BOLLYWOOD-GLUTTON'S DAY OUT!

chinki doll and porcelain doll!

mummy and urmila

yesterday was the ultimate bollywood-glutton's [that's me] day out! perhaps i'm the only girl who doesn't fancy shopping much.....trying out millions of clothes ruffles my hair and mood [especially if i like stuff made for the super-anorexic which naturally don't fit me], actually i only tag along because shopping expeditions spell eating out *yay*. you wouldn't believe that i actually fell asleep in a shoe shop a year back! i even heard the music playing in the mall as 'i walked in closed shoes' after a weary day of a long unsuccessful quest for the 'perfect closed shoes' [ courtesy Urmila].

so yesterday I was out with my regular jing-bang, my 'fairy god' mother [well almost, because she's wherever i am, or vice versa] and my 1/4 Deepika Padukone, 3/4 live porcelain doll Urmila [we'll decide the ratio later]. we initially wanted this dress code for the three of us, 'a vest' suggested mom, but she dropped the idea after I said, 'if we all wear a vest, everyone will be forced to look east' [sorry lame!]. so we visited fabindia where i politely said, "wow! this is really nice" to every second thing i saw so that both of them would hurry up and buy something. then we visited moshe's and picked up a dessert each. i had this thing called Gooey Chocolate which was chocolate crusted and oozed out more chocolate which was div-ine!!!! everyone eyed it and dug their spoons into it slyly [and actually got away with it!]

then we whizzed away to colaba causeway.....its a good place to learn to dance because you have to constantly step back, front, sideways, bend, slide through [only a 'shimmy' was missing] so as to avoid colliding into other lonely orbits. i was feeling all tall when some foreigners double my height passed me [errrr......]. then there was this trinket seller who was digusted with my bargaining skills [and made no effort to hide this], probably because i laughed like a hiccupping hyena every time a quoted a low price [its very easy to start me off]. so finally, after buying nothing ,we rested our weary backsides at theobrama where we shared a sandwich and had a chocolate brownie each [different ones though]......chocolate surprisingly corrects my mood and makes me fresh, chirpy and energetic again [much better than that red bull anyway, it tastes like my Dr. Desai's worst syrup medicine which washed away the taste of everything good for sometime]

anyway, then we went to Nariman point, clicked pictures and flashed those tourist-y smiles. we hitched a horse called Krish [and you thought only I was filmy] for a huge round around Nariman point. while we were on a ride, we sang all our favourite Hindi numbers [i started this naturally] as loudly as possible [Krish's master must have thought we were tipsy] and I continued to sing them while we were walking.......the breeze was cool and refreshing and made my hair fly in a filmy way [i felt no less than Priyanka Chopra in Dostana in that song, Khabar Nahi].......

after touring our ancient family hotel we sat down for....yes.....yet another meal! [this was our final, final dinner ok!]. Badshah is the best place EVER for pau-bhaji and falooda......since we were so full, we shared the pau bhaji but obviously things like underwears and desserts can never be shared! my Badshahi falooda had a bit of the best of everything in the world in it, so i didn't bother to even glance at what the other two ordered. there are two things that keep me absorbed.....i won't flinch till its done......one: writing exams.....two: eating desserts.......

ok......now i think i've scared my readers! i appear as some sort of female bakasur! someone you can never trust with your [abbe.....not izzat] food...... relax! relax! i only do that once in a while.....otherwise i'm pretty much under control..... no really! ek thopdyat deil, don't snigger!

CAFE BASILCO

now that i'm this self-proclaimed food and bollywood critic.....let me get started on my adventures and mis-adventures with food <3

one place i'll never forget [or forgive] is Cafe Basilco. i had been there around three years ago for an 'elegant' breakfast with my mom after reading those million reviews about this place which gave it the thumbs-up sign. okay, so we travelled all the way to town on a Sunday for a breakfast more exciting than our regular idli-dosa-cornflakes and guess what we got? ............

not so fast, i have to build up the drama for our brilliant [anti] climax! so i sat there fingering the menu with my crooked finger, reading those mouth-watering descriptions that cheat customers into buying the same old regular dish....rehashed! we placed our order.....mom ordered something that sounded fairly normal [read not more exciting, innovative than what we usually have at home] and i ordered something that sounded exotic.....i can't remember the name, or the description, but i remember the waitress lighting up and saying that i must try it.....what was the description....fluffy something something with delicious blank blank accompanied with blank blank of your choice....bah! no use, i can't remember the exact description.....but oh! how it sounded! so after waiting, peering, flashing polite smiles at the staff around us, i was presented my dish...the ultimate dish which was meant to bait me, make me a regular customer......cafe basilco's 'agni pariksha' and it turned out to be......gasp! gasp! gasp!................UPMA!!!!!!!

