Random Rants

The Chai-neese Connection

2005-12-19T21:36:00.000-08:00

Quite often,and very justly so,I have been accused of ranting a lot about Asain Femme fatales,leaving their bitter better halves hanging in the air,unnoticed and unmentioned. This post is a humble attempt to set that right.

Asian dudes,Chinkees,Chappa Mookans..no matter how you wanna refer to them,they are there,they are here,they are everywhere..and especially for someone working in the heart of
the International District ( a.k.a Chinatown ) in Seattle,its hard not to notice,observe and form some well-misinformed opinions about them.

So,whats so special about them ? What are they good at that We,the desis can't do ?

Well,for starters,they seem to have got the fact right that a Rose is a Rose is a Rose,only if its spelt and pronounced simply as Rose. Hence, no matter which random Asian dude you stop on the street and ask to introduce himself,hez gonna give you a totally innocuous-sounding normal American name. It doesn't matter that their original name compulsarily has a combination of W,X,Y,or Z;sometimes repeated more than once,they are always going to be Alex,or John or Steve to you.

So, when it comes down to you and an Asian dude at the local disco,who do you think the drunken blond babe is gonna remember; Alex or Srinivasan Parthasarathy.

Even in the case of the very few rare Asians who retain their original names,their names pose a much lesser threat to the people here than us. I had a TA back in my grad-school whose full-name,I swear was only 4 letters long. Thats it, 2 for the first name,2 for the last. Hell,my nick-name is longer than that. Since the people here seem to have a short memory-span for retaining names,there was no surprise who got the TA-ship over the dozen applicants. Of course,the other minor fact was that he truly was a genius at coding,but I shall get to that
later. The fact is,it is much easier to pronounce the Asian dude's english name,or spell out his original name,than trying to call out a desi-dudes first name.

Language is a barrier,rightly so. Even though Indians might excel in English,we falter a little wee-bit when it comes to the languages that matter. Having come from a now computer-savvy part of India,I am not sure if things have changed now. But in my time ( 3 years back ), the average desi-dude starts using the computer only maybe when he is in his first year in college. And 11 times out of 10,it is for watching porn. Like I said,things mite have changed,mebbe guys
now start using the computer much earlier than that,for watching porn ofcourse. But still,the desi-enlightenment does not happen until his 2nd or 3rd year,when he decides to go to SSI or NIIT,because his daavu is going there as well.

On the other hand,I sincerely believe that the order of languages that the Asian learns is as follows : C++,Java,and then Mandarin. Its almost as though the Asian kid is put in front of the monitor and keyboard and left alone to fend himself,and he responds..by coding a perfectly optimized 3D-gaming application that is also capable of doing peer-to-peer file transfers. We,on the other hand,are forever indebted to google,bless the search engine,that feeds many a dubakoor,like ME.

Physical ability,and quite frankly,one's physical appearance is another alluring factor where I feel Asians have an advantage over us. A desi's typical day starts at 9,ends at 5,out of which he has to have 400 coffee/tea breaks,e-mail checks,restroom visits. Have him stay back till 6 or 7,and you can literally see him physically wither away and fall apart. Its almost as though our body clocks are tuned to make us look better and work effectively well (??) in the mornings,and the productivity-graph starts sliding as the day wears along.

They,on the other hand;are seemingly tireless and infallible to physical exhaustion. I know Chinkees,who look the same coming in at 8 am in the morning,and look the same,when I leave,on the rare-late occasion at 6,seemingly appearing to go on and on and on,like a Energizer battery. And the advantage of this is,I am pretty sure they don't take showers every day.
It just doesnt show,or smell. This is where you curse your stars for being born Hairy-Hariprasad. And since pretty much everyone in their family are born-geniuses who look alike,you wont even know if the guy sitting next to you is really your co-worker,or his brother or grand-dad !!!! Thats how uncanny their resemblance is.

Their food,as ghastly smelling as it may be,helps them to a great extent,retain their physical and mental stamina. In my 3 years here in the US, I have not seen an obese or physically exhausted Asain. If at all I did miss seeing one,I guess he was a Nepali. Our Friday-evening badminton sessions at Buffalo usually ended with some random Chinki-pair whooping our asses,and sending us off the main courts. Ofcourse,we would find solace in the consoling fact that we staged a mighty come-back and edged out a narrow victory,when we played against their wives and/or mothers,but still,that their stamina is insanely better than us,is a fact that I am willing to bet on.

The second generation of this new-age immigrants too follow nearly the same trend. More often than not, my observation is that ABCDs' here have a more than fleeting resemblance to the Sri-lankans or the Afro-americans. They tend to be darker than their Aminjikarai-born parents,think its cool to dress up in bling-bling attires,and stroll around like jumbo elephants,wearing their dad's over-sized jeans like lungis.

ABCCs' on the other hand,you guessed it rite,look like their fathers,who in turn looked like their fathers,thus giving a disturbing clone-effect to their family portraits.

Since no post of mine feels complete to me without them..I talk finally abt..
Asian chicks,..drollllll.....aah,they are totally different,but I would love to add here that that perhaps is the only thing that the Indians and Asains agree upon. We both think Asain babes are hot,we both droll over them,and fantasize about them. It doesn't matter to us that our dreams remain dreams,while they execute it in reality. We are content to merely be watchers,and rejoice in the fact that our desi-kudis are never gonna droll over Chinkees,thats about the only solace we have,dont break our hearts gals.

Yaaaawwnnn

2005-12-09T20:00:00.000-08:00

Sometimes...
it takes a great man to inspire..and awaken the nearly-dormant..

THE MAN

Vetti Jaya

2005-09-15T02:19:00.000-07:00

Got off from work early today,and had a whole list of productive things planned for the evening,ranging from stuff as diverse as..

An Evening Nap - Saayangalam kanda Kanavu serupaala adichi S***la Sunnambu thadavum

Reading other nice blogs - Inspiration comes Super-size

Catching up on tamil/hindi/telugu cinema gossip - idha vida vaazhkaila vera enna velai..

Installing and learning a 3rd party software - work-related stuff - the moment tat last phrase registered itself in my mind,it totally put me off,and this choice was immediately scrapped

But like an aabath-paandhavan,my BitTornado client worked over-time and leeched from several hundred movie-starved torrent-addicts like me,and presented the thiruttu VCD-rip of Thotti Jaya in full clarity.I knew there was a winner then and there..

Thotti Jaya - probably the most poetic name for a movie since En Purushan Edhir Veetu Jannal,this is Simbhu's much-awaited next following Manmadhan. Not with-standing the fact that it was his family who were the ones much-awaiting this movie,I wanted to see it too.

