Down Memory lane - A Cyclone (1977) & A flood (2015)

It was in the year 1977, was studying at Kavali, living in a hostel. Good old days we had only radio for entertainment and information. One of our seniors had a radio, through which we used to listen to songs, news etc.

Come November, the constant announcement about an impending cyclone started hitting the radio waves. We were getting rains starting from 17th November, on the 18th night we were all literally holding our hearts and gathered around the radio to listen to the updates, winds were furious and the rain was lashing. We couldn't sleep with windows banging, wind howling like a fox in the forest, dark, with power loss 16-17 year olds away from respective homes had to cling on to our seniors for solace and comfort.

We wake up on the 19th morning, rain and wind moved towards the Diviseema and around us we see nothing but debris all around. Hurricane wind did its job, removed many a roof, our college class rooms had many gaping holes in it, we take a walk to the town, we couldn't recognise the railway station, there was not a single roofing sheet, if any existed, they were in tatters.

Town was another sorry story. Debris of the previous night plundering found all around, telephone and power lines cut and lying on the streets, bunk shops dislocated from their places and thrown away at a distance, it was destruction all around us. With no power we struggled our way for the next few days.

Because of the cyclonic effect the entire railway signaling system got disrupted and railways were using some methods of releasing one train after another using walkie talkie / or their own communication system. During this process, for what ever reason there was an accident near Venkateswarapuram railway station which is about 10 kms from Kavali en route to Bitragunta. Two goods and one passenger train met with an accident and fortunately with the alertness of the guard of the passenger train a major mishap was averted by stopping an express train, which was to follow.

Trains started accumulating at Stations before Kavali and on the other side at Bitragunta. Railways hired RTC buses and started transporting passengers from these two stations by bus and making them reach their destinations. To help the passengers, our Jawahar Bharati College sent both NCC and NSS members to the Kavali railway station. Our job was to help people disembark from the trains they arrive and put them in the buses and similarly help passengers who got down at Bitragunta and arrive

at Kavali by bus to get into the train. I was part of the NSS (National Service Scheme) and with another friend Rambabu (he is no more) from my class we were rendering the service. I was just not used to carrying heavy stuff, but the passengers were coming with heavy metal trunks,which looked like they hold their entire house hold articles and these boxes had to be carried across the platforms on the foot over bridges. Some passengers, used to offer us money (which we politely refused) and some used to look at us suspiciously, when we come and tell them they have to get off the train and move into a bus. language was one hell of a problem, with our own limited knowledge of English and zero knowledge of Hindi or other Indian languages other than Telugu.

We were taken by our hostel warden to see the railway accident spot, which was few kilometers from the main highway road. We went and saw the coaches and wagons thrown off the track for restoration. While going was easy because we took a ride in one of the shuttle bus services engaged by the railways, there was no guarantee we will get one back,  once we reach the road, so we decided to trek it back to Kavali by foot along the railway track. Only saving grace there were no trains running at that point of time. The walk was made interesting by our hostel Warden Sri Ameeruddin sir, who kept regaling us with stories of various kinds and was continuously joking to ensure we never felt the fatigue of the distance.

Cutting back to 2015, When I went through the continuous rainfall starting from the 30th November, night till 2nd December, early hours and started looking at the city I live going under on he morning of 2nd, I was as shocked as I was in 1977. I see that my younger days enthusiasm among the current youth in rendering help to the flood affected people, they are simply not bothered about the pain or hardship, they are only interested in helping their people in distress. A feeling which we experienced, while serving those unknown passengers of the trains. 

Difference from that day to now, is technology and improvement in communications. People are able to connect much faster, seek help and get it too. When we hear of deluge of material and suggestions floating across as to what is needed and what is not needed floating across the social media, it makes the life easier to render a meaningful service. 

If a similar rail accident happens, now, they simply cancel the trains or divert the trains, simply because, even the passengers are not tolerant and there are always exploiters lurking around to make a fast buck, like the shops which wanted to en cash on the shortage of milk by charging over the MRP even for regular customers.

One good thing was those days politicians were more humane and now they are lot more greedier for their name and fame. But people remain to be as generous with either service or money. 

Pictures used in the blog are from the net, copyright of the pictures rest with the respective owners

Chennai floods - Lessons for future

Flood has come and gone, rain is still around, making people remember all is not over. Threatening

Trail of destruction

forecasts, make people wonder is the worst over?

However it looks like there are lot of lessons to be learned form this entire experience. What could have been prevented could not be since we as people never accept warnings in their true meaning. If we are warned about floods, we have to accept the flood is going to happen. 'I have seen it all attitude' is something which needs to get out of our mind. Am sure those who have experienced the aftermath will certainly vouch for it.

This Chennai flood of 2015 is going to be a lesson for the urban planners, if they want to learn something from it. Mushrooming growth of the cities without any urban planning and the human greed will combine to make a human tragedy inevitable.

Should buildings be allowed basement construction near river beds, this is something the urban planners need to ask themselves. Understand there is a chapter in the Chennai Metropolitan Region Development Authority's master plan for 2026 on disaster management, which apparently talks about there is no known danger for the city. Now that the myth has been busted, probably it is time for everyone to start thinking in this regard.

