Saat Khoon Maaf

I saw ‘Saat Khoon Maaf’ recently, and I was disappointed with the movie. I read several reviews, all bad; and yet I wanted to give it a chance. But I did not like it.

• To begin with, the hall was almost empty, barring handful of people; and a few left somewhere in the middle. People who could not go (like my husband) started chatting on their mobiles or yawning every few minutes.
• I think, the way, movie was publicized was misleading. Which part was comedy? The only part which I really found hilarious was when they showed ‘4 more to go’ in the interval.
• Priyanka Chopra was not bad in acting, but she looked bad throughout the film. I did not understand many times, how she was shown aging. Of course, the movie incorporated important events to give idea about her age, but you can simply show the year. I remember, in this scene, she is dancing to ‘Darrling….’, she looked young, but soon after, when she is shown after her Russian husband’s (Aleksandr Dyachenko )death, she suddenly becomes old. In fact, atleast they attempted to make her face age but her body wasn’t quite aging. A thin, old woman would certainly look different than a thin, young woman.

• The characterization of each husband (perhaps, since they were too many) appeared quite hurried. After a point, you felt that the director just wants to throw in a bit of the husband’s personality and go on to his murder. And since one already knows that all of them are going to be murdered, one also waits for the reason the guy gets killed. But that’s hardly the thrill.
• In certain cases, one feels that Susanna could have just left the husband, why she has to kill each one of them is not too clear; or perhaps as explained in one of the scenes by her butler, it was part of her personality, she never changed her path!
• What was Usha Uthhup doing in the movie, nobody could understand. The other 2 staff of Susanna, were weird. In fact, all 3 were a little over-the-top on many occasions
• Songs were not too great either
• As long as the parts of all the husbands go, most of them were good. Neil Nitin Mukesh, Aleksandr Dyachenko, Annu Kapoor and Naseeruddin Shah were quite good. I thought, Irrfan’s character was not etched out properly. It was too hurried. I did not like John’s part too much. Apart from that, Vivaan Shah was impressive. Konkana Sen did justice to her guest appearance. 

And finally, Susanna really had a terrible luck in marriage, while we had a bad day. 

(Image courtesy: Wikipedia)

I won a TV Quiz

Today, just when I got up, an unexpected message from an acquaintance about something entirely different, made my day! While exchanging messages, I discovered that I won prize for a really ‘Tough Quiz’ (that’s the name of the quiz, by the way) on CNN IBN’s 'Now Showing' (presented by Rajeev Masand). Well, I don’t even know what time the show is on air. I had happened to catch it on one of the days, and I happened to know the answers (with help from hubby) of that particular quiz. The Quiz is not the usual no-brainers where the answer is right in front of your eyes. In these, you would either know the answers or you would not. They have an audio clip, a screen shot from some movie and 2 more questions.

It is exciting because I have never won any TV Quiz before. The ‘Bournvita Quiz Contest' Book that I won ages ago, does not count because it just came by post. 

I don’t even know what I have won. I think there are some DVDs and Gift Vouchers, but nevertheless, I’m happy :-)

A beautiful, forgotten song from Daddy

I was just listening to songs on my computer and came across this beautiful song from Daddy which remains my all time favourite.

Bipasha's on wrong foot!

I was shocked to see this picture. First of all Bipasha engaged 2 kids to tie her shoelaces, then she had the audacity to upload this picture! What was she thinking? She couldn't even imagine what trouble she will get into for this? Such naiveté, really! Twitter is really a great tool to connect with fans, but they should at least know how to handle it. 

And then she is calling these two kids, her sister and her friend. Who believes!

A few good movies

Clearly, I have not written a word since ages now! I have not even bought a book for a long, long time (which is really not an issue, as even if I don’t buy books for next couple of years, I would still have loads of books to read). Besides, I don’t read ‘Outlook’ front to back, as I do ‘People’ as soon as I lay my hands on it. Yes, I am vain. I have not parted ways with atleast last 2 years’ editions of ‘Femina’ and all of ‘BBC Good Homes’, ‘Living etc’ and ‘Outlook’. And therefore, I have also lost all rights to crib about any of my husband’s stuff not kept in place, because my books and magazines occupy every room, every corner. So, I have made peace.

I have not read much in last couple of months, but I have been able to catch loads of good movies on TV.

Saaransh

I happened to catch “Saaransh” a couple of days back. But since the power went off, I had to watch the last 40-50 minutes on YouTube. The one thought that cropped my mind while watching this was how Mahesh Bhatt used to make such great movies once! (‘Arth’ remains my all time favourite). Saaransh is a not a formula movie, just a good movie, which you would want to watch again and again. 

