Whats in store next?

The thing about 'Will and Grace' is with every season, action seems to build up right at the end of a season. If you look at it, a 'story' as such develops only right at the end of every season. Season 4 ended yesterday and I am more than tempted to see how Season 5 is gonna open up.Have resisted so far on the website! 5 more hours before the suspense unfolds... As Jack had ended Season 4 aptly this way: "Watch out what happens next in the fall, when the new episode of.....".

Season 1 End: Jack, Rosario Marriage; Will and Grace decide to live seperate
Season 2 End: Jack, Rosario Divorce; Will flies to the Carribbean to overcome his feeling of guilt...
Season 3 End: Grace ends up with Nathan finally. Jack has dual surprises: He comes to know his 'real' father is dead and he himself is a father of a 12 yr old son!

And Season 4 End.....?

Who does Grace see on the horse? What did Karen do with the keys Lionel gave? Where did Will's baby making plans finally end? What happenes to Jack, did he pass in his auditions? Is he really called back for performing in the play?

Answers in around 5 hrs from now.... Till then agonising wait.... But I love this....

Page 3

So, finally 'Page 3', huh? Here I am inside India's biggest theater, a 11-screen Multiplex: PVR Cinemas, Bangalore for watching this Hindi movie. Ticket Rate, alarming high: 130... There is even a screen where you need to pay 500 for a cinema! Thats the one with Bar attached, i guess! Hmmm... So after sending off Pam to Phoenix, we are here for our first experience at the PVR. Nothing great about the theater as such... Seats as same as what you get at the Innovative Multiplex, this one is overcharged, 'cos this one is in the center of the city and also inside the most famous mall of Bangalore!

The storyline is simple: Satire on the High Class Life of Mumbai.

As the director puts it:
"Jiski Chalthi Hai, Uski Gaand Mein Moombathi Jalthi Hai". I dare not to translate that one!

Page3 is all about the story of Madhavi, reporter in a newspaper of Mumbai and whose job is to collect articles for Page 3 of the newspaper: that is the page all about celebrities,their interviews, their party culture, blah. blah. blah...The page which, we the public are more interested in.(I remember we all looking into Page 2 of TOI during our college days) The director takes us through the film through her experiences with her friends, flat mates, her boss, her colleagues at work and of-course with the wide range of celebrities she meets in her life.

Beautiful portrayal of the empty and meaningless life these people live and upto what extent these people can get cheap to maintain their so called 'status' in the society. This may not be applicable to these high class people as the director portrays, but in general to everyone on this earth. Its not that something which we dont do and only these people do. Its just that we all do it in different magnitude and in our own way... The movie makes us (if not others, atleast made me think) of these blatant facts which lie all around us and giggling at us....

Nice 2 hour entertainment. Feel pity for this Madhavi girl... Her friends leave her, she is not able to tolerate with her boy friend for what he does to her , she gets fired from her job... Professional and Personal Life, everything gets screwed up for her. But yes, shes ready to fight and fight this time with the message: "You have to be in the system to clean the system". Felt that atleast the director shud have shown she getting married to Atul Kulkarni: I was told by Ponp and Sundi, "Hmmm. Thats the typical Indian mentality"... What can I do? have seen so many 3.30 hrs movie, with atleast 8, 9 songs.. .hero and heroine running around trees(that too trees of switzerland, not indian)... Movies with : "Rahul"... "Anjali"... "Rahul mein tumse bahut pyar karti hoon." ... "Anjali, mein tumhare bina jee nahi saktha"...

Page3 is not with any of this crap... Its short,crisp, and very much natural.... And its damn good too. Good to see people making movies like this and equally good to see people appreciating the effort.. I mean, the movie is still going "House Full"... We got the tickets only the third time we tried... Kudos, Madhur Bhandarkar....

Happy Birthday Dad...

Happy Birthday to You...
Happy Birthday to You...
Happy Birthday dear Appa...
Happy Birthday to You...

Miscalculated Adventure

"Which department do you have to go?"

"Dermatology, mam"

"Are you coming here for the first time?"

I should have said "No". But if i say that, I have to show the patient card, which I have lost! So, I say, "Yes. This is my first time here."

"Then, fill up this form".

