Perspectives and perceptions

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...

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...

(cross-posting from my notepad written post) Writing with a pen in hand on a wide notepad after years feels so strange. I've forgotten how to wield a pen to my wishes almost... On a side note I should probably keep writing a little bit every week to stay in practice. My plan was to spend half the day in going around Calcutta, having got a taxi to take me around I was excited about the day! My morning was beautiful. Sukanya woke me up at 6.30. Had some coffee and then got ready to leave. Hunted for this place called at Maharani to have Calcutta's famous breakfast, Kachori Subzi. To add a bit of trivia, this place is very near the guest house shown in Kahaani. V argues that Maharani serves very good Kachori Subzi and not Kuchudi Subzi (which is more bengalisized version). Grabbed that and then headed for Babughat. En route we saw Eden Garden decked up in the new face of KKR. Glimpsed at Victoria Memorial and found a beautiful cathedral, St. Pauls. Eventually turned out tha...

Frankly I have other movies to write reviews on; After Agneepath I've seen The Descendants, Ek Mein Aur Ekk Tu and The Artist, two of which I thoroughly enjoyed and want to write good reviews for (no points for guessing!) but today's movie (the one on which this post is centered) was just sooo bad that I had to write a review on it. Even though it's past midnight and you've probably never even heard of this movie before. Anyway. Taking a deep breath. I shall proceed to tell you in not too much detail about why you should NOT ever ever watch this movie! In my hall of shame, this movie is down there with the likes of Transformers 3! I mean seriously! So, Speedy Singhs (featuring Anupam Kher, Russell Peters and Vinay Virmani) I hadn't heard of the later but he's kind of cute. But that's where it ends. Story? (Haha really? You want to know?) I'm going to try and not be so sarcastic but I so badly want to. I want to stand in front of Anupam Kher and hear so...

Sitting at home, watching a great fun movie on a lazy Saturday, what could be better? Perfect life. Today I saw Chillar Party. So many months after it had released and boy what a movie! Absolutely loved it. A fun, light-hearted (though the amount of tears I shed are contrary to that), kiddy movie with a sweet purpose. It was like watching Stanley Ka Dabba only it was a lot more fun. :) Bunch of kids with nicknames staying together in a colony get introduced to a new kid who's come to wash their parents' cars. Only, this kid has brought man's best friend along with him, bhidu , an amiable stray. The kids whose team is called 'chillar party' begin to view this intrusion as precisely that and proceed to being mean to him. When one of their pranks go a little too far, they feel guilty for their mistakes, and they apologize. After that, the team has a new member, Fatka. Together they play, and they win many battles. Whether the battles were to make the kids realize the...

Yes Cricket is a religion in India, and every citizen is a devout follower. Somehow you just can't get away from it. There's no place to run to. Yes maybe you can follow other sports too, but you can't get the cricket out of an Indian. Me included. I wasn't following cricket for the past some years, except some IPL matches here and there. This world cup thanks to our office I managed to follow some matches because the enthusiasm of a hundred odd colleagues is just hard to ignore! :) I came to Hong Kong the day we played against Pakistan and I had to leave I think when half the innings was over. I came to the airport and was having my dinner while I could hear people shouting in bits and bursts! I kept asking the waiter the score, and since the airport was practically empty, after serving the few people in the restaurant, he'd run to the screen and then come back to tell us the score. And then suddenly there was this huge cheer, and I knew we'd won the semis. ...

Last night I was in a movie-watching mood. Having got many movies on my laptop which I've never seen before, I decided to take the plunge and watch this movie. My friend had titled it 'If Only - Revoltingly Romantic', obviously instead of that being a deterrent, it became a reason for me to see the movie. In the beginning I felt like the movie was going nowhere. But in the second half, as expected, I got terribly emotional and there was this huge void inside me, almost as though I'd lost someone I loved... The movie speaks about the million things that we experience in our lives everyday. Things we take for granted at times, and people whose love we don't appreciate. I know I'm being overtly simplistic in my perspective and biased because I liked the movie, but to me a movie is a message and that movie definitely conveyed a strong message to me. That of appreciation, acceptance and love. Throughout the movie in the first half, the girl is doing so many things to...

I just saw "Dead Poets Society" yesterday. And I fell in love with Ulysses - the poem written by Lord Alfred Tennyson. Reproducing the entire text here! :) Ulysses It little profits that an idle king, By this still hearth, among these barren crags, Match'd with an aged wife, I mete and dole Unequal laws unto a savage race, That hoard and sleep, and feed, and know not me. I cannot rest from travel: I will drink Life to the lees: All times I have enjoy'd Greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when Thro' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades Vext the dim sea: I am become a name; For always roaming with a hungry heart Much have I seen and known; cities of men And manners, climates, councils, governments, Myself not least, but honor'd of them all; And drunk delight of battle with my peers, Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy. I am a part of all that I have met; Yet all experience is an arch wherethro...

Well, I reached late for this movie and did regret it because it took me the better part of 20 mins to figure out why the movie looked like it did. It's shocking, gruesome even at some points, daringly different, and just managed to make me squirm in my seat at points. Technically this film is very different because it's shot completely using weird camera angles... it's made primarily on a handycam, a CCTV camera footage, sting camera videos. It's actually uncomfortable to see the movie because of these angles, jerky hand movements, and brisk cuts. The film is basically an integration of 3 stories, one each on love, sex and betrayal (dhokha)... the characters are very real, very ordinary, daily life people whom you would meet anywhere. The dialogues are what you would actually hear people talking. The ease with which they abuse, they call names, everything is very realistic. If you're the types who leads a sheltered life in your comfort zone, this is a movie that do...

