The 26/11 effect

Thirty one crore and counting.

Thats the amount the government has spent on keeping Kasab, the surviving terrorist of the Mumbai attack. I was shocked to read this today in the papers. Somehow i did feel a sense of anger and pride at the same time!!

Anger for obvious reasons that we're such lame guys. To spend soo many bucks of hard earned money from the Indians to safe guard a person who is responsible for so many deaths of our own people!!!

Pride for we give a fair trial and a chance to even our worst enemy! Thats an Indian heart!

I'm proud of being a part of this country Inspite of all the wrong things we have and do!

Book review: Purple Hibiscus

My rating: 5 / 5
Author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Country: Nigeria

This was a total refresher. I’ve never read a book about any African country. Its always been India, US, UK. I’m really glad I picked this up after reading Ramya’s review here.

Life in the Nigerian regions, their lifestyles, customs, beliefs, food; you seem to learn so much about the country as you go along and also experience the adolescent feelings of a 15-year old girl. Coming from a wealthy family, all comforts taken care of, it seems like Kambili is living in heaven until you start to read about her father. A reverend and a fanatic at that, he seems to fully control Kambili’s and her brother Jaja’s life. They have a timetable written out for everything that they need to do including when and how much time they need to spend with their own parents and themselves too!

I had goose bumps and could literally “feel” the emotions when the author describes the thoughts running through Kambili’s mind. She loves her father, respects, infact revers him. Yet, at the same time, she is extremely scared of him and at times really wishes her life was different. Once, Kambili comes second in class and is absolutely petrified to tell her father. The punishment that follows is heart wrenching.

A chance trip to her Aunt’s house and she realises what life is after all and what it is she’s really missing out! Her aunt isn’t as affluent as her father. Yet, she knows that they are a happier family than her own. Happiness, laughter, freedom all suddenly seem alien to her. She sulks in silence dumb struck by the beautiful life her cousins are leading.

The political coup and unrest helps Kambili and her brother and their stay is extended.
Although they show their disappoint of not returning home whenever their father calls, they silently thank god for whats happening. As fantasies go, you need a prince charming to awake you and yes, the little Kambili is for the first time infatuated and that too by a priest in their aunt’s neighbourhood. She starts to smile, then laugh. She does infact look into the mirror and spruce up for the first time in her life. She wears shorts and even goes to watch a football match with her crush!

The story is very well phased out. The first part deals with the time after Kambili and her brother return from their aunt’s house as completely different people, much to the agony of their papa. One Palm Sunday when they return back from church and hell breaks loose. The second phase goes back in time to describe their tale. The final part, my favourite bit of the book, is a silent thriller of what follows after the Palm Sunday events.

I loved the descriptions and the way the climax was portrayed. It made me go back again a few pages and re-read the whole thing till the intensity sank in. Simple words, simple sentences – you read them again and you derive a deeper meaning.

Firstly, the title struck me and secondly, it was a debut novel and finally, there were great reviews on this book. I had to pick it up. I am so inspired by budding talents like this. Most of the books I’ve read in recent times have all been debut novels. And I just hope that some day I could publish my own book and read reviews on it!

The Phenomenon that was

A lot of things have already been said, written and viewed about Michael Jackson. MJ's death like any famous rock star is shroudded with mystery and legal issues. This post is not about the life of this great star (you can get that by just googling for it) or about the mystery surrounding his death (the only big news on TV for the past few days...move aside Kashmir, move aside terrorism!!). Somehow, I was compelled to write this tribute post (even a brief 2 lines) as I know for a fact that he was one of the biggest phenomenon in the world of music.

I have loved and enjoyed MJ's music since my coll days and its sad to see yet another music icon go down this way. With all the controversies - the spooky shadow caught on camera in his neverland home or his body going missing or that a crater on moon is going to be named after him...no one can deny what a talent he was!

If all the weird rumours making the rounds are to be believed, then michael jackson may actually come alive from the coffin and walk straight into a live concert!

