Photos From Road Trip

Shadows

Horse Bend Shoe near Page , Arizona. The setting sun was creating the awesome colors.

Antelope Canyon, Page, Arizona. Beautiful patterns and color created by nature. Do visit this place.

PJ#6

Q.What would you call the enmity between a certain  Mr.Khan and a certain Mr.Oberoi over a damsel?
A. Aish-War Yeah!!

PJ#5

My Biology teacher pulled out  a drawing of abdomen and another drawing of respiratory tract and asked me to name it.
I replied - ABS-TRACT art ;)

Movie That I Would Recommend - Thelma & Louise

Here is another  movie that I would  recommend - Thelma & Louise
So if you have nothing to do on a lazy Saturday or Sunday
then you can rent (or legally download) the movie and enjoy.

If you are into road trip movies you will surely like Thelma & Lousie.
Even if you are not, this is a very good watch.

A 1991 movie , directed by "Gladiator" Ridley Scott, this movie is about two ordinary women
under extra-ordinary situations.

And to be clear - Its not a chick-flick. Yes it is a bit feminist but overall a fun movie to watch.

Susan Sarandon is abolutely fantastic as Lousie.
Geena Davis is a revelation. Her Thelma is a character that finally breaks free. Her performance as a naive house-wife and then the transition she undergoes is lovely.

Both the actors share a delightful chemistry and you will start thinking about their safety as well
as start cursing them for their at-times-foolishness. Thats the beauty.

Apart from the actors, what is absolutely breath-taking is the cinematography, the landscape.
If you have travelled across America, you will connect. If you haven't then you will marvel at the landscape.

The male characters in the movie are a little cliched but thats one reason for the extra-ordinary situations. Watch Brad Pitt in one of his earlier movies.

Has a somewhat predictable yet super ending.

An awesome movie about free-spirit, about breaking-free and about friendship.

oh and I forgot to mention Thunderbird :)

I enjoyed it. You might as well !!

Get Your Kicks On Rt 66

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Movie That I Would Recommend - Ballad of a Soldier

Ballad of a Soldier (1959)

Here is a movie that I would highly recommend - Ballad of a Soldier
So if you have nothing to do on a Friday evening or on a lazy Saturday then you can rent (or legally download) the movie and enjoy.

1. Ballad of a Soldier (Lang : Russian)
 A 1959 movie , where a WWII soldier who 'accidentally' becomes a war hero, asks for leave to go home to meet his mother instead of a bravery medal. He is granted a 10 days leave (since the journey time to and back is more than the time he would get with his family). On his way he comes across a number of people, a beautiful charming lady . The chemistry between the soldier and this lady is absolutely absolutely sweet . They don't make them like this anymore.
Does the soldier get to meet his mother? Its sweet and touching.
A simple story with outstanding photography, classic use of light for close-ups and great acting.

I would categorize it as a road movie though its more than that.

The software engineers who need leaves to visit home  will highly appreciate this. In fact, almost everyone who's working away from home can relate to this.

Had seen this movie in Doordarshan (yes good old DD days) years back when I was a kid. Am not sure if I understood it back then, but I do remember being charmed by the soldier and the pretty lady. I rented the DVD few months back and had an excellent time watching it again.

(For people in US, its available on Netflix in streaming. For folks in India, checkout if you can find the DVD or buy it. Worth adding to your personal library).
Highly recommended!!!!

First Loves!

I
Years back I had my first fling. It didn't last long. It would never have.
Though we were together, the 'love' was missing.
'She' had some extra-pounds and I could see she was heavy on my pocket too.
I had just got into my first job and I quickly realized that this wasn't going anywhere.
I ended the relationship and I was happy to be free.

II
About 6 months later I saw 'her'...slim and cute..in a beautiful blue and white outfit...standing out from the crowd. I was captivated. I decided to connect with her...
I had a pretty good time with her. In dark times she would show me the light.
Good times don't last long. One fine day she was gone. I looked for her , searched for her in vain.
I was heart-broken. I finally accepted the truth. I still love her.

III
One of my friend introduced 'her' to me and I was charmed. She was very cute,  a little short, colorful and she had a shine in her. I loved to talk 'with' her. She had become my necessity. My profession took me to a different country and I could not take her with me.
Time went by. When I returned I found that she was not keeping well and one fine day she died.

IV
For some time I was just carrying on....was just unsure of settling down.
I went abroad again and there I met 'her'. It was love at first sight. She was sexy...she was like...magic. She was the one. I couldn't resist her charms...
My trip ended. I had to return back. I couldn't bring her along with me owing to some legal paperworks.
I left her in custody of my close friend. After 3 months of separation I was back. Am still in love with her.

