Yesterday I saw Sholay yet once again, after a long interval, and was relieved to find that I still remembered all the dialogues and had not lost my touch yet. Ram Gopal Verma, who is making a today's version of Sholay, has said that he has watched the movie at least 500 times. And till I read that interview of his, I was considering my feat of having watched it around 50 times, to be quite unique! But yeah, now I have resigned to the fact that I am just one of the many ardent fans that the Big B has.
While in Mumbai, I saw on a news channel, that a bunch of people in Calcutta actually worshipped him on Guru Poornima. Also, one of my friends told me that there was an Amitabh superfan contest going on and that I should participate, since I was the biggest AB fan that he had known. But while I am a huge fan, I have never done crazy stuff which a lot of people may have done for their idol, like worshipping him, or installing his statuette etc.
Also, I can never call myself a 'superfan' till I manage to watch all the movies starring Amitabh. The list of AB movies I havent been able to watch is as follows:
Pyar Ki Kahani (1971 movie with Tanuja)
Ek Nazar (with Jaya Bachchan - 1972 I think)
Sanjog (with Aruna Irani)
Kasauti (with Hema Malini)
Kyun... Ho gaya na (2004 - Vivek Oberoi/Ash)
Aetbaar (2004 - Vikram Bhatt movie with John Abraham)
Paheli (2005 - Amol Palekar movie)
The last 3 are movies I can catch up anytime, and intend to do so soon, but the first 4 are Amitabh's pre-Zanjeer flops, which have disappeared without trace and are not available anywhere... my only hope would have been to catch them on Zee Cinema or some other sidey channel sometime, just like I got to see Bansi Birju, Gehri Chaal, Benaam, etc.
Speaking of movies, the last few days have been exceptionally good, with me having caught up on some of my all time favourites, including A Few Good Men, The Godfather and Sholay. While I am at it, intend to see Deewar and Trishul soon as well.. and that would complete the circle
Friday, July 29, 2005
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Hello Again!
Well, finally have managed to get back to my blog after more than 2 weeks. I had jotted down quite a bit on my laptop, but had not been able to connect it to net so far.
Have posted 3 articles written at different times of my journey... Will be active once again when I reach Sydney. See ya :)
Have posted 3 articles written at different times of my journey... Will be active once again when I reach Sydney. See ya :)
Ooh Calcutta!
This piece was written at 1:20 AM on Wednesday 20th July 2005 from home
‘Nostalgia’ is the word which can aptly describe my feelings on the Calcutta trip (somehow I have never grown to call it Kolkata). The nostalgic bouts started on the flight itself, when the in-flight newspaper was ‘The Telegraph’, the newspaper that I grew up reading and have read for the better part of my 22 years there. And like the rest of the city, not much has changed in the newpaper too… even the cartoon strips remain the same.
Was great to meet old childhood and school friends after a long time… and most of them were pleasantly surprised at the change in appearance that I carried. If they were expecting the skinny, ugly boy of 54 kgs that they had bid farewell to 2 ½ years back, they were in for a surprise as they were greeted by this not-skinny, beer-bellied (though still ugly!!) man of 68 kgs
Calcutta is pretty much the way I had left it, albeit a few improvements in the road infrastructures and a few more urban structures like the Shoppers Stops and Crossroads and Inoxes etc etc. In spite of having cursed and abused the city for 22 years of my life, I seem to love it in a way.. and would always look back at it with an air of pleasant nostalgia..
‘Nostalgia’ is the word which can aptly describe my feelings on the Calcutta trip (somehow I have never grown to call it Kolkata). The nostalgic bouts started on the flight itself, when the in-flight newspaper was ‘The Telegraph’, the newspaper that I grew up reading and have read for the better part of my 22 years there. And like the rest of the city, not much has changed in the newpaper too… even the cartoon strips remain the same.
Was great to meet old childhood and school friends after a long time… and most of them were pleasantly surprised at the change in appearance that I carried. If they were expecting the skinny, ugly boy of 54 kgs that they had bid farewell to 2 ½ years back, they were in for a surprise as they were greeted by this not-skinny, beer-bellied (though still ugly!!) man of 68 kgs
Calcutta is pretty much the way I had left it, albeit a few improvements in the road infrastructures and a few more urban structures like the Shoppers Stops and Crossroads and Inoxes etc etc. In spite of having cursed and abused the city for 22 years of my life, I seem to love it in a way.. and would always look back at it with an air of pleasant nostalgia..
