Giant Wrap Up Post...

Yeah yeah, I know. It's been a while...

That's not to say that I've been having a boring time or anything but somehow I haven't had the will to put pen on paper, or, you know, fingers on keyboard. So anyway, what have I been upto since the last post? What stories have stayed put in my head instead of being poured out for your office-time-silent-guffaws?

Lots of stuff actually work (which we shall not talk about here as usual), travel (no, i mean beyond the daily home to office - though there's a story there as well), movies (and you will not even imagine the kind of movies i've been watching - a few under the influence [if you know what I mean]), restaurants (and to think I thought I'd covered most of the good places to eat in this bitter-sweet city), books (lots of them as usual. And some surprising ones. And some authors came up with surprising ones).

Whew, seriously, HOW have you people been staying awake at work when I haven't been writing!

But this seems like a marathon post if I do actually keep my eyes open for a while. So I shall only give you short selected write ups rather than all the incidents.


But before that a serious thing. This is a public blog and i'm not aware of all the facts so will not write the whole thing here. But I came to know about something heinous and disgusting that a person I know did recently. I cannot imagine anyone doing things like that in this day and age. The horrible way in which people you think you know shock you is just unbelievable. I know this didn't make much sense but please let this pass. (disclaimer: nothing has been done to me. Came to know of this recently and am still in a bit of shock)

Well, now with that out of the way:

Travel:

I went home for Diwali this time. Even though the festival of lights was brilliant last time with the three day extended festivities with some huge-ass firecrackers, there is still something about Diwali that tugs your heart strings towards home and family.
So this time I gave my parents and granny a surprise and it was pretty awesome to see their elated reaction when I jumped in front of them! Diwali was very traditional and joyous as I met my sister and niece and celebrated the festival itself at home with that most traditional and sacred of customs at home - The legen...wait for it...dary Chole Bhature dinner that my mom always makes on Diwali. In fact i'd been chewing the brains off so many people around going on and on about how much I was looking forward to that dinner. I actually had four bhature. Then I took a step back - Swapnil, you didn't come all the way from Bangalore to eat just 4! That's just self-humiliating. Do you have any self-respect? Would Mom like it if you had just 4? All the effort she put in to make that tasty meal and you just hang your head and give up at 4?

I don't think so. So I went for a long walk all around the colony. Then took another saunter around just to make sure. Then I went in with grim determination written on my face. And I sat at that dinner table and had another 2 bhature. Vindicated!

A good trip though most of it was at home. And it's always great to see my niece. However the most lingering image I have from the trip is a vision I had just as I stepped out of the airport...

Movies:
I'm sitting here watching Pulp Fiction. And this is an absolute aberration to all the trashy movies I've been watching over the past few..umm..months now. To add to the three weird movies I spoke about a couple of posts ago, I have followed them up with even weirder movies. Ok, people may not agree with me when I put "Wake up Sid" in the same category as 'FOX' and the rest but i'll stick with my decision to do so. I mean what a predictable movie. It's the kind of script that four people with a crate of beer would write. AFTER going through the beer...

When I go for a movie I look for some kind of interesting twists and turns in the tale not a movie in which you can predict half an hour in advance, including the freakin' dialogues.

Anyway, the other movies I've seen recently will chill your blood. And not in a good oh-I-forgot-my-fur-coat-on-this-Swiss-peak way. More of the Who-the-F-slammed-the-door-and-switched-on-this-walk-in-freezer way. Ok, that was probably a bit over the top but I'm sure you'll forgive me when I tell you that I have probably been the only person in the city, nay, the world, who's seen "All the Best" TWICE! And that's including the producer of the movie who couldn't really see the screen through the bloody tears brimming up in his eyes as he could literally see his money flowing away.

I also saw "Do Knot Disturb". Yes, ladies and gentlemen whoever had this image of me being a suave, sophisticated, rakishly handsome guy based on reading my blog, you're wrong on two counts. I'm just a rakishly handsome guy who watches second rate movies.


Ok, i'm tired of writing now so short snappy sentences from now on:

Places to eat: Been to quite a few new ones. Olive Beach is easily the best. Great food, great ambience...definite must eat at place. Though I probably won't be going there for a while. Such amazing dining experiences should be separated by sufficiently long periods of time to retain the awesomeness.

Books: I never liked Chetan Bhagat's books. I mean I found his penmanship childlike in Five point Someone (and the book suffered from the same predictable nature that I attributed to Wake up Sid) and never read anything from him after that. But I got 'Two States' as a gift and it's quite a page turner. Very interesting book. Highly recommended.


ok, So I shall wrap this post up now - Pulp Fiction is moving towards its end. And I definitely deserve to watch a good movie for a change!