After 2 weeks of sleepless nights,we finally decided to take a break.the 'agnipariksha" team decided to chill out at "wonder la" this weekend,but due to non-avialability of mr. "fuSSy logic"(aka finance n credit head),we settled down for an 'ice-creamy' experience at 'corner house' on residency road,today evening..we all decided to meet at 3 pm(while we cud have met at 4 pm,when all the birds come out of their closet,but thanks to ms. A,who had complained the previous day,tat 4 pm was a lil late,as she n her friends wud have to go back home before night)...ironically, neither A nor B OR C turned up...so here we were,a bunch of stags,trying to figure out how exactly we wud be havin fun so early in the evening on a road like "residency road"..
the ice creams were consumed in no time n we were sittin there baffled thinkin wat to do next..amidst this,the manager of the shop asked us to move out so as to make place for other visitors..at tat time,some kind soul suggested tat we cud roam around some of the malls which were just around the corner..
first we went to bangalore central,which kinda luked the "most happenin" place at that moment atleast...mr. X suggested tat we cud go to the chat shop at the top most floor of the mall...well,we later came to know tat the chat shop was jus the 'bahana' for X to do some bird watchin while climbin up the to the top-most floor.on the last but one floor i dared one of my juniors to use the escalator comin down ,to climb up..well,pls don't think its an easy job..it was quite a DARE.before i dared him,some of us kinda tested the 'dare' to see if it really deserved a gud reward...n forget abt climbin up,we cudn even step on an escalator tat was comin down..it was tat dizzyin...
after a thorough scannin of the escalator n a green signal by one of my friends who was stationed at the top floor,this junior took off like a mini jet..his idea was to avoid the region wher the steps become flat n for tat he had to land on one of the steps directly..luckily,his short run-up before the final jump,safely landed him on one of the steps n after doin so there was no stoppin for this guy,except at the top,wher he was stopped by one of the security guards who was obviously quite shocked to see someone climbin up an escalator tat was movin down ! it was so funny,cuz this guy was now stranded on an escalator,as he had to complete the dare n get past that security gurad.he somehow managed it to the top n it was surely an event to celebrate,atleast for him..some kids who wer the only spectators to this "breath-taking" challenge apart from us n ofcourse that security person,clapped jubiliantly as if they had jus witnessed a mind blowin circus act ! the security guard did suspect if this guy was anywhere close to his sane self,(this junior of mine, luks a lil insane even when normal,so it cud not have been difficult for the security to quickly judge him as a mind-less-fellow ;) )..so after,treatin him with an ice-tea,we decided to go to garuda mall..
as we wer comin out of b'lore central,a bunch of girls(all hired by a fairness cream company) stopped us to ask if we wud like to play a game,which was part of their advertising campaign.well,we wud not have agreed,had we been stopped by guys,but with girls around,we simply cud not refuse ;) well the game was pretty simple...each person had to rotate a circular piece of card board with arrows printed on it..the circular piece roatates on a sheet tat has some text written at irregular spacings in a circular fashion.if each arrow covers each text(one arrow coverin one text),then the person gets to pick up a folded chit(just like a lucky draw) which has the goodies' name written on it. after two un succesful attempts by B n me,it was the turn of C. mr.C,a guy who doesn mind takin any type of challenge(jus like my insane juni.) successfully managed to win the game..now it was the turn for pickin up the chit to win a goodie..lucky fellow,he wins a WRIST WATCH ! C's display of excitement is suddenly struck down when he sees "fair and lovely" written in bold letters on the dial..atleast,we wer not dis-appointed for not winnin such a prize *sighs* . but surely, we enjoyed every bit of wat had happened !
we later went to garuda mall n nothin quite interestin happened apart from the fact tat C n I won free thumbs up bottles at some contest...well.. i cant say we won it as it was given away to everyone who was called to take on the challenege..but wat we really earned was 5 minutes of attention from quite a huge crowd tat was witnessing the event...

