Expensive 'You'

Just cant believe that i spent 350 rupees for getting my eyebrows shaped :( .. Oh ! u must be thinking that i must have lost my brains or not be in my senses, but my dear friend that's the irony.

Back in India,we pay not more than 20 rupees for the eyebrow thing but.. but in Nottingham its 5 Pounds i.e. approx 350 rupees!!!!

This incident actually made me think how expensive it is to maintain ourselves nowadays.. We all want to look good.. feel good.. but at one's own cost which is kind of exponentially rising day after day!!

To cite few instances -

1. Walk out of the beauty parlour with an air about your new gorgeous looks but with an empty wallet ?

2. Buy yourselves some good clothes to get the 'Feel good factor' but i bet you end up emptying your wallet again..

3. Treat yourselves with some good food at an expensive restaurant.The food may get digested but not the fact that the food was so expensive..

Well.. Well.. its an expensive world out there .. Be armed with a heavy wallet and a strong will to spend on the so called 'Feel Good Factor' .

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 !! :)

God Made Roger Federer ??

Thats what a sign board read during the 2007 Wimbeldon finals between Federer and Nadal ...

And i think thats true .. He s a genius ..

The recently concluded Wimbeldon finals says it all.. He is the undisputed Master of Tennis ...
But yeah .. Roddick was also the man to be watched out for at the finals.. He gave Federer a tough fight.. he was not ready to give in so easily.. and full marks to him... My heart went out for him when he lost .. But a game is a game .. And Federer was the new reigning champion ..

Federer has written a new chapter in the history of Tennis ..

Many are of the opinion that Federer had a chance because Nadal was missing at the championship... True.. Nadal is a great player .. aggressive in his way of playing...
May be he was destined not to play ...

Whatever it is.. Federer has won a million hearts with his calm and cool way of approach to the game..

Way to go Federer ..

need a break !!!

I am confused !!!

I am lost !!!

I am bugged up !!!

Lost in thoughts ... bugged up with work ... confused with myself... i think i desperately need a break ....

I was just wondering .. break.. what kinda break wud do me gud.. a vacation ??? shopping ??
i thought.. and thought ..
Trust me ... the decision was tough to make ..

But thanks to the route my office bus takes on the way back home .. We passed the 'Brand factory ' bulilding and i just knew what i had to do .. :D

guys... I am off on a shopping spree ..

see ya ...

Its Veronica finally.. huh ...

I was never an ardent fan of Archies comics... But yeah .. read it if i got hold of one ...
I am actually not happy the way Archies series will be put to an end ... Archie is gonna marry Veronica!!! not fair at all ..Poor Betty .. :(
So does this imply ..
guys actually dont look for inner beauty in a gal which they always claim to be... but as usual for .. beauty with riches ...
hmm.. Men will be Men...

Where the hell is Mat ?????

U should definitely check out this video ...

http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/?fbid=5Wjf7iyzksO

And this link too ....

http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/about.shtml

I would infact call this as creativity .. :)

' The curious case of Benjamin Button '

Recently watched this movie .. Brad Pitt rocks !!!
O man .. he s just amazing..
The director has tried out a different concept .. its a offbeat movie , i should say.. where Benjamin is born old , he grows young and dies as an infant... sounds strange right? But worth watching..
There are a couple of scenes in the movie which I liked most...
One is.. he is sitting in the hospital .. thinking how Daisy met with an accident .. and feels that if the series of incidents which led to the accident would not have happened.. Daisy would be fine today.. The way it has been picturised is commendable...
The other one is ... now that he has a daughter ,the family is perfect... but what bothers him is that he is growing young .. so when he decides to leave the family and go away .. Daisy pleads him to stay back and he just tells Daisy .. ' U wont be able to raise both of us.. '
The movie also has few scenes where the audience is forced to think about the deteriorating relationships in today's world... At one instance , he says... ' Life is too short to hold back .. '.. how true..
At the end of the movie.. i feel that one learns to accept a person as he/ she is .. Love is all that what matters irrespective of how the person is..
All in all a good movie to watch...

Those were the days...

I hope u guys have seen the recent Airtel ad.. a kid of around 3-4 yrs calls up his dad from his toy mobile complaining that his mom scolded him .. and asks his dad to call up mom and scold her inturn...

i was struck by the innocence of the kid .. and was drawn to my own childhood days..

Those were the days.. carefree and innocent ...

I did my primary schooling in Bangalore .. one of the best days of my life.. We were a bunch of kids in the locality and the evenings used to be fun .. We used to play until dark and sometimes after dark ,gather at one of the friends place talking about ghosts!! :D..

Those were the days....

I particularly remember this incident .. There was a house in the same locality where an elderly person used to live .. and he had a lovely garden in the compound.. jackfruit tree, jasmine creepers , lemon trees comprised the garden.. and that was our playground !!!!

