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Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Life’s Game – by Crowning Glory


Chapter 9

what happened before? read chapter 8 here

Jennifer was red with embarrassment

“No, nothing lik…” she started to defend herself. “Am I so boring? Here I came all the way from Delhi to see you and you seemed lost in others”, taunted Cyrus
Jennifer was smart enough to sense the sarcasm and replied with a wink “I am not interested in tall, fair and nerdy men you know”
She pulled away her hand shyly as he tried to hold it. It’s in his eyes, but I want to take it slowly, she thought.

Cyrus’s phone rang and he excused himself. Jennifer decided not to tell him what she felt about Tara since he seemed inspired by her personality. No. not yet

Cyrus came back and sadly announced that he would have to leave. “So after all, you did not come to meet me” scoffed Jennifer getting up from her chair. Cyrus looked displeased for having to leave such a great company and promised that he would make it up to her.
They both came out of that coffee shop and the sound of traffic surprised them. It was so calm and quiet inside that they had forgotten they were in the middle of a busy street of Mumbai. Cyrus offered her to drop her to her PG as he had a company car at his disposal. “I am important to the company after all” he smiled and said.
Sitting beside him in the car she could smell his rustic scent which was opposite to his looks. He so different than my ex. He has made me forget him. If only he could see how happy I am with Cyrus right now. She subtly crossed her fingers wishing this thing between her and Cyrus would be for the better.

They turned left in Malad close to her PG, when she suddenly saw a market and asked the driver to stop. “I need a cleaning kit for my camera and other stuff for my room and will get down here” explained Jennifer. Cyrus looked disappointed but nevertheless opened the door for her. “Sorry dear, I will not be able to join in your shopping” he said. “That’s okay, you will go crazy seeing me bargain” chuckled Jennifer. She gave him a quick hug before Cyrus sat back in the car.

Sigh.

She looked at the market flooded with people and mentally prepared herself for the adventure she was getting into. She was taught by her colleagues to deal with shopkeepers here and she was becoming better at it.
She seemed amused by the Marathi talking ladies, bargaining with shopkeepers with their small kids chewing the end of their mother’s saree, waiting to get back home. She took help from the locals to find the camera shop and moved towards it.

As she peered into a lane, her eyes scanning the market, she froze. Her eyes widened like the goddess Kali and she immediately turned her head away. As she walked away from there, her mind started racing. Did he see me? How did he come here? Is he following me? How does he know I am here?

She ran away as fast as she could and ignored the nasty remarks directed towards her as she pushed people out of her way. She saw a taxi and immediately got into it and asked the driver to speed. Sweat trickled down her temples and she was afraid the driver would hear her heart beat so loud
 ***
Noooooooooo… please no- Jennifer cried frantically trying to free her arm from the hand grabbing her tightly. He was so strong that she could feel his grip getting tighter as if it would cut through the wrist
“Shut her up or I will hit you with this hot rod”, she heard a loud manly voice which surprisingly belonged to a woman. Jennifer was blindfolded and could only smell sweat and fish. Jennifer knew she was in deep trouble. She could sense a lot of people in a small room, and hear faint sobbing and an occasional sound of someone getting slapped.
Her voice was drowned by the strong grip over her mouth by another man and she could no longer shout. Her efforts in biting the palm went in vain as she heard the men laughing at her.
Minutes passed and she became calmer. She then felt a needle working on her wrist. The next minute fell down with a thud.
Regaining her senses, she found herself in a dark room sans the blindfolds. She looked at her wrist in the dim light coming out of the window and saw a tattoo of an eagle catching a prey. “I am that pray”, she thought.
 ***
“Madam? Hello, madam? We have arrived”. Jennifer was brought back with a start. She quickly handed the money to the driver and ran into her apartment, locking the front door.

------------------------------------------------------
It was a Saturday evening and Tara was making Italian pasta for Roohi which was an unusual scene in the Dutta house.
Shekhar was talking on the phone but his eyes were on Tara. He was worried she might burn the pasta as she had hardly cooked anything in the last few years. “God knows what has gotten into her today”, he wondered.

“Who was it?” Tara asked as she saw Shekhar putting down the phone

“Someone from work” replied Shekhar just to get rid of her question. Why such sudden interest?

“I got a few calls last week from my PR informing me of an offer to write advertisement jingles. You know you can do them” she said, wishing he would agree.

“What? You want a novelist to write jingles?” She is hurting my pride-damn you, Shekhar thought.

“I don’t have time to fight with you on what you are and what you were. I just know that you sit at home all day and don’t even try to do anything to change your life. I just thought maybe I could get you back on your feet and make you see a better view of life outside of this house.” snapped Tara, visibly irritated by his behavior of not accepting his fault.

“Daddy!!!!” Shekhar ran to where the voice was coming from to see Roohi on floor crying. Her doll was broken

Tara scoffed and continued making the pasta.

   

excited what happens next read chapter 10 here
     
My team and I are participating in ‘Game of Blogs’ at Blog Adda. #CelebrateBlogging with us.



