Just a little bit of me.....!!!!

52nd Filmfare Awards

2007-02-26T19:08:00.000-05:00

One thing that I always wait for in Feb/March are the Filmfare awards. I am so much addicted to them that I actually cut short my trip to LA by a day so that I can be home before Sunday to watch the awards (nah, just kidding...but my hubby definitely thinks so!).

Anyways, the movie buff that I am...such things are easily expected from me.

This year there was a a lot of hype about the awards night since for the first time it was going to be a black-tie event. Did it live up to the expectations? I didn't think so. It was a good show, but on the whole nothing that I would remember for too long. It was good enough to keep me glued to my TV for 4 hours, but as soon as it ended, I forgot most of it. Most of the times I record the award shows. And almost every time, I go back to see my favorite segment(s). This year there was none.

A few things, however, that I noticed were:

When Kareena Kapoor won the best actress (critic) award, she thanked everyone, but her dad. Infact she said that she wants to thank her mom for bringing her up single handedly. I thought Babita and Randhir Kapoor were always together. Did I miss on something??
Sticking with the Kapoors, I think both the sisters have started looking a lot alike.
Sridevi looked gorgeous. She has lost a lot of weight and was carrying herself real well.
Is it only me, or does Rekha always looks the same in all the award shows? She has such monotonous dressing sense.
Shahrukh as always was good as a host. Some of the jokes he cracked were hilarious.
I hated to see Abhishek & Aishwarya sitting together. I guess it is official – they are getting married:(
I am glad RDB bagged the maximum number of awards.
Can't believe that KANK was nominated for so many categories! Just because a movie has good casting and is directed by a well known director, does not qualify it to win awards.
Aamir Khan as always missed the awards night.

I guess the next in line are the Zee Cine Star awards. Let hope that they will be more entertaining than the Filmfare awards this year.

2007-02-25T13:41:00.000-05:00

MUNNA BHAI CHALE AMERIKA

I am a big Munnabhai & Circuit fan. Just looking at their faces brings a grin on my face. This one seems to take us a step ahead in the journey of laughter.

2007-02-05T20:53:00.000-05:00

Official song of the ICC World Cup 2007

Can't wait for the World Cup to begin!

Right or Wrong??

2007-02-01T19:10:00.000-05:00

My husband and I get phone calls at the weirdest times of the day/night. Sometimes the phone is ringing at 1:00 am, and other times at 4:00 am (and ofcourse if my hubby is reading this, he will say not 'we' it's always your calls). Well, that aside, one night the phone rang around midnight. We both were asleep and I saw it was our friend calling. As much as I wanted to ignore it, I did not. I picked it up and after the usual Hi's and how are you's, she said something that was least expected from her.
"I am in love".
Half asleep, but equally excited to know the details, I sat down and started bombarding questions at her...one after the other. But she stayed silent. All she could say was that once she tells us who it is, we both won't be only surprised, but also shocked. Allright, so it has to be a common friend. But as my mind started going down our friends list, I just couldn't figure out who was she referring to. And why in the whole world would we be shocked???
Finally she uttered the words, "I am in love with a girl"!!!!
This ofcourse was followed by a pin drop silence from both the ends. My husband, unaware of what the silence was about asked, "did she tell the name?"
I must admit, at this time I had no clue how to react. All I could come up to say was, "I am happy for you". I could tell that she sensed some awkwardness, but now she tells me that she expected it. It took me a few minutes before I asked the next obvious question, "so who is it?". She started off with the details and after a while we said good night and ended the conversation.
One thing that she asked from me was that is this by any way going to affect our friendship? At that time I gave her a quick answer saying that there is no way it would. Once I got in the bed and tried to sleep, I started to think deeply into this. Although still a bit shaken, I did not think that she was doing anything wrong. In no way do I look down upon gay people. As long as they are not affecting my life in any way, I don't care how they live their lives. I do find certain things they say or do a bit strange, but not wrong. Even with my friend, so many times she says things which I feel are totally weird. But at the end of day, it's her life, and I am no one to decide what is right or wrong.

Ram Gopal Verma Ke Sholay???? Please!!!!!!

2007-01-25T22:27:00.001-05:00

I guess after the era of remixed music...we better tie up our seat belts and get ready for a ride into the era of old movies being re-made...first Devdas, then Don & now Sholay!!!!