MIOT Hospital ICU

In the total magnitude of the devastation deaths in a hospital ICU sounded very insignificant, however the negligence that has caused this tragedy could have been avoided when the owners of the hospital had followed required safety guidelines, while constructing the hospital and keeping in mind the possibility of such occurrence. Did they explore the possibility of hiring Generator vans (typically used during film shootings and at IT offices), were they not available, was the fuel a problem all these questions are best answered by those concerned.

Even today around the city both approved and un approved layouts keep mushrooming in agriculture lands and have narrow roads as wide as 15'-20'. We have seen when the flooding happened rescue could not even reach on boats as there were cars parked and boats could not maneuver between the parked cars, in the narrow streets. 

World over we have seen fire trucks being used in rescue during the floods, here we didnt see even

Use of Fire Trucks n Tractors during floods

one vehicle being used for that purpose. Many people caught in the roof tops could have been brought down with the help of fire truck ladders which today can reach high rise buildings, for example the fire truck could have been deployed from the Kotturpuram bridge and those living in the TNHB dwellings could have been rescued, wonder why that thought had not been exploited?

Tractors, excavators, Cranes are the machines that could have gone into the waters, excavator buckets could have helped to bring down people stranded in the first floors and tractor trailers could have been used to carry food, relief material into the water logged streets, more efficiently than the boats and since they are powered, can wade through water. Tractors holed up at the airport which was anyway not in use could have been deployed and even vehicles could have been summoned from nearby villages in Tiruvalluvar and Kanchipuram districts.

Fine, now the waters have receded and life is limping back to normal, it is time to rebuild for the future.

Rain water harvesting , Tamil Nadu is considered to be in the forefront in this area. PM Modi had even lauded the TN efforts in this area. Now, how to take it bigger. All the city roads should have RWH systems in their design, it serves two purposes, water drains faster into the soil and leaves none for the roads to get damaged, which is an annual money spinning area for the corporation contractors who lay the roads. Have some images and links for this purpose.

When ideas were invited in Australia, one kid had sent in an idea to deploy Banana boats for rescue, while our NDRF had the rafts that were deployed, it took some time for the same to reach and get deployed. Moreover the biggest issue with NDRF was communication as i understand, because very few in the force could speak the local language. Maybe an initiative should be taken to call for ideas to prevent flooding and if required to be used in rescue. Maybe it is time to consider whether fire department should be under NDRF, since fire is also a disaster.

Now that a flood has happened, our regulators will bring in one general rule that multi storied

buildings should have flood risk management in place, and that will be a new way to make money. It was indeed a great problem, with water entering into the basements of 100's of residential and commercial buildings. This has ensured damage to vehicles, Electrical system (which in our country is located interestingly in the basement of the buildings), generators, Lifts etc. This loss alone is likely to be running into hundreds of crores and huge claims on insurance companies. In addition to the loss in productivity. This problem was more pronounced in the ares where the rivers were passing through in the city.

CT Scan in water at Global Hospital

Many a hospital had been built in the places which are not located best, Global Hospital approach

Global Hospital access curtailed

gets flooded regularly, MIOT had the biggest tragedy during the floods, because it was allowed close to the Adayar river, the flooding blocked the access to the hospital

Still items like bread are in shortage, as manufacturing is hampered, newspapers were not published for few days because their presses could not be accessed. Most of the industrial units are going to find their production resumption an issue, with machinery damaged, electrical and electronic systems compromised, it is sometime for the normalcy to come back. There are bound to be stories of few families which are put to total loss which will result in instant poverty. Indeed it is laudable that the TNEB workers have done a super job in ensuring the restoration of normalcy

In spite of the deluge, drinking water is still a problem, since production units had their own problems, including absenteeism as workers are more worried about their fallen/destroyed homes. Many outlets could not replenish the stocks, because the issues of supply chain, where the distributors had either their stores/warehouses water logged or workers didn't come in.

Car companies had their own night mares, in addition to taking up huge repair jobs, they had to face

the problem of plenty with many of their own stock yards/ service centres getting deluded with new cars under water and cars left for repairs from the previous flood still in their backyard. Chennai being the hub for automobile manufacturing had faced a big impact with most of the units in water, and their ancillaries too having their own share of problems.

While the religious harmony taught us enough lessons of tolerance, it maybe a pre-requisite that in future any such structures like Temples Mosques, Churches, Gurudwaras etc are only allowed to be put up in elevated places to ensure a safe place during calamities.

The end is not near for the woes of the people, we will hear them till the new year or even after, but what needs to be remembered is, Are lessons learned from this tragedy by Govt of the day, by the people and everyone else concerned, is the critical question that is going to be answered in the action that is rolled out.


All pictures used are from the Internet, copyright of these pictures rest with the respective owners.

Tamasha - story telling gone awry

Tamasha is a movie, which has two very good actors as the lead players and a successful director of Jab we met, Love aaj kal, Rockstar & Highway holding the megaphone. Problem is with the story telling. When a director confuses his audience, the best of stories and movies do not deliver, we once again have a situation where the narrative was not suitably handled.

