Life is too short to watch bad movies!!

The weekend went off watching some really good movies. There are so many good movies out there, waiting to be watched, to be loved ,thought about lazily and probably even to get inspired.
It started with The Scent of a woman. Al Pacino won his only best actor Academy Award for this movie and trust me, he deserved every bit of it. He played a blind retired army officer who had issues of his own but was an amazing individual. It was, while looking at this legend of an actor performing , that I understood the meaning of the statement, "A man being an institution in himself". The scene where he leads the lady in an effortless Tango is nothing when compared to the scene where he is being insulted by his nephew during a family dinner only to be surpassed by the last scene where he comes to defend Chris O'Donell. Its a shame that I have not watched The Godfather trilogy as yet. I will reserve it for the coming weekends probably, but The scent of a woman is a must must must movie to be watched.
Another awesome movie, which I had missed for years was "The Rainman". Now honestly I started watching Rain man because I thought it had Pacino in the role of the autistic brother. But as it turned out, it was Dustin Hoffman. Still going ahead with my decision, I was never happier or more engrossed. The beginning was a little irritating with the annoying Spanish female playing Tom Cruise's girl friend, but then there is that one magical scene where the camera starts to pan from the bottom of Cruise's car and you hear. "I am an excellent driver". Something tells you, this is the beginning of an epic role and you are not wrong. People who have not seen Rain-man should see it and like me kick themselves for having ignored it for all these years. When you look at Dustin Hoffman as Raymond, you actually want to go take care of him. You actually want to take him to K Mart and get him his underwear, because he would wear no other and because Tom Cruise wont take him there. You would want to make sure that his bed is by the window, just the way he likes it. You fall in love with Raymond. There is one better than the best scene in the movie, where Hoffman gets scared by hot running water from the tap. This scene reveals what had happened in their childhood. He is so natural that you forget that you are watching a movie. The second is a way adorable scene where Raymond laughs. "He He. Charlie Babbit cracked a joke!" You cannot miss this movie for anything in the world. Incidentally, Dustin Hoffman very deservingly won an Oscar for this role.
Also you will find the source of SRK's dancing in MNIK (and much more) and the forehead meeting "hug" from Burfi (Which has been overdone in Burfi, whereas in Rainman it is just the last scene!!) . In addition to this, you will find out why SRK is below than zero in MNIK when compared to Dustin Hoffman.
So that was Hollywood. Coming back to India, I was so hung up on watching "performance oriented" movies that the next natural choice had to be Paa!! Thank God for Amitabh Bachchan. Thank God for Balki and Thank God for Vidya Balan. Also, Thank God that all of them came together. Amitabh Bachchan is not him in the movie. He is such a natural 12 year old, that you forget its the legend unless of course the credits starts to roll. The dialogues are very easy on you and the best part in the movie is the lack of Hindi movie melodrama. Thank Balki for it. I mean probably for the first time in the history of Indian movies, an unwed daughter announces to her mother that she is pregers and all the mother asks is, "Do you want this baby?" Respect!!!
I then moved ahead to watch Grudge which was a much talked about scary movie, but honestly it was a huge disappointment. Although it was a long pending movie and I have finally crossed it off my list, I did not find it super scary (Ok , I was watching it in broad day light with Rahul by the side doing his own work :D ) but the biggest let down was the story. There was no connect at all!
I want to start a controversial discussion here. You don't really require a masterpiece story to make a good movie. I mean look at the above movies. The scent of a woman was basically not a great story. one blind officer, one student with problems of his own come together for the weekend. What made the movie was the moments, the execution and of course Al Pacino. What was Rainman? One guy, being denied of his Father's wealth discovers that he has an autistic brother who has inherited everything. He "kidnaps" him and finally falls in love with him. Paa is just a 12 year old boy who is suffering from Progeria. So maybe an epic movie does not need a mind boggling story! Maybe, its just how you put together some wonderful moments from the lives of your character on the screen and how the actors make them so believable that the audience becomes a part of their lives. Smiling, crying, and living their lives. Probably, like life, we tend to over complicate our movies also.

See you at the movies!!

Happy Women's Day!!

This probably is not the best time to be a woman in India. With rapes and molestation almost becoming a trend, it is surprisingly sad that although we boast of technological advances, we are almost no where when it comes to respect for a woman. Every one will agree with me that we still have a long long way to go to give woman a safe and secure environment. I don't think we ask for a lot. We only ask for a worry free environment.