"Yes Mam. Sure"

Lesson 1: When your Project Manager is not in town, this is the worst time for you. Thats when work piles up for you.

Arvind was out of town. Its a holiday in US today as well and I thought its a holiday for me as well here. He had already told me on Friday what needs to be done for today and it was not gonna take more than 2 hrs to finish that off. So I can finish off all other pending stuff today. This is how I left home today. Remember jike, I talked about the 'cracked heels' I had which was ruining my sleep all the night. (This was as late as my Kochi trip.. Go back in time line and see)... So that has developed into a 'hard rock' I should say. thatha was saying like, these are dead cells now. He was saying like get the treatment done for this before the infection spreads to whole of the body. So I thought, why not make a trip to hospital today!?

St.Johns Medical College and Hospital, Koramangala, Bangalore, is not new to me. The very name freaks out my mom even now, for this is where, her mom, my grandmom, breathed last. That was like 5 years ago. Mention the name to my mom even now, she would start shouting back at me. Anyway, for me, hospital, medicines are something I like. Weird!? Thats what I am... I like the smell of the hospital... I like taking medicines... So here I am in front of St.Johns once again...

Lesson 2: Dont let a disease or a symptom develop into a serious disease. Kill it before it kills you.

My mentality has been like, I wont tell anyone till it goes out of my hand. I wont speak a word, until its like: The disease has 'really' taken over me. So, I am on my way to the Dermatology dept. Call Number 1: "Hi. This is Rajiv. Can you come over to DS today? The code is not working. We need to debug and we need your help" DS is like 1hr from the new campus and I am not in office yet. I tell Rajiv that I shall be there in 1.5 hrs and go to see my doc.Who expects people in a Dermatology dept, anyway! The doc is gonna give some cream/ointment, its all gonna take few mins and I would be off.

Doc sees my leg and says: "Hmm. You have got a wart"

"A, what!?" ...."A, wart. No problem.. Do a cryo today. Come back after 10 days.. do a cryo again.. and lets see"... Now, doc, whats a wart? ... Then he explained: " There has been a severe viral infection. The virus has eaten all the skin and it has gone deep inside. So they would spray on the affected area. This is not gonna heal soon. You have to do it couplea times"

While he was talking: Call Number 2: "Hi this is Manoj from Austin... Guess Rajiv already talked to you... Just wanted to make sure we are on same page.. You should go to DS.. Work with the dev team and fix the bug and give me a status update by 9AM my time"....

Yeah, sure! This is what I wanted! Anyway, whatever this cryo is , wont take more time, wud it? They are just gonna spray and leave me.... So I see the sister, who asks me to make the payment. (A note on sisters: Dont know. Most of them 90% can i say, are mallus and are christians. Why is that!? Donno! )... So when I finally enter the "Mini Surgery" room of the Dermatology department, 1 hr is gone already! The doctor there, who has to do the cryo, sees my leg, is astonished by the level to which it has affected my feet, says, she cant do it. She asks me if I have time today, or I have to leave early: I say "Mam.. please... I have work...". She asks me to soak my leg for 30 mins and then only she can do it...

What! I call Rajiv and say I am gonna be late!. He says "You are already there at hospital... So we cant do anything at it.. But, come asap"... So i wait there while my legs are getting soaked in water... I get restless after some time. I ask the sister, if I can take my leg outa water.. She says "Procedure is going on. Wait!"... what procedure? I know only of Stored Procedure.... Finally after 40 mins of soaking, the sister, asks me to come in...

Now, comes the worst part of it... Who do i get to do my cryo? A doctor trainee! A girl, who shud be in her final year of medical studies... I am the first person shes gonna do it, might be... I remember Grace now. Remember the 'Hospital Show', where Karen makes secret plan with the doc and makes a nurse trainee, Miss.Pittman, to take blood out of Grace, knowing that Grace is afraid of needle? Same situation here...

Lesson 3: Love your body and every part of your body. Body is the only companion you have got which is there with you from birth and it dies with you.

