Jan 25th in Toronto

So, well Happy Birthday to me !!

I had a great day.

Spent it with my hubby at the top of the world, ok CN Towers, Toronto. Great panaromic view, good lunch.



People here say I have brought warmth with me. At this time of the year, it's freezing like anything. But this time it's relatively warm - between 0 to 3 degree C !! Phew. Otherwise it's like -15 C or so ! Anyway it's not the 'warm' I am familiar with. Or 'cold', for that matter. Wind is awfully biting ... and fun. But snow flurries are not as exciting as expected. My hubby teases me now, "Is this cold good enough for you ?" Naah, I want more.

So far my visit has been good. New experiences, new places and predominantly shopping for winter clothes. But no time to collect my thoughts and blog. Anyway my pen & paper diary is going full steam. So I hope to have more posts, once I settle down or am back home.

In Toronto !

Finally arrived in Toronto ! An hour ago.

Hmm, first impression ! Good, nice, quiet.
Ah, I expected to see some snow. But no luck. Its all clean and rather warm today - 3 degrees C.

Basanti ... ein ghodon ke saamne ...

This is so ridiculous !

One adrenaline rushing scene, and they have to chop it off. Gosh.

Meanwhile, the ding ding ding ... Mohe Rang De Basanti... song is too good. More so as a ringtone :)

New Year Special Issue

The Outlook New Year Special issue was a very good one. Theme was Hero.

They devoted most part, to the Heroes of 2005 - Comman man. Individuals who emerged as Hero amidst all tragedies - tsunami, floods, earthquake.

In addition, the usual filler analysis stuff - of what or who is a Hero ? Kapil Dev, Javed Akhtar and a host of journalists present their point of view.

Happy New Year !!!

Wishing you and your family a very
Happy and Prosperous New Year !!!


Everyone celebrates in her own way. I saw ladies write their greetings with Rangoli. There were huge queues at nearly all temples. To pray for Prosperity and Good luck for one and all, for the coming year.

Office party was just ribbons & balloons & cake. For 31st evening, I went out for dinner with friends, followed by a quick tour of the whole city. It was good to see the fairy-lights decoration everywhere. All shops were closed, but there were crowds everywhere. Wrapped up the tour with a quick falooda and gol-gappas at Jayanager.

How did you spend you New Year's Eve ?

Bluffmaster

Saw Bluffmaster, first week, second show. (I hope you can see my cat-ate-canary grin.)It being first-day-second-show, I had no advance knowledge of which film 'inspired' this one. None in MSM have speculated so far. Cheers to the production team to maintain a tight lid. I think this is the first in a long time, that I did not know how this movie would end :D Usually I go armed with info beforehand and my friends are extrememly wary of me, cause I give away the spoiler, albeit with an alert. Anyway, this time around, I think all in theatre were waiting for a point to identify the original movie. It almost never came. Only the 'head-rushing' sequence towards the end, made a guy blurt out one name. But no, that does not qualify to be called a rip-off.

So that way, Bluffmaster is good, ok Hindi movie. Good entertainment. Funny dialogues. Good sequences taking the story forward. Consistent performance from all the actors. Eccentric shark Nana Patekar, phunny doc giving profound tips Boman Irani, hurt Priyanka Chopra, the devoted and hard to shrug-off chela Ritesh Deshmukh and living-in a limbo Abhishek Bachchan.

Genre-wise, I don't know where to place this movie. Film name and promos promise a heist movie. We did get that. From the opening sequence of police-encounter to the credit-card swap sequence and the final one with Nana. But those are only props. The main thread is that of a betrayed and hurt Priyanka, while Abhishek is still-in-love but unable to shrug-off his main occupation.

Its definitely a very atmosphere movie, but a mild variety. It's not heavy. From a tastefully decorated, but cramped apartment in a high-rise, with a lovely seaview, to Ritesh's shabby terrace flat; then the Mumbai seaside, dance bars, dark alleys in the night. Flyover, express highways, mall. And a wide variety of restaurants - Irani restaurant, five-star one when AB waits for Priyanka, another one where AB explains the fish-metaphor to Ritesh. If Bunty aur Babli was a tour up North India of today, Bluffmaster was our tour across Mumbai. Not the dark underbelly, not the chawls, just the normal city.

Talking about fish metaphor, that was a good one. Where AB maps different human demographic to a variety of fish - bangda, pomfret, Shark and finally Whale.

