Chapter 1 - The Beginning

There a lot of beautiful things in life to savor, the best is the early morning sleep that we get from 4 - 7 am. Only to be disturbed by the wonderful aroma of a good coffee and the smell of bacon and toast. Aleek Nevar was disturbed today, not only by the aroma and smell but by a lingering thought as well, thought of him attending work for the first time in his life.

Aleek felt the morning chill, got up and stood in front of the mirror and smiled. His Stockiness commended his height and his chiseled chin made it all more the compelling. As he bathed, he ran the entire sequence of events again in his head. The particular day was fresh in memory and important to his life. At 24, Aleek prided himself being the complete package.

Aleek made up his mind to help his dad. Aleek knew that his family background and also knew the current financial status. Since college was now over, Aleek decided to work for some time and then go back to studying in a couple of years. Aleek kept saying this to himself and to most of the interviews that he attended. Most of the time, this line would not get him through the final stage but this one was special.

On this hard sunny day of April, Aleek walked into Engata. He had applied for a job which perfectly matched his skills and at the same time, matched his professional apetite. After 5 gruelling rounds, Aleek was amongst the 2 short listed candidates and waited for the final interview to happen. Aleek faced the 3 people in that organization - Krit Namak (Vice President), Ana Soltzsti (Senior Manager) and Vlade Sunner (HR Manager). Aleek quickly impressed Krit and Vlade but not Ana. Ana said, "So Mr. Nevar, in your application, I see that you want to work for a couple of years and then get back to studying. If that is the case, why should we pick you at Engata. A lot of energy would be going into training you, mentoring you so that we get to realize that worth a year later. By that time, you would leave and we would be left in a position to search for another replacement".

"I do agree to your point Ms. Solzsti - did I pronounce it right? The rigor of training a new resource is a real big challenge but then with a candidate like me, your rigor will be very less to minimum. Also, what I mentioned in my application is a future plan of mine and as you know, no one knows the future and nothing is die cast. Even if that situation does come up, I assure you 2 things - (a) make sure that I give back Engata more than what I got and (b) stay back till the time I help and train the replacement and satisfy Engata. Not that I want to be replaced but as you would know no one is indispensable to an organization" Aleek responded. He made it very clear that he did not like Ana.

Vlade had this grinch like smile on him and Krit nodded too. Aleek had just nailed the coffin. Krit said"Mr. Nevar, could you please wait outside?" Aleek shook hands firmly with the Krit and Vlade, customary shake with Ana and walked slowly out of the room. Ana did not wait for Aleek to leave. "Krit, this kid is a fire brand, a smart alec. His addition to the new project team would mean confusion as his attitude would make it hard for us to get him in the groove. I would suggest that we take Nash." Vlade intervened, "I actually think the kid stood up for himself. He made a point and was very open and forthcoming. He did not get presurized, a rare trait in our industry today. Come on, Ana, he seems smart and hewould definitely learn the ropes faster". Krit nodded again and Ana was got irritated by this nod. She knew when Krit nodded twice, the decision was sealed.

Vlade called Aleek and informed him of the decision. Aleek accepted it with a blank expression, Vlade was a bit surprised at this as he expected some sort of joy to show up. A couple of formalities later, Aleek was formally a part of Engata. He had joined them as Trainee Junior Manager. The phone rang and it disturbed Aleek's thought train. It was his friend - Matt. "Hey Al, getting ready to conquer Engata and the world eh", he quipped. "Matt, this is my first job, and it is no conquest. Lets meet up today evening back at The Shillelagh and you can get the dump. Got to go now, so ciao".

Aleek smiled, Matt had judged him rightly, his new vigor told him to go out and conquer everything in his sight. He felt Engata would be the first of such conquests but was very well wary of his challenge. He made sure that he was there well ahead of time. As he entered the building, he felt that the big brass E was bowing to him with a warm smile. There were a lot of people watching this confident strut of a new and handsome guy. One of them disagreed with the rest.

Prelogue

Time's up

The heat was particulary high and the wind was almost non-existent. Humidity was at its peak and the he was soaked wet. That's what woke him up in the first place. It looked as if he had bathed in his own sweat but then that was the least of his problems.


He realized that he was bound, unable to move. His head was really heavy due to the real strong dosage and he slowly opened his eyes. All he could see was a weak image of a table and an empty vase. He was unable to scream or even talk, only a painful grunt came out. Slowly but steadily, vision was restored as the effects were wearing out. The entire room was empty except for the table and the vase. There were no windows. There was no sound except for this ventilator which made more noise and spurted less of air. Anxiousness now built up and the adrenalin started pumping up. Now he checked himself, everything was fine with him - for the moment, his brain added. He strained his five senses to get him more information but all that he drew was a blank. His brain told him, "Is it time for you to go??"

Small Update

Hi All,

I think I will be able tp blog only once a month :(. The habit of putting the things on my head here needs to speed up. I have been plagued with various stuff from July and till date.

I had severe ankle sprain on my left leg and now followed it up with some kind of muscle strain in my right leg. I thnk it is injury time for me and though I am really recuperating slowly, I still want to move around easly as possible.

Having said that, I am not a regular blogger like Amitabh Bachchan or Amir Khan :) - I am still trying to get to that level but then i think it will take time or rather I will need to find time

Auf Wiedersen

The new scenario

Hi All,

It took me some time to really work my way back in here. There was a truckload of work and it had to be attended to. Once that was done, I was back to the one thing that I do best - watch movies.

I watched 2 movies - Dark Knight and 21. Both gripped me and shook me - well in a wonderful way. Firstly, I have to thank both the directors who pulled me out of the Dasavatharam debacle that happened a couple of weeks back.

