Sunday, October 25, 2009

New York ...my dream










This is where I wish to be sometime in the next two years .. No no, not acting or film making , but photography ...also NY to a good extent ..I simply love that city ... never been there .. but dream about ..Its not the dollar that interests me , but just the buzz and culture of that city ..

heres a funny take about NY .. found it on FB

1.You say "the city" and expect everyone to know that this means Manhattan.

2.You have never been to the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building.

3.You can get into a four-hour argument about how to get from Columbus Circle to Battery Park at 3:30 on the Friday before a long weekend, but can't find Wisconsin on a map.

4.Hookers and the homeless are invisible.

5.The subway makes sense.

6.You believe that being able to swear at people in their own language makes you multi-lingual.

7.You've considered stabbing someone just for saying "The Big Apple".

8.The most frequently used part of your car is the horn.

9.You call an 8' x 10' plot of patchy grass a yard.

10.You consider Westchester "upstate".

11.You think Central Park is "nature."

12.You see nothing odd about the speed of an auctioneer's speaking.

13.You're paying $1,200 for a studio the size of a walk-in closet and you think it’s a "steal."

14.You've been to New Jersey twice and got hopelessly lost both times.

15.You pay more each month to park your car than most people in the U.S. pay in rent.

16.You haven't seen more than twelve stars in the night sky since you went away to camp as a kid.

17.You go to dinner at 9 and head out to the clubs when most Americans are heading to bed.

18.Your closet is filled with black clothes.

19.You haven't heard the sound of true absolute silence since the 80s, and when you did, it terrified you.

20.You pay $5 without blinking for a beer that cost the bar 28 cents.

21.You take fashion seriously.

22.Being truly alone makes you nervous.

23.You have 27 different menus next to your telephone.

24.Going to Brooklyn is considered a "road trip."

25.America west of the Hudson is still theoretical to you.

26.You've gotten jaywalking down to an art form.

27.You take a taxi to get to your health club to exercise.

28.Your idea of personal space is no one actually standing on your toes.

29.$50 worth of groceries fit in one paper bag.

30.You have a minimum of five "worst cab ride ever" stories.

31.You don't notice sirens anymore.

32.You live in a building with a larger population than most American towns.

33.Your doorman is Russian, your grocer is Korean your deli man is Israeli, your building super is Italian, your laundry guy is Chinese, your favorite bartender is Irish, your favorite diner owner is Greek, the watchseller on your corner is Senegalese, your last cabbie was Pakistani, your newsstand guy is Indian and your favorite falafel guy is Egyptian.

34.You're suspicious of strangers who are actually nice to you.

35.You secretly envy cabbies for their driving skills.

36.You think $7.00 to cross a bridge is a fair price.

37.Your door has more than three locks.

38.Your favorite movie has DeNiro in it.

39.You consider eye contact an act of overt aggression.

40.You run when you see a flashing "Do Not Walk" sign at the intersection.

41.You're 35 years old and don't have a driver's license.

42.You ride in a subway car with no air conditioning just because there are seats available.

43.You're willing to take in strange people as roommates simply to help pay the rent.

44.There is no North and South...

45.It's uptown or downtown.

46.When you're away from home, you miss "real" pizza and "real" bagels.

47.You know the differences between all the different Ray's Pizzas.

48.You're not in the least bit interested in going to Times Square on New Year's Eve.

49.Your internal clock is permanently set to know when Alternate Side of the Street parking regulations are in effect.

50.You know what a bodega is.

51.You know how to fold the New York Times in half, vertically, so that you can read it on the subway or bus without knocking off other passenger's hats.

52.Someone bumps into you, and you check for your wallet.....

53.You cringe at hearing people pronounce Houston St. like the city in Texas

54.Film crews on your block annoy you, not excite you.

55. People from other states cant tell a polar bear from a peanut, but they know you're from NY the second you open your mouth.

56. When you are able to make a right turn at a red light.. you think it's the best thing ever.

57. Rather than waiting safely on the sidewalk to cross the street, you wait inches away from speeding traffic waiting to cut through it.

58. Your local news is national news.

59. You walk a mile in 13 minutes and think that everything should be open 24/7.

60. You know who Dr. Z is...

61. You think you know better than everyone else in the world.. when in reality.. well.. you do.

62. Yellow light means speed up.

63. Red light means speed up because you know have that 1 second pause until the other light turns green.

64. Communicating with people on the road only takes one finger.

65. You order your dinner and have it delivered.. from the place across the street.

66. You cross the street on a greenlight, and if you get hit by a car you blame the driver for "not watching where they're going.

