Khatta Meetha

Khatta Meetha is a light comedy of corruption in the contractor’s business. Anybody who has been to the municipal corporation office for getting a particular work done would know about it. Starting with the peon to the top engineers, bribe is the way to go ahead. (Not that there are no honest people, but very few).

Sachin Tichkule is a descendant of a royal family, a budding contractor who has huge dreams of starting Tichkule and Tichkule Company. He is well known in the municipal corporation office for creating issues. His elder brother and one brother-in-law are corrupt contractors, who walk alongside politicians, minting money by all means possible. His other brother-in-law is in the inspection department in the municipal commission office, and is in cahoots with Sachin’s elder brother.

Sachin has logged a complaint against the municipal corporation, for not clearing his cheque on time, and this gets him blacklisted in office. If they were not helping Sachin earlier, the court case hinders the cause further. His situation at home is also not that good, with everyone in the family thinking him to be a lazy, corrupt person. Things start getting worse when a new commissioner comes into town, who happens to be Sachin’s ex-girlfriend – Gehna Ganphule and who makes life worse for him. Though Gehna is against corruption, her prejudice against Sachin is so strong, that she does not realize the corruption around her in the office. As usual, things work out in the end with bad people getting punished and all.

The first half of the movie is comedy, but the second half does not have you laughing always. The movie even has some fight scenes. Trisha, a new comer to Bollywood, is ok, but her acting does not stand out.

Overall, I would say it is an ok to watch movie, but not that great. After all, movies like Hera Pheri are not made everyday.

Harry Potter and Order of Phoenix - Misses

I am a big fan of Harry Potter, have read all the books numerous times and watched the movies numerous times as well. I like to read a particular book and then watch the movie to understand how the directors take out the best parts of the books and put it in a 2 - 3 hour movie. I believe the job is really tough. The author of the book might also be required to ensure that the movie has covered all the important parts for the sequel to be released and understood by the movie public.

Harry Potter, for those who do not yet know him, is a young wizard, a Boy who survived the killing curse of The Dark Lord Voldermort. Hogwarts is the school of magic where Harry studies wizardry. Ron Weasley and Hermionie Granger are his best friends. J.K. Rowling, the author of the book, has spun the storyline so well, it’s really brilliant. The author has written 7 books with Harry from the age of 11, each year presented in one book – Harry Potter and Philosophers Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half blood Prince and finally Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. Till now, 6 movies have been released and the last one would be sometime this year – this movie would be split into two parts.

Yesterday, I was watching the Order of Phoenix and as I mentioned I was wondering how they choose which are the parts that should go into a movie and which should be skipped or changed. For those who have read the books would understand what I am speaking of. There are numerous things that were missing in this movie. I thought I would just make a list of those things that I would have wanted in this movie, and which do have a bending on the future parts and are difficult to understand by people who just watch the movies and have no background of the books.

Appointment of Dolores Umbridge – The school has seen three different Defense against Dark against teachers for three years. This year, the ministry had given an order that if the school cannot appoint a teacher on its own accord, then the Ministry would appoint one of their choices for the post. Dumbledore was not able to find a teacher for the post, and hence Dolores Umbridge was appointed by the minister as a professor in the school.

Dismissal of Professor Trelawney – For those who were wondering who was teaching the students the subject of Divination after the dismissal of Prof Trelawney, I hope you remember the centaur who saved Harry in the first part in the Dark Forest. Centaurs are supposed to be creatures who can gaze at the stars and can predict the future, though not accurately but Divination is also the art of patience.

Fred and George Weasley – Harry had won the Triwizard Cup and a lot of money as the winner of the competition. Harry was reluctant to take the money due to the fact that it killed Cedric Diggory. However, when he realized that he had to take it, he instead offered it to Fred and George and they put it to their business of the ‘Weasley products’. That’s why the ‘W’ when they run away from the school at the end of the movie.

Capture of Hagrid – After Dumbledore vanishes from the school prior to arrest by the ministry, the next one to go is Hagrid. Umbridge is biased against half-breed creatures, and she dismisses Hagrid from the post of the professor. However, since he refuses to go from the school, they start attacking him with spells. Professor McGonagall  runs to his defense, however she is also it by multiple spells and is required to be rushed off to the hospital for recovery.

Cho as the betrayer – The movie shows Cho as the betrayer of the secret about the room of requirements. However, it is not Cho but her friend who betrays all of them.  When Hermionie had asked everybody to sign their names on the paper for Dumbledore’s Army, she had put a curse on the same, which would make the betrayer’s face hideous if ever anybody tried to say a word about the Dumbledore’s Army or the place where they practice. This is a really nice trick that Hermionie does and should have been in the movie.

