the laughter echoes in my head

careful with that axe, eugene

2011-10-03T12:00:00.000-07:00

if i could offer you one tip for the future, sunscreen wouldn't be it. i'd say "careful with that axe, eugene".

counterfeit deodorants is a rampant menace today. if you're going to buy a can of axe from a small local grocer, chances are, that can is a fake. the can in the above picture is from "landmark grocery", near legends of rock on 80ft Road, 6th Block, Koramangala, Bangalore. It gave me skin irritation and rashes. this has happened to me at least twice before and i don't seem to have learned my lesson. on the previous occasion, i made a complaint to hul and they collected my can and replaced it with a genuine one for free.

with retail prices above 150 bucks, a can of the shady stuff is a mouth-wateringly profitable proposition. not surprisingly a bunch of people seem to have jumped at the "refill" business. so be warned. buy only at a trusted retailer (someone who has a reputation to lose), keep additional stock (avoid an emergency purchase), and deface the can before you dispose of it (scratch the paint off, don't puncture the can).

book review - the secret of the nagas

2011-09-17T01:39:00.000-07:00

genre - mythology / fantasy / fiction
rating - not worth the bother

the sequel to the immortals of meluha lives up to the first book and in many ways surpasses it. in my review of the immortals.., i had said that it had the power to be solid page turner and was set in a massive world populated with incredible characters and twisty sub-plots. the secret... carries as much promise and potential, if not more. it also loses the plot when it comes to being an actually well written book.

amish tripathi has achieved quite a lot with this volume of the shiva trilogy and, judging by the buzz around the book, is enjoying quite a successful run. the book makes ramanand sagar and baldev raj chopra look like amateurs. it takes their misguided interpretations of hindu mythology to a logical extreme with both their myopic moral values and heightened sense of drama. it then throws the resulting uber-goo into a sumeet mixer-grinder along with a 6th grade history text book to create an unparalleled, unapologetic novel that spans the genres of romance, action, comedy and high-drama like any good prime-time soap opera would.

as the story delves deeper into the plot in the second book, amish unravels new secrets and shows us a clearer picture of the details of the lives of the characters. unfortunately the author's shortcomings show up even more starkly because of this. these include the previously mentioned lack of the research into harappan society, ancient vedic hinduism, the indian calendars and a whole host of such areas. amish seems to have learnt his "history" from his grandmother's bed-time stories, his english from the corner paan-wallah and got his religious ideas from one of the many telly-yoga-babas. not only are his mythological and historic references blatantly inaccurate (and i've delved into why this inaccuracy is a bad thing earlier), his direct translation from his received language to english, could leave the reader quite baffled. i can speak english comfortably but struglle with standard hindi a bit. this seems to be why i kept hitting road-blocks with the usage of words like "vegetables" in place of "vegetable curry" ( the common hindi word for both is sabzi ). similarly, the phrase "he must not raise his hand" threw me for a bit. i wondered if this was an obscure body-odour joke before realizing that the former banker had translated directly from the hindi haath uthaana which means "acting violently".

with this second installment, amish has successfully taken the reader from disappointment to irritation. he has gone far beyond the scope of his previous low-point by repeatedly butchering science, language and indian geography in addition to history, culture and calendars. i hope he hasn't quit his day job.

book review - the immortals of meluha

profiled!

2011-05-10T17:49:00.000-07:00

failed an airport security check for the first time. bangalore airport security made me take off my shoes and put them in the x-ray and still looked suspicious.
i don't know if it's the beard or the fact that the dr.martens 1640 boots and the vintage 501 jeans were making the metal detector go off all over.
i'd like to give the benefit of doubt to the cisf jawans, largely because the boots have 16 metal eyelets each and the jeans have all kinds of hardware on them ( 11 copper rivets including watch-pocket, crotch and back-pockets, 4 suspender buttons and cinch ).
but what do you think? have they started racial profiling at indian airports?

movie review - unforgiven

2011-05-04T14:06:00.000-07:00

genre - western, drama
rating - must watch

sublime. like every one of clint eastwood's projects. a simple story, but told powerfully. that's the genius of clint eastwood, he retains the essence of the script or the story he is borrowing from and let's that story impress you without getting his getting in the way. maybe stepping out of the way is a lot tougher than he makes it seem.

go get the dvd.

the national gallery of modern art - bangalore

2011-05-04T13:48:00.001-07:00

i liked the gallery better than the art. you should visit.

the tragedy of a democracy

2010-07-11T14:28:00.002-07:00

majority politics works, but only for the majority. when a section of population has the opportunity to benefit, even slightly, from the subjugation or ill-treatment of another, their elected leaders will find a way to make it a political agenda. this in-turn leads to hate driven by a "vibrant" democracy.

the solution ? a cosmopolitan world. transplant more people, create more cross cultural confusion. drive the telugu people into delhi, tamil people into mumbai, haryanvis into chennai and the marathis into kolkata. drive them by giving large education and job reservations to applicants from outside the linguistic area. that's when democracy will yield real results. it might not be perfect, there will still be minorities. but at least, then, the only agendas that will have majority popularity will be the basic ones. like infrastructure or the economy or food security.

the next step ? global cross pollination. oriya labourers in sydney, libyan artisans in hamburg and marwari traders in shandong. so our national cricket teams will look more like the premier league ones. fifa world cup will look like the epl tournaments. no more kashmir, no more mumbai and no more australia. no crisis of identity, no politics of prejudice and no hate crime.

it's raining today

2010-06-18T08:07:00.000-07:00

it's raining in bombay and my mind is wandering. to times and places far away, to ferns growing on compound walls, to numb fingertips, to wrinkled toes and freshly washed jungle breezes.

twisty hill roads with ridiculously bright green grass on either side, the grass almost overgrowing the little dirt-patch and spilling onto the tarmac. crumbling laterite walls which seem to snake about the hills and fields in lazily arbitrary loops. soaked to the bone and happy in a quiet group of people with whom you could, in a way, be all by yourself.

wild stormy nights, grey drizzly mornings and beautiful rain drenched evenings. i guess i'm going to carry them with me for some time.

book review - the immortals of meluha

2010-04-30T11:22:00.000-07:00

genre - mythology / fantasy / fiction
rating - not worth the bother

an interesting mish-mash of a story, the immortals has the power to be a solid page turner but lacks the finesse and the attention to detail of an actually well-written book. amish tripathi has created a massive world, populated it with incredible characters and filled his script with twisty sub-plots. and that's all good.

it's what he's left out of this book that really makes this such a damp squib. he forgot to put in the research into harappan society, ancient vedic hinduism, the indian calendars and a whole host of such areas. the book seems to be written for ignorant western readers who would not know the difference between the aryan and the harappan cultures, who wouldn't know hindi from sanskrit or prakrit. this isn't a minor flaw. any piece of fiction is allowed to reference events, characters or phenomena from the real world but those references will need to be consistent with the reader's pre-existing knowledge of those phenomena, characters or events. so when r.k. narayan refers to every-day life in malgudi, while the town is entirely fictional, the environment feels realistically like something from a pre-independence town near mysore. when j.k. rowling refers to the muggle-london, it seems exactly like the london you and i know. the alternative is to go the j.r.r tolkien way and to create entirely new worlds, languages, races and even number systems. amish trivedi chooses to use hindu mythology, indian history and language so inconsistently that everything will seem fundamentally wrong to any reader familiar with these topics.

as if this weren't enough, this particular blend of science fiction and mythology lacks the subtlety of ramayan 3392 a.d. and the coherence of a subhash ghai film. this book has taken a magnificent setting, incredible characters and delivered such pointless nonsense, it makes you sad. all in all: badly researched, badly planned and badly written.

book review - the secret of the nagas

national pride / popcorn patriotism

2009-05-17T02:43:00.001-07:00

human grouping and the inevitable ensuing xenophobia are disturbing phenomena. whether the group be based on race, language, religion, nationality or length of one's nose, once people start huddling or even drifting towards people more like themselves, the basic tenets of civilization start faltering.

living beings have some unspoken rules they follow when they live in the proximity of each other. for instance "we will not deliberately hurt each other" or "we will not steal from each other, openly". you take these tenets for granted and rarely ever expect to be stabbed by random strangers while walking down the footpath. these considerations of yours are rewarded by social acceptance ( which allows for trade and shared resources, higher security... and further down the line, government, public transport etc ). if however you decide to follow the rules only with people from your own nationality ( or nose length ) and give less respect / consideration to a foreigner, you probably will continue to get the requisite social acceptance ( from the majority of your neighbours. you don't care about what the minority thinks of you anyway ). this only becomes a problem when you are in a foreign land and the people there start following this ideology.

xenophobia seems to be abundant and common despite the advance of communication and trade [ some would say, advancement of civilization, but i would laugh at them. "civilization, bah!" ]. you'd think it'd be easy now [ even necessary ] for people to interact with people outside "their group". now telugu people write software in new jersey and australians run bars in phuket, and yet this "global village" hasn't changed our attitudes towards the people who live on the next street.

in this atmosphere, it's scary that educated, level-headed people would show a strong nationalist leaning. being a nationalist is a strong group tendency for people belonging to the same politically demarcated country. in mumbai, for instance, it is necessary for movie halls to play the national anthem before every movie ( the indian national anthem, not the russian, which sounds cool ). everybody stands up in respect, when the anthem is played. inside a movie hall. with buckets of popcorn and coke in their hands. some even try to sing ( so much for pride and respect, punctuating cheap entertainment with a national anthem ). there seems to be a lot of this "pride" thing around. talking to people shows how much public hatred can be generated by drawing a political boundary ( angry indians after a terrorist incident, for instance. the line being the mcmahon line ).

what seems to be so incredible is the fact that so much emotion ( whether pride or hatred ) can be based on something as trivial as an imaginary line drawn by an otherwise inconsequential set of politicians ( who we love to loathe on every other instance ). look around you, this madness is all over. i know good friends, family even, who have a natural antipathy towards pakistan. an entire country, they have never visited. with a few hundred million diverse inhabitants, otherwise identical to themselves ( save for that line and maybe the name of a non-existent god ).

fear, mistrust, anger and hatred towards a group ( however well defined the group ) can be a dangerous thing for human society. stop playing that anthem in movie halls and for the sake of sanity, please learn to be tolerant. if somebody chooses to remain seated while the anthem is played, please, give him the liberty to do so. you do not have the right to be offended by his choice. maybe he isn't feeling very patriotic today, and that might just be a good thing.

national highway 17 - the ride

2009-04-05T02:11:00.001-07:00

i will be riding down the nh17 in september, 2009. exact dates depend on the monsoons, the ride will be timed with the receding showers.

basics of the trip:

1. route : mumbai-chiplun-goa-karwar-mangalore-cochin
2. it will not be hectic, max 300km per day
3. people are allowed to join for any of the legs of the journey ( mumbai-goa or mangalore-cochin etc ), so you have the flexibility of doing a 2 day, 3 day or 5 day trip as you find it convenient. or do the whole 13 day jingbang.
4. bring your own bike or rent one or drive a car. bring friends. try to avoid pillion riders on bikes for long stretches.

if you're interested, comment below or send me an email. i'll keep you updated as the itinerary firms up.

nitte 7

2009-03-25T07:39:00.000-07:00

went back to nitte in november, 2008.

went to celebrate a wedding, ended up doing many of the little things that made life so interesting, those four years in the jungle. missed the wedding, though. sorry candy.

the "egg-shack": menu includes hard boiled eggs, omelettes, sunny sides up and more

"mada lime", a pretty cool local beverage

nmam institute of technology - the bus was too small to write the expansion of "nmam"

"forever bar", the only bar in that village, obviously well patronized by us folk. formerly known by a shadier name: "tb - tulsi bar" and before that as "ab - anand bar"

the basketball court, a favourite place for late night star gazing, beer drunk

the mango orchard, a favourite ... err ... relief spot ?

the football field, an elevated flat bit of land ringed by trees. has the most amazing view of the night-sky. particularly when there is a power outage.

the walk to padubidri beach

unload beer carton on beach, start the chilling

trip ends at "pallavi", another shady bar. home to the most tender squid chilli and the sweetest sand dunes.

more pics at facebook - hard rock cafe, nitte & day out at mangalore

movie review - barah aana

2009-03-21T03:04:00.000-07:00

genre - dark comedy
rating - must watch


chakpak widgets

raja menon has delivered a tight film in his second attempt. lasting barely 97 minutes, this film has no unnecessary scene or prolonged sequence. kudos to hemanti sarkar. vibrant visuals of mumbai, a simple, straight-forward story and strong performances by vijay raaz, violante placido and tannishtha chatterjee. this movie has got it right. the focus is steady throughout, not the visuals, not the music, just the story.

vijay raaz, as yadav, is the soul of this film. the role does justice to the abilities and versatility of this actor, and vijay fully exploits the opportunity at hand. one scene at the railway station, in particular, takes you into the heart of character, the sheer frustration and gloom on yadav's face are enough to make this film worth watching. violante and tannishtha shine within their roles. naseeruddin shah has a large role in terms of screen time but with almost no dialogue. he does not fail to impress, playing the role of the silent but intense shukla. arjun mathur's performance is over-shadowed by the sheer skill of the actors he shares the screen with.

all in all, a film which must be watched. both for the sheer artistry of it as well as for the strong message it puts forward.

the song remains the same

2009-02-11T15:52:00.000-08:00

winamp v2.95

26318 tracks : 1873 hours 27 minutes 26 seconds

shuffle morph rate : fast

joy!

food guide - poison [ mumbai ]

2008-12-16T01:57:00.000-08:00

intro & location |
this appears to be a "happening" club, so there are a lot of people who seem to be here to see and be seen. i'm not familiar with the bombay page3-set so i didn't recognize most of the creepily dressed characters ( you'll find lady-boys with more class, working the streets of pattaya ). off linking road at bandra.

ambiance & hygiene |
clean, cool and almost post-modern, with a dramatic broken-glass-encrusted spiral stairway bringing you to this basement level club. high roof, several large lcd display's and a prominent central dj console. whoever was responsible for the layout and interiors did a passable job of it. rest-rooms are clean and don't get crowded ( this is important in a night-club, beer-drinking can lead to very uncomfortable queues outside the loo ). however, getting across the floor to the loo involves wrestling, shoving and stepping on feet. there is a smoking section with house-r&b music and less crowded bar. the sheer number of bouncers in this club is intimidating. and they aren't all that friendly when you're entering. maybe it's meant to go with the icy-cool theme ( not kidding about the theme, the air-conditioning must have been set to 12 degrees and the smoke machines pump dry-ice from the roof-vents ). the bartenders are relatively warm, but curt still.

drink |
the alcohol is at about 350 bucks for a small drink/pint. they do not serve anything cheaper than smirnoff black ( but the cheapsters use smirnoff "red" in the cocktails ). their beers are "premium" too ( tiger, carlsberg and fosters pints only ). this is a snooty place, so do not expect to find kingfisher or old monk rum. just for the record, carlsberg and fosters are made by the same guys who make the "not-so-premium" haywards 5000 in india and tiger is made by the guys who make the decidedly-shady cannon 10000. the only thing "premium" here is the packaging and price-tag.

music |
the music is genuinely distressing. they claim to play hip-hop, r&b, electronic, house, rock & bollywood. but in reality, it's a mix of 20% electronic and 80% bollywood ( take that with a pinch of salt, i don't recognize either ). they have a cover charge of 2000 per couple and 2500 per stag, so you can't escape with no loss.
dj shaqeel ( or whatever ), once-in-the-news-for-drug-possession( "i was framed, somebody put 0.4 grams in my wallet!!!" ) kishore-remixing, shake-it-daddy dj plays at poison. you've been warned. you'd still come away alive if he stuck to playing music. but for some reason they let him have a microphone, so he even talks between tracks ( apparently under the impression that he is egging the crowds on to greater enjoyment. excuse me while i go drown in my own vomit ).
whoever "framed" the fart, please try 4kg this time, so he's charged with trafficking and not possession. please. i don't know what kinda dim-wit walks about uae airports with banned substances, but it is apparently a popular extreme-sport with indian page3 types ( i'm not exaggerating! click on 1 2 3 4 ).

verdict |
all in all, if you're looking for a few drinks and some good music ( without being pushed around ), poison is a terrible waste of money. if you're obliged to go there, i would suggest you drink your cover-charge's worth of smirnoff black ( about two drinks ) and pretend you need to step outside for a phone call. head straight to hawaiian shack or toto's for a few peaceful drinks. with the kind of crowd at poison, nobody'll notice you're gone. don't try to get to the tavern at fariya's, it'll be shut by the time you get there.

movie review - oye lucky, lucky oye!

