Grudge

Fate is something that I don’t believe in, but few things happen and you have no logical reasons to conclude on its occurrence. I had one such experience last year on March the 20th and I still have got no answers why it happened and what actually happened!!! The day which started out fine as any normal day would had an abrupt end after 48 hours giving life changing experience not just for me but for many and still continues to haunt me with questions for which I believe I am never going to find answers or rather get.

Going back in time ICC had opened booking for the IND Vs WI match back and I was not sure if I would be here in Chennai to watch the match though that was my last chance to watch a world cup encounter live with Sachin on the Indian team. So I decided against blocking the tickets but little did I know that I will be watching the same match with couple of my best friends that day. It was the day to pick up the tickets booked online and my friend was there at the stadium and fortunately or unfortunately there was this one ticket available on the same stand which is worth 5000 bucks. He had no money with him so he took the pain to request the counter guy to hold the ticket and walked few 100 meters to pick cash from ATM and got the ticket for me.  I know it is big money and many would curse me for spending the money for a match, but then you get to see the players in a close range. :) :) :) Actually I was cursing myself for buying that ticket for different reason altogether at the end ! ! !

The match was a disappointment for me just for the reason that Sachin was dismissed for 2 but never have I seen a standing ovation for a guy scoring just 2 runs midway of the tournament without him announcing his retirement which I doubt if he will ever do now…. J Nevertheless we had our dinner on the way back and just as I was about to hit the bed thinking the day was finally over I got a call from my friend’s mom who had left the match midway claiming that his mom was sick and he had to take her to the hospital. As it turned out it I was able to figure out that it was a complete lie hearing his mom crying over phone asking me where her son was and what actually happened to him. Here started the enthralling events and it had most of us on the brink for the next 48 hours and it never came to a conclusion for almost a fortnight. To me it hasn't concluded even today and will never .......

My friend was engaged only a few weeks back to his sister's daughter who was 10 years younger than him. Yes these crap still keep happening in our part of the world and the worst part of all is she had scored handsomely in her 12th grade board exams, but was forced to join an arts course just for the sake of getting her married to my friend. Absolutely ridiculous and pity factor is everyone in his family were decently educated and most hols government positions. I lost hope of any change happening in the society in this regard after this incident. Inspite of this all I could think was, who was this girl in his life which made him lie to us. As predicted his mobile was switched off. We started to his house and on the way I tried contacting whomever I know trying to narrow down on his location and at that time of the midnight there was very little help and it was driving me crazy. We all met at the road leading to his house and there we got the call from his mom saying he has reached and I could sense there was a secret yet to be known and his attempt asking us to go back only increased the curiosity and we went to his home only to find that he is to be married the next morning to some other girl whom he can’t stand and will even commit suicide if it was ever to happen. We were flabbergasted, dumb stuck, speech less, stunned and what not.  The next 48 hours was the most grueling one I have ever spent and will remain so till I start talking about my own marriage at home which is not too far away :) :) :) 

The thought of my friend having cheated was nothing short of someone running a heated knife right through my heart. It may be dramatic but that’s the way I felt and I am yet to sink in. There were cries all over his home, so called plans and tips to bring them back to their native safely without being caught by goons just like they do in movies. There were calls from people whom we have never met or rather never even know about their existence until that moment black mailing us and threatening us, life was all over the place and we could never figure out what exactly happened that day. It just continued for another 2 weeks before we had this news of the issue coming to an end the way we never wanted it to finish. It was all over now and my friend  whom we all thought was a good decision maker was there sitting silent just a coward girl letting this happen to him and little did we could when someone is that defenseless.

