Akkara Kazhchakal

If you ask, what is one advantage that I had being at US of A for sometime, its that I understood the sitcom Akkara Kazhchakal from Kairali TV better.



This one is from a team of Malayalees from New Jersey, and I have not enjoyed watching anything in the recent past. It has zero pretense of being a great show, the comedy is original since they do not copy from the slap stick authentic Malayalee versions, and quite obviously the episodes have the same standard and discipline of any good English sitcom.

I have liked all the characters and especially George for the ease with which he is doing the comedy. And most importantly, these people have changed my mindset created after seeing those programs made by Asianet USA that NRKs are people with no talents but interested in being shown on TV. Well, I cannot be blamed for the generalisation particularly after seeing that one full episode where the Mallu achayans and ammachis reviewed Idea star singer telling how they enjoyed it!

Subscribe to Akkara Kazhchakal here.

Mulla

Okay, so you have watched Meesamadhavan, Chanthupottu, Classmates and Arabikatha and have liked them very much. You have also liked the courage the director took in doing Achanurangatha Veedu. Then you cant be blamed if your expectations are high for this director, for the same reasons neither can I be. And what happens when the expectations are high, so high will be the disappointments. That is what Mulla to me is, a big disappointment!

I cant remember watching a movie in the first week of release in the recent past, and I was in theater watching Mulla on the third day after its release. One of the reasons being no Malayalam movie releases on the same day in Chennai as it does in Kerala. Me and my friend traveled all the way from Saidapet to Sangam theater in the evening traffic to get the tickets for fear of not getting them before the show. And then we travelled again for the second show, quite leisurely this time, to reach there ten minutes after the movie started!

The opening sequence which I saw was the one where Dileep and gang does a fight sequence in a train compartment followed by a narration to the heroine and the audience about the life and whereabouts of Mulla. The film then goes on till the next fight sequence again in train, at the end of which Dileep takes a baby abandoned in the compartment and gives it to the heroin. Till this time; first half of the first half, there is no clue as to where the story is leading. Most of the scenes involve either introduction to characters or a comedy sequence or a song just for the sake of a song. The baby could be the lead to the main story, so did I think!

The scenes there after tries to connect the hero and heroine through the baby and some songs, but there are rarely any situation when you actually feel any connection!. And so when you were awaiting for the story to take off, Bhavana alights from a train. Keeping your expectations high, the film goes on to interval. The most helpful scenes of the movie arrive post interval, they give you clear clues to limit your expectations. There is absolutely nothing new as the film concludes and you almost guess the climax beforehand.

I was actually frustrated because I could not understand what Lal Jose saw new in the whole plot? Attempting a new idea and the end product becoming dud is unavoidable. But just the thought of giving his ailing good actor friend Dileep another hit should not have been the sole motive to direct a movie. And how can he make the Meesamadhavan team repeat the same success without a new story, scenes or a script. I admire Lal Jose for his ability to spot talent and the courage to give opportunity to them, Bijibal and Anil Panachooran were his discovery through Arabikatha. So how could he go wrong with Sindhuraj when there were already examples of his work like Megasandesam and Jalolsavam before him? Again, did Lal Jose keep his logic aside for his friend?

Mulla will not be a flop, but neither will it be a big hit either. I hope Lal Jose to do better justice to himself when he decides to do films in future. There is no argument about his dedication to the job, if only the caucus allowed him to do his best. Let's expect more!

Google Talk chat in Orkut

From the day Google Talk was available on Gmail, I was waiting to see it on Orkut. Google fooled Orkut users with the Google Talk-Orkut integration which was actually just a preview of Gtalk status in Orkut. I was thinking this as an initial step towards a better integration but nothing happened yet, may be this news will give a wake-up call to Google.

As a temporary consolation I found this gadget for Firefox, but this option should be officially enabled in Orkut asap!

Roudram

When Varnachitram outlined the ingredients of a Ranji Panicker movie and Ranjit Nair gave a more elaborative plot analysis, I could not agree anymore. But still I took the risk, watched Roudram yesterday in Sangam theatre.

Apart from those punch dialogues that Ranji thinks will make a movie, there is nothing he has to offer new. The story (if at all there is anything), the characters, the plot, the style and even the scenes are similar to his old movies, and the dialogues (packed with uncommon English words) are different because he could not afford to copy them. Its Mammotty this time, doing the role of a cope who is the do-gooder investigating a murder mystery which is actually a mystery only to him. The audience are told who is the killer in the opening scenes, and they are made to watch how Mammotty the-only-individual-who don’t know-the killer fools around to find out!

The drummer in the background score department would have had a merry time doing whatever he could afford, the deafening sound of drums starting from the opening scenes till the end gave me a headache. And the camera man was not at all interested in what he was doing, I found many of the scenes were out of focus and had a tough time watching them.

After thinking for sometime on why Ranji made this movie, I came to the conclusion that he just wanted to portray the state chief minister V S in a bad light. Because that is the sole 'idea' that is new in the film. Which is other was a Bharatchandran IPS with Mammotty in the lead with other actors doing similar things. The worst part is that the movie has become a hit which means you can expect a new one with the same team and may be Mohanlal in the lead!