Dead Man Walking

Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn deliver award-winning performances in this amazing movie. I was bowled over by both of them. They were too good. Dead Man Walking is a movie adaptation of a book of the same name. The movie tells the story of a special relationship developed by Sister Helen Prejean (Susan Sarandon) with Matthew Poncelet (Sean Penn) who is on a death row. Poncelet, alongwith his partner, is accused of raping a teenage girl, and gruesome killing of her and her boyfriend. He is awaiting his execution. Sister Helen agrees to help him in his final appeal to change his execution to life imprisonment. Read more about the movie here.   

16 Blocks

I just happened to catch this movie out of the blue. On 14^th February, every channel was playing romantic movies back to back, and there is a limit to watching mush. It gets boring, repetitive and unbearable after sometime. It is like reading Mills & Boons back to back for the entire day, and remember, I am not a teenager any more!

To begin with, I love Bruce Willis. In this movie, he plays this alcoholic detective, who is entrusted with escorting a fast-talking witness to the court. A few minutes into the movie, and you get to know that his colleagues, the city police force, wants this witness dead. I loved the fast-pace and intense action in this movie.

Love Story

I had never seen the movie adaptation of the overhyped book of the same name by Erich Segal. I think, by now, everyone knows the story of ‘Love Story’. When I read it first (one of my really close friends gifted it to me), I could not understand what the hype was all about! It is one of those things, which everyone loves, and you don’t so much, and you are convinced, perhaps there is something wrong with you only.

Anyways, I watched this movie on Valentine’s Day weekend. If not anything else, I found it pretty endearing.

A Few Good Men

I have seen this movie before, but I love nothing more than a good court room drama. Tom Cruise makes it easy on the eyes too :-)

Even apart from him, the entire cast is fabulous and once the trial starts, the movie holds you well till the end.

Read more about the movie here. 

My Sister’s Keeper

The movie is actually based on an award-winning book of the same name. I have not read the book but after watching the movie, I look forward to reading it. The books are almost always better than their movie adaptations.

To briefly describe the story, it is about an 11 year old girl who files a case against her parents for medical emancipation. The couple has 3 children. When their eldest daughter, Kate, is of 2 years, they came to know that she suffers from leukemia. The youngest one, Anna was conceived by IVF to become a donor. Over the years, she has been a donor in treatments required for Kate. Now, she is expected to donate her kidney to her elder sister. Anna comes to know that the operation would be a major one, and on one side, it does not promise life for Kate, it also means that it is going to impact Anna’s life in a big way. The movie takes off from there.

On one side, you feel that Sara, their mother, is not doing wrong because as she says she is looking at a larger picture of the entire family. She is obsessed with doing everything possible to save Kate. She believes that Anna is not able to appreciate the impact of her decision at her age. In her defense, to begin with, Anna was conceived to help her sister. But as I am saying this, it is also true that Anna is her own person. She cannot be ‘used’ to treat Kate, even if she was given birth for this purpose. It is not morally correct and unjustified.

I absolutely loved the movie. Though they have departed from the ending of the book, the movie is worth watching.

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I don’t even remember how many other good movies I have seen in last couple of days. But I was just thinking one of these days, when I was bowled over by one of the English movies, most of the hindi movie ‘actors’ are essentially non-actors. Most of them are overrated and without talent. I can’t even name one favourite actor or actress. There aren’t any. I would say I love performances. Tabu is the only actress who comes top-of-the-mind, especially in ‘Namesake’. I liked her in ‘Cheeni-Kum’ as well. Why she needed to do ‘Baat hamri Pakki’ is what beats me! For that matter, Irrfan Khan was also superb in ‘Namesake’.

I also watched ‘Yeh Saali Zindagi’ this weekend. I would post a review soon. For now, listen to this beautiful song from the movie. 


(Images source: All images have been taken through the internet from various websites. All rights pertaining to these images are duly acknowledged.)

Pune International Film Festival 2011

Pune International Film Festival 2011 is round the corner, from 6th-13th January '11. Catch all the details here.
Hope to catch it this time. I remember I had been lucky to be around 'National Film Archive of India' during college days and had been able to attend 2 film festivals. I vaguely remember the first one was of women directors and the 2nd one was on some classics. 
But the best one was the 'FTII Wisdom Tree Film Festival' that I attended in 2003 or 2004. They were screening movies at E-Square. It was an amazing experience with movies running back to back in the adjacent screens. I remember, I had seen 6 movies in 3 days :-)

One of the many reasons to shop

Why does it happen that despite several, several shopping sprees; whenever you open the cupboard to wear something, you never find anything to wear! I feel, I am perpetually short of clothes. The list maniac that I am, I have even made lists of must-have cloth items, but every time I go for shopping, I end up buying something totally different.