There are these events in life that you wish had never happened and few persons that you wish you had never met and few questions you wish you had an answer to, but then it happens in your life and just stays part of you for the rest of your life. There is nothing much you can do about it. All we can do is, just accept the fact and get along instead of thinking over why it happened and what would the answer!! ! ! I know it is easier said than done for I have not done it and I am sure I will never be able to do it. It has been a year now and the feeling stays the same for me even though many have moved along with the life and have accepted what has actually happened. Though I have tried my best to move along I still hold a huge grudge and have umpteen question that needed answering. I wish I can be like the rest  :) :) :) 

Friends

I know it is too late to talk about this fabulous sitcom but for most part of the last 2 months it has occupied most of my time even when things were getting very busy around. I was completely addictive to it that it made me watch it whenever I lost sleep even at the wee hours. Th first time I got to know about Friends was way back in college and people were going gaga about this. Most of the celebrity's answer to the question "What your favourite TV show" was Friends. So I did give it a try to watch couple of episodes back then and to be honest I didn't understand most part of it. What was even more interesting was the whole crowd was laughing then and there and I looked an idiot watching it :). There ended my quest to watch the famous sitcom. May be had I watched with sub-titles it might have helped a little but I doubt even that as I realise now that most of the jokes are purely timing.

I happened to watch the same sitcom after 6 years in Star World and now for some reason I was able to follow most part of it even without sub-titles !!! I just couldn't resist myself and started downloading the entire seasons going beyond my apprehensions to use Torrent. Now having complete all the seasonit was entirely worth it and I couldn't stop raving about the series. Everything was special in the show, the main 6 characters which are built with wide difference among them,celebrity episodes,equal screen presence for all characters and a practical approach to portray normal people's life in New York city. Who would have imagined A Geek , A Control Freak, A Play Boy, A Spoilt Child, A Weirdo and A Half Gay 6 put together will give us a series that's going to stand class apart from the rest and a trend setter for decades to come. Even the part time characters like Gunther, Janice were equally good and made us laugh enough to remember them :) Of all the celebrity episodes with Clooney,Van Dame,Sean,Bruce I personally liked the thanksgiving episode with Brad Pitt.

As the show progressed I seriously wished I could have such a life just like how those people had. They had their tough times but still managed to stay happy with their friends. And fa relationship is over if there was one fight it was nice to see people fighting and getting back together so often and still have fun keeping all those baggage apart. Among the characters I like Joseph the best. He has you in splits no matter what he does with all his stupidity and happy go lucky approach to his life.My favourites in the show by order will be
Joey
Ross
Rachel
Chandler
Phoebe and for some reason I hate this girl Monica and it only grew during the finals few seasons.

How you dhoing ?? will be the best dialogue of all  :D :D :D :D :D :D I wished that the show never ends just like many and it would be great if they can make a movie with all together for one last time.

One thing you can learn from the show leaving apart all the laughter is

"No one is perfect, but if you can see through all the imperfections of person you are sure to have a great time with them."

Mayakkam Enna

To put it simple ... One selfish,drunkard, psychic husband with a equally psychic wife if not more and a bunch of so called friends along with a trendy modern dad and a sister makes Mayakkam Enna. The movie was one hell of a dis-appointment and I curse myself that I missed a wonderful test match for this @#$%^&. use your imagination. :D

I seriously want to understand where Selva gets inspiration for such creation. I really pity Sunder of all the characters in the movie for obvious reasons. I am sure there is no such idiot in real world or at least I hope so. Yamini, cold and calculated who uses her date to win her man. Impressive stuff and the way the crazy girl defends her man in the car after the reception though looked nice on screen was ridiculous. I am sure it makes no sense to be with a man who is molesting and man handling her. Defending him is in a different league and I would never understand why anyone would want to do that. I would suggest girls not to be inspired to any extent by that scene. I don't know how long these people are going to project women in such mean way.

People who is going to argue that it was the accident which made Karthick do all the stuff he did please understand that if he can rationally think about the kid he killed in Yamini's womb and push her for sex he can do everything rationally. It is just that he is so obsessed with his passion and affected by the failure and unfair deal he go that he lets everyone around affected and disturbed. As for the friends are concerned I think I am yet to be matured to appreciated these kind of relationship. I don't even think if we can call them friends. May be they are acquaintances with benefits. What kind of benefits is only known to the director :D

The tagline for the movie was good one"Follow your Heart"....But Selva missed the trick of adding another line to it "Carry your brains with it".The climax was a little bit emotional which we have seen throughout the existence of Tamil industry with the huge flaw in the time frame defined. Overall it is a not movie worth spending 3 hours of our time.