Maybe it is necessary to give an introduction to these kind of movies along with the tickets, so that the movie goer is following the narrative. When audience goes to the movie and start watching it, they wonder where they are and what is happening on the screen. Once this happens the concentration is more on the pop corn or the mobile phone and lo here goes the rating of the movie.

Tamasha is a very good story about human emotions and hidden personalities, screenplay is where things have gone wrong. Idea of presenting all stories are the same and situations are different and clubbing them together, gets the audience further confused and probably mad. Saw lots of girls coming to see their beau Ranbir, for them their hero acting a robo, would be a disappointment. When you start loosing your audience like this, after the first weekend, your theaters owners /distributors will be sad and crowds not just happening. Imtiaz Ali has bungled here and movie hit the depths.

Ranbir Kapoor played a good role with ease, his acting talent showed up well particularly in the

 scenes where his inner personality is struggling to come out and he trying to plug it in. His imitation of yester-year stars, was carried out well. How he handles the family situation by telling a story, went of well, problem was by then audience interest was lost.

Deepika Padukone, did an excellent job, her emotions captured well, when she knows her lover is struggling with in a real life role, where he simply does not fit in and had to tell him the same and get shouted back by him.

Rest of the star cast is more incidental, individual performances worth mentioning is Vivek Mushran, who acts as the boss of Ved Sahni the troubled executive.

Music and songs were very situational and sounded different, 'Heer to Badi sad ho' was catchy, Rest are passable. Music by AR Rahman, couldnt save the movie.

Though the movie has not done well commercially, the lead players deserve to be nominated  for their acting performance.

Story in short: There is a kid in Shimla, who is very keen on listening to a story teller who charges by the hour, his inspiration from these stories makes him a dreamer and is forced to study Engineering against is interest. He takes up a job as an executive in a Telecom company. During a holiday abroad, he meets the heroine, who wanted to see the place from her favorite comic and looses her baggage and money. They spend a week without wanting to know each others identity and part ways painfully. On returning to Kolkata the heroine becomes desolate and decides to search for the missing man at Delhi after saying bye to him 3 years back. What happens thereafter and how she makes him pursue his dreams is the story.

A movie which is worth giving 4.5 Stars for its story and acting ends up with 2.5 stars purely on bad story telling.

All pictures taken from the net, copyright of the same rests with the respective owners.

God's n Daemons of Chennai

Chennai floods is the buzz word every where, rains have taken a breather, threatening to come back through the weekend, meanwhile we have seen some phenomenal things happening in Chennai. Whether it is thanks to social media or communication modes that are available to us, we could see a new hope for the mankind emerging. 

 It is possible, this could be the situation in a disaster zone, but experiencing this at such close quarters, is indeed a heart warming experience. Chennai a city always starved for water, had the God's benevolence or someones curse, we have been blessed with a record rainfall. Such a record that no wants to even remember it for the record but for the trail of devastation it has left behind.

We can talk about the greed of humans, which ensured all river beds occupied or tanks converted to living areas, agricultural fields becoming residential colonies, with no one bothering to think of drainage or sanitation requirements of these settlements. Do we blame the people who greedily went and settled down out there or politicians/ bureaucrats who made money in the process by allowing all kind of wrongs to be committed or simply blame it on the profit motto of the business men. Should we bracket all these people Daemons, maybe yes.

Unprecedented rains, people who disregard, genuine warnings from a department which is always joked about (Meteorology) and already filled reservoirs, are we not awaiting a disaster to happen. It started happening from the night of the 30th November, Rain pouring without a breather for the next 36 hours, destroyed the hope of any further chance for relief. Warnings were sounded on the 1st afternoon, that the Chembarambakkam reservoir is full and sluice gates will be open. Telling the public, what you have seen is nothing what is in store for you is to be experienced.

Chennai International Airport

As human beings, we have this attitude, that nothing will happen or is it more for we Indians, i don't know, but people poor or rich never heeded the warning. It is also possible in that pouring rain no one wanted to venture out anywhere, hoping that the water will not reach them. Problem is no one understand the measures that are reeled out to us in terms of cusecs and TMC's (normal measure of water used by the irrigation department).

We are all typical television soap viewers or Internet lovers, we ignored what was about to happen. Some numbers for the benefit of the readers to understand the gravity of the situation

Chennai's drinking water needs estimated per day at 1200 million litres

1 TMC = 28000 Million litres (23 days drinking water requirements)

1 TMC = 11000 Cusecs/day

Water that was released from the Chembarambakkam reservoir on the 1st evening was 20000 cu secs approximately 2 TMC, that is 46 days drinking water requirement in one day, it didn't stop there, water was continued to be released the next day too.

By 2nd morning the Adayar river started
swelling and water started entering areas which were never thought to be flood prone. Airport was one of the first to be affected since the river flows in its backyard, water that was not flowing into the sea started flowing into the city (we have to remember we are just crossed the full moon day (25th Nov), which normally is associated with a high tide). Areas like Chormepet, Tambaram started receiving the reservoir water, cutting of the GST road access from the city. Not only this excess water started flowing down south reaching Katankalattur, Urapakkam etc, putting many colleges and other businesses in peril.

