This is Minneapolis downtown, taken over by the pearl white clouds. 10:30 am in the morning of Sunday, the September 25, 05.
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Friday, September 23, 2005
The picture of a squash fruit at the Farmers' Market of Minneapolis. The Farmers' Market is an interesting place in the weekend, as it resembles the village weekend market of India, and the farmers' directly sell their products to the customers. The prices are a little less, but the produce is fresh, and the ambience is totally desi. ;-) Watch out this space for more pictures of this interesting place.....
A quick stop at the bank
Walking to the bank to deposit the pay cheque is a pleasure that makes the fortnight of work drudgery to be washed away from even the remotest corners of the memory.
Yesterday, the stride was exuberant, and the world looked a bit more colourful, as I walked through the skyway (a tunnel like structure, connecting multi storeyed buildings in the downtown) towards the bank with my pay cheque. Laptop, digital SLR, mp3 player, and many more dreams were in their formative stages, and were thirsty for capital ;-)
It was half hour to five in the evening, and the tellers had closed their counters. They were loitering around, waiting for the clock to scream 'five'.
I made it straight to the only teller, who was still working. She was assisting a student with his cash.
I waited for my turn.
A minute passed.
"You have a nice evening," the student with an unkempt blond beard, and a sleazy jeans cap uttered to her, and proceeded towards the exit.
I stood before her, with an excited 'Hi'.
She looked at me for a moment, her mascara eyes widening a lil. Did she recognise me from any place???
'Haaaai' she uttered, almost as a whisper. She was still looking at me, as though surprised. Pleasantly surprised, fortunately.
"I do not have my account number, and was wondering if I could get it using my ATM card," I uttered the usual words, with a slight bit of the American accent. I had never made any effort to remember the account number, as the tellers always helped me out with this ;-).
Her smile warmed, and she nodded eagerly, as she took my deposit slip from my hands.
No boyz... sorry. I won't lie that her hand touched mine, and she did that deliberately and all. All those things do not happen in the real world.
But yeah, she was pretty.
She looked at me with those sparkling eyes, and whispered something, with rippled smiles.
No.
It is not what you think.
"Pardon me," I leaned over to hear her properly.
"Please swipe the card on the machine," I could hear her this time.
I did that, and entered the number. I fished out two more cheques of smaller amounts. "Could I combine all the amounts together in a single deposit slip, rather than one each?" I spoke. The accent was included. ;-)
"Sure, I can help you out," she reached out eagerly, to the other cheques that I held.
"And the total...." I thought aloud. Mentally, I added the amounts, as she searched for the calculator.
I declared the amount aloud, trying to showoff my steadfastness.
She chuckled, as she slowly typed those amounts on the calculator. The amount was the same.
She looked up to me, with glowing eyes.
I gave a light laugh.
Slowly, she ran her carefully manicured fingers over the keyboard, as she entered the cheque information. She ran the cheques through the scanner, looking at me everytime.
I was enjoying this. It was fun to be adored this way. At the first sight!!!
I had never guessed that I could have this kind of effect on a girl. Guess, it was there after all. ;-)
Though my mother occasionally reminded me that I looked like a joker, I sought relief when my friends called me Hritik.
"Lo, he has a pointed chin, and a gawky face," uttered my friend one day. "And you feel nice when people call you that???" he crushed my happiness in a single wave. "You look like Sanjay Dutt, maga. Super height, and gym body," he told.
And he thought he was complimenting me. :-(
"You look like Ananth Kumar, the MP," a BJP activist had once told me, when I was working for the party for '96 elections.
Though Ananth Kumar won the elections, he had unknowingly threatened my confidence for many years.
Then, I settled for me looking like myself.
What better than looking like Thejas, who did not resemble anybody looking great, funny or bad. AND WHO HAD FLOORED THIS FEMALE BEHIND THE DESK ;-)
The receipt erupted from the printer, and she tore it out as though her life depended on it. As she handed it over to me, she looked at me with a bit of sadness in her eyes.
"Thanks," I uttered.
She was still staring at me.
"Bye," I said, waiting for her to say something.
She whispered again, which I heard as 'bye' after a delay, as though the sound waves were so feeble, that they needed extra time than their usual speed of 0.33 kmps.
As I came out of the bank, and made it in the skyway towards home, there was no thought of laptop, or the digital camera, or any of the customs officers I will have to face on my way back home. It was a great elation of being admired.
Finally, I had been presented with that smile, that I have seen only in the movies.
Half hour later, I joined my roomate for the evening tea, watching CNN screaming against Bush for Katrina, and few words about Rita, the big hurricane to hit the Texas in the next few days.
"Guruve (Pal) ," I started the topic, "Banknalli super expereince kanappa (Great experience at the bank)," I said.
He looked at me puzzled.
And I narrated the incident.
As the narration proceeded, his interest and smile grew. At the end, he was laughing aloud.
Now, it was the time for me to be puzzled.
"You know how all these banks operate to retain the customers???" he said amidst laughters.
