The euphoria continues........

Lets just say January is my favorite month of the year. The newly changed calendar on the wall, and the shiny new leather planner still feels good to the touch. There are many good friends who celebrate their birthdays this month, and I have the opportunity, yet again, to put my doting husband to the memory test. You see, this month also sees me adding a candle to the already overburdened birthday cake.

But the greatest cause of joy this January remains the magic of seeing my name in print. Yes, I am indeed, vain enough to think you remember that I have a story in the anthology - Urban Shots Bright Lights!!

When I finally received a copy of the book, I tore open the packaging like a little kid, and almost danced with the book. Then I started going through the stories, taking care not to crease the edges as I go along. And one story after the other, I find myself feeling elated and alarmed at the same time.

Elated, as each story seemed just waiting to be told, written with such earnest and honesty, that I could feel myself in there. Alarmed, at the disillusionment that came with the discovery that talent, indeed, was exuding from each one of these writers. I had suddenly discovered that if I were to sit in a panel of judges, and objectively chose the stories, my own story probably would never have made it to the winners' list!!

But, having said that, I am still in the process of discovering these little gems - one delicious morsel at a time! And I truly recommend this book for all those in love with the quirkiness of the human mind. Go right ahead and order here - I promise, you will not be disappointed!

And now..... I have a treat for all of you. Presenting, a fellow blogger, an astounding writer, a good friend and a (can-you-believe-it!!) doctor - all rolled into one...... Roshan Radhakrishnan (Godyears, as some of you know him) has a story featured in Urban Shots (see... I told you the book is filled with gems!) and you can read the excerpt here .....  and discover for yourself why I am alarmed!

And let the Drums Roll....

Finally, after much wishing and waiting, that little ray of light at the end of the tunnel is here! My first story titled 'CATS AND SPONGES'  (When an Aquarian writes, you don't exactly expect to see run-of-the-mill words as the title, do you?) is one of the stories in the anthology of Urban Shots - Bright Lights.

NO, I am not a lover of cats, and I certainly do not have a thesis on the evolution of  *some* human beings from sponge. But I can guarantee that if you like urban stories - the ones with climaxes that leave you jolted - then this is the one to read.

Now that I have enough hot air in my head to get an elephant airborne (no pun intended), let me move on to the next agenda : shameless propagation of my work - so that I can get rich and famous overnight! So, please order from any one of these sites ( I promise, in my biography, I will thank each and every person who did so!) Most of these sites are currently offering a pre-order discount, which lasts till the book launch (which incidentally is on 19th in Mumbai.)

Click on anyone of the following to pre-order the books :
Flipkart
Landmark
Crossword
Uread

And when you do lay you hands on the copy, please do let me know how it was!

'Thinner Dinner' - a Cookbook with a difference

Most "how-to" books have a very difficult job - they have to establish credibility BEFORE the person actually buys the book to try out the mentioned tips. You have to hand it to the author of Thinner Dinner - Shubhra Krishan does that wonderfully.

The first point of grabbing the eyeballs come by way of the declaration that the author IS NOT a nutritionist. OK, you ask then, what's in the book that will interest me? The answer to that comes pat with another gasp-worthy declaration - that she lost close to 20 kilos with the help of these tips. Oh yes! We have your attention now, don't we?

Unlike most cookbooks, this one does not have a boring list of ingredients and another boring set of instructions. This one comes with nice, glossy pages, colorful illustrations - not only of the food, but also some smile-worthy cartoons (and let me warn you, some of them are humorous enough to make you laugh even a few hours later, just thinking about them.). If I were to give this book a personality, it would look like a cross between a humorous, suave Will Smith (MIB types) and a Penelope Cruz ( the 'Woman on Top' type) - sensuous passion for food stirred in with a generous helping of humour and style.

There is a lot happening in the book, with the author giving snippets of insight into life in Delhi, the colorful joints from various cities of the world. (here I can't help but compare the writing to that of Vir Sanghvi - the way he mentions in a single breath the dhaba and the London Square with equal ease)

The other stuff that works well for the book is that the tips and tricks mentioned in the book are written with such sincerity that one thinks "Hey! What do you know - this thing just might work for me too!". The author manages, by quoting examples and other self-realizations, to create a sense of deja-vu with almost every woman battling the girth. Then there are references to staple Dal-chawal, a few tweaks to even packaged soup, a few substitutions for food that we love - like cream and potatoes, that make reading this book really worthwhile.

But what doesn't work for me, is that this seems to be targeted at a single woman. Sigh! Not that I wouldn't give an arm and a leg to come back home, kick my shoes in the air, and whip up a delicious salad and soup mentioned here....... But wait-a-minute! What happens to the hungry 4 year old and the famished 8 year old in my household? Not to mention the 'will-turn-grouchy-if-not-fed' man of the house? See what I mean? I would have loved to see some 'for-the-big-fat-Indian-family' recipes too!

I was tortured into studying foreign food names for three years in the classrooms of a Hotel management institute, which explains how I can understand some of the ingredients mentioned in the book. This may prove to be quite a deterrent to many other readers, who do not fancy googling for the 'brie and cammembert' or the 'rocket leaves'..... would have been excellent if there were some desi options for such ingredients as well.

