100th Post of the Year!!!

Yay, 100th post of the year and it happens to coincide with the last day of the year. The reason why I chose this blurry pic for this post is cause this year has also passed by in a blur, it feels like yesterday that it was the 1st of January and now it is already time to welcome the new year. I was wondering what I could write about to make this post memorable, Year End Message ??? or like the general junta, New Year Resolutions ??? The self-importance gland which is hyperactive in my body went into overdrive and I started pondering on writing an end of year message myself, but then it struck me that has already been done in my previous post, so I  decided to go the plebeian way and  throw in a few New Year resolutions that I'm proposing and hope to remain true to for at least a few months if not all of next year.

1) All those centuries ago Chanakya said that, A person should not be too honest. Straight trees are cut first and honest people are screwed first. I intend to take a lesson from that and try and be more diplomatic.
2) This year I plan to drive a car, even if it kills me. Honestly I know how to drive a car, it just that I have panic attacks the minute I sit in the driver's seats. I feel like all the vehicles on the roads are just waiting to crash into me. But come 2012 I intend to overcome this phobia, so good people of Mumbai, watch out, rookie driver to hit the streets.
3) In 2012 I plan to visit a few places in India and one foreign land that I've never been to. I like travelling, but the pattern that I've noticed when it comes to vacation spots is that I have these comfort zones and tend to repeat them,, this year I plan to visit a few places in and around Mumbai that I've never been to, hopefully I'll make my way to Calcutta as well. Weekend getaways will be the order of the day, if I have company good, else I'll travel alone.....super.

These three things I most definitely want to do in the new year. 

Here is wishing everyone a very happy, healthy  and prosperous 2012.

Movie Review : Don2

Picture courtesy: Movies Sulekha

The King is back and is doing what he does best.... playing the baddie. With this movie I can now scratch out item number 45 on my things-to-do-before-I-die-list -Watch a movie all by myself. I loved the movie and enjoyed every minute, going forward, I'll go see films all by myself, that way I don't have to cajole people to go with me and what makes the whole enterprise better is the fact that there is no need to co-ordinate with anyone, just me and my credit card will do fine, thank you very much.

Don2 is an absolutely slick and stylish movie, kudos to Farhan Akhtar. The film has the audience on the edge of their seats from the word go and maintains the tempo throughout. The movie has a script (not a very original one), but the action sequences and tongue in cheek dialogues make up for it. 

SRK as Don exudes an aura of malice, a something evil and he does this with his eyes and smile, a stabbing look from him is enough to chill the soul. Boman Irani who usually maintains screen presence no matter who his co-stars are, seems ill at ease in this venture, accordingly Vardhan is reduced to a side kick. But then this is all about Don and the rest of the cast is just so the Don doesn't get bored and the sets look 'peopled'. Kunal Kapoor as Sameer Ali in a bit role is very convincing. 

The romance between Roma and Don doesn't set the screen on fire because there is NO CHEMISTRY... please it is too tame... though I don't blame SRK he looked convincing enough, and there are moments where you think maybe, just maybe he does love her, but Priyanka sadly fails...The music is forgettable which is really surprising as the last Don movie had great songs. All in all if you are a SRK fan, go and watch it for him, for he is in his element!!!

The year that was...

2011 is finally coming to an end and it has been a landmark year of sorts for me...It has been a year of facing my fears head on, following my heart even at the risk of looking like an idiot, reconciliations, breaking old ties and forging new ones. It began with me returning to India on the 1st of January post my Employment Pass application being rejected, not a very good start so to speak and my life has practically been turned on its head this year...
 
This year has been all about change and revelations... for one I've become a lot mellower... the old me would have sulked fearfully and given an earful to Lax. for making me miss 20 minutes of the start the movie (refer previous posts), but I just shrugged the miss as "not important", the important thing being that we met after close to three years.

