Started off the day with a few games of squash.
(For those of you who have an American inclination, this game is similar to racquet ball).

Chilli, the Devil and I running around in a squash court (with wooden flooring) trying to “ball the wall”. In essence, that means hitting the ball on to the wall.

It was a very good start to the day, and at one point of time the three of us were able to see certain spots in front of our eyes. That was a good enough indication that we were exhausted.

We then saw a Kannada movie crew getting ready at that club. Some extras, some not-so-extras.

Got into office and been trying to fix a problem, but to no avail.

For the first time yesterday, my leadership skills were put to test.
A couple of members of my team were having issues in working together.
After hearing both of them out, I understood that none of them was at fault. The easy way out would have been to put them on different modules, but that was not possible. I had to keep them on the same module since they both are knowledgeable about the different aspects of that module.
Hmmm…I pondered over this for over an hour and then I was able to solve it perfectly well.
Both the parties are now happy and the module is going to be delivered on schedule.
I actually felt good about my decision (which, if you really want to know, is based on re-organising the work assigned to both of them…slightly more technical than what this blog warrants).

Usually, technical problems are easier to solve than those involving humans.

I am human, technically speaking.

Albert Pinto is in town and the gang is going to be meeting him this evening.
Another weekend dinner with the gang, with generous doses of jokes, humour, (Jokes and humour are two different things in our case), staring, commenting, feeling depressed, introspecting, caring-a-damn, coffee-ing and of course abusing each other.

What a well-knit gang!

Ladies and gentlemen: Go home and read something better. Or join us for dinner tonight.

To start off, it was a very disturbing day. In fact, it was a very disturbing night as well.

To continue, it is a very disturbing day.
I am not doing the play Mareech, cos I just am not in the frame of mind currently.
Maybe its work pressure, or pressure in the mind, or just plain disturbance.

But its more like a rocking boat right now amidst rocking waves.
Life sure does rock a lot.

Today is India’s Republic Day.
It used to be fun when we were in school, primarily because we would get the day off.
The parade that is taken out in front of the Red Fort was awe-inspiring only the first time that I saw it. Subsequently it became quite boring to watch.

The entire theatre community (if there is such a classification) is carrying out a parade from Cauvery Emporium on M G Road to some place in Cubbon Park. Lot of people are going to wear theatrical costumes and walk along that stretch of the road.

Might turn out to be beautiful, but somehow the notion doesn’t appeal to me. There really is no cause that is being served here as part of the parade.Its just a confluence of people from the field of theatre.

Now that makes me to think, if there was a cause associated with this parade, would I have walked? I am not too sure about that. I always have failed to understand as to how a walk or a marathon can serve any cause.
Recently there was this foreign-bank-sponsored Marathon at Mumbai. The cause or the objective of that marathon I fail to recall. However I do remember that Shahrukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai, Salman Khan, Mallika Sherawat etc. were a part of it.

There was also a walk carried out by BioCon, with Wasim Akram leading the way, in order to create awareness about diabetes among prospective patients.TOI made me believe that the walk was the best thing done against that cruel disease.

Miles to go before I sleep, provided I start walking.

Here’s some news. A director after having watched me in Evam Indrajit has offered me a role in a play titled “Mareech, the Legend”. Its based on the character Mareech in the Ramayana, but has a contemporary setting. I plan to do it, and its going to be staged on Feb 25th, 26th and 27th at Ranga Shankara.
End of news.

As Johnny Walker says, “Keep Walking”.

An American visits Bangalore claiming to heal people.
Bangaloreans damage their own buses and shops and cause themselves a loss of 3 crores.

The American does his performance and goes.
Bangaloreans clean up the damage and continue living.

Dhi only one continues to blog.

The people you admire need not always be celebrities.

There is this traffic controller outside our office gate and I really admire him for the job that he does.
Stopping the traffic to let the cars and bikes enter the office, standing there in all that heat and dust.
However, he is all the time doing his job with the utmost dedication. At any time of the day, he is always focused on ensuring that the office goers get in without many hassles.
That is admirable indeed. I respect him for the job that he does.

It may not be a highly paid job, it may not be as flashy as that of the owners of the cars and bikes, but I definitely believe he’s got more respect for his job than most of us have.

Ladies and gentlemen: One learns a lot if one just looks around.

The following is the punch line on a Kannada movie poster:

“A Musical Thunder
Something Wonder”

Ladies and gentlemen: This deserves a standing ovation.

Wonderful Weekend!

Just got back from an awesome trip to….Hosur, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Salem, Erode, Coimbatore, Palakad, Cochin (suburb), Munnar!
As you can see, it was more of a road trip than a trip to a particular place.

We guys set out on Thursday night in Chilli’s Scorpio (thats a neat vehicle) and the drive during the night was a lot of fun.
Its just too difficult to list out things one by one, simply because there is so much that happened during the trip that the mind keeps jumping from one to the other.
Having tea at 3am at an obscure roadside shop in the middle of nowhere has its own appeal.

