The weekend began with us deciding to stay at home and not do anything. How wrong we were! On Friday, W had spoken to a consultant, and it just happened that they had an appointment slot free for 11:30 am on Saturday. In the meantime, we knew that P's mom had arrived from Kolkata and we wanted to see her too. So, on Saturday morning, we set out at around 11:00 am for our appointment, planning to drop in on P's and say hi to her mother before heading back for home. We went and saw the consultant - a seemingly totally useless exercise, where we were made to fill out long boring forms which was actually a repetition of what was on our CVs, after which we met the boss lady, who heard us out and promised to be in touch if anything turns up. As we were leaving, we were told tht we had to pay a registration fee of fifty rupees each. AS we had no money with us right then, they said it was okay if we paid them later.

Then we went to R&P's house. And stayed there for the rest of the day, totally unplanned. Aunty (P's mom) was quite cool - she's a doc and a nutritionist with her own TV show, and she stirs a mean kichdi! So that kept us there till the evening, when we all piled in to our car and went to (where else) Spencer Plaza. After shopping for a bit - and yes, we had cookies at Cookie Man - we went off to Oriental Pearl for dinner. R&P are wine people, and ordered Chantilli White. I discovered that I am a non-wine person - the first glass had me a bit mixed up on the inside, and I was not particularly fond of the taste either. W liked it, and R&P and Aunty went for it in a big way. I declined alcohol after the first glass. The food itself was quite good. I split a Tom Yum with W, and it was more spicy than the usual. We had a fried rice with water chestnuts in it - the water chestnuts had been marinated in syrup. Overall, tghe experience was good.

Finally, we got home quite late, but with a plan to make an early start on Sunday and go see Mahabalipuram and get back by 3:00 pm - Aunty and P were catching a train to Kerala at 8:00 pm.

Sunday's "early start" was at 9:00 am. I was all ready and chirpy, and W was none the worse for Saturday night. R, who had consumed large quantities of Chantilli White, had a humongous hangover, but had still managed to wake up early and make sandwiches. So we set out, picnic hamper and all, at 9:00 am. We drove out on to the ECR, which was not very crowded, and stopped at a casuarina grove by the seaside for breakfast. The picnic hamper was soon empty, and we went out onto the beach. While the sun was blazing away, the water was cool enough. As we were playing about, W spotted some dolphins playing in the sea some distance away. We spent the next half an hour pointing and screaming whenever we spotted one. After a while, we went on to Mahabalipuram, where it was so crowded that we managed to see only the so-called Five Rathas before we decided not to see any more of the sights. It was getting quite hot as well, and we went and had lunch at GRT Temple Bay. Buffet at 400 a head was quite expensive, considering that the food was not all that great. The spread was quite large, but the rice dishes were quite bad. The rotis were good, as was the chicken gravy that went with it. At the ample dessert table, the ice creams were the disappointments, though there were plenty of other items to make up for it, especially the croquembouche.

We then drove back and were home by about 3:30 pm - exhausted, but after having a good time!

Next weekend, we will stay in!

Watched Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban night before last. What a movie! I liked it much better than the previous two. Alfonso Cuaron has done a wonderful job, and while in various interviews he has called it darker than the first two movies, I would not characterize it so.

For the first time, we get a sense of the landscape around Hogwarts and the path leading to Hagrid's house. For the first time, we get a true sense of how big Hagrid is - he towers over the children and other teachers alike. Daniel Radcliffe has turned in a much more mature performance, with very good support from Grint and Watson. Dumbledore has a great voice finally, with Michael Gambon replacing Richard Harris. Both Lupin (played by David Thewlis) and Sirius (played by Gary Oldman) were good. The conversation between Harry and Lupin on the bridge is especially good. Harry's ride on the Knight Bus, while a bit slapsticky, was a lot of fun. But where Cuaron really excelled was in the little touches - one of them is when Harry goes out at night roaming the corridors of Hogwarts with his wand lit up to show the way, a man in a painting tells him to put it off as he is trying to sleep. The Quidditch scenes too were very well done - they were more realistic than the ones in Chamber of Secrets.

The only disappointing portrayal was that of the Dementors. They looked more like jellyfish than anything else, though the kiss of death was nicely done. One would have thought the Dementors would be more terrifying - rather on the lines of the Nazgul a la LOTR.

With the change in director making such a big difference, I am looking forward to Mike Newell's interpretation of the Goblet of Fire.

