I wanted to see this movie last week, but other work delayed it till yday. The expectations were very high for this movie after the success of Polladhavan from the same team. Thank God there are no disappointments. Its a very difficult thing to maintain the same tempo and the same team and yet again prove yourself with a different story and treatment. Vetrimaran and his team - kudos to you all.
I am not going into the story details, but it has everything a commercial cinema should have , say comedy, humor, sentiments, love, romance, fights, violence, almost everything and yet you can still categorize it in the art movie too because of its treatment. Or I think it should be right to say that it is a well balance good movie..I think this would the right word...no commercial or art category..its a good movie.. period. (Remember it ain't perfect... but good..)
To me, personally, the biggest surprise was the Vettaikaran persona. New face, a well known character, but treated so differently... it was amazing and the actor Jayabalan had done it so well, even though he isnt a professional actor... Kudos to him. He brought all the emotions so well, that you have no choice than to appreciate him for his efforts.
Dhanush alias 'K.P Karuppu'...Well except for his Madurai slang is a new one, otherwise to play a very local boy in a small town isnt new. But even though he has done this, his role in this movie doesnt remind you of the other roles he had played as a chennai local boy. That is his success. This is definitely a remarkable performance by him. I always thought he would perform well only with selected directors (earlier that list had only his brother Selva and now I have added Vetri to that too..) but recently he has been doing well in all genres of movies.... Good going.. His expressions and modulation in dialogue delivery in some scenes were awesome... The "otha sollale" dance.. no one can do it other than him.. chance illa paa..sema kalakal..Also the way he says his name 'K.P. Karuppu' and 'Irenenu I am love you' and a few more .. it was hilarious..
Tapsee.. small role, but vital at the end...looks good, smiles nice.. But I still am a little apprehensive of her love to "K.P Karuppu". That was the only cinematic thing in the movie, according to me.
Kishore.. wow.. I didnt recognise him with his wig.. He looked cool..and so young too. why doesnt he have it in other movies...may be he can try for a hero role with that too.. suits him very well.. His character is very naive and down to earth and in no way less important than Karuppu's. No doubt about his performance... as usual very good.. Except that the end is a little abrupt for his role.
The interval sequence.. the cock fights.. wow.. they were shot so so well. That too the close ups show them like two warriors fighting..Nice and superb.. You feel like you should respect those cocks for that.. they looked so majestic.. To shoot a cock to your need..it should have been a tough work.. But it came out very well. Later in the movie, almost near the climax...the fight between Dhanush and Kishore.. the same mood of the cock fight was brought in... After seeing the cock fight.. when these two fight.. you somehow feel that they resemble the cocks..and some one has made them fight each other.. nice analogy there. and well shot too.
The ending was good.. thankfully nothing too cinematic or heroic.. it was a little plain for the general audience but I felt that this was the right ending, except for Tapsee getting with Dhanush in that.. I am not sure if that would happen in real life ...but otherwise it was a near perfect and a sensible realistic movie.
Hope to see many such good movies from the team...
kalakudaa maapilai.. ennnnzoy.
I might watch it again!! Let me see.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
Immortals of Meluha - Shiva redefined
I had thought of a topic some time ago on which I wanted to write a lot. But this book happened in between. So now , that topic has to wait. Because I need more time now!
Coming back to this book now, the first thing that interested me was Shiva. I am a Shiva fan. Don't know why, but I have always liked his mix of odd and extreme characters. When pleased (and they say its very easy to please Him :)...) He gives liberally and when angered (again this also because He is hot tempered) He troubles a lot too. I know that my brother is little apprehensive with this character of Shiva and he would just say a Hi and keep moving if we visit His temple. but myself and my sister are His fans. I would say my sis is a little more than a fan of His :) She adores him so much that it tires us all at times.
So being a fan of Shiva, and having known the mythology a little , this book, which is a mix of mythology, philosophy and fiction made for an interesting combination, was very hard to resist. So I ordered it and got it on Monday and within Thursday I completed it too. Now you know how interesting it was. Among the troubling Hot bugs being filed @ work and patching and testing, the story kept crawling @ the back of my mind all through the day and I would rush home to start the rest of the chapters.
I think this might be a little long post :) not only for matters related to the book but with the thoughts it provoked too.
With respect to the book, it has a winning combination, as I said already. Anyone who believes in God and especially Hindus will like this book, because Shiva is followed all over India and is known by the same name. Isnt that strange. For e.g. Shiva's son Karthikeyan / Murugan is primarily known only to the South Indian people , and more predominantly the Tamilians. Hence they call him the Tamizh Kadavul. Shiva's first son, Vinayaka is known all over India but they have their variations in him , like in some places, they consider him Brahmachari and in some they believe that he has two wives (Siddhi and Buddhi) etc.. Vishnu is treated differently in different parts and there are some sects who follow Vishnu very religiously and pray no one else. There are lot of such variations with other Gods. But with Shiva , there is no difference between sects or castes. He is worshipped in the same form irrespective of the place, caste or creed. We can say that he represents "The Hindu" God as a whole.
Since He is already known to all of Indian people, His character is also understood. Now to take pieces of the mythology and fabricate an interesting fiction around it, is like walking a fine line. If it goes wrong, it goes wrong horribly. If it succeeds, then it becomes like this book, a Bestseller. The key ingredients of this book were the humane touch to the Lord (which makes Him cry, laugh, love, joke, everything that we do and do not get things done just because He is the Lord..He works hard for it), the interesting twists and turns in the story to keep the readers engrossed, the authors take on a few issues of our society (like the caste system, the sin and karma etc) , a few philosophical details , a very simple language to cater to a wider audience and a hollywood climax for the sequel.
The only issue I felt was that in some places, it was difficult to imagine what the author wanted to convey. Particularly the war scenes. I felt a few places to be too quick to grasp but that is a trivial issue.
There were a few things which struck me. The caste system for one. It felt to me that the author had done quite a study on our caste system, its evolution, its progress and attempted to find a balance in it to not totally eradicate it but how well to live with it. It was quite interesting. The use of the Indus valley civilization and its terms and places. I am not sure if Mohanjadaro literally mean Lord Mohan's platform, in real life..but why not. I am ready to accept that because it would make some sense. The use of Sangam Tamil and Pandya king Manu to go to Himalayas for a dynasty (I am not sure of this one..but again ready to accept this :D)
I have heard the word "Har Har Mahadev" in the Mahabharat serials and other war stories but never thought it might also be interpreted the way this author has interpreted it. "Har Har Mahadev" means "Every one is Mahadev". Mahadev is a person who stands for the right and fights for it. In this Shiva is considered to be the next Mahadev. The take on Vikarma and the reasoning behind it was also nice. I like Brahaspathi's character a lot. Humorous and intelligent. Brahaspati (is one of the Navagraha Gods - Jupiter) is known for his intellect. That is why we use his name for scolding anyone who does stupid things (e.g. sariyaana Brahaspatiyaa irupaan poala...).
I used to wonder why people who follow Shiva in North India, use opium or weed and/or madhurbaan during his festivals. Why is it associated with Shiva ? Now I feel that it might be because Himalayas was Shiva's abode and to survive that cold, you obviously need something like opium/weed or madhurbaan to give you enough heat to beat the outside cold. Hmm.... Strange!!! Now wonder it found a place in this story too :)
The last few chapters were very inspiring. Particularly the Vasudev's chit chat with Shiva on the balance of life. It was nice. Also the other Vasudev's dreamy sequence with Shiva on the Good and the bad (Remember I had written it some time back that its relative.. you find it here in this novel too ).....The reason why the leaf is green.. these are nice captive thoughts.
