'Things sell in market due to two main reasons - pleasure or scare'

... heard one of the managers say this in the meeting. Since then have been partitioning this world into the two domains ...

Watched Salam-e-Ishq this Sunday. This one of those movies that I like watching. Damned good movie. I am going against the popular opinion but can't help. This is of the K3G, KHNH, MPK, HAHK, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, MPKDH, Socha na tha, Dil mange more, etc. This post might appear as a review more than a blog!

True, that the movie is a bit difficult to follow for the morons who are used to one or two story lines in single cine-script. However with six (!) of them packed in a single movie, there is no doubt that the morons will suffer; which could be the primary reason for criticism. Also this is not a movie for the audience of "BREAKING NEWS" type. These morons would simply not understand the inter-woven story lines being shown in parallel. And to be further confused, the characters meet each other some or the other time! Forget ... its ok!

The characters Ashutosh and Tehzeeb have been fabulously portrayed by John Abraham and Vidya Balan. Incidently, this is the first time I have seen John doing some acting, for I have not seen a single previous film of his. And I should admit, I am impressed. And so am I by Vidya's performance (once again). All the scenes by the duo is worth the money. Next better pair is Akshaye and Ayesha. And the rest are OK.

And then there are touching moments in the movie
- all of those involving Ashu / Tehzeeb.
- Govinda's "I love you" scenes
- Juhi Anil's confrontations
- Priyanka, Anil's meet in the cafe at late night, when and where they realize their true love. Wow! Priyanka talks all things out and Anil caps it by one single line. Beautiful direction.

All the songs are nice, but the first one by Adnan Sami and Ya Rabba are impressive. And the remake of बाबूजी धीरे चलना is refreshing. Kudos to Shankar Ehsan Loy. Presence of technology is felt in the scene at Ashu's residence when he is trying to help Tehzeeb remember the shared moments. All those marriage decorations, people, etc appearing and disappearing in the background is a good idea. It surely enhances the depth of the scene.

Theme of the movie is well thought of - love
- love marriage (John-Vidya)
- love marriage on rocks due to fear of commitment (Akshaye-Ayesha)
- love triangle issues (Govinda- फिरंगी m'me)
- love vs career (Salman-Priyanka) ... although this is a bit roughly handled with too many wind-ups and loose ends ... ok ignorable
- post marital affiar (Juhi-Anil-Train Girl).
- illiterate love (Sohail-Isha) ... just few hillarious moments which could have been avoided to cut down a reel of film :D

Another beautiful idea is to take cues from one scene into another, not just those based on similar words between different scenes, but in fact by intermingling of characters between story lines - Vidya meeting Akshaye and the further scene, Anil meeting Priyanka. Good way to optimize the scenes on characters and roles still introducing element of continuity.

All in all my 4 out of 5 for this refreshing movie!

Somehow I can't make up my mind on sticking to one blog site. Tradeoffs make me switch between various options. Had shifted to Yahoo 360 in between since it has better reachability and chick looks. But then it doesn't have the same presentation facilities as livejournal and also facility to link up friends from other blog sites ..... errr need to verify if even live journal supports this! Too bad, yahoo allows me to insert an emoticon here ... Unfortunately, I can't have inline emoticons on livejournal as in yahoo. So don't get more granularity on expressing mood swings. No customizability at that granular level as is available in "Open Source" UI (Ooooh I LOVE (!) open source ) .... should I have same mood throughout the post? Hey livejournal doesn't provide visitor / view statistics too .. yahooo does ... hmmm do I switch back again? ... no wait ... hey but I think I can embed links to emoticons in the blog post ...

I have an account on blogger / blogspot (whatever), but ... no wait concentrate ... livejournal ... 

In between wrote some blogs on yahoo. Prolly I will be posting them or rather re-posting them as back dated entries on live journal. So for now back to livejournal until I switch to somewhere else again ....

Finally got my new Pulsar 150 DTS-i on Saturday. The machine has got tremendous power. Initially I had an impression that one needs best riding skills to control the machine, but found it on the contrary. For first two days, I used to feel as though I am riding a big rock. Was damned afraid of the front disc brake too.

Spent whole of Saturday evening in practising. On Sunday finally I took the bike out for a "long" ride ... across the river (Mutha ). Riding the bike may be easy but riding it in Pune traffic ... I think I am not the first person to write on that! The 4 km ride from my place to Deccan Gymkhana was surely gonna be my "test". I had decided to stick to sub-35kmph speed and at the max 3rd gear, use only rear brake. Although occasionally I was confused doing multiple activities at same time - changing gear, braking and switching turn indicator, by and large it was a successful ride.

Update: 2006-10-13
Been using the bike to commute to office since Wednesday. Got exposed to more gimmicks played by people on the road. Its really a test of patience sometimes! Yesterday got a helmet (first one in my life!). Yep it is really necessary for safety purpose. And not just that, it does protect one from the tonnes of dust on the roads. However it surely would need sometime to get used to the muffled sounds on the road, for that changes the perception of traffic flow, proximity of neighbouring vehicles and worst restricts the view of rear-left and rear-right. Now I have to literally turn my head to check out the things around me!

Finally frust with the Pune Autowallahs, last Sat it was time for me to book a 2-wheeler. Pulsar has been my fav for its style, sound, looks, disc brakes and nitrox shock absorbers. Sometimes I find the bike to be quite bulky but I am confident that with practice that too would not be much of a problem.