Afterall,the director had made a very likeable Mughavari a few years back with Thalai,which is still remembered by many,and then followed it with a super-dud Kaadhal Sadugudu - which went gudu-gudu from theatres to thirutt-vcd stores to Indhiya Thollai-kaatchigalil mudhal muraiyaaga..naalaikku release aaga pogum padam..indre Sun TV-yil. After Kaadhal Sadagudu,everyone forgot the director,and I am guessing thats probably the reason why he got this movie Thotti Jaya. The Producer might have mistaken him for another new-comer.But since the movie also starred Lathika Gopika,Mesa needed no further encouragement to see it...droolll,jollu mazhai pozhigiradhu,ovvoru thuliyilum.......

The movie started off differently,the young Simbu resorting to violence and rowdyism for survival was told convincingly enough to cause a mini-rebellion in Saravana Bhavan;fortunately,the resistance was quickly quashed,when their owner revealed that it was his life-story that the director had suttu-fied when he came there for story-discussion.

And then quite abruptly,the young kid becomes another young kid with a face-full of hair..for a while,I was thinking that that get-up also was just a flash-back,and the real-hero was perhaps T.R. himself,and I was marvelling at the director's brilliance in finding the perfect kid to play T.R.'s young-days..only later did i realize that...oops,that was the hero of the movie SIMBU.

Talk abt mis-casting,to actually believe that SIMBU is capable of bashing up all the giant moving trees they call rowdies in the movie,is akin to believing I am pimping-gimping with all the Asian babes in my building....hee,hee,hee...seriously,each time he throws one goon to the ground,and admonishes him for not heeding to his warnings,it seemed to me that they were playing a game of Seethangoal,and Simbu was always the catcher,who gets the others out by just touching them.

The story follows the usual norm of tamil cinema,in which,the hero has to be the super-human yet kind-hearted thug,with whom the heroine will fall in love with instantly because he never talks to her,looks at her,sight-adichiffys her or tries to amukks her;
and the heroine will obviously have to be the secret daughter of the hero's boss,who will then turn all his men against the hero,lose most of them in the process,and finally in the end,try to fight the hero and lose his own life at the hero's hands.

But,a couple of scenes were really well-executed.I list them below,and give its signifance,so that it may serve as a (mis)guide when you decide you have nothing else worthwhile to do in life and watch Thotti Jaya.

Lathika Gopika's performance - she is da SECOND best runner ever on screen..here,i am excluding Ashwini Nachappa,who had her own movie called Ashwini,which was more secretive than the Athipatti ragashiyam. But Gopika rocks...her running is sooooooo graceful,unlike many of the heroines I have seen.

For instance, the worst runner ever is Ms.Button Mooki Devyaani,proof - her running in Kaadhal Koattai climax. I soo wanted the lovers to unite at the end,but when she jumped off the train and started her dash,I believe Ajit got on to the train and hid in the bathroom,screaming Mazhai Nikkardhukulla,Adhu !!!!!!

Next would have to be Jothika - she does twist and squint and swirl her eyes a gazzillion fiffillion times when running,but since her sprint resembles a white-sintex tank rolling full-steam,I cannot bring myself to watch it on-screen.

Then comes Manisha Koiralaa..agreed she looked divine in the Uyire uyire song with Arvind Saamy,but the interlude in between,Ohh Myy Goddd !!!

On the other hand,the BESTESTEST runner ever imho is Simran,..close your eyes..Yengenge Yengenge - Surya-Simran -Nerukku Ner.can you imagine the TWO...long legs,it made me stop laughing at Mr.Surya's pants which were up all the way to his chest.

Anyways,coming back to Gopika,she looks very pretty in the movie,well,that means nothing comin from me,since every heroine in every movie looks pretty to me..tat is the manufacturing defect...and also emotes well,but her crying scenes are a bit too much though,but it was understandable,since she thought she mite have to kiss Simbu on the cheeks..imagine a mouth full of hair..yuckkkk,who can not cry thinking about that ???

R.D.Rajasekhar's cinematography - this guy roxx..seriously,his lighting sense is amazing,even in the thiruttu-vcd print,it was soo wonderful.This plus,the snazzy cuts in the editing,make some ordinary scenes look better.

Lack of any comedy track - for a change,a movie without a meaning-less and stale Vivek or Vadivelu track,I found it appealling,some may not. For those who miss comedy,imagine this scenario,when Simbu menacingly warns the rowdies to leave him alone,think of T.R. suddenly bursting onto the screen and dancing to Dandakku Dumbukku Gubbukku..you will be ROTFLLLL.

The Uyire-Ennuyire track - hands-down the best romantic number I have heard in the last few months,this number oozes romance,and the Karthik-Bombay Jayshree-Anuradha Sriram combination is sheer magic..Sadly in my 2.2 hour version,I could not get to see all the songs,hence I don't even know if the Yaaridamum song is there in the movie,and if so,where it fits in..but that was a nice number too.

The scene in the bar where SIMBU convinces the goons hired from Madurai to join his side - this proves true the words that the mahaa-kavi Sundali Chitthar told to his disciples in 1400 A.D..Quarter Monitorum Beerum vaangi kodutha,Keadi Kepmaari kooda kavundadichi namma katchikku vandhruvaan.

All said and done,I appreciate the cast and crew for the different effort.Though the movie seems to be an attempt to fuse the gangster elements you see in Sathya/company or the million spin-offs that bollywood churns out every other week...with the fast-paced action from Dharani's movies like Dhool and Ghilli,the marriage is a not-so-fulfilling one,it appeals in places,but not wholly.

Sivacheee

2005-09-12T23:30:00.000-07:00

Ah,the Sweet month of September..although it has nothing special to do in my life,or anything to do with this blog,September is mentioned here,since its the only month starting with an 'S'..as have most of the thoughts,that keep popping in my mind lately..

Let me see,

Saapaadu..
..yeah,tats obvious..since even Confucius says..He who cooks eats well,whilst the one who sucks, falls into a well,and goes to hell,banging his head against the london bell..

Scantily-clad Sexy South-Asian Sirens..
..since i attribute this partly to the serene surroundings in Seattle,and mostly to the last ten years of my horny life,I do not wish to discuss this..well,atleast rite now..

SIVAJI....
..yaaaaaaaaaaay,....thalaivaaaaaaaaaaaaar's next super-duper-hit.

...not a day passes by without my checking all the cine-ma-sala sites,for any hint of reliable news about SIVAJI,or its star-cast or story-line. I do agree that these are all irrelevant aspects which one need not bother with,especially since its confirmed that Rajini is acting in it. I am pretty sure,that even the STAR-banner animation that announces Super-Star to the accompaniment of 12-merry men chorussing Hey Hey..will see the movie through to its hundredth day.

