Bangalore - Is it overhyped?!

Have you ever seen people eating idly with 2 spoons?..No?..Welcome to Bangalore. Even the slightly decent eateries here offer a spoon with every dish served, even for a dosa. Now, are we still in India? ..Very much indeed, in the IT capital of the nation. Being a relatively newcomer here, I really am unaware of when exactly this practice of eating SouthIndian dishes with Western cutlery originated. Initially, I used to put the spoons away and eat with my fingers but oh, I turn around and see every other person(even an octagenarian couple)cutting(!) their idlies with spoons.

This is not the only thing with this city. Everything about the place is overhyped. Simplicity and thriftness are just shown the backdoor anywhere you go. I must mention the public transport rates in this context. A normal bus ticket(normal, because there are deluxe buses) for an approximately 6km distance costs Rs.10. Also, this I think, will be the lone city in the country to have differential bus rates based on the timing of the day. Morning 6 am, double charge; after 10 pm, double charge! There also exist completely air-conditioned buses that cater to the elite lot, with a minimum charge of 25Rs.



"The pleasant Bangalore weather" is slowly but steadily becoming a thing of the past. It's end of March and the mercury never stops rising till 3 in the afternoon, but still, we at Bangalore, will say "Wonderful weather, You ll never get this in Chennai"..- Watch the evening news and the reporter would announce "35 C in Chennai and 34.8 C in Bangalore". With an evergrowing floating population and unimaginable levels of pollution, this city might well be half the reason for the depletion of the ozone layer.



Forum Forum Forum - You come to Bangalore for the first time, and this place would surely be recommended as a must-visit by almost all your friends in the city. Visit the place in the weekend, actually, I should have said, "try to visit it over the weekend" - from Friday evening 6 to 10 pm on Sunday night, this place is literally flooded with people. One can never think of watching a movie in the PVR cinemas without making a reservation atleast 3 days in advance, however rotten the movie maybe! A Tamil movie ticket costs Rs.150(minimum) in the weekend and anything significant(like a coffee for a instance) that you have in the interval will empty your pocket by atleast another fifty. The mammoth food court(TRANSIT) on the second floor seemingly serves the best non-vegetarian food, again if you're ready to pay a few extra INR. I really pity all vegetarians(me too!!) for, the sole veg. stall here is some "...Sagar" and it's always overcrowded..



There "are" advantages of eating idly with spoons. "idly soaked in sambar" is best gobbled with spoons and this also means no washing hands that saves a few seconds. Travelling in a bus in Bangalore can be a pleasure, especially in the air-conditioned ones, looking at the streets through the huge glass windows, while reading the Bangalore Times provided in the bus itself. Needless to mention, this is the best city for autorickshaws that strictly employ the meters(if you can forgive the 1.5 charges again!) No matter what, Banglaore is Bangalore when it comes to weather and if you're from Chennai, you're just going to cherish your life in this city atleast for the non-drenchy mornings and the extra cool nights. Moreover, there is nothing like the experience of watching a movie at PVR with its xtra-comfy cushion seats and excellent acoustics, so what if it's a "bit" costly. Bittersweet it is, however, the garden city forever welcomes people from all over the country and envelops them with its astounding charm!!!

First Year in Hostel......

After almost 17 years at Madurai, I had to shift to Chennai for my college education. It was a huge transition for me but I loved it, the main reason being FREEDOM. Moreover, I just wanted to get out of Madurai for a while(17 years in one place is a long time !!!). The CEG hostels (Block 2 room 39, if I'm right) welcomed me with their shabby cobweb-infested rooms and to make things worse, I had to share a room with three other fellow-cegians.However, very soon I realized that hostel was a great place to be and thanks to my roomies( I think they would have had a bad time with me around :-)...., and wingies( if there's a word like that, one row of 10 rooms is called a "wing").., hostel turned out to be a melting pot of intellectuals, gossip mongers and most importantly,great friends.

With several relatives in Chennai, I would visit one each weekend(wonder what a nuisance I must have been to them) during my first few months at the hostel. But as days passed by, I became more comfortable with my dingy hostel room and had a great time in the weekends, just chit-chatting with my friends. I should say that I turned over a new leaf in that one year I spent in the hostel. I grew more responsible, learnt to share, realized the value of money and of course, established strong bonds of friendship. Washing clothes used to be a big ordeal with all of us procastinating this chore to the weekends. Needless to say, my room used to look awful with clothes strewn all over. However, the worst part was the untolerable stench from the bathroom close by( I wonder if they ever washed it!!)



