Badrinath's Blog - Seldom Senseless.

Kabali - A review

noreply@blogger.com (Badrinath.V.S) — Fri, 22 Jul 2016 03:16:00 +0000

Rajini is a cult (I mean this in the best way possible) , a religion, a god.His movies have a way of polarizing opinions. I have, in the past, given honest review of Kuselan (too long, not enough importance for Rajini etc) and gotten called really dirty names by my 'friends'.

So, I am writing this, fully aware of the potential risk of being called names by Rajini Devotees.

The movie Prestige begins with a dialogue about magic, it talks about how every magic has 3 parts :

"The Pledge". - The magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards, a bird or a man.
"The Turn" - The magician takes the ordinary something and makes it do something extraordinary. But you wouldn't clap yet.
"The Prestige" - The hardest part, where the magician brings back he just made disappear.

Every movie is a big magic trick (sometimes consisting of many small magic tricks). There is first
"the intros" (the pledge) where the director introduces the characters and set the background. Then
there is the "the problem/incident/plan" (the turn) that the protagonist(s) attempts to solve, resolve or implement. Finally the 'Climax' (the prestige) , where the main tensions come out and the story intensifies before the big end.

Rajini has a larger than life presence, if you are a magician director , he is the best trick you can
ask for. But you have to get "The pledge", "The Turn" and most importantly "The Prestige" right.
A big trick (like Rajini) , needs an equally larger than life script.

K.S. Ravikumar with Lingaa, Soundarya with Kochadaiyaan, P.Vasu with Kuselan have something in common.
They took a big trick (Rajini) and presented it in a poor act. Kabali unfortunately does the same.

It has a long pledge with the Thanu productions's characteristic akka,amma,family sentiment. A super long
turn that sometimes turns too much and too far out from the main act and a prestige that will leave you wanting more .
Overall a very normal act. What saves the act is the trick(Rajini) itself , for the trick is so larger than life
that you would have watched it even without the act.

That said, the beauty of Malaysia (Thanks to G.Murali's cinematography), acting skills of Radhika Apte, Dhanshika and Rajini himself, try
their best to salvage the damage created by the editor sleeping at work and the script writers
desperate attempts to create a good 'prestige', a big reveal. The songs goes well with the context,
but except a couple of songs, others are jarring when listened to as music .

While I am inclined to blame Pa.Ranjith for showing my hero is poor light and possibly creating another flop (or an average movie at best) , I must say Thalaivar(Rajini) might be starting to exhaust his almost infinite power of being a strong trick. As a long time Rajini fan, after watching Kabali, My long wait to see Rajini again in a super act such as Baasha , Annamalai, Padaiyappa continues....

--Badri--

Cold lunch, Cold customer service and cold interest levels to retain customers - Eat24!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Badrinath.V.S) — Sat, 03 May 2014 03:27:00 +0000

Disclaimer: All opinion expressed here are my own. I don't represent or speak for any company or person.

So here is how the story goes. I ordered lunch on Eat24 from a restaurant about 0.6miles away from where I was staying. The food came in around 73min. During this time I had requested Eat24 to cancel the order , but they wouldn't because - "The restaurant wouldn't allow it"

They told me 3 times that they had requested the restaurant to make it a - "Rush Order"

The food arrived cold. I complained and Eat24 offered me $3 back from my $48 order.

I mailed customer support about my problem. They apologized on "behalf of the restaurant" ???.

I mailed them explaining that the issue is theirs, two of their agents refused to cancel the order and that's the issue- they ignored my complaint and sent a generic response.

I tweeted - no response, after the initial send us an email

I asked them to cancel my account and they promptly did.

Makes me wonder how high or low their Customer Acquisition Cost is , Also who handles their customer retention cell (if any) and who invests in a company that doesn't want to apologise for goofing up and doesn't want to retain customers.

Must mention that the order was originally placed as a pickup order and within the first 5 min of placing the order was moved to delivery - thanks to Eat24

P.S: Eat24 asked me in couple of contacts as to what they can do to make things right. But they ignored my basic request, own up to your mess-up. For spoiling my Sunday lunch, for serving me cold food and for not cancelling the order in spite if multiple requests.

Cheers,
--Badri--

P.S: BTW try https://www.grubhub.com/ :-)

Update: Eat24 replied, acknowledging the issue, empathising with my inconvenience and assuring the issue wont happen again. All is well once again in my food-land. :-)
==================================
Mail from Eat 24 :

Hello,

I do apologize for the inconveniences that were caused while using our
service. Everything you are saying is completely correct. What you have had
to deal with is unnaceptable(sic). We really do appreciate your feedback about
this. We are always looking to improve our service in any way possible.

I definitely understand your frustration and want you to know we always
have your back. I really feel that we dropped the ball here. I have
personally followed up with the individuals you chatted with as well as the
restaurant. Trust that this will not happen again. I have also refunded your
order in full. Please allow a few business days for the refund to post to
your account.

If you ever have any questions, comments, or concerns, we are here 24/7 to
assist you. Please feel free to contact us via Live Chat, Email, or by
phone.