We used to play there only when he was away.. we would run away once we would get the trace of him coming.. :)

once during one of these evacuation drills .. :P .. we were all in a hurry to jump over the compound or the gate to get out of the place as soon as possible before he came.. and in this process my skirt got entangled in the gate and when i jumped ... i landed straight on my face.. :D .. breaking couple of my teeth (fortunately they were only milk teeth) .. and blood oozing out of my lips ...

and u wont believe .. the next day my friend said that the teeth would not grow back if i did not bury my broken teeth .. heheee !!!! and i actually did bury my teeth for the fear of remaining toothless for the rest of my life !!!

hmm...Those were the days ...

Vote now and stop cribbing for next five years

I strongly believe ... If you do not vote during the elections ... you do not have any rights to blame the system... you have no other choice but to live with it...

Our country being the largest democracy in the world gives everybody a chance to elect the kind of leader they want .. but what do we do.. just sit back and relax on the elections day ... not bothering to cast our vote ... We just treat that day as any other sunday...

And what happens once the results are out ..? ... Start cribbing... cribbing and complaining about the candidates elected.. not happy about the party coming to power ..

My question is ... why are you bothered now when you didnt even give a second thought about going and voting ..

There s a common myth .. how can my vote alone make a difference..
Well.. there are people around who could be thinking on similar lines .. but if everbody takes up the responsibility of casting their vote without fail.. just imagine.. one billion votes casted ..
and one billion votes will definitely make a difference..

You can also log into http://www.jaagore.com/ to register urselves online and get more information on voting.

Wake up now before its too late...

Vote now and stop cribbing for the next five years..

Listen to your heart....

I have never felt so contended....

The happiness which comes to you when you listen to your heart .. when you do what you really wanted to do...

There is a different kinda feeling when i visit the orphanage every weekend to teach the kids... I had always wanted to do that .. contribute to this society in any way i could... and i am happy that it was possible..

i now look forward to the weekends ... away from the office work load.. where i get to spend quality time with the kids.. thanks to one of my colleagues who made this possible...

Well .. i had always read it in books or watched movies which said ' Listen to ur heart'.. i always wondered what that meant... now i know what it really means...

All i can say now is.. 'Listen to your heart always ' ... :)

'Men are back'... :P

Simply amazing!!! thats what i can say about the Aero show 2009 at Bangalore...
I just fell in love with the fighter planes ( and could be pilots also :P ) .. what a beauty... the planes were a treat to the eyes..
'Men are back' ... :D.. trust me .. :P
The charm.. the aura with which they present themselves .. i should say.. true gentlemen...
When the planes take off... they rule the sky .. each one says.. ' I am the only one' ... and its true.. nothing can match their style...
Each plane had a charm of its own.. a story to tell ... be it the Sukoi.. MIG..or F-16 ... and the list goes on...
I am smitten .. somebody help !!!! :D

Thanks and Goodbye Hyderabad....

Thanks Hyderabad !!!

how can i forget the zillion moments of happiness ,laughter , sadness and anger that i experienced during what i consider to be one the best times of my life...

Thanks for everything that i learnt, gained and lost in the last 3 years of my life ..

Thanks for helping me become independent ... to teach me to live on my own...

Thanks for making me feel safe and secure .... by being one of the safest cities in India..

Thanks for all the friends i made during my 3 yrs stint ... i can now take pride in saying that i have friends who are very special to me in all the ways... i just cant stop thanking u for this.. :)

I wonder whether that was possible if i had not opted for Hyderabad as my work location ... I will never regret this decision in my life..

Thanks again Hyderabad for making me what i am today.....

Sayonara...

Lessons to be learnt

what is the first thing that comes to your mind when i say 'Grandma' ??
Is it her bedtime stories.. or the 'patented' delicasies prepared by her... or the folk songs sung by her ..
well.. for me its the enthusiasm still in her to do all the above..
My grandma is a bundle of energy when it comes to all this... I sometimes wonder where she gets all this energy from even at this age???.. At a time where life is become so mechanical for most of us... the same routine of home to office.. and then back to home ..
have u ever tried to give a thought about the fact that we are missing on many of the valuable things in life...
Gone are the days when people used to find happiness in the smallest of things .. today its a marathon of greed ... never satisfied with what we have...
Afterall where are we heading... ??? .. its time to stop and think..

B'day blast !!!!!

Honestly!!! One of the best b'days i have ever had.... :)
My frenz at office could not have thought of a better way to wish me (or rather not wish me ;-) )on my birthday... Left unwished for some more time... I would be literally in tears....
Believe me... It feels terrible when ur dear frenz fail to wish u on your b'day....
The usual bus ride to office on 23rd Aug morning seemed never ending , for Hannah ( I cant believe Hannah could do this ) failed to wish me that morning though we take the same bus to office...I waited.... I waited.... but all in vain.... We reached office and there was no sign of her wishing me....
At office, to my surprise , none of my frenz bothered to wish me. They would pass by my cubicle, say hi! and leave.... At one point of time, I started wondering if it was my birthday that day... I thought .. may be i'll send a mail askin everybody to have sweets from my desk.. and that would remind them of my B'day... but to no avail.... and let me tell u... nobody touched the sweets.... That was it... Shamelessly, i reminded some of them that it was my b'day... but again to my surprise ... they just smiled and left.. :(
O man!!! what was happening.... I was almost on the verge of tears.
At tea time ,as usual, our 'taang kheencho' group gathered for tea. And by now i had given up all hopes of anybody wishing me. but then..something happened. Everybody started laughing looking at each other. I was confused for a minute. And then .. everybody started singing ' Happy b'day to u...' and i did not know how to react :). After that, my friends presented me with a very beautiful pearl necklace. Well.. that was one of the greatest b'day's I have ever had.........

