Innovative Film City!

I’m back in the web-space after all the hubbub created by Dasavatharam review. I think its natural to become expressive when you become critique about something. I had planned for a Wayanad visit  along with my dear ex-room mates and then a trip to Kottayam for attending my friend Renjith’s wedding. All the plans toppled when my wife’s grandpa fell ill and cancelled his long-planned visit. But I had already started dreaming of roaming around in this long weekend (Friday,Aug 15 is a holiday) The urge to get out of home and go somewhere made me search a lot of tour packages organized by different travel agents. It was too late. Not even a single seat for me! I didn’t capitulate to the situation. Oh yeah, you know I’ve my “Vroom” Activa now! I was dubious if a gearless scooter would fit a long drive (not very long, 50 kms one way). But I found that it surely does. Read on…

Getting up early in the morning on a holiday is too difficult, if not impossible. Somewhere in the brain it gets registered that its a holiday and no need to wake up. We woke up around 8:30 and attended the flag hoisting function by the apartment association. Recited the National Anthem, after a long time, along with the neighbours. After daily chores we started from home at 11:30 AM to destination Innovative Film City, Bidadi, Mysore highway. The scooter is yet to hit the service center for its virgin service and hence I’ve to maintain a speed limit of 40-50 which was very comfortable during the ride. It took around one hour to leave Bangalore city completely and then it was an amazingly smooth road with vehicles speeding past us occasionally. I’ve been through Mysore highway a lot of times before, by bike, car and bus but it was the first time riding an Activa. I’ve seen some negative blogs about the flaws in ergonomics of Activa for long rides, but believe me both of us (rider and the pillion) didnt feel any discomfort during the ride. The scenery on both sides of the highway also prevented us from becoming bored. At around 1:15 we reached Innovative film city. I got a pass for free entry ticket from Preetiji, a colleague. Thanks to her for saving 100 bucks which could’ve got added into the gross loss @ Innovative.

 There was thorough checking of individuals and baggages because of the prevailing bomb threats. The look of the entrance is quite impressive. A big fort with vibrant displays of different inside attractions. We waived the 50 rs entrance fee for each of us with that entry pass, but had to pay 100 bucks for taking the camera inside the premises. Construction of the site is still going on, but the already done parts are looking great with different statues and sculptures. Altogether it appeared like some foreign site that we see in the extravagant song scenes in all Indian movies. Then we moved around to different counters and visited the following events/packages in the film city.

1) Mirror Maze – A ticket of 50 Rs / person is there. It was an amazing experience, unlike the others I’m going explain below. Anyone will like this place. If you pay a visit to the film city, this one is a must see thing. We have to wear plastic film gloves on both hands, which is supplied along with the ticket, before getting into the room. Hmm… I agree with my better half in the point that I shouldnt explain much here. You should go inside and enjoy it. After Mirror maze, we were thoroughly impressed that we went to a counter and bought tickets for 4 other shows together, which turned out to be dissappointing.

2) Ripley’s believe it or not – Not worth for another Rs 100 /person. It is informative, but the fact that everyone is a fan of the show Ripley’s believe it or not in AXN, makes me say the first point again – not at all worth the money they collect. The one good thing I liked was some kind of projection they’ve used in creating Ripley’s ghost inside a room, who appears once in a while, talks some Ripley’s facts and disappears. But what made me more impressed was that he also flips the pages of a book and rotates a globe in front of him

3) Wax museum – Not worth for another Rs 50 / person. In fact I felt pity about some wax statues which neither looked real nor even nearly resembled the model. Anyway we did take some pictures with the people we loved or hated

4) Velocity – It is a very nice go karting site. Another must visit site inside the film city. Its Rs 200 per person for a sports ride (80 kmph is what they claim) and Rs 150 for family ride (40 kmph). I opted for the latter and allowed her steer it as I’ve done sports go-karting before. 

5) Miniature City – Take my word – DONT VISIT this nonsense – Rs 50 / person will be wasted for no good reason. There is nothing to see inside this and still they’ve charged such a huge amount.

There are other sites also, but after 3 bad experiences I didnt feel like spending more money. I could see ads of some coming up events, ( Artificial snow and Haunted mansion ) which looked promising. Fortunately I could express my views to an executive there, who asked our feedback of the visit. I know that it wouldnt make any difference. But to express a view to someone directly is far relieving than venting out the same in a website

Our ride back home was great, thanks to the heavy rain which made it greater.

