Travelogue - A Trip to Wayanad - Day 2 - Edakkal Caves with the Nakkal Boys

Day 2 - The Beginning

Well, day one was bad enough, so we thought the other days would be better. On Day 2, we had exciting plans and were not going to let anything stupid spoil our plans.

Starting off, the biggest problem in our gang is the few mokka boys who won't sleep and were waking everyone else up, just because they were unable to, as early as 6 am. Though myself and Senthil had locked our room and slept precisely because these guys (especially Sura and Daddu) won't let others sleep, there they were again, banging on our doors.

Misty Mornings

They were excited, it seems, because there was a lot of 'mist' outside. Well, you are at a hill station and what else you expect in the morning? Peh.. :/ I tried taking a few snaps in the mist, but I was too sleepy to set a proper ISO or focus, so it came like crap.

Crap Pic # 1

Crap Pic # 2

Complimentary Breakfast

Among the other expected things were the complimentary breakfast, which was exciting because: a. It was Complimentary; b. It was supposed to be authentic home-made. We finally succeeded in waking up Kumar by 8 am and forced him to go and request the aunty who is the manager of the homestay for breakfast, because yesterday, Kumar had established himself as someone who knows Malayalam (well, at least a little). But he used 'madhi' so often in his words that we had kept his nickname as Madhi since then. (For example, "Breakfast madhi", "ready aa madhi" :D).

Anyways, by 8:30 AM, the aunty had provided steaming hot puttus with kadala curry. While the puttus proved a little inadequate for all those fellows who had not eaten the previous night due to depression over the JD incident, we made them all eat the leftover Chapathis from the previous night. Karma.. :P

The Edakkal Caves

We were however more excited about visiting the Edakkal Caves and the Kuruvadeep island that day which was supposed to be the highlight now that falls and wildlife park were closed for visitors. Firstly, Edakkal comes from 'Idai Kal', which in Tamil translates to 'In Between Stone'. The theory is that, ancient Tamil people of the age 500 BC were living in these caves which was formed due to the one rock that is stuck between (and hence the name) two cliffs leaving a large space below it. 

The Edakkal of the Edakkal Caves Viewed From Bottom Up

As someone very interested in history, I was eager to go there and check out the place for myself. The route to the Edakkal caves was a good one hour drive from our room and we were still reminiscing the sad fate of the now infamous JD bottle. Our driver was kind enough to drop us near the entrance of the pathway winding upwards to the Edakkal caves. As we saw, the other drivers were not so kind enough and the other tourists were walking an additional one kilometre than what we did.

The Tiring Climb

While we did go up though, we realized that it was still a steep climb. The pathway was at least 3 kilometres before we reached the actual cave entrance and most of the boys had gotten tired by then.

Boys Dragging Themselves Along as Sura clicks from the other side

The next highlight was Madhi alias Kumar who was giving every type of pose from a full squat to a Mann Karate pose. I had found the ideal model to improve my photography skills: he would pose and I would snap, in the process keep learning how to take better pics. But the problem was that this was clearly pissing everyone else off. We were just not keeping pace with the others. After the Monk hurled a few expletives at us, we quietly followed the rest of the gang.

Finally by the time we reached the entrance for the caves, most of the guys were tired and exhausted.

Say Hello to Edakkal Caves

Those good people responsible for the caves to be the way it is now..

While they sat over to rest with a bottle of water near the entrance, I could note that the entrance to the caves was very well made and it looked as a pretty cool setting.

The caves are welcoming you..

Perilous Path

There are a lot of rocks that have been cut to form staircases and there are some tricky pathways. Don't take the elderly or those with low stamina to this place, they may find it a tedious climb. There are also some really narrow steps to climb with no railings, so it is advisable to be careful here.

It can get dark in those caves..

Told You These Caves Are Tricky..

Breathtaking Views

After climbing for about twenty minutes there was a steep stair way which lead to some breathtaking views from the top. I changed to the 55-250 long zoom lens and the images came with better quality, but still not as good as Sura's.

A Verrry Long Zoom - My Cam

There's a good reason why Sura is a better photographer than me, as you will see below:

A Very Long Zoom From Sura - A Better Photographer

And finally, we entered the Edakkal part.

You need climb down this part to reach the Edakkal Cave

Inside The Cave

Though it wasn't as huge as it's build up, the place was very well maintained and the government appointed guide explained us kindly about the significance of the place. It seems the place was inhabited by Tamils some 2500 years back and they had carved some inscriptions including those of the sun, people and tools. There was also a fascinating inscription starting with "Pala puli.." written in Tamil on the wall. The guide told us that it was about a man called 'Nandhu' who had killed many tigers and had them as food in the caves.