Michael Jackson - The Phenomenon: You will always be remembered through your music...Goodbye, if your really gone!

Book review: P.S I love you

My rating: 4.5 / 5
Author: Cecelia Ahern
Country: Dublin, Ireland

I loved this book just as much as I hated it. I was amazed to know that this was the debut novel of Cecelia Ahern. I totally loved this for it was a simple yet beautifully told story. I totally hated it for it made me cry every single page….trust me, every single page!!

This is the story of Holly and Gerry, a happy-go-lucky couple. Life is filled with joy, wonderful friends and a supporting family. All wells until the day Gerry dies of a tumour and its all hell for Holly. She loses her childhood sweetheart, a best friend and a wonderful husband all together with Gerry gone! Her life is miserable and she doesn’t know how to move on without him. Touching!

When Cecelia describes all the things Holly does to keep Gerry’s memories alive, even a handful of tissues wouldn’t suffice. It makes you want to close the book, stop your thoughts, cry for a while and then continue again….

Holly shuts herself from everyone until the day she receives a bundle of 10 letters marked for each month. The letters are from Gerry who wrote them while he was alive. These letters become Holly’s life and gets her to move on without Gerry, yet, feeling his presence all the time.Gerry instructs her to open each letter on the first day of every month. Each letter has a message for Holly and what she needs to do for that month. It ranges from her going shopping for a bedside lamp, buying herself a beautiful dress to taking part in a Karaoke contest to a paid holiday with her best friends in Spain. At the end of each note, Gerry signs off…..P.S I love you

While most of her family and friends start to worry how Holly would cope after the 10th month when there are no more letters, Gerry’s notes actually get Holly to sail through the depression and start to lead a normal life again…..without him!

Well, I had to face so many hurdles to get past this book. Firstly, my husband and my dad were totally against me reading this as they felt I was unnecessarily inflicting misery on myself. I’m glad that I managed to find the book which my husband so thoughtfully hid :)

On hindsight, the book actually has made me a stronger person. I cried and cried. Yes. But then, I realised that life could be short yet beautiful…make the best of each day as it comes! Forget the old tiffs, always keep smiling, reconnect with lost friends, treasure the dear and near ones you have!! Have goals in life as Gerry writes in one of his notes – You need to reach for the moon, if you lose, you’ll atleast be among the stars.
Yet, never forget to enjoy life, age no bar!!

The language is simple, the story extremely realistic and very mushy…what more could girls ask for ;)

I did not give this book a full rating as there are places where the story drags a bit but then, I think it was a great concept and well told by a debutant.

I would recommend this if you have previously enjoyed Erich Sehgal’s Love Story, the TV series Sex and the City or any other romantic genre.

Book review: The White Tiger

Author: Aravind Adiga
My rating: 5/5

I am not so kind hearted to give a full score for pretty much every movie I see or every book I read. But then, I cant help it if only the best seems to come my way ;-)

What can I say about this book. Its disturbingly true and a succinctly accurate portrayal of certain parts of India. Mind you, I stress upon the word “certain”. I'm definitely not the types who would push the garbage into the backyard and make things look all hunky dory. Yes, I can understand and to a certain degree agree to the disturbing thoughts of Munna aka Balram Halwai aka Ashok Sharma!!....”certain”

What I liked about the book ? The narration, the simple language used, the character presentation and above all the emotions that it generates in you as you read along!

I'm not sure if I really need to write about the plot here. With Adiga winning the Booker prize and the book becoming an instant hit, I'm sure most of you would know what the story line is all about. But still, for those people who haven't read it ...a jist.

The narration is through the eyes of the main protagonist – Munna all through the book. He is a small town boy, living in Laxmangarh somewhere close to Gaya, the place where Buddha happened to get enlightenment. This is definitely irony. Or was it on purpose that the author chose to make the character live here ??

