Review of Dev D and Delhi-6

Dev D:

I went to the movies after a long time (last one I can think of was Welcome to Sajjanpur) to watch Dev D. I had no idea what the movie was about. I did not know who the protagonists were. I did not even know that it had an 'A' rating!! I knew two things. It was directed by Anurag Kashyap and it was a modern take on the eternal anti-hero Devdas.

Sitting comfortably in the reclining chair of Inox cinemas, I was least expecting what was about to come. The first 30 minutes was like a shock for me. I had never seen this kind of Hindi film before. It definitely deserved the 'A' rating. As Bala once said it could have been given an 'A++' rating ;-) It was like watching one of those sleazy Malayalam movies, difference being that, it was mainstream cinema, with real actors! I would have probably classified this as soft-porn, but that's me.

Abhay Deol plays the role of modern day Devdas, spoilt, educated abroad, and always on the lookout for booze, dope, and s**. The online flirting with his childhood sweetheart - Paro played by the gorgeous Gill, is naughty to say the least. Back in India, things start to go wrong for our Devdas. Suspicion starts to creep into his mind, and ends up losing his Paro. Meanwhile there is a parallel story of Chanda, the modern day Chandramukhi, being developed. Being a realist Anurag has tried to portray lot of real life controversies in the film. The Delhi Public School MMS, the BMW hit and run case etc...

After the intermission, the movie lacks the charm and the pace of the first half. This is probably because the movie has very little to show in the second half and the lack of a convincing story is very evident. The second half is a continuous loop of our Devdas getting drunk (sorry sloshed) doped and his frequent sojourn at the red light areas. The ending is very abrupt and the film ends with absolutely no message to the viewer. Not even a suggestion for us to think on.

But one thing that it did do was strengthen my obsession with anti heroes- Abhay Deol, as the protagonist who plays the modern day Devdas is a typical loser that your parents do not want you to grow up to be. And that is precisely what makes his character so damn real and attractive: he is weak, he is confused, he is vulnerable, he is flawed and “conspicuously lacking in heroic qualities”, i.e. he is like us!! And he was not the first anti-hero that I liked. Tyler Durden (Fight Club) is probably my favourite character of all time. Tracey Whitney (If Tomorrow Comes - Sidney Sheldon) is my favourite fictional character.

Delhi-6:

I first saw the trailer of this movie while watching Dev D. I was instantly impressed and was really looking forward to its release. I mean, who wouldn't be impressed with that kind of star power. After RDB, and a pretty long absence, we were expecting a super block buster from Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra. With Abhishek Bachan in the lead and the ravishing Sonam Kapoor (someone described her as a cross of Madhubala and Waheeda Rehman - I could not agree more) dancing to the amazing tunes of ARR, my expectations were sky high for this film. Well that probably turned out to be the downfall...

The biggest disappointment of the film is its story. There is absolutely no story to look forward to. At least not after all the hype of it being bigger than RDB. I will not go much into the story (for the lack of it ;-)), but in general the other aspects of the film are very good. Abhishek plays his role as an NRI to near perfection. Although he has very less dialogues, he communicates to the viewers through his eyes (aka Sarkar). Sonam Kapoor has very less screen presence. Most of the times I caught her on screen, I saw her moving her voluptuous body to the breathtaking numbers of the album (review on that soon). The direction, screenplay and cinematography are all top notch. But the film puts emphasis on the 'Kaala Bandar' thing too much for my liking. But the main character of the film is Delhi -6 itself. The Chandini Chowk area. For people who have lived there, probably they will really like the film. For people like me, who have not even visited that place end up having no emotional connection with the place or the local characters. The climax is too 'bollywoodish' for me and this is where even the people who had liked it till then start getting irritated with the film. And again, there is no message from the film. I would suggest everyone to buy a music CD of Delhi-6 instead of wasting it on the movie ticket.

My Quote for the day!

I was feeling extremely sleepy after lunch today, the usual case. So came up with this quote ;-)

Sleep till you are hungry..... Eat till you are sleepy!

