The One With The Dentist

I had been putting off going to the dentist for weeks; one of my incisors had decided to stain itself brown, a stain that made people wince every time I smiled. I was driving away from Hyderabad Central this weekend when I chanced upon a tiny dental clinic. What the hell. I went in bravely, paid a consultation fee to the receptionist before I changed my mind, and barged into the inner sanctum.

"Hi!"
"Helll-lllo!" *Nervous laughter*
"So, what is your problem?"
"One of my teeth has stained just a tiny little bit. On second thoughts, it's probably nothing a good vigorous brushing won't cure." *More nervous laughter*

The lady graciously asked me to lie down on the whatever-they-call-it patients' couch and instructed me to open my mouth.

"Good lord, you call this a little stain? There, there, tell me about your smoking habits."
"What the! Lady, I don't smoke!"
"Drink lots of tea and coffee, perhaps?"
"If two cups of tea a day count as lots, then yeah."

She then proceeded to poke my teeth one by one with a dangerous looking instrument that I cannot remember right now. That finished, she sighed, busily wrote something on my card, and  started rambling about how I needed atleast ten different kinds of procedures done to my teeth if I did not want to end up a toothless hag by the time I reached thirty five. Oh, and let's not forget the outrageous amount she nonchalantly rolled off  her tongue.

I stared at her, nonplussed.

"Remember, money is not important. Would you rather save a few bucks and watch your teeth fall off?"

"Err, no. The thing is, I've got this urgent appointment elsewhere... I need to go there pronto. So perhaps I can come back next week..."

She was shaking her head already. "Polishing and scaling will take just 15 minutes. It is completely painless, and you will walk out of here with ultra-white teeth. You can come back for the other procedures next week."

Hmm, time to do some quick thinking.

"15 minutes, you say? 15 minutes of ultra-painless dental thingummy to get my teeth white again? Let's do it!"

It took one hour. One hour of painful writhing and helpless squeaks from my side, and authoritative "You should bear the pain!!!" grunts from hers.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to me, she pronounced I was good to go. I shot out of that place like my behind was on fire. Since then, I have been diligently taking care of my teeth - brushing twice a day without fail, rinsing ten times even while just drinking water, and going to the extent of considering taking my toothbrush in my handbag to use it after every meal.

Anything, anything at all to keep away from having to make another dreaded visit to the dentist.

Draft Attack

A growing number of unfinished posts in my drafts folder is giving me the creeps. Will try and finish as many of them as possible, for some peace of mind. The drafts section currently includes several movie reviews, book reviews, personal experiences, politics, and some whatnots.

God give me strength.

No Man's Land

Even terrorist attacks do not have this kind of magnitude. A magnitude that is baffling, to say the least.

1993 Mumbai attacks - 257 killed
2006 Mumbai train attacks - 209 killed
2008 Taj attacks - 173 killed
Number of people killed due to the Ayodhya land dispute - a whopping 2000.

History tells us Babri Masjid was built in Ayodhya after Babar defeated the Hindu king and took over his kingdom, and Hindu groups claim there used to be a Ram temple at the same spot. People, we were not even a speck of dust when all of this happened! I understand Ayodhya is a holy place for Hindus, but let us face it, the Mughal kings destroyed lots of temples. It wouldn't be feasible for us to cry foul now, would it?

Back in 1885 when a certain Mahant Raghubar Ram moved the court to build a temple at the site, Judge Col. F.E.A. Chamier ruled as follows,

"....It is most unfortunate that a Masjid should have been built on land specially held sacred by the Hindus, but as that event occurred 356 years ago, it is too late now to agree with the grievances. ..." (Source - WIKI)

So why hurt the sentiments of a group which had nothing to do with the original sin? I really do not understand the fanaticism behind a piece of land. Will a God come down and heap praises on you if you kill fellow men in His name? No, you just go to jail, you morons! I might be treading on blasphemous waters here, there might have been a temple, a mosque, but hey - in the end it is a piece of land. Of course, I will not deny that there is a teeny tiny part of my Hindu upbringing that is curious about the outcome, but it is not earth shattering. If anything I am worried about how the verdict is going to affect everyday life; it is just noon in the office and we are shutting down shop already, precautionary measures in place.

