Those were the days...

"Those were the days, my friend
We thought they'd never end
We'd sing and dance forever and a day
We'd live the life we'd choose
We'd fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way"

A beautiful song by Mary Hopkins that I started humming as soon as I finished a long conversation with my friend. After a long time I had a heart to heart with Ashwin. He started the conversation with "I never get to know whats happening with people these days..remember how we used to be before.."As we raced down memory lane..some random scenes started flashing..was that girl really me??

The endless giggles..the sound seems to have faded away.
Who are all these people around me..like a bunch of carefree gypsies..they are the people I would give an arm for..where is everyone?

Nostalgia suddenly took the better of me..asked my friend to stop..Told him I never ever take trips like this..hurts too much.

Thank goodness the conversation did not end in this painful note.We took another turn.

Don't be sad its all over..be glad it happened..

Besides there is always hope..all our junta is going through one of the most challenging phases.I mean its been quite a journey out of college, facing the real world. Most of us are dealing with our changed status (samsarasthru), and kudos to everyone..we are doing pretty ok..not there yet (dunno about others)but doing the best we can.
It will take a few more years for us to get a proper foothold. So the moral of the story " Keep strings attached..with people who you would love to come back to. You should always be able to pick up where you let go.. "


Lyrics of the song..you should really listen to this one:

"Once upon a time there was a tavern
Where we used to raise a glass or two
Remember how we laughed away the hours
And dreamed of all the great things we would do

Those were the days my friend
We thought they'd never end
We'd sing and dance forever and a day
We'd live the life we choose
We'd fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way.La la la la...

Then the busy years went rushing by us
We lost our starry notions on the way
If by chance I'd see you in the tavern
We'd smile at one another and we'd say

Those were the days..

Just tonight I stood before the tavern
Nothing seemed the way it used to be
In the glass I saw a strange reflection
Was that lonely woman really me

Those were the days..

Through the door there came familiar laughter
I saw your face and heard you call my name
Oh my friend we're older but no wiser
For in our hearts the dreams are still the same

La la la la...Those were the days, oh yes, those were the days"

Dravid's Dialogue!!

After the wonderful performance by our cricket team we've had to swallow the bitter pill along with some sugar in the form of humor :) I'm sure everyone would have had their dose of Indian cricket jokes in the form of emails/sms. Most people think the main cause of the debacle was the fact that our cricket heroes are very very busy honing their acting skills.
After the success of 'Mungaru Male' namma bengalooru huduga Dravid has been practicing these lines anthe:

"Nam defensu, nam battingu, nam bowlingu,
nam fieldindu, e biknasi runsu, nam hejje saddu,
aa karab batting formu, aa rascal devada sehwagna formu,
ella mix aagi..nan life alle repair madakagde iro gaya madide
ree.
Nangotagoytu kanri namge world cup sigalla antha..bitkotbitte kanri
bitkotbitte" sniff..sniff..wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

Mungaru Male

Watched a Kannada movie in a theatre after a really long time. "Mungaru Male" really was like cool breeze..very very refreshing.The breath taking photography, natural comedy, well paced story and some enchanting music..perfect ingredients that have gone into the making of an almost perfect movie.

Ganesh clearly was the show stealer.. natural acting..but I thought he could do with a better wardrobe :) I mean his blue spaghetti kind of Tshirt did look a bit awkward.

Its also one of the shortest love stories ever told I guess :) It begins, peaks and ends..in all of ten days :) The story does get a bit unbelievable at times..but who cares..Just go and watch it..and then watch it again to see the glory of Jog Falls..

Am so hooked to "anisutthide yako indu .." that its constantly playing on my mind like a broken record.. nanna hesaru kooge ommeee..haage summanneeeee..lalallalal

check out the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv0buPWxzQk&mode=related&search=

Coo and Riku!

Loitering around my neighbourhood (Nishi Funabashi ) one sunny afternoon I came across this store..
"Coo & Riku"..any guesses for what kinda store this was??!!!
Clue: I went "yippeeeee...thooooo cuuuuuteeeeeeee"
If you know me you must have guessed by now ...was a pet store :)
"Coo & Riku".

Coo = kitten, Riku = pup in jap..I guess..it could be vice versa but I go with this cos "Coooo" sounds cuter..(I am slightly biased towards kittens you see)

Was totally thrilled...cos when I went in ..I had to deal with cute overload :)

I was giddy..did'nt know where to look..ahh..the feeling of ecstasy....For people who are NOT animal freaks this may sound like a lot of nautanki(drama)..but trust me..to be able to feel that way when seeing kittens and pups..you need to have come to earth with a loot of "good karma"..yeah people keep praying..maybe next time..