Dasavatharam … Sheer wastage of 3 hours

Are you a Kamal fan? With all due respect to that great personality, I request you not to watch the movie Dasavatharam and lose all the admiration that you may have for him. You will never expect such devastation from such a great actor. The movie could be used as a synonym of stupidity. From beginning to end, it was testing the viewer’s endurance in putting his gray matter idle. Those who have decided to waste time, energy and money shouldnt read the rest of my post as I’ll be revealing bits and pieces of the movie. Those who are interested to read sincere comments about a Kamal movie from a Kamal fan, go on.

The movie starts with the story of two seperate groups of Hindus (Sivites and Vaishnavites) fighting each other. There might have been ideological differences, but I dont think Sivites ran amok destructing Vishnu temples and killing Vaishnavites or vice versa. Even before I could think all these facts and analyse I was disturbed and shocked by the graphics. I got remembered of Vinayan’s (Malayalam director who crafted  crappy movies like Adbhutha Dweep, Boy friend, Athishayan etc) movies. I couldnt understand why they’ve spent 120 crores to do graphics in such a way that even a 5 yr old could sift the graphics in the movie, with no effort. Had it been in late 80’s or early 90’s it would’ve suited the technology then, but certainly not now, in 2008. I pity the technically imperfect sequences that were present through out the movie. Then the story comes forward to 2004 and pictures the U.S, a bio technology lab where they’ve invested big money for Bio weapons. That institute must have been run by an Indian, probably a Tamilian, as every other person shown in the lab was a Tamilian. Kamal keeps shouting in Tamil when he gets irritated and insists his boss to translate it into English. Fat chance, but funny! Whatever, these are all minor compared to the giant blatant pitfalls that persists throughout the length of the movie. Some equipments that were shown reminded me of cheap TV serials. Malaika Sherawat’s role was only for her glamour scenes, which came as compliment for bearing the whole non-sense. Car chase scenes ruled the movie and accidents are aplenty. But it doesnt matter if a truck hits a car or car/bus takes umpteen somersaults into a gorge, nothing happens to the passengers, not even a scratch! Whenever Kamal Hasan jumps from bridges or buildings, there will be timely entry of some garbage truck or vegetable carriers for his rescue. Far from likely. Oh! Come on, he is Kamal, the protagonist and yeah! he shouldnt get hurt! The make-up man should have gone nuts! Whenever a new Kamal character is introduced, without any difficulty we can easily make out as every character have a ’Martian’ appearance. And to add, there is no necessity of any of the Martian Kamal Charaters, rather there was no necessity of this movie itself. They could’ve produced a cartoon for children below 4 yrs instead. There are lot of people getting killed with bullet shots in the movie. When the bullet hits the person whether its on forehead or his chest, blood flows out as if some tap got opened. I believe that we had come out of these kind of exaggerated bloody scenes thanks to Ram Gopal Varma and people like him who made movies more realistic. Untimely songs made the movie much more boring. I’ve recieved a forwarded mail in which some one has taken special effort in explaining each roles and relate it to the incarnation of Lord Mahavishnu. It is really interesting. You might have seen modern arts. If the same modern art picture is given to 10 people, its obvious that you will get 10 different explanations, whereas the artist wouldnt have even thought of anything while creating that piece of art. It depends on the perspective of a particular person. The same applies to Dasavatharam. For instance, the mail says Matsya avatar was Rangaraja Nambi and the explanation is that he was thrown into water. Come on! Matsya avatar was the incarnation of Lord Vishnu in which he lived in water as a fish (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matsya). Then why cant it be Vincent who was killed under water in the Tsunami? The same mail explains that Varaha avatar is Krishnaveni patti, merely because she was playing Varaha in puppetry during a song and that she hid germs inside the idol. Look, how nice the imagination can grow! Asin was also helping that old lady in puppetry, then why cant it be the charater played by Asin that represented Varaha? Varaha never hid germs to save earth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varaha) Vamana avatar has been related to the giant Kalifulla  khan because Vamana presents the Vishvaroopa of Vishnu. Likely story!!! Vamana comes only to kill the good Asura King Mahabali. And I didnt see that funny looking Kalifulla killing anyone. I dont want to explain all ten here, because its not worth it to question somebody else’s weird imagination with my own

People have started doing research on Chaos theory and Butterfly effect after watching Dasavatharam, which is the (only) good aftermath! In my opinion the movie reached half way in explaining Chaos Theory, I mean, it explains CHAOS, but not theory Someone has said that the idol that had plunged into the sea 800 hundred years back produced tremor and caused Tsunami. Good try! Tsunami, as per my knowledge, is caused as an immediate (within weeks) after effect of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

 The heights of idiocy is still not explained. Avatar singh, the singer’s, throat cancer gets cured when a bullet passes through his throat and removes his tumor. I’d have enjoyed, if it had come in a comedy movie! Director Sir, get a life. KamalHasan Sir, I still would like to believe that you didnt write this story or at least this cancer-curing-bullet part of the story. And to be frank, only mentally retarded people would enjoy this part.

