Me and my colleague Erum had gone to Lamington Road, Mumbai, to interview, let me call him Mr.X for our magazine. 10:30 am was the time given to us. So we both met at Churni road and made our way to the address. After couple of wrong turns, we reached the building. We entered the lift n were followed by a lady n a gentleman. As the lift started to move I checked the time and exclaimed for everyone to hear, “Oh, we are bang on time I bet we will be made to wait for another hr.” “You know how these business men are, they don’t value other ppls time,” I added. Erum gave me a knowing smile and went on to speak about gujju bhai (Gujarati business man). Suddenly the lady put her finger on her lips n pointed to the man. Well as it was the case we were in the lift with the man whom we were about to interview. Imagine our plight.

The situation was nothing compared to what followed. We were shown into a conference room; as soon as we entered we started giggling n laughing. We were dripping in sweat, so we turned our face towards the AC, pulled our necklines forward etc.
Then Erum powdered her nose before we met the big boss, she combed her hair, applied lipstick n sprayed deo. The best part was the deo; she put the deo inside her dress to spray it on her armpit. All the while I was observing and laughing.

Finally we were asked to go to the Bosses cabin. As expected the man from the lift was staring at us without a smile. We started the interview in a dull note and while nodding my head I just glanced around. To my horror I saw CCTV. The screen was showing all the rooms of the office including the conference room. I nearly fell of my chair. Erum was blissfully ignorant n talking to the man, and then I nudged her and pointed towards the camera… her face was worth seeing.

For working couples weekends are God sent. It is spent mostly sleeping, eating sleeping and lolling on the bed. On such weekend my Husband proposed that we go for the movie ‘All the Best’ that too a 5:30 show. I was not at all enthusiastic, as 5:30 show meant sacrificing the evening siesta. However, I did agree and went to Regal Cinema to watch it.

Good that I went, the movie was hilarious. I laughed ‘Dil Kholeke’ throughout the movie. The story was average; it talks about the same old goof ups and swapping of partners and the ensuing confusion. However despite the same old story, the movie managed to elicit laughter.

Rohit Shetty, the director of the movie has been inspired by the play RIGHT BED, WRONG HUSBAND. The cast right from Ajay Devgn (Prem Chopra), Bipasa Basu (Jhanvi) Sanjay Dutt (Dharam), Fardden Khan (Veer) and Mugdha Godse(Vidya) have done a great job. In this movie too, like his previous films, Shetty has used multiple characters. These supporting actors, Johny Lever, Sanjay Mishra, Mukesh Tiwari, Vijay Patkar, Ashwini Kalsekar and Atul Parchure have done great job.

Overall the movie with its silly jokes, predictable goof ups is worth watching. In fact it’s a must watch.

It sucks…. Is how I would describe the book. I know it will be considered a success, best seller or whatever…. But the book is bad. Its juvenile, that’s what I feel. In the beginning of the book Bhagath says he has made fun of both the Punjabis and the Tamilians but sadly one feels that he has gone over the top making fun of South Indians. It is true that while making fun of Ananya’ family he is highlighting the ignorance of Punjabis.

God, n he is just not a fiction writer but also a preacher, maybe he wants to slowly make a transition towards being a self help guru. The gyan which he tries to give; we are Indians, we should not be divided, region is not important blha blha blha. It makes sense what he is trying to say but the way he says it is a pain.

The best part of the book is the end when his wife delivers twin… no there is nothing funny in delivering the twins but the shock he expresses when the doc says wait there is one more. For god sake our health care system is not that bad n I bet Ananya must have been visiting a good gyane and done her sonography, the point is nowadays even when Ananya was pregnant doc could tell whether the mother is carrying twins or not. Filmy very Filmy.

Somebody in my office aptly described Bhagath’s writing “He writes scripts for B grade Hindi movie in the form of a book.” The advantage of such writing is that the book becomes a best seller n some dumb director/producer turns it into a movie which comes n goes without a trace. The outcome is Bhagath gets publicity for his next book….. Honestly I had liked his first novel ‘Five Point Someone’, rest are simply awful. Read for the heck of it.

Election campaigns bring out the best in our politicians….the at least two weeks long campaign sees politicians at their best. Innovation is the mantra to lure and entice voters. Yesterday by sheer luck I happened to witness an election rally in Mumbai. After office I rushed to Colaba market to buy chicken for dinner. As I entered the market, I heard a loud booming voice addressing the public. Initially I thought that it was a ‘Kavi Sammelan,’ the way the old man was speaking. His voice was booming and sleepy ppl were applauding after each and every line (must have been paid).

Then it was announced that Gopinath Munde who was scheduled to speak could not attend the rally due to some problem but nevertheless he will speak to his supporters. I stopped in my track and wondered how? Are they going to do video conferencing, I was impressed. But the BJP was a step ahead… they dialed Munde’s number and he gave his speech over the phn….Wow! I was impressed, such enthusiasm. I wish even after getting elected they show the same enthusiasm and use innovative methods to do their job.

