Rent-a-Paparazzi

I read somewhere that one can actually hire Paparazzis to feel like a celebrity. A basic package starts from $249 where in a couple of Paparazzis can follow you around and make you feel special, with a few heads turning and wondering who the celebrities are, and perhaps this can also get you past the long line, at an over crowded club Friday night!

.. new business concepts!

.....

Friday night we were off to a friend's place to watch the cricket match and sadly I fell asleep and didnt watch it cos I had a late night previous night Good we won. We tried two new restuarants. Friday night finally went to India Palace in Chelmsford and hogged Indian Chinese which was quite good. (Dont have to wait for a reason to goto NJ every time ;) though Ming is very good , this is close).

Satday lunch we went to Udupi Bhavan and had thali. It was very good too. Then religiously watched Happy Days (my husband and friends we were hanging out with were from CBIT) so had fun watching it and ate Cold stone ice cream. Ice cream after a very long time. I liked how they prepare the mix in front of you at that place. In New Zealand every Friday was ice cream day at work and I fell in love with mint with choco-chips flavor there. I brought it home and planning to enjoy it today!

So last two days all I did was eat :)

:)

The other day I was a little low and my husband very sweetly played this for me :)

Life in a Metro - In Dino

Lyrics of In Dino

(in dino, dil mera, mujhse hai keh raha
tu khaab saja, tu ji le jara
hai tujhe bhi izaazat, karle tu bhi muhabbat - 2) - 2

(berang si hai badi zindagi kuchh rang to bharoon
main apani tanahaayi ke waaste abbb kuchh toh karoon) - 2
jab mile thodi fursat - 2, mujhse karle muhabbat
hai tujhe bhi izaazat, karle tu bhi muhabbat

(usako chhupaakar main sabse kabhi le chaloon kahin door...
aankhon ke pyaalon kse pita rahoon usake chehre ka noor) - 2
iss jamaane se chhupakar - 2, puri karloon main hasrat
hai tujhe bhi izaazat, karle tu bhi muhabbat - 2
in dino, dil mera, mujhse hai keh raha
tu khaab saja, tu ji le jara
hai tujhe bhi izaazat, karle tu bhi muhabbat - 2

Irony!

I was checking my Gmail and in the header part of the inbox , they seem to call it 'web clip' had the following:

Entertainment News: Lilly Allen has suffered a miscarriage

I know we have heard of a lottttttt of Celebrity mishaps, but this statement just made me sigh, as to how weird it is to phrase this piece of news as 'entertainment news'

'Every man is a fool in some man's opinion'

People amuse me more than anything/anyone in this world! :)

To each his own!

I am Bourbonette!

I miss Bourbon biscuits. However I don't eat them as I used to back home (It is available in India stores). I thought Oreo could be a good substitute. But Oreo has its place and so does Bourbon. I thought its worth dedicating a post in the blog to my dearest and favorite cookie, which reminds me of home and childhood days.

BTW I googled Bourbon and guess what I found on BBC website:

Bourbon Biscuits The chocolate bourbon cream is the single most perfect object known to man. Such is the enthusiasm for bourbons that new words have been invented to describe fans of the biscuit, such as:

• Bourboneers - a group of bourbon eaters
• Bourber - a bourbon eater (masculine)
• Bourbonette - a bourbon eater (feminine)

For the benefit of those outside the bourbon distribution area, a bourbon cream is two rectangular biscuits roughly 3cm x 6cm, and 5mm in depth, on either side of an oval of chocolate goo which never spills out from the sides of the biscuit¹. This chocolate invention has created many schools of thought depending on the personality of the consumer. For example:

How to Eat a Chocolate Bourbon Cream

The Traditional Method

Some gorge on the bourbon in the same way you would eat, say, a digestive, though some bourbers would argue this demotes the bourbon to mere 'everyday biscuit' status and labels it fit only for dunking purposes.

Scrape Method

• First, the top biscuit is removed and eaten whole. The body thinks, 'Okay, a chocolate bourbon biscuit without goo.'

• The body therefore releases its own sugar rush to compensate.

• Imagine the body's surprise when the bourber scrapes the goo with his/her bottom teeth.

• The double rush of chocolate renders the scrape-style bourbon eater in chocolate heaven.

