Just got a chance to be a part of the cast of a play 'Lost in Yonkers'- Neil Simon, a play by the theatre group 'Top Cast' based in Bangalore. As a part of the Deccan Herald Theatre Festival this was one of the 6 plays staged. Lost in Yonkers happend to be the first one!!! The festival kicked off last Sunday, October 24th 2004, at Chowdaiah Memorial Hall, Bangalore.
I was a part of this group a few years back and then took a break due to multiple reasons. Now, I was lucky to get a chance again. The director Mr. N Ravi Kumar who founded Top Cast, was sure to have found the right script for the festival.
It's a family drama filled with satire comedy and full of pathos. The play revolves around a german family in Yonkers, USA during the WWII times. The protagonist in this play is an steel like old lady 'Grandma'..played by Dr.Poornima Vyasulu. 'Aunt Bella', her daughter who has marbles rolling up her head was played by Jyotsana Temkar. 'Eddie', her first son perhaps, father of 2 sons and widower now...was played by Srinath T V. 'Jay', Eddie's elder son was played by Kishore Acharya and 'Arty', the younger on of Eddie's sons was played by Yeshwant Madhusudan. 'Aunt Gert', Grandma's another daughter who has problems in speaking was played by Kshama Kumar. I played the part of 'Uncle Louie' who is a henchman, a small time gangster and mostly a conman and a thief.
The play was well recd. by the audience and the critics too. Though there were a few stumbling blocks in the form of forgetting lines by Aunt Bella and a few by Grandma and few technical movement mistakes, the crowd loved the play mostly for Grandma (sheer acting brilliance) and Arty (Neil Simon put in a lot of humour in this lad's character). The mistakes were either covered up well or were insignificant.
As a part of the advertisement for the festival, there was a snap that was required to be printed in the newspapers. The costumes were not ready yet, so I had to manage with something I had at home..and believe it or not...my snap came in the newspapers. Believe me when I say this...I never looked more funny. As I kept thinking aloud...that snap probably should have come in the cartoon section..hahaha.
Btw, there's one more play coming up...'Listen, Janamejaya'. I am casted as 'Suthradhara' in this play by Sriranga. The group is called Version 1.0 and in my future blogs I shall talk of this play which is due to be staged in Jan 2005. Quite sometime for it.
Well, it was a great experience...altogether. It was nice to be back in theatre....the extreme authority and command that you have when you are on stage and more so when having a monologue just gives me a high. Of course, I also made mistakes...some that I realised and some that my friends pointed out later..
As always...there's a so much to learn in/from/about anything that you do.
Some reviews of the play in the newspapers...
DeccanHerald
IndianExpress
Tuesday, November 2, 2004
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
Gmail...The Email
Of late, we have been reading views, reviews etc about Google. Among them, the latest has been about Gmail. It's simply one of the best things to have happened to email till now. I am sure more is still to come.
Some of the features have really made me think...how come?
Some of the notable features many are listed below...
- Keyboard shortcuts
- Multiple select of check boxes using the shift + Click. Even Windows app can't do it, forget Web app
- Cascading mails that have replies and re-replies.
- Super fast
- Ads according to the mail content. It's still looks safe tho'
- Search Mails
- Address prompt like in Thunderbird / Outlook
- Ofcourse, the widely known 1000 MB space
Yahoo has given 100 MB space by default to all users in an effort towards customer retention. This is indeed interesting battle here. Ultimately, customers benefit from the whole thing.
Actually curious as to what will Hotmail do now. It's still at 1MB I guess. Hmmm...
Some of the features have really made me think...how come?
Some of the notable features many are listed below...
- Keyboard shortcuts
- Multiple select of check boxes using the shift + Click. Even Windows app can't do it, forget Web app
- Cascading mails that have replies and re-replies.
