Anjaana + Anjaani = Mismatch

Last Tuesday my girls and I went for Anjaana Anjaani. Why on a weekday? Because the tickets are cheaper, and believe me, the hall was packed. We, desi’s, gladly accept our cheapness! No shame at all! The movie was okay. Same ole’ love story with a twist of ‘wanting to commit suicide’. Priyanka over-acted the first half and Ranbir got over-powered by her in the second half. Both of them are fine actors, however, both should not act together! A complete mismatch, if I may… Infact, at many encounters, one can spot her matured look.

Songs were absolutely melodious. Lucky Ali came back with a big bang. A special mention for the Hairat number. I’m not sure why the director chose to cast Zayed Khan for the supporting role. There are n numbers of decent and dashing looking actors. To name a few: Madhavan, Arjun Rampal. Towards the end, when Priyanka came out in her ‘almost backless’ choli, my jaw-dropped and I leaned over to my cousin [her’s was too]. Her lehnga looked ravishing and complemented her proportionate body from every angle. On the last scene, I told my cousin ‘if she jumps off the bridge in that lehnga, I’m going to kill her’. Well, instead of jumping, Idiot voluntarily ruined her outfit by walking in the river. The End!

Let the game begin – CWG 2010 New Delhi, India

Marvelous and jaw-dropping opening ceremony of Commonwealth Games in our India. I am wholly speechless to see the entire nation unite at this very proud time. I doubt if there was even a single true Indian who did not get a glimpse of the biggest gala ever in our very own country. The moment I got up and caught myself surfing through the TOI website, my whole body rejuvenated to see even the smallest clipping of the fire crackers shooting at the sky at Nehru Stadium; the 40 crore aerostat [helium gas balloon] showcasing multitude of pictures/videos of our rich heritage and bestowing a warm welcome to all the participating countries [money well-spent]. Jumbo Dhols, Drums, Dholak’s and Nagada’s echoed from ten different corners of the stadium. A small kid with Tabla in his hands had the entire nation grooving to his Taal. Couldn’t resist myself and gave it in by doing a couple of thumka’s…! Every country marched in were given a clamorous applaud while the drums rolled and the lights twinkled. Loud and proud, the Oscar winner, Mr. A R Rehman gave a spectacular performance. Also, not-so-forgotten Shibani Kashyap mesmerized the assembly with her hatke awaaz. In those three spellbinding hours, Delhi was lit up with lights and colours to present a properly conceived and exquisite show.

Traffic was a complete havoc as everyone was rushing towards the stadium to capture the best moment of their life. With all the cultures coming together and representing India as one dignified power, the whole planet went into a silent mode. As one of my aunt’s wrote on her Facebook status, “CWG opening was just "STUPENDOFANTABULOUSLY FANTASTIC", India ROCKS, Delhi ROCKS. Proud to be an INDIAN. Sabsey Aage Honge HINDUSTANI... to that my reply was, ‘Indeed’. The real show-stoppers of the ceremony were Prince Charles with his wife Camilla and Pratibha Patil accompanied by Manmohan Singh and Suresh Kalmadi. Even though, the public hissed while Kalmadi gave his special speech, it mattered to the very least. No one was willing to ruin the entire ceremony only because the small kids pulled together a praiseworthy performance to present every culture of our country and the aerostat which was closely monitored by masses because their a** was on fire. They knew the world had their eye set on them. Had there been any accident, it would have invited chaos for the whole nation.

Everyone bypassed the controversies, corruption, Kalmadi, the entire hoopla of CWG games and ceased the moment to enjoy every bit of the ceremony. Even with so many predicament and complications, we showed our alliance to the whole world. Oh well, let bygones be bygones, for now. I’m not alleging to completely neglect the whole corruption issue but I won’t spoil the mood since the whole country united once again. Dost, this is what India is all about. We bash up each other if required and we stand united when needed [the most].

As a proud Indian, I sign off on my article.

