Eye Pee Elle Bandwagon!

(Well the reason of that 'Oh-so-clever' title is that I wanted to write something before procrastination gripped me again!)

IPL vs IPL

Indian Premier League vs Indian Political League that is! This is a season of plenty for news channels with both elections and IPL demanding their fare share of airtime. Star News has tried to achieve a not-so-subtle balance by doing a show which they have named - not so

 imaginatively - 'Deepak vs Siddharth'. So Deepak Chaurasia uses a cricket lingo to get you the political news of the day while Siddharth uses , obviously  cricket lingo to give the report of IPL matches! Pretty interesting format I would say.

Run of the underdog

I have put an Adidas poster on my desk featuring Michael Ballack and it reads "If your team

 wins, wear your Team shirt. If your team loses, wear your Team shirt." I haven't switched loyalty after poor performance of Deccan Chargers last year. So this time it was almost heart breaking to see our team neglected, almost outcast, ruled out without even being given a chance, before their first match with Knight Riders. Most of the news channels had not cared to update the Chargers logo in their programming, most of the ads had DC at the fringes and there are hardly any sponsors for this team! 

I was pissed off most by NDTV, which had become a mouthpiece of Knight Riders and before our first match their entire coverage was revolving around KR and SRK with hardly even a mention of DC. Now with KR in deep mess, NDTV must have learnt that it is not good to keep all your eggs in one basket!

Cheer-less leaders

The cheerleaders selected by Knight Riders in NDTV Imagine show 'Knights and Angels' could not perform in South Africa because authorities there forced organizers to use local talent. But the girls were atleast given a free ride to SA by SRK and they got to watch few KR matches too. Ofcourse KR performance would not have brought any cheer to anyone!

Silly moment of Shylockness

I am a very understanding person. Really. I know having a commerical, er strategic break after 10 overs makes a case of 'attempt to murder' the game but they had to do something to recover the increased costs this year. But a break after 6 overs? Definitely it would have put even Shylock to shame!

And I bet the total number of times commentators have spotted 'Citi moment of Success' during a game must be more than the total moments of success put together by entire Citi group during last year and half. Unlike that dreaded 'DLF Maximum' I have still not been able to understand why and how a moment gets its name linked to the Citigroup. BTW, does DLF really think, renaming a sixer will fool people in buying more of their flats?

Adding the ads

IPL has found special liking from infrastructure sector it seems! If the IPL's title sponsor is DLF, last year's both finalists have cement companies as their title sponsors. Chennai Superkings is obviously owned by India Cements, Rajasthan Royals has got UltraTech Cement as theirs!

Shilpa Shetty's team has HDFC Standard Life, Puma and TCS (!!!) apart from 5 others. They don't mention Real (the new Miditech owned GEC) surprisingly.  

MSD is doing most commercials these days, so it comes as no surprise that his team CSK has maximum number of sponsors: 15 and that includes 'Official Face-Care partner Nivea'.

KKR has 11 sponsors including brands like Nokia, Sprite, TAG Heuer, Star Plus and Reebok.

King's XI Punjab have heavy weight Emirates as Title Sponsor along with nine more, including Gulf Oil. 

Delhi Daredevils have a very impressive sponsor list which includes GMR, Hero Honda, Coca Cola, Kingfisher Airlines and Adidas among others. They have got a rich media presence too with Fever 104 FM and some Network 18 channels and sites. 

Mumbai Indians has 12 with RIL, MasterCard, Idea, Pepsi and Adidas being the noteworthy names. 

Deccan Chargers being the poor church mouse have to be content with Puma, Pepsi, Kingfisher, McDowell's, Big 92.7 FM and Odyssey (chain of book stores). 

I found no mention of sponsors on RCB site. Maybe it is below Vijay Mallya's dignity to accept that others are sponsoring his team ;)

The least score

What is the minimum amount you have used a credit card for? I bet you can't beat my score. 12. Yes. 10+2=12. No zeroes missing. Just good old 12!

I purchased the DC anthem on their site and it cost me Rs. 12 which had to be paid by card. And to be honest, it is not even worth that money!

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No ink for my finger :(

I don't know whose story is more 'heartbreaking'. Mine or Manish's.

In Feb 'Jaago Re' had organized a camp with Employee Club of my company to help employees submit forms for getting themselves enrolled in voter lists and getting voter ID cards. Everyone downloaded forms, filled them and put them in drop boxes which were then collected by 'Jaago Re' volunteers.

Manish is my colleague and like many others in my company he too had applied for a voter ID card and getting his name included in the electoral rolls in his constituency.

I already have a voter ID card made in Lucknow and I wanted to just get my name removed from Lucknow East constituency and get it added here.

Well, nobody heard anymore on this issue from Employee Club (they already had their ass covered from the beginning!) or from Jaago Re. Everyone just kept on asking each other about what is happening and hoping that even if they don't get their cards, their names are included in the final voter list.

Neither happened.

PRP (Chiranjeevi's newly launched Praja Rajyam Party) members did a door-to-door campaign and got voter ID cards made for everyone and their names included in voter list. They visited Manish's apartment too and he proudly told them that he has applied through Jaago Re in his office.

Everyone in his apartment got a card and name in voter list, except Manish. My name was removed from Lucknow East and not added here :(

So after being part of a vote awareness campaign, cajoling complete strangers to go and vote 'sensibly', creating Once-In-5-Years offer posters all I did was to enjoy a free holiday watching news channels talking to two people in the line at polling booth and grandly declaring this is what voters want.

Now tell me who is unluckier.

(PS: I am not blaming Jaago Re for anything, they are doing wonderful job and I can understand the challenges they face.)

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Once in 5 Years Offer. Don't Miss!!

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An Idli Brain (Part 2) : Idli Accessories

For me the best Idli flavor is that of unaided Idli. Pure virgin Idli shorn of the gimmicks of different chutneys or powders that add something and at the same time take away its unique taste.

If you think you have never experienced this taste, just pick up a straight-off-the-oven Idli. Mind that it should not be soggy. It should be fluffy and soft and steaming hot.

Talking of the accessories, first thing that comes to mind is Sambhar. Idli-Sambhar combo is often sold as, well a combo. This means serving a couple of Idlis in a bowl of Sambhar.

I was thinking of making this point in a separate post, but let's take this issue here itself. Sambhar brings out the difference in Tamil Idlis and Telugu Idlis. (I am not much acquainted with Kannada or Malayali Idlis!). All through this and previous posts you have been reading the word 'Fluffy'. Well, this applies to Telugu Idlis only. They are fluffy and can ABSORB the Sambhar. Tamil Idlis are quite stiff in this regard. The liquid doesn't peneterate inside. My colleague Hari, who has worked in Chennai for few years told me the reason. Tamils have this habit of squeezing the Idli in Sambhar before eating, unlike Telugus who dip Idli in Sambhar while eating. Also, I found Tamil Idlis a little wet, and not as soft as Telugu Idlis. (For the record, I ate 'Tamil Idli' in Murugan Idli Shop at Adyar in Chennai which according to Shishir and Sunil is the last word in the world of Idlis!)

Now I have nothing against Tamil food and actually their Sambhar is better than Telugu Sambhar which is quite often sweet. Tamil Sambhar is what I think an ideal Sambhar should be like. Having lots of vegetables and tasting like Sambhar, not like liquified Sambhar powder! The best Telugu Sambhar that I remember eating was in Vishakhapatnam and best Tamil Sambhar was in Mamallapuram.

