After the Air India - Indian Airlines merger & the Jet Airways buyout of Air Sahara, Kingfisher has bought into Air Deccan. Must say this was not unexpected .... the industry has been in consolidation mode for some time.

Interesting times for Indian aviation .... I think Indigo & Go Air should go in for some kind of alliance now.

Finally, as Mukul Kesavan puts it, some good news for Indian cricket.

And no, I'm not talking about the Bangladesh tour.

Golconda @ M4 serves some great poha with Calcutta style sambhar. Superb for breakfast.

The end & a beginning ....

My faithful companion over the last 3 years, the Nokia 3310 got filched this morning. I'd been making plans of putting it out to pasture for some time now, but unfortunately fate willed otherwise. Adios .... err, device!

And that brings me to my latest acquisition ....


.... the Nokia N73 Music Edition. Hope it stays with me as long, if not longer.

Splendor NXG

Rearset reports on the latest iteration of the world's largest selling bike.

One word - Yuck!

Monaco GP

Another 1-2 by McLaren.

The commentator said it was "a crushing show of dominance". I agree

The Hills Have Eyes

Should have seen it in the theater.

Shootout At Lokhandwala

The story had so much potential & it's been wasted so badly.

My suggestions to the cast & crew -

- If you got to have songs in a film like this, keep them on the background
- Apoorva Lakhia, please stop directing movies
- Vivek Oberoi, the audience won't be convinced of your role just because you snarl at the camera & act tough, you want to look menacing .... try learning from Marlon Brando in Godfather
- Tushar Kapoor, go into production/running a TV company or whatever it is that your sister does .... spare paying public like me of having to watch you on screen, just because your sister/mother produced the film. Seriously, there were people laughing in the theatre when this guy was enacting his tough guy role
- Pay attention to authenticity .... there are Tata Indigos visible on screen, just when the dateline shows some day in 1991!

Jhoomo Re

Kailash's latest is his best yet. Not one song is worth skipping.

Superb lyrics too .... what an artist!

Kavita Kaushik

This is one cute girl on Indian TV .... good actress too. Watch F.I.R. on SAB, you'll know what I mean.

Ford Endeavor Limo

Saw this in front of Seattle Towers today. My first ever limo sighting ..... & it was a big one!

Dhoni's Kawasaki

That's his ZX 1400R at Ranchi.

Time Asia had him on an article last week saying that he loved to ride his fast bikes on the Ranchi Bypass. Prateek says it is an empty stretch of single lane road, but riding fast there is pretty bhagwan-bharose.

Friday & Saturday evening TV

Boogie Woogie's new season began this Friday on Sony. As usual, it features superb performances from some talented dancers plus the wisecracks of Ravi, Naved & Jaaved. What's different is that there are going to be 2 episodes every week at 8 p.m. on Fridays & Saturdays.

The same is the case with the 9 p.m. slot for Star One & Sony where TGILC 3 & Indian Idol 3 battle it out for the TRPs.

TGILC 3 is showing some promise with the new format & new talent & Shonali Nagrani as new eye candy in addition to Perizaad.

Indian Idol has been on for about 3 weeks now & the city-wise elimination rounds were good to watch. It will likely get boring from now on.

What stood out for me was Udit Narayan & Javed Akhtar's competent judging & a few participants like Darjeeling's sipahi Prashant; Dhanbad's Maeying Chang (a bonafide Mongoloid, who speaks the shuddh-est Hindi you ever heard & sings amazingly well); the guitar slinging Shantanu from M.P. (fantastic voice) & this girl from Guwahati (forgot her name, but she's got dyed-brown hair). They've all made it past this week & should be there next Friday.

Hell, Jolly's gonna flip when he hears I've been following 'crap'(in his words) like Idol so closely!

Saloon tales

The saloon I frequent seems to undergo a metamorphosis every time I make the once-in-45-days trip for the haircut. For starters, the barbers have all been different, each & every one of them during my last 3 visits.

Then, the last haircut I got was really bad & I'd gone today expecting something similar .... but the guy who did the job today was a total professional & the end result was highly satisfactory.

Last, but not the least, there used to be a TV there (playing Telugu channels like ETV all the time), not so long ago. Last time, the TV had gone & there was a small transistor tuned into the local Kannada FM channel. Today, there was a set of good looking speakers placed at strategic points playing Fever 104 FM!

Now what I don't get is, is the owner/management changing every 2 months or are the tastes of the people in charge evolving so rapidly .....?

Awarapan

Vishesh Films latest's trailers are on air & as usual it looks like a killer combo of Emraan Hashmi & Pakistani music as the OST. This time from a group called Roxen ....



.... awarapan, doonda sukh, mila dard, akelapan, ek lambi talaash ....

