chickichik all the way - strictly for women

So last week i caught up with a list of movies... and like my post header suggests strictly chicky rom coms. The list as you can see above with the movie posters. So i will give a quick short review of each of these movies -

Bridesmaids - It's funny, it's typical but aren't all rom coms :) it's about two childhood best friends. one of them is getting married and so the other is asked to be her maid of honor and enter the bridesmaids and that's where it all begins. the maid of honor and one of the bridesmaids - the bride's fiances boss's wife..phew.. they start competing with each other as to who is the brides best friend. personal life disasters, joblessness, love found with a cop and finally it all ends with a perfect patch up between the two best friends. It always a happy ending but that's what makes it so exciting every time because we girls like to live in that perfectly romanticized world of ours. Touted as the Chick version of Hangover, i don't think it is anywhere close to that but its worth a watch anyway.

Crazy, Stupid, Love - I kept procrastinating on this one. In spite of hearing good things about this movie i somehow never felt like watching it all this while. Finally i did and it was quiet a fun watch. It's a Steve Carrell, Julianne Moore and hold your breath Ryan Gosling movie. Phew Ryan Gosling is hot or what. yes he is a bit too metro sexual for my liking in this movie specifically his styling and stuff but charming or what???? Mind blowing and hot. It's a typical Steve Carrell movie i feel, he is perfect in those losers gone wild kind of roles. But is a fun watch none the less.

Spread - Finally long pending, a 2009 movie, i had missed it when it had released. Ashton Kutcher movies - somehow i couldn't stand him earlier but over the years i have come to like most of his movies and therefore make it a point to watch all of it. Something about him is charming. Even though i think the movie does not have very great ratings and did not do too well but my friend Wittke had loved it and i knew it that if she liked it i would because our choices of romantic movies are just so similar and i wasn't disappointed. So well yes it was not the typical, everything is happy and gay at the end kind of a romantic flick but i really did like it only maybe because of the way it ended and because it wasn't after all so typical. All the way till the airport sequence it was perfectly in sync with any other rom com but then the last 10 minutes changed it all and it was superb.

Midnight in Paris - A Woody Allen movie, either you like his movies or you don't. and i love most of his movies except a few. And i love the way he makes you fall in love with various cities. In this one as is obvious from the title it's Paris. Oh how beautiful the city looks that you wish you were there that very moment. I loved the movie. Owen Wilson is fun as usual, i never mind a movie with him in it. Some how the concepts that Woody Allen comes up with are always interesting rather than the run on the mill stuff. This movie is about an engaged couple who have traveled to Paris and while they are there they discover the fact about their relationships. Both conceive a life different from the one they have together as better but they have been living in denial. From the start you figure somehow they just don't seem to fit well together but eventually figure where they stand in the relationship. It's a fun watch and i would not typically put this in chikichik only as this one has an appeal the men as well i think.

So well it was all in all a week well spent on some fun movies. Will definitely recommend catching up on all the above at some point.

Images courtesy: Google

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - John Boyne

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was one book i picked up because i had seen the movie minus the end of the movie and i quiet liked the movie of whatever i had seen and wanted to know where it finally went.


The book ended up being a simple read. It's from Bruno's point of view, the child who is oblivious of holocaust and the fact that his father served the Fury (Hitler). He had his own point of view to everything happening around him. Not understanding the seriousness of what was going on around him, He was happy in his idea of the world being perfect. He had to move with his family to Poland due to an assignment his father was put onto and that's where he meets his new friend on the other side of the FENCE Shmuel. Bruno wants to become an explorer when he grows up and since in this new place he does not have much to explore within the house he ends up venturing outside and begins a journey with Shmuel. While Bruno is his age and is innocent and unaware of everything going around him, Shmuel is that much more grown up after having seen the various atrocities and life changing events as part of a Jewish Family. Ironically they both share the same date of birth but still aged so differently.


