Not bad

A small book, priced at Rs 95/ - and after a long time made me read the entire book at one single stretch.
2 States - the story of my marriage by Chetan Bhagat.

I think the boy has finally kinda redeemed himself, at least as far as I am concerned. His writing is simple and more bloggy than literary. But of course that you already know.

I think what makes this one work, just like five point someone, is that this again is semi autobiographical. He really can belt it out when it is fiction around situations in his life or a page out of it. He seems much more comfortable and confident spinning a yarn when he has lived the peripheral premises. Much more than the other 2 really crappy ones (night @ a call center and 3 mistakes), which apart frm non interesting storylines also makes it very obvious that the author has done only second hand research on subjects..

Now, this one was witty and interesting and has its chetan bhagat moments but all in all worthwhile for a weekend read for sure :)

Now that hes' done his IIT days and his wedding conquest, maybe its time for him to write next about his IIMA days and be done with his autobiographical trilogy :)

Drooling over !

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/518483-REG/Sigma_582_306_18_50mm_f_2_8_EX_DC.html

This is one fine piece of lens ! So what if it costs almost as much as my dslr cam body costs.. Dang if I don't convince hubby to lemme buy it !

Me thinks, considering how many women now a days are asking for push presents (even the ones who dont really push :P), ranging from solitaires to cars, this is much less expensive rt !

Now if only R would see this logic :)

what would i do without certain friends ?

Seriously !? I wonder.. And mine have a way to being such indispensible part of my life that I can't explain it.. There are not many left tho', I hafta say. But the ones that are there now are ones for life and I know that because of incidents such as one yesterday.
I have a way of being or at least proclaiming to be, very self sufficient when it comes to my emotional sanity now a days. I don't know if thats coz am in my 30;s now and we are supposed to be wiser and more accountable now.. But there are times when i take on too much on myself and don't bother reaching out even when maybe I should..

A snagging situation at home was making me miserable and I didn't even realize how much.. it came up in a late night conversation with a dear friend who incidently is stuck in gurgaon on work and is equally lonely :) Before i knew it we spoke for 2 hours and i realized how much my issue had been bugging me.. Made me feel good and feel stronger all over again.. In the end all he said was - "Dont worry about it now, its not required. When it comes down to it an needs to be sorted out I am sure you will" :)

What would i do without these guys ? :))

I think there is a reason why I love movies like 'Love aaj kal' and 'Wake up Sid'. Both of them have the male protagonists as overgrown boys who err on their path to coming of age and love etc.. I think I can relate to that and the fact that the female protagonists in both the movies are really sane, grounded and practical women.. Whether its Meera of LAK who is so aware of whats happening with her and around her and she does not flinch to tell her new husband that the marriage was a mistake, or Aisha from WUS, who is sensitive and accomodating but does not hesitate to tell yummy Rahul Khanna that jazz (or him) -not her cup of tea :)

I like strong women characters in movies.. especially when there is so much trash out there, an average hindi movie is so dissociated from reality that it makes you cringe ! I also like the fact that we are very slowly moving away from larger than life characters and characters who do not make mistakes. Art if supposedly imitates life, should reflect that. We all make enough and more mistakes in our lives, big or small and I dont see why the characters in 60mm cannot.

The general indian public has a problem with that, I dont think they can relate to protagonists making mistakes or deviating from a so called happy path in life. Not do they understand. Which in my opinion is why so many critics and public in general came down harsh on WUS. I am sure if Sid had been thrown out on gritty mumbai streets with no food an clothes an had to sleep under the street lamp, wud have made a lot more people happier! For the want to see the character actually struggle and wake up :)
But why ? Why do you need that dark realism to understand his coming of age or growing up ? And who is to say that what he is depicted to be doing is so far fetched ? I fail to understand that.. Many a times even seasoned critics lose sight of the fact that movies are about specific character, their lives and their quirks. Why then do we pick on things that do not seem real to us just coz we cannot relate to it ?
With the multiplex movies (for the lack of a better word), hopefully we will see more new age directors who do not hesitate to tell fresh new stories.

Brilliant !

Kicking !

With all the facebooking an twittering eating up the general blog blips, i had told myself i am gonna post at least a few blips here for the sake of posterity !

So, in the spirit of just that.. the baby's finally started kicking ! Its almost like an episode straight out of x-files really ! :P
I was worried for a bit whether it was sheer laziness which was holding Rads jr. frm kicking around much.. anyhoo.. worries can be set aside now.. :)

ps: Listening to the 'Blue' soundtrack and me thinks me likes...

Ho Hum...

I find myself longing to move back to US now a days.. I have no clue why. There has been this dormant lingering for about an year now which has become increasingly stronger now. My brain resists and tells me to come to my senses as I should not be even considering that for the next one year with a baby on the way and all the adventure that will follow soon afterwards..

But there is still a part of my heart that swings in the opp. direction. Maybe its the swirling hormones, dunno or the fact that I find myself looking at old pictures more often now a days and long for those lose times.. At the risk of digressing, I have to add that its been more than an year since we even took any pictures.. We used to do that so often before and thankx to that, i have a few lovely collages put up on my walls. But i notice that almost all of them were taken at least 2 yrs ago and none of them in India.. Is it the lack of time or inclination ? am clueless..

In the end I think, my brain will win out the debate and refrain from insane decisions.. But maybe soon.. who knows.. Till then, I am just gonna make myself happy by reminiscing about things that I miss abt life out there :) :

1. A good strong cup of black coffee (altho' it wud never stop at one cup... hmm...)
2. Driving that wud not piss off my better half.. (i find him more and more irritable on the roads now, even the smallest of things tick him off !)
3. Pitstop at Einstein Bros Bagels every time we wud set off on a drive over long weekends... Sun dried tomato bagel with jalapeno salsa shmear just rocks and there is no substitute for it !
4. The bliss of spending almost an entire day window shopping at the malls (of course u need good malls for that, I have had the fortune to live in cities where there were awesome malls)
5. Aveda !
6. Krispy Kremes !
7. The complete lack of any social obligations whatsoever.. Believe it or not, there are just too many of them in India..
8. Good working hours.. Altho my working hours are not that bad really, but in retrospect, I have had better :)
9. The options of activities that are available for anybody to do ! Let me rephrase that, the ease at which hobbies or interests can actually be followed.. I used to actually go for French and dancing classes in CA, but here even a small yoga session seems like such an overhead with traffic situations, unpredictable work timings etc..
10. Awesome wines !

ok.. I have realized this list can go on and on.. an i have a meeting coming up ! damn..

Revelation an a heartbreak

I can actually fit into my first pair of maternity jeans !

ps: O god, in abt 6 months either gimme the metabolism of a horse or enuf money for lipo ! either will do !!