Shawshank Redemption

I watched this movie for the fourth time probably last Sunday and how much I loved it yet again!!! Another movie I would never ever get bored of and definitely, one of my all time favorites. A simple yet wonderful story about HOPE!!!

HOPE – One word that drives all of us and gives us reason to live. We push ourselves through our mundane lives in the hope of achieving / finding something that we dream of. In the words of this movie’s protagonist – “hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies”!!!

Superlative performances by Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman.

A must watch if you haven’t!!!

The God of Cricket

The Little Master
The Master Blaster
The Run-machine
Bradman of modern era
Grandpa of Indian cricket

And the list goes on!!!

There is nothing new that I can write about this man. The man who has been a constant & consistent reason for joy for millions of Indians over the last 20 years, the man who probably has all the batting records under his belt, the man who is a treat to watch when on song, the man who silences his critics whenever they point fingers at him, the man known as the GOD of CRICKET!!!

20 years and still going strong!!! Lara (test average proves) may have been better and Ponting may break his records (test cricket atleast), but either way, without a shadow of doubt, the greatest icon to have ever played the game and a demigod indeed in an absolutely cricket crazy nation!!!

SACHIN TENDULKAR!!!

A Sober Birthday

30 years ago, on the 14th of Sep 1979, a tiny one weighing 3kgs was born in a government hospital in a small town called Lalgudi in Trichy district of Tamil Nadu. This kid spent the next eight years of his life in Delhi and eventually settled down in Bangalore in the year 1987.........

What next? You can catch the rest of the story when I release my autobiography!

Well, the birthday celebration this year was a very simple and sober affair. I had taken a day off to spend time at home. Sappu cooked some of my favourite dishes including onion sambhar, aloo curry and a special dal payasam to celebrate the occasion. And after the sumptuous feast, it was time for a nice afternoon nap. Evening time was spent shopping and then eating dosas at parents place. And just when I thought it was all over, there landed Mamta & Mithun with a yummy cake (at 11pm). It was time for some wine & cake to round off what was a simple yet special day!

Thanks a lot to all the people who messaged & called in to wish me and thanks to Sappu for keeping it simple.

PS – My blog also celebrated its fourth birthday and I hope there are many more to follow!!!

Why God?!! Why me???

That's what Joey says on his 30th birthday!!!

And no prizes for guessing why I came up with that now. Well... am spending the last few hours in my twenties as I pen this down :-(

And does it feel different to be 30? I shall answer that tomorrow!!!

Why God?!! Why?!! We had a deal!! Let the others grow old! Not me!!

OUR First Car :-)

And there it is. Our first car!!! The one I bought last sat (Aug 8th). An electric-red Hyundai Getz. Do we love the colour or what??? A BRIGHT contrast in comparison to the earlier one. Sappu always wanted Getz to be her first car and here it is.

Just for you!!!

My First Car!!

There it is. My first car!!! The one I bought in 2005. A forest green Hyundai Santro Xing. It was a pre-owned one but still my first and I absolutely loved it!!! A lot of wonderful memories are attached with it.

Anyways, it was time to part with it and I sold it last Saturday (Aug 8th) with a heavy heart... a very very heavy heart :-)

Miss you!!!

Boyz Meet!!!

Aug 2nd (Sun) - It was THE night, the big night, the night of reckoning, the night that all of us were waiting for with bated breath. That was the hot topic of discussion and our conversations revolved around that. It was the night when Rakhi Sawant was going to choose her life partner!!!

Oops!!! Just got carried away...

I was to blog about the BOYZ get-together that happened on the 2nd. It was one of those ‘once in a blue-moon’ kind of occasions when all the six of us (of course with our spouses) made it to PJ’s house for a wine + dinner get-together. GP & Nanz were the first ones to make it followed by yours truly and Sappu. Then it was our ‘Gym’ Corbett man, Chiins, followed by Shaatz & Dia. Barry & Ranji were the chief guests for the evening (they were the last ones to arrive!!!). Of course, the centre of attraction and the cynosure of all eyes was obviously our little Changu who posed tirelessly with all of us while Chiins was busy clicking away with his new camera!!!

Our discussions involved the usual stuff - Chiins and his wedding / car buying plans, Changu’s activities, current job scenario, our next trip, the latest kannada movies, reality shows, our favourite topic of real estate and of course, Rakhi Sawant and her antics!!! While Sappu and me were found wanting when it came to Rakhi Sawant's reality show discussion, GP seemed to be in full form and totally updated much to our astonishment!!! All this while Changu kept Rachu busy most of the time with his on & off naps & cries.

