The 3-day week

That was fast! I left day before yesterday and am back today :P I have started enjoying this dual life of mine :) So here's a wrap up of what happened in the past couple of days.

Office is weird. I am almost done with the work that I was given. Need to figure out what to do next. The Diwali fever was on since Monday. Empty cubicles, more people loitering around, the games room more packed than usual, work was apparently the last priority :P

Pizza, once a week, has become sort of a ritual now. A small introduction to my roomies has been in the waiting. Apoorv and Siddharth are the dynamic duo and we end up having quite a good time out there :) Last night Apoorv managed to get hold of another bike and that meant all three of us could go out for a movie and dinner. We decided that it would be a good way to celebrate the last day before leaving. So we decided to watch "Jhoota Hi Sahi". Sid wanted to watch "Rakht Charitra" but I had no intention of watching politics and blood/gore ( can be interpreted as Dmaag ko Shot! ). I was fortunate that Apoorv wanted to watch JHS too.

We have this portal called KLISMA which is basically a site that provides good offers on a lot of stuff like electronics, clothes, furniture, etc. Earlier it was an internal thingy but now they have opened it up for everyone. So KLISMA had an offer on movie tickets, where we could get tickets for 100 bucks. So we went and got ourselves tickets though Sid kept cribbing till the end. We entered the hall, settled down and waited for the movie to begin. It finally did and guess what it was? Rakht-Charitra! Well we laughed our asses off for a couple of minutes and then decided that we needed to get into the right hall. I had apparently read the wrong screen number in the ticket and entered Screen 3 instead of 4. So we ran to 4 and were lucky that it hadn't begun yet.

I liked the movie. There were some genuinely witty dialogues and scenes. John Abraham did a good job and so did the whole cast. Sid cribbed throughout the movie and also for a while threatened to go and watch the other movie after the interval. He didn't go. All in all, the evening was fun :) Got back home at 1:30am.

Remember the Bazinga that happened last Friday? Well somewhere deep inside I was really hoping that I would see her again. In fact I had decided that if I see her again I'll muster up the courage to go and say a "hi" to her. I have by default started taking the 5:45 bus now and had booked tickets for the same bus. I reached there and who do I see sitting at the same place? Her! The following things happened serially in the 25 seconds that took me to cross her - my heart skipped a beat, I smiled to myself, looked at her for a while, noticed a couple of guys with her, said, "Crap!" to myself, heard another "BAZINGA!" Well out of the 2, one left when the Pune-Thane bus came but the other remained. I did what I do best, remained invisible. My bus came pretty early today. Unfortunately we weren't in the same bus today. So boarded the bus and left her sitting there.

Sometimes when you wish something you end up getting it. Unfortunately, when you are not absolutely specific and clear about what you want, life can throw some serious shitty situations at you. I had wished that I see her again but I never wished seeing her alone. And that's what I got! Crazy shit! Huh?

District 9

Watched a movie called "District 9". An interesting movie. Its about a group of aliens who have come and settled in South Africa in a camp which gets named as District 9. The movie has been shot in the form of a documentary. Interesting piece of work. The special effects have been done well, in the sense that the movie itself feels crude due to the documentary look but the aliens and weapons, etc have been matched to make pretty realistic. Damn ugly aliens though :(

Met up with Sameer and had a good time. Had 2 versions of KFC today. Kentucky Fried Chicken followed by Kalpana's Fatafati Chicken :D, ie, my mom's awesome home-made chicken. The KFC guys have got a new version of burger called KFC Smackers Snackers. They are smaller than the Zinger Burger but comes cheaper at 30 bucks plus taxes and tastes same as Zinger.

Was watching Batman Begins today and noted an interesting dialogue, it says, "And one day, you catch yourself wishing the person you loved had never existed, so you'd be spared your pain."

Pot Pourri Live in Peepli

My food adventure continues! The plan was made last night itself over coffee. We were to go back to Pot Pourri for lunch, followed by Peepli Live. The rains are back since the past 2 days. They had subsided for a couple of days but are now back with a vengeance! I am extremely sick of it now. Another month of the damned thing :( and we have already had 107% of the normal rainfall. Why doesn't it rain in areas where its required?

I have written about Pot Pourri previously too but I need to give it a proper review, based upon the experience and what I have eaten. Its situated in Inorbit, vashi. Serves a whole array of cuisine, right from continental, italian to thai stuff. They have both buffet and "A La Carte". I have tried the buffet, both the times I visited the place. The buffet spread is larger on weekends. The menu is not the same and one could call and enquire about the spread before going. The buffet includes unlimited Ice Tea (Lemon, Peach, Kiwi and some more), pizza on a weekend and some other stuff on weekdays (had some weird bun today), soup, salad, some more starters such as satay or pasta and then the main course consisting of quite a few different dishes. There's good dessert too after that. Food is brilliant, atleast during the 2 occasions I have been there. The ambiance is good and pretty comfortable.