Check these pics..

It was bad too see them caged..One would just want to free them all and take them home..but check out the cost of owning them!!

I guess I would have to sell my soul to the devil to have enough money to buy them all..

50,000Yen for this kitty..Yappaaaaaa!

I swear this one was telling me "take me take me"..che :(

The curious one..

Duh!!!

Awwwwwwwwww...

Dopey..eh?

This was my favorite one..cos it was the most retarded looking :)

My bonding with animals started decades ago..I believe as a toddler I never ever used to try to talk..no goo goo gaa gaaa...so my folks thought I had some serious speaking disabilities (now they wish that was the case!)..

One fine day when a kitty walked past my sight..that was it..finally broke my silence ...went on and on and on...blabbering uncontrollably with excitement ..to the delight of my parents.. :)

Will write about all my cats some other time...thats yet another long story.

So anyone interested in exporting pups (breed kantri) from India to japan?? Am sure it would get to be very veryyyy lucrative :)

Wishing all of you a wonderful 2007!

Wishing all of you a healthy and a prosperous New Year! I had saved these favorite pics for this post.

Enjoi maadi :)

Food! Glorious Food!

I always thought that Indian cuisine topped the charts when it came to variety. But looks like Japanese food rules. I still have not tasted it but I certainly have seen most of it :)

Most restaurants here display their entire menu in glass cases outside.
This is to attract customers and whet appetites.

Its a common sight to see scores of hungry people drooling over the displays.

The Japanese have an amazing aesthetic sense and this extends to their food as well. Their food platter is a visual delight!

The food is so beautifully presented that it makes even a hardcore eggetarian like me think twice about my food preferences.

I have somehow managed to resist the urge to grab stuff from the showcase and gulum (eat) it :) And boy am I glad!

Cos instead of going "Ummmmmmmmmmmm" I would go "Haaaak Thuuuuu"!!
Yeah.. because I would be chewing some non biodegradable @#$% (read high quality plastic!).

Surpsrised! So was I when I figured out that the visual delight was actually gastronomical deceit :)
Some program on discovery enlightened me. Looks like the Japanese have perfected the art of making food replicas.

A restaurant wishing to have a model of one of its dishes first prepares that dish for the replica food company, which takes photographs and makes sketches of each item's placement on the plate. The sketches are then whisked to the factory where the actual food is dipped in silicon. When the silicon dries, the food is popped free, leaving exact-size molds for hamburger patties, deep-fried prawns, spring rolls or whatever the dish requires. Replica artists then prepare sauces and garnishes flawlessly matched with the photographs.

Cool huh? All this does not come cheap. Each piece of the silicon food can cost upto 90$, and an entire menu display a couple thousand dollars. Each of these displays can actually be considered a work or art.

So Dessert anyone ;)

These are real..I guess :)

Blew money! Had Fun!

Had been to Akihabara over the weekend..kown as the electric town it has more than 500 electronics goods shops.
Jam packed with shoppers its a "must go" place for anyone visiting Japan, especially gadget freaks :)

Laox is a well known chain of duty free shops selling everything..cameras to souvenirs. Especially good for desi shoppers because they have sales guys who can manage to speak some english. Spent a lot of time and money at Laox..

Akihabara has this shopping festival going on in this festive month. Most shops hand out a "scratch card" ..if your luck is shining and you get to scratch the right card you get to shop for 100000Yen :) adu bittii (my favorite kannada word..means Freeeee)

We got some 3 cards at Laox..eagerly scratched away..and guess WHATT??
We won nothing :( I coudnt believe my eyes..NOTHING!!

I was positive that I would win a fundoo camera or something.. :( GRRRRRRR..NOTHING!

Ashith managed to console me..told me ivatthu raahu kethu position sarigilla..we will try again some other day antha.. :) Now I have it all figured out..Will be trying my luck next wednesday.

Ended up buying this awesome camera.. http://www.steves-digicams.com/2006_reviews/a710.html

Adi thanx for this link..helped me a lot. You should also check this http://www.myproductadvisor.com/mpa/camera/inputSummary.do

So me very happy..Will be posting lotsa train pics (dunno why this obsession with jap trains)