22 all the way!

Just 3 races completed this year and look at the championship points!

1	Fernando Alonso	Spanish	McLaren-Mercedes	22
1=	Kimi Räikkönen	Finnish	Ferrari	22
1=	Lewis Hamilton	British	McLaren-Mercedes	22

Reining world champion, A rookie and the ice man , all the 3 drivers at 22 points each... With the rookie getting better and better by each race and BWM capable of overtaking a McLaren! , imagine how exciting coming races will be...

Of course, these races would have been even more thrilling if Schumi was on the track.. he was/is the only one who could turn around a race, even while starting from 22nd position!

Miss you Schumi :(

The wait is almost over

Courtesy : http://www.formula1.com

The wait is almost over - the 2007 season is finally upon us. Or perhaps we should refer to it as 2007 PS - Post-Schumacher. For the first time since Belgium 1991 (barring the races he missed in 1999), the great German’s presence will no longer influence the outcome of races and world championships.

Think about that. The king is gone, and whenever that has happened in the past there has always been a period in which the next great begins to make his presence felt. This time it may be that Fernando Alonso has already done that, having beaten Schumacher these past two seasons. But even when he was doing so, Michael was always the man he had to beat. Now it is likely that the mantle will rest on the Spaniard’s shoulders initially, but with other changes throughout the paddock it may not stay that way. Will Kimi Raikkonen finally find at Ferrari the key he has been seeking to success ever since he rattled the establishment with his driving of a Sauber Petronas back in 2001? Will Felipe Massa, for so long underrated by those who looked no further than the top teams, become Ferrari’s pacesetter?

Jaane Kaha GayE WoH Din

Tue, 6th Mar 2007, 10:45 pm: Just before going to bed, I was browsing thro' the TV channels and in one of them I see a young girl, head shaven and wearing white saree...

Tue, 6th Mar 2007, 10:47pm: Sudden rush of Nostalgia.. Having watched this movie a dozen of times on our national channel, who can forget this? I remembered those old days, when we used to sit and tolerate 15 mins of News for hearing impaired and pray that it would be a Kannada movie; those days DD (Doordarshan) was the ONLY channel and they aired regional movies, supposedely award winning movies on sunday 1:30 pm, every week different language movie... And if it was a kannada movie, it would be either pAniyAmma or one other movie I cant remember the name.. a story of a sadhu, he goes around the village along with his bull (or cow?) for begging (preferably in kind), sometime people give rice, ragi, flour etc.. i cant forget the scene where one guy puts a chicken into his bag :))

Those were the days of Gaint Robot, one of my favorite TV series, would love to watch Robot fly out of the lab and kill a demon.. every week it would a new demon.. it was so much fun. Then, there was Chitrahaar, the only 1/2 hr of the week where you could get hindi movie song videos on TV.. sometimes, if you are lucky.. you can see 5/10 secs of the movie too when the song is over.. that was awesome! we could get a glimpse of the movie.. :)

Wed, 7th Mar 2007, 1:30 pm: I relish those moments of fun when we kids used to fight for a front seat infront of the TV on a big carpet in a neighbor's living room and sit and watch Gaint Robot or Chitramanjaree or Cricket or The Owner's choice :)... 20 years later, I wonder where the fun has gone when we watch TV in our own rooms with choice of more than 100 channels to watch, whatever movie, whatever song you like to!!

How to say 'I Miss You'?............ In Kannada

Happened to hear this song in a music store and immediately grabbed a copy of the same... and needless to say.. its playing in loop .. in car, ipod, office pc, except at home.. or else my wife will throw me out along with the cd ;)

The song is 'Neenillade' and goes like this...

NeEnillade NanGenideA
mAnasellA NinNalle NeLeyagideA
Kanasella kAnalle SereyaAgide
NeEnillade NanGenideA ||

NinagAgi kAdu kAdu
PaRitapisi NondE nAnu
KahiyaDa Virahada nOvu
HagaliruLu Tande nEnu

yEdeyAse Yenu yEndu NeeKanDade
NiSheyonde NanAlli Ne Tumbide
BelKonde Ninnida Na BayaSide

NeEnillade NanGenideA ||

Beautiful Song and well sung by Hindustani Classical Singer Pallavi Arun (better known as M.D. Pallavi of popular Kannada TV. serial Mayamruga :)

50 days to go!

