Perspectives and perceptions

So like I said in my last post, here are short snippet reviews on the latest K-Dramas I've watched on Netflix: 4) Chocolate - I kept seeing promos/recommendations for this show so I just started watching it one day. The storyline is quite beautiful. It's not a romantic drama even though there's some of it. It's primarily a drama about human relationships and life in general. The two main characters are of a young boy who grows up to be a neurosurgeon (I later watched another show where also the doctors are neurosurgeons, makes me think this is a popular aspirational speciality) while being one of the heirs of a rich family who owns hospital chains, and of a young girl whose life was touched by this boy as a child who grows up to become a chef and their journey is the drama's plot line. This show also focuses a lot of episodes in the context of a hospice. It's shown in a very humane way, but those episodes touched me the most. I was practically crying each time ...

This year has been an interesting year for me so far. Not just because of the coronavirus situation but because of my new found passion for Korean Dramas! So, in February, I decided to watch 'Crash Landing on You' on Netflix with my husband and literally since then I've just immersed myself whole heartedly into everything Korean! I'm right now at the 'obsessing' part, hopefully it'll mature and I'll find a healthy balance soon (or maybe not!). Quick recap of what I've done so far: After binge-watching CLOY multiple times, I joined a Facebook Fan Group for the show, joined Soompi and started reading the CLOY Drama thread and the Hyun Bin & Son Ye-Jin thread . I posted a link to my blog on the FB group and had 1000+ views with 10+ comments. I've shared the blog with multiple friends and family members, all of whom loved reading the blog and most of them then watched the show as well! My husband brought me soju + beer at home and I'm ...

As we’re all coping with the recent Covid-19 / coronavirus related changes to our lives, thought we’ll share a brief note on some of the things we’ve learned having been living this reality for nearly 2 months now in the hope that it’ll help you get better prepared for what’s coming (as much as we can be). Things to be prepared for / Practical Tips: Purchase your regular medications + basic first aid over-the-counter medicines that you or your family members might need. Keep some cash at home for any emergencies just in case ATMs are inaccessible, etc. Important IDs - As a reminder, check to ensure that you have all the right IDs and documents and bank accounts (setup for online banking) are in place including any govt. services. Place a hand sanitizer bottle near the entrance of your home for easy access for yourself as well as visitors (when you don’t have time to wash your hands) If you are / know someone who is part of your building or society management, do check on the...

I think all of us remember our first love, we remember what it felt like to have our hearts beat that much faster, the butterflies in our stomach, the obsessing about the words we spoke or didn't speak, and other million details that come along with it. Watching a romantic comedy is supposed to evoke some bit of those memories and just fill you up in this warm, fuzzy feeling that feels like a comforting bear hug (if you like hugs!). A while back I was reading this article about the dearth of good romantic comedies nowadays and it's true, when was the last good romantic comedy you saw? To me the evergreen You've Got Mail, Kate & Leopold, Notting Hill, Sleepless in Seattle are still the classics (yes, I think I crushed on Meg Ryan a lot!). In Hindi movies, I know this divides a lot of people, but I do genuinely think Sonam Kapoor has figured this out. I absolutely loved her Khoobsurat with Fawad Khan. I thought it was funny, contemporary and their chemistry was left me...

A friend said something to me today and that brought me back to my blog and going through my words just randomly. You know how one comment leads you into your inbox and then suddenly you're re-reading emails from ages ago and reminiscing about the language, the experiences and the relationships... My blog is kind of like that. I didn't blog regularly. But I was quite consistent. I used to write movie reviews, book reviews, random thoughts that struck me, commentary on how I was growing up, general stuff. What struck me as I read one of my older posts was how much more diverse my reading habits used to be. I've gotten stuck in this urban fantasy genre for a while now, and I only break out of it to read books like Michelle Obama's "Becoming" but more or less I'm stuck reading one genre of books generally. I watch a slightly more diverse set of movies, but just not as intellectually stimulating ones. I remember when I was explaining to a friend about my bo...

