Thank you for Tom and Jerry

I read the sad news today that Joseph Barbera, who was co-creater of famous cartoon series of Tom and Jerry, has died. Thank you Mr Barbera for giving me and my children many moments of unbridled joy. May your soul rest in peace.

Mr Barbera also created Yogi Bear, The Flintstone, Top Cat and Scooby Doo comic characters.

It is a wonderful pleasure to watch Tom and Jerry anytime, any day. I particularly like the expressions of Tom.

When I had recently purchased Sony Ericsson K750i mobile phone, I had mentioned to my childrens that it can also play video clips. The first ever demand from my daughter, who is 10, was that she want to watch Tom and Jerry on my mobile. Luckily I got few clips of Tom and Jerry and with the help of one of my dear friend, converted the clips so that they can be played on my mobile. Now she watches at least one clip every day and keep pestering me for new video clips.

I was overjoyed to see that YouTube has many video clips of Tom and Jerry. One such clip, Tom in Love, is given below.

Remains of the Year

Dear Reader: the blog you are reading completes one year of its existence today. Thank you, thank you for your best wishes. Do partake of a slice of cake.

It was on December 19 last year, that this blog came into existence as Here, There and Everywhere. Obviously I am a The Beatles fan, and the name was inspired by a famous song of The Beatles. Later on, I renamed it as Anything Goes, which is a name of P.G. Wodehouse play. I liked the name, and it is stuck since then.

This blog owes its existence to a post about demolitions of allegedly illegal buildings in Ulhasnagar, the city where I was born and still live. It was written by Kusum Rohra. And inspired by her posts and her Blog, I thought I will have a blog of my own. Thank you Kusum, for writing the inspirational post, and for maintaining a wonderful blog.

Well, I had written over 250 posts in the past year. I consider this and this as my best posts. I wish I had written more such posts.

When I began blogging a year ago, I thought I would put my thoughts, for whatever they are worth, on my blog. But due to time constraint, as I blog from office, I am getting less time nowadays for blogging. Many good thoughts about post come when I am commuting to and from office and by the time I reach office, these supposedly bright ideas vanish into thin air. Many interesting things keep happening around the world and also to me, but some time they do not make it to this blog.

I do hope ... now wait a minute, I read very recently that `hope has little to do with reason', but I hope anyway that my second year of blogging will be better, than my first. And I do hope to file an equally boring post, same day, next year!

Burning train and crazy mob

The Hindustan Times reports: Protests by various Dalit organisations to condemn the Kanpur statue desecration took an ugly turn in Ulhasnagar on Thursday with agitators in Ulhasnagar setting ablaze the Mumbai-bound Deccan Queen and two compartments of a Karjat local, despite the presence of the local police and the Government Railway Police (GRP).

The picture above is of Decccan Queen which was brunt.

It is really crazy. The protests after a shocking and condemnable happening are sometime more shocking and shameful. Yesterday it was one of such day. I was at office and was unaware of happenings at street just near my home. I came to know about events of stone-pelting, auto-rickshaw burning and shouting mobs from my neighbourers after I reached home. The watchman of the apartment building which I live, was beaten up by a mob of 15-20 persons. Poor man. He got beaten up for no fault of his. I find following quotes about mob apt about people's mentality in a mob:

Mob law is the most forcible expression of an abnormal public opinion; it shows that society is rotten to the core. --- Timothy Thomas Fortune

There can be no such thing, in law or in morality, as actions to an individual, but permitted to a mob. --- Ayn Rand

Talk is cheap

A bestselling book claims that women say an average of 20,000 words a day and men only 7,000.

It could be true. I am a good listener, like most men.

Read the full article ...

Merawala Mobile

Last Sunday, I purchased Sony Ericsson K750i mobile phone for myself. Over the past 13 months, I have been using Nokia 6030 mobile, and I thought it is time to upgrade to a phone which has everything. Nokia 6030 has just FM Radio.

For months I have been looking for a phone which has everything (decent camera, FM radio, media player, Bluetooth, etc.). I had shortlisted 3 models which were within my buying budget: Sony Ericsson K750i, Nokia 6131, and Nokia 6233. I dropped Nokia 6131, as it is a fold phone. In the end, I had to settle for K750i, as Nokia 6233 at 13.5K seemed overpriced, and little outside my budget.

Well, K750i has almost everything. It has 2.0 megapixel camera (with 4x digital zoom and auto focus), MP3 and video player, FM radio, 38 MB inbuilt memory and 64 MB memory stick with an option to upgrade memory upto 2.0 GB, bluetooth, USB connectivity etc. etc. In short it has everything which, as of today, one looks for in a mobile phone. And the price of around 10K indian ruppees also seems quite reasonable.

K750i is a great phone. I am quite happy with it. I clicked some snaps at home and the results were quite good. And the transfer of jpeg files to my office computer through USB cable was amazily simple. I thought I will need to boot my PC in the windows mode to transfer the pictures, but I was able to use USB connectivity in my Ubuntu Linux (using KDE).

I have a small grouse with K750i. Unlike my last phone (Nokia 6030), I am not able to switch the FM station using joystick or the button (which is used to answer calls) on the headphone. One has switch off the keypad lock, and keep the phone in the FM Radio mode, then station can be switched using joystick. As all the FM station here in Mumbai (which are 7 in all, a new station 92.7, Big FM, got operational today), play a song of two minutes, after Radio Jockey has jabbered away as if there is no tomorrow, followed by commercials for 3 minutes, it is sometime irritating to listen to a FM station. I constantly switch station to avoid horrid commercials, and to listen to any song, even a Himesh Reshammiya song!

I have wonderful R D Burman song `kuchha to log kahe.nge, log.n kaa kaama hai kahanaa' as mp3 ringone of my new mobile. I think it is apt song for a ringtone.

I would give K750i 10 out of 10.

The full length review of K750i is here.

A Blog exclusively about K750i is here.

Bad Behaviour

Like most of you, I too was shocked when I saw the following images (see the YouTube video below) on the television screen, last Sunday. The behaviour of the Australian team was really really bad and uncivilised. And they were given ICC Champions trophy. Champions do no behave like this. Ricky Ponting and the Australian cricket team must apologies to Sharad Pawar for their bad beavhiour. Though I have read in the newspapers that Ricky Ponting is ready to apologise, but it seems Pawar is yet to get any apology from him and the Australian team.

Well, for the next World Cup, which is scheduled to be played in the West Indies in March/April next year, the World Cup, which Australia may win it yet again, though I hope they do not, should be kept on a dias and Ricky Ponting be told to get it from their to avoid nudging and pushing of any human.

Update : Ricky Ponting has apologised.

Firefox 2

Firefox 2 is released. I downloaded it yesterday and it is working fine. I am amazed to read this post that Firefox2 was downloaded over 2 million times in the first 24 hours of launch or 30 downloads per second. Wow. IE can you beat it?

Justice delayed, but done

The Telegraph, Kolkata, reports:

A decade after the Delhi University student was raped and murdered at her home, and seven years after the accused had walked free from the trial court, Delhi High Court found Santosh Kumar Singh guilty of both crimes.

