. But in the whole discussion Mr. X was more curious to know about the other one, that time I thought some people have this nature but later I got to know the main reason behind it.

Finally Mr. X came to the main point when he started enquiring about Ms. Z. By this time both of them have had become so friendly that Mr. Y never thought for a second before telling everything about his daughter to a stranger. I’m not jotting down the full conversation here; but the major points which came out from that conversation were: she was unmarried, doing her post-graduation and expert in cooking ad household works.

A thought stroked my mind immediately, “What else one can look in a bride???”

After listening to all the qualities of her, Mr. X told Mr. Y that his nephew may be a perfect groom for her daughter, if he is looking for one. He further told that his nephew is a Software Engineer and is also pretty handsome in his looks. After that Mr. Y added that these days’ software people get handsome salaries. At that point of time, I too thought that even my chances are bright in the marriage market. Anyways jokes apart, by then Mr. Y had already shown his interest in Mr. X’s nephew.

The exchange of numbers has also taken place by the time Ms. Z re-entered the room. Then Mr. Y introduced her to his new friend or should I say that one of her’s future in-law. By this time nurse called me and I went inside the doctor’s cabin. When I came back all three of them were still busy in giggling and talking. I think by that time they must have also fixed the date and venue for the first meeting of both the families.

Now I want to add in the quotation that “Marriages are made in Heaven but sometime in Doctor’s Clinic too…”

Weekend Diaries...

2007-06-04T18:25:00.000+05:30

The weekend which ended yesterday night was a hectic one; actually I prefer to call it ‘hectic’, since I wasn’t able to sleep for durations which I generally sleep on weekends. On both the days I woke up approximately at six thirty in the morning. Normally on weekends I wake up at noon, when our maid comes and then too I ask my roomies, “Why does she come so early on the weekends?”

Saturday morning I played Cricket after almost a gap of 2 years. It’s always fun to play with your friends but this was the first time when I was playing with my office colleagues. Although our team lost the match; but I won the competition, which was between Mayank and me that who will remain not out. Playing was fun but the body pain which is still there is really bad…

Evening was the time to come out of our den’s and enjoy again, so we decided to watch the movie Cheeni Kum. The show at the nearest theatre was house full so went to another theatre and watched Shootout At Lokhandwala (For my international readers: Don’t worry this was not an encounter or a terrorist attack video but it’s a latest Bollywood movie). This movie was based on a true incident and could be watched once just to gain some knowledge about that particular incident. My ratings: 1.5 /5

We decided to go to Siddhivinayak Temple on Sunday morning. It was a nice experience to visit the temple early in the morning although we were not on schedule as per our own plans. While coming back home, we finalized the plans for the evening: another movie, this time our original choice, that is, Cheeni Kum.

The show was at 10:30 in the night, so in the mean time I went to the coaching and to one of my relatives place. Later went to Goregaon to watch Cheeni Kum. Although the masses may not be able to relate with this movie but the so called ‘multiplex audience’ will definitely enjoy watching it. An experimental cinema sought of a movie with good performance from all the artistes, especially the girl who played the character of ‘Sexy’. My ratings for this movie: 3.5/5

Signing off for now as I’m unable to write more due to the muscle pain…

So the morale of the story is: Play cricket regularly or else don’t play.

Bloggers P-A-R-T-Y

2007-05-23T19:48:00.000+05:30

Melody and Sakshi, the Bombay bloggers and one of the best hosts in town, are again hosting a blog party on June 9 for anyone interested who happens to be in the city.

Be there — Bloggers also have the rights to Party !!!

Rohit Bhai ki Bidaai... Ruqsat'07

2007-05-03T19:05:00.000+05:30

Rohit had to fly to Japan on Saturday 21^st April, 2007. Therefore he came back from Indore on Sunday 15^th April, 2007 to treat us all @ PopTates. (Oops!!! We did it again, Niraj and I actually planned that this time we’ll not ask anyone for any venue options…) Apart from the usual bakar, the main attractions of that party were: A Poem by Nishant and the Q&A session initiated by our own fantasy man, Tammy (the details of that session will be posted soon).