                                                                    ---####---

( 1. My first phone was a Nokia 5110 which is now referred to as brick. Was heavy and keeping a cellphone was expensive..at least for me. It was 2001.
  2. My second phone was a sky blue/white colored Nokia 2100, slender with white light. I lost it in office :(   )
  3. My third phone was a cute Samsung SGH-X460 flip phone, silver shiny body. Was good but is not working now.
  4. My iPhone ..pure magic. Bought it in Dec-08. Tried to get it unlocked before i returned back to India in Mar-09 but couldn't owing to that contract with AT&T. My friend Murali kept it safe until I returned in July-09. Though 3GS,iPhone4 are out but my 3G is good and am loving it)

(Though grammatically objects are referred to as "it", however I have taken some liberties )

;)

3 Idiots : A Q&A review

(An interview with my alter-ego :)

Q. Have you read the book "5 Point Someone" (5PS) ? Do you think Chetan Bhagat (CB) deserves more  credit.
A. First things first ..I haven't read "Five Point Someone". I did buy the book when it was released, 
read the first few pages but did not find it that exciting and dropped reading it. So am not going 
to compare the book and the movie.
As for CB, he has got enough credit for the story. We all know the movie is "Inspired By" and has been 
adapted well from 5PS for the movie.  Guess CB feels he has lost on on the mulah by signing the contract. His fault.

Q. Is it a fun movie?
A. You bet it is.

Q. Does it have good songs?
A. Ahem..songs are good in the movie...especially the one touted as Aamir's funeral song..yeah that "Behti hawa Sa Tha Woh". 
"Give me some sunshine" is good. But I don't want to grow up again :)
Rest I don't remember. 

Q. Do they (Aamir,Madhavan,Sharman) look like college students? Isn't it too much to take that actors in their mid-thirties and mid-forties enact the role of 20 something?
A. Infact it is totally believable. And frankly speaking, it really doesn't matter.
Aamir is good as usual. Sharman does a great job. So does Omi 'Chatur' Vaidya
Boman Irani for once was over the top.

Q. Speaking of the actors...How is Kareena Kapoor in the movie.
A. I am not a fan of KK, but the fact that I did not dislike her in this movie is a testimony to the other fact that she has done good. It reminded me of her performance in Jab We Met.

Q. Heard about one speech in the movie as very hilarious ?
A. Go watch the movie. Yes, the movie has some great hilarious moments. 
The speech being the high point. Its a bit kiddish..though the kids won't understand. It has been splendidly performed by the guy "Omi Vaidya" playing the role of Chatur. Infact that guy is brilliant in his role.  My guess is, people will remember this guy's speech more than Aamir's performance.

Q. Like all Raju Hirani movie, does this have a message.
A. Oh it does have lots of messages. A very good one at that. 
   Social messages that has been cleverly wrapped in a fully entertaining plot.
   Has a message for students - dont just cram it up, don't give up..kaabil bano.
   For teachers - bookish knowledge is no knowledge, don't unnecessarily pressurize the students ( So  very true), 
   For parents - Let your child follow his/her heart 
and in general  for all - "Don't follow success. Excel in the work you do"  and to 
quote Steve Jobs - "Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

Q. Do you think this is Raju Hirani's best work.
A. Not exactly. The MBBS series was great. I rate his Munnabhai MBBS as his best, followed by Lage Raho Munnabhai. 3 Idiots is a good movie with a good message.

Q. Why do you think its not his best work.
A. Maybe because I wasn't expecting anything when I watched "Munnabhai" but was expecting a lot when I watched 3 Idiots. Your good performance increases the expectation and raises the benchmark. 

Maybe because I thought some of the gags were old (like the astronauts pencil) 

Maybe because I thought some sequences were inspired from the first two movies itself like the khadoos (pardon my language) college head, the healing of the paralysed patients..). But this is entirely my opinion. You asked it..I gave it.

Q. Don't you think the delivery scene was exaggerated.
A. Yes it was exaggerated , it was meant to be exaggerated. It was done in a good way though. I enjoyed it. Come-on its a movie. How do you suppose it should have been?  BTW I thought you haven't seen the movie.

Q. No I haven't ...just heard abt it. Do you think Raju Hirani is a genious.
A. I am beginning to believe so. Now think of this ...

• which group (indian of course)  is the one that go to movies most - almost all college students , people freshly joining jobs, people in jobs where weekends are privileges, generation z, almost all Indians (in India or abroad :)
• take a theme that is close to the sentiments of majority of Indians --- college; education; 5 point someone,
• get its IIT-IIM alumni+investment banker+author to sign the contract for peanuts and later make him fret over his decision, 
• get IIM Bangalore campus to shoot the movie --- wud appeal to all IIM students and the IIM alumni most of whom would be NRIs by now.
• wrap it in a semi flashback mode ---- appeals to all age groups,
• add some comic characters --- appeals to kids and grown-up kids, 
• get the best selling stars of time
• most important of all rope in Aamir Khan and half of your direction and marketing is take care of.

