If you think that this post might culminate towards the review of a so-called movie about Billu Barber, then you are wrong. Although after seeing the trailers, i somehow remembered my barber at my home town. And then i really wanted to write a post about my barber whom i met when i went home 2 months back. Well, the meeting was an emotional one. Not that we had tears in our eyes, but our hearts were heavy. Mine was surely and i could make out his was too.
The story goes back 15 years back. When i moved to my current hometown (a small place) 15 years back, there was only one barber in the entire township. (Yeah now you know how small a place it might have been). And the city was not that near. So nobody dared to goto the city and get a hair cut escpecially when you are in school and not such a style freak. So, it started with my first hair cut during the 1994 winters and it became a routine almost every month from then on. Initially, I did not interact with my barber as well as his other family members who worked at the shop. Then as i grew up and became conscious of my hair, I started telling him to cut my hair in a particular way. For example, longer at the front and shorter at the back and side area. It was the beginning of an association that is still alive in our hearts. Whenever my father used to go to him, he used to ask about me. During those times, my hair was a bit like Shoaib Akhtar (fast bowler) and i used to play cricket a lot. So all my friends used to say that this guy bowls like Shoaib and his hair looks like that too (Shoaib was a good bowler those days). Although my barber never knew what my friends used to say, he suddenly one day said that my hair looked like Shoaib Akhtar. Whenever i went to him for a hair cut, we used to discuss cricket a lot.
Then came the time when i moved to another city in order to attend college and whenever i came home, I used to make it a point to go and meet him. He used to ask my father a lot of times about my holidays and when would i be in town. After finishing college and starting as a professional, my trips to home got reduced somewhat and I skipped meeting him for 2 or 3 times over a span of 3 years. I used to think that if i dont have to get a hair cut, then why should i go to his shop. That was so selfish. I realized later that what a loser i was. The realization came 2 months back, when i went home and my father persuaded me to meet him this time. I felt so bad inside that i did not meet him over the last 3 years and would be doing that now. I went and the meeting was so overwhelming. I had mixed feelings. I felt bad and at the same time I felt so good to relive the past days at my hometown. I talked to him for half an hour and wanted to talk more. He had lots of questions for me. Like how is life in a city, what do you do in free time, where do you get a hair cut, how is US like etc.
It feels so good that you know people who are so kind, so caring and full of love. And there is some learning for me here. It reminds me of the Tata Safari dicor ad where it asks "If you looked back on your life, what would you remember ?".
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
An evening spent watching Delhi 6
I had a lot of expectations from Delhi 6. The reason may be that it was directed by the same person who directed Rang de Basanti. The movie was really going nowhere in the first half. I felt the first half lacked content and you can just overcome it by listening to AR Rahman's awesome music. I will talk about music later. The movie overall tries to do too many things and finally achieves little. Out of an average of 3 stars that most critics have given it, I feel one star was solely contributed by its incredulous music.
The movie did not feel that engrossing and was really helped along by its music. It was a little disappointing that I partially went to listen all its songs and there was not even a single full song shown on the movie. But the background music contained a lot of the music from the album itself, so felt nice. There were many good things about the movie as well. First of all, Sonam Kapoor is very refreshing. At a time, when almost all actresses are going the glam route, Sonam looks different and connects immediately with the girl next door image. She does exceedingly well for her character. Abhishek also plays his part pretty well and it was good to see so many people from the old world film industry play their roles. The Kala bandar concept was good but it was stretched a little too much. It may be that I never really paid attention to the news at the time it really happened in Delhi, but in the film it seemed like a bit overdone. The picturization of one song - Dil gira daftan was exceptionally well with traces of India and its traditions in New York City. The song's appeal also contributed to the liking.
Coming to the best thing in the film - the music. The music is simply superb and you cannot resist singing it along when you hear any song. Be it masakkali or the title track or rehna tu or genda phool. Even the Aarti and the Arziyaan song are irresistible. Its been raining spectacular music lately and Rahman is responsible for contributing a large part to it. I feel that the movie is overall watchable.
