Chand sifarish... @ HTS Utsav 2006

Don't know why i never put this up before.

My experience of leading my company (Honeywell Technology Solutions Pvt Ltd - HTSL) music band, for the first time, at the company annual day.

16 Dec 2006

Singing in front of an 8000 strong crowd, at the Palace Grounds in Bangalore, it was one of the most heady, and memorable experiences in my life.

This song, Chand Sifarish (originally from the movie Fanaa, sung by Shaan) was the opening song of our twenty minute performance.

The team of performers consisted mostly of people who had never performed in front of such a big crowd ever in their life. Despite this, the confidence with which they performed, and the sheer hardwork they put into gaining that confidence, was what made the show such a huge success. The cheers of "Once more! Once more!" and crescendo of applause that greeted our show, made our efforts more than worth it

Looking forward to rocking HTS again, at Utsav 2007
The coutdown has begun...

The watcher in 'the' eye...

Model - Canon EOS 400D Digital (SLR)

ExposureTime - 1/250 seconds

Exposure mode - Tv-priority

FNumber - 6.30

ExposureProgram - Shutter priority

ISO - 400

Movie Review: Heyy Babyy

Name: Heyy babyy! Genre: Comedy Director: Sajid Khan Music: Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy Cast: Akshay Kumar, Fardeen Khan, Ritesh Deshmukh, Vidya Balan, Boman Irani and Johaina :-) My rating: 3.5/5

Boys will be boys. Or will they be?

A story of three boys, who grow up from being playboys, to loving fathers, with the arrival of an unexpected ‘Angel’ baby in their life, Sajid Khan - Sajid Nadiawala’s “Heyy Babyy!” is a comedy-cum-melodramatic flick, which will leave you with a sweet feeling tingling in your heart.

Aroush (Akshay Kumar), Tanmay (Ritesh Deshmukh) and Al(i) (Fardeen Khan) are three happy-go-lucky young men, living as a family in Sydney, mostly flirting and dating. Their adventurous life goes into a tizzy, when one morning, they find a few-months-old girl child on their doorstep. After the initial blame game, as to who the child’s father is, and a vain attempt, to find the child’s mother, they are left with no option, but to take care of the kid. But this task, not being their cup of tea, they lose their sleep and peace of mind, which causes them to mess up their jobs, and they get fired. Blaming the child for all their misfortunes, they decide to get rid of her, by abandoning her. But an unusual turn of circumstances, and a miracle, which saves the baby from death, changes the hearts of the young men, who make the child, the center of their lives, and bring her up as their child, ‘Angel’.

Enter Esha (Vidya Balan), the mother of the girl child, who comes as a nightmare, in their fairy tale life, and takes the kid away from the father-trio. This is when they realize, that the child belongs to Aroush, and that Esha wants to avenge his betrayal to her. Aroush tries to apologize to Esha, and expresses his desire to marry her, but she is hell bent on teaching Aroush a lesson. The rest of the story is about the ardent attempts of Aroush and his friends, to try and win the Esha’s heart and get their bundle of joy, back into their home, assisted by Esha’s father (Boman Irani)

While the first half hour makes you roll with laughter, seeing the endeavors of three men trying to handle a child, the rest of the movie tugs at your heart, watching their fervent attempts, to try and see the child in some way or the other, and to regain her from her mother. Akshay Kumar delivers a stellar performance both in the comic and sentimental parts of the movie and the rest of the characters evolve around him very well. On one hand, his superb comic timing will have you in splits and on the other, his fine acting in the sad scenes, especially the ones, in which he is separated from his child, will bring tears to your eyes. He is very well supported by Ritesh Deshmukh and Fardeen Khan who play their roles with great finesse. The way three of them gel together in all the phases of the film, make them very endearing. On the other hand, after the sweet girl-next-door kind of roles in Parineeta and Lage raho Munnabhai, Vidya Balan, who plays a hungry-for-revenge girl and mother, who is cheated by the person she loved, is a revelation in the new kind of role she plays. But the most memorable part of the movie, easily, is the babyy ‘Angel’ (Johaina), who looks so cute and adorable, that you can’t help but wish, that you had a child like her. Her expressions in the entire movie fill your heart with unbounded joy.

Music by Shankar Ehsaan and Loy is above average – the title song, and the ‘Mast Kalandar’ songs being the best in the album. But a couple of songs in the movie, which break the pace the story, by unnecessarily being in there, could surely have been done without. But the beautiful background score and the signature tunes in the movie make up for this, by adding flavor to the story. Although the movie does contain a few moments, which could embarrass a family crowd, it is a good entertainer, and definitely worth a watch.

Official site: http://heyybabyy.erosentertainment.com/

Book review: Q & A

Name: Q&A Genre: Fiction Author: Vikas Swarup Publishers: Doubleday Price: Rs 395 My rating: 4.5/5 (Must read)

It starts with “I have been arrested. For winning a quiz show”

It ends with “I don’t need it anymore. Because luck comes from within”

And throughout the 300 pages in between, it keeps you riveted, and leaves you simply mesmerized. Whatever be the genre of books you naturally enjoy, this is one book, you will definitely enjoy.

This is the story of an 18 year old boy, from the slum of Dharavi in Mumbai, who goes on to win a billion rupees in a quiz game show called ‘Who will win a Billion’. The boy – Ram Mohammad Thomas – narrates the story of his life, and how he won the game show, and also found a wife, a life long friend and a sister – all this, despite being a poor, uneducated orphan.

Ram is arrested on charges of having cheated to win the game show, by the producers of the show, who cannot – and do not - believe, and feel that it is utterly preposterous, that he had won out of sheer luck. He is saved by a lawyer named Smita, to whom he reveals, how he was able to pull off that unbelievable stunt. For each question in the game show, he recounts an incident in his life, from which he gained the knowledge that helped him answer that particular question.