Its a good idea to book before going on weekends because the waiting period can be pretty irritating. Service is good ( inspite of the buffet, the waiters do serve the starters and ice tea ). The price is not exhorbitant and the buffet is "paisa wasool". It comes to around Rs. 330 on weekdays and more on the weekends (Don't remember how much it was the last time we went there).

Final Verdict:
Ambiance : 3.5/5
Service : 3.5/5
Food : 4.25/5
Value for Money : 4.5/5

After a overdose of awesome food we moved on to watch Peepli at Fame (I think they have the worst seats ever! The Gold class is obviously super comfortable). But the normal seats are like those semi-luxury non sliding seats. Extremely uncomfrtable! But before that we made a quick trip of Landmark (this place makes me feel so happy :) surrounded by books, music and movies)

Peepli Live was really good. Based on the farmer suicides, it touches upon a lot of things, about the media's TRP ratings, there sensationalizing of things and the governments apathy towards the misery of the farmers. Its a superbly shot movie, captured the village life very authentically. The actors were brilliant. Each and everyone did justice to their character. The casting director should be really applauded. There was not much of a story actually, it was just a situation shown. It doesn't try to preach or give any social message (atleast I didn't feel as if the makers were trying to force there idea on to the viewers). They just presented the situation in a satirical manner and left the viewers to form their own opinions. I have really liked Amir Khan for his work and his choice of films, whether he is infront of the camera or behind, he knows what good cinema is and to an enthusiast such as myself, thats all that matters :) I think everyone should see it once, either in the theatre or on TV, but watch it. Its a good film.

A Horror Films' summary

I love horror movies. Why? I do not know. Probably because of the testosterone rush I get. But I like the scary ones, the genuinely scary ghost movies. I am not a fan of cutting, slashing, gory ones. They just make me sick in the stomach. I prefer the thrillers with mystery in them. If I look back, I think I have always liked ghost stories and horror movies. As a kid, the stories I loved hearing  the most were stories involving ghosts, witches and demons. Once I caught on the habit of reading, I read as many ghost stories as I could lay my hands on. 


The horror movie addiction started in Kalimpong. During my stay at Tapoban, Miss Bose had just got hold of a VCR. The only 2 types of movies we watched were movies of Dev Anand and horror movies. I was in class 6 then. I watched Evil Dead and couldn't sleep for 2 nights. Scared the shit out of me. Unfortunately, living in a creepy place like Kalimpong doesn't help. And after watching such movies, when you need to leave your room in the cold and navigate to the toilet in the night (which was not attached to our Boy's Room), valor was the last thing on my mind. The easiest and the most logical was step out of the room, stand in the balcony, close your eyes (apparently ghosts don't bother you if you keep your eyes shut) and pee out :D So that's what I did after a horror movie session.


I watched "Friday the 13th", "Evil Dead", "Nightmare on Elm Street", "Child's Play" and numerous other movies during my stay there. Its been years since I have seen a horror movie that has really scared me. :( Pathetic! It was so much easier getting scared as a kid. I tried watching those gory movies viz, "Hostel", "Saw", etc. Only made me sick in the stomach. Didn't really scare me. Then tried the serial killer ones, "Scream", "I Know What You Did Last Summer", "Urban Legend", etc. BULLSHIT!!! Absolutely bullshit! "The Final Destination" series though was a little interesting.


From the classics, "Omen" never scared me :( "Exorcist" did! :D I also really liked "Exorcism of Emily Rose". If you have seen the hindi horror movie "1920". It had the scare-factor in it. Well shot movie, had a good story to it. "Sixth Sense" didn't work for me though loved "The Others". I think everyone should see it. Had an awesome story and the last part was so bloody shocking! 


Japanese guys are crazy about horror movies and some of the best ones are Japanese. Liked "The Ring" and "The Grudge". Preferred the original Japanese over the English versions. Also tried the psycho-thriller-horror types. Don't know what the fuss was about "Psycho". My dad still thinks that's one of the best horror films. "The Shining" was interesting. I liked "1408" too. And then I tried all the handycam horror movies. "Blair Witch Project" and "Paranormal Activity". The handycam did give a real feel to it, though the lack of a story really made it a little drab for me. I won't say I didn't like them. I would rather say they were different. :P

I really crave for a good horror film. I wish they would make one.

Shutter Island

Its been a good weekend so far :) and I still have Sunday left. Worked a little on my site after ages! I have been staring at the screen for 15 mins and I don't know what to write. I think I should call it a day and attempt writing tomorrow again. Watched Kartik Calling Kartik and Shutter Island.

