Happy Thanksgiving.. & Life Of Pi (9/10)

Watched Life Of Pi today, in 3D. It's spectacular, visually & as a movie as well. Its story of an Indian boy named Piscine Molitor Patel aka Pissing Patel aka Pi Patel; who believes in 33 million Hindu Gods, Jesus & Allah all together so he can be closer to god. But one day he gets struck by a sea storm which takes away his family & everything from him leaving him on a boat stuck with Richard Parker a Bengal Tiger. Irrfan Khan as adult Pi is narrating the story, so you know he'll survive. But its still an interesting & captivating tale of fighting, struggling & surviving with some amazing visuals & great cinematography. Irrfan, Tabu & Adil Hussain are great and Suraj Sharma is fine too. I miss Tobey Maguire not being in the movie & did not know that Gerard Depardieu was a big actor but whatever.. Go watch it & Enjoy!!

& yes.. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Terrorist and militant Kasab... Western media calling him Gunman? Seriously??

I hope this was funny, but its not. Why is western media from Europe to America is calling him a gunman?? Are you f*king kidding me. This evil Pakistani militant sponsored by Pakistan based Lashkar-e-Taiba, the terrorist group; killed so many people in plain sight. Lashkar is giving statements for him who h clearly tells he is a militant and terrorist from that terrorist group. And his villagers are upset which tells he is Pakistani. Pakistan should take ownership for him. I have nothing against Pakistan as a nation but everything against a terrorist, a killer and his evil. So come on western media, grow up and be honest and truthful. Any attack on your land and your soil is terror attack, but this clear act of terror by this terrorist Kasab is not visible to you? Let's not play these game of words and be open, honest and fight war against terror together.

FYI.. After 4 years of drama and delay, Kasab was hanged and finally put to justice.

Mumbai attacks gunman executed http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-20422265

Freedom of Speech in India

Facebook arrest woman 'shocked'

So I'm back after long because of this, had to say or write something. India its the largest democracy in the world with constitution & law & all that in place and you see this. People can't speak their mind, there heart. Are you kidding me? I'm glad that at least there its noise from media and even other prominent people. But this happening in our city its extremely unfortunate and total BS. I'm in America and you see the importance of free speech. There are down side to it and you may not want to but others feelings. But in a free city we all should have right to express our thought and feelings. If you don't understand or agree you are free to make counter-arguments. But trying to use power or enforce law over this is completely unacceptable. Lets make sure we keep making boss against such things and make our nation a great democracy it is and better and best!!

Happy Birthday.. Papa-ji, Daddy Jee, Pita-shri, Father :)

Happy Birthday to ME :)

Can women feel safe in the Metros of India?

Share http://timesofindia.feedsportal.com/fy/8at2EuS0dByPQ2yU/story01.htm

Oprah attacked for India special

I haven't seen the episode yet, but I will soon & then make ky comment on this. But living in US, I can tell how Americas still have stereotypes of India & Indians - how we travel around on elephants, with snake charmers around (I m not kidding), cows roaming everywhere, rushed & crushed in traffic/transport, hot & sweaty, beggars & people with no food, always religious & stuff etc etc. Some of which is true but many of it us not. Plus making fun of our culture - like eating with hands, sitting on floor, religious rituals, arranged marriages (not all the time now), living with family (not always again) etc are great things we are proud of. So no one has right to make fun of or even think of these as lowly or bad things. Indian culture & traditions have there greatness & some not so great points like anything else in world but no one has right to judge us. We are proud of ourselves as Indians and the great growth, development and everything we have. If you cone to our home, if you can't learn from us, at leastcplease respect us..
Oprah attacked for India special

Santhi Soundarajan: an Indian athlete's story

The only reason I am pointing this out is that I feel bad about how a talented athlete like Santhi has to go through this. Can we do something to make this right?

Share http://timesofindia.feedsportal.com/fy/8at2EuS0cCMWr2oH/story01.htm

Last day at NYSE..

