Bits, Bobs and Sexy legs

Ok, if you are one of those few people who re-read the title just now, for your kind information, it is ‘bIts, bObs and sexy legs’. Perverts… 🙄

I miss blogging! I miss reading posts by my blog-buddies, I miss commenting, I miss replying to the very kind comments on my own blog! 24-hours a day is simply not enough! There is so much to do, so much to not do… and hardly any time to write. So here are a few bits and bobs….

1) Just read this yesterday: ‘It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place‘. How very true. You simply have to run faster than ever before, just to remain in the same place. I thought this was by Kotler, however, Wiki told me otherwise. To read the source of this brilliant line, do click this link.

2) We were browsing the ‘Father’s Day‘ Cards at Tesco today, and the young security boy commented about how ‘people are marketing every single thing!‘ and how ‘there is a day for every thing and every one’. I agreed , nodding wisely, until he blurted, ‘There’s a fathers day, a mother’s day… at this rate, they will introduce a Child’s day!‘ I guess this boy hadn’t heard of ‘Children’s Day’ 😆 😆 😆

3) On sexy legs… (Ah…. finally!)

I actually went to the gym last month. Twice so far! And I actually enjoyed it. Now having sweated out for two hours (one hour each session), I instantly felt ‘fitter’ than ever before.

So, there is this pedestrian crossing that I have to cross every day, to drop the Brat off at school. There is a glass wall on the opposite side of the road.

Now, the Brat and I were standing on this side of the road, waiting for the traffic signal to change, so we could cross over to the other side. And voila!! In the glass wall, I saw the most amazing reflection of my legs. Looking lean and long in those dark blue denim jeans. I was amazed at the results of my two hours of gym-ing. I gazed at the reflection for a couple of seconds, sighing, wondering why I didn’t begin exercising earlier. And then – guess what happened next….

.

..

…

….

…..

……

…….

……..

………

……….

And then.. the pair of legs turned around and started to walk away!!! 🙄

Despite my average levels of sanity, I could not – for the life of me – figure out (pun unintended) how my sexy legs could do that … Until I realised those belonged to someone else. .. to a real girl who was actually standing behind the glass wall and whose upper half was hidden by a board that contained the tube map 😦

🙄 🙄 😆 😆

It was all I could do, to stop myself from clicking a picture. Saks would have done a great job, but hey, I am not her.

On that note, where the hell is she????? And that reminds me, where the hell is every one else? Where are Vimmu, Solilo, Indyeah? Where are Pixie, Swar, Mon and Uma? And why are Hitchy and Brat not commenting in their usual style? I miss all of you people.

(I also miss all those whose names I have forgotten remembered but just not written down ;-))

Itna sannata kyun hai bhai???

(4) P.S: I watched ‘Ready‘ yesterday. Total time-pass!! The first half of the movie was funny and had quite a few laughs, and great catchy numbers. The second half was entirely boring. So any of you planning to watch it, have fun 🙂 My Brat cannot stop singing Dhinka Chika and trying to copy Sallu’s moves 😉

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Y1V5up6ljw

(5) Edited to add: Just read this line on a fan-page on facebook. Lines of appreciation for a very popular male person, from his female fan…

‘….Its been a pleasure sharing with you as to my recent interest which had grown oversize…’ 🙄 🙄 🙄

I seriously wonder what she was referring to… any guesses?!!!!!

P.S: For the non-perverted mind: The male was Vah Chef  😉

Btw, I am a huge fan of Vah Chef myself… I enjoy his recipies on Youtube… and most importantly, I looooooooooooove his expression when he tastes his own food 🙂 Priceless and totally enviable 🙂

Happy rest of the week, folks. I am not sure when I will be able to reply to your lovely comments. But please keep writing ….

Where is 15 Park Avenue?

It isn’t very often that one trembles with emotion after watching a movie. Switching channels over the weekend, I just chanced to catch a glimpse of the movie 15 Park Avenue on Sony TV. Two minutes into the movie and I could not surf and skip away to another channel. This was a compelling watch (if there is any such term!).

