A funny thing happened today. Since we have a long wait in the airport tomorrow, I thought I call a relation who stays near the HAL airport and see if we can drop in, my flight reaches at 11:30 and my check in for the Singapore flight is at 9pm. So instead of sitting in the airport we can chat up with her. She is a really sweet lady and we have visited her before, and recently met in Mangalore.

But I usually don't like to disturb people and would like to call in advance and see if they are there. No way will I arrive at any bodies door steps with my bags and a cheery grin. In fact I usually stay in hotels, it is convenient for every one concerned. Here it was a different situation since we would be there for a few hours only.

So after much contemplation I called her today. She sounds genuinely happy hearing my voice. And then I tell her I am coming on tomorrows flight and if we could drop in, and that I leave that night for Singapore.

Immediately she says "But tomorrow is Wednesday..." and realises [probably to her horror] that it is Thursday. And somehow recovers to say "But tomorrow is Thursday". She goes on to say that she has a weekly ritual that day and it would be late when she comes back. She asks for my flight arrival time and confirms that her ritual would get over only after 1pm. She asks when I am leaving, I say 9pm. And she doesn't say anything. So I say should I give a call tomorrow to see if she have arrived after the ritual? Again [a little flustered] she says that the ritual would probably go on till 1:30 and she is with some friends with whom she does this ritual and it could be late since she has to collect the prasad and stuff to be handed over to others.

I now want to say that I come after all that is over, but then she might be having some inhibition you know. I would never want to impose our selves. She once again asks when our flight departs, I say 9pm so enough time for us to spend time after the ritual is over. But she is silent, and instead says "che" as if she missed an opportunity to meet us.

I have a fear of travelling, she probably has one of receiving people at home.

We then do the pleasantries and hang up after she wishes us a great journey. I have not asked others since their homes are too far from the airport anyway, and knowing Bangalore traffic we'll be on the road. I think I pack my sudoku book;-)

I just got a call now from Indian Airlines wanting to know if I am travelling on 16th with Suchitra. This was for confirming the ticket. Jet apparently doesn't require this for my Mangalore Bangalore flt. They haven't called yet;-)

So here is a video of Kodialguttu road before someone decides to dig it all up again;-)

Remember Thin girl on a scooter?

Here is a big girl.

Kolkata Knight Riders vs Delhi Daredevils

KKR batted first on winning the toss but only muster 133/6 which we all know is insufficient in a 20-20 and that too against an opponent like Sehwag and Gautam!

BUT!

KKR had the devil himself with them in the name of Shoab Akhtar. Did he make a come back or what! As the newspapers would report he ripped through the Delhi top order taking 4 very convincing wickets! Did you hear the crowds roar of approval when Shoab [Pakistani] took the wickets of Sehwag and Gautam [both Indian]. Man it was too much. It was too much for Shoab too, he was exhilarated making my wife to comment "He will say 'I will not go back to Pakistan' since he is anyhow going to be banned there!" Heh!

Meanwhile taking those 4 wickets didn't mean the match was sewn up, after the total was low and still winnable. BUT the other bowlers chipped in taking wickets at what they call "regular intervals":-) Two for a chap called Dinda, and three for someone called Shukla. Akhtar and Shukla both were on a hatrick but the new batsman warded them off both times.

Suchitra was rooting for the KKR her fav team since it is owned by her most fav SRK. And was urging the fellows on as if it was a India vs some other country match. Usually she doesn't, in the IPL I mean, we really don't care if say the Devils win instead of the Punjab, since we like them both.

But I was rooting for the Devils since it has our Sehwag and Gautam [also nice old Mr McGrath] and so my chuckles when some KKR balls went for wides or 4s were not met with any approval from her:-) One KKR ball went for 5 wides [missed wicket keeper] seeing Suchitra very tense I told her to look at the positive side, "What positive side!" she thundered, "The Dare Devils got 5 runs you know" I said. I got what is known as the classic "look daggers" look;-) Taking the hint I then cheered KKR to their inevitable victory.

They might have won by 23 runs, but it could have got very close. Heck if Sehwag had say hit a couple of sixes in his over [instead of getting out for a duck] the game would have looked different. No wonder Akhtar got the MOM.

PS: We leave to Singapore tomorrow. And so will not be seeing any IPL matches and so no reviews too. I find the match closing quite late in India and so have no interest in sitting into the night in Singapore which India +2.5 hours ahead.

You may not get the proper results for Bhoothnath like eg the official site, the wiki page, imdb etc. This is because you probably spelled it Bhootnath or Boothnath.

Meanwhile there is a continuity error in Bhoothnath. The little boy when he is first shown is perfectly fine, but when he goes to school a large portion of his upper right incisor is chipped off. Later at home the tooth is whole. This is repeated once again in the school sequence. There after the tooth is whole. I can't imagine why or how they allowed this to get through. CGI was used throughout the movie for various special effects, so adding a chipped off tooth would have been mildly put child's play;-)

Kings XI Punjab beat Bangalore Royal Challengers

Royal Challengers just managed a meagre 144. Since we had gone to see Bhoothnath we missed much of the fun;-) Later I think while the Punjab were batting to a sure win [9 wickets] I think Mr Mallya [Royal Whiner] must have spoken to his friends in the cable industry [or paid them] to switch off transmission. Yeah so we couldn't see the BRC losing with 5 overs to spare. All we saw was a blue screen.

