"Real" Celebrity?

Its finally ended... the show that has been keeping everyone hooked to their TV sets from the past 3 weeks has finally come to a close.
News channels & Tabloids all over the country are busy analysing the irony & significance of a 21 year old normal girl from Essex "Chantelle", winning the "Celebrity" Big Brother..
Y'know, I sometimes wonder what the fuss is all about.. I mean.. its a TV show.... Okay, a relality TV show which involved one of the MPs of Britain.
But still, at the end of the day, it is a TV show. And I simply cannot understand these News channels giving so-o-o-o much coverage & analysis(for god's sake) and dedicating hours of airtime to something so undeserving. Even newspapers (not just tabloids) are making this their front page news.
I'm not kidding... every time I turn on the TV, some channel will have a show where 2 hosts are discussing Big Brother and then they bring in 2 "special guests" to "analyse"the show and its results.. every week. And this week being the finale.. it was outta control.

Speaking of the show itself, the concept is actually quite interesting. 11 people are kept 'confined' in a house with no contact to the outside world. They have to do certain weird tasks inside the house, be a good 'house-mate' and somehow survive for three weeks. Every once in a while one person will be evicted from the house based on other house-mates' & viewers' poll. Finally one person wins based on public opinion.

It was interesting to watch.. but only in parts. In general it was a bit boring, I'd say...I mean how long can you watch the same people brushing their teeth, yelling at each other, etc..
But it had enough in it to keep people hooked.. and well.. thats all that matters, right?

Whats more, auditions for the next season of Big Brother are already open!

Hey, have Indian channels not yet lifted this idea yet??
I'll bet it won't be long before we see Vinod Kambli, Laloo and co. with a few TV stars locked up in a house!

C'mon people.. its Reality TV!

Curently Listening to: Premaloka - Yarivanu

Mixed bag

Oh yeah... Life's a mixed bag, if you didn't know already.

Here I am, in Taunton, an absolutely bea-uu-tiful place, with more greens, old churches and houses, lovely people.. some kind of serene, natural feeling attached to it. Work is going on at a leisurely pace. Co-workers seem very nice and all...
...but still I'm not entirely happy.

Why? For starters, I'm living in a hotel for the first time.. which is kinda new, but in no way comparable to living in an apartment...
can't cook or wash here.. so, have to pay a lot for these things which automatically makes me sad.
Annnnd, since this is a small town, Internet is not too.. er.. 'all-pervasive' lets say. Turns out that I've to pay 12 quid (a slang for pound!) for a night of broadband!! That's plain outrageous.
So, you see, this is nothing short of confinement.

Anyways, everything's not glum. The drive to taunton was quite nice. Lots of broad, green fields and nice scenery. Office is nice too. Check out the view from my window in office.


My architect here is an Indian-born-settled-here guy. He's some sort of guru when it comes to anything technical. He has a pretty cool attitude and a refreshingly candid demeanour, which, for me is like finding idly-sambaar in Burger King!
I feel that, underneath, he's still a 22 yr old who likes to hang out with his friends in Chennai! :) (Hmmm.. that sounds familiar)
Anyway, It feels good again to talk in English without subconsciously putting on a fake accent! Not to mention the bliss of being able to use 4 letter words in office again!

Life, is indeed a mixed bag.

Currently Listening to: Black Eyed Peas - Shut Up

Can I get any lazier?

I think I've outdone myself.
I have spent the entire weekend inside... without even stepping out of the house once!
More than 50% of the time lazing on the bed... and the rest split between
a) Browsing the net, chatting with friends (hail google talk!), orkutting..
b) Watching every sitcom on TV..
c) Eating..

Usually, I'd be disgusted with myself by the end of such lazy weekends and pray for monday to arrive quickly!! (Really)
But, somehow I don't feel that bad now.. Could do with a little walk outside though..

But damn, I've gotta start packing.. have to get up at 5 in the morning to get to Taunton.. Its a location change.. for the next 3 weeks..

Hey, I think Seinfeld in on now... Someone pleez pack my stuff... pleeez.