That indeed is a mark of a genious

Q. Do you think the movie has any flaws
A. Like humans, the movie has its shades of grey :

• Its a bit too much to believe that Rancho, Farhan and Raju were the best of friends yet Rancho never told them his true identity ...too much but thats what movies are for
• Practically speaking, a student who argues with his professors in an Indian Engineering is very unlikely to top the exams. I mean the student might score good in written exams..but practical exams are where th professors rule the roost..well most of them.

• A guy leaving his girlfriend (and that too KK) for keeping some stupid promise he made to his mentor..too hard to digest..Guess here Rancho wasn't following his heart.

• And yes that exaggerated scene that we talked of earlier.

But you can ignore these. Its a movie and has its heart in the right place.

Q. Did the movie remind you of your college.
A. Yes. For a moment I was nostalgic.  The professors, the Chaturs, the close friends, the roomies, the mess boys... it was fun. I am sure a lot of people would be nostalgic.
As a matter of fact, people can even relate it to their work environment, especially the cramming up for examination...u got it? I think u did!!

Q. Did you like the movie.
A. Absolutely. Great locations, great camera work and cinematography.

Its inspiring. 

Aal Izz Well with this one.

Old School Rhyme and Route 66

(From my Route 66 Trip)

This is the barn that Jack built.

This is the malt
That lay in the barn that Jack built.







This is the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the barn that Jack built.

This is the cat,
That killed the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the barn that Jack built.

This is the dog,
That worried the cat,
That killed the rat,
That ate the malt
lay in the barn that Jack built.

This is the cow with the crumpled horn,
That tossed the dog,
That worried the cat,
That killed the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the barn that Jack built.



This is the maiden all forlorn
That milked the cow with the crumpled horn,
That tossed the dog,
That worried the cat,
That killed the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the barn that Jack built.This is the maiden all forlorn,






This is the man all tattered and torn,
That kissed the maiden all forlorn,
That milked the cow with the crumpled horn,
That tossed the dog,
That worried the cat,
That killed the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the barn that Jack built.

This is the priest all shaven and shorn,
That married the man all tattered and torn,
That kissed the maiden all forlorn,
That milked the cow with the crumpled horn,
That tossed the dog,
That worried the cat,
That killed the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the barn that Jack built.


This is the cock that crowed in the morn,
That waked the priest all shaven and shorn,
That married the man all tattered and torn,
That kissed the maiden all forlorn,
That milked the cow with the crumpled horn,
That tossed the dog,
That worried the cat,
That killed the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the barn that Jack built.



This is the farmer sowing his corn,
That kept the cock that crowed in the morn,
That waked the priest all shaven and shorn,
That married the man all tattered and torn,
That kissed the maiden all forlorn,
That milked the cow with the crumpled horn,
That tossed the dog,
That worried the cat,
That killed the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the barn that Jack built.


( Pics taken along Route 66 and the old school rhyme "This is the house that Jack built" that I was reciting in the trip.  The first pic is the Arcadia Barn-MS,  which is a historic site and was used as a milestone during the 50's . Few pics (the dog and the lady) are from Seligman-AZ, the rat and the malt is from the google search results, the cat was near old highway 58, the cock and the cow were board signs along the way, the man was seen walking down the freeway-IL, the priest is from a street motif@SaltLakeCity, Utah and the farmer is from ghost-town of Calico-CA )

Strange Story about Sta...Sta..Sta...Strange Love

I watched the Friday 9:30pm show of "Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani"
For those who have already watched the movie, well you can agree to agree or agree to disagree
with my review of the movie. For those who haven't , well watch it for Ranbir and Katrina.

Being RajKumar Santoshi's first comedy after his cult classic "Andaz Apna Apna" I was looking
forward to it. Overall it was just a timepass movie which I would forget in a day or two and would not
bother to rent a DVD to see a rerun.

What was missing :
The naughtiness of Amir and goofiness of Salman. The immortal characters like Teja, Crime Master Gogo, Don and his sidekicks. The intelligent humorous dialogs.

The good parts:
Ranbir has done a great job and this movie will increase his female fan count.Katrina has looked pretty as ever. The folks playing Ranbir's friends have also done a good job. And Ranbir's parents in the movie (Smita Jayekar and Darshan Jariwala _ The guy who played Gandhi in Gandhi My Father) hve done a decent job.

The "dance party" sequence, the "top" scene, the "kutta/pilla" scene,the sweet making scene,
Darshan-Smita's jeetendra song sequence and the Salman's quote. The chemistry of Ranbir and Katrina is delightful.

