Life Reloaded!!!

So this year I completed a hat trick of watching the finals of Sawai . Like the previous 2 occasions, this too was a great experience. Most of the plays were good and the overall performance level was better than that of the 2012 finals. Most of the plays were based social issues like parenting, cynicism among the middle class, etc. Unlike the previous finals, not a single one was of romantic/love genre. Here is the list of finalists- Nat S. M. R. T. We missed this one as we were late. But Viraj's father told us, this was similar to the play " Natasamrat " but a modern version. Emotional Atyachar This was a story of an employee in an e-CRM firm which is hired by clients so that someone can communicate with their family. These clients are too "busy" with their work that they don't have time to speak with their wife/kids/parents. The agent/employee E26 slowly starts getting emotionally attached with his clients' families. Finally, when he is about t...

Lonavala 2008 Trip From Left - Kiran, Aditya, Susmit, Vishwanath, Nikhil, Viraj, Harshad, Vishwajeet, Myself and Vikram Lonavala 2008 Trip

So it is time for the big night of the year! Sawai Ekankika Finals will start in some time now. It will be interesting to see this year's performances and stories. I will update on the same during the weekend.

I still don’t remember why I decided to participate in the race. I had completed the Half Marathon in 2009, but that was pretty slow with more than 4 hours taken. This time I was running with the intent of completing the race within 3 hours. I had even contacted my friend, Sankalp, who had participated in various Marathon competitions in US. I asked him for a plan to prepare for the race. However, like many things in my life, I never prepared for the ultimate race because of my usual laziness (Big Mistake!!!).  On the race day, I arrived at the venue with my friend, Nikhil S. I started the race at 5:51AM, around 10 min after the gun time. During the initial few kilometers, I had some trouble with breathing, so I started having doubts whether I would be able to complete the race. But, then after I got used to the walking/running, I did not have any trouble with it. Main issue then was that of legs. By the time I reached Pedder Road, I was not able to run for more than 6-7 secon...

First thought after I completed the race - Fuck, fuck, fuck. Why did I make that sprint to finish line with 100 meters remaining? Ooohhh… This is bad. I am not able to walk with my right leg paining so much. Damn it!

This has to be the best of the three Dork books(“DORK: The Incredible Adventures of Robin ‘Einstein' Varghese”, “God Save The Dork” & “Who Let The Dork Out?”). It has been wonderful reading experience for past one week. I am sure people around me (at home, in train, in office bus) might have felt, why this fellow is smiling so much while reading this book :) The BBC journo episode, first meeting with Colonel, Sivaji statue fiasco, Tihar jail’s special room, Gym sessions – all were super comedy entries in Robin “Einstein” Varghese's Diary. It will be worth reading it again some time soon. Some of my favorite quotes/lines from the book are as follows - When the going gets tough, the Einstein has already finished going! Women are the easiest things in the world to handle provided you don’t have any self-respect. This is not Europe where people say, “You fool me once shame on you, you fool me twice shame on me.” In India, “you fool me once, I fuck you m****.” The room was...

I watched three movies recently. Reviews for each are as follows –  Life of Pi  This one was suggested by many of my friends. And yes, it was worth it. Based on the Man Booker prize winning book of the same name, the movie is the tale of survival of “Pi” who was stranded in the Pacific Ocean for more than 100 days with a Royal Bengal Tiger. To be honest, the story isn’t as intriguing as the cinematography. The initial sequence of the animals in the Zoo is one of the high points of the movie. In fact, overall this is the best 3D movie I have ever seen. Previous ones like MIB III and The Amazing Spiderman had nothing to do with 3D effects. It seemed as if they were basically filmed in 2D and then converted to 3D just to make more money. This movie, however, was different. Despite the movie being slowly paced especially in the second half, some of shots are so nice that slowness in the story can be forgiven. Balak Palak (BP)   Well, this was one of the most an...

I read this book long time back, however I was never able to post about it last year. In fact, I even missed it in the post titled " Resolutions 2012 " . This book actually took me more time to complete than any other book I read last year. In the past, I read biographies of people like Sunil Gavaskar, John Wright and even former President of India APJ Abdul Kalam. I knew that Jobs had a controversial life with him being thrown out of his own company. I had also watched his famous speech at Stanford Commencement in 2005, which was one of the most inspiring speeches I had ever seen/read. The book starts with the author describing the chain events where he was asked by Steve Jobs to write his biography. It then goes on to describe his birth (even mentioned in the Stanford Speech), childhood, his friendship with Steve Wozniak and various other aspects of his life. One of the interesting parts of the book was the term “Reality Distortion Field” coined by Jobs’ co-workers. To s...

It came to my mind during a discussion with my friends when one of us was planning to buy a house in far Central suburbs. His arguments for buying a house were that it is for investment purpose, and that it is a good case for a guy looking for arranged marriage. This surprises me a bit. I agree that, just as it is expected to have good education, job and salary, it is now required to have your own house when you are looking for marriage. The main reason for this is the ever increasing prices of real estate. My dilemma revolves around the same point – is it prudent to buy a house before marriage or after marriage? Say, to become a better prospect, one buys a house. That means at current level of his salary, say Rs. " X ", he will be able to get a home loan of around 50 times " X " and accordingly he will have to buy a house. But had he bought a house with joint ownership and loan with his spouse, he would have got a house either closer to city or big...

As my friend Vishwajeet has also started watching Naruto episodes, here are few of my posts from the past - http://sidh299.blogspot.in/2009/03/naruto-dialogues.html http://sidh299.blogspot.in/2011/08/jiraiya.html http://sidh299.blogspot.in/2010/02/naruto-quote_05.html http://sidh299.blogspot.in/2011/08/naruto-quote.html http://sidh299.blogspot.in/2008/09/naruto-3.html And this is how it all began for me - http://sidh299.blogspot.in/2008/06/naruto-uzomaki-is-here.html Few more favorite are - “Those in the ninja world who break the rules and regulations are called filth, but those who don't care about their companions... are even lower than filth.” - Obito Uchiha “A smile is the best way to get away with trouble even if it’s a fake one.” “I don't care who I have to fight! If he rips my arms out, I'll kick him to death! If he rips my legs off, I'll bite him to death! If he rips my head off, I'll stare him to death! And if he gouges ou...

Taken at " Harne Bandar " My Friends - Dnyanesh, Viraj and Aditya Mouth watering, no? Karde Beach "Kadyavaracha Ganapati" Suvarnadurga What a view!!! Do visit - Karde Dapoli Trip