Tees Maar Khan - Heroine

 

Find the comic on the idea of Tees Maar Khan here

The idea of Tees Maar Khan

Find more about the Tees Maar Khan heroine here

Nagavalli Review

French Beard is passe

 

This is a continuation of the French beard comic

French Beard

 

Find what happens to the French beard after 6 years here.

Mail Effect

 

Roomie

29 on 29th

I am almost 30. In fact the 30th year has just started.  But yeah like a teenager, I wanted to have a  ball on my birthday. On my birthday, I expect it to be my day!! The way it would be if I  had won an Oscar Award or a Nobel Prize ! 

I wish I could tell this to my Boss. I wish there was a T-shirt which screamed at my boss  ' Live and let live! Today is my birthday'.

Ironically, no one at work knew that it was my birthday. I didn't bother either. May be 3  years ago I would have let them know by wearing a flashy dress ..something so flashy that the people around me would know I am in a celebration mood. 

But for this birthday, I was in  perfect Monday morning dress - the formals that Dad made me buy the previous day. You see things change.

However the JOSH was back. Last year I was without a job and thought my birthday would be best celebrated in solitude without meeting any friends and just talking to them on phone.

This time however I had made up my mind. Friends or no friends, I am not going stay at home. I will go out and celebrate. I was so keen to celebrate that I wouldn't mind having food in restaurant with mirrors all around me  so that I wouldn't feel lonely.

This time I wanted to have a sketch of myself. I know. I know ! The receding hairline The chubby cheeks . The dark circles! The beard that promises to sport  the 'salt and pepper' look in less than a year!

Ha.. but I couldn't care less. I wanted to do something that would in the future remind me that this is what I did on my birthday in 2010. 

I reached Prasads where there was this software which would get the sketch done.  I wish there was someone who could sketch me. But that's ok. I wanted instant gratification and was in no mood at wait and explore.

I thought I would  sport an intelligent/smart ass look for the pic. I stood in front of the mirror in the loo and raised my eyebrows. Perfect ! I thought! After all, I am not that bad.

I stood in front of the computer and posed.
'Smile ! Smile ! ' the guy who operated that software kept telling me.

I didn't want to. It would ruin the intelligent look. But then I did. 

First shot ruined. It had the 'Nice guy' written all over it! Damn it. I didn't want that.

'I don't want  to Smile', I told the guy.

And slanted my head for that smart pic. It was ok. Not great.

I will better this in the next one I thought. 

'Smile! Smile! '. It was the stupid guy again.

Damn and I did smile! Third shot gone.

'Choose 1 out of these pics' the guy said.

That was a no-brainer. I chose the 2nd one.

After 5 minutes, the sketch was in my hands. 

Alas.. but it was not the look that I had rehearsed in front of the mirror in the loo.

I cut a sorry figure. I wasn't smiling. I wasn't looking smart. It was a weird sorry expression on my face. Ah.. stage fear! My expressions failed me when I needed them the most.

And so on 29th November 2010 my face was like this

I got it framed and cribbed about it to my Dad. 

' I couldn't quite get the intelligent/smart look Dad', I said.

 'Well, the picture doesn't lie my son. You cannot pretend to be someone else in a photo',  he said with a wry smile.

Enough! I thought it was time for me to go out for dinner.  My cousin Sasi and I went for dinner at Little Italy since I was craving to have something different and special on my birthday. I thoroughly enjoyed the food and thanks to Sasi, I had a few other pics on this day apart from THE ONE :P

Going gaga about Sheila

'Sheila' and 'Sheila Ki  Jawani'  is the talk of the town now after Munni and her Zandubalm in the recent release 'Dabang'. One of my friends happened to post a link of the You tube video 3-4 days. I am in love with the whole song, the dance and of course Sheila.

I also feel that this is the best time for me to go gaga about the song before the movie  'Tees Maar Khan' releases. Once the movie is out,  I am sure I will find a good part of the story devoid of any kind of logic.

Even if I love it,  I am sure I won't admit loving it in the midst of all the peer pressure of the other critics. ( Ah..The peer pressure !!!) .  

Also once I see the whole movie, this song  will just be a minor part of the movie. There would be at most 2 sentences about the movie. Now how sad would that be?

So then,here I go.. 

The  initial sound track ( when the bed is rotating ) is amazing.  There is so much of energy in it. I am already on a high after seeing Katrina in a towel at the center of the bed.

What's my name ? What's my name?

Watch Katrina do the step there with her finger on her lips and boy.. doesn't she look a million dollars?

Sheila ... Sheila Ki Jawani!

The step where Katrina raises her hands.

 Farha Khan .. Tussi great ho.. for coming up with this step and having Katrina do it.

