5,00,000 Hits and Counting

Ok, I am a little caught up right now, to write much.

Thanks to the people who have put up with whatever I write for so long.

As a bonus, there are more posts coming…. Sit tight.

Movies Movies, and more movies

I think my life has changes a lot since I left college. For instance, when I was in college, I used to watch loads of movies. Loads. Really. Sometimes as many as 3 a day.

Then it all dried up. Work, work and more work. Nothing else.

Thankfully, I have a laptop now, and that has helped me reclaim my life. If nothing else, I can use it for blogging, listening to music (when at home) and watching movies.

Problem now is, I am having to catch up on movies that I had with me more than a year back. (Well, with movies you are always playing catchup, but I am talking about recent movies here.)

Me and another colleague of mine managed to come second in a movie quiz at work, and that has renewed my interest in movies.

So finally I ended up watching the following movies, (ages after I actually had them on disk with me)

-Superman Returns (pretty decent movie for a Supeman fan. Not super though. Not the best casting I have seen.)

-I am Legend (Good movie. Scary though. Watching at night is a little scary.)

-28 days later. (Good movie again. A little funny if you think of the concept of “rage virus”, but scary nevertheless.)

-28 weeks later. (Sequel to 28 days later. Pretty good, again.)

Some other movies I managed to watch a couple of weeks earlier,

Confessions of a shopaholic, Frost Nixon, Johnny English, The Astronaut Farmer, The Day the Earth stood still

I have more movies lined up.

A Drained Cell Phone battery and a Life Saved

This is in a way a continuation to my previous post. But I figured, this deserved a separate post. Well, coming close to missing a train is something, coming close to dying is another.

I am a freak when it comes to being organized. I make a checklist of things to take and things to do before I leave home on a trip. So, before I left home on 18th, I made sure that my cell phone had full charge. 100 percent. And knowing my phone and the awesome battery it has, if I don’t listen to too many songs and if I don’t talk all that much over phone. (Neither of which I planned on doing), the charge even lasts 2 days.

But hey, like a true Indian engineer, I did not take something else into account. The cell phone reception in this side of the country is not so great. Before I know, the charge is fast depleting. By 10 PM, my cell phone battery is squeezing out every little drop of energy it has, just to search for a damn network!! And soon, the battery is almost done.

Indian railways has come of age. Now, even the sleeper class compartments have a couple of cell phone chargers. It’s another thing that the plug points are the safety type, where if you have a two pin charger, God alone (or, if you have a pen and know how to use it) can save you.

I am in a dilemma. The charger is to the other end of the compartment and I am not sure if I should leave my bag unguarded. I finally decide to take the chance, because, without the battery, reaching my bro’s college was going to be tough. Plus I didn’t know anyone’s phone number by heart and I’d be lost without that.

So, I go to the other end of the compartment to get my phone charged.

Now, I can’t really say if I have had any near death encounters before, but this sure as hell wasn’t one. Not for me atleast. Well, but it could have been for someone else.

I am standing there, charging my phone, when this guy is trying to get up from the side lower berth, but is unable to get up. I look more closely, and find that he is fully drunk. By fully, I mean fully!! By now, my brain registers the sensation in my nose. This bugger is reeking of alcohol. He somehow falls down, manages to get up and all. I just stand clear. Who wants to get into an altercation with a drunk fellow ? What’s more, I am pretty sure, this guy had pissed all over himself. Disgusting, filthy animal. He was trying to head to the loo. I stay as far away from him as possible and he doesn’t pay me any heed either. Phew!!

Then in two quick strides, he heads to the train door and is trying to pull it open. Shit!! I tap him on his shoulder and show him the bathroom door. Thankfully, the train compartments door was tightly shut. This guy then falls to the floor in between the loos. You know, how they are facing each other. Now, I am not sure what to do. I sure as hell don’t want to witness someone jumping off a train. At the same time, I don’t want to try talking sense into a drunk man who has pissed all over himself.

I stand there for a while, just to make sure he doesn’t try jumping off the train again. And this guy is sleeping peacefully lying on the floor of the train. Finally, my phone charge reached 75% and I am also extremely sleepy. I check the bolt on the train door, and go to sleep.

Next day morning I headed to the same place. My phone battery was drained again. I see this guy sitting and talking with people, like nothing happened.

Well, if it hadn’t been for my cell phone battery, I am sure this guy would have been history. I simply don’t get why people have to drink so much that they have absolutely no control over what they are doing, going as far as to risk their life.

I think that’s more reason than enough for someone senile never to get drunk. Well, at least  not on a train.

