I, Me, Myself or Me, Myself, I - Poll

Namaskar friends! Just read on TOI, that Cancer killed 5.5 laks in India in 2010. The deadly disease, cancer struck the strong lady, Mona Kapoor, Boney Kapoor's ex wife. She passed away recently. Sreedevi continues to enjoy being his second wife. See, how destiny plays games.I was just looking at some photographs of the funeral. Sree did not attend the funeral. hmmm. All the other bollywood stars came in full force wearing the whitest of white outfits (Washing powder Nirma). The designers must have run out of white fabric that day. he he. Another thing I found funny was that Sreeram Nene attended the funeral along with this wife Madhuri Dixit. Why on earth would he do that? He is forgetting that he is a cardiologist by profession and is happy playing Mr. Dixit these days. Has he any self respect left? On the other side of town, India's richest man and his wife, Mukesh and Nita Ambani threw a lavish party for master blaster, Sachin Tendulkar for setting a record of scoring a 100th 100 in international cricket. They hosted the party at their infamous home "Antitlia". The guest list included the who's who of Mumbai. Nice! Apparetnly, Sachin is very fond of Mrs. Nita Ambani.
It's Rohit's 11th B'day on April 3rd. He is inviting some of his friends over for a sleep over. It's going to be fun for him. I was not sure what to put in the goodie bags for 11 year old boys. Any ideas? Please leave me a comment.
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You can hate me but never be me. I'm me myself and I and you can never compare yourself to me. You cant spell awesome without me.

Some months ago, as I was blogging, my son, who was sitting next to me, noticed the title of my Blog. He corrected me saying that the title should be Me, Myself & I and not I, Me & Myself. I ignored him, thinking that he did not know what he was saying, as he was only in 9th grade. Few days ago, some of my American friends were telling me that they happened to read my blog and noticed the title of my blog. They wanted to know, if I had it that way on purpose, to catch attention or something(to be different). I was surprised! I asked them what it should be. They all unanimously agreed that the correct usage is Me, Myself & I. Sanil was correct! But I don't think I was wrong either. In India, I was taught that it is I, Me & Myself. I want you readers to please help me out. Please take the poll that I have created on the RHS of my blog. I will decide if to change the title depending on your answers. Of course, majority wins. Please keep in mind that the poll ends on June 30, 2012.

My second Bharathanatyam performance

Belated happy Ugadi friends. I had a fantastic weekend. Attended a Ugadi function hosted buy the DC Metro area Konkanis. My friend Anu and I performed a Bharathanatyam dance for the event. (See pics. below).  It went pretty well for sometime, till, in the end I slipped and fell. Luckily, it was not that noticeable as I quickly recovered and finished the dance. We also did a 5 minute Konkani Shayari which was well received by the audience. We got a few laughs. The program was recorded. I haven't gotten my hands on the videos yet. Once I get it, I will post them here. Stayed tuned.
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The Namaste Pose

The Sreeman Narayana Pose

Bhayankar close up hehe

The Garuda Pose.

I was on a high after my performance, that I decided to go for the movie Agent Vinod today, with my friend Anu. Had seen and heard so much about the movie on different media. Plus, I like Kareena a lot and think she is a diva in the true sense. I love the way she carries herself. This was the first time she was dancing a Mujra number. I had gotten addicted to the song "dil mere muft ka". So, it looked like it had all the right ingredients for a blockbuster. With great expectations Anu and I went to the theater. We reached 10 minutes late. The movie was so bad that we wished we had never reached. he he. Not sure what Saif Ali was thinking when he decided to produce this movie. I really don't see why we in India want to move away from our traditional masala movies. It is one thing to experiment, but aping the west 100% is not "being different" in my opinion. All I saw, was a wanna be James Bond in Saif as an actor and Kareena, oh well, she was there. There are so many locations, characters and twists that you are guaranteed to get confused. Anu, my intelligent friend, kept me awake by making jokes about situations and updating me on the link between the different characters (and I thought I had high tolerance for Hindi movies). Through most of the movie, they showed Saif to be a strong man. Towards the end, he shows some soft corner towards Kareena. Now for the spoiler alert - Kareena becomes bhagwaan ko pyaari , Saif gets the password to the bomb, saves Delhi and becomes a hero. (now, I did enjoy the visuals from Delhi as I had recently visited the city. They showed Palika Bazar, Connaught place and Rashtrapathi Bhavan.). Now normally, a person would be sad with the demise of a loved one. In this movie Saif  is shown to move on to another "hot" woman instantly. And it makes for a happy ending? What is the message here Mr. Sriram Raghavan? (the director of the movie). All in all a forgetful experience. The only thing that I can remember is a dialogue that Saif says. As he is shoving spaghetti down his throat  he says - Kuch paane ke liye kuch khaana padta hai. But nothing stops the team of this movie from having a success bash. Anything to be in the spotlight. This goes to show that money can buy anything, even a hit! And oh, what is up with the name of the movie, Agent Vinod? They go on to make a sleek action movie a name it Agent Vinod? What next Agent Ramu Kaka? LOL

