# All about 2010 #

Alas its 2010' s last week. This year was balanced one with all "The Good", "The Bad" and "The Ugly" events. Of course, no way it was a different year. Let me try to list out few significant events that has left out its imprints on my heart.

First, let it be the turn for "The Good"

- Rescue operation of the Chilean miners who survived 69 days underground

- Avatar definitely an appreciable 3D movie

- Oracle Paul's word and Spain's victory in FIFA '10

- Enthiran, first ever Tamil movie claimed to meet Hollywood standards

- Nitish Kumar creates history & marching towards Bihar's development

- Indian flag flying higher in CWG & Asian games at 2nd & 6th positions resp.

- Mark Zuckerberg, best philanthropist [Multiple Likes, nowadays I am addicted to FB :( ]

Next comes "The Bad"

- Haiti earthquake

- Ajmal Kasab, you are guilty

- Ireland volcanic eruption - Eyjafjallajökull [Really hard tongue twister]

- Mangalore flight crash

- Verdict on Ayodhya land

- Octopus Paul- RIP :'(

- Cyclone wreckages [Nisha, Laila, Jal.. Dunno, who coined these names]

- Once, we used to get tears while cutting onions. But now just thinking onions will make us do so.

Finally "The Ugly"

- Mayawati and her 5 crores garland

- Lalit Modi and IPL business

- CWG Scam

- Again another one, 2G Spectrum

- Wikileaks- world wide embarrassment

Oh, its high time to say good bye to 2010. No regrets, lets welcome 2011.

P.S

Courtesy:

Got this idea of summarizing all 2010 events from "The Week" Magazine.

Anju

Expect your valuable comments here

(Blog link: http://worldaroundanjali.blogspot.com/)

Professional Ethics

When it comes to business, there are very few people following good ethos.

Who is an Ethical Business man?

If a person is free from any of the following bad ethos, I define him to be an Ethical Business man.

Bad Ethos:

- Money minded at any cost

For eg. Selling spurious products

- Cheater/ Liar

For eg. Selling a Rs. 200 carpet for Rs. 450

- Different treatment to different customers

For eg. Selling a pair of socks for Rs. 20 to one customer and Rs.15 to another customer.

- Self centered/ Individualist

For eg. Selling a alternate drug instead of the prescribed one knowing it is more powerful dosage.

You would wonder why all the sudden I speak more about ethics here.

This blog is to acknowledge a petite business man who possess good moral values in doing his business. We met him last week on the streets of road side shops(like Ranganathan street) @ Karol Bagh, Delhi. He was selling woolen socks. My dad got 4 pairs of socks from him for Rs.100. After the transaction, we moved to the next shop. After we left, another Tamil customer had a tough bargain with him and demanded the same 4 pairs of socks for Rs. 75. He was not ready to lose this customer and at the same time he also wanted to be loyal to the previous customer. Finally he made a win-win decision and offered 5 pairs of socks for Rs.100 to this customer. But the deal is not over yet. He voluntarily came to my dad and handed over the 5th pair of socks. We were really electrified seeing his honesty.

P.S

We saw many kinds of people(Delhi wallas, Bengalis, sikhs, few south indians) selling their goods at Karol Bagh. One interesting find is that Sikh people are genuine and they dislike bargaining.

Golden Triangle Trip

I consider 2010 to be a Fastest Firebolt drive. Of course a year can't have days less than 365. But still the theory of relativity makes me feel 2010 to be shorter. I really cherish all moments spent with my family and friends. 2010 started with a family trip to "The God's own country- Kerala". Then enjoyed the team trip to Chikmangalore. Now, as a finishing touch, we have planned for a BIG trip(Golden Triangle trip). India's Golden Triangle is a tourist circuit which includes Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. It is quite difficult to cover all the places because we have got just 4 days to hang out there. But we will try to cover at least few of the interesting places.

P.S.

Few of the interesting places to covered during the trip are listed above using Cool Zoho Sheet app.

Anju

HP7 1.0 Saga

HP7, the last part of the series..

Definitely everyone would wish for a blissful ending. Of course J.K Rowling did her best to meet our requirement spec. After the book reading and many rounds of Potter discussion, debate with friends, then comes the movie. Oh my god, we expect a lot now. It is really hard task to transform everything on the paper to the screen. May be this is why they have divided the movie into two parts. Definitely this is a good move. But for the moviegoers, they have to wait till next July to know what happens in the climax.