I have a couple of dresses that I have never worn or worn may be once or twice. But while cleaning the cupboard, I reason with myself that I would certainly find an apt occasion pretty soon, and well, throwing away the dress without properly utilizing it would be such a waste of money. But, alas, that never happens, and I face the dilemma again the next time I am on my cupboard-cleaning ritual.



So, this Diwali, I made up my mind that whatever I have not been wearing regularly will go, and I parted with 2 bags of clothes - some given away to maids, some to charity. And it was a good feeling. Even according to Feng Shui, hoarding is not a good thing (of course, it does not apply to books), it attracts negativity.



So, now that I am free of negativity, I can look for adding some positive vibes (read more shopping).

If I had more time...

I have recently changed my blog’s template and let me confide, I don’t like it too much. The formatting is all disturbed and I don’t even know what all links I have lost. There are so many things, which we keep postponing to ‘when we have more time on hand’. Changing the template is certainly one of those for me. Actually, I have quite a long list of ‘to-dos’…’when I have more time’.

Well, when I have time, I would like to

• Finally read so many wonderful books that I have been diligently collecting every month
• Finally read millions of magazines, stuffed in all corners of my home. May be I would agree to part with a few then
• Blog more frequently and much more regularly
• Watch all those wonderful movies which I have only been hearing about. Catch all the good movies on TV
• Spend more time with family (not just ‘quality time’)
• Talk to family and friends more often
• Create many more expressions of art
• Finally do up my home, the way I have been dreaming about
• Do store-hopping to find that perfect dress or furniture, rather than just buying what is available; even haggle!
• Leisurely shop in those little boutiques, which I usually cross while going to some Mall (will totally give up going to malls for sure)
• Play games on Playstation. Never gone beyond ‘take down’ despite pleas from husband who is a Playstation junkie
• Spend more driving hours and hone my driving skills (well, I can drive to save my life but just that)
• Learn something new, something creative….. something like pottery, or may be knitting
• Work on my vocabulary, never really did it consciously after taking admission in MBA
• Read newspaper from front to back (does not apply to Pune Times or Pune Mirror)
• Explore photography. I know I will be good at it
• Get up really early, and sip my green tea with the rising sun ;-) (yeah, when I have time, I spend minimum time in sleeping)
• Read all those wonderful blogs out there on every imaginable topic
• Brush up my general knowledge (it is at all time low, since I proudly don’t watch TV & don’t read newspaper)
• Travel a lot, see every corner of India, and write travelogues
• Discover several more kitschy, India-inspired home décor stores
• Finally brush off the dust from my poor cycle, and get going
• Do something good, self-less
• Play chess
• Plan my investments well, rather than just putting everything in whatever comes up first
• Acquire a green way of living (in the best way possible)
• Learn all applications of my mobile
• Waste less, use every product to maximum possible
• Click a lot of pictures, and finally get them developed into Albums, and not just keep in Folders on computer. The joy that a physical album or a hardcopy of a beautiful picture gives, cannot be compared with just tapping keys and skimming through the pictures
• Write a book (life will perhaps never be complete without writing something worthwhile, even if it is not a book)

I could think of only these couple of things right now, I am sure I would have millions of other things on the list….if I had more time.

Would love to hear what you would like to do if you had more time on hand! I am sure all of us have these ‘to-dos’

In the name of Charity

I had a horrible experience at Lifestyle recently. Well, I wanted to buy sandals and went for the billing. My friend was standing ahead of me in the queue. The lady at the billing counter asked her if she wanted to donate Re 1 for the charity. My friend asked her, what charity. She pointed towards some Poster, which basically was about some charity initiative by Lifestyle group or something. Anyways, she did go for it reluctantly. What’s Re 1/- right? Well, not with me, if I am not in the right mood.

I went in next. She swiped my card adding the Re 1/-. I asked her that the sandals were for Rs 750 right, so why the bill says Rs 751! She said, (now, note carefully) we have been asked by the management to bill everyone with Re 1/- extra by default. And if somebody argues (please note…argues!), we have been asked to give back Re 1/- coin. Well, if you think about it does anybody visiting a mall really count till the last rupee while paying? We never even total it ever ourselves, and always dole out the money whatever we are asked for. Imaging the unsuspecting buyers, who are paying Re 1/- without their consent.

