Arrange marriage: Answer these questions first...

Are you thinking of going the arrange marriage way??

Are you wondering what will the groom/his family ask you??

Are you not so happy with your answers given to prospective groom??

I present a crash course in answering those tricky psychoanalytical questions. Issued in general interest of all single girls trying to find guys via the arranged by parents route.

Before the questionnaire, some symbols that I would be using and there interpretations:

(G) : This is typically asked by the prospective groom

(F) : This is typically asked by the family

Question 1: Can you cook? (G) & (F)

Answer: Even if you don't know cooking, say yes. Cooking is not rocket science and even if it is, nobody is going to test you on this before marriage.

Question 2: How much do you earn? (F)

Answer: This is for all those girls who could manage to survive on their own. And the guy's family is actually trying to compare your worth with their son's worth.

Well, here you should tell the truth and disclose your CTC and gross monthly income along with the tax you have to pay. Hike the package by including loan amount and superannuation.

Question 3: Do you drink? (G)

Answer: No one from the family will ask this question as they all think that their son is a teetotaller. This will be asked by the guy. Now here lies a little trick. You should be proactive enough to ask this from him first. If the guy says yes, then you should say that you have tasted it but you don't really drink (even if you can't sleep without two shots of whisky). And if the guy says NO, then girl you are not even supposed to know how to spell alcohol leave aside knowing the names of brands and types of alcohol available.

Question 4: Did you ever have a boy friend? (G)

Answer: Hmmmm...this question can have two inferences:

A) The guy wants to indirectly know whether you are virgin or not.

B) The guy wants to test your interpersonal skills. For some of them its really difficult to digest that you have been absolutely single throughout your life.

And the only way out of this question is that dodge the question. Don't answer it directly in the first meeting. If things go well, you can be honest later on.

Question 5: Whom are you closest in the family? (G)

Answer: I am not able to understand why guys ask this question. I don't know about others but at least I have been asked this several times. No short cut answer to this one. Say the truth or whatever you want to.

Question 6: What are your future plans? (F) & (G)

Answer: Here I am referring to the career aspirations only. The family wants to know if the girl is way too ambitious and might forget to take care (read cook food) of their son post marriage. The guy sometimes wants to know the same and sometimes genuinely wants to know your career interests. Well this is my favourite question. There are three scenarios to it:

A) If this is asked by the family, give them a typical MBA style answer by beating around the bush and never letting them know your real ambitions. It will work.

B) If this is asked by the guy in the first meeting and within the first 15 minutes of meeting, tell him that you are super ambitious person (even if you are not) and all you want to do in your life is to focus on your work. This is because the guy is not worth you. He wants a maid and not a companion.

C) If the guy asks this to you in third or fourth discussion, tell him about your actual plans coz now he is really interested to know more about you. Here the things might turn to a finalisation stage if the frequencies match.

Question 7: Are you staying in a PG? (F) & (G)

Answer: The family wants to ask if you are way too independent (if you are staying in a rented apartment) or you are tamed. And the guy wants to know whether there are guys also staying with you. Tell the truth only if you are not staying with guys.

Question 8: What do you do in free time? (G)

Answer: This is primarily asked by the guy but sometimes somebody from the family also might ask. The family would want to know whether you are a party animal and stay out late in the night. The guy wants to know if you like watching those saas bahu serials or not.

If family asks, tell them you like to read books or watch a movie with friends. Don't say cooking even its true coz it creates suspicion as its too good to be true.

If the guy asks, tell him about the movie part, add shopping and watching cricket to it. Mentioning cricket will give you double credit. But be smart enough to change the topic if the guy gets in to details.

Question 9: What is your height? (F) & (G)

Answer: This question has special relevance in Indian context. I really don't understand the fascination of tall guy's parents with height. Even if you have mentioned the height before, they will still ask you the height again. And in some cases they might ask you to remove your sandals and disclose your actual height as if this the only thing which will decide your fate and you will feel as if you have smuggled something and have been hiding it. If they just ask you, tell them your actual height. If they ask you to remove your sandals, give them a bad look and show them your real height. You can also choose to do otherwise, absolutely accepted.

I hope this will help somebody.