For me the best Idli accessory is not Sambhar, it is the peanut chutney. Yes the peanut Chutney and not the coconut. I actually don't much like coconut chutney,which to me tastes a little, ummm weak, and hardly able to give any peculiar taste to the main dish. Peanut chuney on the other hand is thicker and stronger. You may disagree, each to a taste of his/her own!

Reddy tells me that in his family they make six varieties of Chutney. I have had three or four at 'Chutneys', a popular Hyderabadi restaurant known for its South Indian vegetarian fare. I liked Ginger Chutney.

I have never tried Karampodi (or Podum) which is a powder often used with or without ghee. Some people like ghee Idli. I haven't tried this as well due to obvious health reasons.

I want to talk about Fried Idli and Button Idli as well, but they are Idli variants and not exactly accessories. I would love to hear more from you about Idlis or anything else about food!

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Mahabalipuram

When Sunil told me that his flat is in Adyar, I couldn't help but accept his offer of making a stopover at his place for that day. Adyar is the place in Chennai which is sort of a gateway to Mahabalipuram (or Mamallapuram as it is locally known). Mahabailipuram is just 60 km from Chennai and the buses going there either start from Adyar or pass through it. Sunil got in touch with his colleague and put me on the 21H to Kelambakkam from where I had to get a connecting bus (568) to Mahabailipuram. It wasn't required since from Adyar you can get direct buses to Mahabalipuram (like 568).

There are two routes for Mamallapuram, you can choose from. Either you can take East Coast Road which overlooks Bay of Bengal and is undoubtedly one of the most scenic drives in the country. Or you can take IT Toll Road (also known as Old Mahabalipuram Road or OMR). For going by ECR, look for buses marked ECR. I had best of both worlds, as I went by OMR and came back by ECR.

It was about 12 and I was extremely hungry when I got down from the bus at Mamallapuram. There are small restaurants near the bus stand serving typical Tamil food, nothing great about these. If you care to look around you may find some other serving different cuisines. This cusine business reminds me of Hampi, where you can get everything from Continental to Thai to French to Israeli to Italian to God-knows-what-not and ofcourse Chinese!

Like Hampi or Kodaikanal, in Mahabalipuram too, you can either choose to walk around the entire place or hire bikes. All the major attractions are in close vicinity and on a pleasant day you can take a stroll. It wasn't too pleasant day as sun was out but I still chose to walk.



First destination was the Shore Temple. It is a UNESCO protected world heritage and rightly deserving too. . While I was there, a group of school children along with their teachers also visited the temple. It was a short visit and they were definitely not interested in a dilapidated stone temple and ran away after making a customary round. The ASI guide and the Bihari guard discussed this event after which the guard discussed his plans to visit his hometown.

The Mahishasur Mardini Cave Temple near the old lighthouse is very popular since it is the highest place in this area and gives an amazing view of the surroundings. You can spot the sea at a distance and the coconut tree capped landscape nearby. The lighthouse completes the scenery! I was specially taken aback by simplistic beauty of lighthouse and this joy was surpassed only by the shock caused by horrible design of new lighthouse at Santhome beach in Chennai.

I didn't mention the carvings on the inner walls of the cave (which is not exactly a cave) because you can see such carvings in many other temples and palaces. At some places you can find carvings on open rocks, just besides the road. Mahabalipuram was an important city during the reign of Chola kings who built all these temples and palaces.

The image of Mahabalipuram is incomplete without Five Rathas. These are 5 buildings of different shapes, sizes and styles supposedly each of a different Pandava (5 brothers in Mahabharata according to Hindu mythology). Each building is carved out of a single stone. In this campus, there is a bull (supposedly Nandi), a lion and an elephant, which is most clicked animal of all. Every tourist poses with this guy. There is a shopping complex, which also houses ticket counter for Five Rathas. Note that your ticket for Shore Temple is also valid here, you don't need to buy another one here. I saw this only after buying the ticket!

Thirukadalmallai temple is a Lord Vishnu temple and it has a golden statue of the God resting, which is perhaps the most amazing idol that I have ever seen. Even if the temple seems a non-descript structure, please do not miss it. Just beside this temple, there are few more smaller temples. Varah Cave temple also has some paintings on the roof, which my guide said is similar to those found in Khajuraho. Actually this old man, supposedly an ASI guide made me poorer by 75 Rs. promising me of showing 10 places, which were hardly there! One of these was a giant spherical rock which is known as Krishna's Butter Ball.


I didn't visit Arjuna's Penance which leaves just the beach. The beach on the left side of Shore Temple is perhaps the best beach I have ever seen. (Coincidentally my interaction with sea has been only on the Eastern Coast of India. Not that I am complaining!) But I visited the beach on the right side of the temple and here I saw the shops selling fried fish on the way to beach. The fish looked so good that for the first time I regretted being vegetarian!

Mahabalipuram is a remarkable place because even though it is so near to Chennai, it has not lost its character and despite being a world famous tourist destination and being flocked by so many foreigners, it is not grossly commercialized. And for a backpacker like me, it was cool and convenient!

Loved it!

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An Idli brain: Part 1

It was in Kodaikanal that I first thought of making an Orkut community dedicated to Idlis. Perhaps it was the air of Nilgiris which brought out the romantic in me and I decided to give my love for Idlis a name which world could reckon with. I love food and for me the greatest creation of God is the tomato but I am not weird like Gopi who wants to have, er, sex with a watermelon!

As the air of Kodaikanal got replaced by air of Hyderabad, the romance fizzled out and the community was never created, but the love persisted.

In my North Indian life in 90s, any South Indian food was a 'special'. My uncle who was an Airforce Officer (no, he wasn't a pilot!) was posted in Secunderabad and during their stay here, my aunty learnt to prepare most of the common stuff like Idli, Dosa, Wada, Sambhar and Rasam (Note my respect for food, all items start with a capital!).
So when they visited us in Allahabad, at times there was a complete "South Indian lunch" comprising Idlis and Plain and Masala Dosas. (After coming here I found that South Indians eat things other than Idli/Dosa and nobody eats Idlis in lunch!)
I hated Sambhar which my sister (who lived with my uncle) adored. So plain dal was prepared for me which I suspected was Sambhar without vegetables!

Dosas found special liking even while eating out. Once when Ma was not there and we were not in mood of cooking, Pa and I had a dosa in a Civil Lines.

But as I have now started caring about health (means eating different kind of junk!) Dosas were replaced by Idlis on my plate. I don't actually remember when I had a dosa last, whereas Idlis are my normal weekday breakfast. And with thick peanut chutney which makes the soft, warm and fluffy idli melt in mouth... ahh bliss!

(Next:Idli accessories)

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Oscar for petty mindedness: M Karunanidhi

"Six crore Tamils are rejoicing over the pinnacle of achievement of this worthy son of Chennai। I join 100 crore Indians in showering flowers of appreciation with pure minds on this scion from a minority community," Karunanidhi said in a statement said." (courtesy IBNLive.com)

In a single statement Karunanidhi dragged Rahman down to a 'Tamil' and a person from 'Minority Community'! Some people will never ever be able to rise above their petty minds.

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Crap comes to mind quickly!

Thanks to OpenLDAP service of my Hyperion installation which chose this day to get corrupted again, I got time to write something! Waise come to think of it, what would happen if software, I mean the code started thinking. A few days ago I had visions of code coming out of system and floating around.

Imagine a System.out.println lurking below the drawer, an InputStream flowing across the gallery, a horrible looking javascript on the desk. Imagine all that terabyte of code just rushing out of the computers and all the storage devices and flowing out in the open!
How would that look...

Heck. There were so many things on my mind to write about, but all I wrote is this crap!

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A cheapskate called T-Series.

