You live in the city if....

1) You spend more petrol waiting for the traffic signal than you spend for driving.

*2) The chief minister has taken for granted that he, his family members and party members bring good luck and prosperity, hence posted their smiling faces on the dividers of every main road; you can look at it on your way to school/college/office - for a good day's start . I know Tata Docomo does that for advertisement. Well, ....

*3) On your way home you see both sides of the road lighted brighter than the sun with tube lights (ruling party's some number anniversary celebrations) and reach home to see there is a power cut for maintenance work.

4) You pay 25 bucks more for a dosa just because the hotel's got smooth flooring, ambient lights, a jug of water on every table and a menu card; forgotten is the fact that it has an equally dirty kitchen as any other hotel.

5) Auto-rickshaws replace the vehicles you saw in Tokyo Drift.

6) A lorry/GOVERNMENT bus honks right into your ass even before the traffic signal displays 10 seconds more to green.

7) You are held by traffic Sergeants who skipped the course on Charge-Sheets and why they are issued.

*8) The cement built dividers in the main roads are dug to hold the flags of the ruling party.

9) Your work never gets done if you go by the rules, but people reach you at home and provide services, if you are good at fraud.

10) As a common man (in Neeraj Pandey's script), you notice all this, yet adjust with it, busy on your adventure to make money. :P

*Conditions applied - Local Politician's creativity must.

New House, Rahman and now in Cbe!

After all the wait, it happened again. It always happens so easily. If I had saved all the days (and MONEY) I spent for shifting, I'd have been richer now. However, I've rambled about it to too many people now that some might start getting bored now. :)

One thing I liked about my new place is that I get this feel about living in the city. At the corner of my street is a main road that is almost always crowded, thanks to Sutherland, even after midnight it is a happening place. We'll see what Velachery has is store.

Finally, a long time dream came true, last Sunday! A magical evening I would call it. Rahman was performing live somewhere like 500 meters in front of me. In one word I can call it WOW! We had to drive for about 95 kms from Chennai (another dream come true - long drive). ECR was a boon because my speedometer touched a triple digit mark (yet another dream). We (Me, Neeraj, Srinath and Ananth) were so tired from the drive and from the little bore that the organizers subjected us to (in the name of promotion). Neeraj and me were further worn out from overnight shifting. I should accept that my eyes were slowly turning in.

And there we saw in front of us a big puff of smoke. It was happening. We (70,000 people) jumped up and stood on our chairs, listening to "Jaagae Hain". He stormed into the stage and I knew I was screeching at the top of my voice, both hands raised in the air. Everyone shrilled their voice to the highest note possible, increasing their note every time believing the next note would bring them to his attention. All that was running in my mind was NOTHING. I couldn't remember the last time my mind went so blank. IT WAS HAPPENING! I WAS WATCHING HIM LIVE.

"Mustafa" was obviously the pick of the show, 70,000 pairs of hands were waving, like in the movie. Lots of people had their cell phone displays on to depict the candles in the movie. With Khwaja mere Khwaja he attained new levels of Rahmanism. He was sitting there on stage with all the Thejas and the stage synchronizing well with the tunes as well as his attire. We were in cloud 99. The stage settings need a special mention here. There was a wide screen covering the stage end-to-end. The display inlcuded graphics, pictures and video clips. When he was singing Dil se re, it seemed as though he was standing amidst a sea of fire. The settings for Athiradee (Shivaji), Kannalane (Bombay), Jiya jale (Dil se) and Dilli 6 theme were stupendous. When he ended the show with Jai Ho and Vande Matram, the time was an hour before midnight. I had to drive back home, attend to an aching back, get up early in the morning and prepare for a presentation in office. But, all I could think off was "Why din he sing Ella Pugazhum and Masakali?"

It was a breezy drive all the way back home (One more dream - a night drive on the ECR). I did not speak to Ananth throughout the drive, nor did he, except for the occassional "Are you awake" checks. I was sure he was running through the entire concert in his head as I was. I'm waiting for the DVD of the show, which is expected according the organizers. I want to find out what He was talking about when he announced in the end, "We'll try to give a better show next time". It was the perfect DREAM COME TRUE DAY FOR ME. :)

I wanted to write about this since Monday, but I was kinda held up in office and Airtel is still giving me a hard time for my internet to be setup. Three days went by, just thinking about last Sunday. All I know is I reached Cbe yesterday morning and so fast two days have run by. Its so chilly in here. I was driving back home last night after a yummy dinner at Kerala Club with Jp and Vibushan (I know who is jealous now :P) and I felt like I should have thought twice before locking the Diwali complementary Jacket in my office desk.

Thats that about last week. Happy Diwali to the very few readers (FANS & NON-FANS). :P

Five weeks and a celebrity!

WARNING
A post full of content, but not much sense!

September was a long month. It started with celebrations and stuff, added a twinge of sickness in the first week for which I had been to Cbe and came back in full form, two weeks of slogging hard work, 3 days of fun with my buddies at Kodai, a week of little work, 3 days of home food and homeliness in Cbe and then a short week of house-hunting. Thus, October started with finalizing on a match box for a house. The worst part is I'm going to be paying 1000 bucks extra for a place that is way smaller than where I live now. All this turned me into that slow, non-energetic, sly person since last Monday.

I've been trying to pull myself together but still it keeps coming and going. I kept putting off the date to pay the advance for the new house and finally did it yesterday. Considering the nomadic life I've been leading for the past few years (since 2001), this is not a big deal. I've got very less things to shift this time and I've gotten pretty good at it. However, I felt very bad last evening. Thanks to the great TNEB, my SMPS is out of order again and it has gone for replacement for the third time since June. That ruled out FRIENDS/anything fun at home. I just did not want to go back and continue reading Nora Roberts' Angels Fall.

I told my cousin to book tickets for Wake Up Sid and we hit City Center, had dinner there and headed to the entrance of INOX. Night shows at INOX have become casual these days. I usually see groups of IT friends (from the formals they wear, at times from their ID card) catching up, families (I mean young couples) and at times someone alone. My cousin and I were waiting for the security to open the barricades so that we could go in.

"Yuvan da", gasped my cousin. For a moment, I heard it as "Ivan da", the Tamil slang for "Guess who it is". I turned to look at this short guy, wearing a flat cap, with the flap of which he had managed to hide his face obviously-well. He was dressed casually and had his girl by his side, who was dressed in a pink t-shirt and a jean three fourths. It was Yuvan Shankar Raja.

At first, I was like, "Cool!". Then I thought, "What's the big deal!" (I was in a bad mood in first place).

We followed the crowd and were now waiting in front of the screening hall, waiting for the now showing display to start. I could see people (those who identified him) staring at him. Few groups here and there (just realizing people) were debating as to whether it was actually him. He did not stay in one place. While his wife and another female (a cute one from some reality show, according to my cousin) were checking out the ice-creams they were gonna sigh at, Yuvan kept loitering here and there, carrying a cold look on his face. He simply couldn't stand in one place. I could say he was humming some tune in his mind. I kept my sight rolling from end-to-end and at times caught his. This went on for a while and once I blinked at him and he smiled in return.

Slowly, the crowd started moving into the hall and I was waiting for space that I could catch a word with him or something. He was surrounded by his friends I believe and I was losing patience. Finally, I thought I'll pass on it and went inside the hall and settled on the seats. After few minutes of silence, my cousin asked me, "You wanna go talk to him?". I was like, "Chal! Lets go!" and we started walking towards the door. However, he was entering the hall and we walked back to our seats.

About the movie: Too good! Nothing special, but the flow was good and did not bore us. Ranbir is one hero to look out for.