"Water water everywhere but not a drop to drink!!"- This was exactly what we encountered at the hostel in 2002. It was raining cats and dogs in Chennai and the entire university was flooded. The college was closed but we had no water to drink or bathe(he he, we did that sometimes!) in the hostels. And with all the step-motherly treatment that was generally meted out to the freshers, there have been times when there was not a drop of water at the loo!! I would be failing in my duty(he he,like this is a 'vote of thanks') if I dont mention our mess!. People found lizards in "ghee rice" and I personally discovered cute(?) writhing live worms in my breakfast plate of "rava kichdi" one morning. But all this was part of the parcel, and we managed to sail through such situations with difficulty at first, and then, with nonchalance, because there was no other go.



My happiness in the hostel was shortlived with my parents deciding to shift to chennai when I was entering my second year of engineering. It was difficult to leave the hostel suddenly, but the thought of amma's home-made food and spending time with my family slowly engulfed me and I was back at our rented apartment at West Mambalam just in time to embark on my third semester of computer science and engineering blah blah....

MOZHI - A QUIET WINNER!

It is a pleasant surprise to see television artistes like Swarnamalya and 'Pattabhi' M.S.Bhaskar in convincing roles in the silver screen after a long time, thanks to Mozhi. Meaningless stunts, dialogues with double entendre, glamour that often crosses the border into vulgarity, melodrama - all these get a big NO NO in Radha Mohan's "Mozhi". Rather, it is subtlety that reigns supreme throughout. However, there are several moments that almost move you to tears . This movie certainly does not belong to the 'art' cinema category. It is pure, delightful and humorous.

This can be a very tough subject to handle but Radha Mohan, the seasoned director he is, has crafted it with elan. The best part of the movie being that, the protagonist never lets anyone sympathize with her. On the contrary, she is shown as a confident, self-reliant, well-educated person. Jyothika as Archana is just brilliant, delivering an exemplary performance that is extremely memorable.

Prithviraj from Malluwood deserves to be praised for accepting to star in this heroine-oriented movie. Finally, he seems to have got his tamil accent right and his expressions are refined. Prakashraj and Prithvi make a great pair and the two of them bring the house down with their antics in the apartment in the initial sequences. Also,Brahmanandam from Tollywood who plays the apartment secretary is a fantastic introduction to Tamil cinema.

Mozhi focuses on the indelible marks made by fate in the lives of people. There is a story behind every person that is heartening. However, one cannot sit back thinking about his woes and life has to move on. This is what the movie tries to showcase and this, against a very endearing backdrop of a multi-storey apartment. Though the romance between Prakashraj and Swarnamalya seems abrupt and unexplained, it's made convincing(what with all the bells and bulbs!!). On the other hand, the way love blossoms between the lead pair of Prithviraj and Jyothika, especially Jo's final reciprocation is enchanting and forms the crux of the story.

Being a musical movie, Vidyasagar has put in huge efforts to tune 4 melodies and it 'has' paid off! Notably, the wonderful "kaatrin mozhi" in Balram's crystal-clear voice does ample justice to the theme of the movie. Though "Sevvaanam" has a strong "Lajjavathi" feel with Jassie Gift singing it, the picturisation is very innovative and hilarious(reveals how bad a dancer Prithvi is!). Besides the 4 songs, the three short musical bits(with the voices of Srinivas, Karthik and Tippu) form the best part of the musical score and bring a new dimension to music in Tamil movies. This was so far seen only in Maniratnam's movies. "Pesa madandhaiye" comes as the only unwanted number and its dark camera angles somehow dont fit, standing out as a sore thumb.

The director who gave us the hugely successful "Azhagiya theeye" has indeed made a terrific comeback with "Mozhi" after a brief hiatus("Ponniyin Selvan" being quite forgettable!). In my opinion, Radha Mohan exhibits an enviable combination of Maniratnam's subtlety and K.Balachander's story-telling with an original and taut screenplay. With people like PrakashRaj backing him, he is sure to scale greater heights in the future. With Mozhi, Radha Mohan enters the big league of directors like K.Balachander, Maniratnam, Balu Mahendra, Selvaraghavan, but very uniquely!