The wait will be over in just 50 days... The lights will go off again and its race time!!

But, will F1 be the same without Schumi? I dont think so... Whatever be the case, may be he used to bore us by not letting others win or he used to never give up and always had to make his presence felt in each and every race.. F1 == Schumi and Schumi == F1.. things will never be the same again, unless.. he decides to come back ;)

Now my dilemma is whom to support? I used to support Schumi (becoz he is THE GOD), Montoya (becoz he used to be with BMW, which hp sponsored) and then our very own NK from India.. but now.. no one is there !! :( Anyways.. I will stick to support Schumi's team even though if he isnt there.. So,.. GO KIMI GO!! :)

Life goes on ...

Life is full of decisions! yes, it will be nice if you make it right... but you'll never know if your decision is right or wrong until you see its consequences and repercussions...

Probably if I read my tea leaves.. this is what I'll see right now...

aircraft---journey;
axe---difficulties;
baby---small worries
bell---unexpected news;
bush---new friends or opportunities; something growing in life
butterfly---fickleness
face---achange, may be a setback
feather---lack of concentration
forked line---decision
hammer---hard work needed
harp---love, harmony
hat---improvement, especially a new job
hourglass---need to decide something
insect---problems are minor and easily ovecome
letter ---news
lock---obstacles
nail---injustices, unfairness
ostrich---travel
shoe---change for the better
sword---arguments
triangle---something unexpected
wings---messages
zebra---adventure, especially overseas

Yes, thats quite confusing and thats the situation I'm right now in... and now I sit in office, on national holiday, hearing some unknown tamil song at the other end of the floor, sirens screeching from the convoy of some VIP... while I try to debug how this freaking list got corrupted!

Life is waiting!

One of the things I long for in a weekend is to scramble thro' my dvds collection and watch a movie even though I have watched it several times :)

This time it was 'The Terminal'. If you haven't watched it yet, then stop reading this now, run and get a dvd and watch it! Its an absolutely fantastic movie based on a true story. The combination of Tom Hanks and Spielberg has done the trick! This is a story about a common man stuck in an international airport becoz of immigration reasons... Okay, I dont want to give up the whole story now itself...

Some of the things/quotes I liked in the movie

"Big apple"

Victor wakes up to the sound of an airplane landing thinking he is being attacked :)) "Dont shoot Dont Shoot"

Victor finds a way to get 25 cents :)

Victor says no to a dinner with Amelia just becoz he didnt know how much would a dinner for 2 cost and he didnt have that much money!

"Are you afraid to go back to krakhozhia?" --- "No!"

Victor waits for the phone call about a job till late night and then runs to the loo :)

This is definitely a five * movie (from TOI standards).. Dont miss it!

What you missed in 2006?

Rang De Basanti, Krishh, Dhoom 2, Fanaa. Gangster, Khosla ka Ghosla....

Does these ring a bell? Yes, these were some of the best movies released in 2006. There were better movies than these.. I'm pretty disappointed to have missed these movies :( I'm sure you would've missed them too. Try to catch hold a copy of these and watch them and don't forget to pass them on to me :)

Here is the BIG list of these wonderful movies:

Abhi To Raat Hai
Bajrang - He Man
Beda paar karte bhagwan Amarnath
Beparda
Beega Badan
Bipasha - The black beauty
Chumban - The Kiss
Eight Shani
Ek baar Aao Na
Ek Pyar Aisa Bhi
Ek Se Mera kya Hoga
Free Entry
Good Boy Bad Boy
Haseena - Smart Sexy Dangerous
Hot Girl
Hot Maliaka
Hot Money
Husn - Love and Betrayal
Iqraar - By Chance
Item Girl
Jaana - Let's fall in love
Kaamwali
Karo Na ... Pyar
Ladies Tailor
Lips
Mast Chalaak Chhokri
Men not allowed
Mera Dil Lekhe Dekho
Meri Life Mein Uski Wife
Mp3 - Mera Pehla Pehla Pyaar
Mr 100 % - The real player
Naughty Boy
Sandwich
Shaitan Ki Premika
Soutan - the other woman
Tathastu
Tera Pati Mera Pyar
The Angrez
The Real Dream Girl
Yeh Hain U Turn

Courtesy: Filmfare December 2006/CNN-IBN

Look forward for review of some of these on this blog as my new year resolution is to watch all of these and write reviews :D

go goa!

