Trip to Windsor Castle ..

This was a good experince too see the Windsor Castle. I had the pleasure of soing with Dilip and Suma. Both my friends and collegues from Infosys out here in London. Well the best part is the way we tried catching the bus from Victoria Coach station. Dilip, the ass was 20 seconds late and the coach driver didn't let us in. the coach went on and we ran after it thinking we might be able to catch it at the next stop. But even though taking a Blak cab, and going to Kensington High Street via hyde Park Corner we again missed the bus by 15 seconds this time. Hence the only option was taking the next coach which as 1 hr later. This time I spent in Tesco getting some stuff to eat. :) And having a coffee from Costa. The return bus journey costed us £12. And it was a mere 40 minute journey.

Nice castle, well maintained. Here are some pix.

My Best Dance ..

This is by far my best dance that I completely admire. It has been done and shot in a best possible way. Thanks to all special people around who made this thing happen especially the producer 'Rukshana'.

See the reference post titled by clicking here.

WITH WHEELS UNDER

This is how I look while skating.

STREET SKATING in LONDON

This was virtually the best thing ever happened to me in London. We a bunch of 200 people went from Hyde Park in Central London for a 8.5 mile (2.5 hrs) journey on the streets of Central London. And I did happen to see places like .

Enjoy the pix:


Here is the one of the videos I took while skating.

My New Skates

These are my new Skates and I happen to spend a fortune on it. Well this is my long term one time investment. And I really had to maintain my monthly expenses to make up for it. I got thesse from a shop called Slick willies (www.slickwillies.co.uk). Nice shop. Go through their website and you will be impressed. Especially, the way they say that 'if they cannot repair a skate in London, no one can'.

Trip To GreenWich - 20 OCT 2007

I been to Greenwich on one of the weekends. To be precise on a Saturday 20 OCT 07. Didn't happen to write about this earlier. Well it was fun all day long. We went in a Cruise from Westminster to Greenwich and then walked to the Royal Observatory. There right at the GMT Line took loads of the pix. And the best part was the amazing view from there. Complete London visible with Canary Wharf in the background. Chandu's company was amaing and so were the others.

Here are the pix am sharing. Not able to upload them directly with my stupid IE problem in Vista. its blocking the pop-up.

London As I See

Well here are the Mojoz memoriez in pix. This would contain pix taken at different places different timings. Probably the best ones I consider on my London trip.

Namaste London

1st it was US. Then it was Sydney, Australia. But ultimately it had to be London. May be it had to be. This is what I realized after coming to this place and spending few days here. You will just happen to like the place in first go itself. Nice city, well thatz what it looks as of now. Hopefully in the time to come I will get an opportunity to xplore more around. And the best part is the opportunity I have here to learn dance. The clubs here are gud and by good I mean real guuuuud. The club culture here is engrossed deep in the roots. Go out on a saturday night and it would look like the whole London is out clubbing. On the contrary the weekdays are completely professional looked at. People dressed in suits in almost every field. N all black. Looks like an unsaid uniform.

The Accomodation: Well I would consider mysely real lucky to have got the accomodation the -day I landed here.

Okie i am sharing the pics i have as of now. Itz been 1.5 months I have been in London n there is loads of stuff to write about. the trips I need to Discuss:
1. Ice Skating
2. Club Collessum for the Salsa Republic party
3. Thorpe Park trip - a theme park
4. The finest International UK Salsa Republic at Bournemouth
5. Trip to Greenwich via Cruise

And hence RUMBA ADVANCE came to an end..

I missed the very first class of Rumba advance and hence the very basic step. It waz though pretty different from the regular Rumba basic that we have learnt in Basic batch. But I was happy about the new style, as I knew that was the one internationally accepted. The videos I had seen completely go by the new beat, starting not at 1 but at 2.
2-3 4--1

Well this time it was more stiff, crisp and tiring. Hmm by the end of the class, you can feel the strain on your arms. Well me writing this entry to make sure none of this skips outta my mind in the near future.

