somethingdeepthi

What do you want to give?

2011-08-10T23:23:00.001+05:30

Just a thought....

To some people we give a gift, because they matter and to others we "buy" them a gift because we don't want to give them anything else.

There are some people i really feel for and then think about what would be something nice to give as a gift to them. It is supposed to be my way of telling them that i love them or that i really appreciate what they do.

And then there are some other people for whom i have to get a gift so that my equation with them is sorted.

A gift is not just a gift after all...its about what you really want to give.

The Hill (Once)

2011-03-15T23:53:00.000+05:30

Have just Ctrl C n Ctrl V'ed the lyrics of a beautiful song called The Hill from the movie..Once.

Suits me............right now.

Lyrics

Walking up the hill tonight and you have closed your eyes.
I wish I didn't have to make all those mistakes and be wise.
Please try to be patient and know that I'm still learning.
I'm sorry that you have to see the strength inside me burning.

Where are you, my angel, now?
Don't you see me crying?
And I know that you can't do it all, but you can't say I'm not trying.
I'm on my knees in front of him, but he doesn't seem to see me.
With all his troubles on his mind he's looking right through me.
And I'm letting myself down by satisfying you,
And I wish that you could see I have my troubles, too.

Looking at you sleeping, I'm with the man I know.
And I'm sitting here weeping while the hours pass so slow.
And I know that in the morning I have to let you go.
And you'll be just a man once I used to know.
Before these past few days someone I don't recognize.
This isn't all my fault.
When will you realize?

Looking at you leaving, I'm looking for a sign.

100 Truths

2011-03-14T23:55:00.001+05:30

Been so clueless lately...inspite of being on a vacation...i felt a little torn.....i wish i could say i am happy...but yesterday i wasnt one bit...today ..m lost...neither happy nor sad...just weird..in my head....

Saw a Facebook note by a friend....she had answered all of these 100 questions...seemed like an easy task... so here goes...

WHAT WAS YOUR:
1. last beverage = Black Tea
2. last phone call = Best Friend
3. last text message = Seema
4. last song you listened to = Wake up Sid!
5. last time you cried = yesterday

HAVE YOU EVER:
6. dated someone twice =No
7. been cheated on = I doubt
8. kissed someone & regretted it = Not at all
9. lost someone special = No, just moved on (coz it was in my head anyway)
10. been depressed = Big time
11. been drunk and threw up = Goa...;-)...but it was not a messy affair at all

LIST THREE FAVORITE COLORS:
12. Black
13. Blue
14. Dull shades of green

THIS YEAR HAVE YOU: (2011)
15.Made a new friend = yes
16. Fallen out of love = in my head ..yes
17. Laughed until you cried = Cant remember
18. Met someone who changed you = I have changed...but not this year
19. Found out who your true friends were = no m still looking for them....
20. Found out someone was talking about you = Yes
21. Seen a movie = Yes
22. How many people on your friends list do you know in real life = Every one of them
23. How many kids do you want to have = want to Adopt...2...i think
24. Do you have any pets =Hate the idea
25. Do you want to change your name = I do...but cant think of a good one...
26. What did you do for your last birthday = was out wid friends...(2 days ago)
27. What time did you wake up today = 9 am
28. What were you doing at midnight last night = Started watching Harishchandrachi factory..
29. Name something you CANNOT wait for = cant wait to start working in an awesome company
30. Last time you saw your mother = an hour ago, in the living room
31. What is one thing you wish you could change about your life? = My initial career choices....(Just for the record....they all taught me smthg or the other ..so m cool..)
32. What are you listening to right now= a Train passing by
33. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom=No
34. What's getting on your nerves right now= the fact that its taking too long to get the job i want..plus project work..plus my inherent inertia..:-)
35. Most visited webpage=Facebook
36. Whats your real name= Deepthi Nair
37. Nicknames= Momos, Mallu, Nair, and a few others which i dont like
38. Relationship Status = m doin fine ;-)
39. Zodiac sign = Pisces
40. Male or female? = Female
41. Elementary? = AECS, Anushaktinagar
42. Middle School =AECS, Anushaktinagar
43. High school/College = SIES, Nerul
44. Hair color = Black
45. Long or short = is longer if u stretch my curls
46. Height = 5'6"
47. Do you have a crush on someone? = No (makes me sad...i used to love having crushes..)
48: What do you like about yourself ?= M such a nice person!
49. Piercing = Thank god i got my ears pierced when i was a kid...thinking abt the pain tears me
50. Tattoos = ok this is supposed to be worst...but still wanna get one soon
51. Righty or lefty=Right Handed

FIRSTS:
52. First injury = Below my lower lip...i think i was under the table and got up n hit the table...got stitches i think.
53. First piercing =Ears , first and only
54. First best friend=Sheetal , in Primary school
55. First sport you joined =was never into sports...hate it even now
56. First vacation = Kerala ... where else
58. First pair of trainers = FILA

RIGHT NOW
59. Eating=Finished wid dinner already
60. Drinking =too lazy to go and drink even water
61. I'm about to = Call someone
62. Listening to = Dogs barking somewhere
63. Waiting on = someone

YOUR FUTURE :
64. Want kids? = Not my own...but would want to adopt
65. Get Married = I think yes
66. Career?= very important

WHICH IS BETTER :
67. Lips or eyes= Eyes..if they are gazed at me..;-)
68. Hugs or kisses= hugs followed by kisses
69. Shorter or taller = Definitely Taller
70. Older or Younger = Just as me
71. Romantic or spontaneous = Spontaneously romantic
72. Nice stomach or nice arms = lean n mean (ok mebbe not so mean)
73. Sensitive or loud = Sensitive
74. Hook-up or relationship= Hook up with the same guy forever
75. Trouble maker or hesitant = Hesitant.....to an extent.....its kinda cute

HAVE YOU EVER :
77. Gotten into a fight = naaaa m chicken
78. Lost glasses/contacts = not my own
80. Broken someone's heart = not intentionally
81. Had your own heart broken = yes...several times...but not a big break....just a lil bruised
82. Been arrested = Does goin to the police station count?
83. Turned someone down = Yes
84. Cried when someone died = Yes
85. Fallen for a friend? = Totally

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:
86. Yourself = m tryg to...with some help
87. Miracles = i would've..if they ever happened to me...
88. Love at first sight = it wasnt sight...it was the voice...
89. Heaven = no way...m goint to hell...wid all my favorite ppl
90. Santa Claus = No but can i keep him...he is cute
92. Angels =hv met a few humans...who r like angels...

ANSWER TRUTHFULLY:
94. Had more than 1 girlfriend/boyfriend at a time= No
95. Did you sing today? = No
97. If you could go back in time, how far would you go? Till before i started getting pimples.
99. Are you afraid of falling in love again? = i think it can happen only once....2nd time would be awkward
100. Posting this as 100 truths? =Yes Yes Yes!

Get me GOing!

2011-01-31T23:52:00.003+05:30

Now this is more like a mandatory post coz its a new year and January is when u feel like its a new year and it would be a shame if i dont have a post for this month.

However , even after scratching my head and my face several times I haven't been able to figure out what to write. Time is running out...its 11.30 pm on 31st Jan 2011. My last half hour to keep the spirit of this blog high! Like SRK said in Chak de! - Yeh Tees ( instead of Sattar) minutes mujhse koi nahi cheen sakta.