The Cast:
Amitabh Bachchan ... Gabbar Singh
Mohanlal ... Thakur Baldev Singh
Ajay Devgan ... Veeru
Prashant Raj Sachdev ... Jai
Nisha Kothari ... Basanti
Sushmita Sen ... Jaya Bachan
Sushant Singh ... Sambha
Rajpal Yadav ... Soorma Bhopali
Gaurav Kapoor ... Ahmed
Urmila Matondkar ... Dancing Seductress

I don't know how many of you remember, but I had sometime back written a post on the remake of Sholay. Now I would love to think that it was my post that inspired Ram Gopal Verma to go in the direction of re-making Sholay, but the fact remains that he had thought about it long before then. RGV is all set to re-make one of the finest movies made in the Indian cinema. He claims that he has watched Sholay 27 times (hey, c'mon I have seen DDLJ more than 50 times...would I remake it?) and the movie has been very close to his heart. As much as I hate this idea of re-making Sholay, I am also curious to see what exactly would it have to offer to the audience. I read somewhere that the movie will be set up in contemporary Mumbai and Basanti will be driving a cab???
With all due respect, Mr Verma....certain things are best when left alone!

Mika/Rakhi Sawant & IPhone

2007-01-18T19:05:00.000-05:00

Just when I started writing about work, things seem to be getting better. Why didn't I do this earlier? Anyways, I will get back to that.....after a short break!

So finally I got a glimpse of the Mika & Meet Brother's song on Rakhi Sawant. The first thing that came to my mind was how these days no one would let go of an opportunity to capitalize just about anything. And on top of that, these things sell out there. Since the day I heard that Mika has come out with a song talking the whole kissing fiasco between Rakhi and him, I myself was keen enough to go to youtube to listen to it. As hilarious as it may sound, I wonder if this all happened after Rakhi's re-entry into big boss?? Poor soul is sitting in that house unaware what Mika dear is doing out there. At the same time, I am as much enthu to see what happens once she steps out of the house and comes to know of this song. That would be a spicy news and I am looking forward to it!

On the other note, I am waiting for the iphone to be released here in US (in June). With Apple always pioneering in design and breakthrough technology, I am curious to see what this phone will have to offer. As much as I love Apple products, 2 reasons why I might not buy this phone are: the price and that only Cingular is going to offer it (atleast to begin with). The max I would pay for this phone would be $300. But then I have not seen the phone yet!

From bad to worse....

2005-08-31T22:03:00.000-05:00

The whole world is full of misery...and natural calamities like last year's Tsunami, this year's floods in Mumbai, and the most recent horriying devastation by hurricane Katrina just leaves you wondering, "what is the purpose behind all this". So many things could be avoided, if people would be doing their jobs correctly. I have been following the coverage on Katrina so closely, that I just keep thinking - what all could have been avoided? It's so sad...it's so touching. Every morning when I wake up, the first thing I do is, turn on the tv, just to hear more bad news.
Well, obviously when Katrina first hit the city of New Orleans, it wasn't as bad as it was predicted. The residents of the city, were happy that the prayers of so many people got answered. No one knew what they would be waking up to the next morning, when the rains had stopped, and the winds were calming down. Their worst fears came true. The levee protecting the whole city broke, flooding 80% of the city...some areas flooded with over 20 feet water. Rescue efforts began...The thing that touched me the most was when one of the rescue teams said that they simply have to ignore the bodies floating, to save the people who are still surviving. The bodies are being put in houses, and the houses are being marked in black, so that later they could come back there to collect the bodies.
New Orleans is all gone...and it would take yrs and yrs to get all that back. I could imagine how people who have spent their lives in that city must be feeling. They won't be able to go back to see if their house is still intact or not....for atleast couple of months.

Am back...

2005-08-25T16:04:00.000-05:00

Thanks for the emails that many of you sent to me. I really appreciate all the kind words said.

Well, life sure is unpredictable...and with every passing day I realize how much we should do what we have to do. My outlook towards life changes so much with every passing day. I was an entirely different person a few years back. A few falls and a close reality check, has made me understand the true meaning of life.

We all give too much importance to small things.... what we don't have while others have. But just think about it, is that worth our time? I am not trying to define the real purpose of our lives....I am writing my own perspective as it continues to evolve. It might not make sense to many of you...but for me, all pieces seem to be falling together.
The bottom line is, life is too short and do what makes you happy. Stop caring about what others will think. Every person has his/her own way of thinking. No two people can think alike on every matter. So do what makes you happy. Get your priorities right, and enjoy....coz' at the end of your life, you don't want to look back and regret "not doing" something.

2005-07-31T08:00:00.000-05:00

I will be taking a break from blogging for sometime. I just don't see myself getting enough time on regular basis to update my blog.
My life has been upside down sice past few weeks and I need to get things back on track. I will be visiting your blogs and leaving comments...and hoefully soon I will be back on my blog as well!

When the going gets tough, the tough gets going...