Friday, September 12, 2014

There is a Dog in my life -reasons-why-its-necessary-to-have-a-dog


I remember carrying a white furry purse that resembled a Pomeranian pup to show to my girlfriends that I own a dog. and this was when I was hardly 5. I was longing for a dog since then but my mom would not allow. she had her own reasons and they seemed legitimate.

Finally god heard my prayers and I got a Pomeranian as pet in 2003. it was a singaporian breed,born to two beautiful  dog parents at my relatives. we had a huge melodrama at home before we got that.my mom agreed on few terms and conditions namely -
I would not touch it no matter what happens.
I will not feed it,since we have brought it,its our responsibility to take care of it.
I will not clean its Shit.
It will not climb on bed or come inside kitchen.
It should not roam around the house shititng everywhere or make a mess.

we agreed to all her conditions,chuckling in our heads since we knew all of the above would not hold once we get the pup.how do you expect a small puppy not to shit or play around. we were far too happy to make our mom understand that.
and so it came,our newest member of family and lives were just about to change. we got two pups,one to give to some other relative.the one we had to take was marked in pink by our aunt as it was supposed to be a calmer one and my mom wanted a calmer dog. few days with the puppies,we realized that ours was indeed a lazy fellow who only wanted to sleep. we named it scooby.

days passed and months.as that lazy fellow grew,I dont know what got into him, he became the most clever,energetic and beautiful dog. the one who always wanted to sleep,did not let us sleep from then on. what we faced next was a series of embarrassment. me and my mom running around the neighborhood to catch our dog and bring it home . and this little devil used to enjoy this chase and never came in our hands easily. I remember him hiding behind a small wall,my mom on the other side and me on the other, and this fellow peeking to find a way to escape. as soon as he came out of the wall, I made a dive (similar to a fielder) at him and finally we caught him...The one thing that scooby gained from all this drama was my mom's love and attention of all my neighbors. he became the apple of the eyes of all.

Years passed ,scooby became chubby and the bond between him and my mother became stronger than us.It became so strong that my mother started taking care of him like a son. they both became inseparable.he followed my mom everywhere,started waiting for her at the gate if she had gone outside for grocery.
 Infact, he became our alarm to tell mom is back. we used to see TV while she was away and as soon as we heard chubby howling we knew she was back and our books got opened and TV shut.
 we loved chubby. he changed our lives.I wanted to teach him tricks,but all he could learn was a shakehand.we loved it when after coming from school, he greeted us by madly wagging his tail and jumping around till we patted him down.he made us forget all our tensions. his way of greedily watching us eat our food and making obvious barks to give him some too was adorable.

we also came to learn about this dog behavior that they wont hurt small kids even if they are twitching his ears or pulling his tail. if growns ups do that,he would growl,but no never to small children.

He knew he's not strong enough to fight and so made a clever plan to scare away people. he used to hide and as soon as someone passed by our gate.he used to make a sudden appearance and give a shock with his loud bark.

we three siblings left home for higher studies.during holidays when we used to come home we would be on cloud nine to see him greet us by barking madly and licking all over. we were happy he never forget us.
ahhh those eyes. I can bet ,he has the best eyes in world. check it out yourself.

our chubby is one tough guy, its been 11 years now. he has got bitten by jealous street dogs,had suffered from several diseases but still manages to spring back .there were times, when the vet said that he is old now and will die within few weeks or a month because of this disease or injury, we used to sit with him day and night with tears in eyes, but this tough guy has managed to come out of all. he is healthy now , eats like a horse,still runs and barks at everyone.
yeah has become lazy, so lazy that he doesnt even bothers to get up if a mouse is nibbling away his food from his own bowl or a cat jumps over him to enter our house. I know, that sounds funny but its true.
He taught me to love someone unconditionally ,to have an empathy towards animals. all they want is love and all they give is love.

There should be a dog in everyone life atleast once.

Here are my reasons for having a dog:
1) some one will love you unconditionally.

2) keep you healthy. with those evening and morning walks with dog.
3) distract you from work stress. one look at those eyes and you will forget your tension.


4) empathize with your pain. if they see you sad,they will sit beside you and try to console in their own cute way, hand on your knees. aah so adorable

5) give you time off from entertaining your kids.dogs do that much better..;)

6) will make you laugh with the funny things they do.

7) you will want to make them do something wrong  just to see their guilty face asking for sorry.










8) keep you company in your loneliness. listen to you talk with straightened ears.

9)you can play,do their makeup,make them wear weird clothes,do almost anything with them and they wont fuss.instead,they will join you.




10) protect your home from outsiders.if not actually protect.atleast bark to make you aware something is wrong and the rest is in your hands..:)


11) the most loyal friend you will ever have.



The dog is a gentleman; I hope to go to his heaven, not man’s.
~~[ Mark Twain, letter to W.D. Howells, 2 April 1899 ]



Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Shweta Basu - sympathise or criticize or accept.