And last but not the least, thanks to PJ for the wonderful wine that we had and thanks to Rachu (or should I say Shanti Sagar!!!) for the tasty pav bhajis & the ‘rockstar’ biriyani!!!

And finally hoping we have such get-togethers more often.

Ciao for now.


PS – More on our Singapore / Malaysia trip in my next post.

RIP MJ

I know it has been a little late in coming but here it is nevertheless. A tribute to one of the greatest showmen of our times, the King of Pop (and controversies as well), Michael Jackson!!!

Lots has been said and written about this legend that I might not have anything new but then am sure all of us carry those wonderful sweet memories of him. I can vividly recall the moment wherein I would try a ‘moonwalk’ a la MJ or his signature 'Aaaooohh' after watching one of his videos on TV. Pretty nostalgic stuff!!

The only album of his that I ever possessed was ‘BAD’. Remember dad just randomly picking up the cassette when it was released. And I literally went bonkers listening to the songs. And I should admit that it was BAD that got me listening to pop music. Not that am a big fan of English music now but then whatever interest I have currently is thanks to him and his music.

Watching some of his earlier concerts being aired on History channel today made me realize that the world has definitely lost a great performer and a showman. And I haven’t really seen people shouting, crying and even fainting during a performance (probably am ignorant but am happy that way)..

And well, about the controversies, let’s keep it aside.

Adieu MJ. Peace of mind was probably one thing which you didn’t quite get during the last few years of your life and now I pray for your soul to rest in peace…

Your music will always live forever!!!


PS - Sappu was surprised after reading this and asked me to moonwalk. Well, I almost got my feet entangled and fell off!!!


Image Courtesy - Google Images

Birthday Fortnight!!!

The birthday fortnight is finally over (phew - sigh of relief!!!)...

It all starts with mom's birthday (May 27), then dad's (Jun 1), then Sappu's (Jun 8), Gai's (Jun 11) and finally ends with mom-in-law's (Jun 12)...

All your sympathies accepted... Thanks!!!

Fedex it is... Finally...

“Kitni shiddat se tumhe paane ki koshish ki hai… Ki har zarre ne mujhe tumse milane ki saazish ki hai…
Kehte hain agar kisi cheez ko dil se chaho, to saari kayanath tumhe usse milane ki koshish me lag jaati hai...
Aaj aap sabne milke mujhe meri chahat se milaya… Thank you very much... and I feel like I am the King of the World!!!”

These probably would have been the words used by Federer when he held aloft the French Open cup today!!! And yeah, those who didn’t quite understand the dialogues (from the movie Om Shanti Om), the following is the gist:

“If you have the willpower within you, if you have a really strong desire to achieve something, then the entire universe comes together to help you in obtaining that desire.”

And how does this fit into our today’s discussion??? Well… am sure we are aware of Federer’s “will power” and his “strong desire” to win the French Open… And when we talk about the “entire universe” coming together, it basically refers to Kohlschreibaer, Gonzalez and the losing finalist Soderling who defeated Djokovic, Murray and King Nadal respectively to ensure that it was a smooth sail for Fedex...

Fedex produced a near flawless display today to defeat Soderling (10th time in a row!!!) in straight sets and in the process picked up his first French Open title!!! And hats off to Soderling who took the defeat in his stride and accepted that Federer thoroughly deserved the cup…

14 Grand Slam Titles (equaling Sampras’ record) and only the 6th man ever to win all the four grand slams, Fedex is definitely right up there as one of the best ever…

And the tears rolling down his cheeks when the Swiss National Anthem was being played was a sight to behold!!!

Bon Jour!!!


Image courtesy - IBNLIVE.COM (REUTERS)

PM's Team (Cont'd)...

The PM seems to have read my earlier blog (PM’s team – May 22) and seems to have inducted the people whom I had mentioned – Shashi Tharoor, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sachin Pilot, Dayanidhi Maran to name a few.

There are 33 Cabinet Ministers and 45 Ministers of State (MOS), decided after 4 days of intense negotiations / bargaining. The 78-strong (very very strong!!!) Council of Ministers includes 59 from Congress and 19 from five allies: 7 each from DMK and Trinamool Congress, 3 from Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and 1 each from Muslim League and National Conference (NC).

Former Maharashtra CM Vilasrao Deshmukh (of “Terror Tourism” fame post Mumbai blasts) also finds a place in the cabinet as also does the old war-horse, Farooq Abdullah (NC Leader, J&K).

