Photography

I just couldn't resist staring at this picture. 

This has become my wallpaper both in my Lappy and Phone. 

Let me know if someone gets the same picture in 800 x 600 resolution.

Raavanan

I am a huge fan of Mani Ratnam and a review on Raavanan was inevitable from me. I somehow managed to get tickets of the movie for the second day and I went on top of a food poison and fever, only to be disappointed. The movie though had few stuff to be appreciated like cinematography, music and the hard work put in by the artists.

To say the least, cinematography was mesmerizing and it would take a while before anyone could match those visuals. The music has been topping the charts without any surprise, but the way the songs were handled in the movie was really pathetic. "Usurae poguthey Usurae Poguthey" an emotional song came in just like that when there was nothing emotional in the scene. I was bloody disappointed with that and I should say I never recovered from it at all till date. I hated the dialogues in between the song, I wonder why the director would want to choose such a place for the leads to interact when ARR does what he does the best. It would have been perfect had he placed the song where vikram tries to propose (kind of) Aishwarya."Kaattu Sirukki" was completely wasted and all I could do was, have pity on A.R.Rahman. May be he should continue touring western countries as he has been doing these days instead of composing for someone who is going to waste the song.

It would be impossible to find any flaws when it comes to the performance of each and every character, right from the leads to the supporting characters and even ones who has very little scenes like veeras's brother have done a fabulous job. The stunt director should have stayed with the crew throughout the shoot for they had taken such risky shots all through the movie. The locations where excellent and I wonder how Mani managed to convince his stars to shoot in those beautifully dangerous places. May be his reputation helps him here.... :) I am sure at some point of time in the movie people would be confused as to whom Mani is trying to depict as hero, Veera or Dev, but I would say he has just shown us the reality that every individual has grey shades in them. I really liked this attempt of Mani in the movie.

For people wondering how this movie could be bad when most things are good in it, here comes the reason, the major elements for any movie to me is story and screenplay. The movie claimed to be an adaptation of the great epic Ramayanam has a weak story line and the screenplay doesn't help it recover either. One could easily predict what’s next and the movie is short of any twists or turns except for the last 10 minutes which is again little predictable. It was nice that Aishwarya didn’t end up with Veera and I also liked the way Mani left the movie there instead of her getting together with Dev either. He doesn’t deserve to get her back for sure. The end was perfect and couldn’t have been better. But at the end all I could do was awe at the way everyone has given their heart and soul into the movie and not at the movie itself and that has lead to the failure of the movie. The pity is that all these hard work has gone for nothing because of a weak story line and an ordinary screenplay. A few might end with awards thought for their individual brilliance but none of that could save the movie from going to grave in the first couple of weeks of its release. This coming from an ace director like Mani is a huge disappointment not only to me but also to the most ardent fans of the director.

Beauty

Real beauty of a girl is revealed, not when she is in a cocktail dress, not when she is done with her routine in beauty parlour, not when she is in with her make-up for her wedding, not when she is in her casuals with a free floating hair, not when she in a traditional attire, and certainly not when she is in her revealing best, but it is revealed when she has nothing in her mind and when she doesn't try to appear different from what she is and when she is not aware of who is looking at her and that is when she is in "Deep Sleep". The sad fact is that not many get to see the real beauty of a girl.

She/He...And a love story

NOTE: This was a forward from a Girl.Read till the end; nothing’s more worthy than the ending… The reason for posting this is many replied to the forward saying this was very true from the bottom of their heart.....

Friend:  Happy birthday!  
She  : Haan...tha......nk yo....u...was just getting up from the bed.
 
Friend  : Oh! That means I am the first to wish you!  
She  : Naa! He has already wished me at 12 in the night.
 
Friend  : Who???  
She  : Come on, who else, Nitin.
 
Friend  : Oh, ok. So, what's the plan for today?  
She  : Nitin told me that he has a surprise gift for me for my Birthday. And also we are going to Flower Show today. I am excited! I have never seen the flower show that happens in Lal Baug. Actually that itself is the most wonderful gift for me.


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Friend  : "Did you go to Palace grounds all the way from Basavanagudi, to see Bryan Adam's show!!! Who accompanied you?"  
She  : Nitin
 
Friend  : By the way, who referred your CV in  Infosys ? I mean you don't know anyone there, right?  
She  : No, he forwarded my CV to one of his friends there.
 
Friend  : I heard that the HR round interview went on till 8pm in the night. I think you faced difficulty in returning to your room.  
She  : No, he had come to pick me up. He came from his office, dropped me to my room and he returned to his room at around 11pm. He didn't have dinner also. I asked him to have at my room. Poor Nitin.