2008-12-14T21:32:00.000-08:00

genre - comedy
rating - must watch

if you've watched khosla ka ghosla, you probably don't need to read this review. you'd watch every movie dibakar banerjee makes. i would.

if you haven't watched khosla ka ghosla, try and get hold of the dvd. it's a "must watch". his work is vaguely similar to the style of guy ritchie. fast paced, rooted and high-on-style entertainers.

getting back to oye lucky! lucky oye!, this film is another incredible entertainer. the story seems to be loosely based on the exploits of a real life super chor and what a way to tell an incredible story!

this film is like nothing you'll see on indian screens. and this is probably why it will not do too well commercially. for starters, this film understands it's characters and environment. while pushing the boundaries of coincidence, it displays an astonishing connect to reality.

it is characters like lucky's lousy father ( paresh rawal ), the gangster-cum-bhajan-singer gogi bhai ( paresh rawal again ) and dolly-the-wedding-dancer ( richa chadda ) that flesh out this film. the packed but realistic visuals ( kartik vijay ), truly entertaining music ( sneha khanwalkar ), superlative acting performances ( manu rishi, paresh rawal, richa chadda, manjot singh and neetu chandra) and dibakar banerjee's delhi ( also seen in khosla... ) are what make this film both refreshing and engrossing.

on the surface, the protagonist, lucky's character is nothing new. the charming petty-thief has been played over and over by the leading men of indian cinema ( most memorably by amitabh bachchan as anthony gonsalves ). lucky, however, is built with more detail, more background substantiation. this otherwise light-hearted caper doesn't shy away from the the uglier reality that is lucky's life. he progresses from a teenager in a troubled family to an insecure adult craving a regular family. like i said, astonishing connect to reality.

the film is fast paced throughout except for a bit in the second-half, where lucky seems to get more introspective and less happy-go-lucky. the script itself is very basic, it doesn't have the depth of story to engage the audience ( not like khosla ka ghosla did ). so you come back from the movie hall feeling like you just went through an empty experience, except probably for some lucky-style introspection of your own. but while you're in the movie hall, the experience is complete.

human nature

2008-11-15T11:12:00.000-08:00

there is something to be said of human nature.
i don't know exactly what, but i'm sure there is something.

some time back, i met with a road accident. it wasn't much to write about except for the insight it gave me.

i ride a bullet. which is a fairly heavy motorcycle. so on one normal commute, traffic signal turns green, i surge ahead, astride the above mentioned lump of steel. i see pedestrians crossing street up ahead. i instinctively do the mental math, let go of the accelerator ( throttle to americans ) and push down lightly on the brake with my right-foot. now the bike is slow enough for the people to get across the road before i get to that point. i relax. adrenaline levels back to normal. people get across, and i accelerate again.

this mental math is a little difficult to describe, if you haven't been in indian traffic. people who visit india ( as well as some emancipated locals ) generally presume that there are no traffic rules here. or that nobody follows any traffic rule. and they seem surprised that everything doesn't end in one big pile-up. sadly, that isn't true. there are several generally followed traffic rules across india. every city adds some amount of local variation to the rules but the basic tenets are common. this is what allows indian traffic to flow ( if i could use that word ) smoothly ( i know i can't use this one ).

for instance, when you're crossing the road, you look to see if there is any vehicle ( these could include hand-carts and men walking fast with large baskets of vegetables on their heads ) heading towards you which would reach the part of the road you're on, before you finish crossing. so basically, you compute your own velocity relative to that of the 17 other entities heading straight down the road. based on these relative velocities and distances, you're able to predict possible collisions and correct velocity accordingly to avoid bloodshed. simple.

if you're in a vehicle, you slow down and honk hard at anybody who might be considering crossing the road, prompting them to recalculate the relative velocities. you calculate your own set of relative velocities for any vehicles that may be crossing the road ( including straying rickshaws which are allowed to do "u" turns and lane changes abruptly ) as well as any pedestrians ( these would include stray dogs, cattle, poultry and semi-naked children ). you predict collisions and correct velocity or direction abruptly ( rickshaws are only allowed to correct direction and never velocity ) accordingly to avoid dents and scratches to your precious vehicle ( mah prehshyus ).

these are basic rules that everybody in india follows ( prospective visitors, take note ) without a thought. while we may not have zebra crossings, foot-paths ( "pavement" if you're an emancipated local ), lane discipline or any of that fancy stuff, we do follow strict rules. anyways, i deviate.

so, i was accelerating again. at this point, one young gentleman decided against crossing the road, after already having crossed it. he began to retrace his steps. in reverse. without looking. while i would normally congratulate such young men for their courage, for being able to walk across busy roads backwards and without looking, in this case, i was scared. adrenaline rose again. i knew, this time, that there wasn't enough distance between us for me to avoid dents / scratches by either direction change or application of brakes.

i tried, nevertheless, braked hard and hit him at about 20 kmph in the lower back. his body connected with my headlamp, and then having acquired the kinetic energy from a 240kg mass ( bullet plus rider ) travelling at 20kmph, proceeded to fly in a perfect parabola and landed some 6 feet away.

the bike stopped due to a combination of brakes and impact, i pushed it to the side of the road and went to look at the courageous projectile. this was potentially suicidal. one of the traffic rules in india is that if a motorist hits a pedestrian in a crowded area, he gets the hell away from the scene. i understand that this is called hit-and-run in some countries and is not considered a good thing. but in india, particularly in mumbai, you could get lynched by a crowd for injuring a pedestrian irrespective of who's at fault. so, temporarily dazed from the incident, i tried to see if the projectile was seriously injured. fortunately the crowd seemed to have witnessed the incident and did not find the young gentleman's role too courageous. they were actually sympathetic towards me. so i didn't get lynched.

instead, overcome by this display of compassion from what should have been a lynch-happy mob, i took the individual to a nearby dispensary ( which looked shady ), got him bandaged and checked. then got his leg x-rayed at a nearby laboratory and offered to buy him a fresh pair of trousers ( his were torn from the rough landing ). this took nearly 2 hours, after which i offered to go to the police station with him to lodge a complaint. he waved aside my suggestion and said it's unnecessary. so i asked him if i could drop him off somewhere. at this point he asked me for five thousand bucks in compensation for the accident. said he "knew" people in the area and he'd call his "boss" if i didn't cooperate. this is where i got rid of him like you get rid of those unwanted hawkers at traffic signals selling strawberries and pirated aravind adiga crap, the wave of sympathy having receded.

ganesh kambli from nallasopara, on that day on a street in goregaon made me think about human nature. i was shaking my head in disbelief trying to figure out why someone would try to take undue advantage of a person who has gone, well out of his way to help him. there is something to be said of human nature.

being politically correct

2008-10-05T13:02:00.000-07:00

whatever the f&^% that means.

south africa was convenient. apartheid was convenient.

tibet is inconvenient.

c'mon. say it. say you don't have the ba!!s to voice your real opinion.

stand up for someone else. stand up for kashmir. stand up for orissa. stand up for karnataka. stand up for gujarat. stand up for 1984. go look for them ba!!s.

what the @&*# is wrong with him ?

2008-07-24T22:41:00.001-07:00

do you ever wonder how that stupid nut at work can be so excited about making another report?
while motivation theory might have an explanation for these weirdos, i tried to find my own answers.

- a -

to some people work is an enabler. it provides the means to do what they really want to do.
/* if "work" then "play" */
gpratap seems like a good example. he claims to enjoy work as a technical writer but can't seem to get enough of the jungle ( and his camera ).

- b -

to some, work doesn't exist because they get their kicks out of what they do for a living.
/* work = play */
this seems a li'l cliche'd, but like the old guy in there goes my baby says, "find something you'd happily do for the rest of your life and then figure out a way to make money from it"
there seem to be very few people who have been able to monetize their passions to an extent where it truly satisfies them.

- c -

some others are completely obsessed with what they do.
/* ego ( work ) = narcotic bliss */
what they do, does wonders to their ego. their achievements ( personal or public ) are their peyote. lance armstrong very likely fits this bill ( or this guy ).

- d -

to the rest, work is a pain they must endure. the reason for it seems a li'l obscure right now but they know there is a good reason for it.
/* # define work: universal constant */
they only seem to like what they do when they compare it to the alternatives ( or their perceived alternatives ).

i know i fit in group d where do you ?

update:
seth seems to have tried explaining.

pattern maker

2008-06-21T10:18:00.000-07:00

making patterns which tile at naked&angry.

community site which has members creating, choosing and buying products. from the guys who made threadless.

bangkok beckons

2008-03-17T05:09:00.000-07:00

going to bangkok for 4 days.

itinerary is more or less empty except for : wat arun, grand palace, lots of street food and maybe some tony jaa dvds.

i was hoping to make a rudimentary food guide as well.

any ideas ? looking for places to see, nightclubs, etc.

what's the music scene like ?

2008-03-08T13:13:00.000-08:00

almost all the music i listen to now is incidental ( hindi film scores mostly ): what plays on music television channels in hotel rooms and what plays on the radio.

if you've tried fm lately in any indian town, you'd understand what i mean when i say changing channels doesn't change what's playing, it just changes the sequence. and if you're in rajasthan even the number of channels available on television are severely limited by your cable operator ( an unexpectedly smart 80-20 pareto analysis ). these two reasons coupled with the fact that i've spent almost all of the last five years in the hindi heartland ( and vh1 india really sucks ) meant that i've not really listened to too much of my usual alternative/classic rock.

this wasn't, obviously, always the case. just a few years back, i was in college. plenty of time to spare, a vague hint of rebellion in the air and a feeble thirst for a cause ( or thirst for a feeble cause ? ). not alone, am i ? .

it'd take atleast two really good tracks to get me ( us ) to listen any further. "us" because engineering hostels, then, had highly efficient peer-to-peer networks even before ethernet was ubiquitous in remote parts of india. the way this worked was that you had a bunch of people simultaneously looking for specific tracks ( lists shared on text files ). we carried our own hard-drives ( internal ) in our pockets, desktops across the hostel were usually left open so "mating" it with someone else's hard-drive would be easy. a quick swap of ide cables and reboot, followed by a search of the host hard-drive for any track on the list. these would be copied and process repeated with other computers. new music appeared on the hostel non-network when someone downloaded stuff while home for vacation or copied stuff from friends in other colleges.

then i ( we, actually ) would compile at least one entire album of mp3s over the next few months. this album would then get played on loop. after a couple of days of almost continuous play, judgment would be passed: archive or add to already humongous playlist. once an album got added to "the" playlist, my commitment to the artist went up several notches. i would stop only after i had managed to collect all available tracks by that artist.

that's the reason why i had a copy of almost every track recorded by artists from alanis morrissette to led zeppelin. this habit and all pervading hobby died slowly after engineering.

rabbi shergill is the only artist i've managed to "listen" to, after college. rabbi's soulful lyrics and ultra simple instrumentation got me hooked very fast. who've you been "listening" to ?

movie review - halla bol

2008-01-13T09:20:00.000-08:00

genre - drama
rating - don't bother

this film has more stereotypes and clichés than page3. and that's the only reason you would want to watch this film. so you can see how that is possible.

amir khan's narmada situation, preity zinta taking on the mafia, jessica lal, politicians, cops, actors, businessmen, socialites, good guys, bad guys, super heroes, casting couches. you've seen it all before.

pankaj kapoor's genius [ though it shines through the muck ] is wasted. nobody else deserves being mentioned. the soundtrack is sad. better scripts have been written for 30 second ads for washing soap. avoid the film if you can, smuggle your iPod if you're dragged kicking-screaming to the movie hall.

maintenance

2008-01-09T04:52:00.001-08:00

fiddling with blogger's layout editor.
time for a template update... will take some days to stabilize.

peter travers - best and worst of 2007

2007-12-25T10:36:00.000-08:00

peter travers writes film reviews.
i read.

best and worst films of 2007.

read.

rajasthan shots - kipling's bundi

2007-12-21T12:50:00.000-08:00

rajasthan shots
shooting everything, except black buck

drove past bundi on a visit to kota. gonna have to ride back to this town.
[ click images to enlarge ]

"jeypore palace may be called the versailles of india; udaipur's house of state is dwarfed by the hills round it and the spread of the pichola lake; jodhpur's house of strife, gray towers on red rock, is the work of giants, but the palace of bundi, even in broad daylight, is such a palace as men build for themselves in uneasy dreams-- the work of goblins rather than of men."
- rudyard kipling, 1892

bundi town, with the same garh palace as a towering backdrop.
"an avalanche of masonry ready to rush down and block the gorge"
- rudyard kipling, 1892

the palace as a backdrop and the lake as foreground.

rajasthan shots - horn ok tata please

2007-12-17T08:43:00.000-08:00

rajasthan shots
shooting everything, except black buck

bling!

you should see this thing at night, all the little coloured bulbs on this truck'll put any ordinary christmas tree to shame!

rajasthan shots - a jaipur diwali

2007-11-11T12:08:00.000-08:00

rajasthan shots
shooting everything, except black buck

spent diwali night out on the town, got some pictures too.
[ click to enlarge ]

rode through the brightly lit and decked out m.i. road, and the old city
lazing rickshaw-wallahs, trigger happy tourists, traffic, bunting, lights...

found a quiet spot on a hill at the edge of the city, parked the bikes and settled down to watch the lights

city lights and fireworks... minus the madness

amer fort, on the way back. reflected grandeur.

basic firecrackers - refresher course [ clockwise from left-hand side ]
1. bijli / mirchi pataka loose
2. black serpent / the amazing cobra
3. mini lari
4. jaa boom boo / i don't know what these are, little pellets that start sparkling
5. [ cock ] red sparkler / phuljhadi

[ other essentials missing in this picture ]

6. hydrogen bomb / atom bomb / cake bomb
7. lakshmi bomb
8. rocket
9. wires
10. flower-pot / anaar
11. chakra / zameen chakkar

it's been a long time since i've had sneezing fits from excessive fire-works smoke or had hands smelling of toxic sulphur. so i went and bought myself these.

total damage = rs 112/- and some stains on the balcony
hours of complete cheap thrills = 2

more pics by joel.

a healthy dose of reality

2007-09-18T04:35:00.000-07:00

h.e. Situ Rinpoche

thanks piddley

get rich quick

2007-09-04T12:48:00.000-07:00

gmail, today, shunted one of my emails to the spam folder. i checked to see and found an incredibly well written email from one mr. musa karim.

click the link here and prepare to get really really rich.

movie review - chak de india

2007-08-25T14:46:00.000-07:00

genre - sports drama
rating - watch it, the only decent indian sports film

there is a genre of films that have used "the formula" over and over again and managed to pull it off everytime. seriously, you've seen the mighty ducks, gridiron gang, cool runnings... and you still feel all gooey down in your gut. if you weren't so proud, you'd probably even sniff quietly into your handkerchief.

very nice. the formula works. it's probably never been used in indian cinema [ bend it like beckham doesn't qualify ]. enter shah rukh khan and his posse. same tale, underdogs take on the mighty champs and exact respect and glory from those who pooh-poohed them.