Oh man, the work does get to me sometimes and I come up with crap... thinking of crap, this is the modified version of that quote :-D

Sleep till you are hungry
Eat till you take a shit
Shit till you fall asleep!!

What a life!

Two years ago on Feb 14th......

Ok... For people who haven't met me personally, might be wondering, what the hell did this guy do two years ago on the "Day of Love" that is worth remembering! For those who are in constant touch with me will already be feeling betrayed that I haven't mentioned this story to them before. Well no need to use your wild imaginations. I am still waiting for my first date on the "Day of Love".

It is just a co-incidence that on Feb 14th, I fell in 'love' with something else. It was my first day of internship in IBM ISL. It has already been an amazing journey, with lots of ups and downs (more ups I guess). I have met lot of interesting people, made friends for life and interacted with intellectuals who strive for innovation. I have seen people who think work is their life and other who think work itself is not part of their life ;-) One thing with working in a big company is that you will definitely get a good mix of different 'characters'. I was among the privileged few to be blessed with a excellent small team. There are lot of people who have made this a memorable journey for me. If it takes two years to get this experience, then I would say, I have made a bargain with life. The time spent in IBM has been a huge learning curve. At some level, it has also made me realize my long term career goals.

In pursuit of these goals, I was heading to Pune exactly two years later. Is it co-incidence that my first interview for higher studies was on the same day I started my internship? Will SCMHRD prove to be my 'second love'? Only time will tell :-D

SCMHRD - My first Interview

This was my first call for the 'Season - 08'. So it always carried that extra emotional value. I had absolutely no preparation for this interview. But I guess it went pretty well. So let me rewind to yesterday morning 02:45 AM.

My alarm rings. The snooze does not work, and I'm already behind schedule by 15 mins. Yet I take my own time to get ready. I have a bus to catch at 04:00 AM. I finish my bath at 03:45 AM. I finish polishing my shoes at 03:55 AM. I reach the bus stop a 04:00 AM dot. The bus ride to airport is uneventful and I drift off intermittently. We arrive at the bus stop at 05:10 AM. I'm behind schedule by 10 mins, but feel confident of making the 06:00 AM flight. Damn sad, the airport staff has introduced User Tax for even domestic fliers. End up paying Rs 260/- with grudge. I take my boarding pass and since I dint have any check-in luggage, I proceed to the security check. Shock of my life awaits me there. The queue is bigger than "Hanumantana baala". 05:55 AM. Still 3 people in front of me and the 'Final Call' for boarding has been on since past 5 mins. 3 minutes later, I pass the security check, but sadly my bag is withheld. Apparently my 3/4ths empty deodorant was more than 100ml to them. I give up fighting with them and run to Gate 1. I am the last passenger getting into the plane. The doors are immediately closed behind me. The time is 06:03 AM. The flight was awesome. Kingfisher lived up to its name. Better than most of the international flight's service. The food was 'acceptable' in normal standards and 'luxury' in flight standards. The flight attendants were hotter than I had imagined. They were uber hot in their red coats. Looked as though they had walked straight off the ramp.

Flight is on schedule and I reach Pune at 07:20 AM. I take a prepaid auto to International Convention Center (end up paying Rs 180/- to the auto. Ridiculously costly they are). I call back home reporting my safe journey. I call Bala and ask him to check my train reservation status (I was on Waiting List and was really concerned). Unfortunately the W/L has not moved :-(. I proceed to the Symbiosis Auditorium (it is actually TATA auditorium). I loaf around a bit. Have to kill time till 3 PM. I find the CCD sofa's comfortable. I settle down there and order stuff to eat. I take a leisurely 3 hours to finish a cake and a cold coffee. Mean time I prepare for the typical interview questions. I make points for questions like: 'Why MBA?', 'Which specialization?' etc.. I yawned a lot during this time :-O Still half asleep I went to another Coffee bar on the 9th floor. Ordered more coffee, and read a novel (more on that later). Some how I manage to kill time till 2 PM. I enter the auditorium for GD/PI registration. My first encounter with the "possible" seniors. They immediately appear friendly, ready to help. I also get the feeling that everything has been organized really well. There is no commotion and the entire process is smooth. 3 PM sharp they call my name. I finish the registration process, and the first year students are questioned by us. I in particular questioned them a lot, as I had heard conflicting views on the college. They manage to give convincing and honest answers to almost all the questions. I am taken to the 5th floor, where my GD and PI would take place.

