Gumkha

Masala Dosai in McDonalds!!!

2007-04-01T00:08:00.000-07:00

No. No. No. No. No. McDonalds in India have not started serving Masala Dosais. Far from it! This post all about the 'Singapore' Komala's Restaurant in Chennai.

Last Sunday had been an intersting one for me. Forget about the need to go to Apollo hospital for something as small and silly as a foot sprain. But that gave me the opportunity to eat the quintessentially south indian dish of 'Masala' Dosai in a McDonalds style setting.

When we ordered out trademark dishes, I could not but feel that I am doing so in a McD rather than in an Indian fastfood with very South Indian name.

Here is how it goes. You walk up to the counter. Look up at the glowing menu on the back walls over the counter, and give your order.

You are given a bill. You the walk up to the serving counter, give the bill and you are then given a token with a number.
You wait for the number to be called out so that you can then collect your order.

The trays used for delivering food, the tables and chairs, even the dust bins remind me of McD!!!

Is Komalas really inspired by McD (and the sort) or is it that I am just nostalgic?
Either ways, I have more reasons to go to Komalas now! :-)

Aiyaiyo! Nooooooo!!!

2007-02-24T04:02:00.000-08:00

The mega serial ‘Kolangal’ (SunTV) would sure go on for another 2 years now. Actually its ‘on-air’ life has been extended in the most depressingly intelligent way! Let me elaborate. The central weepy character, Abhi, has lost her business to her arch rival and has fallen into a ‘deep’ financial crisis. Oh my God, what an opportunity - to restart the whole story again (literally and virtually). I dread the coming days when I have to see Abhi & Co start all over again and go through the same ‘travails’, succeed in life only to fall again. What crap!

Now this blog is in no way intended to kindle your interest in this MEGA serial. That is one reason why I have not given the timings of the serial earlier in the first line. Also it is not that I am a regular watcher or a big fan of the same. I am just one of those pained souls who have to endure serials such as this because our dearest parents and sisters choose to see the same – every week day – without fail for however long the serial goes!!! I was just ranting. Please don’t tell my Mom. OK? :-)

The 'Bike-Hunt'

2006-09-10T09:30:00.000-07:00

What bike to buy? Bajaj, TVS or Honda? Within TVS is Star City a good bike? Is Victor a really ‘solid’ bike as my friend vouches for it? I decided to check it out for myself today. So, I dragged my enthusiastic sister with me and visited the TVS and the Bajaj showrooms.

Here is how our conversation went in the TVS showroom.

Myself: I am looking for a bike with good mileage, comfortable ride and some decent looks.
Salesman: Go for Star City Sir. It is the best.

M: (But I had Victor in mind). How about Victor?
S: That is good too.

M: How much mileage?
S: 65-70 kmpl

M: Sure? I am talking about real traffic. I go thru the most dense traffic in the city – Kathipara junction. Will it really give me 65-70 mileage?
S: (The salesman slightly put off by my questioning of his knowledge tried to be polite and went on) It will sure give you 65. But as you know, it all depends on how you drive.

M: There you go! (I thought). How is pickup, power?
S: 8.5 BHP Sir. Good pickup.

M: Heard that Victor has some engine startup problems. Is that true? (I was now talking with a lot of confidence).
S: No. No. No. All that has been fixed in the latest Victor GX. Absolutely no problems Sir. (Now he has started sweating slightly).

S: Will you pay in full or are you looking at financing options? (trying to change topic from the current sticky one)
M: It depends (now I was outright condescending). What are the options do you have for financing? (I demanded. The Salesman ran to somebody and got him to us).
I got the new Salesman to draw up a detailed quotation – with out accessories, with accessories. Questions, questions and more questions!

S: You want to take a test drive Sir?
M: Hold on. Hold on. I heard that you provide assistance in getting Driving Licenses for people who buy vehicles in your agency?

S: (Taken aback for a second). We used to, but not now. Don’t you have a license?
M: No, not yet. But I have taken an LLR

S: (looking at me as though saying – ‘You don’t even have a license, but you talked as though you have been driving bikes all your life’). You first have to get your license Sir. Then you can do a Test Drive. Or better get a friend of yours to do a test drive!

We silently accepted his suggestion, gathered our brochures together and slipped out of the showroom!

Analyze this...

2006-08-24T10:51:00.000-07:00

Imagine that you are in the following situation:
- You have been arrested for fraud and have come out in bail only a couple of days ago
- All your financial assets have been frozen
- You are bankrupt thanks to the above freeze
- Your son too has been arrested and you had beg your arch enemy to pay for the bail money
- Your wife, daughter and daughter-in-law hate you
- You have sold your 2-crores-worth house for a paltry 40 lakhs
- You are vacating your house today and your heart heavier than mercury

In this situation will you go around with a 2-day stubble or be "as clean-shaven as a dressed chicken"?

Please don’t think that this is a silly question.
In fact in a recent episode of the SUN TV serial – Kolangal - the character that was in the above mentioned (pathetic) situation was shown to be clean-shaven.
The queer thing is the son’s character was sporting a 5-day stubble!

I never had (and will never have) high regards for Kolangal. But this stupid miss made me roll-down the floor and laugh.

TV serials will never change! Will they?

5 best ways to celebrate the Independence day

2006-08-19T10:51:00.000-07:00

5 best ways to celebrate our esteemed nation's Independence day:
1. Listen to Namitha, Simran and Vadivelu speak about their personal careers in movies.
2. Engross oneself in the interesting and intense discussions (patti-madram) with Solomon Pappayya or Paul Leoni as the speaker ('naduvar').
3. Watch a super-duper, 'just-released-a-month-ago' (and most probably a 'super-flop') movie.
4. Or (even better) watch a real hit movie. But be warned it would not have anything remotely connected to the Independence day!
5. Watch even more TV.

