It happened on a July 03. The holy god decided that the life on earth had been very boring, quiet and dull. To add some spice to everybody's life - he created NANDOO. Nandoo- the Ultimate entertainer.
Nandoo - Good
For those who are not familiar with Nandoo, let me give you a sneak peek into his little life. He is a born entertainer. While the rest of us relied on the gift if our gab for every presentation, Nandoo had an extra weapon - his wild imagination. He could collect the right picture for any topic given and his presentations were always outstanding. Whether it is the award winning paper presentation or the presentation for the kids at the destitute home, each had the stamp of Nandoo's creativity.
Nandoo could think out of the box. During the college cultural when we decided that we would lip sync a scene from Alaipayuthae, he gave the corniest idea and the whole college loved it. He gave just what the people wanted.
Nandoo - Bad
Nandoo is a born prankster. I am surprised that he doesn’t sport horns on his head like the Onida kid. Once we had been to a college for some cultural and the following is the way he answered a quiz.
Q. Who is called China's sorrow?
A. You
Q. Who is the world's richest man according to Forbes?
A. Me
Q. Who was crowned Ms. Universe in 1994?
A. Your Aaya.
In better sense we left the name column blank and that’s why we are still alive blogging :-)
At the outset he is a jolly good fella, but something that many people don’t know is that Nandoo REALLY gets angry. I remember Maapu was once studying something (I guess it was DSP) at an unearthly hour (meaning before the semester exams :-)) and when I asked why he replied "Nandoo Thittuvaan".
Nandoo - Ugly
Nandoo is a spendthrift. Give him a million dollars and he will tell you a plan to finish it in a day. I guess the only people who enjoy his support in this regard are the Credit card people.
In his childhood Nandoo was taught the principle of Forgive and Forget. Since Nandoo was gaping shamelessly at the girl next door he only heard the word Forget and follows it faithfully to date. We would go out somewhere and he would ask me "Where is the bike key?” It’s just that his stars have been good that his pulsar is still on road with him.
Nandoo has lost 4 mobile phones till date. The first time we had argument for a day as which mobile phone to buy. He bought a Sony 210 model for about 10K and lost it in Bangalore. One thing I have noticed about people who lose their mobile is that once they lose one, the next model is most probably a Nokia 1100. I guess Nokia can advertise it as a Loser's Mobile (pun intended). When Nandoo lost his 4th mobile successfully (?) he called the Airtel guy.
Nandoo: Hi. I just lost my mobile phone. Can you please lock my number xxxxxxxxxx.
Airtel: Yes Sir. I will do it. And I am sorry to hear this.
Nandoo: It’s ok. It’s not first time I am doing this. By the way this is the 4th mobile I have lost.
I heard that the guy fainted and was out on a week's leave.
Please join me in wishing Nandoo a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY. Long live Nandoo and long live his pranks :-).
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Finding Neverland
Movies are of 2 types. They are either meant to entertain you or move you. Unfortunately the ones made now are made in secret joint venture with the pharmaceutical companies to increase the sales of their headache pills. The only move possible is you move even before the ending credit rolls up. Today I found a movie that was an exception....a glorifying one. FINDING NEVERLAND.
For those who have never heard about this movie, this is in short about it. J M Barrie was a famous author whose play had flopped and panned as well. He finds himself in what is called as a writer’s block. He comes across a family of a widow and her 4 sons....the most interesting of them is PETER. Based on the adventures with the boys that Barrie has, he writes a play called PETER PAN, which is about a farie who would never age, and his chronicles.
I know what you are thinking. So what’s special in this movie? Imagination. Just turn back time and think what you imagined when you were a child. Didn’t we all imagine flying? A world without gravity, without any school, without the strict math’s teacher, without any homework. A world where plants have chocolates as flowers, where candies could grow on tress, where we could fly as high as we want and do what we like. What happened to that innocence?
The present generation of children seems to have been robbed of their innocence. I remember my friend telling me that one of his young relative once mentioned in the beach "hai…fan maadhiriyae kaathu varadu illa?". Pity that children are made to attend computer courses, play stupid video games and kick karate in vacations and not explore what lays around in this beautiful world. I have no doubt why we all starve for someone as J K Rowling to imagine for us as in Harry Potter.