Cheers,

SM

P.S. I am going to marry a guy who doesn't care about all this crap...:)

tan (10) tada (10) tan(10)

Dint get the title..well this is...wait for it...my birthday in the year 2010....yes you got it right...my next birthday is on 10-10-10. How awesome is this!!!

I am always excited about my birthday but this one is special.. isn't it??? Well, Ok, I would get 27 years old which feels more closer to 30 than 25, which also reminds me that probably the best and being single parts of life may be over soon, which also means that I would have to take more care of my skin and health ofcourse. But what the hell, its 10-10-10. I am amongst the few lucky who will get this chance. And I am the chosen one...:):).

Well ppl, I want my 10-10-10 b'day to be very special. A memory forever. So I need contributions from people (If anyone still reads my dormant blog). Plus also let me know if anyone else has had this experience and what did he/she do to make it super special (or I am the only one who is over reacting..:)) or there is somebody who will join the band of the chosen one in near future. Lets try to make it grand for all of us.

I have got some of the contributions from some of my friends like:

• Cut the cake at 10:10:10 PM
• Get a personalised T shirt with the date and your name written on it and get it signed by friends. I would prefer if I get this as a gift
• Have a theme party revolving around No. 10

Anticipating some awesome ideas!!!

Cheers,

SM

Birthday-Countdowns

P.S. I know its too early to plan, but I am very very excited...:)

tan (10 tada tan

2 states...a bollywood style masala stuff...

1. Loved 5 point someone: fresh and original

2. Hated one night @ call centre: the art of storytelling was missing..may be coz the story itself was missing

3. 3 mistakes of my life : Mr. Bhagat is not a good story teller

4.2 states: Chetan Bhagat is a good story teller, but only things that have happened to/with him in real life.

2 states: ita not a book, its a bollywood movie

Mr. Bhagat has taken the "make movie from my book" thing little seriously and has written 2 states in such a way that a bollywood producer would want to make a movie out of it. His previous 2 books have clearly proved that he lacks the creative instinct of creating a story but the other two proved that he can narrate the already happened stories with panache and lots of spice of course. At the outset it seems that he has thrown his personal life at the disposal of the readers, but I think the major triggers like interstate marriage, may be his little sour relationship with his father are real and the rest of story is built around that. Sometimes exaggerating certain facts and sometimes excluding some aspects, which is absolutely fine as the book is supposed to be "inspired by his life and considered as fiction." A decent time pass short reading for the weekend. One can buy it coz its really cheap (95 bucks only) but I would suggest that if somebody has already bought it, borrow and read. I did the same..:)

Cheers,

SM

A new girl in the city...

I have never liked Mumbai...I was here for a short time some three years back and I literally ran away from this place. But fate wanted me to be here and so I am in this city of dreams again and this time at my own wish and after around 4 months of being here, today, I actually liked the city. This was my best weekend in Mumbai. Let me narrate my day to myself so that I can run through it again and to you guys so that you guys can be a part of it. So here it goes...

Well, a little background first. It has been raining here since last couple of days and especially since yesterday night. So the weather is kind of romantic and fresh.

So, the day begun with a early morning movie @ 10.30 AM @ 90 bucks only (yes guys believe it...u can get a ticket this cheap in Mumbai) for "wake up Sid". A cute movie. Worth a watch. So while we (by we I mean me and my flatmate) were en route to the theatre, we decided to go to elephanta caves after the movie as it was raining and its a gud weather to be around the sea. Elephanta caves could not materialise but we went to see the sea. And mind you guys it was mind blowing. I have always like the calmness of sea and have always been scared of its vastness. But can look the the sea for hours and hours and just think about myself. Yes I think only about myself when I am near the sea.

Going back to the weekend, we (here we means me, my flatmate and bansi) had planned to go to Churchgate and then spend some time at marine drive. We took a local from goregaon (slow local) and dnt know why we got down at marine lines, which is one station before church gate. Ummm...now I remember why we got down at marine line. We were busy discussing something (precisely girls for bansi), and one of us looked out from the window. We could see the beautiful sea from the train and hence got down at marine lines. Walked till the sea. Got down to the small beach. Clicked some pictures. And then begun the walk. Today was all about the walk with the sea. Little rain drops falling on the face, which does not drench in 5 seconds but you feel the moisture as the rain drops fall slowly on you. Slowly we felt that our hair have gone wet, then we could feel little cold. Thought of opening the umbrella once or twice but then decided against it. We were chattering and laughing all the way, some stupid stuff, but still it was so peaceful. We walked till chaupati, had awesome chaat there, again clicked some pictures and then walked till Crystal (those who have stayed in Mumbai know what crystal is). Had amazing and sasta dinner. And started walking again. I dnt know if I am able to describe it appropriately, but it was one of those walks that never tire you. Clean roads. Rains. And most importantly, a walk by the sea. And you just continue walking. We thought how much have we walked only when we turned back to see that from where had we started. Quantitatively, we walked for around 6-7 kms but qualitatively, we had just begun the walk and had no feeling of tiredness (Now as I am writing this, my legs are abusing me for making them work so much over the weekend).

