SLB's next...

I have always been a great fan of Sanjay Leela Bansali and I watched his last movie Black thrice at PVR and this should sum up how impressed I was with his last directorial venture. Now he is back with his new baby Saawariya. Expectations are huge this time and lets see how he lives up to it. Promos are out and looks like he is inspired by his own movies. From whatever little we see, I think he is trying to converge the romance of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, grandeur of Devdas and dark, depressing sensitivity of Black into one movie.

Music is out and all I can say is it has lived up to the expectations . For me the standout tracks are 'Saawariya' , 'Daras bina Nahi Chain' , 'Yoon Shabnami' and 'Masha Alla'.

Lets see if the movie stands up to the hype it has created.

8 days a week

Seriously I need 8 days in a week!!!!! You are asking me why an extra day? Recently my office shifted near whitefield and this is how it has affected my life :(

Morning	Leave home 7 AM	Reach office 8.30 AM	Unproductive time 90min
Breakfast	@home 10min	@office 35min	Unproductive time 25min
Lunch	Lunch box from home 25min	@office cafeteria 60min	Unproductive time 35min
Evening	Leave office 5.15PM	Reach home 7.15PM	Unproductive time 120min

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Total unproductive minutes per day : 90 + 25+ 35 + 120 = 270min
Total unproductive minutes per week 270 * 5 = 1350 min
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1350 min = 22.5 hrs per week !!!!!!!!!!!!
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To add to this, I can't read in am moving bus, I can't sleep and I get a severe headache after I travel by bus.

Recurring Dreams

Almost everyone does experience one or more dreams that keep recurring. In my case particularly there are 5 themes that keep recurring.I decided to google about them and tried to find out if they did convey some important message. Now i regret my decision of googling, something I should not have done. You ask me why? Go on and read rest of the story.....

My 5 themes

1. Fear of falling from a height
2. Unprepared for the Exam
3. Naked in public
4. Me trying to catch a snake
5. Me witnessing a Plane crash

Falling from a height: Again there are 3 sub themes in this
a.I am standing on the roof top of a building at one end and I am trying to reach the other end.
b.I am trying to jump between two buildings.
c.I am driving my bike...suddenly there is steep road that appears out of nowhere and I lose my balance.

In all the above scenarios, in the mid way through the dream I cant see what is below me or in front of me and I try to open my eyes but in vain (which I cant bcoz I am supposed to be sleeping)but somehow I finally manage to save my life without hurting myself.

Google says: As with most common dream themes, falling is an indication of insecurities, instabilities, and anxieties. You are feeling overwhelmed and out of control in some situation in your waking life. This may reflect the way you feel in your relationship or in your work environment. You have lost your foothold and can not hang on or keep up with the hustle and bustle of daily life.

Unprepared for the Exam: I arrive at the examination hall unprepared or I have prepared for a wrong subject or I am appearing for a subject for which I have bunked the classes through out the year or I reach very late to the examination hall.

Google says: These dreams suggest that you may feel unprepared for a challenge. Rarely, are these dreams about the content of the test, but rather the process and how you are feeling during the exam taking process. Generally, you feel distressed and frustrated. These feelings may parallel how you are feeling in a particular challenge or situation in your waking like

Naked in public: I am going to work or just walking down the street and I realize that I am neither wearing my pant nor my under garments. After walking for few more minutes I am actually proud of my nakedness and show no embarrassment.
Google says: It symbolizes your unrestricted freedom. You have nothing to hide and are proud of who you are. The dream is about a new sense of honesty, openness, and a carefree nature.

At least there is on dream which I can be proud of !!!! :-)

Me chasing a snake: Ah well, this is something which I would like to forget. Here I am chasing a snake which has entered my house .Searching my house in every hook and corner to see where it is hiding. Usually there is no conclusion to this dream.

Google Says:A snake, being the ages old symbol of evil or Satan, makes it a bad omen to have one show up in a dream. To see a lone snake and feel threatened by it shows that you have a bad enemy that is even then working against you, it also a warning against bodily harm from an enemy.

