Dil goes Hadippa..Hadippa

Again a delayed review. So sorry about that. But can't help much with me sitting in IIM Kozhikode :(

How do I like pass afternoon on an off day. Yeah you got it right. Watching a feel good non-brain loading bollywood masala film. So I chose to watch DIL BOLE HADIPPA..

Another YashRaj film. So, got to be some inherent YR attributes. Punjab, Farmlands, Western-clothes bashing and some dreams waiting to be realized.

One of my close friends has played national level cricket; therefore concept of woman aspiring to be a great cricketer didn't sound alien to me. :)

The movie starts off on a chirpy note with six sixes in six balls by Veera kaur (Rani), right tey left hand bats(wo)man, who works at a local theater. Rakhi Sawant is here for what she does best. Some hip shaking and non-stop bakwaas, but she is tolerable.

Anurag singh does good job in setting a pretext which is fictional but believable as a plot- Aman cup, a bilateral yearly match played between India and Pakistan (which adheres to the talk of these times by replacing 50-over game with T20)

I personally felt a bit offended by Anurag's potrayal of an Indian Team which is on a losing streak for 8 (going to be 9) defeats in same number of years. Khair koi nahin, after all we have our very own Desi English county player Rohan Singh (Shahid) who gets a call from his Dad, Anupam Kher (organiser of aman cup and owner of Indian team).

We get some resemblances from Hum Tum with stranged relationship between Shahid's parents Kher and Poonam dhillon (who has lost some weight seriously)

Well it isn't much of a surprise when Rani dons a man's getup (understandably becoming a surd, that's the closest when girls can look non-females). The name is Veer Pratap Singh, and it's not just one of the things coming from Veer Zaara, another YR Film.

After that follows the understandable dual role portrayal by Rani in front of Shahid, who Punjabi baap ka Punjaabi Beta, and again understandably can't fall for Steammmiiiinngg Hottttt Sherlyn Chopra, whom I can easily excuse of poor acting.

Rest movie is all about fulfillment of dreams for a father, his son and the aspiring girl.

And I can hardly forget the "switch hands/grip shot" which even Kevin Peterson would be proud of.

The movie is timepass fun but I couldn't help noticing some technical errors, some of them not entirely new. eg.

When Anupam kher shows match clips of previous match to his son, he is actually showing the Movie clip with cameras at positions which are impossible during a cricket match. These errors have been repeatedly spotted in many other films. Ideally the clips should have been different with match camera angles

Similarly, 6 months before 15th August ( 15th Feb) Anupam Kher says to shahid, "I know your county season is off for next 6 months". County cricket in england is played only during summers and is off in winters. Anurag should have taken care

In T-20 match, for first 6 overs, only two players are allowed outside the inner circle. The match here starts with at least 4 players protecting boundaries

In the concluding scene, when Rani's actual identity is revealed (cmon guys, it wasn't a spoiler..was it), between Veer and Veera there was a lot of makeup and kaajal done on Rani's face in just two seconds.

But as I mentioned, you should relax your brains and watch the movies with open hearts, the movie does giggle (or at least brings smile) at few occasions.

For me the movie is worth one time dekko.... I could have given a lower rating some other day. But today it gets....

Rating ***

Hedged!!

Sometimes life is very UNHAPPENING...I guess that's how i can explain my past few days. With no time to sit and relax and maybe introspect, one is forced to think only about assignments, submissions, deadlines, exams...

At occasions one would hope for some off-loading with time, but things keep piling on.

a couple of days ago i wrote a derivatives certification paper. It had an interesting hedging concept which can be briefly stated as:

When you are feeling bullish about markets, you tend to hold stocks, but to eliminate high loss risks in case your assumptions aren't true, you sell Call options (which predict fall in stock prices). Thus you hedge possible losses in stocks by some profits in Futures.

The hedging concept though does minimizes the risk but it also diminishes returns in case market went bullish.



TOO MUCH OF GYAAN I KNOW.....but following herd mentality that is Engg. degree from good college then MBA from premier institute is just like selling futures/options as mentioned above. Somewhere we know that maybe this is not the thing you would love to do for your whole life, but because of low level of trust in own abilities (prediction of bullish markets), we either sell stocks (leave the quest of our own ambition) or hedge it with selling futures (herd protocol).

On the contrary the people who trust their market prediction abilities (called speculators) buy futures/options to compliment their gains from rise in stock prices.

