Punned It

A movie-night dinner caper

noreply@blogger.com (Sanjay) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:04:00 +0000

[Found this post lying idle in my drafts, so putting it to some use. Wrote it when I was in Chennai, but didn't publish it earlier]

What is the most horrible thing you've done as a human being? My story unfolds thus:

Summer of 2004 in the sultry city of Chennai. Half a dozen of us, unaccustomed to Chennai's entertainment scene and eating joints feel lucky that the Sathyam theatre is just a couple of streets down our office. Lucky because in 2004, Sathyam was the only decent theatre around, and it was pretty much the only one which aired English and Bollywood movies in otherwise Tamil/Telugu dominated Box Office. We had to catch the weeknight shows since getting a weekend show ticket in Sathyam was harder than getting loose change from a Chennai Auto-rickshaw driver at night in monsoons. However dinner posed a huge issue. Working with western clients meant late hours at the office on weekdays and very little time for dinner. Money was tight and tastebuds wanted good non-veg food.

This led us to try out all possible eating joints between our office and Sathyam cinemas. There was Angan - a small but very good place run by a friendly couple, Gyan Vaishnav Dhaba - mouth watering and artery-clogging Punjabi Veg food, and another Aunty's paratha joint just on the corner of the Sathyam cinema road. They all offered hot and sumptuous (and cheap) but strictly veg food. But for some of us whose taste buds longed for non-veg food discovered a small joint Safari.

Safari - a nondescript, barely hygienic road side joint at the corner of Peters Road and West Cott road near Melody theatre welcomes its patrons with dust ridden, old furniture at the ground floor. You can (but normally don't) dare to look inside the kitchen. If the bugs and vermin don't trouble you a lot, it offers an upper air-conditioned floor with slightly cleaner furniture and a laminated one-page menu with a mark-up (and still cheap) version of its ground-floor counterpart.

So why did we go this shady joint? Simple. For its sumptuous large portions of liver biryani offered at a price of Rs 28 on the airconditioned floor. The price was incredible, the taste was good, the portions were copious, the waiting time was less, serving time even lesser. In short, it was a gift from God for us non-vegetarians and it made our early Chennai life good, cheap and worth living.

On any movie night besides weekends, we non-veggies (read dada) always haggled everyone else into going to Safari. And when other minority of veggies of the likes of Chatty and BDK had to accompany us, and they did so with a veg version of biryani and a groggy state of mind. Every time we ate there, we had to work hard to suppress a smile of satisfaction on looking at the paltry bill. On one instance, we even packed some Safari food and sneaked it inside the theatre and ate while watching the movie.

[Warning: Some people might find what is written ahead offensive. Read on at your own risk.] Life went on like this until one day THE incident occurred. We had always rushed in and out of Safari to catch the latest flick in Sathyam. But that day was different - it was broad daylight and no movie to catch when I saw it that afternoon while passing by the place. I saw it from a distance -- a bunch people coming onwards pushing a huge box placed on a gurney with loud, clanking metal wheels, which would have gone unnoticed on any other day. But then -- my eyes caught the board exactly opposite Safari restaurant. An arch in blue letters on a white board read "Royapettah Government Hospital and Mortuary". Those people were carrying on the gurney what looked like an unclaimed corpse into the morgue. The first thoughts that followed the brief brain-freeze and shock were morbidly sick -- morgue opposite Safari, unclaimed corpses, liver is the largest internal organ in humans! Liver biryani for 28 bucks?

Well, if my stomach just fell short of churning that day, later nightmare or two covered up for that.

PS: I never went to Safari again. Ever.

PPS: I still enjoy eating liver. If you happen to go to Urban Tadka in Mumbai, they serve some mean and awesome keema with liver. Goes very well with mutton biryani. It is their unique style -- no one else makes it like them. You will not stop eating it again. And again.

PPPS: I don't know what you think, but I say cannibalism is overrated.

