A window break and an almost walk!

Yesterday was such an amazing amazing day. Three of my friends (Si, Na and Pt) ditched me and I had to stay put at home, but boy was it fun!! I had a “fruit”ful day, eating every imaginable fruit from watermelon to mango, from apple to anjeer! Read the entire 2004 post of Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan’s compulsive confessor and knew on a first hand basis as to why her blog is so darn popular but power cut played the crook later in the evening and I couldn’t finish reading.

Went out in the evening to get myself some tangy and spicy food (I had an almost pregnant craving for that yesterday!) and had a scary experience. Okay I don’t really walk on the roads, I know it sounds silly but I usually don’t go out to fetch anything for my house (the perks of being the youngest) and the rare times I go, I use a bike…yesterday because I was intent on eating everything I saw, I took a walk….err tried walking on the roads but it was impossible! Every lane, by lane, by-by lane was choked! For Lords sake it’s a colony! Cars parked bumper to bumper, motorists zooming past and seriously are there so many bikes? I really felt as much at home as Mowgli would have felt in Mumbai! My walking turned into tip toeing and praying that something/someone doesn’t crash into me! Terribly terrible.

And to top it, I didn’t find anything edible so I came back home, and made myself Top Raman(No Maggi, I’m a smoodle) Since my craving for something pungent almost made me delirious I decided to experiment and believe me when I say it was yum! I added MDH pav bhaji masala to the noodles, spiked it with a generous dose of Lemon, added fresh and sour green mango to it, top it with Kurkure and ate it with Sprite! The after effect was totally worth it…if you know what I mean (smirk)…teda hain par mera hain!!

Guess what my reaction was after my Editor asked me to interview Chandrachur Singh?

Fake it!

I for one am completely bowled over by the fake Ipl player's blog! I am impatient to read his next! Witty, entertaining and devastatingly sarcastic, the blog is nasty, mean and highly amusing, Well, if you are not a member of the Knight Riders. Trying to pin point as to why the blog is so popular, I've encountered a few uncomfortable truths...the reason for its astounding success is that it appeals to the Lowest Common Denominator present in us, the inhuman appetite for dirt and the obvious relish for rumors or scandals. It is clear enough that the blog was well concieved and pre planned if the sartorial nick names are anything to go by! Little John/Big sister. hilarious! As to who is behind it, well from Sunil Gavaskar to Shobhaa De, SRK has managed to rub every shoulder in the wrong manner,so it's difficult to know who is getting their own back at him! Sexual escapades of our cricketers/film stars which were considered a taboo in reporting, have been broken down and I really wouldn't wonder it it is a precursor for much more to come. The quirky writing style really amazes me...sample this "We are trying our hardest to lose and finish last"...Well, I would dearly love to know if it tickles the King Khan's(nicked Dildo!!) famous sense of humor/witty repartees!

Interviewed Omair ahmed, the author of "The Storyteller's Tale" over the phone last week and was really impressed by the manner in which he said "A lot of the World is a part of me"...Few can pull off a statement like that and he did it with panache!

Do you know that Zee cinema still airs mythological hindi movies on Sunday mornings?

Petty politics

It's election season and for the rest of the country, Andhra Pradesh's poll sops would deem extremely mysterious! Specifically, I am personally aghast at the TDP's money transfer scheme. This particular scheme promises to transfer 2000 rupees (!) every month to the lady of the house, it applies for all BPL families! Seriously?? How stupid is it? Anyone who has any inkling about the troubles of such families will know that most of them stem from money, give them money they drink...give them work, they live! The western world has been plagued by this ridiculous concept of state benefits...Jade Goody,Scarlett keeling...people whose lives have been wrecked by feeding on the crumbs doled out by the big- brotherly state. All these cases are stark examples that the under trodden need work and not free cash, it destroys any semblance of hard work and living with dignity. The most bizare part is the smug manner in which people talk about such a stupid scheme, first the ulta pultas of TDP on Telangana, now this absolute straw! Dont play the bountiful, provide work, better living conditions and proper pay! God save us if this scheme is implemented!

I really really wish that Meera Sanyal wins from South Bombay, she is articulate, capable and dynamic. The manner in which she spoke on a recent debate shows her forthright capabilities and guts to shoulder responsibility. When a member of the audience got seethingly personal she promptly put the obtrusive person in his place by saying that it was not for him to ask! Independents usually don't and she surely is fighting with her back to the wall, lets hope she walls her opponents!

Why are we being subjected to a daily dose of Priyanka Gandhi?

Ignorance is such Bliss!

As we come closer to the election, we have numerous wars of words taking place simultaneously, this particular one is marked because of the ignorance of its remarks and stand out as an exemplary example to the fact that ignorance can indeed be blissful! Secular So-nea has accused Advani of being a slave of the RSS, It's certainly not her fault that she is unaware of what actually RSS is, being born and brought up outside India, it is difficult to keep track of a country as diverse as ours. For starters RSS, is not an organisation, it is a movement, an ideology. A revolution started in 1925 by a doctor and a visionary called Hegdewar it has in many ways enriched and exemplified the Indian culture including the Bhoodan Movement where it was actively involved with Vinobha Bhave. To be a slave of an ideology is but the natural progression of polity, but you cannot blame secular Soniya as she belongs to a party where the only ideology is the glorification of a sundry surname, which is not even linked to the poor Mahatma for Feroze Gandhi was no relation of the Mahatma. And as for saying that Advani cannot take decisions independently, I find it lolable! It's certainly not the Secular madam's gaffe, She can never make any(near Robotic). Her speech writers (Ambika Soni/Ahmad patel) must be responsible for Secular Sonia never means any harm because two of her family members sacrificed their lives for the nation! My guess is that Secular Soni-ya is trying to develop a grim sense of humor! Scary! In any case, the Congress today is definitely 'independent' of almost all of its allies! And the darn impudence that all of this classifies as Breaking News!

