Thane Railway Station flooded

Its 1st july 2008 and heavy rains and high tide flooded many low lying places.

story so far

Yesterday was my MCA project viva; and it went very well considering my preparations.

But this viva ruined our plan to visit Raigad Fort.

So now I am left with Semester 6 exams to deal with which are coming up on 17 July. Of course my preparations have begun; I have managed to place the book on my table and have been intending to read them since last few weeks

So now that studies are coming up, I can’t read the book that I have left incomplete>> The Rhinemann Exchange by Robert Ludlum.

Musically I have been listening to a lot Of Steve Vai and Joe Satriani. They are masters of guitar. They don’t need words to sing a song; they let their guitars do the talking.

Last weekend I met some of junior college friends, it was great to meet them all together after a long time. It was nice to laugh about the things that we did back then. The chicks, the professors, etc. We met at Pop Tate's who make some of the best pizzaz's for such a low price. On the downside the place is full of smokers, which pisses me off, since the food is very good. But for a guy like me who doesn't smoke or drink, it is just not right.

Anyway thats the story so far, I will try to update regularly but can't promise.

one more ...one more .. mini movie review >> The Incredible Hulk.

And just yesterday I saw >> The Incredible Hulk.

This movie crashed all my expectations. After watching the Eric Bana starrer earlier edition I was expecting even this movie to be only a CG-fest, but this movie easily moves into the league of Spiderman Series. It is a very well executed movie; it is hallmarked by the performance of the lead actor (Edward Norton) and the villain. Even though others did their job with conviction, it was these two who acted absolutely the way we expected their characters to behave. Watch it if you never liked The Hulk, and maybe you will change your opinion. And for other action movie junkies like me, don’t miss it. The action sequences in this movie are mind blowing. There is a surprise at the end of this movie that some comic book fans will love. Watch it. And Liv Tyler is as usual enchanting.

mini movie reviews continue >> Indiana Jones and Crystal Skull

Then I saw this movie; Indiana Jones and Crystal Skull.

It was a very good movie. The script may not be the best one out there, but the adventure element will keep you glued to your seats. The cast is brilliant, and make this movie thoroughly enjoyable. In spite of being the fourth movie in the Indiana Jones series, it is not necessary to have watched the earlier movies to really enjoy this movie. Don’t miss it if you like action and adventure. Harrison Ford belies his age in this movie, and Shia put in a performance I didn't expect him to. Don't miss it for jonsey!

Mini Movie Reviews >> De Dhakka.

A few weekends back I saw the marathi movie; De Dhakka.

It is a very entertaining movie with a mix of emotion, drama, and comedy.

The movie has been almost completely lifted from the Hollywood movie; Little Miss Sunshine. In spite of this movie being completely copied, it is very well made, and the acting by all characters is very much in character. Watch it with you family.

It was great....the rajgad trek

I had the time of my life, when I climbed Rajgad fort with some of my best friends and office mates last weekend. It was challenging, tiring, sometimes scary, crazy, and very historic trek, all the way to the top, nearly. Nearly because even though I climbed the fort, there was a small fort(Bale Killa) inside Rajgad fort which is even higher and it involves rock climbing, and I decided to give it a miss, since I wanted to have reserve stamina to use while descending from the fort.
The trip began on friday, as the eleven of us left office to reach Maitri Park at chembur, from there we hailed a scorpio to Pune, and in few hours reached Swargate. Since the trip was not planned, we did not find any place to stay at 2 AM, other than ST depot. Fortunately we found a Sumo driver who was ready to take us to gunjavane, which is the base village. So by 7 am approximately we reached the village, freshened up at nearby hotel(rajgad pratishthan). Then started our trek to rajgad fort. I won't describe the trek, because it takes the fun out of it, and also makes me want to go back. The route we took i.e. Chor Darwaza is the toughest and the shortest route. After we reached the top it was pretty much routine. Do some sight seeing; have some food and water.; then take some rest and finally descend to ground zero. After coming down from the fort it was too late to head to swargate, and the next bus out of the base village was at 6 AM, so we stayed at hotel rajgad (at small house!) at night when it was very cold. It was just amazing to enjoy the chill, that too in the month of May! Then it was morning, we caught the 6 AM bus out of gunjavane and we were back at swargate and then in few hours back home.
I have not described the trek in detail, because of many reasons, like I am lazy, it spoils the mystery of such a place when you know too much, and not only that I am going to start a blog completely dedicated to forts, very very soon.
So that was the gist of things. To know more about Rajgad fort and its history, just search in google. I would recommend all of you to at least once visit this fort. This fort called as the king of forts. The fort that was never captured. The fort whose diameter is 40 km. This fort is so high you can see lots of forts from its top, forts like sinhgad, lingana, torna, purandar, and the far off raigad, many more. OK! enough of historic facts. Go in person to experience the magnificence.
Our next target is Fort Torna, of course I will climb this fort again, probably next year, as I did not climb Bale Killa this time around.

