Spider-Man on Republic Day.

The company I work for is associated with an institute called SOCARE IND, a home for children of prisoners in Central jail. There are about 30 children of the age group 3 to 15 who stay here. When I first visited the place, the owner told us stories about the horrific crimes that some of the parents of these kids have committed, I cringed every time he pointed to a kid and told his story. I can only imagine what they go through, their mental anguish ,the feeling of insecurity, not having their loved ones close to them, knowing that their parents are locked away for the shameful crimes they committed, it is scary! But they show almost no signs of it and are so full of energy and enthusiasm, it is infectious. That's one of the reasons I like visiting them.

On Republic Day we decided to organize a drawing competition and a quiz contest for the kids. (I came up with both ideas, thank you very much :)) The younger kids were supposed to draw the national flag and the older kids were free to draw anything they wanted. And boy, you should have seen the drawings! Flags were of all shapes, sizes and colours. Its not their fault, we hadn't clarified it was the Indian national flag that they had to draw. But the best painting was the one in which a kid had drawn a neat tricolour flag and standing next to it saluting the flag was none other than Spider-Man!!!!! I admire the ingenuity of the kid! I'd really like it if Spider-Man came to see our republic day celebrations. It would be fun wouldn't it? He could be the chief guest and could give an inspiring speech something to the effect of "With great power comes great responsibilities".Hehe!
For the quiz, I had no idea about the aptitude of these kids so I came up with simple questions like 'who is the president of India?'. I had to hide my face in shame when the children in turn asked us questions like which city is called 'Manchester of India'?(I bet you don't know that either, google and find out :p) We had to rack our brains and came up with some difficult questions. It turned out to be very interesting with a nail biting 'tie-breaker' in the end. This was followed by lots of masti, games and dance. It was the best republic day ever. The warden of the home, when we were about to leave told us that the kids hadn't had so much fun in a long time and thanked us profusely. I hadn't had so much fun in a long time! I am going to do this more often, spend more time with the kids, I don't know if I have anything to give them but there is so much to learn from them. :)

I also watched Rang de Basanti day on the same day. One word, Brilliant. I have only one qualm about the movie (it has to do with the ending) but I wont talk about it here. I'd say its a must watch. Look out for some super performances by Atul Kulkarni, Siddharth and Kunal. Aamir for a change, hasn't stolen the show. Music is awesome. Masti ki paatshaala......

Before I end this post I'd like to add that I take back everything I said in the last post. My cable wallah took off Zee Cafe. (We get Zee TV, Zee News, Zee Cinema, Zee Studio and Zee Telugu??? but no Zee cafe!) So no OC, no Friends. I hate him. He is my mortal enemy.

I am an addict after all.

What's on TV?

Tananana nan, tananana nan, tananana nan tanaaaa. California..here we come!!!

Thats the title track of 'The OC'. Yeah I watch America's number one teen soap. I have watched few episodes now and as far as I can tell, the show doesn't have any plot or substance, it only has pretty people in pretty places who pretty much seem to party all the time. Then why do I watch it? Maybe its a phase. Or as Arun puts it, I think I am going through Quarter life crisis. I also watch it for Seth. That adorable witty nerd. (I don't have a crush on him, he is 16!!!!I maybe going through a crisis but I am not sick!)
I tried to write about the show now and I realized how cliched the story and most characters are. Its almost as if Yash Chopra, Ekta Kapoor and MTV got together to make the show.Maybe thats why I like it :) Actually its not a phase, I can watch any crap anytime as long as it comes with good packaging. :)

Heres what else I am watching these days
1)Friends- Season 10.
2)Scrubs
3)Becker (Frasier will replace becker I guess. Why cant we have both shows?)
4)Everybody loves Raymond
5)MTV and VH1.

No, I don't watch History Channel. But I watch Discovery travel and Living. Sometimes.

I used to be a TV addict. I am glad I am not one anymore. The one year I stayed away from home I learnt I could survive without the TV. I learnt how to ignore the TV when there is a TV in the room. I learnt that you don't get supreme power and authority by holding the remote control. I learnt that the cable guy is not an enemy. I learnt TV watching can be a group activity. I learnt the art of balancing 'Living a life' and 'Watching TV'.

Now let me go get hold of that remote before somebody else does.

Am I asking for too much?

I want to quit my job not tomorrow not today, now.

I want to travel all over India.

I want to be loved more than I want to love.

I want to be able to speak my mind.

I want God to tell me that He/She really exists.

I want to be able to laugh when I want to, cry when I want to, I want to feel.

When I am 60, I want my grand kids to think I am the coolest grandma ever.

I don't want life to come to a stand still like it sometimes seems to.

I want to attend a big concert, scream, shout, sing, feel young again.

I want two Labrador pups, one black, one white.

I want my dog to not be jealous of the two pups.

I want to excel at what I do.

I don't want to do what I am doing right now for the rest of my life.

I want to be with someone with whom I can talk for hours, with whom silence doesn't seem awkward.

I want my phone to ring more often.

I don't want to have any regrets.

I want to stay selfish.

I want to go scuba diving.

I want to see a shooting star.

I want to dance in the rain.

I want to dream again.