I’m not going to bore you with the story line, as it is already available on this link on Wikipedia. And if you do wish to watch the movie first, it is available on Youtube 🙂

But a word of caution – if you do watch the movie, you must prepare yourself for a bit of confusion when it ends. For, it ends quite abruptly, and leaves plenty to the imagination / interpretation of the viewer.

The movie was extremely disturbing. From various angles.

First, ofcourse there is Meethi, the girl suffering from schizophrenia. Konkana’s performance is absolutely fantastic! You cannot but help feel touched by her innocence and feel awful about her medical condition. It was disturbing to see how engrossed a person can be in his/her ‘own world’. When we see so-called mad people on the road, they too, are probably suffering from something like this. Its terrible even to watch. One feels sorry, sad and angry. The poor patient, starts to believe that the family that cares for her, is infact against her and prohibits her from living what is reality, for her!

The scene where Mithi is raped is gut-wrenching. Unlike Bollywood/Kollywood movies where rape is cinematised, this particular scene is taken very decently, but has immensely disturbs the viewer. One can actually empathise with the trauma of rape. One feels sick (and sad and angry) at the thought of it.

The way she is abandoned again, is so touching. I especially liked the scene, where when Jojo tries to place an arm around Meethi, she first shrinks. Then she tries to nestle into him, but when he taps her shoulder, she notices something. She realises what his true emotions are. That he does not accept her any longer! And she returns to her shell.

Second, seeing the family suffering as much as the patient herself, again disturbs you. Everything, every action, has to revolve around the patient. And all the time. It must be so demanding on the family. A myriad of emotions there.. sadness, frustration, anger, helplessness, care and love!

Third, Meethi’s fiance, Jojo who has ‘settled down’ and has a beautiful family of his own. One can visibly notice his feeling of guilt (of having abandoned Meethi), the strong emotions of his wife (fear, anxiety) and the way he is torn between his conscience and practicality.

And finally, the character of the Mother was very movingly etched. Its hard to imagine the plight of a woman, whose children are suffering from different problems. One is schizophrenic, another has broken relationships and the third just does not care!

Altogether the movie was deeply disturbing. It makes one think, if do nothing else!!

And now, the most important scene of the movie – the finale:

Where, Meethi searches for 15 Park avenue.

Meethi unites with her family, while the others are left searching for her.

I found various interpretations of the ending of the movie on the internet.

One view was that infact, it was the older sister Anjali who was schizophrenic. This does seem a little plausible, considering that Anu herself had broken relationships and the Doc always seemed to be with her. Though, I thought the Doc had a little more than professional interest in her 😉

Another interpretation was that Jojo was schizophrenic ?!! Now I don’t subscribe to this view because the character seemed to be quite straight-forward.

Now, my interpretation of the ending is:

When Meethi finally sees her home and family at ’15 Park Avenue’ she enters it. But well, all that is illusionary, so in reality, she actually just gets lost. Another name to the list of missing persons!

Anjali keeps looking for her, and keeps asking people for the ‘illusionary address’.

This is what is most striking about the movie.

Though Anu KNOWS it is not real, she believes in her sister’s delusions.

She believes that just as we live in the ‘real world’, the illusionary world of her sister’s is true too.

She believes that ’15 Park avenue’ IS a REAL address and that they will find it, and find Meethi there!!

Now that does not make her schizophrenic. While she is a strong, practical woman, this belief of hers, impractical as it sounds, is REAL to her. Again, while that is her reality, for passers-by, that again, seems to be a delusion.

So what is reality and what is delusion? Its a big big question. An unanswered one in that. Because there is no answer. Each to his own reality. Each to his/her delusions.

To me, the movie only serves to show how much reality is intertwined with what isn’t real. The delusionary Meethi finds her reality. The pratical Anjali actually believes in the delusions.

