bonus weekend

Finally got to spend some precious time with Junior. Took him for a buffet breakfast at Sun-n-Sand's coffee shop - carrots and celery. A bright sunny place overlooking the pool. came home, hung around and then took him cycling in the evening.
did some ' science experiments' at home from his book on 'cool stuff'. drove around with him listening to 'boomtown rats'.
I think he is an interesting kid, I don't know too many 8 year olds who can discuss boomtown rats, coldplay, the story of hunchback of notredam and composition of the soil in the same breath.
passed up a trip to the salon, to watch him wash his cycle and earn his first bit of pocket money. I think getting him to earn pocket money doing small jobs and chores around the house, is a good idea, - could teach him some valuable lessons in life .

lions for lambs

Lions for Lambs finished abruptly.. just when things seemed to be warming up.
A college professor inspiring a gufted student to do ore meanigful things with his life. Two of his former students in Afghanistan battling for their lives in the battlefront, a probing reporter talking to a senator, inching his way to the white house, about a new military initiative launched in Afghanistan.
Merly Streep, Robert Redford and Tom Cruise.. the movie can't be bad I though when I saw it at the DVD rental store.
A thought provoking movie after a really long spell of crappy song and dance hindi movies I had been watching for a while
Lambs.. military strategist who have never faced the battlefront, planning wars from their air conditioned offices miles away, lions.. the brave and the courageous men, inspiring and driven who actually fight driven by their idealism.

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.