R.A.C.E.

I saw RACE yesterday in the company of my roomie and a cupla friends.

Before I went for the movie, like any other person, I asked those who had seen the movie how it was… Some said it was like a comic movie, some said that it was nothing gr8, some said that it was not at all what was expected… and to top it all I happened to read the ending on the rediff movie review… enough to put out anyone huh??!!!?

It was actually an impulsive decision to watch the movie… call it a ‘Sunday-evening-with-nothing-better-to-do’ … we went to watch the movie… buying tickets in black..!!
It was worth it…

I sincerely enjoyed the movie. It’s got a whole lot of twists and turns and some more twists and turns… every 15 mins u r exposed to yet another twist in the tale, yet another facet of a character, yet another way people actually turn out to be in life…!! The movie plows through the entire plethora of emotions available in Indian cinema.. Love, hatred, rivalry, betrayal, passion, action, you name it, you have it..!!!

Of course, it has been made like a wannabe-English-action-thriller with all the cars being blown up, murder contracts being given out and all that… But to give credit for the same, it has been made technically well… and damn stylishly too… the actresses and the actors look all posh and sexy and sophisticated… the characters are all the high society….drive posh cars, and drink champagne and all that…

Saif has a sexy secretary – Katrina… He is in love with a model – Bipasha, He has a good-for-nothing-drunkard younger brother in Akshaye Khanna, a detective who keeps eating fruits all through the movie – Anil Kapoor, and his sidekick Sameera Reddy who is made to look like a dumb blonde….!!!
Put them all together; add a few zillion twists and you have RACE…

But all said and done, I really enjoyed the movie… it was great timepass for 2.5 hours and it made for a good evening out..!!
Watch it once… have no expectations and you’ll enjoy it… don’t try to compare it with any of those English action movies that you have watched and leave behind all logic and reasoning when you watch it… don’t ask how did that happen, when did that come in, what was the use of this character etc etc… and chances are you’ll come away from the movie enjoying it….

Books... Reading...

I read the GODFATHER – Mario Puzo yet again this time… finished it yesterday… that’s like the 7th or 8th time that I am reading it…!! It’s just simply amazing!!

I buy a lot of books. In that sense, I am a collector. But I don’t buy it just for the sake of having a collection. I simply love BOOKS. I think they‘re the greatest escape route when you want to relieve yourself of stress, boredom, frustration, or just leisure… (I have 2 escape routes ;-) – dancing and reading!). My friends ask me why I buy books when I can go to a library and choose to read them. Well, I only buy those books by authors that I enjoy. And I don’t read them just once. I read them over and again.

Ah, that’s another thing… they ask me why I read the same book over and again and what is the thrill in reading a book when you already know what the ending is… that’s not the point is it… :-)

Every time I read a book over and again I find something new in it. Maybe some instance that I skipped over the first time I read it. Maybe some nuance about a character that did not strike me when I read it first. Maybe a better understanding of what the story is about. Something or the other always comes up… and that’s what makes the ‘umpteenth-time’ reading a lot more interesting. Simple logic, the first time you read a book, maybe you are in a hurry to finish the book, get to the ending, see how the finish is all about, and therefore maybe you end up doing a haphazard reading. Of course I am not telling that every single person who reads does that but most do. And there are of course some who just jump right to the ending to figure it out instead of reading through the book. (That’s one of the habits that irritate me!). But coming back to the point, the second time you pick up the book and read it, you’ll do it more slowly taking your own time now that you know what the ending is… :-)

So for me buying books is quite a worthwhile hobby :P

Ah yes! Coming back to the habits ;-) apart from the ‘jumping-to-end-to-know-it’, there are some other stuff that irritate me as well with regard to books… making ‘dog-ears’ in the books (for those who did not get it, it means folding the top corner of the book to mark the page you were reading!), and keeping the book inverted which can damage the spine of the book…!!! Why treat them like this? A little bit of care taken can go a long way when it comes to keeping the books safe and sound…

Well… that turned out to be quite a passionate declaration of how much books and reading mean to me… did not quite think it would turn out this way :-)

Another view of what life is all about..... ;-)

Came across this on the internet...!!! kinda liked it... quite true if u look at it in a unique way.. :-) thot would put it up for you to read as well..!!

