My Virtual Playground

We have all been in the world of computers for a little over a decade and with that we entered the whole world of Online Games, computer games of all kinds. Though I have never been a great sportsperson, I always seemed to enjoy the outdoor sport more, I was into cycling, badminton and skating mainly, but enjoyed trying my hands at Tennis and even Cricket! I also played the very Indian games of Lagori and Kunte bille….

I was never really into Computer games... but looking back at it, I have quite a few things to recollect and pen down.

It all mainly started when my dad got us our first computer - I remember that we were ecstatic that it had a hard drive of 4.2GB!!!!!- these days you get a memory stick with more capacity!

Well... I started playing minesweeper, solitaire and the other card game (you know.. something like free....Oh! I don't remember the name!)....mainly played these games to get control of the mouse...as I found it quite hard to navigate from one end of the screen to the other!

Later, I remember playing Dave...the first one which I saw with 10 levels and remember that it was quite a feat to finish the game....later it was playing it over and over to better the timing.

Stepping it up a bit was playing Road Rash and NFS, the bike and car game with my brother... and well! I never won any...but it was fun to play together...The game mainly looked good ...it was all about speed, the UI of the game was pretty...

I am sure there were many more like this, but I never got my hands on it...guess one of them was Tomb Raider….

There were also little flash games that we played…..the most popular being the bricks and eggs in a basket....

....All this while at every stage, I remember that I had enjoyed playing these and had at that point got addicted to it.

There were a few years in between when I totally lost touch with the virtual world of sport until work happened and the concept of forwarded emails began…..with it came some intelligent excel games, some brain teasers, some quizzes and the one I enjoyed was the logo quiz - had to pick the names of companies based on their logo.

The other game which was big in office was the bursting the bubbles one.. there was a time when all the computer screens had the colourful bubbles on....

We then had "Sudoku' columns in the newspaper and that became an addiction too…. started off with easy and then reached a day when I didn’t want to do it unless and until it's Hard! I remember playing this in our office meetings too!!!

…...I did go past all this....and then the completely different world of Facebook happened and with it came some really interesting games... the ones I was hooked onto were Farmville and Cafe World...there was a time when I started telling everyone that I have grown grapes and my watermelon plants died and that I managed to buy a farm house too!

.....Well...like all the other games, this one too died down....It just was too much work to maintain a Farm and a Cafe!!!!!

Laziness...made me do Sudoku online...well! It even tells you if you have made a mistake and highlights the row in which there is an error - Not sure whether I like it!

Well....I might have missed out a few in between, but the trend through these years is that when the game in new, I got hooked to it, enjoyed it, got addicted to it and passed it on to my friends....

…..However on the flip side, I still enjoy playing badminton or tennis or any outdoor sport and don't remember a day when I said I was bored of it...I enjoyed it, was never addicted to it, but when there is a chance to play, I have my sports shoe on!!!
…...Guess it's a complete circle....I started with my set of outdoor sports and I am back there again!

Cheat's Cookery - Pizza

While I was chatting with my friend this afternoon, we happened to talk about Pizzas. This pal loved Pizza Hut
Pizzas...the Pan Crust….big fat cheesy pizzas as I was terming it...Well! Who doesn't like pizzas????

There was a day when I attempted my Cheat's pizza @ home and I thought today as it was nostalgic talking about Pizzas and the times spent together with my buddy @ Pizza hut made the right day to pen this up..

Well, I have been thinking of writing a food blog about all my trials (and errors ;-) at cooking, however, I don't seem to have the patience to do it!

Well... today it happened!...
My idea of cooking....keep it simple.... nothing over an hour....tasty, spicy, colourful and easy....
I don't make all the base ingredients at home...so I have labelled it my Cheat cookery!