I was about to get into a full blown lecture but well, at the end I just gave her an earful that this is wrong! Even if it is just Re 1/- you are not supposed to add it with my bill. It is just human tendency. We will just let it go….why make a scene for just Re 1/- (like I did).

But this is really not OK. I have found this in several malls, they are asking for charity (Re 1/- or Rs 10 whatever). God knows, where this money goes! Who accounts for these cash? Why should I support a cause which I am not even aware of!Why should I pay for some company's CSR activity!

If I want to do charity, I would do it on my own, to the cause of my choice. Regardless of the fact that Re 1/- is nothing, I want the option of making a choice!

Amateur photography

I have always been fascinated by the sky. I can just sit for hours and look at the sky - clouds / day / night / star-studded....doesn't matter! It is always beautiful. Some pictures that I clicked recently from my balcony!

I will be back with more pictures soon. Though I am still exploring the options on my regular Digi-cam, we are planning to get a good one pretty soon. I am not so much into video-shooting. I love pictures, of people or nature. So, well, watch out for more :-)

Weekend fun

This weekend was superb. Saturday was all about shopping. I bought this kitschy poster for a neat Rs 115/-, which is going to adorn one of my doors, pretty soon!

I discovered another splurging opportunity for myself. I realised that I have fascination for interesting notebooks as well, and I have actually been collecting them for sometime now! In fact, the name of my blog ‘Pen-Paper’ comes from my fascination with all kinds of stationery. I am not too much into Pens though, so no Lamy, Cross pens for me. I can happily write with a 5 rupee pen.

I visited Either Or, and absolutely loved this travel notebook but priced at over Rs 700/-, I stopped short of buying it. May be sometime later. So, I settled for a pretty hand-made paper notebook, which can fit in nicely in my handbag. I have always been accused of carrying mini-luggage with me. This reminds me of a funny incident that happened 2 years back (completely unrelated to this post, but it’s funny)


I was on an official travel to Delhi with my team. The trip was for 2 days with just a night’s stay. Everyone was carrying a suitcase. When I reached, I just had a small overnight bag with me. Everyone kept saying how smart I was and how I have planned it so well that I need not carry too many things. One of them even pointed out that his daughter, who was 4-5 year old at that time, had a bigger bag on such trips. Well, well…………….and then they saw my handbag! “No wonder”, they exclaimed. “Your handbag is as big as your overnight bag. You are keeping half your stuff in that”. The bigger my bag gets, the more ambitious I become with my stuff and eventually, the bag falls apart. I never learn, and I do get a new bag at the end!


Coming back to my happening weekend story, I also went to Crossword (yeah, even after buying 10 books just a couple of days back!). This time they have a really good Sale, 15% off on all books and extra 5% if you are a member….needless to say that I am! So, I picked up 2 books – Braking News and First Proof. It was not an impulse buy. I had been eyeing these 2 books for sometime now!


Sunday was fun too. I was totally hooked on to FRIENDS the entire day, and I have completed Season 2. Nothing works better for cheering me up instantly!

Pssst.... For people in Pune, there's a fabulous Sale going on at College of Engineering. Books are available for as low as Rs 50. I bought 5 books (including hardbound) for Rs 300 only. Quite a steal!

Image Source: Chumbak & Either Or

Social Networking!

I think I am done with Social Networking sites. To begin with, I am not at all ‘social’ and I don’t ‘network’. I am happy in the place I am, with the people I am! But I do still love blogging. Blogging is one of the very few things that has been able to sustain my interest for so long (yup, I’m in blogworld since 2004).



I read about blog or weblog in paper, and was thrilled by this online diary which can be accessed at anytime and can be shared with everyone. So, of course, you need to be careful on what you write there.

I was introduced to Orkut somewhere in 2005 and got acquainted with Facebook quite recently. Since Orkut was my first brush with networking with friends, I always felt more comfortable there, but soon I realised, everyone moved to Facebook, so I moved too. Well, I’m not really active in either of them. I have a presence in LinkedIn, though I hardly ever log in. I am there on Twitter also, but it is really too much to update status frequently. And anyways, whatever I update will invariably about or around books. I don't solicit or encourage friendship with total strangers, so I neither accept, nor deny "frandship" requests. But I love blogging, it is the only thing which I have enjoyed so much to have continued doing! Especially, when I started my Book blog, because I love books, and I can blabber quite a lot about them.


Wait-a-minute....so while I am blogging to glory, I hear some voices in the background. I hear closely,guess what! it’s my father-in-law cursing the director of a particular TV serial of fooling us with stupid, illogical sequences, wherein people take a good 15 minutes to complete one sentence, and everyone encourages and contributes to confusion and misunderstanding. I hate TV serials, they just make me agitated and restless.


