Phew !!!

No...I did not make any new year resolution to blog regularly! (I know, it's March already) Everytime I make a promise, I've been breaking it. So, I don't intend to make any promises.

As I revamped my blog, I just realised that I enjoy reading blogs rather than writing! The list of blogs that I follow seems to just grow and grow. I've been so busy reading all the blogs that my writing has taken a backseat :) Seriously, all you bloggers out there, you are doing an absolutely amazing job. I love your blogs! Keep up the good work and keep inspiring the lazy blogger in me.

On the contrary, I feel special about myself, as I am the only one of my kind!...I am feeling better now :D

House to a home

It's been a month now at our new nest "Shagun". Fun to set things up right from scratch :) Lovin it...totally!

Niagara and Marineland

It was a gloomy day and I couldn't get good shots of the Niagara. Nevertheless, some interesting captures...

Cute miniature tribal dolls at a store


Eyes of an idol (inside a game machine)...What do you think it's saying?







At the Dolphin show in Marineland...This one's a hungry seal!

Dolphin jumping high

Dolphin Pout...Cute!! Aren't they?

Spring Blooms


Water Droplets collected on glass facing Niagara falls....

The naughtiest brat I have ever met...Naani(my friend's son)

Beautiful Elora

Just 1.5 hrs away from Toronto, Elora is a beautiful small village situated on the Grand river. If you are thinking that the name sounds similar to Ellora (Aurangabad)...Well, the village was indeed named after our very own Ellora. A British official inspired by Ellora named it so. (Source: Wikipedia)

We found Elora a perfect getaway, as it's so close to Toronto and the countryside is enchanting and refreshing. The village is so laid-back and people are very friendly. It's a good place to explore especially for people interested in arts/crafts, culture. We also saw tourists taking a ride in carriages driven by huge horses. We are planning to go back to this place again in Autumn for the lovely fall colors.

Apart from the village, the main attraction is camping/ picnic and water activites in Grand River. I was keen on going for tubing as it sounded something new. We reached the conservation area and rented a pair of huge tubes, helmets and life jackets. We had to walk for almost 20 minutes to reach the river. We thought that there would be a guide at the site to tell us how to go about it. But all we found was a bunch of spectators and hobby photographers waiting for us to take a leap into the river! The river looked kinda dangerous with fierce rapids.

The questions that popped in our brains...
What if we fall off the tube? Where is the end point? How to get out once we start off? What if there are huge fish inside ??? (this one was my concern :P)

Anyway, we let down all our inhibitions and ventured into the river slowly. I made S sit on the tube and pushed him through :D.... Off he went along with the flow. I couldn't spot him after some distance. Soon after, I tried maneuvering myself with my hands and feet. I was so bad at it that the tube kept going round and round instead of catching the stream. Absolute entertainment for the watchers! :))

Meanwhile S came back for his next ride down the stream. I was so relieved to see him! This time he helped me around with the tube and soon I was in rough rapids trying not to fall off the tube. It was a super cool ride and I loved it!
I realised that the water was hardly knee deep and we could get off and walk back at any point. This made me go for few more rounds of fun tubing. We were left completely exhausted.





The after Effects of tubing:
> I successfully got my first coat of tan for this summer
> My shoes got a nice, clean wash...:D
> We were so thrilled to jump in that we forgot that S had the digicam in his pocket. Yes...the digicam got soaked in water. It is not working but we are hopeful that it might after it dries inside.

We walked back to return the tube and accessories. S held the tube on his shoulder and carried it. I thought that was a bad idea and advised him to roll the tube along the road effortlessly. Brilliant eh??....actually not :( I was rolling the tube (like we used to when we were kids!) and the tube went "BOOM". It hit a sharp stone on the road and burst. And I stood there speechless...

Jungle Joy

DAY 2

S was happily sleeping and I was struggling to sleep as I had slept right next to the windows! Sheesh..! Apart from the main entrance to the cottage, there was another entrance towards the side which directly opened to the bedroom. Suddenly, I heard that bedroom entrance door knob twist and turn. Somebody was trying to break in. I was in a fix, if it was just my illusion or for real! I hid myself under the sheets and curled up to close my ears and eyes shut tightly. The noise sealed and I heard footsteps as if someone were walking towards my window. The main entrance was beside the window. So, this stranger, whosoever, unlocks the main door and there is no more noise. I was completely in shock and woke S up. He too was awake by now as he had been hearing the noise. He quickly went to the hallway and checked out if anybody had come inside. But there was none! It couldn't get more spooky than this. S advised some words of courage to me and slid back into deep sleep :( You can imagine my plight for the rest of the night!