Ingredients:
Wheat Tortillas/Chapathis.. left overs would do :)
Tomato chutney/salsa (prepared)/ tomato sauce+ chilli sauce
Mozzarella Cheese - Grated
Kidney Beans - soft & boiled - 1 cup
Coriander - I love it! Loads of it... well... Indian cooking is not complete without this..
Butter - for spreading.


Steps:
- Apply butter on the tortilla/chapathi
- Spread the salsa evenly on the chapathi
- sprinkle the Rajma on it.
- Add the grated mozzarella

Turn on the Oven (Gas Mark 5/6, Electric 200/250deg), Place the created Pizza on the middle shelf and wait for the cheese to melt.

Garnish with Coriander and serve hot!!!

Hurray!...I managed to write this up!!!! Phew! I wonder how the cook books do this!!!! I know it's not quite a pizza...well..it's mine...so I can call it that :) and look I even have a pic of this...

A City on Water

I wonder what comes to your mind when you read the above title! I am going to talk about our holiday to the beautiful world on water 'Venice'. Before I start!!!! I remember reading in Social Studies back in school that Cochin is called 'Venice of the East'....really??? I don't think so...it's nothing like it...I cannot imagine another place like this one! It's so very unique....

As always I was all excited about our Easter weekend trip to Venezia, Italy. We booked the flights, the hotel accommodation and by doing the research of finding a good deal, I felt I already know the sights and scenes of the city. Such is the world of Internet....

However, going there is definitely worth every penny...
I cannot quite put it up in words to illustrate what the experience was, so some snippets of what I remember the most and loved the most and recommend are seen below....

Travel by the Vaporetto's (Public Water transport), they are economical and the best way to go around the lagoon... We had a day pass and also got single tickets to do the rides. This makes you mingle with the locals and in the general day to day activities....

Definetly ride Line 1 of the Vaporetto - which takes you all along the Grand Canal (which is Yes!! Grand in it's own way).

Sip on Sweet Sparkling Wine at one of the many cafes by the Rialto Bridge

Visit the colorful island of Burano - famous for the lace work, the houses are so picture perfect on a sunny day.

Just Walk the many 'Calle's Venice has to offer.....this is most cherished.... as you walk by the alley ways, you end up getting to a square with houses, canals, bridges, universities, ristorante's, coffee shops, gondola stands..... - I do consider the sentence "Get Lost in Venice" an order, not a suggestion. ( I stole this sentence ;-)

Have the Gelato's from the many gelatarias around....it's really hard to choose from the many flavours they have to offer....

Never miss Pizza when in Italy...I guess they have managed to keep a few secrets of making the perfect Pizza to themselves...

If you have an extra day, take the train to the nearby city of Verona...the land of romeo & juliet and the famous amphitheatre...if you are there in the right season, you might also see the many vineyards during the journey....trust me... after a few days in the world of water...you would not mind civilization in the form of Roads, Railways and solid earth!

Well... Overall.. it was a very very different experience...its so beautiful that only an artist or a poet or a writer or may be a photographer can describe the place and definitely not me....I will upload a few pics... well..hopefully the pics do some justice to the place than the write up!

Google Logos

From the past few days (At least a week), Google has the logo of the Winter Olympics at Vancouver - it's a different one everyday but all based on a dull grayish green theme. Today it's back to the colourful one - the standard Google Logo.

Don't know why it bothered me! but I hated to see the dull logos everyday I logged in and today when I opened Google I thought - Thank God! The dull ones are done.

Strange how these little things actually make a difference to me!

For memories sake - Dull Logos!

Tipperary to Thipparalli

I keep remember things in my ‘Life so far’ and that I guess is my biggest inspiration to blog….this time around… … Yes! Yet again I am stuck on the previous subject – Music …. With a dash of humour to it.

