ooo what does this button do or the attack of the :DD's-Dev-D and Delhi-6

The problem with posting late is that fellow bloggers would have already stolen your thunder when it comes to reviewing Movies or albums.

I recently saw DevD and Delhi-6.I would give DevD a lukewarm rating-not a movie which you should miss but definitely not worth burning-a-hole-in-your-pocket-by-watching-it-in-a-multiplex-in-these-recessionary-times like I did.I was expecting a slightly different plot than that of Devdas and going by the comments of Abhay Deol(He said he wanted to explore the drug 'culture' in urban India) I thought it would be similar to other drug stories that I know of like James Frey's A million little pieces but the impression you get after watching the movie is that the Dev of DevD is basically a drunkard gone awry in a BMW.The audience primarily gets the impression that it was alcohol which caused the problems and not cocaine.Mahi Gill as Paro was simply mind blowing in the way she oozes raw sexuality whether sending her nude pics to her lover or the most amazing scene of all-carrying a gadda on her bicycle riding in the middle of fields of Sarson.I have a vague feeling she is somehow related to actress Priya Gill.(?)I did not like Chanda played by Kalki Koechlin as I was not too impressed by her potrayal of a foreign embassy child turned part-time prostitute cum student.Finally,Abhay Deol as Dev does quite convincingly seem to be the delusional arrogant bade baap ka beta but for someone whose last Abhay Deol movie was "Oye lucky lucky oye" -to escape the similarities in both the movies seems impossible.Both are based in Delhi and both involve a second half in which Abhay Deol rambles around Delhi-in one case drinking and wrecking his life and in the other case carrying out a serious of thefts to prove a point.It seemed like a repeat of the performance in Oye lucky.I definitely like the alternate ending and it finally helped me purge my mind of the horrific run-to-Paro's-gate-and-die-with-bottle-in-hand Shahrukh in SLB's Devdas.I think DevD is a movie which grows on you more the number of times you watch it and I am definitely looking forward to watching it on DVD.

Delhi-6 was a complete and utter letdown.Saw it on the saturday of it's release and I was pretty disappointed.The most frustrating thing about Delhi-6 is that none of the songs are picturized(except Masakalli and Dil Gira) and I kept waiting and waiting but was time and again horrified by hearing all my favourite songs being frittered away as background score.Actually when it comes to ARR's music,it is usually very difficult for filmmakers to picturize them.Ram Gopal Varma has go on record saying that he had quite an headache trying to imagine how to picturize 'Aye rama' in Rangeela.The only Bollywood filmamker who has done justice to Rehman's music is in my opinion Ashutosh Gowarikar esp. in Swades.Most of the characters in Delhi-6 are very well fleshed out but the plot is horribly weak.Nothing much happens in the first half and the second half is one of the most silliest I have seen in recent memory.The only silver lining is Sonam Kapoor who just looks very very yummy :D and this movie proves that she can be a good actress as well.Overall,something which you can definitely avoid if you have not wasted your moolah already.

PS:The movie I am waiting for with utter impatience is Gulaal releasing Mar 13

It's time to turn out the lights here and prepare for a long hard climb.

even though 8.33% of the year has already gone down the drain (near that pub)

Better late than never is what they all say-So here I am-back on ICISIF after a hiatus of exactly 40 days-a period spent giving a plethora of MBA entrance exams and getting fatter and not watching movies which people keep recommending.The time was also spent rediscovering my lost love for AOE and A R Rahman's music(thanks to Akhil's awesome car stereo-more precisely time was spent in analysing his songs to figure out each and every instrument used-maybe a post for some other time)

Cannot believe it is 2009!I like January's and usually the half of the year on this side of July.My spirits are the lowest during the rainy season.So my question to all of you is:which is your least and most favourite season of the year? and why?Since this is my first post of the year-I promise that this year I shall post frequently and less about Formula 1 and music and more about the gargantuan pile of books which I have managed to amass and keep wanting to read.So expect to see more posts on books. I wish all of you all the happiness,excitement,love-making and fun which you can expect to eke out for the rest of the year.Thanks for hanging around and commenting every now and then.Your comments mean a lot to me.For the rest of my start-of-the year post go here (This is all I wanted to say anyway too :-) )

and also:
Ghar tera Saloni, Badal Ki Colony, Dikhla de thenga in sabko, jo udna na Jaane

Tujhe kya gum, Tera Rishta Gagan ki bansuri se hai, Pawan ki guftgu se hai, suraj ki roshni se hai,

The weather in Bangalore is just perfect-blue cloudless skies and glorious glorious sunshine and you can see Jupiter and Venus almost everyday,only a bit farther away each day.The azure afternoons diffuse into golden evenings and then the sky becomes indigo once the sun sets .I just discovered that there are a lot more colors with names out there which I was totally unaware of.There is cream which is like dirty white and there is beige which is the color of very milky coffee and there is scarlet which is like bright red and is almost pink :-) How did these colors escape me? Quite long ago in the middle of a serious discussion- somebody(you know who you are!) talked about Turquoise blue and I was pretty confused.So all you men(women usually don't have problems with such things right?) who have problems with these things Wikipedia comes to your rescue here and here and here.So now you know why all these paints have corny names for shades even though they all look the same to you.Talking about Wikipedia,you can make contributions to the Wikimedia foundation here and cmon all you Wiki-junkies you have credit cards right?Wonder what I would do without Wikipedia.

