Supercycle Watering Stand

What do you do if you are tired after a day's work in the yard and need to water the lawn? In particular you have to focus on watering a particular spot of the lawn for a concentrated amount of time, as its a 'brown' spot? You use the Supercycle Watering Stand, of course!


Supercycle to the rescue

Pros: You can go back to your BBQ.
Cons: After some time you have to move the bike to water another spot.

Coming soon: A way to use the variable Toronto water pressure to automatically turn the front wheel of the bike to and fro, enabling a sprinkler like system to water all around.
Paradox: This will create a Perpetual energy machine.


A closer look

Yard Work Ahead

Gotta do some yard work today. Weeding. Watering. Mowing. Raking. Have been really putting it off.

Will get a better picture of Dad's apple "tree". Just fooling around with a camera on hand. Too lazy to get to the yard now.


Dad's Apple Tree

Fishing Is A Cruel Sport

I say this not because we did not have much luck today. We did - caught several, most of which were thrown away, 1 keeper bass, 2 others lost (right at the moment of haul), discovery of one "aquarium" spot - so called because the just dropping the line meant you caught a fish. However the fish we were fishing for - largemouth bass - was unfortunately in short supply.

Why is fishing cruel. Consider how we put the live bait. A bunch of worms, kept in soil and stored in a small cardboard box in a freezer, is our bait. Before casting, a worm is selected and taken out, and cut into pieces (while alive) with a scissor. One of the still wriggling pieces is then attached to a hook (sorry - driven through the hook, impaling the part), before the whole arrangement is submerged into water.

Today we went one step better. Having negligible luck with our worms, we saw what the Oriental anglers next to us were doing. They were using crayfish (a cray fish is a very mini lobster, the size of your little finger). And so we bought a bunch of them (live ofcourse), and then proceeded to do the following:

A crayfish was selected. Its arms (pincers) were then cut/broken/torn off. The tail was then cut/broken. What is left of the now writhing creature is then impaled on the hook, like a stake being driven through its body, entering the soft underbelly and piercing the rigid shell on the other side. Then ofcourse it's thrown into the water to be bitten by a fish that will taken get its lip stuck to the hook and move and cause the hook to pierce through from under the skin and come out impaling the fish through its gills.

As I said, a cruel sport.

Ottawa Trip

Below the Parliament buildings


What's growing out of Rupam B.'s head?


Canada or Bangladesh?


Size doesn't worry Rupam B.


Nazneen Bhabi sure knows how to pick 'em


Fupa-fupu trying fishing Canadian style


The Catch of the Day


Lights and Sound Show - Parliament Hill


The Eternal Flame at Parliament Hill


Ottawa Night Life - It Ain't John and Richmond


The Pike - 24 hours later

It's London in 2012

On the drive to work listened live as the IOC awarded the Olympics to London for 2012. I had hoped it would be London, it's just one of the greatest cities (and a great multi-cultural one at that) of the world. What made this even better was that London beat Paris in the final round. Chirac and Blair had been having a go at each other for some time, including the most recent - a food fight! Whenever I was at London, I was struck by the history, culture and atmosphere of London. I am sure they will have a great Olympics.

Bengali Mela at Dentonia

Dentonia always beings to my mind the image of a dentist, with his painful scapel ready to drill into your mouth. Thus Dentonia park always brings to mind a scruciating slow torture image. Which is usually what these Bengali melas are. Two years ago they had a fight over a soccer match that resulted in a stabbing - no kidding! And it was because of some silly reason such as one team having one player missing or something like that.

There was one such mela today at Dentonia but unlike the previous ones this one seemed to go on well... for most part. The performances were half decent, but the stalls weren't. Most of them sold ladies' clothes only, that too outdated styles that many women had no problem buying. And if you read my gripe before about local food being overpriced, one stall was selling biryani for 9 bucks. Who in their right mind would buy biryani for 9 bucks?

I met one of the volunteers who told me the amazing story about the power supply. Apparently the power for the concert was supposed to be supplied by the city. For some reason something happened and in the end, the organizers cobbled 100 feet of electric wire and got the power from a nearby house! They plugged it into the wall socket where the stove usually goes!

Which was unfortunate because the power went out just when Ms Alamgir was warming up the crowd with her songs (the one really decent act on the show). Probably some one in the house turned on the light and the fuse blew.

This was touted as a Canada Day Bengali Mela (for whatever reason). There were actually lots of people with a bunch of Canadian flags, handing them out freely. Probably more of our sponsorship scandal money at work. Later we actually went and did something about Canada Day by watching the fireworks at Mel Lastman Square.