4 ministers from Karnataka find a place in the council (Cabinet - SM Krishna, Mallikarjun Kharge, Veerappa Moily and MOS – Muniyappa). This is touted as Congress’ attempt to strengthen the party in Karnataka (after the trouncing it received in Assembly and LS polls). I think this is more of Caste Politics since all these 4 guys represent different castes and is an obvious attempt to woo the respective voters!!!

The grand old man has managed to get 7 DMK ministers in the council (3 cabinet berths - Dayanidhi Maran, A Raja, MK Azhagiri) and 4 MOS. Talk about Regionalism in politics!!! Sadly his daughter missed out on a ministerial berth (she apparently decided “to opt out” from the cabinet and made way for her brother and cousin). Sacrifice at its best!!!

The average age of the PM’s team is pegged at 57 years with the oldest member being SM Krishna (77 years) and the youngest one being Agatha Sangma, daughter of PA Sangma (27 years).

All that matters finally is the performance and let’s hope with a stable govt and a decent team by his side, the PM is able to give us all something that we have been hoping for a long time – GOOD GOVERNANCE!!!


FYI (Sappu wanted to know!) - Difference between Cabinet Minister, MOS and MOS (Independent Charge):
Union Cabinet Minister – Senior minister in-charge of a ministry. A Cabinet minister may also hold additional charges of other Ministries, where no other Cabinet minister is appointed.
Minister of State (MOS) - Junior minister with an overseeing Cabinet Minister, usually tasked with a specific responsibility in that ministry. For instance, an MOS in the Finance Ministry may only handle Taxation.
Minister of State (Independent Charge) - With no overseeing Union Cabinet Minister for that portfolio.

Simply put, while a MOS has the opportunity to make money in lakhs in INR only, a cabinet minister can do the same in crores in different international currencies!!!


Courtesy – CNN IBN, Indian Express, Yahoo


PS - Looks like our new minister for External Affairs his hands full with the Gurudwara Shootout in Vienna, Racial attack on Indians in Australia and the bomb blasts in Pak keeping him occupied!!!

I'm Loving It!!!

Well... Am not endorsing Big Mac nor did I visit them recently... The words just reflect what I feel every time I listen to the songs from the tamil movie "Vaaranam Aayiram"... The movie directed by Gowtham Menon (Minnale, Kaakha Kaakha, Vettaiyadu Vilaiyadu etc) stars Surya and has music by Harris Jayaraj... And in my opinion this is one of the best albums to have come out in the last 2-3 years...

6 months & 50-60 listenings (for want of better word) later, why do I feel that way... just read on:

This album is an eclectic mix of 7 songs and touches different genres and is the kinds which you would love to listen to on a rainy evening with a hot cuppa tea & some bajjis!!! It has a couple of amazing melodies, a typical "kuthu" song, a nice fusion number...

Two songs which stand out in this album as far as am concerned are "Nenjukkul Peiydhidum Maamazhai" and "Mundhinam Paarthene"...

"Nenjukkul", in Hari Haran’s honey-coated voices, oozes melody right from the word go... The guitar strings in the beginning are just amazing (am trying to learn that) and then Hari Haran takes over... "Nillendru nee sonnal, en kaalum nagaradhe; nee soodum poovellam oru podhum udhiradhe; Kaadhal ennai ketkavillai; kaettal adhu kaadhal illai"... just love these lines... What a song!!!

"Mundhinam", set in the 70s in the movie, has a retro feel to it... It starts off with Surya's voice with a sort of love-message… Naresh Iyer and Prashanthini are just fabulous in this number... The sax interludes are amazing... Sheer magic I should say!!!

"Oh Shanti Shanti" (Sappu's favourite) is a spin-off from "Nenjukkul" and is a foot-tapping number... SPB Charan certainly shows that he is a chip of the old block (a big fat old block in that!!!)...

"Adiye Kolluthe", sung by Benny Dayal and Krish, consists of heavy bursts of synthesized music... Shruti Hassan lends her voice as well to this song... Decent voice, nothing out of the world though… Reminds you of Vasundara Das actually!!!

"Yethi Yethi" and "Ava Enna" are nice "timepass" songs, if I may call that... Ava enna is the kuthu song I was referring to earlier... Both make for pleasant hearing...

