How I got hold of Udayan ?!?

Right now (Friday, October 24, 2008 10:53 AM) I am writing this post sitting in train with complete awe that how I managed to catch this Udayan Exp. It was touch and go. Now I am happily going to Mumbai; my home; to celebrate Diwali.
Yesterday, The train was scheduled to depart at 20:10. I had left office by 16:40 and reached home by 17:35. I left home by 18:30 and waited for half an hour in Sony World signal for a bus to Majestic. But, I couldn’t find any to my despair. It usually should take 45min to reach Majestic, but today the traffic was quite gruel some.
It was 19:05 and still no sign of a bus. I finally decided to go for a rick. But as a usual nakhra with these Bangalore Auto Drivers; they won’t come to the place where you want to go. I had asked at least half a dozen autos, but no luck.
I was scampering around the Sony world signal like a beggar with child (here luggage) in hand and begging autowallahs to come. A mid-aged autowallah seeing my misery offered to go. He was like a messiah at that point of time for me.
After that I had to go through the emotions of Bangalore traffic. Signal after signal, road after road, gully after gully; everywhere there was jam. I pleaded with the driver to take me somehow to my destination. But what can he do? It was too much traffic yesterday. It seemed everyone on the road was conspiring to block me. It was 20:00 and I was still near Mysore Bank; still a good 6 signals to scamper through. It was 21:10 (the departure time) and still 3 signals to go. I was almost in tears. The fear of missing the train was gripping me. But still something said inside me I can make it. It was a challenge thrown to me. I was stuck in one more blockade and asked autowallah whether I can make it by foot.
The moment he said “Yes” I threw a 100 rupee note to him and bolted like Usain Bolt towards the station. Still the sight of Bangalore City JN evaded me. I had to cross a huge barricade, but it seemed to be too small at that moment.
20:17hrs
It was 7 min past the scheduled departure time and any other day the train would have chugged out. I ran as if I am running for my life. My worst fear being, seeing the back of the train; that dreaded ‘X’ mark.
20:19hrs
I finally made it to the entrance and gasping for breath as I carried quite heavy backpack and an equally heavy shoulder bag. One porter came rushing to me saying, “Saab, Sirf 10 minoot hain Rajdhani ko”. I replied in vain almost in tears, “Udayan”

I didn’t had the heart to hear ‘it had already left’ from him. But, it was my day. He took my bag and ran to the platform. My Udayan has not ditched me. How can she go w/o me? ;-)
Btw time I reached platform, the train had just started moving. We just got into some coach. I gave him 10 bucks. Me in total disbelief of not missing the train. My lungs were longing badly for some much needed oxygen. A fellow passenger gave me some water. Belly was aching badly. I had never run like this. My round physique making matters worse.
Then I checked with TTR and came to know that my reservation was in the same coach (My RAC had confirmed). I am on my way home still with the disbelief of, how I got hold of Udayan!!

Dasavatharam : Movie review

Saw the movie in Mumbai with my family yesterday and I must say it was a spendid evening indeed.
The film starts with Kamal (Scientist Govind) giving an thanks acceptance speech in a stadium... the film then darts back to 12th century and then follows a complex screenplay which leaves you a bit confused and mind full of chaos. Thats right! The chaotic screenplay is the base of this movie. To be more precise, the movie is loosely based on 'Chaos Theory' or the 'Butterfly effect'. The audience is presented with string of seemingly unrelated events; thereby portraying the ten avatars of Kamal.. and all these un-related & chaotic events/charecters converges in the end to the tsunami scene (in fact the scene where the film starts the narration with) .

Well, Kamal leaves you in awe with his breath-taking performances, be it the tough American ex-CIA, the telugu investigator, Dalit Leader etc.. This is a performance which cant be matched by anyone around in the planet. The body language, the voice modulation differs from each of the ten characters. We just cannot believe how this man can pull it off... Amazing performance by Kamal.

KSR adds all the required commercial elements needed for Tamil cinema. Apart from the ten charecters of Kamal; I enjoyed the work of Pattabhi (the driver/translator of CIA agent -Kamal). He excels in inducing belly-ache through his funny dialogue delivery. Only person who has failed Kamal is Himesh. His music is not upto mark. ;-(

The screenplay reminds you the screenplay of City of Gods. The cons are the length of the movie. But it doesn't bores you though. Finally, when you come out of cinema hall, you will be left in complete awe but still wont be able to recall a scene. The film has set the benchmark for its technical brilliance. I felt proud to see a Indian movie, so well made. Kamal's hardwork and dedication reflects in each and every frame of the movie.

If this was a Hollywood movie; the oscars would have been bestowed for the screenplay for sure. Overall, An excellent effort by Kamal. Kudos to him for taking tamizh movie to international standards.

Back in Bombay!

Finally I am back in Bombay or say it Mumbai (to please the Thackeray). I was supposed to travel by Udayan Exp on Friday night, thanks to W/L status of my ticket; I had to cancel it and take a evening flight to Mumbai.

66 kms. Yes, You read it right. Its 66 kms from E-City to Airport (Devanahalli one). The volvo travel from Infosys to Airport costs 200 bucks :-( Took the bus at 1:50 pm and reached airport at 4:20pm. No traffic at all. The new airport kinda looks good. Lots of checkin counters and all. But, you need lots of food stalls there. Well, there is CCD, but pls go there if you are ready to dish out 70 bucks for a Veg. burger :-(

Flight was supposed to depart at 18:50hrs. But, to bring unwanted spice in the journey; my Spicejet flight got delayed by 2 hrs. Spend some boring hrs flirting with a cute chick w/ a laptop. actually my motive was to check some mails. But I ended up seeing some pics of Namitha on IndiaGlitz. hehehhe.....

Atlast, boarded the flight at 20:00hrs. The air-hostess (she was a cutie indeed ;-)) started the boring demo of what to do when your flight nosedives in sea, air-mask, seat belt, blah blah blah...
I could notice the guy seated next to me was scanning the airhostess curiously and asked me, "Do you feel those are real ones?" Infact I closed my Chetan Bhagat's novel and looked at the crew for the first time. I didn't knew what to answer to that question. But, the guy too didn't seem interested in getting an answer from me (was scanning the other girls.. )

Flight started rolling (at last). The guy next to me, he called a flight attendant (girl of course) and asked... ""Plane late hogaya hain... snacks-wacks nahi milega kya??" (Plane is late, cant I get some snacks?). the girl smiled and replied in negative. Instead we were given a 'complimentary' water bottle (some 100ml i think). The guy turned to me and said, "I called her to get a close-up view u c" ;-)

The climate was very rough in Mumbai (as usual heavy rainfall). There were some delay in landing due to this. We were supposed to land @ 22:45hrs, but it was 23:10 and we were still airborne. The lights were switched off for landing, suddenly the guy stood up and yelled in his typical Sachin' voice... "yeeeeeeh.... route bhool gaya kya???? " (hey, Have you forgotten the route?). the passengers errupted in laughter on this. A nightmarish day was lightened by that guys stupid prank. Anyways, I last I am in Bombay.... ;-) but just for a week ;-(