Iran - An unexplored territory

Lights , Camera, Action!!!

It was one of those dull Monday mornings when my manager summoned me for a quick chat on "something”. I had no clue what it would be on! It actually was a "quick" one and only lasted for about 7-8 mins.I came back to my workplace and opened an IE session and connected to the site "lonelyplanet".I searched for "Iran" because my manager had told me few mins back that I had to travel to Iran for a project in near future.

The search on lonelyplanet returned with 90+ results with "Iran and different fields related to it".I clicked on one of them. It took me to pages that slowly uncovered the face of this place.Few things that were known and lots of other things that never have been on the horizon of my mind.Now, I thought,the place doesn’t seem as dangerous as what everyone(most of us) thinks.There was still a sound from some corner in my ear drum saying that I can revisit my decision and confess to my manger that everyone says that the place is supposed to be dangerous and I wouldn’t want to spoil the peace of mind by going there.The opposite corner said “All through my life, have I always listened to what others have said?Have I followed blindly what others have done?Then why now????”

It took me less than a minute to reconfirm my decision to myself.So, here I was, deciding to travel to Iran – an unexplored territory.All the procedures started and took irritatingly and surprisingly long for me to get the Visa.There were lots of people around me who asked me to get arms n ammunitions for them If I come back.I was never hellbent to analyse if they were serious or sarcastic or joking!!!I just said “yes” to all of them thought that I can speak to them once I’m back.

My tavel desk gave me a route that loudly shouted “How not to travel to Iran”.The route was irritatingly long for such a shorter distance.But, I had no option but to accept it.

After my final round of consoling my mom by saying that the place was going to be really safe, I embarked upon my journey towards Iran.I was accompanied by Salman bhai.A big shot in the field that I’m trying be an expert in.This could only add to my confidence which otherwise was pretty hollow when this all started.

I flew from bengalooru on the late evening of 23rd Feb 2008.The travel plan had already made sure that I would be wasting lotta time in Mumbai and then in Kuwait in my attempt to reach Iran.The transit in Mumbai was irritatingly long and 6 hrs seemed like more than a day.Things had not improved since my last visit to Mumbai.The renovation work at the airport had been on for quite a few months now and there were lot of temporary adjustments been made all over the airport.For a moment I thought, I have seen that kinda place somewhere in Bengalooru.It flashed immediately, Majestic, that was the name of the place which I thought was strikingly similar.

Had to take all the crap and finally got onto flight to Kuwait.The airport in Kuwait was pretty crowded.It seemed to built on the same lines as that of Dubai(as shown in the pic on the right).Spent the transit time somehow and got onto the flight to Tehran – the capital city of Iran.There weren’t many co-passengers.The business class had no takers.

The butterflies in my stomach started getting life and made their presence felt.I knew , I was on the last leg of my travel to Iran.Excitement was reaching its peak.thought of relaxing by reading the news paper.Guess what, the news paper served the best that I could expect at time.Man utd had humiliated Newcastle in their own backyard by 5-1.what a start!!!!Better things followed, Arsenal had dropped 2 points when they were held for a draw!!hurray!If these were the signals to go by, I thought this is just a beginning and the day and week was gonna be as good as that.

Amidst all my calculations on “what would happen next in the league”, I heard the announcement by the pilot that the plane was getting into its descent.I glanced through the window to see brownish patch of land everywhere.wanted to open the window, but couldn’t!!!Finally the plane landed and after finishing the formalities, I was on my way to the exit point.All the while I was wondering if there was “Curfew” in the airport.(as shown in the pic on the right).The ones that I could see around me were my co-passengers or the Airport staff.Things got slighlty better when I was at the exit point.There were about 5-6 people waiting in the lounge.My eyes were curiously looking around to identify the person who was supposed to pick us up and drop to the hotel.My eyes flashed in few secs.There was this man who held 2 placards in his hand, that read “Salman Siddiqui” and “Sandeep Naganur”.It made me feel really good and for a second, I thought it was a friend of mine who had come to meet me!!!

Tehran

In few mins , I could make out that that he had taken Farsi as his major language in the school and had bunked English classes(if there were any).It was really funny to speak to him as I would try and use words from English, Hindi, Arabic(thanks to announcements that I’ve heard in the airports of Bahrain,Muscat,Dubai,Kuwait).Even Salman was trying to communicate with him and used best of his knowledge that he had gained in Turkey.We could finally strike a chord in sometime and were laughing at what we thought were jokes!!!His reference to Shahrukh khan,Taj Mahal,Mumbai made me realized what the outside world thinks of India.

