A Black & Blue Weekend

Sigh, it is Monday and I can't wait for the weekend. Oh wait, it just ended!

This is a certainly going to be a long week....and the incessant rain won't help make it any shorter.

I for one, had an exceedingly hectic weekend, which could probably explain why I am already itching for the next one!

Friday evening was spent at the movies, watching the delightful and delicious ensemble cast of 'Zindagi Milegi na Dobara'. What a fresh and fun movie! Most importantly, it is a movie projecting a healthy lifestyle.

To begin with, "boys trips" are soon going to be the norm - so girls be ready-steady for that! And secondly, the summer "It" destination is going to be Espana - muy bien!

Before I go on, I must sad, that despite loving the movie, there were many times (especially in the second half) where my attention drifted. I definitely thought the movie could have been cut by 20 minutes. There were many instances where it went from pensive to photogenic and turned into a discovery channel-esque scene. Too much time was wasted on the adventures, giving the audience more details than necessary and taking away from the story line. That was my only rouse with the movie, oh that, and Kalki. I understand that her role was to be of a somewhat stuckup, pretty and prissy little miss, but I frankly found that she didn't fit the character at all. And I know she has achieved a cult status post Dev D and is known to have great talent, but I didnt find her performance noteworthy either.

That being said...the boys were terrific. All 3 of them, although, I am more partial to Hritik (aka Hercules) and Farhan.
Hrithik never ceases to surprise me with his Greek Good looks, Adonis-esque body and molten eyes, you would never imagine such a pretty boy to be able to dance, act and even sing! I have met a couple of guys like him who are on roll - trying to rake in as much moolah as they possibly can at jobs that suck their souls out of them, leaving them high and dry. All the little personality nuances and insights into a prototype London Banker/Trader were neatly added into his role. His transition from hard to soft was also done very well...

And what do I say about Farhan - compact and commendable! Here is another powerhouse of talent. The guy can hold his own despite his atypical looks, voice and non-Bollywood personality. Kudos to him to remain true to his art and continue with cinema that was once looked at as off-beat.

Another strong point was the dialogue, which I found was spot on - real, casual and natural. The screenplay could have been tighter, but there were so many difficult and poignant scenes that were carried out effortlessly. I particularly liked the scene when they begin the car journey and Farhan flicks away Hritik's phone and this naughty, childish act opens up a closed box that until then, has been carried with them like a burden. Hrithik indicates that Farhan's childish and non-serious attitude is no longer cute or charming. It is just plain embarassing and often hurtful. It was an important turning point, early in the movie and managed to address Hrithik's raw sentiments perfectly. Fast forward to the scene on the cliffs in the latter half of the movie when Farhan apologises to Hrithik, this time, from his heart.
The other tender scene was when Katrina guides Hrithik threw the deep seas as he bravely confronts his fear of the water.
And the last favourite was when the Spanish chickita and Farhan are enjoying a private moment, literally, lost in translation and she says to him "you make jokes all the time but with your eyes are sad." Oh! How romantic and delicate!

All three of the boys looked healthy and trim with lovely tans! Throw in Kitty Kat, Bagwati the birkin, some incredible locations, perfect cinematography, hot wheels and you're whizzing onto the road trip of your youth!

So it's a definite must watch for those who are contemplating it. And if it is Inox that you're headed to, be careful of your head - lest a tree come falling down again.

It is true that Nature's wrath has no bounds. We must begin to respect Mother Nature and appease her, because when she gets angry, there is no stopping her. The tragic incident that took place outside Inox on Sunday evening is a case in point. The tree outside came tearing down - killing an innocent mother and daughter, as well as crushing several cars and toatalling a Bentley! All this in the matter of a few minutes. I happened to enter the theatre literally minutes before the tree came down, and once in, there was no knowing of what happened outside, until the end of the movie. As I drove out, I watched a macabre-like scene unfolding in front of me - with huge cranes sawing the branches off, ambulances on stand by, and cars being excavated from under the heavy branches. Really bizarre.

For the first time in a loooong time, I think we have no one to play the blame game with on this one!

Il pleut (It's Raining)

Thick-skinned or thick-skulled is the question?


