ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು Guy in Chennai writes...

Rustom- Legal Thriller with a difference

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 18 Sep 2016 13:58:00 +0530

Recently watched the Akshay Kumar’s latest-a suspenseful legal thriller “Rustom”. This film has both its heart and brain in the right places. It thrills makes you think, entertains and leaves you to draw your conclusions in the end.

Based on the once famous Nanavati murder case, Akshay dons the lead role and performs the role of an unapologetic Naval officer with aplomb. His expressions are spot on.

The crux of the film with interesting courtroom drama without revealing the spoilers is that of a murder ostensibly committed by Akshay and even after surrendering, does a U turn in court and pleads innocent.

Ileana ably supports him as the wife who has crossed the line of fidelity with a teary but believable performance. Esha Gupta and Pavan Malhotra come up with worthy performances too.

Music is lilting, especially the song “Tere sang yaara” is very hummable; all credit to composer Arko and singer Atif.

Worth a watch!

My rating : 4/5

Sabarimalai Ayyappan: The Magnetic Golden God of the Hills …

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 20 Oct 2015 12:52:00 +0530

Sabarimalai Ayyappan: The Magnetic Golden God of the Hills …

All Photos at the bottom of this post...

We, a group of 22 colleagues and their sons started our trip with irumudi, the holy package which alone permits one to climb the 18 steps to the abode at Mahalingapuram Ayyappan temple here on Friday Oct 16th afternoon.

We had sumptuous supper of Pooris, sabji and Upma and left for Central station where we caught the Trivandrum mail to Kottayam at 7.45 pm. After a long 13 hour haul we reached Kottayam station at 8.30 am and made for our temporary accommodation at Brahmana samooham madom nearby. We had our bath and changed, savoured a delicious veg meals provided at the venue and left for Sabarimala by 2 vans at 11.15 am. Just before that , some of us managed to find time to visit Thirunakkara Sivan temple nearby ,as well. It is a very nice abode too.

On the green hilly route to the sabarimalai in Pattanamthitta dist., we had a pit-stop of sorts and ate some freshly cut juicy pineapples.

We reached Pampa river shores at 2.30 pm or so. We could see a heavy rush of devotees forming at the bathing Ghats like a precursor of things to come.

In the welcome clean and chilly waters of pampa we bathed and changed into fresh clothes, took our Irumudi package on the head and backpack of our luggage and started uphill climb barefoot , first stop at Ganapathi temple, where we broke a coconut with a prayer for a successful trip .

We chose the newly concreted subramanya path road which is a sloping without steps. The other alternative is the older traditional path consisting of steps. Both the paths are equally crowded now with devotees. The gentle slopes in the beginning are deceptive as the climb becomes tougher and arduous and the slopes become steeper as we progress

This time we could see many children along with their fathers enthusiastically climbing ahead. How wonderful it is to be so young and spirited! …In contrast the older senior citizens too, make slow and steady progress while we middle aged urbanites gasp and struggle and sweat gallons during the climb …The devotees all wear black, blue and orange Dhothis and consist of all religions and castes and age groups. Ayyappan temple is verily the melting pot of secularism and pure devotion.

During the arduous climb of 6 km distance and lasting 2 to 3 hrs, we have to give up our body conscious ness and continuously chant swami ayyappan’s name as “swamiye, bhagavane, devane “and asking him to give us” deha balam”( strong body) and padha balam( strong legs) to carry us himself to the hill top. This alone will help us during the long haul up.

On the road at several spots, makeshift shops sell coffee, tea, fruits, biscuits and even bajjis and bondas…We had some of it and liberal doses of glucose my colleagues provided…

We reached the top at 6 pm and saw some huge crowds waiting in long serpentine lines for darshan.

Due to the Dasara holidays and newly inaugurated 18 panchaloha steps, there is a massive crowd of nearly one lakh assembled there and more devotees are pouring in till late in the night too..

Many devotees unfortunately chose to break queues at the entrance to the Lines, push and pull others, creating a stampede like situation, all for nothing.

This is an old woe of this country and we can see it among public everywhere else too.. This lack of self-discipline and unruly crowding creates so much trouble and panic to small children and senior citizens who are among them... Actually the temple is open till 11 pm and there is no such tearing hurry, but when will we learn? The other pathetic sight is devotees throwing used water bottles, packets all along the darshan lines…Who will clear them and when, we never stop to think!.. Some wild pigs roam there for such garbage. This despite the fact that there are several boards declaring the sannidhanam as “plastic free zone”, in at least 5 different languages!... Obviously “Swacch Bharat” concept needs to gain more popularity and acceptance with us…

The newly laid 18 glittering steps donated by a Bangalorean donor shri Ashok Kumar is simply lovely.

It takes another 45 minutes to have darshan as we go up one more long passage and climb down to garbhagudi.

We have few seconds of enchanting darshan of the Golden idol of Ayyappan who commands and attracts lakhs to take up such a tough trip every year, and then we are pushed ahead by surging crowds from behind. There is undoubtedly a magnetic attraction and it is mesmerizing to have Ayyappan’s darshan as I felt.

Then we go to the Nambiar guest house near the temple where we have arranged to stay overnight. We have delicious snacks of pooris and dosas and sleep in the hall on the floor using cane mats. Some apply Pain killer spray, ointments and take some tablets to overcome the pain and fatigue of the long evening we have endured.

I slept at 10.30 pm and woke up at 4.30 am next day. Unused to cold water baths in chilly mornings, I manage the same somehow!...With a fresh set of dhotis and shawl, we come out see a huge rush in the early mornings too to witness ghee abhishekam to the Lord.

We manage have fleeting nearby darshan from the first gate with difficulty. In the morning, the Ayyappan seems to glow with grace and beauty even more and all of us feel it is worth the effort!..For devotees, this is all what makes it worthwhile; the tough vrathm at home and physically draining hill climb and the rush at the temple.

The descend started soon after we collect aravana payasam prasadam and irumudi coconut and ghee …I start my descent at 6.45 am and it is even tougher to go down the hill than climb it. We have to be very careful and go slow or we may injure our kneecaps as the slope is sharp. I slowly descend the hill in 2.15 hours, again taking some break for refreshments on the way.

I sit down back at Ganapthi temple where we started and relax to get my breath back and then buy more prasadam- Modak from a counter and go down to our river bank where we had agreed to meet.

We had breakfast of Dosas and poori-sabji in the lone restaurant there and weave our way back among the milling crowds staring their trek up. There is obviously a big traffic jam and we struggle to find our vans for 30 mins as vehicles are parked up to 5 kms from along the road.

The return journey takes the same duration and we returned to Kottayam Brahmana samooham madom. We had lunch there, rested, bought some banana chips etc. and left by return Mail to Chennai starting at 6 pm. We reached Chennai the next morning, Oct 18th at 7.30 am.

We had had a marvelous holy weekend to cherish for a long time!

All photos taken on my Mobile camera

During the climb up...

Finally the temple steps to the abode

The above pics on the second day early morning darshan...

The above pics on the Pampa river back from the Hills ^

The following pics at Thirunakkara Sivan temple, Kottayam:-

PAPANASAM REVIEW

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 26 Jul 2015 11:13:00 +0530

This much-anticipated remake of the popular Malayalam hit Drishyam, in Tamil does not disappoint.

There are many plusses and minuses from the original that starred the stoic Mohan Lal with his unwavering eyes and beautiful underplay.

Kamal Hasan gives it his twist, his flavour...he knows how to emote and he does it …and how!

The edge of the seat suspense story about the murder, the flow and treatment remains almost the same and here the star cast does a fair job too.

Amongst the performers, besides Kamal , it is left to Gauthami as his wife who, unfortunately with her washed out looks and sporting panic-struck expression most times, is a not patch on Meena who played the same in Malayalam version. The main antihero protagonist played by Asha sarath does exactly the same as in the original and it’s a commendable watch to see her myriad expressions of a woman, torn between mother’s love and Police ethics. The aggrieved daughter played by Nivedha Thomas is excellent in emoting and so is Kalabhavan Mani as a rogue cop with a prejudice, out for Kamal’s blood.

The BGM and songs are fine too and so is the green, hilly environs of Tirunelveli Distt where it is shot.

The characters obviously speak with Nellai dialect Tamil, which was difficult to understand, but maybe it’s only me.

The over-violent scenes of police torture are glaring and too graphic and could have been toned down as in the Malayalam version.

Ultimately it is left to Kamal Hasan, aided by a super-taut story line to carry the film on his able shoulders and his performance could be one of his best in his illustrious career.

Of course, on the flip side he looks older for a man having such a young family. Well he is 60 and it shows. But that’s only nitpicking!

I saw the Kannada version Drishya too stg Ravichandran, but sorry it did not stay in my mind for long.

Movie review : pk, a ‘Remote’ visitor in search of Hope

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 20 Dec 2014 14:27:00 +0530

ALERT: A few Spoliers!*

Rating 3.5/5 (Good but not exceptional)

Is this a bird? Is this a plane?

No, he is as human as we are but drops out of the sky from a snazzy looking Flying spaceship. …Bare naked on our Mother earth with just a twinkling pendant on his neck.

But why did he come here?…‘God’ knows..!

‘That’ (GOD) exactly seems to be the premise of this comedy caper which is packaged in a science fiction format where the latter is unfortunately given the go-by and we are just left with a human looking alien who is bewildered, shocked and aghast in our' Godly' world, as he slowly learns and unlearns things in his meandering journey from Rajasthan to Delhi.

Director Hirani believes that the diversity of our faiths, religious practices, traditions and language must seem shockingly different to an alien visitor and these contradictions are given a comic satirical treatment into some light hearted fun. There are many such ‘ha-ha’ moments with the goggle eyed flappy eared Aamir as ‘pk’, in various costumes who charms you and entertains you…Some very ‘spot-on, ‘some equally frivolous…

That’s the first half, so I thought the story will mature with time…

But unfortunately the second half seems more muddled with the alien man turning into a kind of social crusader who wants to unmask a Hindu Godman just to get his ‘remote’ back… This Godmen theme is neither a new territory nor a solid one and besides, the premise of this Godman to build a temple for the 'Shivjis pendant' is unbelievably shallow.

Yet , all that is fine, Mr Director Hirani..
All the idiosyncrasies of this religious world may seem funny and strange to an alien, but not necessarily to Indian audience!! Did you forget us?. .Heck, we are born and living here…Many of us have thought of Aamir’s own queries in different ways and even found our own ‘answers’…

But unfortunately for pk and us, he never meets anyone with his half his intelligence. Mostly they are dumb bigots who ridicule him and chase him down the alleys violently.
That’s not on, as far as I am concerned.

Satire on the present is OK, but where are the answers?... Did this humanoid not pick up any good stuff, meaningful principles at all from us poor earthlings then? Well, for that matter, nor did we learn anything useful from this specimen of scientifically advanced humanoid come from light years away …What a waste of opportunity!...

And then there was no need to be so self-deprecatory in the end, summing up our various deficiencies in monologue speech in pucca Bhojpuri..Did he not say in the beginning, they never speak on his planet?...Oh well…

Every lacuna and loophole in the script seems to be washed away in the ‘LOL’ moments and in the few ‘lump in the throat’ scenes. Anushka is alright but her interrupted –and- resumed love story just left me cold, being not fleshed out sensibly.

The director has not taken this theme seriously, so why should we? But then it was one…That’s where the film left me semi satisfied.