And can there be something called 'too simple'? Well, there are times while flipping through the recipes that you wonder - 'I knew that one, and whats so special about this one?' But even the 'too simple recipes' come with the signature flourish that the author has - so it can be ignored.

In a nutshell, 'Thinner Dinner' is more than just cooking healthy. It sells a concept. It works on the wholesomeness of eating - feasting with the eyes, and flirting with textures. It is clearly written for people who have always had romantic interludes with food (like me). And for sure, it is written with a passion - both for food, and for style. And in the process of all the feasting and flirting, lose a few kilos - like twenty maybe? Heck - who wouldn't like that?

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!

Unwritten rules of good friendship

*blah-blah alert*
In no mood to write the stuff I am ACTUALLY supposed to be writing  - my office report, the long due reply to the emails of random relatives, the kids' homework .. what? DO NOT believe any parent who claims they don't do even a wee bit of their kids' homework -they are pathological LIARS!

Thus you find here random craziness put together with on a deplorably cold evening (its a !!!@#!-ing 3 degrees in Delhi!) - so please feel free to not read this post! *sulk face*

I discovered that friends have an important function in the evolution of mankind - it taught us the valuable lesson in being a social animal in the first place - and of course women and men have completely different codes of friendship. The male version is quite elaborately dissected and discussed in all the 'bro-codes' of 'How I met your Mother'. What about the sis-codes? Well, ladies and gents, here it is -

• Rule 1 : Dress-to-kill-at-weddings (literally) : Notice how your best friends (and your sister) dress over the top at your weddings? Bet you didn't know that we HAVE to overdo the makeup and the expensive hairdo - just so that the bride doesn't look as if she steeped out of a Rajshree set ALONE - we accompanied her! I mean, really - have you heard of the GROOM's friends getting a manicure because of his best friends' wedding? Well, WE have manicures, back bleaches and the works when OUR friend gets married - now THATs friendship!
• Rule 2 : Talk - Period : Have you spent the whole day talking, and then lie down in bed and continue to talk till dawn. We do it - with aplomb! Especially if we have met after a few years. Talk about old times, about every other person we both know, about how we would do what to them if we got the chance, and when we plan to do what! Yes, the WHOLE night - we can do that! And when we drink, we still manage to talk better - beat that!
• Rule 3 : Compare : Let me elaborate. I may have a psychopathic stalker threatening to kill me. But if (rather, WHEN) I talk to my friend, she will have elaborate details of how she, or someone she knows, had an even worse situation. In short, she will tell you how everyone else has the same problem too - for all you know, I might be better off, you know........ There you go! That's an instant pick-me-up, don't you think?
• Rule 4 : Bargain : Now, I may not NEED that Persian rug. I may have just mentioned in a passing to my shopping friend how it would look nice in the living room. Bingo! You have just activated the chemical locha in her head, and she turns into this mean, number calculating, bargaining machine. She'll huff and she'll puff till the poor sales guy will hold a cross to ward her off, and you get such a bargain, that you end up buying stuff that will create a crater in your purse! But a bargain is a bargain, right?
• Rule 5 : We love each others' kids. Seriously, you can see us gush over how cute the little one looks, or how nice the big one behaves. We may not always agree on the schools they choose, or the clothes they wear, but we will ALWAYS praise the kids. If not, we just may end up clobbering each other.
• Rule 6 : We will hug each other when we meet - even if we meet every two days!! The noise level and the length of the hug (include some jumping and whooping too, sometimes) will be directly proportional to the length of time we have not met each other. Oh - and SOMETIMES (that is a big word) its perfectly fine with us to hug a person we are meeting for the first time too!

I am sure there are many more pointers we can add to the sis-code ... what say?

Farewell, my friend...........

Dear 2011,

I still remember the time I was awaiting your arrival, and I had fondly promised a million moments of happiness with you. I remember, as if just yesterday, how I wrote (here) about hopes and anticipations for you.

As you get ready to be a part of what we like to call history, I would like to think that I have been worthy of having known you, lived with you, laughed and cried with you as a true friend would. I know of moments that have no precedent, moments where the whole mystery of life, even if momentarily, seemed to make sense. Moments when I have thanked the Almighty for having given me a second chance at life.

You, 2011, have shown me so many faces of my own life I didn't know existed. Take writing for instance; you made me take that one step which changed the way I look at words today. And good heavens! You even made a few people actually LIKE what I write - that explains my love for you, I guess!

You got me closer to my passions - ofcourse, it does have implications. My passion for food - and we all know how many pounds THAT has added to my personality! My passion for my family and the kids - though they seem to be growing like weeds, I still have every picture etched in my memory of you. The many times I have been able to meet, laugh and sometimes cry, with faces from the past, and renew our enlightened relationships.

You have also, through some  actors in your grand scheme of things, rooted me firmly to the ground, whenever I got too full of myself. No, don't be modest - you think I don't know who put my wise mentors and my well meaning friends right there at the right moment just as I was getting my head bloated? Needless to say, I would like to thank them all today - and maybe you can help me with that!  

