Team NYC

The Christmas weekend that passed 12 of us headed from Toronto to NYC on an epic trip. Epic because there were a few events that occured, which while probably not a first in the history of mankind, was definitely a first in my life. This blog's going to be short, I'll profile each of our trip mates here. As for the trip, I'll reserve it's details for the next one. Well, here goes..
We'd rented 2 minivans, which seated 6 of us in each. The first one held..

• Roy, Jyothi - Our chief at work, and his wife. A great couple!
• Avinash, Aarthi, Aashi - The soft-spoken Tripathis from UP. I have never seen any of them in an excited/agitated state except for baby Aashi at times when she needs to announce her need for food.
• Antony - Aashi's godfather, babysitter, guardian......

The second and probably more noisy minivan held

• Benny - My partner in crime, right from God's own country
• Gopi - The most eloquent Tamizhan I have met, never shies from cracking a joke, either upon himself or the unsuspecting public.
• Jinesh - Our Gujju boy, his appetite and enthusiasm never cease.
• Sudhir, Lakshmi - Our trip manager(you could say) and his wife. Lakshmi, being our latest entry to the FCT family, I feel inclined to elaborate a little more upon her. Now she's one of those people who have a perennial smile on their faces. I'm sure when she was born , the doctor would have been quite surprised, cause unlike other babies she would have come into this world with a smile. Another great couple!
• Myself - The last of the 12, the antithesis of everything normal!

New York, New York

I remember reading this a long time back , a view expressed by someone who was writing about the Big Apple. He said if aliens were to arrive on planet Earth in peace and we had to take them to our greatest city, we would take them to New York. He was American. Well....

• Given the average American's limited knowledge of the world, I think I could classify as an alien
• About peace, I am definitely here in peace. The alien nation of which I am a proud citizen has throughout it's history welcomed invaders with open hands.
  

So I qualify. But here's where things change. No one's taking me, I'm heading to New York myself, in two days. So while I have never celebrated Christmas my whole life, I will definitely be spending it this year in NYC.
Couple of friends tell me I'll love it, but personally, I don't think NY will be a great tourist spot. NY lays it claims to being one of the greatest cities in the world today not because of it's natural beauty, neither because it is tourist paradise. But solely on the basis of its commercial buzz, its fashion vistas, its cosmopolitan culture and its corporate activity among many other things. And if I had to feel it's pulse, I'm sure I only could if I worked there for a while. And that will be some time.
So while I am sure it's an amazing city, I doubt I will be able to truly experience it this time.

The net is my writing pad

Blogs, now every smart-ass and dumb-ass has one. In fact as long as you have an OS that supports a language you're comfortable with, you can go publish your Chinese/French/Hindi/Malay/blank thoughts for free....for the whole world to read. Feel like Spinoza? Go blog. Or is Tennyson the flavour of the day? Go blog. Or do you want the whole world to know how marvellously you've wasted a day in your life, and still feel a grand pride? Go blog away. Egotism? Pardon my spite, but I end up reading a lot of blogs that are effectively just a plain waste of time.
So where are the good blogs? Technorati has a pretty list for starters, check it here, some political, some techie-talk, some for the gizmo-freaks, definitely a lot more worth your time.

Heartbeats

I had been captured by this song when I heard it for the first time on the Sony Bravia ad. Wonderful song, wasn't too hard to find, Jose Gonzalez - Heartbeats. The song's actually a cover, the original being sung by a swedish band called Knife. The beauty of the song lies in its simplicity, it tugs at the heart and releases it the same time . Listen to it here.

Young at heart

The other day I was talking to my sister and somehow I happened to mention about a common friend. When asked about his age, I was quick to reply "Oh! he's young, around our age, 26-27." In the silence that usually accompanies a change of subject during a conversation, it struck my mind I would have said the same thing 10 years ago. Or for that matter even 10 years from now(when I'll be touching 40), "he's young, our age". Youth, is always relative to the people older than us, I never compare myself with someone younger. If I did, then I would see the truth, I am old myself (in relative terms???). A college going cousin when asked about myself, would probably say something like "Oh! he's old, around 26-27!",..... reality strikes at times.

In transit

Seated at the Dubai International airport, and I have another 4 hours before I get my connecting flight to Bangalore. What better way to spend these hours than getting something up on my blog. I have a couple lying very close to my feet, tired backpackers!! I can understand. The airport's quite busy for a weekday and has a vibrant mix of people, europeans, americans, asians. Flew in with Emirates , it's a good carrier, the food is quite good and what I appreciate the most is the inflight entertainment, the range of movies available for viewing is close to 150, and even better you don't have to wait for the flight to take off to start viewing. You're ready to start watching the minute you settle in. So boredom on the flight is is cut to nil.
My body's mightily confused about time and it won't get any better. He's been through 3 time zones in a matter of 3 days. Just when he thinks its time to go to bed and lo! we have daylight again. Shall give him time to recover in bangalore. Right now, need to get myself a coffee and maybe a bite to eat.

Umrao Jaan

Umrao Jaan, the latest Rai movie. It was 3 hours of grief. Leo was sitting next to me eating popcorn and drinking his coke, burping throughout the movie. hahahahahaha! That was the only fun I had. Amma is obsessed with Rai, shouldn't it be her son who is????? About the movie, I haven't seen the original(1981) which stars Rekha, but I have heard that it is quite good. In fact I remember watching it as a child, but the first scene involves a small girl being kidnapped while she was playing. I realised then she won't playing any more, so I thought to myself "to hell with it then" and ran off to play myself. Yeah, I was a born devil, my parents had a tough time. Well, back to UJ(2006), I think the director JP Dutta should be locked in a submarine and sent to the depths of the Pacific Ocean for 3 months. The only movie on board should be his UJ and it should be played constantly, I am sure he will retire from Bollywood once he comes back to land. Simply put it was way too lengthy(the editor should join him on the sub as well), no great performances, all the songs sounded the same and were too many. Junior Bachchan was probably told he's a zombie in this version and he was good at playing one. Rai's beginning to age and I reckon she's looking for those roles which will guarantee her a place among the Bollywood legends. Keep on looking baby, this ain't the one. To be fair to her, I think she gave it a good shot, and with a better director probably she would have dazzled.
Come to think of it, I could have slept throughout the movie?? Why didnt I?? What was it that kept me awake? ..........Leo's noisy munching!!!!!!! I'm going to get you LP!!!