See it for Aamir’s charming performance, although towards the end even that seemed tedious.

RAPE: The Shame and the Shameless

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 22 Jul 2014 22:29:00 +0530

Like everyone else these days, I dread to read this news of horror in the mornings.
I wish it would fade away..Oh, it does but not forever. There is a deceitful lull and sure enough there is a spurt..And the commotion and the usual indignant voices...

While the no of incidences of rape and violence against hapless women and even more shockingly against girl-child continues to make unpalatable news , one is now forced to think of the cause and effect phenomenon.

This particular crime of shaming the woman's dignity and vilifying her character is not new..It was glamorized from the days of 70s Hindi Cinema and certain villains were even believed to be veterans at it..( For eg, Ranjit, Madanpuri, Prem Chopra etc)
We say that it is this day and age which has caused a quantum leap in crime against women.But It has nothing to do with less reportage then or more publicity now as claimed hollowly by some.

It is becoming a crime of epidemic proportions, monstrous in its unsparing nature.

What I say next may not find many takers, and certainly it’s not a modern, popular opinion. I may sound orthodox or too old fashioned by nature and may even sound moralistic or preachy, but a little moral never hurt anyone. Especially in such immoral times.

There is a lot of undesirable 'connections' and 'mingling' taking place in social circuits of the Party/ Pubbing culture and flaunted as modern and civilized urban living, ostensibly called "COOL and Happening" euphemistically. Oh, there is lot of truth in it, I am afraid and.... in the widely prevalent dating culture of youth which they have adopted in most urban centres.

Both such 'aping west' phenomenon and 'selling of Romance the Valentine's day's way' , using widespread social media has largely contributed to never before heard spurt in courtship and breakups and innumerable social and criminal fall-outs because of the same.

The irresponsible behaviour of the "haves" in flaunting their wild and irresponsible nocturnal habits would certainly have caused "have-nots” and fringe criminal elements in society into thinking "if it suits them, it is OK for us as well!"
Strange logic? Criminal minds ?Yes..... but there are opportunities aplenty when you count the cases of courting couples attacked in lonely spots in and around the cities, esp in the wee hours of the day.

There is no denial that today's society has lost a lot of moral nerve and ethical values.
All the conventional and safe practices of the past generation, which included separation of boys from girls till marriage to some extent are dubbed ‘silly’ and dismissed and even ridiculed as 'UNCOOL' and ‘Stupid’.

The situation has come to such a pass that even schools have turned into horror homes and teachers as depraved monsters. And then there is the widespread and uncontrolled use of Internet porn too, which has been made easily accessible to everyone on their mobile phones , which almost everyone seems to possess.
Always misuse outscores the right use and negative results outrun the positives...
Unfortunate but true.

The very people who rush to streets protesting RAPE in bold banners today, what fundamental change in their lifestyle are they prepared to adopt to remain safe?
..Are they even coming half way to meet the authorities?

When cops are near the couples on beaches or parks and keep tabs on them with CCTV and all, we protest this as "Moral police"; and when they are not around and goons take over and attack us, we blame it as lack of security…
What are the authorities to do, then?..Aren't we putting them on the horns of an unenviable dilemma?

We talk of ‘deterrent’ punishment and some even emotionally suggest castration, but such cruel punishments will never find the nod of law in our democratic setup. There will be an immediate stay order in some court, even if a Govt finds courage to pass such a law. They will first complain of misuse of law.

To add credence to the 'misuse' theory, already many false cases have been foisted on men by jilted women after years of co-habitation too!

Generally, this country lags far far behind in Policing and public security; besides sensitivity of the police officers in handling such cases is as good as nonexistent. They are but mere puppets in the hands of powerful politicians who always have the last word as to who should be arrested and who should be let loose. Why, some accused have even hailed from their families. So what can be expected from such immoral rulers as anything but fence eating the crop itself?

'Responsible living', 'disciplined life-style' and add a bit of grand-ma wisdom of 'come home early before sunset, do not be too friendly with all men' etc , might even just work for many urban young ladies...
Thrills may have their place for the young ladies but then so does lurking Danger in the midnights when you wobble around drunkenly or drugged to the nostrils and found in the company of other men in questionable circumstances!
Crime is just waiting to happen!

"Behave", our elders used to say, "do not take Risks", they preached. "Have some shame!" they shrilled....they advised "and lead simple, morally correct life devoid of liquor and drugs and live happily longer..
What’s so wrong with it, I can't, for the world of me understand. May be I am not a PARTY ANIMAL...Never thought the word ANIMAL suited me anyway!.

Is adopting a "safe, responsible living" devoid of "intoxicated 'happy hours' ", asking too much?..If it is, well then it’s too bad, but that's the way it is.

Up Above The Hills ..So High!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 5 Jun 2014 20:58:00 +0530

We had been planning a good family trip from a long time since Chinmay went away to Bangalore and I had been out of the country for nearly 5 months and just came back two weeks ago.

As such I was on leave and planned a visit to Madurai- Kodaikanal and Palani and back to Chennai via Madurai.

As per plans and bookings done , we left on the evening of 31st May by flight( Jet Konnect) from Chennai to Madurai.
It is a small craft and a 75 mins flight. This was Shyamala and Sanmathi's first flight experience and they were really thrilled and enjoyed the novelty.

We reached Madurai and a Tavera vehicle which stayed with us throughout the next 3 days picked us up at the airport and escorted to Hotel Saratha Rajans (www.hotelsaratharajans.com.com/)

This is an OK-type Hotel, a bit far from the temple, moderate facility but a little over priced. We rested overnight in two AC double rooms and were ready by 8 am next day for Meenakshi amman darshan.

After the usual bustle that accompanies even a 100 rupee special ticket and temple's hot interiors ( why no blowers even, let alone AC?),we still had very good darshan of Devi and swami and left for Kodaikanal in Tavera by 10 am.

We had some pit stops and 'pic'-stops enroute the lovely uphill ride as weather cooled down considerably and were able to roll down the windows and enjoy the cool breeze waft around us.It made such a difference after the 'HOT' Madurai. We visited the famous waterfalls on the way ( Liril?) twice, once each way.

We reached Kodaikanal by 2 pm and checked into a small pretty hotel on the Main road called Apple Valley, which the owner proudly calls it as a Resort..That is 'resorting' to over-ambitiousness!!...(http://applevalley.in/)
Went to near by Hotel Astoria which is a pretty good veg south Indian restaurant for snacks and lunch. .

Then ...We had a pleasant boat ride on the Lake in the falling evening light, after a 30-min wait and we could see the rush had diminished on this last Sunday before the schools start (for others...My daughter's school starts next week!).
There is a small lovely veggie restaurant called "Rasoi" next to Hotel Astoria
This 2 women + 1 man eatery is run by a Gujju madam and we were treated to some hot aloo parathas and very tasty veggie dishes...
Check it out next time > Rasoi !

It was very misty and chilly in the evening and then went back and rested our tired travel-jaded bodies..zzzzzzz!

Next day morning started at 8.15 am and we went in our 4x4 van to see Pine forest, Pillar rocks, Bryant park, Coakers walk and such beautiful visiting spots , normal on the tourist route.

We had lunch at the newly found Rasoi, and had Gujarati and Punjabi thali. Quality is again good but more quantity means more price!

Weather was pleasant but somehow the afternoon was a bit warm indoors and cooled down by early evening.
We also managed to visit small but very lovely shrine called Kurunji andavar ( Murugan) temple in Kodai as well as Sathya sai mandir called "Sai shruthi" near the lake, where we prayed and also sang a few bhajans ourselves to an absolutely empty hall!( afternoon 3.30 pm).

The evening was enveloped in thick mist and it rained a bit later in the night but not too heavily, and thankfully not disrupting any program of ours! Temp range on both days was around 16 to 28 deg C...

We took many scenic pics on these 2 day/ nights in Kodai and I have uploaded some of them on my facebook page as well as some here:
https://www.facebook.com/nageshkumarcs

Onward we went to Palani leaving Kodai by 8.15 am next morning. The journey, in today's lexicon is AWESOME!

Thick mist laden hills, lush greenery and chilly air on the road made it a pleasant climb-down to Palani mount.

The waiting at cable car queue at Palani temple below kills you . It was very hot and shockingly so after Kodai we had just left.

After reaching the palani temple above by 12 noon (waiting 45 mins? below) we were told temple closed at 12 noon and we had to wait one more hour for the shrine to open. More waiting after buying 50 bucks spl tickets!
To ward off all our fatigue, we had a Beautiful darshan of Dandayudhapani and we had some archanai and such normal activities completed, paying off an archak (many archaks keep jostling you there!) ( You pray and they prey???).

Another disappointment was we had to wait almost 1.5 hours for cable car service to resume as they promptly closed the service at 1 pm. This is as tragic as it is ridiculous leaving us all hot and sweaty up on the hills till 2.45 pm..
And yeah, Palani hill (1068 ft ele.) is no Kodai kanal(6998 ft elevation) in temperature!

We of course made use of this time by having tasty 'puliyogarai and sweet pongal prasadam', drank water and refreshed ourselves in the mean time!

We could not have good lunch anywhere in Palani as it was 3.30 pm by the time cable car took us down the hills. The ride up and down is also a very welcome sight and worth doing too!...There is some crazy 15 rupee and 50 rupee separate ticket lines there for the same cable cars, which I could never figure out why, but took the safe 50 buck line anyway. I don't know if it made any difference in the end.

Apart from the superb deity and his blessings( our kula daiavam/ mane devaru is subramanya...But actually Kukke subramanya, anyway!), I daresay Palani was not one of the best pilgrimage spots I have visited as they waste nearly 2 to 3 hours of yours in the day time by these interruptions and waiting period! I learnt later there is a parallel "cable train" service which our driver informed us as a better one... AFTER we came down!..Huh!

We left for Madurai straight and reached the same Hotel and spent a relaxing night and checked out for airport by 10 am next day after having a good sumptuous breakfast there.
Chinmay had to leave by a bus back to Bangalore to resume his duties.
Our Tavera Driver for the last 3 days, Mr Vetri dropped us off and he had served us well.
Our plane left Madurai at 12.30 and reached at 1.15 pm at Chennai and we were home by 2.30 pm.

That about sums up a memorable trip for the four of us..

Thanks for your patience in reading this through!

Chennai-Sri Kalahasthi Road trip

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 15 Dec 2013 14:22:00 +0530

A longstanding wish to see Sri kalahasthi , a famous panchabhootha sthalam of Lord Shiva was realized yesterday.
My son Chinmay and I left with a Driver at 5 am from home in our car. It is a 130 km trip from Chennai to the town in Chittoor distt AP
This was a very cool misty day and we made good speed in the early hours of Saturday to reach the Tirupathi Highway via Koyambedu-Annanagar-Red hills route. The road traffic was sparse too

We moved through misty paddy fields after Tada border town and it was a pleasant welcome experience.
The road is very good too.
We reached the already bustling temple town of Sri Kalahasthi by 7.50 am, with no break( 2hrs, 50 mins).
As we were quite hungry and had not seen any worthy restaurant on the way, we had idli vada breakfast in Saravana Bhavan near temple. It is quite clear from the ambience and taste that the brand name of Hotel saravana bhavan ( HSB) is being misused by many fakes and this is just one of them. Later I came to know that there are seven fakes of this name in this town, but no original!