Well,something really funny happened yesterday n the very fact tat it involved a girl n a boy makes it even more interesting n tat much more embarassing ;) ..obviously i was the guy n for the time being let the girl be ms. X..
It was late evening n it was very kind of ms. X to offer me a drop to my house from college..i said a quick "YES" without any second thoughts the moment she uttered the word "drop".little did i know tat the word "drop" had a much more deeper meaning :( ...anyway,i was soo happy tat i was about to save 5 bucks on the bus n ofcourse tat waiting ! .heres how the conversation proceeded there-after:

K(grinning): hope u can ride the vehicle with a hefty guy like me ridin pillion behind you.
X:oh tats ok !

(she starts the vehicle n i sit behind her.vehicle reaches that abominable slope tat takes u to the main road from college..the vehicle suddenly starts makin some strange sounds as if it was finding it diffcult to accept me as a co-passenger..poor thing,eventually gives up n comes to a silent halt..obviously the next thing we did was PUSH ! well X,clever dame tat she is,PRETENDS to PUSH n manevour the vehicle,while i painstakingly push the whole damn vehicle,tat was as hefty as me.pushing on plain roads is OK,but pushin on a slope is something similar to weight-lifting.we finally reach the entrance of r cllg.X turns around to see if i have some more energy to push it across the road(very considerable huh?).but something tells her she cud try startin her vehicle once more(thangaaaawd!).

X(grinning):hope it wasnt so tiring
K:(hell yeah..if u allow me,i can push this damn vehicle all the way to my house..) oh not at all..
(the vehicle starts,n i sit behind her.we haven even covered a meter n the vehicle resorts to its old tricks of makin the same ol' noise)

K:(again???? gettin down) hey,i will cross the road,u can bring ur vehicle across.
X:(no reply).

the moment i get down,the vehicle suddenly turns into a lion,all roarin with full josh.now comes the interesting part of the incidentt.as i get down,i see ms. X ridin her vehicle as fast as possible,completely oblivious of the fact tat there's a person stranded in the middle of the road.SHE HADN'T REALIZED TAT I WAS NO LONGER SITTIN ON HER VEHICLE WHICH HAD SOMEHOW TRANSFORMED NOW INTO A SUPER BIKE ! now,i cant even shout,cuz then it wud luk like a guy shoutin at a girl to stop n the girl is tryin her level best to get away from him! tat wud luk highly embarassing !at the same time,i cant even keep quiet,cuz i don wanna wait for the bus n pay tat 5 bucks(actually my purse was empty tat day :( . so here i was,only left with a choice of walkin upto my house..well,i was lucky enough to catch a bus at the next bus stop n guess wat i did for the ticket..these conductors,generally don ask u to pay if u tell them a place tat the bus wudnt be goin..then u have to get down at the next immediate bus-stop to catch the right bus.this is precisely wat i did to travel ticket-less to reach my bus-stop !

well,the most hillarious thing happens when ms.X calls me later in the night,all tense. when i ask her wat on earth had made her to put a gud feelow like me in sucha helpless situation,she replies sayin she had assumed tat i was sittin behind her all thru the journey n it only struck her when she turned back to luk for an answer to some question of hers.then,it seems,she saw an ambulance zoomin past her,n now the lady starts gettin jitters thinking tat i had fallen mid-way on the road,n i was injured n things like tat,n she hadnt realized tat i had fallen down.n now the sight of an ambulance had made her feel tat it was actually carryin ME to the hospital..he he he he he he....so fulllll tension aadlu hudugi....he he he he he he he he he..

anyway,i cudn stop laughin at the way the events unfolded yesterday...it was a twist-pe-twist kinda incident....however moral of the story is :never sit on a vehicle tat u suspect might break down any moment.tat too if a girl is offerin the drop,instead of noddin ur head instantly in tat excitement,u can safely decline it !