With the excuse of a colleague's marriage nearby to Goa.. few of us decided to go to goa.. we planned the trip sooo well that we forgot that the main purpose was marriage and not goa and never bothered to book/arrange travel from goa to hubli :D

Day 1: We reached goa comfortably, thanks to KSRTC's airavata, landed at panjim and too a bus to calangute, hired honda activa and checked-in to the hotel. The fact that i had been there just 2 yrs back.. I could recognise some places/hotels and things were easy to locate and of course even easier with our own transport :) While in goa, its good to have your own transport: Either the one you take from blore or hire there. One can easily hire a 2 wheeler for 250 or 300 bucks a day or a santro/Gypsy for 2k. Only thing is u'll have to travel 8/10 kms to fill petrol or pay 60/lt in any local shop... we happily filled petrol from locals.. only to realise later that petrol is actually cheaper in goa and its just 46/lt!!! :( Got fresh and had breakfast and headed straight to candolim beach (again thanks to my previous visit, I knew exactly where to eat and where to go :)).. this is best beach as far as i know.. very less crowd and very neat. Spend almost whole day at the beach and back to hotel. Got fresh again and headed to Fort Aguda, the place is supposedly where DCH is shot. Its a beautiful place and very good view. The sunset from the bottom of Fort Aguda is awesome. After that, back to hotel and Everyone got ready to go to Titos, the best place of discotheque in calangute. Went for a beach side hotel, there was live music there too and didn't realise it was already 11:30 pm when we were out of the restaurant. So, ditched Titos and headed to Saturday night bazaar. Its like Sante, only with the difference that its filled with loads of Hippies and sell almost any handicraft available in India and some antiques and crazy stuff too... Its like a get-to-gether for Hippies, they have a live rock band there and some International cuisine too. Finally reached hotel at 3am after having a cofe at CD at 2:30 in the morning!!

Day 2:Planned to wake up at 6 and go for a walk on the beach :D. Got ready by 10:30 and had ususal breakfast at Plantain leaf and headed to explore in and around beaches, went to Anjuna, Vegator and Baga beach.. none of them were as attractive as Candolim. Of course, of all them have their own unique views of the ocean. Finally, ended up at Candolim again and relaxed a lot! In the evening, went for some water sports, Jet ski and Para sailing. Jet ski is too good, riding on water is like riding on humps every 10 mts on the road.. very bumpy..but nice :) Para sailing is even more fun, you'll be lifted to almost 150 ft above sea and you can see the complete lenght of the beach and endless sea! Sunday night, had dinner, bit of shopping and returned the bikes and happily returned to hotel to find that taxi guy who was supposed to take us to Hubli has ditched us, has evern switched off his mobile! That is where all the fun we had in goa just disappeared.. We started roaming calangute at 12 in the midnight to find a taxi, but in vain.. So decided to wakeup at 4 in the morning and go to panjim and take a taxi from there..

Day 3: As decided, we got up at 4:30, reached panjim at 5am in a taxi (omni) and the driver offered us to take us to hubli in just 4 hrs! we were thrilled by the idea and only thing is we had to adjust 4 ppl in the back of the omni and so we started.. the driver took us through a route which was probably a test track for trucks and in a ghat section! there is no road (attached is one pic of that muddy road), probably there was a road (maybe couple of years back).. the most horrible ride ever.. that too in a omni with 5 ppl in the back.. we were going at 5/10kmph, you can imagine, a stretch of 200 kms took us 7.5 hrs! Above which the driver wanted us to chat with him so that he doesnt fall asleep :) He and his hindi.. wah Meine bola na.. Mein aap ko hubli leke jaavoonga, lekin yeh raasta itna karab hain, mujhe nahin maloom tha.. When we asked him why we didnt take the karwar route.. he said.. waha pe bahut checkin hain aur mere pass permit nahin, bahut tax barna padega! Added to this, we had a puncture and had to dodge the commercial tax checkpost at karnataka border by one of us getting down and walking across the border as only 5 ppl (including driver) is allowed in a taxi!! We finally made it!! reached just in time to get fresh, wish the couple and run to the railway station!