Where there is something to gain, our politicians are not far behind. BJP and VHP took advantage of the sensitive site and demolished the mosque in 1992, thus winning the elections. Today on the 30th of September, 2010, the verdict on who the land belongs to is finally going to be out - and I am strongly for the court declaring the Babri Masjid site to be "No Man's Land". Like a colleague suggested, perhaps it could be converted into a tourist spot. "People, so this is that piece of land due to which 2000 people are dead."

And no, they can never come back.

We are a secular country; two of my closest friends are Muslim and Christian, and never ever, ever, has religion come between us. It is unthinkable. Folks, I really hope you do not lose your cool and lose friends for the sake of land that you might never even see in your lifetime. A piece of land that couldn't care less about who was standing on it. And if today Lord Ram and Prophet Mohammed were alive, I am sure they would've said the same thing.

Like Bill Maher said -

"We are a nation that is unenlightened because of religion. I do believe that. I think religion stops people from thinking. I think it justifies crazies."

Inception Review

Reviewing Inception is sure going to be difficult.

Am no stranger to Christopher Nolan - I've seen The Prestige and cried for Hugh Jackman; and I've lost count of how many umpteen times I watched The Dark Knight, each time with the same fascination. So, ahem, my expectations of Inception were huge. I hoped fervently that it wouldn't be an Avatar repeat.

The movie starts out innocently enough; slowly, with each passing frame, it starts sucking you in. What Nolan did was let his imagination run rampant, no bars whatsoever, and then strived to mold that imagination into reality. The end result is nothing short of amazing.

Dom Cobb can extract a person's thoughts from his subconscious. He can enter a person's dream and steal his innermost secrets. He faces the challenge of his life when, instead of extraction, he is required to plant an idea in a person's mind. Inception. A team of expert extractors have to travel therefore, into the subconscious of the subject - go through multiple layers of dreams so they can plant that single thread of thought flawlessly. What follows is a masterpiece of creativity, stunning visuals, and multi-dimensional complexity, the core of which is so simple, it boggles the mind.

I saw Ellen Page for the first time after Juno, and was struck by how young she really is. Cillian Murphy, I've had a mild crush on him since his Red Eye days, and he didn't disappoint. Di Caprio is a master, though I wish he had more of that boyish look from Titanic.

People do not really make what this movie really is; it probably wouldn't have mattered if Nolan cast a bunch of unknown faces - the movie would still be awe-inspiring. It's the kind of psychological thriller that will make you question reality, and re-play scenes of the movie in your mind long after you step out of the theater.

Summing up - edge of the seat narrative, nail-biting pace, and a gripping plot - I can say I got my money's worth, and then some. Go watch it, people.

A Quaking Story

Date: December 26, 2004. Time: Crack of Dawn. Place: Ancient city of Cuttack.

"Stop shaking the bed! Stop it!"

"Me shaking the bed? What the heck is wrong with you, you stop shaking it first!"

Both of us were wide awake in an instant - me staring at the ceiling in awe expecting it to crash at any moment, and my Mom yelling for my Dad. He had returned from an early morning walk and fallen asleep in the hallway again.

"Daaaa-dddd-iieee! There's an earthquake happening!"

He opened his eyes briefly, mumbled, "Eh?" and started snoring.

A piercing scream from the guest room - my aunt was huddled up on the bed in a fetal position, mumbling about her dead mother-in-law.

"Maa-ji, mujhe akele chod di jiye, please! Bed ko aise mat hilaaiye! Aiiieeeee, bachaaao!" The bed was trembling as if it's life depended on it.

"Idiot, it's not a ghost, it's a quake. Get the hell out of the house!"

We ran out, hearts thudding.

Scene inside the house on the other side of the street -

Manisha Manjari AKA Mamuni, our pretty neighbor was asleep with a smile on her face, dreaming about her upcoming wedding. She was alone in the house with her mother - her Dad and brother were in different cities at the time.

It was pitch dark; they slept with every light off, and had no idea what time of the night it was. Mamuni sat up with a start. The bed was shaking violently, carrying promises of a vicious fiend underneath. Mamuni had an active imagination and imagined the worst. One leg on the bed, and another on the wall, she managed a sprint that only Olympic standard athletes could have managed.

Out in the hall in two beats, she had just begun to wring her hands to cry when she stopped, shell-shocked. A figure was propped up against the door, a frightening silhouette, half hidden behind the wall. She let out a wailing shriek that woke half the city up. The figure moved forward slowly, hands dangling by the sides. Mamuni was by now crying in earnest - the hand-wringing was on in full swing. The figure revealed itself as her mother, who had woken up for a drink and dozed off against the wall.

