The Fast and the Furious

I remember the first "The Fast and the Furious" mostly for Vin Diesels attitude - I thoroughly enjoyed it back then, and the racing was fun too. I honestly cannot recall much about two - and three was scarily bad with the exception of the driving. The two things that stick with me about the third installment is the first occassion when a guy drifts up a parking lot in a perfect arc, the second being a dialogue - "Why can't you be like other Americans in Japan, and fall for a nice,hot Japanese chick?"

I'm not a movie/theatre buff. The last time I stepped into a theatre to watch a movie was "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" way back in 2005. As part of my quest to do something different from work at any given opportunity, I jumped at the opportunity to watch the fourth installment of this movie when a colleague expressed his desire to do so as well. Adi, myself and a couple of colleagues (Arun Singh and Mustak) headed out on 14th April 2009 for the 19:30 hours show at the Inox multiplex in the Garuda Complex, Bangalore, Karnataka - 560025.

It's just been a couple of hours since the completion of the movie, but my recollection is already a little hazy - so much for this being a memorable movie. As Adi put it so succinctly, this movie knows what the audience wants and provides exactly that with absolutely no surprises. This movie is all about Vin Diesel - there's no two ways about that. The problem is that he's beginning to show his age, and that he's required to be sentimental in a few scenes here - an absolute waste of time. The supporting cast also have absolute howlers when they're trying to be serious - in 5 years, they seem to have forgotten to act as well.

The driving is just pure fun. No races in the traditional sense this time around - lots of scenes in traffic, in narrow tunnels, desert sand and so on and so forth - it isn't just sport this time, it's professional and personal. The first scene (pictured in the trailer), and a street racing scene are particularly good. The music is familiar to fans of games like the NFS series and does its job pretty well - pumps up the blood and lets the audience give a few hoots in between. There's also the now usual glorifying of the bad boys and cop bashing - there are so many cliches in this movie it can make your eye water.

Words really don't do much justice to this movie. In fact, the script and dialogues are so god awful they 're better left alone. The best way to summarize my experience is to say - I enjoyed it, had fun and never felt like either my time or my money were being burnt in front of my eyes. Watch it for the racing, and watch it once.

Here's the trailer from youtube:

Pilgrimage to Sabarimala - 14th - 17th March 2009

This was my fourth visit to Sabarimala, and the first since my accident. Swami Ayyapan or the Dharmashastavu as he is referred to is one of my family's most revered gods, and I must admit I have a particular liking for him - we share the same star of birth (though the same can be send for 1/12th of all lievs on this planet).

The trip comprised of my fathers side of the family - with my fathers youngest sister now old enough to make the journey to Sabarimala. For the un-initiated, only girls below the age of 10, or women above the age of 50 can visit Sabarimala. Though this may seem discriminatory to some, I do not wish to impinge on any controversial issues in this blog - refer to the wikipedia link on Sabarimala for more verbose information. I will simply deal with the places we visited, and my thoughts about each place.

Thrissur:

Thrissur is my hometown in Kerala - the place where both my parents were born and brought up. I look upon myself as a Bangalorean, though I've spent at-least a month of every year of my life in Thrissur. Thrissur is often referred to as the Cultural Capital of Kerala, which is rather presumptuous when you consider how vastly the people and their culture changes as you head down the length of the state. For more information on Thrissur, you can look here.

I spent the first day enjoying the company of my relatives and cousins (we don't meet all that often nowadays) before heading out to put on my mala/necklace. The climate at this time in Kerala was hot and humid, with heavy evening showers. The beauty of this rain is that getting drenched in it is actually fun and not (in my experience) harmful like your elders may warn you. I've had evenings in college where we played football while being absolutely hammered by persitent rain. The rains followed us all along the journey - I was probably the only one who enjoyed it at the time, but in hindsight, it certainly ensured the older folks in our group did not have to climb the hill in draining heat.

