Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Arranged Marriage – Chitra Divakarunni Banerjee

I picked up this book with a lot of expectations as the earlier books by the same author showed a lot of promise – Sister of my heart, Vine of Desire, etc. I liked the way she portrayed the Bengali customs, traditions etc and how she used the language so effortlessly and flawlessly.

This book however – a collection of short stories – failed to live up to those expectations. Much to my disappointment the stories lacked something that I could not put my finger on. I felt they were incomplete, or rather on the whole deficient in something. Either there’s something that I could not quite figure out about the stories or maybe there’s nothing; and they are just that – STORIES. Of the whole lot, she has used characters in some that are common to the other books and the collection altogether left me a little disheartened when I finished it. I seriously could not understand the endings of some stories, if they could be called that!!!

I preferred Jhumpa Lahiri’s - Unaccustomed Earth to this one… whether it’s the content or whether it’s the language I think I enjoyed reading that more than this! Of course, to compare both when they have been written at different times is not fair… but because they belong to the same genre as short stories or rather collection of tales.. I have gone ahead and done just that!

Not a very enjoyable read! At least to me!


Friday, August 22, 2008

Mozhi ....

I saw this very nice movie yesterday (again!) called ‘Mozhi’ – a Tamil movie… I saw it initially when it was released in the company of my parents and my best friend – Vaish - and her family… I fell in love with it! And now it holds a prominent place in my list of favorite movies… I watched it again yesterday… and fell in love with it all over again…

A very simple, sweet, story that is portrayed in a very realistic way… loved each and every character in the movie… they all contributed their bit no matter how small it was… and everything about the movie is so well-made that it makes you feel good after watching it…

Jyothika has done a great job as the deaf and mute girl whose resilience is weakened when she comes into contact with another person who introduces her to things she was not aware of…. Prithviraj has done a brilliant job as the musician who falls in love with this strong headed, confident girl and wants to share his life with her… Prakash Raj – yet again a brilliant actor, he has portrayed the role of a friend, spicing up the movie with his comic timing and good acting…Swarnamallya as Jyothika’s friend has also lent her support in a subtle but powerful way…

The dialogues, the acting, and the scenarios … everything is so realistic and something that we can relate to… subtle nuances have been portrayed in a nice way… good songs …. Nice locales too…

I loved the last scene where the friend throws her bouquet to Jyothika in the church after she has made up with the hero… nice touch I felt! :-)….

Great movie – Must watch…. You’ll love it!!!


Thursday, August 21, 2008

Possessive am I !!??!

Someone today asked me if I was possessive about my blog… at that time I thought it was quite a weird question and shrugged it off… but the more I thought about it… well… Actually I am… :-)

I mean, it’s almost like an integral part of me…

Each day in the morning in office, once I finish checking my “official” mails the next thing that I do is diligently log on to blogger… Every time I come across something or some incident occurs, the first thought that crosses my mind is whether I can put it on my blog… I come across some kind of phrase or a nice saying or anything that catches my attention, I think of how to incorporate it in my blog…

I love it when I get hits on my blog, I love it when someone leaves a comment, I love it when someone tags me…

I love to browse the net for other blogs, trying to gain ideas or inspiration for my own… I compose posts in my mind to put them later on my blog… play around with words, imagination, stories that I have read, incidents that I have heard or seen or been in,…
It’s almost like an obsession with me now to ‘beautify’ my blog… adding widgets, changing the layout, mixing up the colors, editing it, and undoing whatever I did…

I do not like it when someone questions me on my writing or whatever I have written on my blogs… by questioning I mean, irrelevant ones or offering their opinion where it is not warranted… I hate it when someone comments otherwise about my blog… I do not like anyone telling me how I supposed to write something in my blog... or give me pointers on what I have to write, or how my blog should look etc...
It's my baby... and I love it the way it is... If anyone has to make changes or take decisions about my blog, it will be ME and only ME...

So I guess it all comes down to one thing…

YES I AM POSSESSIVE ABOUT MY BLOG… :-)

Extremely, Exceptionally, Exceedingly…… :-) :-)


Wednesday, August 20, 2008

The Red Queen Effect....

I went home for a couple of days this last weekend… one of my close friends was getting engaged and it was happening at my hometown… It was a good thing because I got to meet my parents and stay at home as well… and it was a really short visit by any standards ….