From then on the book is about their relationship, about things that Bruno discovers but never understands and somehow the way the book ended completely took me by surprise and since i had not seen the end of the movie i was no where near expecting it. it shocked me, made me sad and wished it would end some other way but in the end when i think about it I guess the story ended just perfectly right. Any more than this i would give away the story :)


The movie also ended up coming again on one of the English movie channels last week after i was done with the book and so it was perfect timing and i have managed to complete both the book and the movie perfectly in sync.

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Happy Diwali :)

I found this picture on my FB. Apparently an image released by NASA. This is how India looks at night on Diwali.. it looks so beautiful. So i thought i would share this and wish all of you a very very happy diwali. May this year be a happy and prosperous one for you and your family.

It was a perfect Diwali for me spent with parents here at Noida. Even though i did miss my husband in all of this but nonetheless spending diwali at home has its own joys. all the mithai and various pakwans you get to eat just makes it so much more happier :) some fuljharis, some anaars, Saree, some photographs - all in all the day has ended on a perfect note.

Surprisingly this Diwali at least in and around my colony seemed to have been a lot more calmer than the previous years. Very few people were bursting crackers, instead even boys who get the most excited about crackers were happy with their anaars, chakris and fuljharis. All the kids here apparently are getting immensely influenced by their teachers at school who are teaching them the ill effects of bursting crackers and other fireworks. Glad at least some good sense has prevailed into people specially kids.

On that note, enjoy the holiday season everyone. Lots of love to all.

Image courtesy: Facebook

The Dewarists - I'm in love

Finally there is some original content on TV to watch. Something beautiful and mesmerizing and breath taking.


What intrigued me first was the word Dewarist as i had never heard of this word. So what did it mean or was it a term used for a certain clan and after seeing the promos i really couldn't connect the word to the content and therefore had to look it up.


Dewars happens to be a Scottish Whiskey brand. The origin of the word comes from the movement Dewarism started by the company and subsequent campaign based on that movement. The meaning of the word Dewarism below - 


DEWARISM: noun (u) A social, political and economic doctrine, based on the writing of Tommy Dewar, expressing the conviction that the journey of life can be enjoyed without giving up on the achieving of success.

Sir Thomas Dewar, a famous whiskey distiller and philosopher, believed success in life could be obtained without arduous work, as described in his concept of Dewarism.

Source: Urban Dictionary

You can read further about Dewarism and Dewars on Wikipedia. 

So Hence from there comes The Dewarists - People who represent this philosophy. The Dewarists was a movement that began in late 2010 as stage performances and collaborations of artists who stood and reflected the philosophy of Dewarism. And finally was culminated into the TV series now on Star World. They have an extremely good lineup - Vishal Shekhar, Imogen Heap, Zeb & Haniya, Shantanu Moitra, Swanand Kirkire, Indian Ocean, Mohit Chauhan, Parikrama, Agnee and many more....

The first episode was shot in Rajasthan and with Vishal and Imogen Heap. To me that episode was all about sounds. Imogen's obsession with experimenting with anything that produces any sound to me was an interesting way of discovering music and if you listen to the song then you would notice the variety of sounds in the song. 

The second episode with Zeb and Haniya and Shantanu Moitra and Swanand Kirkire to me was more about lyrics, the mood and fusion of languages. It was beautiful. 

What i like about this series is that its absolutely original in every sense. original content which one dies for these days on Indian Television and original songs being produced in the short journey of collaboration between these artists. Its part biography part collaborative, the entire episode and therefore is informative as well as entertaining. Also it to me is serving the purpose of a travel show as well as each episode is being shot in a different cities and locations. The show represents the flavour of that city as well shows various moods, people, places of that city. I am completely in love with the way the episodes are shot. The DOP must be mind blowing because it just seems like an hour long display of amazing paintings, its so beautifully shot.  

The Dewarists has an amazing sense of freshness that is immensely appealing. 

If i had to compare other musical programmes to this, then this would definitely stand higher above MTV Coke Studios India and MTV Unplugged India ( Unplugged of course has a few episodes of certain artists which are very good no doubt). Coke Studio India to me was a disaster after being used to Coke Studio Pakistan. I felt that somewhere the commercial mixed with the original there and therefore the collaboration got highly diluted bringing about a sad output. Somewhere the pressure of being Coke Studios probably led to that as the artists were trying to hard to emulate the way it should be done rather than concentrating on being natural. The Dewarists in spite of having their bit of commercial artists in it as well seems to infuse the best in them. 