I want to go out , enjoy myself and comeback without having to worry about how late is it going to be and how will I come back home, again without having to trouble a male friend to drop me back. I want to wear a dress without having to worry if I will be gawked upon and ogled at. I don't want my parents to worry when I live away from them in a stranger city. I want to climb the career ladder without being trampled upon, without being questioned about my credibility. I want to be accepted for who I am. Not much, really !!

Having said that, I realize that I am living a life which is far far better than many unfortunate women in our country. I have been given the freedom to make my own career, have my own identity. Fortunately, I was not stopped for anything just because I am a girl. For this, I say a heartfelt thank you. Especially to all the men around who thankfully do know how to respect and support the women around them. A part of my dad still lives in the 1800s. Thankfully he never showed it on his 2 daughters. He let us be. I was sent to Hyderabad, Delhi, Bangalore without any questions. Infact I remember, dad refused an alliance in my fourth year of engineering. His reason? "Let her atleast make a career for herself" he said. "The guy is settled in the US". Came an argument from the other side. "My daughter will go to the US on her own, Thank you". I have never been proud of him so much ever before!! I still have not made it to US yet, but I was given wings to fly.

I am also thankful to all my male friends. Only today in the morning Amber and I were discussing ( The discussion germinated the seed of this blog, btw) of how, luckily, all out male friends are thorough gentlemen. They may be mad, but they are good boys. Thank you boys. Thank you for the drops home late night, thank you for shielding us in a disc, thank you for not being jerks. Yes you really make fun of us, you irritate us, but without gentlemen like you, India would have been doomed.

Lastly, I have to THANK God a gazillion times for getting me married to the most chivalrous guy! Yes, I am one of those few exceptionally lucky females, who has her chair pulled for her in restaurants, who was given a wonderful cup of tea this morning and who sometimes go home to find utensils washed or milk boiled without having to say it!! The best part about Rahul is that he is a gentleman for every girl around him. He is that guy who will get up to give you a seat, who will pick up a fight with goons, even if you are not his girl friend/wife. Also, how many girls can claim to have a husband and a fashion consultant rolled in one? Ahem!! I can! :) Just a few added advantage!

Wishing every woman a very very happy women's day. Here is to the juggling and balancing we do with so much panache! Here is to the artificial smiles for a broken heart and to the real tears for a broken nail. Here is to managing our bank accounts and yet forgetting where we kept our scrunchies! Here is to the tastiest meals for the family and the disastrous cup of tea for ourselves, which we still gulp down! Here is to knowing that we are being judged and still not giving a shit!! Here is to the sarees and the LBDs, to the flats and the stilettos! I love being a girl and I am sure, despite everything, every girl does!!

Oh and one more thing. All mood swings of a woman is not PMS. Trust me!! Sometimes, We are genuinely pissed off! Cheers!!

Touchwood!!

I have not spoken much about Rahul on my blog. I have never even written about our story, which is otherwise okay but the writer in me wants to put down every little special moment. But then,I guess I don't want to sound like those silly girls who keep swooning over their boy friends/husbands and bring them up in every conversation. (Actually I do the last bit quiet a lot and I have to stop it!! ) But this picture quote probably describes him the best.



Maybe now, I don't need to say anything at all!! And here's one of my favorite picture of us. :)

Coffee with the 5

Its a mad roller coaster with the five, famously known as the Army. Who you ask? the 6 group-ed girl gang! We are definitely a handful. We talk endlessly, we laugh, sometimes too uproariously unfitting for girls and we make every moment memorable. We rag! Oh we rag! (Under the captaincy of D and D) You are not allowed a single mistake or a goof up in the Army! You missed to call some one for coffee? God save you! You were seen with a guy others don't know about? Sorry! You are dead never to be resurrected again. Your stories would be told to generations to come.

I have performed a sacrilege of such! I made a mistake of considering no bounds and eating a mango as if it was the last one in the entire milky way! I was clicked and laughed at! Its remembered till now and as I said, it will be remembered till eons to come. Maybe in the next life, when I will try my best to remind Deepa that I am the same Varsha she worked in Target with in her past life, she will shove a mango in front of my face and say, "Eat this and only then will I identify you"

Unfortunately the sweetest one is ragged the most. Swathi with her eternal beauty and wonderful doubts finds herself at the receiving end of many of our jokes. We love her! She is the best. The only problem is that she does not know that. She does not know that she is prettier than the actress in KO (btw , have you seen the movie KO?? :D :D) She does not know that she makes heads turn (ok maybe not as much as a certain "NEAT") but she has her own count! And she smiles sweetly through all the fun and leg pulling. But Shilpa has a record of her own, She has girls swooning over her as well!! Another one who smiles sweetly, talks sweetly and is actually incapable of getting angry is Piyu. But this one knows how to have fun! Ask me! My bachelorette party was the most memorable EVER, thanks to the inquisitive one here! I was asked questions that made me blush and turn me in all the hues existing in the universe of pinks and blues and as usual, others joined the party and had fun. Like always of course!