So here goes.....Its been a great new year. I had a lovely new year party with my favorite set of friends. And i got gifts - a brand new Samsung Mobile. It is ultra cute...and people notice it...i love it even more then. My friend also gave me a lovely Jimi Hendrix jhola (bag) ...well she called me from Goa and asked me to choose between Manchester United and Jimi Hendrix...well at least the man and I have curly hair in common. Even if footballers are extremely gorgeous to look at ....I am less likely to mend my ways and watch any football ever!! I remember I did try to watch football for Beckham...but i soon realised he is more girly than I can ever become ( metrosexual is a nice excuse though!). Now I did make a mental note that I must download some Jimi Hendrix songs, just in case my college mates ask me to prove my worth to own the bag. Alas! The mental note remains as it is and my friends gave me nasty looks and complimented it with bad words as I sheepishly accepted ignorance of any of his songs. At least I knew he sings!

My friend also got me a Goan speciality - Bebinca!!! I love it or what! Had it for the first time more than 7 years ago on our trip back home from Goa. In d train Bebinca was used to celebrate our friend's birthday. The taste lingered on and although i could never manage to go to Goa , I did ask my friends to get it for me. Hopefully I will myself go to Goa this year and have Bebinca to my Hearts content!

The last day of the month and my friend who just returned from Singapore got me a very cute T shirt. Last year i got a Tee from Ireland. I think its some kinda sign...I mite finally go abroad too.

I would love to travel all over India and abroad and am hoping to get a job soon so that I can get GOing.

Sheila se Munni Tak...

2010-12-24T00:01:00.002+05:30

Things keep happening and everytime they do i tell myself that it must go to my blog. After all i dont have an entry for the month of december , last month of the year...another year gone by nothings changed , no achievements in life ...the only thing i have gained is some extra weight ( no prizes for guessing....its all in the wrong places). And then something happens ...painfully funny. And No i wasn't dancing on either of the two songs...( and let me assure it would not be described as funny for sure..;-))

Just a regular day in college ..or so i thought. I was fooling around in college ...had worn my brand new pair of shoes ( that too purchased during a non-sale period) to college for the first time ( i should have known..it was a sign....but lets forget theory now). And so i was just hanging out with my friends , trying to beat up one of the guys ( all the girls have argued why do i even try, i get beaten up everyday...chivalry is selective and apparently m not worthy of it).

So ..a bit of background first....you know what we do when someone wears a new pair of shoes...aha apart from "new pinch" (yes Why Grow Up!) we also indulge in stamping on the new shoes. It is almost like an attack...u scream .."Oh! new shoes" and then take ur right or left leg depending upon the proximity and stamp as much as you can. Do a little dance number if u please. Hmm... So this time ....it was my turn to be stamped...but they did not come all at one go...i was spared ...or so i thought. So we were just talking when one of them ...out of the blue encouraged the other to go ahead and stamp and assured the other one that i would be held and not allowed to move. The braveheart that i am ...i tried running and then realised that in a fraction of a second my foot was locked ( using a special technique that my friend has learnt by religiously watching WWE). I wish i was thinking at that time ...but like most of the time...i wasn't ...so with one leg locked but 2 hands and 1 other leg free ..i tried to run... As it had to happen in a matter of a few micro-seconds...i was on the floor ...with free hands and legs but ....yeah "butt"....i was sitting there on my butt...with my friends surrounding me and laughing like they do while watching Tom n Jerry. As for me ...I had a blackout of the ear....(no i could see but i couldnt hear anything at all...m sorry but what is it called when u cant hear anything....u could say i had temporarily gone deaf...but its not as dramatic as a blackout!)...

Its been more than 2 days since then...and i realised its hurting me big time ...and the problem is i did not land on my butt...instead it was the tailbone....hence the pain is unbearable.....i have never appreciated a medicine the way I would for Combiflam! Surviving on it for now....

Butt seriously...it was quite funny....although i coudnt hear them but i was laughing just as much as my friends were. The seriousness will be learnt only when i got to the Doctor.

Aha ..talking about Doctor ....Exactly about 2 days before the fall..a friend of mine had written a prescription for me to get rid of my obsession with Sheila Ki Jawani....Well what can i say....the Universe has a way of taking care of itself. So now....since the fall... i am gonna go back to my old anthem...Munni Badnaam hui!!! It just makes so much sense....
.....Excuse me...i gotta go....Le Zandu balm hui.....darling......tere liye..... ;-)

Dont say....

2010-11-02T01:31:00.002+05:30

Why do you say...you love me and then don't

Why do you say...you miss me and then don't

Why do you say...you would call me and then don't

Why do you say...you don't want to hurt me and then do

Why do you say...you don't want to see me cry and then do

Why do you say...you can't stop thinking about me and then stop

Why do you say...you can't live without me and then live

Why do you say...you can't talk to anyone ( the way you do with me) and then talk

Why do you say...you won't lie and then lie

Why do you say...you can't fool me and then ( try to) fool (me)

Don't say....because you can't fool me with your lies

Don't say....because you are free to talk to and live with anyone you want

Don't say....because you think you do but you don't know what hurts me or makes me cry

Don't say....because you can call whoever you miss

Don't say....because you don't know what love is..

The Art of Gifting and Not

2010-09-14T14:09:00.005+05:30

Got no money, so got no gifts, I told my friend. Your company is more precious to me than the most expensive gift – I was told. I puked (in my head) at the cheesiness of the statement but smiled and ordered more food at my friend’s expense of course. More so because I have always felt that no gift is better than bad gift (s). You can guess I have been the recipient of a large number of the latter category.

Some things just work…and they have universal appeal…like chocolates and in India I must say that Cadbury’s DairyMilk has been a savior for millions. Almost nobody (yes its hard to believe there are people who dislike chocolates) says no to it . Ask my brother, he gifts it to me every year , without fail for Raksha Bandhan and shamelessly eats half of it too. While for all the girls he is trying to patao, he gets cool jewellery and ask me for my opinion on which one to give to whom. But like I said when I get my chocolat…I forgive and forget. So the rule in general is – When in doubt, buy chocolate and for slightly bigger occasions go for Vouchers ( Shoppers Stop or Lifestyle) and just pass on your headhace to the actual users.

Now let’s delve into the interesting part which is the “Donts” for gifts. Yes we are Indians and we repack gifts and give it to others but when you do so, make sure to see if the Ajanta clock you are packing is at least in working condition. We once had to get a clock ( obviously gifted to us) repaired twice over. Not only is it irritating, it makes me why should I buy anything good for those jerks .

Gifting is certainly not a way of getting rid of things. Another thing some people do very often, is to pass on the leftovers or extras at home. I still can’t get over the just-about-to-get-expired Cheese that a family friend gave us. Their elder son/moron took pride in telling me that they gave us “imported/foreign” stuff. Me went &%$#@&%#@....

Also when buying something expensive like a household appliance it makes sense to either ask directly or visit the house and do a little recce before buying stuff. We used to wonder why this guy used always enter our kitchen and be checking out 'wats for dinner'...till he gifted a nice Blender. Bad example was a Toaster from Morphy Richards (great brand, good product but hey we don’t toast our bread!!!) A sandwich maker of the same make and similar price would have been highly appreciated and found its place in our kitchen, instead it lies ….i donno where.

For the heck of being decent I feel that one should not gift something that one wouldn’t want to use in the first place. ( yes yes I know - wat to do if you don’t want something u have; isn’t it better than just throwing it – Just don’t make it look like a gift , own up…say it’s yours but u don’t want it.) Like this absolutely well dressed aunty gifted me the most crappy Saree I have ever seen….and I can bet that such weird colours will never find place in her wardrobe. Especially when it comes to high involvement category of items like apparel, jewellery, perfumes the personality of the person being gifted has to be kept in mind. As for that Saree , Diwali is not far, it shall go to our maid, and my mother would tell her the true story behind it too. Sometimes I think my maid must be praying for more such “misgifts” all the time. She ends up being a highly gifted lady.

