Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen: Worth it!!!!!

Being a science fiction movie buff, I went to watch this movie, Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen. After watching this nearly 3 hour-long movie, I get the feeling that even despite the lack of a strong story, this film satiates the hunger of almost all sci-fi buffs. Without further ado, let's check a common man's view of this film.

People who have watched the first film, Transformers, may enjoy this film very much because watching a film without knowing the characters may leave many people confused. Let me give a three line description of the story. The Transformers are sentient,robot-like, life forms from a planet called Cybertron. They depend on energy sources to live and travel from planet to planet seeking energy sources. The robots are divided into two divisions, the evil power-hungry Decepticons, lead by the megalomaniac giant-sized Robot called Megatron, and the good, life-saving, and ethical group of Robots called as Autobots led by the gentle Optimus Prime. The speciality of these robots are that they can transform into many things ranging from a truck, car, fighterplane, Helicopter etc. However, their transformation is limited to their abilities.

Storyline: Several thousand years ago, the first generation of transformers came to Earth and planned to plant an energy machine called the Sun Harvester which taps energy by destroying the sun. Unfortunately, Earth is beaming with life. The Primes, a group of ethical robots, are against activating the device as it is against their ethical code to deprive any planet from its life source. But the Decepticons, led by the evil robot called the FALLEN, wage a civil war to obtain the key to activate the machine. In order to save Earth, four of the Primes sacrifice their lives to build a tomb and hide the key in a secret location and thus save Earth. The FALLEN is exiled.

After several thousand years, the Decepticons again attempt to capture the Matrix of Leadership, the key to activate the machine. On one side, Sam, the protagnist, is trying to move on with life by relocating to the city to pursue his graduation. On the other side, the US government feels that the Decepticons still haven't left Earth because they want to take revenge on the Autobots for destroying ALL SPARK (Refer Transformers-I). A member from the US government requests Optimus Prime to leave the Earth peacefully as they are the cause for the Decepticons destroying human property and lives. Optimus mocks the admiral saying, "IF you request we shall leave, but what if we leave and You're WRONG" He proves to be right as the Decepticons tap the US satellite and discover the remaining pieces of All Spark. One of the Decepticons then infiltrates the US Base where the piece of All Spark is stored and uses it to resurrect Megatron. The resurrected Megatron then meets his master, the Fallen, and decides that they shall destroy human lives till Sam is found. Megatron plans to kills Sam and obtain the secret symbols from his brain that contain the map to the Matrix of Leadership, the key to activate the Sun Harvestor.

Meanwhile, Optimus meets Sam and requests his assistance to fight the Decepticons, Sam disagrees stating that they don't need him. Only after Optimus sacrifices his life does Sam realize that his brain contains the symbols which when decoded reveal the location of the Matrix of Leadership. The rest of the story deals with how Sam struggles to locate the Matrix of Leadership before the Decepticons do and whether he would save Earth.

Plus points of the film: The film is loaded with loads and loads of enhanced special effects. Watching the transformers transform into cars, planes, and planes gives you immense delight. The best scenes in the movie are when three Decepticons merge to become a 120 feet robot called the Devastator, and the resurrection of Optimus Prime. I am sure that this film will be awarded cult status for its very impressive special effects.
The humor part is well provided by Sam, his university colleague Leo Spitz, and Agent Simmons. While the OOMPH factor is well-provided by MEGAN FOX ;)

Minus points: Weak storyline. The protagonist Sam and his love Mikeala are the only human characters who steal majority of screentime. Otherwise, 70% of the film is all about showing the ways/history of the Decepticons and the Autobots. To put it shortly, it is more about the history of the transformers rather than how Earth is saved.
Most poignant scenes in the movie: Optimus prime saving Sam by fighting off 4 Decepticons before finally getting murdered by Megatron.
And, the resurrection of Optimus Prime.

I would give this film 3 stars out of 4.

Memories of HER

March 8th 2000: I am doing my tenth standard. The HSC exams are hardly weeks away, my revision exams are going on. Mom informs me that my mama’s grahapravesham (House Warming Ceremony) is on March 9th and that I have to come. I take the bus and travel to my hometown after a gap of 6 long years. Upon reaching the place, I am surrounded by my relatives remarking that they’re pleased to see me after so many years. Amongst all of them, my eyes fall on this beautiful lady who captures my imagination, a shy, but charming girl. I speak with her for just 2 hours and fall in love.