It is a must watch for all music lovers because its a different and fun journey you would be going on. The songs created on the series are available for download from the Dewarists website and also if you have missed the episodes then you can watch the episodes on the Dewarists Youtube Channel. ENJOY!! 

P.S. - All the referred websites are linked in my post so you can click on them and go check it our directly instead of searching for it.

Image courtesy: Google

The Immortals of Meluha

The Immortals of Meluha by Amish Tripathi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Shiva Trilogy, all about how he moved on from being a regular Human to being called the GOD - 3 stars because to me it is not some great piece of literature.. but yes it is definitely a commercial page turner, one that made me turn pages as well.. what i like about the book is that it takes you back and updates your knowledge of the gods and your history. I finished this book in flat 3 days of night reading.. It is a very very simple read and therefore will engage a whole lot of readers who are not regulars and find getting into books difficult.. this book could be a good start.

I find it commendable that Amish could think of a concept like this and the fact that his writing is so easy makes it even more approachable for everyone to read his work. He has done a good job of making the book a complete page turner and i have thoroughly enjoyed it in that sense. All of us have heard gazillion stories in our childhood at least from our grandparents. I used to wait for vacations so i could hear stories and all that my grandparents did was tell us stories from Mahabharat, Ramayana, and the stories of all other gods. The fact that Amish made that his strength and came out with this is amazing.

My only put offs were the interaction between Sati and Shiva.. That sometimes seems downright corny.. Also the language of the book is extremely today and so having been used to expecting a certain kind of tone and manner from the gods.. :) it's a little weird to read stuff like 'yeah right' and 'for god's sake man' along with 'lord and highness'.. it just sounded a bit confusing in my head at least because i kept going in and out of time while reading this book. But that's just my personal opinion.Maybe the fact that history has been fictionalised and written in today's language has also therefore helped this book become the success that it has.

I have already moved on to the second part now - SECRET of the NAGAS and the fact remains that the first book leaves you wanting to know more.. I was lucky enough to start the first book once the second was already out but now even for me the third book would be quiet a wait as i know that the book will end in a way that would leave me waiting.


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Jaane Bhi do Yaaro - Jai Arjun Singh

Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro by Jai Arjun Singh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It was one of the few non fiction books which i could not put down. I thoroughly enjoyed this one. I had been following Jai Arjun's blog for a while now since he reviews a lot about books and movies and some very interesting stuff. That's how i got to know that he was now writing his own book and to start with it was a very interesting concept of covering the background of an entire film. the history of the film, cast crew how it got to be made and finally where everyone related to the movie along with the movie itself stands today.

Jaane bhi do Yaaro is a historical movie in it's own right in the Indian film industry and while it always remained one of the most loved and funny movies for me to go back to, the thought of knowing about it was even more exciting as the star cast of the film (stars now cast then) is superb. All of them were in the making and trust me i would recommend this book to everyone. Jai has done a fantastic job of capturing the perfect nuances of the film, it's people and his narrative throughout the book keeps you going. It's extremely enjoyable very very informative and it was one of those books that i pre - ordered, waited for and finished in 2 days thoroughly satisfied.


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Persepolis

The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Persepolis has been an enjoyable read. While i have heard a lot of the movie i still haven't watched it and on the recommendation of a friend picked up the book. It's an autobiography of the author Marjane Satrapi who is an Iranian and shares her growing up years with the readers in the first book and then her return to her country in the later years in the second book. While many would think that it is probably no great shakes as we have seen many such books written by or written about so many women from that region but what makes this book different from the rest is that the format of expression which is illustrations or comic strip style in itself is very sweet and different. Also in a very simplistic manner, i thought i could read a very honest and balanced point of view of the author of both her country and then later on Austria where she studied. Her exposure to various mix of westernization in her country to going to being a religious fundamentalist country to her moving out of the country and getting exposed to western culture yet again. All the mixed and the genuine reactions or agonies or surprises that we all go through our growing up years.

