can i facebook you?

in a city, where frankly there is no space. no space even for privacy. you get up in the morning, sans alarm, but by the sounds a. your neighbour having a shower and the geyser( i think thats what its called) making weird noises. or in the summer, birds chirping outside your fire escape. there arent that many trees in the city. and then in the traveling of trains. i recently reread a section of maximum city, where the writer meets a social activist and hes still very hopeful about mumbai since he describes the scene of the always extended hands, when the train is leaving hte platform. there are always pple that will extend their hand to get one more person on the train, despite it being cramped and sweaty. people understand your plight. here not so much, people will all cluster near the door, and will be exasperated at you, the person who is trying to push in. not always, but mostly. very rarely will someone try to hold the train doors for you. not to mention one shouldnt but still it is rare. and even when you are in the train, you can go days on days on being so physically near people but not even remembering their faces. i certainly dont remember.

maybe its not even the issue of space here, people need to be connected to one another superficially. twitter i can vouch is more so a craze in a city in new york rather than a city in utah or something. messages left for the world to know what you are upto, when most of the world really doesnt care. i happened to go to an alumni event today with my friend. i have been to a few alumni events and people who are actually good at networking immediately connect to the other person with their business card and the latest craze now is are you on facebook? you dont even need to preserve their card or pull out your phone and waste precious minutes keying in the number. all you need to connect to a person is their name. stupidly, im still holding out on facebook. i dont even remember to bring my business cards. and im terrible at small talk. i once spent an evening at a networking event talking about organizing an anti-networking club.

three days ago, i was out getting lunch and never has this ever happened in my life, but a guy stops me and compliments me and then asks if its okay to get my number. i declined and was in a bit of a shock. his reaction was like oh-ok dont worry about it and walked away. its become so casual that you can even stop pple on the street and ask them if they want to be connected to them. it amazes me. or in dubai where pple randomnly bluetooth pple in malls. i have friends who compare how many "friends" each us has on facebook. i'm not saying networking is bad or that one shouln't get to know as many people. because one should. the more pple you know the more you get to learn from them, the more you learn about life, about people's experiences. and perhaps the only thing you really need to start a conversation is your introduction, and that really is just your name.

Read more...

how about unabashadely bawling your eyes out?

i watched a pakistani serial called dorahay (cross roads ) last week. In fact, i was so hooked on to it that i watched all 14 episodes in one marathon session. its another thing that i wouldnt recommend this to anyone. since im so not cut out for pulling in all nighters anymore and definetly watching some huge heavy duty dram can totally alter your happiness. but it definetly is addictive. i think its the serial watching gene from my dad. well the good serial watching gene.

anyway the drama is pretty interesting about two mba students that come from different classes of society, the girl rich the guy not so much. the mother of the guy has already made up her mind that the guy will marry his cousin. in turn his cousin spends her whole childhood and teenage years dreaming about her marriage with the guy (her cousin). when he decides to marry his college sweetheart, things get extremely difficult with his mom. jealousy rears its ugly head, and the cousin, who happens to live next door starts creating a mess and misunderstanding. until finally the guy divorces his wife and gets married to the cousin, thanks to her conniving plan. the first wife remarries too, but this time too an abusive psycho controlling guy - she bears it since she doesnt want the stigma of another divorce. thankfully her parents find out and she gets divorced again. the first husband realizes how he screwed up his life and hers and is still in love with her so he ends up leaving the cousin and getting back with his first wife.

the story is so unbelievably real, the dialogues even better. it shows how unbeliveably capable each of us are in absolutely screwing up our lives. each of us can pick out something from this serial. i cried a lot while watching it. there are hardly any light moments in it. and there are many lessons to be learnt from this drama. one that never lose your independence, never trust anyone on face value, there is no such thing as the perfect guy, never ever let anyone treat you like you dont deserve respect, dont tolerate abuse in any fashion, always know what you are getting into - whether a job, a relationship, a marriage - always. never do harm to anyone coz it will come back and bite you in the ass. trust your gut feeling.

one of my favourite scenes is when she breaks down and tell the guy - that she doesnt care who came in the middle, he should have known better. i think that summarizes many reasons why a lot of relationships dont owrk. it never is about the third person, its always about the two pple in it. and the two pple should know better, should be able to say whatever and should be rock solid. it never really is like what you read in books.

Read more...

jugni chahdi ac car. jugni rehndi sheeshe paar

things have started to spiral more and more out of control. you hear about your friend of friends getting laid off. you then hear of friends getting laid off. and then you hear about street food cart vendors who make in a good year 100 bucks or so a day, now making just 50 bucks. you watch advertisements on tv telling you how others are saving up. your landlord calls you to remind you about your lease. you have recession specials at lunch. you see bilboards on crowded streets on movies that have already been screened and have actually flopped. and most of all when you screw up at work, you blow off dinner plans on a friday evening and you fret and fume in nervousness throughout the weekend.