Special mention needs to be made about "Annal Mele" sung by Sudha Raghunathan. This is a listener's delight (quite like Vaseegara from Minnale sung by Bombay Jayashree)... I didn't quite like it initially but the song slowly starts growing on you... There is a gentle sorrow and a haunting-kind of a feeling when you listen to this... Sudha Raghunathan sings in a way only she can... Out of the world!!!

Harris Jayaraj has often been accused of being repetitive in his albums... This one’s no different though... But still hats off to him for this amazing collection!!!

Well done RCB!!!

Its finally curtains for IPL Season 2 and DC were crowned champions, a deserving one at that I should say!!! The action now moves to the T-20 World Cup in England from Jun 5 and I must say India is well placed to defend their crown...

Coming to the IPL, what a fantastic performance from the Hyderabad team... From being the last placed team in season 1 to the champs in this edition, their hardwork, determination and confidence alongwith some wonderful captaincy by Gilly ensured that they took home the cup this time… Though they didn't really dominate over the other teams during the tournament, they held their nerves during some crucial moments (incl the finals) and came up triumphs… Hats off to them!!!

And the challengers from Bangalore!!! What do I say??? From being the favorite whipping boys of the other teams last year to the runners-up this year, they have definitely come a long way… Though they started off pretty slowly, they climbed up the rankings steadily (esp after ‘Jumbo’ took over the captaincy) and though they played well in the finals, they were not good enough for DC on that day… Mr. Mallya will surely be proud of his team and hopefully, would be providing free supply of beer for one year to all the team-members… And probably he would be ruing the fact that he could have saved $1.5M (that he spent on KP) for obvious reasons… Well done boys!!!

And finally, this year’s finals would have given some hope to KKR & MI who are now tipped to reach the finals of season 3 with KKR the favorites to win the cup!!!

Ciao!!!

PM's Team

Nothing to do with the IPL (which seems to be the flavor of the season… check out Sappu’s latest post if you have any doubts!!!)

Just finished watching the swearing-in ceremony of the 19 ministers alongwith Dr. M Singh… Well… same old faces again (most of them atleast) – PC, Pranab Mukherjee, Kamal Nath, AK Anthony, Sharad Pawar, Jaipal Reddy… New Additions - Didi (Mamata Bannerjee), Veerappa Moily, SM Krishna (getting his due finally!!!)… Expected ones – Ghulam Nabi Azad, Vayalar Ravi, Ambica Soni, Sushil K Shinde, Kapil Sibal, Murli Deora… and some unknown faces – CP Joshi, BK Handique, Meira Kumar, Anand Sharma…

This is round one of the swearing-in ceremony and the next round is going to be on Tuesday after the final discussions/agreement with the DMK… Hope Mr. Singh plays tough and doesn’t give in to such blackmail politics by the grand old man (Mr. Karunanidhi on a wheelchair these days)… Looks like he wants a cabinet post for everyone in his family – right from his son/daughter to the cook/watchman of his house!!!

Now coming to the point… Where have all the young guns gone??? Congress claims that it is the only party which is grooming youngsters but where are they in the cabinet?? All part of political gimmickry I guess… just to garner votes… Rahul Gandhi was tipped to be in the cabinet (guess he would not settle for anything less than the PM post!!!)… I would have loved to see someone like Shashi Tharoor (not exactly a young gun though) taking up MEA… I thought Dayanidhi Maran was really good as the IT Minister earlier (until some dirty politics by the grand old man did him in and he was relieved of his post)… And this time around, though Congress wants him, DMK is not too keen to field him (that’s politics for you in India!!!)… Jyotiraditya Scindia, Milind Deora, Sachin Pilot… Where are they???


Two dozen more ministers are expected to be sworn-in on Tuesday apart from the MOS and junior ministers… As mentioned earlier, I hope we have lots of young faces in that atleast… And as the name suggests, hopefully junior ministers are really juniors!!!

Ciao for now…


PS – DD 77/2 in 10 overs (my money’s on them)… Hopefully Sehwag & Co pull it off against DC!!!

Updates in the last 10 days!!!

Updates in the last 10 days:
1) Struggling to upload entries in the system
2) India beat NZ comprehensively in the 1st test (struggling in the 2nd one though)...
3) SA beat Aus by an innings in the 3rd test (but lost the series)...
4) IPL-2 to happen in SA (its like having the EPL in India!!!)
5) The world's cheapest car launched...
6) During my haircut session last week, the hair stylist suggested I start dyeing my hair!!!
7) And finally, last but not the least, am updating my blog after a loooooooooooong time (and hopefully will be more regular going forward)...