Hey, I voted. I feel so proud; I know it’s our duty but every time I vote I feel am a responsible citizen. I had thought I won’t be able to exercise my franchise but thanks to the new policy the armed force personnel n family too could vote. However, I am disappointed with the low turnout in Mumbai. There were lots of talk before election but when the time came no one turned up. There might have been some case of names missing but I don’t believe for a second that 65% of voters did not have their name. Maybe the offices were not closed, like in our case our office had given only 2hrs off to go n cast vote… that was a bit unfair. Anyway am proud to have voted n I love the blue mark on my middle finger. Long live Democracy.

I heard about the book ‘The Japanese Wife’ by Kunal Basu- after Aparna Sen announced that she will adapt the story into a movie. Ever since wanted to read that book but when I finally did, was very disappointed.

The story revolves around pen-friends Snehamoy Chakrabarti, a mathematics teacher in a secondary school in Shonai, an island in the estuarine area of the Bay of Bengal, and Miyage, a Japanese woman. The friendship ultimately leads to marriage. However, the protagonists marry without even having seen each other. The couple, despite not meeting is happy with the pen marriage.

In this set up enters the woman who Snehamoy was supposed to have married, now widowed and with a son. A restrained bond of compassion develops between the two while Miyage writes to Snehamoy with news of her terminal illness. Snehamoy cares for his ill wife through his letters…

I am looking forward to the movie not because I like the story but to see how Aparna Sen has adapted it into a movie. The other short stories too fail to create a lasting impression. In fact it was a task finishing the book.

I found the book lifeless, however not everyone may agree to it.

Happy Reading.

It seems very strange to visit my blog after so long. Is this page really mine? It has been a month since I last wrote a post. I was in my old office. Actually nothing interesting happened.

 

Only trivial matters like my ‘Nara’ came loose while walking the streets of Dadar. The right sentence would be while I was hurrying back home. I had to clutch my pajama till the time I entered the train. My office to station is a god 10 minutes walk. I could tame the errant nara only after I got into the ladies compartment.

 

I caught a thief. Yes! I did. A boy or rather a teenager tried to snatch a commuter’s phn and run. She screamed “Chor Pakro.” I was standing near the door and before he could leap, I caught him.

 

I goofed up big time in office; I uploaded a story (which was not technically correct) and in the few minutes of realization and removal, the story was indexed (if it’s the right word) by google. Oh ! What an experience. However with the help of my online manger Johna and Editor Divya we rectified the mistake.

 Opps and I say this month was not that interesting.

My colleague Tushar came into the office carrying some brand new books. As a habit I just picked it up saw the name and handed it to back to him saying ‘I don’t know this author’. He was surprised and exclaimed, what! You don’t know Mathew Reillys. I just shook my head. He lend me the book saying it’s an amazing book, read it. Went home and started reading with neutral feelings. Well after reading just two pages, I was hooked. I am a bad reader, in the sense if I get a book and like it, I have to finish it at one go. I just did not have the heart to put down Mathew Reillys’ “Temple”. It had everything, thrills, and chills, hint of romance, betrayal and adventure.

The author has smartly intertwined two stories into one. One story follows the adventure of William Race and a team of US Army soldiers while the other takes us back to the annals of history and leads us on a breathtaking journey through 1535, the period when the Spaniard’s conquered the Incas.

William Race an ordinary, in the sense he is not a macho man, professor of Linguist from New York gets the mammoth task of decoding the manuscript and save the world from catastrophe. While he is doing all these he has to save his skin too. As always time is running out, the bad guys are catching up and the professor has to do what he has to do. Even if it sounds predictable, the chase, the action is thrilling. You don’t feel like keeping book down. The vivid description of the Incas and their art transports you back to that age. While reading you can actually feel that you are watching a movie.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It’s a good read for all those who love thrills, action and suspense. After reading the “Temple” I went through other books by the same author and enjoyed it thoroughly.

Thanks Tushar for introducing me to Mathew Reilly.

No no, don’t get me wrong. I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It was gripping, fast paced with humane touch. The characterization was excellent. While roaming the by lanes of Colaba, I even started looking for Karla and the moonfaced Prabhakar. I was delighted when I saw Saurava’s… it felt as if it was my restaurant. Looking ate the imposing World Trade Center, I felt as if I had seen it rise from the bosom of the earth. Every detail in the book is believable. In fact while reading the book my smart sister or was it my brother told me that “it is a true story”. After hearing that, I fell in love with the characters even more. Their pain became mine; their laughter brought a smile on my lips. I started analyzing why they did what they did. Every foreigner I see in the streets of Colaba, I try and imagine that person to be Karla. Now comes the point y am I disappointed. Well yesterday I visited Shantarams’ website and came to know every character is fictional. I felt like crying, there was no Prabhakr, no Karla, no Ahmed Bhai. I was pleased to find there was no Sapana Killer. But the realization that the characters I loved so much were fictional broke my heart, so the disappointment. If you haven’t read the book, grab a copy of it. Its worth every penny or time.

Gregory David Roberts I am waiting for you next book. How about sending an autographed copy to me!