I've fucking been torn apart!!

I'd come across this review site- Ask And Ye Shall Receive, when Neo got his blog reviewed.
So I decided to submit my blog as well. Not just for kicks but because I genuinely want to try to take it to the next level.
I know that, no one person's opinion is the be all and end all of the world, but for me EACH ONE COUNTS!
So here goes:-


She's giving me a toothache
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
There was a time, many, many years ago, when I had a Molly Ringwald perm and 20 pairs of Guess jeans and wore white Keds with everything. I made mix tapes of slow songs from the radio and wrote heartfelt and weepy poetry. I sent rambling notes to friends with cutesy acronyms (KIT, FFE, BFF) and used hearts to punctuate my exclamation points.

Because I was that girl once upon a time, it makes it hard to slam Sneha from Life is Above it All. Oh, she's quite a bit older than I was during the time I'm remembering, and she's a good deal smarter than I was, but that core of innocent youth remains. I don't want to squash that earnest hopefulness.

It's not that this is a hot mess. It's just... young. And fluffy.

To start with she's managed to include two of my pet peeves. There's a huge ass banner that takes up the entire page and I have to scroll for ages to get to content. Why do people do this? Why? Next, she uses ellipses constantly. Look, y'all. There's a time and place for these popular little dots: to indicate the removal of text, to indicate a thought trailing off, or to indicate a pause in speech. And that's about it folks. Overuse can be extremely annoying to read.

Some more problems? Lots and lots of poetry. Sappy, angsty poetry. It's not for me. Some people enjoy it, I'm sure, but I can't get into it. Especially rhyming poetry.

Also, the subtitle portion in the banner means absolutely nothing to me. "Emotion is not a football." What? I'm sure there's a cultural disconnect here as she's Indian and I'm American, but I can't for the life of me understand what she's getting at. And unfortunately that happens a lot for me with this writing. Oh, she's smart. No doubt. And kind and good and sweet and hard-working. But unfortunately for me this blog boils down to a lot of words on a screen. And not much else.

This is a young girl's diary, a smattering of thoughts and poems and daily experiences that, while meaningful to her and her friends, does not lend itself to wider consumption. And maybe that's fine. Maybe that's all she wants. But by submitting her site to be reviewed my guess is maybe she's ready for more. If that's the case, some suggestions:

Tighten up. Edit. Get rid of the ellipses, use proper spacing around punctuation, refrain from using cutesy IM-speak (ur, u, 2, shud, cuz, randomly capped and lowercase words, etc.). Don't write in all lowercase -- e.e. cummings can get away with it, you can't. Write for yourself but consider your audience. What do we want to know? Do we want to read paragraphs and paragraphs of your daily experiences? No, absolutely not. Find something interesting to write about. Boil it down, find the good bits, wrap it up in a bow, be concise.

Find your voice -- right now you're one of thousands of sweet young girls with nothing much to say. What makes you different? What do you have to say? Where is your individuality? I read your whole blog, and I know there's more you're not sharing: you're observant and insightful and you have a charming spirit. But it's flat on the screen. There's no dimension.

Right now it's a



but don't give up. Get cracking on my suggestions and let's see where you end up.
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Well, the rating means-
We meant to rate you, really we did, but we fell asleep reading your shit. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. snore.

Oh well!! Nothing lost!

IT ALL WORKS OUT IN THE END...

Everybody loves to catch up with friends. But in this busy day and age to actually meet up and hang out with people outside of work place or educational institution is very difficult. Its the eternal problem of TIME.

Strangely I found a few friends all relatively free on the same day, when I had the time and opportunity for a house party.Now, here comes the catch....I knew each one of them from a different place viz. one from pune, one from my building, one from a class that I once took etc and some of them were bringing their friends to boot.

So, not only did my guests not know each other, I had guests whom, even I didn't know.
Now, if you have ever planned a party you know, that this is a sure shot recipe for disaster!!
Guess what....
Surprisingly, it was a HIT!!

