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!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Fun Free Friday...
The most interesting days start off with some impromptu plans. AG had come in from Chennai for the last time (hopefully- i mean not that I hope to not meet him but because he's finally leaving from Chennai after a stressful and oh-too-long stint of almost an year. I think he's very excited about getting back to non-gajra and Jasmine wearing humanity in Delhi)
Anyway, we all got up quite late and decided to go to that iconic breakfast place in Bangalore - Koshy's. AK and SC also joined us and we landed up there, i don't know, around 11 maybe. The breakfast was excellent (there's something about really fresh bread that hits just the right spot even if it's just a plain ol' vegetable sandwich)
AK and SC hadn't yet had an inaugural drive in PS' new i10 car and we decided on a whim to drive towards probably the only smooth stretch of road in Bangalore- the NICE corridor (yes corny, i know). So there we were in our holiday best of just out of bed hairstyles and bathroom slippers zipping along to the sound of good music streaming out of the oh-so-stylish integrated music system that comes with the car. The weather was brilliant and I think it's been quite a while since all us DCE folks in Bangalore got together and went out somewhere.
Mid-way through the trip we decided to go to Innovative Film City, an entertainment 'city'/ amusement park some distance from Bangalore. Suddenly made plans have a way of coming together brilliantly. Now i've heard of this place and I would be lying if I say that the idea of a place like that was not exactly very exciting for me. I hadn't done any research on this place but still did not seem to think that the place would be any good.
But that impression was so wrong!
The five of us streamed into the place to go through all the amusements in store. Though it was a bit expensive, I think if we hadn't driven so far we wouldn't have entered the place.
First the place looks really good. It is quite grand with a very Hiranandani (Mumbai) look to it with beautiful grecian inspired statues and a lovely corridor in the middle.
The first attraction we visited was a makeshift movie hall with a very rural feel in which 10 minute clips of that iconic movie, Sholay, was playing. Good fun to see the movie as it probably seen by millions of people in the country.
Then came the most interesting part! The Maze of Mirrors. We went in expecting it to be a corny hall with a bunch of those reducing, elongating, enlarging or some such mirrors. And though I wouldn't mind having a permanent reducing mirror, it didn't seem very exciting. But it was so cool!
There is red track LED lighting on the floors and a whole bunch of mirrors that totally disorient you as you walk through looking for the exit. SC actually bumped into a mirror while in that maze while AK and I high fived just to realize that we were staring in two mirrors instead of each other. Good good fun :)
Unfortunately the next item on our agenda could not be participated in. Paintball. Now, I haven't yet had a game of paintball and it seems like totally excellent fun. The arena was being cleaned when we reached and though all of us wanted to play, it just slipped under the radar as we got engrossed in other stuff there. I wish we'd come in earlier!
We next went to the Wax Museum and the Ripley's Believe it or not exhibit. Wax museum was a bit of a disappointment as quite a few of those figurines looked unrealistic and doll-like. Ripley's had quite a few interesting exhibits and was interesting to browse.
We next went to the tour de force, the roller skating rink there. Sometimes I really feel stupid due to some skills I should've learnt earlier in my life (skating, swimming, playing the drums). So while all the other guys started skimming across the rink gracefully I started on my first baby steps in roller skating with awkward clumpy steps with both feet slipping in different directions. I kept at it for an hour with eyes screwed up in concentration and sweat dripping from the bridge of my nose. I would love to have had a typical sports movie moment when the underdog suddenly comes into his own to do such amazing feats on the sports field that the detractors can only bite their tongues in amazement.
Unfortunately, real life doesn't really follow that script.
So all I can claim is that after one hour of effort and a particularly nasty fall, I managed to walk two lengths of the rink flanked on each side by PS and AG. But still it was fun and I would like to do it again sometime.
We then went to the Horror house and I thought it was quite well done. I mean, of course, it wasn't scary but it certainly was a bit spooky and I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't a bit spooked when I found myself leading the group through the scary corridor. Of course I cleverly slowed down and maneuvered someone else to lead the group and things were better for me :)
A quick snack and we were on the way back with promises of returning again to finish off the missed painball game.
To top off a great day, our cook really exceeded himself and made some brilliant food for dinner.
Very very nice day out. I like!