This one is 150 cc, black model. Bajaj has changed the gear box, once again. 1-down-4-up, then they changed to 5-down and again they are back to 1-down-4-up. Reason? Dealer says that the choice is because 1-4 combi is the international standard for racer bikes. [Then I wonder where this standard was lost when Bajaj introduced 5-down gear box!]

Friends and reliatives have sufficiently warned me about the dangerous front disc brake. Since I have been using gearless 2-wheeler (Activa / Kinetic Honda) till now, I have got a bad habit of pulling the front brake at times. Usually it is coupled with rear one. Need to train my right hand not to fiddle with it!

And then there is the "law of average". Heard that Pulsar is known for its bad average. But am I really bothered about average? Surely not because whatever average this mean machine will give me, would always be profitable as compared with the merciful treatment from Autowallah gang!

So waiting to recieve my Pulsar tomorrow. Practice for couple of weeks and then dare to jump into the indisciplined Pune traffic. Wow its gonna be a terrifying time!

Sudoku is indeed a nice game to sharpen logical reasoning. Variations thereof are still more enjoyable. Presently am kinda addicted to "Greater-Than" Sudoku. Found a few compilations that can be played online on this site. http://www.killersudokuonline.com/

Met dept. surely must have been happy this year. Its been a good rainy season, but now shouldn't it stop? Its in newspapers that the monsoon is beating a grand retreat making way for the winters to set in. Its already October. Wonder if we'll have sweltering "October heat" this year.

Am residing in Pune since last 1.5 yrs. Pune too has been "blessed" by the rain. Last year when I moved in I had to hear statements such as "मुंबईकर पुण्यात पऊस घेऊन आले." And today I had to hear "आठवडाभर शांत होतं, पुण्याहून येताना पाऊस घेऊन आलास का?" All becuase, today me and my other significant half had planned to go out to Churchgate area; needless to say that the plans had to be called off ... because of rains.

However I am intrigued by the pattern that rain appears to follow year after year for last few years. Monday through Friday rain takes a rest allowing people to carry on with their daily affairs. But come weekend and the rains are back as per schedule, to scrub the air cleaning away pollution and dust. Sometimes I really wonder if this is a natural reaction to the actions our own action. Probably we charge up the environment with out polluting machines and almost by the weekend we topple the balance where in the nature has to step in for flushing our sins. Good theory I believe ...

Been to my home last weekend in Thane. I was all excited to read reports about the Mumbai Metro inauguration and planning. Although late, it is a step in correct direction and a necessary one. However still this was not without issues, as it happens in every poject executed in India - cost, efficiency, safety, et al. However note the last criterion - safety ...

Read the statement by Mr. Sudhir Badami (some structural engineer) published by Mr. Rahul Wadke in "The Hindu" of 22nd June 2006 (this is the link),

<start quote>
Mr. Badami believes that the elevated section is not safe, as a major derailment could lead to mass casualties on the arterial roads, which run parallel to, and below, in some sections.
<end quote>

Congrats to Mr. Badami for unearthing the weakest point in MRTS constructions. Yes indeed; the elevated section could be a problem of the future. What if the speeding metro train jumps off the track while negotiating a tight curve? Very logical ... give these guys a Bharat Ratna.

C'mon guys, wake up. In what era are you living? I believe for the same unsafe reasons, Shinkansen (bullet trains) hurtle at speeds exceeding 400 kmph on elevated sections in Japan. At major places, the MRTS in Toukyou city (all those green, red, blue, yellow, etc. lines) run on elevated tracks wherever necessary. Mr. Badami, these elevated tracks in Japan not only run parallel to major arterial roads, but sometimes they even run over densely populated areas. For the time being lets forget the high sesmic activity over there!

This just highlights the Indian mindset of rejecting a proposition in conceptual stage itself. It is because of such thinking, do we Indians stop from venturing into new technology areas, how well proven they might be. The statement is a proof of lack of confidence and daring to execute projects of such kind. If the world can build such railway lines and maintain and run them in precision, can't we do it? Why the world, isn't such system already implemented in Delhi itself?

Mr. Badami and the likes, stop running away. It is ok if you people don't have confidence in yourself. Move over, there are other better people who can get it done for us. Or go an a "study visit" to Japan for studying the railway system there. Or if it is not affordable, travel on Mumbai-Madgaon section by our very own Konkan Railway. That is your assignment. Don't blame me if the via-ducts on the section erode your conviction.

Took a break from the hectic schedules for 4 days, wow that was a vacation for me after almost continuous work for so many days. Incessant rains in Pune did dampen the mood on Saturday, Sunday but I spent the time indoors "regenrating" myself for the next assimilation cycle. Who assimilates whom and how is the question that will be answered from now onwards.

... Monday ...

Its a big office with plenty of facilities that one could think about. And yes, they really exist, not just empty promises. Co-operation, support, politeness, humility on the backdrop of secure environments, stringent rules and topmost discipline. It is indeed satisfying to be in such a conducive environment.

Whole day it was signing papers, agreements and forms; and as my Project Manager said, "I should have learnt by end of the day how to do signature is less than 1.5 seconds flat". Yep indeed.

... so the new chapter begins ...