Friday, August 29, 2008

Random weekend plan - IV

Updated inline.

I'm putting it here so that it compels me to stick to it. The plan, of course.

First and foremost, we have 3 movies lined up, starting this evening. In a couple of hours to be precise. That's because 2 possibly good movies (Rock On and Wanted) and 1 definitely great movie (Wall E - what else do you expect from the makers of Monsters Inc., The Incredibles, Cars, and Ratatouille?) are releasing this weekend!! And also because while I am in California for 3 weeks, my darling husband won't venture out anywhere without me, except possibly for food.

Rock On was brilliant. Why the hell did Farhan Akhtar not oblige the camera all these years? He sings well too. I liked the way he played the part of a performer on stage when presenting Pichhle Saat Dinon Mein. Four words for Arjun Rampal: Aankhen, Don, Om Shanti Om (although the wig was ridiculous), and Rock On (please try to pick roles / scripts like these). Purab Kholi and Luke Kenny played their parts to perfection. Prachi Desai was a doll, not an actress--could have been better. Shabana Goswami as Debbie kicked ass. The music inspired me to finally get an audio system fitted into my car. A year since I bought it, and all the poor thing has heard is me cackling.

Wanted was passable, although, any James McAvoy fan should not miss it. He was very different from what he looked /played in The Last King of Scotland and Narnia.
Well chiseled body. And the twinkle in his eye. Oh my!

Wall E was our treat. Perfect Pixar entertainment. The way Wall E and Eva called out to each other was absolutely adorable (me and hubby tried to mimic them all through the remaining weekend). So was their attempt to clean up and rehabilitate the earth. The movie was so cute and funny all throughout, that I could successfully keep myself from crying inspite of all the mush. I know I'll be watching it at least 5 more times within the next year.

I'm never sure whether to be glad about it, or push him into being a bit more social. Mostly I settle on letting him do what he likes most--play games incessantly on my laptop (which, I believe, has seen more action with him that I have :P), watch TV like there's no tomorrow, and SLEEP for as long as he likes with the bed all to himself.

Between Wanted and Wall E tomorrow, we have 6 hours during which we plan to get laptop's USB ports fixed, and also help my colleague at office settle into my parent's house, where we lived last year. She's renting it out for a while. As I said, these absolutely boring details are being laid out here so that I am pushed to follow through the plan.

The night after Rock On, I couldn't sleep. Socha Hai just didn't leave my brain until I put the plan (of buying the car audio system) on paper, besides listing a few other tasks, so I wouldn't forget. And guess what? The next morning, I forgot to take the To Do list along with me. Beat that.

Thankfully, we did most of the chores we planned to, and more. We upgraded the laptop's RAM and got the USB HDD's casing replaced to fix the loosened port. Then I left the hubs at my grandmom's place, conspired with my uncle and his kid, and asked them to drive me around while I left the car at the accessories store to get the audio system fitted. It's a smart Sony Xplod MEX-BT 3600U with Subwoofer / Speakers, which accepts USB and Blutooth input as well.
This was my surprise for hubby, and for a change, I was sure he'd be pleased, not shocked with it. Besides it would save me the trouble of singing for 6 hours straight while we made the long trip tomorrow.

Sunday still seems a little daunting, because of my own idea to drive to Panchgani / Mahabaleshwar and back. That'll be the farthest I've planned to drive so far. Between 100-120 kms one way. The only thing that makes me look forward to it is that my sweetest, cutest hubs agreed to the idea without a second thought, in a split second. It's so rare to get such a quick response from him that I almost did a double-take. But I like it :) I might even let him drive :)

Although, the factor that might keep us from executing this plan is the condition of the roads. If they're not good, we might be tempted to turn back even if we're half-way through. I'll upload pictures if we make it, and share some virtual strawberrys and ice-creams with you ;-)

Yes, yes, we made the trip. We started at 7:30 instead of the planned 6:30, but it was only because Angels and Demons kept us awake well past midnight. I'm reading the illustrated, hard bound version to the hubs these days, thanks to a colleague who lent it to me. The beginning of the trip was slightly rocky, because we fought about how much cash we should withdraw from the ATM. Once that fight was out of our way and we hit the highway, things chilled out. We had a good breakfast, and that possibly calmed the hubs down even further.

I drove all the way up to the table top, halting intermittently for pictures. Once we reached Panchgani, and before we headed to the volcanic plateau, we made a pit stop for some deliciously perfect strawberry and fig ice-creams. It was mostly cloudy when we reached the top, so the shade helped us explore in peace. There were a lot of monkeys and I was thrilled to see them, but they didn't give me much bhaav, possibly because I wasn't carrying any food, and wanted their pictures for free. A while later, the sun began beating down on us, but we found respite in one of the cool ponds. Within an hour or less, we turned back to the parking lot, where we had a fresh nimboo sharbat before plonking our arses into the car. I wasn't really sure whether we should spend more time driving 20 kms ahead to Mahabaleshwar, and spend more time in the sun, visiting a couple of popular tourist spots. We turned back instead, and I let the hubs drive. A full 60 kms and 2 toll booths later, he did the mistake of asking me if I wanted to drive. I have a bit of motion sickness, and even sitting in the front passenger seat can be nauseating at times. So I galdly accepted.

Once we were home, we spent some time reading (obsessed that I am, to finish the book before I leave for the U.S.), then showered, and dozed off. Then my uncle who had been on the same route as us since morning, only traveling as far ahead as Kolhapur, called up to warn that heavy rains had disrupted traffic close the Katraj ghat, the southernmost tip of Pune city. We were happy we got home before even the first big hint of rain showed up (if I let go the exact 2 drops that pelted our windshield, out of the blue). Ha! Here are some pictures...








That's Pratapgad, a grand view from the table top.




The ridge of the volcanic plateau and the town below.


We did enjoy some walking-on-the-grass.








Yes, those are white tiger statues (or probably stuffed toys) on the roof of the entrance to the theme / water park. They also had blue water fountains. No idea why.


The father, son, and the holy white cotton balls. :P


My lovely Sahyadris.

2 comments:

sphinx said...

hav been dyin to watch rock-on since its frst promo.m so happy 2 knw dat its actually good.and congrats 4 d new music sys..and hv u cnsidred photography seriously..ur quite amazing at it doll!!beeeyuuutiful pics.

Pallavi Sharma said...

I wish we could enjoy this movie together. Especially the music. But no matter, we'll have fun when you come by and we go for a drive with the music system in full blast and us shouting our throats off ;-)

As for the photography, I believe the object is so beautiful that the technique has very little to do with it. I can't take good pictures of me to save my life ;-)