The Midnight Drive

Night drives are always special.. Especially when it rains and its past twelve and you are on quite a long drive.. It happened to me last night and added to all the stuff i said above, I was listening to Ilayaraja.. yup.. was feeling like this drive was some experience of your lifetime that happens when u least expect it.. Actually I had to drop one of my Dads office staff till perungudi, which is quite far from my place.. when my dad asked whether I could, I thought "man.. this is gonna be fun" but well, I wasn't expecting this kinda strong downpour though.. I drive a black Bolero and i felt this was the ride, kinda Built for situations like this..and this my chance to experiment a lot..I was driving on the opposite side of the wind most of the time and had to set my Wipers on the high mode.. The drive was a total gamble.. The drive was more of a prediction, than the actual drive you would have when the things ahead is clear.. I pitied for the two-wheelers and pedestrians especially as it would ve been real hell (how about having yourself drowned in a splash of puddle water every time a car crosses by? :p ) over the night.. I had my battery light flickering then and there on my dashboard, every time I unfortunately Forded my way at some places.. I dunno whether it was right or not but the overhead bridges are closed during night-time, forcing us to take the route below the bridge which would be having 'waterfalls' coming at equal intervals like the ones you see in Avatar (Technically, they come from the side drains you find over the bridges) and not to mention the fact that you eventually get stuck up at the mini rivers that arise on the sides.. as my way was via the IT corridor, Even in that kinda downpour, I could see some of the night-duty travels vehicles( which are usually the cabs software people use) rushing past (well.. ya they always do) but except those, the road was at my disposal totally.. Was having a great time, testing my ride's breaks, suspension and the maneuverability on the wet roads.. learnt quite some lessons too which i would elaborate Separately in my next post..
altogether I really enjoyed the drive except for one occasion, where I had a shudder was when the wiper refused to move.. the water was splashing the windshield making the road ahead into a total blur and kept on increasing with time.. i made a little stop on the side and tried kick-starting the wiper shake manually.. but in vain.. after crossing the toll gate, it got its senses back and came back to the waving motion back again.. Though It was a Two hours drive totally from start to stop but I never felt a bit tired or drowsy at 1 PM..maybe its coz of  ilayaraja or the rain outside which brought me back the happy rainy days of campus life, but the sound of the storm along with the chill breeze is a must-have experience for all..

letters to Juliet- Review

As a part of having nothing to do except yet-another-movie watching ordeal I have been having this days, I came across this movie.. having known only that it was of the romantic genre, I didnt expect much.. Maybe, a simple love story between two persons who would possibly have a break-up and the movie ends with them joining together, with a romantic song on the end which fades out to show the credits.But I was wrong.

  It was later I realized, Juliet here, is the infamous character of William Shakespeare from the city of Verona, which is still now perhaps the most soughted romantic destination in the world. The film has a slow but kind of great flow in the screenplay in the beginning, explaining about who the characters were.. Here is this place which is called as Juliet's home and couple from all over the world write in letters about the problems in their love life and stick them in the wall to which a few women (called as Juliet's secretaries) write replies. A going-to-be-engaged, Sophie finds an old letter from here and writes a reply, which turns out to be for a lady who now comes back with her grandson(who really doesn't like to be here)  in search of a lost love.. Sophie joins them both in their kind of a lil adventure in order to find the man, through which she falls for the grandson though she is engaged.. and ends with a happy ending. It was predictable but still well-said.. 

 I initially thought it was an girlish kinda film (which it was actually) and was quite reluctant to watch.. But it has somethings which anyone could enjoy as well. I specifically loved the part in the end in which Claire reads aloud the letter written by Sophie.

     "'what' and 'if' are just two words which seemed to be non threatening, as all words can be. But, when we put then together side by side, they have the power to haunt you, the rest of your lives. what if? "

 very haunting indeed. and so true too. We all would have thought about this every time something which happens not the way we expect, happens. On the whole, I really enjoyed the movie, for the way it was, the mood it created, and the simple but little thoughts it created within. A must watch.