- Super fast
- Ads according to the mail content. It's still looks safe tho'
- Search Mails
- Address prompt like in Thunderbird / Outlook
- Ofcourse, the widely known 1000 MB space
Yahoo has given 100 MB space by default to all users in an effort towards customer retention. This is indeed interesting battle here. Ultimately, customers benefit from the whole thing.
Actually curious as to what will Hotmail do now. It's still at 1MB I guess. Hmmm...
Wednesday, June 9, 2004
Kudremukha - Epitome of Bio-diversity
Well...it finally did happen. All the planning that we guys did, did finally pay off when we started on May 20th 2004 night, to Kudremukha (horse face) for a trek. We planned for a trek so as to return on Monday early morning....i.e. back to work in whatever shape.. ;-) We did succeed...and this blog will just tell you the experience during the trek.
Before I start, I would like to introduce the team. We were totally seven of us. Abhi, the leader of our pack...Gomes...the josh(enthu) machine...Major...actually a captain in the Indian Army...Mani...colleague, photographer of this trek and blogger..he introduced me to blogging....... ....Bharath...another colleague, huge guy..Viju...another colleague...the only girl in the pack..courageous one eh..!..finally me...RDX
Our route to the place from where we start our trek..was something like this....Bangalore to Belthangadi and from Belthangadi by Jeep to Navvur...which the ground zero for our trekking.
Just before we started off on our trek...we had to guarantee that we are not troubled by jignes(leeches)...atleast as less as possible. So...on guidance from the localites...we used the Hoge Soppu (tobacco leaves) as anklets and nashe(snuff) with oil also from shin downwards and shoe not spared. We didn't have much snuff so we had to do with how much ever was available.
We embarked our journey with two commoners (as directed by the forest dept). They were like the torch bearers at both ends. They suggested we use the roads...but we were insisting on beaten path and cutting across the valley. The very reason we tend to run away from the city is to be with nature...and roads are just transportation requirements or landmarks and not the preferred trek route.
Our target was ToLali where Lobo mane (Lobo's house) exists. It was about 10.5 kms from ground zero towards the peak...and yes...it was really tiring...atleast for that part of the pack who have nothing called exercise in their daily schedule. Unfortunately, I belong to that part and I obviously intend to change that.
So we were puffing and panting and needless to say sweating like a pig. We used to pause at quite a few points to ease our breathing and then resume. The best part of trek was waiting to be experienced...the visual beauty...the nature...in the best colour...green. I just can't find words and even if I manage...space would be scanty to express the nature. Perhaps all the great poets..and literary guys get their inspiration from such locations only. I forgot to mention the weather. It was wet, cloudy, sunny and rained whenever it felt like. Everything was highly welcome coz..pollution (air & noise) was miles away and we wanted to cherish every moment and every breath of clean and fresh air.
All along our route...we were struck by breath taking views...and suddenly something else caught our attention...well..we were hungry and Bharath couldn't take any longer I suppose. So we chose a place that was flatter than what we had seen earlier and upacked our lunches. The roof was the sky with cloud covers and then rain gods were involved in our lunch too...! After the sumptous mean we resumed our journey. We kept on encountering amazing scenaries en route. There was one mountain which we had in front of us. We actually didn't expect any mountain there to be so huge...so as to get lost in cloud cover. Well...when the clouds cleared occasionally, it was a breathtaking moment for all of us. We looked so very small...I was humbled actually. Such is nature I suppose...makes you know where you stand..in its view!!!
The team split into two midway with one leading the way coz. they were physically more fit and they also had to pitch a tent...just in case we couldn't house ourselves in Lobo mane. The unfit team followed them..of course led by on the commoners who were accompanying us. By the time we reached Lobo mane, we were dead exhausted. It was indeed a relief to see that place...!! We emptied a packet of Sunfill (what's that? ;-) Energy drink..just glucose with flavours). Some of us were too tired to assist that part of the team which was pitching the tent. After half the work was done w.r.t the tent..an old guy came and asked us to move into the Lobo mane by paying Rs.20/- per head per day. Dirt cheap..!!!
Lobo mane has these special features...