Munna is christened Balram and his age deemed 18 by the inspection officer just so he is made eligible to vote. Not that he ever was able to. He describes in one place that even though his vote was cast at every election, he hadn't seen how the voting booth actually looked inside!! Thanks to booth capturing that is rampant in certain parts of India. I'm glad that voting in Bangalore is still smooth and democracy prevails. Thats why Im still stressing the word “certain” again. So, yeah, thats how Munna gets his name Balram.

The story is simplistic and told by Balram in a letter to the Premier of China. He describes slavery in different forms meted out by different kinds of people in different ways. Balram goes through all this; first as a helper in a tiny tea shop, then as a secondary driver, then as the main driver. His life moves from being a driver to finally becoming an entrepreneur. His life story told over seven nights of letter writing....with the chandelier for company.

He goes from being an obedient driver through to becoming a murderer. He gets corrupted, does things that he wasn't supposed to do leading to things he shouldn't do and finally to what no one should do! He does it all, escapes from being caught inspite of having committed a crime and what the heck, sets up his own business, prospers and settles well down in Bangalore city under the name of Ashok Sharma.

Strangely, I neither felt pity nor anger nor hatred towards the character. Was that again what Adiga wanted to convey...is this something so natural for a person to become under such circumstances ??

There has been similarity drawn to Slumdog by many. Yes, perhaps because both got world recognition by depicting poorer India. But somehow, more than the movie, this book had a stronger effect on me. In the sense, though I loved the book, I feel it very necessary to say these things – India is the world's largest democracy, India is shining in science and technology, we still do have the IT edge, we can give any country a run for their money, we won a gold medal this Olympics, our films can compete with world class cinema, there is no dearth of talent and intelligence, a few of Indian origin are actually part of the Obama team, an Indian Mittal is still one of the richest persons in the UK and only we have the power to “buy” players from different countries to play for teams named after Indian cities!! Beat that!!

I really did want to say the above especially for the non Indian readers primarily because a book can so vividly explain situations and yet leave a lot to imagination. As a book lover, I feel one goes through more emotions reading than one can feel from watching a movie for 2 hours.

Go enjoy it with an open mind and remember its the story of “a” person Balram....

Reality bites...

Back from a long wonderful holiday…back to the so called grind…back to blogging…back to picking up reading from where I had stopped….well, pretty much back to reality you could say!

I know I’ve been dormant for the past couple of months and this post would seem like a whirlwind of sorts. I will try and squeeze in as much as I wanted to over many posts in this one sitting :)

Firstly, I had an amazing 2 week break in Europe with close pals. And the travelogue for this will be coming up soon. It definitely deserves a separate detailed post by itself.

The past few months, I’d watched movies like crazy – back to back infact. I loved Madagascar 2 which I watched on the flight from London to Dubai. Its better than the first one.. I’ve also been tripping on Dev D songs….even when I was in London ;-). Abhay Deol rocks. I had watched OLLO and I really liked the movie. It was far better than Bunty Aur Babli and a shade more intellectual. Abhay has the not so good looking good looks :-D and a charm that makes the movie alive. I really did not expect Dev D to turn out to be such a dark comedy of one of the most dramatic and tragic love stories….watch it for it can get the neurons firing in your mind….

I’ve joined the Orbis Terrarum challenge this year and am very excited about it. You need to read 10 books of 10 different authors from 10 different countries by the end of this year. If you are interested, visit this site – OT challenge.

You can now expect a lot of book reviews to come up. The challenge started in March, but I joined only this month. Nevertheless, Ive finished 2 books for the challenge..but really lagging behind in the reviews. I know I will get them going up in a few days time..its just a matter of starting trouble for me….always!

The next thing on my mind is the election hyperbole. It’s definitely a good debate topic these days over a cup of coffee and turns out even better if the drink is beer! Interestingly, many people seem to forget this is the Lok Sabha elections and dont think of the bigger picture. You are not voting just for an individual, but indirectly for a group of people from a party to form the government at the Centre and rule you….so I seriously urge all the Indians out there to cast their vote keeping the final objective in mind too!! Ive done my bit and gone there and voted. Its only with abated breath now that I wait for the final results….