Ammachi

It is five months since I started my stay in this house here in Chennai. It is situated in one of the decent residential localities of Saidapet, my roommates have been staying here on a rent of rupees 6000 per month for more that two years. This rent was increased to 7000 one month before I joined them. Our house is on third floor of the second building in the compound, the owner and family lives in the ground floor of the first building. This is the history and geography, now to the present.

I first came here on a mid-night after my flight from Singapore and immediately slept off. On the next day (which was a Saturday) morning when I got down the stairs, I met Ammachi for the first time - an old woman in her early sixties, bulky in appearance with mannerisms of a typical tamil woman. She was staring at me from the moment I was visible from her verandah while I was climbing down the stairs. As soon as I reached the ground near to their Verandah and was about to open the gate to outside street, I heard Ammachi asking in Tamil. "Who are you?". That was a very shocking question, especially to me who had learned to say 'thank you' to all the strangers in those Los Angeles shops and malls who opened the doors for me or who asked 'how are you doing?' It suddenly reminded me that I am back in India and my polished manners wont help anymore. I managed to say in broken Tamil that I am a friend of her tenant and escaped the scene rehashing some of the Tamil words that I knew for my future use.

Later, when I met my friend and roommate he cautioned me about Ammachi, the wife of house owner who may ask about my whereabouts. My roommates were nice guys (like me!), and so did not comment much on Ammachi. So it was my turn to discover things myself. The house owner was a retired employee, they were living in that house with their son and family, and Ammachi ran the show in the household. She was weary of thieves, so kept the exit gate latched all the times and made all the tenants do the same. She locked the gate during day time and questioned anyone who came through the gate. She did not allow any maid inside the compound other than the one who worked in her house. This approved maid was the only option for all the tenants who wanted a maid, cook or helper.

Ammachi was usually present at the Verandah most of the times in conversation with some other old men and women who were their neighbours. When she was not and was without a company in the verandah, she would ask questions to her tenants if they pass by. It was not possible to collect all the information in one instant as the time she could see us from her Verandah till we reached the exit gate was very less. I some how did not like these conversations which were an intrusion into my privacy and managed to escape before many questions. Most of these questions were asked to find out how much I was earning, which religion I belonged to, etc. Moreover, information thus collected was the topic of discussion for Ammachi and company in their next meeting.

It was Ammachi who told my friend and told that the neighbours have complained about our unruly behaviour after consuming alcohol. (My friends are social drinkers if you know what does that mean. No, no, do not count me). She also told him that her husband was really angry for making this an issue in the neighbourhood and wanted us to vacate the house as soon as possible. My friends being nice guys, and me being a nicer guy who did not know the local history, we began to look for a new house. But two days later my friend again talked to Ammachi (apparently on the trajectory between stairs and the exit gate) and she came down on her terms. If we were ready to give a higher rent, she was ready to convince her husband to let us stay (whose agent is she?). So we finally decided to give that extra rent which we thought would be 8000 rupees, a 1000 extra. But Ammachi gave one more shock, she (her husband!) wanted 9000 rupees from three of us. Since this was a convenient house for me who worked near to LIC building and my roommates who worked near to Porur, we decided to stay back.

After paying the additional rent for two months we decided to find one more guy to join us since the expenses were going higher. We got a new guy who was colleague of my roommates, and my friend went to inform Ammachi. Before my friend could finish, she demanded another hike in rent to 10000 rupees. This was considered as a big insult by my roommates who were staying there for long, so we decided to shift. Meanwhile the new guy who joined us for time being was having a tough time. He has a bicycle which Ammachi made him to carry and keep inside our apartment on third floor. Her agent, our house maid complained to Ammachi that he keeps his shoes inside the house. So he was asked to keep his shoes in the shoe rack outside. He found a house near porur and shifted today with one of the roommates, in a hurry to escape from Ammachi. Me and another roommate will be shifting to a near by house in Saidapet itself.

There is one thing that all of us agree, that Ammachi is a misfit in the locality. She would have done better had she been a commander in the army.


* Ammachi actually means Mom in Malayalam, but is used colloquially as a reference to any old woman.

One more day in the life of a Software Engineer

We, three team members, were gathered at one cubicle and were discussing about some defects when our Senior Project Manager (SPM) came. We were little worried as he had told in the last meeting that the defect count in our project was raising and should be checked. He saw three of us standing there actively discussing something technical which he could not understand. He was in a very happy mood, and saw one more team member approaching the scene with a slip on which was written a defect number. And here is what followed:

SPM: (smiling) Defects?
One of us nodded, and the fourth guy talks something about his defect to us.
SPM: One more defect...good


SPM moves off to the next cubicle where a Junior Project Manager (JPM) sits.

SPM: What is the planned work % to be completed?
JPM: 28
SPM: How much did we complete?
JPM: 27
SPM: Any surprises?
JPM: no
SPM: (happily) good

I know that this has close resemblance to a scene in Schindler's List, we are still investigating who had seen the movie and fooled the other guy or if both of them had seen it and was trying to fool us?