If you had done anything else other than the above 5 items like, saluting the tri-color while it is being hoisted, doing real community service in some slum, orphanage etc, or just even thinking about our hard-earned Independence and the people who got it for us, then you should probably not be from this planet. Now, I was just kidding... But what percentage of us really did it!

May be our Independence day has become yet another public holiday? Or may be not!

Just a thought!

What does it take…

2006-07-31T09:06:00.000-07:00

To become a host of a ‘dial-in’ TV show?

A very useful question, you guys would say (though with more than a tinge of sarcasm). But I am forced to think about this as I get to watch channels like Sun Music, SS Music et al.

Please note that I am purely going by what I see and hear in the above mentioned channels! So, if there are other VJs who don’t ‘measure up’ to the standards below, it is completely their mistake and not mine.

Enough of my deliberations, let me get into the details as to what I think that are UTTERLY necessary to become a VJ...
1. An interesting (read ‘weird’) way of addressing people. Like - ‘Hai Hai’, ‘Hhhhuullllhho’ or just ‘Hmmm tell me…”.

2. An ill-fitting dress. The dress should either be 2 sizes smaller or 4 sizes bigger than your normal size.

3. Speak at least 2 languages (say Tamil and English). Preferably talk both the languages at the same time – and that too in every sentence you speak!

4. Ladies don’t have to worry about physical looks. Forget about the word ’figure’ – you don’t even need to have a pleasant face. Gents don’t even have to think about it! Who is going watch you talk anyways.

5. Should be able to shake/twist your head for every 3 word one speaks (all thanks to ‘Pepsi’ Uma, this (bad) habit has really caught on).

6. Speak continuously without meaning much and of course without thinking much. How else can one stretch 5 songs (all played only half) in a 30 minute program!

7. Ask the same dumb and dead question again and again and again to every person who dials in! And expect a ‘drastically‘ different answer from every body.

Now that I have figured out what it takes to be the host, I am just thinking about what it would take to be one those intelligent souls who dial-in to these shows!

Rolled-back the previous 3 posts...

2006-07-09T19:46:00.000-07:00

The main purpose of the blog is write about all the "nothings" in life.
Just realized that that I had wandered away from this over the past 3 blogs.
Have duly deleted them now.
I promise to be in line from the next blog! :-)

Life is all about sweet 'nothings'.

-Raga

DD Dramas

2006-05-20T00:42:00.000-07:00

Recently, had the good (?!) fortune of watching a DD-Podhigai drama. It was quite late in the night, and there was nothing interesting(:D) in any of the channels, so was idly surfing when Podhigai caught my eye. I have always been amazed by DD's sets and set props. They have some of the tackiest sets ever, and perfectly fit the description "Hyder Ali kaalathu"...
The set/props of this particular drama I chanced upon was no different. I started watching it out of curiosity. Sure enough, the theme was a public interest one - it was about the way private chit funds fool the people. Apart from the totally run down set, what caught my eye was the absolutely over the top acting by the lead actor. His character was that of a retired person and a father of two girls, one of whom was ready for marriage. According to the story, the father invests all his retirement benefits in a chit fund or some such, and brags to his wife about the incentive the fund guys gave him - a silver "kaamaakshi" lamp.
It is OK put your point across forcefully, but the lead actor was way too much. In fact, he can give Poornam Viswanaathan a run for his money when it comes to overacting. His facial expressions, dialog delivery and body language were so silly, that even though I was initially irritated, I started having a good laugh later on. The way that person contorted his face to emphasise his self-congratulation on investing his money "wisely" or when he caught his chest and wailed on hearing about the closure of the chit fund where he invested his money was a laugh riot.
I think quite a few of the current serial actors learnt much by acting the DD dramas of yesteryears. But with actors and sets such as those I saw in this drama, I can't see DD being much of a competetion to the private channels at least in entertaining people. No sure if DD thinks of itself as a competitor to Sun or Vijay or even Jaya TV for that matter.
Will DD ever change?

Recent Tamil Movies

2006-04-27T01:25:00.000-07:00

Watched "Chithiram Paesuthadi" and Kodambakkam recently. Liked both of them. Even though the hero's acting looked a bit unnatural to me in the first half of "Chithiram Paesuthadi", the second half was pretty good. I just couldn't guess the real reason for the lovers' separation, and when it was finally revelaed, it was totally unexpected. Made me feel for the hero.
Kodambakkam is also a decent effort. For some reason that I cannot adequately express in words, I like reading/watching the struggles of movie-makers. So much so, the first thing I read in every new Anandha Vikatan is Cheran's auto-biography. Having read Cheran's glowing account of a production manager's role in the making of a movie, I could totally relate to Ramesh Kanna's character (Puli Kumar). Even though Manivannan's innocence seemed a bit too contrived, that is the source for many a funny moment. I enjoyed this movie.
Waiting to watch Pattiyal. The reviews sound promising.
Wonder why there is a sudden spurt in new directors coming up with good movies. Hope the trend continues.

I saw "THE" match!!!

2006-03-13T00:07:00.000-08:00

Despite constant interruptions from Khusboo(Jackpot) and Ramya Krishnan(that gawdawful apology of a game show - Thanga vaettai), I managed to watch most part of the historic run "kumbh mela" yesterday. WOW!!! I was blown away by the sheer delight of watching the Aussies get creamed. The proteas gave back as good as they got and how?!!? Initially on flipping channels, ESPN showed SA score as 15-1 and 420 to make in 48.3 overs (or so). I thought that the score of 240 has been wrongly mentioned as 420, but as Smith and Gibbs kept making the runs, the score was decremented to 419, 415 and so on. That was when I realised that finally, the 400 run barrier in ODIs was breached and more importantly, that the Proteas were in no mood to roll over and play dead. Smith and Gibbs kept up a steady pace and the South African's progress was spectacular. 250+ around the half-way mark; 310+ around 35 overs. At the 40 over mark, the chase was looking the same as any "normal" high-scoring one day game. 90 odd runs from 60 balls. van der Wath stuck some audacious powerful shots, and Boucher kept his cool to see SA home. Credit should also go to Ntini for not trying anything stupid and instead giving the strike to Boucher. At the end of it all was Ponting's gesture of letting Gibbs relish the MoM award alone.
ODI cricket at its best.