Couldn't resist posting this one

noreply@blogger.com (Sanjay) — Mon, 05 May 2008 09:48:00 +0000

Courtesy: Parker and hart, and their weird sense of humor

Agile Abode - What's in a name

noreply@blogger.com (Sanjay) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 20:58:00 +0000

It was the Feb of 2006, when Jithesh Kalliath Gopi (aka Kali) from my office decided it was time to move on to greener pastures – and went on to Bahrain – not exactly green in much sense, but I’m sure the greenback made the move worthwhile.

Anyway, I got the first preference to move into his much sought-after apartment nearby the office. Knowing nothing about the apartment, I asked around people whether I should move in or not. Doc and Chatty strongly recommended it. Only later it struck me why: both of them used Kali’s house to sneak out of office everyday for a quick siesta ;) No wonder they both had this earnest nostalgia in voicing their reco. Finally when Kali asserted in his quintessential Mallu tone “Tayg id !”, I decided to move in.

The house is good and all. Awfully close to the beach, Satyam cinema, Citi Center and, ahem, my wife’s office. Some trivial facts which didn’t deter me from taking up the apartment – other well-known tenants in the building were colonies of native red ants, and in the kitchen were home-grown breeds of cockroaches. Did I mention the total area of the apartment is slightly less than my office cubicle. Whole new meaning to the concept of super-built up area.

But believe me, the toughest part of living in this apartment is spelling the name to the pizza delivery guy. Who in his sound mind would name his house as AGILE abode?!?! – unless he wants the residents to move out very quickly. Well, Jithesh did move out eventually. The red ants didn’t.

I have wasted countless precious weekend hours spelling out the name of my building to delivery guys, couriers, insurance agents, credit card and telephone companies. Your typical pizza delivery guy comes with hearing skills worse than a boss-on-an-apprasial-day, spelling skills slightly worse than the red ants in my building and unique verbal comprehension skills due to which he doesn’t understand over phone difference between T & D, G & H, B & P, L & Yell etc. Phone conversation on a typical Sunday afternoon would be like:

Name is Sanjay, take down my address: Flat no. T1 on 3rd floor…

T1 T for telephone. Name of apartment is Agile Abode… A G I Yell E

A B O D E let me repeat ….

Usually this goes on for several minutes. And when the delivery guy shows me the bill, the name spells Sanjaee, D1, and the building spells in various variants- Ajyle Aboat, Agil abartmend… but surprisingly they manage to deliver it.

It’s a torture, but I still think it’s not so bad compared to many unlucky souls. Imagine the plight of someone living in some Chennai suburbs having to explain their residence to Northern Indians. How does Nanganallur or Nungambakkam sound? I would never want to be found anywhere near Nala Sopara for instance!!

Sarabjot Walia’s take on some of the Mumbai suburbs – Ye Borewali aur Kandewali samajh me a gaya, par ye Dombewali ka kya matlab hai? Grimy!!

Beautifully illustrated

noreply@blogger.com (Sanjay) — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 12:40:00 +0000

© Bill Waterson & United Syndicate

Blogspot banned!!

noreply@blogger.com (Sanjay) — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 11:04:00 +0000

In case you did not know, the government of India has banned viewing blog sites, particularly blogspot and typepad. So you might probably not be able to see this post in India till the ban is lifted.

Once again the governement is questioning the very intelligence of the educated Indian. Someone who reads/writes blogs has to have at least that level of intelligence to not to be influenced by some random and unheard communal site and start reaping hatred in their minds!!

I'm not sure if the blogs spread communal hatred, but it might sure spread some hatred for the I&B ministry. I for sure am never going to vote for anyone who is remotely associated with either Congress, or it's allies or Priyaranjan Das Munshi!!!

This looks like a very low-IQ move from many perspectives - instead of banning the sites, they could have tracked down the culprit with the kind of technology available and deal with them using the legal framework. Blanket ban on blogs sounds absolutely ridiculous. You don't cut the head off if you have a head-ache.. It's like banning mobile phones because terrorists use mobiles. Blogs serve much larger purpose than just spreading communal hatred.

I think we all need to condemn government's moronic move by trying to restrict our right of freedom of expression. Hell, this is no China or Pakistan and these are not the dark ages.