O Valentine, Where Art Thou?

Sidin gives some tips on how to get your Valentine on his rediff column, and another-frustrated-single-male calls him idiot for wasting the time. Sakshi gives an Agony Aunt advise to a frustrated-lonely-single-guy. And eM gives a quick guide on women. Had I seen these blogs earlier I would have behaved differently than how I did. I was hooked on to TV more than blogs and got my ideas from those 'idiot box' advertisements where man-gets-a-women in 10 to 15 seconds.

• It was the close-up advertisement that initially got my attention. They showed how it is important to have full-mouth-open-to-public-laugh to get your girl interested apart from using the close-up toothpaste. I was already using close-up then, but started being conscious to open my mouth wide open while laughing , which gave me some initial attention from the people around but did not end up in any relationship. Overtime some of them got so uncomfortable that they stopped smiling at me, forget sharing those funny (poor) jokes which was our major time pass in office. I am still using close-up, but have considerably reduced the area formed out of my open mouth while laughing. For a change I am not sure whether to try Colgate or Pepsodent, those ads still show kids as if the toothpaste is not yet ready for grown up adults.
  

• I would not have had the habit of tasting mints, had it not been for the minto-fresh ad in which the coolie gets the heroin because his teeth were sparkling and breath was seductive after eating mint-o-fresh. I tried just eating it for a while, and began directing my open mouth to those girls whom I wanted as my valentine but the results were nothing positive. I have been searching for that new Mint (without poison-marijuana-etcetera) which this guy in the ad uses to seduce none other that Celina Jaitley.
  

• My hopes of getting a girl in this janam were fading when I noticed those very very sexy ads of Set-Wet hair gel. I wanted to look like the angrez guy who had white and brown hair set in umpteen directions as if he was electrocuted. I tried to empty half the tube of gel on my head to create the 'electrocution', but all I could manage was the wet look without anything sexy about it. All day in the office, people were asking if I forgot to shampoo my hair after applying oil. A fellow female colleague whom I thought had some interest in me was giggling whenever she saw me on the floor that day, particularly after I combed my hair to get the 'mafia' look! I tried those set-wet body sprays as well which came to market a little later but was of no use, this time I had no big expectations though.
  

• Then I saw that wonderful ad which was any man's dream any day. Millions of bikini clad women chasing a man wearing an underwear on a beach, all because he just used the latest deodorant from Axe. I thought I had been wasting my time with Set-Wet and immediately got one Axe. But after prolonged excessive use of it before going out (including a trip to the local market to buy fish), no woman even asked me what was the smell. Instead some of them complained to my company human resources that they are getting head aches because of the excessive smell inside the air conditioned room, so I had to stop using it. After all, your first preference is for survival then only comes the valentine.
  

• Abhishek Bachchan is a well known actor now, people say had it not been for his father it wouldn't have been possible for him. But Aamir Khan says in Tare Zameen Par that junior Bachchan became famous because he had Dyslexia. I did not think twice before buying that Motorola mobile phone which Abhishek endorsed, the ad shows how difficult was it for him to get a girl until he bought one of those phones. If his father, hard work or even Dyslexia could not help him to get a girl which the phone could, why should I think twice? But even after the phone crashed exactly one month after its warranty period was over, I could not find a girl who had a crush on me!
  

• I was getting tired of trying, valentines day was fast approaching which made me more desperate. I had made up my mind to do anything when I saw the frenchie-x underwear ad on TV, a girl resists all attempts by her boy friend to take her to bed until she saw him wearing nothing else but a frenchie-x. It looked a real cool method to me, I went and purchased one dozen frenchie-x undergarments and started wearing them right away. It was then that the real difficulty of this method struck me. As shown in the ad, I did not have an option to go in front of my/any girl wearing just the undergarment. So, I had no other option while I went near the girl but hope that she would understand that this fully dressed gentleman has worn this 'cool' thing inside. But till today girls have failed to understand, I could not do anything dangerously daring and remains single on this Valentines Day as well.

There are other advertisements of bike, car and almost-everything-under-the-sun that shows a single handsome guy finding his girl when he uses the product. I can't afford to try all of them, so I have been selecting the cheaper (pun intended) ones. What have you been trying?

Take on(e) Tare Zameen Par

While trying to sleep yesterday after watching TZP, I was wondering if I had Dyslexia. The symptoms I had were similar to Ishan, I tend to interchange while writing words that sounded similar like there and their, whether and weather etc. That I also write the number eight in the exact opposite way (mirror image) of how my classmates did was another contentious argument in my mind.

The movie has been in theaters for a while now and my friends including Chennaites who saw it had only good opinions. Being an Aamir Khan starrer-director, I concluded it to be another typical Bollywood flick. But it turned out to be a miscalculation! The story of TZP is about a dyslexic child Ishaan Awasthi who finally overcomes this with the help of a teacher Ram Shankar Nikumbh.

