Archive for April, 2005
Fooling around-2
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I had sent a distress-sms to many people in my phone book “Hi…I need to talk to you. I can’t speak on my mobile. Kindly call this number: 2656…It is about you.�
On their calling the number they would hear to an answering machine
“Thank you for calling Nimhans. If you know the extension …..�
The reaction was varied. I got back few hate smses. Most of them called the number and got fooled. Few of them called me to bash me and accept they called, but few others did not respond and hided their folly.
I felt it was really a success when a friend called up and spoke to me, she was speaking to me after months! Another friend who was on a cold war, smsed back to check if everything was fine! Even those who have not stored my number called me up. Though they started in the tone “What the hell? I was busy with something and your sms….�, after the initial exchanges, they asked about my well-being and other things.
It was good fun, more so because I was waiting for someone to turn up. It was also a good revenge to my getting fooled by the same sms.
Life is
Life is like the auto-rikshaw going in front of you! You never know when it accelerates, stops or takes a turn!
P.S : Inspired by a Beechi’s quote kastagalu bandare BTS bassinate, ella ottottige baruttave (Difficulties are like BTS (Bangalore Transport Service) buses. If they arrive, they all arrive together)
Chennai Visit
If things keep me so busy that I don’t have time to even record them, what more can I ask for ? 
Chennai is a city most people – including its own sons – love to hate , or at least hate to love. The reasons are plenty ranging from hot-climate to unfriendly people. I have never found such a uniform negative opinion about a city !
For me, I just had to visit the place. A two day visit at the most was what I had planned. First, I booked the tickets in advance on-line. I am slowly utilizing the power of net and I found this exercise very comfortable and useful. Last time I had to run to ticket-booking center early in the morning, yet had to wait in the queue for about an hour. This time in an unearthly hour of 11 in the night, sitting at home I could book the tickets.
After the lengthy day, Sriram joined me timely(+1hr) at 8 PM . A visit to Mary brown. Sriram is the most optimistic person I have seen. Imagine him even hoping to get current show’s tickets for a Rajanikanth movie, in Chennai, in the first week of its release and that too on a weekend! We went to a theater, only to find what we guessed.
In an effort to utilise the rest of the day (night), we roamed (walked from Gemini flyover to Triplicane - around 6km) and visited a beach. This is the same area which was partly affected by Tsunami, but did we see any traces? Visiting beach in the night around 10 pm was exciting (read haunting sounds) but we did not play in the water. Then we went to a local railway station (Parakkum rail) which was, completely deserted. I was reminded of the DCH railway station scene. But not even a sign of a beggar to scare us. We tried to shoot some pics of theyear.
A ride back to room in a shared auto was a very good.
Lazy start in the morning costed us 
Having booked return tickets for the night, we had enough time to roam around the city.
We traveled via local train, just for its sake, from Park to Mambalam.
We visited one of the prime shopping streets of Chennai for Jewellery (Usman Road). Also the prime area for clothes. I was surprised by the omni-present shops by name Saravanan. But the highlight of the window shopping was Pothy’s. This shop is huge (4-5 floors of garments). We entered the shop for only one reason – AC. The darbar set-up and other drama-costume clad people surprised me! Also there are small games to keep the kids involved. We even played Chess on a large board � This is the only shop I have seen with so much un-selfish concern for the visitors. Hanging around a chess board can actually make one feel the ladies shopping time shorter by hours.
Sriram was again hoping to watch Chandramukhi. I just needed some place to sit and sleep. So we went to another theater. I got a small taste of Rajani-worshipping with all the banners and decorations. Again, of course, we could not get the tickets.
We went to IIT. An envious campus to be at. We even caught a sight of deers running around! We tried to reach main building from main gate on foot, but soon were exhausted. Later took the bus to reach near the main building only to find the canteens being closed. We just had to satisfy ourselves with a look at the library and then we returned.
Off we went to beach (Elliots beach). Under the hot sun on the hot sand, we took a good nap. You should be really tired to realize the beauty of sleep. Few photo-shooting and balloon shooting , then we proceeded to a coffee-bar next to the beach. The contrasting atmosphere with the outside – heat vs ac, silence vs noise , poor vs posh , dull vs colorful – was very evident.