Anyway, we all got up quite late and decided to go to that iconic breakfast place in Bangalore - Koshy's. AK and SC also joined us and we landed up there, i don't know, around 11 maybe. The breakfast was excellent (there's something about really fresh bread that hits just the right spot even if it's just a plain ol' vegetable sandwich)
AK and SC hadn't yet had an inaugural drive in PS' new i10 car and we decided on a whim to drive towards probably the only smooth stretch of road in Bangalore- the NICE corridor (yes corny, i know). So there we were in our holiday best of just out of bed hairstyles and bathroom slippers zipping along to the sound of good music streaming out of the oh-so-stylish integrated music system that comes with the car. The weather was brilliant and I think it's been quite a while since all us DCE folks in Bangalore got together and went out somewhere.
Mid-way through the trip we decided to go to Innovative Film City, an entertainment 'city'/ amusement park some distance from Bangalore. Suddenly made plans have a way of coming together brilliantly. Now i've heard of this place and I would be lying if I say that the idea of a place like that was not exactly very exciting for me. I hadn't done any research on this place but still did not seem to think that the place would be any good.
But that impression was so wrong!
The five of us streamed into the place to go through all the amusements in store. Though it was a bit expensive, I think if we hadn't driven so far we wouldn't have entered the place.
First the place looks really good. It is quite grand with a very Hiranandani (Mumbai) look to it with beautiful grecian inspired statues and a lovely corridor in the middle.
The first attraction we visited was a makeshift movie hall with a very rural feel in which 10 minute clips of that iconic movie, Sholay, was playing. Good fun to see the movie as it probably seen by millions of people in the country.
Then came the most interesting part! The Maze of Mirrors. We went in expecting it to be a corny hall with a bunch of those reducing, elongating, enlarging or some such mirrors. And though I wouldn't mind having a permanent reducing mirror, it didn't seem very exciting. But it was so cool!
There is red track LED lighting on the floors and a whole bunch of mirrors that totally disorient you as you walk through looking for the exit. SC actually bumped into a mirror while in that maze while AK and I high fived just to realize that we were staring in two mirrors instead of each other. Good good fun :)
Unfortunately the next item on our agenda could not be participated in. Paintball. Now, I haven't yet had a game of paintball and it seems like totally excellent fun. The arena was being cleaned when we reached and though all of us wanted to play, it just slipped under the radar as we got engrossed in other stuff there. I wish we'd come in earlier!
We next went to the Wax Museum and the Ripley's Believe it or not exhibit. Wax museum was a bit of a disappointment as quite a few of those figurines looked unrealistic and doll-like. Ripley's had quite a few interesting exhibits and was interesting to browse.
We next went to the tour de force, the roller skating rink there. Sometimes I really feel stupid due to some skills I should've learnt earlier in my life (skating, swimming, playing the drums). So while all the other guys started skimming across the rink gracefully I started on my first baby steps in roller skating with awkward clumpy steps with both feet slipping in different directions. I kept at it for an hour with eyes screwed up in concentration and sweat dripping from the bridge of my nose. I would love to have had a typical sports movie moment when the underdog suddenly comes into his own to do such amazing feats on the sports field that the detractors can only bite their tongues in amazement.
Unfortunately, real life doesn't really follow that script.
So all I can claim is that after one hour of effort and a particularly nasty fall, I managed to walk two lengths of the rink flanked on each side by PS and AG. But still it was fun and I would like to do it again sometime.
We then went to the Horror house and I thought it was quite well done. I mean, of course, it wasn't scary but it certainly was a bit spooky and I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't a bit spooked when I found myself leading the group through the scary corridor. Of course I cleverly slowed down and maneuvered someone else to lead the group and things were better for me :)
A quick snack and we were on the way back with promises of returning again to finish off the missed painball game.
To top off a great day, our cook really exceeded himself and made some brilliant food for dinner.
Very very nice day out. I like!
Monday, September 7, 2009
Weird Movie Week...
The week just past has to be the most entertaining week involving weird movies that PS and I watched. The movies we've watched this week have gone from the comic to the cheap to what-the-hell-were-we-thinking and we're-not-making-enough-money-to-waste-on-this-crap type. But all in all an enjoyable week, though I would have to cringe about telling people about atleast one movie I watched.
