I watched “Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi” yesterday and I woke up today all grumpy and with a headache. I can’t believe I wasted a perfect Saturday evening watching this crap!

The only positive thing that came out of it was that I watched a pirated movie, which cost me way less than watching it in a movie theater.

I was just curious to find out what reviews this movie got online and this is what Rajeev Masand had to say.

When it's not peddling God and its theories on love, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi is really an antiquated love story that is regressive, chauvinistic and plain stupid in parts.

Almost all of Aditya Chopra’s movie have bombed this year. I know I won’t be watching any of his movies for a long long time.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/masands-verdict-rab-ne-bana-di-jodi-is-contrived/80427-8.html

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No words…

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What the television news channels did not show you. Just click on the link at the bottom.

Late Wednesday night, Mumbai, India found itself the target of a ferocious terrorist attack, and the situation remains unresolved even now, three days later. According to reports, upwards of 60 young men entered Mumbai in small inflatable boats on Wednesday night, carrying bags filled with weapons and ammunition, and spread out to nine locations to begin their attacks. Lobbing grenades and firing their weapons, they entered hotels, a railway station and several other buildings, killing scores and wounding even more. As of this moment, the identity of the attackers has yet to be definitively determined, though there are reports indicating some of the gunmen were Pakistani - at least nine of them have been killed, nine more arrested. As of this writing, there were a reported 151 people killed from 11 different countries - though nearly 100 were Indian. More than 300 injuries have also been reported - those numbers may yet rise as several hostage situations still exist in the city

Mumbai under attack - The Big Picture - Boston.com

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I am just numbed by the happenings in the city right now. I guess the editor of the Economic Times felt the same way too.

Like others I spent the entire day watching news channels hoping there’s a resolution to this ugly incident. I just couldn’t help draw parallels between the terrorist attack underway in the city of Mumbai RIGHT NOW and Die Hard (1988), the movie. But then, that was a movie…

I am just disappointed with the condition of the intelligence gathering mechanism. I suppose we should outsource it to the US.

I’m just curious to know where’s the Thackeray clan and their respective Senas? Probably trying to organize an agitation because the INDIAN army/navy unit was allowed to operate in the city instead of a Maharashtrian unit!

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I almost fell of my chair laughing on this one.

Wait a minute… is that the reason why I don’t see the US navy patrolling the seas off the Somalian coast!

http://cagle.msnbc.com/politicalcartoons/

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I saw this badge on the Indiblogger network and I found it very true.

The problem with most bloggers (including moi) is that; We have the presence of mind, but there’s always the absence of thought.

Generating ideas is not easy, putting it to paper or a blog is even more difficult.

Suddenly you are reminded of school days when you could write an essay on topics like “A day in the life of a Bus stop” to writing news paper articles on fictional events.

Writing can be difficult but what exacerbates the situation is when you are out of touch with reading. School was all about reading, learning and applying your comprehension skills in a 3 hour exam.

I have a ton of books which I plan to finish reading. I guess I will have to FEED MYSELF in order to Feed my Blog.

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Hours before the Iranian New Year, a seven-year-old girl begs her mother for money to buy a goldfish. The mother grudgingly relents, but, on the way to the store, the girl accidentally drops her 500-toman bill into an open sewer grate. In a relentless attempt to retrieve her money in time to purchase the much-coveted goldfish, she enlists the help of her enterprising brother and a varied cross-section of Teheran's marginalized citizens. A quiet, unpretentious gem about the beauty in everyday life.

I remember watching a few Iranian movies a decade ago on Star Movies, part of their children’s week celebration. I forgot the names of the movies and their directors over the years and all I could remember were the characters and the amazing storyline.

The brilliance of The White Balloon is in its simplicity which led it to win the Prix de la Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

I finally managed to catch the movie on UTV World Movies and boy was I excited!

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Flickr is almost certainly the best online photo management and sharing application in the world. I like the way it ranks photos on the website based on interestingness.

If you are an avid photographer, do yourself a favor and get a free Flickr account. You will thank me for it.

In descending order, here are five of my most interesting pictures till date on Flickr. Njoy!

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I know the US elections are over and this is a little late, but then this was too funny to be not shared.

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There was this story in one of my English text books about a child who initiates a trade with a dead rat and lands up with riches. This was a prose lesson back in the 80s, for students in the 1st or 2nd grade.

I stumbled upon a blog today where that story turned to reality. No dead rats. Just a red paperclip.

You can read Kyle MacDonald’s journey from a red paper clip to a house in Kipling, Saskatchewan in a year. Just click on the image below.