Can you see the "Pala Puli" written at the center?

While it did sound interesting, I had found it hard to believe that the script would actually be 2500 years old, since at that time, rounded Tamil alphabets were used and the words used here look more like the contemporary Tamil, that is presently used. So, was the guide wrong? I don't know. Would be great if someone could explain..

The Race to The Front Seat

And then we came out and realized that we had to go back that entire stretch of four kilometres by walk. What Madhi alias Kumar was doing very well was to rush to the car first every time, so that he can sit next to the driver. It was an Innova that we were travelling in, so the seven of us were seated 1 + 3 + 3. Since all of us are medium to heavily built, sitting at the back seat was no pleasant experience. This time, though, the Monk had other plans.

As Madhi was posing for one more pic, the Monk gave a run for the entrance. After giving two or three casual poses, Madi realized the conspiracy and started running too. The Monk had a head start and reached the car first, and we all had nice fun poking at Madhi.

The next stop was supposed to be lunch but Prabhu had other plans. He wanted the driver to stop at some place providing authentic Palm Wine. The guys got 500 ml of it and finally had a taste of it. While it did have 4 insects floating around in it, which was a good complimentary addition for the 40 bucks that the guys paid for it. Ewww...

Lunch!

And as we travelled near Kuruwadeep, we reached a place in between which was a mess serving food like the earlier day.

The Place Of Our Lunch

Only difference is that it was a thatched hut with plastic leaves, instead of actual leaves. The food and variety was almost the same here.

Kerala Rice Again!

 Since Daddu was already a non-vegetarian convert, he had no problems starting with a Fish Fry this time.

Fish Curry Again

Fish Fry Again!!

Lunch went well and as everyone were unloading piss behind the trees after the heavy lunch, the evil that Sura was, started snapping everyone in that position from behind.

Nobody escapes Sura's viewfinder.. :P

I had known him too long to take a piss then, and waited till he was away in some corner to finally seek some relief. :P

Kuruva Island

And then, with expectations, we walked into Kuruwadeep. The entrance fee was 30 per person and that for cameras were 30 each. Just as we walked in, we could see some ducks and butterflies in the distance. Out went the cameras!

He was actually pretty far away; this was at maximum zoom..

And then came the fun part of the boating. The place being an island is not essentially literal. It's more like a piece of land surrounded on sides by a river, there's no sea here to make it an island.

The other side..

However, to reach the island, you need to be on the raft boat.

The raft boat carrying people to and from the island

Somehow, I didn't have a good feeling about the boat. Just as our boat arrived and we were to set sail, it started drizzling. Again, twice in two days, the weather changed from hot to cloudy to rainy in a matter of minutes. And we had to urgently place our cameras inside our camera bags. As the rains started lashing, the boys got a bit pensive of their phones and started putting it inside my camera bag - because I made the mistake of informing them that it is water resistant.

Snake on The Raft!

Just as this happened, there came a freaking water snake on our raft. Yes, the back end of the raft was partly submerged in water and a snake clearly came and scared the people. It came and got settled near the legs of Daddu; if it was anybody else, they would have shit their pants, but not Daddu; he cooly took his phone out and started snapping the snake below his legs.

Picture Courtesy - Daddu the Brave Guy

With a bit of fear, everyone waited for the other end of the island to come. Meanwhile the drizzle had picked up pace. It wasn't until we reached the northern end of the island after a walk of 20 minutes through some dense forest land, that the rain stopped.

The Paradise!

And the view was awesome!

Unfortunately took most good pics with people in it, so can't post here.. :/

There was a stream with a good water flow in it.

Looks like paradise, right? 

People were swimming and it was a big shock for people like Prabhu and Daddu who had actually bought shorts for the same purpose, but didn't bring it to this place. In fact, this place was only a last minute choice, so we actually didn't knew what we could or could not do here.

So, there was one choice: we could either remove our clothes, get into the river with our inners and take a bath and come back to the mainland with wet inners (!) or shut up and do nothing. Daddu was too thrilled to let this go. Even though nobody would give company, he had no hesitation removing his shirts and pants in a matter of seconds and diving into the stream.

Daddu the bathing beauty

As we made our way back, we captured some cool clicks on both sides of the island, the best of which should surely be this:

Nice, right?

And then after finally coming out of Kuruwadeep, it was around 5 PM and going anywhere was close to impossible. The boys decided to head to a Tea Shop since walking a good 5 kilometres there had drained everybody's battery.

