posted present :-)

one of the bestest gifts on my birthday this year from one of my bestest friends! :-) :-)

http://jessblah.wordpress.com/2009/12/28/yo-kay/

~ k

inspiring idiots indeed!

finally! the movie i looked forward to for sooo long this year released on 25th this month n i got around seeing it only yesterday with my sis in tow..again, i am not going to review this one..it is just one of those things i simply feel like talking about..and i might as well warn you in advance that i'll come across as very biased, after all this movie has aamir khan (for those who don't know me, i actually find it quite difficult to be objective as far as aamir khan n rahul dravid are concerned..am one of their loyal fans since the time they started out in their respective careers! :-)..and no my bias is not just to do with aamir.. i love movies which are full of wit n also make you ponder a bit ;-)

i read it somewhere that aamir would like everyone to watch this movie (nothing new!)..the reason i would also like everyone to watch this movie is not so that it makes more money for the people concerned, it is because it deserves to be seen by everyone in our country; and not just the youth but more so the elders! the noteworthy message in the film ought to reach everyone pronto..both the writers rajkumar hirani & abhijat joshi have taken efforts to come up with a story full of optimism, affable characters n dialogues which the audiences instantly connect with (like they did in Munnabhai series)..it ‘not-so-seriously’ talks about our ‘not-so-sound’ education system which encourages - rote learning, ranking system and appeasing society’s notions of ‘success’ n ‘promising careers’!

‘aal ij well’ works for me as much as ‘jaadu ki jhappi’ did few years back..3 idiots is a typical hirani style of cinema (reminds me of hrishikesh mukherjee at times) all the way with ample support from ALL its actors esp. aamir (can’t imagine the flick without him he absolutely steals the show as rancho..after tare zameen par, this is an effortless performance once again..i’d watched ghajini only for its unique storyline n aamir factor but i still prefer memento anyday!) and of course sharman joshi n maddy (i love him since his banegi apni baat days) n omi vaidya (he’s just too good as chaturlingam)!

few other things i loved about the movie : :

• i want to watch it again to savour it some more!
• cinematography esp. the aerial scenes shot over manali, shimla n ladakh…WOW is the word! am still dreaming about those places..
• simple, effective lyrics by swanand kirkire (esp. ‘give me some sunshine’) n melodious compositions by shantanu moitra
• all throughout the movie i found myself wishing for a friend like rancho in my growing-up years..well, it’s never too late to follow dreams with or without rancho :-)
• it’s definitely worth being a part of my list of memorable movies released this year along with Dev D and a FEW others!

ooooh am toooo pleased as punch to write much! :-) :-) :-)

coping with copenhagen conference...

ha! so it turned out to be 'nothing' but a blame game of sorts aimed at achieving 'nothing' but yo-yo'ing of onus. no single nation or its leaders displayed an iota of willingness to give up their 'today' for a better 'tommorrow'! short-term political n economical gains held more priority at the conference over reduction of carbon footprints or emissions. it was 'business as usual' - 'business of endangering our future'! sigh!! a cohesive climate policy is not a 'survival' concern AS YET for a majority of nations (including India!) in today's world, except for a few like Maldives, Tuvalu, Soloman Islands, etc. (these will be extinct soon, if the sea-levels keep rising)!

but is it really enough to blame the politicians alone for this debacle at the conference??? i do've my reservations..shouldn't we as citizens have a say in this at all? since the masses are still either 'not aware' or 'do not care' about the threats posed by the climate change OR are still majorly fascinated with the ongoing economic crisis, it is coming in the way of demanding a 'safer' future. it is the increased awareness, change in attitudes and involvement amongst the denizens alone that'll make any notable difference in the months or years to come..

i feel too strongly at times on most of the issues related to environment maybe that's why i was looking forward to this conference with little hope. i really wish to see everyone wanting to save environment..is it not possible for 'us' to 'consume less' be it water, electricity, power, fuel, paper, plastic, etc, etc? protecting our forests, greenery, harvesting rainwater, using solar energy, cleaner surroundings, improved garbage disposal, recycling stuff, etc are also possibilities which need not be restricted to being on paper! govts. can do so much anyways..if people do follow certain lifestyle changes in their daily routine, i believe it would go a long way whether anything concrete comes out of such conferences in future or not..

