Queen...

Movie name: Queen
Language : Hindi

Rani is all set to marry her longtime boyfriend, when the guy decides last minute to call off the wedding. Rani anyway goes ahead with the honeymoon plan - she had always wanted to visit Paris all her life. This dream somehow seemed tightly coupled to the honeymoon plan when all seemed well. When things fall apart she chooses to anyway go ahead and fulfill her dream. Sets out all by herself, explores Paris and Amsterdam, meets people, makes friends, gets a better understanding of the world, copes with many changes - sometimes with the help of people around and sometimes all by herself. In the process she finds herself and starts believing in herself.

There are no overly sentimental and dramatized scenes. The story is simple - a woman faced with a difficult situation does not allow herself to feel like a victim. There is always a choice to make. A choice to accept the situation and move on. It comes across as a real story. And if you are a woman, you would enjoy it all the more.
Would highly recommend the movie. 

Hyderabad...

Was on a weekend trip to the city of pearls, bangles, Biryanis and the Nizams - Hyderabad! The weather was great and its a beautiful city. The ancient structures seem to co-exist very naturally with the modern buildings making the city architecturally beautiful.
Enjoyed the climb to the Golkonda Fort. The view from the top is just awesome. Walked around the seven tombs. There is a well laid path between all the tombs, surrounded with well maintained gardens and old park benches! All these add to the pleasure of walking and viewing.

The old city has the Char Minar. And Chowmahalla palace with those wonderfully crafted chandeliers. The busy streets leading to these have old buildings, the pearl bazaars, and shops after shops selling bangles - just bangles! It was an amazing sight!

There are ancient forts, minars, tombs, palaces, beautiful gardens, multi-storied buildings, beautiful temples, winding hilly roads with nice looking houses - all housed in the same city! Driving past Jubilee hills and Banjara hills gave me memories of Hollywood and Bel Air!

From the top of Golkonda Fort

Went in a speed boat around the Buddha statue in the middle of Hussein Sagar lake and it was a lot of fun. The laser show at Lumbini gardens was quite nice.

The Ramoji film city almost felt like a desi version of Universal studios tour. The sets, the hop on hop off buses going around and showing the various sets, the rides(I went in a few rides like the ranger ride, where it turns and goes 360 degrees and scares the bejesus out of you! That, my friend, is what fun looks like upside down! :) ) and the shows related to the art of film making made it a nice place to check it out.

I do not remember any inching traffic jams. The food was just great. Had the best fish kebabs and fish biryani.

It was a very pleasant stay and enjoyed some great hospitality, thanks to a friend. Hyderabad is wonderful! :)

RamLeela...Goliyon ki raasleela...

Language : Hindi

Watched the movie at the cinemas today. Loosely based on Romeo and Juliet. The performances and chemistry of the lead pair, the bright colours of the costumes against the dull(but not boring) colored sets, the music, the dance - all these are a delight to watch. The movie was slightly long and the violence affects. 

The best part that I enjoyed was the chemistry between Ram(Ranvir Singh) and Leela(Deepika Padukone) and they look extremely good looking! :) They believe in each others love despite all odds. They dance quite well too. Some of the outdoor locations - was it Udaypur and Rann of Kutch, not sure - they are beautifully shown. And most parts of the movie were a visual treat to watch, it was "paisa-wasool" stuff.

Some adventure on a weekday!...

What did I do today?
Kayaking, rafting, rappelling, aerial rope slide and even tried my hand at swimming(given that I only learnt swimming during a summer vacation as a kid and then never tried to check if I had learnt anything at all).

While rappelling, I was very nervous to even come close to the instructor as I was scared to look down. I asked him to first tie the rope and then speak to me, so that I can pay attention to the instructions! And after this, midway I felt so confident, I was giving instructions to the girl next to me about the right posture! The instructor told me politely to focus on what I am doing(and stop giving fundas to people) :P

Am I such a water baby or what!? I was in a small raft all by myself for a long time watching other people kayak, raft, swim and rope slide. Drifting idly on water and changing direction only when I was out of the shaded area or too close to a leaning branch from a near by tree. It was just amazing, idling on the water i.e.

During a conversation, I felt a strong desire to try and feel what it feels like for a non swimmer to attempt swimming. In a moment of inspiration, got into water. I kept my limbs up and it felt good to be afloat and then suddenly I realised I was quite far and panicked! Then I had a feeling am drowning. See how thinking and feeling and actually what happens are all connected. A moment ago, I was a supremely confident floating being and in a moment of doubt, I had a feeling of drowning despite the life jacket! Most of these are mind games to be won inside the head before you actually even attempt to try these!