2005-07-13T17:41:00.000-05:00

I just wonder how tough do you have to be to get going in such circumstances? Life has been a little jolting for me lately. I have been one of the most impatient persons around and that has been well tested. Since I am still moving…and still trying to stay happy…I will assume that I have passed with flying colors. Huh!! I have literally taken one day at a time this past 6-7 months. But I am exhausted now and I want definite answers!!! How long could you really accept this unpredictability? For a person like me who accepts only black or white and no gray, being inside this gray area for this long without complaining (well, with a little bit of complaining, I would say), it is an achievement in itself. So I guess, I have learnt something out of all this!

A little bit of this and a little bit of that

2005-07-05T04:28:00.000-05:00

Well, the long weekend has not ended for me yet. Infact it has been pretty long for me. I was off on Friday and am off today (Tuesday) also. So it has been a great fun.
Did lots of fun & masti...went go carting, watched movies, went to see the St. Louis fair and the fireworks.

Today I have been sitting at home lazing...which ofcourse is fun.

Another thing that happened is that I got allergic from something and my right hand got a rash. Now I am not sure yet what exactly I got allergic from, but it seems to be something in the kitchen, because everytime I cook, it gets worse. So the only good thing out of this allergy is that I have gotten a break from cooking.....yeeaaahh. Well, not really, coz' I still end up cooking something or the other and then ofcourse my hubby gets all mad at me.

News is that Aamir Khan & Sharukh Khan (as Karan & Arjun)are coming together for the first time in "The Mahabharta". The total budget for this venture is estimated to be around Rs. 300 crore!!! Rani is the main heroine in the movie playing the role of Draupadi. This sure is going to be interesting and many eyes around the globe are set to know the release date of the movie.

I watched Parineeta and B&B. Both were good to watch though I loved Parineeta. It's a very well acted and well directed movie. As far as B&B is concerned, as long as you don't start looking for logic behind every scene, it's a fun 2 hrs watch.

Uff...these engineers!!!!

2005-06-30T22:19:00.000-05:00

What's really up with these engineers (no offense)?? Do they even have an idea what they are really doing?? I am not sure about other's, but at my work, the engineers and the marketing ppl are always ready to get down to the war zone.

Now I work as a Marketing Manager and am responsible for the entire marketing dept. of the company. The VP of Engineering is someone I am always having arguments with. I don't say that I ought to be always right...but 90% of times what I am saying is making sense. But since he is an engineer, he has only one track mind. I have literally told him once that he cannot keep doing things the way is is currently doing. Since I am still in the company and he didn't get me fired, I guess he cared a damn for what I said.

I had always heard about clashes between the MBA's and the Engineers. I am surprised how true everything I heard has turned out to be. It just is so hard for them to understand tiny miny things. The word "customer" just doesn't exist in their dictionaries. Deadlines are not part of their routine.

Really, somedays I am so frustrated with all this-and I guess, today has been one of those days!

Love beats all barriers!

2005-06-29T13:02:00.000-05:00

"Have you gone mad? Polygamy is in their religion, and in a few days he will have another woman in the house. Then you will come back to me, crying".

This was what my friend's mother said to her when she confessed in front of her parents that she is in love with a Muslim guy.

"Sikhs & Muslims-are you even in your senses"?

asked her dad. Not that she was surprised by their reaction, but still, she was totally shaken.

She has been in love with this guy since 4 years. Through these 4 yrs span, she had many times doubted her instincts and has several times gotten out of the relationship. But the love has been stronger than the social barriers, and sooner or later they got back together. Now when her parents started looking for a guy for her, she realized that she had to do what she had feared all this time-talk to her parents. After talking to them, she is once again not sure what she is getting herself into. Would she fit in there, would they accept her, would she have to convert...and so many more questions are popping up in her mind. She has talked to several people about this, and has been getting different opinions/advices.

All these yrs she has been talking about this to me and now she is seeking an advice. She said that I should know better since mine is an inter caste marriage too. But I told her, that my situation is a lot more different than hers. I got married into a Hindu family (when I am a Sikh). I think Hindu & Sikh religions are so much intermingled, that hardly any differences exist now. Ever since I have been married, I haven't even realized that I have been married into a Hindu family. Both the religions are so similar in beliefs and rituals.

I have known the guy she loves since 4 yrs also and I could say for sure that no other man would keep her as happy as he would. At the same time I do understand that both the religions are very different. But I don't think that marriages between a Muslim and a hindu/sikh don't work. I personally know atleast 3-4 couples who were in same situation, got married and are just as happy. BUT in all these cases, the girl is Muslim and the guy is sikh/hindu. What my friend fears is that the Muslim religion is a lot more rigid than any other religion and since she will be becoming part of that religion (rather than the other way around), would it really work?

All I can say is that, there would be a lot of adjustments required on her part (and also on the guy's part), but if they are truly in love (which they sure are), no religion barrier could mess up anything between them.