Say cheese before you take th--what the ****!


As with any Bengali event, there was no shortage of people.


What's the guy behind me looking at?

Rosti

Rosti is described by some as an "easy version of a Swiss potato cake". I don't know how accurate that is as I have never had Swiss potato cake, but Rosti looks a bit like this. As we were dining at Marche at the BCE Place, after watching War of the Worlds, I remarked that the food there was very European. We blabbed the usual about the ambience and the food making it pricy but justified because of the 'ambience'. Ether, being very blunt, said Rosi was just 'aloo bhorta' in French (or German, or whatever).

Later I reflected that this is why Toronto's ethnic restaurants are pricy. They take some common dish, put it in italics on the menu and it becomes exotic. Thus we have 'samosas', 'shik kebab', 'naan', 'dosa', 'tandoori' - all common back home but here an exotic expensive dish. Some dishes I understand - such as 'kotu roti' and 'shwarma' - but why is naan exotic?

I didn't put an extensive review of War of the Worlds as I noticed recently I have doing a lot of that on the blog. This blog is not just about movies. Even though I have watching a lot of them lately (this is summer after all). Suffice it to say the movie was faithful to the book, except for some 'minor' changes such as changing the locale of the story from London, UK, to some some place in USA, and the hero getting a family, as well as some other flaws. Even though I found it good, something prevents me from recommending it, and I will leave it at that.

Peterborough Fishing Mine

Went fishing to Peterborough this morning. We struck a gold mine. Any line cast seemed to come back with fish (sometimes two!). All sort of fish were caught: bass, perch, sunfish. We intended to go for carp, but later we got too tired due to the sapping heat.

Total fish count: 150 (no kidding!). I took 10 home, we gave ten each to our neighbors, and even then had lots left, which went to Fahad's uncle's friend. He loves sunfish.


Our Fishing Hole


Everyone Is Busy Catching Fish


Some Distractions Were Present As Well


150 Fish Being Kept Fresh


Packing The Haul

Paheli Is Good

Saw Paheli (starring SRK, Rani). It's good. Those who don't like Hindi movies may not like this one. It's a love story. It has emotions. It has lots of colors. And it has lots of songs. I thought the songs were a bit too much (some could have been removed for faster flow) but on the whole, if you like Indian movies, you will like Paheli.

Gone Fishing

Just got back from fishing. We tried this new place just around 20 minutes away from home. Boy was I surprised to find such a town so close to Toronto. It was a postcard-style town, with beautiful mosaic pavements, old style (18th century) houses, and the air of a bygone era. The lake (pond, rather) where we fished was very surreal. It was quiet, and lots of creatures around. Although didn't get any keepers, nevertheless a morning well-spent.


The Loons


Fahad's Batfish

Noha's Wedding

Just came back from attending Noha's wedding/reception. The usual crowd (read the-Donmills-people-who-were-once-in-UAE-but-now-mostly-in-Brampton-but-still-called-Donmills-people) attended. Atleast Jaber and others still are in North York.

The ceremony itself was a good affair. Jaber said a few quotes, while Isra recited a great poem. Babu and Mehboob (of BSA fame) sang some songs. The dinner was very good. The menu was South Asian, with some spicy tandoori chicken and a kabab (making us loosen our ties) being the best. One cannot fault Jaber's organization (meticulous) nor the food (really scrumptious). He should become a Bengali wedding planner. He even printed a schedule (or program guide, whatever it's called).

On a sidenote, it always seems a point of EXTREME importance at Bengali weddings - the food has to be good. I have attended some weddings where there is no organization to speak of, it's as boring as hell, but the food was good and no one complained. Bengalis. Go figure.

Going back to the wedding, after dinner, there were a few songs and dances. Jaber also displayed a slideshow, which showed the couples' pictures from childhood to present times. It was a nice and different touch.


The 'Just Married' car


The spread was tasty


Here's to still being single (it's Coke BTW)


Who's next?

The Koreans Are Coming

It was shaping up to be just another Friday at work. I was at my desk, coding away, while my boss was away (his kid was sick). The operational engineers were busy at their workstations. Suddenly there was a knock on our office door, before it slammed open, and a gentleman (who worked upstairs) ran in, a little short of breath.

Searching for my boss, and not finding him, he turned to me and announced:

"The Koreans Are Coming!"

The reactions from the guys was immediate and hilarious:

"So should we lock the doors?"

"Don't you mean the Russians?"

"Koreans? North or South?"

