Saturday, September 20, 2008

It's raining tags

Posted by Varun | Saturday, September 20, 2008 | Category: , , | 26 comments

I was out on a short afternoon stroll in the blogosphere when out of nowhere a tag hit me. The assailant’s name is Aparna. She is a pioneer with a wicked smile - Muhahahahhahaha. She has started a tag and has started to pass it to any person who dares to even come close to her blog. There’s one good thing about this tag though. It’s the rules. We can set our own rules and play along with it. The tag was quite simple as there were not many questions to answer.

What do you do when!?

- You see a man (or woman) making a pass (trying to woo / flirt / impress) on a woman (or man) you like?

The girl would slap me if I try and object it. Girls love all the attention they can garner and I dare not take that away from them.

- Someone you like, is not attracted to you?

I’ll try doing an Item song. ‘Zara Zara Touch Me Touch Me Touch Me’ :)

- You are attracted to someone, but both of you are in two different cities?

I’ll take my chances as long as the city she is living is reachable by a local call :)

- You are reading a book, and your best friend wants to borrow it and can’t wait for you to finish reading, ‘coz he/she has been looking for it for all their life?

If that is the level of his or her desperation, I will definitely have to hand that book over. A friend in desperate need is a friend indeed :)

- You help plan his / her career, and then, they go on to achieve it, leaving you behind, alone…

Aree oye!! Sun to… Apne girl friend ko bhi saath leja…

Rules:

-You cannot tag me back on this one!
-You can create your own rules, as long as the above rule applies!
-Rules added as a late thought in the comments section does not hold!
-Tag Aparna whenever you get a chance!
Anybody reading this post and in dire need of something to write is tagged.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Beauties of Nature

Posted by Varun | Thursday, September 18, 2008 | Category: , | 15 comments

I have this habit of reading British newspapers online since the day I've come back from United Kingdom in February. Yesterday was no different. If you are a gossip lover stop reading Mumbai Mirror, Mid-Day and start reading British news papers. Among all these unwanted gossip news, there was one rare article that stood out. It was about an 'Upside Down Rainbow'.

Here is the article that followed;

Astronomer Dr Jacqueline Mitton captured the freak rainbow near her home in Cambridge. Normal rainbows are made when light penetrates raindrops and re-emerges out the other side in the same direction. But, the inverted types, known as circumzenithal arcs, are caused when sunlight bounces off ice crystals high in the atmosphere, sending the light rays back up.

"The conditions have to be just right: you need the right sort of ice crystals and the sky has to be clear," said Mitton. "We're not sure how big an area it was visible over, but it was certainly very impressive," she added. A spokesman for the Met Office confirmed the inverted rainbows are occasionally spotted in British skies. "It is convex to the sun and is formed by refraction in suitably-oriented ice crystals and may show vivid rainbow colouring, as in this case," he said.

There was also this e-mail forward I got from one of my friends last evening. The forward talked about a rare rainbow called the 'Fire Rainbow', also called circumhorizontal arc being caught on film last week. But a little googling and a little research told me that it was caught on film alright but it was on June 3, 2006 in Northern Idaho and not last week as claimed by the e-mail. Given below is the picture of that beautiful natural phenomenon.


Clouds have to be cirrus, at least twenty thousand feet in the air, with just the right amount of ice crystals and the sun has to hit the clouds at precisely 58 degrees from the observer.

Well, we all know about the strange ways of nature. The fire rainbow looks like a canvas coloured by God himself and the upside down rainbow looks as though the nature is smiling with happiness.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Love is in the air

Posted by Varun | Tuesday, September 16, 2008 | Category: , | 14 comments

Vimal has tagged me with his ‘love is everywhere’ tag. I would have never written about love unless someone provoked me to it. Now that I have got the provocation required, get ready to find some answers :)

RULE #1: People who have been tagged must write their answers on their blogs and replace any question that they dislike with a new question formulated by them.
RULE #2: Tag 6 people to do this quiz and they cannot refuse. These people must state who they were tagged by and cannot tag the person whom they were tagged by. Continue this game by sending it to other people.


1. If your lover betrayed you, what will your reaction be?

I would never pick a lover whom I don't trust. And in case she breaks my trust and betrays me, what more can I do. It’s her loss. I will probably weep for a day or two and find another one the third day :)

2. If you can have a dream to come true, what would it be?

I’ll list two dreams;
Travel around the world in a private jet owned and flown by me.
Drive a Formula 1 Car.

3. Whose butt would you like to kick?

How many kicks am I allowed to take?

4. What would you do with a billion dollars?

How do you think I would realise my dream? I would also invest some money.

5. Will you fall in love with your best friend?

Probably! You never know ;)

6. Which is more blessed, loving someone or being loved by someone?

You need to give something to get something. Love someone and you will be loved.

