My Vacation in Goa

My Vacation in Goa

Recently, I went to Goa for a week long holiday. This was not a budget vacation like my previous holiday in Goa where I tried to spend as little as possible, so it was much more comfortable. I arrived in an airconditioned compartment of the Goa Express train that runs from Delhi to Vasco in Goa. The journey was two days long.

Day 1 - Candolim Beach

We were living at a place located on Candolim Beach, so every morning I went for a quiet walk along the beachfront. The soft golden sands and the azure blue waters of the Arabian Sea were simply breathtaking. I rubbed my feet in the cool sand and curled up my toes in delight. The beach was totally empty in the morning. The only sounds I could hear were the calls of seagulls and waves splashing on the shore. Far over the horizon, I could see ships leaving on long voyages.

Day 2 - Old Goa, Pilar and Dona Paula.

After my early morning stroll on Candolim Beach, we set off for the churches of Old Goa. First, we visited the Se Cathedral and Bom Jesus Church where miraculous things take place. Here a film crew was shooting and had brought along equipment like cranes, cameras and huge lights. The crew was speaking in a South Indian language, so it assumed they could'nt possibly be shooting for a Bollywood film starring Salman Khan and took off. Next, we went to Fr. Agnel Church in Pilar. It was located on a hill top and offered a spectacular view of the surrounding lush green forests and rice fields below. The auto rickshaw charged Rs. 150 from Old Goa to Pilar and back.

In the evening, we went to the city of Panjim and Dona Paula. At Dona Paula I spent Rs.70 on a water scooter ride. It was just a three minute ride, but the experience of bouncing on the choppy waves at top speed was simply unbelievable. We climbed up the Dona Paula hill and managed to catch a magnificent view of the sun setting over the shimmering green sea. The strong sea breeze filled with the spray from the waves hitting the rocks still linger in my memory. At dusk, we took a walk along the Panaji riverfront and watched the lighted yachts cruise down the Mandovi River.

Day 3 - Baga Beach

I started the day with a relaxing walk on Candolim Beach. As the day wore on, it became quite hot. I had a Cranberry Bacardi Breezer and slept the day off. In the evening, we went to Baga Beach. This place was crowded with mostly Indian tourists, had fun water sports and a range of restaurants. The creek on the far end of the beach is a good place for safe swimming. As evening neared and the sun began to set, the sky turned a marvellous hue of yellow, orange and red. We left the beach pretty late and ended up having to take the sole luxury taxi back to Candolim for a cost of Rs.200.

Day 4 - Mapusa and Candolim Beach

It was a Friday and a day when sellers from all over Goa come to Mapusa to sell thier wares. Prices are cheap, so we thought we'd buy some Goan sweets and gifts for our friends back home. I saw some beautiful tropical plants being sold by some ladies and bought seven for my garden in Delhi. I also bought a pen holder decorated with shells for my boss, but I haven't gifted it to him coz he isn't back from vacation as yet. Other things we bought included wine, feni, masalas, goan sweets and namkeens. I spend the evening lying on a beach bed at Candolim Beach.

Day 5 - Thivim and Delhi
We were supposed to leave for Delhi by the 5.00 am Mangala Lakshadweep Express from Thivim station, but all hell broke loose. Our train ticket did not get confirmed even though we had relatively low waiting list numbers of 2, 3 and 4. I spent the day running to internet cafes, booking offices and travel agents in Panjim and Porvorim to get any ticket that would allow me to reach Delhi by Monday morning. I also had to travel to Thivim (the station of boarding) to cancel the waitlisted ticket and get a refund. I later managed to get a ticket for the 5.00 pm Spice Jet flight. This was my first flight and I was real nervous. I finally touched down at Delhi Airport at 8.15pm.

