Highway to hell

The Madras-Bangalore highway has excellent roads, decent loos, ok places to eat and simply amazing and super corny warning signs! Read at your own risk :)

• Don't learn safety by accident.
• If you want to stay married, divorce speed.
• Fast drive, last drive.
• Safety never takes a holiday.
• Don't mix drinking and driving.
• Lane discipline gives you long life.
• Safe driving is like breathing. Don't stop it.
• Cautious drive ensures longevity.
• Drive like hell, you will be there.

I warned you...!

10 things I don't like about Nadal

I've been watching tennis for ages now. Seen all the rivalries over time. My favourites have changed...Lendl to Sampras and now Federer. While Lendl and Sampras lost regularly to many players, I've never ever detested (hated, abhored etc...) any of the players that they lost to. Maybe that's because they never lost to anyone as consistently as Federer has lost to Nadal. Even then, I just can't understand why I have such a strong feeling of dislike towards him. I need to clear this out of my system...so here goes....10 things that I hate about Nadal...

1. His constant constipated expression
2. His "habit"
3. His time wasting tactics
4. His game (and I'm sure this will be a point of contention with many)
5. His constant looking at his box, especially when he wants to challenge a call
6. Getting coached in the middle of matches

I can't think of any more. Can you?

PS: (The only thing I like about him is his mental toughness)

Fini

A song called Felicidad

Even after a year in Bangalore, my ties to Telugu-land still continue...imagine my surprise when I was asked by someone at the Heritage store (owned by former CM Chandrababu Naidu) whether I watched Telugu films when all I was doing was humming Felicidad. Hmmmm......weird? No, it's quite normal. The music maestros of Tollywood have copied yet another classic.

Mama, O Mama O Mama come tell me that you wanna, you wanna O Mama ... is now

Mama O Mama Sathyabama Sathyabama something something...(can't find youtube link)

Get ready Mamma Mia, I think you're up next.

Brush, brush, brush your teeth...with what?

Toothpaste advertisements are hilarious. They either show someone in a ridiculous amount of pain, which vanishes upon using the said paste. Or they show someone with ridiculously bad breath, which makes the better half turn away in disgust only to come running back when they see sparkly, coloured 'things' freshen up the air around the planet!

Do you want to prevent toothache and be pain-free or do you want your mouth to be germ-free for 24 hours straight and have your girlfriend/boyfriend cozy up to you? That's the question that Colgate is asking these days.

Take your pick - Colgate Active Salt or Colgate Total. If you think you can use a bit of both on your brush and beat the system, think again.

That's the next ad campaign. Colgate Totally Salty. The paste of the future.

Say cheese!

Mini goodbye

She was nervous. Very nervous. She knew this day would come but hadn't expected it to happen so soon. And she was surprised about her reaction. She had always thought of herself as being chilled out. Au contraire, she even went through a mildly sleepless night and a very early morning wake-up.

So many emotions went through her while she waited...and waited. Finally, there it was. And without much drama, she went. Her little one. Proud, confident and full of smiles! First day at the big school, first time in the bus.

Bye bye little one...you aren't little any longer.

Growing (up) pains

Growing up and being a grown-up are two different things altogether. One means you're older, maybe a tad wiser. The other means that you're in a position where you must do a few things to merit that title. Like teaching your kids, setting an example (a good one, obviously), passing on tradition and customs and so on.

Today, we celebrated Tamil New Years day like we always do. We ate. Period. But like I always do on festival days, I dressed up my children in Indian clothes. My tomboy daughter didn't want to wear a 'paavadai' but I insisted and said "I'm going to wear a salwar". And she said, "That's not fair, amma. You anyway wear salwars. If you want me to wear a paavadai, then you wear a sari"!

Touche!

And so we celebrated, wearing paavadai, kurta-pyjama, dhoti and sari!

My first lesson in this new year is the realization and acceptance that I have a lot of growing up to do to in order to call myself a grown-up.

And all thanks to my 'little grown-up'.

Junkie and loving it!

I've always been a sports junkie...for most of my adult life. Following different sports, different leagues, different players and so on. If you think that's easy, think again. So much tension, so much heartbreak, so many anxious moments and sooooooo much drama! There is constant action throughout the year with hardly any time to recover from victory or loss. Aussie Open, Superbowl, IPL, NBA playoffs, French Open, Wimbledon, US Open, year-end tennis masters and the numerous cricket tours that happen these days.

Don't think for a second that following all of this and dealing with the heartbreak, especially, is easy. Sleepless nights follow many a victory and defeat alike. Hard to explain why I feel the way I feel. But I'm glad that my spirit hasn't changed and I'm still addicted...passionately, even.

For the moment, it's all laughter, smiles and trash talking. I've bled blue and have now moved on to yellow! Yellow IS the new blue...bring it on everyone!

Blue

2 teams, both blue.

2 teams, both tough.

2 teams, both champions.

What a great, clean, awesome match!

Bleeeeeeeeeed Blueeeeeeeeeee!

Loyalty and love...for sport

In today’s ever-changing ‘flat’ world, people from different parts of the globe live in other parts of it. They call it ‘home’ either for the moment or forever. But are they truly displaced in their feelings as well? Where is their heart? Who will they side with if their present and past ‘homes’ are on a collision course?

‘The Cup’ will make the sub-continent its home by the end of the week. An outsider to this event will think that this is achievement in itself. Alas, the truth is far from it. The magnitude of this, is known only to the billion plus whose hearts beat to the sound of every ball played.

A billion hearts will be praying, singing, screaming and urging you on today.

Bleed Blue India, Bleed Blue.

Radio Ga Ga!

Radio in India has come a long, long way since the time I was a kid. From old Hindi songs and classical music, it moved on to 'English' songs for one hour every evening. And they even played requests and took dedications! I haven't tuned in to the radio in a really long time (ever since I moved back to India, I think) so I was pleasantly surprised to find that Bangalore has its own 24 hour 'hit' music station Radio Indigo. They have a couple of 'foreign' DJs and the music they play is a combination of rock, pop, hip hop and everything else that is considered 'hit'...at least for the moment.

But the advertisements they feature are as bad as any other station...here are a couple that I hear everyday...

"A recent survey showed that 40% of people that are heart patients are in the age of 25 - 35. Did that wake you up?" - When I first heard that, I thought it was an ad for a health club of some sort promoting the value of staying fit. Um, no...it's for health insurance! It's ok if you're not fit and have a bad lifestyle, make sure you don't get screwed on hospital bills!

A lady with a very strong American accent talks about the benefits of studying at one particular design school in the city...and ends it all by saying she's from SCOTLAND! Come on, get your 'accent' together!

Lastly, an ad featuring Bangalore's hippest French/Italian restaurant Medici! French/Italian...like Indian/Chinese? That's adaptation if you ask me.