Last heard from Mallya, he wants Fisichella and Sutil to bat for the BRC and Dravid and Boucher to drive a F1 car.

Superstar India by Shoba De

So finished this book yesterday.Actually she calls her self Shobaa which I find very strange considering that she otherwise sounds like a very straight forward person who doesn't believe in dumb beliefs.

Okay so the book is about India, how it is today as compared to a few years ago. Few years ago we were pathetic. When I went abroad I could only take US$ 500 with me as per the regulations. Now not only can I take more, I won't since my credit card is valid anywhere as compared to my old cards which said "valid in India and Nepal only"

BUT as De goes on, side by side with our barons who are able to build a $2 billion "house" [my example not hers] we still have the utterly poor just like the days of old when I could only take $500 out of the country.

So she goes on to talk about the immense contrasts in our country. And makes it known that she doesn't think very highly of China. Chiefly because of lack of freedom. In the sense they are very free, but her minders and guides literally beg her not to ask questions on Tiananmen Square [the massacre ie] or about other uncomfortable things in the country.

The book is a fine read, except for some irritating formatting. Very randomly throughout the book she has sentences in bold as if to emphasise it. Whereas all it does it act like a pot hole on a road, you don't like the pothole but are force to go over it.

There are a few mistakes.
Page 228 Example of the ad slogan "It's different!" should be for Maggie Ketchup not Maggie Noodles [while describing Suchitra Sen]
Page 235 N409ot likely [obvious printer error]
Page 427 Freddie Mercury not Freddie Murphy [obviously made a mistake with Eddie Murphy]

Not very amazingly I found that most of the sentiments in the book were exactly what I would express. Though the examples of Indians zipping off bi annually to foreign locales in their private jets will still be restricted to the Ambanis and not others. I am e.g. going to Singapore on Indian Airlines [not business class] and leaving the country after a period of 8 years!

We saw Bhoothnath yesterday with Sneha and was lovable. The kid has done very well. Amitabh Bachcbahn is his usual self but does very well with this kid too, remember his great interaction with that kid in Cheeni Kum. The kids parents are the lovely Juhi Chawla who looks very lovable indeed and Shah Rukh Khan. They have taken a bungalow in rent in Goa [provided by their company] and will be staying there when his father sails on a cruise ship as its chief officer. He has this cordless phone which works very well on the high seas to contact his family back home.

Amitabh is the resident ghost [Kailsah Nath] of Nath Villa [the bungalow], with the movie starting with a very scary sequence when a couple who come in to celebrate their something or the other are scared away, couple played by the sweet Nauheed Cyrusi and one guy whom we have seen in some ads.

But Nath meets his match in the little kid who isn't scared of him at all [his mom has said ghosts don't exist by angels do] and thinks Nath is an angel. But since Nath keeps insisting "Mai booth hoon!" the kid calls him Bhoothnath! Lot of fun, lot of humour, and lots of sentimental scenes. Suchitra says the girl next to her was bawling.

Humour provided by Rajpal Yadav [Anthony the resident drunk] and the unforgettable Satish Shah [Irani school principal].

Last part of the movie [the senti part] is the one where we come to know the story of Kailash Nath. Very nicely done.

Four and an half stars since they plonked in three songs randomly in the story! I hate that, I prefer if it is smoothly gelled into the story or as a background score. Other 5 stars!

See it for the kid and Juhi! At your theatre!

Chennai Super Kings vs Kings XI Punjab [Saturday]
Missed the first half since we had to go for a dinner, then we had to pick up our girls and come back. And so were watching the second half. The Chennai Kiings were winning, and the Punjab XI had a very slim chance. But with one over to go we lost power, our back up kicked in, but not of the cable operator. By this time I had to bring a disappointed Kavya down, who was watching Barbie [with butterfly wings] when the power went off. When she came down the power came back [for both us and the cable dude] and I found that Irfan Pathan was out. And so since Kavya was asking for Barbie put it on.

It was only the next day did I realise that Balaji got a hat trick. Remember the smiling Balaji who was out on an injury [so they say] for three years who did so well in the Pakistan tour of some two seasons ago. That Balaji.

So accordingly this is how the last over went. Runs required was 27.
Balaji to Irfan [and then Piyush Chawla, VRV Singh, and Uday Kaul]
[6-2-W-W-W-0]

Must have been a thriller. I was actually rooting for the Punjab IX.

Kolkata Knight Riders vs Deccan Chargers [Sunday 4pm]
Was watching the F1 GP and then had to go for a house warming function.
KKR won making Suchitra happy:-)

Rajasthan Royals vs Delhi Daredevils [Sunday 8pm]
When we came back from the house warming the match had started and were able to watch. The DD just managed to make 156. That too because of the tail end heroics of Sri Lankans Dilshan and Maharoof.
Royals had no problem in finishing it off with the first ball of the last over.