That's How It Really Works !!: My Budget Vacation in Goa - Day 5 - Siolem and Morjem

Movie Reviews - Traffic Signal, Sarhad Paar, Gafla and Nishabd

Movie Reviews of Traffic Signal, Sarhad Paar and Gafla

Over the past three weeks, I managed to catch four movies - Traffic Signal, Sarhad Paar, Gafla and Nishabd. Here are my ratings and film reviews -

Traffic Signal - 7/10 - starring Kunal Khemu. This film is a documentary about life on the streets through the eyes of Silsila (Kunal Khemu), a local toughie. Silsila collects a weekly amount of cash (hafta) from beggars, hawkers, prostitutes, conmen and others who work daily at traffic signals. The casting is perfect. I'd say Kunal Khemu is one of the rising stars of Bollywood who can actually act. The makeup, costumes, locale and script of Traffic Signal are very realistic. The movie ends with Silsila deciding to testify as a witness in the high profile murder of a civil engineer.

Sarhad Paar - 4/10 - starring Tabu, Sanjay Dutt and Mahima Choudhary. This movie is about an Indian army man who strays over the border while chasing a terrorist and is imprisoned in Pakistan for five years. When he is released over the border, his family realises that he has lost his memory. His wife and sister nurse him back to health, after which he decides to chase after the bad guy - a mercenary called Bakhtawar. In the end, the armyman's sister has to choose between her husband who is a traitor and her brother. She chooses her brother. It was an ok movie, nothing great but nothing horribly annoying either. Part of the script was confusing and events were disjointed.

Gafla - 6/10 - starring Vinod Sherawat and other debutants. Gafla is a film about a young ambitious fraud at the stock market. It seems to be loosely based on the life of Harshad Mehta and Ketan Parekh - two stock market scamsters. The movie has all new faces in lead roles and they do a relatively good job. The story is also good.


Nishabd - 1/10 - starring Amitabh Bachchan and Jiah Khan's long legs. (Aamir Khan's supposed half sister). This movie is about a 60 year old photographer who gets turned on by a 16 year old friend of his daughter. This movie can be called a 'blue film' because the entire film is given a blue look through the use of a blue filter. I'm tired of watching Amitabh Bachchan in every second movie. An awful 'tauba tauba' kind of movie, I kept flicking channels throughout and skipped the end of the film.

So, how did you like my film reviews of Traffic Signal, Sarhad Paar, Gafla and Nishabd ? Have you watched these movies ?

Aishwarya Abhishek Wedding Pictures & Photos

Aishwarya Abhishek Wedding in Pictures

Here are a few pictures of the Aishwarya Rai - Abhishek Bachchan wedding that tell the story.

Here is a picture of Aishwarya wearing a pink lehenga choli at the Mehendi ceremony.

This picture shows Abhishek Bachchan dressed like a Qawwal having Mehendi applied on his hands.

Here is a pic of Aishwarya in a red saree and her mom on the way to the wedding venue.

In this picture, Aishwarya seems to have changed her outfit to a golden saree for the wedding ceremony.


Here is a photograph of Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan with the crew of their first flight which they took to the Tirupati temple.


This is a photo of Abhiash praying at the Tirupati Temple.

Yes, it was a traditional marriage and congrats to the newly wed couple. The only thing that left a bitter taste in the mouth was the wedding guest list. The rich and powerful like the Ambanis, Subroto Roy, Nandas, Wadia, Thackeray, Amar Singh and the Deshmukhs were obviously invited. Some producers like Ram Gopal Varma who are paying the actors salaries in upcoming films were invited. Other stars who have had happy marriages were also invited like Sachin Tendulkar, Sonali Bendre, Rishi Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor and Kajol.

People who were not invited -
1. Competitors of Abhishek and Aishwarya like John Abraham, Hrithik, Akshay Kumar, Priyanka Chopra and Kareena Kapoor.
2. Ex-girlfriends/boyfriends - Salman Khan, Vivek Oberoi, Rani Mukherjee and thier families.
3. People in non traditional marriages, live in relationships and divorcees - Hema Malini, Dharmendra, Randhir Kapoor, Rekha, Sushmita Sen etc.
4. Muslims, Christians, and Parsis or people who have married Muslims, Christians or Parsis. AR Rehman and Aman Ali Bangash were the few Muslim sounding names invited for the wedding. (AR Rehman's real name is actually A.S Dileep Kumar while Aman Ali Bangash has recently been harping about his Hindu heritage to the media)

Ok, it is understandable why ex's should not be invited to a wedding, but why be so traditional in not inviting the others ?? If not to the wedding ceremony then at least to a reception ?? What do you say ??