Your friends in food,

Zander
Eat24 Customer Care

==================================

My response:

Hi Zander,

Thanks for the kind and customer-friendly response. This is what I was expecting in the first reply from eat24 - Acknowledgement of the issue, empathy towards my bad experience and assurance that the issue wont happen again. Glad that eventually we arrived here.

Kindly help reinstate my account. A colleague of yours helped me get it deleted this morning.

Regards,

--Badri--

P.S: Thanks for the refund of the order that's an added bonus. Your kind email was all that I needed.

Google Plus Custom URL Selection - Could Google have made it any more painful?

noreply@blogger.com (Badrinath.V.S) — Tue, 17 Dec 2013 18:46:00 +0000

Google Plus is "Allowing" me to select a custom URL, but it feels that any name I suggest including weird ones like Badrinathafwez are a very common name (apparently too many people have it).

I wonder how they came up with the stupid algorithm/logic that determined that random weird names like Badrinathafwez are common.

Btw Google Search for that name returns the result "No results found for badrinathafwez".

Unfortunate that Google Plus team hasn't done a good job at using Google Search skills to determine if the name is common or not. Anyways after trying 20+ meaningful and weird combinations , I give up , I don't want a custom URL on Google+.

Skyfall - Review in less than 100 words

noreply@blogger.com (Badrinath.V.S) — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 21:54:00 +0000

I don't understand this new obsession the bond movie makers have in redefining 'James Bond'. First he lost his weapons and started fighting with bare hands(that was ok), then he lost the super cool cars(this was a bit sad), now he has lesser gadgets and has 'emotions' (this is plain stupid). Thanks to the hype all around about it being the 'best bond movie', Skyfall is boring, disappointing and a big let down. Yes it has its cool moments, but they are too few and spread too far.

Cheers,
--Badri--

The Atheistic Prayers!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Badrinath.V.S) — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 10:14:00 +0000

I had told myself that I will blog when this happens again. The last two times I was disturbed but not disturbed enough to blog, the third time has given me the required push. Let me introduce you to the characters in this story

Mr.Y : My good friend; sworn atheist; reads-practices and advocates Richard Dawkins to everyone
Mrs.Y : Of course my friend's wife, also a sworn atheist, in fact they got married partly because they were impressed by the "atheistic characteristics" of each other.

Not that it matters much, but to set the background, they are both Brahmins, they defied(fought with) their parents and married in (what they thought was) the atheistic style - just signed at the registrars office, exchanged rings and organized a lavish dinner party for friends.

I argued with him a lot to make some concessions for his parents and get married at a temple or at least have a few prayers but he was adamant about upholding his atheistic freedom and argued it was because educated people like him and me give in to pressure from society that 'the myth' of 'organized' religion was getting stronger and 'hurting' so many.

5 years have passed since this argument, He settled in Toronto and we have had multiple more arguments about religion, vedanta and stuff like that. He has always, always maintained that Dawkins is the smartest and that religion is the root cause of all evil. He even ridiculed me when I talked about prayer and stuff but in spite of all that we have still remained good friends who agreed to disagree about religion.

Mrs. Y gave birth to a baby gal recently and Mr.Y sent me an invite for the baby's ayushhomam and punyavachanam. (the prayer for long life of the baby and the naming ceremony respectively) . I 'smiled' and sent them my very best wishes. I would have stopped there and would have not written this blog. But he did a big mistake, one he shouldnt have done - he shared a video of the function with me.

You see , seeing him and his wife pray for the child's good health and long life, seeing them do all the prayers required for the ceremony so diligently, seeing them apply sacred ash on the child got me really disturbed. Normally it wouldn't have mattered cos that's what parents do when they have kids. But this couple who have always maintained that religious people are hypocrites, that religion is evil that there is no God and prayer is stupid and those who denied their parents the joy of having some prayers in their kids wedding - were now all pious when it came to their kid. They paid a good deal of money to fly their mothers to Toronto for the function, hired priests in Canada paying them in dollars for the function but have for years argued with me that spending on religion is foolish and a waste , especially when you can give that money to the poor and needy.

I guess the moral of the story is atheist or theist when people are scared about something( sometimes their kids well being) - they need God(or someone powerful who can support them).

I am not against people being atheistic, in fact in many ways atheism is good(more on that late). But what irks me off(confuses me, astonishes me) is how people can so strongly, passionately argue about a topic for years and suddenly switch their allegiance overnight. Note: This is the third time so far in my life, when a sworn atheist friend of mine has religious done his kids punyavachanam.

Cheers,
--Badri--

Sorry idiot, I deserve to be slapped (a bit) too!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Badrinath.V.S) — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 14:30:00 +0000

He was turning his bike a bit to the right, the indicator wasn't on, the lady who was his pillion was smiling and chatting with him. I was right behind him on the same road trying to turn left, I must have been riding by at about 40kmph.

While thats not too much as such, on these small roads near my house , even 40kmph could be dangerous. I was aware of the risks but was trying to catch a cab driver who had overshot his mark (my house) and was going 'god knows where' really really fast.

My Spidy sense was triggered (I watched "The Amazing Spiderman" last night, more on that later) , I knew I was going to crash into his bike , I breaked hard, the disc breaks in CBZ dint fail me, I stopped really really close to him . My old super smooth tires left a big black mark on the road(they are really old).

