There could be nothing more frustrating than choosing a gift for the male of the species.Cosmetics ? No.Cute teddy bears?No.Nice funky imitation jewellery?No.Diamonds?No.Fancy handbags ? No.Books ? Rarely.But,still,no. PS2 ? Way out of my budget.Anyways,the male species doesn’t seem to be consistent in that either.Only maybe 99% like electronic gadgets.Unfortunately,this particular specimen belongs to that remaining 1%.A gorgeous blonde ? Yes,for him.But a big no for me.Sigh.I give up.Yaarappaa intha gifting practice-a invent panninathu ? Avan ozhiga.
Archive for August, 2007
Can we work it out? Can we be a family?
I promise I’ll be better, Mommy I’ll do anything
Can we work it out? Can we be a family?
I promise I’ll be better, Daddy please don’t
leave
Family Portrait -Album “Misunderstood” by Pink in 2002.
And i saw it just a few days back.[ What to do ? When there are only German channels on TV,and MTV is the only channel where you get to hear a little English,you start listening to that too]
Though we can’t relate to it so much,can still feel the little girl’s pain.I liked the number.Sung from the little girl’s perspective.
No heroine(He’s all ours).No going overboard with the crying(Anyone remember the “Objection” scenes in Devdas ?Ouch.).No mega super star intro scene.No fight sequences.No duet songs.No implied romance.No long sentimental dialogues[ Most of the lines are crisp.Uttered before you even figure out what was said,sometimes.].
So,why should you watch this movie ?Simply,because it doesn’t have any of the above.And still entertains.
If I had not left Hyderabad a few months earlier,I could ,very well ,possibly have been sitting at Lumbini Park on Saturday evening watching the laser show.And I might have never been alive to write this post.It scares me.But not so much as the fear that the same thing could happen to any of my loved ones.
But,we were sitting here safely in our haven in Germany.Ironically,we were watching ARR’s version of Jana Gana Mana when I opened IBN to check the news.Shocked.Stunned.If it had been any other city -Mumbai,Delhi ,I wouldn’t have been so.But this was Hyderabad.A place that I had called home for a few months.A city,in my opinion ,that was pretty safe.Sixty years of independence and this is what we have to show to the world.Tragic.
Its’ heartrending to read about wives,husbands,fathers mourning for their loss.Kids who were out just to have a good time,bandaged,paralyzed.One kid asks “Who are these people ?Why are they out to get us?” .Son,if we knew the answers earlier,you wouldn’t be here.The media is called insensitive for doing this.Give them their time to grieve in private.But,somewhere, I hope,the guys who did this,are watching this on TV.I hope ,they are at least human enough to repent.Now.
Floods.Hurricanes.Murders.War.and bomb blasts.Surely,Judgement Day is not far off.
I see I’ve been posting stuff that you could read up anywhere else..its getting boring.So ,me back to writing under the influence of brain.
My first cable car(a.k.a seilbahn) ride was in this country.And a few more followed.I still get sweaty palms when I get onto a cable car,no matter whether its a closed one or open one.At one time,when we were somewhere high up and there was this deep valley right below us,I got all nervous and clutched my better half’s hands tightly.He tried to make light of the situation and said “Look,this safety bar is not going to come off like this,ok ” ,and ,no prizes for guessing right, it did come off..I was just a little short of screaming for my life when he somehow got it back into position and well,sigh ,since then,I’m a little edgy on cable cars.Still,that didn’t deter me from taking two seilbahns this weekend.Pics follow.
The first one was pretty ok ,’cos it was kind of closed and some lovely vineyards below.A fall might have broken a few bones maybe.So I was ok with it.
But,the second one was exactly like the one where my dear better half (really,how can I still call him better after he did that,I don’t know) pulled out the safety bar.
This was just the beginning of the ride.Further down,this flat stretch of greenery deepened into another valley .And,everytime I sit in a cable car I always remember the countless gory stories of things goingwrong ,cables ripping,safety bars going off..pulleys going haywire…whew.
I’m thankful to the thousand and one Gods everytime my feet feel the firm ground again. I just cant resist the urge to throw myself into the depths whenever I am at a height.Read somewhere that that is a possible sign of Acrophobia.Hmm..
