The 'Indian' Film Industry!

Indians sure have a great sense of humor and who else to lead us better in laughter challenge than our film industry or rather 'film awards
industry'. Sample this: IIFA 2009 for best editing has gone to a movie which is Three and a half hours long and was much mocked and criticized for its length (Ballu Saluja for Jodha Akbar).

Sure this beats even Bachchan bahu winning Star of the Decade award. (To ensure there is no real life 'Abhimaan' in the family her hubby dearest was nominated in 4 categories and managed to 'win' one of them for 'Dostana'.)

Everybody knows that Indian film awards are just 'events' tailored for TV channels to be shown, when they are not showing sobbing bahus wearing few kilos each of jewellery, vermillion and khaandaan ki parampara or sobbing young girls wearing, well a bit fewer kilos of jewellery, vermillion and khaandaan ki parampara. So there are awards 'invented' to please every corporate by associating its name to some award and to please every actor (and their dads) by giving them that aforementioned award. (Greenply 'chalta jaaye, chalta jaaye' award goes to Amitabh Bachchan or 'Centerfresh zubaan par lagaam lagaaye' award for Tushar Kapoor in 'Golmal')

But when you go to foreign lands and declare among your song and dance routines that you are honoring the best in Indian cinema, should you not be bit more inclusive?

I have said this earlier and I say it again, why is Hindi film industry made synonymous with Indian film industry when quite a good number of films are actually remakes of south Indian superhits. And even if there were no remakes, should we not celebrate the variety and diversity of Indian cinema by bringing together all these different language films on one stage? (Afterthought: Why is it that UTV World Movies channel shows movies from around the world but not Indian regional language films? Yeah I know, watching a French or Iranian film sounds more sophesticated that watching a Teugu or Marathi movie. So Maya Sarabhai-ish)

Why is it that every year when there is this much loved and equally loathed ritual of selecting Oscar nomination, 'Indian' media (read Hindi and English news channels and papers) start throwing names of Hindi movies, how much ever crap they may be (case in point: 'Eklavya')? I agree that Hindi is the national language and have highest viewership among all other Indian languages and that's why Hindi stars are adored across the country and Indian diaspora as well. But just because Dainik Bhaskar has highest number of readers, is it the best in print media?

What about regional cinema? Why does no popular media outlet ever tries to find the best in Assamese, Bengali, Marathi or south Indian movies and present them as a contender for nomination? I understand that the glamor of Mumbai is so blinding (ever noticed how most of our journos, specially the PYTs, appear as bumbling star-struck fans when talking to the actors) that our media is not able to see beyond Mumbai. Why did no channel come forward to gather public support for 'Shwaas' in 2005, even when the makers were short of money for promoting the movie?

My point is that just because we are besotted with Hindi cinema, we are overlooking quality in other quarters. Did you know that in 1991, Satyajit Ray's 'Agantuk' (remade as 'Raincoat') was the national award winner, 'Lamhe' was the Filmfare awardee yet India sent RK Films' Rishi Kapoor starrer 'Henna'!!

We take pride that India has world's highest number of languages and dialects spoken, then why can't we flaunt these languages on celluloid? Maybe event managers don't approve of the plan!

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How to make a Rainwater Harvesting System?

Ever since I took up this project of construction of rainwater harvesting system as part of Global Volunteer Days 2009, I had been thinking of putting down my experiences so that others like me can learn and are not as confused as I was! In this post I have detailed construction of the RWHS that we built, note that this is not the only design. You can make more sophisticated systems with more investment.

Well, even an ordinary pit can be called a RWHS, since it stores the rainwater and lets it seep in the ground and increase the moisture level of the surrounding earth. However a major concern with rainwater harvesting is the quality of water that goes underground since if groundwater gets contaminated it can't be purified.

1) What is the source of water you will collect? Rooftop water being directed to the pit through PVC pipes is most common option.

Second option, bit more difficult but cheaper, is to do the landscaping in such a manner that water falling on the ground flows to the pit.


Rooftop water is much more cleaner and the design is less intrusive since pipes can go underground and cause no hindrance to occupants of the building.

In this article I will talk about using PVC pipes for collecting water.

2) What should be the dimension of the pit? We had dug a 6x6x6 pit since it was a small school. This size would be sufficient for a standalone 3BHK house or a multi-story with 3BHK flats. For bigger buildings, you will need to talk to a contractor.

3) Dug the pit, what next? OK, now we need to fill this pit with stones and sand which will act as purifier layers. In our simple design we will have following layers:

a) 40 mm metal: This is the first layer (from bottom) and is half the height of the pit. So in our case it was 3 ft. See in the picture below.


Below: 40 mm metal being dumped.


b) 20 mm metal: Second layer, half the height of first layer. (In our case 1.5 ft.) These are the pebbles used in road construction. See in the picture below.