The fact that it is illustrated makes it an extremely fast and smooth read and also breaks the monotony of reading heavy handed autobiographies. Instead here is a very simplistic way of expressing and also informing the world about Iran from an insiders perspective who has seen both the worlds.

The next step is to watch the movie as well.


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History - Salman - How?

Not sure if many of you have seen the new channel History Network 18. It's the latest comedy channel according to me.

The Brand Ambassador is Salman Khan for a channel called History - First disconnect, what does intellect have to do with Salman Khan i think. Wait till you see the promo's running on the channel. It's Bizarre. One of the promo's - A chinese martial arts expert going at it with a sword, cut to Salman khan sits there watches him and goes 'kya hai ye? .. phu pha phi phun. Bore nahi hue ye sab dekh ke. Ab dekho History channel. History Channel. Roz History bante dekho'. I mean what are we talking about? Sounds like a channel started by the Guinness book of World Record guys. The fun doesn't end there. Watch the programming carefully and you will notice the same old Starworld, Zee Studio, FX, Big CBS kind of content. greatest american video kind of stuff. Then there is this programme where in all that the guy does is take a chainsaw and cuts anything and everything, tree trunk to tv to fridge to everything. It's mindless. What does all this have to do anything with knowing or making History and why would you go around making a marketing strategy that has no head or tail to it.

The TV Industry is losing it. Marketeers are doing anything to just launch channels, play the same old content so if it's friends or Rules of engagement or many such programmes, you would see each of these series would be playing on all of these English entertainment channels. There are Gazillion music channels and i am not complaining because more channels, the more chances we have of bumping into something sensible on television. But where does this new History channel stand. It absolutely makes no sense. The Channel strategy, what it stands for, the brand ambassador to the content of that channel, none of it remotely cross each others path anywhere. Is everyone just running the rat race of launching channels and struggling to buy a pie of the already disparate and distributed eye balls. When the market is already so cluttered in the Television industry what on earth would you be even thinking to come up with a channel like History and expect anything? Maybe if they dubbed all of their content and had Salman as their brand ambassador then the Bodyguard Janta might find it interesting as these are not content they tend to watch similar to how Hollywood movies are dubbed and released in India and find considerable viewership as well. But that's about it. Hope they are not possibly  thinking of standing up against a Discovery, Nat Geo or Fox History and Traveler with such a channel and if they are then God save them is all i have to say.

The Gods must be going Crazyy!!

Oh ! what a mayhem on the roads of Mumbai. Yet again another festival and there, the whole world has left their homes and have come on the road.

Makes me wonder all the noise, all the indiscipline, all the eve - teasing, the Holi played in the name of Durga Puja and Navrati, garba happening in front of Goddess Durga's procession are we confused or what? Where is this country going in the name of religion and festival? why does the decibel level not matter to those same people who have a problem with youngsters throwing a party in their homes and playing loud music or a concert in the city with deadlines of 10pm? Aren't we being too convenient and choosing what is right and what is wrong otherwise but in the name of religion everything seems to suddenly be okay.

It's appalling to see rowdy young boys eve - teasing women on the road while they are on their respective trucks or on foot going to immerse the deity. Drinking and throwing alcohol bottles on the road, littering the city, dancing on bollywood songs that has got absolutely nothing to do with god or spirituality. For heavens sake a procession i passed today had people dancing on 'Saat Samundar par main tere peeche peeche aa gayi' and what happened after that song was even more shocking. The song changes into 'Nayak nahi khalnayak hun mein' and everybody sings along and cheers the song change. I mean really? Khalnayak? aren't we talking about a day when the good claimed it's victory over the evil and here we are dancing on this and claiming we are Khalnayak's? With every year i see people more and more confused about the purpose of celebrating these festivals and it just becomes a time of song, dance, drinking and family entertainment. The majority of the middle class, lower middle class and the poverty stricken population of this country with the onslaught of television and movies has suddenly gotten exposed to cultures alien from theirs (not that the saas bahu serials are helping them any better to learn better about their own). People come to the big city with dreams and get exposed to an already confused culture and they do not know how and where do they figure their customs and cultures in the midst of all this confusion. The result is they join the confusion.

