Team offsite

Why do people look forward to team offsites ? If you run a survey, then the most common answer would be that it would give them a definite break from work.
Why do people not like offsites ? Again survey results might tell you that people are given too much of unnecessary gyaan about team building which won't be anyways implemented after that. Typical team offsites have lot of silly games and then they overshoot gyaan about those games .

My team went for an offsite this time and the best part about it was it was outbound . The gyaan was definitely there but the way it was projected was much better since most of the games we played involved a lot of brain work, coming up with interesting strategies and helluva lot of team work!

OKAY - where on earth did we go ? We went to this place called Galibore Fishing and Nature camp - around 100 km from Bangalore . Listen to this - there was no Electricity apart from the bare minimum fan at night ( rest of it was all lanterns or torches) , No mobile phones worked there , No laptops , No internet , No work related stuff for 2 complete days, birds chirping away to glory, Cauvery river at the backdrop with huge mountains and hills all over with plenty of lovely huge trees along with amazing amount of fun and ofcourse, we got to know each other much better because of these games.

So what did we do ? We went trekking at 7am in the morning for 2 hours which was simply fantastic. We even played "lagori" or "pittoo" . We played a game based on huge drums and another game involving marbles and ofcourse partied(sang, danced,drank ofcourse!) in the evening even with heavy rains lashing out for a long period of time.

The best part however was Rappling. Since most of the team were doing it for the first time, the initial 2 feet of the 45 feet cliff (Its not too much , typically its a minimum of 100 feet or definitely more than that) was really scary especially at the point you just let go of yourself from the cliff . Its a moment where you feel your entire body and mind has completely left you and you have goosebumps(literally). However, as soon as you start going down , the feeling is totally different . Exhilaration, Sense of achievement, Adrenalin rush etc are just some of the things you can say to describe this! We had this ex-air force guy who was our guide and I distinctly remember him saying - "Keep your feet apart","Dont bend your knees" , "Arrey yaar, nothing will happen, its just a couple of feet","Go down now, haha , see its so simple, pls give a nice smile . Yaar ,uski photo tho lo" . Every single person did it in the team and it was just an awesome feeling. I will post the links once all the pics are posted.

Irrespective of what I do in future, this trip was so far the best I had been to( till maybe the next one comes around ;)) and even the gyaan sounded much better than before ;).

Holi hai bhai holi hai

Holi as we all know is a very colorful festival it had been quite a few years since I had been part of holi celebrations. Earliest memories of holi celebrations were near my place ( easily around 5-6 years ago) when people used to start by throwing water at you followed by a nice egg on the head!!Yuck ,that used to stink !

For some reason, I was not part of any holi celebration for so many years. Last year, when I heard of the amazing celebrations at my colleague's place near office ( at the Bungalow), I felt I really missed it since I was out of town. This year, when my good friend Ankita suggested the idea I was all up for it and so were many of my friends. A day before the event, things were not falling into place and thats when, since janta were really interested to play, I asked my mom to stay away from home for around 4 hours so that we could play holi ! Thankfully she did and then people also agreed to come and next day we had a very colorful, eventful, interesting, fantastic,brilliant holi celebration !! Initially there were 4 people - Aravind, Ankita , Deepthi and myself but later Narayan joined in as well and it turned out to be a fabulous experience.

Our holi shopping consisted of buying colors for around 40 rupees followed by 2 pichkaris, ( one of them badly malfunctioned too!!). Remaining ingredients that contributed were the compound, the tank water ( which was empty at the end of the celebrations!!) and 3 buckets which were misused if I may add !!! Each one had a different kind of a reaction - whereas I was mostly quiet trying to concentrate on surprising people with colors and water, dodo ( deepthi ) was mostly pointing out that pretty much every other color was "dirty" !! Ankita was very much in the mood to celebrate in the "Mumbaiyya" style since that was when she had kickass holi and then Aravind was all set as well to take part in this (which he did with great style ). Narayan was a guest in many ways, but man, was he the bakra or what !! Pouring water filled with color and spraying with a pichkari was the order of the day and wasn't it a fantastic experience !!!

At the end of it all , the scrubbing sessions did not result in complete color disappearance, but who cared ?!!! We had a super time . I can only think of expanding the audience next time and making this a yearly affair. Too bad for those who missed it this time , but hey , there is definitely a next time!!!

Here are a few pics ..... By the way we had a tough time clicking these pics as well till Narayan came !! Anyways, Happy belated holi to all janta and I love this festival ..... Holi hai !!!!!!!!!!!! To put it aptly in Golden star ganesh's style - "nooraithu rupai color jothege yeradu pichkari adara jothege hatthu litre water, unlimited fun matthe , yella corner nallu color "

Gaaaalipata

When I decided to go and watch this movie I just hoped that it would be good and to a certain extent I had expectations that it would be decent due to all the accolades that it has been receiving in recent times . Also since this brought back the successful pair of "Golden Star" Ganesh and Yograj Bhat, (previously worked together in the record setting Mungaru Male) I was hopeful that it would not disappoint.

And 2.5 hours later , the verdict ? It was definitely worth it . I wouldn't call it a great movie . I certainly felt they could have edited the second half by 15-20 mins by removing some unnecessary not so tuneful songs and some scenes, but apart from that it had all the dialogues and scenes that made it memorable. Infact, now I feel like watching it again !!!

It reminds the viewer of Mungaru Male , because there are undeniable similarities in some parts - Fantastic scenery, superb photography, Ananth Nag in a similar role but as usual excelling in his bit, repeated cast except for the heroine(s), a good Sonu Nigam song that haunts you through the movie and dialogues by Ganesh. Its a simple love story , nothing extraordinary, but since its been ages since I have watched a different kannada movie I would give this more credit.

The challenge would have been to come up with new innovative dialogues and hold the viewer's attention for a while and after the movie, I have become a fan of Yogaraj Bhat's dialogues. It definitely makes you laugh whether you like it or not coz' its witty and for people who want to cry there are definitely some scenes. I could see people wiping their eyes in front of me and next to me as well !!!!! And you cant but appreciate Ganesh inspite of his style of dialogue delivery which I think is a huge hit in the state right now!

Just to give a bit more of the story ( actually I haven't said anything so far about the story!), there are 3 youngsters who go to this village where they meet this ex "Bhetegara" who is reduced to a wheel chair due to a spinal cord failure which happened when he tried hunting a Pig !! What these guys do there form the rest of the story. The biggest USP of the movie is the place where they have shot this ! Its superb! Definitely recommended !

All in all, I would give it 3 out of 5 stars and I have a very strong feeling that I will watch it again and also that I want to really go and visit Mugalpet !!