By this time the news trickled in that there had been a massive quake, affecting the entire coastal belt. It was only later in the day that the news of the tsunami reached us, leaving us awe-struck and counting our lucky stars.

Though at that time the events of the day seemed fearsome, as years passed they became a favorite topic of conversation, always starting with, "Remember the day when......", and ending with, "Yeah, I was so silly LOLOL..... I was absolutely fearless and.... Yeah, so was I.... Yeah RIGHT....!"

Wake Up Sid

I cannot think of any reason why I put off seeing this movie for so long! I also cannot imagine why I steadfastly refused to watch a Ranbir Kapoor movie. Maybe the long line of flop star sons we have been forced to endure freaked me out; I didn't want to take the risk of watching yet another Uday Chopra go, "Kya Mummy!" Folks, I'm happy that I was wrong about Ranbir Kapoor - he is genuine, offbeat and a natural.

Coming to the story, Sid Mehra is the spoiled son of a rich business magnate (aren't they all!) who doesn't care what might happen tomorrow. He is happy to let Daddy foot the bills, while he is carousing with his friends till the wee hours. On his farewell party (he's an engineering student) he meets a girl about 7 years his senior, and they hit it off. The girl is Aisha Banerjee, a creative writer. The character is played by Konkana Sen Sharma to the hilt; she outruns the other, so-called sexy actresses by a huge margin. Anyway, Sid and Aisha become platonic friends, and one fine day after having royally flunked his exams and kicked out of the house by his Dad, Sid lands up at Aisha's place.

Live-in relationship doesn't quite define it, since their friendship was strictly platonic. What I liked was the way the movie portrayed their neighbourhood accepting it, and Sid's mom accepting it. It showed that society these days has loosened up quite a bit, become more liberal in it's thinking. Also, the gradual change in Sid - from a prodigal son to a responsible person who finally learns how to cook an omelette and clean up after himself - is done so very subtly, that in every frame you see something changing in him. Just a little bit, but a little bit nevertheless.

However, the movie is not all about Sid; it is equally about Aisha, and I loved her role, more so cos I could relate to her completely. Hell, tons of girls must relate to her! A single girl, away from her hometown, seeking independence, seeking an identity - yep, I love her! The way she takes Sid under her wing, patiently tolerating his nonsense, while at the same time trying to make her mark - I cannot think of another actress who can fit the bill better than Konkona Sen Sharma.

When finally Sid makes his career as a photographer, and patches things back with Dad, Aisha realizes she is in love with him - and she has no idea if he feels the same about her. Sid is back at his place, it's raining, and he reads her article on Mumbai Beat. How she came to Mumbai with high hopes, how she fell in love with the city. It's not just about the city, she writes, she fell in love with the city due to one person, that one person who was able to show her how special it all was. It's not hard to guess how the movie ends. It is, after all, a romantic comedy.

I am sure everyone out there has already seen this movie - if you haven't, run, run like the wind! To your DVD store, your laptop, wherever. For a full list of the characters, and other trivia on the movie, go to IMDB.

Raw Onion

[caption id="attachment_350" align="alignright" width="126" caption="What could beat a raw onion?!"]
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There are so many facets to the Onion.

It stinks. But people love it. It has so many layers, and it is, therefore, multi-dimensional. Just a bite of it brings an entirely new flavor to whatever you're eating. AND, it's after-taste lingers on, overpowering everything else, including everyone's senses in the room.

Onions make us cry. Those tears are not shed in vain - we can always come out of the kitchen and give our spouses a scare by not revealing the reason for our tear-stained face. If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, an onion a day keeps everyone away (Source: No idea who said it, but I know WHY they did ;-)).

So, erm, after a lot of consideration, I hit upon this name for my blog. Well, I didn't exactly hit upon it myself, my friends Hrish and Andy contributed. Andy, by the way, is responsible for the excellent tagline.

Bring the feedback onnnn!

OMG, Britisher enters Jagannath Temple!

So what?!

This Times of India article really made me go WTF. Not only was there a hue and cry about him entering the temple, but he was also handed over to police who let him go after "thorough verification and scrutiny". If only such thorough verification and scrutiny were reserved for more important things, maybe India would be a much better place.

