Ra.One Review – makes me want a “Raw” One

As most of you know, I usually don’t watch Hindi movies in the theaters. And even more, I had made it a point not to watch a Shah Rukh Khan movie. But with Ra.One, I decided to make an exception, for the only reason that Thalaivar Rajnikanth appears in it for one scene. I will get to that scene somewhere later in the review.

In my humble opinion, Ra.One is 

Happy 2010

Here's wishing all regular viewers, the lone follower and any accidental visitor, a very Happy 2010.

I am on leave today simply because I was on leave on the same date last year. Last year was pretty good professionally and since I didn't really change my style of working, I think only such superstitions can see me through every year. Touch wood.

Sold our Maruti 800 today

The first car we bought, in December 1999, was a Cyprus Blue coloured Maruti 800 DX. After clocking a fabulous 36K Kms over the last 9 years and 9 months, this car was finally sold today.

I have actually been trying to sell off this car for almost 2 years. I came quite close to closing out the sale with a dealer, when I was desperately hunting for a new Swift in late 2008. But something came up then and I had to back out of the deal.

I wanted to sell the car only because of the erosion that it was undergoing due to being exposed to the air in Besant Nagar. The car started picking up rust at amazing speeds and I didn't want it to turn into a pile of dust one fine day.

Also, the rust had started creeping into the engine bay as well and clearly, a big expense would be lining up in a year or two.

My parents also finally accepted the fact that the time had certainly come for the car to be sold. However, they came to the decision because, our part-time driver himself started seconding my opinion. Until that point in time, my views were being dismissed as being frivolous, high-handed and as being an opinion of a person who has no brains or even heart!

Though this guy did help my agenda, the sad part is that I would still not be ready to hand over my Baleno to him! And one of the main reasons I didn't buy a new Swift is also because of the fact that I might have to hand over the reins (so to say) to him.

Don't get me wrong. He is not a rash driver or a bad one or anything like that. Just that I somehow don't like the idea of giving him a big car or a new one to him. Some kind of prejudice I guess, like the many that people claim I have!

Anyway, long-story-short, this driver helped bring a buyer who is a mechanic and also deals in buying and selling of used cars. We have given it off to him for 65K which is about par on the market rate. Now that I have mentioned the amount, I have to prepare myself to hear word like "oh that is too less" or "if only u told me that u were going to sell it, I'd have gotten more" etc etc. Whatever be the case, the deal is done and there is no looking back!

My mother told me that she gave a personal farewell to her குழந்தை in the morning before we all got up. That sentimental value cannot be replaced by any number of cars that I buy henceforth. And it is the same sentimental value that Mr. Raghu is trying to play on right now, by saying that I could have spent some extra money and made it look as good as new!

ஆத்தா நான் pass ஆயிட்டேன்

That was the name of a movie that was released many years ago. It was one of those village themed ones that were quite popular and almost mandated by every movie producer in the late 80s.

The phrase has been used exceedingly by students over the years, when they return home after seeing their exam results in school or college. And I have used it many times myself, the last occasion being this evening.

As I may have ranted in these earlier posts of mine, my employer warrants that all employees must take up a few certification exams every year, failing which their promotions and increments are impacted. I cleared only 1 out of the 2 mandated for last year and I had to clear 2 this year.

I had already given a few attempts at one of these certifications, but the result was always the same - Failed. It didn't help that the pass percentage was set as 70% whereas in my student life, I managed to cross that number only in my practical exams.

Anyways, this morning, I took up one of the certifications for this year. This was relatively an easy one considering that it involved a lot of banking knowledge. Any person who has been following the recent economic crisis would be able to quickly relate to mortgages, second liens etc. And that was basically the syllabus for the exam I took up today.

And the best thing was that I actually studied the material for this exam on Sunday evening. I resisted the urge to watch movies and surf the net and instead, studied for this exam. Even this morning while driving to work, I asked my friend to question me on some of the topics from the material!

I said many a prayer before I left home and my mother also did her exam ritual of applying viboothi on my forehead. At the exam centre at work, I logged into the system and before clicking the confirm button to take the test, I said another round of prayers.

I started answering the questions and found that the paper was relatively easy. There were 60 questions in all and I could say that I was unsure of at least 8 questions. And since I am bound to make mistakes due to my tendency to read fast, I must have screwed up another 4-5 more.

I submitted the paper and once again prayed for a good result and Voila!!! The screen said that I had score 72%. The sick sadist who designed this online exam system has tried to play a neutral tone and the result never announces whether one has passed or not. It only shows the score you obtained.

I came out and checked with my friends who all unanimously said that 70% was the pass-mark. One person even said that it was 65%. In any case, it was clear that I had passed this exam.

When I came home and announced to my mother "ஆத்தா நான் pass ஆயிட்டேன்", she was quite ecstatic. I don't think she was this happy even when I cleared a career altering certification in my previous employment. She was quite eager that I pass this one and has been saying her share of prayers. Guess all that worked in my favor today.

In terms of illogical reasons of why I passed, I can also include the fact that the material that I studied from was originally printed by a friend of mine and it was then passed on to me by another friend. Both these people clear their exams quite effortlessly and I guess their luck rubbed on to me a little.

Any which way, I am one happy man considering that one of my 3 exams are done. The next lot is on the 16th and I am actually going to be writing 2 in a single day. God bless me!

Back to my "un-banded" self

The 4 weeks I have had the rakshai (holy band) from Tirupati on me, haven't really been good for me. My appraisal results didn't come back good. I have still not lost my cold-cough. My parents are getting one niggle or the other. I have been asked upon to sponsor a loan to an auto driver. My project that was supposed to close down this month, got an extension for another quarter; this has in effect put a spanner in my plans for an intra-unit transfer. And many more that I cant list down here!

So, on Thursday morning, when the rakshai suddenly had a problem with one of the strands and it came lose. I didn't lose the opportunity and now my right wrist is back to its free self (except when there is a watch, of course).

Here's the picture of the rakshai just before it was removed!

Betel leaf

Learnt a very valuable lesson today.

Apparently, one should not give another betel leaf (or more than one leaf for that matter), without any remunerative angle being brought into the transaction.

In other words, thou shalt not give/receive betel leaf or leaves without getting/giving money.

Of course, if the betel leaf comes as part of a thaamboolam (with paaku, seeval, coconut etc, like in the bag given to the guests at a wedding/reception), then its ok. But never should it be given as the only item to someone else. It can only be "sold" or at best "bartered".

It also turns out that there are a few other things which fall under the same category. By the time Raghu and his wife listed them out, my brain started sending out the memory overflow error messages. So much so that I remember only the broom from that list.