April 2002: I haven’t seen her for two years. Once again, I visit my hometown to attend a function. This time around, she’s there. I try umpteen times to gain her attention, but to no avail. I, along with she and her cousins, go to a telugu movie. While other people are watching the movie, I keep watching her face. She looked so beautiful that day. And I guess she also exchanged some glances. After 5 not-so-eventful days, I leave my hometown hoping to have better luck the next time around.


May 2003: I have completed my first year in college. It’s the summer vacation and I visit my hometown yet again. The first thing, I do on arriving is locate her. I see her sitting in the balcony. With a NIIT course book in hand, I go to her, pretending to read the book. I strike a casual conversation with her. She is amused!
Two days pass, I hardly seem to make an impression. When I am just about to give up, one fine evening, she calls me. I ask her if she is indeed calling me, she nods her head and asks me to sit near her. I comply. We spent two and half hours speaking with each other. Ah! 150 minutes in heaven. I leave the hometown after 2 days with fond memories of her. I have a doubt that she got a hint of my feelings for her.



February 28th, 2005: I am doing my final year at college. Haven’t seen her in years, out of desperation, I send a happy birthday mail to her via her cousin’s mail ID. To my surprise, she responds back. I start mailing her frequently. She gets suspicious and then one fine day, I break the ice proposing to her online. She immediately rejects my advances and says she wants to be just my friend. I just continue mailing her about general matters. The Online Relationship just goes on…….



September 21st 2007: It’s been two years since I started working. Life seems to be pretty beautiful. I am a part of the company’s rowing team. The rowing tournament is just weeks away. I take a few days off to go to my hometown just to see HER. But this time around, she is rather quiet. I suspect that she made a deliberate attempt to avoid me for known reasons. But in between, she does speak a para or two, much to my delight.


April 5th 2008: For the first time, I visit her place. I am very much excited at the fact that I will now get a lot of time to speak with her. For once, I prove to be right. She spends a considerable amount of time with me. We visit her sister’s house where we spend time cleaning it together. We also visit a famous temple and of course, a restaurant at an exotic place. I buy her a chocolate ice cream. I can still remember her munching through the ice cream with relish. “What’s running through her mind, does she like me?”, I ask myself.
But the answers are hard to come by.


May 12th 2009: Just a month after I visited her place, I see her again, but not at my hometown. We are attending yet another family function. She starts showing off her popularity. Nearly everybody adores her. Many relatives ask her mom for her horoscope. Many admire her beauty and compliment her. I just sit and wonder whether she would ever come and share a few words with me. Sigh!! That never happens. After all, beauty comes along with a bit of arrogance, doesn’t it?


She has been playing a hide-and-seek game for years now. I understand that she has every reason to reject my proposal, but for some reason, I feel she likes me. I am sure she does. Time and again, I am placed in a moral dilemma on whether to quit vying for her love or not. Guess only time will answer. I pray to god to answer my queries. Will I get her love or not?

Hope the answer is a big YES.

A Simple Solution!!

“Raghu, our company is not doing well, we need to take some desperate measures now, I am sorry, but we HAVE TO DOWNSIZE”, said Mr.Sinha, the Managing Director of Quanta solutions. Raghu simply nodded. He was in a state of shock. It had been 3 years since he joined Quanta Solutions as a Senior Manager and it was the first time he would be asked to downsize people from his team. Raghu shuddered at the thought of facing his subordinates. “What am I going to do, how am I going to downsize 100+ people from the 400 members within 2 months”, Raghu said to himself.

Raghu had an excellent track record at Quanta. Under him, the various business functions at Quanta had delivered products and services of excellent quality. The company had just 450 odd employees, each of them were sincere, committed, and hardworking. Raghu was in a dilemma. If he laid off 125 people, it would demoralize the other staff and set a bad precedent. If he didn’t, then the management would anyways lay off people. In a state of confusion, Raghu took 2 days of leave and went to his native village.

At the village, his dad welcomed him with a warm hug. Raghu took his bath, had his breakfast and sat in the Verandah wondering about his office situation.
“Raghu beta, what are you worried about?” asked Dhanram, Raghu’s dad. Raghu explained the whole situation to his dad who smiled and said, “Don’t worry beta, there is always a solution to every issue, just relax. Come, let’s go to our farm.”