Back to Campus
This piece was written at 11:05 AM on Saturday 16th July 2005 on the flight from Bangalore to Calcutta
The 3.5 days spent at the campus were great. It seemed so long back when I was right there, in the middle of everything, enjoying my life like I never had enjoyed before, and I guess like I would never enjoy in future. Though it felt great to be back to my good old home again, campus isn’t really the same without the people in it when you were there. Ya… the juniors are still there, but then there are so many faces you cannot recognize and who do not recognize you….
Not much has changed on campus since I left it 4 months back, except for the fact that the block that I resided in for all my tenure at IIMB, the B Block, which was known as Chandni Bar, has now been allotted to females L So now, my erstwhile room, which used to be adorned by empty daaru bottles of all kinds, is now graced by baby photographs (ughhh)
The short stay made me yearn to be back in campus again, and live a life full of enjoyment and without any work pressures as such… sigh…
The 3.5 days spent at the campus were great. It seemed so long back when I was right there, in the middle of everything, enjoying my life like I never had enjoyed before, and I guess like I would never enjoy in future. Though it felt great to be back to my good old home again, campus isn’t really the same without the people in it when you were there. Ya… the juniors are still there, but then there are so many faces you cannot recognize and who do not recognize you….
Not much has changed on campus since I left it 4 months back, except for the fact that the block that I resided in for all my tenure at IIMB, the B Block, which was known as Chandni Bar, has now been allotted to females L So now, my erstwhile room, which used to be adorned by empty daaru bottles of all kinds, is now graced by baby photographs (ughhh)
The short stay made me yearn to be back in campus again, and live a life full of enjoyment and without any work pressures as such… sigh…
The Journey Back
This piece was written at 6:10 AM on Sunday July 10th 2005 from the Delhi Airport
Am back to India, and its disappointing that the break I was so looking forward to started on a wrong footing.
First the good part: In spite of sleeping less than 4 hours in my last 48 hours in Sydney, I managed to make it to the airport in time for the flight, and had a nice and problem-free flight to Bangkok. It was nice because I could sleep for most part of the 9-hour flight, waking only in small intervals for food breaks.
Then comes the not-bad-though-not-great part : Some small issue with my baggage kept me waiting at the Bangkok Airport for more than the usual time, and then I finally checked into the Hotel Airport Amari at 8:30 am for my 12+ hour layover. I had elaborate plans to go out into the city and explore… also do a bit of shopping, etc… and obviously all these plans went out of the window, when I decided to take a one-hour nap and woke up only at 2:00 pm.
Nevertheless, I would have felt guilty and cursed myself like crazy if I missed seeing the city.. So boarded a cab and got hopelessly stuck in traffic (which btw, is worse than India) for one and half hours. So, when I finally reached the shopping mall suggested by the concierge at the hotel, I found that I had less than an hour in which I wanted to have some grub and shop as well. So, hunted all over for some veggie food… finally settled for something which was like raw bread and raw salad, then hurriedly bought a couple of T-shirts and hurried back home, thankfully making it in time for the flight again.
Now comes the bad part: It all started when the Bangkok Airport officials (useless buggers) banged the boarding elevator into the flight door minutes before take off, and created an alarm. The plane had to be vacated and thoroughly checked, and ultimately it was decided that the plane was not fit to fly and we had to shift air-crafts. All this translated into a delay of more than 3 hours.
This miniscule delay translated into the fact that I would miss my connecting Air-India flight from Delhi to Mumbai which was at a gap of 2 hours, and since I could not make a call for cancellation, it meant that it would be a no-show and I would get no refund :( When I finally cleared immigration at the Delhi Airport at 3:00 AM, I found that the chaman who was supposed to deliver my domestic tickets to me at the airport had obviously decided that I was either dead or underground and had happily gone back. A few quick and angry wake up calls had to be made to ensure that the tickets get delivered to me in Mumbai tomorrow.