What a trip! it was like AXN's amazing race :)

DHOOM

After avoiding for a couple of weeks... I finally HAD to watch Dhoom 2!

Cant believe its Yash Raj films and has made 36 crs in the first week beating Krishh which had the highest this year - 25 cr! Thanks to people like me who are dumb enough to and sit for 3 hrs and contribute to the same...

Okay.. the audience have to be dumb enough not to recognize Hrithik with a thin brown moustache and goatie with long hair, or, with curly hair and a freckled face. Forget us, even the smartest cop couldnt! Lot of other unnecessary and simple mistakes by the director will tickle your funny bone... Most interesting part of the story (if there was one) was that Bips comes in a Sr. officer with a case against Hritik and she herself opts of out the case after 2 attempts to catch him!!

Inspite of Hritik's amazing stunts and dance, Ash's pathetic performance, Bips's over-exposing and Abhishek's unnecessary role have compensated to make the movie unrealistic and irritating 3 hours.

All said and done.. Hrithik ROCKS!! He is simply superb! he is way ahead of others.. I'm sure if he continues to do such kind of roles.. of course not in a multi-star-er.. then he can write the last chapter of the KHANs era!!

Toys R us

Last sunday, woke up with a huge gada-gada, gudu-gudu noise in front of my home.. saw that the crowd were actually from the Gare workers for the roofing of the house infront of ours.. So, i thought i would click some interesting snaps instead of generally otla hodying at home... and to my surprise.. did get some interesting and thought provoking snaps!

Just check out these snaps..




























I'm really taken aback by the childhood this kids are having.. I couldnt resist comparing them to our own kids.. the kind of luxury, treatment etc our kids gets.. Are they plain lucky? Or is this fate? I do not believe in fate and stuff.. But, looking at what these innocent kids are going thro'.. I'm forced to believe!

My experiments with SLR

Finally, I found some time to run away from everything and be alone and click snaps :)

Here are few snaps which I took at Hebbal lake last sunday. The snaps are the scanned version of the prints taken out of Analog SLR.. so, the clarity is not as good as its seen on the prints..


Some things I realised about photography after my first trip...

• First of all have loads of patience to capture birds ;)
• Eat well so that you'll have energy to walk around with big and heavy lenses, if possible carry a bottle of water or juice.
  
• Do not wear slippers.. wear old shoes so that you can walk wherever you like.
  
• Wear cargo pants or photographers' vest which has lots of pockets.. you will need them..
• Carry a light-weight, yet strong tripod which can hold your camera and lens.. This might turn out to be more tedious if it had rained.. you wont like your tripod to get spoilt by putting it on the mud, but you still want good snaps .. so.. its a compromise.. may be carry it when it is a fully dry day..
• To capture birds.. make sure you have a lens with good range.. 300mm or 400mm lens is definetely not enough :(

This one was one of the last few snaps I took just before leaving... Capturing dew drops is really very enjoyable.. the view itslef is so refreshing and the image will somewhat give you that freshnesss around






Capturing bee is bit tricky.. I tried so hard to get to focus when the bee flies and lands on the flower.. I missed it so many times and finally got an idea.. this is actually when the bee is flying off.. no one can make out ;)





This is probably the best snap.. but my zoom lens is not good enough to capture all the details of the bird.. I dont even know what bird it is :) I should probably start reading about birds so that I know what I'm shooting....


Long way to go... so many things to learn.. hope I have the patience to continue ...

nAanu hOdare hOdenu

Does the title sound wierd? It looks like one of the questions in our high school for the Sandharba sahita vivarisi, isnt it? Yes, definelty it is..

