Bangalore days

Watched ‘Bangalore Days’ Malayalam movie for the first time in theatre. Must I say, it was worth it! 3 words to describe this movie – Go! Watch it! The movie is 3 hrs long but there was never a dull moment. If you don’t understand Malayalam, tag a mallu friend along! I don’t remember the last time when the audience gave an applause when the credits were being rolled.

What is the movie about?

A superbly crafted feel good film which takes you through the ups and downs in the lives of 3 cousins. The director starts the visual narration in the beginning of the movie; thanks to my wife Sripriya for noticing this. So don’t miss the beginning. I like to be at the theatre atleast 15-20 mins before to watch the Nirma, Vicco ads :). With different goals in life but a common childhood aspiration to be in Bangalore brings them together. Their closeness really makes one jealous. The ‘Mangalyam’ song was made legendary by A.R.Rahman. This movie also has an ‘Mangalyam’ song which I loved(yet to buy it on iTunes;)!

Nazriya as Divya, an extrovert and an IIMB aspirant, gets married to Das, an introvert, workaholic guy and settles down in Bangalore. Nivin as Kuttan is a shy ‘software engineer’ amongst the scores in Bangalore who wants to marry a girl of ‘Bharathiya Naari’ types. Dulquer as Arjun is a happy-go-lucky bike mechanic, passionate about racing but gets uncomfortable when confronted about his divorced parents.  A song showing all the ‘hot’ spots and some ‘not so hot’ spots  of this garden city is well choreographed. The camera work is good.

Nazriya has emoted the role of Divya very well. A love torn tragic past from Das’s life brings trouble into their life. Nivin’s acting has the audience in splits. His attempts to have a girlfriend are hilarious! Arjun falls for a pretty RJ, Sarah who is specially enabled and plans to leave to Australia for further studies.

The director has very delicately interwined love, friendship, forgiveness etc. All in all, a very lively movie! How Divya and Das resolve their issues? Does Kuttan get married with his desired type of girl? Does Arjun get back to racing? What about Sarah?

Watch the movie for the answers. You will not regret it! 🙂

You are the change!

Most of the software engineers in Bangalore or any other city don’t go out and vote! They don’t even appear concerned with the state of affairs around us! Are they really not interested about the country they live in? This thought and a little QnA led to a startling discovery. Read on to find out!

~

Me: I want a better country! So lets go out and be a part of the change! Lets volunteer for a better India!

ITP(Random IT professional): Why should I do it? Why should I go out n vote? Anyways nothing changes, all the parties are the same. So how does it matter to me? Volunteer for a better India? Hahaha! Good joke! 😀 Kuch nahi ho saktha is desh ka! I know! I work in a IT company which pays me enough for the slavery I exhibit. Basically I don’t have time yaar! See, I am too busy working for my client that I don’t have time to think about anything else other than me n my family. Monday through Friday goes off in a flash. On weekdays, I have time for coffee and lunch breaks. I walk over to my colleague’s cubicle and chat/rant relentlessly for hours. I discuss about some stupid random topic which does not help anyone. I work till 9/10pm every single day and satisfy myself to be working very hard. But I never think about finishing my work faster and spend time doing the things I love to do.

~

Me: So why dont you start doing what you love?

ITP: I don’t know how to do it! Why? Because that is how it happens at my office. All my colleagues come at the same time. How can I be a odd man out? My project demands it! I am just so used to this lifestyle that anyone who offers me a change; I don’t agree with them. I fear what would happen if I do things differently. What will people think about me?

~

Me: But atleast weekends you must be free right?

