what..why..whatever..

what

In the movie 'Guru', there is this scene wherein Guru goes in a chopper to meet a minister and he has an appointment for just 15 mins. Guru wants approval to setup his petrochemical factory and the minister is not willing to approve. Guru meets the minister and tells him that he has something that belonged to the minister's forefathers. It is something that, once revealed, would shake the entire nation. He wants to know what he should do with it and asks for the minsiter's help in relieving that huge burden off his shoulders.

Well... It is obviously blackmailing, but what is that about? Is it actually some big secret? Or is is just some metaphorical statement to drive home the message that the minister is not unsoiled himself?

why

Why is it that the idiots drive so slowly on the road, especially when starting after a signal-stop, as if they want to spend as much time on the road as possible and probably dont have any intention to reach their destination? May be it is the dread about their managers/wifes waiting to greet them at their offices/homes respectively!

However wide the road is, when the road is relatively empty, the vehicles - especially these bikes and autos which do not require so much space - occupy the middle of the road such that it blocks the way for a faster 4-wheeler. Why the hell?


whatever

I was at this restaurant to have my lunch today and they do have a great continental buffet. But the space is quite limited and they have only one counter. So, obviously, it is pretty crowded and today was even worse. Some 45 guys from a company turned up and there was a long queue to pick up and load their plates. We were all politely standing there in the queue when these two foreigners came in and directly walked up to the counter to pick up their grub.

I look around and nobody is even bothered to stare at them, forget uttering a word in protest. These two (un)gentlemen picked up their choicest stuff and went back to their tables with absolutely no second thoughts. It was as if they owned the place and standing in the queue was just for us lesser mortals.

Whatever you call it... racism, colonial subserviance.... we are equal partners in propagating it by just turning a blind eye....

Again while we were in the queue, one guy wanted to go across. so, he just motioned to the guy in front of me. This guy almost fell on me in leaning backward and trying to make way for him. Couldnt he just move aside??

ruefully,
Bhaskar

Still a long way to go!!

Like 'Govar', I also thought I have seen quite a few movies.... until I saw this list.... Click on the button below and follow to the IMDB 250 list. I have struck-through the ones I have seen... See... I still have a long way ahead!!

Black Love .. part 4 *alternative*

If you havent read the first, second and third parts, read it below!
--------------------------------------

But then, life did what it does best... change its course! After about 4 months, Rahul got the opportunity to go onsite and visit Nisha too. By then, she was supposed to return back to India in a month's time and get married before she is back in the US with her hubby.

Rahul was pleasantly surprised to see Nisha at the airport to pick him up. Nisha, it seemed, had grown so comfortable with the place that it was almost like her second home... The next few weeks she was his chauffer, guide and companion. She even taught him to cook and it was so much fun!! And with her would-be-hubby away at the other coast and busy with his work, he was not too much of a distraction.

One day prior to her departure, Rahul expressed himself and his feelings unabashedly and got a slap from Nisha. Till that day, they had grown together into great friends, shared hugs, held hands. But that day, they had their first kiss... It was the black friday, the day after the US Thanksgiving Day. And they were very sad because they saw that their love was doomed. Nisha did not have the heart to torment her parents by stopping the marriage. And Rahul did not have the clarity/guts to stand up for his love.

They are now at the airport... Nisha on her way back to India to get married...


All my bags are [checked-in], I'm ready to go
I'm standin' here outside the door
I hate [] to say goodbye

But the dawn is breakin', it's early morn
The [plane]'s waitin', he's blowin' his horn
Already I'm so lonesome I could die

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go

'Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane
I don't know when I'll be back again
Oh, babe, I hate to go

I'm ...

There's so many times I've let you down
So many times I've played around
I'll tell you now, they don't mean a thing

Every place I go, I think of you
Every song I sing, I sing for you
When I come back I'll wear your wedding ring

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go

'Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane
I don't know when I'll be back again
Oh, babe, I hate to go

Now the time has come to leave you
One more time, oh, let me kiss you
And close your eyes and I'll be on my way

Dream about the days to come
When I won't have to leave alone
About the times that I won't have to say ...