Went to the CNN-IBN's hasty program "India Can India will" at Birla Planetarium on Monday, for a show wanting to leave an impact it was surprisingly short where the three leaders invited got a total airtime of less than 10 minutes! But, I must say that the location was amazing, never knew they had a swimming pool down there!

When we were Kids

last week I met up with my school friends, Pt I will not classify as this friend or that but the other two are people I've known for more than a decade and from school! The place sucked, the lake stank and the Ice creams were over priced(gelatos or not, they were not worth what they were worth!)but the time spent was memorable!Our talk usually lurked in the shadows of what we had in common- School! I find it absolutely amazing that four people can sit back and discuss something which happenned almost a decade back, laugh as if the jokes were never heard before and analyse as if the events were new. The good old place which one can never forget- for reasons good or bad! It has that mystical and magical quality because of which time flew and everything seemed possible, fun meant endless laughter and gossip was restricted to who had a crush on whom! Why does school figure so high on everyone's priority list...I came up with two reasons

one- it is that time of your life when you are not innocent, when every little detail of your character good or bad is played out in a crystal clear manner and you could not fake!
second- for many many people school friends are for life...one friend from school usually sticks on and becomes a part of your life, you tend to be grateful for a place which gave you friends,an identity and a shape to your character.

Thinking of school made me sooo nostalgic-those wonderful excursions to bakeries, assemblies, dictations, uniforms, merchant of venice, grammar, prayer and pledge, rigid discipline, curry puffs, dodge ball, early mornings, annual days, free periods, teachers who were teachers, unit tests, grey sweaters, cycles, proverbs, compositions, fabulous birthday parties where everyone gave you something and enid blyton!

Buttons up!

Okay, whats really the matter with Akshay Kumar? If anyone saw him coercing his poor wife Twinkle in that fashion show to do his buttons and has not found it distasteful, I have serious issues! vulgur and voyeurstic it was also extremely cheap and crass. This is the second time Akshay goofed up majorly this year, After that silly dedication of his award to Aamir at Star awards (After cribbing that he never wins awards!) he has made things much more messier this time. Akshay who has made it to the top on the sheer strength of his hard work after decades of doing stupid movies and Khiladi stunts, should really learn how a superstar behaves. All the Khans (Barring Shah Rukh) are here because of their lineage, but Akshay outscored them in the recent past,but this ridiculous act of his and his amazing (stupid) justification that the jeans company made him do it (Whatever happenned to your own Brain...screams mine) He should sack his advisers promptly and use better brains! The pelvic thrusts and the bawdy body language made things worse, grow up dude...your son is!

I am no fan of IPL but am certainly a great admirer of those fabulous advertisements! Last year's were fun and the one I saw, for this year's edition which asks what happens when 100 crore people do the same thing is really smart and catchy!

PS: Cant jayanthi Natarajan take a break?

All Lost

The Lost Flamingoes of Bombay by Siddarth Dhanvanth Sanghvi is in many ways a treatise to every relationship which bloomed and withered, a city whose identity lies in its name and to characters whose destinies are lost for ever. What starts off as an ode to the world of stuffed riches quickly transforms itself into the story of inchoate loneliness and the memories and suffering it breeds. Sanghvi proves himself to be the sublime star of sexual innuendoes and innovative terminology. Ever heard of the National Index of Masturbation? Well, you find it here! A compelling narrative about how life plays havoc with four people interlinked with the sometimes quirky and the sometimes quixotic turns of life. Of Karan Seth, a photographer par excellence who mastery in his art is only rivaled by his determination to catch the spirit of Bombay, how he meets with his almost muse- Rhea Dalal, an erstwhile professional potter and currently a housewife who sees in him a spark and vitality resembling her own. Of Zaira, the reigning Bollywood Diva, who’s astounding beauty and sex appeal cannot get her away from a crazed stalker nor get her any closer to the man she loves and her warm relationship with Samar Soni, a piano prodigy who leaves his art and is at comfort knowing himself. Contemporary with a quintessential taste of longing, lust and love, the book appeals to everyone who has loved and lost. Witty prose, elegant narrative and eloquent description run parallel lines while the books enthralls the viewers with its grounded charm and quaint humor. It is impulsive sweeping you off your feet, raunchy without being apologetic and is compelling with its gritty takes on the issues surrounding us. The book plunges you to the lows of concurrent melancholy, raises you to the sky with its celebration of life, makes you laugh with its swipes at the amorous and leaves you seething in despair at the injustice churned out. Short listed for the Man Asian Literary Prize in 2008, the book is the celebration of delicious bursts of freedom, paradoxical relations and time honored prejudices. With its delightful little ironies and immaculate camaraderie, it reviles and regales you in equal measure!