The subject it handles is one which is usually taken up by the art film directors (and not definitely of a usual mainstream Bollywood cinema). As every one already knows, Aamir chose to direct the movie when he was not happy with the scenes shot by the debutant script writer of the movie. The movie may not have had this genuineness in treatment and wouldn’t have had helped to create the awareness it has done if not for Aamir. In fact I felt the second part after interval was no less than a documentary on Dyslexia, had it not been for the comic strips with the teachers in the school. It was these comic caricatures in the movie that kept the spirits high for the film which otherwise has a subtle feel about it, even the songs are tuned to this mood.


Apart from those momentous silly insinuations that I had about me being dyslexic (which was probably an attempt by my subconscious mind to place me beside the stalwarts mentioned in the movie with learning disabilities: ), Tare Zameen Par confirmed my belief that Aamir Khan is the one of the best actors in the present Bollywood. He chose to direct a movie when it would have been easier for him to act in another flick with a song picturising all the Bollywood actors and actresses alive. And to my amazement, TZP collections are nothing short compared to the well marketed multi-starrer.

Another Day in the Life of a Software Engineer

So here starts another day in my professional life.

My earlier project had been in the concluding phase for many months now. After my return from on-site I had only minor tasks to accomplish till this project successfully concluded on last Friday. Since everybody was aware of this from earlier, a new project to enhance the application was scheduled t o start on the very next working day.

As per the above plans I was entrusted with the task of creating design documents based on another document which provided the requirements. Today being Monday and the first day of this new assignment which spans over two long years, and with the guilty feeling that I have been sitting idle for so long a time, and with the interest to do something productive and brain cracking (duh!), I started to office one hour earlier than my usual time (which I wont declare here, read the disclaimer if you have doubts. )

(If you still have doubts don’t read further)

As expected, no one had come in the cubicles near to mine when I reached. The usual start time for my fellow colleagues on Monday was later than usual! (not a bit of doubt allowed!)

So, with the satisfaction that I have already achieved something I opened the Mainframe terminal and started my analysis to find the design changes for the requirements. During this time my team members arrived one by one and were amazed at finding me working. Well, my sense of achievement increased.

Again as expected, my manager came to office about one and half hours after I reached. And he began to forward those mails which he normally would not understand but will forward to the team member whose name is mentioned anywhere in the contents or cc list. And I got three mails in order!

I opened the mails to see three documents attached with a note that those were detailed description of my requirements. I opened them with apprehension that "detailed" is another word to make my task difficult, and what did I find?

There it was the line by line design changes to all the requirements, the very facts which I was trying to find out by coming early on a Monday morning. Thanks to the on-site guy who thought that me (the dumbo) cannot create it from his requirements document.

Well, I did the next best thing you are expected to do at that moment. I logged off from Mainframe, opened my Firefox browser and started typing in the name of one of my favourite websites...

Its life as usual, again!

NRI to ex-NRI

On 10th Septemebr 2007, I landed back on indian soil after a six month long stay at Los Angeles starting 10th March. The trip back to India was better than expected, Singapore city tour organized by Singapore Airlines and the roaming with my friend and her husband in Singapore Metro rail was enough to spend the eight hours delay time between the flights. By taking the transit pass in Singapore, my passport now has the seal of one more country other than US!

While landing in Chennai, I was thinking about what one of my managers who was settled in US told. Only when you land back in India you will feel how better the US actually is, how good the infrastructure is and how better the roads are. But while in the car, I felt as if I landed after a domestic trip and found everything normal except for the noise outside (of automobile horns). Its true that later on, I came closer to reality when I had to fight hard with the Chennai mosquitoes to sleep!!But none of these small inconveniences could overcome the comfort I felt for being in my home country, being able to eat Dosa-Idli for breakfast and rice for lunch, and being able to walk un-afraid on the roads where you are never alone.

From another perspective, life becomes tougher when you are back here. Travelling in Chennai buses is horrible as you have to struggle to find leg space, compare it to the big spacious air conditioned Metro buses in LA!. You obviously start missing the all-time-pleasant climate and the cleaner surroundings in LA. The simple courtesies of life - of saying thank you and opening the door for a stranger - makes a lot of impact on your daily life. Back here its a cat race where everyone is in a hurry to get ahead, yet we say life is faster in US!.

On this Sept 21st, I am four years old as a software professional. I felt really happy and contented while walking through the roads near Satyam, Thousand Lights, and the CSI building which was the training center for my first job. Those were enthusiastic days, time of curiosity to find out what the job of a software engineer was and preparing best to do that dream job well. I felt proud for reasons not unknown, probably the thought that I have achieved what I have never thought about when I started my career, which kept my spirits high while walking through those roads again.

To check how the old places have changed, I went to T.Nagar shopping area near Ranganathan street. I was in the Titan watches showroom inquiring about some of the expensive models, the sales guy looked at my company ID and asked "are you working for XYZ company?". I got amused, I did see the guy looking at my Id card to read the company name but it was surprising that he knew about my company. Has my company name become famous in India while I was in US? With pride and lot of self esteem that I am working for one of the top MNCs I said "yes". Then came the next question: "what is the fees for MS office training now?". He had, as any local Chennaite would, thought that I am from the popular local training center with the same name!! I quickly concluded my browsing of the premium watches then and there and ran out of the showroom with a quick explanation of what the three letters on my ID card meant!. Later, I found myself happy that not much has changed here while I was out of the country and this city!