Usual rain damage had occurred in the low lying areas like Valecherry and OMR etc. Added to the misery the excess discharge from other lakes including Chembarambakkam, reached Cooum river (normally called the sewer line of the city) and started swelling its banks too. In a city where these two rivers trifurcate the topogrpahy both being swollen to the brim and overflowing, started flooding all the low lying areas. While rain stopped by 2nd December early hours, the water continued to come into the city from the Chembarambakkam lake and ensured the obstruction to the relief work.

Saidapet Bridge

With water logging in most parts of the city, power switch off was necessitated to ensure there is no power leakages. With this communication systems started collapsing. People who were struck in water logged areas, started loosing their batteries in their phones and the touch with the rest of the world. With trins stopped, buses unable to ply the traffic literally came to a standstill, even traffic was not allowed on certain bridges where the water was either flowing above the bridges or touching the bridges.

Confusion, chaos followed, 'Human Gods' started emerging from no where, the good Samaritans started opening their hearts first and rest started happening. A huge human bond emerged (national media, which was caught off guard, needed time to mobilise and the city was cut off from the rest of the world in terms of access), people offered their homes, businesses opened their premises for accommodation, organisations started quickly collecting relief material, every thing started falling in place. Help needed, people started reaching out, social media helped in sharing communication (of course the job less where busy creating rumours too). 

Communications started failing, with towers not having power, gen sets not operating due to lack of fuel, a new difficulty started setting in. By then the central govt rose to the occasion and deployed armed forces along with NDRF. The forces which are trained to carryout their task in a  disciplined way, started helping the people in distress, food was reached first slowly people were made to vacate their homes, in some cases 15 feet in water.

Air sorties were made, relief material air dropped, people picked up, medical camps both from the govt and private sector started helping people. Students were evacuated from hostels, film stars from their homes, Rich and famous from their villas, poor from their dwellings, no discrimination and with lots of discipline. 'Human Gods' were every where

Best thing happening was all the efforts were not politicised, civil servants working overtime, even the naysayers asked to shut up by others on social media. Blame later, involve first was the motto and the city started slowly coming out of the confusion, the damage assessment could be much later, with thousands of vehicles marooned, buildings loosing their valuables, offices having water entering their premises (damaging computers/furniture etc), warehouses inundated, loss of productivity, loss in terms of human and animal life, children loosing out on academics, this is all for later, no doubt there will be lot of flak and many people having to answer and surely few fall guys will emerge. But for now it is time to say i am safe to my near and dear.

Human Gods could be an aam admi or from the armed forces, Police, TNEB, COC my salutes to them for the selfless work that they carryout.

All pictures taken from the net, Copyright rests with the respective owners

అఖిల్ - సిసింద్రీ సినిమా పేలలేదు

సిసింద్రీ సినిమా తో అరంగేట్రం చేసిన నాగార్జున చిన్న కొడుకు అఖిల్, "నాన్న నేను క్రికెట్ ఆడుతాను" అంటే ఆస్ట్రేలియా పంపి ఆట నేర్పించిన  తండ్రి, కొడుకు సిసిఎల్ దాటి రాణించక పోయే సరికి, చివరాకరికి ఆంధ్ర ప్రేక్షకుల పై వదిలిన రెండవ బాణం. 

మొదటి బాణమే ఇంకా సరిగ్గా పనిచేయట్లేదు అంటే, రెండవదైనా పనిచెయదా అని ఒక నమ్మకం (ఇటువంటిది  ఇంతకముందు కూడా జరిగింది రమేష్ బాబు, మహేష్ బాబు విషయంలో). కొత్త నిర్మాత, ప్రముఖ దర్శకుడు (ఈ మధ్య కాలంలో చాలా వరకు సినిమాలు దెబ్బ తిని వున్నాయి) వెరసి ఒక సోషియో ఫాంటసి చిత్రం. 

మన దర్శకులు సైంటిఫిక్/ సైకాలజీ  కధలు సినిమాలుగా మలిచేటప్పుడు, వీటిని ప్రేక్షకులకు ఎలా దగ్గరకు చేర్చాలి అన్నది ముందు నేర్చుకోవాలి (నేనొక్కడినే, 7 సెన్స్ , బ్రదర్స్ మొ॥) ఈ విషయంలో సింగీతం శ్రీనివాసరావు (పుష్పక విమానం, ఆదిత్య 369 మొ॥ ) గారి దగ్గర పాఠాలు నేర్చుకున్నా తప్పులేదు. 

ఇంగ్లీష్ సినిమా రీతిలో కధ, ఆఫ్రికా నేపద్యం, చెడగొట్టబడిన ఒక పెళ్లి, ప్రేమ, చాలా ఫైట్స్ , ఇంకా ఎన్నో పాటలు ఇవన్ని కలసి దానిలో కామెడీ రంగరించి తీయబడ్డ ఒక చిత్రం 'అఖిల్'. 

వి వి వినాయక్ సినిమాని త్వరగా ముగించాడు (110 ని), అయన పడ్డ కష్టం కధలో, కామెడి లో తప్ప నటన పై పెద్దగా శ్రద్ధ పెట్టిన దాఖలా అయితే లేదు. 