So, she takes a small knife and starts removing the skin from my heels. The virus had even made holes in my feet. I thought the fishes at Hoggenekkal have bittten them and removed them.... Now I know, who the real culprit is... The skin is dead skin basically, with no sensation at all. So there wont be any pain to the body. But as soon the knife goes deep inside and when it hits the 'living' skin and when the blood starts coming out, thats when the pain develops. So, she asks me now and then, "Is it paining?" ... I would say "No"... This goes on for some 20 minutes. Now that she has taken all of the dead skin, she now takes the spray and starts spraying inside the hole she has created in my leg.. Now, it definitely pains... The virus under direct attack! So she does that and puts the bandage on. Asks me not to wear shoes for 4 , 5 days.. Asks me to come back after 10 days for one more cryo. The senior dotor said that time I have to soak it for much longer time... This thing wont get cured very easily... I say a BIG yes to them and took off....

Bad day at work also.. News of my colleagues' death.... Servers where I was supposed to work went down and are not up still.. Network issues.... Bad Monday...

I told thatha of this adventure... He was happy that finally I did something to the 'wart'.. "But, dont tell this to your mother that you got a mini-surgery today... She would get psyched up"...

"Yes thatha, I know..."... Its also from St.Johns which I have got to remember! :)

Sad Day

One of my colleagues passed away today. You can say Medical Field has developed hell a lot, but still there are things which a doctor cant comprehend. Take the example of this person. The thing about Consulting field is that you are required to travel to any part of the world, wherever your customer is. So, this person had to go to Taiwan for a project and after he came back from there, he developed a mysterious fever.. He goes to doctor, takes medication, the fever goes away. Since then, he used to get this fever regularly, and he used to take medicines for that, it used to recede, then after some time the same fever...

One fine day, the fever becomes worse... Gets admitted in a hospital and the doctors dont know what the problem is! They can just see that the lungs are not functioning properly and WBC count is getting less or rather, there is no production of WBC at all ... They consult doctors from US and even to them this is a mystery! The only thing that can be done is to inject blood of others where the WBC count is healthy and see if the condition improves. Last wednesday, i was one among the colleagues who had given blood for him, and he was fighting for his life in ICU and still the condition was the same.. And today, hes no more!

Survived by wife who had gone back home to deliver a child last week ! I dont know what to say!

Oops we got Kela again...

Oops we got Kela again
He played with our hearts
We lost in the game
Oh, Baby Baby..

Oops, we thought, he was in love
Someone was sent from above
We were all that innocent!

So it turns out that the Vald gift was actually distributed in his office to all the employees of his division. We were so dumbo that we didnt notice his division name on the gift box, which he showed us all yesterday night!

I thought someone was making good progress in his life. But now, I am

Disappointed!

ValD... New Place...

Same old discussion... This time with a friend of mine from the Opposite Sex! Whats up with Feb 14, huh? So whats up with Valentine's Day? Over hyped... Do you think a person who hadnt had a boy friend/girl friend would suddenly find one on Feb 14? Or a person who hasnt confessed his/her love for the whole of the year would suddenly find some courage on Feb 14 from nowhere? What crap? She was agreeing with me in totality till this point...What else can you expect from two people who are both single and uncommitted? And then i said: What would be the counter argument for this? Same as what Ashok gave for New Year... I told her the same thing.. Then she agreed with that too. She says I analyse things a lot.. And she got suspicious when i gave the counter argumnent that I have someone in my life.

No boss! No love-shove, girl friend stuff in my life so far... Anyway, got a different type of gift later in the night though, while i was chatting... Was told a simple fact about myself by my friend who has observed me a lot and knows about me a lot, about what I am and I have been thinking about it a lot since then. Should say i could associate every single sorrow of my life(is it turning out to be too dramatic) with this attitude of mine!... Now I am sorta clear and happy. I found out one little thing which I have to change in life to make my life better, and happier.. I really thank that friend of mine for this... This unexpected gift i got would go a long way in changing my life, i guess.

Talking about gifts: The biggest thing that happened yesterday was one out of the RSAS clan got a 'real' ValD gift and that person had a ValD dinner with his date yesterday night. No, am not revealing who the person is. It can be me, or any of the other three. Keep guessing...

And today we shifted to a new office... Though its really far outside the city, should say I am impressed with this place... Bigger WorkStation than the previous one, office bus to pick and drop you(and it didnt take much time to travel also, 35 mins to travel this huge distance, pretty good actually if you go by what Bangalore traffic is)... More conference rooms... Huge floors, good pantry and all good stuff..

