Day Out at Charminar

 We headed off early in the morning to Charminar, something that has been on Anjali's checklist (and now whatever she asks she gets after her performance - actually just for being who she is). Armed with her new camera and with her Satish mama to guide and train her on her photography we walked all around Charminar, clicked pics, even bought some chudis from this store that was open at 630 am. 

It was god fun watching all the wedding photo shoots. 

Headed back to Kamath and ate some fine breakfast before heading back home.

Sholay - Movie

 And then, we watched Sholay and marvelled at how carefully chiselled each scene was, each character was. The train dacoity scene, the dhanno chase scene, Sachin's death, Amitabh's death...classic scenes. Once again complete reverence, entertainment. I would say, a good summer.  

I remember first watching it in Hanamkonda. The crowds were crazy and my dad had to pull a few strings to get tickets and we all went, all six siblings (I was in my fifth class then perhaps, so the violence must have been a bit excessive). We actually went in my dad's subordinates car, an old car, perhaps a Standard and we christened it 'Sholay' car. Remember the awe, the spectacle - never realised how much it impacted me deep inside. 

Don - Movie

 Take four people who grew up in the 70-80s. Add a 15 year old who has just seen 'Deewar' and 'Amar Akbar Anthony' on the big screen and throw in a hot summer afternoon. We opted for 'Don' and the movie did not disappoint. From the titles in negative, the background music, the opening scene ...the movie went took like a bullet. Scene after scene after powerful scene, twist after twist. And oodles of style in every shot, costume, dialogue. If Amitabh has some great dialogues and scenes, Pran has some wonderful ones too.

We loved watching it and so did A!

I remember watching it more than once when I was in my eight class (the movie released in 1978). Something in the poster drew me to it and once you watched it, you were hooked. Iwatched in again - in Vikranti I guess (with Ahmed tailor for company). Once again in Gokul later.

  

Yo Yo Nama - Gouri Dange

 Met Gowri at her Ram Nagar residence and we chatted about this and that for a while - writing, publishing and so on. She gifted me this book that she had written - 'Yo Yo Nama'. It is about Yo Yo, a dog in their colony that adopted them.

Its a heartwarming account of her love for Yo Yo Nama and the happiness the dog brought into their lives. Gouri's prose sparkles as always and since the object is one of affection it rises to a whole new level.

Its a nice, easy read which makes you all in love with Yo Yo.   

Mithya - Movie

 A struggling actor who resembles a mafia don who is bumped off and replaced. Had a few moments but finally petered out into nothing much.

Happy Colony Days

 Barometer is an iconic restaurant now in Pune and we're glad its in our parts. Jyo was keen on us meeting for lunch there so we all piled on into Gauri' car and headed off there. Jyo had already booked a table so there was no hassle. Some beer, some great food and some lovely conversations and we were all in a good place to go home and crash.

  

The heat knocked us all out so bad that no one was up till late that evening. We connected the TV to the laptop and that set up the IPL for us.

 

We took Mahesh's car and went off to visit Shashi maushi at Pirangut. It was nice catching up with her, Chitra and Prashant, Meera and Vijay over lunch. Chitra and Prashant have a lovely house with a great view of the hills and meadows.

 

And then there were walks in the Happy Colony which I love.

And cold coffee at Durga cafe.

And as always there is a Konkan Express visit, a Pruthvi tiffins visit and so on. It was a fun time with IPL, walks, reading, catching up on sleep and so on. 

Magarpatta Days

 We went to Happy Colony, dropped our stuff and headed back to One o Eight Lifestyle Cafe where Malay decided to celebrate his birthday. Brilliant place. How Malay discovers these places is something I am in awe of. He told us how he picks them - there was one such restaurant he had picked in Bangalore too.

Prakash, Gauri, Kalpak, Shraddha, Rja, Satish, Shobhs, Anjali and I made up the rest of the party. Some fine food and drink (lovely farm pizzas) and desserts and we headed off to stay the night at Magarpatta. I was pretty sleepy but it was rather hot and I took a while to fall asleep.

Next morning I caught up with Prakash on a walk and he did a small round after which I went on a longer one. Lots of colour, laburnum trees and their golden flowers. I like the many leaves that fall, the flowers that fall and enjoyed the walk. 

A good solid breakfast and then we were off at lunch time back to Happy Colony. This time to visit the popular restaurant Barometer.