But still,since I am a movie-fan along with being a Rajini fanatic,I keep wondering what ace could Shankar have-up his sleeves now. His previous efforts have led me to genuinely doubt his credibility as a creative-director,I have felt that his imagination has been stead-fastly decreasing,thrusting him into a vicious cirlce of boring repetitiveness,that he tries to unsuccessfully cover-up with unwanted grandeur.

SIVAJI is,by no means,an ordinary movie. The very mention of a Rajini-Shankar-AVM and quite possibly ARR combination,is electrifying and this should provide fodder enough for Shankar to come up with his best ever.

hee hee hee,but in case he needs some help...here are some (un)inspired (un)inspiring thoughts..

The Serious Version - SIVAJI - the Savior

Disclaimer/WARNING:This is not entirely my own thought. The source of (mis)information reportedly is Dina-Kiran,as was told to me by my brother-in-law,who is as fanatic about Thalaivar as I am. He gave me a brief and concise one-liner. The meaningless and unnecessary verbosity,as always,remains mine.

Each man's journey in life,is a quest for self-realization. Who he is,how he came to be,what was the purpose of his birth,life and death,is a question very few people try to seek out answers for.
If understanding the purpose of one person's life is in itself,a daunting task,imagine a man,who sets out on a journey,not to discover the reason of his own existence,but that of his SEVEN look-alikes in various parts of the world.

How he tracks each one of those seven men down,in a different continent in the world,and helps each of those seven men understand the meaning behind their lives,and ultimately,understands the purpose of his own life,is what the crux of SIVAJI - the Savior is all about.

The Satire Version - SIVAJI - the Shave-hair

Disclaimer/WARNING: Meant to be taken with liberal over-doses of sportive-humor,the following is purely a figment(al) of my imagination. You agree that by reading the following satire,you forfeit the right to send autos to my house,or viruses to my laptop.

The opening scene is set in a trendy-urbane mall,in the heart of chennai,Dumming-Kuppam. Various human-forms resembling their hirsute ancestors,wait anxiously for the small 8*8 shop to open,and then the camera zooms upwards to show a single board with the himalayas in the background..

SIVAJI Saloons

ingu mudi mattum alla,manidhanum thiruttapadum

Some wise-crack panjayaathu gumbal-goshti character smirks and remarks who Sivaji is..why is the entire city waiting for him to come and give them a hair-cut and where is he now ?

"Palaar"..our very own youth-star Koundar enters the scene,slapping and bad-mouthing the extra artist with his trade-mark drainage-vocabulary and ridiculing him for his barren-head;whilst making sure his own wig stays properly on his head.

He is cut-off by Nambiar,who says..that the day is a very special day..it is Sivaji's best friend,philosopher and mis-guide Sarath-babu's birth-day,and that SIVAJI has gone to Sarathbabu's palatial bungalow to give him a trendy hair-cut and will be along in just a while.

Meanwhile,Sarath Babu wakes up,and also adjusts his wig,getting ready to have it cut by SIVAJI,but is rudely told-off his mother Sri Vidhya,who in reality,is younger than him,that a low-class no-name mortal like SIVAJI should not enter their house,and not be friends with her princely-son.

"yaay,T****** M******,en thalaivana yaa thittra,vaadi vella,unna saavidakirean"..extra fittings from angry makkal in the theatre..

Sadly though,Sarath babu's desire to meet his friend is not fulfilled,as a small boy comes in and hands a sheet to him,and shows him the thalaivar-style salute,which actually looks more like flicking him..Sarath opens the note with trembling hands,and reads out the note..

"Katrina Chennai-kadal noakki vandhutu irukku..
naan poi oru kaatu kaatrina seriya poidum..
why fear,when SIVAJI is here"

Sarath smiles through misty-moist eyes..and starts to question his own sexuality...something that the tamil-naatu makkal have been doing for years..but Srividya hatches a villi-plan to kill Sivaji then and there. She puts a conference-call to other fallen-villis like Gandhimadhi,Vadivukarasi,Sorna-akka and they ask her to send out radharavi,anandraj, mansur ali khan and ponnambalam in a kutty kathie-kappal to finish off SIVAJI in the deep-waters of the ocean..

Shankar the director takes over here,and creates a totally unneccesary and ridiculously expensive(producer mottai) fight scene,with thalaivar battling it out against all the baddies and 200 Chinese mottai-chaamis and also 2 anacondas - all in the sea,underneath water..

Shankar to AVM: Sir,idhu maadhri fight tamil cinema la yevanum panniruka maatan..neenga engayo poiduveenga..
AVM: enga? pichakaarathanama roatukku thaane..ippo kai-katty nikaren,apporam kai-yendhi nippen
Shankar: Sir,illati pudhumaya indha fight-a naama vandhu 7 planets la vechi edupoma..nalaikku kelambinaa kooda 6 varushatula naama Mars poidalaam..angendhu Jupiterku oru jump..anga oru 32 varusham..angendhu Pluto-la oru auto song..
AVM: Ennoda Josiyar appove sonnar,enakku 7 1/2 naatu sani aarambichiduhcu nu..naan appo nambala..ahdellam venam ya..nee thanni kullaye indha pun*****,saari sandaiya mudi..

Finally,thalaivar emerges out of the water,successfully defeating the baddies,and tying all of them with one anaconda,and using the other anaconda to stir up a mini-twister in the water..that neutralizes the approaching Katrina...thus giving birth to the new kezha-mozhi of the millinium..

Thanniya Thanniyaala thaan Anaikka Mudiyum

may be continued....if i m still alive in the days to come..

MEn and the Art of Digestive-Cycle Maintenance

2005-09-06T00:29:00.000-07:00

Guys love cooking...I mean other's cooking.

To me,it shall forever remain one of the wonderful mysteries of nature..
How something as uninspiring looking as a couple of potatoes,and a few onions..turn into a wonderfully-tasting Urulaikazhangu Fry...is beyond comphrension to me..

My two years in Buffalo is a testament to my survival skills..on the very rare and misfortunate occasion that my cooking turn came up,my roomies got a taste of an artfully prepared Vengaaya Vatha Rasam..and Boiled Eggs - b'coz hey,egg is good for health..and tat rasam thingey is better than eating rice alone..

And when the weekends came,it was survival tactics at the extreme..me n my roomie..who is as bad at cookin as I am..the two of us..used to hold in our hunger till arnd 12 in the afternoon..and my other roomie..whoz by far the best cook ever in our gang...would curse all of us..and make the first step..by cleaning out the vessels..