There are scores of so-called holy men who wait outside the Jagannath Temple with brooms in their hands; if you look even the least bit gullible, they swing that broom on your head hitting you with it, and then demand money from you. Their reasoning - they warded off your "Shani" by that gesture, so if you didn't give them a hundred bucks rightaway, dude, you are so screwed by Shani Bhagwan. Even the main pujari is unscrupulous.

It is these people we need to be aware of, and maintain a distance from; not unwitting citizens who have done nothing wrong. Isn't it time for us to let go of petty beliefs and embrace people for what they are?

The Red Corridor

Scenario 01: Two friends, barely out of graduation, get selected for a postmaster's job. They break for lunch, and decide to have a simple meal at the tiny dhaba across the road. No sooner than they leave the post-office that bullets start flying around them, and a fierce gun battle starts between insurgents and the CRPF. They duck their heads and run for cover.

Scenario 02: A bank manager drives to work, looking furtively around him for attackers. He goes to the bank, locks up all the doors from inside. For any customer to enter, they have to identify themselves before the locks can be opened. He tries to make the 50 km journey back home before dark - it would be too dangerous otherwise.

These are not scenes copied from Sholay, and the setting is not militant-infested Kashmir. The two kids are my brother's friends, and the banker is my father. For them, this is just any other day in a tiny village of  interior Orissa. Bridges getting blown off, railway tracks torn off are all absorbed with just a nod of the head. Commonplace.

Sounds incredulous, isn't it?

We are talking about the home-bred, in-house gang of terrorists, AKA Maoists. The Maoist Movement which began as a simple fight for tribal justice has taken on alarming proportions. No longer can they be ignored as innocent tribals fighting for their rights, for food, for education. No longer can they classify themselves as Naxalites, guerrillas, or by any other damn name. They are terrorists, pure and simple.

The Maoist Empire is a staggering 1500 crore rupee corporation; their terror spans several states, most severely hit being Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal, and Bihar. No, they don't spend a penny to help their fellow men; on the contrary, they extort money from almost everyone, including school teachers. They kill at will, most often than not tagging their victims as police informers. You can get more information on the Maoist modus operandi here.

Bridges, schools, railway tracks, telephone towers, buildings, nothing can escape their wrath. Their latest attack, blowing up a bus with a landmine and killing over 40 people left me open mouthed. Chidambaram says they get their weapons from across the border, maybe from China, and Bangladesh. Ah, what sweet neighbors we have! Pakistan, China, Bangladesh - kudos to you people! It wasn't enough that you took parts of our country with you, you had to continue poking at what's left.

If all of this terror and violence is one side of the story, the other, more important one is how little we have done to combat it. They keep gunning our security personnel down like insects, they kill civilians, they smuggle heavy artillery from across the border right from under our nostrils, and all we do is fart out a "strong statement" saying we will not take it lightly. Manmohan Singh declared them as the most serious internal threat to India's national security (Source: WIKI). Yeah, that should have them quivering and running for cover, right?

We have so many causes that get their quota of attention - Saving tigers, yes, they're important. Treating animals ethically, well, they deserve it. Going green, good for the environment. Do it. But hey, can someone focus on this cause, too? Maybe get to move the government to take stricter measures. At the very least, no more killings. Pull some security personnel from the thousands allocated to all those fatso politicians and place them somewhere where they can feel a sense of pride that they're involved in what they originally signed up for.

No more bloodshed, no more red. Let's say goodbye to the red corridor. I, for one, hate it.

Yes, I am back to farming.

I left my farm high and dry a few months ago, and now I'm back with a vengeance. Most of my waking hours are spent thinking of ways to make my farm better; at least I have no control over what I dream about, so at night thankfully Farmville leaves me alone.

Tending to my livestock, rounding up baby animals, adopting lost ones, sheltering homeless calves, ugly ducklings, and Llamas take the most part of my busy day. I have to admit I have no clue on earth what kind of an animal is the Llama; the closest I've come to knowing a Llama is the Dalai Lama ;-). This doesn't stop me from tending to the animal with great fervour, asking my friends to help if I come across a lost Llama in my farm, et al.

Oh, and yes, I am the proud owner of a library, a school, a couple of greenhouses, cottages with picket fences, a complete forest with every type of tree imaginable - cherry, passion fruit, durian, olive, magnolia, yeah well, you get the idea.