As per the plan, Niraj wrote an awesome mail to everyone (all our batchmates who are still in Mumbai). The subject of the mail was “Let's Say Good Bye or rather All the best to Rohit....” that mail was hilarious and senti both at the same time… Check out the full details of that Page 3 Party at Niraj’s Blog (Don’t get confused, Page 3 Party means our party, we’re no less than celebrities. If you guys have any doubts about it, then come to us and we’ll explain how???)

On the day of the party, in the morning we (Nishant, Niraj & I) decided that we all should give some memories to Rohit, in the form of a gift and a card… Even though it wasn’t possible to make all the arrangements that day, so we decided that we’ll surprise him at the airport. Later after several mail chains and conversation, we finally decided that we should give him an iPod, a coffee mug and a card. We scribbled all over the card and also on the coffee mug…

We gave these gifts to Rohit on Friday night… He too became a little senti but didn’t cry… (If anyone of you has doubts about it then we’ve the video of the same too…)

The D day came; surprisingly most of us were present at the tea stall on time… We reached International Airport and there too our usual masti and bakar was on… At some moments Aunty started crying but Bhavana, Rakhi and even all of us tried to console her… And finally the moment came when Rohit finally said Good Bye to each of us and went to Japan…

Rohit, we all once again wish you all the best for your bright future !!!

What's your Gender ???

2007-04-30T14:30:00.000+05:30

Found an interesting link on the India Uncut Blog, it tells the gender of the author by using some algorithm.

That algorithm using my blog entries, declared me as a Male. And I didn’t only tried it through only one article but got the same result for four different articles (Don’t forget I’m a Software Engineer, without doing Unit Testing, we (s/w people) don’t even trust the code written by ourselves. So how could I've trusted someone else's algorithm...???)

So, What’s your Gender ???

Good News: No OBC Quota for current academic session

2007-04-23T16:00:00.000+05:30

The Supreme Court of India has finally given its verdict that No OBC Quota for current academic session.

A good news for all the people who were opposing the OBC Quota Bill...

Read the full news @ ibnlive.com

TV but No TV

2007-04-18T15:46:00.000+05:30

Yesterday on reaching home when I switched on the TV, I found that nothing was comingon it. Somehow I got an intuition that our vendor may have removed the connection. And yes, it was true (how can someone do this and that too without informing or warning us). Actually from last few months, he never came to collect the rent of the cable connection or he may have come when we’re not at home. Neither he came nor we paid it on our own (don’t forget we’re bachelors’ and we’re supposed to do such nasty things.)

Actually it’s an incident which has both Bad and Good news attached to it. It’s a bad news because we’ll not be able to view TV for few days. Good news since now we’ll have lot of time to do other things apart from just watching the idiot box.

Now the situation is that we have a TV at our place but it’s of no use. We may only use it as a showpiece, placed in one corner of our hall cum living room cum bedroom cum blah-blah-blah... So it’s a situation similar to one, when someone adds you as his friend in the messenger and you reply back “Thanks but No Thanks.” So that’s why I’ve chosen the title as “TV but No TV.”

Bachelor's Pad

2007-04-16T18:00:00.000+05:30

“Are you all bachelors?” “Sorry, bachelors are not allowed to live in this society.” “No accommodation available for bachelors, only family people allowed here.”

Those were few questions and answers which were fired on us (Ankur, Tanmeet & I) from almost all the estate agents/brokers and also from the security guards of the various societies at Goregaon.

After trying for more than an hour, we found a broker who gave us the asurity of getting us a flat. That broker took us to a distant location (a society near the Filmcity), when we refused to see that flat (since it was very far from our office) and asked him to get us a flat near our office, then he told us, "Sorry sir. Those societies have made a decision that no flats on rent to the bachelors. But you don't worry, sir, give me some more time and I’ll arrange for some flat near to your office..."

Another one gave us the reason that the bachelors living in the society have parties at their place, play loud music and create nuisance. They also drink and vomit in the open space and sometimes they bring girls with them which all are unacceptable to the families living there.

So that's how it is. No country for the refugees of Bangladesh. No food for starving people in Somalia. No trees for migrating Siberian birds. And yes, no houses for poor bachelors like us.