there are however some additional bits that chak de has to offer. shah rukh khan does not over-act. the girls look like they're actually playing hockey. the sets and locations are accurate looking. the script brings out several regional biases which sound realistic, for a change, depicts red-tape and does not come across as high-handed, portrays stereotypes that sportswomen really must encounter all the time. and oh, shah rukh khan does not over-act.

that's it. go watch the film.

well... there are some niggling bits. the hockey team is big and not all of them are great actors. the national pride sentiment is probably a bit stretched [ and they don't even play pakistan ]. other than that shimit amin and jaideep sahni [ ab tak chhappan and khosla ka ghosla ] deliver good value for your popcorn.

multi level fraud

2007-07-28T03:20:00.000-07:00

have come across a bunch of very complicated sounding "business ventures" which try to pass of as direct-selling or network-marketing.

questnet is one of them. since some friends have tried to get me to join, tried convincing me, i figured i'd look into how this works :

wikipedia has an entry on pyramid schemes which as you will read are pure fraud. surprisingly it's not just the organization that's guilty of fraud. every member who recruits another member is guilty too.

so let's see if questnet falls into this category.

how does this work ?
every "activated" member must perform the following:
a pay Rs 460 for registration
b purchase products at Rs 30,000
c recruit two more members

let's call each person on this network a "node".
every node in this system there fore generates revenue:
a registration fee Rs 460 x 2 = Rs 920 ( from the two recruits )
b product sale at the rate of Rs 30,000 x 2 = Rs 60,000

c in return you receive products worth Rs 4,300 each ( value of gold / silver )

total system profit generated per node = Rs 52,000 ( minimum )

questnet claims they are selling you numismatic product ( limited edition embossed coins ) and not gold / silver and hence they are justified in charging the premiums they charge.

quite obviously, this revenue is not generated in exchange for any real products or services. the Rs 26,000 you paid as premium for this "product" is paid in the hope that either
(a) the product appreciates 8 times it's value or
(b) as an active member you can recruit more members and earn more money than you lost through commissions.

i'm not going to bother about (a), that's obvious nonsense.
point (b) on the other hand, makes mathematical sense.
questnet compensates you with Rs 11,500 when you recruit 6 new members.
which seems like a good deal since you're earning them Rs 150,000 even if these six members never recruit any more members of their own.

this is a perfect pyramid. you stand to lose unless you can recruit more. if you recruit more, they'll stand to lose. and if you're thinking this is harmless and that everyone can just recruit more people and everyone can earn some money, remember the population of this planet can be covered within 13 levels. and at the bottom are people who will lose Rs 26,000 each.

why is this ethically fraud, but legally not ?

simple. i cannot prove that the value of the coin is less than Rs 32,000 to someone.

when does an item demand a large premium ?

this happens depending on availability of the item and on the value of it for the purchaser. a fan of princess diana may hold a diana coin's value above the value of his hard earned cash. and if this diana coin is not available anywhere at a lower rate, he is willing to purchase it at a higher rate.

is this the case with the thousands of quest coins ?

that's for you to decide. it's your money.

as for the ethics of this, i suggest you look into the model and figure out for yourself, whether you're making money by adding more people to the network or by selling. would anybody want to purchase more after becoming a member ?
if you're being paid for adding people, you're working as part of a scam. if non-members are willingly purchasing the products and form a substantial portion of your sales, you're in a legitimate home-business.

twisted tassles

2007-07-20T04:21:00.000-07:00

the plan exists in narrow by-lanes of memory
you've been there once before
you know it's somewhere around that corner
you believe you could find it if you needed to

movie review - life in a metro

2007-05-15T02:00:00.000-07:00

genre: drama ( commentary on human relationships )
rating: some incredible bits, watch it for the music and the visuals

my expectations from hindi cinema [ particularly mainstream cinema ] are very low. i am able to waltz into a 3:00 hour melodramatic piece of cinematic trash and come back feeling good [ referring to salaam-e-ishq's overly comic take on the already rather un-remarkable theme from love actually ]. my expectations have hit the floor [ yes, i did watch ta-ra-rum-pum, and had to start digging ] and the only way from here is up.

that's the point where metro comes in. the film starts off with unexpectedly classy visuals and doesn't let off throughout the 132 minute journey. it's like the cinematographer was trying to show you bombay from a different angle [ a tough task considering bombay has been the backdrop of nearly half of hindi cinema, and everybody's been looking for new angles for decades ]. it's a successful ploy, shady alleys tinged red with neon, raj-era bulding walls soaked in rain, blurred packed local trains, overhead shots of stations, matchbox apartments overlooking busy streets... so there you go. visually a film which frames it's central characters well and brings out the poignance in the story.

another thing that hits you as soon as the film starts is the score. the music, the lyrics, the vocals all blend in beautifully with the situation on screen. to help matters, we have a representative rock-band making regular appearances throughout the film, melding the song into the story, visually. the powerful vocal performances, some well thought out lyrics and excellent guitars make every scene compelling, but the icing on the cake is the shots of "the band" perched atop above mentioned buildings, stations, in bus shelters, on the pavement, in the pouring rain, singing away. it accentuates the mood of the film [ even better than jonathan richman & tommy larkin's performance in there's something about mary ]. stubby kaye and nat king cole apparently set the precedence for this greek-chorus style appearnces in cat ballou.

the film stars irrfan khan, konkona sen, shilpa shetty, kay kay menon, kangna ranaut, sharman joshi, nafisa ali and dharmendra [ reprise ? ]. that's a casting coup by anurag basu. with names like that, it's difficult to disappoint. and it works, for the most part. if it hadn't been for insipid dialogues and incomplete character sketching, kay kay, sharman, dharmendra could have taken this film to another level. kay kay, sharman and dharmendra still manage to come off as solid actors, fleshing out with pure emotion what the dialogue leaves empty. credit however must be given to the way irrfan's character is built and dialogues konkona delivers. scathing, earthy, funny, real. shilpa shetty's performance as a tortured soul who cannot make a decision is commendable, though not spectacular.

the story itself is grounded on a solid theme [ lost in translation like, human relationships and human desires in a big city ]. anurag basu is no sofia coppola and therefore glitches are aplenty, stereotypes abound and every character seems sex-obsessed. nevertheless, the other aspects that the film manages to get right make it all okay. i'd recommend you watch the film if only for the music.

lazy dreams - for priya

2007-04-23T05:58:00.000-07:00

somewhere along a wisp of smoke,
an elephant floats, easily.
winding it's way, on it's own,
suspended, feet-up, peacefully.

the elephant dreams, silly monochrome dreams,
of peanuts, mahouts and sweet plantains.
of happier times and splashing in streams,
while time, like the mist, settles in.

drifting between fantasy and memories.
swirls of eastman-colour faces,
in a stream of meandering stories,
alive with tastes, with sounds and places.

---

wrote this a while back for priya. thought i'd post it as well.

rajasthan shots - lake city blues

2007-04-10T00:05:00.000-07:00

rajasthan shots
shooting everything, except black buck

udaipur, the city of lakes, in southern rajasthan, is very unlike the rest of the state in terms of the panoramas it offers. settled in a mountain valley with the aravalis on all sides, udaipur's founders blessed it with several artificial lakes.

the hilltop palace hotel [ every hotel in rajasthan calls itself a palace ] is situated , on the top of hill [ errrr... ] with a huge view of the fatehsagar lake. the restaurant windows look down on upon the lake, with a single island in the centre and framed by the magnificent aravalis.

lake facing rooms have similarly stunning views, particularly when the lake road and the island are lit up at night.

the hotel [ +91-0294-2432247 ] itself is old and needs refurbishment, but it's clean and comfortable with fairly curteous staff. rooms aren't cheap, expect to pay about inr3,000 per night for a double. but the location makes it all worthwhile.

rajasthan shots - loitering about mehrangarh

2007-04-08T22:52:00.000-07:00

rajasthan shots
shooting everything, except black buck

mehrangarh - or the fortress of the sun is possibly rajasthan's most dramatic and india's best restored fort complex. part of the former jodhpur kingdom, this massive fort-palace complex has been painstakingly restored and maintained.

it now serves as a tourist attraction with beautifully organized galleries, museum, convenient cafes and the essentials [ like clean toilets ] that you'd need at a tourist destination.

pictures follow [ click to enlarge ]

the fort looming above jodhpur city

side view of the fort

view of the "blue city" from the quadrangle

bunting, the royal flag is all over the passageway

going potty, massive copper pots

arched doorways

intricate "jaali" work. pink sandstone is carved to make delicate screen windows, no two windows have the same pattern

devi bhawan - the hotel we stayed at. inexpensive, charming, small.

devi bhawan - view from the room, garden courtyard

the end of tibet

2007-01-31T02:47:00.000-08:00

i read a seven page article on the state of affairs in tibet.
the article filled me with an unexplainable despair, but there was no way i could stop reading. i'm neither religious nor very sentimental when it comes to fellow humans, but this really shook me.

maybe you should read it too.

all in all, a good one

2006-12-31T07:14:00.000-08:00

how'd you rate the year gone by ?

partied with ole friends and new

bought an awesome bike

discovered gujarat highways and rajasthan forts

quit my first job

had plenty of 'old monk n coke'

found peace

i'd say... it was a good one

rajasthan shots - road to nahargarh

2006-12-31T07:03:00.000-08:00

rajasthan shots
shooting everything, except black buck

nahargarh fort is one of the fort complexes just north of jaipur city.
pictures of me, the fort and the bike.

[ click on pictures to enlarge ]

exit jaipur city through the samrat gate

arrive at fort. big fort, small bike

inside the fort. big bike, small city

i join the picture

fort wall overlooking the city

steep and twisty road down to the city

rajasthan shots - jaipur day out

2006-11-25T03:09:00.001-08:00

rajasthan shots
shooting everything, except black buck

living and working in rajasthan provides me with tons of photo opportunities. the sheer colours, the vast expanses and a huge canvas is every camera-newbie's dream. so i'll just sling my point-and-shoot, go out and do what foriegn tourists have done for so many years [ without getting into prison ].

hawa mahal, the zenana part of jaipur city palace, is in the old "walled city" part of jaipur. this is a view from the top of hawa mahal and you can see the jaigarh fort from here.

jantar mantar observatory from one of the many windows in the hawa mahal.

jantar mantar, jaigarh fort and tourists on hawa mahal.

the approach to jaigarh fort

bustling walled city market, from hawa mahal

the fort in the distance

arches, typical to rajasthan architecture

detail of the many windows that make this windy palace

[ click any image to expand ]

rajasthan shots - in jaipur now

2006-11-15T05:07:00.000-08:00

rajasthan shots
shooting everything, except black buck

moved to jaipur, some people have since been asking me a repetitive question about this city " is it really pink ? ".

so i consider it my duty to enlighten.

well nope. the colours seem quite normal. nothing out of the ordinary.

queue mentality

2006-10-16T10:04:00.000-07:00

why are you in such a hurry to get off an airplane once it lands ? everybody gets up and stands in a crowded queue even before the plane has taxiied to a halt. why do you do that ?

you sit through a cramped two hour flight, but you can't sit for another five minutes ? or do you get cheap thrills out of making body contact with two other people ?

a short while back you were a kilometre up in the sky, in a tin can defying gravity. your only worry was whether you'll get a couple of more free candies. now, after the airplane has landed safely, you're suddenly concerned there might be some terrible disaster ? do you think some hijacker is going to drive the aircraft into a skyscraper ?

i see your laptop, i know you're really busy. you're loud on your cell-phone, i know you're in a huge hurry. but let me break it to you, you freak:
the airhostess is not going to throw open the emergency exits and roll out the inflatable-slide-thingy just because you seem to be in such a hurry. no, she's going to just stand by and wait till the aircraft has come to a complete halt and the driver of the portable ladder connects to the door.

you're going to have to wait as long as me, munchkin. and i'll be sitting comfortably [ relatively ]. you might be the thirteenth person to get off the aircraft, and i might be the thirtieth, but you're gonna have to go out and wait at the luggage carousel for me. no cupcake, you're face is not pretty enough to make the conveyer spontaneously give birth to your samsonite.

is it a nation accustomed to queues, that brings about such behaviour ? have the wonderful people at bsnl bill counters, public sector banks and post offices changed our habits permanently ? has all the queue-standing over the first four decades of our independence made this behaviour compulsive ?

i don't know. but i'll take the window seat please.

gujarat - quick reference

2006-10-08T15:58:00.000-07:00

work brought me to gujarat in april this year. work will be taking me back out as the rains are ending. over the next few paragraphs you'll find descriptions, observations, [ possibly incorrect ] explanations based on what i saw. what follows is biased opinions, if you're looking for balanced analyses or a usable guide, you won't find any here.

food
gujarat has a huge obsession for food. people, in general, are very discerning about what they put into their mouths. consequently, eating out is a big part of the ahmedabad [ or surat or baroda ] social life. go to any restaurant in ahmedabad at dinner time and you'll realise that the whole city is eating out. huge waiting areas bustling with families waiting for a table are a common sight.

a wide range of restaurants cater to an audience that is predominantly vegetarian, variety seeking and price conscious. several large restaurant chains have sprung up here over the years.

cuisine options in ahmedabad -
gujarati thali
traditional gujarati fare is heavy on pulses, grains, oils and dairy. this is due to the desert hinterland providing meagre variety in ingredients. breads [ roti types ] are made from a huge variety of grains and appreciated individually.
punjabi thali
oil and butter heavy adaptations of standard fare.
south indian
oil and butter heavy adaptaions of udipi specialities. the sambhar is sweet in most places though.
bhaji pav and pulav
oil and butter heavy adaptations of mumbai street food. they add cashews to increase the carbohydrate content. the average gujarati may be likened to daredevil dan, daring cardiac arrests and living life on the edge.
continental, mexican, thai, chinese
all adapted and mixed with each other and a bit of punjabi. non-vegetarians will find chicken dishes here. vegetarians will find paneer [ cottage cheese ] and potatos. if it sizzles, it sells.

infrastructure

gujarat has built and maintained an enviable setup for power, irrigation, roads and ports. infrastructure is a big reason why industry thrives here. another big reason is the apetite for entreprise [ read below ]. it's a pleasure riding around in gujarat and theres very little scope for complaint.

community
i'm tempted to pass funny cooments about the typical gujarati. but i will skip that, you can read about it in some 10 buck fortnightly's "serious analysis" .

i will however talk about communalism. on the surface gujarat seems peaceful. you wonder how the carnage, the rioting, the brutality that was godhra could have happened here. but over time, as you talk to people you see evidence of a deep seated suspicion and wariness.

i've travelled extensively between ahmedabad, surat, baroda and sevral villages in the sabarkantha, mehasana districts. everywhere i went, i saw subtle evidence. burnt down houses where entire families were burnt alive. restaurants which were loooted.

religious communalism is just bubbling under the surface. i saw one stray incident bring the entire surat city to a grinding halt. i was stranded in town with a ticket for a tarin leaving within the hour and no public transport or rickshaw willing to go. traffic had come to a zero at 5pm. the fear was palpable. but after a bit life goes on.

deals
one thing that will strike you when you come to gujarat for the first time is the sheer selling power here. everybody is offering the deal of a life time all year round in gujarat. everything from foreign education to ice-cream is available on 50% discount.

the gujarati shopper is also very keen on getting the best deal, so you'll find huge crowds are the big-bazaar or vishal megamart when they run discount offers. a local newspaper prints a coupon on it's front page every day, you can exchange a bunch of coupons for a free goodie [ say 100g tube of toothpaste ]. it's immensely popular. redemption centres are swamped with subscribers.

people purchase groceries in bulk at wholesale rates. the kalupur wholesale market is very popular with regular housewives.

