All it takes is Visa Power !!

Came across this cartoon strip a few days ago. It's been doing the rounds for quite a while now, but is apt for anybody harboring dreams of studying in a US University and getting the all-so-important ticket to the land of dreams- the US Visa !! (As Jiggy says in Jaane Tu...- Sab ko nahin milta !!)

Well, I'm at Stage 14 currently... Phew! So much for dreams...

Making sense of you

I was watching this film- "In her Shoes", a few days ago. (Yeah yeah, I know, Cameron Diaz looks hot. Can we move on now!? :-P) Anyway, there's this one scene where Rose (Toni Collette) and Simon (Mark Feuerstein) are dining at a sushi joint and Simon asks Rose about the things that make sense of her as a person. Things without which her life wouldn't be complete.

That dialogue set my mind thinking. How often have we thought about the things that help us make sense of our life?! They are such ingrained parts of our lives that actually listing them out requires some thought; it's not something that is spontaneous.

Anyway, when I decided to do it, what was interesting was- the stuff I came up with was not what I'm necessarily the best at. (Of course, this is assuming that there are things I'm the best at, which is well...not quite true! ;-)) Anyway, these are things I just love deeply, regardless of the fact that there are people in the world who're a lot better than me at it. Infact, it is this very fact that drives me to be better at them. Which is why, in essence, they help me make sense of me!

Ok, now even I don't know if I've been able to express what I want to say correctly, so I'm just going to move on to this "list" I've been talking about for way too long...

1) Writing: Which is why I have a blog in the first place, so obviously tops my list. Again, I know I'm not the best writer. I've read blogs of so many random people who're absolutely brilliant at putting thoughts to words, it makes me jealous at times. But at the same time, I know I do possess moderate talent in this area (Oh, the modesty! :-D) And so, I hate it when I don't do a good job of a writing assignment. Like, when I can't complete a blogpost the way I wanted to, or when I can't edit a friend's SOP well enough, or when I write an article for a mag and it doesn't get published. When I was in school, I used to get disappointed if I didn't win an essay writing competition. Or when I got a 5.5 in AWM in my GRE, it was the greatest day of my life coz even though I had friends who'd got better scores than me, I'd topped them in the writing section. (This post was written then.)

2) Photography: Again, I am decently good in this area. But it actually bothers me when someone comments on how silly a photograph clicked by me turned out to be (even if it's true). Or when my roommate is able to capture a better frame than me. Or when I can't do that photography workshop I've been waiting for, just because the stupid photographer relocated his studio !! :-P

3) Films: Not going to say much about this, except that I don't mean "films" in the typical frivolous fashion imagined by most. The connection goes way deep and making it all come together is an ongoing quest.

4) When I was in COEP, it was Fervor- our department's annual techfest. Now while this may seem a stupid choice, my classmates and their friends know how much this event meant to me. It there's one single thing I'm proud of, in my engineering life- it's this. And though this is not a lifelong association, it gives me an amazing sort of happiness knowing that Fervor saw it's best and worst days when I was a part of it.

I guess that's it. That completes my list. It's a good exercise to practice actually; could even work as a blogtag. Question though- wouldn't it be so much better if the work we did found a place in this list!? Or is it stupid to even expect someone to say that operations research helps them make sense of their life?! Or, maybe that's not such a bad idea after all..

PS: If anyone does attempt this, do let me know what you came up with.. Would be interesting to know...

Being held at gunpoint right now..

Firstly, my apologies for not writing for this long. But believe me, the kinda month I've had, it's a wonder I even found time to write right now! But more on that later. I have midterms coming up and my dear friend P chooses this very moment to tag me. And added to that is the fact that the tag is a rather lovey-dovey type. Which is not my favourite topic to write on. Anyway, I have to complete the tag coz I stand to lose quite a bit if I don't. So with a sufficiently large amount of trepidation, I begin-

Q. What would you love the most in your lover?
Ans: His totally arbit sense of humour. His awesome smile. His ability to understand the little things that matter to me (big point)

Q. What would you do with a billion dollars?
Ans: Invest for sure. (I'm my dad's beti bhai !! And he's big on investments!) And build the most amazing farmhouse for my parents. And...donate a part of it.

Q. What is love?
Ans: I honestly don't know.

Q. Would you fall in love with your best friend?
Ans: According to me, that's the best kind of love. I belong to the Kuch Kuch Hota Hai line of thought.

Q. Which is more blessed, loving someone or being loved by someone?
And: I guess a bit of both is always good !!

Q. How long should you wait for someone you really love?
Ans: Till someone else comes along.. ;-)

Q. Is it possible to like someone without loving them?
Ans: Yes.

Q. Is it possible to love someone without liking them?
Ans: Yes.

Q. If your lover betrayed you, what will your reaction be?
Ans: Make him feel like the world's worst loser and then move on.

Q. If the person you secretly like is already attached, what would you do?
Ans: Keep safe distance.

Q. What takes you down the fastest?
Ans: Umm...the stairs!? Ok, I'm bored of these questions now.

Q. How would you see yourself in ten years’ time?
Ans: Slimmer hopefully. But that's more like in ten months. I don't believe in ten year plans yaar..

Q. What’s your fear?
Ans: Ummm...losing people I love. And not being able to fulfill my dreams.

Q. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is?
Ans: A lunatic. And I mean this. :-P

Q. Would you rather be single and rich or married but poor?
Ans: Depends. Ladka kaun hai!? ;-)

Q. What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?
Ans: Brush my teeth!

Q. Would you give all in a relationship?
Ans: Isn't that how it's supposed to be?

Q: If you fall in love with two people simultaneously, whom would you pick?
Ans: Haha...two people!? Pehle ek to sambhalne do !!

Q. Would you forgive and forget, no matter how horrible a thing that special someone has done?
Ans: Koi guarantee nahi.

Q. If you get to go back in time and fall in love all over again, would it still be with the same person?
Ans: Not applicable.

Q: Describe your ideal man.
Ans: Ok, is this for 3 marks or 5 marks!? :-P
Ummm..lets see. Crazy sense of humour. Awesome killer smile. Sports freak. Music freak. Good English. Film buff. Cook. Eclectic interests. Experimental. Committed to his work and family. Totally mad. Should get on my nerves. Subtly romantic. Should please please exist. :-D

Phew! That wasn't too bad. Anyway P, now that I'm done, give me back what you've taken! :-P

And hopefully, I'll come up with a real post real soon...

