Appu Ghar- Fond Memories
Appu Ghar, India's answer to the "Disneyland" was closed forever day before yesterday. This place had been a source of delight for every kid in delhi from the year of its inception in 1984. It was the country's first amusement park.
This news reminded me of my many visits to the Appu Ghar when I stayed in Delhi about a decade ago. It was the first amusement park I had ever seen. When I saw it for the first time, I was bowled over by the place. It seemed like I had entered a magical kingdom of sorts with amazing rides everywhere. The pricing though a bit costly (in 1997, 200 bucks was costly), but worth the experience and we could play any ride any number of times. We first took a round of the park as to what and all rides were present. and came back to the first ride. It was the 'Cool Splash', but seeing the queue, we postponed that particular ride and went on with the next ride, which was "Bhoot Bangla". We sat on the ride. I was very excited to sit on the ride. It was pretty good with screeching sounds all over, but the last bit of the ride was very scary, wherein they had kept a huge rock, which would almost fall on you and revert back. My heart was in my mouth in that particular second. I became very excited and went on the ride again.
Next we went to the "Appu cars", another name to popular "Dashing Cars". we checked out the ride while standing in the queue and saw that everyone was competing with each other as who will bump whom the most number of times, with electric sparks on the top of the fence the staff had put. It was the most fun filled ride I had ever sat on. When our chance came, I insisted on sitting alone in a car, my parents relented and they sat in a different car. The ride started and i manouevered my vehicle and accelerated and BHAM! I hit my parents car itself. and then turned and crashed into some strangers' car. I had started loving this ride and felt that the time should never end and I keep crashing my car to other cars.
We planned to have it an another go but seeing the rush at the queue, we backed out and went on with other rides like Giant Wheel, Roller Coaster, Merry Go Round, Appu Columbus, My Fair Lady etc etc. I did not leave a single ride present in the park.
By that time it was evening, we finished all our rides. so we went to the first ride that we had skipped i.e. the "Cool Splash". By this time the crowd had lessened a bit, but still had to wait a good 45 minutes before our turn came. This ride was very innovative, I thought. 8 People sat in a car, it took us up to a certain height in a snail's pace and then turned and travelled straight to a certain distance and then turned again and suddenly, the car picked top speed and it went and dashed to the water pool lying below, leaving us all wet. It was the best ride that I had ever gone. I wanted to go again on the ride but the huge crowd bogged me down. By then the closing time of the park was also near and we left for our home, reminscing on the highly exciting day I had.
From then on, whoever relative came to Delhi to meet us, I made it a point to take them to Appu Ghar with me accompanying them, but it is so sad that it is closing now forever and all these will remain as a thing of past now.
BYE BYE APPU GHAR I WILL MISS YOU!!!
Gaalipata - Flying Very High
But I guess Yograj Bhat has not let the success of Mungaaru Male let into his head and delivered with a even better movie in "Gaalipata". Though the movie has no story but the way he has woven the movie, not even a single minute is a waste of time in the movie.
The story line is as follows-
3 friends Ganesh, Diganth and Rajesh Krishnan decide to go Mugilupete to Diganth's grandfather's house to get away from the city hustle bustle. There they meet Ananth Nag, a retired hunter who is paralysed due to an accident during his last expedition and the rest of the family consisting of Padmaja Rao (his wife), Daisy Bopanna(his daughter in law),Neetu and Bhavana (his daughters). Ananth Nag is very repentful that his last mission was failure and he could not kill the wild boar, which instead paralysed him. So Ganesh and his friends help him to hunt it again but their plan flops. But Ganesh's desire to hunt the boar grows. The hunting scene in the movie makes u remember of the English movie "Apocalypto".
Meanwhile in the film, Ganesh falls for the silent and reserved Daisy, Diganth falls for the tomboy Neetu and Rajesh falls for the mischievous and naughty Bhavana. Ganesh helps his friends getting engaged to their respective loves but when his turn comes, Daisy flatly refuses, saying that she is happy living in her husbands' memories. All the efforts by Ganesh's parents also goes in vain. Whether Daisy accepts Ganesh or not forms the climax of the movie.
Ganesh has excelled in his role, and Diganth has proved that he is a good actor as well apart from his model type looks. Daisy Bopanna has potrayed a marvellous character of a reserved and subtle widow. A round of applause has to be made to Rangayana Raghu for his superb potrayal of Ganesh's father.
The photography is awesome and Shivansamudra is shown in the movie as never before. I myself didnt know it was so beautiful having seen it 5-6 times in person. The dialogues are very catchy especially Ganesh's Dialogues. Rathnavelu must be applauded for his breathtaking photography of Kodachadri mountains and Shivanasamudra. The songs are average with 'Aakasha Iste Yaake Idyo' being the lone standout track among the lot.