Raghu went with his dad to their Mango farm. It was a small farm spread just over a hectare. Dhanram asked Raghu to sit beneath the shade of a mango tree. As his father along with the farm employees started their work, Raghu watched carefully.

Raghu’s father and his employees were cutting some old mango trees; the employees were watering only a few trees and adding fertilizers, while some were planting young mango saplings. Raghu was puzzled and asked Dhanram why some trees were being cut. He replied, “Beta, we are only cutting trees that yield very less fruit. Since we have water scarcity, we water and nourish only a few trees that yield more fruits.”

“Then, why are you planting new saplings when you can’t water the existing ones?” asked Raghu in an irritating tone. Dhanram just smiled and said, “Beta, when you do something, you take into account the factors present today and the ones that decide tomorrow; I am cutting down the old trees so that I can water and nourish only the fruit-yielding trees. We take care of these selected Mango trees because they provide us rich yield. We plant new saplings because they consume less water. By the time they grow into mature trees, the water scarcity issue would be solved, and we would get more yield of mangoes! You gotta plan for the future”. Raghu was puzzled. It was a rather simple explanation which made a lot of sense.

Dhanram’s thoughtful reply made Raghu think deeply. That night, he couldn’t sleep. He just kept pondering over Dhanram’s reply. In the morning, Raghu took the blessings of his parents and left the village. For some reason, his father’s farming strategy seemed to make complete sense.

Raghu arrived at his office and called his sub-ordinates for a meeting. In the meeting, he asked his sub-ordinates to prepare a list of all employees who were slacking in performance. Within a few hours, Raghu got the list of all employees and the details of their performance over the past quarter. He and the managers of the respective functions sat together and planned the strategies for the upcoming quarters. The employees who were slacking were given training to improve their skills, and warned that they would be fired if they didn’t raise their performance level within a month.

Raghu called in all his team members for a meeting and asked them to provide suggestions/measures that would help Quanta Solutions increase their sales and establish themselves in the market. He also announced huge incentives for employees who could implement measures to increase profits. Within a month, Raghu received many valuable suggestions from his team members. He chose the best 5 solutions and gained the approval of the management to implement them. The employees who gave the suggestions were rewarded handsomely. Soon, the work atmosphere at Quanta turned lively due to the positive vibes from the management.

Meanwhile, employees who were still slacking in their performance were fired and replaced by talented young freshers. Raghu placed appointed a team of talented, skilled, and dedicated employees to mentor the freshers. Within a span of three months, the share value of Quanta Solutions increased by 20%.

Mr.Sinha, the MD, called Raghu to congratulate him. “Raghu, you have done a great job, thanks to your ideas, we are now in a position of strength, how did you do this?”
Raghu just smiled and said, “It’s easy sir, just nourish the trees that yield the most and plant new ones”. Mr. Sinha was puzzled, but knew that Raghu’s words implied a hidden meaning.
Raghu then shook hands with Sinha and left the room. As he sat in his cabin, he remembered his father’s words, “Beta, when you do something, you take into account the factors present today and the ones that decide tomorrow.” Raghu couldn’t help wondering how such a simple solution could solve a complex issue.

BJP should STOP ITS HINDUTVA AGENDA!!!

Come April we will be having the 15th Lok Sabha elections in India. As expected, the Congress and BJP have indulged in some very aggressive campaign battles. The Congress had gained the upper hand by labeling the BJP as a SAFFRON party. To add fuel to the fire, Varun Gandhi’s latest campaign speech for BJP has provided more fodder to the media and the congress.

An Unnecessary Act: Young Varun had passed many inflammatory comments aimed at the minority community in one of his speeches during the election campaign. Maybe Mr.Varun didn’t realize that polarizing people to get votes was an idea long used by the British Raj in 1905 (Partitioning of Bengal). By doing this, he has done extreme disservice to his party by severely damaging its reputation.

Mr.Advani should have avoided this major folly. Being the spearhead of the BJP and a prospective Prime Minister candidate, he should have clearly instructed his cadres not to indulge in such regressive acts. The Hindutva agenda has been BJP’s Achilles heel and if the party does not do anything to mend its ways, it would lose the respect of the people easily! The BJP should drop its hindutva agenda. There is no need to emphasize Hindutva when there are several hundred other issues to be solved.