Me witnessing a plane crash : Well this is really a very weird one. Also this qualifies as the most frequently recurring dream. I am walking down the street or I am standing on my terrace and I see the plane flying nearby which suddenly catches fire and crashes right in front of me. Are you asking me why you are calling it weird??? ya let me explain... instead of being horrified and shocked of what has happened, I am actually enjoying the entire thing. I enjoy scene of plane catching fire,I enjoy the sound it makes when it crashes and I enjoy the smell which it leaves behind after the disaster.

Google says:No answer. The dream they are describing features the dreamer inside the plummeting plane, which is not the case for me. :(

Hmmm..very long post...I guess it's time for me to catch my sleep on a lazy Sunday afternoon and start dreaming.

Hilarious!!!!!!

Came across this hilarious video where a software company welcomes its new joinees.




Gawd!!! now I seriously want to meet this HR who thought of this.

Update: This video is indeed authentic..confirmed from one of my friend who works in that company.

Life without a Purpose

I was listening to songs of Gangster...lyrics of "Tu Hi Mera Shab Hai" song goes like this "Tu bangaya hai mere jeene ke ek waja" . After listening to this I just realized who true that is. A person whose life has no purpose is as good as dead .

purpose driven life

Purpose here is a hope like ...hope of life getting better, hope of being loved and hope that we will lead a fulfilling life . I believe these are the main things which keeps our enthusiasm up all the time and prepares us to face all the challenges thrown at us.It also acts as a catalyst to bounce back when we are down and beaten.

Just imagine what would happen if you don't have any purpose, any desires when you get up in the morning. You would just go back to sleep??...but how long one would sleep..i am sure one would go mad after some days.For instance one would always wish if one had no work at office. There would be some days at work where in fact one gets what he/she wishes for. One may enjoy it for first 3 days and later one starts cribbing about how bored he/she is at work.

There are certain small things in our day to day life for which we look forward.. such as meeting friends, having coffee with your loved ones, doing good job at work, having good food, watching movies,watching your favourite programme on TV.,.....list goes ... ,which makes us happy. These small things helps us to sprint through the day, then months and then months adds up to years.

When life has no purpose..its becomes colorless and it means only one thing....you have lived your life and God wants to meet you.

Life in a Metro.... movie review

Life in a Metro (* * * *)

This is easily one of the better movies to have released this year. I did like Anurag Basu's style of story telling in his previous two movies Murder and Gangster, but in this movie he has improved by leaps and bounds. Story is set in mumbai, but not in its glamorous part of city . Story unfolds in busy streets, local train, bus, middle class apartment with monsoon as backdrop.There are mainly four tracks in the movie and all protagonists are somewhere linked with each other.

Irfan Khan and Konkana sen's track is easily the best part of the movie. Chemistry between them is really awesome. When Irfan khan asks konkana sen to scream out loud from the top of the building one really feels like joining them. Watch out konkana sen especially in this scene, she is just brilliant. Irfan as usual has given a very good performance. Another scene which stands out is the one where he finds out why konkana had rejected him to marry and the way he tries to convince konkana that he did nothing wrong by staring at her body is simply awesome.

Also this was supposed to be the comeback movie of Shilpa shetty after she shot in to fame from Big Brother. She does not disappoint either. This can be easily counted as her one of the best performance in her career(other being Phir milenge). Kay Kay and shilpa have troubled marriage and both of them get involved in extra marital affair. The scene where both of them come out to each other is worth mentioning. Observe the difference in emotions the two characters undergo. Shilpa is guilty whereas Kay Kay tries justifying his actions. You would simply want to hate Kay Kay and yes this proves what a gifted actor he is.

Dharmendra and Nafisa ali's track is also sweet and have a great chemistry between them. Sharman joshi and kangana's is the weakest track in the movie. But sharman joshi has matured as an actor and has given a wonderful performance. Hope I could be in his shoes where my promotion depends on how efficiently I manage available resources ( read apartment keys) :-).Shiney Ahuja does not have much scope in the movie.

Music is another strong point of the movie. Songs gels very well along with movie and infact I liked the new style of direction where band keeps appearing through out the movie. Finally you come out of the movie smiling realizing that life in metro is not all that bad and one should not complain and be happy with what one has got in his/her life.