I said 'No'!!!!

2005-06-27T15:21:00.000-05:00

If anyone wants to learn the art of saying 'no', help is just around the corner...talk to your parents...afterall, all our lives they have said no to us so many times...:)"NO means no" is what most of the parents would say...as if we don't know what no means:)Well, but I guess saying no to your kids is one of the easiest tasks of your life. 'No' just doesn't come so easily & naturally when you step out of the house...

Seriously, how hard is it to say no to someone? I think it's really hard. For me, saying a 'no' face to face is just next to impossible. God bless the creature who came up with the idea of emails, etc where saying 'no' is just a click away.

I really think that sometimes it's important to say 'no'. Be it the personal front of your life, or the professional front, you just cannot keep giving in all the time. People would soon take advantage of that! Well, maybe writing this would teach me the art of saying 'no':)

Look who's here....

2005-06-23T19:35:00.000-05:00

It's the summer. The temps outside finally touched the 100 scale. How exciting!! Well summer is my favorite season...I just love everything about it.....the heat, the a/c's, the cute clothes, the flip flops, the outdoor activities, the snow cones, the light outside even at 9 pm...you name it, and I love it. Many ppl find it weird that I love high temps. But I don't see anything weird about it...if I like it, I like it...as simple as that. So today when my car showed 101 degrees Fahrenheit, I was all pepped up. So here we go, I am all set for the summer. The 4th of July weekend is coming up, and did you know, St. Louis' 4th of July weekend's celebrations are THE BEST in the nation...it's amazing...if u could, make sure u see it at least once.

On the other note, I am totally in love with this song, 'Dil Nai Lagda' by Aman Hayer. If you plan on downloading it, make sure you download the groundshaker version...it's an awesome song...and listen to it, while u r driving...it's simply mind blowing. It's a punjabi song-but unlike the Bulla song, the Punjabi is simple and easily understandable...so do check it out and lemme know how it was...chao'

I have been tagged....

2005-06-15T21:38:00.000-05:00

Total Number of Books I Own:

Being a reading freak, I end up buying many books. Right now they are all packed in boxes, so it would be hard for me to count...but I could say, that I sure have more than 100 books.

Total number of books given to others and never came back :

People love borrowing books, and hate to return them. So it gets hard for me to keep a count.

Total number of books flicked from others :

TWO. I am a good gal:)

Last Book I bought:

A Deadly Game by Catherine Crier

Last Book I was gifted:

God of Small Things by Arundati Roy

Last Book I read:

A Deadly Game

I am currently reading:

Night Fall

Five Books that mean a lot to me:

The Alchemist

The Fountainhead

To Kill a Mocking Bird

Julius Ceaser (yeah, Shakespeare's)

A Beautiful Mind.

Who am I gonna tag ?

Everyone who reads this blog!

Height of absent-mindedness

2005-06-08T14:27:00.000-05:00

Oh, well, I am back again after traveling for meetings for a few days. I was in Chicago for a Trade show, and then I was in Chicago again last weekend. Then I had to go to NC for a meeting. Finally got back home last night...So am still a bit tired and exhausted.

Anyways, I thought I will share a funny incident with you- well actually I should call it a serious incident. Lately I have been getting really absent minded. I just keep forgetting things. Need water...go to the kitchen, and have no clue what I am there for. Pick up the phone to call someone, end up calling someone else. Really...it's gotten so bad, that it's not even funny anymore. Oh well, I guess this is another sign of aging up. Watch out all the people out there---life is not the same after you cross that 25 yrs mark. I wonder what will happen after I cross 30...we'll watch & see. Anyways, so this other day, I took a shower in the evening, and when I got out and got dressed up, I realized that I needed some lotion on my face. So I went to the bathroom where all my lotions are and got some lotion out and applied it on my face. Now I use Aveeno (I am not sure how many of you are familiar with that, but it's a herbal lotion with no fragrance). So when I applied it, I could smell some scent. I thought maybe it's from my shower gel. I came out, grabbed my car keys, as I had to go somewhere. Before I stepped out, I started to have an itchy feeling on my face, which felt really weird. So I ran upstairs to the bathroom and washed my face ...and woola, there it was. I saw lather all over my face. It didn't take me long to realize that instead of applying lotion on my face, I put the hand washing soap with was on the sink as well. I couldn't stop laughing after that and thought that I seriously need to get some help. So now I am trying to get more concentrated.... let’s see how long that works. So you all know now, if I am missing on this blog, it might be that I forgot all about it. So give me a buzz to remind me:)

There we go again....

2005-05-31T15:54:00.000-05:00

Well, it just doesn’t end yet. I could never understand what’s up with these religious groups that were set up for the betterment of every religion. Let’s talk about SGPC (Sharomni Gurduwara Prabandak Committee). Why couldn’t they let the fictional movies stay as such, and not let them mingle with the real life?