How can I forget the whole business of growing plants?! It is a painstaking process indeed - plow the field, plant seeds, wait for them to grow, harvest them on time, and repeat the damn process all over again. God forbid if you forgot the harvest timing! A bunch of withered crops are not the right way to start the day - they make your heart beat funny and you are subdued for quite some time, without even realizing why.

This experience made me realize how, if I am saddened by a bunch of withered virtual crops that don't even exist, farmers who toil day and night on their farms, waiting patiently for the rains to come on time, would feel if at the end of the day their crops are destroyed by a freak thunderstorm. Heartbreaking, to say the least.

For all you people who loathe Farmville and who make fun of us virtual farmers - please don't. I don't know if I can ever own a library in real life, or if I'll ever have a pretty cottage with white picket fences. I cannot explain it, but when I tend to my farm I feel happy. I feel happpy when I pet my animals and they jump a little, and tiny red hearts come floating out of them. I feel happy when I see my crops ready to be harvested, and I feel happy when I harvest a perfect bunch of red tulips.

Okay, I just realized this post has become too long - enough about farming, now! Will greet you with an entirely different post very shortly :-)

The Strange Case of Krystian Bala

Came across a most astonishing piece of news on the internet today; you might think you've seen it all, but I guess this man sets a new precedent. I've heard of many strange cases, but Krystian Bala must surely take away the prize for the most WTF crime ever committed.

A Polish author, Krystian Bala published his first novel Amok in the year 2003; some time later, police found an eerie similarity between a murder committed in the book, to an unsolved murder that took place in Poland in the year 2000. Getting suspicious, police began to track the murder again, matching it with the clues and events written in the novel.

In what might very well be a WTF moment, the author turned out to be the murderer, later drawing on his own experience to draft his masterpiece of a novel. Whoa, hold on - no, this genius didn't stop at that; he was at the time working on his second novel, and was also planning another murder at the same time. Guess this guy gives "writing from his experience" an entirely new meaning.

You can read the full stories here and here.

The Virago of Veerpuri

The Virago of Veerpuri got me hooked from the word go - this was the first ever mystery that I had ever read - and as luck would have it, was a mystery that was left unsolved.

The story was published on Chandamama as a series, appearing first in the May issue of the year 1997. It belonged to an era where every single piece of fiction was riveting - full of kings, queens, princesses, evil tantriks, royal astrologers, predictions of doom, the entire lot. You get the picture.

I was living in a town where the only accessible reads were academic text-books; I grew up with my grandparents, and they belonged to the clan who thought kids who didn't read Chandamama growing up would grow up into unspeakable adults. In all fairness, I loved the little book. I literally pined for the 4th of every month, waiting hungrily for the mailman to deliver my copy.

To cut a long story short, The Virago of Veerpuri mysteriously stopped after a few episodes, just when the story was at its most interesting. To this day, it remains like that grain of sand in my eye, that seed stuck in my tooth, that thorn in my foot - I just can't let go. I keep remembering it from time to time, and wonder how the story might have unraveled.

Ah well, wouldn't bode well for me to get nostalgic again, so here goes - all you Chandamama fans, you can go through the archives of the book by going here. And for you old-timers who did follow the story, and know what happened to it - Yours truly is waiting to hear it.

Earth Hour 2010

The Earth Hour campaign, hosted by WWF, is on 27th March this year; and it's getting viral like nobody's business. Millions of households are expected to go dark tomorrow at 2030 hours, in an attempt to curb the menace of Global Warming.

The stats are impressive - Earth Hour 2009 had one billion participants, and this year is expected to cross that figure; 121 countries have counted themselves in, and a whopping 812 global landmarks are expected to turn off their lights for the occasion. The list includes biggies like the Eiffel Tower, Niagara Falls, The Leaning Tower of Pisa, and more. Closer home, we will see the Red Fort in darkness tomorrow. (Source: WIKI)

While all this is pretty awesome, wouldn't it be a lot simpler if the governments involved just cut off the power for that one hour? I know, it's forced participation that way, but c'mon, think how many participants the event would have! I certainly wouldn't mind a one-hour power cut, especially if it was in the interests of the global community!

So there, now that you know, try to use as less power as possible during that hour - at other times too, for that matter. If this means the day-time temperature is gonna drop by even 1 degree Celsius, I'm willing to try it out.

I hate Global Warming, and I know you do, too. On board, then!

Avatar Blues

Everyone said it was the best movie they had ever seen. Everyone said, they were surely going to watch it a second, third time. Everyone said if you haven't seen Avatar yet, you haven't lived.