Context: I saw Gully Boy yesterday. And I've been listening to the sound track pretty much on loop since morning today. I was on a flight from Hong Kong to Beijing this morning when suddenly inspiration struck... After many many days, I suddenly feel this urge to write, To think, to feel, to just get it out. Feels weird to hold a pen again. The grip is off. The speed is gone. There is a flow but I don't really know. A part of me is sad inside, A bit rushed and maybe mad too. I feel like I'm letting life happen to me, Work is sweeping me away, Conversations with friends & family are whiling time away, There doesn't seem to be a plan, a clear goal or even a dream. Work is getting hectic and I'm scared inside, of being swept away by the tide. There is noise, there is smoke, and I'm kind of afloat. I wish I could take the reins in my hand, chart my course and have a plan. I can't figure what has changed or even what is missing, all I...

Hello you!  It's been a really long time since I blogged. I think I have probably forgotten how to do write in the first place but sometimes when the subject matter is so strong, you can't stop, so here I am, plunging into the water all over again. Maybe this will signal my coming back from the forgotten bookmarks, or maybe it's a one-off thing, but I'm just going to let this play out as it does. :) Happy New Year to you too! :)  I got back from my holidays and my friends made a plan to go watch this movie on the first day of it's release in Singapore. Yup! It's been a while since I've done one of those. The second was they decided that it was high time I got introduced to The Projector ! In the last 1.5yrs since I've been in Singapore, I've never once been to The Projector. If you're from Bombay, think of how Gaiety-Galaxy look like as theatres compared to the flashy multiplexes and combine that with the vibe, character and aesthetic b...

Time is a precious commodity, One cannot have more than 24 hours in a day, Don't leave things until the last minute, Just do it, Blah blah and some more blah! I'm flying to US tomorrow. I haven't packed my bags yet. I have work that needs to get done and sent. I'm on my laptop, but..... I'm not working. I'm not packing my bags. And I'm actually writing a blog! What's more fun? I'm actually going to post the blog when I'm done to my social pages (facebook, g+) and then smile and reply to all the comments that trickle in. Because seriously, how many of my friends are awake at 3am to read my rambling? :P It's funny how at times like these, when I would've expected myself to be the practical, focused person, I'm actually behaving like a kid. Assuming that stuff will magically happen. I'll finish work before my meetings tomorrow. I'll sail through all my meetings and I'll come home, have plenty of time to do my nails, ...

I told myself this year that I'd start blogging again on a regular basis. What a better blog topic to blog about than my fun december holidays! After all the (read: three) new year celebrations that I've had in Hong Kong for the last three years, I wanted this year to be something different. Have a new experience, visit a new place, try a new cuisine, anything! And so it's not a surprise that weeks before I'm supposed to be leaving for my holiday, I find myself packing for two climates, because my friend's figured out a plan for a group of us to be in Vietnam for a short trip! :) Waiting for the long queue at the boarding gate for Vietnam Airlines The flight to HCMC is as expected, but the visa process isn't! :/ The rule for entering the country is that you are granted a visa-on-arrival provided you have a stamped letter from some registered websites. While we had that letter, we assumed that the next procedure would be to simply walk up to the counter, ...

(This post was stuck in my drafts since 2008! Horrifying really. :) I haven't made any edits to the original post) I haven't attempted to talk about Kobe sizzlers there, it's hobe which is a form of the verb "to be" :) It's just been the end of a beautiful vacation right in the middle of hectic schedules and bang in the middle of a week! We left on tuesday evening and were back on saturday morning.. that's what i call a beautiful weekday trip! Breaking the monotony, experiencing a new city, and eating some different food! Bliss! We reached calcutta around 8 pm on tuesday and we (my friend and i) took a pre-paid taxi to gariahat bus stop. We just barely managed to cross the HUGE junction circle literally crossing one road at a time much like crossing a hexagon or an octagon! :D We had dinner at this Chinese place, had soup, momo's and the likes. Then we headed towards the host's home and we sat down to gel with him, his family and his ...

