Favorite non-film soundtracks !!

Before I get amnesia or something close because of ageing (yes i turned 30 #$!@$..om my gaad), wanted to list down my favorite non-film tracks. Here goes my guilty pleasures in no particular order, and close to my heart for various reasons :)

1. Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve (always brings about a nice melancholic feeling)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lyu1KKwC74

2. Toss the feathers - Corrs (and many more, can keep listening to this wonderful sibling band)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEJa_VgpIAc

3. Happy - Pharrell Williams (love the Oscar version and multi city versions, Chennai was the best though :D perfect binge song)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6Sxv-sUYtM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IbTSG14LzM

4. Uptown Funk - Bruno Mars (I have great ideas for this song..time will tell)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPf0YbXqDm0

5. Forever - Chris Brown (love the Office US version..perfectly brought out the joy of well wishing)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJd9l-7Jp_M

6. Maeri - Euphoria (and many more..what a lovely band!!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLe3ObP2EL0

7. Rolling in the Deep - Adele (infact all songs from Royal Albert Hall concert..so moving/ inspiring)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mGw3AKpmYE

8. Senthamizh Naadu Idhu - Bharat Bala (Jaya TV version, an ode to where I come from)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZF8DMF51NI

9. Gurus of peace (Chanda Suraj lakhon tare) - AR Rahman/ Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (a gem !!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0i_iRv9XShM

10. Jana Gana Mana (Instrumental/ Song) - AR Rahman/ Bharat Bala productions (goosebumps !!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftD3gDA-5S0

Special thanks to Westlife, Avril, Viva Girls, Falguni, Bombay Vikings ;-)

Almost one half of lifetime spent in liking the tunes and remaining half will go in figuring out what the hell was the lyrics all about :P but wife will be happy if I take the effort :)

Note to future generation (sandhadigal): by confirming this blog entry I am providing you all uninhibited rights to judge me !! but beware there is some percent of me in all of you!! cheers...

Our Lankan Safari !!

I don't remember how or when the idea of going to Srilanka originated - Swati reminds me as I am writing that it was her idea. Ofcourse !! We wanted to celebrate our first year of marriage in an unexplored place/ country yet. So we asked a few friends and also surfed a few pics/places and BINGO - Srilanka we zeroed in on. There is something intriguing about Lanka, but many, especially our parents were a tad bit worried, of course with the grievous history of war that the island had witnessed over more than 2 decades. But we decided to make it after hearing from some people who had been there, and also reading up on web that the situation has improved and tourist attraction has been the highest in last two years. So ALL SET....... 

My parents had come to leave us at the airport and we killed some time having lunch at Sangeetha. I ordered evergreen ghee roast and sambar vadai, and a dutiful husband I am, offered Swati some portion of vadai. Swati just had one piece and shunned the ossum vadai away which she had to regret later in Srilanka. More of this later ;-) Spice jet delayed flight by 30 mins but we eventually landed some time around 6pm (no time difference).

I had booked for everything except inland travel, which I thought is better to sort once we land in Srilanka. I realized that apart from flights, its quite possible to plan a package deal at travel shops outside customs area in airport. But since its the first time I didn't want risk landing in Srilanka without a confirmed itinerary. I would say local planning might possible shave off 10-15% of final expense vis-a-vis planning from home. 

Currency tips: its better to have 20-30000 Lankan rupees (LKR) as cash in hand and use for all food/ travel related expenses. ATMs work well (visa/maestro), but Sampath bank (the largest bank in lanka) doesn't give balance receipt which is frustrating. There are other banks like commercial bank, People's bank etc and I even saw Indian bank branch. Also for all big ticket purchases, use credit card, but intimate your respective bank's risk department before arriving in Srilanka so that they don't disallow big transactions from a foreign country.

