Video that moved me!!

Till last week, most of my close friends know I was very disturbed and depressed. I couldn’t stop myself from cursing God, to the kind of unfairness he was showing towards me. Lot of them asked me, advised me to ‘Be Positive’ and whatever happens- happens for good. None of their solace helped me to get me out of my anger, frustration or sadness. I was almost on the verge of loosing hope, when I received this video from one of my dear friend. I was about to delete it without seeing it, when something told me to open and watch the attachment. When the video started off with a ballet dance, I was in no mood to see it and was wondering what is so amazing that the subject of the Email claimed to be. Then again I observed closely, and there I saw that the lady didn’t have one hand and her dancing partner didn’t have one leg. By the end of video I started crying as if it shook my inner soul. As if God deliberately made me to see the video.

Happy Holi !

Following my daily schedule, I came online to check if any of my family members are online and nobody was there. Waited for an hour or so, but no sign of them! Having lost the patience, called on my sis’s mobile, only to hear lot of commotion on the other end. I asked why she didn’t come online today barely able to hear her, to that she yelled ‘Hey NRI, don’t you know today is Holi and we are outside, enjoying!!!’ . Listening to that I felt so sick and depressed. I could feel the smell of those Holi ‘Gulals’ and ‘Gujiyas’!! When in India, before my marriage, I avoided Holi in its full festivity for three years, because the holi colour did lot of damage to my skin in the past, but I used to enjoy the other aspect of Holi, i.e., sweets and bhaang!! For those who don’t know what ‘Bhaang’ is, it is a traditional drink, made out of milk, ghee and spices. It is said that it releases anxiety and gives energy to play Holi. After marriage, when we shifted to Bangalore, it was as good as staying in USA, cos I never used to find traces of Holi there too. Now, when I look back, its been 9 years since I played Holi with full zeal, forgetting the time till it used to be evening, drenching ourselves in all possible colors and nobody used to recognize each other’s face. Spending an hour in the bathroom, using ‘SURF’ rather than soap to remove colors from the skin. Infact the holi fever used to start 2-3 days before just like diwali. Buying colours, deciding which old clothes to wear, what sweets to be prepared and to be careful while walking down the street, don’t know when the color bomb will fall on you from one of the balconies. All my mom’s friends used to gather together along with their kiddos, and used to make Gujiyas in large scale. It used to be such fun. But with time, bad chemicals used in Holi colors, changing attitude of people, the real magic of Holi is diminishing slowly everywhere ditto with the magic of Diwali too. Due to all restrictions like air pollution and sound pollution caused due to crackers, diwali has not been like it used to be once. I don’t know if these restrictions are good or not, but these festivals are part of Hindu culture or rather I should say part of Indian culture and it should be enjoyed in its pure essence with better quality colors during Holi and better quality crackers during Diwali!! Well, whatever it is, I cannot enjoy these festivals as long as I am on foreign lands but atleast I had been there and done that. I only wish that these festivals don’t extinct away with time, as I want my kids to experience them too when we go back to India. Till then ‘Holi Mubarak’ to all the readers.

Crazy 8's

Jayashri tagged me with the "crazy 8's" so here I go!Crazy 8's8

Things I am passionate about
1. My Husband
2. My Sister
3. My Parents
4. My community in Orkut
5. My blog
6. My Sarees
7. My Friends
8. My Trips so far around the world.

8 Things I want to do before I die
1. To own a big independent house somewhere outside India and enjoy for some years
2. To own a big Independent house in India too :) and settle down there.
3. To give Bharatnatyam performance on stage again.
4. To visit all 7 wonders of the world.
5. To visit all continents of the world except Antarctica may be.
6. To get myself a small tattoo.
7. To go on luxury cruise
8. To be able to either adopt a kid or support an orphan till he grows up.

8 Things I say often
1. Good Good
2. Mast(telugu ppl will know what it is)
3. Oh Shoot
4. Hmmmm
5. Vorni(telugu ppl will know what it is)
6. Kannalu (that’s how I call my husband)
7. Oh
8. Aaakali :)

8 Books I've read recently
1. The Kiss – Daniel Steel
2. The Sky is Falling – Sidney Sheldon
3. Windmills of the Gods – Sidney Sheldon

8 songs I could listen to over and over
1. Songs of Happy Days Movie
2. Songs of Kishore Kumar
3. Hit songs of Asha Bhonsle
4. Songs of Geetanjali
5. Songs of Shakira
6. Songs of Jodha Akbar
7. Marriage song from Murari and Pelli Pustkam
8. Few songs of Chandamama

8 Things that attract me to my best friends
1. Speaking my mind.
2. My concern for them
3. Sharing everything without any secrets.
4. Can call me anytime they feel like
5. Same kind of thinking
6. They just call me and feel good about it.