- No electricity
- No water inside...(we had water flowing nearby)
- Firewood for making campfire to last for 3-4 days..!!
- Obviously no furniture of any sort.
We settled easily into Lobo mane and got ready to get into warm and dry clothes. Later we cooked hot hot food and caught the very much needed sleep. The morning next day happend at around 7am for almost all of us. None of us wanted to get out of our blankets. Well, we had to go the peak and return to Lobo mane the same day. So, we forced ourselves into getting ready to move towards the peak. Had a small breakfast and set forth. We didn't carry all luggage...just a big bag that contained only necessary items and that was mainly food :-).
The journey was getting better with our progress. It was quite a tiring journey..but only for some distance. After a point, we were so used to the fatigue that we could drag ourselves forever it seemed. Well, the route was infested with Leeches in all closed and damp areas and we were basically running through in such areas. Btw, we still had the anklets around. We were lucky to spot a herd of sambar (stag family) grazing. I guess it noticed us however surreptious we tried to be....and was off on its feet. First time I got to see wildlife among my 3 Kudremukh treks till date. Excited I was but was too tired to enjoy that moment at that moment itself. Well...we carried on and reach a place were there were ruins of a church and close to it was a water point and we settled down there to prepare and have our lunch. It was a beautiful view from where we sat and lunched. Cold..very very cold water made our seating place a peninsula. We had a good meal and started towards the peak..Kudremukh. It was just a few minutes from there...route well inclined and covered with clouds.
I still remember the time we reached the peak...it was 1445hrs on 22nd of May 2004. It was a moment that gives so much satisfaction. Feels like, all your hardwork till now has paid off...and indeed it did. After digesting the awesome views from there, taking snaps etc.... all of a sudden 'common-pathy' struck us and we all decided at the same moment, we shall maintains silence and embrace the beauty of nature as peacefully as possible. Those few mintues were the best point of the trek. It was so peaceful...no sound of anything expecting wind blowing across with the cloud and the air was completely humid making it more like the perfect peace for penance...!!! What a moment...specially when you know that you are on the second highest peak in the state of Karnataka, India.
We reluctantly retreated our route and scanned another place near our lunch spot which was quite a scene...and Abhi was just dumbfounded...he was struck with awe with the place. I quite didn't understand what was so astounding there...but indeed..it was another peaceful place.
We then trekked back to Lobo Mane. It was a easy one this time...more so coz we were rejuvenated after the peak experience. We again freshened up and got into dry clothes and got ready for snacks and dinner.
The next day was a lot simpler than the previous 2 days. It was pretty easy and we found civilization along the valleys. This path is considered to be the most tread path for commoners and trekkers. We didn't have much fun until we reached the water point called Somavathy Falls. We got under the short falls and got our back aches eliminated for quite sometime to come. We also found, a jaara bande (slide) on the rocks with water and moss. We just have to place our butt and give a small push and joiiiiiii to fall into the small pool of water....no injuries at all....just fun. I hesitated initially but found it a lot of fun. Then there was another place where you can find two water holes next to each other separated by a ring like rock in such a way that a person can enter one hole use the ring and come out of the other. Awesome..!!!
Then, we had a heavy meal and started towards Samse(the other foothill). Reached Samse, almost drenched...and then caught a bus to reach Kottigere...then...a bus to Chikmagalur from Kottigere and another bus from Chikmagalur to Bangalore. We reached Bangalore at around 0500hrs and reached home in the next 1 hour and I was at my desk in office in the next 2.5 hours.
I forgot to mention one thing...Viju (the only girl[?] in the trek) celebrated her 22nd birthday on Friday, the first day of the trek. We had plans to celebrate it there but we somehow missed to get the cake as we had planned. But we made it up that week during photo sharing session. :-)
I shall post some snaps of this trek soon...
Looking forward to another amazing adventure experience...!!