I finally decided to see what the fuss was all about. Or rather, I finally got a chance to see what the fuss was all about when my friend got hold of three tickets at the famed IMAX 3D Screen at Prasad's.



The movie in a nutshell - Bad guys target good guys. One bad guy turns into good guy. Finds true love.  Defeats bad guys. End of movie. Throw in tons and tons of special effects, cheesy lines, lots of bluish, creepy looking things, and you've got Avatar. I'm sorry guys, I know you loved the movie, but I just don't see what made the movie so lovable.

Frankly, I developed a migraine about 30 minutes into the movie; whether it was due to the movie itself, the sweltering Hyderabad heat, or the uncomfortable oversized 3D glasses, we'll never know. But yeah, I'm inclined to blame the movie :D We waited in vain for some awesome scene that would make us go WOW!!!, but that never happened.

Pandora was full of neon lighting, huge tails, as-ugly-as-you-can-make-em monsters and birds, and what not. I mean, how creepy were those earthworm-like wiggly things in the Na'vi braids?! And how many of you felt the Na'vis - with their bows and arrows slung on their backs - resembled the Hindu Gods?

What I do acknowledge, is the hardwork put in by hundreds of behind-the-scenes crew; Apparently, each frame (1/24 of a second) of the CGI scenes took an average of 47 man-hours to complete (Source: IMDB).

That certainly is impressive, and while I'm in awe of it, I did not really enjoy it.

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest

The third and final book of the Millennium Saga begins on a fairly dark note - Lisbeth Salander is battling death with a bullet lodged inside her head; not more than two rooms away is Zala (in the hospital with an axe stuck in his head by Miss Salander) screaming bloody revenge.

Yeah, that's Lisbeth for you! Funny how this scrawny, devil-may-care, bisexual-and-proud-of-it, outrageous delinquent rouses the gentlest, protective, shaking-your-head-with-a-grin feeling.

Lisbeth is awaiting trial for three murders - and it is obviously up to Mikael Blomkvist to prove her innocence.  With Lisbeth locked away in the hospital, and also not on talking terms with him (she refers to him as Kalle Bastard Blomkvist), this might easily be the toughest task he's ever encountered. As he delves deeper into the seemingly simple case, he comes up with startling revelations - the sinster plot goes all the way into the very heart of the Swedish Secret Service, with consequences that might topple the government.

I guess what sets these novels apart from others of their genre are their approach towards women; these books do have women targeted as the weaker sex, but they also show how they spring back with vigor; they show that today's women are independent, strong, completely capable of taking on the world, come what may. Also that it's mighty foolish to meddle with them - as Bjurman the Advocate found out, in a very painful, and life-altering way (Thanks to Lisbeth, obviously ;-)). Women in these books have strong characters, and not one single girl in the trilogy has been portrayed as a damsel-in-distress.

Men need not feel left out here - Mikael Blomkvist is quite the hero, let me assure you! Book lover or not, these three novels are a must read for everyone.

Beg, borrow, or steal - but get your hands on these beauties. They are totally, totally worth it.

KitKats and Orang-utans

Incredulous though it may seem, your eating Kitkats might ultimately lead to the extinction of one of nature's most loved primates - The Orang-utan. How?

Looks like Nestlé's palm oil providers destroy precious Indonesian rainforests to get those chocolates made. Not only will this lead to serious climate change, it's also going to result in the orang-utans getting wiped out from the face of the earth.

Going by the statement issued by the company, Nestlé has announced very graciously that they're going to keep using these killer methods till the year 2015, at the very least. After which they have a committment to start using "Certified Sustainable Palm Oil" once they're done with 5 more years of burning up the planet. You can read their complete statement here.

What with all the Global Warming and Climate Summits going on in full swing, it's time someone took note of this. And Greenpeace did.

Join Greenpeace in their campaign - "Nestlé Killer - Ask Nestlé to give rainforests a break!" The next time you feel like a break, maybe you might want to re-consider your options. I know I will.

Facebook in Hyderabad! Woohoo!

Ah well, good news for Facebook fans around here - FB is launching in Hyderabad!

The internet is agog with this news, and is also flooded with comments - apparently, this revelation hasn't gone well with folks from other cities. People, people, if you are so mighty jealous of this fact, why don't you just move to Hyderabad here, eh? ;-) I am sure the team of Facebook had good reasons for having their first office here; obviously, they must've given the matter a LOT more thought than we do, and must've thought of a lot more reasons for having it's office here, than we can even possibly think of.