Porn rules!

Namaskar all! Spent the evening, mostly on the phone. So much fun to talk to friends. My #1 stress buster! It's spring here, beautiful time of the year for cherry blossoms. Enjoying my drive to work through the blooming trees. Feels like I am in a movie.

No luck finding contractors for the repair of the ceiling. Still on the hunt. I have started drinking Bournvita mixed in milk since 2 days. In fact, I am drinking it as I am writing this. I have never liked milk my entire life. My doctor always asks me to drink at least 3 cups of milk a day. Now, that is a tall order. But I see how it is absolutely necessary for me to start now. My knees have been hurting a little for the past 3 months. Before it's too late, I thought I can start by drinking at least one cup per day. I am sure my bones are thanking me.
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Today, names like Sunny Leone and Poonam Pandey both know for nudity are making headline news in Indian newspapers. Can't blame the journalists. They need to sell their paper. What has happened to the taste of Indian Audience? India invited porn star Sunny Leone to participate in a TV reality show. The porn star had no connection to India. She was rich here in the US as head of her porn business. Its not like she would have a image makeover by coming to India either. Probably she wanted to expand her business with a wider audience as there is no dearth of porn starts here in the US. Bollywood soon saw an opportunity, in using her for the sleaze factor that the Indian audience craves. I was not a least bit surprised when the king of sexy movies, Director, Mr. Mahesh Bhatt appeared on the show to offer her a role in his next movie. The title of the movie aptly thought off called "Jism" meaning body. Now, Poonam Pandey used the Indian fever for the game of Cricket as her medium for publicity. She chose the sleazy route too! She openly promised on social networking sites like Twitter, that she will strip for the Indian team if they win the World Cup Cricket. Smart girl! There could not be a better event than this, when the whole nation was glued to Television and real time news. A publicity stunt that was very thoughtfully pulled off. Of course, she never kept her promise of stripping 100%. Indian public never gets it. In this competitive world both these girls have used THE MOST successful short cut method to gain popularity. Both these names have now become household names. Sunny has started the shooting of her movie. Rumors have it that Poonam Pandey is getting offers too! Indian Public, wake up and smell the coffee. It's your money that is getting wasted on untalented, fame hungry porn stars. Gone are the days of Madhuri Dixit, Sridevi, Jaya Bachan, etc. who had real talent. Indian Public is wanting skin show. Ultimately porn rules! 