But on the other side, when I happen to stroll by the shopping mall near my house, I smile to myself when I see children playing happily on their perambulators. I envy them as well, as I as a kid never had a perambulator and I wonder now I am too large to be carried in one at present. There was kid at this Disney toyshop that was running around picking everything he could and throwing it around. I could imagine how his father must have been so fit for his age. But isn’t it amazing the amount of energy we had as kids? I remember playing cricket from morning till evening in Gujarat at about 42 Degrees. The previous month I gulped 2 cold drinks and 2 buttermilk packets after just an hour of walk in the mottai veyyil of Chennai.
So tell me....what was your Neverland?
For those who have never heard about this movie, this is in short about it. J M Barrie was a famous author whose play had flopped and panned as well. He finds himself in what is called as a writer’s block. He comes across a family of a widow and her 4 sons....the most interesting of them is PETER. Based on the adventures with the boys that Barrie has, he writes a play called PETER PAN, which is about a farie who would never age, and his chronicles.
I know what you are thinking. So what’s special in this movie? Imagination. Just turn back time and think what you imagined when you were a child. Didn’t we all imagine flying? A world without gravity, without any school, without the strict math’s teacher, without any homework. A world where plants have chocolates as flowers, where candies could grow on tress, where we could fly as high as we want and do what we like. What happened to that innocence?
The present generation of children seems to have been robbed of their innocence. I remember my friend telling me that one of his young relative once mentioned in the beach "hai…fan maadhiriyae kaathu varadu illa?". Pity that children are made to attend computer courses, play stupid video games and kick karate in vacations and not explore what lays around in this beautiful world. I have no doubt why we all starve for someone as J K Rowling to imagine for us as in Harry Potter.
But on the other side, when I happen to stroll by the shopping mall near my house, I smile to myself when I see children playing happily on their perambulators. I envy them as well, as I as a kid never had a perambulator and I wonder now I am too large to be carried in one at present. There was kid at this Disney toyshop that was running around picking everything he could and throwing it around. I could imagine how his father must have been so fit for his age. But isn’t it amazing the amount of energy we had as kids? I remember playing cricket from morning till evening in Gujarat at about 42 Degrees. The previous month I gulped 2 cold drinks and 2 buttermilk packets after just an hour of walk in the mottai veyyil of Chennai.
So tell me....what was your Neverland?
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
What's in a Name?
This part of the blog is brought to you by my Client manager. Ooops...before you decide to confuse yourself that the one you are sitting before is an idiot box or a comp, let me clarify it. The whole germ for this blog was born when my client Manager addressed me.."HARRAASH". Holy Crap!!!
Now take a tortoise coil and revolve it before your eyes and travel back in time mahine. Yup...you guessed it. We are now switching on to the flashback mode. Long ago (not very long though) when i was born, my parents decided to christen me as HARIHARAN and did so. But I guess that they were clairvoyant enough to understand that I would be a singer good enough to invite all donkeys in neighbourhood and so decided not to mess up with Gazal ustad and playback singer Hariharan's name and so shortened it to Harish. To make matters little more complicated, my parents gave birth to my younger brother (which I don’t mind) and named him Girish (I do now). From all my relatives to my neighbors people had this huge confusion of Who is Harish and is he the elder or younger one.
As if the confusion was very less, my school principal included my grandpa's name with mine and there all hell broke loose. My name became CHELLAM HARISH NARAYANAN in all my official records..from mark sheets to Visa, my name has been mutilated.
Have you ever counted the number of blocks while entering your name in the passport or any other form? No? I did. Every time I saw some blocks to enter my name, i would growl and enter it as if i were signing my death warrant.
Infact I was asked this question in my interview
Interviewer:"So tell me your name?"