Further clarification led to the fact that a delegation from the University of Korea in Seoul was visiting University of Toronto and they wanted to see how the building controls and management operated here. In any case, they did come within a few minutes, and were a very nice (and courteous) bunch of guys, along with their interpreter. They visited for 15 minutes, asked lots of questions, took a few pictures of my coffee cup before taking our leave.

Played Some Cricket Today

Got together with some friends for cricket at North York. Was feeling very hyped-up about Bangladesh winning (a rarity). Played good cricket too. Played 2 matches. Me and Gazi were the mainstay for our team for both the games. In the first game we bowled them out for an on-par target before Gazi and I overhauled it with lots of overs to spare. In the second game we again chased. This time the target was higher, and we both batted down the order to give the others a bat. But there was a collapse and we again found ourselves together, with only one more wicket to follow. First we repaired the innings, then built it, before finally racing towards the target in a surprisingly less than tight finish.

Bangladesh beats Australia

This morning was crazy. I was following the Bangladesh game vs Australia. Around the half way stage, I had reasonable hope that Bangladesh could pull off the unthinkable. But as always, it was Bangladesh, and I must admit that I did not expect them to last beyond 180. And at 80 odd for 3 around the 27th over, a familiar pattern was beginning to repeat itself.

Then Ashraful happened. He and Bashar began to nudge the singles and take very little risks, yet keep the wickets in hand for the final dash. If that was the game plan, today it was executed to perfection. And when it finally happened, a Bangladesh victory over Australia that BBC (a bastion of anti-Bangladesh commentators) called "the pinnacle of Bangladesh achievements in one-day internationals" and Cricinfo labeled "the greatest giant-slaying of all time", I let out a medieval scream. I switched ON MY CAPS LOOK KEY TO SHOW MY EXCITEMENT ONLINE TO ALL OTHERS ON MY MSN LIST FOLLOWING THE GAME ON CRICINFO. Many of them had changed their nicks as well. 'Aus Banged', 'BD Kicks Ass(Aus)' and 'Holy Crap - BD actually beat Aus' were some of the most memorable ones.

Rony Bhaia called from Bangladesh. They are pretty excited too. Last time I was in Bangladesh, they beat India and then Zimbabwe. This time my folks are there, they beat Australia. He pointed that out to me, with some theory of us brining luck. Ofcourse the fact that the next day I was there India made 345 against Bangladesh was conveniently ignored.

At then end, though, Bangladesh cricket also owes a lot to Australians. It was Eddie Barlow, an Australian, who first set up Bangladesh cricket administration. It was the Australian cricket board's support that Bangladesh got Test status. It was their memorandum of Understanding signed with the BCB that Bangladesh got good training and infrastructure for their youth teams (under-15,19,21). It was their team's attitude during the Bangladesh tour of Australia that Bangladesh cricketers matured. Steve Waugh made his players go to the Bangladesh dressing room and talk to our cricketers, and tell them not to despair or listen to the critics. After all, Waugh knew what it was like to belong to a team that had potential but never achieved. That was Australia prior to 1987. And finally, it was Australia again, who today, was beaten, but never made an condescending comment about Bangladesh that the Pakis made.

The Interpreter Rankles

Watched The Interpreter tonight. Before going into what I don't like about the movie - a brief synopsis: Kidman is Silvia Broome, working at the UN in NYC. Sean Penn is Tobin Keller, a Secret Service agent that protects foreign dignitaries. An african dictator accused of genocide is coming to NYC to make a speech at the UN Security Council, and Kidman overhears a plot to kill him. Movie starts.

Overall, it wasn't half bad. It started well, then got right into the middle of it. Character development of the main duo was good. It had the ambience of a slow European mystery, with a cop who has personal issues (always), a victim who is not all that she appears (and blonde - always), and a bunch of criminals, the head of whom is the one the hero has to protect. All-in-all, a good mix for a good movie.

Unfortunately there are several flaws. First, the dialogue. Some of the conversations between Kidman and Penns ' characters are downright cheesy.

"Why do you guys who carry guns always act like cowboys?"

Moreover, at one stage, everyone in Africa is introduced as either black or white. They seemed to have forgotten that brown people played big roles in Africa's history as well. Gandhi of India was originally from South Africa. Many of South Africa's, Kenya's, Tanzania's movers and shakers are of Indian or South Asian origin.