ITP: After a week of slogging, Saturday and Sunday are the days to relax. Basically to catch up on my sleep, complete some pending duties etc. Sometimes I prefer to go out on weekends and I want to be free from the thoughts of corruption, rape, increase in prices etc. I want to spend time peacefully with my friends/family. But sadly wherever I go, I end up being more tired on the way back. I know this but I don’t know what to do :(. I don’t have time to think about what can I do for the people around me (this excludes my family) and society; forget my nation at large! I have lost my personal life, my body n mind is screwed, have drooping eyes and a paunch. At the end of all this, I just earn a few thousand more than my colleagues. A 1% difference in hike can trigger a turmoil in my mind and I keep brooding over it for days. 

I am tired of everything…

~

Me: But you would definitely want to do something for the society right?

ITP: Yes, I do my part for society! I think and discuss about the current societal scenario over lunch with my colleagues. They are all good people like me. We all feel that someone should stop the negative activities happening around us. I have plenty of ideas how India can be improved but I will keep those ideas to the discussion table only. I will pass comments/suggestions/ even sneer at the people who are in power. Finally, it stops there! We all finish our lunch; also swallow the ideas and get back to work. But I don’t move my ass to do anything. Apart from being concerned about how much business I am generating for my company, I am concerned for the people on the streets too. I do my bit by visiting some NGO once in 6 months; organized by my team. I feel good I did something for the not so fortunate people! I click on ‘like’ and ‘share’ buttons for the African children photos on Facebook knowing well that not even a penny goes out to them. But I am doing my bit.

 ~

Me: But all these don’t make any difference! Why don’t you share your ideas with someone?

ITP: I have a debt of 15-20 lakhs for my house which pinches my pocket every month. I almost have to shell out 2-3 times for the fuel, vegetables and other products I buy! And what do I do when I need to increase my affordability? I switch companies, I invest in shares; but I never question why are the prices increasing so rapidly without any visible explanation. I am not comfortable with the increase in prices but I don’t know what to do :(. Whats the point of sharing with anyone. Everyone is the same!  

 ~

Me: See all these issues are a resultant of the poor voter turnout during elections! Congress is screwing the country! These brilliant article by Dinesh Ghodke opened my eyes 🙂 Read it and you will know.

ITP: I agree and I understand. I want to do something for my society, my nation. But I don’t know what and how! Moreover I am alone. What can I do?

~

~

Me: You are not alone… I heard that Volunteer for a better India is a great initiative. And its people like you and me who can make a difference! I am going to be a part of this. Will you also join me?

ITP: Yes! Definitely! If someone can show me the way, I would love to contribute effectively. Its time for all my qualities to surge up and I put them into use. I believe its not enough if we just discuss in our cafeterias, family functions, social media etc. We need to raise awareness and work for a cause. I will select one of the causes from the VFABI website and work for it. Will be in touch!

~

Does the above discussion sound too familiar? Is your life also little similar to the ITP I met? I realized that the IT professionals just need a person to guide them towards this. They are more than willing to contribute!

~

Can you be that person for someone else?

Can you inspire them to volunteer for a better India?

Yes?

Go ahead, Do it now!

Life of Pi

The word spectacular falls short by miles to describe this movie. I landed 10mins before time to witness it because whats a movie if you miss the ads preceding it… 😉

Pi?! Is that even a name u might ask. But a very cute and innocent story reveals the reason behind :).  The beginning of the movie has been beautifully choreographed. Some awesome shots not to be missed! Be there before time. The story begins with Pi growing up listening to stories from the puranas. His inquisitiveness leads him to know various religions. These experiences have a profound effect on his innocent mind and come back to him. When? You have to watch the movie to find out!

Pi and Richard Parker on the boat

The journey through which the director Ang Lee takes us makes it even more memorable. Pi’s father decides to sell off their zoo in Pondicherry and shift to Canada. On the way through rough seas, Pi loses his family and ends up on a boat(beautiful with its two tone colour of red and white) with a royal Bengal Tiger named Richard Parker. Another funny story behind that name :). What follows is a journey of a lifetime where Pi discovers himself, experiences God! Simplicity, beauty, love, human values, survival have all been redefined here. The innocence of Pi, ferocity of the animals, beauty of the nature has been superbly captured by the cameraman.

