Happy New Year !!!

Swades

Excellent !!!

Can't ask for more. A sincere effort from Ashutosh Gowarikar. This is not the run of the mill NRI movie. There is class and substance in this one.

Cast lineup is good. I personally feel this is Shahrukh's best movie. Gayatri Joshi is promising, considering the fact that its her first movie. Music and the background score is good.

Don't miss it at any cost.

And something which totally contradicts what is shown in the movie. According to a media report in Washington India is world's 4th largest economy. Here is the news in rediff.

Child Bear

How about some Child Bear?

Gastronomic Delights

Since the day I arrived in Hyderabad, I have been hogging the famous Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani regularly. It definitely deserves a post on my blog. So here it is...

History:
In the olden days when the armies marched long stretches, they were to be fed in the most befittingly nutritious manner. Hence they carried with them herds of sheep, goats and rations of rice and wheat. The meat was then cooked with rice or wheat, what was cooked with rice came to be known as Biryani and with wheat as Haleem. The Nizam and other members of the royal family with unwavered dedication from the royal cooks perfected this most ordinary cooking by using expensive, special and aromatic ingredients to produce food of the highest quality of taste and nutrition. The extent of care taken is evident from the fact that even the metal that is used in cooking is predominantly copper, which helps in slow cooking, while retaining the flavours of the meat and spices.

Where in Hyderabad:
There are quite a few places famous for Chicken Biryani in Hyderabad. Paradise on M.G. Road, Secunderabad, serves arguably the best Chicken Biryani in Hyderabad. There is a place called "Bavarchi" on RTC cross roads which is also famous for its biryani. A chain of restaurants called "Hyderabad House" is also decent. But I personally prefer "Paradise" and "Bawarchi". If you happen to land in Hyderabad and want to savour the biryani, you know where to go....

Movie Crazy Hyderabad

Hyderabadis are crazy about movies. Thrice we returned from Cinema halls without watching a movie, because of unavailability of tickets.

Van Helsing which was a disaster in US of A, is a super hit here. Any movie released, runs to full houses for atleast couple of weeks.

There is an excellent IMAX multiplex near Hussain Sagar Lake, but half of the twin city can be seen fighting for a ticket there.

What option do we have? Enter Super Seva. They take care of everything for people like us. You want your RTO documents cleared, you want to buy a railway/bus/air/movie ticket, you want to walk your dog, floss your cat. They will do it for you.

This time I don't want to drive all the way to Prasadz and come back without watching a movie. Super Seva will be given a chance to do some seva and book Ocean's Twelve tickets for us.

Because of the above mentioned reasons, normally I prefer watching movies at home. We rented this DVD of "Big Fish" and saw the movie at Amit's place on weekend. I think its Tim Burton's best movie, better than "Sleepy Hollow" and "Edward Scissorhands".

That reminds me, I am looking for a VCD/DVD of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"....But I guess I won't get it in Hyderabad. Maybe Landmark in Bangalore is the place.

Give peace a chance.....

Why? Why are fans so obsessed with rock bands or rockstars?

Pantera was arguably the best heavy metal band you could head bang to. Wild and amazing riffs with those dark lyrics. But as usual, success gets into your head quickly and things go haywire.

Just because the founding members Dimebag Darrell and his brother decided to call it off, a crazy fan went on a killing spree leaving Darrell and three more people dead before he was shot dead by police.

Apparently he was upset because of the split in Patera. Why shoot people around? He should have shot himself. *Beep* lunatic.

Do you guys know why Chapman killed Lennon? He was motivated because of the "the attention Lennon's murder would generate".

All we are saying is give peace a chance !!!
-- John Lennon

SMS SPAM

I am deep into fixing some BUG when I hear the SMS tone from my cell. Irrespective of the importance of the task on hand you just can't resist yourself when you have a SMS.

So I open my cell INBOX. What I get is.....

"Dial 700 from Ur Airtel and talk to renowned Astrologers @ Rs9/min. To listen to Ur favorite devotional chants, dial 701 @Rs4/min from Ur Airtel"

What the *Beep*?

I am in deep shit and the Airtel buggers want me to talk to a renowned Astrologer and see if he or she can predict some timeframe by which the BUG will be fixed or better ,I listen to some devotional chants and let the Almighty take care of the BUG.

I get back to the stupid BUG and after about an hour I hear the SMS ring tone from the cell. Again.

We never learn from mistakes, do we?

I think it must be an important SMS from one of my 17 girlfriends from Hyderabad. So I again open the cell INBOX.....

"Call 646193 for atleast 3 mins/day & win 2X5 gm Gold Daily. Bumper prize of HondaCity, SantroCars. Listen to hilarious Telugu jokes. Conditions apply."

"Listen to hilarious Telugu jokes."

What a *beep* joke? Apart from "Ledu", I don't know a single word in Telugu.

Party till you drop......

My body still aches....Shouldn't have danced so much....Couldn't help it actually. When you have a good DJ to rock the crowd and 10,000 Watts of loud music, you just can't control yourself.

We had an office bash on Saturday to celebrate completion of one year of operations in India. Venue was a resort called "Alankrita", about 15 kms from Secundarabad.

Everything was managed by an Event Management Company and must say that they did a pretty good job.

Unlimited booze, lots of games, good food and the dance party made sure that everyone had rockin time.

After that tiresome party all I could do on Sunday was have a haircut and sleep like a log.

Ahh....not to forget I read DBC Pierre's smashing debut novel "Vernon God Little" and enjoyed it immensely. It reminded me of "Catcher In The Rye" but nevertheless it was good stuff.

Deewar

Anil : Pahale ye batao ke ek Bhai sun raha hai, ya Reliance Industries ka M.D. sun raha hai.

Mukesh : Jab tak ek bhai bolega tab tak ek bhai sunega, aur jab Reliance Energy ka M.D. bolega tab Reliance Industries ka M.D. sunega.