An evening at the Gateway of India

After many unsuccessful attempts, we finally went to the Gateway of India to spend an evening there.
Why unsuccessful attempts? I am in Mumbai for almost 3 years. In these 3 years, we planned to visit the Gateway of India numerous times. But every time, some thing came up and that plan had to be postponed. Even this time, we actually planned it for last Wednesday, so that, there will be less crowd. We keep hearing that, there is a problem of car parking near the venue.So, Wednesday. But on Wednesday evening, when I reached home from office, I suddenly found half of the family members unwell with cold, fever, cough and what not. I wondered and postponed it to Saturday. Again on Saturday, things did not work out. I am still thinking, what were the reasons that cancelled the plan. One of the highlighting reason is the delayed entry of our Kaamwali bai, who extended her stay to the point where, regular daily soaps would start, resulting in half of the members dropping from the plan.

So, finally, yesterday, I gave an ultimatum, if nobody else is ready, I will alone go out. Luckily, the kaamwali bai also decided to take off on the day, keeping no restrictions to keep us back.So, I was taking a risk of going to a famous tourist spot on Sunday evening. Reaching there, is not an issue. With the Eastern expressway, it is now much easier to reach this destination avoiding all the  traffic on the way. The problem might begin, once you reach there. As soon as we reached near the spot, first thing, we observed is the road leading to the destination is closed every Sunday between 10 a.m. to 8.00. p.m. So, we had to search for a way to go close to the Gateway of India, where we can park our car and walk to the gate. Luckily we managed to find a road and also found a place to park the car. The car parking is Rs. 60/- here. How much official this parking is, I do not know.  A note of caution here, I am sharing. Please make it a point to clear with the person, to pay money in the end or while parking itself. The guy asked me to pay upfront. And while leaving again, he was asking for the money. I had to give him a dose to make him realize, that I have already paid.

Moving on, it was an unbelievable crowd. Such spots make you realize, India's population is huge.
Initially, we thought, the crowd has gathered for some program as we could hear some music. But later realized, it is all for the Gateway of India. Although, we had to walk a bit to reach near the Gateway, but, I must say, arrangement made is all real good to control such a huge crowd. We not only could enter the place smoothly, but also got a chance to sit behind the Gateway having a look at all the fleet floating on sea water.

It was a beautiful view. The sea breeze was cold, at times shivering. This officially is the best time to visit Mumbai. With the setting Sun, the surrounding also turned beautiful. The Gateway of India, also looked awesome.

But, what caught my attention most was the view of Hotel Taj. It really caught our attention. If people were not taking selfies, then they were catching a glimpse of this beautiful architecture.

A few captures posted here, taken with my not so good mobile camera.
The place is worth visiting. There are ferries available to give a experience of sea routes. Outside, there are places to sit and eat. Although, the cleanliness level here, drops down a bit. Probably, because of the heavy crowd. On other days of the week, it must be a much better place.

With all the experience, now, I wish to make it my regular evening outing place. Let's see, when do I get a chance to visit again.

Spectre: Review

Recently, I watched another movie. Immediately, after watching Katyar Kaljat Ghusli. The decision to watch this movie was instinctive. Since, I had seen a Katyar Kaljat Ghusli after a long gap, Somewhere, I felt like giving a try to another movie. And, I thought, which other movie I can opt than a bond movie.

Frankly speaking, while, Pierce Brosnan was playing Bond, I used to feel, what bullshit movie are these. I just couldn't digest the idea of a person trying to sail over a wave made out of a breaking glacier with the help of a parachute, out of a racing car, and then even landing safely on the other side.  It was an overdose for me. I even equaled bond movies to a crazy movie like "Shoot 'Em up".

But then came, Daniel Craig as a new bond in Casino Royal. He brought some realistic sense to the bond movies, although, that goes against the normal expectation from the figure of a bond. Just in first 15 minutes in Casino Royal, and I confirmed, Daniel Craig is the best bond, I have witnessed. But that was it. While bringing the image of Bond closer to the reality, somehow, whole notion of an awesome spy, who could charm anybody by his skills and looks, and get the work done, just vanished.

This Bond became more vulnerable. Physically, mentally as well as emotionally.

Then came his next segment "Skyfall". I missed it for some reasons, I ccan not remember now. When I watched it later on, I got disconnected with the Bond movie. I thought, its over. The aura of Bond movies is gone.

Somehow, probably, I don't wanted to believe it and so instinctively, I went to watch Spectre. Now, I feel, I could have saved some money. The movie really disappointed me. The physical strength of Daniel Craig, which got connected to the image of Bond, is not visible here. The first 15 minutes of the movie, are disappointing. It is nowhere near the 15 minutes of Casino Royale. It also confirmed that this bond has become less smart and end up taking hasty decision. The way, he wasted an awesome car was painful. Earlier Bonds did not need to be introduced to the features of car, they knew it some how. This Bond is praying, let there be any helpful feature in the car.