So here is a list of all the step and stuff I had learnt (thanx to miz Parul for her inputs):

Hold:
1) Close hold - normal Ballroom dance couple hold.
2) Open hold - holding both hands at ladies waist level.

Walks:
1) Pressed walk - short toe pressed walk.
2) Check walk.
3) Extended walk - extending foot walk.

Turns:
1) Switch turn - the sudden jerk turn after twisting your leg a bit.
2) Spiral turn - the complete slow turn on one leg.

Steps:
1) Rumba Basic Step.
2) Hand to Hand.
3) New York.
4) IEDA or watever way it is spelt - there are 2 versions.
5) Sliding Doors - bring lady on right side with and slide twice like a door.
6) Fan Alabana.
7) Hockey Stick - extension from Fan step.
8) Natural Opening out - lady on side, both facing same direction.
9) Opening Out - can open out on both sides.
10) Cuban walk (need to learn this).
11) Reverse Cuban walk - (need to learn this).
12) Rumba Walk - can be lead after taking the lady into IEDA step.

Well in case more comes to my mind I will update this entry. Also in case you more steps leeme know, I will add them.

Virtual barber Shop..

Listen to this. I particularily like the tickling in my ear when the barber uses his scissors. :)

Pune Central Salsa Competition & Kaytee @ Lush

I would have performed in Pune Central but guess it was not in my destiny. This came to me as a big shock that we ( Me n Garima) had actually qualified for the show. Had it not been the courtesy of the people at Central, things would have been much different, I believe pleasent. Garima didn't get a call from Vinay (guy @ Central) and so we assumed we are out of the game. And guess what right at the event time Vinay wants me to perform in a matter of mere 30 min. Its not possible. You can't expect me to arrange my partner and music CD in 30 min. So I denied and I was sadly happy to be a part of the audience. 5 couples performed. 3 from Rockys. Tejas and Nishita were damm good. I knew they would win, though theirs was a brilliant performance but less of Salsa. I admired Shikha's dance on the other hand with Vineet. Both Kaytee's students.
The same evening we landed at Lush (now Scandal) and it was Kaytee's workshop. He taught some good moves. Thats where I happen to meet him 1st time. Admired the guy in first go. Cool, smart and knows how to dance and carry himself. Monty -- now you know, this is where you intend to move on.

A Dancing Disaster...

Pune Central Salsa Competition. My partner this time was Garima. A sweet gal and an amazing dancer. Apart from Salsa i admired her folk dance too. So we practiced hard. Early mornings mostly. Compiling 3 traks, borrowing the laptop from my friend Satte, and then creating a CD that didn't play on the final audition day. Well thats terrible. Hotel Scirno (I know i spelt it wrong) - thats where the auditions took place. Well 1st things first few things could have been avoided. The CD-you know very well. And then never start to dance id the music isn't proper. You gonna screw up everything. If u can't listen top the music you can't dance, its a simple logic. 2ndly learn to take control of things happening if they arn't going your way. Don't make facial expressions showing your discomfort. Learn to smile and hide things for yourself as well as your partner. Well just this one memory left from the practice session video clip-a snapsjot from there.....

LONAVALA to AMBY VALLEY in almost Zero Visibility…

Okie while writing this article I was also watching this fantastic dark movie “FIGHT CLUB” and here is one expression.

“I let go. Lost in oblivion. Dark Silent and Complete. Loosing all hope is Freedom”. And this is ME. :)

Pune – Lonavala: 60 Km.