Anyway back to some interesting things....so on landing luckily we get escorted to Lankan travel agency by a gentleman who basically plans our entire local travel with a stroke of a pen and a swipe of my card ;-) Ladies and gentlemen, I now introduce you all to our wonderful driver/ travel guide Mr.Lionel. Now this guy has testimonials written from people across the globe. All super sentimental and full of praise that I felt good about having him with us. I am attaching a sample from an Israeli couple, who came here to enjoy their 'hanimoon' :D

Day 1: Elephant orphanage
We took the early morning train (Swati was like grrrrr) to Rambukkuna to visit Elephant orphanage where lost baby elephants are found/ taken in by the society and nurtured well. This place is a total tourist magnet and a must see. I first thought its gonna be totally boring watching elephants for like more than an hour but then Swati convinced me that these baby tuskers have something innately cute about them. I agree. One such instance, there was a elephant mounting his girlfriend and the latter ran to her momma, away from all the raging testosterone. Man we were so enthralled to see all the action that I forgot to take the video. We took off from there to go to the Elephant society - Lionel recommended, now you see the benefit of having this guy. Here you get to take bath with elephants, like that new Cinthol ad (see photo attached). Another must do. 

Then we were off to Kandy (remember Kandy Kathirgamar Murugan from Thenali Movie). I had an idea about having fun by staying at Pallekele (20kms from heart of Kandy, where the new cricket stadium is). The Lanka home test series with NZ was going on, and I thought may be I will get to meet Jayawardene or Mccullum. Of course Swati had other plans and on top of that Lionel constantly scoffed at me for booking so far from Kandy, and making his travel company accommodate more kms for same price. Such loyalty :p

We did some local sight seeing, viz. botanical garden (reminded me of Ooty/ frisbee with my cousins). Evening, we went to the Kandy cultural show. Interesting performance but completely unprofessional, with certain dancers/percussionists were out of sync. One nice gentleman slept through the whole thing right in front of us while his poor wife was struggling to use the i-pad to capture the dance. Swati soon followed the gentleman, while I was struggling to fit my limited knowledge of taal (or thaalam in tamil) for the songs. I think 'thappu' thaalam totally fitted the bill. We paid 500 LKR per head not for such no-show, but the fire dance and some fine jugglery salvaged the act. Our verdict is 'time pass' but avoidable.

Day 2: Sigiriya fort
This majestic fortress is 3 hour drive north of kandy. The fort was built by a sinhalese prince who killed his own father to ascend the throne. To counter his elder brother, who was in exile in India, on his return, he constructed this giant palace atop fort. Sigiriya is derived from Singam+Giri, Singa meaning lion and Giri meaning fort - the lion fort. The palace has been destroyed by buddhists (wow, I was like these guys can be aggressive if they want) but the foundation still exists atop the fort, which is 1202 steps from gate. The water fountains, umpteen gardens will completely mesmerize you.

Warning for men: after all the hard work you do in climbing up those thousand odd steps, all you get to hear from the guide is how the king enjoyed his life with 500 (WHAT A MAN) of his courtesans across the globe and many of such pleasurable acts, and you will be like 'lucky bas****' ;-) It was physically exerting climb for me, obviously not like the king exerted, but I could feel another pack added to my abs. I am officially 2 pack now :D By the way Sigiriya is a UNESCO world heritage site and considered the eighth wonder of the world. Guides here expect around 1000-1500 LKR as tips.

The last two steps that makes it 1202 !!

a change in perspective ;-)

We then stopped at Dambulla Budda temple on the way back to Kandy. A big statue of Gautama awaits you, and on first sight I was reminded of the giant 'Mahavir' at Shravanebelagola, Karnataka. A must see but you can avoid the rock temple at Dambulla if you are already tired of climbing at Sigiriya. We didn't have Anuradhapura in our schedule which is further north of Sigiriya, but Lionel said that is another nice place to visit for ist buddhist temples, forts etc

Day 3/4: Nuwara Eliya
This hill station is nothing like Kodaikanal, Munnar, Mahabaleshwar and don't miss it thinking its just another hill area, unless you came to Lanka just for the beaches. We stayed at tea bush, the highest situated hotel in Nuwara Eliya, surrounded by lush tea plantations. Highly recommended. You can take a walk in the night to market to experience the chillness, and if too tired take a tuk-tuk (trishaw or auto) back.

