Weekend movies

Lord Of War: Superb. Gun running; geo politics; international intrigue ..... all the great stuff. And the scary part is - it's based on real life.

The Day After: Interesting.


The McKenzie Break: Boring.

Republic Day

Caught the march past on TV after many many years.

Behind Enemy Lines: Colombia

Downloaded it a week back to see what Kennedy's been up to outside the ring.

Pretty good action - 1 scene every 10 minutes or so - kept me interested throughout. Strangely, Kennedy's nowhere as prevalent in the movie as he is in the publicity.

Ayan

Downloaded the movie's soundtrack partly because of Suresh's pestering & partly out of interest in Harris' latest work.

And I must say I'm not disappointed. This guy should compose for Hindi films too.

Changes

Karthik moved out of HRA today after almost a year and a half. Won't really miss him, but it feels like my last link with that project has snapped. Oh wait, there's Thiru still ......

And thanks to "buddy boy" Manish, there's a new addition to the wallet. Hope it gets used soon.

It's bright outside

There's a brand new super bright Halogen bulb in the lamp post opposite the house (it had been unused all this while, go figure). It's so bright that the drawing room lights needn't be switched on now ..... and the street outside looks like a cricket pitch of a floodlit stadium.

Caught my 1st RAW episode in what is probably a year, or maybe more. I really need to get a bearing on things.

Bajaj XCD 135 Sprint

A year back Bajaj promised this as the next XCD avatar ......
..... and it looked so appealing that I waited for it.

Today they've finally come out with this .....
What a letdown!

In other news, Toyota has finally broken GM's 77 year leadership run.

Joyce Meyer @ Bangalore

I was there .... & it was way better than I had imagined it would be. Maybe I should start attending church more often.

Delhi 6

What an album!

While I was away .........

A trip home always takes time to recover from, especially if it's your only one in the year. But this time it was different.

For starters, I spent Christmas sleeping on the train while passing through Andhra Pradesh. Even Jesus seems to have had enough of me & my shenanigans.

Second, things haven't been this bad on the personal front for a long, long time .... maybe ever. And stuff seems to be on a steep downward spiral. Mummy's facing health issues she never had before. Jolly's facing frustrations of his own and took major convincing to make the trip home. Dad's sense of loss over all that has happened in the last few years grows more acute by the day. Yet he soldiers on like he always has, saying little & expecting even lesser. And to top it all, we are in the midst of this. 2008 has been one forgettable year.

Chhotu though, brings the sense of relief that is so greatly desired at times like these. Looking at her best I've ever seen her in winter, it was great to see that advancing age has not affected her spunk. Thank God for small mercies.

Arrived back in B'lore on a chilly morning on the 3rd. Strangely, it felt good to be back from home. Sid's whole family was put up at our place & the experience was surreal to say the least, especially since this had never happened before at #77. I mean, there were people to talk to before leaving for & after coming back from office. There was tea being served in cups. The kitchen was actually looking, and smelling, like a kitchen ought to & yes, there was hot home-cooked food for dinner. Alas, it lasted but a week.

2009 hasn't quite got off to a rocking start either. The very 1st week saw this all over the news. Makes you wonder what lies next. Combine this with reports of layoffs in the tech industry getting shriller everyday & the sense of insecurity seems complete. Indeed, every new day on the job seems equal to a blessing.

Watched a few movies after coming back, including the year's most hyped - Ghajini - and found it to be exactly that - hyped. Slumdog Millionaire was interesting.

There were a few car launches around the new year too - Hyundai's i20; Mahindra's Xylo and Fiat's very elegant Linea. Tata's Nano is rumoured to be breaking cover on Republic Day. But I'm in the market for a bike & right now it's the Hunk that's caught my fancy.

Mahindra Xylo

Mahindra's new MPV is out. The styling is iffy .... but at least, the Innova's got competition now.

Kamal Uncle R.I.P.

A caring father, a loving husband. A simple, devout man who was one of the most carefree persons in the family. And one who was just wonderful with plants and pets.

Deep inside we all knew it could happen anytime, especially after the first stroke. But it still feels unfair .... especially for his family, all of whom loved him dearly.

Rest In Peace Kamal Uncle, a dear relative who was taken away much before his time.