We then went to a HUGE shopping mall – Spencers plaza. One round of window shopping and we were back to railway station. We finally ate something in Saravanan and occupied our seats in train. Sriram also investigated that our co-passenger was Shalini (F 22).
It was a pleasant journey back home. Despite a ton load on my mind, if I could enjoy certain things, that was mainly due to Sriram and of course some part of the credit goes to the city itself - Chennai.
Other Pics
Highlights :
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People have run out of names for the hotels I guess – I could see Hotel Park, Hotel Picnic, etc.
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Train journey with(out) the co-passenger Shalini (F 22)
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Sleeping at beach under the hot sun
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Visiting the deserted railway station.
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Using various modes of communication with in city limits – Local train, bus, auto (3 kinds) , on foot.
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Sriram’s optimism about Chandramukhi.
Omni-presence of stores by name Saravanan.
Lens
Yes, you guessed it right !! I am talking about my new buy - Digital Camera ! Canon Powershot A520
One of the long-standing things in my wishlist can be striked off. This has to be my favourite possession…more than even my music system.
I am at a loss of words to thank Chaitra who bought the camera from States.
I can see the complete professional review here! This is a wonderful site which lists the features, costs, provides reviews, users comments, comparisions and many other things. Must visit for a camera enthu.
Few shots:
A heap of broken images
Girish Karnad, master playwright, for the first time directed his own creation, specially designed for Rangashankara. Using the above theme, he narrates the story of a Kannada writer who becomes famous for her bestseller in English! Karnad is aptly supported by Arundathi Raja who puts up a brilliant show.
The play starts off with a TV speech of Manjula Nayak who gives credits and briefs about her success and the story by answering two frequently asked questions. “Why in English?” and “Why that story?”. Soon after the briefing, she is drawn into discussion by her own image that appears on TV screen. Her digital image queries, ponders and manages to peel each layer of Manjula Nayak’s life. Manjula, is compelled to look at her life, often breaking down, often complaining and often defending herself. At the end audience gets a radically opposite picture of what it gets in the first shot of speech.
The plays I had seen earlier like Final Rehearsal had only one character, Iti Ninna Amritha had only two characters. But here it was something different. The live character had to cope with the recorded show. And man, does not she act well!! For one complete hour, Arundathi competes with her own image, manages to deliver absolutely glitchless dialogues, maintains hitch pitch, coupled with impressive facial expressions.
The narration, direction and performance could have lost the track at so many places, which it didn’t and this is the high point of the show. In my overall rating, this play might still rate lower than Iti Ninna Amritha amd probably Final Rehearsal, because of the rich content, pace, striking emotions and just-right comedy in the other two.
And it also depends on other factors that affect the mindset while watching.
But, nonetheless, it was a brilliant show!
Tasty, Smart
I am refering to the Amul ads which slowly became a part of our talk, and which was followed keenly - more keenly awaited than R K Lakshman’s You said it in TOI. And it was a small joy when the ad came close to what I had expected! The ads-cum-cartoon captured the news and current affairs and gave a nice comic touch to it. Sometimes silent, sometimes with a punching one-liner, it always maintained good standards of creativity!
Yummy, all the hits are available online
Why a post on amul hits ? Well, among the things I miss from Bombay, it is next only to Vada pav, beaches, trains and girls
Potato is injurious to health
Over the lunch table
He: Eeks! You are eating potatoes again ?
I: Head bent and busy eating
He: Potatoes are bad.
I: Grin
He: They contain fat.You will put on more weight.
I: ..
He: Potatoes will kill you. They are so bad.
I: Hmm
He: Potatoes are injurious to health. Don’t know why people eat potatoes.
I: ..
He: You should follow me. Have you ever seen me eat potatoes ?
I slowly raise my head, look into his eyes “And smoking?”.
He blushes, grins, turns red in face, turns his face away.
We silently finish lunch.