Oh, kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go

'Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane
I don't know when I'll be back again
Oh, babe, I hate to go

And I'm leaving on a jet plane
I don't know when I'll be back again
Oh, babe, I hate to go

But I'm leaving on a jet plane
(Ah ah ah ah)
Leaving on a jet plane
(Ah ah ah ah)
Leaving on a jet plane
(Ah ah ah ah)
(Leaving) On a jet plane

---------------------------------------

[concluded again!]

lyrics by John Denver
modified by Bhaskar

I prefer the Chantal Kreviazuk version of the song though..

;-)

Bhaskar

Black Love .. part 4

If you havent read the first, second and third parts, read it below!
--------------------------------------

From then on... life was going ok... After about 4 months, Rahul got the opportunity to go onsite and visit Nisha too. But then, she was supposed to return back to India in a month's time and get married before she is back in the US with her hubby. Rahul, in fact, carried her wedding invitations for her from India so she can distribute them to her friends at work.

One day prior to her departure, Rahul expressed himself and his feelings unabashedly and got a slap from Nisha. Till that day, they had grown together into great friends, shared hugs, held hands. But that day, they had their first kiss... It was the black friday, the day after the US Thanksgiving Day. And they were very sad because they saw that their love was doomed. Nisha did not have the heart to torment her parents by stopping the marriage. And Rahul did not have the clarity/guts to stand up for his love.

But then, life did what it does best... change its course! And then, as they say.. the rest is all history... Dil Chahta Hai!! yes, it is true. This story did happen. And the lovely couple now live in Washington DC. They have a cute son, Sanju too!!

[concluded!]
---------------------------------------

Well.. if you are interested in knowing more details on the couple or their love.. ask me the next time you speak ;-)

Bhaskar

Black Love .. part 3

If you havent read the first and second parts, read it below!
--------------------------------------

Well.. Rahul had no idea. He just knew that she had a flight to the US starting at 1am from the Anna International airport on Sunday. He would have known had he gone to the airport to see her off. Anyways, he got the information first-hand on the yahoo chat... on monday morning when she reported for work at the client's place. Nisha had gotten engaged on Sunday. That news shocked him not because the bridegroom was the same distant relative in the US who had been overly keen on her, but because she had let herself be emotionally blackmailed by her parents into agreeing for the match. Oh.. comeon.. that guy looked old enough to be her dad! ok.. maybe not so old... but old enough to be her dad's younger brother!!

[to be continued..]

Tech Rolls .. Part 2

After my last post about the iPhone, I saw this video demo of the same..
Damn impressive!! I may still not buy it for sometime, but this phone is worth a try..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgW7or1TuFk

------------------------------------------

For the record, "With a 6% market share (in India), Dell is the fourth largest PC vendor in India, after HP at 21%, HCL at 12% and Lenovo at 8.8%".

Make your guess... Where will Dell's market share in India be around the same time next year? I would like to refer back at this piece of stats next year and give you the comparison.

Recently, Paul-Henri Ferrand, Dell's regional president, was in Blore. "This (Q3) was our best quarter ever, making India Dell's fastest growing market worldwide", he noted.

-------------------------------------------

If furniture maker Herman Miller, Inc. has its way, users will be able to charge their cell phones, BlackBerrys and other portable devices by simply placing them on their desks. Herman Miller is licensing eCoupled, a system that eliminates the need for dedicated chargers


Bhaskar

Black Love .. Part 2

If you havent read the first part, read it below!
--------------------------------------

Thats when it happened... One evening, as Rahul was planning to leave for home he offered to drop Nisha at the railway station. It was one of those unbelievably cool days in Chennai. And it was the first time any woman had sat on the pillion of his bike, of course, not counting his mom and sister. Well.. ask any man and he would tell you how much such things matter to us ;-)

Nisha was a li'l hesitant but later agreed on knowing that the station was actually on his way home. And thus they got to spend more time in the evenings with each other. He soon knew everything about her and her family. He knew that she shouts whenever she gets angry, though he never saw her shout. He knew about her terrible stomach-aches once in a while. He even knew that her parents wanted to get her married off to her distant relative who was in the US and who was also quite keen on marrying her. And that she wanted to work and earn another couple of years' salary so she can ensure her brother's admission into the engineering college of his choice.

For her part, she knew quite a lot about Rahul too. She knew that he was quite an atheist, who thought that praying to God for oneself was a sign of selfishness. She knew he had a complex about his squintish eye. She knew that he can spend the entire night watching movies. She even knew about his ex-girlfriend from school who was a bombshell, quite literally!

