Friday, June 27, 2008

The Airtel ad

Was just watching the Airtel ad on television... I just love it... even if i am in the kitchen or elsewhere when the ad comes on, i come running to watch it!!! Its so beautifully made. Not too sure if guys also like it as much... the emotional appeal is too strong to resist!!!

One, Madhavan and Vidya Balan's chemistry is rocking! They are so great together... their timing is perfect... they are like any other couple.. they do not at all look kemake believe.. as i say, rather write all these things... the ad is on air... and i go on and on about madhavan and vidya balan.....

Second is the situation... i like 2 of the executions more - one is the goodnight one.. where either of them do not put down the phone ... the second one is the train one .. payment of mobile bill...

All couples can immediately connect with it.. irrespective of the marital status. They have really picked on a "normal day is the life of a couple" situation!!!!! I absolutely identify with the first one... we used to keep on saying goodnight but not put the phone down!!!! They just aired the train ad .. its just too good.

There so many such ads which one can never forget... extremely strong recall.. like the maggie song, complan growing boy / girl, cadbury's kuch khaas hai zindagi main (i used to love that ad.. i remember we used to wait for it to be aired).. even the ads in national interest.. mile sur mera tumhara was amazing.. once at a get together, we went crazy and started singing all jingles.. in my generation, i think most of the ppl remember all these ads very well!!!!!!!

Thursday, June 26, 2008

london sojourn - 2

I remembered 2 more things to write about.. so here i am again back from dead (sleep i.e.).. i carried all skirts that i possessed on this trip.. short ones, long ones, printed, plain... everything... no prizes for guessing what happened.. it rained and was cold!!! Couldnt wear the skirts.. was wearing jeans most of the time..... except for one day when i decided.. enough!!! Wore a skirt... was freezing cold but still wore it!! Ah, success is sweet :-)

Have you ever paid a pound to pee? 1 pound = 86 Rs. Imagine!!!!! It cost actually 50 p to use the loo... and it could only happen to me... the stupid machine ate my 50p and didnt open the gate...!!!!

And of course, my craving for Indian food… point to note here is that we were staying with an Indian family at London.. so we were getting Indian food everyday… On the few days we ate out.. like at the globe, I ordered for a baguette.. I asked everything bout the filling… but little did I know it would be cold.. stone cold.. and was sitting like a lump in my stomach!!!! Lesson learnt - ask if food is warm or cold!!! At cornwall (was very cold), ordered for vegetable soup… the veggies were pureed.. it was awful….for 1 ½ days survived without Indian, eating bread, more bread…at Liverpool, we stopped (by chance) right in front of an Indian restaurant.. and I was delighted.. shamed but delighted.. my husband did try to coax me out of it reminding me about Anthony Bourdain.. but to no avail.. had dal rice… was in seventh heaven!!!!!!

Of parking tickets, photographs & British men

Well, i just realised i havent written anything about my UK trip except for "go to gate" of course... dont worry only recounting the funny parts...
Besides the 88 pounds, we also paid 2 parking tickets... one at lake district.. we had parked at a place wherein you cannot park for a long time (obviously we didnt know it)... we went boating on the lake.. a big boat.. with at least 300 ppl.. not a romantic ride for 2... and it was extremely cold.. brrr.. anyway thats besides the point.. when we got back.. after 3 hrs or so.. a parking ticket of 25 pounds was there on the car!!!!!
And second one was worse.. we reached london at 2.00am.. so we parked in front of the house.. on the road.. we knew we could park there till 8.30... only about 2 mins late... we had a parking ticket of 6o pounds pasted on the car at 8.32!!!! These guys disappear also after pasting.. so you cant really appeal to them..So thats why we didnt shop to much (85 pounds for parking.. and another 88 for missing the flight :-() Actually, no we had planned not to shop!!!!! :-)

We i.e. my husband also bought a new camera!!! A huge bulky camera and an expensive one... so when we were driving all the way to cornwall... my husband was driving... the scenary (is the spelling right?) was very beautiful.. so he asked me click photographs... since the camera was new and hefty and very precious, it would always be kept in the bag... so i would take out the camera from the bag (took me a few seconds because its bulky), and obviously had to wear it around my neck (so as not to drop it !!!!), remove the lens, switch it on, focus... by this time, we would have reached the middle of the road (as in trying to photograph the entire road from a high point.. lots of greenery and all)... and whatever i was trying to shoot would be long past gone and over!!!!!! And worst was, after every time i had to repeat the entire process in reverse!!So in the photographs en route to cornwall, there are a lot of photographs of the road, more road, even more road, some trucks, cars (the camera was really bulky.. so my timing was off!!)...

