Last one for the month!

This should probably be my last post for April 2009! I am scheduled to attend a birthday party tomorrow and catch "Dev D" on DVD and "Bhagyadevatha" at a theatre during the rest of the weekend and am off to Bengaluru to attend the wedding of a dear friend next weekend. Aunt's 50th birthday celebration, lots of shopping and eating out sessions are waiting in Bangalore.

That should hopefully be enough fodder for May 2009. So, till the time I log in next, its bye to the blogging world :-)

My Twin Nephews!

After 11 years of married life, my cousin and his wife have been blessed with twin sons and need I say how excited I am with this great news!

This is the first time that twins have been born to someone in our family tree and that, it has happened to a couple after 11 years of waiting makes it all the more special. To add to it, they are not identical, it seems. Wow! Fraternal twins is such a rarity and we have one such pair in the family :-)

They saw the light of the world on Satuday, 18 April 2009 (Aries is their Sun Sign and Uthradam is the nakshathram), are 2 kg and 1.75 kg strong and were early into the world by 2 weeks. They are doing fine and are enjoying the attention they are getting from the entire world! Phone calls, SMSes, e mails flowing in from all parts of the world, they are the cynosure of all eyes and make their parents proud!

On my part, I am really excited and the excitement refueses to die down even after a week. I am really looking forward to the photographs (for the time being) and also to meeting them in person sometime this August- September! I hope their father is kind enough to forward those photographs to me at the earliest!

In the meantime, I would like to congratulate the proud parents, V and B once again :-)

To "Horrible" Nagar...

This was perhaps the most awaited sequel in the history of Malayalam Cinema and definitely the most disappointing one! Every Malayalee cine goer is a mad fan of the original and thats when it hurts when you watch such a shabbily put together, disjointed, irritating sequel which takes the audience for granted!

The foursome who were awesome in the original are irksome here. Jagadeesh irritates, Ashokan is disinterested, Mukesh is jarring, Siddique is the only saving grace! Lakshmi Sharma looks confused and leaves us confused with her performance- you fail to make out whether she is positive or negative. The actor who plays the villain needs some serious lessons on acting. Salim Kumar appears out of nowhere and keeps moving in and out of frames for reasons best known to the makers of this film! Appahaja appears on screen after a long hiatus- thats it. The ladies- Rohini, Reena Basheer, Lena and Rakhee- have hardly anything to do. It is disappointing to watch a talented actor like Rohini playing such an insignificant role.

Alex Paul remixes S Balakrishnan's original tunes and the results are ho- hum. "Unnam Marannu" falls flat on its face while "Ekantha Chandrikae" holds its fort. The "Thomaskutty Vittoda" song that appears during the end credits (the only original composition in the movie) fails to attract and its tacky sets and unimaginative choreography makes it sound and appear worse (Not everyone can make an Om Shanti Om). Venu's cinematography is ho- hum. Editing, Sound and Art are mediocre.

Lal, who is creditted with the story, script, dialogues and direction, deserves a tight slap across his face. The second half of the film is a test to one's patience and the climax is such a spoiler that you keep wondering why this film was made in the first place. The kind of money that "2 Harihar Nagar" has earned at the box office will definitely send shock alarms across fans of Malayalam Cinema. This success proves 2 points- Malayalees would accept anything that does not star the superstars and it is not necessary that the movie needs to be even mediocre; and the level of appreciation of the Malayalee audience has hit rock bottom- films of Padmarajan, Bharathan, Mohan and the like will remain distant memories and there is no hope left for lovers of Malayalam Cinema!

2 Harihar Nagar is only for those who are as dim- witted as the character that Jagadeesh plays. Decide for yourself whether you are dumb or not!

(B)Lack Magic...

The first thing you notice about "Ananthabhadram" is the excellent coordination between the Editor (Sreekar Prasad), Art Director (Sunil Babu), Costume Designer (S B Satheesh), Make up man (Pattanam Rasheed) and the cinematographer (Santhosh Sivan), who in this case doubles up as the Director. The visuals are stunning, the props and background authentic and all characters have been given distinct looks that stay with you for a very long time. Special mention need to be made about Manoj K Jayan playing the evil Tantrik Digambaran and Kavya Madhavan who plays Bhadra has never looked so fetching!

This film that deals with black magic, evil spirits, pooja, tantra, angels and demons had immense cinematic appeal, something that every reader of Sunil Parameshwaran's book (on which the movie is based) of the same name would agree but towards the last 30 minutes of the movie, you keep wondering why Sunil and Santhosh ended up making changes to the story line so much so that Ananthabhadram which started with a lot of promise ends up being just another regular commercial fare. The stunts towards the last 15 minutes is so irritating that you feel like hitting the director right across his face!

Riya Sen's casting and characterization leaves a lot to be desired. At times you wonder what exactly is she doing in this movie! M G Radhakrishnan's music is soothing but his background score follows a set pattern that is so characteristic of the 'manthravada' cinema of yore! Biju Menon is wasted but Manoj K Jayan, Kalabhavan Mani and Cochin Haneef give credible performances. All other characters in the movie have to look frightened, irritated or disturbed- this is especially the case with the ammavan played by Nedumudi Venu.

Santhosh Sivan who had given us internationally renowned films like Halo, Malli, Terrorist, Navarasa and Tahaan fails miserably in putting together an entertainer, forget another historic one! "Ananthabhadram" can at best be compared to the director's previous "Asoka" which had neither the critics nor the masses going with it!

PS: The movie was released in 2006 but I had the chance of watching it only yesterday on CD! I realized that I had not missed anything great :-)

Festival Season is here!

This season is marked by festivals all over- Vishu in Kerala, New Year in Tamil Nadu, Bihu in Assam, Baisakhi in Punjab, Ugadi which just got over in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, Easter all over the world and remembering Dr B R Ambedkar on his birthday- this week is the ultimate week of festivals during the year!

Here is wishing all of you best wishes, good health, happiness and prosperity during this festival season!!!

For the politically inclined, there is the Lok Sabha Elections and for the sporties, there is the IPL 2 coming up. With the summer vacations having started, there is lots of reasons to cheer and enjoy! Lets all make the best out of this season :-)

Chou till I post something next week (hopefully!)

Election Time!

My state is gearing up for Elections on 16 April and the national leaders of all major political parties were down here in Kerala last week to give a major push to the campaigning. Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, L K Advani, Najma Heptullah, Sharad Pawar- all of them came down to address gatherings in major constituencies across the state.

The media is working overtime and is struggling to come up with what could be the likely distribution of seats between the 2 biggies- UDF and LDF.

