Guys' Day Out

"If there is a paradise on earth, it is here, it is here, it is here."

Akbar could have as well plastered it on the walls of Andhra Bhavan.

If there is a place in Delhi where you can spend just Rs.50 (a little more than $1) and eat to your heart's content delicious spicy Andhra food, just like you get it at home, it's here at Andhra Bhavan. The service is excellent, your plate is never empty and they keep on asking you if you want more...truly a glutton's dream come true.

Andhra Bhavan is the office of all Andhra officials who visit Delhi. And the canteen there is the place I am talking about. They have a roaring business, and the amazing thing is that they haven't felt the need to expand or to mark up their rates. It is basically a mess and have a fixed menu for lunch and dinner, but their stuff is good. The place has remained unchanged for years and hopefully for many years to come.

For all those foodies who haven't given Andhra Bhavan a whirl, just come up to the India Gate circle, and get off at Ashoka Road. Take the left turn on the first roundabout and there it is on your right. Bon apetit!

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Sometimes life's like hanging onto a piece of rope on the edge of a cliff, beyond hope, beyond help, beyond despair even. At such times, one would think death would be worth giving up the struggle, for the few seconds of freefall, for forgetting it all, letting it go.

What they don't realise that life's probably worth the struggle to the top. Hang on guys, if this is the worst, then it can't get any worse; anywhere you go it's going get only better.

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salaam namaste is just like one big episode of Friends, replete with an obnoxious landlord, all-weather buddies and couples and live-in relationships and house-hunting and now a staple of the slick side of Bollywood: gizmos and creature comforts.

Sure, they have got some pointless but catchy songs that act as fillers and which could have been done away with but then, the movie required some body as the story was predictable and short. Everybody has got an excellent body in the movie; everysingle body. And then, Jaaved Jaaferi has done an excellent job in providing some comic relief as the Crocodile Dundee landlord.

The last scene could have been little less crazy and Abhishek Bachchan compeletely exaggerated his overacting (note the superlatives). Unless that's what the director wanted to do, that bit could have been avoided.

An all-in-all slick and enjoyable movie for a sundry afternoon. Best seen with a loved one.

Diary Of A Trainee At NIC...

One of the first things that strikes (practically slaps you in the face) when you train at a government concern, is the sheer amount of stuff just lying there unused and that's just the stuff. Don't even get me started on the people.

Wastage is such a pervasive way of life here that it has creeped into everything,including procedures. Take for example the ordeal you have to undergo to enter the building. They present you with a huge register, ubiquitous at every point of entry in Delhi by now. You fill in your name, address and the person you want to meet, your date of birt, when your second dog's sixth puppy's hairball removal procedure was carried out and so on so forth. The huge point to this: hmmmmm, oh yes, SECURITY.

But, look at it logically, the only thing you can actually glean from this mindless business is that a person arrived at so and so time. Then what the hell is the CCTV they have installed doing?

And then, they have installed these card readers at entry points. They work in such a way that they cannot be opened if you don't have a card. Good,....if you were the RAW, not even remotely appropriate for a public organisation. And c'mon NIC, who would want to blow up NIC? As a result, there is a guard standing with a spare card next to the door from dawn to dusk to let people in and out. (Oh yes, its a full time job. Ingenious, don't you think?)

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We have lunch at the department canteen which serves the most horrible food among all the company cafetarias in Delhi. Which is only to be expected. But I couldn't understand why people didn't gripe about it. Until today that is.

The canteen make food in limited quantities, so limited that food that you have bought tokens for from the cashier, get over while you are standing in the line. And by the time its your turn you are so bloody famished, that you actually bless the guy for the crap that he serves you and relish it and actually think you got quite a bargain. But seriously, four rupees is a bit too much for four miniscule oily puris and dal served by a guy so grim, you would think he personally gave birth to each grain of food you are eating. Its so bad, that even if you are a higher-up, you get crap, but atleast you get it. Personally, I would prefer sexy bikini clad models feed me Chicken Afghani, "any way you want". But realistically, NICians (permit me this gross obscenity) could do with more food.

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On the upside, NIC is the place to be now for Linux enthusiasts. People there are trying to slog it out and build ERP software for themselves, in the true Linux sense (without telling each other that is :-) ). But seriously, among the coalpits of the software world, some discarded diamonds may yet be found...

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Will Blog-boy survive until next week? Will the scheming Teacher get him? Are these exams his end? Check out next week the same blog time, same blog channel.....Blog-boy....tannananannannana...Blog-boy (fade out).

And There Was Verbiage...

After seeing a lot of blogs, I decided to start writing my own blog. I wanted to do it a little differently, write my own script, and host it onmy own page, etc. And like it is with most of my projects, it was a non-starter. Ob-la-di ob-la-da,life goes ooo-on, fra-la-la-la.

Anyway, let me start with a quote from Kill Bill Vol. 2:

"...I find the myth of Superman fascinating. He's different from the other superheroes in a very subtle way. Peter Parker, Bruce Wayne and the lot dress up to become Spiderman and Batman. But Superman dresses up to become Clark Kent. Peter Parker when he wakes up in the morning, he's Peter Parker. He needs the costume to become Spiderman. But Superman is Superman when he is awake and he needs the costume to hide himself. Clark Kent is Superman's critique on the human race. That's how he sees us: weak, cowardly, stuttering...."

A very profound piece of dialogue, I must concede. And all his movies are like these, die-hard Quentin Tarantino fans assure me. Sorry, guys, I might be arbit junta but even I fail to see the point to his movies. He deserves to die just for inflicting True Romance on me. Though I'd like to meet his script-writer someday... and discuss his comic-book fetish.

Yup, the blog's going to be just like this, thoughts that filter through me, incidents that happen to me, people I meet, movies I watch, music I listen, anything anytime. And if you want to know my political inclinations, I don't have any. I don't argue about facts and I don't care for other's opinions. So there.