I was admiring the innovative cover of the 'Delhi 6' CD. A shiny mirror like surface which 'reflects' the theme of the movie 'A Journey Within'. Very cool, I said.

And then I opened it. No lyrics? Not possible. Open all the folds properly. No more folds? How can this be possible?

If you thought this was ridiculous, read further.

Now that we have settled this issue of missing lyrics, read further. When I ripped the CD of Slumdog Millionaire, the following appeared in my music library. Apart from wrong information about one of the tracks (See track# 9 in below image. It mentions 'Aaj Ki Raat' from 'Don' and also lists the singers of that song!) , the information about other tracks appears in an order, which is completely different from what is listed on the cover. So though the listed track is 'Ringa Ringa', the associated information mentions 'O... Saya' and so on.


This for a Golden Globe winner and Oscar nominated album.

Shame on India's supposedly largest music company!

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U, Me and DYPC: My first movie :)

This is recession time and so I thought of looking for an alternative career and what can be better than my long cherished dream of being a film director! So here is the grand premiere of my debut movie and too an animated film...

(OK, enough of nonsense. I had been planning to make a small video to promote our venture DonateYourPC.in and here it is!) Please give your feedback about the movie and I would love if you could forward it to your friends/colleagues. Yeah it's not exactly a viral :(

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EXCLUSIVE! Satyam changes name and logo

After the sensational letter of Ramalinga Raju, Satyam board met and quickly changed the name and logo of company. Remember you saw it first on this blog!


(For those who don't know, 'Satya' (from which word 'Satyam' is derived( means 'truth' in Hindi and 'asatya' means 'lie'.)

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OkTataByeBye does a MMT with 'Gajodhar'

If anyone had any doubts of what a cult Aamir Khan's rendition of Surya's original outing in 'Ghajini' is turning out to be, the latest viral from OkTataByeBye.com is here to clear all of them!

This is absolutely hilarious stuff and brings back memories (after Ghajini this word has acquired a completely new meaning, isn't it?) of brilliant virals from MakeMyTrip.com and Airtel. And if you are not suffering from any kind of amnesia ('anterograde' or whatever!) you will remember that it was MMT only (another travel and tour related site) which started this trend of virals in India.

Incidentally the OTBB viral has been done by WebChutney.com who had done all the MMT and many other virals.

Watch ALL the WebChutney virals here: http://www.webchutney.com/virals/

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Meet the Super Sleuth: A R A

It's difficult to control my emotions. Afterall finally God has answered our collective prayers and sent us the saviour. The man who will take our intelligence (I am talking about sleuthing, you idiot!) to a whole new level and become the role model of all the CIAs,Mossads,MI6s and RAWs and the nightmare of the likes of CSIS (Chinese Secret Intelligence Service) and ISI!

Ladies and gentlemen, presenting the super detective A R Antulay!

The sleuthing prowess of ARA (As the legends speak of the legendary detective) is not attributed to just his natural genius but also to his affluent political career. Being former Chief Minister of Maharashtra and cabinet minister in various Governments has given him a unique perspective.

And this unique perspective is what sets ARA apart from others. I can just admire his ability to think from terrorists' mind: "Superficially speaking they (terrorists) had no reason to kill Karkare". Now only a cynic will ask them the reasons for killing hundreds others but not the great ARA. He has his guns (pun intended) targetted in right direction.

Greatness of great minds lies in the fact that they don't accept the facts and that they don't 'ignore the facts'. So even though the whole world 'believes' that Karkare died by terrorists' bullets, our mastermind knows better and subtly (he is undercover as a cabinet minister after all!) hints about Karkare's work in Malegaon blasts probe. Only cynics call it a conspiracy theory. You see all the urdu press is talking about same. "It's in media!!!"

And those of you who doubt his secular credentials, shame on you. He has been in Congress all his life, the party that hosts stalwarts like Sajjan Kumar and Arjun Singh. How can he be communal and at his age, don't even say 'Vote Bank Politics'. He is above all this and anyways now that he should be heading towards his new post as IB/RAW chief (to give India much needed intelligence boost!) he doesn't need all this.

Or does He?

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This blog just got an award!

So, I finally decided to 'resiliently' move on. (I guess 'resilience' is the only word more ridiculed than 'dandy' in context of Shivraj Patil!)

On the morning of 27th November (the first morning of the nightmare) I commented on Kanupriya's blog "Thanks ... Not just for the award, but for bringing first and only thing to cheer on this morning!"

Thanks so much Kanupriya :) This is my first and only award for any blog (sniff! sniff!) And coming from my first 'blogger' friend makes it even more special!

Ok, now the rules of the award:

• Put the logo on your blog. (Yeh bhi koi kahne waali baat hai yaar!)
• Link the person who awarded it to you (same as above: Yeh bhi koi...)
• Link the bloggers you are about to honor (hmm.. yeh to kahne waali baat hai :)

And I am very happy to announce my favorite blogs:

Mixed Expressions/Marketing Chit Chat by Kanupriya : (No you cynic, it's not mandatory to give it back to the person who gave you the award!) Kanupriya's both blogs are actually lot of fun. (Specially the second one!)

Overated Outcast: Absolutely cool and funky blog.. one of the funniest stuff on my blogroll and off it!

Manyuscripts: Stamp of professionalism all over it, yet very cool stuff. I love the 'Brants' specially.

Everyday Gyaan by Corinne Rodrigues: The most serene place in text!

Serendipity! Is It? by Priyanshu: He is my former collegemate and flatmate and knowing him personally, I find it amazing that his blog reflects his personality completely :)

Congratulations.. ladies and gentlemen. (You can thank me personally by buying me a Veg. burger. Ok..even bhelpuri would do!)

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Be Votebank. Be Heard

From past 3-4 days, I have sensed anger. Everywhere. Anger which is coupled and matched with helplessness. A feeling of being betrayed and failed by the state.

But everyone is also afraid that all these anger may be diminished in next few months and we will start living in the wait of another attack.

But now is the time, when we must resolve to make our voice heard. Make ourselves counted. In AP, everyone loves Loksatta party but it doesn't win a single seat. Because we, the members of 'civil society' don't go out to vote. In this world's largest democracy, only votebanks are counted, heard and considered. And if we have to be counted and our lives and our views respected we will have to become vote banks.

We will have to go out and vote in coming assembly and then general elections.

And that's why we have started a new online campaign: Be Votebank. Be Heard

Download any of the logos/banners on this blog: http://shabdaarth.blogspot.com/2008/11/blog-post_30.html and put in your blog/site and spread the word. Not only this slogan spread the word about voting but also is a sarcasm on the votebank politics in this country.

You can download the images logos from these links as well:

http://iabhishek.googlepages.com/bvbh1.jpg

http://iabhishek.googlepages.com/bvbh2.jpg

http://iabhishek.googlepages.com/bvbh3.jpg

http://iabhishek.googlepages.com/bvbh_banner.jpg

http://iabhishek.googlepages.com/bvbh_small1.gif

http://iabhishek.googlepages.com/bvbh_small2.png

Let's have more say in this country is governed and let's show these politicians that they can't have us taken for granted and that our lives matter!

Remember: Army and NSG killed those who came by boat. We will have to take care of those who come by Vote!

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Shaken and Stirred

(@Kanupriya I really wanted to write about your wonderful gesture but these dementors are sucking out all my happy memories and feelings.)

It seems like a bad 80s Bollywood movie. Villain's goons smuggle arms and ammunition in Mumbai from one of the shores or docks, in the darkness of night, using torches for signals. And then while he is shown on screen laughing out (villanously!) loud, his henchmen go on a carnage in the city. Killing honest cops, shooting people in crowded places and bombing the landmarks of the city.

