A yard full of thoughts

Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya OST - Jeene De (Coffee House Version)

2012-02-05T11:49:00.004+05:30

A typical Mohit Chauhan song, this is again a light track from the upcoming Bollywood movie titled "Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya". Now this is the kind of song that I'd love to listen to when driving through an open road, with the wind on my face (you know, the cliched type of drives) :-)

What is also a nice coincidence is that the film's lead actors, Ritesh Deskhmukh and Genelia D'Souza, are also a real life couple and have just got married. In a miniscule way, let this be my wedding gift to them! Here's wishing them a successful and happy married life together!

Click here to listen to the song. And enjoy!

Ekk Deewana Tha OST - Hosanna

2012-02-04T19:03:00.006+05:30

This is a pretty soft romantic number from the (I guess) just released Bollywood movie titled "Ekk Deewana Tha". Supposedly, it is a musical by master Indian music director A.R.Rahman.

I really like this song. It kind of just grew on me, you know. I especially love the in-between "Hello" in the song. Not a song I'd listen to when I was driving, though. But definitely one of the most played songs in my iPod at the moment.

Click here to listen to it, maybe you'll like it too!

PS: This also marks the 200th post in this blog of mine. Took a little over 5 years, but got there finally. As another side-note, click here to read the 100th post of this blog.

Almost Momos

2012-02-01T20:15:00.001+05:30

Almost had momos for dinner tonight.

Too bad that the chicken stall nearby does not keep/make minced meat. I guess I should provide this invaluable suggestion to them to keep a minced-meat making machine. They should listen to a regular customer like me, else their sales will take a bad hit (maybe that will work).

Now, it's gonna be porridge for dinner. Health conscious, you see.

Well, almost!

Blogger.in?

2012-01-31T22:40:00.001+05:30

Not sure when this happened, but the URL (or in layman terms, the "link") to my blog has changed. It used to end with "blogspot.com" but today I noticed that it has become "blogspot.in".

Google, you sneaky bastards, you had to do this without telling any of your users, isn't it? I hope this is not in line with the Government of India's ridiculous demand of content screening (who knows how these may be related - you never know!).

Now thanks to this change, my Outbrain widget (that star-rating widget below every post that you see in this blog) has stopped displaying the older ratings for the posts. That is because Outbrain registers, and by that extension - remembers, ratings by the URL (aka "link") of the page/post that was rated. Now since all my posts have changed from "blogspot.com" to "blogspot.in", for the Outbrain widget it is a new page/post and hence, the older ratings are gone - poof! How ridiculously sad!

I've had this Outbrain widget for quite a while, maybe about 3 years, and there were a considerable amount of ratings that my users had given me. And trust me when I tell you, these ratings are hard to come by (even though I cannot understand why).

All of them are now gone.

Strike Clean!

2012-01-30T23:32:00.001+05:30

Spent an hour updating the template of my blog. Lessons learned as a short note to self:

Remember to always keep the blog spick-and-span, neat-and-tidy. The blog should be easy to make sense of, so avoid clutter at all times. Oh and keep posting silly posts regularly - keep the readers interested. Too big a gap between posts might turn off your readers!

Got it. I just hope this will still make sense to me after about, say, 5 months or so.

Band Baaja Baaraat OST - Mitra

2012-01-22T10:39:00.004+05:30

This song is from a 2010 Bollywood film called "Band Baaja Baaraat". The film was a very watchable one, and it had some nice songs to go with it too. One of my favorite songs from the film (and also from 2010) is this particular one called Mitra.

I don't know why I took so long to post this song to my blog. But like they say, better late than never.

Click here to play this song. Enjoy!

Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu OST - Kar Chalna Shuru Tu

2012-01-16T16:11:00.002+05:30

This is a new song that I discovered just last evening. And I love it already.

A nice song from the upcoming Bollywood movie "Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu", this one sure has the appeal!

Bad news is that something's wrong with esnips.com, the site where I used to upload all my shared music files. For some strange reason they've removed their mp3 widgets. However, you can still listen to the song the old fashioned way - just click here to listen to it, that's all!

Oh and yes, enjoy!

Incoming, 2012!

2011-12-31T09:55:00.003+05:30

The last day of 2011. And a cold one in Bangalore.

