Sivaji - THE BOSS

Well.... am coming back from retirement.. Had given quite a long break.. They say, "You enjoy anything only when you are away from it for sometime".

June 15th was not a normal day in Tamil Nadu....rather was not a normal day in India....errr... It was not a normal day in a few parts of South East Asia and few more parts of the world. It was not a day on which Tsunami struck these parts. It was not day on which volcanoes erupted. It was the day on which ONE MAN took all these parts by storm. He was Rajinikanth. SIVAJI, his starrer was supposed to be released that day. I was never a fan of either Tamil cinemas nor Rajini himself. Always used to think, "Yen maga... yaavono yeno stupid style maaDtane, adanna noDakke laksha jana hogtare...stupid people" (translation: what son... somebody something stupid style doings.. for that seeing a lakh people going... stupid people!!). Though I was well aware of the fact that Rajini was a superstar and he had an unbelievable fan following all around the world, the magnitude of it just hadn't struck me.. But somewhere inside me, I nursed the desire to watch a Rajini movie 1st day 1st show.......

The build up to the release of the movie SIVAJI itself was quite unbelievable. Every news channel, every newspaper had articles on the movie. Clippings from his earlier movies were aired everyday. Without myself knowing, watching these clipping on a certain news channel became my regular feature for the week!! A couple of my friends (one specimen who though belongs to kaatland was never interested in movies like "these") were so excited about the release of the movie that they started the hunt for tickets to visit the 1st day 1st show. They were saying, "you got to see it the 1st day 1st show"... As if to deliberately test the authenticity of their interest in the movie, there was scarcity of tickets.. a kind of artificial scarcity created due to the hype. To add to the woes, the prices of the tickets were exhorbitabtly priced right from 500 in the local theatres to 1500 in the multiplexes....

I will introduce you to these "couple" of my friends who were damn interested in these.
Meet Mr. Bhatta (name retained due to it's popularity in our circles). My buddy at work since i joined my workplace 3 years ago. An ardent Kamal Hassan fan who had never seen a complete Rajini movie all his life..
Meet Mr. KaaTsan (name changed as just the name creates furores in our circles). My buddy since college days who though is not a self-confessed fan of tamil movies, has it in him to become the tamil movies' fan club president)..

Scene 1: Bhatta: Adarajji... henge aadru 1st day 1st show tkt togonDe togobeku (translation for those of you who are linguistically challenged: Its grandmother... however it might happen, 1st day 1st show tkt takinge takingu...)

KaaTsan: ***%$#^&#%%$$$%@$%& Need to get tickets for the 1st day 1st show somehow..

Naanu: oh, houda baais.. all these best... sooper magas istondu josh-aa nimge tkt togoLakke..(sorry no translation from now onwards....)

Scene2: 2 days before the release of Sivaji (June 13th), Bhatta calls me up.. "Urvasi theatre inda maatadta iddini. Maga adarajji, ticketse siktilvo....

KaaTsan: ***%$#^&#%%$$$%@$%& I am trying to book tickets in *^&%$ PVR macha.. I dont find any tkts available tkts for the 1st day 1st show..

Naanu: oh houda baais.. all the best.. sooper magas istondu josh-aa nimge tkt togoLakke..

Later in the day.....
Bhatta: Maga Poornima theatre inda maatadta iddini.. sikkapatte dodda queue ide.. tkts sigtilla..

KaaTsan: ***%$#^&#%%$$$%@$%& I am trying to book the tickets though Mr. X macha.. I am not able to find tkts for the 1st day 1st show...

Naanu: oh houda baais.. all the best.. sooper magas istondu josh-aa nimge tkt togoLakke..

Scene 3: 1 day to go for the release (June 14)..
Bhatta: Maga PVR nalli iddini.. dooooD queue ide.. yaava filmstar/politician na welcome maadakku ishtodu Q iralla.. namgeno tkts sigodu doubtu.... shit le....

KaaTsan: ***%$#^&#%%$$$%@$%& Maga still no luck with the tkts.. Have asked all the people i know..

Naanu: oh houda baais.. all the best.. sooper magas istondu josh-aa nimge tkt togoLakke..

Later in the day my friend Friddi calls me up at around 5PM and asks, "Maga nam baais ge 7 tkts sikkide.. Salem inda 50KM Attur antha.. alli 1st day 0th show ge sikkide. 1 tkt extra ide bartya??".

Naanu: "Maga.. tkt sikta? soooooper... naanu "jai"..definitely bartini..

Then i call up Bhatta and KaaTsan and then tell then this..

Bhatta: pthoo nanna magane.... naanu theatre theatre aldu almost lathi charge maadskondu tkts ge huduktidre, neenu AC room nalli kootkondu deal maadtyeno? pthoo ninna.....

KaaTsan: ***%$#^&#%%$$$%@$%& How the hell did u get tkts? maja maadu...



