Karma Yogi Suggests... Eragon, A Bad Experience

Eragon: The film stars Edward Speleers ( debut), Jeremy Irons, Sienna Gullory..... . The movie, released on Dec 15, is part of a 3 part Trilogy.The story follows the age old theme of dragons, magical spells, evil... blah blah. This story is taken from the novel "Eragon" written by Christopher Paolini. After watching the movie, I feel that this plays more like a bad SNL skit parodying the Lord of The Ring. The storyline has huge gaps and does not explain or provide a background to the story and leaves many gaps unexplained. The cast is rather boring, and the life like dragon, Saphira, does a better job in acting than the actors themselves. Karma Yogi Suggests a one time see and NO MORE !!!
Karma Yogi Rating: 2.5 stars

One World

Nice Video

Happy New Year

KarmaYogi wishes you all a Happy New Year. A small greeting from me.

The Road Trip - Day 2

On the morning of Day2 we decided to cover Golkonda, Salarjung Museum and Birla Mandir. Arjun joined us for the day.Giri's flat is huge, a 3 BDR house with a huge hall. We rested comfortably the nigth before.

I do not know what is it with Hyderabad and digestion, but all of us were hungry. Giri took us all to his breakfast hotel and ordered everything in Tamil in Hyderabad, which is so cool! Today was the day for things to look and act weird. UK was at his best with the Lift. He used to run down a floor below and press the evelator button. Wait for the us in the Lift to stop on that floor and then go down. Maybe he was checking if the button actually was for the lift. Well, only he can clarify that! Giri's apartment has a were skewed (literally) parking space. You think that the car has enough space for moving around and then suddenly a pillar appears out of no where. I could see different paint colors on the pillars and thought about all the lovely cars that scrapped through there. Well, we had 6 guys that I could consult to and we took the car out easily (without scrapping or decorating the pillars).


It took us some time to find Golkonda fort, our first stop for the day. We were 7 Software guys, trying to "exercise" our way to the top of the hill. Within 2 minutes of us climbing the hill, we were all panting. But, the "Batch" kept us moving.Oh the "Batch", I forgot about that. The only motivation that kept us moving were a small dungeon, a secret passage and "Batch processing(hi-tech)". Ofcourse, some of us were intimidated by the clapping sound around ;). The Y! and MS guys, each were trying to sell stuff to an Amazon guy (Irony intended) !

You can expect what happened next. We were all hungry again. Yeah, its the Hyderabad effect. Giri suggested the Kamath Hotel in Hyd. We went to the hotel and reserved for 7 of us and had a hearty lunch. You can find more information about Kamath hotel here. We had a heavy lunch.

Giri "navigated" us to the SalarJung Museum. The ivory and statue rooms were good. Other than that, the clock room was a big let down. The guys also visited the Gems museum. Photography is prohibited. So, no photos this time and I am not going back there.

Our Next pit stop was the Birla Mandir. We went all the way up, but realized that it was Saturday evening and all the crowd was bad ! Atleast, I honed by Driving skills in those narrow streets.

By now, we were all tired, not only because we roamed the city from morning, but also because we played OmKara a 100 times!

We finished our dinner at Hyderabad House and Giri then took us for an interactive tour of Microsoft IDC. We played foozball and some Pool to chill ourselves from the Hi-Tech atmosphere. I must say, Giri made a good tour guide for the MS building.

We came back and planned for Ramoji Rao Film City for the next day.End of day2, day3 to continue.

KarmaYogi Suggests... Hyderabad Special

In my 5 days of road trip to Hyderabad, I have eaten at many hotels. This post is an attempt to write a review on these restaurants. All ratings on a scale of 5 ratings.

Chutneys: This Restaurant located in Banjara Hills is synonymous with the location. The rich and diverse menu boasts different kinds of dishes. We were there only for the breakfast. Among all the dishes we ordered, we had Idli, Dosa, Vada, Uttapams and Upma. The Vadas are one of the best I have eaten. What really lites up the dish is the number of available chutneys. The dishes were a bit expensive, but if you are ready to have a good breakfast, Karma Yogi definitely recommends this place.
Karma Yogi Rating: 4 Stars



Bawarchi: This is one of the first Restaurants I visited in Hyderabad on my trip. This Restaurant is famous for its Biryani. On the non-veg side, we ordered Chiken and Mutton Biryani and found it good. I would not overrate the dish, but it was OK. The Veg starters and main dishes were not so good. The price is OK , but for the brand name that the Restaurant has, its a big let down. KarmaYogi does not recommend this place.
Karma Yogi Rating: 2.5 stars