I want to never stop learning.

I want people who I care for to know that I love them.

I want people to laugh when I tell a joke.

I don't want to lose hope.

I don't want to feel silly when I cry watching a sad movie.

I don't care if people don't understand me, I don't want them to misunderstand me.

I don't want to feel guilty about my materialistic needs.

I don't want to be satisfied, I want more.

I have the blues

I have been feeling low for the past few days. Though I am not able to pin point why exactly, I think it has to do with the following

• I tried colouring my hair this Sunday. The kit said it will result in subtle highlights. My hair now has brown/red/golden/blonde patches. It is not subtle. Even somebody with colour blindness can make out the difference. I figured out a way to hide it and look normal but I have to keep doing that for the next 60 days. Thats depressing.
  
• Visited a friend and her one month old baby. She told me stories about her evil in laws and the mental torture she had to go through. She is younger than me, she shouldn't have to go through all that at this age. Surprisingly she is handling it all very well!
• My uncles family who have stayed close by for the last 5 years are moving to another area, far far away. I hope my two cousins remember me. Actually, now I just hope they recognise me.
  
• I still haven't patched up with that friend who I fought with. (The one I mentioned in the last post)

• Work or the lack of it.

This is what is playing on my iPod these days

1. Tanhayee -Dil Chahta hai
2. Rabba- Musafir
3. Tadap Tadap-Hum Dil De chuke Sanam

I know they are all 'heart break' songs and they do not depict my mental state but I cant help it, they don't make songs on hair colour disasters.

But not everything is going bad. There is some good news too. A good (and talented) friend has finally taken my advice and will be putting down his insane ideas, creative outbursts, manic thoughts in his blog. Please welcome Guns, who is trying a second (or third???) attempt at blogging. The guy has an opinion on almost everything on earth and knows how to put it in words. Please visit his blog. But don't stop visiting mine.

And oh if you can find him a girlfriend that would be perfect.

There Guns, I did it. Now, when is my treat?

Happy Birthday A.R. Rehmaan!

I am not his biggest fan, I am just one of the thousands of people who admire him. I am completely in awe with his ability to come up with songs so beautiful, every single time, they make me want to dance, they make me want to cry, they make me want pine for the lover I don't have.

Radio City had a special program dedicated to him from 12 AM to 3 AM. I stayed up till 2 after which I decided listening to his songs on my iPod would be better since there would be no buffoons passing off as RJs interrupting in between. Their conversation was something like this

RJ 1 : It is so dark outside.
RJ 2 : And if we switch off the lights in the studio?
RJ 1: It will be dark inside too.
RJ 1 & RJ 2 : HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAHAHAHA!

Me : ????????

But they did play all my favorites, some Tamil songs and some others that I hadn't heard in a long time. It is amazing how every song reminded me of some person or some event. My mind started wandering so much that I had to put down the engrossing and page turner of a book, Dave Barry does Japan.

When they played Snegidane Snegidane, thoughts immediately went out to a friend with whom I had a fight recently. The person who helped me learn the song and explained the meaning to each and every word. The only Tamil song I know the words to. The argument seems silly now. But I have every right to be angry.

One of my colleagues danced to Chinamma Chilkamma at some event in office a year back. Funny guy, his performance was equally funny. I have lost touch with him now. But I keep hearing things about him like the fact that he is dating A, of all people. I don't know what he sees in her.

Jungle main koel bole from Taal was first introduced to me by my cousin who was then about 3 years old. I thought it was some nursery rhyme he had learnt at school. He is 9 now. He has lost his milk teeth and some of his innocence.

Aye udi udi....Vivek Oberoi, I loved his smile. Then Aishwarya happened, press conference happened. Like most of my crushes this one saw a premature death too. This song reminds of that friend again. We saw this movie together just before the semester exams. Maybe its my fault. Maybe I should apologize. But I don't want to be taken for granted.

Yeh jo des hai tera. My roommates made last minute plans to watch Swades, booked tickets for the night show and ditched me because I had to attend a dinner party with my team mates. I was furious but got to watch it the very next morning with some other people. The funny thing is, since it was night show when they watched it, the theatre owner decided to chop off the ending of the movie including this song! I was delighted that I got to see the whole movie while they didn't, they never made plans without me again.

Fanaa. I love this song. Absolutely love it. I now dedicate this song to all those who are reading this. (This is the part where you look for Fanaa mp3 and play it on your system)

Happy Birthday AR. Continue to enthrall people with your music. Thank you for everything.

Poster Boy -II

Just like I predicted, M. S. Dhoni will soon be seen endorsing products. Soaps, to be precise. Mysore Sandal Soaps. From now on he will be called Mysore Sandal Dhoni. I don't like him anymore, the initial excitement of seeing him in that Reebok poster has worn out. He's got his hair straightened, he looks girlie. He is even endorsing girlie products.

But I still hope he is shirtless in the Ad. Preferably in the shower. (Not Bath Tub)

In the end...

The one thing I have learnt in the last year is that everybody has problems, everybody has insecurities, everybody cries, everybody hurts. And that there is no such thing as a perfect family, even if it looks so from the outside. Thats actually more than one thing learnt.