The BAND Wagon

I remember this song called Sadho Re which was often aired a few years ago. With that song, Agnee made a little bit of a statement, with a fresh new sound, not often heard in Indian rock circles.

A few years later, I had the pleasure of chancing upon a few more of their numbers. "Shaam Tanha" has a very sprightly feel to it and a nicely made animated video. "Ranjhana Yaar Di" is a brilliant song, which tells a whole story in a single video. But I think the best of lot, IMHO, has to be the wordless Theme for MTV Splitsvilla. Its a poignant song in which Mohan's enchanting voice & Koko's spectacular guitar work come to the fore.



With this I think I have found my quadruplet of Indian Bands I love made up of Avial, Pentagram, Parikrama & now Agnee

Weekends and Overcast skies

What is it about Pune Summers and overcast skies ? Of course, I know I'm being too fast in judging this place. But for the last 2 fridays, the Pune skyline has been overcast and its the same this thursday evening also.

Of course, not like I'm complaining or anything, today being Earth day and all. The Scorched Mother Earth could do with a shower. The sensual smell of wet mud before the imminent, one of the most brilliant fragrances ever, followed closely by Petrol & Davidoff's Cool Waters(the female one). If someone can actually make a fragrance out of it, I might just be tempted to buy it maybe.

There are lots of movies in the pipeline for me this weekend, apart from the IPL matches.
How to train your dragon
The Bounty Hunter
Lalbaug Parel

Need to find time to visit a mall called Lifecycle, believe it or not, this is a place in Pune which is a mall dedicated entirely to bicycles and their accessories. Should be fun. Also I'm considering doing a "once-a-month-cycle-to-work" day. I'll just have to make sure I don't have any important meetings that day( knowing my tendency to sweat even in the dry environs of Hyderabad and Pune).

Watch this space for more boring tidbits about an average 23 year old's life.

Express Morning

After Weird morning, it is now my turn to write about an express crazy morning.

After a bus ride from Hyderabad, I reached Pune's Mobus Court by 7.15 (45 mins later than scheduled time I might add). As I was getting out, the bus for Nigdi just passed and I was cursing my luck, I could have gotten home by 8 if I had caught that bus. The next bus came at 7.30.

I was nervously counting the minutes,the bus arrived at Nigdi at 8.05. It was pretty quick since it was early Monday morning, otherwise it usually takes around 45 mins. I sprinted for a kilometre, stopping to catch my breath three times while cursing my present fitness levels.

Got home at 8.12, brushed and bathed in record time. Then I put on the office clothing & then things got down to breathing pace again. Caught the bus on time at 8.30 and the rest as they say is History.

Weird Morning

Woke up at 4am.
The sky was overcast.
Walked around the house.
Drank loads of water.
Contemplated reading.
Watched a movie on the Dell laptop instead.
Dell laptop konked off in 20 mins.
Switched on my work laptop.
Finished the movie.
Slept at 5.30 am.
Woke up a wee bit late.
Forgot to take my wallet to office.
But had a good day at work.
Now the weekend is almost upon me.
Making plans to buy a digicam and a bicycle.
Any suggestions ?

Along came April

I started writing this post as soon as I realised I was stuck on the Nelson number. So like David Shepherd, feet off the ground, I shall write. March came and went like it had somewhere to go. But that is the funny thing about time.It just zooms past.

Along came April, with all its blazing heat. It doesn't sweat in Pune, like it does in Bombay. Its more the Hyderabad kind of heat. So I do what I do when I'm in Hyd. Stay indoors most of the day. But then, there are the weekly trips to the air conditioned multiplexes & binge drinking with Tropicana or Coconut water. But do I miss those hot summer afternoons at Worli or what ?

Thanks to my summer intern company's amazing location on Annie Besant Road which is 5 mins from Haji Ali & an all access bus pass, May 09 was SoBo (South Bombay) darshan at its very best. From the crazy electronic shopping lanes of Grant Road to the plush areas of Breach Candy & Malabar Hill to the single screen theatres at Tardeo & random walks near Opera house. All on foot and by bus. No taxi business.