It was suppose to be Mahabaleshwar, but since Nidhi couldn’t be IN for the weekend, we altered course. So Lonavala was it. 6 people. 3 bikes. 2 red pulsars. 1 dark gray Unicorn. June time, so an awesome rainy weather. Dark clouds keep shifting places. The sun keeps coming around once in while. It was evening 1600hrs IST and we left Pune. 60 km of action packed journey. Oh I can’t forget to mention when Billi drove bike for almost 10 km @ 60kmph. Hmmm then the weather turned for good and I took in charge for the bike. After wandering for a while we did happen to find a white cottage at a decent cost to accommodate 6 of us for a price of 2000 bucks a night. Hmmm once when the adobe was set, we left to satisfy hunger. Pet ki bhook. So went all the way to the Tiger Point in pitch dark, but on a well laid road which also leads to Amby Valley. This was my 1st trip to Tiger Point and in the darkness I couldn’t figure out much. Just that the pakodas n chai were awesome. Well I remember it was Amol the person who served us this stuff. Now back to the city, for the booze (including “Blue Shark” Vodka and “Old Monk” Rum) and the bakaras. Here is all of us.

Thats us again. Hiding from rain. Just before leaving on bikes to Amby Valley.

Lonavala – Amby Vally: 28 Km.

This was the amazing road trip we took in rain and near zero visiblity. Will write about soon. For now enjoy the pix.

This is how it all looked. I miss that time.

MULSHI Trip - June 2007

Well this was the amazing trip. We 6 people on 3 bikes made it all the way in pitch dark night to this place. Shikha, Satte, Nidhi, Girish and Naina, we guyz rocked. Here are few pics to share.

Will write more stuff soon. :)

Shoot-Out at FTII

Place : FTII Studios, Law College Road, Pune, MH, India
Date: 17th May 2007


I happen to get this SMS from Supratik and he asked me n Parul to perform for a tv shoot. This was for the students of FTII (Film and Television training Institute of India) and it was Rukshana who had approached him to make this happen. This was a good chance where we can showcase our dance skills. Parul has been my dance partner for quite sometime now. So we knew it was not going to take much time to put up a small dance performance. We still spent much of the 3-4 days we had in hand, in getting the Rumba right. Salsa was kinda neglected, but we had already worked off our asses on getting that perfect the last time. Rumba was something we have not performed before , so it was pretty exciting. So on the 17th of May, 2 couples (other being Supratik and Bipasha) danced Rumba and Salsa at the FTII studios.

Few pix I would like to share: . . . . . . . .

This is perhaps the best pic I like.

Well thats Supratik n Bipasha. And I can't help noticing this amazing photography...

Another superb pic in B&W... Dosen't it look Classy !!!

And herez the group pic in the end. Well almost everyone linked with the shoot is here.

And watchout this space for the much awaited video. I will be uploading this soon, maybe within a weeks time....

La La Latin battle ... Part-3

Herez how Pune Times covered the Rocky's latin battle. This as seen, is published Pune Times page-3 on the 22nd of march 2007. In case you don't know Rocky's Lattin Battle happend on 3rd of March @ Area 51 pancards Club. You can read in detail about it and see my dance video in my previous posts (or just scroll down).

Here are the article pix, more clear..

What I must remember ....

As I sitback watching the Latin Dance performances of mine as well as all others in the very sequence they happened, I can clearly see from what happened, where I stood, the points that were in our favour, places where we went terribly bad, and some tips and inspirations from others who performed. Frankly am not at all happy with my performance. Hardly cameout to 50% of what I can do. But overall it wasen't that bad either. May be we ( me n ma partner) were good at covering up things. Still that means there needs a lot more to be learnt, practiced and xplored.
Well my moral was already low with the way I (rather than saying we) performed in first 2 rounds. Well there are things I can't mention here that did their level best to spoil my mood, but couldn succeed. I didn't lead the lady, the best possible way I can. Didn't loose my confidence though, but was pissed of with myself. Thankx to my partner & my friendz for bucking me up.

Well all well that ends well. But hey do remember the points that I need to work on.
1. Work on styling - learn to put more of free style in btw
2. The expressions should change with time n music n theme.
3. Mood - Alwayz be in a good one. Remember your mood should become better with dance and not dance only when your mood is good.
4. Energy - Get more of energy in you.
5. Bend - bend where u need to.
6. Use your hands freely to express
7. And look confident even though you are not.
8. Believe that you can win. You had won and you will ........!!!