After all the noise, IPL is finally happening in South Africa. The fever is not as much as it was last year around, for obvious reasons. I have my own reasons for not following it this time (those who know me, will guess it right ;) )

With things settling down, Im slowly trodding back to routine…..and reality sure bites!!

Moview review: LuckByChance

My rating: 4.5 / 5

Yes. Yes. Yes. 2 amazing movies in a row!! I love these kinds of hatke movies. Did anybody say its similar to OSO….!! Damn, that would be an insult to this chic flick!!!

Dimple is fabulous. Hrithik is mind blowing (even if its only 3-4 scenes that he comes for) Farhan is amazing. Konkana is great. Isha Sharavani is cute. Rishi Kapoor and Juhi are natural. (Note my order of preference :-D )

Well, the story is simple and entertaining. Farhan and Konkana are wannabe actors. Konkana is desperately waiting for that big break promised to her from one of the industry wallas and agrees to do blink-and-your-gone kinda roles just for him. Farhan comes to Mumbai with big dreams. He meets Konkana at a friend’s place and they hit off instantaneously. Konkana’s heart is broken when she is ditched after the 3-year waiting. She manages to just pass off Farhan’s photos to the producer before leaving and bingo, life takes a completely new twist……..

Luck by chance, Farhan is selected and gets to screen test for a major production house. The movie is very important as its launching yester year super star Dimple’s daughter (Isha) into the hindi film industry. You can imagine the hype surrounding a big launch like that one. Unfortunately, the super star starring opposite her (Hrithik) leaves the film and yes, you guessed it right, our very own Farhan is selected as the lead.

The movie very subtly shows how the big wigs behave and the usual Page 3 masala following it. Farhan happens to attend a party with one of his friends. He sees Dimple there and makes it a point to impress her and get into her good books. Never knowing that it could change his life completely.

And what happens ? Lady luck bestows upon him and bingo, he actually screen tests for Dimple’s daughter’s movie. But obviously, she recognises him and pitches for him to be selected. What luck!!!

The usual gossip, links and break-ups follow, something so typical to movie business. But it’s been really well handled and shown by the director. Definitely not the characteristic run-of-the-mill approach.

Farhan is shown to be cunning, mean and selfish. Well, he had slight negative shades even in Rock On, if you remember….
You really can relate to real characters like this. And that’s what any man is, don’t you think ??

A good lesson to learn after watching the movie - Make it a point to network /and socialise. You never know who or when things might change!! Heheheh.

Farhan doesn’t have powerful screen presence or the making of a super star! But with two classy movies in his piggy bank, Farhan is here to stay. Awesome director, a great singer, a good actor and a nice host…..Wow, ye tho complete package hai mamu!!

Definitely, LuckByChance rocks.

Movie review: Slumdog Millionaire

My Rating: 5/5

Its 2 AM in the morning and I’m writing this at this insane hour. This surely gives you a clue as to how much I might have liked the movie.

There are two schools of thought here. One which considers this as purely a creative output of a team and leavens the movie as is. Another which probably delves deeper into certain aspects and creates an atmosphere of controversy. I primarily fall under the former but somewhere, a part of me is still thinking on the latter lines….
This could mostly be attributed to the already existing opinions publicised by some famous and some infamous people.

A story set with the backdrop of Kaun Banega Corepati or Who wants to be a Millionaire (whatever you wanna call it…) showing the sleazy lives of slum children, showing pure innocent love, showing despair, hope and dreams, showing that side of India which we wouldn’t want seen, showing powerhouse performances…and showcasing powerhouse music.

The movie captures your attention from the word ‘go’. I really couldn’t find a single part of the movie which was unnecessary, boring or mediocre. It’s the story of a boy from the slums and how he earns his million the hard way!! Every question asked in the contest relates back to his life transmuting this to an oscar nominee…

This showcased the dirty side of India, that time and again a movie on India’s poverty always seems to chance the privilege of the hollywood crown, is definitely true. There is no denying that. But then again, for those who’ve seen the movie can relate to it when I say the finale was so beautifully Indian. It wasn’t the poverty nor the money, what captures your attention is the genuine feelings and the love between two people, lost and found.