Currently Listening to: Crystal Method - Born too slow

Snowy

First signs of snow in Aldershot..last saturday

A Weekend to Remember (!?)

My Weekend:

Saturday:
1.Went to visit Stonehenge.
Verdict - Just a pile of stones. Not worth the Train+Bus fare +Entry fee.
2. Since we were already in Salisbury, decided to visit the Salisbury Cathedral.
Verdict - Nice cathedral, superb gothic architecture. Free Entry *happy face*

End Result: Totally exhausted from the journey... had to change 2 trains, plus waiting time in-between. Some snaps came out well though.

Sunday:
Went to visit Windsor. Train delays meant that all of us reached only by noon.
1. Decided to try out Ice skating
Verdict: Super Super fun. Incredibly difficult though. Damn &%$#ing rain ruined everything.
2. Rain gets heavier. Weather colder.
3. Went to visit Windsor Castle. It was closed for visitors by the time we made it.
Verdict: Screwed.

End Result: More Exhausted than saturday from enduring rain, cold and 3 train changes which took forever.


Total Expenditure: Approx 80 Pounds
Positives: Ice Skating, a few nice snaps.

Weekend Result: Total Washout

Happy New Year.

Currently Listening to: Metallica - Nothing Else Matters

Home-Away

Things had been kinda hectic.. and I've been a li'l lazy to blog too...
Well, I'm back in the UK after a 10 day long stay back home in bangalore during christmas..
It felt soo good-
...Being able to spend some time with my loved ones.
...Seeing my frens again, hangin out in good ol' bangalore.
...Eating Idli Vade Sambar... with the heavenly adigas coffee.
...Eating Sagu Masale Dose.
...Eating Anna Saru with Kosambri.
...Being able to walk out into the balcony in the morning with just my banian on.
...Being able to wear T-Shirts.
...Watching all the latest kannada movie trailers on Udaya TV at 11 PM... god bless them.
...Aimlessly riding on my bike in Mysore.. a feeling that no other country/city can match.

Mom and Dad and bro were there in bangalore by noon to greet me. Mom had also brought along my fav. dishes for lunch. (Oh before I forget, lemme mention that my Mom is one of the best cooks in the whole world. My friends will vouch for that.) But I'd already sneaked in some idlis and dosas at Adigas in the morning. I was just dying to eat that stuff.

Took a couple of days off from work to spend time with K, which in itself was worth all the 10 hour flights & jetlags & all that. We did have a really beautiful time together, and I started feeling more miserable sitting on the flight back to London thinking about the next couple of months without her.

Caught up with my friends back home (only a few left now, everyone's flying off to the US) which was nice. Also got a rare chance to spend some time with a few old friends in mysore whom I had not met for a while. we did a good old fashioned boys' "nite out" which was super fun! Found myself sitting at home on New year's eve because of stupid undecided flight schedules.

But now I'm back here again.
Lots of plusses here, you know: money, travel, friends, a sense of excitement.

Just one small minus. It ain't home.

Currently Listening to: Bluffmaster - Right Here Right Now.
(accompanied by rhythmic headbanging)

Of Tubes, Tabloids and Christmas Lunches.

The London Underground or "The Tube" as it is popularly called is one of the best, if not the best example of the great things that we humans are capable of. It is a public transport system which carries over 2.7 million passengers a day !!! Most of it is automated, which means if you want to catch a train to victoria at 08:37, the train will be there at 08:37:00. no less, no more.

More than anything, the swiftness & efficiency with which the system operates simply blew me away. We Indians would use the term "phata-phat" to describe this!
It usually doesn't take you more than 10-15 mins to reach anywhere in prime london area using the tube. Here are some stats of the LU.
Y'know, one by one... I'm beginning to see the reasons why UK is called a "developed" nation.