I’m still feeling numb watching Kamal’s so-hyped, so-awaited Dasavataram and finding it hopeless. I can’t believe Kamal who made legends out of the characters in Mahanadi, Thevar Magan etc has played such a worthless role in a movie that could be rated as a ‘cheap commercial’ movie.

The film definitely lacks a lot of important and inevitable aspects. I guess somebody had misplaced the story board letting loose the artists act on their own and then they carved out this ‘wonderful’ blunder. Director lacks a few things, first and foremost, his brains. Fortunately he lacks imagination too, else he’d've done more damage. I’m afraid, films like this would sow the seeds of ‘less-brain, more-masala’ kind of movies in Tamil also as in Boillywood, impeding the growth of great ideas.

I had written my comments about ‘Om shanthi om’ too, but I feel it was far better compared to ‘Dasavatharam’.

I’ve presented my own views in my own blog. If it hurts anyone, I’m sorry to say, but, I dont care.

Mysore beckons …

I’m trying to recollect the snapshots of my second Mysore trip this year. Hope you will get the hang of it! Please give a try

My manager and a senior had come to Bangalore for an official visit. They had planned for a trip to Mysore on Sunday and wanted someone to accompany as they are new to this place. Everyone in the team was engaged in one or the other way. I also had a scheduled meeting with Daatra members (the band under construction) for discussion, practice and introduction of new band members because of which I had not committed for the trip. But on Saturday evening I called up my manager to find that nobody has agreed to accompany. All of a sudden tables were turned and Vivek and I signed in for the trip. Oh yeah, we later realized it was a nice decision.

Sunday 18-11-07

6:30 AM Oberoi Hotel MG road, Bangalore

Rakesh dropped us (Vivek and me) in his car till the reception of Oberoi Hotel. He didn’t forget to pass on the comment “Its only because of my car, that you both are able to enter into this hotel, else you will not be permitted” Who knows, he might be right! Thanks for the lift buddy J

We entered the reception and were amazed by the exuding opulence. Hmmm… wish I got a chance to stay there for a day! We waited at the reception for our seniors to turn up. Meanwhile, we clicked a few snaps just as a souvenir of our Oberoi Reception visit.

6:45 AM

Our car, a Ford Ikon, which ostensibly was a contrast for the inmates from Oberoi, arrived and took us. Yeah, we started our journey!

I placed myself near the driver when the seniors and Vivek squeezed in on the back seat.

Nobody seemed interested in conversation and so I plugged in my headphones and started listening to songs. It took some time for me to realize that the ice had been broken and different Indian – US topics are being shared behind me. I also joined them taking a break from the walkman.

8:57 AM Sreeranga Pattina, Summer Palace of Tippu Sultan

The guard at the gate of the palace compound told us by gestures that we will have to wait for 3 more minutes, because 9:00AM was the right time for him to open the gates.

I still haven’t digested the logic behind 5 Rs ticket for Indians and 100 Rs ticket for a foreigner. Persons from Bhutan, Nigeria or some other country (where value of their currency is less than INR) will also be treated as a foreigner. For an American, INR 100 wouldn’t be a big deal, but what about the other category of foreigners?

Though I was not feeling very hungry, the mention of food by someone amongst us commenced the thought of eating. Vivek and I were happy to find a big box of Oberoi breakfast with my manager, but once it was opened, our dreams were shattered. It consisted of 4-5 slices of wheat bread, a packet of Lays, 2 apples, 6 (big) grapes, 4 fresh figs and 2 plain sandwiches. We were about to faint when my manager revealed the cost – 25 $ translated to an amount of 1K. I could eat 1 month’s breakfast and lunch from our Kerala mess near ITPL J

We finished the breakfast standing in the garden surrounding the summer palace and then entered the palace. I’ve been to  Tippu Sultan’s summer palaces in Bangalore and Nandi Hills. This one also looks similar in construction. There were pictures depicting old Mysore maps, Sreeranga Pattinam, flow of river Kaveri etc. There were some old weapons like swords, spears and old pistols displayed.