After having been completely enamored and in love with the song "Uff Teri Adaa" I couldn't wait to watch the movie finally. The end emotion being, a decent watch, but could've been much better. The movie begins with a very stereotypical life of a guy (Farhaan) who's just not got anything going for him, from a landlord who's hounding him for money, to a boss who's blaming him for everything that goes wrong, to the hot co-worker (Deepika) who just doesn't know of his existence at all! The change that comes into his life, is a call, at 5 am each day, by a man who claims to be "Karthik" himself who guides him to becoming the man that he is. And voila, suddenly, the real "Karthik" begins to stand up for himself, asserts himself in front of his boss, and manages to strike conversation (a rather witty one) with Deepika too! Sitting in the audience, you literally feel like whistling and hooting when you see him walk down the corridor of his...

For days i've been thinking about what i should blog on... and then my friend took me and some of my college friends for this movie at sterling (yes we paid rs. 150 per ticket, which reminds me i need to pay her back...) so anyways we go. after the awesome reviews given by ALL the people, expectations are running high... the story is quite simple, srk is autistic and was raised by a very sensible, level-headed mother, whose acting is amazing btw... being autistic did not in any way hamper his intelligence and thus, he grew up to be quite an intelligent guy, just different. in her efforts to appreciate his smaller victories, she ends up neglecting the younger son, (essayed by jimmy shergill) and he ends up feeling left out and resented. he grows up and goes to the US and then starts the process to invite her and srk to the US. just when they're weeks away from immigrating, she dies. thus srk flies alone to the US. joins his brother's company and starts working there. during ...

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...

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...

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...

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...

There are days which shock you, days which you live like you were a zombie, days when you don't know what's happening... days when you don't want to accept reality. My closest, oldest and best friend, Avanti Desai, passed away on 23.10.2008. In a train accident at Jogeshwari station. I got to know from a friend of mine who was her colleague for quite some months... Avanti, the friend who was with me ever since nursery... went to school with, and then she shifted to Powai. This distance in fact brought us closer. Though we met rarely, we shared a strong connection. Here's what she'd written for me as a testimonial on orkut, "Ayesha is my oldest friend. Which is why I can meet her twice in a year and still call her my best friend." We shared so many beautiful moments together, it's hard to actually pick a few. Whenever I think about her, I have flashes of her vivacious smile, her warm face and her quick wit! Being well-read she was informed about everyth...

The feeling of the freshly bound book in your hands... ah! it's absolute bliss... It would be so exciting to have a room just for books.. a personal library... wooden flooring, wooden bookshelves, floor cushions and a cup of tea... even if I have only the library and none of the above, it wouldn't matter! I devour my books, madly passionate about them and rightfully so. I don't think there's anything so intensely personal as the words written in a book. In so many ways, I connect to certain traits in various characters, and in so many ways, I learn and begin to understand. Like of the characters, Sidda ( The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood - Rebecca Wells) who loves her books, I too feel, while reading a book, it is as if the author is talking personally to you. You are the audience for whom the play is staged. That realisation, that glory, and that joy is beyond everything else... My mother has been instrumental in evoking this passion for books, she read them o...

For a long time I've been thinking, there are so many little things that we notice each day. I'm going to start writing them down as each day goes by... Day 1 (Thursday) I'm on my way back from a meeting at Malad, and in the train, on one of the stations, a transgender walked in. Most of the times they're loud, garish and overtly obvious. She was different. I would call her 'she' because she was one. Graceful, beautiful and very feminine. Clad in a short kurta with pants and a duppatta, she was dressed like any tall big woman would be. Of course she didn't hold herself in the way women would, she was comfortable the way she was. I think that's what matters. Her eyes were the most striking feature of all, sharp, deep black, kind, tender and smiling. When a fellow passenger was attempting to get in, she was looking at her just like we would and she mildly reproached her. I think, with that small an interaction, not that I spoke to her, I was merely obser...

It's been just about 4 days since the rains are here! And yesterday was the first time that I got wet, willingly! :) Have you got that feeling inside you to just let go of everything that's bothering you, or that you're pondering about and you just want to feel free? The rains bring that out in me... I see them and I remember the fun I had last year, roaming about in town on the bike, and enjoying the various scenes from the seaface, the gardens and the roads... Everything undergoes a change with the season change, it's external as well as internal... This season, makes me want to cuddle up with my blanket and sleep for long hours of the day... I feel an insane urge to have hot tea and kanda bhaji... I feel like running on the wet roads... The rains bring out the child in me. :) Of course, it's flooded, all the drains are choked, it's horrible to walk amidst the filth to work, and more, but that still doesn't take away the beauty of nature, the beauty of hav...

One of the most talked about movies, one that I saw a month later than most... It's a movie, that introduces a sensitive issue to all, one for which there is no awareness, that of dyslexia. A simple story line, revolving around the life of a 9 year old boy, a character beautifully essayed by Darsheel, who has a learning disability that no one diagnoses. He's tormented and hurt by friends, school teachers and most of all by his own father. His mother and brother, try to support him, but without knowledge of his problem, they too are unable to understand him. Shunned into a boarding school, where he faces the same opprobrium, he is lost, unhappy and terribly hurt, when he meets his temporary art teacher, played by aamir khan, who diagnoses his problem and strives to help him. Through creative methods, songs, and most importantly by allowing him to express himself through his wonderful drawings, darshan soon transforms into a boy who's comfortable with himself. Knowing what he...