Pune

Pune.... A stranger in a not so strange world.... Wednesday and Thursday , December 24th/25th 2003, It was 4'o clock in the evening and we were on the first rows of the Volvo us all rearing to go. The driver looked smart and we had a great view of the front the volvo being such a classy bus. Anyways, here I was really excited about the trip and all and we were scheduled to reach Pune at 8:00 in the morning and well I thought after breaking our fast we would roam around the town for Christmas. I was imagining an enjoyable Christmas and the bus rolled to Chitradurg for a break after about 4 hours from Bangalore. The road was smooth and we were all caught up in the movie Vertical Limit in the bus. As it was about 9:30 or so I felt the bus stop half way from Chitradurg... and just when I was thinking that it would be a stop for some leak or something, the driver said something about a puncture... well i was thinking that should be ok since these guys are expert in fixing flats. But lady luck had also taken a holiday so the spare had also a falt, the drivers took off for an hour to get another tyre which was not exactly a volvo tyre but would work for sometime and after an hours break off we went and I was thanking god that things were going on smoothly... a few kilometres ahead, we again had another puncture which took some hours to fix... I was still thinking that well trouble comes in threes but hopefully it stops here. It was in Hubli that we fixed the flat the second time and well right at 3:00 ish in the morning the tyre gave away again... now the passengers were losing it one by one but they were very patient since they could not do anything about it. I was like .... YEESHHHH i just hope we reach pune in the afternoon but because of the delay we had to face the worst of the traffic on the highway which was still being built and so all the vehicles were doing single lane and it was difficult to manouvre the bus fast. Then the handy man put on another movie for entertainment and guess what it was Khiladi.... ha ha ha As if I did not have enough to think about than seeing Ayesha Jhulka's poodle face and Akshay Kumar doing his female act.... EGADDDDD... I think some corner my luck was holding when the TV suddenly fused out.... i was thankng the powers that be gratefully... We reached Belgaum at 7:00 in the morning and well all were really exhausted by the rough ride and just wanted to go home. The folks were getting cranky and started taking the driver's trip. One of them a marathi guy started hassling the driver for a 200/- refund for the delay and well made a big commotion which was unnecessary I felt and delayed us for some more minutes... god I was by this time just praying for whatever patience I had left.... Ha ha oh yes, since the TV of the bus was also fused out this freaked out the already frayed travellers.... then it was time for some dhinchak music which they put off after all started complaining... Believe me stress can do a lot to your sanity... :) I was just praying that a fight should not start right then ..... people were complaining their heads silly... I was praying for deliverance from this situation... had a small tiff with hubby too so I was fuming silently and hungrily.... since rocky did not let me have more food... man i was so pissed... i think the whole situation was getting to us... he he !! Anyway we had smooth roads from Satara to Pune and then the Pune Highway Traffic started. By the way my dream of going through the expressway did not realise since we enter Pune before the express way.... Because of the frustation on the highway our driver let out some of his anger on a truck driver who was not giving way by making the handyman open the door and flung an empty bisleri bottle while overtaking aggressively and cursing all at the same time... I was stunned at the behaivour and the bottle hit the truck driver &%&&&^%$#^@#%#$@Q$#@ right at his face and it was an expression worth observing... LOLOLOL Well it was Christmas that day and it all seemed that my plans of enjoying the town would go down the drain. All I could hope for was to reach our friend's place safely. At last after doing two tunnels and winding road in midst of the traffice I could see Pune nestled the lap of the mountains.. it looked to me like that from where we were entering Pune and well my first impression was well its just like Bangalore... just a wee bit more polluted and a WHOLE lot of two wheelers, especially Bajaj M80 and M50. This contraption was supposed to be the best thing in Pune and was used by majority of the locals.... Well after meeting friends Ranjan and Leena we had a scrumptious after lunch of chicken and rotis and I was starving... we chilled and just took in the breath that was of Pune's. In the evening after all the excitement settled in we went to dinner at The Bounty's in Kalyani Nagar and this place seems to serve the best of the sizzlers and i was not disappointed. YUM YUM is not enough to explain it... Friday December 26th 2003 Osho' Ashram