The place looked posh. There were 4 others in my group for GD. We make small talk, and I learn that everyone has experience for at least 1.5 years. 5 mins later, we are led into the GD room. We are greeted by 2 people whom I'll refer to as P1 and P2.

P1 - is pretty old, may be in his 60's. He has a half sleeve shirt. He was wearing slippers. He looked very informal and definitely a professor of SCMHRD.
P2 - is very formal. He was wearing a suit and looked like someone from the industry.
P1 - gives us the rules for the GD. It would be a case study. 5 mins to read the case study. 20 mins to discuss it and the last 5 mins to arrive at a consensus. 20 mins with 5 people in the GD - I was sure this would never end up as a fish market. And I knew all of them could air their views. So I thought there would be no brownie points for starting the GD.

GD Case Study :
It is about a Retail company which has entered the market recently. It had really high hopes given the success of the Retail industry in India. But it now sees that it has faced losses. And it goes about to find out the factors leading to the loss. There were around 9-10 factors listed with a small brief of its impact. We as a team had to discuss each point and finally we had to rank them according to their impact value and reach a consensus on the top three factors that affected the company. Some of the factors that were listed were :

• Lack of infrastructure like power, transport, communication
• Supply Chain is fragmented
• Grey market is blooming
• Lack of skilled manpower
• No Government incentive which results in tougher laws to survive
• Competition
• Transportation problems concerning storage and transportation of perishable goods etc..

The GD discussion went on smoothly. As I had thought there was no fish market situation. On the contrary there were certain silent moments where no one spoke. It was quite awkward. But the 20 mins was a breeze. P1 then reminded us that there was 5 mins left and we still had to rank and reach a consensus on the top 3 factors. Surprisingly we all agreed on the top 3. I felt that my top 3 was the groups top 3 as well. So was pretty happy with it. I also had put couple of good points in the GD and managed to bring the GD back to track once, when it had steered out of course. We picked Lack of Infrastructure, Government incentives and Supply chain being fragmented as the top 3 factors. We were asked to hand back the notepad page where we were scribbling some points and also the case study page.

Once we were out of the room, we were made to wait in the "PI waiting room". Here we were flocked by first year students who gave a lot of 'gyan' and also were sweet enough to share their experiences, the market scenario and placements, college and hostel life etc.. There was a board on which our ID's were projected. It basically showed which Panel we would be going to (there were 8 panels and each candidate was preassigned to a panel as per his/her qualification) and how many were ahead of us. It was a relaxing waiting time.

Then the moment came when my number started flashing. A senior (a hot one at that! --well most of them were hot ;-)) asked me to follow her into the room. Following is the transcript (which i remember) of the interview. There were again 2 panel member. Both of them in their early 30's. Lets call them P1 and P2 and myself as M. I'll be putting my inner thoughts in italics

