The Bangalore I can never experience again

A few days back I was watching a Ramesh Bhatt, Anant Nag and Shankar Nag starrer. I think it was based in the late 80s or the early 90s. I prefer these kind of movies to the Ambareesh-RajKumar starrers as they are more reality based, and are funny for the most part. These movies also show a lot of the old Bangalore. While seeing the movie I felt really sad that Bangalore has now lost its charm.
The roads were calm. Going to MG Road was the most happening thing. Free pepsi while shopping for clothes in Kids Kemp was so exciting. Kids Kemp at that point was a luxury. Most of my shopping was done at WearHouse on Commercial streets. The coolest shoes then were Bubble Gummers. Next came the Action(Light) shoes.
Most families would travel on the bike. Dad in front. Son on the tank. Mom sitting sideways in behind and the smaller kid inbetween mom and dad. To protect my face from the wind, I had to wear my "monkey Cap" before sitting on the bike. Ind Suzuki and CD100 were the most common bikes.
Bangalore airport was almost empty. An aunt or an uncle coming from the US required 2 cars from the extended to family to pick them up. Coming from "America", they had huge suitcases filled with stuff to distribute.
Chalukya Hotel and Vidyarthi Bhavan were regular places to hang out then. They no longer are. Not because they are not cool. Now you cannot just walk in on a weekend and expect a table. And Koshy's was a cool place to hang out. Marie and Parle-G were the only biscuits available.
Going with my mom to Janatha Bazaar Super Market was so exciting as the shop was so huge. Nowadays my mom cant get me to go to Spencers to buy something, but back then I used to volunteer.
Playing crticket with rubber balls was common. At Rs 8 a ball it was manageable. But at Rs 25 a Cosco tennis ball, who ever lost it HAD TO FIND IT. And now if I look back at all the circus we used to do find the damn tennis ball, I am lucky to be still walking.
And TV, Orson was the most popular TV back then. We had 12 channels. And my dad's remote was me. I was repeatedly sent to change channels which I would do with so much enthusiasm.

Now when I look at Bangalore, everything is so commercial. Its crowded and worst of all the old world charm of a lazy city is gone. I do understand that with India growing so fast cities do grow. But I am sure if better planned, some parts of the city could've been saved. Now you can hardly find places that can be considered rustic. The cosmopolitan culture is nice, but because of that, Our "Bangalore culture" is lost.

My parents enjoyed Bangalore at its best. I caught glimpses of it. The next generation will grow up in a fast moving metro hardly any different from the rest :(

On a related note, Mysore has stil at some level managed to retain the calm, serene feel. I just hope the next generation Mysorians don't lose it like our generation Bangalorians.

Best Dosa of Bengaluru!!!

I wanted to create a post about all the best dosa in namma Bengaluru. So here goes!!

Masala dosa-----> CTR.

Tried Vidyarthi Bhavan( was the undisputed winner till eating at CTR and Vidyarthi Bhavan on consecutive days proved it that CTR was by faaaar the better place for masala dosas). Though for the whole Dosa experience a lot more places come to mind.

Sid and I had an argument/discussion and these were our finalists

• CTR
• Vidyarthi Bhavan
• Dwaraka
• Janardhan
• Janatha hotel
• India Coffee house, Queen's road
• South Indies
• Dakshin
• Adigas
• Komala, Frazer town
• Empire, Church street (Dosa paneer butter masala combo)
• Pecos, Rest house road (Dosa and veg/chicken curry combo)
• New Krishna Bhavan, Balakpet
• Malabar, Balakpet
• MTR
• Jayanagar Dosa camp
• Food street, Sajjan Rao circle

If anybody has any other place to mention in the list, feel free to comment.

Also your mom's dosa doesn't count cuz I meant commercial joints.

The plan is to go eat a dosa at each place on separate days and rate the complete dosa experience. Who is in?

WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEPSI'S ADVERTISING

I love ads. Creative, well made ads are a treat and are very enjoyable. It is when the ads are stupid, and you are forced watch them in between every over, it makes you start hating the damn product/company.

Remember Pepsi's ads during the 1996 cricket world cup. The whole "nothing official about it" theme, the "More cricket, more Pepsi" theme in retaliation to Coke's "Eat cricket, sleep cricket, drink only Coco-Cola" ads. The rivalry between coke and Pepsi ads on the national and the global scene was legendary. Remember the kite flying between Sachin and Amitabh in the Pepsi ads.

Those ads very nice.

Pepsi always had a good campaign, unlike Hero Honda who I think has the worst ad campaign ever. I hate Hero Honda's ads so much that now I has even affected my liking for the company.

In justification to my hatred for Hero Honda, please please watch this ad.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpX7f-afqHw .....This one of the worst ads I have ever seen.

Back to Pepsi, Pepsi roped in Ranbhir, and coke roped in Imran. Both are young upcoming actors. Both the ads are wired during the IPL matches. I like the Imran ad where he is in a bus drinking coke from an invisible bottle. Not an awesome ad but I like it.

