The year that was....

Over the last few years, I’ve made New Year’s resolutions just to ensure that somewhere down the line I’m gonna break it. And it’s been the same set of resolutions like the rest of the world does – to lose weight, to have a healthy diet blah blah blah.

This year I decided to do something different for a change. Something that I had always wanted to do................. something that’s been at the back of my mind insanely for the last 6 to 8 months.................. something that which I act on I’m sure with bring immense satisfaction to me and allow me to be at peace with myself.

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Bajirao Mastani - The movie that could have done much better!

Guess this would be the last post for this year. And how much ever I try; I will not be able to infuse the tiniest bit of positivity in this post.

Last evening my husband I had gone to see the much raved movie – ‘Bajirao Mastani’. After having seen the trailer on bookmyshow website, it looked like a super war epic movie and a great way to end the year. My husband also had the expectations that it would be similar to Bahubali (although I thought it was a little farfetched!)

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I am not sure where to begin! Basically it was a Sanjay Leela Bansali movie and we should have gone with just that in mind.  Expecting him to do any different from his previous movies would leave you feeling massively disappointed like us! (Although I wouldn’t like to include Black into his list of nonsensical movies)

 Sanjay Leela Bansali’s movie has everything that is pleasing to the eye – massive settings, colorful celebrations, heartthrobs of the nation as leads & undying romance between them. Just that leave your brains behind when you go to see his movies and you will come out pleased with all that you saw.

What could have turned out to be a great tribute to the Maratha Peshwa, turned out to be a mockery of his love for his second wife.  I mean, he’s done a great thing in choosing the story – that of Bajirao. There is so much more that can be shown about him, that he fought 39 undefeated battles, the valor in him, his courage, the sheer determination with which he attacked his enemies and returned back undefeated ….. But no! he chose to romanticize the movie leaving behind the fact on what a great warrior Bajirao was! Had he created a totally unrealistic movie with unrealistic characters and the same story line, it would not have been so offending to Bajirao!

Acting per say, Ranveer Singh, Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone have done justice to what was expected out of them for the role. But where were their brains when they signed up for the movie which showed no facts. They could have done a little bit of background check on the story before agreeing to act. I mean, now a day’s actors are far from acting just for awards.

And looking at the story that Sanjay Leela Bansali has woven, looks like he did not need a lot of brains to do that as well. All he did was take a little bit of stories from his previous movies and song picturization from Mughal-E-Azam and voila! You get Bajirao Mastani a box office hit!

One apparently doesn’t need to carry his brains to the multiplex to watch this generation’s bollywood movies!

My rating:

A modern twist to the ancient Dashavataram

Things were going exactly as Srinivasan had feared, his Mother would come in from India and crush his American way of life under her strong South Indian influence. For a genetic scientist like Vasu, as Srinivasan was called by his friends, the only kind of order was disorder. So consumed he was by his research that the world and it's affairs mattered little to him. When his last girlfriend walked out on him, "Find a girl on planet Srinivasan," she had screamed as she stomped out.

Now Vasu's Mother had taken over the administration of the planet. It irritated him, this milk at night and chywanprash every morning. "Have you been wearing the same pair of Jeans for the past three days?" Mother was beginning her morning interrogation.

Vasu stared at the hot idlis in front of him, the chywanprash to follow and the wardrobe interrogation that had begun. Something snapped in his mind. "Mom I love you and I love that you come all the way from India to take care of me but plesse don't fuss over me! It irritates me! And then I cannot work!"

His Mother did not really care if Vasu was upset, "The idlis are getting cold," was her matter of fact response.

"You don't really care, do you Mom?"

"I care about you Vasu. The work you do is alright. If you don't do it, someone else will do it."

My life my rulez!!!

A mother of a 25 year old Indian woman went to a party.

She was welcomed by the host, who promptly asked her, 'We look forward to the next big event now- your daughter's wedding!', to which the mother replied, 'Why? What is so great about that?'

To which the other lady replied, 'Are you not bothered? She is already 'settled' in a stable job, you should look for someone now, she should marry by the time she is 27-28 at least!'

