I love to Travel :)

Mumbai- City of Dreams - http://pinterest.com/pin/530580399823035782/?utm_source=android_share

Top 5 Holi Songs

I love Holi. And I love Holi songs from the silver screen even more. So this year I thought I'd put together a list of my favourite songs.

Pichkari!

Without much ado, here goes-

No. 5
Haule Haule- Rab Be Bana Di Jodi
You might not think of this as a Holi song, but technically it starts off with Holi and the whole picturization is so sweet. I love the long takes, the synchronised choreography and the colour schemes. It's a treat to watch :)
No. 4
The No. 4 position jointly goes to-
Tum Tak- Ranjhaana
Dhanush is reason enough to love this song, but if that doesn't do it for you then A.R Rahman surely will. And if none of that works, then there's the exceptional cinematography. The way it's shot will make you fall in love with colours. *sigh*
Madubala - Mere Brother Ki Dulhan
Again, not technically a Holi song, but there are Bhang references, and I love the UP feel :D

No. 3
Balam Pichkari - Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani
The folksy feel, the interesting instruments, the kitschy lyrics, the colours, and the carefree abandon of your good old college days. With a very hot Deepika Padukone. What more d'you need? This song makes me wanna get up and dance in the middle of the theatre. And that doesn't happen too often.

No. 2
Khaike Paan Banaras Wala- Don (1978)
One of my favourite songs from one of my favourite movies. I don't think it's actually set in Holi, but since it's all about Bhang, you'll hear it often enough at Holi parties. There's nothing I need to really justify here- the song is awesome and that's that. :)

And finally for my No. 1 Holi song------

Jai Jai Shiv Shankar- Aap Ki Kasam
Not your usual Top Holi song, but I like this much more than the omnipresent 'Rang barse' etc etc
Rajesh Khanna, who I love. Kishore Kumar who I love even more. Mumtaz who is too cute, and music that is so 70s. The song encapsulates Holi so beautifully, the lyrics and the music compliment the thought so well. Ek ke do, do ke chaar dikhte hai truly :)

Enjoy listening to these (and many more) Holi songs and a very happy and colourful Holi to all! :)

P.S- Do tell me what your favourite Holi songs, the absolute worst (that'd be a long list in itself), the downright sleazy...

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V

Madras- A one night stand that couldn't become a torrid love affair

This happen's to be my 100th post! :) I thought I'd make it special :D If you've been around for a while, do leave a comment to let me know whether you love/hate/abhor my blog and my narcissism or...just lemme know what's up...

I've been travelling for a while now. That's the one thing about being in sales, esp if you're a management trainee. You get to travel. A lot. Now it started off with the south. I spent a couple of days in Chennai, and contrary to popular belief (or just what ppl around me believe) it is not such a bad place after all. The way people had always talked about it, I thought there'd be nothing to do, no entertainment options at all. Boy, was I wrong. I landed in Chennai on the morning around 9-10 am and we were supposed to report to our regional office directly. However, they allowed us to stop over at our guest house to dump all our luggage before we headed off to work. Now, of course language is a problem in Chennai for north-indians (for anyone who's not Tamil basically) but Google Maps came to the rescue, and in broken english, we managed to reach the right location. I should mention here that my company's guest house is located in a really posh part of the city. Wide roads, tall trees, sprawling bungalows. An auto driver later told me Jayalalitha lives nearby and bcuz real estate there is so high, that's the reason they charge us a bomb for those short auto rides. But more on that later. People crib abt the Chennai weather, but I for one prefer the hot and humid over the cold and dry any day. Considering what it does to my hair, I'm being very generous I feel, but I just can't stand the cold. Now it was a friday evening , and when we got off work we decided to just chill at our guest house. The next day, we had work (have blogged about this recently- read 'The first day of the rest of my life') but after that we went out. Had some snacks at a place called Gangotree which was decent, and then headed to 10D. The only issue I had with the place is that it doesn't open till 7:30. Apart from that, I loved *everything* about this British style pub. Ambience is comfortable, old worldly and friendly. The music was a bit loud, and there were random people but I would still recommend this place to people looking to unwind in the city. The shots were good and the appetisers as decent as you can expect from a pub. I would give it a 4 star rating on 5. For further info on what I'd eaten, you can read the other blog entry I mentioned above. Other notable places to eat/party in the city that I discovered in my short stay there were Raintree Hotel (it has a lot of options- Rainbow, Madera, etc. etc.), this cute lil place called Sandy's Chocolate Laboratory (Near the Unilever guest house in Nungambakkam), Purple Room in Hotel President. Tangerine is another place in Alwarpet, but i didnt feel the food was very good. As for shopping, I only visited two malls. Phoenix in Vellachery and City Centre In Dr. Radhakrishnan Salai.