Death of an old friend.. rather a pair

noreply@blogger.com (Sanjay) — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 17:10:00 +0000

It was around this time of the year in 2000 when I bought my first pair of sneakers which my parents hadn’t paid for. God has blessed me with a weird foot size. Size 10 is a bit fit and 11 too loose. That being the principal knock down factor, a relentless pursuit for 3 continuous days in June heat in the discount stores or factory outlets, as they call them, in the by lanes of Parel, finally offered me a choice between a couple of pairs. And considering that my CA internship earned me a really modest stipend, there wasn’t much to chose from. I subsequently chose the white Nike joggers which comfortably fitted me. The conversation between me and Abhishek, who accompanied me on shopping was roughly on these lines:

Abhi: Dude nothing seems to fit you.. what does one eat to grow feet like yours?
Me: Will the blue sneakers be better? Will white look too Jitendra style?
Abhi: (struggling hard to muster that extra ounce of patience) Look why don’t you just decide on either of them..
Me: (looking in the mirror – front and sideways) These whites are damn comfortable.. Bless their soles..
Abhi: (despicably stares at me first and then at the irritated salesman as I imitate infront of the mirror) Yeah right! And they suit you a lot. Buy them. JUST DO IT.

I did.

For initial couple of times, the sneakers looked obnoxiously white. But the monsoons brought in kind of a worn-out look in them which I liked a lot. It’s hard even for me to believe now, but I did do a lot of jogging wearing my nikes. They were an inspiration in themselves to get up at 5.30 in morning and complete 5 rounds of the MIG grounds in Bandra before the sun rises with full fury, and before the women folk in the ground go away.. tellingly, they were an inspiration too :)

The most vivid memory of the utility of these sneakers is the grueling Sahyadri treks around Karjat in monsoons. Will write a post on one of my trekking expeditions soon. But these sneakers provided the requisite grip, ensuring survival and avoiding humiliation in the midst of slippery, trail-less treks.

Over the years, they were there for me when I needed them, like a faithful dog – showering me with undemanding adulation and comfort in return of friendship. The more worn out they looked, the more I liked them. But it was just a matter of time before the signs started showing. The sign came when the vulcanized latex layer at the bottom of the soft rubber, which forms the sole started peeling off. A common shoe ailment, which was promptly QuickfixedTM. But until then, the gap looked like a morbid smile on a dying sole. Not before long, other vital (rather, fatal) signs started showing. The spikes at the bottom wore out making it awkward to walk on slippery surfaces, the shoelace broke a couple of times, the sole started peeling off again on both the shoes, the insole gave away.. And finally last month, after a faithful service of 6 years, my old sneakers finally threw in the towel. I now wear my other pair of Lottos, but as a sign of comradeship I don’t keep them in the same rack where my good old nikes rest in peace.

The resurrection

noreply@blogger.com (Sanjay) — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 17:19:00 +0000

19 January 2006. No, I’m not talking about the National Popcorn Day, but the day when I last posted on my blog. 138 days may not be a long period in a greater sense, but a lot has happened during these days. Won’t give any excuses for not posting but an apology seems to be in order – for those who visited this blog but did not find anything worthwhile (the small hitcounter at the bottom of the blog went from 500 odd to 1000 plus). As a separate matter, some would cast doubts whether there is at all anything worth their while on this blog (present post included :D).

In these 138 days, temperatures have soared in Chennai (the city where I work). At work, my serial number in the company rolls soars up a few notches every month. That is because many colleagues have moved out to better jobs (talking about soaring, their pay-checks have also soared). Tushar, Chatty, Dada, Jithesh, Vijay (doc)… the list goes on, and The dwindling friend circle is a little upsetting, but there is respite in the thought that their times are changing from Economic Times to Financial Times, if you know what I mean.

Trading on stocks got fire-walled in my company, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Sensex which defied laws of gravity earlier, subsequently gave in to “what-goes-up-must-come-down” law of karma, but in the process collapsed faster than a limping sumo wrestler.