Umbridge as principal – When Dumbledore vanishes from the school, Umbridge is appointed the Headmaster of the Hogwarts. However, when she tries to get into the Headmaster’s office, she realizes that the gargoyle has shut her off and she cannot enter the office. She is required to use her old office itself.

Kreacher – He is the house elf in Sirius Black’s ancestral home. When Harry has the vision of the Dark Lord torturing Sirius in the Department of mysteries, Hermionie asks him to check whether Sirius is at home by using the Floo network from Umbridge’s office. When Harry uses it and verifies, he meets Kreacher who informs him that Sirius is at the ministry at magic and would not return at all. Kreacher is the house elf of Black family and Lucius Malfoy’s wife is Sirius’s cousin. She informs Kreacher to mention the lie about Sirius to Harry so that Harry could be lured to the Department of mysteries. During this whole time, Sirius is supposed to be at home itself tending to Buckbeak whom Kreacher has earlier injured.

Christmas Gift – When Harry mentions to Sirius about Snape teaching him Occlumency, he mentions that he is afraid that Snape is in fact making his mind more vulnerable to the Dark Lord. Sirius gives a mirror mentioning that whenever Harry needs Sirius, he should look at the mirror and call him. The mirror is a communication device whose other part would be with Sirius and they would be able to talk via it. Harry forgets all about this gift when he gets the vision and instead uses the floo network to contact Sirius. This mirror is very useful in the last part of the Harry Potter series. And I wonder how the directors would go by without it.

Well, these were some of the things that I thought would have been good in the movie. Guess, others would have their own views about what should or should not have been there in the movie.

Pick your own crop and fruits - Garsons, UK

This weekend I shifted to my cousin’s place at Farnborough, Hampshire. They had made a plan to go for Strawberry picking and I tagged along with them. This was my first time at such a place and I had no idea what to expect.

We drove from Farnborough to Esher to a place named as ‘Garsons’. They have a huge farm where a lot of crops and fruits are grown. They have an excellent range of vegetables variety from cauliflower and beans to green peas and potatoes. They also grow fruits– Strawberries, Gooseberries, Blackcurrant, Raspberries, Blackberries, Cherries and a lot more. The farm grows 5 types of flowers. Here, you can handpick the fruits and vegetables that you want, and take them home (obviously at a price), though its still fun to pick what you want.

We started from the Raspberry farm, started picking some. Some of the berries were a little too ripe. So when you are picking them, make sure they are just the right amount of red. From the Raspberries, we went to the Gooseberries. I had the delight of tasting Gooseberries for the first time. They are a little sour, a little sweet and definitely a once taste. Be very careful while picking these up – the bush is thorny. The blackcurrants are one fruit I have no intention of tasting every again.  We saw Cauliflowers, though had no intention to pick those up this time.  We did go to the crops section though. We checked out the Garden peas section. The same place had 3 different varieties – Garden peas, Mange Tout and Sugar snaps.

We then made our way to the top attraction – Strawberry farm. This is really fun. You would have to search for the strawberries amidst all the bushes. Pick up the red ones, but not too red. The dark red ones do not taste good. The normal red ones however are delicious. I had been buying strawberries from the Borough market for the past week and I had thought these were good, but the ones from the Garsons are very yummy. You would always remember their taste.

Garsons has a nice picnic spot where you can go and eat the lunch or snacks you have brought with you. Its very sunny these days, so if you have an umbrella, please bring it along. The picnic spot has benches, though on weekends there is a lot of crowd, and its better to bring your own mats that you can use. In case you are planning on eating the picked fruits, please remember to pay for the same. The picnic spot can be found if you drive through the Ring Road across the farm, there are sign posts which would guide you. Or you can always give a shout and ask.

People who would like to visit please note the timings – Mon – Sat : 9 am to 6 pm and Sundays : 11 am to 5 pm.

Hope you have a nice time there.

Garsons  has two branches – Esher and Titchfield.

Address for Esher: Winterdown Road, Esher, Surrey, KT10 8LS

For the complete list of crops grown please visit - http://www.garsons.co.uk/Esher/PickYourOwn/CropAtoZ/documents/CropCalendar.pdf

For the map of the Garsons farm to know where you can pick the crops - http://www.garsons.co.uk/Esher/PickYourOwn/CropAtoZ/documents/CropMap2010.pdf

Visit http://www.garsons.co.uk for more details on how to reach via public transport and other details

Note: Tomorrow they are opening for cherry picking. If you want to get the best, please be there at 9 am. Last year, they mentioned, all the cherries were gone in just 4 days. So please don’t wait for the weekend. You might miss the fun. I know I will.

Kodaikanal 2009

Bangalore Air Show 2009