అఖిల్ కొత్త హీరో, ఇద్దరు నటులకు పుట్టిన ముద్దు బిడ్డ, అతని అన్న కు ఉన్న డైలాగు డెలివరి ఏ కోశానా ఇతనిలో కనపడదు (లిప్ సింక్ కూడా జాగ్రత్త పడలేదు), స్తేప్పులైతే  వేసాడు గాని, వాటి లో వెరైటి కనపడదు (నృత్య దర్శకుడి లోపమా?), ఫైట్స్ బాగున్నాయి, నటన చాలావరకు సూపర్ఫిషియల్ (ఇంకా చాలా శ్రద్ధ చూపించాలి, ఈ విషయంలో)

సాయెశా సైగల్ అందంగా, ఉండి చక్కగా నటించింది, కాస్ట్యూమ్స్ పై పెద్దగా దృష్టి పెట్టి నట్టు లేదు దర్శకుడు. హీరో కోసం తీసిన చిత్రం కాబట్టి, నటన కు స్కోప్ అంతంత మాత్రమే. డాన్స్ విషయంలో కొంత కష్ట పడాలి. 

మహేష్ మంజ్రేకర్, రాజేంద్రప్రసాద్, మేము ఉన్నాము అనిపించారు. హేమ బాగా లావెక్కి ఉన్నది. 

బ్రహ్మానందం, వెన్నెల కిషోర్ జత కామెడి ని పండించారు, తనకున్న పరిధి లో జయప్రకాశ్ రెడ్డి కూడా మనల్ని నవ్విస్తాడు. 

పాటల చిత్రీకరణ స్పెయిన్ దేశం లో బాగా చేసారు. పాటలు వినసొంపుగా ఉన్నాయి, అక్కినేని నేనెక్కడుంటే పాట లో చాలా కష్టపడ్డాడు హీరో.  

పాట సెట్టింగ్ పై నిర్మాత ఖర్చు కి వెంకాదినట్లు లేదు, ఈ పాటలో కొద్ది సెకండ్స్ నాగార్జున దర్శనమిస్తాడు .

కధ టూకీగా: సూర్య గ్రహణ అనతరం వచ్చే మొదటి కిరణాల వేడి ని తట్టుకొనేందుకు, మన పూర్వీకులు తాయారు చేసిన ఒక ఖనిజ మిశ్రమాన్ని, భూమధ్య రేఖ లో ఉన్న ఒక ఆఫ్రికా దేశ తెగ సంరక్షణలో ఉంచుతారు. వారు దాన్ని 'జువా' అని పిలుస్తారు. దాన్ని కోన్ని శతాబ్దాలుగా కాపాడిన అ తెగ పై కొన్ని దుష్ట శక్తులు దాడి చేసి అది సంగ్రహించాలని చూస్తాయి. ఈ

సందర్భంగా తన పెళ్లి ఆగిన కారణంగా విదేశాల్లో ఉన్న హీరోయిన్ కిడ్నాప్ కాబడుతుంది, ఆమెను రక్షించబోయిన హీరో పడే ఇబ్బందులు, ఆ  'జువా' ని హీరో ఎలా కాపాడాడు అనేది మిగతా కధ

ఈ చిత్రానికి 2 నక్షత్రాలు ఇవ్వవచ్చు  

Story of a Reunion

I have studied my intermediate (Plus 2) at Jawahar Bharati College, Kavali during 1976-78. This was the first time I had to stay away from my home, in a  hostel. In my life it was a curious period of living in a hostel, making your own bed, washing my own cloths etc.

Coming from a land holding and political family, had certain advantage in terms of allotment of a large room (bigger than what others had) an ever obliging roommate etc. However, it seems I was seen as a rich boy and people had generally kept away from me (a fact which I got to know when I was interacting with people for the reunion)

After the eventful two years, we all parted ways in April 1978 after the public exams. Now thanks to technology and in particular WhatsApp, we managed to start connecting with each other after 37 years and met on the 31st October 2015 near Kavali.

I was in touch with about 7 people from that period and had their phone numbers. Just formed a group with those numbers in WhatsApp and started interacting. Slowly people started telling where others are living etc. It was a slow process and getting the numbers was not that easy, it is almost like, people were holding them close to their chest. Most of the people were still on good old feature phones and didn't use WhatsApp, we had to communicate through SMS with those people.

Slowly the list of contacts started growing and local level interactions started happening. We had frequent get togethers at Nellore, Hyderabad etc, in small groups. It was catching up time and very interesting learning experience.

It was really heart warming when you get to know, most of your friends had passed various Public service exams and got them selves some good posts and some have chosen to enter the teaching profession etc. More heartwarming was the fact their children are now well educated and settled down in India or abroad.

Luckily some guys came up with the group pictures and to make life easier, I tried to number the people in the picture, which helped in identifying the person. With these pictures, first exercise was to name them and after that set the ball rolling for the search. Though people had few contact numbers, they were not shared earlier, probably for sheer lethargy, this delayed the process of getting to trace few more. As we had set the date long before, coinciding with a batch mate's visit to India, we were working feverishly to get more people on board. Luckily the tempo picked up in the month of September and October. Thanks to WhatsApp profile pictures, we were able to see their latest pictures, how they look today and compare from the group photo how they looked then.