and MG Road was on my itenary and well we took off in the morning on Ranjan's Pulsar. After sitting on bullets, pulsar was a bit on the uncomfortable side. But hey who is complaining as long as it takes me to places... LOL. Well Osho's Ashram.... one word MAROONand SPACED OUT. Traveller's Tip: if you going to Pune please avoid wearing maroon since the locals look at you ina wierd manner which you may not like. Maroon is exclusively for the Oshoites, a friend informed me !! The guides were tired and had a very serious on the verge of rude expression in their faces and well we were told to keep silent for the 15 minute walk inside the ashram. I went through a couple of osho magazines and bought two just to have a feel about what this thing was all about. Got a pink I am on Tour label to stick on my dress and well was called for, "we want only pink labels coming in please".. had me wanting to burst out laughing.. but what the heck.... After a short video clip on Osho and his talks, we went around the campus. I noticed that the campus was very well designed and aesthetically pleasant. And there were people flowing in maroon robes inand out and with their own purpose... as I was walking with the group i saw a beautiful lady in maroon dancing wildly in her own way in the concrete floor which i think is a playground or something.... The funny part was that even though we were asked to keep silent, there was a huge commotion of converstaion all around.... I did not see the purpose... Auroville in Pondicherry also asks the people to keep silent but the surrounding is so silent that one would not like to talk too and there are always some genre of people who cannot stop conversing.... But silence in Osho was not a big deal as everybody was talking normally leading a normal life albeit in maroon. Anyway, saw the auditorium from afar and it looked very imposing.. it was in the shape of a pyramid and it reminded me of the glass pyramid of Le Louvre in France. So maroon was the highlight of the visit. Otherwise the people there are very helpful more so when you are a foreigner. They thought i was one and the moment I started talking in shudh Hindi they came to their normal pattern of conversation which was " I am not interested either way" Maybe if i would have behaved otherwise I would have got more info ... LOLOL. Went to the German Bakery from there and had the famous Apfel Stroodle and Kase Kuchen but the quality sucked. I think the german cafe in Bangalore can boast of better quality food any day. Heard so much about it but my husband says that it is the hangout place for many and well majority were the hippy kind with large tatoos smoking dope and speaking a foreign tongue... In the process I saw some cool modified Bullets in the parking lot and made my day. That afternoon we were off to Girivan.... where we had an amazing time for three days and 2 nights meeting friends and generally having a ball of a time with bonfires and stories from college. The reunion was about the "animal farm" my husband's Symbi classmates getting together after ten years... and what a reunion it was... Lot of chaos, authentic Maharashtrian food comprising of Bhaakhri, Pitla, Thetsa, Chicken curry,puranpoli,Kadi, etc, great service, exhange of humourous stories round the bonfire.... the works... I had a gala time clicking snaps.... finished off 5 reels...he he !!! Have to write a detailed account on that ... Saturday, December 27th 2003 Long morning walks around the mountainous pathways, lemongrass tea, cricket match. exploration of the place and then a heavy lunch after which we went to Pawna Lake and could see the Tikkona fort from afar... was to exhausted to stay awake that night... Sunday, 28th December, 2003. After heavy goodbyes and promise of returning to meet up sooner than the usual ten years, we made our way to Pune and on the way my friend Leena ( Ranjan's wife) took me to the Osho Teerth park ... you can visit the park as a visitor from 3 to 6 in the morning and from 9 to 11 in the morning I think. The rest of the time is for the Oshoites. Well the park is a creative wonder... they have transformed a drain into a park... amazing. I was impressed with the work that they had put into this project.And it was worth the visit. Could not click any snaps... this park was an ideal place for couples who wanted to get away... and could see a lot of them huddles and doing whatnot hanky panky LOLOLOLOL !!! but heck thats life !!! Boarded the bus At 7:00 pm and then reached Bangalore at 11am in the morning this time without any mishaps with the sound of Pyar to hona hi taaaaaaaaa ( Remo sings ta instead of "tha"), and Kuch kuch kota hai ringing in my ears.... Finally reached familiar ground namma Bangaluuru and man I was glad to be back home under blue skies and fresh air... SIGH it was a good break !!! Am gearing for more in Jan.... to Goa we go on our bikes.... hopefully my bike is ok before that it is still being operated on in the garage... LOL... Wishing all my friends a very happy new year !!