All set to welcome 2012, supposedly the year the world ends (or so they say).

So here's wishing everyone out there a very happy new year 2012. May we survive.

Until then, go crazy, go wild!

Don 2: What I think of it

2011-12-25T21:51:00.000+05:30

Don 2 was probably one of the most anticipated movies of 2011. Especially with Farhan Akhtar again as the director of this sequel to the 2006 hit, Don. And boy, was I excited! I had got my tickets booked a week in advance and was really looking forward to it. The fact that it was Christmas only added to the excitement.

The film begins to an explanation as to why the European drug lords are hatching a plan, in an expensive yatch somewhere in the middle of the ocean, to have Don eliminated. Don (Shah Rukh Khan) is still at large, and rules the drug mafia. It then moves to Thailand, with a suave Don tackling, alone, about 10-20 odd bad guys who have been hired by the European drug lords to eliminate him. Of course, Don walks away with only minor cuts and bruises.

Then comes Interpol officer Roma (Priyanka Chopra) who is still hunting for Don. Five years on, looks like Interpol has made little progress in tracking Don. Her boss Malik, played by veteran actor Om Puri, shocks her with his retirement news. However, just as he was about to retire peacefully, the Don surprises them by surrendering to the Interpol.

Jailed, Don is thrown to the same high-security prison where his arch-rival from the prequel, Vardhaan (Boman Irani) is lodged. Don convinces Vardhaan to team up with him and escape with him. They plan their escape meticulously and do that successfully. If I calculated correctly, then it takes the two of them only about a week to prepare and make good their escape. Makes you wonder if high-security prisons are really that easy to break out of! Anyway, let's take that in good humor and move on.

Following the pretty easy escape, Don finds time to unwind with Lara Dutta who gets to play Don's eye candy this time around. The film then moves to Berlin and that is where the rest of the film focuses on. His plan is age-old : to lay his hands on the note chaapney wali machine so that he can print money and become, as he says, "billionaires" (I thought he was one already!). In his quest, Don assembles a motley crew of members including Sameer (Kunal Kapoor) who is a talented hacker and "is a big fan" of the Don, and Jabbar (Nawab Shah), a hitman who is in Don's team for sheer muscle power.

The Don has a plan, but how well does it work? Who are on his side in reality, and who turns into betrayers? Will Roma be able to finally catch Don and put him behind bars by foiling his master plan? That's what the rest of the movie is all about.

Frankly, I was disappointed. I thought the story was, like I said, age-old. Nothing new to lust after some plates that print money (so what if it was Euros in this case). There have been countless villains in the history of Bollywood who've always wanted that. Come on Farhan, was that all you could think of?

The first half is slow, and I'm just being polite. Even though the movie brings in some pace in the second half, it's so haphazard that at one point in time you feel like you're watching another movie altogether.

I didn't like the fact that Shah Rukh Khan is there in 95% of the movie. It almost becomes an overdose after a while.

I didn't like the fact that the Don is a super slick guy who has no fear whatsoever, and who single-handedly can beat the crap out of ten people where each of them is at least twice his size. In fact the Don is so slick, that his slickness starts reeking after sometime. And that makes you stop believing in the character altogether. In the prequel, there was an alternate (double role) character Vijay and that sort of balanced out Don's slick nature. Here, there's no such respite. You've got to tolerate an ever snickering, ever bashful, ever so smart, and ever so calculative Don in every frame of the movie.

I didn't like it at all that the number of lines delivered by Lara Dutta + Kunal Kapoor + Om Puri in the movie were not even half of the dialogues that Don's character had. Lara Dutta, especially, could've as well been mentioned as a guest appearance in the credits, along with Hrithik Roshan who appears for just about two minutes in the movie. Now that I think of it, Hrithik in his two minute appearance gets to say more dialogues than Lara, Kunal and Om Puri combined in the entire movie. What a shame!

I hated the fact that there had to be a love angle in the movie. And the timing of it. And the dripping zabardasti wala romance. It almost killed what little bit of pace the movie had just begun to gain.

Boman Irani is alright. Again, he is playing second fiddle here so what little he gets to say, he makes it believable.