Cinema and movie making is a creative form of art. It portrays the perception of a person or a team of persons giving visual life to a script of words!!
That’s all you need to take this as and treat it as a movie well made and on a genuinely original script not told before.

Without getting into much ado, all I can say is that I just loved the movie. It touches your heart, it makes you cry, it makes you laugh, it makes you cheer and it makes you sigh!!

Definitely worth all the hype (and perhaps the controversial debates too). I have my fingers crossed for Rahman more so as only that would be an Indian victory. The movie is hollywood, so its status quo there in terms of priding on its win.

Go enjoy it if you haven’t already.

Jai ho!!

Book review: Wuthering Heights

Author: Emily Bronte
My rating: 6/5

Wuthering Heights has been my favourite book since my high school days. We had one chapter of the story in our English syllabus and that got me to read the entire novel. I was unable to let this book down till the last page. The first time I read it, I felt very very uneasy for a few days. I would think of the characters and the relationships all the time and I was even beginning to dream of the English Moores!

Written by Emily Bronte, this book is always compared to Jane Eyre written by her sister. I really do not know why as I just dont seem to see any similarity in them. Wuthering Heights is an absolutely heart wrenching dark love story. You can hate and love the characters at the same time.
The description of the moores and the 2 main houses (Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange) in the story leave a lasting impression on you. The story takes you into different generations and at the end you really feel like you've traversed through time along with the protagonists.

Catherine belongs to the Earnshaw family. Heathcliff, the central protagonist is an orphan brought into the family. Catherine and Heathcliff's relationship, their undisputed love for each other is soo well told, that it takes you to a totally different world altogether. Wuthering Heights is the name of the house they live in. Catherine betrays Heathcliff to marry Edgar from the Linton family for the sake of status and reputation. This breaks Heathcliff. The entire plot revolves around how he jumps back and the emotions within him that drive him to do crazy things. This lasts for the next 2 generations including Catherine's daughter.

The best part of the book is that the Yorkshire lands create a haunting and mystic atmosphere which plays a major role in bringing life to the book. Ever since I read this, I have always dreamed of going to England and the moore lands.

There is no thrill, mystery involved here. Its sheer dark romantic and frightful. The madness of Heathcliff and Catherine is etched out magnificiently. I loved the narrative form of the book and the way the events unfold. The entire story is told by Mrs Dean, Catherine's caretaker to Mr Lockwood who comes to stay at Thrushcross Grange.

There are few character creations that make history. I believe Heathcliff is one of them. Full of flaws and circumstantial cruelty, he demands a place among other famous characters.

This book is classic literature and definitely not worth missing.

...and then there were none!!

*Disclaimer*

This has no reference to any person or animal alive or dead.

Word of caution: Do not read this post if any of the below is true

1. Your name is Meena and / or you are an extremely sentimental person
2. You cannot take things for a joke
3. You are a staunch non-vegetarian


Hi. My name is Meena. I used to live with my sisters in a beautiful home beside a lake. My owner was a bad man. He would come drunk almost every other day and beat up his wife. They had a little daughter who was way too adorable. I could say she was my closest interaction with a human there!

Every day, I would play with my sisters, be well fed and sleep well. Good days. All this came crashing down when slowly my sisters started disappearing. I was the youngest and well protected. When my eldest sister went missing, we all were shell shocked. We searched for her all over the place. Our friend, the owner's daughter also seemed to help us with the searching. But in vain. This continued to happen. We had lot of neighbours for company. They too complained of the same thing in their family. I was growing bigger and fatter, but things only got worse. Then came that one dreaded day!!

