Wonders never Cease

Dear All,

I thought that i had written the last blog of 2006 but i hadn't figured for miracles.

Please find below an article from the Times Of India wich has an article about St. Joseph's School.

I am sure it will warm your hearts and what better a way to bid adieu to this year and welcome in the next.

P.S. This is MY Alma Mater.

(Sorry for the sordid cut and paste job)

End of Year Blog

Looking Back at 2006

Dear Friends & Others,

2006 is coming to an end and we have all had a very eventful year.

Prabir & Shraddha got married. And promptly got pregnant too.
Shyam too got married. I dont know about the pregnancy bit but with the amount of time they seem to be spending on an extended honeymoon, i wouldn't rule out triplets.
Prash got a new flat and also got lucky in Nepal. (wink wink)
Cathy showed tremendous courage to attend an ex's wedding.
Dom moved to Mumbai and promptly forgot us.

And Persis got wodden giraffes!

By the way Persis wrote some comments about Ash (Miss Rai) which got me thinking.

All of you must have seen the drama with Ash & Abhi and their visit to a temple in Varanasi.

I am a religious person myself but what worries me is what kind of message the Bachchan's are sending out to the gullible indian people. To go and perform "cleansing" pujas just because Ash is (allegedly) a 'manglik'? I thought such mumbo jumbo was only in regressive movies like Baabul. To have the so-called first family of Bollywood (so-called because for me that honorofic will always belong to the Kapoors) behave in such a despicable manner just shows how hollow they are as individuals. And what of poor Ash. Can't have been easy to have her horoscope tom-tommed about with crazy 'priests' pronouncing crazier & crazier 'futures' for her. I've personally never heard of a guy dying after marrying a manglik girl. If any of you have then do let me know.

There was a nice movie recently, Lage Raho Munnabhai, and if you remember the girl in it (Dia Mirza) is also a manglik and her to-be father-in-law refuses to let her get married to his son. His son defies him and marries her stating that love is paramount. Ofcourse Munnabhai and Circuit do their part in proving how fake the superstitions are.

And do you remember who did a guest appearance as the practical son?

Abhishek Bachchan. Coincidence Huh? IIIIIIIIIIIIIII Don't Think So.

Only wish he was as strong-willed with his real parents too.

Not to diss the bachchans again, but i also get pissed off at the continuous attempts to glorify the father through the media into some kinda poet-laureate. The constant referrels and recitals of Madhushala on KBC has thankfully come to an end but the family and that pimp Amar Singh, seems to keep referring to him like he was a saint. Granted that he was a freedom fighter and a decent writer (may he rest in peace) but most definitely not GREAT.

I mean, wasn't there anything better to rhyme with Agneepath than lathpath, lathpath, lathpath?

And as far as the Sush vs. Ash comparasion goes, well.......

Sush is definitely a better actor (just hasnt got the roles) and also more classy but at the same time Ash too, hasn't gotten her due. She has been victimised too much for looking the way she does. She does falter sometimes (like everytime she opened her mouth in D2) but can act well when she wants to (I am putting myself on the line here because i managed to catch a viewing of Provoked recently and she is Good with a capital G).

Her beauty has definitely led to her being judged unfairly.

Do you think some of these actors would have been feted so if they were as pretty as Ash?

Shabana Azmi, if she wasn't buck-toothed?

Nandita Das, if she wasn't dark & oily skinned?

Nana, if he didn't look like something a dog dragged in?

I could go on but i think you get the message.

Wow, I have a training to do in half-an-hour's time and going by this post, looks like my staff have a rough day in front of them. Ha Ha :-)

Would love to know all your New Year Resolutions and will post mine when i blog again.

Have a rocking New Year's Eve Party and a great 2007.

With Warm Festive Regards,

Vish

Long Time NO Blog...

(water in sharjah or sharjah in water) \

It has been raining for the last 10 days and not little intermittent showers but long and hard.

Anyway the roads and sewage system is not equipped for this and as a result there have been floodings all over and cars have been damaged. I wonder what will happen if it rains here like it rains in India.

Before i go on i need to clarify a few things:

Shraddha seems to think that I went for the Asian Games Opening to Qatar. Naaaa! Sorry but I watched it on TV.

Any news if Shyam is back from his honeymoon? One of the possible destinations was Fiji and since there was a coup there i wonder if he is back or in the Fijian army?

Has Prabir been arrested by the anti-royal regime as yet? Can the Ranas come back to usurp power again?

Are hand-me-downs are a very third world phenomenon? My sister's friend, the very imaginatively named Persis, feels that way.

All million dollar questions?

Anyway the Dubai Shopping Festival is here again and will run from Dec 20 to Feb 04.

Very very commercial but great bargain sometimes. All of you who cant be here can read and weep.

Talking about commercialization, the UAE won a couple of golds in the recent Asiad. Some of them were by the Ruler of Dubai's sons in endurance horse racing. (I guess its the middle east countries' way of getting back at the Indian Subcontinent for introducing Kabbadi).

Anyway one of the other Gold was for body building (dont ask) won by a simple local man.

The sons of the sheikh came back in a private plane and were feted like Caesar returning to Rome.

What about the body builder?

He flew coach and had his salary deducted for taking too many days off to practice.

Phew! This in itself deserved a gold for inequality

Then there is the poor Indian lady weight lifter who is being stripped of her medal because she did not display/possess enough "characteristics of a woman". Wow! I wonder what the characteristics were?

I also got hold of this brilliant T-Shirt design and had to share it with you guys (only if Ms. Persis does not mind ofcourse).

Who was it who said, "There is a very thin line between Love & Hate"

Merry X'Mas to all (including Ms. Persis) and a Very Happy New Year Too.

Have a rocking 2007.

Ciao

Vish

P.S. : Persis:- I am just joking. :-) I promise to send you more folding chairs and floating flowers and wodden giraffes

Slippery Games

HI Again,

Just back from an extended weekend. It was the national day here so we had Sunday off as well.
And what a wet and windy weekend it was.
It has collectively rained for barely 10 hours in the last 5 years and last weekend it rained for 16 hours continuously. And that too during the opening ceremony of the Asian Games in Doha.
Did any of you manage to catch it on TV? Quite spectacular.
Qatar spent quite a chunk of its oil revenue on this and made sure it was well worth the effort.
Money after all does make the world go round.


The best bit came in the end when 4 horsemen galloped into the stadium and paused in the middle. Then a huge curtain like thing seperated to show the son of he ruler of Qatar on a magnificient stallion with a torch in his hand at one end of the stadium. He then gallopped across the stadium and up a flight of stairs to light the cauldron. Rain however had made the new steel stairs slippery and the gusty winds weren't helping matters either. At 2 or 3 times during the ride it almost looked like the horse was going to slip and fall and it even stopped and hesitated once but was coaxed on by the prince who is also the captain of the Equestrian team. Inspite of all the other wonderful technical wizardy, this one spectacle of man against nature was what transfixed everyone. Guess after everything is over and done with, human struggle is what is the most interesting. Now i know why the 24 hours news channels seem to be doing so well.