Anyway, starting on a high note, midway through the week PS and I suddenly decided to go watch Quick Gun Murugun. This movie is based on a fictional (obviously) vegetarian south Indian dosa eating cowboy called...umm..take a wild guess..no?..ok..Quick Gun Murugun. This character, who needs his one tumbler whisky (ok, can anyone please tell me the correct oxford spelling of this beverage? Whisky or Whiskey?)with one masala dosa while the whole universe resounds with his entry cue:
It's a pretty funny movie. Quite slapstick, but unapologetic about being one. And the art director must've had a ball while designing the sets and the entire look! Starting from QGM's clothes (emerald green shirt, Orange tight trousers, leapordskin waistcoat, bright pink necherchief, and a cowboy hat...and oh yeah, the waistcoat matching underwear) to the after Yamraj and his weird vehicle to ferry souls to the heavens to the government department-ish heaven itself- all brilliantly thought of.
Of course you don't go into such a movie expecting a great plot but this plot of preventing the arch villain Rice Plate Reddy from converting all vegetarians to non-vegetarians and hence taking over the world was just cheeky enough to bring a smile..or a chuckle. Add in a lot of hilarious dialogues in tamil accent, a bewitching seductress called Mango Dolly and QMG's Rajnikant-esque moves, and a perfect recipe for a laugh riot that stays with you only till the movie ends. The length of the movie is also just right and it ends before the gags start getting jarring
A good solid one time watch.
The second movie we saw was a bit of a disaster. Hell, it was the Titanic and the tsunami put together (purely as a scale of the disaster)! So this Friday PS and I were at home and suddenly decided to go to a movie without really caring which one it was. Now PS has had a bit of a soft corner for Sagarika Ghatge since she portrayed the role of Preeti Sabharwal in Chak de. Thus, I blame him entirely for our decision to finally watch FOX. This has to be one of the worst movies i've ever seen. And, that, is saying a lot! Terrible plot and insipid execution. And even worse, exactly three scenes with Sagarika having anything to do. Absolute failure on all fronts. Oh, I'll let you in on the main plot twist - I mean it's not like you're going to watch the movie anyway - Sunny Deol is the villain. Ho hum...
NOT a watch, infact if you hate someone dearly and want him to reach a stage of dementia, just lock him/her in a theatre playing this movie and let him watch the movie thrice. Be very cautious, anything more than 3 and the person may suffer permanent irreversible brain damage.
And the third one was the hindi remake of Death at a Funeral called Daddy Cool. It's a passable comedy but things just get in bad taste once in a while. It's basically about a guy coming and blackmailing a family about his relationship with the dad whose funeral has got all of them together. After that it's one slapstick gag after another.Funny only very very rarely and that too if you really force yourself to laugh.
Can watch once, free, on tv or...umm you get my drift, right?
So it's been a while since I saw three movies in a week. And this weird combination of movies? Never before!
Anyway, starting on a high note, midway through the week PS and I suddenly decided to go watch Quick Gun Murugun. This movie is based on a fictional (obviously) vegetarian south Indian dosa eating cowboy called...umm..take a wild guess..no?..ok..Quick Gun Murugun. This character, who needs his one tumbler whisky (ok, can anyone please tell me the correct oxford spelling of this beverage? Whisky or Whiskey?)with one masala dosa while the whole universe resounds with his entry cue:
The earth is my garden,
The sky is my ceiling,
The whole universe is my native,
My name.....is Murugun
It's a pretty funny movie. Quite slapstick, but unapologetic about being one. And the art director must've had a ball while designing the sets and the entire look! Starting from QGM's clothes (emerald green shirt, Orange tight trousers, leapordskin waistcoat, bright pink necherchief, and a cowboy hat...and oh yeah, the waistcoat matching underwear) to the after Yamraj and his weird vehicle to ferry souls to the heavens to the government department-ish heaven itself- all brilliantly thought of.
Of course you don't go into such a movie expecting a great plot but this plot of preventing the arch villain Rice Plate Reddy from converting all vegetarians to non-vegetarians and hence taking over the world was just cheeky enough to bring a smile..or a chuckle. Add in a lot of hilarious dialogues in tamil accent, a bewitching seductress called Mango Dolly and QMG's Rajnikant-esque moves, and a perfect recipe for a laugh riot that stays with you only till the movie ends. The length of the movie is also just right and it ends before the gags start getting jarring
A good solid one time watch.