The car parking guys forced us to keep mobiles in the car itself saying camera phones are not allowed!
The touts catch you in Car park( 60 bucks for parking!) and I was sold two oil vilakku lamps, and bilva leaves mala etc there in the car park itself for appeasing the Rahu-Kethu moorthys outside the temple. We bought a packet of milk along with it too and stood in queue and we saw there are rats which feed on all these among these statuettes boldly. (There are various detailed poojas to rahu kethu dosha nivarana worth 300/- to 1500/- here for those interested)

TYPE OF RAHU KETHU POOJA	POOJA RATE	FACILITIES FOR TICKET	OTHER DETAILS
ORDINARY POOJA	300/-	DHARMA DARSHANAM	FOR SPECIAL DARSHAN EACH PERSON TAKE 50/- TICKET
SPECIAL POOJA @ Nagari Kumara Mandapam	750/-	SPECIAL DARSHAN FOR Two(2) persons	THIS POOJA WILL PERFORM AT SPECIAL MANDPAM
SPECIAL V.I.P. POOJA (Inside the Temple)	1500/-	SPECIAL DARSHAN FOR TWO PERSONS & SESHAVASTRAMS & PRASADAMS	THIS POOJA WILL PERFORM INSIDE the TEMPLE

After offering the milk and mala and kumkum to Rahu -Kethu, we had darshan of Ganapathi in a small basement on the road outside and were given some avalakki prasadam there.

After climbing a few steep steps we reach the abode of Main temple.
To avoid rush as it was nearing rahu kalam in the 'dharma darshan', we bought 50 bucks each worth special tickets and went in through various corridors smoothly. En route we prayed to Subramanya ( our kuladevathe) and went in.
The moola shivalingam is Vayu lingeshwara in the panchabhootas.

As we missed the exit then, we had a second round of darshan in special line once more!
then we pass through many small 'templets' of Narayana, Dakshina moorthy etc on the way to Gnana prasunnambika abode, the consort of Lord Shiva here.Very nicely decked up Devi statue blesses us.

After completing this Darshan we came out and purchased prasadam like Laddu and vada ( Big tasty laddus like Tirupathi available here too!).

There is a small hillock next to the temple, where the famous Bedara Kannappa legend seems to have played out as per mythology, the devoted hunter who offered his own eyes to the lord. It was already quite a walk in the main temple by now and I was a little tired.. My son Chinmay went up the hillock climbing the 200 odd steps and returned after the visit, while I waited at the bottom! He described what he saw there as having seen a small temple and some very nice views from atop.

By now we were hungry again (10:15am) as the morning breakfast was all but digested. We had a Masala dosa in a Ganesh Bhavan which is a much better restaurant than Saravana bhavan , the earlier one.

Snaps on the street outside the temple:

Well, the next phase of our misadventure is something I would like to forget in a hurry!
We had decided to see Tada falls sometime back and took a turn in from the main road..

OHHHH...It is a very long road, ceases to be road as we near the deeper forest and becomes a muddy, rocky surface and we bucked and rocked the way to AP forest gate who charged 60 bucks to go inside..What they did not say was INSIDE is some 5 km of trekking route and full of hard rock and sharp stones strewn on the hilly path.
See pics below:

On Hawaii slippers I had worn for the temple visit, 2 km was as much as I could stand, although Chinmay carried on for some more distance and we returned just seeing a small stream but not the 'falls'..I felt we would have 'fallen' down if we did anything more!
Well, it is a Trekker's path and you need to geared up for it!

As we returned homewards, the Saturday High way traffic caught up with us and we had to go to Lunch in Anna nagar by 3.15 pm at HOT CHIPS restaurant and actually returned home by 4:30 pm.

If we had avoided the Tada loop, we could have been home by 2 pm and that is the correct duration for just going to Sri Kalahasthi and back!

Sachin: When The The Tireless Retired

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 16 Nov 2013 13:43:00 +0530

There was a pop song in my youth in the 70s-80s that went something like
Goodbye to you, my trusted friend
We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ttpztjuiz5k)

That's all we can say as the legend Sachin Tendulkar says farewell to cricket and hangs up his bat today.
Sachin, the batsman was phenomenal , so majestic and unflinching when he wielded his bat for 24 years for India. His life was in numbers and numbers was his life...

Yet when the moment came to go back to pavilion for the last time, he was so dear and soft. He thanked everyone who had made his life what it is today. There was not one dry eye in the stadium or outside.
A truly humble giant, despite his short stature!

No doubt, one could say through out his life, he got preferential treatment and Mumbai and Industry lobby had so strongly rallied behind him that his place was guaranteed for nearly a quarter of century. So much so that the Selectors in his lifetime had only to select the rest of the ten players..Sachin was ALWAYS there.
And he delivered, match after match, year after year, creating a status of a demigod that he was something that did not belong to this planet. The records he created may never be broken, but the the years he spent out in the middle entertaining one and will not be easily forgotten either.

Sachin tendulkar's exit marks the end of an era for us, may be, and we only hope and pray there will be other golden boys with bat and ball for the next generations to worship.

ಚೆನ್ನೈ ನಲ್ಲಿ ಕನ್ನಡ ರಾಜ್ಯೊತ್ಸವ - ನವೆಂಬರ್ ೧, ೨೦೧೩:

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 2 Nov 2013 13:24:00 +0530

ಕನ್ನಡ ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯ ಪರಿಷತ್ ಮತ್ತು ಮದ್ರಾಸ್ ವಿಶ್ವವಿದ್ಯಾಲಯ, ಚೆನ್ನೈ ವತಿಯಿಂದ ನಿನ್ನೆ ನವೆಂಬರ್ ೧ ರಂದು ಕನ್ನಡ ರಾಜ್ಯೊತ್ಸವ ಸಮಾರಂಭ ನೆರೆವೇರಿತು. ಇದರಲ್ಲಿ ಇಲ್ಲಿನ ಕನ್ನಡ ಸಂಘಸಂಸ್ಥೆಗಳಾದ ಕನ್ನಡಿಗರ ಕೂಟ, ಬೆಸೆಂಟ್ ನಗರ್ , ಕರ್ನಾಟಕ ಸಂಘ, ಕನ್ನಡ ಬಳಗದ ಸದಸ್ಯ ಕುಟುಂಬಗಳು ಸಕ್ರಿಯವಾಗಿ ಭಾಗವಹಿಸಿ ಯಶಸ್ವಿಯಾಗಿಸಿದರು. ಈ ಸಮಾರಂಭವನ್ನು ರಾಷ್ಟ್ರಕವಿ ಕುವೆಂಪು ರವರ ಸ್ಮೃತಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಏರ್ಪಡಿಸಲಾಗಿತ್ತು.

ಗಣಪತಿ ಪ್ರಾರ್ಥನೆಯಿಂದ ಆರಂಭಗೊಂಡ ಈ ಸಮಾರಂಭದ ಅಧ್ಯಕ್ಷತೆಯನ್ನು ಶ್ರೀ ಕೃಷ್ಣ ಭಟ್ ಅರ್ತಿಕಜೆ ವಹಿಸಿದ್ದರೆ, ಮುಖ್ಯ ಅತಿಥಿಯಾಗಿ ಖ್ಯಾತ ಸಾಹಿತಿ-ವಾಗ್ಮಿ ಶ್ರೀ ವೈ ವಿ ಗುಂಡೂರಾವ್ ಉಪಸ್ಥಿತರಿದ್ದರು.

ಅಲ್ಲದೆ ತಮಿಳ್ನಾಡು ಕನ್ನಡ ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯ ಪರಿಷತ್ ನ ಶ್ರೀ ಕೆ.ಪಿ.ಆಚಾರ್, ಮತ್ತು ಮದರಾಸ್ ವಿಶ್ವವಿದ್ಯಾಲಯದ ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಭಾಗದ ಮುಖ್ಯ್ಸಸ್ಥೆ ಡಾ, ತಮಿಳ್ ಸೆಲ್ವಿ ಯವರು ವೇದಿಕೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಹಾಜರಿದ್ದು ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮಗಳನ್ನೂ ಆಸಕ್ತಿಯಿಂದ ವೀಕ್ಷಿಸಿದರು.

ಡಾ. ತಮಿಳ್ ಸೆಲ್ವಿಯವರು ನೀಡಿದ ಕುವೆಂಪು ಕೃತಿ " ಶ್ರೀ ರಾಮಾಯಣ ದರ್ಶನಮ್" ಬಗ್ಗೆಯ ವ್ಯಾಖ್ಯಾನ ಅವರ ಸ್ವಂತ ಭಾಷಾಪಾಂಡಿತ್ಯ,ಸ್ವಾನುಭವ ಮತ್ತು ಸುಲಲಿತ ವಾಗ್ಝರಿಯ ಪ್ರತೀಕವಾಗಿದ್ದು ಎಲ್ಲರಿಗೂ ಕುವೆಂಪು ರವರ ನೀತಿ ದ್ಯೋತಕವಾದ ಈ ಮೇರು ಕೃತಿಯ ಪುಟಗಳನ್ನು ಮನವರಿಕೆ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಟ್ಟಂತಾಯಿತು.

ಕಲಾವಿದರ ಮನರಂಜನಾ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಚಿ. ರಾಜೇಶ್ ರವರ ಸುಮಧುರ ಪಿಟೀಲ್ ವಾದನ ಸಂಗೀತ ಪ್ರೇಮಿಗಳ ಮನ ಸೆಳೆದರೆ ಕಿರಿಯ ಚಿ.ವಂಶಿಯ ಕೊಳಲು ವಾದನದ ವಿಶಿಷ್ಟ ಪ್ರತಿಭೆ ಬೆರಗಾಗುವಂತಿದ್ದು ಎಲ್ಲರಿಂದ ಮುಕ್ತ ಶ್ಲಾಘನೆ ಪಡೆಯಿತು.

ಕು.ನಿಧಿ ಮತ್ತು ಶ್ರೀಮತಿ.ಶ್ಯಾಮಲಾರವರ ಯುಗಳ ಗೀತೆ: " ತೆರೆದಿದೆ ಮನೆ ಓ ಬಾ ಅತಿಥಿ" ಮಧುರವಾದ ದನಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಮೂಡಿಬಂದು ಎಲ್ಲರ ಗಮನ ಸೆಳೆದು ಹೆಚ್ಚು ಪ್ರಶಂಸೆಗೆ ಪಾತ್ರವಾಯಿತು.

ಭರತನಾಟ್ಯವಾಡಿದ ನಾಟ್ಯ ಮಯೂರಿ ಖ್ಯಾತಿಯ ಕು|| ಪ್ರಿಯದರ್ಶಿನಿಯವರ ನೃತ್ಯ ಮನೋಹರವಾಗಿದ್ದು ನಮ್ಮೆಲ್ಲರ ಕಣ್ಮನಗಳನ್ನು ತಣಿಸಿತು.

ಇದಲ್ಲದೆ ವಸಂತ್ ಹೆಗ್ಡೆ ಮತ್ತಿತರ ಹಲವು ಪುರುಷ ಮತ್ತು ಮಹಿಳಾ ಸದಸ್ಯ ಸದಸ್ಯೆಯರು ಕುವೆಂಪುರವರ "ದೋಣಿ ಸಾಗಲಿ" ಮುಂತಾದ ಕೆಲವು ಕವನಗಳನ್ನು ಹಾಡಿ ಎಲ್ಲರನ್ನೂ ರಂಜಿಸಿದರು.