The “Jo Bole So Nihal” fiasco was still in the midst of religious debates when B & B got released. Now you must be thinking what does B&B have to do with this? Well, apparently Rani Mukherji is playing a sikh girl in the movie and she is shown doing drugs. So SGPC is raising an objection saying that such scenes should not be shown in the movies as they put the sikh religion look bad.

Now I am a sikh and I really respect my religion. But I don’t agree with such things. The SGPC is saying that the censor board should have a sikh group included in the board. Now this is simply ridiculous. If this happens, all the religions will demand to have their group included in the censor board.

I feel that movies are merely for entertainment purposes and should be enjoyed with a light heart. I could understand that while watching movies we do sometimes get carried away and start thinking that such things would happen to us as well (which in some cases in true). All the groups in the communities are established for some specific purpose and that should be their sole goal.

2005-05-29T21:15:00.000-05:00

Jassi (Mona Singh) is finally entering Bollywood. But I really think that she does not know how to act. I mean, she has acted real well as a Jassi, but when it goes anything beyond that, I have serious doubts if she would be able to impress anyone. We saw her hosting the Miss India 2005 contest. She was acting really dumb there...I think she lacks that charisma in her. Well, the wait would soon be over, and we will know for sure.

Runaway Bride & Walmart in India??

2005-05-25T14:28:00.000-05:00

Well, it does not only happen in Julia Robert's movie...it happens in real life as well.

Jennifer Wilbanks fled from her house the week she was supposed to get married. It just took 2 hours for this news to gain media's attention, and in no minutes, this was the headline of every news channel all around the country. Be it CNN, MSNBC or CBS, they were all talking about the missing girl. It was suspected that she has been abducted and/or killed. The localities started searching for her along with the police. The first suspect for the police was her fiancé, since 70% of crimes in US (or maybe all around the world) are committed by the family members. However her fiancé took a polygraph and got out of the umbrella of suspicion. Many volunteers came forward to help in the search. The family offered a reward of $1 million to anyone who found her. Many restaurants in the town offered free food to all the volunteers. Fliers were distributed, pictures were put everywhere. The massive search costed almost 50,000 dollars to the local authorities.

Eventually Wilbanks called authorities from a pay phone in Albuquerque, New Mexico-thousands mile away from her home town in Georgia. She said that two people had abducted her and sexually assaulted her. She was flown back from there to her home town. When FBI started questioning her, she retracted her story several times. The FBI agents felt that the story was not credible, and finally Jennifer confessed that she just ran away because she got hot flashes for the wedding and she said that she was totally pressurized by the wedding day coming up. She was overwhelmed by the list of things she needed to get done before the wedding day,

Today, she was indicted by the grand jury. She is charged with a count of making false statements which is punishable by up to five years in prison, and a count of making a false report of a crime - an offense punishable by a year in jail.

Now what she thought was going to remain only between her and her family, is known to almost everyone in the country. So I guess you really have to think twice before taking any drastic steps – you might end up in jail!

Check this out:

http://people.indiatimes.com/quickies/msid-1122572.cms

2005-05-14T21:36:00.000-05:00

I haven't met anyone in the last 10 years who has not liked DDLJ.....I have watched this movie more than 20 times, and everytime I watch it, it seems to be the first time. I simply love the movie and I am so glad that it has become the longest running movie in Indian film industry!! The movie is now celebrating it's 500 weeks...

2005-04-30T15:39:00.000-05:00

Mera Bhaarat Mahaan!!!

Cricket, cleaning & risks.....

2005-04-15T16:45:00.000-05:00

Well, India lost the match against Pakistan last night. What a bummer!
Now many people have been talking about these matches being already fixed. If that is the case, I don’t understand what the point of even playing this game is. Cricket (assuming it’s happing only in this game) should be altogether banned. These people have spoilt the real spirit of game. Since the day when I first read (on either Govind’s or Manpreet’s) blog, that these matches have been fixed. I haven’t felt like watching this series anymore. I remember those good old days, when watching cricket matches was something everyone enjoyed doing. I am sure it still is fun, but something somewhere is always missing. We always have the doubts in our mind whether these matches are fixed or not!

Oh well, I was off today and the whole day went in house cleaning. Did I tell you that I love cleaning? Everytime I am done with deep cleaning of the house, I always get that inner happiness – it’s hard to put it in words…I guess sometimes it's weird thing that make a human soul happy – but that’s life and you have to accept every small thing that makes you happy!!!