in other news, im seriously considering going to dental school now considering how easy money it is. (ok grass is always greener on the ohter side). but what irks me, is the atrocious amount of money dentists charge here. and of course i understand theres no such thing as a good deal, but seriously why are your teeth considered the step child of your body. why is dental insurance so poorly covered. hell even medical is so expensive here. its just plain wrong. what riled me up actually was when my dentist told me i should just borrow the money for cosmetic procedures ( read braces, porcelain veneers) - when i asked her for viable financial options. i repeat cosmetic procedures, not healthy precautionary procedures - that one should do. WTH. the economy is in recession, dont you watch tv - is there no kind of dental hippocrates oath, where you are not coaxing the naive scared patient into taking such financial risk. ok, maybe i exaggerate, but my point is you can't just ask your patient to take a loan. it really doesnt make sense to me. maybe its me and not them. =)

the other day i was reading a forum where some dude, (i really hope its not real), but apparently when citi shares dropped to 7 bucks, he used his citi credit card to purchase the shares thinking he would make a quick buck. we all know what happened. and now the dude refuses to pay his card company saying until your (as in citi shares) dont go back up-he will not pay. its a vicious cycle of greed everywhere from the producer to the supplier to the consumer. if you can't afford something which is a luxury just don't buy it until you can.

to end with a good note. i just read this news . This gives you hope that all is not lost.=)

Read more...

pls dont judge me, i'm only trying.


there is a mosque on the east side some 20 blocks from where i live. in fact its only in the US that i realized that women actually go to the mosque, in the Gulf its really not the norm. but mosques here in the US are quite unique. even in a metropolitan like manhattan, things are so vastly different from what they show in the little mosque at the prairie.

so anyway today, i felt like going, i was going to be reading at a bookstore in that area and was like let me go do my Isha prayers there. i don't normally go and i forget why and today it reminded me why. there were about 20 men i would say in a hugely vast space and three women in this small closet like area, with a curtain. can't see a thing. basically an enclosed space. this is not how it is in mecca. we are all equal and all of us have the same right. well anyway, as i walk in, removed my shoes and decided to take them with me. when i walk into the women's area there was, at first, just one lady and she's like take your shoes and put in the box outside. i nod and just at that moment the azaan starts. and she just lunges at me and is like put your scarf on your head. and even goes to the extent to grab my shawl. at this moment, im just in shock. and politely and firmly i say - i can do it. after i return, she asks me did you pray sunnat already? after that i just felt so conscious, and i could actually feel her eyes boring into me. every motion i did.

im sorry i dont get it. i thought only God judges me. i dont understand why can't people let others be. why do you have to balk at someone who is trying, who is trying to find some peace, why do you spoil their moment by picking up their hand during prayer and motioning to them aggressively that wearing nail polish is no good. (that didnt happen to me but someone i know). just focus on your good deeds, on being a good person - please don't try to judge someone coz someone will judge you too one day.

Read more...

i heart andy mckee





my friends and i went to his amazing concert yesterday and it was just super super inspiring. i even got my camera and managed to take a few good pictures. i really wish he plays again in new york soon, i am so going to be there. and after watching his videos on youtube i felt like playing the guitar. and the thing is being so talented and gifted, he is soooo down to earth, humble and extremely funny. just an awesome awesome experience. i cannot stop gushing.

in other news, me and my classmates at guitar school may do a performance for student open mic night. perhaps this april or in july depending on how well we do.

here's his youtube video of my favorite drifting.

Read more...

it wasn't me i swear..everybody is looking for the monkey out there.

so i saw delhi 6, and whatever everyone says about the movie - i actually learnt something. (that doesnt say much about me) but apparently in 2001 there was the case of a "kala bandar" in delhi. where some "creature" was terrorizing highly populated areas. this is the best statement from an article in time magazine, published at that time. Says the secretary-general of the India Rationalist Association "People in India often find it difficult to distinguish between fantasy and reality." Who knew that there is an organization for just rationale people? =) Also, did they ever find the real monkey-man?

Read more...

"Diaper backward spells repaid. Think about it." -Marshall McLuhan

my sibling is expecting her first child next month, inshallah. its the first baby in our household and im excited, happy, nervous, tensed, a little overwhelmed and i would say a little nostalgic. all at the same time. im excited to be an aunt, of course a cool aunt at that. im excited to spoil the little tyke. im excited to be the aunt that everyone tells their secrets to, the aunt who will read wall street journal to tyke so he/she becomes super brainy and yes the aunt whose place kids want to spend their summer vacations at, since im so awesome and nice blah blah blah. yes allll that. but im nervous and tensed too since im scared about the whole painful labour that women have to go through. and i think my sibling is quite brave, although i dont tell her that too often (for good reason that) . i also feel a little nostalgic since this is it - this is a new generation coming in and their lives are not going to be the same anymore. our lives arent going to be the same anymore. its not going to be us and our crazy fights of pulling each others hair, we are all grown up now. well she more than me, but by default so am i, i guess. and now there is a big responsibility and one can't pick up their bags and head out spontaneously wherever and whenever. its the end of the nomadic life. (not that we have so much of a nomadic life, but at least one has the option ) but thats all in the past and this is the beginning of something. begininning of something better and something so selfless it amazes me day in and day out how people choose to have children and expect literally nothing in return from them. it totally is the most selfless job you can have and you tend to appreciate your parents more once you have been a parent. so they say.

well anyway, other than the baby shopping ( the gender of the baby is still a mystery), crib building, learning about which stroller has been recalled, which is the top parent pick..etc etc.

i have learnt that suddenly all these random aunties (and no not the cool aunty like yours truly but the aunties that try to fix you up with their 100 year olds sons - those kind of aunties) anyway they have been making a beeline for my sister. all of a sudden, they are concerned about whether shes eating right. and whether they can get her a chair to sit on. whether they can get her something to eat. and this is the best, whether they can throw her a baby shower - and really they barely know her. whats the catch, really? so anway the non cynical part of me wants to believe that yeh kaali daal nahin hai. but alas, guess what..they say apparently during labour, the mother should do dua since God listens to her prayers. more so coz she is in pain. I cant seem to find any verse on this and i dont know how much of this is hearsay or actually true, but these aunties believe it, and after much courting of my sister they land the masterpiece request

"acha beta, meri ek list hai - labour mein tum hogi na toh yei sab mere liyei dua kar lena" - wat the...! i have no words.