You won’t believe but even of the broker suggested us that we should get married or try to have a live-in relationship with someone from the opposite gender. He even gave us an example where two call center employees started living together because they were unable to find a decent flat to live. What is this, on one hand people here oppose live-in relationships and on the other hand directly or indirectly they themselves are encouraging this.

Anyways, we have learnt our lesson: Bachelor’s can’t enjoy all the civil rights which others may… Like they can’t live in a decent society, they can’t party at home, they are not allowed alone in the disc or else they have to pay a hefty sum for the entry…

There are many other problems related to bachelorhood but here I’ve only discussed those which we’ve faced till date, in finding a bachelor’s pad…

Koi Deewana Kehta Hai... (Video)

2007-04-12T18:38:00.000+05:30

Watch the video of poem Koi Deewana Kehta Hai...

Should I or shouldn't I ???

2007-04-12T17:50:00.000+05:30

From a long time, I've been thinking that whether I should put Google AdSense on my blog or not?

Everything has its own pros and cons. If I put these ads on my blog, it has its advantages but it will also affect the look and feel of my page.

So everyone please help me in deciding whether I should put them or not. You may give your opinion by clicking YES or NO. (As suggested by Narayanan)

Do vote as it matters to me and it will not take much of your time. Thanks a lot !!!

Are we ready for it ???

2007-04-04T18:14:00.000+05:30

Believe it or not - We’ll soon be able to watch the adult content on TV, yes you read it correctly, I’m also talking about viewing Adult Content (including A or U/A rated stuff) on our own TVs’ but only from 11 p.m. in the night to 5 a.m. in the morning. Government is planning to bring a Broadcast Bill in the winter session, after which TV channels will be allowed to show the adult stuff between the specific timings.

It may be a good news for some while others may be worried that what effect will it leave on our children? In the land of Kama Sutra, the debate over the topic had already begun. Don’t be surprised to see activists opposing this bill, when we can oppose sex education in schools then how can we allow this? People might argue that it will have a bad effect on our children, but I just want to ask them that is this only medium where adult content will be available? How are they planning to stop the children from watching Porn Videos, MMSs’, accessing Internets or reading adult stuffs?

Anyways there is still enough time left and lots of drama to be seen, before Government finalizes this bill and we see the outcome of it.

Click here to read The Economic Times report.

And please don't forget to tell me that are you in favor of this bill or you'll oppose it? But the question, for which I'm unable to find an answer is that, Are we ready for it ???

Koi Deewana Kehta hai...

2007-04-03T16:06:00.000+05:30

This is one of my favorite poems, written by a very famous poet Kumar Vishwas.

कोई दीवाना कहता है कोई पागल समझता है

मगर धरती की बेचैनी को बस बादल समझता है,

मैं तुझसे दूर कैसा हुँ तू मुझसे दूर कैसी है

ये मेरा दिल समझता है या तेरा दिल समझता है !!!

समुँदर पीर का अंदर है लेकिन रो नहीं सकता

ये आसुँ प्यार का मोती है इसको खो नहीं सकता ,

मेरी चाहत को दुल्हन तू बना लेना मगर सुन ले

जो मेरा हो नहीं पाया वो तेरा हो नहीं सकता !!!

मुहब्बत एक एहसानों की पावन सी कहानी है

कभी कबीरा दीवाना था कभी मीरा दीवानी है,

यहाँ सब लोग कहते है मेरी आँखों में आसूँ हैं

जो तू समझे तो मोती है जो न समझे तो पानी है !!!

भ्रमर कोई कुमुदनी पर मचल बैठा तो हँगामा

हमारे दिल में कोई ख्वाब पला बैठा तो हँगामा,

अभी तक डूब कर सुनते थे हम किस्सा मुहब्बत का

मैं किस्से को हक़ीक़त में बदल बैठा तो हँगामा !!!

PS: Thanks to AD, Neha and Niraj for helping me in changing the font of this poem to Hindi.

Happy New Year

2007-04-02T16:03:00.000+05:30

This is not that I’m trying to make you all fool after April Fools’ Day;

Wishing you and your family a very Happy New Fiscal Year !!!