Due to some error I have deleted my last post... boo hoo... (

Finally

Yahooo finally I have been able to put my my very own photo blog... yes yes yes !!! I have put up some pictures oh Shillong here... these pics are not mine but from a friends... whom i have preserved of this place... will be posting more from my travels........Check them here Was just testing how it looked !! Next on my agenda is to come up with a blog full of fast to cook and good to eat recipes.. but need lot of patience for that !! :(

SIGH

Of oil slicks and careful riding !! Sunday, a day of lazying and doing stuff that was pending over the week. For me Sunday means cooking good food, cleaning my closet, watching cartoons, going for movies, meeting friends and just being lazy... One could hardly imagine an event that has left me shaken to the core.. I am a controlled and a careful rider and so is my husdand Rocky. But this We were all geared up to meet a friend for breakfast and were on Banerghatta road. Here I was sitting on the bike behind Rocks and imagining a great sunday when all of a sudden I hear a deadly screech and within moments I see Rocks going skidding almost totally under a Sumo and the bike making the terrible impact on the Sumo... I found myself skidding and trying to grab Rocks' jacket to save him from going totally under the vehicle but he is away from my reach and only my nails scrape his jacket... in a slow motion i see my husband going and hitting the Sumo and me just sliding with him and there is oil all over... SUddenly the motion stops and I am aware of people helping me and my husband and we trying to find a footing in the oil filled road. I cross the road with my helmet still on and my leather jacket intact... and in the middle of the crowd my tall knight in shining armour stands up and gives me the thumbs up sign and I was never glad to see him stand tall and smiling... I could have died happily then ... Seconds after that a Kinetic Honda with 4 people coming in fast skids in the same place and avoids the sumo somehow... i get another shock... it was too much to digest.. But in the commotion this family takes off waiting to heal in private I am sure. I hope they are doing fine. Meanwhile when we make sure that everything is ok, we see that a huge length of the road has fresh oil spilled all over it and we were the first to ride through and landed in an accident which could have taken away more than we could imagine at a split second. Must be grateful for the protective gear that we were wearing, helmets, leather jackets, good trousers and shoes... that saved us from a worse fate... Thanks to the bullet club friends who arrived at the scene few moments later and helped load the bike and take it to the service centre. One of the members took us home and we had a great breakfast with a golden retriever( Carl) and a german shephered (Shandy) and my day did not look so bleak at all.. I just wanted to put my face into their thick coats and break down but had to be the brave little barua.. wish I could be a little gal once again and bawl my fears out... LOL.. Being an adult is tough sometimes... Here are the lookalikes of the doggies (Carl and Shandy) who gave me so much solace yesterday... I love you guys... The doggies knew I was feeling very wierd and well the fact they were very playful helped me erase the worst of the trauma... oh for the simple pleasures which makes one appreciate life some more... and what would the world be without friends... Even though we were not riding long miles the very fact that we have ridden together kind of binds us into this brotherhood and it goes without saying that when one is down there are many to help you around... I have been in a worse accident that could have taken my life but i did not feel so shaken as yesterday since I was alone at that time and well little to lose. Yesterday I have been made aware again that one can lose everything in a second. Just takes a second.... This in mind, we went home, relaxed and crash off in the night with some good Vodka .. eased the pain a little but now its GROAAANNNNNNNNNN !!!! All is well that ends well and I am glad that I have been given yet another chance to spend this life in a healthy body. I thank the energies that have been looking after me... I thank the almighty which has given me my husband as a gift... i am so very proud of how he has handled the situation... i love you all the more for taking care of me and being my best freind and a solid pillar of support when I was going to break down... i know we have miles to go and yes i do not want to give it up just so soon... Death is not something that i am afraid of. I am aware its another dimension which awaits me and everyone at some time but when this same death gets reflected in your close ones then I feel scared out of my guts... Lets say I am more scared of losing than being lost. For riders out there, always keep your gear on and ride safe...

Yesterday

Yesteray as I was chilling out after dinner with hubs dear , we got to catch this movie Mercury rising in Star Movies. Directed by Harold Becker and Starring Bruce Willis, Alec Baldwin, Miko Hughes, Chi McBride, Kim Dickens, Robert Stanton, Bodhi Elfman, Carrie Preston, Lindsay Ginter it was a good movie to catch on a Friday evening after dinner. This movie has got a good story line by Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal, based on Ryne Douglas Pearson's novel Simple Simon. The story revolves round an autistic seven year old boy named Simon played by Miko Hughes who unknowingly deciphers a highly coded numer in a puzzle book and calls the number. This happens to be the number of a top secret organization NSA working on a project Mercury the leader of the org being Lt Kudrow (Alec Baldwin). As soon as the number is traced back to Simon's house all hell breaks loose and his parents get killed by the NSA agent. Simon gets away and in walks Arthur ( played by Bruce Willis). Willingly or unwillingly this undercover- not-so-undercover-anymore cop takes up the responsibility of taking care of the kid. Thus starts the chase for the kid and just when you think that the kid will be caught, Arthur manages to save him and finally deliver him to a safe place amidst suspense, action and drama. All in all its a good watch but it does not excel itself in the status of other movies like Enemy at the Gates. Though there is enough suspense you can tell the outcome of each scene after a few seconds . Maybe one could have worked on the story somemore or made it more captivating. The main villain does not have much of a role in the movie except for grimacing funnily. I like him so but was disappointed in him in this movie.. The star of the movie was Miko Hughes who played the character of Simon to the very hilt and he could give the rest of the stars a run for their money by his acting. The only other great actor who could do justice to an autistic personality was Dustin Hoffman in Rainman and in Awakenings. I watched the movie since I did not watch it till then and well i did not miss that much. I had a choice between a silly hindi movie with unknown actors and this and well I naturally selected this... In brief its light, its fast and its an okay movie!!! ****************************************************************** Well weekend is here !! yaba dabba doooooooooooooo looking forward to catching some new movies, sleeping and of course food !! he he !!