This April, I guess I will be working on weekdays, doing the exploration on the weekends. So man hour wise, I think the amount of exploration will be similar. But soon, Pune will run out of things to see I'm afraid. But fear not, I tell myself. The Sahyadris beckon.

Storytellers

I have often wondered why I have read such few books in my life. I started off reading quite a huge number when I was a kid. But somewhere down the Movies took over and well, the number of books read since then has dwindled. I'm on course to picking that up again of course, but I often wonder why I never get bored of Cinema.

I think I believe in the magic of the storyteller. Growing up, before I hit Primary school, I've been told gazillions of stories be it at bedtime by my mother and father, or at my grandmother's side. Episodes of the Mahabharata & the Ramayana were my constant favourites. I still remember how my father's stories were always about a bus, might have had something to do with him being in the Logistics industry. Ma spent a fortune on books. Walden, Pauline Book store & Gangarams must have profited hugely from my time there. Then it was the directors of films who started telling me their stories through a visual medium, and it has made an impact on my life. An impact and an affection that will always remain I suppose.

But yes, the books are making a comeback in my shelf, and now that I have started earning, a small little portion will go towards the book fund along with many other funds that I have setup. There are innumerable stories left to be told, innumberable yet to be discovered even. And my quest shall be of the "never ending" kind.

The Urban Explorer - Pune

How do we better know a guy who wears Converse slippers & Fossil aviators and walks for insane distances in the scorching summer heat ?

Ans : Aditya Narayanan

This story unfolds on the day of Gudi Padwa/Ugadi. He has a holiday at work. His house seems stifling on a bright morning. Aditya gets out of bed at 8, gets done with breakfast by 0830 & surfs through the paper in another 10 minutes.

If you were there, you might have noticed that he spends a little extra time on the movies section. Then he plugs in his radio earphones, says bye to his flatmates and marches off to the Nigdi bus stop. Once there, he spots a bus to Hinjewadi and immediately leaps in, settling into a window seat which is on the shady side.

The bus heads out, slowly across Wakad phata, and there is acres of open space and the silhouette of IT parks at the distance. The bus snakes its way into areas which were once villages and are now part of the ever expanding Pune city limits. For your information, even Nigdi is not in Pune, its on the outskirts.

An hour later he hops off at the Infosys circle and starts walking. He embarks on what he calls his favourite thing to do which comes a close second to travelling aimlessly - Horizon Chasing. After walking for about 45 minutes in the dry 37 degree heat, better sense prevails and he hops onto another bus headed for Pune station.

After alighting, he settles down near the vendor selling coconut water. He downs two of those coconuts while grumbling about their price. With renewed vigour, he starts walking again, with music in his ears, sunglasses on his eyes, a few beads of sweat on his forehead and a smile on his face. He now reaches the Camp Cantonment area. After walking around the ISKCON temple, he now goes to Landmark at SGS Mall. Here he hunts, for books that have been evading him for many weeks now. After a while, he resigns to his fate and walks away to place an order with the Clerks. But his eyes fall upon a book called "Roads to Mussoorie" by Ruskin Bond. Immediately, he reminisces of the days he spent loitering on Mall Road & at Kasmanda Palace in Mussoorie. Promptly he gets it billed.

Aditya then meets Abhijit for lunch and a movie. Right ya Wrong. Sunny Deol is not one of his favourites, but he comes out of the theatre satisfied after having watched a well thought out movie. Now he has Abhijit's bike at his disposal, so they decide to head to Barista on Law College Road. En route he sees two places that he worships, one is the birthplace of many a Movie Messiah (notice how he thinks of them as Messiahs & not Gods) - FTII & the other - The National Film Archive of India, the resting place of almost every celluloid masterpiece both foreign and domestic.

He sips on his Iced Mocha, a happy man. For he had covered a large amount of the city in a few hours. He then takes a bus back home. He reaches his dwelling, Famished yet Thrilled.

A morning like any other

I was awake by 0630 hrs. It was a chill morning, colder than usual. I got off the bed groggily, switched off the fan and promptly crept under my blanket again.