Can you believe it ???

2007-04-02T14:48:00.000+05:30

Read a post by Onida and came to know about this strange truth: A saloon owner in Jharkhand had offered discounts to his customers, for every run which Dhoni would have made in the World Cup.

Like him a thought struck my mind too that what discounts or schemes could have been offered on the performances’ of other players. But seriously I don’t want my mind to think these crap ideas. Really people here in India treat cricketers as God.

Read out the article and you’ll find out what I’m talking about and why I’m talking about it… A haircutting rebate on every Dhoni run

Disappointment

2007-03-27T12:20:00.000+05:30

India’s end in the race to the World Cup ’07 had been a major setback for the Indian cricket fans. But this doesn’t mean that we should start burning their homes or we should start troubling their family members. I don’t know if anyone will agree to me if I say that I always believe that our players try to give their best on the field. Although they performed very badly this time.

Not only us but the players also know that they were unable to match the whole country’s expectations. Believe me they all must be very disappointed too with their performance.

Indiatimes reports:

When Tendulkar cried

ANTIGUA, March 26: Team India is set to return home but most players have yet to recover from the sight of Sachin Tendulkar openly shedding tears after the loss to Sri Lanka on Friday.

Tendulkar had tears streaming down his cheeks after Munaf Patel was caught on the squareleg fence by Chaminda Vaas. It brought to end India's disastrous chase of Sri Lanka's reasonable target and more or less shut them out of the 2007 World Cup.

Tendulkar, who had contributed nothing to India's chase earlier in the day, being clean bowled by Dilhara Fernando, first tried to control his emotions but unable to do so, locked himself in the bathroom lest he made a spectacle of self in the public.

A couple of junior cricketers in the side were so taken aback by the sight that they themselves started to cry.

It's little secret that Tendulkar desperately wanted to do well in this World Cup and be a part of the winning team. The "little master" in his glorious career more or less achieved everything he set out to do, but his World Cup dream is unlikely to be realized now.

Young fast bowler S Sreesanth's emotions got better of him as he too broke into tears. He was consoled by close friend Robin Utthapa, who on his part was so nervous and upset that he kept drinking cups of coffee. Sreesanth just couldn't stop crying and kept saying: "Why God did this to us?"

While Tendulkar and Sreesanth gave vent to their emotions, fast bowler Zaheer Khan broke a chair in the dressing room. After making a spectacular comeback to the Indian team, Zaheer's colleagues said that he was desperate to make amends from the last World Cup final where he let his adrenalin get better of him.

Rahul Dravid, by all accounts, was himself tearful while Sourav Ganguly, behind his glasses, sat stunned on his seat.

Coach Greg Chappell had given up on the team during the match. As soon as Mahendra Singh Dhoni was out, going back and finding himself plumb in front to Muthiah Muralitharan, he got up and switched off the television.

As far as he was concerned, there was little else to see.

His vision and work of past 18 months had come crashing down in a matter of a week.

The Pursuit of Happyness

2007-03-26T18:20:00.002+05:30

In last two weekends, I’ve seen four movies: 300, Just Married, The Namesake and The Pursuit of Happyness. Each of them was a fantastic movie in itself and was from a different genre. Although I liked all the four movies but The Pursuit of Happyness will be favorite amongst them. One suggestion to all the movie lovers, it's an awesome movie don't miss it.

The Pursuit of Happyness is a story about a man who always tries to keep his family and himself happy. I was touched by the scene where Chris Gardener (Will Smith) gets a job and he was so happy that he didn’t knew what to do and starts crying. That particular scene reminded me the day when I got the job… although I didn’t have to face so much difficulty while searching for a job but the joy was the same on getting it…

At first instance I didn’t believed that I had got the job. I was thrilled with excitement and just wanted to convey that good news to everyone I knew… On hearing that news my mother started crying and even I had tears in my eyes.

One principle on which I always believe in and which was also conveyed in the movie is: One should always try his best and never get disheartened in anything, whatever the conditions may be.

What kind of Blogger am I ???

2007-03-26T17:30:00.000+05:30

You Are a Life Blogger!!!

