27 March 2007

Maryada Purushottam Sri Raam ki Jai


Salutations to Lord Sri Rama on the auspecious day of Sri Ramanavami.
You can have a live experience of Ramanavami celebrations here!!
Ramanavami celebrations are on with full gusto across the country.
And here is my account of how it is being celebrated in my village YELDUR. It was published on thatskannada portal last year.

24 March 2007

Good Bye and Thanks for all the ad campaigns!!

Sachin Tendulkar, who is a parallel God to millions in India, has brilliantly let them down.

Sachin Tendulkar, who has close to 15,000 runs in one day cricket, failed to come up with 150 runs when it was most required.

Sachin Tendulkar, who earns billions of rupees thru advertisements, has brilliantly let billions of people down.

Sachin Tendulkar, who is supposed to bring nightmares to Shane Warne(Best bowler contemporarily), brought an outpitched delivary on to the stumps.


We have been drinking pepsis by litres, wearing adidas shoes, eating britannia bickies, riding TVS motor cycles.....We'll duly follow you in it!! Thanks for all those brilliant campaigns.
And, Good Bye, Sachin!!


A spine-less captain,
spirit-less subordinates,
spice-less sprinters,
cold blooded ‘youngsters’,
care-less ‘seniors’,
and an atrocious old man

are the things that is required to sink a beeming billion dream.

This was proved yesterday. Thanks a ton Mr. Dravid for this brilliant lesson. We've never been so fortunate!!




And Now, please carry home this gift…………..





With due love,

An Indian Cricket Fan (Yet)!!

Also read : Sacrifice

Pictures @ cricinfo.com

21 March 2007

Licence To Kill

It is a story that happened two years ago.

My friend offered to help me learn driving, car driving. She owned an omni. And I wanted to learn car driving by not going to a school. We planned the class format like every saturday one session of over 2 hrs until i learn. She would get the car, I would get the petrol filled.

That day i went to her house. And then we headed to a petrol bunk in the car and filled the petrol. There she took off and I was observing her skills of driving. We went to Gnanabharati university campus And she handed over the car to me...and sat besides.

I took off.

Frst half an hour in frst gear, she got scared at the speed i was driving. She asked me whether i knew driving, I swore i didn't knw. And then she said boys learn faster as they have in built skills for these things :)

Encouraged by all these I accelerated, forgetting that there’s a system in car called break.
and then I drove all over the univcersity campus
it was all empty, saturday it was
sooo i was the King of the road

She offered me to teach reversing the car…I myself tried, didn’t give her a chance…She asked me to take a right, but I swung left……Car went flying towards a gutter…

But i managed to stop it at right moment. She brought it back on to the road…scolded me like a true teacher.. and then after some more driving, it was time for us to leave.

I then turned the vehicle towards her house….It was travelling at a bit higher speed.

Suddenly there came chasing me…a BTS busssssss…..

I got scared and stoppped the car right in the middle of the road. Bus fellow started abusing me. There was a police man at a visible distance too.

She rushed out of the car and taken over the vehicle to her custody.

Remember…I didn’t have a icence, nor the car had any L board.

Thus ended abruptly my first driving class. I was happy at my progress..

And then next Saturday, i couldnt go in the morning as I was busy with my sister wedding shopping. Afternoon she got busy. She had to take her cousin to some exam to RTNagar. She called from RTNagar and informed me that she was free until her cousin finished the exam. “if u can come here, we'll drive on real roads at RTNagar”, she said. I agreed and went there beeming…like a proud peacock….

With the live traffic, I drove for over an hour…I was driving sooooooo good that I felt a great amount of pride for myself that day.

There were all small roads with cars being parked in front of all houses…one of the roads…oh! God! There was a lorry!! I avoided all those and swept past them skillfully, superbly and tactfully.
After all these, my teacher yelled "car odsodu kaltu bitte kano" (Boy! You learnt driving)

This made me overconfident of myself.

It was getting exciting as the hour flew. And i reversed the direction to give her the control back. She was also happy at my progress and at her teaching skills.

There we came across a wide road. Traffic was negligible on it though. I was driving very slow as I was exhausted and hungry.
There was a cross road and I saw a biker coming from the other part of it, he had to intersect my way.

