hot,hotter,hottest

omg!!this is one of the tuffest times to pass in chennai.with the mercury touching all time highs,you can do nothing but endorse the "stay indoors" campaign.and yes,talking about campaigning,the general elections are round the corner and its time for us to vote.

i m 19.and yes i wanna vote.but unfortunately,i dun have my name in the voters list.this keeps me away from the booths on may 13th.but if someone asks,i can always say that none of the candidates interest me!!the customary excuse thats been passed on to us hereditary.

but i guess everyone should come out and vote.voting is one of the most beautiful gifts of democracy which helps us decide whom we want to lead us.but then,most of us take the election day as a good holiday.and with the temp rising,i m a bit skeptical about the turnout this yr.the other thing thats happening this summer is IPL.some great cricket action for the country that lives cricket,though i personally believe that it wud ve been better if it was conducted in india.they moved it to south africa for security reasons.arey yaar...its election time and the politicians are busy with the elections...so thers no reason to worry(no pun intended).

ah yes,coming bak to the summer,i m trying hard to stick on to the "beat the heat" column suggestions in the daily.going for less black n more white for some time.tried even sticking my head into the fridge once.its bloody 40+ here dude.

i hate anything that goes above 40.(ipl is actually my brainchild)...hey wait....excuse me dad!...whts ur age???

le personnel type de wearie clotha lessier
(the person whos typing with less clothes on)

balaji
(now what language was dat!!!!)

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these times make me think...

when you are sulking around for a coupla days or more,you know that thngs arent going the rite way.but then,thats what coll life is all abt they say.i m smart enuf to knw that college is all not abt bunking classes,the party times,girlfriends or bikes.i m not the guy who gets cross on silly things and never i allow petite matters to spoil my day.

its been a good journey so far.the very first day of coll was very special.as such,first is always special.be it the first place in sports,academics or anything,its got a different feeling.all i hoped for on that first day was 4 good years which when remembered long after would bring a smile on my face.i ve relished the time spent so far,thanks to the company of some great friends.

life is full of crests and troughs.but its some strange periods such as the one i m going thru now that makes you feel boring.days ve been tuff for some while and today was no exception.today was the kind of day where you start with a great morning and draw a sulky face towards the evening.teachers play a great role in a students life.they are the ppl whom u admire and look forward to.but little do they realize they have such a beautiful responsibility..building tomorrow's citizens.good teachers is history.what we have in schools and coll are jus ppl who teach some things they know to others who dont and they charge a fee for that.service?u mus be crazy!!!!!!.

i dun expect them to be model teachers but atleast they can be sensible and a bit responsible.but thanks to some teachers void of all that,my day today was spoilt.a case taht may ve been dealt in a smooth manner was blown out of proportion and i bear the brunt.now all f them seem to ve a grudge on me.but as i said,these things little bother me.for they are just troughs in between crests of happiness and joy and the company of beautiful friends. and when i m going thru troughs,i knw that the crest is sumwhr round the corner.

when i leave this campus 2 yrs later,i m gonna carry a heap of memories..some sweet and some that make u sad...some that make you laugh and some cry.but they are memories.and they always remain sweet.when i recollect these days later,when me and all my classmates wud ve been settled in what they call "life"...the emotions would overflow.tears wud roll down the cheeks and i d jus smile at my son and tell him"your dad is blessed with great friends".

i m feeling much better now and i think i ve already lost that cross feeling.
when winters come,can spring be left far behind???


hugs
balaji

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this and that---ASK'AR' and beyond

a little while ago,i switched on the tv to find out about the oscars.yes,slumdog has finally made it and rahman,gulzar and pookutty have won the awards too for their work on music.now i have every reason to cherish or thats what most of u think or i may ve wanted to do too.no doubt,thers so much pride in me that an indian has finally got to hold something that until today remained an unlikely thing.but on the other hand,you are made to think whether the recognition that we are busy celebrating is truly an honor the indian film fraternity and we indians at large.

i am in no way underestimating the genius in rahman,gulzar and pookutty but something tells me that the western audience isnt still fancy about accepting indian style of music and cinema and we shudnt be crazy about making them accept.they ll never accept it anyway.if they do,then they arent distinguishing themselves from the art styles of a third world country which me and you are a part of.had it been an indian director for the same movie,its tough to say if the story wud ve been same.you never know.

i ve always believed cinema is geo-specific.i.e.cinema should always reflect the cultural identity of the local people.there has to be things that they can relate with easily.we ve grown up listening to songs and they still remain the dominating factor in all public functions.rahman himself has given birth to scores of wonderful music.we have witnessed it and they still keep ringing in our ears.the western world has always laughed at us criticizing our cinema.they say"oh indian movie??is it like 8 hrs with a dozen songs and dancing around trees and stuff?"