till then 'hope floats'...

k

scrabble babble

go ahead! call me an ‘addict’!! i am myself staring in disbelief that besides being addicted to the game am actually blogging about it as well (and that am typing in between min. 15 games of “SCRABBLE” on the go on a social-networking site if you even care to know!)..there’s something about it that makes me wanna play it more n more, to keep up with my 90% winning score! ha!

i feel every 'relationship' leaves you with some new long lasting influences/perspectives, good or bad i shall leave for you to decide..my previous 'relationship' left me with much love for 'scrabble' (besides a couple of other things of course which i'll save for my future posts here!)..so coming back to 'scrabble' - it started out as a game for both of us to pass time n apparently to get to 'know each other better' along the way..i was playing against, and learning my lessons from an expert-cum-addict of the game so you can imagine how disheartening or challenging every game played between us used to be for me! it took me a good more than 15 games to actually manage to defeat him (my 'scrabble guru') ONCE! yeah it happened only ONCE till date but oh boy! i cherish that win for all that it is worth, though the feeling of victory was really short-lived (all of 5 mins. if you care to know!) owing to all the sulking, 'oh i can't be losing a game against a beginner n my-student-at-that so soon', 'i always play to win, i can't afford to lose ever' feelings :-)..i'd vowed that night that i'll NEVER EVER play 'scrabble' with him if it leads to such fights between us! but i was persuaded to think otherwise later..sigh..not that we play anymore (i don't know why!), been 5 months already since our last game..i'd almost given up on the game for long, but got hooked onto it again a month ago..with much practice i've only got better at it (well, i still don't score bingos in every game that i play but it's only getting better! ;-)..i find it extremely stimulating n challenging..it's not so much about 'vocabulary' but about the 'strategy'! i have no idea if the love for 'scrabble' comes from my love for the language or my love for my closest-friend, but either way it's here to stay & make my day every single day! :-)

here' some fun stuff i felt like sharing which i happened to read on a scrabble-lovers group forum on the site where i play, enjoy ::

you know you're addicted to scrabble when,

• you're not at all embarrassed after playing words like 'sex' or 'genitalia' if they're high-scoring
• you have dreams about getting super bingos
• you look up all the two- and three-letter words in your spare time
• you have a certain attachment to the words that gave you high scores
• you think about strategies during school/work.
• you try to figure out what the highest-scoring possible bingo could be
• finding a new Z or Q word in a book excites you
• you get a rush when you suddenly spot a place to put both your Q and Z
• you spend your Friday nights playing multiple games of Scrabble online
• you talk to your opponents online more than you talk to your real-life friends
• you try to figure out what your opponent is like based on what words he/she puts down
• you have a certain hatred of Vs, especially at the end of a game
• you get extremely angry when someone takes the spot you were planning to put a super bingo on
• you sometimes play against those perverts trying to get dates because you know they'll let you win if you talk to them
• you talk about scrabble to your real-life friends way too much
• you know most Z, X, J, and Q words

psssssst...i DO NOT fit into all the points listed above, so i suppose i don't qualify to be an 'addict' AS YET! ;-)

babblingly yours,

k

302010

do not try to read too much into this title..you won't get it anyways! :P

when i woke up this morning, i realised i would be all of 30 yrs in the year 2010 n all the digits placed together this way were giving me a major kick..hence the new post today! ha!!

rollercoaster ride!

can’t help wondering aloud, if i’d be allowed to keep the title of this post ‘blank’..i seriously can't think of any appropriate title at the moment & since that's exactly how am feeling too right now – ‘blank' that is, surely you'd believe me!

