Babes Day Out!

It's been a ritual for me ever since I can remember - Every Women's Day, I get up in the morning, rack my brains for something witty, and SMS it to my whole address book. A couple of people reply back; and that's it. The rest of the day is pretty uneventful.

Not this time!

The babes at Pramati decided we'd go down to the cafetaria and spend some time together in honor of the occasion - it was our special day, after all. Our HR came over with a yummy chocolate cake which vanished in a matter of seconds, all diets forgotten. We got to talking, and suddenly one of us decided, wouldn't it be great if we took turns in sharing the good things we find in each other. What started for fun got serious, and pretty soon, it started in earnest.

I was reminded of the chain mail we receive every few days of a teacher, asking her students to list out one good quality against everyone's name, and how, years later, it turned out everyone saved their lists. At the time, I waived that mail off as silly, one of those mass mails you usually come across. How wrong I was!

There were around 14 girls at our table, and it was fun getting to know each one from other people's perspective. I realized how my perception of them was so very different from what they really were. When eventually my turn came, I could just stare back open-mouthed. I never gave a moment's thought to how the world views me; and hearing them say all that about me left me astonished. One of them described me as vulnerable - a quality I would never have associated with, and well, so on and so forth.

I know I'll cherish those moments for as long as possible, and I want to thank all those people who made it that way - Shifa, Apoorva, Tanuja, Namisha, Swati, Nehal, Sangeetha, Sushmita, Ranjana, Chandana, Mrinalini, Deepika, and last but not the least Amrita (I know you were not there, but hey, the times you, me, and Shifa spend together are all special, don't you think? ;-))

Thank you ladies! That was the most special Women's Day ever!

Oscar Fever 2010!

The Oscars are back - and I guess with quite some surprises, for me, at least.

The Hurt Locker grabbed the spotlight this year with an incredible six wins, including the Best Picture and Best Direction; Kathryn Bigelow created history by becoming the first woman to win an Oscar in the Best Direction category.



This one is even more memorable for her considering the fact that James Cameron, her ex-husband was also in the race for the same award - with a movie that's already been over-hyped and over-praised around the world. Good for you, Kathryn! ;-)

Sandra Bullock won the Oscar for Best Actress - am I happy for her! I've always admired her, from Speed to Miss Congeniality to Two Weeks Notice. Avatar hogged three Oscars - I'm darn happy it didn't go on to win the Best Picture award  - I somehow felt the movie was grossly overrated.

The win that excited me the most was for the animated movie, Up - I watched this movie a few days ago, and it really pierced my heart.  That it also won an Oscar for Best Music is not surprising, too; it's soundtrack moved me to tears.

So, fellows, these are the wins that were of interest to me - for a full list of Oscar 2010 winners, go here.

Karthik Calling Karthik

Will you hang up that phone already?!

This is one movie which tested my patience beyond recognition, making me feel like screaming. I always thought Farhan Akhtar was into offbeat, and fresh themes; what made him choose this one, I'll never know. Tried and tested and failed at least half a dozen times, the plot is so glaringly obvious that about 15 minutes into the movie we predicted how the plot would turn out to be, and also how the climax would unfold. Bingo! No surprises there!

Karthik is a mouse and a doormat who gets trampled on by everyone, and is literally invisible. One day it crosses the line, with him getting fired and everything, and he loses it completely. Lo and behold, he starts getting calls everyday at 5AM on the dot, from - no surprises here, either - Karthik  himself! Soon, his life starts taking an upward turn, he gets the girl of his dreams, blah blah. Sooner said than done, trouble starts brewing when Karthik and Karthik have  a brief altercation and life turns upside down for the real Karthik.

Lots of potholes in the movie, Deepika Padukone looks and acts like an amateur. Even the way she smokes a cigarette is so very put-on! Ugh! And Farhan, what the heck happened dude?! Why?! This is the one question I've been asking myself ever since. Apart from a couple of scenes that interested us, not a single frame could grab our attention. The songs are okay, hummable for a few days but nothing noteworthy.

Suffice to say that you can give this one a miss. Go watch some other movie. Or better still, stay at home and rent some classic from your nearby DVD store.

At the very least, you'll save yourself a headache from going out in the sun.

The Girl Who Played With Fire

Sequels usually discourage me; however, I had an unbearable itch to get my hands on this book even before I was done with the first one.

If reading the first book was like that whiff of fresh air just before the rain, this one felt like riding the eye of the storm.

Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander are back -  albeit not on talking terms with each other - Lisbeth is named as the prime suspect in a series of gory murders and Mikael takes it upon himself to prove to the world that she's innocent.