Film Review: Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na

I finally managed to see Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na two days ago and I must say- this is probably the first time my prediction about a movie has gone wrong! When the whole Love Story 2050 vs Jaane Tu battle was on, I'd thought Love Story would do a lot better than Jaane Tu, not because it would be a brilliant film but because it would at least have a great deal of special effects (after all, 50 crores usi pe toh kharch kiye !!) and suitable eye-candy (read: the Baweja boy and his red haired girlfriend!) And from the looks of it (pun totally intended), these things do matter in the success of a film, regardless of the story. (Remember Om Shanti Om!?) And I'd thought Jaane Tu would be a copy of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai with a predictable storyline and weird looking actors (this was before I heard Imran Khan give an interview- smart fella, I must say!)

Anyway, I haven't been able to muster the courage to watch Love Story yet and Jaane Tu is pretty much a predictable flick, but I love the way Abbas Tyrewala has managed to stay away from a lot of the cliches surrounding the "best friends falling in love" stereotype. His background as a scriptwriter definitely show in the dialogues. I specially loved the Bottoms-up-Coke and the whole Rathod from Ranjaur angle. This is probably the only film of Sohail Khan I've found tolerable!

I'm not going to go into a detailed film review coz there are obviously a lot of those doing the rounds. It's the story of a boy and girl who are best friends and are also secretly in love. Only catch- the whole world knows this except them! So basically the whole story revolves around how they find this out. One thing I don't get though- why do all girl-best-friends of guys have to be tomboys?! Is that coz a girly girl would be too attractive for a guy to be just friends with?! Also, why does a tomboy girl have to become a girly girl when she gets a boyfriend!? Like start wearing dresses and straighten the hair and all that jazz! (I take personal offence to the latter! ;-)) C'mon, guys aren't that shallow na!? Or are you!?

I liked the fact that none of the male characters were templates of those typisch stud-boys waiting to bash up the next person! Neither were the gals the crying-at-the-drop-of-a-hat variety! But again- since they've shown Aditi to be the kinda gal who doesn't think twice before slapping or swearing at a guy, then why doesn't she do the same to that dumbass boyfriend of hers when he slaps her!? After all, he's the philandering one! Or is that asking for too much from a pretty lass in a Bollywood film!?

Loved the airport sequence- very very Bollywood, but still manages to make you smile. And thank God they made Jai sing the Jaane Tu.. wala song himself- bad vocals notwithstanding. It's small things like these which make Jaane Tu a lot better than other films of its genre. Also liked the whole Boms-Rotlu thing. It's heartening to see that finally film makers are opening up to the idea of a partly balding, weepy, (albeit sweet) collegian falling in love with a (cute?) gal, without making a joke of it. Love seldom is of the knight-in-shining-armour variety na!

Brilliant supporting cast which actually contributes to the storyline. Ratna Pathak Shah, Naseeruddin Shah and Paresh Rawal are mind blowing as expected. Their characters have been etched out beautifully. I loved Meghna's character the best, but I'm going to reserve my thoughts on that for a later post.

And the whole boy-and-girl-can-never-be-just-friends bit?! The less I say on this, the better. Somehow the first thing that comes to my mind whenever I think of this topic is an evergreen dialogue from Maine Pyaar Kiya said by a raging Mohnish Behl to Mr. Khan. It goes thus-

Prem...ek ladka aur ladki kabhi dost nahi ho sakte! Yeh toh ek natak hai...natak! Dhadakte hue dilon ki bhadakti hui aag ko chupane ka...bujhane ka...!!

Not that I subscribe to the view, of course! Best friends falling in love is probably the most common and convenient of all reel love stories, but it definitely doesn't have to be the case every time in real life!

So what's your aim in life ?!

I was talking to a friend yesterday about how the whole placement scenario works in engineering colleges. It's weird, but the one thing Dale (a COEP professor, I think that's enough said!) was bang-on-target about is that the reason students want to get into a good engineering college is to get a good job! Somehow the moment you come to know you've cleared your third year, the one fear that strikes the mind of every engineering student is- placements! Anyway been there, done that. So I completely understand and sympathize with them! So, I was reliving my interview experience when I suddenly remembered this seemingly simple, but brillianto question this guy from Cognizant asked me- "What is your aim in life?"

Now in interviews and SOPs, you make up your answers. And more often than not, they consist of phrases you pick up from the company/university website spiced with stuff like "cutting edge research", "pioneers in the field of blah blah", "leaders of tomorrow", "perfect opportunity to hone my technical expertise" and what not! Obviously, coz these people decide whether you get the job or the university admit. But while I was telling her all this, I realized that I haven't even bothered to give a thought to its real answer all these years! (And I thought, at 23 I'd know it all!)

I remember when I was in school in Doha, my mom had a teacher friend who's daughter was about 5-6 years elder to me. I must've been around 13 then. So this daughter, all bright and smart, apparently told her mom that one day she'd have a flashy office on like the hundredth floor of a glass building from where it'd seem like the whole world was at her feet! See, that's so Shah Rukh Khan-isque !! Same illuminating moment came in his life when he declared to his friend, standing on Marine Drive (I think) that one day he'd own the city! And he so does! Lol.. Well, I have no idea whether that bright and smarty-pants daughter got her hundredth floor office or not, but the point is- she had the "guts" to make a statement like that, when she was all of 20! And that is what oh-so-impressed my mom, who got all sentimental that day! Made me seem like a fool coz I hadn't made any such promises; I was still battling with World War I statistics!

Then, I remember there was this one time my mom, sister and I were driving home from someplace, I'm guessing a fancy dinner coz that's when we're at out chattiest best! And I told my mom that one day I'd have a production company and I'd name it after her coz I was so proud of the way she'd raised me !! Yeah well, first reaction to that was shudder- why would I launch a production company!? And that was followed by laughter, fortunately not the ROTFLMAO kind coz she was driving! She thought I was drunk on food or something, making crazy statements like that! So there, my first attempt went down the drain! Well what do you know, I'll still have that production company one day; only it won't be named after her! So her loss, not mine !! :-P

Anyway, so ever since that fiasco, I stopped making such claims. 12th Boards happened, engineering happened and now further studying will happen. And I still don't have the answer to that billion dollar question- "Where do you see yourself ten years from now?!" (By the way, shouldn't that question be reserved for film stars; at least they'll have interesting answers!)