• Once this rush is achieved the scraper will never go back to the traditional way of bourbatious mastication.

• The increased glucose in the body seriously hampers said person for life

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A244946 for more details - Die hard fans some of them! :)

Of clowns

Have you seen a clown up-close? I have not and I am not complaining. Ages ago when I was really young I went to a circus in Hyderabad, but don't remember anything specific. After that it has only been on television that I have seen clowns. I was reading this article on Stuff and then I was happy it was finally out in the open that a majority of people (at least New Zealanders) do not like clowns and are also afraid of them. And I share this feeling. I some how do not find any thing funny about them, they actually make me a bit antsy

The Brook

I come from haunts of coot and hern, I make a sudden sally And sparkle out among the fern, To bicker down a valley. By thirty hills I hurry down, Or slip between the ridges, By twenty thorpes, a little town, And half a hundred bridges. Till last by Philip's farm I flow To join the brimming river, For men may come and men may go, But I go on for ever. I chatter over stony ways, In little sharps and trebles, I bubble into eddying bays, I babble on the pebbles. With many a curve my banks I fret By many a field and fallow, And many a fairy foreland set With willow-weed and mallow. I chatter, chatter, as I flow To join the brimming river, For men may come and men may go, But I go on for ever. I wind about, and in and out, With here a blossom sailing, And here and there a lusty trout, And here and there a grayling, And here and there a foamy flake Upon me, as I travel With many a silvery waterbreak Above the golden gravel, And draw them all along, and flow To join the brimming river For men may come and men may go, But I go on for ever. I steal by lawns and grassy plots, I slide by hazel covers; I move the sweet forget-me-nots That grow for happy lovers. I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance, Among my skimming swallows; I make the netted sunbeam dance Against my sandy shallows. I murmur under moon and stars In brambly wildernesses; I linger by my shingly bars; I loiter round my cresses; And out again I curve and flow To join the brimming river, For men may come and men may go, But I go on for ever. Alfred Lord Tennyson

Carom board

During my school days Carom boards kept kids occupied to a large extent. I remember myself playing on it every single day one season. It was an obsession and passion, there were fights and tears, name calling, cursing and prayers - it had it all :) But everyone forgot all the enemity once the session was over - thank god!

I remember there were two games we primarily played - I forget what they were called. But one was dividing ourselves in two teams and one takes the white coins and the other black, and the Queen should have a follow up coin to win. Then the other was point based. Every coin (basically just 3 coins black, white and queen) was given a value and the one who in the end has the maximum is the winner.

I miss caroms, we did try to buy one before my In-laws arrived, but some how did not manage to get one. Someone mentioned it was $100 in an Indian store and a decent sized board costs the same on Amazon. Hmm, I will be on the hunt for a good deal!

Godfather

I completed the Godfather series recently and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I had seen Part 1 many times, but never got around to 2 and 3. Godfather by Mario Puzo, is also my favorite book. I follow a policy of usually reading the book first and then watching it and obviously the book is usually better than the movie most of the times. But Godfather movie lives up to the book and my imagination.

I did not realize that the young Vito Corleone (in part 2) is actually Robert Di Niro who looked so handsome I thought. Very few movies you feel so very bad for the main characters of the movie when they are involved in Mafia, violence and killing. In fact two kinds of movies I simply do not watch are Horror movies and movies based on some violence. This one is an exception. Al Pacino acted so very well especially in Part 3 when he gets a stroke and the final death scene; I was in tears.

I am going to go on and on about it for a few days I think ....

:)

I reacted very well today, to something I would have been a bit disappointed otherwise/in the past. I have done a lot of thinking past 1 month or so. I know what really matters now and what does not. I know the people who really matter to me and who do not. There is more clarity in my thinking. And trust me its a great feeling :) I maybe behind some people my age in understanding this. But its never too late eh?

Fresh veges

Nothing can beat the feeling of cooking using fresh vegetables. It is a bit tiring to cut vegetables if your not in the mood at times, a bit time consuming actually. But its a good step to healthy eating. In fact frozen mixed vegetables (for pulao, biryani and a few dishes that really need lot of veges) and drumsticks, cos fresh ones are not available at times, is the only frozen part in my cooking, and I am proud of it.

