Story of My Life

Will not move to New York

Krishna Chaitanya — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 02:48:08 +0000

There was a time when I wanted to live and work in the New York City. Not any more. Of late, I have noticed that I no longer want to live in big cities. Traffic, noise, reduced leisure time and lack of tranquility are the prime contributing factors.

I was a bit apprehensive when I came to know that I may have to move to New York. Not any more. I now have an option of moving either to New York or Tennessee. New York is a big no-no because of the winter season. Tennessee is a yes because it rarely does snow there in winter. Tennessee would also mean that I will be able to visit Florida frequently.

The whole relocating thing is a big pain in the neck for me. To me, it means three things.

Getting rid of my furniture and TV.
Getting my Ford Mustang shipped.
Buying furniture and TV after re-locating.

Personally, I am no travel enthusiast and the whole relocating thing is a significant inconvenience. But, it is a part of my job.

It’s Winter

Krishna Chaitanya — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 09:20:47 +0000

It is that time of the year again. Winter! I absolutely hate this season. Ofcourse, the good news is that it doesn’t snow in Seattle. The bad news is that I will be moving to northeast in about 10 days. The timing couldn’t be worse. If I am a bit lucky, I might get to move to southeast instead of northeast. Nevertheless, I am happy to get away from the rain.

Back from Hyderabad

Krishna Chaitanya — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 07:17:26 +0000

I am back in the USA after an 8 week trip to Hyderabad. It was a memorable trip as I got to celebrate my birthday with my friends and family. The trip was also special in that I got to start my own business back in Hyderabad.

The first four weeks were completely lost as I had to work at my company’s offshore office. I never worked in Hyderabad or India earlier. This was the first time that I got to see the IT work culture in Hyderabad. It is sad to see people (especially from my company) work during odd hours of day and night. Since I was not considered a part of the off-shore team, I was allowed to choose my own work timings. That was a huge relief for me as I was not comfortable working from late afternoon until past midnight.

After the first four weeks, I got to spend some quality time with my family. And then I was back to work again. It was not my regular day job this time, but our business that needed serious attention. About 2 weeks earlier, me and five other friends of mine agreed upon a product – ROYAL CHALLENGE PACKAGED DRINKING WATER – to launch our business. Though I am only a financial partner, I took some time out to complete the paperwork and initial structure. Everything was ready by the end of eighth week. Sadly, I had to return before the launch of our business. But now, I can call myself an entrepreneur.

The Great Indian Laughter Challenge

Krishna Chaitanya — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 11:05:02 +0000

‘The Great Indian Laughter Challenge’ is one of the few good shows on indian national television today. Pankaj Saraswat is the brain behind this show and truly a good one. Soap operas have always dominated the television. Except for the younger society, they’ve always enjoyed a wide audience. Dance and music shows, though not as popular as the soap operas, are popular too. Gamer shows are slowly catching up. There have also been shows dedicated to comedy like the ‘Comedy Show Ha Ha Ha’. But stand-up comedy has been non-existent on indian national television. TGILC has been a brave and a rewarding idea for Pankaj Saraswat.

‘The Great Indian Laughter Challenge’ is the first of it’s kind and has become quite popular in short time, particularly with the indians abroad. The show has seen some great performers. Kapil Sharma and Kuldeep Dubey’s performances are my personal favorites. The show also enjoys a great support from cricketing legends and bollywood actors alike. The show has successfully completed three seasons and has started the fourth with a bang. It’s about time that DVDs be released for major television series in India. Many would love to get their hands on the DVDs of the first three seasons of TGILC. It’s business and may be another step towards killing piracy.

The show also features comedians from Pakistan. The general attitude of many indian people towards pakistan is not amicable. It’s refreshing to see pakistanis being appreciated alongside indians. Infact, Rauf Lala, a pakistani, is the winner of the second season. It definitely shows the benevolent attitude of both the producers and the viewers.

Hopefully, very soon there would be stand-up comedians with their own shows on indian television – something similar to Russell Peter’s or Jay Leno’s show. Soap operas have ruled the television till date. It’s time for the comedians to be the baadshahs of television.

