Happy New Year 2007!

Hey!

May you have a spectacular and fulfilling 2007!!

Have fun, Be safe ;)
Bhaskar

Splendid! Goa

"Splendid!" Goa - The beacher's paradise

For more, check this!

Palolem beach


Here, getting ready to see the dolphins


The cottages


Butterfly beach on the other side of the island


Colva beach


Vagator beach


Anjuna beach


Calagute beach - the Queen of goa


The 500 year old body of St. Xaviers


The bridge across Panjim


Bhaskar

Lovely! Karwar

"Lovely!" one word that describes Karwar.

For more, check this!

Karwar is a small town with nothing much to offer except the Rabindranath Tagore beach.


And the children's park and museum.


The Museum is actually a warship that took part in the IndoPak wars of the 60s.


But, some 15 kms away, the Devbagh beach and Jungle lodges is an awesome setting for that perfect peaceful holiday.







Bhaskar

Off I go!

Off I go.. As planned a li'l while ago, I am going to go.... on my vacation!! you still didnt get the hint?! Arre... go jump! Its Goa re!!!

Ha ha! yes, barring the sky falling on our heads, I am going to be strolling the midas-kissed beaches and drooling over the (sun)bathing mermaids by the Arabian sea... Off Karwar and Goa..

Bookings open... for the pics ;-)

Auf Wiedersehen!!
Bhaskar

Sights and Scenes - Vol. 1

For a while, I have been wanting to create my photo blog. Well.. here it comes!

From my li'l Olympus Stylus 740, with love!!

I have uploaded some of the pics that I took during my recent visit to the US.. Brace for more ;-)

Let me know what you think...
Bhaskar

Donnie Darko!

I am midway into this movie... I started watching 'cos I liked the cast.. But the movie - it seems quite weird / intriguing (I'll say which when I finish seeing it)!!
But I liked this opening song...
---------

Under blue moon, I saw you #
So soon, you'll take me #
Up in your arms, too late to beg you #
Or cancel it, though I know it must be #

The killing time #
Unwillingly mine #
Fate #
Up against your will #
Through the thick and thin #

He will wait until #
You give yourself to him #
In starlit nights I saw you #
So cruelly you kissed me #
Your lips a magic world #
Your sky all hung with jewels #

The killing moon #
Will come too soon #
Fate #
Up against your will #
Through the thick and thin... #

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

Well.. Its an intriguing movie alright! The director has tried to weave together a science fictional topic like time warps with the weird stuff like schizoprenia into an intriguing plot.. Though it has come well in most of the places, on the whole it does seem that only the cast carries it all the way to the climax.

"Donnie Darko" is an extraordinary look at one teenager as he attempts to come to grips with the theory of time travel, the search for answers to the existence of God, and the secret knowledge the world will soon end, while battling an assortment of hallucinations and delusions. The film's a dark coming-of-age tale told by way of a provocative script, and superbly acted out by Jake Gyllenhaal and a highly recognizable cast of supporting players. It's strange and twisted, yet charming, thought provoking and highly original.

To quote the first-time writer/director Richard Kelly, "Maybe it's the story of Holden Caulfield, resurrected in 1988 by the spirit of Phillip K. Dick, who was always spinning yarns about schizophrenia and drug abuse breaking the barriers of space and time. Or it's a black comedy foreshadowing the impact of the 1988 Presidential election, which is really the best way to explain it. But first and foremost, I wanted the film to be a piece of social satire that needs to be experienced and digested several times."

BTW Drew Barrymore is one of the executive producers of this movie and she is also her kissably cutie best in the movie ;-)

Ye Qaida...

Qaida in tamil slang means donkey/ass.

Abbe saalae log... tumko aur kuch kaam daam nahi hai kya... 'kisko maarna hai', 'kahaan bomb rakna hai', 'kisko udaana hai'... yahi sochthe rahte hain kya?

go bu**ers.. get a life! (not take a life)

I'm talking to you guys only... the Al Qaidis... I hear news reports (Isreali intelligence reports) that you are planning to bomb Goa around the Christmas/New Year time....

I am going to be there too and I'll kill ya if I set my eyes on ya!!

Bhaskar

The Legend

Ithe padichu eppadi naan kannir vittano adhei maadhiri neenga ellorum kanneer vidunga....


