Perspectives and perceptions

Never before has a Christmas break meant so much to me, Never before have I felt the Xmas cheer! Oh! To have 10 days off feels like happiness is here! I'm so happy and so thrilled I can't think straight! I've got work, and no time but it cannot make me sad... I'm still happy as a jaybird and I feel like a song... I want to sing... "All I want is a room somewhere, Far away from the cold night air. With one enormous chair, Aow, wouldn't it be loverly? Lots of choc'lates for me to eat, Lots of coal makin' lots of 'eat. Warm face, warm 'ands, warm feet, Aow, wouldn't it be loverly? Aow, so loverly sittin' abso-bloomin'-lutely still. I would never budge 'till spring Crept over me windowsill. Someone's 'ead restin' on my knee, Warm an' tender as 'e can be. 'ho takes good care of me, Aow, wouldn't it be loverly? Loverly, loverly, loverly, loverly" Happy happy me! Happy holidays to you! :D

Beauty, as a term, has mystified thinkers, philosophers and the common man since time immemorial. Many have attempted at defining this term, some have linked it to the physical appeal of a woman, while others have attempted to give it a deeper sense. Beauty, isn’t about a person, an object, or about anything specific at all. Instead, beauty is that which makes you smile. The reason we keep coming back to the idea, is because it is soothing to our senses. Beauty brings back the proportions to the chaos, it helps us make sense of that which doesn’t, it brings order to the haphazard. Have you ever stood amidst a bustling market to look at the laughter on the face of a child? Wondered why you felt that instinct to stand and watch? Did you notice the smile that crept on your face? That’s what beauty can do to a person. The art movements across the centuries have gone through many styles, from the classical to the modern, from baroque to bauhaus, there has been a transition in the styl...

No this post is not a review on the book by Alvin Toffler, which I do want to read but haven't managed to so far... it's just that lately i've been dreaming and thinking about my future... personal yes, but professionally too. i'm doing a masters in advertising and marketing which has got me thinking about various careers that it can lead to. ad agencies, fmcg companies (fast moving consumer goods, like HUL and P&G), marketing companies, brand management, copywriting, account planning... there are a lot of options but i'm still searching. i wanted to do something with films and designs. i thought a career which required me to meet people, talk to them, understand their requirements, get it executed, imagine, design, etc. would be ideal. this sounds like the perfect job description for client servicing and account planning. but i don't know. i think i'll know only after i begin working in a company. then i also had these thoughts of working with a magazin...

the hot summer breeze, the sweaty, rusty bodies, the dirt filled roads, and the brown sheath all over, the pregnant wait for respite, the thirst for the flow, much like a mother's anticipation, the weather toils us hard, the small silly poems that we learn, the enforced joy that we never feel, for the weather that doesn't change in spite of our many pleas, the two months that we long for, quickly turn into boredom, and suddenly we long to be, amongst the concrete breeze, the play, the trips and the wait, passes by like a glimpse, and soon we are shopping, for umbrellas, boots and more, come the first grey cloud, and expectant eyes scan the sky, from the old to the new, everyone stakes their buy, soon enough we hear the sound, the rumble of the clouds, and pit-pat comes the drop, dripping on the grounds, running astray are many children, few of whom are afraid, most of them leap with joy, for the rains are finally here to stay, soon enough the sheath, turns to green from the bro...

I, a resident of Takshila, Bldg. No XX would like to bring to your notice the sheer inhumanity with which crackers are being bursted in the colony. One would expect that a colony has some rules and regulations, which must not permit the bursting of crackers beyond a certain time limit. For all practical purposes, a 10 O’Clock deadline must be imposed upon those who wish to burst crackers within the colony. It is sheer insanity to permit the people who burst long malas / laddis at 11:30 PM on the main road of the colony. Presently in our colony, we have around 33 Bldgs each consisting of numerous flats. The people living in these flats range from the young children to the senior citizens. Apart from humans, we also have a healthy population of dogs and cats in the colony. I have observed, every festival crackers are being bursted without any consideration and no action is being taken against the people. Buildings should instruct their members not to burst crackers such as Atom Bomb...

I'm sick and tired of firecrackers! It's always the same story, whether it's Ganeshotsav, Durga Puja, Navratri, Diwali.... I don't understand when the concept of sparklers and anars changed to atom bombs, laxmi bombs and laddis... Why must a child, boys, or anybody even want to crack these crackers?! To what pleasure? To whose liking? For whom? Why must we attempt to stimulate the terror and horror that real terrorists shower upon us? Why must we tune our lives to their sounds? Why should our Diwali be shrouded with sounds and bangs of horrifyingly loud crackers? Is it that big a nexus that the Govt. cannot simply ban the crackers and the allied sound items?! What sort of a Government are we living in? In my school, 10 years ago, we were taught about how entirely harmful crackers are, not just as a product but also as a means... child labour is used to produce crackers, the crackers cause noise pollution, air pollution, land pollution, and yet we continue and allow thei...