Then there's the characters. Penn's assistant (his colleague/partner) is more like his secretary. She has hardly a role in the movie. *BIG SPOILER ALERT* Nicole we find out is heavily involved in African politics. She IS African. She was even a rebel. Her brother still is. What nonsense. We are supposed to believe that just because her parents were killed in an African accident, her brother and she took up arms and joined the black militia. Um.. they were white. And not just white, blondes. Fighting alongside the very people taken advantage of by whites in Africa. And they comrades accepted them! And she was the rebel leader's lover!

Many times during the movie Nicole says she joined the UN because it's the only thing she thinks works in Africa, and she wants to help. Um... hullo! You are just a lowly interpreter (in fact one person in the movie even tells her that, then everyone seems to forget she said that). What do you think she will do for the UN?

Overall, it's a 6/10 movie, and takes a long time to get to the ending. The Interpreter looks nice and the acting is terrific, but that's just on the surface. Could-have-been-but-was-not an absorbing thriller. Ultimately forgettable.

Beef is better than chicken

I can cook. I discovered that this week. I don't know how moms do it every day though. I don't mind cutting, chopping, cooking and cleaning for 1 day, and then storing it in the fridge so I have something to eat when I come back from work for the next 2 days.

1 day cooking 3 day eating.

One other thing I also discovered - beef is infinitely way easier to cook than chicken. If you overcook chicken, or add too much water, or spice, or salt, it's gone. You can eat it but you have to make a face. The ten chicken pieces I saw in the freezer I guess I will BBQ next week (read: not cook). I guess I added too much water, the chicken was very loose. And somewhat yucky.

Beef on the other hand - the longer it remains on the oven the tender it gets (my theory). Some mother somewhere is probably getting a heart attack at the sacrilegious statements I am making here.

But yesterday even I was surprised as to how good the beef I prepared was. It was spicy (very), not hard at all (bite-able), had the proper proportion of salt, and very, very tasty. Yummy. The first day when I cooked chicken I was like crap - I have to eat this slop for the next three months I am home alone, but now I have some hope. Yup -until next time.

Blo(ck)spot dot com

I sent my blog and picture link to someone in UAE.

This is what popped up on their screen.

"We apologize the site you are attempting to visit has been blocked due to its content being inconsistent with the religious, cultural, political and moral values of the United Arab Emirates. If you think this site should not be blocked, please visit the Feedback Form available on our website. "

Priceless.

Masala BBQ and A. Jolie Good Movie

BBQs and Nahda alumni don't go well together. Whenever we try to do a BBQ the weather plays havoc. Last time it rained. Today, it was unbearably hot, close to 40 degrees (with humidex, smog, etc.). I was taken back to the last days of high school, when we foolishly attempted to have a BBQ in the middle of Abu Dhabi summer. Atleast this time I got the BBQ started! Ofcourse being a gas grill it was way easier.

The food turned out tasty, even though the masala made the chicken very, very spicy at certain portions (that was fine though - I just had to have a bottle of water after one chicken leg). The burgers were the best, as were the sausages, fresh out of the grill and into our mouths. It being such a hot day, the juice-filled jug was well emptied. There were two Casualty Burgers though.


It burns!

Angelina Jolie sparkles in Mr and Mrs Smith. Throughout the movie, which we saw after eating (dinner and a show!), that was the only thing I could think of. It seemed some people have been made by God with a lot of time. Then again Tauhid told me some lip surgeons may have had a crack at her as well.

The movie was entertaining as a whole, though in the end it started to drag a bit before an abrupt ending, which was again funny. The jokes and action were nonstop, and its a good escapist movie.

Pulling Out A Rabbit

Last time I checked Toronto was a major concrete metropolis. Wildlife attacks are very rare, other than the occasional psycho bulldog. Which is why today I was surprised when my backyard was invaded by a pair of rabbits.


It's not always this black and white

There I was, minding my own business, just about to mow the jungle that is my backyard, when all of a sudden I saw a black something dart behind me. My first thought was that my sister's cat escaped, but then I saw a white something follow the black I knew it was no ordinary pet. It was rabbits!

My neighbor's (two houses away) kids' pets had escaped. They were so cute! But munching on my dad's apple tree was definite no-no. And so I moved in a stomping motion and made what I thought was a menacing shout. Other than the next door kid looking at me like I was practicing for some sort of Bengali opera, they had no effect. The rabbits paused, looked at me, and went back to munching. Is there an expression, cool as a rabbit?

Ofcourse the kids came to reclaim their pet. And this moment the rabbits chose to dart into the next door neighbor's yard. The game was afoot, the hunt continued. But that was to be the last I saw of those intruders.