Since I had no domestic ticket, the officials didn’t allow me to take the inter-airport terminal coach, and I had to haggle with the auto-wallah, who was trying to max out the opportunity by asking for an absurd 550 bucks for dropping me at the domestic terminal. After 10 mins of quibbling, we settled for 150 bucks. 4:00 AM at the domestic terminal, and I had to purchase a ticket for the earliest Mumbai flight on Jet, which left at 6:50. Slept another couple of hours at the airport, still cursing the Thai officials for being so reckless with the equipment… hopeless incompetent geeks :-
Again, it doesn’t end at this: The dentist appointment at 10:00 AM for my tooth extraction now has to be cancelled and re-scheduled. This incident underlines the importance of a management funda which is so much talked about : Contingency Planning or Business Continuity Planning (BCP). Goes on to show how so much depends on external factors and any amount of meticulous and seemingly-perfect planning can finally go haywire if just one small plug is pulled out!
Anyways, good morning India… and hoping that the rest of the trip is much different
Am back to India, and its disappointing that the break I was so looking forward to started on a wrong footing.
First the good part: In spite of sleeping less than 4 hours in my last 48 hours in Sydney, I managed to make it to the airport in time for the flight, and had a nice and problem-free flight to Bangkok. It was nice because I could sleep for most part of the 9-hour flight, waking only in small intervals for food breaks.
Then comes the not-bad-though-not-great part : Some small issue with my baggage kept me waiting at the Bangkok Airport for more than the usual time, and then I finally checked into the Hotel Airport Amari at 8:30 am for my 12+ hour layover. I had elaborate plans to go out into the city and explore… also do a bit of shopping, etc… and obviously all these plans went out of the window, when I decided to take a one-hour nap and woke up only at 2:00 pm.
Nevertheless, I would have felt guilty and cursed myself like crazy if I missed seeing the city.. So boarded a cab and got hopelessly stuck in traffic (which btw, is worse than India) for one and half hours. So, when I finally reached the shopping mall suggested by the concierge at the hotel, I found that I had less than an hour in which I wanted to have some grub and shop as well. So, hunted all over for some veggie food… finally settled for something which was like raw bread and raw salad, then hurriedly bought a couple of T-shirts and hurried back home, thankfully making it in time for the flight again.
Now comes the bad part: It all started when the Bangkok Airport officials (useless buggers) banged the boarding elevator into the flight door minutes before take off, and created an alarm. The plane had to be vacated and thoroughly checked, and ultimately it was decided that the plane was not fit to fly and we had to shift air-crafts. All this translated into a delay of more than 3 hours.
This miniscule delay translated into the fact that I would miss my connecting Air-India flight from Delhi to Mumbai which was at a gap of 2 hours, and since I could not make a call for cancellation, it meant that it would be a no-show and I would get no refund :( When I finally cleared immigration at the Delhi Airport at 3:00 AM, I found that the chaman who was supposed to deliver my domestic tickets to me at the airport had obviously decided that I was either dead or underground and had happily gone back. A few quick and angry wake up calls had to be made to ensure that the tickets get delivered to me in Mumbai tomorrow.
Since I had no domestic ticket, the officials didn’t allow me to take the inter-airport terminal coach, and I had to haggle with the auto-wallah, who was trying to max out the opportunity by asking for an absurd 550 bucks for dropping me at the domestic terminal. After 10 mins of quibbling, we settled for 150 bucks. 4:00 AM at the domestic terminal, and I had to purchase a ticket for the earliest Mumbai flight on Jet, which left at 6:50. Slept another couple of hours at the airport, still cursing the Thai officials for being so reckless with the equipment… hopeless incompetent geeks :-
Again, it doesn’t end at this: The dentist appointment at 10:00 AM for my tooth extraction now has to be cancelled and re-scheduled. This incident underlines the importance of a management funda which is so much talked about : Contingency Planning or Business Continuity Planning (BCP). Goes on to show how so much depends on external factors and any amount of meticulous and seemingly-perfect planning can finally go haywire if just one small plug is pulled out!
Anyways, good morning India… and hoping that the rest of the trip is much different
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Bangkok!