The latest gadget that I found out is feedreader Newzcrawler. It syndicates articles from news sites and blogs in an incredibly user-friendly manner and also embeds a browser for MS Outlook type interface. It comes with features, speed and ease of use. Now I can read at one place all the sites and blogs that I frequent. I guess this was the biggest factor to put me back on track on the blogosphere. I hope I will write more often now.

Parting shot: A lady in Orissa married a snake. Odd? I think she just exercised animal rites !!

10 million missing girls & Three men in an ambassador... and more

noreply@blogger.com (Sanjay) — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 15:03:00 +0000

I came across this article by a friend Santanu Sengupta, which spoke about high frequency of violent crimes in north India as compared to rest of the nation. Being a north Indian myself (well central Indian maybe), my first reaction was to dismiss the idea as an insolent remark, which was aptly reflected by the comment which somebody left on his blog.

But then something happened. I was reading Steven D. Levitt’s Freakonomics, specifically the section where the author Stephen Dubner talks about Levitt’s views on sudden reduction of crime rate in late 90s in the US. He relates the drop in crimes to the legalisation of abortion some 15 years back. According to Levitt, an unwanted child was more likely to turn out to be a criminal for many very apparent reasons. It may sound very crude the way I have put it, but broadly the idea was, the un-born unwanted children, who were more likely to turn into criminals, were just not present there because of legalisation of abortion. I think that made a lot of sense.

Then I came across a news article and a related editorial by M.J. Akbar in the Deccan Chronicle. This is a link to a similar article. The news read that according to a shocking but interesting Canadian study, some 10 million female foetuses have been aborted in India over last two decades. So applying Levitt’s funda, could it mean that among other reasons for violent crimes against women, one possible cause could be lack of females in India? Not just the missing females due to over-all misaligned gender ratio, but more specifically the ones which would have born in the last two decades.

To put in a simple manner, the alleged male criminals who were born in last twenty years or so, just can’t find the females of their age, and as a result commit violent crimes such as abductions, rapes and murders. It is true that newspapers are increasingly carrying more such ghastly stories lately than ever.

To delve over the subject little more, why are such crimes more frequent in the northern states (at least according to dada... that blog still nags my thoughts). As a child I distinctly remember a lot of reported infanticides and foeticides in Rajasthan and Tamilnadu. Somehow I even vaguely remember seeing a Doordarshan news feature, newspaper articles and my cousins discussing this subject.

After all, every crime is said to have a motive. Terrorism has roots like oppression of minorities, fanaticism or religion. Murder has motives of money or revenge. Theft, robbery etc. again have monetary motives. But clearly, acts of violence such as rapes mostly don’t have motives of money, religion etc. So could the above phenomenon could be the reason of increased violence against women?

Some questions come immediately to the mind. For one, why does Delhi have so many such cases? I can think of work-related migration in states like Delhi from parts of UP, Rajasthan & Bihar, especially from relatively backward regions, where the practice of foeticide and infanticide still reigns because of parents still consider girl child as a liability.

Why not so in southern states? Afterall foeticide and infanticide was (may be still is) practiced in backward regions in the south. One reason could be emigration. I have seen and heard about huge lots of south Indians in the middle-east and south-east Asia as work force due to labour scarcity. I remember during my one-day stay at Kualalumpur, almost every third person I encountered was from Tamil Nadu or Kerala. Majority of Malaysian Airlines passengers were Indians and it was very apparent that they were potential emigrants. It may just be possible that emigration reduces the crisis if not balancing it out.

What I have written is no thesis or research, but more like a collection of musings. I am sure there are more dimensions to this problem than what has crossed my mind. Violent crimes against women and improper gender ratio are just two facets of the range of problems that this ghastly practice has resulted. I may sound like a feminist here, but in order for a long-term solution to this whole problem, it has to start with women empowerment, both social and economic, so that the parents become less avert to a female child.

My choice

noreply@blogger.com (Sanjay) — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 16:20:00 +0000

Frantic work schedule, and couple of busy weekends have sort of numbed my wits. Even as I write this post, I suffer from two acute conditions – verbal diarrhea and intellectual constipation. These two aren’t exactly medical conditions, but again not very different from those.