So, with a hint of apprehension, I attempt to answer that question today. And since I truly believe that success is a journey, not a destination (taaliyan !!), instead of a definitive target, I shall be listing out things I plan to accomplish before I'm 27. Why 27? Coz I don't think I can plan as far as ten years, a five year plan seems like a good start. (On an entirely different note- in five years I shall be 27!? When is that quarter life crisis supposed to hit!? Does it kill!?)

1. Have a job that will hopefully be related to industrial engineering and will be something I really care about. Now question for all working people- is it possible to have a job you care about or is that just a myth?!
2. Become a professional photographer.
3. Complete Dream Project 1. What the project is about is a secret. You'll anyway know when it's complete.
4. Have a detailed plan ready for the production company. Let's start with the name..
5. I do measure success to some extent with material possessions. So I'd feel really glad if I'd own my own house and car by then. I'm guessing if I accomplish 1 by the time I'm 25, then this wouldn't be an impossible dream.
6. Visit Egypt, Greece, Europe (at least Germany and France), Nepal and Australia. That's one for each year. And implied here, would be doing all the stuff that's typical of each place like scuba diving at the Reefs in Australia. This is in keeping with the "do everything at least once in life" motto! Hopefully one of the above will be one of those budget trips with random strangers, as I mentioned here.
7. Learn to speak German fluently. And manageable French and Spanish.
8. Learn how to play football, ekdam properly!
9. Visit an Indian Air Force base and hopefully co-pilot one of the jets. This is coz I'm crazy about the IAF (and NOT because of the airforce pilots in crew cuts; that's sooo typical... :-P) And if I were two centimeters taller (and a lot fitter), I'd be an IAF officer today!
10. Stay unmarried. Yeah well, you'll know why that's important once you meet my mom !!

Phew! There...that's my list! I don't know how many of these I'm going to be able to accomplish in the stipulated time frame. We'll continue this five years from today..

The Big C

Well, no, I'm not referring to Cancer or Commitment though they are Big C's too! What I'm talking about is COMMUNICATION !!!

You know, I have more than 400 friends on Orkut. (Well if you've lived in two countries, gone to two schools, a junior college and a professional college, you end up knowing those many people! Anyway that's not the point here, so shush! :-P) And if seventy percent of these people have been in relationships (you know, the boy-girl-in-love types) that didn't work out, at least fifty percent of them feel they ended because they "didn't communicate at the right time". (How do I know this? I didn't conduct a survey; there's a section in the profile called "From your past relationships you learnt:". I know from that. See, Orkutting can be useful too! ;-))

There are reports of how the divorce rate in India, especially in metros, is increasing at alarming rates. Most couples blame it on miscommunication.

I was reading this article in India Today on teenage suicides. Apparently 16 teenagers commit suicide every day in India and 82% of them say they're under stress because their parents talk to them only about their marks and career, while they want to talk to parents about themselves.

Until a few years ago, I always thought that it isn't necessary to communicate your feelings to your friends and family. Since they've been such an important part of your life for so long, they'll understand what you feel. But the past few months have made me realize that this is far from true. It is often the people we're closest to, who need to know how much we care about them. And I'm not just including romantic relationships here; even our parents and friends come in this bracket.

All through my school and college, I've had so many friends, some who I thought would last a lifetime. But more often than not, we drifted apart in due course of time. And I often blamed my pals for what happened. It was always something they did or something they said that strained relations. Until I realized that since I was the common factor in all those disagreements, surely something would be wrong with me too!

My sister, though, is very good at this communication thing. Since she stays away from home, all the sms-es she sends my mom and me are laced with "Love you" and "Miss you" and what not. If we don't talk to her for more than 24 hours, she gets restless. And one thing she keeps telling us is that she doesn't want us to get used to living without her, ever! At face value, all this seems a tad too sentimental. I used to always think- What the hell, she's away from home to study. You can't afford to be so emotional about silly issues. But the fact is, she doesn't say this coz she is miserable without us. She's managing fine enough. But these are just ways to tell your people what they mean to you. And going by how much my mom loves those sms-es, I can safely vouch for it's success.

We people get so bogged down by the rigmarole of life that we often give our family last priority. And while I agree with the philosophy that "paisa hai toh jahan hai", we should not forget what we're losing out on, in the process. Which is where the second aspect comes into picture- communication at the right time! You know how these couples claim that one of the golden rules of a successful marriage is never to sleep over a fight. I think this is one practice everyone should follow. In fact, don't even wait for a fight. Prevention is better than cure here. And while I'm not saying that you should scoot off to send balloons/chocolates/gifts/flowers to your loved ones every single day, it always pays to take some time off over the weekend to call up or email your pals. Write crap, but write. Like a few days ago, a friend from the US sent me a silly email about why I should be thankful I got a reject from Georgia Tech as most people in Gatech are gay! Well don't ask me what that means, this guy is a little loony! (Sorry Soumya! :-)) But I was laughing for ten minutes after that! See how simple it was?!

So, all I'm saying is- It's important to not take your family and friends for granted. And while it may seem trivial to some, taking time out to involve your people in the happenings of your life really goes a long way in building trust and love in a relationship. If someone like me can learn to do it, it must be child's play for sure!

And since this has been a rather serious article, here's a joke to lighten the mood -

When God made the first Negro, what did he say?
Oh shit! Yeh toh jal gaya !! :-D:-D
(I don't know why, but I love this joke! Just the idea of God saying it is h-i-l-a-r-i-o-u-s, no offence to Black people, I love you guys! Go Obama !! :-D)

"Me" defined

If any of you have been pondering over one of the greater questions of life- "Who am I, exactly!?"- then you should read about this interesting concept called the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

Now, I am generally wary of these multiple-choice personality-assessment questionnaires, having attempted wide varieties of them in Pune Times (!!) and the ever popular Tickle! Tickle, in fact, even has these "Ph.D certified" tests that help you determine how many karma points you accumulated in the past year and how bright your aura is, whatever that means! :-P.. But I must admit, I was amazed at the accuracy of the MBTI test. In fact it was one of those aha! moments for me, coz what the test reveals is stuff that you've known all along, but have never been able to put in words so succinctly. Besides, they put it all so nicely, it makes you think you're the greatest thing on Earth since sliced bread !! I took the test twice, just to see how reliable the results are, and they were 60% similar both the times. So I guess, that speaks for itself.