Priyadarshini Mattoo, a law student, was raped and murdered by Santhosh Singh, son on a Police Officer, on 23 January 1996. The lower court had given Singh benefit of doubt and acquitted him, due to lack of evidence . The additional sessions judge G.P. Thareja had observed in his judgeement, “At last it is felt that approach and working of subordinate staff of the Delhi police suggests that the rule of law is not meant for those who enforce the law nor for their near relatives.’’ What could be more shameful.

The Delhi High Court has overruled lower cour's order and convicted Singh. Santhosh Singh must be given death penalty. It is indeed sad that what seems to be an open and shut case, had dragged for 10 long years. Had it not been the relenless preservance of Shri Chaman Lal Mattoo, Priyadharshini's father, the case may not have come to its logical conclusion. Well, justice is delayed, but seems to have been done. The verdict of penality, either life imprisonment or death, will be pronounced on October 30.

Update (Oct. 31) The Delhi High Court has given Santosh Kumar Singh the death sentence for raping and murdering Priyadarshini Mattoo. Read more ...

Away and back

Due to some personal reasons, which are to personal to disclose here, I have been away from blogs and all that, for about two weeks. Now it seem the reason for which I was away is half-solved. It may soon be solved fully soon.

Here is my what interesting and uninteresting happened to me during these days.

I purchased my favourite sportsman Steve Waugh's autobiography, Out of my comfort zone, as a present from myself to myself on my birthday. For quite some years now, I have been presented books to myself on my birthday, since no one else seems to be doing it :(. Anyway, the book seem quite long, about 800 pages, and it has quite interesting pictures of Steve Waugh and of the matches he has played. It would be good reading. I intend to start reading it soon.

Two more books were purchased along with the above book: Remains of the day by Kazuo Ishiguro and Amsterdam by Ian McEwan. Both are Booker prize winners. I hope they will be good read.

During the past two weeks two excellent movies Khosla ka Ghosla and Dor were released. But as I live a small city of Ulhasnagar, these movies were not released there in the first week and were released later. I could not get to see Khosla ka Ghosla, but did saw Dor last Saturday. I just loved the movie Dor. It was excellent. I will write a separate post about it. I thought Omkara will be movie of the year for me, but it seems to be it will be Dor.

Nothing much interesting happened at the home or office front. Life goes on. As a poet, I could not recall his name, has said `Din hota hai, shaam hoti hai, zindagi yuhun taamaam hoti hai' or something like that. Loose translation would be: days come and goes as does evenings, and life seems to be coming to an end. May be I am having some mid-life crises or whatever.

Turned 43

I turned 43 today, for better or for worse. Let us hope for the better :).

Sachinda, 100

Sachin Dev Burman [1 October 1906 -- 31 October 1975]

Today is the 100th birth anniversary of Sachin Dev Burman. If Sachinda were alive today, he would have turned a grand old man of 100.

A few days ago I was listening to one of Sachinda's composed song, from movie Bandini, which he himself has sung, and in that song there is a line in the first mukda

ho man kii kitaab se tuu, meraa naam hii miTaa denaa
gun to na thaa koii bhii, avagun mere bhulaa denaa

I realise while I was listening to this song on my iPod, I had tears in my eyes. Such is the power of lyrics and of course Sachinda's singing.



And the next song of Sachinda's in my iPod's SD playlist hai apanaa dil to aavaaraa, na jaane kis pe aayegaa made me smile.

Thank you thank you Sachinda for the wonderful and beautiful compositions.

Come together

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

3 Books

After many days I went to my favourite bookshop Strand Book Stall, last Friday, and purchased 3 books:

• Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found, by Suketu Mehta


• On Beauty by Zadie Smith


• Saturday by Ian McEwan

All the books are in paperback edition. I have heard a lot about Maximum City, and has been highly recommended to me by my dear friend. The hardback edition was quite costly, but now it has come in paperback edition, but still at Rs. 395/- it is quite costly. Hope it will be good read.

The book which I am reading at present is White Teeth by Zadie Smith. I quite like this book. On Beauty is her third book and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.

I also wanted to purchase The Outsider by Albert Camus, but its price was more than Rs. 500/-. Maybe I should have purchased it, instead of On Beauty and Saturday. I have heard so much about Camus, but have never read him.


The book which I wanted to purchase The Complete Calvin and Hobbes (3 Volumes in a Slipcase) which was at Rs. Rs.4850 is way beyond my modest means. As I was paying for the above three books, a lucky lady had purchased Complete Calvin and Hobbes and I overheard salesman informing her that it is the last copy of the set. What a pleasant surprise that Mumbai city has Calvin and Hobbes fans. Well, it is very very difficult not to fall in love with the Calvin and the Hobbes. For the time being I will have to be content with my two collections of C&H, The Essential Calvin and Hobbes and The Indispensable Calvin and Hobbes.

And the book which I will be gifting to myself on my birthday, which is in the first week of October, is Out of My Comfort Zone: The Autobiography, by Steve Waugh. This is now available in paperback and the price of the book at Rs. 565 is quite affordable for me. Steve Waugh has always been my favourite cricket player. After his retirement from international cricket, I have stopped following cricket matches. In my opinion, there was no one like Steve Waugh.

Cross-posted from my other blog, Raju's world

Hang a Quote

I have been tagged, yet again, by my blogging dost Kusum Rohra. So here are five random quotes. May be you will like them.

I, Me and Myself

"Be yourself; everyone else is already taken." -- Oscar Wilde (1854 –1900)

Oscar and also said "The final mystery is oneself" and "To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance". Enough said.

Happiness

"If you want to be happy, be." -- Leo Tolstoy (1828 - 1910)

People have different interpretation of happiness. Read this:

An American, a Frenchman, and a Vietnamese refugee had a discussion about the happiness of life. "To me, happiness is returning home on a Monday evening, having a wonderful dinner prepared by my wife, then slouching on the sofa watching Monday Night Football," the American said.

"You Americans are not romantic at all", the French injected, "Sharing a beautiful evening with my lover, walking along the Seine river, and having a romantic dinner on top of the Eiffel tower. That is happiness of life."

"You call those things happiness", the Vietnamese laughed, "then you two still don't understand life at all. Imagine this. You are sleeping soundly at night in Saigon. Then suddenly you hear loud knocks on your front door. You hear loud voices, 'Mr. Nguyen Van Binh, open the door!'. Quaking with fear, you rush out and open the door. Right there, you see two secret policemen ready to handcuff you. One of them says to you, 'Mr. Nguyen Van Binh, you are under arrest for your anti-revolutionary activities. You are being sent to the re-educational camp tonight!' Sweating profusely and shaking uncontrollably, you reply to them, 'Comrades, Mr. Nguyen Van Binh lives next door.' That moment is happiness in life, my friends.

Free Lunch

"In the future, you're going to get computers as prizes in breakfast cereals. You'll throw them out because your house will be littered with them." -- Robert Lucky (1936 -- )

People of Tamil Nadu are getting Freebie television. Maybe in the next election Ms Jayalalithaa will promise and give Freebie computers. Nothing is impossible for the Indian politicians.

