Dear All,

hAPPY nEW yEAR

With all my heart i wish you and your family

A Very Happy, Successful & Prosperous 2009.

As always, my wish for you is very simple.....

"May you dream a thousand dreams...

and may they all come true"

Have a great year ahead.

Luv Always

Vishal

What NOT to do this NEW YEAR's EVE

Dear All,

Please click on link below to watch my Breaking News.

http://www.themessagegroup.com.au/last-nights-news.php?title=20081223-Vishal Subba-ADNOC_create.html

Many Thanks in Advance for your CONGRATULATIONS

Love

Vishal

Dear All,

The end of the year brings with it its annual list of "Best of...." and rediff.com has just released its list of best Hindi Movie Posters of 2008.

It is quite interesting and shows among many things that India is catching up and even overtaking the west as far as creativity goes and that too at a fraction of the budget.

If any of you have any other which you feel have been omitted do feel free it send them to me at vishalsubba@hotmail.com

Enjoy

Vish

OK movie but great performances by Kangana & the Mughde girl.

I love the flowing tear in this poster.

One of the best movies of the year.

Check out how the 'I' in the title is like the signal strength of a mobile

BAD movie. GREAT poster.

BTW this girl is the same one who acted in many movies (Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna among others) as a 'boy'

India's first Rock Movie and Arjun Ramphal's best performance to date.

The cool blue look of the poster is so unlike the usual loud Bollywood posters.

A Hindi movie poster without any stars in it.
That too with two of the best looking people in the world at their disposal.
That takes guts.


Just watched this movie last week and contrary to all the reviews it was pretty entertaning.
When this poster first came out you could almost hear the whole of India collectively gasp at what had happened to its biggest STAR.








One of the most UNDERRATED movies of the year.
A moving train. A Wreath. Again such a simple picture with no stars in it.

As movies go its as Popcorn as it gets but very entertaining.

Love the CAUTION tape around Ranbir, it gives the whole jist of the movie.

A slightly slow but one of the most beautifully shot movies (Santosh Sivan so what to expect) and another great performance by Sarika.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Dear All,

Here's wishing all of you a

very merry & blessed

Christmas 2008.

Below are some nice christmas quotes to set the mood.

Enjoy

Vish

The Supreme Court has ruled that they cannot have a nativity scene in Washington, D.C. This wasn't for any religious reasons. They couldn't find three wise men and a virgin. ~Jay Leno

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful. ~Norman Vincent Peale

Christmas is a time when you get homesick - even when you're home. ~Carol Nelson

He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree. ~Roy L. Smith

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other. ~Burton Hillis

There has been only one Christmas - the rest are anniversaries. ~W.J. Cameron

Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall. ~Larry Wilde.

Instead of being a time of unusual behavior, Christmas is perhaps the only time in the year when people can obey their natural impulses and express their true sentiments without feeling self-conscious and, perhaps, foolish. Christmas, in short, is about the only chance a man has to be himself. ~Francis C. Farley

Even as an adult I find it difficult to sleep on Christmas Eve. Yuletide excitement is a potent caffeine, no matter your age. ~Carrie Latet

Christmas is a time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell the government what they want and their kids pay for it. ~Richard Lamm

Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen. ~Author unknown, attributed to a 7-year-old named Bobby

In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christians called it 'Christmas' and went to church; the Jews called it 'Hanukkah' and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank. People passing each other on the street would say 'Merry Christmas!' or 'Happy Hanukkah!' or (to the atheists) 'Look out for the wall!' ~Dave Barry.