The story is told in a non-chronological fashion, and is sequenced, instead, according to the questions he was asked in the quiz. As such, there are some episodes of his life, which occur at further stages in his life, being presented earlier in the book. Each of the episodes is a short story in itself with a fresh starting, a problem coming in the middle and how Ram solves it heroically, or escapes by chance. This is followed by the question that he was asked in the quiz. This line of narration increases the charm of the story and will keep you interested and guessing. Towards the end, the there are several twists in the story, which increase the thrill-factor to a crescendo and finish it off with a beautiful flourish.

The author Vikas Swarup touches upon several evils in the Indian society like child abuse, exploitation, fraud, murder, prostitution, through which the hero goes through. The writing style is artistically brilliant. Vikas Swarup paints his characters, situations and events in a way akin to the screenplay of the movie. This adds so much of life to them, that you can actually “view” the story, and not just read it. It is a ready-to-make Bollywood movie story, complete with all the typical masala and one, you will thoroughly relish!

Resaturant review: Lazeez

Name of the restaurant:	Lazeez
Address:	Jyothi Nivas College Road, 3rd block Koramangala. (also on Commercial street) Ph: 4104271
Specialties	Mughalai and tandoori food, rolls
Average cost for two	Rs 200 – 250
My rating	4/5

If you love mughalai food, and want to taste some of the best rolls you’ll ever get in Bangalore, this is the place, you must just not miss, (rather “bookmark”). Period.

I was suggested this place by a couple of my friends here at office. But what aroused my curiosity to try it out at the earliest, was the fact I was told by a Bengali friend of mine, that this place is run by a member of the family which runs an extremely popular restaurant in Kolkatta, called Shiraz.

The restaurant is easy to spot, in Koramangala (I haven’t yet been to the Commercial street branch), on the way to Jyothi Nivas college from the Intermediate ring road, which is a one way. It is in the basement, and you need to look carefully on the right, to spot the blue board, at the level of the road itself. Parking is on the road, on the left side.

I went there with great expectations, and Lazeez more than satisfied me. Between four friends we tried as many as 14 dishes of different varieties. The menu of Lazeez is very extensive, and it will take me, on a decent estimate, atleast ten times to try all of them. But almost all of them I tried were great – so, it’s a good guess, that the others will be delicious too. Some of them I would suggest are the Chicken Roll, the Mutton kati roll, Chicken Kati kabaab, tava chicken and Kalmi kabaab. For the vegetarians, there is biryani, and some good gobi items. Although we tried just one Gobi peshawari, going by the taste of the Chicken biryani, the veg biryani, could be another suggested item.

But something, which will remain in my memory, is the rotis they serve there – in over a hundred restaurants I have tried till date, Lazeez wins hands down for their awesome, thick and fluffy rotis. Don’t count them. Just eat your fill!

One thing I was glad when I came out, was that we went for a brunch there, in an extremely ravenous condition – it helped enormously to hog a lot. And the pleasing part was that, despite this, it cost us roughly 160 bucks per head! If you eat normally, you can be done within 100-125 rupees per head.

Now why didn’t I know about this place before!!

A go at karting!

Had a great time karting this previous weekend. It was the six of us - Arif bhai, Ranu bhabhi, Daada, Bhavin, @mmi and me. Amongst us, only Bhavin had tried his hands at it before and played 'coach' and motivator.

We biked our way to the arena - Grips Go Karting, on Mysore road, and reached there in about an hour. The few people who were already driving on the tracks gave us a glimpse of what was in store for us. It wasn't the best trailer we could see, since a trio of friends, who weren't concentrating too well on their karts, crashed right in the middle of the track, and were subsequently pulled up, and forbidden from driving thenceforth. Although they sustained very minor injuries, the sight was enough to give us a big jolt. It scared Ranu bhabhi so much, that she decided to stay out. It took Arif bhai, quite some cajoling to convince her, albeit, after arranging for a custodian there, to drive alongside her for a couple of laps, till she found her courage.

The rest of us found it easier, once we were on the karts, and drove a couple of laps. Apart from a particular U - turn, which was the most menacing (and in which Daada crashed into the tyre walls twice), the rest of the track was easily manageable. By the end of the first race, everyone was confident to go for it another time, and drove at much higher speeds than the first time.

The other great part of this outing was Bhavin's Canon EOS400D SLR camera. A powerful camera and a great place to shoot is an unmatchable combo. This time, tried the zoom-past effect, where the surroundings are blurred, and the speeding object is caught static in the middle.

Used a 1/60 s shutter speed for these...





Other photos





Vital Stats:
The Place: Grips Go Karting
Address: Anchepalya, Bangalore - Mysore highway (Mysore). Approx 4 km beyond Kengeri, approx 20 km from Bannerghatta road.
Cost: Rs 100 for 7 bhp engine karts, Rs 200 for 10 bhp engine karts - six laps each
Track length: Approx 500 m
Value for money: Awesome!
Ideal place for half day outings, team outbounds etc.

Friends...

Wanna make friends with me?? :-)

You Are a Good Friend Because You're Accepting

No matter what a friend says or does, you try your best to understand it. And your friends feel like they can tell you anything. You don't judge. You know that friendship is a journey - with a lot of ups and downs. If you and a friend grow apart, you get over it quickly... and leave the potential for future friendship open. You tend to have many friends from many walks of life. Anyone you meet is could become a friend. In fact, you are especially interested in people who are a little different than you. Seeing life from another perspective is something you cherish. Your friends need you most when: They can't turn to anyone else with their secrets You really can't be friends with: Dogmatic, stubborn people Your friendship quote: "Love is blind, but friendship closes its eyes."

What Makes You a Good Friend?