The story is interesting. In context with present scenario, a competition between drone and spy, is something new to watch, rather than same old story of a terrorist group trying to take hold of a nuclear bomb, or a plant.

Work is, it was fine. It is good to Monica Bellucci in the Bond movie.

Music is disappointing. The famous Bond music is used very rarely, very subtle, so much that we just don't realize it.

Initial credit score music piece is not at all impressive.

All in all, a disappointing movie. I could have and should have for the movie to be released on TV. 

I should have preferred Hunger Games, a new series, that I found really exciting.

But anyway. If you haven't watched the movie yet, save your money.

Chennai flood- devastating

Chennai flood has been playing havoc. Fortunately, it is seizing down slowly. But what devastating effect it had, and what people of Chennai were going through for last couple of days is beyond explaining in words.

I received a video footage about Chennai flood on one of the whatsapp groups, I am member of. Mostly, I avoid watching videos shared on whatsapp, but, I happened to see this one and what I saw, is really scary.

That's why, I decided to share it here. Whoever, has made this video, really gave us a glimpse of the strength of water and how vulnerable we are infront of it.

After searching a bit around, I finally found a link in youtube to watch this video and share it here.

Here, I am embedding this video footage by Live9 TV

You too ! Aamir Khan

Every day, a celebrity appears in news, all because of the statements, they give in public.Most recent inclusion in the list is of the perfectionist, Aamir Khan. He made a statement on behalf of his wife, Kiran, who apparently is worried for the safety of his child. She is scared of even opening newspaper, wondering what new news might hit her. Now, I ended up  wondering about few things.

Every body is asking, whether Aamir asked Kiran, which country she want to shift to?

I, on the other hand, wanted to ask, what was his response to her worry. Did he agree with her views? Whether he discussed with her about probable country worth shifting? or did he try to convince her that her worry is not true picture of India, and India is the best place on earth to live?

What I heard and read doesn't include any statement about his views. What does he believe? Whether he wish to answer the critics or not is different, but he should speak out about his own point of view regarding the issue. ( I am expecting his clarification, only because he has made a controversial statement, and that too with the gun on some one else's shoulder.)

Second thing which arise is, where all did Kiran go to experience intolerance. Can she highlight few incidences which can explain her growing worry. I do not believe, she has any personal experience in this regard. There must be only one source for her to gain information - media.  If one puts on TV and check any news channel, now a days, only one thing is being discussed - Intolerance and how it is growing in last 7-8 months. If a person keeps listening such discussion every now and then, his mind starts getting saturated with that topic and his perception will start changing. Possibly, Kiran fell pray to this stunt and created her own impression that intolerance in India is increasing. One thing for sure is, in a city like Mumbai, you can not really feel intolerance. People here, just have not time for that.

So, this has to be an impression inherited by Kiran and transferred to Aamir, all from media.

The media is the biggest culprit here. They are painting a picture, which probably doesn't exist. Or may be there are few incidences here and there ( which used to happen earlier too),  but by connecting them through some weak link and making a big story out of it, media is just trying to mint money. Check any talk show, and the participants are just blabbering with real stuff discussed. Rather than finding solution on such issues, media is trying to ignite it more and more.

The end result is, people like who otherwise literary ignore such unnecessary chaos, also at some point of the time, gets involved. Just the way, I am writing this post. If the media is not controlled in time, it will end up igniting this issue to such an extent, that unknowingly and unnecessarily it will lead to polarization making this society unstable.

Freedom of speech is a must and necessary, but it doesn't mean freedom of being irresponsible. Today's media is behaving irresponsibly and only for their personal interest. They some how are managing to get even celebrities involved in this stunt.

I urge every body to act responsibly. Do not give statements which leads to controversy and misunderstanding.

Finally, being scared of situation and believing in media hype might happen to any body, but to think of leaving country as a solution to it is simply not acceptable.

Katyar Kaljat Ghusli - review

Katyar Kaljat Ghusli is the first Marathi movie, I have ever watched in theater. It is also my first movie watched after a break of almost 2.5 years in theater. Last movie, I watched was Ironman III. And it was not a great experience to spend money on.

So, after reading many reviews, listening to experiences of those closed ones who watched it, I, one fine day, decided to watch this movie.

Now, I have seen this play earlier, where Rahul Deshpande plays the role of Khan Saheb, and it was an impressive performance. Subodh Bhave, there, played the role of Kaviraj, and he made that role look significant. A comparison between the play and the movie is thus inevitable.

Let's talk of movie first. Songs are all awesome. The most beautiful part of the movie. Surprise package:  Shankar Mahadevan. He has really brought the character of Pandit ji in reality. Ofcourse, he must not have to take any extra efforts for the lip sinking on his own songs. But, he managed to protray different age shades of the character very well. I actually believed him as an old Panditji from his body language. Only scene, where I didn't feel connected is the one where he looses his voice near the lake. There was too much of special effect tried in there.