67. You can tell a gunshot from a firecracker and not get scared, but when you go to the burbs you get scared of hearing a cricket.

68. You know the lights above the skyscrapers is the closest thing we have to stars.

So ,NY here I come ..(atleast a year to go ..sigh )

and then there was light



I live in a strange country.. where people change the time in their clocks for 6 months ?? u gotto be kidding ..This is what my mum said when I told her about Day Light Saving hours of UK .. Well I had to explain all about the season/weather and the rest of package over a long international call and boy she gives me that statement after listening to every bit of it.More of DST here ..It very interesting though , considering the fact that in India we still follow only one standard time ,when technically we need 2 standard times , guys think about it ..

So now ..I am five and half hours behind IST..its a little strange ..actually last night ,during by bouts of insomnia(yea I am officially declaring that as a disease in my life now) when I was about to sleep , I noticed that the time on computer was an hour behind the time on the mobile...I freaked out for a moment and my quick grey cells however comprehended what happened immediately though..I just hope my flatmate did not hear me laugh at at that hour.When I was looking up for information about DST for UK I remembered abt US and its 4 different time zones ... huh ..and I found this as well ...

Saturday, October 24, 2009

sleep ... for an insomniac ...

No no no .. am not talking about the movie I had mentioned earlier in my blog here .. I am talking about me .. its 0345 in the morning and no sign of sleep yet ..lemme see ..have been avoiding caffeine after 4pm these days .. been more or less working hard enough to physically be so tired that I can hit bed by 2300 max..that hasnt happened since like Adam now ...people ..please please help me ... kuch bhi chalega ... actual ''Health tips'' (read that as beauty tips too - my dark circles are finally appearing ) ..tips from the kitchen counter, grandmas little precious advice .anythng ...I want sleep ...I need to sleep ...and what have I been doing not sleeping so far ... well ...listening to loads of music ... checking out few photography tips from an online course that I have enrolled for,free of cost ..mother of God ..I am a student ..dont frown ...I am not into information piracy ..downloading music ...not sure if piracy thingy applies here .... and researching loads of information about Edward De Bono .. actually working on a little project about him ... My Business Communication professor is mightily impressed with me and gives me this task ..I am kinda enjoying it .. More about Mr.De Bono here great great man ....I am sure you guys will agree ..

P.S : Gautam , chk more about him , will be very useful in GD sessions ..

Friday, October 23, 2009

radio time again people ..

My God .. its been over a month that I scribbled something ... I cannot cannot say I have nothing to talk about ..I cannot either say that I was too lazy or too busy .. but I just did not blog .. thats the long and short of it ..ok lemme list out things that have happened while I was away..

  • The weather,rather the season has changed ..its not summer anymore and cold is creeping in real fast ..
  • The sunset happens as early as 6 pm now ,instead of 9 or 10 pm.
  • I have finished reading half a dozen books..( Gautam , cant help it,I am so born only to talk,be lost in music and read books)
  • I have a flat mate.
  • The flatmate is a guy..before any further ideas rise in my dear friends minds ..he is my friends fiance...
  • I have a membership in another popular library in the city ..YAYYY time
  • There is a BOOK festival happening all month in Birmingham and I have already attended couple of events ;attending just one more on 28th of this month...
  • I visited London twice (love the city...will need another post to write about that folks).
  • I visited a place called Stafford... thanda..
  • Got a new haircut.
  • Been watching loads of movies.
  • Despite people debating on how interesting or how boring it is, LOOVVVED Love aaj Kal.It is so my kind of movie.No drama.no strings attached.
  • Been cooking lasagne pretty often.Guess the winters showing its effects in my kitchen.
  • And the wierdest of things is, havent clicked a single pic in the last 3 weeks ..this is so not me ..
  • Been talking to Gops,Hasani ,Chicken legs a lot more than I used to before.
  • Playing Farmville on FB with a little less interest.Well I am busy doin all the above (except my flatmate and photography .. ahem )
ok children .. will be back very soon .. no more of sabbatical ...momma is backk ...

and BAAP of all the news is I am a radio presenter again ... yup .... yippppeee time ..

Thursday, September 3, 2009

being a farmer ..


I am so hooked to Farmville on FB .. if you havent checked it so far .. do right now .. its kinda cute .. and Gautam .. mafia wars ??? dude .. war in the virtual world as well ?? I am officially inviting you for a day out on my farm .. come and visit life ( okay ,, thats a bit of drama )..but what the heck . I AM THE DRAMA QUEEN ...

my new home ..