Having said so much, I am now a fan of this book and am sincerely waiting for the next one to find out how Nagas come into Shiva's life and how a snake got wound up his throat !!! Does Naga has anything to do with that ???
Oh! I left out two more things. The romantic part of it. The relationship between Shiva and Sati was very .... Divine..that would be right word. Important but subtle.
The friendship between Shiva and Bhadra... very touching. I always like it when people are humorous, especially in tough situations. That is when you need to have your sense of humor the most. This novel has it in the required quantity.
Nice book and a very interesting read. For me, personally, it was like knowing more about your best friend, which makes you appreciate them a lot more... Thank you Amish.
Coming back to this book now, the first thing that interested me was Shiva. I am a Shiva fan. Don't know why, but I have always liked his mix of odd and extreme characters. When pleased (and they say its very easy to please Him :)...) He gives liberally and when angered (again this also because He is hot tempered) He troubles a lot too. I know that my brother is little apprehensive with this character of Shiva and he would just say a Hi and keep moving if we visit His temple. but myself and my sister are His fans. I would say my sis is a little more than a fan of His :) She adores him so much that it tires us all at times.
So being a fan of Shiva, and having known the mythology a little , this book, which is a mix of mythology, philosophy and fiction made for an interesting combination, was very hard to resist. So I ordered it and got it on Monday and within Thursday I completed it too. Now you know how interesting it was. Among the troubling Hot bugs being filed @ work and patching and testing, the story kept crawling @ the back of my mind all through the day and I would rush home to start the rest of the chapters.
I think this might be a little long post :) not only for matters related to the book but with the thoughts it provoked too.
With respect to the book, it has a winning combination, as I said already. Anyone who believes in God and especially Hindus will like this book, because Shiva is followed all over India and is known by the same name. Isnt that strange. For e.g. Shiva's son Karthikeyan / Murugan is primarily known only to the South Indian people , and more predominantly the Tamilians. Hence they call him the Tamizh Kadavul. Shiva's first son, Vinayaka is known all over India but they have their variations in him , like in some places, they consider him Brahmachari and in some they believe that he has two wives (Siddhi and Buddhi) etc.. Vishnu is treated differently in different parts and there are some sects who follow Vishnu very religiously and pray no one else. There are lot of such variations with other Gods. But with Shiva , there is no difference between sects or castes. He is worshipped in the same form irrespective of the place, caste or creed. We can say that he represents "The Hindu" God as a whole.
Since He is already known to all of Indian people, His character is also understood. Now to take pieces of the mythology and fabricate an interesting fiction around it, is like walking a fine line. If it goes wrong, it goes wrong horribly. If it succeeds, then it becomes like this book, a Bestseller. The key ingredients of this book were the humane touch to the Lord (which makes Him cry, laugh, love, joke, everything that we do and do not get things done just because He is the Lord..He works hard for it), the interesting twists and turns in the story to keep the readers engrossed, the authors take on a few issues of our society (like the caste system, the sin and karma etc) , a few philosophical details , a very simple language to cater to a wider audience and a hollywood climax for the sequel.
The only issue I felt was that in some places, it was difficult to imagine what the author wanted to convey. Particularly the war scenes. I felt a few places to be too quick to grasp but that is a trivial issue.
There were a few things which struck me. The caste system for one. It felt to me that the author had done quite a study on our caste system, its evolution, its progress and attempted to find a balance in it to not totally eradicate it but how well to live with it. It was quite interesting. The use of the Indus valley civilization and its terms and places. I am not sure if Mohanjadaro literally mean Lord Mohan's platform, in real life..but why not. I am ready to accept that because it would make some sense. The use of Sangam Tamil and Pandya king Manu to go to Himalayas for a dynasty (I am not sure of this one..but again ready to accept this :D)
I have heard the word "Har Har Mahadev" in the Mahabharat serials and other war stories but never thought it might also be interpreted the way this author has interpreted it. "Har Har Mahadev" means "Every one is Mahadev". Mahadev is a person who stands for the right and fights for it. In this Shiva is considered to be the next Mahadev. The take on Vikarma and the reasoning behind it was also nice. I like Brahaspathi's character a lot. Humorous and intelligent. Brahaspati (is one of the Navagraha Gods - Jupiter) is known for his intellect. That is why we use his name for scolding anyone who does stupid things (e.g. sariyaana Brahaspatiyaa irupaan poala...).
I used to wonder why people who follow Shiva in North India, use opium or weed and/or madhurbaan during his festivals. Why is it associated with Shiva ? Now I feel that it might be because Himalayas was Shiva's abode and to survive that cold, you obviously need something like opium/weed or madhurbaan to give you enough heat to beat the outside cold. Hmm.... Strange!!! Now wonder it found a place in this story too :)
The last few chapters were very inspiring. Particularly the Vasudev's chit chat with Shiva on the balance of life. It was nice. Also the other Vasudev's dreamy sequence with Shiva on the Good and the bad (Remember I had written it some time back that its relative.. you find it here in this novel too ).....The reason why the leaf is green.. these are nice captive thoughts.
Having said so much, I am now a fan of this book and am sincerely waiting for the next one to find out how Nagas come into Shiva's life and how a snake got wound up his throat !!! Does Naga has anything to do with that ???
Oh! I left out two more things. The romantic part of it. The relationship between Shiva and Sati was very .... Divine..that would be right word. Important but subtle.
The friendship between Shiva and Bhadra... very touching. I always like it when people are humorous, especially in tough situations. That is when you need to have your sense of humor the most. This novel has it in the required quantity.
Nice book and a very interesting read. For me, personally, it was like knowing more about your best friend, which makes you appreciate them a lot more... Thank you Amish.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Movies: The Godfather , Guzaarish, Boss aka Bhaskaran - must watches
I was waiting for yday to watch the Godfather movie and thank God I was able to complete the story before that. In short, the screenplay was a perfect precise writing of the novel. All unnecessary characters shortened, important scenes included. In all, atleast as per my opinion, if you have read the novel, you will appreciate the movie very much. No wonder the movie's screenplay writer was the novel author himself along with Francis Ford Coppola. There is no doubt about the performances, be it Marlon Brando or Al Pacino or anyone for that matter. But was it popular because of the Novel that was as popular as the movie? I am not sure if any one who has not read the novel will appreciate the movie the same way. Because it might be a little too fast. In fact the Johnny Fontane episode in the novel was elaborated to showcase the family sentiments of The Godfather and likewise the Sicilians and all that. You cannot just introduce a character and make it important for the hero and not explain who he is.. so it was good in the novel. But in the movie, it was on a fast track. That is what made me wonder.. It is very rare for a novel of your interest to be shown perfectly on a screen with the characters well tailored and casting, well done. This is the best of the lot.
No wonder it on the top list. Deserves all the credit it gets. Neat performances. Agmark Francis Ford Coppola's movie :D
This movie, Guzaarish, was something which I wanted to see a month ago, but did not get the chance. Why ? obviously because of the star cast and the director. Hrithik and Ash is a very popular and perfect on screen pair, according to me. I have seen all their movies and all of them I have liked, right from Dhoom to Guzaarish and they look amazing. And no less in this movie too. Even though they have relied on their acting skills rather than their looks in this. Ash is beginnign to show her age a lot nowadays. But I feel thats good :D. Hrithik has used his face well in this movie for some subtle expressions. And as usual his dance , even though its shown less, was amazing.. After the disastrous Kites, this was very refreshing for me. And songs were surprising, because I did not hear them till now. It was very fresh.