TWTWT: The Weekends That We Toured

We learn a lot of facts from our text books in school and forget most of them in due time. But there are some tidbits from these books that make a permanent mark in one's memory. I still remember a picture in my primary class text book, of a big tree that is hollow near its root with a car inside it! I had the chance to see these trees in real during this weekend at Sequoia National Forest.]

The trip was a two day weekend outing to Kern river valley starting on Saturday morning 5.30!, first time I was awake this early here in LA after my jet lag days. We first went to River's End Rafting at Bakersfield. They take you to a place some what upside of the stream in a bus, and after rafting will collect you from end point and bring back to the initial place in the same bus. The rafting was my first experience and was a decent one though not very exciting as the water in the river was less. We had a detailed lecture on classification of stream currents called rapids from one of the guys with us who is actually the coordinator for the event. By 12 O clock we started from the rafting place for boating and jet-skiing at Lake Isabella, and then for camping at one of the camp grounds. Most of the camp grounds have the stream near-by, we did enjoy the bath in the stream. For me, it brought back memories of our trekking to Deviyar while studying at school. First event on next day morning was a trekking on a near by trail, and then we went to the Trail of 100 Giants in Sequoia National Forest Area. While returning in the evening we visited the Red Rock Canyon in Mojave desert, and managed to be back home at 10 O clock night as per the plan.

I wanted to visit San Jose and San Francisco but thought it would not be possible for me in this time, but then I got this call from Anoop to visit these cities last weekend. He wanted to visit some of his friends, only two of us were in the final trip though the initial plans were to have more people. Anoop was the only driver for the trip to San Jose, we took only five and a half hours though he was complaining about the pulling of Kia brand rented car. I liked San Jose the moment we reached there, it had the serenity of a small village but actually was the silicon capital of the world with offices of all major and minor companies one has ever heard. Added to that was the taste of food at Spice Hut, one of the many Indian restaurants owned by a partnership of mallu and tamil guys. I am not really sure if this one is the best South Indian restaurant out there, but I would recommend it for every mallu in San Jose.

By evening we left to San Francisco with a friend of Anoop. The road from San Jose to San Francisco goes through some of the places which I have only heard before with respect. Sunnyvale, Mountain View which has Google HQ, Stanford University, Oracle HQ and University of Berkley were some the land marks on the way. We went to the Golden Gate Bridge on the same day and stayed with two other friends of Anoop in their apartment in downtown. I found the San Francisco downtown streets the most scariest of all I have ever seen in my short stay in US. We went to Napa Valley the next day morning, it is a scenic place with full of wine yards and wineries. We visited Artesa Winery which is on top of a hill, the view from their was superb!. The return journey which started in the afternoon from San Francisco ended when we reached LA at mid-night, I was fully exhausted but was happy for not missing these wonderful places before I start to India after two weeks.

Velluppa - My Grand Father

While walking towards my office today morning I got a call from my brother back in India, I was a bit worried when I took the call at an unusual time. He was calm when he told me that Vellupa, our dear grand father has expired. At first I was a little shocked, I thought I will cry but I did not and I am surprised at the numbness I felt and is still feeling about it.

Velluppa, my mother's father was the one who looked after me till the age of five when I stayed at my mom's house. My mother got employed in government service as soon as my younger brother was born, she found it difficult to leave both of us at home while she went to work. I was a very troublesome kid then, so she had left me with my grandmother and grandfather. I lived with them for quite sometime (I do not remember how long), till I was five when I started going to school.

My grandfather was one of the most humble and soft spoken personalities whom was acquainted with in my childhood, and I am sure he has gifted me some of this behavioural traits to me as well. But for the naughty kid I was, I still remember the many occasions when he has beaten me for creating problems. And I still have good memories of those days when he took me for the daily walk and the trips we have made to Kara Vakkadapuram and Kodungallur Bharani, specifically I remember the incident when I lost one of my chappels in a crowded bus while returning from Kodungallur.

I know no other person who loved walking as much as he did. He used to get up at five in the morning everyday and would go to a teashop in town to drink tea, and then for his morning walk. While he was still working as a teacher in the near by primary school, he used to walk long distances after his job hours. After he was retired, and got affected by old age illnesses, he was forced to discontinue his morning walk by doctors and his children. But still he continued his evening walk, as he did not have many friends of his age he started making a trip to nearby houses of his son and daughter after his usual visit to the village market.

He always wore white shirts and white mundus, he was an orphan from childhood and had only one elder brother who is no more. His wife, my grandmother also expired ten years ago while I was studying in 10th class. I am sure he became alone after that, though he stayed with his elder son and grand children. Even being that old, he still had a good health and vision, only disability was with hearing and we had to talk loud to him. My mother used to tell that his good health was due to the walking that he did all his life and she used to encourage us to do the same.