The Summer palace didn’t eat too much of our time and we started moving at around 9:40 AM.

10:00 AM Rangan Thittu Bird Sanctuary

If you haven’t paid a visit to this place yet, plan a weekend trip to this beautiful place and enjoy. I’ll try giving a brief note about this place, thanks to Wiki and other sites from where I’ve mustered the below information.

Rangan Thittu is situated in Mandya district, near to Sriranga Pattina. It consists of six small islands in Kaveri river which occupies a total area of .67 Km2. The place was declared to be a wildlife sanctuary in 1940 by Wodeyar Kings of Mysore because of persuasion from the famous ornithologist Dr Salim Ali, thanks to his observation that these small isles formed the nesting ground for rare species of birds.

If you go there, don’t skip the rowing boat ride, which is the most important part for the boat takes you around all the small six isles to watch the flora and fauna. There are 2 options for boating, either with a group of 15 people or a private boat, which will be exclusively for your group. We chose a private boat and boarded it.

The islands are themselves covered with broadleaf forests, consisting of Arjun trees, Bamboo groves and Pandanus trees. Riverine reed beds cover the banks of the isles. There are Eucalyptus and Acacia trees planted by man too, which might disturb the native species in the long run. Animal inhabitants include Bonnet Macaque, Flying Fox, Common palm civet, Indian gray mongoose, monitor lizard and Marsh crocodiles.

We were surprised, rather shocked when the boat went VERY close to the crocodile, which was lying on the bank of an island. He (or she) was deeply thinking about something, probably about food as its mouth was wide open, exhibiting its saw like teeth. It didn’t care a bit about a boat and the passengers coming near. It should’ve been thinking “another set of bugging people to stare at me as if I’m a show piece”

The ranger cum boat rower repeatedly assured that marsh crocodiles found there are innocuous and there had not been any case of attack towards humans yet. Nevertheless, the thought of my manager’s comment made a wave of chill pass through our spines “who knows when this crocodile is going to give a surprise?”

The ranger cum rower was feeding us with all information that he had come across in his career. He spoke in English, which was an appreciable attempt really successful in conveying what he wanted to. The birds that we could watch were Snake bird, Black eyed Ibis, White breasted Kingfisher and Stork. Ranger told us that season for migrating birds from Siberia, Atlanta etc starts on January. (Wiki has quoted it as June-November)

Half an hour passed by hastily. We had a photo session in and around the sanctuary.

We continued our journey to Mysore palace. It was almost 12:00 noon when we reached the palace. My first visit to the palace (that I remember, I’ve heard from mother that I had visited the same as a toddler) was from our college 4 years back.

I totally agree with what one of the guides told us – “you can enjoy the beauty of the palace without the help of a guide, but you cannot understand it”. Unlike the guide who was more than a chatterbox that we hired the last time (4 months back) this person had the skill of talking to the point. I cannot explain the beauty of the palace in a blog or by a speech. I’ll give a brief account on that, again thanking wiki.

It was the official residence of former royal family of Mysore (the Wodeyar family). Mysore has a lot of palaces, but Mysore palace refers to this particular one – Amba Vilas.

The construction spanned 15 years from 1897 to 1912 when the former palace which was built in 1803 was charred and gutted in 1897. The queen regent of Mysore at that time Vanivilasa Sannidhana commissioned a British Architect Henry Irwin, to build another palace at the same site. He combined different architecture styles and completed the construction by 1912 costing a sum of 42 Lakhs. (Now it costs more than that to buy a flat in Bangalore) The architectural style of the palace is commonly described as Indo-Saracenic, and blends together Hindu, Muslim, Rajput, and Gothic styles of architecture. It is a three-storied stone structure, with marble domes and a 145 ft five-storied tower. The palace is surrounded by a large garden. The three storied stone building of fine gray granite with deep pink marble domes was designed by Henry Irwin.. The facade has seven expansive arches and two smaller ones flanking the central arch which is supported by tall pillars. Above the central arch is an impressive sculpture of Gajalakshmi, the goddess of wealth with elephants. Every autumn, the Palace is the venue for the famous Mysore Dasara festival, during which the entire palace is lit up with thousands of bulbs, and leading artistes perform on a stage set up in the palace grounds. On the tenth day of the festival Vijaya Dashami, a parade with caparisoned elephants and other floats originate from the palace grounds.

