What's On Mind?

.....now that's for you to figure out!
Here, I am enjoying my prized catch-a headphone; for which I had to compete with my mom. In the end my persistence paid off as my mom called off her conference call midway..........

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NewYork- New Movie Critique In Town?

Today’s post is bit different......Well, I am going to write a movie review of newly released Hindi movie "NewYork". Please note that the review is based on the post movie conversation between my parents, Sandeep uncle and Pallavi aunt while on our way back home.

But before I start, let me tell that this was my first movie outing; so I had no inkling of what was in store for me.

We reached Omaxe Mall after eating our dinner at Sandeep uncle's place. By the time we entered inside the movie hall, movie had already begun.

Upon entering inside, what I found was a pitch dark hall with a giant screen in front. The hall was packed with people who had their eyes glued to the screen. As soon as we found our respective seats, I also started looking at the screen with a look of amazement and would not take my eyes off it. With that, all the creases on my mom’s forehead vanished. Actually, mom was worried about my reaction to the deafening sound and the darkness inside the movie hall. I guess using small cotton balls as ear plugs helped.

The colour riot on screen was quite attractive and so was the music. It was kind of difficult to make me move my eyes off the screen. However, I did move from one lap to another......from Sandeep Uncle’s to Pallavi aunt’s to Mom’s to Papa’s and then back to mom’s. Soon thereafter my mom administered me my sleeping pill- her feed; and I would sleep comfortably for next 90 minutes to wake up only towards the end........

And now movie review part of the post lifted straight from the conversations in the car. They say that ending of the movie could have been better as killing Maya (Katarina Kaif) didn’t go down well with them. NewYork will go down as John Abraham’s best acting in his career till date. He looked quite well in his role of Sam. Katarina Kaif too has acted well. Finally, she has started dubbing for her own and it was good to hear her speak accented Hindi. Neil Mukesh has proven himself again after his sizzling debut performance in Johnny Gaddar and then you have an evergreen Irfan Khan in the role of a FBI officer.

The movie has been set in the backdrop of 9/11 twin tower tragedy and shows how that one strike changed the lives of everyone after the attack; especially those who had Muslim names.........The plot has been lifted from 1200 illegal detentions of Muslim by FBI after the tragedy. As a matter of fact most of those 1200 men were found to be not involved with any sort of terrorism. In the movie, happy go lucky trio of Maya, Sam and Omar too could not escape from the post tragedy troubles. Illegal detention of Sam and his subsequent torture by FBI for nine months turns him to terrorism. The torture scenes have been shot quite well and leave you with lot of sympathy for Sam and the route he took thereafter-at least that’s how my father felt. Abu Gharib prison in print comes alive on screen courtesy those shots...... In fact, Sam was shown to be first detained by a woman officer only. What stands out in the movie is the performance of Shilgey, an illiterate Muslim immigrant illegally detained by FBI- the way he describes his torture to Maya or the look of anger on his face when he sees NYPD guy search Maya is simply brilliant. Do watch out for those scenes in the movie. And then the gripping ending plot- you will simply love it.

Overall, NewYork is a fast paced movie and you won’t even get to know when it gets over. It is a complete team effort and everyone felt that movie will do well at the back-office. Go and watch it to understand the making of a terrorist out of a common man. It is always the state, stupid! Or you can say most of the times.....With that review is over.

Hey, I loved my first movie outing and is now looking forward to next....Kambhakt Ishq! So, watch out for this space for my next review.

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My Mom Says There Is

........a terrorist in the house; Who? Yes, its me or who else.....I have been branded a terrorist! What for? Read this:

After having learnt crawling, I now have my eyes set on achieving next milestone i.e. walking. In fact, I have already begun working in that direction by learning to stand on my feet, albeit with some outside help. I have also mastered the art of crawling and can crawl at an amazing speed. Does anyone of you know of any crawling race competition; if yes, do enrol me for that. I promise not to let you down. After all, I practise it daily; my father guess estimate is 3 kilometres crawling per day. This essentially means that my mom is always on her toes to keep a close vigil on my movements. I understand that this must be tough on her; especially because she has to take care of her office work as well...... Anyways, that’s the beauty of motherhood- makes one learn and perfect the art of multi-tasking.....So mom you should rather be thankful to me.