We set off on the morning of the 15th by tempo traveller. It was a comfortable, air-conditioned vehicle, and we weren't ever bothered by the fluctuating temperature outside. The trip to Sabarimala is never a straightforward one though. There are several temples along the way, where the pilgrims pay their respects before moving on. Being a swami (a name derived from "Tattvamasi" - I'll refer to this later), none of us had opted to wear slippers. If you've ever walked on an asphalt road, or a granite platform, or a bed of sand barefoot in the summer sun, you'll probably understand that this trip wasn't all fun. But then again, the most devout pilgrims climb all 18 hills on the way to Sabarimala, and we were climbing only the one.

Chottanikkara:

This was our first stop, around an hour from Thrissur. This is a lovely and well spread temple with two main Devi Kshetrams linked by a single path. I usually enjoy coming here but the crowd on the day was heavy. As Swamis, our "purpose" is to pay our respects entirely to Swami Ayyappan, so we weren't encouraged to enter the actual nada. We could pray from the outside though, which we all duly did.

For more information on Chottanikkara, you can refer here.

Vaikam/Kaduthuruthi/Ettumanoor:

These were the next three temples we visited - and honestly this is all a bit of a blur as we needed to get to Sabarimala by sunfall, and as a result, Pamba by tea time. These temples are all pretty old (made mostly of stone work), and they're also not very crowded. The temple at Vaikom is a Shiva temple, the temple at Kadathuruthi is a Mahadeva/Shiva temple, while the one at Ettumanoor is also a Mahadevar/Shiva (also referred to as Ettumanoorappan) temple. One very interesting (to me) aspect of these temples was the nature of the murals on the walls - the style is very similar to the ones you would see on some buddhist temples. The men and women in these murals look almost the same (in other words, there is no facial hair), and there is a strong Aryan influence in the skin tone of the paintings. This does lend credence to the legend that the Pandavas had a hand in the construction of the temple at Ettumanoor.

Erumeli:

Erumeli in the noon sun was an interesting experience. There are two main religious spots here, the Mosque of Vavar with the adjoining Ayyappa shrine, and the larger Ayyappa shrine along the banks of a branch of the river Pamba. The place has a very unique confluence of Muslim and Hindu devotees, with the mosque being a partcularly resplendent sight. Unfortunately, the ayyappa temple has been littered with a lot of rubbish, the adjoining river has been polluted beyond belief, and the place is swarming with unfortunate beggars looking for some scraps from the pilgrims who inevitably stop here to pay homage to Vavar on their way to Sabarimala. There was also the small matter of traversing between these two spots barefoot - it's like walking through burning coal that's a kilometer in length. After we boarded the bus, I spent a few minutes striking my best inverted yoga pose cooling my heels next to the air-conditioner duct.

Pamba:

The river Pamba runs at the base of Sabarimala and is the current point where all road traffic ends. From here on, it is a climb of around 3 to 4 kilometers before we reach the temple complex above. The first thing that struck me was the lack of a crowd - all my previous visits have been during the "season" and this was my first visit when it wasn't. The term lack here is used loosely - while on previous there were thousands milling around the river, there were now a few hundred; enough to keep the place littered and dirty.

The river Pamba, like all others in Kerala, starts frm the Western Ghats, and ends in the Arabian sea - a very small distance. This lack of distance essentially means that the river is narrow and has a steep grade - which makes it a nightmare for those that need water across the year as it quite simply flows away as soon as the rains end. For a crowded pilgrimage center like the base of Sabarimala, small dams are the only solution - this results in stagnant, polluted water. Needless to say, I've not had a "compulsory" dip in the Pamba since my first visit around 15 years ago.

The rain really started bucketing down on us here. I've experienced the aftermath of heavy rains in a crowded Sabarimala before, and it was extremely unpleasant. The whole place becomes extremely dirty - and to put it delicately, you never know what you're stepping on. This time however, the lack of an extreme crowd ensured I didn't have to go through that all over again. We salvaged some plastic bags from a nearby opportunist vendor, covered our parcels with them, and began the climb.