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I have been asked that question almost every time I’ve introduced myself.

I suppose it is an excellent way to initiate a conversation in the Indian subcontinent. Have your ever heard a name without any “meaning”?
Well… definitely not where I live.

I’ve been offered a grand total of 3 meanings for my name, which I could use. One by my parents, one by an old lady by the badminton court and the last one by my wife.

So what does “Sitanshu” really mean?

Cold Teardrop: I was as confused as you are right now. I’ve spent a decent amount of childhood trying to figure out why my parents would name me after a teardrop!

Rama (from the Ramayana): An elderly lady told me the origins of my name lie in the fusion of two Sanskrit words. Broken down, “Sitanshu” literally means “A part of Sita” (Rama’s wife).

The Moon: My wife Googled this one and I totally don’t agree with it.

There have been many occasions when people have asked me if I was Chinese, but then that’s another story.

If there are any other meanings to my name, I would love to know.

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The wind in the willows sang softly to me.
Follow my voice wherever it leads,
Through mountains and valleys and deep rolling seas
Born on the wings of the breeze.
Spin me a dream, woven silver and gold
Of sunshine and shadows and days long ago.
Where people are memories and stories unfold,
Willows, the tales you have told me.
Wind in the Willows you just seem to know,
Who you can turn to and which way to go,
To unwind your wondrous mind. Wind in the Willows, take me home.

 

 The Wind in the Willows is a 52-episode TV series that originally aired between 1984 and 1987, based on characters from Kenneth Grahame's classic story The Wind in the Willows.

I fell in love with this theme song back in 1991-92, when Ratty, Toad, Badger and Mole were aired into our living rooms.

The show is so wonderfully innocent & endearing that nobody could be offended by the characters or the stories, no matter how old they were.

I've often wondered if, you were to show programmes like these to today's children on T.V would they actually want to watch it compared to the children back in the 80's?

For all those who want to get nostalgic, here’s the theme song. Thank GOD for You Tube! I only wish I knew where I could get all the episodes.

Theme Song

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Sometime earlier this week, Times of India carried a photograph of someone dressed up as goddess Kali for Halloween!

The pic was stunning, with a lot attention to detail.

I tried to look up the internet for more images so I could share it with my friends.

What I found was news of enraged Hindu leaders in the US finding the images insulting to Hindu culture and religion.

Those images are beautiful and I don’t see what the self proclaimed guardians of religion and culture are ranting about.

BTW… The person in the Kali Avatar is Heidi Klum.

Your comments are appreciated.

More images

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Sometimes I feel as if Obama and McCain are running for the “President of the United States of India”.

I was surfing TV for 45 minutes in the morning trying to hear some local news and there was no escaping them.

 

 

This cartoon pretty much sums up who the next president will be.

I will be extremely surprised if its not.

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I must have seen this movie at least 4 times by now, in pieces. Every time I watch it, it takes me on a nostalgic trip back to the 80s. I suppose being a kid was a lot more simpler and loads of fun.

The movie is called Fan Chan (Thai) & My Girl (Eng). It was released in the year 2003 and was a major box office hit.

Jeab, a young man working in Bangkok, receives word that his best friend from childhood, Noi-Nah is to be married. While driving back to his hometown, the memories of his friendship with her come flooding back, and their story is told in a flashback.

They are best friends, even though their fathers are rival barbers with shops on each side of a mini-mart in the small town of Petchaburi.

Every morning, Jeap wakes up too late to catch the school bus. His father must then give him a ride on his motorcycle to catch up with the bus.

On the bus, we are introduced to Jeab, Noi Nah and all the boys, who are led by a big bully named Jack. They all talk about what they are going to do after school. The boys plan to play Chinese fantasy. The girls will play house.

Jeab longs to play with the boys, but they play in a park across a busy street, which he can't ride his bike across. So he's limited to playing with the girls.

There's a lot of humor in the film and all the children have given a good performance. A nice, touching story which makes it a good afternoon watch.

You should be able to view it on UTV - World Movies one of these days. I tried looking for the DVD at the some of the stores in Mumbai, no luck.

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Whenever I get tired from my job search, I tend to ruminate on the events affecting my life.

From my virtual house arrest due to a cardiac surgery in February, to moving out of my well paying, grave yard shifts only BPO/KPO job. The fact that my mortgage banking client got owned by the FDIC did not help either.

I suppose sometime early in my career, I must have approved some "not so prime" loans and now they have come back to haunt me! The mortgage industry is in the dump and has dragged everyone down with it.

The joys and the mostly disappointments.

Aah... Zindagi.

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Hullo World.

:)

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