Tomorrow will be embarking on my return journey to Swades... Am quite excited by the prospect of the holiday, when I will be in my country without any work pressures, and travelling all over the place. I had never imagined myself having such a meticulously planned vacation... I have readied all my visa papers and forex application and insurance papers sitting here in Sydney, and when I land in Delhi at midnight on Saturday, I have arranged for an agent to collect all my papers and passport, and hand over my onward tickets (Del-Bom-Blr-Ccu-Bom-HK-Syd-HK-Del) to me. Wonder what would happen if he doesnt turn up, coz I am booked on the 2 am flight to Mumbai the same night...
Anyways, more important than the planning and the agent, is the fact that I have 12 hours on Saturday to spend in Bangkok. The layover there parctically takes the whole day, and after sleeping all thru the flight, I guess I might be in the mood to explore the city... So anyone who has been there, would be great if you can give me a few fundae as to what one can do in the city in 12 hours..
One of my seniors from IIMB who had been to Bangkok on an International Business in Practice course, had put across the demographic composition of the city in very simple terms. He had said that the entire population in bangkok can be classified into 3 categories : prostitutes, pimps and tourists :) According to hearsay, in Bangkok, practically every person, barring the guy who stamps your passport at immigration, would ask you if you want a 'massage'. I am quite excited by the prospect of visiting such a sleazy city, even though I have absolutely no intention to explore the grey areas!
Heard that the city is good for shopping... but I totally dread the prospect of shopping. I somehow fail to understand how some people (esp women) can get kicks out of visiting thousands of shops, with nothing particular in mind to buy, and end up getting their hands so full of shopping bags that they cant even carry them back home without help. For them, shopping is an 'experience'...for me its more of an ordeal... So probably will try to do some sight-seeing in the 12 hours, if anything there is worth seeing.
Cheers!
Anyways, more important than the planning and the agent, is the fact that I have 12 hours on Saturday to spend in Bangkok. The layover there parctically takes the whole day, and after sleeping all thru the flight, I guess I might be in the mood to explore the city... So anyone who has been there, would be great if you can give me a few fundae as to what one can do in the city in 12 hours..
One of my seniors from IIMB who had been to Bangkok on an International Business in Practice course, had put across the demographic composition of the city in very simple terms. He had said that the entire population in bangkok can be classified into 3 categories : prostitutes, pimps and tourists :) According to hearsay, in Bangkok, practically every person, barring the guy who stamps your passport at immigration, would ask you if you want a 'massage'. I am quite excited by the prospect of visiting such a sleazy city, even though I have absolutely no intention to explore the grey areas!
Heard that the city is good for shopping... but I totally dread the prospect of shopping. I somehow fail to understand how some people (esp women) can get kicks out of visiting thousands of shops, with nothing particular in mind to buy, and end up getting their hands so full of shopping bags that they cant even carry them back home without help. For them, shopping is an 'experience'...for me its more of an ordeal... So probably will try to do some sight-seeing in the 12 hours, if anything there is worth seeing.
Cheers!
A Dreary Post...
Its been 5 days since my last post... yeah I have been planning to get on to the blog and scribble something, but never got the time. A lot has happened over these 5 days, but nothing too significant. The most significant event though, would have been the clicking of my picture with the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. It feels good to get photographed with stuff you have always seen in postcards! Will put up the picture here soon... may add some colour to my dull posts..
Otherwise, have been contemplating going to a dentist for the past 10 days. Have managed to develop an acute toothache in one of my wisdon teeth... when I had been to a dentist before coming here, I was advised to get that decaying tooth extracted, which I obviously ignored, and am now regretting it. So the first thing I am going to do when I land in India is get my tooth tended to, and most probably extracted... and am hoping that till then I will manage to survive on the daily dose of 2 pain killers..
Apart from the sight-seeing, the other highlight of the weekend was the host of sporting activity... Right from the lashing received by Roddick at the hands of Federer, to the tied final between Australia & England, to the amazing performance by Alonso and Raikkonen (who started in 13th, and finished runners-up... McLaren rocks!!) in the French Grand Prix... Plus, my 'home' team Sydney, won in the Footy League on Sunday.
Seems like this is one of my worst posts... its like the daily account of whats happening to me... anyways, today was not a good day in terms of having enough peace of mind to do some constructive writing...