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Friend  : If you are supposed to go home tomorrow itself then what about reservation?  
She  : I have told him, he will go to Majestic and would get it done, and he told he has some work in Majestic. That's why I am relaxed a bit.


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Friend  : Hello...what about our sari shopping program in Malleshwaram?  
She  : Listen, I will call you later.
 
Friend  :  You didn't call me back in the morning, so I called now.  
She  : Yeah, when you called I was in Koramangala, with Nitin. He was very upset in the morning. He had a fight with his elder brother. So, it wouldn't have been fair on my part to leave him alone. If I am with him in such situation very soon he comes back to normalcy. So I postponed the Malleshwaram program.


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Friend  : Hey! What happened? You seem to be very happy today.  
She  : Why not?  You know today is one of the most happiest days for me. Nitin got an onsite assignment in UK, for 6 months! That's why I am very happy. All of his work paid today. He had been waiting for this opportunity since long. He'll be leaving next month.
 
Friend  : You will miss him.  
She  : Badly. I must thank Rohit, through him only I got to know Nitin. Without Nitin it would have been very difficult for me to stay in this alien city with no friends, relatives . He has been so caring friend all through my tough times in this city, he is so mature, so understanding...a true friend.
 
Friend  : He loves you yaar.  
She  : I know. He has expressed his feelings towards me.
 
Friend  : Hey…When did he do that? You didn’t tell me…and what was your reply?
She  : Come on yaar…chill… You know my answer what would have been.

Friend  : Don't you love him?  
She  : I don't want to.
 
Friend  : Don't tell me. You also have a soft corner for him, if not love. 
She  : I don't want to commit.
 
Friend  : What is stopping you? I really don't understand. When  Miya-beevi  are  razi kya karega kazi ?  
She  : Please...don't say like that. I never told him that I love him or something like that, though he has tried to convince me.
 
Friend  : Are you a fool not to understand his feelings which are so clear from outside only? Poor fellow, don't leave him alone.  
She  : He is nice, but not my kind of guy. He is just a friend, I never had those feelings for him. I have told him everything about me and my family. He knows how orthodox my parents are. They can never expect me marrying a guy from a different state. They trust me. Come what may, I will not hurt my parent's feelings. I cannot imagine also. Now they are happily searching a guy for me in my native place.

Friend  : But you should marry a guy who loves you the most, not the one you like. And it’s clearly visible how much you mean to him.
She  : Please…I don’t want to discuss about him anymore. I will gradually move away from him….I believe my parents will definitely find a good alliance..
  
Friend  : Hmm, I don't understand at all. I am thinking how Nitin will take this. Hope he will move on.


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She  :  This Saturday I have to go home, a guy is coming to see me.  
Friend  : Oh! Is it? Good news yaar. Your first interview! Wish you all the best.
 
Friend  : Any guesses, who is he?  
She  :  Please yaar. I am least bothered and least interested. For the sake of my parents' happiness I have agreed for this.


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Friend  : What about the interview, I was expecting your call actually?  
She  :  Nothing so special. I didn't like the guy's attitude. I told my parents clearly. My parents are very understanding and so they too told me that they won't go ahead with this matter.


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Friend  : Yesterday your mobile was engaged for more than half an hour. I kept trying, but I slept after 11pm.  
She  : Yeah, I was talking to Nitin. He is very much worried about my marriage. He is concerned whether I would get a guy of my choice or not, whether I would be happy with him or not. I was very sad to know this. But I am helpless. I pacified him and convinced that whatever my parents do, that will be the best for me, so no need to worry.
 
Friend  : How Nitin will feel after you get married? Will he not be upset all the time?  
She  :  Time will change everything. He will start living again. Was he not leading a normal life before I came into his life?
I don’t like him “that” much to marry him. I have already told him about this. Anyway my parents will choose the best for me, a really nice, caring guy.
It's all matter of time. Even I can't do anything other than pacifying him and myself with these philosophical statements.


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Finally "  She " got engaged with a guy of her parent's choice (with her "yes" of course). She is in touch with both Nitin and the new "  him " regularly through chatting in Google Talk.
Now she ignores Nitin’s SMSs and pings, coz she doesn’t feel “comfortable” with that, as her alliance is fixed now.


Finally "  She " got happily married to "  him ", very soon converting Nitin into memories. But deleting the memories was slow and impossible for Nitin.


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Why do girls do like this?  What was Nitin’s fault? Why is that the girl who meant the world for him, treats him just like any other guy?