Life

"Reality continues to ruin my life." -- Calvin and Hobbes

Sigh.

Razors pain you; Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you; And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren't lawful; Nooses give;
Gas smells awful; You might as well live.
-- Dorothy Parker (1893-1967)

Love

"Love is the delusion that one woman is different from another". -- Oscar Wilde (1854 –1900).

Maybe it is true from a man's perspective.

A woman's perspective about Love might be:

My own dear love, he is strong and bold
And he cares not what comes after.
His words ring sweet as a chime of gold,
And his eyes are lit with laughter.
He is jubilant as a flag unfurled --
Oh, a girl, she'd not forget him.
My own dear love, he is all my world --
And I wish I'd never met him.
-- Dorothy Parker (1893 -- 1967)

Let him stay, please

CNN-IBN reports:

A 100-year-old man from Pakistan is begging to be allowed to spend his last few days with his family in Kashmir. But rules require him to return to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.

Please do not send back Nadeem Din (pictured left), who had crossed over to the Pakistan occupied Kashmir in 1965, and returned to India recently. A grand old man of 100 years should be allowed to spent the evening of his life with his family members.

Back

I am back at the blogosphere. It is good to be back.

The blogging break was owing to an important activity at my place of work. It is over now and I am back to my normal being, after being on my toes, literally.

During the important event, 9 o'clock played a significant role. I used to come at 9 oclock bus (in the morning) and used to go back home at 9 o'clock bus (in the evening).

I am happy to be back. I will start reading my favourite blogs, soon.

BTW, today is Hindi Diwas . Happy Hindi Diwas to all.

Puchho Na Yaar

After being busy with various things, I got some time today to check blogs etc. etc. And I found video of one of my most favourite R.D. Burman song Puchho Na Yaar Kiya Hua, from movie Zamane Ko Dikhana Hai (1981) on You Tube . What a song! It makes me happy whenever I hear it, maybe it will make you happy too.

Blogging Break

I am taking a blogging break till Monday, September 18. I am busy with various things at office (place of work), the place from where I blog. Till then, be good.

1. Office employees will daily sweep the floors, dust the
   furniture, shelves, and showcases.


2. Each day fill lamps, clean chimneys, and trim wicks.
   Wash the windows once a week.


3. Each clerk will bring a bucket of water and a scuttle of
   coal for the day's business.


4. Make your pens carefully. You may whittle nibs to your
   individual taste.


5. This office will open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. except
   on the Sabbath, on which day we will remain closed. Each
   employee is expected to spend the Sabbath by attending
   church and contributing liberally to the cause of the Lord.

-- "Office Worker's Guide", New England Carriage Works, 1872

Gandhigiri

Last Sunday I saw the movie Lage Raho Munnabhai. It is second in the series of Munnabai movies, the first one being Munnabhai MBBS.

First thing first --- I just loved the movie. It had given a new word to Hindi filmworld Gandhigiri which is just opposite of bhaigiri. Bhaigiri bole toh daddagiri and Gandhigiri bole toh vinarmata (humility). In one funny scene of the movie a character asks who is vinarmata. It is indeed very brave of director of the movie, Rajkumar Hirani, to make effective use of the Gandhian tools of truth, non-violence, satyagraha and make an entertaining movie out of it. After a long long time, I saw people clapping in the cinema hall. The movie was earlier named asMunnabhai Meets Mahamta, but eventually was named Lage Raho Munnabhai.

The story of movie is : Munnabhai (Sanjay Dutt) is in love with the voice of Radio Jockey Jhanvi (Vidya Balan), and takes part in a quizz contest on Mahatma Gandhi, so that he can win the contest and meet her personally. This contest he does win posing as ProfessorMurli Mohan Sharma with the help of real professors of history. Jhanvi is quite impressed with Munnabhai and asks her to lecture the inmates of old-age home, appropriately named Second Innings, on principles of Gandhiji. To keep his fake identify, Munnabahi, as suggested by his sidekick Circuit (Arshad Warsi) has no option but to study the writing of Gandhiji. From that point onwards, the movie picks up. Gandhiji (which is played by Dilip Prabhavalkar) appears only to Munnabhi, as he himself puts in later, due to to some `chemical locha' in his brain. The scenes involving Munnabhai and Gandhiji are the highlight of the movie. Munnbhai at first is skeptical by what Gandhiji tells him to follow, but those things starts showing surprising results.

I had not seen the first movie in this series Munnabhai MMBS in cinemas, but had got glimpses of it on telly. That movie seems to me to have some rough edges and the humour looked crude. This movie seems to have corrected this problem. The humour in this movie is quite good and often one wonders whether to cry or to laugh at the situation. In one scene, a old person callsMunnabhai, who along with Jhanvi had a show on satellite radio where people are advised to follow Gandhian methods to solve their problems, that he has not received his pension since he retired five years ago and is asked a bribe of five thousand rupees for getting his pension.Munnabhai advises him to follow Gandhian method and give in to the demands with vinarmata , of course. The old person goes to the person who has demanded bribe and gives him all he has got --- his wallet, spectacles, shirt, vests, belt, even trousers, telling him how much each item is valued. This shames the person who has asked bribe and he promptly signs the old person's pension papers.

It is good that younger generation will get to know about Gandhian idealism through this movie. I think Gandhiji would have approved of this movie and given it its nod of approval.

The name of my city Ulhasnagar gets mentioned in a dialogue of the movie. When due to their new method of satyagraha and non-violence, Munnabhai and Circuit are put to jail often and Circuit wonders if this frequent trips to jails will affect their reputations, Munnabhai tells him that on the contrary their reputation will increases and that roads and city will be named after him, like Gandhiji's, and Circuit says that like Ahmednagar, Ulhasnagar there will be Munnanagar.

There are speculation in the media that in the next sequence Munnabhai will get to go to USA and may meet Bush.

Link to official website of the movie.

Reviews of the movie are here, here and here.

Hrishikesh Mukherjee, R.I.P.

Hrishikesh Mukherjee , who directed more than 45 Hindi movies, passed away last Sunday, August 27. May his soul rest in peace.

Hrishida was one of my favourite directors. His films were always good and clean entertainment. And yes, his movies usually had good songs. Most of the movies directed by Hrishida had music by either S.D. Burman or R.D. Burman. Two movies which had made me cry were directed by Hrishda -- in Satyakam, its hero, played by Dharmendra who gave his life's best performance, played an idealist man who never lied come what may, and Ashirwad, for which Ashok Kumar got national award for the best actor. In Ashirwad, Ashok Kumar's wife who was a rich women, always used to nag him and he leaves home and his daughter. In the most memorable scene of the movie, the daughter is giving alms to poor men and beggars who had come to her wedding, one hand is shown palm down, instead of palm up, and the daughter realises that it is her father who have come to give her Ashirwad (blessings) as she had been promised by him long time ago. That once scene showed the tremendous power of the cinema, and I just could not hold my tears. Hrishda was truly a great craftsman.