This image reminds me of each time in my life when I’ve been too busy running from pillar to post about something and my mother’s been my rock while also asking me to slow down and have fun! In a time and age when parents are increasingly becoming insecure about their children in this “big bad world” my mother has stood by my side and let me live a carefree, free life! Each time I ask her if I could go out of town with friends, her first reaction is never being upset, or disappointment but excitement for my plans. Each time when I return from those trips, however late I might be, her first question is never “Why so late?” but “How was it?” My mother is a treasure trove. She has jewels in her speech which she hands out to others generously and at the right moments. I love her when she compliments my friends frankly without being embarrassed about her statements; I loved her when she actually told my best friend that she had a sexy butt! In this photo, you can see her playfully reac...

What a better way to begin your morning than to write about the movie, Wake Up, Sid! :) It's one of the most happy, feel-good rom-coms the Hindi film industry has produced in a long long time! There are a lot of things right with the movie, from the simple story, to the well etched characters, to some fantastic acting, seamlessly blended background songs, real locations, and good cinematography. For starters, I saw this movie almost immediately after I saw, "What's your raashee?" and so I was obviously highly impressed with the HUGE difference in the two... But even otherwise, this movie was a happy movie which left you with a smile on your face... A simple story about a rich father's son, Sid Mehra (Ranbir), whose only occupation is to spend his father's money on parties, time-pass, and clicking photos. He meets Aisha Banerjee (Konkana) who's just come to Bombay from Calcutta (using the old names purposely - the movie did too!) She's a mature, wanting...

Well, this is going to be a short one! To begin with, I was expecting a movie worth the name it was carrying, "Ashutosh Gowariker" It did not. It failed miserably! For starters, 1. Harman Baweja - This guy is terrible. I haven't seen Love Story 2050, but I'm willing to bet, it wasn't good because of him. His acting is substandard, his expressions are non-existent and his entire screen presence is minimal. In a screen he shares with Darshan Jariwalla, one tends to notice the latter. He is also completely overshadowed by Priyanka in the movie, for starters, the movie revolves around him, but he's more like the frame in which Priyanka is set! 2. Poor screenplay - There's hardly any dialogue which evokes an emotion, no laughter, no humour, no emotional touchpoint either. I'm wondering what happened to the Ashutosh Gowariker we know! In the entire movie of 3 1/2 hours (sigh) I remember only one dialogue, where Darshan (Debu) says to these two men who're...

i made a list in class today... i realised i haven't blogged about anything in ages. i thought of a small theory, probably applicable only to me... maybe because i talk a lot to friends close to me, i rarely feel the urge to blog these days as i used to earlier... earlier the blog was my outlet, today i just talk a lot! :) well, here's a list of what to watch out for on my blog... planning to blog a LOT today!! 1. Movie Review - What's your raashee? 2. Movie Review - Wake Up, Sid! 3. October Heat?! Hell No! We've got October Rains! 4. Weekend Getaway - Matheran 5. Weekend Getaway - Uran 6. Mother's Hands So read on! and wait for the blogs!! :)

It's been a little more than a month at my new college... Xavier Institute of Communications. While there are a few things that I don't like about the college, like their strict implementation of a dress code!! (imagine not being able to wear sleeveless tops, no knee length skirts, no three-fourths even!) I've literally run out of jeans and tops and kurtas by now.. but we trudge on... Apart from that I'm thoroughly enjoying the course. The kind of amazing insights that we get from our faculty members, coupled with some good competition in class is really a refreshing change from graduation! Just a couple of days back we had this amazing class by Josie Paul, who's currently running an agency in Mumbai, he actually taught us how our everyday images, conversations and scenes become inspirations for advertisements. Some of the greatest ad concepts are actually from the copywriter's real life experiences. That thought set us all thinking and soon the entire class was...

Micro-blogging has come of age, especially to update people about circumstances. Today's rains in Mumbai were a 'trending topic' in Twitter. Called '#mumbairains' People began updating or rather "tweeting" their status since morning, and some people like me who were at home were the media centres collating info from across the web, the TV and updates from friends and family over the phone... It was fun! and helpful... Although there are spammers who take advantage of the fact that it's a trending topic and post spam messages about their products and their events or their websites. Another thing called as retweeting which I think is mainly to reiterate a particular post so that more people across the networks get the updates. Some people were also indulging in jokes and fooling around, which was quite irritating and irresponsible. Someone began to spread some nonsense about a typhoon alert in Vashi and when lots of people began to question his source, h...