wheels
among other unique things in gujarat is the ahmedabadis fascination with un-geared or variomatic scooters. this, without doubt is activa country. in fact, the honda activa seems to be the single most popular vehicle in the city. housewives, school kids, college girls, business men, professional... everyone loves these auto-scooters.

rural transport is a little different. in rural gujarat, there's a couple of ingenious ways to travel:

chagdi - capacity 10 passengers. three wheeler royal enfield bullet based transport. these trikes are powered by 6 bhp greaves diesel motors, have suspicious brakes and absolutely no suspension. useful in remote villages.

st - capacity 65 passengers. ageing, rickety ashok leyland buses ply the immaculate highways all across the state. run by the state transport department [ hence the name ].

super auto - capacity 12 passengers. diesel three wheelers made under the atul and vikram brand names. these are serious ass-haulers performing short distance commuter service. like a share-auto on steroids.

jeep - capacity 17 passengers. diesel stretch multi-utility vehicles manufactured by mahindra, force and tata motors. the mahindra commander is the most popular. these connect small rural towns within upto 2 hours of travel time.

entreprise
this is the most fascinating aspect of gujarat. the people have an enormous apetite for risk. everybody is out to strike it big. every idea has been tried here.

this 1000cc diesel rickshaw has been modified and fitted with an inverter, microwave, refrigerator and neon sign. two operators load it with hygienically packed gujarati thalis, twice a day at the agashiye kitchens and park at this spot, doing brisk business.

every product or service created is well thought out, packaged and advertised well. the sheer competitive forces and the willingness of entrepreneurs to bounce back up from failure gives you consumer marketing at a local level that is far more evolved than any other part of the country.

run to the hills

2006-10-08T15:55:00.000-07:00

for those seeking vacation destinations:

you must have noticed that most common tourist locations in india are currently overloaded and crowded. no more the serene hills or idyllic beaches. even if we could do away with the ubiquitous wrappers of kurkure and guthka, what can we do about the sheer ugly mass of humanity - the tourists?

so more and more people are looking for far flung, unheard-of and unspoilt destinations. with good reason too, even though this would involve more travelling, less facilities and advance research, the end result makes it worth the while.

i went to mussoorie for the independence day weekend. happened to be in delhi at the time and mussoorie seemed like a convenient getaway. well think again. it turned out that every loud man, every overweight woman, every shiny automobile and every whiny kid in delhi, haryana, punjab and uttarpradesh thought this would be a good idea too.

the tiny town of mussoorie is a joke. or has become one. bumper to bumper traffic weaves through twisty mountain roads leading in to mussoorie.

on the famed mall road, bored horses jostle for space with tourists, vendors and haryana registered toyotas

vendors of fried food and gulab jamuns prepare for brisk business

shady hotels with shady selling propositions have mushroomed all over this town and are bursting at the seams [ and yeah they let you revolve for free ]

you only get the idea that you're in a small hill town when you walk away from the town [ and the delhiites ]

the little villages nearby still look relatively peaceful

ouch !

2006-08-02T08:43:00.000-07:00

went riding around on bikes in goa one sunday morning.
ten guys in shorts and tees, five bikes, beautiful, twisty, empty highways...

"wheee... we're going faster than you... wooo hooo... ooops!!!"

a short flight, then touchdown, plenty of skin came in contact with good quality tarmac... and got dragged along.

the picture in the top of the blog [ all hazy and narrow ] is from the hospital waiting room. the rest of us were laughing at the fate of the two [ who got like a couple of square kilometres of bandaging between them ].

tink, suze, yell, candy, vinny, the bear [ missing in the pic: nishi, konch and short ]... the laughter still echoes in my head.

over tuned

2006-07-31T09:02:00.000-07:00

the tension never eases
as you're pulled and stretched taut

suffering the consequences
of the fateful story that i bought

railway station reading material

2006-07-14T23:51:00.000-07:00

been on a bunch of train journeys of late. and railway stations inevitably mean good money spent at the wheeler magazine store.

so here's a low-down on a bunch of them [ no reason to choose these except that they were colourful and shiny enough to attract my attention / criticism ].

the gadget mags [ i'm partial to digit ] are good and it's usually quite clear on the cover what's on the inside. straight and to-the-point tech reviews, despite the glam chick distraction. if you're in the market for a new speaker set or a cell-phone or ummm... a mobile bathtub, just pay the 100 bucks and pick up a magazine with the key words on the cover.

of the motor mags bs motoring was alaways a clear favourite. excellent coverage of new autos, good editorials, vintage car / bike features and the simply incredible travel writing by pablo chatterjee. of late they have improved their layouts and quality of photography as well, probably in response to...

top gear. a new entrant to the indian automotive journalism scene, top gear brought in a breath of fresh air. page layouts and photography beyond compare, excellent colour reproduction, printing, international content and the clincher... jeremy clarkson.

in the chick mags section we have another international player, maxim. irreverent writing style, offbeat sense of humour and general brashness work in it's favour. what doesn't is the choice of amrita arora as a cover girl. bleuch.

newsmags. of the lot at wheeler's, frontline is probably the only one that does not devote itself to indian politics, filmstars and page 3 "events". the economist isn't available at most railway newsstands so frontline is the only unbiased choice amongst both local and international newsmags. the recent make-over incorporates a crisp cover layout, good typography and quality photography into a magazine that already had the best editorial content and awesome coverage of current affairs.

in the upper right-hand corner you'll find the most easily available comic book in the wheeler distribution network [ almost as popular as diamond comics ]. poor art-work, empty scripts and no attempt at humour beyond basic slapstick, archie comics are rarely worth the the paper they're printed on. in a moment of weakness, overcome by some faint apparent nostalgia, i paid 50 bucks for this "digest". realised my folly very soon [ what the hell was i doing reading such crap as a kid ? ].

the bits of change and railway tickets in the picture are just added for "artistic" effect... errr... "attempted artistic effect".

and i'm not anything that you think i am anyway

2006-07-12T08:40:00.000-07:00

syd barrett moves on.
quietly, apparently.
unnoticed by most, except a bunch of jaded rock fans, across generations.

my experience probably resonates a bit with those of you in your twenties now. mp3s of floyd [ and barrett solos ] played in dark engineering hostel rooms. a bunch of dazed kids sitting around a computer screen lost in the winamp visualization [ sexy scrolling voiceprint is actually sexy ]. even in a crowded room, the music always took you on independednt personal trips [ or was it the alcohol ? ].

so here's to the poet and the icon.

"i know a room of musical tunes.
some rhyme, some ching. most of them are clockwork.
lets go into the other room and make them work."

- from bike [ the piper at the gates of dawn ]

[ read more ]
1. the 1971 rolling stone interview with barrett
2. news reports from mtv, bbc and the scotsman

idea - 2006

2006-06-29T13:06:00.000-07:00

industrial design excellence awards '06 have been announced
check them out if you haven't already

if your ole gas cylinder looked like that....

tamil steel

2006-05-29T02:58:00.000-07:00

got a new bike - the royal enfield bullet electra 5s

getting to know gujarat, getting to know the bike

[ click images to enlarge ]

excellent road surfaces across gujarat. city roads, highways. smooth sailing all the way.

decent country roads too. except for the cattle hazard.

getting familiar with the ancient, at lothal.

getting familiar with the bullet electrical system. the culprit turned out to be a short-circuit which kept blowing the fuse. a royal enfield technician rode out 100km from their ahmedabad service center to help. no charge.

almost-tempting food joint at dholera

almost tempting carbonated drinks, wide selection, at vataman. local beverage, international packaging [ notice the green canada dry bottles ].

gujarat's most popular commercial vehicle, closely related to the electra. these three wheelers perform a commendable service transporting, grain, milk, water, hay and passengers all over gujarat.

bike gets a break

thick, cool glass of mango juice for five bucks. the guy standing in the corner comes all the way from uttar pradesh. he transports, pulps and sells these mangoes at such ridiculous prices, barely makes any money and goes back home once the rains start.

rate your friends

2006-02-10T01:07:00.000-08:00

of late i've been hobnobbing with delhiites, punjabis and all manner of such creatures.

songs that sound like "dhol vajda, tumba vajda", "kaala chashma" and "kangna" are beginning to sound all too familiar [ like abba sounded disturbingly familiar after 1995. you wouldn't like to admit that you bought the tape and memorised the lyrics, but years later, you hear the song on late night v and you hum along. then quickly look over your shoulder to check if anybody noticed ].

anyways, this post isn't about sidey abba songs or about "dhol vajda... whatever crap", it's a bunch of pointless thoughts and it's about your friends.

yes,your friends. do you have a ranking order for them ?
do you decide, for instance, that pappu is way cooler than tinku ?

the gang i hung out with, in the past listened to classic rock. they drank beer in shady bars and discussed pink floyd, gadgets and the universe. they spoke in english [ abuse in the local language was common though ]. and i thought that was normal behaviour.

then i went north for the first time. went to study in jamshedpur. everything changed, the accepted normal was slowly redefined over a two year period. joined an fmcg major based out of gurgaon. further change, i changed.

now parties involve conversations in hindi [ rarely about alex van halen's guitar technique or microprocessor controlled servo motors ] . music is always "dhol vajda".

i feel like i've managed to de-evolve.

food guide - kolkata

2006-01-15T03:54:00.000-08:00

kolkata, like all ancient cities, has a lot to offer to visitors.
colourful people, fascinating places, unlikely events and most of all a calm, relaxed culture where the clocks seem to tick a little slower.
the cabs are slow, the buses are slower and the trams barely move at all, they seem to belong to a more peaceful, mellow era. everything seems ancient here, people, their clothes, the buildings, their attitudes, the british fixation...

food guide - kolkata

flurys
intro & location |
flury's is an institution in kolkata. in a city where the buses are over 50 years old and the waiters look like they've seen the dinosaurs come and go, it's not a mean feat to become an institution. it sits pretty much in the center of park street. eating over there will set you back by a bit [ not so much because of the prices as because of your greed ].

ambiance & hygiene |
flury's used to be a very old and dilapidated place. it has been renovated lately and looks quite cool while still retaining some of it's old world charm. hygiene can be better but i'm not complaining.

food |
the food here tries to be english. i don't know how authentic it is, but it tastes pretty darn good. the recommendations here are a small list, try anything else, it's bound to be good.
recommendations :
a : flury's all day breakfast : a simple affair comprising of eggs [ like you want it ], toast, ham or bacon or sausages and hash brown. try it.
b : waffles : simple. toasted batter smothered with butter and served with [ you choose ] honey, blueberry preserve, strawberry sauce, something with bananas or chocolate sauce. apparently these aren't as good as the ones at big chill in khan market, delhi, but they're worth a shot. honey and blueberry are good choices.
c : peach melba : this is an unlikely sounding concoction involving stewed peaches, ice cream, chocolate and some wizardry. divine.
d : omelette with ham/bacon/sausages and toast : the name explains it. and since the hash brown isn't too great, i like this better than the all-day-breakfast.
e : cream roll : this is something from the confectionery / pastry section. an amazing little roll of crisp, light pastry filled with sweetened whipped cream.
f : brownie : fudgy, gooey, chocolatey. this brownie is the bestest ever. very heavy though.

peter cat & mocambo
intro & location |
just off park street, next to flury's is an ancient steak house with attitude. food and drink are very very reasonably priced. mocambo is a sister concern just across the road on free school street.

ambiance & hygiene |
it's a small restaurant, done up like a hindi movie set from the 70's. slightly cramped but with character. their sense of cheeky non-chalance is clearly visible in the place mats on the table and in the bar-card artwork. the hygiene is suspect, but tolerable.

food |
apparently, their sizzlers are very famous. everybody raves about them.
recommendations :
a : kabab platter : this is very good. and good value for money. it consists of a good portion of sheekh kababs, salad and rice served as a meal for one.
b : sizzlers : try these but don't expect much. heavy on the sauce and light on the steak.

grain of salt
intro & location |
a nice restaurant serving their interpretations of various cuisines. a classy restaurant sitting with a good view above 22 camac street, it can be a bit of a wallet shock.

ambiance & hygiene |
clean, stark, minimalist interiors done with stone, steel and wood. very pleasant, airy and bright. very very hygienic. i think they're haccp certified or something. everybody wears those shower-cap type things when they go into the kitchen.

food |
have your pick of indian, continental and far eastern cuisine. it's all quite good.
recommendations :
a : chicken steak : decent. good quantity.
b : lasagne : incredible.
c : chocolate mousse : make sure you leave enough room for dessert. this one shouldn't be missed.

one step up
intro & location |
another small restaurant on park street. decently priced with good service and a peppy feel.

ambiance & hygiene |
there's a mezzanine seating area that's "one step up" with a view of park street. nice. decor is modern and the place is clean.

food |
single serving meals with elements of italian, mexican, chinese and indian cuisines. nice when you're eating alone or with a small group.
recommendations :
a : chicken mexicana : a mexican chicken platter served with rice. spicy, tangy red sauce.

india's hobby center
intro & location |
this is an ice cream parlour selling the local rollick ice cream. it's off park street, across the road from the park hotel. sundaes cost under a hundred bucks.

ambiance & hygiene |
it's a decent ice cream parlour. slightly noisy most of the time.

food |
one item that deserves a mention while all the sundaes are good.
recommendations :
a : choco mania : this is a flavour of ice cream. it has a rippled blend of chocolate ice cream, chocolate cake and crunchy chocolate flakes. i don't know how they've gotten cake into an ice cream, but it's heavenly.

kusum's
intro & location |
rolls, or kati rolls, are a rage in kolkata. it's a quick, convenient and economical, if greasy, snack. you'll find roll shops all over the town but this one is quite famous. 30 bucks on park street just around the corner from the oxford book store.

ambiance & hygiene |
it's a hole in the wall.

food |
a roll is essentially a roti with an omelette made on top of it [ you get rolls without the egg as well ]. this roti is then rolled with a filling inside [ usually kababs of some sort sauteed with onions and chillies ].
recommendations :
a : double chicken egg : very good. a hearty snack.
b : beef or mutton rolls : not bad either.

fire 'n' ice
intro & location |
it's an italian restaurant run by an italian woman. the cheeses used are supposed to be specially made for the restaurant. a li'l on the expensive side.

ambiance & hygiene |
they've got a hybrid look blending an italian bistro with a industrial kitchen and almost doing it gracefully. it's clean though.

food |
italian. i'd say it's authentic, but i know as much about italian food as i do about kamchatkan dance. the pizzas sounded very good, haven't tried them though.
recommendations :
a : lasagne : tried three different lasagne / pastas and they were all good. so...
b : crepes : these are very tempting sounding desserts but didn't get to try them.

michael's momos
intro & location |
like the rolls, kolkata's momos are quite famous. michaels roadside momo stall was highly recommended, so checked it out. the momos cost fifteen bucks for a plate of five. michael can be found selling momos to a healthy crowd on all weekdays from 11 am to 2 pm. he's on camac street near park street.

ambiance & hygiene |
it's a stall by the roadside. if you're sqeamish about the hygiene, don't look at their cutlery.

food |
the momos are excellent. fresh steaming dumplings with soft chicken inside. served with hot chicken broth and fresh coriander garnish. the red chutney has red chillies and garlic. complements the subtle dumplings very well.

someplace else
intro & location |
someplese else is a narrow little room by the lobby of the park hotel. the narrow, dark room has a bar counter, a few tables and a stage setup for a live band. good cocktails, good music and good finger food. on the expensive side.

ambiance & hygiene |
it's crowded but cozy. loud but with good music. an ideal bar.

food |
try their chilli chicken triangles. small little crisp fired samosas made with a chinese style chilli shicken stuffing. unique and interesting.

other notable mentions

bar 'b' q
affordable, good chinese food. on park street.

marco polo in china
expensive, good chinese food. also on park street.

roxy
a lounge which is expensive but which isn't too popular with the teenybopper crowd. so if you're looking for a bar that's a little more sedate.

banana leaf
tamil style vegetarian meals. very refreshing change at rashbehari avenue, kolkata.

shisha
affordable lounge with a mediterranean theme, they serve interesting lebanese chicken starters.

vardaan market
on camac street, this building has a whole bunch of chaat wallahs in front of it. try the phuchkas, the weird dosa like looking thing [ chilla or something ] and the lovely fruit kulfis [ custard apple rocks ].

oh calcutta
finally a bit on bengali food. oh calcutta! is a good way to experience this. it's at the forum mall, off ajc bose road. try the murgir jhal [ simple chicken curry ] and the steamed prawn apetisers.