Other Celebrity Marriages

• MS Dhoni - Sakshi Rawat
• Sania Mirza - Shoaib Malik
• More Celebrity Weddings

Salman Khan On KBC Kaun Banega Crorepati

Salman Khan On KBC Kaun Banega Crorepati

The final episode of this season's Kaun Banega Crorepati that is hosted by Shah Rukh Khan was telecast last Thursday. Shah Rukh Khan brought on a few special guests from the Bollywood film industry - Kareena Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Katrina Kaif and my favorite actor - Salman Khan. The final episode sshow was around an hour and a half long and quite entertaining.

First came Priyanka Chopra and Kareena Kapoor. Two questions which I remember the computer asking them were -
1. Who was the first film star to be nominated to the Rajya Sabha ? Prithviraj Kapoor
2. What is in the left hand of the Statue of Liberty ? A book

Kareena knew most of the answers while Priyanka kept saying, "are you sure, it will be your fault if you are wrong."


Next came Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif. I doubt these guys are serious about each other because of their negative body language. Katrina seemed to think Salman was a downright nuisance.

When asked which charity he would like to donate his winnings to, Salman Khan said he is planning to start a 'Salman Khan Foundation' because charity begins at home. What a cute way to say he is keeping the cash ... wink wink

Shah Rukh asked Katrina about the gifts Salman gave her, if any. She seemed so unsure and later said, "Men and women have different ideas about a date. Women like candlelight dinners while men just pick up a glass and put it down." How sad !!!

Questions they were asked were -

1. Which industrialist has the Hindi word meaning 'jewel' in his name? Ratan Tata
2. Which weapon did Bruce Lee become famous for in his movies ? Nunchaku
3. What form of clothing was named after the title of James Thomas Brudnell ? Cardigan

Katrina Kaif was even dumber than she looked. She did'nt seem to know the answer to any question even though Salman Khan gave hints about the answer over and over again.

The funnist part of the show was when Shah Rukh Khan asked Salman Khan to announce that they were going in for a break.

Salman (In Amitabh Bachchan's accent in Hindi) - "Go for a break"
Salman ( In Shah Rukh Khan's stammering voice) - " er....um....um....break"
Shah Rukh Khan - "I'll get you for this Salman"
Salman - grin ...grin

It was a great show. Salman Khan was at his funniest best and kept me entertained through the evening. He even did the Bihu dance steps which an Assamese guest had taught Shah Rukh Khan earlier. This elbow shaking hand waving dance was done alongside Shahrukh to the tune of 'Bhangra Pale' of the Shahrukh Salman starrer 'Karan Arjun'.

It's sad the season of Kaun Banega Crorepati has ended. Now I don't have anything to wait up for every weekday from 9.00 to 10.00 pm. I just keep switching channels randomly. The other day I managed to catch the Indian guy whom Asha has been blogging about being eliminated from American Idol. His voice and singing was quite good. I have a feeling he'll make it big elsewhere.

Did you watch the last episode of KBC ?

That's How It Really Works !!: Kaun Banega Crorepati KBC - Holi Episode

Cyberkitty is Back

Hi Bloggers,

Thanks for all your comments, I finally managed to post them. I am back after a long vacation. Recently, switched to a new job where blogging is not allowed in office. I'll be posting soon.
Posts that will be coming up -

1. My vacation in Goa
2. Movie Reviews of Traffic Signal, Gafla and Sarhad Paar.
3. Comments on the Aishwarya -Abhishek Wedding
4. Salman Khan on Kaun Banega Crorepati

regards,
Cyberkitty

Hattrick - Movie Review

Hat Trick - Movie Review

This week, I saw the movie Hattrick. The movie is about the separate lives of three cricket fans. Since, it does not have much propaganda about India 'winning the world cup', it is an ok cricket movie to watch after India's ouster.