3 Cheers for Mera Bharat Mahaan…!

RIP Tyler Clementi

Tyler Clementi committed suicide. Well, I believe with each passing day, someone somewhere in the sphere commits suicide. Okay, so what is so extraordinary about this person? Alrite, a small intro for my readers… An 18 year old boy, fresh out of the college, got admitted in Rutgers University and… he’s gay. In this day and age, coupling with the same sex partner is no big deal. However, Tyler didn’t have the comfort ground set just yet. Being a teenager, he might have felt ashamed or not welcomed in his regular group. By regular, I mean, guys who prefer the opposite sex. Still understandable!!! So, the story goes like this…Tyler stayed in the dorms with a roommate. Roommate finds out about Tyler being homo and decides to punk him by shooting his make-out session via a webcam. Not just once but twice. Next thing you know, the roommate tweets it on twitter as well. Undoubtedly, he’s got like a million fans by now. Well, in his so called heroic stunt, Tyler gets immersed in humiliation all around the campus and decides on something very ill. Next day, the whole nation recovers his dead body in the Hudson River. My deep condolences to the Clemeti’s. May his soul rest in peace.

Let’s recap a bit and glance at some other aspects of the story. Dormitories are abhorred with filth and polluted with adulteration. Indulging in a relationship is quite exceptional. Make-out sessions are also very customary in any affair. Breaching someone’s privacy is not agreeable. However, broadcasting a personal video clip in public is not at all acceptable. And that too on the most popular social network. These days even an eight year old possesses an account on Twitter. Oh yeah, and how can we leave behind Facebook? Tyler updated his status before committing suicide. I really took a few moments to digest this part of the news. Is Facebook that substantial? Would you think of Facebook before doing anything, let alone attempting a suicide? It’s commendable that technology is booming every minute but it’s also taking a very huge toll on multitude of people. One can debate on many issues in this suicide case. Should we re-think the bullying caused in every college? Or the growing society of homosexuals? Or the big bang technology? Questions will come and go. Enormous appeals will take place between the university, students, media, higher committee etc etc. However, Tyler is gone forever. Clementi’s will never see their son again and this is the only truth which actually matters.

I whole-heartedly pass my condolences to his entire family…

CWG = Havoc

Where should I begin? Countless questions unanswered, overabundance of corruption, forged certificates etc etc. Aren’t we Indians already dealing with enough fraud in our country? Then why more? And it’s no where near manageable at this point. During my vacation in India, I encountered extravagant melodrama regarding CWG games in New Delhi. Special lanes for buses! Don’t we have enough traffic problems and to add to that misery, distinguished lanes just for CWG crowd. Why? Special lanes are only sitting there; why not open them for the locals? However, our government flagged them as ‘privileged lanes’ for bloody Gora’s. Fines increased to Rs. 1000. Earlier builders mixed cement with sand, and now, sand with cement. How pathetic can it get? Had it not been for Mother Nature, no one would ever discover the robustness of CWG special lanes…

For the past bloody four years, the only thing one hears is the transformation of Delhi for the games. However, no one comprehended the actual meaning of transformation until now. Delhites are troubled by the vicinity of the games area. The so-called-development is extremely worrisome and disgusting, but my real worry stems from the way quality standards have been trampled upon. The foundation of our system itself is based on bribery, fraud and corruption. Every single tender passed for the CWG project was forged and approved by our own government officials’.

On September 21st, a footbridge collapsed which injured around thirty people. Immediately after the incident, Delhi officials’ promised to get the entire infrastructure ‘up n about’ by October 3rd. It’s easy, let’s paste back the debris as it is! On September 22nd, a small portion of a ceiling collapsed at the weightlifting arena. Sidewalks often lead to a dead end or into a tree. No thoughts gone behind building a ramp. The chaos began a couple years back and now its result time! Our Civic administration had 7 years to prepare for this grand event. I bet, 3 were wasted intentionally, the next two years were dwindled in discussions, meetings, budgets, risk and so on… and now, pants on fire!!! With monsoon showing no signs of abating and the infrastructure quality being shockingly sub-standard; we are finding ourselves in the gutter. It won’t be surprising if the same incidents would happen during the games. These episodes have made its way to the local newspaper all over England and Wales.