What is your relationship status?

Single / Committed / Married??

Ok… half of you, who have read the title, and the first line, will have already made the connection! And the rest of you will relate to it, when I tell this word: Orkut

Rings the bell?? That question in the profile description on the most popular socializing website around?

Started a few years back as a small online community for the youth to socialize, by a genius from Stanford, it has today become a HUUUUGE rage all around the world, inspiring a plethora of other such communities in the web world, and hogging enormous amount of bandwidth – enough for almost all corporate companies to be forced into banning it at office before long… including mine:-( (those who are still lucky – enjoy!! You too would join us soon!)

And among the several things it has revolutionized, is the paradigm shift it has brought into common parlance. From adding new meanings to ordinary words in normal English, to adding new words to our slang lexicon, to being a part of a person’s identity, and changing the way they keep in touch with people... life's changed so much, since Orkut. Among the new concepts it has enlightened the hither-to ignorant common man, is a person’s relationship status.

One of the fields that get displayed with a person’s profile summary, along with, his/her profile photo, name, age and place, it has gained so much prominence, that it has become an integral part of the picture, a person draws, about another, at the sight of the latter’s profile summary.

A “Single” status – especially if you are a cute guy / girl, and have spiced up your profile – would possibly invite lot of scraps, from ‘interested’ people, who want to make ‘friends’ with you. No offense meant… although this is one of the prime purposes of such an online community, the observation made, is in the perspective of the person’s relationship status. If you are “committed”, statistically, the chances that people would be interested in making ‘friends’ with you, and add entries in your scrap book, of the likes of ‘Your profile looks nice. Can we be friends’, is definitely less.

While the “married” status is normally the poorer and insipid cousin of the first two, the response that evokes curiosity, and raises eyebrows, probably to the greatest extent, is – ‘No answer’. Apart from those young, fresh, or unaware users, who just don’t know what it means, any other user, leaving that question unanswered, would most probably belong to the category – single and mingling :-) – someone who is going around with a person, but isn’t sure of the relationship, or doesn’t want others to be conspicuous about it – yet, cannot “bear the guilt” of claiming to be ‘single’. In other words, it is the silent way of saying – I am not available.

Open marriage, and open relationship – are status messages, which are very rarely used genuinely, alteast in the sub-continent. A person seeing this on your profile, most likely, will probably think you made a mistake, or will know, from the rest of your profile, that you are either acting too smart or funny. The bottom line is that – it is almost always ignored.

Amazed by the degree to which, this question forms a part of an Orkut-user’s cognizance, I decided to put my theory to test, by changing my own status from single, to other different options. These are the conclusions I have drawn from my experiment.

• Changing from Single, to ‘No answer’ mostly, only raises eyebrows. As if to reflect the person’s preference about answering the question, scraps, probing about it, are minimal and normally only from the most active (read jobless) orkut-user-close-acquaintances of the person.
• Changing from Single to Committed (or vice versa) normally sees a huge influx of scraps – manifesting either as curious and congratulatory messages like “Wow!” “Congrats!!” “When? Who?”, or sincere condolences like “Oh… what happened” “Sorry for ya mate!” “Cheer up” – based on which way you change your status.
• People who want to avoid all this attention, showered by the above two cases, normally prefer to not try to be too honest to their own conscience, and show up as Single. So, if some one isn’t too nice to your overtures of ‘friendship’, despite being ‘Single’, this might well be the reason!
• Changing from any status to “married” is just another event, if it is the truth. Since, normally there will be a lot of hullabaloo regarding your wedding, especially in terms of the increased traffic of good wishes (and condolence :-)) scraps, the people who ask you “Oh! Wow! When?” or something similar, are usually far acquaintances of yours, whom you either forgot to invite for your wedding, or knew you once upon a time as a hi-bye friend.

So next time you look at some person’s relationship status, you’ll definitely know to take it with a pinch of salt. For all you know, it could be as much, or even more deceptive than the rest of his profile.

PS:By the way. I am ‘married’ :-) and really lucky, that my parents belong to the not-so-web-savvy generation. They definitely would not take my answer(s) to this question too lightly!! :-)

Closing statement:

Due condolences to Mr. Adnan Patrawala, one of the unfortunate preys to the ugly side of this extremely cogent online community. Please make sure, that your personal security will be your prime concern while using them. Be responsible, stay safe.

Love is...

Confidence...

"What if I love you enough…

Still I feel the need to love you more….

And what if I realized you are my life…

Still I think of you more than my life

What if you are not with me always…..

Still I feel you around here everytime…

May be I am crazy…

So what … you won’t get anyone better than me :-)"

An email that made my day... at the fag end of it...

Top 10 things about my Sunday - the 5th of August

Ten:

Deciding to take our helmets with us, all around on the hill, rather than depositing it at the counter – They came very much in handy, and saved us from being frost bitten by the cold showers and even-colder wind.

Nine:

The photo of the three of us, with helmets on – ala Paresh Rawal, Akshay Kumar and Suniel Shetty, in Herapheri – shot, while we were taking respite from the heavy downpour, on the verandah of an un-occupied guest house, just before starting back. The best souvenir of our trip.

Eight:

The bowl of hot and spicy tomato soup we had at lunch, which brought the much needed warmth into our bodies, and revived the energy in us that had been sapped by the cold on the hill station.

Seven:

Deciding to go to Nandi hills, which would have more people, and where atleast MaaNi had been to, once before, rather than the KalaivarihaLLi beTTa which, despite being our initial planned destination, would have been completely alien to us, more likely to be deserted, and a not-so-wise choice for the rainy day it was today.

Six:

The drizzle at noon, and the heavy showers in the late afternoon – both, which spread a blanket of thick fog on the hill, which truly made the experience of being there today, akin to strolling in the heavens…

Five:

Going on a bike trip after a long time – almost eight months, since my last bike trip to KemmaNNugunDi.

