Ooty

Ooty was good. The walk on Saturday was the longest in recent memory and the descent into wet clay the most exciting. The food was consistently bad but the company was consistently entertaining.

The International Youth Hostel turned out to be terrible. The rooms were dimly lit with bunk beds and no ventilation. The promised bonfire in the garden proved to be insufficient incentive for us to stay there and so after some lunch, much deliberation and fretting and fuming (which I slept through) we reached Moti Manor. Decent enough for the money we were paying.

Friday evening is where memory's playing a bit of a bastard. I had a terrible headache and for some reason didn't take a tablet. Basically i think everyone got drunk and went to bed. I got up a bit later and threw up. Three times.

Luckily by morning, the headache was gone and coffee had arrived. Terrible coffee. All over Ooty, just terrible coffee and tea. Why? It's a bloody tourist destination and they can;t get their fucking tea and coffee right? WTF! Also, it looks like every single government official in Tamil Nadu is out to fleece the tourist. The demands for ten rupees and fifty rupees seemed unending.

Day 2 was pretty much it. The definition of perfect. Morning coffee was fuck all but it didn't stop me from having two cups. We went to yet another fuck all restaurant for breakfast, ate bread omlette because it was the only breakfast food available and there were simply no sausages and bacon to be had. Who would have thought huh? A former destination of fat British bastards and sixty years after they've gone there's no sign of bacon and sausages and eggs for breakfast. Anyway, the omlette was all right and breakfast was done.

So anyway, Saturday morning we hit the lake and managed to find a half way secluded spot on the banks. It was awesome. The weather was perfect, the grass was green, there were ready mixes galore, wild litchis and all round good cheer and bonhomie.

After the lake and another shitty lunch in Hyderabad Biryani (Empire's very poor and very distant cousin) we set off once again. This time the mission was to find another place that was devoid of all human life. The Panaman mentioned a near mythical place called 7^th mile (probably

from the dark recesses of his childhood memory) and off we went looking. I'm not sure where we ended finally. A walk through the Hindustan Photo Films employee quarters (Indunagar) led us to this unbelievable place.

I know Ooty's filled with tourists and honeymooners and locals out to make a quick buck but the area still has some absolutely beautiful places. You just have to make the effort to look for it. Anyway, look at the pics and feel the splendor of this land. It was a long walk though and at times it became a bit of a trek but we climbed up a hill, came down a mountain, survived close encounters with some really wet clay and finally came to this place that was deemed perfect to sit and rest and recharge batteries. A plain grassy field stretched out before us with horses grazing, a cool breeze blowing and this thick pine tree forest beyond the plains. It was quite awesome.

It was a miracle that the weary travelers were still on their feet by the time they got back to the hotel and there really was only thing left to do on their last night in Ooty. Open that bottle and start drinking.

….we just slept but.

They were six and they were brave

Singular mission, no world to save

Search for the perfect holiday

That was their only aim.

To Ooty they set off, the hills were happening

Escaping the city, always a good thing

2 nights and 3 days the perfect vacation

Moti Manor was our final destination

The lake was great, the grass was green

The litchis were the reddest I'd ever seen

The Panaman and Keitho went fishing

Caught a few hats, and other dirty things

The food in Ooty deserves a stanza

Uniformly fuck all, even Bob's is better

Coffee and Tea, they taste the same

Our Biryanis and Burjis were utterly lame.

The 7^th mile was pretty funky

Long fucking walk but all was well

Didn't want to come back and be a desk monkey

I tell you! This holiday was swell.

nameless

I want to join the chorus
but my words are always wrong
I really want to scratch that itch
but my nails aren't sharp enough
I am the jester in life's court
and the King, he hates my guts
I'll never be the name on the marquee
yet I'll dance my lonely dance

The world spins like a merry go round
and I'm tired of standing still
Life's secrets stay that way
and I'm left holding the bill

I've danced and danced till my feet are sore
bruised, bleeding, numb
I stop to catch a breath
and then it's time to go on
The applause is missing
as is the adoring crowd
Takes a while for me to realize
that no one cares at all.

vampire

Fall into my arms and hold me tight

I feel your hatred shift at the speed of light

Sleep child and let me be

I’m just sucking you dry in the name of empathy

this is endgame

This is endgame.