Overall, this movie is like a recipe: 1/3rd from Ocean's series, 1/3rd from Bourne series, and final 1/3rd from the Bollywood archives. For me, it just didn't work.

I can only rate this movie 2 out of 5.

Oh and by the way, please don't spend that extra hundred bucks for the so-called 3D effect. There isn't any.

Liar, Liar

2011-12-02T21:56:00.001+05:30

"I hate liars". A typical statement if you ask any lady about her not-so-ideal man. That is to say that typically women resent/abhor/loathe men who lie. At least that's what I heard.

Yet, they get so angry when you don't tell them they're beautiful. Or, if you are one of those daring kinds, then maybe you could blatantly try using the word: ugly. That is what a non-liar would say, honestly. Yet, somehow, neither do we men muster the courage to (st)utter those words and neither are women going to be respond kindly to hearing those words.

So, who's the bigger liar here?

You can see the various comments somebody would get on their pictures posted in their social networking profiles. Even though the world, including whose photo it is, knows that he/she is not blessed in the looks department, people would discretely click on the "Like" button and be done with it. And some would go a step further and instead flatteringly praise the shirt/ear-rings/nail polish/hair style.

But who cares.

I, for one, would accept unhindered love shown on my checked shirt than on my crooked nose. Any damn day. We are emotional creatures after all!

Desktops: Then, and now

2011-11-19T21:28:00.001+05:30

I recently got a swanky new desktop for myself. It was a necessity, given the fact that I changed my job and that meant I had to hand over my company laptop (It also means that I do not get a laptop in my new company. Sad.). Though there were already two personal laptops at home, well, I had gotten used to having my own system, you know. I guess we all do after several years of that habit. Besides, it was getting increasingly difficult for me to post-process my photographs. So, a decision was made and I got the desktop, primarily for my photo needs.

That said and done, it cost me about INR 24,000/- for the new laptop. Like all of us here in India, this is an assembled piece and not one of those fancy-and-overtly-expensive branded PC's. Or, in other words, I got a "customized" PC. There, I think that sounds cool!

I was buying a desktop after exactly 10 years, and when I went to place the order I must admit that I felt like an overgrown child who had no clue whatsoever about the latest fads in the market. I mean, the PC configuration I got is just an average computer by today's standards. But a decade ago, if I'd have even thought of such a configuration then it would have been more expensive than our family car and would probably be called a super computer then.

And the prices, wow. Take a look at the table below. What I've tried to outline are the key components of my old PC (2001) and my new PC (2011).

Item	Then	Now
RAM	SD, 256MB	DDR3, 4GB
CPU	Pentium 4, 1GHz	AMD Phenom Dual Core, 3.3GHz
Graphics Adapter	Nvidia TNT2, 32MB SD RAM Internal	ATI Radeon, 1GB DDR3 RAM internal
System	32 bit Windows XP	64 bit Windows 7
Hard Disk Drive	Seagate Barracuda 80GB	Western Digital 1TB
Monitor	15 inch CRT LG Studioworks	20 inch LED Dell
CD/DVD	CD Reader (no writer, no DVD)	DVD R/W
Floppy Drive	Yes	Obsolete!
Network Adapter	External to Motherboard	Internal to Motherboard
Price of the PC	INR 45,000/-	INR 24,000/-

I feel old. Damn!

Happy Diwali!

2011-10-27T15:26:00.002+05:30

Wishing everyone out there a very happy, prosperous and safe Diwali 2011! Play it safe!

OneRepublic - Good Life

2011-09-12T09:08:00.002+05:30

I stumbled upon this video yesterday, and since then have seen it about 5 times already. This is a single by the band OneRepublic and has a nice catchy, uplifting tune. Especially when you've come out after being down-and-out for almost a week because of viral fever.

I especially liked the drums in this track - they're different.

Take a dekko. Enjoy!

Bodyguard: What I think of it

2011-09-10T15:40:00.003+05:30

I had the (dis)pleasure of watching this movie last week, almost immediately after it was released. And I thought I should share my views on it.

Well, first off, I like Salman Khan. I think he's a good human being and is never afraid of showing his emotions. Yes, agreed he's been caught in some not-so-good incidents in the past but like his campaign "Being Human" - I guess that's what he is, too.