[ thank you rohini, kanak, raunak and kai for the inputs ]

backwaters, beaches and a lot of travelling

2005-12-21T02:11:00.000-08:00

been on a month long trip with five colleagues to tamil nadu and kerala.
it was hectic, eventful and quite colourful...

[ click to enlarge ]

landed in cuddalore, tamil nadu, saw the flood situation there

went to pondicherry then, saw auroville

sat around at the beach

found interesting trees at auroville

sat on those

went on to kollam, kerala, studied fishing activities there

found their beaches

sat around some more

discovered the backwaters around kollam

sat there for a bit too

visited a local school

got mobbed

took the lazy backwater boat to alleppy

floated past pretty sights

sat for eight hours

climbed up the kollam light house

took in the breathtaking views

watched the sun set at the harbour

and now i'm back home.

faces, places, tastes, smells and sounds

2005-11-07T06:09:00.000-08:00

took a weekend off, went to mangalore, met old friends and did the kind of stuff i've been wanting to...

[ click to enlarge images ]

ate the famous udupi breakfast

came out satisfied

roamed around the narrow lanes

as well as the wider roads

went to the padubidri beach

sat around for a bit

went to shady restaurants in padubidri

ate bandas chilli [ chilli squid ]

and oh, attended a good friends wedding

happy

chicken, plucked

2005-09-27T10:04:00.000-07:00

do you feel a silent apprehension everytime you go to a new barber ?

it's a very unsettling experience, submitting yourself to a complete stranger wielding blades and scissors as it is. now consider other factors...

what about a new barber in a new town ?
where you don't speak the local language...
and the only barber shop you can find is called "sonali beauty saloon: men's section"...

barbers are usually reassuring people.
they pretend to understand every word you say. of course, you don't understand a single word they say [ it doesn't help that this bihari in bhubaneswar mixes bhojpuri with oriya ].

in addition there is his evolved sense of style and a quiet confidence [ an unsaid "i know what's best for you, trust me" ].

unsettling.

not my favourite singer

2005-09-25T11:08:00.000-07:00

i almost feel guilty about this post. it's a lot of crib, has nothing positive and it targets a single individual. the only saving grace is, he is a performer. it was his choice to be in the public eye, to endure scrutiny. so be it.

two posts back, i put up a list of the most disgusting things on tv. i realised later that i missed something bigger than pankaj udhas. so this is also a corrigendum of sorts [ i'm not sure what corrigendum means but... ].

sonu nigam

not his music. not his videos. not his acting. him. actually the personality you see on screen.

mr. nigam started off as this young man who made a career almost from scratch. many indian families fondly remember this genuinely likeable host of the hugely successful antakshari shows. maybe it was his talent as a host or it was the sheer "right programming at the right time", but the shows became huge, he rode the wave. he made his way into the hearts this huge viewer base. so far so good.

then he decides to use this upswing to launch his future career as a performer. it worked for him. make no mistakes, he is talented, hard working and very ambitious. it had to work for him. then something went very wrong, sonu nigam's ambition became bigger than everything else.

he thought his pretty face was good enough for the movies [ arguable ]. he thought [ rightly ] that he had enough acting talent to become an instantly successful leading man in hindi cinema [ seriously, how much talent do you need for it ? ]. so he embarked on a misson to get himself there.

how ? ... pop albums and music videos. the film makers didn't see it his way. so what does he do ? ... try harder.

so far we've had to endure video upon video on the two music channels [ one now, mtv hardly plays videos anymore ]. and all the videos have intricate emotion laden stories, giving sonu ample space to showcase his acting talent [ or lack thereof ]. it's painful, seriously. there is nothing that makes me switch channels faster. his face evokes an involuntary but urgent scramble for the remote control.

and he has a new album out...

what is it about music ?

2005-09-23T09:53:00.000-07:00

frail aural wisps that connect to snapshots in space and time
to faint memories you can never completely forget
to simple emotions you felt once and relived a thousand times
a song comes on the randomized playlist [ or jukebox, radio, whatever ], you just close your eyes and pull the plug on reality

trashy, almost nonsensical dance numbers from the eighties
moving, intense and genuinely brilliant rock ballads from the seventies
techno, country, disco, reggae, r&b, alternative...
...not all the tracks you like are intrinsically good

that mellow evening you just hummed a tune,
lost in problems that seemed so heavy back then
that night you danced with similarly euphoric friends,
and didn't give a damn how awkward you looked
the all-night cramming session before the exams,
when for four minutes the radio lightened your heart
or the dull rainy afternoon you were just lazing about,
and the gang spontaneously broke an un-melodious karaoke chorus

what is it about music ?

[ ps: i get kinda obsessive with this theme, kindly adjusht ]

the five worst things on tv today

2005-09-08T08:41:00.000-07:00

i've been getting to watch a lot of tv of late. so i decided to put together a well researched list of the things on tv that are not just cheesy [ the paris hilton show would qualify for plain cheesy ], they're also difficult to avoid.

5 - back street boys
the boy band that refuses to die. their latest avatar has them trying to show us depth they never had. a video that tries to use a parody of heavy-metal mania to cover their sheer lack of content. beluch.

4 - overly "hep" tv show anchors
i know anchors will try to be "cool". they have to. it's there on their contracts somewhere. but it really does get on your nerves after a bit. game shows, match-making shows, shows about the lives of celebrities... the ultra-hep-anchor seems to be thriving on this surfeit of low quality tv. and you haven't seen the worst till you endure an antakshari equivalent on etv oriya.

3 - veronica
in case you haven't heard of the "crown princess of bhangra", consider yourself lucky.
we've endured the onslaught of the british-styled-bhangra-pop-hip-hop-star wannabes for a while now. some were passable, others were terrible. veronica is the worst of the lot.
however low your expectation from this genre can be, veronica will fall below it. supremely untalented, veronica thinks she can do rap. some record company out there thinks so too. so not only does she get a record contract, the company pitches for extensive television publicity. all in the hope that an overdose of publicity and putting a picture of her face on the cd will help sell millions of copies.
and the face... it isn't even pretty. please veronica, please leave that baseball hat on. pulled low over your face, yes.

2 - reality contest tv
this seems to be a rage now. i was hoping this whole reality tv mania would blow over. mtv roadies, fame gurukul, rock star inxs, the apprentice, biker buildoff... the list is huge. and they don't have a reality channel with these shows so you can safely de-program it from your tv. no, they put them on every channel. even hallmark!. channel surfing has becoming very tricky proposition, you never know what you'll stumble into.
and you know what the worst thing is ? it's when the participants "secretly" confide to the camera. the worst of all human traits are there, in your face. bitching, cribbing, snivveling and crying on tv. i know it's real and i know people are like this. but to see it on tv... it's genuinely disgusting. and i have a suspicion tv executives select the most vile of specimens from the entire human race for our entertainment.
i used to like inxs. i used to have respect for donald trump.
careful with that remote. it could leave a bad taste in your mouth.

1 - pankaj udhas videos
okay i confess. i'm a simple rock music type. i don't really get why people listen to ghazals. maybe it's because they're lyrics focused and i really don't understand a lot of their words. and i don't mean disrespect for mr. udhas. i'm sure he's very talented. it's the videos i despise. they have some pretty locations and some pretty looking people in them [ john abraham made his mark in a pankaj udhas video ] and that's not such a bad thing. but for some reason mr. udhas makes his appearance in every video. and he doesn't just sing in front of a microphone in a studio with those cool looking headphones. he get's involved in the script of the video. he acts. it's bad enough that you have all these pretty models trying to act, but to get a ghazal singer in the act. sheesh.
which brings us to the script. sure, most of the songs are sentimental so the story has to be mushy. and a four minute canvas is not too much to tell a story. but these are worst soppy small stories you can ever come across. and every time mr. udhas brings out a new album, the geniuses at the record company somehow manage to come up with another buch of this crap. oh and there's horrible choreography to top it off.

this post makes tv look bad, the way it is today in india. but there is some redemption. there is still hope, there is still some stuff left on tv that you can look forward to. i'll list three.

advertisements - i know, i know, that's when you start looking for a remote. but with the quality of programming right now, i kinda look forward to the ad-break. take the new tata safari dicor "reclaim your life" campaign. it's just incredible. everytime i watch it, i'm amazed. then there's the very impressive ads for asian paints [ with a pair of kids doing collages on walls ], honda [ with the japanese mehendi guy ], bajaj avenger dtsi [ i feel like god ] and hutch [ night sms ].
comedies - these shows on star world and zee cafe have always been amazing, they continue to be. with programming like this, why would people watch reality tv ? why ?
vh 1 - breath of fresh air. some very good music. some incredible biographies and rockumentaries. and generally a very good ratio of good programming to necessary crap.

movie review - love actually

2005-09-03T02:46:00.000-07:00

genre : mush
rating : very good in parts, okay on the whole

old movie, yes. caught it on tv.
this is a hugh grant movie. so you know what to expect. very very mushy chick-flick. some witty lines and a happy ending. this is exactly that.

what makes it different is the concept. this movie isn't a love story. it's more like an anthology of short love stories, loads of small stories that come together one christmas night. and it tries to explore "love" completely, friendships, yearnings, unrequited love, impossible love, extra-marital love... very extensive. so many stories make for a movie filled with witticisms, mushy moments and comic relief. also some awkward scenes which are very... errr... crappy.

this concept works for the movie. the music works too. and then there is the cast. quite star-heavy. some incredible but subtle performances and others are short appearances [ cheap tricks to spice up the film, they work ]. bill nighy, colin firth, liam neeson, emma thompson, keira knightley, billy bob thornton, elisha cuthbert, shannon elizabeth, denise richards, claudia schiffer, martine mccutcheon and the incredible rowan atkinson.

watch the movie for a feel good experience. nothing profound.

movie review - yahaan

2005-08-24T11:29:00.000-07:00

genre - romantic drama [ love in times of war ]
rating - watch it for minissha lamba

kashmir - land of beauty, land of conflict.
heaven on earth, battlefield for decades.
"yahaan" is another film on kashmir. film-makers, in the past, have tried to address the terrorism issue, the pakistan issue and the role of the indian army. so is it possible for a new movie to tell a story the indian audiences haven't already heard ?

i believe it is possible, there is plenty of scope for a fuller picture. the viewpoint of the ordinary kashmiri in light of historical events, why did the king accede to india ? what were the conditions then ? local support [ and involvement ] for armed groups in kashmir, the mind of the mujaheddin, why do men come from distant lands to fight here ? the darker face of the prolonged army presence, what does freedom mean to a kashmiri ?

"yahaan" seemed a promising film. the trailers positioned it as a story of forbidden love between a local girl and an army officer. the cinematography, the music, the locales and minissha lamba looked amazing on the music channels. they said the film dug below the surface and presented the "real" kashmir. does it live up to the build-up ?

almost. almost. the cinematography is exquisite [ jacob ihre ]. the story wasn't a bad idea to start with. some of the scenes really do give you a taste of what ground reality might be like in a situation as complicated as modern day kashmir. the music and lyrics are excellent [ shantanu moitra and gulzar ] and tie in beautifully with the theme. the topic of bad elements within the army is touched upon. the movie even successfully gives the viewer a sense of the tension between the army personnel, the locals they are supposed to be protecting and the armed rebels who are supposed to be fighting for self-detremination.

what the movie flounders with are the story details, over dramatization, an impossible ending and a lack of depth in covering the issues it touches. the characters aren't fully sketched, their motives and logic are left dangling. the dialogue ranges from predictable to corny. and then there is the little girl who has a very irritating laugh.

watch the movie if you have the time, but don't get your expectations too high. the trailers and song sequences on television are enough. the only compelling reason for watching it is minissha lamba. if you think she's cute, you should watch the movie. she's a pretty good actress and looks incredible in the role of adaa.

food guide - hyderabad

2005-07-24T01:57:00.000-07:00

kingdom of the nizams, capital of the telugu people, cosmopolitan hub for java programmers and marwari traders alike... hyderabad.

over 400 years, hyderabad has changed dramatically. over the last 50 years, more dramatically. either case, it is this last 50 years we will be focusing on, since thats as far back as my culinary exposure goes [ the oldest recipes i've tasted were made by chefs from that era, i know it's warped logic but thats all you get ].

over these 50 years hyderabad saw the decline of the nizams, the acceding to the indian state, the migration of people from other parts of andhra pradesh, the information technology boom and much more.

since this city came out of a dry pile of dirt, the first real cuisine can be attributed to the nizams who created their empire here. this for me is the true food of hyderabad, that legacy of 'dum'. later influences added their bit and made it all the more colourful.

as with all of the food guides here, this is a work in progress. as i discover more of a city's culinary tapestry, i'll weave a richer tale. since hyderabad is the place i call home, this one guide will grow more steadily than the others.

food guide - hyderabad

the nizam club
intro & location |
an ancient club that's right opposite the state assembly. large, old looking and very relaxed, this club used to be the hangout of the royal family and their cronies. entry is restricted to members though. find a member to take you in as a guest.

ambiance & hygiene |
ambiance which makes people feel small. the roof is so high up, they have long extension rods to bring the fans down to a height where they might make a flutter in the still aromatic air. quaint and huge is the word. hygiene is just about decent.

food |
the chefs at this place are quite old. thats a large part of the reason why the food is so great. they make everything the old way. the pre-independence way. that also means that you can't take them for granted. they always have their way. so their renowned lamb biryani is available for two or three meals in a week. the rest of the time, we make do with chicken biryani.
recommendations :
a : lamb biryani : obviously. succulent bits of lamb marinated and cooked with flavoured rice, "dum" style. the flavour is light, lets you savour the meat and the delicate rice. the accompanying chutney is awesome [ ground green chillies in curd ] and so is the saalan [ some kinda sour and spicy gravy ].
b : mutton shikampur : this is something i haven't seen anywhere else. nizam's makes these awesome little kababs with finely minced meat and a small moist centre of chopped onion and coriander. deep fried, unlike most kababs, the shikampur is an absolute delight.
c : fish fingers : fresh water fish. li'l fingers of it, batter fried. slightly crispy and salty, soft white flesh inside.
d : firni : a rice kheer served cool, set in a flat earthen dish, garnished with pistachio shavings and cashew bits.
e : shahi tukda : also called double ka meetha, this is a hyderabad classic. large bread slices soaked in milk, sugar and saffron, layered with khoa and blanched almonds, pistachios and cashew. the whole thing is slowly cooked over a low flame in sweetened milk till golden brown. heavy.
f : qubani ka meetha : boiled, pureed apricot pudding. served with cream or custard. garnished with apricot kernels. very very sweet.

mohini's
intro & location |
mohini's is a fairly old restaurant in basheerbagh. located at the crossroad close to the lane leading to skyline theatre. in keeping with their profile, their prices are very reasonable.

ambiance & hygiene |
the joint is slightly shady. it does have a slightly better "a/c family room" though.

food |
they serve the usual hyderabadi and mughlai food. biryani's, roti's, naan's are all good.
recommendations :
a : butter chicken : i'm not sure how an authentic butter chicken is supposed to taste. never been to ludhiana or to london, so my opinion on the national bird of khalistan here might not be very reliable. but the rich tomato based gravy laden with butter and the tandoor cooked chicken cubes soaking in this gravy are to die for. serving size is very large.

