New Zealand : Through the eyes of a Workaholic.

Hey,

Last 2 weeks there has been zero contact between us - taking the partial blame and not laying down the numerous reasons behind why it happened, I thought let me just tell u about the wonderful trip that I had to Coromandel -

We left early Saturday from Auckland - two cars, 9 people - amazing drive, beautiful scenery, pleasant sun and surprisingly no cloud or rain in sight....it was nice to take a well-deserved break from the madness at work - while the CD player non-chalantly played out hummable bollywood numbers...we cruised along the southern-eastern motorway towards Thames...a country town....

In about 15 minutes from Auckland all we could see all around was just meadows, streams, livestock and far spread country homes....not a soul in sight....except a few cars on the motorway...Point be noted - in NZ the man:cattle :: 1:5 !!

Thames was amazing....imagine small houses....with stream in the backyard and a green picturesque mountain beyond that stream.....roads though small and winding were well laid out...no speed breakers, potholes!



After Thames, the rest of the drive - in one word was divine! Sea on the left and mountain on the right.....Kishore Kumar did the rest :) .... "Musafir hun yaroo.....!" well it could not have been more apt for a bunch of BAs working for a project in the far away land of NZ....(BTW its not that bad!)

We stopped on the outskirts of Thames to admire and click the beauty of the sea....envious of the locals who are living in a place worth dying for, we chose to bite our way into some nice homemade crispies (Thanks to Neha - better half of our LEGEND), nut bars, biscuits and washed it down with some juice.....burp!!

Resuming our journey was a difficult decision (place was beautiful...but this was just a start)...'virgin' NZ never looked so vibrant, mesmerizing and inviting :P....

If the Sea was calming....hills were humbling....mother nature had surely thought of decorating NZ as its own home...NZ govt surely had a tough time deciding on the scenic lookouts....we a bunch of 'IT geeks' if given a chance would have labelled the whole mountain as one big scenic lookout....Cameras went into an overdrive.....every turn revealed a better view....misty valleys, distant islands, shinning ponds, green grass, cows (even they looked photogenic)....as Saran paji will put it...."Mind Blowing"!

Surprisingly and with a mixed emotions of thankfully (I still think it ended too soon!)....we reached Coromandal and our motel....the motel was easy to locate (pheeww...)..not empathising with the cruel and highly lop-sided male to female ratio that our project has...the ladies at the motel thought we will be all couples (guy-girl or guy-guy)....7 guys surely made them think on a lazy Saturday morning...with a packet of milk each (for tea and coffee....lol) we entered our rooms .... luckily they were way better than what we had expected (so was deciding on the room partners....lol)

By 12 noon - everyone was just dying to take a dip in the Pacific....engines roared again and the stop was Long way beach....it was a matter of minutes before everyone either went off for either kayaking, din in the ocean or both....warm sun...slight breeze was inviting and no one really cared for a really cold water....except a few sporadic incidents where the body refused to accept the beauty and revolted against the cold water (AD and MB can vouch for it)...the experience was awesome!

All the body needed now was some nice food...NZ green lip mussels and wonderful pasta (for the thankful veggies!) did the trick....live music was overshadowed by the LOUD and now rejuvenated BE team (VP...mixed like salt in water)...admiring the beauty all around - this time it was the waitresses....

Overruling the objections against Laphroaig...MB set out to buy one..democracy prevailed...only to be vetoed by MB himself (his treat after all)....and he bought the much required tonic that the whole team would love to consume at night...details later!

The pack...equipped with maps...rushed towards 'Hot water beach'...

Rest to follow.



Contributed by:

Abhay Mohan| Business Analyst - Retail NGT

L14, Telecom House, 8 Hereford Street, Auckland, NZ

(<3)

End of the Beginning.

Ever felt like something very precious is being taken away from you, but you don't know what ? You feel a sense of loss, a huge void inside you, like a vast hollow with millions of tiny voices crying for help. How do you find the answer to an undefined problem ?

Life's sick. It's one helluva bitch. It will always bring you to crossroads, where it will test your traits of resoluteness. It is always easy to figure out the good from back, the black will always separate itself from the white. But how do you find the best among equals. Can goodness be quantified ? And the biggest question of them, who attends to these ramblings of the confused, ever-seeking mind ?

Its ironic, rather cruel that the very elements of existence that give you happiness- make your life worth living- become your nemesis. The people, objects, moments we treasure become our weakness, driving us to point of no return, where it becomes difficult to disconnect.

At the end, the futility of the situation stares you in the face. Jeers at your innocence, mocks at your naivety, the 'knew-I-would-catch-you-here' look in its eyes, making you cringe with embarrassment. You hate your self for your vulnerability.

All Good things come to an end. If only..

Wake Up Sid.

Wake Up Bollywood, to Ayan Mukherji, the new creative kid on the block. The debutante director is among the current crop of young, 20 something Bollywood directors who have brought about a wave of refreshing and new cinema which clearly reflects in his movie.



Wake Up Sid is essentially about this happy-go-lucky guy Sidharth (Ranbir Kapoor) whose sole aim in life is to continue splurging on his dad's money. In stark contrast is Konkana Sen Sharma's character ,Aisha Banerjee, who is focused, independent and mettlesome. Ranbir Kapoor is absolutely flawless as the good for nothing-sweet-immature-Bombay [with all due respect to the Thackeray's] loving guy. He is real, simple and believable. Konkana delivers yet another stellar performance as the Kolkata bred girl who comes to Mumbai to carve an identity for herself. WUS is very unlike your regular popcorn romcom movies. Instead of treating the love story as a highly complicated young-man-older-woman relationship, Wake Up Sid manages to simplify it for us, making it easy on the mind and richly entertaining. It dwells into the nature of many other relationships - those with our parents, friends and neighbours too, to an extent :). And that’s what makes Wake Up Sid different from the usual coming-of-age films.

Each and every character is neatly etched out. Right from the college geek Debbie, to the sultry babe next door [ideally played by Kashmeera Shah], the close friend Lakshmi who is blessed with abundant amounts of love, care and well, fat. Worth a mention is Rahul Khanna as the quintessential, jazz-loving editor[He's gorgeous by the way ;)]. It's high time he got full fledged roles rather than sidey characters [read Love Aaj Kal]. Not to forget, Sid's parents- played by Supriya Pathak and Anupam Kher are superb in their rags-to-riches avatar. But, the script is the hero, WITHOUT A DOUBT. Also, hard to miss is the awe inspiring art direction of the movie. Great shots, amazing landscapes and superb decor's - a treat for the eyes. Kudos to the creative heads *thumbs up*

The music is soulful and goes with the essence of the movie. Majorly used as background scores, it saves you from the typical song and dance routines, with an exception of the promotional video, OBVIOUSLY. All in all, a great entertainer...WUS will make you want to fall in love :)

Do not miss!


Rating- 4/5


Guest Review by Jigeesha Nayyar.

Adieu!

Hi,
I'd like to inform you all that I won't be associated with this blog anymore.
S and I started this blog together because she wanted someone to be with her in her first blog, and both of us are really passionate about movies.
These two months with the blog were a nice and different experience.
From now, S will continue with the blog alone...

And this is for all my friends on Facebook, Orkut and all my followers on twitter--
It was really nice having your love and support all this while..
Thanks a lot! I'll be back ..some other time,some other place ....


It’s all said and done, it’s real, and it’s been fun.
So, good bye all....
"The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be the beginning." ~Ivy Baker Priest

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R