Four:

Escaping with almost no injuries, from the fall, at a railway crossing, on the way back, where the track was dangerously displaced from the level of the road, and worse still – was extremely slippery, coz of the rain. Had it been worse, it would have spoilt the wonderful day, we had had, until then.

Three:

The mesmerizing picturesque beauty of, and around the hill… the brilliant birds-eye-view from the various cliff edges of the hill… the intoxicating breeze which makes you want to sit there... forever, and let it speak with your soul… the paradise called Nandi hills…

Two:

Waking up at 8:30 am, deciding all at once to go biking, making an ad hoc plan, without a route or a destination… Setting out, with an always-up-for-an-adventure friend MaaNi, and a sweet-and-sporty sweetheart, @mmi… and making it another red-letter-day in life.

One:

Today being Friendship day… receiving friendship messages in the densely foggy and romantic environs atop the hill… being there with two of my closest friends, and enjoying with them… And most importantly… having some really great friends in life, who make life much more worth living, than it would otherwise be…

Happy friendship day friends!

More photos from the trip, below

A team outing at Golden Palms

We were supposed to start at 11 am.
We finally started at 12:30 pm.

We were supposed to travel three hours max, both ways, to and fro, the Golden Palms resort. We got stuck up in bad traffic jams both times, and ended up four and a half hours in the cab.

We were supposed to play a lot of team building games and get to know each other much better. Time permitted us to play just one game, after an elaborate round of introduction.

Ideally, the entire team was supposed to be there. Team members in Phoenix, Madurai and those who could not join, were present only in spirt.

Hmmm... Murphy's law ruling at large, you'd say?? On the face of it, maybe yes... But just as Murphy's law didn't say the other half of the story - what other than or after, what could go wrong, did go wrong - the above half of the story, tells only the most forgettable (and at the end of the day - insignificant) part of our team outing.

Our team - the Test Tools and Test Executive team - under Sumit, had suddenly swollen up from eight members to twenty one, within a span of three months, with the commencement of the ambitious and unprecedented Core ATE project, and the existing projects getting more people on board, to handle the burgeoning work flow. And suddenly, the small conference rooms, in which we used to have our team meetings, seated comfortably, now started looking like a BTS bus in the rush hours!! So, along with the decision to move over to bigger rooms, came the plan, to 'build' the team and become more familiar with each other (read - know about their dark secrets, so that we can pull their leg some other time!! :-D )

VJ mailed to Admin team to begin executing the plan. He got replies. Mailed again. Got more replies. Sumit too mailed. He too got replies.

Finally, we, the team, got the announcement - 31st July, 11 am to 6 pm... we were going to build :-) in the Golden Palms Resort on the outskirts of Bangalore city.



31 July 11 am... came.. and went... Everyone was so busy at their desks, that it looked liked they were struck by a bolt of amnesia. Except for VJ (and may be those, who would not be joining us :-P ). VJ played sentry, and hovered all around, looking for the all-elusive cab that was supposed to ferry us. Sumit walked around to see everyone so immersed in their desktops, that he looked partially frustrated, and i guess, partially doubtful, if he had got the date of the outbound wrong!

12:30 pm. Cab apparated (refer Harry Potter!) in front of office building. 13 out of 21 from the team, after some cajoling, boarded the cab. Anamika, from the HR team joined in. The spirits of the unavailable 8 members, floated in through the windows :-) We drove off.

How about Dumb Charades, called VJ and Rama. Yeahhhhhhh... hooted the others. Start Dumb C. Everyone got a chance to mime (and the rest, to laugh at them, and guess the answers!) Sumit delved into the huge list of movies he'd watched, and came out with some real toughies... Ashish got frustrated miming the movie 360 degrees. Manu found it difficult to be dumb!! (How dumb!! he he) Lot of movies got mimed and guessed in between. And before we knew, we'd travelled a hour and half, and reached the resort.

Camera... click... click!!
Thank you!!

Tummies growled loudly. None of them spoke much. Everyone headed for the dining hall in the resort, without worrying too much about other things around, driven by hunger.

Food was good. Time was short. All ate well. I mostly talked.
Saranya ate pulav, Shenba devoured rotis, Manu had chaats... i ended up only telling stories.
Time up! called Sumit. Ashish, followed by VJ came to gag me and carry me out.

Tummies full. Smiles all around. All looking smug! The thought definitely crossed all our minds, for a moment... that we wouldn't mind getting a good fluffy bed, for an afternoon siesta.

We'd expected to be playing some games, being close to nature... may be in a lawn or garden. Instead, we were shown to a conference room, whose big deep chairs refused to lean back! Probably they expect people to doze off during conferences, if such comfortable chairs are provided, and have steered clear of taking that responsibility!!

We began with some 'Animal talk'... I mean... Anamika suggested that we identify an animal / bird / reptile / any living creature other than human, which we felt resembled us the most. Not many were ready for this, with the lights in the upper chamber of the head gone out, after the wonderful meal!! I got ragged into going first, after desperate attempts all around to make the others, the first bakra!

"Chamaleon", I said... It took a moment to sink... Why? echoed voices all around... Coz i change my colors often (what the hell was I blabbering, a voice in my brain asked me) - and before I realized, loud applause and hooting from friends, passed this resolution unanimously... I maintained a dumb silence.

Prashant went next with 'Elephant'. Everyone gasped. You need to eat thrice what you eat now for that, suggested Sumit. 'It is for the calm demeanour... i meant' Prashant continued... hmmm... we all agreed... It sure does take quite an effort to unsettle him!! :-)

Then there were the sleepy polar bear, the focussed hawk, the free-to-roam whale, the calm-until-provoked bear, the industrious ant, the sturdy horse, the kingly lion.... a tweety bird... a Superman-monkey (no guesses who that is!! )... Wow!! felt like in a zoo, with talking animals and birds!!!