Only, it is not.

Just when we thought that we have tired out terrorists with our indifference ('resilience' as media calls it!) to bomb blasts and killings everywhere around us, they shock us with their audacity to wage a war against us. More open and more direct and inflicting a damage that is much more than number of dead bodies. I really can't explain the fear that I felt when I saw the visuals on TV and read TOI headline ('It's war on Mumbai') yesterday morning. All those bomb blasts merely created a sense of disbelief and hopelessness with the Government. This was different.

I don't want to talk anything about politics and politicians (yes, not even Shivraj Patil!) and how the warnings were ignored and how media will forget this after a month. I am really very much tired and shaken to talk about all that now.

How I wish this was a bad movie. At least one could be sure that there is an end to it.

(My deepest tributes to the cops and soldiers who sacrificed their lives, empathy with the families of the victims of this terror strike and heartfelt thanks to all those brave policemen, soldiers and commandos who put their life in line of fire.)

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SCOOP: ICICI and ABN-Amro shake hands?

Yesterday I had a most unusual call. (No, it wasn't from God, since my life is not a page of 'One Night @ Call Center') It started pretty casually.

"Sir, I am calling from ICICI. Do you want a credit card?"

"I already have three ICICI cards. I don't want another!"

"ABN-Amro card?"

"Whaaat?"

"Do you want an ABN-Amro card?"

"Wait a sec. You said you are calling from ICICI."

"Yes. ICICI+ABN-Amro."

I am confused and wary. "No. I don't want any card."

She was equally disinterested. "OK." Click. Call disconnected.

Now what was this? Are ICICI and ABN-Amro doing a Jet Airways-Kingfisher type alliance in their business?

Maybe good for us. Instead of having two bugging calls, we will get just one!

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My Quarter-Life Crisis just got worse!

I remember, it was a mail from Neha, when I first heard this term. I mentioned every single feeling that I was having and I thought 'Wow. It happens to others also. I am not the only jerk out there!'

But then knowing that many others are thinking the same doesn't make any difference to what I am feeling. Right!

In a previous post I told about the quagmire of marriages in which I am caught. It doesn't seem to end. My roomy is going to get engaged on 12th Dec. (No he is not the same flatmate who is going to get married on 6th Dec. He is Ravindra.) Crook, he didn't tell me till eleventh hour. Ankur says that I am idiot that I couldn't read the signs.

And just now I come to know that another close friend (am under 'Oath of Confidentiality' so won't mention her name!) is going to get married on same day!

It seems my worst nightmare is coming true. A perfectly lonely life with all friends either busy with their spouse or out of India and nobody to call to. Already I can hardly call anyone in this city and with she also getting married I am thinking I should switch to an STD only plan (to call home). Worse, sharing a flat with someone I don't know. This may sound childish to you but for me this uncertainty is unnerving.

Wikipedia article on 'Quarter Life Crisis' says "Nobody wants to admit to feeling like a 'loser'; this secrecy may intensify the problem." WTF, I admit. I AM feeling like a loser. There have been days when I kept on asking myself what I am doing with my life, what is my goal, what have I achieved till today (this was easiest to answer: Nothing!).

I had pinned so many hopes on my planned start-up LiveHead.in. I saw that as a goal but don't know what happened I lost faith in it midway and this start-up dream has been stop-down. Don't know if I will ever be able to revive this dream, who knows. (Perhaps that's the reason I want so badly for DYPC to succeed.)

Almost everyone I know is in US, either studying or onsite (some are in Europe also) and I would be lying if I say that I don't want to be there. But I am in this product company and these people had already told me that there would be no onsites, so I can't even hope of going abroad. My relatives ask me when I am going US to which I give them a lame answer 'hamari company nahin bhejti' to which they reply by giving ten examples of son/daughter of some neighbour/relative who was sent onsite twice/thrice/zillion times.

And whenever I go home, my father would say something about my job which would really piss me off. I know he is concerned about me but why the hell can't he appreciate once, what ever I have done. (I know I have done nothing but world doesn't know that yet!) This time it was a tip that I should do MBA. I know everyone does it these days and people say I should do MBA but I don't want to work on excel and powerpoint every single day of my life. I don't want to do MBA and I can't do MS now so what can I do? Nothing! My job doesn't suck and as a matter of fact these days I am doing what I had always wanted to do. But something is lacking somewhere.

It seems I am an emergency case!

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Who will steal my heart?

You come to office and open your mailbox. The first unread mail has a subject: Who will win 's heart? John or Priyanka? Tell me what will your reaction be?

Now, it's not my fault that I share my first name with one of the biggest Bollywood stars these days.

Trust me, for a split nano-second I was like 'WTF! what IS this?'

And then I saw the sender's name.

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Donate Your Old PC For A Good Cause

Would love to see you on the site. Post in your comments/feedback/questions/brickbats here or mail us at contact@donateyourpc.in

(We would we grateful if you spread the word about DYPC. Feel free to copy the image and put on your blog or link to this post!)

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The Circle Of Life.

On 6th Nov, my ex-TCS colleague Prasanna married Ravindra. 

On 6th Dec, my friend and flatmate Ravindra is going to marry Padma.

Padma is name of my recently-married colleague Raghavendra's wife!

(I don't know what happened to me, that I left writing almost completely. Hopefully this short post will break the block!)

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A Tale Of Two Movies (And A Journalistic Test!)

I was curious to hear Rajeev Masand's review of 'Singh is Kinng' on CNN-IBN. Not because I adore Rajeev but because that movie was co-produced by Studio 18 and distributed by Indian Film Company, both Network 18 companies and sister concerns of CNN-IBN. 

In other words it was a test of Network 18's editorial integrity that whether they keep commerce above journalism or vice-versa. I am happy that they passed the test and whatever else the channel might have done to promote the movie (which is routine stuff nowdays) they didn't use Rajeev Masand to cheat the viewers.

This weekend Times group was taking the test. 'Hari Puttar - A comedy of terrors' produced by Mirchi Movies, a Times Group Company was released and I was eager to read Nikhat Kazmi's review. 

Now I must admit that I have not watched the movie so I can't condemn/corroborate Ms Kazmi's opinion of the movie. As a matter of fact by looking at the trailer itself I had anticipated that this is a blatant copy of 'Home Alone' and had decided to miss this movie (and the promos also!). 

However the TOI rating of 'Hari Puttar' is astounding 3.5 stars! And that keeps it in the league of 'Mumbai Meri Jaan'!!! Can you believe that?

(To put things in proper context this film ('Hari Puttar') has got 0/5 from Rajeev Masand (CNN-IBN), 1/5 from Taran Adarsh (IndiaFM.com) and 1/5 from Khalid Mohammad (Hindustan Times). NDTV's Anupama Chopra doesn't give ratings but she says for this movie "Steer clear and Rent Home Alone instead.")

Surely Ms. Kazmi has a different taste from her counterparts. And she has every right to stand apart from others undoubtedly. However I wanted to mention another 'news article' titled "Hari Puttar casts a spell' that appeared in Hyderabad Times on friday. It was about an 'exclusive premier' of the film. (I am not saying what T.N. Ninan had said!)

Ummm... ahh... well what is your verdict about Times Group's performance in aforementioned test? 

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Anil sues Mukesh for ?

10,000? or 10,000 crores! IBN Live should be a little more careful. Don't you think so?

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My Crime. Your Crime.