wake me up

WAKE ME UP BEFORE YOU GO GO !!!! Where did my heart go ? Did I put it on the train ? DId I leave it in rain ? Was thinking of WHAM songs... I still remember how crazy we were when we were in school listening to these sounds ... drooling over George Michael and Andy something... i dont remember... they made a good team till George went solo... Very often I can hear Careless Whispers... in my mind Time can never mend When careless whispers of a good friend As the music dies something in your eyes calls to mind the silver screen And its sad good byes So am never gonna dance again Guilty feet have got no rhythm though its easy to pretend ...................................... Ummm feel like slow dancing .... getting sentimental... remembering another song ....... as christmas comes near... Last Christmas I gave you my heart The next day you gave it away This year I will save it from tears I will give it to someone special Once bitten and twice shy I keep my distance but you still catch my eye Tell me baby do you recognise me Its been so long that it does not surprise... The face of a lover with fire in his heart A man under cover..... ...................................... Sad that it all ended very soon ... I sure do miss the beat... these few tunes are reminding me of lazy afternoons after school when I used to chill with just good music and warm clothes and hot cuppa tea watching the sunset in my veranda in Shillong... The fact is that I am feeling like going to the la la land of snoozes and these tunes were playing in my head so put it down... in the hope that i wake up and my boss does not catch me with doozy eyes !!!! Winter afternoons were made for cozying up ... !!! YEA !! Ok Friday is here .. *BLINK* i am wide awake now !!! Blog dunia zindabad PS: by the way the African soiree was boring to say the least ... Could have stayed home and had a few vodkas.... HUH !! Anyway, now I know i shall stay away from funny soirees... BLURB !!

tired

Work and Play Am really tired of API docs... its so bhery bhery boringggggggggggg Anyway have been peeping into other blogs when I see no boss marching past and then just thought of penning down a few lines ... before I get to *(&&^%^$$#$#)(*) DlgCtrl,setItem, AddPopup world .......... GRRRRRRowffffffffffffff In spite of the work this hassling me I am looking forward to an African Soiree. There is this fest going onin Alliance Francais which will be having africans coming in doing dances and all that and then we will be having the arfican food... Guys interested can go there buy tickets from Alliance Francais Bangalore. Tickets are 100/- and would include everything in the fest... The next major task is to read up the life story of napoleon and do a presentation in French... I still think we are little babes in the world of french... how in the world can I comprehend crazy Napoleon and that too in French.. It wan not enough that we had to write pages in the French revolution when I had History as my subject... GROANNNNNNN Well hope to get some nice snaps of the soiree..................

Bangalore Habba had me doing hubba hubba !!