At Oxford... it was raining.. a steady drizzle throughout the time we were there.. so my job was... holding up the umbrella when my husband would click snaps... to protect the camera, but of course!!!!!! :-)

Also one very strange thing i noticed.... no matter how cold it is... either the guys (British i.e.) would not wear anything warm.. even if they wear jackets, they wear shorts along with it!!!!!!

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

change - the way of life

I went on leave for 2 weeks (i know that you know, but still thats the reference point). My boss took a transfer to delhi. I knew about it before i left. So i came back expecting to meet my new boss. This first thing i checked when i reached work (none of my ppl had reached by then) was, if the new person's name was now written on my ex-boss's cabin. But it was not - that when i came to know something is happening. Within a week, from having a new boss, we have gone to no boss and to a new (some other) boss again. One person has quit. My husband's getting transferred to another city!!!!! Its been 2 weeks since i came back and suddenly everything has changed... everything... at least professionally!!!

Who would have thought suddenly all this will happen... and that too, all together!!!! It is difficult .. change is always difficult to come to terms with... but somewhere in some corner of my mind and heart, i am also slightly excited at all these changes... new beginnings i guess..... some days of the week it brings a spring to my step... and on other days, i somehow drag my tired self to work (tired because of uncertainity)!! It is as scary as it is pulsating... soon we will leave everything familiar and go into a new territory....

BTW planning to drive down to the new place when we go.. thats exciting!!!! :-) I guess evil exists with good, bad with great (i think it is bad with good... but whatever), familiarity with the excitement of exploring the unknown .... hmmm... all in all change completely changes everything, doesnt it!!!

Monday, June 23, 2008

Mystery of 18 bottles

Well, i was thinking of what to write... since i had mentioned that i will explain the mystery of 18 bottles (i mean bottles to fill water) later... it is "later" now i guess...

We have an aquaguard filter at our place. Unfortunately, it is so placed that the wire does not reach the plug point on the wall.... So while in most of the households, it is a simple matter of switching the machine on, it is not so for us..

First we need to get the extension cord... plug it in.. so you might think there are only 2 steps additional.. why do we still need so many bottles? There are a few more steps to be able to start drinking water actually...

1) Get the extension cord which is plugged in somewhere in the balcony
2) Plug it in the kitchen (this is also a procedure as our extn cord is not working properly... so it has to be placed quite strategically for it to function!!!)
3) Put the chopping board in the sink so that you get an even surface to place the bottle ... your sink has to be clean & should not have any utensils)
4) Fill one bottle of water .. fill it to the brim and then throw it away (much like wine tasters do.. drink and spit it out.. only in this case we do not drink it)!!!!! Apparently, the machine has to be left on for 5 mins before you can start filling!!!
5) Then after filling, each bottle needs to be wiped clean of water!!!

Now do you know there are 18 bottles (the stress here is not on the number 18 but the fact that there are so many bottles!!!)?? I cant imagine going through this process everyday or once every 2 days (esp since i am the one who does it usually) !!!!!!!

So there.... the mystery of 18 bottles is solved!

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Too much service?

Didnt watch Sarkar Raj.. very disappointed!! Very glum :-(.. so uplifted mood by going to a bookstore.. and buying a lot of books. My mood gets instantly uplifted!!!! :-) So i need to wait for a week more to watch the movie.. hope it is still playing next week!!!

Had dinner at a place called Goa Portugesa .... the chappies who own it have 3 restaurants.. serving south indian, goan and maharashtrian food. We went to the south indian joint. While the food is nice, the place is irritating, overbearing, suffocatingly friendly!!!! When we walked in, we were asked if we had reservation. Even though they could seat us, they asked us to fill in details.. name, cell number etc... why? The guy told us.. so that we can contact you if you leave something like your cell here!!! If we left our cell here, you will not be able to contact us!!!!! All this to have some food!!

Then once we sat down, 3 -4 menus are thrust upon at us... we decided on south indian.. every 5 mins, some other literature is given to us... the menu of their maharashtrian restaurant, some lietrature about the owners, their visiting card etc... we gave the order for some starters... post which another 2 ppl asked us if we wanted to place the order... everytime we even lifted our hand (maybe gesturing when talking or something.. you cant even scratch for the fear of a waiter coming by), one guy would land up at our table..

when eating, the owner also dropped by... asked bout the food.. but he did have some ulterior motive... he asked which all of his restaurants we had visited.. to which we named the 2 places (except the maharashtrian joint)... he was like.. you must visit that place (this is after the waiters had already done the selling part not once but twice).. my wife has done so and so.. maharashtrian food is not only wada pav etc.. about 5 mins were devoted to this place...and all of this conversation was happening when we were eating.. we were polite enough to stop eating ... it was so strange!!!