So in this happy note where the mood is of ValD, i would leave you today with another T-shirt quote, am gonna call it T-Quote from now on:
"My Girl Friend wanted me to be more affectionate. So, now, I have two Girl Friends"

Guys are guys!

Happy Birthday Subbu

Happy Birthday To You
Happy Birthday To You
Happy Birthday dear Subbu
Happy Birthday To You...

And Thank God for bringing this person into my life.... I pray he stays in there with me forever.....No, this is not a "show off". This is a very sincere prayer to Him.

A trip to Hoggenekkal

Different type of weekend. Made a trip to Hoggenekkal Falls on Saturday. When I say, made a trip, it was me, sundi, ponp and abha, of course. Abha did the whole stuff- i mean, getting information abt the place, what to see there, how to go there etc... He arranged for the transport too! We rented an ambassador car for the trip.

Hoggenekkal, roughly 160 kms away from Bangalore, famous place where so many South Indian films were/are being shot: When i told Arvind about this, he could even remember some MGR movies being shot there. As far as I know, Roja was shot there: we even saw the place where Madhubala sings "Chinna Chinna Aasai". The place is now called 'Cine Falls'. Indian was shot there, i can remember! Not an MGR film though! But, Arvind cant be wrong, may be i dont know much abt MGR movies...

Anyway, we feared whether there would be enough water as this is off-season, but in contrast to all our fears, there was Water, Water and Water everywhere... First time in my life went on a Parisal. The experience was great. Went through the same route which Mani Ratnam took for his film way back in 1992! Few more things Hoggenekkal is famous for: Booze, source of many accidents, the main reason which the boatman told us for people getting drowned. We could see it right in front of our face, No, i didnt mean someone getting drowned, i meant drunken guys trying silly thing from the Parisal. One more thing thats famous there is Fish, of course... Women were selling fried fish all over the place... Oops, all the four of us dont eat fish, and so we couldnt enjoy having one.

But, few things we really enjoyed are:

• Me and abha had oil massage.First time in my life I had a massage.. Abha is still complaining of body ache
• Staying so long in water for such a long time. Ponp and sundi even tried swimming. Arvind asked me if I did, but No, i dont know. Its one on my New Year Resolution guys, so hopefully yes, next time
• Standing right underneath Cauvery approaching at you at a speed of a Formula 1 car. Man, my head still feels the effect. It is sorta very heavy. And the whole day yesterday, I slept, slept and slept, but still i could feel little pain inside the head. Such a force with which She approached us!
• Having Saravana Bhavan breaky and dinner. We didnt have lunch at all.. We never felt like having in the first place
• And of-course the chit-chat, singing inside the car and also while we were in the water! Man, it was fun...

Decision was made that there are gonna be frequent trips like this from now on. Lets see how it works out... And yesterday, I did nothing but eat, sleep, eat and sleep. May be bcos of tiredness, or water or the effect of the massage. Didnt i tell you my uncle is a very good cook? Had one of the best Vathalkozhambu of my life yesterday, slept, slept and slept and today, Here I am, back today in front of the Monitor!

3.14 and the List

Last weekend was not only about BLACK. It was actually very good because, I had been reading a very good book: "The Life Of Pi". At first felt so nostalgic about it, for I had been residing in Pondicherry for some time and Petit Seminaire is where my brother gave his Class 12 exams from. "Nil Magnum Nisi Bonum"! .Very much true... Yann Martel amazes you with the description he gives you of animals! Where did he learn so much about animals. Anyway, wonderful book, amazing story line! I dont know what I would have done if i had been on the life boat of Tsimtsum with a hyena, zebra, urang utan, rat and a Bengal Tiger of course for my company. I wouldnt have survived even half-a-day. Hats off to you Piscine Molitor Patel.. No matter whether people believe your story or not, to survive more than 200 days alone in Pacific Ocean, is not an easy thing at all.. Shit! Thinking of it scares me like hell...

Just shows how much man can do if he has the grit and determination. As Martel puts it: "Man can accustom to anything he wishes to, even to killing!".. True, the situation is what turned a soft, vegetarian, 16 year old boy to survive in midst of all the suffereings of losing his family! So Pi Patel, gets added to my "Must See in Life" list. Let me see who and all I have so far:

1. Megan Mullally and Sean Hayes: Now, I have been like crazy about these two. The latest on them is: Have been watching "Mr.Sandman" clip again and again for so many times now and every time i laugh at it, just like the previous time. Never cease to amaze you, these two actors..
I have seen these two on TV, so, I know how they look like.