Ok, now that I am done talking about our favorite sport and done with my cleaning talks, let’s get serious! No, no…I am not gonno recite you the story of some serious Hindi movie (or actually a serious Hindi serial…huh!). Today I was reading this article on taking risks in life and I thought if I was a risk taker or not? I am not sure what the answer is. I do take risks in my professional life – I think that is the fun of working -you need to take risks to enjoy what you are doing. But when it comes to my personal life, or some other things for that matter, I like to play it safe. I love the saying, “Unless you walk out into the unknown, the odds of making a profound difference in your life are pretty low”…but I am not sure if I implement it on me all the times. Some things are too precious to be taken risk with. Don’t you agree with me that sometimes it gets too risky to take a risk??

How could someone?

2005-04-07T12:52:00.000-05:00

Who has not heard about what Amisha did with her parents (her dad, to be precise)? She took him to court, on a charge of 'mismanagement' of her funds. Now how ridiculous is that?? I mean, come to think about it, all what her parents did for her all through her life, was dumped in a matter of few days. I strongly believe that family matters should remain within the 4 walls of your house (it's ok if walls have ears-diwaron ke bhi kaan hote hain:). If you think that the legal system would be an answer to all your problems - you need to go to a psychiatrist first!

Now why did Amisha do, what she did? Why did she disown her parents (I thought it was always the other way around – but oh well, you learn new things everyday) and broke all bonds with them? Well, kahani mein twist tha - dil ka maamlaa tha. She thought that burning her house would be a better choice than burning her heart. She has now publicly made it clear that her lover Vikram Bhatt was the reason behind it. Apparently her parents disliked her involvement with the film director and got vicious (??) with her. And that's when she decided to give them an answer, and broke the drama in public.

I really think what she did was very wrong. I just cannot stand her anymore (oh, not to mention, she got blonde a few months back:)

Is Ramesh Sippy going to re-make Sholay?

2005-04-01T13:36:00.000-05:00

Well, atleast that was the buzz of the tinsel town couple of weeks back. Ramesh Sippy however confirmed, that as of now he has no such intentions. He thinks that he just cannot make such a masterpiece again. I agree 100% with him!
But the thought that came to my mind after I read this rumor was - who would be casted in Sholay, if it was re-made?? In other words, who would play the role that Amitabh Bachan, Dharmendra, Jaya Bachan, Hema Malini, Gabbar Singh & Sanjeev Kumar played?? Any thoughts?? I'll tell mine, after I hear what all of you think:)

Beauty OR Brain???

2005-03-28T13:32:00.000-05:00

Finally the big night was here!!! After 2 months of wait, 3 weeks of tough training and 23 girls competing against each other - the winners for the Ponds Femina Miss India were crowned last night. The titles for year 2005 went to:

Pond's Femina Miss India - Universe 2005: Amrita Thappar (she was my personal favorite from day 1)
Pond's Femina Miss India - World 2005: Sindhura Gadde (I didn't like her too much)
Pond's Femina Miss India - Earth 2005: Niharika Singh (Not bad - could have been the first runner-up instead)

The presentation of this year's 'Miss India' beauty pageant was quite different. The whole stage and the performances were interesting to watch. Our own Mona Singh aka 'Jassi' and Samir Soni (Purab) were the perfect hosts for the evening and looked great together. The way the whole show was presented was really neat, with the performances by Indian Idol winner Abhijeet Sawant and the finalists Amit Sana, Rahul Vaidya and Prajakta Shukre. 'Bombay Rockers' really rocked the show. The performers like Yana Gupta, Shahid Kapoor and Hrishita Bhatt were worth everyone's time. The judges were well known film personalities like Kareena Kapoor, Pooja Bedi and Sunil Shetty. The well-known designers Gavin Miguel, Suneet Varma and Ritu Kumar designed the dresses for the contestants and for Mona Singh.

This is going to be a new beginning for these ladies and they have a full year of excitement to look forward to. All three of them will represent India abroad as per the title awarded to them. India will now look forward to these three ladies bringing home the International titles of Miss Universe, Miss World & Miss Asia.

I think it's too early to say how these ladies are going to perform. Would they have brains (as claimed) or would they only try to take over the world with their beauties? Well, whatever the result would be, I am sure soon we will see all three of them singing around the trees with our Bollywood Heroes:)

woooh...what a weekend ahead...

2005-03-25T07:07:00.000-05:00

Too many things to do and to watch this weekend...
We have the India Night this Saturday..
Then there is Holi...
Zee Cine Awards...
Not to miss 'Miss India' contest...
And have friends coming over from out of town...
I am looking forward to this weekend...& don't want Monday to come soon:)
Happy Holi to everyone...enjoy the festival:)

To be or not to be.....