How was the experience?
Wow, enjoyed a great deal.
Where?
At an adventure club about 50kms from Bangalore.
Would I want to do all these again?
YES, of course!

Life lessons from Leh...

When I look back at my cycling adventure in Leh,Ladhak I have the greatest memories. But everyday cycling about 40 kms for 5 days was not vanilla fun as I can distinctly remember my thoughts of those time, while I was actually doing it. The mornings were wonderful to cycle, but if it was uphill it was a struggle. The high altitude was not helping. The scorching heat of the afternoon sun, the shade-less stretches of NH1, the chilly winds of early evenings making you want to wear a thin jacket - and ofcourse the fatigue that comes with physical exercise in extreme conditions - every evening I would wonder if I could cycle the next day. And the next morning I would wake up all fresh and would have the enthusiasm like it was my first day of cycling. In spite of all the things that were not easy, the trip is easily one of the best things I have done in life.

So what was so wonderful about it? Here I am, days after turning 31, realizing my dream of being able to explore Leh which I have wanted to do for so long. I love cycling and cycling in the mountains is so awesome. I was not sure if I had the physical stamina to do such things. I wanted to check. And I did it, and quite impressive indeed. I seem the happiest I have ever in past few years going by the pictures taken in Leh! The sense of accomplishment is immense.

That is my bike! :)

Very importantly I learnt a few life lessons:
1. To conquer the mountains you need to be in good shape, more so mentally. It is so tough to believe when going gets tough. But thats pretty much the only way to do it - believing that you can.
2. If you have chosen to explore the mountains with a mountain bike, well knowing that the fuel would be your energy and it takes greater time and effort to cover the given distance compared to a motor bike - you would have put in a deal of thought and chosen the trip for yourself. Believe it. Dont wonder why do you even do such things to yourself. It mostly seems stupid midway. May be on the way, exhaustion sometimes gets the better of you and there are low times when you wonder what the heck you are doing in the middle of nowhere in that hot sun, gulping glucose water like crazy and cycling so slow that a rock at the distance is your reference for a whole hour. Think well about what you want to do before doing it. Questioning your decision after starting or mid way is a bad idea. Drop the doubts. Stick to the decision, if you thought you could do it, you mostly likely can. So, just do it.
3. Journeys are about exploring yourself, as much as they are about exploring places. Enjoy. Take your time to smell the roses, soak in the warmth of the sun, breathe, meditate, day dream, share, care. Experience. Life is but a journey!
4. Uphills are tough. But if you wanted a view, you would have to climb the mountains. Thats why you are there to begin with. If you reduce the resistance by keeping the gears at their lowest, all you need is patience and persistence to get there. Uphills are there for a reason. And a little bit of practice and right perception can get you wonderful views that you will cherish all your life. So, hang in there, and go 1-1, 1-1, 1-1 (thats the gears!) and keep at it.
5. Downhills are fun, but they last a few mins! "Fun" in life cannot be forever. "Forever" fun may not be so much fun. But to get that fun feeling - of feeling the wind in your hair and cycling like the brakes had failed and singing at the top of your lungs and being so happy - you got to climb uphill. So it is just a part of the road, you cannot have downhill all the time, if you weren't pedaling enough why even cycle. You could put yourself in a drum and role down the road or something like that! Dont expect every piece of road to be downhill. Fun journeys are not made of that stuff.
6. Interesting people add to the joy of journeys. Choose whom you go with carefully. Although cycling is a very personal journey, there are times when having someone look out for you gives a nice feeling. When you take breaks to have lunch or to energise it is nice to have people who believe in the same things as you do, and say a kind word or give you motivation or just a knowing smile. The energy drink can re-energise your body, these other things energise your spirit. And tough terrains test your spirit more than your physical stamina. You need the right kind of people around to have your batteries charged, else it may just be a tough terrain struggle you signed up for.
7. The bigger picture is what you get when you have completed it. So wait. You cannot have those great abs, toned arms and legs till you complete it. You cannot understand what you have achieved bypassing anything on the way. You have to beat the heat, climb all the uphills, enjoy all the downhill rides, take in the great views, stop and enjoy the scenarios, click snaps initially at every beautiful sight and then get tired of doing it - there is a great scenery around every corner - so instead just stop enjoy the view and then cycle on, you have to keep focusing on that next peddle when you are totally exhausted and until you can find that shade and then wonder why you are here! :P You have to do it all. Only then you know what the whole deal is. So if you havent got the big picture yet, "picture abhi baaki hey dost!" :P
8. As it turns out, when you look back you carry only the memories of the good stuff, not so nice stuff erases gradually. Tough people last, no one can take away the sense of accomplishment from you. Only you know what you are doing, because no one else can understand you and tell you what you would enjoy doing the most. 