Now exactly what have I been busy with? On terribly hard-working weekdays, I was kept busy with what is called the sole motivator, the only force which gets most of us moving.. yes that major factor is called deadlines. And on weekends, particularly last weekend, I was busy simply watching movies … by tons. Loads of them (see the sidebar on the right-side of the blog). Then I saw this terrific movie, The Shawshank Redemption. For those who have seen the movie, I need not delve into why and how good a movie is this, and for those who haven’t seen it, read this viewer comment on imdb.

After one sees this movie, one cannot stop thinking about it for a long while. It set me thinking too. One not-so-overwhelming thought was that this is definitely the best movie I have ever seen. Then continuing on the same chain of thoughts, it occurred to me that I should make a list of my favourite motion pictures. This post is a result of that very chain of thoughts. Before I mention the list, lemme clarify the term favourite motion picture. I don’t say that these are the best movies ever made, but these are my favourites, because they have touched me (in metaphorical sense of the word) at some level. Maybe because of the inherent story strength, acting, cinematography, or just presentation.

Anyway, here goes the list:

Hollywood movies:
The Shawshank Redemption
The Lord of the Rings trilogy
Saving Private Ryan
Schindler's List
Big
The Mummy
True Lies
Cliffhanger
Forrest Gump
Monsters Inc
Wall Street
Good Fellas
The Usual Suspects

Foreign movies:
Run Lola Run
City of God
Amelie

Apna Bollywood:
Andaz Apna Apna
Prahar
Sholay
Dil Chahta Hai
Lagaan
Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar
Deewana Mastana
Muskurahat
Shaan
Khaaki
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge

There may be many movies that deserve to be here, but I might have left them out. Just leave a comment if you think any of your favourite movie will make me change this list. This blogger shall be grateful to you for eternity if it turns out to be a list-changing movie :)

Amit ji

noreply@blogger.com (Sanjay) — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 15:54:00 +0000

Here are some of the famous dialogues by the Big man himself:

Agnipath

Vijay deenanath chauhan...
baap ka naam, deenanath chauhan...
maa ka naam, suhasini chauhan...
gaoo, mandva....
umar, chattees saal, nau maheena, aath din, aur yeh solvah ghanta chalu hai, hein!

Sharaabi

Koshish zaroor karna, kyonki vaade aksar toot jaate hain, lekin koshishe kamyaab hoti hain.

Amar Akbar Anthony

aisa to aadmi life mein doich time bhaagta hai, olympic ka race ho ya police ka case ho.

tumne apun ko das das maara, apun ne tumko sirf do maara, lekin solid maara ki nahi?

Don

Don paan nahi khaata tha? yeh bahut bura karta tha.

Deewar

Jao pahale us aadami ka sign leke aao jisane mere hath pe likh diya tha ki "Mera Baap chor hai", jao pahale us aadami ka sign leke aao jisne meri maa ko gaali di thi, jao pahale us aadami ka sign leke aao jisne hame sadako pe bhatake ko majboor kiya tha phir tum phir tim mere bhai jis kagaj pe bologe me sign kar doonga per sabase pahale nahi .................

Mard

Mard Ko Dard nahi hota.......

Silsila

Majboor ye halat idhar bhi hai udhar bhi tanhai ki ek raat idhar bhi hai udhar bhi kahane ko bahut kuchh hai magar kisase kahe hum kub tuk yooo hi khamosh rahe or sahe hum dil kahata duniya ki har ek rasm uta de dewwar jo hum dono me hai aaj gira de, kyo sulagate rahe duniya ko bata de haan hamako muhabbat hai, muhabbat hai

Lawaris

ay ay sala tum ye aapana purana kapada nahi fenkane ka kya..ye sala aapun ka kafan hai.....

Hum

Tiger - Keede 2 prakar ke hote hai ek sala wo gatar ka keeda jisako marane ke liye flit aata hai or ek sala ye society wala keeda isako marane ke liye koi flit nahi aata.