Regarding the story, It was different and is bound to lot of controversies, definitely. I stand by Mascarenas in that. He sustained for almost 14 yrs , I wouldnt do that even for a day, if it was me. The sad part was that he had to take someone else's help even to kill himself. What a pathetic situation to be in. God, please do not place me in such a situation ever and I dont want even my enemies facing that situation.
Something in this movie moved me. Performances were good, even though not exceptional. I would say its a must watch.
Boss engira Bhaskaran surprised me a lot after Tamizh Padam :D. It was in the same genre and it had an amazing screenplay and one liners and power packed performance by Santhanam. I would say he was the real hero of this movie. Man, I laughed my stomach out in this movie. Till the very end, they had the same feeling going through. This is a definite must watch. Dont bother with the logic in this. You can watch this anytime and you will feel relaxed after the movie. I never thought it would have been so well. When I was in US my friend used to tell me to watch it, but I never got the time to do so. I watched it twice recently. What else can I say about it.. Definitely a must watch anytime :D
No wonder it on the top list. Deserves all the credit it gets. Neat performances. Agmark Francis Ford Coppola's movie :D
This movie, Guzaarish, was something which I wanted to see a month ago, but did not get the chance. Why ? obviously because of the star cast and the director. Hrithik and Ash is a very popular and perfect on screen pair, according to me. I have seen all their movies and all of them I have liked, right from Dhoom to Guzaarish and they look amazing. And no less in this movie too. Even though they have relied on their acting skills rather than their looks in this. Ash is beginnign to show her age a lot nowadays. But I feel thats good :D. Hrithik has used his face well in this movie for some subtle expressions. And as usual his dance , even though its shown less, was amazing.. After the disastrous Kites, this was very refreshing for me. And songs were surprising, because I did not hear them till now. It was very fresh.
Regarding the story, It was different and is bound to lot of controversies, definitely. I stand by Mascarenas in that. He sustained for almost 14 yrs , I wouldnt do that even for a day, if it was me. The sad part was that he had to take someone else's help even to kill himself. What a pathetic situation to be in. God, please do not place me in such a situation ever and I dont want even my enemies facing that situation.
Something in this movie moved me. Performances were good, even though not exceptional. I would say its a must watch.
Boss engira Bhaskaran surprised me a lot after Tamizh Padam :D. It was in the same genre and it had an amazing screenplay and one liners and power packed performance by Santhanam. I would say he was the real hero of this movie. Man, I laughed my stomach out in this movie. Till the very end, they had the same feeling going through. This is a definite must watch. Dont bother with the logic in this. You can watch this anytime and you will feel relaxed after the movie. I never thought it would have been so well. When I was in US my friend used to tell me to watch it, but I never got the time to do so. I watched it twice recently. What else can I say about it.. Definitely a must watch anytime :D
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
The Idiot & The Godfather
I have lot of things to write about which keep accumulating over time, but let me complete about these two novels.
The Idiot - Confused mind
Since the novel, The Crime and Punishment was too good, obviously the expectations will be higher for this one too. Technically the book was very good. But if I had to choose between Crime and Punishment and The Idiot, I would prefer the former. The reason is that I am not a fan of confused thoughts. Iruku Illai.. only one of these two should be there , especially in love. Here in this novel, not only one person but almost three to four people are always confused about what they want.. Be it Myshkin, Agalaia, Natasya to name three. Psychologically it is in par with "The Crime and Punishment". But why do people have to be so confused about what they want and what they have !!! Are there people really like them anymore ? Its understandable if you like a person very much out of pity (Natasya) and love a person very much too (Agalaia). Liking is different from Love , not by a huge margin , but its different. I wasnt much impressed because of the confused minds of the characters. May be that is what the author wanted to achieve. No wonder, Akira kurosawa made a movie out of it. It gives huge scope to analyze the human emotions and if you can bring it on screen, with the help of good screenplay , it might be a fine movie....
Sometimes Myshkin seemed to be a very wise guy. But sometimes, we wonder why he would go behind Natasya when he would know what she will eventually do. It wasnt that hard to figure her out aint? or atleast I sat wondering about it. And his love for Agalaia, again here I wasnt sure if he really loved and when did that happen ?
All to end in a bad way... This novel , honestly, made me a little depressed :( But its true everyone of us have our own confusions, but this is too much.... The passion of everyone is very clearly expressed. You see a myriad of characters with wide range of emotions and passions in them. Ganya, Lizaveta, Totsky, Rogozhin, the kiddos, all are very ambitious to get what they want and to have it their own way. Reminded me of Aval oru thodarkadhai, Aval appadidhaan movies. Dont know why.. may be the tone of this story matched with those.
It was good to read though, because there was an element of surprise everytime. Coz, due to the confusions, people did things you didnt expect them to do :) and kept the novel going faster.
This was written in a era where Idiot means who had been affected with epilepsy, if I am not wrong. I wonder since when the word was used to scold someone. Isnt that a bad thing ? Whatever, in current times, I would say there wasnt one Idiot in this novel, there were atleast 3.
No doubt about the language or the translation. It was very very well done.
The Godfather - Stylish Mafia
I started this novel after my short break during Christmas and New Year. I heard that the movie is one of the very best movies ever. I had this novel from a friend for a long time, but wasnt sure of starting it. Ellathukum neram kaalam irukula...
It was like watching a Rajni movie. Avlo style aa irundhadhu... I am not sure if I can say that to any other mafia stories I have read. I wanted to complete this even before watching the movie (I saw that they are going to telecast it in HBO/Pix on 15th Jan). But now I wont feel bad even if the movie doesnt live up to my expectations. I was so happy with the book itself.
Not one character was wasted and all the loose ends tied up neatly. You can easily find out which scenes were lifted either from this book or the movie in other regional movies. Especially the restaurant murder by Mikey is the very famous one which is almost copied in most of the regional movies. Chance illa paa..super... Pucca mass entertainer. The only one person who was left a little loose was Freddie. Otherwise all others were neatly characterized. It is a definite read, if you like mass movies :D
If you get a chance, read it.
The Idiot - Confused mind
Since the novel, The Crime and Punishment was too good, obviously the expectations will be higher for this one too. Technically the book was very good. But if I had to choose between Crime and Punishment and The Idiot, I would prefer the former. The reason is that I am not a fan of confused thoughts. Iruku Illai.. only one of these two should be there , especially in love. Here in this novel, not only one person but almost three to four people are always confused about what they want.. Be it Myshkin, Agalaia, Natasya to name three. Psychologically it is in par with "The Crime and Punishment". But why do people have to be so confused about what they want and what they have !!! Are there people really like them anymore ? Its understandable if you like a person very much out of pity (Natasya) and love a person very much too (Agalaia). Liking is different from Love , not by a huge margin , but its different. I wasnt much impressed because of the confused minds of the characters. May be that is what the author wanted to achieve. No wonder, Akira kurosawa made a movie out of it. It gives huge scope to analyze the human emotions and if you can bring it on screen, with the help of good screenplay , it might be a fine movie....
Sometimes Myshkin seemed to be a very wise guy. But sometimes, we wonder why he would go behind Natasya when he would know what she will eventually do. It wasnt that hard to figure her out aint? or atleast I sat wondering about it. And his love for Agalaia, again here I wasnt sure if he really loved and when did that happen ?
All to end in a bad way... This novel , honestly, made me a little depressed :( But its true everyone of us have our own confusions, but this is too much.... The passion of everyone is very clearly expressed. You see a myriad of characters with wide range of emotions and passions in them. Ganya, Lizaveta, Totsky, Rogozhin, the kiddos, all are very ambitious to get what they want and to have it their own way. Reminded me of Aval oru thodarkadhai, Aval appadidhaan movies. Dont know why.. may be the tone of this story matched with those.