She needs him when she is new to the city.
She needs his help in finding out a PG or hostel for her
She makes him prepare a good-format-CV for her
She needs him to drop her to the venue of a walk-in interview
She expects him to collect all the consultants' mail ids
She needs him while preparing for the interviews
She needs his help in identifying HER skill sets, strengths and weakness!
She wants him to conduct a mock-interview for her!
She gives her yahoo mail id password so that he can forward her CV to consultants through internet in his office (in office hours!)
She needs him for boosting her confidence when she fails in the 1^st  written test in her life
She wants him to take her to M.G Road , Brigade Road, Forum and Big bazaar
She needs his company while visiting all the temples in Malleshwaram on Vijayadashami, though he is not a believer of God.
She asks his opinions on importance of marriage  
She wants him to be a shoulder to cry when her parents force her for marriage
She needs his help in preparing her mind for the first interview with a guy
She needs his help in deciding about the marriage proposal
She loves to share her happiness with him when she gets engaged
She expects him to attend her marriage (Come on guys, he is a true friend of her!)


The guy does all this honestly, without saying a single "No".


He loves her.
He cares for her.
Whatever he is today; it is only because of her entry in to his life.
He treats her as his life.
He dreams to be her life-partner.
She changed him.
It is only because of her, he is smiling.
It is only because of her, he has forgotten the past bitter experiences.
She is the first person in his life to influence him so much.
He was the "  bhatka hua musafir  " and she came as his " manzil ".
He threw the cigarette in the dust-bin because of her.
He has cultivated a positive attitude towards marriage and family because of her.
She is the perfect Indian woman he has ever seen.
He keeps a photo of Lord Krishna in his purse now; only because of her (also it is her favorite deity!).
Weekends come and go without his notice; it is only because of her.
He stopped going to office on Weekends; it is only because of her.
Onsite project was his dream; he puts all his efforts now, not to get an onsite assignment but to make her happy.


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The girl depends on the guy as if she never lived and can never live without him. Guy behaves as if he has taken birth on this earth only to care for that lady. She treats him as a shoulder to cry and he treats her as a puppy in a rain storm. She loves to depend and he loves to take care, finally they fall in so called "love", ultimately adding an unnecessary trauma to life.
Girls want a perfect life partner but they don't want to hurt their parents' feelings, guys know that they can't get her but still they want to care for her(because they want her to be happy wherever she is and with whoever she is).
Great! Or shall I say crap!


Or I think no need to be so serious about it.


She gets engaged, life goes on...
Long lasting phone calls become short and sweet, life goes on...
A heart which was used to "Good morning", “Good night” and “Happy journey” SMSs learns to be happy with just the "Happy weekend" and SMSs, life goes on...
No more "Unread messages" in the Gmail, life goes on...
No one to share coffee at "Barista" at the end of a tiring working day, life goes on...
No more consultants' calls to be diverted and life goes on...
He stops taking care of his health, life goes on…
He resumes smoking again, life goes on...
He is still living in flashback, and no looking back for her, but life goes on...
He starts drinking, life goes on...
He gets promoted, he is a manager, she is mother of two kids, and life goes on...
He earns a lot, but lost forever, life goes on…
He still wonders what went wrong, life goes on…
He smiles in the pain recollecting the time spent with her, and she is happy with her family, but life goes on…

Can anyone say that it has never happened in your life...Dare to say no...It happens with all… If not this, at least something equivalent… Or maybe you are neither “Her” nor “Nitin”, but  the “Friend”

Graceful Exit

It has been 4 and half years since I joined my company and the entire journey has been a really interesting. Having joined with no knowledge of programming languages I feel I have done enough, though little lucky at times, to survive all these years without any major hassles. I might not have got all I wanted but I think I got enough to be satisfied if not happy. A chance to fly abroad, a visit to New York and to awe at the beauty of Niagara would have been only in dreams if not for this industry… :)  I would have even got another chance at these on a long term basis if not for my decision to quit the company.

The decision to quit had been pending for quite some time since there was a change in the reporting structure with my Manager moving out to a different project. There is a very familiar quote in the industry which goes like this… “People don’t leave the company, they just leave their managers”. I didn’t give it a serious thought  until I decided to quit. Though there were many factors playing a major role in my decision to quit like family, life style and money, the prime reason for me starting to look out was the way I was handled in the project. I have to thank few for they urged me to look out instead of getting comfortable with what I had. I have always dreamed of turning my tag red before I could leave but then I had to decide against it and that’s one of very few regrets I have while leaving the company. The other one being I was not allowed to use my H1 visa. I somehow never got the criteria these people have, to narrow down on people to be in long term assignment.  The same people are given chance again and again for some reason, and the reason is self explanatory in this video.…. :)   Anyways I am out of it now, and may be had I gone for a long term few would have tagged me as a “Jakku Boy” too…. :) 

