For once, I did not hit snooze

Hey there, stranger! I am a common Indian man, one among a billion. I’m just out of my teenage and pursuing an Engineering degree. That doesn’t narrow the field much, does it? I have nothing remarkable to say in my twenty years of existence. That in itself makes a case for a sad story, but would you read it? No. I was like you. I grew up playing on the lush green fields, on the barren lands, the playgrounds and at home, with kids my age. An age from which I can remember nothing but smiles on the faces of people. Good people. I grew up learning what was ultimately the ways and means of this world. At a time when learning was fun. I was once a cute, chubby kid with no sorrows. They, however, came in search of me with time and those two soon followed a proportional relationship. It was education which mostly added to my woes. I wanted to get out of the system, but just like all of you I couldn’t. It was forced into my stomach and childhood excreted its way out of it. I would pay anything to have it back and live it my way. Alright I get it, lets not get hypothetical. I loved my family. I remember well the weekends spent visiting the market with parents, watching those immortal shows on Doordarshan, the occasional trip to the movies, restaurant, having my grand father buy me cotton candy, the rare bonding moments with my sister, and loads more. Friends were also part of an equally special memory trip down the lane. Though I must admit I’m not in contact with most of them today, it is true that they were perhaps the most integral part of the growing up stage. An integral part of what I am today. Ah! All these talk makes me so nostalgic. The good old days. Heh. I can’t believe I’m saying that despite being just twenty. Looking back at my days, I realise that I was such an innocent kid. Okay maybe it shouldn’t entirely be in the past tense ,but innocent or not, today I am not what I was. Not after I killed a kid. Not after I shot him in the head and watched his brain cells splash all over the walls. Not after I turned around to walk back with my face lit up with a faint smile. Hello world! I have arrived.

The misery, that led me to the killing, all began when I started thinking. Thoughts about how disabled I was just could not be resisted. Peers around me were cramming their heads with formulas and equations. I was least bothered by them. I was more interested about the purpose of my life. Why am I here? Why am I writing this? Where do I go? Am I being controlled? Who is this God? And with that question, my thoughts stopped. They could not proceed without explaining that. Is He really the Summum bonum? If so, who? There are millions of He’s. Is He human-like? Is He supernatural? Does He have superpowers? Why? Did He create the Universe? Does he oversee it now, then? The more you answer, the more questions it will pose you and I am sure none of you have answers to any of that. I thought, the only logical way out is to believe there is no God. Now, doesn’t it all sound obvious? I came to accept this at a pretty early age and then the people around me looked like fools from a seventh world. But I couldn’t help them with their beliefs. In their eyes, they couldn’t help me with my belief. In the meanwhile, my life continued on the downward spiral. My religious stance certainly didn’t have any sort of impact on it. From a strangers eye, my life was surely a bed of roses. But, happiness is something we are all devoid of. Happiness is only an imaginary state. I thought I can be happy if I think I am happy. I can go on losing and yet be happy. Why not? Why do we always want to win? It’s perfectly alright to lose. And also to lose all the while. The only benefit of having belief in a supreme being is the satisfaction of a prayer. A prayer to help you with your sorrows, with your defeats. A prayer to help you win. But, whats wrong with losing? The idea is to achieve happiness, right? We are all brought up with the idea of God instilled in our heads. My three year old niece has a fear for her ‘Jotha’(God in her language), a being she believes to exist in the ‘Tulasi’ plant. I was once that little innocent kid. But today, I lose all my innocence. I am no more what I was. I have undergone a radical change. But all that is only in the mind. To me, turning into an atheist meant being intelligent, being a thinking man, being one step above the rest. I say I do not believe in His existence but obviously I may be wrong. Recently the stampede in Sabarimala brought in to light the magnitude of your beliefs. I could only tweet #outrage watching that. But, God? He couldn’t even do that. So, I chose the infant among Gods. Krishna. The dark skinned kiddo. I shot him in his head and watched him die instantly. I woke up from my slumber, a state I have been in for twenty years. I am not trying to wake you up. I just explained how my alarm clock worked. God. My ass.