All about HP7 1.0:

Movie started with the Trio- Hermione, Harry and Ron. Hermione's "Obilivate" spell over her parents was a sentimental one. Harry was left alone by Dudleys at 4 Privet drive. They missed out showing Dudley thanking Harry, for saving him from the Dementors. Voldemort and death eaters intro scene was awful. Voldemort delivered a stunning green killing curse from Lucius's wand on the Muggle studies teacher. At the other end, the Order members, Ron, Hermione landed up at Harry's home. The plan of Mad-Eye-Moody in transporting Harry to the Burrows was a real ace. Polyjuice potion transforming Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Fleur, Mundungus into Harry and transporting them in different directions was a real master plan. I loved they way how Hagrid used his motorbike and dragon fire booster in escorting the real Harry. Few toll while bringing Harry to Burrow are listed: Hedwig and Moody were killed, George's ear was slashed off [George is definitely holy now ;) ]. Then the following day was Bill & Fleur's Wedding and Harry's Birthday. The trio were handed over the items mentioned in the Dumblebore's will by the Minister for Magic. But Gryffindor's sword was claimed to be missing. The wedding celebration was interrupted by Kingsley's message stating the fall of ministry to the hands of dark lord. There was chaos and somehow trio managed to flee to 12 Grimmauld Place after attacking the death eaters. At Black's place they found that the Horcrux locket was replaced by Regulus Arcturus Black (Sirius's brother) with the help of Kreacher. Harry ordered Kreacher to get the original locket. But Kreacher is helpless as the locket was with Dolares Umbridge. Oh.. again it is polyjuice potion hex. Trio transformed as the employees of Ministry for magic and made their way to fetch the locket. Hmm actually this was a funny part in the movie. At the end of this scene, I was able to smell something burning within Hermione due to possessiveness. However it was a hairbreadth escape from the ministry. Ron was jinxed by Yaxley and was cured by Hermione's love added medicine. Here I found the story to be bit humdrum as the trio where just moving from one place to another like tribes. In the meantime Ron was discouraged and left his friends. Miss you Ron :( :( Harry and Hermione trips to Godric's Hallow in search of Gryffindor's sword. There they were attacked by Nagini and they escape by Hermione's blasting charm. But Harry's wand is no more. During the night time Harry was attracted by a Doe shaped patronous charm. It helped him to find the Gryffindor's sword in the frozen lake. The locket started strangling Harry as he was about to reach the sword. Oh god, Dumblebore's deluminator brings Ron back in time. My bravo gets the sword and destroys the horcrux(with great love & trust). Ron you are soooo romantic now [I loved the "Twilight" scene, melted down]. Now the trio proceeds to Lovegood's home to know about the Deathly Hallow. The animated version of "The tale of the Three Brothers" was a great visual delight. But Xenophillius had no choice other than betraying the trio for the sake of his Luna. Trio managed to escape but not for a longer period. They were taken to the Malfoy Manor by the snatchers. Hermione was tortured by Bellatrix whereas other two were dropped in cellar where Luna, Griphooks and Ollivander were locked. No one would have expected(except book readers) Dobby here. The whole lot of witches, wizards and gobblin were rescued by the (Free elf) Dobby. But unfortunately messiah of the mission was knocked down by Bellatrix :( Poor soul Dobby. My salute of peace to you.

Rest of the saga next July....

P.S.

Had a great time with my brothers @ Sathyam. This is my first time First-day show. It was terrific. I was screaming out of delight along with my brother. HP craze and fever is fading out only after freaking out everything here :) :)

P.S.S.

Astonished to see the movie along with subtitles @ Sathayam.

A Trip to Tirupathi

I guess this is the right season to meet Venky. Do you know why?

* Less crowd as it is not a vacation time

* Easy to book a lodge

* Less rush in footpath pilgrim route

* Good Darshan without Jarugandi Jarugandi

* Easy to get Lodu @ Lodu counter ;)

* Hair shaving queue and waiting time is minimum

I was @ Tirupathi last week with my family. Let me freak out my experience about the trip. We started from here by 3 pm on Wednesday(3rd Nov). It was a 145 Km journey and took around 4 hours for us to reach Tiruchanoor. We drove on the NH-05 connecting Chennai and Tirupathi. The Road between Tiruthani -- Nagari was a real mess with loads of Humps and Bumps, may be due to the rain. We visited Alamelumanga temple at Tiruchanoor, which is situated at the foothills of Tirupathi. We had very easy Darshan and got sweet Pongal as prasadam. We also got Tiruchanoor ladus (This one is different from the one which we get from Tirumala). After that we checked into hotel Mayura, keil Tirupathi. Next day early morning by 5.30 am we started from the hotel to the footpath pilgrim starting point. After having a cup of tea we started walking up the hill. After 2 1/2 hours and 2000 steps, we reached the Galigopuram, where we got our free Divyadarshan tokens. Then we found a Idly shop nearby and had our breakfast [hmm.. not that much good Idly :( but Dosa was ok]. Then it took us another 2 1/2 hours to reach the last step(3550th step). On the way we were attracted by statues of 10 avatars of Lord Vishnu, and 12 aalvars (It was actually a pitstop for us to relax), stream of flowing water, small water falls, sapthagiri green valley's view point, deer park, different kind of snails, beetles, dragonflies.... I missed out one more thing in the list, ie. Leopard posters and not the real Leopard (Thank Venky, I din't see those). Then we enqueued into the Srivari free darshan queue. It took us about 2 hours to reach the Venky's sanathi as we were interrupted in between by a Swami Oorvoolam. But it is a real worth waiting time as we had a peaceful darshan without Jarugandi Jarugandi. I don't think there is much difference between Rs.300 special ticket and Rs.20 free darshan ticket. May be this is because of the thinner crowd. After darshan we were servered with pulisaadam as prasadam. Then we proceeded towards the ladu counter. I was amazed seeing the counter. Previously there was only one counter which was tailed by a veryyy long queue. Now they have set up many queues separately for Rs.20, Rs.50, Rs.300 tickets. This is really cool. Within 10 mins of wait time we were all issued the Tirumala ladus. Then we had a light lunch in a small hotel nearby and left down to the hotel. It was about 5.30 pm when we started from there and reached home by 10.00 pm.

