Samara Wild at the Mango Orchards

Samara at Dapoli

Some photos of Samara having fun at Dapoli - videos follow!

Wild in the Mango Orchards

Rock Climbing

On 3 Tires

Sun Bathing on the Beach

River Rafting

A Nice Bath

Not an UFO, it's just the Aftermath!

Pune-Dapoli-Pune

Just back from a fantastic 3 day family reunion in Dapoli... lots of pictures and videos to process, so keep watching for updates, but for now, here are some initial photos from the drive itself.

First, the drive through Mulshi and Tamhini.. a deep gorge on one side, towering cliffs on the other, mark the beginning of the ghat. A good pit stop.

Although it was late morning, around 10 am, the mist was still hanging around...

...and a final cut through the rock, and you are in the land of sea and sand

The way back through Varandha is a lot more exciting. The towering Sahyadris make you wonder - am I really supposed to climb all the way up there?

And if you had any thoughts of tunneling through, those are quickly dispelled!

A wonderful valley greets you on the other side of the climb

And hills quickly give way to dark blue and green waters of the dam...

...the shimmering sun is absolutely mesmerizing in the waters.

Finally, as we entered Pune, this is what we were greeted with! Cloud burst in November?

Customer Satisfaction

My cats are extremely picky about the fish I get them - needs to be of one of 2-3 favourite types, need to be cleaned, need to be warmed, need to be the right size. They drink milk only when they are in the mood. Rice, bread, chapati, most biscuits, any leftovers - not OK with them!

Yet, they eat every combination and product that Whiskas manufactures. Every single time. Without complaints.

Now, THAT'S customer satisfaction!

Narkasur

Diwali in Goa is predominantly about the slaying of Narkasur by Krishna, unlike the interpretations and celebrations in rest of India. The days before Diwali see youngsters enthusiastically building these effigies, which are the center of attraction on Diwali eve, with Goans all over the state getting out at night in their cars, jeeps, bikes and on foot, to soak in the revelries, before they are consigned to the flames early in the morning.

Competitions all over the state nowadays feature more and more "sophisticated" Narkasurs, growling, heaving, shaking their hands and heads in terrifying gestures, duelling with the tiny Krishnas, until, finally, good prevails over evil.

As we do every year, we had our own Narkasurs too. A smaller baby Narkasur that could be carried in hand, and a larger one that we installed on our borrowed Tata Ace pickup and went around town, singing songs and doing naarebaazi. Here's the baby that Mummy (my aunt) made for us:

Sorry, bad light means I do not have better or any more pictures - but if you search my blog with the right keywords, you can see some of our creations from the past :)

While roaming around town, we suddenly found ourselves in the middle of the Panaji Church competition venue, with hundreds of spectators eagerly waiting for the competing Narkasur's to arrive - and were welcomed with loud cheers and wild clapping. Lol...

By 1.00, we had consigned our Narkasur's to flames - and it was just in time! A huge downpour rain for the next 45 min ensured that very few of the other demons got their due!

Anti-Corruption Action, or A Smokescreen?

The Congress today sacked Ashok Chavan, less than 2 years after he took up the top job and led the party to a comprehensive victory in Maharashtra, for his involvement in the Adarsh Society scam, and replaced him with the Indo-US Nuclear Deal veteran and MoS in the PMO, Prithviraj Chavan. Chavan, at 64, enjoys a clean and efficient image, and has the strong backing of both the PM and Sonia Gandhi. With a University of Berkeley degree and experience in the US aerospace industry, he matches the impressive educational qualifications of the ex-CM, an MBA.

The Congress also fired CWG head honcho Suresh Kalmadi, ignoring his pleas to let him continue until the Asian Games.

Is this the beginning of a serious clean up exercise, or just a smokescreen before it's all life as usual? We can only wait and watch.

Obamaspeak

After supporting an "emerged" India's bid for permanent seat at the UNSC and upsetting Germany, Japan and Brazil (and of course, Pakistan!), Obama has raised China's hackles by a not-so-veiled attack at its human rights record saying, "Today, we sometimes hear that democracy stands in the way of economic progress. This is not a new argument. Particularly in times of change and economic uncertainty, some will say that it is easier to take a shortcut to development by trading away the rights of human beings for the power of the state. But that is not what I saw on my trip to India, and that is not what I see in Indonesia. Your achievements demonstrate that democracy and development reinforce one another."

Movie Review: Due Date

This time it's not a marriage, but the delivery of his first baby in LA that Peter Highman (Robert Downey Jr.) needs to reach for in time. He is about to fly home from Atlanta when his "encounters" with Ethan Tremblay (Zach Galifianakis) begin. Starting with his luggage and wallet getting misplaced, he is arrested for possession of drugs, and then put on the "no-fly" list. Desperate to get home Peter is forced to accept Ethan's offer to hitch a ride with him cross-country. The next 5 days will be the most agonizing, yet most exciting of his life!

Absolutely entertaining in the Hangover sort of way, Due Date is highly recommended for those who dig gross humour... Be warned though, if you thought the baby in Hangover had too much testosterone, you've seen nothing yet!

Goa: Mobile and Water

For the second time, on a trip to Goa, I have managed to drop my Nokia in a bucket of water, ensuring I am disconnected from most of the rest of the world for the entire trip, and then have it all come back to life the moment I land back in Pune :)

This time it was my E75. And it's all OK now, except for the camera which seems to have shorted out.