Hattrick - 6/10 - movie review of the comedy starring Nana Patekar, Danny Denzongpa, Kunal Kapoor, Rimi Sen and Paresh Rawal. The first cricket fan is David (Danny Denzongpa), a former cricketer who is sick in hospital and wishes to view the world cup on TV. Nana Patekar is his strict doctor. The second cricket fan is Kunal Kapoor who is so crazy about cricket that he chooses to watch it on his honeymoon. His wife Rimi Sen is very irritated. The third Indian cricket fan is Paresh Rawal who is working as a cleaner in England. He wants British citizenship and pretends he is a fan of the England cricket team. Meanwhile his daughter falls in love with a British negro whom he disapproves of.

Hattrick ends with Nana Patekar conspiring with Harsha Bhogle, Alan Wilkins and the other nerdy ESPN sports host to create a fake telecast of the cricket world cup finals between India and England in which India win. In the other parallel stories, Kunal Kapoor does a striptease to make his wife jealous while Paresh Rawal refuses UK citizenship and returns to India.

Hattrick started out with a fun concept, but the script ended up with too many holes. There were quite a few unethical jokes against the negro boyfriend and the promotional spots given to companies like Federal Express looked so fake. Nana Patekar and Danny Denzongpa's performance was great. The other actors did a reasonably okay job. The song 'wicket bacha' (save your wicket) is catchy and reminded me of Sourav 'ball wasting' Ganguly's performance in the world cup. If you are a cricket fan then it is a good timepass comic movie to watch.

Did you see Hattrick ?

Indian Cricket Team at World Cup - An Analysis

Indian Cricket Team At The World Cup - An Analysis

Recently, the Indian cricket team came home after not making it to the second round or Super Eight stage of the cricket world cup. This was followed by widespread condemnation by the Bengali dominated Indian media that had supported Saurav Ganguly's inclusion in the cricket team. Here is my analysis of what went wrong. First, lets take a look at the facts.

The Facts - India played only 3 matches.

1. India Vs Bangladesh - Batting - Ganguly (66/129), Dravid (14/28), Yuvraj (47/58), Zaheer (15/17), Munaf (15/15). Bowling - Sehwag 5 -2, Munaf 8-2, Zaheer 9-1
Bangladesh Won - India made 191/10 in 49.3 overs and Bangladesh made 192/5 in 48.3 overs.

2. India Vs Bermuda - Batting - Ganguly (89/114), Sehwag (114/87), Dhoni (29/25), Yuvraj (83/46), Tendulkar (57/29 not out), Dravid (7/2 not out). Bowling - Agarkar 10-3, Kumble 9-3 Zaheer 10-2, Tendulkar 1-1, Munaf 8-1.
India won - India made the highest ever world cup total of 413/5 in 50 overs while Bermuda scored 156/10 in 43.1 overs. Sehwag was the man of the match.

3. India Vs Sri Lanka - Bowling - Zaheer 10-2, Agarkar 8-1, Munaf 10-1, Ganguly 4-1, Tendulkar 8-1. Batting - Uthappa 18/27, Sehwag 48/46, Dravid 60/82, Agarkar 10/25, Harbhajan 17/20 not out, Munaf 10/17.
Sri Lanka won - Sri Lanka scored 254/6 in 50 overs while India made 185/10 in 43.1 overs.

M.S. Dhoni - 5 catches and 2 stumpings from 3 matches.

(Batting is runs/balls and bowling is overs - wickets. Players who made less than 10 runs are not mentioned)

The reasons why India lost -

1. Greg Chappell was not given the young team - which he had prepared and trained for the world cup. Selection politics lead to the exclusion of players who have done well in the West Indies like VVS Laxman, Suresh Raina and Mohammad Kaif. Other good players like Pathan and Sreesanth were not allowed to play while Saurav Ganguly the only player who was not wanted by Greg Chappel, Rahul Dravid and the team was given a place.

2. Sourav Ganguly - He is a negative influence. He plays for his personal score not caring if India wins or loses. He knows that if he gets a 50 or 100 they can't chuck him out of the team, so he builds the score using as many balls as suitable to his needs. As an opening batsman he should be giving India a good start, but he wastes balls and makes playing conditions seem harder than they are. His statistics in the 3 matches - 66/129, 89/114 and 7/23. Even no.11 batsman Munaf Patel has done better. Greg Chappell and Rahul Dravid are not fools. They work with Sourav Ganguly on a regular basis, they must be knowing exactly what he is like and why he should not be allowed to play.