ಶ್ರೀ ಕೃಷ್ಣಭಟ್ ರವರು ತಮ್ಮ ಭಾಷಣದಲ್ಲಿ ತಮ್ಮದೇ ಆದ ವಿಶೇಷ ಶೈಲಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಚುಟುಕಗಳನ್ನು ಹಾಡಿ ನಗೆ ಹೊನಲು ಹರಿಸಿದರೆ, ಸಮಾರಂಭದ ಮುಖ್ಯ ಅತಿಥಿಯಾಗಿ ಆಗಮಿಸಿದ್ದ ಶ್ರೀ ವೈ ವಿ ಗುಂಡೂರಾಯರು ಭಾಷಾ ಸಾಮರಸ್ಯ, ವೈವಿಧ್ಯತೆ, ಸಂಗೀತದಲ್ಲಿ ಬರುವ ಪೇಚಾಟದ ಸಂಗತಿಗಳು ಹೀಗೆ ಹತ್ತು ಹಲವಾರು ವೈವಿಧ್ಯಮಯ ವಿಚಾರಗಳನ್ನು ಹಾಸ್ಯ ಲೇಪಿತವಾದ ಶೈಲಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ವರ್ಣಿಸಿ ತಮ್ಮ ಸಮಯಸ್ಪೂರ್ತಿಯ ಮಾತುಗಳಿಂದ ಎಲ್ಲರನ್ನೂ ನಗೆಗಡಲಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಮುಳುಗಿಸಿಯೂ ಅದರಲ್ಲಿ ಅಡಗಿದ್ದ ಸಂದೇಶ ಮತ್ತು ವಿವೇಕ ವಾಣಿಯನ್ನು ಒತ್ತಿ ಹೇಳಲು ಮರೆಯಲಿಲ್ಲ.

ಸಮಾರಂಭದ ನಂತರ ಅಲ್ಲಿಯೇ ರುಚಿಕರ ಉಪಹಾರವನ್ನು ಏರ್ಪಡಿಸಿದ್ದರಿಂದ ಎಲ್ಲರೂ ಅದನ್ನು ಸವಿದು ತೃಪ್ತಿಯಿಂದ ಹಿಂತಿರುಗುವಂತಾಯಿತು.

ಕೆಲವು ಛಾಯಾಚಿತ್ರಗಳು:

ಸನ್ಮಾನ

ಪಿಟೀಲ್ ವಾದನ

ಯುಗಳ ಗೀತೆ

ಕನ್ನಡಿಗರ ಕೂಟ- ವೃಂದಗಾನ

Indian Cinema: Kannada event :100 and Counting!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 22 Sep 2013 19:08:00 +0530

Remembering the legends of the century!

Amma all the way, quite literally!

Thanks to two Passes issued by local Kannada sangha, we( Self and son Chinmay) attended the Day 2 of 100 yrs Indian cinema celebrations here at the air-conditioned Indoor auditorium in Chennai , the morning session which was reserved for Kannada film Industry and its achievements and honoring the Industry stalwarts interspersed with Cultural programmes.

The atmosphere was very festive, the roads decked with the CM ‘AMMA’ posters all through and there was a lot of security to pass through before we entered the colorfully decked up stadium.

The inauguration by lighting the lamp was done by B Sarojadevi and Srinath accompanied by Home Minister KJ George.
The music and dance cultural programmes were simply ROCKING!
Many enjoyable moments from past and present were showcased professionally.

It included veteran actress Leelavathi shaking a leg to ‘mellusire savigaana’, Beautiful Bharathi performing to the famous ‘Bala bangara neenu’ and Jayanthi swaying to ‘virahaa…’; songs which were landmarks in their own careers decades ago. Also Shruthi and Tara performed on some oldies from Kalpana films.

Many young and upcoming artistes performed some hot numbers to both old and new film hits.(Whose names I am not aware of…That was more because of the surprising absence of any host /anchor for the programme and so the programmes just went on unannounced; many times the audience had to scratch their heads who they might be?)

Interspersed we had a video film that traced the roots of film making from the first cameras to silent movies to firsts in Indian cinema and Kannada celluloid world through the decades. It was a mesmerizing, thought provoking and grateful recall, worthy of the Centenary year!

The vintage video footage recollected some excellent milestone on-screen performances from Dr Rajkumar, Vishnuvardhan, Srinath, Prabhakar, Shankar Nag etc from actors; and Leelavathi, Kalpana, Manjula, Jayanthi ,Bharathi, Aarathi and others from actresses.

Many veteran producers, distributors and theatre owners (exhibitors), music directors, cinematographers and stuntmen who have served the industry were honored with mementoes recalling their achievements. Seeing renowned music director Hamsalekha brought back memories of Prema loka hit years, while Rajan of Rajan Nagendra of the bygone melodious decades! Also honored were worthy singer BK Sumithra and Choreographer Mugur Sundaram etc …Senior Actress Jayamala and Actress- Minister Umashree mostly did these honours.

It was a four hour marathon, well attended by enthusiastic Chennai kannadigas in the galleries.

Among the attendees spotted in the VIP rows: Srinath, Rajesh, Sunder raj, KSL Swami, Shivaram, Ramesh Arvind, Ambika, BV Radha and others

Among those who were absent (or not spotted): Ambareesh, Dwarakeesh , Rajkumar family, Anantnag, Sudeep, Darshan, Ravichandran.
I read somewhere that there was some grumbling in the Kannada Industry that their representatives were not invited/ignored etc. Happens in such events!

Some lovely pics of today's event below:

Also read :

ಚೆನ್ನೆಗೆ ಬಂದ ಬಂಗಾರದ ಮನುಶ್ಯ!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 21 Sep 2013 22:36:00 +0530

ಇಂದು ಚೆನ್ನೈ ಕನ್ನಡಿಗರ ಪಾಲಿಗೆ ಬಹಳ ಸಂಭ್ರಮದ ಸುದಿನ..ಏಕೆಂದರೆ ಮೊದಲ ಬಾರಿಗೆ ಅಣ್ಣಾವರ ಮೇರು ಚಿತ್ರ "ಬಂಗಾರದ ಮನುಶ್ಯ" ಕನ್ನಡ ಚಲಚಿತ್ರವು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಬೆಳಿಗ್ಗೆ ೧೧.೩೦ ಕ್ಕೆ ಪ್ರದರ್‍ಶಿತವಾಯಿತು..

ಎಲ್ಲ ಚೆನ್ನೈ ಕನ್ನಡಿಗರಂತೆ ನಾನೂ ಹೋಗಿದ್ದೆ.

೧೯೭೨ ರ ಅತ್ಯುನ್ನತ ಸುಪ್ರಸಿಧ್ಧ ಡಾ.ರಾಜಕುಮಾರ್ - ಭಾರತಿ ಅಭಿನಯದ ಈ ಚಿತ್ರವನ್ನು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ನೆಡೆಯುತ್ತಿರುವ ಭಾರತೀಯ ಚಲನಚಿತ್ರದ ೧೦೦ ವರ್ಷದ ಶತಮಾನೋತ್ಸವದ ಅಂಗವಾಗಿ ಎಲ್ಲರಿಗೂ ಉಚಿತವಾಗಿ ಇಂದು ತೋರಿಸಲಾಯಿತು..

ಡಾ|| ರಾಜ್ ಮೊದಲ ಬಾರಿಗೆ ತೆರೆಯ ಮೇಲೆ ( ’ನಗು ನಗುತಾ ನಲಿ ನಲಿ ’ ಹಾಡಿನಲ್ಲಿ) ಬಂದಾಗ ಎಲ್ಲರಂತೆ ಈ ನಿಮ್ಮ ಲೇಖಕನೂ ಸಿಳ್ಳೆ ಹೊಡೆದು ಚಪ್ಪಾಳೆ ತಟ್ಟಿದ್ದಾನೆ!! ಚಿತ್ರಮಂದಿರ ಭರ್ತಿಯಾಗದಿದ್ದರೂ ಈ ಊರಿಗೆ ಶೇ ೬೦ ರಷ್ಟು ತುಂಬಿದ್ದೆ ಪುಣ್ಯ!

ಭಲೆ! ಭಲೆ! ಎಂತಾ ಚಿತ್ರ!!

ಪತ್ನಿ ಸಮೇತ ಕನ್ನಡಿಗ ಮಿತ್ರರೊಂದಿಗೆ ಕುಳಿತು ಆನಂದವಾಗಿ ಈ ಚಿತ್ರವನ್ನು ನಾವು ತಮಿಳುನಾಡಿನ ರಾಜಧಾನಿಯಲ್ಲಿಂದು ನೋಡಿದ್ದು...ಹಾ, ಈ ಚಿತ್ರ ಮಾಡುವ ಹೊತ್ತಿನಲ್ಲಿ ರಾಜ್ ಹಲವು ದಶಕಗಳ ಕಾಲದಿಂದ ಈ ಚೆನ್ನೈ ( ಮದರಾಸ್) ನಗರದಲ್ಲೆ ಇದ್ದರೆಂದು ಮರೆಯುವಂತಿಲ್ಲಾ...

As a part of 100 years of Indian cinema in Chennai, we ( self and wife) just went for Bangaradha manushya , 1973, a Rajkumar masterpiece (which ran for 2 years in States theater then) here in Chennai at Sathyam Cinema FREE, first come first served.

We went with lot of expectations and we were very thrilled to meet so many cheerful kannadigas who took time off to see a classic together.
All were asking me and wife to join a kannadigara sangha and participate in functions..Theater was 60% full which is great for chennai!

Wonderful film ..
Brought tears in my eyes..Superhit songs and performances..

Tomorrow we have got 2 passes to see the the main celebrations of kannada filmworld in a Stadium in Chennai..
More on it on my blog with pics, late tomorrow..

Movie review: CHENNAI 'Doesn't' EXPRESS

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 18 Aug 2013 13:24:00 +0530

It is a standard SRK film- Check.
Takes on his own aged DDLJ theme- Check.
North-South divide and comedy arising from language barrier -Check
Good guy and Good gal on the run from Big Bad guys -Check.

With so many stereotypes and cliches, it is no wonder Chennai Express is not a new train on the track.

SRK plays a 40-yr old bachelor , looking for a good time with his friends in Goa despite having his Grandpa’s asthi meant for Rameswaram, but lands up in some remote TN village still lorded over by local zamindar-cum-Don to whom everyone reverentially bows..
Oh, really, this is some TN that I am yet to see in this day and age!

Deepika is a gutsy and lively Don’s daughter on the run, an unwilling bride who still needs protection from the 40 yr Old bachelor, who neither understands Tamil nor can defend himself against big bulky bouncers of her evil daddy.

From the first scene of SRK helping Deepika up on the train it was never in doubt how the movie would end, but it takes some tired, circuitous route to the destination.
‘Chennai Shuttle Passenger’, would have been a more appropriate title.

SRK tries to pass off his brand of downright buffoonery as comedy most of the time. Else he hams the rest of the way.
It is left to the young and mercurial Deepika Padukone to lift the goings on with a spirited performance…Tamil accent, eyes, expressions everything spot on.
Rest of the crew is quite deadpan.

How and when the lead pair falls in love is not brought out clearly by Director Shetty and it seems like more of a compulsion than real sentiments at play.

Songs and BGM are pleasantly fine with two songs noteworthy. Photography is arresting. These are about two plus points to mention. That’s it.