2. Arvind Ananthanarayan: Here is where things start getting interesting. This guy, my project manager for 9 months now, is nothing but a VOIP phone for me. Havent seen him, but yeah heard him and have heard him a lot. Great person, very good motivator, teacher, philosopher, guide....Seeing Arvind (rather hearing him), I came to a conclusion that people in this world can be this nice too to others. Nobody can beat him in this.

3. Pi Patel: Born in 1961, brought up in Pondicherry. Lone survivor of a Japanese ship which sank in Pacific in 1977. Resides currently in Canada, hopefully in Toronto. No idea how he looks like! But yes, embodiment of fighting spirit, grit and determination

4. If you think I have been crazy so far, hear this. Next on my list is a girl, or rather woman, whom I dont know who she is, where she is, whether she is!?. But i want to meet her desperately. Hold On. If you think, its the girl i am looking for to love, marry and all that crap, nope: you may be right with this guess 95% of the time, but not with me, misters and sisters. Ok. This girl is what I would have loved to be if I had born as a girl.Unfortunately that is not the case. So thats what makes her special. I have imagined her in my mind and thats it. Nothing more I know about her.

Thats where the list stops so far. May be more additions and hopefully some deletions, if am lucky, would come as my life journey continues....

BLACK Beauty

Dont know how laziness is aware that it is a weekend and it creeps into you slowly, suddenly without making a whisper! How much ever you try to get up early on a weekend morning, no you wont! Suddenly a huge desire for your body to sleep, sleep and more sleep all around you. Effect: First day I missed gym for this month. Finally had to wake up to the calling bell announcing the arrival of our maid... Pam and Ponp were still sleeping. RL, out of station. So i was 'Room Alone' .By the way, jike, i stay with these 3 guys: all from my college, my wing!

Finally the wand that was used to cast a spell and wake us all up was our own maid: we(rather RL or Ponp, not sure) have named her Vellayamma! Dont know why!? So routine life on a sat morning. For a change had breaky. Lunch and both me and pam had to come to work for chota mota work. The beauty about us is: We try to spend as much time as possible in the weekend together, unless someone has work at office or someone is out of station. I go to thatha's sometimes...Sundi and Abha add on sometimes to this group of four. This is something I like a lot. Weekdays are difficult. We are in different shifts. Ponp leaves early, I leave late, Pam sometimes doesnt come back home at all ! Oof! We all make it up for it in the weekend.

So I had planned this weekend. I wanted to see 'BLACK' somehow. I have been hearing damn good reviews of this movie. I have to watch it, somehow! Ponp's idea was to have a game of pool. So decided that we wud go to Leela Palace, (ha ha, so close to my office), have few games of pool,have dinner and BLACK it out.. Sundi was to join us too. I was OK this time at pool. Last time, i didnt even know how to catch hold of the stick, this time though i lost to Ponp, i was happy. Sundi is interested in Fooseball a lot. So we had couple of games of that too! Wow! Award should be given to me for being the worst defender who makes the team size 3:1. I dont know how many self-goals i would have given to my opponents in the first game we played. But, yeah later i improved and became a good defender.

So now we have our regular Pizza dinner and then the problem starts. Pam says: "Do we have to see a movie now? I am in no mood for it. " What? What did u say? But, you always liked movies on Sat night. What happened now? Then it was Sundi's turn: "I have heard the story of BLACK. Not that good. So lets go home"... No, no,no,no,no,no.. I want this movie. I know Sunday would be difficult for us to go to a movie, if it has to be a movie this weekend, its gonna be now! Sundi:"Heard Page-3 is good. May be we can go for that!" . But I said: "We dont know the show times. And no idea if it was screened at the Multiplex. But yeah, no harm in checking out though!".. So ray of hope! It was decided that we would check it out and if Page 3 isnt there, then go home and see Fahrenheit 9/11... Who wants to see a documentary!