While me and Kumar made into the tea shop, the others were busy shopping for more saraku in the saraku shop. Kumar was not interested to drink today, not sure why. So, well, after a bit of tea and snacks, we made our way back to the room.

Dinner and Movie..

I had taken my laptop so we could watch something at the night. I had bought an entire hard disk full of movies but nothing could make anyone happy. Daddu wanted some 'Hangover: Tamil Dubbed' version, Sura wanted horror, a couple of others guys wanted comedy movies and nobody reached a consensus. So, taking the laptop was a waste, except for Kumar who had transferred all his SLR pics onto his mobile everyday via the lap. :P

We eventually played a horror movie and Daddu got a bit scared. A few months back, the boys made an experiment with Ouija board, in the middle of which there was a power cut and lizzards falling on people's shoulders, which got Daddu scared out of his wits. While that story is for another day, ever since then Daddu has not been too comfortable with anything paranormal.

The Night Walk

So, after the dinner - and drinking for the other boys - was over, we decided to go on a night walk and decided to pull a prank on Daddu. The night walk started at around midnight and the boys were semi sleepy while walking on the by-pass road near our room.

Kumar with the blanket around him during the night walk

What made the location interesting was the presence of a cemetery close to our place of stay. That itself was enough to give chills to Daddu. So, while on our way back to our Homestay we suddenly pushed him to gate of the cemetery. His eyes lit up and there was pure rage on his face. With one push, he sent me and Sura back and ran to the opposite side of the cemetry.

Daddu's Personal Horror Story

While we came back to the room, Daddu explained the reason behind his fear for the paranormal. Apparently, it started way before the Ouija Board incident. There was some female figure that he used to see as a child in his newly built home. It turned out that a lady had committed suicide in the same well which was used for watering the construction of Daddu's home. While we were keeping poker faces trying not to laugh, there was pure terror on Daddu's face. :P

And by 1:30 AM, we all went to sleep after what was a tiring and pretty long day. The next day would turn out to be even cooler with boating and beach views. Part 3 coming up soon!

Thanks for reading. :) 

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NH10 - Suspend Some Disbelief and Enjoy the Thriller

Movie: NH10
Direction: Navdeep Singh
Cast: Anushka Sharma, Neil Bhoopalam, Darshan Kumaar, Deepti Naval
Cinematography: Arvind Kannabiran
Music: Karan Gour
Run Time: 115 minutes

Expectations:

NH10 has created some good expectations thanks to it's well edited trailer which promised a lot of thrills and chills. Coming from the director of the critically acclaimed thriller 'Manorama Six Feet Under', this movie also marked the first production venture of it's female lead, Anushka Sharma. Did the movie deliver its thrills? Lets find out.

Plot:

Meera (Anushka Sharma) and Arjun (Neil Bhoopalam) are married professionals from Gurgaon. One night, when Meera returns home alone, her car is attacked by unknown people. Traumatized after the incident, the couple get a licensed gun for their safety. Arjun takes Meera out to a desert holiday for some recreation. On the way, they invariably get to witness an attempted honor killing. What follows after that? Do Meera and Arjun get to escape the merciless regressive minded killers forms the rest of the story.

Movie Commentary:

NH10 is that movie that contrasts the two widely different worlds of India: the urban world, where cross-cultural marriage has gotten quite common and the rural world where honour killings are a silent reality. What if these two worlds intertwined? Sounds like a really good concept, but how these worlds get intertwined has been done in a most unconvincing way. There was no need for this incident to have happened had Arjun walked away from the goons when he was warned in no kind terms in their affairs. Rather, with the need to prove his manliness to Meera, he stupidly confronts them and then, well, all hell breaks lose.

That stupid decision by Arjun is the single weakest point of the movie and if one chooses to ignore that, the movie becomes an engaging watch in the first half. However, there are a lot of loop holes in the second half where logical fallacies kind of bug you from really investing for the couple. I cannot recall Meera or Arjun trying to call someone for help from their mobiles. Is it implied that there is no signal? Why did neither of them check for it? However, the powerhouse acting of Anushka Sharma keeps you engaged and looking forward to how things play out.

One of the interesting things in the movie is the sudden love affair that Bollywood seems to have for Tamil mouthing heroines. Starting from Deepika Padukone in 'Chennai Express' to Alia Bhatt in '2 States' to Yami Gautam in 'Badlapur' and now, Anushka Sharma in 'NH10', it has become a habit for the leading ladies to speak cringe-worthy Tamil. As a Tamil speaking guy, trust me when I tell you that while it might look cute on screen, the Tamil they mouth is artificial and pathetic.