You need to have all eyes and ears on the movie because some scenes are pictured very subtly and this is key to understand what Ang Lee wants to convey. All in all a superb screenplay, awesome sounds and the CG has gone to a new level itself.Glad that i watched this one 🙂

Go with your family. It’s a treat to watch!

Love,

Suman.

Please come back…

You are our pillar, our post too,

Now you are gone,

Where do we look?

What do we do?

I miss you…

We all miss you…

Please come back…

~

You complete us, our poorni,

Annapoorni beyond doubt,

parched tongues yearn for the rasam,

more and more…

I miss you…

We all miss you…

Please come back…

Now the door is shut,

smiling faces don’t greet us anymore,

a home to relax, a place to chill,

is what we miss! 😦

I miss you…

We all miss you…

Please come back…

~

Responsibilities you have,

I understand,

beyond all that you have one,

that is to lead us all!

YES!+ Bangalore is desperately missing you!

Please come back…

~

Love,

Suman.

Rockford high

Story so far…

And the results were out…82.5% but still came third :(. Taking up science/commerce is considered to be the most crucial part of your ‘career’. According to aunties/uncles/neighbors, scoring ‘so much’ and not taking up science would have been the most horrendous sin I commit from which I could never be redeemed of. My brother was smart enough to decide on commerce even before his results came out. Any amount of convincing/cajoling from my father did not help. This was the best decision he made considering he is a rank holder in his CA exams.

My dad wanted us to get into the IITs and now, I was the only chance he had. I never had any inclination towards commerce either. Arts? Arts was not for scholars! (Scholar, Skotchy were some adjectives used to address me in school). People who score 60% or less, gaye gujre log take Arts.

No points for guessing; science it was! Kelkar college, Mulund, Mumbai was one of the premier colleges that time where many toppers used to join. One of my dad’s favourite. I also applied! Two lists were put but my name did not feature; missed the final list by just 1 percent :(. Being in the general category, I had to score more to get through but my friend who scored less was in because of his OBC category! This hit me hard. None of us were given an option to chose our families. Had to settle for the second best; CHM in Ulhasnagar.

CHM college

All my other friends got into Birla college in Kalyan. And here I was alone from my school in this college! Felt so alone 😦 but had no choice. CHM was a “better college” than Birla and hence I cannot change even though I had cleared there too. Got new clothes, shoes, bag; afterall I was going to college. No uniform!  Canteen! Excitement! 🙂 Yay! \m/.

Local gadi

I had to take the local train to my college, just 2 stations away, not more than 6 mins. If you have not traveled in the local trains of Mumbai, you have missed something in your life and I mean it! Getting into the train, jumping out of it before it halts at the station, feeling the breeze hitting your face while you stand at the door, all this gives you a kick which is unmatched. 🙂 Navigating yourself in that crowd is a skill which you will learn. But have you heard of that  ‘decent’ boy who never stands at the door, never behaves like a ‘rowdy’, always follows rules? I was that decent boy! What would people think! But as days went by, I became more lenient to myself.

New environment, new friends, new professors but old habits! Old habits die hard, they say and here I was making friends whom I felt were decent, studious, sincere and had seriousness in their life! Four! That’s the number of good friends I made. Bunking classes was a sin, I truly believed! Submitting the lab records with all the required data on time was something I took pride in. I never understood how can someone not do it! I was not topping the class either but the underlying fear of what will happen if I don’t do this/that ruled my life. Became an introvert to the core. Keeping to myself, what others are thinking about me, am I good enough to talk to that girl, what if I make a fool of myself etc rented my head. I was never gutsy enough to do anything else 😦

Days flew by and then came the second most crucial year of my life; the turning point!

Love,

Suman.

Rockford

“You should do the YES!+ course”, said this 5 foot girl in my office.

