Chasing the Monsoons

• Waste -- Phish
• Bachna Ae Haseeno -- Kishore Kumar, Vishal and Sumit
• Right Here Right Now -- Abhishek Bachchan
• Moonlight Kiss -- Bap Kennedy
• Walking Away -- Craig David
• If You Leave Me Now -- Chicago
• Crazy Little Thing Called Love -- Queen

The title track blows you away. I mean, really. The best title track I've heard in a while. Do NOT miss it.

As for the movie, it's quite good. I wasn't expecting anything more than some crappy acting and a chocolate boy image from Ranbir. But the guy delivers. Minisha Lamba sucked royally, as did Deepika. Bips is another story though ;)

The movie is quite straightforward, with a no brainer story line. It's the corny jokes and slang that really make the movie fun.

When I say Bling, you say King, Bling is King, Bling is King

Okay I just made that up using a line sung by Hard Kaur in Singh is Kinng's big-ass hit, Bas Ek Kinng.

The songs for the movie have made me want to go in to see the movie on the first day first show basis. Ofcourse, I cannot really do that as it's a working day and I'm not crazy enough to go for the first show @ 8:30 AM!

All said and done, this weekend I definitely intend to watch the movie.

written on the tip cup at a coffee shop:

Thanks a latte! :)

My third trip to the US (post moving back to India), and I am simply saddened by the lack of an environment within which one can feel welcome.

I mean sure, the thank-yous, I really appreciate that, etc. do amount to something, but to me they seem superficial. Maybe it's a cultural thing, and maybe I need to see their point of view. But even still.

I have never felt so lonely in my entire life. Here I am sitting in a hotel room with absolutely nothing to do, and with no one to hang out. This whole country is so big... everything is so far apart, with lots of space.

Work is taking me to the US again, third year running. Albeit this time the trip is to last only 10 odd days starting on the 10th of July.

I'll be visiting the mid-North US which I have never done. Intend to do some quick shopping, sight seeing and then finally head back home to my lovely wife. Oh did I forget to mention that I'll be working most of the time? I guess not.

I can already smell Starbucks, taste Taco Bell (Taco Hell for some) and hear the FM radio.

Well
I know what I've been told
You gotta work to feed the soul
But I can't do this all on my own

We decided to go out this weekend, and carefully (maybe not) planned a trip to Sinhagad with Rahul. We managed to take off from ground zero at around 3:30 in the afternoon.

Someone should have told us well meaning folks that it was a suicide attempt to mount that hill on a Sunday afternoon. We made it to the bottom with no problems at all, but there we hit our first (and only) technical snag. There was a lot of traffic on the hill, running into 3 hours of delay to get to the top. The cops were asking folks to turn back and not add to the mayhem.

One of the best forwards I've read in a long long while:

Celebration means......

A winter evening.
Four friends.
One barsaat.
Four glasses of chai.

(OR)

Hundred bucks of gas.
A rusty old bike.
And an open road.

(OR)

Rainy evening.
Holding hands with a loved one.
2 steaming corn cobs.
A long road ......

(OR)

Maggi noodles.
A hostel room.
3.25 a.m.

(OR)

A muddy field.
22 guys.
1 football
Game On ! !

(OR)

3 old friends.
3 separate cities.
3 coffee mugs.
1 internet messenger.

(OR)

2 a.m.
Sitting on your window ledge.

I've decided to get back into the reading groove, which I had left about 8-10 months ago..

My current reads:

• The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
• The McKinsey Quarterly
• Knowledge @ Wharton

Aside of that, plans are on for some shifts in life, as well as in addresses :)

Imprinted in my memories:

• 20,000 leagues under the sea by Jules Verne

One of the better short films I've seen.. quite simply made yet moving..