Here is what I feel is likely to be the results:

UDF- Ernakulam, Kannur, Vadakara, Wayanad, Kozhikode, Ponnani, Thrissur, Malappuram, Chalakkudy, Pathanamthitta, Mavelikara- 11 seats

LDF- Thiruvananthapuram, Attingal, Kollam, Alappuzha, Alathur, Idukki, Kottayam, Kasargod- 8 seats

BJP- Palakkad- 1 seat

Now, I am no political commentator nor I consider myself an expert in analyzing the clout that political parties enjoy across the various districts in the country. That said, I feel the situation is going to end up as mentioned above based on what I have read and understood from the various articles in Newspapers and magazines as well as the discussions over electronic media.

I am not asking anybody to agree with me. Disagreeing with me is your prerogative. For the time being, I am looking forward to casting my vote on the 16th and also waiting anxiously for the results to be declared in May!

Lets hope for the best...

Miss India 2009

Thanks to a few colleagues of mine dropping in home last Sunday, I could not catch the first round of Miss India 2009. I could only get a quick glance at all the contestants and most importantly, missed the bikini round and half of the other titles. Generally, I make my list of top 3 and check whether my taste is in agreement with that of the judges. Last time around, Parvathy Omanakuttan was a clear winner but from what I saw of the contest this time, I thought there were none who made a mark as well as Parvathy did.

I would not say that the jury was fully eminent- the sight of Asin, Madhur Bhandarkar and Ajay Devgan made me cringe. Asin is too inexperienced to judge a beauty contest, Madhur has never bothered to make good looking women look really good in any of his films and I hate Ajay Devgan's sense of dressing. However, we also had Sushmita Sen, Nandita Mahtani and Deepika Padukone which kind of offset the presence of the first 3. R Madhavan and Malaika Arora Khan did a fairly good job at compering though I must say Malaika these days is sounding extremely disinterested...

I missed Genelia's performance. Kangana Ranaut was just passable and Priyanka Chopra rocked! As for the QA session, I thought the questions were pedestrian and most of the answers were dumb! There was this girl who made it clear that she would always choose career over family but was not crowned (probably, she did not embody the essence of the self sacrificing Indian woman) and amongst the ones who were crowned, Miss India World was appearing to be passionately over the top about anything and everything.

None of the winners are the kind who would stand out in a crowd and I do not expect any of them to make it big at the international pageants this year! Miss India World Pooja Chopra, Miss India Universe Ektha Chaudhary and Miss India Earth Shriya Kishore could not match the elegance and grace of former crown winners Parvathy Omanakuttan, Sushmita Sen, Priyanka Chopra or even Yuktha Mookhey who attended the pageant. As usual, Ritu Kumar created quite a few stunning outfits- that probably was the saving grace of the pageant this time!

More Heat at Work!

It has been a fairly easy time at work for the past 3 months or so and I was quite worried that the phase was going to make me quite lazy! But I do have some good news- a new process being added to our plate come May and more volumes to another process through June, July, August...This might mean late working hours, lots of meetings and discussions, keeping close tab on performance, et al but I feel it is always good to have some excitement at work. You can come back home feeling that you have done something well during the day...

It is also the time for Performance Appraisals at office. The appraisals start tomorrow and will go on till end of the month. With the economy around us in such bad shape, all are worried as to what the outcome of the appraisals are going to be! I am also keeping my fingers crossed just like the rest of my colleagues and hoping for things to improve sooner than later...

Movies to look forward to...Hindi

Here is my top ten for the rest of the year :-)

1. 3 Idiots- Chetan Bhagat's best seller being adapted by Munnabhai Hirani. Aamir- Kareena together for the first time and Boman Irani, R Madhavan, Sharman Joshi and Mona Singh for company. I do smell a blockbuster here!
2. My Name is Khan- The name that is more prominent here is Karan Johar. Wielding the megaphone after 3 years, KJ also reunites the most loved jodi of all times- SRK n Kajol! Autism can never look so glamourous on screen...
3. Wanted: Dead or Alive- Prabhudeva remakes Pokkiri in Hindi and Salman Khan and Ayesha Takia step into the shoes of Mahesh Babu/ Vijay and Ileana/ Asin respectively. Boney Kapoor might once again laugh all the way to the bank...
4. London Dreams- Raj Kumar Santhoshi, Ajay Devgan, Salman Khan, Asin take you through a tour of Europe to the accompaniment of foot tapping music. Devgan, Khan and Europe came together last time for the hugely successful "Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam"
5. Kaminey- Vishal Bharadwaj directs Shahid Kapur in his first double role and the girl with the golden touch, Priyanka Chopra is also in the team. This "slum" movie could well be the next millionaire...
6. Do Dooni Char- Neetu and Rishi Kapoor are back together after 25 years! Rishi Kapoor is like fine wine and Neetu making an onscreen appearance after such a long time could still be the scene stealer as the loud, Punjabi middle class wife...
7. Raavan/ Ashokavanam- Mani Ratnam's bi lingual has a mammoth starcast- Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan, Vikram, Vasundhara Das, Manisha Koirala, Govinda and Nikhil in the Hindi version and Prithviraaj, Priyamani, Karthik and Suhasini Manirathnam in the Tamil version along with Vikram and Aishwarya. A R Rahman's music, P C Sreeram's camera and Sobhana's choreography can definitely make a beautiful modern day interpretation of the "Ramayana"
8. Kites- The lead pair is said to be having a hot affair offscreen and their hot scenes on screen is likely to put the audience to shame. Let us see how much fire Hrithik Roshan and Barbara Mori can generate on screen in this Rakesh Roshan production directed by Anurag Basu. If all that was not enough, we have Kangana Ranaut too who rarely makes mistakes when it comes to signing movies
9. Ishqiyaan- Naseruddin Shah, Vidya Balan and Arshad Warsi together sounds strange. But that is how Vishal Bharadwaj works! Vidya seducing uncle Naseer and nephew Arshad at the same time in the villages of UP sounds different and exciting, doesnt it?
10. Wake up Sid!- Dharma Productions brings together Ranbir Kapoor and Konkona Sen Sharma in a low on cost, high on concept multiplex film. Gloss is out of question here and I hope the content is interesting. But, Koko can make anything interesting, dont you agree?

I have listed only 10 above, but there are many more interesting movies. Imtiaz Ali's Love Aaj Kal (Saif, Deepika), David Dhawan's Do Knot Disturb (Govinda, Lara Dutta, Sushmita Sen), David Dhawan's Hook ya Crook (John Abraham, Shreyas Talpade, Genelia D'souza), Ashutosh Govarikar's What's your Rashee? (Hurman Baweja, Priyanka Chopra), Sanjay Kapoor's Its my Life (Hurman Baweja, Genelia D' Souza), Soham Shah's Luck (Imran Khan, Shruti Hassan), Anthony D'Souza's Blue (Sanjay Dutt, Akshay Kumar, Zayed Khan, Lara Dutta, Katrina Kaif), Sajid Nadiadwala's Kambhakth Ishq (Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor, Amrita Arora, Aftab Shivdasani), Raj Kumar Santoshi's Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani (Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif), the list is endless...