I loved her in Makdee and Iqbal. cute face and solid acting skills. Was expecting her to turn out into a good mainstream actress and she did. I had seen in "Kotha Bangaru Lokam" and loved her performance. and then she was lost,



 She sprang into news recently by getting caught red-handed in a prostituion racket at a suburban Hyderabad hotel. she was selling herself to renowned industrialist and businessmen and Politicians.
the first step taken  by any normal person caught in such circumstances is to deny it and say that you are being framed.But what did this brave lass do- she confessed to having doing it. how many people have guts to accept that ,knowing that this may spoil her life, her image and her future career too.

In her own words: "I have made wrong choices in my career and I was out of money. I had to support my family and some other good causes.All the doors were closed and some people encouraged me to get into prostitution to earn money. I was helpless and with no option left to choose, I got involved in this act"

I am not here to judge whether she did right or wrong. I worried myself thinking what might be her situation that she felt the need to go to this far for money. was she being pressurized by her family for money or she had commitments she couldn't fulfill without money . There would be so many people doing the same thing.she was unlucky enough to get caught. I cant judge her not knowing her reasons.

I am sickened and goddamn angry with the media for highlighting just the girl. what about the businessmen who paid her and were with her when she was caught.they should also enjoy being maligned in public. their families should also be come to know about their recreational activities and get humiliated by media and their special words.WHY did media hide their names.?

didn't they feel that this might ruin whatever hopes she had for future? will it not be impossible for her to move on?will she have the strength to accept the criticism she will get and not take a drastic step to end her life? If its media's duty to present whatever happens then why do I don't know any one of the businessmen name? why is she in remand home and the other people involved not behind the bars? was she alone in the act? No, then why this half justice

what I would say in this is: its fine people, shit happens. as if we haven't done something we are ashamed of in life.give her back what she deserves, her life ,her image and a chance to move on. I have seen far more worse things people do in their lives.

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Raja Natwarlal

ok, so this was my first Emraan Hashmi movie in theater. and yes,I like him. his movies have story and you can never get bored ;) (pun intended)

but this time, the Story was Ok a "sadak chhap" Emraan Hashmi as con man with Diapk Tijori his wing man. with his ambitious plan to go for "bada haath"Dipak gets killed . The story then becomes a revenge story to con the culprit, Vardha Yadav played impeccably by Kay Kay.

Emran teams up with Dipak's brother yogi played by Paresh Rawal a bigger Badass to plan for this con.How a sadak chap con man get a passport and visa and moreover money to fly to south africa to take on Vardha is something we can only imagine can happen in movies only.if That was not all. He assembles a team of other con men (Ocean 11-style) and con Yadav for Rs 15,000 crores by staging a fake cricket league.

It doesn’t help that the love interest is played by Humaima Malick, an import from Pakistan who is good looking for sure but has even less screen presence  The rest of the cast is equally bad. While Rawal sleepwalks in his role, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub plays a hamming serial killer who doesn’t utter a single word of dialogue.He was used terribly after giving a wonderful performance in Ranjhana. Hashmi did his usual job as in his other movies.

All in all, I would say the movie could have been treated better and the loop holes that were evident could have been filled
a one time watch and you can wait till it comes to television.. ;)





Monday, September 1, 2014

The Big Bang Theory

Seasons 1-7 from 2007-2014

I got hooked to it since I saw the pilot episode in 2008, a year after it was aired.since we used to download it in college hostel. I love it. its one my favorites sitcoms and can watch it over and over again..:)

The Big Bang Theory ,to me it's one of the best written sitcoms currently on  TV. The scripts are filled with scientific references some people might not understand but they are very witty. Johnny Galecki and Jim Parsons are definitely one of TV's newest comedy teams who have great chemistry and the addition of Kaley Cuoco as their neighbor, Penny brightens up the show. Let's not overlook the supporting cast with Simon Helberg as Wolowitz, who looks a little like Paul Reubens, the man behind Pee-Wee Herman and Kunal Nayyar as their friend from India.

"A woman who moves into an apartment next door to two brilliant but socially awkward physicists shows them how little they know about life outside of the laboratory."



Sheldon Cooper the nerdy one of the two roomates is the nucleus of the show.  he's a mixture of clownish geekyness and borderline creepiness.You dont want to like him but end up loving him.He take pride in describing everything very deeply and scientifically which can became a "pain in the arse sometimes"
Leonard, the less nerdy of the two roommates, has been in lust with the above mentioned young neighbor, Penny
Howard and Raj (a whispering sidekick who can't bring himself to actually talk in front of a girl) round out the crew.  Howard pretends to be a woman's man but everybody knows he isnt capable of dating any girl leave marrying.thats why when He gets married to Penny's girlfirend Bernadette and becomes a doting husband,it comes as a surprise to all.
even sheldon end up finding a girl like him. Amy, who longs for physical happiness from sheldon has to make away with seldom pecs on cheeks and date appointments.

Jim Parson is phenomenal and my favorite. his winning an emmy this year is worth his performance.
Kudos to the whole cast and the writers. I hope this funny, smart show stays around. We need a comedy with wit and heart, and for a change - lovable geeky brains too.