There are so many instances where we sight that two people (not related) are identical to each other. Of course, our movies have exaggerated the issue to a large extent, what with Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai and so on. But within a span of a few weeks, I came across two famous such instances. I don't know whether anyone else has actually spotted this, but I think there is proof to my case. Two actors: Breckin Meyer (Kate & Leopold, 2001 fame) and Aditya Hitkari (Theatre actor - The Graduate) look so identical as you can see from this image. Other two actors: Charlotte Rampling (Twice Upon a Time, French Movie - I happened to see on World Movies recently) and Suhasini Mulay (Lagaan, Dil Chahta Hai and zillion other movies). Their mannerisms, their uptight character portrayals, all struck me as similar.

The film’s poster eerily looks similar to that of “Dostana” with only two different characters and the backdrop of the New York skyline instead of the Miami Beach. The movie’s completely different though. For a change, there’s a relevant issue instead of just college banter and the boy-meets-girl and they live happily ever after story. However, a relevant issue needs much more attention to detail which the movie has not achieved. Its music, especially the track “Hai Junoon” is incredibly foot-tapping and rhythmic. The first half deals with the college life of the fresher, Omar (Neil Nitin Mukesh) who comes to the New York State University for his masters where he meets his student counselor Maya (Katrina Kaif) who in turn introduces him to the college champ Sam (John Abraham). This college scene is a flashback from the recital that Omar’s giving Roshan (Irrfan Khan) who’s playing the FBI cop. Omar has been arrested by the FBI for being a terrorist suspect. However, the first half seems...

There are so many things in our lives that we care about, when does this care turn into something stronger so much so that it borders on becoming an obsession before it actually does. Obsessions have no limits (which is of course why they're called that!), they could be absolutely anything! I, for one, am obsessed with cleanliness. Everything should be in order. It should be clean. It should be in straight lines (even the collages I make, I struggle to make them look like a collage, if I had my way, I would make collages in grids!) It has to be stacked height-wise, my clothes are arranged according to their use, cleaning my cupboard is my favorite past-time and if that's not enough, I have taken to cleaning cupboards of my friends! (No, don't call me now, I don't have the time! :)) I tend to fold clothes the way the laundry guy does it (thanks to my aunt and cousin who trained me) almost automatically. It's so natural for me, that wherever I am, I see something unfo...

There was a time when a new movie released and I would watch it within a week or two... I simply don't know what happened to those times anymore. Somehow I seem to have become content with watching repeats of the movies I've seen before, reading the books that I've read before, meeting people that I meet everyday, I have shut myself to the possibilities of everything new. I seem to be stuck in a phase, stuck in an image. I prefer to eat at places I've eaten before, I drink the same drink, I have the same shot, it's all the same. Thankfully the last haircut I had was way different from what I've got ever! I'm beginning to realise my downfall, I'm beginning to realise that I'm choosing this, I'm behaving safe, I'm being foolish! I need a jolt, I want to break free. The only thing different I'm doing these days is work, I'm doing different kinds of work! :) Aah.. for those who don't know it, it's a pleasure to work. It really is....

Recently I had gone for a trip with my mom and eldest sister to Saputara, a hill station in Gujarat. We had booked a car and a driver for the entire journey. From Saputara, we were going to go to Pune. The distance being approx. 280 kms. we estimated a 6 hour journey and thought that we'll reach around 4 pm in the evening considering we leave at 9.30 (taking a 30 min break for lunch) Little did we know we were going to be a solid three hours delayed! Having travelled in the same car for 3 days before the return journey, our patience of listening to the only CD in the car was exhausted. Desperate to buy new CDs, we scrounged for a CD shop in the lanes of Nashik. I found one and bought VCDs for Delhi - 6 and Luck By Chance and an audio CD of A R Rehman. The fancily equipped car had those LCD monitors on which you could watch a movie. Though it was a little difficult to follow the dialogues, overall it was an excellent experience. It took care of some great 3 hours of our journey. We ...

I have always seen and heard my friends talking about driving a car… till today I never had the courage to actually do it. But do it I did. I took a risk. For the first time in my life probably, I acted upon someone else’s trust in me, and actually went ahead with the plan. It was time for me to leave for my dance class, I thought I’ll take a bus or the auto. Something that my friend said made me think about taking the car. I decided to take the risk. Basically all this while, I’ve been waiting for someone to push me to do it. I don’t think I could’ve pushed myself at all. My mother was and probably is paranoid about my driving. She can’t relax in the car around me. That’s why I’ve never had the courage to drive on my own before. But today something struck me, something inside me made me want to do it. I took the car out nice and slow. Knowing the roads pretty well helped cause that didn’t come in my way of driving. I went on to the highway and was comfortable driving at 40. I wanted t...