Speaking for myself, I would say, I belong to the former category. Hardened, toughened and sort-of anesthecised over the past few years by the recurring acts of terrorism that the glorious city of Mumbai keeps facing. As a citizen, there is not much we can do at this point. When the very basics are not in place, what extra measures can be taken by the people of the city? This is a city that is the home for 17 million (and counting) - and yes it is true that it is not a feasible number for one little island to bear the responsibilities for but this has always been our reality. So when will the people who are supposed to govern our city and the state acknowledge this fact and take steps to ensure a decent standard of living for them? As they remain cocooned in their cushy, warm surroundings, driving around in state-given cars with half of the police force "protecting them" whilst they zip about town on pseudo-official work. 
Admittedly, I don't follow our political scenario closely at all. I am fortunate that I have very tuned-in, well-read and well-informed parents who discuss the state of affairs with us every day, passionately and in detail. Most of what I know about the details of our governance (or the lack of!), is through them, combined with the little I absorb from the newspapers that I dutifully read every morning. But with the numerous and parallell-y important problems that are going on, how does one keep abreast with the news? It is tough to say what is more relevant or more pertinent or more grave - Bad is Bad. Each of these issues affects some party or the other and hence, how can one measure one man's loss over another's? 


Globally, we live in terror-struck times. But what I find deplorable about our particular case is how many times do we need to go through it to come out a tad wiser? Every city in the world which has been an innocent victim of terrorism, has taken every single measure to make sure that it won't fall prey to such an act ever again and the perpetrators have been found and dealt with in the manner they so deserved. 
And what is different here in India? Ahhh, this is where the thick-skulled lot comes in. The entire lot of them, useless and unaffected, give news channels quotes such as, "This time, we will bring the guilty to book -- make no mistake about it." Oh, the same way we have booked, our friend Ajmal Kasab? Lovely, in that case! The state spends approximately 30 crores (~6.7 million USD) towards the safety and upkeep of the lone terrorist whom we managed to capture post the 3-day massacre in November 2008. He gets tandoori chicken and biryani when he so desires, he gets to watch his favourite movie occasionally, he declares his want for a bride, and yesterday he got the best birthday celebration of his life - fireworks and blasts at 3 nerve centres of the city of Mumbai. Arey wah, life ho to aise...


Thus it is no surprise then, that what ought to have been India's message to the budding generations of soon-to-be-terrorists (it is a career option nowadays and applications are accepted through the year), by capturing and consequently killing Ajmal Kasab that very instant is quite the reverse. We have taken care of the man, kept him alive longer than his original fate (he had set off on a"divine" suicide mission) and have given him more stability than he got in his home town (he came from an impoverished village called Faridkot in Pakistan). We ought to have said, "mess with our life and property and pay the price for it!" Instead, we have given birth to a fresh new batch of terrorists who know that they can plot and pull-off any kind of operation with ease in India and not even have to die at the end of it all!


What an inviting proposition no? 


Further, we suffer from the severe and blatant lack of accountability. It is a society governed by the sentiment of "We will see when it happens..." There is no fire in the belly of our politicians, other than the heartburn caused from excessive gutka and other such substances they consume. They haven't lost their place of business, their brother, their sister, nor have they been amputated, put into a coma or lost their lives. So how would they know?


More so, we live in the most technologically-savvy times, we are a nation producing global I.T geniuses, we are an information hub, and yet, we have the cheapest, most outdated intelligence machinery? We rely on foreign governments to give us tip-offs and instead of heeding to them, what do we do? Ignore. 
After all, ignorance is bliss........


I don't know what I'm supposed to feel at the moment. I'm sad, but not depressed. I'm angry, but not enough to do very much about it. Must I stay home and ponder about this terrible happening. Will it look bad if I continue with life as I knew it? Hmmm


On that note, i'll hastily end this out-pour.


Just about 15 hours ago, the blasts had taken place a few hundred meters from where I work. Has life and activity stopped here? Most certainly not. In fact, the pace has accelerated. What choice do we have? We have wounds to clean up and mouths to feed. Life must and will go on.

It isn't called a Back Up for nothing

Boo! was what we got, a Boo! Hoo! is what we did post our failed mission to Hakkasan a few nights ago...