In the end , it was quite clear that this was a typical ‘mass entertainer’ that Bollywood mindlessly churns out, so less said the better.

Rating : 2.5/5

Yercaud...Chilling in Hills

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 11 Aug 2013 19:38:00 +0530

Salient features:

Distance to Yercaud= 353 km from Chennai on GST road.

Car: Our maruti Ritz Vxi

Time taken: 7 hrs ( with 2 to 3 breaks for Breakfast, tea etc)

One night halt

We as a family of four decided to visit a cool hill station we had often heard about but never seen yet...Yercaud, near Salem, TN.

We were ready to leave on Friday, a Ramadan holiday, at morning 5.30 am.

After filling up full tank, the driver informed me the meter starting reading as 3021.

The early morning had light rains and light traffic along Adyar- GST road towards Ulundurpet, the road we had chosen. We made good time traveling at 100 kmph thereabouts.

We stopped for breakfast at a nice place near SRM University called ‘Sappada Vanga’ a veggie restaurant and had steaming Idli vada for breakfast with Coffee. The restaurant is nicely furnished and there is even a small glass aquarium there.

We made good time again the rest of the way with GST road being butter smooth all the way.

What surprised me was the rest of the way i.e, NH 68 is also excellent with hardly any traffic to clutter up your path.

I was earlier advised to take the shorter Kuppanur Ghat Road, but we heard on the way at a tea shop that the same was quite narrow and besides the recent rains had made the conditions worse.

So we took the regular one via Salem town, often asking for directions, for Yercaud Main road up the enchanting hills that guards the town like a behemoth.

There are 20 hair pin bends on the way up and green scenery as we drove up is feast to the tired eyes of a Citizen.

We had some sickness breaks and all, so were delayed a bit but we managed to reach up to Yercaud after 7 hrs of our departure from home. Though Shyamala was feeling sick when the trip started, she considerably brightened up after reaching Yercaud and enjoyed the rest.

The hill town was bursting at seams with holiday traffic and we had a tough time in locating the small resort we had booked in called Thendral resort.

It is tucked away beyond Montfort school in atop a lovely hillock that overlooks the entire valley. It has only 6 rooms and small Veg-Non veg restaurant in the basement. Purely B- class in my opinion .

Call Ph no No,04281- 226800.

But then the view is breathtaking and compensates for the small and medium grade facilities in the resort, nee Lodge.

I advise only bachelors who want to party or make merry to stay here and not for families. The problem is you have to make booking well in advance for good resorts like GRT, Sterling, Shevaroys etc…

The weather at this time of the year (August) is amazingly cool and nights are chilly too. Light blankets were given and we did not need the ceiling fans throughout.

The lunch was at a medium class place called Shevaroys -Silver oak restaurant. On this weekend, there was severe staff shortage and even food shortage in most restaurants generally everywhere in Yercaud. Of course the rooms everywhere were fully booked for 3 day long weekend!!

There is a Malar restaurant and an Annalakshmi near the lake for vegetarians and we had to settle for whatever they could serve up under the circumstances of overcrowding and food short supply.

The places to see included lovely panoramic view spots called Lady’s seat, Rose garden and Pagoda Point on day 1.

Boating had to wait for the next day as sunset arrived and we returned to the rooms.

In all, Chinmay and Sanmathi along with us made the most of the welcome break on this tour.

The next day we took the pedal boats 4-seater one, for 30 mins and it costs 110 bucks with a refundable deposit of same amount, but in case you are late, no refunds! Mercifully they give you, life jackets, albeit stained old ones!

There is a water fall called Kiliyur falls and the road to it was clogged with holiday traffic. It takes some 260 steps to get down to the falls and climb up on the return.

I am unused to such long hauls and chose to stay put at the top with wife accompanying.

As many elderly and children came up huffing and puffing, complaining that steps were steep and it was quite hard for them, I realized the authorities have to put not only warning boards but also some first aid medical facility midway there.

My children enthusiastically went about visiting the falls and here are some pics

There is an advertised Tourist spot called Botanical garden maintained by Central Govt, but know what?..They work only 5 days a week, and closed on Saturdays and Sundays!! Isn't it ridiculous and ironical that they do such things in Holiday resorts?

We left shortly after 2.30 pm on Saturday and came down the hills pretty fast. There are still some drunk young road-ragers en route but we had an experienced Driver in Ramachandran who handled the conditions with ease.

We stopped over for a break at Devi Towers in Salem. We had hot Masala tea to help us get on with rest of the trip back.

A small comedy board seen on the way... see the spelling!

Nothing to do with Jayalalitha's Amma canteens ...But a small Mess!

We had light dinner at Sappda Vanga again and were home by 10 pm.

The journey had consumed some 784 kms in all at the end...

A good brisk weekend getaway from Chennai!

Book Review: The Cuckoo’s calling…Loud and clear!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 26 Jul 2013 19:40:00 +0530

This murder mystery thriller is written by JK ‘Galbraith’..err!..’Robert’ Rowling..Sorry I mixed it up…JK Rowling herself!

(I read it primarily because it is a hot seller in the market now and not because she wrote Harry Potter books, of which I have not read even one.)

Anyone can understand that the burden of fame and expectations from the readers' world is so phenomenal that JK Rowling of Harry Potter fame decided to hide her celeb self under a `mysterious’ pseudonym of Robert Galbraith, while embarking on a different genre of story—An adult Murder Mystery as opposed to Youngsters’ fantasies she is well known for..

Have a change of scene, as James Hadley Chase would say!

The story is a straight up detective novel, in the English crime tradition of Agatha Christie with a touch of J H Chase while elaborating on the shady characters, deceit, lust and greed that pervades the world of high glamour and big money.

We open the narrative following the death of supermodel Lula Landry (affectionately nicknamed Cuckoo), whose apparent suicide has the press in frenzy. Three months later, private detective Cormoran Strike is asked by her step brother to investigate if, in fact, Landry was pushed from her balcony, thus cold bloodedly murdered by someone and made it conveniently look like suicide.

The hero is an ex-war veteran, one–legged with prosthetic support, whose own personal life has been just wrecked by a breakup and is so broke that he sleeps in his small dinghy office.

He is blessed to have a smart, thinking-on-feet secretary Robin who provides able support despite being wild-eyed with admiration of his deductive /detective skills, so much so that she takes on her fiancé to support her employer.

The investigation takes some 400+ interesting pages (I read the e-book version), well paced and with some twists and turns to keep one turning pages.

But the 70's familiar Hindi film theme of jaaydaad ( property) rears its head again and you are surprised , in this day and age!

But seasoned mystery novel readers (like me) won’t have to wait too long with bated breath to know the truth, they will ‘do it’ 3/4^ths of the way through…But for the modus operandi of death, you will have to wait till the last pages…Good enough...in fact, very good!

This marks literally a new ‘chapter’ for the author Rowling…We couldn’t care what pseudonym she wrote under, as long as such good ones keep coming at regular intervals.

PS: It reminds you of a Chase novel of 50s:‘Lay her among the Lilies’ among others, very much!

Recommended: Oh, Yes!

Rating : 4/5

Inferno: when THE END is unproductive

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 9 Jun 2013 14:14:00 +0530

I am sorry to disappoint you. But please blame Dan Brown for the same.

I am talking of his new offering: Inferno, a novel based on Dante’s works, artifacts with mysteries; throw in a Biomedical weapon, a deadly virus to set off the hero Langdon saddled with a short-term amnesia as he stumbles though the besieged Florence city ( Alas! This hero has not seen Ghajini, so he is not as smart as Aamir Khan!) aided by a bald lady Doctor on a wild goose chase, all the while ducking from Military Police..

Confusing enough? But wait.. The assured thrills are there, and so are the clever twists at the end of each Chapter through which the author takes us on a nail-biting and often puzzling chase covering Italy and Turkey with the couple ducking from bullets, à la Jason Bourne cum James Bond.

Without revealing more as spoilers, I will answer your questions…

Was it Good?: ..haa….hmm..Yeah, but….sort of…

What was not Good?: When the end becomes impotent and unproductive, you come away unsatisfied.. Like what was this entire futile chase about?

Now to decipher the last two italicized words above (Sorry, Dan Brown, you are getting to me), you will have to read the book to ‘the end’.

There was a minor controversy on this book, recently regarding the description of the Philippine capital Manila as ‘Gates of hell’ and such unkind words…Yes, that is how these ‘Western Cultured’ authors still think of developing Asian Cities… Much like some still talk of India as the’ land of snake charmers’ in this day and age…

Alistair Maclean wrote The Satan Bug in 1961…I will rate it higher than this mishmash of History, literature, architecture and bio- terror any day.. Yes, despite that day and age…
This story looks like inspired from Mission Impossible-II

Come to think Bio-medical thrillers themselves, Robin Cook certainly does a much better job.

I feel Brown should stick to his territory of Museums and symbols. Next time around.

My fav Dan Brown book still is Angels and Demons closely followed by the Digital Fortress.

As to Inferno: Rating is 2.75/5 ( that is just for the thrills, not the plot!)

Book review: Chanakya’s chant

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 7 Jun 2013 21:40:00 +0530

Book review:

Chanakya’s chant

Author: Ashwin Sanghi

Many critics have raved about and against his Rozabal Line and Krishna Key..

The Chanakaya’s Chant is the second one of his novels

This is a supposed to be a Historical and Political drama , one thread on the famous Chanakya , the wily, intelligent but crooked, smart but cunning, successful but cruel Brahmin guide and philosopher who has a personal vendetta agenda to settle with the present Magadha king.

He plots , confuses and creates a holy mess in warfare among neighboring kings and their states to get what he wants…He wants to install his protégé Chandragupta Maurya in place..

The second thread of story running parallels is that of modern day politician/ king maker called

Gangasagar who does the same with modern political parties, forges alliances with crooked mine owners, real estate businessmen, hijras, “honey traps” and assassins to make and break alliances that he wants in power.

He also has his puppet PM candidate who he wants to establish in Delhi…

How things turn out for the original Chanakya and this modern chanakya , Gangasagar is the rest of the story.

It is Ok, its like a new type of story line mixing History and present day politics together . It is not very complimentary on Great Brahmin Chanakya as we know him; in fact author tries his best to make him detestable and as villainous as possible.

The writing style is not so great. It is mere hype that this author is hailed as 'Indian Dan Brown' (of Da Vinci code fame)

This book is supposed to be made into a Hindi movie by UTV.

Rating: 3/5

Crimes and No Punishments

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 13:29:00 +0530

Disclaimer:

The opinions in this post are not based on popular sentiments, but they are my own and you are free to disagree

OK, this Nirbhaya gangrape case in Delhi was a shocker that woke up the nation from its slumber to demand some action..So far so good..
But we have become too emotional and shortsighted due to the violence of the crime, to see the roots of all the evil that has seeped into the Indian society.

At the risk of being branded a conservative prude, I still say, all this is because of the sociological and cultural revolution sweeping in from the west where 'being cool or looking hot' means more important than behaving safely, ethically, legally within certain limitations etc..

In one breath, you demand the Police should not be everywhere but in another, you cry that they are not around when you want them!!
Police have a lot of limitations too in this country... Already saddled with the label of being most corrupt for all they do and don't, they are also severely understaffed ( understaffed at least for the common man, while VIPs have many guards drawn from this depleted Police force!)..