Anyway,so what I really wanted to talk about was some of the lyrics of The Doors.Some of you might remember a Gtalk status message that I had once-"Mute Nostril Agony-carefully refined and sealed over" and DC had even asked me what it meant and I did not know then,but did a little research of my known.What I found out left me in awe of Jim Morisson's abilities as a poet and just how deep and beautiful his lyrics can get.These lines and the lines below are taken from a Doors song-Horse Latitudes-a spoken word piece from the album Strange days.

When the still sea conspires an armor
And her sullen and aborted
Currents breed tiny monsters
True sailing is dead

Awkward instant
And the first animal is jettisoned
Legs furiously pumping
Their stiff green gallop
And heads bob up
Poise
Delicate
Pause
Consent
In mute nostril agony
Carefully refined
And sealed over

Horse Latitudes are the latitudes on both sides of the Equator close to it where winds drop to a bare minimum and is a geographical term but is a terribly frustrating place to be when you are in sea as there is no wind in the sails to push you forward at a brisk pace.Hence Spanish sailors in the 18th and 19th centuries would have to resort to some very desperate measures to offset the prolonging of the voyage which would include killing and eating the horses on board or throwing horses overboard and this is precisely what is captured in the lyrics above.It just gets to show that most of Morrison's lyrics are still very under-appreciated .Because Horse Latitudes is a spoken piece it was usually included in the middle of an even more mysterious song-'Moonlight Drive' and it was inserted between:

Come on, baby, gonna take a little ride
Goin' down by the ocean side
Get real close
Get real tight
Baby gonna drown tonight
Goin' down, down, down, down
Goin' down
Goin' down, way down
Down, down, down, down, down
Down, baby low
Children of the caves will let the
Secret fires glow

and

Easy, to love you
As i watch you glide
Yeah, we're falling through wet forests
On our moonlight drive
Moonlight drive
Moonlight drive
Moonlight drive

Quite impressive considering the fact that Morrison wrote these lines when he was still in school.

It's been ages since I wrote anything about me self here. The last six months on ICISIF read like a news website.I wouldn't say nothing's been happening but at the same time not a lot :-).I realize that in a fortnight I'd be one and a half years old here in office;that seems like a lot of time only the nagging feeling that you have not learned much.Damn, I did not even want to talk about my work but it just creeps in .I switch off completely once I get home from work.This year has been nice to me(alright,this is not the year end post there is still time for that)So that's that and see you around. :-)

PS:Five points to anyone spotting a small attempt at recursion above ;-)

The blackest Thirty six hours that we have ever seen in our lives.

Hamilton Wins!

I am just immensely relieved and ecstatic at the same time* at Hamilton's maiden Championship win after a Brazilian Grand Prix of epic proportions with an absolutely nerve wracking last 30 seconds where all seemed lost at the penultimate corner but thanks to Timo Glock and the irrational Toyota decision not to switch to wet tires,Hamilton snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.It was as dramatic as it can get though you can't help feeling sorry for Massa.All I can think of now was that Hamilton deserved it.It was a season of many ups and downs with fortunes see-sawing like mad but Mc Laren did pull it back in the last few races.The most defining moment award of the season (after the finale of course) would go to: Massa coming out of the pit lane in Singapore with the fuel hose attached :D **. Let's hope we see more and more such Hamilton championship wins and such great entertaining races.
Previous post on F1 here

PS:Nicole Scherzinger of PCD was there to cheer her man on.no wonder he held his nerve :)

*it has been such a great year for sports in general isn't it? First we had India winning the Perth test, then Rafa winning Wimbeldon,then India winning three medals at the Olympics and Phelps single-handedly changing the way we look at swimming and now this.

** Ferrari snarks keep away-I might delete all anon comments on this post

Brahmin's Coffee Bar

Inspired by Akhil's this post, I have finally decided to come out of the closet and declare my love for Bangalore's variegated South Indian eating joints.Bangalore has this concept of Darshinis-which are small eating joints where one would usually have a quick breakfast or a cup of coffee for very nominal prices.Darshinis are optimized for the morning rush hour crowd and you would usually find everyone from college students to Business execs jostling for a bite of that crisp Vada and a swig of that hot aromatic South Indian coffee.Because of the low cost model of such places,there are usually tables at which people stand and eat.You pay for your order beforehand.I have seen Darshinins only in South Indian cities and this is one 0f the things I would like to see in North Indian cities- a place where you could have breakfast on the fly without spending a lot of moolah and wasting a lot of time.