Excerpts from my report -

"......when it comes to their own areas of expertise - and INTJs can have several - they will be able to tell you almost immediately whether or not they can help you, and if so, how. INTJs know what they know, and perhaps still more importantly, they know what they don't know..." (That makes me feel like Socrates, though I think there are miles to go before I reach this stage! ;-))

"....produces an unusual independence of mind, freeing the INTJ from the constraints of authority, convention, or sentiment for its own sake"

"Anyone considered to be "slacking," including superiors, will lose their respect -- and will generally be made aware of this; INTJs have also been known to take it upon themselves to implement critical decisions without consulting their supervisors or co-workers." (Bull's eye, I admit!)

And this one takes the cake -

"Personal relationships, particularly romantic ones, can be the INTJ's Achilles heel. While they are capable of caring deeply for others (usually a select few), and are willing to spend a great deal of time and effort on a relationship, the knowledge and self-confidence that make them so successful in other areas can suddenly abandon or mislead them in interpersonal situations. This happens because many INTJs do not readily grasp social rituals; for instance, they tend to have little patience and less understanding of such things as small talk and flirtation (which most types consider half the fun of a relationship). To complicate matters, INTJs are usually extremely private people, and can often be naturally impassive as well, which makes them easy to misread and misunderstand. Perhaps the most fundamental problem, however, is that INTJs really want people to make sense. :-) This sometimes results in a peculiar naivete', only instead of expecting inexhaustible affection and empathy from a romantic relationship, the INTJ will expect inexhaustible reasonability and directness. "

"....the strongest INTJ assets in the interpersonal area are their intuitive abilities and their willingness to "work at" a relationship."

Anyway, true or not, apparently I share my personality type with Lance Armstrong and Richard Gere !!! Aur kya chahiye !! *stars in eyes*

Anyone interested can take the test here. And do let me know how bang-on-target your assessment turns out!

My Daddy Coolest !!

Yeah well, as the title suggests, this post is dedicated to my Dad. Not coz today's his birthday or coz he did something great today. Even it were a special occassion, it would be very uncharacteristic of me to write a post about him because as I mentioned earlier, I'm a private person and besides, my dad and I aren't the very vocal-with-our-feelings kinda people.

Infact, my dad and I haven't done any of the things people usually associate with "dads". We haven't ever discussed my career. When I decided to take up engineering, he didn't ask me the quintessential "Why?" question even once, though he was a mechanical engineer himself. Nor have we ever discussed what I plan to do ahead. When I started my MS applications, he had no idea of the universities I was applying to. But the most amazing thing is, I'm glad he's not like that! See, I get enough of those life-shaping discussions from my mom so I am more than thankful about not getting them from dad !! My mom was always in awe of her dad. She's told me a million times that though they had really enlightening talks together, she always considered his words to be the pather ki lakeer. It was never that way with dad and me. I respect him and all obviously, but in the normal way one respects ones' parents. We aren't back-slapping buddies or anything but I definitely don't get intimidated by him !!

Anyway, since this post is for him, and both of us share a weird fondness for list-making and bulleted info, I'm going to list out why I think he's the coolest dad in the world -

• He knows everything about Bollywood. The new movies, the link-ups, gossip, what happened on which film's set...all such kind of crap. Which is rather cool considering not many 51 year old men are really interested in that kind of stuff !! So, being crazy about Bollywood myself, most of the "discussions" we have at home are on the latest B-scoop. And considering the fact that the Mumbai newspapers print a lot more of this info than the Pune editions, I sure get a hell lot of updates from him!
• He gets all the latest flicks a day after their release! A movie releases on a Friday and it's on his pendrive on Saturday! Some guy in their office is heavily into piracy apparently. Ok, so I'm not proud of it, but the advantage is- if there's a particular movie I really want to see, but it's not worth spending even 50 bucks in a theatre, then this works out perfect! I'm really waiting for him to get Tashan..
• Speaking of theatres, he's the only member of my family who doesn't mind watching a movie from the first row. And my years in COEP have made it sort of a tradition to buy only the cheapest seats available.
• We both are cricket crazy people. So if there's a match going on over a weekend, it's like a picnic for us. My mom watches cricket only if it's an India-Pak match or if India is playing the final of a series like the World Cup (which is rarer than a blue moon !! :-P). That's why I see IPL matches only on Saturdays and Sundays! Only problem though is that he supports Mumbai Indians (damn those people for winning yesterday !! :-P) while I support the Knight Riders !!
• He knows all about politics, so he's my one-stop encyclopedia for all the crap that goes on between BJP, Congress, Bush, Obama, Clinton blah blah..
• He's as technology and gadget crazy as I am (though I wouldn't say the same for techno-savvy !! ;-)) So whenever we buy any electronic items, they have to be the absolute latest in the market. He'd rather not buy them than buy a cheaper, older version.
• He's actually proud of my collection of books and so in effect, appreciates my reading habit. My mom also likes "story-books" (yup, that's what she calls my grown-up bhandars of knowledge, how insulting na!) but she considers reading them to be a waste of time and money! Maha-paap !!!
• He's totally cool with us drinking! He doesn't go all "He bhagwan, my daughter's gone haywire, ab mera hya hoga !!" My sister had her first beer with him when she was 18.. Yup, he abhors laws too !! :-) (Please note: This does not mean that we take undue advantage and go on drinking binges. We're good girls and know our limits. Seriously.)
• One thing I've inherited from him apart from my weird hair, is a knack for sarcasm. (Well, it may not show on the blog but when I bring it on, it's really biting crazy!) So we have these spontaneous duels every weekend where we're allowed to say whatever we want to cut each other and no one takes it very seriously. And believe me, it is so amazing to have a parent who doesn't expect you to be too respectful of him every waking moment and can take a joke on him light-heartedly!
• My dad truly understands my need to be in a creative field too, in addition having a "stable job". And it's such a relief to know that!