Saw this program,yesterday,on CNN.It was titled “God’s Warriors”.What a paradox !! Jeez..how could God ,who is the epitome of all that’s good and peaceful have “warriors ” ?? People who want to catch up on who and who are fighting for what in which part of the world ,and what was the reason the fights started,tune into this one.Yesterday’s was about the eternal conflict between Israel and Palestine for Jerusalem.Today’s is on God’s Muslim Warriors.Is there one place on earth thats at peace with itself ?? Sigh.
Did anyone read this ??
Quoting “Behindwoods New Bureau”
A.R. Rahman – the proud Indian he has always been, had released Vande Mataram on the occasion of the 50th year of independence and in the 60th year he came up with an album “Jana Gana Mana”.
Even though the intentions were good, he seems to have forgotten that there is a law that the national anthem should be sung in a specific way and should be finished within the stipulated seconds .And if done otherwise it is deemed as disrespect to the national anthem and could attract a sentence of a maximum of three years imprisonment. And now many people are ready to sue Rahman for this action.
“Do good, there will be none to support; do good, there will be hundreds to find fault”. How true is this statement!
ARR,thevaiyaa ??? There are somethings best left original.National anthema remix pannalaama ?? 
I haven’t heard his version yet,though.So I shall not comment on if its better than the original or not.Still,though he is a terrific music director,I really prefer to hear our national anthem as I’ve heard it all these years.
What is it with online social networking ?? It takes all the fun out of suddenly meeting an old friend,out of the blue,at a mall,staring at him,his balding patch,his growing paunch,long and hard for a while , likewise from the other side,he/she staring at you with that look of incredulity (like,really ,is that you???) and then ,after a few seconds,that flicker of recognition.Pointing fingers and saying “Hey ! Is that really you ??!!!” .I mean,nothing can beat that.Why network online and get into trouble and maybe,even get killed ? Beats me.Are 15-16 year olds so dumb that they actually can believe a profile (that seems to have Lindsay Lohan as the profile pic) is for real and go out all the way to meet such a person ?!!! Who can be blamed for that ?Play safe,all those on Orkut.Its not worth getting killed to reconnect with old friends.Might as well wait for destiny to make you two catch up .You dont’ want destiny to catch up on you ‘cos you’re trying to screw it up by trying to socially reconnect online.[Did anyone get what I meant in that last sentence? ]
[P.S : I don't know why I am in this advisory mood for a while.Bear with me till I get back to I-am-writing-under-the-influence-of-my-brain-so-this-won't-make-sense mood.Reason for rant: this.]
I’m no feminist.There has never been a need for me to be so and I am really thankful to God for that.But reading this really irks me.
Why pay 50,000 rupees to your new in-laws when you can pay 500 rupes for an abortion ?
The first thing that irked me when I read this,was that,India is being projected like this in some international news site.Rarely have I seen articles in BBC that project anything beyond the slums of Bombay or the poverty stricken people in our villages,or the Devdasis,or umpteen other customs in our country that even most of us ,don’t find acceptable.What would the outside world think of us ?They probably have this image of slums all overwhere the country,dirty roads,inhuman customs..What the heck ?Thats not my country.This doesn’t happen everywhere.This is applicable only to the poor,not to us.
But,when I read the whole article,I started to get my doubts.Is female infanticide actually happening even in upper middle classes ??!!I don’t know if the prosperous Punjabi family that is mentioned is a reality or not.But,in retrospect,I’ve heard lots of colleagues,friends ,jokingly,calculate how much they could amass through dowry.Though,most of them,in principle are against dowry,rarely do they follow it.Totally agreed,standing up to family pressure is tough.But,its your priniciples you are standing for.The easygoing attitude is totally uncalled for ,when it comes to dowry.Put your feet down firmly and say no to dowry,whether you are marrying for love or for your family.Just don’t marry for money.The sanctity of marriage is totally lost when you do that.And,who knows,little thoughtful actions by a handful of people today could be the way to saving a few female foetuses,down the line.
Why are people searching for “who is burkha dutta father” on Google ? And,why land up on this blog,for the same ??People search for weird stuff.Another one – “azhutha ezhuthu lyrics” and ,bang,it’s directed here.I agree, I don’t write great rocket science stuff but “azhutha ezhutha”aa….This blog’s after effects are pretty “strong”,I see.Anyways,as long as people have weird searches going on and land up here,I’ve no complaints.All is fair in love and google search.Vaazhga,Google!
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