Blogger, Freelancer, Manager, Software Engineer, Beginner in Crocheting, Struggling Cook, Photography addict, Passionate for long drives n soulful music, Movie buff, Interested in politics, a loving wife and a Mom of three, but still a girl from heart :-)
Today when I saw this photo on my friends Facebook page (Yeah I do lot of facebooking), the first thought that came to my mind was, are we really original or just copies of each other. This thought lingered in my mind for some time and the reason that I am writing about it, is that it makes me think about me. The kind of people I have met in life and their influence on me. My family, my friends, my enemies (yeah I have lots of them) and some strangers whom I have met but never got the chance to know.
What is interesting in all this thought process is, that I have heard everyone say that they are not like the rest. All of us think that we are different from others and are unique in our own way. Have…
I have always loved mysteries and fiction, this one is worth the love. Illusionis one such book which will keep you engaged throughout the read. It is the first book that I have read of Frank Peretti, and I know I will be going for more. Most captivating thing about this book was, you are never sure what’s going to happen next. With so many twists and turns, taking on different genres and then mixing them all together in a single book, it’s not an easy task. But, Peretti has done it so beautifully in this book. This book is put in the genre of christian fiction, but it can easily be tagged into teen fiction, romance, science, religion and thriller, all at the same time.
The book tells the story of Dane and Mandy, the sixty year old magician couple, deeply in love with each other. After a long companionship of forty years, Dane was suddenly left devastated when Mandy die in a car crash. His world is torn apart and he decides to leave everything and go back to the place where he first met her, at her hometown. But, was Mandy really dead?
She doesn’t agree with this.
Sitting under a tree in a hospital gown a twenty year old Mandy was wondering what era is this? How does she suddenly woke up in 2010, when all she did was sleep under a tree in 1970s. Uncanny.
My typical mind, brainwashed with so many ghost and rebirth stories, quickly thought that this could be old Mandy’s soul which has captured a young girl and entered into her body. Gosh! My imagination. No, this is not the case. It becomes clear when I read it further. New Mandy met Dane while demonstrating some street magic. Yes, magic. New Mandy can also do magic. One common factor. But big disappointment for me when both Dane and New Mandy couldn’t recognize each other. So, how can she be a rebirth? No, she is no rebirth. She didn’t even have a memory loss. She remembers everything from the dress she was wearing to the name of street she lived.
Story unfolds some more. New Mandy can do weird stuff. I can’t call it magic if you can levitate yourself without any string attached, kinda like Criss Angel. She can put life to any static object like a ball, coffee in cup, mike and even a pencil to poke you. How did she get those superpowers? That is actually the main secret behind her story. Coming to Dane, poor widower, coping with his wife’s death, has new challenges to face in his life. He has met a girl who looks a lot like her Mandy, only she is not. She is a kid, so younger, stupid, and always seems to be in danger. However hard he is trying to stay away from that girl, he is getting more and more entangled in her life. My next thought was that she could be a daughter of old Mandy, which Dane is not aware of. Too filmy! I know.
No, this is also not the case, as both of them feel romantically for each other. But, she is not Mandy. Book shows a different and mature approach to teenage crush which Mandy has for Dane. Only, Dane could not reciprocate the same to her, she being a lot younger than him. This aspect is dealt beautifully in the book, never getting weird.
Approaching end, everything is answered patiently. With the big secret out (no, I am not telling you that), both Dane and Mandy’s life comes to a point of losing each other once again. Till the last page, I was hoping for a miracle. Hoping for balance of universe, for love, for eternal love of Dane and Mandy.
What appealed to me other than the story was the last note of author, Frank Peretti. When he says that this story is not only a science fiction or a love story, this one is also about finding yourself. To find out, Who you are, What are you here for? Doing, what you need to do? What you actually want from life? And, what do you believe in? Ultimately, accepting your beliefs and give yourself to that higher power.