What a hot day

It is really getting hot in Toronto. Not that I mind, I will take +40 over -40 any day - but what I hate is the smog. I have to walk in the morning from my parking spot at the university to Eaton's, and then back again in the afternoon heat, a good 20 min each way, and what gets me each time is the pollution. It really sticks to you. I also went out for a walk around lunch and within 20 minutes was starting to feel lethargic and sick.

The Unix course is coming along well. I am learning lots of new admin stuff I didn't know before. I also spoke with a colleague at work, he's going to give me a PC so I can install some flavor of Unix on it at home, just to play with.

I paid my last dues as a student to UofT today - 3 years after graduation. I got my degree framed. It's convocation this week at UofT, and they had stalls for framing the degrees that the graduates get at the ceremony. They had it when I graduated too, except that I didn't want to frame it at that time. I thought I would get it framed somewhere else later.

After three years of it sitting in an envelope at the bottom of my closet, I decided I am going to get it framed in an official UofT crest-filled frame. It cost me 86 dollars and change. Yes - I know they were ripping me off - but it's my degree and they were fleecing me for the last time. Besides, I did throw tons of money at the university for four years, so what's a few doubloons more!

Got an LCD monitor

Moving up in the world. Today the LCD monitor ordered for my workstation, a Hyundai TFT L90D+, arrived. I set it up and dumped the old big monitor at the backroom (this room is rapidly becoming our electronic garbage box).

At first the pictures and text seemed a bit blurry and out of focus, but after installing the driver and switching from the Plug and Play one, resetting the refresh rate to 75 Hz from 60, and restarting the PC, the monitor made a world of difference. And to top it all, this one has speakers attached to it as well, so if I want to show a video to the guys, I can just unplug the headset and play the media. No more rushing to Mike's workstation. And I just love the extra space on my desk.

Unfortunately I won't have time to enjoy it all this week. Starting tomorrow till Friday I will be on the UNIX Administration course at Learning Tree, near Eaton's Centre.

Lonely Reader

The Lonely Reader called today. He is my philosopher friend, who keeps in touch from time to time. He told me recently someone asked him about why his friends-who-do-evil are being promoted and he not (perceived unjustness from God). My friend told him to be grateful he was born with two legs, two arms etc. The Lonely Reader is like that. He believes in the eternal phrase from Kaal Ho Na Ho - "From your point of view what you have is very less, but from someone else's view you have been given a lot".

I ofcourse told him to tell his friend to suck up to his boss, make resumes and search for better jobs and generally to get off his lazy bum. Which is why I think the Lonely Reader and I could start up a Upodesh Kendro (for those who saw the Bangladeshi series Bohu-prihi you know what I am talking about). He is more into the spiritual and philosophical side of things, I am more into the practical.

Have you heard of the 90%-10% principle? It seems a good strategy. The link is here. Basically the gist of it is 10% of life is made up of what happens to you. 90% of life is decided by how you react.

I am also reminded of a few Islamic hadith (sayings of the last Messenger of Allah peace be upon him).

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "The best of you are those who are slow to anger and swift to cool down...Beware of anger, for it is a live coal on the heart of the descendants of Adam." - Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1331.

In another narration it is mentioned, ‘The one who becomes angry while standing should sit down. If his anger has still not cooled down, then he should lie down’. (Ahmad, Tirmidhi).

'He who can overpower others in wrestling is not really a strong man. True strength is in that individual who can control himself at the time of anger.’ (Bukhari).

How beautiful and true are the statements of Islam - 1400 years ago.

Forlorn Saturday

I don't know why I am feeling a bit down today. Is it because I did mostly nothing on Friday and have nothing to look forward to doing today? For the last few weekends I have been either hanging out with friends or busy doing something fun. This is the first weekend in a while I was stuck at home.

Well I was busy. Folks are going away to Bangladesh for sometime. Everyone who hears this says 'Partaay!!' but what I can think of is 'Parathay - who will make them'. Guess I better familiarise myself with Shaan parathays.

The day was spent with mom showing me how to keep the house clean, water the plants, etc. My sister even showed me this brush with which to brush her cat's hair. I told her to get real - many times I don't get the time to brush my hair.

The Drunk Tamil and the Hippy Bengali had a big punch-up today. I was in the backyard BBQing tandoori chicken and missed all the fun. Both called up their crew and beat up each other. From my understanding the Drunk Tamil's gang was beaten to a pulp. But then I got the hoe-down report from the Hippy Bengali. But I can believe his story. We both discussed how Bengali friends are completely unreliable in a fight.

On another note, this must be the most pathetic blog I saw on the net.

