Crazy Diaries

New Year celebrations are growing bigger , wider and wilder - number of people revelling are going up- every year. Social media plays a significant role in it. Everyone is directly or indirectly, consciously or subconsciously pressurised to do something on a New Year eve. You are forced to celebrate and brag a few snaps on social media. Nowadays every hotel, resort, club and even residential apartments have New Year celebration parties. The mad rush is such that, your seat is not guaranteed unless otherwise you book it well in advance. Please don’t misunderstand my tone. I too like the concept of welcoming a new year – with red carpet- with so much of joy and energy- eagerly waiting for the clock to touch MN 12; bursting out wildly with loud and bright fire crackers ...of course life is a celebration! New Year carnival is a mark of first day in a year according to Gregorian or Christian calendar. And it is also celebrated as the feast of circumcision of Chris in accordan...

At Yelagiri Foothills Fast, on a rough road riding High, through the mountains climbing twisting, turning further from my home. Young, like a new moon rising Fierce, through the rain and lightning Wandering out into this great unknown. And I don't want no one to cry. But, tell 'em if I don't survive I was born free! I was born free I was born free, born free From Kid Rock "Born Free" album. Few important things I forgot to tell you in part -1. We had difficult time in finalizing the itinerary. There are three different routes to Goa from Tamilnadu. Route 1: Bangalore- Mangalore – Udupi- Karwar- Goa: West Coast Road 720 kms   (Bangalore to Mangalore~ 350km +Mangalore to Goa ~370 Kms) Many roadies dream about this scenic west coast Konkan drive. I too had. Tested that route last November by car. Disappointed – if I had to summarize it, in a single word. There was a bad patch of about 40 kms while crossing the western ghat near Manga...

“Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must live” – Charles Bukowski. Normal, routine, monotonous – these words themselves sound and smell of boredom! Taking breaks, deviating from normal routines – rejuvenate. Pushing hard not only applies to professional hard work; it fits naturally into adventurous activities too; pushing hard to re-invent oneself. There is a different world waiting for you to explore. Sometimes these trips, breaks -change your perception about life. Would change the way you live, forever.                                                                            ...

 Surprisingly this is the first Hollywood movie I am reviewing. That too it came after a suggestion  from my friend Shankar.  Perhaps two reasons for this…     -As I expressed in one of my previous reviews, I don’t like big budget mindless action movies. Majority of Hollywood is filled with stuffs like: Sci-fi movies, big war movies, movies with beefed up insects, animals, and humans (e.g. Hulk), dinosaurs, anacondas (Ophidiophobic!), crocodiles and sharks. I develop severe anaphylactic reaction when I see movies like that!    -Nonetheless, let me confess, I do watch lots of Hollywood movies. My recent favorite list: Captain Phillips, Hurt locker, Zero dark thirty, Mud, Gravity and Argo. I don’t write about them because, these movies are popular and my idea is to introduce less known films to my friends. Dead Man Walking : This movie talks about the death sentence. All started with a heated discussion regarding death penalty i...

Diwali or Deepavali? This Diwali is a special one for me, not only because it is “thala” Diwali for my blog; some thought-provoking facts about Deepavali I came to know, only this year. Being born and grown up in a Farmers family, in which most of them are “periyar (EV Ramasamy- an atheist leader) followers”-I never had big Diwali bash during childhood days. Actually it was forbidden. Our only important festival was/is Pongal. There is a myth circulating in Tamilnadu, that Narakasuran was a Dravidian, so we should not celebrate his demise- Deepavali. I don’t have any intention to discuss about that big politically motivated Aryans- Dravidians divide, in this post. Getting married to a religious orthodox Maharashtrian changed the dynamics. I started understanding and enjoying the festival. Immediate post marriage we signed a bilateral treaty! Diwali celebration at Nagpur and Pongal festival in my village. It went on successfully for three years. Then transformati...

Let me clear the air first. This is not an art film; neither a film of international standards- technologically. Pure commercial entertainer. Choosing this movie is a desperate attempt to rescue my image, which is dangerously close to masochist tag- due to the sad, depressive, pessimistic films I’ve been reviewing! Every film maker would agree that comedy is the most difficult genre to pull through successfully. Easier to make the audience cry emotionally rather than tickling their funny bones. This is Rajkumar Hirani’s second film, as a director. When his first movie, Munna Bhai MBBS was released everyone was dumbfounded; it became a cult classic and created history in Indian cinema. Turned out to be so popular that the movie was reviewed by British Medical Journal! It has been remade in almost every Indian languages. Its Tamil version was “Vasool Raja MBBS”. Rajkumar Hirani wanted to be a film star; was involved in theatres- stage play, during college days...

One Good news and one Bad news. The good news is, no movie review this week, at least some respite from me! Nonetheless, the bad news is, I am writing this book- recommendation: you need to at least make an attempt to read this. I don’t intend to write a review about this book (intimidated by the writing!), rather I would like to share my views. Complications – Notes from the life of a young surgeon by Atul Gawande . Atul Gawande was born to a Maharatrian doctor couple, settled in USA; he was born in Brooklyn, NY and grew up in Athens, Ohio. He is a Harvard Medical school graduate; completed his DPH and worked as an advisor to Clinton’s government for a while. Currently practices Endocrine and General Surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He writes regularly for “The New Yorker”. This was his first book, wrote during his surgical training – as the title says- notes from the life of a young surgeon. He released his fourth book “ Being Mortal: Me...