melting moments
intro & location |
this is a chain of ice-cream joints. they serve up sundaes quite fast on the road to jubilee hills check-post and at picket. prices go upwards from 65 bucks, reasonable i'd say.

ambiance & hygiene |
done in the spirit of airy, well-lit modern decor, these joints are clean and efficient.

food |
it's freshly prepared sundaes. decent specimens of these are not too easy to find in hyderabad, so melting moments is a breath of fresh air. oh and the menu makes interesting reading thanks to the names for their sundaes. i've picked out a few here, but all of them are worth a try.
recommendations :
a : brazilian love song : a simple sundae blending coffe and chocolate flavours in a variety of textures, ice cream, sauces and wafers. it's delicious and very basic.
b : rage of angels : anjeer [ fig ] ice cream, honey and fresh figs make this dessert quite yummy.
c : vesuvius surprise : this surprise is a bit more pleasant than the name would suggest. an eruption of contrasting fruit flavours and smooth ice cream. fresh chopped fruit, apple, mango ice cream and kiwi sauce are some of the ingredients here.

angeethi
intro & location |
on top of the banjara hills barista building. angeethi is an out and out punjabi restaurant. it isn't cheap but you could try the lunch buffet. the staff is polite and helpful, the service is as efficient as their overloaded schedule permits.

ambiance & hygiene |
the decorators at this restaurant have gone all out on the "punjabi village" theme. they might have gone a bit overboard. charpoy's, pan wallahs, cardboard cutout trucks, old hindi movie posters and a menu which reads like a local punjabi newspaper. all in all, pleasant and hygienic.

food |
from the drinks to the desserts, the cuisine is strictly punjabi or punjab influenced. and since most of this country [ and several other countries ] enjoys the food fro this little state, it's a good strategy.
recommendations :
a : tandoori chicken : lightly marinated whole chicken baked on a skewer in a tandoor. little burnt bits, some slightly rare bits. served grandly on a talwar.

movie review - sarkar

2005-07-16T11:05:00.000-07:00

genre : drama / crime / politics
rating : must watch, if you haven't seen godfather yet

ram gopal varma makes it abundantly clear that he is doing an "indian godfather movie". he's said it in interviews, he's said it in press releases, he says it in the beginning of the movie and he even acquired the rights to remake this classic.

once you put that aside and try to ignore the bal thakeray look, you'll see a film that is definitely worth watching. transplanted in mumbai, the entire script seems to fit there nicely. when a story teller tells a compelling story, it consists of numerous elements. these elements all have intricate detail and they fit together like a jig-saw puzzle. they appear natural, not like a fabrication but like believable reality. what ram gopal varma has done here, is to import a bunch of jigsaw pieces from another puzzle, fit them together in his own mosaic and make it look like it belongs here. that's what is so cool about sarkar.

sure the camera work, the sound, the costumes and the casting are no less brilliaant. the director has been an out and out perfectionist with this movie. the movie features powerful performances by abhishek bacchan, amitabh bacchan, kay kay menon, supriya pathak, some beautifully elongated bits of muted emotion by rukhsar and an absolutely incredible kota srinivasa rao (his performance can only be possible in an indian movie). in fact it is difficult to point out one thing in this movie and say "this is a stroke of genius". it's because the whole movie is so water-tight. it makes the whole thing look like there was no other way to do it.

so if you haven't watched godfather yet, you know what to do. but what if you have ? well... i'm gonna put it this way, sarkar is more hollywood than godfather is. personally i found the godfather films a bit abstruse. i loved the book but the broken and slightly jumpy narrative of the movies which required the viewer to fill in the blanks, was a bit too much for me. sarkar does nothing of that sort. it's clean and straight, not a ballerina, but a graceful elephant.

movie review - bunty aur babli

2005-07-14T10:37:00.000-07:00

genre : madcap comedy
rating : try it

there are three kinds of hindi movies. "serious cinema" is one type. movies that require you to leave your brain outside the theatre are another type. the first genre are labelled "art" while david dhawan, the barjatya clan and most chopra's, johars, etc. mass produce the second type of film.

fairly simple classification.

then there is pulp. mainstream-entertainers which (despite their flaws) manage cater to a bulk of the audience while not insulting their intelligence. they do not take the lowest common denominator to be a speedball tripping ostrich brain. take satya for example, or even dil chahta hai

i'd like to believe bunty aur babli is such a film. you might disagree. vehemently even. but since i'm writing this post and you can only feebly comment, i will go ahead and make my case. despite your objections.

simple story. too simple. two not-so-innocent souls are brought together by circumstance and the dirty schemsters of this world. down-in-the-dumps and nowhere to go, they take up a life of scheming and scamming themselves. thouroughly enjoying it.

simple portrayal. the acting, the lines, the costumes, the scenarios and the characters in the film are kept very simple and very close to common cliche's. they don't clutter the film by throwing too much at you. no, they keep it down to the basics. and the basics are very strong. brilliant performances in highly improbable scenes by amitabh bacchan, abhishek bacchan, rani mukherjee and lot. tight music, visuals and camera work. decent choreography and some tasteless costumes.

this is the kind of film you can watch leisurely, without getting bored, and come away feeling kinda good. it's a neat package. unpretentious pulp. okay maybe the ending could have been more complete. but what the hell. nothing is perfect.

i have to mention a really nicely done "item number" featuring aishwarya rai. the beauty of this song sequence is in what they do not do with it. she wears clothes which are almost indecent. the body language and mannerisms are nearly lewd. the lyrics come close to being vulgar. they go up to that line and dance on it without ever crossing it. aiswarya rai has managed to redeem herself as someone who can play a role. alisha chinai sounds better than she ever has before. you have to watch this song to understand what i'm talking about. the video on tv does not do justice to this sequence. watch the movie.

ancient poetry, both untitled

2005-07-11T08:38:00.000-07:00

memories...memories
a face, a smile,
a little more time...

in my head,
you're all there,
sitting around me,
not talking, not lauging,
just looking.
i can't explain,
i won't try.

could i have....
a little more time.

----

the picture has blurred,
the words have slurred.

the face is the same,
but the smile has faded.

you're still around,
but the glow is gone.

and time, unforgiving time,
gives you so much,
and slowly, painfully,
takes it all away.

---

[ 7th aug, 2003 - thanks vidi ]

the face-off

2005-07-10T05:32:00.000-07:00

there's something to be said about driving in hyderabad. while the usual commute to work might bore, even exasperate most 9-to-5'ers in the country, the denizens of this ancient city have one reason to have a smile playing on their lips. it's the buses. yes, the venerable apsrtc buses. the drivers of these buses seem to have taken it upon themselves to lighten the pain of the average commuter, and they seem to do a pretty decent job. let me narrate a story to illustrate my point...

the face-off

weaving in and out of traffic effortlessly, the young driver speeds in his hyundai accent. outsmarted rickshaw drivers and jealous maruti owners look open mouthed, in his wake. a pioneer sound system blaring something very techno, windows rolled down, open collared shirt with a gold chain, this man is the picture of success.

after a bunch of successful weaves, he meets his match. more than just a match, this is like the ultimate test-match. he pulls up behind a lumbering apsrtc bus that's the only thing between him and and a glorious open stretch of road. his hyundai purrs in anticipation of that stretch. moving deftly to his right he sees there's a gap between the bus and the road-divider but it's barely enough to allow a rick to pass. so he swerves right and there's just enough space here for a second rick. undaunted he deftly flicks his power-assisted steering back to the right and honks so he might be given way. afterall he is the faster vehicle, he must be allowed to pass.

the bus driver isn't too concerned about the relative speed of the vehicles. so what if the road is empty ahead? he is doing a decent 25 km/hour and that's plenty by his standards, he ignores the honking.

mr slick in the meantime is getting impatient, he sticks his slick, set-wet gel covered head out of the window and blares his horn again. owner of two ac bar and restaurants, this man doesn't like being ignored. his three-week old hyundai with a state-of-the-art common rail diesel engine capable of astronomical speeds (the salesman had assured him) was idling at 25 km/hour.

eventually, the road widens up a bit (thanks to the incessant efforts of the municipal corporation at... errr... "road-widening") and a new hope dawns in his sinking heart. he swerves deftly to the left where there is now just enough space for him to squeeze through.

the bus driver notices this unnecessary widening of the road and decides that he should occupy a more central portion of it. he isn't concerned about mr young-and-stinking-rich or his swanky car. he is a state government employee (permanent) with an assured job and membership to the union. he is the king of all he surveys from his lofty perch. he deftly cuts short the hyundai's attempt to overtake the bus while screeching his horn. he now takes up three whole lanes.

finally after a 5 minute ordeal the bus driver lets the hyundai pass, a content smile on his face. the hyundai zips forward at this opportunity and brakes immediately to stop at the red-light alongside the bus. the empty stretch is over and his face a picture of newfound humility.

[ the above is fictionalized account based on incidents witnessed while driving on the roads of hyderabad ]

the edge of twilight

2005-06-17T04:12:00.000-07:00

shapes blur and colours fade
words flow and consciousness ebbs
while your being floats in an undefined space
floating steadily and swiftly under its own momentum
your thoughts, these words, make perfect sense one moment and are gibberish the next
rules and laws are mere exhibits,
to be looked at curiously and passed by
at the edge of twilight,
reality is just another lie
and the truth is not a bruning torch
just an unsteady flickering flame

[ original image from here ]

child marriage ?

2005-05-19T11:45:00.000-07:00

two friends of mine got married a week back. went to kerala to attend this wedding and man, it's hot and sweaty out there. if it weren't for the weather, palghat would definitely have been an ejoyable little town. oh and the drinking water there is brown, for some reason.

-------------
[ click on the pics to enlarge them ]

short and dhanya under the scorching glare of floodlights. dhanya sitting pretty with what seems like 30 kilos of gold on her.

short ties the knot, adds the few grams of gold that matter

then they exchange garlands [ badly blurred photo. forgive the cameraman ]

lakshima, aparna, the newlyweds, santa and yell

the wedding lunch. veg. what baloo missed.

santa at hotel rajdhani. quite a pretty place and affordable too.

[ here's wishing the two a lifetime of peace and joy together ]

movie review - kingdom of heaven

2005-05-17T23:44:00.000-07:00

genre: historical drama ( braveheart, gladiator... )
rating: worth a watch

it is odd isn’t it ?
most movie trailers are edited beautifully, have breathtaking scenes and mindblowing scores while the movie itself can be quite pathetic.

the unique feature of ridley scott films, is that the whole movie feels like a trailer. those of you who’ve watched "gladiator" will know what i’m talking about.

the film is, therefore, incredibly tight. the locations, the computer graphics, the music, the camera work... every element of the film plays a well orchestrated part in a mega symphony that this film is.

in addition to all this wizardry, the theme and storyline are treated quite well. talking about the holy wars between the christians and the muslims couldn’t have been a very easy tight-rope to walk. but it looks like the film does the smart thing by trying to be historically accurate with the background and depicting the good guys as politically correct and secular.

fair enough. it is a grand spectacle that the film tries to be, not a mirror of reality. it ends up achieveing most of its objectives with it's protrayal of greed, jealousy, honour and bravery.

however, this movie is not perfect. comparing it to "gladiator" brings to light the lack of powerful performances like those of oliver reed (the slave trader), joaquin phoenix (the prince) or richard harris (emperor marcus aurelius), nor does it have a female lead as stunning as connie nielson (the princess). it even seems to have some loose ends in terms of promising characters who disappear without doing justice to their persona’s.

the movie grips you and keeps your attention, but it does not hold you at the edge of your seat. you do not walk away feeling a li’l dizzy. it’s not like "gladiator".

so should you watch the movie ? ... absolutely.

the movie is slick, entertaining, it lives up to its trailer, and has some sterling acting by eva green, ghassan massoud, edward norton and brendan gleeson. just try not to compare it to any movie you’ve seen earlier.

out with the old, in with ...

2005-05-17T12:45:00.000-07:00

got a new computer, time to say goodbye to the trusty pentium3 desktop that's been with me for 4 years.
in these four years it's gone through three hard drive replacements, one monitor, one keyboard, one mouse, one cd drive, one cd writer, one floppy drive, one cabinet, one power supply and one memory module replacement.

it has seen a million reboots to recover from crashes, formatting the drive and reinstalling windows over 20 times in one night, late night sessions of rollcage with three guys crowded around the keyboard... this computer has been interesting.

i've become so familiar with it, i know when there is too much dust on the graphics card cooling fan from the whirrrrr sound, i know when windows fails to detect my motherboard chipset or my soundcard comes loose and all the pci devices end up conflicting with each other...

the picture on top is something i'd made long ago to make the "my computer" icon on my destop look like my computer. this is a blowup of the icon i made. below is a picture of the the new laptop.

dessert

2005-05-03T11:50:00.000-07:00

it's the season and hyderabad is known for it's mangoes so this is what i've been eating for dessert every night.

[ ps: couldn't get my point-and-shoot to focus. darn camera ]

what am i chasing ?

2005-04-30T12:22:00.000-07:00

every now and then, i stop in my tracks,
in the middle of this race i've been running,
running intently sometimes but half-hearted mostly,
and i wonder "where am i trying to get?"
"who am i racing and what's the first prize?"
"do i want anything more at all?"
moments like this, i walk off the track,
sit on the grass and stare,
blissfully unaware of the race that's getting on without me.
i feel happy, satisfied and content
like a crying kid who's been handed a lollipop
i feel blessed and released
like the school-closing bell has just rung
as i sit there on the grass...
...the moment passes and i realise the race is still on
and i run ... my heart a li'l lighter.
i run.

[ fort aguada, goa, summer 2003 ]

the sea

2005-04-25T11:48:00.000-07:00

i remember going to the beach at padubidri

you go out to the wave
anticipating the touch of the cool water
and the swirling tingling of sand against your body

a few moments, and then the wave goes back
leaving your feet buried a li'l deeper in the beach
and leaving you wanting for another wave

i don't know if it was the waves, the beach or just the kid in me, but however long i played in the sea, i was always disappointed when it was time to go back

[ ps: yeah, i'm a sucker for metaphors ! ]

[ padubidri beach, karnataka, summer 2003 ]

slow down my beating heart... slowly, slowly love

2005-04-24T21:29:00.000-07:00

four days with friends
so many old faces
shared jokes, shared silence
traded stories, roamed about
ate, drank and made merry
came away with this silly grin plastered on my face

this song in my head seems to say it all...
---
u2 - in a little while
---

"in a little while
this hurt will hurt no more
i'll be home, love

when the night takes a deep breath
and the daylight has no end
if i crawl, if i come crawling home
wiIl you be there ?

in a little while
i won't be blown by every breeze
friday night running
to sunday on my knees...

...my, how you've grown
well it's been
it's been a little while

slow down my bleeding heart
a man dreams one day to fly
a man takes a rocketship into the skys
he lives on star that's dying in the night
and follows in the trail
the scatter of light...

...slow down my bleeding heart
slowly, slowly love
slow down my bleeding heart
slowly, slowly love
slow down my beating heart
slowly, slowly love"

--------------------
[ click on the pics to enlarge them ]

that's the gang at indijoe's. good steak, bad veg food

empire restaurant. awesome roast chicken, good fun

empire: bad attempt at getting an arty pic :p

empire: half a santa

empire: pooja, the camera is here... this way pooja, this way ! ...

empire: baloo and yell, the bear hug

sweet chariot cake shop, baloo dwarfs rachna

sweet chariot: a dazed and confused vidi... i think she scared the waiter

goodbye

2005-04-02T05:48:00.000-08:00

in another day, the "college" phase of my life comes to an end.
it has been a wild ride, six years and two colleges in opposite ends of the country.

seen ups, seen downs, made friends, ignored the unfriendlies... the least i can say is, it was eventful.

taking away memories, stories and a few precious photographs.

