Kambakht Ishq

Mom is here for a couple of days on her way to Singapore for helping in my bro's wife's delivery. We took both moms for "Kambakht Ishq" yesterday. What a mindless, total masala flick. All of us enjoyed , even Ansh. He was having a hearty laugh at all of the guffaws as if he could understand anything. Ansh has got addicted to the tub now & does not take popcorn in any other form. What a bonus for me. :)
Oh and Kareena's wardrobe is super hot in the movie, right down to the shoes & clutches. They are drool-worthy!!

Prgnancy Update: My clothes have started to feel a little tighter now......Hurray!! Though I am still able to fit into my old jeans, I am more comfortable with keeping the top button open. The nausea is a bit better too *touchwood*. I have a host of tests to take tomorrow including the Double Marker Test.

Weekend Update

It's been a busy weekend for us.

Saturday evening we took Ansh for Ice Age 3 & all three of us had a blast. We enjoyed the movie as much as Ansh. He was super excited & kept commenting throughout the movie & narrated his own cute version to his Nani is the interval. We ate a tub of popcorn which was so good. Sometimes I think I can go for a movie just for the cheese popcorn. Why isn't this cheese powder available in stores? Or is it? Tell me if anyone knows coz it's the first thing that I am craving besides Kala Jamuns in the beginning.We visited the candy store after the movie & Ansh selected his share of candies. He loves to do this. We then bought a pair of lovely piglet slipper for him & headed home.

Late at night , just when we were about to have our dinner, Abhi remembered that it was the "First Night" of his friend Gautam & so we rushed to do some Masti. The room was decked up with flowers & balloons & we lit some lovely scented candles for them & took a lots of pics of the couple in lovely sexy poses. I was so happy to be a part of all the fun. It did not matter that I was the only female amongst a host of Gautam's male friends. At least Sonia had company. As is the tradition, the friends demanded goodies from the groom's mom before they let the groom enter into his lovely room & she obliged. I was so happy to get my share ..lol. We returned home late at night, bone tired.

The next days we I did some house cleaning in the morning & relaxed in the afternoon while Abhi struggled to make a "First Aid Box" for Ansh's class. He took 3 hours & made a perfect one with a shoe box. I love his craft skills & I love the fact that I am left out of it as I do not have even one creative bone in my body as far as Art & Craft is concerned.Here's hubby dear working hard.

That evening we went to a marriage reception of Abhi's cousin & it was a fabulous party at the Park Hotel. As usual Abhi got confused about the venue & we ended up at HHI instead . Thankfully the Park is not very far. I even danced a little at Abhi's insistence but did not strain myself much. I was happy to sit back & relax& see Abhi having the time of his life which he usually has when he is down a few vodkas. The bride was dressed in a lovely white gown & it was a pleasure to watch her "bindass" attitude as she posed for the shutterbugs. At one point she even shoved the groom out of the way to have some individual poses clicked. I wanted to go back in time & reverse the awfully coy & shy bride that I was. We retuned back well past midnight.

Thankfully Monday was a light day in spite of the "Budget" which I think is highly overrated by the media. In the evening, I waded through ankle deep waters to reach home which was scary coz I did not want to have a fall but it was fun just the same. I love the monsoons.

Today the first half was spent in a seminar on Budget Analysis though there is nothing much to analyse this time. It was more of a socialising exercise accompanied by good food.

Ansh is doing well & refuses to accompany us to our late night sojourns for which I am grateful. I am quite particular about his sleep times when he ha school the next day especially since he does not nap for a minute during the day. He is doing well at school & I am glad I do not have to spend time as of now with his studies. I did try to have him finish some of his unfinished worksheets on Sunday afternoon but it was one very tough job. I eventually gave up.

The tiredness & nausea continues, especially since I am sleep deprived most days. Waiting for some relief soon.

