Need answers to questions about credit system in US which has always been a mystery? The entire story demystified at - http://www.relfe.com/plus_5_.html
Awesome read !
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Saturday, March 15, 2008
I was underconfident..
It takes even the most courageous men to accept their shortcomings. I was taken by surprise when former Miss Universe, Sushmita Sen publicly admitted that she was an underconfident kid until the age of 16 and still has her complexes. In an interview with Vir Sanghavi on Star Talk she said that she went to a hindi medium school all her life and could not speak English till 10th grade. She was a skinny, unkempt, a frail looking and an undernourished girl who was scared to look at herslf in the mirror. She was a silent back bencher in school and was scared to raise her hand to answer a question or ask a doubt. In short, she recalls herself being an average girl both academically and socially. There are so many students in small towns of India who have similar complexes about their appearances and communicative abilities. Such students should consider Sushmita Sen as a role model who has made a significant mark for herself on the face of this planet. The entire universe had to bow down infront of her determination and will power. So if she can..anyone can !
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Shaadi - Vaadi...
Ek aur jhatka..another setback within such a short span of time ! The culture shock as I would like to call it, has this time come from a set of some desis who would like to be referred as N-R-I's. What surprised me was an invitation card from these non-reliable indians, which they sent out to their close relatives inviting them for their daughters wedding in US of A. This card suggests some of the possible hotels and resorts where their relatives who come from as far as India should be making their accomodation arrangements. The card highlights the rates of per night stay along with discount codes...gasp ! **shocked**
It comes as a shock because till date, Indian weddings are considered to be an elaborate, expensive and an emotional event. The grand affair spans several days where more than the bride and the groom, the invited guests, relatives and friends have to be pampered. Having witnessed a couple of weddings personally where my folks were involved in the wedding preparations, i can authentically say that it is quite an herculean task.
The concept of wedding planners is still obscure in middle class indian weddings, so the complete onus of making sure that everything goes off smoothly is on the parents of the bride or the groom. The trickiest part in the entire hoopla is to ensure that the chacha-chachi from bhatinda have their bed tea before they even get up, mami ji from indore has toothpaste of the brand she has been using all her life in the bathroom, pune waali masi ji has PEARS and not LUX in her soapcase, buaji gets the scissors, tauji's newspaper is in his hands before it reaches the news stands in the town, the kids get their strawberry milkshakes and cheese sandwiches, the pillows are soft enough for the aunty ji who is all of a sudden conscious of her spinal cord position, there are a couple of chauffers standing 24 x 7 to drive the young girls to beauty parlors, chachi ji to a tailor who realises at the last moment that the blouse she plans to wear on the D-day is not fitting her properly...uff...and the list goes on !! Ahh...I forgot to mention that the food which is prepared during these 3-4 days should suit the tastes and restrictions of diabetic chachi ji, buaji who has high BP, kids who don't want spicy food, health conscious young ladies who detest even half a table spoon of oil, tauji who relishes delicacies prepared in nothing less than Pure Desi Ghee, chacha ji from london who needs juices and shakes instead of lassi's and chaas...even this list goes on until eternity...
But if I think of it now, weddings without all these tantrums and turns and twists would be so boring and monotonous. Fun which we have with all these relatives who gather from far and wide gives the essence to joy and excitement in the indian weddings. These are some of the moments which I look forward to in any family wedding. But I guess..**Sigh**..things are different for desis in US of A.
The concept of wedding planners is still obscure in middle class indian weddings, so the complete onus of making sure that everything goes off smoothly is on the parents of the bride or the groom. The trickiest part in the entire hoopla is to ensure that the chacha-chachi from bhatinda have their bed tea before they even get up, mami ji from indore has toothpaste of the brand she has been using all her life in the bathroom, pune waali masi ji has PEARS and not LUX in her soapcase, buaji gets the scissors, tauji's newspaper is in his hands before it reaches the news stands in the town, the kids get their strawberry milkshakes and cheese sandwiches, the pillows are soft enough for the aunty ji who is all of a sudden conscious of her spinal cord position, there are a couple of chauffers standing 24 x 7 to drive the young girls to beauty parlors, chachi ji to a tailor who realises at the last moment that the blouse she plans to wear on the D-day is not fitting her properly...uff...and the list goes on !! Ahh...I forgot to mention that the food which is prepared during these 3-4 days should suit the tastes and restrictions of diabetic chachi ji, buaji who has high BP, kids who don't want spicy food, health conscious young ladies who detest even half a table spoon of oil, tauji who relishes delicacies prepared in nothing less than Pure Desi Ghee, chacha ji from london who needs juices and shakes instead of lassi's and chaas...even this list goes on until eternity...
But if I think of it now, weddings without all these tantrums and turns and twists would be so boring and monotonous. Fun which we have with all these relatives who gather from far and wide gives the essence to joy and excitement in the indian weddings. These are some of the moments which I look forward to in any family wedding. But I guess..**Sigh**..things are different for desis in US of A.
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Just when i decide...
- Just when I decide to start my walks regularly, the weather goes bad...