Speaking of money, 2 years back during the deluge when Mumbai got flooded and filmstars walked through slush, everyone talked about the lack of resources etc and lastweek it rained for 1 day here and UAE nearly drowned. Guess money does not make the world go round after all.

Have a great day/s ahead.

OXOXOX

Vish

P.S. by the way that OX is hugs and kisses.

Check it Out

(view of my Alma Mater from space on Google Earth)

You guys must check out this site www.wikimapia.org

.org not .com remember.

You can get great satellite pics of all your fave places, and even your own homes etc.
Like Google Earth, Do you say? I know, I know. Its just that this is better. Try it and see for yourself.

(same view but on Wikimapia)

Great Comment on the books Shyam. Keep it Up and others learn something from Mr. U. (Now with the Dhoom craze and Mr A's etc I am also going to follow suit. Atleast till the thrill wears out) Surprised that Ms. R and Mr. A have not seen fit to respond. Stopped reading have we?

I also would like to take this opportunity to web-smack that crazy M.P who suggested that the King be made a President in Nepal. Either throw him out and begin afresh or let him be as he is. What's this about a President. Who in their right mind wants a President in any country (the U.S included) Grand state occassions gets turned into a pantomine everytime Hon. Kalam steps out or when Bush opens his mouth. To really understand the value of the monarchy (inspite of them being big-spending free-loaders as per Mrs Blair) you should all watch The Queen. Apart from Helen Mirren who as ElizabethII gives a lesson in acting and subtelty it also shows how a monarchy serves as a symbol of stability & impartiality in an everchanging face of local politics. When Diana died and the British were thinking of abolishing the monarchy there, Blair was at the peak of his popularity just like Messrs Koirala & Prachada are now. But as Her Majesty tells Blair towards the end of the movie, "The public have a funny way of changing loyalties. Sometime in the future, suddenly and without warning, the same will happen to you"

We all know where Blair is now and knowing Koirala i am sure we can expect the same very soon. So in the middle of all this having a monarchy is the only decent thing to do.

Sorry to all you non nepalis who must be wondering where this blog is going.

By the way i am also starting a iNGO called "Lets Make Prabir History".

Oops! that should read "Lets Make Prabir's Bulimia History"

Contributions are welcome and should be addressed to either Mrs. R or Mr. S

For Cathy,

Wonders never cease.

People are beginning to get addicted to my blog and some come back regularly for a 'fix'. Even the ones who supposedly dont have any time except to cannodle with the other half.

Before i go on a very Happy Birthday to Dom. Since you have not given any of us your contact numbers in Mumbai we could not call. Prash and me did manage to speak that day and wish each other on your behalf. Anyway hope you had a great birthday. I am sure you are getting a lot of birthday presents in birthday suits in mumbai as i heard the party scene is quite rocking there. Good Luck and God Bless from all of us.

The reason for the delay in posting my blog was simply because of the fact that my parents arrived in Dubai last tuesday and were staying with my cousins and i had to go pick them up and you know how it is.... busy busy busy little bee.

Heard that Dhoom 2 is quite rocking. And if Zee News (which for the record is the worst channel on TV) is to be believed the Bachchan's are supposed to be very angry with Ash for kissing Hrithik. Yeah and she would have kept that as a secret till the movie released. Phew. What junk passes in the name of news now a days.

By the way does anyone know if Shyam is back from his honeymoon. And where has he gone anyway. Prash was saying he went to Seychelles while Cathy said Maldives (where Mr & Mrs Cruise are also holidaying currently). And where does Prabir guess he went? Let us not even go there. Shudder shudder. Such venom in such a small head. Tsk Tsk.

More soon i promise.

After some time i am planning to compile all my favourite blogs and publish them.

Prabir: Any thoughts?

Till next time..... as Ash and gang say... Go Dhoom!

Ciao

An Outrage

HI Again,

All of you who know me know that i am not easily outraged. Angered, amused and pissed-off maybe, but seldom outraged except in rare cases like when people throw cats and dogs out of moving cars for 'sport' (see blog dated friday October 13).

However last Friday I went for a Ghulam Ali concert and to say i left the concert outraged would be an understatement.

The crazy man strolled in 1 hour late and then proceeded to sing only classical numbers. In his own words he "informed" us that he has been singing for 50 years, so for the first half we should listen to his choice and that in the second half he would take requests.
Pakistan Television, PTV, he added, survived and flourished only because of him. (I could not figure why that piece of info was given to us at that juncture)

The charlatan then went on to sing precisely 5 songs in 1.5 hours. If you are wondering why it took 1.5 hours for 5 songs, well.... he decided that he would do his riyaz here and go aaaaaahhhhhhhh, ahhhhhhhhhhhh, saaaaaa reeeeeee gaaaaaaaaaaaa for ages.
In between that he also managed to scold the official photographer, a member of the audience for standing up and almost every member of his troupe for being out of tune.

Now my issue is simply this. When you insist on travelling with your own musicians (at what must be quite a considerable cost to the organisers, which is then passed on to the poor ticket buying public) the least you can do is get them to tune their instrumennts before the show.
And please dont take out your frustrations on the other musicians when your own son is playing the spanish guitar (dont ask) on a completely different scale.

At this point i have to be honest and mention that this is not the first Ghulam Ali concert that i have attended. About 2 years back i had been to one in Nepal with Prabir. I had flown the whole night and chatted with family and friends the whole day and then attended the concert in the evening. Therefore i was gracious enough to attribute the mind-numbing boredom that followed to lack of sleep. (I would also like to say jetlag but HRH Prabir insists that jetlag is only applicable when you fly from Wisconsin to Kathmandu.)

Oooh how wrong was I?

After the neverending first half finally got over i dragged myself to the bar (selling overpriced & overwatered drinks, even by Crowne Plaza standards) hoping that like the nawabs of yore, lifting a few glasses would help lift my spirits too. Alas that was not to be.

Post interval Mr. Ali decided that just fleecing people of their hard earned money wasn't enough, he would thrust his son on us too. "Please," he intoned in mock humility, "bless my son by listening to a few of his songs."
Talking of the son here let me be succinct.

Overweight, Undertalented & Uncharismatic. Period!

After that was over and people started to get restless, he finally asked for requests and guess what.... he decided that he would not sing them. Why? Because he 'decided' that the audience should listen to newer songs and not pine after old stuff. Towards the end (nearing 2am) the crowd finally had enough and began to heckle, which only helped to get him more riled up. Chupke Chupke, Hangama etc came the loud and boistrous cries from the cheap seats in the back. Sensing trouble but still defiant, he sang the requested songs but only a paragraph each. Then abrubtly he got up to go but forgot that the door was at the back of the hall.