BESCOM Service

2006-01-30T05:28:00.000-08:00

Bangalore Electricity Supply (BESCOM) is doing a great service to society. In the age of nuclear families, where people engrossed in their favourite soaps don't spend much time interacting with each other, BESCOM has taken it upon itself to bring members of the family together.
What would a typical family (consisting of husband, wife, parents, kids) where both partners work, do on a weekend? Do some cleaning, washing, cooking etc all at a leisurely pace, and also relax with that long unfinished book and watch the DVD of the much talked about movie. As can be seen, not much time talking or indulding in some activity for all. BESCOM is on a mission - get the family together. So, they switch off the power supply for 8-9 hours each weekend for "maintanence".
You wake up in the morning to find that your water storage tank has run dry. So, you and your family members form a human chain to transport the water from its source inside your home. You had planned on trying out the new recipie you read on the internet. But there is no power to run the mixer. Solution - a family visit to the Thai restaurant in the neighbourhood. Your plans to watch the latest flick on the rented DVD have gone up in smoke. No worries, take the family out to one of the innumerable malls in Bangalore and have fun. And what about that unfinished book; well there is always the cozy seat in your favourite coffe pub where you can read it over endless cups of the beverage of your choice.
As for those of you who wanted to laze around at home watching mindless blockbusters, head to your friend's place in another locality. You see, BESCOM changes the target of its mission each weekend.

Just a thought...

2006-01-17T06:48:00.000-08:00

What would happen if I am to have all the time in this world?

I mean there are no deadlines. I just dont have to complete anything before any particular time. Take as much time as I want - for anything that I (would want to) do! Sleep all I want? Take eons to come out of my bath? Write this blog tomorrow? Actually I dont have to care even if "tomorrow never comes". Why should I worry? I have infinite amount of time. I can always do it later.

Wait. Is this really a rosy proposition. If I can postpone everything to later, what would I do right now? Sleep. Laze around. May be day dream. But, for how long? Now if I have infinite time and I still do what I am supposed to do in proper time, what will I do after I have completed everything that I am supposed to do? Wait for something to happen that would make me do something else? Man, I am way to impatient to patiently wait for something to happen - and that too without knowing what that event would be!

Having infinite time and no deadlines does'nt seem so rosy now! Hmm, then why did I think it would be great if I just did not have anything to or atleast have infinite amount of time to do what I have to do!

Just a thought...

Vana Vani days

2005-12-22T06:35:00.000-08:00

Finished reading Chetan Bhagat's "Five point someone" recently. Brought back memories of my own IIT Madras days ;D The 12 years spent in Vana Vani, nestled cozily in IIT Madras' woody environs, have left fond memories imprinted on my mind. Sometimes, I feel sad about not having all the fun that I could have possibly had, because of my inclination to get lost in the textbooks. When reading about "Kumaon hostel", "faculty housing" etc., vivid images of IIT Madras' administrative block, structural engineering block, aerospace engineering, OAT, NCC, and yes, Ocean Engineering (where we regularly stopped by for glasses of cold water) and Akshay canteen, all came rushing into my mind. Even though there are certain bitter memories (like getting slapped by Gowrishankar in SAC during Vanfest '94 and the subsequent drop in acads) also bubbled up, those was quickly replaced with the thoughts of all the fun that we had cycling back home. I long to go back there, but as was mentioned in someone else's blog post about getting a rude shock travelling in a PTC bus, I too don't want to get shocked by the changes that the place would have inevitably undergone :(
Nyaabgam varudhey, Nyaabgam varudhey, Nyaabgam varudhey....

Big is Beatiful???

2005-12-18T11:39:00.000-08:00

So. Got to watch the King Kong yesterday. Frist of all, I never had high hopes for what one of my friends called "an 'animal' movie"! The primary reason for watching this movie was for the "theater experience". The movie comes out with flying colors in this aspect. Great sounds, great visuals, wow special effects. The scale of the movie is very very very grand! Peter Jackson has bettered himself in King Kong (after stunning everyone with his flair for grandeur and detail in the Lord of the Rings trilogy).

OK. This is the max I can go with the pros of the movie. Now to the cons.
Overall the movie looks like a collage of Titanic, Jurassic Park with a tinge of King Kong.
Some pieces of movie looks as though it is right out of the Age of Empires game!
Some action sequences (the dinosaur stampede) looks like they have inserted just for their 'commercial' value. Some sequences are outright gross (insects).

While the movie is a treat for the eyes and ears, there is precious little for the mind (the use of the word 'intellect' would have been too much in this context!!!).

Crack a joke. Get a 'bulb'.

2005-11-10T17:19:00.000-08:00

How many times has this happened to you?
You crack a joke and the other person does not get the joke!
Especially during telephonic conversations!
The problem compounds if your ‘style’ of jokes border on the dry and more subtle.
Picture this. You are in a serious conversation with somebody. You want to lighten the mood and hence make a remark belittling yourself and glorifying the other person. Now, you would expect at least a smile (a giggle in case of telephone). Contrary to your expectation, the other person just completes the conversation as though nothing happened!
I know… you can always make the same remark again. But how do you know whether the other person didn’t hear it first time, has missed the joke completely, or did not find it funny at all? If it is the third reason then attempting the same joke again could be embarrassing (read catastrophic)!
Pretty tough. Right?

Just what we needed

2005-10-26T23:22:00.000-07:00

The politicians' "kadai kann paarvai" has fallen on the IT sector. As if their influence on all other walks of life in India isn't enough, we now have the communist parties pontificating on the need for a union for the IT industry. After Gowda's all-out assault on NRN, this is just what we need.
We'll all soon be enrolled into the various unions automatically, we'll have to contribute to the monthly union fund, and if a strike is called for, we'll have to carry the hammer and sickle flag. Choiciest abuse would be reserved for the guys who dare to work on the day of the strike to meet project deadlines.
Brilliant!!!