We originally thought of having the meet at Nellore, the district head quarters and visit Kavali, but for logistics reason we decided to move it to Kavali itself. However the challenge was to find a place where we could have the reunion. One of our batch mates, offered his home for the meet, after looking at the option for suitability, we had to move it to a place where a larger number could be accommodated. A strong feeling there will not be more than 30 for the meet was in the mind of most of the people. 

However, as we entered the month of October, the tempo started picking up rapidly, more and more effort was being put and more people were being located. Happily the new reconnects were more than happy to be part of the reunion. Those who confirmed for sure they will not make it, had a change of mind.

Few people made the extra effort to locate the batch mates, ideas started flowing as to what we should do after the meet etc. As we approached the 25th, had very strong indications the crowd is going to be more than 50. out of about 135 from the science groups, with 10 not living anymore, we were able to gather about 80 numbers and hope had increased for a better participation.

Couple of visits were made to Kavali from Nellore by our chief co ordinator and things were put in place. I decided to visit the place myself on the 30th, a day before the event. As I was talking to the hotel people on the likely number, our sponsor could not believe the numbers being touted by me could be true. 

A program was made out, time was given from 8 AM starting with Breakfast, it looks like our Indian mindset will not allow people to believe others will be on time. While we landed up in two cars from Nellore by 8.15 AM, locals were confident it will not start on time. Our own daredevil of the yester years lived up to her reputation by driving down alone from Tirupati all by herself. Breakfast that was to end at 9.30 AM, went on till 10.30 AM and we finally managed to start the program.

We provided two bigger size pictures of the group photos of the 1976-78 times, so that people can look at each other and see how much change had taken place. Numbers had surged and some surprise participants, who got to know about the program just the previous day having turned up. As we started we had about 50 people as the program got about few more joined.

We paid homage to those who are no longer with us and then asked the people to tell us their life progress since we parted ways. As one by one took their turn talking about themselves and their families, few made us laugh, Few got us tired with long speeches, few made us feel sad and few got us excited with their success and there was time for few apologies too for the behaviour in those days. Probably it is the story in every reunion as life takes its own turns (Clicktotweet). During this part, It was time for felicitation to few of us for forming the WhatsApp group and getting the reunion to happen. We took some group pictures at the venue.

We broke for lunch at about 1.30 PM and and reassembled by 2.30, in the meanwhile few more joined. Best thing was one of the participant joined us with her Husband (on our request, driving down all the way from Hyderabad after a midnight celebrations the previous day) and that the day happened to be their 31st wedding anniversary.

Post lunch we felicitated two teachers (who were able to make it) who were part of our learning days and then celebrated the anniversary by asking the couple to exchange the garlands and cut an anniversary cake. We distributed the mementos for each and every participant to remember the participation.

Then we headed to the college, interestingly college had an another program on that day and they had the Dy Speaker and a MP who is a old student of the college present for that event. We were able to catch up with them. One more round of group pictures and we started roaming about in the college. For us hostelries it was sad to see the hostel in such condition.  We were served some tea and snacks by one of our batch mates on the campus. We had few more joining us at the college taking the total number to 60 participants.

Later in the evening we started assembling at the house of one of the batch mates, sans those who had to leave for various reasons. It was once again time for some fun and regale. He arranged some planting of trees in his compound and he also handed over one plant (picked up from the college campus) in a new pot to take it home as a memory. Those who chose to have few drinks were treated to it by our NRI batch mate who brought some Single Malt for this occasion. After a good meal, people started saying bye to each other with a hope for an early next meet.

While we had intentions to discuss the future for this set of Alumni of the college, we could not make much headway since the program was tight and got delayed due to the late start.  

Everyone was happy to see 60 of their old friends again and catch up with the good old days. Learning's are how to handle egos, understanding expectations, getting people to handle things, managing the show without any contributions and only with sponsorship.

Shaandar - it takes time to recover

It is now 3 days since i saw this movie, it took this much time to recover from the after effects of this movie. It is a surprise the director of the much acclaimed and award winning movie 'Queen', Director  Vikas Bahl made such a non cohesive movie. (Click to Tweet)

Produced by Anurag Kashyap, Vikas Bahl & Vikramaditya Motwane and distributed by Fox Star Studios this movie is about a destination wedding of a Sindhi boy and a Punjabi Girl. Meant to be a romantic comedy, has turned out to be a game that was lost quite in the beginning it self.

Pranks apart and smart acting by the lead couple Shahid Kapoor and Alia and money saving cartoon narration when ever there was a flash back situation, this movie is loud and confusing. While a fat girl getting married to a 8.5 pack body conscious boy, a marriage of convenience turns out to be a fiasco, except for the beautiful castle and good songs.

Handling comedy is an art and if the director decides to trivialise the comedy it will turn out to be a disaster and that is what it was. With the desire of creating comedy in every scene and the need of two family elders to go ahead with a marriage, assuming the marriage will save the already bankrupt business.