Satte Pe Satta

Ye sala daroo bahut buri cheej hoti hai daroo peene se lever kharab ho jata hai.......

Sholey

Tumhara naam kya hai basanti..........waise hame bahut bolne ki aadat hai.....

Kya karein mausi, apna dil hi kuch aisa hai………

Last but not least. why this in the last becoz this makes Amithabh Bachchhan....amit ji.

Janjeer

Khade ho jao or jub tuk na bola jaye baitana mut ye tumhare baap ki jaageer nahi hai Police station hai.

Picture This

noreply@blogger.com (Sanjay) — Mon, 09 Jan 2006 17:39:00 +0000

Haven't written anything this year because am caught up with lots of work. But as the old cliche goes - a picture is worth a thousand words. Please do visit my photo blog whenever you get a chance. Will post soon.

The year that was

noreply@blogger.com (Sanjay) — Sat, 31 Dec 2005 08:08:00 +0000

As 2005 comes to an abrupt end, I must start with a congratulatory note. I congratulate myself. Mainly because this blog which yesterday had 2 hundred hits, has grown. In size and stature! In fact when I started only three people were reading this blog, today 2 months later thanks to the amazing effect it has had on people my unique readership has grown to an outstanding total of eight readers, and this does not include 2 colleagues at my office, whom I force to read my posts, some of which are incredibly boring (my posts, not my colleagues).

Apart from 200 hits, I achieved another personal milestone in 2005. Two of my credit card companies had good thoughts about my credit-worthiness. Both of them doubled my credit limits, which is not speaking much, considering that even the doubled amount won't fetch me a holiday in the Sri Lankan island of Baticaloa.

For last post of the year, I have a message that I once wrote in a letter of mine:

If you enjoyed reading my posts half as much as I enjoyed writing them,

then I enjoyed twice as much as you did !

Goodbye 2005 !!!

PS:
for my tooth fairy - for record, Baticaloa is not my ideal holiday destination.
for ppl who owe me money - credit on card does not mean money. I still need dough.

FoxTrot

noreply@blogger.com (Sanjay) — Sat, 31 Dec 2005 07:12:00 +0000

FoxTrot and Dilbert, in that order, are my favourite cartoons after Calvin and Hobbes. For those who are ignorant of this offbeat and wonderful comic, I use my blog spread the message.

It revolves around the Fox family. Parents are Roger and Andy. Roger is so lacking in even the basic skills of living, that the only job he's capable of holding is middle management in a corporation, while Andy is relatively sensible except for a tendency to get a little goofy about her passions, which include healthy eating. The two older kids, Peter (a high school junior) and Paige (a freshman) are relatively normal, considering they're teenagers, only more so. 10-year-old Jason is a computer genius, and one gets an impression he could take over the world if he thought it was worth the effort. Jason is the one who keeps Quincy, the iguana as a pet.

It's a character-driven strip, in that humor tends to arise more from the interactions of the characters themselves, rather than the situations they find themselves in. Bill Watterson, creator of Calvin & Hobbes, in his introduction to one of more than two dozen paperback collections of the strip, called this aspect "refreshing", and added, "This gives the world of FoxTrot a veracity other family strips lack. The Fox family has the resonance of honest observation."

This blogger's personaly recommendation, click here and subscribe to have the strip delivered daily to your mailbox.

A true story

noreply@blogger.com (Sanjay) — Sat, 31 Dec 2005 05:35:00 +0000

My previous post was a generic view about my experiences with train journeys in India.. But these readers' opinions (vox populi??) makes me think that I should write something specific, which I intended to do the last time, but inexplicably was held by some paranormal forces. Nah! I was just being lazy.