- Just when I decide to start with my yoga again, the bed gets all the more warm and cozier...
- Just when I decide to vacuum the house, my roomie looks at me and I look at her...just to say..naah...may be some other time...
- Just when I decide to complete the book I started, I doze off...
- Just when I decide to start doing something constructive, I feel I wanna laze around a bit more...
- Just when I decide to go for a bath after trying to procrastinate by all possible means, the hot water stops flowing...
- Just when I decide to sleep early and get up early, some one comes online or some new movie holds my interest until wee hours of the morning...
- Just when I decide to go on a diet(I've been eating like a pig off late), comes a potluck or a birthday party...
- Just when I decide to stop reading blogs, someone directs me to another interesting one...
- In all these Justs, I forget that just when I try and blame some one else for delaying things, I am reminded of the fact that it is no one else, who is whiling away time...its ME !! :(
Monday, March 03, 2008
And the Award goes to...
8 PM..2nd March..all television sets tuned in to SONY entertainment television to watch Filmfare awards for the year 2007. The Filmfare Awards ceremony is one of the oldest, prominent and most coveted events for Indian Film Industry(I refrain from referring it as Bollywood, lest I might upset Big B). There are separate categories for popular awards, critics awards, Special awards and technical awards. Not only the film fraternity but even the masses eagerly wait for this evening. There is a difference in the eagerness though..the filmy junta waits to see who has won the auction and who gets to carry the black lady home, and desh ki junta waits to see the sizzling performances by the leading ladies and the heartthrobs of the celluloid.
My friends and family members in India are kind enough to keep me abreast with the latest hindi movies, the reality shows on TV,the masala gossips,the grapevine etc in the tinsel town. So, a day before the awards were broadcasted in India, my grandmom asked me not to miss the Filmfare Awards because the hit jodi is back to rock the stage. In attempt to guess, I thought it would be john-bipasha hosting the event. But NO. My grandmom who is nowhere close to being influenced by Kanta Ben was all excited about Sharukh and Saif being the comparer's of the evening. Now, I had seen them perform a couple of years back and I thought that their act was quite funny. So granny's excitement rubbed on me as well, and i was desperately searching for the links to watch the awards online. I did get hold of the link, but after a day's wait.
To begin with, the entire show was a thorough disappointment. Not that I should have held high expectations in the first place, but still...whatever...Actually speaking, i think with umpteen awards which exist we should by now habituate ourselves to the way the awards are handed out to Bollywood films. They have more or less the same concept, same dance numbers, same performers, same people sharing the stage..Filmfare has a reputation of satsifying one and all in the bright fraternity. They conveniently accomodate people in special categories or critics category and ward away any possible situation of annoying the members from filmy families.
Anyways, this year's Filmfare was woven around Saif and Kareena's love affair. From the beginning until end, it was ONLY about them. Moments like Sharukh addressing Kareena as his bhabhi and Karan johar's nudging Saif's elbow before Kareena's dance performance - it was all so irritating to say the least. There was a moment where i felt that there might be a special category of award designated only to honor them as the best couple of the year. And if this was not enough, the icing on the cake was Sharukh and Saif's slapstick comedy. No one was spared from the spears of their taunts except for the so called circle of Chopra's and Johar's. All in all, it was highly boring and an utter waste of time.
My friends and family members in India are kind enough to keep me abreast with the latest hindi movies, the reality shows on TV,the masala gossips,the grapevine etc in the tinsel town. So, a day before the awards were broadcasted in India, my grandmom asked me not to miss the Filmfare Awards because the hit jodi is back to rock the stage. In attempt to guess, I thought it would be john-bipasha hosting the event. But NO. My grandmom who is nowhere close to being influenced by Kanta Ben was all excited about Sharukh and Saif being the comparer's of the evening. Now, I had seen them perform a couple of years back and I thought that their act was quite funny. So granny's excitement rubbed on me as well, and i was desperately searching for the links to watch the awards online. I did get hold of the link, but after a day's wait.
To begin with, the entire show was a thorough disappointment. Not that I should have held high expectations in the first place, but still...whatever...Actually speaking, i think with umpteen awards which exist we should by now habituate ourselves to the way the awards are handed out to Bollywood films. They have more or less the same concept, same dance numbers, same performers, same people sharing the stage..Filmfare has a reputation of satsifying one and all in the bright fraternity. They conveniently accomodate people in special categories or critics category and ward away any possible situation of annoying the members from filmy families.
Anyways, this year's Filmfare was woven around Saif and Kareena's love affair. From the beginning until end, it was ONLY about them. Moments like Sharukh addressing Kareena as his bhabhi and Karan johar's nudging Saif's elbow before Kareena's dance performance - it was all so irritating to say the least. There was a moment where i felt that there might be a special category of award designated only to honor them as the best couple of the year. And if this was not enough, the icing on the cake was Sharukh and Saif's slapstick comedy. No one was spared from the spears of their taunts except for the so called circle of Chopra's and Johar's. All in all, it was highly boring and an utter waste of time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