i did something this noon which i'd wanted to do for a long time now..am i supposed to feel ‘lighter’ cos’ am done with it? so maybe am feeling ‘lighter’ too along with ‘blank’..but frankly speaking, am ‘heavier’ with emotion as well cos' whatever i did today left me feeling totally ‘empty’ inside out!

as far as i can remember, the emotional graph in my life has never been static..it’s always moved to every possible point making my life very ‘interesting’, ‘exciting’ n ‘fulfilling’ to quote a few friends n close friends! only difference this time around being that for past 4 months, it has majorly remained a plummeting curve at any given point of time..i’ve experienced a plethora of emotions esp. over last 6 weeks whether it was impatience, anxiety, ignorance, disappointment, agony, concern, frustration, boredom, madness, caution, disgust, shock, misery, shame, confusion, loneliness, isolation, depression, pressure, self-destruction, distraction, stress, wariness, self-doubt, guilt, fear, sadness, indifference, jumpiness, irritation, panic, tiredness, discomfort, worthlessness, …

YES, i admit i’ve been awfully full of negativity for a long while now and am sure not proud of it cos that’s so ‘unlike’ me! i need to put a full stop to it! and quick!! every passing day am walking this extremely thin line between insanity n some more insanity!!! so tommorrow when i wake up, this is how i wanna feel for all the beautiful days to come ahead of me – good, great, energetic, eager, delighted, cheerful, assured, excited, capable, certain, positive, relaxed, grateful, courageous, secure, stable, happy, interested, confident, inspired, comfortable, sexy, determined, charmed, enthusiastic, proud, empathetic, fascinated, glamorous, hopeful, humorous, loved n loving, playful, at peace, thrilled, sensous!

“once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen!” said Ralph Waldo Emerson..so here i am, looking forward to an absolutely thrilling ride on my very own emotional rollercoaster!!

good marks!

unlike other kids my age, i was never in a hurry to grow up, attend college, work in an office, get married, make kids n more blah...i loved school! n today i have this crazy crazy urge to go back to school again! :( all i wanna do is study, study n more study n get 'good marks'! sounds crazy doesnt it...but i find so much more comfort in that thought...of course, there are other things too i desire for in life..but right now all i wanna do is go back to my life 22 yrs back when i was completely driven by the idea of standing first in class by getting 'good marks'..this was a result of flunking in 2-3 subjects or getting promoted every year since my 1st grade..embarrassing? yes it used to be mighty embarrassing for me when i couldn't understand a word of english back then and all the subjects except hindi were taught in english..and there was nobody at home who could teach me english and my folks couldn't really afford tuitions for us till 10th grade..i dont know whether it was this embarrassment or the teachers who inspired me or the lovely set of friends i'd around me who got me inclined towards reading english fiction..it led to a drastic change cos i majorly latched onto studies that year and stood 2nd in the class in my 4th grade..since then, the only prayer i recited like a parrot to my fav. god, ganesha was "god, please gimme 'good marks' in every exam i write"! Till my 10th grade, this is all i asked from god unabashedly, shamelessly..well yeah, we (god n i) did talk about other things as well but this is what i 'asked' from him to be specific..n he relented without a whimper every paper, every semester, every unit test, every final exam so that i could stand 1st, 2nd or atleast 3rd in class or an entire batch!! 'good marks' meant the world to me for all the appreciation, approval, a sense of belonging and this innate need to fit in with the outside world (read: family, relatives, neighbours, friends, society!) & also maybe cos there was nothing really 'good' happening in our totally dysfunctional family life!

'paa' packs a punch! :)

at last! yesterday, i ended up watching a movie all alone @ a cinema hall for the 1^st time ever (i’ve watched a lot of plays all alone in the past) and the experience turned out to be just fine..maybe cos’ the movie happened to be paa, release of which i was looking forward to for sometime now..i do not happen to be a huge fan of either of the B’s..the reason i was looking forward to it was more to do with the fact that this is a 2^nd project of director R. Balki after Cheeni Kum (which am in totally love with still!). here’s one director who loves to ‘think n offer’ something different to the audiences every time n does a darn good job of it too! so far..