I don't know how this will change i see only deterioration, no improvement in the future as well. The only way out i think is somehow educating these youngsters who have lost touch with the original idea of these celebrations but only have carried on the fervor of celebrating without any purpose. We some where need to hold on to customs and cultures and learn all the right things they were supposed to teach and i know it's an uphill task because it's easier to have an opinion like i have right now but how much can i add to that change? Well i am open to discussions and conversations with people and the only way i admit till now if at all i have added is through trying to question people and then engaging them in a hopefully fruitful argument.  All i can do is try and create some perspective in someones mind then it's on the person to want to agree or disagree.

Education to me is the key to keeping true to ourselves and our roots, not the kind of education that teaches you just to 'Mug' as we would call it or 'Ratofy' concepts and vomit in exam papers but an education that would make us want to question everything we see, read or learn to be only able to understand and or better it and broaden our horizon further.

Give and Take

An eternal debate that never ends.. how do you get an accent in a year when you go to another country after having had your own accent for 25 years? there are conflicting views that people have about it and i personally have always been of the view that to blend in you don't need to change your accent. blend in standing out on your own and not by becoming one of them because they you wouldn't remain an Indian and he an American, British, African or whatever other citizen of the world.

The best personal growth is when you add to yourself over and above what you are already and not replace yourself with someone else. I was talking to a friend recently and she of course has an accent now with living 2 years in the US. Her logical approach to the whole thing is " Accent is derived out of the place you live in and therefore its not a big deal as to be able to make it easier for people to understand your accent it's better to role a few words here and there as they don't understand otherwise". Not that i debated this with her as i know i might have offended her with my view but i do not agree to that point of view because it is as simple as this, if i can understand american movies after watching it over the years an American who is used to living with Gazillion different nationalities (as its the land of dreams), why can't they then understand what you speak after a few minutes or days of conversation with you.

I have noticed this trend more often in Indians than people from any other country. Indians seem to run towards accents faster and more than any other nationality. A British national will still role his tongue, a German and Italian would still hold their accents, An African will still have his original accent and be very well understood but an Indian always feels his accent is way to plain and straight tongued to be understood. Foreigners as we call them are always intrigued and lining up in India because they are so intrigued with the diversity and richness that our culture has to offer but we run towards their country. I do believe that a global exposure is very good and it only helps you grow as an individual but that does not mean that you let go of the identity that you have been brought up with specially if you are an Indian as you have so many experiences to offer to the world. Why don't we Indians concentrate on imbibing the good things from them while we are there rather than run towards the superficial lifestyle changes only.

What happened to the generation that was proud of being Indian and was the reason behind the colonial powers living this country. Why is the 3rd - 4th generation post Independence suddenly finding reasons to emulate the west and does not even know about the many offerings that the country has within. Why are the newer generations running west for holidays rather than going around their own country which has such diverse experiences to provide for a traveler? These questions always hound us but somehow the glamour of the west always seems to take over from all of it.

An example from within the country and a personal experience would also fit the debate so its not just about people going abroad but people within as well.I was brought up in Assam and so to me home has always been there even though we do not have any base there anymore. Having Bihari roots i was as much Bihari in Assam as a Bihari would be in Bihar, thanks to my summer holidays with grandparents and my parents who never forgot their roots. My Hindi is as 'shudh' as it should be in spite of living in Assam and i can speak and read Assamese decently well as well. What my parents taught me was to never let go of your roots as it has many thing to offer but only to add more from the new world which is what you are a part of and therefore i know Assamese as well along with my own language. And it wasn't as cosmopolitan as a big city is today and therefore it would only help to know the culture better so you are able to find your way through while you are growing up. A lot of our family friends on other hand ended up producing a lot of ABCD's (Assam born confused Desis) where in their Hindi had become like that of Assamese people whose genders and grammar was all over the place and at the same time they never ever learnt the local language either.So you neither know enough about your own roots nor have you made an effort to learn about the one you have been brought up in.Both the interstate and intrastate dilemma one puts themselves through in this country is beyond me.