If you plan to walk up the Tirumala hill here are few tips that may be useful:

* Carry a bottle of water and glucose or juice.

* Have few candies(instant energy booster) in your pocket.

* If possible carry few fruits like banana, orange, grapes, biscuits. If not you can get those on your way too. You can use them to feed the deers too ;)

* Have handkerchief or hand towel. 100% sweating is guaranteed.

* It will be good to have moov or iodex.

* Usually 80% footpath route has shades. But it is better to carry an umbrella or cap depending on the climatic condition.

* Few people say that we should walk on barefoot. But it is easier to walk with shoes.

* Now a new rule(Gandhian) is imposed on the pilgrim. It is regarding the clothes which we wear while meeting Venky. Men are supposed to be in shirt & pant or dothies and women in salwar or saree. They boycott foreign clothes.

* One more rule is that they levy fine if we are found littering the place. It is around Rs.100. I was surprised to see a tea seller(in cycle) having a large plastic bag in front of his cycle to put the used tea cups in them. This sort of commitment would definitely keep the place greener and cleaner forever :)

* Of course carry a camera if you would like to get snaps near the deer, falls, streams, view point.

* Don't carry flowers or garland. We were not allowed to carry flowers to Venky's sanathi. I don't know whether there is some other way to carry it for Venky :(