However, the movie has lots of cliches:   A doting mother of a "nikamma" yet innocent sonar, a strict yet soft at heart father, the realization of true love on wedding day (Yes - Katrina yet again decides on her wedding day  that she is in love with somebody else.This makes her the no.1 runaway bride). The praying to god in the church...the rich guy..poor guy..the orphan..the good guy with a golden heart sacrificing his love and walking away. and many more :( . Give me something new :(

The storyline was a letdown, humour was in bits and pieces, music so-and-so  (I guess I will have to hear it again), Upen Patel and the negative characters. I felt as if Rajkumar Santoshi was trying hard to recreate the magic of AAA. The fight scenes are totally humourless. The politician and don angle was a drag. I thought there's a spoof on Big B's Eklavaya.

Overall verdict : 6/10. Do not expect an Andaz Apna Apna. Its a watch-enjoy-forget movie.
Ask me to watch a rerun of Andaz Apna Apna and I'll say "anytime", As for APKGK ..forget it!!
The kids/teenagers/college goers might like it and "our Father in Heaven" will forgive them for most of them are innocent. Amen.

#Gandhi on Twitter (140th anniversary in 140 characters)

On his 140th Anniversary, the netizens (me included) all over the world are united to make Gandhi a trending topic with their tweets. We all succeeded though for a very short time but am sure as the day progresses it will make its way back.

Good to see technology bringing Indians together, from all over the world (and not just Indians) on this day to pay their respect to the Mahatma.

Lots of tweets with Gandhi's quote, requests from making "#Gandhi" the numero uno trending topic, few tweets that do not agree to Gandhian philosophy, few trying to get to know Gandhi more.

Some interesting one's are where Shashi Tharoor says "Gandhiji said"Work is Workship" & we enjoy holiday on his birthday. He wld hv wanted us to work harder today"

I might not agree to that.Holiday necessarily doesn't mean no work. However I do think that declaring b'days as national holidays doesn't make sense in a democracy.

And Chetan Bhagat's "making #gandhi a trending topic is not important. making him and his values a part of your life is."
I might agree with him but I am also of the opinion that atleast this unites us all again and is the latest trend of showing our respects.

And loved Googles tribute to Gandhi with its Google-Doodle.

The MoonLight Hike

It was a bright and sunny friday evening ..Gaurav and myself, headed for home early from office, bought some donuts along the way, packed our bags with some warm clothings.. and carried some water-packs...and were all set for the moon-light hike. It was a hour and a half drive from Sunnyvale.
We read on the net that a group of enthusiastic hikers had planned for a moon-light hike on the wilds of the Marin HeadLands near Sausalito,north of the famous Golden Gate at SFO. We liked the idea and since anybody could join the group ..we jumped right in. The time set was 7:00pm.



It was already 7pm when we crossed Golden Gate, the marvel of human engineering, the sun shining strong over the horizon spreading a mix of red,orange and yellow over the bright blue sky.

We checked the time guessed that we would be late to the spot by 30-35 minutes .We were worried cuz we didn't know any member of the hiking group as it was our first time. We reached the starting point of the Coyote Ridge Trail (Coyote are wild wolves) at 7:35pm. Just our luck, there was a group of about 7 people near the parking lot and the group leader was introducing himself to the assembled group as Richard. We too joined the group.

And began our hike against the hilly backdrop and the city lights in the dusk on one side and the vast blue pacific with the sun setting on the other.
The Coyote ridge trail snaked around the wilds. Lots of green bushes with colorful wild flowers. We were enjoying the scenic beauty of the trail with the sun setting and creating an array of colors, making the sky look like a painting. The trail climbed higher, and we slowed down our pace to avoid getting exhausted. It was getting dark with time. You could see shades of grey and black in the silhouttes of the hills in the valley. There were beetles crawling on the path and we were careful not to trample it.


The group was enthusiatic and we could hear them discuss a wine-fest under the moonlight. As the climb got steep, I was a bit exhausted and stopped for a sip of water. We let the group go ahead and looked around admiring the beauty. We stopped for quite some time cause we were left far behind the group. Gaurav informed me that Coyote rigde has not been named so for nothing. Also there were reports of people sighting cougars (mountain lions). I thought it would be fun to sight them as long as they are at a safe distance. There was also a cemetery near the trail. We paced to catch up with the group.


It was around 8:30pm. We came to a fork where one road let to the Tennessee valley beach and the other was the middle Green Gulch trail. We could now see the glittering San Francisco from far, glowing in a orange haze and covered with a blanket of fog. On the other side you could see the ships in he vast pacific, hooting now and then, the sky had a purplish-pinkish color. We took some snaps and since we had lost the group we took a calculated guess headed for the Green Gulch.


It was completely dark by then. The moon was yet to rise. The trail had thick bushes on either side and the visibilty had become poor. We picked up some stones just to be prepared in case some wild animal attacks. Doubts started to creep in as the group was still not visible. Did we make an error of judgement? Had we taken the right path?. All doubts soon vanished when we heard the voices.