But this post is not about how short my stay was or what I did during my stay… this post is about how the small sleepy hometown that I am a part of has changed so much – the right word here would be ‘evolved’ – I was literally taken aback… not that I did not expect it to grow or develop … but the pace at which it is getting there is amazing to say the least…

The town that I belong to in Kerala was more or less referred to by my folks as a place for retirement… in the sense that it quiet, calm, serene and what not… it was the place that I grew up… went to school in, did my graduation from… and all through the course of my studies when I was old enough to think and act for myself, there was just one thought that kept running through my mind… getting out of this old boring place and going to some major city to make my life… in literal words…

This time when I went back for those couple of days, I was taken aback to see umpteen changes that had happened over the past one year or so… gone were those hangouts that we used to go to.. Those bakeries, ice cream parlors… stationery shops that we were so used to buying our notebooks and numerous textbooks, obscure shops in the town that we bought stuff for our college fests, dances and birthday celebrations, cosmetic shops that we used to frequent, apparel shops that were our favorites… most of them have undergone major changes… paths that we tread over the years have been replaced by tar roads, trees have been chopped off, …. It feels like only a vestige of the old town that I was born and brought up remains…

I am happy for all the development that’s taking place and all that… but on the flip side, what used to be a small, quaint, little town is now taken over in the race for globalization, development and expansion… traffic is again increased… new structures, malls, shops, …. Everything new and traces of the old ….

Feels a little weird..!!!.... dunno why though… :-)

I guess like someone said…

If you don’t like something change it;
If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.

PS: The Red Queen Effect -->

Term used by biologists to describe the evolutionary necessity to evolve faster than one's competitors, predators or prey. It was adapted from Lewis Carroll’s ‘Through the Looking Glass’ where the Red Queen points out to Alice;

“It takes all the running you can do to stay in the same place.
If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that.”





Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Another tag .... Again by Soorya... This time it's with photos!!!


Soorya's tag...!! again! :-) but I enjoyed doing this one too.. it was good fun..
My Answers ....

What is your first name?
Aishwarya… (And no I am not going to put Aishwarya Rai’s picture here..! I searched for 'ash')

What is your favorite food? Right now?
Aloo fry… (the way Amma makes it :-) )

What high school did you go to?
St.Thomas Convent High School … got the Saint’s picture…:O

What is your favorite color?
Black… Black… Black… and its various hues and shades…

Who is your celebrity crush?
George Clooney.. He’s so CUTE….

Favorite drink?
Coffee….

Dream vacation?
Some god-forsaken island somewhere… Just me and Mother Nature…

Favorite dessert?
Cheesecake

What do you want to be when you grow up?
A dancer

What do you love most in life?
Myself… ;-)

One Word to describe you.
Perky

Your flickr name.
No Flickr name...!!!

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Ocho cosas...

Tagged by Soorya ..... here goes...

8 Things I’m passionate about:

  1. My Independence, freedom, liberty :P
  2. My friends
  3. My family
  4. Dance
  5. My collection of Books
  6. My room
  7. My laptop
  8. My collection of cd’s and stuff that I have taken care to hoard over years.. ;-)


8 Things I want to do before I die:

1. Get a tattoo
2. Do a lot of adventure sports
3. Learn horse riding
4. Become a successful top level corporate honcho
5. Become a master at all languages
6. Learn other types of dances
7. Take my mom and dad on a world tour
8. Live life my way… and in so good and best a way that people would want to emulate..!!


8 Things I say often:

  1. Shucks
  2. Am hungry!
  3. What the hell…
  4. Mummy…..
  5. Am feeling sleepy
  6. I Swear!!!
  7. Really??
  8. Hmmm

8 Books I last read:

  1. Jhumpa Lahiri’s Unaccustomed Earth
  2. Advaita Kala’s Almost Single
  3. Ashok. K. Banker’s Prince of Ayodhya
  4. Must love dogs (Don’t remember the author’s name)
  5. David Baldacci’s Total Control
  6. David Baldacci’s Stone Cold
  7. Chitra Divakarunni Banerjee’s The Vine of Desire
  8. Chitra Divakarunni Banerjee’s Mistress of Spices

8 songs I could listen to over and over again:

  1. Nothing Else Matters - Metallica
  2. Seasons in the season – Westlife
  3. Humhe Tumse Pyaar Kitna
  4. Kabhi Kabhi Aditi zindagi – Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na
  5. City of Angels theme song
  6. Katrin Mozhi- Mozhi
  7. Netru Illatha Maatram – Puthiya Mugam
  8. Most of AR Rahman songs


8 bloggers who should do this tag:

Anyone who wishes to actually… :-)



Thursday, August 7, 2008

And I dream on......

It is raining heavily outside. I am sitting inside my centrally airconditioned office huddled up in a jacket to keep in the warmth. I can't help but think of what I would do if i was at home...


Having a hot cup of coffee (filter coffee) in my favorite black mug, accompanied by maybe hot pakoras onion/potato, or mirchi bajjis, even spicy nuts... curled up in my bed with a nice interesting book and music plugged into my ears, cuddled in my blanket... hmmm...

High hopes!!!


Instead of that I am sitting here and listening to my colleague who has taken the day off on how he is enjoying the climate... gah! and double gah!


I wish I were at home...


I wish I were at Kerala...


I wish I were anywhere but here....








Wednesday, August 6, 2008

To write or not to write....

You know sometimes I hate my blog! Hate of course is too harsh a word but then having a blog like this in my own name is a little unnerving… its unnerving because I have to think about what I am going to write, how I am going to word it, will it hurt people’s sentiments or feelings, would people who read it take offence, do I have the liberty to post it… I dunno… sometimes having a blog anonymously helps! Seriously!