One early morning, when I woke up, I saw myself and 10 others like me from different families being taken somewhere in a moving vehicle. Initially we thought it was a picnic. We were being taken out to the town for some sight seeing by our owner. We had heard of the high rise buildings and were enjoying the ride till it lasted. Talking and chatting, cracking jokes. After sometime, we were taken out of the vehicle and into a house like thing. We were stuffed into a small compartment and left their to rot for a long time. This has perhaps been my worst experience till date.

It started getting stuffy, we were suffocating and were bored to death. Every morning, one of us was being removed. I do not know where and for what we were taken for. Rumour started to make the rounds...gruelling and disgusting stories were being told as to what seemed to be happening to the missing ones.

I reminisced the beautiful times of the good old days. Our owner's daughter and my sisters, happily playing near the lake. Tears rolled down my eyes. This was perhaps the first time I missed my mother. I do not have any memories of her as she died before I could start recognising people and things. But somehow today, I was missing her and wished and prayed to god to save me and take to to where my mother was!!

The door opened. We were 2 of us remaining in our room by now. The big man who would come everyday to pull one of us out came in, he looked at both of us with fiery eyes. I was sweating all over by now. His eyes were moving between me and my roommate. I tried to cross my fingers, clenched my teeth and closed my eyes. My worst fear came true that day. He selected me as the next victim!!

I was dragged out. I screamed and made all kind of noises. Tried to hurt, kick and bite him. But he was too strong for me. I looked around desperately for help. I knew no one. All were strangers. I was then taken into a kitchen where more men were waiting. I was placed flat on a table and 2 men stared down at me. I screamed the loudest and with all my gut. One man took out a huge knife like thing and I saw it coming down on me with full gusto.

Blashhhh.......

........ ........... ............ ....... ..................



PS: The story cannot proceed further as the chicken was killed to make a kabab.

Movie review: Ghajini

My rating - 3/5

I watched Aamir’s Ghajini last evening. Nothing great. It was an average masala flick with lots of loop holes. Im really wondering what the whole hype and hoopla was all about. The only movie to have grossed the maximum on its first day of opening in the history of Indian cinema. Naah! Not happening…!

I was debating whether to watch the original Memento first, but gave in to curiosity and lot of peer pressure. I had decided then that I will traverse in the reverse order. If this movie claimed to have taken care of the “mistakes” from the previous one, I wonder what the state of the other Ghajini was!

Surprisingly, I think readers of my blog seem to like Surya’s Ghajini more (refer the poll stats). So, now, that’s irony. I now want to watch the other two movies out of curiosity again.

The story line is straightforward and the theme pretty much common. A rich guy falls for a middle class girl next door. The girl is killed and the hero sets out for revenge. The only change there is the guy has short term amnesia and the weird way he sets himself up to remember the killer and finally take revenge. Its an interesting twist to the common base theme, no doubt. But, really, I would have expected an Aamir movie to have been made better.

The things I liked about this movie ?
 Aamir’s body – Healthy and mind blowing
 Marketing strategy and publicity gimmicks – The MBA guys can surely learn a thing or two here
 2 of Rahman’s compositions

Worth watching once if you’re an Aamir fan, haven’t watched the other originals or you have nothing better to do.

Movie review: Forrest Gump

Rating: 6 stars out of 5!

Before I start to write anything at all about the movie, for those of you who haven’t watched it, please stop right here and get yourselves the DVD right away.

Brilliant. Perfect. Cult

The above words pretty much sum up what the movie is all about. My fascination for the movie started almost a decade ago. Each time I watch it, I end up crying at the end. The character of Forrest Gump is the most beautifully sketched one ever till date.
The only other perfect character in recent times has been “The Joker”.

This is the story of Forrest Gump portrayed so perfectly by Tom Hanks. It starts right from the time he’s a young boy till the time of his young boy. The different phases of his life- the first bus journey to school, his friendship with the (in)famous Jenny, his escape from the school bullies, his brush with President Kennedy, friendship with Bubba, adventures with Lieutenant Dan, the ping pong championship, the shrimp business, the famous free running, Jenny’s return, his son Jr Forrest …..a roller coaster of events all pieced together to form one of the most amazing movies I have ever seen so far.