Anyways, moving on to the bigger scheme of things, the single biggest takeaway for the audience from this movie is the rampant practice of honour-killing in rural India which goes often unnoticed and unreported because everybody belief is that's how it is. One police officer, who investigates the case where Meera's car is attacked politely says that, 'The city is a growing kid; it will jump at times!' and recommends them to get a gun for their own personal safety. Another police officer refuses to take her complaint when she claims that a gang of goons are following her. The third one asks for her caste when talking to her causally and frowns at her for marrying someone of another caste.

Who can be trusted at a place where everyone conspires to keep their family honour paramount? What kind of society is that we live in when women are seen as commodities capable of being beaten, abused and even killed, if it need be? There are the uncomfortable questions that NH10 poses to us. Only if the plot were more convincing!

Performances:

Anushka Sharma as Meera gets a memorable role and no wonder, she has produced the movie. Darshan Kumar as Satbir - the leader of the goons - looks menacing but doesn't get to establish his character very well, so the impact is not so profound when he looks indecisive at a few scenes. Neil Bhoopalam as Arjun does what his role demands, but I hope that his character was better written, since his decision to take on the big gang of villagers is perplexing. Men can be stupid, but no unreasonably so! Deepti Naval as the Sarpanch of the village gets a good cameo and plays her part well.

Technical Departments:

The direction is spot on for most part of the movie and while the script throws some rather gaping loopholes, the director has taken pains not to dwell too much on them, so the distraction is minimal. Since the story moves at a brisk pace - the run time is a taut 115 minutes - the movie doesn't give you too much time to think of much. Much credit should also be given to the editing of the movie. The cinematography, thankfully doesn't present too many dark backgrounds, though a major part of the story happens at night. The night light is well captured and presented without confusing the audience.

What Works:

The theme of the story, Anushka Sharma's brilliant acting and some edge of the seat moments.

What Doesn't:

The Predictable Story and Perplexing Plot Holes and a lot of gore.

Verdict:

If you can suspend some disbelief and can mouth some gore, you can enjoy this thriller.

Our Score: 3/5

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Travelogue - A Trip to Wayanad - Day 1 - Banasuragar Dam and the Misadventure with a JD Bottle

Who We Are?

A trip to a hill station can mean different things to different people: for me, it was the prospect of going back to God's own country - Kerala again, which I have grown fond of, over the years. For Daddu, whose relative had just passed away - meaning that he can neither eat non-vegetarian food nor drink for the next one month - the trip was already doomed (think Kerala- think beef and fish curry), but he agreed to be on board, just to give us company. For Prabhu, who had returned from abroad after almost three years, the trip was a get-together we had all wanted. Not only did Prabhu return from abroad, but he had also bought a bottle of Jack Daniels - 1.5 ltr - with him, which was supposed to be opened only during the tour. Everyone other than me and Daddu was looking forward eagerly to the bottle of JD.

It was a trip with seven members, all college friends. We are not revealing the names of all the seven for privacy. Lets give them some pet names. First is the gang leader, Sura. He is the guy who takes care of all the planning for all the trips that we go in. He books the tickets, resort and cab and bears the headache of collecting money from everyone at the end of the trip. That is why he is the gang leader.

Second, there is the Monk. The Monk is the man who had introduced most of the gang to the habit of drinking. He can have a full bottle all by himself and still stand tall without a quiver in his voice or a shiver in his stance. Now you know why he is the Monk. Senthil is from a company in Guindy and Kumar works at a private bank. The rest of the gang include Prabhu and Daddu, who are introduced already.


I was probably the odd man out - I am vegetarian and also a teetotaller, but I had gotten used to being around with people getting drunk around me, so it didn't matter. I was just happy to go onto some place to relax for a couple of days and to learn to use a new DSLR that I had bought a few weeks before.

Why Wayanad?

When the question of which place to visit was in our mind, we had been considering many options including Valparai or Alapuzha or Wayanad, Few friends had already visited Valparai and Alapuzha and we had to settle on Wayanad. Therein began our journey: we had a few places marked out to visit including the Soochipara Falls, the Chembra Peak, the Edakkal Caves and Kurudaweep falls. Also on our hit list was the haunted Chain Tree, where there was supposed to be a native's spirit roaming, that troubles the passers by.

How to Reach Wayanad?

Wayanad is located in the town of Kalpetta and the town itself is not directly connected to any major airport or station. The best way to reach through air would be to fly to the Calicut airport located around 140 kms from Kalpetta and take a cab.