PostScript : I chose Krishna just to bring out a metaphor on how it is generally considered a sin to be an atheist, especially being a Brahmin. A sin, some people might rate to be on par with the killing of a child. And, the first paragraph might seem irrelevant but I just wanted to tell a coming of age story of an atheist in a dramatic manner

Mango Man’s rant

The latest massive Wikileaks left many Indians disappointed. So what? We don’t need Julian Assange. We have our own Arnab Goswami and co. to unearth scams week in week out and then watch the media houses shamelessly fight over who came out with the story first. We are a proud nation with a long list of scamsters. The scams keep bigger each time, so news channels find it hard to label any of them as ‘The mother of all scams’ or the ‘Big daddy of all scams’. They just keep running out of those catchy stuff. So the next time a scamster is in the spotlight he should be referred to as ‘Raajaadhi Raju Raaja A Raja SureshKalmadi LalitKModi’ is here (In that king inviting tone used in Tamil movies, example : Chandramukhi). I am sick of hearing what could have been done with all that money. I know that. Everybody knows that but what we would like to know is what the hell happened to democracy? All aides of Suresh ‘Sir u made lakhs’ Kalmadi have been arrested while he was busy giving away medals in the Asian Games. A Raja has to consult his leader to open his mouth. Lalit Modi is in hiding giving YouTube interviews while I demand he be brought back for IPL 4. Seriously. While they wipe their arse with all those money, the media never stops uncovering more scams. Give the legal system some time guys. 10 years or so? So what we do is forget the guy and move on to the next swindler. Very convenient. So, for the political parties to find their way out of a scam all they have to do is throw a more interesting story to the media. And we eat them and before we burp the next dish is served. So long and thanks for all the fish.

Disclaimer :
India is my country & all Indians are my brothers and sisters.
I love my country and I am proud of its rich and varied heritage;
I shall always strive to be worthy of it.
I shall give my parents, teachers and all elders respect and treat everyone with courtesy.
To my country and my people, I pledge, my devotion.
In their well-being and prosperity alone, lies my happiness.

Endhiran

It lived up to the massive hype, yes it did. It is a perfect mix of the Indian sci-fi and the masala that is much needed. I watched it twice on the first day, in Chennai, at Sathyam and Udhayam cinemas. But still I don’t think it matched the experience I might have had at Albert or Kasi theatre. But never mind the mass hysteria because this isn’t the typical Rajnikanth movie. He is not an auto driver or a milk man in the movie but plays the role of a scientist who has to say words like Neural Schema and it may be hard to believe but Thalaivar does it convincingly. So, this is not the movie for the typical Paal Abhishekam Rajni fans. For starters, the traditional Deva music that is played when the letters ‘R-A-J-N-I’ rolls on the screen is absent. Superstar appears on the screen just like that, no hyped up intro song, Pudhiya Manitha is played during the starting credits, no punch dialogues. This is not your ideal Rajnikanth movie. Rather, this is India’s most expensive movie (180 crores), this stars India’s highest paid stars, Asia’s second highest paid Star, this has the most number of prints after Spiderman, this is beginning of a new era in Indian cinema, this is Endhiran : The Robot.

I am not going to dwell into the storyline since all of you would either have watched it already or read about it. Chitti, the robot, Version 1.0 is adorable. The first half is basically full of stuff it is capable of doing. It is programmed to sense emotions and slowly learns it and falls in love. Aishwarya Rai looks stunning and gorgeous for a woman of her age, but she has set a new low in the standards of her acting, visible in plenty in the Kadhal Anukkal song. Rajnikanth on the other hand, does it with elan. All you North Indie desis stop moaning about the fact that he is over 60. All that matters is the guy still delivers and he does it in his own stylish way. No one in your Bollywood could have pulled this movie off so convincingly. The train fight in the first half is simply awesome. Shankar had a similar fight scene in Sivaji, with the software engineer beating up some 50 rowdies. In Endhiran though everything is perfectly justified because it is an Endhiran. Duh! Version 2.0 portrays the superstar back on the screen as a villain. And, he is The best doing it. Right from the first frame, where he walks infront of a mirror and gives his evil laughter, he sets the screen on fire. If version 1.0 reminded of the Thillu Mullu Rajini, version 2.0 reminds you of Alex Pandian. Dialogues such as ‘Yen, en Ratham nu sollen’, his goat laugh, the way he says ‘Robooo’ and the romance scene before the Arima song are out of the world. No words to describe. He has ‘acted’ after quite a long time. The graphics in the last 30 minutes are much talked about and it deserves the attention. For a movie with a $40 million budget, the CG were quite a bonus and the Sphere, Snake, Giant human formations of thousands of Rajnikaanths are quite on par with Hollywood standards. But it comes with a drawback. The Graphics took the centre stage in the climax so much that the screenplay lost its focus. The final minutes were more like a showcase of the Version 2.0′s abilities and a justification of the movies budget. Editing was also found wanting in the first half when Vaseegaran’s Benz gets smashed twice and it appears perfect in the next scene. But nevertheless, they aren’t negatives worth cribbing about in a movie of this magnitude. Endhiran is Shankars dream and it has come true. There are more Shankars dreaming in our nation and Endhiran gives them all hope. It marks the beginning of something magnificient for Indian cinema and we are here to bask in its glory. Rajnikanth FTW and Endhiran is truly Mass. DOT.