I was saying, don't we slam any attempt by Police in bringing public order and restrictions as an infringement of our privacy, and scorn at them as 'corrupt Moral Police', who love snooping around young couples, and party birds, 'instead of doing their work'?..

If they restrict the happy hours, they are criticized... If they arrest drunken drivers on New Year’s eve , they are branded party-poopers..

If they chase away couples from dark shady spots for security on Valentines day, we are up in arms claiming that ‘this country has matured, while Police have not’ ...
So, its like damned if they do and damned if they don't.

Besides, everyone is very eager to pay the price ( which is usually a bribe) and quickly get out of such nasty embarrassing situations...How many of us like being fined for obvious flouting of rules...None, right?

When we do not want to live within the defined limits of decency, legality and discipline, let alone moral bounds, how can we expect others to?... Especially the probable criminals who could be your car drivers, bus conductors, street vendors and louts who have the least access to education and good upbringing and are usually a deprived, hungry, angry class?

Are we being good role models to them in our indecent display of unbridled liberated youths?

So, if you do not want 'Moral' police around you, then you cannot wish away IMMORAL criminals too from risky spots either, right?
What do you want the Police to do then?..No one is wearing labels on their forehead as rapists or thugs or whatever.
They are just like the rest of us who want to have forbidden fun without getting caught.

In any case, what’s so wrong in being 'Moral', it’s not a four letter word, Rape is..
I am not holding a candle for the Police here, but surely the onus of making the country a safe, legally correct and ethical place to inhabit rests on all of us too being upright and straightforward upfront?

Can we take such a pledge on the New Year’s eve please, instead of demanding public hanging and chemical castrations which are impractical knee jerk reactions and will never happen in our brand of democracy..

As the latest Talaash film's taglines said, 'the answer lies within..'

Lets take a look inside, it’s been a long time since we did.

Mini-Review: English -Vinglish: Vintage Sridevi returns

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 18:38:00 +0530

Diamonds are forever…

No, I am not referring to the classic James Bond flick, but paying tribute to our own versatile actress Sridevi.
The lady who went into hibernation after marriage and children decades ago, returns to show the same sparkle and magical class in a role that was made for her in the latest Hindi/ Tamil offering: ` English Vinglish’ directed by Gauri Shinde who has at once established herself as a quality director of reckoning in this `feel good’ film about an ordinary middle class housewife, often belittled and snickered at for her lack of English skills in this modern “ anglicized’ world by her self-centred family members who take digs at her frequently, uncaringly.

She hides her tears and swallows her hurt and it is here that Sridevi is so real as the middle class house-wife Shashi, who is a ‘laddoo- maker’ by choice, that everyone can empathise with her.
Even her proficiency and popularity as a good sweet maker is somehow held against her and derisively mocked at. She then gets a chance to go abroad to be with her sister in New York alone and she is naturally petrified at the thought of making it all by herself in an alien English land.
But the lady is courageous, determined to learn English in a coaching class in New York to get back her self-pride and some ‘show the world ‘ that she is not just ‘born to make only laddoos’.

The movie has many endearing moments like a cameo by Amitabh who provide solace and comfort to her on the flight to a soft spoken, French student who inadvertently falls for her simplicity and grace, a Pakistani called funnily as Salman Khan and a home sick madarsi..

The movie is all about her fight not only with her inner demons of fear and insecurity but also the time which is running out as the wedding dates at her sister’s house, get near and she is pushed to make a complicated choice.

This is a real heart touching movie and must be seen to appreciate.
The characters and performances are so real that you can reach across and touch them.
And Sridevi stands tall. Freckles and all.

Now everyone will know ` what and who’ we have been missing on the Indian silver screen all these years

Swami Ayyappa : The Golden God beckons...!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 18:15:00 +0530

Sabarimala: A Soul's Uphill Journey!

(Note: This is a very long blog unlike my other blogs as it is required and deserving. Please read fully when you have time! and see the pics at the bottom)

“You can't plan it, it has to happen on its own...when He wants to see you, actually!" had said a relative sometime back while talking about Lord Of Sabarimala- Swami Ayyappan.

This, India's Most Visited Popular shrine where Hindus, Christians and Muslims pray without any discrimination, had eluded me from so many years.

And 'It' happened. Last weekend.With some office colleagues.

How was it, they ask me...

For such a simple question , I, known as a man of words in my circle, find no words to answer...

If I just say,' It was a divine , wonderful, mind blowing experience', I could even be describing a latest 3D Blockbuster movie thus in a review.

Yet, being a blogger, I will record the events of the trip only, leaving the 'experience' part to the readers 'own understanding.

I had worn Thulasi mala as per custom at RA puram Ayyappan temple on 15th and perfomed daily pooja for about 10 days in advance.

We a team of 17 staffers from my Office incl Director, AGMs, Project Managers and others took Irumudi on 17th Friday evening in Chennai's Mahalingapuram Ayyappan Temple.

We had snacks in the nearby hall -Hot poori-masala and Upma and left by the pre-arranged AC minibus shortly.

We sang some Bhajans in the bus and took rest. At Morning 5.30, we reached Madurai- TTDC- Hotel Tamilnadu where we got down and occupied two rooms for freshening up in bathroom and change of dress.

We walked a couple of kilometres to reach the famous Madurai Meenakshi sundareshwar temple.

We bought special Rs.100/-. ticket and saw the Deeparadhana of the beautifully decorated Amma from front row and then waited in front of Sundraeshwarar temple for darshan of Lord Shiva.

After the two satisfying darshans here, we stayed for a sumptuous Idli-Dosa- Poori Breakfast in a local restaurant and left for Sabarimala by 9.30 am.

We took the Madurai-Theni-Cumbum-Kumily route by our bus; the green flat fields of TN soon turned into mild hills and then to start of Ghats in Kumily the border town in kerala.

We enjoyed watching Thiruvilaiyadal and Deivam- two Tamil devotional films on DVD in the bus during the long 10 hr journey.

We had Kerala style vegetarian lunch in a restaurant in Kumily (with boiled rice) and were frankly, a bit unsatisfied with the taste.

Then it started raining the rest of the way intermittently all the way to Pampa. Through the closed windows of AC van I was thinking of how’s and whys of the climb in the open when we reached there.

It was at around evening 6 pm, we arrived at the banks of holy River Pampa. We got down and immediately felt rain on our cheeks. Some welcome from the Lord!

We took the irumudi packets on our head and started walking towards the bank of the river as the rain slowly increased its tempo, chanting Swamiye Ayyappa… ayyappao swamiye .

We kept our small handbag containing change of clothes and essentials that we needed to carry to the Temple above, for stay overnight.

As we started to the River pampa with gushing clean waters from Monsoon, rains suddenly opened up all the way and pelted the shores in full cry.

Wow, it was a sight to behold, but we had not come there to enjoy the scenery from a shelter. We ran to the river and took half a dip, full dip whatever we could in the falling rain, in the chilled waters of the river. We came back wet gasping and soaked and yet took our Irumudi on the heads carefully in a plastic cover so as to protect the contents from getting wet!

No such luck for rest of our bodies as we ran towards the beginning of the steps towards the first stop above, Kannimoola Ganapathi temple!

‘This requires some heroism’ I thought, not knowing what was in store for us.

Balancing the Irumudi carefully we went up; sometimes tying it to the head with a mundu helps, but only temporarily as the same starts sliding with our climbing motion.

After breaking a coconut in this temple, we started the first steep climb.

The rains were in no hurry to stop and we were now fully soaked . Beaten but not out, I climbed slowly with the rest of the team and mingled with the surge of other devotees similarly climbing,

The steps grew sharper and steeper and in another 15 wet minutes, I was gasping and legs were shaking with the effort. My colleagues said,' you,may take Doli if it is required ! Dont hesitate!' etc

It was somewhere then that I started enquiring the Doli-wallahs for a ride in the chair on their shoulders.

There was no use haggling as they did not have anything to lose. In any case the rains falling heavily, I took the Doli for a part of the way up to Sabari peetam for 1500/-. I still felt I could walk the rest of the flatter but longer distance of 1 to 1.5 km to the temple from there.

It is an amazing experience to be carried by 4 wet gasping but determined men who weave their way through the crowds on the wet slippery ramps to the destination above. These are real life Supermen, poor, illiterate and unsung!

In a matter of 15 minutes I was there on the large welcome area lobby of Sabari peetam, .It was still raining slowly, as I arrived and got down there. I paid off the Doli-wallahs and paid for their tea too.

There are some refreshments stalls selling everything from Biscuits, coffee tea and fruit juices there. Ironically this is where Sri Rama gave Mukti to Sabari and we had lemon soda and ate fresh Pineapple pieces in that memory!

As we left this place now with me walking with the rest of the team, the rains came back with double speed and started pelting again

Chanting Swamiye ayyappa nama , this is when we realise how heavy it is to carry our body to the final destination of life ultimately. It is for this only that Swami Sathya Sai also hails us to let go of Deha bhavam and develop Atmic shakti. As we continued nonchalantly in the heavy rains, to test our perseverance, the lights which lit up the path went off, plunging the whole mountain in eerie darkness.

In pitch dark cold wet night, legs shaking with effort, only half way up, I stood amazed at the severe test we needed to pass now. Using torch lights towards the feet we gingerly stepped upwards chanting different versions of Swami Ayyappa.

“ Bhagawane , bhagavathye, swamiye, eeshwarane, eeshwaraiye like this we chanted diverting our minds in the wet dark night as we climbed slowly above,

It is just a matter of putting the mind over the matter and surrendering totally to Lord Ayyappan himself as the sole saviour for us at the moment.( Someone mentioned it is only sheer will power, and I would like to add,’ it is more of His will-power than our own’!)

What else will us- wet, tired devotees with irumudi on the heads require?

We cry to the Swami, “ Deha balam thaa, Pada balam thaa ( Give me strength to legs and body ). Some pray earnestly in Tamil “ Aetri vidappa, Thooki vidappa”(Lift us up, carry us up),

In all this nothing short of a real life adventure in which we have to come out winners! With earnest chanting on Swami Ayyappan, we reach the well-lit Sannidhanam (Generators at work there!, power cut in rest of the way) nestled amid the imposing blue hills shrouded in darkness.

It was about 8.45 pm when we reach the long lines moving to the 18 stepped entrance of the Temple. It had taken me around 2.5 hours to reach here from the Pampa river bed, some hundreds of feet below. Many of my colleagues got scattered by this time and I was with only my friend Mr Sundaram and Guru swami

Oh, WOW, this Lord is great, I feel and join the long Q and pass through the covered enclosure and lo!, I am in front of the holy golden 18 steps symbolising 18 different sadhanas we need to undertake to reach our final destination in life. (For more details, Read here)

It is a great relief and with my eyes watering I climb up the revered holy 18 steps of the temple in jostling crowds all with Irumudi on the heads.( You are not allowed to enter through steps without irumudi sack, you can enter the same through a side entrance without it too!).These golden cladded steps are steep too at some 70 deg inclination (?) and our knees scrape the next step above as we climb up.

We now visit the great Bhagawan himself passing through the walk up bridge and I see him for a brief 10 seconds and felt thrilled and exhilarated at the Divine sight marking the successful culmination of our long trial.

All of us tired and wet, relax now in MN Nambiar guest house and in the same darkness and candles lighted we have Dosa and Rava kichdi to our belly’s content and sleep on the mats on the floor, sound asleep. Yes, sound of the snores!