Oh my Kadavule! (Thanks to this tamil rap song from Thirupaachi).. Page3, yes was there.. And what kind of posters- Scandal, Seduction and Affairs... Seeing this, which bachelor wont wanna go to the movie!?. Now, the Page 3 gang included Sundi and Ponp. I was adamant. BLACK BLACK BLACK.. Hey, it was me how suggested Page 3 last weekend and all you guys turned it down that time. Now, its OK after seeing these posters, is it!? Bullshit.. No, its not gonna happen. They all gave reasons. Pam: "BLACK has Big B in the movie. How do you expect me to watch a movie which has him?"... Know the secret? All these guys have bikes and have to park it up, means I have to go and get tickets by the time they park! So, i go as a sweet boy, stand in the Q for BLACK. Ha ha!

I have almost reached the ticket vendor and Pam comes to me and says, change the lane: Stand in the Q for Page 3. No i didnt move... I got the tickets for BLACK... Those guys were really angry or may be upset at me. They even got the tickets from me, hoping to exchange in the Page 3 counter. Ha Ha. Now i got the good news: Page 3 sold out. Yipeeee. Not a single ticket left... I made a vow that BLACK is the last movie which i am suggesting and nothing after this... Thats how I had to convince them to watch the movie.

So, finally my struggle for BLACK ended and we entered the Screen 2 room.

I had a bit of an idea as to what the picture was. Read SLB's interview the day b4. Rani is deaf,blind and mute and Big B is her teacher who loses his complete memory.And this is an inspiration from Helen Keler's story. This was the background with which I entered the theater. Note about Rani: I always used to call her 'Moti' Rani, the fat one. Never ever regarded her as a good actress. So I didnt have much of expectations from her.

The film began with a tribute to Helen Keller.SLB introduces the Mcnally family. The setting of the story is in Himachal Pradesh; Simla and the period, I guess should be of the British. SLB introduces, Big B as Debraj Sahai, a person who has been teaching deaf and mute for over 30 yrs and also Michelle Mcnally, 8 year old girl, whos blind, deaf and mute. Though Michelle is loved a lot by her parents, she poses serious threats to her younger sister, Sarah and her parents are too worried. Paul, her father wants her to go to the asylum, but her mother wont accept to it. They finally want to try Debraj Sahai as the last resort to change Michelle, who a brat, so rude and uncontrollable!

Enters the teacher. I should say, what a wonderful set has been prepared for the movie. What else can you expect from SLB, anyway! He has taken atmost care to collect every small object that would reflect the time when this story is supposed to happen. And when the teacher enters, the parents find his ways of teaching very rude too! The first thing he wants Michelle to learn is to eat like a 'human' with a spoon, sitting on a chair. But shes the person, who has been allowed to do whatever she wishes to,and she wont eat the way he wants to. There starts the struggle. The teacher doesnt allow her near the dining table, beats her up and what Michelle can show back is anger! She doesnt like a stranger suddenly appearing out of no where and why should she change for his sake!? The girl, who has acted as young Michelle, Ayesha Kapoor, SLB says is from Pondicherry, has done a marvelous job. Cant imagine how a small girl like her can act like this! Imagine a deaf, mute and a blind girl! The only emotion she can show is that of anger and the way she has shown is too too good. I dont have words to describe it. She has a very good future in acting, I can definitely say that

So teacher is asked to leave, as the parents dont like him. And the next day, the father also leaves the town for 20 days and this is what the teacher wants. He somehow manages to convince the mother that he can manage to change Michelle in these 20 days and now starts his struggle! The whole room is changed. Objects are removed and new objects placed inside so that Michelle can touch, feel and associate them to a word. Also, no one else is allowed to enter the room. It has Michelle and her teacher. Think of it: How would you communicate to a eight year old girl who cant see, speak or hear!? Fingers, touch and feeling are the only ways to achieve it. So the teacher manages to make his student eat with a spoon properly, but no 20 days is too small a time for making her realise words and how to associate them to an object! Michelle still would associate spoon to a napkin!