It was one of these evening walks during last week that he got hit by a cycle and got admitted to hospital. He had to undergo a head operation two days back, and was improving in strength. But he left us last night when it was raining heavily as told by my brother. The news was not a surprise to me as I new that he was in hospital, but I am still surprised at the numbness I feel towards it. Am I slowly changing to the American way of living where you have no time to worry about anything else but only you?!

LA Experiences - Epidose 2

Its been four months since I have landed in Los Angeles and I have roamed around for quite some time, but I have only one entry on this blog about LA. So with a broken wish that will never again be fulfilled, here is a second list of itinerary before I forget what I did.

Of all the things that I have enjoyed here, the visit to Sixflags will unarguably be the best and unforgettable experience in my life. The roller coasters there rotated me in all the directions which my mom would have done while I was a baby. The rides Tatsu, Xtreme, Dejavu Superman, Riddler's Revenge etc gave an experince that was thrilling and unexpected. After the visit to Sixflags, the Universal Studios trip was not so exciting though there were some good shows like Waterworld and some rides like Mummy returns. And there was a trip to Sandiego for Seaworld and then again for Sandiego Zoo's Wild Animal Park. While the first was good, the latter was a waste of time and money. The list of parks was completed yesterday with a visit to Disneyland, it was a wonderful experience and for a kid its always "where dreams come true". The fireworks they have at the closing ceremony makes an experience of a lifetime. I did also visit the Peterson Auto Museum and Natural History Museum during this time.

Other than the the theme parks, my usual hang outs in LA have been restaurants. I have tasted quite a variety of food by now, thanks to my colleague who was generous enough to take all of us to these places. If I put the hierarchy of tastes I liked, it will be in the order - Thai, Italian, Chinese, Mexican and then American! Yeah, I also found that none of these tastes are as good, nor does have the variety that Indian food provides. I did taste Srilankan and Pakistani food also, but these are actually Indian food in different name!

The climate in LA now almost same as a typical Hyderabad climate during start of summer. But unlike in India where people wait for Summer to get over, everyone enjoy the climate here. They have special barbeques in offices on first day in summer - yeah summer has an official start date here!

It is less than two months for my date of departure, and I am eagerly waiting for it. But during this time I may go for a trip to Las Vegas though I feel its not a must see tour. So let me conclude this post with a punch line in Hollywood style, "Las Vegas, here I come!".

Balle Balle Hyd to LA

The previous post titled "Long interval" was to put an end to the long interval for which I had written something on this blog, but that turned out to be an excuse to take another one!

But this time I have enough justifications though. After big confusion and tension, I decided to travel out of India as part of my job and here I am, writing this very line from Los Angeles - the entertainment capital of the world. Obviously this has been one of my most awaited moments in my life and something which I was looking forward to from the day I started my career three and half years ago. And yes, life is quite different on this other side of the globe.

It all started when the Chennai US consulate decided that I am fit to be in US of A during my second appearance for the visa interview. I had already planned my visit to Kerala after the interview and the trip was good with me being the next-lucky-guy to go to US next week, the 9th of March 2007.

The international travel in Singapore airlines was another first, when I realised that treading half the way around globe is quite different than the usual one hour domestic ones. The latter is short and simple while traveling a full day in the sitting posture on that "less comfortable economy class" is difficult. And since you have started it, there is nothing doing until you land at your destination as an alien!! Even after having two stoppages at Singapore and Tokyo, I found the travel tiring.

Out here in LA, things are amazing for this newcomer. The first trip from airport to apartment in yellow cab on freeways, the orderly fashion in which the streets are planned, the roads are built and operated, the red and orange Metro buses which look better than the best "videocoach" in India, the line discipline on the roads, the fire engines and cop cars which rule the roads, the occasional bikers with best-of-its calls bikes were things to get used to. This place has all the characteristics of a developed country. The luxury cars you would dream of in India with mostly single occupant, beautiful houses with no sign of occupation which gives the feel of a postcard picture or a painting, skyscrapers in downtown are few examples. The city has a good bus service which charges you one dollar and a quarter for any trip you make. We use the monthly pass for the trip to office which needs two buses. Then there is the 9-1-1 service of which you get amused at first and then reminded of always by the sight of fire engines in the road and the sound of fire alarms at night. I have my colleague who was served two times in two weeks since he reached, once by accident and once in real emergency! And lastly yeah, I can see the famous Hollywood sign if I get out of my apartment!

But everything is not as cozy as they show you in Hollywood movies. There are many beggars around in streets, whom they call here home-less. They tend to wear all they own on their body, so look fat and stinks at one mile distance! People say they are dangerous too, especially at night and when you are alone. I am not sure why such rich a nation who have aid fund allocated for the whole world cannot manage to give shelter to all of its people!

Of all the things that I will learn with my USA experience, I think my cooking skills will be the most polished. Though there are some Indian restaurants around and places like Artesia - a mini India with restaurants and theaters which show Bollywood movies, they are not easily accessible and are costly. So we are depending on the desi stores which sell Indian groceries and food where you will get all you want to experiment in cooking. And these are places where they sell Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi food together and people form all these countries do not think twice while buying!

