Movies That Killed My Apetite

I had made up my mind not to watch these two movies after seeing their trailers. They are all about flesh and blood bath, kind of movies that men simply love! But I couldn't avoid watching them. First, was Apocalypto. Full credits to Mr. Gibson for the amazing film making. I loved the fact that he made a movie in a jungle, with non main-stream actors, no romantic scenes or pounds of muscle, but still an amazing movie. I was dissapointed that there was no attempt made to show that the Mayans are considered such a great civlization because of their advanced written language, architecture, paintings and sophisticated maths and astronomics. But I guess Gibson didnt want to do the obvious and stick to his style. Every now and then flesh and blood would paint the screen. I closed my eyes for few of the gory scenes. For the whole duration I didnt crave for caramel flavoured popcorn like I always do. Except for few minor errors, like a full moon night immediately following a day that had solar eclipse and the pain of reading subtitles, the movie is superb. A movie I hate & love at the same time.

Then the very next week, I'm in the theater to watch 300. Again all the blood spilling, arm cutting & shouting made my stomach churn. This movie failed to impress me much, maybe coz it followed Apocalypto. Even though the gory scenes are not many, they were more disgusting. The boring first half & poorly edited ( maybe I should blame the distributors for the bad job) was a let down. All I enjoyed was watching the 6X300 washboard abs/triceps (whatever!) . At first I thought the actors have worn some artificial layer, but they have actually worked them out! That night I skipped my dinner.

I'm not doing a hattrick by watching Primeval. Please! I really need to watch some totally illogical romantic movie or an animated movie to wash it all off.

The Other Side of Auto Suri

"Jeevanahalli, Cox Town? Barolla!!" (I wont come to Jeevanahalli, Cox Town).
Thats the only line I remember from the auto suri song. Its all about about how lame but proud the auto rickshaw drivers are in Bangalore.
When you think about auto rickshaws a.k.a autos a.k.a rick, what do you first think of?
Thick smoke emitting from the exhaust?
Refusal to hire?
Weird phrases on the back of the vehicle?
Rash driving?
Excess fare?

After Friday's incident, I will remember this story everytime I travel in a rick. Just a reminder not to blow the driver's head off.
On Friday evening, I had to travel to my sister's place from my office. The distance is long, its "Friday", its evening and that area may not fetch much customers on the return journey. So, I get "refused" by around 20 auto drivers (No, I'm not making up that number). These drivers are very choosy. They wont just let anybody to hire their auto. Lot of factors influence his decision. The distance can be long but traffic should be less, the area where he will drop the customer must have enough customers waiting to hire him, he should not be stopped by too many signals or maybe he doesn't feel like it.
Then like God, one driver instantly agreed. He looked more than 60 so I thought maybe oldies are not so arrogant. In first 5 minutes of the journey, he had skipped a signal, drove in the wrong way & confessed he didnt know the way. I obliged to direct him, didnt want to lose my saviour to a fat traffic cop. Out of cuiosity I asked him,
"After driving for so many years, you dont know the way ?".
"I'm new, Madam".
"Oh ok".
"I used to work in a government office before & I retired. I thought after retirement I will enjoy my time at home. But..".
"What happened?".
"My only son is good for nothing, nobody else in the family is fit to work. This is the only way I can earn some money".
"Isn't it tough to start at this age?".
"It is! My back hurts all the time. My vision is poor and this traffic frustates me, I'm not used to driving at all".
"Thats terrible".
"What is more horrifying is that once I got mugged when I was returning home & I lost all the day's earnings. The auto owner didnt hear my plea & I had to repay him".
Silence.
"Please check your belongings Madam".
I give him little more than the fare, hoping he would keep the change but he prompty returned the change and smiled. He smiled! And then he drove away looking lost.

Another auto drives by which says on the back, " Trust a snake, but not a girl". Grrrr.

They Speak

Tantadaaa!!! I'm back! And finally here is a compilation of the best quotes from Managers that I have heard so far.

1. "Team, I'm sending you your feedbacks. Please send a reverse feedback on me". Meaning, Please send your feedback on me.

2."I didnt get the Architecture, can you please draw the cabbage diagram?" Meaning, Please draw the layered diagram to explain.

3."Thank you for your outstanding contributions". I have no better thing to say everytime I have a 1 on 1 discussion with you.

4."We have given you a hike on par with the Industry standards". Meaning, The industry can be anything, like cleaning cotton in old beddings.

5."When you are aware that certain problems need to be addressed, you need to take actions on them" Meaning, you made a mistake to complaint against the manager, now you take care of the problem, hahaa!

6."We have a challenge! We just missed the shuttle". Meaning, I read in some MBA book that I need to replace the word "problem" with "challenge" in order to inspire the team.

7."I will vacation tomorrow". And you will work!

8." Please schedule your test meaningfully". I'm lost for words here.

9." I know you weren't feeling well, but you cant apply for a sick leave between two holidays, it has to be Annual leave only. If you wanted to apply for sick leave you should have sent a mail the day before".

To: Manager
Subject: I will not be coming to office tomorrow. I may fall sick.

10."Thank you for your active participating and contributing".