Otherwise, have been contemplating going to a dentist for the past 10 days. Have managed to develop an acute toothache in one of my wisdon teeth... when I had been to a dentist before coming here, I was advised to get that decaying tooth extracted, which I obviously ignored, and am now regretting it. So the first thing I am going to do when I land in India is get my tooth tended to, and most probably extracted... and am hoping that till then I will manage to survive on the daily dose of 2 pain killers..
Apart from the sight-seeing, the other highlight of the weekend was the host of sporting activity... Right from the lashing received by Roddick at the hands of Federer, to the tied final between Australia & England, to the amazing performance by Alonso and Raikkonen (who started in 13th, and finished runners-up... McLaren rocks!!) in the French Grand Prix... Plus, my 'home' team Sydney, won in the Footy League on Sunday.
Seems like this is one of my worst posts... its like the daily account of whats happening to me... anyways, today was not a good day in terms of having enough peace of mind to do some constructive writing...
Friday, July 01, 2005
Hobby!
Well, yesterday the Big Boss of our division paid us a visit from New York and spent the day with us. He is 4 Layers above me in hierarchy, but is yet very amiable and friendly. He is known to have a sense of humour too, and a knack of taking people's case on and off, and enjoys to put people in a spot some times (but all in good spirits) . Before I could know, on dinner I was the target for a short while. The conversation went somewhat like this:
Big Boss : So Nirav, what do you do as a hobby?
Me : I am interested in sports...
Big Boss : Really, so what do you play?
Me : Actually, I just follow... I lack any kind of talent to play anything
Big Boss : But, thats watching TV... and its not a real hobby... what else?
Me : Well, i am a movie freak... especially Indian movies..
Big Boss : But you dont act right? So its again like watching TV.
Me : Ummm.... well, but thats a hobby too....
Big Boss : Naah... we have to get you a real hobby now... how about surfing?
Me : Well, I wouldnt mind trying.... it should be fun...
Big Boss : "Wouldnt mind'?? Its supposed to be a hobby, and not an ordeal..
Me : Okay..to rephrase it... I would love to..
Big Boss : Sure?
Me : Yeah...sure
Big Boss (to everyone) : Well, Nirav has just agreed that the next time I am here, we will see him on the beach, wearing long bermuda shorts, jazzy flourescent sleeveless t-shirt, sunglasses, and a surf-board tucked under his arm... and he will teach us surfing!
And he actually meant it too... and to rub it in.. he even slipped in a quiet "I am actually serious" into my ear. And the worst part was when I asked him about his hobby, hoping that I would be able probably turn the tables a bit, he replied "Oh, I have a flying license and so I fly airplanes, own and sail a boat, do a bit of dance, practice karate... "and a lot of other things which I lost
Thinking of it, if watching sports or movies is not a 'real' hobby... then I need to find a hobby soon :)
Big Boss : So Nirav, what do you do as a hobby?
Me : I am interested in sports...
Big Boss : Really, so what do you play?
Me : Actually, I just follow... I lack any kind of talent to play anything
Big Boss : But, thats watching TV... and its not a real hobby... what else?
Me : Well, i am a movie freak... especially Indian movies..
Big Boss : But you dont act right? So its again like watching TV.
Me : Ummm.... well, but thats a hobby too....
Big Boss : Naah... we have to get you a real hobby now... how about surfing?
Me : Well, I wouldnt mind trying.... it should be fun...
Big Boss : "Wouldnt mind'?? Its supposed to be a hobby, and not an ordeal..
Me : Okay..to rephrase it... I would love to..
Big Boss : Sure?
Me : Yeah...sure
Big Boss (to everyone) : Well, Nirav has just agreed that the next time I am here, we will see him on the beach, wearing long bermuda shorts, jazzy flourescent sleeveless t-shirt, sunglasses, and a surf-board tucked under his arm... and he will teach us surfing!
And he actually meant it too... and to rub it in.. he even slipped in a quiet "I am actually serious" into my ear. And the worst part was when I asked him about his hobby, hoping that I would be able probably turn the tables a bit, he replied "Oh, I have a flying license and so I fly airplanes, own and sail a boat, do a bit of dance, practice karate... "and a lot of other things which I lost
Thinking of it, if watching sports or movies is not a 'real' hobby... then I need to find a hobby soon :)
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