When things went horribly wrong

Hello world! It was a fantastic weekend, till Sunday morning 5 AM. On Friday night, I spent time practicing a dance that I will be performing soon for a local event. Saturday morning, I spent cleaning house and talking to a dear friend. Afternoon, went out window shopping for furniture. Anu and family came over to my place in the evening. We had dinner together. Anu and her son stayed back. We talked like there was no tomorrow. At around 2:30 AM, we decided to wrap up and went to bed. We fell asleep, as soon as our head hit the pillow. Little did we know what was waiting for us.
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I am a very sensitive sleeper. At around 5 AM, when I turned over to change positions, I was awake for maybe 6 seconds. Enough to hear the sound of pouring rain. (at least that is what my brain registered at that point). Startled, I woke up and started running to look out of the window. It was not raining. So, then what was that noise? A little, frazzled, I decided to walk through the house. I first checked in the kids bedroom. All safe. Phew! that was a relief. Normally, I would have woken up my husband, but he was out of town. I checked the guest bathroom next. And what do I see? The toilet was overflowing, and the water was all over the bathroom and had come out int o the walkway, making the carpet all wet. The first thing, I did was, switch off the source of water to the toilet. Aah! I thought, everything was under control. But the sound of water that I could still hear, was louder than this over flowing toilet. That told me, that this was not all. There is something else, that was happening. With a sinking heart, I decided to go to the first level. An unpleasant situation welcomed me. There was a big hole in the ceiling of the formal living room, right under the leaking bathroom. See pic. below. I only have one side of the room. There were more patches, that I do not have the pics. for.

Water was gushing through the hole, with full force. The formal living room was completely soaked in water. It was a mess. I immediately ran upstairs and brought a bucket and placed it under the water fall. I placed dry bed sheets all over the floor, to soak the water out of the carpet. By this time Anu was wide awake and started helping me too. Together we used up at least 10 bed sheets (that's all I had). The water still kept dripping. I soon found out that the bucket had a hole, and my plan of collecting the water had failed. Luckily, Anu found another bucket.  I had a doubt that the water would have seeped into the basement too.  True to my guess, the water was dripping from the living room floor through the basement ceiling. We laid some towels there too. After around 2 hours of serious work, the water flow stopped. Phew! We were exhausted. The carpet and the rug were still wet as could be. We had reached a point, where there was nothing else we could do. I am still waiting for everything to dry. Now, there is a big gaping hole in the ceiling staring at me. Also, the water has flowed down walls. The paint of the walls are wet. A lot has to be fixed by contractors to get it back in shape. I plan to start looking for a contractor tomorrow. Till then no one uses the guest toilet. Since, we had guests, we had decided to use the guest toilet. The flush was not working properly. I was just looking at the positive side of this adventure. What if, I had not woken up at 5AM? I shudder to think. All things happen for a reason. Some unexpected losses are bound to happen in every one's life. Life has to go on. Like they say, what  doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. 

Modern day solution to couple fights

Namaskar blog dosts! Finally, after 4 long months Beti B now has a name. "Aaradhya". I am not quite liking it. As long as the Bachans like it, what else matters. Guess what this name means? It means "one who is worth worshipping". I expected something like this tough. A traditional name, which speaks for itself. After all, the Bachan's are all about themselves. Correct?  Still having a slight headache today. A good day otherwise. My heart skipped a few beats, when Sanil did not come home on time. He was a good 3 hours late. Apparently,  he got selected in the school Tennis team and was playing a match, which their team lost. :(. At this time, I am glad that he is home safe.
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After 19 long years of marriage, I cannot count how many fights I have had with my husband. Just this past weekend, we were fighting about when to buy the much needed furniture for our living room. I wanted to buy it now and he wanted it 2 months from now. We were fighting over a non issue. Really, what difference does it make?  In the heat of the fight we were blinded to the fact that both of us agreed upon buying the new furniture. When couples fight, both people feel that they are right and in the process become too stubborn and refuse to give up.

In every argument there are 2 sides. If both parties continue to argue their point, then there is no end to the argument. After analysing the innumerable fights that we have had over the years, and heard about the fights that some close friends have shared with me,  I have come to the conclusion that couples argue to be appreciated and recognised. Once, we understand this basic need, I think the next plan of action should be for one of us to pause for sometime and listen to the other. it's easier said than done. Personally, this blog has helped me a lot. Putting my thoughts down when these challenges happen is a great way to relieve my emotions. They say, not to wash dirty linen in public. But for me, sharing grief with close friends is half the sorrow. Also, when your share, the friends tend to open up a little too. It's a nice feeling to know that you are not alone.  In any relationship, communication is the key. This has been my experience. These days the fights between my husband and I are very minimal.  Do you want to know the secret? Personal Laptops. We mind our business! There are times when we have communicated over Instant Messenger. Modern day solution. Try it!

