The ill-effects of extreme Shopping!

The untimely phone calls just freak the hell out of me. Now, anyone would be when their phone rings at 4 AM in the morning! I got all tensed up when the phone rang this morning and more over it was S's phone. He picked the phone and I almost think, I saw him pick the phone and then there was silence. He had put the phone on silent mode and gone back to sleep..and then the conversion was something like this...

Me: (with eyes half-open and still sleepy) Who...who...who...called?

Him: Some guy in HOLLISTER shirt!

Me: (with eyes wide open) what ??????????

Him:(off to deep sleep) HOLLISTER...

Me: (trying to wake him) Hey, did you just say HOLLISTER???

Him: zzzzzzzzzZZZZZ...

This freaked me out even more and with great difficulty I picked the phone and checked it out myself. I couldn't see a missed call number for some reason, but that person had left a voice message. Good...I thought. I quickly checked the voice mail and this is what I heard from an old lady..

"Oh dear, I think I have called a wrong number...sorry about that. Bye!"

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry! Why would you put a voice mail when you know you have called a wrong number...just to apologize? :(

Anyway, the story goes something like this....S had been bent upon buying this Hollister branded Shirt from a long long time (say a year) and I would talk him out of this, everytime we walk into this ridiculously expensive store. Come'on, I wasn't gonna spend $70 for a single T-shirt!!! We had gone there to see if there were any christmas deals/holiday discount yesterday and we didn't find any, especially when every other store was offering 50/60/70% off. So, naturally we walked out yet again. Didn't know that S wanted it so badly that he start dreaming about it too :O Have to think seriously about this now...Can't blame him because I myself have been dreaming about beautiful draperies, bed spreads, decoratives and what not!

Well...We have been shopping non-stop for over a month now, visiting each and every mall in Toronto. I guess, it's about time to wrap up shopping and start PACKING as our travel dates are soon approaching!!!

INDIA...here we come :)

S is still asleep...I'll make him read this post, once he wakes up. I'm pretty sure, he has no clue about the phone call and his mumbling :D Hez gonna kill meeeee...
Aah...the devil in me..

dhin-thanak-dhin

It was our friends' Sangeet ceremony, last weekend. Preparations for Sangeet were on since almost a month. All girls were practising for a skit with dances inbetween. It was a very well planned skit, targeting the guys and their mannerisms. The guys were taken by a pleasant surprise with this performance. Of course, they enjoyed every bit of it. I was one among the dancers. Well, I can't hold myself from dancing, no matter what. I am not so great at it but my passion lies in dance.

Interestingly, I had pestered S to dance with me. His dancing sense is very limited (as compared to me..:D) but he's been a good sport. He agreed to it, after giving it a thought. We practised over a couple of weekends and there we were ready to perform! Just before our dance S felt a bit nervous, but but but....he did a splendid job :-) Though, he forgot few steps here and there, he covered it up quite conveniently. The cheering that we got made us more confident. S is all geared up now to give a much refined performance in the future events and so am I!

There was a certain 'priceless' moment that I had to incorporate in our dance due to some last minute changes (You know how to cover up the music between lines, when you don't wanna dance!). Being a fervent admirer of the charismatic drama in the movies, I was always fascinated by the-guy-bending-on-his-knee-and-proposing-love-act. Obviously, I stole this opportunity to make one of my secret crazy ideas come true. Yeah, S bent on his knee and popped a rose to me in front of over fifty people (read friends, who know us in and out....!) The crowd broke in oooohs and aaaahs and whistled in loud shrills. I couldn't stop but blush..:)

I simply can't get over the fact that S did the whole thing in a very romantic way, just as I had imagined :P (Right out of Mills-and-Boon). But then S had only one regret that he could not get a diamond....save it for the next time Honey! Are you listening?

And so I strike out an item in my secret wish list....zuck!!!

Shattered Mumbai

Feeling very emotional and helpless as I type this out. The terrorist attacks that have been gripping Mumbai seem to be endless as the ordeal drags onto third day. More than the media journalism, it's the public journalism that has been quite active, genuine and extending possible help. I'm posting few of the links below that are carrying up-to-date information while the crisis continues.

http://mumbaihelp.blogspot.com/

http://mumbai.metblogs.com/

http://helpmumbai.pinstorm.com/

http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23mumbai

Twitter link is believed to be followed by terrorists as well!

http://flickr.com/photos/vinu/

http://arunshanbhag.com/

http://www.gauravonomics.com/blog/real-time-citizen-journalism-in-mumbai-terrorist-attacks/

Hats off to Mumbai Police, Fire Fighters, Army, Navy and the NSG Commandos who have been working non-stop since over 48 hours.