The last a thing any human would want in life is a good funeral and the last thing any employer would want is a graceful exit. The exit was as smooth as the joining process was in my company. We stayed till 10 that day with all friends and were talking like we would never have another chance to talk. But that was in a way true as I find is highly impossible for every one of us to come together and have a long useless chat...:) We have already failed in one such attempt after me coming out of the company. People have their own priorities and none can be blamed here. So it was nice that we spent enough time on my last day. Of all the exits I have seen in my tenure somehow I feel mine was the best and many would agree to that also for some obvious reasons. If there is an another opportunity for me to be associated with my previous employee I will be more than ready to do it, for it was 4 wonderful years for me after college.

Lesson Learnt: Write anything when your soul is into it. Else you are going get a post like this. This is not how it was in my mind 2 months back. But somehow I am not able to put it the way I had in mind 2 months back. This will go down as one of the worst post by me.... :) 

Powerless Saturday :(.....

What’s your favourite day?  Back in school I would say “Thursday” just for the reason that I was born on that day. As time changed so did the answer, it has become Saturday and most people especially the software professionals would agree to that for obvious reasons.There is a famous saying “Saturday Night Full Tight “. I don’t drink though:) But, I too love Saturdays as that’s the only day you get to enjoy staying at home and watching worthless crap in TV all day long lying in the bed. God that’s become one of my favourite time pass activities in summer as it is bloody hot out and they switch off the cooling systems in most shopping malls. Well appreciated Green Initiative by those people thought that’s not their intentions.:) 

                I woke up on one such Saturday and was taken aback to know the reason why I lost my sleep!!!  The ceiling fan was slowly coming to stand still and I was sweating than usual for an early morning. Only then I realized TNEB had spoilt my peaceful beginning to a Saturday. It does not end there, As I opened the door that was kept closed all night to prevent cool air from escaping the room I heard my neighbour saying “Saravanan inaikku 5 manikku than current varum” . Well it is always current and never power for a common man in India:) . Naasama poochu I had to be at home all day with no power!!! I just couldn’t stand the thought of it. My mind started racing with thoughts and I was thinking as to how we could avoid this and decided to do few things.

The first thing I did was to take bath in nice cold water, picked few documents and got out of the home by 11, by then I was sweating like pig. My first destination was BSNL office, the reason is they had AC running 24/7. I took all the time it would take to finish this blog just to fill a form asking me 4 questions. The huge queue served my purpose to spend more time, I was happy to see people breaking the queue which would have made me fight with them any other day. I just let them pass while I was enjoying my time there and learning from people around. People were complaining for the poor service provided and the officers were blaming the government and public for they had no time for their breakfast on Saturdays. I was not bothered any of these for all I wanted was to spend as much time as possible in AC. Even after doing all this I was able to complete the request for BB plan change in an hour. Next pit stop was at Vodafone for the same reason as BSNL office. I managed to find a decent looking girl if not good and thank god she spoke about all the post paid plans and offers in a sweet voice. After an hour I submitted my proofs for pre-paid connection and left the store saying none of the plans meet requirements. It was 1 by that time, and I decided to have lunch now.

                Thanks to A2B they maintain ambient temperature round the clock. No guesses this time as expected I took as much time as possible as in other places to finish my lunch and it was 1:30 when I was done with it. I had nothing else left except for Naidu Hall to go which is a place most frequented by ladies. So I decided to head home hoping that the TNEB had changed their mind but with no luck. I played cricket with a guy in 6^th standard who had his own set rules which was dynamic benefiting him each time. Kids are always kids:).Anyways it was nice playing in one of the shortest pitch ever possible in the world. He was too tired to continue and went to sleep leaving me in despair. I wonder how on earth he gets sleep with no power around. I even thought of visiting a friend of mine nearby but decided against it for the only reason that they were newly married couple. I didn’t want to be a Nandi between them spoiling their weekend too. The good thing that day was that there was a cloud cover, so it was nice to ride a bike.

                I started riding and few minutes later I was riding into all the roads that I have never taken thinking about the poem “Road not taken“I reached a mountain nearby. I have seen few houses among those mountains and couple of uncompleted steel structures on my train journey to my office. I have always wondered what was there in the mountains. I was surprised to see that there was a huge settlement in the mountains and they had an umpteen number of houses in them and the streets were completely confusing as it was not planned. I was passing through the same way again and again thinking the reason behind the huge settlement till I hit a dead end. Then I took a different path altogether and hit the reason behind the settlement. There was huge quarrying operation carried out in the mountains and all people working there had built their houses around with little planning for the streets. Everyone were looking at me like an alien and that made me realize how close those people were with each other that they are easily able to spot a stranger. The place was more like a village with people playing “Thayam” and “Aadu puli

                This time I woke up when the ceiling fan had just started on a complete contrast to how I woke-up 9 hours before in the morning. Then I realized how kid got a sound sleep in the afternoon without this god damn power. It was a nice experience to spend time out than staring at the TV all day long even after realizing that there is nothing worthy to stare at.

