Ever since she came into existence, Coo knew she had an independence most would envy. She could move,float, almost dance around without a care in the world. But she also knew that her existence was not without purpose. A purpose she knew, could snatch away her freedom...but for a good cause.

Coo belonged to a specie which consisted of only 0.03 percent of the population. Yet, life without them was unthinkable. Coo knew this. As she floated about in careless abandon, the sense of duty - of following the path her ancestors set for her - never felt stronger.

Destiny had other plans.


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John had always been a loner. He had few friends. He liked it this way.

Ever since his childhood John had been fascinated with the idea of conjuring up things with chemicals, liquids etc using all of the laboratory paraphernlia. His father would always regale young John with stories of alchemists and wizards of the old days. Wide-eyed John would eagerly listen, secretly wishing that one day he too would become a powerful wizard who could conjure up magic spells and potions.

John grew up went on earn his degree in Pharmacy and went to making medicines and tonics for local pharmaceuticals. While he enjoyed his job, he was still looking forward to conjuring that one elusive elixir that would change everything.

One spring day morning, John woke with a startle. Half naked he ran into his lab and shut the door from within.


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John and Coo met for the first time on the warm evening of 8th May, 1886 - a meeting that would change Coo's destiny forever , a meeting that would materialise John's life ambition.

While Coo was blissfully unaware of John, John always knew about Coo. He never thougt to much about her though. Ok, so she was an important specie but he couldnt care less - until that night when she came into his dream. She unravelled herself in ways unimaginable to John. Her destiny, John realised, was inexplicably linked to his.


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BIRTH OF A REFRESHING IDEA

The product that has given the world its best-known taste was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 8, 1886. Dr. John Stith Pemberton, a local pharmacist, produced the syrup for Coca-Cola®, and carried a jug of the new product down the street to Jacobs' Pharmacy, where it was sampled, pronounced "excellent" and placed on sale for five cents a glass as a soda fountain drink. For the first time, Carbonated water was teamed with the new syrup to produce a drink that was at once "Delicious and Refreshing," a theme that continues to echo today wherever Coca-Cola is enjoyed.

Back in Mumbai atlast! Humid as hell and traffic's never been worse..man, I love this place.

Last week, was my first public and international vocal performance. Yup, you heard correct...I actually broke into a song in front of all the respective Gillette Key account managers from India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Maldives.

The whole thing started when my roomie, JKC, had the audacity to give me a call while I was attending the offsite training class. I, of course, had no clue that if your phone were to ring during class, you would automatically inducted into the "Gillette Choir".

At the end of the class, I was forced to take centrestage.Took a deep breath, started off with "Look into my eyes...."

I lasted 30 seconds I think. My audience sadly didnt. At the end of it all, my instructor had only one thing to say, "Dont leave your day job for a singing career".

12 other heads nodded vigourously, in agreement.


Recommended listening:

Akon - Lonely, Kelly Clarkson - Breakaway, Nitty - Nasty Girl and
Udhyananu Tharam - Karale

My four month internhsip with Gillette is coming to a close. Just a week left ( which I will be spending offsite ) and I hope to be in Mumbai. Terribly miss the place. A mandatory project presentation at NITIE, loads of movies(and hangin' out hopefully), and 10 days later, I hope to be in Trivandrum chilling at home...eating, sleeping, driving. 5 days later and I'll back in Gillette, this time as an MT ( the corporate caterpillar )

15 days is all I get...supposedly the longest "vacation" I can hope for in the next 5 years.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!

Must...make the effort....to...freak...out.......

Anna...movies with a vengeance we shall watch. (as Yoda would put it)

I saw a mallu move last sunday called Udayananu Tharam. There are sensible movies and then there are ourtright entertainers. This movie is both - a sensible entertainer.

Mohanlal comes back into a role that suits him best - that which relates to the common man (and not the super hero persona which he had right from Aaram Thampuran and Narasimham to other flop movies). He plays the role of Udayan, struggling assistant director trying to make his mark in the south film industry.

I think the entire credit for this movie should go the Srinivasan who not only wrote the brilliant script(yet again) but did an amazing job in the acting department, enacting the role of the struggling Rajappan aka 'superstar' Saroj kumar.


An original and tight script, the Mohanlal-Srinivasan duo, and a great soundtrack is a sure recipe for success. And that is exactly what this movie is...a success and a tremendous one at that.

What struck me about this movie was the message it had for the Malyalam film industry, which has been struggling for survival for the past several years. Scripts have gone from bad to worse. Flops have become to norm. And to think this is in stark contrast to the Mallu movies of the early 90s, where hits were taken for granted thanks to some great original screenplays and comedies. This movie in some way tries to recreate the lost magic and is largely sucessful in doing so. The movie is a humourous take on the pathetic creative vacuum that exists in the Malayalam movie industry and drives home the message in no uncertain terms.

All in all, if you aint seen this movie yet...you are missing something :)

(non-mallus can expect a hindi remake) ;)

Firstly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Smokin Joes for having catered to my craving for pizzas on weekdays. You guys did an impeccable job of delivery-to-home, when i had no option for alternative dinner.

Having said that, while i appreciate your service...I think your actual product..namely the pizza, has lots of scope for improvement. True, you charge less...for less. But i dont belong to that category, as far as pizzas are concerned.

Home delivery by Pizza corner was discovered by me last week. I have therefore changed my service provider...and am a more satisfied customer. Product wise, there is a 100% improvement. Service wise, about a 30% improvement. But the corresponding Price increase in only about 40%. And that's not a bad deal :) I think variety is something PC can work on a bit more.



And now...more useless reading for people who have nothing better to do....

Personally, I've got nothing against rickshawallas. Its just that, when they overcharge me for a ride...I can't meekly accept it and I sure dont want to waste my time and energy arguing over the right fare. So the following discussion, is intended for people like me who believe in the saying...Dont get mean, Get even.

I have a theory, based on which I firmly believe you can outsmart any overcharging taxi/rickshaw guy 8 times out of 10. ( a little improvisation could make that 10 on 10)

My theory is as follows:

" The Extra amount charged over and above the correct fare is inversely proportional to the distance travelled"

So typically, it is seen that for short distances, the taxi guy tends to overcharge. But for longer distances, his fare tends to come closer to the actual. This is an empirical observation, not just for Taxis but almost for any service.

I decided to test this theory. I wanted to go to destination A (actual fare Rs.10).
I know that destination B( which is further from A ) has an actual fare of Rs.15

I walk upto the rickshaw guy and ask him if he would take me to destination B and what his fare will be. He says Rs. 15 (he has not overcharged, as it is a far destination and has charged the correct amount)

Then I ask him, what he charges for destination A. He cant say Rs. 15 again. So he was forced to say the right fare of Rs.10.

Assumption: You know the actual fares to different destinations.

So the idea is to work backward on the fares.

In short, no meek acceptance, no arguments...just plain intelligence.....(moderate pause)....BU-HA-HA-HA!

Happy May Day :)