Hope we will have more to enjoy than the cola and the popcorn at the movies during the rest of the year...

Movies to look forward to...Tamil

Here is the list of Tamil movies I am really looking forward to during the rest of 2009:

1. Sarvam- After Arindhum Ariyamalum, Pattiyal and Billa, super hit director Vishnuvardhan is back with "Sarvam" starring Arya, Trisha and J D Chakravarthy. Arya is fresh from the success of Naan Kadavul, Trisha badly needs a hit and Vishnuvardhan is in form. Do we smell a mega hit here?
2. Mariyadai- Captain Vijayakanth is more into politics than movies these days. But when he had hit the ground last time, it was Vikraman who came to his rescue with "Vaanathaipole". The duo are back in the company of Vadivelu, Ambica, Meena and Meera Jasmine and Captain has another double role here. Lets wait and watch...
3. Kandhasaamy- This long in the making Kalaipuli production directed by Susi Ganeshan stars Cheeyan Vikram with Shriya Saran. Excellent make up and costumes, money spent like water and an extremely promising director at the helm of affairs (Virumbukiren, Thiruttu Payalae) are reasons enough for Kandhasaamy to figure on my list
4. Yenthiran- the Robot- Shankar spells Magic! Add Super star Rajanikanth, A R Rahman and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan to a futuristic sci- fi thriller with the mega director on top- Are you ready to take on this 100 crore extravaganza?
5. Thalaivan Irukkiraan- Kamalhassan and Mohanlal in the tamil remake of "A Wednesday" stepping into the shoes of Nasseeruddin Shah and Anupam Kher respectively. If you need one more reason to watch this one, news is that Thalai Ajithkumar is playing Jimmy Shergill's role in Tamil. Call it clash of the Titans!
6. Aathavan- Mega hit director K S Ravikumar joins hands with Suriya for the first time. Huge budget, Mammoth starcast, good music, racy script- trademarks of K S Ravikumar are all here. If all that was not enough, Nayanthara will sizzle opposite Suriya. Isnt that sounding too hot to handle?
7. Kandain Kaadhalai- Moser Baer hit spot on with their first tamil movie production "Poo" and they have the talented Bharath and the golden girl Tamannah in their remake of "Jab We Met". If director Kannan can do an Imtiaz Ali in Tamil, Moser Baer can rest assured, so can the audience...
8. Aayirathil Oruvan- Paruthiveeran is back with super hit director Selvaraghavan. This cowboy style thriller has Andrea and Reema Sen opposite Karthi. It will be interesting to note whether Selvaraghavan is successful in making another Dhanush out of Karthi. Lets keep our fingers crossed...
9. Payya- In the news for all the wrong reasons, Lingusaamy's Payya will be Kaarthi's first out and out commercial fare. Tamannah is on a roll and let us hope her good luck rubs on this one as well...
10. Vettaikkaran- Ilaiya Thalapathy completes 50 with this one and has roped in Anushka at a whooping remuneration to play his lady love. ATM, Kuruvi and Villu were disappointments but you cannot write Vijay off. Remember how he bounced back with Gilli and Pokkiri earlier?

There are quite a lot of movies being made with newcomers in the lead. Everybody is hoping that they could do another Kaadhal or Paruthiveeran or Saroja or Chennai 600028 or Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu. As long as we get quality stuff, are we gonna complain?

Movies to look forward to...

The 3 odd months of 2009 have been anything but good to the movie markets that I follow closely. Malayalam Cinema was at its worst. The only movie that could gross decent collections from theatres was "Magante Achan". The situation was not very different across the border- all you had was a "Vennilla Kabadi Kuzhu" that could attract audience to theatres. There have not been any massive hits in Bollywood either- Raaz 2, Dev D and Luck by Chance made some money and thats it!

But, looking at what is lined up for the rest of 2009, I am still quite hopeful of the industries doing a turn around. Here is a quick peek at some of the movies that I am really looking forward to during the rest of the year:

Malayalam:

1. 2 Harihar Nagar has already released and is running to packed houses. This one figures right on top of my list since I have not yet seen it. I should in all probabilities be posting my review of the movie right here next week :-)
2. Bhagyadevatha- This could well be Jayaram's next turning point. Jayaram- Sathyan Anthicaud pairing has rarely gone wrong. This time around we have Kanihaa and Narain apart from Sathyan regulars like KPAC Lalitha, Innocent and Mammukkoya. This could well be Jayaram's worthy follow up to the success of "Veruthe oru Bharya". Come 23 April and we will know...
3. Bodyguard- Siddique helped Mammootty out of a string of flops when he directed "Chronic Bachelor" a good 6 years back. He could well be the saviour for Dilip whose films have not been doing well these days. Bodyguard also has the numero uno actress of the South- Nayanthara- making a comeback to Malayalam Cinema after 4 years. Enough reasons for this one to figure on my list...
4. Ee Pattanathil Bhootham- Mammootty and Kavya Madhavan do not sound like a great combination- but this fantasy about a bike rider in a circus camp and a friendly ghost could well prove to be that child puller we have been waiting for this season. "Thuruppugulan" was the last time Jhony Antony teamed up with Mammootty and a cartoon strip based on the movie is well onto its 3rd year. Need I say more?
5. Pazhassiraaja- Hariharan- MT- Mammootty came together last time for "Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha" and made Kerala proud! They are back after 20 years with the story of Kerala Simham Pazhassi Raaja, another historical with Kanihaa, Padmapriya, Suman and Sharath Kumar forming part of a mammoth cast. Gokulam Gopalan's 10 crore extravaganza has been in the making for more than 2 years now and is expected to hit theatres on Independence Day 2009
6. Kutty Shraanku- Shaji N Karun wields the megaphone and brings laurels to Malayalam Cinema at international level whenever he does so. Piravi, Swaham, Vaanaprastham...Kutty Shranku joins this elite list. This is Mammootty's first association with Shaji and he has Padmapriya and Kamalinee Mukherji for company. This period drama that spans over 3 lands in 3 different seasons could well be that refreshing change Malayalam Cinema has so long been looking at...
7. Robinhood- This one marks Joshiy's return after that cleverly directed "Twenty/20" and stars Prithviraj as a technologically accomplished thief who steals money from ATM's and also heroine Bhavan's heart in between. Sachi- Sethu's last script was also for Prithviraaj and the "Chocolate" was quite a money spinner
8. Cassanova- Rosshan Andrews will start shooting "Cassanova" in Vienna soon. With Mohanlal, Jayasuriya, Arya, Priyanka Nair, Lakshmi Rai and Bhavana in this multi crore mega movie produced by the Confident Group, scriptwriter Bobby- Sanjay duo write their first superstar script after showing a lot of promise with "Ente Veedu Appoontem" and "Notebook"
9. Ivar Vivahitharayaal- This could well be the underdog. With an interesting storyline and a successful television director (Saji Surendran) making his debut in feature films, Ivar Vivahitharayaal with a fresh cast of Jayasuriya, Bhama, Navya Nair and Samvrutha Sunil may also set the cash registers ringing, you never know...
10. Calendar- Actor Mahesh makes his debut as a director in this flick being shot at CMS College, Kottayam with Nedumudi Venu and Zarina Wahab in the lead (almost 3 decades after Chamaram). Prithviraaj and Navya Nair play the young couple in love. The 2 pairs could attract audiences from 2 different generations!