I read somewhere that Hrishda used to shoot his movies in a peculiar manner by shooting the portion of the movie first sans its songs. He believed that songs are unreal, but necessary part of the movie. When someone used to ask him how is shooting of your movie going, he used to reply that the `real' part of the movie is shot, and the `unreal' portion is yet to be shot. Hrishda has left this unreal world for the real world. His films will continue to give us many hours of enjoyment and fun.

Weekend Diary

This is my weekend diary for Weekend August 26 and 27, 2006.

Last Friday, I purchased a Titan watch for myself. In fact it is gift from my wife to me, on the occasion of our Marriage anniversary, which was on Monday, August 28. I always worn a Casio digital watch till now. For a change, I thought I will have an analog watch. This Titan watch is an analog one, with day and date display.

Last Friday night an interesting bit of conversation took place at dinner time. I, my wife and our daughter, Namrata (Noona), who is 9 years old, were having dinner at 9:00 p.m. Our son Sachin, was away as he was attending his classes. As we have cut off the cable network few days ago, nowadays we usually talk while having dinner. My wife was saying that she is quite worried about Sachin, about his studies, about his future and said that Sachin is main, and said I am not worried much about Noona. Noona who we thought was not listening, suddenly said, `oh Sachin is main, aur main kiya hoon. Main kiya Sachin ke cousin hoon. Aagar Sachin main hai to main be main hoon'. I and my wife were taken a bit by her outpouring. Of course what Noon was saying was absolutely correct. My wife and I hugged Noona and said yes, you too are main. Children are becoming quite smart and sharp at young age.

Last Saturday, we went to shop for a shirt for myself, which my wife wanted to gift to me, in addition to the watch. And I wanted to buy her a nice dress for her. After selecting a shirt for myself, which was chosen by Noona, we went to look for a dress for my wife. We were shown many dresses by the shop assistant, but none were of liking to my wife. Suddenly, Noona pulled out a dress from a pile, and whispered to me `Yeh dress lo, pappa, yeh aap ke shirt se match hogi'. She was right, the dress did had the same shade of colour as my shirt's colour. So both Noona and I pursuaded my wife to take that dress. She got it stitched quickly for wearing on Monday.

Last Sunday, we met to meet Poonam, my wife's niece, who has done B.E. in software engineering and had a good job at Pune. She had come down from Pune, where she lives, to Ulhasnagar to meet all of us. Poonam now has got an offer from a company in Helsinki, Finland, and will be joining them this week. It is very brave of Poonam to leave a good job and take up a job in distant foreign country. All the best to her. Sunday was also Ganesh Chaturthi.

Monday was my 16th marriage anniversary. It was on August 28, 1990 that I had got married. Sarita has been good wife to me over the years. I trust I have been a good husband to her. On Monday I had decided to take a day off from work, so has Sarita. We wanted to have some good quality time together on our important day. I read somewhere recently that marriage is the biggest comedy of life, but for the women. For men, marriage is the life's biggest tragedy. Well, everyone had their own experience about marriage. Mine had been good overall. In the evening, we and children went out to have dinner. Since it was Monday and days of Ganesh Chaturthi, so non-vegetarian fare was out of question. So we had Pizzas, Pav Bhaji followed by yummy Falooda. Since we both were wearing same shades, we decided to have a photograph of us taken at a photo studio, to make the day memorable.

Cross-posted from my other blog Raju's world.

Sachin, 15

My son, Sachin, turned 15 today. Sachin is named after great music composer Sachin Dev Burman.

When I had been enaged to be married, one saturday, we usually used to meet on saturdays, I and my would be wife were sitting on a bench in the local park. I suddenly said to her that after marriage we will have a son and we will name him Sachin. I looked at her after saying this expecting her to say something in return, but she just shyly nodded her head in consent, and of course blushed. I had bored her to death with my priase for songs of Sachinda and Panchamda and had played for her numerous songs of Sachinda and Panchamda, as she too has liking for Hindi film songs. She had said what if it is a girl. I am sure, it will be boy, I had said. If it is a girl, you can choose the name for her, I had said, after a few moments pause.

True to my prophecy, Sachin was born to us next year, on August 23, 1991. When mine and her relatives come to meet my wife and our newborn in the hospital, their first question, as in most such cases usualy is, what name you will be giving it to the baby. We readily told them it will be Sachin and nothing else.

Well, Sachin has turned 15 today. And he is getting taller day by day. He has inherited my shyness and smile and good manners.

Cross-posted from my other Blog Raju's world .

Wittiest play

I am presently reading The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. It is generally considered as wittiest play in english language. I had read it numerous times and every time it is an enjoyable read. It is one of my wish to see this play on stage. If you have not heard about this play, which is unlikely, or have not read this play, which is likely, it is available online. Please do read it.

Here is a funny excerpt from the play:

CECILY. I keep a diary in order to enter the wonderful secrets of my life. If I didn’t write them down, I should probably forget all about them.

MISS PRISM. Memory, my dear Cecily, is the diary that we all carry about with us.

CECILY. Yes, but it usually chronicles the things that have never happened, and couldn’t possibly have happened. I believe that Memory is responsible for nearly all the three-volume novels that Mudie sends us.

Substitute diary with its modern version Blog, and it still make sense.

Cross-posted from my other blog Raju's world.

Ustad Bismillah Khan

Ustad Bismillah Khan (March 21, 1916 - August 21, 2006)

Ustad Bismillah Khan, who popularised and brought shehnai to the centrestage of classical music, died of cardiac arrest at a Varanasi hospital yesterday. Shehnai is traditionally played on weedings and other auspicious occasions in India. Ustadji brought it to the concert level and almost single-handedly made it popular. May his soul rest in peace.

When I was in my teens, I had seen an old movie Goonj Uthi Shehnai on Doordarshan. In the movie Rajendra Kumar had played a shehnai player. The recital of shehnai in the movie was very very good. I was mesmerised by it. It was the highlight of the movie. Later on I came to know that the shehnai in the movie was actually played by Ustad Bismillah Khan. This fact remained in my memory for quite some time.

When I had got married on August 28, 1990, I purhcased few casettees of shehnai recitals by Ustad Bismillah Khan and requested the manager of the marriage hall, where I got married, to play these casettes while the marriage ceremony was being performed and also at the reception. I felt at that time as Ustadji is blessing us with his magical shehnai. Next Monday, I will be completing 16 years of married bliss, and as a tribute to Ustadji, I will play those casettes.

Weekend Diary

This is my weekend diary for Weekend August 19 and 20.

Last Friday was quite good for me. I left office for home at my usual time, instead of staying late or visiting bookshops to browse or buy books or CDs. I must first clear the pending credit card bills, and then think of buying new books and CDs. Anyway, the Books and CDs just accumulate and I have been on buying spree over the past few months. I must stop buying new books and CDs for few months.

It was a sunny saturday last week. I got up quite late and had a good breakfast and lunch. Since my wife has taken leave for few days and it exam time for the children, I stayed most of the time with them and helped childen in their studies for the exam. After many many days I went to the local park for my evening walk and felt good. I had read long time ago in a newspaper that, in Ulhasangar, the city where I live, there is shop which sells Bengali sweets. While strolling in park, I for no reason, remember that, and afterwards went to that shop to buy rasgullas for my family. Children were happy to have them, after dinner.