As soon as i heard that my friend had an extra tkt, i packed my bag, locked my PC and left office. We were slated to catch some night bus to Salem (200KM, 4 hrs drive). We left Blore and reached Salem at around 2.30 in the early morning. Caught a bus to Attur (50km, 45 mins). We had expected it to be a small village. Few colleagues had warned us saying, pooja and abhiskeka would be performed in the theatre. So we'd better wear something local. I had taken a lungi with me but couldn't wear due to lack of comapany. The place turned out to be a pretty big town.. We were even surprised to find poster of a detergent named SIVAJI!!




The show was at 6.30. So, we were at the theatre premises by around 6.00. By the time we reached the theatre it was obvious that the pooja was completed. che wanted to witness that one. U can see in the pic below that the "chapra", "torana", "pumpkin" were already laid. The festive atmosphere had been laid.


We had the 1st row in the balcony thanks to my friend Siva's uncle who was the secretary of Attur Rajini fan club..


There we were.... At a remote town... well far away from Bangalore... 1st day of the release of the superstar's movie... right there in Tamil Nadu.. What more could one ask for...... Hey... wait...I also wanted to experience how the local crowd reacts to rajini's stunts, his moves, his dialogues... and there it began. Right from the beginning of the movie, crackers inside the theatre...right in front of the screen was a common sight... Enter Rajini in the movie.... ppl went crazzzy.. believe me just crazy... whistles were a common phenomenon too (my contribution was also there!!) The moment, Rajini comes with a style, there goes a 1000 wala aane pataki, 100s of whistles and countless pieces of paper thrown at the screen!! The moment Rajini comes with a trademark dialogue, a few ppl in front of the screen would dive onto the slope below the screen.... thud..... and fall back... Very interesting was the scenario when Adisesan, the villian abuses Rajini when he goes bankrupt when he says, "You can go back to what you are good at... Bus conductor". There were a few slippers hurled at the screen too!! This was the craze that I had hoped to see when i set foot in TN. That was what I got to saw too!! Was totally satisfied!!
The coin flick style, the bald style (mottai sivaji), the stunt with the gun, the word "khool" used frequently were all very catchy. The best of the dialogues i felt was when Adisesan's men pretty much surround Rajini and then the villian says, "what can you do now. We are so many in number and you are single".... Rajini replies, "Yes true.. Its always the pigs that move around in groups... The lion always hunts single"!!! WOOOW! I too went crazy at that!!

BTW, we have completely forgotten about Bhatta and KaaTsan..Whatever happened to them???!!??? Well, learnt that Bhatta was sincere in his effort of acquiring a ticket.. So he really did get it and watched the movie... As far as our KaaTsan goes, we all knew his was only a stunt...a plain gimmick.. So he never got to watch the 1st day 1st show!! Sincere efforts are always rewarded!! :-P

This will go down as one of the craziest things I have down till date.. Its worth a mention probably on my resume too!! ;-)

Haavina Dweshaaa.........

Had been to a morning walk to a park in Sadashivanagar. This is generally my routine during the weekends..The only source of some exercise to this wearing body! :-) Everytime Vinay, my friend and myself used to go for a walk, we used to spot a couple of snakes in the drains of the park. There are 2 young ones and an adult snake in the park. So we decided that we will try our stint at getting some NatGeo kind of pictures! Here are the ones that we could catch...









Vinay has an eye for creatures like snakes! He is the snake man of our gang!! After developing interest in photography, I too have started appreciating things like flowers, their colours, animals, insects, repltiles!! :-) Now we have a common dream..to become a NatGeo photographer and explore the jungles of Africa and South America.. Its really a dream job. Even though there are many risks involved in this kind of job, you will be pursuing what interests you the most! It would be great if someones reading this blog could sponsor a nice DSLR to "upcoming" and "budding" photographers like us! ;-)

Maduve Maduve Maduve......

Its maduve season now...Lotsa people getting married. We are almost coming to an end of the season. I might have attended atleast aroung 8-10 maduves of friends in the past 2-3 months!! Its my cousin's maduve tomorrow....habbada vaatavarana in our house.. Actually there arent much preparations that are required from the Groom's side...So me doing the labour class physical labour, the one that I am used to in office! :-P

For the first time, yesterday I had been to a beauty parlour! :-D Got a "skin polisher" facial massage done! It too around 2 hours for the "beauty therapy"! :-D He applied around 4-5 types of creams! One for sun tan, another for under-eye circles, couple more for dry skin and polishing and a Multani Mitti face pack!! Oh God! I cant believe I am saying/writing these things!! :-)) Seems like a slow but sure transition to a metro-sexual male!!??!! hehehe

Its been a enjoyable experience this week. Had taken the entire week off for the preparations. Good break from work! Now its again back to work from this week! I am cutting short this blog, as my mother is pounding me with curses for not attending the Sathayanarayana pooja thats going on right now!! tata

Kalla NatWAR..Even doDD kaLLru Congress!!