"WHAT???"
"The other day, I went to the bank, that lady at the first teller counter called me out, to say I am cute," he said.
I was listening.
"Then the other teller seconded the first lady that I was indeed cute. And then they started discussing that I was cute," he said, as he laughed aloud, " And you are telling me stories, half of which you have imagined," he continued in between his laughters.
And there, my brief moment of hapiness came to an end.
Yesterday, the stride was exuberant, and the world looked a bit more colourful, as I walked through the skyway (a tunnel like structure, connecting multi storeyed buildings in the downtown) towards the bank with my pay cheque. Laptop, digital SLR, mp3 player, and many more dreams were in their formative stages, and were thirsty for capital ;-)
It was half hour to five in the evening, and the tellers had closed their counters. They were loitering around, waiting for the clock to scream 'five'.
I made it straight to the only teller, who was still working. She was assisting a student with his cash.
I waited for my turn.
A minute passed.
"You have a nice evening," the student with an unkempt blond beard, and a sleazy jeans cap uttered to her, and proceeded towards the exit.
I stood before her, with an excited 'Hi'.
She looked at me for a moment, her mascara eyes widening a lil. Did she recognise me from any place???
'Haaaai' she uttered, almost as a whisper. She was still looking at me, as though surprised. Pleasantly surprised, fortunately.
"I do not have my account number, and was wondering if I could get it using my ATM card," I uttered the usual words, with a slight bit of the American accent. I had never made any effort to remember the account number, as the tellers always helped me out with this ;-).
Her smile warmed, and she nodded eagerly, as she took my deposit slip from my hands.
No boyz... sorry. I won't lie that her hand touched mine, and she did that deliberately and all. All those things do not happen in the real world.
But yeah, she was pretty.
She looked at me with those sparkling eyes, and whispered something, with rippled smiles.
No.
It is not what you think.
"Pardon me," I leaned over to hear her properly.
"Please swipe the card on the machine," I could hear her this time.
I did that, and entered the number. I fished out two more cheques of smaller amounts. "Could I combine all the amounts together in a single deposit slip, rather than one each?" I spoke. The accent was included. ;-)
"Sure, I can help you out," she reached out eagerly, to the other cheques that I held.
"And the total...." I thought aloud. Mentally, I added the amounts, as she searched for the calculator.
I declared the amount aloud, trying to showoff my steadfastness.
She chuckled, as she slowly typed those amounts on the calculator. The amount was the same.
She looked up to me, with glowing eyes.
I gave a light laugh.
Slowly, she ran her carefully manicured fingers over the keyboard, as she entered the cheque information. She ran the cheques through the scanner, looking at me everytime.
I was enjoying this. It was fun to be adored this way. At the first sight!!!
I had never guessed that I could have this kind of effect on a girl. Guess, it was there after all. ;-)
Though my mother occasionally reminded me that I looked like a joker, I sought relief when my friends called me Hritik.
"Lo, he has a pointed chin, and a gawky face," uttered my friend one day. "And you feel nice when people call you that???" he crushed my happiness in a single wave. "You look like Sanjay Dutt, maga. Super height, and gym body," he told.
And he thought he was complimenting me. :-(
"You look like Ananth Kumar, the MP," a BJP activist had once told me, when I was working for the party for '96 elections.
Though Ananth Kumar won the elections, he had unknowingly threatened my confidence for many years.
Then, I settled for me looking like myself.
What better than looking like Thejas, who did not resemble anybody looking great, funny or bad. AND WHO HAD FLOORED THIS FEMALE BEHIND THE DESK ;-)
The receipt erupted from the printer, and she tore it out as though her life depended on it. As she handed it over to me, she looked at me with a bit of sadness in her eyes.
"Thanks," I uttered.
She was still staring at me.
"Bye," I said, waiting for her to say something.
She whispered again, which I heard as 'bye' after a delay, as though the sound waves were so feeble, that they needed extra time than their usual speed of 0.33 kmps.
As I came out of the bank, and made it in the skyway towards home, there was no thought of laptop, or the digital camera, or any of the customs officers I will have to face on my way back home. It was a great elation of being admired.
Finally, I had been presented with that smile, that I have seen only in the movies.
Half hour later, I joined my roomate for the evening tea, watching CNN screaming against Bush for Katrina, and few words about Rita, the big hurricane to hit the Texas in the next few days.
"Guruve (Pal) ," I started the topic, "Banknalli super expereince kanappa (Great experience at the bank)," I said.
He looked at me puzzled.
And I narrated the incident.
As the narration proceeded, his interest and smile grew. At the end, he was laughing aloud.
Now, it was the time for me to be puzzled.
"You know how all these banks operate to retain the customers???" he said amidst laughters.
"WHAT???"
"The other day, I went to the bank, that lady at the first teller counter called me out, to say I am cute," he said.
I was listening.
"Then the other teller seconded the first lady that I was indeed cute. And then they started discussing that I was cute," he said, as he laughed aloud, " And you are telling me stories, half of which you have imagined," he continued in between his laughters.