Of wedding, weekend & love

The last 2 days have been really hectic here.
Yesterday was Abhi's friend Gautam's wedding & day before was his Tilak ceremony. So it's been work & then rush home, get ready & pretty & rush to the function. It's been tiring but fun too. The bad part being that I haven't been able to communicate with hubby dearest for the past 3 days coz he is spending most of the time helping with the wedding, getting drunk with friends & spending nights with friends. Yesterday all the guys were poisoning my mind about how the Supreme Court ruling on decriminalisation of same sex relationships is prompting them to spend more time together. Oh well.......don't care......with my nausea , the poor guy is not getting any at home........lol.

It's nice to have everybody enquire after your health, offer their chair & be sweet enough to offer to bring food to you at functions. Little joys amongst all the sea of unpleasantness of the 1st trimester.

& Hey I think I've got the "pregnancy glow", coz I have been getting compliments galore.
The worst amongst the complements was from my boss today. He said" Hey, you are looking very pretty today."Now, it would have been great if he had stopped at that but he didn't. His next line was "Have u used more make-up". How, inconsiderate. No wonder, he spends so much of his time at work. I am sure his wife must be pissed off all the time.

The weekend is here & I am planning to take Ansh for "Ice Age 3". He has been demanding it & I've promised to deliver. Hope Abhi is free enough today to accompany us. I've been missing him.

On the Tilak day I had made Abhi promise me that he'll be home by six to get Ansh up & ready for school coz I had been feeling unwell & I knew that getting up so early would mean more sickness. The poor guy could not make it & I did all the work. But when he walked in at 7, all my anger melted away with one look at his face. He managed to have the most genuine expression of remorse on his face........just like Ansh has at times & I don't care if he is fooling me with that expression (which I am sure he does), I just love him for the fact that he tried.

Seems like my love hormones are on an overdrive :)

Have a good weekend everyone.

This & That

Amongst all the throwing up & nausea, I've had a decent weekend.

Friday night we watched "New York". A pretty decent movie which I enjoyed more because I was watching a Hindi flick after ages. The first half in fact was pretty good. I loved the easy camaraderie between the 3 friends. I also loved Neil almost as much as John which I never thought would be possible.Katrina looked fresh as usual. The second half was slow and at times illogical, but if u discount the fact that it is a Hindi masala flick, it was quite OK.

Saturday, I had a long day at work & did loads of shopping in the evening. Reason: I had a kitty party for lunch & I was the lucky one that day. So I blew up all the money on maternity wear & some other stuff. I just kept enough for the cab fare........lol.Oh & I also discovered that I am able to keep Chinese down. After a long while I did not throw up post a meal.

Sunday was a relaxing day. Spent the entire day at home & in the evening trotted off to attend a marriage. It was fun. The food was nothing special but the company was good.

It's Monday & back to work.......though work is something that I am hardly doing these days. Most of the day is spent either puking in the loo or trying to keep the food down unsuccessfully. I know I must be boring u with this constant complaining, but that's how life is at present.:(

Lovely weekend!

I had an absolutely gorgeous Weekend!!

Saturday I worked almost full day & then in the evening we went to see "The Reader". It was an amazingly good movie & Kate Winslet was awesome. A must watch. We finished the movie around 9:30 & when we came out of the theatre, our friends Giri & Shruti were waiting for us outside. Surprise, Surprise!!Hubby had arranged for us to have dinner at our favourite restaurant "Fire & Ice". I was thrilled to bits. I have not been surprised like this in a long long while. We had a great time.

Sunday, as usual , we had a lazy morning with lots of cuddling with Ansh. In the afternoon , we again went for a movie. This time it was a Bengali movie called "Cross Connection". It was my first Bengali movie & I loved it. It was funny & sweet.

In the evening we went to Lake land Country Club for a swim & dinner. The pool there is gorgeous.

Ansh had a great time playing in the water in the large kiddie pool while we had beer & snacks.

Later we joined him in the big pool & I was so happy to realise that I had not forgotten swimming. It's been a long time since I've been in a pool. I had learnt swimming in college. In fact we organised mini races in the pool & I could beat all of them. :)

After our swim, we lounged around while Ansh had ice cream & played with Pari.

We wrapped up with a lovely dinner.

Thanks darling for making my weekend so enjoyable.

Power Goof up- blessing in disguise.

