Sunday, April 19, 2009

debo'nair millio'nair

No, that's not a new movie I am producing but that perfectly sums up what this gentleman Shashi Tharoor is for he commands attention from my mother-in-law and a little more, worse, from my wife.


UNequivocally!!!


Friday, April 17, 2009

Good News

The answer to jaane kahaan gaye woh log is as follows


1) Shivendra Kundra is one half of Kundra & Bansal, an international law firm. Whatever happened to his moustache!

2) Usha Albuquerque is a Delhi based career counsellor.

3) Sunit Tandon is into theatre and is a big shot at National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) whose movies we used to despise before any masala behemoth started on big screens.

4) Shammi Narang, I saw of him last in Vishal Bhardwaj's Maqbool (2003)

5) Tejeshwar "roar" Singh is a big publisher.

6) Neethi Ravindran, who I have also encountered on recorded messages on telephones and service providers, is a big voice expert and offers professional voice services.

7) Rini Khanna and Sukanya Balakrishnan are on Facebook :P ;)

If there was a mini celebrity who could make me drink wine at 8 or 9 it was Sukanya Balakrishnan ("in aankhon se mujhe peene do" hai hai! ;))

8) Ved Prakash is a journalist, and with a media school; the last I met him was in 1996 at Kendriya Vidyalaya Gole Market, New Delhi.

9) Bhaskar Bhattacharji has had to honor an early appointment with God.



God bless these souls!


Jayant Kripalani

When I chanced upon this trove full of erstwhile gems, I was delighted to see this very likable gem which featured one of my favorite television stars of all time.




I have admired this gentleman for his frame, his mane, his persona, that naughty glint in his eyes and more than anything else that sugar-salt-pepper coated grainy voice of his with such fantastic voice character.

Then he chewed up the scenery when he teamed up with Farooque Sheikh, another favorite of mine, on Ji Mantriji (2002) for Star Plus; a series that ranks high high on my lists for being synonymous with class and sheer class. Now it looks like he is in the company of good men at Exper.




Gosh! nostalgia is so injurious to one's mental health.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Shoe'd Away

George "W" Bush, P. Chidambaram, Naveen Jindal (Congress MP), and now L.K. Advani

From the trend this list doesn't seem to be exhaustive.



Last heard Bata was running out of stock!!

Monday, April 13, 2009

ten tena ten ten tena!



First twin-metal ten rupee coins issued by the RBI.




Age can do nothing to some childhood fascinations

Rubious Distinction?

I hope it is not, for there goes an urban legend in the U.S that red cars get pulled over more by cops, and horrors of horrors, command higher insurance rates.

Obviously this is not what I want after months of research (beating my own academic research ;)), agony, pain, frustration, desperation, irritation, endless wait to acquire a brand new


'09 Barcelona Red Toyota Corolla Sedan


:-)


recorded for posterity!

separated at birth?



Sourav Ganguly.......................................Jaideep Sahni

Sunday, April 12, 2009

separated at birth?



Sirivennela S'sastri...................Parakala Prabhakar



courtesy: Google images

e N T R a p p e d ??

Of late I have been catching up on some political developments in Andhra Pradesh. Whether the party in power has a direct influence on me or not, it has interested me for long. But make no mistake they can be more engaging than your regular Friday matinee. I never believe in the political hearsay, or hearsay in general by principle. But somewhere I also believe in there being no smoke without a fire. Anyway I have never respected or admired Chandrababu Naidu only from what I have seen or read about him. He has always carried the tag of being a manipulator, a veritable Chanakya of modern day political scenario.

Again though I have never had to say anything big about Jr. NTR ( Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao), I admire the brat's guts, his readiness at such a tender age, his ability to make his age defying high-voltage histrionics very believable. As a guilt pleasure, oh I have many, I have always followed his interviews. Make for nice read, listen.

