Rain Drops from Cochin to NYC

I was there last month in Cochin, affectionately called the "Queen of the Arabian Sea". Well, it was raining cats and dogs. And it went on an on for almost 4-5 days. But, normal day-to-day life in the city continued as usual. People went to work and children made their way to school. In contrast an overnight rain in New York City (NYC) just a day ago had shut down its subway train system. Getting to work turned out to be a huge task.



Similar to this but of bigger impact was the power blackout of 2003 that paralyzed the normal day to day life in New York City. In contrast, similar blackouts for instance occur often in the developing countries of Asia. For example in a city such as Cochin such blackouts for that matter does not disrupt normal life so much.

The reasons for these differences could be many. One might be that a cosmopolitan metro like NYC is big and increasingly dependent on technology that situations such as those mentioned above will disrupt normal day-to-day life no matter how fast or good the response is. Well, then does that mean a small and not so cosmopolitan city like Cochin capable of withstanding power blackouts or torrential rains better than NYC?

Well, seems like it is. But then, situations such as torrential rains or power outages do not occur too often in NYC. Do we need to bother then? Thats some food for thought!

SIVAJI THE BOSS

S U P E R S T A R...R A J I N I K A N T H
Sorry I don’t have that background music to give it the extra kick when you see those titles flashing on the screen.

Having seen Sivaji The Boss twice, I am now game for a third time. The first time was at Kew Gardens Cinema theatre in New York. To accompany me was my friend who for that matter did not understand much of Tamil but was willing to shell out $30 for his ticket to watch the movie.

As those titles R A J I N I K A N T H appeared on the screen...I thought the crowd will whistle or clap...in turn it was greeted with pin drop silence....I have never watched a Rajinikanth movie in a theatre with such silence...this seemed eerie....I was surprised and disappointed...Whistling through the cap of my reynolds pen I broke the silence. Supporting me was my friend who clapped with much enthusiasm...and soon we heard some whistles, claps and screaming of the words thalaiva from a couple of rows behind. After the initial euphoria the crowd went silent again...hmm. My friend sat through the movie and liked it and so did I. But, I did not enjoy in the manner I would have liked to. I missed out on two things. I thought the crowd was very silent and showed little enthusiasm and second, the theatre was too small. Not an ideal way to watch Sivaji, The Boss.

So after two weeks I was at the Sathyam theatre in Chennai to watch SIVAJI, The Boss again. I liked the movie the second time over more than the first. The fact that I was watching it right in the heart of Chennai in an excellent theatre with an enthusiastic crowd made the difference I guess.

A very entertaining movie from start to finish. The combination of Rajini with Vivek has worked out very well. The jokes were hilarious and were timed to perfection. Shreya looks awesome and fits nicely into the role. Rajinikanth never disappoints when it comes to gimmicks. Watch out for the coin tossing and the bouncing of bubble gum from hand to mouth. Truly enjoyable stuff from the super star! In the second half, Rajni the star takes over. From hereon its all Rajini..Rajini...Rajini till the end. The cast well supported by Vivek, Raghuvaran, Manivannan and others has done a neat job. Music by AR is good. But like most of AR’s music, one gets hooked to the songs only after you hear them a few times, with "Sahaana Saaral Thoorutho" sung by Udit Narayanan and Chinmayi being my favorite. The only song I did not like was probably the Balelakka Balelakka song which comes in the beginning. The movie is yet another hit from director Shankar.

I will give the movie 4 stars out of 5. Don't miss this movie even if you are not a Rajinikanth fan. You will become one. R A J I N I K A N T H takes it to a different level. WATCH IT OR MISS OUT!

Air India Sucks!

Emirates, Lufthansa, Etihad, Malaysian, Kuwait and British Airways. I flew with them on my previous trips. This time though I decided to fly with Air India. It was July 6th, 2007 and the summer heat was on in NY. I was traveling from New York to India for a vacation...Chennai and Cochin to be precise. The flight from JFK, NY was delayed by more than 2 1/2 hrs and Air India made us sit in the aircraft for close to 2 hrs with no air conditioning. Nice first impressions! I landed at Chennai way beyond the actual arrival time and found that a few of my co-passengers had their baggage missing.

My return journey in the morning of July 28th from Chennai to NY was a nightmare. The flight from Chennai to Mumbai was delayed by more than 3 hrs. And, by the time I landed in Mumbai the flight to NY had already left. There I was stranded with my co-passengers in the front of the Air India counter at the Mumbai airport. There were some 6-7 Air India officials at the counter with none having a clue of what needs to be done. It was 7:00 AM in the morning and I was feeling a bit tired. But I felt more tired when I saw the nonchalant and clueless attitude of the Air India officials. No announcements or a word of what will be done was conveyed to us for more than 3 hrs. People by now had lost patience with the babus. Request for alternate arrangements fell on deaf ears. Request from my co-passengers now turned violent in the form of shouting and screaming. Still no response from the tie clad babus. Did you just mention customer service?....huh...I should have known this was Air India...Its not in their dictionary.

Finally after 3 hrs of pleading, screaming and shouting, we were put into a flight to Newark, NJ. Thank God I thought!...I was finally flying back and I couldn’t believe my luck. But passengers traveling to Chicago weren't with much...they had to wait for the next day and I did not see Air India arranging them an accommodation to stay, at least until I was there at the airport. That was like for over more than 4 hrs. I am sure the passengers received the accommodation after that, but why the delay in arranging one when it was known that the Chicago passengers will be flying only the next day. Why wasn’t Air India prepared to handle such situations in a more professional manner? Isn't it Air India's responsibility to take care of the passengers in the best possible manner when the fault was entirely their's? Shame on you Air India!

In three words my impression of the airline --- "Air India Sucks!"

During my vacation I flew in a few of the domestic airlines operating in India....namely Jet, Kingfisher and Paramount. I thought they were excellent and even better than most of the domestic airlines operating in the United States. Air India is just an exception to an otherwise good number of airlines operating now in India.

My vacation to India though turned out to be FANTASTIC! And I am planning to fly again soon. This time though through a different airline. Air India?...huh...Never Again!!!