We have created scenes in restaurants, have made people look at us while nodding their heads, rolling our eyes mouthing, "Women!!". Pradeep, the ex manager still does that! I am sure many in the Target office do that. They cannot really help it. These days, we work. Of course we do. But when we don't, we go to someone's place , make noise, drag her to the washroom or upstairs for coffee and make some more noise. What else do you expect when you have 6 young, healthy, women come together!!

We follow traditions ... of the group that is. After a serious discussion is over, it is mandatory for someone to ask, "Who?, What?". When there are "Girl discussions" there are parts to be played. First, Impart the knowledge. Mostly the married females in the gang are responsible for that. Second, someone keeps an eye at the men around. So that no one has the faintest idea about what we are talking about. Third, Swathi has to be explained everything ... again. (Yes! ragging her is too addictive to lose a chance even in my blog!) In between, there is laughter loud enough to shatter the foundation of the Target C2 buildings and of course there is a fourth step, a cross verification over the net. Everyone participates in the last step equally.

When I came to Bangalore from Delhi, I had come with no expectations. But I found more than what I would have expected. The army is a major part of it. Life in Target would have been dull without them. I would have been lunching with boring team members, like Piyu had to, before she pinged me one day and said, "Please call me for lunch when you guys go". Yes you come alone and you go alone in this world. You meet people. They come and go in your lives. The six of us are not joined by the hip. Eventually, we will go on our own ways. But when maybe after 15 years I will call any one of them, or all of them, we will just pick up from where we left. We will still disturb people, rag each other mercilessly, or just not say anything at all understanding that silences in true friendship does not always need to be filled with words.

Let there be lots of love in the world!!

Of Writing and Self Discipline

Apparently, I was supposed to write every single day in the month of February. Since the last post was on 4th of Feb, it is evident that unfortunately I did not stick to my commitment. Probably the biggest reason was exactly that. The toughest job in the world is to stick to your own commitment. We tend to go too easy on ourselves, don't we? Discipline is easy to teach. "Self Discipline" is the hardest to learn. I am not alone. How many of us decide to get up early, exercise or pick up some fruitful activity and make it a habit? And how many of us actually do it? Discontinuation of the the so called "New Year Resolutions" every single year of your adult life is proof enough of the fact that the hardest thing is to be tough on your own self. So what brought me back here? This!! Amitabh Bachchan's blog. This man is ...well ... he is not different from any one of us. He just has way too much control on himself. And this one simple trait puts him leaps and bounds ahead from lesser mortals like me.
During my engineering preparations I used to attend coaching under a man named Anil Aggarwal. One day, which seemed like any normal day when it began, Anil sir was in a furious mood. He was throwing questions at us and no body was able to answer them in all confidence. He had proved his point. We were not serious about our preparations. Frustrated, he did what all teachers do -- lectured us for one straight hour. NON STOP!! For some unknown reason, I heard that lecture with rapt attention. (Maybe I was too guilty for not answering his bouncer questions) He said something which never goes away from my memory. This was the time when 9/11 had freshly happened. He said , "That terrorist must have trained day in and day out for an operation he knew he was going to die." "This" , he said pointing towards the board, "you know will make your life. And you still cannot give it enough commitment?" True , right? Ladies and Gentlemen reading my blog, the point I want to make here is, this : It all lies within!! ALL we need to do is to "wake up the giant within" Tough? Very!! Achievable? quite!!
So I erase the commitment board and start fresh. I still can not make any promises. A simple technical reason being I do not have net at home as yet and with all the work in office, I might miss writing here. But try I will!!
People reading this can probably drop ideas on what I should write, in the comments below. :)

The Questionnaire

I found the following questions on highexistence.com and figured it would make an interesting blog post. So here are my answers to the following "thought provoking" questions. They really are thought provoking!!


If you could make a 30 second speech to the entire world, what would you say?

" I have wished for a better world. A world where people never cheat and always love, where anger dissipates in seconds and love lasts forever. I wish my wish comes true!"


If you were going to die at midnight, what would you be doing at 11:45pm?