NHL fix

What are fantasies? A girl like Gayatri Joshi. A car like Aston Martin.

Or maybe it's this. Apparently Global simulated the whole 2005 season, and ofcourse Vancouver Canucks won. What fixed this purely as a fantasy was that the Leafs beat the Flyers 4-1 in the Conference finals. The Linking Reporter (aka Behbood) reported that many people have actually downloaded the simulated videos from Global to watch it.

Maybe they can find a way to simulate alcohol and Muslims can get a simulated fix.

DVDs Needed

I bought a couple of Hindi DVDs right now, both 2-cd packs (so four movies in total). They were Kaal, Kyaa Kool Hai Hum, Veer-Zaara and Swades.

Now I know I said I thought Kaal was a crappy movie, but it was the best combo I could find with Kyaa Kool Hai Hum, which has had excellent reviews. Again, Veer-Zaara, I am not a big fan of (in fact my experience of the movie at the theatre was spoiled by a series of mishaps that belong in a comical disaster Ben Stiller movie), it had Swades, which I had wanted to watch for sometime, and I did tonight.

Swades, well, what can I say. The first half of the movie I understood exactly what Mohan (SRK) went through. I myself feel no ties with Bangladesh (having been brought up abroad) but whenever I go, I feel sorry that the country is in a mess and people like me are not doing anything. Then again, people like me if they want to help, other people in Bangladesh like the Fanatic Mullah, the Greedy Politician and the Merciless Mobster will have a different say. All of this was captured in the movie, but it was very documentary style. And I did not like the ending at all. No matter what I do, I am not going to give up material comfort for helping a village. And NASA - that was very unrealistic climax.


The DVD Rack I Got For My Birthday


My DVDs

As you can see I have to get more DVDs to fill up this rack I got for my birthday. I like it. I am so glad I didn't go out and buy those awful spiral ones I was thinking of buying.

Miss Canada is Miss Universe 2005

Natalie Glebova of Toronto was crowned Miss Universe 2005 just some time ago in Thailand. I first heard the news from Behbood, who jovially gave me a running commentary on her win - "it was tough but she hung in there man!".

This morning, while taking a break at the Office, I was looking over the Miss Universe website with a colleague. I don't know why we looked at the site, I think I was making fun of the national costume that Miss Canada wore. It was a really outlandish something, with a really big headwear full of feathers. My colleague remarked that was nothing like a national dress, a Leafs jersey would be more like it!

Anyways, even then I remarked that I expected her to make the top ten. She is really pretty. The other girl I thought was pretty was the Miss India. And then Miss Canada wins it.

As of this moment the Miss Universe site seems to have crashed.

Is Love A Mental Illness?

I was driving to work this morning and one of the news items was that a new love is like a mental illness. Unfortunately I caught the very end of it, so could only think of all the mad Hindi movies I get to see now and then.

Later, the NBC reported that scientists now say the brain activity of those in a whirlwind romance is nearly identical to those with mental illness. This could explain why Tom Cruise is reportedly acting crazy.

In fact now I think of it, it makes sense. A girl I know from work recently hooked up with someone, and her boyfriend is obsessed about her. Without giving any more details, let's say he recently marked the 23rd week of the anniversary of the day they met. Now having known her for 3 years I don't see what the fuss is about [names and numbers may have been changed to protect the identity of the mentally ill]. She finds it cute. I am reminded of Dil Chahta Hai, of Saif's future wife's ex-fiance.

Actually the old Indian movie Mann (with Aamir-1-movie-per-decade-Khan) has a very good skit on mad lovers. Romeo And Juliet, Laila-Majnu, Shireen-Farhad, Heer-Ranjha, Sohni-Mahiwal are all about the power of love that has crossed the boundaries of rationality.

Hungama-fied

Attended Hungama, Toronto's celebration of its South Asian (read Indian) culture. The event was Dundas Square, near Eaton's Center. I joined late (around 6.30 pm). We were there till 11 pm.

The items ranged from the very good (the punjabi sukhbir songs like 'Gul Naro Ishq') to the extremely bad (the rendering of 'Laila Mai Laila' by someone who looked neither like Zeenat Aman nor sang like Nazia Hassan) to the average (the human boombox) to the mildly hot (the bellydancing routine that had the crowd baying for more).

Ofcourse there were the usual characters amongst the attendees. There was a Chinese lady who kept trying to do a bhangra. Except she kept raising her legs rather than hands (a combination of Falun Gong bhangra maybe). There was the desi fob behind us in a 3-piece suit who kept murmuring "thish ish not reeel orrissha dansh". Except he was saying that during the belly dancing. No one paid any attention, understandably. There were the occasional white guys who happened to be in the area and short of cover needed to attend the night clubs nearby.