 My adrenalin levels have now doubled with the powerful music in the background.

I wonder how you managed it , Katrina ?

Whatever it was you did lose to the extra kilos, it was totally worth it.  She looks awesome as she sways  in those costumes baring her midriff.

Next Stanza! Yeh Dil Maange More!

'Sil Sili Silly Boy... ' says Katrina.

And I wonder how a female who looked stunning in the Indian wear a moment ago could look even better in a white shirt and a short! Female Fatale!

Katrina isn't new to Hindi cinema but it is those steps by Farha Khan that make her so special. 

Now who's this guy in the hat? Oh.. that's Tees Maar Khan.. Akshay Kumar. Go away man! Don't waste any screen space at this moment.

Katrina seems to have heard it and pushes him away saying

' I know you want to but cannot never get there.. '

Sheila.. Sheila Ki Jawani..

Katrina in a different costume now  that again makes me go fida over her for the nth time in the last 2 minutes.

I wonder who thought of the mirrors here. 

Mirrors and pretty women is such a lethal combination especially when you have the lady dancing to such steps. Super idea to use the mirrors!

Katrina is back in the Indian costume. 

The song comes to an end with lots of men shouting just one word 'Sheila'.

Now this is undoubtedly, the most sizzling Item number of the year :)

Kick Start

Rakta Charitra - A RGV movie that lives up to its name

So then, Ram Gopal Varma is finally back in action with ‘Rakta Charita’.  Bollywood fans are perhaps tired of him for giving one dud after another  with movies like  Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag and Agyaat, but the Telugu audience saw him way back in  1999  when the movie  ‘Prema Katha’ was released . 

Although this movie is a tri-lingual, it has been eagerly awaited by the Telugu audience since the story Paritala Ravi and Maddelacheruvu Suri is something that many Telugus are familiar with.  RGV does not disappoint his fans with the first part of the Rakta Charitra series and thankfully gives his fans something that they expect of him.

Rakta Charitra-1 is the story of Pratap (Vivek Oberoi) whose father and brother are killed by the men of his father’s political mentor, Narasimha Reddy and his aide Nagamani Reddy. Pratap who till then is indifferent to all these fights begins the battle against the killers. He along with other members of his group starts eliminating the men from the rival camp one by one.

 Bokka Reddy (Abhimanyu Singh), the son of Nagamani Reddy is hell bent on taking revenge on Pratap. He also creates problems for Shivaji Rao (Shatrughan Sinha), a film actor aspiring to rule the state. Shivaji Rao supports Pratap and gives him the political backing to fight Bokka Reddy. How Pratap grows in stature as a politician and how he uses it to eliminate his arch rival, Bokka Reddy takes us to the end of the story.

 Vivek Oberoi delivers an impressive performance as Pratap (real life character of Paritala Ravi). However it is Abhimanyu Singh who hogs the lime light as the evil Bokka Reddy who takes law into his own hands. Shatrughan Sinha offers a good performance as Shivaji and reminds the Telugus of NTR every time he utters the word ‘brother’ in his dialogues. 

The rest of the actors are also good but the ‘Telugu feel’ is lacking in the movie with just Kota Srinivas Rao, Tanikella Bharani, Subhalekha Sudhakar being the only Telugu faces in a story that is based on the incidents that have happened in Andhra Pradesh.

 Background music by Dharam Sandeep suits the theme of the story but at times you can’t help feeling that it is too loud. The camerawork in the movie has the RGV stamp that his fans are so used to, right from his first movie ‘Siva’.  For a change, the fights in a Telugu movie are natural devoid of the drama that we get to witness when the hero thrashes 10 goons in no time.

For a major part of the movie RGV has the audience guessing, trying to relate the characters and incidents in the movie with those that happened in reality. It is this reality aspect that makes the movie gripping and interesting.

As the director himself mentioned earlier, the movie is definitely not for those who enjoy family drama or even those who love regular commercial flicks. There is definitely too much of bloodshed and excessive violence in the movie, but then perhaps there was a reason for RGV naming this movie ‘Rakta Charita’.

So then for a change, I am writing again instead of the  comic strips that I have been so addicted to of late.  Interestingly enough, the background of this blog is something that I very much associate with RGV movies.

Office Phone

Job & Marriage

Code Vs Boss

Monday Morning

Dark Circles

Find how the problem of dark circles is finally solved here

I want to be Online

I.T Vs Marketing

Driving Test

I.T to Marketing

Chalk & Cheese

She is chalk. He is cheese.  Or may be the other way around. But yeah you got the idea. Both of them are different.

She was the intelligent , fundoo types. He was the creative( so called) arty farty kinds. 