Maybe we ought to give more credit to our country beyond the political turmoil and corruption turmoil we face every day and still see that there are enough good reasons to still be proud of this country.If you go abroad to live educate them about India and share with them the knowledge you have about your country and in exchange gain knowledge from them about theirs. It's just like a mixed marriage, the excitement of people from completely different cultures and backgrounds and then learning from each other, adjusting to each other is what makes that couple a solid one and the marriage an exiting one. To be able to make the best of that marriage you only need to hold the perspective of gaining and not having lost something.

some food for thought and would definitely be open to discussion on this one as everyone has a different perspective and dimension to add to this never ending topic and would love to hear those as well.

Image courtesy: Google

Skirting Around

I am quiet enjoying my time off from the working world. Trying my hands at little little things that i had completely stopped doing. Today i wore a skirt after 11 years. It was just one of those random things for the day. I was tired of being in the same old Jeans, T-shirt, Shorts, etc. So a red skirt that my mom had gifted me two years ago suddenly seemed to peep out of nowhere and there it was on me.

What i didn't realise was that my personality has been so defined by my "Pandey Style" clothing sense that while it definitely makes me stand out in the crowd, but the crowd also is then always surprised the moment i am in my girly avatar and i guess churidaar - kurta's and salwar - suits itself got me so many looks in office and amongst friends that i pretty much knew what the reaction of people would be today when nobody after my friends in school have ever seen me in a skirt. Thankfully pleasant comments came my way and of course the funniest reaction came from my husband who looked shocked but impressed at the same time with the new look which he didn't think i ever was capable of and he out of all people has never ever seen in me in this avatar in the last few years that we have known each other.

All in all i didn't feel awkward by the end of it. I felt good and felt like sometimes it's good to get out of your comfort zone and just experiment, if nothing it just creates some new excitement in your daily life :)

The perfume called BOOK

The smell of a new book, in fact the smell of a book itself has always made me go mad since childhood, It does till date. Every time I walk into a bookstore i can't keep my nose off one and the result is that I always walk out buying at least one. even though Flipkart has become my new bookstore but it's never the same just the way I feel an e-book can never replace the joy of holding the actual book in your hand.

I remember as a child I used to wait for the beginning of each year where in we would go to school a few days prior to the beginning of that session and get our books from school. oh the joy of looking at those books, smelling them and wrapping them with brown paper was always more exciting that the exams I had to eventually give thanks to those same books. I would always pounce on the books in my English course for the year and would have polished it off in a day straight. I already knew all the stories even before the year had begun and eventually yes i did get bored of the fact that i had to keep going through it again and again through the year but every time a story would end in class to go onto the next one i would look forward to that change and re - visiting it. Though the textbooks of other subjects never garnered such response from me except for smelling them, I never even opened them until the night before my exams. But the feeling would always be the same of welcoming a new book no matter what subject it was.

The obsession continues even today and thankfully today I read books because I enjoy them and not because I am forced to read them. and the fact that I can choose my own book to read also makes it more exciting. That is why a bookstore to me would never go out of fashion as that is one place that gives me ample scope to go wild with this obsession of mine :)

Image Courtesy: Google

There's no home for Singles

A phenomenon that has always existed in our country but becomes a life changing experience sometimes in a city like Mumbai..where you breath and your neighbour can feel your breath as we all live in such close quarters of each other.. the concept of privacy is a far cry in this city..

But my post is going to primarily concentrate on student (hostel) / tenant vows that one has to face in this city.. as a working professional few years ago i was glad to find a PG which at least gave me the freedom of flexi time and doing my own thing.. but yes even there we were not allowed to bring our 'boy friends' (the gender male) into our PG premises as people in the buildings around would talk.. since ours was an all girls PG.. it was automatically labelled the excuse my language 'Hore House'. And i never understood how such biased perceptions could exist without knowing any reality about those women.. The same was the case with my Hostel as it was an all girls hostel of about 500 women in a prime location in Mumbai and i remember when i was being sent there, my dad had got incessant calls from all his so called concerned friends asking him to re - think his decision because apparently my hostel was famous for a whole lot of 'absurd stories'.. My dad's reaction then was 'i know my daughter and i know she knows where to draw the line.. she will figure what's right'.. and thank god for that as i spent one of the best 3 years of my life amongst a bunch of few of my closest friends today.. The experience that hostel gave me due to it's sheer size, population and variety of people i could interact with, no other place has or maybe will be able to give me..