After the show the Gang of Three (you know who you are) split for La Marche. On the way we stopped at Ontario place, parked and entered to roam the place. We saw this crowd of guys in black tuxes and girls in white, and figured we were at a wedding. Then a security guard came and asked us why we were there, and we replied (lied) we were there to pick up our friend from the wedding. He said ok and left. Later we learnt this was prom night for the graduates of the local high school. The security must not have been very tight.

Over some rosti and mackarel and smoked salmon, the night ended with a discussion of the downfalls of Bengalis. And the Gang of Three retired for the night.

PS. So far I found only one reference to the event on Google news. I am pretty sure the ethnic channels and newspapers have covered it galore.


With some friends at Hungama.

Bunty Aur Babli is fun

Saw Bunty Aur Babli last night at Albion. It's a good movie that you can watch one time in the theatres and then later rent it out to watch again. It's fun, good, wholesome timepass, that the family can enjoy (except one scene between Abhishek and Rani that caught everyone by surprise).

The capers - original, the masti - spontaneous, the melodrama - not too much, the songs - good, the acting - too good, Aishwarya - hot in the item song (and I mean sizzling, Angelina Jolie hot, and to those readers who live on Planet Mars and did not know Ash was in the movie, too bad). The couple looked really good, and had great chemistry and comic timing.

In short, go watch Bunty Aur Babli, and if you have your own Babli - take her!

PS. Compare the reviews of India-FM (warning: spoilers) and Rediff. Something to note: Indiafm does not write good reviews, they literally give the whole story away (with spoilers), while Rediff does a brief synopsis and then reviews it. Moreoever, lately I have found after watching any movie I tend to agree more with the Rediff review than the India-FM one.

Indianapolis

Was over at Indianapolis for the long weekend. I wanted to take the car out on a long drive and see how it handles. The rest of the family wanted to visit Rumi's. We were also supposed to go to Chicago, but in the end decided not to. There would not be enough time to do the two cities, and we(I) would end up too tired from driving.

The journey was mainly uneventful. The altima (Alhamdulillah) handled wonderfully. I discovered the joys of cruise control. On the way there, since it was daylight all the way, I had no problems driving. I surprised myself, that I could drive 11 hours on the go. We took only about 3 breaks, mostly to fill up. Mom had a stash of food ready, which we partook regularly.

Indianapolis was ofcourse a very big, and boring city. There's really nothing to sightsee there. It was one week before Indy 500, so we saw lots of bikers, bikes, NASCAR type people, and a couple of practice and timing laps. Also, the lack of brown people was startling compared to Toronto. Even the Dollar Store there employed white people. My cousin, Rumi bhaia, has a lakefront property there, with a big backyard, so we had lot of outdoors fun there. Didn't get time to do any fishing, unfortunately.

The drive back was mostly fine. We hit a big traffic jam near Detroit. Apparently the construction south of the border is as mindless as here. For one hour we crept at 30 kph. Then from London to Toronto it was dark (past sunset) and it was a tough, tiring drive.


Mapping The Route


The End Of The 401


Sunset At Rumi B's

Wonderland With BSA

Just returned from a Wonderland day, spent there courtesy BSA. Like last year, this time I, too, was in charge of organization. The procedure was a little different. Last year we collected money before hand, and Wonderland gave us the tickets on the day, so I had to wait in line at Guest services before 10 am and everyone had to wait for me. This year Wonderland had emailed me the tickets beforehand, so we were able to get in early, and I paid Wonderland later (around evening when we were all taking a break).

The weather was very cold (last year we had 25 and sunny, this year was 4 and there were hails at one time, though it was mostly clear). However we still had fun. I had dressed for the weather, as did Rakeeb (who judiciously sent me weather updates the night before). The lines were non-existent (a very distinct advantage in coming on a weekday before schools open), and we went on all rides that we wanted to.

Right now very tired. Tomorrow will probably wake up with a headache, bruises and other 'hangover' symptoms.


The grand "Before" picture


At Tomb Raider Ride


St Abeer & The Dragon


All on the Psychlone

Oliver Twist at Abeer's school

Abeer had a performance at his school tonight. He played the role of Bill Sikes in Oliver Twist. It was a musical (sort-of) play. And really good. I mean really good. The kids were from grade 4 to 8. The teachers' names were Mrs Krumholz (that's a real name), and Ms Owens. The kids acted very well, especially the guy who played Bill Sikes (and I am not saying because he was Abeer).