Mountain biking....

I was on a holiday to Leh, Ladhak, Jammu and Kashmir for the last 11 days or so.  What was I doing? Well I was on a mountain biking trip J How cool is that! The bikes aka the geared cycles were extremely good for the terrain and it was a wonderful experience. The best part of biking in the mountains is the meditative aspect. The terrains are tough and the weather in Leh is ruthless to the extent of literally sucking up all the moisture your body dares to expose. If you breathe through your mouth instead of the nose, the food pipe dries up! The dehydration left to itself can cause depression is what I heard, so even to keep oneself sane, one needs to hydrate as often! The early mornings and late evenings are chilly and the late mornings and noons are unbearably hot(for a Bangalorean i.e) and dryness is irrespective of day or night. Given the fact that I had all the time in the world, I became very aware of the body and mind. Any physical activity under extreme weather conditions is a mind game to begin with. 

The first day of the trail run(it was about 25kms!) I just wondered what on earth made me enroll for this, it felt very tough and I felt very unfit. The next day I was far more comfortable and by the fifth day the bike and me were almost so much in sync it was difficult not to believe I hadn’t done mountain biking before in my life. I learnt to synchronize breathing patterns with pedaling the bike, handle the steepness of the mountains with the bike, learnt to negotiate the hair pin bends. 

The roads - the roads in Ladhak deserve a special mention. They are extremely good, better than the roads in metros may be! The biking experience in Leh can be said to be of supremely high quality because of the excellent roads! Three cheers to the roads! :)

The azure skies provide a sense of calm that can only be experienced.

And the sense of accomplishment is so awesome. Imagine climbing mountains with your raw physical power for a fuel, what in the world can match that! The travel and the adventure add to the fun. The whole ride was on NH1 and most of the route was next to the Indus river! Scenic. Fantastic. Breath-takingly beautiful. I would highly recommend the experience. It is a doer’s delight. At the end of it all, you not only get a sense of accomplishment, you also get a toned body – that is a big bonus now, isn’t it!

Badtameez dil...

Oh, I just loved this song the moment I saw it. Its catchy, lots of beats, fun and of course has Ranbir in it. He dances so well and expressions are so cute. And the lyrics seem to go well with his playful and chilled out image!(With lyrics like "Ayaashi ke one way se khuDko modna jaane naa, kambal bewajah sharam ka, oDhna jaane naa") :P The song sounds quite retro and very zindadil. Makes me want to dance! Looking forward to the movie...

When I first saw Ranbir in Saavariya promos, I thought he has a longish horse like face! Now I find him quite good looking! Things change. Hmm they do. 

The Croods...

Movie name : The Croods

Language : English

Why did I watch it : New release, animation and 3D, decent IMDB rating, and more than anything - the promos had looked so cute! 

My take : It is a cute animation movie of a caveman family.  There is a girl who is keen on exploring and a very protective father who emphasizes on being scared to be alive. Its a story of survival when the Croods lose their cave to an accident and have to rely on this cool Guy(his character is also called Guy) full of ideas to survive the new terrains and how they finally make it. Life is not just staying alive or not being dead, its about exploring and finding light - that is what the movie seems to say. It is super cute, very comical and the landscapes although animated, are breathtakingly beautiful, the 3D makes it more fun. Go watch it! :)

The big fat book gets read...

I completed reading Vikram Seth's "A suitable boy". What a wonderful book. I took several weeks to finish it and yes, it was pleasurable experience despite the fact that it can cause good amount of discomfort to the wrist(the sheer bulk of the book makes you want to lie down to read) and the eyes(for the small font which makes it difficult to read while on the move).

The book is set in early 1950s and gives a glimpse of the political and social set up at the time woven into the story of a mother trying to find a suitable boy for her young daughter. I was very interested in how the girl decides whom to marry among her three suitors and how she comes to the decision. In between when I gave into the temptation of finding out whom she marries,went to the end of the book and found out,  I was a tad bit disappointed,  but by the time I read through at the normal pace, I totally understood her decision. It seemed the most natural choice and the way that is driven home is beautiful. Loved reading it.

Cup of tea...

More empty than full,

Life is, but, wonderful.

Sometimes ponder how else could it be,

Living, as is, my cup of tea.

A walk to relax...