Bangalore Floods

2005-10-26T01:16:00.000-07:00

It has been raining cats and dogs in Bangalore. The south-west monsoon morphed into the north-east monsoon, and Bangalore has had rains on and off for the past 5 months. Can't remember the last time I saw the sun in all its glory against a spotless blue sky. The cauvery is in spate, and mettur is now an all-pass filter. Trichy is almost submerged.
Even the so-called posh localities in Bangalore have had to bear the brunt of nature's fury - directly or indirectly. All this is already known. What triggered this post is this photo on the front page of yesterday's "The Hindu".
Reminded me of the massive flooding that occured in Chennai during deepavali time in 1985. 5 families including our's (close to 30 people) stayed for about 10 days in a 1 bedroom house. I can still remember the obnoxious odour emnating from the rotting paper and wood as we entered our home after the floods drained away a bit. At that time, such makeshit rafts were used to transport essential supplies. Chennai has been spared of the torture so far this year.
Then, our parents always used to tell us how well-planned Bangalore was, and how a site would be sanctioned only after the drainage, water-connection etc., was planned for. I makes me sad to see Bangalore's state of affairs now.

The Devil Incarnate

2005-10-24T05:49:00.000-07:00

Note : This is transliterated tamil, so might take some effort :D

adho, avargaL vandhu vittArgaL. engalukku mattumey sondhamaana iravin nisabdham "doppler's effect"-udan kulaiya poagiradhu. engaLin thanimai pari poanadhaal avaL migundha seetRatthil irukkiraaL. dhooratthil avargaLin manjaL niRa kaNgalai paartha udaney en thozhanukku aathiram patRi kondadhu. Avan kaNgalil teritha kobam ennaye oru muRai ulukkiyadhu. Sagaakkal iruvarin uNarchi vayapatta nilai ennayum totri kondadhu. Moovarum oruvarai oruvar paarthu koNdoam. "Indru ivargalai vidak koodadhu" - thoazan seerinaan. Avargal engalai nerunga nerunga, naangal thayaar aanoam. Urumik koNdu vadha andha irandu peygaLayum vaaykku vandhabadi ellam thiTi kondaey thuratinoam. Aanal indRum avargal thappi viTaargaL.

Ramesh : raathiri aachunaaley indha naai-nga thollai thaangala
Chandru : naalaikku main road-la poidalaam. innikki adhunga rombavey aakroashama namma bike-a thoratichunga.

(Guys who've rode through some of Bangalore's smaller roads during night times will know...)

Attending a party

2005-07-10T18:50:00.000-07:00

Had to attend a b'day party of my friend yesterday.
As usual, I started getting a bit nervous about attending the party. And that too a birthday party.

If you notice, attending a b'day party requires preparation on many fronts - gift, attire, timing, wishing, food and finally the right time to slip out of the party.
Believe me every one of these requires thinking - way more thinking than what I am ready to do on a weekend! But, I had to do that as it was my friend's b'day and moreover parties are an incentive to meeting different people and generally good food.

Here are the golden rules that I follow:
Gift: Club my gift with others. This way my money would go farther and would get something more useful to the recipient. How many times we have gone to marriages with the same old Clock or a silly little poster! This time, we were able to get an IPod Shuffle.

Attire: This is tricky. A party among friends always warrants casuals. But I had once been to a house-warming party (of a Swede) with a formal shirt and a trouser. Every other guest there had come in blazers and suits!

Timing: Never be on time for parties. It would be totally unsettling to be early for a party with the host running around preparing the place for the guests to come. For a 3 hour party, I would always go 30 minutes late.

Wishing the host: Get done with this first thing you reach the place. Wishing requires you to be very formal and polished. It is prudent to get this fone first because you can get going with other important stuff - like food!

Food: Eventhough this is the most interesting part of any party, I will always be patient till the fag end of the party to be able to sink my teeth into food. I am never shy of going for the second serving or even a second round. After all we all live to eat and survive!

Getting out of the party: Never get out of the party just after finishing the food. Loiter and bore a few other attendees before leaving the party. If the party is a late night party, then I always think up credible-sounding but never verifiable reasons for leaving the party. "Have to call my parents" never raises any eyebrows. This is by far the safest reasons for leaving a party early.

As I said in the beginning, attending a party in itself is a strain one's social and mental abilties!

Why make horror movies?

2005-04-04T20:41:00.000-07:00

I was wondering, why should anyone make a horror movie?
What in the world will anyone be thinking before choosing to make a horror movie?
Why should anyone see a horror movie?
And that too pay money to watch it?

I start this blog with all these questions in my mind. Let me see if I can find an answer for at least one of the above questions.

Movies, as I know, is way of entertaining people. Every movie has some reason/message to convey - happiness, sentiments, valor, action, comedy - all of these are things that each one of us want to do in real life, but are unable to do (for whatsoever reasons).

But, horror, on the other hand is some thing that we would never want to be faced with in real life! Would you want to be horrified to death while you are taking a bath in your bathtub?
Would you want to be mortified to death by a 30 year old child (!), with hair all over her face and slime all over her body? Would you want your face to have a totally warped expression after you die (one eye gouged out, half the face charred, all your hair standing up)? Or, would you want to copy some freak video with pathetic scenes and spread it to everybody so that they can get killed in the next 7 days?

Yes, all the above questions are a direct result of me watching "The Ring - Part 1" recently!
I got curious as it has been crowned the "Scariest movie of the decade". Thanks to my dear friend, who got the DVD from Netflix and setup his big screen projector in one of our other friend's place - that I finally ended up watching that wretched movie.

The movie was scary, no question on that, but what is more astonishing is the hallucination effects that it caused after nearly 2 hours of seeing it. Even as I am typing now, I still get hallucinations of some one walking into my room (FYI... I just looked up to see who it was - only to find no one. Spooky!).