Bill Sikes is the main villain who controls Fagin's gang, gets rich off them, has a pretty girlfriend (who has a change of heart at the end), and then tries to use Oliver to be part of his plan to rob Mr Brownlow (who also happens to be related to Oliver in the end).

I thought, besides Oliver, Bill Sikes was the next best character to play. He was in many scenes, and had a whole range of emotions and histrionics he could do.

I have always felt this was Charles Dickens' best novel (it's so like an 80s Hindi movie).


The background for one of the scenes


Abeer at Fagin's lair


Bill Sikes (Abeer) leading Oliver to rob a house

Kaal is a dumb movie

Saw Kaal last night. It was such a so-so movie. On the whole, I would grudgingly give it a 2 star. It was a such a 'could-have-been-better' movie. And that says a lot.


At Timmy's After Kaal

Kaal is about a group of people (which include a supposedly wildlife expert couple) who get stuck in the forest with a killer tiger. The conclusion has a supernatural bent.

This movie with tighter editing, a better script, could have been a good thriller. Instead you are never really involved with the story, the plot has too many flaws (why the experts are not following the rules of the forest, why would they not advise the ranger they are coming, and what happens to Vivek's new vehicle), the climax you can predict, and the only good part of the movie are the 5 minutes in the beginning (the 'item' song by SRK-Malaika).

All-in-all, a very disappointing movie.

Indoor BBQ

The BBQ that Rumana organized, which was supposed to be at Whitby park, ended up being inside Rumpa Apu's house, as it was pouring cats and dogs. Everyone had a good time, with some highlights including

• Tauhud vs. Saima Apu - She is now the official head of "I Hate Tauhid" club, membership: 1.
• A decision was taken to never let Ether make tea again. Salt instead of sugar just does not cut it.
• I will never forget my camera again. And if I do, I will never inform Tauhid again.
• Rifat's imitation of Ether, with the mention of the significant other (hint: it's not a guy).
• Nafis's DJ-ing. The guy worked hard with the same cd for six hours.
• Driving the kids (except one) from the basement.
• The 'coming out' of Raj.
• The "fine tuning of the Passat" tips.

BBQ on Foil

Learned some now tricks for BBQ. I am getting quite good at this. If you wrap chicken in foil and put it on grill, you get a different flavor (the chicken cooks in its own juice). However I prefer the normal method. It doesn't work for steaks though.

Canadian Politics Similar To Bangladesh

Almost a couple of years ago, during the Toronto municipal elections, I told this joke to my co-workers:

A US senator is visited by an MP from Bangladesh. Showing him around the ranch, the visitor from Bangladesh is impressed by his more than one car, horses and a summer and winter house. He asked the senator, "I know the US Senate does not pay that much to you so you can mantain this place, how do you do it?" The senator takes him to the window, and points to a hydro dam. "You see that dam?" He asks. The Bangladeshi replies, "Yes." The senator winks, thumps his chest and announces "10%." The Bangladeshi nods in understanding.

A couple of months later the US senator is in Bangladesh, and visits this MP. The senator is completely stunned by what he sees. The MP has three houses in Uttara, two flats in Dhaka, 15 servants, three cars. His wife wears tonnes of jewellery. The senator asks the MP, "I cannot believe a third world country can pay you this much as salary, how do you do it?"

The MP takes him to the window, and points, "See that bridge?"

The senator tries and looks, but does not see a bridge. He turns to the MP, "What bridge?"

The MP smiles, and replies, "100%."

When I said this joke, everyone was laughing, before Pat said, "You know, that's just like Toronto!"

With David Miller (now mayor) running on a promise to not build the airport bridge, I was surprised at how right Pat was. Toronto spent millions in consultation fees on where and how to build this bridge, then they awarded a contractor, then the GTAA spent money on improving the island airport, and now we will spend millions in penalty money not to build this bridge. At the end of all that money wasted, we are back to where we started - no bridge.

Currently the Liberal party is in deep trouble over the sponsorship scandal, with allegations of kickbacks and taxpayers' money changing hands. Since it's a minority government, it may fall any time. Pundits are pointing to a June election. This will just be one year after the last one.

So the party in power for a long time is plagued by corruption, and Opposition is agitated and is taking steps to bring down the government and force themselves into power. The Prime Minister is angry and threatens to punish the guilty. A special committee has been set up to investigate the crimes and report to the government on how to prosecute the criminals. It will submit its report in a year.

Sounds a lot like another country I know.