So I slowed it down by releasing the accelerator completely. My car was going in a snail pace.
He too stopped realising me coming. I thought he'd probably wait till i cross, and mostly he too thought
the same.

I pressed accelerator, he accelerated too.

Both were against each other. and I got panicked. Instead of break, I pressed the accelerator.

And DUUUUSH.........

Me fled fast, She requesting me to stop. And the bike fellow fell down injuring himself.

Thank God it was not a direct hit. When the clash happened bike had almost passed. There was a pillion who carried a box of flooring tiles. We rushed back to see what happened to them. Pillion seemed severely injured and the bike was out of shape. And the tiles were all over the field, of cource, broken.

An auto guy was waiting like a hawk to scream upon me. My frind was shell shocked.
:(

I had no option but to take that fellow to a hospital; I offered him the same.
They didnt accept it, all he wanted, me to accompany him to a place where they worked.

I went along with him, no option otherwise, to rajajinagar, to that tiles shop.

One good thing I did was, I asked my frnd to leave the spot immediate as she had to pick her cousin.

And I took this injured person on my bike.

Mind you i didn have a licence (LL, two wheeler four wheeler…none).

Thats m sobbing story

Just then I received a call from home querrying me to rush back since some marriage related thing was pending. But how would I explain them that I was struck in this stupid mess, unwarranted.

Hospital guys took an x-ray of the injured people, saying that they must wait for the doctor to assess the reports…... :(

And then i stuck a deal with the shop people, paid some money and got released from the hell.

Went to a temple and put some tappu kaanike before going home.

When I narrated the story at home, they asked me to stop trying my hands at driving.

:(

OKOK... i know u had a good laugh at it

After the marriage, I silently joined a driving school, coughed up some money to those guys and got my license within a month.
And my friend, kept calling me for the classes. She had enough of the taxes on her as well, due to the hit, omni’s left portion was a bit dented. I finally showed her the license and drove her car again, this time, like a professional driver. :)

BTW,

DIYA has asked me to thank all those who supported her and inform you that she finally made a successful appearance at DL test and she received her DL last Saturday(!!) And that she now officially had "License to Kill"!!

Licence to KILL series PART I PART II

14 March 2007

The licence trial continues

Continuing from PART I

Diya:

hi
bk after a small commercial break
:)
hmm
so ghat section road nalli up hogtaidde
d:left madam..left left yeliri..good
d: right madam
good
there r white lines on either side of the road n we should drive within those anthe
all was going smooth
d:hedar bedi madm
naanu instruct madtaideeni andkolli

Srik:

:D hedarbedi antha hedarsibitna?

Diya:

me:hoon sir..neeverovaga bhaya yaake???
we proceed further up the ghat section road
d : suddenly
haage hogi madam
right
n point left with his hand
im confused

Srik:

:D:D:D:D

Diya:


i slow down still further
n mind u we r already moving slower than a snail
d: right madam right right right
at a highhhhhhhhhhhhh pitch
i then c that theres abigger circle to the one we'd passed a few mins before n that im supposed to cut the figure of 8 round this
d:higher still...madammmmmmmmmmm
right

Srik:

u didnt take right?
even when he was screaming?
interesting

Diya:

n me in all my josh press down hard on the accelerator n the car jumps up over the stones lining the circle n d pulls the hand brake then i press the brake n the car comes to a stop
:'(

well after this great leap of mine
d yelled MMMMMMMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
iliri kelge
yen madidri?
yanked the door closed n proceeded to reverse the car onto the track
n go round the circle in fury
:'(
i was left standing there n din know whether to laugh or cry n whether to start walking down from there to the shed
d comes bk n says hinde kootkolli
i meekly sit
n he zooms away down
d:yen madam
ivaga naanu baiskobeku inspector hatra
heega maadodu
yenaithu nimge?
me:meekly still..mumble a sorry
im shell shocked n embarrassed
i get down meekly n walk back
every one's laughing at me
n making cruel comments
like style madkondu appana duddu udaislikke bartaare n all
n me dressed demurely n decently in a salwar
:'(
n i was in tears
:'(
well thats the end of the story
sorry i could'nt continue in the humorous vein i started
i still feel very bad wen i remember the looksn comments that i got that day
i dint sleep for almost 3-4 days after that
had nightmares
:'(
still do sometimes
:'(
n so i dunno if i can drive confidently ever again..
n also if i'll do the driving at all
as for going to the dl test again
:'(
well....!!!!!

