Apple

NO, this one's not about an i-pod!

Its about a restaurant called apple in Bandra... we went there for dinner today

archit pd, sonu abhay, mehul n i!!!

Inspite of being one of those 'ambient lighting, fancy furniture, poor concept,' pseudo interiors... desparetly trying to create an identity, the food was good- continental; n a good bar and for some reason an unlimited supply of bread rolls with flavored dips!!!

They have a cake shop too called 'apple cake'; kartik claims that it is as good as oven fresh..but i dont agree one bit!!! i strongly believe 'ovenfresh' has the best pastries and desserts in mumbai!

Though u know the funny part about this restaurant 'apple' was- they had an apple kept on every table (reminded me of that funny short story from darna mana hain); n for some reason they put apple in our drinks- sangrias!!!

sangria is actually cold drink made out of wine with brandy, fruit juice and soda right? for some reason this one had wine- tequlla-vodka water n apple pieces!!!
(or so he said-cos the alcohol seemed to be almost missing)

Do u miss that breeze?

A gush of wind
A moment of happiness

Fading away
Bringing upon a sudden sadness

Searching for that wind again
Searching for that moment

Will it ever come again?
Will it last?

Longing to be in its arms
Looking for answers to questions it left behind!

Do I wish that moment shouldnt have happened at all?
Do I wish I can forget it all?
DO I wish I can move on ?
Do I wish to be where I am?

Its red again!

Once again I colored my hair red!!!

But this time its so different

Reasons:

1. I no longer have straightened hair ... its wavy now
more like the shabby look or as i call it ' the bhangi look'...which I was longing for!!!

2. The red is so much more brighter RED ... (the last time it was wella...those colors are mild; this time its l'oreal... those are brighter n deeper apparently)

N why red again?
copper n bronze i thought were too mild.
blue n purple.. i didnt dare to go all the way!!!
So I settled for the red!!! I fear its too 'jhatak' itself thou!

I am not sure if both of the above are things to be happy about!!!

Cos i really dont know if the previous color n style looked better!!! but who cares!!!

But yes I shall wait for reactions n then decide!!!

Do u feel better now?

Just felt like staring at something that makes me feel happier and lighter...

Blue is surely not a happy colo(U)r

N so The CHANGE!!!

Whats your colo(U)r this season?

searching...

Its not just about the place after all.
It surely is about the people...
Its not the same any more!

I do not know where I wanna be right now
I do not know what I wanna do!

I do know that there is more than one place I wanna be at one time!
I do wish for another me!

Why do i always wanna be somewhere else?

Ah Finally...

It is that Sunday morning when the rain gods have finally blessed and the monsoon's here hopefully to stay

I love the feeling of getting up to a cloudy sky and the smell of wet earth!!!

The whole city just seemed to liven up last afternoon when dark clouds and thunder were followed by few heavy showers.

It took me back to the days when getting wet in the first rain was a ritual for us. One shower and all the kids in the building would be down jumping and running around in that dirty ‘chikhal’… wonder what fun it was!

This used to happen just about a couple of weeks before the schools would reopen… thats like in the 1st week of June. And now we are praying for the rains in almost the third week of June… how I miss the rains…also for those nice heavy rainy days when one couldnt make it to school thanks to flooded roads and slow paced trains.

Hey I saw ‘Batman Begins’ yesterday. I liked the movie. Just thought there were a few assumptions and abrupt jumps in the sequence for a movie based on the birth of Batman- the legend

I Am ExTREMeLy IrRITaTED RiGhT NoW !!!

Of cutting chai and college

…as the title goes its not so much about the cutting chai, or the number of year spent in college. It more about the endless battle between where academics want to take us and where the profession is heading. At a point almost wanting to conclude a wrong career choice n feeling absolutely defeated in this rutt of what is called ‘practice’ I finally feel a little better to see some more people sailing in the same boat. What is inspiring though is a ray of hope ; a lesson learnt that small steps can surely make a change.

Prof. Upasani, a teacher who I shall never forget for having shaped a lot of my thinking and outlook towards the profession and academics. A conversation with him today brought back to me that it is not about running away as much as being a part of the system and creating a path by being a part of it.

A plethora of insensitive people striding through the glory of money and fame reigning at the expense of superficiality. A handful pedagogical voices trying to make a difference- fading away in the struggle to be heard. There has to be a mid- way!!!