A tea-break later, I was again ragged - This time, to sing a song. I obliged with 'Nothing's gonna change my love for you' and i actually got an applause for it!! And then... i did not mind having been ragged!!

Next.. it was time for a formal intro, with a rider - to tell something what no one else in the room, knew about oneself... Skeletons came tumbling out of the closet... and so did, some hidden talents, some deep desires, and some great achievements too... There was someone who had proposed to a teacher (wohhhh!), some one who could write on grains of rice, some great players of hockey and cricket, some one born in Angola (woohhhhh!) some leaders of clubs... And all of a sudden... it felt like sitting inside a talent power-house... with a pack of extemely gifted and unique individuals... A super team we are, we all realized...

The only game we played, was the one in which we had to build a pyramid with paper cups, split into three teams. The cups had to be picked up with a lasso having multiple threads tied to a rubber band, and which needed to be pulled and released to emulate the holding action.

Strategies made. Practice done. Contest started. Prashant's team was well organized, and built an awesome pyramid. VJ's team was almost there. Our team thought out-of-the-box and came out with an innovative ploy - pulled out a loophole out of the rules, built a huge base using glass cups from the conference tables, and made a big pyramid. VJ's pyramid got blown off, Prashant's pyramid held on, and got hailed... Ours... ?? tch tch... not everyone values "different" ideas!! :-P how sad!!

We all discussed what we learnt out of the game... Resource planning, co-ordination, leadership, strategy, knowledge of constraints, etc etc... WOW!! I never knew common sense had so many synonyms!! And then there were some other observations, which were derived by relating to life at office... but, ahem... ahem... can't reveal them here... coz they belong to the the category 'Those-which-must-not-be-named' and 'You-know-what' !!

After all this, Anamika and Amal left early, while the rest of us killed some time playing some snooker and carrom, and started back at around 6 pm. Somewhere on the way out of the resort, we all got "heady" and got this...

But the true team building and fun, was on the way back... After another round of songs I sang, we switched to Antakshari... An hour later we got tired of that... And then came the brilliant idea of singing songs, simultaneously, in two languages... While the Tamil buddies sung some of the most popular songs in Tamil, the rest of us, went in harmony, with the Hindi version of the same - Roja, Saathiya (Alaipayutha), Jeans, Hindustani (Indian),.... Unity in diversity, team building any one?? See HERE... See HERE!!

The rain came down hard and fast, outside... the cab crawled back through the evening traffic on the flooded roads... and the mood and songs inside... reached a crescendo, and stayed like that, until we got back into the campus.

8:30 pm. The curtains came down, on one of the best Tuesdays in my two years here at Honeywell. We sure were had grown into a closer knit team over that span of 8 hours... Now, if that was the end objective... it had, for certain, got an E - exceeding expectations...

Book review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Name: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Author: J K Rowling Publishers: Bloomsburry Price: Rs 950/- My rating: 4.5/5

A search for ‘Harry Potter’ in Google would return you a staggering 394 million results. This review, is just one of the drops of the ocean out there on the net. This series has become such a legendary phenomenon, that the world now consists of just two types of people – those who know him, and those who want to. And it is no surprise, that the people from the latter category are moving over to the former, in thousands and millions by the day – considering that the series is the third highest selling book ever, in history, and that, it has made the author J K Rowling, richer than the queen of England, and the only billionaire author ever.

Coming straight to the point - The last book in the series, ‘The Deathly Hallows’ is my best amongst the seven books. It was really worth going in the wee hours of the morning of 21^st July, to the book store, where I had pre-ordered for it and enduring the serpentine queue, to lay my hands on it. J K Rowling has given the decade old saga, a befitting end – a wonderfully studded one, at that. She has closed several story threads, which remained open in the previous books, very artistically. Although, there are some small niggles which remain unanswered in the book, by and large, it gives a good satisfaction of having reached the end of a journey, which has held readers around the world riveted for years.

The story revolves around the quest of Harry Potter, and his friends Hermionie and Ron, to find the ‘Horcruxes’ of the evil Lord Voldermort, and destroy them, to kill him. What the ‘Deathly Hallows’ are, gets revealed somewhere in the middle of the story – and I wouldn’t rob you the suspense of finding it out for yourself. As for the question regarding whether the hero Harry, lives the war or not, I bet, almost everyone who has already read it, me included, would have definitely flipped through the last few pages, to find out the answer, before they got done with the entire book. The rest of them would know about it, from these people, who would nearly be celebrating the fact that Harry survives, as if he were a real hero, not just a fictional character.

The point is this. If you are a Potter fan, you would have already, or in will, in due course, read this book, irrespective of what I say here – be it in the form of a original copy borrowed from a friend, a pirated one picked up from a sidewalk on a street, or just the pirated pdf version which is doing the rounds in the emails. If you aren’t yet one, and if you like fiction and fantasy… or simply, are a lover of outstanding pieces of literary work… then... just don’t miss it!!

I love JKR…

A hiatus...

Its been more than a month now... since I have taken a break from active blogging. My last significant piece of literary work on my blog was the short story on Global Warming, 90° N 0° W I had written for my company e magazine. And although it recieved really rave reviews from my readers, I have been struggling to get back my momentum on writing something similar - the same momentum that had helpled me slog 15 hours in 3 straight days to get that story complete in the nick of time, before the magazine went through for the month.