That would be the signal for me n my buddy to run to the kitchen..and help out with the cooking(??)..I would take over the cleaning job..whilst he would cook rice to perfection..and our super-cook would make Muttagose-kootu and Garbanzo beans...and we would all happily eat together...ahhh,the good ol' times..

After we moved to different houses in Buffalo,I was again in a predicament..should I start all over again...try to attempt the impossible..or just improvise the situation..and wisely,I chose the latter..enacting a modern-day Maadhu-vandurukean..

Maadhu-vandhurukean - copyright K.Balachander and Nagesh..and copied-rights to me..involves a subtle portrayal of a friend..who drops in to visit you,just as you are settling down to eat..the trick is...the stage is set to different houses each day..so that you dont find yourself face-to-face with any of your annoyed friends' neighbors' dog..which suddenly is let loose..

But since times have changed..I have been forced to face the tormenting task on my own..

Whenever I enter my kitchen,there is a silent shudder..both from me..and my kitchen..its almost as though they fear a vicious attack..the vessels somehow congregate and mysteriously hide themselves..and each attempt of mine to get the proper gear assembled...for the sacrifice..is met with the utmost of stiff-resistance..I pull at a frying pan,and it sends out scape-goats like spoons or forks aimed at my eyes in retaliation..the spatula tries to hide behind the cutting board..knowing thats a place I never ever would dream of looking....the vegetables,if at all there are any,put on their greenest face...and gawk at me with fungus-inflicted bodies...and most times,the battle ends rite there..I meekly surrender...and resort to cooking my own grand sumptous meal of...
Instant Cup Noodles,followed by..
Thayir Saadham and Pickle..

You see,my roomie and I have this arrangement..which works out fine..wherein,each one does their own cooking,and I eat both of them..he offers me a taste at times,and I insist he do that more often..

But there is the very rare occasion..that I get inspired by my roomie's multi-cusionary skills and decide to show off my talent(???) as well..the most recent one..being my tryst with making
Tomato Rasam and du'h Potato Fry..

It started off well,as always..I identified the tomatoes correctly from the red peppers..and the pot was washed and placed on the stove with tamarnid paste and water....

The potatoes were chopped down to wat i thgt was appropriate for the human-mouth to open up and swallow..then put into the fryin pan wit a generous cupful of peanut-cookin oil..and left to play its own way with fate..

Now,I thought twas time for my first break..and so,came to catch some Seinfeld on TV..first mistake...

When I went back..most of the stove..had adorned a dark-drown color..thanks to the over-flowing..leavin me wit little mix and pride to salvage..bad start,but nothin tat cant be rectified..

Tomatoes help...my wise-me echoed..and so in went two tomatoes diced up into smaller pieces..i swear,one of the pieces even looked pleadingly at me with a "Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?"look..

No cooking is complete without a beer...dont get me wrong..twas my second break..and since the kitchen was too hot for the cool-me...i gulped down a Kirin Ichiban-- by far the best Tak-sum-boone beer ever...and went bak to the kitchen..second mistake..

The smoke there reminded me..of any Brahmin-festival..only the numerous Vaathiyaars were missing....apparently,the potatoes were losing their battle with fate...callin out to me for help...

Water cools anything..was the only voice I heard..so in went two glasses of water into the mix..and the smoke subsided..Moi was happy..see,men are natural born cooks...

My happiness was short-lived..as the potato-oil-water mix started gurgating..strange sounds and bubbles resemblin ancient potion mixes..started comin out..no time to panic..quick thinkin..and reflex action prevailed..i covered up the vessel with its lid...and started PRAYING..

Meanwhile,my roomie stepped into the kitchen for a drink..and saw my experiment in full-swing..unfortunately,it was rite then tat the rasam-like liquid started to boil over again..so,i failed to catch the astonished grin on his face..as I turned to try and salvage the rasam..sadly,after a few minutes..i gave up and all my efforts went down the drain..quite literally..as i washed down the brown-kashaayam like stuff down the kitchen sink..and washed the vessel ruefully...
Casualties of War: 30 minutes,2 tomatoes and 3 tea-spoons of thick tamarind paste.

The potato fry..or rather cry...got sooooooo attached to the pan i was cooking them in...tat tryin to seperate them..was like seperatin Romeo-Juiliet..Laila-Majnu..Surya-Jothika...and since I was a sucker for love..I let them sink...in the sink filled with soapy-water..where they live happily even now...

Well...in my defence,I was over-matched..tryin to multi-task both items at the same time..was too much for me..though I learnt a few valuable lessons that day..

Beer during cooking..is both good and bad..good in the sense tat,it makes u hungry..and anything you can eat afterwards,seems tasty...bad in the sense,tat the "anything" u cook in the process..is injurious to your health..
It does not help if you pray during cooking...god cannot make your potato fry taste like something edible..it mite end up tasting like feet..
Seinfeld,Friends,Chatting,Orkut during cooking..atleast my cooking..do not mix well..at all..
Always,always,always,....hav a ready-stock of cup-noodles..
Make friends with your neighbors..someone mite just be makin more food tat day..
Pizza-Hut always always stays on the speed-dial in your cell-phone..

My Had-Hair Day

2005-08-31T19:58:00.000-07:00

It began nicely though..wakin up @ 8..after the damn alarm started screechin @ 7.15..i managed to miraculously get to the bus-stop at 9.10..only to be greeted by Austin Powers' Japanese Twins fantasy..multiplied 16 times over..
Yep...long live the Chinese-American Cute n Hot Sisters Sorority..who decided that all the hot gals in their house HAVE to take a sight-seeing trip in downtown seattle today (...mebbe they wanted to visit their ancestral place ??..)..and they all have to squeeze into the already crowded bus..giving one a oh-so-familiar feeling of travelling in a Pallavan bus..
I tried to strike a fine balance..quite literally..between trying to stay on both feet...and remaining cool..even though I was flushed with all the cuties.and their incessant chatter and laughter... eventually,I gave up..and sought out refuge under the over-head bars....and realized my first folly...
Suddenly,the giggles around me subsided...the gals..who were so petite..and toittth-looking..and who measured only upto my shoulders...started straining their necks in all directions..making a very bad impression of an oriental giraffe..and then I smelt it too...

REFORMED MAN ADVICE #1 : Never Ever Ever think that a no-name de-oderant from the Dollar store works as well as AXE..it doesn't...those cheap sticks don't stick..