But the Pepsi ad, where some weird dude in a weirder voice says "Drink Pepsi now" and Ranbhir says yes and drinks it. Then there is some seriously irritating background music which goes like "Naa naa na na na Youngisthan ka Wow" with an even more irritating Ranbhir displaying a stupid toothy smile.

I used to like Ranbhir before the ad, now I find him irritating. And personally, the ad spoils my IPL.

This is my list of the most Pissing off ads during this IPL

• The Akshaye Kumar's stupid laughing Videocon mobile ad.
• The Havell's ad where people look up to pray and then there is a stupid fan which wont let you down.
• The Spice ad where the kids say in classroom talking about some bua in UK - How is it even related to Spice.
• The "Youngisthan ka Wow" Pepsi ad.
• The JK cement ad where a girl in a bikini walks out of the water and they say JK cement. (this ad is not aired much during IPL but it had to be on this list)
• All the Hero Honda ads......EVER.

The ads which I like are

• The coke ad with Imran.
• The Docomo ads are nice.
• The Airtel ads with Sharman Joshi.
• The Sprite ads...all of them.
• The Nokia-KKR become a coach ad
• And the best of them all- for the creativity,for how well it is made, and for creating that anticipation for the ads among the viewers- THE HUTCH ZOZO CAMPAIGN.

So Pepsi please change your ad, Hero Honda.. PLEASE STOP ADVERTISING

MAJGE.......priceless

I remember last year around feb, I was working at Rida, no job security, things were going baad, was financially in an unenviable situation. Things were not going good on several fronts, pressure from home about why TCS hadn't called yet. I used to go the Sri Vinayaka Bakery and drink majge - it used to cost rs 4 then. There were several occasions when I did not have cash to pay for my majge. I had an account there, so I used to tell aunty "Ivaga dudd illa..naale".

Things changed. I left Bangalore, went to Trivandrum, then Hyderabad. Whenever I came to Bangalore I made sure I visited that shop whenever I was passing that way. Aunty always remembered me and asked me how I was.

I got a transfer to Bangalore. My office is very close to Rida now. Today I was passing by that shop and I decided to stop for majge. From being totally broke, no security and depressed and low on confidence to being atleast a little financially stable, with job security, a happier and a more confident person....a lot has changed in one year. But sitting on the roadside and drinking the same magje was awesome..After drinking my majge I opened my wallet only to find a Rs500 note. So I had to tell aunty "Change illa aunty, next time".

It was like the master card add where everybody is fighting for the bill.

A majge at aunty's 5rs....saying "Ivagilla aunty naale kodthini"..PRICELES

Pyaar Impossible

The fact that you try to mix up a romantic comedy with data theft and an irritating kid is not what f***s it up. What does is the fact that Uday Chopra has decided not only to act but also produce and write the story and asks his even bigger flop friend Jugal Hansraj to direct it.

Since the stupidity quotient in the movie is sooo huge I have decided to classify them into major and minor.

MINOR stuff

• Priyanka Chopra is the PR head and Marketing head of her company, and she plays a major role in all deals related to products struck by the company.
• She goes to these meetings dressed like she's on the beach in Hawaii.
• Though she studies in some shitty university, got pregnant at 18, been a single mom since then - she's managed to become the Marketing head of a company at the age of 25.
• Mr Dimwit Uday creates a brilliant operating system which is stolen by Dino Morea in 2mins by Copy-Paste method.
• The deal is struck by PR head Priyanka and the software is immediately deployed.
• Priyanka's daughter is 6, yet has more gyaan to give than a 40 yr old.
• Uday Chopra prevents Dino Morea from showing the software by putting a user account password.
• The only person stupider than Uday Chopra's character Abhay Sharma is Uday Chopra himself.

MAJOR stuff

• Uday Chopra took money from his dad to produce a movie.
• Uday Chopra took money from his dad to produce a movie with his own story.
• Uday Chopra took money from his dad to produce a movie with his own story and decided to act in it.
• Uday Chopra took money from his dad to produce a movie with his own story and decided to act in it and ask his even bigger flop friend Jugal to direct it.

VERDICT: Watching this movie even for sexy Priyanka is not worth it.

Paa

I watched Paa last night.
I loved the movie. Amitabh Bachchan has acted really really well and my respect for him as an actor went up a few notches yesterday.
They story revolves around Auro- a 13 year old kid suffering from Progeria, a condition of advanced aging. Auro is the illegimate child of Vidya(Vidya Balan) and Amol Arte(Abhishek Bachchan).

Amitabh's expressions and body language as a 13year old kid is simply amazing. Vidya Balan has acted really well too. Movies with a "different" story suit Vidya more than those which involve wearing skirts and dancing. She has this raw beauty about her and she'd still be as beautiful when she just wakes up as she is all decked up. Ofcourse, since I'm head over heals in love with her, I could be slightly biased.The movie was directed excellently, the songs by Illayaraja were superb- especially the 'gumm summ gumm' song which I am totally crazy about. There was this background score which sounded like a tape recorder barely able to play- yet playing all the time which added to the effect.
All in all a lovely touching movie and a must watch for all ages.