Anyway, I guess I'm going to stop now, though I can think of a lottt of other reasons. I guess the main reason I wrote this post is coz I was feeling kinda guilty about not having written about him on my blog earlier. I've mentioned my mom a lot of times. So this was to take that guilt away though I know he's never going to read this coz he doesn't have my blog address and well, I don't intend to give it to him in the near future !! Anyway, I'm not going to end with the maha-senti "I love you, Dad", coz as I said, we're not very expressive people. So all I want to say is- "Dad, please don't change ok!" :-)

Cheers! *clink*

Random tag about random things

I've been seeing this tag do rounds of the blogosphere for quite a while now, where you have to list out ten random things about yourself or something like that! Anyway, the few posts I've been working on just aren't turning out right, so I thought I might as well attempt it... (As a side note, somehow all the tags I write are a result of boredom and incomplete posts !!)

Anyway, so here goes -

• I like reading the entire newspaper/magazine in one sitting and hate being disturbed while I'm reading. And we get two newspapers at home and subscribe to 5 magazines (JAM, Readers Digest, India Today, Good Housekeeping and Health!) My ideal sunday morning is sitting with the paper for one hour straight, with no telephone calls and other distractions. Really makes my day! Newspaper reading also is a major stress buster for me. Like if I'm getting nervous before an exam, the best thing to do is read the newspaper. Somehow calms me down.
• I'm very possessive about my books collection. It's not very exhaustive or anything, but I love each of my books to bits. I lend them only to people I totally trust.
• I'm a complete morning person. The only time I really enjoy staying up late is during a party or when I'm chatting with old friends on the Net. On most days, I'm up by 6 am and get very irritated even if I oversleep till 6:30-7. That's "late" for me !!
• I have a thing for registrations numbers of vehicles. The number plate is the first thing I look at when I see a vehicle (unless it's a Merc or an H3; that's when I ogle at the vehicle first and then look at it's number plate! ;-)) and it happens involuntarily. So I know the vehicle numbers of all my friends, relatives, people of my society and some random vehicles I've seen around in Aundh area. About 4 years ago, I saw an unknown guy drive my friend's Matiz- recognized it was his from the number plate obviously. He was studying in the UK then, so I told him about it and it turned out that his parents had sold it to someone else just a day back and hadn't told him about it yet !!
• I also have thing for remembering people's birthdays (without reminders on cellphones!) I even remember the birthdays of most of my schoolmates, though I haven't even spoken to some of them since we left school 7 years ago! Somehow can't get the dates out of my head !! :-)
• I hate clutter. I'm not much of a cleanliness freak a la Monica, though I do have an Annual Room-Cleaning session (I just had this year's session over the weekend, but more on that later) The point is- I don't mind an untidy room, but I don't like things strewn about the place. I'd rather have them stacked up in one corner until I find the time to clean it up.
• I own 3 pairs of shoes- my gym shoes, my floaters for college and a pair of sandals with Indian wear. I'm not too crazy about bags, jewellery, shopping and gossip too. Nor do I freak out at the sight of lizards, cockroaches and other unidentified flying and crawling objects. Therefore, I hate it if people generalize statements about "girls".
• I hate people who are cruel to animals. I'm vegetarian coz I saw a butcher cut meat once and I couldn't sleep for 2 nights after that! I don't mind it if people don't like animals, its a personal choice; but atleast don't hurt them. Infact there have been many occasions when I've lectured random kids on roads who think it's funny to throw stones at stray dogs and laugh about it with their pals!
• I have this weird desire to try everything once. And I mean it literally. This pertains to music, food, languages, skills, places... Like this one time, I saw an advert for coffee painting classes in the newspaper and I wanted to attend them. And I don't even know what coffee painting is !!
• One thing I really really want to do is scoot off on a budget trip to some godforsaken place with complete strangers! I hope that happens in the next two years...

Go Knight Riders !!!

The million dollar question of the year is- Will IPL work?! People are talking about it all over, my dad and I have been discussing it for the past month...it's created a frenzy even before it began! Anyway here's why I think IPL will work this year- Pure beginner's luck! See, the media hype over the event has crossed all boundaries- the auction, the filmstars/industrialists/other party people (That's what you call Vijay Mallya right!? ;-)) bidding for players, which players end up together, the whole speculation about whether the event will even see the light of day etc etc... has definitely managed to grab more than the attention of the Indian audience. The adventurous ones are looking forward to it; the sceptics are waiting for the whole thing to fall on it's face so that their bhavishyavani can be proved right...but either way, people are going to watch the matches!

Some will buy tickets because for them, live cricket is the real thing, hardly matters whether its India vs Pakistan or Chennai vs Mohali !! Added attraction, of course, is the Bollywood quotient! Another section of viewers will be curious to know how many people land up at the stadium, so they'll go to see that. Same goes for the TV audience! And it's a T-20 format, so you blink and it's over...doesn't disrupt the sanity of the house too !!

So basically, the team owners and sponsors earn their money, the cricketers get their money, the viewers get to see innovative cricket...everyone's happy! Whether the trend will continue next year- now that's something that can't be predicted right now !! So enjoy it while it lasts...

Anyway, I'm supporting the Kolkata Knight Riders !! They're easily the best team- Sourav Ganguly, Ricky Ponting, Murali Karthik, Chris Gayle, Ishant Sharma...and of course Shah Rukh Khan...aur kya chahiye !! :-D

We're too hot,

We're too cool,

We are the King's Men,

We rule !!!

Korbo Lorbo Jeetbo reeeee...!!!

Check out this ad too. SRK is like the marketing God !! GO KOLKATA !! I'm lovin' it already !!! :-D:-D

So...which team are you rooting for ?!

Asli swaad zindagi ka !!

This is probably the worst phase of the advertising industry !! Most of the ads we see nowadays are downright stupid (seen the ones for Axe deo, perfume etc? Yuck !!) and somehow today's advertising "gurus" have forgotten have forgotten that an ad sells a product- not a celeb !!

Anyway, this is probably one of my all time favourite ads !! Came across this on a friend's profile and it truly brought back fond memories of some really good (and may I add, simpler!) times !! :-) No jazz, no snazzy shots, no eardrum-bursting music and thankfully no stars! Just a yummy product and an easy concept- Eat Cadbury, enjoy life !! :-)

And the girl's impromptu jig when her guy makes a century...priceless !! :-)

Naam toh suna hoga ?!?!

