Trek
Yohoooooooooooooo! Yohoooooooooooo!
I recently went on a trek to naneghat. What awesome fun I had!!!!!
First come first..........Lemme tell u the awesomest thing I did......

I hitchhiked for the first time in my lifee.............Yippeeee! But I wasn't alone, had 15 people alongwith me, so no problem. Double the fun, actually........and guess what....I travelled in a lorry..........yohoooooooooooooo! *Dhinkatikaaaaa* Never ever travelled in a lorry before.....It was just so much fun....(More on it later)

I have wanted to trek for a long long time. Well opportunity presented itself and I jumped at it. The trek was great fun and I gotta meet some bloggers too. Dee, Reiya, gundu and Buhaha gang etc. etc. It was sort of a mini mumbai bloggers trek.

In order to go to naneghat, we had to go by bus. The route to Naneghat was so awesome! Amazing greenary.......Lovely! We all had fun . Gundu was all happy and gay....(Pun intended :P :P) The bus conductor began hitting on him. Heeeeeeeeee! The conductor switched places with Dee who was earlier sitting with Gundu and then sat next to him. What fun we had pulling his leg! heeeeeeeee!

It started drizzling when we arrived at Naneghat. Wow! What beautiful place....greenary galore. I was the only one in the whole group who had an umbrella and a windcheater. Ok.now before people start thinking that I am crazy, let me confirm certain things. As u all know, I am a chasmis.....meaning I wear specs. Its a sad fact of my life that during monsoons, my specs tend to get wet and hence smudged very soon and I have to keep wiping it every 2 minutes which can be very irritating. So if I don't wipe it, I am almost next to blind. If I remove my specs I am blind again. What all problems I have in my life..Wear specs, get wet, go blind......remove specs, go blind again! So an umbrella! :P :P
Russel and Andy didn't get their windcheaters. Russel started cribbing and wanted to go home. I found it so funnyy! heheheheee!

And then started our ascent..........boy oh boy, It took almost 4 hours to go up. But it was worth all the effort. Waterfalls greeted us at every part of pur ascent. Water was oooh! Chilly. There were some mini-stream to cross through. Lovely it was!!!! Huffing, puffing panting we finally reached to the plateau above. Everybvody just crashed. But just peak was just 10 minutes away. Whilst everyone had food, myself and Dee decided to go up. We finally went to the top. And My!!!my!!!! It was so beautiful. And it is an understatemnt. It is an understatement in the history of all understatements. We hung in there for sometime and came down. Mice were playing kabbadi in my stomach (Ok.i have shamelesly translated this from a Hindi muhaavara :P) Hogged nicely and then was all set for the descent. Descent was awesome fun. Many of the girls found descent kind of difficult coz it was slippery and the presence of rocks did not make things easier too. So lots of them walked in pairs helping each other. Mostly guys helped the girls. they walked in the front helping the girls out. But well.....there was an exception too. Urs truly helped a guy come down for he slipped often. heeeeee! It was a classic kodak moment! :P I was sooper.....had no problems getting down. We saw so many weird weird bugs and worms. Red colour worm was very pretty and so was a transparent caterpillar..........very pretty. Also there were loads of mosquitoes. Thank u Reiya for ur odomos!

Then we we came down after 2.5 hrs. Everybody was damn tired. I thought we would come by a bus. But then we didnt get any, so everybody started hitchhiking. Whoa! and then finally a truck stopped! I was soooooooo excited, never done anything so crazy..........yippeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Amma/Appa would freak if they would know about this. So this lorry incident is carefully hidden from them :P heheheheeee! Few of us sat alongwith the driver. Gundu was with the driver and the driver started hitting on him too, I presume! :P The others (me too) sat up directly above the driver's cabin (rooftop). There were no shutters above our heads. So we had stars, moon and lovely breeze for our company. It was so awesome!

Finally we reached station somehow. and then went back home. I had a lovely time that day. I am already looking forward to more treks! Nature here I come...............:D

100 & 1
As Reiya would say.......Its a supakk combo! Heheheeee! If u guys are wondering what I am talking about, well....

THIS IS MY 100TH POST
AND
MY BLOG COMPLETES 1 WHOLE YEAR OF ITS EXISTENCE!!!!!!

Yuppo! Today is my bloggie birthday. I started my blog exactly a year ago, June 20th, 2003. But the fact remains this is my second blog, but thankfully a blog which I have continued and not abandoned like the earlier one.

I became aware of the whole concept of blogging almost a year and a half back when I came across an article in India Today. I was intrigued by the whole concept. I don't know how but somehow I chanced uponKiruba's blog. That was the first blog I began reading regularly. When I started my first blog, I discontinued it very soon cause of no enthusiasm at all. But I continued reading various blogs until I decided that I will blog myself, again.