I do have good reasons to cite for this break... Initially, I'd been busy preparing for and taking my GMAT, which although went well, was a disappointment for me, coz i was not able to score as well had expected to. The weekend after that, I was busy with a Volleyball inter-corporate touranment, in which me made it to the semifinals in our first outing since i've joined Honeywell two years back. The weekend after that, i'd been to my native, after two months. The weekend after that, was my TOEFL exam - for which i barely prepared, and which rubbed more salt into my wounds of a not-so-good GMAT performance - I screwed up the speaking section in it (Speaking!! That too ME!!! Of all sections?? This, for a person who's the youngest trainer in the history of his company!! What an anticlimax!!). I still await the results of that test.

In between, and after these major events, i've been busy with a fresh influx of work at office - trying to make up for the short days i'd worked while busy with my exams, while remaining afloat in the deluge of new work! Add to it - release of the the much-awaited last book in the Harry Potter series - Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows (which i had pre-ordered) and a belated gift I got from Shalu di - The Google story - awakened the bookworm in me, which had been starved of good books for the past three months coz of my GMAT preparation... I'll take another week atleast to finish both these books...) - which means, i'm not yet done with my writing break!

Whew!! (pant pant!!) Lot of things i've been involved in lately - except for some creative writing... Realizing that i needed to gear up, and sharpen my worsmithy skills for the upcoming apping times for my dream B-schools, and to finish another story I have promised for the next edition of our magazine, i have made this desperate attempt to offload my heart and mind of a burden...

Aah.. that feels better... guess the next short story is just around the corner somewhere!

Free hugs... (INEPS Campaign)

One of the most heart-warming videos I have seen in a long time... With a wonderful message at the end...

I wouldn't want to steal the magic from the video by explaining a lot about it... watch it for the impact it makes! :-)

Thanks to Divya, my friend, for sending me this one...



And here are the lyrics of the song i found on the net: (Thanks bonafide)

I don't mind where you come from
As long as you come to me
I don't like illusions I can't see
Them clearly

I don't care no I wouldn't dare
To fix the twist in you
You've shown me eventually
What you'll do

I don't mind...
I don't care...
As long are you're here

Go ahead tell me you'll leave again
You'll just come back running
Holding your scarred heart in hand
It's all the same
And I'll take you for who you are
If you take me for everything
Do it all over again
It's all the same

Hours slide and days go by
Till you decide to come
And in between it always seems too long
All of a sudden

And I have the skill, yeah I have the will
To breathe you in while I can
However long you stay
Is all that I am

I don't mind...
I don't care...
As long are you're here

Go ahead tell me you'll leave again
You'll just come back running
Holding your scarred heart in hand
It's all the same
And I'll take you for who you are
If you take me for everything
Do it all over again
It's always the same

Wrong or right
Black or white
If I close my eyes
It's all the same

In my life
The compromise
I close my eyes
It's all the same

Go ahead say it you're leaving
You'll just come back running
Holding your scarred heart in hand
It's all the same
And I'll take you for who you are
If you take me for everything
Do it all over again
It's all the same...

(Translation of the message:
AIDS is not transmitted this way.
But love is.
Together let us fight discrimination.
)

Resaturant review: City Choice Restaurant

Name Location: Pros: Cons

City Choice Restaurant (Non – Veg) 16th Main, BTM II Stage (Next to Udupi Garden restaurant) Very reasonable prices, good food, good location. No parking space of its own.

Other than the non-availability of seats on weekends, the other major concern regarding eating out in Bangalore is the exorbitant cost involved in it. A huge consumer base, consisting predominantly of the IT folks in Bangalore, and the shortage of restaurants, with good food, has driven the cost of eating in the “good” restaurants northwards.

City Choice Restaurant in 16^th Main, BTM II Stage provides you the best of the two worlds – great food at extremely reasonable rates. Sample this – Tandoor, Chinese starters – Rs. 35-60, Side dishes – Rs. 40 – 60. Rice items – Rs 50 – 60. Roti, naan etc – Rs. 8 – 15… and for the quality of food you get there, you’ll really start wondering if it you are sitting in a restaurant in such a central location in Bangalore. Some of my favorites include – Pepper Chicken, Lemon Chicken, Kalmi kabab, Methi Kulcha, Chicken Biryani and Kadai Chicken.

This restaurant probably may not be the place where you would want to go to, on a team lunch, or if ambience plays a great role in your eat-out experience. The ambience is average – nothing special to mention about. But if food is on your mind – you can still enjoy it on the comfortable couches, on tables separated by high dividers, which give you decent privacy. One more hitch, is the non-availability of parking place associated with the restaurant. You may need to park your vehicle a little away, in one of the by-lanes nearby.

So, for all those staying in and around BTM, this would be a good place to savor some delicious Mughalai and Tandoor food, without having to worry about making your purse very much lighter.

90° N 0° W

(All characters in this story are fictional, and any resemblance to any person, dead or alive is purely co-incidental)

As the vessel glided northwards, in the tranquil waters of the Arctic, the number of icebergs in sight, began to increase steadily. Ryan Marcus Whitman stood on the deck of Christopher 2, peering through his 120 diopter powerful binoculars, admiring the unbridled beauty of the ice caps in the distance. As his wife, Paula came and stood alongside him, he lowered them and turned around and looked into her eyes. Words failed him. But Paula could see the tremendous sense of exhilaration he felt, in those small bright eyes of his, set deep in his face, among wrinkles. She gave him a hug, and said "You've done it, honey... you've done it!!" He held her close, and two huge drops of tears from his eyes fell on her shoulders. "No… WE have done it… My childhood dream...” He couldn't say any more.