Gombe Thotti – The entry to the palace is through the Gombe Thotti or Doll’s pavilion, a gallery of traditional dolls from 19th and early 20th centuries. The pavilion also houses a fine collection of Indian and European sculpture and ceremonial objects like a wooden elephant howdah (frame to carry passengers) decorated with 84 kilograms of gold.

Amba Vilas or Diwan e Khas – This was used by the king for private audience and is one of the most spectacular rooms. Entry to this magnificient hall is through an elegantly carved rosewood doorway inlaid with ivory that opens into a shrine to Ganesha. The central portion of the hall has ornately gilded columns, stained glass ceilings, decorative steel grills, and chandeliers with fine floral motifs, mirrored in the pietra dura mosaic floor embellished with semi-precious stones.

Kalyana Mantapa – The Kalyana Mantapa or marriage hall is a grand octagonal-shaped pavilion with a multihued stained glass ceiling with peacock motifs arranged in geometrical patterns. The entire structure was wrought in Glasgow, Scotland. The floor of the Mantapa continues the peacock theme with a peacock mosaic, designed with tiles from England. Oil paintings, illustrating the royal procession and Dasara celebrations of bygone years, make the walls more splendid.

The paintings on the wall were having 3D characteristics, simply amazing talent! The horse and the men seem to look at the spectator regardless from where he/she looks at the picture. In one painting, there was a Rolls Royce, when I got reminded that there is still one such car is kept in the Palace. I had heard it last time when I visited the palace and I re-confirmed it with our guide and passed this knowledge to my co-travelers.

The palace also houses an Audience chamber where the king used to have meetings with his ministers and guests from Europe. The guide explained us how the chamber would be lit using candles. There were 3 chandeliers having lot of mirrors, which will hold a single candle each and the mirrors would multiply the light which gets reflected in the pillars plated with gold also. So the chamber would glow with golden colored light at the time of a special meeting. What an amazing implementation of optical excellence, it is indeed! Another excellent architectural establishment is the Public Durbar, which is a very big hall from where the Maharaja used to address the public. The specialty of the construction is that, from any corner of that hall the people could see the king. While he made public speeches, 2 guards on his side, used to announce it live with megaphones.

I was really amazed by the statues of tigers in and around the palace. The guide told us that it was molded bronze. Whoever had done it, is a Sculptural Guru.

We left the palace at around 1:30. We had lunch from a hotel named Sandesh, the Prince, which reminded me of Bangalore pubs. After the lunch we visited Chamundi Hills. The hill got its name from the myth that Goddess Chamundi killed the Asura King Mahisha who then ruled the kingdom of Mysore. In fact, Mysore got its name from this Asura Maharaja – Mahisha. The temple on the top of the hill has idol of the Godess Chamundi. A panoramic view of the city is seen from the top of the hills. Among other landmarks, you can see the Race Course, the Lalitha Mahal palace, the Mysore Palace, the Karanji and Kukkarahalli lakes. (Courtesy for the names of lakes- Wiki) While climbing the hill down, we stopped to visit the famous Nandi the bull’s statue which is made out of a single stone. It is an amazing structure!

The buffet we had was good enough to trigger a sleep. I took a short nap on the way to Vrindavan Gardens. At around 4:30 we found ourselves wandering inside the Gardens. I’m not a kind of guy who can enjoy the beauty of flowers and fountains. So, sparing myself from writing it, but I’d like to give a small account on the garden’s history.

Vrindavan (Brindavan) is a beautiful botanical park full of exciting fountains. Diwans of Mysore planned and built the gardens in connection with the construction of the dam. Display items include a musical fountain. Various biological research departments are housed here. There is a guest house for tourists.It is situated at Krishna Raja Sagara dam. We roamed around the gardens, took some photos but didn’t wait to watch the musical fountain which starts at 6:30. Because we had a plan to revisit the palace, to see it fully illuminated. The palace will be illuminated on every Sundays and then for Dasara festival  days. We reached in time to see that beautiful sight. It’s a scene that no one can forget!

After taking photos we were back in the ikon and started our way back home. I slept inside the car dreaming the crocodiles in Rangan Thittu and the Bronze tigers in the palace.

Please have a look at Vivek’s Picasa album – http://picasaweb.google.com/vivek039/Mysore?authkey=mVz6AYRZgBY

Om Shanti Om – The mantra to kill tranquility (shanti)

All, I’m back in web after a hiatus.