I am really enjoying this phase of my childhood as I can move at will and do not have to be confined to one bed. My playground has now expanded beyond my bed and covers every nook and corner of my house. It’s another matter that I have special affinity for few places like – one right underneath the kitchen top or, in front of the dressing mirror or, near modem table or shoe rack to name a few....... My mom is always struggling to figure out as to what is there in a shoe to be attracted to- she tends to lose her cool moment she sees a shoe in my hand........One request from you, please never ask for any old newspaper cutting from my father as shelf life of newspapers in our house has already gone down to close to zero........Courtesy me baba!

In past one month or so, I have also come to know the taste of sandals, shoes, wire, newspapers, mobile phones, cameras etc.....just see this:

Tell me how fair it is to be branded as a terrorist for doing all this?

Actually, I don't blame her as this dreaded word is a new universal phenomena- not localised anymore......So, even homes are not aloof to something that is universal now! Are they?

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Dehradun Trip Update

I am now going to try and pack past 10 days in few hundred words................As mentioned earlier; we reached Dehradun on the night of 10th June after driving down from Gurgaon. An ostensible reason for this trip was to attend my Sunil mama’s marriage on 17th June; however my father sneaked in his resting needs to convert this into a rejuvenating break for himself.

My first day in Dehradun started early on a refreshing note with my dada taking me around our lawn for a dekko. Soon, my Rudra bhai and Ridhima didi joined in as well. I must mention here that both of them share an amazing chemistry; and anyone going by their innocent faces will do so only at its own peril. That day also, it wasn’t the lawn but the lure of the sprinkler system that brought them to the lawn. No wonder, they soon started the sprinkler to play with the water. I was tempted to join them but could only watch them helplessly- they are in the best phase of their childhood........

Here is one more picture of our “Gang of Three”. Next day, I went to my nana’s place and would remain there until 19th June.....I was attending a marriage for the first time. My Sunil mama was a happy man and so was his family. Indian weddings are usually a lavish affair and this one was no exception either. But what caught my fancy was specially invited troika of traditional folk artists playing their drums and bagpipes. < I will upload the video soon>.
Edited to add: Here is the video. Please unmute your speakers to hear the music.

This post can’t end without making mention of one bizarre accident that took place on the night of marriage day and involved myself and my mother. I was crying and needed milk, so my mother decided to feed me and she chose her brother’s car for that. As it was hot outside, she switched on the car ignition to start the air-conditioning. As soon as she did that, the car started moving- apparently the driver had forgotten to pull the hand-brakes when he first parked it....Ignorant of the seriousness of the accident, I was in my mom’s lap; while my mom was being dragged along the moving car with her one foot inside the moving car and other one on the ground. Left with no option, she jumped out to save me; injuring her knee and thighs. Her post delivery weight added more to her injury. However, we are thankful to the God for saving two lives as it could have been worse then what it seems......

My mom and I returned to our Dehradun home on 19th June. We came back to Gurgaon on 21st June after an uncomfortable drive of 11 hours; of which 5 hours were spent in a traffic jam......following picture will give you an idea of what I went through......

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My Voice Is Back

Cool climate of Dehradun seems to have choked my blogging voice! Not that I have stopped creating any situations for him to write; rather he has developed some sort of antipathy towards his laptop. Even that anticipatory look of the laptop screen or an invitation by the soft keys of keyboard would not melt his heart; the stubborn man didn’t budge at all.