The BJP must differentiate itself from the other parties by having Development as its Agenda, not Hindutva. Let us remember that India has hundreds of important issues such as Terrorism, poverty, poor infrastructure, and high prices of essential commodities. BJP’s agenda should implement measures to combat these issues effectively. The common man is only concerned about his essential needs, not about religion or caste; it’s unfortunate that no party understands it.

Why the BJP needs to change its agenda?
As of now, BJP and Congress are the only major national parties that have sufficient strength to form governments. Unfortunately, the Congress in its tenure failed to focus on key issues like rising poverty, unafforability in housing, and steady decline of sectors like Agriculture and Export, and terrorism. If the people desire to vote for a change at National level, then the only other party strong enough to form a government is the BJP. Although the communists and the newly formed Third front are national parties, they lack the numbers to form the government especially since their ideologies are not in sync with the needs of the people. Since BJP is the only other major party capable of forming a government, it must act RESPONSIBLY. It should promise the minorities that they will be safe and treated well if the BJP comes to power.

Ideally, BJP must be focusing on these points:
1) Reducing the Poverty level: Today, there is a vast gap between the upper class and the lower class. Every industry is now catering to the rich people, be it the Realty (Real Estate) sector, or the other essential sectors such as Transportation and Clothing. All prices of essential commodities have gone past the affordable level. As a result, Poverty has grown by atleast 5% as per an official survey. Measures to abolish poverty should be the main agenda. India will never shine if people live in poverty
2) Terrorism: Terrorism has been slowly spreading its roots in India. We already have seen three instances of major terrorist attacks in Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore in the past two years. The next incoming government must introduce stringent anti-terrorism laws and implement adequate measures to eliminate terrorism.
3) Recession: The prices of all essential commodities have gone up by atleast 20%. Agriculture, our most important sector, is dying a slow death. The Automobile, Iron, Steel, and other Export industries are faring no better. Obama’s anti-outsourcing policies have forced MNCs like Microsoft to cut down atleast 5000 jobs. Big MNCs like TCS, Wipro, IBM, HCL, and CTS are cutting down jobs everyday. BJP should announce measures to create new jobs in non-IT sectors and introduce tax sops and other beneficial measures to ailing industries. Unemployment should be abolished.
4) Prices of Essential Goods: Over the past two years, the prices of fruits, vegetables and other essential commodities have increased almost by 20-30%. This hurt the common man badly. Ensure that the common man gets the three basic things, Food, Clothing, and Shelter, at an affordable price.

This country does not need additional Temples, Mosques, or Churches, but just more schools, hospitals, organizations, and sectors that cater to the needs of the AAM AADMI (Common man).

Saaral-Vizhiyoram

My friend Gopakumar, music composer Sanjeev Philip Thomas, and singer Benny Dayal, released his first video song, Vizhiyoram from their album Saaral.

This song is called Vizhyoram, a melodious number based on love.

Let me put my thoughts about this song shortly:
The song has been shot alongside some beach shore. The picturesque background blended perfectly with the wonderful rendering of the song Vizhiyoram made it a treat to watch. Kudos to the Saaral team for selecting a picturesque location!

Selection of the song: As a fan of peppy numbers, I felt that Vizhiyoram was not the apt beginning for a video album. There were better peppy numbers in Saaral such as Yenthan Nenjil Unmugam, Ethedo, and Oru party. But after listening to this song, I was proved wrong, thankfully. Love is an emotion that is universally felt. I realized the best way to start off a video album was to start with a melodious number on love.

The Singer: I always admire singers who are versatile. Benny Dayal is one among them. Who else could have sung this song better? But I felt he could have improved upon his body language.

Best Thing about this song: Mostly, melodious songs are shot with actors expressing sad emotions. Since this was a love song, I expected these people to portray sad or thoughtful looks, but these guys showed eccentric body language.
For instance, there is a line in this song which reads “Vedantham sollum Vedangal yellam vendaam, vendaam penne (Literally translates to ‘No need for quotes from Vedas my dear girl’)”, this was supposed to be in a thoughtful mood. But in the album, Gopu, Sanjeev, and Benny have sung this verse portraying a sort of eccentric emotion. For me, this was refreshingly different although it looked weird at times. This song gained a liveliness due to the eccentric body language.

