Karthik calling Karthik-movie review

         I don't remember the last time watching a movie, being almost certain of its roundabout climax.The title 'Karthik calling Karthik' and the scene with the protagonist, Farhan Akhtar as Karthik in the telephone exchange seals the plot for the viewer.Going by its name,  if you were expecting some spine-chilling suspense thriller, you are disappointed.
        The story is about a seems to be normal schizophrenic guy (Farhan) who is trampled by the society,owing to his low self morale.He lives in his secluded world and is hardly noticed  by his colleagues, even when he is right before them. In his anguish to earn his deserved dignity and his love, his mind creates another Karthik ,who he presumes to aid him, boosting his morale and there by flipping his life upside down.The mousy, diffident Karthik becomes this stylish,self-assertive guy, thereby earning his self respect and also winning his love.But in due course, he loses all this when his mind tricks him into beleiving that the unreal karthik wants to avenge him for being ignored.The story thus caps off with his psychriatist and his girl friend (Deepika) realising  his problem and resorting to helping him out.         
        The opening scene showcasing Farhan Akhtar, in a timorous role, offbeat from his other movies does make the character really intriguing.His unsent mails to Deepika, light hearted conversation to impress her makes you wish he were actually normal.Deepika, on the other hand potrays a common urban professional.So, you are not going to find the hip smacking Nescafe girl or the bikini babe of Housefull.The music by Shanker Ehsaan Loy really tunes you into the movie.
          The bottomline is 'Karthik calling Karthik' is a predictable yet an ok 135 minute flick.

Bench Boys

           Who says being idle is sick??Never so, especially if you have good company.
          
           Jan 6,2012, fresh from training into production, I was energetic,vivacious and eager to lay my hands on the cutting edge technologies, hungry to prove my mettle.That was how we were expected to be by our reporting  TL(Tech Lead).But on the contrary, I was expecting a long vacation and wondering if I would ever switch out of my stand by mode (btw I am an android developer..so got to use a few technical terms to make my supposed to be obsession evident).We met our TL, I guess the third day or so and that was a morale booster because we were told, she had been on bench for 9 months before getting into project.Thus began our almost 4 months of  peaceful bench period.
          Well, this was how we spent the first 2 months of bench.We reach the campus each day around 8 am and our meeting hub is  FC2, a few seats away and perpendicular to the Carnival counter.We have this morning talk about the various societal issues causing psychological imbalance and have a visual survey of  the opposite gender attraction quotient.After this daily ritual, we move to our (I am using 'our' since we occupy it before the others do)Warren Buffet classroom, where we check our mails and thanks to a few gracious forwards, there is always something new in our inbox.This is followed by reclining in our push back, stretching out legs on the parapet with one on the other,adjusting until we are perfectly comfortable and reading a novel.Though some resort to gaming, chatting or sleeping as per their metaphysical needs.Around 11 pm, we are forced to vacate the room by the formerly bench boys and we go to our next abode.We call it 'The Bamboo Forest'. Fresh breeze, good benches, I only missed the cushions there or it could have been as good as the dormitory in Infy.One could talk,read or sleep too inspite of a number of people moving across.Rightly said in the Bible 'Circumstance does not make the man, it reveals him to himself'.This hectic life was followed by a much needed break-The lunch.After the lunch hour, we bask in the comfy of Warren Buffet and Bamboo again.At 4 pm, it is our time for refreshments, an expensive one too.Icecreams for a hundred bucks almost every other day.I do think once in a while if it was worth it but had the company thought the same about paying an idle lot 22k every month, things would have been different.
         A couple of months later we were mentioned the floor and the likely cubicles we would be working in.The initial days, there was hardly anyone apart from me and my friends occupying the floor.So we indulged in many recreational activities like watching movies, Dumb C, dancing, cards, reading all kinds of stuff, planning for short films, novels and what not, sleeping prostrate on the computer table and if I am right, the best of all, face painting.This was probably the place I realized the  implication of 'moving up the corporate ladder'.Only after a  few days in our cubicle, there was  power(till then we had to either sit in the bamboo forest or endure the sweltering heat in the cubicle with no power) followed by occasional lift facility, restrooms, systems, log on servers, a permanent TL and finally the AC.
        Presently, I am in the solutions team of MOBL and there is a honcho sitting in Hyderabad, planning our schedule.The bench life was fun and hope the work would be fun too.
                         Who says being idle is sick?