Twenty 20

I turned 20 this month and thought I should come up with the 20 most memorable moments of my life. So, here they are. Feel free to say it’s been a pathetic journey so far. And no academic achievements mentioned because ..err..well…there have been none. I’ve listed these events in the order they have happened and I’ve also specified my age when it happened.

#2 : Okay I don’t actually remember this, but I’ve seen the photo of this event numerous times. I ate the Kunku/Kunkumam from the Pooja room and smeared it all over my face. I was so cute back then you know.

#6 : A Golf ball landed on my balcony! The Golf course was about half a mile away from my place.

#9 : A huge snake crossed a deserted road a couple of feet away from Dad and me when we were on our way to YMCA.

#10 : I rode the bicycle for the first time hands-free. They were busy embracing the cool breeze.

#10 : 6th standard. I won the inter-school Bournvita Quiz Contest meant for 6th-8th grade students.

#11 : Playing an Under-12 cricket match, I was primarily in the team as a bowler. I was sent to bat at No.4 by my coach for some reason and the first ball I faced raced to the boundary. Over my shoulder it came and through the legs of the square leg umpire it raced.

#12 : I did a model of a volcano along with a river, its tributaries, deltas, etc and how it all ends up into the sea, for a Science fair in school. I explained it well to every passerby, my seniors, high school people and a few teachers. Proud moment.

#14 : When me and some friends got off without paying for the 6 Bhel Puris we ate.

#14 : I had tears in my eyes, which no one noticed, when my sister got married.

#16 : 12th standard. Me and a few of my friends were playing Table Tennis in school after bunking class. A friend tore his pants and we were all rolling on the floor laughing. Literally. I had tears in my eyes.

#17 : First month in college and the first words a girl says to me are ‘Hey, you are cute’. Sheesh! *Guilty pleasures*

#17 : When I first got to hold my niece Viba.

#18 : Met with a massive accident on the East Coast Road, Chennai. Friends car got smashed, luckily none of us suffered even the slightest injury.

#18 : I had been to an A.r.Rahman concert and reached home at 4am.

#19 : When i boozed for the first time. And I should also add the time when I did it for the second time and the third and…..yeah you get it!

#19 : When a smoking friend passed me the cigarrete and winked at me to take it. I said “No Thanks”.

#19 : My Grandfather, suffering in hospital, told me to go home saying he is alright and to stop worrying about him. I went home, he passed away a couple of hours later.I had to break the news to my sister over phone.

#19 : When me and my friends set out on a long planned tour. (Its happened twice, this more specifically refers to the latter tour – the one with my high school buddies).

#20 : I hadn’t cut a Birthday cake since I don’t remember when and i cut 2 Birthday cakes on August 6,2010.

#20 : When I was out on a date for the first time.

World Cup Round Up

It started off with all the news revolving around the Jabulani and the Vuvuzela and yeah well of course, England. A month later, it was all about Spain, Casillas and his hot girl friend ,Barcelona and everything else Spanish and one Octopus. Spain started off as favourites and ended up as Champions, but that didn’t rob this world cup of any surprises and excitement. I relished staying up to watch the late night kick off (IST) matches and err umm – bunk college the next day. So, what were the real talking points of the 2010 FIFA World Cup held in South Africa?

The Jabulani – Even for someone viewing the matches on Television, I could tell the ball had a weird kind of extra bounce which made life difficult for all. It was a stupid football, designed and approved just for the sake of experimenting. It created such a huge furore that it prompted the minds of NASA to have a look at it.They detected the asymmetric motion in the air was more due to the seams on the surface of the ball causing a knuckling effect, or so i read. Basically, they said the same thing – that it was a stupid ball. Maybe that’s why Diego Forlan got a hang of it

The Vuvuzela – The most popular word to come out of this world cup. It was so annoying that I am not going to write anything about it.