Me: "I am Chellam Harish Narayanan"
Interviewer: "No No. I am asking YOUR name"
Me (bulb glowing above):"Well, I am Harish. Chellam is my Grandfather and Narayanan is my father. (pause)You see, i am a literal sandwich between my pa and Grandpa."(Smiles from interviewer)
Apart from my name i have been addressed as the following
1. Haathi, Aalu - This was in North India when i looked like Yoko Zuna's desecdent
2. Ice - Usually kids of 2 or 3 years end up sounding COOL
3. Soda butti - Humiliation for a herediatry defect. Now wearing glasses is a fashion. Damn!
4. Takkali - My school senior referred me for my chubby cheeks.
5. Harris - Thank you ohmahazia Harris.
6. Harry Potter - Other than spectacles and lack of girlfriends, we are nowhere similar.
7. Mandu - College adaimozhi. Price I paid for my stupidness
8. Chellam - My teammates love irritating by calling me with this. Someone would yell "Chellam...inda error eppadi solve pandradu??" a la Prakash Raj. Sorry Grandpa :-)
Well...I have no qualms about being called anything as long as it sounds respectful. Ore oru kurai thaan. Enda ponnum vandu "Chellam...I Love you da" solla maatengra. :-) (Aasai dosai)
Now take a tortoise coil and revolve it before your eyes and travel back in time mahine. Yup...you guessed it. We are now switching on to the flashback mode. Long ago (not very long though) when i was born, my parents decided to christen me as HARIHARAN and did so. But I guess that they were clairvoyant enough to understand that I would be a singer good enough to invite all donkeys in neighbourhood and so decided not to mess up with Gazal ustad and playback singer Hariharan's name and so shortened it to Harish. To make matters little more complicated, my parents gave birth to my younger brother (which I don’t mind) and named him Girish (I do now). From all my relatives to my neighbors people had this huge confusion of Who is Harish and is he the elder or younger one.
As if the confusion was very less, my school principal included my grandpa's name with mine and there all hell broke loose. My name became CHELLAM HARISH NARAYANAN in all my official records..from mark sheets to Visa, my name has been mutilated.
Have you ever counted the number of blocks while entering your name in the passport or any other form? No? I did. Every time I saw some blocks to enter my name, i would growl and enter it as if i were signing my death warrant.
Infact I was asked this question in my interview
Interviewer:"So tell me your name?"
Me: "I am Chellam Harish Narayanan"
Interviewer: "No No. I am asking YOUR name"
Me (bulb glowing above):"Well, I am Harish. Chellam is my Grandfather and Narayanan is my father. (pause)You see, i am a literal sandwich between my pa and Grandpa."(Smiles from interviewer)
Apart from my name i have been addressed as the following
1. Haathi, Aalu - This was in North India when i looked like Yoko Zuna's desecdent
2. Ice - Usually kids of 2 or 3 years end up sounding COOL
3. Soda butti - Humiliation for a herediatry defect. Now wearing glasses is a fashion. Damn!
4. Takkali - My school senior referred me for my chubby cheeks.
5. Harris - Thank you ohmahazia Harris.
6. Harry Potter - Other than spectacles and lack of girlfriends, we are nowhere similar.
7. Mandu - College adaimozhi. Price I paid for my stupidness
8. Chellam - My teammates love irritating by calling me with this. Someone would yell "Chellam...inda error eppadi solve pandradu??" a la Prakash Raj. Sorry Grandpa :-)
Well...I have no qualms about being called anything as long as it sounds respectful. Ore oru kurai thaan. Enda ponnum vandu "Chellam...I Love you da" solla maatengra. :-) (Aasai dosai)
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Alice in Wonderland
"What am i doing here?" Naveen asked himself for the umpteenth time. The place he was standing now was something new to him and he had never been to one before. He had come here because his roommate had persuaded him to do so..and now he didnt know what to do.
He looked grimly at the lady next to him and she gave him a cold stare which was enough to scare him to death. His friend came running around and ordered "Dei..Take lipgloss from that shelf"
Naveen "Whats that?"
Friend "LipGloss yaar..dont you know what a lipgloss is?"
Naveen gave him a i-have-just-landed-from-mars look and his friend gave him a are-you-gay stare.
Naveen was still wondering what was he doing in the Women's clothing and intimate wear section in the Mall.
P.S: Anda paava patta Naveen naan daanungo :-)
He looked grimly at the lady next to him and she gave him a cold stare which was enough to scare him to death. His friend came running around and ordered "Dei..Take lipgloss from that shelf"
Naveen "Whats that?"
Friend "LipGloss yaar..dont you know what a lipgloss is?"
Naveen gave him a i-have-just-landed-from-mars look and his friend gave him a are-you-gay stare.
Naveen was still wondering what was he doing in the Women's clothing and intimate wear section in the Mall.
