Mandatory year-end post

Congratulations if you've had a good year and commisserations if you think it wasn't that great.

The last week of the year was a lot of fun for me, primarily due to AB's wedding. So went to Hyderabad for the festivities. Man, were those some festivities! And it continued into Bangalore. Tonight i.e., New Year's Eve, will probably be the coda of the week-long wedding party. Hopefully :-)

Now if you don't know much about AB read this. I know I can't get that eloquent.

Anyway, back to me and the reasons that my week was most enjoyable.
Not just because of gathering of people, where people I knew only in nodding acquaintance were interesting to talk to and fun to hang out with. Not because of the Hyderabadi wedding food, where some Nizaami-cook-descendants made the most awesome biryani.

Because it was the first time I wore a shamla (a pagdi sorta head-dress, which was pink) and danced in a baraat. Even though the baraat was only 20 minutes long when leaving the house and another 15 minutes when we arrived at the hotel, it has to be said that it was the most rocking party!

On the drive back, Duja and I stopped somewhere on the highway and decided to climb a little hillock. He looks up at it and says states "20 minutes" with all the experience of an regular climber. So up we went, a little wary of snakes and the thorny underbrush (or is it overbrush, never can tell). We climbed almost to the "summit" and took a few photographs, sat there like fools on the hill and came back down - all in 70 minutes.

Later on, stopped in a sunflower field and took pictures. Then stopped by some camels (being herded by some Rajasthani chaps) and took pictures again. All in all, your regular 12 hour drive which should've taken 8 or 9 hours.

Guess that'll be my New Year's resolution - try new things.

It was great to do all those things for the first time. So tell me dear readers (yes, both of you), when was the last time you did something for the first time?

Out With The Old...

...and in with the new! Happy New Year ya'll!

What are your plans for tonight?

Adios and be safe.

Update: Since Dilettante has his soul-searching post, I figured I'd do the same. What do I want for the new year? A 9 hour day, a five day week and 30 days of vacation a year. That and a Bugatti would be good. Cheers! 2005 over and out...

These places have changed

The first two pictures are of AP police searching my bus at the outskirts of Hyderabad. The pictures show them searching the storage holds, then 2 constables walked into the bus looking for suspicious looking packages.

This next one is the first time I've seen the gates of the JN Tata auditorium at IISc closed. The gates at the Satish Dhawan auditorium were also locked.

This is something media-heavy India has gotten used to - the sight of media vans. Outside the JN Tata auditorium.

Regular Updates Will Resume Shortly.

Both Dilettante and I are on holiday for a while. Till such time, a few pictures from the Jobless Picture Archive.

Let's play a game this time, name the location of each of the pictures and translate the banner.

Cheers and be safe!

Wake Up!

An office I spend a lot of time in has the most amazing coffee. The secret is this. I have got to get me one of these!

Gotham City

A very interesting office lurking in the bowels of an unlikely building in a seedy neigbourhood. Just like their comic heroes, what?!

Orange County, Coorgu

Did a 3-day weekend at Coorg. Wasn't quite the relaxing mini-break one was hoping for, probably because there wasn't a bonafide girlfriend to take along (thank you Helen Fielding) or because trying to fit in all the activities the resort provides you in-between stuffing your face. In any case, this is the first post and here are some pictures.

Picture of the cottage I was in. Looks like the Shire, no?

Walking back at night was a little scary, half expecting the Nazgul to ride in from the darkness :-p













Locational details of Orange County.














Ducklings at the Duck Pond.

Tech Boom Moves East...

...to Bangalore, but you knew that already didn't you?

Prepare yourself for some serious bandwidth hogging, browser crashing Flash.

All about Bangalore though....

@ Mercury News Photo

My question, wtf is Palm Medows?

Kick Out Who?

Who would this mysterious person they refer to be? The Band of Bong Brothers is strong, what? Dravid's case of gastro presents a face saving opportunity to the BCCI, will they take it?

Image © Getty Images and from Cricinfo.

Artistes' Walkway

Scenes from the MG Road Boulevard during Bengaluru Habba.

Sometimes there is a performance by some cool musicians or a theatre group. We encountered a group of cacophonous singers.