Bad times come in different ways. The last time it hit me in the form of a movie, which was Om Shanti Om. Please don’t watch this movie even if you get a free ticket, because 2 of my colleagues suffered heavy headache after watching this movie. I was fortunate enough to come out of the theatre without such problems because I laughed a lot. I was laughing like crazy! Laughing at the logic of the movie, laughing at people who laugh at the sad jokes that prevailed throughout in the movie, laughing at myself for wasting the precious time and above all laughing to keep myself awake. In a simple one liner I’d describe that Om shanti om SUCKS!

I appreciate Farah khan for her nerve to take such a non sense movie. I hope she will live long enough to come up with another blasting master piece. If they had taken such a movie some 25 years back, people would’ve liked it. What did she think while reading the story board? Did she think that all the movie-viewers are having nuts for brains? I feel pity for those who coined the dry-sarcastic-stinking humour that was making the scene worse. 

The theme of re-incarnation and vengeance is absolutely obsolete. 

Shahrukh Khan has indubitably proved that he can be crappy and creepy at the sametime.

My suggestion to everyone who is looking forward to seeing this movie – Please find better ways to waste your time and money!

Can anyone go back in time?

Really wish, I could go back, to the past. Now I’m falling down in my future, without even knowing what present is!Is there a way to go back in time, to live again, a better life, enjoying the presents present presents?But I know my cup in not half empty, its always half full!

Cool time in a hot city!!!

‘The Greatness Guide’

I think I already have made it clear that I’m not a good reader. But, hmm… I do read seasonally! I thank my good friend Kaushik for sharing ‘The greatness guide’ by Robin Sharma. Read it, if you haven’t already! I bet its going to change your life! I’m full of energy now. Totally inspired, motivated… Have to read more of his books before this spark gets doused by work and other personal affairs and make sure that the spark is going to grow as a flame! I’ve become a big fan of this guy!

This book doesn’t have any big stories, no romance, no flying brooms and magic potions, no suspense but just 101 small chapters each one of which will act as shot in the arms!

Read about the book here – http://www.thegreatnessguide.com/ 

So head to the nearest bookstall…and grab one soon…

May I help You…

Hey, I’ve almost forgotten that I used to write blogs. Umpteen incidents in life, have occured making me more than happy… Hmmm… I logged in to my blog to describe a small incident, which made me neither happy nor sad