Now go watch the movie, and add your interpretations 🙂

Why its possible to like ‘Pyar Impossible’

At first it was the cast that put me off. The title too. Expectations therefore were at an all time low.

So when a friend sent me the DVD, I promptly discarded it for a time when Sky TV would let me down by not airing anything worthwhile.

Lest I sound crazy, let me state very clearly (in Bollywood jargon) that this was not a ‘mind-blowing’ movie. Nevertheless, there are some aspects that I really liked. And here are the takeaways from the movie.

1- That the heroine, Alisha (played by Priyanka Chopra), comes across as such a wonderful, confident and happy woman, who struggles hard to juggle her career along with her personal life. This is so different to the heroines of a bygone era. Earlier, divorce was taboo, and the divorcee (strictly, the woman) would have to look sad, depressed and repentful, missing ‘her man’ at every juncture!

In sharp contrast, Alisha is a very happy and intelligent woman, not regretting the past, and only trying to strike the right balance. She enjoys her successful career, and is a really cool mum. Hats off to such characters, and may there be many more like them.

(A pity, though, that despite her obvious affluence, she doesn’t have much money for clothes. She seems to wear her little daughter’s outgrown shorts. And her other outfits seem like there wasn’t enough material left over to make a complete dress! Sigh! Yeah, I can see you gentlemen are resolving to watch the movie right away!)

2- That the ‘nanny’ is a man. I didn’t actually see parts of the movie, as I was multi-tasking with something in the kitchen, but yes, it was a very pleasant experience to see that a nanny need not necessarily be a woman. It can be a man too. Maybe this is lift-off from Mrs.Doubtfire, well, atleast partially. But it is good to see Indian audiences can accept this fact. There can be male nannies, there can be house-husbands, and there is nothing wrong about it. I like it!!

3- That the ‘male nanny’ did not find it ‘beneath his dignity’ to entertain the kid or to simply be a nanny! Even in the scene where he is given a long list of household chores, and cheekily outsources it, there is no indication that he thinks ‘being a man is reason enough to not do the chores’. To me, it just came across that he simply did not have a clue as to what to do / or / felt overwhelmed, and so outsourced it. That again, shows a shift in attitude and culture, as a whole. Even if it only represents one small portion of society, still, its a breakthrough, isn’t it?

4- And this song, is what actually made me want to see the movie in the first place.

The hero says ‘love’ is based on looks. For someone who looks bad, finding love is ‘impossible’. While Alisha first refutes it, she later on realises that, that is indeed true. Nobody gives a second glance to someone who looks like a geek, or is ugly. Now I partially agree with this. People (both men and women) give a lot of weightage to looks, far more than what is deserved. And many a time, love is not reciprocated simply on this count. All the same, I also believe, when someone only looks ‘average’, the love that one finds is very genuine, as it is based on something more substantial than just looks.

5- Then, I loved this line by Alisha ‘I’m not a princess. I’m an ordinary girl, but when I’m with you, I feel like a princess’. Well, what more can one say? That is what love is all about!! If your partner can make you feel special, what more can one ask for? The romantic in me loved this typical crazy Bollywood scene!

6- And lastly, I liked the character played by Dino Morea (and not just because it is played by him 😉 ). This character again, came across as a confident young man, who knows the difference between Right and Wrong, and consciously Chooses Wrong. And in the end, when ‘Truth triumphs’, he is equally sportive. He does not do any ‘dramatic repenting stuff’, and not does he ‘swear revenge’. He simply acknowledges the other’s success. I think that is a very nice trait to have. To be able to lose graciously 🙂

So, now I’m not asking you to watch the movie. Watch this song, for sure.

There are a lot of aspects about the movie that are not so good … some of the stereotyped college scenes, the little daughter being so grown-up, that there is no change at all in the looks of main characters despite the time-leap. Despite all this, though, I think the movie has its positives. Apart from the above, Priyanka Chopra looks stunning, the music is pleasant, and every actor perfectly fits the role.