(I took 3 breaks to blog this...have been quite busy... :-( )
Before I start, I would like to introduce the team. We were totally seven of us. Abhi, the leader of our pack...Gomes...the josh(enthu) machine...Major...actually a captain in the Indian Army...Mani...colleague, photographer of this trek and blogger..he introduced me to blogging....... ....Bharath...another colleague, huge guy..Viju...another colleague...the only girl in the pack..courageous one eh..!..finally me...RDX
Our route to the place from where we start our trek..was something like this....Bangalore to Belthangadi and from Belthangadi by Jeep to Navvur...which the ground zero for our trekking.
Just before we started off on our trek...we had to guarantee that we are not troubled by jignes(leeches)...atleast as less as possible. So...on guidance from the localites...we used the Hoge Soppu (tobacco leaves) as anklets and nashe(snuff) with oil also from shin downwards and shoe not spared. We didn't have much snuff so we had to do with how much ever was available.
We embarked our journey with two commoners (as directed by the forest dept). They were like the torch bearers at both ends. They suggested we use the roads...but we were insisting on beaten path and cutting across the valley. The very reason we tend to run away from the city is to be with nature...and roads are just transportation requirements or landmarks and not the preferred trek route.
Our target was ToLali where Lobo mane (Lobo's house) exists. It was about 10.5 kms from ground zero towards the peak...and yes...it was really tiring...atleast for that part of the pack who have nothing called exercise in their daily schedule. Unfortunately, I belong to that part and I obviously intend to change that.
So we were puffing and panting and needless to say sweating like a pig. We used to pause at quite a few points to ease our breathing and then resume. The best part of trek was waiting to be experienced...the visual beauty...the nature...in the best colour...green. I just can't find words and even if I manage...space would be scanty to express the nature. Perhaps all the great poets..and literary guys get their inspiration from such locations only. I forgot to mention the weather. It was wet, cloudy, sunny and rained whenever it felt like. Everything was highly welcome coz..pollution (air & noise) was miles away and we wanted to cherish every moment and every breath of clean and fresh air.
All along our route...we were struck by breath taking views...and suddenly something else caught our attention...well..we were hungry and Bharath couldn't take any longer I suppose. So we chose a place that was flatter than what we had seen earlier and upacked our lunches. The roof was the sky with cloud covers and then rain gods were involved in our lunch too...! After the sumptous mean we resumed our journey. We kept on encountering amazing scenaries en route. There was one mountain which we had in front of us. We actually didn't expect any mountain there to be so huge...so as to get lost in cloud cover. Well...when the clouds cleared occasionally, it was a breathtaking moment for all of us. We looked so very small...I was humbled actually. Such is nature I suppose...makes you know where you stand..in its view!!!
The team split into two midway with one leading the way coz. they were physically more fit and they also had to pitch a tent...just in case we couldn't house ourselves in Lobo mane. The unfit team followed them..of course led by on the commoners who were accompanying us. By the time we reached Lobo mane, we were dead exhausted. It was indeed a relief to see that place...!! We emptied a packet of Sunfill (what's that? ;-) Energy drink..just glucose with flavours). Some of us were too tired to assist that part of the team which was pitching the tent. After half the work was done w.r.t the tent..an old guy came and asked us to move into the Lobo mane by paying Rs.20/- per head per day. Dirt cheap..!!!
Lobo mane has these special features...
- No electricity
- No water inside...(we had water flowing nearby)
- Firewood for making campfire to last for 3-4 days..!!
- Obviously no furniture of any sort.
We settled easily into Lobo mane and got ready to get into warm and dry clothes. Later we cooked hot hot food and caught the very much needed sleep. The morning next day happend at around 7am for almost all of us. None of us wanted to get out of our blankets. Well, we had to go the peak and return to Lobo mane the same day. So, we forced ourselves into getting ready to move towards the peak. Had a small breakfast and set forth. We didn't carry all luggage...just a big bag that contained only necessary items and that was mainly food :-).