Those inclined to travel by train can travel to either Mysore (140 kms away) or Calicut alias Kozhikode (75 kms away). By road, there are numerous connections to Kalpetta from all the south Indian states, mainly via Trivandrum, Bangalore, Mysore and Ooty.

And Thus Began The Journey..

Since we were from Chennai, our route was to travel to Calicut by train and have a cab pick us from there. And off we went, leaving on Thursday the fifth of March in the Mangalore Express. Our train was to reach Kozhikode by Friday morning. The journey was good; we had played some Uno cards for some time, had a lot of snacks and then had some decent sleep. We were also mocking the gang leader Sura for getting jerkins and raincoats as if it were going to rain during March! It took twelve hours for the train to reach the station.

Our driver was promptly available on time at the station and took us to a nearby place for breakfast. Around 9 am, we had puttus and dosas with Kadala Curry, Egg Curry and Chicken Gravy.

That Kerala Water

Yummy Kozha Puttu

Dosa and Idli with Onion Chutney and Sambar

Even the bill was only around 300, which seemed quite reasonable for 8 people (we and the driver included). After filling our tummies, we started around 9:30 to Wayanad and stopped only once on the way to a viewpoint. It was not breathtaking, but it was quite a view.

Good View, eh?

Another click from the view point..

After the selfies and group pictures were over, we headed off to our place of stay, which was proved to be a little difficult to find.

Our Place of Stay..

We overran the distance and had to trace our way back thanks to Google Maps. Finally, we did find our home stay - the Sunrise Valley Homestay located on Kalpetta By Pass Road, quite near the main town by around noon. The rooms were spacious and we had ordered only two rooms and since they had no other bookings, they were generous enough to offer us three. And we were generous enough to offer it to our driver. In addition to the three rooms, they also had a big balcony with a very good view and a hall with space for a sofa and a desk.

View from Room

Another View..

Our initial plan was to spend the major part of the afternoon, watching the India vs West Indies match that was currently on air and then go to some location like the Soochipara falls. The biggest heart break of the day for us was when the lady managing the home-stay informed us that the cables have got cut and so the TVs were not working. With heavy hearts, we had left for lunch by around 2 PM (even boys take time to get ready when hot water shower is available, I guess!) and reached a small home-style hotel.

The Lunch at the Mess..

Maybe it's just me, but I have seen that the smallest restaurants in Kerala offer some of the delicious food. That is, if you can bear the perennially hated rice of Kerala, you know, those fat and semi-oval shaped rice particles that you have to chew twice or thrice before you swallow!! Yes, we non-Keralite south Indians hate that rice and we don't hide that!

That Kerala Rice :/

But when it is topped with some delicious curries, it can become edible, as we found out on lunch that day. The place where we had visited looked like an old house, remodelled like a restaurant with plastic dining tables, plantain leaf and most importantly - a TV where the match was being relayed. Thankfully, the hall was empty and we took no time to occupy the seven seats in the room and waited where our lunch arrived.

Fish Curry (Left) and Veg Curry

The non-veg boys were ordering beef and fish fry and chicken and me along with the recently vegetarianized Daddu were left with only few items to eat.

Rice with Fish Fry 

Beef Masala (in two plates)

Then, the funniest thing happened. Daddu asked the waiter if there was any Rasam. The waiter politely informed that there is buttermilk instead. Daddu - who is a big time foodie - had had enough. He said, in one swift move, 'Get me one fish fry'. All the heads turned.

We reminded him in not so polite terms that his dead chithappa would not be happy, but he was already half way into the fried fish. There was no stopping him, as he had already ordered a beef fry soon after that.  Again, I became the only vegetarian in the gang. The bill came upto 990 bucks and the funniest part was that the meals had cost only 40 bucks each and all the accompaniments had cost three or four time.

The Shock..

And then we had decided to go to the Soochipara falls to beat the heat - oh did I even start about the heat! The place was in the early 30 degrees Celsius when we visited it. Almost the same as Chennai at the same time. While we knew that it was off-season time, we didn't think that it would be so hot. We had a jolly good time making fun of Sura again.

And then the bad news arrived: Soochipara falls and the National Park have been closed for visitors. Damn! Those were high on our list of must visit places. Then, we short-listed Banasuragar Dam from the remaining places, since it was closer to our present location.

The Dam..

Once we entered the dam premises (which has an entry fee of INR 20 per person and 20 per camera), there was a long and winding pathway for about 2 kilometres, which lead us to the dam.

The Banasuragar Ticket Counter

There were some really good views along the way good enough for us to attempt some selfies and long shots.

That Beautiful View Of Sun From Dam

The view of the dam was good, but not breath taking. Again, maybe we should have not expected too much going there on March.