I don't know if I had said it openly earlier that I was working at NYSE (what's NYSE? r u crazyy??). And today was my last day at the project where I have been for 2 yrs.. longest I have been on one single project at one single place, nostalagic & all that. Moving to new opportunity, new project.. in Stamford, CT. (Read this too from few years ago, when I left job at Sapient)

Pranab as President?

Seems Pranab Mukherjee is going to be next President of India. Should he be the president? Dunno.. Congress always brings in this shitty political candidates for president & it sucks. First thing we don't get to chose or vote for our own president, he doesn't have any real powers and then on top of everything. Why not have somone non-political, reputed and someone who can represent our nation in a good way. Like great APJ Abdul Kalam, who could've been the president again, but..

Anyways, I watched few movies:

• The Silver Lining Playbook (7/10)
• Moonrise Kingdom (8/10)
• Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (5/10)
• Ides Of March (7/10)
• Fast Five (6/10)
• Scent Of a Woman (8/10)

Happy Birthday Maa!!

Special post to say a very-very Happy Birthday to my dearest Maa (mummy/mother/ mata/maatey/mum/amma/maiya/maai/mom..)  Janmadin ki haardik shubhkaamnayein!! :)

Making The Bus Monitor Cry.. But why are we paying for her vacation??

So, I just saw this & this is really bad of course. We never had such problems growing up. Kids respected elders & seniors. I'm not sure how it is now. But this was instilled in us by parents & teachers & everyone. Showing respect to elderly, helping them if needed, offering our seats in bus/train etc etc.. I've seen this behavior in kids in US and its really pathetic. Fault of parents, school & society to not be able to inflict proper manners and behavior. These kids should be properly punished and taught a lesson to not only for them, but to set an example for others. And we as a society should take responsibility to grow our younger generation into better human beings.. On a second note, I saw this campaign to get this poor lady a vacation. Almost $200,000 as of right now & still 30 days left. Really? So that's the idea to teach lesson to those kids & set an example?? People are dying of hunger, heat, cold etc etc in different parts of world. They need more help or this poor lady for vacation?? We don't seem to be as concerned about fixing this problem so thousands & millions of other victims of this can stop suffering. Why do we think more about compensating the victim than fixing the problem and making a better world for everybody. Think about it..


(please read the comments to see what people are saying here & my views further..)

Happy Father's Day

I did wish my Dad Happy Father's Day just now.  Well, it is still Father's Day here. Again, there are so many days to remember - Day for mom, Day for love, day for thanks, day for rose, day for this, day for that... Seriously seems a scam by gift & card industries to make money. And that's why I don't waste money on gifts & cards. But why not take an opportunity to remember, thank & show your love for these important people in your life... So, on this Father's Day, again, I want to thank you Dad. For being you, and for making me what I am today. Thanks.. & I love you!!!!

It's been a nice interesting week. I've been working out quite well. Didn't really watch any new movie except Snatched (7/10 - good performances & interesting but nothing gerat about it. Although Benecio Del Torro does looks like Brad Pitt); The Descendants (8/10 - great performances & interesting storyline, good movie); Bbudah Hoga Tera Baap (6/10 - a fun masala movie for masala & Bachchan fans). Weather has mostly gotten better. But I still just mostly rested this weekend & got good sleep. Cooked too, a new omelet+mixed-veg subzi and ch-ch-chholey. Looking forward to a great week!!

I N-joyed "Stakes" again..

I didn't misspell it, I do mean stakes & not steaks - Belmont Stakes 2012. I'll have another was not playing, so no Triple Crown, but still was a nice day. Bet $40 total & won $20, not too bad I'll say for a fun day of horse racing. What sucked was tolls. From Jersey, you have to pay $13 toll to get in Staten Island and then $13 again to get back to Staten Island from Brooklyn. WTF?? And on top of that we had to pay $3.25 toll each way for visit to Far Rockaway, which is not as bad at night as people may tell you, but not any shops open or enough people after sunset, to have any fun there.. BTW, Union Rags won!!