Read more...

so take the photographs and still frames in your mind.

so i restarted my guitar lessons again. and like everything in life, things seem sooo much better in the past. like how one dirham could get you a coke and a kit kat bar. and now one dirham cant get you basic gum. yes, those were the days. sigh. my first instructor was an overenthusiastic,a super encourager, so overtly happy and enthusiastic that i even contemplated whether she was just habitually stoned. yes, yes im not so much of a sunshiny-its-a-beautiful-day-person so i look onto them with great suspicion. jk. me and a friend would crib endlessly on the lines of "just let us play lady and stop interrupting us - the awesome guitarists that we are" (NOT).

so now i get the opposite, where the instructor is not so into "getting the chords right" - he doesnt tokofy you when you have problems switching between the chords or when i "don't strum all the strings" or when i dont curve my fingers ..etc etc. and granted i dont like being interrupted when im getting into it- i do think that when you are making a mistake, its good when someone is vigilant enough to care and correct you. sadness. but anyway we learnt some cool songs, which makes you feel a little good about yourself and make you hope that you arent a loser when your ultra slow strumming makes the song sound like everything but the song. i remember after our amateur performance last year, two guys in the elevator were like "okay that didnt sound anything like it". yes, we were forgettable to the extent where he didnt even remember that our group was the one performing and that we were all enclosed in that elevator together. so now im finally happy since the time of your life actually sounds like it should.

so,i hope you too have the time of your life.

Read more...

i never loved you anyway, im so happy you are moving awayyy.

the word space can mean anything to anyone. as much as im a city person, i sometimes miss having space. i dont want metres and metres of space - just a little more. so i dont step on your toe, so i can move my bag easily and not end up jamming it in your face. some mornings i just dont feel like going to work, all because of the crowded train. i get up 15 mins before i have to leave and go shit, the damn train is going to be crowded.. ok so, thats probably not the only reason where im going "shit". but it is one reason. and ever since the bust, property prices have dropped, yep even in the nothing-can-touch-us manhattan. so like a lot of pple i know, we are all in the quest of getting a little more, just a little more, space for a little less. so im not very keen on going the whole broker with fee route again, and paying them a pot full of gold for doing a simple google search. coupled with the fact that im ultra lazy, im so not into moving. i dont think the moving is the issue though, its just the packing and unpacking. how i wish i could outsource that. so in that aspect i should not move. but, i still have this very desi gene in me that thinks "kuch reh na jaye" so i do the whole song and dance thing with brokers and for the past two days i have seen such depressing appartments, that im reminded of my first days in new york. im not a fan of brick walls, they depress me. i dont find them chic or homey, i just find them dreary. white white walls anyday, thank you very much. and seeing a coakroach in the bathtub ( no matter how big the bathroom is) will not tempt me. yes, yes the appartment has been locked so we can expect some living creature to venture in. but that puts me off, im sorry. it just does. and having a big bathroom is indeed a luxury in the city, especially since my bathroom is compared to the bathroom on flights (and no i dont mean the deluxe emirates air bus bathrooms - which could actually be bigger than my apt) haha. and then the whole animals thing, its equivalent to seeing and adoreing from far but thats about it. i dont think i can stay in an apt that has had dogs or cats even. and i dont want to stay in an appartment that has a dog next door. can't deal with the stress of looking left and then right and then making a dash for the front entrance when i need to leave my appartment. hell, i dont evne look when im crossing the road. imagine the collision with a barking dog. shudder.

anyway moving is the new weather. you can always start a conversation with someone just based on that. coz in new york you are either moving, or you always know someone who is. if you think im fussy, i plead innoncence. a colleague actually has even more elaborate criteria than me. "it shoud have a dishwasher" (my reaction to that was - waitttttttt a minute you cook? - and then he looks at me and goes "err, yea, and you dont?" (like i was the crazy one). guilty as charged. refer to word lazy. and i guess the lack of cooking gene. once in a blue moon, the whole i feel like having ghar ka khana will strike me and ill end up making some elaborate biryani (which ends up ironically being - not bad- jiyo shaan masala) and will max me out for a while or ill end up making some burnt dal which will supress that whole cooking feeling for another few months. so anyways, yes, the dishwasher. just wash your plates dude. what chochlas. hahaha, i kid. im not a self dish washing fan either. go technology.