I guess people dnt like mumbai for anything else more than the sea. You would wan to go there again and again. I would want to go there again.

Love,

SM.

P.S.

1.Would upload some pics tomorrow (courtesy, my flatmate)

2. Have stolen the title from the movie, Wake up Sid.

Am going home..babby...:)

Everybody gets excited on even the thought of a holiday, and I am going to my native place on a long break...so I am visibly excited. And I can prove that I am excited. The symptoms are as follows:

1. Most common symptom : marking cross on the days on calendar. I am doing it religiously and that too on the calender in my office, so everybody knows about it. That's why I said, I am visibly excited.
2. Am not having my meals regularly coz I know all of it will be compensated when I go home. Like all mothers, my mom will also make sure that I consume enough calories to compensate for a week long fast (i am not fasting though, just being irregular in meals)
3. I don't feel like cleaning my almira. I am feeling detached to the place I am staying. So my room is in a mess.
4. I am spending lot of money coz I know that I would not be spending anything when I am home. Infact I will not even step out of my home.
5. I am not sleeping much also. All I have to do when I would be home is eat-sleep-eat.
6. I have not had a hair cut. My tresses have gone long and I really need a cut now, but since I am going home and I don't know if I would be taking a bath or not, so i will anyways have to tie them. Hence no cut. (well this was little exaggerated. I think i will take bath once in a while)
7. I have done lot of shopping for mom n dad..yay!!!

I hope these are good enough evidences to prove that i am dying to go home...

Cheers,

SM

Yummy dinner..

Yesterday night was The Night. Me and my room mate (she has two left feet for cooking) decided to cook a full meal at home. We started at 10 PM and the food was ready by 11.30 PM. While cooking, we could see that the output was decent enough and we would like it. We were really excited (specially my room mate as it was her first cooking session) and decided to cook an extra chapati each for the love of food. We sat down at midnight to savor our meal. We raised toast for eachother for the hardwork we had put and took the first bite....and....it was ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...amazing...we could not believe ourselves.It was heavenly. We looked at each other and had the same expression...WOW! We cook awesome food...after that every single bite was cherished with our favourite music in the background. The fact that I am dedicated a post to that dinner is a proof in itself that the food was yummy. It was beyond all other pleasures of life. We completed our routine of praising one self for the amazing effort and then ate in silence with stopping only to refill the plate.

God, please give us such food atkeast three times a day.

Anyone who wants to know the recipe can raise their hand. I would be more than glad to share.

Games we used to play when we were kids....

Time was one thing which was available in plenty when we were kids and hence the genesis of lots of creative games to kill time. I can recollect few of them. I dnt know if these were played by majority of us, but they were quite famous when we were kids.

* Oonch neech ka papda: In this game, one kid gives the dime (we used to call it daii). We used to choose an uneven surface to play this game. (For those of you who are not that great in hindi, "oonch" means a surface which is comparatively higher and "neech" means the opposite.) The kid who gives daii will ask "oonch neech ka papda, oonch maangi neech" (he is asking ot

her players whether they prefer higer surface or the lower

one). Rest of kids will shout their choice, and the guy who is giving daii has to catch one who is not on the chosen surface. Well I could never end my daii and hence used to cheat and get over with it...:)

*Posham pa bhai posham pa: I think this was played mostly by girls. Two girls will raise their hands and clasp them together like a dome. Other will form a line and pass through the dome. While doing so, the two girls will sing:

"posham pa bhai posham pa,

daakiyon ne kya kiya,

100 rupee ki ghadi churai,

ab to jail mein aana padega,

jail ki roti khani padegi,

jail ka paani peena padega,

ab to jail mein aana padega"

The girl who is in the dome during last line will be jailed. She will go and hold one of the two girls from the back. This is repeated till the time all of them are jailed. Half of them will hold one girl and rest the other. Then begins a tug of war types with the arms as rope. The team which forces the other team out wins.