It is always better to take along the person for whom the gift is meant and let them choose. If you think they will not let u buy stuff for them, use your creativity and create a story, seek their help to choose a gift for your colleague. Just don’t do it , a week before their birthday.

Don’t know when the Gift Directories as concept would come to India ( A friend of mine will surely work on it) but for the benefit of all , in the interim I think we should have a Google speadsheet created and pasted on our Facebook and other social network pages with details of acceptable gifts. My wedding is nowhere in the horizon but can surely test this for my birthday…which is far away too but then I think I should give time , so people can save up. :-)

Must be dreaming...

2010-07-22T01:20:00.001+05:30

I walked out of the theater and looked at the mall from inside. I saw people getting down on the escalator and it looked as if they were all in slow motion. I felt as if i was in a dream. Felt really light and dreamy and that was the side-effect of Inception. What can i say but just that it is rare to see such an intelligent film, making me and friends have animated discussions on what the end probably meant, in person, on the phone, on social networking sites, et al.

Everything about of the movie is near perfect, thanks to the chief Dreamer/Director Christopher Nolan. Starting from the cast and dialogues to the special effects. Pleasure to watch Leonardo deliver yet another performance to die for. Well this was no Juno but Ellen Page will surely shine through this one. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ken Watanabe and Tom Hardy (who stole my heart with his wit and looks, not necessarily in that order) are the other major characters. And it was pleasure to see Michael Caine, even in a bit role. Special mention for the special effects team who have done a brilliant job! the scene in which Leonardo falls into the bathtub seemed just so real, i could feel the water around me.

The chase scene in Mombassa reminded me of Slumdog Millionaire where the police chase the 3 kids, especially when they take a top shot of the area, it looks some what like our own Dharavi. Also another favorite from the movie is the entire gravity less section which was a true marvel.
Well ladies and gentlemen i think we already have one entry for the Oscars ( not that it matters to me..I am no Aamir Khan u c). This awesome film about corporate espionage is surely a movie lover's delight.
Enjoy the inception that will occur if it hasn't already.

P.S. Have put up this review on Desimartini too.

Amorous Affairs

2010-06-12T17:44:00.005+05:30

I spend anywhere up of 5 hrs travelling from Panvel to Andheri and back, for 5 days a week. And I need to have a life...:-) so I try to go to some or the other places in the evening after work. This week I wanted to go to a mall in Malad but since none of the auto-drivers in Veera Desai Road wud as much as even look at me let alone take me, I spent half an hr at the bus–stop itself. I got so late at the stop that going to Malad was out of question and my irritation was at its peak. So my friend thot it will be safe to go to Bandra. There will surely be something for us there. This time I insisted we go by train. Taking a cab means that you can collect enough gases on the way and sent them to forensic ( yes it is criminal) labs and test the level of pollution on Indian roads. But since that is not the objective of my life I avoided it. Once I got out of Bandra Station I got the biggest shock of my life. It was gone. The only good thing outside Bandra Station. For quite some time I had Hrithik Roshan and Barbara Mori (looking like a firangi extra) in a Provogue ad welcoming me to Bandra. Every time a minimum of 30 secs were spent by me just checking out the marvelous sculpture like body of Hrithik. The highpoint would be the nerves around his pelvic girdle. It was just as effective every time (if you know what I mean). There are very few things that are as consistently perfect.

So while I gazed at the replacement – an ad for Fastrack…(now that I would have got outside Panvel station also ..why wud I go to town for that), my friend tried to get us an autorickshaw. Nice drivers in Bandra…everyone agrees to take you wherever you wanna go, if you know wer to go that is. Before the driver turned irate we thot of going to Carter road. Once on Carter road…apart from looking desertedby its own standards I felt that the no of outlets had also reduced. But even then there was enough to leave us confused. So I remembered what my dad used to tell me when he took us to Fashion Street – Take a walk. That’s what we did…saw all that was there….and finally settled at Open Affair, a restaurant by the road which, no prizes for guessing has an open air area.

Although we would have liked to sit outside, it is the last thing on anybody’s mind who has been crawling all the way from Andheri. So we seated ourselves inside the well lit area. While the Bandra types were seated outside I stared at the textured walls. Nothing extra-ordinary there, in fact it was quite simple. The walls had large wooden square shaped blocks (too simple to be called artifacts) with a large square cavity where they had kept some light. Did not look like it was intentional but they did have these pillars in the centre that separated two tables for privacy sakes. These pillars looked interesting with cane sticks placed horizontally. It had a very wooden feel..quite appealing I must say. The tables and chairs were simple and comfortable and I especially liked the way the table cloth was laid, passing through the gaps on the table. The crockery and cutlery were unbranded but looked nice and new. Except for perhaps the salt and pepper shaker set which looked old and used. In the meanwhile we quickly went through the menu and ordered for veg momos and pasta. The good thing was… unlike some other places where they are not really open to customization the steward patiently heard out how we wanted our pasta to be made. The steward smiled and assured us that the food would come in asap. I obviously did not believe him ..experience is the best teacher u c. So me and my friend got together in small talk which involved in me lecturing my friend how not to stare at the hot Bandra girl sitting outside. We were interrupted by another steward pouring out water for us very promptly and another placing the 8 inch plates for us. And then chilli and oregano and tobacco sauce ready. While we debated if McLenny was the only one making the tobacco sauces my friend spilled some of the oregano on the empty plates. The stewards were once again prompt in changing the plate immediately. I knew this was just a small trick they played to keep us occupied while they could take their sweet time to make our food but to my surprise the food was served to us within 10-12 minutes. Even my bhelpuri wala can take more time than this on a good day.

I doubted the momos because they can take almost half hour to be made but to our surprise it was really good. In fact it is the best veg momo I have ever had. Colourful inside with some greens and carrots but the surprise element was vermicelli in it. I felt as if it has absorbed all the bitterness that veg momos are known for. It was served with a traditional tomato based sauce which wasn’t my favourite but did not seem to bother my appetite. Even as I savoured the momos I looked at the pasta on our table which looked more like the egg curry with coconut that my parents make.

It always affects me when I have bad pasta…its depression like. But when the steward served the pasta I realized it had all the vegetables I had told him to include and in good quantity. Especially the olives and mushrooms added generously. The mixed sauces were made into a beautiful gravy which brought out smiles from the two of us. However the garlic bread was a tad disappointing. It was too hard ..not the way we like it. There are some places where they serve bruchettas also on this kind of bread which I absolutely abhor. Of course here the gravy came in use and the meal seemed perfect. The quantity was enough to take care of the two of us. The best thing was that the staff was courteous and was giving attention to details. However that still does not justify the high prices. We blamed the prices to high rentals at a locality like Carter road…..well that’s what good food does sometimes…better reasoning abilities…

We finished our meal and left the restaurant and as we walked I couldn’t resist entering Amore, after all it was such an amorous night….er….or maybe I was really in need for some ice cream….. summer is still not left us….. Hate myself for not remembering his name coz the guy at the counter was so charming…. in a professional way. With such people to run it there can never be any reason for a store to not do well. I was confused just like anybody else who has to choose from all yummy flavors that stared at me and seduced me in a way only food can and then opt for just one. My friend suggested that instead of just looking at the stuff on display I should simply read their names and turns out they have Tiramisu. I knew that was what I wanted to have but my good friend suggested I taste it. Now I know what Tiramisu is ok…..but since the guy at the counter already had a spoon ready for me to taste, I had it without arguing with my friend. To my surprise it had a little bit more alcohol than what I would like for the night. So I settled for some melon flavoured gelato. Loved it.