Rain-Tea

Its raining and i'm  having a hot and soothing tea.. with thunders tearing the dark sky outside giving me a small game of guessing time between the light and sound.. our home inverter is providing us a Nominal current, how long nobody knows.. And im really glad to have the blogger app installed in my android.. It helps at times where I long to speak with someone but restricted by factors ..
  Its really hard that times like this come into our life where silence speaks a lot to yourself and the perfect environment for that to happen, is rain and current_cut.. Lots of thoughts, mostly friends.. Things that happened in college..the politics..  Canteen hangouts.. car rides.. And lots more.. A tv show ends by asking the guest, whom do you want to say sorry or thankyou.. I thought it was an utterly idiotic question.. But now I spin a list of names to both categories.. rainy nights are really special..

Beetlejuice

The wait for the internship is making me more like a log. and as i had been scrutinizing the list of comedy films over IMDB, i came over this interesting film of hiring a Bio-Exorcist ( person who helps the dead, from living!). though the film was in the 80's and i was not much into pretty old movies, i thought of giving a shot. after the Download,and a couple of scenes, i found it was quite interesting and caught me glued to the chair. it was quite a dark comedy about a couple who lose their most beloved home to another family, after their death, and tries to get back the home in the same way as it was. pretty nice comedy too.
  One thing which i noticed in the retro movies are that, everything is simple. its simple and quite straight forward unlike the movies today which dont waste time much in explaining every single detail, you ought to know.beetlejuice was simply awesome on the whole and especially the part where the living family, gets to be captivated by the ghosts and they dance to a tune which was indeed rocking! and i came to the conclusion that the retro movies arent boring after all.. *conditions apply ;)

OMR - Oh My God !

The road which was once the main access to the historical city mahabalipuram, which was later diminished by the arrival of ECR (East-coast road) where from people simply forgot its existence, and again came back as the main IT-Corridor of the metropolitan chennai, thus making its land rates soar to peaks.. OMR or Old mahabalipuram road as it is called now, was once a narrow road of jus two lanes which was jus dotted with a very few villages here and there.. the villages now boasts by housing the offices of major IT giants such as PayPal, Ebay, Polaris, infosys, Tcs, Hcl, and loads more..

           About a year back, driving was a pleasure in OMR because of the well laid roads and an awesome chance to go till 110Km/h and more in a vehicle but now, its a road where you ve to drive with atmost caution of all roads in chennai.. the parallel, lane-switching races of vehicles, starting from a mere tricycle to big enormous buses and trucks.. and not to mention the cows, dogs and other creatures which play hide and seek with you in the middle of the road. apart from this adds the case of vehicles stopping abruptly or parked on the side of the roads exactly at the places where you overtake someone. four lanes dont do justice to the wide range of vehicles which passes. its the road where you can see the grand-prix of the large containers and buses with, small cars and two wheelers running along like mouses and ants running through a wild elephant herd.
  And during the peak hours, youll pay for your sins. i dont remember any signal in chennai, where i had to wait for around fifteen minutes, switching off my engine other than the sholinganallur junction signal in OMR. Guarded as a fortress by all the toll booths around, you ve to pay a toll of 35 up and down too.i recently had a chance to drive through OMR in my car at 9 A.M. and experienced the feeling of "driving in peak-hours"perfectly. it was the clutch and breaks i used more than the accelerator. and for the whole stretch of 30kms i travelled it was like the dashing-cars you have in the amusement parks, except for the case you ve to drive straight.. a kind of drag-race. what makes it even more worse, is the presence of Police-Speed traps. At exact places where you think "Oh God! at last", and rest your leg in the accelerator, comes the police out of simply nowhere, keeping his hands wide and stopping you, without caring even if you are going at 98km/h, with an evil grin on his place. when he stops he comes near and says, "ÿenna sir? 50 dhaan sir limit..ninga 60la vandhinga.. " at that time, you dont have the chance to even think about being happy that he said the speed limit lesser than you were actually going or feeling sad that it was a traffic violation anyhow. and in that tension, you ve to pay the fine amount and get back on road, maintaining your speed at 50, only to see all the other vehicles crossing by honking at you and shouting "konjam speeda pona koranja poiduva? "
     yup the next time you drive in OMR, make sure you fasten your seat belts and get ready for the most terrible Oh-My-God experience you had in your lifetime of Driving.