Then found this trippy box...

...and ended the walk with some really nice Kashmiri zafraani chai.

Actually, we walked further to Temptation and had really nice Bacardi.

Have Feet. Will Dance.

So last night I went to a dance recital and not just any dance recital but a performance of a batch of students from the Shiamak Davar school.

All in all, not bad at all. Lots of heart and soul in the performances but the lighting! My god, if I was prone to grand mal seizures I'd have had one 30 seconds into the show.

What impressed me most was the commitment of his students, young and old. Not being a good dancer or having two left feet (like me!) was not an excuse.

I'd sign up if I had the b*lls to do so....

Bengaluru Roads...

...a warning, Garden City style! [Brunton Road]

We, at Dilettante, take this moment to welcome our new Kannadiga overlords! Bengaluru be thy name...

Bad To Verse....

"Chief Minister N Dharam Singh told reporters in Gulbarga on Sunday that he had asked the chief secretary to take steps for renaming Bangalore [to Bengaluru]."

Cue music...enter the twilight zone....

@Rediff

ToI and Amazon...

...sitting in a tree....C.O.P.Y.I.N.G.

Take a look at the first scan. It is from today's edition of the Bangalore Times. Now take a closer look at the enlarged portion from the first. "Search Inside". Wonder what Amazon.com would say. How lazy can one get?!

Pity is the ToI gets away with this kind of BS on a regular basis...

More on the MSM rip-offs at:

We The Media

P.S. Sorry about the daft rotation!

Accosted

EPILOGUE
Once, when PP and I were cycling back from School we were accosted by this person who stopped us and asked for money to go back to Vijaynagar by bus. So we gave him 5 bucks and rode off home after having receiving the man's gratitude.

We wondered if the man's wallet did actually get picked and that he really needed the money. He did speak fluent English, after all. How could he be a panhandler?

A few days later PP was waiting for a bus and the same guy comes up to him and uses the same line. PP burst out laughing - the man walked away insulted. Or recognised.

PROLOGUE
(Only Epilogue and Prologue, no real bestseller in between)

Last week at a traffic signal, a man peers in through my window and says "Sir, I was here for a Sales Managers' conference and I need some money to take a train back to Mysore. As an officer, I'm requesting you". So gave him 30 bucks. After all, he was requesting me. And he had to take a train home.

Yesterday, at a traffic signal 3 km away from last week's accostal the same man comes up to me - gives the same spiel and asks me for 30 rupees. Thirty.

I'm looking at the guy with bemusement (really should stop making up words) on my face and he further exhorts me - mentions the traffic signal is counting down quickly and all.

Told him to use a different story the next time and drove away. He looked embarassed.

PS: 5 bucks given by school kids back then (before the IT salaries) was a decent amount of money...

Breaking News!

A kilt has been spotted in Bangalore! And damn, was it a good party!

Deck the halls with boughs of holly...

...'Tis the season to be jolly!

Happy Holidays and may your liver be safe!

(Both from the Leela Galleria)

London's hottest stand-up comic...

....is a foul-mouthed Aussie named Jim Jeffries.

So went to this show last Sunday at Take 5 in Indiranagar and listened to this realy hilarious man.

He started with the usual US-bashing, a really good Homer Simpson imitation, suicide bombing jokes and other tame stuff.

e.g.,
Jeffries: Do you have any suicide bombers in Bangalore?
(Audience murmurs no)
Jeffries: No? Anyway, looks like Bangalore is doing a good job of doing itself in.

Then he went on to all the politically-incorrect, misogynistic, homophobic stuff.

It was interesting to watch the middle-aged women give dirty looks to their husbands when they'd be laughing holding their sides at a particularly dirty joke about a menage a trois. It definitely was a show you shouldn't take your Mum to. Not if you want her to hear the guy's story starring a vibrating egg and his colon when he was in Amsterdam.

Take 5, I hear has live jazz on weekends. Must go check it out. In any case, this is how the doors to the Men's Loo and the Women's Loo looked like...

Best news...

...I've heard all day!

"Gurgaon May Beat Bangalore"

More here @ Rediff

Finally! Get out of my city, yes, you...IT Boy!