The whole Natwar Singh episode has got me wondering whether politics is only about opportunism! Natwar Singh is beyond doubt a party in the oil for food scam. So is the Congress party! Now look at the way Congress has deserted Natwar! :-) Of course not without any reason did they suspend him...But opportunism takes the front seat in all the transactions in politics. As soon as Congress suspended him, he shot back saying that its the first time that a PM is ruling the nation without even winning the Municipality elections!! Even though I have enormous respect for the PM as a person (dont mistake it to b Project Manager!!)..for the contributions he has made to the Indian economy, I will still consider him as a weak PM for the simple reason that not many of his decisions are actually made by him!

The most funny part about this whole episode is Natwar has found "friends" in the BJP and SP!!! :-)) He is now spending more time with these party people! Yashwant Sinha hiself has told today that there are no permanent foes/friends in politics. Does that ring a bell?

The way in which the Pathak committee has composed its report too is questionable. The report has said that Natwar Singh was a beneficiary. But no trace can be found to any money deposited to any of his accounts!! Also, Congress has been exonerated of being a non contractual beneficiary!! :-)) Is that believable??? Can anybody believe that??? hahahaha. Its like saying..A hungry lion killed a deer and didnt eat it! I am sure that there was a compromise that was worked out before the report was made. In the larger interests of the Congress party, it has not been named as a beneficiary. Natwar has been indicted in the scam with the compromise that no money was traced to him. others who were actually indicted as being financial beneficiaries, Andaleeb Sehgal and Aditya Khanna are not noticeable. Somebody is found guilty. The prominent people who were charged are indicted by the report but not completely. The main party is let off. In the end its pleased everyone! How neat!! ain't it?? Congress is the mother of all corruption!! Everyone knows that. And to close out chapters like these....nobody needs to teach them! :-) Its like saying "Sooryange torchaa" ??

When will such things reduce????????

Can get dangerous...

Oopsi doopsi.... Blogging and orkutting have a few similar aspects. Both are visible to the entire world. No privacy can be maintained. Even a few unwanted viewpoints abt certain things. My previous blog was in the line to create a big controversy. It contained general opinions about how things work in the software industry. But it sounded a bit specific. So, had to delete it..:-) Otherwise............................................................ :-)

Its exams round the corner. Lotsa assignments submission coming up this week. Exams in the weekend. Work heating up....All things come and fall on you at the same time! Few weeks back I was jobless doing nothing... That how it is...Got to go n study now.....

Testing.....Testing....

Dunno if this will work. But am trying to publish a song in my blog..

An "Enigma" called Infinitea!!

For quite some time now my favourite hangout has been a Tea Shop called Infinitea on Cunningham Road. Dont know what attracts me to that place, but we friends go there pretty often. It was introduced to me by a friend and in turn I have introduced it to a few more people. In a way its proceeded like how a social networking group like a "Amway" or a "Modicare" operates. If the same benefits as that were to be there...Like good remuneration for every new referral/entrant, then I probably would grown richer by now! ;-)

The main attraction probably is that after numerous visits to Cafe Coffee Days(CCD) and trying out almost all of the Mochachillos, Vegan Shakes, Cappuchinos, Frappes and even the ageing Samosas and the burgers there and after having made guest appearances to almost each and every gully in which CCD opened, the need really arose for us to "try out" something more than the caffeine kick.. Infinitea was the obvious choice! If what the Ad on television about "Tea Drinkers" is definitely true, then we friends would be an enlightened lot! ;-)

Infinitea boasts of more than 85 different varities of Tea ranging from HOT teas to Cold teas. It really has something to offer. Along with the traditional Masala chai, Assam, Darjeeling Gold, Sri Lanka, Kashmir, Bhutan, Burma, Bangladesh (kidding......), they serve some different varities like Pomogranette, Rose, Vanilla etc...Among the cold teas, the favourites are Black Current, Apple, Peach, Lime, Chilled Chilli Chai, "Enigma On the rocks...My favourite would any day by a flavour called "Setting Saffron" containing Tea, saffron and honey....The best part of infinitea is that the tea is prepared on the spot. The leaves are put in a kettle of hot water and the sand clock is used for the completion notification..


Another point that scores for infinitea is the interiors. With different interior setting and lots of "gyaan" about the benefits of drinking, its a pleasurable experience.

As I was writing this blog, there was a power failure and majority of the stuff that I had written got lost. But being a "good" and "responsible" software engineer, a few data WAS saved and recovered! :-) I think this is the most boring blog that I've written....more like a publicity stunt for Infinitea. I myself wouldnt want to read it again! :-) I pity the people reading this!! :-))