Finally realised kids and I don't belong in the same space. I've always thought I would like to have kids of my own, but fifteen minutes with kids is enough to put an end to my aspirations. Though holding baby A. in my arms remains the single most cherished moment of the year. A feeling very close to bliss enveloped me as she held on to me and drifted off to sleep. Babies up to a year old are OK, everything seems to go wrong after that... I'm at a total loss communication wise, kids these days are very smart, they scare the living daylights out of me, in comparison I think my generation used to be totally dumb bricks as kids. So I now agree with the powers up above that it is for the best, that things haven't worked out so far, unleashing my selfish self on some unsuspecting kid is the worst thing I could do. That said I've been thinking if the best way to overcome this fear of kids is spending more time with them, like taking up a teaching assignment or something where I get to interact with them on a daily basis and understanding them better, lets see what 2012 brings.

Here is a list of things that were positive during the year and that I care to share... the rest will go with me to my grave...

1) Moved out to a new address - I've lived at my old address practically all my life...finally this year moved out...

2) My partner in crime, my inspiration, my confidante, my well-wisher number one... my sister, got married and life is much quieter now without her effervescent presence.

3) Lost oodles of weight, finally managed to lose over eight kgs and god knows how many inches... after all the trouble to do it, my mum says I look like a stick insect.

4) Packed my bags and went on a solo vacation to the US, hopefully the first of many more such vacations... cheers to that...
5) Finally decided to go back school, post completing the CA course, I went into a kind of coma study wise, this year I finally challenged the status quo and registered myself for a course that I've been meaning to do for a while. It is still early days, but as they say, baby steps, every little helps... it is not an easy course, but God knows I'm ready for it now...

Here's hoping the new year brings happiness and joy to all...

My initiation into the world of hi-fashion : How to buy sunglasses

As a decent time has now elapsed since this incident it is quite safe to place the facts before my public. This took place in Boston, whilst I was holidaying in the US. When it was nearing the time to pack my bags to return to India, my host (we shall call her Akka throughout the remainder of the post) used to leave the house every morning with the following instructions ”Go out and see the place if you must, but please don’t BUY anything, your mum will ban me from entering your house in India”. I really had shopped so much that I had to sit on the suitcases to zip them close. I’ll have you know that I purchased a few bags and shoes, my only hinderance from buying a few more and better brands was my meagre supply of USD, at my salary there is only so much that I can afford, sniff, sniff.

All that I'm about to type is sach and 100% sach ke siwa kuch nahi milord!!!

Akka and I were out shopping for sunglasses. As a rule I abhor sunglasses, in the past sunglasses + my eyes = horrible-case-of-stye-which-lasted-a-painful-month, conversely I avoid sunglasses like the plague. I will have you know that I have a long list of allergies, for e.g: I'm allergic to papayas, they too give me styes, then there are few funny allergies like the allergies to groups of insects, my nose itches like itching were going out of fashion and the other funny allergy being this sunglasses allergy. Don't for a moment think that I must have owned chalu quality sunglasses (I was born a brand horse) and have only ever owned the best brands of sunglasses, but every time I went out in the hot sun with the glasses on, the very next day my eyes puffed up and lo and behold I had a bad case of eye infection. If you have been a regular follower of this blog you'll know that this year has been all about busting taboos that I've lived by, so I decided that maybe, just maybe this sunglasses allergy was something of a coincidence and nothing else.

I had made it known to all and sundry that I planned on buying a pair of sunglasses and the experts at buying sunglasses condescended on me to help me pick out the right pair. I told them my sob story of how in addition to giving me eye infection the said sunglasses would not stay propped up on my head, like the ones worn by the stylish ladies in them fashion magazines, you know, the ones with huge logos down the side that hold back the lady’s beautiful tresses. In most cases the sunglasses was used more like an expensive HAIRBAND, but who was I to complain. In my case the minute I tried to prop them on my head they slipped, I got a big head, before you start commenting on the amount of brain matter I possess, I would like to state that there may be something in what my detractors call me “Swollen Head”, but I digress.

I told them of my modus operandi while buying sunglasses:

1) Enter shop

2) Try on a few branded sunglasses

3) Zoom in on a pair that has a sensible frame, offering maximum eye coverage, UV protection, etc

4) Pay and leave

And I had the experts, shaking their heads and saying to one another “Aah, that’s where you are going wrong, love, you got the wrong technique”. I was appalled, “Wrong Technique”, hoping for enlightenment I looked at them earnestly and the Gods relented.