* Maram pitti : This is a common one. I guess everyone has played some variation of it. It primarily comprises of two teams and they hit each other with paper balls. i have even played it with stones.. So one team will try to hit the members of other team and whoever id hit is considered killed. The team with maximum members in the end wins. This game never has ended for atleast our group without a fight.

* French Cricket : This game was the heights of creativity. I think this was invented by someone very lazy but cricket lover. The batsman stands in a circle and feilders cumm bowlers are spread aroung him/her. One guy bowls to the batsman and s/he hits the ball. The runs are made by rotating bat around ones body. no. of rotations are the runs. important point to note here is that whoever gets the ball can pitch it to batsman. one who hits s/he body gets next turn. Nobody actually runs here and the batsman stays within his/her circle, which is rather small.

*Lukkam chuppi: This is haryanvi/hindi name of the famous hide and seek. I will not expalin it in detail but at our place, if the seeker finds the hider, he/she would say aies-paies and if the hider finds the seeker, he/she would say dhappa.

* Tube well games (in farms): This is a very original one and people who have been to villages and have seen tube wells can relate to it. I belong to a farmer's family and most of our summer vacations were spent in village and going to farms was a daily practice, specially during sowing season as the tube wells run during those days. Little introduction here, the water from tube well comes at a great pressure and its not so easy to hold your hand right at the beginning of the outlet. So the competition was that who can hold his/her head just below the outlet for maximum time. And mind you, other kids will not let you do so in peace. They might tickle you, try to nudge you to fall. But the strongerst one wins.

* Corner corner: Again a famous one. This can be played by 5 people. Four of them choose a corner each and the left one gives the daii. The kids on corners have to run from one corner to another and the daii wala has to catch an empty corner. Something like musical chairs, just that the no of corneers remain the same.

* Pithoo: Angreji mein kehte hain "seven stones". If anybody doesn't know about this one, his/her life is rally sad and he/she doesn't deserve to know what it is.

* Kokla chipake: This game can be played by atleast 15 kids. I remmeber it playing during the game periods in school. The kids sit in a circle and yes one guy gives daii here as well. All the kids sitting in circle have to close their eyes and the daii circles around them with a hankerchief in his/her hand. While doing so, he/she sings:

kokla chipake jimme rat aye hai,

aaye hai bhi aaye hai (all kids in chorus),

jeda aage piche dekhe usdi shamat aaye hai,

aaye hai bhi aaye hai (all kids in chorus).

While doing so, the daii will silently place hankerchief behind somebody. If the subject doesn't

get toknow of it and daii does one complete circle, he trasfers his/her daii to the other kid. But if the kid gets to know of the hankerchief, he/she will run after the daii with hankerchief and try to hit him/her with hankerchief to prevent daii.

* Superman superman: I think we all have played some versions of this game as well. We donot have any fixed rules for this one. For me, it was invented by my cousins(brothers) and me being the sole girl was always forced to become watchman (actually I realised it later that I was never part of game, I was fooled into becoming actual watchman to see if grandma is coming or not) . The

y always distrubuted all powers among themselves and in the end nothing was left for me. But being a watchman, I could see what they are playing. One of them, mostly the eldest orheaviest one would become superman and rest others were villians. Ans since superman has got maximum powers, other had to take the beating (sometimes literally).

* Elastic : This is again a girly game. Very creative one. it requires a long elastic ties to form a loop. Two girls will hold the elastic inthier feet and the other will form pre decided patterns with their

feet and get out of the loop as well. Not an east one huh...you can only touch the elastic on which you are standing else you are out. Its something like this:

There were other customized games like choosing a side of the lane and counting the no. of cars that cross my lane (total time pass), counting no of goods and stars one has got ih his/her notebook etc etc. I have tried to remember some of the major ones, if you guys know more, please let me know. I would love to run down the nostalgia lane.

Cheers,

SM

Free home delivery...