Coming back to why having Lionel was worth it, he fit in some interesting places in our raw schedule like tea factory (a guide he knew accompanied us) and even before that in Kandy at a gem shop. Srilanka is famous for Sapphire and Moonstone and he helped us get good discounts from the shop. In general SAARC countries are viewed favorable and in most shopping we did like batik cotton or hand painted wall hangings, we got around 20-25% discount. Thanks to India and Lionel :)

Nuwara Eliya is peaceful and you can either prefer to be busy and just chill. We semi chilled, after an exerting Sigiriya trip. There are some beautiful gardens and lake. Instead of the usual boating experience we did cycling along the 2km esplanade, with stunning mountain beauty on sideway.

The stunning lakeside cycling track !!

Day 5/6: Yala wildlife reserve
On our fifth day, a bright sunday, we marched forward to Yala, the famous leopard reserve. On our way to Yala from Nuwara Eliya, we stopped at Sita Eliya and Sanjeevan hills (you guys know the Ramayana, so not explaining much). The temple closed by the time we reached Sita eliya, but we 'took care' of the caretaker, who in turn did his job. Taking care of us :) it was a nice darshan interspersed with Swati's Hanuman chalisa. Irrespective of the god, I usually recite the 'Gajananam' and 'buddhir balam', which I did. Simple. There are 2-3 waterfalls, but looked dangerous to take bath or completely devoid of people. So not worth it, unless you are with a group of friends and can risk the algae filled rocks for fun. But the water is definitely inviting, so its a matter of discretion. 

Raavana waterfalls

We arrived at Thissa, a 10km drive from Yala reserve and settled into the mosquito infested landscape. It's a proper jungle and advisable to take mosquito repellents before starting for the morning safari. If you are not a wildlife photographer or animal lover who can eternally gaze at herd of deers, completely still crocodiles, the occasional sighting of cobra/ mongoose, then opt for half day Safari. We were enthu enough to wake up at 5am in morning to get a glimpse of early morning wildlife, and we weren't disappointed the least. Ofcourse the first animal I saw was a dog right into the reserve area, haha, and my attitude served me right with no more sighting of canine family like wolf/ fox. Kidding, the reserve has only cats. We sighted a leopard and its cub, 5 mins into the jungle drive and our guide (Buddhika, a strange name) told us we were very very lucky. I was thanking my stars but didn't have a SLR to capture the beauty. But with limited capability of our camera, we did capture the colorful beauty of our national bird, in all its glory. 

Spotted deers and samba are other major highlights, while an elephant walked right next to our van. Swati screamed and pulled me back from taking a video of the mammoth and I landed on her laps. Thankfully, out of fear she didn't realize the entire weight of my body.

We had a pit stop for snack, before leaving, at the coastal border of Yala reserve (south east tip of Srilanka). We were shocked to hear 47 local/tourists died when tsunami hit the Yala reserve back in Dec 2004 (a peak tourist season), while on safari. You can see tombs built for the deceased. The beach reminded me of last scene in Planet of the apes, where the movie captured the 'armageddon' kind of scenario very stunningly. It was a strange moment, when I realized I was staring right into the Indian ocean and straight ahead is Antartica - for me it was end of the world. We dozed off on our way back.


Day 6/7: Bentota beach resort
I am specifically highlighting the resort and not Bentota since we hardly stepped out of the hotel. Basically we had an idea about complete relaxation for two days at the resort and I should it turned out not a bad idea. After a tiring 5 day trip inland atop rocks, safari, long walks round plethora of gardens we needed a break. Avani (where we stayed), Bentota beach resort, Taj have the most recommended resort beaches. The tourist attraction is tremendous and many Europeans come to bask in this sunny side of equator. 