It was good to read though, because there was an element of surprise everytime. Coz, due to the confusions, people did things you didnt expect them to do :) and kept the novel going faster.
This was written in a era where Idiot means who had been affected with epilepsy, if I am not wrong. I wonder since when the word was used to scold someone. Isnt that a bad thing ? Whatever, in current times, I would say there wasnt one Idiot in this novel, there were atleast 3.
No doubt about the language or the translation. It was very very well done.
The Godfather - Stylish Mafia
I started this novel after my short break during Christmas and New Year. I heard that the movie is one of the very best movies ever. I had this novel from a friend for a long time, but wasnt sure of starting it. Ellathukum neram kaalam irukula...
It was like watching a Rajni movie. Avlo style aa irundhadhu... I am not sure if I can say that to any other mafia stories I have read. I wanted to complete this even before watching the movie (I saw that they are going to telecast it in HBO/Pix on 15th Jan). But now I wont feel bad even if the movie doesnt live up to my expectations. I was so happy with the book itself.
Not one character was wasted and all the loose ends tied up neatly. You can easily find out which scenes were lifted either from this book or the movie in other regional movies. Especially the restaurant murder by Mikey is the very famous one which is almost copied in most of the regional movies. Chance illa paa..super... Pucca mass entertainer. The only one person who was left a little loose was Freddie. Otherwise all others were neatly characterized. It is a definite read, if you like mass movies :D
If you get a chance, read it.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
the Good, the bad and the funny
When I have my 'moments' (good / bad / worse / funny ) I used to think, I should write this down and eventually forget. Some are nice for a read later.
So here are some of such moments during my visit in US of A.
a. In my office, they have every location (be it in life, the work cubicle etc) embroilled with braille letters for the blind (Good) , but I am not sure if there is at least a single blind person working here.(!!)
b. They talk of going green and my office printer, apart from printing the document, prints an extra page mentioning the id and location of the person who printed it !!! Going green !!!
c. My office has so many buildings and each building has a different category of food (like the italian, mexican, indian, asian [trust me, asian is different from indian], salads etc) and by the time you go and have in a building and come back to yours, you feel hungry again!!! Cant they have a single caterer like we have in India so that we can complain, however the food was !!
d. They dont have a problem with rains or availability of water..yet they use paper for everything...I hope you get what I mean. (Hint: Palakkad Madhavan in a flight in movie Nala dhamayandhi, idhuku mela greena solla mudiyaadhu) Once you have no other choice other than using the papers, you spend more water because you feel like taking a bath as soon as you reach home/hotel.
e. Even though the tap water is good one, people prefer buying mineral water wherever they go!!ufff.
f. They use greens (adhaan lettuce, spinach and any green ilai thazhai..) and half cooked vegetables a lot and eat a lot of salads too, but include cheese, butter and oil in everything (even though it has less cholestrol, fat etc etc, whats the point.. dhaaniku dheeni sariyaa poachu)
g. In my office, first day when I came, I didnt find the water tap (trust me, it cannot be better hidden.) so there was a bottle in the fridge, saying "Sparkling Mineral Water", so I got one...and when I had one gulp, it was soda.. dai.. Sodakum Waterkum vidhyaasame theriyaadhaa ungaluku.. idhukudhaan overaa thanni adika koodaadhu.. che..
h. Here they use liquid for the clothes washing machine and powder for the dish washing machine !!!
i. Some funny ads: They have adds for medicines...and how do they promote it.. They tell about the side effects (which might include death too and all other possible problems using it.. ) even before they tell you what the medicine is for.. Avlo bayam ..yean naa makkal sue pannivaanga.. Adhuku yean advertise pannuvaanean.. Inga irukaramaadhiri doctors kitta poyi adha sell pannitaa poachu.. Neenga innum rombha valaranum thambi.. Sari adhu paravaa illai.. indha Election campaign nu onnum varum.. adhu dhaan sema comedy.. Contestant A will always say in his ad about the negatives of Contestant B.. dei nee enna pannuvennu sollu.. aduthavan enna thappu panninaanu sollalaam..aana adhe mattume solla koodaadhu..
j. Good thing here is no one bothers about anyone here.. they always mind their own business.. so for people who like being left alone , its a boon.. but its also a bad thing for people who really want a group to be with :) ...
k. Driving car here in US is driving scooter in India.. avlo easy.. rules mattum konjam follow pannitaa poadhum.. and obviously having a car is like having a two wheeler in India.. adhu illama u cannot go anywhere.. Adhu seri.. petrol ivlo cheapaa irundha , sorry Gasoline, ivlo cheapaa irundha apparam enna prachanai..
l. Vegas trip ezhudhum poadhu solli irupean.. inga maadhiriye kudi neer prachanai angeyum iruku.. ellarum manushanga dhaane..
All these I had recorded as and when I had encoutered it.
This US trip of mine has been a blessing for me in Disguise.... Why ?
a. It built up my confidence to travel around on my own :D and even in group I know that I enjoy it .... in short, I love travelling... that is all
b. It made me know that I loved driving too :D
c. It made me know quite a few people who were good to me in a lot of ways. They helped me in their own ways..and I am grateful to them.. Will remember them for ever and when I get a chance I will try to repay them for their gratitude.
d. Made my belief that "you are the only person who can make you feel happy or sad.. so choice is yours" .... I never felt alone or sad at any point of time.
e. Made me know about a few people whom I had worked with , but didnt know them (if you know what I mean).. They surprised me with their simplicity.
f. It also made me realize what one of my friend once said to me during a mock fight... This friend told me that if I really liked travelling (this was much before this trip..) I shud do it on my own here in India.. I had replied that..this place isnt safe enough.. and the next question to me was .. "How do you know ? Have you tried ?...may be you are just saying this because you are afraid of doing it alone"... Why did I remember this ? Because, I knew in my heart that what this person said was true.. I wanted to have a chance to reply back sometime someday... This trip to US .. made me want to do the same in India and take my chances... and I am getting ready for it.. Watch out for more such travel records :D .. and pray that I become strong enough (mentally) to do that..
g. Made me realize my love to Photography. I finally got my SLR and kept shooting :) I have almost 5000+ pictures from my U.S trip.. of course , out of these only 200 might be good pictures.. But I am slowly learning.. and you know what, I got a very beautiful book on Photography from one of my friend in US. I really appreciate their affection.
I am not sure if I will ever travel to US again !! or atleast to West Coast... because I never dreamt of going to US.. I know a few of my friends who really want to go there and be there. I never thought of it at all. Neither did I feel bad when it got cancelled 2 times before this. But it is all for the good... I was there during all the important times, like the World event of my company, the thanks giving weekend, the holiday gala in all places.. and the successful demo that I was able to give (and my managers appreciated it with a night trip to Golden Gate and Treasure Island) and Ice skating the next day (i.e. the day before I left for India) in Santa Cruz in that cold weather ... Thank you all for making this trip a very very successful and pleasurable one... I am really very grateful to all who helped me in this trip..
And special thanks to my parents and family who gave their support even that far.. I know that my father especially was so tensed that I am driving in US without him being there to guide me.. and when I was hit.. I was scared that I am going to get scolded by him..but he knew that it would discourage me and made me feel better about it.. and my mom... who was so proud that even though I didnt drive in India , I was driving in US....and my siblings and their family.. and my friends who always waited for my photos about my trip :D and were so happy that I am going places
The only bad feeling I had was that I couldnt make it to my sister's delivery as it became a preterm one because of some complications. Other than that, it was a very ful filling...
