Kodai ke naal holiday sholiday.

Kodaikanal does not disappoint. No matter how much you expect of the place, it invariably proves to be even more beautiful. And this i say after holidaying there just once.

Four days of idyllic chilling, reading, rains, sunshine and skies that change colour every other hour. Lush pine forests, mushrooms, chirping birds, cicadas, waterfalls, soothing breezes, piping hot idlis served at 7 in the misty morning, wooden benches overlooking a deep valley playing hide and seek in the sun, amblings down Coaker's Walk, a lake festooned with water lillies, colourful flowers, the warmth of a fireplace fragrant with burning pine cones - this is what my days were filled with.


Many thanks to my personal vacation planner for organising the trip, and to my workmates who made it possible for me to take this holiday with my parents. Now i have the consolation that i spent some quality time with them, even if there were moments of psychological fatigue involved.

Pictures will be up soon. Almost all 450 of them.

Here i go again...not on my own, though.

It's time for a long overdue trip. A teensy weensy holiday with my parents, the first in over 10 years.

The destination: Kodaikanal. Ever-organised mom has all her bags as well as dad's packed. I need to go back and finish mine. The camera: Nikon D40 DigiSLR.

Four days away from the office. With a beautiful place full of scenic settings, and a Nikon camera to boot. What bliss.

27 Dresses and Once.

Last weekend, i watched three wonderful movies. Feast of Love starring Morgan Freeman, Greg Kinnear and Etcetras; 27 Dresses starring James Marsden, Bridesmaid Heroine and Etcetras; and Once, starring singers/composers/musicians/actors Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. The latter two are what i want to talk about. Rather, touch briefly upon.

27 Dresses, a story about a woman who's been a bridesmaid 27 times, but never a bride. Till she meets (ta dah!) Mister Hot Commitments-Column Writer. Fairly chick-flicky, but so well-made, so witty and so... everyday. I like the way they've kept it real - except for the happy ending, but even that is nicely done. The lead actress - i forget her name - has done a pretty good job. James Marsden, sigh. They don't make specimens like him this side of the globe, i'm sorry to say.

Once, on the other hand, was what would typically be classified as an Art Film. But that again was so real, so everyday and so normal. I like movies of this kind, i figured. This one, Breaking & Entering, Chungking Express... i like the way they use stories of random people meeting out of the blue, experiencing some explosive chemistry and then falling back into patterns of normal life, the encounters vivid only in their memories. And again, i understood why it is that some people make the choice of giving up new-found love over an established one.

And by the way, i'm looking quite desperately for the soundtrack of Once. There's something so melancholy yet beautiful about those soundtracks. I'd really like to have them, to listen to anytime i want.

Is it okay to be ashamed of your friends? Because i am. Of some of them.

I never thought i'd have the kind of friends everybody thought to be evil. I always thought i was on the other side of the line. I was wrong.