 I went to Canara Bank Maratahalli branch intending to find the details of home loans provided by them. As soon as I entered the office premises I got reminded of sub registrar office in Trivandrum where my mother used to work. Obviously there are some differences, the first one being a conspicuous over-head board which says ‘Please Switch Off Your Mobile Phone Inside the Bank Premises’ in 3 languages. As I was expecting a call, I couldnt do that, but I changed it to silent mode. The obvious smell of old mite-bitten files prevailed in the air. I could see a number of chairs in front of me, some occupied, some not, I looked around to read the boards to find whom should I contact for satiating my requirement. Unfortunately no board was there with the label ‘Loan’. But to my relief, there was a board which said ‘May I Help You’. It was dangling over the heads of two people seemingly aspirants of the ‘help’ offered by the same. I also took a seat near to them, hoping that I’l l also get blessed with the help. I could observe that the empty easy chair at that counter is looking away from the counter as if it doesnt care about the ‘help’ offered by the board. I waited for almost 10-15 minutes when I could see that among the aspirants, I’m the only one getting frustrated with mounting impatience. The others must have been regular customers for a long time. My attention then turned to the loud noise produced by a group of people approaching that counter. Funniest thing I could notice was the sound was not coming from the group of people, but from a person who was not to be seen because of the wall created by those people. I thought that, that person would’ve been the one who abandoned that easy chair, making it look the other way, as if it doesn’t find comfortable to face the old HCL monitor on the table and the faces that are patiently waiting for the occupant. I was badly waiting for them to finish that talk, which sounded like an argument, but proved to be just an explanation given by that person at the center to the people pounding on him. His voice might have gone up, in struggle for more air too, God knows! I was shocked to see that, the person when got extricated from the crowd, didnt occupy that easy chair, which I was eagerly waiting to happen, but another chair, above which there was  a board which said ‘Manager’. Then I came to agree what my kannadiga friend had told me – “You go to Canara Bank, you might have to wait a little, but they are THE best in taking care of their customers” I just compared that man with the managers of private sector who will be sitting inside a closed cabin which is sound proof so as not to take part in the external commotion even unknowingly. I just recalled the talk to an ICICI manager the day before, I said “I wanted to know the details of home loan product, could you help me out?” for which he answered “Please give me your contact number and the office address, I’ll send my agent there, he’ll talk to you”. The agent came and talked to me in no time, but home loan product seemed to be greek for me! He never explained anything, just took my visiting card, gave me an application form to sign,tried a cheap marketing trick on me saying that “Sir, if you take the loan now (this moment? He really thinks people are nutcases?) I’ll give it in 11.2% as your company is one of our listed companies. (I never knew ICICI lists companies) If you dont take it now, you will have to pay 12% (was he trying to threaten me? ooh I’m so afraid ) Back to Canara…I thought of waiting in front of that empty chair for some more time, but as I didnt have much time , as I had skipped my lunch in order to find time to come to the bank and also I didn’t want to miss an official meeting for which I should rush back to work, I moved on to another counter which said ‘Clearance’ A lady was busily adding,subtracting,counting etc. I waited for a while, broke the silence when she took what seemed to be a hiatus for taking a long breathe, with the best tool to break the ice - ‘excuse me’. She gave me a tired look, her eyes clearly wanted to ask me ‘What the hell?’ Fortunately it didnt come out from her tongue, because I didnt give her the time I asked her if she can direct me to the person who deals with home loans. Accepting her advice I went to the first floor where again I had to spend another 10 minutes waiting for a persons elocution to get over. He told me to go to downstairs and gave me the name of the person who would solve the mystery rather misery Not exaggerating, nor joking, I spent another 15 minutes to talk to that person! I was afraid if he would send me back to first floor directing me to meet some other person. But that didnt happen, but both of us together went to first floor He explained about the loan process and loan amount pellucidly without leaving any room for doubt! So finally I got my questions answered in 20 minutes for which I had waited 35 minutes already :) I thanked him from my heart and emptied the chair I was occupying. Worrying about the potential rain and cursing my memory for not taking the umbrella I descended the stairs. Out of curiosity, I just checked the chair beneath the ‘May I Help You’ board. Some one who passed by that chair had dragged it towards a side, other than that, there is no change. Chair is looking at a different direction now, HCL monitor still running some screen saver, files piled up, that manager still talking to some other group of people like arguing, lady at the ‘Clearance’ section still busy adding,subtracting and counting… Shockingly I could find those two aspirants also, at the same position, one of them seemed to be a bit frustrated. I wonder if they both still hadn’t lost their hope on the ‘help’ offered by that ‘May I Help You’ board!

An Inconvenient Truth…

It was by accident that we bought the tickets for the movie Incovenient Truth. But then I realized that accidents can have positive meaning too! I had bought a ‘Frontline’ which had lots of write ups on Global Warming. But it remained untouched for almost 2 months and then it occupied the dust bin and finally got thrown out with other house hold wastes! But this documentary gave me more statistics, information than that book (had i taken the pain to read it)

Ain’t it really formidable to think that we are all going to lose our dear mother earth in a few decades? It surely is horrendous. But everyone should brood over it and should do something for protecting our green (rather once green) planet. Now itself our own negligence has encroached all the fences of survival chances. 

Just by looking around the place where I live now, I can predict that nothing is going to save the mankind from pollution. But still there is room left for giving a try!

Amount of plastic wastes getting accrued makes all the calculations go wrong. Recently I read from The Hindu that there were 292 trucks carrying waste from the city (amounting to about 230 tonnes) somewhere on the suburbs. This is not a particular days fate. Believe it happens every other day!

I can see a lot of trees on the footpaths, courtesy the governments decision to preserve the greenery…but look where they stand, on the footpath surrounded by concrete. It simply conveys the message, only the existing trees will give us shade. No new trees can come up on the concrete floor.

There are a lot of parks too! Protected by BMP, Bangalore Mahanagara Palike! But aint the green color getting faded because of the grey concrete forest growing at an overwhelming rate?

The documentary then talked about the change in climate. Its blatant here! I still remember the climate when I had visited B’lore 3 yrs back for engineering Industrial visit. We roamed around the city, walking and never felt really hot, albeit it was summer. And now, I cant imagine myself taking a walk in the city at noon. And the rains, they come unsolicitedly every now and then. Once a friend commented, that we can see all the four climates on a single day here in B’lore, aint it true though a bit exaggerated?

I’ve written this small account as a Bangalorean. This is the case with almost every place in India as well as any other country.

According to the documentary, Indians are way down in adding to the pollution as compared to the Americans. But day by day we are competing our best inorder to take up one of the first ranks, thanks to the Metros, Growing Population, Growing number of Vehicles, Unrestricted fossil fuel usage, Usage of non degrading Plastics, etc

Please visit www.climatecrisis.net for the details about the documentary and please do watch the documentary as soon as possible.