Filmfare Awards - 2008

Once again thanks to Internet, got to watch the prestigious award show of Bollywood finally. Though there are hell lot of award shows, I prefer watching Filmfare Awards, of all, since childhood. Since last two shows of Filmfare, it has become a Black-Tie event, though lot of them don’t follow it, but still there’s lot of significant improvement. Just like our movies, our award shows, are full of colour, masti, lights, music and controversies!!! This year Saif-Shahrukh made a comeback as hosts after 3years. First time, when they hosted the show together, it came in the news, that it is one of best shows ever hosted with such a good sense of humour and I couldn’t agree less. This year again it was their turn, to bring out the magic which they first brought on-screen through movie ‘Kal Ho Na Ho’. This time it was a bit rude, bit loud, bit sarcasm than the last one which might have come as shock to lot of film fraternity as there were some direct attacks. I hope people take this sportively. Well as one of the ‘Aam Janta’, I would like to post some of my likes and dislikes of the show, in terms of performance, fashion, hosting, awards etc.

Likes

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• Kareena and Preity zinta looked gorgeous among all the heroines. Kareena’s sexy saree and matching earrings were simply superb.
• Among men the list is big :) . Hrithik looked smart as ever, but he seemed lost throughout the show. Ranbir Kapoor dressed well. Neel Mukesh looked dashing.
• Watching my favourite Hindi comedian Arshad Warsi having nice time laughing throughout the show. Surprised to see Tollywood hero Raja, and he seemed to enjoy the show too.
• Award going to Aamir Khan for ‘Taare Zameen Par’ as Best Director. I think this is high time Aamir should leave his promise of not attending any film awards in India other than National Awards. Though he doesnt mind attending Oscars!!
• Deepika Pandukone’s stage performance was simply awesome. It was a bit long performance but she showed immense stage confidence. Surprisingly, Vivek Oberoi’s performance was very captivating too.
• Kareena acknowledging Shahid’s effort when giving her speech accepting best actress award for ‘Jab We Met’. I never thought she would take his name after they split! That’s a good maturity she showed.
• Shahrukh-Saif performance was itself a highlight of the show. They commenting on Amitabh for not inviting them to Abhi-Ash’s marriage in a very funny way. This really requires lot of guts. Had it been in Tollywood, if any actor giving indirect comment on Chiru, there would be strike in AP!!
• Rishi Kapoor’s life time achievement award. He looked cute as ever. Dimple saying she lost her heart to him 35years back and never got back and Neetu Singh applauding for it.
• Akshay Kumar taking Nariyal award sportively.

Dislikes
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• I have to mention this first!!! Gauri Khan’s tanned look and horrible choice of makeup and gown on top of it. She looked one of the characters in ‘Men In Black’ :)
• Bipasha Basu’s hairdo and horrible choice of gown.
• Deepika Pandukone’s face didn’t match with her choice of gown either. She looked uncomfortable but her face looked stunning as ever.
• Music director of Saawariya, didn’t even tucked in his shirt in that black-tie event. At least all those nominated should have followed the rules.
• Shahrukh-Saif’s towel performance. It was too much to be digested. That part could have been omitted.
• Karan Johar’s voice. I guess he had bad throat, that part could have been transferred to somebody else.
• Akshay Kumar’s performance as finale event. I could see people getting bored by it.
• Darsheel Safary being nominated among Best actors award category. It seemed both unfair to him and other senior actor. He should have been given due recognition as Best Child actor and there was no such category at all.
• Some film technicians were not given the opportunity to speak on mike. Technicians, musicians and actors should be treated equally, everybody should get chance to express their gratitude. That is one thing that I like in Oscars which is not there in our movie award shows.
• Amitabh’s family missing. It seemed deliberate. Last year Shahrukh khan was missing. Hmm when will they all grow up.

WII - A Gaming Revolution!

I guess my blog is becoming more of sports oriented but I couldn’t stop myself from writing what I have experienced this weekend. WII, a gaming revolution. My husband has been nagging me since months (funnily he is bread-earner and I am home-maker, but I behave as if I have to spend my hard earned money [:p]) to buy this WII stuff. I was under the impression that this is again some video game which is hooked to TV and played, which didn’t raise any kind of interest to me. With price tag of nearly $350 along with the gadgets, I was no way for it.


We went to my husband’s colleague’s house this weekend ..its been ages since we went to anybody’s house this winter..so the family get-together was a welcome relief for us. Their kid was so excited about this WII game which they bought and he insisted to play that. I know even my husband was as much excited but he made sure that he doesn’t bring those expressions on his face, but I got the message..i guess its telepathy! Few minutes later my feelings were no different from my husband. More than the game I was amazed by its technological innovation. Absolutely wire-free, it so accurately catches our hand moments, as if we are playing in a real time environment. What attracted me to the WII was, unlike other computer games such as XBox, PS2 games, this ground breaking technology expects us to stand, swing and move. On contrary to my blog about Boxing, I loved boxing game in WII, because it actually perspired me and a good catch for a couch potato people like us. Moreover I was kicking the avatar choosen by my husband in that virtual environment and was having a gala time..:)). I heard some doctors too are using WII game as rehabilitation method for physically challenged people. Isnt it great!


At the end of the day, my husband was happy, not only did he get chance lo play with WII but also convinced me to buy one. On the way back home, we tried digging out all the game shop outlets, but to our dismay WII consoles are heavily sold out and are not available in the market. To my surprise, its not available anywhere online as well. I don’t understand the reason behind its non availability, is it a strategy or poor production planning. Anyways right now, we both are eagerly awaiting to make WII ours too, till then we will keep on digging all the shops.