So well, coming back to Social Networking, I read in newspaper recently how putting any work-related status update is poor etiquette, things like how you are toiling hard at work, how you are staying late …getting it? Apparently, that will not go down well with your colleagues, when you are trying to befriend the senior management on social networking, and positioning yourself as a hard worker! See, exactly the reason why I just refrain from writing anything about work.


But I do love looking at updates of friends, of people I have lost touch with, how they are, what are they doing in their lives…looking at their pictures…..its nice :-)

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I also wanted to share something completely unrelated to the post above. Two days back when I was going to office, I read this cheeky message at the back of a gypsy:


“You can go fast, I can go everywhere……..”

Using Credit Cards well

I am quite surprised by the fact that there are several people who have no idea how Credit Cards work. First of all, most of these them think that if they have paid the ‘Minimum amount due’, they can pay the ‘outstanding amount’ whenever they feel like, and no extra amount needs to be paid.



I had 3 such discussions with different people. The first one had splurged huge amount of money on his credit card and paid half the amount. He thought, he will pay the balance next month but he did not know that he will be paying interest to the tune of 2.5 to 3.5 % per month on the outstanding balance.


Second one had spent a few thousands on his card, and paid back most of it, except Rs 1000. He had linked his account to the credit card, so the ‘minimum amount due’ was debited every month to his bank account. He thought he just needs to pay Rs 1000, but the fact is he would be paying huge interest per month on the outstanding balance.


Well, I got my first Credit Card when my first salary account was created. I was scared of credit cards then, since I had heard too many stories of people ending up paying huge amounts of interest on their cards. So, I did not use it for an entire year. Then I moved to a different city and started getting to know the ‘credit cards’ better. So, I took the initiative and used it. And well, there has never been looking back thereafter.


Somewhere in the middle, I had spent a lot of money on my card but over the years I have learnt to limit my expenses and work around the cards well.


So, the rule of the game is you should always memorize the statement and due dates well. Say your statement date is 20th of July, so once your statement is generated, the best time to use the card is immediately after that. So, you can use it on 21st, 22nd, 23rd and so on. This amount that you have spent on your credit card will feature on your bill only on 20th of August and the due date before which you need to make the payment, will be somewhere around 5th of September, so you will have ample time to pay back! Easy.


Also, it works well if you use only 1 card, or maximum 2. It is easier to remember all important dates plus you accumulate all points on a single card, which you can redeem for several benefits!


So, use your Credit Card intelligently and enjoy the benefits!

The Ubiquitous TV and the school days!

Reading At the Edge, I was transported into my early school days. Those ads from yesteryears, those visuals….they are delightful and nostalgic. As a kid, I used to sing along all the ads.


Sunday mornings were devoted to Ramayan and Mahabharat. They were engaging and fascinating, especially for us kids because we did not know the stories of Indian mythology. It was our first brush with these great Indian epics. Of course, right now, owing to my fascination for Mahabharata, I have read several versions. I still don’t know and am not able to remember a lot of characters, but I know more than an average Joe! I used to be so upset, when the casting would appear and the programme would end, because then you would have to wait an entire week for the next episode. Those were the days when there would be ads before and after the programmes, never in-between. Now look at the idiot box today, there are daily soaps dime-a-dozen, which are repeated twice or thrice during the course of the day. There are atleast 2-3 breaks in-between the programmes, so that you can do channel hopping and watch multiple serials at one time. I just hate watching movies on TV with others. I hate surfing channels when there’s a good movie on, because invariably, somebody gets interested in another programme and then begins the continuous surfing and watching 2 programmes at one time. I just hate it! It just ruins the impact of a good movie.


Schools used to be from Monday till Saturday. Sunday would be a free, relaxing day. In those days, kids were free to do whatever we want to, no rushing for tennis classes or dance classes or any such classes. Invariably, the breakfast would be Upma or Idli / Dosa. You would get up to the grinding sounds of mixer, huffing / puffing / grinding the rice batter for Idli / Dosa! No such hassles now though. Idli batters are available ready-made on the kirana store next door!


Sunday afternoons will invariably be dedicated for delicious chicken cooked by mum, and afternoon siesta. Doordarshan would play regional language movies. Now I realise those were Award winning, great movies but at that age I never could appreciate the dark (read art) movies. I also regret not giving enough attention to ‘Discovery of India’. I would fall asleep watching it. I also remember trying to watch a movie (can’t remember the name right now) which had Shabana Azmi, Roopa Ganguly and few others. It started on a rainy day and ends on the same or some other rainy day. It never made any sense to me.