Yesterday there was a major power crisis in Kolkata with black outs that lasted from 2-8 hours. At our place, there was no power from 4:30 to 10:30 pm on one of the hottest April days with temperature soaring to nearly 42 degree Celsius. After at hour of dealing with the sweltering heat, we decided to go to the nearest cinema hall to enjoy the A.C more than the movie. But we were in for a surprise as the movie we chose was awesome. It was an English movie made in Tollywood called- Chowrasta- The Crossroads of Love.

It is a lovely movie based in picturesque Darjeeling. The place has been shot so well that I wanted to fly there right away. I could almost smell the aroma of the hills.

It is a movie based on 4 different stories, interlinked by circumstances. Sort of like Babel.

The actors did a fine job, especially Rupa Ganguly.

The on-going stand off between the Multiplexes & the producers, is a blessing in disguise for these movies which are getting as many as 27 shows a day in Kolkata compared to a measly 2-3 that they usually get.

Weekend movies!

It was a very enjoyable weekend.

On Saturday night we went to the new IMAX theatre in town to watch the 45 minutes 3-Dimentional movie on dinosaurs called "T-Rex". It was an amazing experience. It was too overwhelming for Ansh & I guess he is a bit too young for this kind of entertainment. It was absolutely amazing for us though & I am sure it's a matter of time before all movies will be made in this way. I was in fact trying to touch the images & groping in the dark. It was as if the movie was enveloping me. A must see for all!!

On Sunday, we watched "A curious Case of Benjamin Button". Oh what a movie. I was spellbound.

On another note, I got a call from Ansh today at work.He said," Mumma, मैं क्या crow को अपना pet बना लूँ".How sweet. When I told him that the crow will not stay, it'll fly away, he replied that it'll come back because it is making a nest on our window. So we may have a new pet like last year.

Weekend Fun!

While Ansh attended a Birthday Party of his classmate Sanskriti , we saw " Luck by Chance" on Sunday evening. Like the movie. Well done Zoya, the dubutant director. And Farhan is here to stay :)
Ansh's social life is becoming as hectic as ours..........lol. Never thought that it'll happen so soon.

Myself & Abhi have been practicing a dance number for performing in a Geet Sammelan for the 25th Anniversary of an uncle. Its' super fun. We are so clumsy & the choreographer is getting pretty frustrated with Abhi.Just the fact that he agreed to do this is amazing. The song is "Jhoot Bole Kawa Kaate" from Bobby. It requires less of dancing skills & more of acting skills. Am having a good time at the rehearsals.

Chandni Chowk to China

Dekha hai Tune Kya Aaina??
What crap! Seriously. I hardly ever say that for a movie. When I pay Rs 250 to see a movie, I at least try to find some good in it to console my heart that the money was not wasted. But no, this movie was not even worth that little consolation!!
The movie was so incredibly silly. The kind of silly that does not make u laugh, it makes u cry.
Poor Akshaye. I quite like him. But what will an actor deliver if the director just messes up everything. Deepika looked nice , like always . But a pretty lady cannot help a movie like this.
Very poor show!
The only point where I actually laughed was a part where Akshye does the "Chura Ke Dil Mera, Goriya Chali" step.
Akshaye, we love u, but please be more careful about your selection of movies. "Singh is King" was still digestable. This one is beyond words!!

My week.

Lots happened this week.

For the first time last Sunday I caught back to back shows in the theatre. Started Sunday morning with Jumbo & followed it up with "President is Coming". Such vastly different movies. Both nice :)

Went to a Kirtan the same day. Enjoyed a couple of Bhajans & ran off once they started Bhajans based on Hindi movie song tunes.

Saw 27 dresses one night on DVD. Nice :)

Had a vrat- "Sakat Chauth". Ate fruits the whole day & cleaned my system. Had a showdown with the family when I objected to someone touching my feet to take blessings after Puja when she otherwise does not exhibit an aota of respect or love through her actions.

Someone was very happy about attending a cousin's birthday where he collected a bag ful of return gifts & in the process cleaned up their place of tattered decorations & unused birthday caps.

Movies of the week.