Not to forget all the times when you have made me doubt my decisions, forcing me to look at them again - some of those decisions today have become my values which is etched to my character now, and some decisions have made me wiser for having tripped and tumbled, having made them wrongly.

Make no mistake; it is not as if we haven't had our little misgivings. I really have to sock your nose for some of the things you've done during our little rendezvous.... beginning with all the trouble you have been giving a friend; nay, a soul-mate of mine. She needs you to be a little more optimistic about the way you write your script, you know! So lets strike a deal, shall we? You tell that little trainee of yours, who we will get to meet tomorrow, to give her a better deal, and we are fine..... OK? 

My friend, as we gear up to celebrate your passing on the wheel of time to 2012, I want to thank you for all the beautiful sights, smells and tastes encountered in your passage. May the world remember you as the benevolent year when we all grew richer in passion, better in profession, kinder in person and closer to the Divine.

Farewell my friend, and a Happy new year to all!

Don 2 Review

I never watch movies first day first show. I am the kind who prefers to ask around and find out how the movie was, before I invest 3 hours of my life on it. So the answer I gave someone when they asked me about my comparative urgency to see DON 2 was - Shahrukh and Farhan Akhtar - hey, what could go wrong?

Well, it is with great conviction I feel now, that Farhan Akhtar (and I swoon as I say this) should continue to act, and maybe even sing and dance (a la Rock On and ZNMD) but direction he should leave to sister dear.

DON 2, to be fair, had a formidable task - it had to bring new wine in old bottle, without losing the zing. And the plot was such that it COULD have happened too. I mean look at what all it had going:

- The idea of the heist is good - the Euro plates
- SRK looks sexy; from his linen-coat-long-hair-sleeves-rolled up look, to the Mission Impossible black.
- Lara Dutta has oodles and oodles of oomph, Priyanka manages to do some believable fight scenes
- Boman Irani, SRK, Kunal Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Lara Dutta, Alyy Khan and Om Puri - how can you go WRONG with that? (if you are wondering why Om Puri's name comes last, it is the saddest Om Puri I have seen - that's why!)
- The action scenes are slick - reminds you of Oceans 11, or even a Mission Impossible.
- The trailer is just superb!!

Then what happened SRK and Farhan ? I'll tell you what happened - Don 2 is totally unbelievable, and hollow. Agreed, Indian audiences love tacky dialogues and we worship SRK - but really? You thought we would buy this? Let me explore why -

• Dialogues - I understand why Ahktar wuld put in dialogues such as "Don't tempt me" (by a nasty looking Piggy Chops with a gun held on Don's head) - I know we cheer when we see these dialogues in action flicks from the great H. But believe me, here, you KNOW its coming! Other dialogues such as "Jab tak Don ko asliyat ka pata chalega, tab tak Don mar chuka hoga” - make you want to cringe! Much of what has been said in the movie should have been left unsaid. Some of the dialogues look like they have been translated verbatim from English - like maybe they dreamt up the scene in English, and translated it with Google translator or something. Eg: "Ab mein ne sab kuch dekh liya." (by a sinister looking Boman in a comical pose.)
• Tall tales : How would you like to see SRK looking 6 feet tall? Let me not spoil one of the few surprises the movie has by letting you in on the secret. Lets just say, we are expected to believe SRK looks like a tall (!!), suave, green eyed gentleman in a scene. Also, you really think the MI-inspired-heist would go wrong because something tripped from SRK's clumsy hands?
• Emotionless acting : Om Puri is acting in his sleep, and Boman has only two expressions. PC is trying very hard to balance sex appeal and toughness, and SRK well, is SRK. There could have been fireworks in the chemistry between Roma and Don, of which we see only some meaningless conversations (which, incidentally, I could predict halfway through the first dialogue.) How I wish we could have caught some of the sparks which the directer wanted us to catch!
• Unused characters : Kunal Kappor, was a breath of fresh air, with a dash of human emotions in the roles, but he had very little to do! He was the only one who seemed that he was not sleepwalking, and unwittingly, the only gasp quotient in the climax involved him. Lara Dutta had nothing to do other than dance in that single dance number, and look pretty (which she did a good job of) - there was no twist involving her.

Verdict : My action-flick obsessed husband slept off in the first half, and I kept hoping to catch the Farhan Akhtar I saw in Dil Chahta Hai (just love that one!). My kids, however, aged 8 and 4, came back hopping and jumping like they had seen Don do it. And they were mouthing much of the dialogues as well. So I guess we know which genre the movie fall under! Do go and see it - just so that you know how SRK looks in an untidy hairstyle!

A hotel Review

Been travelling - a part of my job that keeps me sane enough to want to go back to work (yup! I got a clever boss!)

Also want to introduce you to a blog that got created with this one, but got terribly ignored, becasue I couldn't find stuff good enough to feature there. But have started thinking that maybe you guys can tell me how it looks.

http://hospitalityshowtime.blogspot.com/

See you soon with something better than a news report!!