the last 2 days have been quite a lot of fun. reason? took my parents shopping. it went something like this-
Me-ma why are you eyeing that suit ka kapda? you want it?
Ma-na re. expensive and i dont really need it now( eyeing it summore)
Me-mum! stop ogling it already and take it.
Ma-noooo. i dont need it now…have enough suits.
Me-but you dont have this color, oh lord! wait, i’ll get the drool bucket!
Ma-beshi bokish na( zyaada mat bolo!) but the color does catch your eye doesnt it?
Me-mammaaaaa, he’s about to make the bill, it’s a lovely color, you dont have it.BUY IT NOW OR FOREVER HOLD YOU PEACE! 
Ma-why do you have to dramatise everything to this extent.i dont want you to spend so much on a suit right now. i said no.
Me-ok. calm down. i wont force it on you if you dont want it.
Ma-dint i say i dint want it.
Me-ok bhaiyya, we wont take it. baaki sab ka bill bana do.
Sales guy-ok ma. amma you want the blue one?
Me-no she doesnt, she said she doesnt want it.
Ma-such a fuss.FINE! if you insist…bhaiyya, usko bhi bill mein jod do. (turning to me)-not a word out of you and DONT TELL YOU FATHER!!!!

so off went the happy family to the dukaan. once inside-
B-can you show me all the dull,no-jhango colors and designs you have?( that’s what he meant i know it!)
Salesman- sir, yada yada yada.
B-NOT THIS ONE! it’s black. it’ll make me look like a sabarimala pilgrim!
M-how many of those ppl do you know that wear 1800 ka kurtas to the pilgrimage?
B-chup!
after many agonizing minutes later.
B-i think i’ll keep the one you bought, the salesman said it’s the latest design and i really dont have anything of this type. and i think i’ll take the black one also. it kind of grows on you after a while. it has a certain class to it.
AND DONT TELL YOUR MOTHER!!!
M-of course not!
once we got home-
M-maaaaaaaaaaa! guess what baba did. you 2 deserve each other..fickle shoppers. god gimme strength!

Saw Pride and Prejudice a few nights ago. the best thing about the experience was the movie hall which was EXTREMELY comfortable and a total makeout haven in the dark….alas, mataji had accompanied me.
Having seen  the BBC miniseries of P’n’P a few years ago I was duly biased and totally hot for Colin Firth’s Darcy and CF himself.

The thing with a book like P’n’P is that it’s a comment on life which is true even today. You need people who are alive even though they maybe enacting characters who by themselves are inconspicuous or colorless.
Movie makers have a long way to go before they succeed in breaching the benchmark created by the BBC people. Now THAT was perfection!

It’s a sad day when news of rape and crimes against women gain centerstage in the print and electronic media. Today’s TOI features the story of the german national who was allegedly raped by an MP’s son in Jaipur.
While this is yet to be proved, of late the frequency with which these crimes get reported against Indian women themselves bares more scrutiny than that is being given.
The Pratibha case in Bangalore, Priyadarshini Mattoo and list is sadly,endless.
While this isnt an indictment per se, but there have more than occasion where I have personally seen men and boys from all walks of life who feel that women and girls who have been abroad have “been around” are “bold” and are generally more willing to put out at the drop of a pin!
This kind of cavemannish attitude is not only medieval but so far off the mark as to make one gawk in disbelief!
While people abroad are generally more expressive and permissive in terms of how they choose to live their lives and who they choose to live it, it doesnt automatically make them bereft of all morals,ethics and basically give them no leave to choose to say yes or no.
This kind of fallacy makes those particular men swagger,hit on women in the crudest way possible and make the most insulting kind of propositions! It’s an utter,utter shame and shows the kind of spiralling downward trend which is frightening to behold and a blot on the face of any kind of society and nation!
I honestly hope that this man who has been accused of the crime is innocent but if DNA and other evidences prove otherwise…i hope he is neutered! Someone has to be made an example of, let him be the one. Like Gilbert and Sullivan said….”let the punishment fit the crime”.