Your blog is the story of your life - a living diary.
If it happens, you blog it. And make it as entertaining as possible.

What Kind of Blogger Are You?

Trip poori FILMY thi...

2007-03-16T20:32:00.000+05:30

Not the whole trip (Holi vacation, in which I went to Allahabad then Ghaziabad and finally to Rajasthan) but a part of it was really a FILMY one, that is, Trip to Rajasthan.

My journey started from Ghaziabad Station on 12th morning. At New Delhi station, I was just going through the reservation chart and I found that again my reservation had been upgraded to AC 2 Tier from 3rd AC. This was not the first time that this happened to me but last year too I was privileged to have the same experience in the Rajdhani. Actually it feels wonderful to be traveling in a higher class when one had paid the fare of the lower one (please don’t forget I’m a Baniya).

Anyways I reached Gangapur City @ 1:30 in the afternoon. Then I called my friends (Rai & Piyush) to inform them that I’ve reached here and then only I came to know they were caught by the TC at the station because they didn’t had the Platform Tickets. By God’s grace, Achin was also with them, who with some of his contacts, was able to help them in getting out of that trouble.

After clicking few pics and waiting for an hour arrived my Bua’s train. We were almost ready to board the taxi when Bua remembered that she had forgotten the Prasad’s (sweets meant for the Kaila Devi) bag in the train itself. Three of us (my Fufaji, Coolie and me) ran towards the train. Till the time we’ve reached that coach, the train started speeding. We weren’t able to do anything except for just standing there and see the train speeding in front of us. It was a situation similar to what we frequently see in our Bollywood movies.

But the drama wasn’t over; suddenly I saw that our Coolie boarded the moving train and was assuring my Fufaji that he’ll bring that bag back. Fufaji was shouting the coach and the berth number to him and now we had a ray of hope that he’ll go to the next station and will bring the bag back to us. We all waited for him on the platform, approximately for 15-20 minutes and then decided to continue our journey towards Kaila Devi.

Once again, we were about to sit in the taxi, when two people came and asked us that do we have any problem? We said yes and told them the whole story. They told us that they are Railway officials and they will try their best to help us. Fufaji went with them to the Station Masters Room and from there they called to the next station Shri Mahavir Ji, where train had a stoppage. They even asked the station officials to delay the train (Bayana Jaipur Passenger) coming from there to Gangapur City by few minutes, so that the Coolie may come back by that train itself. As a backup plan, they even called up the second station (Bayana) officials to check in the train for our bag. Meanwhile we got a confirmation from Shri Mahavir Ji station that the passenger train coming from there, left 4 minutes after our train left from that station towards Bayana station. We all were really thankful to them for all their efforts and help. And then we all were fully optimistic about getting back the bag soon.

But as we all know that life always don’t shapes as we want it to be. The same happened in our case too. After 50 odd minutes, came back our Coolie with nothing in his hand. He told us that he didn’t found anything in that coach. We were disappointed once again. Minutes later, Station Master told us that even the railway personals at the Bayana station also didn’t find anything in the train. Hopelessness was again the expression on the faces of everyone, present inside the Station Masters room. Then Fufaji and station master enquired the Coolie that whether he checked properly or not? Then we came to know that by mistake he had checked 2nd AC instead of AC 3 Tier and the railway guy at the Bayana station had checked S1 coach instead of AS1 coach.

A ray of hope was there again that the bag should still be at its place, since it was an AC coach. The Railway Officials now dialed Bharatpur Station’s number; they explained the details and requested them to check for the bag. My Fufaji had already told them that they shouldn’t worry further as they have already tried their best and much more than expected. But the Station Master said that now it’s an ego thing for them and they will find the bag in any case. Anyways after thanking all of them, we finally left for Kaila Devi. Before leaving we gave our mobile numbers’ to the Station Master and also to the Coolie, he promised that if the bag comes here then he’ll bring it to our Dharamshala.

As it happens in most of the stories, there is a twist in our tale too. We may not have traveled more than 10 kilometers also before which we got the news that our bag had been found at the Bharatpur Station. A goods train coming here will be bringing our bag back, around 1730 hours.