Sunday also was mostly sunny, though it rained lightly few times. I spent Sunday morning reading my favourte newspaper, which is Hindustan Times, then went out to buy mutton, as children had insisted that they want to eat it for the lunch. So we all at home at quite good time.

Since my son, Sachin, is in Standard X, and will be giving board exams in March next year, I and my wife and decided to cut off the cable connection. So since August 10, there has been no satellite television for us. At first it seems quite strange as we are use to watch silly serials as we had dinner everyday. But, we are slowly getting use to it.

Cross-posted from my other blog Raju's World.

KANK -- Kuch Nahi Hota Hai

I saw Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (KANK), last Saturday. I disliked the movie. It just did not connect. It did not made much sense to me. It is supposed to be a look at marriage from the point of a view of director (Karan Johar), who at 34 is unmarried.

The plotline/storyline of the movie is at this link .

What you read below is mostly fictional.

Since the screenplay of the movie is co-written by my (imaginary) cousin Shibani Bathija, I decided to call Shibani about many things which annoyed me in the movie:

Hello, is this Shibani?

Yes, it is her. Who is this?

This is Raju, your cousin

Oh, cousin Raju. How do you do? Have you seen KANK?

I am good. Yes I saw it and did not liked it.

Why why why?

Oh, it was just rubbing salt on the wounds of a married man. I did not liked it. I wanted to talk to you about it, since you have co-written the screenplay.

[seems quite annoyed] Then talk to Karan Johar, the director of the movie. Nowdays he is eager to establish communication with anyone about KANK.

Communication? Oh, you mean, he is willing to talk to anyone about his movie.

Yes, I mean that. I have been reading P.G. Wodehouse recently. Ok. I will call you after I have fixed the time with K. Jo.

Arre you writing a script based on PGW book?

Keep guessing.

After few days, cousin Shibani very kindly set up a meeting with Karan Johar at a local Coffee Shop. This is what I recall from our conversation. [My questions are in regular text and replies by K. Jo, sorry Karan Johar are in italics.]

Karan, you look dashing in Pink shirt.

Thanks Raju. Inside I am bundle of nerves. I am wearning Pink shirt so that I can be in Pink of Health.

Oh. I see. Good. Tell me how do you got the idea to make KANK.

I was having lunch in a small place at London, where the tables were placed quite closely. I happen to overhear a couple talking. And they seems to be talking about going their separate way as their marriage has not worked out. What striked me that they were talking about it in a amicable way, even joking about it. I thought I have to tell their story to the world. I thought I will make a picture on this phenomenon.

And you made it?

Yes, I did. Tell me are you married?

Yes, I am, since last 15 years.

15 years is a lot of time. Did you ever think that you married a wrong person?

Sometime, but I let the feeling pass. Thankfully I saw KANK alone. For some strange reasons, my wife did not want to see this movie.

I wanted to tell the married persons that if they ae not happy with their marriages, they should go their separate ways.

Don't you think it may break-up many marraiges that way. Are not you advociating adultery among married persons?

No, no I am not. I am saying if they are not happy with their marriage, there is a way out.

What if they are not able to find their soulmate? Do you know why I am happily married? Do you want to know the secret.

Yes, yes, I do. Please pray tell me.

It is in this small poem `A word to Husbands' by Ogden Nash:

To keep your marriage brimming
with the love in the loving cup,
whenever you are wrong, admit it:
whenevery you are right, shut up.

I think most of the husbands all over follow it. What keep a woman happy or unhappy after marriage, science or poets have still to find out.

You did not liked my movie, then?

No, I did not. I tried to sympathise with the characters of SRK, Priety, Rani and Abhishek, but could not connect. I tried very very hard to figure out why Rani was unhappy with Abhishek, who played such a good husband to her, or what was wrong with their marriage, but could not. I only liked Amitabh in the movie. He made me smile and happy. Tell me, why was Shah Rukh Khan looked so bitter, cynical and unhappy in the movie?

Oh that was simple. He looked bitter, cynical and unhappy in the movie because he felt that way. Actually I made him drink Coca-Cola, instead of Pepsi, which he endorse, to get this effect. I had banned Pepsi throughout the shooting of the movie.

And Abhishek looked crestfallen because you told him to use Nokia mobile phone, instead of Motorola, which he endores.

Lucky guess.

Last question, why was your movie so long -- it was 3 hours 10 minutes 48 seconds long?

Well, I love long movies. I think a movie should never end !

Do you know what Alfred Hitchcock had said about the length of a movie: ``The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder''. Make your next movie 120 minutes long. Thank you.

Two Blogs

I have decided now to keep this blog, Anything Goes, as well as my other blog Raju's world.

In this blog, I will post about things which does not directly affect me. While in my other blog, Raju's world, I will post about things which affect me directly, and will also post more personal posts. I will, of course, cross-post between these two blogs sometime.

I choose WordPress for my other blog as it is a part of a Open Source community. Since I use most of the Open Source community programmes, like Linux , Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird, amaroK, etc. for my office. WordPress is cool. If you thinking of starting a blog your own, give WordPress a consideration.

I am happy to arrive at a decision. Being a typical Libran, I alwlays feel happy when I arrive at a decision.

My new Blog

I have created a new Blog Raju's World at WordPress.

I have also copied all my posts from this blog to my new blog. I am thinking seriously of moving to WordPress.

Thanda Matlab Coca-Cola Matlab Pesticides

The Telepgraph, Kolkata, reports :

The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) today said soft drinks continue to hold cocktails of pesticides and charged the health ministry with stalling efforts to set limits.

Releasing the findings of a new study, it said the levels of pesticide residues in some samples tested this year are higher than those observed in samples three years ago.

Centre for Science and Environment's report is here, and its Press Release is here.

The CSE has given a wake-up call to the Indian government to notify the regulatory limits for pesticide residues and caffeine in soft drinks. This has still not been done. This important matter is hanging between various committees. Strange are indeed the ways governments functions.

What I really find ridiculous, personally, are the endorsement by top Indian movie stars from Amitabh Bachchan to Shah Rukh Khan to Rani Mukherjee, of various brands of soft drinks, for money. Even if one of them came forward and says that he or she will stop endorsement of the soft drinks, as presence of pesticides have been proved in them, it will be great. But I know, it will not happen.

Will at least government instruct the soft drinks manufacturers in India to put a statutory warning on all bottles that Drinking soft drinks may be injurious to health. Maybe that is like asking for moon.

Cross-posted to my other blog Raju's World

Indian Bloggers in a spot -- again?

It seems the ban/block on www.blogspot.com is back again. I am not able to view (though I am able to edit my posts) my blog on blogspot. But I am able to view my blog using www.inblogs.net.

A few weeks ago (in fact on July 13), Indian Government had ordered Internet Service Providers in India to ban/block 17 websites, which included 4 blogspot blogs. At that time, the ISPs have bloced the blogspot.domain, so that people who were accessing internet from India were not able to access their own or any other blogs hosted on blogspot.

Are the Indian bloggers in a spot again?

If yes, then it is ridiculous and deplorable. It is yet another attack on the freedom of speech.

