Gulliver's Travels

Why... why oh why... do they do this to classics? There is no resemblance in the movie and the actual story. The movie is all about Jack Black and his adventures in the same situation as actual 'Gulliver'. I don't like Jack Black comedies... they are too Hollywoodish. Was there even a need for romance? I don't think so. It was a pleasure to watch Jason Segel... 'Marshall' from 'How I met your mother'.

Strictly for kids... adults must avoid.

I bank with Citibank and never have to enter its premises. Everything is accomplished on phone and mail. Incase things are not working out my way I am pretty good at bullying them.

When SBI opened its doors near the house I decided to open an alternate account with them. I have visited the branch 5-10 times in the last year for various transactions and queries... account opening, locker charges, DD, internet account etc etc. I am more than happy with their services. The employees are always courteous and help me out. They offer a seat to everyone, listen patiently and give solutions. They do not seem like government employees at all. What a comeback. I know they got their act together long back but I have experienced it now.

There is a lot of checking on the roads due to the terrorist threat. Every night I come across cops stopping all cars and checking IDs. Thankfully, I never get stopped since there are no women cops. I need to carry my insurance with me incase they stop me.

Conversation between KC and me:

Me: Security has been tightened everyhwere. People cannot enter 5 star hotels without booking a table in advance

KC: Anyone can book a table and enter. Big deal

Me: They will also check IDs and bags at the gate

KC: Yeah well... Kasab and gang started shooting from miles away. ID checking won't help

Me: True. And cops did not have guns and proper bullet proof jackets. They still don't. How will cops defend us? Even now during a terrorist attack we are not safe. Wow!!!

It is going to be a lazy week since KC and me are on leave and the days seem to be flying. We have woken up and had b'fast and it is already lunch time.

Not looking forward to 2011

I broke down today like I haven't done in a long time. It was not because of something specific... just too many things which frustrated me. I hate manipulative people 'coz I am not like that. I am too honest and straight forward. Manipulating someone takes a lot of effort and I am too lazy to care so much. But everyone is not like me and I hate it when someone does it to me. Of course corporate life is full of such people and I should be used to it by now. But... it hurts.

I pulled myself off the floor and decided to postpone the breakdown after gymming. Yeah... sometimes I do take it too far. I have started losing weight finally and do not want to lose the momentum... no matter what.

And now that I am back the frustration is at the back of my mind. I am actually scared... very scared. The realization that sharing worries with your loved one is never the best thing to do has hit me. It makes the other person feel helpless and frustrated. It helps to vent it out to a neutral person.

I am not looking forward to 2011. I have a feeling things will go further downhill. In 2010 everytime I thought it cannot get any worse... it did. And now I have no hope. I think I will just resign myself to destiny without even trying. Go with the flow and stop trying to stay afloat.

I am tired of being stagnant... being neither here nor there. Precious time is passing me by and I am stuck in a rut.

Super duper lazy day

Hiya. I just returned from a looonnnggg shower... approx 1 hour. Yeah... when there is no reason to venture out there is no reason for a bath also. The garage near my house is celebrating by playing un-naturally loud music and bursting crackers. I can barely hear myself think.

Gym time was good... grocery shopping is done... there are no clothes to wash... and I have reached Scrubs season 6.

Weekend blues

Hiya. It has been a hectic week and I have been looking forward to the break. The only problem is KC is not around. I am not sure how I will spend the weekend- sleep, gym, cook, finish chores, watch movies, download songs etc.

I spent 1.5 hours in the gym today- the longest I have ever been there. I have started lifting weights along with cardio. On regular days it is not possible to spend more than 45-60 mins in gym. But I plan to make full use of the long weekend.

Just finished reading 'Social Network'. Yes... I did watch the movie but I generally read the books as well. Good book. And it does bring out Mark's point of view.

I watched 'Anjaana Anjaani' last weekend. What a crap movie. Whats the point of sitting through 3 hours when the end is predictable? Obviously the hero and heroine will end up together. Sigh!!! When will Bollywood filmmakers learn?

No good movies also this weekend.