Anyways, I have no complaints as poor guy deserves a break; a much needed one after having seen him do all the running for past seven months. When in Delhi, his, is a picture of a reluctant man fighting his own instincts to continue doing what he is doing; a job in the corporate world with relative success. An eerie but deceptive calmness oozing from his face is good enough to hide an ongoing war within from others, but not me. And, I can’t help but wonder how much he could achieve if he starts to love what he is doing. Or, should I say that a much easier option for him would be to do what he loves to do-All successful people do that only. Having said that, a logical follow-on question to this advice would be as to how one find out that elusive love....... To which, I would answer-Don’t look “without”; search for one “within”. And, I can definitely help my papa do that. So here is a small piece of advice for him:

Papa- based on what I have observed in last seven months, I know that you thrive in an environment that you can call as your own..........Dehradun is one such environment; so your best option is to either create Dehradun at your place or make Dehradun your place....................either way you will win! Doing what you love doing is a sure shot way to success but then one thing that you need to keep in mind is that success is not a one-way street. Rather, it is a continuous journey wherein you need to strike and maintain a balance between key variables- Passion, Hard-work, Focus and Persistence. The moment you lose that equilibrium; waiting “failure” takes no time to strike and hit back..... .........Last but not the least, money can never be a scale to judge anyone’s success; the only undisputed barometer of success is happiness; inner and outer. And you must strive for that!

With this post, my brief hiatus from blogging has come to an end......My voice is back; and back with a message.........it’s not me, it’s the environment stupid!

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Post From Dehradun

This post is coming from our Dehradun home. We reached here last night after driving for close to 9 hours; out of which 3.50 hours were spent in Delhi alone. But after crossing Delhi, my father picked up speed and covered the remaining distance to Dehradun in less than 5 hours; no less an achievement given the condition of NH-72 or Delhi-Dehradun highway. You know that highway is a great test circuit for testing attentiveness of a driver......a small lapse of concentration can prove to be fatal. After experiencing my first road-trip on NH-72; I am wondering if it is correct on my parent’s part to pay any taxes to the Government; perhaps not!

Best part of that road trip was the excitement I witnessed on my father’s face moments after he saw the glimpse of approaching mountains.......Now that reaction had something to do with genes! Arrey baba we are Garhwalis from Garhwal region of the state of Uttarakhand.

As soon as we entered inside Dehradun, my father told my mom to open the car- windows and feel the difference. Since I was sitting on my mom’s lap; I too got to feel it-a soft touch of gentle cool breeze on my face as against a slap on face like hot Delhi air. Don’t know why they are making me suffer Delhi summers........

When we reached home, my waiting dada opened the gate and hugged me..... As soon as I entered inside my home, my eyes got into searching mode looking everywhere.......Either they were searching for Gurgaon house in my Dehradun home or a more likely reason could be that it was my nostalgic moment; remember I had spent my first four months in my Dehradun home only.........

More from Dehradun later!

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Journey Of Thoughts In Sixty Minutes!

When confronted with a state of confusion or uncertainty, human mind and the thoughts it emanates tend to journey from one extreme to another in a flash; searching for that whiff of air of positivity. All along that journey, the unpleasant thoughts in mind outnumber the pleasant ones by a big margin.......Amidst prevailing confusion, all it requires for a mind to come back to a stage of sanity is a confirmation of facts, pleasant or unpleasant; it’s an altogether different matter that no one wants to hear or read anything unpleasant. As soon as facts emerge from the cloud of uncertainty, confusion evaporates and action time begins..........While, human mind readies itself to embark on yet another journey; the cycle continues.....

I witnessed one such journey yesterday evening after my papa returned home early from work. As soon as he had set himself to unwind, he received a phone call.......The voice on the other side was that of my Renu bua ...........she was crying .........crying because her doctor refused to hand-over her FNAC test reports to my dada. Fearing extreme, my bua called up my papa and told him to speak to my dada......My papa tried his best to comfort my bua instructing her to go to doctor........He, then spoke to my dada who told him that doctor wants to do my Renu bua’s ultrasound scans before handing over her reports. By then, my dada had already requested my father’s cousin to accompany my Renu bua to doctor’s clinic situated at a distance of 6 kilometres away from our Dehradun home.