That story ending on a sad stinky note,I managed to get thru the first part of the day...spacing-out..and trying not to appear stupid and clueless @ the team-meeting..then realized I had another 1 hour meeting scheduled rite after it..meaning I had no time for Tak-sum-boone..

While I was initially euphoric at the prospect of not havin to visit one of the million fiffillion chinese take-out joints..where the food makes your eyes shrink..and your nose flatten..and your mouth stink like snakes...the trade-off was..a head-splittin head-ache...

Sadly,I did not realize it then..and I attributed the head-ache to my over-grown unruly mop of hair..I decided I needed a cool and snazzy hair-cut..preferrably by a pimpee chinese babe...who would gently massage my hair..cooing lovingly into my ears..and admiring the super-cool me..
With this blissfull dream,I called up one place asking for an appointment..

"Hi,I am the supposedly super-cool Indian dude,I need a pimpee chinkee babe to give me a super-dooper hair cut and more!!!..Can I make an appointment ?"

"Aah,Eez Deez your faarst time here ?"

"Yeah"

"I emm sorry,vee dhoo naatt taikke yanee more noo kasthoomers..only dhaa voldd onezz,mai bee you cudh tary anadhar pleece..taan kooo.."

Quitters never win,and winners never quit...my evil consceince echoed in my brain..and I decided not to give up..I called up Super Cuts in the U-District..and it was answered by another Asian chick-atleast one person whose voice resembled that of an asian chick..who rather curtly told me there was no appointment system..you walk in,and get a cut..I was not one to start complainin..besides,I wanted to see what she looked like..thus began my journey to what i foresee to be eternal shame for a few more weeks..

Well,she turned out to be quite decent..which made me end up with a shampoo wash,even though I
a) had a head-ache, and
b) had showered only in the morning,which meant,my next one wasn't due for a few more days atleast..

As I sat on the seat dripping both from my head and my mouth,she asked me a stunner..
"What is your number ?"
As I was remarking to myself..that girls are more out-right and forward than I could ever be..she followed it up with..
"I think a 2 in the sides and 4 on top,right ?"..
A dejected me.."Yeah,I guess so.."

REFORMED MAN ADVICE #2 : Next time someone asks you this in super-cuts,stop them rite there..and ask them to count the numbers..4 doesn't always come after 3..in my case,i am guessing it comes somewhere between 0.05 and 0.08...

As the sacrifice was in progress,I could make out sudden flashes of skin..on what used to be my hairy head..but since my glasses were also looking at me..now i realize smiling at me....i dis-regarded it as a figment of my imagination..

Only after a while,I realized the disaster..though I tried to convince myself,I looked like Brad Pitt in the Project Mayhem Scenes in Fight Club..if seen in a different angle,that is with my eyes closed..I knew..I looked like a perfect-criss-cross of Napoleon Dynamite meets Sedhu..even the other girl at the counter..where I went to pay for the voluntary massacre,noticed it remarking..
"We have a sale on gels..not that you will be needing it for a couple more months hee hee hee"
"GRRRRRR..Do I HAVE to tip ?"
"Not unless you don't want to..."

Any attempts of trying to convince myself,that once I showered and shampooed,it would look better,were quashed,when even the small trickle of Head-n-Shoulders that I put on my head..slid rite away..there was no time..or hair..even to lather it in..:((

The final icing on the cake..I tried to wash down my sorrows with a strong cup of coffee..only to realize that sugar and salt..in similarly shaped small glass containers...can easily be mistaken one for the other..

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

gayathreeeeeeee..

2005-08-20T15:52:00.000-07:00

Decided to blog a funny thing I noticed today..

I had to look up the gayathri mandhiram slogas online...no,not Om Bhoorbhusuvaha..I am not tat dumb..the other ones that preceed and follow it...

and thanx to the google auto-complete plugin,guess wat googled me..

Gayathri Joshi (Swades) returns more results (4120) than :

Gayathri Mantra(876) + Gayathri Mantram(349) + Gayathri Manthra(917) + Gayathri Manthram(257)
put together....

Mangalaana Mangal..

2005-08-14T01:35:00.000-07:00

I dint like it..
Not withstanding the fact that i sat in the second row (from the screen) far to a corner, feelin as though i was peeping into my neighbour's bedroom to catch some late-nite action show (wink wink)..the movie IMHO was far less insipid and amateurishly directed than I would have expected an Aamir Khan movie to be...
I had a lot of expectations that were partly quashed even going into the Ram-theatre look-alike cinema in Seattle. One humble piece of advice,never harbor the notion that theatres in America are all good,some suck outrite,I swear I even saw stained liquid on the floor that resembled either vomit or a bizarre combination of coke n tea on the floor very near where I was sitting. The audio was pathetic,and the screen itself looked dull leading to a more than natural grained look for the movie. I solemnly swear that I miss Devi,Sathyam..hell,even Kasi like crazy...
Newayz,in an attempt to shun further digression,the movie itself was a tad tooooo realistic and uncinematic to suit my tastes. I mite be unfair in stating that I was expecting more from the demi-god actor-par-comparision who is sooo super-selective about his movies;that he even makes the directors narrate the title-credits of the trailer of some other movie that plays during the intermission of his movie;before actually signing on the dotted line. But once he comes on-board,he - to quote his exact words,"simply becomes that character by just thinking like him,gets into the same mind-set as the character hez supposed to portray".

But its the truth,I was obviously expecting fact here to be as interesting as fiction (lagaan).
Some thoughts about the movie - again IMHO,

Aamir Khan's first rate potrayal,I never knew how Mangal Pandey looked like,now I can never imagine him otherwise..
The splendid portrayal of the angry,helpless English middle-class royalty General by Tob Stephens who is torn between being a loyal servant of the Brits and a loyal friend to Mangal..
The well-conceived and expertly-executed scene where Mangal Pandey boldly walks upto the cannon and blocks it;thus raising his first opposition against British oppression. Tis such a pity tat such scenes are far-n-dry n scarce in this movie..
The totally lackodaisical bgm score of A.R.Rahman,this is from a die-hard ARR fanatic. And the songs were pathetically picturized and super-inappropriately placed - ZILCH EFFECT WATSOEVER. The songs sound sooo much better,when you just listen to them..
The predictable cinematic characters including a bad-ass english general-villan philanderer, an all-knowing,yet shunned and stupid-considered cross-eyed untouchable sweeper..
The tiringly incessant use of the word COMPANY - soo much tat at one point of time,i envisioned Ajay Devgan and Vivek Oberai to sashay across the screen,brandishing a gun and cell-phone..
Many bold scenes including some startling(Rani,the other Naach gals) and then some unwanted(Kiron Kher) revelations;the splendid one-liner by the fan-man :-); who wants to cool the HOT(pun-intended) english dame..
The brave concept of projecting the female-lead as a prostitute,who remorselessly remarks to her beloved that she spent the nite with another man..
Amma sentiment or rather nursing-mother sentiment being haplessly twisted to suit one's creative license in this historical as well..
Amisha's super-sensitive portrayal of a hapless,helpless woman - her scenes made for some unintended and well-deserved humor on-screen..
The well-meaning tribute to Braveheart in the final scene of the movie - to me,that seemed like the only place where this movie compared to the Mel Gibson classic..