I cant begin to say how perfectly annoying it is,that while i’m stuck at work people are revelling in mercury-based colors and generally having a good time!
My foofa called up to wish me on holi and wanted to know how much bhaang I had downed. If he only knew…I was facing an irate MD and cringing while he scratched himself resplendently and told off a few of us all in one go! The man has multi-tasking down pat!
But there’s actually more to holi than the gujiyas and the colors and aiming water-balloons at unsuspecting people, especially those who’ve just cleaned themselves up and are back in dry clothes! It also about those stubborn colors which take weeks on end to scrub off, it’s about digging a pit and tossing people in muddy waters and i could go on. Sadly enough, i have to spend this day in an antiseptic,thorougly clean manner. Life SUX!!! :o(

for the last 2 days hyd’bad has been hosting a music festival of sufi&mystical music called ruhaniyat( meaning soulfulness in farsi). this is their 2nd year in the city and based on the enthusiastic response they got last year they really went out all the way over this weekend and provided a whole  array of music which ranged from the outlandish, bizarre to the top-notch classical artists resplendent in their adaakaari and nazaakat!
there were performances from qawwals from the city and an amazing group from the ajmer shareef who wowed everyone with their trance-inducing performance and their ability to mimic other music-producing objects viz the ghungroo!
of course there were some of them which struck a different kind of note amongst the listeners and left them somewhat bemused and often uncharitable in their remarks. chief amongst them were the group of tibetan monks who had everyone awestruck with the depths their voices could plummet to and yet i couldnt help but liken them to the mating call of the bullfrogs.
among the highlights of the night were performances by the bauls( a kind of wandering mintrel-cum-mendicant people based in West Bengal).the bauls often use hashish to “get into the groove” but they arent the typical rastafarian types although they are quite chilled out and sport dreadlocks.

see,the main objective of ruhaniyat,which i think they’ve achieved entirely, is to bring to light sufism and the mysticism which resides the world over. they dont seek to promote monotheism or even hope that people would embrace their line of thought but just to give us a glimpse of the kind of heights people can soar to in their attempt to connect with the Maker, the Being. it gives one a very different kind of perspective. on one hand you get to indulge your senses and enjoy the myriad of musicality and side by side have an ambience which is both light in vein and deep with resonance and meaning and something which ultimately touches the soul.

http://www.forbes.com/home/money/2006/02/11/economics-prostitution-marriage_cx_mn_money06_0214prostitution.html?boxes=popstories&boxes=custom

all these years when i used to watch my dad read forbes, i used to think it’s all about the bulls’n’bears but heck no! it’s got fun stuff!!
and btw, i SO wanna try a FOG CUTTER!

http://www.forbes.com/health/2005/08/10/cocktails-calories-lifestyle-cx_sy_0810feat_ls.html?boxes=custom

it’s about to start raining again in a lil while…very unnatural for this time of the year in hyd’bad, or so the natives tell me. all around me lie wadded up tissue papers and the saigon kick is drowned out by my mom shouting at me to take the medicine already or to stop sneezing/coughing/moaning like i’m on my deathbed.
have been erred against in the worst possible way or in the warust ( as uttered by my boss) way by my office people. first they get me exposed to the sniffling-wheezing-phlegmy people of the city and then burden me with the most god-awful and bitter medicine known to man. what i wudnt give for the apothecary of yore to just grind up some herbs for me to gulp down right about now.
the significant one is at the movies while i sniffle here-a black mark that will be brought up in arguments when i’m feeling blah and have no other legitimate rebuttal to back up on.
S-I-G-H! the mater has caught up on me and is advancing with the spoon outstretched and the viscous syrup sloshing around in a vile manner. NOTE-she doesnt even spill one measly drop! curses!

PS:imbruglia’s “shiver” just came on. is this a harbinger of worse antibiotics to follow…..?

been watching a lotta movies of late. and good lord! the stuff i’ve watched!
these are the worst/weirdest/slowest ones ever-

5) pushpak- perfect!