Thank you God.. and please help me with much more adventurous and fun trips :D
So here are some of such moments during my visit in US of A.
a. In my office, they have every location (be it in life, the work cubicle etc) embroilled with braille letters for the blind (Good) , but I am not sure if there is at least a single blind person working here.(!!)
b. They talk of going green and my office printer, apart from printing the document, prints an extra page mentioning the id and location of the person who printed it !!! Going green !!!
c. My office has so many buildings and each building has a different category of food (like the italian, mexican, indian, asian [trust me, asian is different from indian], salads etc) and by the time you go and have in a building and come back to yours, you feel hungry again!!! Cant they have a single caterer like we have in India so that we can complain, however the food was !!
d. They dont have a problem with rains or availability of water..yet they use paper for everything...I hope you get what I mean. (Hint: Palakkad Madhavan in a flight in movie Nala dhamayandhi, idhuku mela greena solla mudiyaadhu) Once you have no other choice other than using the papers, you spend more water because you feel like taking a bath as soon as you reach home/hotel.
e. Even though the tap water is good one, people prefer buying mineral water wherever they go!!ufff.
f. They use greens (adhaan lettuce, spinach and any green ilai thazhai..) and half cooked vegetables a lot and eat a lot of salads too, but include cheese, butter and oil in everything (even though it has less cholestrol, fat etc etc, whats the point.. dhaaniku dheeni sariyaa poachu)
g. In my office, first day when I came, I didnt find the water tap (trust me, it cannot be better hidden.) so there was a bottle in the fridge, saying "Sparkling Mineral Water", so I got one...and when I had one gulp, it was soda.. dai.. Sodakum Waterkum vidhyaasame theriyaadhaa ungaluku.. idhukudhaan overaa thanni adika koodaadhu.. che..
h. Here they use liquid for the clothes washing machine and powder for the dish washing machine !!!
i. Some funny ads: They have adds for medicines...and how do they promote it.. They tell about the side effects (which might include death too and all other possible problems using it.. ) even before they tell you what the medicine is for.. Avlo bayam ..yean naa makkal sue pannivaanga.. Adhuku yean advertise pannuvaanean.. Inga irukaramaadhiri doctors kitta poyi adha sell pannitaa poachu.. Neenga innum rombha valaranum thambi.. Sari adhu paravaa illai.. indha Election campaign nu onnum varum.. adhu dhaan sema comedy.. Contestant A will always say in his ad about the negatives of Contestant B.. dei nee enna pannuvennu sollu.. aduthavan enna thappu panninaanu sollalaam..aana adhe mattume solla koodaadhu..
j. Good thing here is no one bothers about anyone here.. they always mind their own business.. so for people who like being left alone , its a boon.. but its also a bad thing for people who really want a group to be with :) ...
k. Driving car here in US is driving scooter in India.. avlo easy.. rules mattum konjam follow pannitaa poadhum.. and obviously having a car is like having a two wheeler in India.. adhu illama u cannot go anywhere.. Adhu seri.. petrol ivlo cheapaa irundha , sorry Gasoline, ivlo cheapaa irundha apparam enna prachanai..
l. Vegas trip ezhudhum poadhu solli irupean.. inga maadhiriye kudi neer prachanai angeyum iruku.. ellarum manushanga dhaane..
All these I had recorded as and when I had encoutered it.
This US trip of mine has been a blessing for me in Disguise.... Why ?
a. It built up my confidence to travel around on my own :D and even in group I know that I enjoy it .... in short, I love travelling... that is all
b. It made me know that I loved driving too :D
c. It made me know quite a few people who were good to me in a lot of ways. They helped me in their own ways..and I am grateful to them.. Will remember them for ever and when I get a chance I will try to repay them for their gratitude.
d. Made my belief that "you are the only person who can make you feel happy or sad.. so choice is yours" .... I never felt alone or sad at any point of time.
e. Made me know about a few people whom I had worked with , but didnt know them (if you know what I mean).. They surprised me with their simplicity.
f. It also made me realize what one of my friend once said to me during a mock fight... This friend told me that if I really liked travelling (this was much before this trip..) I shud do it on my own here in India.. I had replied that..this place isnt safe enough.. and the next question to me was .. "How do you know ? Have you tried ?...may be you are just saying this because you are afraid of doing it alone"... Why did I remember this ? Because, I knew in my heart that what this person said was true.. I wanted to have a chance to reply back sometime someday... This trip to US .. made me want to do the same in India and take my chances... and I am getting ready for it.. Watch out for more such travel records :D .. and pray that I become strong enough (mentally) to do that..
g. Made me realize my love to Photography. I finally got my SLR and kept shooting :) I have almost 5000+ pictures from my U.S trip.. of course , out of these only 200 might be good pictures.. But I am slowly learning.. and you know what, I got a very beautiful book on Photography from one of my friend in US. I really appreciate their affection.
I am not sure if I will ever travel to US again !! or atleast to West Coast... because I never dreamt of going to US.. I know a few of my friends who really want to go there and be there. I never thought of it at all. Neither did I feel bad when it got cancelled 2 times before this. But it is all for the good... I was there during all the important times, like the World event of my company, the thanks giving weekend, the holiday gala in all places.. and the successful demo that I was able to give (and my managers appreciated it with a night trip to Golden Gate and Treasure Island) and Ice skating the next day (i.e. the day before I left for India) in Santa Cruz in that cold weather ... Thank you all for making this trip a very very successful and pleasurable one... I am really very grateful to all who helped me in this trip..
And special thanks to my parents and family who gave their support even that far.. I know that my father especially was so tensed that I am driving in US without him being there to guide me.. and when I was hit.. I was scared that I am going to get scolded by him..but he knew that it would discourage me and made me feel better about it.. and my mom... who was so proud that even though I didnt drive in India , I was driving in US....and my siblings and their family.. and my friends who always waited for my photos about my trip :D and were so happy that I am going places
The only bad feeling I had was that I couldnt make it to my sister's delivery as it became a preterm one because of some complications. Other than that, it was a very ful filling...
Thank you God.. and please help me with much more adventurous and fun trips :D
Visiting Uncle Sam - 13 - LA - Dazzling Disney and Captivating Universal Studios - Part 2
The next day we got up early and with full enthu we checked out of the hotel and I was given the responsibility to drive to Hollywood's Walk of fame first by 8 am so that we can spend an hour there , have our breakfast and then head to Universal Studios where the shows start by 10 am
Since it was early morning, the traffic was very less and it was easy drive on I 5 again. As soon as we turned right , we could see the Hollywood sign. It was like a dream. I was enjoying the sign and jumped traffic ;) but thankfully no picture was taken of mine.. since it was early morning they left it free I think :). I really wanted to stop somewhere and take a picture of the Hollywood sign. But these people who were with me forbade me to stop anywhere and head straight to Walk of Fame... Unwillingly I drove there and we had a tough time finding a parking lot or a spot. Finally after too much roaming around the streets near hte walk of fame, we finally managed to get a spot at the end of the walk. We went out the Walk of Fame finding our favorite stars. It was fun. But we had to keep up with time too to enable us to go to Universal Studios. We had our breakfast there in a coffee shop and started to Universal Studios. I was upset that I couldnt find the one for Julia Roberts and George Clooney. Otherwise I saw Jack Sparrow :D and my favorite 007 Agent and other well known directors and stars. Its not a not-to-be-missed place honestly, but if you like movies and would want to just see your stars name where they really work from , then its just fun. There is also some tours which takes you to famous personalities houses (obviously to show it from outside and all), but I am not interested in those things and thankfully we didnt have time. Otherwise I know that one of the person in my group wanted to do that if that was possible, because he really wanted to see Katherine Heigl's house :D... Guys can really be crazy at times.