And with that began concurrent waiting sessions........my dada was waiting for my bua to reach clinic, Renu bua’s wait was to know the result of her tests, my dadee was waiting to hear about her daughter’s well-being, my papa was waiting for the telephone number of the concerned doctor so that he could speak to him............All along, every mind was journeying from one extreme to another; waiting anxiously...........And, it seemed as if moments ceased to have any end to it; endless! I was watching everything while seated on my father’s lap; completely helpless! My papa, although worried was getting his power from his belief and faith in his God. With prayers on his lips and finger on the phone keypad, he was dialling my dada waiting for the phone to be switched on........And when it did, the news from the other side was a comforting one. Nothing serious was what doctor said and everyone heaved a big sigh of relief......I could see the expression of thankfulness on my father’s face; God had answered his prayers.....

However, my bua will now have to choose between surgery for the removal of lump or a temporary relief in pain for a year or so by taking some injections...Another temporary solution, as per doctor is to go for second child........and, then go for permanent cure. Whatever decision she will take, my love and prayers will always be with her.......

Infact everyone's!

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Why Fight When You Can Laugh!

While The Mad Momma and D are busy slugging it out in the open over their respective posts and follow-on comments by their readers, I was laughing; obviusly not on them or their fight.

I was laughing because I chose to laugh, they were figting because they chose to fight.......Afterall, choice between anger and laughter rests with us- God has given us both.........

Way to go -"Why Fight When You Can Laugh"......so watch this video and laugh with me.......

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Happy Birthday!

..........to my dadee as she celebrated her birthday today with us in Gurgaon; while my dada, Renu bua, Ashu chacha, Shikha chachee, Ridhima didi and Rudra bhai celebrated in Dehradun.

We all went to the market (Gold Souk Mall) in the afternoon to buy my dadee her birthday present-a diamond ring. She wasn't comfortable with the idea of giving her a ring but my parent's persistence made her agree to it. Actually, it was my Renu bua's idea as she had told my papa about it yesterday. I was at my boisterous best at the Jewellery shop; I guess being a girl was the other reason apart from general excitement! Later in the night, my dadee would cut her birthday cake and I will be the first one to taste it.
Before I end this post, let me write few words directly to my dadee:

Dadee- As I can't speak yet; I want you to know through these words that I have a deep love and affection for you in my heart. My wishes for your good health, happiness and joy in this New Year and many years thereafter are always with you and I pray to God for that........

I have seen you taking care of me during these first formative months despite your back-ache; complaining not even once......I know it must have been tough for you to; ...... be with me in Gurgaon when your own daughter (my Renu bua) is in Dehradun for the treatment of her stomach ache after returning from Uganda for that reason only.............or, to let my dada live alone in Dehradun .........or, to leave comfortable climate of Dehradun for blistering heat of Gurgaon........all for my cause! I don’t know what to say about that.........

I can always say- I love you dadee!

Come wednesday and we all will be in Dehradun.....so, three more days!

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I Can Crawl Now....

I have started full-scale crawling from today. Following video shot this evening shows it.....you will certainly enjoy it!

Rather, I suggest everyone watching the video to imagine yourself in my place and re-live your moment..............moment when you had first moved your legs.........Additionally, it will help understand the importance of small things in life. The reason I say this is because after having learnt to walk and run, human beings tend to forget the importance of crawling.....Don't forget, it was crawling that you had learnt first; just as I did today!

Enough of "gyan"; now enjoy the video!

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Multiple Emotions Multiple Shots

32 emotions and 2 pictures; check it out

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Scolding-Sign of Growing Up???

Love comes in many forms; one not so good one comes in the form of scolding you get from your loved ones.....I got my first today for putting the laptop battery wire in my mouth. Completely taken aback by the tone and tenor of my father’s words; I dropped the wire off my hands. My stunned and visibly shaken look melted him instantly and look of anger gave way to an embracing one......That helped stop the flow of tears off my eyes but the damage was already done and I would not touch the laptop for next one hour or so..........but was back at it again as I could not shun the temptation of playing with the laptop anymore.....I was careful not to touch the wire this time! This would help my papa take the burden off his chest......and he was relieved at the happy ending to my first scolding.......I, on my part know that this won’t be the last one either- sign of growing up!