Movie Review: Golmaal 3

Touted as the only Bollywood movie franchise to have been made in a three part series, the third in the series actually comes off better than the not-that-great sequel to the hugely successful Golmaal. With many references to countless classic Hindi movies and dialogues, and packed with some brilliant moments - dialogues and acts - Golmaal 3 is a good option for some over-the-top mindless fun and entertainment with friends and family.

Arshad Warsi is in great form, and it is really good to see Johnny Lever in his element again. Kareena looks absolutely ravishing, probably her best so far, and puts in a very good, natural performance. Mithun and Ratna Pathak Shah are also surprisingly good, unlike many other performances from actors of yesteryears in recent films. Ajay, Shreyas, Kunal Khemu and a bunch of other actors also pull in their punch!

Overall, a fun movie, but make sure you are not in the first row - the splash of colors can overwhelm you :)

India Avoid The Collapse

After being 15/5 and dangerously close to a embarassing collapse and defeat at the end of the 4th day, India showed why they are number 1 - a fighting 90+ score by Laxman, and a maiden century by Bhajji steering India out of trouble, enabling the undefeated streak to continue. At the time of writing this, India were confortably placed at 255/8, with an overall lead of 283 in the post lunch session on the 5th day.

Gone are the days when the team collapsed like a pack of cards, this team has a very strong spine!

Rajnikant at Big Boss

RAJNIKANT enters BIGG BOSS 4...

Next day ...

RAJNIKANT chahte hai ki BIGG BOSS confession room me aayein!!!

Back From Goa

Just back from Goa after a nice Diwali break - lots of fish, lots of late nights and sleepy afternoons. Rains too! Narkasur was fun, but the tourist season has begun in earnest and that meant lot of traffic all over. Baga is overful, and we added to the crowds in the evenings. Titos is finishing renovation (my cousin Yogesh is doing the RCC and steel for the elevated dance stages) and due to open soon, but Mambos is all set! Zanzibar and the rest of the shacks are doing roaring business. Life guards continue to show off in the red 4x4 while saving countless lives.

Lot of pampering in the spa, but paid for it with the cell falling in the water... thankfully, except for the camera, there seems to be not much lasting damage.

Bad stomach ruined part of the holiday, and got no sleep while getting tossed around in the last berth on the way back... so the end wasn't that fun! (Is it ever?)

Cats were happy to have me back. Are you? :)

Perfect Sunday

Waking up at 9. Relaxed tea, plenty of newspapers.

Extensive clean up at home, trimming plants in the garden. Encounter with a bee, the human winning the battle in the end with the help of his sophisticated equipment. Ten enormous Shoppers Stop bags worth of discards.

Afternoon tea with a close friend in the comfort of a clean and fresh smelling home.

Property hunting in the evening. Tea and pav bhaji at Shiv Sagar. A little shopping, some home decor.

A light soup for dinner.

Laundry. Criminal Minds Season One DVD at night.

A perfect Sunday!

(Just Like) Trikaya

So after a fairly promising first visit a few weeks back, we finally got the chance today to go to Trikaya again - and while the rest of the food we ordered was decent, we were shocked to be served the artificial, made-from-fish "Just Like Crab" nuggets in our crab meat soup! Completely unacceptable in a restaurant this posh, the recovery was worse than the mistake. No apology. Instead, the chief waiter tried to explain that JLC was actually crab. When I showed him the ingredients, he sheepishly took it away, then got "real crab meat soup", this time in a very different preparation than the first dish!

And at 200 for a bowl of steam rice, and 100 for a plate of masala papad, it almost seems as if Trikaya is out to fleece its unsuspecting customers on the weekends, since it doesn't seem to have much of a clientele on weekdays anyway.

Very sad, really - because with the lovely decor and ambience, Trikaya could have rocked the city.

Quote For The Day

Dogs have owners, cats have staff.

Movie Review: Hiss

When a good Holywood director makes half the movie, and then an Indian B grade producer puts his mark on it, you get Hiss. It's like the rest of India - two different worlds trying to coexist together, but not doing such a great job.

A gora wants to capture a naagin for her naagmani, to attain immortality. He captures the naag, then waits for the naagin to come. The naagin takes a human form (Mallika Sherawat, who looks good, doesn't have a single dialogue in the movie, and has gone on record saying she did the nude scenes which were very obviously done by a body double) and goes on a rampage, sometimes provoked, sometimes not.

I do not know what happens in the end, because I left the theatre immediately after half time.

Instead of the movie, go to your local snake park.

English

Professor Ernest Brennecke of Columbia is credited with inventing a sentence that can be made to have eight different meanings by placing ONE WORD in all possible positions in the sentence: "I hit him in the eye yesterday."

ONLY I hit him in the eye yesterday. (No one else did.)
I ONLY hit him in the eye yesterday. (Did not slap him.)
I hit ONLY him in the eye yesterday. (I did not hit others.)
I hit him ONLY in the eye yesterday. (I did not hit outside the eye.)
I hit him in ONLY the eye yesterday. (Not other organs.)
I hit him in the ONLY eye yesterday. (He doesn't have another eye..)
I hit him in the eye ONLY yesterday. (Not today.)
I hit him in the eye yesterday ONLY. (Did not wait for today.)

Setting Up For A Photo Shoot

Off-Roading at Bhuleshwar