2005-03-21T12:06:00.000-05:00

When I was in my undergrad, I took a Philosophy class (I hate Philosophy, but I just had to take this class). But only a few days after attending it, I found myself totally engrossed in the subject. The topic we were going to discuss that semester was 'Euthanasia' also known as 'mercy killing'. So we had to do research all through the semester and in the end present a paper favoring or opposing 'Euthanasia'. So I was doing research on this topic most of the time. By the end of the semester, I thought that I was a master in this area and would continuously debate on this with my friends and family. Turned out, the debates didn't last forever and soon this topic was out of my mind.

This was 4 years back. I had not read or heard about any such cases since then.... until couple of weeks back.

The case of Terri Schiavo has grabbed national attention here in US. It is the headline of every news channel and every newspaper. So due to my past ties with this topic, I have been closely following it.

Terri Schiavo collapsed in her home in 1990, suffering from heart failure that led to severe brain damage. She is now 41 years old. Since then, she has been in an incapacitated form - a mere vegetable, as they call it. Every medical science discovery has lead to no improvement. She has been on food and fluid tubes. The only thing she could do on her own is – breathe! Her brain has been dead for 15 years.

Her husband who is her legal guardian, Michael Schiavo, believes his wife would not have wanted to live in a persistent vegetative state. He has wanted to get her tubes removed. Doctors believe, that once her tubes are removed, she would stay alive for 1-2 weeks. Her parents Mary and Bob Schindler, who are not her legal guardians, have not been in the favor of removing the tube.

Now this was a personal matter, but a few years after the accident, the legal system intervened. Now the first question that arises here is, whether it's an issue relating to moral values, or is it something where the legal system should decide what is right & wrong?

Anyways, Terry's husband has been able to get the tube removed twice in the past. But both the times, the parents have been able to get restraining order from the court orders to have them re-instated. So Terry has been able to live. Michael, has stayed firm on his believes that Terry would not have wanted to live in this state and that she would have not wanted to instill this suffering on her family. Her parents believe that she loved life, and would have wanted to live anyways and they believe that someday she would recover!

So the war has been ongoing. It wasn't until last year, that the state of Florida again took this case. It was on last Friday that her husband won the case and got the tube of Terry disconnected, leaving her without nutrients and water. The parents didn't give up. They approached the federal courts and George Bush had to rush back to the White House and signed a bill allowing the parents to take the case to the US courts.

President Bush said ' "In cases like this one, where there are serious questions and substantial doubts, our society, our laws, and our courts should have a presumption in favor of life."

There are many institutes in US that favor or oppose Euthanasia.

The institutes/individuals favoring Euthanasia say that euthanasia should be allowed if the person is suffering from a terminal illness and/or is unlikely to benefit from the discovery of a cure for that illness during her expected life, and/or is suffering from an intolerable pain which lead to him or her being dependent on others or on technological means of life support and/or has expressed a wish to die under such circumstances prior to his or her losing the competence to do so.

Court-appointed doctors say Terry is in a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery and so her husband believes that she should be allowed to die. Her parents insist she could recover with treatment.

So what do you think? When a person’s intentions regarding whether to receive lifesaving treatment are unclear, who should make a decision on his or her behalf? The family? The society? Or the courts?

Have any problems???

2005-03-17T23:16:00.000-05:00

I don't know if it has been happening in India, but here in US, lately there is a new group of (???) that recently emerged out of no where.
If you are watching Zee TV here, you know exactly what I am talking about. Peer Sayeed Sahib, Baba something something...I can't even remember the names.... but there are bunch of such crooks out there who have found a new strategy to fool people here in US. Some of them are even becoming sole sponsors of some shows - I think Peer Sayeed sponsors ‘Kareena Kareena’. All these people claim to bring an end to your worries - some claim to do this within 24 hrs - GAURANTEED!!!! The worries could be of any kind - martial problems, business problems, kids giving hard time to their parents (no joke!), could not marry someone you love (huh) - they have answer to each & every problem - u name it, and they have the solution. How insane is that?
The sad part is, that I am sure, there must be people who are getting fooled by this entire hoax. Now I don't know about others, but I really think that what they are doing is so lame. All I could say is that they need to get a life and that Zee TV needs to stop telecasting such ads. And the funny part it, that these people have so much money, that every other day they have a new ad.... so I believe that people are actually believing what they are saying and contacting them!
Whom are they really fooling???

Scott Peterson to be sentenced to death & a new song.