The mother, who had been asked the same question everywhere she went, took a deep breath. She replied, 'Wouldn't it be a big event if my daughter won the Pulitzer? Or if she cracked the UPSC? Or even if she received a promotion in her job and became a Manager at the young age of 27-28? Or even if she decides to live her life to the fullest and take a vacation on her own, travelling the world, wouldn't that be a big event?'

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Are you a carrot, egg or a coffee bean?

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling.

It seemed that, as one problem was solved, a new one arose. Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to a boil. In the first, she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans.

She let them sit and boil, without saying a word. In about twenty minutes, she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, "Tell me, what do you see?"

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He loves me, He loves me not

My husband is an Engineer by profession, I love him for his steady nature, and I love the warm feeling when I lean against his broad shoulders.

Three years of courtship and now, two years into marriage, I would have to admit, that I am getting tired of it. The reasons of me loving him before, has now transformed into the cause of all my restlessness.

I am a sentimental woman and extremely sensitive when it comes to a relationship and my feelings, I yearn for the romantic moments, like a little girl yearning for candy. My husband is my complete opposite, his lack of sensitivity, and the inability of bringing romantic moments into our marriage has disheartened me about love.

One day, I finally decided to tell him my decision, that I wanted a divorce.

“Why?” he asked, shocked. “I am tired; there are no reasons for everything in the world!” I answered. He kept silent the whole night, seems to be in deep thought with a lighted cigarette at all times. My feeling of disappointment only increased, here was a man who can’t even express his predicament, what else can I hope from him? And finally he asked me:” What can I do to change your mind?”

Somebody said it right, it’s hard to change a person’s personality, and I guess, I have started losing faith in him. Looking deep into his eyes I slowly answered : “Here is the question, if you can answer and convince my heart, I will change my mind, Let’s say, I want a flower located on the face of a mountain cliff, and we both are sure that picking the flower will cause your death, will you do it for me?” He said :” I will give you your answer tomorrow….” My hopes just sank by listening to his response.

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The Scion of Ikshavaku

Reading books is was and will be the best way i can possibly spend my time.

Now a days, reading books have had the most profound impact on me. There are some books that I am in such a hurry to finish that even after 4 - 5 readings I barely manage to remember the outline of the plot, and there are some that with just reading a parah it sets me thinking ...

I have just started reading the latest book by Amish Tripati- The Scion of Ikshavaku which is about Lord Ram - supposedly another version of The Ramayana made reachable and readable to laymen.

There are many writers of late who look like they have done a lot of research into the ancient works of Ramayana & Mahabharata, but are out there just to deframe the very God they worship.

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Choice......

With trembling hands she started to apply make up to the scars that marked her face – a gift her husband had given for their 5^th anniversary. She looked at herself in the mirror and saw empty grey eyes looking back at her with a lost look.  Her hair was a mess, cut roughly – yet another gift by her husband.

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As she applied make up absent mindedly, she drifted back into time when things were all rosy and nice.

Back with (hopefully) a bang!!!

It’s been 4 years since the world cup and 4 years since I’ve last posted on this blog (except for the one off blog entry on 'The Immortals of Meluha'). 4 year has been quite a long time to go on a hiatus.

But 4 years is definitely a long time for copious changes to happen in one’s life. From being Ms. to Mrs., from being in HR to becoming a part of an instructional designing team, from being Mrs. to almost taking the next step of becoming a mom but losing it mid way and from being employed to becoming unemployed. Numerous changes, numerous emotions, numerous gains and numerous pains. That just sums up my life for the last 4 years.

Over the course of these past 4 years life has been a constant teacher. It has allowed me to make mistakes, corrected me when needed, made me restless when my goals haven’t been achieved, given me the satisfaction and the much needed rest when I have been able to reach the next milestone in my life, given me the opportunity to be at my happiest best and made me grieve over what’s lost.

I met my special somebody, my future family whom I’ve come to believe as my own, made new friends, made new connections that last me a life time, met new people and carried on with life.

The past years has shown me both ups and downs, shown me my best and my worst, shown me who’s mine and who isn’t. I’ve lived every minute, every second of these past years. I’ve enjoyed my life for whatever it is during these years. I only hope that the future years have something good stored in them. Something memorable, something that makes life worth living!