The father arrives, surprised to see the teacher still there and asks him to leave! The teacher has no other go, he cant win over this tough guy, so he packs off. fyi: Michelle, by the way is afraid of water.. By the time, the teacher leaves, food is being served down, Michelle, free now from captivity, returns to the same old way of eating food. Teacher becomes angry and beats her and she in return throws a jug full of water on his face. Then the teacher drags her out, where its raining like hell and puts her inside a pool of water. She gets scared and as the teacher turns away from the pool, he realises that Michelle hasnt come out of water. He gets scared now. But to his surprise, Michelle, gets up and feels water with her hands and tries to say "Waaa". What did i hear just now!? "Waa". Then her teacher gets excited: he writes on her hand W-A-T-E-R. Then he moves her fingers to his lip which pronounces WATER. She replies back "Waa" . Thats it. He has succeeded his battle which he thought he lost after fighting for 20 days! He cries for her parents desperately. They come out running, with no idea as to what has happened. Michelle, runs all over the garden. She trips and falls: G-R-A-S-S.. She gets up and runs again.. F-L-O-W-E-R.. She goes and hugs Mrs.Mcnally. M-O-T-H-E-R. Then, F-A-T-H-E-R.(If my memory is right, the first word that Helen Keller learnt was also Water)

After that eventful day, Debraj spends 18 years of his life with her. Ayesha leaves and enters Rani Mukerji as Michelle. Now, Michelle is well versed in sign language, she can communicate well and her parents and her teacher are proud of her. From now the story goes on like: teacher wants her to graduate in arts, reading with other normal students. then is the struggle to get her a seat in a college, michelle would not be able to type fast in Braille and hence wont be able to complete any paper in the allotted time and she would fail year after year. Meanwhile, the director also shows, how Sarah feels of all the imporatnce being shown on michelle, she feels neglected by her parents. SLB shows the marriage ceremony of Sarah: though michelle knows there wont be any love, marriage in her life, she also feels like a normal woman and asks her teacher if he loves him and if yes, wants just one kiss from him. See, these are the beautiful aspects of this film: Even people whom we think are handicapped, they too have emotions in life, they want to be as happy as we are and they struggle all through their life for this.

Another interesting thing is: The teacher suffers from Alzheimer's disease! A disease where his memory goes down before him little by little and finally he doesnt remember anything at all .. And Michelle, after 12 years of struggle, at the age of 40, graduates! She wants to celebrate this with her teacher, but alas! He doesnt recognise her, in fact he doesnt know who he is in the first place! So begins Michelle's struggle now to bring back her teacher to normalcy...

Wonderful performances by everyone in the crew. As i said, I was impressed mostly by Ayesha, the little girl who plays Michelle. She is a very bright future prospect. So BLACK is a victory of struggle, grit and determination. Black is the colour of knowledge. BLACK suggests that 'Anger is a very good emotion which if turned into proper direction can do wonders'. Black is my favorite colour too(That explains the background in which this web page is set). In short, BLACK or Black, whatever it is, is Beautiful

12B

One of the tamil movies I like a lot is 12B. A movie named after a bus route. The bus route which I myself have been through a lot and lot of times in my life: Vadapalani to Pattinapaakam. I can still remember the route: Vadapalani, Kamala Theatre, Ram Theatre, Kodambaakam, Panagal Park, Pondy Bazaar, Alwarpet, SIET college, Luz Corner- Mylapore and then you reach the Foreshore Estate, or in Tamil, Pattinapaakam. 12B used to be(and still is), one of the most famous bus routes of Chennai. The frequency of this bus route also is very high and no matter how many ever buses run, always you find crowd in almost all the buses.

Not surpising to see this bus route as the name of a film, for the whole of 'Kollywood' as its referred to, breathes in Vadapalani and the area surrounding it. The area is filled with movie stars, dance masters, directors, technicians and of course you have the famous AVM studio and Vijaya Vaahini Studio there among others. I used to study from a school that was right opposite to AVM studio. Though 12C(Vadapalani to Mylapore, those days, today its from Saaligramam to Mylapore) was my bus for transport between my home and my school, i would end up travelling in 12B, as the frequency of 12C was very little. My brother had to travel 2 more years than i travelled, so he has more experience with respect to this bus route!

