The girl in the green scraf

If you have watched the movie "Confessions of a shopaholic" you knw wht exactly i am talking about

Shopping is just wonderful !!!

Would like to quote sumthing frm the movie here :

"The joy you feel when you've bought something,and it's just you and the shopping.

All you have to do is hand over a little card.

Isn't that the best feeling in the world? You wanna shout it from the mountaintops... You feel so confident and alive and happy and warm "

I wish i could just add more adjectives..... its just an amazing feeling when you come back home carrying all those bags.... it doesnt matter whether you've bought those shoes at Loft or Inc.5 or Catwalk or you picked them off from one of the roadside shops at Bandra....it all still counts.... its still the same amazing feeling

I never enjoyed shopping this much....well buying cute girly stuff i always enjoyed..... but the last two years have been like a shopping spree for me....clothes...shoes....accessories...everything and anything. I have shopped more than what i have shopped in the last 20 years of my life in just these 2 years.... and no regrets... except when i have to look at the balance in the account :P

Been a long time since i have been shopping....but with the monsoons here.....its just round the corner :)

but officially, i have already done my first monsoon shopping with a beautiful bright blue umbrella :)

Aaaaaahhhh... I love shopping :)

And proudly.... I have turned into a shopoholic :D

It's not just a phone.....

we wake,we wonder

we blink, we yawn

we switch on,we switch off

we breathe in, we breathe out

we organize,we categorize

we rush, we waste

we're tacky, we're charming

we decide,we cant decide

we do this everyday

we're smart,we're dumb

we're cute,we're juggling all the time

we take calls, we make calls

we laugh, we cry

got friends, lots of friends

we call friends, we text friends, friends of friends

no....we're just friends

we're hooked, we're addicted

we're inseparable

we're on it, we're in it

we love it, we need it

we check

we check

we check again...

we're hot, we're hotter

we're naughty, we're nice

we cant live without it

Its not just a phone..... its who we are !!!

Seems so apt and true... its like ever since i owned a phone (no matter whether it was the first one or the eigth one) it was always thr with me.... whereever i went... whtever i did

Kudos to whoever invented the cell phone :D

the link for the inspiration :D

Of Summers and Mangoes

With summers come loads of wonderful things.... the sweet smelling jasmines.... the summer heat and the cooling ice candies.....the holidays...... the tours.....the coconut water......and last but the most important..... MANGOES

This is wht makes me look fwd to summers sumtimes.... i like loads of other fruits... but nothing tht can beat mangoes

Mangoes and me.....We go back a long way.... my grandparents owned an orchard or a farm.... whtever u wanna call it .... and they had rows of mango trees and coconut trees.... the mornings wud start with me carrying a huge basket in my teeny weeny hands trying not to trip over it on my way frm the house which stood right in the middle of the orchard to the tree which bore the sweetest fruit.

First i would pick those fruits which have fallen on the ground becoz they were too ripe or becoz some bird had pecked too hard or a monkey was trying to steal them from the tree but dropped the mongo instead. Then i would climb up to the lower branches and pluck more fruit. I would carry the basket back with the help of my grandfather who wud stand by and watch me all this while.

That tree would be my tree....I would water the tree each day and the tree would make sure it gave me the sweetest of mangoes. By afternoon a small cot would be put under the tree and i would lie down beneath its shade to with a comic book in one hand, which i make sure i pack b4 leaving hyd and a mango in the other

atleast 3 mangoes a day and as if this wasnt enough i would eat raw mangoes too with salt and chilli powder. By the end of summer holidays my mom wud b compelled to get a new set of clothes for me coz i wud have gone by atleast 2 sizes :">

I jus had my first mango of the summers today.... it wasnt as sweet as those mangoes i collected from my tree... the tree is no longer mine though.... my grandparents shifted frm the orchard to a more urbanized town....good for them coz they no longer can live all alone thr ..... but i really wish sumtimes tht they hadnt moved out from thr and i cud climb those trees to pluck my morning fruit and have yellow mango stains on all my summer frocks

P.S: this image is only untill i go back to bbay and upload a pic of me from my childhood, with the mango :D