Generation gap at workplace

I feel IT industry is currently experiencing a generation gap between the recent graduates and their project managers. I read in a recent survey that average age of a project managers is around 40 years. So obviously both of them will have a very different schools of thought on how project management should be done.Older project managers would usually falter in understanding gen-x dreams since they don't match with long established industry realities

Present set of veteran managers are still under old fashioned management perceptions. They believe that by spending long hours at office it shows one's commitment towards work. On the other hand present generation expect a fulfilling life outside of work , higher salary packets and prefer putting shorter hours at workplace. They would prefer being rated based on their quality of work rather than number of hours one spends at his/her workplace.

Most of the project managers fell in to this job by number of years of work experience they have put in and would smarten up their skills by being trained on few project management courses ( 10 days max???) by their company. Their skills of managing people would be very limited since they do not undergo formal training.Where as present generation would be more focused on what they want , they would choose appropriate career specializations during their academics and are usually more serious in taking project management as their career.

I think this generation gap would narrow down with time and I strongly believe younger project managers would make better managers than the present set of veteran project managers.

Workplace and Emotions

We are always advised to keep a check on our emotions at workplace and behave in an professional way. Once we swipe our cards and enter our office ,how far can one succeed in suppressing his/her emotions ?

When we are hired by an organisation we are hired for our competence, skill and capability. But emotions also comes attached with it. Getting emotionally attached with your managers or colleagues can backfire at times. Also conflicts arise at workplace because of different emotions being expressed at wrong place and also in the manner one expresses his emotions. Emotions can be a positive one or a negative one.

Whenever we get a nasty email, most of the people react in two ways. We either mask/ suppress our emotions or we give them back with a equally nasty email. In first case it leads to frustration thinking that other person got away even after writing a nasty email and reacting as in second case also doesn't help much. You might end up getting a lecture on professionalism from your manager. But I always feel it is important to let the other person know that you are hurt by his email and it affects your productivity. *Discussing* your emotions always helps.


I guess no one has achieved the mastery of keeping a check on ones emotions at workplace. I guess with experience and with time one can handle them in a better way.

Aahh...its been a while!!!!

Life has been busy . Six months just zipped past.I was trying to hold on to it and had my shares of Ups and Downs ,but overall it has been a rich learning experience(read non-technical). Well for the first time in my life I did introspect and noticed different things about myself. so I think I do know something about myself. I did find lot of short comings in me to achieve what I want to both professionally & personally. Well I am happy that I have at least listed them down so that I can work on them.

So what else???? ... life @ work sucks..(read colleagues).., India out of cricket world cup( didn't expect much from them either), Federrer lost twice to Canas in consecutive tournaments ( interesting rivalry on its way or is it lady luck on Canas side), was introduced to Landmark forum by my close friend( not sure whether to enroll for this, may be I will give them one chance).

Well post looks very disorganised..well that is how my state of mind is right now. May be it will take some more time to digest series of events that happened from past 6 moths and I promise to come up with a good post next time .

Hi-Tech fury

During my visit to Swiss, the best thing I liked about the country was the public transportation facilities. You can travel for hours in them without getting tired. I always wondered when we are going to get such hi-tech and clean buses running in our country?We didn't have to wait for long because BMTC did introduce hi-tech Volvo buses, similar to the one I had traveled in Swiss, in an effort to improve public transportation in Bangalore. These air conditioned Volvo buses have very comfortable seats, they play FM music , have uniformed staff and hence obviously come with high price. Price is almost double the regular fares. What I really like about them is the large clean windows and watching through them is a pleasure. They have been a fair success since number of office going people would prefer traveling to their office sitting peacefully in the bus rather than driving their cars in the peak hour traffic.

The Other side of the picture is that they come as an evidence to existing large income gap. For the people who can't afford these price , its a mobile statement of their comparative poverty. One can see looks of envy when they see people traveling in such buses. Clearly this explains why mob set a Volvo bus on fire when it was involved in an accident on airport road last week. When I saw a news channel interviewing the people near the accident spot , I saw couple of them making this statement on the TV- "Just because the driver had an hi-tech bus how can he be so careless while driving and neglect the common people on the road?". Agree the bus driver was at fault, but was there a need to set the bus on fire? Would the people have reacted similalry if the accident involved a regular BMTC bus? I don't think so.