Few clicks

Pitstop

Galigopuram

Feeding biscuits to the deer

Small water falls

Anjaneya statue

Last 3550th step

Anju

~~~ C00L vOlvO Drive ~~~

MTC service at Chennai is really good. They have added many new routes, increased the number of buses, categorized buses based on cost and comfort, removed olden rattling pallavans and top of everything, they also provide information regarding bus routes & schedule in a website. (http://mtcbus.org/)

Yesterday me and my brother returned home by taking MTC bus. Quite a long gap(2 or 3 months) since I have boarded a MTC bus. It is a bit tedious to get back home by taking bus. Actually we don't have a direct bus from our work place(Velachery) to our home(Chromepet). So we had to board atleast 2 or 3 buses to reach our destiny:( First we took 1G Deluxe bus and reached Guindy race course. I could sense my brother's eagerness to travel in a volvo for two good reasons [1.) He was sweating 2.) He has never traveled in a volvo before]. But I contradicted him saying "It costs more". But he was firm in his decision. We left quite a few number of buses and waited for volvo. Then he changed his mind and told we can take the bus which comes next. But he was lucky as usual. Volvo 21G turned up to the spot. We checked in the bus. I found all seats were already occupied by passengers. Now people are more affordable and seek more sophistication. We found us a comfortable standing area in the middle of the bus. The ride was so smooth with less jerks (except during the sudden brakes) and devoid of noise from outside. One can peacefully breathe easy listening to the melodies played inside the volvo. It is really worth for the service that they provide.

P.S

It will be incredible if we get direct MTC route connecting Chromepet and Velachery. Hope the 100 feet road connecting Pallavaram, Tharamani,velacherry, OMR is in its final stage and opened in a weeks time.

BooM BooM RoBo Da RoBo Da

Finally, it was my Enthiran Day, last Saturday.

Here I am adding my view about the movie. This is not a kind of review. So I would recommend people who have already watched the movie to read further. To others, please do it after watching the movie. :)

PLUSES

+ First big plus in the movie is grandiose Ranjini. I envied all his roles including,
> Comprehensive role by Dr Vasee
> Comical role by Chitti
> Chellaatha avatharam by Chitti
> Catwalk model by Chitti
> Chivalric role by Chitti Upgraded version 2.0

+ "Is there a God?" definitely a stupefying scene in the movie.

+ To say about train fight, I saw Superman + Spiderman + Terminator + Godzilla, all rolled into one Chithi, the Robot, Speed 1 Terrabyte.. Memory 1 ZettaByte..

+ Aish looks ethereal and charismatic in all the songs. Special mention to the ballroom dance with Chitti. It was so elegant and romantic.

+ Rangooskhi and mosquito mode was a different attempt. But was a lengthy scene :(

+ The first half was a smooth and jolly ride as the cute Chitty takes centre stage.

+ In the second half it was Chitti Upgraded version 2.0 showing off the real terror. Black sheep... MEEEHhh meehhh! Mindblowing.

+ Radiant part in the movie is the last scene (Chitti's Confession with Good message)

MINUSES

- It is a bit difficult to accept Sana(Aish) as a college student.

- There could have been a better way to show that bots are devoid of emotions instead of the Fire accident scene. (May be I am weak hearted)

- Robo helping Sana evading the exam ethics using HiFi technology may taint youngster's mind. (I am not an exception here)

- Robo assisted delivery not a big surprise.(Felt 3-Idiot's touch in it)

- Too much of graphics depicting bots arranged as a snake or a monster ball or a drill bit could have been averted.(Felt matrix, Anaconda touch in it. Also snake sentiment of Ranjini is of course met here)

Shankar could have kept certain things behind the hood. Few things were pretty known fact before watching the movie. Overall the movie will strike our hearts like Tsunami. Definitely it is a movie which can be watched by the whole family.

Is Enthiran Flop or hit?
Its an Hypothetical question, cannot be answered... lol.. Summa ;)

Enthiran is definitely going to be a MASSive HIT [DOT]

P.S

Enthiran experience will stay ever green in my heart forever. First NightShow in my lifetime ;)

I need to grow up to know the difference between a.m and p.m :(

(To my beloved people concerned: Sorry for the inconvenience caused)

Anju

The Tale of ANDAN KAKA

If I rewind my life little bit to fetch one of most treasured moment, definitely this will be the episode where I will land up.

Scene 1:
Class X-C, SRDF and break time. Teacher left the class.

One could spot me in the first bench corner, chit-chatting with Sakthi and Bond-Raji. He(Andans) came to my place with a nicely packed gift box in his hand. We people were busily twaddling in our own world. He interrupted and gave that colorful box to me. I was stupefied and frozen. KKS dropped himself to the spot now. Both insisted me to unwrap the gift. I just didn't know what to do other than uncovering the gift. After taking off the first colorful cover, I found another brown cover enveloping the gift. I removed it off. Then saw another layer of wrapper. Gift was wrapped with multi layer of covers. I guess it would have taken hardly 10 mins to reach the core part of the gift. While stripping the gift, my friends were trying to figure out the gift. I swear they even told that it would be a bomb or insect or lizard inside the box. Finally I was about to give up. My desk started flooding with color papers, cello tape, card board pieces, insulation tape, electrical wire, paper bits, thermocole pieces and all stuffs.... (So many stuffs. I dunno how much time it took for him to pack. Anyways, I liked it alot ;)) Now its time to disclose that precious gift to you all. Gift concealed inside the box was thick card board piece with "Two Words" penned over it. Seeing that all my friends burst out laughing at me. I was totally knocked down. Any guess, what those words are?

It was

Scene 2:

@ My home, that same evening

My mind was fully corrupted and was laying plans to walk on the road of vengeance. I collected many stuffs in & around my home and packed a same kind of gift for him.

Scene 3:
Class X-C, SRDF and lunch time.