***

In 52 years of his years of his life, Ryan Whitman had seen, and done, almost everything, he had always wanted to. From being a malnourished child, who was brought up by his single mother, after the early death of his father, on the farms of Kansas, to being one of the most influential men in the world today, as the head of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), for Global Warming, he had come a long long way. The story of his life was the stuff legends were made of, and had inspired millions, the world over, in the form of his best selling autobiography. He was hard-work, resilience, business acumen, diplomacy - all virtues personified, and was known for his brilliant oratory and persuasive skills and an uncanny ability to win over people to his line of thought. As the top guy of the UNEP (GW), he played a major role in the formulation of the policies of the UN to control the menace of global warming.

The other half of Whitman, which made him such an interesting individual, was his avid love for adventure and travel. He had been an adventure freak - taking risks and chasing thrills - ever since his childhood. Many attributed his phenomenal success as a businessman and diplomat, to this attitude of his. He religiously followed the practice of taking a few weeks off, every year, from his busy life, to go on a new adventure, in a new part of the world, different from the one he had undertaken previously in his life. And both as a cause and effect of this hobby of his, he was very strong and healthy, and had undertaken several arduous ventures, which, many people, even half his age, wouldn’t dare to, or be fit enough for. In fact, he had met his wife, as a youngster, during one such adventure. They both were a part of the team that had gone cycling in the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, and since then, been on all adventures together, as man and wife.

Among his most coveted adventures, walking the Poles of the Earth was something which had been a long-standing dream of his. He wanted to achieve the rare feat of having traveled from one 'end' of the globe to the other - Literally! And despite having gone on numerous such escapades, to various corners of the earth, the poles had eluded him for one reason or the other. Now finally, the time had come. He had planned to celebrate his 53rd birthday, on the North Pole, and started his voyage to the part of the earth, where every direction, pointed south – The North Pole 90° N 0° W.

On 16 September 2017, he and his team were seen off from Point Barrow, Alaska, (71°18 N, 156°44 W) by his adopted son William, and a group of friends and well-wishers. His team included his wife, six other adventurers headed by ace Arctic explorer Evgeny Mikhalov who had already walked the North Pole thrice before, and Captain Donald Crowell and his crew of 18 people, on board Christopher 2. Their plan was to sail from Barrow, through the Beaufort Sea, into the Arctic Ocean, and reach the North Pole from the West, covering approximately 1150 miles along the way. Out of this, they expected the last - approximately - 160 miles to be covered by ice, which they planned to cover on skis and sledges.

***

Whitman’s walkie talkie cackled. It was Evgeny Mikhalov on the line.

“Mr. Whitman, we’d hit the ice within an hour. You wanna come in here, into the control room? – over!”

“We’re coming Eve – over and out!”

Whitman and his wife went into the control room of the ship, where Captain Donald and Mikhalov were sitting, staring at the computers.

“How’s it going, champions?!” Whitman called, as he entered the cabin.

“We should have already been on land – ice – by now, Mr. Whitman… The ice has receded far beyond last time, when I’d been year couple of years back” Mikhalov shrugged.

“That’d mean…”

“That means that the green house gases have eaten up a lot of the ice caps… And logically, it’d be fair to assume that the thickness of the ones still there, would have also reduced… That would make skiing more risky, than you’d be comfortable with…” Mikhalov said, with a slight concern on his face, his brows, furrowed in thought.

He turned back to the computers. Whitman came and leaned over his shoulder, and began studying the computers. Suddenly he saw a huge ice mountain emerge, on the left side of the display, and exclaimed “WOW! That’s huge!!”

Captain Donald, Evgeny and Paula looked at what Whitman was pointing at. It was a huge ice mountain – lying about 1800 m to left of their navigation passage.

“True…” Evgeny said, peering at the display monitor closely, “that’s one of the biggest I too have ever seen”

“What say Captain…?” Whitman turned to Captain Donald, with a sparkle in his eye “you think we can go slightly closer to that mountain to get a better look?”

Captain Donald was thoughtful for a few moments, and said… “Probably, we can… provided the path is clear. If the radars detect any huge mass of ice beneath the water, along way, we’ll have to retreat…” he finished, looking questioningly, at the three.

Whitman gave him a thumbs-up. “Cool!” said Evgeny. Paula smiled brightly.

Captain Donald turned to the navigator, and said “Mike, Lets go towards that mountain…” He turned back to the control console and continued “… and I’ll have to make sure, that everything along the way is safe”

Mike turned the ship 20⁰ to the left, away from their planned path, and the ship headed for the ice mountain. Whitman, Evgeny and Paula went out, on to the deck. Their eyes were all fixed on the mesmerizing beauty of the mammoth ice structure.

“Loving it, Mr. Whitman?” Evgeny asked.

“Every single bit of it” Whitman replied, without taking his eyes off the magnificent sight in front of him.

Evgeny smiled. “This is just the beginning…” he said, and then went to a slightly higher point on the deck, a little further, took out his camera, and began shooting pictures. The winds started getting colder and more intense.

When they were around 300 yards from the mountain, the ship slowly began changing its direction, so as to align itself to get back on to its main path, and slowed down, about 180 yards from the mountain.

Whitman’s walkie-talkie cackled again. It was Captain Donald. “Folks… that’s as close as we can get. Now we get back on to our path - Over!”.

“Okay Captain… And thanks for the favor - Over!”

“My pleasure, Mr. Whitman - Over and out!”

As the ship just began to gather speed, there was a loud crunching noise. Whitman, Evgeny and Paula looked up from the LCD display of the camera, on which, the three were admiring the pictures of the ice mountain, Evgeny had just shot.

The noise was emanating from the ice mountain they’d just visited. Evgeny rushed towards the rails of the deck of the ship, closest to the mountain, craning his neck, and straining his eyes, to see what was happening. He was blinded partially because the sun had moved into a position that caused the ice mountain to reflect the rays from its surface. When his eyes got used to the light, and he could see better, his jaw dropped. “SH*T!!” he screamed. He backed off, and made a dash for the control room.