Bombay Beckoning – Part 01

18-Sep-2009

A lil background:

I have never been to Bombay (yes, yes, Mumbai) in 22 years of my existence.  Now, I am not really an outdoor person who travels a lot, but even so, I would like to see at least the 4 big metros in India. Since my brother is currently in Mumbai (SPJIMR) and couple of my friends (one of them from college, the other from work) stay in Pune and we had a 3 day weekend coming up, I finally decided to make a trip both to Pune and Mumbai. Also, since I currently stay in Mangalore, it takes 16-18 hours by train to Bombay, which I can manage (Although travelling alone, can be both boring and difficult. Esp when you have to take a leak and can’t ask anyone to take care of your bag for you. For all you know, when you come back, both the person and the bag will not be found. It is better to be paranoid about such things, than to trust people and end up on a train alone, with your belongings long gone. Trust me, trust no one )

Well, now, 18th also happened to be my birthday. Unfortunately, tickets were not available on 17th or 19th and I had to take this. I did have to go to office for the morning half. Now, I few things to do before leaving and this is where things get interesting.

The open bag and almost making it to the train

I made it early to office and finished up on some work I had. My train was at 12:50 and I live 20 minutes away from my office and  another 15 minutes from the railway station.

I was trying to wind up and leave by 12:00, when all of a sudden all the people in my level ( floor, if you like it) decide to sing me a birthday song. Well, now I am really flattered (and I think it was evident with the ear to ear smile I was giving.), but I was also in a hurry. Somehow, managed to leave by 12:15. Not good. Not good at all.

I reach the bus stand at 12:25. I need to go home from here, pick my bag and reach the railway station. Now, this is when my brain deserts me. Instead of taking an auto, I decide to walk. Can you believe it ? I reach home at 12:30 and leave home by 12:35. This is going to be cutting it real close. In 15 minutes my train will be on its way to Bombay and I might not be on it.

I realize that walking is going to get me nowhere and start running. I am 5 minutes away from the station (by rough estimate of course), with some 3 minutes remaining to 12:50, when an auto guy whistles and slows the auto near me. Man, is this guy rubbing it in ? I know I should have taken an auto, but I don’t need one now. I shake my head violently in his direction without really looking at him, but this guy won’t let go.

Finally I give him an annoyed look and he points at my backpack and he is gone. I remove my backpack and see that it is wide open. Holy shit!! This is all I need right now. Thankfully, my backpack is really packed to caapacity. So, I don’t think anything fell out. I don’t have time to check anyway. I just look in the direction I came from, and decide that’s enough. What more can I do ? Retrace my path back home and miss the train for sure, when there was only a 70% chance I’ll miss it ?

So I fasten the zipper of the bag and continue running. I reach the station at 12:51. Great, now, I just have to find out which platform the train is on, get to that platform and hope that the train is travelling slow enough for me to board a running train. Awesome!!

Well, this is when my luck turns. The train is just starting on the first platform, and without missing a beat, I go right into whichever coach is in front of me. I can walk to my coach from within the train later. After boarding the train, I did check with a couple of people, if it was the right train and they gave me the thumbs up. Phew!! That was close. Now to 16 hours of boring train travel.

The remainder of the journey

Matthew Reilly’s Ice Station was a pretty good read on the train. ( I had earlier read Contest and liked it quite a bit). The journey was pretty scenic. This train travels really close to the west coast and you can see ocean in quite a few places, along the way. Also, the dal vada on the train was pretty ok. It’s a pity that I didn’t get any decent lunch though. All I had was a bread omelette and a samosa

A few snaps

Mangalore-Mumbai

Mumbai-Mangalore

Mumbai-Mangalore

Misadventures with Food-Part 01/infinity

You know how as bachelors, you have to cook from time to time. (Well not everyone has to)

Well, I somehow don’t understand it. I mean, its tougher than Chemistry lab. The other day, I bought this pack of dried peas, and so I decide to use it. I open the pack, put it in a cooker and cook it with some rice. Voila!! You have pulav ready. Except, the peas aren’t cooked. What the ? Why the ? So I remove the peas from the rice and painstakingly at that, and have just the rice.

I decide to call my mom the next day and she tells me that dried peas need to be soaked in water for some time before being cooked. So yesterday morning, I soak some peas in a bowl, cover it up, and go to work. Somehow things get delayed at work, and I come home really late. (like today ) And I forget all about it today as well. Can you blame me for my memory ? So when I come home today at night and go to the kitchen for some water, the whole place smells like peas.!! Man!! What a mess. Believe (you) me, never ever leave food items soaked for more than a few hours. Ill have to call my mom tomorrow and ask her “exactly” for how long I need to soak these peas.