I have already dedicated one post to Mumbai, but trust me this city deserves a lot of attention (positive and negative). So todays post is, as mentioned above, about the flawless free home delivery. Guys, you can get anything delivered at your doorstep absolutely free of cost in unbelievable TAT (turn around time). Considering that lot of people might be asking for home delivery, the time in which they deliver is very real and fast. And to add to it, there is no minimum bill amount. You will not belive that I once ordered a daal (worth Rs. 20) and the guy delivered it at home in 20 mins, absolutely free of cost. Now thats a different story that I was so delighted with the service that I tipped him with the same amount. I guess this is their business model. They might be earning more on tips then margins on food. Nevertheless, I am really glad that this service exists. its a blessing for lazy people like me. Yay!!!

5 things that are worthy of nobel prize...

While on my way home from office today, I was thinking that what are the five super cool things/ideas that deserve a nobel prize. Here comes the list:

1. Maggi: Almost all the bachelors/spinsters are surviving on Maggi.
   
2. Parle G : Instant and cheap source of energy. And people who drink tea (i dnt) often tell me that it tasted yummy with tea.
3. E books: You can read them in office pretending that you are working on something very important.
   
4. Passwords: You can password protect your resume at office PC. The only precaution is give it some fundoo name like "statistical tool to enhance chances of per capita income".
5. Clutchers: Well, the girls/women with long hair will identify more with it. Sorry for being biased but I am an aspiring feminist.

If you guys have more of these ideas..please let me know. We will try to create a comprehensive list.

Mumbaaaaaaaaaai...

Finally, I am again on my blog. Its been such a long time that I forgot that I have a blog and I can write. It has been a great time after shifting to Mumbai, however there are occassional "I miss hyderabad" times and I really feel low but overall I am having FUN. Lots of work, less time for myself disturbing rains and painfull sunny days, but this is also a great period of my life which I am gonna remember forever. 17th May 2009 was the day I landed here (actually, i came by train...my organization is on cost cutting so no flights) and post that had some good, bad and ugly experiences (dnt know if I would be able to actually categorise them as good, bad or ugly, but it does sound good):

* Got a workstation: I am one of those lucky few who got a workstation (with a landline, one of my clolleagues is yet to get one) within a week at the corporate office. Some of them are still praying that atleast somebody from our floor take leave daily so that they can get a port for a day. Thankyou God for your blessings and support. It might seem an exaggeration, but its true.

* Cynosure of the eyes : Wow is the word for this experience. There were some issues in our red fridge and had asked the guy to fix them and send it to us. The guy did send it but without actually fixing them. So we called him, but he was pretty rude over the phone. We got really furious and decided to go to his shop and fight (mind you guys, the time was 11 PM on a working day). We decided that we will take a rik (thats what an auto rikshaw is called in Mumbai, we to call it Auto) and asked two of our male friends to join us. But God had it planned some other way and we rode the luggage rik. Four of us, standing the the open rik and going to andheri through the highway, we really were cynosure of everybody's eyes (this phrase was used by one of us and we had to ask the meaning atleast 10 times). Every passerby was staring/laughing at us. But we got a ride to andheri and back without spending a penny. And what happened to fridge...this is another story, will tell you sometime later.

* Good old Mumbai rains : Yes, I am also a victim of Mumbai rains. This city actually stops when it rains, I guess the only good thong about rains here is treks. Coming back to the experience:

One day, it was raining heavily. But we the brave ones decided that we will still go to office. Work was calling us and we were no escapists. So. we took our regular bus and started our journey (anything which takes more than 3 hours to reach office, is a journey to me). But fate had something else in store for us. We saw a traffic jam at Andheri flyover, we thought its a small jam and we'll reach office by 10 AM (under normal circumstances, wereach office by 9 AM). But it took us more than 3 hours to reach office. The only good thing was that it dint happen on our way back, it would have been all the more frustrating.

hmmm..so thats it for now. Will write some more stuff soon. For now, all of you who are planning to shift to Mumbai:

* If your weekends are set, you will enjoy the city inspite of the work and travel .

* The rik guys are honest here. They will even return 50p and not ask for half return before 12 in the night. It was a positive cultural shock for me. People who are staying in Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai can relate to me on this.

Krazy Kia Re...