Remember This December,That love weighs more than gold!~Josephine Dodge Daskam Bacon

I sometimes think we expect too much of Christmas Day. We try to crowd into it the long arrears of kindliness and humanity of the whole year. As for me, I like to take my Christmas a little at a time, all through the year. And thus I drift along into the holidays - let them overtake me unexpectedly - waking up some find morning and suddenly saying to myself: "Why, this is Christmas Day!" ~David Grayson

A Christmas candle is a lovely thing;It makes no noise at all,But softly gives itself away.~Eva Logue

When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs? ~G.K. Chesterton

Once again we find ourselves enmeshed in the Holiday Season, that very special time of year when we join with our loved ones in sharing centuries-old traditions such as trying to find a parking space at the mall. We traditionally do this in my family by driving around the parking lot until we see a shopper emerge from the mall, then we follow her, in very much the same spirit as the Three Wise Men, who 2,000 years ago followed a star, week after week, until it led them to a parking space. ~Dave Barry

There's nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child. ~Erma Bombeck

Nothing's as mean as giving a little child something useful for Christmas. ~Kin Hubbard

OF INDIAN EXPERIENCES - HOLY & UNHOLY......

Dear All,

I’M BACK.

After a stressed, hectic and yet exhilarating fortnight I’m back again in Abu Dhabi and straight back to work.

As many of you know I was in New Delhi for my sister’s engagement (pics & news of that will be another post later).

Just before that we managed to squeeze in a trip to Rishikesh.

(BTW almost all pics in this post {except the Akshardham ones where cameras and mibiles are not allowed} were taken with my mobile so do excuse the quality)


There is a resort there called Himalayan Hideaways and as the name suggests it is hidden away in the middle of the pristine and un-spoilt forest and right besides the Ganga. It has won many awards and quite deservedly so.

If any of you ever do make this trip then make sure you go all the way to Rishikesh as opposed to the more bigger, dirty & commercialized Hari-dwar (Rishikesh is about 40 min drive after Hari-dwar).

In the evenings besides the ghats there are numerous aartis performed and the main one is right beside the main ghat and its quite an experience I must say.
A ghat full of devotees and young novice priests singing, with the holy Ganga gently lapping at the base of the ghat and a magnificent statue of Shiva (built on the river, facing the ghat) looking on benevolently, one cant help but feel the presence of divinity.

Just one note here though.

Are we HINDUS too tolerant?

We welcome people of all faiths to join in our prayers and rituals and yet seem unable to know where to draw the line.

At Rishikesh and at the very same ghat there was a woman (of European origin i think) who was dressed in some Rajneesh inspired robe and quite obviously under the influence of something more potent than just “panch-amrit”. When the singing began she began to twist and writhe along to the bhajans like it were some trance party in Goa (see video below).

I can't imagine that happening in any mosque or church anywhere in the world.
I dont advise a similar jihadi hardline approach but is there a limit to our tolerance?

Think about it....

Meanwhile, while in Delhi I also managed to visit the Akshardham temple.

I had been scheduled to visit this many times in the past but always at the last moment something would come up and I would have to change plans so this time when it finally materialized I took it as a divine sign.
Waqt se pehle and Taqdeer se zyada et al.....

Anyway the temple is an architectural marvel in every sense of the word.

Built on 100 acres of prime real estate besides the Yamuna it is also allegedly the biggest Hindu Temple in the world.

The pink sandstone and marble structure is mammoth and apparently used almost as much marble as the Taj Mahal and the carvings in the main temple can give any monument a run for its money.

Also situated in the complex is a musical fountain. An intriguing combination of a large stone step-well and a Vedic yagna kund with a colorful musical fountain that echoes Vedic sentiments and prayers it is unique in that it is synchronized to vedic chants rather than music.

However in the midst of all that grandeur what I found missing was a sense of spirituality. A sense of Holiness (for want of a better word).
It was big and grand and spectacularly clean and yet it did not touch the heart.

And then as if to drive home this point, during the Musical Fountain a section was cordoned off with special chairs put up for guests of the management.

Bhagwan Swaminarayan spent all his life preaching about the equality of all people and in the very temple complex built to honour him and spread his teachings, his disciples were betraying his core philosophy.

Ironically the next day the Times of India had a full page ad for the new upscale Emporio Mall in Delhi.

And what do you know.....

Apart from housing luxury giants like Louis Vuitton, Bvlgari, Cartier etc it also alleges to have used more marble in its making than the Taj Mahal.

What better proof than this that size isn’t everything…..

Till next time..

Ciao


Vish