Oru voorla, oru Onion, Takkaali and Ice Cream moonum frensa irundhadhaam.. Oru naal 3-um beach ku kulikka ponaangge, appe solla solla ketkaame, Ice cream, thannile poi karanji poiduchaam..

Takkaaliyum Onion-um anggaiye porandu porandu azhuvuthu..! Veetuku varra vazhile Lorry le accident aagi, Takkaali nasunggi pochaam.. Vodane Onion, azhudhukittey God kitta poi "Ice settappe naanum Takkaaliyum azhudhom, ippo Thakkaali settappe naan azhuthen.. but naan naalaiku settennaa yenakku nu azhe yaaru irukkaa" nu kettuchaam..

Adhuku God, sari inimele nee saagum bothu yaarellaam pakkathule irukkaanggalo ellaarum azhuvaangga nu sonnaaram..!


Inimele Venggaayam narukum bothu kannula yen thanni varudhunu yaarachum kettaa.. thiru thiru nu mulichikittu irukkaame.. idhe solli escape aagidungaa.. okva?

----------------------------
For you morons who couldnt understand the sophisticated legend above, here my 'Onion legend for dummies' ;)
----------------------------



This is a legend... Let the world be filled with tears just like I was reading this sad story...

There once were 3 friends - ice cream, tomato and onion... one day, all the three went to the beach to take bath. The ice cream, not heeding to the others' pleas, went into the sea, dissolved and disappeared from the face of the earth.

Tomato and Onion were absolutely uncontrollable in their sorrow.. so much so that they were wailing at the beach for a long time.

After some time, when they could finally console themselves a li'l, the onion and tomato started their journey back home. On the way, the tomato got hit by a lorry and got sqeezed to death. Onion started weeping terribly and went up to God and said.. "when ice cream died, me and tomato were crying from the terrible loss. And now when tomato has also died, I am alone in my remorse. Tomorrow when I die, who will be there to shed tears?"

God took pity on the Onion and granted that when the Onion dies, everyone around would weep.

When you are peeling onions and the next time someone asks why we shed tears, dont keep blinking foolishly... narrate this legend and escape!

-------------------------
Acknowledgements:

Thanks to Dori for the original email and for inspiring me to translate this legend so the world can benefit!!

Bhaskar

Give me an Angel!

I only ask for an angel!!

But "A known devil is better than an unknown angel"

Yeah, give me a known angel!!!

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

Aish for Abhi

Latest predictions say that they would get engaged by March and get married by June/July.

Let me try (use my rusty logic) and predict myself...

Is Aishwarya a known devil or a known angel?

Nobody calls Aish an angel... sure she may look like one... (there are people accepting that she looks like one)

But there are people calling her the devil.. for whatever reason (what she did to Viveik, etc)

So, I would deduce she is more of a devil than an angel..

Now, Abhi... would he live with a devil? I think he is a simple shy guy who can make compromises in life. For one, I dont think he has had a girlfriend. And for another, he seems to be accepting the arranged marriage.

So, I think he would.

Hence, I deduce that their marriage would survive. :P

Jis Des Main..

One of the better takes on the rising India..


One billion reasons to care!
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=1674437


Bhaskar

Clean slate!!

"













"
;-)

Ms. Basu !!

hi,
short and sweet mail.thank you.
will do. all the best to you too.
love
Bipasha.



She seems to be doing a good job... A neat site and she even responds to the fanmails www.bipashabasunet.com

Pretty impressive!!
Bhaskar

Netas Beware!

It seems to be that time of the evolution in Indian democracy when the Netas are being held more and more accountable. Or rather the message seems to be that even if you are a big-shot, you still cannot escape the arms of the law. (How I wish this is the truth!)

First, it was Salman Khan's conviction (was it? my memory seems short-lived). Then this Sanjay Dutt's conviction in the 'possession of arms' case. Now, it is Navjot Sidhu being convicted for the 1988 murder. And to top it all, Shibhu Soren is being convicted for the murder of his secretary, Jha.

Another example is the Priyadarshani Matoo's rape and murder which turned its head around and finally the accused is being booked. But, there still are those yet scot-free like the accused in the Jessica Lal's murder.

Anyways, guess this is a good turn in the life of the Indian Judiciary and our associated fate. Or is it?

Thanks

Thanksgiving day is just round the corner... and thanks to the thanksgiving, i have a couple of days off... I am going to be in chennai during the time.. I have a house-warming to attend... May be I can catch up with some of my friends too...