I don't know why I blog. I just enjoy it. It is a medium of self expression for me. I like the fact that there are others who comment on what I write. It is a biiiiiiiiiig motivating factor. I never wanted to write personal stuff and I don't think this blog would ever be of a very personal or for that matter a very intimate one. Though it is a dear to me. In the past one year, my blogroll has swelled up from 5 blogs to almost 50 blogs now.phew! (i am sure more would be added now) There are so many amazing writers here. I love reading their stuff. Even though I read an enjoy every blog on my blogroll there are some favourites.

I love your blog, Toinky. I love the way she writes, has the capacity to make the most mundane thing interesting. There have been times when I am kind of down and just by reading some of her posts, I have pepped up. She is fab! I love Toro's blog for the simple reason he writes so beautifully. (I think that's an understatement!)I love blogs by Poo (has a unique way of presenting her thoughts), Vidya (Her blog spells enerjy!!!), Ashwin (Love the simplicity), Ramana (poignant stuff), Suds(his sarcastic sense of humour), Gundu (for the total sadak chaap lingo that he uses....so Mumbaiyya, I love it), Jag (for he gives me a totally different perspective of things being a second generation Indian in Britain which I so enjoy reading) and so many more. the list is endless. (This was kinda tough to do)

But....the most important thing I would cherish are the friendships I have forged. I have known and met some real wonderful people coz of blogging. I love u guys! I know for the fact that blogging or no blogging, our friendship will remain. I wouldn't trade it for anything in this world. Thank u so much guys!

Thank you all who visit my page regularly and bother to leave behind comments. Ur comments are highly valued and very much appreciated. :D Well thanks to all the silent readers too..

I think it is one of the best things I have ever done. Ciao ppl!

Buddays and more buddays!
......................HAPPY BIRTHDAY....................
JUNE 12TH:
Happy Budday Sathish! Hope U had a great day. And guess wot U share ur budday with Anne Frank, someone whom I reallllly admire a lottttt. All my best wishes to u!

JUNE 13th:
Happy birthday Lakku! She is one wonderful gurl and a great fun to be with. Wish ur budday was sometime when I was in Chennai. Anyways......I know u will have cracker of a time with Archie and Harini. Have a rollicking time dear...........seeya! :D :D

I am so proud of myself, I am remembering birthdays.........yippeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! (All thanks to birthday alarm and the fact that I am doing NOTHING nowadays......bigtime vetti u see! )

BULL SHIT!
Well, I may be ruffling some sentiments of relegious people through post and if I do, I really DONT CARE!

BBC mama who lived opposite my building passed away yesterday night. He was named as BBC mama coz his wife was a centre of all news, local gossip etc. So since she is BBC mami, he automatically became BBC mama. It was kind of a shock for me coz I had seen BBC mama just a day prior to his death standing by the balcony with his wife and just generally yapping away. Well.....strange are the ways of life....*sigh*

Since BBC mama was a tam-bram, there would be elaborate post-death rituals spread around 13 days. I tell you, being a tam-bram myself, one's life is filled with whole crap of rituals. Some of the rituals are cute but there are equal number of useless, despicable rituals too. Now this post-death rituals will involve lot of crappy stuff which will basically only make the widow feel how unfortunate she is. This just rubs salt over the wounds. Already the poor lady would be grieving over her husband's death, y do u need more rituals to make her feel even more sick and sad! I have argued with some ppl in my family regarding this.....the standard answer that u wud get is that"I know its tough on the part of the wowman, but then some things need to be done." Hullo.....I don't agree with u. Things need not be dont just for the sake of being done. Crap! I have seen many a times woman who have lost their husbands refuse to attend some marriages and even if they do, they would never be forthcoming to wish the bride and the bridegroom just coz she would be doomed as inauspicious. Hullo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I really don't get it. I hate such stupid rituals. The saddest part is even educated people too follow them just coz everybody else is doing the same. Questioning is wrong, U never question things which people have been doing for ages.....BULL CRAP! One educated lady (MBA) once told me there must be some reason behind the rituals, we should respect our forefathers and our elders and do as they say. Hullo......I don't see any reason in some stupid rituals like these. At times like these I really think how useless the education has been.

Ritually, a woman is doomed if she doesn't have a husband b'coz the whole identity of her existence is determined by the existence of her husband. It is tough on the woman b'coz there would be loads of festivals and stuff in which she wouldn't be allowed to participate any longer. She would be ignored just coz she's a widow. Seriously, there can't be any more mean thing than this! But widows in india have to face it, social segregation! No, things have not changed........its a joke that we are in 21st century.