The drive to the hotel was supposed to take about 60-70 mins.The drive started off with great landscapes around.It was simply beautiful. I thought ,If only the airport road in Bengalooru was this beautiful.After 20-25 mins, we hit the city.The archietecture seemed not so modern but still catchy.As and when we started getting deeper into the city, the skyscrapers unearthed.There were lots of these tall monsters.I was noticing that the traffic mainly consisted of 4 wheelers.The traffic system seemed good and well maintained.People were sticking to lane rules.Then, something happened that made me feel I was at home,back in bengalooru.TRAFFIC JAM.The vehicles started honking their horns like crazy,Trying to squeeze in between other vehicles.I just sat back, closed my eyes for a while.When it looked like things calmed down, I opened my eyes.We reached the hotel in next few mins.First thing that caught my eyes was the mountain range that seemed not so far from that place.To add to it, it had snow all over it.
There was a strange feeling inside.A mixture of unsecure, happy, homesick, excited.Had bath and hit the office within 2 hrs of our checking into the hotel!!! Tough thing on us, but had no choice.

The only consolation all the while was that the weekend was just 3 days away.The next 3 days were pretty ordinary.Lots of meetings through the day and struggle for vegetarian food. But, I was mentally ready for it as it totally called for.

No activity!!!

Its been really long since I penned(keyed) down somethin!!!Thanks to the beautiful lifestyle that bengalooru has given to me..There are few things that I would have loved to share with everybody here....Should get shape very soon...Hoping to do it in next few days....Till then, sayonara....

Movie Review - Om Shanti Om

Diwali just got BIGGER!!!!
Last year ,Farhan Akhtar's "Don" and Shirish Kunder's "Jaaneman" released on Diwali.Though "Don" was a clear winner after few weeks, it still didn't go on to become a super-hit.
This year, Farah Khan's "Om Shanti Om" and Sanjay Leela Bhansali's "Saawariya" have clashed on the diwali day.Things are obviously not suggesting anything right now, ie on the third day since the release of these two biggies.But, one thing is sure that OSO(Om Shanti Om) is wooing audiences and it seems like King khan and Farah have lived up to the expectations and hype that could have taken the movie either way.
So, here they come with their own take on re-birth with interesting references from the classic movie Karz.No, its not "inspired by" or an adaptation or remake of Karz.But ,we hardly have few superhit movies on the theme of re-birth.So, Karz belonging to the 70s and having few direct references in the movie makes you think, if this movie is Karz-revisited.But, OSO throws all these allegations away and comes out as a fresh movie(not so fresh theme) and makes the viewer feel delighted to have decided to buy the ticket for this movie.
No doubt that this movie is a 100% masala package and serves everything in just about the right quantity and quality.Here are few points that I've listed down, that according to me are the reason as to why this movie will be liked by quite a few people who would want to get entertained for 3 hours and come out of the theatre with a faint smile on their faces without worrying much about the rational aspects related to the movie:-

1)SRK - The king khan delivers a second hit within a year.

2)Deepika Padukone - Freshness,Elegance, Grace and Beauty personified.She looks more than promising in her first outing.Long way to go.She wouldn't have dreamt of a better launch vehicle than this.

3)Shreyas Talpade,Kirron kher,Arjun Rampal - Supporting actors have rarely made impacts like this.Their roles do carry the story forward and are not mere batons for glorfication of the lead actors.

4)MUSIC - Great music by Vishal-Shekhar.A complete album of some sorts.It delivers to wide range of people with songs of the moods of romance,disco,sad serving the much needed variety , which is hardly found in most of the albums these days.

5)Depiction of 70s - We've watched the magic of 70s on television.But, this was the first time we(teenagers and 20 somethings) have actually got a chance to witness the magic of 70s.Farah and SRK bring out the best of this era with the glorious sets and the style quotient of the people who belonged to that era.

So, is this a movie a classic , a movie that'll be remembered for years to come ???? May be not.In a broader picture, this movie is just another masala entertainer.But , it is still more special than rest of its genre mates, thanks to the 5 points listed above.This is not a flawless movie.I would specially like to emphasise on one point that would really stand out if you have to try and find out the mistakes:-

• Second half is a bit too slow compared to the pacy first half that glorifies the 70s era and churns out stuff that the youth of today may not have had a chance to witness on the Big screen.The humour does not match to the quality of that of the first half.In a broader sense, the sequences in second half are not as captivating as the ones in the first half and there are numerous occasions when the viewer gets bored.

So, clearly the plus points eclipse the minus ones and OSO emerges out to be clear entertainer.Leave your brains behind and get on to a joy ride.You yourself will be at loss if you try making sense out of every frame and every sequence.Once in a while we should give a shot at a movie like this.A must watch for all the hardcore hindi movie buffs.

My rating - 3 out of 5(Timepass hai bhidu!!)

One more!!

Hows this??!!!!!Looks cool to me...it says "GURURAJ"....one of my deaaaaarest frens.....

Ambigrams!!

Thats my name!!My first ambigram....I know it looks "pathetic"...But, it can only get better from here on!!!!

My First BLOG!!!!

It wasn't on my mind sometime back.But, here I'm, writing my first ever blog.I hope this is just a prologue to what is going to be a great blog experience for me and all my (to be) readers.