Coming back to my questions, why do we (humans) really make and watch horror movies?
Is there a sadist or a masochist in every one of us. Probably not, as there are people who never want to see horror movies. I have joined their club as of yesterday! Why be horrified by seeing a movie when you never want to be that way in real life?

So much for my rambling, I think I would curb my curiosity in the future and stay away from horror movies henceforth.

Aloha!

Dodging the 'Bait'

2005-02-07T22:58:00.000-08:00

Hair cut. An 'essential' ritual that everyone has to go thru - atleast once in 2 months. It is also the time when you would have to dodge uneasy baits - beauty/hair-care products from the salon.

For the record, I normally never fall for the bait of 'good for the scalp' or 'cures dandruff' hair-care-products that the hair dressers ('barbers' for lay men!) lay out for me. I go to the extent of countering them with the ill-effects of chemicals on our hair and counter-market our one-and-only Raaga Shikakai powder to her.

Today was no exception, the hair-dresser tried the same old trick on me and I managed to back-off just in time! But there was a small twist that made it very embarassing to say 'No' to the hair-care stuff.

It all started off with me agreeing for a hair-wash which I would never do - in normal circumstances. Yes, I have a dandruff problem. But I don't want every hair dresser to harp on that. Hence, I shut them up by voluntarily accepting that and also tell them not to care too much about it.

This time, I could not say that. Actually even before I could start my first line of defense, the hair-dresser bypassed my defense by dropping a comment - 'I could do a better hair-cut if I wash your hair first'. I dared not to say 'No' as I did not want to give her an excuse for giving me a shoddy hair-cut! I did not even ask her the extra charge for the hair-wash!

I could not think of one specific reason for me not resisting the hair-wash. May be because I have never had a hair-wash earlier (at the salon I mean). Or may be because she was a bit charming in her ways of convincing me. Anyways I knew I was hooked for a hair-wash plus hair-cut.

She started the hair-wash with a simple shampoo - to cleanse my hair. She then used a conditioner that had eucalyptus oil and mint. I could not only smell the mint but also 'feel' chill of the mint in my head. I felt as though a ton of ice has been placed on my head. Only that the weight was not there - but the chillness was very much there!

This was when I started thinking that the hair-wash idea was not too bad after all. I thought too early I would say! She went on to do what she claimed a 'Scalp massage'. God knows what that means - but it felt really great - light and very cool hair. It was like riding on a motorbike at 90KMPH in Antartica - with cold wind blowing thru your hair!

The hair-cut (after the hair-wash) went eventlessly. I painfully tried to strike a conversation and failed pathetically. The hair-dresser had suddenly lost interest in any conversation with me! May be my hair was too much to wash for her. I did not that bad a dandruff problem, I say.

When it was time to pay up, she dropped the question that I was expecting right from the first minute. She started 'If you are interested...'. She went on for 5 minutes, non-stop, and tried to appriase me of the various 'hair-care' products available. All I heard was her voice in patches '...we have some products...good smell....therapeutic value...cleanse...twice a week...' I basically did not care to listen anything complete for the fear of ending up buying it!

I waited for the first pause in her speech and blurted out 'I think I would not buy anything now. Maybe next time.' - in most rudest way possible. Damn my communication/socialization skills! She was shocked for a moment. She probably expected me at least hear her out, may be. But I was in no mood to hear her and waste her/my time there. I thanked her again (profusely this time - to make up for the rude interruption of her monologue), paid her a handsome tip and shot out to escape her frustated looks.

This sequence of events happens every time I go for a hair-cut. Every time I cookup and practice a nice way of turning the hair-dresser down. But I end up blurting out something stupid/rude. I just hope I dont get to have my next hair-cut from the same hair-dresser. Even if that is the case, I pray to god that she has bad memory and should have forgotten even vaguely talking to a person like me!

School friends and death

2005-01-14T23:58:00.000-08:00

I was watching 'Autograph' today and a particular scene reminded me of a bunch of my school friends.The title song ('Nyabagam Varudhey') has a particular sequence where the hero thinks of a childhood incident - the death of his friend. Yes, I was reminded of my school friends who are dead now! Death is always a difficult thing to deal with - especially of those with whom you have studied with.

For the record it has been only 8 years since I finished school. So there is no reason why my school friends should be dead by now - by any means - other than due to the cruelty of death itself.

Ayyangara Siva, Senthil, George Chandy.

Each one of these guys were my class mates at some point in my school life. Ayyangara Siva was a happy, fun loving and very helping guy. I remember the day when he saved me from being the 'outstanding' student of the class by lending me his spare drawing notebook. Yes, that was a day in the 6th standard. I had talked to him only sparingly till then. Seeing me standing nervous after the 'games' period he enquired why I was disturbed and promptly handed out his drawing notebook on seeing my predicament. Point to be noted is that I did not ask him for the notebook. Actually, I have never been able to ask anyone/anytime for any help so easily. At school I was a very shy kid who talked some sentences and that too only with very close friends - especially not with teachers or not-so-known class mates.

Siva met with his fate on a calm Friday-evening (just after the school) when he and some of our other class mates went to a lake (near our school). I have no idea why Siva & Co had gone to the lake in the first place! I had overstayed at the school as it was Friday and I bumped into Melvyn who had gone to the lake with Siva. He was panting and told me that he had seen Siva drown in the lake. I just laughed it off thinking that it was one of many spoofs that many of class mates crack on others. I suppressed the little doubt that had in mind and went thru my weekend without thinking much about Siva. My little doubt was confirmed the next Monday morning - when our principal announced the death of Siva at our Assembly. We were all shocked and couldn't possbile understand how it would be loose a son/friend/relative to death.

When I think about it now, death does really have a profound impact on our memories. I feel pathetic and sick when I realize I that might not have remembered Siva now if he is not dead
:-(.