I was asleep by the time we reached Palakad (that was around 6 in the morning).
After an awesome Kerala breakfast (thanks to Achuth’s mom) we dozed off for a couple of hours and then visited places near Palakad.
For 20 minutes, we “couples” took a ride in the cable car (ropeway) over the gardens near Palakad). I had Mr. Encyclopedia as my company.
Romantic indeed.
We were then off to Munnar.

For a person like me who would find the climate in the Sahara desert pleasant, Munnar was freezing cold. Too cold to even change clothing.
Anyway, we guys crashed out and the next morning was awesome.

(I shall keep using the terms wonderful and awesome every now and then since there really are no words to completely describe the “wonderful and awesome” feeling that was prevalent over there).

Woke up to see Giselle Bundchen doing her stuff on the ramp (Thanks to Drona and a television channel).
Steaming hot water for a bath is one of the pleasures that I enjoyed the most in Munnar
Off we went to the places nearby Munnar, including Echo Point, Top Station, and some places whose pronunciation I shall never get right in this birth.

Home-made chocolates were awesome.
Then the talk about the Company with Achuth (Kokilaben), Akshai (Anil) and me (Mukesh)
being the rightful owners.Although Chilli and Encyclopedia and Drona tried their best, they really couldn’t do much about their absence in the board of directors of the company. (I know am gonna get a series of comments on this one).

Lot of introspection happened about a lot of things.
We also realised that the time between 22 and 26 just flew past. Seemed like we had bypassed a main town.
Suddenly we were running towards the age of so-called maturity and settling-down.
It was and is scary.
During the college days we were a lot happier and a lot of things that suddenly seem to
be so threatening now didnt even matter to us at that point of time.
Probably its a phase we are unsure of and hence are wary. Or probably we have just lost our good old days.

Then the debate on “ultimate happiness”. I liked this since it gave me a lot of points to ponder about. The enlightenment and all that. It was good!

When the guys enter their prospective future phases, will all this fun just go away? Or is it that probably the future phases shall bring their own kind of fun? Or is it that the camaraderie shall lessen? Its scary to think of that. I don’t know.
There is a lot that I have left out, maybe some other day I shall write down every detail.

Until then, enjoy and try and follow our new motto – “There is always a better song!”

Ladies and gentlemen: Dhi only one is back. Banana chips anybody?

I had read a lot about the Apple Macintosh ad during the 1984 Superbowl.
It had created quite a stir and had put Apple into every viewer’s mind.
(I read about it in the book Odyssey – From Pepsi to Apple by John Scully)

I would love to get a copy of that video.
Anyway, I did get lucky and got a description of that video from the google usenet archives:

“In case you missed it, it showed a large auditorium filled with zombie-like people with shaved heads, dressed in grey. They are staring at a “Big Brother” figure displayed on a screen who is lecturing them along the lines of “we control the information…”. Into the hall runs a blonde woman, dressed in bright red, with police-types chasing her. Before the police get to her, she whirls a sledgehammer around her head and hurls it through the screen. The screen explodes in a blast of light. Then the voice-over explains that Macintosh is coming etc., and 1984 won’t be like ’1984′.”

Amazing linkage with Orwell’s 1984 concept. (Guys, read that book now!!)
Apparently, the “Big Brother” represented IBM. The girl in red represented, well, Apple.

Awesome eh?

What exactly are morals? Who defines them?
And why make such a big noise about morals et al when in reality they are just relative to a person?

Its very difficult to define morals in the first place.
Morals are a set of guidelines laid out by the society. If you adhere to these guidelines, you are acceptable. Else you are not.

Now the focus shifts to the term society.
Society, as a group, seems to be huge and an ever-imposing entity. However, when you start dissecting the society into its individual members, you’ll soon find that there is no such thing as a society after all.
There are just very different minded people who rarely agree on common subjects. Society is a term that every individual gives to everyone else except him/her self.
In that sense, there is no such thing as a society when you take all such individuals together.
Morals, then, seem to be defined by this hollow entity which in reality doesn’t seem to exist at all.

In effect, morals, ethics, justness, truth etc are all the creations of a non-real and non-existent body.
Our actions are actually determined by an imaginary body?

Scary thought.

Weekend was hectic and fun.
Started off on Friday night with the gang (well, just 4 of us) meeting up at TGIF.
From there we headed to Cafe Casablanca. Its a nice place, well laid out and with a huge screen playing…well….some obscure TV channel:-)
Some cigarettes and one peach hooka.
Got home at around 1 a.m.

Next day was dinner at RR and then coffee at Java City.

I don’t feel like blogging right now.

I’ve realised that cigarettes are not good for my health, especially my sinus problem.(Had a bad headache yesterday).
Hence, passive and active smoking, from now on, is stopped.
Had a playback theatre performance in an orphanage. Felt good in being a part of it.
As always, a lot of introspection happens during such occassions.

I also finished Orwell’s Animal Farm. Awesome book! Incredible.
I loved the metaphorical style. I loved the ending.

Ladies and gentlemen: The End.