The movie did not feel that engrossing and was really helped along by its music. It was a little disappointing that I partially went to listen all its songs and there was not even a single full song shown on the movie. But the background music contained a lot of the music from the album itself, so felt nice. There were many good things about the movie as well. First of all, Sonam Kapoor is very refreshing. At a time, when almost all actresses are going the glam route, Sonam looks different and connects immediately with the girl next door image. She does exceedingly well for her character. Abhishek also plays his part pretty well and it was good to see so many people from the old world film industry play their roles. The Kala bandar concept was good but it was stretched a little too much. It may be that I never really paid attention to the news at the time it really happened in Delhi, but in the film it seemed like a bit overdone. The picturization of one song - Dil gira daftan was exceptionally well with traces of India and its traditions in New York City. The song's appeal also contributed to the liking.
Coming to the best thing in the film - the music. The music is simply superb and you cannot resist singing it along when you hear any song. Be it masakkali or the title track or rehna tu or genda phool. Even the Aarti and the Arziyaan song are irresistible. Its been raining spectacular music lately and Rahman is responsible for contributing a large part to it. I feel that the movie is overall watchable.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Valkyrie - A forgotten piece of history
It was Saturday morning and I had some work in a Bank on the Airport Road. There was very little traffic and Bangalore did not feel like its usual self with vehicles spread all over its face. Then i called up my friend on Airport Road and went to meet him at his place. We talked about a lot of things and then decided to go for a movie. We knew that we would not get Delhi-6 ticket (I checked almost everywhere the same morning) and so we decided to go for Valkyrie. We had 2 hours to spend before the show. So we went to Shoppers Stop and were not in any mood to shop. But then the discounts as well the stock was mouth watering. We could not resist and both of us ended up buying 2 pair of Jeans each. And then it was time to go back in History and enjoy Valkyrie. Well, i would say it was not an entertaining film, but it was a really well made film. If you concentrate on the sets, the cinematography, the background sounds etc. in a movie, then you would definitely like it.
Tom Cruise played his part very well and did seem to overshadow a lot of the other characters. Hitler's role was very limited, which was right from the movie's perspective. But some parts of movie prove just how huge was Hitler's influence. I never liked Hitler but there was something about his leadership that made so many people obey his orders. The movie is about the last of the many unsuccessful assassination attempts on Hitler's life. The movie really takes you into the World War 2 era through its cinematography. Attention has been paid to the details and that is what might have got the movie some nominations. It makes you come back home and find out more about Colonel Stauffenberg, his associates in the plan, the situation at that time, other attempts at Hitler and more about the World War 2. Some things like these attempts are little known in History, but they do form an important part of it and this movie tries to make people more aware about such events. If you have time to pass, you can watch this movie.
Tom Cruise played his part very well and did seem to overshadow a lot of the other characters. Hitler's role was very limited, which was right from the movie's perspective. But some parts of movie prove just how huge was Hitler's influence. I never liked Hitler but there was something about his leadership that made so many people obey his orders. The movie is about the last of the many unsuccessful assassination attempts on Hitler's life. The movie really takes you into the World War 2 era through its cinematography. Attention has been paid to the details and that is what might have got the movie some nominations. It makes you come back home and find out more about Colonel Stauffenberg, his associates in the plan, the situation at that time, other attempts at Hitler and more about the World War 2. Some things like these attempts are little known in History, but they do form an important part of it and this movie tries to make people more aware about such events. If you have time to pass, you can watch this movie.
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Unplanned trip to Pondicherry
Last week I along with one of my friends from work went to Pondicherry. Although we had planned it a week ahead, but i would call it unplanned since we did not have either the tickets nor we did book any hotel. It was all very random at the end. Here is the trip in detail:
Thursday Morning : No Tickets yet since we were waiting for confirmation from one more friend. He canceled it and we decided to go even though only 2 of us were left.