Andans came to my place and I handed over the gift to him. He opened it with the same enthusiasm that I had the previous day. This gift didn't take much time to reach the core part. There he found a bunch of feathers(Crow's) within a packet over which I wrote "Two Words" -> "KAKA KAKA". Tit for Tat.









P.S

This space is preserved for two of my precious friends(Andans and KKS). I miss SRDF life and my sweet friends :(

How to burnout possessiveness?

What happens when you see your closest showing some kind of sympathy, affection, affinity, closeness, fondness towards some other person other than you?

For example, lets take a 5 year old girl Sophie. To her the whole world is her dad. He is her real hero and role model (I guess 90% of girls in the world will have the same kind of perception. May be this would change slightly after reaching teens)

Just think how Sophie will feel like when
Case 1.)
She sees her dad getting a pen or some small gift to her friend Lucy
Case 2.)
Her dad scolds her by saying "Lucy is more (obedient || silent || intelligent || beautiful || helpful || ....) when compared to you."
Case 3.)
Sophie usually asks her dad to return home early so that she can spend some more time with her dad. But dad usually turns up late night saying that he was struck up with his work. One fine day he gets back home early in-order to attend Lucy's Birthday party along with Sophie.

These cases may sound trivial. But to Sophie these are really vital cases.

Even we may face few situations that arise due to possessiveness in our day to day life. How to overcome those?
* The closest not be regarded so close
* By not having anyone as closest
* By not expecting anything from closest
* Your opinion .................... ?

Anju

**** Nanben da Nanben ****

It was yesterday, I received a Cryptic phone call from an Anonymous person. It was an unfamiliar voice. Initially she asked for her sister. I replied her that it would be a wrong number. Then she told me that she was insisted to call me up and mock me down by a so called "Friend of mine". I was really agitated and got heated up. I inquired her who was that Great Friend. She was damn adamant in revealing the truth. She asked many questions about my job and personal life. I was more reluctant to answer those questions. Its obvious, one can't shoot back personal information to a stranger. I just can't guess who would do this to me. Whoever it be please don't conceal the truth for a long time.

P.S
Nanben da Nanben. X-(
Very much eager to know this Nanben.

All the world's a stage

This is gonna be a small Arena for Shakespeare's ballad "All the world's a stage". I guess, I read this poem when I was in class IX. At that time I was not so much impressed by the verses. Maybe at that stage, I would have read it for mere purpose of scoring marks without knowing its essence relating to the real life. But now I could relish each and every verse in it.

First two stages of mine was really a seventh heaven. Hope now my third stage is in its fading phase. It was lots of pain in this stage. Guess the next stage will be entirely very different one and will need a loads of change in me :( Of course it is inevitable.

P.S
Sub-Stages within Third stage mentioned by Shakespeare is given below:

:) :D :P ;) ♥ ;P xD :| :/ :S :( :'(
Idea by,
loviam Shockspeare


Anju

Same Side Goal

It was FIFA, Apple of ones Eye last month. Final match was between Spain and Netherlands. Instead of making a goal, both of them tried to avoid a goal. The game stretched to extra time and the 116th minutes paved Spain to create the history. FIFA '10 was really a wacky season of all times with many unexpected crashes & wins. At last, Octopus Oracle's divination is the real champ of this FIFA season. Of course, Oracle Paul to had many competitors down the line. Nevertheless, Paul came within a whisker of guessing the Final Champs. Nowadays my Facebook friends too started hearing a word from Paul. Paul, you are real hero of the year.

P.S
Why the header says "Same Side Goal"?

Think from Paul's context :P

P.S.S
This blog was to be posted on 8/7/'10. But I was held up with my work :(
I have also changed my current mood video. Check out bottom right of my blog page.
Youtube link : here


Anju

It is your Day, Dad

Dad,

I wish your guiding hand on my shoulder to remain with me forever. At times, I have been wrong in my decision and would have burst out with bad temper. Sorry for all those incidents. I will not to repeat it any more.












P.S
When I and my brother were small kids, my dad used to tell us bed time stories. We will be listening his verses and imagining those things frame by frame in our mind. My mom will also be following the story silently ;)

Fictitious characters which my dad chose for the stories are Kutty Karadi(Small Bear), Kutty Monkey(Small Monkey), Ramasamy(Intelligent guy like Tenali Raman or Birbal). I miss those days and his stories now.

He also bought me a Kutty Karadi toy and my brother got a Kutty Monkey toy. I named my Kutty Karadi as Silvia and my brother named his Kutty Monkey as Simphones.

Anju

School days Remembered

Let me drive you to my school days.

Poom- Pom, Peem- pem, Dhuuuurrrrrr........

I love my school, friends, teachers. They are all so special to me, as they played a noble role in my life. There are lots of things to be unveiled in this topic. Let me spill the beans one by one, as very thing cannot be covered in a single shot.

I was in class X. It was my paradise with all eternal glory prevailing around me. I used be bouncing with a bright immortal smile. My class teacher was an awesome lady. Quite hard to meet such a woman. She used to teach Social Science, which is considered to be the toughest subject in class X. She followed an unique principles in handling students. Yes, this space is for her and her love towards us.

Few of her golden rules are:

1.)Each and every students should take shorthand notes while she is in the process of teaching. Note book should be divided into 4 parts [History, Geography, Civics & Economics]. Notes should be taken in points.

2.)Each and every student should be located cyclically in all benches. (Meaning: "First Bench is not always meant for Padips" & "Last bench is not meant for Lord Labbaca Das")

3.)Students should take turns in bringing flowers for Lord Saraswathi portrait kept in the corner of the class room. [Hope thats why, still Saraswathi is my favorite deity].

4.)Each and every student should participate in the Stage Assembly program*.