Now playing

Jhoom
Bol Na Halke Halke - Jhoom Barabar Jhoom OST

Say It Right - Nelly Furtado (her best yet)

Save Tonight - Eagle Eye Cherry (mid-90s once more)

Welcome To Detroit - Trick Trick ft Eminem
You Don't Know - 50 Cent, Eminem, Cashis, LLoyd Banks (Eminem's back! .... & he's still got it)

M4 - Day 1

Commute - piece of cake

Project - ummm, let's see

Colleagues - :-)

Boss - should be OK

Babes - far better than those at EC .... qualitatively & quantitatively

Lunch - I knew I would miss Golconda & Sittu & Milind

It was K.T. time today, am presently suffering from information overload .... & there's gonna be no let up tomorrow.

Holden Commodore SVZ Ute

The Aussies sure know a thing or two about pick-ups.

shifted

No more EC, no more Hosur Road, no more bus trouble ..... this could turn out to be a pleasant break.

Spanish GP

Mclaren now head the constructors & the drivers with both Alonso & Hamilton (& Raikonnen) tied on 22. Hamilton is proving to be a revelation.

Sunday afternoon & chicken + vodka at Soumya's followed by a screening of Munich. Well spent.

Soumya's DVD collection is beginning to look very impressive.

Spyware is becoming more of a p.i.t.a. than even viruses. I'd barely managed to recover my hard disks from a near crash in January when there was another attack yesterday. Gotta put in that anti-spyware soon.

Discover 135

Bajaj upgrades the Discover to 135 cc + disc brake + black treatment + tachometer.

That's what I call an upgrade.

SX4

Maruti has launched the Baleno replacement, the SX4 at a price range of 6-7 lakhs. There's a 102 bhp engine & optional 16 inch alloys/ABS/Airbags & EBD. While all that is very good, get this ..... this is before the car has been launched in Japan or Europe! Tells you of the importance of India in Suzuki's plans.

I think Maruti's got another winner here, following the Swift. Now if only they would be bold enough to bring along this ....


.... the SX4's hatch version, which looks far sexier.

Minutes To Midnight

Linkin Park's latest album was to be released on the 11th of May, but is already all over the Internet. And here I was thinking that this kind of thing only happened here in India.

As for the album, I think it's their best effort till date.

Honda Shine

Before ....


and after ....
Not bad.

See ya Prav

It often happens that you grow so used to somebody's presence that it takes their absence to realize this fact. So it was with Prav.

The 2 of us were the first to get up every morning to be in time for our respective company shuttles. His Nokia trilling the 'Malgudi Days' theme would go off before mine, but would more often than not be postponed twice or thrice before he gave heed to it. Basing his bus-catching on the 'Just In Time' management principle, Prav would often have to break into a sprint to ensure he was on time for the 7:05 a.m. TCS shuttle to Whitefield.

An untiring worker, what stood out was his capacity to put in hour after hour of toil, whether it was official work or the 'other software business'. This trait of his impressed me the most apart from his meticulous attention to dressing & keeping stuff in order. Now that he's gone, I'm beginning to realize that he's one guy I've admired a lot.

His departure also raises important questions .... who'll manage the room's finances, the bill-payments, the stocking up on Rin/Surf & sundry other details that'll reveal themselves as time goes by. Also, who'll bash up Arni when he delivers another corny one liner or plays one more of his bad guitar tunes.

One thing's for sure, #77 will be a lot more boring from now on. Adios P.C.! It was great having you as a friend & roommate. All the best & thanks for the memories .... zindagi rahi to phir milenge.

Xpression

This here is the Xpression from Global Auto (a Xenitis company). It's reportedly been released in the east (since it's being made in Bengal).

Looks typically 80s-ish & Chinese, although there's lots of equipment at 38k. Am not too impressed.

Big deal!

Guess who ....



.... is looking to buy out next?

.... that's who!

So much for your promises
They died the day you let me go
Caught up in a web of lies
But it was just too late to know

I thought it was you
Who would stand by my side

And now you've given me, given me
Nothing but shattered dreams, shattered dreams
Feel like I could run away, run away
From this empty heart

Lyrics from 'Shattered Dreams' by Johnny Hates Jazz

Heard this at Guzzlers the day before. Bought back some memories.

Also heard this ....

Dhadkanen .... khamosh hain
kuch kehti nahi

Ye aakhri alvida na ho

Chaahatein .... aankhon se
behti nahi

Ye aakhri alvida na ho

Is dard ko dil mein
dil mein rehne do

Jo khauff hai .... aankhon se
aankhon se kehne do

Dukh ki .... nadi
chup chaap behne do

Jo kehna hai .... tum
dheere se keh do

Ye aakhri alvida na ho

Lyrics from 'Ye aakhri alvida na ho' by Strings (Shootout At Lokhandwala OST)

Poignant as usual, from Strings.

End of the Amby?

That's what this CNN-IBN report seems to suggest.

It's sad, but this was long overdue. Let's see what happens.

May Day

A holiday on account of Labour Day & Prav & Sid decided to throw a combi-treat for their send-off & belated b'day respectively.

But Arni had got tickets for Bheja Fry ....

.... & so it was off to Innovative. The movie is good, & generates plenty of laughs. I only wish they hadn't copied it from some French film.

Got badly drunk @ Guzzlers on M.G. Road & staggered home with Arni & Anu.

All the best to you Prav, may you realize all your dreams in the 'Land of the Free'.