Thursday Evening : We went to KSRTC booking counter and as usual there were no tickets. We frantically searched for tickets online at redbus and ticketvala, but with nil success. Now we were really stuck since we had to leave a day after and we did not know how we would go. Even though my friend had a car, we 2 were not very confident driving on highways. And given the fact that there were only 2 people, it appeared risky to go by car.
Hopelessly, i looked at the Indian Railways for trains to Pondicherry and amazingly there was a train on friday night that reached Saturday morning 9:20 AM. We searched for available seats and to our surprise there were more than 700 available. I guess not many people know about this train. Another reason for so many vacant seats could be that the train took more than 10 hours as compared to buses which take about 7 hours.
As the only option, we booked our tickets for the train journey. By the way, the train did not have any sleeper class coaches and only AC coaches. Yet, the train was cheaper than most private buses.
Friday Night : We packed our bags and were all set for the comfortable albeit long train journey to Pondicherry. I assumed it would be comfortable, but it did not meet my expectations. The train coaches were of the latest design and the new coaches can accomodate around 80 berths where the side berth has 3 sleeper berths. The new design also made the usual berths to compress a little and we were short of room on the upper berth. Anyways, we both were tired and slept till 7 in the morning.
Saturday Morning : The train journey was boring for the last 2 hours. It grew hotter and we knew that Pondicherry was not far. There was a line i read on some blog online saying "Pondicherry's climate is either hot, hotter or hottest." Fortunately, we were going when the climate was hot. we reached around 40 minutes late at 10:00 AM. Now, we had to do a lot of things before we went around sight seeing. We had to book our return tickets, book a hotel and take a 2 wheeler on rent. We hired an auto and told the driver to take us to a 2 wheeler rent shop. We hired an activa for 2 days for 150 per day. We took the activa to a nearby petrol pump to get some petrol. Then we went to some 3 or 4 hotels around the beach road area and none of them had any vacant rooms. It was 11:00 AM and the Sun was almost above our heads. Somebody told us to look for hotels in the bus stand area. We went to the bus stand area and got a budget hotel for 400 per night. The hotel was decent but i would not recommend it for a family. The bus stand area was around 3 kilometers from the beach road. Let me tell you something about beach road. The beach road is the best place to visit in Pondicherry. It is a road right next to the Sea with ample area for sitting, chatting, eating and roaming around. The road is closed for traffic every evening by 5. During this time, you can see people jogging, kids skatting, cycling, couples roaming hand in hand (:)) and tourists enjoying their stay in Pondicherry. It is a good hang out.
Coming back to the hotel, we unpacked ourselves and went searching for the return ticket. Luckily, we got 2 semi sleeper tickets in a private travels bus. The ticket was obviously expensive than the train tickets. It was around 12:00 PM and we were thrilled to begin our sight seeing. But we realized that we had been hungry since morning and did not have our breakfast. So, the plan to have a lavish lunch somewhere on the beach road. The beach road is scorchingly hot during afternoons and does not have a good middle clas restaurant. It does have a good cafe which serves snacks but not lunch or dinner type of food. We parked our Activa near the beach road and went searching for a restaurant. We did not find any good north indian or south indian restaurant on the beach road. Actually we were new and did not search thoroughly. Frustrated and hungry, we went to a darshini near Bharati Park and had Poori Saagu. It was not that bad and we wanted more. We decided that we would first go to the Chunamber Boat Resort and have something there.
Saturday Afternoon: We reached chunamber boat resort by 1:30 PM. Its on the Cuddalore highway and I would not recommend anyone to go there in the afternoons. The Sun is right above your head while driving and is very Hot. On reaching Chunamber, we decided to take the boat to the nearby beach through the back waters. Actually, the ride is about a couple of kms from the resort and it does give you some relief from the heat if you touch water while the motor boat is running. We reached the beach in about 15 mins and the beach also did not offer any respite from the heat. Nobody was allowed to swim after a certain distance where the water was waist high. The slope was very steep and may be that was the reason nobody was allowed to go deep.