To see a great artist (he does have his talent) be ushered out amid boos and mockery almost made up for the horror that was the evening.

Pity PTV could not capture this.

Mediocre + Mediocre doesn’t a Masterpiece make

Hi Guys,

A good friend of mine Jashoda from Sikkim, who is also an editor among many other things has recommended a few good reads. Namely “The Inheritance of Loss” by Kiran Desai and “Like The Flowing River” by Paulo Coelho.

I have heard a lot about “The Inheritance of Loss” but after the high of the Booker, things seem to be going downhill all the way. I heard that her portrayal of Kalimpong isn’t quite flattering and what’s worse, I believe, is that she seems to show a very naïve understanding of Gorkhaland and the subsequent Hill politics even though she did live through that period in Kalimpong itself. Too much like an outsider looking in, which is not necessarily a bad way to go when you are writing a novel but to then pretend that she is a ‘simple girl from the hills’ is hypocrisy. Of course, not having read it as yet I am only speculating on speculations and normally I don’t go by those but her aunt who still lives in Kalimpong I heard isn’t too happy about it either. That for me is enough. Amen!

Long ago when Aparna Sen’s “36 Chowringee Lane” (which I personally loved, by the way) was released, a lot of critics went ga-ga over it and fell over themselves trying to find superlatives to describe it. Jug Suriya (a columnist of certain renown with the Indian Express) wrote a brilliant article. He asked if Indians had become so used to mediocrity that even an average film makes us behave like we have created a classic. Indian writing in English is also in the sameboat. Apart from Amitav Ghosh, no one is currently producing anything of substance. No one who’s read “A Suitable Boy” or “Midnight’s Children” can read any of the later books by either Seth or Rushdie and not notice the marked deterioration in character study and form.

Now I have to admit here, albeit at the risk of sounding like a heretic, that I am not the greatest fan of Paulo Coelho. I have not read his Alchemist and other novels but did manage to read “Eleven Minutes” and quite frankly I was sorely disappointed. It was nothing better than a Danielle Steele novel(who by the way, along with other potboiler/airport novelists has her own merits but then that is another topic for another day). I found it a downright corny book trying hard to be philosophical. Spirituality, mysticism, sacred love etc have to be portrayed by the characters and they must live those ideals so that by the end of the book you feel what they feel. You cant have it stuffed down your throat. Then it is just fanatic preachings in the name of literature.

As far as I personally go, my gauge for a good book is how I feel after I finish it. I don’t remember who said it but in one of the old Reader’s Digest’s “Quotable Quotes” page was something I believe in 100%. It said:-

“You know a book is really good when after you turn the last page and put it away, you feel like you’ve lost a good friend”

Halleluiah to that.

And to all you Desai and Coelho fans, my sincere apologies.

Surprises in the Mail

I must tell you of this wonderful thing that happened this morning.

I got a call in the office from EMPOST (the local courier company) asking for my exact location. When i asked him where the letter was from he said it was infact a 'parcel' from someone he did not know as the FROM address wasn't clear. I wasn't expecting any parcel from anyone and so i waited with a mix of confusion and low-expectation.

When it (see above) finally arrived i found that it was an exotic gift set from Mrs Shraddha Rana (Prabir's wife to the uninitiated) all the way from NEPAL.

Well if this doesn't deserve a blog i dont know what does.

A very very BIG and Sincere THANK YOU to Shraddha and the foetus. She did metion Prabir also but, knowing him as well as i do, i am pretty sure his contribution in this was virtually nil. The whole effort of choosing a gift and god forbid, actually going out and couriering it would be too stressful for him. It would mean thinking of the gift, making decisions, missed siestas, travel in traffic filled roads, conversing with the bourgeoise staff at the courier company et al.

Naaaah Not for Prabir this humdrum routine and painfully crass behaviour.

So Thank You to Shraddha and the Foetus. I heard from reliable inside sources (guess who) that the only time Prabir shows any willingness to exercise himself (for want of a better phrase) is after 9pm and before 6am.

As soon as office gets over, I shall go home and wash myself with the curiously titled Yogi soaps and then, as Shraddha suggested, rub myself with the oil.

Shakespeare seemed so prophetic in Hamlet when he said:-

"To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come"

Once more a Big Thank You to Shraddha. And for the record i loved the gift and even more the thought and effort behind it. Do keep it up.

I too wish you many many fun and fun-filled 'rubs' with your 'Yogi'.

Till Next Time....

Blog Late because of Flu

HI Guys,

I'm not Arnold but I'm Baaaack (If you dont get the joke then dont bother. Its P.J anyway)

I am back after a long and well deserved break. With Diwali, Eid and My Birthday falling together it was very hectic to say the least.

Now some of you must be very surprised to read “Birthday” in the above sentence and well… YOU SHOULD BE!

Some wonderful people (you know who you are) did call and wish me but for the others who forgot, well, there’s a special place in Purgatory for you guys. And incase a wise smile is beginning to creep around the corners of some of your mouths, the second category also includes those people who called/wrote very cheerfully after the 23rd chiming “Happy Belated Birthday”. Belated my Ass!

Since I am still in the 1 year mourning period for my paternal uncle, Diwali was subdued and sombre but I did manage to light some lamps. It reminded me of home and family and nice, kind people…... you know, the ones who remember to call you on birthdays and wish…etc..

And since the D-Day, or should I say B-Day, fell bang in the middle of Diwali/Eid, I had my party on the 27 and even though I say so myself it was rockin. At the end of it I was tempted to shout Zindagi Rocks but thought better of it. Would have been too corny and too hindi. Ha Ha.

……..‘CAUSE I AM A MATERIAL GUY….

Anyway I got a lot of gifts (hint..hint) ranging from the bling-bling (gold) to quasi-religio-bling (Ganesh-Om pendant) to sublimely useful (a portable DVD player) to cool (a Jazz sculpture) to artistic (a charcoal sketch) to mundane (a shirt) and finally to kitschy (Happy B’Day inside a golden Heart which turns musically when wound up).

I hope the adjectives above gave you a clearer picture of what I appreciate and what I don’t. It should come in handy for future reference.

Ooh, and I got a hug too, but the apt adjective for it had to be censored.

Some people (who fortunately shall remain unnamed) were so afraid that the recently concluded month of Ramadan would affect the flow of my bar, that they decided to combine generosity with practicality and gifted me 2 bottles of Red Label. Suffice it to say that they then proceeded to drink it themselves.

A big thank you to all of them and to all the others whose gifts, I hear, are in the mail (wink..wink).