5.)Students scoring more than 80 in her paper will get a cute little Reynolds Jetter pen. She motivates students to score more and in turn she gets credit in doing so. I think this is what the Management Gurus and philosophers call as "win-win situation".

6.)Map marking classes used to be my favorite hour. She used to fix all the historic & geographic places along with latitude and longitude in our mind. Almost she makes all her students to score full marks in map marking question.

7.)I will keep adding more as I recollect things....


P.S
Stage Assembly program in my school:
Each class gets 1 week to showcase their students talent on stage.

Monday: March past with Band music. So no stage assembly program on Mondays.
Tuesday: Program on Patriotism
Wednesday:Program on Science
Thursday: Program on Language
Friday: Program on Culture
Saturday: Bhajan songs. So no stage assembly program on Saturdays too.

Most of the class teachers will make the interested/talented students to participate in the programs. But our madam will make the whole class to be the part of the show. I remember well I enacted as a dental doctor in the science play talking about plaque and cavity :)

P.S.S
I swifted to a different school for my higher secondary course. Suddenly one fine morning I got a Reynolds Gel pen from her through a friend of mine for scoring 87 in Annual exam. Thanks Mam, for being part of my life. I love you alot. I owe you big time. :)

Anju

Cloudburst Time in Chennai :)

Wow! Its really so awesome. Finest climate prevailing here. I wish to let my body breeze in this fresh chill air.

My current mood song is:

"Mazhaiye mazhaiye thoovum mazhaiye
Idhu kadhal thaana"

These lines are agitating my heart. I could feel the beats within.

Everything around me looks fresh today. Saddest thing is that roads are swampy. Being in velachery (quite low lying area in chennai), it is really very hard to walk over the lanes :(

P.S
I have added the youtube video of my current mood song in right side of my blog page.

Anju

You are always special to me

Today is quite a special day. He looks cheerful, delightful, sparkling. He is today's Prince Charming. Of course, he deserves this space in my blog, as he is always special to me :)

Happy Birthday Montu.

Anju

Kick Eruthey..

For the very first time I was in a bar. Bit hi-fi and contemporary place for me. First, I was puzzled seeing things around me, as it was really strange and an alien land. People working there were all Hindi speaking people, probably from North Eastern part of India. Then the waiter came to the table where I was seated and kept the menu card & a glass of water (plain). I opened the menu card and started glancing it to and fro. I was wondering, whether he has given me a French or German version of menu card. Took the glass of water and had a sip. None of the item mentioned in the list was a familiar one to me. Finally after reading the whole menu card, I decided to order "The Eskimo" (as it sounds cool). After a couple minutes the waiter came with a serving plate, over which he carried "The Eskimo". I never knew before how "The Eskimo" would look like. With all eagerness I was sitting in the edge of the chair. Now "The Eskimo" is on my table. I prayed to god before having it. I was not thanking him for giving it rather I prayed that "The Eskimo" should not have any impact in me after it is consumed by me. I started having "The Eskimo". It smoothly melted down from my tongue into the Esophagus. I enjoyed its taste. Yummy yummy. Sema Kick ;)

Do you wish to see "The Eskimo".
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"The Eskimo" is a dish which I had in Click here. Yep, the bar is Chocolate Room in velachery.

"The Eskimo"- It has two waffles. On top of each waffle lies a scoop of Icecream with chocolate chips topping and Dark Chocolate sauce sprinkled over in a zig-zaw pattern. Quite heavy to have both the waffles at the same time. So I shared "The Eskimo" with montu.



P.S
As the whole, Chocolate Room gave me a mind and body re-freshening experience. One can Kick start your dead cells, by visiting this choco Bar.

Anju

SHREK - Final Chapter

Flash Back:
Before Princess Fiona was rescued by Shrek, her parents were up to make a contract with a magic deal-maker Rumpelstiltskin. The sole purpose of this contract is to break Fiona’s curse. In return, Rumpelstiltskin demanded that he should be named as the successive King of Far, Far Away. But before the king signs the contract, he hears a word from one of his troops-men that Fiona has been rescued. Bitter pill for Rumpelstiltskin.

Now, back to story:
Shrek is now a local celebrity and his family & friends, as well as he himself feels that he isn’t a “real ogre” anymore. Shrek craves to be a real ogre, atleast for a day. Now, Rumpelstiltskin meets Shrek and offers him a day to live like a real ogre, in exchange of a day from Shrek’s childhood. Shrek agrees and signs the contract. Shrek enjoys his day haunting the villagers, but soon a group of witches capture and takes him to Rumpelstiltskin, the king of Far, Far Away. Rumpelstiltskin took away the day on which Shrek was born. As a result, Rumpelstiltskin is the king, an army of witches are his henchmen and ogres are treated as slaves. Now Shrek is an unknown ogre to his love(Fiona) and friends(Donkey, Puss). Shrek escapes from Rumpelstiltskin and rescues Donkey, who was working there as a pack mule. Donkey wonders why an ogre rescues him. Initially donkey feared Shrek, but eventually becomes friendly. Shrek comes to know that the agreement will be made void if he could make up with his true love’s kiss before 24 hours. Oh poor ogre has to find his lady love now. If there is a will, definitely there is a way. On their way they find a secret community of warrior ogres led by Fiona. Shrek also finds Puss in Boots, along with Fiona. Meantime Rumpelstiltskin hired the Pied Piper, who with his magical flute entrances the army of ogres to dance themselves all the way to the castle. Puss and Donkey are able to save Fiona and Shrek from the Pied Piper. By this time, Shrek has partially won Fiona’s heart, and lets her know about his agreement and their kiss will be the quick fix for this problem. Fiona kisses Shrek. But their kiss doesn’t fix the spell, as Fiona was not truly in love with Shrek. Fiona leaves to save her ogre friends. Rumpelstiltskin announces to the kingdom that whoever brings him Shrek will get whatever they want. Shrek turns himself in and in return Rumpelstiltskin frees the ogre army. Shrek is imprisoned along with Fiona. Fiona is deeply moved by Shrek's self-sacrifice. However Puss, Donkey and the ogres arrive and battle Rumpelstiltskin’s forces. Shrek, Fiona & their troop defeats Rumpelstiltskin. But Shrek's 24 hour Aeon is going to end. He is now fading out in thin air. Just before he is totally invisible, Fiona kisses Shrek, truly, wholeheartedly in love with him. This breaks Rumpelstiltskin’s contract. The true timeline is restored with Shrek roaring in his frustration back at the birthday party. Shrek is now back with his lovely wife, babies, friends, and ogre army. It is now party time in swamp, where all the characters are present enjoying their frolic celebrations :) Happy ending :D

