slice of life

Those rather cold yet very delectable off white idlis in her tiffin was the reason for my fondness for this tall and dark but very attractive south Indian girl or her intelligence and top academic position in the class is something I can't be sure of. She was my best friend till class IV. Apart from being inseparable throughout the day, lunch break used to be very special and worth a wait for both of us...her tiffin alternating between white button like idlis and soft brown dosai, the taste and aroma of either of which I have not forgotten till now, used to land in my hands whereas my peas pulao or aloo ka paratha used to be her favorite.  Surprisingly my favourite non staple still remains idli and dosa and end up eating these two invariably when going out for a quick bite. Wherever I have taken a bite of these two legendary food items, my taste buds instantly go into a throwback mode and start reminiscing that aroma and taste found in my first best friend's tiffin. Having tr...

A very cute looking, talented young girl who is beginning her career in Malayalam film industry 'winks' and she is an internet sensation, wooing millions. She even invites a controversy but soon gets relief and is now looking forward to a promising  journey on celluloid screen. No mean feat!Another young girl, meanwhile, has pulled up an even bigger accomplishment. Meet Avani Chaturvedi, India's first woman to fly a fighter plane solo. Wow!! She cleared her first solo sortie on a MIG 21 fighter and flew in the grey skies for a full half an hour. She must be on top of the world, kissing the sky, very much on her own. It is indeed a huge moment of pride to be the first ever Indian woman to fly a supersonic fighter all alone! There is some striking similarity between these two young achievers. Apart from being both young girls, they are extremely confident and raring to go. Both of them come from small town India, Priya belongs to scenic town of Thrissur in Kerala whereas ...

From the land of Tehzeeb to the land of rashness, from the city of lip smacking chaat and succulent kebabs to the city of Dal Makhni, from the place where life still flows at ease to a place where there seems to be an illogical rush to leave the other person behind, Marriage changed my address from Lucknow to Delhi. The 'no culture' city was giving me huge cultural shock but dreamy eyed and without apparent realisation, dilli had embraced me and continue to do so.. What worked to fall in love with this city can't be described in one blog I guess! Probably it was the hot bread pakora with paneer filling which the modest shop at the corner used to sell, or the late night drives to India Gate to lick that softy and then lazing on the lawns or the drool worthy crumbling  apple pie of the legendary Wenger's! However, the love story had (and still has) many deterrents too. What is also peculiar to Dilli is the neighbourhood Aunty who has advice for everything and anythin...

Recently met a long lost friend. It was a random meeting and not a planned one.  So the happiness knew no bounds and the feeling was mutual, I am sure. Since remembered this friend of my mine as a happy-go-lucky chirpy teenager, it was quite startling to see her smiling occassionally, mostly keeping a serious mature expression intact on her face and talking with a measured tone and body language. So the warmth had dissolved under this cover of maturity, I soon bid adieu after the formal exchange of contact numbers. After few exchanges of insignificant whatsaap jokes, I almost lost touch with her again. However, this chance meeting left me wondering what had made my friend so 'serious' as she certainly was one of the happiest souls around. As far as I knew she had a good financial and physical health and a loving family. Is that all to make us happy? Money or more money certainly can't buy happiness. Good relationships yes to a large extent add to happiness but don't ...

So misogynist is a new term on the block and my favourite too. Absolutely nobody can have  a prejudised view of a woman. It's a very typical patriarchal mindset but then Sabyaschi being a misogynist when he says it's an absolute shame if a woman doesn't know how to wear a saree. yeah Seriously?  Ladies the ace designer has done some tremendous work in textiles rooting it in many traditional art forms. A Sabyasachi creation takes a woman's heart away. Probably it is his fondness for our 'to be extinct' art forms like zardosi or brocade that makes a connect with us women. Yes the connect has always been there since these were integral part of our heritage. The west gives a huge round of applause to these very beautiful and unique mind blowing art forms and we have a MAN who has done some astonishing work with our dying art forms and Saree. Yes Saree is absolutely divine and elegance personfied. May be, its my personal view and may be, not yours! Let's look...

The mystical range of Aravalis has ancient significance. The very cosmopolitan Gurgaon has risen up on this shrubby plateau. Within the last few years, the glass and steel facade has metamorphosed this barren land into a hub of frantic business activity. However, there is a green patch nestled in Anandgram which is dedicated to our ancient art of pottery as well as other beautiful forms of Indian art and culture, popularly known as Sanskriti museums, this space is like a breath of fresh air just next to the choking and superficial aura of Gurgaon. Although trying to visit this less talked about museum since long, its my preschool daughter who finally acts as the impetus for our visit to this land of serenity and creativity. She shows some keen interest in the marvelllous collection of pottery brought forth from our diverse and culturally rich states like Orissa, Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chattisgarh and more. The mud structrures strike a chord of enchantment with their sheer beau...

Being a hard core Akshay fan and of late his wife's fan too, somehow just wanted to watch this much publicised 'issue' based movie, Padman. With my 3 year old daughter, multiplex visits are minimal now but very much wanted even her to watch this 'women' centric film. Somewhere something was striking very hard. Just out of a fancy Gurgaon based multiplex, me, hubby and our daughter are super enthralled. Yes, the movie turned out to be just awesome and this was for the first time the active toddler decided to sit back and watch the entire show. Wow! So for me the movie was no less than wow. We have the superhero, Akshay Kumar, just drowning himself completely in this superhero role. What if somebody creates a machine and a pad churns out of it at Rs 2. Big deal! Yes it is a big deal for those who still can't utter this very basic female physiological phenomenon. Perhaps it is unimaginable for an urban metropolitan audience to comprehend the kind of embarrasmen...

It's kind of most refreshing and rejuvenating watching the orange Sun sprouting from behind the high rises from my balcony, that moment is filled with solitude and hope that its yet another day to chase and live dreams. However, the other day, a sudden thud from the neighbouring balcony broke that moment of meditation. One of the neighbours was mercilessly throwing his garbage onto the vacant plot! Most of us have encountered this scenario at least once or even multiple times. A few of the enlightened souls do raise their voice before giving up since those who just like to throw their waste around, are much more determined not to listen and to chase their dream of cleaning their house without even bothering for a moment that their ignorant act actually calls for a much bigger and massive campaign like Swatchta Abhiyan! It's quite evident that education doesn't make us aware. We still depend on agencies to be responsible for the cleanliness of our surroundings. Yes its t...

We are the first generation mobile phone users. We are the first generation Internet surfers and we are the first generation to be  virtually connected. Sounds great rather awesome! All these techno-wonders have put our life in another league. We are talking, we are chatting, we are clicking pictures like never before..in short communicating a lot but are we really listening or saying what we actually want to say? This is the age of being connected and sharing information. New avenues have opened through social media. So being rather new to the emoticon lingo I find it hard to find the appropriate one when in midst of a (virtual) conversation. There is one for everything...for smile, for laughing out aloud, for shedding tears, for shedding copious tears and there are exclusive ones too which always put me in awe...hair cut emoticon, thermometer emoticon or the mesmerising mermaid one. Somehow, however, they always land me in a soup perplexing me to send the appropriate one to the...