Meeting Anil Prabhala

 Anil was in town and as always gave me a call. We worked in the IDBI where we had a good time together playing TT, talking about all sorts of things with our friends Smitha, Ratna Kumar and Ramana, eating biryani at Mohini which he loves. He is a good cricketer and played for our club the MCC in a year that we won. And after he left for the US he always stays in touch when he comes to town and we definitely catch up over a biryani.

Me, Akela and Anil (he does not drink tea)

This time it was a double treat. We ate our biryani (from Mohini - he got it) over the India - England semis and that was fun. He is here for their BITS Pilani alumni get together. 

Bad pic - MCC Winners of the League 1998-99 (Anil third from left last row, me with beard sitting in the middle next to the one and only ML Jaisimha)

Hoping to catch you soon again Anil and hopefully spend some more time. 

Kaithi - Movie

 2019. Tamil. Cops catch a 800 crore narcotics consignment and hide it in a police station. The drug dealers are not happy and want to get their consignment back. All the cops have drunk some poisonous drink and only one cop is standing. He has for help one guy who is out on bail but currently in handcuffs. How this guy in handcuffs helps the injured cop fight armies of 40 people at one go, while another solo cop tries to handle the drug dealers with four collegians is the story. Thankfully in the end they find an automatic gun and kill the bad guys off easily. If you want a lot of dhishoom dhishoom go for this. Someone told me it was a great film - wonder who it was.

 

Monica, Oh My Darling - Movie

 2022. Hindi. For a twist a minute in the beginning 'MOMD' is hard to beat. But then it slowly falls apart because you cannot sustain it. And in the end it looks like - hey why did that one die, and what was this one doing really, what was this guy's motive and why was she sleeping with everyone and how come no one knows about it and stuff like that. Rajkummar Rao (interesting change to his name) as the IIT topper in robotics from Angola (?), and Huma Qureshi as the super sexy HR Head of the company, Radhika Apte as zany Inspector Naidu, are good but then Sikander Kher and Perumal hold their own. Again, leave logic behind and go with the twists. It's like a roller coaster - you enjoy the ride and don't ask why they are rolling and coasting. Watch.

  

Bullet Train - Movie

 2022. English. A young kid is pushed off a building to get his father to kill his boss, a dreaded gangster. An operative is on the train to retrieve a suitcase. Two assassins are on board to deliver the said suitcase and a young boy to the next station. Another lady assassin is onboard as well. Seems simple right. But no. The Bullet Train runs for 2 hours. The assassins lave the bag in the baggage place so it can be taken by the handler, the boy is left alone so he is killed by snake venom. The lady assassin turns out to be a disgruntled daughter and well, pretty much everyone dies. Brad Pitt as the operative who has just come back after seeing a therapist spouts brilliant lines - hurt people hurt people - being one. Anyway I figured one thing -you cannot be mad at a smiling assassin for long.

  

See How They Run - Movie

 2022. English. Mystery-comedy. Seems to be the new genre. Agatha Christie's 'Mouse Trap' is doing its 100th show and a production house is planning to adapt it into a film. The could-have-been director of the film is murdered on the night of the celebrations of the 100th show. Enter Inspector Stoppard and Constable Stalker to solve the murder and yes, someone does solve it in the end. Saoirse Ronan stands out. Chugs along. Its murder. Its funny. Who cares who, what, how. Worth a watch but don't expect a classic.

The Rajasthan Diaries - Pushkar, Hotel Vela Resort

 Now if one thing made our trip to Pushkar really memorable it is the Vela Resort which has a/c rooms and royal tents, a lovely lawn, a swimming pool and mostly a wonderful host in Vicky which is short for Vikram Parashar. He was very patient with us, gave us good advice, gave a complimentary guide, got us good deals and was always ready to share a laugh with us. Wonderful person who really loves his town, his resort and who only cares whether his guests have had a good time and were happy.

At the entrance to Vela

Like I mentioned earlier he also has his resort up for volunteers and there was this boy who was couch surfing. So if you are planning a trip down to Pushkar, try Vela for sure. We had a great time.

The lawn

The rooms

Here are the details. Hotel Vela Resort, Behind Brahma Temple, Pushkar. www.velaresortpushkar.com

rajasthantour30@gmail.com, Ph 946009 1090, 963676 9092. Call Vikram Parashar, owner.

The Rajasthan Diaries - Day 4, Back to Jaipur and Hyderabad

 The drive back to Jaipur was pretty uneventful and smooth. Ram Singh was probably a bit homesick since he had been asking how long were we going to go around right from Day 2 I think. Now Jaipur needed to tick off one last thing - laal maas. So we looked up the net and found this list on which the top was Spice Court in Civil Lines. Abhinay said it was quite doable and we went over there.

Now this Spice Court is a nice fancy place with a classical Raj type setting - small though. The lawns were nice, there was a dessert place outside. One serious looking chap came and asked how many of us and we told him we were three of us and he seated us pretty soon. Nice crowd and service but what blew me was the lousy acoustics. It was like a fish market in there with all the sound bouncing off.

The laal maas came and it was nice - but seriously, can't compare to Andhra mutton curry. Overall we did a nice little meal. Then we headed straight out to Abhinay's house which is in Sangamner close to the airport. Its a nice little pad for a bachelor living alone - spacious, comfortable, surrounded by books, his painting stuff, his cycles. You could just get used to this kind of a life.

And then it was time for me to go and they dropped me off at the airport. Ram Singh could not wait to get rid of us and started unloading all bags and we told him only I was going. Well that was it. I went in and finished the rest of Trevor Noah's book waiting for the flight which was an hour late and read in the flight. Seated next to me were two burkha clad women - one young girl from Bangalore who was with her large family (separated temporarily in the flight and not used to travel and flying and a middle aged pucca Hyderabadi lady who flies twelve times a year to Ajmer apparently). Anyway i eavesdropped as much as I could to their conversations which were most interesting with the older lady giving the younger one much advise but more interestingly, telling her how beautiful Hyderabad was. Surprisingly for someone who goes to Ajmer twelve times a year, she never went to Bangalore.

Back in Hyderabad by 730 and waiting to meet the loved ones. End of a superb trip. One big one - hopefully more such to come. Thanks Vasu and Abhinay for making this so much fun and so memorable.