These people who are high risk takers, chose the path they desire theirs to be and end up either being a high achievers or incur losses which are huge and sometimes may be irreversible.


I just wish at the end (when option/future expires) , i would end up being on positive side......

15 Hours..1 Assignment....Made 180 MANiACs

His smile always had a knife soaked in honey. He used to say- "Start it as soon as possible..because it isn't something you could finish in a night"

It turned out to be true. On a dreaded day (last Thursday) he chalked on the board:

MANAC ASSIGNMENT
APPENDIX-C
Deadline: Tomorrow 3:30pm

With 7 classes on Thursday, we couldn't do much before 7:30 pm. 3 of the 5 sections had traumatized looks on their faces, when they came for an early dinner. Huddles with same point of discussions were to be seen all around. Somebody mentioned -"Its kind of an assignment we can't even divide amongst ourselves and then copy later".

It seemed like "Dementor attacks". People moved in groups towards library with tensions visible on the face, which tried to disguise the fear that was shivering everybody to their shoes.

Once glued to their seats people did realize it was every guy/girl for himself/herself. From capital investment everybody had to start with, to the loan amounts, payback methods, assets purchase, business type, transactions created by self (total 150 of them), nothing had people on same page.

Starting at 8, it took around 5 hours to create first Ledger, then ledger, trial balance, P&L and Balnce sheet. It was already 3 am. We took a break and went to Night Canteen. After gobbling up some maggi and chips and of course some much needed thass (1.5 hrs), we were back to work. Sleep refused to oblige most of us, thankfully though.

Finished 2nd set of accounts around 11am next day. Burn Out. Even the thought of the 3rd set was instilling vomiting feelings. Almost nobody came for the 1st class. 10-15 people who reported in other classes were all sleeping while Profs came and went. Everybody in the college knew that 180 souls were left to wander in the oceans of MANAC, which turned them (us) into maniacs...........

The ended well with one of the movie screenings by our STI prof Mr. Matthews, the one about whom I plan to type in some keys sometime in next month.

People are still drained out with pale faces. 15 hours definitely take some toll on you...Rehabilitation and Recuperation is still going on. Hope survives!!

Lord, Let the poor organisms rest in peace before the start of another run of the mill, hectic week.

Amen
Pravs

Main PGP Student 13/292.......

Main PGP Student 13/292, A2 ki middle fourth row se saamne dekhta hun,
Ghadi ke kaanton ke minton ko ghante mein badalte dekhta hun,
Wo kehte hain CP hai bahut important,
Fir kyun mera mann kuchh kehne ko nahin karta hai,
Wo kehte hain "Knowledge is Voluntary",
Fir kyun low attendance ka harjaana koi bharta hai,
Main PGP Student 13/292, A2 ki middle fourth row se saamne dekhta hun

Main PGP Student 13/292, A2 ki middle fourth row se saamne dekhta hun,
Ek frenchie rakhe huye prof ko idhar se udhar uchhalte dekhta hun,
Wo kehte hain "There is no right or wrong solution to a case study",
Fir kyun meri answer sheet mein ek bada laal gola dikhta hai,
Sab kehte hain ki "Wo bada ****** hai",
Fir kyun shakal se bada bhola lagta hai
Main PGP Student 13/292, A2 ki middle fourth row se saamne dekhta hun

Main PGP Student 13/292, A2 ki middle fourth row se saamne dekhta hun,
Ek golu molu bachhe ko demand supply curve banaate dekhta hun,
Wo kehte hain "He is still to get married",
Fir kyun nahin wo Kunnamangalam market ke pizza corner pe date karta hai,
Game theory and Price discrimination mein uljha hua bechara,
Kyun apni jawaani ka check mate karta hai...
Main PGP Student 13/292, A2 ki middle fourth row se saamne dekhta hun

Main PGP Student 13/292, A2 ki middle fourth row se saamne dekhta hun
Ek dadaji ko Raj Kapoor ki oonchi pants and sports shoes pehne dekhta hun,
Wo ek class mein padhaake z-transform, probability and normal distribution,
Kyun 3 class mein median mode padhata hai,
Wo kehte hain "We are running behing schedule"
Fir kyun CAT paper ki negative marking ka concept ek ghante tak sunaata hai,
Main PGP Student 13/292, A2 ki middle fourth row se saamne dekhta hun