We quickly reached the place, where the group had mats spread out and had all foods and wine laid out. We also offered the Donuts to the group.


Around 9:15pm on the far south side of the horizon, we saw a huge orange colored umbrella. It was the rising moon. From the top it was a beautiful sight to watch. Within few minutes the full moon rose completely looking like a bright orange sphere. It was beautiful. We could see the busy streets way down and were happy to enjoy the peaceful nature , far from the madding crowd.

It was also a starry night as the sky was clear. There were lots of flights owing to the proximity of the SFO international airport.

We sat down gazing the stars, eating donuts and saw the round moon's color change from orange to a shade of yellow. We sure did the right thing by coming. Minutes passed by. The group was conversing within themselves, having wine and enjoying.

At around 10:15pm, Gaurav and I decided to return to the base. The entire group also started packing. We took a headstart and walked slowly. We didn't need lights as the moon was providing sufficient light and we could see the vastness of the valley. We walked down to the point where one route would take us back to the parkig area and the other to the Tennessee valley beach. We could not see the group behind and thought probably they were coming at a leisurely pace.

We waited for a few minutes and the entire place was now creating a sense of eerie. The vast valley flooded with silvery light, with no other living soul visible as far as one could see, was scary as well as overwhelming.

We heard some noises in the bush, like that of some animal or bird and decided to walk. Since it was downhill the group would soon be visible and will catch up with us. This gave us some assurance that we weren't entirely alone. Even after 10 minutes we could neither see the group nor could we hear any voices. This was very strange. Now the fear actually began to creep in. I though I heard some thing creep in the bushes alongside the trail. We tried to look but nothing was visible. The sound from the bushes kept coming near.

Gaurav advised that it might not be safe and we should keep walking. He also warned me not to run, cause if it was a wild animal, its natural instinct would be to attack the running prey. He said that Coyotes and mountain lions attack in the night and we need to walk slowly and appear big. I thought to myself, "why didn't you tell me earlier? where the hell did the group go?"

We reached a place where the trail was cut across the hill, so it was like walking between a path that was at a level lower than the sides. Perfect for animals to corner their prey. I said to Gaurav that we need to walk past this patch as soon as possible. We assumed that the group had probably taken a different route which was strange as it was pretty late in the night. The hustling in the bushes was getting clearer and louder. I though of picking up stones but Gaurav warned me not to bow down at any point of time. Made sense. So we started talking loud and making noise.
I thought I saw something in the bush. Gaurav was also sure that he to spotted something moving. Now here we were, alone in the vast Coyote Ridge late in the night, with the moon shining bright. We started taking quick short steps, lest we fall down as there was a bit of a slope. Gaurav had his water bottle and I had my office badge. So we started making sounds by beating the bottle with the badge.

I realised how vunerable we were at that moment. The vast darkness, the stillness, the thought of the nocturnal wild creature had created fear in our minds. The owls were screeching and that wasn't helping us overcome our fear. We ought to have stayed with the group, I thought.We were completely on our own to reach the parking lot.

And then we heard the spine chilling howling of the coyotes. We froze. It was coming from the direction where we were heading to. What do we do now. Gaurav switched on the torch. I wasn't sure if that was the right thing to do. (Had just seen a re-run of the Jurassic Park the other day where movement and light atracted the dino) . Tried to assure myself thinking that was a movie and the dino was a reptile. We both were pretty much shaken and prayed that we reached the parking lot safely. Gaurav suggested we sing loudly and thats what we did to scare off the mountain lions/coyotes if at all they were crouching.

Finally we reached the road and felt much safer. We sprinted to the parking lot. I thought it took longer for us to reach the ground, than it took to climb.

It was almost 11:30pm. It was a completely desolate parking place with one light glowing. We quickly got inside the car and turned on the music. Gaurav said lets wait for the group to return. We waited for about 20 minutes and thought it wise to leave as we both were hungry as well. We went to Denys, had dinner and by the time we reached home it was already 2 am.


The next day while surfing the net about the headlands we came across articles that stated that 9pm to 11pm is the time when people have spotted mountain lions and coyotes. And its always advisable to go in groups. We were lucky.

And then we came across another article which gave us goosebumps. The articles stated said that around 12-15 years ago a group went hiking to the Headlands and met with a tragic accident. No one survived. The incident had taken place on a fullmoon night and leader was one "Richard" and was buried in the cemetery on the headlands. We immediately checked the site where we first read of the hike plan. There was no person named "Richard". The updates on the site said that the group had started off at 7pm itself and from the coyote ridge they went down to the Tennessee valley beach.

We were not sure what to make out of it and we went back to the cemetery the same day. There was a grave which read "Richard , The Moonlight Hiker 1967-1998"
We said our prayers and returned back immersed in thoughts, "Who were those people, where did they vanish?. We also realised that we had not spoken to any one in the group. We are not sure if we can get an explanation to this but we will never forget this hike. Ever.