I want some help from my readers. So, what do we lack? Actually, I rephrase my Q, where do we lack? Aren’t we considered one of the smartest people in this whole wide world? We literally rule the IT industry all over the globe. We have one of the best engineers, doctors than anyone in so called Amerikka. Where is the problem??? Is it the higher committee ruling India or corruption or money…? Or is it simply the reluctance of making our country a better place to live? Raise hands or rise up…

This & That

This article is not dedicated to some distinctive person or any exclusive topic and it’s nowhere near any controversy. It simply talks about the nitty-gritty stuff occurring in day-to-day life. People get so habitual of their routine life. An ordinary week drags on for five days. And a weekend passes by in one blink of an eye. Because I hail from the business world, I do realize the seriousness of having a two day weekend. At the crack of the dawn on Friday, my colleagues, friends, family get fully prepared to start off the weekend at 5 PM. Some people tend to leave as early as possiblel. I do too, at times.

Last weekend was like no other for me. While entering the house around six-ish, I found a housefull gala with my extended family as well as immediate. As I sat down and enjoyed the oil plus calorie filled pakora’s cooked by mom, we all gazed at the television. Later on, everyone resisted the oily-ness…ughhh! At night, bro and I decided to watch Jurassic Park III. Re-lived the magic created by that movie in the old days. While dozing off, I decided to catch up on one more episode of Lost. Yes, I’m still marathoning it. I was determined to hit the gym next morning. During wee hours, mother knocked on the door and my dream got crushed in a flash. Its fine, probably some random dream… My mind debated on when should I go to the gym? Morning passed by, afternoon passed by and before I knew I got excessively bored. After much thought, I concluded that I should go for window shopping. Called up my little cousin, picked her up and ended up in Wal-Mart. Probably the most favorable place of all desis. Purchasing was done in no time and the damage was adequate. Kiddo and I decided to walk over to a food plaza and the Thai restaurant became enchanting. I blissfully relished my Drunken Noodles entrée with a virgin strawberry banana colada while my company decided to load up on some Pad-Thai and a non-diet coke. Mouth-watering… Saturday ended!

Sunday – for the first time ever, I tasted Georgetown Cupcakes. Mmm…mmm…good! That was my reaction. I got amused by the number of people on the street. My friend and I also stood in line for about forty minutes. However, it was worth the wait! That’s when I discovered about the DC Cupcakes show on TLC. The prices are very affordable and delicious-ness savored in my mouth like heaven. A while later, the two of us got on with the usual thing girls do on a day out. Shopping! Yup, apparently Georgetown is not too pricey. Very affordable, if you plan to visit the clearance section!!! Lunch was at Clyde’s, food was an average because of their constant modifications in the menu, and I can never summon the names of my favorite entrée’s. Oh well, while strolling towards the waterfront area and enjoying the sexiness of the weather, both of us conversed about our busy life. Two seconds later, I tripped and made a fool out of myself in front of everyone. Nothing worse happened but yeah, our date was ruined in an instant. While resting at home, my awesome sisters came over with some yummy food cooked by one of them. Chole were finger-licking good. Aur bas, weekend khatam, work shuru! Sooo, have a wonderful week, everyone!

Daaarling tere liye…!

Chulbul Pandey – probably the most dashing, amicable, and a complete Dabangg man on-screen and off as well. Yeah, it’s true; Sallu miyan has an endless fan-following. Dabangg created magic on the screen. Khan-dan knew their audience and used all the right masala for their movie. In our B’wood industry, no other actor can pull off this role. The promos had the entire nation hooked to the screens. Each time Munni came on screen; junta went completely bonkers with her. She sure got badnaam but I guess in a good way. Munni – only five minute coverage in the entire movie, however, acted as the tadka [key part] of the film. The lady looked outrageously fabulous in her item number. She sure knows how to nachao the mango people on her finger tips. Infact, munni badnaam sms jokes are already in circulation on everyone’s mobile.

Switching gears onto a fresh face introduced to the nation. Sonakshi Sinha, daughter of the very famous veteran actor, charming looks combined with killer eyes, and a perfect bod [actually this particular attribute doesn’t need a special mention as it’s pretty much the only thing required in our film industry]. I think she did justice to her role by not over-acting or creating much brouhaha during the promotion of her debut release. A special thanks to Manish Malhotra for her backless blouses and the simple yet elegant sari’s. I am passionately moved by her tere mast mast do nain song. While vacationing in India, I got amused by the repetition of this song on every radio station. Literally gave the goosebumps.