"Idiotttttt!!!" I shouted. "If you are turning right, switch on the damned indicator, you have a pillion who is not even wearing a helmet, had I crashed into you, she would have fallen into the gutter" (there was a gutter very close to where he was trying to turn)

"Sorry Sir, but I wasn't turning right" He said, extremely politely, "In fact I want to turn left, and I am just starting my bike from this point". He sounded genuine. "Yes sir, we want to turn left, in fact it was you who scared us by the heavy brakes" his wife/pillion rider chimed in.

"Morons, they deserve to be slapped", I said to myself and left the spot. 15 minutes later , after I calmed down from the stress I was going through. I saw the entire incident differently.

Although it all happened in less than a minute, From the end of the street(which wasn't too long) Just before he 'tried' to turn right, I had seen him remove his vehicle stand, I had noticed his pillion board the vehicle and had watched him losing his balance and shake a bit. But yet when I got angry and shouted at him I claimed that he was trying to turn right. May be I was the idiot........

Bottomline:
i) I realized that when things happen really fast and when I am stressed, I perceive things differently than they really are. I chose to see only one small part of the incident(his vehicle turning right) but left out the other vital parts (he actually lost balance and slightly turned right , without even realizing he was doing so)
ii) The couple were extremely humble, very soft spoken, that ashamed me and taught me a lesson. Even if the other guy is an idiot, if you are humble , you can diffuse the session and may be the other guy will realize his mistake
iii) 40 kmph is still very fast, I have to learn to drive slower in the lanes near my house.
To the couple who taught me lesson through their humility : Thanks and I am really Sorry!!!
--Badri--

Dhanush's - Kolaveri Di - Song Lyrics - 3 Movie

noreply@blogger.com (Badrinath.V.S) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 20:00:00 +0000

I dint like the lyrics much the first time I heard this song, but the last 3 days I have heard it at least 10 times , its really catchy and there is something about it that makes me keep humming it. I am guessing its the easy and casualness with which Dhanush has sung it, the weird but funny 'English' Lyrics and the really cool music by Anirudh. For all those who want to hum the song, here are the Lyrics

Dhanush's - Kolaveri Di - Song Lyrics - 3 Movie
Yo boyz I am singing song, soup song, flop song.
Why this Kolaveri Kolaveri Kolaveri Di,
Why This Kolaveri Kolaveri Kolaveri Di.
Rhythm Correct
Why This Kolaveri Kolaveri Kolaveri Di
Maintain This
Why this Kolaveri..Di
Distance la moon-u moon-u,
Moon-u color-u white-u white background,
Night-u Nigth-u Night-u color-u black-u.
Why this Kolaveri Kolaveri Kolaveri Di,
Why this Kolaveri Kolaveri Kolaveri Di.
White skin-u girl-u girl-u,
girl-u heart-u black-u.
Eyes-u eyes-u meet-u meet-u, my future dark.
Why this Kolaveri Kolaveri Kolaveri Di,
Why this Kolaveri Kolaveri Kolaveri Di.
Maama notes eduthuko, apdiye kaila snacks eduthuko
Pa pa paan pa pa paan pa pa paa pa pa paan,
Sariya vaasi, super maama ready
ready 1 2 3 4.
Whaa wat a change over maama,
Ok maama now tune change-u,
kaila glass only English…
Hand la glass, glass la scotch,
Eyes-u full-aa tear-u, empty life-u,
Girl-u come-u, life reverse gear-u,
Lovvu Lovvu, oh my lovvu.
You showed me bouv-u,
Cow-u cow-u holi cow-u,
I want u hear now-u,
God I m dying now-u,
She is happy how-u,
this song for soup boys-u, we don’t have choice-u.
Why This Kolaveri Kolaveri Kolaveri Di.
Flop song.

Cheers, --Badri--

Its been sometime!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Badrinath.V.S) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 09:24:00 +0000

Its been sometime since i spent long hours thinking about you
My longing for you has gone down, but the little left is still true
Its upto you to ensure that in this path to you, unwavering, i abide
For I took the plunge trusting that if there are thorns in my path, u will brush them aside

Remember that if I fall, you have to raise me up
If by the world, distracted i fail, me from me you must usurp
But for my longing and my love for you what have I
I am but a child jumping in the hope that someday the wind will take me to the sky

Foresake me not you treacherous mountain
If you attract and let go, your credibility will fall and thats certain
With lots of hope and lots of love I have called out your name
If you dont rush to my rescue forever you shall be in shame

--Badri--

The Pursuit!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Badrinath.V.S) — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 08:04:00 +0000

Notes : All my poems so far have a rhyme scheme, if I remember right so far in more than 100 poems I have written only one doesn't have a rhyme scheme, This one below is another such exception. This poem below is the impact of listening to Beatles for 2.5hrs this morning. Any reference to any person living or dead might be intentional. :-)

The Pursuit!!!