Other facets of the this phenomenon are much worse and painful.. In Mumbai when you take flats on rent, your neighbours automatically become your moral guardians. They start deciding as to who should and who should not walk out of your home and at what hour.. A lot of people do not rent out their apartments to singles as a rule.. but if you are married, you automatically apparently become human and normal and so it's all good.. this attitude has led to a whole lot of my friends leaving this city.. being thrown out of their houses absurdly.. to a point where a friend of mine never got his deposit back (and that's a hell lot of money) because the owner - a middle aged single woman found a reason not to give it back since the neighbours had complained about him and she was throwing him out.. and when he obviously asked for his deposit back she went to the extent of saying she would cry RAPE.. i was aghast at the extent to which people can do this whole moral brigade nonsense and then lose their own.. suddenly the society wakes up and complains for people being thrown out as they suddenly fear and Alien (note single boy or girl) take over their society.. Just keeps reminding me of the hypocritical society we live in..

Being Single automatically questions your conduct because you suddenly have girls and boys coming into your house and at absurd hours apparently.. i see no reason why someone can decide how anyone should live their lives.. yes i do understand considering the space constraint in this city the noise factor is a big one and so till the time a bunch of guys and girls are not disturbing you in any external way i see no reason as to why and what are you doing noticing his or her daily schedule and living or commenting on any of that..

India in the name of culture lives in this hypocritical society where they run a moral brigade when if we start looking in to each of these people's houses maybe they themselves will have a gazillion things to be ashamed of.. Why can't these neighbours (and i don't deny there are few people who definitely are like that) look at these students or working professionals as people who are living away from their homes and therefore need to have a life beyond what they already do. They have come here to learn to live life on their own and the least one can do is make it a little easier for them rather than question every move they make because their parents back home are there to take care of such issues and figure it out within their fold without needing any needling from unknown strangers.. Neighbours need to realise that they are as much a stranger to these boys/girls and Men/women and vice versa.

It's a long shot to hope in this city for things to change but i can only hope that people and slowly and steadily realise that they need to mind their own business and that's all it takes..

Censorship or Dictatorship on viewership choice

Off late it has becoming increasingly annoying to watch English movies on TV.. Suddenly it seems like Indian television is regressing rather than progressing.. Every second word seems to be beeped and whats even more annoying are the subtitles because i see more asterix marks than words there and sometimes i'm dumbfounded to see words like DUMB ASS being changed in the subtitles to either an asterix or stupid words like fool.. Who are we KIDDING here really? your kid's will learn those words even before you know it. This doesn't mean i support the fact that today's kids seem to be a little too exposed to abuses and many other concepts of life much before their age.. but movies. it changes the essence of the entire story sometimes because of those beeps and edited scenes..

The scarier part is recently i was watching the movie HE'S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU on one of the channels and it was one of those prime time 9 o'clock slots and the film was edited immensely. The movie has nothing more than few kissing scenes and believe it or not all and i mean all the kissing scenes were deleted from the movie.. after a point you just would not understand what was happening in the movie because it would randomly jump into another scene.. for heaven's sake it's a romantic comedy, what do you expect? people sitting across tables and talking. absolutely nothing vulgar in that movie and still had to go through that fate in the name of censorship.. aren't suddenly a bunch of fools therefore sitting and deciding the choices for each one of us? it scares me because suddenly i feel i am going back in time rather than moving forward..because i was used to watching movies in their proper shape size and language and suddenly there seem to be this moralistic group of people who walk into our lives and decide what we should and should not watch..While i know channels also want viewership and therefore adhere by the censorship rules but give me a break.. please do not decide what i need to watch and how to this extent where TV viewing becomes a painful pastime.. It's completely understood that there are certain things that need to be censored but this is way too much..