[ sigh ]

yay! i'm a calvin

2005-03-29T06:33:00.000-08:00

which calvin and hobbes character are you?

[ thanks roopa ]

the audio cassette

2005-03-27T02:56:00.000-08:00

i remember having this sony walkman and too little money to buy all the tapes i wanted. i remember listening to fifi's copy of "final cut" over and over on bus journeys. all the time in the world... to drown in my music, all the inclination too. the original pan audio-cassette of "the wall" [ before sony bought it ] was what got me hooked to pink floyd.

then i went to an engineering college on the western coast of karnataka and came across more music than i'd ever imagined. fifi with his huge collection [ more a travelling library, if you know faheem ] introduced me to collective soul, live, dire straits, all tapes.

starved of any other form of entertainment [ nitte is a small village with precious little to do in the free time engineering left us with ], we lounged around my roomie's boom-box [ a japanese two-in-one, made in taiwan, exported to kuwait and brought to india by an expat mallu ]. we listened to all these cool tapes and a radio channel that rocked. every weekend we'd go into town for some good food, a movie and tapes. uninterrupted power, a worldspace radio and a cassette player with auto-reverse meant endless hours of music.

music was a collective experience. wild windy nights with a hint of rain, a whole buch of voices all bawling "lightning crashes" while the teensy japanese 'box [ or the worldspace set ] struggled to match up to our karaoke might.

i made my first mix-tape on condy's bpl two-in-one, with music from bov, condy, pratap and fifi. i can't remember all the songs it had, but it did have these :
van halen - 316
sepultura - [ some acoustic instrumental, don't remember which ]
collective soul - shine
robin & looza - jati maya

some of us got computers, and i got hooked onto the mp3's that the seniors had so many of [ 60 cds of them, we reckoned ]. as much music as you can carry in your hard-disks [ cd-writers were rare, so we carried our hard-disks in our pockets with no easier way to do data transfer ]. the music got louder, with surround-sound speaker kits and so much more variety. alanis, sheryl crow, tracy chapman.

times changed. priorities shifted. an altogether new sense of the-real-world crept in. i wonder how much change that is. i wonder if music will continue to be my escape, a connection to another point in space and time.

...

got distracted with that story there... this post was, originally, meant to bring to your notice this neat article on the mix-tape : thurston moore - mix tape: the art of cassette culture. enjoy !

[ ps: fifi, pratap, condy, short, fanny, aj, the nitte batch of 97... thank you for the music ]

more pics from the hills

2005-03-24T00:57:00.000-08:00

[1] hotel him land, fooding and lodging [2] the river at dirang town [3] stop for diesel at dirang town [4] elephant safari at kaziranga

[5] we just got off the bus at kaziranga [6] me at lake sangester [7] craggy hills along the way [8] playing in the snow

[9] doodle and kaushal tryin to sun themselves at the monastery [10] the buddha and some of us [11] the gang outside the monastery [12] roads built by the border roads organization

ginger tea, momo's, hot water and rusk

2005-03-21T08:06:00.000-08:00

done with college, took a week-long trip into the mountains...

fresh images of border roads, wildlife reserves, buddhist monasteries and food eaten at destinations unprepared for tourists.

[ click on the pictures to enlarge them ]

prayer hall inside the tawang monastery as seen from above the buddha idol.

fine brocade and the impressive idol of the buddha at the tawang monastery. the idol is over 20 feet tall.

a small shack at the arunachal pradesh border [ bhalukpong ] run by nepalese immigrants. the women of the house work in the eatery while the men gamble outside. ate rice, dal, vegetables and chicken curry while our tata sumo waited outside.

looking at swamp deer at the kaziranga national park in assam, while we wait for our elephant safari.

lake sangester is near the china border. still water framed by snow covered mountains, craggy precipices and conifers, it is breathtaking.

the 25th rajput camp along the way had friendly soldiers who offered us ginger tea.

the gang at sela pass, en-route to tawang.

thats me, adjusting my bandanna on the roof of one of the buildings at the tawang monastery. in the backdrop you see tawang town.

[ ps: image credits - ritesh ]

dying flame

2005-02-17T08:48:00.000-08:00

curiously, life in a b school seems to get crazier as i approach the end. like the dying flame that burns brighter.

the madness hits me in the face before i can get the taste of toothpaste out of my mouth.

wake up mumbling "... what time is it... what class... theres fifteen minutes before it starts.... oh crap, wait.... submission, class already started... fuck, i don't have cash in my printer account, find someone who'll print my report... ack!! i don't have a report"

regain sanity, get out of bed [ while my roomie smiles serenely ], brush my teeth and run to class with the belt and sandal straps being fastened on the stairs, arrive 23 minutes late, peek through a crack in the door, slink quietly past the last row. try to avoid making eye contact with the prof. the inevitable happens, smile sheepishly as the prof stops and stares at you.

more craziness makes up the rest of the day [ compensating for the relaxed academic schedule ], forms, applications, cv's, reports, projects and all-night drinking / chatting sessions.

[ bits from a y! messenger conversation with a friend ]

pushing paper

2005-02-15T13:34:00.000-08:00

its campus recruitment season [ the build-up to it, actually ] and i've been filling application forms, submitting resumes and taking tests. it isn't fun and it hardly seems logical, but the idea of someone giving me a job isn't that logical either. so i choose to put up with one unpleasant absurdity and reap benefits of a not-so-upleasant one.

in my eternal quest for that blend of eye-catching colour and a minimalist design, i came across the work of karen cheng. work that's this good makes me feel small and gives me the urge to steal creative concepts ;)

how free can you be

2005-01-25T12:40:00.000-08:00

thought, speech, expression... can a social animal really be free ?

this post was triggered by a set of events, including prince harry's [ of england ] antics, blog posts on censorship by people i know and a re-view of spielberg's 'schindler's list'.

man is a creature that seems to need social interaction and support to thrive. that's the story of civilization. look at the way the homo sapiens has developed his world [ communication, education, legal systems ], it all needs close collaboration of his fellow humans. the basic tenet of humans being part of collaborative communities require the humans to respect fellow humans and act in a way that shows this respect. think about all the etiquette, manners, rules, laws and standards that govern each action you perform and you realize that you do a lot of conforming.

given this background, what really is freedom of expression ?
i'm never gonna tell my fellow student that i think he's pompous, self-obsessed and pretty dumb and i'm never gonna let my boss know that i think he got to where he got by licking ass. all those restrictions, i impose on myself willingly to reap some benefit, but when society asks of me refrain from certain actions, i feel violated. i feel like my rights have been snatched away from me. like my potential has been limited by another. it's very interesting.

i'll be a li'l quiet for a while

2005-01-21T09:29:00.000-08:00

don't really have much to say

untitled

2004-12-31T07:32:00.000-08:00

another song, another drink, another year rolls by.

sing along, have one more , have a happy new year.

master of puppets

2004-12-24T09:17:00.000-08:00

i'm not one to blog about politics. happy with my intermittent posts on technology, films and music... maybe some musings on life, education and food (lots of fooood). this is an exception.

"when i don't make a decision, it's not that i don't think about it. i think about it and make a decision not to make a decision."

--- pamulaparti venkata narasimha rao [1921 - 2004].

news reports mark the passing of a bold, crafty politician who put india on its path of economic boom in it's time of uncertainty. a man who abandoned the decades old socialist philosophy for reforms.

history will pass him by, as if ashamed to acknowledge the existence of a leader marred by accusations of nurturing corruption and communalism.

he was accused of buying rival politicians to keep his government afloat.

he kept a minority government in power for a full term and manged to implement his risky measures in a democracy crippled by indecision [ and crippled by it's requirement of two-thirds majority to make any decision ].

he sat and watched the babri masjid come down and lead to widespread communal violence.

all the while calm, composed and in control. ever the master chess player.

a man with many shades of gray. poet, strategist, fall guy, master of puppets, pv narasimha rao.

finally, i'm done

2004-12-18T05:55:00.000-08:00

my dissertation how children think and what it means to marketers is finally done [ a draft version at least ].

do take a look at it, i'd really appreciate some feedback.

i've been at it since september [ older posts about it ] and it's a relief.

the year in movies

2004-12-16T00:31:00.000-08:00

peter travers does movie reviews for the rolling stone magazine. if you haven't heard of him before, let me tell you, his is one opinion i have learnt to trust.
his list of the best the year had to offer. enjoy.

movie review - hyderabad blues 2, rearranged marriage

2004-12-15T00:30:00.000-08:00

genre : drama
rating : avoid it.
warning : the depiction of hyderabad and hyderabadis in this film is grossly inaccurate.

brief intro on hyderabad blues : boy comes from the usa for an arranged marriage, accidentally meets a girl, falls in love, battles society and family, gets married, lives happily ever after.

the charm of the film was it's low-budget look, the home-video feel and the impishly simple love story. the characters were fresh (at the time), the american returned confused desi, the bubbly-yet-smart indian girl, the boyishly crude hyderabadi jokes, they were all refreshing.

cut to hyderabad blues2 : kukunoor hasn't learnt anything about making movies. several years (and a handful of forgettable films) after hyderbad blues, kukunoor still expects us to digest the same home-video. now with more boring themes and an ugly lead actress (the old ashwini had some charm, this one looks bitter throughout).

concepts like adultery (imagined), divorce (temporary) and the conservative telugu family (ack!) are just some of the stereotypes this film throws at you. the characters are quite drab too, the guy is no longer american, the girl is no longer spunky and the friend is no longer funny. you keep watching, hoping there will be a bit of humour, some twist in the storyline that might just redeem this movie, but sadly.... no. this is as boring and badly made as is possible with the budget.

the hyderabadi in me is contemplating class-action suits against this foreign-returned, dim-wit for maligning the good name of my city.
the movie fan in me is regretting wasting two hours of my life.
the student of marketing in me is disgusted at the hideous ads (their website isn't eye-candy either) that are generously sprinkled throughout the film (damn those pakistani cd's).

in summation :
hyderabad blues didn't need a sequel.
nagesh kukunoor should quit cinema.
buy the soundtrack, don't watch the film.

may 6, 2005

2004-12-12T19:32:00.000-08:00

the movie is scheduled for release next summer. all ye believers wait, with respectfully bated breath.

"`You know,' said Arthur, `it's at times like this, when I'm trapped in a Vogon airlock with a man from Betelgeuse, and about to die from asphyxiation in deep space that I really wish I'd listened to what my mother told me when I was young.'
`Why, what did she tell you?'
`I don't know, I didn't listen.'"

food guide - bangalore

2004-12-11T16:38:00.000-08:00

i've been a fairly regular visitor to bangalore but you've gotta stay in a place for a while to know of all the li'l places you can eat at. so this food guide is going to be quite hampered by my lack of experience. if you know bangalore, do help me write some reviews. send me a mail.

bangalore is a small city in a hurry to grow big. multi-cultural with a large population of recent settlers, this city has a lot of variety. a pleasant climate, british-raj era layouts and lots of greenery characterize this town.

one thing that bangalore lacks is a well-defined culture. the city has grown in very recent times and this is a reason why it's got no unique cuisine.

food guide - bangalore

the kabab wallah
intro & location |
near the jayanagar rto [ road transport office ], this kabab-wallah makes mouth watering kababs, rolls and rumaali rotis [ very thin and very big roti's ]. prices are very reasonable, about 30 bucks a roll.

ambiance & hygiene |
very crowded, no seating space and street-side food. draw your conclusions.

food |
the kababs here are heavenly. tender meats, properly seasoned and cooked to perfection in a tandoor. i have tried only one of their offerings.
recommendations :
a : sheekh kabab roll : minced lamb, marinated with spices and wrapped onto a skewer. cooked in a tandoor till it's got that golden colour with dark brown patches and removed from the skewer to give you a tube shaped kabab. while the kabab chef makes the kababs, another chef is tossing rumaali roti's over a stove nearby. a couple of kababs are rolled into a freshly made rumaali roti with chopped onion. the roll has a lot of meat and tastes just right.

corner house
intro & location |
famous for it's desserts and ice creams, corner house sits next to an andhra restaurant on residency road [ opposite to french bread pizza ]. desserts here are extravagant and prices reasonable for what you get. expect to eat your fill for about 200 bucks.

ambiance & hygiene |
this place is a small and cozy eatery and very popular. it can get quite crowded at times. hygiene is very good.

food |
they serve ice creams, milk shakes, cakes and fruit based desserts. try their fruit salads, pastries or sundaes.
recommendations :
a : death by chocolate : dbc, as it's known is a sinful dessert. chocolate cake base soaked in hot chocolate, several scoops of vanilla ice cream and a smothering of hot chocolate. the size of this dessert is a little daunting to a first time visitor [ it's about half a litre, if you want to visualize it ], but that satisfied grin on your face after you've waded through this expanse of chocolate... it's worth it. it's very difficult to go wrong with a combination like this and dbc is an enjoyable dessert, but this concoction has one negative. i don't really like the hot chocolate they use. it isn't as thick as i'd like and there is something slightly off about the flavour. go to a baskin robbins and ask for hot chocolate topping [ not the dip ] and you'll see my definition of 'thick'.

mavalli tiffin room

intro & location |
mtr is a classic. the most famous joint for traditional udupi cuisine. dating back to 1924. the prices are very reasonable, the service brisk and there are several mtr branches all over bangalore. the original tiffin room, i think, is in front of the lal bagh main entrance.

ambiance & hygiene |
kinda cramped. friendly but fast service. slightly dingy interiors. mtr is all about serving high quality "tiffins" efficiently and fast. the focus on that. everything else takes a back seat.

food |
udipi is a small sea-side temple town. the priests from this town are credited with having developed this cuisine. basically a highly evolved form of vegetarian food, blending elements of nutrition and spirituality. mtr serves a wide range of popular breakfast fare like idlis, dosas and vadas as well as sumptuous vegetarion meals. it's best to try whatever you feel like over here. i'll just list the stuff i tried.
recommendations:
a : rava idli : over sized idlis [ rice cakes ] made of rava. they have a much rougher texture and are served with sambhar and cutney.
b : masala dosa : the classic. thin, crisp rice pancakes smothered with a potato and onion mash. served with the usual sambhar and chutney.

muthu's

intro & location |
this innovative restaurant format fills a void that nobody knew existed. chettinad fast food. yes, chettinad fast food. the chain has outlets in different parts of bangalore. residency road and koramangala are two. a meal would cost you about a hundred bucks.

ambiance & hygiene |
efficient airy, well lit layouts with a hint of chettinad in the furniture. quite hygienic.

food |
chettinad food is among the more meat focussed of cuisines of south india. muthu's simplifies this great heritage and interprets it suit the unlikely fast food format. i don't remember most of the names of the items i've tried here, so it's best to experiment a bit. oh and the vegetarian food isn't bad either.
recommendations:
a : khaima dosa : if you ask me, this is the ultimate dosa. this is the logical evolution of the humble dosa. traditional rice batter dosa with a spicy minced lamb stuffing. brilliant.

the nearly complete guide to chaat in bangalore

nidrajiva has this neat write-up on the best and the worst bangalore has to offer. informative and entertaining.
sample this :

...But go there only if you have a chick to impress or a mommy who is paranoid about eating out in dingy roadside places. The other chaat guy is exactly that - kind of dingy and by the roadside. His stuff is not exactly avant garde, but people flock his bandi like flies to stale chaat...err... bees to honey...

movie review - ong bak muay thai warrior

2004-12-09T11:56:00.000-08:00

my first thai movie, and i'm impressed.
genre : martial arts
rating : worth a watch

the movie has a simple plot. antique collectors (bad guys) come to a remote village and steal the head of an idol of a revered god (ong-bak) and the village orphan (good guy, raised and trained in the deadly martial arts by a priest) goes to bangkok to bring it back home.