We have already lost many high ranked officials and more than 155 reported civilians. The weak infrastructure of Indian Government is to be blamed for the on-goings. A crisis-management team is lacking and we are totally unprepared when such attacks happen.

My deepest condolensces to the families who have lost their loved ones.

Salute to the Officers for their valor and sacrifice. May their soul rest in peace..




Peace ever !!!

Dasvidaniya

Dasvidaniya is a sweet and simple movie that touches your heart. Brilliant work by first time director, Shashant Shah. Also, Vinay Pathak's first movie as a producer. We have seen Vinay Pathak in Bheja Fry, Khosla ka Ghosla, Aaja Nachle etc. With his strong theatrics background, this guy has only the best to offer. Vinay Pathak has done complete justice to his role as 'Amar Kaul' in Dasvidaniya.

The story is about a common man, who leads a very normal life. Due to unexpected turn of events, he takes a jolly ride with life. As the movie proceeds, you'll fall in love with this common man.

The comedy in Dasvidaniya is light hearted. Ranvir Shorey did his bit marvelously, in a cameo role. Saritha Joshi in the mother's role, slightly over did her acting in certain scenes but she managed to portray delicate emotions in the scene when Amar sings for her. Neha Dhupia comes as a pleasant surprise. Never knew that she could act. I am not sure who played the role as the salesgirl. But she was so very natural. Rajat Kapoor and Suchitra are just adequate. The entire casting has taken the movie to a different level.

Music by Kailash, Paresh and Naresh is good. Alvida song is melodious. The mamma song is simply cute.

The movie does have some loop holes here and there. There have been mixed reviews too. But overall, it's a winner.

I'm sure you will walk out of the theatre with your eyes moist.

HBO Rating: BSI

BSI : I Bet you can't Skip this Item!

Dostana..jaldi se bhagonaa...varna tumhe hain pachthaana

I am deeply inconsolable for having to inaugurate my HBO with such a pathetic movie..tut tut!

My profound insight tells me that Karan Johar wants to familiarize our society with the so called gay concept. Things were fine up till Kanta ben. We didn't need a whole movie concentrating only on this!

I think Karan had to spend money only for Kirron Kher and Sushmita Mukherjee's wardrobe. Others really haven't worn much. Effect of global recession, I suppose. Thanks to our Bollywood Babes for the bikini marathon, we are now comfortable watching them in the tiniest of dresses. With dostana, the trend slowly moves on to the guys. We have seen Salman, Shahrukh etc flaunt their six-pack, but this movie has more to offer. Sadly, it leaves us all the more embarassed.

As the movie progresses, you just realise that every other person in the movie is gay. Your roommate is gay. Your boss is gay. The guy you bump into is gay. Your visa officer is also gay!!???!! ,it just gets into a wild slapstick comedy.

With such hot and happening bunch of actors, it's really disappointing to see the ultimate outcome.

AB junior is just wasting away his talent. There are better things that he can opt for. Not movies like Drona, Dostana! Wait a minute, I see a connection here, D and D. AB, I think you need a numerologist. Make hay while the sun shines, Honey.

Priyanka is good. For girls who love John, you might enjoy watching him in Dostana. He's much much much better than what he did in Paap. Bobby Deol...do I need to say anything at all! Oh, you didn't know that he was there in Dostana? Don't worry, you'll not know it even after watching the movie.

If Karan Johar wanted to portray a message of social responsibility towards the gay community, Dostana certainly does not make it any better. Madhur Bhandarkar, is the right person who can elegantly deal with such subjects.