Good Luck Monty .... ;)

Rang De Binary is back ...

See the much awaited video right here ... :)

La La Latin Battle .. Part 2

Well here is the Dance performance. Hope you like it.
Watever be the case plz leave your comments in cbox on the right. Thanks :)





A nice moment captured.

La La Latin Battle .. Part -1

Here comes the good part of posting the Good NeWs. So the Rocky's Latin Battle happened on the 3rd or march, 2007 @ AreA 51 - the Biggest and Best Disc in Pune. And it was a awesome evening with everyone performing their best. Dancing to the music of Salsa, Cha Cha Cha, Rumba & Jive it was an evening to remember. The performance by Rocky and Ketaki was a splended bonus for all the viewers. So here is the final tally:

Best Couple Rank 1 : Shiney n Tejas (Cha Cha Cha)

Best Couple Rank 2 : Pooja n Varun (Rumba)

Best Couple Rank 3 : Parul n Gaurav (popular as Monty) (Salsa)

Best dancer(female) : Nishita

Best dancer(male) : Abhay

Well I have been waiting for pix n video but still haven't received any yet. I will be putting that soon. Watch out for this space. ;)

This is how it appeared in the Indian Express-Pune Newsline dated 6th March.

Believe me thats me (hehehe my face not completely visible) and my dance partner Parul.

Practice Perfect

Bachpan main hamne seekha tha, Hard Work is the Key to success. Same goes for the upcoming Latin Dance Battle. Its scheduled to be on 3rd March. And I have been putting in lots of hrs and practice sessions to put up a beautiful performance. A lot more still needs to be done though. But I have my mind set now, to come out with flying colors.

The recepie for a beautiful Salsa dance performance is

A) a good partner (luck to have one, without a search)

B) some good chemistry

C) passion for dance

D) understanding

E) feel for the music

F) great pair of asses

...................................and cook it over fire until the its Hot 'n' Spicy :)

A Pose Perfect captured by a cell camera. Thankz for putting a timer in it.

L O V E O A S I S !!! The First WIN......

C O N G R A T S to All for making this possible and coming this far. In case you got no clue what I am talking about, I am congratulating everyone for representing ~I N F O S Y S~ Pune in the Inter IT-Dance Competition 'Rang De Binary!' and getting back with the 1st Runner's trophy. This competition was held on the evening of 21st January, 2007 in Residancy Club, Pune. With 15 participating companies and 17 performances, securing the 2nd rank was tough but we made it. After all we are eSMART and eSEXY bunch of people. :)

And the 2 weeks spent with evenyone, have now become an unforgettable and inseparable part of my Life. With all the people I have interacted with, now keep a special corner in my heart. And I am sure everone is going to miss these amazing 2 weeks in the January winter of 2007, when few souls came together to give a performance on LOVE and in the process made such nice bondings among themselves. Sure we all goona miss time spent together, practicing hard with an aim to win.

So how did it all go, leeme tell you right from the beginning with pix speaking for themselves.

It was Friday 5th Jan 2007 (eveing @ Infy Amphi Phase 1) when I had come for auditions with my friend Shikha. Apparently both of us were apprehensive about making it through. And moreover I was sure that if it has to be, then only one of us might be able to make through it. Anyways going forward we gave our best shot. And guess what, we both were able to make it in the list of 12 selected people. Phewww...!!! 1st hurdle crossed. But Miles to Go............

Saturday 6th Jan 2007 ----- to ----- 20th Jan 2007 : An Experience

So here comes the part of the choreographer Vinod. We gotta know him well over these 2 weeks and mind you he has a real talent and a passion for dance. The steps what he taught were simply amazing, something we ourselves could never come up with.

Here is a pic taken in Vinod's studio called "Dance Oceans", located @ new D.P.Road. Good place to dance and practice around with full length mirror and amazing wall paintings. I am sure they must have hired a professional to do that delicate piece of work. Even the ceiling was painted in dark but on careful observation one can read DANCE OCEANS there.