Some old kannada B&W movie was playing on the TV when i was getting ready for office today morning... It was Dr. Raj's movie, so I was more inclined to hear the dialogues than having my breakfast.. realised that it was Bhakta Kanakadasa movie, he was the one who protested against social evils like caste system, untouchability, etc. through his poems.

In the movie, a group of pandits headed by Vyasaraja and purandara dasa and many other pontiffs were discussing, what is moksha and who will attain it?

All the pontiffs explained and sort of conlcuded that you have to do lot of this and that and basically you need to be a brahmin to attain moksha.. when they asked kanakadasa , he said none of you guys, including purandara dasa and vyasaraja will attain moksha.. when asked about himself.. he said this - nAanu hOdare hOdenu .. This 3 words has world of meaning in itslef... it doesnt mean that 'I might go' or 'I might attain moksha'.. what he meant was

nAanu - aHankara, the egoism, selfishness etc within oneself
hOdare - if it goes
hOdenu - then I might go...

This is such a wonderful thought explained in just one sentence, rather just 3 words... Immediately after this.. there was this song.. kula kula kulavendu hodeDadadiri... this song deserves a post for itslef...

Uncle Sam's nephews @ CTR

After a long day's work (read as: chat, browse and emailing) I was at CTR.. relishing my Benne Dose and Mangalore Bajji ... couldnt stop overhearing 2 funkies discussion in the next table.. I assume they were either just returned from the land of opportunities either from work or MS. The discussion was really enlighting for me..

F1 (Funkie 1) is sporting a cool dude t-shirt from Univ of Kentucky and tracks
F2 (Funkie 2) is sporting a denim - ethnic combo

F1: You know the population of India has crossed 1 billion?
F2: yes.. what is that some four times of US?
F1: and see the resources they have man..
F2: no..we just simple cant compare US and India

Now on to Traffic..

F1: the traffic control is really awesome there..
F2: yes..why cant they implement the same here?
F1: I mean.. they should have very good lane system
F2: forget it .. things will never improve here...

Suddenly, the topic shifted to office!

F1: you know.. I'm trying to hit on my manager..

I was like.. what? he is trying to kill him / her??

F1: She is soo hot man.. she may be around 31/32 and damn.. she is really good..
F2: Coool..

OK, Now i Understand!! :) Finally, when the bill came, one guy picked up the bill and went to the counter.. the other guy sort of felt guilty and pulled out 10 rs note from his pocket and said.. lets share! One thing I appreciate is they promptly called the waiter and tipped him a few coins :)

Now, I started imagining about me hitting on my manager.. ha ha.. I just couldnt stop laughing.. All i can think of is.. hitting her.. not hitting on her :))

Free hugs, anyone?

I love this video..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4

via Deep's

Happy anniversary!!

I found a nice way to celebrate my blogging anniversay... Yes! its about F1 and Schumi again!! :)
The Rain God has once again proved that he is THE master of rain... at China!

Immediately after the race.. I wanted to ask Michael, but one of the reporters asked him on behalf of me ;)

Michael, after a race like that, why are you retiring?
MS: I explained myself pretty extensively at Monza and it is very nice that you ask the question and it is better to go maybe when you are still asking the question than that you hint that it is time to go…

For another question about would he come back.. he said.. If I come back again, we’ll see. It is possible in a way. But I don’t know yet.

I really wish he would continue for another season atleast. With this win, Schumi has won each and every ciruit on the calender and is finally able to catch up with the current champ. Now, he goes to Japan head-to-head.

Just keeping my fingers crossed for the next 2 races :)

Weekend full of fines and bribes

Say it badluck or my negligence... Last Weekend, I ended up paying fines for not carrying vehicle insurance, parking in No parking zone and some unknown bribe in a govt office.. (the officer promptly said its the fee) and stupid me didnt even ask for a reciept!

