the half centuries in my life..

old people liking me is getting a litle out of hand. now my in laws wants to come and stay in our city. and I am trying to think no there is nothing wrong with that, just more convinient if something happens, we will be right here to look after them. Of course, my parents being in the same city helps, or does'nt it ? dunno, don't want to think about it.

In my moment of weakness I did ask my in laws to move here once and now, 8 years later ,they said yes!

eight birthday parties

I asked JB what he wanted me to do differently (for him) after his eighth birthday, "just go to the gym regularly mama" he said.

we are having two of them, one at home for his building friends and one at the farmhouse with a swim in the river, boat ride etc thrown in. and some fabulous presents - a bike, lego and the like.

hollywood trivia

he has to be a dish.. he is tom hanks' s eldest son. No where as successful as his illustrious father but just as handsome.. no much more.

Colin Hanks is a dish..Watching ' my mom's new boyfriend'... man he makes it totally worth it

just like saif ali khan did in ' thoda pyar thoda magic'. The movie was so silly.

But I am definitely going to google Mr. Hanks tonight...

the half century birthday

had a great one week with 12 people in the house and another 7-8 guests staying at various places - I thought the duration was perfect.. neither too long nor too short. Got lots and lots of brownie points from the in laws and the extended family. A said he was 'overwhelmed' ...

the party went off well - one of the better one most people had seen.

on the whole everything was well worth the year long effort put in to make it happens.

half century parties

So we are finally all set for both the half century parties and the 7 house guest we are going to have over the next week or so and 8 more over the weekend..

Spend most of the day organising the house, towels, sheets, table linen, embroidered coasters for my tea set to impress MIL, monogramed handtowels, trendy curtains in my bedroom, new plants for my living room, extra household help, RSVPs the list goes on..

Boy! I missed the house proud me, glad A kept out of my way.

Goa - some more hues

''it is very easy to like someone.. a meaningful relationship happens when you can tolerate the not so nice things about that someone..'' whoa! when did I come up with that one.

Had a great mini holiday in Goa with the family - my favourite moments: collecting seashells on all fours with Junior on the beach, watching A grin after a awesome meal at Mum's kitchen in Miramar after sulking the whole day.

We did all the stuff we had'nt done a lot in our previous visits to Goa - spend hours and hours on the beach, explore Goan food in every meal - Ahh! the awesome goan curries - Vindahloos, Sorpotel, Xacutis, Caldeen, Rechardos, Ambotiks etc etc - rediscovering sanas - a local bread served with the fiery hot curries - the sweetness accentuating the taste.

Old Goa - tells you a story - the ruins of tower of the church of St.Augustine towers, the Basilica of Bom Jesus, the Christian arts museum, Se Cathedral.. all nestled in approx 1.5 - 2 sq kms of the world heritage site.I only wish I could spend some more time walking around the site on my own - had to leave in a hurry, nobody else seemed interested enough.

The science musuem under the national council of science musuems in Miramar was a discovery too. Would definitely spend some more time in my next trip there with Junior - infact probably a whole day. should be an enriching experince for the kid - he wants to be scientist, more specifically a geologist.

Not to forget, also acquired my first peice of designer wear..

Finally off to Goa.. could do with the break. Was getting inordinately addicted to work, my laptop..Zooming out in the real sense .
looking forward to connect with my son and family.. :)

shaurya - movie review

one of the best hindi films I have seen this year. It talks about issues like ethnic cleansing.. desi style. brilliant performance by all actors - kay kay menon, outshines everyone easily in his role as the quasi fascist brigadier with a strong dislike for all muslims. Rahul Bose : we know you speak good english man. How about actually acting for a change. Doing alternate cinema these days does not make you a great actor. you can do crass commercial stuff and still be a great actor. As Sharukh Khan had said in one of his interviews : " people say that I act the same way in every single film, what they don't realize is how difficult it is to do the same stuff over and over again."

watching Narayan Muthy on 'Unstoppable Indians' on NDTV profit.
he says "articulate the values and walk the talk" about how he ensured he was creating a value based organisation .. very very powerful speaker.. Some more of Murthy speak "we infosyian's are not used to giving high marks to ourselves" I find listening to Mr. Murthy very very inspiring. Would love to work for a company which has a chief mentor like him one day.

reminds me of my many conversations with you D.
Suffering from writer's block at the moment. ..

Oscars 2008.. the big day approaches

We are so close to approaching the D-Day, the Oscar nominations for 2008 are to be announced on 22 nd January and I am no where near compiling my list of favorites.
So these are the movies I intend watching in the next 10 days (I don't know how!!) which most pundits claim are the favorites for this year..