They ask me what if
what if she doesnt feel the same way
What if things dont work out
Or worse if she realizes a few months from now
That you are not the one and its not meant to be

I tell them well then
Well then I would have learnt what it means to feel vulnerable
Well then I would have learnt what it is to have loved and lost
or better still what it means to put your question out there
and wait in anticipation for a favorable answer

But then I also tell them imagine
Imagine if things work out
Imagine she too feels the same way
How wonderful things would be
What beautiful prospects future will have

They shake their heads in disagreement
This is foolish my friend they say
This is not rationale and the chances (to Us) seem slim
Its better that you think with your head
Instead of continuing to think with your heart

Oh my dear friends I know not if this is what the world calls love
perhaps this is just a strong crush
but whatever it is , it feels good
I am no masochist but I imagine the pain that could be
and weirdly lot of pleasure in it I see

So let me move forth with this pursuit of happiness
For again and again does my heart keep whispering
Give it a try and see
If you dont try and keep fearing things that can go wrong
In life more regrets than achievements there will be

Cheers,
--Badri--

On Track - Short Poem

noreply@blogger.com (Badrinath.V.S) — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 05:50:00 +0000

If you are truly, deeply happy then you are doing something wrong!
For miseries are the lords way of letting you know , you are on track!
So when you are happy dont start singing the happy song !
But start pondering whats really out of whack!!! :-) :-) :-)

Cheers,
--Badri--

These long winding roads!!

noreply@blogger.com (Badrinath.V.S) — Wed, 18 May 2011 19:59:00 +0000

While I traverse these roads long and winding
Sometimes smiling and sometimes crying
I climb some mountains and falls through some ravines
I see some pains and sometimes beautiful sun shines

But occasionally when I stop I start to wonder
Oh have I made a blunder
Have I climbed the same mountain again or fallen through the same valley
How else is it possible that in this long road these ups and down come so regularly

But then again I continue to tread
This long winding road aiming to reach the milestones it bred
Walk and walk do I
sometimes I smile sometimes I sigh

Once in a while I look back on the roads I once covered
I feel ashamed of falls I should have missed and mountains I should of conquered
Alas I am an expert now in climbing bigger mountains
And I do in it style even when I fall through ravines

While I traverse these roads long and winding
Sometimes smiling and sometimes crying
I climb some mountains and falls through some ravines
I see some pains and sometimes beautiful sun shines

Cheers,
--Badri--

Engeyum Kadhal - Movie Review

noreply@blogger.com (Badrinath.V.S) — Sun, 08 May 2011 13:21:00 +0000

Pluses : The location - Paris, Some bits of the music by - Harris Jeyaraj , The camera work by - Nirav Shah

Minuses : Hansika's acting skills - Non Existent, The dialogues - Horrible, The comedy scenes - mostly lame, The screenplay - Pathetic, The climax - a joke.

Overall its a really bad movie and at the end of the movie I was thanking Prabhu Deva for keeping it short and at only 2hrs 20min (Even that much is difficult to sit through)

Cheers,
--Badri--

Source Code - Movie Review

noreply@blogger.com (Badrinath.V.S) — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 06:47:00 +0000

When Duncan Jones who created the really cool Sci-Fi movie "Moon" directs a new movie and it happens to be a Sci-Fi obviously your expectations from the movie are high. So clearly I had high expectations when I decided to watch 'Source Code'. Duncan I must say dint disappoint.

In 'Moon' Duncan showed us that he can come up with really cool, intriguing concepts and can tell us a story around the same in a very effective manner. In 'Source Code' he proves that 'Moon' wasn't a lucky fluke and that he is a good story teller (Credit is due to Ben Ripley for the Source Code story).

'Source Code' will keep you interested till the very end, its got a good story line(albeit it might be a bit difficult for some to comprehend) and is significantly enhanced in entertainment value by a solid performance from Gyllenhaal.

While 'Source Code' is more rivetting than 'Moon' it definitely isnt as effective in captivating audience as 'Inception' was. Nevertheless its a good entertainer and a must watch for those who love good sci-fi movies. In the world of star ratings for movies I would give it a 4 on 5. (Inception would be a 4.75, Source Code misses a few stars for having some obvious flaws in the story and the story telling)

Cheers,
--Badri--

"Angry Birds" for PC and for free !!!

noreply@blogger.com (Badrinath.V.S) — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 03:25:00 +0000

I am not a big fan of the game but its become a sensation and the creators have made millions from it, which means there are definitely a few out there who loveeee it.

So if you want to play the game on your PC. Here is what you need to do

i) Download intel appup center from here

ii) While installing the same fib that you are from US
iii) Register with AppUp Center (its free)
iv) Post installation restart AppUp Center
v) Voila! you have the game installed in the AppUp Center and the $4.99 for the game waived.
vi) Try and have fun.

Cheers,
--Badri--

BING does a GMAIL : Detailed Error Message!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Badrinath.V.S) — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 19:52:00 +0000

Back in May 2010 I had posted this article on how GMAIL Gives detailed error messages

Today BING gave a similar detailed error message. Whats worth noting is the longer error/reference code, clearly BING wants to do everything Google does and more.