taare zameen par to me was a much better film than slumdog millionaire.tzp brought about a change in parenting across the nation and showed dyslexic children in a new light.that may not necessarily fancy western audiences.bcoz the film was based on indian parents and their attitude towards their children.indian parents want nothing less than 1st place for their kid.i wonder where the country would go if all fight for that 1st place.

i m reminded of a joke that was a part of a stand up comedy show in london.crewberry is a dull girl.an american teacher asks her"what is 2+3,little kid?".she replies"hmm....i think...i think...tis RED".the american teacher says"oh my god!!that was not what i was expecting.but i should tell you this.you have a very good creative mind!!!".the same girl goes to an indian teacher and all she gets for her answer is a slap!!.jokes apart.now lets be straight.we are not like them and thats the reason we could easily relate to tzp.pookutty himself feels that his work for SM was not his best.he liked his work for the movie"gandhi,my father".

a movie on gay rights may not be appreciated in india but may be doing good somewhere else.all this means...there are loads and loads of better movies and music that may havent gone to the oscars but are definitely more sensible to the indian audience.i want to say about naan kadavul,a movie which i saw last week.a terrific movie with such a heavy concept and songs that make you cry.it was about a life of an aghori and also threw light upon the dirty beggar mafia that runs in this country.an incredible movie.

this country which we beleive is soon going to overthrow developed countries,movies like this jus pinch us reminding we have a long way to go to make this great country which we both love a better place to live.let us learn to accept and applaud realistic movies.let us all change.yes we can(see again...we need an american to tell us this!!)

congrats to rahman,gulzar and pookutty

balaji

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whats in a name!!

if you ve been seeing the toyota camry advt on the TV or seen the harry potter movies,you might just understand wht this thing is all abt.i m talking abt anagrams.

for those of u who are terminologically challenged,anagrams are nothing but wht u get by rearranging the alphabets of a given word so as to get an entirely new word or a phrase.for eg. "camry" anagrams to "my car".in the harry potter movie,the name tom marvolo riddle changes to "my name is voldemort" with the swish of a wand..

i jus happened to bounce on this website called anagramgenius.it has an anagram generator and gives really interesting anagrams to ur word.i filled the text box with all known names and found it really amazing.

type george bush and it anagrams to"o,he buggers".
osama bin laden is "a damn alien S.O.B".
saddam hussein is "UN's said he's mad.".
statue of liberty is "built to stay free".
albert einstein is "ten elite brains".
and "William Shakespeare" anagrams to "I am a weakish speller"??!
beleive it or not,sachin tendulkar anagrams to"and i lack the runs"!!!.
i tried princess diana and it said "ascend in paris".

it is very interesting to get really funny descriptions to ur name.anagram is not all that junk stuff..not many of us know that the city kyoto located in japan is actually an anagram of tokyo!!.so jus give it a try.its worth it.

now,obey dog!(good bye)

rgds
ease by a jail(sayee balaji)

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mumbai meri jaan

i took a break from my routine life in chennai and visited mumbai,the place which of late is being identified with terror but is still the good old childhood place for me.

its been close to 4 yrs i havent been to b'bay.i had a long pending visit and i decided to jus make it this time.after getting down at the chatrapatti shivaji airport,i was a bit careful.there were a chain of auto rickshaws just outside the arrival terminal but my experience here in chennai made me skeptical.so i jus called up my frnd and asked him if it wud be good to trust those guys arnd.after all these fone calls and stuffs,i jus got into an auto and told him"uncle!!mujhe thakur village jana hain".and that was it then.i was into the roads of mumbai.

dunno wht,but this city has got a charm that u cant find newhere else.i have lived for some good amt of time in both these cities ...so u can actually trust wht i m saying.thakur village is the place whr my frnd is put up.the school which i attended was in place called thakur copmplex which is jus like opp thakur village.as it was early hours in the morning,traffic wasnt that much a problem.so i could get a fair glimpse of this city.those frequent movement of my eye balls to the meter in the rickshaw can well suggest how bad auto experience in chennai was.

the place looked not exactly as it was 4yrs ago.there were some changes...or perhaps i had jus forgotten everything.i somehow managed my way into the thakur village and there i was.as this was my first outing alone,every succesful thing i did was a great morale booster for me.yes!!found my way frm the airport to my frnds house.the weather was pleasing.was as if it was welcoming someone returning home after a long time.rang the doorbell.and i met my frnd there.it felt soo great.very nice you know.i jus refreshed myself and we started calling up our frnds to find out when we can possibly meet them.as it was a very short trip i had planned,i wanted to make sure i'd visit everyone if possible.