Change of subject> Tabloids.
Okay, here's the thing that beats logic. I go to watch Harry Potter and they flash the "12A" rating on the screen atleast 3 times before the movie making it clear that some scenes may contain "fantasy" which is "unsuitable for younger viewers". Okay. I get it. You guys are very concerned about what your kids see. Good.
Next morning, I walk into a departmental store. At the entrance, there's a full stand of magazines and tabloids containing... "topless" pics of some women... on the COVER.
The Sun says "Page 3: Lesbian Girls bare it all".
Well... what if a mom walks in with a couple of young kids? what is she supposed to say? "You boys stand outside while I buy some milk"???
And its there everywhere... railway stations, malls, supermarkets, u name it. And I've seen thousands of parents with their kids at all these places.
But hey, don't blame the tabloids.. what are they supposed to to? Put an "18 only" stamp on each picture.. that would probably block all the stuff they want to show!
Y'know, one by one by one... I'm beginning to see the reasons why UK is called a "developed" nation.

Topic Change> Christmas Lunches
I had 2 extremely different christmas lunches in the space of a week. One of them was an official lunch party organised at a roof garden at kensington high street in london. It was a theme party and the theme was "1920's Gangsters & their molls" !
You know, these theme parties are a big thing here.. people go to great lengths in order to make the best impression at the party. The food was very average.. but I heard people telling me that the non-veg option was much better... well, not much of use to a veggie like me.

It is quite common here for people to drink like crazy during these parties. After the lunch, there was a mini disco-thingy.. which was empty until they started playing the latest Madonna, which rocked the hell outta most people, including me.
We had to have a burger at McD to feel alive after that so called "meal"... man! how these people survive here after eating so little still beats me.

The second lunch I had was at our VP's home near Southhampton. It was a beautiful experience.
Picture this: 1.3 acres of "landscaped" land in the countryside. A luxurious house. Scenic views from the windows. Nearest neighbour: about 100 feet away. I found it incredibly romantic!! Only wished "someone" was with me.. *sigh*
They had these 2 cats (Cats are the most common pets in UK). One of them was so adorable..all of us just loved playing with it.


Lunch time...They treated us to a typical English Christmas Lunch, which was quite interesting and surprisingly tasty too. They'd even cared enough to prepare separate vegetarian dishes for us, which we really appreciated. Then they told us about all these silly christmas traditions, like crackers, silly hats,etc... They also made us go through some of them, which was so much fun. It was quite a memorable experience, I'd say.
On the way back, I tried to imagine how it would be to have a party at a location like that... dancing with "someone"... to Madonna, of course..

Y'know... one... by.... one...reasons....

Currently Listening to: Rang De Basanti - Rang De Basanti

A Day in London

After enjoying a week in the quieter suburbs and enjoying the countryside, I couldn't wait to go to London on saturday... I mean du-h, it was 'the' London... I had always dreamt of going to the Buckhingham Palace and trying to get one of those royal "robotic" guards to smile !! I had thought of all these wierd things I'd try in front of them just to make them emote...

Anyway, back to the point.. London. Yes, We (me & my roomie) started very late... I have a perennial waking up problem, you see. It was noon when we reached the Waterloo station. It was nothing like any of the railway stations I'd seen before... amazing!
Well, we're inside the station for not more than 2 minutes... and an announcement goes -
"Due to an immediete security threat, everybody is required to leave the station at this moment"
What the?????
We tried not to panic & just left the station.... Although nothing apparently happened later, for a moment though, I was s-c-a-r-e-d! I'm not sure whether it was because I felt something would blow up the station or because of the fact that I was being stared at by a few suspicious 'gora's..for just being a colored man.... but in hindsight, you can't really blame them.

We then took a walk on the Thames walkbridge... it was quite nice and cool. Then we headed to the famous Trafalgar square. This place is truly fantastic... its so picturesque. No wonder there were hundreds of tourists there... we took a few nice snaps there.. Didn't get a chance to go to the National gallery... some other time maybe.

Next stop was the Buckhingham Palace. Since it was sunny, we decided to walk all the way... But what a dreamy-eyed-tourist like me forgot was the legendary English weather. Within 10 mins, it started to rain! Dammit! Hmmm, 20 wet minutes later, we reached the palace only to find out that it is open for public only for ..like. 3 months in a year... aaarrrrrghhhhhhh...
This day is turning out to be a dampner, eh...
Atleast the sun came out again.... we met our friends as expected in front of the palace...
As per the plan we had to go to Madame Tussauds and The London Eye before 8 pm... Decided to have a snack on the way near Oxford Street... That street is amazing.... it is the centre of London, and on a saturday evening, it is absolutely packed with people... But somehow, It wasn't half as suffocating as Brigade Road in Bangalore.