P.S
As a whole, story was cool. But it was not so thrilling and magnificent like the first three parts. It was an accustomed 3D effects. But still I enjoyed it thoroughly:)
Most touching part of the story is, before Shrek fades out in thin air, he lets Fiona know about their Love life, three babies (Jak, Harold and cute Felicia) and he hands over a small toy for Felicia to Fiona. I was really melted down seeing this particular scene. Hats-off Dreamworks team, for depicting love and emotions in such a beautiful manner.

P.S.S
Have collected 5 of the Shrek toys - Shrek, Fiona, Donkey, Puss, Shrek with Felicia.
I love the fifth toy (Shrek with Kutty Felicia). Shrek toy says "My Little Women" when I tried pulling out the baby from his hands. It is really stupefying :)


Anju

SHREK - again continued..

King of Far Far Away is now dying. Shrek & Fiona are next in line to be King and Queen of Far Far Away. Shrek felt that an ogre as king is not a great idea. Before dying, king tells Shrek that there is another heir: his nephew, Artie. Shrek, Donkey and Puss in Boots started their journey to retrieve Artie. As they're sailing away, Fiona lets Shrek know about her pregnancy. This would definitely have been an awesome moment in her life, letting her hubby know that, she is carrying their kid. Shrek got terrific nightmares about his future children. He was a bit annoyed too.

I just wonder, why most of the guys build up fear in nursing and nurturing a little baby?

The trio fetches Artie from his boarding school and while returning back to Far Far Away their ship crashes near an island. Meanwhile, Prince Charming with the help of variety of fairy tale villains invaded the kingdom, captured Fiona and friends. Captain Hook and his pirates were on their way to capture Shrek and kill his friends. However, Artie's Ex-Teacher, Merlin uses his magic to deport them all to Far Far Away. Finally, Artie was made king after Shrek & his troop won over Charming & his men.

Shrek and Fiona returns back to their swamp, becoming the parents of ogre triplets. They lived happily ever after :)

P.S
Shrek-4 in my next blog. I Really Really(in Shrek style) enjoyed the movie. Keep your fingers crossed and await my next blog ;)

P.S.S
For those who already watched Shrek-1:
They will know why it is "Really Really" ;)

For others:
In part-1 Shrek uses this phrase "Really Really" whenever he gets delighted :D


Anju

SHREK - continued..

Shrek-2

Once upon a time, in a kingdom Far Far Away, The King and Queen were blessed with a beautiful baby girl. And throughout the land everyone was happy. Once sun went down they saw that their daughter was cursed with a fearful enchantment that hold each and every night. Desperate they sought the help of Fairy God Mother, who had them lock the young princess away in a tower there to await the kiss of the handsome prince Charming.

Yes, The princess is Fiona. Did Charming succeed winning over Fiona? No, highest room of the tallest tower was already vacated by Fiona and now occupied by a wolf. Then where is Fiona now? Fiona is on her honeymoon with Shrek. Hmmm.. Then the couple returned back to their swamp after the astounding honeymoon. They received an invitation to a royal ball from Fiona's parents to celebrate their marriage. Shrek refused participating in the ball. But Fiona changed Shrek's mind and started their journey to far, far away along with their donkey friend. Fiona's parents, King Harold and Queen Lillian was shocked to see Fiona with an ogre. They expected prince Charming to escort her from the tallest tower. Shrek worries about his love, particularly after finding Fiona's childhood diary and reading that she fancied Prince Charming. In the meantime King Harold is accosted by the Fairy Godmother and Charming, her son. They suggested the King to get ride of the ogre, so that Charming will marry Fiona. So the King sent Shrek and donkey for hunting. It was actually a trap to make Shrek fall into the hands of Puss in boots. But Puss failed to succeed with Shrek and agreed to help Shrek, in joining with his lady love. The Trio advanced to the potion factory of Fairy God mother and to steal a "Happily Ever After" potion. Shrek believes that potion will restore Fiona's love for him. Shrek and Donkey both drink the potion, and Shrek got transformed into a handsome human and donkey turns into a stallion. At the same time Princess in the palace also gets reverted to her old beautiful human form. In order to make the change permanent, Shrek must kiss Fiona by midnight. So Trio returned back to the palace to meet Fiona. But before that, Fiona was mislead and believed Charming was Human form of Shrek. The trio was arrested by the royal guards and thrown into a dungeon. They were rescued by Shrek's friend and gigantic gingerbread man. Shrek rescues Fiona. They could have sustained this human form. But waited the clock to strike midnight, let the potion's effects wear off and they revert to their ogre selves. They loved their ogre's life, where there was love and only love.

To be continued..

P.S
Next Part in my next blog.

P.S.S
Will be watching Shrek-4 this weekend in Sathyam ;)

Anju

Forever After

Folkloric characters like fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, ogres, giants or gnomes, wonderland, dark arts, magic, spell....(list goes on) They are awesome. I love Fairy tales. I still remember my childhood days. My dad used to tell me and my brother bed time stories.I admire the way in which it is narrated.Typically frame by frame scenes will be brought before my eyes as the story goes on. I cherish those moments :) and miss them now :(