Is bangalore slowly turning into a paradise for flamboyant,rude,status-minded,im-patient people ???? are bangaloreans becomin incresingly short-tempered about trivial things...or is it just me who has started hating bangalore to the core...recently i read an article in OUTLOOK tat said delhities are the most rude,status-minded,heartless people in the country...mumbai n kolkatta(notice no mention of bangalore !),though equally cosmopolitan are far more sensible and calm !!! well.... i feel the magazinee delibrately did not mention bangalore becus it felt "namma bengaluru" was no less compared to delhi!

circa 2005,the auto stand right in front of my house,is celebratin its 5th year of existence with great joy n vigour...obviously,when u have auto drivers in the news,u r bound to witness some "breath-taking" events..n tats wat typically happened....3 auto drivers,extremely high on booze,start fightin in the middle of the night(remember,the celebrations were over way back in the evening !)...n as if tat wasnt enough,another guy joins in jus to console these people..(well..if he had lil more brains,he cud have as well called the cops..they really know how to console such guys!)the fight continues till 3'o clock in the night n finally settles down after the beat police intervenes..

come 2006,this auto driver(whose regular 'adda' is the stand next to my house n we know him quite well) is asked to deliver a gas cylinder by my mom..first,he demands double charge(cuz,according to him carryin a gas cylinder is a big risk ! ghosh! his auto itself is runnin on gas n he never felt THAT was a risk ???)anyway,my mum agrees(but i frown),as it was urgent for the cylinder to be delivered..later,while loadin the cylinder into the auto,my father asks him for some assistance,n this guys,suddenly,gets his temper raised,n starts shoutin at us,sayin we have dis-respected him and auto drivers are not to be treated as servants n things like tat...agreed...but does asking for some help mean treatin tat person as a servant??? n we r the last people to dis-respect anyone ! like for example,the other day,when the auto meter had hit around 55 bucks,we decided to pay the same guy some extra as a gesture of gratitude.. he quickly pocketed tat extra change with a grin on his face....where did his so called "self respect" vanish then ???

a few days later,i walk upto the same auto driver(to my bad fortune,there werent any more autos standin in the stand,save his,n i was already getting late to college) n ask him to take me to PESIT,which is jus a mile away from my house...n guess wat he does..he grabs all the attitude tat he can ever find,n lukin at the sun,simultaneuosly pickin up the dirt from his teeth,nods his head indicatin as if i was some sort of useless animal in this world...it was a "NO",i clearly understood.i really felt like breakin his head right there! "god...wat does he think of himself"..well i always thot an auto driver is supposed to go wherever the passenger asks him to,no matter how far r near the destination is.but somehow,he made me feel the rule was the other way round,with the driver decidin whthr the passenger gets in r not.it was already late,so i was in no mood for arguments..fortunately,i spotted a private cab within seconds,n i went to cllg with a disturbed mind!

another day,my mom n i were supposed to attend a function.my mom calls the same auto driver(inspite of my innumerable requests for travelling by bus,as the buses were very frequent on tat route)..surprisingly,tat guy agrees,but suddenly i see a bus comin,so i signal my mom not to climb..so my mom starts headin towards me..but,tat bus turns out to be some company's bus,so we start waitin hopin to find another bus.we see another auto comin r way,n i purposely choose this auto instead of the other one,tat was kept waiting..well,maybe i wanted to teach him a lesson..cuz i was tired of his ways of often leavin the passenger helpless n yieldin to his demands,n i thot,maybe i should remind him,tat even a passenger has choices n can render the auto drivers helpless anytime.

well,i was wrong...today my mom came upto me n said shockingly that NONE of the auto drivers were ready to go to whichever place she had asked..when my mom asked them for a reason,it seems,the same auto guy told her tat we had humiliated him the other day...well,i don think my mom r anyone deserves to face a situation wherein,u have an array of autos standin in front of your own eyes, n none of them respond cuz one of their friends was humiliated..i mean,don they have the brains to actually understand wat the problem was n then decide to behave in a certain way??? n wat was more surprising was tat we knew some of those auto drivers very well !!! if they really had to show their solidarity with some one,then it should have been with US !!! this is wat i hate about this country..u see a guy destroyin public property while shoutin names of a public figure,n within no time,there's a huge crowd joinin him in his mission,without actually understandin why he is doin tat !

well its not only the auto drivers...one fine day,while my father was droppin me to college,a tata sumo came zoomin towards us from one of the turns(which we were about to take).but wat this guy does is,he brings his car to a halt within inches from r dash-board..n when we ask him to make way,he demands us to do the same...he fails to understand tat there r two other vehicles standin jus behind us,n its impossible for us to go back...but somehow his already swellin ego tat was slowly turnin into anger, makes him act like an illiterate,hurling out abuses at us for not makin the way !!! i was soo angry tat i had almost decided to get out of the car n get into a full-fledged man-to-man fight!maybe i wud have done tat,had not the passengers sitting in the vehicles behind us came to our support..