Its the first time that I rent a flat on my own ...I was scared , excited ,happy,heavy hearted , all at the same time ..the flats good ... am looking for a room mate though ...no this is not an advertsiement .. but what the heck if you know someone who wants a neat freak,talkative,happy-go-lucky kinda room mate .. lemme know .. cos thats me ...
Alrite ..coming back to my new home .. damn the houses here ..they are made of wood ..and they squeak and creak at any and everytime of the day or night .. that is scary ..I am bit( ok a lot) scared of sleeping or being alone ..I know I know .. thats sad .. but hell I never had that kind of situation , I mean I have stayed away from my family and worked in a different city ,but I ended up living with my cousin...Oh I miss her too .. Channu baby ..I do miss you ...ok .. coming back to me ...last night I stayed alone .. my friends here insisted I stay back at their place , where I lived for almost a month..but I decided, it is TIME to grow up ..and I have to ,have to do this ..so I pack my handbag ,my toothbrush and other important stuff and march to the new house.Its good .. Its about 8 pm ..ok fyi,in UK ,this time of the year , the daylights on till 9 pm and later as well .. so its all good so far..I get comfortable ..take a long shower and make myself some dinner ..and then it hits me .. OMIGOD .. I wanted to go back to my friends .. but I stayed on ..started reading Biography of Kate Moss ... not happening .. switched to Chicken soup series .. little better ... back to being scared ...pick a book on communiation skills .. what the heck ..
Then it stuck me ... YOUTUBE.... yayyy ... I log on ..and guess what... I end up watching Tom and Jerry series for a while .. and yea pretty much slept peacefully , although the creaky wood and the pouring rain did create havoc for quite sometime ... Kudos to all you people who live alone and for people who wish to be alone .. how the hell do you do that ....

Happy in 2 minutes ...


that time of my life when am back to slurp and suck the Maggi noodles , only I dont like it so much now .. as in I am actually a big fan of Top Ramen .. ok for people who do not undertand the semi technical jargon in the above typed stuff .. Maggi and Top Ramen are two most popular instant noodles brands in India (and in lot of other places)..that was a compulsive disclaimer to hide my ignorance..


Maggi was introduced to the curious kids and eager-to-be adults during my growin up years with a lot of hooplah by our folks .. I mean the sight of yellow colored pack claiming noodles.. (vegetarian in my case ) and 2 minute noodles to be precise enthused lot of drama back then .. as in we kids actually used to debate on is it possible to cook them in 2 minutes ??


I belonged to the lower middle class family ..and spending couple of rupees for a pack of instant food ,though popular was not my family's or my parent's cuppa tea ... ''There is sambar and rice waiting for you'' is what my grandmother would greet us with , when my brother and I came home after long sweaty ,tiring day after school.I could smell the eternal aroma of Maggi cooked next door..and however disappointed I would be cos that wasnt from our kitchen I would just smile and gobble up the sambar rice made and properly mixed by either grandmother or my mom ..If we were caught disappointed because of the same food choices (sambar+rice or rasam+rice) we would be treated with papads.. the crispy papads would uplift our 10 and 5 yr olds moods and we would be happy again ..It is such a great feeling of nostalgia and gratitude when I look back and remember those times ..its been over 15 yrs now...and Maggi still exists in our lives .. I know am goin wee bit emotional and sentimental here ... but it so truly is that moment for me ...I am staying alone , away from my family and friends..and you cannot imagine how happy I was when I was shopping for groceries the other evening.All the spices from India (Made in Ahmedamad,India) stacked up neatly on the shelves and carrying price tags of 0.79p-£1.09 ..it was very very heartening ...and I bring home Maggi , 4 of them infact , Veg masala , chatpata(thats tangy in English) and tomato flavors ...I thought I would miss home a little lesser ..guess I was wrong .. I not only remember my recent times in India but all the good old times .. only, they are making me happy today ...

Sunday, August 23, 2009

kamina vishal ...