She worked on important modules and coded programs in her first 1st year of the IT job . He wondered if he really belonged to the IT industry in the first one year and coded his first program ( end to end) after nearly 2 years. 

She won awards for the superb work that she put in. He created awards like Mr Raymond and Miss Bibo to lure employees to parties and outings.

Both of them loved extra curriculars. 

She was the one who would always finish tasks in a jiffy and ask for more. He would examine things in detail and would even take hours to send out  a mail. 

She was a smart ass . Common sense was  so uncommon to him. 

She thought it was hard to put up with all different kinds of idiots in the world. He thought idiots were a different species and possessed some special skills which other didn't have.

She was in the midst of a grueling MBA programme last week. He had  quit a job and was at his bored 'vela' best in the same week. 

 And so the differences became  even more stark!

She was very busy. He was damn bored. 

Now then that was a given. 

She was totally screwed with piles of assignments heaped on her and major quizzes hitting her one after another.  He was as clueless as he could ever get buzzing all his friends online and messaging his local friends if they had the time to meet him. 

She was Red on Gtalk and explicitly  put a 'Do not Disturb' status message. He was in the brightest of greens on Gtalk,changing status messages every hour and showing off his gyan on Cricket.  

She was finding it hard to find time to fill her water bottle and hardly drank any water in the last 3 days.  He was not only bored of drinking  the same water but also eating the same food and was always critiquing the food made by his mom. 

She was worried that there were so many of her batch mates who worked harder than her. He wondered why his ex-boss worked so hard ruining his weekends and the peace of mind of his team members. 

She was worried about her grades. He was worried about his ever expanding paunch. 

She didn't have the time to worry about the cast on her hand. as she was afraid she would be left behind in her acads. He knew this was time for him to consult his endocrinologist, eye specialist and  skin specialist to get rid of the dandruff in his hair.

He has all the time in the world to think of such an idea on these differences and then put the effort to post it in his blog. She is so busy that she might not even read the blog even if he sends her the link!

The Omelet and Me

I come from a strict vegetarian family where we do not even eat egg at home.  So when my friends in school used to tell me that Egg is ok even for a veggie, I only used to shake my head in dispproval.

The  4 years in a hostel during engineering are perhaps the time when guys pick up a lot of things and this includes even those who have been mama's boys till then. Hostel life gives you the courage to try everything in life. 

So then coming to Veggie- Eggie thing, I never tried an egg even during those 4 years. I somehow managed having all the junk in the world in those 4 years but still ensured that it was all vegetarian.

If there was a competition where you could sell all the food ( especially junk stuff) that guys of my batch managed to eat in those 4 years, I am sure I would win hands down. Cold Drinks would be a separate  ( highest revenue) category by itself. 

However there was one non-veg dish that always fascinated me- Omelet. When someone else ordered bread omelet in the canteen at midnight, I would have the feeling that I should try it sometime. In fact it was not the feeling of 'should have' ... it was a feeling of 'I will have it' someday. 

You know it was as if Omelet was this enchanting seductress who would flash a naughty smile. I would always resist  but I was sure that one day or the other I would give in to the charms of the Omelet.

So then it was one rainy night in Melbourne, my friend Sumant was getting ready to prepare an Omlette for himself. Starved of home food for almost 1  month and with the never ending desire for the  Omelet I said 'Sumant, please make one for me'.

I tasted it and it was awesome.  Omelet and I lived happily ever after.  Haa.. this is the effect of watching too many Bollywood and regional movies . 

Anyway.. the story is not yet done considering that sequels are the in thing these days. ( Remember Don-2, Krish-2, Dhoom-3 etc).  So then I had Omelet probably 2-3 times after that while I was working. 

One and a half year later MBA happened.. and then things changed. I was introduced to the entire Egg family...Scrambled egg, Half Fry, Double Fry etc.  And it was a part of my breakfast menu.

When there were too many people on the campus, Omelet wasn't a great option because there would be already some many of them prepared and ready to be eaten. So the 'garam-garam' straight from the pan feeling would be lost. 

Double fry was the option to go to because it would be hot and straight from the pan. Simply superb  :) Scrambled egg was best suited to be eaten with rotis late in the night with a thumbs up going along with it at Chota :) ( the name of that awesome canteen at MICA).

Thanks to MICA culture of naming dishes after the students who came up with the recipe , I also got to taste stuff like Dewich ( wrong spelling ya...it is a proper noun and I couldn't find this person on facebook)  sandwich which was essentially an egg sandwich.

After MBA, I came back home and then forgot  all about Omelet and her family.  There were not too many meetings over food with friends and so I was really missing the Egg family. I got a job but for the first month I used to religiously eat in the office canteen which would serve only vegetarian. ( no ..not even egg).  