Update: It seems the block was due to (maybe) some technical problem at ISPs end. I am able to view mine and other blogs on blogspot.com. More about this is here.

Leave it to Psmith

Finished reading Leave it to Psmith. I read it for the third time time. It is too good. I will write my review of the book later.

A blog post about Psmith is here.

Have been very busy with work and work.

Shakespearewalla

Last weekend I saw Omkara. I liked the movie. It is an adoption of Shakespeare's Othello. The movie is directed by Vishal Bharadwaj, who ealier had adopted Shakespeare's Macbeth as Maqbool, which was released in 2003. Two earlier pictures directed by Vishal are Chatri Chor which was based on Ruskin Bond's The Blue Umbrella, and Makdee. Vishal had started his career as music composer of Gulzar's Maachis. He had said in an interview, in a lighter vein, that he became film director so that he could compose music for the films. Music composing remains his first love.

Coming to the movie Omkara, the story is based in a small town in Western Uttar Pradesh. It is story of Omkara Shukla (Othello) played by Ajay Devgan, Langda Tyagi (Iago) played by Saif Ali Khan, Kesu Firangi (Cassio) played by Vivek Oberoi, who are part of a political mafia gang, which is headed by Bhaisaab (Duke of Venice) played by Naseeruddin Shah. Kareena Kapoor playes Dolly Mishra (Desdemona), Konkona Sen Sharma plays Indu (Emilia), and Bipasha Basu plays Billo Chamanbahar (Bianca). Omkara alias Omi has been chosen by Bhaisaab to run for the Assembly elections, due to which vacancy of gang-leader arises. Omi selected Kesu over Langda Tyagi, which displeases the latter. Langda sows the seeds of jealousy and infidelity in the mind of Omkara against his would be wife, Dolly. The rest of the story is quite faithful to what happens in the play of which it is an adoption.

The strength of the film are performances by all lead actors. All of them have performed very well, especially Ajay Devgan and Saif Ali Khan. Ajay in the title of Omkara is effortless and conveys much with his eyes and minimal movement. I try not to miss any of his movies. Saif Ali Khan had to shave the hair of his head for the role of Langda. I had read the reports in the media that he was reluctant to do so, but in the end had agreed to the Director's wishes. He has performed quite well in this picture. I won't be surprised if he wins an award or two for this performance.

The director is quite successful in creating the milieu of the film. The langauge of the film, is of dialect spoken in the western U.P., and quite a few foul words are spoken by the characters. In fact, the film begins with one such foul word. I was amused to read the reports in the paper that due to bad language used in the film, many people are keeping away from the film, and the movie is not doing well at many places. Well, one do hear these words spoken in life and the characters of the movie are of such types that one expects them to mouth such words. Maybe some people have difficult in digesting the reality in the movies.

Personally, I liked the movie. Though, I had some problem in following some of the dialogues because of the dialect. But it was worth seeing. I loved the scene when Langda poisens mind of Omi about Dolly once again and Omi arrives home unexpectedely, and Dolly, who has been learning `I just called to say I love you' (which is a wonderful Stevie Wonder song) from Kesu, sings this song while strumming a guiter and a big smile. The scene was worth the price of the ticket. The movie had an unintentional funny scene, when Billo Chamanbahan sings `Bedi Jaalae Lee, Jigar Main Aag Lagi Hai', and when a person ignites a cigarette at the end of song, Billo starts coughing. I found that scene quite hilarious.

I also like the movie as it shows fallibility of a supposedly strong person.

I have never read Shakespear's plays before, now I am tempted to read them.

Links:

Official Website,

Reviews of the movies: here and here.

Cross posted to my other blog Raju's World.

Quotes for the Weekend

When my brain begins to reel from my literary labors, I make an occasional
cheese dip. -- Ignatius Reilly

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Television has proved that people will look at anything rather than each other. -- Ann Landers

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Don't worry about avoiding temptation -- as you grow older, it starts
avoiding you. -- The Old Farmer's Almanac

Remembeing July 26, 2005

It had rained 944 mm in the suburbs of Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra last year on July 26, 2005. Today is the unhappy anniversary of that day, which is commonly referred to as Terrible Tuesday. More than 500 people had died and 53 are still missing, due to landslides, drowning in gutters and suffocation in the cars in which they were stuck. Lakhs of people were stranded in various parts of Mumbai city, who commute every day from their home to place of work. I was one of those who got stranded.

On the left is a picture taken at Kalyan station, which shows how terrible, the rain and the flooding that followed, was on that day. You can see the train is half merged in the water. [Click on the picture to enlarge it.] More such pictures are here.

Today, many NGOs have appealed to citizen to wear white in memory of those who have died. I am wearing white shirt today.

I have some memories of Terrible Tuesday. I had come to office as my usual train, which departs at 7:20 a.m. was right on time, insptite of heavy rain at that time and I had reached office at my normal time. Afterwards sometime in the afternoon I came to know that it is raining very heavily in suburbs and trains had stopped. And quite strangely in Colaba, where my office is situated, there was light to mderate rain. By evening it was confirmed that all the trains have stopped due to water logging on the tracks and it is also impossible to use roads due to flodding. Well, I and my office colleagues spent overnight at our dear friend's home, who live near our office. We had good time at his home. My dear friend, who is an excellent cook, had made corn and mushroom soup, which was just excllent. We had nothing to do but watch the news on the telly and to hope that rains will stop. Except for Airtel, all moible connections and landline connections were either erratic or down. As I use Airtel, I was able to contact my wife and children through neighour's mobile, who uses the similar service provider. Next day our office had arranged a bus from Colaba to Thane for the stranded persons in our office. Our bus had started off at around 4:00 p.m. and had reached Sion Circle at about 6:30 p.m. and got stuck for two and half hours, due to flodding and heavy traffic on the road. We had to come back from Sion to our office as there was no chance of going further for next few hours. So, I had spent another night at my dear friend's place. Next day, that is Thursday, train services had been restored from V.T. to Thane as rains had stopped. I took a train, along with few friends, upto Thane. After reaching Thane, there was abolute choas on the roads, as no trains were going beyond Thane. We had walked upto next station, that is Kalwa, on the railway track and luckily from there we had got an autorickshaw to Kalayan. Once reaching Kalyan, it was quite easy to reach Ulhasnagar, the city were I live. So I was able to see my wife and children at last on Thursday at 4:00 p.m., after leaving for office in the early morning of Tuesday. I felt happy to to be alive. My children had insisted that I should not go to office for next few days. It tooks few weeks for the trains services to be back on normal.

The full coverage of July 25, 2005, immortalized now as Terrible Tuessday is here.

A Majhi Song

Below is video of a Majhi (boatman) song sung by great S.D. Burman in his own voice, from the movie Bandini, released in 1963. The plot summary of the movie is here .

According to folklore of Bengal, bhatiyali are the songs sung by East Bengal boatmen on river so broad that one loses sight of the shore. When sung in less isolated surroundings, Bhatiyali changes its musical character by adding accompaniment and meter. This song is a good example of a bhatiyali song. It has been sung with such a feelings by Burman Dada, and it is an eternal favourite of mine.