naah, am not going to write a review for the movie although i can’t help gushing about it since the last 24 hours..Bachchan Sr. (minus the trademark baritone n tall brooding persona) has pushed the envelope once again and am full of awe n admiration for him! the movie’s surely not ‘perfect’ but it is much much much better n levels ahead of the terrible crap that’s churned out in the name of cinema in bollywood every weekend! barring the media bashing by Bachchan Jr. & a couple of scenes here n there, the movie worked for me all the way without any hichakis (hiccups)!..

here, the story / script / dialogues take the cake (it’s simple, warm, poignant without actually being over the top most of the time!) and everybody has supported with their competent performances be it Auro (his eyes speak a lot here! witty, charming, sharp, smart n no air of self-pity whatsoever!), Mum (wow! Vidya Balan's such a cool n composed single mom!)), Bum (even more wow! it was definitely a pleasant surprise to have Arundhati Nag play a granny on the big screen!), Vishnu (haha!) or Paa (Bachchan Jr. was quite affectionate himself!) in that order..i sooo wished that the movie was called ‘Maa’ instead, given the beautifully balanced bonding portrayed between Mum n Auro..

apart from the above factors, these are the things i absolutely loved about the movie (not in any particular order though) :: credits narration by Mrs. Bachchan, casting, art direction (lot of attention to detail!), cinematography, costume designing (esp. for Vidya’s styling!) & most importantly lyrics n music of the film (incl. the background score!), …

thank you Mr. Balki n the entire team of paa to come up with something so ‘waah’! take a bow Mr. Bachchan, you've earned a huge fan in me with this film at the age of 67!! :) :)

elated for the elephants!

for once, i’d want to give a ‘jumbo’ hug to our authorities ('Central Zoo Authority' to be precise!) for finally taking the decision (a couple of weeks back) to end the misery of the chained tuskers in all the circuses and zoos in India, and transport them to national parks/sanctuaries. much credit goes to PETA actually for all their groundwork and persistent efforts. all the animals live in absolutely appalling conditions and treated insensitively in captivity! i genuinely hope that enough care will be taken in helping them to adapt to the new surroundings as they’ll be completely on their own in the wild. i also can’t help but worry about the 4-leggeds for the dangers (read: poaching for ivory!) posed by the 2-leggeds!

i am very very fond of these 'gentle giants' since childhood! they are the most cutest, absolutely adorable creatures on this planet as far as am concerned :) :)

hehe...some fun facts about them ::

• their trunks can get very heavy! it ain't uncommon to see elephants resting them over a tusk!
• they cry, play, have incredible memories, and laugh!
• they are sensitive animals where if a baby complains, the entire family will rumble and go over to touch and caress it!
• elephants have greeting ceremonies when a friend that has been away for some time returns to the group!
• they also grieve at a loss of a stillborn baby, a family member, and in many cases other elephants!
• elephants don't drink with their trunks, but use them as "tools" to drink with. This is accomplished by filling the trunk with water and then using it as a hose to pour it into the elephant's mouth!
• interestingly, the Asian elephant is more closely related to the extinct mammoth than to the African elephant!
• as much as 80 percent of what elephants consume is returned to the soil as barely digested highly fertile manure!
• they have a poor hearing, despite having such large ears!
• they spend about 16 hours a day eating!
• elephant is the only mammal that can't jump. It surely have made the Earth shiver if it were able to jump!
• an interesting fact about the tusk, elephants are right and left tusked. the dominant tusk is a little shorter and rounded as against the other tusk!
• they're known to take great care of the bones of their dead family members!
• did you know an adult elephant poops 80 pounds a day???
• it is believed that an elephant can smell water from a distance of three miles!

and now, i can smell my dinner! ;)

k

change can be changa!

i don't know what all contributed to this.

i don't know if this is temporary or permanent..

never in my wildest dreams, did i anticipate it happening...

BUT i am a different person today!

and i am curiously looking forward to this turning point with all the new challenges it poses,

LIFE definitely begins all over again at 30 for me!! ;)