This happened sometime in 1998, but is burnt in my memory like it happened a few months back. I had to gone to Kanpur for one day to attend to some academic matter, and was returning by the overnight train. It turned out to be a rather adventerous journey. Not the kind of adventures where you get abducted by pirates or you face a charging rhino. But this is what happened:

The Lucknow-Jabalpur express was packed with commuters. The train was moving at a lazy pace because of the January fog which engulfs north India at that time of the year. Midnight was just falling and some people were dozing, but most of the passengers were noisily chattering about their days. You can recognise the Maru traders when you hear the conversation, and there were plenty of them that day. Somewhere around 12 at midnight the train suddenly stopped with no station in sight. Which is not very unusual in Indian trains. Specially in UP & Bihar where the railways are known to render personalised services. You can actually get down on the road closest to your house- sometimes even near your house. Raiways provide a special tool for you if you want to avail this service. It comes in form of the emergency brakes - the red chain which you can pull to make the train halt. Whats more - if you are beneficiary of such service, you generally don't have to buy a ticket !!

Anyway, when the train did not budge for around 10 minutes, people became curious. A couple of them went to the door and started peeking in the vast darkness outside. Suddenly we heard yells and shouts from the adjacent compartment. Then they started growing louder. You could distinctly hear women shouting and crying and voices yelling at them. And then we heard sound of a gun-fire. The train was being robbed!

Our compartment was under huge panick. The doors and windows were snapped shut in like 5 seconds. People started to switch off the lights so that if there were more dacoits out there in the dark, our compartment might not attract attention (??). A stupid idea, but in such situations, you just do what comes to your mind. On the seat opposite to me, a lady was travelling with her teenage daughter. She was desperately trying to shut her side of the window which was somehow stuck. After a little trying the girl started weeping, frightened of the bullet that might come in from the window. I got up and a small manoeuver with the lock, it snapped. For the next 5 minutes the girl's mother kept showering blessings on me.

My initial reaction was panic. But then I thought I was hardly carrying anything valuables with me, so I needn't worry. But after the noise of the firing, I was back to panic again. Anyway we could hear the noises from the adjacent compartment, with no sound or light in my compartment, and doors and windows shut from all sides. After sometime the cries and yells died, but our compartment stayed in the same state for next two hours. Whenever some curiuos bloke wanted to go near the gate other passengers would snap at him. Nobody knew what was going on outside. At around 3 am, the train started moving, and then it sank upon us, that probably it was over. Lights came back, people started to peep out of the doors of the moving train. At the next station, we came to know that the train was robbed by dacoits. That part of north India near Jhansi, is infamous for the Chambal dacoits. Ironically those robbers were un-armed and they had snatched the rifles from the Railway Police Force guards.

The morning newspaper carried a small section about trains being late on that route because of the train robbery. I reached home late and tired, but eerily happy to be safe and alive.

The great Indian rail journey

noreply@blogger.com (Sanjay) — Sat, 24 Dec 2005 08:33:00 +0000

It is said that Indian Railways is one of the cheapest mode of long-distance transport in the world, probably after hitch-hiking. With the number of people traveling without ticket, WT, as it’s popularly known as in my home-town, I guess an Indian-railways journey is not much different than a hitch-hiked trip for some.

We see all kinds of people, those who have never traveled in trains, those who hate to set foot in them, and others, like this writer, who travel in trains for obvious reasons (-see the first sentence). But those who have traveled in trains cannot disagree that every experience has something unique and memorable in itself.

I have had my share of long voyages, considering that I did my studies (and then worked for a while) in Mumbai, which is around 19-22 hours of rail-time away from my home town, and then am stationed in Chennai since last 1.5 (light) years, which again is 30-35 hours away from my hometown Satna. My fond memories include exchanging my comic books when I was a kid, looking for female passengers in the chart when I was a teenager and meeting a variety of people from equally varied places & cultures. My not-so-fond memories include searching for an upper birth when my height over-took the size of the side-upper berth in the compartments, and hoping some solace and quietness when I wanted to read a good book in front of a noisy co-passenger and infinitely delayed schedules. Overall, it has been a fulfilling and generously educating experience.

Like most of the people I have lots of stories about my journeys to share. But will wait for a better occasion (basically when I can summon the zeal to ink the interesting ones down). I feel proud to be a part of this system every time I see the Mark Tully documentary on Indian Railways, but on the other hand I also feel miserable at some point every time I travel.