The snack break lasted an entire hour. We had to scrap Madame Tussauds.
Headed towards the London Eye. Fastest way to get there... London Underground (More details about this in the next post)
It was a great sight. It is about 450 feet high & rotates very slowly, giving the person on it panoramic views of London City from various heights & positions.
After waiting for about 45 mins to get tickets, we were finally aboard the eye.
I'm generally not too fond of heights, but since it moved very slowly & also the fact that it was night time, it wasn't as scary. Once we reached the pinnacle, the view it offered of the city was purely breathtaking. It was similar to an ocean, except that instead of water, it was only lights, lights & more lights.... as faaaaar as I could see. Gosh! I dunno how Bangalore matches up with this...



Back on land, we went back to oxford street to hang out with another friend. We had a very nice Indian dinner at a restaurant called "Bombay Palace". We were chatting for so long that when we were finally done, it was 11:30 in the night. Time to head back...
Reached the Waterloo only to find out that the next train to Basingstoke was another 30 mins away. While waiting at the station, we found out that there are beggars here too... eh, a bit more "sophesticated", I dare say!! well, they beg in english.. for starters :))
On our way back home on the train, I kept thinking... well, I am livin' it up here in London.. ain't I?? My mind went back to a couple of nightclubs we passed by as we were heading back... They sure looked inviting...almost magnetic sometimes... but we didn't want to try everything in the first visit itself...especially since we didn't know much about the city yet..
But I'll be back baby...I will be back.

Currently Listening to: Lucky - Sun Zara

The British Escapades - Part 3

First things first... How can people walk around in mini skirts & designerwear at -3 degrees??
I mean.. come on.. its MINUS THREE DEGREES!! Not that I mind looking at them ;), but still, it seemed crazy for someone like me who has come from a place where the coldest winter would probably mean 6 degrees ,with people fully wrapped up...
But things are certainly different here in England.. after a couple o' days, I realised that at this time of the year, 6 degrees is a luxury.
The wierdest thing is that the sun in fully out on most afternoons...but it is still so goddamn cold that sometimes it makes u wonder if this is some other planet!

Anyways..the roads & the "motorways" (read: highways) here, as I mentioned before are quite superb!
Drivers are usually sensible (atleast wherever I've been) & the whole traffic system works out very well indeed.. In fact, there are very few traffic lights around! ( I hear that things are a touch different in London though... gotta see that later)
It is pure bliss to drive around the countryside.. especially on a sunny afternoon... and esssspecially if you have a Audi convertible with its top down... (like the guy who drove past us!!) *sigh*... but hey! Camry is no slouch, i'll tell ya...

There's this huuge mall in the town centre, probably 5-6 times bigger than the biggest mall in bangalore.. (garuda, right?) Great place to hang out.. but most stores close down before 8 pm... (except on a saturday)... Clothes are quite expensive, but people here spend like crazy on fashion! Almost 70% of the mall is made up of fashion stores (and 70% of those are exclusively for women! Now I know where all the "women" jokes came from..)

There's this other city called "Reading" (pronounced "Reding") closeby where clothes are super cheap! Its about 20 minutes by train... That reminds me... public transport is very very good.. I was pleasantly "shocked" to see a train arrive & depart perfectly on time!

The only downside is walking around the city in freezing cold! They're saying this winter would become much colder as days go by! :(

But hey, if people can walk in mini skirts, then with 3 layers on me, I should survive, right?

Currently Listening to: Garam Masala: Kiss Me Baby (Remix)

The British Escapades - Part 2

Sunday, November 20, 2005

* Shift to UK Time*


12:20 PM : Landing at Heathrow... Its freakin' cold !!!