Watched J.Edgar (6/10), which is not a great movie but good performances by actors, specially acting old. Plus interesting to see what happened in recent history during those days. More like fun documentary for me. Also watched Singham (7/10) which was fun. Not a great storyline or amazing plot/performances etc but not bad either. Actually Ajay Devgn (he's Devgn now & not Devgan) & Prakash Raj were quite good. Over the top action, over the top acting, over the top everything with dropping cars, flying people (when slapped by Singham), tacky dialogues etc etc, but FUN. What else do you want from a movie? Every movie is not suppsoed to make you a better person. When Mithun & Dharmendra were doing similar movies but low budget B-graders, we were too posh to watch those & laughed at them. Now we are enjoying similar movies but presented in a better form. Full fledged Action & Masala time is back in Bollywood!!

Prometheus | Snowhite and the Huntsman | My Week with Marilyn | Life of Pi

I should just make this a movie blog now, no? No. But how many movie reviews do I put & how many movies do I watch.. Anyways, I saw Prometheus (8/10) today in advance screening. The heavily awaited Ridley Scott supposed prequel to Alien is very good. The movie is shot in 3D & looks awesome. It's scary too, one scene of a creature eating some creature actually made me crawl & jump. The idea of finding your creator is interesting. But who created them & who created them & who.. And if someone was not created but was just there, why not us.. That's not what movie talks about but very interesting movie & well shot, good performances & everything. Also, go well before time & do not miss the trailer of Life of Pi, which is actually a scene from the movie. An Indian boy stuck on a life boat with a Bengal tiger and suddenly flying fishes start bursting from all over. Funny & fun scene with very good visuals. Looking forward to the movie..

Snowhite & Huntsman (5/10) could've been a good movie, but it is not. It just tries too hard to be a great movie with un-required scenes, un-convincing performances, un-understandable dialogues. Why show this BIG SFX/VFX scene of horned deer etc to show she's special when mirror already told that & we know, everyone knows she's special. Why she comes back to life after kiss from huntsman but not William who seemed more like the love interest. The last scene with her getting crowned is so unconvincing too, like most of the film. Also watched My Week With Marilyn (7/10) from Netflix, good movie. Not much of a story but good performances & well done. So I have watched lots of movies & we have hod lot of cold-ish rainy weather here in NYC. Although its been clearer & warmer since yesterday. I am working out too, back in Crunch Gym., 70+ mins of non-stop work out, pretty good. BTW, why do they name all these workout classes so ridiculously. Cant just call what it is, like ab class, full body workout, spinning or whatever. Whats the deal with all this fancy names. That's it for now, have a great weekend!!

Madagascar - 3 - Musketeers

Quite obvious that I saw these two movies, very smartly put by me as one phrase above :) Madagascar 3 (8/10) is a very good & fun movie. I went to the preview, where they gave clown nose, paper wig, water tattoos etc with special dance performance too. The movie is full of new characters, gags, jokes & Afro Circus is just funny. This time the gang is trying to escape from Africa to New York by becoming part of a failing travelling Circus with a fierce tiger that can jump through hoops as small as rings, a  sharp jaguar-ess who loves Trapeze Americano & an average intelligence Sea Lion who's cute & funny as hell & likes to "fly". The gang also has to fight & run from Capt Chantel DuBois, a crazy french animal control officer. And at the end they fight it all off & win with 2 wonderful circus performances!! Only bad thing, King Julien (& even others except Alex) kinda reduced, want more.. 3 Musketeers (6/10) is an average movie with some stunning visuals & nice action scenes. The weather's been warm/hot or rainy-ish again & I took a drive to Philadelphia yesterday to meet friends & had a great time.. & a great weekend!!

Gangs of Wasseypur @ NYIFF2012

After camping in Wharton State Forest, I went to the closing event of NYIFF2012 this Sunday and watched Gangs of Wasseypur Part-1 (8/10) by Anurag Kashyap. Its an interesting movie which starts in 1940 with bandit looting british trains; then war of landlords & workers of coal mines; then a boy raised into a ganglord who wants to avenge his fathers death; to his family & further events etc. All original north Indian cast with all original story inspired by  or similar to City of God. Anurag said that Part-2 is almost ready & will be done by Jun 20th but release depends on reception of Part-1. At the after party, I met Anurag, Pooja Batra, Aishwarya Rajnikanth & legendary Shaym Benegal who was given Life Time Achievement Award. The weather is really hot now (have put my A/C) so yesterday was mostly resting, cleaning & time-pass etc.