Finally I watched Bombay talkies, nearly half an year after the movie released. I had high hopes from the movie as this movie was made to celebrate the completion of 100 years of Indian cinema, also the more fascinating point being that it has four short stories directed by four maestro directors of Indian Cinema – Karan Johar, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar and Anurag Kashyap(My Fav). I won’t say that my hopes were not met, they were to some extent, but in the end I was craving for more. Craving for that extra icing on the cake, and that extra was satisfied with the title song pictured on the fabulous stars like Aamir Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, Kareena, Sridevi, Madhuri, Karishma, Vidya, Akshay, Imran, Shahrukh and many more…..
Bombay Talkies: Celebrating 100 years of Indian Cinema
First story of this movie is titled “Ajeeb Dastan Hai Ye”, and is directed by Karan Johar. This story deals with homosexuality, and quite surprisingly very differently than Karan’s earlier attempt of “Dostaana”. Story is of a homosexual media intern Saquib, who is working for Rani Mukherji, married to News reader and analyzer Randeep Hooda. Problem arises when Saquib understood that the married couple is not so happily married and this is because the husband is gay. So, out of nowhere he makes a move on him (stupidly, in front of his whole news crew in the office), and got beaten up badly. Saquib again very stupidly went to Rani, and again in front of everyone at her office, announced that her husband has actually kissed him. So lame. Very mature Karan. Well, I really liked the part where saquib got into a fight with his father, slapping him continuously and shouting “I am not a eunuch, I am homosexual. And even if I would be a eunuch, there is nothing wrong with it. There is nothing wrong with me.” I didn’t liked the climax though, in the end it is shown that poor Randeep who was actually a confused soul (gay or straight, who am I?), got thrown out of his house, by the wifey, Rani. End is shown as it is liberating for Rani to finally know that it was not her fault in marriage, it’s his, the husband. And there goes the whole idea behind depicting homosexuality in a broad-minded way. It should have been the liberation of husband, who finally came to know what he actually wants and what he really is. Alas!
Bombay Talkies: Celebrating 100 years of Indian Cinema
Another point which I should have pointed out in the beginning is that the above story does not seem to be related to Indian Cinema in any way. All the other stories have somewhat taken inspiration from the cinema. Moving on to the the next one.
Bombay Talkies: Celebrating 100 years of Indian Cinema
This story “Star” is the most beautifully written. Directed by Dibakar Banerjee, this is the story of a failed star/actor played by Nawazuddin. He believes that if he is good in his work, then work will come to him. Thus, he is mostly without work, even though he proves in the end that he is good in his work. It was a surprise encounter of his mentor’s ghost that actually opens his eyes, and he came to know of the fact that it does not matter if you are good or bad in your work, what matters most is, passion. Passion in what you do. You could be good in acting, but unless you have the passion to leave everything, take risk and completely immerse yourself in acting, you can not achieve success. Realization come and he runs to his daughter and with that passion in the eyes, narrates his whole day to her. The day when he actually worked in a film with Ranbir Kapoor. He sleeps that night, peacefully. As if he has find his Nirvana.
Bombay Talkies: Celebrating 100 years of Indian Cinema
Third story “Shiela Ki Jawani” directed by Zoya Akhtar, is of a little boy, who actually loves dressing up as girl, adores Katrina Kaif, and dances to the tune of “Shiela Ki Jawani”. His father, being a typical male, does not want his boy to go a girly way and impose football lessons on him. This story depicts that as a parent and as a society we are the one who have made differentiation between what a girl or boy can do, and what they are not allowed to do. A father can gift a doll to his daughter and ball to his son but not the other way. A teacher who is teaching classical dance to girls, does not want a boy to even look at the lessons. This is the same society we are living in, who then tell us to raise our daughters and boys as same. Most touching part was when the sister asks the boy, “Do you know, why papa was so angry at you?”. Boy replied “Maybe because I touched mamma’s makeup”. She replies “No, it’s because you were dressed as a girl”. And he said very innocently “Why? Is it bad to be a girl?”