The first two weekends were busy ones with a travel to Cachuma lake for camping and Seaworld Sandiego. Both trips were really amazing with lots of new experiences. And a trip to Hollywood street completed the first month roaming.

Long interval...

The last post I did on this blog was in April! Like this one, that was an attempt to restart the habit of writing on this page!

During this period- I have been denied permission to enter into US once (you doesn't seem fit yet!), I have worked hard and have enjoyed it, some of my colleagues and roomies have left this place, I have moved one place forward in the family queue of unmarried eligible bachelors, another CAT year is over and I am probably thinking about a location change! But in totality, everything remains the same!!

I visited Kerala once during this time, just after three months of my last one making it the shortest duration I have been away from my home after coming here. Kerala has not changed much, except that now the ruling party is the one with red flag. I had thought I am becoming more and more ignorant about the state, but realized that it is not the case. I am not the only one who is not aware of the ministers ruling the state, people living there seemed to know little about them. All the projects announce by the dethroned Congress government seemed to be re-launched, some in another name altogether! And the yesteryear's hero as leader of opposition has become a zero in Kerala's chief minister. He was still trying to get into his old clothes, last heard was him blaming the UDF government for the spread of Chikungunya in Alappuzha.

I read some really good books in the meantime. Anne Frank's Diary, The Fifth Mountain, The Fountainhead, and To Kill a Mocking Bird being some of them. Latter is the one i liked most.

Google has done some really amazing things during this time. I have integrated my blogger account with my Google account while writing this, thus releiving from the hazzle of remembering one more id-password. I have started adding my documents to google docs, and have started reading blogs and news from my enhanced and not-anymore-beta Google reader. I would like to conclude this post here, hope to be more active on this page in future!

Indian Politics, What is the Way Out?

Hopefully in the next decade, every Indian will have a political party representing his or her region, religion, caste, sex etcetera unless a political restructuring for consolidation happens. While everybody is aware of this as a problem with our politics, only very few is aware of a practical solution. Today's Hindu has an interesting article by Pran Chopra, which explains what does constitutional experts say about this. Here are the excerpts:

"A candidate should be declared elected to Parliament only when he has obtained the votes of at least half the people who have voted. And if no such candidate emerges in the first round of polling there should be a second and last round in which the leader and the runner-up in the first round should be the only candidates. The House chosen in this way should then choose its leader in the same way, in two rounds at most.

The government formed by him should be open to challenge but only by a challenger who has demonstrated, in the same manner, that he has the support of at least half the House.

This single reform can achieve at least three objectives. The House will always have the support of at least half the concerned voters, the government will always have the confidence of at least half the House, and candidates at both levels, knowing that one day they may need the support of at least half the voters will, even in the first round, refrain from casting their appeal on narrow and sectarian lines.

The merits of the scheme are not in doubt. The mystery is why we do not adopt it."

There have been instances when the entire politicians of the country united on a subject, increasing the salary of parliamentary members or overriding the supreme court law on the (dis)qualifications of an election candidate being some of them. Having seen on these political dramas live on the news channels, I doubt how many Indians will really find this one as mysterious as the author finds it!

The Entertainment Politics!

Should IIMs and IITs increase the reservation quota is the latest controversy! There are arguments for and against, I am with those who see this as another political gimmick to mobilise some votes during this election season. And yes, this is another decision without a foresight or ignoring it, about the long term impacts this would create on our education system; the backbone of the present 'shining' state of India Inc. The reservations for the backward classes to be ended within 10 years of independence continue to be the best tool to manipulate a voter's decision, Gandhiji must have foreseen this while he protested against its initial implementation itself! While this remains to be the hottest issue around, another political drama is being enacted by mallu filmdom. The film industry in the state had become officially political with the creation of associations for actors, directors and other technicians. But now, they seem to be playing a different ball game, to capitalise on the divisive arena created by the politicians of the state.

It is said that actor Mohanlal has more fans in the southern part of Kerala while Mammotty has more fans in Malabar area. The first movie which tried to openly take advantage of this fact was Harikrishnans, in which both heroes acted together, the film had a different climax depending on the region it was shown, the hero with more popularity in the region got the heroin! Where do the people from central Kerala belong? The Star of the Masses, Dileep would have thought about this while he came with a movie titled Kochirajav which was meant to make him more popular in central Kerala. The fact that he has played an auto driver and he hails from this part of Kerala would have added to the advantage of churning out such a film.

Usually, in mallu movies people speak the Kottayam dialect which is very close to the print language. But for sometime now there has been some changes to this! In the Mammooty starrer Rajamanikyam the hero spoke the northern mallu aka thirondoram dialect, the film became the biggest hit in the region. Mammooty then acted in another film named Bus Conductor in which he played the role of a member of minority guy from Malabar, the film was well received in the region. And in the latest movie Thuruppugulan Mammooty speaks the central Kerala aka Cochin dialect, with that he almost covered the entire Kerala!