Just recently I was reading my emails.. personal ones. And I sat down to reply to them. That suddenly I realized I'd fallen into such a pattern that I didn't even notice when I stopped replying to emails. I didn't notice when I stopped writing emails. My life had become a mirror of IMs and selfies and #tags and check-ins and +1s and likes... always connected *yay* but then have I lost the essence of life? Have I started thinking in bullet points? Do everything need to have a point? Are we breathing shorter breaths? When was the last time I broke into a dance? When was the last time I wrote poetry? I don't know when this change happened, the whole whatsapp craze, and don't get me wrong, I LOVE whatsapp. I love that I'm this close to my friends and family, but then again I want that to be secondary or complimentary but not solitary. And so I decided the easiest thing to do would be to write. That's simple right? You used to write, you stopped doing it, just...

Spoiler Alert: I may talk about scenes from the movie. If you haven't seen the movie, one line advice, go see it. Don't do it alone unless you're the types who watches horror movies because you think they're funny. So, the movie... For some background, I'm not a horror movie person, I haven't seen The Ring or any of those movies, no, not even the Scary Movies (though my friends tell me those are not meant to be classified as "horror"). My last actual horror movie was "Bhoot" which you'd agree was more sound effects than anything substantial. My friends insisted on me watching the interview before the movie, but I thought it would be better to not psyche myself before watching the movie and so I went in with no prior knowledge of what this was about, except that there's a family who moves into a new house and that house is haunted. The movie is excellently made. And you have to know me when I say this, because I was horribly ...

Last year in the month of October, I had the pleasure of visiting this gorgeous little country south of India called Sri Lanka with my family. We had 7 days in that country and even though we might have packed in a tad too much, the memories are just wonderful. Even though I'm going to be sharing my experiences months after, I feel they're still going to be as rich. :) We were in SL for a week and we stayed in Nuwara Eliya, Kandy, Yala National Park, Galle and Colombo. As soon as landed in Colombo, we met our guide/driver/man friday who had organized a fancy van for us to travel in. My first introduction to the fact that nearly all cars in SL are imported (kind of obvious if you know that they have no auto industry of their own!) Day 1: We were set to go to Nuwara Eliya in the evening but our first stop was going to be at the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage (90 km from Colombo). Luckily for us the elephants were having a bath in the river during this time. I know everyone...

You know that feeling when you've been sitting on things that you've been meaning to get done and you just don't get past the idea? Can you believe that the last time I posted a blog was in August of last year! And this is a year when I've done very very exciting stuff. I visited Sri Lanka which deserves a post of its own, went to US and had a wonderfully scenic drive to Monterey, spent yet another fantastic new year in Hong Kong, read many amazing books which transformed my beliefs about life, watched some insane movies which I thought I was bound to hate and in general so much of my life went by and I didn't write about it... I just lost track of my blog and got so busy with survival that I stopped living in a sense. Everyone talks about "switching off" and how one must learn to take breaks, but gosh, it's so difficult. I decided to stay away from work for a couple of days so I can get back some of my sanity but the urge to check your email, to che...

I always find the beginning of a post the hardest to write, and then I decide to just start writing and I bet by the time I'm done, I'll be the author of yet another loong post. :) This year has been fantastic in terms of my travel. Oh yes I've had some horrid experiences with transit visas but then I've learned a HELL lot from those experiences so that my next travels are a lot smoother. The US trip was special like that, because I researched and found and practically booked the flights and the hotels myself and ended up with a perfect trip. If you know me then you know that I'm jinxed when it comes to flights, tickets, dates and sometimes even online payments! But then, that's the challenge, and thankfully this time I managed to catch all my flights on time. Major win! After my Boston trip last year, this year was a totally different trip. I visited 4 cities for starters, San Francisco, Miami, New York and Boston. I think I didn't end up doing justice...