To Thine own self be true

My husband and his pals were off to Vegas this weekend. It was a Bachelor party they had organized for his good friend who is getting married this month. I was yet again home alone. Thank God! it was just 2 nights and the second night I was already getting restless. Restless I was not just cos I was alone but after a long time I called my very best friend in india and chatted and exchanged all the info that was pending for the last 3-4 months or so. I was also updated with all the news regarding my other best mates and friends. And it turns out for some reason all of us friends had faced some challenge or the other past few months. I was a little unhappy that I couldn't be in person with my friends who are my family (but just known as 'best friends'), and talk about all the things in greater detail, but well!

I realized that probably life is challenging and as interesting as it can be right now for some us. Or it will be or it has already been for rest of the folks. However unplanned, unsteady, unpredictable it may seem, we have each other and hope and its a beautiful feeling in itself. You grow and mature further and learn what life really is at such points in life. Its not the exams, mean teachers, penalties, rigid rules at school , relatives we wish we never had, at all. Its neither about power, money and riches.

To Thine Own Self Be True

-W Shakespeare

Loss of a Kiwi hero

We all have known them, as the first men to climb Mt. Everest, Edmund Hillary and Tensing Sherpa. Frankly, that's all I knew about the duo. After moving to New Zealand in 2002 I learnt who this man, (Sir) Edmund Hillary really was. In an article on stuff.co.nz the Sherpa's have the following to say about him:

He climbed Everest, yes, but to us he did much more. In Kunde and Khumjung, there is the life-saving hospital and the life-changing school. In Tengboche, there is the Buddhist monastery he helped rebuild after fire destroyed much of it in 1989. Inside temples throughout the Solu-Khumbu, Sir Ed is considered a spirit. The Sherpas call him the Godfather, a truism rather than a nickname. In a poll of Nepalese children not long ago, Sir Ed rated second behind the Dalai Lama as a hero. The Dalai Lama once pronounced himself a Sir Ed fan.

It is through this act towards humanity, to the people of Nepal that he earns his additional fame. He was a man strong and stoic, an inspiration to many. Humble, that he was, he would be more comfortable talking about and doing charity than talking about his glories. He was the only person, living, who appeared on the New Zealand $5 banknote. I also realized much later that he was the New Zealand ambassador to India sometime in the 1980's.

In the words of the NZ Prime Minister Helen Clark:

"The legendary mountaineer, adventurer, and philanthropist is the best-known New Zealander ever to have lived"

Count your many blessings!

In school we used to have a singing class, and we were taught a whole lot of Christian/Catholic songs/hymns, as my school was a Catholic convent. Once in a while when I am humming whether cooking or doing some household chores I always tend to sing one of them and it brings back pleasant memories. So I thought as and when I am going to remember these songs I shall note them down, so that I don't forget the words/lyrics :)

Count your many blessings:

Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
Count your many blessings, see what lord has done,
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
and you will be surprised, what the lord has done.

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

Winning is all that matters, mate!

After my post a couple of days back, on cricket, the press released that Haribhajan called Symmonds a 'Monkey'

Good lord! The Kiwis were right, the philosphy the Ozzies follow is "If you can't win cheat!"

But isn't this worse than cheating? Bullying? ..whatever!!

Antsy!

What does not destroy me makes me stronger!

How much more stronger do I get? I have bitten into enough bullets, so what if it was not all that gracefully, each time?

This has to come to an end....soon!

Oh! Oh!

India lost the test match, couldn't they have dragged it for few more minutes?

Also, I wish I knew what Harbhajan said to aggravate the Aussies; for them to have titled it as racial.

**************

Phew!

As if the Australian cricket team isn't strong enough, did we need Steve Bucknor to display his poor umpiring skills?

Alas! India had to bear the brunt! <>

2008 is here!

2008 seemed so far far away a few years back, but it is finally here. New Years eve was a blast, thanks to my husband's friends who are now my friends. Some of us danced 5-6 hours at a stretch and it was almost therapeutic for me. We made a road trip from Boston to Atlanta, yes, rather long but was fun with a big group of friends. It was an ideal break, I couldn't have asked for more.

I have never really made any resolutions when a new year begins, but this time round certainly my perspective has changed on a whole lot of things. After a bumpy 2007 I hope this would be a better year, personally.