12:50 PM : Check out...
Someone's supposed to be here tp pick me up rite?... ahh... I see my name on a placard.. There's a man in a full suit waiting for me !! Is it for me or for NRN?..... Nope... the name on the placard is mine ! Turns out he's a chauffeur !! well, a chauffeur??!! goooood

1:20 PM : Cruising at 80MPH in a Skoda Superb!! Gosh, the roads are good here..
2:00 PM : Reached Basingstoke ( a suburb about 45 miles from london)
2:30 PM : Checked out the apartment!! Its terrific...


4:00 PM : Ventured out into the town centre with roomie.. damn! its cold out here...
4:30 PM : Sunset!!! (What the .... ??)
located a huuge shopping mall...loafed around for a couple of hours..
6:45 PM : Dinner (read: pizza)
8:00 PM : Jetlag sets in... crash..

Currently Listnening to: Pink Floyd - Sorrow

The British Escapades - Part 1

Saturday, November 19, 2005 - supposed to leave to UK next morning at 3AM

9:00 AM : Woke up !
10:30 AM : To National Market with Asoki for some last minute DVD shopping.
12:30 PM : Mom & bro arrive.. lunch..
2:30 PM : Live Cricket on TV, Ind vs SA :)
3:30 PM : Still watching cricket...
4:00 PM : Started packing.. after mom mercilessly turned off the TV
5:00 PM : K arrives to help me with packing... a bit of flirting behind mom's back :D
7:30 PM : Turn the TV on to watch the match...feel something hit the back of my head.
8:00 PM : Almost done packing... hmm, that was quick.. Dad arrives.
8:30 PM: Coffee with K.... last one this year :(
10:00 PM: Dinner..
11:00 PM : Trying to sleep..

Sunday, November 20, 2005

2:00 AM : Woke up...
3:50 AM : Reached airport...surprise, surprise!!...K is here....so sweeeet :-*
Oh.. I'm so gonna miss her :(
4:45 AM : Baggage checked in.. *me not showing any nervousness of a first timer. .ahem !*
5:30 AM : Goodbyes... will miss'em all..
6:30 AM : Check in.... well! whaddaya know... N R N (Infy Chief) is also on the same filght.
Feel like talking to him... nah.. he's already surrounded by people..



6:45 AM : Settled in.. darn!... its the middle seat.
7:00 AM : Take off from Bangalore.
8:00 AM : 38000 feet above ground!! God bless British Airways... 18 channel TV to keep me occupied



Eat... sleep... watch TV..chat with the american next to me..check out the airhostesses...look out of the window..
*Repeat for the next 10 hours... *

Currently listening to: Ek Khiladi Ek Hasina - Jal jal ke dhuan

They've learnt to Rock alright !!!

I was there !!

Yep.... After deliberating for more than a week (due to the alarmingly increasing prices for concert tickets !), I finally gave in to the temptation of MLTR... But boy, it was totally worth it !!
I managed to get into the 2nd Row (Thats right, baby !!) from the stage.... It was probably as close as u can get to the real thing...

The show started on a mellow note.. with the guys singing a few new-n-not-so-popular numbers...
But "Complicated Heart" & "Strange Foreign Beauty" got the crowd going....
"25 Minutes" & "Breaking My Heart" followed & by this time the crowd was in full swing & thirsty for more...
Then they started belting out one hit after another.. "Sleeping Child", "Someday" (Which, not surprisingly, drew the loudest cheers), the rocking "Angel Eyes", "Paint My Love" & more....
The best part for me was when they played "Wild Women".... It is one of my favs, but I really didn't think they'd play that !! That was simply terrific !!

The final number was "That's Why", ending with a superb elongated guitar piece by the amazing Mikkel Lentz, the Lead guitarist ( & the elvis lookalike !).

By this time, every single person in the crowd was just swaying to the music & totally enthralled by the ambience it created...It seemed that the band was really enjoying it & they played to the gallery with perfection. As always, we never wanted it to end...

The most striking aspect of this concert was the reproduction quality of the music... It sounded almost the same as it does in the albums... I guess a lot of that has to be attributed to the unique voice of Jascha Richter, their lead singer & the most recognizable face of MLTR...

Way to go dudes... :)