Music, hmm, was not a striking feature. The opening sequence remix Sabse bada rupaiya was the yummiest. Bure bure hum caught on because of a catchy disco effect. Right here, right now original came up … I don’t know why. But the remix, umm the audience stayed back in their seat even if it was a credit sequence item number video.

Since it is not a rip-off and genre is not to be easily identified, the result seemed aimless, but it definitely arrived at its station and ended properly.

Nach Baliye

Nach Baliye aired it grand finale yesternight. It was a good show, wrapping up at 12:30 AM. Reminded me of the good old Doordarshan times New Year programs. (They don't do these anymore).

All these weeks, only the ten couples have been dancing, with one dropping off every Thursday. This time every one danced. The finalists danced to Aa dekhe zara, the ultimate Hindi film song for a couple competition dance. So did the other couples, even the anchor couple. And the lead pairs of a new upcoming series. Even Farhan swayed to Nach Baliye song, which was cute, accompanied by Malaika and Saroj.

Okay, my favorite jodi have been Rajeev-Delnaaz. They were cute and hardworking. Delnaaz was so lively. And Rajeev's Mithun number was the ultimate. Of course the judges are biased. They gave glowing praises and full marks for a lousy Don song. Na I mean, the song Khaike paan banaraswala... is a gem. Varun performed some lousy parady and that too very ineffectively. And the way Varun-Rajeshwari have been sulking ! It’s as if they have been well compensated to keep their mouth shut, but need to sulk to blame the producers for snatching away all fame. This is my conspiracy theory. What else can explain the way judges kept putting maska to this couple, though they put up a faltu collage of all well-known actor dance styles.

One more jodi, not exactly a favorite, but they kind-of grew on me - Amit-Neeru. First it was irritating to hear him crib after every performance. But he gave a very dignified and sportive goodbye speech. And that day they had given their best performance. Kab tak ... Mujhse Shaadi Karogi he was in white sherwani and she in lovely pink ensemble.

Anyway moving on to the good couples, Parmeet & Archana were the beauty in this whole ensemble. To quote Farhan, "... the positive vibe which you two create.. its very addictive..." Seriously they were the second best. Great dance and witty remarks.

So the best jodi is Sachin-Supriya (my vote to them as well). Seriously they almost danced ekdum dil-phek-ke. It wasn't like huge effort or so. Just fun and enthusiasm. That's what dance is, according to me.

It was also a good show, cause they gave equal footage to the runner-up Poonam-Manish, after the results were announced. Acknowledged all choreographers. Indeed this must be a very good career opportunity for the choreographers and various designers. One more thing, I must say, this show demolished any remnant wonder at bulky people indulging in fast dance. I mean, we always had Saroj Khan. But now we got to see non-professional dancers like Delnaaz, Manasi and Poonam dance very well and enjoy themselves, inspite of their extra pounds.

And for some reason, this reminded me of all school competitions. Only here, parents were competing and kids cheering ! Over all a very well choreographed show indeed !

I am Power and Control

Oh My God ! I am The Godfather. Swoon ... ...

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Aug ... Dec

Phew, its already December. Less than a month for the year to end ! August to December is my favourite part of the year. For various reasons:

1. Mainly for all the Festivals - Ganesh Chaturthi, Janmastami, Dusherra, Durga Puja, Deepavali, Ramzan, culminating in Christmas and New Year's Eve
   
2. And so there are more oppurtunity to get the fairy-lights out and adorn the balcony.
   
3. All our family birthdays and anniversaries fall in this duration.
   
4. That gives us more reason for winter parties. Especially the ones organized in Gardens. Chilly evenings, shawls swish-swashing, crackling bon-fire, kids running around in colorful sweaters, ghazals in the air and steaming hot scrumptious dinner. Yum ...
   
5. Diwali movie releases like Veer Zaara, DDLJ, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun and many other of my fav movies. This is the time to add to my library list.
   
6. And the Christmas movies. My fav being: Home Alone 1 & 2 and It's a Wonderful Life.
   
7. This is also the time to start a review of all things that happened this year. Personal, local, national. Best movies & songs of this year. Lot of ammunition for media to churn out their daily potboilers.
   

Its amazing, at the begining of the every year, I wait for August. And soon, its time to way goodbye to the entire year.

Njoy

Some cool swfs.

Interview with Honest Boss

Ant's Bugging Song