Bombay Talkies: Celebrating 100 years of Indian Cinema
Last story “Murabba”, directed by Anurag Kashyap, truly captures the essence of impact of Indian cinema in our lives. That larger than life image of film stars and the way we relate to them. A small town boy, Vijay goes to Mumbai to fulfill his father’s wish of eating a Murabba blessed by none other than “The Amitabh Bachchan”. This film also shows the honest and pure desire by which small towners still worship their cinema idols. Vijay struggles and try to work out any possible way to reach the mega star, he even try to bribe the security guard at Mr. Bachchan’s house. Finally, he did manage to give Murabba to him, actually persuade him to eat half of it before his eyes. Very innocent. Fun part was when his father tells him the true story behind his encounter with “The Dilip Kumar”. Lesson learn “Never put Murabba in Achaar’s jar”.
Bombay Talkies: Celebrating 100 years of Indian CinemaBombay Talkies: Celebrating 100 years of Indian Cinema
I did enjoyed all the stories, some more and some less but nevertheless I liked them. But, it was the end title song “Apna Bombay Takies”which takes your breath away. Phew!!!
Now, I am going to cook myself a good lunch, and there is no sharing when it comes to food. So, you better go and watch a movie 🙂
I love my hair. Every girl do. But, I love them as long as they are manageable. Manageable in my dictionary means one brush here, one brush there and you are done. Someday I comb only when I am going out. No, I am not that busy, I am just toooooo Lazy. (here, I have said it. Happy now.)
It was almost five to six months back, when I had my last haircut. You know that itchy feeling (not itchy – itchy, but, ohh forget it, I don’t have the right word to explain it), feeling when you know that you need a cut but your hair still look okay to others. Others in this case is my hubby. So, I was nagging him for the past month, that I needed a haircut, let’s go to a hair salon. And, he was always, like, hmm okay. Will go. But, I keep on hearing this “will go” for a month. Poor me 😦
I used to think of me as the laziest person on earth (My mom would have agreed with that too), but since I have met my hubby, I have moved down to second position. He is “The Laziest” person I have seen, unless he has to go to gym. If you want to take him somewhere, you have to coax him by saying, we will stop by the gym, do some exercise and then we will go to the desired place. Even than he will ask you, how much time in gym?
You must be thinking, why I didn’t went on my own. I could have, I know the way to salon, I have the car, knew driving, could have also managed with kids, but, and the big but is that, who would I have blamed on, in case something goes wrong with the cut. In case, I didn’t liked it, I could have said, “you bring me here, it’s your fault”. Yeah, we wives can blame anything on our husband. One time I even blamed him for the weather. “It’s raining, because you don’t want to go out.” So, typical of me. J
I kept on bugging him (I don’t nag much 🙂 usually ). But, as he was also trying very hard to save his number one title of The Laziest person, he didn’t take me. :O
So, there I was, standing in front of my mirror, with a scissor in my hand, some different sizes combs and one hand mirror. There I was, all set. Where to start from? Took the scissor and cut a small bunch, then another, and then one more cut, and then it was fun. Yup, I enjoyed it. Going through my hairs, layer by layer, trying to see what will look good, better then good, or bad…. and after around ten minutes, I was done. Phew!!
Had a look at myself, front mirror then the hand mirror, back and front, side ways. Hmmn. Not bad. Like it. Then I look down. Ohh crap. Who will clean this mess? Whole floor was covered with hairs. Thank god, kids were asleep, otherwise it would have been a whole lot messier. So, it took me ten minutes to cut my hair and another thirty minutes to clean everything.
Interesting was my hubby’s reaction to my new haircut. I was waiting by the glass window, saw him park his car, and I rushed to mirror(not door 😛 ). Combed again, looked again and again. Good. Opened the door.
Five minutes passed, then ten. Now, his tea is also finished. I am still waiting, trying very hard to wave my hair, all my fingers running through my hairs. (very stupid thing to do without wind). Finally….
Me: notice something different?
He: hmm….. (trying very hard while looking at me)
Me: I cut my hair. (with a big grin)
He: oh yes, that’s what I was thinking about. You are looking very good. Since yesterday, I wanted to say this to you. You are really looking very good.