Then we drove to Universal Studios by exactly 10 am and this time we chose to take a privileged parking which enabled us to park near the Studios and also decided on taking the Fast Track pass if that was possible. I really wasnt sure what it had, except for the small piece of info that we shouldnt miss the Terminator and the 4D shows. I had no idea on what they really meant.. Coz Disney was full of rides and beautiful places. And this is a pucca movie domain and I wanted to not have great expectations from it. Somehow that day we had the red carpet on :D . Among the Manager husband and wife who had been with us, the manager had been there already twice so we appointed him as our guide this time :D And I should say that he did it well. First we were dragged to fun rides which was almost 4 storeys downstairs. Since we had the escalator it was good to go down :D. And guess what was the first ride they took me to !!! The Mummy !! I didnt know what to expect from this..when they asked us to keep our belongings in a locker, I became a little apprehensive.. because the reason was that during the ride you might drop them if u had it. Ok.. When I got that reason I told them I ain't joining them. But they literally dragged me along.. This is again part of the movie sets , so its like you are part of the movie as the ride goes on. But this one lasted for only a few minutes but it was scary as hell. My goodness... U shud have seen my face after the ride... Since the locker was locked using one of our finger print and I had locked one. But after the ride, my hands were shaking so badly that it wasnt recognizing my finger print correctly and we had to call upon the guards to unlock it for us. Sari paravaaillai yedho onnoda mudinjirumnu nambhi adutha ride ku poanean.. it was Jurrasic park.. Idhu adhukumela.. here they let us take our handbags but told us that we would get a little wet. This was fun coz you get to see the different dinosaurs that u saw in the movie there and it would try to scare you too.. but the finale was yet to come..adhu ennaku theriyala..and when it started ascending a bigger height , I realised that it is going to be a free fall..My stomach came to my heart and my heart was in my mouth (same old expression, because same old feeling of fright). Oh my God.. how much shud I endure now!! If Mummy was scary in one way, Jurassic Park was scary in another. These people were enjoying it so much that they wanted a second round and because we had the fast track pass we were in front everywhere.. I was really tired by the time these two rides were done and was feeling damn hungry. We were having something or the other inbetween the rides. After that we came up again and as usual went in for the other set of rides. Like the Simpsons Ride (mainly for kids, but everyone will be a little scared in one particular place.. in this ride you never move anywhere from your place..but the effect it gives is amazing), The Terminator (This is not a ride, but an experience, where you are experiencing the Terminator fight in real.. u have real actors there.. its sort of 5 D ... was really good) Shrek 4D (My fav character.. 4D experience of having the Donkey, Shrek, Fiona etc) , Waterworld (Where you see live actors acting out the movie screenplay in real with all the action in water ... it was amazing) ..
In between the rides we took the Studio Tour where they take you to see the studios which hosted the shooting of the serials, sops and movies, to see various sets that have been set up for various reasons (some regular, like the New York set, Desperate Housewives set where the actual shooting takes place, War of the Worlds plane crash set, King Kong miniature set etc), to see how they create the lightning and flood effects, the earthquake effect, the various houses which is used by the directors and script writers to finalize on a movie, how a small piece of land is reused for various shots with blue background etc .. Its really very interesting to see the movie making process and the various assets used in it. Its really very very interesting. I enjoyed it very much. The highlight of this was the King Kong 4D show which was like being among King Kong and the Dinosaur during their fight in the movie.. It is as if the Dinosaur is trying to capture the mini van you are riding and King Kong is protecting you from it.. it was so so so amazing... no words to explain , you have to feel it..
The other humorous one was the House of Horrors. It was like the Horror House in Innovative film city except that we had real people coming in between to scare you. I guess these things happen in the Scary House in Garuda Mall in Bangalore. But this was really scary.. People kept pushing others in front to avoid being scared.. And the most funny thing that happened was how this manager friend behaved in one incident... I was in line walking 2nd coz others didnt want to go before.. Even though I was a little scared I managed to push through. When we were almost to the end, there was this Frankeinstein character sitting.. and as soon as the other guy and myself went past it.. there was a huge scream.. and when we turned around we saw that this scary character was very close to this manager and his wife and guess what this manager did.. he just jumped off and ran away leaving his wife there with this scary person.... and she was screaming to the character not to touch her and to leave her alone.. my god.. it was so funny... we felt bad in a way but honestly it was very funny too.. Finally we all managed to come out of it and saw the manager standing outside...we sat there and laughed our stomachs out for almost 10 mins... The wifey was so angry that her husband left her with the scary character..that she was scolding him till the end of the day :D telling him that he was supposed to be protecting her in danger..and he ran away :D ...oh man..it was a Horror House ...but it became a Humour House for us.. We kept reminding that manager about it for the rest of the trip :D
The other important show that should be mentioned was the Special Effect show, where they asked the audience to take part in it , to show them how the special effects were made on screen with hi-tech camera. It was very good.. To really see how they make those special scenes.. wow.. This show is really special.. We really enjoyed it very much..
We had earlier planned to start back by 4 pm so that we can be in our hotel a little earlier and take some rest before we plunge on the weeks work. But with all these interesting shows and rides, we eventually started by 6.30 pm....and It was a day which ended very well..except for one thing.. I DID NOT GET MY PICTURE OF THE HOLLYWOOD SIGN.. and I was scolding these guys on my way back ... They ditched me from not taking this picture in my camera.. I was really so pissed off on that part.. .I told them that I would never forgive them for that..coz I cannot come back again for that picture. They said that they would get me a picture from Google.. Big deal...Dont I know that.. I wanted that picture in my camera.. :( ... Its ok.. Later I took the driving in I5 and guess what, I raced and drove in 120 m/h too :D.. but got a little scared when we were almost out of petrol and we cudnt find one nearby.. That was the only worrying part..otherwise it was good drive.. we came in about midnight and had a very good sleep ... All in all it was a worth while trip ... I dont know if I would ever come back again..but this trip had been good to me and I really visited all important places to be seen.
Since it was early morning, the traffic was very less and it was easy drive on I 5 again. As soon as we turned right , we could see the Hollywood sign. It was like a dream. I was enjoying the sign and jumped traffic ;) but thankfully no picture was taken of mine.. since it was early morning they left it free I think :). I really wanted to stop somewhere and take a picture of the Hollywood sign. But these people who were with me forbade me to stop anywhere and head straight to Walk of Fame... Unwillingly I drove there and we had a tough time finding a parking lot or a spot. Finally after too much roaming around the streets near hte walk of fame, we finally managed to get a spot at the end of the walk. We went out the Walk of Fame finding our favorite stars. It was fun. But we had to keep up with time too to enable us to go to Universal Studios. We had our breakfast there in a coffee shop and started to Universal Studios. I was upset that I couldnt find the one for Julia Roberts and George Clooney. Otherwise I saw Jack Sparrow :D and my favorite 007 Agent and other well known directors and stars. Its not a not-to-be-missed place honestly, but if you like movies and would want to just see your stars name where they really work from , then its just fun. There is also some tours which takes you to famous personalities houses (obviously to show it from outside and all), but I am not interested in those things and thankfully we didnt have time. Otherwise I know that one of the person in my group wanted to do that if that was possible, because he really wanted to see Katherine Heigl's house :D... Guys can really be crazy at times.