If the intention of the director - Ketan Mehta had been to make a starkingly realistic movie that was as true to the legendary folklore that spawned Mangal Pandey, then I would consider his cinematic liberties unnecessary and a tad irrelevant as well. Bhagath Singh was far far better.
But if he meant to make an interesting commercial flick ( I am sorry but the unnecessary songs that had border-line raunchy picturisation leads me to believe so)...then sorry mate,you should have tried better. or better yet,shunned the writer who wrote the disaster of a movie called Kisna..tat movie was soo bad,that i even deleted the blog that i wrote abt it..imagine,if it aint even worth being published on this blog..:-)

Final verdict - the title of this post..

Harry Potter 6

2005-07-17T14:54:00.000-07:00

WARNING :- NOT SO SPECIFIC SPOILERS AHEAD

Clearly,this is the HP-equivalent of Matrix Reloaded. It answers quite a few questions and ties up a few ends together,but it mainly serves as a setting for a grand finale.I have this feeling that this book has more words than content,I felt that Sorcerer's stone or COS had more in that,many characters were established,many events occured in those books than in the Half-blood prince.
But that did not stop me from enjoying it thoroughly. I am a HP fan,and I have always marvelled at JK Rowling's seemingly endless creativity and imagination. The way she seems to effortlessly create such a grandiose imaginative world is really amazing. But my opinion about HBP is mixed,i liked parts of it,but it was not so much a page-turner as the earlier ones.

A few thoughts....
* Lesser importance was given to their academia and Quidditch,it was almost as though Hogwarts' in this book took a back-seat;and was contented to watch these characters live their own lives,not so much inter-twined with the school as in the earlier books.

* Ginny Weasley has suddenly come into the limelight,was given more coverage than any other girl in this book.
* Ron had a sudden,brief,unwanted tryst with romance,that i think served a little to fuel Hermione's feelings for him and more to fill in pages.
* Harry clearly has grown up,no longer the angry,rebelling adoloscent but more a mature guy now.
* All in all,romance was in the air,several new pairs were created during the course of the book.
* This book could well be regarded as the one with least number of new characters,new animals and new spells.
* The history of Voldemort is clearly explained in this novel,and I along with Harry,am very thankful for that.:-)
* The identity of the half-blood prince was nicely conceived and truly very surprising.
* The suspense created near the end - the identity of the person who stole the you-know-wat from the cave was very intriguing.
* The tragedy at the end was truly,very tragic.
* I CANNOT WAIT FOR THE LAST ONE TO COME OUT.

Sillass is here to kik ass..

2005-07-14T20:03:00.000-07:00

Of late,my brain farts have become exceedingly common,I often go into spasmic trances imagining myself to be a,well, very imaginative writer....hence this new blog which shall bear the mis-fortune of hosting all my unchannelized and uninspired thoughts..
Ladies and Gentlemen,I present to you..
Sindhanai illa Sirukadhaigal

Gayping Thoughts

2005-07-14T00:09:00.000-07:00

Some brain farts I had today..
..women expect their ideal man to be smart,suave,clean and basically all that your average joe isn't..
..gay men are all of the above,except they are not after women..
..if avg. joe tries to woo over his dame by taking care of the way he looks,he stands the risk of losing the gal,ending up refusin to go home wit Mr.Hairy Harleyson..
..hence,it becomes a predicament for avg. joes,do they clean up after themselves,look smart n suave,and not get the gal coz she thinks hez gay..
..or do they choose to ignore the air of filth arnd them,wear the same jockeys/socks/pant inside-out and try to pull it off as a fresh set..and yet again in the process,lose the gal coz she thinks hez a pig..
..wow,i really need to do something productive wit my life..

Have you ever wondered why....

2005-06-07T21:38:00.000-07:00

This is gonna be a yucky post,but hey i care a shit..literally,i do..
Seattle in some ways reminds me of Madras..your life after a while begins to revolve arnd the metro..
Ohh,will I be able to make the 8.25...never mind,let me read some more cinesouth.com masala...whoz gonna notice if i walk in at 9 or 9.30..
I hav to make the 6.45,otherwise its a 30-minute wait in perhaps the dingiest bus-stop in the whole of downtown Seattle..which is sayin something..since to my newbie eye,the whole downtown seems kinda dingy anyway..
Newayz..the point is you get so dependent on the Bus system arnd here..which is gud..its cheap,its frequent,atleast for most of the times...and its faster than walkin..
But my rumination is....the bus-stops..
i guess its unfair to expect the King County administration to enforce stricter sanitation laws near the bus-stops..but when the culprit literally flies away..theres not much they can do..
Let me elucidate..it was a warm saturday afternoon..i had to take the bus at the International District Center - which by the way,should hav been named Chinese District Center...for everywhr u turn,you are greeted by chinese,millions and millions of them..they rule the place...newayz,more on tat in later posts,i was waitin at a bus-stop where the name bus-stop is only justified by the fact that there is a board with the list of buses that stop thr..and by some magical twist of fate,long-swerving buses gyrate their mid-riffs and stop there almost always on time..
...but on tat fateful day,the bus was runnin tad late,and i,unaccustomed to waitin for buses,decided to kill time by strikin a cool slantin pose on the wall near the stop,the little streaks of white shld hav given me a clue..but since i was payin less attention to the wall and more to the cute chinese chick..who by the way,had a digi-cam smaller than her..well,her-you know wat...i even thought she parted her lips ever so little to give me the slightest of smiles...when...........
SPOLAAAAAAAAAAATTTTCCCCCCHHHHHHHHH....
...my favorite and certainly one of my last-remainin clean T-shirts adorned a fresh new design..a greenish blackish whitish stinkin gooey substance...2 cents and the T-shirt free to the person who can guess what it was..
i looked up...and there it was,a big fat grey !@#@#%$%&^$%^** pigeon..our eyes met..words unspoken,the meanin was clear..
enga peattaikku vandhu enga area figure-aye sight adikariya...chiyya vokiya..achiyamachaka..thak som boone...thonglaan sing sing..chinkista mankishta..mankishta payashta..
.....i was beaten,clearly out-numbered,my rovin eyes were greeted by the sight of a few dozen big fat croonies of him,who had suddenly converged around the small bus stop,gearin up for perhaps the meanest gang-fight ever in the Seattle Intl. District area...i dint know wat to do...i had to escape and yet save face,i couldnt lose to a pigeon,even though it mite know kung-fu..when suddenly...my bus arrived..meanderin slowly to the stop,the message was clear,my path laid out for me...i quickly tore my pirated,printed copy of How to Double your Dates and wiped my shirt...the chinese girl was smilin at me..not to mention most of the people arnd the area..and i smiled bak weakly at her..and the only thing tat came to my mind was...
Have you ever wondered why..Pigeons dont do it squatting down....
...its almost as though they dont hav the time for it..
...does the in-flight motion help the ******-process...
...oops,gotta take off,,here,take some s*** ya fat hag..
...ohh,theres a nice wall,lets paint some anal-mural on it...
..its gross,but me still wonderin abt it,,,are they tryin to prove a point...
in life,u never know when SH*T happens...
more later..