Cheers,
--Badri--

Leaving Her!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Badrinath.V.S) — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 07:05:00 +0000

Now suddenly I am starting to miss her
Even while I can still wake up in the morning and kiss her
Wary I am perhaps cos the end is nigh

Days three more and the curtain shall fall
Escape from living with her I shall, for once and for all
Loved her i did just a little bit
Hoping now though that I shall revisit
Ironical is it that, I am leaving her, when I am starting to Love

Thank her I must for the friends that she gave me
Thank her I must for the aspects of life she made me see
I have changed a lot cos of her
I am a better man cos I was made one by her

Cheers,
--Badri--

Attract!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Badrinath.V.S) — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 22:08:00 +0000

Held by several glues am I
To people and things I am not sure I need or not
Every time I look at them and ask myself why
I realize I am drowning in a quicksand i am caught

But then I think of how much we are separated
A tear drop runs down my cheek
Thus No matter how much we get alienated
Deep down I know its you I really seek

But what good are a few random tears
When you a mountain of magnet, cant attract fully, me a nail
Embrace me and remove all my wants and fears
Why delay and make the world think those who love you are sure to fail

--Badri--

Con job error!!! - Con Rule 101

noreply@blogger.com (Badrinath.V.S) — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 17:23:00 +0000

One thing you mustn't do when you pose as Standard Chartered Bank and send a con mail to a user is to sign off the mail as State Bank of India Management

--Badri--

One crime , 3 different reports and the poor gal !!!

noreply@blogger.com (Badrinath.V.S) — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 20:36:00 +0000

Look at the image below, its a screenshot of a Google news page. The 3 news articles highlighted report the same theft but mention different amounts. Notice on one side of the articles Google in its infinite contextual image placement wisdom shows the photo of gal who is not connected with theft, my advice to the gal sue Google for defamation.

Cheers,
--Badri--

Her - The complete version!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Badrinath.V.S) — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 00:28:00 +0000

Disclaimer : I have been requested/ordered/threatened by a few readers to complete this thread I started, Thanks to my laziness and writer's blocks I never got any further on the thread in the last 6 months , But this morning I got up early and decided to rewrite the story in the thread from start to finish. I hope it isn't too bad :-)

The Introduction:

I met her one Monday morning, a chance meeting, a moment of serendipity.

After struggling to shake off my sleep and contemplating a “work from home” I listened to my gut instincts and jumped out of bed, got ready and reached work. I was welcomed at work by a strange aroma… like that of the jasmine flowers that blossomed in our garden, I looked around to see the source of my nostalgia and there she stood.

Long dark hair, blue eyes and outlined lips – It all came together to make a picture of perfection and I continued to capture several photographs with my eyes. All the fables I had heard about people spotting angels suddenly seemed possible.

She was new in the office, she was in my cube surrounded by a few of my team members. I struggled to get glimpses of her through the cracks people made when they moved in and out of the cube, I dawdled to my cube and with great difficulty ‘casually’ sat at my seat and tried my best to ignore her.

“Hi, are you Badri” I came up with a start. Her voice was just like her - sublime and melifluous. The aroma of jasmines in full bloom was strong, as she stood close to me. I looked up at her from my seat and after that, I barely heard anything else save a buzzing in my ear. I know she did say something for I could see her lips move but for the life of me, I had no idea what it was. I jerked back to reality when I was conscious that she was looking at me in askance

“Are you Badri, Dinaaz from HR asked me to meet you as part of my Induction, I am Ruchira Sharma, I joined the RnD team today, our meeting was scheduled for 11AM I have been waiting for you”

A vague recollection of an email from Barbara about a new induction crossed my mind. It also struck me that it was close to 12noon. Had I known that it was this apparition I was going to deal with, I believe I may have put a little bit more effort into my 'mood for the day'! A bloody good thing I decided against staying at home and working!

I finally found my voice and just as I opened my mouth . . I croaked! I cleared my throat, opened my mouth croaked again, I cleared my throat again and tried to regain some lost ground by trying to make sense of what I really wanted to tell her.

“Hey really sorry to have kept you waiting, Well, err... Ruchira nice to meet you" I said extending my arm for a handshake. She extended a folded palm and shook hands like a Pomeranian dog would. Hah the soft palm, the smooth skin - My mind went into another blank. I shook her hand for what looked like 20 seconds when she pulled back her hand, we sat down discussed her role, the company and some related stuff for the next 30 minutes. Those 30 min ensured that I was in great mood for the rest of the week.

Getting Closer:

The next 2-3 weeks I ensured that I had lunch everyday, not that I suddenly became health conscious I just wanted to be a part of the group she had lunch with. We exchanged minor jokes as part of the group and I captured more photographs of her in my mind, during those 30 min of lunch all else used to blur from my mind and vision other than her.

I loved the way she kept adjusting a strand of hair that kept falling back in front of her ear, I thought she deliberately left it in front of her ear so that she can push it back while talking to guys like me and make us notice her model like profile, anyways I wasnt complaining.

I met her a few weeks later at the office reception

"Btw Ruchira , about the project you are working on, I read the details, its very interesting, when do you want to discuss it, any time is fine with me, I even work weekends" I rushed through my long sentence, it was important that I let her know I was working the weekend and it was important I liked her project and yes it was important that I said her name.

"Oh but I am going out with my friends this weekend, we were planning to go the select city walk mall. Can we discuss the project on Monday if you don’t mind", she said with all sincerity and professionalism. Sometimes being the boss has it disadvantages , gals don’t sense your emotions.