Though the film comes with its own share of problems. As mentioned before, the story is missing. The wild boar track could have been shortened. The climax is cliched. The songs are a average lot. The talents of Ananth Nag has been wasted in the film. Padmaja Rao just hams her way thoughout the film which could have been avoided. Yograj Bhat has taken the graphics in the film a bit too far and some of the scenes looks very artificial.
Totally, Gaalipata is an entertainer to the core but with some loose ends to it.
My Rating of the movie would be would be 4/5 and definitely must not miss movie for the Kannada movie buffs.
Tata Nano Arrives With A Bang
Finally the world's cheapest car has been unveiled. It was unveiled yesterday at 9th Auto Expo held at Pragathi Maidan in Delhi
It has been named as "TATA Nano" and was introduced to the general Public by Mr Ratan Tata, the Chairman of Tata Group after a fabulous presentation about how the idea of the Tata Nano was implemented.
It will be launched in 3 Variants. One is the Basic model price tagged at 1 Lakh (VAT and Local Taxes extra) and the other two will be Deluxe versions with A/C.
Coming to the specifications of the Car, it is a 624CC petrol engine car generating about 33BHP of Power. It will have a 30 Litre Fuel Tank and a 4-Speed Manual gearshift. Power Steering is absent in the car and contains only a single wiper. It will have front disk brakes and rear drum brakes with basic shock absorbers. The mileage is supposedly at 20Km/Ltr and the top speed being 70Km/Hr.
Nano will sport a basic Dashboard which will contain just a speedometer, a fuel gauge and an oil light. RPM counter is missing. No Reclining seats and no Audio System.
Size wise, it is 8% smaller (bumper to bumper) than Maruti 800 but 21% larger than Maruti 800 in its interiors and can seat upto 4 well built persons.
Coming to Safety Issues, the car has passed full frontal and side impact crash tests. The car will also comply with Euro IV norms and Bharat III emission norms.
Ratan Tata, while unveiling the nano, said: "The car will meet all current safety norms and all emission criteria. The pollution it will cause will be lower than 2-wheelers."
Not since the launch of the Maruti 800 in 1983 has any car gripped the imagination of a nation and indeed car manufacturers the world over so intensely. If the car is commercially successful, the Tata Nano can alter the passenger car market in India, and perhaps the world, beyond imagination.
Reality Behind Reality Shows
I was watching TV yesterday. Ads about voting details about either Prashant Tamang or Amit Paul were rampant on the channel. Seeing this I was reminded of an article I had read on the net yesterday. They were saying that due to the system of public voting, all the talented people were getting eliminated due to lack of votes from the public. And Some less talented people were getting to the next round due to huge voting from their respective states. They were questioning the whole system of eliminations due to public voting.They also carried opinions from reputed people about the system. One of the most popular singer had said that "If you remove the power of decisons from the panel present in the programme, sometimes the decision is bound to go wrong". I then thought about these words and felt that those words were so true and thought about the previous winners of similar reality shows and was shocked by the results.
The much hyped Sandeep Acharya (Indian Idol 2 winner) is nowhere to be seen. Debojit (A Saregamapa Winner) won by high voting of Assam people also has disappeared after an average album. Qazi Toukeer and Rooprekha Bannerjee,(Winners of Fame Gurukul) are also not visible at all. Simliiar case being with the Zee TV's Filmstars winners.The only exception being Abhijit Sawant (Indian Idol 1 Winner) whose career is going great guns. But he cannot be added to the above list of winners because he was and still is really talented.
On the flip side, deserving people who were really talented and were eliminated due to lack of votes like Rahul Vaidya, Prajakta Shukre have become famous and their singing career is going great guns. Deepali and Emon recently eliminated from Indian Idol 3 already have started Playback singing career with Anu Malik for a film called'Don Bane Muttuswamy'.Many people eliminated from Zee Cinestars also have done well for themselves on the Telly.
So I feel that,on the long run, talented people win though they are eliminated from the show they were contesting.
But because of all these SMS's, channels and the service providers are making phenomenonal profits. I had read an article about the revenue generated by such SMS's. It stated that 165 millons were earned from Indian Idol 1 alone due to these SMS's and Sony made 50 million of the deal. Literally these people are laughing their ways to the bank due to the support of the people who feel that we should vote to that person just because he is good looking or he is from our state.
Blogging problem
Creating a blog was on the back on my mind for a very long time now,probably 6 months before. All the previous attempts had failed or I was not satisfied with the post I had written. Finally when I made up my mind I thought 'What shall I write about?'. With every subject I took up I could come up with only three or four lines max. That is what 'Starting problem' is I guess. Then I started browsing the net for ideas and started reading other blogs written by people. And finally here I am writing my first post in my blog. The next step was naming the blog. I started thinking about a funky or catchy name for my blog and after a lot of thought being put in the process, I finally came up with this name.