And there, my brief moment of hapiness came to an end.
Saturday, September 17, 2005
Short review of Memento
There is this uncle of mine who believes that, to enjoy a movie, enter the movie hall half hour late. Irrespective of what the movies dishes out to you, romance, comedy or action, you are certainly going to enjoy the mystery of trying to guess about what has happened in the first half hour.
Little does he know that, his idea has been transformed into a multimillion dollar movie, the 'Memento'.
Story:
Leonard has a weird mental condition. He has no short term memory. He had been a normal person, until a singular incident where his wife is raped and killed, and in a dual with the killer, he would have a head injury, due to which he develops a weird mental condition. All he can remember is his life till the incident. From there on, at any point of time, he would remember incidents only in the very recent past. To exemplify, if you have met his person in the morning, he would remember you till the afternoon, but he would certainly have no clue about who you are, by the evening.
The story is about this person with this condition, going around hunting for his wife's killer.
Is that thrilling enough?
Wait, till I tell you that the story is narrated by the director in the reverse direction. There are two parallel stories running, one in colour, and the other one in black and white, with one of them being in the reverse direction, the other being in the forward direction.
The result is an awesome experience, which keeps you on the edge of the seat, every moment. This is highly unlike any other thriller that you have seen in the past where you would have to wait for the ending for the mystery to be revealed. In here, every scene creates a mystery, which is resolved by the next scene, but, it creates a mystery of its own.
The incident becomes the primary focus, and not the killer.
The pluses...
Almost everything about the movie is a plus. The narration takes the lion's share of the applause, followed by the slick camera work, the realistic locales, and the concept of such a mental condition.
A drawback...
Call it a drawback if you must, but not something worth mentioning. This movie requires focus to link the different parts and enjoy it. Easy for movie buffs, and a lil tuff for the ones with little patience for movies.This is to be watched for excitement on a lazy afternoon, rather than a relaxing evening after a hard day's work.
Enjoy the hunt for the incident.
Have a great week ahead.
With warm regards,
Thejas
Little does he know that, his idea has been transformed into a multimillion dollar movie, the 'Memento'.
Story:
Leonard has a weird mental condition. He has no short term memory. He had been a normal person, until a singular incident where his wife is raped and killed, and in a dual with the killer, he would have a head injury, due to which he develops a weird mental condition. All he can remember is his life till the incident. From there on, at any point of time, he would remember incidents only in the very recent past. To exemplify, if you have met his person in the morning, he would remember you till the afternoon, but he would certainly have no clue about who you are, by the evening.
The story is about this person with this condition, going around hunting for his wife's killer.
Is that thrilling enough?
Wait, till I tell you that the story is narrated by the director in the reverse direction. There are two parallel stories running, one in colour, and the other one in black and white, with one of them being in the reverse direction, the other being in the forward direction.
The result is an awesome experience, which keeps you on the edge of the seat, every moment. This is highly unlike any other thriller that you have seen in the past where you would have to wait for the ending for the mystery to be revealed. In here, every scene creates a mystery, which is resolved by the next scene, but, it creates a mystery of its own.
The incident becomes the primary focus, and not the killer.
The pluses...
Almost everything about the movie is a plus. The narration takes the lion's share of the applause, followed by the slick camera work, the realistic locales, and the concept of such a mental condition.
A drawback...
Call it a drawback if you must, but not something worth mentioning. This movie requires focus to link the different parts and enjoy it. Easy for movie buffs, and a lil tuff for the ones with little patience for movies.This is to be watched for excitement on a lazy afternoon, rather than a relaxing evening after a hard day's work.
Enjoy the hunt for the incident.
Have a great week ahead.
With warm regards,
Thejas
Friday, September 09, 2005
Pictures of Niagara
hi friends,
...five youngmen started out on a Thursday evening... dream of Niagara in their eyes... desire of Niagara in their hearts.... and most important of all... credit cards in their pockets ;-)... 26 hours of drive, which included a drive throughout thursday night.... being driven away by Canadaian consulate at Detriot.... losing booked hotel in Toronto.... and a lot of gate crashing into the 'Burger King' and 'Taco Bell' restaurants....
Here's the pictorial account of the same ....
http://community.webshots.com/photo/430607114/430607114KtUGKk
Hope you have a great time watching them, as we had a great time living them
with warm regards,
Teju
...five youngmen started out on a Thursday evening... dream of Niagara in their eyes... desire of Niagara in their hearts.... and most important of all... credit cards in their pockets ;-)... 26 hours of drive, which included a drive throughout thursday night.... being driven away by Canadaian consulate at Detriot.... losing booked hotel in Toronto.... and a lot of gate crashing into the 'Burger King' and 'Taco Bell' restaurants....
Here's the pictorial account of the same ....
http://community.webshots.com/photo/430607114/430607114KtUGKk
Hope you have a great time watching them, as we had a great time living them
with warm regards,
Teju
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