And yes we are planning for another hike, the next full moon night!!

This is inspired by our true experience and some figment of imagination. Names changed to protect the identity of individuals. Disclaimer:Some photos...courtesy the internet

PJ#4

Q. What do you call a martial arts expert who hails from Haryana ?
Ans. JAT LI

(No offense meant to the community)

PJ#3

Joe was returning after watching the premiere of "The Slumdog Millionaire".
Just then one of his friend spotted him and called out " Hi Joe" .
Joe replied back "Jai Ho" !!

FisherWoman's wharf

We made an impromptu visit to the Golden Gate at unearthly hours (1:00 am) . While returning we took the route via Bay Bridge and Murali pointed out that the Piers at this side of the bay are all "Even Numbered".
To this I Said : "Does it mean that we have a Fisherwoman's Wharf here?
Prompt came a reply from Keerty : " Yes of course. Cuz its the men who are odd"

Sharp!! :)

(For the un-initiated : Fisherman's Wharf is a famous spot at Pier number 39 and 41 on the "other" side of the bay where all Piers are odd numbered)

Ambigrams

Angels and Demons - The movie is getting released this week. I read the book and am impressed. I had earlier read Da Vinci Code and Deception Point by the same author Dan Brown. Found both the books to be interesting in the beginning but was very hollywoodish,very dramatic at the end. Angels and Demons was better.
I am particularly impressed with the ambigrams of Earth, Water,Air and Fire and the Illuminati diamond created by John Langdon for the book.
It inspired me to create one based on my nick name. Read the text upside down and it will appear the same.
Its short hence was a bit easy. Will try some complex ones later.

The Night of the Sofa

Friday evening ..5:30pm ..I came back home early from office. I was browsing the Craigslist's furniture section to finalize on a sofa that we (me and my roommates Subhanand and Tanmoy) had been planning for a month or so. "Am not gonna waste this weekend. Have to get a sofa"..I thought to myself. I kind-of liked maybe three or four posts and was busy copy pasting the URLs on a yellow sticky note to show it later to my roomies who still had not returned from office.

30 minutes later I got a call from Tanmoy saying "Nishant, stay at home... we are on our way to get a Sofa set...its a 3-tier and a 2-tier sofa...its a good one..will be back in an hour and a half"
I immediately abandoned surfing (i didn't trash the sticky note though).

I switched on the TV. Whats showing on HBO..same movies being repeated...lets watch some music..MTV? No. CMT? YES.. good country music. Cooked myself a bowl of butter pop-corn Sat down on the carpet and was enjoying Alan Jackson's "Having a good time" and Taylor Swift's "Love Story". And the time flew by.

There was a knock on the door and it was Subhanand. "Nishant, need to make some space here..we have got the sofas. Its in the U-Haul down in the parking area. The Sofas are a bit heavy and will need all of us to get it in".Okay I Said.

Went down to the parking area to the U-Haul. Tanmoy pulled the levers to open the vertically upward sliding door of the U-Haul van. It was dark inside and I could see the silhouette of the two sofas, a bed frame kind of thing and what looked like mattress.

I jumped in and found few cushions. Yes it was a mattress. We decided to carry all the light items first. Then we carried the king-size bed's metal frame and the mattresses.

Finally the turn of the sofas came. It was a custom built sofa with a royale looking solid wooden frame and floral prints.

Now our apartment in Sunnyvale, was on the first floor. The stairs, with walls on both sides went up from the pavement outside to a 5x5 sqrft space with a dead-end and with our door and our neighbor's door on either side.

With great effort we carried the smaller sofa which was approx. 5 ft in length. Carried it upstairs and placed It vertically upright on the sapce in front of our door. It was then that we realized that our door was also about five feet in height. We just managed to push in the sofa.

Houston..now we have a problem!! ..the bigger sofa (6ft approx.) would be difficult to push in.

It was 7:30 pm and we got a call from Arvind inviting us for dinner at his home in Cupertino. We said we would come in by 9pm.

Now we somehow managed to get the bigger sofa onto the space in front of our door. What do we do next. The height of the sofa was about a feet more and there was no way we could tilt it and push it in.

The width of the sofa was also more than the width of our door and there simply wasn't enough space to turn the sofa and push it in.

We asked our neighbours to open their door so that we can get some space. It didn't work. So what next?

We called up Murali and explained him our problem. Murali who lived two streets away from our block reached our place in 5 mins with more ideas. 45 minutes later we were still stuck. We had kind of tried all permutations, all combinations, all angles but the sofa just wouldn't go in.

It was a call from Arvind when we stopped trying and we also realized it was almost 2 hrs that we had been sweating it out.
What next? We decided to give it to Arvind. He also agreed if it would fit in and if Rashi, his wife would also agree to it.