This must be the only sane thing that the state convenor of Karnataka Bajrang Dal, Mahendra Kumar must have done in his entire life. He had held a press conference and claimed that his gang (Bajrang Dal) was responsible for responsible for attacks on churches in several districts of Karnataka.

This confession and his subsequent arrest put an end to all those speculations and conspiracy theories which claimed that center was trying to falsely implicate this Hindu extremist group in order to strike a balance between its tough stance against the Muslim extremists SIMI. Raghav actually asked a vaild question, why is Bajrang Dal always suspected whenever there is an attack on churches. Well now we have the answer! Not only these thugs do attack the churches but also have the guts to boast about that.

But now a bigger debate is brewing up. Should Bajrang Dal be banned?

Why not? After all Bajrang Dal is involved in communal violence and they have a history of attacks on churches in Orissa, Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand and Karnataka. This is apart from their outings on Valentine's Day when they go out ransacking gift shops and restaurants claiming to be saviours of Indian culture. And ofcourse attacks on cinema halls when they feel Indian culture is at stake.

But what complicates the matter is the issue of Minority Appeasement. Is this just a balancing act to protect muslim vote bank? A sinister move to neutralize the ban on SIMI and excesses against Muslims by banning a powerful Hindu organization? This may sound a conspiracy theory but has its roots in the statements made by senior leaders like Laloo Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav when they had first raised the demand of ban on Bajrang Dal during court case for continuation of ban on SIMI. It was a shameful display of vote bank politics that was enough to tarnish entire Government.

So should the Bajrang Dal be banned? I would say yes and here's why.

I don't think any self respecting Hindu will try to justify their acts. They may be protesting against conversions of tribal hindus by christians but attacking churches and killing people is not the way to protest. Moreover who says that they can't go ahead and try to convert christians to hindus if they want to! I think the best way to stop conversions is to eradicate the reasons (like poverty, untouchability and other social ills) due to which tribals are lured by the missionaries to cross over to Christianity. With the kind of resources available to them Bajrang Dal could have done this.

I don't want them to be made the martyrs but a stern action against them would give clear message to all these politically aligned outfits who tend to consider themselves above law just because their political masters may be in power. (I remember a few years ago some members of Samajwadi Party had stoned a tourist bus in Agra. I don't know if any action was taken against them.) Bajrang Dal have a history of crime and they must pay for it.

A stern message must go out to everyone that India is a secular country and neither would minorities be pampered nor would majority Hindus be treated above law. Whoever messes with law must be dealt with severely irrespective of what flag he carries: green or saffron.

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Breaking News: Indian Home Minister is a Eunuch

Move over Shabnam Mausi and Suraiya Nayak the eunuchs who were content just being mayor or MLA. Indian home minister Shivraj Patil has done eunuchs proud by reaching to topmost echelons of Indian politics.

But eunuchs have all reasons to be upset with him since he has not revealed the fact publically till date. It is very difficult to find about sexuality of people in India and that too of a senior minister, it were his actions which gave away the secret.

However many experts on this matter do not agree to this report as they say whatever may be the personality traits of eunuchs they are assertive and not undecisive as the minister. They are deeply pained by their community members and take any act of violence against them very seriously, whereas Mr. Patil doesn't do anything except lipservice by condemning the blasts that take place regularly. If he was even a little bit concerned about lives of his countrymen there would not be serial blasts all over the country.

Few other experts say that Mr. Patil could be physically and mentally handicapped person since there is no hint of any action in whatever he does. (These experts went on to add that the fact that a mentally disabled person has reached such a top post shows that India is a disabled-friendly country.)

Whatever be the sexuality of Shivraj Patil he has won many 'nationalist' friends who call themselves fondly as 'Indian Mujahideen'. Their messages expressing love and respect for Mr. Patil can't be published here due to space constraint.

And not everyone is concerned with his sexuality as reporters in Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Delhi tell us that when they asked people about their opinion on this, they got same reply: "Shivraj Patil, fuck off!"

Eunuch Speak

This is what Shivraj Patil spoke about Delhi blasts:
1) "Whether it is Rajasthan or Gujarat, we always have intelligence information about such attacks, but we never know where and at what time the attacks may take place. We always try to stop such things."
What he meant: India is a big country and anyone can attack anywhere. I CAN'T DO ANYTHING!

2) "Let us not play politics over this issue. I am not aware of what Advani has said. He is a responsible person. We are all responsible people and should behave responsibly."
What he meant: OK, he was a better home minister. So what I will speak some gobbledygook!

3) "We should not jump to conclusions. Stringent punishment would be given to whoever is responsible for this."
What he meant: We should not jump to silly conclusions like anybody will ever be caught!

(This post was written on the night of Delhi blasts. My deepest condolences with bereaved families.)

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'Do No Evil', Be A Hypocrite!

"The New York Times reports that Microsoft's new Internet browser includes a search box in the upper-right corner that is typically set up to send users to Microsoft's MSN search service. Google contends that this puts Microsoft in a position to unfairly grab Web traffic and advertising dollars from its competitors."

This was what Google was shouting from rooftops when IE7 was launched. And they conveniently made the world forget that Apple's Safari and Mozilla Firefox always had Google as their default search engine. But it seems that someone is celebrating 'Make Microsoft Look God Day' and to commemorate this, they launched a browser!

Unlike IE, FF or Safari you don't have a separate browser in-built search box in Chrome. To search for anything you simply need to type search term in address bar and press enter. This may sound very cool but you can do this in any of above mentioned browsers too! For IE by default this is MSN/Live Search and for FF it is Google. (Try it now, in another tab. Not this one!). And obviously you can reset the defaults.

By removing the search box from Chrome, Google has ensured that nobody is going to bother with changing the search engine. Currently I have many search engines in my search box (see image below) and
I use them as and when needed. So when I want to search a YouTube video I choose YouTube Video Search. Or IMDB when I want to find some movie. Or Yahoo India search when I want a portal like view for information.

But now all that is over. Chrome still gives you option of changing default search (Go to Options->Default search) but it has been made so complicated that nobody will bother to. I am not going to set IMDB/Youtube as default even if I want to search for movie/video. I WILL have to do it on Google!
I have written custom search plugins for browsers which let me add my company's Bug Database and People Search applications, so I can search these intranet applications without opening these applications. These do not work on Chrome!

How convenient isn't it! The instant media blitzkrieg that Google will get is sure to translate in millions of downloads.

I can see Wallstreet smiling already!

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Bihar Flood Relief: How can you help?

Important: This post is being updated regularly. If you have any useful information please send it to me and I will put it up here.

If you want to help Bihar Flood Victims, here is some useful information.

I mailed Flood Help Desk by Hindustan Times Patna and this is the transcript of their reply:

Donations to CM Relief Fund:
1) You can do online transfer to the account of Chief Minister Relief Fund
SBI, Secretariat Branch, Patna

ACCOUNT NO- 10839124928

3) Demand Draft & Cheque can be made in the name of Chief Minister Relief Fund (Payable at Patna.)

Send it to:

Chief Minister Relief Fund,

c/o Chief Minister Secreteriat,

4 Deshratna Marg,

Patna.

Donating essentials like Polythene sheets , Tents, clothes etc.

For Patna people:
* You can call to Apada Prabandan Vibhag Control Room. Phone Numbers: 0612-2217305, 2215027, 6452572
* You can give your things to Red Cross society, which is engaged in helping the flood victims.
* You can contact the Deputy Collector Mr. Parvez Alam on (9431185767).

For Delhi and NCR people: Contact Bihar Bhawan (011-23010147) to find out more information on essentials collection drive going on there.