We spent some time on the beach, took some photographs and drank sprite. The place did not seem worth its popularity, but it was a one time visit. We returned to the city by 5:00 clock and spent the next couple of hours on the beach road. It is because of this beach road that a lot of tourists from chennai can be seen roaming around. They usually come just to spend the evening. It is 140 kms from Chennai and i have heard that the ride on Eastern Coast Express highway is a pleasure. We ate lots of snacks while on the beach road. They ranged from bhel puri to ice cream. We even sat in the Le Cafe and had coffee along with french fries.
Saturday Evening: We were quite tired till 7:30 PM and decided to have a heavy dinner and go back to the hotel and sleep. Just roaming around the bharati park area, we hit the Nehru street. Now this street seemed completely out of Pondicherry and is very much like the Brigade road in bangalore minus the branded showrooms. It has some good eateries and we decided we would eat our dinner there. There was a garden restaurant on that road and we had 2 full biryanis along with soup. We were quite full and i wished someone would transport us to our hotel without us walking to the activa and driving ourselves.
We reached hotel and i had a good bath and just laid down on the bed watching India Srilanka match. We went to sleep around 11:00 PM and were awakened by the constant honking by the buses in the nearby bus stand. It was 7:00 AM and the intensity of the Sun made it feel that the time was 11:00 something. We decided to visit Auroville and cover the rest of the tourist places in pondicherry.
Sunday Morning: We left for Auroville by around 10:00 AM (Yes, we were quite laid back just like the Pondicherry way). We reached Auroville by 10:20 AM and took our passes to visit the Maitri mandir. Little did we know that we were not allowed to enter the Mandir without prior appointment. The appointment can be made only from 2:00 PM to 4:00 Pm and it takes 2 days to get the permission to visit the maitra mandir. If anyone is interested in going inside the mandir, please make an apponitment 2 days before the visit. The Auroville area is really beautiful and makes you feel like a writer engulfed in the serenity of the area. We came back to the main Auroville information center area and spent another 2 hours in the restaurant cum cafe there. We were the only indians in the restaurant and it felt awkward. But you may encounter such a situation many times in Pondicherry. There is a boutique near the restaurant which sells everything Aurovillesque like incense sticks, soaps, food, caps, tops, bags and everything is labelled Organic. We ate some light snacks before 12:00 PM and then had a decent lunch at the restaurant by 1:30 PM.
Sunday afternoon: We decided to leave Auroville by 2:00 PM since there was not much to do there in Auroville. We reached Pondicherry by 2:20 PM and visited the Sacred Heart Church, the most popular church in Pondicherry. We even visited the Auroville Ashram on Rue de la Marine near the beach road. We even went to the Botanical Gardens but it was a time waste, rather a time pass. I wanted to take a walk on the Suffren street near the beach road. The Suffren street housed many old french style bungalows we well as offices. The street is really unique and reminds you of the old colonial times and the architecture of those times. It was 4:30 PM and we had virtually seen almost all popular tourist spots in Pondicherry. We decided to hit the beach road again and capture some more photographs. We ate some chats right in front of the bharati park.
Sunday Evening: Sunday evening was no different from Saturday evening and we again hung around the beach road observing different kinds of people on the road and listening to the sound of the sea waves crushing the rocks laid right along side the beach road. It was 7:15 PM and the plan was to have dinner and leave for the hotel by 8:30. The bus was at 10:15 PM and the pick up point was at a stone's throw distance from the hotel. The bust departed by 10:45 PM and the journey was not that comfortable. We reached Bangalore by 5:30 AM and did not have anything in mind except sleeping on a bed.
Phew, that was the longest post i have ever written.
