A statistic

A news channel reports that while Americans spend 10% of their disposable income on food, Indians spend 40% - thats a big gap!

Past week

It was one long week, was such a drag to be home alone!

A nice day, today!

Today is a beautiful day outside. Its not that cold, the trees are very colorful outside my house, in fact they are bright yellow and red. The surrounding streets are strewn with leaves yellow, red and brown. There is a slight breeze that is further scattering the leaves. Just brings a smile on your face.

Snif! snif!

I used to be a very emotional and empathetic kid (I still am, ask my husband), and whenever I sang this poem I would feel bad and weep for the piggy....

Piggy on the railway, picking up stones,
down came an engine and broke piggy's bones,
Ah! said the piggy, thats' not fair,
Oh! said the engine driver, I don't care.

That reminds me that I used to also watch a program on Doordarshan (I was very young!), I don't remember anything from that serial, it was a kid's show, but just the song sequence for which I would cry once again. Its a Telugu play and goes like this:

A tiger is threatening to kill and eat a cow, and the cow is very sad because it has a hungry calf which is waiting for her. The cow pleads and sings (I doubt if lyrics are right as my Telugu is bad):

"puli raaja! puli raaja! champaku, champaku, puli raja,
naak-oka dooda undhi,
daniki paalu-ichostanu.................."

Tiger! please dont kill me, I have a calf, which is waiting for me, I will give it some milk and come....

and if I am not wrong the cow gives the calf milk and comes back and I think the tiger is moved and lets the cow go. Man! that was touching :)

I don't believe I remember this! I wonder if any one else remembers it..? My mom tells me something called bommalla tv used to come on DD and this program might have been a part of it.

And finally the song in Mr. Natwarlal sung by Amitabh himself (snif! snif!); at that point I hadn't even seen this video nor understood the meaning but the song touched me:

A Kiwi ad

Do read the captions...

Prayer

When ever I have been down I have personally re-gained a lot of strength by praying. Well I know each of us have their way of recharging their batteries. But once I pray, the inner - peace that I feel cannot be described. Well I will be lying if I don't say there are days when even the concentration and will power to pray totally died in me, but thats when I absolutely hit rock bottom. But more often that not I have re-bounded from somewhere half way through before touching that rock bottom .

I find it very hard to answer the question whether I am spiritual or religious. I feel I am both.

Vinod Khanna

Me being home alone this week I have been watching movies non-stop. Watched two of Vinod Khanna's movies Chandni and Qurbani and in both the movies he ends up sacrificing his love! sigh!

He is one good-looking actor!

Om Shanti Om - a suprise!

I finally went to see Om Shanti Om /OSO yesterday. I went obviously expecting the worst - Shah Rukh totally overacting and monotony yet again with a bunch of actors (as is common in most hindi movies these days) in that Diwangee song. Obviously the lesser the expectations you have, the lesser disappointed you are. I wouldn't say it was a great movie, but it was above average and a total entertainer.

Shah Rukh didn't seem monotonous to me, didn't show off his six-pack as much as I thought he would, I actually thought he looked good. Deepika Padukone was ok - did her job I guess. Arjun Ramphal looked great in the first half of the movie. I really liked the ending though when all the crew members appeared. And Gauri Khan looked very nice. Very surprised to see Amitabh Bachchan even though it was for a few seconds.

Absolutely stress free movie and didn't have to concentrate nor get all that bored (or maybe the second half was a bit of a drag, but well!)

All in all OSO surprised me. Yet to see Saawariya.

Infectious infections!

If laughter is infectious so is energy. I realized that yet again yesterday. Last evening I had a couple of acquaintances home who were an energetic bunch. And guess what it added that extra something to the quiet evening I was having.

2 minute noodles

What would I do without Maggi noodles? *

A tasty snack back home (so it used to be when times were simple :)) and now my lunch (when there are no dinner leftovers). Yet somehow I am not tired of it as yet. Today my personal record - had Maggi two days in a row - no I am not proud of it! Especially since my husband will be away on a work trip very soon I can foresee a mild eating disorder very soon :(

*Masala flavor to be specific

Talent or big for one's boots?

I saw couple of these on youtube the other day - Boogie-Woogie child talent quest. As much as I thought these kids were dancing very well with great expressions. Something made me a bit uncomfortable, on couple of songs chosen to dance on, like this one:

We need kids with talent to shine yes but not sure if it should be displayed by dancing to some vulgar songs with those *you know what* steps and expressions!

Not sure if I am being critical? Or is this a generation gap - me being conservative?! Phew! :)