Main PGP Student 13/292, A2 ki middle fourth row se saamne dekhta hun,
Apni likhi book ko bechne aaye salesman ko Balance Sheet banaate dekhta hun,
Wo kehte hain "Asset=Liabilities + Owner's Equity always",
Fir kyun har sawaal yahin aake fasta hai,
MBA students ko question paper mein sher aur chimpanzee bataake,
Sath mein +1/-0.5 ki scheme lagaake kyun wo hampe hasta hai,
Main PGP Student 13/292, A2 ki middle fourth row se saamne dekhta hun

Main PGP Student 13/292, A2 ki middle fourth row se saamne dekhta hun,
Ek sookhi maachis ki tilli ko "Silence for 2 minutes" bolte dekhta hun,
Wo kehte hain "This will bring peace to your minds"
Fir kyun har koi 2 minute ki power nap le leta hai,
Wo kehte hain ki wo PGP CHAIR hai,
Fir kyun mujhe woh baans ka MOODA lagta hai,
Main PGP Student 13/292, A2 ki middle fourth row se saamne dekhta hun

Just another wait till dawn......

2:01 am, 4th Aug

I am always surprised, why I write stuff at such awkward times. But this time I have a brilliant excuse. 4 Presentations down in 4 hrs and 3 more to go. I guess it's enough to claim I am bored. :(

Life@IIMK has been hectic, but could have been managed better if I (we) wouldn't have spent one third of our time worrying about how will we manage all things in limited 24 hours.

Mid-terms just 2 days away, and I am still wondering how to start. People might say that 2 years of work ex behind my back, it will be tough to follow a curriculum again. But in my case the things haven't actually changed from engg college days... :)

It all reminds me of the wonderful 4 years i spent in NSIT. People are very much the same. Circumstances may be a lot more testing. But after a point one tends to get numb owing to the pressure that just refuses to go. That's the best thing an IIM teaches. :)

We had a couple of get aways. It was fun with more than half of our class went for dinner and a stroll alongside the beach. As a safety measure, no guy was left alone for any single minute, owing to Calicut's claim to fame as "Gay capital of India"

Most of the days we sleep around 5:30 am, get up at 9, classes throughout the day till 5, then assignments ensuring that none of your time is wasted till again 5 next morning. If you are wondering how do we manage with just 3 hrs of sleep, just forgot to tell you that one has to learn how to sleep tactically in class without getting caught. :)

Till next dawn....

Ciao
Pravs

Poetry at 4:30 in morning!!!

pic of the valley from my hostel at IIM K

I was listening to some beautiful poems from my favorite hindi poet Dr Kumar Vishwas

कोइ दीवाना केह्ता है, कोइ पागल समझता है,
मगर धरती कि बैचैनी को बस बादल समझता है,
मैं तुझसे दूर कैसा हू,तु मुझसे दूर कैसी है,
ये तेरा दिल समझता है या मेर दिल समझता है

For complete poem click here (video) or here (lyrics)

I added a couple of paragraphs to it. :) Dedicated to a very dear friend of mine!! :)

जुड़े नाते थे जो सारे, मैं वो सब तोड़ के आया,
हाँ सच है मीठी यादों को मैं फिर भी ओढ़ के आया,
था छोडा उस फसाने को हसीं सा मोड़ एक देकर,
मगर उन भीगी आँखों में मैं खुद को छोड़ के आया!

जो खा ठोकर संभालता हूँ, तो क्यूँ दूं दोष राहों को
किसी के आंसू बह बह के, धोएँगे मेरे घावों को
बताओ कौन फ़रिश्ता है, नज़र आये तो पहचानू ,
कभी पूछूँ पहाडों को, कभी नदियों को, गावों को !

Phoenix Song!

Its my last day in Delhi (at least for 90% of my time in next two years).

Made some delicious Paneer-Capsicum in afternoon. Watched India lose the all-important T20 match against England. :-(

That's It.....

See evbdy in Mumbai!!!

Murphy's Laws: My buddies!!

For those who are new to the term click here.