6 die-hard Hakkasan fanatics set forth from town to make it for an 8pm reservation at the restaurant.
Arrived and seated, we had already discussed the menu and what we would order the entire car journey through and were in attack mode as soon as we got there.Based on feedback from our friends and families that had already been there, we knew what was exorbitantly expensive and could be skipped! Luckily it happened to be a dry day and we were spared from ordering alcoholic bevvies.
Post the rapid-fire ordering (unfortunately the crispy duck salad wasn't available), we begun to take in our current surroundings and just as we noticed the interesting lighting effect of water ripples created on the ceiling, we found ourselves enveloped in utter darkness.

A few moments of hasty scuffling and confused whispers later, a few attendants brought little tea light candles to our table along with the 2 appetisers we had asked for. (The vegetarian lettuce wrap was yum but I think Royal China still scores higher, and the Enokoi mushroom steamed dimsums were a bit strange and "besan" like). In any case, we greedily dug in despite the lack of light.

The 2 starters were over and still no light.Hmmmm, even the couple on the table on our right who up until then seemed to be enjoying their spontaneous candle-light dinner, looked a bit concerned. When we demanded the waiter attending to our table to give us an idea on when to expect the electricity to come back, he confidently said, "Ma'am there is a power cut everywhere, on this street, actually around the whole of Bombay!" Utter nonsense! The manager then came up and went from table to table explaining that the technicians were working on fixing the fault and would need some time. We felt a little bad and decided to wait it out just a little while longer......after all, we hadn't crossed borders after a 2 hour journey to suffer defeat so quickly.

Thirty minutes later, there seemed to be no light at the end of this tunnel (metaphorically and literally speaking!); so we marched out. As a matter of courtesy, we did ask for the bill, but a quick group-chat ealier, we had decided that there was no chance this experience warranted a bill.
When we go to the entrance, we say the entire street was brightly lit, as was the bank in the very same building. How come such a highly-acclaimed restaurant, newly opened hot-spot, not have an efficient backup generator?

Devastated and disappointed, we walked into the safest and closest bet - good ol' RC. (The logic being that we had already started with Asian fare!)

As standard as the meal there was, we all pondered on how fresh the food we had had, really was since it arrived within moments of our ordering it. Dim sums, sure they might be steaming in the kitchen and are then just placed into the baskets for serving....I'll even say OK to the pre-prepared sauces (oyster, black bean etc), which can just be mixed with the meat/fish. But to get the crispy aromatic duck in a blink of an eye is not ideal at all!

After we hoovered the food, along with the addictive chilly sauce, one of the girls decided that we just had to get a single portion of the crispy honey noodles so that was ordered. What came to the table was this.................

The portion was SO large that it made a perfect center piece on our soya-sauce stained table! it also made the perfect-ending to a completely ridiculous evening!

PENDING: Hakkasan Review!

of bits and baubles....

For all the girls who like original, interesting, bold jewellery pieces, I suggest a quick trip to Nitya Arora One can each her at +919819754148 or by email valliyanbynitya@hotmail.com to make an appointment.


Nity has been designing fashion jewellery for at least 5 years now, if my memory serves me correctly. After a year's program at Parson's, New York, she is back and with a bang launching her label at funky new Bandra store, Atosa....


I must say, Nitya herself, makes for the best brand ambassador for "Valliyan" (her label) and if you ever wonder how to combine her pieces with your fashion, look her way for style cues! Be assured that you are wearing a one-of-its kind fashion statement.


Anyway, I wont say too much...found a few pictures of her latest collection, et voila!

Delhi (under)Belly

Fresh....................is not the word I could use to describe my sentiments after watching Delhi Belly last night in a completely booked cinema, second week riding high. I should have taken a pair of ear-plugs to sound-proof myself against the wretched, noisy, loud and exaggerated toilet "sounds" that form almost a background bass beat to the entire movie. That grossness aside, I enjoyed the movie immensely.

I liberally give the movie a score of 4.5/5; with the highest rating going to the excellent script. The entire cast was fabulously well-cast and delivered on-screen. The only glaring irregularity I found was the horrendous, hole the 3 leading boys lived in. Even the poorest of our poor live in better maintained slums so it is highly unlikely that 3 highly educated, seemingly decent (although, Arup's back ground maybe questionable) boys live in a sub-standard, un-hygenic, disintegrating apartment. Given that this particular premises played a very pivotal role in the entire movie, I felt the lack of conviction that these 3 struggling professionals would ever choose this dump; no matter how grave their personal circumstance.