Anyway, the movie. Well, here's my opinion about it: This movie is an utter waste of time. I don't know what Salman was thinking when he signed up for it. The movie makes a mockery of the audience, thinking that we will lap up whatever shit you throw at us. This movie, in plain simple words, is a torture and God knows what I was thinking when I actually agreed to pay 200 bucks (excluding the popcorn, the effort to drive all the way to the multiplex, and of course, my precious time!) to watch this shit. Avoid it - no matter if they declare it a hit or not - this is a sad, sad movie that you should go to see only after having downed three large pegs of alcohol. Only then, perhaps, will this movie make sense. Or appeal in any form whatsoever. And if it does make sense to you, please care to let me know. At least maybe then I will get something worth of the effort I spent to watch it in the first place.

And as for the rating, well, I can just give it a 1 out of 5.

I'm going to pretend that I never watched this movie, and feign ignorance that it even existed. Bodyguard? What Bodyguard?

Wonderings - 11

2011-08-18T08:55:00.003+05:30

I left home for work at 7:45AM today. It was raining, and was I amazed to see the piled traffic on the road! I mean, it was 7:45AM - when half of Bangalore's software engineers would be asleep, for cryin' out loud!!

Normally, the roads and the traffic at this time in the morning would be literally empty. You could just breeze through your early morning drive, and reach office in a zippy.

But, not today!!

Today, it took me 45 minutes to cover 7 kilometers. At 7:45AM.

I'm wondering if this means that people in Bangalore have started waking up earlier? Or maybe, it was just their early morning sex.

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara OST - Dil Dhadakne Do

2011-07-12T18:32:00.000+05:30

I'm really looking forward to this movie - it boasts of an ensemble extraordinaire of Indian cinema. What with Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar, Katrina Kaif, Kalki Koechlin and Abhay Deol coming together in one film!

I think it's going to release on 22-July-2011. Can't wait.

Until then, click here to listen to this peppy and an upbeat song from the movie. Enjoy!

OMFG - I'm married!

2011-06-28T21:06:00.000+05:30

I guess it's now beginning to sink in. I'm married!

Getting used to this life, for close to two months now, has been fantastic. I mean, bachelor life was great, and I believe I had a fair bite out of that cake (and loved it too)! But then, this life is equally great. It's just that sometimes, I tend to forget that my marital status has now changed from "Single" to "Married" - and that realization sometimes comes as a jolt. For instance, when planning an office dinner - and in the middle of the preparations I realize, "Uh-oh..I better not get home too late, and definitely not stinking of booze!". Get the drift?

Definitely, one of the biggest plus points is food - and I say that with a pretty big grin spread across my face. No wonder that most married men tend to put on weight so quickly, and so easily. But, let's keep that discussion aside for some other time.

It's a different feeling altogether. This life. Seriously.

Like when I used to go to the mall during my hey-bachelor-days, and soak in as much of the hip-swinging, swashbuckling female crowd as was on offer, and come back home a satisfied man. And now, the moment my eyes tend to wander, and just as a grin starts to part my lips, I realize, "OMFG ... I'm married"! And just like that, the festival of Raksha Bandhan starts to appeal like never before.

Delhi Belly OST - Tere Siva

2011-06-06T15:19:00.002+05:30

Hello!

Posting to my blog a little after a month - and as a married man! :)

Well, anyway, click here to listen to a nice little romantic song that I found a couple of days ago. From the soon-to-be-released Bollywood flick called Delhi Belly.

So have fun, and enjoy!

Oh and by the way, married life so far is rocking (just in case you were wondering!).

Dum Maaro Dum OST - Te Amo

2011-04-22T10:12:00.002+05:30

I watched this movie last evening - it was raining in Bangalore as we made our way through the dense traffic to get to the theater on time. Unfortunately for us, we did.

The film, well, personally I thought it was the same old cop-chase-bad-guys kind of a flick set in Goa, with almost an overdose of drugs on-screen. Anyway, the movie is a different story altogether. If I had to rate this movie, then I'd give it a 2-out-of-5. But, that's just me!