It's been couple of months since I became a staunch believer in the Theory. Although Murphy's blessings have been bestowed upon me that I got out of all the situations, pretty much unscathed. :)

It all when my car was shelved (an overstatement) from side, by a small 10 tonne concrete truck while I was waiting for green signal to give me a way forward.
Refer

Then after couple of days, I get a flat tyre on my way back to home around 11:30 in night. I didn't realize the fact before driving about 200 meters, thinking might be an unknown power that's steering the car towards right. I spent around 20 minutes changing the tyre. My stepny tyre had metal spikes (like you have in your football shoes). Had bad metal cuts on my fingers. There is something about cuts on skin. You realize how bad are they when try to take a pinch of salt from the Jar! :'-O


Then I drove setting the street on fire, literally (sparks coming out of the tyre).
When I reached home I couldn't find my office i-card. It had somehow detached itself from the access cards which completed the set. Then I went back again to office at 12:15 am. Search it all near the dhaba where I changed the tyre, parking space, office work station. To my sorrow I couldn't find it anywhere even after an hour of search operation. With somberness, I reach my home, and I find it there beneath my driving seat. So I wasted some 2 hours for simply nothing.

Not long after I left parking indicator lights in the parking lot only to discover that around 11 in night, the car had lost every bit of charge it possessed. Even after trying push-and-start techniques when the car refused to make any sound, I left it there and got into my friend's car to come back in morning with some mechanic. (I don't have that 24 hr automobile helpline :-( ) It was sheer luck that I spotted a battery mechanic (I wasn't even making an effort to find one) on my way back to home. He Came. He Saw. It Started!!

I haven't been so lucky in traffic scenarios though. Murphy wants to test me tough on that. No matter whatever route I pick up to go to delhi, I find extra-ordinarily jams. The other routes were comparatively a lot better. Maybe my mind follows Mass-Psychology. That calls for a great career in Stocks and Trading. :)

It was monday, when after being stuck in such jam, I drove to the nearest metro station. And carried on Metro there onwards. Went to college. The damn officer couln't find my degree after keeping me waiting for 2 hrs (I went to catch up a nap in between). Then I go to my office for finishing final formalities. And it took like ages. Suddenly I realized it was 9:30 and I had a car parked at a metro station. The friend I was accompanied by. (and also the one who was supposed to drop me to the nearest metro station) had to pick his mum and aunt from a place in gurgaon, he didn't know way to. We roamed to and fro at roads. (There's a sick habit of not telling a "no" when we pop up a question regarding geographical location of a place).

We managed to reach around 10:10 and had a race against time to catch the "11 ki last metro". We had long toll queues, naraina jam to keep us at 100 miles distance from hopes of making it on time. Somehow my friend got me at the place on time. I boarded the metro and it broke down at ISBT. When it finally got me to my destination (30 minutes late), I got my car back. (Had to pay extra because I had exceeded the time limit by 20 minutes :( ). Murphy caught me once again when I chose a way which seemed a bit easy-going initially. Not later than a km of drive through it, I found dozens Trucks parked on 2 of the 3 lanes available. At 12:30 I entered into the bottleneck and came out starving at 1:30. Went home. Had a maggi and then sank into the bed....

Still Awake at 2:15 am!

It's 2:15 am and I am awake! Tried catching some sleep earlier specially after a tiring afternoon. Went to Nehru Place to get my Lappy upgraded.

Had raajma chaawal after so long. Mum's been away from me for about 13 days now. Never cooked rice in between. Have plans though, tomorrow :)

What have I been cooking these days? click here

Kinda like weekend cooking. Not on weekdays though. :(

Saw a sweet comedy just now- Four Weddings and a Funeral. Nice movie. Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) with a good cameo! Had me in splits! :D

It's begun to rain outside. Feeling a slight chill now with vest and bermuda being my summer wardrobe!

I think I'll catch some sleep now. Asta La Vista.

Faking it !

Scared to see your face in the Mirror
For a fear that it will show the remains
Shattering the aura of lies encompassing
The body of Shallow bones and veins

No sleep before the family
No Drinks before the friends
Lest the lips would move uttering words
Which would bring "the fake" to ends

Saying "Keep Smiling" to everyone
But not to the little corner in your heart
Disguising appearance is one thing
Disguising emotions is an Art

Thou may look strong to you
But the weakness burns inside like acid
Check before the damage gets irreversible
Or else the annihilation is sure Tacit...

Ctrl+z - part2

I typed in something and then I deleted it....