But when I saw this young chap's face smeared in blood courtesy an accident while returning from a political campaign all in service of C'babu Naidu, I really felt bad. After all he is a kiddo. There has always been this perception/opinion that Jr. NTR was/is never considered a part of the prestigious Nandamuri family, and that he has always made efforts to get closer only in vain. Also, it is said that Naidu would "dump" the kid once he has pulped his popularity, his charisma, his pull among the masses on the basis of region, and caste. Whether the Nostradamuses of Andhra are true or not, I really don't care, I want the kid to get back to medical normalcy, and return to be doing what he does best.

Add to my guilt pleasure, my little happiness and as they say, be a total paisa vasool.

truck loads

Nothing beats the sight of beastly, giant, intimidating transportation trucks on the U.S. freeways/Interstates that is if you care to look away from natural wonders; mountains, hillocks, pools, ponds, rivers, grasslands, pines, plains, amazing traffic islands that line these amazing roads, simply the best of the U.S. infrastructure.

One could be on either side; facing these trucks coming from the opposite direction, or better have them pass you on your left. Each possibility can leave you with your senses overwhelmed for sure. My heart goes for the drivers who handle these beasts with such fine precision, discipline and self control that you are in awe in minutes. It must be so difficult to change lanes, stick to lanes, maintain speeds, be aware of their limits and the physical, spatial limits these trucks throw, and yet race against time to finish job at hand. Doff my hats off!

I thought I was crazy developing a fascination for rail engines, heavy duty trucks with respect to their nose shapes, and the aerodynamics. I forgot there was YouTube.

Whenever close to these 18-20 wheelers in motion or at rest, I have wanted to capture them from unusual angles like say the dutch tilt, for these angles add to their machoness, their larger-than-life quality and their ugliness.


In this ugliness lies their actual beauty.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Canada Dry

"Make no mistake: The flight may have been Air India's, it may have taken place off the coast of Ireland, but this is a Canadian tragedy."

Paul Martin, Canadian Prime Minister




courtesy: AirIndia 182, and YouTube


Waiting to watch this chilling account of a far more chilling scar, an example of those innumerable instances when humanity was killed



...religiously

Thursday, April 02, 2009

Zip Code

Apparently Akshay Kumar doesn't have one, or so claims Anil Nair, one society conscious, well meaning, social activist leading to the Mumbai Police registering a case against the actor.

Akshay Kumar, supposedly, had his actress wife play with his fly, in jest, on his ramp walk.


Where? Lakme India Fashion Week. Not the Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi during the civilian honors.

What sort of people attend that? The glitterati who, I presume, don't give a flying fuck to some jobless arsehole's sense of propriety, and have a good laugh, good time.



Again, who cares? But for this jobless arsehole, none.


Not the least, Twinkle Khanna. Not a flying fuck

dis parity

As we meet and interact with people holding different passports on them, we realize that because of various constraints in language, in culture, in backgrounds ideas do not get communicated well. At least as much as we intend to. People often either wince or draw blank faces, they cannot help but stare at you as if looking into black holes not knowing where you could be coming from. Then we realize how different we are, how much diversity there exists in all aspects and move on.

Yet,

I have noticed that there are a few phenomena that are, to put in the simplest form, universal. No matter how different we are, there are a few things at random experiencing which you either sigh, or smile, or wince as the case may be thinking no matter where we go things are the same. Here are such non-exhaustive random things I have noticed.

  • education, craving grades, craving GPAs and CGPAs
  • higher education
  • brands
  • Sex
  • interest in the opposite sex
  • vanity
  • avarice
  • fear of law, not necessarily respect for law
  • freedom hot spots

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Predictable?

That would be an understatement.


Stuff which is getting more predictable than breaking news on national TV, surprises and walkouts in reality shows is, surprisingly, Google/Gmail's April Fool gags.

Now they have been doing this over years, and in the initial years they were smart, creative as is apparent in Ramanand's chronicles. But with this year's Autopilot have they stretched it too far now? It looks so obvious, so lame and so silly, and more of a ritual to be scored off their to do lists.

Sad, I have to say this about Google.