then theres the door man building criteria, which he had. i honestly dont care, of course not having one is sooo much cheaper than a building where someone opens the door for you and helps carry your groceries or whatever luggage you have and plus its safe, since everyone who enters the building is screened. and plus the door people are actually quite nice. i remember once it was snowing like crazy and some of the ice got into my eye and so i stopped in front of a doorman building and am going shit my eye my eye. and the doorman comes out and gives me some tissue. sweet. so, yes that is definetly an advantage. but im not fussy about it, sure it beats getting creeped out everytime your heater starts making weird hissing sounds - or when you lie awake all night after your friend's apt got mugged by a guy that came through the window. so yes, it helps to live in a super security building. but, i digress this isnt about being fussy. this is about wanting the basic things.

so in that aspect all i really want in my appartment is a little more space (as stated above), sunlight (real sunlight) not the light that reflects from someone else's neighbouring window. light that shines through making you feel happy that its a great day. or rain that you can see from your window while having a cup of coffee. so what i want is windows. windows that look on to the street, not some alley or worse someone else's appartment. there is such a thing as too much information, sadly people just dont get it. and........ an elevator, once you go elevator you cant go back to a walk up. there is no way in hell, that i will lug my desi style packed to the brim luggage five flights up. untill, i find all these perfect qualities in one apartment, i will stay put with what i have.

Read more...

sapnon sei bharei naina

they say first impressions are last impressions. i agree. there is a certain vibe that one gets from a person. im not saying good or bad, you can get a neutral vibe too. but when its good, you know. i dont know how, but you do. perhaps its a sixth sense. i dont know. a friend once told me, (too simplified for me), that everyone has a mental checklist of what they want in a spouse, and just by the magic of the human brain, you are able to compute, without the help of complex algorithms or calculators, almost immediately- within minutes whether you would be able to live with this person for the rest of your life.

Read more...

Onde Ponde Ghoomde Phirde, Is Duniyaa Vich Challe Oye

things that rile me up today

http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/Society/10280130.html

1) rich people balking on paying their gardners, give or take $80 dollars a month. "all on the oooh-its a global crisis, we have to cut back". yea you should cut back. cut back on your lavish dinners, outings, your gazillion cars that just pollute - try car pooling, or even better take the bus, cut down all your omigod-i-need-the-new-iphone-craze. not someone's livelihood. have a brain. and a heart.

2) rental prices in my beloved bankrupt dxb. i will still love you no matter how poor you become. heres a dekko.

http://www.gulfnews.com/Nation/Housing_and_Property/10276330.html

so i looked over the property prices for a measly studio. and at the lowest end is the yearly rate of 35K AED. (approximately 10K USD). upfront. and this isnt even in the heart of the city, forget living in posh areas or in a skyscraperish building, giving you the view of the sea from some obscure corner of your house (usually your bathroom ).

ok granted, dubai is relatively tiny compared to say, i dont know texas. but my rent in texas was 1000 bucks a month for a 2 bedroom/2 bath appartment. why are they milking people so much i have no idea. and the salaries arent noteworthy at all. my first job in Dubai i wouldnt been able to afford a studio on that rent. you can do the math. granted, i was just an intern. and it was before dubai went all crazy on raising the rent. just long enough for people to madly raise it, and then when things went out of control they put a cap. and now when property prices have fallen, they want to increase it again. this is totally bs. but salaries haven't been inflated as much, and a vast majority of people are still making less than 1000 dollars a month, and so they cannot afford to live in a basic stuido. a studio is shared by two, three and sometimes four people.

i live in a studio now, and i find it small by myself. and if say five pple are standing in my kitchen, it can give you claustrophobia. im not kidding. so this really really riles me up. just coz people have to make money and therefore they suck it up and stay with these conditions and they cant afford to complain, it doesnt mean they are happy. shouldnt the overall governemnt care about the happiness of these people? shouldnt everyone at least be paid so much that that they can afford to live in a basic studio. or shouldnt the prices of studios be affordable so that everyone can afford to live in one. and then they wonder why supply is so much greater than demand. and why they are going bankrupt. (i still love you)

3) slumdog millionaire mania.
first of all, its a good movie, its not the most awesome movie ever written. but thats okay, the oscars/golden globes aren't the pathar ki lakeer. so its great, that it got nominated coz it has desi actors and technicians. and yes barring the main director and the producers everyone else is indian. so thats still something good for india. so props to the team. and yes, it doesnt show india in the most awesome light. but no one can say that its not the truth. yes its not the whole truth, not everything in india is like what they show. but it is someone's truth. in fact a big slice of the people's truth. bollywood movies on the other hand, show a way tiny sliver of the truth. im sorry but regular people cant go on euro rail, or drive racer bikes for con operations, or do a dance performance in the alps. so im sorry mr bachchan. and guys slumdog is a slang word. at least to me, its a mixture of slums and underdog. and believe me no one i know has had any problems being called an underdog. so stop getting all preindependance-british-called-us-dogs. news flash british have left. and the only one calling u a dog, is you with your own banner signs. so stop all this morcha nonsense. and honestly, not the slums but your propaganda is giving india a bad name. ok wait that also is.


things that im confused about.