M : Good Morning!! (wtf! its 5 PM)
M : Good Afternoon Sir (Thankfully they dint notice my initial greetings. They were busy eating cookies and having tea)
P1 to the hot senior : How many more for the day? I am tired! (Not a good sign. An agitated interviewer)
Hot senior : Only couple of them after this Sir. Can I get you anything? (She gets no reply for this offer. I mentally pity her. She gives me a cute smile, indicating I'm in for some hammering today and leaves)
P2 : Please sit (Yes, I was still standing)
M : Thank you Sir (Now P1 and P2 are engrossed in my CV. They take around 20 secs to go through it. There is complete silence in the 6X6 room)
P1 : So you are from Visveswaraya Technological University? Where is it?
M : It is in Karnataka Sir. I studied in BMS College which is affiliated to it.
P1 : What was the selection criteria for this? What test did you take?
M : We had a Common Entrance Test. Based on the rank, we could pick the college and stream of our choice. (He does not seem impressed with my university for some reason. Neither would I have been impressed with it :-))
P1 : So what rank did you get in this test? And was your college the best college in the university?
M : I got a rank of 909 Sir. And of course my college and my department was the best. among the lot (I give him a big grin)
P1 : (Suddenly concerned) Why so less marks in SNAP? (He munches on another cookie. This makes me feel hungry. I almost missed this question, thinking how good the cookie must taste)
M : (I start to blabber) blah blah
P1 : What is your revised marks? (Yes, SNAP came with revised marks, after every person I knew of got at least 10-20 marks less than expected. In the revised marks I got 8.75 marks more)
M : I tell him
P1 : That is better. So you are working in IBM? Are you bored with your work already?
M : Definitely not Sir. I can't get more of my work. It is very interesting, as I work on technologies of tomorrow. Also I have an amazing team.
P1 : You are getting a very good package. Why do you want to leave it and come here.?Even I can't guarantee you to get this package after your MBA.
M : According to me Sir, anything in life is a risk. But I am willing to take this risk, after considering it deeply. I believe a MBA from SCMHRD is a safe bet.
P1 : 'Are common re'. Tell me properly. In this time of recession why are you leaving? Is your job safe? Or are you already laid-off?
M : No Sir. Our company is doing very well. And with my performance in the past 1.5 years, I consider my job to be safe and sound (I am actually laughing my ass off now... in my mind :-P)
P2 : (Speaks for the first time!!)So will you still do a MBA, if I assure you that the recession will stay for two more years?
M : (With all earnest) According to me Sir, If there is recession for 2 more years, then my job is definitely not safe. So is the jobs of thousands of others like me. So I feel during that time it is better to be applying for new jobs with a MBA from SCMHRD rather than just a BE. (voohoo... I am impressed the way I answered that impromptu. And seeing P2 with a raised eyebrow, I think he too was impressed with it)
P2 : So you are firm on doing a MBA? What if you don't get through this year?
M : I'll come back the next year, and the year after that too, if that is what it takes for me to study in SCMHRD (I am in full swing now)
P1 : Ok, so can you sing for us? (I am shocked!!??!!)
M : I am a very bad singer Sir. However I can play flute pretty well.
P1 : So can you show your flute skill now?
M : I haven't got my flute here Sir. But if you can provide me a flute, I am sure I can entertain you (I smirk at him and he smiles)
P2 : Tell me more about your work? What do you actually do?
M : (I talked about Web 2.0, my work as a developer and a L3 support resource)
P2 : (Looks into my CV again where I had written --"Working in IBM India Software Labs has given me invaluable exposure into the management skills required to run such a huge organization. This experience has also highlighted my naive understanding of the complex aspects of Business Administration") So what is such a invaluable experience in 1.5 years? How naive is your naive understanding?
M : (I am taken aback a bit, I talk about my work, how my manager has inspired me and stuff. And how they handle client calls and all. He seemed satisfied with my answer)
P2 : Which specialization do you want to pursue?
M : At the moment, I would go for Marketing Sir. But of course I am open to change. I will probably be well guided and informed by teachers and seniors about my strengths.
P1 : Which other calls have you got?
M : I have got a call from NMIMS
P2 : Which will you pick if you get calls from both?
M : Of course I will pick SCMHRD (At this point P2 notes down my points in his folder. I try to seek a peak into the folder, but he hides it pretty well)
P1: Why?
M : Apart from the obvious reason that SCMHRD is better than NMIMS, I like Pune city more than Mumbai city. Also I have come to understand that SCMHRD has a better campus life than NMIMS. And as far as I know, MBA is all about building contacts and for that to happen the campus plays a huge role.
P1 : Do you have any questions for us?
M : (I don't know why, I started laughing doh!) I can't think of anything at this moment Sir.
P1 : Common think, there is still time left in this interview!
M : (After trying to think for 20 secs I could only come up with) Sir, I can only talk more about myself. (Till now, I don't know why I said that!!)
P2 : (Looks suspiciously at me) Ok, tell more about yourself.
M : (I blurt out stuff) blah blah
P1 : Ok Madhu, Thanks for coming. We will get back to you.
M : Thank you! Have a nice day.