Below: 20 mm metal being dumped


Don't worry if you don't know about these stones. You will need to find a stone supplier and he will supply these stones.

3) Sand: Third and topmost layer which is about half feet high.


You will notice that we have not filled complete pit, 1 ft is still remaining. Yes we have left this space purposely, so that during the rains, water coming from the pipe doesn't spill over and is collected in this empty space before seeping down.


The pipe coming from roof top has to be directed to this pit, half ft under ground, which means it will be just half ft above the sand layer. In the above pic, see that pipe is below ground level.

The 1 ft of the pit walls which are exposed can be plastered. This will increase the longevity of the walls by guarding against soil collapsing during the rains.

Special case: If there is a handpump or borewell in the vicinity

By making small change to the design, you can not only make your RWHS more effective but also recharge the handpump if it has dried up, due to water table getting depleted.

We had a handpump in the school which we wanted to recharge, so we dug the pit with the handpump in the center of the pit. A handpump has 2 concentric pipes. The internal pipe about 2 inches in diameter is called riser pipe which actually draws in the water from ground. The outer pipe is just plastic casing about 4 inches in diameter which is called bore hole casing. It is used to protect the internal pipe. Both pipes go fairly deep in ground.

After we removed the soil around the handpump, we had six ft of bore casing exposed. In the below photo the white pipe that we see is the casing. (The steel pipes and rods have been put to support the pump.)


We drilled small holes in the bottom 1.5 ft of the casing. This is done so that water being collected in the pit can enter the bore casing and go deeper easily.



The holes have to be arranged in straight vertical lines on all four sides of the pipe, each about 3 inch apart. (see the photo to understand)

A thin wire mesh was tied around the pipe in this area to cover the holes and avoid any mud/soil/tiny pebbles getting in. (see the below photos)


Remaining process of filling the pit remains same.

You will have to cover the pit with an iron grill so that people using this pump do not step on the sand.

Budget: Stones and sand are purchased according to 'load'. For our project we had purchased 2 loads of 40 mm metal, 1 load each of 20 mm metal and sand. 'Load' is the capacity of the truck which dumps these materials.

40 mm metal costs Rs. 1100-1500 per load.
20 mm metal costs Rs. 2500-3000 per load.
sand costs Rs. 1100-1400 per load.

Problem is that even though we don't need that much sand or 20 mm metal, we can't order in fraction (like half load).

PVC pipes are available in a range of prices depending on the thickness, diameter and brand. Thicker the pipe, sturdier and pricier it is. We bought 80 ft (4x20 ft) 4 inch diameter pipes of an ordinary brand, which cost us Rs. 1500. You will have to buy joints (elbows or Ts) according to structure of your building. Add to this shipping charges. All these things cost us nearly Rs. 1900.

Apart from these you will need a bag of cement for plastering which will cost about Rs 400. You will need a plumber for doing pipe fittings, a mason for plastering the pit or redoing any concrete that you break. If you don't dig the pit yourself you will have to hire at least 2 labors also.

There you go! I have mentioned almost everything that you need to know about construction of a good Rainwater Harvesting System. All you need now is a motivated team (I had the greatest team one can have!) and a good plan to go ahead.

(I have tried to be as much discreet about things as possible. If you have any questions or think something can be better explained, let me know through comments.)

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HOME : Limited Edition!

One thought that stays with me during entire duration of Yann Athus-Bertrand's "HOME" is that if I would have been able to capture even a single snap among innumerable frames in its 93 minute duration, I would consider my life not a near-total waste!


HOME is a spectacular movie, and I think that is understatement of the decade. More beautiful than I ever saw anything on NatGeo or Discovery, this movie shot almost entirely in slow motion and more often than not from very high altitudes gives an amazing view of our home, the earth!

It's about how we have changed the planet in last 40 years. Not going stats-heavy like 'An Inconvenient Truth' but still giving the details about how things are changing and how we may be affected. Often accompanied by very sarcastic (and impressive) quotes and stark comparisons between lifestyles.

One of my most favorite sequences is about Dubai. The camera already perched high, starts from the bottom of a sky scraper and continues to move towards the pinnacle while background score (once again terrific throughout!) reaches a crescendo! Awe inspiring and frightening at the same time.

Watch Home, on YouTube till 14th June. Even if you don't care about planet, may be you will once you realize it is SO beautiful.

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When the going got tough: Katraj-Sinhagarh trek

"Come back", came the shout along with the torch light. No, the light came first because that was when we had thought that someone is following us.

"Why?", shouted back Nandu.

"That path goes to the valley."

Shucks. This was second wrong path that we had taken this night and for the first and only time a trace of fear swept my mind, are we going to fall in front of finish line? Not that falling was an option. Metaphorically as well as grammatically! While the latter would have been obviously more damaging physically, the former would not have been any better since we had to reach Sinhgarh before sunrise and the impending scorching heat.