I took a deep breath , one last attempt , God pls pls pls "Oh ok I generally work weekends from the coffee place at Select city walk, If you are around and free , we can catch up there for a bit and get started on the project, can I have your number please, will call you if I am there".

By now I had already walked some 40 steps with her, perhaps she felt connected , she gave me her number and told me that it would be ok to catch up while she was waiting for her friends. I wished her a happy weekend, she wished me a pleasant evening and I watched her leave, it was painful, sad songs were playing in my mind and then suddenly Lionel Ritchie came to the rescue and sang Hello.

A few hours passed by , I couldn’t resist the temptation to hear her voice, I picked up the phone and called her, A beautiful english song which I had heard before but couldn’t recollect from where, was her caller tune, "Helloh...." she greeted and I forgot all that I was going to say, "hellllloh "she said again , stressing now on the l, I recovered, "hi this is Badri just checking you number, sorry if I bothered, good night" . "Thats okkk Baddriii, is this your number" Thank you god, thank you, it felt so good that she said my name in such sweet fashion and for the first time I liked my name, I did have a cool name. "oh ya it is, please feel free to reach me on this whenever u want to", "sure", "good night", "gooood nigggghhtttt" I dont know why her English words had more alphabets than mine but I liked it that way.

The First Dates:

I made sure I ‘ran into her’ at the mall that weekend, she and one of her friends had come to mall early and were waiting for the rest of their gang. And then fate intervened, for once in a positive fashion, her friend got a call and excused herself.

The next 15 minutes were “exotic”, we started speaking about work but then she pointed to some flowers in a flower shop and mentioned how she liked orchids and from then on we just connected.

My mind was taking notes of things she liked and disliked. I didn’t speak a word about my likes or dislikes, I just agreed with her or asked her more questions. I knew the time I had was limited and I had to make the best of it.

Finally when my eyes caught her friend walking toward us , I gathered all my courage and said “Since you like Thai, may be you can join me for dinner after you are done watching the movie, there is this great Thai place near here, you can find me in the Coffee Shop, I will be working there”. I paused …..I was trying to read her emotions, dint she feel excited, did she feel repulsed, she dint say a thing for a few moments and my heart skipped a few beats. “Oh that would be nice, will find you at the Coffee shop ….” She said and smiled, waved good bye and left with her friend.

I started hearing music in my ears, in my mind I had accomplished something very significant, the doors to the dating phase had just been opened.

We had dinner together that night, the candle light, the romantic songs playing at the restaurant and her magnetic looks made it extremely difficult for me to sit on the other side of the table. I felt drugged, I felt ecstatic, I felt miserable, I felt as uncomfortable as one on fire, There was a rush of conflicting emotions but it was out of this world and the only way to describe it would be with poetry and music. It was fabulous.

In spite of me being lost in trance during the dinner my mind heard and registered everything she said, the way she said it, how much her head tilted in which direction when she said it, how her beautiful hands painted through the air when she spoke, it was all music and it felt as if some great musician was orchestrating her best symphony just for me.

The dinner was a success, I say that now because within a month of the dinner we had a few more of these symphonies. We started calling each other a lot, most of our calls was her telling me how she preferred one friend to another, how many soft toys she had, what her day was like, the topics hardly varied but the conversations were always music to my ears. I listened with such diligence, that my professors would have been thrilled had I exhibited half of the same back in my school days.

Things I felt were stupid when I saw heroes do them in movies were fun now in fact I longed to do them , I waited for the phone calls to practice my mimicry, use standard flirt lines , anything that would make her giggle I would do happily and things that made her happy I made sure I did. I spent 2 hours one night, after a long day at work trying to come up with interesting names for her 12 soft toys. In fact I found 3 more names that she liked but dint have toys for, I corrected that deficiency.

Where Are We ? :

We had by now spent a few months knowing each other and a few weeks on the phone talking (I am not kidding), I had moved from being an acquaintance to a friend, to a good friend, to the best friend to the bestest friend. We exchanged smses during work hours now.

In fact if I dint get a few smses every day it became impossible for me to concentrate on work, the day dint formal and I lost my motivation. We had watched half a dozen movies together, dined at a dozen restaurants and exchanged a few gifts (the ratio was me giving 20 to me receiving 2 and no they were not from her lips).

I juggled around with words such as love and like in our calls but she seemed to be either ignoring the hints or being completely oblivious to them. I moved from gifting her yellow roses to giving her red ones when we met but that dint change her reactions either. I kept wondering if she loved me or just treated me as a good friend but dint have the courage to ask her, I was worried I might ruin the dream I was living.

But then finally one day after a dinner I blurted out

“Ruch(thats what I called her now, we had nicknames for each other) you know I love you right”
“Yes Badru and you are my bestestttttt friend”
The few extra t’s dint make me feel any better, they only scared me more.
“Is that it, only bestest” I said making a sad face
“ohhh…….” She said as if talking to a sad puppy, “don’t you realize how close you are to me ” she said patting me on my cheeks (she had broken the touch barrier before with a few pats on the cheek when she was amused and some hitting when she felt mildly upset)
“No Ruch I don’t" I said, making the sad face again , it seemed to working and I wanted to get the best out of it

She got up and moved to my side of the table, she gently sat down near me, these few moments seemed too long, my heart skipped a million beats, I began to sweat a bit, it was like waiting for exam results, I am sure some part of me was even praying for good results.

