A different weekend for me…not quite though, but it's a start!
Saturday: Went to the State library in the morning. That's one of the new hobbies I have inculcated after shifting to Chandigarh. Not going to the library, but reading books . One of my colleague recently recommended this library. So wanted to check it out. It's really huge with loads of books. The entire ground floor was the children's section. It was 10 times the size of my college library!! I was extremely impressed. And the best part is that it was totally free. They take a security deposit which is fully refundable. I was extremely surprised and innocently asked the librarian as to how would they earn a profit.
And I actually meant it. Don’t YOU think it was a "jaayaz" question? My innocent question was received by some non stop laughter.
Somewhere behind there was a board that said, "Silence Please." The irony was not lost on me.
After the laughter subsided, her reply was very "to the point"-sarkari hai! What a non-sarkaari answer.
I just smiled and moved on.
The only drawback of the library is the timing. It’s open on weekdays (10-5) which totally clashes with my office timings and on Saturdays its open till 13:30(Last Saturday-off). This effectively means that if I go home for a weekend, I will need to wait for one full week before I can borrow another book.
The evening was regular. Kajal showed us her culinary skills. Originally set out to make some authentic gujrati stuff. Ultimately, it was only the "thepla" that was gujrati! But yummy food nevertheless!
Sunday started off really well as I could sleep till 10:30. Usually doesn't happen on weekends. Followed by cleaning the room, eating, washing clothes, reading, again eating. Basically lazing around. In the afternoon, went with Kajal to do some shopping. Wanted to buy a nice white kurti. Have got this new craze for ethnic stuff. Actually staying in the north, u cannot escape liking kurtis. I must admit, I am totally pathetic at shopping, and accompanying me on one of my shopping trips can be extremely trying for my companion. After window shopping for nearly 2 hours, and trying nearly a dozen kurtis, we finally entered a small shop. There were no customers at that time. And the sales girl was busy eating chowmein. Seems like she had just started as her plate seemed full. Am sure she must be cursing us and our timings. (That's what I usually do if I get a call just when I am sitting to eat!) Again tried loads of kurtis. Really wanted to buy something from that shop as I was feeling extremely bad for the sales girl. I know it not a very good reason, but somehow anything related to food makes me extremely sympathetic! So finally bought a kurti (black). Now some very alert people might notice the fact that I had originally set out to buy a white kurti.
After that, I emotionally blackmailed my housemates into playing badminton. Something I have been trying to do since quite some time. This time I succeeded. Had a good half an hour session of badminton. Felt extremely good!
Let’s just hope that this was not a one-off badminton session!!!
Tuesday 17 July, 2007
Thursday 12 July, 2007
Attitude or what??!!!
I need to mention this. Something about the attitude really amazed me. This time when I had gone to Srinagar for a vacation, the thing that really stood out was the attitude!! The guys were drop dead gorgeous. Every second guy was a potential hunk. Amazing features. I still remember the guy I saw in a small shop, where my mum was doing some typical suit shopping. For a change, I didn't mind shopping. He had such cute dimples. Could beat anyone in the "looks" department.
Didn't get a look at the girls, so can't say much. (and why should I look at girls?!)
Coming back to the attitude, most of the guys spoke amazing English. I assumed that would be due to the tourism in the city. The first three people we came across were the driver, our travel agent and the house boat owner. Driver was fine. But the attitude of the agent amazed me. Right from the time I first saw him, he had an air about himself. He was this confident guy who had no problems being rude.
Even if he meant well, his tone didn't. We were typical tourists who had come to a new city. So obviously we had loads of questions.
Picture this- We are in the shikara…going towards our houseboat. The houseboat that was given to us was pretty far from the main jetty. After being in the shikara for more that 20 mins, my dad asked him whether ours would be the last house boat. (in a sarcastic way obvio). His reply (with loads of attitude) – No, yours would be the second last one!
By the end, I actually started feeling that he had done a favour on us by letting us choose his agency! !
And before we could get over this guy, we were introduced to our house boat owner. His first line was "hope u had a pleasant journey". That's the last time we heard anything sweet from him.
An example: My mom was asking him questions about the houseboat facilities. Very basic questions like "would there be hot water" etc. His reply (after hearing 2-3 of such questions…with the same amount of attitude)- "Excuse me!!, Let me remind u, you have not come in a "gaanv" (village)! Can you beat that??? My dad was really angry and later gave him some advise on "hospitality"! Almost felt like we were invading his privacy by staying on his houseboat! But apart from those two "dudes", the other people we met were extremely sweet (and good looking).