Now this particular song, called "Te Amo" - which means "I love you" in Italian - has been getting a lot of airtime in the local FM stations here. Click here to listen to it - a nice, soft, romantic number from the not-so-good movie.

I hope you enjoy the song! Have fun!

2011.04.16 - My Bachelor Party

2011-04-20T20:11:00.004+05:30

When a bunch of friends jump out of your room, surprise you out of your skin, and then smear your face with cake, this is the result!

The wolves rejoice after a successful surprise attack!

Oh and then there was a "good" cake too, which we could eat. But only after I had to spend almost twenty minutes trying to get the other cake out of my face!

Feed and be fed - well, always works to my advantage!

The bachelor's gift - a honeymoon package by Kohinoor. Comes with feathers and satin blindfolds.

This photograph is self-explanatory!

Oh, and if you haven't seen our (my fiance and mine) wedding blog, then please click here to take a look at it.

The seeds of corruption

2011-04-08T12:17:00.000+05:30

The whole country seems to be caught in this anti-corruption frenzy at the moment, stalling everything that comes in its stride. However, we need to remember that if corruption is so prevalent in our society, then it's not just the netas who are to be blamed. Or the policemen, or everyone that we have stereotyped as "corrupt". But we, as citizens of this country, are equally responsible for it. Why? Simple reason - they take bribe because we give them the bribe.

In hindsight, this fight against corruption, in my opinion, is good. But like anything good, it should begin at home.

Can you stop bribing your children with chocolates, or your wife with jewellery?
Are you ready to stop paying the traffic policeman with a no-receipt-needed penalty for pulling over at a 'No Parking' zone?
Will you stop giving donations to educational institutions for your loved ones future?
The next time you go to a police station for your passport work, will you say "No" when the policeman asks for chaai-paani?

These are just a few of the situations that we normally find ourselves in. Isn't this corruption, too? Of course, it's not as big as the scams that rock our country every now and then but the principle is the same, isn't it?

Bleed Blue!

2011-03-25T11:33:00.001+05:30

And that was how the Aussie cookie crumbled. As Yuvraj smashed Brett Lee for a powerful boundary off his willow, the entire country exploded in unison even before the ball had reached the ropes . So did Yuvi, as the picture alongside shows his emotions at the precise moment. All the composure, the nerve-wracking tension being let go through an exulting scream. Well done Yuvi! And well done India!

The Aussies, in the meanwhile, must be feeling Blue - and rightly so. After all (and co-incidentally too) Blue also happens to be the color of the team which literally knocked them out of this World Cup.

March!

2011-03-01T09:46:00.000+05:30

Thank you, Oh March, for coming in sooner than expected and bringing about the demise of February! In all fairness, I don't think I'd ever waited on you, Oh March, with so much anticipation - ever!

Udaan OST - Naav

2011-02-15T20:12:00.000+05:30

I've got to tell you - I'm addicted to this song. I love it, I love it, I just simply love it!

When the entire Bollywood music ensemble is going the remix/folk/Punjabi way, here's a song which defies the norms. Although I have to say that it really, really sounds as if Indian Ocean have performed this song, but it isn't. Anyway, I ain't no music critic - all I'm doing is sharing this beautiful song with anyone who cares to listen, that's all.

So here it is, the song "Naav" (which means "Boat" in Hindi) from the totally unconventional Bollywood film "Udaan" (which I have to say is a must-watch film, too).

Click here to listen to this song.

Remember to close your eyes, and let your ears rejoice to this soul-stirring song.

Wonderings - 10

2011-02-11T21:08:00.005+05:30


A typical scene at a Bangalore traffic jam.

I was wondering why we (more specifically, us Indians) are always so much in a hurry to reach somewhere., especially on the roads? So much in a rush we are that we always end up choking our roads until none of us can move. Caught in a rush so immediate that we brush past most of the traffic signals that come our way, dismissing them as mere pawns trying to stop the mighty me. "How dare that red light!", is what we snicker to ourselves as we vainly vroom past them to wrestle against like-minded roadsters coming from all sides known to mankind.

Yet, I always wonder, why oh why we never - NEVER - make it on time anywhere? Be it meetings, or appointments, why are we always late. Almost as if "time" was just another incomprehensible word.

Does make you wonder, doesn't it?