Tuesday, November 3, 2009

WHY DO WE WATCH BIG BOSS ?

I want to tear my hair, its exasperating, irritating, annoying, no ...not the programme , but my need to get a fix of it every day 9 pm. Its not just me I know....trillions and millions of Indians , hooked , transfixed , magnetised by Vindoo Singh blowing his nose, Shamita looking dumb, Rohit playing ,naradmuni' (he actually looks like one in his ghastly bedtime hairdo.....Tanaz and Bakhtiar fighting and then kootchi kooing while making up , really playing to the gallery......
And the so called intelligentsia actually gazing at them.

Is it voyerism, is it mindless watching , numbing our senses after a day's hard work or is it out of sheer lack of watchable material being provided by other channels. And to top it all, the Big B himself ,getting asssociated with such a crude programme......(I believe the moolah offered would make anyone take on this one !)

I really wonder how the seemingly intelligent Poonam Dhillon and Aditi Gowatrikar have lent their presence to such a programme. But why blame them. Maybe they need the moolah.....but what about us , we dont even get any money to watch this toilet display....and yet, day after day we mindlessly watch this senseless programme.

What fun watching Claudia cry, Ismailji lazing around, Raju cracking jokes....Grrrrrrrrrrr

I promise , I shall stop watching it from tomorrow.....but hey dude , I am told a new participant will be coming in....heard it could be the eccentric Rajesh Khanna.......also there will be a wild card entry....maybe KRK.....what fun.....

There I go again......can't jes beat it !

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

THE NEW LUX AD

Have you seen the new Lux beauty soap ad. For those of you who have caught this ad over the years , its always been seductive , a mesmerising quality and a larger than life portrayal , since it always starred some bollywood heroine ! She tempted you and teased you to try ,"her" soap !

Well its been Aishwarya for a while now and that's why I am disappointed with the new ad. It lacks the style of the earlier one's. And unfortunately Aishwarya skin seems to have lost its sparkle (is it age?) The ad is executed very ordinarily , and honestly, Aishwarya seems very disinterested while sailing through it. And then to show her in a teardrop , which cheekily reminds one of the Dabur Almond Drop hair oil ad! And finally bringing in Abhishek at the end of it was really in poor taste ! As far as I understood she was not promoting a, "Buy 1 get 1 free" scheme....take me and Abhishek comes free ....Touche !

I think this is where some FMCG's go wrong in their marketing. While it is a good idea to have the same brand ambassador to maintain the relevancy and aspirational quality of the product....the company must never forget the product and its attributes . Lux is a beauty soap and holding onto Aishwarya , when she is unable to hold on to her beauty... I feel, is unfair to the product and the ambassador.

HUL has to think of someone new and fresh for the ad .........it's serious ......they should not jesbeat it!

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

WHY CAN'T I SIT STILL

Its like an obsession with me....you know doing something all the time, keeping the creative juices flowing in some form or the other .......I am not too sure it's a good thing. These days I have nothing to really excite me so am getting a little crabby with myself.....

It is so contradictory ...when I am full upto my neck with work, I keep looking out for that patch of relaxation , waiting to spread my mat and go blank.....and when I am actually free of burdens, the restless bee in my head keeps buzzing , irritatingly......

Does it happen to you guys too......

Well, I have enrolled myself for a "Pranic healing" workshop for next week . Let me learn something new. I had undergone a few sessions of it when I was ailing and was totally impressed with the whole concept......want to go deeper into it....let's see

That's my problem.....can't jes beat it !

Sunday, October 25, 2009

JULIE AND JULIA

Hey , I am sure most of you have forgotten me. I am really playing truant with my blog....no excuses , really had nothing interesting to say......but today i saw this film and it so much reminded me of me (always restless about fulfilling dreams)
Julie and Julia is the story of two women in different eras.....following similar dreams , they share a common passion ...that for cooking and how each one of them, in their time fulfill a dissatisfaction within them to do something more than the usual mundane life in which they are trapped. Both have extremely loving and supportive husbands who egg them on to fulfill their dreams.
It's a simple story, but so well told. The time zones are so beautifully portrayed..Paris in the early nineties and Queens in the US in year 2002 . It is based on a real life story. The cinematic treatment reminded me of Imtiaz Ali's , "Love Aaj Kal" , you know , two stories blending into each other .
Catch it if you can. However a warning to the vegetarians. Since it is full of scenes showing non-veg cooking, am not sure the visuals will be palatable to you........Go at your own risk !

Saturday, October 10, 2009

I HAVE FINALLY ( I THINK ) GROWN UP !

Allow me , to let you in, to a secret of mine...

All my life , I have considered myself a strong girl and have also used this strength to help others....fine....not very fine really.....!

After giving advice to others , I also land up taking responsibilty for it, fretting over it, worrying about it....

To liberate myself from this self inflicted agony, many a times I have implored to myself to stop advicing ....well, I can't do that too.....advising comes naturally to me....so the best thing I ask of myself , is to stop taking responsibility for it.....I can't do that either....so who suffers most...well I do...

Confused ? don't be...let me explain....suppose someone asks me to suggest , where to invest their surplus money.... I usually tell them , what I have done in a similar situation and allow them to take a cue from it ! Fine....no, not at all.... because it does not end there for me....

