The Sane Lunatic

I absolutely do NOT like the new SUV cars in general. I hate the way they look, the way they feel to drive and most of all, I hate it that soo many people like them and find them practical. While I do understand that if you're the type of person who often enough likes to take their car off-road for some adventurous driving experiences or if driving off-road is simply part of your routine, then the SUV is the car for you. Or maybe you are often in need to travel with more than 5 adults in the car, or maybe you need a car that can protect you from the likely event of being rammed into by another car, even then it suits your needs.  But if you don't plan to do any of those things, then your SUV simply says, "fuck you commoner" as you literally sit on your high throne in a car that allows you to fill the boot with bags and bags of more shit you don't need but would like to have. More and more of these city driving fucks have gone for these styles of vehicles a...

Here we have it folks, another remake of an old classic, which in itself was a remake and reinterpretation of an even older, classic movie.The new edition of 'The Magnificent Seven', directed by Antoine Fuqua, follows the line similar to that of the 1960 film which was directed by John Sturges and had an even more impressive star cast, including Yul Brynner, James Coburn and Steve McQueen. Denzel Washington plays bounty hunter and avenger, Sam Chisolm who is approached by two residents of an old west town called Rose Creek. Their town had been seized by greedy industrialist, Bartholomew Bogue ( played by Peter Sarsgaard), and they were desperate to find someone to liberate them. Taken in by their resolve and the pay offered, Sam agrees to take up the job and sets about recruiting some of the best guns in the West. He comes across hustler and fast-talking quick-shooter Josh Faraday (Chris Pratt) who he believes has his heart in the right place and would make a valuable ...

Now, regular readers would know that I like to go to watch movies, as regularly as possible. Over the years, I have frequented many different cinemas and different kinds of people coming to watch different kinds of movies. But I do have one major problem almost every time and its people making noises in the middle of the film!! There's all kinds of noises and disruptive sounds that people make at the movies. When people react to certain scenes in the film, in the form of gasps, laughs, groans, even the cheers when an epic character makes his or her entrance in the story, I don't mind as much. But what really bothers me is when people are continuously talking or muttering in the middle of the film. Sometimes it's a bunch of shameless punks with no sense of civil politeness or courtesy or even a shred of dignity. These bunch of aggravating scum can be hard to silence, as logic is unfathomable to their barely functioning brains. Then there are the annoying-narrators. Thes...

Allow me to start by saying that I really really recommend that you watch this movie. You really should. Well, now that we've got that out of the way, let me share a little about this extremely well-made thriller. Ritesh Shah (dialogue and screenplay writer) & Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury (director) should take a bow for creating a movie that has dealt with a topic often avoided or mishandled by other movies. Real life is never simple or straightforward. It is extremely complicated, and the potential for things to go wrong is always high. That is precisely what happens when three young ladies decide to hang out with some boys them meet at a rock concert. Now, I might point out that I will refrain from referring to the female characters as "modern" women, just because they live an independent and free lifestyle, because, in my view, that is the current normal, so they are just three women, Minal (Tapsee Mannu),  Falak (Kirthi Kulhari) and Andrea (Andrea Tariang) liv...

As I stood atop that giant rock, taking in the magnificent view before me, I knew I wouldn't feel like this again in a long time. At an unearthly hour for a Sunday morning, us 9 riders, in 3 cars, headed out towards the ride destination, Ramanagara. It is also known as the 'Silk City' and is home to some of the oldest granite outcrops that were immortalized in the iconic Bollywood film, 'Sholay', and other great films too. I didn't know any of that until after the ride when I asked: "Where are we?". As we reached our rendezvous point, a farm owned by a relative of one of the riders, I got glimpses of the natural beauty that awaited me on this ride. By the time we started the ride, the sun was up and the day was just perfect for a splendid ride through the lovely roads through Ramanagara. Sunny enough to make the sky and the grass and everything else look amazing in their colors, and cool enough to not tire us out too much. This route was...

The last day in Goa started off very lazily, with me staying in bed till 11, after which I ordered the usual breakfast and got ready for the day. I continued my practice of making sure that I went out for lunch to a local eaterie. But when I left the hotel that afternoon, it was drizzling, which did not dissuade me. It simply reduced the radius I could cover, and luckily I found a small food joint just as the rain kicked up. The place was not promising in terms of quality, and it delivered on the low expectations it projected. I ordered some chilly fry calamari that was more chewy than the standard eraser. I barely got through half of it, before I gave up and decided to fill up on french fries. The walk back was luckily rain-free, and very pleasant. Once at the hotel, I whittled away the time till the evening, which was when I headed to the beach for one last visit. I was lucky to watch the sun set halfway before being hidden behind the clouds. It was a remarkable sight, making up...