Pic taken from the net and used for illustration

As I got used to the work place,  I started getting bored of the canteen. I also made friends there who were like me - bored of the canteen food. And so... we started going out for lunch.

We started by eating out 1-2 times a week. After 3 months, we were only eating out. And yeah.. happy endings..( till now)  Omelet was again a part of my life :)

I have also realized that the bigger the restaurant the farther I need to stay from the Omelet. That is because these places usually make bland Omelets  which I don't really enjoy.

Omelet tastes best along with rice ( for my kind of taste buds) in an Andhra Mess or at a Telugu friend's place.  Any Telugu friends reading this?

Grow up? But why?

I feel good today. It is so nice when you  get to talk to a good old friend especially someone who is always ready to listen to your endless rant. So then N called me up after almost 2-3 months and then I  went on and on. After 45 minutes and 44 seconds, N realized that quite a few of her friends were buzzing her on gmail and finally put the phone down!

Phew! I told her lots of things , mostly about my job and  my career . And believe me ! What I told her was in fact a compressed version what I told AJ and other unfortunate friends who get to listen to me on a daily/weekly basis :)

After all the talk.. I felt like writing! As I am writing, I am so convinced of that fact I am an experiential writer. I need new experiences to write something .  Well nothing new in the talk that we had today but at least I felt I had a life. I tried 2-3 times in the last week to write something. But when you go to work.. do the same thing that you have been doing for the past 8 months.. there is nothing that inspires you to write about. So then, I should go about searching for a job that gives me varied experiences and the 'josh' to write!

Today my Mom was annoyed that  I was chatting on the phone endlessly. 

She was like ' He doesn't have any work and spends so much time talking on the phone. Wonder if he will ever grow up?'

Grow up? That word seriously scares me now. I mean if 'growing up' means doing some work or the other, then I don't want to grow up.  Talking to someone who understands you and listens to you is so much fun. I wouldn't ever want to give that up. No! Not even for the sweetest one.

'Sweetest one' now  reminds me of that conversation I had with my sister C  just when I got a job.

Sis: Now that you have got a job,  we will find a girl for you.

Me: Oh.. yeah!  I want a girl who will listen to me. You know someone with whom I can share all the exciting/frustrating moments I have at my work place.

Sis: Oh..come on! Forget it! You will never have any time to do all that once you are married.  My husband have never discussed work at home in the last 2 years.

Me: Hmmmm.. ok!

I wasn't convinced at all. I mean I don't think I can ever do that. This again seems to one of the  effects of 'Growing up' . You get busy ! You work more and you don' t talk!  Ah! So boring ! No thanks! I don't want to !

I have just realized that I have equated 'not talking about work' to 'not talking'.  I mean it works for me that way. Work is an important part of my life and I don't think I can stay without talking about it especially now that I am no longer a software professional.

 It is quite a coincidence that I found something similar on the net today called SPAM. Not it is not the regular computer SPAM but this one is called the Society for the Preservation of Absurdity and Madness!

I haven't read it yet but I am pretty sure that it will be kick ass stuff as I  have read some of the blogs of those who write there.

Feels good to find people who want to believe in absurdity and madness and are as fed up of the 'grow up' thing as I am.

QSQT- Kal Se Aaj Tak

I have been logging into my  blogger account trying to write something in the last couple of days. But my mind remains blank and I am usually not able to  find anything good to write about. It was the same situation today before I clicked this link about the movie 'Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak' on the ibnlive website.

I haven't watched QSQT till date. Just watched certain parts of the movie when it was on T.V. I have however heard the songs many times and loved each of them. But I thought some of the songs were from 'Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikander' before I saw the video today. Awesome songs! Each of them is so good to listen to. 

I was surprised when I saw that the movie was promoted with that ' Who is Aamir Khan?' hoarding in those days. I mean it is such a cool idea that is sure to grab people's attention.  I also remember a similar kind of promotion ( Evare Abbayi?) for Pawan Kalyan's debut movie in Telugu. Of course this Telugu movie bombed big time.

I couldn't quite believe it when Juhi Chawla said that she and Aamir Khan stuck the posters  on the autos and taxis. There seems to be so much of hype these days even before the movie begins that even debut hero and heroines become known entities. I somehow feel that the media exposure has taken away the charm and the innocence that was there in those days. We have separate teams and firms doing the promotional activity these days.