A hot summer evening. The heat of the day has begun to die and the evening gives you a hope of soothing respite.
Say, you are somewhere around Malleswaram. What would I recommend? A walk around the Sankey tank of course!

Movies I watched last week...

Movie name: Special 26

Language : Hindi

Why did I watch it : New release, decent rating on IMDB, story line looked interesting, got company of teamies to watch! :P

My take : Set in the 1980s, the film is based on a real story of how some con artists pulled of fake CBI raids and how interestingly they got away, until a case got registered. The setting looks authentic and I did not find any logical flaws that hinted against the time period in which it was set. The interesting turns in the latter half, although after a couple of them, you kind of guess what the climax could be, makes it for a good watch.Some good performances from Akshay Kumar(I am not a Khiladi fan, no way!), Anupam Kher and Manoj Bajpayee. I even liked the small but interesting roles of Jimmy Shergill and Divya Dutta.

Movie name : Parzania

Language : Hindi

Why did I watch it : Friend's recommendation.

My take : It is based on communal riots in Gujrat. The first half of the movie shows how "normal" the life is, of a middle class family and that of a Gujrati city, until the riots erupt and tear the civil society apart with not much trace of civilization. It gets quite disturbing at places. Watch it if you want to see the movie version of the reports you may have read during those times in the newspapers.

Movie name : Pyaar ka panchnaama

Language : Hindi

Why did I watch it : Heard as interesting discussion based on the movie, got interested.

My take : It was ok. I am not a big fan of the movie. The protagonists of the movie are three guys, who are friends and also share an apartment. The story revolves around their love life, work life and their mismatched expectations of life and how they come to terms with them. Although these guys are working men, their impressions seem to be juvenile at times -at first you sympathize with their troubles, but almost all of it will be self-inflicted! It is time pass stuff, watch it if you enjoy stereotyping of “guys are like that – girls are like this” kind of stuff.

Strike 2!

I enjoy bowling. Am not a pro. Couple of days ago, went with some of my teamies, and got two strikes(all pins going down in the one throw) in a row….yaaaay! I think I got cold feet, to get a hat trick! :)

I seemed to be getting the technique right at the fag end, so did not have enough throws or more time to practice and make sure I got it alright. Choosing the right weight of the ball, the swing of the throw, the momentum(sometimes the ball goes and hits the middle pins, but all the pins don’t tumble because the ball only gently touches the pins!) all has to go right, to get that beautiful strike! Am going to practice more. Yes, bowling is fun! 

Chitra Santhe...

I came to know about Chitra Santhe - the art mart- happening on Jan 27, 2013. Last year I wanted to attend, but could not. And while looking up on it online, I found it figures in one of the must - dos if you happen to be in Bangalore in January. That turned out to be very true! I had a great time roaming around, checking out the stalls on Kumara Krupa road.

It was a nice sunny Saturday afternoon. Had a good lunch and left home, it is only about 3kms from where I stay. The afternoon sun was not a worry as the road is lined with trees on either side of the road. In the shade, on the pavement there were hundreds of stalls set up by artists showcasing their art. It seems like a wonderful concept - not only making art affordable - since the artists need not pay galleries - but also a platform for the not-so-art-aware general public to check out some wonderful art from all across the country. The street was lined with stalls on either side of the road - most stalls had paintings of all sorts, water colors, on canvas, portraits  landscapes and the list goes on(that's all I can manage to list, with my limited art knowledge, as of now!). One could talk to the artist and know some history of the painting that one wanted to buy. There were paintings that were not framed available, and the person could get it framed the way they chose to - some some amazing flexibility available. Some of the artists were kind enough to share some wonderful information. Like I was wondering whether to buy a certain painting and was taking a closer look at it, the artist told me that was not how to view a painting. You need to place the painting vertically and move back about ten feet from it. I felt quite grateful for the information.

There were lots of vendors selling ground- nuts, popcorn, ice creams, khara puri, fruit bowls and a dozen other things to eat. It looked like a fair. There were also artists selling some jewellery and painted diyas, both made of terracotta. They were so beautiful.

I also saw artists making caricatures of people, mostly of children. My plan was to get a caricature done. I wished I had gone earlier, when the crowd was much lesser(in fact when I reached the venue the crowd wasnt much, but I spent a lot of time checking the paintings and only remembered about getting my caricature, when I saw them being done, by then there was a considerable crowd!). The problem with the crowd is the wait time increases for you to get your picture drawn and you have to endure a crowd of onlookers(probably that is why mostly kids were getting it done, they dint care much who was watching! :) ).
I had not seen so much of art in a day in Bangalore. It was very refreshing. After watching few hundreds of stalls of art work, I kind of felt saturated and got very choosy at the fag end(choosy as in, what interested me very much and least crowded stalls).