Let us see how many of these I manage to watch and how many of these actually set the cash registers ringing. I could have also missed out on some of the movies announced or in progress. The bottom line is that I am still hopeful of 2009 at the movies...

Fun n Flirty @ 30!

That was the caption on a coffee mug that attracted me during my last trip to Halifax, Canada. I was holding it and thinking who should I gift it to and that is when I struck me that I am so very close to turning 30!

I was never very happy about celebrating birthdays because the very thought of getting old used to make me feel irritated. I never used to understand the reason why people could be so happy about turning another year older! I used to keep my birthday to myself and never used to have any special happiness or feeling for that day.

But, things are different this time around. Come September and I will hit 30! I dont know whether it holds true to all but I have always felt that 30 is the age when people really step into adulthood. In India, you are old enough to vote or hold a driving license when you are 18 and a boy (I am not using man here purposefully!) is old enough to get married when he turns 21 but till the time you hit 30, I dont see people taking you very seriously. You might have a profound opinion on something really serious and important and when you express it, others will go- That's ok, you don't understand, you are such a kiddo! I have experienced that many a times and probably, thats the reason why I am excited about turning 30!

Besides 30's are normally the time you settle down with life (not really marriage!) and career, you would have completed that roller coaster ride of studies and higher studies, changed at least 4- 5 jobs to settle down in something you feel you are comfortable with and would have slowly started taking stock of life and try to understand what is it that needs to be done as you move ahead to make life interesting in your 30's. For some, it will be getting married, having kids, building a house and making it your own home, upgrading you car, taking care of your health, start jogging, gymming etc, start to learn something new- the decisions could differ from person to person.

I am also looking at what to do next considering the fact that life has been pretty steady for the past 4 years or so- the only new thing that has happened to me during this period is that I started blogging. I feel this is a good phase to bring about some change in life and I want to start that by celebrating my 30th birthday at a place that I have not visited so far...Right now, I am thinking Banaras along with a few of my school friends but September hote, hote, it could change. But I am really hoping I am able to do this...celebrate my 30th Birthday in style, the way I want it...

I have also lined up a few more things- learn to drive a 4 wheeler and take a driving license, hit the gym and start working out, learn a new language or enroll for some new course, migrate to a new city...I have not yet decided when to start with each of this but I hope I am able to finish the first one in 2009 itself- 30 is high time one acquired a driving license and learnt to drive a car properly, what say, folks?

PS: I did not pick up that coffee mug finally. So if any of you want to gift me something on my birthday, you know what, right?

Shoestorms galore!

There is a recession all over the globe and everything is being sold at lower prices. But, if there is one item whose price has been rising steadily these days, it should be footwear or shoes in particular.

A pair of shoes or rather, a single shoe had this much power was something which we came to know only during the past few months. From being used as a footwear, shoe has not become the international symbol of protest. If you have someone throwing a shoe at you, it means you are famous and if you throw a shoe at someone who is fairly famous, it means you can be more famous than the person whom you threw your shoe at! How else would you justify the number of show throwing incidents that we have come across in the past 6 months?

It all started with George Bush being thrown a shoe at in Iraq by Al- Baghdadhia TV journo Muntadar al- Zeidi while Bush was touring Iraq, his last official trip as President of US. Muntadar threw both his shoes at Bush one after the other and Bush was smart enough to evade both of them! There are many who feel Bush deserved much more than being thrown shoes at for whatever he did in Iraq, but that will open a thread for a completely different debate! While Bush did not take it very seriously (he even joked that the only thing he knew about the incident was the size of the shoe) but Muntadar was extremely serious about what he did. He was absolutely non remorseful and is currently serving his jail sentence for whatever he did.

The World thought that it was a novel form of protest and probably would remain a one off incident but 2 months later another statesman had to face a similar situation in another country- this time around it was Chinese PM Wen Jiabao who was the victim. The incident took place in February 2009 while Jiabao was giving a talk at Cambridge University and it was German national, Martin Jahnke who hurled a shoe at Wen since Martin felt that Wen was lying all through his speech!

Elections in India means it is time for "Jhootha maaro" session! Till now candidates and political parties used to figuratively hurl shoes at each other. But, in 2009, probably inspired by what happened in Iraq and UK, we are having people (the common man, this time) literally throwing shoes at politicians. If it was P Chidambaram who was the victim first, 2 days later it was Naveen Jindal. Jarnail Singh hurled a shoe at Chidambaram as a mark of protest for CBI acquitting Jagadeesh Tytler and Sajjan Kumar in the 1984 Anti- Sikh Riots case. Jarnail Singh being the journalist that he is, probably thought that his shoe is mightier than his Pen ala Muntadar.

Rajmal Singh Saharan, a retired school principal, hurled a shoe at Naveen Jindal, sitting MP at Kurukshetra. The reason cited was protest against the policies of the Congress. Thanks to all these incidents, around the world, every politician and leader worth his salt is worried as to who is going to be the next target!

Shoes have thus acquired that coveted crown of the most commonly used to object of protest. I dont think the day is far away when political rallies and press conferences will be convened on the condition that none of the attendees should be wearing shoes! It probably is also time for people to come together and form groups and associations like "The International Show Throwers Association" or "Association of Shoe Throwers as mark of protest" or something like that!

If at all there is anybody who is happy with this turn of events, it could probably be the shoe manufacturers and retailers...Let us look forward to more such "Shoe" storms in future :-)

That Unique Wedding Pandhal

I am not sure how many of the readers here would understand exactly what a "Pandhal" is. Well, it is a temporary erection (has nothing to do with male anatomy here!) on poles with shamiana (or thick cloth covering) generally created to host community events like weddings, bethrothals etc or political events like seminars, rallies etc or even commercial events like exhibitions etc.