I read this post today, on Rashmi Bansal's awesome blog. It's this analysis on common Indian names for girls and boys. Very interesting insight, though some of the Sanskrit names are really freaky! Sample this: Mrigankshekhar, Joushura and Arkoprabha! Yikes !!

I, for one, feel very strongly about parents giving their children nice names. I know it may not be a big deal to some, but a name is like your identity for the rest of your life! I don't know how many of you have noticed, but a person with a nice-sounding or unusual name always manages to grab attention of the listener a lot easier than a person with a run-of-the-mill name. And given the importance of "first impressions" these days, a nice name is the work half-done, right ?!

Like this incident that happened when I visited IIT, Bombay last week. I was on the train from Kanjurmarg to Dadar to catch a bus back home. And there was this lady with her newborn kid (his first travel by train it seems, taaliyaan !!) and her mother-in-law. They were playing with him, trying to keep him occupied n all....and all of a sudden, the MIL takes him in her arms and says, "Kaalicharan...arre o Kaalicharan! Train mein baitha hai mera bachcha....!!" Now I know that Kaalicharan is probably the name of a Hindu God and so they've named him that, and I respect their sentiments. But imagine what a complex that kid will grow up with, with a name like that in 21st century India! Realistically speaking, it's not very fair to the kid, right?! Gogol Ganguly type crisis all over again!

I keep telling my parents that one thing I'm glad they gave me (apart from the usual moral studies on respect for elders, honesty blah blah...) is a good name! It may sound vain, but it's true.. (Also, I inherited the weirdest hair in the world from my dad's side, and there's not a week I don't crib about it. So this, kind of, has a mollifying effect! Makes him feel less guilty! ;-)) Suparna is a name that's not very common in Maharashtra and neighbouring areas (more of a Bengali name apparently!) so I get a lot of the "Hey, nice name!" from strangers and that does make me feel uber-cool...!! ;-) Besides, all my friends have like the most boring names in the world (sorry people, but it's true! :-P) so that's like icing on the cake!

So, lesson to all parents: Give your children good names, please. Very important issue.

P.S.1- I'm named after a character on a daily soap that used to run on DD around the time I was born! There was apparently this lawyer lady called Suparna on the show, who had a really strong and powerful persona. My mom loved her so much that she decided to name me after her!
There's something about me I'm sure you don't care about !! :-P

P.S.2- Two names I really love are Aditya and Niret. And though Rashmi says Aditya is the most common name among boys these days, I don't have any friends called Aditya! (Only acquaintances but I can't take the liberty of calling them "Adi" na !! Sob! :-( Lol.. That's such a girly thing to write !!)
I have no idea what Niret means, just love the sound of the name!
That's another bit of useless trivia about me for you !! Enjoy !!

Mush on the net !!

I'm not a very big fan of publicizing my personal (read: love) life- whether in public or on the net! I find it pretty incredible how couples are so upbeat about the idea of putting up little details about their "better"-half or their marriage on their blogs or personal websites. I'm not saying it's wrong or whatever; I guess it's just about me being a kinda private person, that's all.

But I came across this and this on the blog of this girl I know through a common friend. Now, though I don't think I would ever write similar posts on my blog, reading them even made me go awwwww...... :-)

Note to all boyfriends: Girls like having a "proposal story", so even if you'll have been seeing each other for ten years, make it a point to formally "propose" to your girl before taking the big step !! She's obviously going to say yes, so you don't have to get all jittery and anxious about it.. You may call it the western influence or whatever..but it's important to us! Gives us a nice story to tell the children and grandchildren and well...makes you look kinda cool too !! ;-)

Found this cartoon strip on the net - guys would probably be able to identify with this! ;-) Cheers !!

Film Review: U, Me Aur Hum

I have a great deal of respect for first time film directors. So I make it a point to definitely watch their films (in the theatre) in the first week itself. And of course, when the film is made by someone like Ajay Devgan, the anticipation is even more, and justifiably so!

But unfortunately, the film- though strong in its conception- didn't quite live up to my expectations. I expected the film to have a tried and tested template- you know- boy meets girl, something goes wrong, but they get back together, marry, again something terrible happens but they tide over it and well...live happily ever after! This fact in itself was surprising, considering romance isn't exactly what Ajay Devgan is known for, in the film industry. But though the start is pretty typical (especially the title montage with love quotes amidst white clouds!), the story takes on a brilliant turn after the initial mush is done with. Surprisingly, the brilliant Kajol and Ajay Devgan pairing doesn't quite make the mark this time. Their earlier films together- who can forget the frothy Pyaar to hona hi tha and the sensitive Dil kya kare- had a freshness and genuineness to them that made them stand out. But somehow, the whole part where Dr. Ajay, a psychiatrist meeting Piya, a waitress on a cruiseline, falling in love with her "at first sight" (phew!) and trying to charm his way to her heart, comes out a tad too artificial. The sequences are cliched (salsa and liqueur chocolates.....really!?) and Kajol and Ajay look too comfortable with each other to seem like first-time lovers! This is probably why the first half doesn't make an impact!

The story does pick up a lot in the second lot- that's when you actually have a "story" to the film actually! The whole Alzheimer's issue and what each of the characters go through while dealing with it has been brought out brilliantly! That's the sort of stuff you expect from a veteran actor, who's done more than his share of meaningful cinema. There's limited yelling, screaming and depression and the film does progress through all of that to successfully bring out its point- that is to convey the true meaning of togetherness and commitment. But again, one thing I didn't like about this part is the supremely detailed visuals. I distinctly remember this scene where it's raining and Kajol loses her way home and can't remember her address etc. There's this part where the camera focuses on the raindrop falling off her eyelashes as she blinks! And there's this other part where we have orange brain cells trying to transmit some information and slowly turning a dull grey (obviously decaying coz of the disease) I mean, what is that about?! The way I see it- if you have a complicated and layered storyline, keep the visuals simple so that it doesn't get too garish on screen! Remember TZP?! Special effects are used to add charm to otherwise cocky stories- like in Dhoom 2 !!