Untitled.txt

Now I really don't know what should be the title of this post. Because there is no agenda for this one. Just felt like a Dumbledore who wanted to shed some memoirs into the pensieve. (GOD I ACTUALLY GOOGLED TO FIND THE ORDER OF "i" and "e" IN THE LAST WORD)

Hmmmm so a Saturday, which was spent leisurely till 7:45pm when I left for IIM K Alumni Meet. Was good fun meeting with future classmates, seniors and Alumni. Danced a bit on the floor. Almost went crazy when "In the end-Linkin Park" was played. There are times in life when you wish you shouldn't have watched Television from a couple of feets distance, in childhood. My glasses (-1.75) always create problems when I start to head-bang.

Food and people were good. Seems two years time ahead is going to be a memorable duration. Last two years in college.....

I wish I could have remained more in college. But for that I would need to do a PHD and then apply for lectureship. But I don't exactly fancy that. Because profs aren't even a light year close to be a part of College fun, instead they are a vital ingredient for College Pun!

The names that students rechristen their profs with are as interesting as what FIP did with SRK, Sreesanth, Agarkar and funniest of them all Sanjay Bangar.

Watched American Pie- 6 (Beta House) earlier this week. Nice college ;) Nicer Sports day (they call it Greek Olympiad).

And of course I am delighted that RCB beat CSK to reach the finals. It was a tough decision to forfeit the match viewing for IIM K alumni meet. But I thought, If RCB won I would have been delighted anyways but if it lost, I could have repented my decision of not going to the Alumni meet.


Now as its 3:00 am and I can see this post getting as vague and off-track as a Middle-aged lady on her car after attending "15 din mein driving seekho- classes",
I should pause now. YAAAAAAWWWWWNNNN..... BUT, I WIL BE BACK!!

Bless All

Sanshay...

Kinchit mann ki duvidha kinchit
Dridhta-abhaav sanshay kar sanchit
Mastishq sanrachna itni jatil hai
Sadharanta se koson vanchit

Vividh vichaaron ka ho sangam
Naag ko odhe khada hai chandan
Kar sakat vikalpon ko vicharsang
Kal ka Aaj kare abhinanadan

Ek raah pakad sanlagn sadeiv
Katihinayi bhi aaye yadeiv
Paras patthar si kathin parisha
Kar utteerna fir karen sameeksha

Antaravlokan

Jab jeevan ka sanket miley
Pratibimb sahit aakhet miley
Vyarth samay ko kiye bina
Tum swayam ko mitr bana lena

Hai hriday mein uthti hulchul kyun
Basant mein bhi hai marusthal kyun
Hathhon mein liye jal, paudhe ko
Tum seech ke vriksh bana lena

Lakshya ki dhoomil chhavi bane
Kathinayi greeshm ka ravi bane
Le nishtha ka paripeksha faila
Tum dhoop mein chhaya bana lena

Peedit maanav koi yadi rahe
Akshon se neer ki nadee bahe
Prem se bheegi boondon se
Mukh par muskan saja dena.....

My Take on The Real Fake!

Let the unknown stay covered
Let the words come un-perturbed
For once the curtains will be raised
People would cease to be amazed

You will get the love u want
You may want to reveal but you can't
Keep conjuring the art of brooding pun
For without you IPL would not be much fun....



Hmmm...to start with my car is fine now (Rs 1500 ka chuna :-()

Last few days have been good with a new TP, called IPL-Season 2 and the controversies surrounding it.

I am with RCB (Royal Challengers Bangalore...hic...). Sadly they have lost 3 of their 4 matches. But I don't have to worry more about what to do when I get home.

To add the fun, somewhere from the horizon has risen a "star" who calls himself "Fake IPL Player". The guy is simply awesome. I don't even care about whether his is spilling the "true" beans about KKR or he's double faking it. Its real spicy fun.

The most entertaining part is his Nomenclature for the characters. Vinnie D*l*o (SRK), Appam Ch***Y* (Shreesanth), Kan-Molu (Agarkar), Ganji Hanger (Sanjay bangar, funniest of all). The guy has ordinarily extra-ordinary writing skills. The one which grips the readers. The wit is too sharp to have been created by an ordinary sportsperson (given the general conditions in which our players bred in before coming into the national team).

Moreover what surprises more is that SRK has removed all WI-FI connectivity from his players' rooms. Now that says a bit about authenticity of info being shared. According to me it might be a case of a professional journalist who gets his info from a/few KKR team players/staff.

It won't be long enough before we will stumble upon a book in library, claimed to have been written by him - a collection of his blog material and much more. This reminds me of a nice movie called Hoax.