The reason why I am talking so much about pandhals today is a wedding that I attended early last week. A team member of mine was getting married and when she handed over the invitation card to me, she had informed me that her wedding is supposed to take place at her home which is in the sattelite town of Kakkanad, in Kochi. Considering the topography and the kind of houses at Kakkanad, I was left wondering how a Malayalee wedding can be conducted at home!

However, there I was on Monday last to attend the wedding and I was in for a pleasant surprise. Mercury was rising like anything that morning and M and I were in M's car driving towards the wedding venue. Right at the beginning of the road which was to take us to the bride's house was a large hoarding, well decorated, with the names of the bride and the groom. We took the road and there was a security guard who directed us towards the parking area. M parked the car and both of us walked down to the house. We could hear the nagaswarams and that gave us confidence that we were on the right track. When we saw the pandhal erected right across the bride's house, we went "Aah!"

It was a huge one with a capacity to seat at least a 1000 with a very lavishly and beautifully decorated Kathir mandapam (the holy platform on which the wedding takes place). The thalikettu (ritual of tying the chain around the bride's neck that solemnises a Hindu wedding) was over and the bride and groom were busy with the following rituals. 2 Air coolers were set up on either side of the mandapam to give some comfort to the bride and the groom who were tirelessly smiling to the video cameras! The floral arrangement on the mandapam was beautiful, to say the least.

Moulded plastic chairs were neatly arranged in rows for the guests and there were ample ceiling fans and pedestal fans to keep the crowd cool. White cloth was used to create the sides and they were tied long and wide to avoid sunshine creeping into the mandapam. Considering the muhurtham (which was around 11.15 AM) it was quite a relief!

On the left side of the pandhal was the dining area with tables and chairs neatly arranged. The caterer had brought in the food and only minimal cooking was being carried out on the premises. Temporary hand wash arrangements had also been made with huge sintex tanks full of water and row of taps attached to the tank. Despite the high temperature, people were looking calm and fresh and full credit to the way the pandhal was erected.

Apparently, a JCB was brought first to level the vacant land and then only the pandhal was erected. To avoid our footwear getting dirty due to the clayey soil, carpets were neatly laid down all over the pandhal. I would say I was so happy with the way the whole thing was arranged that I thought the Wheat payasam and the palada pradhaman were sweeter than what they actually were!

A very novel way of conducting a wedding where the bride and family would have the satisfaction that everything happened right across their residence...

Fast and Furious

A well made commercial movie is fun anydays. If you believe so, "AYAN" (A Sun Pictures presentation of an AVM Production) is for you. It is topical, has been stylishly shot, does not take extensive cinematic liberties and entertains you throughout its length, isnt that too much considering the inanities that hit the screen these days?

AYAN is the story of Deva (Surya) who is the right hand of Dass (Prabhu) indulging in smuggling of pirated CD's and Diamonds from countries like Malaysia and Congo. Kamlesh (Akashdeep Sehgal) is Dass's business rival and is on the prowl to take over the smuggling kingdom from Dass through hook or crook. The story is more or less about how Deva and Kamlesh fight it out and who emerges the winner, finally. It would not be fair to disclose anything further about the storyline since it will take away the fun of watching the movie at a theatre.

It is heartening to see Prabhu take up well written character roles and doing complete justice to them (something the ageing Malayalam Superstars can give a try!). Jagan is a revelation playing Chitty, Deva's best friend. Tamannah shows improvement and looks pretty. Renuka makes good use of the few sequences that she appears in. Ponnvannan is as good as ever. Akashdeep Sehgal is a let down. He wears a single expression throughout and his lip synching is atrocious. In terms of performance, he is the only one who does not contribute.

Antony's razor sharp editing coupled with costumes, art direction and photography add further value to Ayan. The car chase sequence in Malaysia and the stunts in Congo deserve special mention. Dont miss the title shots where the night view of Malaysia and Sydney are captured breathtakingly by the cinematographer. On the technical side, it is Harris Jeyaraj who disappoints- not even a single song is hummable!

K V Anand and Subha are creditted with the script and dialogues- they have done a good job with both! Anand's directorial skills are on display once again and we can say safely now that he is one of the best cinematographer turned director ever in Indian Cinema!

Surya with his youthful good looks, charm and a sculpted torso, is a delight to watch and does not falter even in a single scene or expression. He carries the entire film on his strong and broad shoulders and is a treat to watch. Comedy comes easily to him and his agility in the action sequences is commendable. He is good at emotions too and woos Tamannah on screen very well. His dance moves are perfect and there is hardly anything that he cannot do!

AYAN is a good follow up for Surya to flicks like Kaakha Kaakha, Ghajini and Vaaranam Aayiram. With this one, he proves that he is a class actor who is acceptable to the masses as well :-) This one is not to be missed...

Kuch to ho...

When A R Rahman kissed the oscar statuette, even in his wildest thoughts, he would not have imagined that his oscar winner song would be used and abused like this by the 2 warring political parties of the country in the election frenzy- the UPA says "Jai Ho" and the BJP says "Bhay Ho"- I am sure the common man would prefer to say- "Kuch to ho is desh ka, at least after the elections"

I always thought that the kind of democracy that we have in this country should be something one should be proud of but looking at the way this country is being run, I think I have changed my opinion! Aligning to form a government to give stability to the country is one thing, but indulging in crass, dirty and utterly disagreeable coalition politics is another. The way political parties in this country change their opinions would put even a chameleon to shame!

Look at the route that the LDF took in the last 5 years- they were supporting the government from outside, the government that was being run by their arch rivals in the states of West Bengal and Kerala! Come Nuclear Agreement and things changed overnight- partners were not partners anymore, supporters were not supporters anymore and staunch opponents became supporters overnight! The only positive thing about UPA winning the vote of confidence was that the tax payer's money could be used for more constructive purposes at least for one more year!

The public is confused as to who to believe- the government says something, the court says something else and the Election Commission has a totally different opinion. On the one hand Jagadish Tytler has been acquitted free and on the other hand, Varun Gandhi has been booked under the NSA just for a speech! Is RJD- LJP coalition still with the UPA? Only time can tell. And who is AIADMK with- Third Front, BJP- no one knows! The fiery Uma Bharati now writes a letter to L K Advani saying she wants him to become PM but she would not support him. The Behenji and Mataji in Uttar Pradesh talk only to serve some more fodder to the Media and right in the middle of all this, L K Advani wants to have a public debate with Dr Singh- American Presidential Elections, anyone?