If you remember I had mentioned about Swati having to regret not eating the sambhar vada at start of trip. The story goes like this - in lanka its all about rice if you are a vegetarian. Eggs of course. But then how many yolks can you digest, and also they cause so much heat causing splitting headaches after long drives in the car. So of course Swatu badly craved for Indian food, and bless Bentota, it has a special 'value for money' restaurant called 'Kandoori'. Totally Indian and their garlic naan + butter paneer is an ossum combo you can try. The place is a bit shady on first sight, but then pretty safe and you will get used to its ambience. At the end of it all, Swati summed it up really well. It was a short but exhausting yet at same time exciting trip and we felt equally happy and sad having to return to motherland. 

Note: Placing tips, you would think is at ones own discretion, but not in Srilanka. People look down upon you or indirectly scoff at you for not giving tips. Even our dear Lionel is a proponent of tip culture even be it unprofessional. So be prepared.

Tidbits about srilanka
1. People are positively biased to Mr. President, Rajapakse. Lionel idolizes him and he's a good representation of the voting population, being a buddhist. But an autowala disagreed, saying inflation and wealth disparity are key concerns. 

2. Hambantota is the Presidents birth place and as I write, he is turning the deserted town into another Colombo.

3. Toyota and Nissan are the hottest selling cars, while Tatas also have a formidable market share in heavy SUVs (like safari jeeps)

4. A lot of Indian companies seem to invest in this island country on its way to redevelopment. Eg. Maruti, Cairn India, Hero, Ashok leyland (buses mostly), Vasan eyecare, Bata, Sun

5. Films seems to have assimilated most new technology. But TV shows are boring as hell - reminded me of pointless Doordarshan sops in afty during 90s. 

Ayubovan !!

Hyderabadi Biryaani !!

Cmon guys!! How can I let this stupid blog die a slow death. A calm n lazy sunday afty in my friends relative house was enough to trigger my blog cells in my half dead brain.

Thanks to my friends buks reception, me and bancho landed in Hyderabad (plz excuse my friends' nicknames, i cant even explain what they mean, as otherwise i would have to rate this blog R or less exaggeratedly with 'parental guidance'). My cozin living in Hyd, the love bird he is, rightly decided to fly to Bangalore; So I decided its better to put up at my friends relative, who being wonderful hosts accommodated me willfuly. Me, in my right sense refused to show any modesty and unashamedly didn't turn down an offer to have timely tasty food and filter coffee every session of the day :P

So we land in hyd airport, which by the way is bloody impressive and rightly so they charge mega 500rs as user development fee. We take this ac airbus and my friend plugged me into gult radio mirchi songs. It was lol max to hear "loose ammayi loose ammayi loose ammayiiiiiiiii", a literal word by word translation of the hit simbu song "Lossu penne" ;-) Bancho gave a warning that if at all by chance we see tense group of people, just shout 'jai telengana!!' and get the hell out. So much so for freedom of speech. Neways, that issue is not for now.

The first auto we see after getting outta bus, the auto wala mistook us for outsiders and charged a bomb of 90rs and refused meter. Mistake poyindhi :P he was in for shock when bancho revealed his super stardom, by reeling out Balakrishna like dialogues in pristine telugu. Auto wala immediately put meter n didn't speak for the rest of journey. The fare was 33rs and we gave 40. I will forever be grateful to bancho for saving my share of 25 bucks which is essentially my one plate of omelette back in Mumbai office canteen. Moral of story - cliched but true !! learn to be a roman while in rome.

We arrive at relatives house and greeted by my not so good friend from the 5 sense family - DOG. Strangely this one was better of those experienced till date and i even managed to rub his furry back. I was uneasy for a while though as occasionally i got a few stares from him, but then i got to know from the family that i have mistakenly occupied his sofa, where he tents peacefully. One pampered 'Goldie' he is.

As expected we got the first of many such super hot filter coffees to follow. One hour from then sema tasty-hot puris and aalu bhajji, and how can I forget the home made kesari cakes with kaju topping (WoW is the word to describe it !! still drooling as I write this). I took a much needed bath for the benefit of all ;-) and surprisingly one major zzzzzzzzzzzzzz...leeeeeeep session overtook me. I was awaken by uncle who literally had to tempt me with lunch to get me outta bed.