where and when was decided and at abt 11.00 we were at the coffee shop.met a good old frnd of mine.we shared and talked abt so many things over the coffee.a lot of interesting things came up.recollecting memories of the past,talking abt our present and curious abt our future was wht we did until there wasn nothing left that could come up the straw.my frnd had actually bunked his coll and was speaking abt wht fun it is in doing that.i felt out of the group for that few minutes.u knw wht i m talking abt!!we jus roamed abt the place for some time and decided to get back home.we decide to spend the evening watching a good movie.mumbai was stung by the ghajini mania and so we thgt we could give it a watch.it was a good movie.we returned home for dinner.menu was punjabi.and i liked it very much.my frnds mom cooks really well.all the 3 days i stayed there,i retired very late in the nite....past midnite.so thats something very different for me.i m bascially the "early to bed,early to rise" fella.

later that nite,we went down and had some sweet pan.that was the perfect way to end the day.next morning was sunday and i was soo geared up for i was to meet some more frnds that day.i did.and it was amazingly awesome.beleive me,i had some really great times out there.after coming to chennai,i wasnt able to keep in touch wid all my classmates in mumbai.i did meet a few of my frnds whom i m speaking to, literally after 4 yrs.how gr8 it was.cheers!!.with frnds arnd,time really flies.and how true it was.it was late noon when we said bye,take care,good luck and stuffs.i cudnt waste ne single second.coz i had plans for going to town i.e churchgate for shopping and jus walk along the beautiful marine drive and also look at the taj.

we went to borivali and boarded a churchgate fast.there are very few places which actually stick to the description they give and mumbai is one of them.so a churchgate fast is really fast.local trains are the lifeline of the city and all u cud afford in one of these trains is 1 sq.ft of luxury.but since it was a sunday,it wasnt that crowded.i travelled all along the distance hanging near the edge of the train compartment.it was great.an amazing experience.got down at churchgate.walked outside and straight to the fashion street which is the shopping hub and u can find everything frm safety pins to platinum.i got something which i found interesting.i still hadnt eaten a wada-pav which remains the best street food in the city and something i crave for very much.i finally got my hands on one of them.every single bite i had,the wow was getting even more louder and expressive.we then went to marine drive and jus sat thr for some while looking at the endless sea."before we turn poets,lets go"i said.

we clicked a few pics and headed straight to the taj.the gateway was under renovation and the immediate area outside the taj was cordoned.took some pics here too.walked all the way back to th churchgate station.on the way i found i good tee and i got that.it said"i love mumbai".i knew i had to get one for me.after buying all this,we head back to the station and catch a borivali fast.the story of hanging near the edge still continued.

the beautiful breeze hit me with some interesting thoughts..how active the city is..how vibrant the place looks.its definitely got something which is not there newhere else.we down got at the borivali station and i had some more wada-pavs.i knew i wudnt get them here in chennai.so i wanted to have till i get sick of them.by the time v reached home,it was 9.00...i wanted to meet another good frnd of mine.so i went up to his place.he stays pretty close to he school i was in.so we just thgt we'd visit the school campus too.the school looked same except for some minor changes.but it still rocked as a campus.talking abt loads of things,we were jus strolling arnd...we then headed to a kulfi parlour and i had some great kesar pista kulfis.there were simply the best.thers one more thing called dabelis which u get there and are something i used to live upon during my days in that city.so i jus asked my frnd if i cud find one in that locality.his yes made me reallly happy....some sort of feeling which u get after u r done wid ur checklist or something.i had those mouth watering dabelis followed by pani puris and dahi papdi.

i knw whts going thru ur mind.u mus be finding me a real foodie.cmon,mumbai street food will provide neone a great gastronomical journey.i had soo much that the proportion of 70% water and the rest food wud ve swapped places.we then found a park nearby and sat there talking and talking and talking.i was past midnite then."bye bye" followed and i went back home.i never really expected the sunday to go this rocking.thnx to evryone who gave me such a beautiful experience.monday morning was like different.my flight was at 11.00.so i had to start by 9.00.so all my time today morning was spent in packing and stuffs.it was truly a great experience for me.something i never expected.something that has made me feel really different and great.

be it the autowalllas,the stay at my frnds place,the trip to south mumbai,meeting all my frnds......everything was soo soo amazing and fantastic.i cudnt have asked for more.my frnd dropped me at the airport.i hugged him.i called up all my frnds to say goodbye.it was a trip of a kind.i m fortunate to have some great frnds up there.hope the coming times will only strengthen our relationship.as for the city,its the city.i'd nevr love any place more than this.its got the charm.its got the atmosphere.mumbai rocks.please god!!i sincerely pray to you.please dont let this city suffer any more attacks or disasters.this is such a great place,a place where there is life everywhere everytime.