Yamini's Eyes were glowing throughout the movie and I liked that facet of her a lot.

Just for Laughs

Strauss:Hey MSD u must know that the edge to the Slip by Bell was not intentional.

Dravid:Yeah...How we will feel if Sachin or VVS or Me had edged and we are caught.

Indian Team:Oh no...(Everyone feels bad...)

MSD:Ok I guess in the Spirit of game we should bring back Bell.

Strauss:Thanks Gentlemen

In England Dressing room....

Strauss : That's unbelievable ... I never thought Indians are this stupid ... Mate go score a Double century, I believe these idiots doesn't tour us for another 3 yrs or so .... :D :D :D

The whole team laughs and Bell chuckles" I know I was naive but not as naive as the Indian team..."

Pepsi

It was a time when One rupee meant a lot and people were happy with the treat that we have in the Bhaji stalls and Tuck Shops where it generally costs us 10 rupees or less for almost 6 people.I still remember flavoured or rather coloured ice cubes sold in plastic tubes for just 50 paise and 75 paise. There was even a variant for 60 paise which tasted a lot better than the other two. Interestingly it was named PEPSI and that was the way before we knew about the actual Pepsi. Vimal was the leading manufacturer of this Pepsi and I tried my best to get a picture of the same without much luck.

It was Sports Day for us and teachers made sure that everybody from the lower classes participated at least in one event. I just came to the ground from school in school van and I didn't know who will take me back to home that day. We didn't know much about the houses except for the fact that we wore different colour dresses or about the points awarded for each and every event or about the trophy my house captain will hold at the end of the event. We were split into teams of 10 and our objective was simple take the small balls for one circle to next in steps and do it in quick time. We were completely ignorant of the consequences and it was total fun. I remember I was in green house standing in the second half of the team and I have no clue who was in my team or even the opposition that day. The circles were placed in the track and there was a huge crowd awaiting us at the end of the last circle. At the blow of the whistle we started our routine and people were clapping and shouting like crazy. It was my turn and I finished placing all the balls in the intended circle and ran to the end. I was just clapping for the other members of my team hoping that we would come first.

The race was done and it was total chaos and I didn't know who won. There was this hand in that crowd which pulled me and handed over a 50 paise Pepsi. It was melt completely and once I split it open I was able to empty it in seconds which would have taken at least 10 minutes back then. It smelled and tasted weird didn't know carcinogens brought that effect. Recollecting the event today I am now able to realise the love my mom had for me. She was too excited and she didn't even know if I had won or not. She had come all the way from my home to pick me up walking almost 2kms in hot sun. She is not that educated and probably didn't know how Pepsi was going to taste once it melts down. All she had in mind was to get something cold for her son to have after the event. It was ignorance and love at it's best. I don't have half of the love what she had or have for me. I have no clue why is that so but then I have this feeling that I should probably should do what I can do the best to keep her happy within my limits.... :)

The reason that made me recollect this event is yet another Ignorance and Love at it's best bringing me masala idlies hoping that I would eat them hot in front of my office which is highly polluted and is the most in appropriate place to have. By the time I got to the idlies it was dry and close to in edibility but still it was full of love or rather stupid love :D I hope I am blessed to have it throughout my life.

KO

Two months of World Cup and now almost one month of IPL has managed to keep me glued to the TV sets in the weekends. The reason is not because I was so interested in watching the matches but because of the fact that there was no one to release any films for the past 3 months or so :( .... Finally "KO" was released few weeks back and It was very difficult to find tickets in all the multiplexes and finally I ended up booking in Devi complex. There was a huge expectation on the movie thanks to the songs which were topping the charts already. "Ko" in short is not a classic one but for sure you would find very little to keep you away from the movie. Simbhu for sure has missed a trick in refusing to take up project. May be he is following his favourite hero is rejecting good scripts... :)

It is a complete commercial entertainer with a clichéd story set in a different backdrop with new characterisations. The director should be appreciated for staying away form an exclusive comedy track as we find in most of the commercial movies today. That way the flow of the movie was not disturbed. The same cant be said about the songs though. It is sad to see that even good songs can stop the flow of the story considerably. Placement of the song "Vennpaniyae" could have been altered. If there is no reason that would make me go back to theatres would the cinematography and the locations of the song.