1. Atonement
2.My Blueberry nights (would have seen it earlier, but Norah Jones reminds me of someone I despise, but I shall watch it now)
3.Reservation Road
4.No Country for old men
5.Charlie Wilson's War
6.American Gangster
7.Kite Runner (though I am pretty sure this won't win, even if nominated for the same reasons walk the line did'nt, the book is too widely read. Everyone has an opinion.)
8. The Diving Bell and the butterfly.

Mad Money and Bucket List are on the list as well. Nothing to do with an oscar though.

The bong connection

Made maccher jhol this afternoon which would have definitely made mother-in-law from Kolkata proud.
The Maach was rohu fish (the fishmonger swears it is a sweet water fish from the rivers of Gujrat) and the jhol was patla jhol or thin gravy made from tomatoes, onions and masalas and delicately flavoured with kalo jeere

A good sunday afternoon watch..

'Summer with Nikita' is an idylllic Ingmar Bergman film.. story of two adolescent lovers, harry and nikita who fall in love, go on a boating holiday in summer, get married and have a baby.. The movies was banned in the year it was produced in the US was being too explicit (1957.. not too sure)
The local DVD library (which has suddenly gone up in my estimation) is doing a retrospective on bergman films and movie hungry people like me are riding it. They did one on hitchcock films, then satyajit ray films, award winning foreign films and than finally bergman films..way to go, guys!!

The 80th Academy Awards, 2008

.. will be held at Kodak theatre on 24 th Feb 2008. The pundits have started predicting the front runners... none of the films have generated the kind of euphoria which one saw with the release of crash or the departed or walk the line last year.
The DVD library has none of the films on the favorites list.. I hope I get to see them on time this year.

one of the few things I would definitely like to do before I turn 40 is do the film appreciation course and see one full international film festival..

Finally watched terms of endearment on DVD one evening.I had been trying to watch the movie for a long time but never really got round to it. The movie is an adaptation of James Brook's book, beautifully made. Shirely McLaine is brilliant and Jack Nicolson..still breathtaking. the movie is the story of the lives of a mother and daughter over 25 years (or more, I lost count). It makes you laugh and cry both at the same time. Some how reminded me of Eric Segal's 'Love story'.
Much as I ride the pace at work, I miss my movie evenings. There were several of those earlier.

'Slummy mummy' is what they call them these days.. I came across the term in newsweek which said that momzillas is actually becoming a phenomenon.
Scary huh!

highs and lows of motherhood

Junior's rough copy for school was finishing. We had only 5 pages left in the beginning of the week. Irritated on being reminded three days in row to get him a new one, I gave him some money in a brown envelope and told him, "buy it yourself, from the staionary shop in school''.
He came back today from school with a brand new 200 pages double line copy from school and handed me the brown envelope with the change.
.....my son is growing up, I'll miss him :(

ernesto 'che' guevara

I have always been fascinated with che... ever since I found his biography among my fathers humongous collection of Communist literature as a teenager.
Ernesto che Geuvara, an obscure Argentinian doctor who lead the Cuban revolution with his band of guerillas and overthrew the then reigning dictator, Batista.
There is always been some amount of mystical romanticisn associated with Che's image. Even more after his death. He was killed by the army (or some say the CIA) in the Bolivian jungles organizing guerilla fighters in 1967.
Cinderella recommended a mexican movie called 'the motorcycle diaries'. the movie is based on a journals written by Che and his friend Alberto who travel all over South America to do their medical residency at a leper colony at the banks of the Amazon. The movie starts as a travellogue but ends on a sombre intense note. It succesfully shows Ernesto's transformation from a fresh faced school boy romping around the country side to an intense young man troubled by the social injustice of the South American poor.
After watching the movie a few times I revisited my fascination for handsome and charming Che. This was a couple of years back and once again my fascination with the poster boy of communism was forgotten in the sands of time.
2 years later, at home, irritated with my illness, while surfing channels I came across a TV program on the history channel on Che..
and so I write on..

2008 Oscars countdown..

My Oscar party list of invitees seems to be growing steadily...SIL & I will finally have the party together across the globe, at the same time. She will serve dinner and I will serve breakfast :)
The list so far..
1 film critic, 1 writer, 2 students, 1 doctor, 1 film director and teacher of film studies, 1 grandma, 1 HR head honcho , 1 ex HR head honcho...
eclectic enough ? think so..

High on life

I am high on : kids, work... :)

kids : Cinderella topped in two subjects in SYBA , Junior is getting a trophy for academics and coming first in quiz .
work : rocks
my food.. never fails to diappoint