She smiled, I had seen that smile before, it was her mischievous smile,

"You are ….." , she paused knowing fully well what I was going through and having her share of fun , "You are ……." She said her smile turning into giggles
"You are my kuchiku, my cutie pie" , she said and then planted a peck on my cheeks :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

Enthiran - The Spectacle and the Disappointment !!!

noreply@blogger.com (Badrinath.V.S) — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 18:52:00 +0000

Disclaimer : I am a devotee of Rajni (thats one step above a fan but one step below a fanatic) I have watched all Rajni movies several times and will end up watching this one (Enthiran) several times. I am also a movie buff and this review is written from the perspective of the buff.

Its admirable that Shankar has attempted something much bigger than whats ever been attempted in Indian Cinema and the output of this attempt is definitely a movie worth watching.

But ....... A problem I see with many who attempt something big is that they get tired before crossing the final mile, in the case of Endhiran , Shankars failing to cross the final mile lets the movie fail on so many grounds.

Let me start with the casting - Aishwarya Rai is only in the movie for eye candy and to help increase sales in north India. Asin would have been a much better fit for two reasons - She looks much more pretty and she can act. Lets face it Aishwarya has always been an horrible actress and when it comes to looks she is getting old.

Then the music department, except for in a couple of movies in all other movies that I can think of ARRs BGM scores are never as good as the songs.In Endhiran the BGM is simply noise at some parts. The songs are way below mark too. The movie could have done without a couple of them e.g. Khilimanjaro

Its safe to say Santhanam's role in the movie has nothing to do with comedy, not many comedy scenes in the movie and none of them really standout.

The editor slept at work and it clearly shows the movie is a big drag at 3 hrs and many of the scenes are totally unnecessary (Spoiler : Why the hell does Rajni have to talk with the Mosquitoes)

Finally the graphics , this is one place where Shankar absolutely failed to run the last mile. Some of the scenes are absolutely amazing. As good as Matrix or Terminator. But some of them are very childish. Spoiler : The Scene ROBO Rajni plays with the kid, the scene with the helicopters etc look so unrealistic that one wonders why Shankar even tries.

Rajni is as always amazing, Chitti the ROBO is wonderful and just because of Thailavar Sun pictures will make all the money they have invested. The graphics and the different story line make the movie a spectacle but frankly I miss Rajnis punch lines, the grand hero introduction , even if its a different movie we are Rajni fans and we expect him to be deified(or may be thats just me).

I am going to watch the movie again tomorrow and the day after but frankly I am very disappointed. May be only because my expectations were very high or may be because Shankars obsession with experiment something big and different prevents him from telling a compelling story.

--Badri--

P.S: In the movies defense , I watched the movie in UP with two north Indian friends who dint realize that Rajni is God, so the electrifying atmosphere in Chennai theatres that make Rajni movies an exhilarating experience was missing, In fact the crowd was so boring, that only 2-3(including me) people in the entire hall whistled during the movie.

Dabangg - One Minute Review!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Badrinath.V.S) — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 09:07:00 +0000

Dabangg !!! - The best Salman movie ever, inspired by Rajni's Style, Hilarious from first scene to last , fast enough to hold audience attention, Salman Khan finally has one good movie in his kitty. Its a total time pass movie and definitely worth watching.

Note: If you don't like Masala Movies, you wont like this one.

Cheers,
--Badri--

Chicago the movie and the Row

noreply@blogger.com (Badrinath.V.S) — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 12:30:00 +0000

Chicago the Movie:

Watched Chicago the movie yesterday, have been trying to see it for 2-3 yrs now but never got past the first fifteen minutes. Yday though I sat through the whole movie. Very well made I must say and great acting by Rene. But the movie is a peep into the dark side of humanity and the ill effects of Jazz and Drinks.

After I finished watching the movie I wrote this poem, I guess a side effect of the fights I saw in the movie.

The Row :

Will it ease your pain if I show
How much I am hurt because of this row
My fast heart beats and my numb legs
Can stand testimony along with my mind which for peace begs

But what good is it to know that we are both hurt
What do we achieve by finding who to whom was curt
Alas it wasnt meant to be and this is how it ends
May be the roads of life are meant to educate us with these bends

If we manage to maneuver out of this
Perhaps then again we can search for bliss
Now that we know our roads are headed different directions
It is time I guess to do the course corrections

Its easier for me to be the bad one and to take all the blame
Especially if it saves you some of the shame
I am a poet and a poet needs his pain
So I guess from all this fight the pain is my gain

Only because our destinations were different
At this crossing we had to become indifferent
That doesn't mean I cant wish you only the best
For the rest of your journey and all your quest.

Cheers,

--Badri--

Thermodynamics of Human Qualities !!!

noreply@blogger.com (Badrinath.V.S) — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 16:28:00 +0000

While there are several theories such as Aura, Creative Visualization, Butterfly effect , Power of the mind that directly or indirectly state that the state of mind of a person can affect that of others around him.

Even if one doesn't believe in those theories and completely disregards the very ability of a mind to affect another, Its hard to reject real life scenarios where one sees for oneself that the state of others can affect him/her.