Not So Much of Water..

We took a few snaps, did a mini stone-throwing competition, which Prabhu won, hands down. The weather had by then gone from sunny to cloudy and by the time we we walking half way across the Dam, it was already starting to drizzle. While everyone was rushing to get back to the car, the one to have some jab at us now was Sura, who had bought a jerkin. Meh. :/

As we got into the car, the rain started lashing out for a good half an hour and we slowly made our way back to the main city in Kalpetta since it was 5:30 PM already then. The problem with Wayanad is that, tourist spots are scattered in different directions and you can only go to one or two spots on the same route and then you would have to come back to the main city and then go to the next route for the next spot. It's kinda tricky and so, we decided to give the day a rest.

And Shopping for Side-Dishes:

The boys were more interested to buy the side-dishes for their main dishes and we went shopping to fruits market, fish market and what not. Finally, we bought a few fruits, some snacks and soft drinks and reached our room by 6:30 PM. Since we wanted to buy some dinner, we left around 7 pm again, ordered some chapathis and parottas along with chicken, egg, fish and one mushroom gravy (for me of course).

Again, the food cost around 800 bucks, was reasonable, we further bought some more fruits, had some tea and got back to the room around 8 PM.

The JD Bottle:

As everyone gathered around in the biggest room, where our luggage was thrown all over, we decided to clear it out so that we can start eating and boozing. The guys got excited then, after all, the prospect of drinking foreign saraku was tempting enough, I guess. So, out of nowhere, Senthil, all of a sudden, took Sura's bag to the other end of the room. He moved barely a few metres when the smashing sound of glass made all of us look back.

Clang! Yes, the bottle of JD, that Prabhu had so carefully bought from abroad and that, Sura had so carefully preserved till then, in a moment of stupid excitement, just fell from the partly open bag that Senthil wanted to move to the corner. For a second, nobody moved. Senthil just realized what had happened and I guess he was too stunned to move. Kumar cracked up and everyone else had only shock on their faces. As nobody moved, I just wore my slippers and started cleaning along with Senthil, who had come to his senses by then.

Unfortunately, a part of Sura's baggage, including his blankets, vests and briefs had got partly immersed in the alcohol and most of the floor near the place where the bottle had fell, emanated a strong smell. We slowly picked up the pieces and wiped off the smaller glasses using a towel. After what seemed like an hour of sweeping and mopping and cleaning, the smell had gone. But there was sadness everywhere. Nobody wanted to blame Senthil, but he had gone into a state of depression. Sura had confined himself to the other room and was almost in tears. The others were dumbstruck and didn't even talk for some time.

Last seen pic of the 1.5L Jack Daniels :( 

Dinner, At Last:

Calm returned at around 10 pm, mostly because everyone had gotten hungry. As we opened the pack of chapatis and parotas, unfortunately most of the others had got drunk with something else and forgotten all about the dinner and had gone to sleep. So, just four of us had to eat as much as possible from the pack of around 20 chapatis and 10 parotas.

Chapati and Fish Curry

Beef Curry

Egg Gravy

Yummy Parottas

Needless to say, a lot was leftover. And as we went off to sleep, most of the guys were clouded over sadness that the bottle had broken and only a few were looking forward to the next day, where we would be going to some really good places including the highlight of the journey, the Edakkal Caves. But those are for the next post!

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Restaurant Review - Hotel Crescent - Anna Nagar

Name: Hotel Crescent
Address: Located near SBOA Matric School, Annanagar.
Introduction & Expectations:

Its a newly opened branch of the famous crescent hotel in Nungambakkam. Had tasted their Shawarma before, which was really good. Today we planned to go for a complete dinner there.
Ambience and Service:

Their parking space is sufficient for some 8 cars at a time, and there is also Valet Parking available, which was good. The ambience was just average, there was some very dim lighting (don't know why it has become a trend these days) and they have tried to place maximum number of seats into the available place, so the entire place looks a little cramped for space. Food:

We ordered for Hot and Sour chicken soup, BBQ Chicken full , Ghee rice and chicken curry , Falooda and Tender Coconut Paayasam for desserts. 

Hot & Sour Chicken Soup:

The soup looked good, but tasted bland. Only after adding a little of salt did the soup taste good. 