Aamir Khan was talking about the movie collections and how it picked up in the 4th week. 4th week? It is a  different ball game these days the movies raking in the moolah in the first 3 days ( Friday followed by the Weekend). There are now 10 shows  in a single multiplex on the opening day of a big budget movie. I remember the entire city flocking to one movie hall to catch a new movie those days. Remember 'Hum Aapke Hain Kaun' running for Lt->Infinity ( hehe.. that's the engineer in me) days  in the Maheshwari cinema hall in Kachiguda?  Times have changed so much !

Anyway I think the basics of a good movie remain the same. An interesting plot  and a gripping narration are as important for a movie to succeed as they were 20 years ago. I can never quite understand how technology and special effects can be more important than the story or the script. What say?

You are growing old.. Dodo!

A couple of months ago as I was shaving my beard, there was something shinning. I moved to closer to the mirror to examine it. Soap? Foam? No.. it wasn't. I tried removing it and it stayed there. " Oh Nooooooooooooooooo" my soul screamed. It was grey facial hair ! Arghhhhhhh.. I am growing old. I let out a heavy breathe and touched my tummy. Damn it..! Nothing is going right and aging is so bloody one sided.  Huh.. I wish I was Benjamin Button! 

The other day I was watching MTV and it was the awesome 'Masakali Masakali' song. Ah... Sonam Kapoor is damn cute ya ! Watching my eyes  stuck to the Masakali babe, my Mom decided to dig into it.

Mom: Who is this girl?

Me: Sonam Kapoor

Mom: Oh...! Newcomer?

Me: Yeah, she is Anil Kapoor's daughter.

Mom: Oh! I see.

No she wasn't digging into it. She came, she saw, she left. I was the one who was lost in deep thought.

Circa 1988. I was in Class III and I was back home after watching Tezaab. Anil Kapoor was awesome in the movie. Kya hero tha yaar! ( No..No Arnold schwarzeneggeror or Sylvester Stallone I was not an English movies fan even  then) Tezaab was followed by Ram Lakhan and I thought Anil Kapoor truly rocked at that time. ( Till SRK  came along in 1992 with Dewaana). 

Haa.. wait! I won't digress and go into Bollywood now. The point is I adored Anil Kapoor back then. He now has a daughter .. and dude I find her adorable too.  That's ok. But then, it has been quite some time since those Tezaab days - a good 22 years  ago.  I was now reminded of the grey hair follicle again ! Old!!! Such an annoying 3 letter word!

My mind now went down south . I mean .. I am talking about the Film Industry! Who were the movie stars I liked in Tollywood and where are they now?

* The rest of this post is about the Telugu film industry-Tollywood from 1981-1990. Be warned*

As a kid perhaps the first 'hero' I knew was 'Sobhan Babu'.  Awwww! I know it isn't cool.. but since he was the only one whom I knew back then .. he was my favourite, first ever favorite Telugu hero. But yeah he spent most of his time in movies arguing with his wife .. (the heroine). His movies would usually have two heroines out of which one would die in the end. ( I really can't describe him as well as this blogger does).  I guess I saw him doing some dishum.. dishum and fighting a baldy bady to save his lady love and so liked him.

For those of you who are wondering if I ever liked ANR and NTR, let me tell you as a kid ( ahem ahem) I looked beyond the old 'black-white' generation. So when my mom and her sisters used to go gaga over NTR and ANR, I thought liking them would be so uncool. And so Shobhan Babu!

Shobhan Babu had passed away last year and so yeah the first one is already gone. It has indeed been a loooooong time!

1986- Simhasanam. I saw Super Star Krishna in that movie wielding the sword skillfully and was so impressed that for the next 1 month any long  metal/stick or kitchen utensil would turn into a sword into my hand. Those around me would be my enemies. And yeah our bed was the battlefield where I would defeat them. The bed because I could jump and perform feats on it without getting hurt :). Of course I would sing 'Akasam lo Oka Tara' to myself .. coz I would usually never find a cute little girl around.

Krishna's son Mahesh Babu has been wielding the gun since quite some time now. Time .. I say just flies!

Krishna was notorious for his dance steps and some of my friends in my neighbourhood used to make fun of me for being his fan.  There were all fans of his guy called Chiranjeevi who would dance like a charm and woo his lady love bashing up all the goons. Dad then took me to this movie -'State Rowdy' and boy.. wasn't Chiru ( that's what we fans call him) awesome? I was totally floored and as far as I can remember I never adored any other hero as much I adored Chiru. ( A few years later ,my hormones got active and then I would only watch the heroines !)

Of course , no Chiru  fan can ever forget his fights with the evil Amrish Puri  on the train or his super dances. Remember the Chiki Chiki Chellam ... Chiki Chiki Chellam Chiki Chiki Chiki aah!  G A N G.. GANG GANG bajao BANG BANG song from Gang Leader. ( I am again inspired by this awesome blogger's post). Chiru was truly phenomenonal!