A Tribute to King Kong

noreply@blogger.com (Sanjay) — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 05:20:00 +0000

Ego search

noreply@blogger.com (Sanjay) — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 16:35:00 +0000

An old concept for jobless egomaniacs!! This time with a slight modification ... saw it at a friend's blog..

Google "Your_Name loves" and see the results. Mine:

Sanjay loves:

to admire women
his mother's cooking
entertaining and it’s never at A restaurant
her desserts too
walking around in the woods, yoga and philosophy
practicing martial arts
to write brutally honest reviews
being an older brother (??!!!)
to shoot pictures and has a vast collection of photographs
to watch movies, play basketball and tennis
us, not the spammers
Madhuri Dixit and sacrifices his love for his friend Salman
(this one's a killer..) whoever he sees

Lemme know if you find more interesting stuff :)

When nature calls...

noreply@blogger.com (Sanjay) — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 16:04:00 +0000

Found this board hanging at an ATM near my office !!!

And this one in Kodaikanal

Battlefield

noreply@blogger.com (Sanjay) — Sun, 04 Dec 2005 18:21:00 +0000

From Anna Nagar to Anna university (via Anna Salai)

It had poured like mad in Chennai last week. A rather uncommon sight in otherwise sleepy, hot and incredibly humid Chennai. Rains normally bring out two extreme facets in you - either you want to go out to enjoy rains and drench yourself, or you become the lazy bloke who curses rain Gods. Either way your willingness to do serious work and productivity, both suffer.

On Saturday I decided to venture in the rains - by chance, not by choice. It was an extraordinary sight. I had do drive my brother from Anna nagar to Anna University, two almost extreme corners of Chennai. What we encountered in this 45 minute bike ride was like a cross between a scene from a hollywood action-thriller and being inside a video-game.

Uprooted trees, blocked roads, boats inside the city, people saving each others' lives, properties & pets. It was strange how that bike ride amidst that calamity gives me a reason to ponder on countless fascinating insights on the city.

Cant help but notice the uncanny number of Wine shops all around. I have seen 3 wine shops almost in a row. Judging by the number of people in evenings in the past (and sometimes even in mornings !!) they all do brisk business. Speaks a lot of raging spirit of the city. As Cyrus Broacha would put it - We live in terrible times, but all the blame cannot be put on Britney Spears.

Fowl Friday

noreply@blogger.com (Sanjay) — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 18:13:00 +0000

The annoying noise of the friendly neighbourhood pigeons outside my window finally made me give up my sleep on this rainy Friday morning. I was late for work. Again. I was the last one to leave the apartment. While locking the apartment door, I heard those cheering words that the lady neighbour was yelling at her son: "whole world is awake and running.. and you are still lying here.. blah blah". Good. I was not the only one who suffers stiff-on-weekends syndrome.

Anyway, work on Friday went on uneventfully. Productivity was at record lows. Thanks to the disastrous India-South Africa one-dayer. We had found our scape-goat. We managed to trick our colleague Binani ji, who is getting married next week for a goodbye-bachelorhood treat at Bike 'n Barrel in the evening. Beer, music and the conversation made the evening a hell lot better than what morning was.

Now, at home, with a resolution to make my future Fridays lot more productive, and a plan on what to read on Saturday, I wish to fall into slumber. Even my keyboard is feeling sleepy.

All I need to take care now, is a will to make Monday mornings more bearable and productive, but I guess that is a long shot. And yes, I hate pigeons.

RIP

noreply@blogger.com (Sanjay) — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 17:04:00 +0000

Q: Why are there walls around graveyards?
A: Cos people are just DYING to get in.

The beginning

noreply@blogger.com (Sanjay) — Sun, 06 Nov 2005 00:47:00 +0000

Expressing yourself is difficult. At least in my case it is.

In order to begin my blogging journey on this Saturday evening in an easier way, there cant be a better manner than to begin with a a qote from CnH:

Saturday is the best day of the week. No demands at all!

Perfect freedom! The whole day stretches before

us with unlimited opportunity! And what better way to

appreciate that opportunity than by

squandering it watching cartoons all day!