Baby's Day Out

Ah, what a productive and enjoyable Saturday it was...

Woke up early, got some blood sucked and then spent ten mins sweating on the treadmill with a bunch of wires sticking out from my naked chest... no, I didn't meet a vampire at the gym, I just went for a medical test. Then got some errands done... got my printer back, bought new cartridges. In the afternoon, went looking for some sexy veneer for my home renovation project, and then chilled out a bit with some steaming tea and neer dosa. Shopped for some new shoes at Reliance Footprint, bought an interesting bunch in browns, and black and red :) Then off to the Mariott. Got relaxed just walking through their beautiful spa, shocked at the cost of their yearly membership, then gorged on their absolutely delicious buffet spread. And finally, at 11.00, caught the last show of Singham, in the big screen theatre with a thousand other hooting and clapping blokes - most of them seeing the movie for the nth time, just like us.. dialogues spewing out from us a few seconds before Ajay Devgan gets to say it himself!

This is life.

India One Down

So finally India has lost a Test, going one down against the English side. With Sachin suffering against a viral flu, and Zaheer nursing a hamstring after day 1, and many of the seniors barely acclimatised to the British conditions, the team looked out of sorts. Harbhajan also wasn't impressive, returning only one wicket for 200 runs in the test. Raina showed some guts in the second innings, and Ishant struck with deadly force in the English second innings, but holding out for 130 overs was an uphill task against some quality English bowling, and India fell short by almost 200 runs with 30 oversto go when the last wicket fell.
Look forward to a fight back in the second test!

Norway

The death toll in Norway's deadly terror attack is quickly approaching hundred. How can one man be cold blooded enough to first trigger a bomb blast in a crowded throughfare (aimed at diverting police?), and then proceed to a student summer camp on a nearby island and over a half hour period, calmly go around shooting 100s of young children? Pretending to be a police officer, calling them out from their hiding places, before shooting them once, and then a second time in the head to make sure they were dead? What kind of punishment do you give this guy? Death seems too easy...

In a peaceful country like Norway, where crime and violence is literally unheard of, how does such a monster get created?

2 Decades Of Transformation

It's twenty years since the then FM Manmohan Singh kicked off India's march to economic power and growth by presenting his landmark budget and signing off on landmark reforms that unleashed this sleeping giant...
Time to reflect on those days of Kilbil on DD, Gold Spot, Premier Padminis and Bajaj scooters, and look at how far we have come!

Movie Review: Singham

Honest cop, corrupt politicians and a lonely fight for justice. Singham takes one of the most commonly used subjects in our film industry, and dishes out a complete entertainer that will make you laugh, scream, hoot and enjoy to the hilt...  from the Rajnikanth-style fight sequences, to the hilarious dialogues, the gorgeous locales of Goa shot in stunning light, the very beautiful and ever-so-brightly-smiling Kajal Aggarwal with the best wardrobe I have seen for a long, long time, to the ever-so-macho Ajay Devgan in a role perfect for him taking on the almost-lovable-yet-sinister Prakash Raj as the goonda-turned-politician... add to that a very charged up mostly-Maratha audience in a packed theatre, entertainment can't get much better!

A must watch movie, for 150 reasons - every minute an enjoyable experience!

And yes, also a good moment to stop and think about the police force that protects and serves, and one we malign due to the actions of a few. Next time, on Diwali night, when you get irritated about the naka bandis and swear at the cops, remember, their family is alone at home, so that you might be safe! Smile, hand over a box of pedhas, and wish them - because they are the reason you are enjoying tonight.

Trip to Aurangabad, Ajanta, Ellora and Mhaismal

Last Tuesday, 7 of us in the Endy, left on a 2 day trip to Aurangabad, Ajanta, Ellora, and Mhaismal. We made Aurangabad in quick time, and decided to press on to Ajanta. We reached at 1230, had lunch at the MTDC restaurant (pretty simple, basic) and then parked at the tourist center and took the bus up to Ajanta. The paintings and caves are breathtaking, although shoddy restoration and repairs in the past have destroyed a lot of the stuff. Interestingly, and happily, things are much better now, and the cleanliness and commitment of the staff there was commendable.

Manish becomes prasanna!

The lighting brings out the best in the caves

A massive stupa

All of Ajanta

We came back to Aurangabad by late evening, and checked into the Manor Hotel, before going for a friend's marriage reception. The drive was long, and fun, but the terrain is pretty flat and uninteresting, the rains played truant and there wasn't much more to write about.

Note: Bargain like hell with the souvenir sellers, starting prices are typically ten times they actually come down to if you are patient.

Day 2 was a lot more fun. The rains were in flow, the terrain hilly and very beautiful, and the drive, though just 30 odd kms to Ellora, was wonderful.

Beauty and the Beast

We stopped at Daulatabad fort along the way for some pics, then landed at the Kailas hotel for a late breakfast. This place has decent food, and some interesting cottages - perfect for a quiet getaway.

