Wonderla - Bangalore

 

I spent this Saturday at Wonderla Bangalore with my family. Its been almost a decade after my last visit to a water theme park.The last park I visited was Linnanmaki in Finland, but its a dry park. But man, Wonderla is worth it, but also too very crowded.

If your intention to visit the park is to get on all the rides, either visit on weekdays; of if you go on weekends, get the fastrack pass. There are some  65 places shown on the wonderla map. Out of this, about 15 are food stalls. Another 10 to 15 are kiddie rides. That leaves about 35-40 rides for the grown ups. But most of the thriller rides have huge huge waiting times. They put a board there saying 45 minutes waiting time ! The place opens at 11am, and shuts down at 7pm. So, leaving about an hour for lunch leaves very little time to spend waiting in the queues. We could manage only 15 of the 40 advertised rides .

Again, unless you take the fastrack passes, there is no way you can visit all the rides there on a weekend.

Can't believe the park still has no coaster .

More One - Ways in Bangalore

 

I was out for a ride Sunday night, and almost got a ticket, because I didn't know they had converted the two lane either way traffic to a two lane one way in Madiwala.

To decongest traffic on Hosur Road, the city police have put some restrictions on the traffic flow at Silk Board and Madiwala junctions from Sunday.

While motorists will be allowed to go from Silk Board Junction to Sarjapura Road Junction and Madiwala check-post, movement of vehicles going to Hosur Road from Madiwala check-post will be restricted.

Vehicles coming from Sarjapura Road junction can go up to Krupanidhi College junction, take a right turn and join Madiwala Santhe Beedi to reach Madiwala Police Station junction-Total Mall junction, Silk Board junction to proceed to Hosur Road.

Motorists going towards Maruthi Nagar can take a right turn at the Koramangala water tank junction, take a right at the Kendriya Sadan and proceed further.

Traffic going towards Madiwala and Silk Board from Koramangala BDA Complex by taking a left turn at Koramangala Water Tank junction, reach Krupanidhi College junction and reach Hosur Road via Madiwala Santhe Beedhi.

 

Hacker spaces , or lack of.

Its a pity that there are not many HackerSpaces in Bangalore.

https://wiki.hackerspaces.org/India

A Cold and Wet New Year

 

 

Wish you a Happy and Brand New 2015 ! That's one good thing about getting a new year, you get to start again. On a clean slate. From Square one. Again.

Here in Bangalore , its cold and rainy down here, just the way I like it. Since January 1 is a holiday for most companies here, the roads were empty ,so it was a nice drive down a wet empty roads for me.

I was just going through today morning's news on the web, from India. This was what I got.

This New Year has already started with death and destruction. Kind of ruins hope for me.

I sincerely hope this ill fate does not stay the whole year.

The Country Club - Total Mall Scam

 

This week I was the target of a scam run by The Country Club and Total Mall. The scam runs in various malls across India, but in my case, I was targeted at Total Mall on Old Airport Road. After searching about this on the net, I now realize I luckily (or smartly) escaped from this well planned scam targeting innocent shoppers.

So last week, we were happily shopping at Total Mall; now usually I cautiously stay away from big malls, preferring to shop only at smaller stores, but I had to buy something which was available only at some meat stores. I knew the meat store at Total Mall had it, so off I went. On the way back, we saw these young 20-something sales boys going around telling customers about their lucky draw program. Country Club (the guy with the thumbs up) and Total Mall was organizing this draw, and winners would get exciting gifts ! All we had to do was to fill in our detail in their foms. I was sceptical, but thought of trying it out just to see where it goes. Both me and my wife filled out only first names, and phone numbers in the forms, leaving everything else blank. Both of us entered MY cell number, so that I would get the call no matter who’s form was selected. Nothing else was entered. We forgot the whole matter.

Two days later, I get a call from an unknown Bangalore number, to confirm my identity. They asked me my monthly salary, which I refused to reveal. I added the caller’s number to my phones black list, so that they could never call me again from that number.The scam had started !

And then today, at about 3pm, I get this call from another unknown number. It sounded like another 20-something guy, who wanted to inform me that I had just won one of their elusive prizes ! Worth 30,000 Rs /- Wow ! He tried to sound enthusiastic, but I could sense the tiredness in his voice. He told me that 30 couples had been selected from 2000 families, and we were the luck ones to win the prize. A travel prize of 25,000, a one day something pass of 1000 , and a kitchen set of 4000! Inorder to claim the prize, both of us had to attend their function at 9pm at Outer Ring Road. I thanked him, and said I would attend.