In the evening, that Coolie brought the bag to our Dharamshala in Kaila Devi. Bua and Fufaji were able to offer those sweets to the Deviji next morning.

In all these Filmy events, we learnt few things: we should not panic at any moment and try to think out of the box too. The officials or people in authority are also helpful at times; actually we have a misconception that these people will never ever help anyone. But Humanity still exists in this world…

Reservations: The Ant & Grasshopper Story

2007-03-15T13:30:00.000+05:30

Old Version...

The Ant Works Hard In the Withering Heat All Summer Long Building His House And Laying Up Supplies for The Winter. The Grasshopper Thinks The Ant's A Fool And Laughs & Dances & Plays The Summer Away. Come Winter, The Ant Is Warm And Well Fed. The Grasshopper Has No Food Or Shelter So He Dies Out In The Cold.

Modern Version...

The Ant Works Hard In The Withering Heat All Summer Long, Building His House And Laying Up Supplies For The Winter. The Grasshopper Thinks The Ant's A Fool And Laughs & Dances & Plays The Summer Away.

Come Winter, The Shivering Grasshopper Calls A Press Conference And Demands To Know Why The Ant Should Be Allowed To Be Warm And Well Fed While Others Are Cold And Starving.

NDTV, BBC, CNN Show Up To Provide Pictures Of The Shivering Grasshopper Next To A Video Of The Ant In His Comfortable Home With A Table Filled With Food. The World Is Stunned By The Sharp Contrast. How Can This Be That This Poor Grasshopper Is Allowed To Suffer So?

Arundhati Roy Stages A Demonstration In Front Of The Ant's House. Medha Patkar Goes On A Fast Along With Other Grasshoppers Demanding That Grasshoppers Be Relocated To Warmer Climates During Winter. Amnesty International And Koffi Annan Criticize The Indian Government For Not Upholding The Fundamental Rights Of The Grasshopper. The Internet Is Flooded With Online Petitions Seeking Support To The Grasshopper (Many Promising Heaven And Everlasting Peace For Prompt Support As Against The Wrath Of God For Non-Compliance). Opposition MP's Stage A Walkout

Left Parties Call For "Bharat Bandh" In West Bengal And Kerala Demanding A Judicial Enquiry.

CPM In Kerala Immediately Passes A Law Preventing Ants From Working Hard In The Heat So As To Bring About Equality Of Poverty Among Ants And Grasshoppers.

Lalu Prasad Allocates One Free Coach To Grasshoppers On All Indian Railway Trains, Aptly Named As The 'Grasshopper Rath'.

Finally, The Judicial Committee Drafts The Prevention Of Terrorism Against Grasshoppers Act [POTAGA], With Effect From The Beginning Of The Winter.

Arjun Singh Makes Special Reservation For Grass Hopper In Educational Insititutions & In Govt Services.

The Ant Is Fined For Failing To Comply With POTAGA And, Having Nothing Left To Pay His Retroactive Taxes, His Home Is Confiscated By The Government And Handed Over To The Grasshopper In A Ceremony Covered By NDTV.

Arundhati Roy Calls It "A Triumph Of Justice".

Lalu Calls It 'Socialistic Justice'.

Cpm Calls It The "Revolutionary Resurgence Of The Downtrodden".

Koffi Annan Invites The Grasshopper To Address The UN General Assembly.

Many Years Later...

The Ant Has Since Migrated To The Us And Set Up A Multi Billion Dollar Company In Silicon Valley. 100s Of Grasshoppers Still Die Of Starvation Despite Reservation Somewhere In India.

Happy HOLI !!!

2007-03-02T14:14:00.000+05:30

Wishing you all a Splashing HOLI

Enjoy the Festival of Colors...

Enjoy this Holi with variety of rang bhang & Gulal and dher sare Gujhiya.....

Hope that your life is as colourful as possible...

Because these colours of life makes us what we are.....

Bura Na Mano… Holi Hai ….!!!

Just Enjoy This Holi with lotta colors......

Colors...

2007-03-02T12:17:00.000+05:30

A video with lot of meaning in it... We may have not felt the importance of colors in our life but believe me they are an integral part of our lives...

