Wrap-arounds :)

This is a cute one now :). There is this guy at work whose step-Mom is Indian. The guy keeps telling me tid-bits about her all the time. But the other day he said something really amazingly cute.....

So, we had this holiday lunch at work and i got seated next to this guy. We were talking about general stuff, including dressing up for such parties. Thats when he happened to say "Oh, you know, my step-Mom has the most amazing dresses. They look gorgeous, with all the dazzling embroidery-those wrap-arounds. They are the most feminine outfits. I am never able to prnounce the name correctly-sarrrrri, right. But those are the coolest wrap-arounds ever". And then he quizzed me as to why i don't wear saris for such office functions :). (well, dude why do you forget that we have to do experiments after those lunches etc, and i surely don't want to wear my best dresses, when i know i'll have to spend time in the lab afterwards).

This was followed by something even cuter, and i mean it. He so cutely said "but, i hate the wrap-arounds for men-despite her (the Mom's) best efforts and much pin-tucking, i still haven't learnt to carry off the duttee (dhoti)" :).

And i smile on, wrap-arounds, yeah-thats how i used to pull my Bro, whenever he sported dhoti-kurta ;).

Friends :)

I know, i've been away for a while.....infact, i've been missing the blog :). thats height of narcissism ;).

Have been meaning to write since last weekend, but first i got sick and then there were few other things to take care of. Yeah, i finally got cold too. Oh, hold on, i am fine now-and anyway, you don't get sick reading a blog :)).

This week, a very dear friend of mine said bye-bye to the City of Angels, as she moves to Europe in a few days. needless to say, i am missing her and our adventures together.

We met a lil' more than a year ago. She was returning home from work, i was getting back to the lab after getting my evening coffee. As we waited for the walk sign, we found someone familiar around us.....yes, familiar. and then suddenly, we exchanged a smile and we both went "are you from .....". We exchanged phone numbers and email ids. Aha, and that was the beginning of what turned out to be a great friendship, spiced up with lots of food, movies and chit-chat. Thats why i like these desi-desi "where are you from"s.

We happen to be from the same graduate school-different departments and would have barely noticed each other in the campus.....(barely enough ;) to light up that faint spark of familiarity. The other common zing-thing we discovered within 5 minutes of our conversation was that we both had spent great time in Boston at some point :).

A whole year of good things, shared and experienced together-would last us both a life-time.....not only through the millions of pictures we madly clicked everywhere around, but also through the warm words, both spoken and un-spoken.....

i wish you a wonderful future and hope you make great friends in your new place.....

MD, this city isn't going to be the same without you, and i hope you would be back sometime-our favorite desi restaurant (and the friends we've made there), the Fox theater and the rest of Westwood awaits us :).

Bubble gum chirp :)

Here's a really funny and yet silly desi bubble gum commercial for Big Babol.

What's hot: The animation, music and umm, even the theme is not bad-very funny actually :). "Nervousayiyega nahin" is the cutest Hinglish bit :). The adoption angle is sweet.

Whats not: Bad, bad lyrics! I mean "ande diye khaas" doesn't sound too poetic! thats the silly quotient for something that could have been the funniest ad in recent times.

Random thoughts.....

If i were looking for something to charge me up, then the bright sun-shine would be it, the blue skies, the splash of gold around and that fragrant mist of flowers in the air.....

but since its dark outside right now, and i am indoors, i decide to reach for the orange in the grocery bag.....the rich inviting hues, the flavor, the mist of fragrance from the orange peel.....is enough to liven me up.....

Dancing with the penguins :)

Whats your favorite dance style: Bhangra, tango, tap or salsa-bring it on!
Mumble wants you to dance along-Mumble, the cutest penguin ever (besides Pingu).

Oh! and i've been meaning to share my meeting with this lovely penguin since a couple of days. A meeting that made me laugh and cry.....gently tugging my heart strings.....

I am clearly besotted :).

I met Mumble at the Fox Theater where he's currently making an appearance, and in style! His show is named "Happy Feet"-it leaves everyone happy.....and touched :).

Rarely there is any movie that tries to address many things at the same time, and does it so wonderfully well.

The story is about Mumble, a lovely, cutesy penguin, who's different! Different, in that unlike others in his 'hood who sing their way to glory, he expresses himself with dance. Born to Momma and Papa penguins, he's not particularly well received by his community, but lives on with a smile. He finds his muse in the pretty Gloria, who's every young penguin's heart-throb. Our dude makes friends with the cutesome foursome penguins, who are naughty and full of beans (but also feel the pain of being from 'the wrong side of town'). The naughty bunch enthuses Mumble, dances along with him and takes him to a philospohy spouting guru Lovelace (voiced over by Robin Williams). Together, they solve the mysteries of the penguin-land, doing everything penguinely possible, reaching out to the other worlds and having their voices heard.....

This penguin-land story has many shades of what we desis are so familiar with: here are few things that make you nostalgic ;).

1. Its a musical :). Yeah! and plenty of dance numbers ;).
2. Momma and Papa penguins singing a love song (Baghban, anyone!).
3. Mumble wooing Gloria in typical Hindi movie style (playes a saviour to the damsel in distress: imagine the baddie running away with heroine's purse and the hero chasing the baddie. well, in this case its about a fish :)). Mumble dances for his beloved, while she sings on.....
4. Our hero fighting the baddies and reaching out to the aliens single-handedly! He's surely a super-sweet super hero :).
5. Song and dance in the graduation party :). (Papa kehte hain and more).
6. Father and son duo dancing crazy ( Rock and Roll Soniye-Mumble and Papa make the AB duo of penguin-land ;)).
7. One of Mumble's amigos singing for him (just like Kishore Kumar sang for Sunil Dutt in Padosan :)).

