Be who you are

If you ever hear the cliche about living life the way you are and never lie even when cornered to do so? its just a matter of time before they go through this.
Last week i visited the saloon and for a haircut.
Being the lazy chap i was i even decided to trim the facial hair.
This chap had a TV in the saloon and like most barbers in bangalore this chap was also a Gult.

We were watching an "interesting" telugu movie on gemini.
I enjoy hanging conversations that had no start and dont know where it will end , or for that matter i may not even remember what we talked.
Right when i had the foam on the face and he began the shave, he asked
MAGADHEERA NODDRA Sir, I had seen it and wasn't extremely happy to have seen it.
But the position i was in, and considering the stakes involved with it, a small lie or hiding you real opinion never seemed so tough.

So when you go through self help materials, write back to the author about what happened to me and would he have spoken the frank truth if he were in such a particular situation?

How the new Timings is killing me.

Get up
Bath
Missed call
Run
Sleep
Office

Well to sum it all up this is my daily routine for the last month.
I wouldn't be harsh enough to say that it is mundane but just sweet enough to say that it is killing my personality.
For a person who would travel for an hour and a half either ways and can sleep through the journey one may feel it just wouldn't matter when the work timings are placed.
Well, on paper it doesn't matter.
Thats how i planned my day when the announcement of the 8 30 AM work arrival was announced. I convinced myself, " Dude just get up an hour earlier and sleep through the journey"
I just hope it was that easy.

Things i really miss -

Talking awesomely to mom about her dream
Sipping through coffee alongside watching (not reading) BT (Bangalore Times)
Watching NDTV in the morning to catch up with all that happened last night (my dreams don't come on TV, cuz i don't make it public)
relax walk to the cab stop.

Back to School

 

We just happened to pass the school coincidentally and all of a sudden the guard out there recognized my face and called us in. So after like 8 years, i stepped into school and all i could feel was "Those were the days i can never get out of my head." Not everyday u feel this way :)

This moved me

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Phoenix - The movies i caught up lately

Why the hell is it called phoenix.. If you follow my blog(I think you are as rare as the dino ;) ) then the previous post was in July last yr.

I think i have run out of topics (Neah, i keep coming up with new ones)
The only explanation can be I am plain LAZY ;)

So i thought i would just share my thoughts the movies that i was able to catch up with offlate(last couple of months)

Dark knight : Kick Ass. Missing more movies, Heath

Knocked up : Katherine Heigl is cute. Little hatke from
all the hollywood romantic comedy i have wathched.Good watch

Pi : Balls to it. If you watch movies to not think too much, please dont
try watchin this one. My subjects in Engg were far more easy to u'stand
If you have watched it and u'stood it please mail me or inform me i shal
call you.

American Beauty: Nice watch. Good to see over 40 men drool at gals(makes me feel all
isnt over as yet)..Doesnt Mena Suvari (daughter's friend) remind you
Emma Watson (Hermoine of Harry Potter fame)

Good luck chuck: Grose at times. Ok ok types. Jessica ALba saved the day. Chuck
reminds me of one of my friends ;)

Harold and Kumar go: Total porikki padam. Felt damn good to see Neil Patrick Harris
to the white castle (How i met your mother fame)

The others : One of the few spooky thrillers that had me glued till the last scene.
The climax being good is one of the best traits of this movie.

Before sunrise: Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy made a damn cute couple. Movie that
revolves around just 2 central characters. Very poetic. Though most
of my friends hate it (Gokul i shall give u company on this.)

Ghajini Hindi : Please watch a subtle and realistic portrayal of Sanjay by Surya

100 girls : Same old Teen gimmick love story

Wednesday : Makes you sit back and applaud the director. Naseeruddin shah's portrayal
of the common man was so immaculate. Yeh dil maange more for such quality
movies.