One thing I really liked about the movie though- are the supporting characters. Brilliant performances by Sumeet Raghavan and Divya Dutta- as expected, of course. Isha Shervani and Karan Khanna don't do much, except add a few laughs here and there! What's different in this film is that the supporting characters don't waltz in every 15 minutes just to sing-n-dance or drink vodkas! They actually "support" the main characters- like extended family. And since there are no sasu-mas and pitajis in this film, these friends provide the love, support and encouragement to the main couple when the need arises. This is the kind of importance not given very often to the supporting star cast. As a director, Ajay Devgan has really scored brownie points here!

Songs are nice, nothing that lingers on in our minds! All in all, it's a film worth a watch- at least for its second half. I think after this film, no one will be questioning Ajay Devgan's competence in handling love stories. But one suggestion- maybe everyone in Bollywood should steer clear of the "love at first sight" concept yaar. It was great when Yash Raj Films did it but it's become a bit too commonplace now and well, everyone knows that doesn't work! ;-)

(Read an awesome review of the film here)

Wondering..

What is the best way to make a decision or choose between two options laid out in front of you, if you don't know which of the two is best for you?!

Like consider a situation where you have two options- O1 and O2 -

O1 is what people term as a "safe bet". It's something that's been done before, will fetch immediate returns and guarentees (instant) success to a large extent. It's also something you know you will be pretty good at and will make you happy.

Whereas O2 is not exactly what is termed conventional, it would bring success- but only in the long run. It is something you think you're good at, but you're not sure coz you've never really given it your best shot yet. But it's something that'll make you happier, much happier !!

So now how do you decide what to go for?! Either you have the gumption to take a decision and stick to it, no matter the consequences- which would be the best way of course, but only in an ideal world! What if you don't have the capacity or the maturity to choose? Another option, in this case, is to leave it to nature/fate/God right.. The whole The Alchemist type mindset.

"When you want something - the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it."

So you go for O1 and if that works out, you take it as a sign and accept that it was the right option for you. If that doesn't work out, obviously O2 is the way to go! Simple enough. But here's the catch. What if somewhere in the deep, dusty corners of your heart, you want to choose O2 coz you know that's the way to go. (Inner voice and all that...) But you still choose O1, hoping that it won't work out and O2 would automatically fall open for you. But O1 works !! And it works better than you expected it would !!

Then what do you do? Do you take that as a sign and accept that O1 is actually right?!

Don't you owe it to yourself to give O2 a shot too ?!

Guess it takes courage to not just take a decision, but also to decide how to take that decision eh !!

Knot ready yet !!

By some strange coincidence, a lot of people I know have got/are getting married in the period from May '07 to July '08- at least 20 people until now and another 15-20 people due in the coming few months. (Please note that for me, being engaged is pretty much equivalent to getting married; hence I include both the sets of people in the same category!) Now though I always used to be (pleasantly) surprised as each wedding invitation kept landing in my inbox, it never bothered me that much coz all were people who were at least 2-3 years elder to me, if not more.

Anyway, cut to about a week ago. I'm talking to one of my best friends- Z, on the phone. We were discussing some teaching assignment she's doing and that is the moment she chooses to tell me that her parents are "looking" for a boy for her and she'll probably be married in the next one year! Now, that freaked me out for three reasons :-

1. I'm petrified of marriage. No, I'm serious. Love and relationships is ok, but marriage is a very different ball game man...impossible to think about it right now!
2. She's my age. Actually, she's 35 days younger than me.
3. She seemed cool about it! I kept yelling and screaming on the phone (which isn't something I do very often, it's a skill only Gauri has!), while she was like, "Yeah! So...just thought I should tell you. My parents think it's the right time!" :-0:-0

See, I know of girls who turn 21 and all of a sudden, the only thing they want to do in life is- get married. I'm not judging them or anything. They're just people who're happier when they're running a home and managing a family. That's a hard job too. But Z is not like that. I know she needs a great career as much as she wants all of the other stuff. Sure, people say a marriage doesn't mean the end of a career, but it surely delays the process a bit right!?

I also know that Z's parents are very cool people, so I never thought they'd be the type who'd get unduly tensed about things like settling down and all. But I guess, on some level, parents of girls are all of the same kind. (Damn!!) I actually had an argument with my mom on the same issue once, when I told her that I felt she was treating me like a to-do list- you don't feel satisfied unless you tick off one of the activities on that list each year!

Anyway not much point to this post, except that- Z, I don't know if you read my blog. But if you do, I'm not dissuading you from going for it. But only if you feel it's the right thing to do! Also, make sure I'm in India for the big day ok! :-) And secondly, parents- please stop worrying about your girls! Don't try to force them down a path when they're (k)not ready yet !!

Peace.

My future lies in a nadi !!

Ok, so not exactly that kinda nadi ! :-)

People who've read this blog from the start know of my mom's obsession with the stars. I had another experience in the same domain, a few days ago. I don't know how many of you are aware of this branch(?) of fortune-telling called "Nadi Astrology". The first time I heard of it was on this show on Tamil Nadu on Discovery. It looked pretty simple then, and the anchor didn't quite explain the whole thing well enough. Anyway turns out, my mom's sister's sister-in-law (!!) knows someone who does Nadi-reading right here in Pune. So obviously, my mom had to pay homage to this great art. After her visit, she was so impressed with it that she dragged me along to the revered centre last week. I found the whole experience rather interesting, so I'm going to cut the sarcasm now and tell you what it's all about -

For background information on Nadi astrology, check out this link. Quoting from here -

"Nadi is an ancient astrology, which has been composed by great Maharishis (sages) of India in the past using their spiritual powers. The sages recorded these predictions for every individual for the betterment of humanity and to safeguard dharma (righteousness). These sages predicted the characteristics, family history, as well as the careers of innumerable individuals contain in several thousand volumes, each containing around a hundred predictions. The Rishis, who dictated those Nadis, were gifted with such a remarkable foresight that they accurately foretold the entire future of all mankind."

And here's what happens when you visit a Nadi reader -

First you're asked to give your thumb impression on a blank piece of paper, along with your date and time of birth. No name or any other info to be given then. This guy then takes the paper inside (to the bank of palm leaf bundles, I presume- which is called the Nadi) where one of the Nadi readers matches your thumb impression to the corresponding bundle. It's not always that you get your match though. My mom got her's immediately, whereas I was asked to come back in a week. (They got the correct set from Tanjore, which is like the headquarters) This is your first step.