Those were the days when our lives would not revolve around TV, we kids would actually play in the evenings, which I rarely see with kids these days. If I had to grow up in this age, I don’t know what kind of childhood I would have got. I would have been spoilt for choices.


After coming back from school, we would take lunch. Though my brother would conveniently pass on his bag to me and go for playing football. He knew he would get bashing after coming back but he did not mind as long as he had fun! I would also make a ‘bechari’ face after carrying 2 bags, and try to increase his punishment for making me do it. You cannot win from an elder brother, we had enough fights for me to understand this, but you can certainly work your ‘little sister’ tag well to make up for the bullying he did to you to get some thrashing from mum-dad ;-) Sorry brother! But I was the ‘good’ one, and he was the ‘naughty’ one. I would listen wide eyed to his made-up stories, and he would make me laugh hysterically, which would prompt my dad to scold me for complaining later on getting thrashed by my brother! But I would always, always vouch for an elder brother. It is comforting, and fun!


So, where was I? Afternoons were meant for siestas, and we were supposed to go out for playing only after 4pm. Of course, many times I would sneak out even before that. I was supposed to be back before sunset. But those times were fun – running, cycling, playing! The entire neighbourhood would come alive with the laughter of children.


Cable channels, initially meant the local channels which would play new movies. Then we had Zee TV. I used to love ‘Farman’ on Doordarshan; and ‘Campus’ on Zee TV – may be they were on air during different time periods but those are the memories of my school days. My mum never let me watch ‘Banegi Apni Baat’ and ‘Hip Hip Hurray’ because she felt they promoted too much of metro culture. Whatever! I was also hooked to ‘I dream of Jeanie’, ‘Bewitched’ and ‘Small Wonder’.


TV should not rule our lives. I see it happening increasingly these days. They are always on. One of the things I nag my husband about is, unsubscribing Tata Sky. I hate the persistent noise of TV in my home. TV has certainly come to invade our personal space. There is always so much time in a day, but we still keep complaining about not having enough time because we waste a lot of time sitting unblinkingly in front of the TV. I completely disapprove of it. I consciously avoid wasting my time on idiot box. I only like to catch good movies on TV, or watch FRIENDS while I am doing something like cooking or making collage or reading a magazine etc. I will never only watch TV. People argue that atleast for News we should watch TV. I think, the kind of news they keep on ranting about is anyways worthless. Nobody really watches much TV at my home, but whenever somebody visits – my parents or his – it is always spent more on following the serials and less on talking amongst us.


Perhaps, in the earlier days, we were much better because TV was in moderation. There were 2-3 good programmes in a week. With so much of choice in everything, I don’t know where are we going!

Expressions of creativity

I mostly ride my 2-wheeler for several reasons. I am still not too comfortable behind the driving wheel, it is tedious to find place for parking, it is much easier to whiz past in heavy traffic….blah, blah, blah! So, I get too see a lot of things while commuting. I am especially enamoured by the variety of number plates people have, and even diverse messages on their car, on their bikes!



Earlier I had mentioned about this extremely cute message on a car “not so close darling. I hardly know you”. It really made me smile!


Most common ones are inscribing your religion on your vehicle, be it the stickers of various gods (ganesha is the most preferred, some also go for sai baba), you would also occasionally find a ‘786’ or a ‘cross’. ‘Aai-baba cha aashirwad’, ‘Daddy’s gift’, etc, also can be seen a lot.


Anther trend is creating names or words out of numbers. Many times some numbers are more prominent, rest are too small to even be legible.


In fact, what really prompted this post was the number plate I saw today. It said “careful! Stunter ahead!”. ‘Army’, ‘Press’, Doctor’s cross sign are also very, very common.


Trucks, cars and few bikes display names of the kids of the family. In fact, I also came across 1 car with the photograph of the children on the back.


Many times when I see distorted numbers, I fee strongly that there should be a standardized format for Number plates. In accident cases, one would never be able to make out the correct number of the offenders. A number plate should not be an expression of creativity, it has some purpose and when there is too much of clutter, distorted numbers and creativity at play, it just beats the purpose. A standardized format also orients people in grasping the numbers much more quickly. In current context, even an alert person on the road might take several precious minutes to make out what the number exactly is.

Blabbering of the mind!

It is said grass is always greener on the other side. And not for nothing! In my hectic professional life, I sometimes wonder what could life be as a fulltime housewife. When I look at long hours at work, continuous stressful state of mind, follow ups and more follow ups; it seems such an idyllic state of being! But is it so? I cannot even survive one weekend doing nothing. People have called me weird at different stages of life. I like getting up really early on a holiday, others prefer sleeping till late. And well, with the entire day on hand, I keep wondering how to best utilize the day. I have this inherent quest for a perfect, balanced life. My passion for books and magazines is strange and all-consuming. I have them in every imaginable corner of my home. But we all have our idiosyncrasies.