Goal Mall

Last Sunday saw the movie Golmall. The film has similar title as Gol Maal, which was relased in 1979 and is a classic comedy. Thankfully the makers of Golmall (2006) have only borrowed the title, and not the plot. Gol Mall (1979) was very very funny movie. I have seen it when I was quite young and had enjoyed the movie. Its humour was Wodehousian, clean and good. And yes, it had music by great R.D. Burman and had one immortal song by Kishore Kumar `Aane Waala Paal Jaane Waala Hai'.

I wanted to see Golmall because it was Ajay Devgan's movie, and Ajay happens to be my favourite actor. This is his first movie of 2006, Aapaharan was released way back in December 2005. So I was eagerly awaiting to see this movie. I had decided to see it in the night show on last Saturday. Just as I announced to my wife and children, after dinner, that I was leaving to watch Golmall, my daughter, who is 9 years old, said I will also come with you as I too want to see this movie. I was surprised and said do you know who is in this movie, she said yes, it has your favourite Ajay Devgan and it is a comedy. How much children know nowadyas. I said okay, if you also want to see it, we will go tomorrow, which is Sunday, in the evening show, as it is not good to take children for the night show. So, next day we went to a cinema, which is quite close to our home, where it was being shown. We have started half an hour earlier, but on reaching at the theatre we saw House Full board at the ticket counter. It seems there were many Ajay Devgan's fans, who had come with their families or with their daughters. So we were wondering what to do. I and my daughter were obviously disappointed. My daughter said oh you can see the movie today in the night show, but mummy will not permit me to see it in that show. Suddenly I saw a man with some tickets in hand and he wishepered to me `DC sau ruppiah'. Oh, he was selling tickets in black. I was pleasantly surprised. It had been ages since I saw a person selling cinema tickets in black. I approached him and ask him in which row the seats are. He said `oh they are in row A, seat number 1 and 2, but are for family or ladies. I pointed out to him I had a young lady with me so give me two tickets. He did so similingly. In a way it was not a bad bargain, as normal balcony ticket was 100 rupees and Dress Circle ticket was 60. So I and my daughter were quite happy to obtain tickets for th movie. The smile on my daughter's face was worth the extra money. It was quite funny how these funny things happen in real life. It was our little golmall beore the movie.

Now about the movie. The movie was very very good. It was better than I had expected. The movie is an adoption of a Gujarati play `Aflatoon'. It is story of four friends Gopal (Ajay Devgan), Madhav (Arshad Warsi), Lucky (Tusshar Kapoor) and Laxman (Shriman Joshi). All four of them live in the hostel room of Laxman, who is still studying, but every year his friends see to it that either he dos not sit for exam or fails in the exam. The other three have been expelled from college 10 years ago and have no place to stay so they live with Laxman, without knowledge of college principal. The principal finds all four of them together in Laxman's room and after lots of shouting and screming throws all four of them out of the college hostel.

The foursome then land in a bunglow, which belong to blind couple (Paresh Rawal and Shushmita Mukherjee), and they overhear the blind couple that they are waiting for arrival of their grandson, Sameer, from America. So one of them, Laxman (against his wishes) impersonates as their grandson, Gopal is his voice and other two acts as Chinese cats. There are some funny some not verry funny episodes in the movie. And yes, there is a girl, how can any movie be complete without a heroine, called Niralee (Rimi Sen), who lives nearby and all four of them try to get her attention. Also the movie has bad men, which also act funny like the rest of characters. One bad man is called Vasooli and he is a big fan of Sanjay Dutt and tries to act like him. And there is a don who is hard of hearing and has several goofy sidekicks. All in all, it is great time-pass movie and has some good one liners.

The film is directed by Rohit Shetty who is son of Shetty who used to be villian of hindi movie and always appered completely bald in the movies. The performance are good, I particularly liked Ajay and Arshad Warsi's performance. Warsi's mimicking of Rani Mukherjee, from Black, is very hillarious. If you get a chance to see this movie, grab that chance. It will make you laugh. And maybe happy.

Block Lifted

The block on blogspot.com seeme to have lifted. I just now checked and I was able to view mine and other blogs on blogspot.com the normal way. Viva Indian Bloggers.

The following post was written earlier in the day.

I have not been able to view my blog last Tuesday (July 11). Initially I thought blogspot may be down for some maintenance or there may be some technical problem. Through a blogging friend I came to now that all the blogs on blogspot.com have been blocked. My initial reaction was of absolute dismay. How could that be, and why.

It seem that the Indian Government had instructed Internet Service Providers in India to block 17 websites, including 4 blogspot.com blogs on July 13, on the grounds of national security. The ISP provides in India seems to have blocked the blogspot.com from viewing from India, instead of blocking 4 blogs hosted on blogspot. According to some report it is likely that this block on blogs in India may be lifted soon. There are various ways to circumvent this ban to view the banned sites, more on how to bypass the ban is here.

I have been using www.pkblogs.com to access my blog. I have also been using Bloglines to view and read my favourite blogspot.com blogs.

What the this silly block of blogs seems to achieve? Absolutely nothing in my opinion. It only gives some free publicity to the blocked sites. No one may have bothered to visit these sites, now thanks to this stupid block, many people may. When will our government learn that all bans or blocks are counterproductive. They acheive nothing. The blocks seems to have been prompted by the recent terrorists attacks in Mumbai.

The ISP provides have goofed up the government's order, by putting blanket block on blogspot.com, instead of blocking 4 blogs which government wanted to block from viewing. This shows their incompetence.

Posts about block or ban are here and here, here, and here.

Blogspot blocked by Indian Government

Indian Government have blocked blogspot.com for from Indian ISP sites. More about this is here. This is outlandlishly silly ban. Hope the good sense prevails and the ban is lifted.

Use www.pkblogs.com to view any any blogs on blogspot, if you happen to view them from India, until the ban is lifted.

May I Help You, Sir

May I Help You, Sir. This is what the Salesgirl said, as I was looking at watches on display at a Titan World showroom.

I was at the showroom to buy the gift of a watch for my wife, whose Birthday was on Fri, July 7. I have been giving a gift of her choice evey year to her, of her choice. This year she wanted a good watch, for everyday use. A few years ago I had gifted her a watch, which she had chosen herself, but that did not turned out to be a good watch. Since she wanted a watch, I suggested that it should be a Tittan watch, which are supposed to be the Indian's best watches. So I had gone to the Titan World Shorrom which is near my office to hunt for a good everyday watch for my wife. There were any many good watches and I was puzzled which one to get for her. I had a certain budget in mind and was wondering which one to choose. Suddenly a salesgirl appeared out of nowhere and said May I Hepl You, Sir. The following is the interesting bit of conversation between her (salesgirl) and Me. What she said is in italics and what I said is in the regular text.

May I help you, sir.

Oh sure. I am looking at a watch, I mean I am looking for watch.

For whom, sir.

Oh, for my wife. It happens to be her birthday today.

(grinning) Oh, I see. I will be glad to help you, sir.

I have certain budget in mind I ...

(still grinning) You had come at the right time and at the right place, sir.