After that I met a super nice senior Roshan. He is also from Bangalore, and I think he was happy to speak in Kannada again. I get to know a lot from him. I call Bala again at 6:30 PM only to learn that my W/L has not cleared. I get a bit worried. But with Roshan's help, I manage to find a VRL dealer and book a sleeper coach bus. The bus is pretty much on time. I leave Pune at 9:15 PM. I watched a couple of FRIENDS episodes on Srinath's ipod. Had dinner and slept blissfully. I got up at 9:00AM the next day. Continued reading the novel "How Opal Mehta Got Kissed Got Wild and Got a Life"(will write a review on this book shortly:-)). I finished the novel by 1.30 PM. I was back home by 2:30 PM.

PS : If Roshan is reading this, I still can't believe that someone will go so much out of the way to help a stranger. All you guys in SCMHRD were super helpful. Thanks Guys. You rock. Hoping to see you again ;-)

A Genius called Madhu Ravi Kashyap

I wanted to write this post for some time now. But got delayed to inexplicable reasons. What better day than today to introduce to all of you one of my best and most talented friends/guru. He turns 23 today. Happy birthday dude :-)

We share our first names. That in itself is like a privilege to me. I have known Madhu (alias Ketchup) for nearly 5 years now. I must confess that I have never come across a more innocent and down to earth person than him. He is supremely talented and exceedingly hardworking - a deadly combination. His virtues have made him achieve levels of success that I can only dream of. He is the best singer that I know of personally. He is a very innovative composer. But the quality of his that I really admire is his passion and dedication towards music. It takes real determination to pursue your dreams and goals like that. Apart from being one of the most supportive friends, he is also my guru. I have had the privilege of learning music from him albeit for a short duration. Those were the days that I still cherish. Sadly all good things come to a end, and so did this. But the experience of learning from him is something supernatural. I could feel the devotion, the joy in his singing. That, I could not even come close to matching that magic on my flute is a different matter. His concerts (I have attended quite a few of them) are on a completely different league all together. His concerts are a roller coaster ride of spirituality, devotion and euphoria.

As they say "Good things happen to good people", a lot of happy news are coming from ketchup's side for couple of months now (keep 'em coming). First it was him winning the First Prize in the Star Vijay competition "Paadum Office", which is currently being telecasted on Sundays 7 PM on Star Vijay. He won First Prize in both Classical Carnatic(that was obvious) and Popular Songs categories. He also won the Second Prize in the group category where he was representing Infosys. Next news was a absolute shocker for all of us who knew him. He broke the news (over email :-@) that he would be tying the knot with his childhood sweetheart later this year. At first I thought he was joking, but immediately realized that he was serious. He is the first person from our 'gang' to tie the knot. They are going to settle down in Chennai to continue their music career. Oh ya, you read it right. His fiance is also a musician. An accomplished one at that. So we can look forward to a happy musical family :-D More good news was to follow. His sister gave birth to a baby girl. So he has a beautiful niece to share his happiness with. He is going to sing in films now. Already 2-3 are lined up. So expect his name in the chart busters to come. And today is his birthday. So many reasons for him to treat us. But of late it has been difficult to get hold of him (understandably so ;-)) It has been a great year for him so far.

@Ketchup : Wishing you many more happy and beautiful years ahead, with loads of awards and recognition for your talent.

ps : All of us are still waiting for you to introduce us to Krithi
pps : Already started planning for your Bachelor Party ;-)

Finally Goaaaaa

Disclaimer: There are lots of things that have to be censored in this post. So you must pick the subtle hints that I give and make your own interpretation using your wildest imaginations ;-)

This was my fourth visit to Goa. Every time I have visited it, it has looked different. Maybe because my perspectives have changed. But till this visit happened, I always thought of Goa to be a place where one would go and relax on the beach, drinking 'fruit juices' and reading a nice novel. Well was I in for a rude shock or what!!