I am overjoyed with the sense of achievement when a job is accomplished well. It is exhilarating, and it makes all the sweat worthwhile. But I have romantic notions of stay-at-home life…… getting up early (at sunrise), exercising, cycling, having green tea, taking in the fresh air of early morning, cooking, catching up on good movies (which I always miss, since I am at office), spending time with family, finally complete all the filing, bank-related work that I always wanted to do, finally read ALL magazines, books which I have hoarded since so many years now (!), finally read newspaper (from front to back). Ah! If only life was so simple and ideal. I am certain that I will not survive this ‘do-nothing’ phase for more than a week. It is something else to take time off from work and enjoy holidays, and something else to be completely out of touch from professional life. After all, it has contributed to my being.


Perhaps, perfect life is a misnomer. Perhaps, after a while, everything becomes mundane, and routine. Perhaps, there is merit in enjoying the moment.

Movie Review: Raavan

I was inquisitive about ‘Raavan’, when I first heard about it. But as I slowly got to know more about it, I was really not planning to watch this one….but this time, a movie happened to me. Unfortunately, I watched this one, immediately after ‘Rajneeti’ and really did not know how to pass time till the end! It is such a boring movie. Interestingly, Rajneeti was inspired by Mahabharat and Raavan by Ramayan.



My comments:


Mani Ratnam: I have seen Dil Se, Guru, Yuva, etc, and the only movie that has impressed me is Yuva, nothing else. ‘Guru’ also did not work for me. Why is he so besotted with Abhishek and Aishwarya is beyond me! No doubt, the cinematography is breath-taking, but at some point, I got irritated with very close camera angles. And it rained throughout the movie, as if it was being shot at Cherrapunji.


The Movie: The movie lacked story and any high point in the plot. There was no chemistry between Vikram and Aishwarya, and not even between Abhishek and Aishwarya. How all of a sudden he gets besotted with her, was not really established. I kept wondering why Mani Ratnam felt the compelling need to make this movie, wasting so much time and money of the entire crew involved in making it, and of all the people who would attempt to see it.


Abhishek: I don’t know why media is even saying this has got mixed reviews. Nobody liked it – plain and simple! What Abhishek tries to establish with all his mumbling and over-acting, was not too clear. His character was supposed to look menacing, but that never happens. His character portrayal was too similar to ‘Yuva’, which in any case, was much better.


Aishwarya: She looks bloated and not the ethereal beauty she generally does. I wonder why she is supposed to be the highest paid actress in India. She is extremely pretty, agreed, but acting……puh-lease!


Vikram: Can’t comment much on him. He was OK in whatever role he had. May be “Ravanan” would have much better scope for him.


Others: Ravi Kisen was good, while Govinda was OK. His weight does not convince us that he could be the tree-jumping forest native. But over-all, he had some spark.


Priyamani: She looked promising in her small role but what kind of conservative village has such revealing outfits. I don’t understand why in the name of village belle, the actresses are supposed to wear skimpy clothes. I am yet to see such villages.


Songs: Not too great. I don’t even like “Beera” that much. There was a slow number which I liked passingly, but not as much to even be able to recall it now.


I read somewhere today that Amitabh thought Abhishek’s character comes across such half-baked because the film has not been edited well!

Movie Review: Rajneeti

I was destined to watch ‘Rajneeti’ and ‘Raavan’ back to back this Saturday. So, well, I went along with my destiny, though I never wanted to watch ‘Raavan’ because I know Aishwarya cannot act, and Abhishek just overdoes it. Also, Mani Ratnam looks like besotted with this couple and just wanted to make a movie with them, no matter what the story. I will do ‘Raavan’ bashing later.



Overall, ‘Rajneeti’ was an engaging movie though it has received mixed reviews. I kind of liked this multi-starrer. Here’s what I thought about the actors and their roles, etc….


Nana Patekar: I read somewhere that he wasn’t too happy with his role or something. I thought, he had a good role. He was the ‘Krishna’, the strategist, always in control of the situation


Katrina Kaif: Why I chose to write about her first? Because, I loved her. She truly stands out in her role. And she has really learnt Hindi well. So, now she looks good, speaks Hindi and acts too, what else do you want guys?! I loved her effervescent self in the first half and the lady-like persona in the second half. She does justice to her role.