PS- I know I have mentioned the good looking part too many times, but cant help it, have still not got over it :)
Didn't get a look at the girls, so can't say much. (and why should I look at girls?!)
Coming back to the attitude, most of the guys spoke amazing English. I assumed that would be due to the tourism in the city. The first three people we came across were the driver, our travel agent and the house boat owner. Driver was fine. But the attitude of the agent amazed me. Right from the time I first saw him, he had an air about himself. He was this confident guy who had no problems being rude.
Even if he meant well, his tone didn't. We were typical tourists who had come to a new city. So obviously we had loads of questions.
Picture this- We are in the shikara…going towards our houseboat. The houseboat that was given to us was pretty far from the main jetty. After being in the shikara for more that 20 mins, my dad asked him whether ours would be the last house boat. (in a sarcastic way obvio). His reply (with loads of attitude) – No, yours would be the second last one!
By the end, I actually started feeling that he had done a favour on us by letting us choose his agency! !
And before we could get over this guy, we were introduced to our house boat owner. His first line was "hope u had a pleasant journey". That's the last time we heard anything sweet from him.
An example: My mom was asking him questions about the houseboat facilities. Very basic questions like "would there be hot water" etc. His reply (after hearing 2-3 of such questions…with the same amount of attitude)- "Excuse me!!, Let me remind u, you have not come in a "gaanv" (village)! Can you beat that??? My dad was really angry and later gave him some advise on "hospitality"! Almost felt like we were invading his privacy by staying on his houseboat! But apart from those two "dudes", the other people we met were extremely sweet (and good looking).
PS- I know I have mentioned the good looking part too many times, but cant help it, have still not got over it :)
Ek Chaalis....
Finally, I managed to catch this flick. The movie that never released in Chandigarh!! Have no idea why though, considering we even had 2 shows of Sivaji running here…amidst the extremely north Indian crowd! I had been looking forward to this movie as I usually like Abhay’s movies and the promo song really sold the movie well.
The setting:
This Saturday, I got a message from Kajal saying that she had got a gift for me. Understandably, I eagerly waited for her to come home. In the evening, I get to know that the gift was a VCD of ek chaalis which Kajal had “bought”. Her logic was simple and practical. The MRP of the original vcd was 34/- while the rent guy was still renting it out for 30/-. As she didn’t wanna be “fleeced” she bought it. Here I must mention the fact that Kajal is a big fan of the “laari chuuti” song, and had also bought the audio cd for the song!
The revelation:
And now she is the proud owner of the ACD as well as the VCD of “1:40….”- The movie that people would have totally missed, had it not been for the song!
The action:
So on Sunday, we finally saw the movie.
The comments:
I liked it. Some scenes really made me smile. Loved the dialogues given to Abhay. Loved the way he delivered them. They were the kinds that you would come across in normal conversations. Abhay was really good as the call centre employee. What I like about him is the fact that he knows what his flaws are. And he chooses his roles accordingly. All the characters played by him till date have been very real. Very down to earth. I usually don’t like movies that have a dark setting. This was an exception. The concept was nothing extraordinary. What works in its favour are the scripting, casting and the handling of the concept.
The downfall:
But the biggest disappointment for us was the fact that the song wasn’t there at all! Kajal was extreeemely disappointed! After all, she had bought the cd only for this song!!
The disclaimer:
A nice movie to be watched without having high expectations
The setting:
This Saturday, I got a message from Kajal saying that she had got a gift for me. Understandably, I eagerly waited for her to come home. In the evening, I get to know that the gift was a VCD of ek chaalis which Kajal had “bought”. Her logic was simple and practical. The MRP of the original vcd was 34/- while the rent guy was still renting it out for 30/-. As she didn’t wanna be “fleeced” she bought it. Here I must mention the fact that Kajal is a big fan of the “laari chuuti” song, and had also bought the audio cd for the song!
The revelation:
And now she is the proud owner of the ACD as well as the VCD of “1:40….”- The movie that people would have totally missed, had it not been for the song!
The action:
So on Sunday, we finally saw the movie.
The comments:
I liked it. Some scenes really made me smile. Loved the dialogues given to Abhay. Loved the way he delivered them. They were the kinds that you would come across in normal conversations. Abhay was really good as the call centre employee. What I like about him is the fact that he knows what his flaws are. And he chooses his roles accordingly. All the characters played by him till date have been very real. Very down to earth. I usually don’t like movies that have a dark setting. This was an exception. The concept was nothing extraordinary. What works in its favour are the scripting, casting and the handling of the concept.
