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Messi at SaltLake Stadium Kolkata

You probably don't really associate India with major league football but the greatest footballer of his time, Lionel Messi did indeed make an appearance at the SaltLake stadium on 2nd September for an Argentina vs. Venezuela friendly match. My father was able to get hold of a couple of VIP tickets (worth around Rs. 2000 each) so we went for my first football match in a stadium (cricket is more my sport).

The being a friendly was played in very good and slightly relaxed spirit but it was quite a thrill to watch perhaps the most iconic sports person in recent years playing not more than 30 feet away. Along with him their where other Barca and Real stars like Di Maria, Higuin, Mascherano and Man City's Sergio Aguero. Perhaps Messi wasn't at his best, he did take the corner that resulted in the only goal of the match and I really appreciated the fact that he played the entire 90mins despite the ans humidity, and if possible he has certainly won over even more fans with his stint at SaltLake stadium.

Harry Potter : The Series Ends but the Magic is still in the Air

This Friday I watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (read my review) with Deepanjan at Broadway and continued our tradition of catching a Harry Potter movie on the first night of release for 4 films in a row! Thank you mate! As always it was an absolute pleasure.

I have come a long way from the kid who went to watch Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone nearly a decade back with a whole bunch of relatives in a musty old movie theatre, as this was in the pre-plex era. And over the decades how I have changed and how entertainment has changed in keeping with the changing world. Harry's world has also changed a lot and yet Hogwarts was a constant companion of my early teenage days, with Harry's growth into adolescence almost mimicking my own!

This final movie of the Harry Potter series provided a fitting finale to the unmatched Harry Potter franchise with characteristic hard-hitting action, unbelievable special effects (further accentuated in 3-D) and whole range of emotions ranging from anticipation, passion, love and above all the bittersweet haunting after taste of nostalgia.

I wonder who will take up the mantle to mesmerize the young and old alike. Definitely the Twilight series isn't the answer!

Photos From Kerela

I visited Kerala last December, but what with one thing or another I never found the time or motivation to upload some of my photos from my trip down south. So here's making up for my laziness with a series of amateur photos from Kerala trip. Hope you like them. :D

A water reservoir near the popular South Indian hill station of Munnar

Passion Fruits.

Pride and Poverty, Munnar

A white rose in a spice garden

Adventure sports at Verkala beach,Kerala

En route to Munnar from Kochi (Cochin) 

The Swimming pool at Hotel Manor, our resort in Kumarkom,
backed by the  inky water of the Backwaters of Kerala

I really want to write a (very) short review of Kulraj's Broadway which is a multiplex located very near to my home in Salt Lake. However, I was quite unsure whether to publish it on my review specific blog Reviews and Guides or here. But since this review will be deemed sufficiently interesting and relevant (not to mention helpful) by only a few thousand of the 7 billion strong global population I thought it will be more appropriate to publish this review of Kulraj's Broadway on this personal site. So here goes:

Location
Kulraj's Broadway is located on the 5th floor of Salt Lake Big Bazaar just opposite Bijon Bhavan and a stone's throw away from EZCC.

Description
As I have already mentioned Kulraj's Broadway is a 4-theater multiplex showing Hindi, English and Bengali films. The theaters a lot smaller than Inox or Fame but that makes for a rather cozy and  homely environment. It also means that the halls appear to be a lot more crowded than in case of Inox or Fame and personally I think that makes for the better movie-watching experience.

However, the factor that has made Kulraj's Broadway my favorite theater in the city in recent times is there very affordable pricing. A show which will cost you around 200 rupees in Fame, South City and around 150 rupees in any other plex in Kolkata will cost you approximately 70 rupees at Kulraj's Broadway. Now if you compare this with the 50 rupees tickets at second rate theaters like Priya you will realize that its a really nice deal.

And to make things even better you won't have make any compromises on the audio/video front either! Kulraj's Broadway also offers movies in 3-D but I haven't had the opportunity to test it out yet.

15 Days of Fun

Finally the exams are over!! Owing to a semester boycott earlier this year we had twin sems and a midsem to boot! Which meant being under constant pressure since March. I don't know why but I just can't take an important exam lightly, something many of my friends at JU are very adept at doing. But hey, at last the 3 month ordeal is over! Its been over for 16 days actually (starting 31 May) but I had been so busy unwinding that I just didn't have the time write a post. To not find the time to write a simple blog post for over 2 weeks should give you a pretty good idea just how stressed out I was in the first place!:D However, have written a couple of movie reviews on Suite101.

Actually, that's all I have been doing lately--watching lots and lots of movies ranging from classics like LA Confidential and There Will Be Blood (didn't particularly like this one) to trashy/flashy films like Snatch and Italian Job. And as you may or may not know writing informative and opinionated movie reviews is almost a passion with me. I must have watched close to 40 films in the last fortnight, hopefully enough to sustain me the rest of the year when I will find hardly any time to watch movies.

I also watched On Stranger Tides (really liked the special effects especially in the 3-D version), X-Men: First Class (which is probably one of the better movies in the franchise) and Shaitan.

Ok that's it for now folks. I did a lot of other funs things this hol too. Hopefully will write about in a new post in the near (but unforeseeable future). :D

My First Vote

Since this is my personal blog I thought it might be a damn good idea to make a short post about my first real step towards adulthood, viz. casting my vote.
Now I gotta be honest with you.Getting up at 7 o'clock in the morning to cast a vote isn't my idea of a rocking start to the day but coming from a politics conscience family like mine giving the vote the miss wasn't really an option.
Thankfully however, they didn't wake me till nine and the polling booth was virtually empty and everything went almost too peacefully for my liking. A few nervous moments while a fully fitted out CRPF jawan gave me the once over and then just go in, sign a document, caste your vote and earn a sexy blotch of ink on your left hand index finger for your troubles. Piece of cake. Can't wait for the 5 years pass till my next vote! :D