Adrenalin rush

Sachin scored a double ton today. it was one of the most satisfying day of my life. I had never thought that a cricket match watched (or read to be more precise) on cric info would be so exciting...

well the most exciting part of any cricket match starts after the match officially ends and when you ask/discuss about the match with your (south african) friends.

Me in an excited tone of voice - "How was the Match today?"

when i threw this question to my friend, you could see his expression changing. The last time i saw this expression was that of myself. This was way back in 2005 when i had got typhoid and i had unavoidably "sharted" in my shorts. (^wet fart is called as a shart)

The most difficult part of this situation is taking a long walk back to the toilet with that weird feeling underneath.

"oh ... was there a match today?? i never knew it"

Well done my friend.. nice defense on the back foot.. now take a long walk ... but again, what could he have done. it was such a day that even god couldn't stop what was happening when Sachin was on crease.

admist the hectic work that we've been involved in, i guess this innings gave us the much needed adrinalin and brought a smile to our faces. I just hope that there would be more such little moments of joy that could make our day!!

... Aparthied days Part 1

I should have written a blog about this a long time back. Last month, i had a previlage of going to the Robin island (cape town). The island which is famously (or infamously rather) known for imprisoning Nelson Mandela for 27 frekkin years for fighting for liberty and equality for blacks.

I chose a state run tourism package which involved a ferry ride to Robben island, a bus ride, visit to the prisons and interaction with an ex political prisoner.

its 12.06AM now and i cant invest more time in writing about how i felt and what are my views regarding apartheid well, i am too sleepy now. but one should see the below picture that depicts the type and extent of aparthied that existed even in a prison having just the 'Blacks' and the 'Colored' (no offence meant)

Let me help you with what is written here -

Mealie = local name for corn

Puzamandla- a Porridge

B class - colored and indians

C Class - Blacks.

What if I “had” a girlfriend...

Bathing is the time when i get funny thoughts. Maybe that’s because I am not conscious enough to think sane things at 6.30 AM. The other day, this thought struck me – What if I “had” a girlfriend.

Well, the only thing that I “have” in the morning (say at 7.00AM) is breakfast. Now that includes either a sandwich, cereals or a Bun (roll as they call it in SA)

So technically speaking, I have just 3 choices that i can think of as my girlfriend – Sandwich, Bun and cereals :) . Sandwich sounds masculine so its ruled out instantly. “Cereals” sound like having multiple wives. Just like a Sheik of Saudi. Well, I am not thaaat “shaken” yet.

The only left with me is a “Bun”. Now that sounds a cute name for my girlfriend. If I marry a Bun, she would be a “house bunny” for the rest of my life

Now, consider that I’ve married a bun. How would my wife’s family be like?

Brother in law – “Bread” (as I told u, he is masculine so he qualifies for my brother in law)
Father in law – Rusk (a toasted bread that’s tough. So should be my Father in law)
Mother in law – Sauce (cuz sauce sounds like Saas in Hindi)
Sister in law – Sauce (kyon ki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi....)
my wife - a saucy house bunny

Insane isn’t it? just like me ..

Fuzzy toilet door signs

Signs on toilet doors are a interesting things to notice. I recently went to this restaurant for a nice little dinner. The rest rooms here had 2 doors - one with a picture of a screw and other with a picture of a Bolt. hmmm.. Given the fact that the restaurant had a bar attached, and people here at times get really drunk, don’t you think the hotel management is expecting customers with above average IQ? Someone who can be smart even while he/she is drunk :). You can expect a few drunk people would be "pissed" even without going to the toilet.

Yesterday's restaurant was even worse. it was a German restaurant at the waterfront. the toilet doors had similar pictures of....err.. Human beings.. i couldn’t recognize the freaking symbols even without having drinks..

The lady wore a long gown with her hair covered.. The man also wore some sort of gown - Well, i donno what that shit was. Something that only Germans after having a couple of pints of dark beer could recognize. It took me a while to decode this symbol..  I just hope that toilets in future don’t have ‘XX’ for female and ‘XY’  for male.. 

Bungy Jumping - Photos

On the way

Braii area

Mossel Bay

Bagpackers - Living room

Bungy Jump

Many of my friends asked me as to how my experience of bungy jumping was. In the beginning, I used to answer this question with great spirit and enthusiasm but eventually I felt that I should write a blog explaining my whole experience.

Where should we go????

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It was Friday the 27th when each of us were frustrated and wanted to do something out of the box. We thought of various things -

Going to Kalahari (well, none of us knew where Kalahari was and what we could do there),

Going to a resort (the boring old fashioned infy-istic and Bangalore style fun)

Going to a disc (resort sounds better now)

At around 1.30 at night, an idea popped up to Sharat that we should bungy jump and that we should go to Gouritz. Gouritz was a place situated 250 kms from where we stay. We decided that we will go to a city called Mossel Bay on Saturday, bungy jump on the same day, Stay in Mossel bay for a night and drive back home on Sunday.

Where do we stay??

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Planning does not work especially with us. The reason I am saying this is because, when we woke up on Saturday, it was already 11 in the morning. We got ready by 2 in the noon and almost stepped out of our houses before we realized that we had not booked a hotel in mossel bay. We had a modest budget in mind. So we decided to book for a bagpackers. A bagpackers is a place where one can hire a bed for a night. Most people here do that cuz it’s really cheap (not in terms of INR though). We spent R120 per person per night.

Which way should we go??