The movie is a complete funtertainer and a mast watch. Chulbul Pandey with his cheesy lines, his cry me a river kind-of love for his mother, his absurd first encounter with Sonakshi, his ray-ban sunglasses, amazingly choreographed dance sequence where he fiddles his buckle of the belt in the most provocative way and a special mention for the shirt ripping off scene. I must say, give it away to the Khan Parivaar for this, a very hatke scene. If only I knew how to maaro a seeti… Solid impact hai, bhai! By the way, delighted to see Dimple on the screen. Hope she’s here to stay. Sonu Sood gave a khulla competition to Sallu with his almost 6-pack. However, he lacked in ripping off his kurta with the help of his will power. It takes a whole lot of gut to base the entire movie’s load on one man’s shoulder – Salman Khan. It is proven that at times junta cares less about the script and only cares about their superhero. Chulbul was spotted in every scene in his own chulbul-ness. The director probably did another peeni hai party after glancing at the box-office report. The gamble paid off, that too with a hefty amount. For once, badnaam munni benefited all…!

Bonjour

Sitting in Paris, sipping Café Latte and enjoying the crispy-ness of a buttery croissant. Gosh, time flew by so damn quickly. It feels like yesterday when I was rushing through work, emails, and my boss; only because I was flying to my desh. Yup, certainly a life changing experience on this trip and a smile on a face added with a pinch of ticklish feeling. Two week vacation flew by rapidly. I still have a crystal clear memory of the day I was leaving. Left work around noon followed by a nail salon stop [which by the way was highly required since I have the tiniest nails]. As I was driving to my home, I ardently wanted to get over with my packing and get on that plane. Even though the destination was still too far away, resting in that uncomfortable chair of economy class was getting me one step closer to everyone back home. Reality check: it’s not too much fun travelling from one continent to another when you can only afford the common man class. Ugh, I envy those people travelling via business class, enjoying the comfy seat with a huge space where you can practically lie down flat and relish the coziness. Its okay, one day I will too. Expect less; dream more – simple funda of my life!!!

Running out of battery and cannot find the junction which is needed for my laptop. Paris Airport and no power junction. Wah, kya baat hai!!!

***After two hour break***

Alrite guys, so this is what happened in the past two hours. Like I mentioned above, my battery was dying. So, I went on a hunt to find a power junction which would charge my laptop. Mission failed! Remarkably, I found out that UK also uses the same power cord we use in India. In order to start up my laptop, I was told by a passenger that I’ll have to buy a converter. To that my reaction was, “dude, being a pakka desi, I highly oppose wasting money on something I’ll never use again.” While sipping another latte and chewing a tomato mozzarella sandwich, I came across a decent American. Striking up a conversation with him was not too complicated. Thanks to my ‘talkative personality.’ Hehe, I’m proud of it! Since we are on Paris airport, I’ll describe it a bit. Firstly, this place is huge, and I mean Humongous. A passenger needs to travel via bus or subway in order to get to their terminal for the connecting flights. Infrastructure is a treat to your eyes. And let’s not even get on with the cleanliness. However, regardless of how long is the halt, every passenger is only allowed to stay in their respective terminals. Which kind of sucked since one cannot fancy the entire airport! Everyone is speaking in French, infact everyone is conversing with me in French as well. After a split second they realize, I’m a visitor because my face expression goes inane. Till date, this is the first airport where I was able to get a glimpse of every type of plane. Boeing 747, Airbus 380, Airbus 330, tiny jets, that double-decker plane, pretty much everything.

I had absolutely no intentions of writing my next article on Paris airport. Howbeit, since life is not planned; this wasn’t either. When I was vacationing, I had numerous topics in my head which are worthy of my article writing. That will happen once I land in US of A. For now, these are my random thoughts in Paris on my eight hour halt before I board my connecting flight. Oh, by the way, it was quite motivating to hear comments on my articles from my readers in India. Got me so charged up! Anyhow, for now, I’ll take leave. Will publish this article once I get back home. Hoping not to get jetlagged at all. Got a lot more to write, so stay tuned.

Farewell dost…