South Africa – Truly deserve every bit of praise that comes their way. Splendid hosts they were and the locals was brilliant too. For this only reason, I forgive them for coming up with the Vuvuzela. Though, not as impressive Germany 06, nobody expected such stadiums, treatment, hospitality, arrangements, etc from the Rainbow nation. Hats off. Too bad the Bafana Bafana didn’t last beyond the group stages.

Robert Green – Loser. If he had not let that in, England would have topped the group – met Ghana in the pre-quarters – USA wouldn’t have got the attention they did – Germany’s run to the semis would have looked less impressive. All because of one stupid guy who lets a football slip between his gloved hands.

England – How can anyone expect them to stay away from news? – world cup or no world cup. True that England deserved to have been equal on goals at half time against Germany, but that’s no reason to moan about their loss. 2 draws, 1 boring win and 1 humiliating loss in the premiere event and at the end of it all they improve their FIFA rankings to go up to No.7. I have to figure out how this world works.

Germany – My 2nd favourite at the beginning of the event (Next to Spain!!), and they did live up to my faith. Would have been worthy winners but their future looks bright. Thomas Mueller, Mesut Oezil, Manuel Neuer – who would have thought that these out-of-nowhere lads would turn superstars? Add to that Schweinsteiger (who was just way too brilliant in my eye), Lahm, Podolski and the forever young Klose and that’s one dynamic team. Ballack’s absence was clearly a blessing in disguise as it allowed them to let Schweinsteiger roam in the middle of the park with full freedom instead of being just limited on the wing. I happened to watch most of their matches at Goethe Institute, Chennai and cheered for them like it was my own nation, but honestly stuck with my 1st choice Spain in the semi. Talk about prediction.

Paul, the Octopus – Yes, first thing that comes to your mind when you talk about prediction is this eight legged creature. 100% record this world cup and he’s an overnight celebrity. It’s now got an Iphone app. after him. This world sure is weird.

France and Italy – Ironically, the two finalists of the previous world cup crashed out in humiliating fashion. I do not understand how football works in France. What sense does it make to announce the appointment of a new coach (Laurent Blanc) prior to the start of the event, especially since he was to take charge post-world cup no matter what the outcome was. France has to be weirdest place in the world.

Uruguay – Diego Forlan, Luis ‘The Goalie’ Suarez. That’s all this team is made of and their individual brilliances alone took them upto the semis. They were lucky with the teams they got as the only decent team they met was the team they lost out to – The Netherlands. That of course if you don’t count France.

Spain – Viva nation. Those who think they aren’t deserving champions are those who think football is just about goals. It just doesn’t work that way and Spain showed how it’s done with class. Sublime play, dominating midfield (with Cesc Fabregas on the bench mostly) and hence dominating possession. To win a world cup scoring by just 8 goals doesn’t make them unattractive but just Epic. Casillas was the star representative of Real Madrid in a team otherwise dominated by the Catalans and the man let his emotions out kissing his hot journalist – girlfriend on camera. One more reason why they are deserving ‘Campiones’. (Though they had no Larissa Riquelme, what we saw of Sara Carbonero was sufficient).

The Gold – Thoroughly worthy winners of the Golden Boot, Ball and the Glove – Thomas Mueller, Diego Forlan and Iker Casillas. Maybe, David Villa winning the Boot would have been more satisfying, and definitely Klose should have got some playing time in the 3rd place playoff even if he wasn’t fit enough. How bad is it to miss out on the all time world cup goal scorer record! No complaints otherwise.

Just before the kick off of the final, I tweeted
‘Getting ready for the biggest worldwide phenomena! I WILL be at the epicentre of this event someday in the future.’
Catch me at this time, in some multiple-of-4 year from now and my answer will be ‘Been there, done that!’

Summer of 2010

For me the past couple of months were engaging, interesting and probably the best, better than their 18 predecessors. I divide this post into 3 segments. Part 1 will be the days i spent in my college hostel for the first time. In the name of an Employability Training Camp I had to spend my time there for 8 days. But, as expected Stockholm Syndrome got to me. Part 2 will be my trip with some of my best friends to some exotic places within the state. Part 3 will be about the movies that i watched whenever i found the time to – which is pretty much all the time in the world.