Senthil was a bit more lucky - he lived to complete their school. Senthil was studying in an
Engineering college when he met with a fatal accident on one of Chennai's (in)famous fly-overs. He apparently rode his bike on wrong direction of the fly-over (against the traffic!) and lost his life to a PTC bus.

George Chandy breathed his last at a fatal car-crash. He survived thru School and College. He even made it to the U.S of A to pursue his higher studies there. But fate seems to have been waiting for him in there with a deadly surprise.

The whole purpose of this blog entry is to record my school-life and the school friends I have lost till now.

Why my 'Uppuma' was salty today!!!

2005-01-10T23:06:00.000-08:00

Why was my uppuma salty today?

I came home today, at 8:00PM as usual, to find that there was nothing cooked to eat (that's as usual too!). I could have cooked rice and made a simple 'sambar' (or a glorified 'dhal'). And eaten it with Frito Lays chips.

But today I did not feel like I can wait to cook rice and sambar (an easy 1 hr affair). The ringing sound in my stomach told me to cook something fast so that I eat something soon. I did not have to think too much to decide what to make - fast.

In fact deciding what to cook has never been a trouble for me as I knew very few items to cook and my impatience helped me too! Thus I decided with finality that I should make my
world-famous-in-my-hometown vermicilli 'uppuma'.

Actually I am very good at making this Uppuma. I am so good that every time I make this I get kudos from my roommates! I still remember the first day when I tried my hand in making the uppuma. I had eaten the uppuma my mom makes and recollect seeing her cook that very vaguely. With the taste my mom's uppuma in my mind I cooked my uppuma the first time. From then on I have worked on improving it and have literally perfected it.

After perfecting the art of making uppuma, I worked on making it in the shortest possbile time and my current time is 30 minutes, down from an hour! Now that you know my confidence level in my 'uppuma-making' skills, I will tell you how I went about making it today.

I was watching 'Alaipayuthey' on DVD and was, in parallel, cooking too. Who will spend 30 full minutes on a dumb activity like cooking? So, I usually depend on DVDs to save me from boredom while cooking. While Madhavan was proposing to Shalini I was cutting my onions and tomatoes - with tears (of joy?)in my eyes!

I fried the vermicilli a little bit in the pan and microwaved mixed vegetables and the tomatoes.
I went on to fry the onions and reached a state where I had to boil a couple of cups water along with the vegetables. When the water started boiling, I added the slightly-fried vermicilli and allowed it cook for 5 minutes.

Now came the time for adding salt. At this point Shalini was singing 'Ragasiya Snehidhane' to Madhavan and I was painfully thinking about how lucky Ajit was - to have Shalini as his wife. Damn! I thought, 'only morons get beautiful wives'! I started thinking whether I am a moron or a smart guy? I really could not come to terms on whether I should be a moron and have a
beautiful wife or be a smart guy and settle for something less. As though I am having a choice in that!

Anyways, I came back from my trance and added 2 spoons of salt. Actually I dont use spoons for salt - I just use the center of my palm to measure and add salt. I have always done that earlier and today was no different.

By this time Shalini & Co's secret marriage had got exposed and I was sadistically happy to see them (Shalini and Madhavan) kicked out of their homes! I waited patiently for a few minutes for the vermicilli to get cooked and greedily transfered a bunch of scoops of uppuma to a plate. I poured my favorite buttermilk on it and put a spoonful in my mouth.

That is when I realized how salty it was! Even though I remembered adding 2 spoonful of salt I was shocked how salty the uppuma was. I started questioning my knowledge of inorganic chemistry and starting thinking what went wrong. Then I realized that it was in my trance (damn the beautiful Shalini and the moronic Ajit) that I had added the extra spoons of salt!

My room-mate ate the same without raising much hue and cry. I am sure he would bitching about the food while he was trying to somehow eat it without wasting it!

So much for a good movie, a beautiful heroine, her moronic husband, my uppuma and the extra salt!

And so ends the cricket season...

2004-12-05T19:42:00.000-08:00

We ended our cricket season on a sour note!
Just today our team lost the semi final match in the Group A league.
It is a sad thing because, this was a simple match to win and we lost it!
Here is how it happened.

Initially, when we bowled first, we had the opponent team (Fateh CC) crawling at 16/4 in 6 overs. But a couple of batsmen with help from some difficult catches that we missed, managed to make 60 in the allotted 16 overs - a run rate less than 4 an over.

We started our reply pretty confidently and scored 9 in the first 2 overs. I was one of the openers and faced the bowling. We lost our first wicket when my opening partner was caught and bowled very tamely. In came our captain. Our captain normally comes 2 down. But today he just thought he have a go at it and came in at 1 down. We lost him too - for a good catch taken by the point fielder running backwards. It reminded of the Kapil Dev's catch of Viv Richards in the 1983 World cup finals.

In the mean time, I was playing pretty decently. I had scored 12 runs with all of them coming over the off side. I was connecting just about everything on the off side. The bowlers got frustated as I beat the offside field (point and slip) time and again to steal a single or two. I was going great when I did what our captain had warned me not to at any cost.

It was the 7 over and we were 20/3. I was accompanied by a very able batsman (Gautam) who could hit the ball hard with ease. All I had to do was to rotate the strike and run his doubles. The bowler was Ilyas - a slow medium bowler - who bowled a tempting but dangerous line. A line that looks drivable, but should all costs be hit on the back foot. First ball of the over, the same tempting delivery and drove the ball. Unfortunately, the ball was no where to be driven and it ballooned up to the sky. After a long time in the air, the point fielder caught it very great ease. I had again got out on 12. People say that I am jinxed - to always get our at 11/12. It is the 5th consecutive time that I am getting out for this score.

I was replaced by our star player, Sandy.
The very next ball my partner (Gautam) got out too - caught at mid-off - just inches of the ground. This brought in Sujit. Sandy and Sujit played a very cool innings and kept the score board ticking. Then came an over where we scored 9 runs and this took a lot of pressure off us.