Thursday Morning : No Tickets yet since we were waiting for confirmation from one more friend. He canceled it and we decided to go even though only 2 of us were left.
Thursday Evening : We went to KSRTC booking counter and as usual there were no tickets. We frantically searched for tickets online at redbus and ticketvala, but with nil success. Now we were really stuck since we had to leave a day after and we did not know how we would go. Even though my friend had a car, we 2 were not very confident driving on highways. And given the fact that there were only 2 people, it appeared risky to go by car.
Hopelessly, i looked at the Indian Railways for trains to Pondicherry and amazingly there was a train on friday night that reached Saturday morning 9:20 AM. We searched for available seats and to our surprise there were more than 700 available. I guess not many people know about this train. Another reason for so many vacant seats could be that the train took more than 10 hours as compared to buses which take about 7 hours.
As the only option, we booked our tickets for the train journey. By the way, the train did not have any sleeper class coaches and only AC coaches. Yet, the train was cheaper than most private buses.
Friday Night : We packed our bags and were all set for the comfortable albeit long train journey to Pondicherry. I assumed it would be comfortable, but it did not meet my expectations. The train coaches were of the latest design and the new coaches can accomodate around 80 berths where the side berth has 3 sleeper berths. The new design also made the usual berths to compress a little and we were short of room on the upper berth. Anyways, we both were tired and slept till 7 in the morning.
Saturday Morning : The train journey was boring for the last 2 hours. It grew hotter and we knew that Pondicherry was not far. There was a line i read on some blog online saying "Pondicherry's climate is either hot, hotter or hottest." Fortunately, we were going when the climate was hot. we reached around 40 minutes late at 10:00 AM. Now, we had to do a lot of things before we went around sight seeing. We had to book our return tickets, book a hotel and take a 2 wheeler on rent. We hired an auto and told the driver to take us to a 2 wheeler rent shop. We hired an activa for 2 days for 150 per day. We took the activa to a nearby petrol pump to get some petrol. Then we went to some 3 or 4 hotels around the beach road area and none of them had any vacant rooms. It was 11:00 AM and the Sun was almost above our heads. Somebody told us to look for hotels in the bus stand area. We went to the bus stand area and got a budget hotel for 400 per night. The hotel was decent but i would not recommend it for a family. The bus stand area was around 3 kilometers from the beach road. Let me tell you something about beach road. The beach road is the best place to visit in Pondicherry. It is a road right next to the Sea with ample area for sitting, chatting, eating and roaming around. The road is closed for traffic every evening by 5. During this time, you can see people jogging, kids skatting, cycling, couples roaming hand in hand (:)) and tourists enjoying their stay in Pondicherry. It is a good hang out.
Coming back to the hotel, we unpacked ourselves and went searching for the return ticket. Luckily, we got 2 semi sleeper tickets in a private travels bus. The ticket was obviously expensive than the train tickets. It was around 12:00 PM and we were thrilled to begin our sight seeing. But we realized that we had been hungry since morning and did not have our breakfast. So, the plan to have a lavish lunch somewhere on the beach road. The beach road is scorchingly hot during afternoons and does not have a good middle clas restaurant. It does have a good cafe which serves snacks but not lunch or dinner type of food. We parked our Activa near the beach road and went searching for a restaurant. We did not find any good north indian or south indian restaurant on the beach road. Actually we were new and did not search thoroughly. Frustrated and hungry, we went to a darshini near Bharati Park and had Poori Saagu. It was not that bad and we wanted more. We decided that we would first go to the Chunamber Boat Resort and have something there.
Saturday Afternoon: We reached chunamber boat resort by 1:30 PM. Its on the Cuddalore highway and I would not recommend anyone to go there in the afternoons. The Sun is right above your head while driving and is very Hot. On reaching Chunamber, we decided to take the boat to the nearby beach through the back waters. Actually, the ride is about a couple of kms from the resort and it does give you some relief from the heat if you touch water while the motor boat is running. We reached the beach in about 15 mins and the beach also did not offer any respite from the heat. Nobody was allowed to swim after a certain distance where the water was waist high. The slope was very steep and may be that was the reason nobody was allowed to go deep.