Congress: Fail (actually, if there can be anything worse than failure, then that).
Celebrations, sorrows, amusement, anger, disappointment, excitement; so many emotions are there on social networking sites. If we leave Mizoram results behind then it’s a really poor performance by the congress party. Lost 3 ruling states Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh andDelhi, with a big margin to opposition and couldn’t even shake the throne of Shivraaj Singh Chauhan from Madhya Pradesh. Most intriguing were Delhi’s results, with AAP ( a completely new party/ideology) emerging second largest after BJP.
Delhi Election 2013 – Kejriwal and Kumar Vishwas
I am not really comfortable calling AAPa party, it’s more of an ideology. Ideology of Anna, which was hijacked and then carried forward by Arvind Kejriwal. People have voted not for AAP the party but for the ideology that AAP stands for, for the values that AAP has shown, and for the honesty that people were craving for in the political system. It’s a whole new world. Who could have thought that a party which is actually just a year old will rattle heavyweights Congress and BJP with their marvelous victory of 28 seats. I bet, even Kejriwal hadn’t thought of winning by this much. But, this is not an easy road, It’s easier to talk about good and honest governance but it’s a totally different ballgame to actually provide one. With rumors of re-elections, it is not clear whether AAP or BJP will form the government in Delhi. But, my wish is to see AAP as the ruling party. I don’t want Kejriwal to sit in opposition and call out media conferences every time they do not agree to ruling party decisions. I want them to rule, and deliver every promise that they have made for winning election. I want them to provide transparent and good governance. I want them to prove that they are not just an ideology, but party with a working and practical ideology.
Delhi Election 2013 – Shivraj Singh Chauhan
Our very own party with difference:BJP, is gaining momentum with each passing day, courtesy none other than Mr. Modi. But, if the current election results are any indication then other than Modi there are two major factors that are favoring BJP. These factors are poor governance of congress on national level and good governance of BJP in BJP ruled states. It was the good governance of Shivraaj Singh Chauhan in MP, which has proved once again that there is no other alternative. It was the anti incumbency voting in congress ruled states, which has translated into success for BJP. To top it all, BJP has a charismatic leader. A leader who has proved his governance, his decision making abilities, his motivational and inspiring persona and above all a leader who is not heir to a popular dynasty but rather has risen from somewhere within us. Narendra Modi. Right now, he seems like the only leader who has the vision and a will. But, is it enough for BJP, enough to come to power? I am not very sure. I do believe that there is a “Modi Lehar” but BJP will need a “Modi Aandhi” to actually sweep away all the big and small obstacles (regional parties) and come to power in center. Till then “Dilli abhi door hai”…..
Delhi Election 2013 – Narendra Modi
Coming back to from where I started – The Congress. Oh my dear Congress, what can I say about you. It looks like that you have seen the worst in Delhi elections, but believe me this is the best thing that has happened to you. Why I am saying this? Well, to start off, you needed it, you needed that big jolt, a thunder lightning or a “zor ka jhatka”, just so that you can see the reality. Just so that you can see where are you headed to. This is the best thing happened to you, because now you can open your eyes to see. Look around, you are surrounded with parasitic Yes-Men.
Delhi Election 2013 – Rahul Gandhi
I feel amused when I hear some of them asking to declare Rahul Gandhi as congress PM candidate for coming elections. Why? Do you want to end his political career? It’s too late now, there is no option other than defeat, then why do you want to make Rahul Gandhi a face of failure. Spare him this time. Think about what you can do to minimize the margin of your defeat. Make some changes, drastic one. Do something, or at least pretend, that you are doing something. Exercise your PR, not through media but through social media. We all know media is paid, we don’t believe in journalists as much we believe in trolls on twitter. If you can’t do anything futile, at least try to be humble, show some respect to voters. India does not live around 10 Janpath anymore. Shifting is in progress, you better book your movers and packers. See you at the other side……
My Journey So Far.... 