So we loaded back the sofa to the U-Haul and Tanmoy drove it to Arvind's home.
Subhanand drove his grey sports edition Corolla to the place. I accompanied Tanmoy. Arvind and Rashi both took a look and found it to be good but a little long. Their door was also about 5ft and we would land up with the same problem.
So what next? Dinner first was the call :) We had a the lovely dinner. We needed it :) It was already 11:30 pm.

What next? We decided to give it to someone who was in need of a sofa and so we called up Debasis. Debasis said that they already had a sofa at home and wouldn't need one. However he said he would find out if anyone was in need. So we decided to land up with the sofa at his place in Santa clara.

We parked the van in the parking place of 3455 Vista Apartment.
Meanwhile Debasis and his roomies ( Gaurav , Durgesh, Saurav, ) all were busy connecting with people to find out if someone was in need of a sofa. So far ..negative. I called up Gaurav Sethi who was in need but his place was on the fourth floor. So we dropped the idea..

Finally around 12:15 am, Gaurav Agarwal informed us that one of our coleague Soma was ready to take the sofa. Her home was in Cupertino (Villa Serra) . So all of us drove to Soma's place. Tanmoy for a moment and perhaps out of exhaustion, forgot it was US and directly drove the U-Haul van in the left lane and there was an SUV coming right in front. The driver seemed to be an american chinese female who was so shocked that she applied brakes and stopped. Any one would if you have a U-Haul coming in your direction head-on that too at 12:20 am in the night . Tanmoy immediately realised his mistake and swerved to the right and the correct lane and apologised.

Reached villa serra safely. Now we had the task of getting the sofa in the apartment. Soma's place was also in the first floor. We had to be sure we don't make a noise cause it was already midnight.

Debasis, Saurav, Durgesh , Tanmoy, Gaurav, myself somehow managed to get it in after about trying for half an hour. I simply cannot explain how the sofa was moved in :)

We were so relaxed.Finally.

We had to pick up few stuff from Debasis's home so Tanmoy and myself in the U-Haul van and Subhanand and rest of the guys in their cars, drove off to 3455 Vista Apartments.

Midway we saw the cops flashing lights at us asking us to pullover. We were pretty sure we were driving within the safe recommended speed limit. We stopped and were thinking Now What!! Seems like is raat ki subah nahin :(

The cop asked us for our ids and driving license which we promptly displayed. He then asked us what were we doing in the middle of the night with the U-Haul.(Apparently the mexicans use U-Haul to transport people at night). We informed him that we were IT professionals and we didn't get time earlier and we were carrying a sofa to our friends house. He gave us a look and asked us to drive slow saying we were driving above the speed limit. We nodded. As long as there was no penalty we had no problems. The cop went off and we reached Vista Apartments where our friends were anxiously waiting for us as they saw us, pullover with the cops behind us, from far.

We have had enough for a night. We were exhausted with the entire events of the evening. Reached home at around 1:30am. We retired to our bed tired, relaxed and amused. Guess we will never forget "the Night of the Sofa".

Kolkata (K)Nightmare Riders

Kolkata Knight Riders are having a nightmare in the second season of IPL, the "India Ka Tamasha".

They have started on a Murphy's note...start on a bad note and everything that has to go wrong will go wrong..
...Dropping Dada from captaincy and earning the wrath of millions of Indians (what was SRK thinking)
...Bringing in the ridiculous funda of multiple captains..Mr. Buchanan needs to be reminded of the "too many cooks" phrase.
..And finally dropping Kolkata from the team's name. (Kinda blasphemy)

And the results have started to show. SRKs face shows it all.

Wish them good luck. Thats what they need.

Korbo Lorbo phir bhi Haarbo re

The Curious Case of the Wooden-Drawer-Chest

It was a warm Friday evening. My watch showed 8pm. Me and my wife Annushka were returning from one of our friends home in Santa Clara. I stay at a fairly populated villa in Cupertino. I was planning to go on a trek on Saturday and was lost in my thoughts about the plans for the weekend. Little did I know what was to come.

I parked my 2002 beige colored Honda Accord (majority Indians in the bay area do not think beyond Honda,Toyota,Mazda when it comes to cars) in the parking lot. The parking lot was on the backside of the apartment and we had to usually go around the dumpyard to reach the entrance of the buiding.

I realized that Ann (Annushka's nickname) was nudging at me. Whats the matter , I asked her to which she replied "Look at that". Under the orange glow of the corner street lamp I could see a blackish brown wooden cabinet. "Lets take a closer look" I said.
It was a wooden drawer chest, finely polished, inviting to take it home.
Ann said "It seems like someone did not have enough time to put it on Craigslist and dumped it here while moving out of town".
I said "This is too beautiful to be left behind. It must have hurt the owner to part with this lovely piece of wood work"
"Guess its our lucky day. Can we take this home?" Ann asked with her gaze fixed on the furniture.