LIFE IS ALL ABOUT ASS;
YOU’RE EITHER COVERING IT,
LAUGHING IT OFF,
KICKING IT,
KISSING IT,
BUSTING IT,
TRYING TO GET A PIECE OF IT,
BEHAVING LIKE ONE.
OR YOU LIVE WITH ONE!!!

Let's go Shopping ;-)

Hmmm... SHOPPING and MEN!!!

You know, tell that to most men and you’ll get an eye rolling-face expression like “oh god! Here we go again! God help me get through this alive please!!” … that’s like asking them to commit suicide..!!! And sometimes they also almost leave skid marks at the very mention of it..!! :-) I have noticed this with a lot of my guy friends… they say all the crap about how long a girl takes to shop and how they have to suffer along with all that and then they have to lug the stuff around and all that… but then tell them it’s ok that they don’t need to accompany us, they will pull a long face and put all sentiments and stuff and still come with us..!! Now what do u make out of that??

Now when we get to the shop it’s quite another story by itself… you are subjected to weird comments on how bad that dress looks or how it would not suit us or how that color is such a dull color or how we already have the similar dress similar color… not just this… you can also view all sorts of expressions on their faces ranging from boredom to disgust to irritation… and on top of all this, sessions and lectures on how much time we take to shop for one small thing and how we make the sales guy show us a zillion stuff and how we move on from shop to shop looking for that one elusive thing in the end coming back to the first shop and selecting from there itself after all the roaming around…. Oops I forgot the price factor :P let us not even go there :P

It’s quite entertaining come to think of it… :-)… I quite enjoy the comments which we get on all the things from A to Z in the shop…!! :P hehehehe… it makes the dreary job of shopping a little more fun..!! :P but sometimes it does get irritating as well…

Ah! Well! I am contradicting myself…

Whatever!! I am not much into shopping myself anyways… ;-)

Roadies on MTV

There’s this show on MTV called Roadies. It is supposedly the longest running reality series on Indian Television. It’s basically about this gang of some twenty-something guys and gals going on a road trip across the country on bikes and they perform adventure tasks to earn money and keep voting out one of their team until there are only 2 left…
It’s quite interesting to watch if that kind of stuff appeals to you. But what’s more interesting to watch is how these people got chosen out of the hundreds and thousands of people who applied and went for auditions. Raghu (executive producer of the show) and Nikhil (MTV VJ) kinda took out all their frustrations and irritation on all those people who auditioned… they made them do bizarre things and analyzed them, questioned them so much that at the end of it the session, the person is left feeling that he is the scum of earth and with such a low-esteem that he is not going to win in life! But all said and done, it’s only right to say that maybe they did what they did to find the right people on the show, people with a passion for life, a zest for adventure and someone with a backbone (figuratively speaking).
Of course 13 people were chosen. 7 guys and 6 girls. Good for them!
The day the show started, technically speaking the journey started all that we’ve been subject to is the bitchy, state-specific, strategy masterminds on the show… each one of them thinks to no end of themselves, about how good they are and how they can vote out everyone else who is not worth to be part of their elite gang… I mean, it’s either Delhi people gelling together or the girls bitching and fighting amongst themselves, the guys trying to figure out the strategy etc etc..
In between all this, the “adventure zest”, the spunk for taking on life, the whole point of performing well on the tasks is lost somewhere I feel… all each one wants to do is get the better of others, give the rest of them their “just desserts” and go on to be the 2 of the roadies left finally…
You can see a whole range of bitching, flirting, taking advantage of others, back-stabbing, etc etc... on the show!!! It’s funny to see the way Shambhavi flirts with Nihal trying to get close to him (all the while saying openly it’s her strategy), Anmol and Prabhjot fighting over who wears padded and who does not, Ashu and Ayaz and Sonel being the supposedly silent spectators.. Whew! You won’t get bored, trust me!
Sometimes you wonder why all these people were chosen. I mean half of them do not have that “never-say-die” attitude that’s required in a ROADIE. Oh yes! You do get glimpses of it here and there in a few people (for eg: Nihal in the last episode when he answered Vikrant’s taunts with pure action and that too passionate action.. the way he chopped that plank off was worth watching!)… But most of the time it’s just all words and no play…!!! Hollow words…
But at the end of the day, it’s fun to watch how these people take things on…
Mindless for some people, no sense of purpose in watching it … so don’t watch it!!! No one’s forcing you to… :D
But I love watching it and never miss an episode if I can help it!! :)
I mean at the end of it, it’s just pure fun in the idiot box..!! :D

An Inactive... Inopeartive... Redundant... Expedition...!!