so air india have bit the bullet and have started weekly flights from dxb to srinigar. all for 99 AED. (~$27) one way. quite cheap i think.
I honestly dont know what to feel about it. i mean i dont even know if this is even a debateable thing. its good in a way since the tickets are cheap, a lot of people will now want to go there and then take a local flight to their homes. so its good tourism or commuter i would say business for srinigar. and perhaps a very good thing for the whole area. which has seen a lot of crap. but its also a quick getaway thing, as everyone and thier mom knows. dubai - which i never knew until recently, is really the getaway place for gangsters and their moms. in the book maximum city, the writer writes on how lot of these shooters when they do a job to disappear from india, go straight to dubai, and then cool their heels. they are well taken of. they have a flat, they go for movies, they blend into the city - a city full of expatriates and a city that minds its own business. but they get bored and itch to go back to india again. when i read this it shocked me, and when i would see a lone guy sitting in a cinema hall i did think of it. maybe im taking suketu mehtas word for everything, but im just saying it could be a bad thing as well. so im two sided. good that it might ease tensions when you have so many pple commuting to that region, bad since it may become easier for the wrong pple to blend in.

things that im happy about today

that tommorow is a friday. oh how i love you friday. you are so dependable and you shine your grace on me every week. life is about appreciating the small things. =)

have a good weekend, all.

Read more...

"Amor Vole Fe" — Love Needs Faith

What easy used to be

What love used to be

What drugs used to be

What TV used to be

What music used to be

What luck used to be

What art used to be

What you used to be.

Comma drama, come on drawl your skin your mile longer, love song, sure it tells the future, fingers crushed and run 'em under water, shark-infested sea of secrets, in the open fire beat it, broke it, don't believe it, just keep it in it's box.

What the city used to be

What fun used to be

What dreaming used to be

What fame used to be

What fast used to be

What low used to be

What New York used to be.

- The Kills, What New York used to be.

so this weekend i went to the metrop. musuem of art in the city. they are open till 9 pm on weekends. its just awesome, i dont know any mususem anywhere in the world which is open tilll late. new york is truly s a city that does not sleep =).

they had a special exhibition on art & love in renaissance italy. and thats the first wing i saw. i have to say i m not an art expert, but i do appreciate the energy, time and talent that it takes to make a painting. these are paintings which are 3 centuries or more old, so there is definetly an appreciation for people who tried to preserve some of their lives for posterity so beautifully.

and just like today, paintings are the luxury of the rich. and thats exactly what the paintings give insight into, basically the private life of the rich during the 14th and 15th century. there were paintings, jewelery, glassware, that depicted marriage, engagement, courtship, childbirth, parenthood and even adultery. and its pretty amazing that one can learn so much about another culture/period through their paintings.

what i never knew was that the whole practice of dowry is not an asian thing. and is actually borrowed from the europeans and it was existent in 14th century in italy. mumbai, itself, was part of a dowry from the portugese to the british. and i find it pretty weird that the whole system of dowry is traced all the way back to the entire city.

it got me thinking (yes i have way too much time on my hands (NOT)).what happens now exactly? who pays for what in the west? traditionally, the bride's family pays for most of the expenses. this is perhaps a watered down version of the archaic tradition of the dowry system in the early centuries. of course, its no typical dowry as the conventional desi sense. bungla, ghari, motor-wotor ecetra. no such thing. just wedding expenses. although lately a lot of people have moved away from tradition, rightfully so, and now the couple's family divides the expenses equally. and even better, is that some of my friends who got married split the costs between each other, without having their parents contribute at all.

so like the change that has occured in the west, im guessing another 100 years before dowry gets abolished from india. hopefully sooner. recently an article came out in times of india, about a village in kerala, that has pledged to be a dowry free village. that is change. but then you hear about some guy in lucknow shaving his wife's head because of insufficient dowry. and then you think change is so far off. some 6,000 women get killed every year due to dowry demands. it shocks me, its so wrong. so unbelievably wrong. i was recently watching kiran bedis new show on tv, aap ki kacheri, it gave me a splitting headache. the case was pretty simple, two women, sisters, and their fight with their mother in law. who apparently thinks, acha nahin lagta if they go out of the house. so the girls, cannot work and have imposed reclusion at home. and in betweeen their arguments, the mother in law tosses insults like kuch nahin leikar aye types. like its her god given gift. the husbands are even a bigger disgrace. even kiran bedi herself was pissed. she quite smartly was also able to pick out that one of the girls actually got married as a child. and so sonei peh suhaga child marriage too. ridiculous.

i know these are just thoughts and i know i dont have the capacity to change the world and most of the time these are fleeting thoughts. thoughts that make you feel you should do something, thoughts that make you feel guilty for not doing anything. but you forget coz you get involved in your life. but when you do remember you try - you try with small steps. you try to help people who you know and who you think you can help. people who are around you. you might not be able to help everybody. but you try with one person someone who may listen to you. little by little you change their thinking and hopefully others see that and will follow.