SWAMIYE SHARANAM AIYAPPA

Yesterday there was a pooja for Aiyappa swamy at my aunt's apartment complex. I wanted to go out of belief to Swami Aiyappa. It was a huge gathering of about 300 people. The arrangements were done nicely with huge mantaps for Ganesha, Subramanya, Venkateshwara and of course Aiyappa.
I went there thinking I would just have a darshan, mangalarthi, take my prasad and go. There was loud music playing due to which i was not able to hear anything on a call i received. Feeling a little irritated I thought to myself "what a waste-all the flowers and lighting. that money could have been used elsewhere to provide food for the homeless.etc".There was some sort of orchestra by devotees who were all going in a group to Sabarimale. I actually started enjoying the songs and watching people sing with devotion. It was very nice. Everything from the songs, the singer, the little metal plates banged to add to the music, the casio- I enjoyed it thoroughly.
Of late since about a year or so, my religious activity involved going to the temple or saying a few prayers here and there. I felt I had lost the connection I had spiritually and it had become more of a routine. Recently I had been having a lot of negative thoughts which led me to move into a negative spiral. Attending to pooja, listening to the songs sung there has some how helped me get out of that negative spiraland I am really thankful for that. And I am seeing some form of that spiritual connection resuming again.
When I'm back in Bangalore I want to attend some bhajans more frequently. There is this Hanuman temple near Sophia's where every saturday there are bhajans sung. Looking forward to going for that every saturday.

TRIVANDRUM

I hated Trivandrum at first. Why would I? It was nothing like Bangalore. Also I went there at the wrong time. What added to that was I went there alone, usually batches from a college are called together. The fact that there is a very schoolish atmosphere at TCS there with rules everywhere did not help. I also went during peak summer and was given really lousy accomodation there. So I guess the first month and half at Trivandrum I became a loner. Preferred staying alone.

This was the absolute rejection phase where I could not like anything about the place. But the surprising thing was when I came down to Bangalore- and I did try coming as much as I could- I missed the peace I had there. Nobody to bother you, away from the problems, so close to nature everything.

Gradually I started accepting the place as it is, without any comparison. Started making new friends. I actually started like it. Soon it was like I was finding excuses to not go back during long weekends.

The best part about Trivandrum is that though it is the capital, it is such a laid back city. The place I was staying at is just a km and a half from the sea. There is this fisherman’s beach called which is completely empty. Much better than the commercial Kovalam beach which was just 2 kms away from where I stayed. The view from CLC( Corporate Learning Centre, TCS) is just amazing. Just coconut trees which looks like grass from the distance and the Arabian sea. The view from top is beautiful, the sea on one side and the start of the western ghats on the other.

My favourite place is varkala, where I’ve had so many fond memories. Sleeping on the beach, all night, drunk; going swimming pretty far into sea, standing on the cliff viewing the sea on one side and hills and greenery on one side while drinking beer. This has to be one of my favourite places in the whole world - not that I have travelled much- but still.

The place I stayed at is called TCS Executive Hostel. There is this little stream flowing just behind it- you could go sit there for hours and not hear anything other birds chirping and frogs croaking. There was this bar called B6 just close by where almost everybody from TCS would be there on Friday nights – they had to be there- there were no other bars nearby.

I came there during a really really tough period in my life, and I changed, and matured and learnt a lot. I made a lot of good friends – Rohith, Mamatha, Umar, Liza, Mansa, Rajath, Pawan, Ashok, Malli, Pooja, Bhanu, Chivu, Manohar, Harsha, Lovepreet ( yes that’s a name), Mindri, Praveen, Sameer, of course our HR Shafiq and Finance guy Ashutosh and Cheta from the Nayar shop and anybody else I might have missed out on. You made my stay awesome. Especially Rohith, Mansa and Umar

Thank you Trivandrum- my favourite place in the world( along with Bangalore that is)

CAT online

* this was a draft written loong back. It is the same for CAT' 10 as well

I have been busy over to past 10 days or so, so no new posts. Wrote Cat 09.. this is what i felt about it

• There were only 60 questions. So from being a '180 questions' paper a few years agon, it is now has only 60. this definitely removes speed from the equation. Gone are those times when you didnt even have time to read all the questions.
• Last year and the year before that, the questions were waay tougher. This time might not have been sitters but they definitely weren't all that tough to crack.

So basically Cat 09 was a very "feel good' Cat. Everybody came out feeling good about themselves. There in lies the problem.
Now Cat is not easy for sure to crack and the competition is intense. Very. So now what happens is since the questions were relatively easy and less in number, at the top, say 95 percentile and above, it will be very very close. The gap between the 98 and the 95 will be very very little. In such cases a little luck in one question could even swap a 98er and a 92er which sucks.This time, I just woke up from a hang over and went to write the cat with out solving a single sum. Since I had nothin to lose, I attempted almost everything which I thought would help me. But since the new Cat was craaaaazy, everybody's attempted just the same which really makes the luck factor play a big part of the equation.