Channels should be given the rite to label it above 18 like it used to be in the old times on all the channels and play the movies as is.. and if need be let these movies be late night bands not that it would stop any of the kids in our country from figuring out their knowledge data.. in the world of Internet i don't think any kid today is away from trash exposure and so it's best left on parents to be friends with their kids and explain things to them rather than such petty and small ways of trying to guard them..there are gazillion munni badnaam's and shiela ki jawaani's to which kid's will be made to dance away to glory across the country because parent's are so proud to see their kids dancing then why this bias towards English content.. let's be adults and accept that every place in the world has their own culture and therefore it's best respected rather than questioned..

The censorship board for television needs to realize this and STOP ruling our lives.

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Memories re - visited..

Moments and memories long gone..ones you barely think of in your busy life.. work, home, family.. and the day is over you think.. but one meeting with old friends and it all comes fleeting back to you..

Today was one of those days for me.. I finally made the effort to meet few of my old school juniors / friends who happen to be in the city and who i in my busy schedule just never ended up meeting earlier.. it was a pleasant 3 hours.. over beer in Gokul and some great cheap food in Baghdadi.. conversations ranging from whats happening in each of our lives to what million other common friends were up to and where were they..some i have lost touch with and some they have but collective information finally all on one table.. teachers and memories of various school time punishments and notorious activities that in used to make us proud..

At the end of it all i came back home beaming and unloaded my husband with the million stories we discussed this evening.. and it made me realize the importance of taking a break.. keeping in touch with the best memories of life.. because it only makes the present far more valuable because days back have a big hand in making you what you are today.. it's worth the effort to stop and breath instead of the constant run we are on otherwise in our day to day life because apparently we have GROWN UP.. :)

flip flip with flipkart

My affair with Flipkart started about two years back. I have always been an obsessive book buyer and it wouldn't do much to my pockets by the end of it because every time i would walk into a bookstore i would definitely walk out with a book or two and i still do but to keep pace with my book buying habit and depleting account balance every month, the discovery of flipkart one fine day while browsing in office came as a welcome boon in my life. I introduced many to the website before the latest ads even came on TV recently.

I have tried many an online bookstores like Coinjoos, Landmarkonthenet, Crosswordbookstores, Indiaplaza, Infibeam but the service that i have got out of Flipkart has always made it the hero in my online purchase. My first online purchase was on flipkart and considering how till few years back ordering online was always a question mark in your head, i had finally taken the plunge with flipkart.

Since then flipkart supremacy in the book selling business has in many a ways given re - birth to the many staid and old websites of various bookstores and they all seem to now get the idea as to how flipkart has in a single handed manner changed the entire book buying business and moved a lot of people from bookstores to the online buying habit and they are therefore aggressively moving into the business as well. But having said that and having tested many of them flipkart continues to rule everyone's mind because their service is top class and the sheer length of their collection. a quick tick on the great stuff about flipkart

• The most important fact is their collection and that anything and everything that you can possibly search or look for and 9 times out of 10 will never find in your local bookstore will always be available with them. If not available you can always leave a request on their site and they very very promptly get back to you as they have it.
• They have great prices to offer. one of the first few guys to offer cash on delivery along with the regular modes of transaction.
• Upcoming launches always land on their website first before any other.
• impeccable service, never any delays in any deliveries and if any then very timely information sent to the customer.
• customer service is available, helpful, not cranky and seems to sort out issues in a very streamlined manner.
• i also happened to get a wrong book once from them and it was a little harrowing to call them many a times but they did finally after many apologies get it picked up from me and refund the money in my account so i could order the right one.

All in all for me flipkart's been like a magic wand. This in no way indicates that i have stopped going to a bookstore. Visiting a bookstore and spending time amongst books has always been one of my favourite pastime and it will remain so but yes it does help to save a hell lot of money and also play with the range of books they have.

Off late they have forayed into other categories but i do feel that it's going to be a while before they get at par in those categories compared to other websites like Indiaplaza and all which have been older and specialist websites for things like electronics, etc. But their book business is commendable.

Cheers to Flipkart and i hope you guys keep up the good work...

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