Well here I am after a long weekend and a weekend full of artistic confluence.. music, dance and more music. It all started with Anita wanting to see what Bangalore Habba was all about. I was at my ignorant best... having heard about the habba but not being very interested about it.. Then I saw the program which Anita put it under my nose.. saying that the program would contain musicians like Amjad Ali Khan and Taufiq Quereshi et al. So then this little bulb went on my head to get the passes... Having got the passes we all made our way to Palace grounds... it was well set up and there were seats available. Surprise !! So after having met friends and muching on lots of popcorns and other stuff we sat down to enjoy the evening and what an evening it was... Friday : December 12th 2003 Started with Amjad Ali Khan playing three pieces and it made me forget everything but what he was playing... He ended with a benglai song " ekla cholo re combined with a bihu song from assam " and that made us all very happy ... Then we watched Shobhana performing her dance sequences which had us all enthralled.. at the end of it ( courtesy somenew friends we made), we reached the VIP stalls and sat on the VVIP chairs and right at the time when Taufiq was playing we were on the first row... ha ha !! What a surprise. there were some technical glitches which resulted in the band stopping in the middle due to the loss of power but thank god they resumed and we were assaulted with Taufiq's magic which went on for more than an hour and what a delight that was.. it was 1:30 by the time we reached home... Anita had to leave for Hyderabad next morning... but we decided that we would attend the other two days too.The crowd was light and I hoped that the crowd would be like this the next two days... ( much to my disappointment) Saturday: December 13th 2003. Got VIP passes courtesy my friend Bhaskar Rai ...And by the time we arrived it was heavily crowded and it was difficult to get a seat but however we managed. Many tried to plonk one chair on another to get a better view... that resulted in a little skirmish among the audience.. Meanwhile Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia started weaving his magic with his flute recital and it was a melodious experience... slowly the crowd started dispersing and we got to go forward and so did we... A group started doing a modern dance composition and it was nice watching them sway to the rhythm. After that it was Mr Prasad Bidappa's turn to dazze the audience with a fashion show of silk sarees designed by the Maharaja of Mysore and then it was time for some more dance by Saroj Khan's troupes and then again Fashion shows conducted by Neeta Lulla and Rocky S. Seemed that Mumbai was in Bangalore what with all their shiny dance troupes... and all the gliterrati... anyways.... had had enough of all that so left early... Sunday: December 14th 2003. This time it was VVIP passes and well we were looking forward to the show. Started with Layam, Talam, etc percussion confluence...It was good and then I was keen on watching Shankar Eeshan And Lloyd perform and they did not disappoint us... Missed Anita since we had become fans of KHNH songs fans... and Shankar performed KHNH songs and the crowd went mad... then he went on to Dil Chahata Hai songs... the birdie song and the Koi Kahe song which drove the public all the madder ... when he started singing Ghanana Ghanana from Lagaan people started to open bottles of water and sprinkled all over to fake rain... the whole crowd was having the time of their life and so was I ? LOL !! Then it was Aasma which was pretty disappointing after Shankar and we left the show... All in all felt very happy and exhausted after three continuous days of shows... The organisers have promised the crowd that this will happen every year and well I am surely looking forward to it !!! Meanwhile I am one satifisfied cat who has well had the cream.... MEOWWWWW !!!

Funny

Well I had to post this one from my collection just for the fact that it was damn funny to read !! CALCUTTA's Telegraph had got hold of an answer paper of a candidate at the recent UPSC examinations. The candidate has written an essay on the Indian cow: ************************************************************************ "The cow is a successful animal. Also he is quadrupud, and because he is female, he give milk, but will do so when he is got child. He is same like God, sacred to Hindus and useful to man. But he has got four legs together. Two are forward and two are afterwards. "His whole body can be utilised for use. More so the milk. What can it do? Various ghee, butter,cream, curd, why and the condensed milk and so forth. Also he is useful to cobbler, watermans and mankind generally. "His motion is slow only because he is of asitudinious species. Also his other motion is much useful to trees, plants as well as making flat cakes in hand and drying in the sun. Cow is the only animal that extricates his feeding after eating. Then afterwards she chew with his teeth whom are situated in the inside of the mouth. He is incessantly in the meadows in the grass. "His only attacking and defending organ is the horn, specially so when he is got child. This is done by knowing his head whereby he causes the weapons to be paralleled to the ground of the earth and instantly proceed with great velocity forwards. "He has got tails also, but not like similar animals. It has hairs on the other end of the other side. This is done to frighten away the flies which alight on his cohoa body whereupon he gives hit with it. The palms of his feet are soft unto the touch. So the grasses head is not crushed. At night time have poses by looking down on the ground and he shouts his eyes like his relatives, the horse does not do so. "This is the cow." P.S.: We are informed that the candidate passed the exam. ************************************************************************* Even though its an old article, I still laugh when i read this ....