“Yes!”, I replied almost immediately; ignorant of the fact that my life is going to take a ‘U’ turn that day onwards. I still have no idea how and why did I say that! Little did I know then that Feb 11th-17th, 2008; the best 7 days of my life would transform it altogether! Did I ask for it? Yes, what looks like now is that this is something which I wished, but never knew how to get it.

–

Flashback to the 90’s. Mumbai, the city which never sleeps. I was brought up in a conservative tambrahm Iyer family. “Only education can get you a living, nothing else. So, study well! We dont have any ancestral property”, I was bombarded with these lines all through my student life. Innocent me! So all that I did was study! A true, super geek to the core. Come on, at least you must have participated in sports, you might ask! Well…I did participate a few times and topped…from the last. I also realized that they never had any prizes for people like me 🙂

Me lookalike 🙂

Topping the class was my cup of tea, but then I had to maintain the position too. Letting go of the first rank was equivalent to a death in the family. “Oh! Why? What happened to you!!? You should study well kanna! I told you that time itself! Next time onwards, no TV during exam time!” are just a few of the mild advices/instructions I would receive from people around. Sometimes this used to be a topic of discussion in family get togethers also! The torture of answering people was so much that getting the first rank seemed so easy. I was always discouraged from mingling with students who get poor marks or who fail. Maybe because of the fear that I might also end up like them and this got so much into me that it continued into my graduation days also.

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My mom was a teacher in the same school. She taught English and Social Studies. Yay! I thought, till I grew up and she became my teacher as well. I would have accidentally scratched my nose in some class and the report would go to her from the other teachers. A few times I also failed to answer questions in class. You can imagine what could have happened…such was the level of scrutiny I was under! But it also had its share of benefits. I was known and treated well by everyone from the Principal to the peon! The staff room was a place where other students feared to go, but I would just walk in and meet my mom 🙂 She was there anytime I needed her. Lucky!

–

Some students were afraid of me and never spoke to me. “Oh, teacher’s son!”. Some other toppers who spoke, would never talk about other teachers or bitch about them in front of me. But by the time I reached my 10th grade, I had made a few close friends. The crucial year had arrived! Exams got over and results were out!

Did I top the school? Science or commerce? in the next post…

Love,

Suman.

Happy Birthday KK!

Wanted to write something new for KK’s birthday. I had written this post below 2 years back. Its so true till date to the dot that I am re posting it… 🙂

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Its KK’s B’day today!! Who’s that?

My bestest friend till this moment and will be…

Is is said – “Great things come in small packages”. KK aka Karpagavalli Krishnamurthy would perfectly fit the bill. A five foot something…an angel to say the least. A pillar of strength for me since my first S+ course(Yeah, that how she cutely pronounces it  ). So much care and concern she has poured on me to make me what I am today.  I am a zillion % sure that Guruji has planted her in my life for my growth alone…nothing else. From those days where she used to persuade me to come to the ashram; I remember those parking lots/roads where I waited for no end to pick her coz she always had something up her sleeve and the guru stories, bnd stories etc on the way to ashram and back  would make up for the wait   .

I remember our fights when I used to tell a ‘No’ for almost everything.  Believe me she never took ‘No’ as an answer from me for anything especially pertaining to courses and Guruji  . How patiently she has put up with my tantrums and genuine excuses. With her my ego has been washed, crushed and demolished to a great extent. There have been days where I have completely hated her and also felt deep gratitude.

Oops…! Why am I talking about myself?   Her ‘Never Give Up’ attitude is something to die for. Even today when I put up the white flag when water reaches the nose, shes there to pull me up! There is so much more to her…words cannot do complete justice. Believe me!  You have to meet her!

An icon of commitment!