The Climb:

The climb is not a difficult one - if you're young and healthy. The majority of our group comprised of folks on the wrong side of 50, and it was up to the younger ones in the group to carry the bags, and keep an eye on the others. The rains had made the track slippery and trechearous, though the clouds kept the evening sun at bay. The view (dense, mist covered forests and valleys) was brilliant, and the slow pace helped me appreciate it. The path alternates between steps and slopes early on, with the slopes comprising of a combination of granite stones and concrete flows. There are a few restoration points on the way where the pilgrims can have something to eat or drink (lemon soda being my preference). The cutest sight I saw on the way up were a couple of little girls chanting "Ayyappo Swamiye" and clambering up the hill at a rapid pace, ahead of their exhausted looking brothers.

Since one of our group was visiting Sabarimala for the first time, we veered of on a path less taken, since she had to put a peacock feather at a particular scrine. This path was brutal - plenty of thorns and sharp shiny stones whose full import would be felt only the next day. This was a very picturesque route though, and I saw more rare species of monkeys on this path than in any sanctuary I've been to. We eventually reached the shrine, where I saw them for the first time: a cluster of wild pigs/boars.

If there is one single thing I can point to as the most revolutionary change in Sabarimala over the last few years, the pigs will have to be it. The pigs have done a tremendous job of cleaning up the massive amounts of litter that the devotees leave behind - and they have flourished. The bigger ones reminded me of hippos - they are that obscenely overweight. But they're effective - I for one will emphatically vouch for that.

Sabarimala:

From the shrine, we entered the temple complex just as darkness began to creep up around us. We were lucky to make it in time for the Padi (steps) puja performed at the base of the pathinettampadi (18 steps). These 18 steps represent the 18 hills that devotees of the past would have had to traverse before making it to the temple, before the road to Pamba was made.

After the pooja, we had our Darshan and headed to our rooms. We slept late, woke early, took bath in very cold water, and had another round of darshan.

I honestly do not have much to say about the temple - I've seen it four times already, and this familiarity makes me a rather useless observer. The occasions I remember include singing Harivarasanam, switching queues in the crowd to get ahead faster (lessons from Bangalore traffic) and the melam (orchestra?) near the nada that was absolutely world class.The other activities included dinner, sorting of our parcels and tossing the ghee filled coconuts into a large fire.

We set off downhill around 7 AM - and that's when the rigours of the previous day came back to haunt us. It's difficult enough clambering down a slippery slope for a full hour, but when the soles of your feet are sore, and sharp pebbles litter the route, it can really make you sing. The older folks took their time coming down - the younger ones reached Pamba as soon as they could and arranged food before the others got there. After that, we set off back to Thrissur.

The journey back was largely uneventful except for two factors. Firstly, we came back through Alappuzha and Kumarakom, so we had a good view of the backwaters there. Secondly, we headed to the temple at Thiruvarpu - which is of particular interest to the Pullat family in Thrissur (for those who know me only as Pullat, this is my fathers half of the family). It seems our ancestors actually migrated to Thrissur from this town. We must have been a pretty influential family back then, as there is an actual "Pullat Vazhipadu" there. Needless to say, the current generation were thrilled with this discovery, and this temple is now a regular haunt of some of the more excited ones.

We got back to Thrissur by about tea time on the 16th. I spent the 17th at my moms place and reached Bangalore on the 18th by train - sore feet et al.

Trip to Western/Coastal Karnataka

The title for this is a little deceptive - this was actually a pilgrimage with my parents to three temples: The Krishna temple at Udupi, The Mookambika temple at Kollur and the Shiva temple at Murdeshwar.