LAUGHTERs and SIGHs

This is a personal account and may be biased...... Readers who do not want to know the story of Kal Ho Na Ho can avoid reading this post.. Finally after a lot of attempts I got to watch Kal ho na Ho. Planned to meet Anita at 6:00 but got delayed with documentation work which i somehow managed to wriggle out of by feigning a major tooth problem for which I simply HAD to go to the dentist... my colleague actually asked me which dentist I had to go to... I spent precious moments explaining to him which tooth of mine was almost about to die and I might have to do a root canal... LOL and of course then he went on to suggest another dentist's name... Somehow I managed to stop this discourse and then rushed to the theatre. Owing to the traffic I was about 15 minutes late... well it was good since at that peak time it would take me 45 minutes... I missed about 15 minutes of the movie... but then it was ok i guess since the intros were still going on about the characters.... WHEW !! i relaxed and prepared myself for the movie... About 7 minutes into the reel, a huge man comes in and sits beside me and well the seats of Plaza theatre are pretty small and you could imagine he took more than was required of the seat and then started the elbowing ( i am hoping unintentional) and then jerking me along with him when he was laughing... that was seriously affecting my concentration... since I am very ticklish in the waist area and his elbow would poke me there everytime he laughed... SIGH... i was thinking that this was just not my day... Anita was well into the movie... Saif comes into the scene and I am eagerly waiting for some laughs and well I am not disappointed... I am slowly getting to like him a lot.. he does very good comedy... ( SIGH he reminds me so much of Sharmila Tagore... ( ok thats the retro me speaking out) !! UGH another elbow poke...... Preity does well in her role and the rest of the cast including Lilette Dubey, Jaya Bahaduri, etc etc also blend in well... Ok somehow I edged ahead of my seat and focussed on what was happening in the theatre. In comes Saif and does he look cute, and then starts the family sobs and the scene where they pray for an angel... and entree Sharukh Khan (reminded me of City of Angels). Then starts the series of funny repartees which was pretty entertaining and through little inferences here and there one can already depict the end of the story... POKE POKE POKE... ( means the guy next to me is heartily laughing) SK is a pesky neighbour who is always good doing this and that for the neighbors ... and everything goes on well ... yes i liked the songs and the dances... you must check out the disco song, its good.... "Its the time to disco" SK decides to start his sighing.... and wiggling his eyebrows... and beating his heart with his hand .. .Mind you this gets repeated after some scenes in some way or the other... fun still continues and the first half is tolerable... quite ok for me... Intermission... What a relief we changed places and I relaxed....OH la la la !!! Then starts all the tears... the anguish and the funny logic of ... "kisike khatir mat karo par ek marne wale ki khatir to karo !!" Oh mama !! By this time i was biting my fingers... ( I again see that Anita is watching the movie so intently.. why i ask myself am i so disturbed... ) .... Ok focus ...Scene next ... SNIFF SNIFF SNIFF ... GIGGLE ... and just when I was generating tears in my eyes... out pops a funny dialogue... well my eyes did not know whether to cry or to laugh... In midst of it all.... there was a lot of rib tickling comedy full of gay entendres... guess somebody is trying to come out of the closet or something.. we all wish him well... SIGH !! Preity is by this time doing a la Meena Kumari with shedding tears every now and then and By this time I was waiting Sk to do another Devdas... but it was not to be... it was stretched as far as it could be... with melodramatics ... dances high and low ... and then some more histronics and bucket full of tears which would shame the rain pouring down continuously on your window pane !!! well naturally i also shed some of my pearls... I hear loud and long SNIFFS in the theatre.. and feel glad that I am not the only one ... yes !!!! And finally after a lot of attempts at this and that, one song and the other... fatal love declared... and stuff organised... Sk's heart gives up and he finally rests in peace and well Saif and Preity unite in harmony and friendship and love... Blah blah ... PATATI PATATA !!! First part of the movie is good, second part could be compared to a mixture of Kabhie Khusi Kabhi Gam plus Devdas... and add to it a lot of elasticity and unecessary prolonging of the shots ........... EEEEAAAAYOOOOUCHHHHHHHH... And if you like Karn Johar's work you will like this movie. I liked the fact that there was lot of humor in it and quite natural too.. I wish they come up with more movies with a humorous edge to it. Many people have compared the movie to Anand but I think its got its own story and its pretty interesting sometimes to see what would be the next scene. Watch it !! In spite of me not liking SK in the movie, it is well known that he worked hard for this movie ( before his surgery) and this is appreciated... *********************************************************************************** After the movie, came home had dinner with hubby and Anita and a lot of wine ( liquer de passion ) made of Passion fruits and felt much better.... Home made wines are the best !! Hic !! Hic !! Woke up needing more sleep.... waiting to crash off at home.. Today is my third wedding anniversary and it seems that time has flow past just like that... hoping to make many more good memories !!

This used to be my playground

Woke up with a feeling of nostalgia after a long dream last night which had me reliving my childhood days and making me feel like a ten year old again !! Faced the same uncertainities and walked the old path of discovery and recalled associations with personalities who have taught me a lot... And together with that i remembered this song which really suits the mood !! (originally from the movie A League Of Their Own, Written by Madonna and Shep Pettibone This used to be my playground {used to be} This used to be my childhood dream This used to be the place I ran to Whenever I was in need Of a friend Why did it have to end And why do they always say Don't look back Keep your head held high Don't ask them why Because life is short And before you know You're feeling old And your heart is breaking Don't hold on to the past Well that's too much to ask Live and learn Well the years they flew And we never knew We were foolish then We would never tire And that little fire Is still alive in me It will never go away Can't say goodbye to yesterday No regrets But I wish that you Were here with me Well then there's hope yet I can see your face In our secret place You're not just a memory Say goodbye to yesterday {the dream} Those are words I'll never say This used to be my playground {used to be} This used to be our pride and joy This used to be the place we ran to That no one in the world could dare destroy ******************************************************* And today I am finally catching up Kal ho na Ho with good friend Anita. Both of us are really excited... It will be nice to see the song and dance once again !! Sometimes its ok i guess but i am not that great fan of Sharukh after seeing some of his wierd movies like Chalte Chalte and Ashoka... But I am expecting something humorous from Saif Khan and Preity Zinta who really entertained me last time I watched Dil Chahata Hai... I am crossing my fingers and toes that i like it !!