I have seen many vehicles with clouds of smoke coming out of thier vehicle, 3 or even 4 people on a 2 wheeler, talking on cell phones with both hands OFF the steering wheel.. Why aren't these people caught? One unlucky day, i forget to put the insurance in my bike pocket, I get caught! and one day I think.. what the heck..there are so many cars parked here.. why not me.. and I get caught! I'm not saying I'm right.. I agree its my mistake and did pay the fine, But, we see so many illegal instances right infront of you and they never get caught and the ones who does a mistake once in a bluemoon will be caught.. I wonder why!!??

All these in a sort of hurry to watch Lage Raho and to finish the long pending tasks.. Of course, Lage Raho was worth watching.. but I really dont think Gandhigiri will work anymore... Basic quality required to follow Gandhigiri is patience, which I think is the one which most of all lack in this fast paced world!

Can Kimi be the next Schumi??

All good things have to come to an end... Finally, Schumi announces retirement and does it in style! I was guessing he would do it after winning the championship this time, may be at Japan or Brazil.. But, at Monza with his 90th win is surely not a bad time :)

He has loads of records in his bag. The fact I like about him his passion to drive and the "Never say die" attitude.

Well, this doesnt stop me from watching F1.. my next fav driver is jumping into Ferrari next year and definetely, it will be more fun to watch as current champ is going to a team which doesnt have a reliable engine, lets see what magic he can do there!

Vrrooooommmm

Thanks to my wife's weekend trainings and that too out of town ;) I got a chance to hang out with friends after a looong time and watch the most-wanted movie.. CARS!!!

And so herez another blog on movie review... I'm getting carried away by writing on movies.. or rather I dont have anything else to write :)

Anyways.. Movie has been made fantasticly.. the location, characterization, minuuuute details such as cloud tracks, beetle bugs are simply superb! The names chosen such as Jay Limo, Jesus-Chrysler are too good. Some of the sequences are really touching: L McQ and Sally cruise alongside the water falls, Hudson trying to give a run on the trace with his nostalgia (Turn right to turn left!!)

The tractor tipping was the most hilarious part.. And some dialogues are ultimate..
Filmore says: I'm tellin' ya, man, every third blink is slower.

Though the story is not as strong as Incredibles or Finding Nemo, the movie is defintely worth to watch because of the so much imagination and thought which has gone into it to make it.

Very few mistakes done either by the crew or the characters in the movie.. L McQ will race with rear view mirrors as suggested by Mator.. but then the position of the mirror is impossible for L McQ to see the rear..

If you are crazy about cars, its a must-watch movie.. you can infact to relate to so many aspects or dialogues which you'll enjoy more. And if you are F1 fan.. then no doubt you'll love the movie!!

KYZ

Loads of pending work, laziness and of course married life caught me and so not able to write as often as I used too.. Anyways, some incidents which i found funny/interesting.. so jotting them down... I donno why now-a-days I like to write movie reviews...

Krishh
Had been to watch ... rather was forced to watch ;) the first ever desi superhero.. I wonder who gave this name? Probably people who have never seen a super hero.. this reminds me of a line from Friends, when Chandler has been transfered to Tolsa (i donno if I spelt it right, anyways..) comes and tells Monica - Do you know that Tolsa is called the Paris of Oklahoma? and she asks who, he says People who have never been to paris .. hahaha.. ok.. back to Krishh.. A must watch movie! Amazing stunts, music, story, everything is soooo crappy! So, What does our desi superhero use his powers for? To save his dad and girl friend from the bad guy.. Oh ya.. he did save one boy from being run over by a bus on the Singapore roads...Wow thats cool! One more interesting fact is that out superhero gets all designer dothis and kurtas in the remoooote village!

Yaa Ali
What a song!! Really how can these lyricist and music come up with such amazing words and tunes? Ya.. i have to accept that i dont compeltely understand meaning of the complete song.. but will surely get it one day.. This is the song in loop in my room, car and ipod now :)

Zidane
Watched each and every match of world cup (from quarters) and my hero is ZZZZZidane!! Ya ya.. there are already some management stories floating around saying.. see Italy..they played with team effort and hence they won the world cup.. I totally disagree.. they were plain lucky..thats it! Really cant understand what made Zidane throw up the match and his career that way.. anyways.. whatever he did, I'm sure he would've done in his complete sense.