And the fact that I reached home before 11 pm helped in the beautiful day not getting spoiled by parental reprimands. All in all a simple night that was sweet enough to be remembered.

Raajneeti – making babies and more…

2010-06-09T23:23:00.004+05:30

I’ve never been the kind who wants to watch a movie as soon as it releases. In fact I think I can be comfortable about watching the most exciting films for years after it releases. This, in spite of having read the detailed review and sometimes listening to the complete story - scene by scene. But I wanted to watch Raajneeti….just like that. The analyst at ETC, Komal Nahta gave it just 2 stars, but I had watched Prakash Jha and Anjum Rajabali’s (the writer’s) interview. Both seemed like very genuine people. And after watching Rocket Singh I have a huge (secret) crush on Ranbir Kapoor. I think he is one of the dishiest..er..better actors we have in this industry. So for some good reasons such as RK I wanted to watch Raajneeti.

Went to Kharghar and since it was only 5.30 pm having momos was out of question. I did not want to spend a lot on food so we decided to eat outside the mall. And thus I have a new found love in Subway…believe it or not Veggie Delight. I like it with lots of black olives and jalapeños and the sweet onion sauce. Zimply Yumm!!!! Then I had some paani puri . Followed by Coconut water. Its summer and healthy fluids are important..remember!! Since we had 15 minutes before the movie started we thot of having some Pav Bhaji and mosambi juice. Bad decision….coz we got 3 hair strands all of the same size from the Bhaji. Felt so empty after that it didn’t feel like I had had anything at all. So with a lot of emptiness, I went to Little World in Khargar where we have Big cinemas.

So off started Raajneeti with this slightly old looking aunty ( good job by the makeup guys) going into flashback about her younger days when she was part of a revolutionary kind of party..lot of young blood running in her veins…and then in the next scene I could hear voices inside my head screaming..“wait… no…no..no… u can’t do that…plz don’t make out with him. He is Naseeruddin Shah!!!”. So they do it…and 9 month later they have a baby. Sounds really simple! And that explains certain statistics we have in this country. Clearly no one can beat us. When it comes to population we have the best numbers!!

The Mahabharata angle in the movie is quite evident. Starting with making babies and putting them in a basket. The kid grows up and u have ur Karana. Then the Kauravas and Pandavas are also there. No 100 brothers on the Kaurava’s side coz Manoj Bajpai alone is enough. It’s a nice plot about brothers fighting over who becomes heir to the political legacy. The senior politician is not blind like Dhritrashtra but get a stroke and is paralyzed for the rest of the film. While the power hungry cousins ( Manoj Bajpai and Arjun Rampal) run around trying to take advantage of the situation, good boy Ranbir tidies up the paralyzed man. And so we the audience understand that he is basically a nice guy. Really now!! But Mahabharata is incomplete without Krishna and who better to play it than Nana Patekar. This may not be his best performance and he may not have the best dialogues ever but it’s good to see him onscreen. The Katrina track is interesting but hard to believe that this hip n happening girl could get tied down by her father in the film and forced into marriage to whoever is more likely to become chief minister of the state.

As one of my colleagues put it, the film was all about establishing the ‘manhood’ quotient. The film has 3 make out scenes and all of them result in babies. Naseer sir gives birth to baby Devgan, Ranbir also gets his GF pregnant, and Arjun and Katrina also manage to make one. Unmarried people like me usually depend on their married and/or ‘active’ friends to confirm the reality of the situation and they have told me it takes more than once and sometimes much more than once. I am sure that an intelligent director must have considered putting in the required iterations but the film is already so long at almost 3 hrs. This could have been a limitation.

As far as the performances go almost all the lead characters have done a good job. This was expected as these actors perhaps don’t know to act in a bad way. Naturally perfect I must say. Arjun Rampal is also quite good as the educated, suave, mean, but family loving guy. Ranbir is good in any role he gets to do. Definitely he has eaten up a lot of screen time. Katrina is also not bad and I must say that she has really worked hard on her dubbing because the accent is abysmally low. A lot of film analysts and critics pointed out that Ajay Devgan had a small role but I think I am happy seeing that much of him. (Btw I love the fabric he is wearing in the film.) The maximum time he is on screen is during a Mercedes drive in which he spoils the exterior of the car. The end result of the car was quite unconvincing and if I get some CSI kinda ppl to verify it they will tell me that I am right, all the mud on the car can’t be appearing the way it did. But CSI is too far and CID is solving many other ‘ajeeb’ cases so let me talk abt Shruti Seth. Pretty as always, in a minuscule role she does leave her mark but I quite didn’t understand all the faces she made in a scene with Arjun Rampal. It wasn’t so much her fault as the camera which should have focused on their faces alone. Because going by whatever we could see was going on between the two of them all those terrible expressions were absolutely uncalled for.

As far as the dialogues go most of them were in shudh Hindi, at times the lines completely Greek to me. There were no strong dialogues in the film. Nana Patekar who is known for his lines did have a few witty ones but none that I would remember after I came out of the theatre. Prakash Jha who has written the dialogues got Manoj Bajpai to mouth my favourite one in the film – “Karara jawaab milega!”. And thankyou Prakash Ji for not making the firangi Sarah to speak Hindi lines. Hate it when they make firangis talk in Hindi..its just unbelievable. It was nice to see Prakash Jha in a tiny cameo in the film. His one liner was apparently altered after the Censor board directed that the line “Vidhwa (widow) saare vote lejaayegi” was not in good spirit. It finally became “Bitiya saare vote lejaayegi”. Don’t think it made any difference to anybody.

As I understand from the collections of the film, Raajneeti is doing quite well in most territories in India. The 1^st weekend business was second only to ‘3 Idiots’ in the past. Unlike what was expected, the film has found lot of takers in the youth. I would attribute this to Ranbir-Katrina in the film. I think what worked for the film is the extremely good casting. In India, actors have huge fan following and the initial business of any film depends on these fans who turn up at theatres to watch their favourite star. The heavy promotions and marketing by UTV, the producers have been bang on. The controversies around Katrina playing Sonia Gandhi and Ranbir playing Rahul Gandhi also generated enough interest in the film. There was definitely a lot of positivity around Raajneeti. Especially in the industry - distributors and exhibitors circuit, after the Kites debacle, a lot of hopes were riding on Raajneeti. As of now the industry is really happy. The film will make a lot of money and run for 2 weeks at least. As I understand these days it is not so much abt the number of weeks a film runs in the theatres because the number of prints is just too huge. Even 2 weeks can help to recover the money and make profits. The overseas business however has not really done well.

The film was definitely worth at least onetime watch but not as great as I thought it would be. Yes, all the murders and bloodshed do remind us of Sarkar , Sarkar Raj and their actual baap Godfather. So yes it is right in calling this film a “ Mahabharata meets Godfather ” political film. Going by the length of the film and the masala in the content I think there is enough potential to turn this film into a serial of a limited number of episodes. Is Ekta Kapoor listening???

PS: Had another Veggie Delight at Subway on the way back. Kharghar railway station is so far off, the Subway indeed made the long walk shorter. Unlike what I expected from the film the sub was just as yummy as expected.

NEWS is best when boring...