His love for Jenny is so pure and innocent that it makes you cry your heart out for him and in the same breath you cannot stop cursing Jenny enough. Another relationship beautifully shown was with Lieutenant Dan. You surely can draw some inspiration from…

I seriously do not have more words to describe the movie. Watch it to feel it. Trust me, you’ll enjoy it!

Here are some of the scenes (Well, its been a long time since I last watched it) and dialogues from the movie which one just cannot forget.

Forrest and Jenny are walking back home from school. The big bullies of the school come chasing them.
Forrest runs, he runs so wild that the braces on his legs come ripping apart.
Dialogue (Jenny): “Run Forrest, RUN”

Forrest’s mother is on her death bed. She had got the cancer and died on a Tuesday.
“Life is a box of chocolates Forrest. You never know what you’re gonna get”

“I love you Jenny”
“You don’t know what love is, Forrest”
“Im not a smart man, but I know what love is”

“Stupid as a Stupid does”

….worth a zillion watches. And that’s all I have to say about that!

The year that was....

My first post for this new year. And yes, its another clichéd one. But I really wanted to pen down those few moments of 2008 that have left a mark ….

Jungle new year celebrations
Amidst the jungles of Satyamangala forests, I beckoned the year, 2008. A fun filled and adventurous party. Thanks to a new gang that formed :)

Next step higher
Job kinda was satisfying and the icing on the cake was my promotion.

A loss
Amit’s grandmother passes away. A sad and painful loss…and a reminder of the losses Ive been through – losing both my grandfathers.

My Best Friend’s wedding
A gala celebration as this was one of the last weddings in my group. Memorable.

Mannat poori
A trip to Dharmastala, Kukke and Udupi with my folks. My parents mannat poori :) I finally performed the kalyanotsava and girija kalyana (Wedding pooja for Lord Balaji and Lord Shiva) with Amit…. a decade old mannat poori
There is still another one to be completed this year!

Birthday and Anniversary
A sweet birthday and a sweeter surprise from my sweetheart! This was followed by a beautiful first year wedding anniversary celebration. The journey thus far has been absolutely fantabulous and a dreamy one at that! Relaxed and rejuvenated at Maldives…I seriously would call it heaven on Earth!

Maruti’s goodbye
Being a typical Cancerian, this had to have a mention in the events of the year. Our famous and loving Maruti 800 saw sun set. Dad sold it with a heavy heart.
(Yes, I can be crazily sentimental about these things…it had served us for 10 yrs….)

More goodbyes and separations…
Two of my very close friends bid adieu as US and UK beckoned them. A last “Rachel” night out (those who’ve seen the episode in Friends where Rachel leaves to Paris, will understand) , tearful farewell et al. Guys, Bangalore rocks…so get you’re ***** here soon!!!

‘Oni’s’ entry
My husband’s fascination and dream come true. We finally buy a jeep - Willys CJ3B (World War II model) and christen it ‘Oni’ (shortened form of Onida – neighbours envy, owners pride)

Jungle trip....again!
This time in our Oni…superb fun and an exciting elephant encounter.

Back ‘home’
I got to live life exactly like it used to be before the wedding (Well, not that it changed too much ) Stayed over at my parents place…err…my place for a good 2 months, thanks to the construction happening at my in-laws place.

Back ‘home’ again
Felt wonderful getting back to “our” little den again. The cleaning, re-organising and re-furnishing was more fun this time around.

Birth of the Cook
This is definitely dedicated to my mother. I surprised her and even myself when I actually started to cook. A few dishes here and there and ta-da, a surprise packet. I finally learnt cooking! Its not rocket science but then for someone who didn’t even know how to make tea, I’ve surely come a long way….

The year for sure has been an eventful one. Just hoping for another wonderful 2009….cheers!