Now, I know that this installment has come rather late, but you will see why. Let's pick up from day 2 in Goa. The first priority on my mind was to try and find a way to rent a car to drive around in, but I couldn't get through to those guys on the phone in the morning. This is after I went out for a quick trip to the beach early in the morning and a nice western breakfast in the room (3 egg omelette, toast, sausage, hash browns and fresh fruit; it was goood). I remembered the name of the nearest car point from one of my conversations with the car rental guys the day before, and it was the city nearest my hotel, called Madagaon. There were only 2 options, rent a scooty (heck no!) or take the cab outside the hotel. I went with my only option, and they know they are your only option, so they overcharge like crazy. I paid INR 600 for just 9 KM! Anyway, so I arrive in the town market, slightly pissed off, but looking forward to exploring the area and maybe find something int...

I've done it. I've finally made it to Goa. And it's simply...boring. After the endless conversations about plans to go to Goa all through high school and college, I've finally made it. The travel cost is much cheaper if I fly here from Bengaluru so I thought I'd better make the most of it. But, for some reason, there are very few flights from there to Goa, and the cheap ones at really odd hours. I took the 6:30 AM flight, which meant I had to wake up at 3 to get ready to leave by 4. Not fun, that. Surprisingly, there were a LOT of people travelling at that hour on a Wednesday. The flight was one of the shortest ever, just 55 minutes of flying time, but still a painful one with a crying baby 2 seats behind me. Luckily the noise-cancelling on my JBL headphones works just well enough to drown out the wailing and murmurs. Once on the ground and outta the airport, the ride to the hotel was quite scenic and pleasant. I have to say, the roads here, as of now, a...

A quick reminder, I live in the IT capital of India, the city of Bengaluru. For now. Those of you updated with national news may be familiar with a recurring topic of social discord in the area, ie, the Cauvery river's water distribution between the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. On 12th September, in the middle of the day, violence broke out in certain parts of the city. While it started with the usual stone pelters, it soon grew exponentially violent with arson being the disruption of choice. The attacks were targeted at properties owned by Tamilians, and any vehicles with a Tamil Nadu license plate. By the end of the day, the 'protesters' had set hundreds of vehicles ablaze,  mostly buses and trucks, in the conflict hot spots of the city. To share a more personal experience of this event, I was out for lunch with my colleagues when the first of the incidents happened. We were enjoying our amazing burgers when they stopped playing the music. It wasn't till ...

7 out of 10 times, you will not see me dancing at any event or party. Why? I don't like to. But then what about those 3 other times when I do? I love dancing then. So, do I hate to dance or not? Long ago, I took dance lessons to overcome the excuse that I simply didn't know how to dance. I got pretty good at it too. But I realized something extremely important, soon enough. It wasn't that knowing how to dance made me enjoy it, but rather the confidence it gave me, that allowed me to enjoy the art of dance. I would dance at friend's parties, college fests, even at the rare wedding I'd agree to attend. I was still quite picky of what kind of songs I was willing to dance to, which would also go away after a drink or two. Through all those times, I loved dancing, even if I was doing something quite silly or minimal. Of course, the group I was with while dancing too played a major role in my decision to join in or not. But since I quit dance lessons and stopped ...

Soo, today  ( 10th September, 2016) was the event that I have been involved with at my place of employment and after suppressing my dislike for large scale events, I attended it. Partly from a sense of personal involvement with the project, and partly the curiosity, as this was an International event that was making its Indian debut. The Music Run™ basically is, as the tagline explains, "The Ultimate 5K Running & Music Festival". So, to elaborate, its a 5K run, followed by a music festival. Seems simple enough right? But there is one extra feature of this particular event. They pump music along the 5K course of the run, with about 100+ speakers, quite loudly I might add. To give it a bit of variation, the 5K is broken into 5 zones, each zone playing a certain genre of music. For added interaction and participation from fans and attendees and the internet, the playlist for each of the 5 zones of the 5K run, is voted for through an online voting platform. So, the peo...