2010-06-08T01:33:00.001+05:30

When it comes to English news channels in India I have always preferred to watch NDTV 24X7. This in spite of Barkha Dutt going overboard with her emotional appeal during the 26th November 2008 terrorist coverage ( aka 26/11 but i just don't like to call it that coz it shows the lack of imagination and creativity as far as the Indian media is considered).

What peeved me a few days ago is the news of some (more) trouble with Air India. No I have absolutely no problems with Air India , they have enough problems of their own. It was the content on the aston band (for the uninitiated like I was exactly a month ago, it is the band just above the ticker on the tv screen). It kept mentioning that Kingfisher airlines had won some awards. Of course some marketing or programming whiz would have been given more incentives and airline tickets for this creative integration of news and advertisement. But what worries me is that news is being bought and sold like goods in the APMC market.

And the same happened again tonight. While Mallya Sr kept giving bites to NDTV as to how the latest IPL controversy is only a means to 'embarrass the Pawar family', there they were... the aston bands with Kingfisher's award glory. Clearly once is not enough. And why should it be...Mallya is after all the king of (NDTV) Good times. This was indeed a blood boiling situation but what could I do, the next news channel I put on had news about the world coming to an end.

And so I pray that somebody revamps Doordarshan (DD). Unfortunately today revamping is equaled to privatization. And I would rather watch BBC. No one is more impersonal than the British.
On a serious note I really think DD should be promoted a bit more. And for all those arguments abt DD airing only government friendly news, I think the private channels are not disappearing in a day. Let them be there like the opposition party and continue rambling. No matter how boring it may seem, I think DD will give me News and just that.

When KITES don't fly

2010-06-07T01:05:00.003+05:30

It isn't everyday that I get to watch a movie on the very first day. And since I am an unpaid intern , an opportunity to watch a movie for free was very lucrative. This in spite of being indifferent to all the publicity (stunts) done for Kites and not being so impressed with the songs or promos of the movie.

So here I was at a theatre near my office in Andheri West (terrible place but thats worth a whole new post) with my colleague who was kind enough to take me along and even offer me some popcorn.

Papa Rakesh Roshan always makes movies for his son and this one was no different. Hrithik is being shown off in every frame. After Hrithik if Papa R has allowed anything else to be shown off in the film , then it has to be the stunning locations...including Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New Mexico etc.

A few minutes into the movie I reaffirmed my strongest belief that I may not be great with numbers, I may not be able to drive a car, I may not even be able to cook a simple meal but if there is one thing i know I am good at then it is that I am pretty good at judging films by their promos.

To start with, Barbara Mori is looking old...at least older than Baby R. She does have a great body and there are specific scenes in the film meant to just prove that like the whole sequence on the yacht. It looks like the four of them are on a photo shoot of some sort with plenty of belly buttons on display.

The Tata Tea guy..Anand Tiwari is very good with his dialogues and clear pronunciation in Spanish. Pleasure to see him mouth those lines. Hrithik should have perhaps spend some time with Anand here to get his accent and pronunciation right coz he is just terrible. His dialogues in English are unnecessarily accented. Its a pity to see him over react whenever he is speaking in English or with Barbara Mori.

The film is rather boring and picks up some momentum only when Hrithik points the gun at Nicholas Brown ( who plays Barbara's fiance in the film). He is as cliché as it can get , to begin with his name is Tony. And then you have the interval. Just another lesson learnt. Whenever i make a film I will have to keep a very interesting scene just before the interval . This way the audience will go out and spends 100s of rupees on expensive horrible tasting samosas with the false belief that there is something good coming up on the other side of the absolutely commercial intermission. there are too many flash backs and forwards . In the forwards Hrithik is always tired and about to die kinds. In fact he is too tired for too long.

An interesting piece is the use of a peppy song ( Tum bhi ho wohi..) for the chase but that is quickly followed by the most unconvincing elope in a Balloon. In the bank robbery scene Barbara outshines Hrithik. She looks and acts smart. Hrithik on his part looks and acts absolutely stupid in spite of trying to be stupid in the scene. This is one pathetic scene which Hrithik is probably gonna regret for his life.

There are plenty of clichéd scenes like the TV news scenes. Funny i thought. Then Baby R and his femme fatale beauty get new clothes....and i could not stop wondering how could they get such good fitting shirts and top and shorts. Ask me I never get the perfect fitting jeans!!! Guess they went to the Provogue store there. The bike chase scene is good but there is excessive and unnecessary damage of a lot of property. So many of those good cars were just blown up. Reminded me of old action movies of bollywood. Cars kept in line and then just blown up. Like that only.

Now i know Hrithik is a Hindi film hero and that means he is next to only Rajnikant, I couldn't understand how he quickly learn to use the lever on the trailer or remove bullet out of Barbara bens' arm and even do the stitches. And of course with just one bullet Robin ( Anand Tiwari) dies but J ( Baby R) lasts for a long time as he is stuffed with a hay in a goods train.

Over all the film deserves all marks for the photography and cinematography. The usage of colour is just too good . The scene where the bullet is dropped in a glass of whiskey and the blood diffuses in whiskey is just beautiful to look at. However bad acting, and bad story only maketh a bad film.

My colleague who was also on a free ticket hated the fact that she bought the popcorn for 90 bucks. Clearly the film doesn't deserve any expense at all.

But lets just talk business now ( yes yes...i am an MBA...)...This film was sold to Reliance Big Pictures by Rakesh Roshan who is believed to be richer by abt Rs.30-40 Cr. Anil Ambani owned Reliance Big Pictures is believed to have spent close to Rs.110 Cr on Kites. My friends in the media industry tell me it is just like chutta paisa (short change) for the Big company. But ordinary folks like me and (some of ) you can clearly spend hours dreaming what all we could do with so many crores. Hence it wasn't really surprising to see court cases being filed by exhibitors in Bihar against the producers and distributors of the film. In fact even the Censor Board which certifies the movies in India is made a party to the case.

The arguments are interesting. It was sold as a Hindi Film whereas there is hardly any Hindi in the film . It has more of English and Spanish. The Censor board which is so particular abt everything including curbing the usage of seemingly foul language or making any kind of references in the film that may hurt some sentiments, certified Kites as a Hindi language film. This is worth challenging because in the past even films like Razia Sultan did not get a Hindi language certification. It was certified as an Urdu film because of the language used in the film.

The way things work in this industry is that the distributors and the exhibitors who spend crores of rupees to buy the prints of the movie don't have a clue as to what they are buying. All they know is the name of the film and the cast of the film. This explains why film makers want big names in their film as the story is irrelevant to the distributors. Yes, sometimes the theme of the film (like say a love story or an action film ) or the music of the film is disclosed. But thats about it. If you thought the tickets in multiplexes are expensive and if you feel cheated after watching an over hyped film just think abt the small distributors and exhibitors who buy that film and end up losing all their money.

With more and more corporatization of Bollywood i hope there is some sort of correction else we will have lots of kites lying low...

Where is the love....

2010-05-24T01:33:00.003+05:30

I sit here thinking if its just the hormones or am I really depressed....
You have changed so much...I dont recognize you anymore....

Am I missing something.....I am missing myself...
I wonder how it will be to live without you .....why do I feel I am already without you...

Why do I doubt everything....why does everything seem like a lie....
Where is the love.....I wonder...where did it escape....
It has to be hiding somewhere.....but will it surface ever...

Don't you see I have tried to change, I am a different colour now....
I did so to gel with you.....and now I cant see myself.....

Will you take a step further......because I am walking alone in the deep and crying.....
There is only one song on my lips....Where is the love....where is the love.....

Need some rain....

