Mumbai Indians Out :(

Mumbai Indians' loss to Chennai Super Kings ensured they are out of IPL2. It left me with a dilemna of whom to support now.

Being a cricket fan from Jharkhand who lived in Delhi for 4 years and now living in Bangalore for last 3 years I need to find a new team to cheer. Mumbai Indians was the first choice for the sole reason of Sachin Tendulkar. Wherever GOD resides followers too reach there. I found that the case with most of the people who are not from the states to which IPL teams belong. Sachin's presence drew a lot of support from neutral people all over India. Infact few from IPL states also supported Mumbai because of Sachin. When Mumbai was playing Rajasthan in a close encounter few days back, I was matching match in one of the Malls here in Bangalore. Except one or two rest of the crowd cheered Sachin's batting and team. Unfortunately they lost and everyone left the Mall disappointed.

I guess I will cheer my present living place for today's match which they need to win at any cost to remain in the league. The opponent tops the points table and have been a dominating side for the whole season. Hopefully Bangalore wins and I will not have to look for the next option again. Any ways the party tonight gives me a chance to watch the match with much more people than the other matches.

Eventful Nite : Spirited Way of spending a Nite

Last to last Saturday, 19th April to be exact, I spent the nite aka "Jim Carey Saturday Nite" style. It all started with a serious thought among ourselves (me, my two roomies-Jazz & Sid- and one of our office friend- Raju) that because of our busy schedules we have not done any "chutiyapa" for long (daily routine of chutiyapas are not counted as such). We finally decided to go to Corner House in Carlton Towers, a place in Bangalore marked with the presence of so called sophosticated people. The plan was made in a nearby dhaba on dinner.

We returned to our house after dinner. The only person supposed to change the clothes was me as I was wearing a very casual t-shirt and a short half pant which is generally used by me for sleeping. And there started the argument which set the tone of nite. I convinced everyone to change to casual night dress kinda stuff for the outing. Shoes were replaced with slippers, jeans with 3/4ths, shirts with "Om" t-shirts, etc. On top of that we put on some cool funny stuffs used during the annual fashion show in our companywhich were brought specially for the IPL match. Though it was not allowed for the match by the police we used it on that eventful nite. Sequence of events that followed:

1. Parked the bikes behind carlton towers, got on the attires and entered the building. We could see every eye present there looking on directly or trying to see form the corner. They were not sure whether to laugh or to ignore but the dresses were were meant for the former. We believed one who doesn't laugh tonite he can't for his whole life.
2. While crossing TGIF, a waiter shouted from back "Sir.....very nice dress" giving us a thumbs up.
3. On the Corner House counter a small girl to his father "Papa, I am scared". Papa was himself busy in having his share of laugh.
4. While paying the money, a couple just behind us murmered "Are these guys coming from a fancy dress competition?". Sid replied "This is our way of having fun, you can join too".
5. At the table I was trying to control the hairy stuff on my hat. A lady closeby quizzed "If you are not bale to mange your long hairs why don't you use hair band?". The reply was "This is for the first time for me, why don't you help me out?"
6. Every kid's eyes were so much focussed on us that the kid was no longer interested in his ice cream.
7. We had a long photo session in the central location of the place amusing most of the people out there.
8. The person who clicked us asked "Where are you people from? Have you people been set by the authorites here for some promotion?". The reply was- "Did you smiled on seeing us?". He nodded. "That's what we are here for. It brings smiles to our faces too". The chutiyapa outing transformed a bit philosophical out there.
9. Next we went to Brigade Road.On the way, We decided to thank everyone who smiles on seeing us.
10. On MG Road there was a big jam making us the centre of attraction for everyone waiting on the red light.There were kids clapping, people smiling, auto wallahs laughing and people pointing us to each other. This became more explicit once I raised myself on the back seat of the bike to check Jazz's bike. A girl in an auto just behind us "Is that a girl?". The moment I turned she immediately responded "oh my god!! he is a guy". I smiled and turned back.
11. On brigade road, a girl with her BF smiled while crossing us. We all shouted "Thank You" which made her bewildered- "for what?"
12. Sid danced with few road side children out there. They were after our stylish hats.
13. While coming back the same girl passed us once more but this time it was she who said "Thank you" and we responded with a "Welcome."
14. An auto wallah at MG brigade juction- "Inhe kaha se chodh diya hai? (From where they have been left off?)"
15. Another drunk auto wallah- "India is great." We replied "Angrezo bharat chodo(Englishmen leave our country), Inquilab Jindabaad " (they have already left 60+ years ago) and had a photo session with them.
16. We met few of my college juniors in front of Empire Hotel where we paused for half an hour. We were havng first experience of that place in nite. So many girls were being brought to the lodge just in front of us. All kinda combinations were present- 1 girl & 3 boys; 4 girls & 1 boy; 1 girl & 1 boy, etc. A pair whom we thought to be a couple ended up in a girl accompanied by her pimp.
17. Meanwhile 3/4 girls arrived in a Maruti Swift on the other side of the road. They started shouting "I like that cap, please come over here....please please once" as if they require it for their orgasm. When we had started we never thought of encountering such a situation.They must have been too hot to handle for the only guy with them.
18. When we were finally coming back on the church street, 3/4 fully drunk guys caught us and got sentimental.
"This cap is too good",
"I love this cap"
"I love sardarjee" considering Jazz a one of the fashion designers.
"I love dilliwaalahs" and many more. For one of them Jaipur and Rajkot were kind of rhyming words- I don't know how? They clicked photos with us. One of them got too senti to have a photograph with the hat I was wearing.
19. At last while returning we saw a Lamborghini.

The whole nite was filled with many more intersting incidents. And everyone who heared about our eventful nite doubted our sanity.

