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September 28, 2006

Silly post by shorty.

About being short...Today, I became short. It's so hard to drive a car when you are barely looking above the steering wheel! So, I had to drop k off and realized that I didn't have my trusty height-booster pillow. So, I decided to be daring and drove back home without the pillow. As a result, more than three-fourths of the car was over my head level, the steering wheel was on the same level as my head! And you can imagine, how smoothly I would have managed the curb!

I had my height checked recently with one of those old-fashioned weight machines, (you know, the one that has a measuring scale built in) and I kept hoping I would be like an inch taller than before, 5'3.5" = 5'4" right? And the young Doctor turned to me and announced happily that I was a whopping 5'2" tall! I probably shrunk because of old age or something!

Anyway, it must be a lot of fun to be a tall person, no need for heels, no pillow needed to drive and when you are making a point at work, it's so much better to be looking down or at eye-level than craning your neck and looking up. All the time. That's not true actually. When my colleagues are sitting down and staring at their screens, I stand a few inches taller than them and that's one time, I don't have to look up :p

About Golu...Anyway, it's navrathri time and this time, we built a modest forest for our golu. Sowmya aunty had a very nice Andaal story depicted in her golu (see pic). Someday, I want to do that too...for now, pictures of our Golu will be up soon :)

About being fortunate, guilt, fate and serving...have you ever been served by an old Desi uncle or a young girl about your age at an Indian restaurant and felt guilty about it? You probably smiled a bit more, tried to act natural, maybe didn't quite meet their eyes or maybe...it's just me :) Not always though, I normally reflect what I see, I get uncomfortable whenever I see an uncomfortable waiter...know what I mean? Anyway, I wondered, what put me where I am and this pretty girl where she is, wearing slightly battered old clothes and trying not to meet my eye? Fate? I don't know. And why Indian restaurants in particular you ask? Because we as Indians have never given the art of serving the respect that it deserves; for us, it's always something we do because we have no other go...I guess. Remember what the head waiter says in 'Maid in Manhatten'? "Remember that we serve them but we are not their servants..."

About Ubuntu...This article says it all, am all for ubuntu :)

September 16, 2006

31556926 seconds!

Wow. Three crore seconds. That's how many seconds have passed since our wedding. Hard to believe, isn't it? People keep telling me, "Really? One year has passed? It's like you just got married!" One bucket of three crore, many more buckets to come, each marking it's own milestone(s)...

And what's an anniversary without red roses, huh? Even if they are bought hurriedly a few hours before the clock strikes twelve, along with an anxiously picked greeting card and a cart load of yummy white chocolates to make up for the last minute anniversary gifts ;) ?

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And if you live in Lexington, check out this Italian restaurant, Giuseppe Italiano Restaurant, off of Nicholasville, a nice restaurant in a cute little alcove, good food and a warm, happy ambience, I really liked it :)

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For a change, p~ and I decided to pick a guyish movie for the party - V for Vendetta rocks, I loved the play of words in the movie (even more after referring to the dictionary)...

"This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is it vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished, as the once vital voice of the verisimilitude now venerates what they once vilified. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose vis-à-vis an introduction, and so it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V."

"Words will always retain their power...words offer the means to meaning...and for those who will listen the enunciation of truth."

"We are told to remember the idea not the man...400 years later an idea can still change the world. I have witnessed first hand the power of ideas.I have seen people kill in the name of them and die defending them. But you cannot kiss an idea or touch it or hold it. Ideas do not bleed, they do not feel pain, they do not love. And it is not an idea that I miss, it is a man. A man that made me remember the 5th of November..."

"I dare do all that may become a man. Who dares more is none - Macbeth."

"Symbols are given power by people. Alone, symbols are powerless but with enough people..."


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Our local chefs, k and anm~ baked three pizzas yesterday for the party - pineapple, mushrooms, jalapenos, onions, italian seasoning and a crust from scratch! But our oven kind of protested after fifteen minutes and burnt the base, so our chefs launched upon an ingenious plan to scrape off the black layer on the bottom of the crust. Anyway, it all worked out in the end, pizzas were yummy (great going, you guys) and people hardly noticed the burnt crust ;) Pb~ decided to make hot rotis for himself with p~'s help and that worked out too, although he started off with amoebic blobs of dough, they turned out pretty tasty :)

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September 10, 2006

Totally disconnected, teary-eyed movie ramble.

Long weekend. Lots of free time. What do I want to do?

Exactly what the lady at the beauty parlour told me while making my eyebrows look more shapeless than they already are - "I am really looking forward to this weekend. I am looking forward to doing absolutely nothing whole weekend!"

Most weekends, that's what I feel like doing, add in a nice masala movie (romantic comedies especially) and you made my day.

While outdoor activities are fun, nothing beats cuddling in the sofa with one of those velvety throws wrapped around me, a hot cup of cocoa/coffee, shades drawn and a "Maid in Manhatten" or "The Devil wears Prada" style movie. A few days back, I watched "Chup Chupke", a typical Bollywood ishtyle movie and towards the end, I actually ended up crying - Kareena Kapoor is dumb in the movie (meaning she can't speak, you wise guys!) and there is a touching scene in the end and I kind of felt bad for Kareena in the movie and cried and all that.

This is one thing that k cannot relate to. How can I cry at a movie? I don't know, I think there is something to be said about getting involved in the movie, treating the characters in the movie as your own and crying and laughing with them and after three hours, rising to reality. If you are not doing that, you are missing the magic of movies...

I remember (yeah, many many years ago) when I was in 11th and DDLJ released then, I was totally besotted with SRK then and I had an important exam coming up, but I still went to the theatre with my family to watch DDLJ. I cried through most of the movie, my mom thought I had gone a bit crazy, my bro was highly amused that I cried so much...but I just couldn't help it, I mean, wouldn't you cry too if you knew Raj and Simran or if you were actually Raj or Simran? :) I remember when I boarded the TN express to go to Bits, I looked around to see if someone stood at the compartment door with a hand extended out...:p Actually one sardarji uncle did extend a hand towards me andd pulled me into the train, somewhere near Bhopal, but not in any romantic way. I was about to fall out of the train having boarded it while it was in motion (my wise cousin and I got down to fill water in our water bottles and suddenly we heard a whistle and the train was off...I rushed in with all the people and one of my friends accidentally used me as a support to get into the train, she used me to propel herself forward, equal and opposite reaction, you get the picture? So, she went into the train and I did a slow motion falling out of the train dance). That uncle blasted me for boarding a moving train, "Aap pade likhe nahi ho?" etc but he was really sweet, saved my life and all, so I was happy.

Coming back to movies, I think I first cried when I watched Anjali, then it was for Baazigar, DDLJ, more recently, BLACK, Chup chup Ke (stop laughing now), Life is beautiful, Alaipayuthey...man! so many movies made me cry...it's about time I watched a nice chick-flick!

Psst - talking about chick-flicks, you know what I think? I think, guys secretly like to watch chick-flicks, they just don't want to admit it :p

Quick update: I saw KANK yesterday and I actually liked it :)
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