2010-05-21T10:29:00.001+05:30

Look at the sky...what do you see

I can see Clouds that are ready to burst

Just like the ambitions in many hearts

The Sun loves the Clouds

It is he who makes them..he lets them grow

Why then does the Sun try to outshine the Clouds

Through the Clouds why does he make his ways and let outs those piercing rays

What do u think..will it rain or will it pain...?

Staycation..

2010-05-01T01:19:00.004+05:30

Ah! the pleasures of not doing anything…

I have missed this for way too long…..a break , a vacation…the correct word would be Staycation (discovered it at a Tata Crucible finale where I was well… not the participant but just a spectator) which means a vacation where u ‘stay’ at home. Relaxing, Chilling, Enjoying everyday.....

Its always been this way with me….m at my creative best during Exams. I dream……i visualize …..i dance…I plan….oh I love myself during such time!

And so I need a Thought Recorder….coz i forget each one of them. Imagine being ur best and then forgetting each one of those wonderful ideas and thoughts. And no …Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing’s gift to mankind the Post it pads don’t seem to work…because I don’t look at it anymore…and it helps even more when m not wearing my glasses…which by the way I never wear at home.I don’t even know how the last 10 or more days have passed by…they have been lovely…because I haven’t done anything concrete.

Getting up late is so ultra cool and getting up without anything planned for the day is even cooler.

Eating heavy breakfast while avoiding ET & HT (main) and going for HT Café is the best way to start my mornings.

And then I go back to the very same bed I got up sometime back from…get my Dell baby on my lap…checking Facebook and Gmail….important to be connected to the world..u c.

Then its matinee time ...Got just a 100 movies loaded over the last coupla months ..so I started watching one every afternoon…(oh and they were almost all of them) such fun to watch…

After the show..its time for some lunch and some quality time with the idiot box….Travel and living…oh I love all the cookery shows ..Nigella Bites…its such a high watching her cook…with so much love …and more importantly the way it is shot…the colours of all the vegetables and the sounds when she gets hold of bunch of mint leaves…true love…its there… and not to forget all the Food paradises that are covered…its just brilliant.

Once mom is awake from her siesta she makes me my favourite black tea…(which also makes my mornings)…and to which I add some ice cubes and lemon juice to make my lemon ice tea…! Heavenly!!!!….

Followed by some more time wid my Dell…either online or some movie….whatever time permits…before some dinner.

After dinner I again get to do what I love the most…watch some more movies…and I realize that being awake till 3.30 am is a piece of cake for me….

And so there are no regrets, no guilt. My dreams are mine and they will come to me again. In this beautiful staycation I have watched some awesome movies…(apart from the ones on PIX, ZeeStudio, HBO, Star movies etc)…and had some great food…( mom is the best!!!)…and superb drinks courtesy Mapro, Rooafza, Tang (orange and lime)…I hope I get something of this sort during my internships too…or is that too much to ask???

Boooo Saa Baah !!!!

2010-04-02T02:30:00.003+05:30

It was my birthday and since my friend promised to treat me...here I was, at Busaba in Colaba. It was the only place we knew served good Burmese dishes and Kaukswe has been on my mind since ages. We called up the restaurant for directions and wer politely asked if we had reservations. We declined, asked for the directions anyway and reached there for lunch at 1.30 pm. You know wen its ur birthday the last thing you would like is to be shown the door at the very place you planned to go to. And as i entered the dark room on the ground floor I figured that i wont trip or accidentally hit any fellow customers coz there werent any. Apparently it was the first floor that was full. The entire ground floor could be mine. If there was any more lighting and good music i would have danced.

We settled down in a nice corner, lit by tube-lights hid behind sofas and 2 box candles. Pretty to look at if there was abt 20% more light. We asked for more lights and candles so we could at least see each other and more importantly see what we were about to eat.

We ordered for veg dumplings and for the very first time ever i ordered for Sushi. To be on the less risky side i ordered for Tempura prawn sushi. And we called for a pint of KF and unfortunately as they don't have Fresh juice i had to settle for canned juice. As predicted the canned juice was boring so i had to help my friend with the beer ( always a pleasure). The food did not take too long to arrive . Simple yet elegant presentation and the Dumplings were very yummy too. Softer covering and perfectly cooked/steamed veggies inside. Three sauces were available to choose from, out of which the red one was the best. Its not their fault I just almost never like the sauces served with dumplings or momos anywhere. Now coming to the Sushi ..again served simplistically 6 pieces in a plate with a lil paste which was balled and placed alongside ( i suspect as much i regret it was based on Avocado) and served with fish sauce. Being my first time i wasnt sure what was wrong with the taste. After 3 iterations i realised that it tasted better without the fish sauce. All i can say is that Sushi is not for everyone and definitely not for me...it takes a lot of evolution i guess.

Next on the list was my favourite part - the kaukswe.
I just love the concept of Kaukswe so much and thank god Busaba got it right and how. Loved the platter used and the long dish in which all the condiments were served. I simply loved selecting what i wanted and mixing it all up. The coconut milk based gravy was yummmm..nice and creamy n gelled well with the noodles...and the temperature was just right...absolute pleasure.

What i disliked abt Busaba - to start with, the steward serving my table, though trying to be very helpful seemed very inexperienced.
I think they use Himalaya Mineral water which I absolutely detest and in spite of repeatedly asking for regular water , i think i was served Himalaya each time till i gave up and had beer instead.
The lights are too dim for even a couple who'd like to cosy up but can easy show that the walls (near the tube light atleast) needed a fresh paint job.
I spotted a tiny cockroach under my table...but since i was overwhelmed with the Kaukswe i did not bring it to the Manager's notice. Chalo maaf kiya...
The kitchen is tooooooo noisy. I could practically picturise the cooks working under great pressure under someone who was screaming to my irritation.
The flooring (m sure it is meant to be that way) was a bit too boring.

The good part is excellent food. The freshness is maintained to the T. The taste is simply awesome. There is a clear element of perfection that one expects from professionals only.
Although m not sure if I would go again very soon ( i gotta give them time to make corrections) ..... I shall always remember the Kaukswe!!

Wait a sec...i think its a dakaar... here is what I Burrped !!!

Kathryn Is (The) Key...to The Hurt Locker

2010-03-19T15:07:00.001+05:30

There are many things on this planet thats hard to explain....and in such situations I point my finger towards God ( I am not an atheist , I think). It doesn't matter if it is good or bad...I just say God knows.....

But this is something even God cant explain.

What does it take for a man to risk his life....not once but several hundred times and continue to do so again and again.

Its a must watch for all and here I take the opportunity to salute Ms. Kathryn Bigelow (pictured above) and her team for making The Hurt Locker ( military lingo for explosions). A story that perhaps bollywood may never dare to try because there isnt time to even have a dream song and dance sequence.

What i truly admired is how the movie had gone into the depth of human psychology. And yes it is complicated and how!!! (And yes its takes a woman to unravel it to such an extent.)

How do some people know exactly what they want in life? How do some people articulate what they want to do knowing well the consequences involved? Everyones got a heart and yes they do get hurt and cry and yet they set out to do what they have to do. And yes its not about power alone...its about absolute helplessness.

Teamwork, Leadership, Motivation (aaah..Yem bee yay effect)..its all there in it. Some of the scenes are really hard to digest...not because it not believable but its too gory. Since the movie has been made in a documentary style with very good use of special effects and the excellent camera work that took me to the details, everything looked very very real.

A movie with comparatively less dialogues and more visuals , i do have a few favourites...like when James is asked whats the best way of disarming these things...his answer is a simple.." the way you dont die, sir" and when he is removing his safety gear before diffusing a bomb he says " i am gonna die comfortable".