WHAAAAAAAT!!!!!! i travelled this far for UPMA! i mean.....UPMA.....are you serious! *sob sob* MA......UPMA??? *sniff*..... i could have had the same UPMA, 100 percent original, 1000 times more delicious, 10000 times cheaper at home......of course, the one at home may have a few stray strands of dog hair but its better than eating my own hair in frustration!!!!!

[i got dessert as a consolation, but it wasn't brilliant enough to lift up my dampened spirit......]

RNBDJ and Ghajni

yup! i've seen both the movies and i'm not going to make this review overloaded with purple-rage sarcasm to show off my wit and writing skills like most other critics. ok, so let's start: while rab ne bana di jodi warms your heart, Ghajni makes your head boil!

Rab ne bana di jodi was light hearted, funny, emotional.....like sweet-and-sour chutney, very delectable. of course, you have to be an ardent shah rukh fan to fall for both his characters in the first shot: Suri being a nerd with a samosa for a nose, Raj being extremely annoying and too loud but of course, king khan did a great job in both their skins. Anushka Sharma was fresh, cute and very confident. she glowed on the screen and was a pleasure to watch. i don't know why the critics spoke so little of her. they've got these very strange parameters which frighten me!
of course the movie was complete with its dose of song and dance. however, there were very few characters compared to other yash raj movies which had truckloads of 'punjabi parivars' which was quite a relief. 'Tuj mein rab dikta hain' has been sung so sensitively that it echos true love with every note <3

Ghajni was stuffed with nail-biting violence [yes, i was even biting my toenails during some of the fight sequences!]. it was picturized extremely well, with not one scene being out of place or context. Asin was spunky, lively, with excellent expressions and dialogue delivery not to mention a great wadrobe which made her look even prettier. her character was extremely believable and very easy to fall for. Amir Khan was fantastic as usual, but sort of freaked me out the way he jumped on the villians and growled and grunted at them like an animal. he almost reminded me of Hari, my dog, in his worst mood. it seemed like he beat up everyone he saw throughout the movie! Jiah Khan did her part well, but perhaps people didn't like her because she made the movie longer with all her blondness and hindrance in our hero's plans. Ghajni, the villian, was convincing, but I couldn't help laughing when he kept calling our hero 'short term memory loss' and said 'yaad hai woh rod' as 'yaad hai woh road' confusing the audience a bit.

in the meanwhile, these heroines are giving me a complex. all of them are helpful, kind, sweet, dutiful, peppy, spunky, beautiful, good dancers, lively.....abbe! bas bhi karo yaar! don't they ever get mood swings, bad hair days, or boils?

angels

the newspapers are full of them.......so are our conversations which used to be full of wit and gossip......no, i'm not talking about terrorists, but negativity.
yes, the year has been pretty low in terms of the stock market, humanity, politics but don't we get scoops of that in the newspaper every morning? the air almost creaks like achy limbs with dull, restless silence......so i've decided, i'm not going to carry this legacy of sorrow like its some 'foward-to-at-least-ten-people-or-you'll-have-bad-luck' chain mail.....i'm going to shake out of it, even if its through one blog, one person.....only if the atmoshpere changes, the droopy, heavy atmosphere, hanging like a heavy black coat on an old hunchback.....only if this feeling changes will times be able to change. the worst things possible have happened, so now things can only get better and i'm going to transmit these vibes of excitement and change for the better.....

today i was watching 'jab we met' for 10 millionth time and i feel happier, lighter, charged.....if one movie can make so many people lighten up.....so can one person, or one blog and that's what i'm trying to do. no more depressing poems, no more heavy droppy articles.....make things snappy, say it from it your heart....
let me start by being grateful......Rhonda Byrne's 'Secret' says that being grateful is the first step towards lightening up the atmosphere....
i'm greatful for all the angels in my life....you know who you are and what you mean to me.....we all must have hurt each other, some have written nasty blog comments and sometimes when i look at facebook profiles i feel like i'm living in some parallel universe cut away from you all....but i love everyone who has walked into my life [some a little more or a little less than others] because all of you are here to write my fairytale, so hugs and chocolates from me <3
i'm grateful for me.....and i think 'me' sumarizes everything i have to say about 'me' because i don't have to explain me to anyone because i already know who i am.......

so, keep dancing, humming and enjoy every minute of yourself and if people glare at you....well, they're just envious of your free spirit.


<3 empress of gib and gab,
warrior of the light [http://www.warriorofthelight.com/engl/index.html]
tolerable, tolkien-like teen
RHEAA RAO

*hum hain rahi pyar ke, phir milenge, chalte chalte!*