Last PAF

I still remember the day i saw my first PAF in IIT (not the videos)




Asrar..... though it was tough to follow the whole sequence properly.... i got the crux of it.... and wht thralled me more was the prod... a magnificent Tajmahal on the centre stage......white....glowing in the darkness of the OAT.... and the chess board... the way ghotu jumped arnd without a pant for the choreo =))



the secnd paf.... kharashein... our very own paf... centre stage pe 2 floor ka chawl.... a wonderful puchless and very well executed paf....awesum matki phod song (though i later heard the song elsewhr and found out tht it wasnt an OC...much to my dissapointment)... and wht makes it more memorable is tht i was in the acting team... and this particular scene where i come running to hold GP's legs was so well taken by the audience tht u cant even hear the rest of the dialogue... and well ofcourse it was the gem of the paf :P



camouflages .... all i can remember of this paf is bhangi getting out in between the scene fro behind the prod and adjusting the torn piece of backdrop... and ofcourse the very (in)famous daya daya song ;)

Deja vu... well need not even talk abt this one.... script toh hai ki god ;) :P... uske alawa.... first paf to b made on IIT.... and the prod.... canteen....oat in the oat.... coffee shack... maingate... evrything.. and the putch well covered =)).. the red light scene... everything abt this was jus amazing !!!





then comes another round of PAFs... not ne tht i am really proud of....

Aashayein..... was in the voiceover team this time.... didnt really like a few ppl back then who were involved in the paf and then there was this other set of ppl i was pissed off at coz they stole his concept without telling him.... and made it into a story tht i am sure no one ever understood (including me).... and yeah....things i cant forget abt this paf... the 11 choreos we had and he cowboy position ;)

Saare Jahan se Accha.... pumba's air lift.... and the fellow who they got in the end to senti marofy... these r the only two things i remember abt this paf....it turned out to b the better one among the bad ones i guess :D

Numb D.... the story starts with 2 rivals nd then ends with drugs..... whtever.... bad centre stage prod... but awesum tunnel effect... and yeah tweety's wardrobe malfunction .. he he ;))

GoodMorning..... a paf wayyyyyy too ahead of its time i guess :P... the only thing i remember of this paf is the rising sun which the junta started booing for... but i found it pretty :D... and yeah the out of sync gulti choreo ;)

PAF - 3rd yr

Arsh... god this was a disgrace to all the prods ever made... horrible horrible horrible prod.... well... script was neways taken directly frm the movie.... cudnt they have atleast spent time on the prod?? a wonderful image i have in mind is tht of agyeya... who is maybe 5' 4" tall standing in front of a backdrop which has a table painted on it...yeah not kiddin... and a book shelf painted hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh above... lets say atleast another 4 ft above him?

U-turn.... it was fun working in this paf... majorly becoz its junta tht i knew... and then there were these chillar junta... parmar...renil...ronak....saini.... who were always arnd to crack jokes and make us laugh... the 3 days in OAT were wonderful.....shailesh...ankit...aseem...maggi...swati....vikash.... everyone frm the whole team... pulkit...sonal...sai.... god it was a lovely team :)
bhavani juice centre...working sugarcane juice machine....palat de pasa slogan....the song kaise karoge bhaiyya....everything was jus too good :) nd ofcourse the senti video in the end with ankit's voice in the backgrnd :D

1985..... a beautiful and magnificient golden temple... this was the only thing tht cud beat the beauty of the tajmahal.... the colorful and vibrant backdrop tht covered the centre stage... and ganne ka khet.... the awesum dance/martial art thingy of the sardars... (sorry dnt knw wht its called)....tried using the vidarbh waala senti by getting simmy in the end to speak :P which felt stupid... he eh he... but it was a good paf otherwise :)

The show goes on..... i dnt think this paf deserved to b 4th... c'mon..... arsh was way worse than this.... but well... this paf didnt have ne positive aspect either... well... except maybe the fountain they made on the centre stage and sudhi's fire fighting stunt :P

and the LAST Pafs

Karwat.... the shadow dance was wonderful... and the trees of ramleela and backdrop of the ghaat were awesum... and yeah thts to it.... talli's dances... again ... yet once again he steels the show =)) baawra mann??...seriously?? =))