Dark Knight:
The entire movie was a revelation. A deep, intense and yet a wonderful masterpiece. Till date, I have watched all the batman movies and I feel the last 2 instalments are the best in the entire list (no offense Mr. Tim Burton). I always have read and heard that "Joker made the Batman complete" but after seeing this movie and the performance put up by Heath Ledger, I think it is the other way around - Batman made the Joker compelte. It is said that he made Batman the hero and sometimes his current legacy. Heath proved that Joker himself was a hero in his own right and that he challenged Batman's heroism. Out of all the villians till date potrayed on the large screen, this is the definitely the best. Hollywood has to acknowledge this fact that Heath turned the Joker into something bigger, better and importantlly, a sellable and viable commodity. To be really candid and frank, I would now want to start a Joker Fan Nation and really explore this character's mind set.

In a lot of documentations, theories, etc, it always talked about the pain that Batman / Bruce Wayne is undergoing and how it keeps pushing him. I feel that Joker was in far superior pain and that is why what he was - a full fledged nemesis to our most loved caped crusader. Joker and Batman were one of a kind and I thank the creator who bought them forth but I bow to Heath and Chris Nolan who showed that Joker was no freak. He was one of the best master minds who planned everything and left nothing to contingency.

Lets delve a bit more in to the pain of Joker. Why the face paint? why that intensity to bring chaos around him and let it rule? I will continue this soon and also write up on 21

"Dumil" Avatharam

Hi All,

Its nice to be back - 3 years in to hiding (work basically) and now I have little time left in my hands.

The first thing I wanted to do is catch a couple of movies, take a nice vacation, hike, etc. But I stopped after the first movie I caught, 'cuz it caught me unawares. I happen to see Dasavatharam and I would rather say I punished myself.

Do not get me wrong, I am a hardcore Kamal fan - i dig every movie of his. I still talk about the screen play and its finesse of Anbe Sivam. I see the movie with my wife everytime and I learn something new from that movie. But then every one comes a full circle and so has Kamal. Not that he has not given flop movies at all, but he was fairly consistent. Till date, I would rate this movie as his worst and as a movie-lover, it would top all the bad movies there, even Ram Gopal Verma ki Aag (Ramu, can be happy that some one did a worse job)

This was not a Kamal movie at all. I think this movie failed on every aspect of movie making. Most of the die-hard fans wrote a lot of reviews but then they did not collude to the actuality and hence I decided to write this blog.

The story line is to explain "Chaos Theory" but man, I guess, making this movie itself would have been total chaos. Firstly a biological lab which has a small vial of bio-warfare- thats cool. Then 1 guy escapes with it and he is not being caught. Also funnily the package gets shipped. Question 1: Are we trying to say that things that get shipped out of US through courier is not scanned? Err! wrong makkale. The movie should have ended right then and there. Alright, people are chasing him for the vial. We have state-of-the-art infrastructure to create these weapons but we have no data back up to re-create the entire process. Sharpen your ears BPO companies, may be you can offer your services to back up data and present it on a later date. Lets not run behind the poor hero. He can have his vial and think to himself that he has saved the world.

Ok lets move forward. The movie trudges along, the guy reaches india along with cargo, then things happen and he is kidnapped along with a indian cop (do you believe it-wish I could kidnap a constable at least) by American who landed in another plane. Our security is so cool that they want to check out a Punjabi Singer rather than do their job (So Indian-like). They drive around and pass over a bridge. Question 2: Can the hero just throw the vial into the water so that NaCl in the water can react against it? Err! No, he wont, needs to run the movie along

Enter herione and then the hero and herione embark on a great adventure (natural from the days of Daud). Movie just moves on at its own pace, enter different make-up clad Kamals and then finally comes to a climax with the CIA agent biting the vial. Then god comes into the picture and saves the world by creating Tsunami and sacrifices a few thousands to save a few millions. The hero ponders if there god is really there as he should not have given the idea in the first place for them to make this bio-weapon. I wonder too if god really exists, if he did, he would not have allowed the director to make the movie in the first place. Shoddy Story, incoherent screenplay, woeful music, bad CGI and purely bad acting.

CGI - They could have spent more money on CGI rather than the make-up. It would have helped to one point
Lot of characters were in and out of the movie (including other Kamals). The Punjabi singer was a real exception. He has throat cancer and then sings with his wife. His wife is worried but dances with him. When the CIA guy attacks, he watches while his wife true to her punjabi origin, fights the villian. Question 3: How do you get rid of cancer? easy, hire a contract killer, stand in front of him and ask him to shoot at the cancer (not at you). Simpe and effective - doctors and patients beware, this might get implemented very soon at a hospital near you. I really can write a 100 atleast such questions.

Icing on the cake: Bush (US President), Manmohan Singh (Indian PM) and Karunanidhi (TN CM) are all in one stage and the director himslef danced and sang to the glory (praise) of the hero - for what reason? God created Tsunami and saved millions from dying. Our hero could have destroyed the vial anywhere, he did not, or he could have jumped into the water, with the vial and die, or do better- rent a scuba diving unit, go to the sea bed, bury the vial there (its awfully cold there anyways and best place for NaCl) and come back. No he wont do all that 'cuz this is all common logic.

Only few are given chances to do artistic (thats how god made them) and then made commoners like you and me to embrace their talent. Not everyone can act, sing, write, direct, etc but here is one person who god bestowed with all talents and who was using them wisely till date. I would like to add that people who detracted on the release of Baba and then lauded Chandramukhi will again do the same thing.

Parting Shot: Of course, everyone does mistakes in this world. All of us are humans. I made the mistake of watching this movie and will correct that one by soon watching a better movie.

Auf Wiedersehen