The second movie we saw was a bit of a disaster. Hell, it was the Titanic and the tsunami put together (purely as a scale of the disaster)! So this Friday PS and I were at home and suddenly decided to go to a movie without really caring which one it was. Now PS has had a bit of a soft corner for Sagarika Ghatge since she portrayed the role of Preeti Sabharwal in Chak de. Thus, I blame him entirely for our decision to finally watch FOX. This has to be one of the worst movies i've ever seen. And, that, is saying a lot! Terrible plot and insipid execution. And even worse, exactly three scenes with Sagarika having anything to do. Absolute failure on all fronts. Oh, I'll let you in on the main plot twist - I mean it's not like you're going to watch the movie anyway - Sunny Deol is the villain. Ho hum...
NOT a watch, infact if you hate someone dearly and want him to reach a stage of dementia, just lock him/her in a theatre playing this movie and let him watch the movie thrice. Be very cautious, anything more than 3 and the person may suffer permanent irreversible brain damage.
And the third one was the hindi remake of Death at a Funeral called Daddy Cool. It's a passable comedy but things just get in bad taste once in a while. It's basically about a guy coming and blackmailing a family about his relationship with the dad whose funeral has got all of them together. After that it's one slapstick gag after another.Funny only very very rarely and that too if you really force yourself to laugh.
Can watch once, free, on tv or...umm you get my drift, right?
So it's been a while since I saw three movies in a week. And this weird combination of movies? Never before!
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Swap Singapore Stories,can? Part 1
It's been my desire for long to go to a foreign trip just for a vacation for a long time now. Now I am told that I visited Nepal when I was one or two years old, but somehow I don't think it counts. Firstly, anyplace you don't need a visa to go to just doesn't feel 'foreign' enough. And secondly, well come on, it's Nepal - when I was an infant.
Now I've been to cities outside India for work (yes, cities - plural. I still maintain that having a 4 hour stopover on my way to Toronto at Heathrow means that I've been to London...hmmpff)but to just go for a vacation after putting a I'm-not-reachable-while-you-losers-are-spending-your-life-cooped-up-in-cubicles-ha! out of office reply on my office email and not care about anything with only fun in mind...ah amazing.
Thus it so transpired that after several false starts and monumental documentation problems I finally managed to go to Singapore to visit SP and AD there. And what amazing hosts they were! (more about this later)
So writing in true blue travelogue fashion (and also the tendency of commoners to want to know EVERYTHING about celebrities) I shall give you a blow by blow, minute by minute account of the entire trip.
I took the evening flight out from Bangalore on the 26th (incidentally, my birthday) and landed in Singapore in the wee hours of the morning of the 27th. SP had asked me to call him when I land, however there was a small problem. The banks of payphones were inside the terminal while the shops from which I could've got change to actually dial the phone were outside. So I decided to venture out myself and get a cab. SP had also mentioned that the cabbies were the most interesting people there (and of course I knew this due to my extensive international exposure - read 4 days in Toronto..umm..3 years back) and I should try to talk to them. After the Mercedes cab that I wanted was narrowly missed by me, I sat in my cab and thought of starting some conversation. Apparently 6 am in the morning is not a very good time to strike up a conversation. I might well have been speaking to a solid wall for all the response I got from him.
But anyway, he got me to SP and AD's place intact. There was a small jam on the way
(Seriously? A jam caused by one car breaking down and sitting in half a lane. We would've just whizzed past it and not even noticed out here, but I guess that's what they mean by cultural differences. We sat for 15 minutes in the jam and by the end of it I knew each and everything written on the rear of the car ahead. Seriously, what use is a Masseratti or a Ferrari or a Lamborghini if you have to drive in straight lanes, stuck behind a station wagon?)but we still made good time.
SP and AD's Apartment:
What an amazing place! It's a duplex condo and the place is just brilliant. It has a beautiful balcony looking down on the club area. It's the kind of balcony where you can spend days curled up and just staring out. And I think we spent a lot of time doing just that :)
After meeting SP after I don't even remember how long, we had an important breakfast meeting with Mr. J. Daniels. After the meeting got..umm.. extended a bit we went down to the tennis courts for my first international match. SP is quite good, I think a better player than I am, but somehow I managed to match him. Good game, but was curtailed by a sudden shower.