There are some real crazy things that I have to do some day. Here are the top 3 of my list:
1. I want to dance in front of the screen at theatres. The urge is so strong that someday I will for sure make a fool out of myself. I have imagined it countless times and have memorized the major steps as well.
2. I want to get my hair colored red...I would look like some alien but still I am desperate to do this.
3. I have this strong wish to go for a tour to some cool but unexplored places on the earth.....but ALONE..!
Will share the entire list soon in future. Till then cheers..:)

April fool banaya...

"April fool banaya,
to unko gussa aya,
Mera kya kasoor,
Zamane ka kasoor,
Jisne dastoor banaya...."
I am singing this song since morning. One of the happiest days of the year. I always love playing pranks and this day given me an unauthorised access to play pranks on everyone. And I am always amazed at my creativity of thinking ideas on the spot. I am thinking of writing to MTV to hire me as a prank writer for their "bakra" thing. Then I would be able to do so every day. WOW...that would give me complete job satisfaction. For those who are not working, job satisfaction is equivalent to "nirvana"...working for the love of it...:)
I played it on my mom, my best friends, my roomies, my colleagues, my ex boss and some random friends....wopieee...!!!!
Happy April Fool's Day ppl...:)

Love is nothing but a state of mind...a thought...!!!

So after having being typecasted as a funny human being, who just ignores the important aspects of life...here I come to prove them wrong (well...atleast I can make an attempt) and would try to decipher the emotion called LOVE. Here we will not talk about the love for family coz I have never had doubts about that and can't really see it from ann unbiased point of view. So we will talk about the love for the opposite sex. I have always wondered that what is love and how does one get to know that he/she is in love and also that the the subject of emotion is the ONE.
After doing a lot of introspection and retrospection and all kinds of possible inspections, I realised that Love is nothing but a state of mind...a thought...!!! It is possible to fall in and out of love numerous times just by conditioning ones mind. If you think you are in love then so you are and vice versa. I think a person can fall in love in the morning and come out of it by the evening by merely concentrating on the thoughts. Some people might call it infatuation but I beg to differ. I think infatuation is a continuous event and focussing on infatuation leads to the bug called love. And focus is nothing bet telling yourself that you love the person. The most beautiful of the girl can fall (or rise for him as one of my friends say)for a not at all good looking guy and vice versa by just repeating the thought to oneself.
I also think people don't fall in love, they like the idea of being in love. This theory justifies love through letters (in ancient times) and love on internet (in technological driven society like today's). Or else how can somebody explain feelings for a person without meeting him/her in person. But the idea itself is so interesting and captivating that people don't want to come out of it. There is nothing good or bad about it. I have just tried to explain the backend process for love. I think its a positive thought and do believe in this thought.
P.S: These thoughts come to me when I try to paint everything in either black or white. Life is colorful otherwise.

Sound sleep...

Lets go by the literal meaning of the phrase "sound sleep" here. It means smbdy who makes sounds while sleeping like snoring or talking when asleep. I will neglect the snoring part here and will talk about the later. Most of us have had experiences with people who this weird habit. I know a couple of them too and they have been very close to me so I can narrate the incidents with precision. One of them is my brother and a very good friend of mine with whom I have shared living space for almost two years. I have also been told that I also speak during sleeping but the incidents are rare but would try to narrate them as well. Can't promise about precision here but would tell whatever the subjects have heard/faced. Lets begin with ME:
ME:
1. This was during school days when we used to make attempt to study till late hours in the night. So once I slept earlier than my brother and he was studying/playing games and the lights were on. I first shouted at him for switching off the lights and then according to him, I asked him to stop the books. It seems they were going out of the room on thier own and I wanted him to stop them or else our library would go empty. WIERD....even I think so.

I have just one incident for myself.

MY BROTHER:
He has got lots of stories to his credit but I would narrate only two of them here. He would kill me if I tell all of them.
1. He had this habit of walking in the night with eyes closed. He would precisely know that where are his slippers and doors (specially for the loo) and would roam around with precision. He sometimes used to change clothes and go to bed again just to be awestruck in the morning. So the most interesting part comes, when my Mom used to change settings. So now the doors will not be in the same direction. Before getting used to new directions, he would sometimes start knocking on the windows thinking that they are doors and somebody has closed him inside. WOW!!!
2. When we were kids, there was a very popular TV series which used to come on doordarshan. The kid who used to play the main role was called "fatichar". It was a sort of sarcasm on poverty. So my brother used to repeat fatichar's dialogs in the night. It didn't happen just once or twice but was a regular feature for a couple of days. FUNNY..isn't it..!!!