The journey was getting better with our progress. It was quite a tiring journey..but only for some distance. After a point, we were so used to the fatigue that we could drag ourselves forever it seemed. Well, the route was infested with Leeches in all closed and damp areas and we were basically running through in such areas. Btw, we still had the anklets around. We were lucky to spot a herd of sambar (stag family) grazing. I guess it noticed us however surreptious we tried to be....and was off on its feet. First time I got to see wildlife among my 3 Kudremukh treks till date. Excited I was but was too tired to enjoy that moment at that moment itself. Well...we carried on and reach a place were there were ruins of a church and close to it was a water point and we settled down there to prepare and have our lunch. It was a beautiful view from where we sat and lunched. Cold..very very cold water made our seating place a peninsula. We had a good meal and started towards the peak..Kudremukh. It was just a few minutes from there...route well inclined and covered with clouds.
I still remember the time we reached the peak...it was 1445hrs on 22nd of May 2004. It was a moment that gives so much satisfaction. Feels like, all your hardwork till now has paid off...and indeed it did. After digesting the awesome views from there, taking snaps etc.... all of a sudden 'common-pathy' struck us and we all decided at the same moment, we shall maintains silence and embrace the beauty of nature as peacefully as possible. Those few mintues were the best point of the trek. It was so peaceful...no sound of anything expecting wind blowing across with the cloud and the air was completely humid making it more like the perfect peace for penance...!!! What a moment...specially when you know that you are on the second highest peak in the state of Karnataka, India.
We reluctantly retreated our route and scanned another place near our lunch spot which was quite a scene...and Abhi was just dumbfounded...he was struck with awe with the place. I quite didn't understand what was so astounding there...but indeed..it was another peaceful place.
We then trekked back to Lobo Mane. It was a easy one this time...more so coz we were rejuvenated after the peak experience. We again freshened up and got into dry clothes and got ready for snacks and dinner.
The next day was a lot simpler than the previous 2 days. It was pretty easy and we found civilization along the valleys. This path is considered to be the most tread path for commoners and trekkers. We didn't have much fun until we reached the water point called Somavathy Falls. We got under the short falls and got our back aches eliminated for quite sometime to come. We also found, a jaara bande (slide) on the rocks with water and moss. We just have to place our butt and give a small push and joiiiiiii to fall into the small pool of water....no injuries at all....just fun. I hesitated initially but found it a lot of fun. Then there was another place where you can find two water holes next to each other separated by a ring like rock in such a way that a person can enter one hole use the ring and come out of the other. Awesome..!!!
Then, we had a heavy meal and started towards Samse(the other foothill). Reached Samse, almost drenched...and then caught a bus to reach Kottigere...then...a bus to Chikmagalur from Kottigere and another bus from Chikmagalur to Bangalore. We reached Bangalore at around 0500hrs and reached home in the next 1 hour and I was at my desk in office in the next 2.5 hours.
I forgot to mention one thing...Viju (the only girl[?] in the trek) celebrated her 22nd birthday on Friday, the first day of the trek. We had plans to celebrate it there but we somehow missed to get the cake as we had planned. But we made it up that week during photo sharing session. :-)
I shall post some snaps of this trek soon...
Looking forward to another amazing adventure experience...!!
(I took 3 breaks to blog this...have been quite busy... :-( )
Friday, March 19, 2004
Coorgi Nostalgia
Oh...I am off to Coorg in a few hours from now with office crowd. It's gonna be exciting I am sure. I remember the last time I had been there...it was in 1999 September. The purpose of that trip was completely different.
It was 8th Sept 1999 when we were flagged off from Vidhana Soudha, Bangalore. Vidhana Soudha is one of the finest monuments in India. That's where the state Govt. can be physically located also. Back to the trip part...we were ten of us and we set off. It was going to be a long journey....after all we are on our bicycles (non-geared).
We had a theme behind doing this Cycle Expedition. "Aids Awareness". For that cause of spreading awareness, we had tried, practised and enacted after direction, screenplay, lyrics, dialogues...u name it.....a play...a street play to be precise. Since we were on our route to Madikeri / Coorg, we would be covering a lot of villages enroute and so a street play in local language Kannada was the best suited.