We have seen a similar mob fury on the hi-tech buildings across our city during Dr.Rajkumar's death. They start throwing stones whenever they come across a glass building. Clearly it shows that people are trying to take out their frustrations on these so called hi-tech buildings, buses, cars whenever they get an opportunity.

I do sympathize with these people since they dont have access to these buses, but its no way right on their part to attack public property either in mob or in isolation. I wish more action was taken on the people who are involved in such incidents.

Gossiping

Telling that we don't gossip is a farce. Is it true that always women gossip ? No its not true. Are men also guilty of gossiping ? Hell its true. So lets not get into details like who gossip more? men or women .
You might think why this post? But the conversations that I have overheard in the recent past has triggered to me to write this post and the question is whether gossiping ever justified? .

In the times when things are not going as expected in the organization, everybody thinks someone else is the cause for the problem. They start gossiping , hurting people's reputation behind their back. Okay I understand everyone is human and prone to make such comments (which again is not justified) during such crisis time, but I have seen people who rant even otherwise.

I have seen people who try to satisfy their ego in pointing out mistakes of others, laughing behind their back. They try to blow their own trumpet and use their knowledge to intimidate people. They even go to the extent of saying that they don't do mistakes in whatever work they do. They start believing that they know everything and stop being students. According me to people of this kind are damn pshyced up and are big loosers in their life. They think they are trying to win respect from others by intimidating them but its rather and sadly otherwise. They will fall under the eyes of other people, they are ignored, they are isolated, they will hate them. When people dont even smile at you when they pass by, that can be the biggest insult to anyone. Infact that's an indicator that you belong to the above category.

People who are knowledgeable are always humble. They don't indulge in loose talk, they are not rude to others, they don't try to show off, they don't hurt people,they don't laugh at others mistakes,they don't raise their eyebrows and say " Gosh u don't know this much? how did they hire you? " , rather they are always their on ur side -ready to help you, to teach you . You don't have to practice to be humble rather it comes with knowledge and maturity.

I am guilty of gossiping at times and I promise myself not indulge in such loose talks anymore.I have no right to preach others and also I cant stop others from gossiping but would like to end this post with some quotes which will make people think twice before gossiping.

"Words and actions of anger are like stones thrown at vessel, they leave a dent."

"Before treating a person in some way think what if you were treated the same way."

"Ego of knowledge is most destructive."

"Man is like a fraction, NUMERATOR being what he is and DENOMINATOR being what he thinks of himself. Higher the DENOMINATOR lower the fraction.

"There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self."

"A person learns by his mistakes, if he hasn't learnt something, its not his mistake."

Where's that burning desire?

I am going through a phase of low self confidence..... How does it matter that you had the best results in past ? No.. It doesn't help... all that it matters is how you perform now. I have lost the burning desire to win, to conquer. I think I have become complacent with the little success I had so far in my life. Its time for a reality check, for me to stop fooling around with myself and come out of this dream world .I still have lots of things to achieve and I don't want to end up leading a normal life .There is no point being nobody.Days are passing by , I need to come out of this hibernation and I need to motivate myself to work hard, that will again spark the deep burning desire in me. I know its kinda late to realize this , but its better late than never. Watch out for that huge explosion of enthusiasm and energy!!!!

yen samachara?

Interestingly there is one question that I have encountered very often in the recent past , that being " wassup " (non-kannadigas) or "yen samachara" (kannadigas)

Whenever I am asked this question, I am completely lost.... I really dunno what to reply and most of the times my answer would be "Nothing much" or "Hmmmmm.... " followed by a smile....

Well, having given it a much thought now , let me put up some honest ones out here

• a 25 year old single dude living in bangalore and I guess this single status will stay with me for some more time .
• someone who enjoys morning workouts esp. . .yoga.
• not particularly doing a job I love but something I believe I am good at and often frustrated with daily routine.
  
• some one who wants to learn dancing particularly salsa and take up directing movies as a profession but end up not doing anything about it.
  