It is yet another Saturday as I write this blog; I am staring at the TV for nothing and scanning channels knowing that I wouldn’t be able to find anything worthy. I should get out of this addiction somehow ASAP:)

Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya

Disclaimer:

Watch the movie before you read this.

To put it in a sentence the movie was an intense, perfect, practical love story well portrayed by the director without making any compromise. It has been almost a year long wait to watch the movie and Gautam Menon left me with very few disappointments. He had marshaled the resources at his disposal in the best way possible. I was little confused as to what the director was trying towards the end but then it was a perfect ending to a perfect movie and there could never be a better finish to this story. I somehow get a feeling that the movie will turn out to be a flop just for the fact that the director has just stuck to the reality and gave a raw treatment to the story or may be because of the fact that Tamil audience are still not that matured to appreciate this kind of a treatment to a love story. I overheard couple of guys ranking Asal better than this movie. That gave me the state of Tamil audience… J Pathetic situation. It would be a disappointment if a rumour of original climax being replaced by a climax where the lead pair gets together comes true just to save the film from being a box office failure.

                                Nevertheless coming back to the movie, the best part was the casting for the lead roles and the supporting role that comes with Simbhu as cinematographer in the movie. Simbhu and Thrisha my personal favorites were perfect fit for the lead roles. They had done a fabulous job in portraying Karthick and Jessie with much ease. Karthick a young fellow with not much of success in life but is just ready to do anything for his love is very common character and we can see him for sure in our life easily. He enjoys his life till he meets Jessie and does whatever he can to get his love without much success in the end. His approach towards Jessie is interesting even after he knows that she is a year elder than him and the way he gets her to love him is also different. The supporting character, who renders his home to Karthick and Jessie for them to talk (Just talk and nothing else) is another character worth the mention. I liked his characterization a lot. He was hilariously serious and added to the comic value of the movie. Other supporting characters like the parents, sisters, friends and the girl with a crush on male lead didn’t have much to do and they have done their part in the movie to perfection.

Of all the characters, the character I loved the most in the movie was that of Jessie. She was gorgeous in the sarees and kurthas. I am sure this character is going to win hatred from most corners. She is a girl caught between modern world and traditional values. She is bloody confused as to what has to be given priority in life. Is it her life itself or her family’s prestige sacrificing happiness? May be she should have a look at my previous blog I suppose…. J  I was easily able to relate Jessie to many people whom I have met in my life. She gets into love with Karthick hoping to convince their parents initially but then gets ready for the marriage her parents arrange. Few people may frown in the train sequence and the next scene where she explains Karthick asking him to be just a friend and nothing more than, a desperate move to save her love. But then she runs into too much of emotion and doesn’t want to lose neither the one she loves nor her parents. I was happy when she comes out of the arranged marriage at the last moment and promises Karthick that she would come for him for sure. Poor girl finally falls into the trap of marrying another guy with loads and loads love for Karthick thinking he would be better off with someone else. It is just because she had no guts to fight and overcome her father.  Never did she realize that she had spoilt not only Karthick and her life, but also the one whom she married. Poor guy has to live with a false love for his entire life. She is just dead soul to me. Many girls these days gets into this situation, I hope they choose what’s best for them.

Apart from the characterization another aspect which was good in the movie was the dialogues. They were elegant and simple with no cinematic touches to it. It looked like we were watching couple of friends interacting in the screen. If there is any reason for me to watch the movie again then it would be the dialogues. There was a huge expectation for the music as it was composed by the Maestro A.R.Rahman the Oscar winner. He had done a wonderful job and the songs were topping the charts, but somehow I felt that it failed to create the magic which was very much evident it Gautam’s previous ventures. My humble opinion is that the music was splendid, and awesome in the audio tracks but not that great to go with the movie.

If there is anything that I didn’t like in the movie, it was the profession chosen for the male lead Karthick. I have not enjoyed watching the real cinema world in the silver screen and it was not that great to watch Simbhu being an assistant to K.S.Ravi Kumar. I would have enjoyed the movie a lot better if the male lead had a different back ground in the movie than being an assistant director. Overall it’s a different treatment to a clichéd love story of a Hindu guy in love with a Christian girl which deserves a loud applause.