The blog was designed this way, I was remembering my granddad talking to me about this person by name T.P. Kailasam, a very well known playright in Kannada, known for his wit and humour……seemed like my granddad loved reading about him, or talking about him as he had mentioned his name to me numerous times at different instances. He was (I guess) called the George Bernard Shaw of Kannada Theatre/Literature, also was tagged to the saying ‘Kannadakobbane Kailasam! Hasyakobbane Beechi’ and what I recollect from my granddad were the short whacky statements from T P Kailasam…..his witty replies when asked about anything – I feel sad that I don’t remember it well enough to pen it down..

Yesterday while shopping at Tesco.. …I happened to see a huge advert of Magners Cider – which read Made in Tipperary – this ignited my thought process about TPK…..and made me think this weird remembrance has to be penned down.

My mind immediately was humming the tunes of ‘It’s a long way to Tipperary, It’s a long way to go’ …which later turned to ‘Namma Thipparalli balu dooraa, nadeyak balu doora’…..though TPK adapted this song from a Irishman’s song from yester years….it’s has it’s own brilliance…..It’s one of a kind in the humour aspect, I find it toungue twisting at times ( still can’t manage all the lyrics)… but is a joy to listen….It’s a story said in the song which you can relate to very easily….a common man’s story, narrated beautifully and in a utterly unusual way. Listen to this piece which gives you a flavour of both the English and the Kannada versions of the song.....for those you are still struggling with the lyrics...ENJOY!

The Little Ben

The main places that come to one’s mind when they hear/read about London are Trafalgar Square, Tower Bridge…well…..don’t we all know it as the London Bridge, The houses of parliament, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben amongst a lot of other significant ones.

There are however numerous other sights, locations, places and Monuments…..not so famous, not so significant, and not so known to all…. The nice book called 1000 things to do in London gives a lot of ideas on such small avenues in this magnificent city….

This way I came across the not so big, the not so grand … Little Ben… unlike it’s big brother, this one’s left in the junction of 3 main roads right opposite the busy Victoria station. It can be easily missed by anyone and you can see the many office goers run past it to get to work or home.

For those who get a chance to be here and have the time after having done all the main things…..can just pop out of Victoria Station and take a peek…

Banna nanna olavina banna.....(Looted)...for a few dollars more....

I am very disappointed on a particular thing and yet excited at another both of which are related.

As I had penned down long long ago in my blog dedicated to music……street music is a thing of joy for me! I usually go for long walks in London – the streets of which telling tales of its own (more fun if I have company….. but many a times I do it on my own). You can hear it at many places…..in the tube stations, in alley ways, on the bridges… I was walking down Oxford street yesterday evening, hopping in and out of the many retail shops there. While I was in one of them, I heard this band playing various instruments, went out to watch them play…..they had a few instruments I could recognize which were variations of the flute, mouth organ amongst many which I have just seen but don’t know names of….

I went back into the shop and suddenly I heard their next tune…an instrumental of one of my favourite songs in Kannada banna nanna olavina banna from Bandhana…I went back to see if suddenly it was some Indians playing the music .... but no! It was the same band… it was so melodious, amazing music… I don’t have words – felt like the best thing I had listened to in ages….as you have guessed ….I thoroughly enjoyed it! Then it hit me hard…..I was wondering…. well!!!! Our known Kannada song is actually flicked from somewhere!! And I was sooooo frustrated. I found out that it’s a direct pick from the soundtrack of the movie ‘For a few Dollars more’ – the Spanish Intro .

It is in fact one of the superb compositions of the genius in Ennio Morricone… who has given us other soundtracks like ‘The good, bad, ugly’ , ‘A fistful of dollars’, ‘Once Upon a Time in America’ amongst hundreds of masterpieces….

I feel so disappointed by all these copied music…somehow feels ‘do we lack that originality???’, or is it kind of a tribute that these composers pay to perhaps their Idols?? Is it what they call ‘being inspired'???

I was also excited by the fact that they have the ‘creativity (!!)’ in fitting the music to the scenes of our movies.....I was wound up thinking how a background score from a typical western, cowboy movie fitted in so well as a romantic song in a dream sequence of another movie….