May 28 to June 5

There was an ‘Employability training camp’ organised by my college for a select lot and only after it was announced that I realised my engineering days are to be over soon.Yet, the general attitude was to get over the 8 days asap. It basically consisted of Aptitude classes, IT sessions (The entire circus was basically to train us for the software sector), and communication sessions. I have to make a special note of one Mr. Ajay Zener, the person who handled one of the aptitude classes. He thought his job description was more like to be a motivational speaker than a run of the mill teacher. And it did work wonders. He enlightened us (or me) of the career opportunities that are available for grabs beyond the software and the core sector. Quoting real life instances, he did achieve what he intended – motivate upcoming Engineers. These sessions were followed by a guest lecture from some big head almost every day and all these sucked the energy out of us and occupied the entire day. There was relief in the form of an outdoor activities session early in the morning. We did some interesting stuff and gave us a kick start to the rest of the day. Have to admit, all of us did look forward to this one everyday. Also, to live up to the motto of the corporate world – Work Hard, Party Hard – we had a ‘camp fire’ one evening. Except there was no fire and all we did was dance in a closed Air conditioned hall. For the first time ever, I was busy on the dance floor. If their objective was to make us ‘Party hard’ they did achieve it by oozing sweat from every possible skin cell. Forget the intended objective of the 8 days, the camp did help me to gain new friends and to give my future a thought, and to experience a taste of hostel life.

June 8 to June 12

This was basically a continuation of the Party Hard phase. It was a long planned vacation with my school friends – mostly. We first went to Tirunelveli – where we visited three waterfalls around the place and later left to Madurai the same night. Next on the itinerary was Kodaikanal. Spent a solid couple of days there – Trekking, sight seeing and yeah boozing. I won’t get into the details – but it was arguably the best days of my summer.

One minute reviews

How To Train Your Dragon – Though being a fan of Animated motion pictures, I carried little expectations into this DreamWorks creation. It did deliver, more than what was expected. Much more. A simple story of a loser viking kid who couldn’t kill a dragon. Rather, he decided to tame it. Similarities can be woven to the dragon episode in Avatar, but it ends there. This story couldn’t have been told in a better way. Period. One thing I felt was the Black dragon could have been shown as a more beastly creature living up to its description. But, DreamWorks delivers in all other areas. Animation and the clarity of colours is brilliant. Must watch for all animation lovers. 8.5/10.

Iron Man 2 – The biggest release of the year. And, disappoint – it didn’t. Tony Stark refusing to give up the Iron Man idea is very obvious. Believing he has privatised peace, he goes into party mode, without realising that the technology he created was not very far away for the bad people to catch up with. Robert Downey Jr. at his brilliant best, Scarlett Johansson at her sexy best, Mickey Rourkey at his whipping best (as Whiplash), Marvel comics at its menacing best. Need I say more? The climax fight might have been prolonged a bit more. That was my only complain. And it’s not too bad a complain – considering all I am asking is I wanted more. Also, contrary to general opinion I felt the sequel was better than the original. 9/10.

Singam (Tamil) – Dud. Touted to be better than Saami, but only filled with punch dialogues and the regular cop stuff. It was pretty decent though, not as bad as some of the other recent ones. Btw, I did not watch Sura. 5/10.

The Karate kid – Yes, everybody knows there is a mistake with the English title. Kung Fu is not Karate. But we did not get to see much of either. The only reason it got a pretty decent run is because of Jackie Chan. But this is the 60 year old maintanance man and not the Jackie we know of. So, the movie fell on the little shoulders of Smith Jr. And the kid does deliver, yet again. It is again a la Rocky a la M.Kumaran s/o Mahalakshmi movie, but the target audience is just the kids for this one. Not recommended. 4/10.

Raavanan (Tamil) – Came with too much hype surrounding it. But, if it hadn’t come with the burdened expectations – it may have been termed as a blockbuster. I found it good, some found it bad and some had no opinion of it. Only a good movie can invite mixed opinions. Forget the refernces to Ramayana as you are watching the movie and do the analysis later. That is the best medicine to be prescribed for Raavanan. If the aim of Mani Rathnam is to tell people that not all mythological Gods are good and not all Demons are bad, he has achieved it. Cinematography and the choice of locations stand out, a huge thumbs up for Indian cinema. A lot of praise has been dished out on Vikram but I will save mine. If you are expecting a story with 6 songs, 3 fights and the triumph of good over evil, this is not for you. However, the maker should have included some details about the mysterious past of the protagonist – or rather the antagonist. 7/10.

