End of the road?

I started blogging two and a half years ago, when we had just moved in to our new house and were experiencing localized power cuts (yes, only in our house) due to our landlord's ignorance (greediness) to install an electric meter. Since that time I have made posts about, well, everything. Be it things which have been going on in my life, technology, bikes, movies, railway stations .. and a whole lot more rubbish. All of those posts contain the best part of my life: My college days.
But now, I just don't feel like it. I don't have the handy blogger button which I just click and type whatever I wish like. In fact, few times, I have tried posting something just for the heck of it but backed off at the last moment. The last post was one time when I didn't and it resulted in a post which I don't like anymore.
Its not about the time. I think I have enough. I like writing. I think its' because of this blog that I really started liking it. But, nowadays, I just don't feel like doing it. And hence, this blog is officially closed. I may start again, who knows? But till then it is goodluck and goodbye.

Note: The author reserves the right to change the above statement without prior notice.

Here I am!

F*ck Bryan Adams! I'm back. This must have been the longest I have gone without doing a blog post. Like what.. one and a half months? So what was I doing in that gap you ask.. or maybe you don't ask, but I tell you anyway.
I had been covering mile after mile ... nah .. kilometer after kilometer on my bike. At the current day it stands at 1245 KM without me falling off it (touch wood).
I have been watching movies. In fact I saw one yesterday night at 10PM at PVR. It was called "Parzania" and I would give it a big thumbs up. I also saw "Guru", but it is just of average grade.
Then I went for this trek at some place called "Thadiandamol" in Coorg district. It was a one day affair where we walked, walked, walked and ate maggi at the end of the day.
Other than that, I'm quite occupied these days (not just with work) and that is my excuse for not writing anything for sooo many day. I hope I can get to write something more captivating next time. Cheerios till then.

Vroom

I got meself a new toy :-)

Don't look at the antenna

The scene is set. It is a crowded mall on a Saturday evening. I'm
wandering aimlessly in the mall awaiting the arrival of my cousin. I
see a "Tata Sky" booth. A sales boy and girl are standing next to the
stall. I approach the booth.

Me: Hi, what is the subscription charge of this thing.

Boy: 300 bucks a month.

Me: Oh!

Girl: Yeah, its 300 bucks plus 4 grand for the installation.

Me: Oh!

Boy: Yes, you have this small antenna which you have to put up in the
terrace (gives a pamphlet with a picture of a small dish antenna).

Me: (declines the pamphlet after a cursory glance) OK, so it works on
the principle of line of sight (pointing at the antenna).

Girl: No no.. you don't have to look at it for it to work.

Me: (lifts eyebrow) Hmmm .. Thank you. (controls laugh, leaves)

English bollywood movie

HBO has been showing runs of the movie: American Ninja. If you do get the time, please do watch it. You would feel as if a Hindi movie has been dubbed into English. The following dialogue has been lifted from IMDB:

Black Star ninja: Who is he?
Colonel Hickock: He's a new recruit, he just got here yesterday. I don't even know his name!
Black Star ninja: He posses great skills!

And of course its an insult to all the marshal arts movies ever made.

Dhoom 2 review

OK, so this other day there was a company outing for the movie Dhoom-2 !! After watching the movie I realized that "Times of India" had given it a biased review, 4 stars, by a large scale. I would have given it 2.
The story has numerous loose ends. The action is not out of this world (these days I despise stunts with cables. I mean c'mon, people don't somersault and land on their feet after getting punched on their chins.). Ash and Bipasha look good but I felt like slapping them when they opened their mouths. You feel like slapping Uday Chopra when you look at him, but is quite funny when he opens his mouth. Abhishek Bacchan is pissed off during the entire movie. Hrithik Roshan is "sophisticated" .. I mean you have to be if you are the "perfect thief" of the world and want to write an "A" on the whole world. But above all, the movie doesn't have the amount of bike stunts which I would have liked to have. And yes.. the whole movie is filled with scenes where the actors/actresses walk ... and oh how they walk.. in style.
In normal life, when you walk you can hardly do it in style. There are various things which you need to be aware of. The bird which likes to bomb you with its morning payload. The paan chewing auto-rickshaw wala who will invariably spit when you walk past. The sweepers directing the dust of the streets in to your face. Due to all these things, you have to walk fast, dodge, duck and sometimes shout.
But in movies, you walk in slow motion. You have your soundtrack playing in the background. You may even have dancers doing somersaults in the background. Balloons going up in the air. Fireworks all around.
But apart from all that the only good thing which I found about the whole movie was the make up. Now that is really good and maybe.. just maybe for that it is worth watching once.

My first test ride

After days of procrastination I finally decided to test ride a bike. The reason for the delay, more than my laziness, was the fact that I'm a beginner when it comes to riding a bike (note: I'm an expert pillion rider though B-) ) So when I left from office the agenda was to try out a Pulsar 150 or Avenger, but we somehow landed up in a Hero Honda showroom and there lay CBZ-Xtreme. First impression is that the bike does look good. It has got LED tail lights, black alloys, black engine, the smiling grid of the old CBZ in front, 1 down 4 up gear shifts and a 63K on road price tag.
And then came the main course. The time I was supposed to test ride the bike. People who have driven vehicles with gears will tell you that of the many embarrassing things in life, stalling the vehicle after starting and putting it in the first gear comes on top. Yes.. you guessed it right, thats exactly what happened with me. Not once, not twice, but a grand three times and the bike had moved roughly 12 inches. So apart from insulting myself, I also managed to insult the 149 cc pulsar by making it move slower than an old snail.
Well.. life goes on and I'm still stuck on neutral.