Shahid Kapoor playing the role of a Event organiser was good and he carried out his role with ease. He was good in the songs. Forced comedy sometimes didn't evoke the expected response from the audience. Overall he was worth the money paid to him.

Alia Bhatt did her Job as the insomniac orphan role, sometimes when she giggles in the movie, don't know if the shot was planned or she giggled while the shooting was on and the Director decided to use the shot. She casually did her role and there was not much scope for performance.

Sanah Kapoor, the younger sister of Alia, whose wedding that was taking place, played the role of a fat girl well and her emotions were well captured. Pankaj Kapoor and Sushma Seth did their job well, Sanjay Kapoor who was meant to be loud, was more than loud, once again proved why he was not a successful actor.

The comedy that was centered around the wedding was mindless and didn't evoke laughter as such. Crowds were leaving the theater with dazed minds

Even the presence of Karan Johar in a Mehndi day event, didn't make much difference to the people's plight, probably added more.

one of the comments made by a viewer, "is movie ko 1 se be neech star kuch hai to dena hai", since there was some decent acting by the lead couple and good music, movie could be given a rating of 2 stars

మోడీ గారి శంఖుస్తాపన

అమరావతి కి తెచ్చావు మట్టి పార్లమెంటు ప్రాంగణం నుంచి
కానీ కొట్టావు మా ఆశల పై నీళ్ళు యమున లో మరీ ముంచి

హోదా  పై లేదు ఒక్క మాట, ప్యాకేజి ఎందుకు ఆంధ్రులకు
చెప్తాను నాలుగు మంచి మాటలు, అన్నావు, వినండి నా  ఆంధ్రులు

మీరు చాలా సమర్ధులు , ప్రారంబించండి స్టార్టప్పులు
మీ ముఖ్యమంత్రి తేగలడు ఎన్నైనా అప్పులు

మాయమాటలు విని మోస పోకండి నా ఆంధ్ర యువతా
నా కంటే ఎవరు చెప్పగలరు మీకు తియ్యటి మాటలు ఆంధ్ర జనతా

మీరు నమ్మండి మీ శ్రేయస్సు కోరే వెంకయ్యను
ఆత ను గీసిన గీత దాటని చంద్రయ్యను

చింత లేదు మీ పై నాకు ఎందుకంటే లేవుకదా దగ్గరలో ఎన్నికలు
ఎక్కడ ఎక్కడ నా మంచి   మిత్రుడు, ఓహో లేవుకదా దగ్గరలో ఎన్నికలు

నన్ను ప్రశ్నించకు మిత్రమా, నాకు లేదు టైము సమాధానాలకి
చేయాలి టూర్ లు మరెన్నో దేశాలు, కావాలి వేదికలు వాగ్దానాలకి

సెలవు మరి ఆంధ్రులారా, భారత్ మాతా కి జై

బ్రూస్లీ ద ఫైటర్ - కి ఏమయ్యింది

శ్రీను వైట్ల దర్శకత్వంలో డి వి వి దానయ్య గారి నిర్మాణతలో విడుదలైన రామ్ చరణ్ తేజ్ బ్రూస్లీ ద ఫైటర్. సినిమా సరదాగా నడచినప్పటికి ఏదో అసంతృప్తి , అందుకే కాబోలు ఈ సినిమా ప్రజల మనస్సు కి నప్పక, ఆవరేజ్ టాక్ తో నడుస్తున్నది 

 ఈ సినిమా

చెన్నై లాంటి ప్రదేశంలో ఈ సినిమా కొంత రుద్రమదేవి చేతిలో దెబ్బతిన్నది అని చెప్పవచ్చు. నేను ఈ సినిమా 6 వ రోజు చూడడం జరిగింది మొదటి 5 రోజులు రెండు ఆటలు వేసిన ఈ సినిమా 6వ రోజుకి ఒక్క ఆట చేయబడ్డది, పండుగ సెలవలు వల్ల హాలు బాల్కాని నిండినప్పటికి ప్రేక్షకుల స్పందన అంతంత మాత్రమె. 

శ్రీను వైట్ల మరియు రామ్ చరణ్ తేజ్ కాంబినేషన్ , చిరంజీవి గెస్ట్ అప్పియరెన్స్ ఏంతో ఆశలు పెంచాయి ప్రేక్షకుల మదిలో, శ్రీను వైట్ల తన ట్రేడ్ మార్క్ హాస్యాన్ని కొంత పాళ్ళు తగ్గించి, ఫైట్స్ కి ఎక్కువ ప్రాదాన్యత ఇచ్చినప్పటికీ, క్లైమాక్స్ ఫైట్ తప్పించి వేరే ఏది అలరించే లా లేదు. 

తమన్ అందించిన కొన్ని బాణీలు బాగున్నాయి, పాటల చిత్రీకరణ ఎదురుచూసిన మాదిరిగా లేదు. 'రియా' మరియు  'లేచలో' పాట చిత్రీకరణ స్పెయిన్ మరియు థాయిలాండ్ లో మంచి లోకేషన్స్ లో జరిగింది హైదరాబాదు లో వేసిన పాటల సెట్టింగులు కొంత లో బడ్జెట్ వ్యవహారంగా ఉన్నాయి. అన్ని పాటల్లో రామ్ చరణ్ తేజ్ పడ్డ కష్టం బాగా కనిపిస్తున్నది . 

