yours photogenically

Am I photogenic at all? Well, I don't know and do not really care...

Presenting you with the pictures of my trip, as promised!!

http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/manyu_loyola/my_photos


Cheers!!

Road Trip to Nagarjuna Sagar dam: A Journal

I woke up at 05:30 am yesterday and started wondering, when was the last time I did that. I had slept only at around 2:00 am, so I was sleep deprived, and worried that I might not be able to enjoy the trip. But my mind felt pretty fresh, so after having a cold shower, I went to office with my roommate(technically, flatmate), to meet three of our colleagues whom we went with. They asked us to come at 06:30 but they came only at 07:15. Till then we played some nice games of TT.

We started at 07:20, filled up petrol, and asked the guys there for the route. We actually knew the route from Hyderabad, but did not know which road we should take to get out of Hyderabad. They told us the route and then as soon as we hit that road, we stopped over and had breakfast- south indian staple diet- idly, vada, dosa. Then, we started off on our journey on the beautiful road to Nagarjuna Sagar. It is one straight road with no big curves or turns. One straight smooth road. Except for a couple of ditches, there was no hindrance whatsoever. We did the stretch of 160 km in just a little over than 2 hours.

We then went to the AP Tourism information center to find out about the places of tourist interest around Sagar(that's what most people there call it). They told us that there would be a light show at Ethipothala waterfalls, which is around 17km from the dam, in the evening. There is a buddhist monastery and a museum on an island near the dam. We had to take a jetty to reach there and it took forty five minutes. Before going there, we went to a few places close to the dam and took pictures and had lot of fun. We went to a broken bridge and also climbed down one side of the dam. Then we had lunch and got on to the jetty.

They told us that the last boat from the island will leave at 05:00 pm, so we went around the museum very leisurely, but then at around 04:15 some security guards shouted, "saab, the last boat is about to leave", so we had to leave (I was cursing the guys incharge of the boat for having given us wrong information) without having seen the monastery, which I really wanted to visit, because I really like the serenity, peace and beauty inside a buddhist monastery(I had once been to one such monastery in Mussorie).

After coming back from the island we went on a small, round, row boat (they call it parisal in Tamil) till the dam and got back. It was a nice experience but water seeped in to the boat slightly and wet my pant. My friends shot me from the back(obviously without my knowledge) and this made a superb photo. (i wasn't too happy about it but thought it was really funny).

Then we went to the falls, saw the light show and got back to have dinner. After dinner we drove back to Hyderabad. Again, during this drive, yours truly provided a lot of amusement and humour to his fellow passengers, at his own cost. (now, stop laughing!!..let me tell you, this doesn't happen too often).

We got back home late in night and had a good night's sleep.

I'll put up the photos soon, somewhere on the net, and give the link on my blog.

Till then, one advice from my side- Visit Nagarjuna Sagar with a group of friends. It's great fun.

Word of caution: It was really hot yesterday, so whenever you go, make sure you do not wear anything thicker than cotton!!

Trivia: It is the largest masonry dam in the world. It has 9 gates for irrigation, 11 for power, and 26 gates for the reservoir. (the number of gates info was provided by our parisal man)

Ladder 49

Fire Fighters: These are people who cannot afford to be late and cannot get distracted off their goals (especially short term). In this movie, it is shown how much these people love their jobs. They take up these jobs just because they want to help people and save people's lives. Obviously, not everyone of them is like that but yes, all of them have guts.

In a few places in the movie, the fact that they are so brave as to run in to a building when all the others are running out is mentioned and shown. Their sole aim is to save others lives and they stick to it. One very good scene is when Jack ( Joaquin Phoenix) saves a man by climbing down from the terrace with the help of a rope, when there is a TV reporter covering the scene from a helicopter. This movie tells us that when they save lives, nobody thinks about them and their family and what they would be going through. We are so indifferent that sometimes we even say, "that's what is their job, so it's alright". Yes it is their job, but even they are human beings like all of us.

When one reads the name John Travolta, in the credits, he/she is bound to expect acting of the highest class but in this movie there is not much scope for innovation in terms of acting. This doesn't mean that the acting is not good, it is good enough to keep you interested and make you 'feel' the movie. It really makes you understand the emotional side of their life.

The movie starts with Joaquin Phoenix, and a few others, going into a burning building. He gets trapped alone in the building and there is more destruction. The most important thing is that he saves a man from dying but is on the verge of dying himself. He then thinks about his life so far, after joining the fire brigade. The screenplay is really good and the shift from the present to the past is smooth and at the right situations.

Travolta, Phoenix, Jacinda Barrett and all other actors look good and really fit their characters perfectly. When you go to watch this movie, don't expect a thriller or an action packed movie. It is just a peep in to the life of these heroes and it has been depicted very well.

It is tough to predict how this movie will do at the box office, but it will surely be a hit with people who expect to see something valuable and thought provoking, during the two hours at the cinema. The movie is surely worth watching for- the direction, screenplay and acting.

Ladder 49: Official Website.

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Lots of things have happened since my last post. Met new people, had good food and had lots of fun. Work is getting slightly hectic, so I haven't been able to update my blog.

Went to meet a few friends at Coffee Day today and got free passes for a preview show of this movie. This is my first movie review and I would appreciate comments and suggestions on how to analyse the movie, how to structure the write-up and how to write better.