At Kailas 

Ellora was simply breathtaking. A lot of people recommended Ajanta over Ellora, but Ellora was far too stunning in the grandiose nature of the caves and the overall wow factor. Some of these structures are 3-4 storied, and took over 200 years to build - imagine starting a project you know only your great grandchildren will get to see completed!

Huge, multi-storey cave complexes

Samara poses in front of the waterfall

Breath-taking - unfortunately, the path under the waterfall has now been closed to public

More poses

Beauty and the Beast - Part 2

More amazing stuff...

From Ellora, we drove to Mhaismal, a few km away. The road is bad, even for an Endy - and Mhaismal is really a nothing place - a couple of bungalows (literally 2), a TV tower, a bunch of shady dhabas  and a small village with a pipal tree. Pretty disappointing actually, and not recommended at all.

The rains were so romantic!

Was a good place for some soft off-roading, but it was already getting late and we decided to head back for Pune.

By the time we left Aurangabad, it was already dark and raining, and boy, was I glad I had my Xenon lights to show the way! We reached home by 10 pm, and it took me 2 hours the next day to wash her up!

Cultural Trends

Came back from an exciting trip to Aurangabad, Ajanta and Ellora earlier this week - more on that later - but it was interesting to see how certain regions develop their own unique "feel".
For one, every drives on the right, over take from the left. And When you try and over take from the right, you can be guaranteed that the bike or car coming from the opposite direction will flash his lights at you :)

A lot of police presence on the roads.

Bus drivers are polite, will generally pull on the side and wave you by.

A different world, just a couple of hours from Pune!

Movie Review: Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

Three friends, Imran (Farhaan), Kabir (Abhay Deol) and Arjun (Hrithik) set off on a  road trip in Spain, a 3 week bachelor party of adventure and discovery before Kabir gets hooked. But each one is also on his personal road trip, a journey of self discovery and a search for meaning in life.

The movie is a treat for the senses - the stunning Spanish countryside is a riot of color. You explore the wonders of the underwater corals in the company of thousands of multi-colored fish, you sky dive and hurtle towards earth... you get red and wet in the tomatino festival, and sweat it out as you run with the bulls. Your feet tap to the passionate beats of the Spanish tango, and your spirits rise with the beautiful compositions from Javed Akhtar. The sound track is passionate, and will grow on you ever so quickly.

The cast is fastastic, and you will be hard pressed to find a favourite. Abhay pulls in yet another admirable performance as the guy confused about the girl he's about to marry. Farhan is lovable as the happy go lucky writer, with his sense of humour and timing, and a secret in his heart. Hrithik looks great, and puts in an awesome performance as the stock broker learning a new way to live after he falls in love with the ever-so-beautiful and effervescent Laila (Katrina). Kalki is her usual unusual self, and Naseeruddin also plays a great cameo.

I loved every second of this new DCH, and can watch this 5 starrer at least a dozen more times without getting tired. Go watch it! Aisa movie na milega dobara :)
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Movie Review: Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 (3D)

I am not even sure I should be reviewing this movie... because 6 of us went for it, 2 kids and 4 adults, and at half time, all of us were fast asleep. When the lights came up, we decided it would be more comfortable to sleep in our beds and left.

The movie starts with Harry and his gang deciding they need to protect Hogwarts, or whatever, from He Who Cannot Be Named or whoever. I am not much of a Harry follower, and Emma had almost no screen presence in this farewell to Pottermania, and all the darkness and complicated spells, compounded with the weight of the 3D goggle, was too much to cope up with, especially following a week of long drives, walks, and little or no sleep.

The 3D action was much less than I expected, though... with some more light, and all the special effects that a magician's world naturally leads to, this could have been a hell of an entertainer. But it wasn't.

Innovation

Saw this pretty interesting contraption for resting your food-laden plates at a marriage reception - jugaad at its best :)

Pune-Kolhapur-Miraj-Sangli-Pune

Had a nice short trip to Kolhapur, Miraj and Sangli over the weekend. Rained a bit, the weather was perfect and the drive a lot of fun!
Miraj was a dusty small town with one meandering central street with some run down motels, a bus stand and the railway terminus, and a maze of narrow, criss crossing streets between old wadas jostling for space with newer constructions. Lots of bikes, rickshaws and cows jostling for space - and yes, not to forget a couple of Audis and Mercs and BMWs bang in the middle of all that chaos. And yes, nice people!

Sangli seemed a larger, more organized town, but we just passed through - would have loved to and should have taken a misal pav break there!

Ice Magic

Went to this interesting ice cream parlour in Kolhapur over the weekend - Ice MAgic - with over 100 ice cream cocktails, some of them really pretty and innovative to look at, adults and children alike will love to chill out here. And pretty cheap too - at around Rs 70 per treat! Do check it out if you are in the area!

This is one of the simplest stuff we ended up ordering. Others in the know had ordered much more interesting creations, but gobbled them up before I could click them :)

Games For Generation C!

At one time, we played cricket and football, hide and seek, and generally did danga masti whenever more than one kid hooked up :) The cell generation obviously has far more exciting things to do - on their parents' cell!

