The countdown to 2013 begins!

Namaskar friends! I am enjoying the last few days of the holiday season. Had a very good time so far. Most of my time was spent around the 3 big F's. Before you get any ideas, the 3 F's are friends, family and food. It's almost 2013 folks!

 It wouldn't be New Year's if I didn't have regrets. ~William Thomas

 



I had a good 2012, but it could have been better. I hope what I could not achieve and experience this year, will happen in 2013. My gut feeling says it will be a better year. I definitely want to lose some pounds and be more fit next year. Also, want to blog about some interesting topics, planning on taking some quality pictures and relying less on google images. My top priority is to try and make more friends. I have realised over the past few months, that I am limiting my creativity by mingling with the same, few friends that I have. I wish to make new friends, with interest in art and culture. Lets see where fate takes me. Would love to explore some new places. Wow! so much to do, just on the personal front. Then there is family, work and giving back. I hope I can spend quality time with family everyday and at work do the best I can. Volunteering is also on my mind. In that sense, my new years resolution is to break every rule that I have set for myself so far. Easier said than done? Only time can tell. For now, I am going to enjoy everyday of this year like there is no tomorrow.  BB 6 - What could be better? Nikethan is the already a finalist and Ashika is out! "Balle Balle"! Who cares if Nikethan had an unfair advantage over others in the task to determine the captain? Who cares if Urvashi deserved it more than Nikethan? I am happy. Only wish Nikethan would speak up a little. Well, now is his chance to let the public know, who he really is.

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Here is a new year song that I came across while browsing. The Song of the day is from the movie Nazrana Pyar Ka.

This is will be my last post this year folks! I hope everyone has a wonderful start to 2013. Please keep coming back and reading my blog. Leave a comment or two. It will keep me motivated.
Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right. ~Oprah Winfrey

Dabanggggg!

Namaskar friends. Salman Khan rocks!!! If you have not yet watched Dabangg 2, then you are missing some solid "paisa vasool" entertainment. This gorgeous, 5' 9", enigma called Salman Khan, can still makes girls miss quiet a few heartbeats. Arbaaz has saved the best for last with his flawless direction. Just when you think that movie is over and had all elements of entertainment in it and was well worth the watch, Salman decides to keep you glued to your seats as his greek god like body oozes out of his tailor made, body hugging crisp shirt. Yummylicious. God! This man is perfect! Sometimes so perfect, that you want to touch him to see if he is even real. With his hard work and dedication, he has managed to acquire a perfect 10/10 body. Salman is synonymous to style. Everything he does, he does it with charisma. His action scenes make you want to have a boyfriend, who can protect you from all evil, his romantic scenes make you want to have a husband like him, his emotional scenes makes you want to have a son like him, his impeccable comic timing makes you want to have a friend like him, his dance moves makes you want to stand up and grove with him.  He is every girls dream man for sure. At 47, he is drop dead gorgeous and can give every other hero, young or old a run for their money. The movie has nothing new in terms of story. Very predictable plot. Yet it is a super duper hit. Only because of one man - Salmaan Khan. He carries the whole movie on his broad shoulders. Sonakshi and Kareena are there to please the front benchers. Sonakshi's styling could have been better. Alvira Khan, who is apparently her dress designer went a little too far with those deep neck Saree blouses. The movie was a perfect choice for a ladies night out. We 4 girls loved the movie so much, that we all got together at one friends place (her husband was out of town) and watched Dabangg 1 all over again. And yes, we all came to the consensus that Dabangg 2 was even better than Dabangg 1. Imagine that! Meanwhile, the cash registers are ringing! The songs are growing on me. So, today's Song of the day is from the movie, (no points for guessing) Dabangg 2. Enjoy!

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I learnt how to make authentic Punjabi parantes today. I watched my friend make it. She made Paneer parante and pattha gobi parante for breakfast this morning for us. They were finger licking good. I will try and post pics. when I make them. And as far as BB 6 is concerned, I am liking Niketan and Urvahsi on Bigg boss 6. I hope one of them wins. Niketan is too handsome not to win. Urvashi is forthright and deserves to win for that, in my opinion. Some how, I am not liking Delnaaz. I am getting the feeling that she is fake and Rajeev, the lesser we talk about this man the better. Arrogant and foolish. Imam is there to take care of  TRP. So, I am hooked on to this show. Christmas eve, is my Dads B'day. He will turn 83. I really miss him. Got to go folks. I want to call and wish him a Happy Birthday! Merry Christmas all of  you.

The power of prayer

Hello friends. Last Friday, when the whole of America was happy because it was finally the weekend, when they could be with their families and enjoy planning the upcoming holiday season, a tragedy struck. A young autistic boy decided to go on a killing spree. He shot 28 people, including his Mom that morning. They were all students or teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. The first question that came to my mind was "Why oh why little, innocent kids?" Is there really a God? I don't have the answers to these questions. I read that the Mom of the Gunman loved guns and often took her children to the shooting range to practice their marksmanship. Aah! that explains so much. Kids pick up from their parents. Sad. NRA got to do something about the Rifle laws pretty soon. Friends, lets take a deep breath and close our eyes and pray for these good souls. RIP my dear angels. We love you! Sorry this had to happen.
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Sometimes you hear someone say, "We've done all we can. The only thing we can do now is pray."
I believe that the power of prayer is first felt inside of us.To me, the power of prayer depends on the sort of prayer that you are praying. Oftentimes people become disappointed and disillusioned when they pray to God to grant a specific outcome or desire and their "prayer" is not answered. Many people think a miracle has happened when just such a prayer results in God's bringing about the desired outcome. Its a sense of closure we get when every other trial fails. Many people at once, not necessarily located in the same place, but focusing, and praying for peace, all at the same time has some kind of magical effect. Words won't placate the pain, but prayer will. Together a lot of great things have been achieved. It is at this time we all have to value life. Thanks everybody for being a part of my journey by reading my posts. I love you all. I leave you with this Song of the day:



Chimneys

Namaskar friends. So, I read that Kate and William are having twins. Not sure how much to believe this as I read it on the front cover of a magazine when I was standing in line at the Grocery store. Feel sad for the nurse who died. Not her fault. Nobody would do this on purpose. If she would have not killed herself, she would have lived a living death. People would harass her no end. What is even more sad is that she was from my hometown, Mangalore. I really pray that the family gets the strength to bear this. Manisha Koirala has also been bestowed with some bad news on the health front. So sad. I read her request to public. She has asked us not to be sad for her. She says she has enjoyed life's gifts and is completely satisfied and has decided to move on come what may. I love her spirits. Many tbattles can be won with a positive attitude even the battle of Cancer! My strong Mom is one such example of courage and strength. She is a breast cancer survivor for close to 6 years now. I love you Mom. You have taught me such good values in life. Had a good day at work. As usual I sat down to help my younger son with homework and was surprised to see that he had to write a rap song for homework. He was struggling in the beginning, but after spending some time thinking about it, I found him completely engrossed in it and coming up with the cutest little verses that rhymed so well. He amazed me. The motivation was that the best song will be used in a rap video on the morning news at school. I really think America is the place for freedom of expression. They have got it right. Who knows we might discover a new Will Smith pretty soon. he he. The online radio station played this lovely song today from the movie Lal Dupatta Malmal Ka. I was hearing this after a long time. This song instantly took me back to college days. They don't make such songs anymore. The singers are Udit Narayan and Anuradha Paudwal. This combination of singers was deadly back then.

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Every time I read about smoke coming out of a Chimney, in books written by Enid Blyton like the Famous Five, I used to romanticize about the idea of having or even seeing one in real life. This was such a rare sight for us living in South India.

Little did I know then, that this smoke is dangerous to health and is a cause of pollution. I guess this is more to do with the Industrial Chimneys. We have a chimney at our home today. It is of high maintenance for us. Nevertheless, I like having it. I like driving around the neighborhood in the winter. So many houses have their fireplace on and its a pretty sight to see the smoke come out of the chimney. The light grey smoke spreading across the dark cloudy skies brings on a sense of calmness, giving the feeling that all people inside the houses are enjoying a warm and cosy time on a chilly winter day. Calls for some hot masala tea. Little joys of life. OK folks. Shub ratri.





Nothing much

Hello cyber friends! Long time! As much as I hate the phrase "I was busy", I have to use it today, as I did not find time to sit down and write. I can blame laziness also to some extent. Anyways, nice to be in this space again. Had a beautiful weekend. Spent Saturday afternoon outdoors with a friend, just walking around the local shopping complex, doing some window shopping. Giggled away like 2 high school going teenagers. Felt so good. The good weather added to the fun! Sunday afternoon we attended a holiday party at one of Shekar's Vendors place. It was a fun event with lot of food and nice people. Kicked of the holiday season with a bang! I have so many parties lined up for this week, both at work and with personal friends, who are more like family now. We are planning to be together for dooms day. Really hope the day will pass by without any calamities. I am not sure if I mentioned this, but a good Asian market has opened in our area. I noticed that the board in front of the store said supermarket in Hindi. Now, isn't that something! We Indians have made our mark. We have arrived! Feels good. So, I saw something at the store. A Tangerine with the leaves still on it. I had never seen the leaf of an orange tree in my life. So it was nice to see it live! Posted the pic. for you guys to also see. Came home and shallow fried Shrimp. The kids loved it. Bigg boss 6 is finally picking up some steam.

I am a meaningful, slow song freak. So, today's Song of the day is from the movie Papa kehte hain. Jugal Hansraj has that innocent face to justify the song. I know Udit Narayan as a singer is outdated. But I find myself liking his songs even today. The voice has a certain magic that works for me. Enjoy folks and Shub Ratri. Till next post. :-)

Jewellery organizer

Hello friends. Beautiful weekend, spent mostly with my own company. Its such a reward to have my own time. On Friday evening after work, I went shopping for some clothes. Found some much needed winter sweaters. I got attracted to the same old colors like black, red and grey. Bottom line is they are comfortable and I will use them more than once. :-) Saturday, after finishing all activities with kids in the morning, I sat down and spent my afternoon constructively. For the longest time, I wanted to organise my jewellery. I was thinking about the most efficient and low budget way of doing it. I came up with the idea sometime back, but finally got around to doing it on Sat. Please see pics. below.

Such a nice feeling when something gets achieved. Even if it is a small project. I love going into my closet now. Clothes and jewellery (my favorite things) both well organised. But the bad news is, my chest pains are back. Not sure what it is. I took an Advil for now. Lets hope it goes away tomorrow. Bigg boss 6 was ok. Not very exciting for the past couple of days. Hopefully "IS" will do something interesting soon! Banking on him and only him to carry this show forward. After him, Urvashi is good. I hope, in the end Urvashi wins the show. She stayed the longest and was honest and frank throughout the show. She is kind of like me. :-). I will now close with the Song of the day, a gazhal by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: Shub Ratri.