This went on until one fine day that Nisha learnt of her impending long-term assignment at the client's site. She had gotten her US H1B stamped some two months back, but she never imagined she would actually get to travel so soon. She was to leave that weekend...

In a way, she was happy because she would get to earn more. And Rahul was happy for her. Little did they know what was in store for her on her supposed day of departure...

[to be continued...]

Tech Rolls Part 1

Find the odd one out!!
MyZus, TechBrahma, WebYantra, UZanto....

for the answer, reach the end of this post!
-----------------------------------------

Apple has tried to do it again... enhance its own product lines while reinventing consumer electronics. iPhone... got some raving reviews.

As News.com states
"Apple's iPhone is essentially a widescreen video iPod that makes phone calls and can browse the Web, and the company plans to ship it in June for Cingular's cellular network."

It is supposed to be the convergence of computing and communications.. like a palm-top + phone

It does seem nice, but it has some self-imposed restrictions.. some of the questions that dog the iPhone are:
* Why is it not currently compatible with the faster 3G wireless data networks that are driving cellular revenues to sharp gains in the United States?
* Why the closed appliance-style design that restricts the potential for third-party software developers to write applications for the new handset, like ring tones and word processors.
* Why use the Cingular's EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution) network? That will get one online at around 75Kbps to 135Kbps, not much faster than dial-up.

I guess Apple would also block the use of VOIP services like skype that conflict with Cingular's.

Instead of paying the $400-500 price premium, I would wait for others to come up with these enhancements.

-----------------------------------------
The Answer:
WebYantra!

WebYantra is a tech blog while the others are the names of technology companies.
I guess we should get used to such names in this age...


Have you heard of Proto.in?
Well, it is a technology roadshow.. that showcases new products, technologies, companies to a select gathering. It is being promoted as the meeting ground for VCs and tech startups and is happening in Chennai, 20-21 Jan.

The short-listed 30 companies list would be up around the event days, but if you wanna see it first-hand, you should register NOW!

Bhaskar

Black Love.. part 1

All standard disclaimers and copyrights apply for this work of fiction :-)
Bhaskar

---------------------------------
They were saying their goodbyes to each other.. lip to lip.. (so the message was not lost in transmission ?!) The americans at the NorthWest Airlines counter were initially amused by their display of affection and later, amazed at the obvious love. They sensed the deep sadness engulfing the young couple. Before I tell you why these two were sad this day, I should probably tell you how they got here in the first place...

--------------------------------

Rahul got to meet Nisha about a month back, when he joined the company. His manager was taking him around on the customary introductions to the team. It was definitely not love at the first sight. In fact, they hardly noticed each other. He probably was nervous, this being his first day at his first-ever job and wanted to get over with the introductions as soon as possible. And she was a year senior in the company and had her project deadline looming over her head.

The next time they met, it was over lunch. Rahul had gotten close to Imran who was in the same project as Nisha. And now, when Imran was going out for lunch with his projectmates, Rahul got invited too. During the ensuing conversations, Nisha came across as this simple and caring girl with no airs about her. And that he noticed. Well.. he then got to have more coffee breaks with the group and her, in particular.

They both had quite similar backgrounds.. middle class.. determined to make it bigger in life.. He went to the IIT... She went to one of the top engineering colleges in the state and finished with a gold medal. Both were quite forward-looking in their outlook inspite of their orthodox upbringings. They were meant to be friends. And they did get close. Thats when it happened...

[to be continued...]

Happy Pongal/Sankranti

Wish you a happy Pongal / Sankranti!

--------------------------------------

Saw 'Guru'.. A good movie.. Mani has weaved his magic again... quite engrossing.. Did not realize how the time went till the Intermission. But some scenes in the second half seems loosely linked.. Guru's growth seems to happen over-night.. And the end could have been better.. Guru justifies his actions and principles by saying he fought against the unjust system (drawing parallels to Gandhi's fight against the British Raj) and trying to link it to the greater good of the common man....

Anyways, the Ash-Abhi chemistry seems ok... neither too passinate... nor too cold..

And then, they have also got engaged in real life now!!
Guess it is upto to Abhi how the manages their relationship.

Bhaskar

New

New year.. neons dazzling everywhere... fireworks in the air..
but the mind is still trapped in its own quagmire!!

Free your mind... free yourself from your mind... And thats when you will have a new life... year and ever!!