The story was well narrated  though there were few loopholes which were not explained till the end.The way present day politics was brought out was exceptional and I appreciate the producer who has refrained from deleting those scenes :) Of course the story is a fantasy and is no way closer to reality even for a considerable future. All the characters in the movie played their part to perfection and the character Saro needs a special mention as she keeps the audience light hearted in the intense story narration. The female lead has height to her advantage. I cant think of anything else special about her. Many think her eye brows were good but I had an opposite opinion on that. The male leads were perfect and has done a fabulous job throughout the movie especially Vasanthan which had more scope for acting than Ashwin.

The movie on the whole can be watched once for sure. Kudos to the entire team for meeting the huge expectations and K.V. Anand is turning out to be a successful commercial director without any kuthu songs :) 

Selections .....

So far I have had 5 of my friends get married this year and few more are planned in the near future. Not to mention the umpteen number of friends who are in a desperate hunt for a life partner. This seems to be the most discussed topic these days no matter where we go and it is the same even when I talk with my family members. Now I realise that I am growing older and older and it is the perfect age for my friends to get married and it is high time for girls of my age.

The selection process for a life partner varies to a great extent from each and every individual. Parents have a different criteria while children have a completely different criteria or rather contradicting ones. I would be highly surprised if people are able to find a perfect life partner after passing through both the filters. From what I have seen and heard so far Religion,Caste,Creed, and Horoscope is the first filter in selection process. There is little compromise on these when it comes to arranged marriage. It's a shame that needs to be accepted. Pushing this aside there have been few peculiar expectations I came across like one girl wanted to know the fitness regime of the guy she intend to marry. Though the expectation is a practical one it sounded weird.

Most of the rejections from the brides are based purely on salary cap and work location which these days have been a major factor and when it comes to guys the rejections have been mostly due because of the external beauty. Guys are always guys :) We are never going to change. While the previous has a scale to measure the later is totally left to the person's discretion and one can never draw a scale for that. It is pretty difficult for the parents and guys to have similar taste when it comes to the beauty.

I have seen my share of girls getting married to guys settled in USA. The reasons can be debated and I remain a stranger about them till date. I have even seen a profile where the expectation column had nothing but the salary and work location mentioned. I was literally flabbergasted to see a profile which read something like below "I would like a partner with a good job earning handsome salary in the following countries 
a. USA
b.Europe 
c.Australia 
d. New Zealand"

I don't want to pen down my perceptions here as it might not sound rosy and will even offend many who pursue their masters with sponsorship from their better half :) I have heard my own friend from college who has settled in USA for close to 4 years saying  "Dei I am more than willing to sponsor for her course da. Vera enna machi panna mudiyum. Illati ponnu kudukka maatanga machi. :D It is after all part and parcel of the marriage deal." Few others are very particular in making sure that that they don't have to live with their in-laws and they convey it with a high degree of diplomacy and not point blank.... :) Some even define that living with in-laws to be a joint family. It sounded ridiculous but couldn't help it either it is all because the family structure these days which is getting more and more nuclear these days. I would prefer rather want to live with my parents and in-laws in the same house which I believe will be the perfect way, but that has got it's own complications. :)

I am sure everyone these days are very clear on what they are looking for in their life partners. It is good to see many sticking to their expectations and waiting for their right one. But at the same time I also feel that we have to make some compromise at some point of time. It would be good for us if we can appreciate the imperfections in people and get along with the life instead of being stubborn. It is damn difficult to find partner matching our expectations to an exact measure.

It is always better to bend rather than break.