We are 2!!!

Yes!! My blog and I have completed 2 marvelous years on the internet and I have enjoyed each and every letter, word and phase that I have written.

The last year saw me become more active on the social networking front and getting more exposure for my blog. Though at times I was confronted by “blogger’s block” I managed to come back and write at least one post each month.

My first year of blogging was full of new surprises and comparatively my second year of blogging has been more of discovering myself through my writing and the feedback received by all my friends and readers.

As I started my second year I had had apprehensions if I would make it to the start of a third year and what do you know – here I am on the threshold of my third year of blogging!!!

I would like to thank all my friends and readers who edged me on to write and share my experiences through my blog posts (sounds like an Oscar speech! ;) hehe). So, without sounding too dramatic, let me end by saying….

Keep coming back and reading my blog!!! :)

Sunday evening @ the 2010 Kala Ghoda Festival

Not the ideal time and day to visit the festival because I was surrounded by people and people and more people!!! I started off exploring the parking lot where I had children running around me in search of their parents and I encountered some huge and magnificent creatures – the huge elephant, the tall giraffe and the majestic horse were some of the animals that greeted all who had come to grace the festival with their presence.

What caught my eye was this structure that had frames around it and caps of the armed forces in the middle and on the outside there was this plague which read: “Mera Desh Mahan?”

As I entered the Festival arena I was greeted by a 3D chalk drawing of a horse breaking out from the road! A truly amazing piece of art done by an Indian artist.


As I weaved my way through the endless waves of children and mummies and papas, I stumbled upon a stall run by “tappu ki dukkan” where I saw various items made from Elephant Dung. My eyes were suddenly drawn to a range of t-shirts and one of them caught my eye. My eyes lit up as I found the design I wanted and immediately bought. Check it out!!!


There were various more stalls run by various shops / artists / NGOs but because of the crowds I gave them a miss. Not to worry though, I am going back to check them out on the weekdays!!

Wah Ustad Wah!!

As the clock struck 7 last Sunday evening and the cool breeze settled Zakir Hussein came onstage and in his trademark white kurta pajama greeted the crowd in front of him including yours truly! This was my second live performance of the great tabla player that I was attending – the first being at Gateway of India when he performed with the group Shakti.

As I sat on the steps of the Asiatic Library I felt the current in the crowd around me as Zakir Hussein settled behind his tablas. And the magic started!!! It was not just music but magic that enthralled all of us as we sat glued to our seats as the performance unfolded. His hands and fingers caressed the smooth tablas and with each caress a magical sound was heard. His hands literally flew over the tablas and one was left looking at a blur instead of his hands. He was accompanied by a Sarangi player who matched him note for note. One brilliant piece that he played represented the rain falling as raindrops which moved onto a downpour with flashes of lightening – a truly awesome acoustic experience!!!

The performance wound up in one and a half hours and it felt like he had just started playing! Not once during the performance did his waver and he kept all of us mystified. As I left the steps I knew this was one of his best performances ever and I was glad that I was there to experience it!

2009……2010

Goodbye 2009… you were a year that brought tears, laughter and all the emotions one can have. As this year comes to an end and we are entering into another year of wonder, memories of the year gone by come flooding back to me, some good and some sad.

2009 saw an African-American take oath as President of the USA; India became the number 1 team in Test Cricket; Nadal was faced with serious injuries (yeah all Federer fans were glad!!); industries all round faced a bitter recession and individuals were left wondering what their fate would be; Mumbai is still prosecuting the surviving terrorist of the 26/11 terrorist attack in 2008 – when will justice be done??

Music and all music lovers lost The King of Pop, Michael Jackson. His death brought first disbelief and then tears to my eyes and the movie “This Is It” brought a smile to my face as I watched him do his famous moonwalk J. This year will also be know as the “Once in a Blue Moon” year with an extra full moon on 31st December 2009 and as I stood on the station awaiting my train to go home I tried getting a pic or two of the moon!!

Twitter and Facebook has taken Social Networking to whole new high and mobile phones are inching towards being your office away from the office!!

As each year slips away faster than the previous one, I am looking forward to the challenges that will come up in my way, the fun and frolic of friendships both old and new, love from my family and friends!

As I bid adieu to 2009, I would like to wish you all a Very Happy New Year!!

It's a New Year!!
It’s like a new Sunrise... of Hope, of Prosperity, of Happiness;
It’s like a new Beginning... of Thoughts, of Words, of Actions;
It’s like a new Day... of Energy, of strength, of Ideas;
It’s like a bunch of whole New Things... of Friends, of Prayers and of Love..

'Tis the season to be jolly; Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la

This year Christmas crept up on me when I was not watching and suddenly it was arm’s distance away and I hadn’t yet bought my Christmas cards and gifts!