13 March 2007

The licence trial

I was talking to Diya, one of my friends, online. She narrated an interesting story…of her attempt at trying a Driving licence test in Bangalore. Poor fellow, she, of cource, was in the arena thru a driving school. And then…….

OK. Let me not add masala to her story…she explains better than me….
Over to you Diya :).

I am pasting the log as it is…I have tried my best in translating the Kannada words to English as it is.. but u knw…some times….yeah read it and lets know :D

Diya:

So Sat mrning i was to be there at 9 in the guy's office
landed there almost on the dot..n filled up a multitude of forms
loads of ppl there n lots of tips flying all round the place
i as pretty calm n maybe a teeny bit over confident too

well that apart, we reached peenya by round 10.30
the lady driving our santro was pretty bad.....
andre nanna prakaara

start stop madtaidru
so that made me feel all the more overconfident

Srik:

last minute prep with many people's life in hand
very nice
and....

Diya:

esp wen i heard that she was coming for the 2nd ime for her test
:)

Srik:

oh! God!

Diya:

we reached with lil hiccps..thanks to our driver's skill in handling the second set of controls

Srik:

hmmmm
and then u were not allowed to practice?

Diya:

n that same lady cut in front of me in the q
nanna last ge talbitru
:'(
that got me all hot n bothered as u can very well imagine

Srik:

oho! so u waited till it is 12:30?
I can
poor you

Diya:

n i began cursing her left right n centre

Srik:

hilarious

Diya:

well we were then asked to wait in the shed beside for our turn

Diya:

n thats wen i got a good n up close look at the track
:'(

Srik:

so u had to drive on a readymade track
not on the road
actual road

Diya:

actual road nalli real vehicles iratte alwaa??? namma level of expertise navaranna avaramadhye bittu yaake avarigella sumne paapa kattabeku???
i mean....
namma baidre avarige paapa tagalatte antha
well anyways
interruptions sakkath jaasti aaytu
so sumne keling now

Srik:

yeah :D
heluvanthavaLaagu (Please Continue) :D

Diya:

hmm..aamele where was i???
yeah track
phull upuuu downuuu
adralli figure of 8 bere (There was a figure 8 on the track)
hmm

Srik:

Hahahah

Diya:

i thought idenu maha (I thought its easy)
im sure i can ace it
andre ace ildidru...maadbahudu(if not ace, doable ;))

Srik:

ace?

Divya:

n my daydreams were rudely interrupted by my name being called...
madam yaava gaadi??? (Which vehicle madam?)
santro
banni madam (Get in madam)

Srik:

:D
interesting narration

Diya:

i walked with almost a swagger..well a very womanly confident stride rather
the inspector looked..
at my form n asked name
i said diya
n he din even bother looking up
i said good for me n stood still
he said hogi (Go ahead!)

Srik:

so body language couldnt speak with him

Diya:

n voila our driver had already brought the car roud front

Srik:

ok
spoon feeding

Diya:

i walked down to the car n he said all the best madam..olle inspector ge haksiddeeni... (I have put u under a good inspector, easy to pass ;))

i said sari sir..thank u (OK sir, thanks)
n got in
he said gaadi gear nalle ide..start maadi..slight aagi clutch bidi..brake bidi...
ok
me: tried changing the gear..
d: Not required madam
m: No need to change the gear??

d: Not required..Do what I say..slowly accelerate!!

m:dutifully follow orders
And i take the first steep aagi up iro road

alls well mind u

me happy
d happy

Srik:

coool

Diya:

then d says madam take left at that extreme end.

Srik:

inspector in back seataa?

Diya:

“indicator” d utters, but me has already put it on
d hapy again
inspector in his seatuuu
:-/
d in back seatuuu
:-/
me in driving seatuuu
:P
ok naa???