HBO RATING: RAQ

RAQ: Run Away Quickly

The child in you

I totally believe the saying that there is a child within all of us, irrespective of the age. While I ponder over to re-discover the child in me, I just realized that I have never grown – up! Really, I feel haplessly childish when:

• I am Eveready to watch re-runs of Tom and Jerry/ Popeye / PoGo, basically anything that appears colorful

• I run to the swing in a park, just at the sight of it

• Quite often, I oblige for gifts such as chocolates, cakes, muffins, brownies, donuts, Danishes and what not

• I am habitually seen in the Children’s section of the Library, trying to grab a sneak peek of fairy tale books

• I pride about the collection of DVDs on the likes of Cinderella, Snow White, Alice in Wonderland and many more.

• I can never share my 3D Fairy tale book containing beautiful castles, horses, chariot, parties, princess in her huge dress etc. I am completely possessive of it. Remember, it’s 3D!

• Water colors, crayons, color pencils, sketch pens….these have been my fantasies and are always on my wish list.

• I effortlessly walk into any Toy stores and treat myself with the sights of Barbie or Dora or the soft toys.

• I feed my nose while I eat an ice cream and it feels utterly incomplete if I don’t drop it on my dress.

• I believe that every toy deserves a name. I call my dog Snoopy.

• You have to agree that Angel is my Best Friend and it can listen to all the crap that I say (btw, Angel is my huge white adorable teddy!)

• I don’t know what table manners are!

• I make my way in a crowd shoving, without even saying ‘excuse me’! Honestly, who cares?

• I drop and break things with ease. I master in making a puppy dog face and getting away with it.

• It takes forever for S to feed me everyday with all the pampering and bullying.

• I assume that I deserve a treat everyday, just for nothing

By the way, I should treat myself today because it’s children’s day! What say?

I am sure you are all sailing in the same boat as me. Go get yourself, a heavily layered double chocolate cherry sundae with nuts and get blessed…A veRy HaPpY ChiLDrEn'S DaY!


Image Courtesy: Flickr

Yeh hain Big Boss ka Ghar!

Somebody's watching you..it's the BIG BOSS!

If you haven't been watching this, good for you! You remind me of myself, when I was very new to this reality show concept.

14 celebrities...24/7 on camera...no contact with outside world...nominations and evictions...plotting...the GAME! All this sounded too tempting for me and I gave in. Little did I know, that it would turn out to be this ugly and disgusting! Of course, I did enjoy watching the dirty game in the beginning, I confess :P

But now it is getting on my nerves. You might say, stop watching it! haha....I am addicted. Now, I pity myself!

The show seems to be highly biased. Big Boss has favorable rules for his favorite players. When Raja was supposed to be evicted, he was sent to the secret room. Again when Rahul, Raja, Monica were nominated, they were saved from eviction as a Diwali gift. Sambhavana and Payal are back inside the house to create more havoc. Gimme a break!

The characters in the show are really larger than life and they prove to be so. What kind of person is this Rahul Mahajan? He flirted openly with Payal and now he is repeating the same with Monica! Dude....is this the kind of image you want to project, especially when you have opted for a political career?

And what's wrong with Monica? She has been outside and witnessed the drama between Rahul and Payal. And now she is back to herself.."raaahuullll, tum kab sudhroge?" is that enough to keep him away? Strange!

Fayal...oops, Payal! The most camera-conscious, image-conscious girl. She was cornered big time in Pooja Bedi's Aakhri Salaam. She is unable to defend herself sadly. She has become quite popular with the masses for her "special" acts. Farah Khan was right when she said that Payal's name should be Khaitan. She always goes "mere producers, mere directors, mere fans"..Girl, we didn't even know you before Big Boss. Come out of your dream land.

Sambhavana...should I even mention? She is the only one who is having fun at the cost of others' weaknesses. Miss big mouth is always bent on irking either Raja or Payal or Rahul! Whenever she speaks, we get to hear only beep...beep...beep! She is solely responsible for the show TRPs.

Raja...with his massive anger is driving everybody crazy. He ain't better than Sambhavana in his language. We get to hear quite a lot of beeps from him too. The other day, to my horror, he kicked a flower vase. Isn't that cranky? We don't do that at our homes! Being a celebrity comes with it's own package to deal with, I guess.

Zulfi...this guy makes me laugh. He is always seen lazing around in the house, on a bean bag. Zero Energy. I haven't seen him doing anything extravagant to add to the spice of the show except when he sang 'ye mere pyaare watan'. But still he is managing to hang around. This guy over analyses the game strategy. Who knows, he might walk away with the 75 L prize money!