If all this was not enough, we have some confused souls in between- Shashi Tharoor in Trivandrum, Hussain Randathani in Ponnani, Mallika Sarabhai in Gandhi Nagar facing L K Advani, Nagma and Hybi Eden wondering why they did not get seats, George Fernandes who is considered too old to be in JD (U), Deve Gowda and M P Veerendra Kumar, each telling different stories within a party ironically titled Janata Dal (United), the list is endless...One thing is sure, democracy cannot get worse than this and it definitely cannot get more saucy than this... but as citizens of a country which is being hailed as the economic superpower of 2025, is this what we want to see???

All said and done, nothing is reason enough not to cast our vote. Let us exercise our franchise and let us make a very wise and extremely well thought out decision while doing the same. Let us be hopeful and let us tell each other- "Jaago India Jaago". Let us keep our fingers crossed and see whether the hand will emerge stronger or whether the lotus will bloom...only time can tell!

IPL is back!

My initial apprehensions about IPL last year is passe. This time around I am really looking forward to IPL 2 and it is being hosted by one of my favorite cricketing nations- South Africa. Come April 18 and the minds of Indian cricket fans are going to wander all over Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth, East London, Johannesberg and the other cities of South Africa for what looks like an exciting 5 week period!

So what if Pakistan players are not gonna be there this time, so what if Shaun Pollock has decided not to take the plunge, so what if all is not well between Dada and John Buchanan, so what if S Sreesanth is down with a pain in his lower back- Does any of this affect the enthusiasm that an average Indian Cricket fan has for IPL? The answer is a big, emphatic no!

So, let us get ready to celebrate this summer with the "Cricket ka Mahayudh" that starts on 18 April and till then, let us enjoy the music videos and promotion songs of each of these teams!

So, who will be the winner this time- last year's winner Rajasthan Royals has the added glamourous support of Shilpa Shetty and her diamond rich beau Raj Kundhra; Shah Rukh Khan and Sourav Ganguly are putting in their best efforts for the success of KKR; Preity Zinta and Ness Wadia have Yuvi and the young team of the Punjab Kings; the Ambanis have Sachin with them who is in fine form; India Cements has skipper MS Dhoni as the cementing force in the team; Mr. Mallya cannot wait enough to say "cheers" to Rahul Dravid; VVS Lakshman may "charge" on the others with his Deccans and you cannot rule out Viru and his dare devils considering his performance against New Zealand!

8 teams- all equally good and ready to take on each other, exotic locales of South Africa, the glamour and money involved, the controversial cheer girls and the action, adventure and excitement that runs through the entire summer- this is going to be one big celebration and is definitely going to add to the summer heat! But as long as we get entertained, will we complain?

Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot...

Not that I am in super shape or that I have seen someone in super shape closely, nor that I have bought clothes that would make me look hot, but I am sure everyone in Kochi is going "Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot!" thanks to the sveltering summer that has set in much earlier than normal!

The mercury is rising rapidly and touches almost 37 degree celsius around noon. As if that was not enough, humidity is around 70- 75% and you feel as if you are an over filled water bag. You dont need to make an effort to start sweating! You gulp down a full bottle of cold water only to catch hold of another bottle 30 minutes later. The rate at which this summer is going ahead, I feel I would die by the time the monsoons start!

Shortage of water, over perspiration, general feeling of tiredness, inability to sleep at night due to the heat- all this is causing lots of health issues also! In my 29 years, this is for the first time that I am coming across such a worse summer in Kerala. This is probably nature's way of telling us that the green house effect and global warming that you learn about in your science books are true and everybody needs to do their bit to control global warming. Rather than thinking what difference one can make, I think it is time for all of us to work towards reducing global warming- plant trees, water them, reduce carbon emissions to the maximum extent possible, conserve rain water- there are many things that we can do to control global warming! Click here and find out some practical steps that each of us can adopt and do your bit for the world and for yourself!

In the meantime, all you Keralites, please join me in praying to the Rain God to pay us a visit at his earliest convenience...

The Saintly Subramaniams!

Kavita Krishnamoorthy Subramaniam figures high up in the list of my favorite singers ever since I heard her singing "Hawa Hawaai" more than 2 decades ago! She continued to enthrall all of us singing gems like Pyaar hua chupke se, Ikraar karna, Aankhon ki Gustaakhiyaan, Maar Daala and Dola re Dola. I can go on writing about her Bollywood songs and the numerous awards she has won! All through she has been a humble person and I even remember her accepting the Filmfare Award for 2002 and gushing that she was happy that the jury recognised the talent of the little (then!) Shreya Goshal who shared the award with her- that is the spirit of a true musician!

After her wedding to the violin maestro Padmabhooshan Dr. L. Subhramaniam, she bade good bye to films and the only connect that I had to her voice was her occassional appearance on television. When I heard that JTPAC was scheduling their first programme- a concert of the Subramaniams- I literally jumped with joy! And here I was with my mom looking forward to see Kavita Subramaniam on stage.

As actor Lakshmi Gopalaswamy finished introducing the Chief Guests (Consul General of USA, Chennai and his wife) and John Thomas and Mohanlal finished their brief speeches, Kavita marched on to the stage and in that silky voice of hers expressed her happiness over singing at such a grand theatre! And off she went with her invocation song- the skilfully composed Lakshmikant- Pyarelal gem- "Om Namah Shivay" and we were transported to another world itself!

But that was just the beginning- following Kavita was Louiz Banks and his team- the leader on the keyboard, his son Gino on the jazz drums and Alwyn Fernandez on the guitar- who enthralled the audience with the skilful rendition of 2 jazz numbers. I had heard a lot about Louiz and had enjoyed most of his legendary ad jingles and it was great to experience him first hand and understand what a fine talent he was!

The floor was open to Bindu Subramaniam, daughter of the legendary L Subramaniam who sang 3 English numbers- one of which was "Wake up Rebecca". The best was the first number which had her being accompanied by her brother, Ambi singing traditional "Jathis" to the English song!

Next in line was the legendary violin maestro along with his son and they presented 4 compositions in total- "Conversations" which these days is being played violinists across the country and the final piece "Ganga" composed in Mohanam, originally for a concert with Lord Yehudi Menuhin which had him being accompanied by Kavita and Bindu on vocals! If you were attending the concert, you will agree that it was for no reason he was hailed as the "God of Indian Violin" or the "Violian Chakravarthy", he literally created magic with his violin and the thaniyavarthanam with the Indian percussion artistes (K Sekar on Tavil; K Gopinath on Mrudangam; Giridhar Udupa on Ghatam and G Satya Sai on Morsing) took the crowd by storm. There was not even a single person who was not swaying to the music and tapping their feet!

Kavita dragged Ambi into accompanying her for the lilting AR Rahman number "Tu Hi Re" and also sang a Malayalam song deftly composed by Dr Subramaniam! Those were the most beautiful hours in my life so far and I am sure the entire audience would agree- for it was a 5 minute standing ovation that the Subramaniams received at the end of the concert!