Here is the place for my favorite fairy tale.

Once upon a time there was lovely princess. But she had an enchantment upon her of fearful sort, which could only be broken by love's first kiss. She was locked away in a castle guarded by terrible fire breathing dragon. Many brave knights had attempted to free her from the dreadful prison. But none prevailed. She waited in the dragon's keep in the highest room of the tallest tower for her true love and true love's first kiss. Do you expect a charming prince riding a white horse rescuing her and breaking the curse over her? Come on. It is different kind of fairy tale. So think out of the box. The princess is rescued by the hero of our story on behalf of a prince and ruler of the huge castle of Duloc. On their way to the castle hero falls in love with princess. It is natural to fall when princess is so beautiful. Then what prevents our hero from expressing his love to her? The main roadblock is now revealed. Hero is not a human being. He is an ogre. Is this love an one sided love? Nope. Princess too fancied the ogre. What made the lovely princess to incline towards an ogre? Flash-Back comes here. As mentioned in the beginning of the story, the princess was cursed by a fearful sort of enchantment and locked in the castle by a wicked witch. Can you guess what would be that terrible curse? Ahemm here it is... Curse is "Princess will turn into an ugly ogress once sunsets". Oh poor little princess. Thats why she was locked in the castle waiting for her true love and true love's first kiss to break the curse. Should princess marry the prince of Duloc or our ogre hero? Of course she should marry her true love. True love always succeeds. Princess marries her true love and her true loves first kiss transforms her completely into an ogress. They both lived happily in the swamp with their friends donkey, pussy, dragon, little wooden puppet, gingy, and other little fairy tale creatures. This is the lovely story of SHREK-1.


To be continued..

SHREK-2, SHREK-3 in my next blog..


P.S
Much eagerly awaiting "SHREK-4 FOREVER AFTER"

P.P.S
Started collecting Shrek toys from McDonalds. They are really awesome. Hope I will get all of them ;) Thanks montu, for getting them :D I will also post the photos of my Shrek toys soon.

Anju

Killing Machine gets Death Sentence

"This man has lost the right of getting humanitarian benefit. He should be hanged by the neck until he is dead" said the Judge, 26/11 trial court.
Yep, it is Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, the only gunman who survived 26/11 massacre.

Serial killer, Kasab's countdown starts. Hope this judgement would definitely wipe off the tears of people who had faced a sorrowful death scene of their beloved ones during the 26/11 havoc.

There arises many questions in my mind. Let me put forward my primary question alone.

"Why man is killing another man? Does he really got any rights to harm others?"

-Anju

Unforgettable pages from my life

Its high time present 12th standard students are to get their board exam results. This brings the Krack-Jack (sweet & sour) memories back.

It was sweet little adolescent age when it is really very hard to digest any sort of failure. I was a kind of nerd, with the ambition of getting into a top ranking college. It is obvious for a person like me to get dejected when the exam result comes out in an unexpected manner. I remember it well. It was when I got my entrance exam results. I scored low in mathematics :( The next scene is simple as you guess. Tears flooded and poured out of my eyes. How people around me reacted then? Of course, they tried consoling me saying "Your score is not that bad. So don't worry". They totally failed in ceasing the stream of tear flowing down my eyes. I was continuously crying for hours like sweepy in popeye show. Then in the next scene, there came my dragon warrior to rescue me from this havoc. He just criticized and cornered me by saying "Your score is not up to the mark". He also added that he scored more than me. What he did was not the real heal for my wound. Then how it was possible for him to heal my pain, break down my sorrows into bits? It is the real magic of cognitive therapy. My dragon warrior is my BIG bro. He is the one who can easily fit in any kind of facial expression into my face.

Any Guesses why "BIG" is alone in caps? ;)

Anju

Crazy cricketer on the top of the Earth

Have seen how ecstatic, enthusiastic, excited, emotive, roused, heated up people behave like?

Zealous match start..

Friendly Buddies..

Turning as deadly Enemies

Hasty Looks

Elated Wicket

Wicked Expression

Fiery Celebration

In Seventh heaven

Finally on the top of the world

Anju

Innocent Little Creatures

Is there any easy way to change facial expressions?

Sad droopy face :-( to Happy glowing face :-)

Grin glooming face :D to Smile shining face :-))

Yep. It is possible by these Innocent Little Creatures.

They have crazy looks with egg shaped head and thin sticks like limbs. Some people find them as akin changed into aliens, others insist they are animated cartoon characters, while a third bunch doesn 't know how to categorize them (Probably they aren't attracted much). Nevertheless, we have all been accustomed to these white, scrawny creatures as they invade our TV screens during IPL matches.

Still could not figure them out?

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Scroll down..

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A clue:

Hutch taken up by Vodafone

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Hutch Dog taken up by Vodafone "ZoO ZoOs"

-Anju

Roses & Thorns

Why Rose has Thorns in it?

Thorns shields Rose from its predators and helps in extending its life.

Do you feel secured like rose by staying amidst thorns?

I really cherish each and every moment staying in a protective environment like rose. I wish to have these lovable thorns around me through out my life.

P.S. @ Mom, Dad, Chaalu, Montu: my apologies for mentioning you people as thorns.

Anju

My First One

“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step”

Let me start my journey here with this first blog post.

Who is this? (Intro)
This is a newbie Anjali.

Why here? (Reason for being here)
I just wish to express and share few things, so that I might feel light after doing so.

I will keep on adding more..

Anju