Ghajini

We saw this movie on the day we got back to Kolkata. After a very long time, we went alone as a .We went the new multiplex in town CINEMAX. The movie was really good. As expected, Aamir Khan's acting was beyond words & his body was awesome. (still no match to John Abraham in Dostana ). I liked Asin. She looked so fresh & pretty. I did not like Jiah in Nishabd & neither did I like her much here.

Vanilla Sky- Tom Cruise, Pentelope Cruz & Cameron Diaz.

A very complicated movie. Required concentrated viewing & I do not enjoy these kind of movies too much. It was like a roller coaster of emotions & sci-fic all thrown together. I was amazed at the make up of Tom Cruise. I do not know how they made it possible but it was looking really authentic.The movie did not work for me.

Rab Ne Bana di Hit!

I liked the movie. It is no DDLJ. However, Shahrukh Khan's first look of a common Punjabi banda was really well portrayed. He looked every inch the character he was playing of "Suri ji". In fact I was reminded of my uncle (Pawan Chacha) who is so like Suri-ji in mannerisms. The first half was a complete laugh riot. Every little incident, the pursing of the lips, the wearing of sneakers to office, the old scooter, the old house with a big "verah" (verandah) were so real.
Shahrukh's second look was hilarious but lovable.
Anushka Sharma too did a good job. She looked very fresh & lovely in her Phulkari suits. Vinay Pathak as the sweet friend was really....sweet. .
The plot was unreal but when u go into a movie theatre, you should leave the logics behind.
It does not have the common formulas of foreign locales & designer outfits. It's a cute film though nowhere close to DDLJ.

I am in a super happy mood

Why u ask me?

Of course coz it's the Friday when a Shah Rukh Khan movie has released & I've booked the 6:45pm show tickets & I am counting the minutes left!!

I've even forgotten the bit of an unhappy situation I was in the morning. After the pantry cleaning I realised that I could squeeze some storage space out of the pantry if I get a teeny tiny cupboard made under the pantry slab. So I asked my hubby dear to call for the family carpenter & spat came the reply. "Not possible now. Will think about it later". Puff went all my hopes of lightening my billowy cupboards. So I arranged for a carpenter on my own & he came to take the measurements today morning. Now, I could have kept my mouth shut, but me being me , I blurted out all to Abhi at breakfast & of course he was a little upset. Could I not wait ? Could he not give me a reason why I should wait? Anyways, he said that he could perhaps try to get a better carpenter & that's that!
I don't know why I am so impatient. When an idea strikes, I have to execute or else I know it'll get lost!
But no worries , the cupboard will get made & I hope that the movie is as good as I expect it to be!! :)
Have a Happy Weekend :)

Late Night Movies

I caught 3 movies on DVD during the last week.

EMI- Light hearted but showing the reality of today's times. Boring in parts. I was happy to have the remote to forward parts.

Welcome to Sajjanpur- Really enjoyed this one.Very simple with interesting characters. The songs break the flow though. The remote came in handy.

Brokeback Mountain- A serious movie about gay relationships. Very touching & thought provoking. I could not get it out of my head for long after I had finished seeing it. It's a landmark film & a must-watch.

Yuvvraaj Review

After the "Yaadein" debacle, I was really hoping that Subhash Ghai will come up with something like "Pardes" or a "Taal" at least. But no, Yuvvraaj was only slightly better than Yaadein.

What did not work for me in Yuvvraaj:

-The plot- Too outdated & unreal

-The obviously ageing Salman with funny hair & funnier expressions. Even in the bedroom scene with Katrina , he looked bloated & repulsive.

-Kat/Salman chemistry- I did not find even the "C" of chemistry between them . I missed Akshay Kumar.

-The movie Length- Too long. I was stifling Yawns

-The choreography- Too amateurist. The Salman Khan flying scene takes the cake.

-The songs- Too many, too irrelevan,too long

What worked for me:

-Katrina's beauty

- Awesome locales.

-Anil Kapoor's acting.

Verdict: One can easily skip this movie!

I am totally smitten......

......with this transformed John Abraham. I just cannot express in words how good he looked in Dostana. Whenever he was on screen, I could not see anything else. I heard in his interview that he packed on 20 kgs in two months, going from 74 to 94 kgs. That was so worth it. I think that he is the BEST looking actor in Bollywood now.