Wharton State Forest NJ

Spent 2 days 1 night at Wharton State Forest camping this weekend. It's pretty cool & nice. It's biggest forest in New Jersey which is 115,000 acres of pine barrens. It's just 2-3 hrs drive from Jersey City. For NJ residents, the permits are $20 for family sites & $3 per person for regular wild/back-country sites. We took a spot in Batona Campsite & did car-camping (no setting up of tents, just sleep inside the car). Did real camp-fire though, for 4 hrs. Bought a bag of firewood there for $7 and picked up rest of wood from around & burnt it all with help of "crap" (pine leave & grass etc); so cool, I mean so HOT!!

Also did more than 12 miles of hiking. All the trails cross dirt roads here so can be disappointing in the sense that you can reach anywhere by just driving a 4x4 or a dirt bike or maybe even a regular car. But there's no directions & stuff so you need to know the roads & paths. First day was 5+ miles of Mullica River trail from Atsion in 2.5 hrs, which is really boring. Next day was 7+ of Batona Trail from Carranza Memorial to Apple Pie Hill in 4 hrs. You can see Atlantic City & Philadelphia from the top of the tower along with whole forest. Saw some rare species of tree-frogs & special kinda pine trees & interesting flora & fauna. Also there's Atsion lake with fake beach & all that. Also can do lot of canoeing adventures. Overall, very-very exciting & FUN!!

Chernobyl Diaries (6/10)

Just watched Chernobyl Diaries (6/10) in a preview screening. It was kinda good. Not all about noises, booms, shock etc. Kinda tried to build up on story, but kinda failed at the end. *SPOILER* So this guy visits his brother in Kia, with his girlfriend/to-be-fiancee & her friend; and the brother takes them on an extreme tour of Chernobyl area with a ex special-force guide. No one is supposed to be there, but there are not just some crazy dogs & bear but something/someone else. No surprise, nuclear radiation contaminated crazy people who now start killing them. Almost all die in the chase, except one girl who is eventually caught by authorities; revealing those things were run-away patients. They finally have her killed from other patients. *SPOILER ENDS*. But movie goes on in nice pace, with no over drama, but enough tension. Nice camera work, editing, dialogues, acting etc. on a well-done set. Only if climaxed was better, but worth a watch for thrill-horror-suspense fans.

It's been an okay but rainy week. Lotta rain going on suddenly. But I am still busy working & working out. Watched 3.10 to Yuma (8/10) & The Road (8/10) this week. Good plot, great acting and very nice movies. Christian Bale & Russell Crowe playing southerners/cowboys & doing great job; or the young Australian kid Kodi acting so fine.. good stuff. Going to real camping in forest for first time tomorrow to Wharton State Forest, very excited!!.. will let you guys know how it was after I am back.. until then, have fun & have a nice long weekend!!

FUN weekend.. & Modern Indian Village!!

After my Sleep No More experience this Friday night, the weekend was FUN too. Wokeup really late at 2.00 pm on Saturday & went to city to Karaoke48 (I am terrible with English songs and it proved it again) and then dinner at Ah Chiuaha (really nice tex-mex food). Then took the tram ride to Roosvelt Island, which is nice view of city & Island. Tehn went to ruins of Smallpox Hospital where we got stuck cuz the gate got locked at dawn and had to jump over to get out.. FUN!! Then to Serendipity for desset, but the 1.5 hr wait forced us to go to Ralph Lauren's daughter's Dylan's Candy Bar (sundae was fine but no long spoons, no nuts & stupid large cups). Got back home & watched Rang De Basanti (10/10).  Also did some shopping, cleaning etc, went running and had a nice FUN weekend... On a separate note, read this story about this nice modern-ish village in India 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Gujarat-village-that-puts-metros-to-shame/articleshow/13309567.cms