We set off on the night of the 27th of December (2008) by train from Bangalore to Mangalore. This seems to be a recently introduced train (I believe the broad guage route was finished just a few months back), and it's timings are pretty useful - a night train. Nothing special over the journey... we got off at Mangalore and immediately headed for Udupi.

We reached Udupi by the afternoon on the 28th. Udupi is a pretty and silent town, with the Krishna temple being far and away the most identifiable landmark. The temple isn't very large or intimidating, but the crowd is behaved and praying there is a peaceful experience. Plenty of activity on the periphery of the temple: elephants, chariots, a dance competition.

From Udupi/Kollur/Murdeshwar

From Udupi/Kollur/Murdeshwar

A special mention for the food at Udupi. The idlis I had here were top class, though the dosas still do not compare to the ones I've had in places like Madurai or Pazhani. Plenty of sweet and chaat shops around, though we were loathe to be adventurous with our food so early into a trip. 

My parents enjoyed another round the next morning, one I sort of slept through. After breakfast, we set out for the Kollur Mookambika temple. There are plenty of direct buses from Udupi to Kollur, and this journey too was pretty uneventful.

Kollur is a lovely place, though of late it has become increasingly dusty and hot - probably as a result of a decline in the number of trees around. The river Sowparnika passes nearby, and Kudachadri lies in the hills overlooking Kollur. We decided to walk from the bus-stand to the hotel room - not very pleasant. Hot, dusty, dry - this was not the Kollur I remembered from earlier visits. Anyway, we had a pleasant surprise near the hotel - the famous south Indian actor Jayaram and his family were there. My mom was thrilled at being able to speak to Parvathy (Malayalee film buffs will know her) and their son - my Dad and I just wanted a bath.

The view from the room was pleasant - a branch of the Sowparnika was flowing beneath, though litter from several previous tourists lay on its banks. The most fun I had was when I saw a snake swimming in its water (a long one - easily over a meter in length) in order to avoid a large mongoose on the bank. The behaviour of both creatures was fascinating, and this is probably my abiding memory from the trip.

From Udupi/Kollur/Murdeshwar

My mother thoroughly enjoyed herself at this temple. The goddess at Mookambika is the goddess of learning, and I particularly enjoyed the small stage where young children were "coaxed" by their parents to sing. This is an extremely calm temple, with some of the best prasadam laddoos I've ever had (the ones at Tirupathi included). There was a reasonable crowd, so my dad and I restricted ourselves to three rounds. My mom went around 6 times and saw every puja there was to see on the day.

We headed down to the Sowparnika river after this, and boy is this place a mess. Strangely, the water is cool, and crystal clear, but the banks are dirty beyond belief. My strongest memory of this place is the smell and the whining of a poor dog that had been locked up in a nearby cage. If Shankaracharya ever had to visit this place again, he wouldn't believe what his divine vision had brought upon this place.

Kudachadri lies in the hills above, and is accessible only by a 3 hour Jeep journey. I was very clear that my parents wouldn't be able to sit 3 hours in a jeep on a highway, let alone a kuccha mountain road, so we decided to skip this. We hung around the temple till late in the night, before heading back to the hotel. The food here was distinctly ordinary, but at least it did not affect us in any negative manner.

We set off for Murdeshwar the next morning. Buses from Kollur take you up to the coastal highway (near Bhatkal), from where you need to take a second bus up to the gates of Murdeshwar. This road through the hills is well maintained, and very scenic. This stretch reminded me of the movie Swades, as the bus and the people in it hark back to a life that we in the cities have never experienced, for good or for bad.

We eventually reached the gates of Murdeshwar on the afternoon of the 30th. This is a strange place - one where tourism and religion mingle in a not-so-subtle way. The place would have been pristine and beautiful once upon a time, it is now crowded (the most crowded beach I've ever seen), noisy, dirty - but with a vigour/life that I haven't seen anywhere else before. This is in part because the biggest percentage of the crowd here comprised of schoolchildren. These children weren't from economically affluent backgrounds, but boy did they know how to enjoy themselves on a beach. Their teachers were having hell trying to keep them on a leash. There's boating, and the other typical beach related events typically seen in Goa. My parents had the guts to board a boat for a tour of sorts, though I did not quite muster up the courage to board a boat that should ideally seat under 30, and was carrying 60.