Aamir : One more masterpiece. I like this more than the Wednesday though it was
pretty close.Explores the morality of a terrorist. Makes to applaud the
writer for such a good experience

Before sunset : Sequel to Before sunrise. The lead pair's youth gone, romance gone &
your patience goes for a toss too. Somehow the sequel isnt as good
as the first one(how many movies have faltered this way)

The break up: Usual romantic comedy barring the climax.

13B : You have a spooky thriller barring the Tantrics and Mantrics (Unlike Arundathi
which also i wathed ;))It is an urban thriller and to my knowledge pretty original, though reminds you of RING for its involvement of the TV : )


BTW i saw these movies post VILLU, so dont expect me to write what i thought about VILLU :P

Adhu Pona maasam, Idhu indha maasam

Wow its thalaivar's book on the front stands on landmark . One of their best sellers make it to that stand. It was not an impulsive decision to buy it, wanted to own it since i got to know that there is one such book on rajini.
Feels great to own it and even better when u read through the whole book grasping every inch in a single day.
But the height of ego boost happens when u spot mistakes in the book;)

On the book i liked the way it was narrated. Felt like a movie.Kind of alternating between 3 phases in rajini's life , his childhood, entry to movies and finally his present life. These moods alternate and keeps to tight to the seat. Believe me its the only other book i finished this fast other than Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code (excuse me if u took it as a comparison between them , just shows my interest in knowing more about THALAIVAR)

The best part of the book lies where the author hasnt godified Rajni. Shows him just like another guy brought up in a way child would be in his circumstances.She seems to have followed rajni thru his growth in maturity.

Think its a good bet to own

Kaalai

Looks like i am not the only person to have watched Kaalai

Unreasonable Insecurity

I pass through this very intersection every morning with so much ease. Today, the pace is skewed. There is a sense of disarray as motorists try to push past each other through the traffic light. The light here always tests their agility because if you miss the green, you have to wait for another three minutes before it lets you go past again. Those three minutes become eternity for an otherwise time-insensitive nation on the move. Today, there is a sense of chaos here. People are honking, skirting each other and rushing past. I look out of my window to seek the reason. It is not difficult to find because it is lying strewn all over the place.

A tomato seller's cart has overturned. There are tomatoes everywhere and the rushing motorists are making pulp of it. The man is trying to get his cart back on its four rickety wheels and a few passersby are picking up what they can in an attempt to save him total loss. Though symbolic in the larger scheme of things, it is not a substantive gesture. His business for the day is over.

The way this man's economics works is very simple. There is a money lender who lends him money for just one day, at an interest rate of Rs 10 per day per Rs 100 lent. With the money, he wakes up at 4 am to go to the wholesale market for vegetables. He returns, pushing his cart a good five miles, and by 7 am when the locality wakes up, he is ready to sell his day's merchandise. By the end of the morning, some of it remains unsold. This, his wife sells by the afternoon and takes home the remainder, which becomes part of his meal. With the day's proceeds, he returns the interest to the money lender and goes back to the routine the next day.

If he does not sell for a day, his chain breaks. Where does he go from here? He goes back to the money lender, raises capital at an even more penal interest and gets back on his feet. This is not the only time that destiny has upset his tomato cart. This happens to him at least six times every year. Once he returned with a loaded cart of ripe tomatoes and it rained heavily for the next three days. No one came to the market and his stock rotted in front of his own eyes. Another time, instead of the weather, it was a political rally that snowballed into a confrontation between two rival groups and the locality closed down. And he is not alone in this game of extraneous factors that seize not only his business but also his life. He sees this happen to the "gol-gappa" seller, the peanut seller and the "vada pao" seller all the time. When their product does not sell, it just turns soggy.

Sometimes they eat some of it. But how much of that stuff can you eat by yourself? So, they just give away some and there is always that one time when they have to simply throw it away.