This is the message I got from them via SMS:

Total mall convention hall , BEFOR Intel Cmpny, near to new horizon engineering college  DEVARBESANALI stop B'lore
After coming here it will take maximum  30 to 45 min to collect your gifts
manoj 9686618685

The call came from : ‍+914066050000.

 

 

I was outside, so when I cam back to office, I tried simply googling up Total Mall Country Club Prize. Then I started seeing pages of pages of complaints, consumer complaints. People before me had unknowingly fallen for the scam and had lost lakhs of rupees !

Basically, this is how the scam worked:

1. Couples would get fill in their details in forms run by these scammers.
2. They would then get a phone call a week later, saying they have won the prize. Inorder to claim the prize, they had to attend the function as a couple together.
3. The function would be at 8pm onwards, during which the poor attendees would be subjected to a hour long presentation from Country Club, about how their life would improve if they would join the club. Annual vacations abroad, using their club…blah blah..blah. Some tea and biscuits would be provided.
4. The salemen would make the deal sound like a once in a life time offer, and convince the couples to sign on. The amount is in the range of 75,000/- to 1.5 lakhs rupees. They would be given a cheap kitchen set, which can be bought outside for some hundreds of rupees.
5. The rest of the prizes including the vacation prize, they say, would be mailed later.
6. Poor couples who have just lost some lakhs, go home waiting for the remaining prize, which never comes ! If they call country club up, the support guys give bullshit like call some other numbers, blah blah…
7. The poor couples have now paid lakhs for a vacation, which can be had for a few thousands.

I did not attend the function. The next day, I got a call from that guy Manoj again, asking why I did not come. I told him to f** off, and that I would never fall for their marketing scam.

 

The Indian Consumer is a breed very susceptible to fraudulent marketing schemes. Poor (not money poor) Indians are always looking for discounts and free prizes, they would buy even poison if it is on a 50% sale ! Such fraud scams thrive on the money of such people, worsened by the fact that they don’t think twice, or know of their rights as a consumer.

Always be careful when you hand out your personal details to strangers outside.

Why I did not fall for it: I have heard of such scams in the past, and I make it a point to double check every form I put my sign on and hand out. And nowadays, due to cheap internet, any information can be had easily. So I make sure I search on such things before I jump in joy at the thought of winning a free prize ! As a rule, I do not answer calls from unknown numbers, staying away from such hunters.

 

Be an alert customer ! Happy Shopping !

Bangalore Cycle Day

 

This month’s edition of Feel Bengaluru Cycle Day was at Indiranagar, on July 27th. I had known about the movement and wanted to participate earlier, but the previous venues were far off.  This time, the venue was closer to my place, so I participated, and boy, was I glad for it.

We were at the venue at 6:30 in the morning, I was still checking my watch because I am usually in bed on Sundays, till 11, but today, I was up at 5:30 itself. There was already a long queue for the rental cycles, but we got in line anyway. The crowd had started to build up, people of all ages were on multi-coloured bi-cycles of all manner of sizes and design. We had to stay in line for almost an hour for our bikes, but it was worth the wait.

My only rant about the event was about the rental lines, there was a lot of line jumping in the queue. People jumped in and where out with bikes in no time. We could see the line did not move, but all the bikes ran out of the first two trucks ! We were beginning to feel we would not get a bike at all, but it all worked out good for us. The queue was still growing, I am sure lot of them did not get bikes even after being in queue for more than an hour :-( .

The main ride was flagged off at 8:30 AM, a whole swarm of cyclists were unleashed, no one seemed in a hurry; after all , it was a ride, not a race. The Bangalore cops had shutdown motorized traffic on the bike route, and so , the entire ride was pure fun. With the motorists out of the way, it seemed like we OWNED the roads.  There were guys on skateboards, and kids on little kiddie bikes, and there were the pro-bikers, on their big mean carbon fibre bikes. It made for a good spectacle though, we could see pedestrians and motorists watching us on the side lines.