I’m living it now.

I’m not crashing through roadblocks.

I’m staring at them in wonder.

How did they get here ?

Why now ? Why ever ?

This is endgame

Life as it is not as supposed

I’m weaving my last delicate lie

I’m dancing one last time

It doesn’t matter how I got here

Not now. Not ever.

This is endgame

Loaded dice and a rigged table

I’m done with the delicate dance

At one with the delicate dance

Failure is the only option

Now and forever

this and that

Hello again.
I’m undecided about a lot of things right now. Should I ? Shouldn’t I ? They’re all going to take severe effort on my side and some are things I must do while some are things I want to do. I’ll probably end up doing them all in a half assed way. Such is life.

The Monolith Deathcult have just delivered the sucker punch of the year. This album just completely came in from the cold and blew me away. Like Clint in High Plains Drifter. The band play a mix of old school Euro and American death but enhance the music with keyboards and electronics. The music sounds epic and raw in parts while being unpredictable in the best possible way. Trivmvirate is a fucking storm. \m/

This cricket series against South Africa was so boring. I hope we lose the third test. Then they can all go to IPL and redeem themselves. Make big scores on flat pitches, make tons of money, feel young and hard again and then move to the next failure. Indian cricket is becoming more entertainment than sport. A bunch of glorified models who walk on to the field when they don’t have to pose but continue to pose anyway. Wankers !

I saw Race recently. Akshay Khanna, Saif Ali Khan, Bipasha Basu, Katrina Kaif, Samira Reddy and Anil Kapoor all act in it to varying degrees. I like Akshay Khanna, especially after Gandhi My Father which I thought was brilliant. The three ladies are completely gorgeous and Saif seems to be trying for some sort of rugged metrosexual look. The plot kind of went on and on with twists and turns and double and triple and a whole quartet of crosses and all this before the interval. Honestly, it was only Anil Kapoor as the fruit eating South African-Indian cop Robert D’Costa who saved this film with his completely outrageous one liners of the so bad they’re good variety. Much better than Welcome where he was just completely over the top.

Anyway, the ladies were gorgeous. It was a tie between Katrina Kaif and Bipasha Basu for almost the whole movie till a little red dress happened and then it was Bipasha all the way. Completely smoldering. Sameera Reddy looked good and was quite convincing in the dumb bimbo role.
Overall I had fun in the second half of the movie and while not quite paisa vasool, it was reasonable time pass.

Now, sit down and let me tell you a tale. There used to be this band from Norway called Atrox with a weird and wonderful sense of heavy metal and an equally weird and wonderful woman who sang and squealed and made effervescent noises. The last of all this though was a few good years ago and that weird and wonderful woman left the band. All was silent till suddenly a few days ago I came across a new Atrox album. They were back. This time with a weird and not very wonderful man singing for them. Still, the power of Atrox holds firm.

I’m surfing on the rings of Saturn
Nursing a drink and hoping to learn
I’m on the job, on the roll, on the money
On the sixth planet where it’s never sunny

The chick was hot, they all are
The job was easy, not all of them are
Find her little brother who ran away
No big deal, I’d make her day

I’m surfing on the rings of Saturn
Looking for a little lost kid
I’m surfing on the rings of Saturn
Someone please give me a tip

Dead ends ,no one knows nothing
Right time for the phone to ring
A whisper, a breath, an offer to meet
To learn of a little bloody boy with teeth

The whisper leads to darkness
All signs point to a complete mess
Run! Leave! The boy’s a fucking vampire
Never had my future seemed so dire

I’m surfing on the rings of Saturn
Looking for a little lost vampire
I’m surfing on the rings of Saturn
Drunk, nervous and not so sure

I know where he is and I’m on my way
Collect and deliver, like any other day
Tie that little sucker with a red ribbon
And mail him to his sister in Lisbon

I enter the dark, I’m so scared
Monkey on my back, teeth on neck
I never had a chance, die I shall
The boy’s a vampire after all

I was surfing on the rings of Saturn
And I found what I was looking for
I was surfing on the rings of Saturn
And it's left me bleeding to death now