VINTAGE 'MELONA' FAUX PAS: During lunch, I kept telling them the coconut mixed beans is excellent. Uncle asked me twice do I want the beans more. And for the third time he spilled the beans, that it is snake guard. LOL maxxxx moment, for others atleast. He then, as a sweet host made me feel less embarrassed by narrating a story where one of his friends mixed beetroot halwa in to rice thinking it is 'achaaar', just because its red in color.

to be continued....

Chennaiyil oru Mazhaikaalam !!

Ok dont start having any assumptions about this blog entry from the title - but still some relevance does exist!!

First things first!! Here goes my big toast to my 3rd big bro, who sumtimes I prefer calling, Ganboy, for also ending up being bitten by “louuv-bug”. For once again one of my cousins managed to surprise the entire PSV (named after my thatha) family ;-)

So where does this lead to!! Simple!! I can safely assume, as we are only four boys in the family in my generation, I have the moral obligation to go for an arranged marriage (read as UNLUCKY TILL DATE!!! Had my chances though ;-)

My cousin was my college classmate too, and this time around a pleasant surprise is that the bride also was; the last I heard, when the couple went onto invite professors for the marriage, the latter couldn’t believe, as they were more used to seeing these two engrossed in discussions like

****************

Scene 1: imagine these two in front of Notice Board, which has the dreaded grades of previous sem announced..

Groom - hey I got a 9.69 (read as no ‘B’ grades)…

Bride – oh!! Ossum!! got a 9.465…

Groom (as modest as ever) – lucky me!! Never thought I would get an ‘S’ in Mobile computing, I was ok with ‘A’…

****************

Or Scene 2: below our Bodhi Tree (like two laughing Buddhas)

Groom to Bride (or may be other way round): Hey!! I think you take better notes, can you share??

And me a respectable late 8’s and early 9’s pointer ;-), and some more of my lazy friends, would shamelessly piggyback!! The least we can do is atleast follow the footsteps of star performers!!

Note: The quintessential Bodhi Tree, is indeed a tree below where many a one enlightening discussions have taken place.

Jokes apart! A phenomenal marriage it was and a similar adjective for the couple, who complement each other well !!

Coming back to my Chennai trip this time around, I should say “Absolute cracker”!! Sweetest mom she is, almost everyday asks my opinion as to what to cook, which curry, choice of appalam/ vadam, desserts etc. Maybe she still doesn’t know that, most often than not, I am more than happy with just the idea of home food, and it doesn’t matter what’s on the menu.

This time I was less influenced by my father’s typical holiday suggestion of watching together a classic film, and this time he suggested “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” I guess!! I did watch it finally just before leaving for Mumbai. Being a guy who jus laps up anything with decent romance, comedy, or a combination of both, thoroughly enjoyed Audrey Hepburn’s role!! However it’s another story that I am come under intense scrutiny at my office, for even considering this film, post previous similar blemishes like “PS: I Love you”, “500 days of Summer”. (…as I am writing this, my colleagues are saying that I am missing some more path-breaking films, but I pretend not to care...)

Also I had my first experience of two kinds this time; one going with just my Mom and Sister to a movie (a very juvenile romcom “Chikku Bukku”, but I would like to add “feel good” just to save my A**), and another being watching it in ESCAPE (a luxury multiplex offering from Sathyam Cinemas). I was impressed with interesting screen names like Blush, Streak, Plush and five more such, and a very comfortable movie watching experience. I can safely say Santhanam is the best find after Vivek/ Vadivel and is here to stay. His style though reminds me of Goundamani, basically sarcasm, but as mentioned before nothing wrong in following star performers. RIP-ROARING HE IS!!

By the end of it all, the last day, I was feeling pretty down naturally!! But ofcourse I had to get back, it was definitely like a pseudo summer hols!! I was scared some relative of mine would ask whether I have left my job or something...I joked to my cousins that I just keep reminding my boss that I am alive at this end of the country, jus in case ;-) After I came back to Mumbai, my father had called me, and I dunno why he asked this question "so hows the first day? are they happy to see you back???"..pat came my reply "I am happy that they recognized me!!!"..I could hear me father laughing at the other end, and then I knew I am back all in ONE PIECE !!

tchus !!

late night rambling !!