I had decided to NOT cut a cake this year cause I feel very embarrassed being the centre of attraction (honestly I do) but a couple friend of mine decided that it just would not do and ordered a cake. Actually the grammar in the last sentence is wrong. It should be plural as in CAKES cause they, lets call them the Cake-Couple, decided (for reasons that would become alarmingly clear later) that I should cut not 1 but 2 cakes. The facial that i got after that made it quite clear what most of cake # 1 was meant for.

WHAT TO WATCH AND WHAT NOT TO…

I also managed to catch some movies during this period and one was great and one bizarre.
Don was great. I hadn’t watched the old version and so was looking at it with un-prejudiced eyes and found the movie very slick and well made with some very interesting twists in the story which, I have to say, were not predictable at all. That’s quite a big achievement for a Hindi movie. SRK initially started off clumsily but then fitted-in so well that for once you forgot it was King Khan on screen. Khaike Paan.. was quite rocking, esp when seen on screen as compared with the trailers on TV. SRK seems to do the bad guy act pretty well and why not, since his breakout roles in Baazigar and Darr were both negative. When Kareena (looking hot but with thunder thighs) offers to answer his ringing mobile, watch him snarl at her and say “Leave it. Its Mine”. The ending I hear is a departure from the old Don and what a kick ass one it is. You can’t help but smile at the absurdity of it and yet the panache that it is carried off with.

Jaan-E-Maan in one word was bizarre. Again what originality can you expect from a man whose sole claim to fame is that his hair is longer than his wife’s (loudmouth choreographer Farah Khan for the uninitiated). He seems to be greatly influenced by Broadway and that is not necessarily a bad thing unless he begins to shove it in the audiences face in every single scene. He seems so stuck-up with the ‘big picture’ that he misses all the subtle emotions. Every frame is so loud, overlapping and jarring that it’s a wonder they are not giving out paracetamols along with the popcorn. Salman (sadly beginning to look his age) is just about bearable in the beginning but once he lands in Manhatten, his accent, which even otherwise was always doubtful, goes for a real toss. Almost all his various conversations in English (and there are quite a few) with different American characters (and there are quite of few of those too) has a different accent. They range from normal American to Country to Hey-Dude kinda twang. If that wasn’t bad enough, I also caught a hint of Caribbean/Jamaican when he said “I can do it Maaan”. Preity, however, is looking so stunning that the entrance cost is almost covered by that alone. And you cant help but go back home and not practice Akshay’s hey..hey..hey…hey laugh with your friends. But seriously, I need to take back more than a laugh with me at the end of a movie. Gimme me Don anyday.

A CONFESSION…

I was just reading the whole blog now before posting and I couldn’t help but think what many of you have already thought and what some have even said out loud.

“This Vishal seems to have too much time on his hands!”

But to paraphrase something, someone, somewhere, said so eloquently…..

“Don ko rokna, mushkil hi nahi, na mumkim hai”

Till next time….

If Wishes Were Horses....

Happy

Diwali/ Deepawali/ Tihar

(the pic is courtesy HRH Prabir)

First of all wish all of you a very happy happy festival ahead. Wish you all great happiness and contentment in your lives.

Those of you in the 'loop' must have received Shraddha's pregnancy fuelled tirade. For those of you who did not, believe me, you are better off for it. Here's just a few inferences i deduced:

a) She has been transformed into a short haired cutie pie who allegedly is on a sex crazed mission.

b) My friend meanwhile seems to have become so somnolent (for want of a better word) with the constant demand for his 'penile services' (again for want of a better phrase) that he has stopped writing to us altogether. Even his festival greetings are just some pics forwarded with not even a decent message of greeting attached (As so thankfully pointed out by cretain ex-cupid [for want of a better description])

c) In deference to Comrade Cathy's 'request' they have not yet identified the sex of the child and

d) Vishal is somehow more eloquent and intelligent and techo-savvy and.... hush now.... tsk... tsk genius does not need a mirror.

Except Shyam none of you seem to have seen any of my recommended movies so i will let you catch up before posting another recommendation.

The DVD of the Week feature will resume after the holidays.

Looking forward to 3 different movies over the holidays. Don, for the SRK and Farhan Akhtar factor, Jaan-E-Maan for the strong buzz that it has been receiving and The Departed for Scorcese and Nicholson.

Have a great Holidays ahead.

Vish

Friendship & Tolerance

My Alma Mater
(BTW this is just the concert hall... ahem... ahem)

I was wondering if any if my friends even make the effort to read my blogs but let me give them the benefit of the doubt and presume they do, even though they seem so incapable of leaving even a few lines of comments. Sometime one of the tests of friendship is Tolerance.

The reports of 'pets' being thrown out of moving cars as a sport (see previous blog) seem to be increasing and to think that this is happenning during the holy month of Ramadan. Haven't quite been able to get it out of my head and try as i might, i cannot understand what motivates someone to do something so cruel. That is apart from putting other startled motorists at risk.

Diwali is coming and so is Eid. Wishing all of you a very Happy and Prosperous Diwali. I sincerely hope this festival of Lights does indeed light up all your lives with all the happiness and prosperity that you all so richly deserve.
Having my birthday fall in the middle of all this is not bad either. :-)

By the way the DVD's Of The Week havent just been picked at random. A lot of thought has gone into them. It is not only about what i liked but i have also tried to put myself in your shoes, and knowing all of you and your temperements, i have tried to select titles which would appeal to your sensibilities too.

Wish all of you a great week ahead and a great year to follow too.

Ciao for Now

Vish

DVD of the week and Random Musings again

HI All,

Considering that your weekend is still Sat-Sun and since that is the time when you usually have time to watch a movie i have changed my schedule for "DVD of the Week". Henceforth it will be posted on Thursday instead of Sunday. (Wow it sound so grandoise)

Before that a few random musings as usual.

Have been reading news lately of the new “sport” to hit Dubai. People are driving down SZR Road (the busiest and fastest motorway connecting Dubai and Abu Dhabi) and throwing cats and dogs out of vehicles to bet on how many cars it can avoid before being crushed to death. In the torrent of emotions that I experienced immediately on reading this, I am not sure which came first, Astonishment, Horror, Shock or just plain Anger. I really wonder if too much money and no hard work ever can do this to you. Never quite thought I’d literally see the idiom, An Idle Mind is a Devil’s Workshop.

On a completely different note I was watching Sony TV’s “Jhalak Dikhla Jaa” which is based on the BBC’s Dancing With The Stars. After Ajay Jadeja was eliminated, he displayed such maturity, grace and sportsmanship that my respect for him has quadrupled. I always liked him as a cricketer (never mind his role in match fixing as anything is okay when compared to the corruption of Dalmiya, Pawar & Co.), but after yesterday he showed such dignity that it should be a case study on how to accept defeat. And it wasn’t just hollow “sportsmanship” he actually said that the remaining three were the best of the lot and if he had been voted in, he actually would have been embarrassed to stand there. Hat’s off to him. Lage Raho Jaddubhai.