2005-03-16T12:34:00.000-05:00

Scott Peterson was sentenced to death this morning by a California judge. The judge had a choice to either sentence him to death or to give him life in prison. He chose to sentence him to death!
For those of you who don’t know, Scott Peterson was being convicted for the death of his wife and an unborn child.
Laci Peterson was eight months pregnant when she was reported missing from her house in Modesto, CA on Christmas Eve in 2002. The police along with the family started searching for her. The police had an umbrella of suspicion on Scott Peterson. Scott Peterson told the police that he was on his boat fishing at Berkeley Marina that day. Laci Peterson’s body was found washed (with the feats) on the shore in April 2003, very near to where Peterson said that he was fishing. The police got warrant to arrest Scott and arrested him while he was driving with $10,000 cash in his car. He had bleached his hair and looked different. Police suspected that he had concealed his identity and was going to cross the border to go to Mexico.
The case took a turn when Amber Frey came forward and told the police that she had an affair with Scott Peterson and he never told her that he was married. She agreed to testify in the court, which she later did. She also has a book out on this whole affair now (and so many people think that she simply wants to make money and is not telling the truth).

There are still speculations out there that Scott Peterson is not guilty. I personally think that he is guilty and that he did kill his wife because he wanted to be with Amber.

Things like this make me sick. How could someone be so cruel? He could have easily divorced her – that would have been better!!

Anyways, I have was travelling yesterday and while I was driving, I heard this song 'Bulla Ki Jaana Main Kaun'. Now I had heard very good reviews about this song - but you just have to listen the song to fall in love with the music. I heard it over & over again for atleast 5 hrs - so u could well imagine:)When I heard the song, I didn't understand half of it. Even though I am a 'punjabi kudi' the lyrics went way over my head. So right when I got back home, I searched for it's lyrics and english translation:)

The song goes....

Bulla ki jaana main kaun
Bulla ki jaana main kaun
Bulla ki jaana main kaun
Bulla ki jaana main kaun

Na main moman vich maseetan
Na main vich kufar dian reetan
Na main pakan vich paleetan

Na main andar bed kitaban
Na main rehnda phaang sharaban
Na main rehnda mast kharaban

Na main shadi na ghamnaki
Na main vich paleetan pakeen
Na main aaabi na main khaki

Na main aatish na main paun
Bulla ki jana main kaun
Bulla ki jana main kaun
Bulla ki jana main kaun
Bulla ki jana main kaun

Na main arabi na lahori
Na main hindi shehar Nagaori
Na hindu na turk pashauri

Na main bhet mazhab de paya
Na main aadam hawwa jaya
Na koi apna naam dharaya

Avval aakhar aap nu jana
Na koi dooja hor pacchana
Mai ton na koi hor syana

Bulle shah kharha hai kaun
Bulla ki jaana main kaun
Bulla ki jaana main kaun
Bulla ki jaana main kaun
Bulla ki jaana main kaun

Na main moosa na pharoah
Na main jagan na vich saun
Na main aatish na main paun
Na main rahnda vich Nadaun
Na main baitthan na vich bhaun
Bulle shah kharha hai kaun

Here is the the English Translation of Bulla Ki Jaana

Bulla ki Jaana
Bulla, I know not who I am
Bulla, I know not who I am
Nor am I the believer in mosque
Nor am I in idol worship
Nor am in the pure or the impure
Nor am I in the Vedas

Nor am I in the intoxicants
Nor am I in the carefree deviant
Nor am I union nor grief
Nor am I in the pure/impure
Nor am I of the water nor of the land
Nor am I fire nor air
Bulla, I know not who I am

Nor am I Arabic nor from Lahore
Nor am I the Indian city of Nagaur
Nor am I Hindu nor a Peshawari turk
Nor did I create the difference of faith
Nor did I create Adam-Eve
Nor did I name myself
Beginning or end I know just the self
Do not recognise ’’the other one’’
There’s none wiser than I
Who is this Bulla Shah
Bulla, I know not who I am

If you haven't heard it yet...do listen to it.

American Idol Finalist Mario Vazquez withdraws & Fardeen to get married

2005-03-14T14:39:00.000-05:00

...now that sure is sad:( He was one of my favorites, and he withdrew from 'American Idol' yesterday. But on the other hand, I am also glad that Nikko Smith is back in the show...I like him too. Now let's see who would be eliminated this week. I hope it won't be Nikko again - that would really not be good for him.
The other news that I just got...well, I guess I just read...is that Fardeen Khan is getting married next year to her girlfriend Natasha Madhvani. Natasha is Mumtaz's daughter. So I guess for all the Fardeen's fan's out there - one more bachelor goes down the drain....:)

Here I am

2005-03-11T18:43:00.000-05:00

So now when I have been asked by so many people to start my blog...here I am. The only reason I was not starting my own blog was that I was being lazy. It's always easy to go to other people's blogs and leave comments...rather than be a host & post comments...Oh well...I'll try.
I don't think I would be revealing my real self here...well, maybe someday...when I get familiar with this blog world. I am not sure what kind of posts will I be posting on here...we'll see...so welcome to my BLOG!