Vijay Raaz was terrifically styled and all the scenes with him, his goon like subs and Vladimir were tight. The detail of throwing in an English couple who find themselves in the thick of things was rather smart. It also threw light into the plight of unsuspecting travellers when they visite  India and when their trips go from the beautiful to the bizarre! Moving on to the 3 Female leads of the movie - Shehnaz, Poorna and Anusha - who held their own.

I knew Imran Khan could act and was a very competent actor, but to think him and the rest of the cast floated a movie speaking in English 95% of the time, I thought deserved a special mention. The best part all of them were so natutral and normal; unlike Ash and friends a la "Pride and Prejudice" who narrated their dialogues as though they were in a school elocution or diction class.

Interspersed with timely, witty tracks, the movie made a quick watch. The pace was good, the script was excellent, performances were original and the ending was just superlative and I'm not referring to the Poorna-Imran snogathon, I'm referring to the brilliant end-credits track. It was so utterly brilliant because of Aamir's "surprise" performance and his glorious chest hair! I left the movie dancing to the beats of i hate you (like  I love you) feeling absolutely jhakaas!

If you havent watched it yet, I say Bhaag bhaag DK Bose, DK Bose ;)

Half a year down: Is your cup half full or half empty?

Well, this cutie-pie sure has his cup half full - Atta boy!

So for all the half-empty cup holders, let's learn a trick or two from his drinking style...

But seriously, can any one help me track how this year has just whizzed by in a flash? I remember the new year day with crystal-clarity (pun intended: I froze my bones dry and got my obliging mother to tag along for the ice-ride in Paris last winter and we ushered in the new-years with frost bites, stuck in a far-away garden with no cabs to take us back into the city! Brrr...)

Technically, a lot has happened in these dizzying past 6 months -but if I take a moment to recall this time, I literally draw a blank. We live in a world which is moving so very fast that I am afraid we are quickly failing to savour special moments in life. Or let me put it this way, we live in an enhanced world; a world that each of us knowingly or un-knowingly draws a lot from. Not only are we expected to perform but we expect to get a lot from the world too. Thus raising the average standards we set for ourselves and those around us. In this nutty equation of improving our lives (or so we say), I feel we are losing out on many simple basics. Basics - such as family, health, the arts, the outdoors, a nice cup of tea, an evening stroll....All of these simple acts have to be enhanced. For example,nowadays, we don't just go to a concert, we go to a stage-performance. The show is rated by the outfits, the makeup, the dance, the lighting effects and various other elements of the super-natural. Least attention is paid to the actual singing or musical talent of the performers!  

2011 was supposed to be a great year for every one in general. As opposed to 2010; which was marked by "predicted" disasters, 2011 was/is supposed to be a relatively trouble-free year. But in these few months, history has been created and destroyed in so many significant places all over the world. From the ongoing Libyan crisis, the Egyptian uprising, the alleged murder of Osama Bin Laden, The Japanese tsunami and nuclear crisis, the Royal wedding, the iPad revolution,the election of the first female Thai President....one could go on and on. Every morning we awake to a barrage of terrible news and a heavier barrage of "vital information" that our minds ought to remember for a host of reasons (to have conversation, to make smart jokes, to remain relevant, and most importantly, to manipulate to one's own personal advantage). 

For most of us, all this goes into one ear and comes out of the other, for some - a little gets processed and for the least, some information is retained. 

So in all this keeping up, we are keeping out precious memories that no iPhone, blackberry, youtube or facebook can preserve. At the end of the day, only that remains which is retained. 

So my wish for myself for the following 6 months is to rewind and reflect...I am going to plug myself in to the charging socket before the batteries die out.  

Lust worthy

Polaroid Instant Mobile Printer - Polaroid Grey Label™

For some one ridiculously nostalgic, this is the best gift ever (Hint! Hint!) >> I absolutely love photo booths and the polariod camera. Check out the spiffy model, launched this June.

Unfortunately, Polaroid isn't officially available in India and might be a pain sourcing the film which is not only expensive, but comes with an expiry period - killing the thought of bulk-purchase.

Boo! Well, I'm not going to let that very important detail get int he way of getting my hands on one of these.........

I'm sure my good friends at Red Light and Polly can help me sort out the film crisis.

If any one has any ideas on how to get the camera and the film - share!

xx