I was thinking the same and agreed. We both lifted the drawer which surprisingly didn't feel as heavy as it looked. Probably we were just too excited to take it home.

Once inside, I got a flannel cloth to dust the drawer. We set it besides our master bed. Ann opened the cabinet just to check. It was empty except for some dark black stains in the bottom most cabinet.
She got some old magazines stuffed it in the cabinets, placed a knitted tablecloth on the top and kept a Projection clock on it. The Projection clock projects time on the ceiling or wall in a dark room whenever you press the project-button on it.

It was around 11pm when we were done with the entire setup. We had our dinner and were extremely happy with the days event.

We went to bed, watched television for some time and were discussing Saturdays plans. It was already midnight. Ann asked me if I was feeling cold and I said yes its much colder than it was few hours back. I placed my specks on the drawer and at that very moment the clock projected 12:15 AM on the cieling. I thought I might have pressed the button and so I switched off the projection.

The room started getting warmer and I threw off the blanket. Ann was already asleep. Minutes passed and I thought I heard the cabinets open and shut. I was probably dreaming. I sat up and tried to peer through the darkness. The room was getting cold again and I could see Ann reach for the blanket again. She sensed that I was up and asked me whats the matter. I said "I thought I heard some noise like..forget it"."Like what?", she insisted. "Like the opening and shutting of the cabinet", I said. She said "Strange. Even I felt something like that." And at that very moment, for the second time the clock projected the time on the cieling. It was 01:14 AM. Almost one hour. This time I wasn't even close to the clock.

We both felt a sudden chill. But common-sense prevailed and I said that probably the clock is malfunctioning. I held the clock in my hand and randomly pressed the projection button to check if anything was wrong. It seemed fine. So I switched off the projection again and placed the clock back on the drawer.

My weariness and sleep had temporarily vanished and I was thinking all the while about the clock. I saw that Ann was also sitting up and staring at the clock. Minutes passed by and just when we thought things are fine , we both started to feel the the room getting strangely cold again. And to our shock the clock projected the time on the cieling, all by itself. It was 02:23 am.

We both sat up and held each other. We could realize that something wasn't right. It was as if there was someone in the room playing with the clock. I was too scared to touch the clock. Fear blanked out all my reasoning. The rooms light switches were on the other side of the cabinet and going around it in the dark room was something that I did not want to do.
Ann was also scared to utter anything. This time the projection stopped by itself.

Finally I said lets wait and see if it happens again. We both could feel that the room was getting warmer and after sometime again the familiar coldness started to creep in and I whispered to Ann, "Seems like the clock will project now" And to our worst fear, it did. 3:20 am and after few minutes the projection stopped all by itself again.

We both started praying and were desparately waiting for the sunrise. It seemed as if the time had stopped. The projection happened once more at 4:15 am and then switched off again. And then we both distinctly heard the sound of the drawer opening and closing and this time we both were awake and too shaken with the entire episode.

At around 5 am, which took ages to come, reddish sunlight started to pour in. I got the courage to get out of the bed and get my cellphone which I had left in the drawing room.

I dialled my parents in India and explained the entire incident. My parents immediately said that first we should go and dump the wooden drawer back from where we brought it. Then clean up the room, pray to god and light some incense sticks in the room.

At around 5:30 am we both got out of the bed. It took some time for us to gather the courage to carry the wooden drawer back to the dumpyard. It was pretty early. Came back. Inspite of all my education and belief in science I was pretty shaken. So I took a quick shower and prayed to God. There are things which you cannot explain. Ann placed the clock in the bathroom.

We started to feel better with the daylight getting stronger.

Later in the day I checked and found that the wooden drawer was not present where we had left it.

Three months later I was came back from office and took Ann out for shopping.

When we returned ...there in the dumpyard...we saw...unmistakably the same polished wooden drawer chest...perhaps inviting a new family to take it home.

As for the clock, its still in the bathroom and has been working fine.
(This is inspired by a true incident that took place around few months back)

Goofa : Goofy : Goofups

Had been to a restaurant by the name "Goofa" (meaning Cave) Jayanagar,Bengaluru. The guys there have surely "Goofed up" the rates in card. Check out the rate of "Parotwali Gosht Biryani". Is it a typo (it definitely is) or is it that the "Gosht" served in the Biryani is that of some exotic specie of the avian kind ;)

The ambience is good. You would get to see the waiters dressed up as Shikari Shambhu's (Read Tinkle Comics?). The light is extremely dim. They haven't named it Goofa for no reason. You cannot see beyond your table , to exaggerate things a bit. Snakes, Spider webs, Owls, As for the food, the cooks had goofed up too. Maybe it was our/their bad day.

One more thing : Its on the 5th floor.