In my 5 years in Bangalore,I have been to numerous such places but my favourite would always be-Brahmin's Coffee Bar in Shankarapuram.This easily beats other also-rans in this category by a mile.BCB is basically a garage converted in to a kitchen at the back and an open area at the front with a counter just in front of the kitchen.It was started by two bored engineers in the 70's who realized that they could make a profitable business out of this sort of an enterprise.BCB opens at 7AM and closes at 12PM.It then again opens at 4PM and closes by 7PM.These are the timings from Monday to Saturday and BCB is ( very famously) closed on Sundays.So either you make BCB a part of your daily routine or you make time for it on Saturday evenings.BCB's menu consists of six items:
1.Idli
2.Vade/Vada
3.Kharabath
4.Kesaribath
5.Coffee
6.Tea
7.Butter(optional with your idlis)

Because it is usually very crowded,you have to make sure that you have made up your mind when you go up to the guy sitting just outside who hands out the tokens.Then you step inside the shop which would usually be choc-a-bloc with(if its in the morning)joggers,people carrying large bags for parcels,college students(usually NHS and Jain college students-who have deserted Food street in droves and chow down here these days) and lots of people in safari suits.I have seen many a swanky car parked near BCB-just gets to prove that BCB is popular not only among us lesser mortals but also among moneyed folks.When you reach the counter,you are supposed to state clearly what your order is when handing over the token to the guy over the counter.This is to make sure that the order is dispatched as quickly as possible and no time is wasted in reading and interpreting the order.As soon as you get your order,you trudge out carefully,trying not to spill the contents of your plate and go outside and set your plate on one of the tables or hold it in your hand.If you run out of chutney,you don't have to go back all the way to the counter again as there is 'uncle' with cups of chutney waiting for you under the tree near the shop.Once you are done with the mouth-watering idlis or whatever you are having,you go inside once again to get the coffee.The coffee is brewed from a copper decocotion filter which looks pretty antique but serves the purpose and you usually ask for two glasses as the glass is too hot to be held.You can have all kinds of combinations depending upon the number of people for whom the order is meant including the ubiquitous By-2(which literally means one standard size coffee in two glasses).I have heard pretty complicated orders like 4 by 7 and have never seen the coffee guy bat an eyelid!The only caveat is that BCB is priced a bit on the higher side,with one coffee costing Rs. 8 but in the end the taste just makes up for the assault on the pocket.I vouch that nobody can make Vadas like BCB.

I discovered BCB when I was in final year and the moment I tasted the idli,I was hooked.Usually BCB would be the first stop in the long rambling walks that I would take in college days.I would head out from college on KR Road and walk pass the BAC(Basvangudi Aquatic Centre) and reach BCB where I would have a leisurely coffee and finaces permitting,a plate of idli vada.Then I would take a walk around the shop lined with opulent houses and quiet streets that makes Shankarapuram one my favourite places in Bangalore.I would walk for about an hour and muse about a lot of things and many happy memories of college times are tied with these walks.Always used to give me a lot of solace.

So now you people know what you are missing if you are in Bangalore and what to look out for when you are next here.Here is a pic of the place on a very crowded Saturday morning.