If you see any shirtless man walking around with goggles ON in the BB house, it's none other than Ashutosh. He really entertains with his language and Akshay Kumarish mannerisms. It was quite hilarious to see him act as the school principal and as a servant in the drama. I was literally rolling on the floor when he brought water for the guest in 'asthik kalash'. S didn't find it that funny though :| Hema's astrological predictions say that this guy might end up in our own Bollywood, as yet another Rajpal Yadav.

Diana Hayden, I wish she weren't in this show. She is too good to be in Big Boss. I really love it, when she shows her attitude to Rahul. oh btw, she got evicted today! She was the most sane person among the insane bunch. But that made her very boring to watch on the show.

ehsaanji ehsaanjiiiii....jab aap gaye baaahar,
tho BB house mein aa gayi bahaaar!
My silly poetic tribute to the comedian who used to come up with such funny rhyming lines every now and then. Mind you, nobody enjoyed it except him.

Ketki ji sabse pehle chai banathi hain..I can't remember anything significant from her other than that. She did ruffle a few feathers when she criticised Raja and eviction was the price she had to pay.

'Pehli nazar mein aisa jaadu kar diya...' Debojit used to always sing this song. Poor thing, he sang through his way out of the house. He remained aloof without involving in any planning nor did he serve any masala. No wonder, he's gone.

Rakhi Vijan was way better in Hum Paanch. and what's with her blush? She had simply overdone it.

Alina...the cry baby of the show! Her twin sister seems to have got the most footage from Big Boss.

Sanjay Nirupam, What was he doing in Big Boss?

It would be wrong if I don't mention Shilpa, the heart of the show. But her laugh is wild, strangely. I heard someone say, that it takes a while to get her lips back together. Isn't that funny!

Pooja Bedi, grills the contestants once they are out. But she seems to be biased too. She is planning to compete with Oprah Winfrey. Is that true? how is that possible?

I think, by now you must have already figured out as to how much I am addicted to Big Boss. I have even picked up few words from the show like, 'footage', 'TRP' , 'tilli lagaana' etc etc...

I will be really happy to enlighten you, if you are interested to watch Big Boss :D Any takers?

Popcorn and Coke

Well, what else could popcorn and coke mean? Yeah...am talking about movies, movies and movies! On any day, I just love to munch on butter popcorn (I know, butter!!!), slurp a strawful of coke and get lost in the magic spinning onscreen. A magic that can cast spell at times, but most of the times it doesn't! Sadly, our hollywood, bollywood, tollywood, kollywood...whateverwood have been churning out thousands of movies that are "leave-your-brain-at-home-while-you-watch" types.

Cutting out the crap, now what I want to say is that I might be of some help to you. How?.. In here,I'll rate the movies in my Blogsville section "HBO" nah...it's not the Hollywood BO, you got it wrong! It's "Hema's Box Office" silly!

No..I'm not Raja Sen's sister or Jeevi's cousin but just for the heck of it! Oh come'on now, when Himesh can become Monty, I can become pretty...I mean, pretty critical!

So, here I define my scale.

STAR : Sizzler Treat to All, for Real

BSI : I Bet you can't Skip this Item!

TGW : Thank God, it's Watchable!

YEM : You'll Enjoy it, Moron!

SNH : Strictly Not recommended for Humans

RAQ : Run Away Quickly, or you shall repent, GUINEA PIG!

Now that the groundwork is done, HBO is soon to get into showbiz..watch out!

Note: Let me make it clear to all Producers/ Directors/ Actors, HBO doesn't accept gifts/bribes. Strictly no biasing, not even to Aamir khan or Farhan Akhtar or Siddharth, for that matter even Madhavan(sigh)!

Me and my S - Part 2

February 2007:

In the Karnataka weddings that I used to attend, I was always fascinated by the colorful decoratives displayed. A coconut wrapped and designed to make a peacock, a colorful handfan. There are gifted to the groom during the kashi – yatra ceremony. I wanted to make them myself with a unique design.

Mom, me and my sis paid a visit to the famous “raja market”, where we bought a wide variety of crystals, zardosi, stones, kundan etc for saree work. I used the same decoratives for the peacock and handfan. Of course, mom and sis helped me in getting a proper framework. Well, the final product was something like this..not very clear though.