I wanted to drive down to the place.. but the rains and the aftermath made me drop the plans.. Hope the skies are clear, atleast.

And yes, I saw the Bond, Daniel Bond.. He is pretty cool... Maybe not as stylish as Pierce, nevertheless, pretty good. He is definitely more human and humane. It seems this was the second story written by Ian Fleming (of 13). This Bond even falls in love and gets hurt when he cannot unite with his lover. Apparently, that's why he grows cold and humping.. anyways..

I loved the movie. The stunts (esp. in Uganda) are awesome.. And the locales are breath-taking. The cars and the babes, of course... ;)

I am gonna watch this again.. and probably own a copy soon!

cheers!
Bhaskar

Been a while..

Been a while since I wrote a decent post.. But then I dont pretend to be such a decent guy anymore ;-)

First, a li'l update on things.. I am watching the new bond movie tomorrow - got exclusive couple tickets for the show from my car company! It seems Ford Mondeo is part of the star cast and hence, these guys are pretty excited about it. Let me update you after I watch the movie. BTW, there's still time if you gals wanna join me at the movie.. call me!!

I also have with myself quite a collection of movies that I got from the US. Maybe I can post a few reviews in the coming days.

That brings me to the update on my US trip... I had a whale of a time... first in Austin for abt 3 weeks and then in NY another 4 days. You would have known it seeing my photo albums linked below. One of them is from my first Halloween party ever.. Awesome! is the word... I had myself dressed up as a pirate and it was a lot of fun just preparing for it!! And then there were all kinda costumes... from the sandwich to the naughty nun ;-)

Met quite a few friends in Austin and the York.. I even spoke to a fellow blogger from here. It was nice catching up on the real world!

Forgot to mention... I got a cute li'l Olympus Stylus 740... 7.1 megapixels.. 5x optical zoom... special image capturing effects and the like... I love Olympus!! (And you 'll get to see more pics on my site ;-)

later,
Bhaskar

Classic Dave Barry's!

(This classic Dave Barry column was originally published April 16, 1995.)

It's a gloriously sunny day in Miami, and I'm standing in a semicircle of maybe 500 people on a carpet of lush, sweet-smelling, green-glinting grass, the kind that makes you want to get naked and roll around on your back like a dog.

But the people around me are not doing that. They're silent and solemn, like a church congregation, except that a lot of them are smoking cigars. They're staring intently at some tiny figures way off in the distance. I'm staring, too, but I can't quite make out what the figures are doing. Suddenly the crowd murmurs, and 500 heads jerk skyward in unison. I still can't see anything. The crowd holds its breath, waiting, waiting, and then suddenly ... PLOP ... a little white ball falls from the sky, lands in the middle of the semicircle and starts rolling. Immediately the crowd members are shouting at it angrily.

''Bite!'' they shout, spewing saliva and cigar flecks. ''BITE!!'' This is how they tell the ball they want it to stop rolling.

The ball, apparently fearing for its life, stops. The crowd members applaud and cheer wildly. They're acting as though the arrival of this ball is the highlight of their lives.

Which maybe it is. These are, after all, golf fans. And this ball was personally hit by -- prepare to experience a heart seizure -- JACK NICKLAUS.

This exciting moment in sports occurred at the Doral-Ryder Open golf tournament, an event on the professional golf tour, wherein the top golfers from all over the world gather together to see who can take the longest amount of time to actually hit the ball.

I don't know about you, but when I play golf -- which I have done a total of three times in my life -- I don't waste a lot of time. I just grab a club, stride briskly to the ball, take a hearty swing, then check to see if the ball has moved from its original location. If it hasn't, I take another hearty swing, repeating this process as necessary until the ball is gone, which is my cue to get out another ball, because I know from harsh experience that I will never in a million years find the first one. I keep this up until there are no balls left, which is my cue to locate the part of the golfing facility where they sell beer. In other words, I play an exciting, nonstop-action brand of golf that would be ideal for spectators, except that most of them would be killed within minutes.

Your professional golfer, on the other hand, does not even THINK about hitting a ball until he has conducted a complete geological and meteorological survey of the situation-circling the ball warily, as though it were a terrorist device, checking it out from every possible angle, squatting and squinting, checking the wind, taking soil samples, analyzing satellite photographs, testing the area for traces of O.J. Simpson's DNA, etc. Your professional golfer takes longer to line up a six-foot putt than the Toyota corporation takes to turn raw iron ore into a Corolla.