Awesome video !!!

The 52nd Filmfare Awards: Winners

2007-02-27T11:34:00.000+05:30

The 52nd Filmfare Awards were announced… Kajol and Hrithik won the Best Actress and Best Actor award at the Filmfare Awards…

For more info check out this.

Even though i don't agree with Hrithik getting the Best Actors Award instead of Aamir.

PS: If your opinion also differs from the jury like mine on any of the winners, then do let me know...

Source: IndiaFM.com

The 52nd Filmfare Awards: Nominations

2007-02-08T16:35:00.000+05:30

The following are the nominations for the 52nd Filmfare Awards and the nominees which are in bold font are my personal choices for these awards.

Best Film
Dhoom 2
Don
Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna
Krrish
Lage Raho Munnabhai
Rang De Basanti

Best Director
Karan Johar (Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna)
Rakesh Roshan (Krrish)
Rakeysh Mehra (Rang De Basanti)
Rajkumar Hirani (Lage Raho Munnabhai)
Sanjay Gadhvi (Dhoom 2)
Vishal Bhardwaj (Omkara)

Best Actor in a Leading Role (Male)
Aamir Khan (Rang De Basanti)
Hrithik Roshan (Dhoom 2)
Hrithik Roshan (Krrish)
Sanjay Dutt (Lage Raho Munnabhai)
Shahrukh Khan (Don)
Shahrukh Khan (Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna)

Best Actor in a Leading Role (Female)
Aishwarya Rai (Dhoom 2)
Bipasha Basu (Corporate)
Kajol (Fanaa)
Kareena Kapoor (Omkara)
Rani Mukerji (Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male)
Abhishek Bachchan (Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna)
Amitabh Bachchan (Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna)
John Abraham (Baabul)
Kunal Kapoor (Rang De Basanti)
Siddharth (Rang De Basanti)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Female)
Kirron Kher (Rang De Basanti)
Konkona Sen Sharma (Omkara)
Priety Zinta (Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna)
Rekha (Krrish)
Soha Ali Khan (Rang De Basanti)

Best Actor in a Comic Role
Arshad Warsi (Lage Raho Munnabhai)
Chunkey Pandey (Apna Sapna Money Money)
Paresh Rawal (Phir Hera Pheri)
Sharman Joshi (Golmaal)
Tusshar Kapoor (Golmaal)

Best Actor in a Negative Role
Boman Irani (Lage Raho Munnabhai)
Emraan Hashmi (Gangster)
John Abraham (Zinda)
Naseeruddin Shah (Krrish)
Saif Ali Khan (Omkara)

Best Music
A R Rahman (Rang De Basanti)
Himesh Reshammiya (Aksar)
Jatin-Lalit (Fanaa)
Pritam (Dhoom 2)
Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy (Don)
Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy (Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna)

Best Lyrics
Gulzar (Beedi Jalaile - Omkara)
Javed Akhtar (Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna - Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna)
Javed Akhtar (Mitwa - Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna)
Prasoon Joshi (Chand Sifarish - Fanaa)
Prasoon Joshi (Rubaroo - Rang De Basanti)

Best Playback (Male)
Atif Aslam (Tere Bin - Bas Ek Pal)
Himesh Reshammiya (Jhalak Dikhlaja - Aksar)
Shaan & Kailash Kher (Chand Shifarish - Fanaa)
Sonu Nigaam (Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna - Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna)
Zubin (Ya Ali - Gangster)

Best Playback (Female)
Alka Yagnik (Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna - Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna)
Shreya Ghoshal (Pal Pal - Lage Raho Munnabhai)
Sunidhi Chauhan (Aa Aa Aashiqui Mein - 36 China Town)
Sunidhi Chauhan (Beedi Jalaile - Omkara)
Sunidhi Chauhan (Soniye - Aksar)

PS: If your opinion differs from mine on any of the choices, then do let me know...

Source: IndiaFM.com

Road Ahead...

2007-02-06T15:00:00.000+05:30

It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare;
It is because we do not dare that they are difficult.
- Seneca

Keeping in mind the above quotation, I’ve already started the preparations for CAT ’07, from last Saturday. I’ve joined IMS Andheri West Center for the guidance which is required.