The merriment and excitement started coming alive as the day arrived. And suddenly there were smiles on everyone’s faces, a lift in their step and one started seeing the colours of the season, red and green around oneself.

My celebrations started out with picking up the name of my gift receiver during the Secret Santa rounds in office. We had to buy a gift for the person whose name we picked and the budget was Rs. 100/- only! This was a fun activity and it succeeded in getting everyone in the right “Christmassy” mood! We exchanged our gifts on Christmas Eve which was also celebrated as the “Red and/or Green Day” at work. As I walked through the office the colours of the season beamed back at me…

Christmas Day saw me eating a lovely lunch at my brother’s in-law’s house and as I gorged on vindaloo and sorpatel I was in heaven! Christmas dinner found me with my best friend – a tradition we have kept up for the last 8-9 years!! This year we ate at The Intercontinental Hotel at Marine Drive where our table overlooked the sea…. an awesome view!!

After dinner we walked on Marine Drive with a cool breeze enveloping us in its arms. We went to see the Christmas tree at The Hilton. Though we were thoroughly searched as we entered, there was no mistaking the electrifying atmosphere inside where children ran around the HUGE tree and parents were taking their pictures. The mood was of fun and laughter and as I sat there I realised that this was the first time since the terrorist attacks last year that I had been inside the hotel. A slight chill ran down my spine as I remembered the awful scenes that were played in this hotel but the chill disappeared as the air rang with the giggles and laughter of the little children. Hope and Peace had returned to The Hilton.

The day after Christmas saw me catching up with some of my other friends, exchanging gifts and generally just chilling out!!

As the Christmas festivities end and the New Year festivities are seen around the corner, I would like to wish everyone the very best for the future and peace to all…

The Mini Kala Ghoda Festival

Last weekend saw a mini Kala Ghoda Fest as a preview to the annual one to be held in February 2010. And I landed there armed with my camera looking forward to some fun and disappointed I was not!

Though the mini fest did not have the abstract statues around it still invited one to mull over the wares that were displayed in the stalls on both sides of the street. Some stalls were the familiar while others offered a new browsing experience. To my surprise found around 3 stalls catering to different kinds of clocks! And they were all beautiful!! Some were made of brass, others of glass and some from Nagpur were made of wood in the shape of a t-shirt!!

The cultural shows were fun to watch too. Gary Lawyer entertained us with songs from Frank Sinatra to Queen and ended with one of his own. Following him there was a jugalbandi of music with Louis Banks’ son (forgotten his name!) on the drums, and accompanying him were members on the electric guitar, tabla, sitar and flute. The music enthralled each one of the spectators.

Sunday saw the same stalls and the crowd puller that day was Jagjit Singh live!! Yes, I stood and waited for him to come for 1 hour, not budging from my place less someone comes to displace me! Jagjit Singh was in a great mood and his ghazals kept everyone asking for more.

Wake up, Inglorious Surrogates!

Yes, I caught up with all these three movies over the weekend.

Started with Surrogates, and it was interesting (for want of a better word!) to see Bruce Willis with hair!! I have become so used to seeing him bald that the hair looked totally out of place!! The movie was interesting and if you enjoy sci-fi then you will enjoy it too. The movie made me wonder if I too would like a surrogate for myself – and yes I wouldn’t mind it most of the time but definitely not all the time! I mean I would love having it around to do all the daily mundane chores!!! Who wouldn’t?? ;) The movie was well made and Bruce Willis showed bits of his Die Hard character when he went around with his gun and a bloodied face and shirt.

On Saturday evening I went to see Wake Up Sid. Though I am not much of a Hindi movie buff I went to see why it was being spoken about. The movie was ok-ok. Loved Ranbir’s t-shirts though!! They all were really cool and cute all rolled up in one!! Hehe Konkana looked good as usual. The story was ok and the end could have been mmmmmmuuuuuccccchhhhhhhhhhhhhhh better!!!! So go and watch it if you have nothing to do and you would like to waste 3 hours of your life! ;)

Inglorious Bastards – the name itself makes you inquisitive and curious to know more about the movie. The movie is over 2 hours long but never seemed it. One of Quentin Tarantino’s best movies ever! Though I am not a fan of Brad Pitt I must admit he acted well in the movie as the leader of the pack. Though more than him I thought that “The Jew Hunter” aka Standartenführer Hans Landa played by Christoph Waltz was the cream of the movie! His acting was fantastic and you felt he was a real Nazi soldier! The compete band of the Inglorious Bastards were interesting including the baseball bat-swinging Nazi hunter – “The Bear Jew”. The movie was made more realistic by the usage of local languages like French and German besides English, so you were forced to turn your eyes to the bottom of the screen to read the subtitles. It was gory in bits but then again what Quentin Tarantino’s movie doesn’t have blood and gore in it? All in all a wonderful movie – enjoyed it immensely!!