The Barbecue Chicken:

BBQ chicken was just awesome. It was not like the regular BBQ which you get in most of the Arabian cuisines. Their masala was diiferent and it had a tinge of spicy tang to it and the juicy chicken made the eating experience awesome. I could rate the food five on five if I had eaten only this item. It was too spicy, tasty and went well with the sauces provided. Main Course:

We had also ordered Ghee rice and chicken curry combo. The Ghee rice was plain basmati rice fried in a bit of ghee with a little bit of salt and dry grapes, much like the regular jeera rice in north Indian food. The Chicken Curry combo was like the traditional 'kari kozhambu' you are used to eating with all the spices in the right proportion. Overall, it was good but a tad too heavy, and definitely one person cannot eat that alone.
Desserts:

Coming to the desserts, the first dessert that me and my friends could not take our hands off was the Falooda.

It had more of the strawberry flavour to it, but was still heavenly in taste. The traditional mixture of cherries, then ice cream, then cut fruits and the jelly was perfectly followed to a T. However, I felt the quantity of Falooda was less for its price, but the taste was too good to complain.

The tender coconut payasam was even better than the Falooda.

It had some soft tender coconut pieces floating in some chilled tender coconut water and milk. After having such a spicy meal (BBQ chicken) , it was like a heaven drinking this one :) The bill came to INR 800 for three of us :) They accept Sodexo Vouchers too :) A big plus for IT guys like me :P A word on the service: the manager was very friendly with us. When the waiters were busy, he personally went to each table and helped them. My rating would be Food - 4 Service - 3.5 Ambience - 2 VFM - 3.5

Overall: 3.25/5.

Definitely Worth a Visit!

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Kingsman The Secret Service - Leaves You Gasping For More

Movie: Kingsman - The Secret Service
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Cast: Colin Firth, Taron Egerton, Samuel L Jackson
Cinematography: George Richmond
Music: Henry Jackman and Matthew Morgeson

Expectations:

Matthew Vaughn comes riding after the twin successes of 'Kick Ass' and 'X-Men: First Class' and obviously expectations are high in this movie featuring a relatively fresh cast. The fact that Colin Firth plays a super spy is, quite a surprise considering that he is usually seen in affable or genial roles (remember his Oscar winning performance in 'The King's Speech'?). Added to the fact that Samuel.L.Jackson gets to play a cool baddie here ensured the audience can be expecting some cool one-liners. The trailer promised much and so, we had quite a bit of expectations walking into the theatre.


Plot:

A super secret spy organization, who operate independently without obligations to national or private interests, to eliminate threats to humanity, searches for a replacement for one of their recently martyred agents, Lancelot. Each of their members are recommended to nominate a promising kid and Galahad (Colin Firth), who feels a strong sense of attachment to a promising street kid, Garry 'Eggsy' Unwin (Taron Egerton), due to a past obligation, recommends him. Just as a the recruitment is in progress, a global threat emerges from a twisted tech genius, Valentine (Samuel L Jackson) who aims to cull the world population to bring order to this chaotic world.

Performances:

Kudos to Colin Firth to have gone out of  his comfort zone to essay the role of a smart, jacket-wearing super spy. This is bad-ass with class and Firth makes the role his own. The action sequences involving him are terrific and especially the church scene would remain etched in the audience's mind for quite some time for it's action choreography and the near flawless way that Firth has performed in it.

Taron Egerton as Eggsy is a revelation and at no time does he look flustered at the presence of bigger stars. He could be one new face to watch out for. Sophie Cookson as Roxie, his co-competitor in the recruitment and the eventual friend who helps in the fight against Valentine's plan and Michael Caine as Arthur (watch out for his performance in a particular scene towards the end of the movie) all do justice to their roles.

Samuel Jackson has great fun playing the antagonist here and the complicated role seems to be a cake-walk for the veteran. Sofia Boutella as his loyal sidekick Gazelle with blades for legs just adds to the weirdness quotient.


Technical Departments:

Vince Vaughan is one of those new-age directors who do not give a 'sodding' damn about the needs of a structured screenplay or the need to have stereotypes such as a good hero or a bad villain. In his movies, most people are foul mouthed, the heroes don't mouth the punch lines as much as they show through their actions and the villains are super weird.

The screenplay is deliberately slow at times, but always entertaining. There is a good amount of tension build up in scenes involving the confrontation between Valentine and Galahad and there is great fun in the way the recruitment process is conducted to select the next Kingsman. You can see why they would like for the next Kingsman to be not just a team player, but also ruthless and why, Eggsy with a heart of gold was never going to be the perfect fit.

There are plot-holes as to why the secret super spy organization cannot detect the tracking nano chip planted by Valentine on Galahad and pressing questions as to how Valentine dictates terms to all the world leaders without ever leaving a trace of his activity, but those are for another deep thinking reviewer interested in nitpicking.