We left Gokarna expecting to reach Goa by 12 Noon at the max. The way I had calculated it, Panaji was 150kms from Gokarna, and a additional 40kms to Baga beach (this was the place where we had decided to FIND accommodation). So I felt it would be a 3 - 3 1/2 hour drive. That was the mistake. I calculated this time based on travel on NH's. This NH 17 is unlike any other 'normal' NH's. Its narrow and bumpy. And of course this passes through the heart of Old Goa slowing you down to a great extent. Having said that, the scenery is beautiful, especially before and after Karwar. Driving through the small roads of Goa is by itself a pleasure, although it would have been more enjoyable on bikes. The heavy brunch also delayed us a lot. But the good news for the morning was that Ravi's train was "as usual" late and this meant that he would not be waiting for us for long.

When we finally arrived in Goa, we were damn tired. Ravi was already searching for our accommodations, and that pricked us even more. But just entering the Titos street in midday sun, I was certain we were in trouble. It was like seeing people in Majestic, only difference being there were more foreigners in beach wear and bikinis (how I wish that was true for Majestic too ;-)). The similarity was the number of tourists. It was so crowded, I was getting a feeling of being lost out there. This meant that we had to struggle to find our accommodations. And it was a big struggle. Finally we found a decent shelter and our plans had gone awry. That's when I decided to ditch all the planning and stuff and be instinctive. So the fun started :-))

First up was Anjuna Beach. Sunset was beautiful. I was still feasting my eyes on the gorgeous sights ;-) Next up was the Saturday flea market in Anjuna. Apparently very famous. Did some shopping (instantly felt that I could have bargained more. Srinath was useful there). The party started there itself. Missed the closing of flea market probably by a whisker. Not disappointed, as it meant more time for party. Party shifts to Baga beach. Dinner there. But the highlight of the night was NIGHT FRISBEE. What fun it was. Everyone seemed to have hyper energy. Ended when Bala crashed into Ravi. No points for guessing who got bruised like a peach :-D Party continues till the room. Party ends pretty early( Goan time) and we go to sleep.

Morning, yet again, no residues from the previous night. Good sign as we have lots to do for the day. First up - Chapora fort. Awesome view of the Chapora beach and Vagator beach. Lots of photos taken. Get a bit adventures and try to do stunts. Hurt my hand in the process. Next up Anjuna again. Prepared to do the Anjuna to Baga trek. Apparently there is a... ahem... secluded beach in that path. But the midday sun scares the shit out of us. Instead we decide to go to Agauda fort/jail. Jail closed. I realize it is a functional jail and thank god that it was closed (Never would I want to visit a Jail - I have what u can call a 'Jail-ophobia'). Head to Sequlim beach. Nice beach, but very crowded. Negotiations for water sports start. Super fun seeing Srinath bargain. Finally settle for a price which makes us feel proud of our bargaining skills. Thinking of using this skill for later in the night ;-) Fist we do parasailing. Its not a adrenaline rush, rather it has a calming effect on that person. Nice feeling of flying in the air. Next up was the 'Banana Ride'. This was too good. Awesome experience. Then we do some BEACH RUGBY. Super rules. Don't remember if my team won or not. Then we play diving catches. Srinath displays his athletic skills to the beach amblers ;-) We get into water, and play in the low tides. All in all, nice fun and worth the money. Even after all this activity feeling very energized. Probably because of the realization that a 'long' night awaits us.

After a quick shower, we head out on the 'happening' tito's street. We end up in a beach side shack. Did EVERYTHING that I could possibly think of. Only thing left to do was to lose my... ahem... you know what ;-) You name it, and we did it. Atul gets too adventures. Earns my respect for his courage. Srinath recounts the entire story. At some level I feel disappointed that things did not work out :-D The party in now probably in its 7th hour. Awesome feeling. But lots to do as the night is still young. Party goes on till late in the night. Final walk at 3:00 AM. End up sleeping after that, and also the last one to sleep.

Morning. Surprisingly everyone has forgot to keep the alarm. We all wake up late. This again negates our plans. Unfortunately I have the 'residues' of the night before. Not a great feeling. Ravi has to catch his train. We take a call on whether to leave Goa or stay for one more day. Decide there is not much to do in Goa and leave for Bangalore. The return journey was tiring. Played some games till we had dinner. We took turns to co-pilot our driver. Sadly I took the last turn. I swear I was sleeping with my eyes open. So was our driver. Still scares the shit out of me, thinking about it. Very scary experience. End up safely in Bangalore early in the morning. Slept for rest of the day.