So here I am in Chennai FINALLY after a looong gap of five seriously long months...though this five month period had three 31 day months, Feb came to my rescue and made it even..

I always feel so much at home just stepping into the lounge of Kamaraj Airport, which btw is supposedly renovated. However I feel the main lounge has become only more crampy, considering whatever little I am able to recall of my joyous airport visits during childhood, to see off dear & close ones..may be its because as a child, airport visits were a luxury and a rare event and the airport dimensions had a multiplier effect...and then now the pre-paid taxi service has made life so easy that in an ideal scenario, it jus takes max 5 mins to hit the road - adjustments for luggage handling, queue etc have to be done practically...nevertheless well organized !!

Chennai welcomed me with a nice cool breeze (I was coming from Mumbai, so its all relative)..was damn tired and wanted to doze off for sometime in the cab, but the cabbie made sure IT DOESNT HAPPEN !! it was clear that, for him, Chennai road seemed like a Monaco race track..had a lighthearted chat with him and said "yetho signal irukkardhunaala vandi nikkudhu!!", meaning "if not for the signals the cab would continue its juggernaut"..nehow he got offended I said that, and took it as a personal comment on his professional skills..

This time even though my visit to Chennai is really SHORT, so many things happen and yet again I seem to have something interesting to say or pen down !! bless BLOGS!! My cozin jus got married and I am so happy for him...to cut a long story short - CUPID JUST L-O-V-E-S OUR FAMILY !!!!!

And here's the weekend and I should give it to my appa for somehow magically making me watch late night Doordarshan classics ..before watching there's a dog fight to change the channel to some very stale tamil comedy and movies that is bound to be watched the umpteenth time..but at the end of the day you would thank someone like my father to knock in some taste for sensible movies (this time it was Girish Karnad's 1970's Kannada movie, "Tabbaliyu Neenade Magane") ..my college friend who is a self acclaimed film afficianado, rates my movie taste at GRADE 'B' with himself obviously at 'A'...thankfully my ratings should increase now (as though I give a damn neways..LOL)

As much as I am loving to continue writing this blog, the image of vengaya vetha kuzhambu, lemon rasam, appalam, kathrika podi curry, which amma has promised for Sunday grand brunch is so inspiring me to sleep - so that 90% of the next 10 hours should fly past quickly. Less cruel haan, wat say !!

HOME SWEET HOME !!!

Tchus !!

The hahaha of "ha" !!

coughs...and more cahoughs...oh and then I realize I am not coughing...actually I am “cahoffing”...It’s the sound of someone trying embarrassingly bad enough, to belt out a "ha" sound...Its high pressure situation...It’s like when Chandler's shouting at the back while Joey takes a piss…OMG! I realize I just couldn't place a simple "ha" correctly between syllables...believe me it's not like "arrey boss!! It’s after all a simple ha"...If you can't give the correct "ha", just go hang yourself...It’s as different as "shit - sit"…

Once we room mates were waiting for a taxi, when an empty taxi zipped past us...I, in my "killer" Hindi said, "woh taxi kaali hai na! kyun nahi roka usse"....and my friends who by then are in ROTFL mode, sarcastically says "he he! We know the taxi's black”... and several more rounds of LOL! LOL! Then I realize I was supposed to use K-H-A-A-L-I...then I am like so frustrated and ask my friends ‘Why is there so many kaali's a) kaali b) khaali c) gaali’, and one friend adds another one "khaali" which is like "he/she ate"... I was diligently registering it my grey cells, just when this another bugger clarified that it’s like "khaa-li" ... two separate words and not the same...bechaara, he didn't know that it's all the same to me...

And btw I was almost threatened of losing my offer if I aint gonna pronounce my firm's name rite...yeah it’s not Anand Rathi (as in the yester year hindi/tamil film actress), but RAAT-HEEEEE...oh puleeeeezz...