Potter is Back!!!!

Harry Potter......

He is back....This time its the 'Deathly Hallows'....

'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'...scheduled to be released on 21st July ,2007....his fans eagerly waiting ....

The last of the Potter series... will the Potter craze come to an end with this book... or will Deathly Hallows leave all his fans wanting for more..... J K Rowling has always left the readers restless waiting for her next book.... and readers grabbing a copy for themselves as soon as it is released.

It is speculated that J K Rowling will bring an end to the Potter character with this book. But will she be able to do it.... Will his fans accept it....Or will she be forced to bring back the character to life as was Sir Aurthor Canyon Dyle was forced to bring back Sherlock Holmes to life.....

Well...only time will tell...

But whatever... Potter fever is at its high... the movie ' Harry Potter and the Order of Pheonix' also due to be released this month....

I bet Harry's fans are eagerly waiting for both... the movie and the book..... And hope his fans will not be dissapointed.....

My memorable trip to Dandeli

Me and my cousins were hunting for a holiday destination when Dandeli appeared to be a good option and we finally zeroed in on Dandeli .

Dandeli is situated in Uttara Kannada district in Karnatak and is approximately 57 kms from Dharwad . Dandeli is a beautiful place with the lush greenery of Western Ghats and River Kali adding to its beauty.And if you are a nature lover trust me its worth a place to be visited atleast once.Its a joy to the eyes with its avid mixture of nature and adventure.

We started from Dharwad around 11:30 am on 26th Jan 2007 with my cousin's friends joining us from Mumbai .It was a hot day. Our adventure started with the boarding of the bus to Dandeli :)...The bus broke down through mid way and we all were stranded in the hot sun . We managed to reach Dandeli around 2 pm. We had to take a jeep to the resort which was approximately 25 kms from Dandeli.

We had booked cottages at the Bison River resort.Bison River Resort is situated on the banks of river Kali.

We checked in at the resort, around 3 pm with everbody worn out . As we were already late for the day's adventure activities,we had to plan them for the next day.Everybody freshened up and we had to settle down for a small coracle ride that day.There was a barbeque and bonfire arranged that night and except for peanut masala the other veg dishes were ...hmmm....ok. I slept like a log that night.

The next day activites were to start off with a nature walk at 6:30 am(meant we had to wake up at dawn..:( ) , the most exciting part of the trip -river rafting at 9am and coracle ride at 4 pm.
As was expected,we started off for the nature walk at 7 am the next day though we were to start early ;) . We nature walked through the jungle to the back waters of River Kali. O man!!! It was a treat to the eyes...

As we were already late,we had to rush back to the resort for the most exciting part of our trip- the white water rafting. We returned back to the resort from our nature walk at around 8:30 am ,hogged properly :) and immidiately left for rafting.
We had a jeep arranged to drop us to the starting point of rafting.

The rafting was a 9.5 km affair in river Kali and I was very excited. We started off with our instructor Ashok from Nepal instructing us on rowing.And then we headed for our first rapid.We started rowing fast and there we went...wwaaaaaaoooooooooo......the water gushing with force....wow!!!
The scenery was just eye catching. Just imagine...u are rafting in the crystal clear water of river Kali surrounded by greenery all over .....hmmm...I must say, experience of a lifetime...

Well,all good things have to come to an end.So did our rafting. We were driven back to the resort where we had our lunch and freshened up for the coracle ride schduled at 4pm in the evening.

Coracle is a small round shaped boat with a capacity of about 10 people.Coracle ride is basically for bird watching ( i mean the real flying birds..;) ). Hornbills are the most sighted birds in Dandeli. We could sight hornbills,kingfisher and some other birds.It was more of a leisure ride.

Jungle Safari was scheduled for next day at 4am in the morning.Though we were all excited about going to safari , the task of waking up so early was a little tedious one.So we settled down in our beds early partly because we were tired of the day long activities and partly bcoz we had to wake up early the next day.
And hurray!!! we managed to get ready by 4am...kudos to us!!! :).Jeeps were arranged for the safari and we were all geared up. But unfortunately even after driving for 5 long hours,we only managed to spot a fox, deer and a peacock though we desperately wanted to spot a bison.
We were back at the resort at around 10 am.

It was time to bid goodbye to Dandeli. We started from Dandeli towards Dharwad at 12pm.

Well..Well..thats my experience at Dandeli.Given a chance to visit Dandeli again, I would never miss it.It was a experience of a lifetime and i will always cherish it .