Uff! these headaches...

How are my dear blog friends? Participated in too many activities over the weekend. Yes! I played Holi for the first time yesterday. Here is proof.

At the end of the 2 hour fun, it was impossible to recognize who's who. Can any of you recognize me? We did not play with colored water as it was very cold. Although it was good fun, I don't think I want to do it again. The cleaning up after, is too much work! So, Vidya Balan is back in the news. This time for her stupendous acting in the movie "Kahaani". She is being compared to the great actor Aamir Khan when it comes to choice of scripts. Nice! 

                 I had to help Sanil with a project today. I recorded him cooking "fajitas". It was very stressful, as the delivery of his speech had to match the shot. At the end of  3 hours we had it ready. I was so proud of him. He learnt to edit videos by himself pretty quickly. Lets hope he gets a good grade. Unfortunately, I ended up with a severe headache. I tried to sleep, but could not fall asleep, so I thought I will blog instead. I hope this de-stresses me. 

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Nearly everyone gets a headache at some point. I mostly get tension headaches. The reasons could be many. Dehydration, loud music, change of routine, over eating, starving, too much sun etc. The headaches I get start out as very dull aches. If at this time, I do not take medicine, they turn into migraines. Call me old fashioned, I hesitate to take medicines. My mom has trained me to fight small issues without medicine for the fear of losing the ability to heal naturally. This advice has stuck with me. So here I am now, with a throbbing headache. I have learnt to live with these tension headaches now. I have to get a good nights sleep for the headache to completely go away. In the past, applying a topical balm  like "Amrutanjan" to my temples used to give me temporary relief. However, these days, I need a stronger smelling balm like "Tiger Balm". The authentic "Tiger Balm" is only available in Dubai. There are numerous imitations available all over the world now, none that can come close to the original . My husband is a big fan of these balms too. He tends to get migraines very often. We have many bottles of these balms all over our house. If there is a table, you can bet that there is a bottle of balm on it. It is really amazing how aroma therapy is so soothing. But then there are some odors like that of the smoke from cigarettes, gasoline etc. that cause headache and nausea. The brain works in strange ways. OK, folks, I am going to bed now with the thought that tomorrow will be a better day. :) 

"Rang aur Bhang ki mast"

Kem cho? Mazaa ma? So, Vidya Balan had a clean sweep this year winning all the awards including the national award. Well, I think she deserved it more for her daring to take up such a bold role in the movie Dirty Picture. Her acting was beyond excellence too! Good job Vidya. Finally, Bollywood is offering women centered roles to heroines. An average day today. Sometimes a person just grows on you. That's exactly what is happening in my life these days. When I first met her, did not quite get along, thought she was just not "my" type. But the more I interact with her, the more I am understanding her. In fact, I look forward to meeting her now. Isn't that something? Moral of the story - Do not jump to conclusions about anyone. Remember the mongoose and the snake story?
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Happy Holi friends! The festival of colors is finally here. Bye,bye winter. Hello, Spring! Mention the word Holi to any spirited North Indian and it brings a big smile to their face. To them its a vibrant festival, the joys of which has no bounds. This is one festival, that I have never understood or participated in, so far in my life. What is the big idea of getting wet and getting all covered by colored powder? As, I understand, this is done in order to break all barriers of discrimination so that everyone looks the same and universal brotherhood is reaffirmed. One simple reason to participate in this festival. A beautiful thought indeed! Holi as we know, is associated with raaslila, the dance that Lord Krishna carried out in Vrindavan with his devotees known as gopis. Holi comes from the word "hola" which means to offer prayer to the almighty as thanksgiving for good harvest.
     Holi to me means "rang aur bhang ki masti". Rang means color and Bhang is a natural intoxicant. Bhang adds a kick, but an overdose can take the fun out of your Holi. Everyone wants to be the first one to apply color to the other. Since both men and women take part in this festival, it constitutes to be a very sexy event as loved ones drown each other with "gulal" - colored water. Sweets are distributed to people who come across colored powder. Sometimes people act a little irresponsibly as they are high on "Bhang". So we hear people wishing each other not only a fun Holi but also a safe Holi. Temples are beautifully decorated with the idol of Radha placed on swings. Devotees sing devotional songs. I plan to play Holi this Saturday at the local Durga temple with some of my friends. There is a first time for everything. "Holi Hai"! 