I am really looking forward to more such events at JTPAC :-)

What I saw at JTPAC!

Mommy and Me- 2 super- excited souls atop our Honda Activa were driving towards JTPAC and we could feel the music in our ears (in a very positive way, dear!). We rushed to the parking area at the Choice School premises and rushed to wherever we thought was the theatre (We, probably, were the only ones on a 2 wheeler. It did not make good sense to us to take the car out for a 2 km distance, that too just for d 2 of us at 7 in the evening!)

We were asked to go down a long corridor and at the end of the corridor was the large dining area. The tables were very well set and the furniture was covered very well in white, satin cloth! Dont worry, am not talking food now coz neither was I a special guest nor had I purchased the 1750 bucks ticket which will allow me entry to dinner.

Just before the well set dining area, we had to take a left turn and take the stairs up. Beside the stairs was this beautiful lawn with a nicely lit fountain and whirlpool! The stairs took us to the lobby of the theatre and we were supposed to collect the passes after providing the confirmation number at the box office. There was a cafeteria right in the middle of the lobby selling burgers, sandwiches, chips and soda. We did not bother to look that way since food was simply not of interest to us that evening! On either side of the lobby, we saw the beautiful art gallery with lots of paintings and sculptures- could not check all of them out though.

The entrance to the theatre was at either end of the gallery. Since we had chosen row AA (second from the end) we had to take the door at the back of the gallery and take another flight of stairs up. The stairs took us right upto the gate of the theatre and within a moment, we were inside the theatre!

To say that it was world class would be an understatement. The first thing that we appreciated was the air conditioner- considering the kind of blistering heat outside! The seats were comfy and the upholstery was fabulous. The 28 rows of seats (20 seats in each row) were each at the next level in terms of height which meant unobstrusive view of the stage. There was a camera hanging right in the middle, attached to a crane, which could be controlled from one of the media stands, one each at either side of the theatre. There was sort of a projector room at the rear of the theatre where from the acoustics was also controlled.

The lighting at the theatre was tastefully done and the quality of sound could not be better. The CD that was playing was the "Sankarabharanam" raaga on violin and it was so soothing to the ears. We settled down into our chairs with the monthly magazine that was handed over to us at the BO. It had details of the programmes scheduled for the month, some information on the important tourist attractions of the state and the recipes for some of the lip smacking dishes that Kerala state was famous for! (You can take food out of Sreeram, but not Sreeram out of food, ryt?)

The magazine was also as tastefully done as the theatre itself. The stage was also very well lit and the lighting team did a good job with adjusting the light all through the show. We were pleasantly surprised at the number of the rich and famous of the city who attended the show and I was particularly surprised that people had enough time at their disposal to concenterate so much on their appearance! But then not most of them are as careless (and shapeless!) as I am when it comes to choosing what to wear!

In spite of being slightly heavy on one's wallet, JTPAC is the kind of theatre that will leave the audience craving for more! I suppose I am going to be a regular there- the artistes are fabulous, the theatre is fantabulous and the audience is formidable- and that means, you are going to read a lot more about the programs I attend. So, keep your fingers crossed just as I am doing right now...

Packing quite a punch!

There are many things that give me a high apart from good food and great movies. It could be a good book, having some good time with friends/ cousins, traveling to a great place or watching some great artistes perform!

I should say that I have not been fortunate enough to catch great artistes performing live! Well, the town that I live in did not have many avenues and the theatres in Kochi city always used to have them on weekday evenings which made it diffcult for me to attend considering my working hours at office.

When I read about JTPAC being conceived jointly by the Choice Group and Mr. Mohanlal, I was quite happy. I still was not sure what kind of a theatre they were planning to set up and what kind of shows they were planning to put up. Amidst much fanfare, the theatre was inaugurated a couple of months back and again, there was silence!

Only recently did JTPAC start issuing advertisements announcing the programmes that they had planned for and boy- 0- boy, I had a very pleasant surprise when I heard about what was on offer. Check out the list below if you want to know more:

4 April- The Subramaniams with Louis Banks- Contemporary Fusion Music

26 April- Usha Uthup- Contemporary and Jazz Music

9 May- Sobhana's Maaya Raavan (I was screaming with joy when I read this!)

23 May- Shaadi@barbaadi.com- Hindi/ Gujarati play by Paresh Rawal (OOOOOOOH!)

6 June- Rock Music by Avial

And all this at the newly constructed Performing Arts Centre, just 2 kilometres away from home! This is like hitting a Super Lotto! 2 events every month from the stalwarts of the Indian Art Scene- what more could a lover of art ask for! I am extremely happy, euphoric and excited at the very thought of attending these shows! If you are, please check out the website of JTPAC

Last one on food for a very long time...

Ma and sis were off to Chattisgarh for almost 10 days and I was home alone for a week :-) Being all alone at home is fun of another kind when you see things happening around you the way you and only you want them to. No questions asked, you get up when you want to, bathe when you want to, eat when and what you want to and do whatever you want to. It is a very strange sense of freedom that being home alone brings with. I would not say I would like to continue being home alone eternally and as if the almighty knew this, my cousin who had also been to Chattisgarh was back 3 days earlier than scheduled.

If you think I am the greatest foodie to have walked the earth, you ought to meet my cousin, V. A 3rd year student of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, he achieves a very strange kind of high at the very sight of food! Do we need more reasons to bond with each other well?

It was a lazy Saturday morning and both of us got up really late. We decided that we were gonna skip breakfast and head to Jharokha at Hotel WyteFort, Maradu for a sumptous buffet lunch. The fact that my sister had been to the restaurant with her friend and had always good things to say about the place contributed significantly to our decision to select this one over the others.

It was my first visit to the restaurant in the last 7- odd years and after the change in management, I had not heard very good things about the place. I stepped in without much expectations and realized that there was not much change to the ambience! We comforted ourselves into a small table and were looking forward to start our marathon eating session. Both of us were so hungry that we could hear weird sounds from inside our tummies!

Hot and fresh Mushroom soups were served and we drank the portion as if we were drinking manna :-) The main course comprised of rotis and naans as well as freshly made kerala porottas. Boiled and seasoned Tapioca, Vegetable Manchurian, Dal Fry, Kadai Vegetable are some of the items that I still remember to have gobbled up. The Noodles was not very good but that was kinda compensated by the yummy peas pulao. A well stocked salad bar that even had kimchi, my favorite korean salad of seasoned cabbage leaves added to my excitement!

The dessert section was quite elaborate. I did not bother to taste the aval pradhaman since my favorite gulab jamun with vanilla ice cream was again on offer. Tarts, Rolly Polly, Dates Vada and Chocolate Pastry- all of them were equally yummy!