You can also donate to:

• Indian Red Cross
• Save The Children
• Express citizen’s relief fund
• Care Today Bihar Flood Flood Relief Fund (India Today Group)
• List of NGOs working for flood relief
• Donate via GiveIndia.org
  

Other Links: Bihar Flood Relief - 2008

Specific Requests from Ground Zero

1. Medicines required urgently

Dr. Kalpana Shashri(09430830986) is working actively for relief of women in flood affected areas. She urgently needs these medicines:

1. Gention Violet Powder form - for fungus infection for women

2. Micostetin Veginal Tablet - for uterus infection

3. Metronidezone and Furozolidone - for diarrhea and dysentri(check spelling!)

4. Vitamin A

and Large amounts of plastic sheets (thick ones).

This material is urgently needed. For address to send material etc. please contact Dr. Kalpana Shashtri.

2. Volunteer doctors needed

Sreedevi a volunteer with AID India, Mumbai requests volunteer doctors for working in Bihar with other AID volunteers. Please contact her at 022-67120122 or 09967712384.

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When I am too lazy to write!

Ankur's status message: Stop judging me
My status message: I am choosy. I love 'Pink' Floyd!

Ankur pings me: No, you are old. You love Pink Floyd.
I ping Ankur: Stop judging me!

Ankur says: :)
I say: :)

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Movie Review: Bachna Ae Haseeno

(Originally written and first published on PassionForCinema.com. Please see the original article here)

Now this is a quintessential Yashraj Film. Because even though most of the story may unfold in Switzerland (Yash Chopra discovered it for Indian cinema), Italy and Australia, the film is not complete without a bhangra in saada Punjab. There are three beautiful women and there is plenty of talk about love. OK, if all that doesn’t convince you then there is plenty of DDLJ too! Now if THAT doesn’t make a film a ‘Yashraj Film’, then what on earth will?

Let’s get one fact very clear in the beginning itself. This is not the greatest YRF movie, but it may be sufficient to get them their first hit of this year. The premise of this story is remarkably interesting: commitment-shy guy meets three different girls in different stages of life, dumps two of them, gets dumped by the third and then sets the things right for the first two. (Yeah, someone was watching ‘Devil Wears Prada’ too!)

It really could have been cracker of a movie. The story has brains (In the age of ‘Singh is Kinng’ this factor sure comes as a relief!), director Siddharth Anand has got a trademark wit and style,screenplay (Devika Bhagat) almost consistently maintains a standard, dialogues (Anvita Dutt Guptan) retain their humor till the very end and acting too is certainly good.

The problem is “out of sight out of mind”. The film doesn’t stay with you when you walk out of the hall. There are no moments that you will recount with friends and laugh. There are good moments when you feel good for the characters but only for that pearticular moment. No, you are not planning to watch it again!

But that’s not bad as it is two and a half hours of entertaining cinema. If you can’t afford to go on a world tour, watch hindi films. Last week ‘Singh is Kinng’ gave us a free trip to Egypt and Australia, this one throws in Switzerland and Italy too. Sunil Patel’s cinematography is surely top notch! Vishal-Shekhar’s music is good but they have done better job with the background score. After a very long time I have liked the music of a Yashraj Film. (The last time I liked the music was ‘Chak De! India’).

Ok, now you want to know who is the best among the girls? Tough one. I already rank Minnisha Lamba as good and versatilt actress and she shows why. Be it the bubbly romantic Mahi waiting for her Raj or Mrs. Ahluwalia, she lights up the screen. Bipasha Basu has already said that she feels like ‘Big B’ being the ’seniormost actor’ in the crew, so how can Big B go wrong! But for me, the most ‘improved performance’ is that of Deepika Padukone. She gives a super confident performance and mind this is just her second film!

And second film this is for Ranbir Kapoor as well. This guys shows why he is touted as one of the best newcomers. His character spans across ages and his acting does justice to all of them.

But there is one surprise element. This guy playing Mr. Ahluwalia has delivered a knock out (pun intended!) performance. Believe me, he totally eclipses Ranbir when he is on screen, he looks and acts so good. I am not telling you his name, I don’t want to reveal the biggest secret of this film.

So, how is it? As I said, it’s not great, but it has got its heart and it is entertaining. So an average rating of 2.5 stars. This is your best bet in cinemas this weekend!

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News Television Awards 2008

I am an avid watcher of happennings in news media and so when the season's first awards for news television were given I was watching them closely. Here is my 'analysis' of this year's News Television Awards given by IndianTelevision.com.

(Complete list of winners here)

A look at award categories makes you wonder why we have got so many variants of 'Best Channel' awards. There are three kind of best channels if you please:
> Most Popular (Hindi/English) News Channel
> Numero Uno (Hindi/English/Business) News Channel
> Best News Channel (Critics' Choice) - (Hindi/English/Business)

Can someone please explain to me what is meant by Critics' Choice awards for news television? Is News TV a cinematic experience that is appreciated differently by different people hence difference between jury's and critics' choice?

And why are 'Most Popular' channels being awarded? Are they not making enough advertising revenue by flashing their TAM Ratings. (If you didn't know, this award was actually based on TAM ratings!) And that is making even more confused. Times Now keeps on showing off higher TAM rating than NDTV 24x7 and CNN-IBN then why was NDTV 24x7 and not Times Now given the 'Most Popular English News Channel' award? (Was it because Times channel was to be conferred with Best News Channel (Critics' Choice) English award?). 'Aaj Tak' was most popular hindi news channel.




Whatever is meant by 'Numero Uno' channel, CNN-IBN and NDTV India won in english and hindi categories respectively. Modesty is one factor that you should not associate with CNN-IBN. A day after their victory, the news headline on their site was: 'Deja vú: IBNLive.com, CNN-IBN win NT awards again '. Ohh such arrogance! NDTV India was sober as always in their celebration.

But what was most surprising was that three channels shared Numero Uno business channel: NDTV Profit, CNBC TV18 (which also won critics' choice award for best business channel) and CNBC Awaz!

Overall NDTV channels won 25 of the 47 awards and Network 18 channels won 21 (why was news scroller on CNN-IBN claiming that Network 18 has won maximum awards?). UTVi, News X and Voice Of India were chosen as the channels to watch out for in the coming year.
Shekhar Suman managed to get Star News on the tally being best anchor for an entertainment show. Zee News anchor Romana Issar got 'The Indiantelevision.Com Editor's Special Award for Excellence as an Anchor'.

Talking about Hindi channels, NDTV India eclipsed every other channel in programming as well as anchors. It won 13 awards far ahead of Aaj Tak (4), IBN 7(3), Star News (1) and Zee News (1).

Among English channels CNN-IBN(11) lead the pack followed by NDTV 24x7 (8) and Times Now(1) . NDTV Profit (4) won the contest against CNBC-TV18(3) and CNBC Awaz (3) in the business channel arena.

While it was heartening to see the only hindi 'news' channel win really big, I felt the english awards being a tool for appeasing everyone! Let's hope that winners prove themselves worthy of awards and runners up give them a run for their money in coming year, because a good media is good for everyone.

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The moment. Found and Lost!

Some moments turn themselves into such sweet, romantic (without anyone to romance, in my case!) and peaceful

Looking at rosiehardy's photostream on Flickr and listening to Israel Kamakawiwo'ole ('Somewhere over the rainbow') I felt strangely at peace! Maybe it's romance in Rosie and Aaron's photos (they are a 'Flickr couple' and their story is oooh so romantic!) or the soothing voice of Israel or a beautiful wet saturday morning when I got a well deserved and highly cherished personal time... whatever.

This feeling is very similar to the one when I sat on Ooty platform reading Mark Tully's 'India in Slow Motion'.