We spent some time on the beach, took some photographs and drank sprite. The place did not seem worth its popularity, but it was a one time visit. We returned to the city by 5:00 clock and spent the next couple of hours on the beach road. It is because of this beach road that a lot of tourists from chennai can be seen roaming around. They usually come just to spend the evening. It is 140 kms from Chennai and i have heard that the ride on Eastern Coast Express highway is a pleasure. We ate lots of snacks while on the beach road. They ranged from bhel puri to ice cream. We even sat in the Le Cafe and had coffee along with french fries.
Saturday Evening: We were quite tired till 7:30 PM and decided to have a heavy dinner and go back to the hotel and sleep. Just roaming around the bharati park area, we hit the Nehru street. Now this street seemed completely out of Pondicherry and is very much like the Brigade road in bangalore minus the branded showrooms. It has some good eateries and we decided we would eat our dinner there. There was a garden restaurant on that road and we had 2 full biryanis along with soup. We were quite full and i wished someone would transport us to our hotel without us walking to the activa and driving ourselves.
We reached hotel and i had a good bath and just laid down on the bed watching India Srilanka match. We went to sleep around 11:00 PM and were awakened by the constant honking by the buses in the nearby bus stand. It was 7:00 AM and the intensity of the Sun made it feel that the time was 11:00 something. We decided to visit Auroville and cover the rest of the tourist places in pondicherry.
Sunday Morning: We left for Auroville by around 10:00 AM (Yes, we were quite laid back just like the Pondicherry way). We reached Auroville by 10:20 AM and took our passes to visit the Maitri mandir. Little did we know that we were not allowed to enter the Mandir without prior appointment. The appointment can be made only from 2:00 PM to 4:00 Pm and it takes 2 days to get the permission to visit the maitra mandir. If anyone is interested in going inside the mandir, please make an apponitment 2 days before the visit. The Auroville area is really beautiful and makes you feel like a writer engulfed in the serenity of the area. We came back to the main Auroville information center area and spent another 2 hours in the restaurant cum cafe there. We were the only indians in the restaurant and it felt awkward. But you may encounter such a situation many times in Pondicherry. There is a boutique near the restaurant which sells everything Aurovillesque like incense sticks, soaps, food, caps, tops, bags and everything is labelled Organic. We ate some light snacks before 12:00 PM and then had a decent lunch at the restaurant by 1:30 PM.
Sunday afternoon: We decided to leave Auroville by 2:00 PM since there was not much to do there in Auroville. We reached Pondicherry by 2:20 PM and visited the Sacred Heart Church, the most popular church in Pondicherry. We even visited the Auroville Ashram on Rue de la Marine near the beach road. We even went to the Botanical Gardens but it was a time waste, rather a time pass. I wanted to take a walk on the Suffren street near the beach road. The Suffren street housed many old french style bungalows we well as offices. The street is really unique and reminds you of the old colonial times and the architecture of those times. It was 4:30 PM and we had virtually seen almost all popular tourist spots in Pondicherry. We decided to hit the beach road again and capture some more photographs. We ate some chats right in front of the bharati park.
Sunday Evening: Sunday evening was no different from Saturday evening and we again hung around the beach road observing different kinds of people on the road and listening to the sound of the sea waves crushing the rocks laid right along side the beach road. It was 7:15 PM and the plan was to have dinner and leave for the hotel by 8:30. The bus was at 10:15 PM and the pick up point was at a stone's throw distance from the hotel. The bust departed by 10:45 PM and the journey was not that comfortable. We reached Bangalore by 5:30 AM and did not have anything in mind except sleeping on a bed.
Phew, that was the longest post i have ever written.
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