I know that it may sound boring to watch grown men squat for minutes on end, but when you see a pro tournament in person -- when you're actually watching these world-class golfers line up their shots -- it is, in fact, UNBELIEVABLY boring. At least it was for me. I would rank it, as a spectator sport, with transmission repair.

''HIT THE BALL, ALREADY!'' is what I wanted to shout at Jack Nicklaus, but I did not, because the crowd would have turned on me, and my lifeless body would have been found later buried in a sand trap, covered with cigar burns, because these fans worship the golfers, and they seem to be truly fascinated by the squatting and squinting process.

The more time that passed with virtually nothing happening, the more excited the golf fans became, until finally, when Jack got ready to take the extreme step of actually hitting the ball, everybody was nearly crazy with anticipation, although nobody was making a peep, because putting is an extremely difficult and highly technical activity that -- unlike, for example, brain surgery -- must be performed in absolute silence.

And so, amid an atmosphere of tension comparable to that of a Space Shuttle launch, Jack finally bent over the ball, drew back his putter and gently tapped the ball.

''GET IN THE HOLE!'' the crowd screamed at the ball. ``GET IN THE HOLE!''

The ball, of course, did not go in the hole. Your world-class golfers miss a surprising number of short putts. Too much squatting, if you ask me.

''NO!'' shouted the crowd, when the ball stopped, maybe an inch from the hole.

Some men seemed to be near tears; some were cursing openly. These people were FURIOUS at the ball. They did not blame Jack. Jack worked HARD to line up this putt, and here this idiot ball LET HIM DOWN.

But Jack was magnanimous. He tapped the ball in, and the fans applauded wildly, as well they should have, because it is not every day that you see a person cause a little ball to roll six feet.

When Jack had acknowledged the applause, the next famous world-class golfer in his group, John Daly, began considering the many, many complex factors involved in his putt, which he will probably be ready to attempt no later than June. Let me know if he makes it. I'll be in the grass just beyond the refreshment area, rolling around like a dog.

Looooooooooong time...

Hola! guys

Been a long time... How have you been?

Here is my manuscript of the time that went by!

http://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=sbhaskar77&P=&AID=4047641&CID=0&T=1&E=Y
http://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=sbhaskar77&P=&AID=4019256&CID=0&T=1&E=Y

Feel free to check the other folders ;-)

cheers!
Bhaskar

Go Horns!

Yeah! Go Horns!!
Thats the war cry for the Longhorns - the (American) Football League team of Austin. The people are so crazy about football... And Texans especially!

I shall post more updates / pics of my trip... so, keep watching!!!

Bhaskar

Awesome Pondy!!

well... kgpians would definitely get misled by the title.. apologies for the klpd, but i am talking about Pondicherry.

it was my second visit to the place and sure, i wish to go back there again asap! the first time, i had explored the city on a bicycle. this time, i explored the place on my car. but both the times, the nerve center was the aurobindo ashram by the sea. the exotic french setting of the locality adds sheen to the whole experience. (some road names around the secretariat are like "rue de saint loius", "rue suffren",...!)

apart from the drive on the road-by-the-sea, this time we also wanted to get down into the waters. and that took us to the auroville beach, but by the time we reached there people were moving out already (night :() anyways, that did not deter us from getting our feet (and much more!) wet. but we did miss seeing the french babes by the beach ;-)

we also heard and saw the sign board to another chunnambar beach the other side of the city. i guess my next trip would take us first to the beach and then everything else.

another high point of the place was our dinner at hotel saravana bhavan. awesome food at nominal prices. we made the most of it!! (it would fill another couple of paras to just name all the grub we ate.. the waiter couldnt conceal his surprise (shock?) ;)

and you know? premium petrol is just abt 47 bucks there... heaven!!
i can go on and on... but then, you should experience it for the ultimate impact!

well... next on cards...
mumbai and amsterdam enroute the usofa this weekend ;-)

later,
Bhaskar

Time..

It is that time of the year (should i say that time of the month... or week..?!) when the travel bug bites me...

This friday me (well there are others too) and my fiesta are off to Neyveli and Pondicherry.. visiting my uncle in the nice cozy township of the lignite mines and catching some sea breeze across the mini state.

Well.. I shall update you on my return.. There are more trips in the offing ;-)
Take care.. Be good!

Bhaskar