A perfect south Indian Tamil Iyer to the core, cooks amazing rasam and potato curry. Yet to taste the other dishes though.  . KK, let me know  .  Awesomely sweet person to be with. Just feel at home when she’s around. Recently she got married to Prasanna(of Marlon Brando fame!  ) and is on the next phase of life altogether…

I usually joke that I must have have been the easiest for her to register coz she just asked me to do it and I agreed right away( till today i donno why?!!). Recently she confessed that she was planning to quit BOSCH(where we were working) beginning of 2008. OMG…! Really KK, had you quit, where would have i been…

With tons of love and bestest wishes!

Happy Birthday!

Oh! Wow!

I was coming back from Kukke Subrahmanya and lo behold! This is what I see!

The rain gods showering gracefully,

drenched trees having nowhere to go,

Soaking wet branches bowing shyly,

water slipping off the leaf tips.

 

The clouds crowning the mountains,

streams flowing into the rivers,

surrounded by various hues of green,

I pierce through the dense forests.

 

The cold breeze taking a leisure walk down the hills,

as if the Sun had taken a day off.

The mist and fog embraced me,

hot bhajjis and piping hot tea to top it off!

 

A few priceless moments and the rains halt,

The cool breeze starting to jog,

Wild flowers came alive after a refreshing bath,
while the trees happily dried their leaves,

 

Heart longing to stay back,

but the mind beckons home.

Bidding them goodbye,

I come to the concrete world. Alas!

 

Love,

Suman.

 

Race for President!

Race for President! Race for President! These words are bombarded on us day n night albeit the media can show many other things! This reminded me of the “Race Saanson ki, race dhadkan ki…” from the hindi movie Race. If you don’t know the song, please listen to it before you read further. You can listen to the song here.  I thought how would it be if that same song was sung by our PM – Manmohan ji.  Ofcourse I have modified the lyrics. So here it is, Manmohan au vacha –

Race President ki
Race FM ki
Race PM ki
My heart is racing on…
Race President ki
Race FM ki
Race PM ki
My heart is racing on…

Khaunf tera…khaunf bada hi bhayanak hai

Sonia ki raaj hai
Betabi chaayi hai
Mushkil pragati hai
Haan tere congress mein…

Madam G ki shasan
Hum Bade din sahe
Haal Jo bhi raha
Na Kisi se kahe

Teri haathon tale
Abb to jeena mujhe
Maang le tu agar
PM bana doon tujhe

Raja`..Chidaa*..Raja..Chida..ne hi loota hai…

Sonia ki raaj hai
Betabi chaayi hai
Mushkil pragati hai
Haan tere congress mein…

Sonia ki raaj hai
Betabi chaayi hai
Mushkil pragati hai
Haan tere congress mein…

Sonia, tere rehte
Ab lokpal mumkin nahi
yeh PM seat meri
Sonia tere bin nahi.

Teri hi raj hai
Teri hi aadesh hai
Arzoo meri kya
Tera congress hai

Pranab da, Sibal da, jayenge Tihar mein…

Sonia ki raaj hai
Betabi chaayi hai
Mushkil pragati hai
Haan tere congress mein…

Race President ki
Race FM ki
Race PM ki
My heart is racing on…

Khaunf tera…khaunf bada hi bhayanak hai

Sonia ki raaj hai
Betabi chaayi hai
Mushkil pragati hai
Haan tere congress mein…

Love,

Suman.

` = A Raja, * = Chidambaram

Happy Birthday Vinod!

Vinod, a few lines about how your existence had made a difference to people around you.

You entered the scene,

when I was out.

To make a difference,

goes beyond doubt.

–

The presence and smile,

energises us.

Your ‘brilliant’ statements,

lead to an awakening.

–

A patient listener to the core,

your jokes have me rolling on the floor.

Vinod

From just another guy,

you have become a fine wise man.

Inspiring us,

with all the might u can.

 –

Sharing the dias with u,

is always a pleasure.

The joy I experience,

is just beyond measure.

 –

An attitude of ‘Never say NO’,

makes us all go ‘Gung Ho’!

You are the man,

our YES!+ man!

 –

!Happy Birthday!

-Love,

Suman.