7. How long do you intend to wait for someone you really love?

Not much. Who has time these days!?

8. If the person you secretly like is already attached, what would you do?

I will secretly try to break it. If I succeed, there was never an attachment, if I don’t, I will move on :)

9. If you like to act with someone, who will it be? Your gf/bf or an actress/actor?

I will probably start a reality show for this. ‘Act with Varun’ show and will act with the first runner up. There are no worthy winners in reality shows.

10. What takes you down the fastest?

A person’s attitude towards life.

11. How would you see yourself in ten years time?

I just remembered that I had invested some money in my answer to question four. I will still be rich!
On a serious note, I live in the present. I have no idea. But I would definitely like to see myself as a successful individual in whatever I will be doing 10 years down the line.

12. What’s your fear?

Failure!

13. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is?

He is a movie lover, a good singer and a person who has no work.

14. Would you rather be single and rich or married but poor?

I am not married so I would prefer single and rich for now. I will probably revisit this question in 2 or 3 years time.

15. What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?

I look at my cell phone for time and if it is time for me to get out of my bed, I Pray!
Kara agre vasate Lakshmi, Kara madhye Saraswati, Kara moole sthithe Gowri, Prabhate kara darshanam!

16. Would you give all in a relationship?

I will definitely have to give something but I would never give all in a relationship! No way! Why should I?

17. If you fall in love with two people simultaneously, who would you pick?

I will allow them to decide. Splitsvilla! Where love is war :)

18. Would you forgive and forget no matter how horrible a thing that special someone has done?

I do not have that special someone in my life but I normally forgive and forget. No point in holding grudges.

19. What are your three most important expectations in love (Original Question: Will you marry me?)

Trust
Mutual-Admiration and
Humour (The quality of being funny)
There are many more but these are first three things that came to my mind
Answer to the Original Question: In your dreams!!

20. List 6 people to tag:

I am tagging 7 people. In alphabetical order;

Abhishek Gunjan
Akshat
Aparajita
Chandan
Smita
Swetha
Vikram

People, please read Rule No.2 carefully. You cannot refuse! I will be waiting for your answers.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

The Last Lear - Review before Preview

Posted by Varun | Wednesday, September 10, 2008 | Category: , | 18 comments

I was one of the few privileged people who sat alongside the Big B himself and watched “The Last Lear” when it was showcased in London Film Festival “LAST YEAR”. I even shook hands with the legend. It was ‘a dream come true’ for me. I stayed in Bombay for more that two years but never managed to catch a glimpse of him but my seven month stay in London bore fruits.

'The Last Lear' is undoubtedly Amitabh Bachchan's best movie ever. He will sweep away all the awards this year unless the 'Khan'dan can do something about it.

It's the story of a seasoned thespian Harish Mishra (Harry) who lives with his live-in girlfriend (Shefali Shah). The movie starts with Harry in Coma. The film shoot has taken its toll on the old man. The co-star is truly worried but the director of the movie does not want to meet the ailing actor and is busy preparing for the movie premiere.

The story takes shape in flashback but keeps meandering around past and present.

A young impatient film maker played by Arjun Rampal (Siddharth) tries to woo Harry out of his retirement from stage into films. The interaction between the film-maker and the stage actor produces some of the pleasing and best scenes of the movie.

Harry meets Shabnam (Preity Zinta) on the sets of the movie. Shabnam is a lovable character though her husband in the movie thinks otherwise. He does not like the name and fame that his wife gets out of her movies and is very jealous of her.

Harry initially thinks that there is lot of deception in movies and performing on the stage was grander than performing / acting in movies. Impressed by Siddharth's moviemaking ability and professionalism he slowly adjusts himself to the movie sets. The bond that Harry's young live-in girl friend and Harry share is portrayed beautifully as well.

There are few questions that might remain unanswered. Why this title? What happens to Harry in the end? Will he come back from his coma? How did that accident occur? Why Siddarth does not visit the ailing Harry? I would have loved to disclose everything here but I do not want to spoil your movie going experience.

The silver mane gives Big B yet another look. He looks good though. Arjun Rampal has proved he can act and I have no comments to make on the other actors. Rituparno Ghosh has made sure that he gets the best out of all his actors. Big B has brought the characters of Shakespearean plays back into life with his impeccable dialogue delivery. I cannot praise the dialogues enough because those were written by the master himself :)

I give this movie four and a half stars. I have not given it a five because there is always room for improvement :)

I have tried hard not to disclose the story. Make sure you don't miss watching it.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

News that caught my eye

Posted by Varun | Thursday, September 4, 2008 | Category: , , | 12 comments

Following are the news that managed to catch my eye and attention last month (1st August - 31st August); some surprising, some disappointing, some stimulating and some stifling.