Blackberry Vs Nokia

Whew!!! It has been a few hectic days. I am supposed to get 2 blackberry 8520 as a reward from the company. The plan was to sell off one and upgrade to a higher model and give the other one to KC. When I got BB curve on Saturday I was curious about all the hype and opened the box, configured all the settings and was happily surfing. The next day KC and I went to many outlets to sell off 8520 and buy 3g 9300. In less than 24 hrs of opening the box the phone's value had depreciated from 12k to 4-8k. I was in no mood to spend another 10k on a new phone. I gave up and decided to stick to 8520. 18-25k for a phone is a lot of money and over the years I have realized it is a waste. A phone needs to have- call, sms, internet, facebook, push mail, facebook etc. Even a phone worth 10k has all this. I change my phones every 1-2 years and the value of the one year old phone comes down to one third of the actual MRP if I am lucky. What is the point of spending money on something that depreciates so fast?

I am happy now... I can use my Nokia e63 (which I still love) for official no and BB for personal no.

Buy a blackberry only if you need to use mails on the go. Else stick to a regular phone.

And blackberry messenger is used by connections to send forwards which is quite annoying. Anyway, how much can you connect with someone?

For example- my friend Abhinav is on my phone list. We speak every week. He is on gtalk friends list through his bb, on facebook friends list and on blackberry messenger. Do we need to connect on so many different applications? Ditto for other friends.

Are we all trying to connect too much to bridge the geographical distances or are we just lonely or we are looking to get entertained on so many media?

Information sharing overload?

Hiya.... weekend blues

I like Fridays... they bring me hope. Appraisals are done with. I was more nervous being the appraiser than the appraisee. I wish I didn't have to make decisions about other people's career but thats the way it is. And taking tough decisions is the worst. Handling a team is the biggest learning. I have definitely improved over the past year but there is a long way to go.

Anyway, I have an important question and would appreciate suggestions:

Nokia E63 Vs Blackberry Curve- which is better?

I am getting a Blackberry Curve and KC suggested I sell off Nokia E63. It was a scary thought... I have always had Nokia. My first phone was Nokia... the first thing I bought with my 1st salary was a Nokia phone. I wonder if I can survive without Nokia.

Like KC remarked; "You did not spend so much time deciding about me".

Hmm... brand loyalty in this day and age.

Btw, I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Can you believe that? I had forgotten to read it. How is that even possible? When I watched the movie the realization that it seemed unfamiliar hit me. NOW I know how Harry Potter series ends. I liked the end... it was fitting, apt and full of suspense.

It was the carrot

Hiya. It has been busy busy. After the B'glore trip I was busy with appraisals preparation. On sat we headed to KC's friend's engagement and Sunday was spent relaxing. Appraisal is done and I can now focus on other pending work. Appraisals always throw up surprises... no matter how well prepared I think I am.

Anyway, so this friend's engagement that we were heading to. I was not sure what to wear... the usual problem. On Friday evening after office I headed to the mall-Biba, Shoppers Stop etc but did not like anything. It was a Marathi engagement which are generally low key unlike Punjabi events which can be quite flamboyant. I decided to head to my most reliable store- Globus.

Shopping for Indian wear is difficult for me since I don't wear it too often. I was so damn confused... and start picking up anything I vaguely liked. That generally helps. KC was great help too. Finally, I loved 3 churidhar kurtas and wanted to buy them all. But, sanity prevailed and I bought two. I wore the 2nd one to a lunch with the sales head at 'Punjab Grill' in Palladium Mall, Phoenix Mills. It was a reward for exceptional sales nos. Good Indian food.

Coming back to the engagement... it was nice seeing the traditions of Marathis. I was also telling KC about Sindhi engagements. It was a rare conversation. Generally, we steer clear of any tradition related stuff.

I am feeling happy right now and want to share the feeling but everyone is busy.

Social Network

Wow... KC and I finally watched it in a theatre. I love that Hollywood can make movies on any personality or incident. Imagine such a movie being made about an Indian personality... it would surely get banned.

Correct or wrong... it is an interesting movie... but I am not going to judge the facebook founder- Mark after watching it.

It is just a movie.

Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey

I read bad reviews of this one and Dhruv warned us... but KC and I watched it anyway. As a rule Dhruv and our tastes differ as far as movies are concerned. When it began I thought; "How bad can it get?" Really, really, really bad.