Then we drove to Universal Studios by exactly 10 am and this time we chose to take a privileged parking which enabled us to park near the Studios and also decided on taking the Fast Track pass if that was possible. I really wasnt sure what it had, except for the small piece of info that we shouldnt miss the Terminator and the 4D shows. I had no idea on what they really meant.. Coz Disney was full of rides and beautiful places. And this is a pucca movie domain and I wanted to not have great expectations from it. Somehow that day we had the red carpet on :D . Among the Manager husband and wife who had been with us, the manager had been there already twice so we appointed him as our guide this time :D And I should say that he did it well. First we were dragged to fun rides which was almost 4 storeys downstairs. Since we had the escalator it was good to go down :D. And guess what was the first ride they took me to !!! The Mummy !! I didnt know what to expect from this..when they asked us to keep our belongings in a locker, I became a little apprehensive.. because the reason was that during the ride you might drop them if u had it. Ok.. When I got that reason I told them I ain't joining them. But they literally dragged me along.. This is again part of the movie sets , so its like you are part of the movie as the ride goes on. But this one lasted for only a few minutes but it was scary as hell. My goodness... U shud have seen my face after the ride... Since the locker was locked using one of our finger print and I had locked one. But after the ride, my hands were shaking so badly that it wasnt recognizing my finger print correctly and we had to call upon the guards to unlock it for us. Sari paravaaillai yedho onnoda mudinjirumnu nambhi adutha ride ku poanean.. it was Jurrasic park.. Idhu adhukumela.. here they let us take our handbags but told us that we would get a little wet. This was fun coz you get to see the different dinosaurs that u saw in the movie there and it would try to scare you too.. but the finale was yet to come..adhu ennaku theriyala..and when it started ascending a bigger height , I realised that it is going to be a free fall..My stomach came to my heart and my heart was in my mouth (same old expression, because same old feeling of fright). Oh my God.. how much shud I endure now!! If Mummy was scary in one way, Jurassic Park was scary in another. These people were enjoying it so much that they wanted a second round and because we had the fast track pass we were in front everywhere.. I was really tired by the time these two rides were done and was feeling damn hungry. We were having something or the other inbetween the rides. After that we came up again and as usual went in for the other set of rides. Like the Simpsons Ride (mainly for kids, but everyone will be a little scared in one particular place.. in this ride you never move anywhere from your place..but the effect it gives is amazing), The Terminator (This is not a ride, but an experience, where you are experiencing the Terminator fight in real.. u have real actors there.. its sort of 5 D ... was really good) Shrek 4D (My fav character.. 4D experience of having the Donkey, Shrek, Fiona etc) , Waterworld (Where you see live actors acting out the movie screenplay in real with all the action in water ... it was amazing) ..
In between the rides we took the Studio Tour where they take you to see the studios which hosted the shooting of the serials, sops and movies, to see various sets that have been set up for various reasons (some regular, like the New York set, Desperate Housewives set where the actual shooting takes place, War of the Worlds plane crash set, King Kong miniature set etc), to see how they create the lightning and flood effects, the earthquake effect, the various houses which is used by the directors and script writers to finalize on a movie, how a small piece of land is reused for various shots with blue background etc .. Its really very interesting to see the movie making process and the various assets used in it. Its really very very interesting. I enjoyed it very much. The highlight of this was the King Kong 4D show which was like being among King Kong and the Dinosaur during their fight in the movie.. It is as if the Dinosaur is trying to capture the mini van you are riding and King Kong is protecting you from it.. it was so so so amazing... no words to explain , you have to feel it..
The other humorous one was the House of Horrors. It was like the Horror House in Innovative film city except that we had real people coming in between to scare you. I guess these things happen in the Scary House in Garuda Mall in Bangalore. But this was really scary.. People kept pushing others in front to avoid being scared.. And the most funny thing that happened was how this manager friend behaved in one incident... I was in line walking 2nd coz others didnt want to go before.. Even though I was a little scared I managed to push through. When we were almost to the end, there was this Frankeinstein character sitting.. and as soon as the other guy and myself went past it.. there was a huge scream.. and when we turned around we saw that this scary character was very close to this manager and his wife and guess what this manager did.. he just jumped off and ran away leaving his wife there with this scary person.... and she was screaming to the character not to touch her and to leave her alone.. my god.. it was so funny... we felt bad in a way but honestly it was very funny too.. Finally we all managed to come out of it and saw the manager standing outside...we sat there and laughed our stomachs out for almost 10 mins... The wifey was so angry that her husband left her with the scary character..that she was scolding him till the end of the day :D telling him that he was supposed to be protecting her in danger..and he ran away :D ...oh man..it was a Horror House ...but it became a Humour House for us.. We kept reminding that manager about it for the rest of the trip :D
The other important show that should be mentioned was the Special Effect show, where they asked the audience to take part in it , to show them how the special effects were made on screen with hi-tech camera. It was very good.. To really see how they make those special scenes.. wow.. This show is really special.. We really enjoyed it very much..
We had earlier planned to start back by 4 pm so that we can be in our hotel a little earlier and take some rest before we plunge on the weeks work. But with all these interesting shows and rides, we eventually started by 6.30 pm....and It was a day which ended very well..except for one thing.. I DID NOT GET MY PICTURE OF THE HOLLYWOOD SIGN.. and I was scolding these guys on my way back ... They ditched me from not taking this picture in my camera.. I was really so pissed off on that part.. .I told them that I would never forgive them for that..coz I cannot come back again for that picture. They said that they would get me a picture from Google.. Big deal...Dont I know that.. I wanted that picture in my camera.. :( ... Its ok.. Later I took the driving in I5 and guess what, I raced and drove in 120 m/h too :D.. but got a little scared when we were almost out of petrol and we cudnt find one nearby.. That was the only worrying part..otherwise it was good drive.. we came in about midnight and had a very good sleep ... All in all it was a worth while trip ... I dont know if I would ever come back again..but this trip had been good to me and I really visited all important places to be seen.
Visiting Uncle Sam - 13 - LA - Dazzling Disney and Captivating Universal Studios - Part 1
I ended with my trip to Monterey , Mystery Spot and 17 mile drive. The next weekend, it wasnt much except that we went to a Shiva Vishnu temple in Liverpool, the day being Diwali for us, and had lunch in Saravana Bhavan in Sunnyvale and went to watch the movie "The Due Date" [Very Average....]... The next day we decided to go to Muir Woods, but the weather was really very very crazy. It was raining by the time we started @ around 9 am and I wouldnt have driven even 10 miles, it started pouring heavily and I wasnt able to see a thing in the road. And no marks for guessing that I panicked and the other guy had to take over and we ended up going to Pier 39 after too much of deliberation. We were just three of us and the other two hadnt been to Pier 39 and Golden Gate Bridge. So I became their guide. It was raining and by the time we were in SFO, it stopped a little and began to drizzle. We had to buy a Poncho and cover ourselves. And one thing we saw there , out of the ordinary was the plumbing issue right in the middle of the Pier 39 road and water gushing out of the drains due to excessive rains.... Wow it isnt a very perfect place afterall isnt ?
I took them around, had snacks in Hard Rock Cafe (I wanted to do that for a long time, Did you know that the Aadiye Kolludhe song from Vaaranam Aayiram was taken there ???.. I took a snap there :) ) and then we went around in that cold weather and later decided to take a cruise. By the time the cruise started, in a godlike effect, the Sun shone.... Oh the Sun God gave his blessings to me all through my trips there. You have no idea how much helpful he had been. You cannot imagine that there will be Sun with the kind of weather that was prevelant there. And it was amazing during the cruise. More than me, the other two enjoyed a lot, coz they havent been in that and it was really exciting for them. They in general are fighter cocks and chatter boxes, but during that cruise, they were friends (only during that cruise) and were calm too !!!