All of us thought we were almost there when Sujit got out for a shot on the on side. He wanted to get a couple of runs on the rarified field on the on side. But unfornately ended up scooping the ball in the air.

In came our other star batsman, Ram. This guy has played Under-13 tournaments in Chennai and is a very goo striker of the ball. Sandy and Ram were getting singles and doubles very well for some time.

Disaster struck when Sandy mis hit a ball - to the keeper - and did not realize that the ball was with the keeper. He was stranded in the middle of the pitch and keeper stumped him without any hurry.

Ram was in the middle with our last player - Madhan - a very able left arm bowler. We expected Madhan to block the deliveries but it would haven been unfair on our part to expect him to score the runs.
We had 14 runs to score in the last 2 overs.
Ram tried some valiant swishes of the bat - but did not manage to connect even one. The ball was never there to be hit.

Ram finally pulled the ball into his stumps and our innings thus ended.

As a team, we had graduated from Group C to Group B and then to Group A - in the past 3 tournaments. We could have entered the Finals if we had finished this game correctly.

May be we were not meant to be there in finals! We have dispersed for a break in our cricketing schedule. We would regroup again in February/March next year to play in the next Group A trounament.

I just hope that I continue the same form that I am currently in and break the 'glass cieling' of 11/12 runs in the next tournament!

Things have changed!!!

2004-11-19T21:20:00.000-08:00

Our cricket team captain had sent our team's statistics for this tournament. In a nutshell, we have played 6 matches, lost 3 matches and have one more match to go. The last match (day after tomorrow) is critical for us to stay in the current league. If we lose we would be kicked out of the current league and be pushed to a lower league!

Now, coming back to the statistics part, it had 2 parts. The first part was the statistics related to the runs scored by each member of the team and the second part was the statistics of the bowlers of our team. While our bowling is pretty strong and a couple of our bowlers had really impressive figures, it is the batting statistics that I am going to concentrate on.

The top 2 batsmen (in the order of runs scored) had scored 81 and 59 in the total of 6 matches. Myself, thrid in the order, have till now scored 36 in 5 matches and with a strike rate of roughly 60%! Just 2 months ago I had the worst day in my cricket life - could not connect 5 consecutive balls! And that too when there was no expectation on me to play any big shots (see my previous blog "A very very bad day in cricket")! How did I become the 3rd maximum run getter from a batsman who could not even connect one out of 5 balls? What made me play the way I am playing now - confident and quick?

For the record I open the innings and have all the time in the world to settle down before going for the kill. But I also have to responsibility to holding on to the wicket for the first 4 overs when the best bowlers of the opposition give their best shot at crushing us! Holding on to the wicket I do, but I try to rotate the strike too. This would make sure that we keep the score board ticking and would unsettle the bowler too.

After the 'could-not-connect-5-consecutive-balls' incident I promised myself that I would apply my brains whenever I play and make sure that I settle down a bit before going for my shots. I also let our captain know that I wanted to player higher in the batting order.

Here comes the killer. Our captain called me up one day and asked whether I am up for opening the innings! Wondering how a person who could not connect 5 consecutive balls be asked to open the innings? In the first 2 matches of the current tournament I got chances to bat for 2-3 overs in the end - with no pressure to score fast - but only to just hang around. I liked this and hung around and made a bunch of runs too. This might have made our captain to take his chances with me.

When he called, he was not sure whether I can really do it. So he made it clear that the opening slot is the only one that is free and asked whether I am 'really' up for it. I had nothing to lose and said yes immediately. When I actually openend the innings next match, I actually volunteered to face the first ball! I just wanted an opportunity pretty badly and was ready to risk everything. That match I went on to score 12 runs. The same had been the case for the past 2 matches. I opened the innings and made sure that I stayed for at least 5 overs. Takings one and twos while I was there at the middle.

I am pretty confident now. I have actually figured out a technique to avoid the indecision that I have when deciding to play a ball on the fronfoot or back foot. And I have realised that all I have to do is to 'stay in the middle' and the 'runs would follow'!

All I know is that I am on a roll. I am not going to let this go easily. I will make sure that I stay longer in the middle and score at least 20+ runs in the coming match (day after tomorrow).

How did I do it?

2004-10-20T22:47:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was quite a satisfying one. Mainly because our team won a great match against one of the best teams in our cricket league. And I, in no mean terms, contributed to the great victory. Now that I have told you I contributed, I need to tell you how I went about doing my bit to win the match. A beautiful catch! And that too a catch taken while I was standing close to the batsman!

To give you some background, I have always been a good outfielder. Meaning, I am a dependable fielder who can take decent catches in positions like long-on, log-off and third-man. I seemed to have the gift for judging the ball pretty well to cleanly take high catches. High catches gave you a lot of time and you can easily place yourself to take the catch at your convinience. But I was always awed by close-in fielders and fielders at positions like point, midwicket, slips. I loved to see Jonty Rhodes take sensational catches at point. So did Pointing and Gibbs. I always wanted to field like these men - or at least - take reasonably fast catches while fielding in close positions. I had always thought that I was not fast enough to take a fast catch close to the batsman. More often than not, I ended up being a spectator when the ball whizzes past me! But this was not the case on last Saturday.

Yes, last Saturday our captain took the ball to bowl. He is a medium pacer of good line and length, with just about enough pace to trouble the batsman. The batsman was a pretty good batsman - the captain of the opponent team. The batsman was known to be strong on the on side and apparently our captain had decided to make use of that pretty well.

I was standing in mid-off when he asked to go to the leg slip. Actually it was an unorthodox position - somewhere between the leg slip and the square leg. Anyways, the idea was to stop the runs if the batsman was to hook or pull the ball to the leg side.