well...everyone seems to be talkin about bangalore being hip n cosmopolitan !!! but somehow,an ordinary bangalorean still finds it difficult to swallow such colourful compliments ! as they say,a drop of poison is enough to poison the whole milk,one such uncivilized guy is enough to mar the image of our city ! not tat,such incidents don't happen elsewhere in the world..but the point is,they don get this ugly ! atleast they wudnt go to an extent of abusin someone without THINKING! whereas here,every fight r argument,somehow has to boil down to a battle between "the ever prevailing egos".

well...i finally watched rang de basanti today at PVR along with my parents,grand mum n 2 of my aunts...AWESOME MOVIE !!! surely beats dil chah tha hai,given the fact tat the latter ,though was seen as the begining of new age indian cinema,failed to send out any clear message,atleast to me.....hey hold on ! i am not sayin it did not have any message at all...i mean,a young guy fallin in luv with an older woman,r saif's confused way of thinking when it came to love r for tat matter aamir glorifyin himself as the demigod of anti-love,all these were portrayed really well,but it just failed to present one single message for the audience n the climax also sounded predictable(with aamir finally gettin his "lady love")....RDB,on the other hand,was simply flawless right from the begining.

well,as soon as we enterred the cinema hall,there was some documentry on adoption,which apparently made my grand mum feel that the movie had alreayd begun n this child adoption scene,according to her,was turnin out to be such a beautiful starting for the movie....after the documentary,something dreadful happened.....A DOCUMENTARY ON AIDS PREVENTION ! for a moment,this switch over from a topic as trivial as adoption to as night-marish as condoms, turned out to be even more dramatic than titanic sinking ! then came another trailer,worse than the previous one...this time it was the turn of sharon stone givin sum tips on seducin thru BASIC INSTINCT 2....for a second,i thought someone delibrately wanted to seek revenge with me by hurlin a tsunami of such trailers when i am with my family...i even thought of gettin up n gougin the eyes of tat guy in the projector room...what on earth made him forget tat there were "family people" inside the hall...as if "condoms-ko-isthamaal-karna-math-bhulna" advice wasnt enough,he also wanted sharon stone to give us a piece of her mind????(n some body..agrrrrrr!)...it was sooooo embarassing..i literally closed my eyes with my hands,n later cudnt resist makin holes in the fingers to get sum glimpse of the movie....i even heard some one expressin her suspicion of having got into the right cinema hall...i turned around to see who had made tat comment,only to realise tat it was my already baffled paati,who was now tryin to make faces at me,as if beggin for mercy ! surely,with grand moms around,entertainment just doubles..

finally the movie begins...(what a relief !).i wont get into the details of the movie..the first half of the movie makes u feel as if u r witnessin another "dhoom" episode...but only later,u will realise how beautifully the director has shown the transformation of a group of hot blooded young men,brimming with energy,to whom enjoyin every moment of life is a sacred mission,into matured responsible citizens.....the songs are sublty crafted to fit the youthful image of the characters,...at one instant,even i could not hold from letting myself loose..."out of control"...but thanks to my strong mind...i held myself from creatin a catastrophe in the theatre.
the phirangi actress is HOT...she has acted well too. luks like we have another keira knightly in the makin !

anyway,there r some really emotional scenes,in the latter half of the movie...one of my aunts was actually strugglin to keep her eyes dry(maybe she cud associate one of the characters to her son ! in the gud sense of course !)...
well,on the whole,the movie,the company n ofcourse my grand mom(she deserves a special mention....yeah !) culminated to give me a fantastic TREAT !