I saw Dostana on Friday night. It's a complete laugh riot. I was smiling for a long time even after the movie was over. Priyanka was good & looked great.
The cake however goes to Abhishek. I think that this was one of the best role of his career.He suited the character to the hilt. He was so believable. As most of you would have already heard, it's not actually a "gay" film coz Abhishek & Abraham are just acting to be gays to get accommodation in Priyanka Chopra's apartment.

On the flip side, I feel this film was quite insensitive about the gay issues & I'll leave it at that.

Happy Children's Day

........to all the children out there.
Today there is a celebration in Ansh's school & he has gone in his "colour dress" which excited him to no end. I was remembering my time too & how happy I used to be to get that 1 day of freedom from the boring uniform.

Ansh had to leave an hour earlier than his usual timings today & instead of doing something useful, I caught up on my sleep (another hour) before getting ready for work. Seems like all my plans of next year when Ansh will have school an hour earlier will go down the drain.

Saw a movie Ramchand Pakistani a couple of nights ago on DVD. I really liked the movie. It was visually very pleasing too.It's about this Pakistani Father & son duo who wander across the border to India & spend many years in jail. It traces the journey of this 8 year boy from innocence to maturity in an Indian Jail in a hostile environment. Simultaneously it shows the struggle of a wife & mother (Nandita Das) who learns to cope with life without her men.

From another perspective, my man found the movie depressing & was more interested in his phone than the movie.

Sunday that was....

Sunday was the "Nammkaran"(naming ceremony) of my friend's daughter . They named her Anoushka. I liked the name a lot. We had a fun lunch. Since we were a bit late, we missed the crowds thankfully. Had a leisurely lunch & chatted up with a college friend Pradeep & his wife who we were meeting after ages.

Thereafter we saw Quantam of Solace. Personally I do not like actions movies all that much. It does keep u glued to the seat but it's not my kind of stuff.

How I wish.......

that I could be a child again & lay naked under a tap in the sun on a hot afternoon!!

That's Ansh enjoying his Saturday afternoon. :)

We had a fun weekend. My bro & bhabhi were with us on Saturday on their way to Pune from Bhutan. I was planning to go to work for a few hours but I was a bad girl & called in sick. We lazed around played with Ansh & chatted the entire afternoon.
In the evening we all went to attend a birthday party of Jalan's daughter. I was so happy to see Gaurav & Swati so comfortable amongst our friends. We then took them around city centre. I bought a couple of suits for Swati after a lot of resistance from her. We then had a lovely dinner at pizza hut .They left early morning on Sunday.
Sunday I did my facial at home. I had bought a VLCC facial kit & it was pretty easy to do. Then in the afternoon we went to see "Fashion". I quite liked the movie. Worth a watch.
Oh & on Friday my bhabhi in Singapore lost her job & was very upset. Really feeling bad for her :(

Indian animation coming of age!

Saturday was "Roadside Romeo" time & what fun we had. The movie was very lovable. The voice overs were really up there. One could relate so well to Saif playing Romeo & Kareena playing Laila. I especially liked the villain bull dog , Charlie Anna. The animation was as good as it gets & I feel so proud that its is from Tata Elxsi, one of our group companies.
Abhi was especially excited & in fact after years ,he was the one who made the whole program. It is always me who has to initiate & execute every outing around here. His excitement was all because this was the first movie we were going to see especially & only for Ansh's sake. So in his excitement, he also got Ansh a separate seat. (Yes, we still cheat & save on Ansh's ticket though he has crossed the official "free" age of 3). But it was all a waste coz sitting on his seat, he could barely see anything. So he insisted sitting on my lap & in the end he ended up perched on the back rest with the folded seat . Thankfully we were on the last row next to the aisle.
For kids Ansh's age, this movie is a sheer delight.Ansh kept talking & commenting throughout the movie & had a blast.
So this film signals the coming of age of Hindi Animation & the best part is that it appeals to both kids & adults alike.

On that Happy Note, here's wishing all of you a very happy & prosperous Diwali :)