I always thought that there are some things that cannot go wrong. like a chocolate-brownie shake. family can be mad at you, friends can go away, the world can go upside down...but you just cannot go wrong with a choc-brownie shake. untill i had the one today.

Welcome to reality. Siggghhh.

"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn".

:)

One of the aspect of your screw-ups and ensuing  repentance is that it gives you the ability to see silver lining in every cloud.

Never thought i would say this, but i dont feel so bad now.

Congrats V on this wonderful opportunity in your professional life.  learned about it a few weeks back. you have gone through so  many trials and tribulations. this achievement is something that so befits your intelligence and competence, and at the same time you have had to struggle so much for it. i have no doubts you will excel at this new challenge. a great future awaits you. to say that "i am happy for you" is a gross understatement. yet, there is no better way i could express what i feel.

i am so proud of you. wish i could tell you that.

While most people were waxing eloquent about the movie, this is exactly what i thought was wrong about Peepli Live: Raja Sen's review

Glad that my thoughts were expressed so well by his review. Hope he again starts writing reviews soon.

faith, love, sexuality - these are few of the most important aspects of a person. then how fair is it that society has such narrow definitions and stringent expectations ?

Was watching American Beauty again. i have lost count the number of times i have seen that movie. and every time i see the movie, there is something i discover which i missed the previous times. so this time, i finally noticed that the soundtrack of this movie is as beautiful as the movie itself.

American Beauty - Thomas Newman this has been in my player in a loop.

I have written about this movie in an earlier post American Beauty. and today again when i see the movie,  beautiful is the only word that comes to my mind.

on a separate note. i have watched some movies again and again. like American Beauty, i either discover some new aspect about the movie or i just notice something that i previously had not. for e.g. SLB's Devdas. the movie was such an assault on one's eyes. but i first watched it once for the actors, then for the ornate clothes and ostentatious sets, then for the music. Titanic was another experience. not withstanding the fact that i saw it at a pretty young age where one very impressionable and one's tastes aren't too developed, it was an overwhelming experience to watch the movie for its special effects, the beautiful art direction and set decoration, the good-looking actors and the haunting music. and i happened to notice all this in subsequent viewings of the movie :P. Dil Chahta Hai would be another example. the actors, the clothes, the details of different houses of the three lead actors, the fact that every single frame of the movie has the color blue in it.

if only i had seen a new movie for every repeat viewings of these movies, my ever-increasing must-watch movie list might have been a tad more shorter ;)

Asking for Forgiveness or making an Atonement ?

Ian McEwan's Atonement: inadvertent moments...that moment creeps in uncalled and then changes your life forever.

Religion is nothing but man's interpretation of God. and man is flawed. so how can religion be perfect ?

Oh Yes
 

there are worse things than
being alone
but it often takes decades
to realize this
and most often
when you do
it's too late
and there's nothing worse
than
too late.

- Charles Bukowski

HBS prof's parting end of semester advice-

"Dont take up the wrong job for money and dont marry the wrong person for security".

Touché :)

Quotes from GG

* Sometimes you have to be weak in order to get strong.

* Battle is seldom the answer, but sometimes its a battle just to keep the peace.

xoxo ;)

My Social Life

I could not have chosen a better time to be in India - the great Indian wedding season. as luck would have it, i have hyper-social parents who have close to 20 invitations in this wedding month. when i spoke about prioritizing them, as in attend a few and sending their "blessings" in the rest, my mother's one look shut me up for good. there were multiple weddings on a single day. it takes a certain dedicated enthusiasm to attend all of them :)

i had my share of weddings to attend. one of my closest school pal was getting married and i was at her place for four days. i was able to be there after a lot of hurdles. i wanted to be there because she is the best link i have with my past and i wanted to be there for her on her important day. it was heartening to see the family trying to come together for this occasion barely three months after facing a dreadful tragedy. there could not be a better example of this simple quote: "Life goes on." People will be missed, their absence acutely felt, life will never be the same without them. but life has to be slowly rebuild without them and we have to move on. her wedding was a small and simple affair, yet no details were overlooked, no ritual forgotten, everyone making a brave attempt at trying to bring life to normalcy and making the bride's day as joyful as she deserves to have.

for me, her wedding was also a reminder that from now on, whatever Indian wedding i attend, the bride will be either of my age or younger to me. seldom older. Ouch ;)

Also got to handle a Nikon D90 all through the wedding :). now my point and shoot Canon feels like a pathetic excuse for a camera. and the owner of the camera was the most chilled-out person i have come across when it comes to handling his camera. his only instruction was: try to keep it away from kids. what better occasion than an Indian wedding to capture the moments ? i love the way the lens brings the object into sharp focus a split-second before i click the  button to capture the picture.


that aside, went to watch Potter-7 Part 1, alone. is that so pathetic as much as my friend makes it sound ?  for me, the reason was simple. i wanted to catch the movie asap and couldnt find company. was getting sick and tired of all the facebook, googletalk status messages. i have done that for the previous Potter movie too. and  anyway, i have never bothered about the company i have for a movie, when i am more interested in the movie than who i have in my next seat. well...unless i have a really hot date. SSSiggghhhh...that sounds like a different lifetime :P

lastly, have i elucidated the advantages of having a gay brother ? he does all the necessary shopping for the weddings, gets my clothes and matching accessories. i am sometimes rudely reminded by him that i am a girl and i ought to behave like one. i am a sucker for comfortable clothes and stuff that fit me well and feel good on me. and lets face it, those stuff arent always the best looking things. i wonder how i give company to my friends on their endless shopping expeditions, giving helpful insights and never get tired. but funnily, when it comes to my own shopping time, i can be a terribly lazy person who will buy the first thing she likes and get done with, as if i were on a time-bound, painful but necessary expedition.  and in one such expedition when my brother was taking way too much time to choose my clothes, i just left the store and sat outside till he was done. but i loved the overall effect of the clothes and accessories and as usual, he rolled his eyes in an endearing what-would-you-do-without-me expression :)

winter seems to have thankfully descended over my city pretty comfortably. its not biting cold, the temperature in the early mornings staying at early 20C. but that is enough for people here to wear a monkey-cap, sweater, muffler etc. i see kids covered in multiple layer of clothes and woolens, their parents hyper-anxious that their precious heera might catch a nasty cold, never mind that the precious heera will take-off those layers at the first parent-free moment he/she gets.

so, i am off now to argue with my mother and try to wiggle myself out of another wedding invite. Till then... :)