well,one of my friends scrapped me on orkut saying tat he had started a thread on one of our teachers in pu. , at our pu college community..the thread was about SUDHA BHAT...well,she was the hod of chem. dept. at r pu cllg. she was in her late 30's when she expired 2 years back..so this thread was a tribute to this great lady!
the first thing tat comes to mind when i think of her is the confidence tat used to ooze from her so easily,whether in class or outside ! she was very different from other faculty n wasnt like the usual boring kinda lecturers who used to come to cllg as if it was their unfortunate obligation..a friendly person,at the same time an equally stern task master ! i still remember the way she used to scold students with a mixture of sarcasm,humiliation n wat not,later endin it with a tinge of friendly advice,which eventually used to make my buddies feel more gud than bad.one neednt have to speak to her,in order to know her...u cud simply make out from the way she used to scuttle from one classroom to another n climb those steps in between the floors so effortlessly,as if puttin each step into shame..

i still remember the day i visited her in the hospital...it was just after my chemistry exam(1st semester) tat i received a call from one of my lecturers tellin me tat she was in the hospital n her stage was critical.for a moment a cloud of gloom n shock surrounded me..the pictures of sudha bhat as a teacher,a guru,a diciplinarian slowly started tricklin down my mind.my body grew numb as i haplessly tried associating her with hospital,medicare n things like tat which were anything but alien to this charming dynamic lady.i was about to call my friend,when i got another ring from varun...we quickly packed ourselves off to the hospital.as we reached,we cud see lots of teachers n students already swarmin the entrance.for a moment we thought it was all over....we somehow managed to muster some courage n walked down to one of our lecturers who gave us a dis-heartenin luk....he told us tat the conditon had been on the decline ever since tat morning..we breathed a sigh of relief...atleast something terrible handnt happened !

we had to wait for our turn to get a glimpse of her as she was in the ICU...as varun n me sat down waiting, the pictures n memories of sudha bhat were fillin up r minds very quickly.after sometime one of our teachers signalled us indicatin r turn had come n we headed towards the ICU.
varun went inside first n i still did not know if i wanted to see her in such a state...but i had to,as i had come this far.i slowly motioned my body towards her still unsure if wanted to see her....i stopped near a bed which had a tag containin her name...she was sleepin r may be resting r maybe just lying there with her eyes closed as some one in a white jacket had ordered her to do so......among all these thoughts,u may notice,it never occured to me tat she was sick.......seeing such a bold n dynamic person lying on the bed so helplessly in the ICU,just shook me ...i still remember how difficult it was to actually believe tat a person who was so bubbly n effervescent had transformed into just a lump of bones..as i watched her sleepin in such calm n leisure,the words tat didnt exist in her dictionary until now, a globule of water started fillin my eyes....i cud not stay there any longer as i knew i wud burst into tears...there was a ghastly silence everywhere except for the recurrin beep of the life supporting system . i touched her feet n decided to leave.....
my legs had already grown heavy... as i pulled myself out of the room i cud see her husband standin outside the ICU.....he was a brave man ...atleast i felt so as i didnt see see him weepin or asking for shoulders(for support)...but all of us had one thing in common at the back of our minds...we all knew this could simply not be possible...outside the hospital,someone told me tat her recovery was beyond any human aid..she was to die any moment.....everyone thought why death had choosen only her,as if there werent enough people already sick n dying ! there was a small church in the vicinity n we(varun n i) decided to go there n pray for her health..

after 2 days i got a call telling me she had expired....we rushed to the mortuary to pay our final respects....
even though she might not exist in flesh today,her charm,her confidence,her friendliness,her vibrant smile still exudes like it did 4 years ago when i was her student....
may her soul rest in peace for ever.....

"death is so biased...yet un-biased !"

damn....i was readin a really great blog this midnight,n i cudn help admiring the way it has been written..the blogger,a veteran ofcourse,is a girl aged around 22..n she has been bloggin for the past 3 years...one can literally see her maturing from a confused teenager to a hardened girl...she talks about her never endin dreams n fantasies about her mr.awesomes,her divided family,her job-less situations..visit her at www.myrealnameisluly.blogspot.com ...