Away from the street-vendor selling perishable commodity with little or no life support system, the corporate world is an altogether different place. Here we have some of the most educated people in the country. We don the best garbs. We do not have to push carts; our carts push us. We have our salary, perquisites, bonuses, stock options, gratuities, pensions and our medical insurance and the group accident benefit schemes. Yet, all the while, we worry about our risks and think about our professional insecurity. We wonder, what would happen if the company shifted offices to another city? What would happen if the department closed down? What would happen if you were to take maternity leave and the temporary substitute delivered better work than you did? What would happen if the product line you are dealing with simply failed? In any of those eventualities, the worst that could happen would still be a lot less than having to see your cartful of tomatoes getting pulped under the screeching wheels of absolute strangers who have nothing personal against you.

All too often we exaggerate our risks. We keep justifying our professional concerns till they trap us in their vicious downward spiral. Devoid of education, sophisticated reasoning and any financial safety net, the man with the cart is often able to deal with life much better than many of us. Is it time to look out of the window, into the eyes of that man to ask him, where does he get it from?

In his simple stoicism, is probably, our lost resilience.

-----------Courtesy- A mail i received ----------------------------------

"IF ONLY"

Please stay patient, i know its longer than usual.

A grim voice said "You'll leave this world at 9 PM today" and then a thud, his back hurt like someone threw him on the bed. The impact woke him up. Phew it was only a dream felt Ian. But his back hurt and the voice he felt had got as close his ear. So what was it, a dream or reality? He took some time to recuperate from the shock. He could do everything but recollect what happened in his alleged dream. All he could recollect was the voice and intensity of the content which said he would die today.

He picked his coffee from his left hand and whoosh a thought just struck him like lightening, he would never pick his coffee with the left. Then he began to think he had done this just once before, and that was in the dream when he picked it in the left and spilt it on the newspaper and soiling the word TIMES in TIMES OF INDIA. So he looked at the newspaper and felt great that it was just a dream. But before he could realize his left arm was not even half as strong as his left he had spilt the coffee on the newspaper covering the TIMES part of "TIMES OF INDIA”. Now this got him thinking, "why am I not able to recollect all what I saw in the dream?" cuz that would help him clear the dilemma whether it was fact or fiction.
He began to realize that every event he saw in his so called cusp between dream and reality was happening alright, but in a different sequence. He saw his spectacle break, his handkerchief burn, slippers tear all in his dream. The incidents that were happening to him were already experienced and he was reliving them. He got the whole sequence till his cab crashed onto a median at 9 PM as told by the voice and he died. So the words he heard before he got up was true and it was a unique opportunity for him to know when he was gonna die. He just couldn’t believe what was happening to him. He was getting to know how and when he would die. He had another 4 hours to live before he was gonna die. It took him an hour more to come to terms with the terrible tragedy that was to befall on him. All through the hour like everyone else he abused the almighty for having him in this fix, cursed his luck and all unproductive things he could ill-afford. He always wanted to know the future, but when it presented itself before him he just couldn’t digest it. He then realized how lucky he was that he had got the time to face death with a smile . Set all things right before he could before he sinks into the earth. He had around 3 hours with him to do all the stuff he wanted to.He wanted to live on this earth like a dew drop that in its evanescent life stands up tall against the mighty SUN.

He picked his phone book and the 1st call was to his ex-wife. They had parted ways some years back cuz our man just couldn’t stay with one woman all his life. But ever since they decided to part ways, he wanted her back and just one factor that stood between the 2 of them was his ego. He just couldn’t dispense his ego or a sorry till the matters were irreparable. He thought to himself , If there is no soul, on what will the ego leverage on? A dead man can’t have an ego .He called her up and said “ I wanted to stay with you since the time I left you , but never had the strength in me to accept my mistake. “ The woman knew there was something wrong cuz in all the days she had him in her life, this was the last thing he would do , being sorry for what he did. He always had his way to justify his misconduct. Called his brother and told him he didn’t attend to him when he needed most, in the pursuit of power and position. He told him he didn’t have it in him to die without having this conveyed to him.