Bhaskar

The Kundli of Arranged Marriage!

"When you dont know where you want to go, any road would take you there!"

When you dont know what you (really)want in your wife, any girl is as good as the other.

And soon, the other man's wife seems more attractive!
--------------

Indian marriages used to be a marriage of families not individuals. But with the falling out of joint families and the predominance of nuclear families many of the supporting structures are not available any longer.

Indian marriages - arranged marriage - have again been built around a lot of assumptions. For one, it is based on a simple and straight-forward way of living.. like you can know a person by his position (personal achievements), her way of carrying herself, his/her family background etc. For another, it supposes that the man and woman have undergone all the education in life (brahmachariya phase) and have mastered their egos, have control over themselves and their wants, respects others as their own and in short, know their real self.

In such a perfect life, any man and woman can get together and lead a perfect married life.

But, With time, we started growing imperfect or were not yet at the destination on the road to perfection.

And the institution of arranged marriage got tweaked a lot... compromises galore..

And then it got to be "you both have your entire lifetime to discover perfection together". So, all they wanted was two individuals who would make a decent couple and they would be put together to churn perfection...

And now god knows what!!

;-)

Bhaskar

UTS

Talking of movies... (these days I have a lot of them to talk about :) I saw 'Pyar ke Side Effects' by chance, on the local cable tv, when I was in Karwar. Its a pretty funny movie! Initially I didnt like the documentary-like commentary by Rahul (Bose), but slowly grew to it.. Scenes like when they have their first drink together and the subsequent KLPD, when he accompanies his would-be father-in-law to the golf course and smashes his car windshield, when he exclaims to Mallika that he is not bothered if she choses to marry Mr. Vivek Chadda to become one Mrs. Chaddi... Awesome!! I guess anyone who has been in love for a while (and fought) would enjoy the movie..

--------------------------------------------

I saw her first in 'V for Vendetta'... But I noticed her in 'Closer'.. She gave a very convincing performance in the movie... And I got reminded of her today in 'Garden State'

She is Natalie Portman..

--------------------------------------------

Some idiot UP minister, who is also Mulayam Yadav's brother, has termed the Noida killings as "small and routine incident"... How I wish he meets his fate too in such a "chhoti-moti ghatna" ....

--------------------------------------------

Sidhu's wife is contemplating contesting in the Amritsar elections in case he is finally sent to jail, it seems.. All in the family!!

Panditji Batai Na Bhyaah Kab Hoi!!

Wondering what this is? This is a movie title (meaning 'Panditji, can you tell me when our marriage would happen')!! yes, I saw this movie.. Its a bhojpuri movie and a superhit movie (2005) at that. Starring Ravi Kissen, Nagma et al...

It was fun watching.. was missing Mithun da's movies and this one made me relive those golden days ;) Its the story about 2 brothers and their fight against the evil forces in the form of the local politician and his goondas. The first 20 mins has four songs.. yeah, all the main characters are introduced via songs.. back-to-back!!
And of course, it has all the right formulas... family sentiments (one of 4 back-to-back songs is a song by a kid in praise and respect of his mom and moms in general!)
love stories.. comedy sequences.. rape and murder... fights... and good prevails.

Just looooooved those dances... all those sexy curve-tracing moves and one song where Nagma holds her flowing gown in place, ala Marilyn Monroe!

---------------------------

Well... I saw this one finally.. D2 aka Dhoom2.. pretty ok movie... good catchy songs and dances.. fantastic stunts... Hrithik and AB carry themselves with panache.. And Uday funny and flashy..

Some people were lamenting that Bipasha did not have much role to play.. For them, we say... 'everyone has their own role to play..their own karma to fulfill and Bips played her part to the hilt!!'

But Aish... I dont know what she was trying to portray... a frightened chicken? Guess she misunderstood 'chic chick' part of the script... ;)

Bhaskar

Microsoft & blogging

Microsoft has been having a tough time with the bloggers. The bloggers have been highly critical of MS's policies and products in the past.

Guess, MS wanted to make amends and generate some good reviews this time. So, they gave away expensive Acer Ferrari laptops loaded with its new Windows Vista operating system to some 90 bloggers. (It pays to be a reputed tech blogger ;)

Now, these bloggers are definitely happy, but others are fuming!... calling it bribery and lack of ethics on the blogger's part.. Read this and let me know what your think...

Bhaskar