Next, the reader asks you a number of questions about your name, parents' name, siblings' names, other biographical info, events of the past etc. Now here's the interesting bit. He's actually reading out this info from the leaf- you're not asked all of it directly. And you're just supposed to answer with a yes/no! This is to verify which leaf from the bundle belongs to you. What shocked me the most about this part was- how, on earth, does this guy know every single detail about all the significant events of my past!? And when I say "every single detail", I mean it! There was actually a point where he asked my mom to go out of the room coz he was going to talk about stuff he wasn't sure my mom would or should know! (Thank God he had the sense to do that!) I mean...to believe that all of this was actually written down by some Maharashi centuries ago, is like being told that- "dude, you're the actor, the film's already been scripted and no matter how much you object, it can't be changed coz the director's dead!" It's like taking Shakespeare a little too literally..!! But it's all there, written in some weird Tamil script, so you can't even not believe it! Anyway once this is done, you're through with step two.

Finally, he starts the future predictions. And he really goes to the nitty-gritties of it all! Like he told me about some accident I was going to have when I was 42 and hell, I even know the age at which I'm going to die! (Nah don't worry, I live long enough! :-P) He records all of this on a cassette and you're supposed to take it home with you so you can listen to your life chronology over n over again!

(Read the detailed procedure here.)

I was pretty blown over by the entire experience. But the fact is- though it may make you believe that your life is indeed, pre-ordained, not everything of what he reads out about your past from your leaf is true. So it's not like all of what he says about your future is going to happen. Also, I know of a girl who took her two German friends along for a reading and they were told their leaves aren't there, even in Tanjore. So I don't know if the Maharashis limited their writings only to people destined to be born in India! I wanted to ask my reader this, but thought it would be too rude to cross-question him! And lastly, from what I gathered, he predicts the future on the basis of what's written on the Nadi leaf and a horoscope he makes using your time of birth n all.. So once again, the whole arguement of- "what if my time of birth is wrong; then the horoscope doesn't make any sense!"- resurfaces. Ultimately I guess, it's all about belief. I, for one, don't like any form of fortune-telling, science n all notwithstanding, coz I believe that the beauty of life is in its unpredictability. (Ahh the golden words! :-P) I know of people who've not even bothered to make a horoscope and believe me, they're doing fine! Besides, I don't want to live knowing that I'm going to be faced with a huge crisis in my 27th year! If some hardships/obstacles do come your way, as they obviously will, I think God/Nature has made humans strong enough to fight them. It's just up to you now, to decide whether you derive strength from within yourself/God or take the help of some pujas/lucky charms!

P.S.- Anyone wanting to visit this centre- it's in Kothrud near Vanaz. Leave me a message, I'll give you the contact number.

Tryst with the kitchen

I've always taken some sort of perverse pride in the fact that I suck at cooking! In the sense, I not only was absolutely inept in making the stuff deemed "simple" by my mom like an egg omlette, but I couldn't even distinguish between the different dals (you know...moong, udad and the like..) and different masalas! It never bothered me, of course. For me, cooking was never one of those skills a person needed to show atleast minimal expertise in. Infact it's a standing joke in my family that a guy fit enough to be my life partner would need one of these qualifications- he should either be a good cook; or should be rich enough to afford one !!

I think my hatred for cooking was because my first two attempts at it failed miserably. The first time was when my sister and I decided to surprise my parents on their wedding anniversary by making them pinwheel sandwiches! (I was around 12 then; I had simple tastes :-P) We were supposed to mix cream cheese and tomato ketchup, add salt and pepper, apply it on the bread slices and roll them up. Simple enough, eh?! Well, everything that could possibly go wrong, did. The cream cheese and ketchup mix wasn't smooth enough, I added too much salt and pepper and the bread got all soggy when the mix was applied on it, so it didn't even roll up properly! We ultimately ended up eating the mixture without the bread so as not to waste it, and bought a cake for our parents! So basically, when you mess up something as simple as pinwheel sandwiches, it doesn't do much to bolster your confidence! Added to that is the fact that my mom always says that I look my awkward best when I'm in the kitchen! The icing on the cake was when I messed up Maggi noodles! Huh! Well, over time I did manage to make a decent omlette, so I could atleast rake up something to eat in case of an emergency.

The past week has been a radical change though. I think it all started when the admits count reached four. I think my mom had been waiting for this very opportunity all this while. I knew it was coming of course; I didn't want to be thrown out by my room-mates in foreign land coz I didn't know how to cook! So now I proudly declare that the jinx is over and I can make edible food, fit enough to be consumed by fellow graduate students! :-D:-D Of course, I still hate cooking and I'm bored of it in just a week but atleast I know that I won't go hungry now. And I admit, it's pretty easy to make the simple Indian stuff, as long as you get a judgement of the proportions of the salt, sugar and the masalas. Besides, it does feel good to sometimes cook for your people- even if it's a simple gobi ki sabzi! The best part was when my dad told my mom ki kabhi socha nahi tha ki kisi din apni beti ke haath ka bana khana bhi kha sakenge! Lol.. :-D

Current Mindset

Ok... so I suck at poetry n all....couldn't compose a couplet even if I was held at gunpoint !! But this song by Wendy Matthews pretty much sums up my current mood...

The Day You Went Away- By Wendy Matthews

Hey, does it ever make you wonder

what's on my mind

I, I was only ever running to your side

I never cried, I just watched my life go by

It's just a pack of lies,

'cause you're leaving me behind

Why, after this long is there nothing

I'll keep, oh, I can shout

you'll pretend you're falling asleep

I live a lie, yeah, believing that you're mine

It's just a waste of time

'cause you're leaving me behind

Hey, there's not a cloud in the sky

It's as blue as your goodbye

and I thought it would rain

on a day like today

Hey, there's not a cloud in sight

it's as blue as your blue goodbye

and I thought it would rain

the day you went away

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

P.S.- Before your imaginative mind goes wild conjuring up some heartbreak crap, I state, for the record, that there's nothing of the sort.. Lol.. Enjoy !! :-)