MY FRIEND/ROOMMATE:
She has got the most funniest incidents to her credit.

1. What would you do if you hear Bachao!!! Bachao!!! at 1 in the night. I was scared and had to gather courage to go to the source to the cries. It was my roommate and I could not understand why is she shouting. So when I reached there, I asked her what happened. She recognized me and asked me to go to sleep. When I asked her in the morning about last night, she told me that she had fallen into a well in her dreams and when I went to her room, she realised that a well cannot have wardrobes and windows so it might be just a dream so she slept again. And she had SCARED the hell out of me last night....uffff.!!!
2. It becomes very hot in hyderabad during summers. So I was sleeping in the lobby and she in her room. I was not able to sleep properly as lobby is the hottest room of our flat, so I went to sleep in her room. She thought I am some thief and asked who am I. I told her that its me, but she refused to recognise me and starting throwing light on me with her mobile. Now she was throwing light on me with her mobile and was holding landline in other hand to call somebody. It was after a couple of minutes she realised that its only malls (thats what they call me) and went to sleep again.
3. We were at Goa for holi last year. It was one of the best trips we have ever been to and were obviously missing the fun moments and the gang (16 of us...10 guys and 6 girls). The trip was the topic of discussion for many days after we were back. So one night when we were asleep. My friend got up, went to another room where another flat mate was sleeping (she was not with us at Goa) and asked her...Where are the guys, dear??? My other flatmate was shocked and couldn't comprehend her. It was only in the morning she did realise that she was talking about the guys of our Goa gang. Well....this happens when you miss something terribly...!!!

Human beings are really strange..!!!

Dev D...Never go by critics ratings...otherwise as well...Bollywood stinks...

I know am posting this late. I had drafted it around 2 months back and then forgot to post it. So please bear with it now. So here is the post...

I am disappointed. I really am. Have been spending so much money on watching movies and all of them have disappointed me. Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, Ghajini and now Dev D (latest addition is Tasveer 8X10)...all of them have left me completely blank. I was really excited about Dev D...had heard awesome reviews and critics were praising it crazy. So I went to watch this on a weekday at 10 PM (given the constraint that I had office the next day). And I wanted to go back before the interval. Movies have been my good source of entertainment. But lately, I have been forced to look out for other options like TV (which is equally sad). And you really can't watch good English movies in a city like Hyderabad coz they are not released here. Well, hollywood, people here do understand English and if you still don't believe that, release movies with hindi/telugu/english subtitles. I promise good footfall.
For now, my only source of videop entertainment is you tube. I get to watch good videos there. If you guys have some other sources of video entertainment, please feel free to suggest. Top three suggestions will get tickets for Billa (this is a telugu remake of Don).

Bhishum Bhishum..

I was wondering what do I like most about "Bollywood movies"...the melodrama, the item numbers, the story less but full of masala movies, the glamor, Arjun Rampal, larger than life movies etc etc. And after thinking a lot, I realised that the best thing about a bollywood movie is "bhishum bhisum". Am not talking about the action sequences here, its the sound of punches, its just awesome. This sound makes the sequence so much fun and dramatic to watch and man you can count the number of punches hit (try counting the punches in English movies...its not that easy). So now that I have started imagining the fight scenes, the next dramatic piece is blood spurting out of hero's mouth. I don't know if anybody has noticed it but the blood never comes out of the Bad Man's mouth in same quantities as the Hero (budget constraints I guess..;)).
But don't you think this sound is what makes the sequence more interesting. Its like giving voice to emotions or like personifying the thoughts. Perhaps that's the same reason why people enjoy watching reality programs. Well that's my food for thought for today. I will keep on posting some more deadly and irrelevant ideas as ans when they come to my mind. Till then keep thinking..!!!