Toshiba Recovery Tool DVD

Krishna Chaitanya — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:45:02 +0000

I’ve a Toshiba A101 and was trying to restore the factory image for two full days now. After a great amount of time spent in research, I was able to successfully restore my computer to factory settings. From the instructions behind the CD cover, the process of restoring the factory settings is real easy. The process is indeed simple and straight forward but for a catch. The hard disk drive volume label should not contain any spaces. Strangely, if the label contains spaces, the recovery DVD will load the RAMDISK image and reboot only to load the RAMDISK image again. Two days to research and two seconds to rename the hdd volume label.

Ready

Krishna Chaitanya — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:23:28 +0000

Another movie. Another migraine. Of late, I’ve been noticing a trend in the telugu movies. Only full-fledged comedy movies are a hit. Others don’t even fare well. Superficially, almost all the movies have the same story and screenplay. No matter what the screenplay is, only two things seem to matter.

The style in which a story is presented.
The quantity of quality comedy embedded within the screenplay.

‘Ready’ lacked the latter. Brahmanandam is an amazing actor and he’s proved it once again. Either the script suits him really well or he made it look like it suited him. But this is still no match for his role in ‘Krishna’.

The screenplay quality has dropped to the sea-bed in the recent years. It’s even worse when big stars are involved. It’s big money and many stakeholders and minds are involved. Well, too many cooks spoil the food. Though the telugu film industry has seen projects like Mantra, Anusuya and Pandurangadu, it’s not enough. Being an avid telugu movie watcher, I would like to see a few more movies with an innovative screenplay.

The Gym

Krishna Chaitanya — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 06:59:09 +0000

Suddenly, the gym is turning out a fun place to be. What intrigues me the most are the variety of exercises the trainer has in store for me. Zach wouldn’t train me yesterday. A trainee would. We were working on my shoulders. The same routine stuff with dumbbells and weight sets. By the time I was through, my shoulders were burning. I still had to work on my abs. This one was really interesting. I would lie on my back, hold his ankles and raise my legs as high as possible. He would push my legs as hard as possible. Without resting them or touching the ground, I would raise them again. He would push them again. The first day, I used an exercise ball for the ab workout. Looks like everybody in the gym has a few tricks up their sleeves. This was the best ab workout I’ve ever done. By the time I was done, my abs were burning. I had to breathe heavily for a minute before I could stand up. This was the only workout so far that was intense and fun.

Today I was supposed to be working on my leg muscles. After working out my thighs and hamstring continuously about 15 minutes, my trainer made me work on my calves. Standing Calf Raises with 135 pounds on my shoulders. Yes. You read it right. 135 pounds. It was an absolute killer. Calf raises are not easy after an extensive workout of the leg muscles. 135 pounds on your shoulders doesn’t help either.

Dasavatharam

Krishna Chaitanya — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:21:12 +0000

Not a good movie. Not even close. A weak plot, mediocre graphics and poor screenplay mark the movie. Kamal Hassan did 10 different roles in this movie. No doubt, his performance was good. But were the 10 roles necessary? The only sensible reason seemed like Kamal Hassan was out to break Sivaji Ganesan’s record of 9 roles in a movie. 30 minutes into the movie and it was beginning to get boring. The rest of the movie is reason enough to go home with a migraine.

Though a disaster, the movie will be remembered for

Jackie Chan attending the audio release function.
The 10 different roles played by Kamal Hassan. First ever in the history of cinema.
The budget with which the movie was produced. Supposedly, it is about 140 c.
Being released in all the 50 states of the USA for the first time. This is probably the first time that a south indian movie is being released in all the 50 states.
The graphics. Graphics of this quality are rare in indian cinema.

Working Out

Krishna Chaitanya — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 04:07:57 +0000

I’ve started working out again. I’ve indeed started doing this about a month ago. But now I’ve a personal trainer and he’s a machine. Yes, I’m paying to buy pain. For 30 minutes, I work out stopping only a few seconds after each set to catch my breath. Today is the third day and my legs are sore. They’ve been burning since the day I’ve started working with the trainer. I can walk a bit faster now but still can’t run. Surprisingly, my upper body is able to take the toll without any serious repercussions. Greater the pain in my abs, the better I feel about them. I’ve worked two days straight on my upper body and feel no pain. But damn my legs.

Even my diet has improved enormously. Waffles for breakfast, a subway sandwich for lunch, a low calorie protein shake after my workout and indian food for dinner. This is my diet now. Writing about it makes me feel even better. I used to love pizza and double cheese burger. Am I glad now that those are off my list. However, I’m still hooked on chocolates and sodas. I don’t know if I can ever quit chocolates. Darn!! Building muscle is not easy.