Read more...

from chandni chowk to china..kyun dekhi yei picture mujhei nahin samaj aaina

ok so lets just say my title gives away my feelings for this movie. i was reading akshay kumar's apparent invitation to amitabh bachchan on watching this movie and he asks him to leave his brains at home. i would like to add just leave yourself at home as well.

ok so the story is pretty simple in a complicated way.haha. theres this goofy good for nothing guy (akshay kumar) who works as a chef for mithunda (his adoptive dad or something like that). anyway so hes in chandni chowk and theres this oppressed village in china who are looking for their saviour, who has been reincarnated in the form of akshay kumar. The villagers come to india from china. there is no relevant explanation on why they think akshay kumar is their reincarnated hero, it almost looks like they pick up the first desi dude they find. then theres ranvir shorey doing the sidekick-bad-guy-will-turn-into-good-guy role, apparently hes half chinese in the movie. and lets not forget the leading lady(ies) deepika padukone in her first double role- wait does omshantiom count as a double role? anyway shes half chinese in this movie too (i have no idea how they can even get away with saying that?) anyway this is a hindi movie so basically her double role consists of playing a sidekick to bad guy, and the other one consists of a tv shopping network celebrity of some sorts. theres this whole angle where the bichrofied sisters are united with their dad who lost his memory thanks to the bad guy (played by Gordon Liu).

i think akshay kumar has done so many similar goofy roles, that its just getting repetitive. and i want to like him but i cant. its just boring. i like mithunda, so no comments there. he can just sit there and stare at the screen and hell still get my support. the rest are bleh. i have absolutely no idea what nikhil advani, the director was thinking. copying from boring asian-english movies is not smart. be like the abbas mastan guys and copy from movies that actually will impress. and i have absolutely no idea what warner brothers were smoking while deciding to finance this movie.

my rating : -1/5.

here's another glorious review by blogger ashraf

Read more...

yei shehar nahin..mehfil hai

so this month is the month where no one absolutely no one will be out of the office, since this is a do or die month. the die signifying the typical, my sister's favorite phrase, haath ko aya par moon na laga, i.e the bonus that you are so close to but so far away from. (some will argue- what bonus? especially when a certain bank announced that the pool is down by 90%). but this is cruel though to be laid off a week before. so a friend at work, spread the "rumor" that tommorow associates and analysts are going to be axed at a certain bank. since i have friends at that bank, i freaked out and then my chinese whispers extended to a flurry of text messages. apparently there is no smoke with no fire. and everythign is a wait and watch. for tommorow. but till then we have today, and so today afternoon this news comes out.

seriously a million bucks spent on interior decoration is so not cool, especially when pple are losing so much money.this makes me so mad. they behave like chindi chors for a couple of bucks when you want to stay at a hotel closer to campus but they have no qualms paying out pathetic amount of money (practically one person's salary) on a rug, especially when things are bad. thats just wrong. im sorry its not socialistically wrong. its just wrong. any way you look at it.

and why did no career counselor ever tell us that being the driver of an executive is so lucrative.

damn.

so then i read this other piece of news today, where michelle obama encourages the middle class to become teachers and nurses and not chase after money, and be dabofied in loans paying them off till your 40s when you are supposed to be saving for your kids. and she says its only coz of the president's best selling books that they are actually okay financially. i dont believe that for a minute. and i dont know if i agree with her statement, the whole american model of success, is built on the whole idea that the middle class can now afford to go to colleges and universities and build a future for themselves, which includes expensive things. which sadly require money. the actual idea being, you can make yourself financially better off given the opportunity. and this shouldnt be the priviledge of the rich. the american system gives you that opportunity. that being said, the world needs more teachers and nurses. and if it were left to me, they would be the people who would be getting a bonus this year, and yes - i would throw in a rug or two.

Read more...

barack hussein obama became the 44th president of the US today. and like the rest of the world today, i am hopeful

Read more...

yei new york hai merei yaar, bas ishq mohabat pyaaaaar.

i have been having those moments where im like omigod i have to blog this. this is usually when im work and i can do anything but blog. no thats not true, i cant google/yahoo/aim or anything or check personal email. sad. anyway, work goes fine, apparently the situation is now such that the markets are so bad that people are apparently sick of bad news that it doesnt affect them anymore. and frankly no one cares, no one is looking at their 401 K accounts and whats another 1 billion when Abu Dhabi fund is facing a 125 billion loss. How the hell they manage to blow up so much money is beyond me.

anyway, i have joined the microfinance club at work. so far they need people who write well and can interview high profile executives. i think im too unskilled for the job. no seriously. i am. i honestly dont know why i want to get into microfinancing, people who are usually in this have a solid idea. I haven't even started to read Yunus's Creating a world without poverty book. I just know that i want to do something good. i just know that I want to do something meaningful. especially when everything related to finance is equated to corruption. hell, even good ole desis in IT are now looked with suspicion. ok this is all in my head. desis are those diligent worker bees and barring desi politicians they are the only glimmer of hope for our country. i mean im the firm believer indian schools, indian corporate houses work work work and work hard. Im willing to bet all my full year salary that the CBSE system is much harder than British American education system. I know this since when I started undergrad, everyone (all desis) in my class found everything a breeze and had been coding since 7th grade. even if i studied all night i would never reach that level. the schools work their students to the extreme. the corporates work their workers to the limit. when i was back in dubai, in a firm full of desis, mostly mumbaites who play the game, and know the game. i would be the first one to leave and would be looked on as a slacker. and would be made to feel like crap coz of it. but ironically here im the last. and thats only coz im desi and the others arent. =) hahaha. but i dont let anyone feel bad for having a life. theres a big difference. and my whole belief is that the only thing stopping us from ruling the world is a way out of control population and scheming conniving politicians. oh and religious facists.

at least i thought so before the satyam scandal broke loose.