I could go on and on about all that I like in the movie which includes everything but for now i would just say..Go watch it. Period.

Noah....

2010-03-01T01:45:00.005+05:30

I had no clue where I was heading to…..I managed to meet 3 different sets of family and friends on a single evening. That’s quite an accomplishment in itself. It was 1 am and I knew deep within that I needed a little dose of something I love…to feel happy..to feel like its my free weekend. So up goes my Dell Inspiron and for absolutely no reason ..I started to watch…The Notebook.

Allie is every girl and Noah is just what she wants. I don’t know what I would have done if I were ever in Allie’s shoes. I get the shivers….and yet I wish to have a Noah for me...

I want to know what it means to feel free when I am with Noah.
I want to experience the joy of taking a little risk and lying down on the middle of road and have only the 3 am moon and my Noah for company.
I want my Noah to make me Dance even when theres no music.
I want no big car, but a bicycle ride through the woods, the momentum leading to the breeze and the moment leading to Noah.
I want to spend time in an empty room where Noah is my only furniture.
I want to cry all night if the Sun lets Noah make my Morning.
I want to read all 365 letters that Noah wrote to me.
I want to have the worst fights with Noah and not without.
I want to drive long distances and visit Noah, just to know he is fine.
I want to go and see Noah for one last time even if my life has taken a huge leap and I don’t know how to come back.
I want to accept Noah’s reality, his today and our future.
I want to build my life at that home which Noah builds for me.
I want Noah to make my heart speak to my feet so I can take the right step.
I want to break it all if Noah will help me mend it.
I want the world to know that Noah is just right, just fine, just all I need, want and desire.
I want to lose my memory if Noah will make me remember.
I want to die if both my hands are held tight by Noah as we leave earth for Heaven.
I want to write it all in a Notebook if Noah will be the one to read it…….

Googled!!

2010-02-01T22:49:00.001+05:30

If it’s on your mind it should be on Google and if it is not, then it probably doesn’t exist. Every student would swear by it because no project can be started or finished without a Google intervention. There are workplaces galore that are thriving on the power of Google. For most people internet begins with Google (on the homepage). Such is its popularity and it is well deserved too.

Around 1996 Lawrence (Larry) Page and Sergey Brin, computer science graduates at Stanford started collaborating on a search engine named BackRub. Now as if that wasn’t an odd enough name, by 1997 they came up with the name Google for their search engine. It now had a better bandwidth and a goal to organize a seemingly infinite amount of information on the web. By 1998-99 Google had already featured in PC Magazine’s list of Top 100 websites. 10 years on and 19,665 (September 30,2009) employees later, the company has diversified itself in the web space offering vast array of products and continually making the search function better by the day. The employees are a creative lot, with a very casual work environment, thanks to principles like “u can be serious without a suit”. And beat this – Playing pranks is an official tradition for every April fool’s day.

On a serious note, Google uses what are called server farms running on Linux. Unconfirmed sources put a figure of 4,50,00 for the number of servers employed as clusters at data centers located in different parts of the world. Now that explains how they are able to manage billions of web pages, images, videos and give more than 1000 entries as search results even for the most obscure things you have never heard.

If the internet is a massive web then the Google Web Crawler called Googlebot is a high speed spider that moves throughout the web asking for web pages which is then passed on to the Google Indexer. Now this is a mass storage area (database), where the web pages (complete text) are indexed. For each indexed entry (search terms) a list of documents would be maintained where the search term is found. Articles like is, on, the, etc (called Stop Words) are ignored to get more specific search results.

Google’s own Pigeon Rank ...er..that would be one of their many April fool’s day pranks...their PageRank system is used to rank web pages. So when a search is done a higher tanked page will appear above a lower ranked page. This is precisely the reason why we get the desired information in the first few pages on the search results.

Coming to the actual search, the Google team has evolved over the years making the search simpler, quicker and better. The interface is very simple, clean and uncluttered. For those who never participated in any spelling bee championships (for very obvious reasons), the spelling correction system works wonders. The not so old feature called suggestions allows to improve the results by suggesting the right search query. The results are usually good but those wanting to do refined, specific search have the option of using the advanced search option. The results can be sorted according to date, or non-forum based sources can be listed. The rich snippets option is very innovative; sometimes it undermines the part of actually visiting the web page. The language option is cool too. These are moments when I wish I could read Malayalam. Apart from web pages various file formats like excel, richtext , PDF are all indexed. And if that’s not enough there are millions of images, videos, numbers, special characters that can also be searched. It is not the just the vast amount and kinds of data that is startling, but the speed at which the results are obtained is incredible.

But there are many search engines available and if technology were the only factor why google is a clear winner then the head count at other Search engine companies could have been simply increased by a few of our home grown IITians. So a lot may have to do with the main search page. For Google, it is almost empty except for the search box and everything other than the name Google is written in smaller font size. Contrast this with a Yahoo search or MSN search page. It appears that the Search function is a very small part of many other things that Yahoo does. Bing on the other hand, makes me ask ‘Why so serious?’(in true Russell Peters style). Google is fun, has a simple white background which is comfortable enough for the users. After all ‘Search’ is not the final objective - it’s the means to the ends.

It is not that there are no complaints. For instance it’s a deep desire to have an option where in I can directly download from the search results, cutting the part of actually having to visit the website. This is especially required for image search. Another thing is having deep search into large databases like journals, even before entering the database. I don’t know how this can be done though. Maybe I will Google it out.

Keeping up with the resolution

2010-01-04T02:14:00.000+05:30

Happy new year!!

Let me resolve to write something on my blog this year. It doesnt matter if it isnt even half as long as my last post, which by the way was toooo long according to some of my friends....:-)

6 months into my MBA program ( ok its PGDM to be precise)...i have realised that this course is part common sense and part confirmation to history. The former cannot be taught and the latter is...wel...boring...!!

The level of frustration needs to be expressed before it becomes a habit and I become yet another statistic...waiting to get over and done with my exams...or maybe not...i cant wait to write it all out...get it out of my system....

Like Sunita (or whatever was her name ) in the play Chaos Theory..i am looking for something...cant pin point it yet...but i feel i will find it when i put it down in words....

till then....

My love

2009-11-15T21:28:00.000+05:30

It was about 2 years ago..i got a phone call from a friend of mine….back then I didn’t know it was gonna be a special call coz I had been talking to him for the past 3-4 years, every single day…several times a day…

But…when he said ,” Listen I wanna tell u something….and I am very, very , very serious about it….i had a fair idea about what was coming my way….now I had seen enough hindi movies to know that….in fact the image in front of my eyes was that of Bombay times….u know how it looks on Valentine’s day…with lots of Red balloons and large red hearts…etc…But…but I wanted to hear it from the man himself….So I held the phone closer to my ears and went to the quietest corner in my house (my old Sony Ericsson can give me trouble sometimes)…and I still remember his exact words……he said,”I ..I want to sell momos”

I felt as if someone snatched away Bombay Times and gave me Economic Times to read….JUST IMAGINE!!! But the cool, calm n composed person that I am….. I gathered all my emotions in an imaginary 2500 sqft room, sealed it and put an electronic lock on it , put a password and flashed an M-I-B kinda pen light so I could forget the whole thing…!!!.and then… asked him wat on earth was a momo……?