• someone who enjoys leisure times on weekends playing with his niece.

The above is all what is up with my life and why would I almost narrate a composition to them for some slang as "wassup"

Interesting Ad

I Was checking my mail on yahoo and found this advertisement on the right corner of the window. I just can't understand ,what is the analogy that the lady in the above pic is trying to convey in the ad .......Its a human tendency to not to trust people in their very first meeting. Similarly we don't trust our banker the very first time even if the investment advice made by him turns out to be profitable . Its over a period of time that we develop trust on him when all the suggestions/advice made by him turns out to be a profitable one. So applying this analogy, all that I can deduce is that she has found many profitable husband's from Bharat Matrimony and that is the reason she has so much trust on that ... ;-) So all the bitchy girls in this world now u know where to find ur next bakra!!!!!!! :-)

Final Act

Two of biggest Tennis Icons have announced their retirement this month after US open - Andre Agassi and Martina Navratilova. I have always been a great fan of these two right from my childhood and used to wake up in odd hours of the night to watch their matches. These two had an amazingly long tennis careers.


It was fitting end to Martina Navratilova's career with her 60th Grand Slam win. Phew what a career she had. Among the four Grand Slams , winning wimbledon is always special for any player and she won 9 of them. She reigned wimbledon through out 80's and early 90's. I still remember how i injured myself out of excitement when she lost a point during wimbledon finals in 1994 against Martinez. I had to put 5 stitches on my chin. That final was supposed to her last match as tennis professional, but she returned back to tennis after 4 years break. It just shows how much love she had for this sport. Clearly no other player in the women's tennis history has left a more complete mark than Martina Navratilova.

Andre Agassi's tennis career is no less colorful than that of Martina. During early part of his career i was a big fan of him not for his tennis skills but for his dressing sense - his long hair , colorful t-shirts and his charisma on the court. He did not play at wimbledon for some years just becoz they had strict dress codes. But he matured with experience and it showed up both in personal and professional front. He was famous for his baseline shots, mesmerizing hand-eye coordination and could return the most wicked serve that the game has seen ever. His run at this years US open was no less dramatic as his career and he made us believe that he was still capable of winning Grand Slam at the age of 36. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he played the last point of his career, but still, he was there, ready to play. He was a complete player.

Tennis fan's around the world will miss these two great players a lot.

Bas Ek Pal

Watched Bas Ek Pal this friday starring Juhi chawla, Urmila, Sanjay suri and Jimmy shergil. Its really heartening to see how Bollywood is evolving and making more meaningful cinemas. Tell me, aren't we really bored of the typical bollywood stuff like teenage love stories, hero heroine running around the trees, wedding songs, item numbers, heroine in saree dancing in middle of snow capped mountains of switerzland??? list can go on. ....Most of these movies are predictable.. U can actually guess what's going to happen in the next scene . This is where Bas Ek Pal differs and it is where it scores. You cannot predict what's going to happen next.

Bas Ek Pal is story of 5 people and how their lives changes for ever from an incident. Film explores the complexity of relationships . Each character has a secret which is uncovered and how it changes the dynamics of relationship. Every character in the movie looks real and we can identify with it. All the lead actors have done an excellent job. Juhi has given a very restrained performance, conveying a lot through her eyes. Ofcourse she looks million bucks!!!!. Sanjay and urmila have done a good job. But it is Jimmy shergil who steals the show with an excellent performance. His according to me was the most complex character in the movie. Onir scores again with Bas Ek Pal after My Brother Nikhil. One of the aspects that I like about onir's direction , is the pace at which the movie moves. They just allow u to absorb the emotions and the complexities that each character in his movie go through.

I am sure movies like Bas Ek Pal will be neglected in awards functions and may be even it will go unnoticed in theatres bcoz it lacks publicity and a big banner backing it up. But Bas Ek Pal is different, meaningful and a welcome change in bollywood. Hats off to the director and the actors who believed in the movie.

PS: Bas Ek Pal songs rock!!!!

Moving to blogspot

Finally Shifted to Blogspot from Livejournal. Just like the look and feel of Blogspot, its much better than livejournal !!!!!.