Adjourning the match we hung out with Carl S. Berg for a bit before a lavish home cooked breakfast at, where else, the balcony. Tiredness did hit me a while later, afterall all I'd been doing for 10 days in Delhi was eat-sleep-eat-sleep, and I crashed for a couple of hours, or, you know, four.
SP had taken the day off and we went to NUS and picked up AD as she got off work. Then we walked around the entire place. Had a good dinner and then did the dreaded and necessary expedition to Mustafa mall. It's huge, but really, not being too 'shoppy' a person I wasn't too impressed. I had to buy a watch though and I managed to pick up a really good looking one. So my old watch is finally relegated to second position after four years of exemplary service. We met a friend of SPAD in Mustafa and went to his place for a while. A true blue Punjabi munda, his conversation was hilarious and we really had a good time there.
The next day we got up late and had a very elaborate day ahead. AD had to work again while SP had a half day so we took the bus to this station called, wait for it, Dhoby Ghaut. I was so kicked with the name (Dhobi Ghat is the place where washermen wash clothes on the sides of rivers in India). I was chuckling every time I saw that name. (chuckle)
SP had to go to office so I walked around the place. The central business district is quite compact and the maps seem deceptive. It's very easy to walk around the entire place in a couple of hours. The small Merlion(s), the riverfront (really really liked this), parliament house, supreme court (looks like a small office), Boat quay, Funan centre, the Asian civilization museum, the esplanade. Very nice and pretty. I especially loved the riverfront opposite Boat quay and spent a lot of time there.
The evening was brilliant. SP n AD, the great hosts that they were, took me to this place called the "The New Asia Bar", on the 71st and 72nd floor of Singapore's tallest building, the Swissôtel Stamford! That's the highest I've ever been without flying and the view from there, ah, marvelous. From one side you could see the rising modern buildings all the way to parts of Malaysia. From the other side you could see the ports with scores of ships with their lights twinkling moored beyond the coastline with the sun setting in the background. Breathtaking views. I think that view in itself was worth going all the way to Singapore!
To make this even better, we had dinner at a place called Chjymes which was a totally new experience. But the night was still young!
(it's just sad that most Indian cities, except Mumbai, have deadlines for nightlife.One feels really bad to see that people just start warming up for the night in other countries by the time we are usually back at home. It's also my theory that if there were no deadlines there would be less drunken driving and more responsible drinking. With no clock ticking down people would get a chance to relax with their drinks rather than racing to drink. Basically quality over quantity.)
We next went to what is the clubbing district and most happening place in Singapore - Clarke Quay. Spread along the river front this has hordes of clubs and food stalls and what nots!
We went to this place called Yellow Jello where a band was belting out Happy songs, quite appropriate to what we were feeling! Had a good time there and met another friend from India there. Then after some time we moved to the Cafe Iguana for some strong mexican margheritas, yumm :)
The day ended, as all my days there, in the wee hours of the morning.
And look, I've just covered two days. I guess this post will have to spillover to a sequel.
Can write post again? Can also can, cannot also can :) (shall be explained later)
Now I've been to cities outside India for work (yes, cities - plural. I still maintain that having a 4 hour stopover on my way to Toronto at Heathrow means that I've been to London...hmmpff)but to just go for a vacation after putting a I'm-not-reachable-while-you-losers-are-spending-your-life-cooped-up-in-cubicles-ha! out of office reply on my office email and not care about anything with only fun in mind...ah amazing.
Thus it so transpired that after several false starts and monumental documentation problems I finally managed to go to Singapore to visit SP and AD there. And what amazing hosts they were! (more about this later)
So writing in true blue travelogue fashion (and also the tendency of commoners to want to know EVERYTHING about celebrities) I shall give you a blow by blow, minute by minute account of the entire trip.