Anyway this week’s movie is....

A wonderful movie which brings out the child in all of us and hopefully, a little of the good in that child within us too.
From a director whose previous credits include Trainspotting, The Beach and 29 Days Later its a 180 degree turn in genre. First of all the little kid playing Damien must be the cutest kid since Drew Barrymore in E.T.

We all have imaginary friends but little Damien has saints for his friends who ‘visit’ him on different occasions and help him choose the right path. The review below will tell you of the movie but I just want to share a few of my feelings about it as Shyam so helpfully pointed out. It is cast very well, shot beautifully and in Damien has a solid moral center without ever being preachy. He is also not a push over or a dumb kid. In one scene when he brings 1000 pounds to the school and his elder brother scolds him saying that it is suspicious, he replies,
“It is not suspicious. Its unusual but not suspicious.”
As Diwali & Eid comes round the corner and with Christmas in the horizon we need a little help to remind us of the little-good-things in life and this movie does it perfectly. In our quest to earn our individual “millions” we also need to stop to think of little-good-things.
Watch it, you won't be disappointed.

Roger Ebert- Chicago Sun Times

It isn't the money's fault it got stolen. That is the reasoning of Anthony Cunningham, who at 9 is more of a realist than his 7-year-old brother, Damian. Therefore it isn't their fault that a bag containing 265,000 British pounds bounced off a train and into Damian's playhouse and is currently stuffed under their bed. "Millions," a family film of limitless imagination and surprising joy, follows the two brothers as they deal with their windfall. They begin by giving some of it away, taking homeless men to Pizza Hut. Damian wants to continue their charity work, but Anthony leans toward investing in property. They have a deadline: In one week the UK will say goodbye to the pound and switch over to the Euro; maybe, thinks Anthony, currency speculation would be the way to go. Here is a film that exists in that enchanted realm where everything goes right -- not for the characters, for the filmmakers. They take an enormous risk with a film of sophistication and whimsy, about children, money, criminals and saints. Damian collects the saints -- "like baseball cards". He knows all their statistics. He can see them clear as day, and have conversations with them. His favorite is St. Francis of Assisi, but he knows them all: When a group of Africans materializes wearing halos, Damian is ecstatic: "The Ugandan martyrs of 1881!" The boys' mother has died, and Damian asks his saints if they have encountered a St. Maureen. No luck, but then heaven is limitless. Their dad, Ronnie (James Nesbitt), has recently moved them into a newly built suburb outside Liverpool, where the kids at school are hostile at first. Anthony finds it cost-efficient to bribe them with money and neat stuff. Damian, under advice from St. Francis, wants to continue giving money to the poor. Anthony warns him urgently that throwing around too much money will draw attention to them, but Damian drops 10,000 pounds into a charity collection basket. When the boys find out the money was stolen, Damian thinks maybe they should give it back, which is when Anthony comes up with the excellent reasoning I began with, It isn't the money's fault it got stolen. Perhaps by focusing on the money and the saints I have missed the real story of "Millions," which involves the lives of the boys, their father, and the woman (Daisy Donovan) who works at the charity that finds the fortune in its basket. The boys are dealing with the death of their mother, and the money is a distraction. Their father is even lonelier; maybe too lonely to ever marry again, maybe too distracted to protect his boys against the bad guy (Christopher Fulford), who dreamed up the perfect train robbery and is now skulking about the neighborhood looking for his missing bag of loot. By now you may have glanced back to the top of the review to see if I really said "Millions" was directed by Danny Boyle, who made "Shallow Grave," "Trainspotting" and the zombie movie "28 Days Later." Yes, the Danny Boyle. And the original screenplay and novel are by Frank Cottrell Boyce, who wrote "Hilary and Jackie" and "24 Hour Party People." What are these two doing making a sunny film about kids? I don't require an answer for that, because their delight in the film is so manifest. But they are serious filmmakers who do not know how to talk down to an audience, and although "Millions" uses special effects and materializing saints, it's a film about real ideas, real issues and real kids. It's not sanitized brainless eye candy. Like all great family movies, it plays equally well for adults -- maybe better, since we know how unusual it is. One of its secrets is casting. In Alex Etel and Lewis McGibbon the film has found two of the most appealing child actors I've ever seen. Etel is like the young Macaulay Culkin ("Home Alone"), except that he has no idea he is cute, and like the young Haley Joel Osment ("The Sixth Sense") in that he finds it perfectly reasonable to speak with dead people. There is no overt cuteness, no affected lovability, not a false note in their performances, and the movie allows them to be very smart, as in Anthony's theory about turning the pounds into dollars and buying back into Euros after the new currency falls from its opening-day bounce. Of course, that involves the difficulty of two boys ages 7 and 9 trying to convert 265,000 pounds into anything. They can't just walk into a bank with a note from their dad. The movie handles this and other problems with droll ingenuity, while also portraying a new suburban community in the making. After the new homeowners move in, a helpful policeman cheerfully advises a community meeting that they should expect to be burgled, and he tells them which forms to ask for at the police station. Boyce, the screenwriter says he got the inspiration for "Millions," from an interview in which Martin Scorsese said he was reading the lives of the saints. The idea of characters getting a sudden cash windfall is not new, indeed has been a movie staple for a century. What's original about the movie is the way it uses the money as a device for the young brothers to find out more about how the world really works, and what is really important to them. The closing sequence is a bit of a stretcher, I will be the first to admit, but why not go for broke? One of the tests of sainthood is the performance of a miracle, and since Damian is clearly on the road to sainthood, that is permitted him. For that matter, Boyce and Boyle have performed a miracle with their movie. This is one of the best films of the year.

A Movie a Week will keep Boredom away.

Hi,

I think that as a friend i should share the good things with all.
I strongly believe that one's mind needs to be constantly stimulated to keep it from stagnating.
It is like a muscle and the more you work it the stronger it becomes. One source of widening our minds are movies and i think we should catch atleast 1 good movie a week. Once a week i get ready by about 7pm and after a nice warm bath and armed with a nice indulgent snack and a glass of whatever, i dim the lights and settle down with a nice dvd (even though it is pirated) and spend 2-3 hours lost in another world.
So beginning today i am starting a new feature called "Vishal's DVD of the Week" (notice how i manage to insert my name randomly within the blog) with excerpts of reviews by major critics.