Not to forget the bride and groom dolls made of wood. I dressed them up in rich wedding dresses and jewellery. Will try to get a picture of it, if possible.

It had been really a long time since I had met my college friends. I took some time off on one of the weekends and visited my friends. It was just so delightful. Probably, that was the last time when we got to spend some quality time. It really surprises me that all of us are in different countries now, as if thrown away across the globe. Wonder when we would really meet again…!

Most of my evenings went in decorating my wedding sarees. I had fallen in love with the rich colors and intricate designs on my sarees.

During lunch breaks at office, I had also started taking ‘car’ driving classes. My teacher was Waseem. He used to concentrate more on his girl friend and less on the teaching part. All the while, he kept handling the gears and clutches and I was under the illusion that I was a very good learner. I still remember his dialogue….. :D

“dheere se..dheere se…..varna gear haath mein aa jaayega”

My experiments with car driving are worth a post….will soon share them here!

In the last week of February, I and my Sis went to Hyderabad for some more shopping for S’s dresses. Believe me, we spent about 5 hrs in a mall to finalize his dresses. With so many brands around, S drove us nuts trying to make all possible combinations. My sister was on the verge of fainting by the time we completed the tedious shopping process. We also went to Charminar to purchase a ghagra for me. I had never seen such pretty ones in my entire life! It was so difficult to pick just one…but I had to!

S had bought a gift for me for V Day. A pair of cute earrings. I was pleasantly surprised as I hadn’t expected it. I saved it up for wedding :)

Me and my S - PART 1

I think, it's appropriate to fill in my blog from where I left it.
So here goes my Saga to reach my "S"weetheart!

Things had started rolling between me and S, when we had first met in November, 2005. But we chose the Wedding to be after atleast 2 years as we had other important things in our priority list. Our families were more than glad to accept our decision.

On December 17, 2006, I moved back to India from Seoul (after a stay of 2 years). Enjoyed a complete full fledged vacation with my family until my birthday on 1st of January . S turns up all the way from hyderabad with an unexpected gift on my birthday. I was meeting him after three months. Celebrations and celebrations! The year ended on a good note. We knew when we were getting married. We had something to tell our friends and the ever inquisitive relatives.

January 2007:
A month in which everything got back from fresh to normal. I was driving to office on my bike as I used to before. I had new challenges at my workplace, but was not a herculean task as all my colleagues were there to help me out. Of course, they were also my friends. Apart from the oldies, there were quite a number of new faces. They all thought that I was new to the company! I started mingling with the newbies as well. Best part was my lunch breaks with Sum and Suma. We would chat about all the things on Earth. Take a nice long walk in the office premises and get back to work.

Meanwhile, I had chalked out plans for the wedding preparations. It was about 12 weeks time. And I had plans for every weekend from then!

First thing that we did was buy sarees for the wedding. We had to do a lot of stone work on those in the coming months. We had bought almost 6-7 beautiful silk sarees. I had started my facial beauty cycle too. A woman is said to be most beautiful on her wedding day. Hence my attempts to make it true!

I had started missing S terribly. We used to talk over the phone during nights. But the time spent for each other in a day had gone down miserably due to the new changes. Which was not the case in phone bills. I had a pre-paid plan and had to rush to the recharge center very often.

Valentine's day was coming up and I had to make some plans to surprise S. It's not that V day is any special, just another reason for us to celebrate :D There is this new plaster of paris idol trend in Bangalore these days. They have a huge variety of boy and girl figures with really cute expressions. I bought an idol which had a girl and boy looking into each other's eyes sitting on a tree branch with a heart shape. Got it packed neatly and couriered it to Hyderabad along with a beautiful card. I just love those greeting cards. Wonder how they make such pretty ones with such hearty messages! Given a chance, I would want to meet the people who design greeting cards :)

To Be Continued..

A fresh start

My dear friend,

After many many many many days, I am back to rekindle my passion to love you, to adore you, play with you, to decorate you and feel proud of you.

The time spent away from you has been so full of colors and wonderful memories, which I do not regret.

I did miss you. At times, I stumbled over the guilt of not updating you about the happenings in my life, friend.

I always knew that it's a small world and we would definitely meet again. I am here to ask you a favor which I know you won't deny. Please allow me into your world and give me a chance to pamper you and fall in love with you yet again.

Love you dear blog,
Yours Truly