See, the Hindi movie school works!

Mumble, you are good. You are great. i totally heart you. and i sincerely hope and pray what you did in the show, someone would do in reality too. Wanna come and stop by on planet earth.....

Al Gore must be a happy man :).

Verdict: GO watch the movie, NOW! Mumble takes us through this joy-ride bringing lots of things to our attention. As a bonus, he DJs some great music and lots of it. Its really heart-warming to hear some great songs from back in time.

P.S.: I noticed a desi contribution while the credits were rolling: Sonal Joshi is the Supervising Dialogue Editor here.

Elephants in the head

Y'day i was wondering if i had hallucinations about the whole elephant thing. I tried to cover my angst under the mask of pun and humor. No longer are those things of much use.....

Today was a real busy day. I am tired, drained and hurting.....

After finishing my work at 9:30 PM, i was leaving when i met one of my colleagues. She's a SwissMiss, a great friend and wonderful colleague. She had come to take care of some experiment quickly-and brought her friend (who we shall refer to as SillyMiss) along. A casual chat about the silly conversations we had at the dinner table y'day ensued (we were in two different corners). She mentioned how someone was super-mean to her. And i ended up mentioning about the E-thing. Like most people y'day, her jaw dropped too.....and then SillyMiss contributed the following with all her intelligence and knowledge.....

Me: "The guy next to me was ridiculous-he asked Do you still have elephants roaming around on streets in India.

SwissMiss: "OMG, thats so ignorant, silly-really stupid".

SillyMiss: "But, isn't that true, right (looking at me)".

Me: "NO! its not".

SillyMiss: "But no, its true, aren't they on the streets in the villages".

Me (trying to hold myself): "NOOOOOOOO!" and the (angry) music played on.....the songs of how elephants were seen in zoos and circuses were sung.....no avail.....our girl just won't stop.....

SillyMiss continued arguing for the next couple of minutes.....illuminating my ignorant self.....

SwissMiss looked on in embarrasment.....

The contentment of a great lunch and wonderful time spent with a dear friend in the noon couldn't last me through it.....no chai would work today.....and there aren't even any pictures of the beaches and palms to soothe.....just the thoughts.....about whether we were talking about the same geographical coordinates.....

and i sincerely wish that there won't be more stories of this sort to share.....

P.S. There were more things to share.....chance encounters with two desi couples.....one sweet and another one strange.....will chirp on that sometime else.

The great dinner time questions by and for a desi :)

Hmm, today was a busy day :). Have been up since 5:30 AM. Too tired right now, but i must share this with y'all. You must know, i am a real foodie and a chatter-box. and so this post is about my lunch and dinner today-and the chit-chat while taking care of my calorific needs ;). Hold on, this isn't as simple as it sounds. There are those lunches and dinners that you love to attend, and then there are those that you have to. The latter is the focus here, folks.

You know, these are the lunches at the most expensive restaurants in the best of hotels, where you go as a part of professional obligations/duties :). The celebratory lunches and dinners.....;).The kinds, where the ambience promises to be great, but the dining leaves a lot to be desired-both in terms of whats on your platter and the conversations during food. Read on, this desi first asked some silent questions and .....got asked the most brilliant question ever!

And so, my lunch and dinner today was at two 'great' restaurants in Santa Monica in two adjoining hotels facing the beach-after a marathon session of presentations and discussions. I totally love this place-ideal setting:beach, sun and warmth.....
The lunch, well, was a buffet: one salad, breads, cous-cous, ravioli, fish and chicken. Yummy, yeah :)). If only you knew that salad was just arugula leaves with the blandest possible dressing, cous-cous didn't taste like cous-cous and rest everything was not my cup of tea since i am a vegetarian. Colleagues informed that rest of the stuff could probably count as one of their least memorable outings! If only money could buy flavor and taste.....The dinner was more expensive, with fewer vegetarian choices (one salad and a ravioli). The food was fine, OK Some discussion with colleagues and some senior people, very interesting thoughts and experiences exchanged while waiting for the main course.

but here are my questions: 1. Why can't such places provide better quality food for the exorbitant prices they charge. 2. Why does the vegetarian choice end at either a very rich ravioli or a very light salad (indeed, this has been my experience at the so called fine dining places). The learned and experienced chefs can do wonders (hopefully) with meat, poultry and fish-does it really take a lot else to dish up something vegetarian thats innovative, delicious and fulfilling.

And as they say, save the best for the last: so here comes the masala. During the dinner, the gentleman sitting next to me was chatting with me. He looked Indian (but he wasn't)-and asked where i was from. After talking about tons of things, including how difficult it must have been for me to be away from home all by myself (really, i get this a lot)-he popped the question :)). No, not THAT question, silly. What is the best thing anyone ask an Indian-any guesses?

" Do you still have elephants roaming around on streets in India".....(swoon).....

i am charmed.....the wit, the intelligence.....ah! my dil goes ummmmmmmmmm ;)

do you have any answers.....

i thought of this ;)

and this :)).

PS: Don't believe it? I felt may be i was hallucinating! but no, other people heard it too and were shocked beyond their wits.....and i thought such stuff existed only in bad comedies.....guys, i need a chai.....(rushes to the kitchen). Let these pictures soothe a hurting desi dil.....