Life unfair?

Vanakkam friends. Beautiful weekend with friends, friends and friends. Some great conversation, food and dance. Loved it! One thing I realised today. It is really easy to do free style dancing, but classical dance requires a lot of practice. As I was dancing I had a thought. If classical steps are used in contemporary Bollywood songs, it might give birth to a new form of dance that might be a hit. Shhh! I am trying something, that I cannot share with all you just as yet. I promise I will share it by the end of this month. So keep reading. *************************************************************************
As you all must have noticed, reminiscing is one of my favorite activities. In one such conversation with a good friend, I was introduced to the following ghazal.

This is a ghazal from the movie Ahista Ahista. Soulfully rendered by Bhupinder Singh, the music was by Khayyam and the lyrics by Nida Fazli. This song has also been sung by Asha Bhosle. I like Bhupinder's version better. The first 2 lines of this ghazal caught my attention.

kabhi kisi ko mukammal jahaan nahin milataa
kahin zamin to kahin aasamaan nahin milataa

I could not completely understand what these lines meant, for I did not know the meaning of the word "Mukammal". I knew what to do. Google zindabad. :). "Mukammal" is an Urdu word which means "complete". Aah! So, what the lyricist is trying to convey here is that everybody does not get everything in life. Not everybody is 100% satisfied. What a poetic way of saying it!

           I recently finished reading a book called "The Secrets" by Rhonda Bryne. This book was  a book recommended by Oprah Winfrey on her show. In this book the author talks about how positive thinking can eventually give us what we really want. For example, if I want to get promoted and I think everyday, that I WILL get promoted while doing my job at work, I will eventually get promoted. Hmm, I could not digest that easily. If that was the case, why is poverty still existing? Why are people still sad? Does not make sense. In my opinion, while positive thinking can keep you optimistic and happy, it cannot give you all that you want. In the above ghazal it clearly says nobody can have both the sky and the earth. If they did, they would be the creator - God himself. So, why don't we always get what we want? We deserve it! After all we live only once. Isn't it? If anyone has the answer please leave a comment.

Cham, cham, chama cham cham

Namaskar friends! AWESOME day again! I attribute it to great friends. Let's hope nothing changes in this department forever. Today, I want to write about something that interests me a lot. It is surprising how I have never mentioned my love for jewellery in any of my posts so far. Yes people, if you ever want to give me a gift, any piece of jewellery from any part of the world is very welcome.:) ***********************************************************************************

Most Bollywood  movies from the late 1980s to late 1990s had at least one scene where the heroine tries to attract the heros attention using the sound of her anklet. Just check the video for one such song from the movie Bade ghar ki beti. Yeah, I am influenced by Bollywood BIG time. Payal is the Hindi name for anklet, the bracelet worn around the ankle. Payal is an important part of Indian culture. Traditionally. it is worn by a bride when she first enters her husband's house to announce her entry with the Cham, chama, cham sound of the bells in her anklet.  My Mom presented me with a silver payal when I got married. See Pic. below. (yeah, they are my feet:))

 In India girls mostly wear silver anklets as gold is considered to be the metal of the gods. It is considered disrespectful to wear gold on the lowest part of the body. An anklet usually has small bells that make a very sweet noise while walking, thus drawing attention to the wearers feet. Now-a-days, anklets can be found in variety of styles. Anklets made of sterling silver, gold, beads, semi precious and precious stones, oxidised, enamel paint etc. Anklets can be chosen to match outfits also. Please see pics. below for my collection.:)

Today, women might have progressed, but their love for jewellery still remains.  Payals are still one of the most important fashion accessories of modern Indian women. Girls today wear it on one ankle. My love for jewellery will remain forever. When I die, I wish to be buried or cremated with my jewellery. No jokes.