(Oh, yes I threw out the stinky peas. Sometimes I wonder why I even venture out to cook.)

Jennifer Connelly vs Scarlett Johansson

Jennifer Connelly

Scarlett Johansson

Now, before you go imagining what made me write this post, let me make it pretty clear myself. I was watching this movie He’s Just Not That into You. The movie itself is not pretty great, but then I am back to movie watching after a long long long long time. (More than an year now since I watched movies.) Also the movie has got a pretty decent star cast:

Ben Affleck, Bradley Cooper.

Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Connelly, Scarlett Johansson.

Well, my discussion here is primarily centred around Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Connelly and Scarlet Johansson in the movie. Now, let us for a second assume, I was playing the part of Bradley Cooper in the movie. (Wishful thinking, I know ) I would never ever ever ever have done anything to jeopordise my relationship with Jennifer Connelly. I mean, sure Scarlet Johansson is tempting, but I  would any day prefer JC to SJ (The reader of this blog post, may have his or her own opinion which might differ from the writer’s. That is perfectly acceptable. )

Let’s try and reason a little but ok. IMHO, Jennifer Connelly is any day better looking than Scarlet Johansson. (Sure, Scarlet is younger and ahem.. better endowed. But hey, that’s no reason to force yourself to become dumb and let go of a woman like Jennifer Connelly.) Actually, Bradley himself does very well, but apparently not well enough as he ends up with a request for a divorce from JC (whether or not they actually do, is well… not in the scope of the movie.)

Ok, thats about it. Now you know of my liking for Jennifer Connelly. It was nice having you here on my blog.

On second thoughts JC’s role in the movie (I don’t remember character names) is a little hysterical, bordering on psycho. Well, no matter how physically attractive she is or how beautiful you think she is, people who behave that way, are to be avoided at all costs. I mean, who breaks things in the house and throws things around just because your hubby smoked ? (That is if he did.)

Also, a little confusing was if Bradley Cooper even smoked. I mean he denies smoking and then owns up to having slept with another woman. Well, if he did smoke, clearly he liked the cigarette butt more than Scarlet Jonahnson (’s) But assuming he didn’t (which is what I think anyway, considering he even says no to Ben Affleck, when he offers him a smoke), what was the point that was being made in the movie ?

P.S: The  writer of this blog post may not have been entirely coherent while writing this. (due to reasons that cannot be disclosed here.)

Trip To Rameshwaram

We had been to Rameshwaram from Chennai last week.We were there on Sunday. Here are a few pictures.  ( I did try to get the panoramic view, but was unsuccessful. Wikipedia has a pretty decent view):

The long tower you would see in a couple of pictures is the Doordharshan tower. (I have no idea what it is used for )

While we were there, Anil Ambani (of Reliance) was also there. I did get to see him and his mother.

I got to take a dip in the Bay of Bengal and even swam a little. (After a really really long time.)

We stayed at this hotel called Hotel Sunrise. Apparently Anil Ambani was also put up there. Pretty expensive hotel, for a city like Rameshwaram. They charged around 1500 Rupees for a room.

We got to take bath in water from some 22 wells each representing a different place.

Pretty good trip overall. Came back to Chennai the next day by train.

“The” Flu

The writer of this blog post would like to refrain from making use of the term “Swine Flu” and hence the title of the post. (Oops, looks like I mentioned it anyway.) The writer would also like to refrain from putting up a picture of a pig on this post. (That will be more suitable in a post discussing the Ashes and how Ricky Ponting felt )

Now, I am sure you all already get bombarded with thousands of mails, forwards and links to pages where there is information about swine flu. So I am going to stop short of pretending I am a medical practitioner and not offer any (free) advice.

I was cleaning my house yesterday and being allergic to dust, started sneezing uncontrollably. Well, dust allergy is a problem, especially if you are allergic to dust AND live in the house I live in.

So, I go on sneezing for about an hour, madly searching for Cetrizine pills (doctor prescribed, don’t worry.) and I can’t find them. Shit, shit!! so I do the next best thing. Go to sleep.

I wake up and almost immediately start sneezing. So I decide that Ill go out have dinner and then buy the pills. I go to a restaurant and start sneezing uncontrollably there as well. People turn and look at me uncomfortably. To add to the charade, my friend mouths the words Swine Flu   Now even the waiter was a little scared.