Okie all beautiful people here, with simple clothes and believe me really tired. Well the energy levels on everyones face speaks for themselves. This pic was taken on 20th Jan 2007 @ 12:43hrs. I like being accurate you know. :)

Well this is me with my beautiful dance partner Kanika.

This pic was taken few hours before the concert on 21st Jan 2007 (around 5pm) when everyone was really hungry with no lunch and for few choosen, no breakfast. Surely everyone will remember the delicious food @ Mirchi's. This place did satisfied our huger (pet ki bhook, mind it) at leat on 2 occasions.

Hmm here is one more (taken around same time, same place) with everone trying to fit into picture perfect. All trying to put up their best Close-up smiles.

Well Chaitali you definately need a good sleep after working so hard and being around with us all the time. You are definately a part of this team and none of us will forget you late nights. But please take care of you back. As I said Yoga will definately help, if only you can spare 15min out of your buzy schedule.

Hey this is all Guyz stuff. Mast photu of all 5 dances (male). I particularily wanted this pic in B&W.



D-Day Pix: 21 JAN 2007 sometime late evening ...

Well this is one of the most un-forgettable moments that day. It was sharp 4pm when our group along with the choerographers and Chaitali went for a dry run at the venue. Sandy (in the picture below) was very excited like we all were, showing off our attitudes. But Sandy had other things in mind. To grab a seat just next to the pool of water, he jumped so hard that ultimately he fell in water. And we have to grap hold of him to avoid him from drowning in knee deep water. This pic was taken just after the great fall.

Now comes the Moment of Truth. It was a 5 min performance and in the blink of an eye it was over. It seemed chaotic to us, but the crowd enjoyed it, everyone appretiated it. We were the only team to get a "Once More" call from the crowd.

Here are few pix from the moment we all had put in our khoon and pasina. This one I admire a lot and so does Shradha (the pretty gal with pretty hair in the pic below).

And while receiving the Trophy. BTW forgot to mention that 'Milind Gunaji' was the chief guest. Must say a damm tall guy.

And here is our achivement. The Trophy.

Disclaimer:
Mentioned above is my point of view and I have descibed it in a way I look at things. In case you have any suggestions you can mail them to me, I will think about it :) The content and pix has been published with due care, not revealing critical info. I have missed out on many things but guyz I am a buzy person, and I need to get back to work. Might add stuff later. Like naman's shocking story just before the show.

Trips around 2007 New Year's Eve

It was 2006 Christmas Eve, a long weekend. And it has been quite a while that I had gone on a outing with family. Morover one of my friend's mom and bro was in city (from Dilli) and it was good idea for everyone to come together for a trip. So the decided place was Kashid and Murud. These are beaches 150 Km South of Mumbai and 50 Km south of Alibaug. They are in a pretty way fine piece of beaches that you can find within 200 km of Pune. Well I wouldn't say much about the trip and let pictures do most of the talking.

This is me doing Pole Dance in the middle of the night at the House where we stayed. Thanks to the stong light bulb, the actual me isn't revealed much.

This is the Enterance of the Murud-Jangira fort that is 1/2 a km into the see. The only way In is to take a ride on the sail boats (costing 12 bucks for to n fro journey) and then literaly jumping from the sail boats onto the narrow steps, a place crowded by many vistors waiting for their ride back.

This is how the Murud Jangira Fort looks like on its way on the sail boats.

Here are all of us in the Fort. It was really sunny in the last week of December (in Northern hemisphere) and trust me everyone is wearing loads of sunscream. :)

Well I am a lill bit of a photographer myself. Was trying my hand at it. This is a pic I took. I would call it beautiful. Its for you to decide.
Now lets get back to the Beach Area of which the story is all about. These are us early morning on the Kashid Beach. It was a lot of fun.

And this is me. Also the pic was taken by me. You would be ale to see this pic of mine on Orkut too.