I was volunteering at the WORLd SOCIAL FORUM when I happened to meet a Canadian lady who worked with an NGO. We began chatting and she told me how lovely she found India. Well, I thought that's such a cliched comment. But she continued talking. She said," I love the colour here. Indians are so much in touch with their traditions, culture. Its amazing, its beautiful. Canada u know, is culturally empty. We Canadians are culturally bankrupt people. USA, Hollywood movies are the only sources of culture. We don't have anything which is culturally unique only to us and we really miss it. I really envy you guys in that matter." I really thought what she said made sense. India is culturally vibrant. I love it for that. But I feel we need culture, traditions, rituals to be happy and not to make people sad and despise themselves.

I just don't feel nice today...:(

Aala re Aala Paoos Aala
Did that make any sense to u? Heeeeeeeeee! For all u people clueless, the literal translation of the Marathi phrase means Came, Came, the Rains came! :D :D :D :D

I am so delighted. It finally RAINED. Yayyyyy! *does a little jig* This rain was long awaited in Mumbai! Infact by the end of May, people are so frustrated with the heat that they start waiting for the rains. The heat has been killing this time. Even though it rained a bit early May, it just made things worse.

I have always loved rains. Rains are Mumbai are biiiiiiiiiiiiig. Its beautiful too. Well, I dont like it when I have to go all wet to my college :P. But I like it when I am at home, standing by the window sill, watching the whole world getting drenched, sipping hot coffee and then after sometime sit down by the side of the window with a book in my hand. Oooooh! can anything be more better! :D :D

I remember when I was in my 6th std, I had this Marathi lesson about rains which had this phrase describing the sky just before it was about to pour. It went something like this......the sky looked like the stomach of a dark buffalo....heheheheee! I remeber the whole class laughed when the statement was read. But strangeley I remebered the same phrase when I saw the sky today. It was dark.......just like a buffalo's tummy.....hehehehe! I knew it would rain in any moment by then and RAIN it did to my total happiness. I wanted to get drenched, but I didn't. Maybe, next time for sure....:D I went to my window and then it started pouring. It was beautiful. There were these 2 kids who were having the fun of their lives dancing in the rain. One of them started cycling singing some obscure hindi movie song. I was scared for a moment that the child might skid and fall down from the bicycle especially since it ewas raining, but well nothing of that happened. He just cycled with gay abandon singing. (At times like these, I love Hindi songs however crappy they might be! :P) I was all smiles. The other one came out with a plastic bag over his head........heeehhehehee! He looked so cute :D. He also started dancing. I saw it pouring whilst sipping a strong filter coffee. It was lovely.

When I was vacationing in south of India, it rained everywhere I went. Palakkad looked resplendent after it rained. It is so green there, lovely. I remember going for a walk after it rained with my friend..........WOWOWOWOW! It was just awesome. I love walking. I am a very walk walk person. I don't mind walking lond distances. and walking in a place like Palakkad especially when it is drizzling. Wowie!

I remember when I was in my 2nd std, I was in Bangalore during may and it had started raining heavily in May itself. It was extremely windy and rainy and I thought that I have seen the "AIR". I was taught in school that we can't see "AIR", only feel it. So i was so glad about my discovery. I was sooooo excited. When I came back home, I told all my friends that I saw "The AIR". trust me, I was the heroine of the day. Hehehehhehehee!

Anyways, now that it has started raining, I hope the climate becomes more pleasant. I end my post with a cute Marathi song...

yere yere paoosa...
tula deto mee paisa..
paisa jhaala re khota...
paoos aala re motha....:D :D :D

P.S.
Petrichor--> smell of mud!

YUVA

I happened to watch YUVA in Chennai at Satyam. It was a day out for all we cousins and it is special for us coz all the 8 of us were there for the movie together. All the cousins are spread across different places and its only during some occasions that we all manage to come together and have a blast.

It was a 3p.m. show. We reached Satyam by 2:55. It was very crowded and they werent allowing us in. finally we got in by 3:15. But to our total shock the movie had already begun. We missed almost first 10 minutes of the movie. It was very frustrating. I couldn't understand why they did not allow us in at the first place. I just hate missing the initial parts of movies. But well....nothing could have been done.

I am an ardent Mani Ratnam fan. I really enjoy his movies. They are different, they are beautiful, they appeal to my sensibilities, they are stylish.....I can go on and on....I am no expert in movies. I watch a movie like any viewer and not as a filmmaker, technician etc. But I have some comments reserved for Yuva. Those are purely my personal comments and well may just reflect my naiveate too. But after watching the movie I could sense something was missing though I exactly couldn't pin point it. As they say in Hindi.........Hajam nahi hua........I just had the same kind of feeling when I left the movie hall. Something was surely missing.