Spending time with my family and the husband, laughing my guts out over something funny. I would want to die laughing.

How do you really KNOW anything for sure?

When you take a decision and the voice inside you says , "It feels right."

If you had all the money in the world but still had to have some kind of job, what would you choose to do?

Travel Journalist

When you’re 90 years old, what will matter most to you?

To be able to look back and say, "I lived a wonderful life."

What do you regret most so far in life?

Not exploring many options at a young age.

How can you apply the lesson you learned from that regret to your life TODAY?

Grabbing every opportunity NOW!

What would you change if you were told with 100% certainty that God does not exist? Or if you don’t believe in God, that he does exist?

I would not change anything.

If you lost everything tomorrow, whose arms would you want to run into? Does that person know how much they mean to you?

The husband, of course! And yes he does .. I hope he does :)


Do you fear death? If so, do you have a good reason?

Like any lesser mortal , I do fear death. Its probably just the fear of unknown.

What would you change if you knew you were NEVER going to die?

My retirement plans.

If you were at heaven’s gates, and God asked “you why should I let you in?”, what would you say?

"Don't let me in. Lets take a walk outside. We need to talk -- a lot"

When will you be good enough for you? Is there some breaking point where you will accept everything about yourself?

Maybe when I would be earning far more than what I am earning today, be happy and be busy.

What would people say about you at your funeral?

Finally she is quiet!

What small thing could you do to make someone’s day better?

Compliment /Thank him/her with the bottom of my heart.

(If you believe in god) would your relationship with god change it all if you were told with 100% certainty that he was actually a she?

I believe God resides within me. Technically, then, God for me is already a SHE!

What do you believe stands between you and complete happiness?

A sleeping sub conscious


This was fun. What would be your answers to the same questions? Do let me know!

Books!!

140 odd posts and I still have not written about my most favorite thing in the whole world! Books! How can that be? Thus, here it is! The love affair began when I must have just started learning reading. I was introduced to the world of comics -- not the high class Archie or even Tinkle Digest , mind you! The comics I started reading (maybe at the age of 7 or 8) were Raj Comics .. where there were murders, ghosts and all that works. I distinctly remember two comics. "Khooni Khanjar" , which was the part two of some other comic book I don't really remember, but it involved a boy getting murdered and his ghost residing in this khanjar which would fly across rooms, avenge his murder and actually talk. The other one was Pret Uncle (like bhoot-pret) which had a young girl being helped by a ghost obviously. Right! This was what I read when I was hardly growing up! Thank God, somehow, even miraculously, my seven year old mind did not get influenced by these blood thirsty stories.

It was only later that I moved on to Pinky, Raman, Chacha Choudhary and another fat aunty comic book whose name I am forgetting. It was probably in sixth standard that I was introduced to Enid Blyton. Undoubtedly the major reason why I started loving books. I also have to thank Supriya Ma'am for introducing me to Blyton. She was our English teacher and by far my most favorite teacher ever. I remember she fleetingly told us about the story of "The Faraway tree". Sixth standard was also the time we were allowed to issue books from the school library. I had already been intrigued by the Faraway Story and obviously the first book I rented was exactly that. I had a second source of books. BHEL senior club's library-- the place where I borrowed my first Mills and Boon. Yes!! 6th Standard! That's right! I had discovered my love for reading. I was reading in the bus, in free periods, at home, standing in the kitchen ... basically every where. Anyway, This started a string of events. Dad took membership at the British Library and then the world was my oyester. Soon, anyplace with books became my favorite place in the world. In Bhopal, it was the reading room at Senior club (Yup!! a reading room ---the luxury I tell you!! ) When I was living in Old Airport road, Oxford book store at Leela's was the best place in town because they had a Cha Bar and now, here in JP Nagar, there is a Crossword with an adjoining CCD! (Yayy!! God loves me!!)

Now one day, cleaning some of her old stuff, mom found a copy of Jane Eyre. I obviously HAD to read it and thus, Jane Eyre ended up being my favorite book ever. Soon, I realized books had become my sanctuary. I was reading when I was happy or when I was sad. I was reading when I was angry or when I didn't want to see anyone's face. It continues till now. Sadly now I don't have a membership in any library. Hence, I end up buying books and guiltlessly so. I have definitely moved on to reading better books. I even have a few classics in my kitty. But I still devour on chick lits and some other here and there books -- and I enjoy them all equally!.

I end by quoting my most favorite line about books -- "They are my world, both real and Imaginary"