India Unplugged..

2005-04-03T21:51:00.000-07:00

Came across this in a forward..and was real glad i did not delete it w/o openin..
sumthin i feel every indian shld watch..hav ur headphones on..

India Dhoom

Kudos to the team who did it..
Chaitanya Kalavagunta, Sriharsha Pothapragada & Tejasvi Aswathanarayana.

The Butterfly Effect..

2005-03-30T19:02:00.000-08:00

What-Ifs hav always fascinated me...most of my fruitless time is well wasted pondering the alternates to events that hav occured in my life..those countless hours spent analyzin the events tat had..worked in tandem wit my unrelentin ability to procrastinate..thus shapin the events tat were gonna..quite often unfavorably..thus creatin a catch-22.... this blog is a humble tribute to those mindless ponderings...
i m pretty sure this will sound as boring as it sounds to me in this blog-compose window..but hey,wat the heck...isnt it a wondorous thing to dream...i could perhaps label these wat-ifs of mine as channelized dreams...coz often dreams are totally unexpected...however,in this case..u know wat the dream wants to be..its usually the opposite of wat it really turned out into....and more often tat not,,it somehow inexplicably ends up being near to the inital outcome...lemme elucidate..nah,who m i kiddin..if it makes some sense to u..enlighten me...
i hav noticed this in my real dreams....those dreams always end in a spot tat directly fits into my reality..its like its all being tied up...i m rite thr..if for instance,i was havin a dream whr the hot brunette at the coffee place was lickin my ears..i wake up to find tat someone had let the cat in...and it had decided tat my wax build-up was better than yesterday's left-over milk...but in all fairness,it was not a brunette..u c wat i m tryin to get at...stay wit me..i swear,i am not borin than ur HOD or Advisor..:D
..i dunno how it works out tat way...but the analogy i m unsuccessfully tryin to put thru is tat....no matter how much i dream or ponder over past events..its gonna end in a situation pretty close to whr i m rite now..i guess it can be called the human equivalent of a Process Flow Diagram...no matter wat steps i take,,,jus get from Point A to Point B....

did tat make some sense..i m not sure..but it sure helped me a little..its like lettin off some steam...i think i think a lot...atleast tats wat i think....
..neway,i hope this blog does the same to u...i wont be providin u an update of the day tat was..its not a cinema/news/sports/tech/weather/sex/job/e-shoppin/astrology/matrimony/watever u can fill in here/ page...thrz always Google for tat..ur time is always spent better wasted here...hav a gud one..

2005-02-28T21:46:00.000-08:00

@ White House wit Mama n Kandhan

Captain n iPod

2005-02-25T09:21:00.000-08:00

Hii all,
its been a while since i posted nething here....but, very recently my frnd n i were chattin abt iPod n Apple's marketing skills..when the great mind that he is,he brought up Captain..and well,things were not the same again..i present to you..Captain's iPod campaign...ensoyyyy
********************************
deep_ld: Those marketing dudes at apple sure know and do their job well
smartdalton_21: absolutely
smartdalton_21: and they have revived apple with iPod
deep_ld: yep
deep_ld: tamilnadu-la ipod ku advertisement
smartdalton_21: aaha
deep_ld: if i paad, it will only be wit iPod
smartdalton_21: dei idhu un sondha advt dhane
deep_ld: pazhamozhi illa..edho kezhamozhi
smartdalton_21: na pudicha muyalukku moonu kaaluna..
deep_ld: iPod vaanginadhulendhu en Paadu jolly-thaan
smartdalton_21: super
smartdalton_21: Podu
deep_ld: illati bramandama edupoma
deep_ld: idhellam vitrunga
deep_ld: en kitta oru bramandamana idea irukku
smartdalton_21: enna
deep_ld: Trisha-Vijay duet onnu veppom sir
smartdalton_21: eppdi
deep_ld: Appdi Paadu..Paadu..Paadu...Ipod paaru kanaalae
deep_ld: pudhu technique
deep_ld: pasanga ellam aadi poiduvaanga
deep_ld: pesuveengala maatengalanu aagiduchae ??
smartdalton_21: hehe
smartdalton_21: I don't know the song da
smartdalton_21: but it sounds good
deep_ld: Ghilli song da
deep_ld: appdi podu podu podu..
deep_ld: endra Thathuvam mikka paadal
deep_ld: indha aandin janadhipadhi virudhu adhukku thaan
smartdalton_21: oh yeah I remmeber now
smartdalton_21: namma Captaina eppdi associate panradhu
deep_ld: Kashmir Apple-a thinga mudiyala...Apple ipod kekudha ungalukku...
smartdalton_21: karunanidhi solra madhiri " vaaipaadu kathukka iPod vaangunga"
deep_ld: appdinu avar pakistan aala paathu..oru dialog
deep_ld: hehe
smartdalton_21: captain iPod nu solla maatar, i - english vaarthai, naanPod nudhan solluvar
deep_ld: or maybe ipaadu ?
smartdalton_21: en Paadu thani paadu with iPaadu...
deep_ld: ibaadu nu avar edhiri paathu thitra maadhiri vechukalam
deep_ld: machi..idha vuda captain-a youthful man-nu kaata mudiyaadhu da
deep_ld: captain arrives @ meenambakam wit iPod
deep_ld: as usual..Air hostess Isha Gopikkar
deep_ld: wow..wat a man..appdinu urugi urugi love pannuva
smartdalton_21: :-D
smartdalton_21: :))
deep_ld: Captain style-la..uttaalakkadi pannanumna...
deep_ld: villain radharavi veetukku poi
deep_ld: avanoda confession-a iPod la record pannuvaru captain
deep_ld: idhula enna style appdinu neenga kekalaam
deep_ld: enna matter-na iPod-la recording-ae kedayadhu
deep_ld: irundhaalum..adhu captain syle
deep_ld: :)
smartdalton_21: :))
smartdalton_21: =))
smartdalton_21: super
smartdalton_21: ibaadu dhan da bestest
deep_ld: Radharavi tension aagipoi eppdi narasimma unnala mattum mudiyudhu appdinu kepaar
deep_ld: adhukku captain-oda stunning reply
deep_ld: Saadharana manushanukku-thaan iPaadu oru "moojikkal injdrumandhu"
deep_ld: aana indha narasimmavae oru ipaadu
deep_ld: adhavadhu
deep_ld: indarnaajunal
deep_ld: police
deep_ld: debardmendu
deep_ld: enakku idhu dhoosi da
deep_ld: appdinu sollitu appdiye sooriya-velichathula nadandhu povar
deep_ld: anga
deep_ld: potrulam titlecard..
***********************************