Shutter Island was awesome! Seriously crazy movie. A Martin Scorsese film. Pretty well done and gripping. Leo was good and so was Ben Kingsley.

Paranormal Rocket Singh

My day started off pretty bad but ended well. :) Was pretty pissed off till the evening and too top it Conrad canceled the class today. But did end up having fun though. I think I have told about my little change in plans to most guys I wanted to tell.

Watched 2 movies, yesterday and today. Rocket Singh and Paranormal Activity. Rocket Singh was good. I realized that Ranbir Kapoor is consciously doing different movies. Some of the movies bombed but the stories are really nice. So was Rocket Singh. What I liked about that story was that though what they were doing was illegal, the character was trying his best to keep his honesty alive. He had a clear idea throughout about what was right and what was wrong and he did what was needed of him in times of crisis. Liked that point. Rocket Singh is definitely a good watch.

Paranormal Activity was more in the lines of Blair Witch Project style shooting. It got a little boring at times because there wasn't really a story in it. But it had it's moments. There were some pretty scary scenes. And I liked the parts where they are sleeping and its being filmed. I am still waiting for a movie to scare me. I am just tired of horror movies which make you sick with all the gore or try to startle you with sounds and camera effects.

Fly away KITES never to return

After sleeping at 3:30 last night, the day didn't go that good. I had a headache most of the day. Had to resort to going to a saloon and getting a "chumpi" :P Spent most of the day, staring at the computer, doing nothing. Didn't work on the site or anything. Salsa was sort of alright. I wouldn't categorize it as great. I was forgetting the steps and couldn't really practice the steps that I wanted to and planned.

Tried watching Kites, I say "tried", cause in spite of attempting twice I haven't been able to finish it. I think I'll manage to finish it tomorrow. Its a well shot movie, Barbara/Hrithik are both looking good, good dance sequence in the beginning, but I would still like to shoot myself in the head at the end of it. I think they made the story as they were shooting. The good thing was that the goras where not shown speaking fluent hindi. Anyways my family wants to watch MNIK tomorrow where Shahrukh gives a huge dialogue in Hindi to a bunch of black americans and they get all weepy and start singing "We Shall Over Come" :(

I think I will call it quits tonight. Sleep will probably do me good :)

The Holiday in room 1408

Work front has been mind numbing the past week. I have loads to do (which I am looking forward to) but my stupid code refuses to cooperate. I have been breaking my head over a piece of code which mysteriously refuses to work. Its developed AI and is diligently working against me, frustrating me. To get my head off the little prick, ended up watching "The Holiday" yesterday and "1408" today. Refreshing, but still the code keeps disturbing me at the back of my head. Anyways, my main intention was to review the 2 movies. So here goes...

"The Holiday" was a romantic comedy about a couple of girls (Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet) swapping homes as a home exchange vacation setup. Both tired of their miserable love lives, or their attempt to have one, plan to take a trip away from all the shit and spend christmas in a different country. They both end up meeting guys (Jude Law and Jack Black) more suited to their line of choice than their previous disasters. It was a tad bit long but then again didn't really get bored at any point of time. All the actors did justice with their roles (loved Kate, always had a soft corner for her) and the director did a brilliant job portraying the emotions. I was a little disappointed by Jack Black's character. Probably its difficult imagining him in a non-sidey character. A good movie to watch on a lazy weekend afternoon. Will definitely leave you with a warm, fuzzy feeling inside and the hope that someday you too, in spite of all the failed romances shall meet the right person accidentally.

Alright! I admit it! I like mushy romantic movies. I like kick ass action, gross guy movies. But I love the romance and drama genre too. I can imagine a couple of my friends smirking but I shall take care of them later. X-(

Its been ages since I have seen a good horror movie. I hate those serial-killer-oh-so-scary flicks but its been a long time since I have been scared by a horror movie. "Exorcism of Emily Rose" scared me in some scenes, ie the original version and not the one they showed on TV. They actually butchered the movie. The fact that it was based on a true story helped too.

Well 1408 based on a short story by Stephen King was interesting, though a little boring in the middle. There were quite a few twists and turns and if one is familiar with Stephen King's work then you'll know that apart from just supernatural, he likes to play with the human psyche ( you'll know what I mean if you have seen Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining"). 1408 had a good mix of paranormal and human psychology. Mike Enslin (John Cusack), the protagonist is a writer who debunks paranormal activities in haunted hotels, graveyards etc. He checks into room 1408 in the Dolphin hotel where it is claimed that no one has survived for more than an hour. There have been 56 deaths in that room. The movie slowly reveals the activities of 1408 and Enslin's life and how the two mix to create the experience that Enslin goes through. There is a "Director's Cut" version of the movie which has a better ending, though the current ending is also pretty interesting. If you wanna increase the effect of the movie, watch it in a dark room, alone... you'll like it :D