So, those of you, who have found your soul-mates, congrats once again, and work hard to continue to treat them like a Prince/Princess as the case may be 🙂

And to those of you who are looking for love, all the best 🙂 I hope you will care to consider values that will last forever 🙂

Happy Weekend, all 🙂

[P.S: All pictures, courtesy the great WWW. Linked them back to the original source whereever possible]

Give me some sunshine…

OK. There have been hundreds (er…or was it thousands?) of reviews of ‘3 Idiots’ and much has been spoken and written about it. What with the Chetan Bhagat controversy, www has been inundated with opinions and viewpoints on the movie, the book and the reality of the movie itself.

So what is it that I want to talk about in this post?

The simple fact, that one is somehow touched by this movie. And FEELS a sense of loss, thinking of lost opportunities, and faded dreams.

I, for one, am a very simple person. I generally look at the positive side of an event (or so I claim 😉 as people who are close to me may think otherwise 🙄 ) and don’t regret most of the decisions I’ve taken. (Well, except perhaps that adorable bag I missed buying during the Debenhams Sale last year. Or some huge decisions like taking a break from work, at the peak of my career! Sigh! And that’s just the occasional ‘sigh’.. Mind it 😀 )

But this particular movie made me feel remorseful..

For all the dreams that I stopped chasing…

For all the wishes I thought could never come true…

For all those moments when I had suppressed my thoughts/emotions and did not speak my mind out.

Maybe it was all for the best. Maybe I would have gotten into serious trouble because of my foot-in-the-mouth disease! Maybe I would have been financially affected due to a wrong decision. But atleast I would have tried! And maybe, things might be better?!

And what interests me MOST, is that, everyone I know/see is touched the same way.

Does it mean that we have all compromised on important things in life, and made decisions against what we really wanted? Or were we just too timid to fulfill our deepest desires? To put it very crudely, are we a bunch of Losers?!

‘Losing’. In direct contrast to what our parents prepare us for! The Rat Race starts in pre-KG, with lakhs of rupees worth donation, to get admitted into a prestigious school. From there on, the Race just goes on and on. Until, by the time we reach the Finishing Point, we are so jaded, that Winning or Losing does not even matter any more. We are simply relieved that the Race is over, and we can head back home, for some peace and quiet.

But hey! Who knows? The guy who honestly chased his Dreams.. if there was any such person out there.. is he entirely happy? Or does he, too, have regrets of his own?

Like they say , in advanced computer terminology, ‘GOK’, meaning, ‘God Only Knows’ 😉

Atleast, one thing the Movie has taught me, is to be bold enough to TRY new things. Better Late, than Never!

I might just start with trying to write a poem/fiction this week?! Or maybe, sign up at the local gym! Who knows!

So, simply Give me some Sunshine.. Give me some Rain.. Give me Another Chance, I want to Grow up Once Again…..

My dead grandPaa (part-fiction, part-rant)

Every time I see the Promos for the film ‘Paa‘, I think of how strange it would be if my Grandfather were alive. For some unknown reason, Auro reminds me of the GrandPaa I never had. He died before I was even born.

[Pic courtesy Sulekha dot com]

My only memory of him are fragments of a story I’d heard somewhere, sometime (from my Grandmother, perhaps). That he was on the battlefield, and was severely hurt, along with a friend. And whilst they lay there to die, he felt thirsty, and managed somehow, to find a bottle of water. Just as he was about to take a sip, his friend motioned for some. And this gentleman thought for a second, and then selflessly gave away his water to the friend. And that was the final self-sacrificial of Mr.Raman. (Mr.Raman was my grandfather, as you might have smartly guessed by now).

So that was my impression of this stately looking gentleman.  Talking of looks, he was dashing! One look at his wedding photographs, and I had this huge crush. ‘Handsome’ would be an understatement.

A few years ago, on a visit to our ancestral village (called Poondi), we had an unforgettable taste of life in the early century (this century, ofcourse. Don’t ask me if it is the 20th or 21st or 22nd century.. am always confused about this logic – apart from many other things, that is).