So whats 12B, i mean the movie, is all about? It is the story of Sakthivel(Shyam in his debut picture, though you would hardly believe it) who is in love with Jo(Jyothika). So whats new in this picture , you might ask? Same old Indian movie stuff! Poor Guy, Rich Girl, love between the two, blah blah blah.. No, you are thoroughly mistaken! So, Sakthi has a mother who is terribly ill and hospitalised and our hero is badly in need of a job. So one fine day, he has an interview call and the bus he has to travel from his place to the Bank which has called him for the interview is 12B. And the interview is at 9AM(dont remember the time exactly).. Our hero goes to meet his Mom in the hospital and by the time he leaves the hospital, he has time just enough to catch the bus and reach the Bank for interview. Now, STOP.

The hero actually misses the bus and hence doesnt turn up for the interview. Typical movie so far, right? Now, the director introduces the twist.He says, from now on, imagine what would have happened in Sakthi's life had he boarded the 12B. So, from now on, there are two different tracks running in one movie: One, is the life of Sakthi who misses the bus, meets his friend whos a mechanic who helps him to get loan from the bank and start a business of his own. Another, is that of Sakthi who gets selected in the Bank, does a very good job there, meets the second heroine of the film(Simran) whos a widow and falls in love with Sakthi

Mind you, in both the tracks, Sakthi loves Jo. And to add to this, Jo has an uncle whos in love with her... Its just amazing how the director has scripted the screenplay for the movie and amazing to see how both these tracks culminate into a single climax! No, am not gonna reveal it, watch it for yourself and find it out...

I mean, i like the concept of having a 'real life' track and 'imaginary- what wud have happened if this had happened' track in the same movie. Also, one more thing i like about this movie are the songs... All are my favorites.. I mean, there are different types of songs: One, which you hear just because its being listened by all at that point of time. After some time, the next movie comes and you forget this. There are these other types of songs which stay in your memory forever and you listen to them again and again and again and enjoy it everytime. 12B is of this type. One song from 12B which has really touched my heart is "Poove Vaai Pesum Podhu". This is the only song in the movie which is picturised with Simran and this girl whos a widow, falls in love with this guy and she expresses her love for him through this song. The lyrics of this particular song is amazing and touchy

Nee Oru Paarvaiyaal Nerungi Vidu Ennai
Nee Oru Vaarthaiyaal Nirappi Vidu Ennai
Nesathinaal Ennai Kondru Vidu, Un
Nenjukkule Ennai Pudhaithu Vidu, En
Ninaivu Thondrinaal Thuli Neerai Sindhidu, En
Ninaivu Thondrinaal Thuli Neerai Sindhidu

If you understand Tamil, you would be able to appreciate how beautiful these lines are! I mean, one of the best lines through which a girl can propose to a man.

Now, why am I goin through all this with you now? Yesterday after i went back home after work, they showed this movie in the TV. Feb 14 is fast approaching and the guys and gals have already started celebrating. Movie treat for the Love Fest that is approaching....

Hail the Developers!

Now, what I thought was gonna take one day has taken 3 days and still its not complete yet. Yeah, am talking abt the same script as the last time. And now, Arvind has added new twist to the requirements. Oh God! My heartfelt appreciation and salaam to all the developers out there! I mean, we consultants are like mediators. On one side we have our customers and and on another side we have the product development team and we just act as a bridge between the 2. Now, thats why i dont like it.Not anything useful, I think am doing between the two parties... I mean, there are people who just want to do this and they do it, but I dont wanna be one! Everytime, the product team says, "Hey we are gonna need 3 weeks to fix this issue", sometimes i think: "Why do these guys need so much time for such a simple task as this!?"... Boss, am totally wrong... I mean, these are the guys who 'develop' something and they are 'proud' owners of a product and what are 'we'? I am still trying to find out...

I dont know, may be once we go through a set of issues, may be development would also be boring.. I have few friends who are developers and they also say "Whats there in product dev?".. Same old bugs and same old ways of fixing it..I dont know.. once you know few types of logic, its just the syntax thats different among different languages!? Underlying concept should still be the same. Its just that i am expressing the same logic in some other fashion. But, if you go on giving explanation like this, what is that you would be liking to do in IT industry?Dev is boring. Consulting is boring... Hmm. sounds interesting question, isnt it? (Or am i blabbering too much?)... May be my knowledge is too less about it.. So lets drop it...

Interesting Quote i saw on a T-shirt couple of days back: "Your life depends upon what you dream in your life. So, go and sleep"

Now, hows that?