He felt a lot better and like lost a few pounds (a lighter hearts weighs less too). These were the relations he always knew he messed up! An hour left, he visited the music school next door to join the guitar he always wanted to learn . He smiled at himself that he didn’t wanna die thinking he never gave a shot at the instrument he wanted to learn like forever. The instructor asked him to be there after work at around the same time tomorrow. Immediately when the instructor said that , there was a cynical grin of Ian’s face. He went to his favorite restaurant for dinner. He knew it was pretty early dinner at 2030 hrs but he said to himself he didn’t wanna die hungry , he knew he was the best at find-the-irony-in-life one-liners. A shot of his favorite tequila to get him feel the impact of death lesser.

When he finished food, he just had a peek at the day he had lived since he realized it was his ultimate day, in more ways than one. He felt ecstatic and thought IF-ONLY he had lived the life this way , everyday. Just then he saw an old lady cross the street pretty dangerously, he lent her help to reach the other bank . He realized he could have died helping her, but the confidence in his face indicated that this is not the way his life was to end, so no harm helping her. These things gave him a good ego-boost. He also felt happy smiling at death, cuz to him that was one of the best opportunities he had to die brave. This day has been the best to him in a lot of ways- Spoke to his dear ones, helped the needy, enrolled to sth he wanted to since childhood . He felt a fresh soul.

Now he didn’t have any qualms accepting the eventuality. He hired a taxi. The driver looked back and he was exactly the same guy he saw in his semi-reality(he finally coined a term for his experience) There was this grin on his face and knew what was to follow. He even felt bad the driver was to die in athis scheme of things. Though he wanted to tell him , he knew it was a lot more of a shock than the driver could handle. He just closed his eyes and smiled wide when the exact place of accident arrived and felt a force pull him away from earth and the smile grew wider.

A voice said “Your place has arrived ,Sir . Looks like you are very happy , the wide grin says it all.” Ian was shocked to be alive. They had well passed that place. He paid the driver with disbelief. He reached his place to find his brother there. He had dropped by to find if everything was ok. He was ecstatic to have seen his old brother back. After things kind of got settled down, he was just going through some mags when he found someone write on how stress saps up ones energy and leaves him groping in the dark between whats true and whats not. Well this was when he began to realize that all what happened today was the peripheral effects of stress. He felt like one big fool. But soon recollected how good the whole day had been cuz he lived it like his last day on earth.He seemed to have got his loved ones back and enjoyed every second he lived today.

May be this one day had taught him more about life than the entire life he lived.

Skandagiri

Dont tell me u want me to |WRITE| something on this place

Tuesdays with morrie

Morrie Schwartz was a college professor in philosophy at Brandeis University for many years. One of his students in the 1970's was Mitch Albom. Morrie, "Coach," and Mitch became good friends over those years. Then Mitch graduated and went on with his life, too busy to keep in contact with his professor.

Almost twenty years later, Mitch is now a sports newscaster and writer. He and his wife are part of America's fast lane of life, doing well and striving for yet more. Then he watches Nightline one night. Ted Koppel is interviewing Morrie. And Mitch is surprised to discover Morrie is dying. He has ALS, aka Lou Gehrig's Disease.

Morrie is delighted to hear from Mitch again, and immediately invites him to visit. Thus begins a fourteen week, every Tuesday, visit and life lesson. It is also a funny and poignant life lesson. Morrie is able to take a look at life not only from the philisophical view he has taught over the years, but now also from the "end of life" viewpoint. He is a peace with himself and can share that peace and knowledge with Mitch and the others around him.

This book is a collaberation between Morrie and Mitch. They taped their visits each time Mitch visited. They discussed the big questions of life (what is love, living, death, marriage, a relationship) to the small ones (what's for lunch, how's your wife, how's your son, and the war in Bosnia). Mitch rediscovered the relationship that had never been broken. Morrie rediscovered his old friend. Also, Morrie was able to use this time to do what he loved, teach. The last line of the book is the perfect epitaph "A teacher until the end."

The book hits the right note - not too depressing because it deals with death, yet not irreverent or lighthearted to cover up death. Instead it is a wonderful chronicling of friendship and life questions. It is a short read, and worth it. Mitch is able to portray Morrie so that the professor once again is alive (and dying) for the reader.