Mammo Deli, 10D and Sandy's

Phoenix is huge, and a lil confusing, but it's new so the time that I was there, a lot of shops hadn't opened. In fact, I'd gone there with a friend from work, management trainee like me, and we wished to eat, but couldn't find anything. Finally, we saw this small cafe 'Mammo Deli' where we had delicious mocktails and some tangy pasta (was very hot- temperature-wise). I found free-wifi in the mall though so I whipped out my laptop and started doing some work (didn't have a data connection USB then, and I had done some research before heading out, there's a list on foursquare for free WiFi spots in Chennai and I put it to full use). They have a decent food court as well. There was one joint which caught my eye, by the name of Cha Republic. They put those bead-type thingies in shakes, the kind you'll find in abundance in southeast asia. And now I hear, Zara has opened up there.
 So, Phoenix does offer enough options for recreation Yea, it's a joke that the Hard Rock Cafe in Phoenix City Mall which opened just a few months back, can't even serve alcohol. Because in Chennai, you need to have lodgings in order to get a liqour license. Which is why places like 10 Downing Street have lodgings as well in the first floor. For the average movie-buff, Chennai is a haven. Though, for a north Indian, there might not to be too much of a variety. The Tamil Nadu govt has imposed a regulation on ticket prices, so no matter that it's a multiplex and you're watching the latest 3D action flick, you still pay a meagre Rs. 120 to watch a movie. 

My point being, Chennai is a city where you can have fun, you just have to look in the right places. A friend of mine who's working there currently, parties every weekend, and eats out more than 3 times a week. Two of the places she recommends are Mash by Besant Nagar, near Elliot's beach and California Pizza Kitchen, which is a chain and has no "madras"ness about it. When I was "interviewing" her for this piece, and asked her if she'd visited some of the restaurants I've mentioned above, she was clueless, but I guess that is collateral damage...when you end up living in a place, you end up going to the tried and tested places to eat, hang-out, etc. Hopefully, this piece will wake up a few people, and encourage them to go out and explore the city that they may have written off in a hurry.

Another friend of mine, who has again, been working in Chennai the past couple of months very kindly gave me a sound-byte. Utkarsh Gupta, from IIMC, says "Chennai has the potential to be India's Miami with the long beachline it boasts of, but the local admin needs to realise it; a city still stuck somewhere in the 80s when the country is moving on". I wouldn't say I entirely disagree with what he says...

Now, I remember, I mentioned I'd get back to the auto-wallas, and I always try not to disappoint, dear readers. I thought it'd be funny if I tell you guys how a friend (fellow north-Indian) and I used to communicate with the auto-wallas in Chennai. I already spoke about the merits of Google maps, but we still had to give directions from time-to-time. So, the way we communicated was "Right-aa", "Left-aa", "Stop-aa". I know, this is probably very anticlimatic, but it's hilarious when you hear us say it :P But then, it works, so who cares, right? Na urr thadava sunna...Ok, that was randomly inserted there for good measure. He he. I do like showing off my prowess over the dravidian tongue by sometimes quoting Rajnikanth dialogues...There's only one that I know, so it gets old real fast. :)

But I digress...the whole point of this article was to stress upon the fact that every city has something to offer, and one shouldn't write it off without fully exploring the options it has to offer. Or maybe, it's just me, I like to find something good about everything...Whatever it is, I can't say whether I loved or hated the city, cause one week is hardly enough to take in the atmosphere, let alone explore all the nooks and alleys, but it's a city I would definitely love to visit again, and test the waters with.