i dont know how this will affect outsourcing in the long run. maybe it will be okay two months down the road, maybe worse - who really knows. But, at least i now know that there is a crook for every geek. Worse comes to worst, multinationals will move to china, there was an article on this in businessweek. It might be bad in the short run and good in the long run. I have always been very two sided about this whole call center mushrooming in India. As much as Im a fan of put on accents, thats not really my bone of contention. I think call centers are dumbing down the nation. I know, a very controversial statement to make. Since, its brought out a lot of boom in the country, now 20 somethings dont have to wait till their 40s to actually spend money. They hang out at baristas, have fancy dinners, enjoy going to multiplexes and can afford to buy a car etc. they are making good money relatively to someone who spent years in uni doing post grad. but i will still argue, making money so, relatively easy, will be the achilles heel. a cousin of mine didnt graduate and decided screw college, let me get into call centers. he is doing well for himself, i wont argue with that. not everyone who goes to college is successful. but his brother now is tempted to the same, and drop his first choice of law. another way to see it, if you have money down the road, you can actually go back and do whatever you want - that which you couldnt get into due to lack of money - be it a post MBBS surgical residency or a film school. and after accumulating money you can go back and do it. and if you never went back, then you simply werent interested in it and is there any point in doing a degree in it in the first place?
or perhaps the time has passed and who really wants to be 25 sitting with a bunch of 18 year olds.

khayr, i pass no judgement, i just give my opinion.

Read more...

have you ever wondered where the story ends and how it all began?

disclaimer: this is a completely random post.

so first things first, wishing everyone who reads/stumbled on this blog a very very happy new year.. May the year bring you whatever you wish for and more.

I was away the last 10 days on my super short holiday (ok new years resolution: no complaining. no whining) , at least i got a vacation, which is a big thing. So I visited the UK for 4 days, mainly Leicester, Lake district and Birmingham. after that it was a 4 day stop over in dubai. UK is super laidback its unbelievable and i dont know what recession people are talking about coz the days after christmas, all the stores were chaotic, like you would think the stuff was for free the way people were shopping. after christmas, and they werent being cheapos like us picking up holiday cards at 50% to be used in 2009. hahah. but quite a few desis doing that, we all think alike. it may just be genetic.


i ended up sitting next to a guy from tzakistan (sp) on the plane who got terribly offended that i had not heard about the city hes from. For a moment I felt like whats his problem, but then it occured to me, I feel irriated too when people dont know what Dubai is. He then proceeded to show me all his pappers, his admission letter to college. I was quite shocked as to how pple can be so open.

Anyway Leicester, I didnt see much apart from looking at trees and brick houses worth millions of pounds and which incidentally are owned by cabbies. yes, that is the hot profession for the year. =). i kid u not. i think i may have taken some pictures, will post a few.

Birmingham, is desi town, and all desis look alike. The desi girls/ladies,all super thin and have 1 kilo of make up on, and something which i observed and thought was pretty great was how people wore their salwar suits bindaas in malls, that too the young young generation, whereas here in US even in very desi-ish localities like Queens, you wont see too many pple in salwar suits. The desi guys all look like SRK in Rab ne Bana di jodi. They all have the same hair cut, maybe better dressing sense.

Lake district is the place one should go if they want to get away from it all. We stayed in those lodges in the middle of mountains, with no internet connection and cell phones connection and a 12 inch size tv. its the antitech and i was totally loving it.

Dubai, nothings changed really in terms of infrastructure. A new mall has popped up again and has an aquarium inside,which honestly is pretty neat. The bad news is that dubai is on the verge of being bankrupt, and had to ask Abu Dhabi for help. The effect isnt immediate but a lot of pple have been laid off at banks and real estate companies, people who had taken loans be it personal, home, car loans and now can't afford to pay back the loans, so apparently they leave. Some huge number of cars were found at the airport with the key in the ignition. The situation will be even more grave in Dubai than in the US, since its a smaller country and made up of expats who take personal loans to actually build a house in their home country and for the Dxb govt to actually take possession of that will get messy and Im not sure if there are any laws that will help. jo hoga dekha jayega. a friend of mine who gave up his job in the US to move to Dxb, now cant find a job no one is hiring.

Me and doctorsaab (aka as my mom) finally did the road trip of Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah. And since we dont have a GPS system in Dubai, we relied on highly built up places from the internet. So we ended up driving around aimlessly in Ras Al Khaimah. Considering it was new years, the park, the mall all were empty. And Fujairah, an older version of Dubai, definetly pretty was a bit shady I thought. We ended up eating at a dhaba and everyone kept staring at us. Finally we decided to ask someone, anyone kya hai at least to see in Ras Al Khaimah. We see a pathan walking on the road, we stop the car and motion to me. Heres how the conversation
went.

me: Khan saab, Ras Al Khaimah ki beach kahan hai
Pathan: Beach, toda paani hai wahan par, jidhar bachei shaam ko kheltei hai. Par aisi koi beach nahin hai.
me: Ras Al Khaimah, mein dekhnei kei layk kya hai
Pathan: Kuch bhi nahin, hum logh khud pareshaan hai. Dubai wapis chalei jao. Kuch bhi nahin hai yahan par. Chalei jao wapis (im sure he wanted to add aur hamein bhi lei chalo)

and so, we drove back home.