I'd been putting off reading this because, as you know, there are too many books and too little time. I'm glad I finally made the time. This one will be worth a revisit as well. Morrie Schwartz' life philosophies help keep a person's perspective and keeps him grounded .
It also gets you pensive as to what our priorities are ?

Justification

How does a smoker convince himself to smoke....
-> Oh shit my dad's bought these ITC shares and if there is something i
can do to make his finances better it s this (what he spends for
his sutta is unaccounted adn FYI ITC isnt more domains than just tobacco)

-> If these Maiden songs can give me high by plain listening, just
imagine the intensity if i were high . Thats the true repect i
give to this classy band.

->When on the company bench ::::: Man i ll stop smoking once I get my
hands on some work, this idleness is killing me and driving me to smoke

->When working :::::: I cant handle this pressure , i need a smoke. That
would relax me make me work more efficiently

->My gal how could she ever do this to me . Cant stand the pain , dont
know who but has rightly said "pain in the body is much better than pain
in the mind " so this statement kinda sums up what i am going thru .

-> Because i am quitting(smoking) from monday (that is day after ) i
better smoke all i can before i quit .

-> I aint gonna live for 200 yrs . So if i smoke 1 which reduces 3 min of
my life , i am one of the lucky few who get to decide my destiny amidst
ppl who think GOD does it for us.

->If smoke a day reduces 3 min of ur life then work reduces 9 hrs of ur
life a day , 3 min and 9 hrs arent comparable on any scale .

->Now that Rajnikanth has stopped smoking on screen , who is gonna teach
the next generation to to smoke the right way. What if they injure
themselves trying to experiment , the wrong way (so for the sake of the
future generation)

->Just think of that corner shop guy.He is supported by his wife and 2
daughters . How selfish can i get by thinking of just me and not about the
people around me .

->Wieght Loss ;)

"Revenge"

The sound of the train seemed to make his heart chug faster.He felt this was faster than even the train .His mind seemed to speak to him , " U CHOSE PLAN B IF ONLY U HAD THE COURAGE TO LEAD A LIFE " He knew he couldn't and this was the only logical hit-back he could give to all the the trough life had given him. Noone knows when u are born , but only a few get to enjoy seconds before the soul and body bid farewell and he was the elite few. The grin from ear to ear said it all.He planned to keep his hands to buttress his body.It was just less than a second,he could feel the train touching his skin and !!!!!! his head was the farthest from his body he had felt all life and David lay there lifeless.All he could do to feel better from the clutches of the cruel life was give it up. He talked all his life how relinquishing one's life was cowardly , but ended up on the other side of the debate when he started riding the trough.He thought just at the moment he could smell the train , well i am at the border of life and death and only a few get to feel it. George did know of his father's suicide but wasnt ready to let go of the train driver for not having taken last minute measures. He took all the pain to look for that guy and stabbed him a lot of times till he knew that guy was dead. George gave this gratified look, and thought he had accomplished something that the driver deserved all life. But what would the innocent driver do for the willing suicide of David.
Well if this was a story, the real life analogy of this isn t too far away. If u have been following cricket , India lose to Bangladesh in the world cup and then organise a tour and then screw up the minnows claiming it to be a revenge . The worldcup loss being the suicide and the recently concluded series being the revengeThe analogy between the 2 is not far away :D

BILL 's Realization

" Bill u r the best thing that could have happened to me " said his mom

Oh was i ever so important to others and having done nothing big to her , mulled Bill
Is it mothers that are so self contended of their offsprings or is it anything by them seems good.
Bill got into the pensive mode.
' There have been relations in my life where i have seemed to give more than what i could expecting i'd get them back someday and i kept expecting , and here my mom ( she may have been this matured and a level headed CAT ) seems to be more than happy with even the negligence i provided.
And this day i bent over backwards for a small work which was pretty trivial of wat i was capable of , and she seems to be elated.
Just imagine if i were to give my maximum to her. '
The very thought , gave impetus to B I L L ! ! ! !