Today Momo or Momos (plural) are much more popular than what it was 2 years ago…so my friend explained to me that Momo is a very popular dish in the north and especially in the North east…has its origin in Tibet, China…..south east Asia …popular even in Nepal. It is basically a dumpling made of white flour (typically maida)…., the maida dough has to be flattened,… then the filling is put in.. ..sealed beautifully (its an art, mind you)…..steam it and serve it hot with amazing spicy sauce and the taste is guaranteed to teleport you to a place they call Heaven. He also said it was healthy….trust me those were the GOLDEN WORDS …..i found comfort in…..

So …it wasn’t surprising that the next thing I know, me n my dost were trying out momos in a mall in Vashi. Guess we were the first people to ever ask for momos. So the guy selling it disappeared somewhere under the counter and took quite a while before he emerged with a plastic plate with steaming off-white -coloured dumplings…. Now it isn’t everyday that I carry a magnifying glass with me for dinner , but I wish I had………… coz when I used the ‘oh-so-delicate’ plastic spoons to break open the momos….i couldn’t find any filling…but hey that wasn’t the worst thing……it was served with SCHEZWAN sauce!!!! Now according to me, it’s the most abused item in the entire Chinese cuisine coz its served with anything and everything just to make the food palatable.

Anyway around that time I got a job which required me to travel…which means staying away from home for long time…. which means eating out…which means …opportunity to have momos…… now as luck would have it my company sent me mostly to all the southern states in India, barring 2 trips in Maharashtra and once to Chandigarh( where I couldn’t even find decent chaat)….but I did not miss a single chance to have momos…or anything that the steward would tell me is just like momos….(I once had vegetables in wanton skin and prawn ravioli..apparently because it’s a distant cousin of Momos)…I was on what I call a journey in search of excellent momos……..I learnt a couple of things about momos, like - it is known by different names depending on the country ….its called dumplings and dimsums apart from momos etc. in fact dimsums are served in elegant round cane baskets….also there are different colours , like green , pink and the fillings can be many too…the veg ones would be corn, cabbage, onion, carrots etc and non-veg would be chicken, mutton, beef, fish, prawns…what have you…. most importantly…I realized I was in LOVE with momos…..i was trying hard to find just about any place I could have momos….and when I found it…I was having momos for lunch and dinner and I know if it could be served for breakfast I would have it for sure…..

But to be honest in almost 2 years of this journey I had not exactly ever even moved an inch toward heaven…let alone being teleported there… ….some where the filling was wrong ( wrong cut, kept pre-ready for too long), elsewhere the covering was either too soft or too rhino-pottamusian , but most of all, the sauce was wrong….it just killed whatever flavor the momo could have achieved….i don’t even know what kept me going, it was as if someone had showered me with this amazing power called Hope….its not something that a ‘seasoned perpetual pessimist’ ever deals with….but here I was personifying the phrase “Umeed pe duniya/momo kayam hai” and where there is a will , there is momo(s)!!!

Then on a bright, unusually sunny day during monsoons, when I was back in good ‘ol Mumbai.....i read an article about a place called Red Ninja in Bandra……Carter Road…. Needless to say the following weekend I found myself with my friend in tow ofcourse…walking on the fine-looking roads of the posh Khao gali of Bandra….eating everything on the way till we found ‘the-blink-and- you-miss-it’ red blotch called Red Ninja….apart from being ridiculously expensive (like everything else on Carter Road)..the momos there.. were…. in one word…..disappointing…but here the worst thing was something else……… U c I stay at panvel…..its a place from where Bandra is like a far far away land and I have to CHANGE trains ..TWICE…that’s like the most awful thing …ever….i felt terrible…..and depressed……….

But I had barely gotten out of the depression of the Lal Evil Samurais when I got a call from my dost saying …DUDE ( that would be me….u c whether u r a girl or a boy…ur still d dude for your dost….)..one more place….. This time it was an article in one of the Navi Mumbai supplements of a national newspaper. It said the place was open between 8 pm and 11 pm. When I read the place is Kharghar…I nearly died of shock ….U c Kharghar is just 10 mins or 2 stations away from my home. Whenever I feel the need to be closer to civilization I have to travel a minimum of 29 mins by train to reach Vashi…so to have anything, let alone momos in Khargar was simply unthinkable. The cynic in me reminded me of GAAP. U c I may not be the best resource on accounting related topics..yet when it comes to food I follow Gastronomically Accepted Accounting Principles…its very simple….If the food is extremely bad , its as if I am running into losses, if its extremely good then I am making super normal profits and if the food is not bad, then its a break even situation. So the onus is always upon me to make sure that at the end of the day I make atleast break even. As a precautionary measure I went and had a Tiramisu from Ribbons n Balloons. We even took my friend’s cousin from Siliguri to check how bad it was. We got down at Kharghar station. The only thing I ever remembered from the book – The Alchemist was that one needs to looks for signs and understand them. The first sign was that it took us 10 minutes to get one of the auto walas to finally agree to take us to Shilp chowk (that’s where it used to be sold). 2^nd sign was even more disheartening, when the Auto broke down…and we were in the middle of the widest road in Greater Mumbai. Now trust me any road would look wider when it is deserted. 3^rd sign was mind numbing ….we reached Shilp chowk and there were nothing there except for a paani puri wala. It may seem as if its too much to expect a pani puri wala to know what momos are but since I was in loe…it really didn’t matter…..I was mighty desperate so I told my self thati can buy a panni puri and then casually ask the whereabouts of the Momo wala. That guy told me that momo guy would come in sometime…then ...he looked up and said that by this time momo guy is usually here. I cudnt believe my self when I succumbed to the 3 signs.. I readied my self for a retreat …..thats when I Saw coupla folks coming there in Cars. 15 mins later I noticed a red cart being pushed towards us by 2 men… All the customers took position and even before the guys could place stones to the wheels of the cart(so it doesn’t move)..people started bombarding them with 2 words…..first one was the veg/non veg…and second the number of plates they wanted….. now we were first timers so had no clue what to do…but we picked up quickly and in 10 mins time had our plates of momos…… It had 8 pieces wid 2 sauces thrown in….And then I took a bite of the chicken momo….. I tasted it and looked up to have a word wid God….and as if He knew already…it started to drizzle…it was magical…the moment…the taste…..it was perfect…..the covering was not too thin not too thick…the chicken was cooked to perfection …the vegetables were also cut well…it wasn’t raw…but it wasn’t overcooked either….but ultimately it was the sauce…rather the sauces that worked so brilliantly…the spices, the texture…everything was perfect….it was heaven on earth.….i had no words…..i looked at my friends and we just smiled and nodded…… (…er ….we actually didn’t speak coz our mouths were full with momos…). There was a sense of satisfaction …I couldn’t believe I had finally tasted what the perfect momo tasted like…..it wasn’t as if the search is over…but I had certainly built a base….and a very strong n yummy one at that….Do I love momos or wat!!!!!!!!

Now momos have taught a thing or two abt love……whether it’s for a person, job, career, hobby…whatever it is…

Ur Love has to be good for you…it has to be healthy and reasonable. Momos are not too expensive and they are steamed …so healthy.

Patience and positive thinking…..it isn’t as tough as I thought it would be…these are 2 essentials for love. How else could I have survived for 2 years..just trying out different momos.

If I love something and others don’t then there is not point expecting them to like it…just be convincing enough that u love it….and that’s how its gonna be.

Don’t get over analytical about your love….it may not be the best in the world but it is what it is and it is with you. Honestly momos don’t smell great and there are zillion other things that taste better than momos yet there is something about it that makes me crave for it.

Lastly I feel ….well m not the authority to say that everyone should have something/someone that they love, but I can surely say that we all need to love someone /something coz it will get us closer to the person who matters the most to each one of you….which is YOU… urself…. !!

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