If tomorrow comes.... nice punchlines here and thr.... a nice copy of ground hog day :) ... no i am not sarcastic... its a good copy...though i knew and saw the film.... i still did clap sumtimes in between like whr he stops the airport manager frm stopping the airhostesses frm fighting... tht was a cute scene :) ... well i guess its the feelig tht they managed to create in the audience in the end tht is probably making put their high stakes on this paf :)

Nazafgarh ..... yeah... MY last paf... stayed away frm the dram part of the paf as much as possible coz for once i jus wanted to b an OC and not b involved in the dram part... and i think (no matter wht others have to say) did a decent job... i dnt think i did an awesum job but i dnt think u wud say i was bad either :P its jus tht for the first time i am not being involved in the dram part so i dnt have those reminiscing thoughts abt the paf.... its like... phew !!! thank god its over !!! and i cant share those old jokes tht dram ppl crack aftr the paf is over... a diff feelng altogether... but again.... it was nice working in the middle of the aftrnoon in the OAT..... seeing how the structures r built.... how the paperwork is done.... how crates r tied together... and how even though u plan for eveyrthing well in advance.... thigns do pop up in the end :)


Arthur Road..... the last PAF i will b watching while still being a student here.... as long as i am in mumbai.... i will not miss any PAF... come wht may... and this wud b till they stop i guess.... coz seeing the decline in number of freshies tht r working for paf each year...doesnt look like its gonna last long...

another wonderful thing about iit tht i am goin to miss :(

False Pride

Head lines of Bombay Times the day Oscars were announced :

"Slumdog makes India proud with 8 Oscars"

"India has never shone like this before...."
"There's not a single Indian heart that does not seem to be echoing the sentiment, 'Yes, we have done it'."

And the first thing tht comes out of my mouth is WTF !!!

say Rahman made us proud... i agree
say Resul Pookutty made us proud... i agree
say Vikas Swarop made us proud... i agree
maybe i wud even agree for Lovleen Tandon or Freida Pinto or ne of those Indian actors in the movie or the technicians of the movie


but how the hell did Slumdog winning at the Oscars make us proud???
Ridiculous !!!

They did the same thing when Water had acclaimed international fame... no production house was ready to accept the movie here but aftr it was made under international banner... oh then thr we r to claim it as an indian movie and ready to come under the wings of fame... or whtever u wanna call it

Calling slumdog an indian movie is equal to calling Kal ho na ho an american movie since it was based in America.... Oh... sorry maybe ppl wud argue here saying tht the actors were indian and the story was abt an indian isnt it??

Dev Patel to my knowledge is British

I do agree tht we indians are happy for Rahman .... and as for me i am more than happy for him (and equally for gulzar, sukhwinder and resul pookutty).... an indian to win the oscars ... wht more cud ne one ask for

But being happy for slumdog??? C'mon its lagaan tht we shud b happy for not slumdog... no matter wht argument u giv me... i stick to my opinion... dnt want u to agree to it... but when wud we realize...especially the press which adds up to half the reason ....tht IT IS NOT WE WHO SHOULD BE PROUD.....We were only the subjects of the movie... WE ARE NOT THE MOVIE MAKERS... Danny Boyle is not Indian.....the credit for the movie goes to HIM not US !!!

and as for the movie ... i wanted to write abt it earlier.... but cudnt...

my review for the movie Slumdog Millionaire

the first half of the movie is awesum where the camera work esp in the song "they cant touch me" is god !!!
the scene of amitab's arrival and the way they travel in the train and how he becomes a guide.... really shot well and for the story i dont knw whom to giv credit to.... vikas swarop or danny boyle

but things were goin pretty well till a few things seemed a lil out of place... i still find it illogical tht the blind kid knew tht benjamin franklin was the man on a 100 bill.... c'mon i dnt knw it myself and i am sure most ppl dnt.... if it was asked abt a normal indian currency it wud still have made sense.... even if i assume he went to school b4 getting his eyes gauged out....atleast i wasnt taught this in my school.... as to which famous personality is printed on which american bill