We wake up at 2.45 am for the next day morning darshan before departure. Our Guru swami and other organisers were busy in separating the contents of all Irumudi like Ghee for abhishekam, pooja materials to take it inside.

I had the great privilege of performing arathi to 18 steps at 4 a.m. (as I am called kanni swami= First timer) and distribute vibhuti prasadam to my team.

One more marvellous miracle was only waiting to happen!.

Our relative, my wife’s nephew Mr Ganesh knew someone who maintains the VIP entrance here , the path that takes one very close to the Swami! And I had his number. He was his utmost helpful self and allowed all 15 of us in batches of 5 through this special entrance. We arrived at the first grill before the “garbha gruham” and were thrilled , how fortunate we were at such proximity while the others waited at a distance.

At 5 a.m. we witnessed the unlocking Golden doors of the sparkling temple by the Main Tantri (Priest) and ‘This was the Moment of truth!’

The God’s sparkling yellow gilded idol as left in previous evening when doors were closed re-appeared in full glow to our amazed eyes for a full 2 minute period, the atmosphere is electrifying as everyone cries full throat” Swaaaamiyee ayyappaaa”.

There is some magnetic and charismatic power in this Divine boy’s moorthy cladded in Gold, that flows from here to outside, I am sure of it now, which pulls lakhs of devotees every year. We can feel it now but I won’t be able to describe the joy and thrill of this spellbinding encounter!

After this charged experience, I move on to other activities which include rolling a coconut around ‘Maligapurathamma’ temple next to Main temple ( a custom for Kanni swami like me again)

As the story goes, after Mahishi was killed, a beautiful lady appeared from the body of Mahishi. She requested Ayyappa to marry her and accept her as his soul mate. But due to his mission and the state as a Yogi, Ayyappa refused it. But due to the incessant beseech of the girl, the Lord gave her the word that he will definitely marry her at that time when there will be no Kanni Ayyappas in his abode at Sabarimala.

So I am one of the ‘Kannis’ who spoil her chances this year too, and Ayyappa remains a Brahmachari seated in Yogic Chin mudra atop these wonderful blue Neeli malai.

I had purchased the customary aravana payasam and appam as prasadam

All done, we leave the temple, praying at Holy steps for another chance and start the climb down or the descent from the hills to Pampa.

This time I had made up my mind to make up for the distance I had not climbed on the way up and choose to go walking down all the way. No Doli this time!

The morning today 7.15 am was dry with no rains but the path is slippery after last night’s huge deluge that has left the surface wet and sandy. The stones are sharp and hurt too, Unmindfully I walk down thinking of Ayyappa’s benign Golden idol.

Holding on to the handrails that separate the ways up and down, I very slowly and carefully step down , took many breaks in between to catch my breath and savour some more pineapple pieces and lemon soda to refresh and re-energise myself.

I bought a toy wooden stick arrow and plunged it in a wooden board at Sabari peetam this time, it’s like signing my attendance as kanni swami!( Saram kuthi, it is called)

If anything, coming down the steps and ramp is even harder than climbing up and many use Doli more for coming down only.. It was me doing just the opposite!

So it was karmic load that I compensated, I think and I reach the Pampa river banks by 9.15 am, a full 2 hours from the top.

We had some Parathas and tea in the restaurant ( I found to my dismay that Idlis and vadas are hard and not good there, may be generally on Kerala route?) and left by our Bus at 10 am.

It was another 20 hours journey via Cumbum-Dindigul-Trichy-Chennai when mostly I tried to sleep and rest.

I applied some Volini spray on my aching legs and thighs. Luckily, no injuries on my soles or heels. It is certainly his karunai( compassion) and I thank Swami Ayyappan from my heart for this first in a lifetime experience that I will always cherish.

I reached home at 4.30 am and my wife smilingly welcomed me with an Arathi at doorstep as this is customary.

||Swamiye Saranam Ayyappa||

Some Pics below:< click to enlarge>

Self at Chennai -Irumudi function


My Office colleagues- group pic

Self at Madurai Meenakshi Temple

Lovely scenes in Kerala enroute

Forests near Sabarimala

Pampa River bathing ghats

Pampa River in full flow in Rains

Self at Pampa before climb... Rains!

Ascending the hill steps

accommodation-Guest house where we stayed

beautiful hillsides in sabarimala

Beautiful Misty mountains near Sannidhanam

Sannidhanam-VIP entrance behind

Temple roof in gold

Sannidhanam courtyard

Holy18 steps from close

Holy 18 steps-from distance

Sannidhanam -Q behind- on bridge

Descending the hills on return

Self back at pampa bridge

Sabarimala hills from Pampa road

Rajesh Khanna: My Aakhri Khat on his Safar

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 21:15:00 +0530

(A Tribute using his Film titles)

No one knows the ‘Raaz ‘of his success. Carrying new ‘Baharon ke Sapne’ in his eyes he became a ‘Chaailla babu’ who quickly ascended the position of ‘Bombay Superstar’.

Even when he became a ‘Namak haraam’ to someone, he was still a ‘Shehzada’ of his times.

He was a ‘Bhola bhala’ who claimed that ‘Haathi Mere saathi’ but could not live like a ‘Joroo Ka Ghulam’

But when he declared `Mere jeevan saathi’ became `alag alag’, his life became ‘Fiffty-Fiffty’.

He created a unique “Bandhan” with the film lovers of his generation and his home Ashirwad became the ‘Prem nagar’ for his stalking, crazed female admirers.

Being no `Ajnabee’ to success he became a ‘bawarchi’ who cooked up sumptuous super hits of ‘Anand’ year after year for us.

He toiled like a ‘Janata hawaldar’ relentlessly and entertained each single ‘Anurodh’ of admirers.

`Mehbooba’s came went in his life but no one could bind him in their ‘Aanchal’ in a permanent ‘Prem Bandhan’.

He got entangled in the ‘Chakravyuha’ of life when he tried some ‘Thodisi Bewafai’ with it. Everyone wondered, ‘Aakhir Kyon’?

He became a ‘Dushman’ to many and what he did later was dubbed as just ‘Bundalbaaz’.

They say his ‘Dard’ was ‘Kudrat’s gift for all his ‘Karm’. He never acted as if was just a ‘Naukri’ but romanced the screen like an ‘Aaashiq hoon baharon kaa’.

In his ‘Avtaar’ as the Superstar, he had achieved his ‘Maqsad’ and but in the later years his Box office ‘Nishaan’ started wavering.

But no worry, Rajesh Khanna’s `Aradhana ‘does not simply end here..

He might have flown away like a ‘Kati patang’, without any ‘Bandish’ but his fans still harbour ‘Amar prem’ for him…He was the ‘Roti’ and butter of the bygone 70s , his songs and movies replayed innumerable times on DVDs in homes even today.

In ‘Apna Desh’, he will always be coveted under our ‘Palkon ki chaaon mein!’

‘Dil daulat Duniya’ might have changed him over the years, but we always will not attach any ‘Daag’ to you, ‘Aap Ki kasam’!

Here is a ‘Red Rose’ for the ‘Masterji’ who has captured the ‘Dil E Nadaan’ of an entire generation!

Lastly Kishore da , there would be no Rajesh Khanna , ‘Agar tum na hote’

Yelagiri- A chillax destination!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 3 Jul 2012 22:05:00 +0530

This holiday was a long time coming..But everything fell into place when we purchased a new Maruti Ritz car recently.

We booked at Hotel landmark for 4000/= for a four bed- room non AC ( if AC is required, why go there..Thankfully it wasn’t!) for Saturday evening for 24 hrs.

The Hotel guys were more than enthusiastic in response and gave us all the info required to make the stay pleasant (Visithttp://www.hotellandmarkyelagiri.com/).

Day 1

We hired a driver from a Call driver agency in Chennai and we started off with all the josh expected of a family itching to embark on the first road trip in our new car from the sweltering Chennai to the not too far away ‘cool hills’.

The driver was competent and took us through the Chennai- Bengaluru highway along Kanchipuram- Vellore- Ambur route.

Naturally I sat next to the experienced Driver Narayanan and tried to get some tips on driving properly on highways (Just re-learning these days, you know). My wife and children Chinnu and Sannu made small talk and relaxed in the comfortable rear seat.

I took the opportunity of driving for a long stretch of some 10 to 15 kms on the highway with driver giving me occasional tips. I must say I really enjoyed the experience and look forward to become a competent driver sooner than later.

The road to Tirupattur leads towards Ponneri junction, a pretty good stretch of road and then ascends the green-looking hills. It is better to buy snacks, ad beverages etc here itself as the driver warned that the same things cost the moon at the Hill town.

Besides there the Highway dept has put up a board sternly informing the tourists to ‘fill fuel here itself as there are no petrol bunks beyond this point’ (God knows if and when they will open one at Yelagiri, because the board looked sort of permanent!)

There are 14 hairpin bends up all the way, each named after old Tamil poets and we could see many vantage points en-route from where the natural scenery can be observed and enjoyed with some group photos. A sign board nearby read ‘Don’t Drunken Drive!’, a Tanglish warning to drivers…

<Click to enlarge pics>

We managed to take some pics on the way besides feel cool afternoon winds promising similar things in store.

The travel took about 5 hours for these 235 kms , with 22 kms of it on the hills. It included two tea breaks too. We had started at 1 pm and had reached by 6.15 pm.

Small hilly villages welcomed us when the road straightens out on top. And a cluster of small hotels and eateries all named after hills or Yelagiri show up.

There is only one SBI ATM there and on weekends it gets dried up quite soon, we were warned. Most major mobile networks do function here except the recent ones like Uninor , Idea , they say. Ours was Airtel and no problem was faced.

We took small hilly twisting road beyond Travelers bungalow to our Hotel landmark which sort of nestles independently on a lone hillock.

The building looks trendy and spacious looked quite airy and bright as we drove into the parking lot.

The formalities were quite swift with the Manager Murugesan in charge and soon we were led over a garden path with stone tiles down to a block of rooms.

My children were obviously pleased with the spacious and comfortable room at first sight.

It had two double cots, a bathroom with shower and EWC and a small dining with a Table and wall mounted LED TV. Two garden windows look out to the hills outside… Yeah it was pretty nice.

We freshened up quickly and drove 2 km to the Natures Park where a Musical fountain show was planned. By now it was really cool we did not even need car AC. Cool breeze wafted in and kissed our faces delighting us.

The Park has some 10 bucks entrance fee and through a twisting green path we walked on to an enclosure where they charged us again 15/- again for the fountain.

The gallery seats were already filled by 7.30 pm and a central pool of fountains started making colorful twisting patterns up and down as music played on. The songs are the recent Tamil, Hindi film hits and even a Kannada film hit …all fast and thumping…But then sadly the fountain has only 4 to 5 set-patterns and keeps repeating no matter what music is played. So much for Musical fountain!

We spent some relaxing time, sitting and chatting on the green grass in the early night 8.00 pm time.

The weather is just cool, much like Bangalore’s cool days but not too chilly like a real Hill station say Ooty or Kodai!

We returned to Hotel and there was feast of buffet items Veg/ Non veg spread out there, with a little space between the two

We had a good sumptuous Veg dinner to our liking and retired to bed.

We did put on the two ceiling fans one above each bed and that was sufficient for a comfortable sleep.

There was a gap in the compound wall through which a few stray dogs entered and caused some nuisance and hotel staff boy with a staff in hand tried to chase them out in vain.