Only in the morning we got to know that there were 2 more houses in the building with the same entrance. Without recognising the main entrance in the dark, our neighbour had tried to unlock our bedroom door and then somehow figured out the main entrance. This was it! Overnight, I had taken a wild imagination tour beyond bounds trying to guess the reason behind the noise :P

With a deep sigh of relief, I got ready for the next adventure in the woods. This time we had two guides along with us who took us through an exciting journey into the forest. We had to drive a few kilometres into the forest. The guide kept us entertained with a lot of information about the forest, the species and whole lot of things under the Sun. What we didn't know was Haliburton Forests are privately owned by a single person, whose father bought the forests way back in 1960s for about 6-7$ an acre! He has his own set of ecologists, environmentalists to maintain and control the forest equilibrium naturally. There is a mill in the premises which uses the forest wood to generate electricity and lighting for the foresters.

We parked the vehicle at a point and trekked from there to reach a lake. Any water activity, I am always thrilled. We had to paddle through to reach the other end of the lake, which was fun! After canoeing and hiking for a while, we reached the spot for canopy walk.

A tiny suspended bridge at a height of about 70 feet lay in front of us which was less than a foot wide. This bridge linked from tree to tree and spanned for half a kilometre. The delicate bridge could hold 3 people at a time and moved incessantly with every step. We were given a brief training about keeping ourselves connected to the cable running overhead with hooks, just in case we fell off the bridge.



The walk on this bridge was the most amazing experience and we couldn't ask for a better way to celebrate our most important day!

The thick forest canopy underneath was a feast to the eyes and we were bewitched!



The bridge ended in a tree house overlooking a lake. We spent some precious time watching the beautiful sunset. Didn't feel like coming back at all....but we had to, eventually...

We came back to the base camp and bid goodbye to Haliburton soon after.

On the way back to Toronto, Guess where we sneaked into?



No Loss..no gain...!! But FuN UnLiMiTeD....

Off to the woods

We chose to sneak off to the remote forests for celebrating our Wedding Anniversary! An unexpected adventurous outing which had a lot of surprises in store for us...

We set off to the destination on the early hours of Sunday. With our new Merc, the drive was penultimate bliss. After some point, the number of houses and people started deteriorating. It was just plain forest with blind curves and wavy roads going up and down. The GPS had chosen to guide us through a short cut and we ended up in a spooky road off the highway. We couldn't even spot other vehicles in the road. It was just us in the mysterious road. There were huge Rocks, thick trees, ponds on the sides of the narrow road. To fight back the eerie feeling, I tried tuning in some local radio station. There indeed was a channel and a voice came in "Welcome to Haliburton...Canada lives here". Me and S burst into laughter and we are still laughing at the ironic statement!:D

We were finally out of that road (saw the name towards the end...it was BobCagyeon Road!) and we made our way to the Haliburton Forest Reserve. Since summer has just arrived here, we were the first guests for the season. We checked in at around 2 PM and the forest incharge briefed us about the forest and the activities. We were given a map of the forest with all trek routes, driving routes, cycling routes, camping points and lakes. And we were given a pair of keys, one for the cottage and the other one for the toll gates along the driving route deep inside the forest.

First thing, we visited the wolf centre as it was about to close. How much I hated the sight of those wild beasts!



Later, we planned to take a drive in the forest with the map in hand. There were north, east and west roads. We decided to stick to north road lest we miss the route. The roads looked something like this..



The sign boards at every split were over informative :D



We drove along very slowly and concentrated on spotting some animals in the forest. We were told that there were wild bears, packs of wolves and many more animals to look out for. It seems the animals would observe us right when we enter the forest and keep an eye on us until we leave. This was something scary...I had to get off at some points to unlock the toll-gate and swing it parallel to the road. S would drive in and I would lock the gate back and run to the car. As we delved deep into the woods, my locking/ unlocking skills depleted and my heart pounded at the slightest noise around. Being the smarty I am, I promptly passed on the task to S while we drove back..:D

We managed to spot colorful birds, huge squirrels, a turkey and a deer...tuff luck. Well, we did see tons of mosquitoes and flies! We took a break at a lake on the way. We couldn't stop but admire the beauty of the nature at its best.