Bangalore Cycle Day is Citizen’s event, run in co-operation with Bangalore’s finest (cops) and various social gatherings. It is held on the last Sunday of each month, each time, they identify a different part of the city to host the event. A bike route is prepared, and arrangements are made to block out motorized traffic in the area for the 30min bike ride. Various groups have sponsored parts of the event, there are about 250 bikes people can rent, they just need to hand in their original photo id cards as collateral. People are encouraged to , and do, bring their own bikes. After the main ride, there are street events for everyone to join in. Since the roads are pretty much free, grids for various traditional and modern board games are chalked right on the roads. You can sit and enjoy a nice game of chess, snakes and ladders, and various other traditional games I couldn’t name. No body is in charge, but everybody is. You just need to turn up at the event with family and friends , and just have a good time. And did I mention, the entire event is FREE ! (though I’m sure people would gladly pay).

An uncle turned up with a rope-n-top, and I tested my old top skills. I was happy I was able to set the top spinning again! There was a skateboad group , HolyStoked collective, and they were giving away lessons on the sport. Kids were taking up hulla loops,scootering,skipping, and drawing on the streets, and ..slow cycling.  All in all, there was something for everyone, though I think the organizers did not expect so many people to show up. The place was jam-packed !

Bangalore , and other Indian cities as well, needs more such citizen’s events. Kids nowadays don’t have the luxury of open fields and trees like we enjoyed in our young days, for them, games mean video games. Catching up/hanging out means facebook & google hangouts. Even for us grownups, we need a reason to step out , get some exercise, and meet people face to face again. What’s the point of toiling away life at the office desk, when you forget for whom it is for. And the streets, for once it was nice to see people gather on the streets for all the positive reasons. Nowadays , to “take to the streets” means to revolt, uprise or revolt against something. But for Cycle Day, taking to the streets was full of positive vibe.

I wanted to stay longer, but it was already 10:30, and hunger pangs got me. So off it was, and I’ll be back for the next event soon. Here’s hoping other localities and cities of the country follow suit and organize such events too, starting a “chain reaction”.

Thanks to Decathlon & ATCAGS, for sponsoring the bikes, you guys are doing a fantastic job.

Bangalore Days - Rocks like the city !

 

Watched the much awaited Malayalam multi-starrer movie Bangalore Days yesterday. And loved every bit of it. Here is another movie where the story and characters are the real driving force. Writer-Director  Anjali Menon sure does know how to create convincing characters. And boy, can she write ! There are few writers out there who can create and juggle so many characters  and still tie up all the loose ends together in a neat knot. If you are a Mallu, aged less than…maybe   40 years….then run to your nearest theatre and watch it !! Hurry !

 

Bangalore Days tells the story of three cousins, very much close to each other, even if their families don’t gell well, who travel to the big city for different reasons, and end up discovering each other and themselves all over again. It is a story of love, and hope, and everything in between. Don’t go by the movie name, the story & the characters are so good, that they could have very well named the movie Kochi Days, or Trivandrum Days…and it would still have worked. But there is something about this big grand city that attracts youngsters (and older ones too, apparently) , and the truly metropolitan environment means you meet people you hardly run into anywhere else. There is something for everyone here, I am sure each cinema goer will be able to relate to at least one of the many people depicted on screen.

The story is narrated by Kuttan (Nivin Pauly), who is a stereotype young Malayalee software engineer. Many stereotypes will be broken in this movie..even Kuttan’s. Kuttan has just landed a plush software engineer’s job out of Kerala, but is a homesick country man at hear. He runs home first chance he gets, and is clearly in love with his home and the green country side. He introduces us to his two cousins, who have different personalities, but the three of them are one happy bunch. Divya (Nazriya, in her most mature role so far) has just completed her graduation, and has MBA plans, but that goes out of the window when her family decides to get her married to a successful MBA manager,because her horoscope says so. She will have to relocate to Bangalore city, setting the stage for the story and the movie-name. The third wheel of this brat pack is Arjun (Dulquar), who is a born rule breaker, and loves his cousins, and loves to hate everyone else. He is a school drop-out , which means  he is tagged un-successful in life, but is most carefree, and manages to live on his own as a bike mechanic & racer. After Divya’s marriage, the cousins find reasons and move to Bangalore just so they can hang out together. Halfway through the movie, at the interval, their lives have changed; all three of them face problems in their lives. And then , in the second act, they all find their way back, magically.