I was just thinking about this…

You know in Om Shanti Om Deepika comes back as a ghost in that last few scenes…!! Which means for the past 30 years (right from the flashback) ever since she died she was in that dilapidated building of a set..!!!??? Probably waiting for some light of day when the reincarnated Shahrukh would come back and wreak vengeance on the guy who killed them both …

What I was thinking was… what would that ghost have been doing in that burnt out building for the past 30 years apart from waiting for the villain to be back so that she could kill him..!! I mean it would have been pretty boring right twiddling thumbs waiting for him while floating about the place….. And 30 years is a pretty long time… waiting for her reincarnated co-corpse Shahrukh to grow up to an age to understand why he was reborn etc etc…

Anyways…

PS: Yup before any of you who read this think that am a “gone-case” let me clarify that this is the journey of an idle mind…!! It is in a process of traversing from one level of consciousness to another… :-)… hehehehe I know Hi-Fi words too.. :D

And btw, the heading just means that it is a useless journey of a "nothing-better-than-this" mind....

Saree... Sorry!!!

I just came back home from shopping with my mom..!! We had gone out to buy sarees for my grandmas and for my colleague back in hyd who wanted to gift them to his wife and mom..!! He had wanted typical Kerala Kasavu saree and so that was not too much of a trouble..!! That done.. We started looking at different types to choose for my grandmas .. Hmm… I am not too much of a saree enthusiast … I mean I like to look at it, I like to wear it and look all feminine and demure (the latter which I am not)… but shopping for it… I loathe that.. I just can’t get over the fact of why people take such a long time to choose between the various types… I mean they go to the shop knowing what they want and finally they end up buying something totally contrary to what they were supposed to buy… Phew!! And the types that are available… God save those who have no clue about them … read me!!! :P

You get all varieties like cotton, silk, silk cotton, polycot, chiffon, georgette and a whole lot of others which I don’t even know and don’t care about… hang on! These are just the top level… it still goes into a lot more branches like for eg: cotton – Bengal cotton, Dharwar Cotton, kancheepuram cotton, Pochampally cotton, and god knows many more…

This is like the biggest punishment that you can ever give someone who is barely interested in knowing what mix the saree you are holding in your hand is..!!

I pity all those men who have to accompany their wives on shopping..!! I am telling ya!! It’s better to leave these people alone… they can have a lot more fun choosing between the various types and kinds and looks and feel without “spoilsports” like us..!!! (According to my mom!!)

Whew! Humph!!...

And after that 2.5 hrs that we spent at Kalyan Silks… my purse was lower by arnd 5k and she did not let me buy the saree that I wanted… I mean!! How neat is that!!

I can’t believe I actually fell for that!! :$

The truth about Man and Woman!!!

I sent out this forward to my colleagues and a couple of friends..!!.. it was meant to be a joke.. like all the other men and women stuff that gets forwarded putting down each gender... though this time around the result was a little too obvious .... for more information read the paper cutting..!! Normally when such stuff are sent out no one bothers to reply.. people are kinda used to the these "men-women-chauvinistic-forwards" that they just read and are done with it...

But not with this one...!!

This one got a little too much of notice... it also got a lot of responses... mostly from MEN...!! :)

The female clan was happy that the feminine gender was praised and their ego boosted etc..!! and the male clan.. well i guess it pricked their ego a bit for the forward portrayed GOD as a WOMAN..!!! :)

But all said and done... The forward was quite enjoyable..! :) i must say, it sure did boost my ego ;)

Sometimes the road less travelled is less travelled for a reason….

Hyderabad – the city of nawabs and nizams, famous for its Hyderabadi Biriyani, the Golconda fort, the Charminar, Choodi bazaar, and of course been in the news more recently for the bomb blasts in Lumbini Park, Gokul Chaat Bandar, and also the Punjagutta flyover crash … there’s also quite a few other things that this city is famous for.. Oops sorry!! NOTORIOUS for…

Its unruly traffic, arrogant auto-drivers, and as I have mentioned in one of my earlier posts (parochial people!),…. But let me talk to you about the first two aspects of the not-so-famous Hyderabad!!