Venkatesh came next with the super hit movie ' Bobbili Raja'. But then Divya Bharti came along and yeah I was old enough to notice her. Chiru was there much earlier and so he remained the Star for me!

Chiranjeevi has quit movies now and is trying his luck in Politics . His son Ram Charan Teja and nephew Allu Arjun are big stars in  Tollywood today. 

Hmmmmm.. Looooooooooong pause!

So then the fact that I am old is as cliched as the demand for Telangana. 

I have come a long way from the Grow up..Kiddo! days . Really???

Hmmm.. Mom & Dad seem to be thinking on the same lines and they want to DISCUSS something SERIOUS with me tonight.

NAHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!

Rice is anytime nice!

Last week, at my friends marriage ( Yes.. yet another one) at Karimnagar, ( 2.5 hrs drive from Hyderabad), I found myself at a place where major of the people were having rice and that too without spoons. I saw rotis in very few plates of the people around.  I felt at home. In fact home has also changed so much with lots of rotis/phulkas and less of rice. Anyway what's so special about Rice? Here I go...

The year 1984 ( no.. don't think George Orwell), I was in nursery. Mom was working ( and still is ) and her regular shift in the morning was at 7:00 am. So then she used to cook food and go to office. It is difficult for a working mom to cook a separate breakfast for her kid and hubby. ( wonder what my kid's mom will do?) And so it all started there.. rice.

However a breakfast was be supposed to be light and so it was  rice and dal for breakfast.  ( small quantity). It was dal mixed with rice. Curry was a side dish. When I call it a side dish, it means that I used to have curry but never mix it with rice. That's how we eat in Andhra err .. no generalization .. that's how we eat in our house.

 I would be back home by 1:30-2 p.m and Mom would also be back home by then. Rice prepared in the morning would be ready for lunch. But then it was rice mixed with curry, pickle and rasam. ( This explains why I find someone who mixes rice with all these at once very strange). As you would know more hunger meant more rice.  More is a relative term silly.  I was a 4 year old kid .. you see.

Dinner would of course be rice. But now rice with a different curry, a different pickle and the same rasam. Sunday lunches would have sambhar instead of rasam. Of course breakfast on a holiday would not be rice.

2 years later, when I was in Class I, the same process continued apart from the fact had lunch was at school without rasam. The story continued ( with increasing amounts of rice for lunch and dinner) for the next 10 years till I  was out of school. I would sometimes envy my school friends who used to tell me that they had bread, jam and butter or sandwich for breakfast. That sounded so cool compared to rice.

The next 3  ( 2 + 1) years after school passed in a jiffy. Since there was IIT coaching and all that crap, breakfast was never at home. It would be idli, poori or dosa at a Udipi food joint. Lunch and dinner was the same - rice.

IIIT happened and idli/poori/dosa for breakfast and food for lunch and dinner became the norm for the next 4 years. ( although this was that boring food served in that damn MESS). There was also this thick dosa kind of dish called 'Uthapam' on Wednesdays  and  the entire boys hostel would skip breakfast that day. I also knew people who would stay awake for 2-3 hours after working ( usually cricket in the hostel and rarely studying)  till 4-5 am in the night to have the sexy slim 'Dosa' on Sunday morning. Well, extra bit of flesh is never cool in any context.

After the 1st one year, there was a canteen at IIIT which turned into my abode for the next 3 years. This meant that several lunchs/dinners of rice at the mess were replaced by a paratha, dosa or a Chole Batura at the Canteen. Let's not even talk of the deceased rotis that were served in the mess. Trips to my house meant more intake of lovely home food and that meant more rice. :)

Haa..long RICE story this. Par abhi picture baaki hain mere dost ! Against this backdrop, when I went to the cafeteria in my office for lunch on the first day of my job and loaded my plated with rice ,I got this queer look by a Pune girl who had joined along with me that day . I knew it was about food. But then I didn't tell you that most of girls don't know how to eat. 

Rice quantities in office gradually reduced now that I needed to work after lunch. Dinner was pretty much the same. Dad and Mom were past 50 and so they had only rotis/phulkas for dinner. So RICE continued in lesser quantities.