And of course, just before we left, the singer also came.. "a song before you leave?" Actually poor guy.. he has to sing while we all eat!!!

But anyway, maybe there were only 2-3 tables occupied when we were there... perhaps thats the reason why they were like this...

Compare this place to Madras cafe (which I talked about in one of my previous blogs)... Madras Cafe is friendly without being overbearing.. they genuinely like talking to their customers.. and they do leave people alone...

Movie funda

I was just filling water in my 18 bottles (will explain it sometime later) ... and was also thinking of what should i talk about in today's post... Spent half the day today watching TV (rest half was working) - watched sarfarosh, little bits of king kong, gone in 60 secs, 2 wimbledon shows... and now finally logged on, ... and here i am...
I am also, on the side, updating myself with Amitabh Bachchan's blog!

I am a big movie buff... And a big big fan of Amitabh Bachchan. He has such a persona that you just cannot help yourself, being a fan i.e. ... i have watched most of his movies (not all.. most , actually many of them enumerable number of times)... There is something about him that draws you to him

... there are only some people in the industry whose movies you want to watch ... doesnt matter if you have not read any reviews... doesnt matter if you do not know anything about these movies..

One of them is of course, Amitabh Bachchan... Others include Aamir Khan and also Mani Ratnam (though havent seen all his movies either).. I dont know why but whenever any of their movies get released, you definitely want to watch it.. maybe its because of their sincerity to cinema... you want to watch because it is Aamir Khan's movie.. and if he is associated with it, then it would definitely be worth it. There have been some dissapointments of course, (with this funda), but by and large it works!!!

I remember, a few years back.. my colleagues and I were chatting at work.. somehow we started talking about Amitabh Bachchan... and then we were at it for the next few hours... recounting every movie.. every dialogue (that we could remember)..... Deewar, Abhimaan, Mili, Chupke Chupke, Sholay, Hum, Don, Satte pe Satta, Majboor etc etc.. Just 2 days back too we were talking about the same.. the number of times each one has seen Sholay...

We met him.... my colleagues and I... I still think.. would he remember that we had met him and spoke to him for 15 mins??? And then i think its possible.. in his lifetime, possibly, he would never have met anyone who didnt mention that they were his fans... he might remember us as the only girls who didnt take his autograph / photograph!!!! lol..

I talk about movies today.. coz we have booked an early morning (11am Sunday is definitely early morning) show for Sarkar Raj.. Cant wait to watch it... missed Bhootnath though :-(

Friday, June 20, 2008

Girl to girl connect

To follow up on the last thread of conversation.. (also picked up by Mommie ... remind me to introduce the two of u).... this girl to girl connect thing is so true!!!

Recently something happened and it was strange.. went like this.. on the london holiday that i went to (u know, i will keep on talking about it... thats the only way i can say for sure i did go.. there are so many things happening at work that it seems like a dream)... anyway, on this holiday i went to cornwall along with our friends... in the night we decided to play dumb charades.. girls vs boys... my partner was enacting Gladiator.. so she tried to enact glad.. but all i got to was " happy", "smile" etc.... so she split the word glad into 2.. acted out the activity of "drinking water"... and guess what i guessed.. i guessed "glug, glug glug".. and in a second guessed glad and therefore gladiator... the guys didnt know what hit them.. all this happened in a matter of seconds!!!! Although to be fair to her, she was trying to make me guess "gulp"!!!!!!! lol
But it was just a matter of connection!!! And the guys just couldnt figure out.. "how in the world did you guess????" was the only thing they could say for the next few mins!!!!!

Another one incident - i was talking to a "girl" colleague of mine at work - and mentioned that one feels sad when watching hindi movies but one doesnt feel that sad when watching english movies!! And she could completely get it!!!

This one time I told my husband (then would be) when driving.. i can smell the sunshine on me... and he was like... are you all right??? And when i told this good friend of mine the same thing... she went like.. yeah, its so strange.. at times i also feel it.. or something to that effect...

Having "Girl" friends is as important as having boyfriends or husbands... Guys do not get all the things... Being a girl is a lot of fun.. and of course life is so much more fun if you get to hang out with other girls who are on the same wave length as you are.... some of us used to hang out together at my place a few months back.. almost every week... it used to be so much fun!!! And the staying the night at your friends place is the best..... i wonder if guys have as much fun!

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Life without exclamation marks

Well, I have tried to get my husband to read the last post... really tried (thru all modes possible)..... he hasnt read it till now!!!

I thought it was hilarious.. a laugh riot.. ... its my own opinion but big deal.... well, i did laugh when i read it again today !!!! lol.. and thats all that matters!!!!!!!