Subodh Bhave has also done a fantastic job. He has actually enacted the singing style of Mahesh Kale, who has given him voice. A similarity I found between movie and play where Mahesh Kale himself played this character. What I couldn't digest is a slight aggressive nature induced in this character. The play protray this character as a person, who just want to learn music. The feeling of revenge, never appears in the play for this character.

The weak link of this movie, according to me is Sachin's Khan Saheb. People may say, that he has done an awesome job, but I personally felt it more of overacting. After watching Rahul Deshpande as Khan Saheb, I just couldn't digest him in the character. I feel he was supposed to induce egoistic nature in the character because of the singing prowess he has achieved over the years. But, here, it seems like a mixture of hatred, revenge and egoistic nature ( without even actually  defeating Pandit Ji). Sachin has survived only because of dialogue delivery in Urdu, else, I consider him as a weak link here.

All other characters are fine. Mrunmayi Deshpande and Amruta Kahnvilkar are ok.

I felt bad about the character of Kaviraj. Compared to the play, his character in the movie has been degraded badly. It has been made pretty much unwanted.

Inspite of this, over all, the movie is good. It is worth spending money on. It does not give you complete satisfaction, but it provides you some old tunes ( redone here) to humm in spare time.

Rest in peace, Wings of Fire

Today is a sad day for India. India has lost the most beloved president Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. Dr. Kalam a renowned scientist, who later became the president of India. His contribution in every field is well known. He was known as Missile Man of India. But, behind this, his views were clear. He don't wanted missile to attack neighboring countries, but, because it requires strength to stand up to another strength. His work as a part of DRDO and ISRO is commendable. His contribution towards the Pokharan nuclear test  is beyond the boundaries of a scientist.

In his form, probably for the first time, India got a president with acclaimed scientific background. He was never called a president of a party, but, in real sense was the president of India.

He was probably one of the few who actually deserved a Bharat Ratna.

Yesterday, even during his last few hours, he was involved in sharing his vast experience with the audience. At that time, he collapsed.

He was an inspiration to all and especially to scientists like us, who need a ray of hope to survive out of their day to day failures in scientific research. He was the one who actually brought President's position in limelight and made people believe that President's position in not just for show, but, it actually has some rights and say in decision making.

This is a big loss we all are suffering, which can never be filled. Even at the age of 83, we feel, it was too early for him to leave us. A person, we all needed to look up for inspiration.

IPL: 2 year suspension of CSK and RR

 A very strong decision came out yesterday when CSK and RR, two teams from IPL were suspended for 2 years. This all happened thanks to the owners of these two teams Mayappan of CSK and Raj Kundra of RR. While being an owner of a team, these two people were involved in betting to make some extra cash. It is really saddening to see IPL going down the drain with every new year.

Personally, I really liked the concept of IPL. I followed it, I favored it, I supported it. I founf IPL as a place where new upcoming players will get a chance to showcase their talents, where oldies after retirement will get one last chance to try their hands on bat and ball, where some of the talented players who never got a chance to appear in India XI can make some money before hanging their boots and dreams of playing for the country.

This was the concept which made me support it. The way IPL started was also awesome. But slowly some where things started going wrong right from the second year. Biggest controversy at that time was the treatment given to Dada ( Saurav Ganguly). It was shocking to see the treatment given to him. At the same time, another legend VVS Laxman was also experiencing similar ignorance from his team.

Slowly, things started getting dirtier. More and more of senior players were ignored. Even Rahul Dravid had to change his team. But he proved himself by making RR one of the most consistent side in IPL.

And then this idea of fixing started entering minds of few people. Some where it was said that few matches were fixed, but it did not get proved. Instead, there were some instances of spot fixing which were proved and some of the players were involved in this scam. One of the biggest names was Shrisanth. It was really shocking to see him involved in this fixing.

But the story was only half told till this point. When more pages were turned, bigger names started coming out. And out of some of these pages, appeared the names of Mayappan and Raj Kundra.

Now that their involvement has been proved beyond doubt, its their team which is going feel the heat. There are many players from CSK and RR who do not know, how can they be part of IPL any more. It is no big issue for a player like Dhoni or Ashwin. They are big names and have relatively easier path to walk. But some upcoming players like Samson or Binny or for that matter Rahane who were doing good with in the working culture of RR (groomed by Dravid). But, they will find it difficult to get a place in other team. Their way of playing may not be appreciated by other teams. Just like Pujara, who other wise is a fantastic player but has no place in IPL ( instead he was playing in County cricket during that season), these players may also end up staying away from IPL. The way Praveen Tambe at the age of 42 could make an entry playing for RR and leave a mark in IPL, I do not think other teams would have tried him at all.

All such things will come to an end because of suspension of two teams. By the time they will be allowed to play, many such talents would have lost their chance to prove themselves.