At this juncture comes a perfect gift from a friend who has never failed to put ‘that smile’ on my face. A book –Bombay Meri Jaan –writings on Mumbai; and rightly so ; this is the place I know the most; I belong to and shall come back to give it my share.

Incidentally on my last birthday he gifted me ‘The Inscrutable Americans’- apt for the times then and now a book on Mumbai- at a time when I was beginning to feel choked in the city (wrongly so) that defines me the most.

Thanks a lot– it surely is a dear friendship ‘incorruptible’ by time and space – a fresh as the ‘wonderwall’

Parineeta

Based in Calcutta of the 60s the movie with its treatment and detail sort of begins to feel like a good film only to realize towards the end, just like in Devdas, the director is carried away to make a ‘Bollywood’ film taking glamour and drama to unnecessary unconvincing levels.

The treatment surely makes it worth watching once.

I liked Saif Ali Khan and Divya Balan; she fits the role well But a complete disaster is Sanjay Dutt who seems more like the father of the girl he is suppose to marry. I don’t know why he acts at all!!!

Now I wanna see Mr. And Mrs. Smith. Heard the movie is ordinary but who cares, Brad Pitt is a good sight to look at irrespective of anything else in the movie.

F.R.I.E.N.D.S

this one goes to the 10 of us at J.J

So an extended birthday... all of us met at this pub called Shooters, bandra ( i liked the place)

but sadly when i say all its no more the 10 of us... max it goes to is 6 at a time including the better halves!!!

so i had a good time today: the people present: jude, namu, shamli, himanshee,myself & asawari n sumeet( the married couple: met them after exactly a year) n thats why the blog!

A birthday blog

Today is the day when I join archit, charita, namita, shamli, chinar, jammy, harry, bugger boy in the 25+ club ( sorry if anyone else also turned 25 this yr .. prob i just dunno ur age then ;)

Single in Mumbai on my birthday for the first time in 9 years was synonymous to being at home at midnight on 13th june without a surprise for the first time in 9 years

didnt like the feeling at all, especially after last year's midnight bash;
I miss u so much gav.

the day began slow with phone calls pouring in and another day at work...

It livened up only when charita gave me a surprise and came down from Pune to wish me!!!

A dinner with family at 'jewel of india' is what the plan is all about for the evening.

My Best gift this year till now: Contradiction.... by Calvin Klein !!!

it is the sea after all

never ever has it failed to be my companion..a day of restlessness; a thousand thoughts running through my head; nothing seems to fall in place; a thousand things i just dont understand; a feeling of loneliness; a longing for something i cannot get; no answers..


several times have I found myself at this juncture... that when the sea is where I find MYSELF!!!

Random thoughts

Throughly bored at work this afternoon so just thought ill make an attempt at blogging which is gettin infrequent by the day- not able to get my self to blog.

Nothing to write about either.

Life has been pretty slow since the 2nd June ...any guesses why?

I saw Bunty aur Bubli again... i simply loved the movie ( minus the last half hour ofcourse)... blame it on Abhishek Bachan or the colors in the film or the humor or the story or anything or like chari says "u seem to like every thing overly desi these days". I shall go on to say that they should make a sequel and call it
"BUNTY_BUBLI aur PAPPU"...wasnt tht hilarious?
my fav part of the movie: that Qawalli whcih stars ash amitabh and abhishek...
u know i liked the music too... am sure its gonna be on my list to play online on raaga.com once i go back to the US

this morning I 'encountered' a very strange place...happened to accompany someone to a marraige bureau and it was such a scary site with parents n prospectives sitting and n literraly taking notes in fat books from files filed with a form/a photo/ a patrika per applicant n it was as quiet as a doctor's dispensary!!! a room of 10ftx14ft was occupied by atleast 25 people!!!

Time to get back to work!

AHH!! Yes... my birthday is just around the corner!!!

A void that we leave behind

After leaving home to study last year I assumed without any doubt that the most troubled soul in this situation would be myself... a person having left home on my own and carrying the loneliness of the whole world. people who have seen me closely both in mumbai and ann arbor know how diffiuclt it was for me to get into the groove of a completely new setting... and in my self-involvement I never thought of what I had left behind

but this time around two people closest to me...chari and gav have set out for their new lives leaving me in Mumbai and thats when I realise what 'leaving behind a void' means.

This one goes to our parents who so long for us and feel nothing but an absolute emptiness once we are walking the paths of our lives ...

Just a realisation that its not easy for the person you leave behind in the same setting... along side that, is left behind great emptiness which can never be filled