Let me tell you something you already know

“

Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t ’bout how hard you hit; it’s about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done. Now, if you know what you’re worth, then go out and get what you’re worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you are because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain’t you. You’re better than that!

”

from Rocky Balboa

Is depression a contagion ?

Just got off IM with someone who has been depressed for around a year now. This person has been experimenting with medicines and various other stuff to get out of the rut. The reason for this post is that the end line of the conversation established beyond doubt that the companion is in the early stages of the same game.

And these were vibrant folks around 2 years back when I talked with both. What does life do to us to make us what we don’t want to ever become ?

A little bit of nothing …

I must be the worst driver in the world. Today, decided to work from home and so I got to drive to office alone. It isn’t far from where I stay. By walk it takes around 10 minutes. But the concern in her voice and the questioning look on her face were tell-tale signs that I do drive not-so-good. 🙂

I did get empty roads today, thanks to early morning showers and an overcast sky laden with threats of cloudbursts.

States I’ve been to

visited 20 states (57.1%)
Create your own visited map of India

Who in $DEITY’s name are these guys ?

Some jokers at ‘manashosting.com’ have been spamming me for over 5 days now with various offers of hosting. What gives them the right to be such high class asses ?

How sucky can it get ?

195 minutes of scheduled power outage each day.
4 hours of running water each day (2 in the morning and 2 in the evening).

And all this because Pune hasn’t had the monsoon strike with the usual spells of heavy showers. says that in 4 years this is the worst she has seen.

ps: As I write now, I am looking at no running water and power outage in around 60 minutes. *sigh*

A well executed so-so movie

, and me went to watch Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Naa last evening. The nutshell version is that if [i] you have nothing better to do [ii] there is no other movie playing nearby [iii] desperately need the comfort of a dark theatre for a few laughs, then, go for this movie. If you don’t meet those conditions, all of them, you would end up being disappointed at multiple levels.

I expected [i] much more from Abbas Tyrewala [ii] some difference from an Aamir Khan Production [iii] a much better than this obviously ‘time-pass’ movie

Imran Khan looks cute and since he is expected to be the chocolate boy hero, he does it well enough. There are uncanny patches where his mannerisms echo Aamir (especially that hands-to-the-back-of-head-oh-gosh-me look) but that is expected as well. He tends to chew his words on long sentences and has this odd look-into-the-camera-through-my-eyebrows method of acting in scenes requiring tight close-ups. The role is tailor made for him and he delivers without hamming. Nothing sensational.

Genelia D’Souza overacts, whines, rolls eyes and generally annoys one with that accented Hindi. The overbearing ‘chh’ sound in each word that is supposed to be ‘ch’ might be due to her Telugu film stints, but she should have worked on it. She acts her role. Just about. Nothing to rave home about.

Cameos or short acts that just make you sit up and watch the movie – Ratna Pathak Shah, Naseeruddin Shah (as the dead dad in picture frame who talks with Ratna the mom), Sugandha Garg (who plays the wordly wise Shaleen) and Nirav Mehta (as Jiggy of the surprise birthday party fame). Prateik Babbar gets media attention for being ‘broody and silent’ but there isn’t enough meat in his role to do anything. And then of course there is Arbaaz Khan and Sohail Khan (in a double bill comedy act that’s sure to make you roll) and Paresh Rawal (as the Inspector Waghmare). If small acts made a good movie, then you need good folks doing them – this movie has a few of them.

The story is as old as they come. Boy and girl are best pals in a group of buddies in college. The world and it’s uncle think they are in love and should marry. They don’t see each other that way. They meet their individual ‘potential loves’ and then waste 40 minutes of movie time figuring out that it isn’t meant to be. Some skirmishes later they dramatically re-unite at airport and Imran sings the ‘special song’ for his love (that’s where the title of the movie comes from).

Feel like you have seen the movie already ? You bet. It is just a bit more polished and well executed than the earlier versions of the same story. Music is good, the dialogues reflect the way folks their age talk. And that’s about it.

Whatever you make of it

A common mistake is to ask about issue which are generally embargo-ed in ‘internal jokes’. Fell into the trap today. Sadly. Should have known better.

Note to myself: IRC isn’t the best place for collecting data_points of concern.

Dinner at a new restaurant

Just in case one starts to think that all we do is eat out, this one was planned. Crosstown Traffic is the new joint that has come up near Casa de Goa. They don’t seem to have a phone number though. And, we trundled in for a spot of dinner.

The steamed chicken momos are always better at Oriental Stir Kitchen so, there’s no point comparing them. But, they are better (come 8 pieces to a serving) than other ones nearby. The Salt and Pepper Prawns tasted wonderful and the prawns are prawns (and not shrimps pretending to be murdered before they were prawns). The main course consisted of Bang Bang Chicken which had a touch of oyster sauce and that I don’t know why. Shantung Flat Noodles were absolutely nicely made. We finished it up with Date Pancake. Per head it came to around 300 INR. Which is kind of becoming the baseline price around Kalyaninagar (if one doesn’t go to Yo! China)

3.5 for food, 3.5 for service and 2.5 for ambience / decor. The place is grimly lit. It tries to be a bit of a deco but the lights just truly suck.