We drove until we reached the


Right about turn and we drove back to the base camp. It was getting darker and the one and only restaurant in the premises was already closed. We chose to drive to the nearby Haliburton village for our dinner. Luckily one of the chinese restaurants was open and we had a hearty meal.

Back to the cottage and we hit the bed!

A little after 12, I heard something...
- END of DAY 1 -

The "last" names

When someone new is recruited in my department, the manager makes sure that the person is introduced to each colleague personally...and I have noticed that a new member joins when I am having a cold!..it's wierd but true!!

Yesterday, a desi-looking guy was introduced to me. But I least expected that his name would turn out a Thomson...why????? Certainly, I couldn't question him that.

Reminds me of my newbie days. Specifically, the last names that I encountered here and the devil in me flashes with some funny thoughts and I laugh my heart out..:D

Hopkinson (Hopping Pumpkin's son!?)
Chang (Ching..chang...choooooooo)
Killick (click click!!!!)
Tsang (I'm tempted to ask, if this person is a relative of Huen Tsang...but have not asked yet)
Casciato (Sounds so much like casatta icecream!)
Lipinski (Lips and skiing!??!?..)
Saupan (What Pan??)
Largey (is there a smalley?)
Giglio ( I never knew that the second G was silent until I heard someone call..Thank God!...the name is so giggly :P)
Light (is this person so bright?)
Feaver (I'm already sick)
Cummings (goings..:D)
Zoschke (I still don't know how to pronounce that!)
Trezzi (a double zz??? wow!)
Cozier (You can't be so cozy at office!)
Hoyte (This person comes and tells me, everytime I get a call from a new person, I know it because they pronounce it as hoyteeee..which I am not! and the devil sayz so r(he)ight :D )

Wonder what they all think about my tongue twister last name???

Disclaimer: This post contains real last names but fun intended!

Toddling into the Arena of Photography :)

My friends and family are quite familiar with this popular and sometimes annoying trait of mine....my love for photography!

And with an ever supporting DH cum subject cum inspiration cum critic by my side, I could not ask for more. He gifted me with a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT Camera....wooohooooooo! Thanks Honey ;)

So, I kicked off my pilot project with the annual Ugadi celebrations here at Toronto.

Finding it a bit difficult to hold the camera steady as it's quite heavy with the complicated zoom lens. The pictures are not perfect but not bad for a starter, I think. Moreover, I want you all to drop in your detailed comments, tips and suggestions to hone my skills.

Wish the diya was a little more focused here...


I soon realised that I loved clicking portraits...and I did just that, the entire evening. My positioning has gone wrong in the below pictures. Perhaps, I should concentrate more on that one.


These young girls performed so well! Caught their expressions post-dance.


Though not focused properly, I somehow fell in love with this picture. This girl also played drums..Believe me, it was mindblowing!


And this girl was the most interesting subject for me. She had beautiful, expressive eyes.


Wish I could capture the complete mudra :(


Happy her and a more happy me :D

Virodhi naama Samvathsaram

Hey!

A very Happy Ugadi to you all :)

I remember way back in school days, how Ugadi was celebrated. We used to wake up to the song "yuga yugaadi kaledharu Ugadi marali baruthidhe" on Doordarshan. After a detailed head bath, Mom used to deck us up like little dolls with new clothes and matching bangles, earrings, bindi and what not. Dad used to perform puja in his usual manner after cleaning all the idols and photoframes. By then, inviting smells from the kitchen would have already started and we would make rounds to the kitchen to catch a glimpse of the delicacies! Of course, mom would not let us even touch the food and insist on waiting until naivedhyam.
Meanwhile, Dad used to serve the most- awaited "Ugadi pacchadi", a combination of sweet(jaggery), salty(salt), sour(raw mango pieces), bitter(neem flowers),and hot(chilli powder)tastes. I used to love it so much and I still do...:D

The combination of all the tastes in "Ugadi pacchadi" represents the different emotions/phases in life that we come across and signifies the acceptance of all situations with the same spirit :)

After naivedhyam, we used to have this lavish feast with wide variety of eatables. Besides the food part, it was the "Panchanga Sravanam" which was more exciting. Dad and mom would delve into the new panchangam and read out the famous "aadhayam, vyayam, rajapujyam and avamanam" for each of our birth stars and also the yearly predictions. I still can't figure out how the predictions are so normalized across different age groups, genders etc but for the star sign. No two people have the same destiny. Talking about astrology takes up a new dimension and a different post. We'll do it some other time :D

For now, let's hope that this Ugadi brings in happiness and good luck to all of us...much needed especially during this recession!