Srik:

hey tel me inspector in the seat next to you ???

Diya:

ayyo illa….nononono…..

Srik:

he was not in car at all
?

Diya:

he was sitting in the shade where he was checking the forms n all
next to the shed where we were waiting for our turn

Srik:

oho! its no test at all :'(

Diya:

ok???????

Srik:

Yup

Diya:

hey sumniru…hey shut up…
kelu….listen…
illandre.....otherwise….
hmm
thats better
then i take the turn indicated n look at a steep down road....
ok
here goes
smooth....
d happy stilll
n then we r near where we started n
d says ee madhyad road nalli left madam (left on this middle road madam)
aa road full ghat section roaduuu(it’s a ghat section road!!)

hey jus b bk
im being called
don go away

Srik:

sure


we'll be back after a short break!!!

Episode re-telecasted based on the requests......here

Cricket Worldcup



Hope the smiles prevail and spread all over….Capture the Caribbean guys…
All the best for the world cup

08 March 2007

Forgiveness

Got this sms today from a friend. I thought I'd share it with you all.


When asked what forgiveness is, a little gal replied beautiful answer, "Forgiveness is the sweet scent a flower gives when it is being crushed!"

Good Wishes for Women's Day!!

Read also : SHE

06 March 2007

Its raining cats and dogs!!!

Finally,
Ah! finally, I too got drenched in the MuMgAru maLe!!

No... the monsoon has not yet been set in Bengalooru, but this movie has made everyone get wet in a virtual drain.

After weeks of anticipation and failed planning, finally made it yesterday. It was a second show, so we got tickets easily. We had chosen a theatre close to home so that night traveling is not expensive :)

By the time we settled down on the seats, the movie began. It started with a heavy rainy sound and a flash of distinct lightning.
Impressed with it we continued.

In the first scene, the hero and the heroine meet in a usual way, in front of a shopping mall and they end the meeting in an unsual way.*(If you have watched the movie, U know what Im talking about and if you have not, then better go and watch it ;))
Consequent scenes are a kind of continuation of that un-usual thirst and the scene shifts from Bangalore to Madikeri. It is rainy all over in Madikeri, they meet again....and the repetition...

Coincidence...hero ends up at the heroine's home, accompanying his mother to a marriage...

And the story continues....lo there's the first twist...the hero learns that he was there for the marriage of the heroine whom he was in love with!!
And then he decides to resign and go back... The second twist...the heroine challenges him... And he comes back...

Now...they roam all over Malnad and some other breathtaking locations...and end up cycling to Jog falls...

And the third twist...she declares her love to him amidst this breathtaking locale.....

And the last twist...Her mother discovers half of this just a day before the marriage and approaches the hero to help them by advising her not to break the heart! While his mother asks him to stop playing a villain in her friend's family...

And the dilemma continues... Watch the movie to see what happens on the wedding day.....

I would not recommend you to watch it for its story, not even for its script, not even for its mind-blowing songs, not even for the star cast...I would recommend this movie only for the sheer technical feel of it...

I would recommend you the whole movie only for that one simple scene that stops your heart for a moment...where in the cinematographer Krishna has excelled in shooting the Indian natural wonder Jog falls.

One good thing about the movie is it is completely shot in Karnataka....maximum outdoor scenes are natural masterpieces that were not in sight in other Kannada movies...Take that scene where the heroine is carried by her aging father...or the place where the hero takes his to-be father-in-law on a jog...or take that song "Anisuthide" in the backdrop of the Linganamakki backwaters.....Just amazing...three cheers to the crew for making this movie...

And On the other hand, I would say don't have too many expectations...you might not laugh at those supposedly funny scenes....you might not like the way it ends...or you might not like the way good music has been sidelined by the noise....list grows...

Regarding the cast... Ananth Nag is the real hero. I have no other compliment for him now... other than "Kannadada Amitabh"!! He's getting better and better with his age...Ganesh is tolerable, and so are others...overall a decent cast...

Now....you know, I guess...what to say to this...I mean "He's impressed with the movie...but not as much"....!

Yes, I'm not able to rate this movie either way... It is better that you go and check it yourselves. :D

Picture by oneindia.com