Quo Vadis?

This is the second part of the post, the blogger meet itself. I was probably the last entrant for the meet due to a review in office and by the time I entered the Rajendra hall the 60 secs of fame was over. Personally this is the highlight of any blog meet as you can get a brief on the diverse participants. Since I am not good at anything in particular and since my blog is not a specialist blog I try to seek out similar bloggers. I was the last to introduce myself and my twitter handle (@vadapoche) brought a few smiles and some acknowledgements from old faces. Then the choo choo train which left me a little winded and the musical chairs which I moved aside so as to not create any damage to my fellow men or women. I shudder to think what would have happened if I tried to sit on a chair with some unfortunate in between. Since I had no time to break ice and as I could not spot any familiar faces nearby I looked for any team that would have me when the assembly was asked to b...

ITC Grand Chola The ITC Grand Chola – a visitor’s view Was a part of the Indiblogger meet and have been a part of all but one of their meets and as part of the meet am posting the venue and the meet as two separate posts. This is about the venue… The first visit to the Grand Chola is akin to a visit to the Taj Mahal, it can be anticlimactic. Do not get me wrong, there are reams written about both that a certain expectation gets created that may lead to an anticlimax when you actually reach there. The Grand Chola is a 5 star hotel and the Taj Mahal a tomb. First things first, the Grand Chola holds back no punches in its attempt to be the best in its class and it has come out on top. It overwhelms you with sheer presence and the architecture is jaw dropping from whatever angle you may look and it will give you a stiff neck while you are at it. Everything is grand and grand in French is Big, so there! I could help being puzzled by a couple of things when I entered th...

By now many of us may be numbed by the amount of scams that vie with each other in the quantum and scale. We have come to accept that loot is a part of life and sometimes we are also part of the loot. It is so foolish to blame the ills of the land on the corrupt politicians when we have let it happen. When we fake rent receipts, hide other income(s), collect subsidies even when ineligible, even watch pirated DVDs some where down the line we step over the thin line between right and wrong, the line between what is fair and unfair. In the end it all comes down to money. If time is money, then many folks on the road are building their bank balances by putting their lives at risk, jumping lanes, driving on the wrong side to save maybe some fuel or time and hence money. My sincere wish is that they may live long with the money thus saved. Every scam or con artist and thief would have probably started small, with a small scam or stealing a few rupees and over the years deve...

- do people create Gods, make houses for them, charge tickets to see the Gods and make the Gods a spectacle for those who can afford it - do people never get satisfied with what they have and always look for something more because it always never enough - do people play with their lives and those of others on the road just to reach their destination a few minutes earlier when it would have been easier and less stressful to start early - do people always take the shortcut even though the benefit may not always be there - do people proclaim equality and go around with their caste as their surnames - do people strive to move ahead by simply pushing down all those around them - do people make heaps of money by crooked means when they cannot use much of it and will stash it away benefiting none - do people waste their lives for a better future when the present is just slipping by - do people think they can always outsmart the world and get away with it too -...

Ok. The headline may say it all, when I got the tickets for the movie from my brother he said "this is a Jason Bourne movie made by Vikraman of Pudhu Vasantham fame". As I left the theatre I realized he was on target. There may be enough reviews going around on the movie so I will stick to a few observations: The positives: - An interesting plot that had promise (not worked out the inspirations as yet) - An actor who tries to do the best in every role he gets, and who had enough experience playing a blind man -London makes the movie rise above the ordinary - A host of talented performers on the pay, in no particular order Nasser, Anushka, Saranya, Santhanam, Shayaji Shinde, Thambi Ramaiah, MS Bhaskar and I still may have missed a few - The negatives: - A plot with promise but holes like a sieve, there were too many inconsistencies and too many predictable scenes that the thrill of a spy movie was lost - Silly writing and lines like the he...