Shivteerth Rajgad Pratishthan at base village Gunjavane

Thats the fort from far, we climbed it from the right side

thats Torna Fort in the background

View from the top

the mighty sahyadri mountain range in all its sun-lit glory

Rajgad hotel and the foot of the fort where we spent the night.

a quickie!!!

My bike's horn is being controlled by some voodoo magic!!!
Ok! that is overstating facts but it is still quite close.
The problem is that there is a little spring in the horn switch, and that is broken (I think!).
So the horn honks on its own, or sometimes when it is pressed, it remains there and keeps honking. So eventually I have to manually (using my fingers!) put the horn switch in its off state.
I know I need to fix it, but don't have time to go to service center until this weekend.

When is friday coming???
Plan to Raigad fort will friutify only on friday! damn! I haven't even planned anything.....
fingers crossed !!! because you never know when some badass reason ruins the plan!!!

thats all for now..more coming soon...

Mini Movie Reviews:- Speed Racer and Iron Man

Last weekend was movie mania!

On Saturday I watched Speed Racer and on Sunday I watched Iron Man.

Speed Racer is a movie made for kids which can be enjoyed by adults too.

Of course your love for comics and cars would make you enjoy it even more.

And if you are a Speed Racer fan like me, then it’s going to be lots of fun.

The movie maybe a bit formulaic like how good eventually wins over evil. And you are also taught lessons like family are very important etc. In spite of all this the movie is entertaining, thanks to the Wachowski Brothers (The makers of Matrix) touch! Racing scenes, sound effects and other effects are nicely done. Slick editing, nice camerawork no out of place and over the top characters make it a fun flick. Don’t miss it if you like racing! It’s not formula one kind of racing but nevertheless it’s fast!

A movie like Iron Man should have had more publicity than it was really given. Robert Downing Jr. carries the film on his shoulders admirably. Make no mistake; it’s not a one man show. Every character has done commendable job. But it’s Robert who has made Iron Man one of my favourite technologically augmented superheroes (like batman) who don’t have special powers as such. In terms of bad guys, the movie could have delved deeper into the villain’s psyche but the job done by the bad guys is still commendable.

Like some of the good movies it has got it all, good action scenes, superb sound effects, sharp editing and some nifty cinematography, all in all a mind blowing experience. Iron Man is a much underestimated movie, so I say watch it and get entertained beyond expectations.

Tashan Ve ! Tashan Ve ! ..........

Movies have hallmarked my last two weekends. While the last weekend saw me enjoying Tashan, the weekend before that, saw me being left spell-bound by the magic of the huge Imax Dome Theater experience. Watching the excellent movie Transformers (I am fan of transformers since childhood!) On the large screen was fun.

Here is a mini review of Tashan.

Watching Tashan was fun with friends, but it’s not at all a great movie. You will find too many faults with it. But if you want to watch something that doesn’t involve using you brain and just want to chill-out with you friends, then Tashan is a good experience. Of course this film will not be digested by all, but here are a few reasons as to why you should watch Tashan.

Watch Tashan if you agree with any of the following?

>You are Akshay Kumar fan

>You are Anil Kapoor fan

>You are Saif-Kareena fan

>You like watching skinny bikini clad kareena

>You like movie’s with loads of style (ishtyle)

>You like lots of crazy(logic-less) stunts in movies

>You like stylish dialogues, the kind that you can’t say all the time in your normal life, but still they are damn cool.

>You don’t like to use your brain while watching movies, because this movie doesn’t have too much logic. Anyway we don’t always like movies that makes us think,

sometimes it’s just

>> Sun Yaar Chill Maar

>You think Akshay Kumar rocks!

Tashan Ve!!!

Last weekend was also quite special, because I may have come on live television.

The reason being, I had gone to D. Y. Patil stadium, Nerul for IPL cricket match between Mumbai Indians and Hyderabad Deccan Chargers on 27^th April 2008.

I had gone there with some of my best friends and we enjoyed cheering throughout the two innings

I am not a fan of cricket, I watch it sometimes, I like the statistics, but I am not crazy about it.

The reason I went to see this match was to experience the dazzle of watching Live Cricket Match involving international super stars. So among other cricketers who graced the pitch? I was able to see Afridi, Styris, Symmonds, RP Singh, Ashish Nehra very closely, while others I watched through binoculars! Although Mumbai lost it, Gilchrist’s explosive batting charged up the proceedings. It was an amazing experience. Now only other very important dream remains is to watch a football match involving Arsenal football club….LIVE at Emirates Stadium! Dream on!! That’s my last two weekends in a nutshell. Yes! One more thing, I just got a new cell phone for my sister, Sony Ericsson W200i (Review coming soon! Hopefully!)

IPL Match -Mumbai vs Hyderabad

Cheering with my some of my best friends at D. Y. Patil stadium, nerul on 27 April 2008. I am second from right! ;-)