So to get back to the topic .. the above 2 lines have 14 exclamation marks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now the number has increased.. painful to count! There, another one...

I was watching Seinfeld the other day.. and they had dedicated an entire episode to exclamation marks.. Elaine gets a call and her boyfriend takes down a message for her about her friend having a baby. She gets back, sees it and freaks out... there are no exclamation marks. She says that if his friend had had a baby, she would not be so insensitive and would have ensured exclamation marks to underline the good news!!! And of course they split up.

And its so true... i mean the exclamation marks part.. life would be so cut and dried were it not for exclamation marks! How would anyone emote through mails??? At least my life would be incomplete.... i tend to use it quite a lot.... it can denote -

Astonishment.. what!!!!!!!!!!! Really?????? (I tend to put in multiple question marks too .. increases impact)

Happiness.. Hi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (hi.. so glad to hear from you after a long time... thats what it would mean) OR Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! or Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! .. ok, no more...I am sure you get the drift!

Anger.... What is this nonsense you are talking about!!!!!!!!!! or What utter rot!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and so on

Distress... I will not be able to manage all this myself!!!!!!!!!!

etc etc etc....

Life would be terrible if it were not for exclamation marks!!!!!!!!!!! The number of exclamation marks used also has a lot of meaning - 1 mark as opposed to 6 can completely change the meaning.. 1 denotes lack of interest basically!! It is pretty much the same ( i think) as voice modulation!! You can convey the message so beautifully to the other person.. But somehow i think, guys would not get it and they even use it less! Thats what I feel....... its true too...:-)

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

GO TO GATE

Back from my holiday.. actually came back last Monday!! We were supposed to reach monday morning but reached late in the night .. but we missed our flight!!!!!!!!!!!!! Even after we took our boarding pass ... we were sitting probably about 20 mt from the departure gate.. sitting and sipping on coffee!!! And eating ... the full english breakfast (they serve the entire day), some bread with oil.. and 2 bowls of fries... and so on and so forth....

You see we were relying on the information board to help us out... we decided that we will lounge around at the coffee shop till the flight status turns to "now boarding". We had some friends with us .. who could also come into the airport all the way till the departure gate .. such an alien concept! But anyway we all ( there were 6 of us, incl of 2 kids) were chatting , eating.. but kept our eyes on the information board.. checked every 2 mins (really, we did!!), sitting there over-confident that the board couldnt possibly be wrong! So all the while, we were sipping on coffee, there were ppl walking to the departure gate.. we ordered for some food and ppl would have been going thru the security check.. we ordered for 2 fries (pls note, not 1 but 2 fries) and some more mayo and ppl would have been boarding... i think it was when we were watching the football match, that the flight would have taken off!!!

And all this while we were contemplating .. no not the meaning of life... but the reason for flight delay.. the reason why the information went from "GO TO GATE" to "FLIGHT CLOSING" for all other flights except for ours. And we were still lolling around.. one of us did finally get up to enquire only to come back after 5 mins saying "no one on our floor.. who is gonna go down.. i am sure flight is late"... it was finally after the football match, which we very patiently sat and watched, at 9.40 pm (our flight was at 9.25pm) that we finally decided to enquire about the reason for delay and the attendant (i didnt witness this as i was still lolling around in the lounge) said... DELAY, WHAT DELAY.. THE FLIGHT HAS GONE".....

And then suddenly we all started running (i had no clue that the flight had already gone.. so i was running aimlessly) along with attendant.. you may ask why exactly did we run since the flight had already taken off.... i do not know why.. i think its a typical reaction.. maybe we all thought could stop the flight like Bruce Willis did in Die Hard, was it?

And then started the fight.. we argued with that person.. a) information board is wrong b) you cant charge us 88 pounds more!!!!!!!!!!! But he got stuck on one point....

Airways official - "What did the information board say"
We say - "GO TO GATE"
Airways official - "Why didnt you do what the board said?" Why didnt you go to the gate?
We say - ummmm ahhhh... but the information provided was wrong.. what is the point having information boards with wrong info...
He Says- All the 255 passengers went to the gate after reading that.....
We say - ummmm ahhhh we want to talk to a superior!!!

(there was lot more discussion, have only put in the key theme of the argument!!!)

So we tried valiantly ... for half an hour.. the conversation not really moving from the Gate business .... tried all tactics.. scaring, cajoling.. but nothing doing.

So now we know... when the board says "GO TO GATE", you must go to the gate!!!!!!!

*Some dialogues are not my own... as in, we reconstructed the whole scenario post this debacle, so some of the portions of what is written above is as per my memory