Woke up after fighting 2 snoozes at 0720, which has become a strict routine now. Went and switched on the TV, and the bugger didn't turn on. One month and already the bloody TV is acting up. Hopefully we'll get it fixed soon.

The regular morning activities keep happening, but the fun part every morning is the Music fight. Pulkit & I put on VH1 and leave the room, only to return and find some Akshay Kumar hit is playing. Courtesy - Our in house Bollywood chocolate boy - Himanshu Deshmukh aka SU. Then there is Dilip Anand aka Paedo (short for paedophile) , who is "AWESOMEY" if I could take the liberty of quoting him. His antics are material for another blogpost altoghether.

This explosive combo could give anyone a brisk start to every morning. Now its off to work and another day of saving the environment.

Sundays are hectic !

Laundry. Sweeping. Swabbing. Food. Getting cable connection fixed. Watching cricket match. Dozing off in between. Getting dried clothes. Pressing them. Washing vessels after official tea maker "Pulkit" makes awesome tea and Maggi. Watching TV. Dinner with Himanshu's parents. Sleep.

If all sundays are going to be like this. I'd better tell everyone I work EVERYDAY.

Does a blog really do that ?

Blogging has helped me on many a time. But what it did for Julie Powell was something different altogether.

Julie Powell was a normal everyday person working in the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation who takes on something she names the JULIE/JULIA Project in which she has to cook up 524 of Julia Child's French recipes in 365 days and this she blogs about. Her everyday problems, marriage, rejection, meltdown, lots of amazing food, lots of amazing non vegetarian food I should add, Mayonnaise,a book about her and finally even a movie by Nora Ephron and did I mention Mayonnaise.

So Julie, if you're reading this, good on you. I know many people feel it but have never expressed, THANK YOU ! OH ALL PERVADING BLOG-O-SPHERE. We shall be every grateful and in your service.

For those who haven't watched the movie or read the book yet, what are you waiting for ?

And so it begins...

An oft quoted line, be it wars, movies or books. Definitely brings out the whole "EPIC" that is life itself.

Why am I quoting this ? Simple, because I leave behind a fun filled, carefree, insane and interesting student life to move onto become a responsible (yeah right!)& diligent(not quite)man living a routine(now this part is true) life.

Its sort of fun in a very disciplined kind of way, like a smooth oiled machine. You know when to wake up, when to dress, when to reach the bus stop, when to buy bananas for the elephant that passes by my house everyday,when to have dinner, when to sleep etc.

I have often criticised and made fun of people who have loved routines and have prided myself in making an attempt at walking a different path. I will never know how far I have gone, but as far as I am concerned, I think the effort and the amazing time I have on that path is all that matters to me. But here I am, following a regimen myself. Its all a process of growing up people tell me. Growing up ! Yup ! Scary.

Go Bald
Get Married
Get promoted at work with a pay hike (Is this that bad)
Have Kids
Buy Furniture
Buy Life Insurance
Go to family parties
Impress the in-laws

Bugger off ! That is tough work. Just writing about it scares the hell out of me. But watch this space, for I know a few years from now, this very same "shuddering" person, will be enjoying marital bliss. Manufacturing defect I guess,I seem to enjoy everything.

About home, well its a spacious 3 bedroom flat with 4 people in it. I have a bed by the window which I keep staring out. "People watching" has become a new found hobby.

I think I'm going to buy my garbage guy a pair of gloves. But he wears a gold chain, so I'm afraid he might get offended.

I also like the little girl who takes her dog for a walk every morning.

The old couple amaze me every evening, still very much in love, still making conversation and laughing.

The flatmates are fun. All NITIEans, we go out for dinner everyday choosing from the few restaurants in the area and exchange some stories about work. The night's sleep is fantastic I should say. After a hard day, sleep is the only thing that can get you back for the next day's running around, and believe you me, working at a factory does involve a lot of running around.

My window is east facing, so I even get to see the sun rise every morning. Mornings in Pune are chill and refreshing. The area we live is on the outskirts so has little traffic compared to the bustle of the city.

So far so good, I must say. Its been good, *touch wood*. Lets hope it remains this way.