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oh.. and how can I forget to mention that both of us did not know the route to mossel bay. Well, we had to Google it. Frankly speaking, I am so bad at routes that I remember my first day at work .. I had to go to the restroom and when I was done, I had forgotten where my cubicle was :)

Gambling

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Things don’t end here. We found a casino on our way. none of us had been to a casino till date. So we went inside to try our luck. All I wanted was to know how the slot machine works. I had no intention of spending money cuz I always felt that whenever I had left my fate on "Luck", I suffered. To know the slot machines, I choose a relatively cheap slot machine - a 50 cents slot machine. Well, call it fate or destiny or a supernatural event. after some unsuccessful tries, eventually ended up getting a combination "777" which instantly gave me 1000 points. As it’s a 50 cent slot machine, the total money I earned was - 1000 * .5 = 500 rands.

I still refuse to believe in gambling as I feel that there is no definite way of successful gambling. it’s all about luck and hence the most illogical thing to do if u do it for earning money. All I can say is - Saturday was my day!

Mossel bay

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Mossel bay is a nice vacation spot. we felt that we did not do justice to this place. as we reached at 11.30PM. we were expecting a crappy bagpackers as it was really cheap. To our surprise, when we reached the place (bagpackers) we found that it was really amazing. The entire place had wooden furnishings and looked like a 19th century bungalow. it had a living room with a TV and a dining table. The living room was furnished with African congo, masks and chandelier. there was a pretty kitchen attached with all necessary amenities. it had a beautiful garden with chairs and hammocks, and a Braai (south African name for barbeque) section if you wish to. Also attached was a small makeshift kitchen near the lawn which had an electric kettle, coffee, Tea, sugar, milk and a toaster. so that one need not go to kitchen to prepare tea. Optionally, they served breakfast (we had to inform them in advance for that).

The rooms had bunker beds (only 2 levels) and had a night lamp attached to each bed. a Basin was attached to the room and the whole bungalow had 1 bathroom with toilet and a bathtub attached (probably there were more. I just saw this one). Even the bathroom was furnished in a conservative 19th century British style. I had heard about such places in fairy tales. Today, I felt that I was really in one such place. Amazing experience.

Bloukrans

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During our breakfast at mossel bay, we happened to ask the caretaker of the bagpackers regarding the Gourtiz. She informed us that it is closed. Now, the option left with us was to go home like a looser and become a laughing stock amoung our friends or to go to bloukrans.

We chose the latter. Bloukrans was 350 kms away from Mossel bay and that meant it would take us around 4 hours to reach there. After some research over the internet (thankfully I had taken my laptop), we found a adventure club called face adrenalin which sponsored bungy jumps. We contacted them and came to know that it was still open.

We drove to Bloukrans. Standing on one side of the mountain, we could see people doing bungy jumps. It looked awesome. The only worry that I had was the weight limit. When I asked the instructor there, he informed that the weight limit was 160 kgs. I also asked him about any accidents that have happened in the past. He informed that there were no accidents from past 15 years. That was it! I had enough logical reason not to fear the jump and go for it whole heartedly.

I was the second person to jump from the bridge. For the first 4 seconds, its just a free fall. And that free fall makes u understand a lot of unknown mysteries that one always felt. One such mystery was

how does free fall feel like?

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We reach a speed of 120 kmph within 2 seconds when we jump off the bridge. The air rushes on to your face and it feels like someone has pulled the ground under your foot.

What is the maximum adrenalin you can achieve, what happens if u hang up side down for around 4 minutes..

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You actually feel weightless for some time. Well, that’s a great feeling as I am tired carrying my huge body for a long time now. However, the feeling is temporary. After 4 seconds that’s when the rope comes into action. Its 10 times more adrenalin than the “drop zone” ride in wonder la.

How do you come back on the bridge
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They have people who rescue us. No worries.

Wait for the next blog for photos ..................... :)

Reading the reviews/ratings before watching the movie

This is my first blog in 2009. There were a lot of things that i thought i would do on priority in 2009. Updating my blog was one of them.
But hey! Guess what, my first post comes on Feb 24 2009 - Just 2 months. now a days, even Indian government does things faster than this :)


For all the people who are wondering where i am, and what i am doing, here is your answer - i am in Cape town South Africa right now on an onsite
Assignment.


Reading the reviews before watching the movie
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i have this Unusual habit of looking into the review of a movie before watching it in a theater or... downloading it :).
I know that some people here don’t agree with me. (Well, when i say "some people" I mean almost 80 percent of the people i know).

Watching a movie in a multiplex in India costs u around 300 bucks (first day first show) and not all can afford to see all that the bollywood/hollywood has to offer.
Having said that, i try to optimize my selections by reading reviews on various websites. i refer to websites such as:


IBNLive.com - critic's opinion
movies.indiatimes.com
movies.yahoo.com

if the average of the ratings suggests that the movie is good, and if the ratings on all these websites are consistent, I watch the movie. Otherwise, i wait for such a movie.
The idea here seems to be logically correct and is a quantitative way to gauge a movie. However, my friends seem to feel that by doing so, I would miss out on some good movies.
i surely would miss some good ones. But don’t u think that the movies that i choose has a better probability of being good?

Secondly, watching a movie just because a "superstar" is acting is the stupidest thing to do. a movie should be a good mix of plot, acting, cinematography.. etc. I gave it a try for Delhi 6. And believe me, it was not a great movie to watch (leave apart the music) cuz it lacked a good story and a pretty average acting by Abhishek Bacchan. i made a mistake of watching this movie in spite of the fact that the ratings given to this movie were inconsistent on the review sites. I felt that at a time where i had a choice of watching Oscar nominated movies such as "Milk", "curious case of Benjamin Button" i choose to watch such a dumb movie.

Forest fire
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Its summer time here in cape town. and believe me, the scotching heat and dry winds make it an ideal time for forest fires. The window in my room faces east and hence, i usually know when the sun rises. This monday though was a bit different. it was 6.35AM and it was still dark. i did not realize it until i left for office @ 7.45AM. This is what i saw:


The photo isn't that great though.. after all, i captured it using my mobile phone.