And then Ami switches on the TV and that moment is lost.

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It's up and running!

Yeah...seems submitting that bx- error helped!

Ladies and Gentlemen! Presenting a new look 'Journey of a Thousand Miles' v2.0 (beta). There are still some rough edges which I have to iron out, but hope you like the new look. Please send me your comments and suggestions.



Image: Snapshot of my first ever blog post dated 2nd March 2005, dedicated to God himself!

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How Blogger maimed my blog

You see the new look of this blog, a much stripped down version of its former glorious self (ok, atleast I thought so!). Denuded of all its widgets, links and images it makes me shed copious tears everytime I see it.

This is because someone (or some many) at Blogger care a damn for users. This is what happened:
I wanted to change the looks of my blog from quite sometime and though I knew it is not going to be as easy as in Wordpress, I still searched for a good template and decided to upload it. I downloaded the existing template and uploaded the XML file of the new template. I was shown the list of widgets that would be deleted. When I press 'Confirm and Save' I get an error telling me that something wrong has happened and my action can not be completed at this moment. An error code is shown (in unusually large font!) bX-xdmtya and other blog specific details and I am told to report it to Blogger support or the Blogger Support Google Group.

Have you ever reported an error to Google? There doesn't seem to be a straightforward path for doing that. On this 'Blogger Help Group' people post their problems and if you are lucky then you can find some solution to your problem otherwise your problem becomes a part of the heap, which it seems mine has become. After more frantic searching I found a link for reporting the bx error codes. Here is the link https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pDGYK68-cO4sA0J2wa9fYBQ

I don't know what to do about my lost widgets. Will try to figure out something very soon!

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Life. By Chance!

The camera had been under water for what seemed to be an enternity and I knew perfectly well, that life would never be same for this (Sony Cybershot) DSC H7. I have always loved my cameras and I had understood that my most precious (and loved) possession had been damaged, possibly beyond repair, even as I watched Chandu trying to wipe it dry.

But in my heart, there was not as much sorrow for the camera, as a sense of resignation to fate. I was surprised by the feeling. I should have known.

I was happy to be alive!

Prashant and I had visited the river Tungbhadra in the morning and like everything else in Hampi, the river too seemed to be calm and serene. Huge rocks and boulders are strewn all over the place in and around the river's course.

So that evening when all of us visited the river, I had already made up my mind to cross the river at a point where the stones seemed to be very near the surface.

I had made a huge calculation error.

Yes, the river seemed to be somewhat shallow and rocks were very near the surface but that didn't mean that one could walk across. But flowing water makes the rocks smooth and algae makes them terribly slippery. I was near the edge of the rock and had folded my jeans up, when I first saw that. Before that I had told Manish confidently that 'coming back' was what I was going to do, after crossing to other side. But seeing the algae I was in doubt about validity of my claim.

Seems it was too late to suffer from dilemma. I was too near the edge and turning back was no option. I slipped as I tried moving backwards. Next moment I was in the water and hit my heal against a rock. The first thought that came to my mind was that I had got wet completely and tried to get up by holding the rocks. But it was not possible to hold on to the rocks due to algae, and I slipped in deeper waters, loosing all contact with rocks.

In the next fraction of second, I was neck deep in water and the camera was on my body and I worried about it. I tried to swim towards a rock and fling the camera bag to someone, but water current was stronger than I could manage. And as water pushed me I tried to stay put in water so as to avoid moving any further but suddenly the river bed got even deeper and before I knew I was completely inside the water. It was no more sane, worrying about the camera!

This was the instant, when I felt that I would die. Before that I had felt that I would move towards the bank or would get on to some rock. But as I went deeper, the light green colour of water seemed ghostly and very very scary! I struggled hard and somehow was buoyed up.

I was breathing hard and had almost choked and was finding it difficult to stay up. The fear was creeping up again. At this point of time I heard someone shouting to move towards right. I tried moving towards them but flow was still pushing me ahead but thankfully the water was lot shallower and I was only too glad to find ground. Seems I was having a good day. I was flown around a big rock to this shallower area. Had I been flown straight, I would have been in deep mess, literally!

There was a girl (Keerti from Wipro, Bangalore) and a guy (Sachin from Accenture, Bangalore) here who gave me hand and comforted me as I walked towards the bank. (Sachin, Keerti thanks so much!)

Talking to Chandu, I suddenly realized that my glasses have been washed away. And after some time I remembered about my phone as well, which had stopped working! My right heel was in terrible condition and I could hardly keep the foot on ground and it still hasn't healed completely. And I don't even know how the thumb of left foot got that clot below the nail!

But as I said earlier, I wasn't too sorry about any of these. For the first time in my life I was HAPPY to be alive!

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'De Taali' Movie Review : No claps!

I had seen and applauded his debut work 'Shool' (produced by RGV) and even liked 'Love Ke Liye Kuchh Bhi Karega', thI  guess ough it was clear that comedy was not director E(shwar) Niwas's forte. And after insipid ventures like 'Dum' and 'Bardaasht' I went in for 'De Taali' with modest expectations.

Niwas collaborates with script writer Abbas Tyrewala after 'LKLKBK', and to be frank Tyrewala doesn't seem to be in great form here. If he is going to continue in the same form with his upcoming film 'Jane Tu Ya Jane Na', it is not a very good news.

The first impression was very good. The opening credits appear on a chalk scribbled background, which not only introduce the protagonists but also give us a little background about their lives and their relationships.

And here the problem begins. Director thinks that this 'little background' and 'introduction' is sufficient and doesn't care to establish the characters. So when the film opens with a song, it feels a little plastic, specially when you see the chemistry of the friends in this song.

Similarly for the next few reels you don't understand the rhyme and reason of things. I genuinely don't know whom to blame for this mess: screenplay or editing!

The writing leaves a lot to be desired. The twists are not shocking, the gags are very few and hardly any are funny. Surprisingly every one who is dumped by Anjali/Kaarthika (Rimi Sen) becomes an alcoholic and we are treated with a useless track of 'Alcholics Support Group'. Not funny at all! However the one moment that I genuinely laughed and gave a 'taali' was when Paglu (Ritesh) shows CD of 'RGV Ki Aag' as the highest degree torture. Rare spars of brilliance from the writer of 'Main Hoon Na', 'Munnabhai MBBS' and 'Omkara'!

Cinematography is great and with great locations of Bangkok the style quotient is up to the mark! Vishal-Shekhar's music was the one reason that I went to watch the film and is the highest point of the film undoubtedly.

That leaves us with actors. I really cringed in my seat seeing Pawan Malhotra in that lame (pun intended) guest appearance! Lead actors are fine. Ritesh Deshmukh has developed his own style of comedy and is likeable. Ayesha Takia looks chubby and chirpy, but for God's sake, someone put her on a crash diet! Aftab is also ok but it is Rimi Sen who packs the maximum punch. She is the surprise package of the lot. And oh yes, there is a long forgotten Mukul Dev as well!

All in all, 'De Taali' doesn't amuse at all. It has its heart in right place but has so much incoherence that end result is disappointing. My rating is 2/5 and a recommendation that wait for DVD release, which you can then rent to watch this movie, if you have to. Better still, wait for TV Premier!

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Summer Sounds

After nearly an year long hiatus I thought of writing about my favorite albums and songs this summer and there are quite a few things to talk about!

Two albums are tied for the Top Position in my list: 'Aamir' and 'Jane Tu Ya Jane Na'.