I mean, there are so many things that I want to write about, stuff about people, about incidents that happen, about the way people behave etc etc… the list is kind of endless… but no… I end up thinking that it might be rude to say/write stuff like that which of course is sarcastic enough for people to feel bad because sarcasm kind of runs in my blood… or so some of my friends say!!

But when I get that feeling that I have to stop myself from writing something just because it would hurt someone, it irks me… it’s almost like I don’t have the freedom to post whatever I want on my blog… and somehow that defeats the purpose of the blog I feel… now I am in a dilemma… there’s some stuff that I want to write about but cannot for the fear that it will hurt someone… what am I supposed to do??

U r damned if you do… U r damned if you don’t…


Monday, August 4, 2008

F.R.I.E.N.D.S.

This is one TV Show that never fails to perk up my spirits…
It’s Funny, It’s Cute, It’s so easy to relate to and it’s BRILLIANT… Love it…

Back in college, when we were in the hostel, it used to be our only respite from the always-on-our-backs professors. The slapstick comedy, the one liners, the USP of each character, the way they led their lives… it’s just too good…!! In fact, the show was such a rage that people used to equate it to their status symbol…

“Do you watch F.R.I.E.N.D.S.?”

“No, I actually don’t!! What is it about?”

“You don’t know about F.R.I.E.N.D.S.??... It is a MUST-WATCH”…

And then there were these quizzes that got popularized… “Which F.R.I.E.N.D.S. character are you?” etc etc… I can recollect couple of my friends swooning over Chandler and Joey... I did too ;-) In fact I still do! :-)… And whenever someone used to ask me “Who is your favorite character in F.R.I.E.N.D.S.??” I used to never be able to decide… I like each one of them for specific traits… and I think what sets this show apart from the others I have seen is the fact that the dialogue-delivery is outstanding… the expressions, dialogues, the enactments it’s all just great….

I can’t relate myself to one specific character from the show… I somehow feel that as one grows older (yes! again a reminder that we are growing old!) we tend to have shades from all characters… like how much of a little girl Rachel is still inside her heart, Monica orderliness, Phoebe’s goofiness, Chandler’s wit, Joey’s dumb act, and Ross’s educational bent of mind…
Ultimately what it is that IT IS FUN…

It’s a very cute series and very aptly depicted…!

Kudos to the team! And one day, I swear I will have the entire collection ;-)


Happy Friendships Day!!!



Happy friendship day..!!! :-)

Yup… yesterday was friendships day… the first Sunday of August… a quiet, relaxing, and a normal holiday like any other weekend…

I remember back in school and college, the enthusiasm with which Friendship Day was celebrated… brightly colored bands adorning the wrist right up till the elbow in some cases… comparing with one another who had more bands… the rare colored satin ribbons that passed off for bands (pocket money!!:P), cutting cakes, meeting up with friends… and since it falls on a Sunday, the whole fun would be next day at School/College!!

But somehow as days pass by, as we grow older, these kind of “days” seem to have taken a backseat… yup..Birthdays, Anniversaries, Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Rakshabandhan, etc have their own charm still… but “Special days” as these have somehow taken less priority over anything else.. Gone are those days when you used to message everyone in your contacts list wishing them a happy friendship day… or calling up your best friends and wishing them and reminiscing about the good ol’ days… mailing everyone cards(e-cards all the same!) and celebrating with them… Not that we don’t care or anything… but maybe we have other things taking precedence over this..!!

Yesterday my friend from college messaged me late at night… we were really good friends in college during MBA and used to hang out a lot together.. but somehow caught in the flurry-burry of the corporate world its more or less like we don’t talk that often… friends we still are… good friends.. But it is taking a lot of time and effort for us to keep that same level of friendship going… he messaged and wished me a Happy friendship day and kind of subtly remarked that he was expecting at least a call or message from me… I did not message anyone! I only replied to those few pals who messaged me and reminded me that it was friendship day… I can’t very well go and tell him that I did not message anyone and therefore missed him out too… that sounds ridiculous even to my ears..! I simply said sorry and wished him late!

I did not have the inclination or the proclivity to message anyone or wish anyone…!!! Again as I said not because I don’t care or I think it’s childish or beneath me… I just did not feel like..!! I felt that I could rather talk some other day to my friends or catch up with them on any other day… I do not need a special day to make them feel special or unique… they all are… Each of them... Unique and special in their own sweet way… and I love them all!! I am also sure that they would understand if I missed out on one of their special days…

Like I said before, yesterday was just yet another day… the fact that it was friendship day did nothing special … rather like how it used to… a few eons back….

Or does it seem so just to me..!!!

City of Angels...

BEAUTIFUL...
I could use a lot of adjectives here and tell you what a wonderfully made film it is! But I am going to do nothing of that sort...
All I am going to tell you is.. MUST WATCH! :-)


Grahanam - A review!

It has been quite some time since I penned something on this blog, and even longer, since I wrote a movie review. But there is no good time ...