From Udupi/Kollur/Murdeshwar

From Udupi/Kollur/Murdeshwar

The temple at Murdeshwar is also a strange one - the same crowd you saw walked in those exact same clothes - but the transformation in attitude was surreal. The same children you'd seen earlier on the beach were now entering the temple in a silent and orderly queue, albeit in wet and sand filled clothes. The temple is entirely concrete based, as in contrast to the older granite temples we see elsewhere. In most older temples, you see oil lamps and some small open drains to carry away the abhishekam remnants - the lamps here were mostly electric, and open canals were visible - the first "modern" south Indian temple I've seen.

The hotel was pretty goof, and the view was outstanding. The most fun I had was when a couple of blondes started swimming in the pool beneath our balcony, though my mother quickly grew wise to my thoughts and let us out for another round to the temple.

From Udupi/Kollur/Murdeshwar

From Udupi/Kollur/Murdeshwar

The food: The story and climax to the trip. Our dinner on the 30th resulted in us suffering from a case of food poisoning that took me half of January to recover from (after which a round of chickenpox again laid me low). My father was luckily not affected - my mother and I though had to head through hell and back on the journey back to Bangalore. We reached the Mangalore airport by cab, flew in to Bangalore, and reached home by cab again. This was the night of the 31st, and by the time the New Year celebrations began, we were already at home and thinking the world was blowing up around us.

Summary: Peaceful trip, a good relaxing journey, not much beyond the routine - all blown up in the last eight hours.

Assassins Creed

Assassins creed is the game I've been indulging in over the last couple of weeks or so, and I must admit it has absolutely taken my breath away. Though it struggles to run well on my PC (around 4 and a half years old), it performs well enough to keep me suspended in disbelief at times. These Developers have come a long way in a very short period of time.

Here are a few Videos that may help you get a better feel for the game:
(All videos hosted by Gamespot - my favorite source of "information" if you wish)







Gamespot's review of the Game:


Gaming_

Tom and Jerry

My favorite episode by a mile :). What can I say?



Fun Stuff_

George Best - The real deal

A day after the earlier post on George Best, I received a mail from a certain M C Peterson with an image of Best after what looks a particularly difficult match. I've just transferred the contents of his mail directly to the blog, since I don't think I can put it in better words myself.

Besides, the picture speaks for itself.

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Hi there,

I thought since you blogged about George Best and how fearless he was on the soccer pitch among defenders you might appreciate this photo showing the aftermath of getting through one particular match, circa 1968. They didn't pull you off the pitch unless you were well and truly terribly injured - Best played through the pain and it just made him more determined to teach his tormentors a lesson (note from the photo they still used heavy leather soccer balls back then as well). Best rarely even wore shin guards - they weren't required in his day! Cristiano Ronaldo, several inches taller, several pounds heavier, with all the benefits of better nutrition, fitness, and training, wouldn't be fit to lace Best's boots. George Best was a true legend.

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Sports_

One Republic - Apologize

Most of you must have heard this song a million times by now, but I happened to chance upon the original song by One Republic (without Timbaland), on Youtube. The video isn't made by the group but by a fan of the song named Aaron Platt, and ironically he's done a much better job than Timbaland himself. Way to go mate, you have a gift. I'd strongly encourage all of you to take a look at the work he's done on his site.

Both versions have their quirks and moments of class. The original has superior music, but vastly inferior vocals. Just shows what some serious modulation can do in a top quality studio.

I've posted both links below. You decide which is more to your taste:

The Original:




Featuring Timbaland:



Compositions_