There is an adage in Malayalam which will roughly translate to this – Only if there is a canvas we can draw a picture. Only if our Mother earth is let to lead a peaceful life, we will be able to survive, our coming genarations will be able to exist!

Who create the waste? We do!

Who will suffer? We will!

Why? Because ‘As you sow, So you reap’!

More about the divine gig, from my friend …

My Friend Raja Ravi Varma forwarded his friend Monu’s mail … which has a lot of points that I had missed out!” Pasting it below …

The roads filled with black tees having smiling eddy in different poses (one Tee had LEDs for eddy’s eyes), the long queue to enter the grounds, the jam packed time I spend in the front rows were I couldn’t move a finger, the long queues for water in the back which turned to free for all stampedes – the water cans being held high with loads of thirsty mouths below, the air filled condoms flying high in the air, fans of Iron Maiden who had waited up to 17 yrs for a live show coming with their entire families to enjoy, dads having giggling head banging kids on their shoulders , couples jumping together to the beats in each others arms, the sound vibrations that ran up to your knees from the ground below, the sea of mobile cams trying to capture the snap of a life time, the guy who colored his hair yellow and moved proudly through the grounds, the weed smoking girl who kept screaming behind my ear as if there was no tomorrow, the look of sheer ecstasy on the fans and the ‘gosh, I am so f@#$nig lucky for not missing this ’ smiles on the fans leaving the grounds was all an experience of a life time… “Dreams do come true……last Saturday on March 17th, Iron Maiden, the first (quality) rock band to perform in India gave one hell of a performance in Bangalore…The trains from all places to Bangalore on Friday had loads of head bangers wearing characteristic black Tees. All rock fans were moving towards Bangalore for the Saturday’s performance….some had waited more than 10/15 yrs to see these guys perform live….I entered the palace grounds at around 4 pm and had to wait around 3.5 hrs before I got to see Iron maiden perform. In spite of frisking by the organizers in the entrance, liquor and cigarettes (99 % weed ones) were being used freely and the smell of weed was over whelming. The crowd was fully charged with everyone having done ‘something’ to their hair/face…The girls in the crowd were very vocal and putting even hard core head bangers to shame…. The sole downers of the show were the 2 of the 3 opening performances which were a torture because they were first of all prolonging the wait to see Iron Maiden perform live and secondly because they were literally a torture to the ear drums….The first was by a college band which won some god dam competition and frankly I don’t understand the logic of showcasing such crap in a show of such magnitude. Its like allowing a karting winner of some obscure local tournament to drive just before an F1 race began…..I mean I agree that local talent needs to be nurtured and all but not at the expense of hot sweaty fans waiting for more than 3 hrs. Predictably, the college band got lots boos and swears words, not to mention the sea of middle- fingered hands swaying to their ‘music’…I pity those guys and applaud their thick skins. The 2nd performance was by Parikrama and was decent enough, giving the fans something to cheer about. Next to come on stage was Steve Harris’s daughter whose performance was also average. At last the Gods of Rock came on stage with a bang, starting predictably, with tracks from their latest album. The 1500 ticket people and the 900 ticket people were separated by a barricade and two rows of security and police personnel. Here and there, the 900 rs fans tried to jump the barricade only to be hit by the lathi welding cops…..but as soon as “the Trooper” track began, all hell broke lose. Fans started jumping from every where and the cops finally gave up and allowed everyone to move forward….The band members, mostly pushing 50 yrs were a joy to watch…..the sheer energy of Brue Dickinson and the wicked laughter of the drummer(caught by a camera up close), Nicko McBrain were priceless….The arrival of the military tank and the 14 foot eddy were other highlights of the day. The song everyone will remember that night will be “Fear of the Dark”, rumored to be inspired by Steve Harris’s childhood fear….Almost everyone in the audience was mouthing the lyrics and taking part in the background vocals…All in all, it was an experience of a life time….and from what Bruce promised in the end, the fans that waited for as long as 17 yrs to see them won’t have to wait for even 17 months before they saw them again “I am a man who walks alone. And when I’m walking a dark road At night or strolling through the park When the light begins to changeI sometimes feel a little strange A little anxious when it’s darkFear of the dark, fear of the darkI have a constant fear that something’s always near Fear of the dark, fear of the dark I have a phobia that someone’s always there… “