Every once in a while a tag salvages the blog from utter obscurity

WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
No one.My parents wanted a small and a simple name and they wanted a name which would start with an 'R' like my sister
WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
About a year and half ago
DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
I hate it.People have problems understanding it.I have trouble reading it sometimes.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
Do not have meat for lunch or for any other meal.Strict Vegetarian.
DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
No
IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
Definitely, though I would have problems breaking the ice.
DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?
Not a lot but a little.I usually hate sarcastic people.Sarcasm is good for British Sitcoms and nothing more.
DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
Yes,I do and I also retain all of my vestigial organs/parts most notable my Appendix
WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
Yes,I'd love to.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
Have not had much other than Kellog's corn flakes,Chocos and oats.Like Kellog's Banana flavored CFs
DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
No. I untie them when I have to wear them again :D
DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?
strong-headed but not strong particularly otherwise
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
Choc-a-Mocha of Corner House.I like Coffee flavored ice creams
WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
The first thing that I notice about women is usually their hair.The first thing about men that I notice would usually be shoes or watches if they are wearing any.
RED OR PINK?
Red,I abhor pink.Pink is my least favorite color
WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
My tendency to pack in the pounds :D
WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
I miss my friend Dipayan and the long rambling discussions we used to have about music
WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
Denim trousers and white shoes
WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?
A Pizza (I am still at work and it is pretty late) :D
WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
Light My Fire-The Doors-a song which I think is ethereally beautiful(as DC would put it)
IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
I would be blue.
FAVORITE SMELLS?
Any aftershave,the smell of freshly grounded coffee,banana
WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
Ankita
DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO TAGGED YOU?
Yes
FAVORITE SPORT TO WATCH?
Tennis
HAIR COLOR?
Black
EYE COLOR?
Hazel Brown
DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
No
FAVORITE FOOD?
Mom's Rajma :-)
SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
Scary movies though I have watched very few.
LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
Rock On
WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
Red&White
SUMMER OR WINTER?
Winter
HUGS OR KISSES?
Hugs
FAVORITE DESSERT?
Apple Pie
WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
The Black Book- Orhan Pamuk
WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
I have got David Villa and Michael Ballack(It is a Euro 2008 promotional mouse pad)
WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T.V. LAST NIGHT?
Don't watch TV at all these days
FAVORITE SOUND?
I absolutely love drum solos and Tabla solos
ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?
Beatles
WHAT IS THE FURTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
Paris
DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?
Yes, I can hold my breath for over two minutes :-)
WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
Hyderabad,India
PS:I know this blog has been flagging off a bit these days.I,as usual, blame work.I guess the rest of 2008 would be like this.

RAGA:mixed up and indistiguishable

feeling sleepy and nursing bruises and feeling exhausted after the ordeal.Lilith has generally been very aggressive leaving me copies of extremely suggestive books which include Paradise Lost.old moulds crumble leaving behind more sinisterly seductive sensations. :-)

You don't think about it till it happens to you.All the pain and suffering seem distant-till you face it yourself.The first blast spot,the bus shelter is barely 300m from my house.I have walked past it hundreds of time.While driving through,I have seen friends standing there waiting for a bus and it sends a chill down my spine whenever I think what would have happened if the blasts were to happen in the morning.When the messages and the mails started coming in,it was unreal-the first reaction being that of denial-this couldn't be happening to us-in Bangalore-we are away from the epicenters of danger-and then it was frustration and anger at the ease with which the bombs were planted and the ease with which they could rattle us.The phone networks got jammed almost instantly after the first messages came through.Thank god for the internet.The feeling that it could have been any one of us instead of that unfortunate lady is very very disconcerting.It has been a depressing weekend.I hope that whoever is behind this and the Ahmedabad blasts is dealt with very severely.

It will probably never happen again.After seeing half a decade of Domination,seeing countless champions bite the dust ,two nerve wracking finals and four hours forty eight minutes later it was finally redemption.

It was unreal and just very indescribable*.I came back from Jam after a whole day of traveling and was resigned to the fact that the final would probably be over and was scared to even check when Debu turned on the TV but the match was still being played with the score on 6-6 4th set.The tie break that followed was just amazing tennis.Every time Nadal got a breakthrough Federer clawed back.It was won by Federer 10-8 and the rallies were just beautiful with Federer hitting a backhand winner down the line which just had genius stamped all over it.The match see-sawed so many times that it became difficult to sit still and the crowd at center court couldn't keep mum either with oohs and aahs at each and every point.

Finally it was big big relief to see Rafa win.I think all through out the match one could see that Federer was not his usually benign monk-face self and there was just this slight hint of a worry on his face whereas Nadal has become more and more composed as the years have gone by.then there were major changes in his game most noticeably the heavy top-spin on the forehand.He wasn't hitting flat out at all.I have never seen anyone play that shot for every point in a rally but Rafa really did.Another thing which I saw him do quite effectively is alternatively switching between the baseline and the volley game which would be pretty unnerving for anyone. He also combined this with some very acute angles and power hitting and sometimes-deep in a point you could almost feel Federer's helplessness though in the very next moment Fed would come up with one of those magically surreal shots which would sometimes even leave the linesmen gasping.But in the end it was Rafa's mental toughness more than any other factor which finally saw him through.After four and a half hours it was just too much for the 'inhuman' Fedex. For all those people who keep waxing eloquent on Fed and keep saying how perfect he is -all I have to say is that most people don't realize that Nadal was very very close to beating Fed last year.He was broken only in the 5th set last time around and this time not at all.so even though Federer had some twenty six aces to Nadal's six;Rafa still managed to not concede a service game.amen.***Hamilton winning the Silverstone being an added bonus.
**This is not say that I do not regard Fed as a great player but that maybe-just maybe his best days are behind him.

PS:Actually I checked and Federer did break Nadal once in the second set.The error is regretted.

UPDATE: so it was Gwen-the first lady of Rock and her hubby Gavin Rossdale beside Mirka-Fed's girlfriend at the final and even though I was suspicious I assumed it was some dumb Swedish blonde.I hope the final was not too agitating for dear Gwen in her current state: