Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Moonlight Drive

Standing in the balcony of third floor and sipping caffeine was very relaxing. It was a beautiful night .Clear sky , cool breeze and heavenly silvery light from the crescent moon soothed my nerves. I was trying to locate 'Saptha rishi' mandala' or 'Great Bear'. The last time i did star gazing was in 'kemmangundi' .

I was totally lost in the ambience . I heard a noise from behind 'so you're here'. I turned around to see Subs walking towards me.
'whom should we add in the CC' Subs asked.
'Are you done with your transports ? '
' I still need to do some testing before i could transport to QA'.

Even i had some work left to do . We had to send all our developments by tommorow and it was already 11:30 in the night. We started walking back towards our desks. Only i and subs were left in the floor and occasionally some guard would come and check on us. My cell phone started ringing . It was my dad.

' Appa, i am going to start in half an hour. My work is almost done'
' Dont come home , You better stay back . Its too late and it is not safe to travel at this time . City is very unsafe at nights'
' I will think about it. Anyways, I have home keys so you guys go to sleep '

I hated to stay back in office. Sleeping in my bed in home always gave me the most satisfying sleep. We got back to work and i was done with my tasks at around 1 am.

'Subs, I am done. Shall we leave?'
'Just give me 5 more mins '
'Ok'.

We packed our stuff turned off our comps and started walking towards car parking. I was happy that tasks had gone as we expected and can come to office next day late. It was 1 hour drive to home and had to drop subs on the way. To reach Subs home I had to take diversion at the railway crossing on the highway and
from there It is a muddy road and drive is quite bumpy for 2 Kms .This road runs parallel to Railway Track on the right and Open fields to the left.

The open fields is full of Latina bushes. I Always hated this particular stretch of road as my car becomes very dirty and the entire place has a acrid smell of acid probably due to some factory nearby . After the 2 Kms stretch along the railway track there is a big bridge above a sewage canal and from there on  starts the Posh residential layouts !! , Where Subs stays.

City streets were empty and i was zipping through the streets in high speed. The same streets in the morning will be clogged with honking vehicles . The streets at this time are ruled by street dogs . I had my windows down and was enjoying the moonlight drive . We reached the rail junction and took a diversion towards Subs home and were going through that lonely stretch.
We were busy in talking and Suddenly A lady Passed in front of my car . She barely missed hitting right side front Headlights. Subs screamed out 'STOP'.

I immediately applied brakes. I turned around and put my head out of window to see if she is Ok . Subs was already shouting Expletives and he also looked out of his side window .

There she was Sitting in the middle of the road her legs were crossed and hands on the Knees .
She was wearing a Dirty white saree !!. She started Laughing Hysterically .The laugh was more like a 'Howl' . Suddenly a chill went though my Body . There was a certain Eerieness in the Laugh. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. I coudnt see her face Properly as her Long hairs were blocking it .I could tell that she was staring at us . I broke out in a cold sweat. I and subs stared at each other. I saw fear written all over Subs face. That lady stopped laughing and i turned back to see what happened .She got up and started walking towards our car in gaint strides. I realised that she was more than 6 feet tall . I was already numb with the experience and didnt know what to do. Subs started shouting ' Start the Car !!, Lets get out of here fast ' . She was around 10 feet away from car. I started the car and zoomed away from there. We upped our windows and I trying to see her from my back mirror. She was gone!!.
My heart was still beating fast. We were silent for some time and then subs broke the silence .

'she was not human'
'what!!'
'Yes, They call them 'Mohinis' in my village.They are very dangerous ghosts!!'
'Crap, she can be some mad woman or some Gang who were trying to divert our attention and then attack us and rob'
'Did you see her legs?'
'No i didnt observe'
'She was Gliding rather than walking!!'

True , her gaint strides was more like glide. My imagination started running wild. We reached subs home and sub asked me to stay in his home that night.

I said 'Dont worry, I wont take that route. I will take main road' The alternative road takes through Residential layouts and connects highway but it is 4-5 Kms longer.
I dropped Subs and took main road back home. Every few minutes i was turning around and checking my back seat . Everytime expecting to see a lady in white saree sitting in my back seat . Even to this day whenever i think of this incident my heart skips a beat.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Dynasty Rules

Well , The horse trading has started . One party has got more than 200+ and with some bartering   they will be able to form a pseudo secular goverment. I am Glad that atleast we will see a stable government and not a Hung assembly as predicted in the exit polls. On the downside , very sad to see a person with zero credentials in politics  getting into cabinet and his only qualification is being grandson and great grandson of past Prime ministers .
By the way heard controversial song in youtube  'jana gana mana Rann'  . Found it quite interesting and very apt in the current scenario.

"A house divided against itself cannot stand. "
                                     - Abraham Lincoln

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Sunday, February 01, 2009

It surely is cold

Last week temperature dropped to -15 C !! and it snowed very heavily.
My car completely covered in snow. Took 20 mins to clean my car.
Backard of my home
Yummmmmmy Alu dahu puri to beat the weather.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Slumdog Millionaire

This movie has a Critic rating of 94% in Rotten tomatoes!!. British movie with Indian backdrop and Indian actors !! had to watch it.

After much anticipation the movie was finally released in a theatre close to my home . This theatre is a 100 year old Bangalore "plaza" styled and is situated in front of beautiful Princeton University . People told me that only low budget 'Arty' type movies are released here.
I could see 99% ofthe audience were Americans and rest 1% were me and Duppu :) . As the movie progressed i realised this is not a Indian Movie at all !!. It is a 14 course meal ( or reels !!) carefully arranged and served to satiate the palate of western audience.
What does india mean to Western people ? .
Ans : Poverty, Big Population , Taj Mahal and Call Centre's ..Well, You find them all in this Masala Fairy tale.
This movie has too many technical flaws in it. How can a movie star make fun of or insult a chaiwallah on the national television. From when did rama become "blue". How can Slum kids speak impeccable British accent without going to school .
The execution of the movie is very average. The adolescent version of Jamal , Salim and Latika are the stars of the movie. They are just fun to watch . Dev Patel and Freida Pinto are mediocre actors and they just cant act. Duppu wasnt amused by the movie either . She almost throwed up when young jamal jumps into a cess pool. Movie story is too much masala to qualify anywhere near Gritty description of mumbai.
Avoid watching this movie in theatres if you value your money in these recession times.