My new found friends!!

See the pics? Why are they on my blog ? Take a wild guess !!!
Hmm.. Dont get it ?? Ok..I'l spill the beans..well.. they are my neighbours !! :) ..The puppies and the birdies..
The puppies are my ' next house' neighbours and the birdies are my ' roof over the window' neighbours.
I had always wanted to have a pet dog but couldnt afford one due to constraints like our work timings etc. But now i dont feel bad about it since I have my neighbour's pets.
And with the birdies - the pigeon population is concentrated in our part of the area and hence they would need a safe and cosy place for their young ones . And our roof over the window matches their requirements !! :). The balcony is covered with grills , hence the young ones can be safeguarded from the crows . And we feed the pigeons everyday - so they dont have to worry much about the food. I wonder .. what will the conversation be amongst them when these young ones grow up and fly away from their nest ...
1st pigeon - Hey.. Never seen u before.. are u new to this locality?
My roof top pigeon - Hey there.. Well .. i am not new to the locality .. i have just learnt to fly..
1 st pigeon - thts grt!! Congratulations!! where were u born?
My roof top pigeon - There ( points its beak towards my place) .. can u see that.. the balcony with the grills.. there on the roof.. The house occupants were nice people.. they used to feed us.. so i have decided .. when its time for me lay eggs.. i know where to build my nest !! :D

Conscience Confronted

Thankgod we did not plan to watch a movie over the weekend but instead booked tickets for the much acclaimed play ' Bikhre Bimb' written and directed by Girish Karnard .

Whatever one says , but i strongly feel that theatre has its own charm . Unlike movies , plays are short and do not bore you. I was always interested in watching plays and lucky me, i have got a husband who shares the same interest as mine!! :)

I had much heard about 'Ranga shankara' the theatre group but never really had got a chance to visit it. Once , during a casual conversation , my hubby mentioned about some play at Rangashankara that he had watched some time ago. Instantly my long forgotten desire woke up and we actually decided on watching a play at Rangashankara.
And i would'nt regret this decision. Atleast 70 minutes spent constructively rather than wasting 3 hours on some sloppy movie.

Rangashankara has only one stage . All the plays at Rangashankara are staged here. Its a small cosy auditorium with a capacity of around 300 seats. They also have a nice website that lists the calender of plays which will be staged for that current month.

The play was to start at 7:30 pm but we reached the venue by half past 6 . I was eager to get into the auditorium but had to wait for another 40 mins before they let the crowd in. The usual misconception about plays are that they are not entertaining as movies and one should put in extra effort to basically understand the message behind it. And hence not many takers .
I was under the impression that the auditorium would not be even filled to half its capacity . But I was completely wrong . It was sold out !!!

'Bikhre Bimb' or 'The broken images' as in English is a one man play and is played by Arundati Nag - wife of actor Shankar Nag. This play has won her many accolades . Definitely it goes without saying that it is one of her ' the extrordinary' performances.

The stage is set to depict a Television studio with TV sets in the background and one big flat 36" screen monitor at one side of the stage . The play starts with Mamta Naik (Arundati Nag )stepping into the TV studio to deliver a keynote speech on the award winning novel of hers . Its her first novel in English and overnight ,she has become a best selling author .
She is done with her interview and about to leave the studio when she hears a voice talking to her. She turns around and is shocked to see her own self talking to her through the big TV screen . She is scared and in a quivering voice asks 'Who are u' ? .. her self in the TV monitor answers ' I am you' .. :) ........She then realises that she is confronted by her conscience .

The story then unfurls slowly with the character's conscience trying to dig into the dark side of Mamta's life and trying to get her to face the bitter truths of life. Many astounding facts are revealed and it all finally boils down to ' a broken image' .
You end up asking yourself - Am i betraying myself?... Am i running away from the harsh truths of life with no courage to face them? .. Am I a coward trying to hide behind the curtain of lies?
Life is nothing but a broken image.............

Just no words to describe Arundati Nag's performance.. Splendid.. Extrordinary ..
At the end of the play , she gets a standing ovation from the audience and she deserves it every bit.

Anyways i have decided , henceforth atleast one play every month ......

Holi !! Holi !!

What a Holi !! It had been almost two years since I played holi... Since this year Holi was on a sunday , I was very eager to play colours . And coincidentally , my parents and my husband were in Banglaore . What else do u need?.. A perfect setup to play holi... so what were we waiting for?

I called up my cousin on Saturday and asked him and his wife to come over for Holi .. my husband and myself bought colours ...

On Sunday , we ate breakfast and dug into our wardrobes for old clothes . by 10:30 am , we were all ready to play holi .. The stage was set.. :) .. my cousin had got few packets of colours with him .. we prepared a bucket full of coloured water .and then .... it was nothing but colours ... colours and colours.....

my mom was a lil hesitant initially about playing holi.. but we pulled her and then was no looking back..

It is such a nice feeling to play colours with your family anf friends... Its so much fun !!!

hope.. we have a holiday declared next year for holi so that the fun can be continued.....

HAPPY HOLI !!!

Anything for my friends!!!

Dinner at 12 PM !! with a friend invited over to our place.. :)
Not my mistake though .. :P
I cautioned my friend that i would take a lil extra time to cook .. He was fine with it ..' No issues.. tomorrow is a holiday'.. so i started cooking at around 10:00pm ..
And now the flashback...........
One fine evening , my friend came over to visit me and my husband . I was meeting him after a long time and obviously we had lots to talk about. We talked and talked... and finally when we checked the time .. it was 9:30 pm .. and i was like .. ' its already 9:30 .. have dinner and go' .. i thought he would decline the offer.. but no .. he said without a second thought .. ' okie.. neways i have nothin much do .. '..
And guys.. this is why i started cooking so late...
And to my dismay , there was no atta ( wheat flour ) nor tomatoes ... :( .. hmmm .. sorry my friend.. this was not intentional..
And so the missing stuff was bought from the shop downstairs and hence the cooking finally started... My husband helped me with chopping vegetables .. Thanks honey :)..
And finally when i finished cooking and looked at the clock .. it was 11:45 pm .. :D..
We ate and I completely loved the fact that the food was good .. now u would ask me how could i be so sure of it.. Well u know.. my friend was licking his fingers.. :) .. and he was all praises for it..
I was on cloud nine...
It was past 12 when we finished dinner...
No worries.. But this experience was one of its kind.. Its just so much fun to have friends come over and an impromptu dinner at your place ..
Anything for my friends !! :)