Earlier we had tried to take a path around a hill, because one of the guys was '90% sure' that it was the right way, only to come back and climb that hill.

We had started from Katraj at about 9.30 and were supposed to walk all night and reach Sinhgarh crossing 13 hills on the way. It was 3 or 3.30, in the morning (or night, how ever you take it.) We had been "walking" for 5 hours now and still there was a debate whether we had 3 hills remaining or 'there is a small 4th one'. The red signal on a tower at Sinhgarh was closer now but it still demanded all the mental and physical strength to reach there.

Earlier we had started with a lot of enthusiasm, easily divided among 'Hyderabad group' and 'Pune group'. Each group having a lot of easy camaraderie among itself. My primary concern at Swargate was food. Are we not going to eat anything 'proper'? Just 3 chocolates and Parle-G-for-genius didn't seem to me such a genius idea after all. Two bottles of water each also seemed somehow insufficient but I understood we can't carry water tankers with us!

The climb had started with a bang, rather a burst from our 'trek leads'. After this unpleasant start, the group was divided meticulously into smaller groups with sweeps and leads and these groups and sweeps and leads got dissolved and lost equally meticulously within first half an hour. There were many teams trekking on that route that night and each had torches and it took us a long time to understand that every torch that we see in that vast expanse might not be one from our group. Actually torches were used for most of the time only for marking presence and signalling to other 'torch bearers', since it was a moon-lit night there was sufficient light for walking.




The first major challenge came at the descent of second hill. It was a near 70 or 80 degree steep incline and lots of tiny pebbles didn't make things any easier. First thing that I did was to keep my camera in the backpack and then did a combination of slow climbing down holding stones and sliding where ever standing was dangerous. To be honest my legs were shivering by the time I got down. We were told that first couple of hills are steep and after crossing this one we thought that we had put the worst behind, but descending kept on being difficult for a major part of the journey. Rathi gave such descents a not-so-pleasing nickname: 'Suicide Point'. The climbing always seemed easy but even before climbing, imagining the descent gave goosebumps!

During the entire journey the glittering Pune city kept us company. Even at 1 the lights didn't seem to dim and someone wondered aloud 'don't these people sleep'? Another element that accompanied us for a major part of the trek was wind. Heavy wind. Quite cold at times and though I was getting quite irritated due to constant howling in ears, it was due to this wind only that we didn't feel the heat or the sweat.


In the last leg of the journey, most of the group was left far behind and there was no trace of even the 'leads'! There were no visible trails and so we decided to do the easier thing: take a crow-flight route to Sinhgarh. Just cross all the hills on the way. This was easier said than done because the first hill to stare us was a nearly 70 degree incline ( We climbed this one in 9 minutes flat!) and by now the moon had moved so we had to climb in near darkness. I decided to hold my torch in mouth (thank heavens, it was a slim Eveready) and use both my hands for climbing faster so that I had enough momentum to move forward. I am still surprised that none of the shrubs scratched my face because almost entire way-up it seemed I was bumping into one!

By the time we reached top of last hill, it was 4.30 and sky had started acquiring whitish shades. Sinhgarh was almost at an arm's length (read 6 km). A small walk (towards a sound that sounded like waterfall) and we reached the Sinhgarh road. After a brief photo session on the vacant road, we walked again for about 3 km to Sinhgarh fort.



I had survived the toughest trek of my life, ready to face tougher ones!

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Election Results: From Millionaires to Slumdogs!

Prakash Karat (CPIM)

'Karat'-and-stick policy didn't work. Hammered in Kerala and sick-led in West Bengal demands are now rising that Karat be 'left' out.







Mayawati (BSP)

Unfortunately you can't have elections as many times as you want, that's the difference between installing-demolishing-reinstalling statues. The only party in the country to contest ALL 543 seats could not even beat Congress in UP!







Lalu Prasad Yadav (RJD) and Ram Vilas Paswan (LJP).

Formed a grand '4th Alliance' with SP (in UP). Lalu played safe and contested from two seats and managed to win one of them. Paswan was not so lucky and lost from Hajipur, a seat from where he had won by a record margin some years ago.

Forget being kingmakers, Paswan is not even an MP, his party LJP stands at nill. And I don't see Lalu being invited to B-schools anymore.




J. Jayalalitha (AIADMK)

Her price for support: suspend DMK Government in Tamilnadu. With DMK's tally a double of AIADMK, her only exploits were flowers from Modi, a day earlier!








Vaiko (MDMK)

It's thumbs DOWN actually to the best spokesman LTTE never had in Sri Lanka. Lost miserably and now planning for the job there but unfortunately his would-be-employers have already shut the shop!








(My questions about post-results scenario: here.)

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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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