In all it was the best trip of my life. The company was simply superb. The places were magical. The experience will last a life time. What more can you ask for?

Gokarna - A true paradise

Paradise might be an understatement for this awesome place. It was love at first sight for me. It was almost sunset by the time we reached Gokarna. The effects of traveling had started to show on our fragile bodies. But once we hit the winding roads of the hills of Gokarna, every body ache we had was forgotten in a hurry. I immediately felt relaxed. Gokarna amazes me because of this very inherent quality of its. It can bring peace to the most disturbed soul on the planet. It has a calming effect that I have yet to come across in any other tourist place. Even the Sun seemed to be sedated. The bright yellow star was muffled crimson red. It is very unlike any place I have visited till now.

Quick layout of the beaches of Gokarna. There are four major beaches. OM, Kudle, Half-moon and Paradise. Om beach is the biggest, most famous and thus the most populated among them. Half-moon and Paradise cannot be reached through cars due to lack of roads. You have two options. Either trek through the hills or take a boat.

After parking our car in front of OM beach, we took the winding steps that lead us to the beach. It was tranquility personified. I am sure I could have spent an entire week watching the waves crash on the rocks. OM beach lived up to its reputation. Its soft white sand is any beach goers delight. It was softer than my pillow. Sad part is we could not find any accommodation there. We decided to find accommodation in Paradise beach. And boy oh boy, was it a blessing in disguise or what! I am simply out of words on how beautiful the Paradise beach is. It is what we call in Kannada "Anvartha nama". It was almost dark by the time we reached it by boat. Actually I wanted to trek the distance. But sadly Bala was in no condition to do the trek. So we hired a boat. With minimal clothes stuffed in our carry on bags, along with cameras and torches, we headed to Paradise beach.

Once we reached Paradise beach, we found a beach side shack, that was willing to accommodate 6 people for just Rs. 200. It has to be said, without electricity, pillows, sheets and just a basic floor mat, it was not luxury by and stretch of imagination. But it was the kind of stay that I had hoped for. The foreigners there are more liberal in their dressing, and this we found out as soon as we entered ;-). We were the only 'desi' people in the entire shack, which had approx 10 rooms. We got settled in, changed to our shorts and headed to the beach (i mean we stepped out of the shack). And to our total shock, it was deserted. Not a single soul on the beach. It was like having a private beach all to ourselves. For obvious reasons the movie 'The Beach' kept on playing in my mind for some time. The sky was crystal clear, with thousands of stars dotting the sky. We could hear the guitar and the flute being played in adjacent shacks. I was really tempted to play flute there (and maybe impress some chicks ;-P ). It was time for us to start our long dinner. The starters were ordered. They were hot and delicious. Till then, I had not realized that the owner (Anil) of the shack was the waiter, the cook and the cleaner. He was all-in-one to the truest sense. Then it was time for the bonfire. This was something that I'll cherish for a long time. Bonfire on a 'private' beach. We sang, we joked, we laughed (more so because of the 'fruit' drinks). The food was ordered. We ordered mexican, italian, chinese, continental, thai etc. And all of it VEG. Anil was so good, he prepared everything from scratch, just for us. Hot delicious food in that remote place was the highlight of the night. Of course there were lots of 'wisdom' from Viji. The night ended pretty well. We finally managed to get inside our own rooms :-D All of us made pacts that we would be celebrating the bachelor's party in this place. Satisfied with the pact, I forced myself to sleep.

The morning was even more serene compared to the night. The beach was even more beautiful. So were the people who had started dotting it. I felt sad to leave that place. Although it was planned to be a 1 night stay, I wanted to stay longer in that place. But I left Paradise beach, knowing fully well that I'll be there in the near future. With that thought in mind we reached our car on Om beach. Our talk had changed to Goa, more beaches, more babes and of course of Ravi joining our trip. We left Gokarna fully rejuvinated. More on Goa in the next post.

Cheers