My way or the highway

This is our bike and this snap was taken on our monsoon ride to Kerela and back. We were in the midst of a forest and somebody's brake got jammed... So we all stopped for a break... absolute silence except for the crickets cackling and the wind whistling by.... it was erie and wonderful moment... just seconds after i clicked this snap, we were bombarbed with huge raindrops all of a sudden out of nowhere... it was amazing !!! This snap is just to remind me that very soon we will be on the road again and well I am very excited !! Yipee do dai oooooooooo

Nostalgia

Just was passing through some photos and up came this photo of this church where I used to go often when i was a student. Feeling a wee bit nostalgic so thought I would post it on my blog... This is a famous Catholic church in Shillong which is known for its architecture and its beauty. My association with this structure would be from the age of 10 when we used to taken there often by convent sisters for masses and other prayer meetings... my school was just around the block so it was very convenient for our sisters too... Memories of a long distant land... always seem to make me feel blessed that I had been there in a time long forgotten !!! SIGH !!! By the way notice the bullet at the corner of the photo. This snap was taken by a biker friend who had the guts to travel the North East alone on his bike. Mr Gaurav Janni who is the lead of the 60KpH bullet-enfield group fame. By the way their article was published on the latest issue of Femina... The article was mainly about this group riding to Leh and back and about this gal, Niccolita who took her Bullet ( which was the oldest one among the gang) and her riding experience... If I am not mistaken, she is the first Indian woman to ride the himalayas in her bullet... Man I so wish i can do that soon !! Praying that one ride happens before time runs out !!

Selling things..

These Saturdays I have taken up helping a friend by working at her shop and the first day I went I thought it would be easy maintaining a shop and that too selling stuff like women's wear was never a problem... but oh la la !! I guess i was too hasty. I have to learn one or two things about selling things... though the customers are pretty gullible they canbe very difficult !! One wanted shoulder pads on her dress even though it was not possible, one was fussy about a colour which we had but not in her size... one wanted a gushy design for her daughter who was decently plump and could not carry off that design.. took me an hour of dilpomacy to convince her that what i designed would look great and make her daughter look thin... Anyways.. am learning a thing or two about business with the aid of my friend... have had to sacrifice a few free hours but then i guess ... no pain no gain !! Watched this movie at the wee hours of the night, the interview with the Vampire,.... DUH woke up with scary dreams... remind me never to watch something gory before going to sleep... SHUDDDER !!

Discovery

Right in the morning as I was checking my mail, I got this amazing tool which can help writers a lot. Its an online encyclopedia plus dictionary plus blah blah... you got to check it out if you are in the profession of writing and it also has a food section thrown in ... he he !! They have got some cocktail recipes and all that .. hic hic !! check it out if you are interested. The UI is also very interesting !!

Acceptance

Thanks for the nice comments my friends on my previous post !! I appreciate it !! Acceptance of what that is is very difficult but once one has made peace with the fact one can live again... and I am rolling in my life again albeit slowly !! yeah right now I am thinking of starting a photoblog ... but have no idea where to start from.. doing lot of googling... Bangalore is getting chilly in the mornings and well its very difficult pulling myself up in the morning for French class when all i need to do is sleep.. but I enjoy the ride to class through the fog once my cells are functioning and alert... Today morning the view over Ulsoor lake looked very etheral and I could also see the sun mildly peeping out in my rearview mirror.. making me smile... yes life is good... Today I got almost banged by two vehicles.. one was a huge honda which was reversing so intently that it a row of bikes starting off a domino effect which ended in me being the effect stopper... well just when I was imagining myself being my self spreadeagled beneath the bikes, two knights in shining armour rushed to my rescue and my day and dignity was saved... So here I was thanking my lucky stars and riding when some bugger decided to change laned and got stuck between my bikes behind and a merc's front... Well as expected I almost toppled over in the middle of the traffic but i think my luck still was running so all that I could give him was a dirty stare and carry on !! of course inside my helmet I was spewing curses about people who should look before cutting lanes and overtaking, like nobody's business. Today I got the number of a crystal gazer.. and I think I just might go and give it a try .. lets see what she has to say... mumbo jumbo here I come !!!