 I was in Melbourne, Australia for 6 weeks in 2006 and it was hell for me as far as the food was concerned. Breakfast was some bread/jam or fruit!!! ( No, it wasn't cool at all and I was only thinking of idlis and dosas). Lunch was rice cooked the previous night and dinner was rice cooked that night. Curries were these instant packs available in the super market. I would have surely died had it not been for Priya pickles.  Lunches usually had Gongura/Lemon pickle mixed with rice. ( curry/dal  not mixed with rice by spilling over rice was so uncool .. you see :))

When I quit my job and was in Ahmedabad doing MBA, it was all rotis. Not that there was no rice, but for me eating rotis with paneer or any other gravy ( may be I can extend it to Telugus or South Indians? .. No, I won't take a chance and extrapolate) was just not on.  Only the curry without any gravy was to be mixed with rice.  And all non Telugus, tell me that a curry without gravy is not a curry but a Sabzi . Ahem...was that confusing? I am confused writing it :)

Anyway, so it was rotis all along with some rice and lots of other  junk. I did this for 12 months but in the last 3 months, I was missing rice and pickles so much that I asked my dad to send me some pickes. So then RICE was back again.

Now ever since I came back to Hyderabad , it has been only 4-5 Phulkas for dinner :( .  ( lunch of course is rice). This has been the case when I was jobless ( Guess that was better.  I feel  worthless after I got one) and even after I got one. Reason -I still need to get married and have a loooong boring life ahead.   feel so delighted  when there is a small cup of rice cooked in the morning left for dinner. Rice replaces 1-2 rotis in that case.

Haa then, this is how rice is so ingrained into my body. I find it pretty annoying when my colleagues at office try to avoid rice and find it so uncool.  'So much rice!!!I don't even have that much in the entire week!' is what one of my colleague says. But then anything without rice doesn't quite make a meal for me. How can Subway meal ever be a meal? Ghaas-Poos! Let's grow gardens all over and eat the leaves there.

Dinner parties mean less rice. The bigger the restaurant, the lesser the quantity of rice. I have got used to it now and in fact ok with it .  But then nothing can beat the dinner that mom makes with rice, alu fry, pickle or pudi and rasam. That's absolute nirvana. Best things in life are like that -simple and uncomplicated.

Married! So what about you?

 It's the marriage season. There are have been so many of them happening in the last few days and a few more are lined up in the next few days. One of my friends has also sent a Shaadi Calendar with marriage dates of friends lined up till the end of 2010. Good going! Nice to see so many of my friends getting committed.

 Haa and now for that question that one can't just stop asking. I am done with it .. so what about you? I earlier thought it was only the aunties and uncles who were too bothered about guys ( and of course gals) on the wrong( their perspective)  side of 25.  But now almost all my friends who are married or committed are so worried. It's amazing that they turn into uncles and aunties in a jiffy.. at least just to ask that question.

May be it is a human tendency. My friend at ISB was telling me the other day that once someone in his batch got placed, he/she used to get very very concerned about the ones not placed. ( irrespective of whether the jobless one is concerned or not). It is a case of ' I am here  and I think everyone else should be here.'  Or may be they are trying to act funny so then let me act amused :) :) :) :)

My funda in life has been simple. As a guy, you should only marry if you have a girl friend or if you are settled in life and have nothing else to do. I do not fall under either category and so the question of marriage shouldn't ideally arise. now  But yeah the anxiety levels of my friends, neighbours and colleagues seems to  give me a reason to think about.

Anyway forget it! Kidoredo shall remain single n ready to mingle till he finds his sweetest one.  Just like my career which seems to have hit the bumpy path with pot holes like recession the other half of my life ( or whatever part) seems all set to test me :). I am ready and all set to fight it out till I get the dream job/sweetest one.

I now understand what all the girls on the wrong side of 25 go through. Hats off to each and everyone of you who is still looking for the ONE( or whatever you set out for)  in your lives. 

 P.S: Of late, I have been making an attempt to write on anything  that makes me react however minute the reaction might be. This writing is a impulsive reaction to one of those moments. So don't be surprised if announce my marriage tomorrow, get married the day after and then let out the  ' I am done with it. What about you?' expression.

Deccan $#&(*#@#$

 'You can never take things for granted when the great Shane Warne is involved. The match can always turn on its head'.

One of the commentators said something to this effect. I think Shane Warne is just awesome but with no disrespect to him, I would like to alter the above statement.

' You can never be sure of a win when Deccan Chargers is involved. They are capable of snatching defeat from any position.'

How else can one explain the 2 run defeat of Deccan Chargers to Rajasthan Royals.   Deccan Chargers is a team of 11 like any other cricket team but only 3 bat. Gilchrist, Symonds and Rohit Sharma. ( Make it 4 with Hershelle Gibbs if he plays). 

Rajasthan Royals had sorted out Symonds today with short pitched stuff. Gilchirst  was off to a  flyer but was dismissed just as he has been all through this tournament.Rohit Sharma played a superb innings but was unable to finish it off thanks to some brilliant display by Shane Warne and team.