Lets start with Kuttan. He is excited to move to the big city, but is not ready for the long office hours waiting for him. He also has a culture crash of sorts, his naadan (countryside) ideologies in harsh contrast with the new city life. He wants to marry a typical village belle, but meets and falls for the most unlikely candidate; Meenakshi an air-hostess he bumps into (Isha Talwar) on his first plane journey. He changes himself, for her, and starts dreaming of love..but his dreams come crashing when she runs back to an ex-boyfriend. Back home, his always ill father, has run away, lured by spirituality and faith, and he now has to take care of his mother, whom he reluctantly brings to Bangalore. Turns out, his father did not run away for God, but was actually running away from Kuttan’s mother. Its all not bad for him, as he finally understands the contrasting nature of his people, and renews his life with new hopes, after packing his mom to US to his elder sister.

Arjun is facing an identity crisis of his own, he is hot tempered and rude, and shuts everyone out, the only people he opens up to are his cousins. Backstory reveals that his parents are divorced, and that he ran away from school. He finds solace in the voice of an RJ in the city, who inspire him positively. When he finally meets her (Parvati) he sees someone who has lost more than himself, but has learnt to forget, and take life head-on. She is disabled from the waste below. He is reluctant to make the first move, as she is clearly setting out for a better life, with a university course abroad. She too hesitates, scared to fall for him who clearly has second thoughts. Eventually, he musters the courage to ask her to stay back, with the support of his family and biker friends.

But the track I liked best was Divya’ and Das’s , their married life, the turmoil and the way they overcame them. Divya , the extrovert, bubbly and highly optimistic little girl is excited to be married, and to move to Bangalore. She settles at once to her new life, enjoying the luxurious lifestyle , with her cousins for company. But her husband Das (Fahad Fazil) is a polar opposite, a corporate henchman, forever typing on his laptop, or travelling abroad for his work. He lives a strictly controlled life, and despises changes. He also has a past he is reluctant to talk about, and this is turned into a surprise twist in the their story towards the end. It turns out, Das used to be a champion motocross bike racer named Shiva, and was madly in love with Natasha (Nithya Menen, no dialogues for her). Natasha dies in a bike accident while Das was driving, and he has never come to forgive himself for his mistake, believing he killed her. Natasha’s parents hold him responsible, and he still mourns for her, turning one of his rooms into a sanctum-sanctorum for their memories. All this is revealed when Arjun joins Shiva’s earlier biking team. This twist was a pleasant surprise , not only did it add colour to Das’s dull life, but the backstory explained why he is they way he is. Divya decides not to run away, but to help Das come to terms with his past, even going as far to meet Natasha’s parents and speaking for him. Das finally lets go, and embraces his new life. This part reminded me of the character  Aditya Shroff from Rock On, who too has a bitter past, and has turned from Rock singer to a serious boring investment banker. Even there, it is his wife Sakshi, who helps him come back to love and life.

Apart from these main tracks, there are also many other characters in the movie, like Kuttan’s and Divya’s parents, extended relatives, and Divy’a neighbours from her flat, a bunch of colourful and relatable folk.

What stood out :

1. Background music. The visuals are eye-catching for sure, but the BGM adds a second layer of perspective, lots of guitar, violin and pianos, specially the bike scenes…oooh. Kudos to Gopi Sundar, from Kuttan’s hilarious theme-BGM to Arjun’s electric guitar theme, to he sure knows how to immerse the audience.  The songs rock too ! (searching for torrent)
2. Visuals..a cool and dry Bangalore, without the traffic and pollution. I dream of the Bangalore depicted in the city, where you can ride your four-wheeler care freely, but alas..that world exists only in movies.
3. My favourite scene: Divya helping Das cope. The BGM and visuals in these scenes were dream like.
4. The final race. The last 10 minutes shows Arjun competing in the motocross race, it was both poetic and exhilarating, the music, the editing..everything top notch. Picture perfect.
5. Disability. Sarah plays a paraplegic , and has difficulty moving around the city in her motorised wheelchair. There is a scene where Arjun jumps on the road to stop a bus for her. Disabled people face such transport problems everyday in our country, yet there is very much being done for them.
6. Natasha dies in a bike accident. I am all for safe driving. Road accidents kill  hundreds of people in our country every day. I hope this scene convinces people to ride safer on roads.

 

Anjali Menon has hit gold third time in  a row (or fourth, if you count Kerala Cafe). Three times lucky ? Naah, it three times hard work and persistence. Thank you for a lovely movie, Anjali.