Overall, this album was good. Please listen to this song by clicking the link below and provide your comments.
@Gopu: You looked 10 years younger, dude! :D

Click the link below to listen to the song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8r9JDNxBbY

Life is Strange Indeed!!!!

"Life is strange because it provides you with whatever you wish when you expect it the least."- Anonymous.
Well, I am a great fan of proverbs and the one mentioned above is one of my favorites.

Let me explain why?
Have you ever aspired to do things such as enroll for a professional course in a famous college, work for a reputed company, or make it big in some field, and then on one fine day, you realize that you are slowly and steadily moving towards it?

Well, I can't quite say that I am anywhere near achieving my dream. But I just wanted to share my experiences with you.

Ok, so here it goes:

Three years before, I was a fresher, desperately searching for a job in a field that would supplement my skill set. The problem was that I never knew what sort of skills I possessed. Analyzing my strengths and weakness, I decided that I should opt for a career related to content development.
After 3 months of intense job searching, I managed to enroll myself for a two-week program on Instructional Design, conducted by the Ma Foi consultancy. After completing the two-week training program, I and my batch mates were supposed to appear for an interview for a reputed company called SFY.(I learned from my trainer that it was SFY which had actually sponsored the training in order to find fresh talent.)

The D-Day arrived. Being a fresher, I was excited as well as nervous since this was my first interview in a reputed MNC. .
After attending 4 rounds of interview and waiting for a month, Ma Foi announced that I was rejected by SFY. However, my spirits were surprisingly high even after knowing that I missed the offer. Thanking my Ma Foi trainers for their help, I started to search a job in the Elearning industry. Being a fresher, that too a B.sc Bio graduate, I found it extremely difficult to find a job as an entry level Instructional Designer.

After nearly 2 weeks of endless and desperate job searching, I got frustrated and was about to change my mind regarding my career. Just then, one of my Ma Foi mates informed me that there was a company called Expertus in Kilpauk which had openings for Trainee-Instructional Designers. This piece of info was enough to lift my sagging spirit. So, without any further ado, I took my resume and started off to Kilpauk.
Unfortunately, I forgot the exact address of the company and ended up roaming aimlessly. The funny part was that the very next day, I got a call from the same company asking me to step in for an interview. Call it fate or divine retribution, I got the job of a Trainee-Instructional Designer in Expertus. This job was my first ticket into the world of Elearning.

After spending 11 eventful months at Expertus, I resigned and then joined Element K, a reputed concern. At EK, I learned a lot of things which made me a better person both professionally and personally. After spending 20 joyfull months at EK, I decided to leave the company due to personal reasons. Then, finally, I got a job as a Learning Designer(Instructional Designer) at SFY. I joined SFY on August 11th, 2008. Six months have passed by since I joined this company.

When I walked down the memory lane, I realised the following:
During my final year in college, SFY was the first campus interview which I had attended. (I vividly remember how I and 250 of my college friends had attended the test only to find out that there were only two vacancies. The best thing was that my friend MAHESH RAMANI got through.:) )

The two-week course on Instructional Design that I attended, was actually sponsored by SFY. After the training, I appeared for an interview in Sfy for the post of Trainee-Instructional Designer and failed to get through.

Now, after nearly 3 years, I end up working for a company for whom I had aspired to work for in the first place. Wow! Truly, Life is STRANGE!
I wish the same applies for personal desires such as marrying the same girl I love ;)

Note: The observations made in this post are purely based on a personal perspective. Please do not read between the lines.

I Miss You Baby!!!!!!!

I miss you baby!
Miss you so much that
I can’t seem to spend a day,
Without thinking about you!

Although we are miles apart,
We are always together at heart!
As much as you want to hate me,
I know for sure,
That deep in your heart, you definitely love me.

I will be your shadow,
Following you wherever you go.
I donno why you’re so special to me.
Maybe you are a part of my soul,
Without which I am incomplete.

Although you never want to accept,
Your feelings for me,
I will, forever, wait and wait,
Till you come to me.

Until then, let me keep waiting for you,
Like the barren field that waits for rain,
Let me think of you,
Like the ardent devotee who thinks of god,
Hope you will answer me dear.
Till then, I will continue to miss you ever!