Day 2

We awoke at 7.30 am thereabouts as we had decided to take things slow and easy here.

(Our Driver had slept in the car and had freshened up by 9 am).

After bath and breakfast at Dining hall which was now a buffet of Idlis, vadas, Pongal, Kitchdi and Dosas that delighted the taste buds, we left to visit the lone Murugan temple atop a hillock near the Hotel. It was pretty blusteringly windy and cool on the temple premises. After taking in the scenery though camera eyes we came down and started to the Lake for a Boat ride in our car. By then it was 10.30 am.

Unfortunately the ticket counter informed us that boating was cancelled from last few days as someone had committed suicide by jumping off the boat in the middle of the lake and died…Someone said there were four of them and one died (was he pushed?)..Any way a Police case, so no boat ride now!

We took Rs 5/ tickets to the surrounding lake park which has the usual children pay area of assorted swings and slides like Cubbon Park Bal Bhavan in Bangalore.

We did have a look at the calm serene lake waters… a small one by any standards and I wondered how anyone could think of death in such a pleasant place…Hmm, it takes all kinds to make this world. But, one word on the boats:

Suicide or Murder, the boats did not have any safety arrangements at first glance…Very old fashioned wooden row boats! When will we learn?

There are some funny Tanglish boards here too like ‘Drinkards Not allowed as per their Regulachions!’… Whatever!

We spent more time in the cloudy noon time in Narure Park opposite the Lake where last night we had seen the Musical fountains. I did manage to get some quality relaxing time now sitting below a tree by myself and listening Rudram mantras. It was still keeping very pleasantly cool all through the day.

Lunch at our Hotel was once more some veggie buffet and we gorged ourselves well. The food was nice.

We went back to room an hour of siesta, awoke at 3 pm and manage to check out by 3.30 pm.

The return journey down the hills is equally nice in the dusk and we hit the highway by 5 pm.

The journey back home with a couple of tea breaks consumed same time and we were home by 8.15 pm.

So Yelagiri hills as a medium-grade small hill resort scores big time in weather; though there are very few places to see, the emphasis is only to spend quality time with family and unwind.

Kahaani..Gripping, Yes!…Perfect, NO!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 22:07:00 +0530

Kahaani is the story of Vidya Balan, who is enjoying a new high after her `The Dirty Picture’ won some national level awards, reprising the role of a pregnant woman claiming to be Computer programmer from London who walks into a crowded Kolkata asking questions about her missing husband whom she lost contact suddenly in that very city.. Soon with a helpful clean faced (and hearted) cop in tow, she plunges into an onerous task of unearthing the id of her spouse which seems to have been erased from all possible records.

It is a good role and she dons the mantle of a lone crusading woman very well…In these days when heroine oriented Mainstream Hindi movies are rare, she may even bag some awards for this effort too..

But for me, the movie script was nowhere near perfect.

OK,. Yes, as recent thrillers go, it stands apart as a more sensible one, with suspense maintained well to almost near the climax… I, for one, smelt the end coming about half hour earlier than the Director would have liked, but the point is there are quite a few loose ends ( read unexplained and semi explained ones ) , and thus many viewers may not understand the full impact of the climax and what it means to the story till after the movie credits roll.

I expected to see Kolkata in a new light as claimed by most reviewers but it is still the same old ‘Calcutta’ that seems to be frozen in a time warp with decadent buildings and ancient facilities except for its Metro which is in fact a character in this film.

!! SPOILERS AHEAD!! ( Don’t read further if you want to watch the movie)

As to spoilers…somehow the way Vidya handles herself as a ‘ pregnant’ woman is a not quite convincing. She walks about too quickly, awkwardly and seems tireless with all the the long treks in the so called `City of Joy’.
There is no explanation on the schoolboy who carried a bottle of poisonous gas in the Metro train and caused the leak that kills hundreds shown as a mere accident, even though it will be described as a meticulous terrorist attack later. .I mean How? And basically who was the schoolboy?Where is the connection with the main villain in this case? It is never shown, even in the end..
Why would a HR officer get bumped off by villains for accessing existing HR records of an Ex-employee? If that was so critical for them to be kept hidden, did the villains wait for 2 years till someone like her accessed it, just to kill them then.. Strange logic!
The reactions of the exposed ‘inside man’- for eg, Shridhar is strangely loud and out of character; he starts a physical bash-up in the main roads with the guys who stole an important closely guarded secret from him …But his yelling and shouting about the ‘secret’ attracts every bystander in the road and it’s a dead giveaway.
Who sponsored the Metro attack finally?.. They just killed one evil agent and arrested another on their payrolls after all this hullaballoo…
Did she manage to get away in the end?.. The case will be closed by the Police after such a bloody climax allowing her go scot free? No answers provided except for allusions to a vengeful Mata Durga …Oh, well!

What I really Liked: Kishoreda’s sung RD Burman composed songs of Old 70′s playing in the backdrop of `Bengali Kolkata ‘, quite appropriately

Bottomline:

See it by all means..Recommended, rated 3.5/5

Thiruvannamalai-The Divine Circle

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 19:42:00 +0530

Thiruvannamalai is the abode of Lord Arunachala Shiva nestled in the hills midway between Bangalore and Chennai
It is also the place where Ramana Mahirishi has his ashram.
Read more about Thiruvannamala here

I left yesterday from our Chennai Office at 6.15 pm by bus with 40 colleagues to Thiruvannamalai. We left with the intention of doing a Girivalam or spiritual walk around the holy hill...

The road from Tindivanam -Gingee - T'malai is awful after this rain season with full of potholes' and rough patches...The bumpy road made us reach only 11.15 pm ( 5 hrs for 190 odd kms).

We spent first hour in the bus chanting Rudram and Maha mrutyunjaya mantram.

The first patch through the town( starting from the temple- Rajagopuram side)-3 to 4 kms is on Bangalore highway, which is now completely damaged by rains, and I was barefooted then and felt acute foot pain by the sharp pebbles and wading through puddles of rain water stagnant on the road and then speeding trucks and overnight buses trying to run us off the road to the drains ...! (Thank 'Shiva' it was a clear night though it had rained on previous days...)

Then I thought that it's good to complete the walk and concentrate on bhakti rather than get distracted by the pain, and so wore chappals for the rest of the walk like many others with us (the rest of the Girivalam , 9 kms separated from the Highway traffic is in good smooth condition with tiled footpath too!)

The are are 12 lingams and being Karthiga masam, the temples were open poojas freshly done and being done. The jyothi/light atop the hill was visible clearly too...

The first temple for us was Agni lingam and the last one was Easanya Lingam.

Luckily there were like minded people for me, starting with our VP , Mr Krishna from AP, Managers- Ramesh , Bala and others who are traditional by nature and also some Sai devotees.

So we started singing Bhajans, me - Sai bhajans on Shiva (I sang some 12 to 14 myself) , others Murugan, Ayyappa and Amman bhajans/ songs in Tamil and even 'Hare rama Hare Krishna' chants and slokas and mantrams.

Our VP with a golden voice like SPB sang Shanakarabharanam and Annamayya songs -all devotional ones, and that is what made us forget the strain of walking. We completed the walk this spending time singing merrily all through. We had completed the 14 km stretch of Girivalam thus!

We broke once in between for sukku coffe and channa/ peanuts ( roadside kadai/ vendor) and in the end for a fresh bun and tea after the walk.

We left from Thiruivannamala temple parking at 3.45 am and reached home by 8.15 am. It was not possible to visit the temple as it was still closed.

Travel Tips:

You can reach The Tiruvannamalai from Bangalore and Chennai by road in the same duration
If you want to have darshan of Lord Arunachaleshwara , it is not possible till 5 am , when the doors open. So time your walk accordingly.

My Movie Reviews on IMDB

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 13:30:00 +0530

IMDB( Internet Movie database) is great database for film buffs, mainly for Hollywood, Bollywood and other smaller 'woods' to some extent! (Dunno?... Kollywood= Tamil, Tollywood= Telugu, Sandalwood= Kannada etc)

When you want to recall an old movie, i.e.; when you are on a ‘retro trip’ or want a blast from the past; a visit to IMDB.com is a must.

They have painstakingly recorded Film Industry's products over the decades with credits to the extent available and even allow you (after free registration) to edit the credits, put a synopsis and post reviews with ratings as well. They do not take unnecessarily long to approve your post either.

Before I try to buy up an old Hindi movie I want to see or revisit, or even to try downloading huge MBs of files from free Internet sites, I always visit IMDB first and make sure to know the details of cast, director, Music credits and read a couple of reviews before embarking on catching the actual film... It pays to play safe, you see! And then, you can filter out the riffraff from solid gold!

My own movie reviews ( Hindi and Kannada) (some 30 till now) on this Site are posted here:

http://www.imdb.com/user/ur22493182/comments and click 'Index' for list view!

Read and comment on my work for sure but more importantly, don't forget, you too can contribute on the site for everyone's benefit.

Mankatha and Muran: Crime pays and plays

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 12:29:00 +0530

Recently watched two Tamil movies: Mankatha and Muran.
Two excellent specimen of modern day film making from Kollywood's ever growing talented stables.
Both tensely plotted, finely filmed and sharply edited sleek products...

Mankatha:

Hailed as Ajith's 50th role (Called Ultimate Star in Tamil film-world)', it is a little unusual one for a main line hero to choose such a character with negative shades aplenty.
But then, when SRK or Amitabh can do it in their own ways, so can he.
The movie is interestingly held together by the talented Director Venkat Prabhu ( of Chennai 600028 and Saroja fame). The main theme ( without spoilers!) is about the infamous controversy surrounding betting in T20 / IPL cricket tournaments and how a crooked cop and a motley group of double crossers plan a smart ploy to gyp the crime don who is managing it, of Rs 500 crore of black money for themselves..
As greed and one-upmanship go on overdrive, some unexpected twists and turns take place and movie depicts how even meticulously plotted crime games go topsy-turvy...
A cop on their heels is Arjun , playing his part to the hilt.
Two heroines and a vamp add some glamour factor but don't have much to do..In fact the vamp( Lakshmi Rai) has a more 'meaty' role( Quite literally too! LOL) than Ajith and Arjun's consorts, Trisha and Andrea
The end comes as a double whammy in line with the societal morals nowadays! Good dekho, paisa vasool film this! They say the songs are chart-busters, but I for one could not remember them after the movie got over..( Still hum 1970s Kishoreda numbers after seeing latest movies..Talk of longevity of music!!)

2. Muran:

They are two strangers on a road trip meeting on Chennai- Bangalore highway..Life has tumultuous upheavals in store for them when they confess about their private lives to each other.
Cheran, a soft and cultured musician caught in bad marriage with a cheating and uncaring wife but has a female friend who looks to be a good future life-partner. But his wife just won't give him divorce!..Another a rich spoiled brat with nuttier habits and lives life 'just for thrills' played by Prasanna, claims he has a bad tyrant of a father who if removed from the path, would do just fine for him. Cheran dismisses the very thought and walks off initially.
But their paths would cross again after the fateful road trip and the psychotic young man Prasanna throws Cheran's life into a tailspin demanding for a Quid pro quo of mutually killing their troubles and avoid Police suspicion.

The movie is full of spine-chilling twists and turns and ends in a befitting manner. This is a good example of modern day thrillers and is a laudable debut by Director Rajan Madhav. Cheran and Prasanna compete for acting honors and just about everything is fine here.