P.S- A special mention to the north-Indian auto walla who was asking whether I had visited Marina beach and other sites in the city. :) You made me happy, Auto walle Bhaiyya :) I guess you recognised a kindred spirit in the land of Rajnikanth and filter coffee. (Sorry,I don't mean to stereotype. Apologies, if I'm being ignorant)

I don't know if this happens to everyone, but I find nice autodrivers/cabbies in whichever city I go to, be it Mumbai, Hyderabad or Chennai....Now, if only auto walle bhaiyya's in Delhi were listening....:/

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Free WiFi Spots in Chennai: https://foursquare.com/krishna06/list/free-wifi-spots-in-chennai

I found it useful, hopefully you will too.

Threat to my creative freedom

A few days back I suggested to my sister that she start a blog. She used to write in college so I said why don't you continue to do so? Write a blog about your baby. Well, she didn't agree then, citing various reasons from "I write pretty badly" to "there are 1000s of blogs on the same subject out there". Anyway, I decided to leave it at that. But a few days back, my sister pinged me and asked me to pick a title from the two choices she lay in front of me. I asked her why and I had a feeling it might be cause of the idea I had given her a few days previously. I turned out to be right. She was thinking of a blog name. I gave my opinion and said it required some tweaking. When she asked *me* to come up with the right word, I joked that if I could think up good names, I would've done so for my own blog. Huge mistake. She asked me to share the link and I refused but she continued to pester and finally I relented and sent it to her.
When I got back from my sales stint in Chandigarh, I was greeted with a barrage of onslaughts about my blog. Apparently I'm a hypocrite because to her I always said I liked Sonam Kapoor, while on my blog I keep ranting about my hatred of/for her. She also accused me of copying her opinions and passing them of as my own. To which I said these were *my* opinions and she called me delusional. Anyhow, later she told me she made my parents read the dussehra post as well where I called my family "the villain to my plans". I'm hoping her interest in my blog dies down because this can really hamper my creative freedom. :P I will share her blog URL with you guys when she decides to commence it. Till then, wait for my next post- I've been working on it this week! :)

Ugh.

*sigh*

I've been thinking a lot about this blog of late. About taking it to the Next Level. Going Mainstream. Making it more of a full-time thing than something I remember to do once in 4 months.

But, no matter how much I think, conceptualise, ideate....I just don't how to really start.
As always, I start off with deciding to change the template I'm using...and then waste a good few hours in choosing one that is *just perfect* [I'm a cautious and dissatisfied shopper, so it stems from that...Just ask my mom], and never being fully satisfied with the output.

So, rather than writing or conceptualising new blog posts, I have successfully managed to waste the productive hours of my day, discussing, analysing, doing all the superficial things that I know don't matter as much as I make them out to.

So, what do I do when my net connection goes wonky, and I'm not able to see any of the said templates in action? Do I finally start writing? No...Heaven forbid. I start tweeting and pinning and randomly browsing through blogs and coming across awesome initiatives like http://nanowrimo.org/

So, I decided enough was enough. I will blog, if it's the last thing I do today. Ok, maybe that was a li'l too melodramatic for 7:30 pm  , but you get my drift write? [Oh god, it has come to this]
Anyhow, so this is my post. Here. And Now. Bye bye.

The First Day of The Rest of My Life

Now this is a lil something I wrote way back in May 2013...around the 20th or so. And like everything else in my life, I never finished it, and hence, never posted it. But I do realise that Time is of the essence in most of my blog posts, and I'm posting it now, in as is, state, and maybe I'll complete it at a later time. I don't know why I chose to be so descriptive though. It may get boring, bear with me :|

How often have you heard this phrase? My bet is, about a million times. Even so, I had to write about this. Though I’m only about…er…20 days late? That is what procrastination does to you. Anyhow, the point of this post is- that I am now a working woman. I have a full-time, paid job. K It’s a scary thought. But actually, it’s been pretty okay so far. I’m a management trainee, and my induction last for 3 weeks. It was a bunch of sessions covering an overview of the different departments, some fun stuff like factory visits in Punjab and Haryana….and finally a one-day CSR activity at an NGO which was quite enjoyable. So much for the easy part. From then on, my sales stint started. Flew off to Chennai early morning, attended a few sessions at the RSO and headed to the guest house where we MTs were put up. Chennai…has been quite interesting so far. Yeah, it’s humid as hell, and as soon as we leave the office building it feels like we stepped into a furnace/sauna depending on the time of day, but I’ve still managed to enjoy the past few days. And I’m no stranger to hot and humid climates, having spent the last two years in Calcutta.