Cinematography by George Richmond is functional, with the church massacre scene deserving a special mention and music by Henry Jackman and Matthew Margeson is pacy whenever the movie demands it.

What Works:

The great casting, performances and some memorable dialogues.

What Doesn't:

Minor plot-holes and tad-lengthy run time.

Verdict:

Excuse the plot holes and give this terrific action movie a watch. It would leave you gasping for more.

Rating: 8/10.

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Enakkul Oruvan Review - Good, but can't better the original

Movie : Enakkul Oruvan
Cast : Sidhharth,Deepa Sannidhi,Narain
Music : Santhosh Narayanan
Direction : Prasad Ramar
Screenplay : Pawankumar

Expectations :

Enakkul Oruvan, directed by debutante Prasad Ramar, is the official remake of the crowd funded Kannada superhit "Lucia" by debutant director Pawankumar. The original had fresh faces, but the refreshing concept made the small budget venture a huge hit. The tamil version has got some popular faces like Sidhharth, Narain onboard and was expected to better the success of the original. Does the movie live up to the expectations ? Let's see.

Plot :

The movie revolves around Vichy (Sidhharth), an insomniac worker in a theater owned by Dubai (Narain). Situations lead him to get hold of a sleeping pill Lucia - which is not just that. It is a dream inducer, and induces dreams of what a person thinks about, and the dream will continue whenever the person sleeps, forever. Meanwhile he also falls for a simple girl Divya, working in a pizza shop. He dreams of a sophisticated life, where Vicky is a superstar, and Divya is an upcoming model and aspiring film actress, with Durai being his only companion/mentor.

Vicky the star's life is constantly under threat, besides he need to save his love as well.The reality too gets tough, at a point when Durai is killed and Vicky takes over the theater. When we look out for the culmination of the dream and the reality parts with an apt end, Enakkul Oruvan throws a surprise revelation at the end, which is just mindblowing, and makes the whole movie viewing experience worth it.

Performances :

Sidhharth doesn't quite fit in as the local theater worker guy, and his dialogue delivery as well the looks seems forced and artificial. Though he emotes well in that part, it takes the backseat when compared to the uber cool and stylish superstar Vicky. As the star living a luxurious life, he exhibits the feel of a man enjoying lavish lifestyle, the ego, anger and desperation with consummate ease. Credits to his stylist for this particular role.

Deepa Sannidhi impresses more as the pizza shop girl, and does a fairly decent job in the other role as well. The girl shows traces of acting, and is sure to go places if she could improve her emoting abilities further (lessening the focus on glamour, which she actually specializes in!!). Narain does a fine supporting act that deserves mention. The other artistes including Muneeskanth fame Ramados, Maheshwaran (Office TV serial fame), Yog Jaypee and Srushti Dange (definitely could have gone for a better casting for her part) are wasted in insignificant roles.

Technical Departments and Direction:

Gopi Amarnath's cinematography captures the black and white stylish part of the star vicky as well as the surroundings of the poor theater staff vicky perfectly. Santhosh Narayanan could have come up with even better numbers, though "Prabalamagavey" conveys the lifestyle of the superstar and "Poo avizhum" just gels well with the theme of the movie. However, he compensates with his impressive BGM for most part. Leo John Paul's editing could have been taut, and they could have definitely trimmed few sequences and chopped off 2 songs (the one with the foreigners in particular) to improve the pace of the movie.

Debutant Prasad Ramar has played safe, and has opted for a scene by scene remake without any change to the original. However, the movie (even in its original) moves at its own pace, and often tests the patience of the viewer. Besides casting Sidhharth in the local guy's part just doesn't work, even though he comes up with an earnest performance. And complete credits to the screenplay by Pawankumar, especially for the stunning climax. Prasad could have done away with two songs (Yendi and Kutti poochi), which could have definitely improved the viewing experience. The plot is simple, even in both the parts (Dream/reality) and as the best part comes only in the end, Prasad could have pepped up the proceedings with interesting sequences to sustain viewer's interest.

However he decides to stick to the original screenplay, and as a result Enakkul Oruvan becomes a patience test for few viewers who come in looking for pace,action and all other masala elements that one could associate with any commercial movie. However, if you are looking for something different, Enakkul oruvan will surprise you, with its well conceived climax.

What works : The superb climax, Sidhharth in the stylish star part, BGM

What doesn't : Sidhharth's unconvincing theater guy act, Lack of pace, songs.

P.S: For those who haven't watched Lucia (original), and for those who love to see something new, Enakkul oruvan will be a treat !!

VERDICT: Clear the patience test, you could enjoy this dream pill Lucia.
7.5/10

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