This and that

And so, where was I?

Yeah..I was at India for 4 weeks and met over a hundred people that includes just family and friends :) apart from travelling approximately 2000 Kms by bus, car, auto, train and plane. Oh...i did manage to watch about 5 movies as well. Nothing short of a roller coaster ride..eh? Probably, that was the reason why I felt that it was a very short trip!

A few memorable/funny incidents happened during my trip. Let me share them here :)

All this while when I was here, I would send pictures of dishes prepared by me and mom would be surprised. But when I prepared vegetable biryani at home, it turned out to be a complete disaster!
Result: Mom is feeling very sorry for her Son-in-Law and she firmly believes that I still can't cook.

There were all sorts of comments pouring in from friends/family about how I looked/ had changed over the year. One such comment was from one of my mom's aunt (technically, my grandmom). She told me that I had become a bit taller. geee..I wish I could :D

All thanks to Kingfisher Airlines and Bangalore International Airport. My birthday blew up in air, literally. I was supposed to be celebrating my birthday half day at Hyderabad and half a day at Bangalore. Kingfisher screwed my day with some unnecessary stuff (which I don't even want to talk about). The flight was delayed and I reached BIAL very late. And traveling from BIAL to home was another plight...It took much more time than the actual flight duration itself. I was all tired and dead by the time I reached home!

Surprisingly, this time tirupathi darshan was much more relieving. I just love the serenity of this place. There's something about this place that gives me a special feeling of gaiety. The place has changed so much since I last visited. It looks much cleaner, spacious and all the more beautiful.



I happened to visit one of the temples near Warangal. Goes by the name, Ramappa temple. The detailing in the sculpture was fantastic. Posting a few snaps of the temple.









I shopped and shopped and shopped so much that finally, I think I have gotten over the urge to shop :( Feeling sick at the look of sale boards here. Can't believe that this is happening to me! Ok...let's change the topic now :D

Movies...movies...Welcome to my adda :D

A brief HBO rating of the movies that I happened to watch over the last couple of months.

Ghajini : Honestly, Surya was better.. I give a TGW
Billu : Again a TGW, only because of Irrfan Khan and Lara Dutta
Delhi 6 : I'm gonna give a YEM coz I didn't enjoy it but I saw a lot many others do!
Luck by Chance : It feels like a dejavu especially after watching 'Fashion'...I give it YEM
Raaz - the mystery continues : What a joke..where is the mystery, infact it's a misery..I give it a SNH

Slumdog Millionaire : BSI (If slumdog could win so many Oscars, I think every good Indian movie should)
Confessions of a shopoholic : Such a cute movie :D I give it a TGW
He's just not that into you : Terrific casting and superb performances. It's a straight BSI
Vicky, Christina, Barcelona : oops, saw this one on my flight back to Toronto. We laughed until we almost choked when we discovered that S watched the same one, when he travelled back. It's SNH. I bet you can never appreciate the movie if you are normal :D
High School Musical: Very very Cute...God, the guy in the lead role is so charming. Watch it for him ;) it's TGW!

For telugu audience,

King: a TGW because of Nagarjuna's unexpected role
Arundhati: YEM I should say as some people enjoy the graphics. Anushka was a total let down in her role.
Sasirekha Parinayam: TGW only because of last performance scene by Tarun. You can skip it, if you want to.
Koncham ishtam koncham kashtam: abbaaa..naakentha duradhrushtam :( A YEM, found it very boring.

Ending my rather lengthy post with belated Valentine's Day wishes!

Posting an interesting picture from my India trip album. This was shot by my sister. She loves to experiment with me and S!

Now, do you spot a resemblance to taj mahal somewhere or is it just my illusion ?

Back to Pavilion!

And now I take a deep breath, relax myself to recover from the most busiest month that just blew off like a whirlwind! Will soon put up a post about the amazing places that I had been to.

Meanwhile, here are a few snaps that I clicked at Tirupathi. These signboards really caught my eye. I truly enjoy the native feeling in it's every sense...where else can we find it :)







Err....a very happy and happening New Year to all you people out there!

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 :)