One thing I always believe in is that, there are people who crack CAT every year and no alien comes & crack for them. So, if someone is able to crack the CAT exam, then I should also be able to crack it. I know a lot of hard work will be required for it and yes, I’m ready to put in that.

I also want to wish, all the best to all my friends who appeared for CAT this year or who will be appearing next year, for getting admissions in their dream colleges.

On this positive note, I’m just hoping to bell the CAT and to get an admission in one of the best B-Schools of India next year.

Smile :)

2007-02-06T12:49:00.000+05:30

Smiling is infectious, You catch it like the flu,
When someone smiled at me today, I started smiling too...

I passed around the corner, and someone saw my grin,
When he smiled I realized, I'd passed it to him...

I thought about that smile, then I realized its worth,
A single smile just like mine, could travel the earth...

So, if you feel a smile begin, don't leave it undetected,
Let's start an epidemic quick, and get the world infected !!!

Source: Anonymous

New features added to my blog...

2007-02-02T18:43:00.000+05:30

Today, i've added anew feature to my blog, "Movies I likes this Year..." As the name suggests, this section will feature the names of the movies which I really liked this year.

Similarly, some time back I added another featureto my blog, "B'Day Birds 4 this Month..." which was an attempt from my side to wish birthday to my near and dear ones.

You may find both these new features on the left-hand sidebar of my blog page.

First Birthday

2007-01-29T18:32:00.000+05:30

Day before yesterday, that is January 27th, 2007 was my First Birthday of the Second Innings...

On this occasion, I especially wanted to thank God. I would also like to say thanks to my family and friends; who were always there when I needed them and their suport. And special thanks to all the Doctors and Nurses who had taken care of me.

Silver Jubilee...

2007-01-19T19:10:00.000+05:30

Hey don't worry I'm not writing about any movie which had completed silver jubilee nor about any couple completing their silver marriage aniversary.

Today, I turned 25. On this occasion, especially wanted to thank God because last year on the same day I requested Him that please show me my 25th birthday and here I am... I would also like to say thanks to my family and friends; who were always there when I needed them and their suport.

Other details to follow soon...

GURU

2007-01-17T16:56:00.001+05:30

GURU – The story of a Villager, Visionary and a Winner

Gurukant Desai, a character whose life moved similarly as to the iconic Dhirubhai Ambani. According to the Mani Ratnam, director of this awesome movie, the story and the character Guru are totally fictitious and are not inspired from the life of legendary Dhirubhai but are inspired from the lives of various great men.

The movie starts from the time, when Guru was only sixteen or seventeen years of age but continues till he becomes eighty. Depicting the whole life of a person in 2.5 hours is also a very difficult task for the director. But three cheers to him, he did it again and that too perfectly. I don’t know which of his creations would be ranked as the best but I’m sure that Guru would also be amongst one of the best ones.

Not only the director but the entire team of guru had done a marvelous job. The cinematography by Rajiv Menon is brilliant, the screenplay by Mani Ratnam and editing by Sreekar Prasad are too good. Even the music by Rehman and the background score are too good.

The protagonist of the movie is Abhishek Bachchan. After watching the movie, you may belief that both of them that is, the role and Abhishek was made for each other. He did such a fantastic job that it looks like it was a tailor made role for him, even though every actor would love to do such type of roles. He overall did a stupendous acting. I think that Guru is his best performance till date. The movie is solely his and he carries it well.

Apart from Abhishek, every other actor too did their job very well but the Mithun Da was the best amongst the others. It seemed that he is back in Bollywood after a long time. Even Madhavan looked very young and handsome in this movie.

There are many scenes which I liked but the best ones were the final court room scene, the emotional hospital scene with his long time friend and associate, Manoj Joshi and the scene at the Mithun’s house, where Madhavan gives his opinion about Guru.

Finally, this is a movie which everyone must watch. And if you are missing this one then surely you are missing one of the best movies made in the Bollywood in the recent times.

The best thing which I liked in the story or about Guru is the passion which he had for making his dreams true. And one thing which Guru always believed and told people was:

“if you don’t dream
you will be stuck to your village
all your life”