the plot is pretty good for an action thriller, what the movie lacks is a script-writer. itty-bitty scraps of a story cling to this skeletal plot with the rest of the form made-up of some spectacular martial arts sequences. the lead, tony jaa (apparently an up and coming actor on the thai circuit), is a talented martial arts exponent. the style of the action is fast and very reminiscent of the old hongkong films (kung-fu of the bruce lee and jackie chan kind). the kind of cinema that existed before computer effects, wire tricks and jet li came and spoilt everything. this movie is one of the old generation, and the stunts are doubly spectacular because you realize that there is no gimmick here.

the characters and situations are pretty cliche'd, though. a cold-blooded crime lord, his coke-snorting honcho, several kick-boxing thugs and a girl who seems quite lost in the story. my favourite part of the film was a high-speed chase sequence featuring auto-rickshaws (called 'tuk-tuks' in thailand). these three wheeled monsters seem to be much faster than their tottering indian counterparts and are an absolute treat to watch as they rip, skid, crash and fly off bridges.

ong-bak could easily be remade into successful tamil(or telugu or kannada) movie (i suspect it will). it's got almost every ingredient of that perfect formula, except some dance sequences, a (not) funny side-kick and a lot of dramatic slow-motion (thunder and lightning optional) whenever the lead character appears on-scene.

basically, if you dig martial arts flicks and stared open-mouthed through classics like "enter the dragon" and "drunken master", if you're sick of action heroes getting all teary-eyed and sentimental, ong-bak is the two hours of kick-ass hardcore action you need.

transfer large files over the internet

2004-12-02T19:11:00.000-08:00

need to send a friend a video you edited, some songs or a bunch of digital photographs , but the file size and extensions make it impossible for you to use traditional agents (email attachment, your website host, image hosting servers, etc) ?
well, gmail usually does the trick... but this is better.
store it online on one of these servers for free and send all your friends a link to it.

poem

2004-12-01T15:42:00.000-08:00

poem from nidrajiva's blog.

food guide - south canara

2004-11-30T01:57:00.000-08:00

this food guide is meant to be an addition to food guide - mangalore. it details places of gastronomic interest around the mangalore area, primarily small towns and villages in the south canara and udupi districts of karnataka.

south canara is an interesting part of the country. it has over the ages, absorbed influences of various cultures producing a spicy, tangy culture curry. portugese colonizers, arab traders, malayalee migrants and jesuit settlers all add bits to the way of life that is mangalore.

to look at, it is very similar to northern kerala with its abundant greenery, coconut tree dotted beaches and hundreds of small hamlets all over the countryside. this last feature is the reason why, despite significant development in the region, there are no large cities here. instead the area has a whole bunch of very well connected small towns separated by verdant countryscapes.

food guide - south canara

the village - aeyadi
into & location |
'the village' is a large restaurant just outside mangalore in a hamlet called aeyadi [pronounced ae-yah-dee]. this comes on your way to the airport and is the perfect place for a lunch stopover. lunch can set you back by about 500 bucks. it is on the expensive side.

ambiance & hygiene |
this restaurant is very well laid out. it has a 'village' theme running through it, with several tile-roofed, hut-like shelters and palm fringed open air dining area with a separate air-conditioned hall. in terms of ambience this restaurant rates among the best in mangalore. hygiene is very good too.

food |
being a full-fledged multi-cuisine restaurant, 'the village' offers you a lot of variety.
recommendations :
a : prawns and pomfret : the speciality of this place, probably any small hamlet in the area, is its seafood. do not miss the fare here. i would not recommend their squid, though. while it is pretty decent, there's much better squid to be had elsewhere in south canara.

sagar - on the way to deralakatte
intro & location |
the actual location of this restaurant is an almost insignificant fishing village on the road towards deralakatte [pronounced they-ra-la-cut-tay]. food here is cheap and the atmosphere relaxed.

ambiance & hygiene |
this restaurant is, like 'the village', built with a 'village' theme, with thatched hut-like shelters and tables laid out under them. it is a bit down-market, though.

food |
come to sagar for the seafood. everything here is fresh, the prawns, the 'kane' [a kind of small fish], the crabs [not shelled], the squid, the pomfret... be wary of the local style of preparation though, all the seafood is best eaten in 'chilli' or 'fry' form. for instance, 'pomfret fry' or 'prawn chilli'.

pallavi - padubidri
intro & location |
padubidri is a small fishing village that sits right in-between mangalore and udupi. it has pristine white beaches which are mostly empty. what it also has is a bunch of 'bar & restaurant' joints. these are a unique phenomena. the folk of mangalore and nearby areas seem to enjoy driving down the highway to eat at this little village. dinner at pallavi would cost you under 200 bucks.

ambiance & hygiene |
pallavi is more bar than restaurant. the crowd here is decidedly crass and usually quite drunk. the place smells strongly of cheap booze and is far from clean. ask for the 'a/c room' as soon as you get there, this part of the joint is quite clean and smell free. the tables are neatly laid out like a proper restaurant and the crowd is civilized.

food |
padubidri is a fishing village, so the obvious recommendations here are seafood. i'll also recommend a drink, which goes very well with the food.
recommendations :
a : bandas chilli : 'bandas' [pronounced 'bun-daahs'] is the local term for squid. the squid here is absolutely fresh and the preparation is the best i've had, ever. soft squid rings stir fried with onions, garlic and chopped capsicum, with an ever-so-faint chinese flavour. this dish is a good munchie to go with your drinks.
b : pomfret fry : this is a whole fish, flat and about as big as your palm, cooked in spicy red paste on a banana leaf. it's cooked in coconut oil and because it is fresh, the soft white flesh is delicious.
c : sand dune : this is a drink introduced to me, in padubidri, by a friend. they don't make it for you, you'll have to make it yourself. this is how you go about it - ask for 60ml romanov vodka, 30ml lime cordial [a vile looking extract of lemons, 'lc' as the waiters know it], a kingfisher beer [kingfisher strong, if you're me], a beer mug and a straw. mix the vodka and the lime cordial in the beer mug, pour beer over it, stir lightly with the straw and sip. brilliant.

sagar - karkala
intro & location |
sagar is a small vegetarian restaurant doing very brisk business right next to the karkala bus stand [pronounced car-caa-laa]. it bridges the gap between an udupi hotel and a full fledged indian restaurant, serving the idli-dosa fare at certain times and full meals during other times. they serve both south indian as well as a liberal interpretation of mughlai fare.

ambience & hygiene |
the joint has a lower seating level and two mezzanine dining areas, one of which is air-conditioned. head to the latter area. it might take you a while to get a table and elbowroom is a little tight even after you do. the hygiene however is pretty good. food is very reasonably priced, lunch can be had for under 100 bucks.

food |
depending on the time of the day you come here, the restaurant serves some excellent udupi fare. feel free to try anything on the menu, it's all pretty good.
recommendations :
a : mysore masala dosa : this is a triangular dosa thats differentiated by a thin layer of tangy red chutney thats smeared on it's inside. the potato curry inside, steaming sambhar and fresh coconut chutney complete the setting.
b : gobi manchurian : little bits of cauliflower, batter-fried with chillies, garlic and a purpotedly chinese sauce. good apetizer.
c : chocolate double sundae : a simple dessert featuring two scoops of ice-cream [chocolate or vanilla] a large dollop of hot chocolate sauce and a handfull of freshly roasted cashew bits. whats interesting about this dessert is the chocolate sauce, it has a very unique roasted taste to it. worth a try. the cashew topping is generous, i'm guessing, because this area is a large producer and exporter of cashew.

trupthi icecream - karkala
intro & location |
exit the mangalore-bus-stand in karkala and turn to your left. keep walking in that direction till you find trupthi, on your left-hand side. this is a factory outlet for a small local icecream manufacturer. expect to eat your heart out for about 50 bucks.

ambiance & hygiene |
this is irrelevant. if you came to a factory outlet to eat icecream, you don't care about anything but quality of icecream and price.

food |
recommendations :
a : mango icecream : if it is the season, this fresh fruit flavoured icecream is absolutely delicious.
b : fruit salad : a small bowl of mixed fruit topped with a scoop of semi-soft vanilla icecream. it's very sweet and very good.
c : gadbad : thats the standard dessert for south canara, see the description under pabba's in food guide - mangalore.

dollops - manipal
intro & location |
a small restaurant located next to the manipal police station a short walk from the bus stop.

ambiance & hygiene |
an open hut with mangalore tiled roof with tables inside and outside, in the shade of a large tree. the dollops setting is almost picturesque and the hygiene is good.

food |
dollops serves a wide range of popular snacks and main courses. good chicken preparations and an excellent, if not too authentic, chinese menu.
recommendations:
a : tandoori chicken : succulent marinated, tandoor grilled whole chicken.

the shack - manipal
intro & location |
a small shack in the middle of nowhere, well off the central road in manipal.

food |
shack is best for their barbecue chicken with garlic bread and mashed potatoes. and also their teas, they have the best masala chai.

cosmos - manipal
intro & location |
the coffee shop at hotel valley view. cosmos is a short walk from the bus stop in manipal.

ambiance & hygiene |
valley view is the equivalent of a star hotel, it is comfortable, clean and quite expensive.

food |
being the coffee shop, cosmos serves everything. literally. most of their fare is pretty good too.
recommendations:
a : chocolate mousse : a large cup with a small bit of something that tastes like chocolate cake at the bottom. the rest of the cup is filled with the most sinful chocolate, thick and just perfect.

mitra samaj - udupi
i haven't ever eaten here, but it is supposed to be amazing. this review is a dummy waiting for someone to pitch in with an actual review. this is a description of udupi food i found at a website revieweing an 'udupi restaurant' in america.

the purely vegetarian appetizers include rasa vada--a tasty lentil donut served with rasam (a sour and spicy soup)... entrees include crepes (dosai) and pancakes (uthappam) with fillings ranging from chilies to potatoes to cream of wheat--all served with a zesty side of tomato/onions chutney and yogurt sauce... meals and rice are served in separate dishes and are best accompanied by one of the unique, fluffy breads.

[ credit to payal for helping me with some of the write-up's here ]

free image hosting options

2004-11-27T12:26:00.000-08:00

this post is dedicated to what in my opinion is the best free image hosting service on the internet. imageshack.

if you wanna put images in your blog posts, on ebay, on forums, on message boards, in your instant messenger conversations... wherever. this has to be the easiest free solution.

why is this the best ?

+ it is free
+ it loads and uploads fast
+ it has one click uploads, once you register
+ it has no sign-in procedure - so you just go to the site and upload images
+ it is purely html client based - requires no software installation
+ it accepts big images - upto 1024 kb, which is huge for web graphics
+ it supports jpeg, bitmap, tiff, png, gif and swf - yeah even flash files
+ it gives you control over your images - doesn't compress, gives you all kinds of options of where you can use the images

all those features, and they claim their usp is "powered by linux!"... go figure!

all that for free ? how do they make money ?

i'm not sure they're making money. i hope they are.
they seem to have two simple revenue sources, google adsense text ads and donations.

is it perfect ?

not really.
if you want something for the specific purpose of uploading to your blog, imageshack does not resize the images automatically like hello or flickr
( i work around this limitation by adding a simple "width=400" attribute to the html tag for the image. i'd rather have my high quality images posted intact, not resized by some "intelligent" program ).
if you want to build an online photo album you're probably much better off with imagestation or yahoo ( the latter even has the fancy slideshow option ).
oh... and you need to understand basic tags ( html or otherwise ) to use it unlike the more sophisticated tools.

what are the alternatives ?

hello
+ easy to use
+ automatically resizes images
+ automatically posts to your blog
- doesn't ask you before screwin with your pics
- requires login
- requires software installation
- can't post high quality images
- posts a link to hello with the images

flickr
+ automatically resizes images
+ automatically posts to your blog
- doesn't ask you before screwin with your pics
- requires login
- cumbersome interface
- posts a link to flickr with the images

imagestation
+ photoalbums
+ doesn't screw with your pics
+ can post high quality images
- can't do anything else
- slow
- login procedure required

yahoo photos
+ same as above
+ fancy slideshow thing
- same as above

village photos
+ purely html client based
+ put fairly high quality images
+ asks you before screwin with your images
- cumbersome interface
- login required
- severe limitations on number and size of images
- intrusive ads and spam
- you need to understand tags
there's more, many more, but you get the idea...

so, if you're looking for a free, simple, easy and powerful image hosting service, i suggest you try imageshack.

where do they get all these surveys ?

2004-11-24T12:03:00.000-08:00

if you make a survey and you want people to talk about it, you better come up with results that are all flattering. this one did good [ only problem is, the picture seems to indicate i'm female /:) ]

you are a snarky blogger!

you've got a razor sharp wit that bloggers are secretly scared of.
and that's why they read your posts as often as they can!

what kind of blogger are you?

movie review - "the incredibles"

2004-11-18T12:53:00.000-08:00

i have this list of things that a movie might have to make it worth the while.

1. subtle comedy
2. well drawn characters
3. unique/unexpected storyline
4. john travolta
5. super special effects

now a movie's gotta have two or more of those to be good. and pixar's latest flick has four!! ... [getting john travolta would have made it ... well... very dang awesome].

pixar studios has had a history of developing quality animation, they believed that computer animated flicks could be full-length feature films rivalling those with ... err ... people in them. and understandably they were the pioneers.

subtle comedy (luxo jr.), a deeper storyline (geri's game) and most important, well developed characters (mosnsters inc.) are all characteristic of pixars style of movie making. what makes "the incredibles" among the best of their work is that they've outdone themselves. they've gone and made a movie thats actually quite mature but kept the script light and fast paced.

while their stories and characters usually are engrossing enough to make the quality of their animation irrelevant (quite unlike the final fantasy movie), the animation something they have continued to push the boundaries at. in fact pixar has developed the effects software used in the biggest hollywood ficks. seriously, look at the ice crystals, the hair, the underwater scenes... they're just ... incredible.

1. this review might be a little tainted by my pixar mania.
2. read wired mag's enlightening article on pixar to understand why i'm so crazy about pixar.
3. get a second opinion, this review from slashdot.
4. watch some award winning pixar short films, here.

dew drop

2004-11-15T13:41:00.000-08:00

as dawn breaks,
a peaceful joy sets in.
a dew drop clings
to a slippery leaf.

a slight rustle of the wind,
the dew drop slides.
the sunrise is diffused glow
on a distant horizon.
the dew drop slides slowly further,
discovering more of the gentle curves on the leaf.

as the mist clears,
a silent apprehension sets in.
the dew drop slides faster,
past more of the leaf, faster.

the first rays of sunshine
strike a shivering leaf
and fast sliding dew drop.
it courses quickly to the tip of the leaf,
covering an eternity in a moment
and stops, looming quietly over the world below.

a moment of reflection later,
it drips over the edge,
leaving a tiny bit of itself
clinging to the leaf.

it falls towards an unknown surface,
a hint of regret
over a course it never really controlled.

image credits : blackmamba

potential product... heh

2004-11-13T04:59:00.000-08:00

apple computer has tried keep their successful music player (ipod) simple. they've avoided adding all those features that manufacturers seem to be adding to their similarly priced players (video playback, colour screens, etc). they've maintained that it's like-ability stems from the fact that it is simple, has a purpose (portable music) and satisfies that purpose without making compromises.

now they've finally added a colour screen to the ipod but instead of calling it 'ipod colour' or something like that, they're selling it as 'ipod photo'
they're not selling you product features but product end-uses. with a high clarity colour screen, you can use the ipod to store, transport and view digital images.

not the actual product but the potential product. cool.

go to art school

2004-11-09T13:10:00.000-08:00

got this in an email from a friend. good one.

all the kids are doing it - rest of the series

2004-11-09T08:33:00.000-08:00

some more rollingstone ads and links to the entire lot've 'em.

666 pentalicious
4000 percent markup
big fat thanks
ho's and bitches
stoners
trillion
ugly rockstars 1
ugly rockstars 2
who invented punk ?