I found a stationary shop(not a stall, regular shop) and they were offering discounts on some items because of Chitra Santhe. I bought myself two sketching notebooks, lots of pencils - of all HBs available, fine erasers - for my old-hobby-revived-with-some-new-enthu hobby of pencil sketching. I was so excited to see so much of paraphernalia for artists that I asked a couple of times, if there is anything more I need to buy! It was a child in a candy store kind of a feeling! Am going to be a pro now...yaaaay!

It was a wonderful experience. I would like to go there again next year, and may be with my camera to capture and cherish, how that street looks on that day!

Whats with the number anyway! :)

I just realised there have been 49 posts this year, the maximum for any year since the time I started the blog. One of the reasons for the higher number of posts be that I did a blog marathon- one post a day- mid this year and also tried to post some interesting stuff from the travels.
I now feel I want to hit the half century post mark for this year! (Whats with the number right? Well, why not please myself with the numbers as well!)
Yaaaay to the 50th post of the year! :D

So wishing everyone on the blogosphere a very happy new year!  :)

Wish list for the coming year...

• Lots of love
• Good health, for all my near and dear ones as well.
• Peace of mind! 
• Travel for pleasure
• Some good books read
• Creative satisfaction - will I finally write that book? :)
• Memorable conversations with friends
• A new skill acquired. 
• Maintain a healthy weight, some kilos lost would not be missed.. :P
• Loads of positivity
• Some fun, some celebrations.
• Some good job done..
• Watch some great, good and some not so good movies! :)
• Learn a new language - may be an Indian language. 
• Blog more!

Happy 2013! :)

Some chairs now!

Tried my hand at sketching some furniture...

Pencil sketches!

I have been interested in pencil sketches for some time now. I used to do sketches during lectures in college. They wouldn't be elaborate, just enough to help me not sleep in the classes after lunch! I used to also sketch at (very long) office meetings for the same reasons!

I made a few sketches of some of my ear rings. Am fond of junk jewelry. I just started off sketching them and realized it is actually fun – I still need to work on the relative proportions, the shades. I could only find an HB pencil and a sharpener at home. I need to buy some lighter and darker grades of pencils and of course an eraser(yeah really, dont have one right now, LOL!)!!! Am planning to get myself a pencil sketching tool kit - and I just hope I remember to keep using it! I move from one interesting stuff to another and then much later wonder why I dint pursue an interest when it is so much fun! 

Barfi!!!!

Barfi is a fun movie. Although the lead character is deaf and dumb, there is no overdose of sympathy for the character. It just does not matter who you are, if you want to have fun in life, sure, you can seems to be the motto of Barfi! Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra are quite brilliant. The supporting cast is also good. The visuals are wonderful, the music is good, the lyrics of the songs are brilliant. I watched the movie, on the first day. Not a single minute of boredom. Very engaging. 

I later read that there are comparisons to Chaplinisms in some reviews, but it is a work of art at the end of the day. I wouldn’t take away any credit from Ranbir for sure. A refreshing Bollywood movie and I would love to watch it again!

P.S: Happy birthday Ranbir! :)

Israeli love song...

We were on our way from Govind Ghat to Badrinath which is about 25kms drive. It was a small bus. Big buses cant take turns easily over the winding road. We met an Israeli couple from Tel Aviv. The man was a shy type, but the woman forthcoming. We introduced ourselves. Got to know that he taught music and they were on a two month vacation to India. It was their last week, they had been roaming around Leh, Ladhak, Valley of flowers etc. All the places covered were in Nothern India. They were excited to know we(me and three of my friends from Bengaluru) are from Southern India and told us they planned to visit this part on their next trip to India.

I asked the music teacher to sing a song for us. He declined politely saying he taught percussion and not vocal music. We just insisted a little more and the couple started singing a song for us. It was very melodious, may be in Hebrew. Their voices sounded good together, it felt they must have sung together many a times before. They were generally facing us as they sang, but would look at each other almost at the same time, as they sang some parts and their eyes seemed to light up.  They seemed to share some secret thoughts even as they sang. It felt so good watching them sing. After the song got over, we clapped in delight. It was quite evident, but I asked them what kind of song was it, and the woman told us it was a love song. One of the most melodious love songs ever, she said. It must be so good singing one of the most romantic songs ever, with the person you love the most! :)