The first title is "Y Tu Mama Tambien"

It is a mexican film directed by Alfonso Cuaron, whose earlier english credits include Great Expectations (Gwyneth Paltrow, Ethan Hawke) which was a visually stunning but vastly underrated movie and the little seen or heard A Little Princess which is the most charming (without being cloyingly sweet) children's movie ever. Sample a bit of dialogue.
(Sara is tracing her father's face with her finger]
Capt. Crewe: What are you doing? Memorizing me by heart?
Sara Crewe: No... I already know you by heart.
(much later after her father is presumed dead and she is put in a "home")
Miss Minchin: Don't tell me you still fancy yourself a princess? Child, look around you! Or better yet, look in the mirror.
Sara Crewe: I am a princess. All girls are. Even if they live in tiny old attics. Even if they dress in rags, even if they aren't pretty, or smart, or young. They're still princesses. All of us. Didn't your father ever tell you that? Didn't he?

And he also directed "H.P The Prisoner of Askaban"

Coming back to Y Tu... The title translates as "And your mother too.." but dont get swayed by the profanity laden title or some sexually explicit scenes. It is a coming of age story like no other. All the American Pie movies seem like farcial goof-ups (which they actually were).
At the end of the movie, as Roger Ebert says; "Y Tu Mama" is one of those movies where 'after that summer, nothing would ever be the same again.' Yes, but it redefines 'nothing'".

Some excerpts of some major reviews.

1) Roger Ebert - Chicago Sun Times and arguably the world's best movie critic
"Y Tu Mama Tambien" is about two teenage boys and an impulsive journey with an older woman that involves sexual discoveries. But it is also about the two Mexicos. And it is about the fragility of life and the finality of death. Beneath the carefree road movie that the movie is happy to advertise is a more serious level--and below that, a dead serious level. Like "Amores Perros," which also stars Gael Garcia Bernal, it is an exuberant exercise in interlocking stories. But these interlock not in space and time, but in what is revealed, what is concealed, and in the parallel world of poverty through which the rich characters move.The surface is described in a flash: Two Mexican teenagers named Tenoch and Julio, one from a rich family, one middle class, are free for the summer when their girlfriends go to Europe. At a wedding they meet Luisa, 10 years older, the wife of a distant cousin; she's sexy and playful. They suggest a weekend trip to the legendary beach named Heaven's Mouth. When her husband cheats on her, she unexpectedly agrees, and they set out together on a lark.This level could have been conventional but is anything but, as directed by Alfonso Cuaron, who co-wrote the screenplay with his brother Carlos. Luisa kids them about their sex lives in a lighthearted but tenacious way, until they have few secrets left, and at the same time she teases them with erotic possibilities. The movie is realistic about sex, which is to say, franker and healthier than the smutty evasions forced on American movies by the R rating. We feel a shock of recognition: This is what real people do and how they do it, sexually, and the MPAA has perverted a generation of American movies into puerile masturbatory snickering.Whether Luisa will have sex with one or both of her new friends is not for me to reveal. More to the point is what she wants to teach them, which is that men and women learn to share sex as a treasure they must carry together without something spilling--that women are not prizes, conquests or targets, but the other half of a precarious unity. This is news to the boys, who are obsessed with orgasms (needless to say, their own).The progress of that story provides the surface arc of the movie. Next to it, in a kind of parallel world, is the Mexico they are driving through. They pass police checkpoints, see drug busts and traffic accidents, drive past shanty towns, and are stopped at a roadblock of flowers by villagers demanding a donation for their queen--a girl in bridal white, representing the Virgin. "You have a beautiful queen," Luisa tells them. Yes, but the roadblock is genteel extortion. The queen has a sizable court that quietly hints a donation is in order.At times during this journey the soundtrack goes silent and we hear a narrator who comments from outside the action, pointing out the village where Tenoch's nanny was born and left at 13 to seek work. Or a stretch of road where, two years earlier, there was a deadly accident. The narration and the roadside images are a reminder that in Mexico and many other countries a prosperous economy has left an uneducated and penniless peasantry behind.They arrive at the beach. They are greeted by a fisherman and his family, who have lived here for four generations, sell them fried fish, rent them a place to stay. This is an unspoiled paradise. (The narrator informs us the beach will be purchased for a tourist hotel, and the fisherman will abandon his way of life, go to the city in search of a job and finally come back here to work as a janitor.) Here the sexual intrigues which have been developing all along will find their conclusion.Beneath these two levels (the coming-of-age journey, the two Mexicos) is hidden a third. I will say nothing about it, except to observe there are only two shots in the entire movie that reflect the inner reality of one of the characters. At the end, finally knowing everything, you think back through the film--or, as I was able to do, see it again.Alfonso Cuaron is Mexican but his second and third features were big-budget American films. I thought "Great Expectations" (1998), with Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow and Anne Bancroft, brought a freshness and visual excitement to the updated story. I liked "A Little Princess" (1995) even more. It is clear Cuaron is a gifted director, and here he does his best work to date. Why did he return to Mexico to make it? Because he has something to say about Mexico, obviously, and also because Jack Valenti and the MPAA have made it impossible for a movie like this to be produced in America. It is a perfect illustration of the need for a workable adult rating: too mature, thoughtful and frank for the R, but not in any sense pornographic. Why do serious film people not rise up in rage and tear down the rating system that infantilizes their work? The key performance is by Maribel Verdu as Luisa. She is the engine that drives every scene she's in, as she teases, quizzes, analyzes and lectures the boys, as if impatient with the task of turning them into beings fit to associate with an adult woman. In a sense she fills the standard role of the sexy older woman, so familiar from countless Hollywood comedies, but her character is so much more than that--wiser, sexier, more complex, happier, sadder. It is true, as some critics have observed, that "Y Tu Mama" is one of those movies where "after that summer, nothing would ever be the same again." Yes, but it redefines "nothing."

2) Laura Bushell - BBC
Smashing all records at the box office in Mexico, "Y Tu Mamá También" (And Your Mother Too) is Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón's triumphant return to his roots after ten years in Hollywood. Witty, vibrant, and intelligent, it's not hard to see why audiences have loved the film.
Combining elements of a road movie, love triangle, and coming of age tale, the film follows Tenoch (Luna) and Julio (García Bernal), two teenage best friends from Mexico City whose girlfriends have just gone travelling. Left at the peril of their hormones, the boys lure beautiful Luisa (Verdú), the discontented wife of Tenoch's cousin, away on a trip to an imaginary beach. In the process they discover things about themselves and each other that they least expected. With a voiceover that enriches the story with socio-political observations, Cuarón has fashioned a movie that is specific in its personal and national character, but which negotiates issues relevant to everyone. Entertaining and enlightening.