Take nothing away from Deccan Chargers err Chokers.  Take Rohit's and Gilchrist's batting away and at no point during their batting did Deccan Chargers look like they would win the   match.  

Laxman back after being dropped for a couple of matches started the trend and threw it away. Will he ever realize that T20 is not for him? Not everyone can be Sachin Tendulkar.

Dwayne Smith batted as if his cricket bat had never touched the ball. The shot that did him would not have reached the boundary even if there was no fielder.

Azhar Bilakhia hit the ball in the air as if he was there to give catching practice to teh Rajasthan Royals.  I guess that's what he was doing all this while. He should stick to doing just that.

Harmeet Singh!!! Good God... He almost ran out Rohit Sharma. Was he planning to hit the next ball for a boundary when others of his ilk couldn't even get bat on ball.

It was terrfic display by Shane Warne who inspired his team to a important victory. Another match, another day, this blog would have been all about Rajasthan Royals but not today.

Deccan Chargers did not deserve to win the match. Even if Rohit Sharma's shot fell away from the fielder and found the boundary and earned Deccan a win, Deccan doesn't deserve to go further in IPL-3.
 

Just saw Cricinfo! DC now stands for Deccan Chokers. But I am not going to replace the $#&(* stuff in the title..not yet!

What do I write?

          Every time I read an awesome blog like this, I am in a trance. On one hand there is feeling of great admiration for such a blogger ( which tends to infinity) and on the other there is so much restlessness that I am not writing enough. Nah I can't  write so well.. but the fact there is no attempt in that direction bothers me.

            No attempt? That makes me wonder if there is enough inspiration around and that points to  the kind of work that I am doing these days.  The monotony is killing me I say!

    Monotony of any kind kills me especially if movie directors can't think of anything new and try to make movies rehashing old themes. I had a review to do and so went to the movie hall at 7:40 pm for a 7:30 pm show of new Telugu movie 'Maro Charitra'. Got the tickets and that too in the 3rd row from top!

More about it here.

I went to one of my friend's convocation at ISB  today. Big convocation ( 550 odd students.. Chief Guest Kapil Sibal's hands must be aching) and even bigger campus. I had been there earlier 2-3 times. But then I am so bad with routes that I got lost trying to find my friend's room.

'He failed in Geography' said my friend 'a'. ( notice the lower case)

I didn't flunk. Thanks to damn education system. But map-pointing was something I never could do well. In fact I was( still  the same but so embarrassed to admit) very very bad at it.

Rewind to around 15-16 years ago. There was  a map pointing question in the exam asking us to point 'Calcutta' And this is what I did.

I didn't know where Calcutta was. 

I had to apply some logic ( ahem ahem). 

Calcutta is the capital of West Bengal. 

But where is West Bengal ??? :(

Haa.. doesn't the name throw a hint..'West' Bengal. So towards the west of India :P :P :

And so Calcutta shifted to Gujarat! 

Hats off to the teacher who managed to let go such mistakes. ( She didn't know my reasoning you see!)

Yousuf sizzles; Kings XI fizzles

I got up from my afternoon siesta and switched on the TV. Murtaza, R. Satish, Ambati Rayudu... I was wondering if ICL had started again with better uniforms and better  cheer leaders.

      And I was reminded of ICL

I thought Chris Gayle was the grim reaper of cricket till now. He is so devoid of any kind of expression after hitting those super shots. Wrong..! Yousuf Pathan perhaps deserves it more than him.

Forget Yousuf Pathan, Sidhu is going hammer and tongs  in the Extraa-Innings with all the Sidhuims. We want Mandira Bedi now ;)

Malinga was bowling yorkers with such god damn accuracy that would have crushed the toes of the batsman if they didn't put the bat in between. If cricket was played wearing heels, his yorkers would have successfully got rid of the heels. Too much of imagination here :P

I have to credit my cousin Shashanka for coming up this now- Graeme Smith was wearing Adidas socks in spite of the official sponsor of Royals' Jersey was Puma. This is for all those females who think that men watch only the likes Maria Sharapova and Anna Kournikova in such detail! It's about the SPORT  I say :P

Sreesanth came up with a shot that would put Rohit Sharma's forehand smash to shame.  With the confidence that he had gained after his bat made contact with the ball a couple of times, Sreesanth tried the switch hit against a bouncer Pradeep Sangwan, the left arm quick.  One hopes Sreesanth has insurance for all his body parts. Aha.. this can make an interesting ad for a Life Insurance Company.

Harsha Bhogle was heard saying ' I don't know why the camera is on Preity Zinta everywhere time Kings XI take a wicket.' Come on Harsha,  isn't this elementary?