The entire village was made up of just a few streets. Rows and rows of neatly built houses. Each with a frontyard, cool bench along the wall (to sit and chew paan, perhaps), thatched roof, tiny skylit hall inside, and even tinier bedrooms and bathroom.

At that impressionable age, this only proved to etch my dead GrandPaa’s image deeper in my heart.

So the last time I had a fight with my Mummy, and she said ‘How did you turn out like this? Look at your dad…such a gentleman. And you?!!”, I replied with a quick ‘And you like this? Your Daddy was so noble and you are so immature even at this age!’.

Ofcourse she didn’t take it well. I had to all but hide under the sheets like a trembling coward.

‘Whadya mean NOBLE?’, she thundered.

‘Um…(gasp)…I mean…he ..he..fought in the war!’

‘Which war?’ she boomed.

‘…Uh.. the world war? I dunno! You should know, you were his daughter!’

To my utter surprise, she did not get furious at me at all. Instead she burst out laughing!

I gaped in silence, and in a short while she had tears in her eyes, and her face was red.

‘Mummy…are you Ok?’

‘Do you know how your Grandfather died?’ she answered with a question.

‘Y..ye.yes… in war?’ (I didn’t want her to know that I knew the touching story of his sacrifice).

She again burst out laughing. Her whole body was shaking now, and tears were still streaming down her eyes.

‘He died of heart attack!’, she replied when she could control her laughter for a moment.

‘Heart attack?’, I ventured. ‘Not thirst – on the battle field?’

‘Thirst?!! The only thirst he knew was Whiskey! And what battle field are you obsessed with? He was in merchant navy! Didn’t ever see a battle. Took early retirement, couldn’t control his drinking habit. And one day, he just died of a heart attack, leaving us to fend for ourselves.’

I had just lost a battle of belief. I retreated, hurt.

Never again will I talk of my dead grandPaa. May his soul RIP.

[Edited title from ‘Fictional rant’ to ‘Part fiction part rant’]

Kya Story Hai !

Baby went to sleep early today, so I switched on the TV – Star Gold channel, and I am regretting it ever since. The movie: Kya Love Story Hai. The same old story…boy, girl, another boy, and a love triangle. Unfortunately, I can’t specify if it was a love triangle or a quadrangle (depending on the number of people who joined the circus), as I just couldn’t watch beyond the first 20 minutes. The names.. OMG.. HOW can somebody’s name be “Rocky” ?! And all that these kids do, is party and bail each other out of their love tangles !! Oh, the co-hero by the way, delivers a lecture in Hindi, to a group of foreign students ! The only saving grace however, is that the comedy ends in 3 hours time. BTW, Ayesha Takia is really cute, despite her hairstyle reminding me of a pet pup.

What goes beyond all tolerance is Ekta Kapoor’s endless soaps, that are so full of crap. I find it so difficult to digest, how the characters wallow in their self-created problems for years together. The men are like Knights at the round table..almost always seated and worried about the misfortune that has befallen the “parivaar”. And the women, how do they manage to wear bejewelled saris, matching chandelier earrings, and perfect make-up even in the saddest of moments ?! Their only goal in life seems to be to beat each other at the complicated games they create to waste the audience’s time. I think the entire Balaji team needs to spend a month in an average middle-class family, to really see what goes on… how people struggle to make ends meet, how hard the parents work, how competitive the children are at school, and in a nutshell, how an average “parivaar” combats each day at a time. Of course its entertaining to watch a beautifully decked “Parvati bhabhi” (who should actually be “Parvati dadi”) or a self-sacrificing “Tulsi Ma” rectify the faults in the members of their family. What we need to see, is real problems faced by real people, and how they overcome them. We need to see the simple joys that people have in their daily life.. like reaching the bus-stop just in time to catch an empty bus. I guess this will touch the heart of the common man.

I plead to Ekta, to watch movies like ‘Mozhi’ and ‘Taare Zameen Par’. Please give the audience something that will touch their heart… something that they can really take home !