I took the evening flight out from Bangalore on the 26th (incidentally, my birthday) and landed in Singapore in the wee hours of the morning of the 27th. SP had asked me to call him when I land, however there was a small problem. The banks of payphones were inside the terminal while the shops from which I could've got change to actually dial the phone were outside. So I decided to venture out myself and get a cab. SP had also mentioned that the cabbies were the most interesting people there (and of course I knew this due to my extensive international exposure - read 4 days in Toronto..umm..3 years back) and I should try to talk to them. After the Mercedes cab that I wanted was narrowly missed by me, I sat in my cab and thought of starting some conversation. Apparently 6 am in the morning is not a very good time to strike up a conversation. I might well have been speaking to a solid wall for all the response I got from him.
But anyway, he got me to SP and AD's place intact. There was a small jam on the way
(Seriously? A jam caused by one car breaking down and sitting in half a lane. We would've just whizzed past it and not even noticed out here, but I guess that's what they mean by cultural differences. We sat for 15 minutes in the jam and by the end of it I knew each and everything written on the rear of the car ahead. Seriously, what use is a Masseratti or a Ferrari or a Lamborghini if you have to drive in straight lanes, stuck behind a station wagon?)but we still made good time.
SP and AD's Apartment:
What an amazing place! It's a duplex condo and the place is just brilliant. It has a beautiful balcony looking down on the club area. It's the kind of balcony where you can spend days curled up and just staring out. And I think we spent a lot of time doing just that :)
After meeting SP after I don't even remember how long, we had an important breakfast meeting with Mr. J. Daniels. After the meeting got..umm.. extended a bit we went down to the tennis courts for my first international match. SP is quite good, I think a better player than I am, but somehow I managed to match him. Good game, but was curtailed by a sudden shower.
Adjourning the match we hung out with Carl S. Berg for a bit before a lavish home cooked breakfast at, where else, the balcony. Tiredness did hit me a while later, afterall all I'd been doing for 10 days in Delhi was eat-sleep-eat-sleep, and I crashed for a couple of hours, or, you know, four.
SP had taken the day off and we went to NUS and picked up AD as she got off work. Then we walked around the entire place. Had a good dinner and then did the dreaded and necessary expedition to Mustafa mall. It's huge, but really, not being too 'shoppy' a person I wasn't too impressed. I had to buy a watch though and I managed to pick up a really good looking one. So my old watch is finally relegated to second position after four years of exemplary service. We met a friend of SPAD in Mustafa and went to his place for a while. A true blue Punjabi munda, his conversation was hilarious and we really had a good time there.
The next day we got up late and had a very elaborate day ahead. AD had to work again while SP had a half day so we took the bus to this station called, wait for it, Dhoby Ghaut. I was so kicked with the name (Dhobi Ghat is the place where washermen wash clothes on the sides of rivers in India). I was chuckling every time I saw that name. (chuckle)
SP had to go to office so I walked around the place. The central business district is quite compact and the maps seem deceptive. It's very easy to walk around the entire place in a couple of hours. The small Merlion(s), the riverfront (really really liked this), parliament house, supreme court (looks like a small office), Boat quay, Funan centre, the Asian civilization museum, the esplanade. Very nice and pretty. I especially loved the riverfront opposite Boat quay and spent a lot of time there.
The evening was brilliant. SP n AD, the great hosts that they were, took me to this place called the "The New Asia Bar", on the 71st and 72nd floor of Singapore's tallest building, the Swissôtel Stamford! That's the highest I've ever been without flying and the view from there, ah, marvelous. From one side you could see the rising modern buildings all the way to parts of Malaysia. From the other side you could see the ports with scores of ships with their lights twinkling moored beyond the coastline with the sun setting in the background. Breathtaking views. I think that view in itself was worth going all the way to Singapore!
To make this even better, we had dinner at a place called Chjymes which was a totally new experience. But the night was still young!
(it's just sad that most Indian cities, except Mumbai, have deadlines for nightlife.One feels really bad to see that people just start warming up for the night in other countries by the time we are usually back at home. It's also my theory that if there were no deadlines there would be less drunken driving and more responsible drinking. With no clock ticking down people would get a chance to relax with their drinks rather than racing to drink. Basically quality over quantity.)
We next went to what is the clubbing district and most happening place in Singapore - Clarke Quay. Spread along the river front this has hordes of clubs and food stalls and what nots!