Yeh jo De$$$$h hai tera....

2005-01-11T20:51:00.000-08:00

The title pretty much sums up wat the point of this rant is all abt...Swades,the much- hyped, mucho-criticized,and sadly, very-unfairly-and-unceremoniously-deserted-at-the-box-office movie...
wat on earth prompted an Oscar-nominated, path-breaking truly brilliant director...who had the indian film-world literally falling all over his feet...to choose such an unconventional,yet so socially-relevant theme and make India's most saleable Superstar really act in perhaps his best performance to date??...only god knows,but i am thankful for that....and if i were to run into Ashutosh somewhere someday,I have no doubt I would thank him personally for giving such a masterpiece...
i am not a film-critic...i hav no acumen in predicting the 3rd day collections of a movie in the UP or Andhra region,and forecasting the percentage improvement in collections if the 4th song in the second half of a movie is deleted,or if the heroine strips in her bathroom to protect the country from its impending perils and disaster..but i know a good film when i see one..and i enjoy it...so,i hav no regrets in the 10$ my friend spent on the ticket for me..which i dont think i'll repay him..i'll give him the satisfaction of havin treated me to the best friday nite ever spent in the Eastern Hills Mall Cinema.......
.......however,wat utterly mystifies me is how a pathetic-crappy movie like Veer-Zaara was sold out in its only show on a snowy-chilly-typical buffalo-nite there,whereas a true genius like Swades found empty seats even on a relatively warm nite...as i ponder over tat,i fail to conjure up any unimaginable theories...swades did not have any talented south-indian in it...ARR has long since transcended borders and regional barriers..and his music is nothing short of a masterpiece in this movie..are we truly incapable of accepting a realistic movie..do we still wish to be fed wih meaningless crap like VZ,where either everyone is rich,or everyone is dead-drop gorgeous.....or every scene has to have atleast 20 people in the frame with nobody acting...
there seriously are questions i still havent found answers for...
comin bak to the main point,...wat did strike me as a plausible causes for the disheartening welcome this movie received..was that it did not quite sell the celluloid dream tat we,the people hav become so used to....the on-screen narration,though starkingly real..was a tad too bland to the masala-world tat bollywood is accustomed to serving....
...the movie had many great things working in its favor...........
...........the theme was very touching..especially to those hundreds of thousands Non-returning Indians...who miss their motherland so dearly pretty much like Mohan Bhargava...yet are helplessly tied down by other commitments both here and in india..havin to give up the warmth,comfort and laid-back life back home...for materialistic yet meaningless comforts and a better standard of living abroad....such people,like me,are truly more passionate towards their motherland than those living there....they know wat they have missed...they realize wat they gave up..in order to fulfill a dream..tat quite often is a forced decision taken by thr family for them....all in order to improve thr quality of living..which doesnt necessarily translate into a better life...
...........the performances were top-notch...nobody went overboard,though the female lead could hav avoided those little oh-am-a-model-doll-and-i-gotta-look-like-one thoughts tat must hav crept into her head once in a while..which translates into her stickin out like a sore-thumb every now and then.........and Kaveriamma was such a delight.......Mela Ram truly gave a natural performance...i guess NRIs' here wud be disappointed tat his Mohan Bhargava's Mela Ram Dhaba did not materialize out finally.....knowin wat taste-less food their taste-buds hav been accustomed to...
............and the music,oh the music....i am a self-confessed ARR-fanatic...but even a die-hard arr-hater wud think twice after Swades,before voicing his baseless and unfair opinion.be it the bgm..tat plays durin the title credits and when Mohan generates electricity using his hydel plant...or the Dhaba rap...or the poignant Yeh jo Desh hai tera..at the very end....ARR is da God...no further comments!!!!!!!
...but yet,as people walked bak to thr honda accords and toyota camarys.......i couldnt help but wonder.....were there thoughts in their mind abt Mohan's decision to go bak to india,and any introspection......or were they pondering over how to meet the next project-deadline or how to make the next mortage on their big house where the only occupant for the major part of the day is vast and eerie emptiness ???
Yeh jo De$$$h hai tera,
Jai Hind...

wat is a blog..

2005-01-10T13:34:00.000-08:00

sounds trivial n rudimentary...but in a metaphoric sense..itz a indirect anomaly to its name-sake Block....(..huh?..)..
plainly put..your own personal space....writin board...no inhibitions..no expectations..most importantly..no deadlines....i remember readin somewhr...tat you r wat your thoughts r...tats all gr8 for some1 whoz only introspectin..but wat abt ur peers' perspective of u...which is soo unwanted..yet sooo sought after in this materialistic world......does the blog help us tat way...
again,depends on ur perspective of puttin it....
do u care.....tat ur self-appraisal ironically depends on the feelin that you know wat others feel abt u...terribly perplexing heh...
tats me...and thisz my blog......i dont care wat the world thinks abt me....or do i..?????

more me

2005-01-06T23:58:00.000-08:00

Since no disaster stuck this god-forsaken part of the world....I can but only imagine the pain n suffering in Indonesia,Sri lanka and India...may all the departed souls rest in peace.....
this is the moment where everyone realizes the fragility of life...death can come at any instant..its so true that death is like a thief...

who am i...

2004-11-09T15:58:00.000-08:00

For now..an eternally confused guy..existin in a mundane part of the world..mindless goals...on the path of self-realization...of course,shiverin from the cold Buffalo winter that has jus begun...
neway...for the sake of the rare Google-searcher..
Deepak Lakshmanan
deepaklakshmanan@gmail.com