Why I think the guy is a pro, because, he has taken every bit of care of not mentioning real names/people/places. So even if he is caught, he won't be prosecuted as he can always argue it was a work of fiction.

Not far away are the days when he would get thousands invitations from pretty girls desperate to meet him. But, the irony is that in his anonymity lies his sex appeal :-)

Vinnie will be disturbed Appam would be red
Lordie would be smiling in his kingly shed
Calypso would than gods, that you spared him
People love you for your naughty whim

Bubli hopes that bunty doesn’t' believe
Bunty now will have a doubt what's up his sleeve
Please write something about IPL uncle now
A one-liner or one blog that will make us say WOW

A bad incident calls for a better reaction!

Sometimes things just happen without giving any scope to react to avoid them.

So, there I was happy around 8 in evening, that after so many days I was about to reach home early. So there I was, with my car stopped at the traffic signal. And a concrete mixer truck comes from my right and swerved left to take the left turn. I couldn't move either forward or backward (vehicles behind) and it grazed past my car's right front part.

So helpless! So frustrated! Felt like blurting out the entire abuse vocab, I possess. But of no use. I reversed a bit back to avoid further damage. The truck found the space it needed and sped away. I crossed the red light, rested my car to the left side of the road. Bumper swinging down, both right indicators gone, metal sheet dented a couple of inches inside, and a whole lot of frustration, anger and somberness.

Everybody plays the role of spectator so often. But when you turn a mere spectator to the things happening to you, it feels bad, very very bad. We start to think futile things. If only I had stayed in office 5 minutes longer, if only I had driven a couple of minutes faster, if only I taken a separate route and all other futile Ifs.

Then I got myself reminded about the 20-80 rule. It says 20% of things happening to us have got our no control on them. 80% others depend on how we react. The principle can be understood by following example (mention in the mail)

You are having breakfast with your family.
Your daughter knocks over a cup of coffee
Onto your business shirt.


You have no control over what has just happened.

What happens next will be determined by how you react.




You curse.

You harshly scold your daughter for knocking the cup over.

She breaks down in tears.

After scolding her, you turn to your wife

and you criticize her for placing the cup

too close to the edge of the table.

A short verbal battle follows.

You storm upstairs and change your shirt.

Back downstairs, you find your daughter has been too busy crying
to finish her breakfast and getting ready to go to school.

She misses the bus.

Your spouse must leave immediately for work.

You rush to the car and drive your daughter to school.

Because you are late, you drive 40 miles per hour in a 30 mph speed limit zone.

After a 15-minute delay and throwing

$60.00 traffic fine away, you arrive at school.

Your daughter runs into the building without saying goodbye.

After arriving at the office 20 minute late,

You realize you forgot your briefcase.



Your day has started terrible. As it continues, it seems to get worse and worse.
You look forward to coming home. When you arrive home, you find a small wedge
in your relationship with your wife and daughter.



Why?

Because of how you reacted in the morning. Why did you have a bad day?

A) Did the coffee cause it?

B) Did your daughter cause it?

C) Did the policeman cause it?

D) Did you cause it?

The answer is “D”



You had no control over what happened with the coffee. How you reacted in those 5 seconds is what caused your bad day.




Here is what could have and should have happened

Coffee splashes over you.

Your daughter is about to cry.

You gently say:

“It’s okay, honey, you just need to be

More careful next time.”

Grabbing a towel you go upstairs and change your shirt.
You grab your briefcase, and you come back down in time to look through

the window and see your child getting on the bus.

She turns and waves. You arrive 5 minutes early a cheerfully greet the staff.


Notice the difference?




So now I am a bit more relaxed than my initial state of mind..... :-)

Begaani Shaadi mein Abdullah Deewana- Part2

I received some feedbacks about some instances which deserved some mention, but slipped off from my mind.

It was last day of end-semester examination and one of my dear friends, Rahul (Guy with the blushing smile in my blog-header pic, fell ill. I, Panda, and Pandu set off along with him to make sure he reaches Gurgaon safely where his parents were waiting to take him Faridabad, their home.

Uncle said - "So nice of you guys that you came till here to see Rahul off". We all smiled. We knew we came so that we could crash in some wedding parties around.

Anyways, that night was one of the longest times spent to find our target. As from our previous experiences we ignored low key affairs and looked for the "Grand Arrangement".

We were very tired, thinking the bike we borrowed from one of our seniors, Tiwari, had drunk petrol worth of more than our one time lavish meal at Chawla's. Disappointed we were about to return, when we saw firecrackers soaring in the sky about 2 kms ahead. Our eyes lit up. Both Pandu and I vroomed our bikes and reached the venue. Wow "Sabr ka phal meetha hi hota hai", seemed true.

BTW (Bittu tikki Wala) had a dedicated gallery, with about 2 dozens of chat-papdi and other snacks. I was (and am) a teetotaler, but my accomplices had their mouths watering when they saw "Teacher's" on the open-pub's racks. Sadly panda couldn't have much of it, but I guess he gulped one peg. Enough for him. Pandu on the other didn't need to drive. So tried all the brands he could.

Panda then pointed out towards a tuna fish which was getting grilled and said "!@#$$@!$ itti badi macchi....hic...". I and Pandu apprised him about it being called a Tuna.

All three were constantly "tadoing" pretty (read sexy) girls. People started noticing us suspiciously. Pandu was so scared, his all hangover went for a toss. He wanted to return before the feared beating by bride's relatives. But Panda and I were daring enough. We moved about confidently discussing about our respective businesses.

After our stomachs-full and late in night we drove back to hostel. Returned one of the bikes to its owner....Panda said - "MAJAA AA GAYA KHANA KHAKE", the famous dialogue in "Matrubhumi". We IMAOed (laughed hard and continuously) and then went to sleep.

:-)

Begaani Shaadi mein Abdullah Deewana!!

Hmm...One of my dear friends had published a blog entry about how he felt about being uninvited at some occasions. This reminded me of those uncountable dinners we had at weddings parties in Gurgaon and other nearby farmhouses. Here is the summary of all those wonderful (read delicious) moments:

Hmmm...On April 21, 2004 (Thanks Google) Virender Sehwag wedded Arti Ahlawat (thanks again) along with 41,812 couples (I am a Data Analyst).

So there was I, at the Khoka, relishing my plate of maggi along with senior friends from 3rd and 4th year. Nikhil Sharma, one amongst them, suggested wedding-crashing, when I told him about so many weddings in the city. I was game for it. I put on my only remaining ironed half shirt, borrowed a pair of trousers we set off for our "great wedding search".

We found one. When I got down from bike, he asked me to wait until the Groom's Convoy arrived. That sounded like a plan!

It arrived and we too sneaked in with it. So as course had its way, Bride's relatives thought us to be Groom's relatives and vice versa. We straightaway headed for snacks corner. Then took some soft drinks/shakes and followed it with some main course and dessert.

It seemed that videographer knew more than what we did about ourselves and I am sure we would have shared the screen space 50% of the total video duration.

Sorry Amit bhaiya and Anjali bhabhi. Now you would have figured whose side the two guys with ice-creams filled in mouth, belonged.

When I graduated to 2nd year I was a veteran, and guys wanted me to lead them into wedding-crashing. Our excuse - "Mess food is bad". But more than that reason, I liked the sense of thrill we had all the time when we were bent down on trying everything meant for the bellies within a limited stipulated time.

Once confident we didn’t wait for Baraat to get in. We used to roam in confidently, passing by Bride's father and uncles, mobiles on ears, saying - "Yes mom I have reached. U and Dad in their? Yeah I located you. Coming there"

Once we landed up in a reception party with barely 70 guests. But I in fact, managed to engage into conversation with one of the uncles about how good dance performance was.

Sorry to all those couples for appearing uninvited in their weddings!!

Thank you Pradeep bhaiya, Priyanka bhabhi, Deepa didi, Ashok Jeeju, Aakash Uncle, Sanjeevni Aunty (wedded in their late 30s I guess)



HMMMMM....I WISH WE HAD CLICKED SOME PICS!! :-(

A trip to the countryside!!

A trip which had an unfortunate beginning (my grandpa expired) turned out to be an enriching experience.

My mum had left early at the onset of hearing the saddening news. Grandpa was ailing for than a year now. So in some corner of one's heart everybody felt contentment as he was relieved of all the pain and agony he suffered.

Dad and I went 4 days after. Located about 30 kms from the Nepal-India (Bihar) border, its one of the places where I feel complete peace of mind.