stickers and dilemma

Personally i love cars a lot and jus like anybody else, would like my car to be a head turner.. the extra cladding such as side skirts and spoilers may cost a lot i prefer minimalistic things which make my car to be distinct..hence the stickers.. but if theres someone out there who have had their stickers done at chennai, they would ve experienced the whole problematic stuffs in the stickering business.. when it come to car modifications, even a kid in chennai would say G.P. Road and pudhupet. they are the places for all your car needs right from a car hub screw to spoilers etc. the way the brokers try to lure every car that slows down at gp road towards their respective shops would indeed make any car owner scary.. it ll be as if we are caught on somekind of bait.. this is not the case in the pudhupet which is two streets from GP road..
 anyways , having already experienced the robbing in GP road for my omni, i went taking my jeep towards the pudhupet. i was planning to rip off the stock stickers and change the stickers on my number plate..having in mind the work ll get done the same day, i enquired in a shop.. the boy over there told itll take time as there was no one to do the work and itll take a lot of time.. he told to come the next day.. unsatisfied, i went for the shop nearby.. the owner came, noted the measurements, and we had a great trouble parking the jeep among the bustling road.. and when we went there stating how much itll cost, the owner told tje same thing as the boy said.. fed up by this, i took the jeep back home planning to come sometime earlier.. that was all.. i got busy with household works and two days back i called the shop and enquired as when to come.. the owner told to come that time itself but when i asked the guy, as to whether parking would be free that time, he thought for a moment and then said, there has been a digging work that has taken place by the corporation authorities.. i was totally down.. then when i asked whther i could come the next day, he replied ok and aske dto come by nine AM itself.. when i was planning to go to this place, a person who drops groceries for us came saying he knows some place and well go the next day.. i asked him to confirm and say me.. he told ya well go.. and the next day when i called that guy, he didnt pick up.. guess my stickering ordeal will remain as a quest.. in a dilemma actually whether to do the job or not.. whatta life..

songs n Lang's

Lang's here doesn't mean a generalized term.. the Tamil people who dont know any language other than Tamil are whom im speaking about.. personally i was unaware of Hindi songs totally till i was in high school.. I did my high school in a residential school and got exposure to Hindi songs and English only by the students Oér there.. the debates and talks my friends have about movies, songs and other kinds of various languages and artists makes me promise that i ve to check ém all when i go home during holidays.. initially i was attracted to a song from different language only when i see the videos.. only then i can understand what the song is about.. love friendship everything.. i began liking the famous hits.. like the all time favorites  blue,back street boys, shakira et al.. even English was comfortable.. but Hindi songs were really hard getting attached to unless i see their videos.. slowly, as the words were being familiar, i was attracted by music.. even now i m still at that stage.. i cant understand the music but yet love the songs.. i guess this is the case for everyone.. not only a tamilian, to understand and enjoy songs from other languages..i felt this in many of A.R.Rahmans musicals.. the music speaks a lot.. either sad or extremely fast paced.. his songs convey a lot.. of course there ant be anyone who denies that lyrics aren't important.. they mean a lot too.. in fact the perfect enjoyment of songs are in their lyrics... not many would accept openly, but everybody has something in the inside.. just imagine, the last time you were sad coz of your work or relationship... you can feel , wish and love to hear some sad song from that famous album.. you feel like it has been written for you especially.. lyrics play an important role even in motivating people.. many songs have inspired many people especially when they are co-ordinated with a great visual by an actor.. M.G.R. the famous actor is respected and treated as god even now by many jus coz of his emotional , inspiring songs which are even played till now in loudspeakers during functions.. one cant see a rickshaw in chennai without a M.G.R. photo in it.. they treat him as a great idol and some are even so innocent that they believe he is still alive.. the only thing that has made him so respected for decades is his songs.. but this aspect i feel, is lacking when we hear songs from foreign languages.. unless we use sub-titles.. but unless it is ones language, even subtitles doesn do the job.. anyways... there are people who avoid songs from other languages jus coz they dont understand.. but the thing is it isn't an issue and the real fact is many people are missing those awesome music they could enjoy..  in fact singing can even help you learn a language.. check this.. http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/2008/06/does_music_help_us_learn_langu.php
so if you have a good friend whose mother tongue isnt same as yours or is from another state ask him what his favourite singles are.. hear them again and again and you can feel that you are addicted too..