FB's main competition in India, Orkut has been around since quite a few years, and been ruling the roost for some time - but off late, there has been a change in trend, maybe largely owing to the tons of applications Facebook has to provide, and, of course, Twitter. Personally speaking, around two years back I was so addicted to Orkut that rarely a day passed without me doing some activity on it; now, it's come down to maybe once a month, and that is just to be active on the Blogger forums I'm a part of. Twitter is still catching on, in the sense that it doesn't offer much in terms of what we office people call "time-pass", catering mainly to the business person.

Whatever the facts might be, and however popular Facebook might turn out to be, it's team is going to have a challenge on their hands, and I guess they'll have to venture forward with caution.

It's the Online Sales and Operations team who's going to get recruited first - inside news is that the FB team in the US have contacted Adecco India, Hyderabad branch, to start the process of hiring. So buckle up all you sales people, and update your resumes!

And to the Facebook team, here's wishing you best of luck!

Babes Day Out!

It's been a ritual for me ever since I can remember - Every Women's Day, I get up in the morning, rack my brains for something witty, and SMS it to my whole address book. A couple of people reply back; and that's it. The rest of the day is pretty uneventful.

Not this time!

The babes at Pramati decided we'd go down to the cafetaria and spend some time together in honor of the occasion - it was our special day, after all. Our HR came over with a yummy chocolate cake which vanished in a matter of seconds, all diets forgotten. We got to talking, and suddenly one of us decided, wouldn't it be great if we took turns in sharing the good things we find in each other. What started for fun got serious, and pretty soon, it started in earnest.

I was reminded of the chain mail we receive every few days of a teacher, asking her students to list out one good quality against everyone's name, and how, years later, it turned out everyone saved their lists. At the time, I waived that mail off as silly, one of those mass mails you usually come across. How wrong I was!

There were around 14 girls at our table, and it was fun getting to know each one from other people's perspective. I realized how my perception of them was so very different from what they really were. When eventually my turn came, I could just stare back open-mouthed. I never gave a moment's thought to how the world views me; and hearing them say all that about me left me astonished. One of them described me as vulnerable - a quality I would never have associated with, and well, so on and so forth.

I know I'll cherish those moments for as long as possible, and I want to thank all those people who made it that way - Shifa, Apoorva, Tanuja, Namisha, Swati, Nehal, Sangeetha, Sushmita, Ranjana, Chandana, Mrinalini, Deepika, and last but not the least Amrita (I know you were not there, but hey, the times you, me, and Shifa spend together are all special, don't you think? ;-))

Thank you ladies! That was the most special Women's Day ever!

Oscar Fever 2010!

The Oscars are back - and I guess with quite some surprises, for me, at least.

The Hurt Locker grabbed the spotlight this year with an incredible six wins, including the Best Picture and Best Direction; Kathryn Bigelow created history by becoming the first woman to win an Oscar in the Best Direction category.



This one is even more memorable for her considering the fact that James Cameron, her ex-husband was also in the race for the same award - with a movie that's already been over-hyped and over-praised around the world. Good for you, Kathryn! ;-)

Sandra Bullock won the Oscar for Best Actress - am I happy for her! I've always admired her, from Speed to Miss Congeniality to Two Weeks Notice. Avatar hogged three Oscars - I'm darn happy it didn't go on to win the Best Picture award  - I somehow felt the movie was grossly overrated.

The win that excited me the most was for the animated movie, Up - I watched this movie a few days ago, and it really pierced my heart.  That it also won an Oscar for Best Music is not surprising, too; it's soundtrack moved me to tears.

So, fellows, these are the wins that were of interest to me - for a full list of Oscar 2010 winners, go here.

Karthik Calling Karthik

Will you hang up that phone already?!

This is one movie which tested my patience beyond recognition, making me feel like screaming. I always thought Farhan Akhtar was into offbeat, and fresh themes; what made him choose this one, I'll never know. Tried and tested and failed at least half a dozen times, the plot is so glaringly obvious that about 15 minutes into the movie we predicted how the plot would turn out to be, and also how the climax would unfold. Bingo! No surprises there!