P.S: This world is really a small place. When I sent the photographs to one of my friends he immediately recognized those 3/4 drunk guys as they were his collegemates.

Movies Movies and Movies

Movies Movies and Movies. This is a thing for which I have been regular since I shifted from the initial accomodation provided by my company in Bangalore and it rightly coincided with Jazz bringing his Yamaha from his hometown and HB buying his new Apache. And since then there have been movies every weekend, may be two in a week also. And most of the credit goes to HB for enthu that he kept showing to make people watch more and more movies. A big thing that changed from IIT time is that I don't watch movies on computer rather in theatres. And another change is it can be any film without any starcast or good previews, i mean if we decide we need to watch a film we go irrespective of anything and thats why list includes films like "Shiva", "Naksha"(3rd film in Bangalore), "Woh Lamhe", etc. The journey started with "Omkara"(costliest movie I ever saw); proceeded with "Lage Raho Munnabhai"(which i saw thrice in theatre) during ofice hours, on the day I was allotted my project and on the encouragement of my boss; and went on getting strengthened with all the movies that I have seen till now. We though prefer a bit cheap theatres as we are the regular guys watching almost every film in theatres, but still that is a preference and not a necessity as many films are shown only in multiplexes.

There has been gud times when we watched films in gud number but "Dhoom 2" was the one in which went in larges nos (11 if i remember correctly). It was also the first one for which we bought tickets in advance(infact we went twice),"Guru" being the the second. There are different kind of experiences associated with different films as well. "Naksha" was the one in which Sasu did not turned up(that also along with Sid'd bike) even after buying tickets which was because of the start of series of "events" that later made us associate with Sasu a lot.

"Jaan-e-man" is the only film which we watched in our group but HB was not there. This film is the one in which our intrinsic qualities of comments/cheering/anticheering etc became extrinsic to everyone as film came out to be a proper skit in first half. Omkara is the only film in which Lalit accompanied us. "Honeymoon travels Pvt Ltd" is the only film which I did not watched with the whole group. "Babul" is the film which is on the top of the films on the recieving end of HB's abuses. Though I dont remember HB abusing any other film to any extent. We have watched most of the films in Rex or Symphony with PVR fortunate enough to be our host for one or two. "Vivah" has been the one for which we travelled maximum distance to watch in GandhiNagar. The endless list also includes "Bhagam Bhag", "Saalam-e-ishq", "Nishabd", "Casino Royale", "Don", etc.

May be its a weekend effect or something else but it surely drives us (atleast HB and me) to watch films. This may be just for time pass or may be bacause of habit of watching films or being movie buff or may be there is no concern now for the money that I spend on these films or just to carry up the image that I have build over the days by watching new films in hall or may be to have break from the very scheduled monotonous life(though this has also started to become monotonous) or may be a mix of all; but this has now been regular with me for past 6 moths.

After the rent that I pay for my sweet home, I believe movie tickets are the thing that comes second on my monthly expenditure (not considering food as it is essential). But what I can say surely about this habit is it definitely gives me a break from everything and this is the time during which there are no concerns, no thoughts, no tension about anything because apart from enjoying film, my film making and dramatics pursuit make me take interest in cinematogaraphy, camera angles, overall directions, predictions of the film without thinking for other considerations. Though I try not discuss these anymore with people out here as I have been on recieving end for few times on starting the discussion.

Ans I believe this is not going to stop in near future with a long queue of films (includes everykind) awaiting for we people to watch them with "not getting bored" spirit.

Fever is back

The fever is back and yes its back with a bang! I am talking about the fever which will be gripping atleast 8 countries in the world for next about one and half months. And for India this will be like a full envoirnment, ambience, enthusiasm, passion, influence, integrity, emotions, etc of a big festival which will there for so long, atleast till the INDIAN team is performing according to their hopes. This World Cup will be largest in terms of teams(16) participating but actually the cup will start once the fight between top 8 teams begins. I have not seen anything in this country with so much diversity uniting people to such an extent. This is one thing which brings people from all regions, customs, languages, beliefs(including superstitious beliefs), religions, economic class to cheer for the same cause and even if their personal concerns and loyalties comes up, the final hope is all the same.

On the personal front WC generated very good memories each time it arrived. In fact its the 1992 WC that i can remember as the one which made me mad about watching cricket and this madness only grew up with the time. India winning against Pakistan and Javed Miandad's frog jumps may be the moments which will remain fresh for almost everyone who watched the WC. Otherwise India losing few close encounters with against Australia in particular(I remember people shouting out six and then watching Raju getting run out) and the rain rule ruining SA party was the most worse in terms of emotions.

1996 was the one which helped Sachin start his world record breaking streak. And for sure Ajay Jadeja's blast against Waqar will be there in Indian cricket history for many years to come. But the semifinal will remain buried sadly in many people's heart. 1999 was the one successfull for many on personal fronts(Rahul,Saurav) but yeah India won the little battle "thrice" in a row.

2003 was a special one because that gave a chance to the present generation to watch Indian playing the final and the result was the worst one can think of. But again "Sachin is God" was proved. The six against Shoaib, Caddick and other innings are worth watching million of times. But the glory still remains unachieved. This has been the WC which I enjoyed watching most becuse of the hostel ambience and about 400 people turning hostel TV rooms into grounds with all kind of cheering and anti cheering that one would have loved to be a part of. It was an era which everyone will like to be repeated for every such occasion and I will surely miss many people and discussions around here while watching WC.

Every WC has moments which make one joyful as well as full of sorrow or anger as if it was not a game but a part of passed time of their own life. May be this WC will bring the best end to my as well as other's hopes but what I am sure is that this is going to effect normal life of many people out there with the time of matches not matching with the timing of biological life and also may be the productivity and work efficiency of the country as a whole will also suffer.