I have to start with another "At last here I am logging in an entry..." See, the problem is not a writer's block, because I'm not a natural writer, so there's no spontaneous rush of words with intermittent dry writing days - i have a problem with writing. Period. Whether it's deciding what to write, or what to reveal, or whether it is an inherent worry about the quality of my writing, I don't really know. Anyway, here I am - M has been cajoling/pleading/persuading me to write about the wonderful day we had last Sunday. So...

We had been invited to lunch at Rom and Janaki's place! Rom (I can't but brag here!) is short for the great Romulus Whitaker, the "snake man" of India. I had helped out with proof-reading/editing the new field guide to the snakes of India that he and Ashok Captain (Pune-based photographer/herpetologist) are publishing shortly. I had finished the assignment some time back and had told Rom that any time he went on a field trip/expedition involving snakes, M and I would be interested in joining him. So I was very pleasantly surprised to see Janaki's mail asking us for lunch. They have meticulous instructions in an MS Word document on how to get to their place since it's a retreat tucked away in the Chengelpet hills, in a very rural setting, some 75 kms south of Chennai.

We didn't know what to expect and it all added to our excitement. Even the exhaustive Saturday night partying didn't deter us - and M was looking forward to another drive on the ECR. It took us roughly 2 hours from home - a lovely drive in pleasant weather, passing villages, farmers in paddy fields, gulmohars, old temples... It was also great birding territory with scores of drongos, kingfisher, bee-eaters, rollers on the lines throughtout the trip. It'd been a long time since we did this - felt this close to nature.

What a wonderful weekend!

Saturday, S had come to stay with us as he had to catch an early-morning flight on Sunday to the UK. So, it was only natural that we party till it was time for him to go to the airport. He had to buy some clothes (he had lost weight - and with it 6 inches), and we went to Planet Fashion and then to Landmark. Picked up Hobson-Jobson for 90 bucks - when they say bargain they mean it!

Then we went to Bike and Barrel. It was after 9 when we reached, and it being Friday night and all that, the place was impossibly crowded. R & P joined us there and a couple more of S's friends were supposed to join us later. We stood around half a barrel, the other half being taken up by a shaven -headed headbanger who was swaying - whether to the beat or because of how pickled he was is anyone's guess, and an Englishman (R identified him as one, what with the stiff upper lip and all that). The liquor flowed, and by the time the food arrived, we had managed to get a table. As we were tucking in, two of S's friends arrived. Unfortunately, one of them was wearing sandals, and was not allowed in. So we decided to continue the party at Tinto. But we reached there about five minutes after eleven, so that choice was out. So we went to The Right Place, where S sweet-talked the waiter into bringing us some beer. Another of S's friends joined us and we were there till about 1:30 am, getting quite sloshed in the process. The reason for all this out-of-control drinking was that S had a chauffeur-driven Safari. Since I almost never get to go out and drink as I drive, this was a perfect opportunity to get drunk. It was quite okay, though it did not beat being pleasantly drunk, which was what R was and there he stayed. I plopped into bed at about 2 am, and never even knew it when S left for the airport at 4 am.

Sunday, we woke up at about 11 am. We had a lunch appointment with a wonderful couple. It involved a long drive to a place in the midst of the wilds. But I shall leave it to W to write about it.

-M

Bloggo, ergo sum
Ergo, meo getto bloggo

Mid-life crisis time (yet) again.  After listening to about an hour of Nirmal Swaminathan (I think) bumbling his way through a call-in programme on 107.1 FM, I have decided that I shall be a radio jockey.  There is a school that teaches RJ-ing, or at least there used to be one, on TTK Road.  I've decided to first track down this school, enrol there and learn the ins and outs of RJ-ing, and then supplement, if not replace, all the rotten RJs who pollute the airwaves.  Well, at least that is what I have set out to do.  I should have done this long ago. In fact I should have done this the day I heard a female RJ called Caroline (or Elizabeth or Charlotte - this was seven years ago) say, "that was Patricka the Stryper."  Well, at least that gives me something to do over the next few days (or the rest of my life, as the case may be).

I met a girl whose father owes me money.  What do I do? The owing money bit is from far in the past - from when I was freelancing about four years ago. The father was a right bastard - I set up some webspace for him but he was an absolute idiot when it came to understanding the abcs of running a web site, and wouldn't let me troubleshoot.  In the end, I ended up just setting up the space and giving him the username and password to administer it.  Needless to say, he never paid me, and he still owes me.  His daughter walks into my office today asking for some information which we happen to have, and the dissemination of which is the primary function of our organisation.  She is smart, unlike her father.  Only when she leaves does she give me her card with her email address on it.  I look at her full name, her email address, and her residential address and it strikes me that she is the rascal's daughter.  Well, what could I do? I wished her luck and asked her to be in touch should she require any further information. Life goes on!

- M