The correct technique to buying sunglasses according to them was as follows:

1) Enter shop

2) Try the sunglasses on the top of your head

3) Zoom in on a pair which fitted your cranium perfectly while maximising exposure to the brand logo running down the length of the frame.

4) Pay and Leave

5) P.S. Eye Coverage and UV protection were things the makers of the sunglasses worried about and not something I needed to worry my pretty head with...

With this crash course on how-to-shop-for-sunglasses in my kitty, I entered Sunglass Hut and began trying on the sunglasses with gusto, all this while Akka was busy trying to pretend she wasn’t with me. This charade went on for a while and the shop attendant who was a mute spectator all along decided she just had to step in to help this poor desi who didn’t know how to buy sunglasses. She drawled “Sweetheart, you try the sunglasses on your eyes and not on your head” and Akka almost passed out laughing.

FYI, I bought a pair of sunglasses and happy to announce, been using them for the past six months and have remained stye free.

Chase Every Dream...

I believe

Its now or never
Believe in me forever
What have we got to lose

I believe
In this journey
Become my destiny
This is what I choose
Chase every dream

I believe
Chase every dream ...

This is the new Levi's curve ID TV Ad jingle, I love it, its kind of like my personal anthem at the moment... and I'm back, I've realized blogging to me is what the rains are to the parched earth, I need my daily/weekly fix of mindless ranting and I intend to do so, i.e. till I have another of my mental attacks and delete the blog again :-)

Movie Review : The Dirty Picture

Pic Courtesy : bollyspice.com

This was one movie that scored high on my Yuck List (the promos killed it for me) and had me muttering "wild horses wouldn't drag me to a theatre to buy tickets and watch the despo crass skin fest". My friend who had already seen it begged to differ and told me that it was not a crass skin fest, but a tastefully made sensible film. Just to prove her wrong I arrived at the theatre, bought two tickets (for me and for her, No way was I going to endure it alone) sat down to assail my senses for the next two hours (Lax arrived 20 mins late so we missed the start) with unwarranted nudity and innuendos.

As I have already mentioned we missed the first 20 mins, by the time we were seated the newly christened Silk (her given name per the film was Reshma, though Wikipedia has it down as Vijayalakshmi) was shooting for her first song sequence with Superstar Surya and Lax. tried to make amends by telling me the story so far. I'm not going to tell you the story, no siree, but better still I'll tell you that yes, it is a well made film and will tell you of my impressions of Silk Smitha as portrayed by Vidya Balan.

Vidya's Silk came across as an intelligent woman who was unapologetic of her choices and knew which side her bread was buttered and used it to her advantage. She famously says "Films are all about three things,  Entertainment, Entertainment, Entertainment and I'm Entertainment"... no wonder she knew how to make headlines and stay on the front page. Following her heart was second nature to her, whether it was her decision to run away from home, or to "fine tune" her setting with Surya or to ruin two parties at the same time with her antics. her mantra, enjoy the good press, ignore the bad!!!. It was only when she let her head rule over her heart that she started her downward spiral from which she never recovered.

This is an out and out Vidya Balan film with other actors just thrown in for comic relief. It seemed like a  fascinating journey which Vidya Balan has portrayed with such ease that from this day on I am a huge fan. I now understand why a Vidya Balan who is at the top of her game would want to do this film. She does justice to the role and get under the skin of the character. Be it the way she enacted:

1) Silk the newcomer trying to find her feet in the industry-the look of pure joy in her eyes when she sees the audience loving her moves on screen,

2) Silk the superstar with the swagger and cocky attitude-mocking the picketers,

3) Silk the cheated lover-when Surya treats her like something the cat dragged in,

4) Silk heart broken following her broken relationships move you

5) Silk lonely - the utter loneliness Silk faces when she loses everything she holds dear and there is no one around her to share her sadness.

Vidya has captured the essence of Silk and this is one act that will be hard to replace. I'm no judge whether Silk was a heroine or a vamp, Silk lived her short life to the fullest until her past caught up with her... for it wasn't Silk who gave up... it was Reshma...

P.S: The film was released on 2nd December which would have been Silk's 51st Birthday!!! (DOB courtesy Wikipedia).