this trip has only increased my love for this city and i hope to see her back soon.before i get all emotional,i ll quickly say

hugs
balaji

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shaken,grieved...she lives on

during the days when i wished to have my own blog...i used to think on wht could i possibly feed it with.writing abt things that usually fascinate me or some of my own experiences thats worth sharing was what i thgt could find a place in my blog.its now over a year or so and i guess i ve done justice to my own expectations or ideas.i would ve definitely not wished to write abt an incident that has left many people arnd the world baffled.but as always circumstances forces me to.
60 hrs of anxiety,loss of many innocent lives and loss of some of our finest cops was all it took for us to realise that our county isnt safe any more and that our leaders have all made a big fool of us.....or have we??....i was just among a billion more who were glued to our tv sets watching the entire operation...with sinking hearts and praying lips.with the death toll rising it was all but clear that our leaders have failed and have failed terribly.this case might have not got the international attention it has now received if it wasnt the foreigners who were among the ones held hostage.because in India,life is cheap.its just after all a very negligible reduction to our 1 billion strong population.the politicians still have a huge herd of fools left.at this time of crisis,its natural for us to feel insecure but the important point is when will we ever have to get rid of this insecurity blanket?.our politicians could have atleast made up the post terror period interesting with the blame game and fake resignation dramas.we ve had enuf of it.
mr.politician i sincerely hope that you dont get to see your loved one putting it up with one of those terrorists who is indiscriminately firing on hundreds of innocent people and could end up his life anytime.
mr politician i also hope that you dont get to hear your telephone ringing and understand what it is to be in that span of a minute.
mr.politician i also hope that you may not get to see your son being wrapped up in the tricolor.
mr. politician i sincerely wish that your house is not flanked by politicians with the media people to insult you by paying a ransom of a lakh rupees.
you are very queer folks indeed.folks who know nothing but money.there is life outside currencies mr.politician.you are the chosen one.we have chosen you to lead us and not bleed us.and i want to tell this to u mr.politiican...no one will turn away from the major's house coz none of your sons have even 1% of the patriotism,courage and commitment that this 30 yr old great chap has shown.he has stood in the front not wondering about his life,his dreams,his family or his fav.actors movie which he mite ve planned to go that weekend.he just thought he should save many innocent lives mr.politician.he just thought he shud be there doing his job.you reward people who shoot in olympic games with the ultimate luxuries of life.and wht ve u done to take care of these men who are actually shooting terrorists who mite have thgt of shooting one of your dear ones??.mr.raj thacekray,i am sorry but i would like to tell u that it were not the marathis alone in the nsg who were fighting these terrorists but in fact "indians" or "outsiders" as you may better know.maybe you were counting the no of marathi commandos involved in the operation but we were counting the no of dead indians and offering sympathies to their loved ones.
i dont actually want to say this again.people would have told this far more eloquently that what i am equipped to.but yes...we ve had enuf.we need actions and not words.we need leaders.we need peace.with attacks likes these my hope of a developed india seems nothing more than a fairy tale to me.will my children get to enjoy living in a land which people like mahatma gandhi,subash chandra bose,tilak and many others sacrificed their lives for??as for mumbai...you shake her,you destroy her...yet she lives on.and i love her.

faith

balaji

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preparing for some high decibel days...

the celebrations have already begun.so glad that the dark clouds which brought some heavy rains for the past coupla weeks have bid adieu.these days are soo very different.not the usual ones...my home now occupies a herd of ppl rather than jus 4.this means more shoes outside my house,more the chitter chatter that happens in the evenings and more the fun.the powerful speakers which my TV boasts of is now put to shame.the high dB crackers make sure they are the only ones in the city to rattle our ear drums...the colorful shots in the sky is a pure visual treat.the sweets which i gobble up at very reg intervals makes me a sweeter guy today.jus hrd bush extending his greetings to the indian commn in the US.well....all i can wish them is a "HAPPY DE-WALL-I".the box of crackers thats rite next to me is a tempt inducer.i m having a cracker of a time.
i look out of the window.i see smiles.ppl r happy.almost all offices are closed.some still giving their extra to wrap things up and get into the diwali dhamaka.after all...this is a festival of hope,joy and happiness.all festivals in this world carry wid them a history and some significance.but in India...they also carry with them loads of joy,fun and happiness.the fact that indian youth are the happiest in the world bears testimony to this.


preparing for more decibels...no i m not plugging the cotton into my ears..
preparing for more pollution.....no i not staying away frm the place...
all i want to do now is get down to burst the crackers wid my dears...
coz this is time for fun and is a quantum of solace...


yours diwali
balaji

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