Read more...

aditya ne bana di kaisi movie

ok so i saw rab ne bana di jodi and lets just the storyline borders from downright stupid to implausible to just plain annoying. and in all honesty i thought the ending credits was the only good thing in the movie. i cant believe this is the same filmmaker who made dilwale dulhania le jayenge ( not my absolute favourite but sure after that movie a lot of girls thought they would meet their anjana koye on euro rail (i knew pple like this) and sure im also guilty of thinking that your guy will be a hero battling everyone for you - thanks to ddlj)

so the story is based on this simpleton who falls in love with his professor's daughter on her mehendi day or something. and in true filmy fashion, tragedy strikes, her to be groom dies and her father, on his dying bed, asks her to marry his favourite student, the simpleton. so far we can stomach. yes, i have sat through worse stuff. so i have a good amount of garbage hindi movie stamina. so, nothing new in here. this all happens within the first 10 mins - and im thinking good they didnt stretch the cliche, now we can get to the story. so then it starts where the simpleton tries to woo his wife (played by a newcomer), but he does not do it by being normal and just doing simple sweet romantic things that will make one fall in love with their husband but by get this - having a makeover (read tight clothes and highlighting hair) and behaving like a flirtatious bufoon. i know im not the only one who found the whole " taani pardner" irritating as hell. How in the world could she end up falling in love with a weirdo like that, its just beyond me. and when anyone with one fading blind eye can make out its the same guy just with a new hairstyle and clothes but HE is the same person. i also wonder how he managed to get the highlights out of his hair, in literally five mins. i need the fake raj's hairdresser. anyway so since this is a hindi movie and the heroines and villains in desi movies have collective iqs of -1, they cant see the obvious. so lets just take that a given. but, the end reaction just made me go a little mad, when she finds out that the bufoon and the simpleton are the same guy (ie shahrukh khan) she goes all lovey-dovey and is like omigod you love me so much, i nearly pulled out all my hair (ok gross exaggeration - but you get the drift). first of all if this ever happened ot me, i would be freaked out at my husband's split personality not be omigod you are so amazing.
you are just frickin scary.

but then again, thats just me.

my rating: 1/5 ( i would have given it 2 if it were, hmm..., some sidey hero...like that desh drohi guy (hahah ok mean) .but its shahrukh khan and aditya chopra..and they really should know better)

Read more...

mein jahan rahoon. kahin bhi rahoon. yaad saath hai.

so im no intellectual. not even the pseudo-intellectual types. i like things which make sense and somehow make some connection with me. im loving maximum city by suketu mehta. i just started reading it, and each paragraph so far is like a gem in its own. what stands out for me so far: the epiphany that one has staring at oneself in the mirror but not really looking at yourself, one or perhaps two major life altering events ,that happen to everyone, and that will ultimately change what you become, forever. and my favourite jahan bhi jao, kitnei bhi dur, par ghum phir kei wohi pohch jaana. =)

getting back to the book. will return to blog some more.

Read more...

just keep on bouncing

so it snowed today, the first snowfall of the year. sitting on the 20th floor, right near the window. snow looks very much like white candyfloss. yep, i know thats random. i was itching to take a picture, espeically since i had my new camera in my bag - but i didnt since i didnt want to really attract attention and besides i dont know if im allowed to take pictures.

anyway, this year's sucky airline award goes to virgin atlantic. im handing out this award to them, before even flying with them. yes, im biased. so, ever since this whole chaos at work has started, im thinking that going for two weeks of vacation is not a good idea (god i miss those times where 2 weeks was considered short). especially when i want to ask for vacation in april. so i wanted to cut my trip short by a week, i feel sad already. anyway i call them and their automated system is a little funky, sometimes the only way to get someone human on the line pronto is to pretend you are flyign first class, sadly once you actually do get someone to talk to they quickly lose interest in you. anyway, so they connect me to at first guess, india, the support guy puts on this heavy american/british accent - god knows what it was. even though he knows im desi and speak in a very normal accent. i really dont get the whole pretending thing, in his defense his accent didnt slip once and remained this weird hybrid kind of thing. anyway they dont have too many routes and the only way i can get a cheap ticket in december if im willing to travel on dec 31st, jan 1st and dec 25th. and i cannot transfer the ticket to my relative, in case i dont want to use it. i dont understand why airlines care about who uses your ticket as long as they get their income it should be okay. but no that would mean being fair, and as of this second its not a fair world.

in other news, the latest scandal to hit the market is the Madoff Ponzi scandal. Here's a recap, super exclusive catered only to super rich people fund goes up in smokes, the returns the fund was supposedly generating was actually funded by new investements to the firm. I dont understand how people can do so much jhol and not feel guilty. Its unbelievable. Here is what I think, I could be totally wrong. As per what I have read. He says he acted alone, I highly doubt that 50 billion dollars is not a joke and theres no way you can pull off something like that so surreptitiously. This may signal the end of the hedge fund secrecy and frankly the end of the hedge fund era. No sane person will invest in anything that isnt transparent enough, just because its giving good returns. No sales person should be allowed to sell anything based on historical returns. More bailouts will happen, since everything is so connected, and jumbled up (lack ofbetter word). There isnt just one madoff around, there has to be some other ponzi schemes going on. I wont be surprised if someone else confesses, probably wont be as big of an amount but still high enough. People are going to start buying bigger mattresses to now store their money under. What a ridiculous time to be in banking. Its almost like a swear word.

Read more...