Oh, have I.

(still grinning) Yes, we have a scheme under which you will get fabulous discsount [blah blah], free csometics, but the price of the watch has to be above Rs. 1,500/-. And today is the last day of the scheme.

Well, my budget is just about that.

Let me show you some watches.

[Shows me some, but I like none of them]

How is your wife, I mean is she tall?

No, medium height.

Is she fair?

Yes, quite. She is somewhat like Rani Mukherjee over there.

[The showroom had a big poster of Rani Mukherjee with Titan Raga Watches]

Oh, then I will show the perfect watch for your wife.

[disappears for few seconds and appears with two watches]

Is it not beautiful [shows me the watch (Titan Raga) pictured left].

Yes, yes, it is quite beautiful, but how much is the price?

Today is her birthday, so you should give her something for which she will remember you always.

But this gold plated thing always wear away after few months.

Then takes this platinuium plated, but take either of them. You said you wife looks like Rani, than it is the perfect gift for her on her birthday.

But the price ...

Well Sir, the watch is beautiful, your wife will love it.

Well, I was happy that she has taken the decision for me. Being a typical Libran, I find it very difficult to make a choice if presented with two options. This time I took about 3 minutes and 45 seconds to arrive at a decision! As by that time, I had selected another watch (with leather strip) which was within my budget. But the watch suggested by her (gold plated, the plantenium coated was even costlier) was really beautiful. So I purchased the watch and she got it packed nicely and give all sorts of discoutnts, free cosmetics etc.

I presented the watch to my wife later in the day after reaching home. Well, the expression on her face on seeing the watch was really well wroth the price of the watch. She said she really loved the watch and I got a big hug from her. She now wears the watch everyday to her work. Now, my childdren also want Titan watch for their birthday. My daughter, Namrata, has threatened that she wants the similar watch and also the similar cosmetics!

BTW, this is my 250th post.

Last Weekend

This should have been written last Monday, but due to lack of time could not do so. Here is what happened in my life last weekend (July 8 & 9).

Last Weekend promised to be good weekend for me. Last Friday, July 7, was my wife's birthday, and on Sunday there was Wimbledon Men's Final, World Cup Football 2006 Final between France and Italy. The weekend looked exciting. Last Saturday I also saw movie Corporate. I will write my review of the movie, if I get some time. Bipasha Basu looked lovely in the film. The movie was so so, but I won't be surprised if Bips gets an award for it. She deserves it. The review of the movie as it appear in media is here.

Last Sunday also saw an ugly incident in Mumbai, which was condemnable and unfortunate, but what Shiv Saniks did after that was equally, if not more, sad and unfortunate.

Last Friday (July 7) was my wife's birthday. We celebrate every year by giving her a gift of her choice and then we have dinner at our children's favourite restaurant. This year, she wanted a watch for herself and I presented her a Titan watch which she liked very much.

Link to a humours article by Cyrus Broacha on his wife's birthday.

Last Sunday was the 25th marriage anniversary of my wife's sister, and she gave us a good party. But due to some reasons, the party started quite late and I missed the chance to see the World Cup Football Final.

Firefox is wonderful

According to this article in The Guardian, , Firefox is wonderful. It's up there with chocolate and sex on the grand scale of great things about being alive. As a user of Firfox for few years, I agree with this. Firefox is really really good. And this blog is best viewed in Firefox :).

Don't Look

Don't Look as they are changing. But look anway. It is amazing and amusing video. The costume change entertainers, David & Dania, change their dresses in the blink of an eye.

Their official website is here.

The Day After

The day after another Terrible Tuesday was normal. In the morning I noticed there was a slight drop of commuters which were in the train, but in the evening the train was crowded as usual. I keep thinking, when I travel in the local train about why this had to happen, who was hehind this and what they are trying to achieve by this ghastly act. Death be on them.

I will lying if I say that I am not scared to travel on the trains. Yes, I am, but I think it will go away after some time.

Media Links about day after are here and here.

Just for my amusement, I took a quiz on a website, www.nerdtests.com, which after asking crazy question, says I will live upto 74 years. Yes, I may do, if there is no other Terror Tuesday again.

Terror in Mumbai

Seven major explosions rocked Mumbai on Tuesday. The serial blasts occurred at Borivili, Khar, Meera Road, Matunga, Jogeshwari, Bhayander railway stations and a seventh on the Khar-Santacruz subway.

About 174 people are feared killed and over 403 people injured in the serial blasts.

Media Links:

CNN-IBN and BBC , and Map: where the blasts happened

Nothing could be more heinous and shamless than this. Local trains, lifeline of Mumbai city, are jampacked during the evening peak hours when people return home. I travel in the Central Railway, which was not affected by this ghastly act, and was running on time. Well, the life should go on, otherwise they will win. My heart goes out to those people who were travelling in those compartement where the blasts occurred.

This post at DesiPundit has collection of links related to Mumbai 7/11 blasts.

Following two pictures are of yesterday's local train blasts:

It Is Italy

Last weekend I could not watch much of the Final of the World Cup 2006 between France and Itlay, as I had to attend a function in the family. But I was able to watch last few minutes, after Zidane was shown red card, and the penalty shootouts. Italy won on the penalty shoot outs (5-3) after match being 1-1 after extra time. Well, the team that played better throughout have won.

Links:

Minute by minute match report

Lip-reader reveals what riled Zidane

Guardian writers and columnists pick their best and worst of the World Cup

Video of Zidane being shown red card:



Italian players celebrating after the win:



And Highlights of the match:

Quote for the Weekend

Experience is not what happens to you; it is what you do with what happens to you. -- Aldous Huxley

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EXPERIENCE, n.
The wisdom that enables us to recognize as an undesirable old acquaintance the folly that we have already embraced.

To one who, journeying through night and fog,
Is mired neck-deep in an unwholesome bog,
Experience, like the rising of the dawn,
Reveals the path that he should not have gone.
-- Joel Frad Bink

The Devil's Dictionary

France in Final

Watched the France - Portugal Semi Final World Cup Football match. It was a good match. Portugal werre unlucky to miss out many chances. Eventually France won 1-0. All the best to France in the Final. The Final will be a cracker of a match.

After the match, I was moved when great players, Zidane and Figo, embraced each other and exchanged the jersey. Football is really a beautiful game.

Minute by minute match report

Link to the match report.

Italy it is

Watched the Germany - Italy S/F match yesterday night. It was amazing match. When everyone thought it will be one more match with pentalty shootouts, Italy scored two amazing goals in the dying moments of extra time (in the 119th minute of the match). Italy deserved to win, as they played better than Germany. All the best to them for the final. Let us see who they will play with in the Finals.

Minute by minute match report

Link to match report .

Video of two goals scored by Itlay in the final minutes:




I and my friends, who had stayed overnight at our dear friend's home, had good time yesterday. We had good drinks, dinner (fantastic chicken) and yummy ice cream. And, of course, we watched the Germany - Itlay match from start to finish. The Mumbai city, though it is still raining, but not so hard, is slowly moving back to normal and local trains services seems to be back to normal.

Link to some pictures of yesterday's rains in Mumbai.