I have been noticing for a while now that when people shout near/around me, when they are angry and heated and yell for a while I start feeling weak, even shiver at times(even if the shouting doesn't involve me), I shout to hide my weakness or because I don't know how to respond.

Similarly, when people are very calm around me and sulking, I feel lazy , sleepy. When they are describing some problems with feelings, singing with great joy, reading verses of thiruvasagam often I feel like crying or tears trickle down my eyes, etc.

A more interesting observation is that as I grow older my threshold for shouting, loud noises is rapidly decreasing and I am starting to avoid huge functions, places with lot of crowd, loud pubs and starting to like more casual intellectual discussions(In school and college I preferred heated debates), mild music, silent places, parks etc . Is this because of thermodynamics ? Is this because of just the way we think/feel about these emotions? Or Have I become too soft a person suddenly.

--Badri--

Her - The first meetings!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Badrinath.V.S) — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 16:44:00 +0000

This post is a continuation of my attempt to write a short story in 4 parts, the first part can be found here, if you read the first part and were waiting for the second part, sorry for the delay, between work pressure and football matches, couldn't find much time for Her ;-)
===================================================================================
The meeting on the bus was nothing close to what I planned. In my mind I walked into the bus, our eyes met, she got struck by my charm(I said in my mind) somehow I managed to strike up a conversation and I managed to invite her for a coffee.

What really happened is this, I boarded the bus, the over friendly driver insisted I was in the wrong bus and the bus route dint go anywhere close to where I stayed(The perils of being known), everyone in the bus was staring at me, I managed to silence the driver with some hushed words and took the only seat I got which was some 5 rows behind her.

I had to resort to plan B, it was risky because I hadnt planned it completely yet but I wanted to talk to her today. I got down at her bus stop, she noticed me and smiled, "so what brings you here, the driver was saying this is not where you stay" she said, perhaps she had guessed my intentions, after all I spent the last one hour in the bus watching her.

"Well I had to meet a friend, she lives around here" I used the cheap trick, you are at some place at 10pm to meet a "she" friend and you hope someone whom you have barely met is intrigued by it. She wasn't intrigued, if she was she hid it well with her "Oh ok".

"Btw Ruchira , about the project, I read the details, its very interesting, when do you want to discuss it, any time is fine with me, I even work weekends" I rushed through my long sentence, it was important that I let her know I was working the weekend and it was important I liked her project and yes it was important that I said her name.

"Oh but I am going out with my friends this weekend, we were planning to go the select city walk mall. Can we discuss the project on monday if you dont mind", she said with all sincerity and professionalism. Damn you gal cant you sense my emotions.

I took a deep breath , one last attempt , God pls pls pls "Oh ok I generally work weekends from the coffee place at Select city walk, If you are around and free , we can catch up there for a bit and get started on the project, can I have your number please, will call you if I am there".

By now I had already walked some 40 steps with her, perhaps she felt connected , she gave me her number and told me that it would be ok to catch up while she was waiting for her friends. I wished her good night, she wished me a pleasant evening with my friend and I watched her leave, it was painful, sad songs were playing in my mind and then suddenly Lionel Ritchie came to the rescue and sang Hello.

I picked up the phone and called her, A beautiful english song which I had heard before but couldnt recollect from where, was her caller tune, "Helloh...." she greeted and I forgot all that I was going to say, "hellllloh "she said again , stressing now on the l, I recovered, "hi this is badri just checking you number, sorry if I bothered, good night" . "Thats okkk Baddriii, is this your number" Thank you god, thank you she said my name in such sweet fashion and for the first time I liked my name, I did have a cool name. "oh ya it is, please feel free to reach me on this whenever u want to", "sure", "good night", "gooood nigggghhtttt" I dont know why her english words had more alphabets than mine but I liked it that way.

The next day morning was busy I had to assign work to my team in the morning staus updates, "So Navin what are you busy with" I asked still lost in thoughts of Ruchira but wanting to chug along at work, "Nothing much just the new project proposal, anything important I must look at". Nothing much, just the new project proposal, this guy was going to be the reason why I was going to get fired, the new project proposal was the only important thing my team was working on, "Hmm,,, I was wondering if you could help me with something, its for a competition, the lines go something like this "....." I need to get some details about the song, like OST where it appeared, the lyrics etc, you get the point" I asked in a bossy but help seeking way. "Who is the gal dude" he smirked , Now he gets smart, when I ask him about the proposal he is dumb god save my team, "no one important man just a friend" I said with a serious face trying to make him think it was really no one important. "Sure will bounce you the details ASAP" he said while leaving the room, he came back for a bit, smiled and said "All the best boss", I suddenly liked him now, I smiled, I had to remember to give him good ratings in the next appraisal what a nice kid.

I called the concierge kid, he was famous for being the babe magnet at work, "Shashank, can you please come to my cube for a sec , need some help". I asked him about select city walk, places of interest there, gifts to take for a gal whom you are meeting "casually for the first time", he was very helpful.

Navin replied with the data he had gathered about the song, It gave me a few ideas for a conversation. I called and made reservation at one of the best hotels in the mall. I ordered a bouquet of 3 red roses and a few roses of other colors, I was all set.Tomorrow was going to be a wonderful day...