On Friday, we just chilled at the guest house, watched random movies and songs on the Home Theatre System (yes, you read that right) and basically enjoyed the good life.

Saturday…well, Saturday, we had to come into office for some work, but we got free early, an hour after lunch or so, so we decided to chill (again). We thought of going to watch Aurangzeb in a theatre 7-9 kms from our base, but we got late on the way, so decided to take  a detour to 10 Downing Street- this totally amazing, totally British place.  We got there at 7, but the place hadn’t opened, so we thought we’d explore the locality a bit. I had 1 mallu, 1 gult for company. However, the gult is as less of a gult as I’ve ever seen in my life. Hehehe. So, anyhow, we found this place called ‘Gangotree’…which, erm, I’m ashamed to admit, I pronounced as Gango-tree (Gango rhyming with Mango). We had awesome snacks- dhokla and pav bhaji. Or maybe it was just that we were hungry. My mallu friend however, had something which looked like Pink slush (‘Pink Solution’ he called it). Falooda with ice cream he claimed it was. K *shudder* Anyway, after our stomachs were partially full, but our souls fully satisfied with the gastronomic treats, we headed off to 10D. There’s a cover charge for guys, but it’s times like these that you’re thankful for being a woman. J  The place in itself was very very good. I liked the ambience. From the way they illustrated the menu, to the books stacked up on the walls. As for the food, I can definitely vouch for the baby corn starter. The pepper chicken was a little dry though.  We also went to the Purple Room at Hotel President, but I didn’t stay there long, so can’t comment about the place.

The next day…was again a relaxed morning. Got up, had dry upma for breakfast and watched tv while lazing around on the couch. Mango juice, watermelon juice…the good life. For lunch, I headed off to meet a friend from IIMC at Raintree Hotel. It became a mini IIMC reunion of sorts. We ordered Italian, and beer. I had something called Tequila Chicken, with a bunch of other herbs and yellow and red peppers, and the pasta I chose was ‘Fettucine’. This dish, my dear readers, was very very good. I couldn’t make out the taste of Tequila, however, it was tangy and juicy, had an adequate amount of seasoning. In short, I loved it.

Song Of The Day....V 2014 :P

Yeah, I'm starting it again.
Today's Song of The Day is-

And by now, anyone would've figured out I'm a huge Matchbox 20 fan. :)
Enjoy.

[I think the lyrics are somewhat childish, but I like the feel of the song. Geddit, geddit? :D ]

A Kohl-lined Story

Anyone who's known me for even a week would be able to tell people that I love my kajal. I never (never ever ever) step out with eyes that are not kohl-lined. Friends have been assigned secret missions to secretly catch me without kajal and click pics as proof. My sister has called me a racoon, taking it upon herself to wipe the black stuff off of my eyes, and my kajal sticks have been hidden from me. (There was a period of time, in high school, where my eye doctor had advised me not to wear kajal, but I found ways...) So you understand, I can be called somewhat of a Kajal connoisseur. 

A few days back, while on sales calls, I started noticing this new product at chemist stores. It was black and pink, and obviously caught my eye. So, when I went shopping with my sister, I'd made up my mind that I would buy it. The last time I bought kajal was anyway in July and I go through these things like a kid goes through candy after Hallowe'en. So anyway, I went and bought the new Supreme Magique Kajal from l'oreal. The packaging's nice, I love anything with the colour scheme pink and black and it's a roll-on liner, the kind I love.
It's supposed to be suitable for contact lens wearers so I tried it on while wearing contacts. It's supposed to be smudge-proof, but frankly, the first day, I was disappointed. It wasn't dark enough for one, which I have a huge problem with. I kept trying to put more and more layers on, but that was a pain, and the difference wasn't very stark. The third continuous day of using it was better though. It is definitely darker now, but that maybe cause I've been wearing specs, not lenses and cause I never wash off my kajal at the end of the day. (Not advisable though, please don't do that).
Anyhow, for now I'll give it a rating of 5/10. My MAC is much better than this. But at more than 4 times the cost, it was bound to be. :)