'Aamir' was the debut film for its producers (UTV Spotboy Films), director (Raj Kumar Gupta), hero (Rajiv Khandelwal) and its music director (Amit Trivedi) and one must applaud Trivedi for his fantastic debut. The album spans every genre in today's popular music and every song is a treat. Even 'theme music' makes a comeback after long time and is pretty good. Lyrics are good however a few grammatical mistakes like 'raat ka bhor' sound awkward!

Album features 'Dilruba' from 'Kailasa' and 'Bandya' from 'Khuda Ke Liye' and I need not say that these tracks enhance the value of this album even more!

If the first album was from a debutante, the other belongs to a maestro! 'JTYJN' as it is called in SMS lingo, is such a different offering from A R Rahman, that it doesn't even seem to be a Rahman creation. You need not listen to the songs repeatedly to be hooked to them, it happens in very first hearing itself! Featuring 10 unheard voices the songs sound mint fresh and range across emotions. Director Abbas Tyrewala has penned the songs and though his writing is a bit cliched, I didn't mind really.

Disappointments:
Love Story 2050 - What was Anu Malik thinking when he was doing music for this film. Ofcourse songs should look good onscreen, but that doesn't mean that they should sound bad otherwise! Only a couple of songs are appealing for their melody, rest seem to have been composed to just provide Harman Baweja and Priyanka Chopra ample chances to dance.

Mission Istanbul - No, don't blame me of being biased against Anu Malik. It's not my fault that his second big album features here. It's just because these two were big budget films and one expected to have good music for them. Forget tunes, Malik has nothing innvative even in arrangement. It's no coincidence that 'Apun Ke Sath' reminds you of 'Ganpat' ('Shootout at Lokhandwala'). Again only one of the tracks ('Jo Gumshuda') is worth listening.

So So:
Thoda Pyar Thoda Magic - Shankar Mahadevan is a good singer, and this album shows you when too much of a good thing can be a little...not so good! Mahadevan is the single male voice in this album and that's not very good news. The music seems to lack novelty and is partly in 'Jhoom Barabar Jhoom' mode (ohh just remembering that album gives me shivers. May be I should start calling it 'You Know What'). 'Lazy Lamhe' may rise in charts due to sultry, sexy avatar of Amisha Patel. Prasoon Joshi's lyrics are perhaps best among everything I talked here about. But the album is at best an average offering.


This is what I think about bollywood music, would love to know what you think.

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Hyderabad Startup is looking for summer recruits!

A Hyderabad based startup LiveHead is in the process of developing a community driven Quiz Portal.

They are looking for people who love quizzing and have a passion for finding, asking and answering good quiz questions. No academic criteria but all they should be able to do is to create/find great quiz questions. A desire to go out of the routine mode and innovate with quiz formats will be not only an added advantage but also will make the person eligible for an offer from LiveHead to be a part of our team!

And ofcourse people get paid for their efforts. As mentioned impressive candidates have a chance to earn an offer from LiveHead for longer stints and much more!

Interested readers can contact livehead for more details at: contact@livehead.in.

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Poll results from the Newsroom.

One of the things I love watching on news channels is election coverage. Be it the exit polls before counting or the marathon coverage on the counting day (which earlier used to be days, before electronic voting machines became norm)

In mid-late 90s when channels like Zee News and Star News (when NDTV used to produce content for them!) were threatening Doordarshan as prime and more dependable source of independent news and Aaj Tak was just a half hour news show, TV Today used to produce the election specials for DD. Since there was no separate DD channel for news, the election special was shown on DD National channel only and since we didn't have cable connection (we were 'santusht' without cable, you see!) we had no option but to watch this only for nearly 3 days or as long as counting went on.

I used to watch this, not because I was very much engrossed in politics, ofcourse I liked keeping up with that too, but because I liked watching the sets, the graphics, the interface of analysis and results being shown, the anchors talking live with the correspondents and the overall energy of the show which kept the show interesting despite too many talks and discussions. Sometimes there was a piece in newspaper which talked about election coverage by channels and secretly I felt good when DD was praised for its accurate exit polls or good interface for wins/leads tally.

Later when I could watch other channels as well, a favorite activity was comparing these things on all of those!

On 25th May, it was counting day in Karnataka and all the news channels were in election mode. And I got busy with my favorite activity!

NDTV 24x7's coverage was lively with Prannoy Roy, Barkha Dutt and Srinivasan Jain handling the affairs. Their graphics were perhaps the best but just why they didn't show other parties' figures in their seats tally?

On CNN-IBN Yogendra Yadav wore his usual Kurta Payjama and academic attitude and was generally likeable as always but Rajdeep Sardesai was shouting (as always!) so much that I had to switch channels! The channel tried to spice up its coverage but frankly I was not interested in watching mostly because their tally and leads/wins scroller was so small that I could hardly see anything.

On Times Now Arnab Goswami and his team (sorry I know no one else there!) seemed to be conducting a solemn ceremony even when they were accompanied by politicians who seemed to get in that solemn mood as well! Their interface was very neat, big and clear but they were slow with their updates.

On Aaj Tak Deepak Chaurasia, Ajay Kumar and Prabhu Chawla sat on a set with an animated background which made me think for a moment that it was a F1 show. NDTV India wore a deserted look with Vinod Dua and A.... talking to Abhishek Singhvi and a JDS leader on a very regular set. Star News had horribly opulent graphics and animated set resembled an amphitheater, add to this 'Azeem-o-shaan' tune in the background!

And last but not the least, telugu channels namely ETV2, NTV and TV5 seemed to be miles ahead in their seat updates (at one stage when NDTV, Aaj Tak and Now were on 161/224, these channels had figures of 191/224) but their figures were very unstable and changed every two seconds, so after a moment of awe I decided to ignore them.

But the disappointment of the day was DD News with its ghastly sets and terrible colors. What a heartbreak!

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The ugly face of Indians

I have a reputation for not abusing, yet if right now I feel like hurling choicest of expletives at Indians, no one in general, you may understand the mental state I am in after reading this shocking tale of insensitivity of Indians, and no I am not talking about Shivraj Patil and his hunchmen.

"Passengers sqeeze life out of child" (wrong spelling of 'Squeeze' is not a typo by me, its by paper, that too for a front page news) screams the headline on New Indian Express (Hyderabad, 16th May). A seven year child, Aishwarya, traveling with her sisters and parents in general compartment of Egmore-Guwahati Express died due to suffocation and scorching heat in the compartment.

Also Read: TTE throws woman, kids from train

Her parents tried saving the children from "constant pushing and shoving from insensitive fellow passengers" but Aishwarya started vomiting and ran up high temperatures. The 108 Emergency Helpline Ambulance that was called by her father lacked first-aid facilities and child could not be saved.

Do you know the sensation of being choked? Being crushed from all sides and struggling for a little air to breathe? I know, because I experienced it once when I was a child and went to a religious fair with my mother and aunty. Just imagine that 7 year old child struggling to have a little fresh air and dieing every moment till that moment which ended her sufferings for ever. Just imagine the grief of a family which lost a child during a few hours journey!

Add to that the insensitivity of people around you. Constantly shoving and pushing around. We all love children of our co passengers until we have to share our seat with them!

What kind of people we Indians have become? We have been known for ugly behavior, spitting and urinating in public, but I am really anguished by this new face of insensitive Indian. Given a chance of being safe from any punishment (which a mob gives us amply) we will display our worst behavior. Do you know these days every time I visit rediff.com, I spend more time marking messages as abuse rather than reading articles. Worst kind of abusive, libelous and irrelevant messages are written on Rediff's message boards by us. Why? Why this desire of sadistic pleasure?

What is happening to India? What is happening to Indians?

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