Karthik is a mouse and a doormat who gets trampled on by everyone, and is literally invisible. One day it crosses the line, with him getting fired and everything, and he loses it completely. Lo and behold, he starts getting calls everyday at 5AM on the dot, from - no surprises here, either - Karthik  himself! Soon, his life starts taking an upward turn, he gets the girl of his dreams, blah blah. Sooner said than done, trouble starts brewing when Karthik and Karthik have  a brief altercation and life turns upside down for the real Karthik.

Lots of potholes in the movie, Deepika Padukone looks and acts like an amateur. Even the way she smokes a cigarette is so very put-on! Ugh! And Farhan, what the heck happened dude?! Why?! This is the one question I've been asking myself ever since. Apart from a couple of scenes that interested us, not a single frame could grab our attention. The songs are okay, hummable for a few days but nothing noteworthy.

Suffice to say that you can give this one a miss. Go watch some other movie. Or better still, stay at home and rent some classic from your nearby DVD store.

At the very least, you'll save yourself a headache from going out in the sun.

The Girl Who Played With Fire

Sequels usually discourage me; however, I had an unbearable itch to get my hands on this book even before I was done with the first one.

If reading the first book was like that whiff of fresh air just before the rain, this one felt like riding the eye of the storm.

Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander are back -  albeit not on talking terms with each other - Lisbeth is named as the prime suspect in a series of gory murders and Mikael takes it upon himself to prove to the world that she's innocent.



They say the most complex whodunits have a really simple answer. An answer so simple, you wonder why you didn't see through it rightaway. The entire mystery whirlpools around a man named Zala, a man no one has seen, no one has heard of, and yet somehow his name is linked to a plethora of damning crimes.

Lisbeth Salander is as impossible as ever; from being a fugitive from law, to being shot in the head and buried alive, Salander does it all. I wonder what it is about this scrawny, crazy, rude, and headstrong girl that makes one want to protect her, though she is hell-bent on alienating everyone on earth.

There are quite a few new characters introduced - off the top of my head, Inspector Bublanski, Inspector Modig, Faste, Peter Teleborian, Bjorck, and so many other characters I cannot remember all their names. Unlike other books where these characters are sidelined and the main character is given prime importance, Steig Larsson makes sure all of them get their due.

And, there is Mikael, of course - one more addition to my dreamboy wishlist ;-) Mind you, he is not your run-of-the-mill action hero with a Greek God physique. Fiftyish, greying hair, bespectacled playboy suits him the best, if ever there was one such.

People, this book is un-putdownable right from the start. I promptly purchased Book 03 online, and completed this one by staying up all night.

Stay tuned for the third book of the series, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest. Coming soon.

Help! Haiti Campaign

The recent disastrous Haiti earthquake has left a lot of hapless people in its wake - and it is up to us to help them. The earthquake that claimed a staggering 200,000 lives has left more than 250,000 people injured, and around 1.5 million homeless. Though relief efforts are going on, adequate help hasn't reached the survivors yet.

SocialTwist has launched a Help Haiti campaign that enables your brand to donate funds to the quake victims. You can create your own Help! Haiti campaign, with SocialTwist bearing all the infrastructure costs. You can know more details and register for your campaign by clicking here. You can also request for more information by sending an email to helphaiti@socialtwist.com.

About SocialTwist - SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend is a world leader in referral marketing products. With a client list including the likes of Disney GAP, Barnes&Noble, Monster, NDTV, Intel, KLM, and many more, Tell-a-Friend is poised on the brink of bringing in a new era of referral marketing.

Breast Cancer Awareness - By revealing bra color?!

Yes folks, you can increase awareness about breast cancer - by revealing the color of your bra on your Facebook status :-|

God knows how this fad came into being, but I personally feel this is insulting to people - in the sense that people are updating their status message to titillate, rather than for any other reason. Some examples I found in my own Facebook page - black and grey zebra stripes, bright red, magenta, and this one from a humor-loving soul - commando! Believe me, for families with breast cancer victims, this is simply not funny.  And how exactly is this helping, anyway? Apart from garnering a few "XYZ and 10 other people like this!"s, some rather questionable comments, ooohs, LOLs, and other irritating compliments, this trend does nothing.

Please, gurls - Trends are good, being "in" is good, but hey, do not follow every Tom, Dick, and Harry trend that comes your way! Have fun - I am a firm believer of having fun anytime, anywhere - but no, not like this. If people are so very keen on helping, then do something worthwhile.

And no, that doesn't include letting the world know the color of your undies, thank you very much.