Chennai Autokkarans vs Bangalore Autowalahs

In the case of both Chennai(C) and Bangalore(B), the 3 wheelers that flood the streets in some way define the cities.The yellow ones of Chennai and their drivers display the atmosphere and the attitude of the city respectively. The Bangalore Blackies symbolise the city’s environment literally and the style of thinking of the locals. It might sound trivial, but the comparison of the Auto rickshaws says a lot about the 2 cities, which together are contributing in a massive way to the nation’s growth.

1. To find the right Auto
Be an Indian when in India. To call an Auto, all you do is clap randomly on the road or do the whistle if you are up for it. Considering the amount of these vehicles, you are bound to attract atleast a couple of them. You name the place and you are taken there. Atleast that’s what you thought. That’s not really the case in B.

You: I want to go to xyz place.
B Auto: xyz? Auto won’t go there saar. Too much traffic at this hour.
You: Where else will you go?
B Auto : Anywhere else.
You: Fuck off.

In C ,
You: I want to go to xyz place.
C Auto: Get in sir.
You: How much?
C Auto: You tell me.
You: No, you tell me.
C Auto: Get in saaaar.

B 0 – C 1

2. The cost factor

Bangalore Autowalahs religiously insist on employing their meter. For the Chennai Autokkaran, the meter is just a stationary tool kept for some decorative purpose. But in B, you have to pay 1.5 times the number that the meter shows when you travel from 9pm to 6am. No such caluclations required when you are in C.

In B, (After the ride)
You *Thinking you’d have to pay something around 80 and then look into the meter and it shows 50* : Wtf? *Hand over 50*
B Auto: Saar, what saar, that’s it?
You: It’s 50 right?
B Auto: Give me a 20 more saar. Tough to get a customer here, and it looks like it might rain today.
You: Yeah right. Here, have this 10.
B Auto: Thank you saar.

In C, (Before the ride)
You: You tell me how much? *You’d have 80 in your mind*
C Auto: 120.
You: Wtf? I can give only 80.
C Auto: No one will come there for 80.
You: I will find someone.
C Auto: Okay, give me 100.
You: Whatever, let’s go.

B 1 – C 1

3. Customer satisfaction

In B, the Auto usually takes the longest route possible to reach the place for obvious reasons. Take into account the city’s traffic and the time wasted is aplenty. However, that’s not the case in C. You will be taken through the narrowest of streets and witness your driver throw a few swear words at people blocking your way. If time is of your concern, C scores bigtime over B.

If you want to destress yourself during the ride, again C wins over B. B guys rarely talk during their work. But the C guy can’t usually keep his mouth shut. He may take freedom to even interrupt your conversations over the phone or with your co-passenger/s. If you are returning to the city after a while, you are updated with all the latest news in the neighbourhood and also weather updates. All Add-ons free of cost.

B 1 – C 2

4.The battle within
B Autos have the fancy digital meters and some have an electronic speed indicator and self start buttons. Says quite a bit about their work ethics. Whereas, the C guy has no heart to do away with the traditional pom-pom horn and the put-put sound is heard when the engine starts. It is in this segment, that the features of the vehicle greatly define the city. So, depending on your attitude, your preference will vary. Even stevens.

B 2 – C 3

5. Other Factors
B Autos run on LPG while C Autos run on diesel. The entire B city carries that smell of gas and you can sense it even if you are indoors. The C autos are more noisy but less polluting. Also, the fuel is a reason for the difference in prices.

B Autos display the license of the driver behind his seat, along with his contact number, address, etc. Why would you care? Because, the Govt. there has made it mandatory to do so after some call taxi guy raped a lady. In my opinion it’s a naive move and instills a sense of insecurity within the locals themselves. However, in C you get into an auto if you don’t want to get raped. This isn’t to suggest all B Auto’s are unsafe and all C ones are safe. Just a case in hand.

B 2 – C 4

Though the scoreline is one sided, B scores on the cost factor. If it satisfies to somehow travel cheap and put up with it, B is the best. If you want to have a quality experience in an auto and would want to know the place better, C is the one for you.

To each his own.