3) SEAN AXMAKER - THE SEATTLE POST
"Y Tu Mamá Tambièn" (which translates to the adolescent insult "And your mama too!") is a vivid, thoughtful, unapologetically raw coming-of-age tale full of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Two sex-obsessed, dope-smoking teenage boys, Julio (Gael Garcia Bernal) and Tenoch (Diego Luna) head for a hidden Mexican beach with a sexy, worldly young Spanish woman -- reads like a transplanted American teen sex comedy on the surface.
Luisa (Maribel Verdu), the restless, unhappy wife of Tenoch's insufferably pompous cousin, is an erotic fantasy to these boys and who, true to the genre, will take them both in hand for brief encounters.
Neither comic nor romanticized, the couplings are physical and sweaty, more like a sporting event than love making. Bernal's working-class Julio and Luna's rich kid Tenoch are utterly unself-conscious in their portrayal of boys on their last blast of irresponsible fun, bringing just a touch of tension to their screen friendship.
Verdu's Luisa emerges as the heart and soul of the picture. Under her smiling front of confidence and fun-loving impulsiveness, Luisa is sad and lost, and she thrives on the unbridled energy and naive innocence of the immature, cocky, sex-mad boys. Her sexual favors are not favors at all, but a desperate attempt to lose herself, if only for a few moments, in simple physical pleasure (and brief it is, much to her unfulfilled frustration).
Alfonso Cuaron, the director of such elegant, visually sensuous American films as "A Little Princess" and "Great Expectations," finds a different kind of sensuality in the sun-blasted rural landscapes and the paradise lost of the third act. Framing the giddy teenage explosion of energy are the comments of an omniscient narrator, whose ironic insights offer background color and flash-forward reality checks, and the political and social tensions of modern-day Mexico in the periphery of their road trip.
That's a lot to cram into a coming-of-age film, and Cuaron does it deftly, thoughtfully and with sharp, aggressive style that makes it feel honest. Like all road movies, this is a journey to self, and Cuaron both celebrates and mourns the passing of youth.

I hope you will all make some effort to watch this movie and with piracy being so open and available i hope you will ask your local DVD 'dealer' to get you a copy. Worth adding to your collection.

Happy Viewing.

Vish

random musings

Am back after a weekend of rest. The dusshera on 2nd and a friend's b'day on the 4th really took a toll. Still getting used to the Fri-Sat weekend here as Sunday does not feel like the beginning of the week.

Have a lot of mails to send out as i have been so busy lately that i havent replied to any of my friends and family.

Just read the daily newspaper and have been noticing lately that a lot of random crimes are beginning to get reported here. Some man was beaten up by a gang of local youths and had his mobile etc stolen. Wonder if the education system here is working well. The youth seem to be not educated enough to get high paying jobs and consider it beneath their dignity to do other low paying jobs. Wonder what a few more years will bring. Such a peaceful country. Would hate to see it deteriorate esp having seen Nepal go from peaceful heaven top what it seems to have become now.

Last week an evening tabloid had a frontpage article asking if anyone would offer a job to a Filipino girl. Her visit visa was going to expire in 4 days and she had met an indian boy here and they could not think of life without each other. AS touching as the story was i wonder what his parents had to say of this kind of publicity. His name was something Junagarhwala, so am presuming he is a gujrati and i know i am generalising here but i cant see his family happily accepting a filipino bahu with open arms. The tabloid never got back and reported whether she got a job or had to go back.


Another friend of mine is getting married next month and seems like most of the gang are going to be missing the nuptials in Lucknow. I am still trying to see how i can schedule my own leave here.
Even among a group of friends, can you have favourites? Is a F.R.I.E.N.D.S like scenario just fiction? Wait a min.... even there Rachael & Monica were closer as were Chandler and Joey and Ross was related so Phoebe was the outsider. I wonder in my own group of friends who is the outsider? I frankly think only 6 of us actually constitute "our group" per se (and i am not taking any names here).

Have missed out on a lot of movies lately (very unlike me) and now am waiting eagerly for The Departed and Umrao Jaan. Don, somehow isn't catching my fancy, SRK notwithstanding.

And by the way guys, at the end of each posting there is a place for comments. Please do write something there. Helps to know that you have a thinking mind and ticking too.

As i like to say, Do comma in a comment something.

Till Later

Muah

HI Guys,

I am back after a long and well deserved break. With Diwali, Eid and My Birthday falling together it was very hectic to say the least.

Now some of you must be very surprised to read “Birthday” in the above sentence and well… YOU SHOULD BE!

Some wonderful people (you know who you are) did call and wish me but for the others who forgot, well, there’s a special place in Purgatory for you guys. And incase a wise smile is beginning to creep around the corners of some of your mouths, the second category also includes those people who called/wrote very cheerfully after the 23rd chiming “Happy Belated Birthday”. Belated my Ass!

Since I am still in the 1 year mourning period for my paternal uncle, Diwali was subdued and sombre but I did manage to light some lamps. Reminded me of home and family and nice, kind people…... you know, the ones who remember to call you on birthdays and wish…etc..

And since the D-Day, or should I say B-Day, fell bang in the middle of Diwali/Eid, I had my party on the 27 and even though I say so myself it was rockin. At the end of it I was tempted to shout Zindagi Rocks but thought better of it. Would have been too corny and too hindi. Ha Ha.

……..‘CAUSE I AM A MATERIAL GUY….

Anyway I got a lot of gifts (hint..hint) ranging from the bling-bling (gold) to quasi-religio-bling (Ganesh-Om pendant) to sublimely useful (a portable DVD player) to cool (a Jazz sculpture) to artistic (a charcoal sketch) to mundane (a shirt) and finally to kitschy (Happy B’Day inside a golden Heart which turns musically when wound up).

I hope the adjectives gave you a clearer picture of what I appreciate and what I don’t. It should come in handy for future reference.

Ooh, and I got a hug too, but the apt adjective for it had to be censored.

Some people (who fortunately shall remain unnamed) were so afraid that the recently concluded month of Ramadan would affect the flow of my bar, that they decided to combine generosity with practicality and gifted me 2 bottles of Red Label. Suffice it to say that they then proceeded to drink it themselves.

A big thank you to all of them and to all the others whose gifts, I hear, are in the mail (wink..wink).

I had decided to NOT cut a cake this year cause I feel very embarrassed being the centre of attraction (honestly I do) but a couple friend of mine decided that it just would not do and ordered a cake. Actually the grammar in the last sentence is wrong. It should be plural as in CAKES cause they, lets call them the Cake-Couple, decided (for reasons that would become alarmingly clear later) that I should cut not 1 but 2 cakes. The accompanying picture, I think, makes it quite clear where most of cake # 1 went.

WHAT TO WATCH AND WHAT NOT TO…

I also managed to catch some movies during this period and one was great and one bizarre.

Don was great. I hadn’t watched the old version and so was looking at it with un-prejudiced eyes and found the movie very slick and well made with some very interesting twists in the story which, I have to say, were not predictable at all. That’s quite a big achievement for a Hindi movie. SRK initially started off clumsily but then fitted-in so well that for once you forgot it was King Khan on screen. Khaike Paan.. was quite rocking, esp when seen on screen as compared with the trailers on TV. SRK seems to do the bad guy act pretty well and why not, since his breakout roles in Baazigar and Darr were both negative. When Kareena (looking hot but with thunder thighs) offers to answer his ringing mobile, watch him snarl at her and say “Leave it. Its Mine”. The ending I hear is a departure from the old Don and what a kick ass one it is. You can’t help but smile at the absurdity of it and yet the panache that it is carried off with.

