Random..

Down memory lane..Reference to context




Remember the countless ‘explain with reference to context’ questions on your English language papers from Std 7 thru 10 – how relevant such type of questions are in real life :)



Wanting to win GOLD, and yet disqualified for not trying hard enough!



This sure is a debatable topic! While the wise ones always advise ‘think big picture, think end goal’ and ‘country above self’ what did these athletes do wrong when aiming for the GOLD for self and more medals for the country, they wanted to lose a few ‘league’ matches – comments?



http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/07/sports/olympics/algerian-runner-makhloufi-expelled-then-reinstated-at-olympics.html?_r=1&hp

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/olympic-badminton-scam-they-wanted-to-lose-to-win.-is-that-so-wrong/982850/0



Anyone wanting to start an export business?



Someone on the below NYT article suggests exporting the millions of stray dogs in India to China – save Indians, feed Chinese, earn money in the process 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/07/world/asia/india-stray-dogs-are-a-menace.html?_r=1&hp





Noorie



Sony Mix shows old songs from 10 PM onwards – many a songs that we have heard multiple times, but never seen the underlying videos – you get to see them here. One day, finally got to see the video for the song ‘Noorie’ – though only average – the song seems to be hugely popular, since no Antakshari session goes without this being sung  -





Ever wonder why



• We don’t see any more dialogues in Hindi movies which go … “Main tumharre bache ki ma banne vaali hu”

• Whenever you play Antakshari – folks in their 20s or 30s or 40s (few on this email ), or 50s (any one on this list, Ashit may be?) – 95% of the songs used are always the ones from older decades – I haven’t ever seen anyone using songs from the recent 5-10 years, however popular they may have been!



Parallel economy!



Cigarettes cost 7 or 8, tea costs 5, coffee 7, cream roll 7 – there is such a shortage of coins that tapris have started issuing their own printed currency with various denominations. Master’s tapri in front of GLT 5.0 – issues such ‘notes’.



Hugely informative 



Don’t know how I ended up on this page – was on ‘asian squats’ to get relief for shin splits, but one thing led to the other and here you are – do read through the entire article!



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilets_in_Japan





“Rat and Cat”



Had ordered a ‘Tom And Jerry’ cake at Monginis. When picking up the cake, the shopkeeper said – ye lo sir aapka “RAT and CAT” cake ready hai 

Watch out for more..

Watch out for more on this in future posts




Here is the latest attempt to get in shape – right now, only the ‘title’ of the post has been shortlisted 



How the ‘Waist’ was won

Moving and kicking the butt

Re-inventing discovering the wheel (have bought a bicycle a few weeks ago)

KBC

KBC – Ke Bani Karodpati on Mahua TV



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8IFQuIPhJ0



Shatrughan Sinha as the host on Bihari KBC. There is no LOCK KIYA JAYE….

In his own inimitable style, Shatru says – Maari Muhar, Lagaayi Thappa …..difficult to take out the influence of elections from even a TV Game Show

Relativity

Relativity




Imagine any of us at a store with kid - Bill 95 Rs, Cash payment – 100 Rs – shopkeeper – change nahi hai, 5 Rs ka “Dairy Milk”deta hu – your child is excited and the ‘change’ is adjusted for a Dairy Milk - unless you are pissed off at the shopkeeper or are otherwise in a foul mode to insist on getting the right change!



I was at the ‘kirana’ store for something and a migrant-labor type of a woman and 5-6 year old daughter were completing their purchases, and ended up with 95 rs as the total amount. The shopkeeper was pushing his ‘Dairy Milk’ change, the kid was hooked on to the chocolate bar being waved in front of her – the mother asked for a 5 Rs soap instead – relative value of a soap was much more than that of a chocolate bar – it took a lot of cajoling for the kid to understand the mother’s reasoning though!

Agneepath review

Agneepath review


Benefit of being on paternity leave - After returning from the hospital, the things a new father can do are pretty limited, if 2 grand moms are babysitting the kid at home! Anyways, I used the free time available to watch a noon show of the new Agneepath this week -

• If you have not watched the original one, I would rate it * * *

• If you have watched the original one, inevitable comparison with the original will happen, and you may rate it slightly less than 3. (I have watched the original one 3-4 times on TV, and my rating for the original would also be * * * for the movie overall – even though few of the dialogues have now achieved cult status

 Vijay Dinanath Chauhan – Pura Naam, baap ka naam Dinanath Chauhan, gaon Mandwa

 Maut ke saath –appintment hai..dekho English bolta hai

 Topi Sambhalo Dinkar Rao – hawa bahut tej chalta hai

 And then the entire set of dialogues from Krishnan Iyer MA



Here’s the review

• The new Dinanath Chauhan pales in comparison to Alok Nath’s persona

• New ‘maa’ – Zarina Wahab – does not rate any comparison to the stoic acting from Rohini Hattangadi in the original one

• Sanjay Dutt’s performance is strictly average – apart from looking very bloated and trying to laugh wickedly – he doesn’t do much. The best role in the entire movie belongs to Rishi Kapoor as Rauf Lala – Rishi seems to be putting in stellar performances in every movie!

• Mandwa has now become an island – some lovely cinematography – FYI – Mandwa as recreated in Diu

• Missed Tinu Anand and Krishnan Iyer MA characters

• Hrithik has put in a decent performance but it lacks the flair and the ‘thasan’ of Big B’s performance in the original one

• Commissoner Gaitonde’s role played by Om Puri lacks the undercurrent of tension between Amitabh and Vikram Gokhale in the original one

Indian Politicians and the fascination for white clothes

I was at Jai Hind @ Laxmi road, shopping for some new clothes. The billing department is on the ground floor, alongside the section where raw cloth for suitings and shirtings are sold. It was municipal election time in Pune, and lot of white-clad local wanna-be politicians were queued up to buy fine Italian white linen at rates as high as 5000 Rs meter. Assuming 2/2.5 metres is needed for a dress, imagine spending 10000+ rupees on daily wear clothes, that in Indian political climate would not stay “white” (pun intended)



So next time you see marriage guests all clad in pure white, in white Scorpios/Fotuner/Endevour in Baner/Pashan area for kin of local crorepati ex-farmers/politicians – don’t underestimate the value of the simple looking white clothes, each is at least worth 10 K 

Reading time..

Cooking gas (unless your apt building provides the piped variety) continues to be in shortage. I myself have waited in a 2 hour queue on a Saturday morning to get a refill. Here is an extreme case of robbers looking only for the gas cylinders and leaving behind everything else!




http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Cooking-gas-turns-dear-leads-to-snatching-of-cylinders-in-Chennai/articleshow/12553541.cms



Outsourcing

Now wanna be singers outsourcing the creation of a music video to India!

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/17/business/media/outsourcing-extends-to-creative-work.html?hpw