My mamu, mami and their kids (read Raakshas Sena) joined us on our way to Nanigaon.
I managed to survive them and their zillion questions which seemed straight out of 100 yrs of possible history of "who wants to be a millionaire"

We reached there next morning and I got into the groove the same day. Got my pic clicked doing my own bit for the cause.




It was a 5-Village community dinner (bhoj) next day. Preparation was to be done by everyone in family.




Massive event requires massive arrangements. As this cooked rice storage:




And a few sweets:


And the server: :-)


2 mornings later I went to one of my nanaji's cousins, a maithil sahitya scholar. He told me about the origin, history, development of Mithila culture. I was too impressed by the knowledge he granted me.

Then we left for my Dadigaon (Paternal grandparents' home). On way I saw the changing facets of Bihar. Transport, roads communication everything is developing at a fast pace. Thanks to Nitish Kumar, Bihar is out of Clutches of Lalu for at least 5 years.

Now a very unique pic. Only one of its kind. This is a bridge over Kamla River. Uniqueness lies in the fact that both Road Transport and the Railways use the common bridge. I might be prosecuted for publishing this pic. :-( The bridge is property of Railways and hence is still awaiting its maintenance, courtesy Shri Lalu Yadav.



We visited the old and locally very famous Shiv Mandir, which is still to get its recognition at national level. UGNA MAHADEV (the complete story will be published in some other post)



That marked the end of a very enriching experience. The one I was going to use for my MBA GD/PI Interviews. I converted one ...FMS..(hurray) waiting for 10th April. Wish me luck.

:-(

Feeling Blue!!!

Who let the Dog out?? Danny ??

Christopher Nolan must be very proud with how well the "Anachronous" way of story-telling been down with the masses. Filmmakers and viewers are now acknowledging the great art, which can make simple stories look extra-ordinary.

Kudos to Danny for showing the slums as they are. I don't see any great bollywood actor making so much fuss about it without even giving it a peek. That too when the child actor in the film jumps into the shit-hole (literally) to get his autograph (though later sold off by his brother at Rs 3 only).

Chase scene (policemen after the kids playing on airport) has been shot exceptionally well. Both the child actors Ayush Mahesh Khedekar (Jamal) and Azharuddin Ismail (his elder bro Salim) and their adolescent counterparts have made their characters look real.

From slums to the mumbai riots (brief hints) to trap by "Beggars' Mafia" to escape to losing-founding saga to bhai turning hitman everything is shot convincingly as this was going to be the film's backbone as they explain how did the Slumdog know the answers.

Somewhere down the line the characters (the adolescent guys) speaking English couldn't go down as well as those who did in Gandhi. For perhaps if not had been that way film might have ended up with competing in "Best Foreign Film" category.
But as a movie is best owned by its director, so no issues.

Freida Pinto's performance is average. Dev Patel does impress a lot with his journey from chaiwallaah in a call centre, who knows more about the Red Carpet than any other student in the training room to The Millionaire, who ended up annoying Anil Kapoor with his rags to riches story in 1 hr Show rather than latter's struggle (briefly mentioned). The grey shades in the Quiz-Master's role might have driven Shahrukh away from it.

Time for some technical flaws.

The KBC or "Who wants to be a millionaire" is never live, for the fear, that if a person choses phone a friend, encarta/wiki can help him before even the call is made.

How often "The Three Musketeers" taught in a Slum-School?

Policemen grilling Jamal speak in so much an Indian accent english. So how does our Slumdog acquire a foreign accent? Even if our chaiwaalah learned that in the office he served, but how does our heroin who had been at a Mafia's place since years. And we know what accent is borne in there?

How often a person of Lower strata of society when plays reality shows like this, are insulted by the game host?


Amidst all the flaws, the story does strike a chord for the majority of the 120 minutes, losing steam only in final 10 minutes.

The film will inspire a generation of directors and story-writers, seeing kind of media exposure it is getting across the globe.

Go watch slumdog for the Oscar nominations. For some seemingly funny but realistically agonizing slum life. For the great soundtrack courtesy A.R. Rehman.

I genuinely feel It should win an Oscar for India. Feel like "It's Written"


***

A very happy new year!!!!

A very happy new year to me and all.

A very happy bdday to me (5th Jan)...

Congratualtions (for managing an IIM GD/PI Call) and Best of Luck (for conversion) to me.

Next post will be a Movie Review of Chandni Chowk to China.....

Cheers