Now, we were supposed to travel not more than 50 km a day. We just covered 20-30 km more in a day;-) What resulted due to that is that we got to stay in Coorg for a longer time...coz..we weren't supposed to return before 20th Sept.!!! This gave us ample time to visit a lot of places there...and enact street plays at strategic locations in the town.
The places that we visited were:
1. Raja Seat (A beautiful view from there of the hills around)
2. Abby Falls (This we covered by walk...that's about 9 km up and 9 down!!!)
3. Talacauvery (The birthplace of Cauvery)
4. A Tibetian Monastry (This place is happening...u feel u are in tibet....totally different culture)
5. Field Marshall Cariappa's Burial Place (His son Air Marshal Cariappa and his wife were so hospitable to us...it was a pleasure to spend an evening with them for tea. I tell you, you can't find finer people than them.)
6. Nisargadama (This is a zoo...pretty neat place)
Well, as far as I can stretch my memory, these were the places that we visited. We were probably short of time to travel to more places of tourist interest. Well, it was awesome at that time of the year to be in Coorg....the weather I mean...chilly weather. Food there was amazing. A few hotels really stood out. Oh how can I forget the movie that we all watched in a theatre. A kannada movie...it was so much fun.
Publicity came to us automatically. Why not, if u do street plays at main bus stands, market areas etc...reporters will be only happy to portray you in their papers...I have a few clippings...feels good now..:-) It was an experience I must say.
This time again, I would be having a lot of fun. Added to that I would be trying to spot the places where we did the street plays 4.5 years ago...!!
Got to pack now...
It was 8th Sept 1999 when we were flagged off from Vidhana Soudha, Bangalore. Vidhana Soudha is one of the finest monuments in India. That's where the state Govt. can be physically located also. Back to the trip part...we were ten of us and we set off. It was going to be a long journey....after all we are on our bicycles (non-geared).
We had a theme behind doing this Cycle Expedition. "Aids Awareness". For that cause of spreading awareness, we had tried, practised and enacted after direction, screenplay, lyrics, dialogues...u name it.....a play...a street play to be precise. Since we were on our route to Madikeri / Coorg, we would be covering a lot of villages enroute and so a street play in local language Kannada was the best suited.
Now, we were supposed to travel not more than 50 km a day. We just covered 20-30 km more in a day;-) What resulted due to that is that we got to stay in Coorg for a longer time...coz..we weren't supposed to return before 20th Sept.!!! This gave us ample time to visit a lot of places there...and enact street plays at strategic locations in the town.
The places that we visited were:
1. Raja Seat (A beautiful view from there of the hills around)
2. Abby Falls (This we covered by walk...that's about 9 km up and 9 down!!!)
3. Talacauvery (The birthplace of Cauvery)
4. A Tibetian Monastry (This place is happening...u feel u are in tibet....totally different culture)
5. Field Marshall Cariappa's Burial Place (His son Air Marshal Cariappa and his wife were so hospitable to us...it was a pleasure to spend an evening with them for tea. I tell you, you can't find finer people than them.)
6. Nisargadama (This is a zoo...pretty neat place)
Well, as far as I can stretch my memory, these were the places that we visited. We were probably short of time to travel to more places of tourist interest. Well, it was awesome at that time of the year to be in Coorg....the weather I mean...chilly weather. Food there was amazing. A few hotels really stood out. Oh how can I forget the movie that we all watched in a theatre. A kannada movie...it was so much fun.
Publicity came to us automatically. Why not, if u do street plays at main bus stands, market areas etc...reporters will be only happy to portray you in their papers...I have a few clippings...feels good now..:-) It was an experience I must say.
This time again, I would be having a lot of fun. Added to that I would be trying to spot the places where we did the street plays 4.5 years ago...!!
Got to pack now...
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