People started arriving at around 6 in the evening. Every time a person came in there was this introduction session, but I restricted it to who's who and left them to figure the rest in the course of the evening. Till around 8, when my last guests arrived, it was pretty interesting and you could literally see people "getting to know each other" over a couple of drinks.
Its funny how comfortable the whole atmosphere became. Not a SINGLE person, and i don't exaggerate, not a single person was left out. Yes, there were some jokes that were sometimes lost on a few people, a few lapses of memory(i.e."Oh sorry, what was your name again?" kinds) and some verbal faux pas, which could actually happen anywhere.

A multi-cultural, multi-professional and metropolitan crowd, it was quite a stimulating and fun place to be.

Dinner was an even better affair. Despite it being a Friday night we decided to take a chance at a restaurant, without prior reservation. Piling into rickshaws, after 2 tries we finally got a decent table at one, where NONE of us had eaten before (For those in Mumbai, its called "Restaurant 5", in Santacruz, around Rs.250-300 per head, exclusive of alcohol) . It was one of the best meals I've had in a really long while. Pleasant ambiance, amazing food and even better company!
Funny stories from school, college, work place from such a broad spectrum of people...It was fascinating! Not one boring moment.

We then headed to Bombay Blues, for our eternal favourite, Sizzling Brownie Sundae. There outside through the glass we were entertained by a couple of kids diligently practicing their WWE moves.That kept us for about half an hour.

All then camped at my place for the night..Floyd in the background(minus the vodka, unfortunately).There was a chaotic mess of people who had to get to work and college and stuff from 6 o clock in the morning, and all this from people who had finally condescended to sleep at 5 am.

I was left behind with a messy house, impending studies for my next paper and a sense of happiness.

Everyone here last night had a good time and has made a minimum of 2 new friends.
We figured out rock music is a common interest and most of us are meeting again tonight at 'Livewire'..the am-band finals and rock show as a part of Mood Indigo, at IIT Bombay...

so go figure!!! :) :)

I should try this more often...It all seems to work out in the end!!!

TARE ZAMEEN PAR

i actually saw the movie first day..first show...
but i dont have the time to actually write a review about thus movie...because..
i could simply keep writing!!

it is BRILLIANT.....multifaceted....sensitively handled.....implosive in its drama....


The actor Darsheel is awesome....he has done an amazing job..
and Aamir Khan..words fail me..
His directorial debut was an ABSOLUTE dhamaka!!

There were so many things i loved about it that i can't even begin to put it down..
I was in tears throughout the movie...
It is BEAUTIFUL in every single respect..
Kudos to the whole team of TAARE ZAMEEN PAR..
and a special one to Aamir Khan for giving us this movie hoping there will be many such more...

PS: PLEASE GO WATCH IT!!!

And they lived happily ever after....

"PotterMania" seems the flavour of the season doesn't it?? Every possible place...conversations...print media..electronic media...with not an inch to spare!!
Well I have been an avid fan of the Harry Potter series form the very first book and though the frenzy had worn down considerably the fascination has certainly not.
The magical world which Rowling introduced to us 10 years ago is still seems as fantastic and intriguing to me. The characters, now so familiar who seem to have grown gradually with us over the time are endearingly familiar. And each one of us who reads these books relates at some level and to some extent with the emotions she has infused in them.
J.K.Rowling, by style is descriptive and know how to build the suspense in the plot. All her previous books have made for a good read(admittedly in varying degrees), but this book surpasses them all. I say this because all the answers she had kept tantalizingly secret have finally been revealed all the loose ends tied, and she had left so many such questions unanswered that every second page was like a revelation! It kept me gripped and flipping pages for an uninterrupted 9 and a half hours till I had devoured each one of the 607 pages!!
But for a change I shall not talk about the plot of the book or of the excellent characterization..but of what endeared it to me...
simply put...it was..
The fantastic reality of it all!!
Now i know..fictional world...but when i say reality I mean of the things she actually speaks about..the essence...
Of friendship...Of love..Of courage...Of sacrifice...Of self-righteousness...Of all the usual idealistic jargon and blah...
But with such a human touch...
Because its also..
Of weakness...Of treachery...Of jealousy...Of despair..Of making difficult choices...Of all the things real life is made of and we like not to talk of it...
In absurd ways each one can find instances they can relate with and personal demons can be faced and resolved..