Cat's confusion

Relations are like " The life "
It ain't easy every time !!

There are difficulties at every turn ,
We don't run away from life, but why run away from relations
---------- said Bill's sis

Well for an intro Bill is the little cat that was new to the city and was on a socializing spree He was expectedly a little troubled

Bill seemed to feel a little better

U aren't perfect , nor is anyone else and thats what makes people more likable . Those are the imperfections that make u more attractive . U can try to mend ur character to fit the others' but not change them , cuz tomorrow "others" may be different people


Bill was feeling lighter . and for the first time seemed to believe the theory that the earth keeps moving , felt hellova lot since the last minute. May be he left his sulk and moved along with the earth !!!!!

Hyderabad

Well the word HOT got another example in my dictionary , well thats HYD ..
U travel all over in an ac car and then get into a house that is on the 5th floor and still feel the heat wave , then the very thought about the homeless people there makes u squirm.
Yeah the roads in the new hyd are broad and the apartments seem more organised but it has its own share of glitches , but thats what makes a city more enjoyable .

u can watch the snaps HERE

And yeah the individual places u could go shopping are the charminar (but please remember not to bargain )
The Birla mandir also has its set of shopping spots

If u are a movie freak just dont miss the Ramoji film city. It just rocks and u would be able to relate to so many of the shots u have watches on the movie screens

Bangalore (The Retro effect)

This week has been a one to remember to all those hard core Bangalore fanatics (like me). The clement weather seems to have one and all fall head over heals for it. Immigrants and Aborigins over the weeks were kinda getting cynical about bangalore's core strengths , C-L-I-M-A-T-E , and it seems to have given a taste of its usual self. The weather after 3 PM or was so adorable that even an copy book professional wouldn't have found it guilty to step out for a stroll and and get the breeze all over oneself.
My friend went a step ahead to go for a short drive(at good speeds of over 70) around the company on the new bike another friend just bought (CBZ extreme).
Well these are pretty small things that makes u get high on life!!!!

Chik tirupathi

My first long trip after we bought the car.We planned to leave at around 8 in the morning and left immediately picking my friend and his mom along with my mom and aunt. We took the white field road and then via channasandra and NH-207 . It is around 40 km from the outskirts of Bangalore.It has decent roads for most of the distance except for a few stretches of road where the road is under construction.
The temple that is generally pretty empty was filled to the brim cuz of the marriage muhurtham that were aplenty.On the whole it was a good place to watch and then while returning we came through sarjapur and thru electronic city etc. The return journey the roads were much better mainly cuz it was a weekend and u wont have the choker traffic in electronic city.


ROUTE (for people who wanna go there)
Route-1 take the road straight ahead ITPL and then go to channadandra and stay on NH207 throughout and then it is on road some 20 km or so from whitefield .
Route-2 Take a left after the electronic city junction on hosur road towards sarjapur and then from there go towards the Mugalur bridge and then follow the board or distance markers(its just the straight roads anyways)

P.S - Unusually photography is permitted in the temple

Marathalli Effect(The unknown face of the IT capital)

Marathalli and that side of bangalore may be known for more reasons than one. But one that more often than not tops the list is the volume of dust. U just cant escape this factor. U just cant get ur clothes to dry on the terrace or u cant make urself brave enough to walk out with a white shirt.
Now this atmosphere just having sunk in , Imagine if we had a small drizzle.Usually when u park ur vehicle out, u have to spend a good ten min to wipe the just of the vehicle, and to top it all the roads and the vehicle seemed to have gone to an impatient extreme.
The snaps may just sum it all up. :-D
I havent included the incident when there was a power cut and the over fed mosquitoes (in huge numbers) virtually carried us over, so that the readers dont breakdown. My blog is not for readers to breakdown. I haven't delineated that cuz i dont want this incident to go around as chain email stating each forward would donate some cents to us.