There are a few rules to be followed while making patriotic movies:

• Always make a movie about a widely known incident ... instead of something that happened ages ago and is not even covered by history textbooks
• The movie should end on a happy note... imagine watching the violence, torture and realizing nothing actually came of it... absolute waste of time
• Don't add romance if not required... every Bollywood movie does need to have a romantic angle
• Have good actors in the main leads... and not Abhishek and Deepika who can't act to save their lives

There... please don't watch it.

KC beat me to the review... and has already used my views in his post.

Bengaluru

I hope I spelt it correct. The trip was damn good. On Saturday I visited the salon and rushed to the airport. My flight was from the new terminal. I was thirsty and hungry but guess what... none of the 5-6 outlets had bottled water. There were taps around but no glasses. Anyone know taps for drinking water in USA... where you have to place your mouth above the tap and open it? The water flows into your mouth... well, they were definitely there. I do not understand the logic... after all, 90% people using the domestic airport are Indians and would we drink water like that??? Never!!!

Anyway, KC picked me up and we headed to his guesthouse in Ulsoor. I had asked him; "Is it cold in B'glore?" and he said; "No".

Me: Will I feel cold there?

Him: It is neither cold nor hot. It is pleasant.

I decided to carry my stole anyway... since I am more sensitive to cold climate.

We walked around 1 km to the guesthouse. The plan was to meet Dhruv for dinner at Spiga.

Spiga is a nice lounge in the Crossword building on MG road. It is a rooftop restaurant with lots of lights. I loved it. There are not many options in food but I liked my red thai curry and chicken satay. Dhruv booked us for dinner on all days thereafter.

On day 2 we met RT, Appu and Arjun for lunch at Hotel Richmond on Richmond road. I had my fill of sambhar rice. After watching Khelein Jee Jaan se we headed to Mainland China for dinner with Dhruv. The night ended with chocolate fudge at Corner House. KC and I walked in the winter hand in hand. What a night!!!

I was in no mood to socialise on day 3 and cancelled plans. We had lunch at Ente Keralam (don't remember the exact name) near Manipal Center. The food was superb... appam, chicken curry and chicken briyani. They served us coconut water in actual coconuts. It was also reasonably priced. Yum!!! After spending a few hours at Forum we watched Social Network and ended the day with dinner at Nagarjuna on M G road.

KC was working on day 4 and I met Sinha and Sahana at Barista in Leela Palace. Time flew as they shared details of their life in Sweden. I got many many many stares and looks while waiting for them to pick me up at Manipal Center. After lunch at Nandhini I headed back to wait for KC. The flight was at night... I wanted to spend 2-3 hours with KC even though that would mean reaching home after midnight.

It was a good trip and here are my thoughts:

• I miss winters.... B'glore winter was so good.
• I loved walking in B'glore... there is space to walk... unlike in Mumbai... where we have to walk on the roads and jostle for space among vehicles
• B'glore has many rooftop pubs/restaurants due to the awesome weather... Mumbai lacks those
• I love South Indian food... and finally I managed to have a meal at Nandini
• I bought KC a new perfume to replace the one I broke

I am feeling extremely tired today... managed to finish a lot of chores- unpack, wash clothes, grocery shopping, tailor etc

I was afraid of travelling alone at midnight but there was enough traffic and police on the road. The biggest advantage of Mumbai- safety.

Busy Days

It has been 2 busy days and I am looking forward to the break from it. We have a sales conference in Bangkok beginning Sunday. Fortunately or unfortunately, my passport has expired and the new one did not arrive on time. I am flying to B'glore tomorrow afternoon. KC was wondering why I didn't do so tonight... well, I wanted a break.. sometime to pack, go the parlour etc. I didn't want to leave directly from office.

This month will be busy and yet chill. I have appraisal in 2 weeks and there is a lot to prepare for it. It is weird... I have done well... the nos have happened... and yet I am wondering what to list as achievements. I guess, it will require a lot of thinking.

Chill... 'coz I can take as many leaves as I want.

I am looking forward to the break in B'glore before beginning preparation for the appraisal. Let me push it to the back of my mind.

Yenjoy!!!