Yes..obviously the last duel is dramatic and exciting and Voldemort according to me dies in an anti-climax...but Rowling stuck to the formula of " All's well that ends well"...for how could she kill Harry...after all she put him through...
The end of the book...for those who are yet unaware...the "Ninteen Years Later" lends it all a very "Ekta Kapoorish" touch..
But finally the end of a saga...
And they lived happily ever after....

Pune..

Getting away from Bombay was what was uppermost in my mind when i planned my trip. Pune proved itself to be the most convenient destination as I had plenty of friends to meet and its just a 3 and a half hour bus journey...I was all excited..this being the first time i was traveling without parental accompaniment..

The trip started on a good note, considering my friend managed discounted fares on a morning bus to Pune...We traveled in comfort in a Raj Travels ,Volvo...Rather uneventful journey..(barring the fact that my normally sane friend complained "But the movie isint over!!!" for a movie as dumb as 'Hulchul', when we were about to disembark!)

My 2 days was basically characterized by good food and great company..2 wheeler seems to be the ONLY way to travel in pune..So with both my friend and her(considering i cant ride a bike!) 2 wheeler at my disposal began my tour.We started with the area she lives in..Boat Club area( as it houses the Royal Connaught Boat Club).. one of the poshest residential areas in pune.

First day was devoted to discovering eating joints...
We spent some time at a mall at East Square..Since we were being treated we had to consider pricing, distance et al..I figured the eating scene in Pune is waaay better than Bombay..
Its more economical, with as good if not slightly better variety and with acceptable quantity and quality. We decided on Malacca Spice in Koregaon Park area(thats near the Osho Ashram). One of the originally quaint places...South East Asian cuisine..Candle Light dining area...Paintings on sale...A portrait artist...the works...Good service and even better food..
We ended up with 5 dishes between the 6 of us, 3 being non-vegetarian and a bottle of Red Wine all for Rs.950..(not complaining at all!!)
And the bakeries just yum!! A quest for a birthday cake revealed this fact..Baker's Basket..Khayani's...Just Baked...the list never ends..

Next morning I spent in catching up with most of the people I know in Pune..And after lunch we headed for shopping(girls are allowed to indulge once in a way)..That covered Koregaon Park(for oshos of course), F.C road, Junglee Maharaj Road etc. My friend studies in COEP so i obviously got a guided tour of that as well( with special repeated mentions to the chimney of the only functional boiler!) and their Boat Club(where Raegatta is held every year)...I thought that BC was anice place to relax..and it amazing when its within ur college campus..

To kill some time before heading for Prabhat colony..we had a dekko at Shambhaji Garden, one of the famous albeit less visited places in pune...I like the view of the Mulla Muttha river you get from all the sites along its banks(including BC and Shambhaji Park).

We then headed for Hanuman Tekdi...which was the most brilliant thing I saw in Pune..Tekdi in marathi means hillock..this one ran along a hitherto stone quarry and offered a beautiful bird's eye view of Pune. A place for people to walk..for lovers to romance...children to play...friends to hang out and loners to revel...We had to leave just before dark because apparantly the place is infested with muggers after dark.

I had dinner with one of my aunt's friends and 2 of my own at the Pizza Hut at Deccan. She then took me back to her house at Swaar Gate via Chavni(or Camp area) and M.G.Road..
I had to unforunately leave for Bombay the next morning but with a happy heart because of a good to days and also that my mind was longing to be back in the pace of Bombay..
So my summarization of Pune is..
A nice city...Lots of greeney and natural beauty( with all the gadhs and tekdis)..
No consideration for traffic rules whatsoever...
A moderate pace of life..
The "City of Tekdi's" and "A Mini Metro"