రకుల్ ప్రీత్ సింగ్ తన వరకు నటన బాగా చేసినది. ఆ అమ్మాయి అందచందాలను దర్శకుడు శ్రీను వైట్ల యువ ప్రేక్షకుల మదిలో కలవార పరిచే విదంగా చిత్రీకరించాడు. నా లాంటి వయసు

మళ్ళిన వాళ్లకు 'లెగ్ షో ' కొంచం ఇబ్బందిగా ఉన్న కూడా, యువత కు మనోరంజకరంగా ఉంటుంది.

రావు రమేశ్, తనికెళ్ళ భరణి తమ పరిదిలో బాగా నటించారు. మిగతా నటులు నాదియా , కృతి కర్బందా , ఆలీ, వెన్నెల కిషోర్ , జయప్రకాష్ రెడ్డి (ద్విపాత్రాభినయం), షాయాజీ షిండే, ముకెశ్ రిషి మిగతా నటులను దర్శకుడు బాగానే ఉపయోగించుకున్నాడు. 

శ్రీను వైట్ల సినిమాలో బ్రహ్మానందం తప్పని సరి.  నటన కు పెద్దగా ఆస్కారం లేని ఒక పాత్ర, తనని వాడుకోవాలి కాబట్టి, ఒక సీన్ లో కోతి హావభావాలు పిల్లల్ని నవ్వించెదుకు బాగా ఉపయోగ పడ్డాయి. మిగతా సినిమాల్లో మాదిరి "చించేసాడు" అని చెప్పుకొనే పాత్ర మాత్రం కాదు. విలన్ ని ఎక్సపోజ్ చేసే సీన్ లు మాత్రం బాగా చేసాడు. 

ముఖ్య  విలన్ గా అరుణ్ విజయ్ బాగా నటించాడు, సంపత్  రాజ్, అతని సెక్రటరీగా పోసాని కృష్ణ మురళి, పృధ్వీ మేము ఉన్నాము అని వారి వారి పాత్రలు నటించేసారు. 

 రామ్ చరణ్ తేజ్ ఈ సినిమా కోసం బాగా కష్టపడ్డాడు, నటన కూడా బాగా చేసాడు అనే చెప్పాలి. డాన్స్ విషయంలో అది స్ప్రష్టంగా కనిపిస్తుంది, ఫైట్స్ చాల ఎక్కువ కాని, బడ్జెట్ లోపం బాగా కనిపిస్తుంది . 

శ్రీను వైట్ల ఈ సినిమాలో చాలా వరకు ఫ్యామిలి డ్రామా పైనే దృష్టి పెట్టి హాస్యాన్ని తగ్గించాడనే చెప్పాలి (ఆగడు ఫైల్యూర్ ఒక కారణం అయ్యి ఉండవచ్చు). 'ఎలాగెలగా' డైలాగ్ ని బాగానే పండించాడు. రామ్ చరణ్ తేజ్ ని ఎమోషనల్ సీన్స్ లో బాగా నటింప చేసాడు. బడ్జెట్ లోనే సినిమా ముగించినప్పటికి, సినిమా ని ప్రేక్షకులకు పూర్తీ సంతృప్తి ఇచ్చే రకంగా తియ్యలేదు అనే చెప్పాలి. సినిమా అంటే లాజిక్ చూడకూడదు అంటారు, కాని హైదరాబాదు నుండి షిర్ది కి వెళుతున్న కార్లో నుంచి బందిన్చాపడ్డ వాళ్ళు కొద్ది సేపట్లో ఒక షిప్పు ఎక్కడం అనే సీన్ మాత్రం లాజిక్ పదానికే లాజిక్ లేకుండా చేసింది.  

కధ టూకీగ: ఇద్దరు బిడ్డలకు మంచి విద్య ఇప్పించలేని ఒక మధ్య తరగతి తండ్రి బరువు తగ్గించాడాని కోసం, హీరో తన చదువును తక్కువ చేసుకొని తన అక్కను కలెక్టర్ చెయ్యాలనే కోరికతో స్టంట్ మాన్ గా చేరుతాడు. ఒక అమ్మాయిని రక్షించేందుకు జరిగిన సీన్ లో పోలీస్ డ్రెస్సు లో హీరోయిన్ (రియా) కి కనపడటం, ఆ అమ్మాయి, ఆ సీన్ ని ఫోన్ లో వీడియో తీసి ఫేస్బుక్ లో పెట్టడం, రియా ని నిలదీయడానికి వాడు, ఆమె పై మనసు పారేసుకోవడం, తన తండ్రి 25 సంవత్సరాలుగా పని చేస్తున్న కంపెనీ యజమాని ఒక దుర్మార్గుడు అని తెలుసుకొని, అతని ఆట కట్టించడం. 

ఈ సినిమా కు 3 (త్రీ) స్టార్ రేటింగ్ ఇచ్చాను 

ఈ బ్లాగ్ లోని ఛాయా చిత్రాల హక్కులు వాటి యజమానుల వి అయ్యి ఉన్నాయి