This incident happened as recent as today morning… me and glen were on our way to meet Kalyan from where we would go to office.. we tried hailing an auto from outside my apartment on the main road… the first auto we saw, that chap asked for 20 bucks to go to Marredpally… normally it takes only 13-14 bucks to go there, so we asked him why he wanted 20 bucks and asked him to come on meter charges (this is btw mandatory in Hyderabad after all the autos were fitted with electronic meters) … he refused.. We said ok, we don’t want the auto and moved on… we met another chappie and the same response. This one wanted 20 bucks too.. We said no.. He said ok and we moved on.. The third auto guy we met asked us for 20 bucks as well.. By this time we were running late and so we decided to get on and give the guy the 20 bucks.. He asked us where in Marredpally and we said just a little ahead of the flyover… he said okie.. We got on.. And on we went on our way… we crossed the flyover and the dude asked us where to stop.. We said you have to go a little more ahead… then that SOB got wild on us and started shouting saying that we should’ve told him that it was this long and that it’s his fate that he has to take people who don’t know where to go exactly and all crap.. I got totally pissed… I started shouting back saying that this is why there are autos and if he was so concerned about the charge he should have used the meter… at the end we all ended up shouting at each other.. I gave him the 20 bucks and we both walked off from there…

This is not the first time that this has happened… most of them refuse to use the meter and then they start shouting at us… each time those assholes think they are doing us a huge favor by letting us get into their auto… and most of the times they don’t even come to the place we ask them to … they just blindly say NO..

The worst part of Hyderabad is the traffic here… it’s unruly, scary, and disorderly and whatever synonyms you wanna give it!! :$... u never know where the lone ranger on a motorcycle is gonna come flying at you anytime of the given day or night… people are not bothered whether they cut across on someone’s lane.. Or take a left that is not warranted, or whether there’s a STOP sign or red light or pedestrian crossing on… hell..!! They’d probably take notice of you only if you run in front of their car, holding both hands out, pleading and shouting.. Don’t hit me… please let me just cross this crazy hideous and god-forsaken road…. And that too maybe.. Just maybe!! It’s a game of life and death that you play out on the roads here… my heart is always in my mouth every single time I have to cross the road or just stroll the streets, or travel!!!

So next time you’re planning to visit Hyderabad and are planning to travel by autos, brush up on your decibel level and learn some choicest of words that you can throw at them and oh yeah! Get an armor too… One made of iron would serve you best!!!

Dance... Passion.. Hobby... and something more..!!!

Dancing has always been a passion for me..!! Right from when I was in Class II, I was trained in Bharatanatyam, Mohiniyattom – the traditional dance forms of Kerala and Tamilnadu… but being the shy kid that I was (yes! Some people might be a little surprised at this… But yeah I was a shy kid back in school).. I never ever used to take part in any of those cultural activities… I used to be scared of the whole fact of going up on stage and facing those people out there… whenever the teachers used to come into the class for searching out girls for all those various cultural items.. I’d sneak down below the desk and remain there until they left the room… I never found enough courage to volunteer for the same… forget that.. there was this one time that they actually chose me to be one of the angels in some biblical play they were putting up and I started bawling away to glory saying that I did not wanna do it… after that neither have they found the courage to choose me for anything even remotely related to cultural… heeheehehehe!!!

But irrespective of all that, my training in dance still continued and well I loved dancing! Then it was in Std.VII that I gave my first school onstage performance… along with another 10 girls, I performed for a Hindi Dandiya song… it was a wonderful experience… used to especially love the part of cutting classes for practice… then came tableau performances for the inter-school youth festivals which were simply a great time… we went out to the sub-district and the district levels with our theme and had a gala time… and I FELL IN LOVE WITH THE STAGE… :-)