Sourav Ganguly plays a lot of politics. He only wants to win if he is made the captain of the team. He managed to get into the team by using the 'jack' of politicians and the sponsors of the world cup - Pepsi. Too bad for them that India is now out of the world cup. Sourav Ganguly shares little rapport with the rest of the team. Not many hug him when he scores big nor can he be found sitting and talking with other team members in the pavilion. This proves that something is wrong somewhere.

3. Bad Fielding - As players known for good fielding like Kaif, Raina and Powar were not taken in the team, India ended up giving away plenty of runs to the opposing team and missing run out chances. Plus, the Indian cricket team must have lost the motivation to play after Sourav Ganguly was included into the team. Imagine, how he must have gloated and showed off!

4. No Luck - When India was bowling, lots of lbw decisions and inside edges did not go in India's favor. On the other hand, while batting many Indians were declared lbw when the ball was going the other way or faced other unlucky circumstances. Sachin Tendulkar was the main victim here. Remember, how the ball bounced off his pads onto the stumps ? Plus, deciding matches were heavily rained on.

5. Too Few Matches - The structure of the 2007 world cup allows for three matches per team in the first stage and twelve matches per team in the Super Eight stage. Any team can have a bad day and this faulty scheme played a big role in the exit of popular teams like India, Pakistan and Zimbabwe.

Annoying questions being asked by the Bengali media and their answers -

1. Cricketers are doing advertisements - Unlike, regular folk whose careers last till the age of 60-62 years, cricketers retire when they are around 32 -36. Many play for just two - three years. Most don't have a college education and it is very difficult for them to get a regular job after they retire. Money from advertisments are just neccessary savings for an uncertain future and they have every right to it while it lasts.

2. Cricketers are staying awake till late hours - True, how can they get a good nights sleep before a tough world cup decider. They are bound to be nervous. Plus, the Bob Woolmer saga must have played havoc on their psyche.

3. Indian fans are furious - This is not true. Not many Indians expected India to win the world cup even though we secretly hoped that they would prove us wrong. The people shown on television burning effigies, protesting and attacking players' homes are units of some political party or the other trying to get attention for their cause. The protest lasts only for two minutes, the media takes a few shots and then runs it the whole day.

In reality, the matches were being telecast late at night and very few people stayed up to watch the second innings of any match. I certainly did'nt, even though I am a big cricket fan !

4. Greg Chappell should be sacked - Why should Greg Chappell be sacked for the failure of the selectors ? Greg Chappell must be so tired with the politics of Indian cricket that I doubt he will want to renew his contract anyway. He is an Australian and is unlikely to stand this sort of nonsense favouritism which is commonplace in India.

5. Blame everyone except Ganguly tactic - That's because the largely Bengali media cannot see beyond a fellow Bengali - Sourav Ganguly. Be practical and unbiased in your reports guys !

6. Former cricketers criticisms - They seem to have forgetton what is was like to win and lose. Many want to be coach and have an axe to grind against the current coach, captain and team. The only persons who spoke sense are former batsman Navjot Singh Siddhu on Rajat Sharma's Aap Ki Adalat and former spinner Dilip Doshi in Times of India - who both blamed the selectors!

The Solution

The 2007 cricket world cup is already dead - no one is watching it on television far less thinking about going to the Caribbean to watch a match. A great solution would be to get sponsors to organise an India Pakistan Zimbabwe friendly one day series to coincide with the semi finals and finals of the cricket world cup. It can be held in a neutral venue like UAE, Malaysia or Canada. The matches will be at a more earthly hour because of the time zone. More people will come to watch it because UAE is close to Asia as well as Africa and has many citizens of South Asian origin. This way you won't see empty stadiums as is visible at the Caribbean world cup venues. Plus, India is more motivated to win if they are playing Pakistan. We can allow Greg Chappell to play with the team he trained for the cricket world cup and bring back crowd attracter - Shoaib Akhtar. Since Bob Woolmer is dead and Inzamam has retired there won't be many protests.

So, what do you say about India's performance in the world cup ??




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