Jaan-E-Maan in one word was bizarre. Again what originality can you expect from a man whose sole claim to fame is that his hair is longer than his wife’s (loudmouth choreographer Farah Khan for the uninitiated). He seems to be greatly influenced by Broadway and that is not necessarily a bad thing unless he begins to shove it in the audiences face in every single scene. He seems so stuck-up with the ‘big picture’ that he misses all the subtle emotions. Every frame is so loud, overlapping and jarring that it’s a wonder they are not giving out paracetamols along with the popcorn. Salman (sadly beginning to look his age) is just about bearable in the beginning but once he lands in Manhatten, his accent, which even otherwise was always doubtful, goes for a real toss. Almost all his various conversations in English (and there are quite a few) with different American characters (and there are quite of few of those too) has a different accent. They range from normal American to Country to Hey-Dude kinda twang. If that wasn’t bad enough, I also caught a hint of Caribbean/Jamaican when he said “I can do it Maaan”. Preity, however, is looking so stunning that the entrance cost is almost covered by that alone. And you cant help but go back home and not practice Akshess.. hehe..; (2) no playing cake games in my room; (3) the cake is small, therefore it is only sufficient for 8 person only! Hahaha...

~*~Not to forget, I wanna thank all my housemates, friends & family who wished me my 22nd Bday~*~

P/S: Gosh, I feel so old now...

Vijaya Dashami 2063

(pic was taken at home in darj)

Dear All,

Wishing you all a very Happy Vijaya Dashami 2063 (Dusshera to the people in India).

I am still woking but have tomorrow and day-after off, so most of you will probably get this message after you get back from your vacations.

Hope Durga Maa blesses all your families with abundant joy and happiness.

(wonder what's the difference between Joy & Happiness)

Regards,

Vish

Of Ramadan & Dusshera

HI Again,

Sorry i was out of the office again for a few days.
Its the 6th day of Ramadan and i seem to have lost 6 lbs already. (just kidding, though i wish it were so easy). Next week is Vijaya Dashami and even though i will not be celebrating, as i am still in the 1 year mourning period for my uncle, i think some good spirits are in order. Will get some friends to come over for dinner maybe.
I guess these are the times when you actually miss friends and family. Boo Hoo Hoo.

I sincerely wish lots of cheers (in more ways than one) for all of you. My friends and family. I hope this season will bring a lot of joy and happiness into your lives and if there is anyone you need to say it to, then maybe this is as good a time as any. Sometimes we seem to have all the right sentiments within us and feel them too, but never quite get around to expressing them.

I consider myself very lucky (and i thank GOD everyday for this) that i have a great family and great friends. And now i will sound old for my 2 1/2, ahem, odd decades that i have been on this planet and preach a little (as if i have not done enough already).

As important as money is, and as Amitabh in a movie once and recently a politician taking bribe on TV, said "Paisa Khuda toh Nahi, par Khuda ki Kasam, Khuda se kam bhi nahi".
Once you've started earning it and have spent the first flush of your paycheck on a few stupid luxuries, you realise that friendships and relationships matter more. I think any of us would happily give up a couple of paychecks for the pleasure (and pain sometimes) of hearing from your friends.

Just imagine how empty life would be without the following:

a) Sri Sri Sri Prashanth's moral-tinged oratory.

b) Globe trotting Shyam's cutting remarke and movie reviews.

c) Comrade Cathy's socialistic tirades

d) HRH Prabir's extremes. Absolute silence or Gutter wit.

e) The Talented Mr Vishal's very eloquent and erudite musings.

etc etc.

Whatever!

Have a very Happy Dusshera and do remember me in your prayers.

Love All.

Vish

Just something

Me In Delhi last Nov.

Pre Rang De Basanti so didn't manage to protest anything.

Jessica Lal was still sometime away so i just stood there.

It was freezing by the way, but being the quintessential tourist i braved it out in just a shirt.

Any by now you all would have guessed that this blog thing is like a new toy for me. Ha Ha.

Abu Dhabi Today

Walked out to the car park this morning and felt a cool breeze blowing. Abu Dhabi seems to be getting cooler every day now, either that or I am getting hotter. Checked my car dashboard and the temp was 33 degrees. Wonder how i will survive when temps hover around 10-15 degrees. Wear warm clothes i guees. Ha ha.

Ramadan is coming next week and i am hoping to renew my diet and exercise program again. Exercise is not the problem for me, its just the good food that i cant resist. Healthy food seems bland and difficult to prepare without the help of a chef. Oprah hope you bloat up quick.

Checked the papers today and there was an article "Son's Lewd Act Leads To Father's Death" Apparantly an Indian labourer was deported from Dubai for "dropping his pants and waving his private parts at an Omani girl in a car". When his brother 'accidently' told the father about this in India he had a heart attack and died.
I cant understand what's the point of that. What 'pleasure' can u possibly get from waving your genitals at others. And if the father had a heart condition why was he told. It took up almost half the page in the paper and i was struck that many more important things have probably happened but not reported. And by the way, Orlando Bloom is allegedly dating Uma Thurman.

Going to Dubai today for the weekend (which has changed from Thu-Fri to Fri-Sat) for some R&R but the traffic there is so bad that i need a cetamol just to get through it. Not to mention the crazy drivers.
Wonder what i should do tomorrow...

Catch u all when i comeback and repost on Sunday next.

Comments are always welcome.

Can't Stop

Hi again,

Our inboxes seem to be filled with replies and forwards so i thought i'd start this here.

Shradha: When you said "Now you know what to get when you tome to Nepal" did you mean baby stuff or Prashanth's head on a platter for 'spiking' the condoms.

Prabir: Atleast you can say thank you for the gift.

Cathy: We still have not got your confirmation for Shyam's wedding. Since you are going to be in Delhi around that time maybe a slight detour to Lucknow wont be much trouble.

Kiran: You too and still waiting on the photos.

Shyam: Since Kiran is not yet updated on the whole engagement and marriage thing, maybe you can refresh us all and her as well.

Dom: Hope you can take time out from gathering moolah to check out this blog.

Sanjok: Your comments will be highly treasured

Everyone else: Please do post your comments. I'd love to hear from you all.

Hi Guys,

I have just started this blog site and i would appreciate if you could all check tis from time to time. I dont claim to be Shakespeare or JK Rowling. I am not that immodest. Maybe I am just a mix of Byron, Shelly, Blyton, Naipaul & Grisham.

More will follow shortly. Do try and log in from time to time to check it out.

Ciao

Vish