I wake up and realise , if I were in India I would be surrounded by all the fun and joy about the festival Ganesh Chaturthi.I miss that..I would be part of an hour long puja,worshippin the Indian elephant God..Lord Ganesha ... I miss that ...the day would have started with more than couple of hours in the kitchen preparing the best of food and sweets( read puliyogare,payasam,kudumulu,undrallu) to be offered to the Lord..I miss that too ...now I am in the distant land of angrez..having just wished my family back in India about the festival and moving on with my daily chores ,, well this being sunday ..and me being alone , the most important chore on hand is killing time.. killing you might ask ...as in my friends and roomies are out visiting their families in London and I preferred staying back as I have a real early day tomorrow.
So what do I do ...I come to my personal space , my blog and am listening to latest music , as my brother was raving about Kaminey .The movie would have anyway caught my eye because of its director ,Vishal Bharadwaj, who is incidentally a music composer turned a director ..I love his music and I love his movies as well .....I first heard his music from Maachis and was totally mesmerised .. The man is a genius ...and he went on to surprise the Indian movie industry by making a movie called Makdi , supposedly for kids , but that was one of the best if you are looking for A grade stuff from a debutante director.. well I will move on to Vishal rather that movie ...and then came the real stuff .. the man adapted Shakespearan work to Indian screenplay and churned out Maqbool (also known as Mia Maqbool) and Omkara ..The former is based on Macbeth and latter on Othello ..I mean he is a combination of everything I love on this planet .. music,movies and literature ..only someone who must have swimmed in Shakespearan work can make something on the lines of these movies ...Maqbool was ruthless in depicting how the obsession for power can destroy lives and love ..Othello goes to another level..where it shows how a man can destroy his own love ...I read somewhere that Othello had to kill Desdemona otherwise his love for her could have killed him ... for Gods sake how dark is that ...but surprisingly when you watch the movie you do not hate anyone .. thats the beauty of Vishal's direction...I hope you guys have watched the movie... other wise all this is gonna look and sound completely alien ...

Well comin back to my sunday ..as I could not and have not watched Kaminey yet, I just sat down to listen to the songs ..and I go back to the soundtracks of Maachis and travel back to Kaminey .. The long and short of the already written long post is the music ..of course ..:-) .. if you have not listened to any of his works .. I beg you ,on my knees here.. please do ...I can bet you will not find his kind of music anywhere else ( Maqbool was little experimental ) but ,Maachis , Hu tu tu (both directed by Gulazaar ) , Omkaara and now Kaminey has such soulful music , I mean the tracks actually linger on .....and the best part is the singers are people who are lost in the crowd of Bollywood and have not got their due credit yet . I mean listen to Suresh Wadkar , Rekha Bharadwaj ....but alas .. our industry still goes gaga about a particular Alka yagnik , but somewhere leaves behind a Sadhna Sargam and Madhushree ...These singers are far superior compared to so many kings and queens who are ruling just because the big bosses of Bollywood decide on their careers .. but thankfully once in a while there is someone like Vishal Bharadwaj who brings out the best out of unknown yet best talents..


You can check out these tracks to actually agree with me ...
O saathi re - Omkara - I would give it 100 stars on 10
Paani Paani re - Maachis - Latas magic all the way
Tum gaye sab gaya - Maachis - Hariharan
Chappa chappa - Suresh wadkar , Hariharan etc ( check out the lyrics .. to die for )
Itna Lamba Kash lo yaara - Hu tu tu
Jhin mini ,rone do - Maqbool

So .. Happy Ganesh Charurthi to one and all .May Ganesha bless you with everything you wish for ..

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

lazy lazier laziest





I am the worlds best contestant and the only winner for all of these today .. its like I have not had shower .. was reading one of Chicken soup series that I borrowed from the library (yayyy , free membership) .. my roomie makes some eatable kind of food .. and I thanklessly frown at that and have some ready to eat noodles ( worst I have ever had ) , been online now for coupla hours talking to my best friend Gops .. hes at Oz now .. simultaneously attending calls ... replying mails...missing class at university .. watching tv ...listening to CASCADA..evacuate the dance floor .. oooa ..ooao ..awesome track .. I wanna hit a club ..of course this weekend !!!

Monday, August 17, 2009

not hype ..this one .

all this hooplah about Shah rukh khan being detained , well I kinda missed all that news .. but now I read a blog saying something on the lines of grow up Mr.Khan ...grow up? duh ... the blogger is one Ms.De ,who criticised the entire thing saying it was done for publicity. Accepted the Federal Information minister ,Ambika Soni went a tad overboard in saying that every American would be frisked.. but what happened to the so called well informed,socially responsible Madame De . Unless things like this get noticed thousands of Asians are gonna be treated like this forever.I am not saying there is no terror prowling around. In fact I hail from a city in India which has forever made headlines for communal riots and recently ISI activity ..But come on guys , if we dont stand up for our people , who else will ...