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blogged after 4 months...phew finally broke that self imposed exile..

Random musings

I have always ridiculed Loki for spending hours in the net, often at the expense of sleep. This ridicule rose from my envy to his renewed energy when given access to the internet. Now this is from a banker, who used to slog 10 - 12 hours per day, come back home tired often by 11:00 pm. For a normal person this routine is more than enough to hit the sack once u enters the home, so I have often wondered how he does it. One thing I knew for sure was that I will never get addicted to the net and all its charms like social networking (hours spend pouring over the net as part of work in doesn’t count)
And today something strange happened; I was online for close to 5 hours, checked my facebook page every half an hour and spent an hour tinkering with my blog. It’s almost 12:00 and still my energy level high. I am surprised that I was feeling sleepy 10 minutes back while I was watching T.V. Lokesh, please forgive me for now I can perfectly relate to your mentality. Even now I don't know how or why this intense addiction towards internet began, but I am feeling a new high. Hell I am liking it. Looks like I have at last succumbed to the latest vice....internet.

Houseful: A truly magical cinema experience

Yesterday I had the good fortune of watching this beautiful movie called Houseful starring Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone and a clutch of other actors. It’s been a while since I watched a Hindi movie, simply because these days they don’t make movies that match the intellect of an ardent movie lover like me.

Houseful, but was different, stimulating my grey cells to the point of exhaustion. The movie came as a breath of fresh air to the dying Hindi film industry. Over the last couple of years Hindi film industry has been inundated with such mindless releases like DevD, Gulal and Kaminey to name a few. I was devastated to see bollywood suffering a slow death, but I was not ready to give up hopes. In the back of my heart I knew that Bollywood will rise up like a phoenix from the ashes. And rise it did thanks to the work of a few brilliant directors and actors who gave us such master pieces like Blue, Dil Bole Hadippa, Luck and Chandni Chowk to China.

Ashamed I am to say that I missed most of these movies, but please try to understand my dilemma. After lapping up the Gulals and DevD’s of the world any true movie lover will develop a deep aversion towards a movie experience. It’s by pure chance I got to watch Houseful, but I now believe that it was my destiny and has re affirmed my belief that there is truly a supreme being out there controlling our lives.

But my dear friends we still have to maintain caution as there are some movies like Ravan and Rajneeti slated to release in the near future. These releases are designed to drag the movie industry down to those dark pits from which it will not be able to rise up. Lets all make a combined effort to break this chain and support movies like Houseful. Please, I genuinely appeal to all true movie lovers the Hindi movie industry needs your love and support at the crucial juncture. Go watch this movie and be ready to fully experience the heavenly experience it will leave you with.

IPL IV : Bringing out the jingoist in me

Unlike few of my buddies, I am no sports fanatic. I follow a few passively and cricket is one of them. That’s exactly why I didn’t felt all that excited about IPL. As expected IPL has taken the cricketing world by storm. Dedicated fan bases, the kind that you only see in European football clubs took root in no time. Although I track all the clubs, like all Mumbaiker’s I too have a special affection towards the Mumbai Indians.

All that is going to change, the IPL itself is going to see a transition and complete makeover. You see the Mallu’s are here, 9th team in IPL from the great Cochin will be featuring from IPL IV onwards. The 9th IPL team, Mallu Pulikal is going to be an unstoppable force, like any malayalle that you come across. The Pulikal’s are going to crush every one who come their way (Of course, except Sachin).The name Cochin Pulikal might not be the official one, but the essence remains the same.

GO MALLU PULIKAL’s GO……..The whole of Kerala and Middle East is supporting you along with every mallu from New York to Timbuktu

Passion

With most of my buddies finding solace in their passion photography, i did an introspection on what inspires me. I went through activities that inspires me, while secretly comparing it with my friends new found passions. Nothing came to my mind. Set me thinking, figured out the mistake - comparison. It has always been my bane, be it studies, sports et all.

Freed my mind and got a clarity. It was not a revelation, in fact it was visible plainly while i chose to ignore it - MUSIC. Thats what inspires me, which i am addicted to. Its been close to fifteen years since i have been introduced to rock music, but apart from enjoying i dont have any idea rock music. I have decided to explore my  passion for music, started with exploring Led Zeppelin one of the biggest band in the history of music. To start of i bought "When Giants Walked the Earth" - a biography of Zeppelin by Mick Wall, a veteran rock journalist. I have not tried out books of such genre so was doubtful whether i would like it. Started reading it couple of days back and am enjoying it.

Waking up to the art scene - well not quite

I have just completed my third anniversary in Mumbai, slowly becoming a true mumbaikar. For the uninitiated it means following the routine commute – work – commute –sleep (repeat). During these three years I have never given much thought to getting to know the big city. I saw it as a compromise for “enhancing my career in the financial capital of the country”. Convinced myself that the cause I championed was the best one. What the crap, whom am I trying to fool.

So one day I decided it is time to get to know my city better. For starters I wanted to check out the art scene, you know galleries, plays and stuff like that. No luck there, apart from few good experiences nothing got me hooked. Then came music. Now here is one area where I am the king (at least among my circle). To date I have not attended a single concert as I wanted to save money. It’s another matter that the money that I spend on my one time meal outside is more than the average ticket price of any concert. Also there was this small problem of stag entry. Thanks to my flamboyance, the female species have always kept a safe distance (working hard to bridge that gap, comments welcome. Sarcasm – why don’t you shove it down you *** buddy).

That’s when I came across an event in Blue Frog. I cannot categorize the place; they serve food, booze and hosts gigs, plays and movie screenings. The event that caught my attention was a concert by Berkeley College of Music, Boston. Since it was a free event, plus stag entry meant a perfect setting for me. So on January 10^th 2010 I start out. The event was slated to start by 9:00 P.M and I reached by 8:30 P.M. Hanged around for a while, chatted with couple of employees and finally went it. To my dismay I was the only one who was without company, but then I was determined and so ordered a coke and sat. The event finally started by 9:30 P.M. They were playing progressive Jazz, something I have never heard. I hanged around till 11:00 P.M and then headed home. The concert was good, but it did not make me a fan of jazz music. But the next time when I come across jazz, I will not ignore it.

More than the concert, it was the experience of going alone for a concert that made me happy. All around me people were talking and making merry I was a lone bird. The experience also helped me to overcome my embarrassment of going alone for a social event. Now I feel like I am ready to explore Mumbai.