After that it was my turn to drive, as the rain wasnt bad, it was more of drizzling and not pouring. So we started off to Golden Gate Bridge @ around 4 pm after our cruise. We kept going inside and outside the actual city of SFO and ended up in a Park and then finally got our way around to the Bridge view point. It was as usual a very very nice walk in the bridge. And @ around 6.30 pm we started back and took the way inside the city and via El Camino Real came to the hotel. Even though it started on a highly scary note for me, it ended up well. I was in the bridge during a sunny day, a cloudy day too :)
The next week, there was this plan of going to Los Angeles. Myself, the other guy, his manager and his wife. The girl who was with me on most of the trip was scheduled to leave on Sunday. But she couldnt resist visiting LA with us, that she postponed the trip to Tuesday :D
So it was decided that the 5 of us will be travelling on Friday evening and we also pre booked the Motel 6 near Disney Land for the stay and managed to get a discount of 10$ for Universal Studio's ticket via AAA membership. I completed my work on Friday ( I had only two more weekends which ended up in the demo!!!) and started by 4.30 pm and finally we left Belmont @ 6 pm on our way to Disney and I took the charge of driving first and that was a very bad decision, coz I had to cover the Santa Cruz mountains (Thankfully it was dark and I couldnt see a thing) and as usual I was slowing down in the curves and taking my time a little bit more to be careful. After hitting I-5 , approximately after driving for almost 3 hrs I gave the control, because I was already running some fever and my eyes were watering very badly that I wasnt able to concentrate well enough for the trip. When I sat @ the behind then only I realized how much I was shivering with fever. I had very severe cold and cough but didnt expect a temperature rise. But luckily I was able to manage it well. I-5 was a nice drive, just one straight road for almost 4 hrs.. it was cool. I decided that I will drive in that while returning back.
We ended up in LA @ around 1 am and checked in and had a quick sleep. At 7 am we got ready and made our way by walk (just 10 mins walk) to Disney Land Park (not the California Adventure). On the way grabbed a bite in iHop and entered in to the Disneyland. I should be perfectly honest here. I wasnt much of a fan to go to Disneyland as I was sure that I wouldnt enjoy the rides there ( I am not a ride person , remember my scare of heights !!! yes, that is the reason I never go for rides) So I was a little hesistant to take this chance. When I went inside the park and went to get our tickets, I felt that there might be some surprise for me or rather I might enjoy this more than I even thought of. It was such an amazing place. It was such a HAPPY-TO-BE place. You get the feeling that all things in this world are so fairy and nice and cute. If you like fairy tales, if you like good rides, if you like being a kid for sometime, dont miss Disneyland. If you want to see very amazing laser shows and fire works, dont miss Disneyland... in general Dont Miss DisneyLand.. Its a place you have to visit once. Everyone would have loved the Mickey, Minnie and their series atleast at one part of their life. And this place is much more than them. Oh my God... I was so so much enjoying myself there.
The place was so well made up for the Christmas & Thanksgiving, that it just blew my breadth away. Its like being in a fairy land among the fairies. And all those cute little kids playing around.... OMG.. its really a very very happy place (Definitely not so happy for the parents to keep up to the expectations and demands of the kids :D , but all in all , its a very peaceful place, inspite of the chaos)
The castle you would see in the Walt Disney Pictures Logo was there.. it was so cute :) and I was having so much fun seeing it in person. The first place inside the Fairyland that we visited was the Sleeping beauty's castle. Very well made up. After that we saw that there was a huge crowd waiting in the Peter Pan ride. We werent sure what it was, but it was mentioned as the "Not to Miss" feature in the map that they give in the gate when you get the ticket. So we stood in the Q for almost 45 mins and finally went for the ride.. It was awesome. It was like being a Peter Pan, how he travelled in the space, visited the places, fought the pirates all of that.. I cannot do any justice to the pleasure and the feeling of these rides in Disneyland. You have to experience it to feel it. And coming from a person who hasnt gone in any rides (like Tora tora, Giant wheel etc) all of her life, this is surely a big thing I would say. It was amazing.
There was one inicident though which I would like to record out here. 3 out of 5 of us were so tired walking through that we decided to sit for some time while the other two went for the "Its a small world". The place we were sitting was a staircase behind which there was a queue for another ride. At that time there was a very cute girl who came running to the place where we were sitting. Behind her was her mom. I wanted to take her photo coz she looked very cute. So I asked her mom if I can take her photo and she smiled..And obviously I took it for her yes and took her snap. She then left with the kid and after a few mins another lady with the same kid came to me and asked me if I was the one who took the kids photo. I agreed and she asked me if I could delete that photo coz her mom was going crazy on why I wanted the photo of her child and wanted to make sure I did delete it. I was shocked for a sec but then regained my composure and deleted the kids photo before her and showed it to her. She went away. I wasnt sure why or what made her afraid. But guess she must have her own reasons. I left it @ that. But my friend who was witnessing was so scared after that to a level that she forbade to take any photo if a kid was even remotely on sight ;)
After this incident we went to the Toon world and made our way in the Mickey's house and took a picture with Mickey himself :) I was really very happy , dont know why, coz I havent been a very great fan. I used to like Mickey and Donald but didnt have the crazy interest to take a picture with him in person. Of course, Mickey is a fictional character, but somehow when the photo came , I felt happy. And the whole of toon world was so so cute. There was a small ride there which was very funny.
Sparing this incident, I really had a good time in Disneyland. The Space Mountain ride, another mountain ride , go karting like car race etc.. all were fun. Slowly it was becoming dusk and the sky was amazing with beautiful colors. There was to be a Christmas parade by 6.30 pm and it had become slightly darker by that time. And they started making way for the parade and to our astonishment, people already were seated in the pavements and other places possible to get the closer look of the parade. You should see the way they had lighted up the whole of Disney land during Christmas.. God, it looked like Paradise. We watched the Christmas Parade with so much AWE !!! It was so so nice. To watch our own fairy tale creatures come alive and walk before you, it was awesome. We know that they are artists who are made up to look like them.. But we forget that when we see them (atleast I did). They looked like the life sized dolls. It was so so so good.. I was feeling so happy like a child. When that was over, we again went to Pirates of the Carribean and Indiana Jones and enjoyed those rides too. To be really in such a place where you feel a part of it like the Pirates and to watch the fights between Jack Sparrow and others ;) and to watch Indiana Jones in his adventure and to be a part of it including a scary ride which in the first hand looked so harmless.. These are unforgettable memories. And these will always bring a smile to my face when I remember them.
I think I should thank my friends who persuaded me to go to Disney land with them and made me go these rides almost overpowering me :) because without their persuasion I would have skipped it and missed an important place in my life when I had the chance. You never know unless you tried ;)
After the rides we got our dinner and then went to find a place to watch the Fantasmic show @ 9 pm. Seems like people gather around the place (its a small lake sort of thing where the show happens) almost an hour before to find a proper seat. I instantly knew that it would be like the Songs of the Sea show in Sentosa Island, Singapore. But with the Disney Creatures and Mickey against the Snow white's Step Devil mother it was a very very nice show. And at the end you have all the Disney live creatures coming in a big ship :) .... Man!! it was wonderful. We felt so relieved at the end of the day. Even though we had to stand in many shows for a long time say almost 1 hr or so and we were tired of walking it was worth it. We should have got the Fast Track pass which would have enabled us to reduce the waiting time , but we werent sure if the extra dollars would really help. Since it was a Saturday there was enough crowd too. We returned back by walk to our Motel and went to sleep straight away as we had to start early to Universal Studio and Hollywood the next day.
In short, if you are even in California, do take a ride to LA's DisneyLand. I know that there are other Disney's too. I am not sure how they are but any Disney Land will be a very Happy place. So dont think for a sec that its for the kids. Nope, if you ever like fairy tales or just want to be a child for a few hours, be there, even if you are alone, you will enjoy being there.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)