nd for sumone who has been watching movies on general mumbai slums and movies like salam bombay, maybe this movie wudnt have appealed so much incase u didnt knw tht it was an oscar nominated movie or tht it won a golden globe or tht it was made by a non bollywood man.... knwing the background of the movie itself makes a lil diff i guess.... coz all the while tht i was watching the movie thr was this bell constantly ringing in my head tht kept reminding me.... "this is danny boyle who made the movie... not madhur bhandarkar or ram gopal verma"... and i sumhow myself automatically appreciated it more to think tht a foreigner who understood the depth of making a movie on the slums of mumbai... wow!!! now tht is wht i appreciated more than the movie itself... havent read the book so cant say whether it is a good adaptation or no... but danny boyle has definetly done a fantastic job and done total justice to "slums of mumbai".... i wonder if the movie wud have been appreciated the same incase it was made by ne indian director :D
and i shud say... awesum acting by the two slum kiddos..... u deserve an oscar if it was in my hands :D

finally.... the only ppl i think deserve a hats off are Rahman (and gang) and Resul Pookutty !!!

and danny boyle for understanding the depth of the literature and making such a good movie

and to all those ppl falsely feeling happy tht slumdog has made it in the oscars.... i pity u :|

Last Midsems in IIT

:)
and the least prepared for :P

IITB Dram.. Will Miss You !!!

If thr is one thing i will miss apart frm frnds @ IIT... its definetly goin to b Dram @ IITB

Ad Making - Gro Gro
Impromptu
MI One Act Play - Stangers in the Dark
Freshie Monoacting
Chaos One Act Play - Strangers in the Dark

IITB's First feature Film - Deja vu

Malhar Streetplay - Kya hoga ab yaar
Sophies Production - A + iB
Inter Hostel Streetplay - Godgiri
Main GC Dram - Writer's Block
Open Monoacting

Freshie Orientation - Monoacting
Sophies Production - Andhon ka Hathi
Main GC Dram - 111 Rupees
MI Streetplay - Agnipareeksha
Inter Hostel Streetplay - 70 Crore
Chaos Streetplay - 70 Crore

Filmaka Contest - Chamatkar
Filmaka Contest - 7 stones
Filmaka Contest - Guddi

Freshie Orientation - Andhon ka Hathi
Prithvi Performance - Agnipareeksha Day 1
Prithvi Performance - Agnipareeksha Day 2
Fourth Wall Orientation - Agnipareeksha
Freshie Open Stage Judging
Freshie Weekend Monoacting Judging
Theatre Fest - Kuch Khatha Kuch Meetha
Streetplay Workshop for PGs
Thespo Audition - Sonu ka Gold Medal
Prithvi Performance as a part Thespo Festival - Sonu ka Gold Medal
Main GC Dram - Ek Chidia Anek Chidia
Annual Productions - Epsilon Delta

And apart from this... there are always workshops that i have been part of or impromptu events as a freshie or sophie... and the bigger picture of all these... the Baap of all Cult events - PAF

PAF 1 - Hostels 6,10,13,Tansa - Kharashein - Acting
PAF 2 - Hostels 3,8,10, Tansa - Aashayein - Voiceover
PAF 3 - Hostels 4,9,10 -U Turn - Acting

Thanx to all the seniors who believed in me..... thanx to all the juniors who trusted me...... thanx to all the audience who sat thru any of my performances.....and not to forget ... thanx to IITB for letting all this happen in the first place....and a big...huge thanx to the one special person without whom this wudnt have been possible (atleast i like to think tht way)

Annual Productions 2009.... this was my last ever stage performance in IITB... and Epsilon Delta is wht we called our performance..... a tribute to the MA course tht was taught to us in the first yr :P
Enjoyed making the play more than sitting and watching it.... got to knw ppl better becoz of this.....good way and bad way :)
But the end of all this.... I cudnt ask for a better ending to My Dram @ IITB.... A Standing Ovation !!!


Wht else cud i ask for.... Never seen a standing ovation in an LT b4..... and probably wudnt b able to see one again either :)

All in all..... I am happy i chose this path :) :) :)