Travel to Germany

In another 15hrs from now I would be embarking on my 5th trip to Europe and 4th trip to Germany by Lufthansa Airlines on business. A short trip but am managing few days of vacation in Austria. Looking forward to meeting new people.
If anyone out there reading my blog, do ping me, I would be interested in meeting.

Tags: Tags: Germany, Austria, Travel

Read Full Post »

Life is tough – 47

Hoping kills while not meeting expectation kills. One hopes for a positive response when response is negative the feeling is really sad & bad.
When expectation is a positive response but does not happen so, the other person has let you down. The feeling is still sad but the quantum is not as high when hopes are dashed.

Read Full Post »

General Updates

Krishna Kafe next to GK Vale photo studio in Kormanagala 5th Block has introduced new dishes during dinner time. One such dish is Gobi Idly. This does taste good but few chilli’s would make it more excellent. But then as their manager says people are not preferring spicy food. Which inturn also means lot of people apart from South Indians are visiting this restaurant. I have visiting this restaurant for so many years now that I have seen it from the time food was real spicy to now where they have cut down on spice. All this to woo customers and retain them. This just leaves you with one option if you want real spicy food visit Chettinad restuarants like Anachi (100ft Road Indiranagar) or Anjappar (100ft Road Koramangala). Dont forget to tell them to make it real spicy coz they also add only little spice not to loose out on bigger market.

Am currently doing a wardrobe change where am replacing old t-shirts with new shirts. Yeah, after so many years am buying more of shirts currently. There is an anniversary sale in Polo outlet next to Krishna Kafe. Dont go buy the board which reads “Buy 1 Take 2″. This actually means you get 1 shirt free if you buy 1, not that you get 2 shirts free if you buy 1. But well the offer is good still that I bought a shirt out there. Pretty nice colours but they need to have more of informal wear also, I feel. A good deal though.

Tags: Tags: Koramangala, Bangalore

Read Full Post »

Guide touts and Parking issues

Mysore is a such a nice place which is frequented by tourists from Bangalore and elsewhere. The peak crowd is usually found during the weekends. But the harrasment of tourists starts the moment you park and get out of your vehicle in Mysore Palace. The palace is so huge with so much to be seen even though most parts of the palace are not open for public access. Now if you are driving the car then make sure you park your vehicle where a bigger vehicle cannot block you from getting out.
On Saturday when we went in the car to Palace everything looked fine till we came out of the Palace back to te parking lot to find a bus blocking the path of our car. When we were searching for the driver of the bus to move it forward there comes a guy in the name of guide (not official) riasing his voice that the bus cannot be moved out. If we want to take the car out we have to request the driver of vehicle in front of us to move. All this because these guys make hell lot of money by acting as guides and not to forget the big tips that they get from North Indians as well as foreigners.
After much fighting when we raise the issue with the guys at the counter collecting fee for parking. One senior guy walks up to show the board saying “Parking at owners risk”. Now the risk is ours if there is any damage to the car. I believe thats what the meaning of the statement is. If someone is bullying tourists these guys should settle it up rather than supporting them.
While there is no one to manage the parking lot why should one just pay the parking fee?
This just sets such a bad precedent to visiting tourists. So if you are ever going to visit Mysore Palace ensure two things:
1. If you are driving you car park at a spot where no other vehicle can block yours
2. Otherwise book a cab so that your driver can manage these things.

Obviously this also means next time am in Mysore I would not go anywhere near the palace if am driving. Such a poor support from administration for tourists.

Tags: Tags: Mysore, Bangalore, Karnataka, Travel

Read Full Post »

Scrabble – The game of luck

I think 4yrs ago I played Scrabble for the first time in my life. That too in a competition well winning one game gave a good feeling but not later when you lose games.
This week I again played Scrabble and after hitting a bingo in the first round of the game but later the tiles that came out of the bag for me were very bad that I lost the game. Thats where I say luck plays a part in this game. Its got more to do with luck than with real knowledge of English vocabulary. Of course strategy also plays a part when one needs to leave no open ends so that your opponent maximises scores.
Of course I dont think I will stop playing this game though not as regularly as Chess or any other sport.

Tags: Tags: Scrabble, Chess

Read Full Post »

Life is tough – 46

How important effective communication is.
You think of one thing but convey something else to see the reaction on other person. But when the communicated text is taken seriously you are like “**** why did I say it”. If you want to convey something be true to yourself to avoid any mis-understandings.

Read Full Post »

Life is tough – 45

Life is so ironic at times that you don’t know whether to cry or laugh, whether to be sad or happy.

Read Full Post »

Little Miss Sunshine – Review (English)

A little girl’s, Olive (Abigail Breslin), dream of making it big and be a winner in a beauty contest (Little Miss Sunshine), whether she wins or not. Mentored by her grandpa Edwin (Alan Arkin) she learns all her moves. Being a drug addict her grandpa almost ruins her chance of making it to the beauty contest. Her brother Dwayne (Paul Dano) is an eccentric character who does not talk for 9 months till he achieves his dream of becoming a jet pilot. He finally starts talking when he comes to know he cant becomes one. Her Uncle Frank (Steve Carell) tried to commit suicide since the boy her loved did not love him back. Her dad Richard (Greg Kinnear) is a trainer in soft skills. He tries to make everyone believe they are a winner. Though most times he goes overboard by trying to talk those within family. Her mom Sheryl (Toni Collette) has tough time doing the balancing act in the family with so many eccentric characters around.
Little Miss Sunshine contest happens in Redondo Beach, California and the entire family embarks on the journey from Albuquerque in the Volkswagon bus. What happens during the journey and the contest is completely filled with load of incidents and tough moments.

“There are two kinds of people in this world, the winners and losers. Every person in the core of their being has a winner which is waiting to be awakened.”

Tags: Tags: Movie, Hollywood, Little Miss Sunshine

Read Full Post »

Anjathey – Movie Review (Tamil)

Director Mysskin after Chitiram Pesudadi has turned out another watchable movie. The script is pretty tight with no loose ends. At no time would one feel like getting out of theater. Its a simple story of how friendship breaks between two guys when one of their dream is shattered.
Satyavan (Narain) and Kiruba (Prasanna) are thick friends. Satyavan and Uttara (Vijayalakshmi) Kiruba’s sister are in love with each other. Among the two guys, one of them aspires to become SI in police department and prepares really hard for the exams while the other does not have any interest. Satyavan becomes SI while Kiruba gets into wrong way by getting into group of thugs with primary interest being to kill Satyavan. What happens later and who kills whom forms the remaining part of the movie.

There have been lot of movies on similar theme of friendship and the break-up. Most of them before have dealt such themes with a girl in picture and creating a love triangle. This movie has been handled differently and a welcome change. Yes, if the director could have done away with songs it would have been better, but then that can never happen.

Its surprising to see Pandiarajan in a different role and he has shed his previous mannerisms which makes him watchable. The song “Kathazha Kannala” really rocks. Other songs are no big shakes.

Movie worth watching.

Tags: Tags: Movie, Kollywood, Anjathey

Read Full Post »