What I love about Mani Ratnam is that he strives to be different. All his movies are different.......hutke..... if i might use the filmy term. Yuva was no different. It was different. I loved the narrative of the movie. Three different point of views, 3 different stories. It was nice. I liked that about Alaipayuthey also, The flashbacks were very beautifully interwoven in the screenplay. Also I like it that Mani Ratnam has tried to portray Youth in different light as opposed to the careless, bubblegum chewing, irresponsible youth that Hindi movies normally portray us as. I liked that. I think there exists a considerable number of youngsters who want to make a difference and the point was conveyed in the movie. Very heartening to note that. (I think another movie which deserves a mention in this context is Hassil directed by tigmanshu Dhulia which was a lovely movie showing the youth in a different light.)

About the charcters. The charcters were beautifully etched with the character of Lallan, played by Abhishek Bachchan being the best of them all. I think Abhishek Bachchan was just apt for the role..........AWESOME performance. He was so amazingly grey. Like we all are, grey. None of us are only black or only white. The conflicting emotions were beautifully portrayed. Rani was sooper, an absolute natural. I particularly enjoyed the scene wherein she bursts at the Ticket Collector. Perfect case of displacement. Ajay devgan, Micheal....ummmmmm.......i liked his character. He's an idealist. I have a small idealistic streak in me. I would be partial to his character coz I would love to see loads of people like him. (i presume his character was inspired by a real-life character who was also a student leader) I liked the fact that his charcter wants to make a difference. I think many if not more do want to do that, make a difference. I could totally identify with the character played by Vivek Oberio coz I know so many people like him. (Sneaking in the middle of the queau and all.......that was a cute scene.) There was nothing new about him, very real. Esha Deol's role could have possibly been deleted from the movie coz her absence I feel wouldn't have affected the movie at all, just an adornment I feel. Kareena Kapoor was ok. Om Puri as usual was brilliant.

Ok, now what I didn't like.....I thought that Mani Ratnam just got carried away. I mean forming a party, winning election is not a joke. Hullo.......It is a difficult complex process (look at how imminent pesphologists, media got it all wrong this time and the movie suggests that everything is so easy). One can be idealistic but not foolish. The movie seems to portray Indian election in such a simplified manner. I think it is anything but simple. The character of Esha Deol as I said is totally unnecessary, no use at all. The violence just did not make any sense at all. The last scene was really funny. I am amazed as to how such a fight did not result into a traffic jam. One can resign to the fact that Hindi movies mein sab chalta hain.......but no............it is not just any Hindi movie........It is a MANI RATNAM movie. Things can't be dumb in his movies.

All said and done, YUVA did have flashes of Mani Ratnam's brilliance in it but something was missing somewhere is all I could say.

Moiz Back
Back to the pavilion, Back home, Back to the routine, Back to Mumbai.

Well my vacation was sooper. Had tons of fun. My vacation was a personal one, I mean I spent more time with my loved ones and a little bit on sight seeing. I went to Mangalore, Bangalore, Palakkad and Chennai, a place where I had loadsa fun. It was sorta of a family reunion at Chennai all courtesy a marriage. So much fun. I met my mamma's first cousin , technically my mama. I had met him last when I was in 6th std(11 yrs old. He was a struggling for a job that time in Mumbai and used to drop in often. I was a major weakling in maths and used to struggle bigtime. He used to come and teach me ["-" X "-" = +] but
[ "-" + "-" = "-"]. Half the time I never used to understand the fun das. Poor thing used to break his head to no avail. He was so shocked to see me considerably taller, short cropped hair ( I used to have long hair earlier), in a sari (Yea i sported one for the wedding) He just couldn't believe it was me. He couldn't believe that the brat he taught is now so old....:P

Also I met some mamis and mamas who were keen getting me off married. I was like these ppl have lost it totally. It was so funny. When I congratulated the bridegroom's father after marriage, he went like.....I hope to see u like a bride soon.and I was like what a whole load of bull crap. hehehheheee!

I think I made like an awesome decison to travel south. Whereever I went it rained beautifully. Cool climate welcomed me except Chennai. the heat there sucks (Suds, dont get irritated...:P
)Also I hate the autowallahs. they loot people. I really missed the public transport of Mumbai when I was down south. But I had major fun in Chennai coz all my cousins were there. From my chotu bachu to my older sibling. I love them...well not all but almost all u can say. Also I met Laks, Archie, Harini and Suds too. Sorry Sat, just cudnt meet u.

Laks, Archie, Harini are whole lot of fun to be with. We all being media students, we had tons to talk to. We laughed, giggled, cracked jokes, did all the gurlie things. Loads of fun. Laks i shud say is gurlie gurlie in a very sophisticated way. Now u guys figure out what it means. Archie is the quieter one while Harini is total timepass. But all of them are sweet. Well Suds is an absolute sweetheart. He's just the same way as he appears in his blog.

I saw yuva too........Mr. MANI RATNAM what were u thinking when u made the movie? Well more on YUVA in my next post. AR Rehman, U R GOD! I love u......wot awesome music dude.......too cool......! Sounds even better in the theatre. Well....more in the next post! :D