We went to this place called Yellow Jello where a band was belting out Happy songs, quite appropriate to what we were feeling! Had a good time there and met another friend from India there. Then after some time we moved to the Cafe Iguana for some strong mexican margheritas, yumm :)
The day ended, as all my days there, in the wee hours of the morning.
And look, I've just covered two days. I guess this post will have to spillover to a sequel.
Can write post again? Can also can, cannot also can :) (shall be explained later)
Sunday, August 23, 2009
L'il Jassy wrote a BAD book...
Jaswant Singh http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaswant_Singh, a senior political leader in BJP http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BJP has recently been expelled from the party for writing a book, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jinnah:_India-Partition-Independence: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/BJP-expels-Jaswant-Singh-over-Jinnah-remarks/articleshow/4910077.cms
This incident sends out some really scary signals. It is one of the most direct contradiction of the freedom of expression, the cornerstone of democracy. It is a well known fact that only the victor writes the history of war. It is thus easy to just take one point of view and stick with it. But the really mature society would be one in which people can calmly go through all evidence and make their own opinions about any incident. But more important, in my opinion, is to have the freedom to agree to disagree maturely and peacefully. Every person brings a different perspective to the same set of evidence and hence sees things in a different way. It is thus impossible to expect people to come to the same conclusion - but if people can hold on to their opinions and conclusions without fear of retribution or without trying to force them upon others, only then can the society be considered to be truly democratically mature.
Of course I'm aware that this is too idealistic a view. Hot heads will always exist. People who scream without understanding will always exist. People with my way or the highway will also always exist.
But removing a senior leader from the party gives out very strong anti-dissent messages. Or more tragically, more anti-independent thinking messages. You should not have any other interests, opinions, thoughts, arguments apart from the one that is the 'party diktat'
It reminds me of the dystopian society that George Orwell wrote in his book 1984 which I'm re-reading currently. It essentially talks about a totalitarian society where dissent is permanently obliterated through the means of fear and suspicion. But very critically the dictatorial regime also focused on 'Thoughtcrime' and one of the ways of removing that was putting together a new language, Newspeak, which would, in it's ultimate form prevent dissent as the language would be such that people would not be able to understand there own dissent as there just wouldn't be words to describe them. Newspeak would narrow the range of thoughts possible where describing concepts like freedom, independent thought, opinions would just not be possible. As a character in the book says: " The revolution will be complete when the language is perfect"
The current expulsion reeks of dark times in the party. If independent thought needs to be curbed then there is definitely something wrong and some serious thinking needs to be done.
This incident sends out some really scary signals. It is one of the most direct contradiction of the freedom of expression, the cornerstone of democracy. It is a well known fact that only the victor writes the history of war. It is thus easy to just take one point of view and stick with it. But the really mature society would be one in which people can calmly go through all evidence and make their own opinions about any incident. But more important, in my opinion, is to have the freedom to agree to disagree maturely and peacefully. Every person brings a different perspective to the same set of evidence and hence sees things in a different way. It is thus impossible to expect people to come to the same conclusion - but if people can hold on to their opinions and conclusions without fear of retribution or without trying to force them upon others, only then can the society be considered to be truly democratically mature.
Of course I'm aware that this is too idealistic a view. Hot heads will always exist. People who scream without understanding will always exist. People with my way or the highway will also always exist.
But removing a senior leader from the party gives out very strong anti-dissent messages. Or more tragically, more anti-independent thinking messages. You should not have any other interests, opinions, thoughts, arguments apart from the one that is the 'party diktat'
It reminds me of the dystopian society that George Orwell wrote in his book 1984 which I'm re-reading currently. It essentially talks about a totalitarian society where dissent is permanently obliterated through the means of fear and suspicion. But very critically the dictatorial regime also focused on 'Thoughtcrime' and one of the ways of removing that was putting together a new language, Newspeak, which would, in it's ultimate form prevent dissent as the language would be such that people would not be able to understand there own dissent as there just wouldn't be words to describe them. Newspeak would narrow the range of thoughts possible where describing concepts like freedom, independent thought, opinions would just not be possible. As a character in the book says: " The revolution will be complete when the language is perfect"
The current expulsion reeks of dark times in the party. If independent thought needs to be curbed then there is definitely something wrong and some serious thinking needs to be done.
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