Hey Ram : Revisited

One thing leads to another. I have been reading the Great Indian Novel, by Shashi Tharoor. A fantastic "must recommend" type book. But this also lead me to suddenly have the craving to watch Hey Ram again.

I had watched Hey Ram as a teenager. Although I saw the entire movie, I just thought of it as another one of Kamal Haasan's rebellious additions to Tamil Cinema. I respect the man immensely, even to the extent that I sometimes quarrel with Rajnikanth fans over his supremacy of the Tamil Film Kingdom.

But this 1 - 4 am late night show, was a pleasant surprise. As the movie moved from scene to scene, it moved with such fluency that it was as simple as different chapters in a book. The acting is stellar, everyone is the parallel cinema world is present - Hema Malini,Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Girish Karnad, Saurabh Shukla, Atul Kulkarni, Vikram Gokhale to name a few. It has an unusual mix of Tamil actors including Raghavan, Delhi Ganesh, Sowcar Janaki, Vaali(a poet by profession) Y.G.Mahedra and a superb debut by Vasundhara Das, even Govardhan Rao from Telugu cinema makes an appearance. Yes it has those Bollywood folks also, Rani and Shah Rukh. A cameo by Tushar Gandhi is a nice finishing touch.

There are just so many layers that one needs to digest through the movie. It is intense as it is intelligent. The anti Gandhian who realises the folly of his way. The man in love. The educated middle class Iyengar. The man who resists falling in love with his wife by devoting himself to a cause.

The setting is superb, recreating everything, from Calcutta to Delhi. Every fine detail is taken care of. And the realism of it, is quite surreal. There is Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, British English and Hindi. All languages that I now easily understand due to variety of people I met at business school. So makes me appreciate the movie even more, but the part I found funny was that, most of the main characters including the Mahatma himself, spoke Tamil. Playing to the gallery I guess. But a fine movie. 4 star I should say.

Day 3 - Penn Masala

What an end to the 3 day fun fair that I managed to find and be a part of.

Penn Masala, a capella group from the states came down to Hyderabad to perform. I had heard of them earlier, and sampled some of their stuff thanks to Soumya. It was thrilling to have them in Hyderabad.

Shifting gears easily between English renditions of U2, Coldplay and Timbaland coupled with popular numbers from Bollywood they had the crowd in awe. And everytime one of them started doing a swara, was a sight to behold.

To couple with the fabulous performance, the psychedelic laser show created a truly electric atmosphere. A huge thanks to the French Embassy and Alliance Francaise for bringing them down. Also, these guys are highly recommended, do attend their performances if you get a chance, otherwise there is always their website and youtube.

Day 2 - Girish Karnad's Nagamandala

This was my first tryst with serious folk theatre and I was not disappointed. After being used to the gripping plays at Prithvi, Ravindra Bharati seemed a little different. Ravindra Bharati has so many memories associated with it, so many performances of my own and quizzes also.

Nishumbita Ballet & Theatre group has done a fantastic job in putting it across. Hats off to Veena who played the main protagonist and Ram Holagundi, the director.

One complaint was about the irritating crowd though. The theatre scene is plagued with the problem of Cellphones ringing and I don't know if we will ever deal with this. Also some folks in the crowd were talking and didn't seem interested. Why do they even come, when they are not interested ? Answer : To disturb easily irritable people like me.

But I'm mighty glad, the Hyderabad theatre scene is alive and kicking.

Day 1 : China Moses & the Raphael Lemonnier Quartet

As soon as we entered, there were finger foods and drinks. A damn good setting for a jazz concert I thought.

The concert itself was fantastic. China Moses was nothing short of spectacular shifting modulations and tones reminiscent of Tina Turner. The whole show was dedicated to Dinah Washington, A famous R&B singer of the 50's. So there were a lot of interwoven stories to each song, which gave the show a real feel good factor.

Now allow me to tell you the story of about a boy from the South of France who grew upto be a pianist - Raphael Lemonnier, his french dimple and the magic that his fingers do when they touch the piano were easily the show stealers.

