Sambar Millionaire - I

This is a story set in flat no.4, Vignesh apartments where dwelled 5 (sometimes upto 6) bachelor folks in the pre-tsunami era of Chennai.

It was yet another Chennai (read hot and sultry) sunday morning when the last remaining vestiges of sleeping bodies in a small flat got up from their sleep. As was their practice those days, these bachelors would get ready and start their hunt for lunch (These guys would never wake up in time to have their breakfasts!). But this was bound to be a different day as one of the flatmates had got the enthu (short for enthusiasm) to cook lunch.

In one corner of the hall sat V who was trying to come out of his hangover (from previous night's party) by sitting and studying for CAT. CAT is just another entrance examination in India that attracts takers in the lots of bees, and springs out successful results only by dozens. Then, there was A who was giving exercise to his eyelids by trying to open them. And then, there was R who was reading newspaper with so much vengeance as if the earth would stop its spin if he hadn't read all the words in it by end of the day. (BTW, there is a lot to read in that newspaper 'The Hindu'). All this while, S had been doing the prep work in kitchen for preparing Sambar. G and T were not in town that day.

Suddenly, they heard big noise. An explosion in chennai? Attack by the extremists? Nah...that was not to be, it had come from the kitchen.

A's eyelids sprung open, and he jumped up from the bed. The earth stopped its spin and the newspaper managed to leave R's viewfinder. The explosion made V tick on the wrong answer and he turned around. With all these folks rushing to the kitchen to find out the source of explosion, they couldn't believe what they had seen then.

S, draped only in his bare minimum towel (they could believe it as they were used to seeing S in primitive attire), was covered top to bottom in water and was holding the pressure cooker (with a boiled potato in it). In the sink lay the cooker lid, and all over the floor were present remaining potatoes (each in a different direction) and water. It was SOME sight.

It took them just a minute to figure out that S had luckily survived the incident with no visible damage to his body. And since S was apparently deaf for the next few minutes, A, R and V let out a loud laugh so as to make S listen to their amusement. S stood there grinning from ear to ear.

After cleaning up the entire place, all of them embarked on the next phase of their Sambar Millionaire.

More about that...after the break!

Profound Thoughts - I

“There's one sad truth in life I've found while journeying east and west - The only folks we really wound are those we love the best. We flatter those we scarcely know, We please the fleeting guest, And deal full many a thoughtless blow to those who love us best.” - Ella Wheeler Wilcox

"Even the best of friends face conflicts, but that needn't mean the end of the relationship."

Nice Thought

When people die, in their last moments, they do not remember moments from their workplace. But they do remember best times with their close ones!

Shakespeare in Love

I, usually, do not like period based movies. And that too, a fiction that involves real life characters. It may have been true, as the authenticity of history and the knowledge levels of historians are always debatable (After all, those who wrote history may not have been aware of all the facts!)

But it is a very nice perspective that they have brought out through this movie. Needless to say, the story has been very well-treated, and the actors have done justice to their characters. The movie captures your attention right from the beginning till the end. The end scenes are especially worth a mention. The director manages to up the tempo of the movie as it progresses, and you are left to get absorbed in the theatre scenes (even though you can predict what's going to happen next, you still maintain a pin-drop silence to watch the actors enact the scenes).

And the best part of the movie is the way they have dealt with the concept of love. It has refrained from the jingoistic glorification of love (Love conquers all, Love is necessary for world peace, etc.). In fact, it has brought it out in as much practical manner as possible. You will not disrespect the feelings and emotions that has been portrayed as love, even though it borders on the edges of lust. One of the protagonists is married and away from family for an eternity, whereas the other is about to get married according to her parents' wishes. They are divided across the class and age barriers. Still they are able to cherish their love and live the moments in their present.

The cravings that they have towards each other transcends everything, and the two are able to bring out the best in each other. Both are in a symbiotic relationship letting each other achieve their dreams. One gets to showcase her acting potential, and the other gets the inspiration to pen one of the greatest stories.

And as is the fate with any great love story, it all ends up very realistically. It is not a coincidence that most of the greatest love stories of all time have all had tragic endings - with the protagonists either dead, or separated from each other.

Wonder, if that's true in real life too. Dead or alive, it is not everyone who's lucky enough to experience such a great feeling. Love, truly, is an emotion worth dying for.

Do Svidaniyan (Russian for Good Bye)

Yes, it inspired a sweet little movie called 'Dasvidaniyan' in Hindi. A movie with the protagonist (of course a loser so far in his life) tries to live his life once he gets know that he is not going to live for a long time. Many such movies have come till date, but this one deserves a mention.

This movie is special just because of its simplicity, and a very natural treatment of the story. With no overload of drama/melodrama and with no ensemble of big stars, the director has made sure that the story gets narrated in a very light manner. Yet he brings out super performances from its characters. The movie doesn't become dull or boring anywhere, and does not get into any preaching mode. A story that had the potential to become heavy has been successfully kept light and warm. 

The performances of protagonist Vinay Pathak, and protagonist's mother 'Sarita Joshi' have been very natural and effective in the entire scheme of things. Go and watch it for yourself if you haven't watched it till now.

Andha-dhoondh Strike

Have you ever played carrom board?

Have you ever tried taking a particular coin (say the Queen, or the Queen cover), and found that you are never ever able to take that particular coin. For e.g., you may be successful in all your attempts to take the Queen, but all these times you'll find that you somehow mess up with the Queen cover coin (only for that Queen coin to come on board again!!).

This happens to you, say, n number of times, and there you are frustrated to the core. And then you say, that enough is enough, and you get into a 'clear-all'/'re-arrange all' type of mentality where you just take the striker coin and make a very random and arbitrary, yet a very powerful strike that will re-arrange all the coins that are on the board currently. You might just have made a strike with your eyes closed and with all the power that you could have mustered at that time. You might have taken a lot of your frustration out at that time. That is called an Andha-dhoondh strike.

The strike would have been so forceful that some coins will go into pockets (much to your chagrin, most of those coins will be of your opponent), some will fly out of the board, some coins near the pockets will be nowhere near the playing zone, some coins in the difficult playing zone will come near the pockets, etc.

Depending on your luck, you'll find the coins re-arranged in a manner suited to you or your opponent. But most of the time, it will provide equal opportunity for you both to start all over again. Even if you are not in a good position after that, you will find a sadistic pleasure of being a destructor, and will at least seek solace from the impact that your destructive act had on the game.

Have you ever tried something similar in your real-life actions (other than on the carrom board)? How many times have you done such a thing? How many times have you found yourself with viable options after you have done such a thing?

Klueless

One of the best online games that I've ever played so far in my life. Many similar games have been in existence, but still I like this one more.

Even more coz it originated from my Alma Mater. You can see it evolve over these years. To try it yourself, here are the links:
4th Edition (2008):
http://www.iimi-iris.com/iris-2008/klueless/

3rd Edition (2007):
http://www.iimi-iris.com/iris-2007/irising/klueless3/

2nd Edition (2006):
http://www.iimi-iris.com/iris-2006/irising/klueless/index.asp

1st Edition (2005):
http://www.iimi-iris.com/iris/irising/klueLESS/

Enjoy!!