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!!!