A historic building, right in the middle of the (old) city. A landmark not to be missed. Happened to go there on a quick trip to meet my brother who was visiting from the U.S., partly on a working trip.
We also caught up on a few other sights, but this is about Charminar.
The last one is from Taj Mahal at Abids, another iconic place that has had a makeover.
Disclaimer- No celebrities were hurt during the writing of this blog.
Their wedding and ours (those of lesser mortals) are very similar.
There is one bride, and one groom.. mostly.
There is a ceremony of some kind, usually involving fire.
People attending are too dressed-up for their own good.
The women have elaborate make-up; hence, they look better than the men, on an average.
There are shoots. I mean photographers- a couple, at least. Videographers too.
There is a long line to meet the groom and bride. They actually feel like a celebrity!
But I still prefer Punjabi weddings, for obvious reasons ...
Apart from the weekly off, there's no maintenance schedule for humans. If machines can have ones, shouldn't humans?
I suggest the following-
A foot massage every 2 weeks, and additional doses when required.
A head massage every 10 days.
A swim in the pool, every 5-6 days.
A beach visit, every 3 months- quarterly.
A mountain visit, every 6 months, when it's not crowded- or else, it'll feel like Silk Board Junction!
A game with a kid of 4-6 years. Once in a while
A game of Golf/Badminton or whatever, every Sunday or two Sundays.
A cruise, every year.
Start with 60% of these immediately. Change dosage as required.
We are all familiar with 'jaunty' government officials going to a foreign country at the drop of a hat- even while not wearing hats, but the virus is more widespread.
Celebs and corporates also go on foreign jaunts, for their own reasons. Yeah, you guessed right. The reasons mostly include showing off that they are capable of going where they please.
Companies also use foreign jaunts as rewards - for salespeople, dealers etc. who perform well.
Lesser mortals may spend their own money and do an all-inclusive 12-day Europe trip once in a lifetime, to be able to claim some brownie points.
Parents who have kids in the U.S., go there regularly as baby-sitters for their grandkids.
Academics like me just go there to attend conferences, and contribute to the state of knowledge!
Pratima Gaikwad, a former IIM Indore student who is now with MyDNA in Hyderabad, came for a guest session to our University. She spoke about marketing and branding of products and services, including those of her own company, MyDNA, that is into preventive testing based on genetic mapping. Students enjoyed the interaction and she did too.
and in class with MBA students.. below.
Pronounced Roodkey in Hindi, this is an ancient town with a 177 year old engineering college turned IIT. We went there to meet some graduating doctoral students, to try and interest them in joining Prestige University. A beautiful heritage building is now being worked on to restore it. Some homegrown mangoes also were available, and we were shown around by a Prof. from IIT. A very nice colonial-style guest house was pleasant to stay in.
A lot of Hollywood films are masala of a different kind. A few are good, in various genres. But overuse of technology and special effects/VFX have spoilt the kind of good films we got to saw earlier in decades gone by. This also seems to be happening in India to an extent, with tech playing a larger role than before.
When I started watching Hollywood films in the 70s and 80s, I did not understand the accent, always. But some movies made a mark with good action, comedy and so on. Slapstick was also a part of some. Laurel and Hardy were early favourites in childhood. Until we came tp appreciate Charlie Chaplin and his social commentary/satire, in Modern Times and The Great Dictator.
In humour of a different kind, fell Mel Brooks and Woody Allen. I liked both. Some action films like Guns of Navarone, Mackenna's Gold, or Where Eagles Dare were awe-inspiring. I did not dig the ovies that relied on special effects all that much. Star Wars or Close Encounters or disaster films like The Towering Inferno, I mean. Lawrence of Arabia seemed like a meaningful film, about the history of the Arabs.
Lately, I have liked the trilogy starting with Before Midnight which was really made well. Before that, some capers like Romancing the Stone, or A Fish Called Wanda were also fun watches.
A really good suspense film- apart from Hitchcock films- was The Reincarnation of Peter Proud, remade badly as Karz. The original was deadly!
Saw this action and comedy-packed film yesterday (Oct 20th) in Pune. It continues the story of retired Jailer Tiger Muthuvel Pandian in and...