The downfall:
But the biggest disappointment for us was the fact that the song wasn’t there at all! Kajal was extreeemely disappointed! After all, she had bought the cd only for this song!!
The disclaimer:
A nice movie to be watched without having high expectations
Thursday 5 July, 2007
The Amazing Monsoons!!
Monsoon…the season I used to always look forward to. Those amazing dark clouds, the feeling of waking up in the morning and feeling that its already evening, the experience of sitting in the balcony with a huge mug of coffee and hot pakodas/samosas. Unfortunately, all my memories of monsoon have been in Mumbai. The very place where the monsoons are dreaded.
Probably bcoz of the fact that I have never really experienced the proper monsoons in the north. Proper- as in at least 1 hour of consistent heavy downpour. A very rare site. The only time that I have seen heavy rains here is during the month of February. And the worst part about rains during that time is that it is already freezing cold. You can’t even think of getting wet in that water.
Back to Mumbai rains-
“Mumbai- in deep waters”
“City flounders in downpour”
“Mumbai sinks again”
“Mumbai-the next Shanghai??”
“Weekend washout”
Come july, and the alarms start ringing. Headlines are all over the news channels. Masala like this is what the news channels have always thrived on. So if it rains for one hour in Mumbai, we get a live coverage. And where do the channel people rush to- the obvious milan subway! The first place to get flooded. So never mind if the rest of Mumbai is totally normal.
Having said that, I love watching these coverages. Watching the journalist talk about the inconvenience caused to every mumbaiite. About how the life has been disrupted. And what we see is kids jumping in the water, totally enjoying the monsoons. Probably that is the “famous” spirit of Mumbai.
The one thing I really hate is when people start comparing the infrastructure of Mumbai and Delhi. It is not fair at all. Mumbai gets 100 cm rainfall couple that with the high tides during the monsoon season- and you have a difficult task to handle. The reason there are amazing roads in delhi, is because there are no rains to spoil the construction. So, not much maintenance. Flyovers work because you don’t have water accumulated on both sides. I remember times when there used to be 18 cm of rain which would lead to water logging and extremely pathetic traffic jams.
Speaking of construction, this February we shifted to our new office-a DLF construction (top floor). One entire night of consistent rain, and we are greeted with ankle deep water in our office. The false ceiling had given way due to the water accumulated on the terrace. There were buckets full of water that were thrown out. Our working life was totally “disrupted” for that day. I mean, it was just one night of consistent rain. What Mumbai received during July 2005 was 3 full days of consistent rains. Where is the comparison??? I don’t know what would happen to the amazing roads and “infrastructure” if the north gets 3 days of consistent rains!
Probably bcoz of the fact that I have never really experienced the proper monsoons in the north. Proper- as in at least 1 hour of consistent heavy downpour. A very rare site. The only time that I have seen heavy rains here is during the month of February. And the worst part about rains during that time is that it is already freezing cold. You can’t even think of getting wet in that water.
Back to Mumbai rains-
“Mumbai- in deep waters”
“City flounders in downpour”
“Mumbai sinks again”
“Mumbai-the next Shanghai??”
“Weekend washout”
Come july, and the alarms start ringing. Headlines are all over the news channels. Masala like this is what the news channels have always thrived on. So if it rains for one hour in Mumbai, we get a live coverage. And where do the channel people rush to- the obvious milan subway! The first place to get flooded. So never mind if the rest of Mumbai is totally normal.
Having said that, I love watching these coverages. Watching the journalist talk about the inconvenience caused to every mumbaiite. About how the life has been disrupted. And what we see is kids jumping in the water, totally enjoying the monsoons. Probably that is the “famous” spirit of Mumbai.
The one thing I really hate is when people start comparing the infrastructure of Mumbai and Delhi. It is not fair at all. Mumbai gets 100 cm rainfall couple that with the high tides during the monsoon season- and you have a difficult task to handle. The reason there are amazing roads in delhi, is because there are no rains to spoil the construction. So, not much maintenance. Flyovers work because you don’t have water accumulated on both sides. I remember times when there used to be 18 cm of rain which would lead to water logging and extremely pathetic traffic jams.
Speaking of construction, this February we shifted to our new office-a DLF construction (top floor). One entire night of consistent rain, and we are greeted with ankle deep water in our office. The false ceiling had given way due to the water accumulated on the terrace. There were buckets full of water that were thrown out. Our working life was totally “disrupted” for that day. I mean, it was just one night of consistent rain. What Mumbai received during July 2005 was 3 full days of consistent rains. Where is the comparison??? I don’t know what would happen to the amazing roads and “infrastructure” if the north gets 3 days of consistent rains!
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