They say the most complex whodunits have a really simple answer. An answer so simple, you wonder why you didn't see through it rightaway. The entire mystery whirlpools around a man named Zala, a man no one has seen, no one has heard of, and yet somehow his name is linked to a plethora of damning crimes.

Lisbeth Salander is as impossible as ever; from being a fugitive from law, to being shot in the head and buried alive, Salander does it all. I wonder what it is about this scrawny, crazy, rude, and headstrong girl that makes one want to protect her, though she is hell-bent on alienating everyone on earth.

There are quite a few new characters introduced - off the top of my head, Inspector Bublanski, Inspector Modig, Faste, Peter Teleborian, Bjorck, and so many other characters I cannot remember all their names. Unlike other books where these characters are sidelined and the main character is given prime importance, Steig Larsson makes sure all of them get their due.

And, there is Mikael, of course - one more addition to my dreamboy wishlist ;-) Mind you, he is not your run-of-the-mill action hero with a Greek God physique. Fiftyish, greying hair, bespectacled playboy suits him the best, if ever there was one such.

People, this book is un-putdownable right from the start. I promptly purchased Book 03 online, and completed this one by staying up all night.

Stay tuned for the third book of the series, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest. Coming soon.

Help! Haiti Campaign

The recent disastrous Haiti earthquake has left a lot of hapless people in its wake - and it is up to us to help them. The earthquake that claimed a staggering 200,000 lives has left more than 250,000 people injured, and around 1.5 million homeless. Though relief efforts are going on, adequate help hasn't reached the survivors yet.

SocialTwist has launched a Help Haiti campaign that enables your brand to donate funds to the quake victims. You can create your own Help! Haiti campaign, with SocialTwist bearing all the infrastructure costs. You can know more details and register for your campaign by clicking here. You can also request for more information by sending an email to helphaiti@socialtwist.com.

About SocialTwist - SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend is a world leader in referral marketing products. With a client list including the likes of Disney GAP, Barnes&Noble, Monster, NDTV, Intel, KLM, and many more, Tell-a-Friend is poised on the brink of bringing in a new era of referral marketing.

Breast Cancer Awareness - By revealing bra color?!

Yes folks, you can increase awareness about breast cancer - by revealing the color of your bra on your Facebook status :-|

God knows how this fad came into being, but I personally feel this is insulting to people - in the sense that people are updating their status message to titillate, rather than for any other reason. Some examples I found in my own Facebook page - black and grey zebra stripes, bright red, magenta, and this one from a humor-loving soul - commando! Believe me, for families with breast cancer victims, this is simply not funny.  And how exactly is this helping, anyway? Apart from garnering a few "XYZ and 10 other people like this!"s, some rather questionable comments, ooohs, LOLs, and other irritating compliments, this trend does nothing.

Please, gurls - Trends are good, being "in" is good, but hey, do not follow every Tom, Dick, and Harry trend that comes your way! Have fun - I am a firm believer of having fun anytime, anywhere - but no, not like this. If people are so very keen on helping, then do something worthwhile.

And no, that doesn't include letting the world know the color of your undies, thank you very much.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

It was with mixed feelings that I picked up this book at Landmark... And boy, did I take the right decision! Folks, I finally completed the first book of the Millennium Trilogy. And all I can say is, I can't wait to ravage the next one! Set at a breakneck pace, this compulsive whodunit really did it for me;-) I spent a couple of sleepless nights over it, itching to get to the end and find out who did it, after all.

Mikael Blomkvist is a disgraced financial journalist who has been summoned to a small village in the back of beyond, to meet a 80-year old former industrial giant. He is entrusted with the strangest investigation he might ever have come across - to find out who in the family murdered his beloved grand-niece Harriet, about 40-odd years earlier. What seems like an impossible quest soon turns out to be one hell of a ride - Mikael finds out bits and pieces of the puzzle, and unearths alarming, and spine-chilling facts about the family that make the monster Frankenstein look like a saint.

I had reached that point in the story where I began to believe that Blomkvist was the protagonist, the hero, blah blah, when Lisbeth Salander made her presence known. The full force of Lisbeth Salander's character hits you with within five minutes of her entrance; trying to actually describe her is an exercise in futility.  The most unconventional heroine I've ever come across, Lisbeth's entrance marks the point in the novel that makes it un-put-downable, and the story begins to race. Riveting is the word how the book can be described; this one is a must-read for all suspense and thriller buffs.

I don't want to reveal too much of the story here, so people, take me at my word - if you haven't already, then go out and get it. This one's a keeper. The girl, the dragon tattoo, and of course, the book. ;-)

Telangana and Me

Politics is not a topic that interests me; I guess this is the very first post in my blog concerning politics of any sort. But then, this is the very first time politics have affected me so personally.