P.S: Anda paava patta Naveen naan daanungo :-)
Saturday, June 03, 2006
MI3: Cruise Controlled
Tom Cruise and his famous signature MI theme are back in MI3. The movie is running to "packed houses" here (there were 13 people including the operator) and my morale on watching this very sight at beginning got dwindled.
But then guys..its not necessary that a crowded movie be great and vice versa (example Vijay’s movies in Tamil). Coming back to the movie..it was sheer popcorn stuff. Story? Well..this time the mission is personal for Cruise and his team. Super Spy Ethan Hunt (Cruise) is now out from force and wants to marry his lady love Julia (a Katie Holmes-look-alike-Michelle Monaghan). He is persuaded on one last mission where he is confronted by Damien (Philip Hoffman) and what happens next is the rest of MI3.
The movie begins in a novel like fashion with the prologue and then proceeding from the beginning. Hoffman stars as the bad guy and poor chap..he doesn’t even have the footage that Vadivelu enjoys in our Tamil movies. Better luck next time buddy!! The heroine has nothing to do but to wear nice lipstick and kiss Cruise hungrily and scream in the climax. The rest of the cast fades including Laurence Fishburne before one man...CRUISE.
Admit it guys. This guy Cruise is a Superstar and he is there from frame one to the end credits. He lights up the screen with his magnetic presence and charming smile. That too being also the producer of movie he has done his EXTRA bit. (Watch out for the scene where he is on a 100 meter dash in the climax..paavam..padam nalla odunum garadukaaga avarum odi irukkaru). This is the Director (JJ Abrams) first movie and he doesn’t show any nervousness in any way. Obviously you shouldn’t get one after having created two super hit shows on telly (Alias and Lost).
Plot holes? Well..being a super spy movie this one has no one-liners(Unforgivable). Also I miss the poetical John Woo type super slow motion and dove flying shots. The Hero’s team kidnaps Hoffman from Vatican as if the place was Erumaipatti and not Vatican. They said the film flopped here due to Cruise’s personal image getting a beating after he jumped on Couch declaring love for Katie Holmes. Everywhere people are the same. Aren’t they?
The final verdict? Simple. If you want 2 hours of entertainment without asking questions, just grab your popcorn and barge in to the theatre near you playing MI3.
But then guys..its not necessary that a crowded movie be great and vice versa (example Vijay’s movies in Tamil). Coming back to the movie..it was sheer popcorn stuff. Story? Well..this time the mission is personal for Cruise and his team. Super Spy Ethan Hunt (Cruise) is now out from force and wants to marry his lady love Julia (a Katie Holmes-look-alike-Michelle Monaghan). He is persuaded on one last mission where he is confronted by Damien (Philip Hoffman) and what happens next is the rest of MI3.
The movie begins in a novel like fashion with the prologue and then proceeding from the beginning. Hoffman stars as the bad guy and poor chap..he doesn’t even have the footage that Vadivelu enjoys in our Tamil movies. Better luck next time buddy!! The heroine has nothing to do but to wear nice lipstick and kiss Cruise hungrily and scream in the climax. The rest of the cast fades including Laurence Fishburne before one man...CRUISE.
Admit it guys. This guy Cruise is a Superstar and he is there from frame one to the end credits. He lights up the screen with his magnetic presence and charming smile. That too being also the producer of movie he has done his EXTRA bit. (Watch out for the scene where he is on a 100 meter dash in the climax..paavam..padam nalla odunum garadukaaga avarum odi irukkaru). This is the Director (JJ Abrams) first movie and he doesn’t show any nervousness in any way. Obviously you shouldn’t get one after having created two super hit shows on telly (Alias and Lost).
Plot holes? Well..being a super spy movie this one has no one-liners(Unforgivable). Also I miss the poetical John Woo type super slow motion and dove flying shots. The Hero’s team kidnaps Hoffman from Vatican as if the place was Erumaipatti and not Vatican. They said the film flopped here due to Cruise’s personal image getting a beating after he jumped on Couch declaring love for Katie Holmes. Everywhere people are the same. Aren’t they?
The final verdict? Simple. If you want 2 hours of entertainment without asking questions, just grab your popcorn and barge in to the theatre near you playing MI3.
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