Super woman

I often dream about one situation. This is one of those dreams which I always remember and has got a relaxing effect on me. I have seen this one with open eyes as well. They say that there is a very thin line between dreams and reality and this particular dream of mine is a good example. Lets give a name to my dream...ummmm...lets call it "Super woman". So the dream goes as follows:
I am standing in somewhat middle of a vast plateau. Suddenly lot of guys come there...uncountable...n I dnt know why but I start fighting with them (Matrix style). I am alone, furious and fighting with thousands of guys. And I feel so proud of myself in the end.
Wondering who are the guys in the dream..they are the entire set of eve teasers, moral police (remember the Mangalore pub incident), people who have double standards (girls who smoke are spoiling Indian culture and guys who smoke are just cool...if girls wear jeans, its westernization, then why dnt guys wear dhoti, are they not equally responsible for the society, culture...et al).
I just hope that my dream one day becomes true and may be not me alone but we all are able to throw them out...our society needs some clearing now..and we better do it NOW!!!

Daily Soaps..they wash away the grey cells.:)

Dil Mil Gaye...
Mile Jab Hum Tum...
Baalika Vadhu...
Utaran...
Radha Ki Betiyan Kuch Kar Dikhayengi...
Ruby...
Jaane Kya Baat Hui...

Wondering what are these...well...they are some of the hindi serials that are telecasted on TV. And they do guarantee complete drainage of one's thinking capabilities. Atleast I have started feeling the effect(courtesy: my room mates, they have to follow all of these:)). If somebody wants to observe the levels of dumbness and lack of creativity, please consider these serials as the sample. I just wonder that what is the role of a script writer or director here and just forget about the actors, their genre is entirely different...stone faced could be the word for them. You can scare the hell out of them to act but they just cant change the undecipherable expression on their face. Coming back to the directors role, he merely acts as somebody who takes inspiration from all Bollywood movies and include all the "masala" in the serials. They have got a perfect mix of romance, comedy, action, drama, thrill, item numbers as well...its just that a story is missing. I guess I am sounding like those disappointed movie critics but trust me am seriously and dangerously disappointed. They talk about preserving Indian culture...but seldom do they realize that they are contributing to make our society all the more regressive. And I can say so with surety coz of the increasing TRPs and the prime slots that are alloted to them.

The only thing that seems interesting here is the amount of money involved. People are churning money without using the most basic ingredient....BRAIN!
I just got an idea..the "Eureka" moment...b-schools should have TRP management as a specialization. Any takers for this business plan..???

Airports...

Since I have already claimed that I love reading...so the mere thought of writing what I feel about airports has reminded me of the book "Airport" by "Arthur Hailey". Nice book..one gets to learn a lot about how airports used to operate (the book is written in kind of old context when airports were not that hitech). Infact all the books by Mr. Hailey teach lots about particular industries...for example, Final Diagnosis about Doctors, Money Changers about Banking and Wheels about Automobile industry. Am gonna have all of these in my library so that my kids get to read them early enough. Oops am digressing away from the topic, the main reason I logged in to my blog today was to write about airports...so lets continue that.

5 emotions which surpass me when I am at some airport:

1. Restlessness
2. Super Sophistication
3. Fashion parade (am not sure if its an emotion, but lets count this in)
4. Boredom
5. Lonely

Restless because there is never enough space to stretch my legs. I have to sit at one chair all coiled up. And I never feel like getting up and checking out the shopping outlets there. There is this strange feeling and it increases when I enter the aircraft. I wish those super sonic aircrafts start again so that the time of journey is reduced.

Super sophisticated: There always is an aura of sophistication in an airport. People are well dressed, well behaved...i mean very well behaved, I have never seen anybody litter at airports (strange but true). Try yawning at the airports and you will confront several eyes watching you with disgust...well, its coming from personal experience. And guess what, nobody stares at foreigners at the airport (airports are safe haven for foreigners :))

Airports are fashion parades in true sense. I have never observed such diversity in dressing styles anywhere else. People really come very well dressed to travel,I find it amusing. Railway stations always have to contend with people in their night wears or with the last dress they would want to wear when they go out. To be very honest, I have picked up a style or two from the airports..:)

Airports are sooooo boring...yes they are. Nobody talks to each other, and forget about talking to strangers. Railway stations are so much fun in that sense. And no smiles around too. I have rarely seen people smiling (other than the staff as they are paid for this).

I cant explain why I feel lonely there but I do. Its the only place where I actually need my mobile phone because I am always calling people from airports.

So the long and short of this is that I dnt like flying. Given a chance and no of holidays I would always prefer to travel by train. Its fun and its cheaper too.