It took us a good hour and half to finish eating and by that time, we were so full that we could not even move! Need I say that I had to skip dinner that night?

Dinner with Family...

I have written so much about eating out with my colleageus that I will be unfair to myself if I did not mention about a lunch and a dinner that I went out for, with my family!

The first one was a dinner get together with a cousin and family from Chennai. The occassion of course was their visit and it had also to do with the fact that it had been a really long time since we ate out. So, here we were, in a car and on a 2 wheeler- 8 of us at Hotel Nyle Plaza, Vyttilla for a buffet dinner.

I had visited this place earlier too and was a great fan of the food on offer :-) I was the one who selected the place and looking at the lavish buffet spread before us, all 8 of us happy, hungry and excited- all at the same time. Indian breads were served hot at the table and we were not supposed to pick them up from the buffet table which was such a relief! And we had some excellent gravies to go with the rotis. The star of the day, however, was the dry Gobi Manchurian which all of us were munching much to our delight :-)

The salads were good too and so were the vegetable chammanthies (vegetables wet ground with dessicated coconut) which is quite a regular at all buffet spreads these days! The dessert section was also equally mouth watering with hot gulab jamuns and vanilla ice cream to go...

The best part was that children under 8 were not billed and we had 2 under 8 kids with us which was more reason to cheer! I would recommend the restaurant to all who want to have a good time and eat some good food! And mind you, it is not just the food that is a hit- the ambience and the prompt service also score very high :-)

Of Farewell Lunches...Part 6 (and this is the last one!)

B's last day in Kochi office was 31 March 2009 and so her team decided to host a special lunch for her at Park Residency, Kakkanad considering its proximity to office. The d- day was fixed for Monday, 30 March 2009 and since I was part of the team earlier, I was also invited.

The arrangements pretty much remained the same, except that there was no chart paper this time. B was not leaving the team as such since she was supposed to manage the same team from Bangalore. I was asked to emcee the function again and only when I started reading out the name of the hosts did I realize that it was also a celebration of birthdays of almost half of the team as well as anniversaries (with the organization) of almost half of the team. Plus, we had to celebrate the "special" achievements of 2 team members- the first person will be holding his 2 month old daughter for his 1st wedding anniversary and the 2nd one just got married and had the entire district talking about his marriage!

Though it was an occassion to be happy and to celebrate, not all of us were in a mood to considering the fact that B was moving to Bangalore the next day. A was there too since the project was being supervised by him. We started with A reminiscing his association with B over the past 4 years and moved over to the team. Most of the team members spoke at length about B, some explaining why they consider B to be so special. By the time it was my turn to talk about B, I was so choked up with emotion that I could not speak all that I wanted to speak. I really thought I would end up creating drama, but I could thankfully restrain myself and the moment passed without much issue!

All those who knew what B meant to me understood my predicament. She has not just been a boss, but also a good friend, philosopher, guide, sister and agony aunt for me, someone who shares the passion that I have for food, books, movies, hanging out, traveling, trying anything new, someone just like me who takes pleasure in the simple things of life, and someone who I have always looked upto and will continue looking upto whenever I face an issue- personal or professional. She is all this and more to me...

Anyways, after everyone spoke, it was time for B to address the gathering. She has always been a good speaker, an extremely inspiring one that is and none of us were surprised at all those golden words that she put very rightly across. The team gifted her with a watch and A handed it over on behalf of the team.

The lunch was not as good as what it was during the last get together, but the dessert more than made up for it. Yummy Gaajar ka halwa with aromatic vanilla ice cream- the combo made my mouth water and it was gorgeous, to say the least. Among the main course, I particularly enjoyed the Aloo Mutter curry- quite a rarity in a buffet! And the Welcome Drink was extremely good 2 :-)

Of Farewell Lunches...Part 5

Well, I have the 2 biggies to go. This one is about the lunch that had R had thrown for all of us (all Process Managers and Team Leaders) along with of course, the fellow GM's and heads of the support departments. This was more about the fun that we had than the food itself! The event was organized at the banquet hall of Park Residency, Kakkanad. As usual, B and I were the first ones to reach and we were almost half hour ahead of schedule. The hotel had just opened an Executive Bar and a Lounge Bar and we thought we should go and check out the place. 5 minutes later, we found ourselves at the lounge bar sipping mocktails. The place was cool, with 2 LCD screens, comfy couches and good service. The bar desk had not been fully arranged plus there was some more work to be done at the sides. But, all in all for a place like kakkanad, I must say it was appealing. Green Salad and Potato Chips were served on the house. The best thing was the Italian Dressing that was served with the Salad. It was amazing! The mocktails were also very good :-) R being the host came in next and the Hotel Manager grandly announced that there was this lady who was waiting for R and since she did not find him, had gone down to the lounge bar (Later only I realized that B had spoken to the Manager. The poor guy had not seen me coming in!). R joined us in a minute with a wicked smile on his face and all 3 of us had a hearty laugh over the whole episode! It was time for us to assemble at the banquet hall and people started dropping in one after the other. R had arranged for beer as well as soft drinks and the hall was arranged as if we were attending a training session. There was this podium as well as a big chart paper attached to a board with the requisite writing material. Knowing R, we were slightly suspicious as to whether he was planning to train us on some management funda :-) But, R had other plans in mind. He wanted it to be a properly convened meeting with everyone talking about his/ her experience of working with R. He had specifically brought the chart paper because he wanted autographs from all of us on a single sheet which he was planning to frame, quite a novel thought, rite? I was assigned the job of the emcee which I happily accepted. There were many people who spoke at length about R. How he terrorized them in the initial phase and how he used pick on them and how he turned out to be their favorite in an year's time! I also spoke about R. I fondly remember the time I spent with him, how he has calmed when I was disturbed, how he encouraged me to try out everything and how he congratulated me on even my smallest achievement! R is one of those persons I met in my professional life who is truly irreplaceable! I really thought I will break down on R's last day at Kochi Office, thankfully it did not happen. I was sure that I was not going to bid him farewell when he leaves office on the last day, so I left office earlier than he did :-) Coming back to the lunch, after all those speaking sessions, it was time for us to hand over the laptop bag we had bought for him from Hidesign! A and S handed it over to him and then it was time for the photographs! By this time, hot, piping lunch was ready to be served and all of us rushed to the buffet table. The lunch was very good- hot rotis, 2 non veg dishes, 4 veg dishes, noodles and the customary salad- pickle- pappadam! A filling lunch and some tasty desserts later, R, A, M and I headed straight to the lounge bar to spend some more time with R... Looking back, it was a day very well utilized and a day that I would remember for a very long time to come...All of us at Kochi office still miss R a lot, but here is wishing him good luck in all his endeavors :-)