Let’s see another dimension of this cursed "ha"...Some words are pronounced the same in English-Hindi....like "bhook-book", hmm...”chuck-chaka"?? Hehe...ok ok!! that was little exaggerating...but then why leave Tamil, we have "thaali" which can mean a sumptuous palate in Hindi, but then its Mangal sutra in Tamil...let’s consider a south boy-north girl marriage and let’s assume the only common language is English...imagine the newlywed saying "I don’t like the thaali to her in-laws" or the guy telling her that "the thaali hurts during the night" and she might just misunderstand that he is complaining of indigestion! BECHAARA-that-he-is!

neways I am going back to Worli sea face and immerse myself and do "Saathagam" to get the perfect "ha"..Till then its "Shreeram" - if neone calls me Sreeram...gonna kill them - signing off!

Chembaite or Munnaite ????????

Sounds not so funny a title right? Is it just to GRAB ATTENTION !!!!! [not to mention my insane efforts by posting my blog address on Gchat, Facebook, Orkut] .. hmm .. still puzzled though? let me give you some idea about the month’s happenings..

Yours truly arrived in Mumbai [yeah guyzz.. I am gonna earn my bread n butter here for some time] and

much delightful is that the city welcomed me [you know that feeling...a gentle, positive vibe] and

I witnessed what it really means when they say “Mumbai doesn’t stop L-I-V-I-N-G for god sake”. It’s that time of the year when as a Chennaite I would have felt really happy for a change in weather. Forward to Mumbai, cabs ply with half their tyres immersed in the puddle created, people are knee deep in water and believe me nothing stopped functioning or ceased to exist in Mumbai. Who gives a shit about whether the “dadar - eastern line” has become non functional or not. [legs, auto, bus and ofcourse T-A-X-I (eeeeeeee),Fort chalenge? Cabbie nods, you get in and off you go. When myself and my colleagues quizzed a cabbie how many cabs run in the city, no wonder he said 1 lakh] and

my worst of dreams came true when I was “chilloued” by a cab-driver, for giving mixed signals, courtesy my “pandit level” hindi and

I am working on a lot on excel nowadays – (aap sochtha, mein zyaada kaam karta hoon) – hmm shayad.. the working goes like this. One sheet for hindi nouns, another for FSHW (Frequently Spoken Hindi Words), another for verbs and tense, and yet another for prepositions. Frankly I don’t know how many more sheets will be appended, but believe me when I say, I haven’t worked so dedicatedly for learning a language to get my tense, grammar, pronunciation rite [even for my mother tongue, Tamil] and

continuing from where I left at Chennai, my friends from the fatty brigade of wada, dosai, onion pakoda got some competition in Mumbai in the form of wada paav, pyaaz bhajji and

you guess, who’s started cooking ;-) The root of my inspiration lies within lot of facts, that I wanted to badly continue my new found passion during my exchange program to Barcelona, and that my cunning soul wants all of my “pathla dosts” sharing apartment with me to put on oodles of weight [2 bottles of oil used, innumerable kgs of potato cooked and it goes on] (and that includes my Hindi tutor Jammy! Ingratitude you would say!! Help that poor soul! He cooks along with me!), and

not to mention, of course I am in the savings phase of my life [who gives a damn if it’s the same rice, dhal, potato-pyaas curry, rasam all through the week. Who wanna dine outside !! ]. It seems Einstein once observed that the “eighth wonder in the world” is the power of compounding. So my fraands, start making some savings and do some investments [ok. if you are puzzled still why this observation, that’s my pitch as a representative of financial services to make you guys create wealth] and

you know what, seriously I don’t give a damn about being a chembaite or a munnaite, becoz Mumbai cabbies are gonna continue extending their friendliness, I am gonna gobble up wada paavs as diligently as ever, be awed during the special monsoon life, while at the same time thrown into nostalgia of the Marina beach, “mulagai bhajji”, Captain’s ossum flicks, Rajni frenzy, dear tam friends and all…

Oops…have to get up very early tomorrow for an important meeting. Gracias for a patient reading, watch out this space for some more L-E-G-E-N-D [wait for it] A-R-Y stuff [yeah... HIMYM rox]

:D