Then there was Fabien Marcoz on the cello with his brilliant solos and the drummer Jean Pierre Eroauard and his sense of humour.

A fabulous experience of listening to Jazz live in Hyderabad. Now how many people can boast of that.

PS: Random fact. Apparently the Jazz singer always makes best friends with the Cellist.

Home Sweet Hyd

Its only fair that my 100th post had to be from Hyderabad. I still remember, the first time I decided to write, before my Electrical Engineering exam in my 2nd year at MGIT.

Its been a long time from then to now. But some things haven't changed. I'm back at home, thanks to NITIE, I have a messed up sleep pattern. So my day usually starts at around noon and goes upto 2-3 am.

News from Hyderabad. Well it is still awesome, despite the bloody T protests and all that nonsense. The roads were empty on the morning of Jan 1, so I had fun driving around. The biryani is still spicy, the mirchi bajjis still induce tears, the air in December is still chilly and not stopping for signals is still a trend that continues.

Friends still turn up late, Pavan's room is still a favourite place to hangout. loads of them are here in town in this period. So I'm doing a lot of catching up, turns out, I have classmates who are in places like Russia. Interesting.

A ticket for 3 IDIOTS cost me Rs.40, yes yes yes ! And whats more, I walked to the theater. In Bombay, even getting to the multiplex would have cost me more. I like the Economics here.

So wherever I may go, Hyderabad will always be home.

Its done. All over

Its all over. Fuck. Double fuck. I'll probably never write another exam in my life. An end of an era. An end of a life lived at NITIE. With the smartest, funnest people I've known. I'm speechless. Words escape me.

We blasted bombs in front of the Dean. Pissed off people. Took pictures inside the exam hall. Applauded the the first guy to leave the exam hall. Beat the daylights out of the guy who came out last. These memories will last forever.





This is end of life at NITIE as I know it.

As the clock ticks

As time flies, I have a few things to say today.

1. Happy Birthday Rajinikanth. The man who rose from being nothing to almost Divine heights. Despite what people have to say, he is certainly an idol. (Not to mention,his younger daughter is very pretty)

2. Telangana : What the hell is happening ? One man doesn't eat and holds a whole Govt to a ransom. Obviously I'm against the splitting of the state, but the violence and bringing the state to a standstill is just uncalled for.
The people in Telangana face a lot of misery, I agree, but the focus should be to bring development to one's own constituency. So the onus I believe lies on the MPs & MLAs of the Telangana region. Making a state for the profit of one party(one man) is stupidity in my opinion. We are not even as big and unmanageable like UP.
Anyway, not like one random blogger is going to make a difference in this world ? Or is he ?

3. We had the last farewell party last night given to us by our ISEM juniors. It was awesomely awesome as I expected. But the card that they made will probably be the toast of the night. This is what I looked in the card. Amazing design guys !

Just another day

Woke up late
Did some crunches
Missed class
Washed clothes
Had a steaming hot bath
Had lunch
Read the Ian Rankin book that I picked up at the Bandra festival
Uploaded photos on Facebook
Looked at other people's photos
Debated about Telangana
Convinced people that it wasn't needed
Played catch with myself in the room
Watched a Telugu movie with a friend
Read some interesting articles

Now I'm wondering what to write about, and so, I'm implementing my formula for Amateur Writer's Block. It says - WRITE ABOUT MUNDANE EVERYDAY ACTIVITIES. Someone will find romance in them.

But I'm also afraid, that if I keep writing about my everyday activities, people will get real bore because most of the stuff is bound to repeat itself. Also they will start thinking that I do not have anything to do at all.

Speaking of something to do, I have exams in a week, 2 tests on Monday. But we all know what I'll do about that. NOTHING.

PS: I leave this place in a fortnight. Not the greatest feeling in the world. Leaving one home for another.

Unpredictability is Fun

Someone just asked me," What will I be ten years from now ? ". Its cool to imagine, what you will be, where you will be, who you will be with and.

But what is this life, if you knew everything right. Its worth the suspense, Unpredictability is fun.

Like that famous song, "Que sera sera, whatever will be will be, Que sera sera".