Disclaimer: The news items listed are not in any particular order and are not meant to offend anyone.

Beijing Olympics - After centuries, India managed to win an
individual gold and two individual bronze medals. Is it something to cheer about?? No. It is not! Countries much smaller than India, (size of an Indian state) managed to win more gold medals. Please don't tell me about the lack of Infrastructure and all that stuff. I know all the reasons. I am just not impressed.

Bihar Floods - It is so unfortunate to see such a poor state suffer from floods. The images and videos sometimes shown on TV are gory. The news channels either completely ignore that there is a national calamity or show the same news over and over 24 X 7. Can the politicians for once stop fighting among themselves and start helping the needy and poor?

Barrack Obama and McCain- Who are these guys? They are on all news channels and newspapers.

iPhone - Apple launched the much hyped iPhone 3G in India last month. I am waiting for apple to relaunch the same phone at fifty percent discount :)

Indian Cricket team wins a one-day series in Sri Lanka - After leading the Indian team to a series win, Dhoni is suddenly all pumped up. It was sheer luck that got India through and not the young blood that he always keeps talking about. He has forgotten that he's growing old everyday.

Tata Nano - Can somebody please allow Ratan Tata to start working on his Nano? More the delay, costlier the car! From where do you think the company would recover its loss!?

Nuke Deal - Has Unites States of America mislead the innocent India or has the Indian Government mislead its citizens?

Google Chrome - Internet's new heartthrob. It is the Google's latest open source beta version browser. Like all software products it has its pros (Faster than any other browser) and cons (No Ad Blocker and Download Manager). But I am sure Google would have already started its work on all the shortcomings. Microsoft and Apple, get ready for some competition :)

MTV Splitsvilla - I wanted the other guy to win only because he was my namesake. Looking forward to Roadies 6.0

Social Networking halves Degree of Separation - Have you ever heard of Six Degrees of Separation? It refers to the idea that, if a person is one step away from each person they know and two steps away from each person who is known by one of the people they know, then everyone is an average of six "steps" away from each person on Earth.
The social networking sites like facebook and cellular operators claim that they have now halved it. You are just three "steps" away from each person on earth. “Scary!”?

I got some work - I finally got some work in the new organization. It feels really good to get back on track.

Happy Birthday Sis - Last but not least 31st August was my sister Chaitra’s Birthday. I wish her all luck and happiness in life. Belated wishes dear Chaiti :)

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Down Memory Lane

Posted by Varun | Tuesday, September 2, 2008 | Category: , , | 22 comments

After contemplating for about thirty minutes, I finally decided to stick to this title. It was a three hour journey from Bangalore to Mysore that took me down the memory lane. I was going to Mysore to attend the engagement of my classmate, also my colleague and friend.

On our way to Mysore we pass through a small city (district headquarters) named Mandya. This is a place where I have spent the maximum part of my life (19 years to be exact) and due to obvious reasons it is a place that is very close to my heart.
The city does not have a bypass road which is annoying for the long distance travellers but it didn't quite annoy me. I was enjoying the ride through the city. I could recognize every building, every tree, my school, our house, shopping streets, movie theatres, and petrol pumps. It was as though every building that I saw was smiling at me and welcoming me back. It was disheartening to see few old buildings demolished but then if the infrastructure of a city has to improve the old has to give way to the new. Sir Alfred Lord Tennyson knew this a long time ago “The old order changeth, giving way to the new.”

It was this five min ride through the city that suddenly took me back by twenty years. For the next hour of my journey, I stopped the music I was listening to, closed my eyes and tried to remember every single bit I could remember about that city. It was just like any flash back that one sees in a movie. All the scenes were flashing right in front of eyes. I so badly wanted to get into those scenes again but all I could manage was to open my eyes and stare at the sunlight that was peeping through the window pane.

I was expecting to meet a lot of (at least ten) old friends during the engagement but only three turned up. Nevertheless, it fun meeting old friends. The conversation started with a 'how are you' but somehow ended up in the usual/formal questions like “Which language do you code in?” and “Who are all your clients?” I am sure all software engineers would second me on this one. We could not really help it. We did not have an odd man/woman out who could divert us away from software! The lunch was delicious and so was the vanilla ice cream. We wished the couple, took photographs and bid good bye to my friend and her parents.

On the way back to Bangalore, I passed through Mandya again but this time it was not the buildings but the twinkling stars and glittering lights that smiled and waved good bye.

The friend whose engagement I went to attend was extremely happy that I could make it. I was happy too that I could share her happiness but even happier that this engagement gave me an opportunity to take the beautiful trip down the memory lane.