Manoj Bajpai: He was truly remarkable in his negative character. I think he should do more films, he is quite good


Ajay Devgan: Ajay can walk through this role with his eyes closed. It is the same old, brooding character that he has mastered long, long time back. But I don’t want to take away from his acting, he was good


Arjun Rampal: I think, his character was not really etched out too well. I never could decide if he was white or grey! He uses Shruti Seth’s character (why she did such a pathetic role is beyond me, and she really did it horribly) and yet has a certain vulnerability to it. He looks terribly good with his long hair and kurta look, but he looks too urbane and sophisticated


Ranbir Kapoor: He was fine but I think we have overrated him a lot. He tends to do a bit of over-acting but frankly he is okay. He can do better. His role was good but it required someone sharp and shrewd, he looked such a bhola-bhala. A laptop does not make you a scheming strategist (have I let out too much! Anyways, I am sure I am one of the last people to see this movie!)


Naseeruddin Shah: I don’t know why he was there in the movie, and the kiss between him and that lady (her name is Nikhila Trikha – just googled) looked highly inappropriate and uncalled for (‘script ki demand’!!!!)


Thankfully, there weren’t any full-fledged song to break the pace of the movie. Actually, there were too many things happening, so we weren’t bored at any point of time. But at the end, it seems Politics is a dirty business!


And how can I forget, the cameo by Praksh Jha! It was hilarious since I knew it was Prakash Jha, of course, many aren’t so updated about movies!!


But certainly, go for it!

(Image source: IMDb)

A Book can happen to you!

I went to Landmark last Sunday because I had collected sufficient points to exchange for a book, and well, I just needed a reason to go there. So, I persuaded my husband and my friends to drop by Landmark, so that I could pick a book. I prefer “buying” books from online shops but here I wasn’t spending anything, right! So no guilt feelings!



I spent quite some time browsing through books and whenever I actually go buying books, I never can remember the books on my wish list. Most of the times, these books are so rare that even if I am able to remember a name or two, I am never able to find it on the shelf!


Anyways, I finalised on “We are Iran” by Nasrin Alavi and “Deaf Heaven” by Pinki Virani. The first one sounded interesting as it was a meticulous compilation of lives in contemporary Iran through several blogs, while I picked up the other one because I had recently read two of Pinki Virani’s books and I had been impressed by both. So, did not even think twice before picking it up.


Anyways, I went to the billing counter, proudly gave my Citibank card and asked to bill while redeeming my 293 points also. The lady left for a while to check the points, came back and said it is not honouring the points, not even 150 points. So, what to do, I became a fool coming all the way to redeem points and shelling out money. So, I quickly decided, I will take only 1 book and showed that I want “Deaf Heaven”.


I came back home and when I pulled the book outside, what did I see? The book tat came back was “We are Iran”. I was totally mad at that lady – first she told me the points could not be redeemed, and then she billed the wrong book. But after a while, I looked at the other side of this whole event and realised how a book can happen to you. I did not choose this book but I still got it. I would buy “Deaf Heaven” anyways, but I may not have got back to buying “We are Iran” again. That makes me feel nice and positive.

Tea and Will Power

For a while, I had been thinking about quitting something which I absolutely love, almost addicted to. And the obvious answer was Tea! I know, some might find this whole post very funny, but people who know me, also know how obsessed I have been with Tea since very young age. The more my mum would discourage me to have tea, the more it became an obsession. I have gone to the length of being so badly fixated on tea, that the moment mum would go out, the first thing I would do was make tea for myself. What fascinated me more about late-night studies or early morning studies was being officially allowed to have Tea!



But anyways, the point is I have quit tea for a week now and it feels tremendously liberating. Whenever somebody would have tea, I would consciously say it loud that I don’t drink tea anymore! It feels good and it sort of reassures me, it boosts my confidence. I feel extremely proud of myself, and I know it is definitely going to have a positive impact on me health-wise as well.


I’m really not into soft drinks, so when it is the point of having something to drink, I go for salted fresh lime water or plain water. The amount of sugar, I have cut down, as a result is also quite a lot. I used to have anywhere between 2 to 4 cups of tea everyday. So there 


A week back, I thought it would be impossible for me to quit tea, ever. I decided to try this first for a month. In just a week, I’m almost on the verge of quitting tea forever.


As I am thinking and writing about this, what is clear to me is that it is really not so much about tea, as much as it is about my will power to overcome something which I thought was indispensable for me. It is all in the mind. The mind convinces us that there are things we would not be able to do or live without, but if you take it as a challenge and give it a try, you can surely make it possible. Because it is always possible, we should have that much conviction!