When I scrambled to my captains reckoning and stood there I was thinking about how I had performed badly with the bat earlier in our innings. The first couple of balls went eventlessly and I was in my dreamland chiding myself for loosing my wicket cheaply in the earlier innings. This was when the captain bowled a shortish delivery that pitched on the middle and slid towards the leg stump. The batsman positioned himself nicely behind the ball and pulled it cleanly. I could see the ball emanating from the bat and flying completely parallel to the ground. I really liked the view and I saw only the ball and nothing else! At similar times before
I would normally watch the ball with fascination and react a split second late, by when the ball would flown past me. But this time it was different.

The ball was flying towards my right, pretty fast (I got know this from others later). I set my eyes completely on the ball.Without my willing knowledge, I began moving towards ball. And when I wasclose enough to the flying ball, I stretched both my hands and held on to the ball smoothly. I could not believe my eyes when I saw the ball stuck to my hand. I threw the ball high up in the air with esctasy and ran towards the pitch with loud cry.

It took me sometime for me to realize that I had taken my first good fast catch, at the close in position.A teammate commented that I moved some 3 steps towards the ball before I caught it. It all happened in a split second and I did not notice myself moving pretty quickly towards the ball to take the catch. It turned out that I not as slow as I thought I was!

But what made me take catch but not just watch the ball fly by me?
I don't know! But one difference this time was that, my view of the ball was crystal clear. I saw the ball, the ball alone, just like I would see a foot ball. So much was my concentration on the ball that I felt as though the ball was traveling in the air in slow-motion!

May be this is how great fielders take stunning catches in split seconds!

I sure learnt thing or two from my latest catch.
And I am sure it would take me many years before I can forget this catch.

A very very bad day in Cricket!!!

2004-08-21T22:37:00.000-07:00

Today is a day that I would not forget in the near future. It is due to such a sorry figure that I cut today. And that too in the most unexpected of places - the cricket ground!
To give you somebackground...I had always considered myself to be a decent cricketer - a batsman and of late doing pretty OK as a wicket keeper too. A predominantly bottom-handed and a backfoot player - which makes me more of a 'single-taker' than a 'six-hitter'.
I had always thought that my defence was solid and never even thought that I would miss dead-straight balls.

All this until today morning, when I was beaten 5 balls straight. All dead-straight, slightly over pitched and medium-paced balls. 5 balls beaten in an 8 over match!! That over turned out to be a maiden over. 1 over with no runs scored - in an 8 over match!!

Anyways , we were chasing a huge target (85 in 8 overs!). 6 overs had gone by with just 40 runs, when I walked in - as the last-but-one batsman. I had clear instructions - "Play the full 8 overs. Get as many runs as possible. The team that loses more closely might make it to the next round!". Play the full 8 overs, that I did. But get as many runs as possbile, I did not.

The 7 th over was the fateful over that I mentioned earlier. Some non-descript bowler bowled the first ball which I defended confidently (on the back foot as usual). But the next ball was a straight ball, pitched up slightly. Pitched up enough to make me go on the front foot - to drive it of course. Half way through my drive, I got greedy and swung my bat harder to get a boundary. The ball, eventhough pitched up slightly, was not 'over-pitched' enough to drive. Or so it seems now, as I never made contact with it. I swung the bat a millisecond early and missed it completely.

The third ball was also a straight ball. Again pitched up slightly, looking dangerously simple to play. I played it on the front foot and again missed it completely. Beaten second time consecutively by the same ball!!. Oh! Why did not learn from the first ball.

After missing two consecutive balls, I braced myself for a similar ball and decided firmly not to go forward and play it. Instead, I decided to block it firmly. "Damn the singles. Let me first connect the balls with my bat. That would give me confidence to play shots of the next balls". That is what I thought until the bowler let the ball go for the fourth time that over.

The fourth ball was a simple ball on the off-side, not too wide or not too close. But, it kept low. For these kind of balls, I know that I have to go across the stumps and play the ball down. "I know" is the correct word, as I never do it when it comes to actually playing such balls. I tried to slash the ball with my foot firmly in my stance position - that is with NO footwork. As the ball kept a bit low, a bit quicker aided by my 'excellent' foot work I missed to connect the ball. I ended up being just a spectator of the wicket keeper collecting the ball.

I had missed 3 balls in a row! My team mates in the pavilion started shouting advices for me. I felt the first drops of sweat in my palms. I decided to play the next off-side ball with better foot work. I even raised an arm towards the pavilion as if to say "I know what I am doing"!

The fifth ball, to my joy, was the same off-side delivery. I jumped at it and moved across the stumps this time. But alas, the ball kept low. Very very low. And I missed to connect again! I should appreciate the wicket keeper who collected the ball eventhough it was only inches above the ground.

The shouts and the cries in the pavilion had become louder by now. I did not dare to look that side anymore. I was literally praying to god that I should at least touch the next ball. God was busy attending to some elses' prayers, I suppose.

The last ball of the over was the same as the first ball, and I missed to connect again! I think I have real short memory, that I forgot what I decided two balls ago - to play solid defense against such balls. May be my ego had some part in this, as I very badly wanted to hit a boundary - just to prove that I can make up for the lost deliveries! I was not to make up anything. Instead ended up getting beaten by the sixth ball too.

Thankfully the over got over and I went to the non-striker end.

I am still not able to believe that I was beaten 5 balls straight in a match.

I am still doing some soul-searching or rather technique-searching to find out why I missed 5 balls in row. I sure do not want to end up in the same state again.

Never again. I promise, to myself.

MyFirstBlogPost

2004-08-18T16:31:00.000-07:00

I am totally new to blogging and this is my first blog post.

For those who wonder what "gumkha" is...it is a Tamil slang which means extremely entertaining and in a way impressive. By the way Tamil is a South Indian language.

OK. Here are some things that are "gumkha" in my opinion - Cricket, Tamil Songs (specially the ones by Ilayaraja), Interesting movies, daily events that make me go nuts and current affairs (ofcourse!).

Computers dont come anywhere near being "gumkha"!! So please refrain from posting anything too technical!!!! :-)

Hope to see all of your honest and open comments in this blog.

-Raga