Mohanlal has already tried playing the role of a Muslim guy in Kilichundan Mambazham speaking Malabar dialect, but the film was not well received with the audience. I am not sure about his forth coming films, but it seems like the trend will continue. The fact that heroes like Jayaram and Suresh Gopi who continued with their tried and tested formulae are struggling to give a hit film, also makes this the perfect alternative. I am wondering when will be the time these heroes will start speaking in a gulf-returned-mallu or a US-returned-mallu accent? For long, the Mallus have been happy judging the politicians to find out who is a better actor, the time have come for them to name the actor who is a better politician!

Surprisingly SBI

The boom in the indian economy has made me an investor in stocks. My portfolio includes stocks of State Bank of India. I have read about the vast expansion plans of the bank and have been impressed by the new "surprisingly SBI" series of advertisements they have been using for a brand make over. The advertisements aim to create awareness that despite all the competition from private sector banks it is SBI that is numero uno. After an attempt to open a PPF account today, which is allowed only in a public sector bank, I have come to know the employees of SBI take this change very seriously.

The story goes thus:

We four from my company set out for opening a PPF account which would help us to save some tax, the destination being the SBI branch in Cyber Towers, Hitech City. We had taken with us the address/identity proofs and PAN card that are required to open a PPF account as per the government rules. We reached the bank and went inside, to my amazement the infrastructure looked world class and at par with any other private bank. But inside the bank we could find only to three officers seated and many of the seats were empty. We asked one of them that we have come to open a PPF account, and the reply was nothing one could think in the wildest of imaginations. She said "There are not enough passbooks available" and started doing her work. For sure I was surprised, but thought she must have some grudge towards the guys there at PPF that she gave such a silly answer. We approached another guy who was well dressed and even wore a tie (I am not sure if he intended to surprise the customers who thought they wear ties only if employed by private banks). But his reply was far more surprising "We do not have enough staff to do this, already some fifty PPF applications are pending here". We have got money that we are ready to invest, (for which a private bank would send a hundred executives to you), but these people are telling that they do not have enough staff and passbook. What the hell do we do? We sort of begged to the guy-with-the-tie and the reply was "You can check with State Bank of Hyderabad in the next room".

The infrastructure at SBH looked great. The lady at the first desk whom we approached asked "Do any of you have an account here?" None of us had one. "You should find out somebody who has account here to introduce you, the Reserve Bank of India is very strict now-a-days on this rule." But we do not know anyone, none of us are locals. "Then you can check with SBI in the next room". What?!

We then looked up the name boards inside the building to find out other nationalized banks. Only Punjab National Bank and Bank of India were there. My friend told his brother had a PPF account with PNB. We went there, but the guy told "We do not have PPF accounts, you can go to SBI". And the reply at Bank of India was same, though I am not sure if it is a nationalized bank. We then tried Madhapur Post Office and SBI branch at Jubilee Hills but was of no use. After two hours of toing and froing between banks and post offices unsuccessfully we decided to give up.

I have now become doubtful about the validity of the statement "elephants can dance" that they use to indicate that SBI can still perform well in the stock market. I had bought the shares for long term investment but am doubtful now of keeping them for long. I believe it would be illegal if I provide the passbook and staff for the SBI even if I can, so I will put my money in any of the other tax benefit schemes that are less surprising.

Yahoo "Dot" ID

Yahoomail has come with a secondary email address feature. You can create a new Yahoo Id (with a dot if you want) and use this in place of the existing one. But both these IDs will have same account. Read more here and create the ID here. Does this has anything to do with the new version?

Done with Half-Life! Almost...

Today on twenty fourth December, Yours Truly, the owner of this blog is twenty four years old! Assuming an average life expectancy, I have already spent almost half of my life on planet earth. The past had been good and future looks promising provided I put some hard work.

But at this very moment, I must admit I really do not know why I have been doing what I have been doing and what I want to do in life. I have started thinking now-a-days what life is all about and why is I alive here.

I do not want to write anything further but would like to quote from a passage I came across titled Being Twenty-Something, It's Really Hard, the source of which I actually do not know. I think it sums up the dilemma to an extent.

They call it the Quarter-Life Crisis. It is when you stop going along with the crowd and start realizing that there are many things about yourself that you didn't know and may not like. You start feeling insecure and wonder where you will be in a year or two, but then get scared because you barely know where you are now.

You look at your job, and it is not even close to what you thought you would be doing. Or you realize that you are going to have to start at the bottom of hierarchy, and that really scares you. You see what others are doing and find yourself judging more than usual because suddenly you realize that you have certain boundaries in your life and are constantly adding things to your list of what is acceptable and what isn't. One minute, you are insecure and then the next, secure.

You laugh and cry with the greatest force of your life. You feel alone and scared and confused. Suddenly, change is the enemy and you try and cling on to the past with dear life, but soon realize that the past is drifting further and further away, and there is nothing to do but stay where you are or move forward. You get your heart broken easily and wonder how someone you loved so much could do such damage to you. Or you lie in bed and wonder why you can't meet anyone decent enough that you want to get to know better. You question your existence, you're beliefs and all that you thought was right. You go through the same emotions and questions over and over, and talk with your friends about the same topics because you cannot seem to make a decision. You worry about loans, money, and the future and making a life for yourself...and while winning the race would be great, right now you'd just like to be a contender!