A sudden stop to life

Today I am feeling kind of despondent. The reason being that at 3:30 in the morning we receive a call from home informing us that a young cousin in law was no more. It was a shock since I just kind of met him when I was home. Typically the first thing that comes to mind is denial. My hubby, Rocks was more in shock since the person in question was someone with whom Rocks grew up with and did all the things that young uns do when they are growing up. He used to fondly call him his "partner in crime". I know he is feeling more than I am and I can only wonder how things are affecting him. This is the second case of death of a youth which could be avoided. Why are people not careful about their health specially when they are afflicted with something which can kill oneself. The first case was of a colleague who had TB and well she was undergoing treatment and then suddenly she was going for the worse and she decided to ignore it since she was fed up of all the medicines and that ended her life just like that one morning. The second case is family... this cousin had jaundice and we do not know whether he was ignoring the little fever he had and kept on with his hectic work schedule or it just happened. the fact is that he ended up in bed and the last time I saw him some days back he was ok and now today morning he is no more.... how can people die of something like jaundice ? I still cannot believe it... I know that there is no reason for death coming in whispered footsteps but heck it does not help me to question the fact that he could have lived, my friend could have lived. We were going to go for his wedding this February and now everything is erased just like that............ Just like that !! The fact that life is so fragile is again being underlined to me !!! Am really depressed !!

Vacation

Hello All, for the few of my friends who have been wondering where i disappeared into.. well definitely not into a fog !! he he !! i was there but taking a well deserved vacation !! It all started when i got this new job and then my company decided to retain me and well i thought what the heck i better take my leave then and off i went applying for my leave and WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE !! I was in Assam, Guahati before I could think.. he he !! nice thing this... IMPULSE !! Always makes me feel good when i act on impulse... So there I was with my bag and baggage and saying hi to my family.. Man it felt good. though i wished it was Shillong where i longed to visit but unfortunately Assam was not doing well in terms of political unrest so spent time in my sasural that is Golghat and then back in Guahati ( both are in Assam). It was a blissful period where i could relive the joy of having my parents around, bickering with them for things that i usually ignore, just talking to them being a daughter instead of a woman of the world. That is what unwound me from the daily routine life... Ah I missed my hubby and wished that he could share my fortunes.. but that was not to be then... so i made the best of the situation... hogged till kingdom came and shopped till I dropped and basically relaxed...and chillllled out ............. Had my aunts fretting over me telling me tales of the bygone days which used to be a general session when I was living with my parents... basically touch basing with the past present and the future.. I so sorely miss that... here in Bangalore.... Anyway then there was this story of fishes... I am a great lover of fish in the plate, specially river fish and I have had every type of fish available in the east cooked by mom ... HA HA it was heaven .... Hilsa, Pabda, Small fish, prawns, chitol ( thats what they call in Bengali, dunno the english name), you name it !! And before I could say U N C L E, I was back in Bangalore. time flies so fast... Assam is as usual up to something or the other.. its sad to know that a place with such rich resources are wasting time in useless and harmful political pursuits like ganging up against the biharis. Dont they realise that most of the hard work is done by the very biharis that they are beating up .... Stupid politics and unreasonable too, i say. Wish they put that energy in more creatice and lucrative projects... Hmmmmmmmmmmm ............. Anyway watched Mumbai Matinee and Baghban.......... OH Man !! Baghban was a tear jerker and a patience jerker... that litrerally jerks you out of your seat with the dialouges... EEEEEESSSSSSSSSSHHHH why dont they make some nice hindi film with less tears and more fun....... where have all the good days gone.. On one hand if you are being lathered upon by the romantic scenes of a 60 year old ( amitabh) with hema malini, the other hand you have to content with actors who could not act even if there life depended on it... I was pissed with big bloating eyes at the end of the movie.... Then you had Salman who overdid the good role and well the least i say about it the better........ Then I took up Mumbai Matinee............ HA HA HA !! That was good in comparison to Baghban. Mind you I have said "in comparison to" .... It was about this bloke who wanted to lose his virginity... and some of the dialouges were hilarious and rahul bose, the main protagonist tried to do something but I think that somewhere down the line he swallowed the pill the wrong way... In short it was a cheap imitation of Austin Powers concept with bad direction..... YOU could give both the pics a miss if you still have not seen them and be better off with a good drink and better company ... Anyway am planning to watch Kal ho na HO !!! Soon that is !!