The last time I was in love with the radio was when it had boomed around 5 years ago with a number of new channels coming on air! I can still recall being constantly tuned into Jaggu and Tarana's morning show on Go92.5, Savio on the College Radio and of course Malini in the evening show... For now, I'm hooked on Meow 104.8 FM! and there are two beautiful reasons for this! One is my vivacious friend Sameepa who has recently joined them as a RJ! She hosted her first show today, called MeriMeow during 8 - 10 pm on 104.8 FM and I am super proud of her! The whole thing with listening to this channel when she started competing for the RJ Host Hunt and all of us used to tune in to listen to her... The second reason is another RJ Ajay... I happened to listen to his show Meow Masti during 10 pm - 1 am and I was floored. By his voice, his casual conversational chatting, and his prompt response to emails! By now, I'm completely hooked on to the shows and the channel in the evenings! O...

Like a relationship with a person, we form relationships with places as well... I'm on the brink of ending a relationship with a place I have come to call my home... Though I've only spent half the number of years in this place as compared to my earlier home, I have begun to identify myself with this space... In spite of my repeated murmurings about how this place is a house whereas Takshila (my home in Andheri) is home, it is now when I'm leaving from here that I realise how attached I have grown to this place... It's not only about the physical space that I have here, but more about the memories that are associated with the comforts of the space that hit home. Because we had so much space, we were able to do so much more! Host our huge family for amazing dinners, host endless night-outs with friends, dance away to glory, choose different corners and spaces within the house to relax, define and decorate spaces for ourselves, spend time at the thousand-odd eateries, the...

How many times in the day do you call up a service provide only to routed through the IVR? How does that make you feel? The agonizing wait for a human to come online... Today, everything requires to be automated to make it cost-effective for the providers. Be it your telecom service providers, your banks, your take-away, your computer / IT related issues, everything is routed through an IVR, and as a last resort, you are guided to the Customer Service Executive / Phone Banking Officers who shall be "happy to help you". Yes, at times, it helps to have an automated system because it ensures that no matter who picks up the call, you're serviced the same. For example, if I want the number of an office / a restaurant and I call up JustDial.com, I don't care WHO picks up my call, because I get the number smsed to me just the same! However, when I call up Barclays or any bank regarding a query, I have to patiently explain the entire case history, background, service request ...

Well, elections are barely a month away and the political fever is catching up everywhere. I'm 21, going to be 22 this year. I've been eligible to vote for almost 4 years now and I will vote this year. Pavratti, the campaign manager of the Jaago Re (Tata Tea) campaign, had come to SIMC (Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Lavale Campus, Pune). He is an alumnus of the institute. He spoke at length about how the campaign has aimed to make a difference to the scenario of the youth voting. He actually proved to us (students) mathematically, how we CAN ACTUALLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE! The probability, the numbers, everything is in our favour. If only we decide we want to make that difference. The website created is really amazing. jaagore.com just click on it and you'll know why. It enables you as a first-time voter to understand the process and download and fill forms. If you are an existing voter but have some changes, links are available in the downloads sections too....

It's amusing to note that people search for Mumbai Sex Aishwarya... while Raj Thackeray is forgotten in public memory... :)

Reading a book filled with some amazing images, I fight back tears, Hunched up in a corner, subtly caressing those pages, I mildly shiver, Imagining the life that she must've led, Reading about the crusades that she fought against the press, I wonder how the fairy tale must've unfolded, For all we say is the train that trailed... Born a Spencer, died the Princess Diana, Having lived her life on her own terms, Touching patients, kids, and lives, She gladdened many-a-heart, So many memories captured and treasured, That we stay in awe of her, So many people whose lives she touched, Remember and cherish the beauty in her, The world saw what they had wanted to see, A family saga, with moments of glee, Few saw her for who she really was, A warm-hearted, loving, caring woman, With a passion to swim and dance, She not only brought attention to the plight of many, She called for changes in the lives of many, Fighting for causes of landmines and HIV/AIDS, She was a symbol of hope till he...

Why is it that we only like or appreciate movies that tell a depressing tale or are extremely lively? We have begun to conform to some norms for films and we expect every film to be better than the last. Delhi-6, I felt was a beautifully made movie especially in terms of the rendition of some scenes and some shots. The story is quite simple with a lot of characters. Waheeda Rehman wants to back to her city, Delhi from New York to die peacefully. Her son refuses to come back, and hence her grandson, Abhishek Bachchan decides to bring her back and stay with her. Once here, he is immediately absorbed into the daily brouhaha (organised chaos) of a local city. Rishi Kapoor plays a character of Baig Uncle, Om Puri, Suchitra Phatak, and others are neighbours. Divya Dutta essayed her role of a sweeper very beautifully! The usual Hindu-Muslim angle is also brought in with seamless accuracy. Sonam Kapoor though a leading character doesn't have much of a role, her aim is to become an Indian I...