On a lousy satuday evening....i decided to do something which i always did when life seemed to have come to an end,when there was nothin more to think,no path to tread,n a kinda of nirvana which indicates there's just VOID everywhere....suddenly,something in me said "hey..stop thinking like a hermit...jus luk around....there r many things in this world which haven been explored..u r sure to find something new...interesting " ."maybe",i shrugged..n within few minutes i was in the CD parlor hunting for some real arbit movie...well honestly,its among such arbit movies i find real NIRVANA...these movies not necessarily contain romance r action r the usual masala...they r usually bland...after watchin them,u get a feeling as if u have just returned from some other planet devoid of emotions...u r put into an intensive thinkin mission the moment the tape starts rollin ! n u r forced to remain in tat mode till the movie finishes(as its very unlikely for anyone to decipher the plot let alone the climax..)..anyway i restrained myself from picking something totally weird,as i didnt want to luk like russel crowe in beautful mind,as i had a function to attend later in the night..well after an exhaustive search,i zeroed in on "brokeback mountain"....the movie tat created quite a stir with its audacious plot of homosexual relationships...ahem...i had always been curious about this one n i was dyin to watch it ever since i saw a review of this in TOI...well before we continue lemme assure tat i am straight n tat hasnt changed even after watchin the movie..one caution before u proceed..
if you haven watched the movie yet,u may find some of the info revealing which may spoil ur curiosity abt the movie..but i still say its safe to go ahead as there's a big difference in watchin n readin abt this movie...

k...lets get on..the story is set in the 60's,u may call it the cowboy era in the united states.....the movie begins with two strangers walkin down to a big farmer askin for work...the farmer obliges. while one is assigned the task of takin the sheep for rearin on the brokeback mountain(i am still tryin to find out if there's actually anything like tat or was it jus a secret reference created by the duo) the other had to cook food n take care of their makeshift shelter...as the time passes by,the monotony of their job n their seclusion from the rest of the world makes them feel lonely...they crave to find noise but r firmly denied by the silence of the mountains..ofcourse there's the sound coming from the herd of sheep n the occasional neighin of their horses..but tat is all they can find... one cold night,one of them(who is a kind of introvert)while warming his body in the fire,hears a shrill call from his gregarious companion, from the tent...n on that fateful night they realise an unkown attraction r shud i say bonding between themselves...(ang lee,the director of the movie,says tat he had to re-shoot this scene many times,much for the dis-comfort of everybody,as the actors were findin it diffcult to get intimate...quite obvious...*wink**wink*) well,things go a lil awry as the guys start comin in terms with their abnormal feelings towards each other..(lee's done a gud job while portrayin this)....its winter,n the two lovers (almost by then !!!) warn the farmer of an in-coming snow storm..the farmer decides to stall the work n the duo decide to meet durin next summer at the same place...but,theres a hitch...one of them is about to get married in few days !!! n then he will have a family of his own...but,they have to meet as there's something tats pullin them towards each other....will they meet inspite of many such social barriers???is their luv strong enough to bring them back???even if they do,can they live in a society that considers homosexuality a curse..a taboo....

Full credits to the cameraman,for having caught some of the breath taking land scapes of Wyoming..lush green ranches,huge mountain ranges silhouetting against bright red horizon..sometiems u cant stop wondering if there is such a place on earth r is it some graphic manipulations !!! well honestly, I have always been a bad admirer of nature…it never made sense to me when ppl made endless descriptions n showered their praises on things as in-animate as mud,water,sky n stuff like tat..but now I am happy n relieved to say tat I really know wat they were speakin when they said “hey…tat just luks like heaven on earth”(well it’s a different fact how I used to struggle to find out how these ppl had got access to heaven to make all those comparisons !)…indeed this is the only way to reach heaven if u wanna make tat journey before u put ur head down to eternity…NATURE....just bury urself there..

however the highlight of the movie(for me atleast) is the intelligent usage of 'silence' by the director...he has successfully demonstrated how silence can speak more than words..(how i wish all r lecturers had understood this...*sighs*).

the movie defies the meaning of love n dares to make a bold statement that love's not only blind to age,but also to gender..when someone said,very rightly, tat "love is blind",he probably meant it with a much deeper meaning......

however one word of caution for ppl in relatioships: don watch it with ur partner...especially if its a girl(cuz she wont stop suspectin u...he he)
one word of advice to the rest(me included!)...the movie has got some intimate scenes..but who cares…the story requires it…

go watch it,if u r lukin for some un-conventional entertainment....