After my tenth, I moved to Coimbatore for my 11th and 12th standards wherein my training in dance took a break… I continued my training in a myriad form…spurts of dance classes here and there etc… but somehow the affinity for the stage was still there and so I continued in Avila, performing classical, semi-classical numbers on stage and I basically loved the experiences… Then came college, in Palghat, which was actually more like a dance theatre… the first time I performed on the stage at Mercy College was for the Fresher’s day that we juniors put up for our seniors… the show was special for 2 reasons.. one for the fact that I was for the first time dancing for a Hindi film song number – cinematic (as its termed) – nothing to remotely do with classical dance – it was purely Bollywood style with a lot of western steps thrown in… the second reason was that, there was a kind of energy and zest within the group that I performed along with, simply because of the fact that we were shunned by the rest of the entire first year batch of girls, as we’d not taken any of their choices of song, or costume or anything into consideration.. Therefore there was a special kind of vigor in the way we performed… we gave it our 100% and that performance is still being talked about in my college… the 8 of us were so synchronized and our coordination was outstanding as per the audience reaction… :-) … we showed those girls in our batch and how!!! :-)… it still brings a smile onto my face whenever I think of it…
That stage at Mercy College was like my second classroom, or rather home away from home… have lost count of the number of performances I have given there… some classical, some western, some folk, some semi-classical…. It’s myriad!!!

Another one of the times that really stands out in my mind is when I did a ‘Kathak’ performance for my cousin’s wedding… the piece is special not just because I was trying out Kathak for the first time… I was all apprehensive and was sure I would miss out on steps and make mistakes… but far from that.. I completely forgot myself when I was dancing for that and the audience was just a blur.. But somewhere along the recital, I happened to see Appa’s face and it was glowing, a bright smile plastered on his face, he was watching me like he had never seen me dance before, with such pride and delight… I was blown over!!! That expression of Appa’s is always on my mind… Even better was when I was done with my show, everyone went and congratulated my parents for my performance… it was exhilarating!!

There have been a lot of pieces that stand out in my mind… another one during my MBA days, when I did a show with Shruti (one of my close friends now)…. It was called STEP-N-SYNCH where you could not see your partner … you had to be fully coordinated and synchronized in your steps with that of your partners’… that was great too… it was great because it was a challenge for us and we had to as usual show some people that we were good dancers and among the best…!! ;-)… And we did… we won the competition…. talk about modesty… :P…

I learnt basics of Jazz from Shiamak Davar’s school of performance arts… next in line is Salsa… and that’s hopefully sometime in April.. :-)

Dancing to me is not just a hobby or a leisure activity… as I said earlier it’s a passion for me… I dance when am happy, sad, angry, frustrated, stressed, depressed…!! It’s like a never ending quest for the unknown… my feet invariably start tapping out some obscure steps to some rhythm that goes on in my head at all times… I wanna learn as many dance forms as possible… and maybe continue my training in dance...

Maybe Sometime... Some day…!!

Till then as Shiamak Davar says… HAVE FEET, WILL DANCE!!! :-)

Letting go... Giving up..

In love, we win very rarely, but when love is true, even if you lose, you still win just for having the tingle of loving someone more than you love yourself. There comes a time when we stop loving someone, not because that person has stopped loving us but because we have found out that, they'd be happier if we let go....

Why do we close our eyes when we sleep? When we cry? When we dream? When we kiss? This is because the most beautiful things in the world are unseen…Untouched… Only felt..!!

There are things that we never want to let go of, people we never want to leave behind, but keep in mind that letting go isn't the end of the world. It's the beginning of a new life. Happiness lies for those who cry, those who hurt, those who have searched and those who have tried. For only they can appreciate the importance of the people who have touched our lives…

A great love??!?! It's when you shed tears and still you care for them, it's when they ignore you and still you long for them. It's when they begin to love another and yet you smile and say, "I'm happy for you." If love fails, set yourself free, let your heart spread its wings and fly again. Remember you may find love and lose it, but when love dies, you never have to die with it.

The strongest people are not those who always win but those who stand back up when they fall. Somehow, along the course of life, you learn about yourself and realize that there should never be regrets, only a lifelong appreciation of the choices you've made. Loving is not how you forget but how you forgive, not how you listen but how you understand, not what you see but how you feel, and not how you let go but how you hold on.

It's more dangerous to weep inwardly rather than outwardly. Outward tears can be wiped away while secret tears scar forever...
Giving up doesn’t always mean you are weak; sometimes it means that you are strong enough to let go.

It's best to wait for the one you want than settle for one that's available.

It's best to wait for the right one because life is too short to waste on just someone.

The Magical world of Harry Potter….

If as a booklover, there has been any author I really am in awe of, one of them would have to be Joanne Kathleen Rowling… The lady who introduced the wonder-boy Harry James Potter to the world….