From the sound, and Evgeny’s reaction, Whitman guessed that the worst nightmare they had ever expected to see, had come alive. He grabbed Paula by her hand and ran after Evgeny.

As Whitman and Paula entered the cabin, the emergency alarm went off and began blaring loudly. The control room was in a commotion.

“Mike… FLOOR THE THROTTLE! FAST!!” Captain Donald was yelling at his navigator. “I’m doing my best Captain…” Mike cried, clenching his teeth hard.

Noises of steps hurrying towards the cabin were heard. Within seconds, all the members were in the cabin. The noise from the mountain had now become a roar, and everyone was looking outside, through the window, at the giant creaking bulk of ice.

Captain Donald commanded “Guys… Look here. Listen to me!! Get into your life jackets and get the life boats ready! NOWWW!” Even before he completed his sentence, his voice was drowned by the deafening roar outside. Everyone looked outside, aghast!

The huge ice mountain broke, at about three fourths of its size from left, and slid down from the mass of ice still standing. This brought into view, the full breadth of the mountain – which now showed up to be about quarter a mile wide. It fell into the ocean, with a thunderous sound.

The crew on Christopher looked at it wide-eyed, too panicked to move an inch. The sound of the splash was so loud, that it felt like they were standing on an airport runway, when a plane was taking off right above their head. “Christopher calling… Christopher calling… We have an EMERGENCY!” Mike was yelling over the radio.

As they stared, terror-struck, they could see a huge wave welling up from the point, the ice mountain had sunk. “Jesus save us” someone mumbled. And before they could even realize, the huge wall of water rose like a giant in front of them, lifted the ship from underneath, and capsized it, drowning the shrieks of those in it.

***

The cold waters of the Arctic hit Whitman heavily on his face. Paula’s hands were in his, for a few seconds, and then he lost her. His entire body went frigid, and the water had entered his nose and ears. Something hard hit him on his legs. He felt a surge of pain, which made him shudder. He opened his mouth to scream, but the arctic waters gushed into his lungs.

For a moment, his mind failed him. But the expert swimmer in him, quickly brought him back to his senses. He was finding it difficult to hold on, now having lost the oxygen in his lungs to the injury on his legs. He began flapping his arms, trying to get to the surface.

“Com’on, Com’on Com’on Com’on ….” He kept urging himself. Just when he felt that his time was up, he broke through the surface. He coughed hard a couple of times, and took a few huge gasps of air in. His injured legs, which now felt like two huge blocks of ice, dangling from his hips, were beginning to fail him.

He looked around. No one! There wasn’t a trace of anyone else. He turned around, and started searching desperately for something from the wrecked ship, to float on. He found a piece of tarpaulin, a few yards away. He summoned every bit of courage and strength remaining in him, and began swimming towards the tarpaulin, constantly telling himself “Com’on, Com’on… you can do it… Com’on, COM’ON…”

He caught on to the tarpaulin in some time. When he touched it, the frost that had bitten his hands, made him feel, as if they weren’t his own. He gave a huge grunt of effort, trying to get on to the tarpaulin. The rest of his body refused to join him. He stopped, took a deep breath again, and heaved himself up again, giving out a wail. The tarpaulin wobbled, and threatened to overturn, but he managed to hold on his balance and get on to the tarpaulin. Once on the tarpaulin, he gave a huge sigh of relief, balanced himself properly, and slumped on it, utterly exhausted.

***

Six years back… June 2011 … He had been a part of the G10 (Earlier, the G8, it had been rechristened G10, with the addition two of the largest growing economies of the world – India and China) summit, for the Global Warming discussions, for the first time when a separate organization was created by the UNEP, to combat the evil of Global Warming on a war footing, and come up with drastic measures to curb it.

Whitman, like many other officials, and heads of states of the G10 nations at the meet, had his hands tied by the powerful industrial lobbies from their countries. The writing on the wall was very clear to them - They had to do more… much more than they had been doing over the previous years, to bring the situation on to the radar of control, let alone into hand!!

The warnings of Global Warming which were becoming increasingly manifested in bizarre climate changes all over the world and the pressure from Green Peace and scores of other organizations around the world weighed increasingly on them. Protests against the summit were assuming larger proportions, and becoming difficult to ignore. Add to it, the additional arm of authority created by the UN for this purpose – all these factors notwithstanding, the policies adopted at the end of the summit, left a lot to be desired. It was plain evident, that business sense was out-weighing common sense, despite the threat looming large over the life of Earth.

Year after year they kept adding more stringent measures as action points for the G10 nations, the major contributor of the Green House gases – the main culprit behind Global Warming. Despite this, the gap between the steps taken and the menace, had just kept widening…

***

Ryan Whitman opened his eyes… the memories that were haunting his subconscious had rudely woken him up, from his exhaustion-induced sleep. He took a few moments to realize where he was. His entire body had crumpled and the muscles of his stomach and hands had developed spasms. As for his legs, he couldn’t even feel them now. He raised his head with lot of effort, and looked around. There was nothing, but a few icebergs in the distance, and blue waters all around. There was no sight of any of his companions… no sight of Paula… He cringed. His mind wept, but the eyes were too weary to give out any tears…

If the harbor control room had known of their ship wreck immediately, and had flown a chopper to their rescue, it would still take a couple of hours to reach him, Too long!! I would be stone dead by then… he thought…

The flashback of his entire life, appeared in front of his eyes…The demon, which he and the world had tried to ignore for long, and fight from the back, rather than take head on, had engulfed him today… He wished from the core of his heart, to go back alive, so that he could make a difference henceforth atleast… but he knew, he had lost his chance…“I’m sorry, people of the world...” he said, looking up into the skies.

With one final attempt, he heaved his body around, and slid off the tarpaulin, into the Arctic Ocean.

*****