Ohri's: Ohri's is a chain of eat outs spread out across Hyderabad. The one in Banjara Hills is more famous than the others. The eat out has 4 floors, the first fashioning veg and non veg appetizers. The 2nd floor has a chat outlet, and 3rd and 4th serve ice creams and Pizzas. The non veg food was quite good, but the Chats were a big disappointment. The sweets are good and the samosas good. A bit expensive, but an eat once in a while is doable.
Karma Yogi Rating: 3 stars



Hyderabad House: The Hyderabad house is a small Restaurant in Madhapur and has a good collection of Hyderabadi cuisines. The Biryanis are great and in fact, better than Bawarchi. The side dishes are very fresh and have a good mix of Dal and Salads.The prices are low.But, the ambiance takes a hit with very closely placed chairs and tables.Overall, a good place to have dinner with friends and relatives.


Karma Yogi Rating: 3.5 Stars

KarmaYogi Trivia... Hyderabad Special

Funny ( but true) Trivia:

Q. What is a "Dog Fooding" ?
A. (gotcha) Its a process that Microsoft follows to release and get feedback on its Beta version of the product.

Q. What is a "Dog Food"?
A.(You are right) The BETA is called the dog food.

Q. Who are the dogs?
A. ......

Q.How does one give directions to take Left or Right in Hyderabad?
A. Go Straight!

Q. What do you call a Junction with 4 roads meeting at the Junction?
A. A "Chaar-Rasta"

Q. What do you call a Junction with 3 roads meeting at the Junction?
A. A modified "Chaar-Rasta"

Q. What do you call the sides of a Dam?
A. Jara-Bandi

Q. Why does one smoke cigarettes in Hyderabad?
A. To improve digestion

The Road Trip - Day 1

The much anticipated and much awaited Road Trip to Hyderabad is now complete. Since, I have too much information to share for the 5 day trip, I am splitting it up into 5 parts for each day.

Day 1

Right to Left: Aakash, Naveen and Me. UK taking the shot.

Ashtam decided to trip to Hyderabad, which surprisingly fell in place. I recently bought a new car, the Toyota Innova and was in "Josh" to take it for a long ride. We were supposed to start by 6.30 AM, but as usual, we started late at 7.30 AM.Karthik and Naveen came to my house and we picked up Aakash at the Hebbal Flyover. My "Hi-Tech" car is fitted with a DVD player and a TV. So, the guys brought a couple of DVDs for the trip.My mom warned me not to drive fast, but I Joked that by 10.30 AM she will get a call from me from a 040XXXXXX number. This was my 2nd Road trip to hyd, only that I had company with me.

By 2PM, we made it to Karnool and we stopped there for Lunch.I liked the lunch a lot as it matched a typical Andhra lunch. In no time we were back on the road. As we approached Hyd, the traffic increased and worsened a bit to the end. Ofcourse, there were some light moments when we crossed MahaBoob nagar!

We reached Hyd by 5 PM. We called up Giri and asked him directions to his place. Trust me, its not so easy to ask Giri for directions. He has a wierd sense of direction, which I will explain later. We kept asking the local people for directions and in no time we were on the Pune Highway! Giri, your address should read, "Madhapur, Near Hyd" and not "Hyderabad-520XXX"!

We reached giri's house at around 7.30 PM, and decided to go out to Bawarchi for Dinner. Well, I had to drive a bit to get there. Bawarchi is famous for its biryani. You can find more information about Bawarchi here. We finished out food and returned back to giri's place. We talked a bit here and there and slept after a while to rest after a tireful day and to wake up to an other exciting day. More on Day 2 coming up.

How much?

Last week, my cousins from Mumbai were here. While I was at office, they went shopping. My cousins are shopping freaks and I expected them to loot away the shops at Brigade road and Comm street. When i got back home after my work, I was shocked see that they had purchased only a small set of DVDs. For a second, I thought my cousins became matured in the past few years for the better. But then, out of curiosity, I asked them the reason for looting only a small bounty.Disappointedly they said, " Bahut mehenga hain yaar".

Over the past few years, the cost of living in Bangalore has soared up, even beating the odds of Mumbai! Even today at the airport I paid 60 Rs for parking for 10 min, for 10 min! When I saw the receipt that I received, it said, city tax 8%. I asked the ticket issuer what the tax meant. He said that its like VAT and passes on to the consumer, which is us... I did not speak another word. Paid the amount and got out from there. Even petrol or diesel is more expensive in Bangalore. If you move out from the city, the cost is less by 2Rs.

Time may soon come that you may have to pay to step out of the house and pay for every step you take. Dig that !!

12 Days of Indian Christmas

Awesome Video

Starting off.....

I thought over my past and looked over my present and predicted my future.
Hence, This blog.