And I admire her not for a whole lot of things… its quite unbelievable that her imagination has captured the hearts of “god-knows-how-many-people” of the world… what an imagination man!!! Incredible!!

To think that all those funny wonderful characters came out of her thinking is quite something!

I was introduced to Harry Potter when I went to Bangalore to visit my cousin… I was so bored that my cousin bro’ Arjun gave me this book and asked me to read it… I was hooked! The first book that I read was “The Chamber of Secrets” and it’s still my favorite of the lot… after that it was a race… To see who would get to read the remaining books that came out in sequence… we used to have quizzes on the spells and the potions and the other stuff from the books…

The way Rowling has developed each of the characters in the books giving as much importance and characterization to them as much as to Harry is really superb … right from the first book “The Philosopher’s Stone”, till the last one “The Deathly Hallows”, she has kept the torch of suspense burning alive in the reader’s minds all through an entire span of a boy’s maturing into manhood..!!! Each book has a new twist, a new turn, introduction of new characters, death of a couple of old ones… dark and dreary at times, funny and hilarious at times, scary and forbidding at times… it’s a whole plethora of emotions weaved into one single story…!!!

I used to wonder how she used to make up all those spells and the different magical words, incantations, et al… When I was preparing for my placements, we (our group) used to sit and go through the lexicon to prep ourselves for the aptitude tests… it was worse than cramming for the CAT, XAT etc.. Most of the words that JK has used have their basis in English words… Levicorpus meaning to levitate, Expelliarmus meaning to expel from the arm, Crucio to cause crucial pain, Impervious meaning to resist…. And more of them… it’s a marvel..!! :-)
The way she brought out Snape as one of the most likeable characters is just splendid!! To say the least, Snape I am sure is one the best characters in the book… heroic and gallant in a very subtle way…
(For more info on the books - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter )

Man I could go on and on about this… HARRY POTTER series has always been and will be one of my all time favorites… I have actually lost count of how many times I have read the books over and again…

And for all those who say that Harry Potter is only for kids and all that crap… I think you should rephrase your statement… But I would not blame you because it takes a special kind of mind-set… that of openness towards everything… every kind of story without looking for logic or reasoning for the same… you can’t expect to have everything on a practical, realistic, staid and sensible framework… that’s expecting the bull not attack you coz’ u r a vegetarian …
Sometimes some things have to be taken at face value..!! :-)

Reminiscences of an idle mind….

An idle mind is a devil’s workshop… familiar ideology; ain’t it??

What’s the big deal if u r idle… right… I mean how is it affecting anyone… so what if you have nothing to do and then you end up contemplating the most weirdest things in the wide world..!! And in the process give your head a shake with a tut-tut murmur… wondering why the hell that particular thought came up… and what’s the stream of thoughts like..!!

I am sitting idle today in office… finished off my work (efficient worker that I am!)… Did all my pending to be completed work as well (I told ya I was diligent!) and now am sitting idle ever since I got back from lunch…!! Quite a contrast from those earlier weeks when I barely had time to go for a tea-break!! I mean it was quite HECTIC till last week and suddenly now… like the lull after the storm, it’s all abated…

I MISS THAT!!!

I mean forget about the fact that I used to crib that we were over-worked and that mules and asses had a better time at work than us…. Those late nights and immediate crashing on the bed once you’re back home without even having the energy to do anything else…

That seems so much better compared to this..!!! I feel awful sitting idle like this… This is UNBEARABLE….INTOLERABLE…AGONIZING…EXCRUCIATING…AWFUL…PAINFUL… hopeless is an understatement for the way I feel now…

I WANT WORK…. GIMME WORK… SOMETHING…ANYTHING…

I have been sitting idle for a long time now thinking about what I have to do… do I browse the net? Do I read something useful (read: novels)?? Do I blog?? And if so what do I blog about… Hell man!! Sometimes your mind just refuses to give you any sort of answers… what a pathetic state of affairs..!!

And well… to all those people who called me a WORKAHOLIC …
I fully agree with u… I am one..!!
Please gimme some work!!!.... And that means something that I can do! Not something that randomly comes up in your mind and you think; “hey!! That’s a good thing to ask her to do!”…

And the above is definitely a DISCLAIMER… :P