The good news is, they don't break window panes any more!



Travel Time!

Miraj, Sangli, Aurangabad... a lot of travel coming up this weekend and in the following days, to cities I haven't been to before.. really looking forward to it.. hope the rains come down well, would be a fantastic bunch of drives!

Interesting Trivia

India's 2 most successful captains, Mahi and Dada, have birthdays one after the other! Mahi celebrated his birthday on 7th July, and Dada yesterday on the 8th!

My dad and his brother too.. 4th and 5th... unfortunately, they never played for India :)

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Give Way

Imagine you live in a tiny house bang in the middle of a huge grid of expressways... with multi-axle trucks roaring down the road at breakneck speed.. you don't have pedestrian crossings, no subways, no over bridges. Every time you step out of your house to get any where, you got to take your chances and try and walk through the multi-lane expressway traffic.
That's how dogs and cats feel every day in our cities.

Next time you see a forlorn dog waiting by the side of the road to cross over, slow down and give way.

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Movie Review: Delhi Belly

For a glorious exploration of the choicest cuss words, vistas of hairy men's asses, and a complete repertoire of fart sounds doubling as the sound track (not to forget the oh so hummable Bose DK, sorry, DK Bose.. ), watch Delhi Belly. Aah, not to forget humping and some between the legs action on the bed, an uninhibited boob show, shit on the table, cockroaches on pizza and all other kinds of belly-crunching action. And then to top it all, you finish with the AK himself doing some pelvic thrusts as the credits roll along.

For me, Poorna Jagannathan as Menaka stole the show with a standout although understated performance. And Shehnaz provides some eye candy.

Other than that, nothing worked for me. But hell, the theatres are full... so go ahead, you might enjoy it. I think I am just a different generation.

Ensconsed

Nokia Care Disappoints - Again

Yet another terribly disappointing experience with Nokia Care - my E75 has been at the service center for more than two months now. I have been called 5 times to the center to take delivery of the "ready, tested and perfectly fine now" phone, and it has taken me less than 15 seconds to find out that it is not so. Not only that, now the entire body/case is spoilt, and after having paid 4500 to get it repaired, it's probably not even worth half of that. I have been promised a replacement/repair on Monday, but frankly, I have already run out of patience and hope...

No wonder Nokia is on the way out, Microsoft or not...

The Joys Of Summer

The monstrous Mango with Cream at Juice World on East Street in Pune Camp is an absolute must-have every summer.

Ps: While Alphonso is the accepted King of Mangoes, the Goan Mankurad is a much tastier and exciting Mango. And even better than that is the very rare (but available in our garden in Goa) and absolutely stunning Malgaze. It's golden yellow streaks in orange, absolutely threadfree, and has a tinge of sour mixed with absolutely amazing sweet mangoness. Truly outstanding.

Movie Review: Bbuddah Hoga Tera Baap

A tribute to Amitabh Bacchan... we grew up watching you this way... scream the rolling credits at the end of the movie.

Unfortunately, it's a very unflattering tribute. The direction sucks, the story is ghisi piti amateurish, there is a lot more glecerine than there is acting and the costumes strangle you when they don't dazzle you into temporary blindness. Hema Malini was never my favourite, but she's given much better performances in her second stint - but when all you are asked to do is pour glycerine in your eyes, what else can you deliver? Sonu Sood looks good, and Sonal Chauhan is eye candy although she should stop acting and be a model. Raveena Tandon erased all the awesome memories I had of her as the Mast Mast girl in one image shattering, regrettable performance. And who was that over grown, cry baby trying to be sweet and kiddish? Girl, whoever recommended you do this role, is not your best friend in the industry!

And AB himself. Well, he wears three watches with yellow, red and green straps. He chokes himself with mufflers under white suits. He drives a big mean machine, and some sexy convertibles. He has a reddish-brown shock of hair, a white French beard. And a paunch that's exposed in all its glory under satin Hawaii shirts. He gets PYTs to call him sexy, gives us a 5 min remix cocktail of all his songs while dancing with some scantily clad firangs, shoots bullets like Beckham, kills off an entire army of gangsters with one revolver, plays match maker, and then walks off into the sunset.

Got to hand one thing to AB though - no one can beat his voice.

Tribute? Really? Avoid it if you are a AB fan!

PS: And what's with the spellings?

Movie Review: Transformers: Dark Of The Moon (3D)

This time, the Decepticons have a devious plan to bring Cybertron to Earth, and enslave the humans. In return for promised peace, the humans are asked to extern the Autobots. But when the Decepticons attack Earth and all hell breaks loose, the Autobots make a grand re-entry and fight alongside their human "brothers" to defeat the Decepticons.

Positives: Some truly outstanding action, amazing 3D experiences, stunning visuals

Negatives: No Megan Fox, 30 min too long

Recommendation: Watch the 3D version, and sit as close to the screen as possible. Immerse yourself in a way that all you can see is the screen, nothing else. Trust me, it is something.