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...