Awareness always helps!

So my lesson from today’s incident- don’t carry the baggage and learn from your mistakes!

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Return Gift On A Monthly B'Day

Today was the day to celebrate my monthly birthday as I have completed seven months today. Since, Delhi is still reeling under the heat, my father opted for a Cashew Cream Ice-cream instead of usual chocolate cake.......My mom surrounded the ice-cream pack by seven candles and helped me slice through it.........Here is a picture of me holding knife ready to cut through the pack.... Have you noticed those candles......they are from Nainital and are older than me after having completed 3 years this summer.......

Knowing that they won’t give me ice-cream for reasons best known to them, I took it upon myself to eat a small bite..........have a look...... As no birthday is complete without any gifts; my dadee and my parents took me to the market and bought me two new dresses........

This post can’t end without mentioning about re-union of two friends after 17 long years.......Yes 17 years; and they have met courtesy this blog.......

Those two friends are my papa and Dipak uncle. Both of them formed part of a “Famous Five” at their school in Dehradun. After completing his class 12th, Dipak uncle’s family moved to Banaras. Couple of letters were exchanged but that too stopped after Dipak uncle joined Indian Air-Force..........All they were left with was memories of their school days and a friendship held hostage to lack of communication. Life continued to move on and so did both. But, lost communication links were restored this evening when Dipak uncle found this blog and left this message.........you should have seen the excitement on my papa’s face after he read it.......... they just spoke to each other over phone after Dipak uncle left his number in his second message. Who says that time machine is a man’s (women included) imagination! I just witnessed my papa travel back in time......23 years to be precise- it was then he had met Dipak uncle.........They now have to catch up on those 17 lost years of friendship..........

It makes me wonder if forces of the Universe helped this re-union! As, it was last Saturday only when my father mentioned Dipak uncle to one of his cousin in Forces........... He wanted to know from him if there is any way he can help track Dipak uncle............. “To locate one person in 1.5 million strong force is a tall order”- was his reply.......

“No it wasn’t Papa; now, that’s your return gift!”

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I Love Mangifera Indica

......arey baba mangoes- India's National Fruit.............To relish mangoes comes naturally to most Indians; and how could I be any different............Don’t believe this? Have a look.......

And, this is what happened when my papa took it away from me.....

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First Day Of June

.......was lot different as compared to past one week; the hustle and bustle of past few days was missing. All the delicate things have found their way back to their original place and the house is looking neat and organised again. There was no throwing around of toys and rattles, no act of shouting out each other, no boxing bouts between Rudra bhai and Ridhima didi, no running around to make them eat ...............I can go on compiling these "no’s". But then all “no’s” fade away in front of one “yes”- my answer to a question “if I am missing them”.

My Ashu chacha, Shikha chachee and Rudra bhai have gone to Dehradun to drop my Renu bua and Ridhima didi there at our home. That would mean that my dadee and I will have to spend a quiet day in our Gurgaon home.

My dadee understands and takes timely care of my needs; you can even adjust your watch seeing her do that. She has been doing that since my birth with one month break in between. And, she has never complained about anything but my sleeping habit- I don’t sleep for more than an hour or so during the entire day. Both of us play together as best of friends with my rattles, balls, soft toys and a piano mat- my latest addition. I just love it as it plays music whenever my dadee puts me on top of that- it is always nice to have someone competing with you in a noise making competition; more so after the sudden exit of two boisterous competitors. But I will join them in Dehradun soon; and I have 9 more days to learn a thing or two to compete with them again......

Watching three sub-three category kids playing together is always a treat to every one's eyes and ears; but only when you can relish it! Actually, one has no choice but to relish it.......

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