What I land up doing is, I fret and worry about the consequences of my advice to them....well that is wrong !

I have been trying hard to work on it , but without much success . But today , I did it ! Someone who had seeked an advice from me , rang up to say , it had not worked for them....I actually replied , "Well it sometimes works and sometimes it does not".....it's 10 hours since the incident, and I have, as yet, not felt any guilt pangs about the advice I gave them..... ( I think I have grown up...finally)

Do remember , when we are born , we are born alone ( forget the stray twin cases) and we have our own individual cross's to bear. Our maker , gives each and ever one of us the intellect to work out our life. We are supposed to use this intellect for our own betterment and that of mankind ....but heylo , we are not responsible for any other individual ....

I can see some of you frowning, as not really convinced with my words , but let me tell you, the earlier you learn this , the better it is for you.....otherwise, like me, you too will land up using up more than half your energy , worrying about others or you will stop giving advice to others. Both I guess are extreme reactions.....take the middle path....

There I go advising you again ,but hey...take it or jesbeatit ! I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE IF YOU CHANGE YOUR THINKING !

Sunday, September 27, 2009

WHY I DID WHAT I DID

Its true! It takes jes a second for your world to go topsy turvy . I was stepping out with my niece to get some shopping done for her impending wedding , when I received a call that my 81 year old father was struck down by a car ! The first thing that happens in such a case is that , you go into denial , set your emotions aside and act as if you are outside the situation. I think I jes did that.

While my heart lurched to see him covered in blood, the first thing I thought of, was how to get him attended by a doctor. In the meantime , the three 20 year olds whose Honda city had done the grievous act were standing guiltily, waiting for a reaction ! I looked at them for a while, the gathered crowd waiting to see me act. I only remember asking the one who was driving, do you have a license ? Silly question for the moment don't you think ?

In the meantime , my niece rushed to get the family doctor....who suggested that we take him to a Government hospital and get a police case registered. The boys waited .....frightened out of their wits....I looked at them and said...,"OK now you takeover....take us to the nearest hospital"

Three pairs of trembling hands whisked away my father in the very same car that hurt him.
At the hospital, my niece and the three boys completely took over , getting him a wheelchair , holding his walking stick, standing there while the doctors attended to my father , stitches, cleanups, bill payments, X rays , while I just stood there as a bystander !

After keeping him under observation for a while , they let us go !

I looked back at the three frightened faces who had caused injury to my dad.. They had a college presentation which they had missed . I looked at them and jes said, "I made you go through the entire process of attending to him, only because I wanted you to see what damage a casual act of yours could lead to...there is a marriage coming up in the family, jes see how you could have snuffed our happiness, only because you were not careful. Was I sounding too preachy ...I know from the facial expressions of my near and dear ones , that they were not too happy at my letting them go off without a single harsh word.....

In retrospect I wondered why I behaved the way I did. I guess it was for two reasons, one, my first priority was to focus attention on my father and get an SOS for him and the other, were a few lines I remembered from Neil Wealsh's , "Conversation with GOD " , where he says, "every happening in life is preordained ....and that whatever a person does to us or vice versa is what was to be done through that person, whether he liked it or not ! " I guess it was an accident and they did not hit my pa on purpose......

I let them off, they too seemed shocked....they left their mobile nos. with me....one of them also said , if someone had done it to their father , they would have hit him...I smiled , I told them I would not waste my energy doing that, I would rather proioritise what I had to do jest then....I hoped my father recovered soon so that they too would not be in trouble.

I wonder why I am sharing all this with you... I know most of you reading this, are students....it's also about telling you ...please be careful ...with your life and that of others....

Dad's limping back to normalcy, I feel sad looking at his black eye , his bruises, and yet I am unable to hate those boys who did it to him....

Am I too passive and forgiving for the world ? Or do I like to jesbeatit ?

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

WHEN YOU MOVE ON IN A FRIENDSHIP.....

Has it ever happened with you ? As we grow in our thoughts , many a time we outgrow a friendship, which does not seem in sync with us anymore. How does one tackle such a situation then ?

To me there are two options, one , is to continue a make believe friendship with the person for old times sake and the other is to disconnect gradually . But , what if the other person does not read the signals and persists on carrying on the friendship ! There are yet others who don't know how to deal with the situation and stop talking to the person , abruptly which I think is not fair at all . You owe some dignity to every friendship that you have chosen to make !

I have a friend who can be very blunt and has, on an occassion or two done it with some friends whom she realised over time were the wrong choices. They were not wrong , as in they were harming her, but they failed to interest her , intellectually. When cornered while avoiding them, she truthfully told them, "Look , no offences meant....I think I have moved on" . I have admired her guts, because I find it so difficult to do it....

And here arises my dilemma . I cannot be blunt to tell someone I don't connect anymore and yet ,I cannot live a lie of being there , when actually I don't want to !

I often wonder , does this happen because I am trapped by my , "goody " image ? Is the image larger than me ? Or is it that I feel sad to reject someone for no fault of theirs. I know , someone may outgrow me too ( they have !) but I could cope. Then why do I suffer from this fear that other's can't.....

I welcome perspectives ! Don't want to jesbeatit !