I was talking to a friend online, who also seemed to think that I should get myself checked for Swine Flu Well, I have been abused a few times in life as a swine, but I don’t think I had the Flu!! So after dinner, I popped in the pills and slept. I got up in the morning feeling absolutely fine. No big deal.

I went to the restaurant again today, just to prove to the people there that I am absolutely fine, and in the “Prime of my Lime” But as my friend points out, poor families who were scared out of their wits.

P.S: Cetrizine makes you drowsy. I was feeling groggy till about evening.

Dell XPS M1330 and M1530 have been Dicontinued ?

Looks Like the Good Old Dell XPS M1330 and M1530 have been Dicontinued. I was looking for a laptop for sometime now, and was able to see the M1330 and the M150 listed on both the US and the Indian Dell websites. Last I saw them was arond the 10th of this month (10-Jul-2009). Looks like since then, Dell has pulled these two models and you will no longer get them.

Dell XPS

What does this mean to loads of people who simply fell in love with the XPS the first time they saw it ? Well, I don’t no really. XPS marked a new era for Dell, in terms of style and performance.

My brother bought a M1330 I think around a year back and my friend Vibushan bought a M1530 around the same time. I have seen and used both laptops and I must say both are fantastic.

With Studio XPS 13″ and 16″ coming into the scene, looks like, Dell thought its time they EOLifed the M1330 and M1530. But will people miss anything from these models ? For one, I hear that the new Studio XPS have heat issues. Next is that, leather or not, the new models have a glossy look and easily attract finger prints. If I remember right, the XPS models had a matte finish that didn’t attract finger prints all that much.

Next are two other aspects that maybe people don’t pay too much attention to. One is the beautiful sleeve that the XPS M1330 and M1530 came with. The second is the remote control that comes in the PCI slot. They were great add ons. You know what ? The sleeve in the Studio XPS looks rather lame. And there is no friggin remote !!! Bloody heck!!

I recently bought the Dell Studio 16 (also knows as XPS 1640). I haven’t had a chance to see it yet. (It’s still in New Jersery safely nestled in my sisters apartment there.) But then, Dell cheated me. They gave a shitty sleeve and there was no remote. For 1200$, thats a poor show Dell.

Next Post: Woes With DELL

New Laptop – Dell Studio XPS 16″

I have been looking to buy a laptop for quite sometime now. Last time I was seriously considering was last thanks giving, when I could get a decent HP Laptop for 600$. But then somehow, that didn’t happen. If you are wondering why I am talking about thanks giving sitting here in India, it’s because it is my sister that was to buy the laptop (in amreeka).

I have been waiting since then, looking at lots of prospective laptops. My choice was limited to HP and DELL. I would never buy a Sony Vaio simply because they are overly priced and I don’t see value for money in them. Sure, they look stunning and all, but I like substance over style. As far as Apple Mac Books are concerned, why would anyone want to buy them ? I did consider Toshiba, Lenovo, Compaq (HP) but looking at their websites gave me a mild headache.

So only HP and DELL survived the initial round of selection. I had to drop one of these two. My sister has a HP and my brother bought a DELL XPS about an year ago. Both are pretty happy with their laptops. Besides, I have used some of the HP and DELL laptops and there is very little to choose between the two. I finally decided to go with DELL, because HP has too many lines/series and that gives me a headache.

Having chosen DELL, I had Studio, XPS and Studio XPS to choose from. After initial filtering, I decided on either Studio XPS 13″ , XPS M 1330 or a customised Studio 15″. Then for some reason, I was unhappy with a 13″ . I am not someone who carries the laptop someplace everyday. For me, it’s more of a desktop replacement. I had a hard time convincing my sister that 16″ was ok. She is dead againt big laptops. I would have liked a 14″ , but 13 was too small for my liking. I am not a business executive and like my movies and games.

So it all boiled down to a Studio XPS 16″. Here are some pictures:

The configuration I chose has the following:

Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo P7350 (3MB cache/2.0GHz/1066Mhz FSB)

RAM: 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1067MHz

HDD: 320GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive (I did think of upgrading it to 500 GB hard disk. But I guess I might as well buy external storage later. there was no 7200 RPM 500 GB HDD available with this particular model.)

Graphics Card: ATI Mobility RADEON® HD 3670 – 512MB

Display: Edge-to-Edge HD Widescreen 16.0 inch WLED LCD (1366×768) W/2.0 MP

I also get a free upgrade to Windows 7 and a 50$ coupon. Sadly , I had to upgrade with an additional 20$ for bluetooth.

Eagerly awaiting to get my hands on it. (Sometime in August, when I go home to Chennai and my sister comes back from US)