Its time I answer some questions

I have been mercilessly tagged and awarded in the last one year. Ok. I was awarded only twice and tagged twice but I like to think that it was merciless. Feels good. And its my bloody blog so I will define what merciless means here.

I ignored the tags and awards for a long time but I had a dream last night in which a Tag and an Award took human forms and tried to strangulate me. They were crying while doing so and thus awoke my conscience. I promised them that I will honor them and hence this post.

I will try not to bore you with my answers.

U.S. Pandey who blogs at One Grain Amongst The Storm gave me the Liebster Award and here are the Q & As –

Top 4 authors, or photographers, you love

Charles Dickens (The first novel I read was an abridged version of Oliver Twist that I won in a debate competition in class 6. I don’t think there is any novel by dear CD that I haven’t read)

Arthur Conan Doyle (Ah! They don’t make them like him anymore. The Hound of Baskervilles and The Sign of Four are my all time favorites)

Orhan Pamuk (There is something very grounded in the way he writes his incredible stories)

J.M Coetzee (The most gifted writers of our times. Read Life & Times of Michael K and Disgrace and you will know what I mean)

Top 4 Movies

Ok. That is a crazy question. Anyways, my top 4 movies are – Spirited Away, Pan’s Labyrinth, The Shawshank Redemption, Amélie

Top 4 singers/albums

Kishore Kumar (For the sheer variety), Shreya Ghoshal (For the divine voice), Asha Bhosle (For those seductive punches), Mohammed Rafi (For melting my heart again and again)

What would you do if you were to be stopped from writing?

I will start painting.

Are you in favour of banning books?

God No! Adults write them and adults read them.

Are you in favour of capital punishment?

If we are absolutely sure that the person committed the crime, then Yes. If there is a 0.5% chance of his/her innocence, then No. You can’t bring back the dead.

Are you in favour of veils for women, as in hijab?

I am in favor of  religion not telling anyone what to wear.

Which is the best translated work (or works) you’ve read?

Night train to Lisbon by Pascal Mercier

Moments you cherish.

My time spent in Manchester. It was the first time I realized that humans are capable of not littering the roads and piss on the walls and not honk and….I can go on and on.

Moments you’d rather forget.

One day I will gather the courage to write a blog post about it.

Is blogging for everyone?

No. Sustaining your creative streak is never easy.

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Tushar who blogs at My Life, My World gave me the same award as USP and here are the Q&As –

1. Why did you start blogging?

I was bored.

2. You are getting an all expenses paid trip for two to a place of your choice? Where will it be and with whom?

I need mountains around and loads of snow. Place doesn’t matter.

3. Dog or cat? And why?

Errr…none actually. I am not an animal person really. I like them though.

4. Half a million dollars for slogging for 6 months year or a week’s peace on the beaches of Bahamas?

Why is that even a question? 🙂

5. What is your deepest fear?

That one fine day, I will wake up to realize that I cannot get up from bed without anyone’s help. One day a nurse will take care of me while I lie on a bed.

6. How did you propose your girl/guy? Or how you plan to do so?

I am married and I didn’t propose. I just asked – So, what do you think? And she replied – Mm..Hm. And that was pretty much it.

7. One ‘Ctrl + Z’ moment of your life? Something you want to undo if you had a choice?

Loads of them. I have a fear that I will leave my zipper open one day. I will jump off a building if that happens.

8. Who is the most ‘marriage-able’ celebrity?

I don’t know. I don’t know any of them personally.

9. One thing that can take you to the ultimate heights of fame?

You mean people-trying-to-grope-me and tearing-off-my-clothes-in-public fame? I don’t want that.

10. Do you follow any sports, team, club or a person? Why this love started?

Hell no! I try not to follow anyone. I am not a stalker.

11. Did you like coming to this blog? And will you visit again?

Too personal! 😛

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Afshan who blogs at The Pensive tagged me a long time back. She gave me 25 questions. 25!!!! Afshan, I can’t answer your questions right now with honesty because I will be lying in most of them. I will pick your tag later when I can give truthful answers. Thank you for tagging me though.

I love this aura of suspense that I have created!

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Reema who blogs at My Random Thoughts tagged me in the Stone Age. Here are the Q&As –

1) Your most beautiful post.

Costa Chatter – Sita and Draupadi – I found this series satisfying mainly because I can go back and read it without cringing.

2) Your most popular post

My most popular post was I am with about 1,25,000 hits. God knows why!

3) Your most helpful post

They were How to shop with a lady and stay sane & Facebook photos uploading etiquettes

4) Your most controversial post

I won’t call it controversial per se but a lot of people did not like what I wrote here – Why SBI is the worst bank of India.

5) A post whose success surprised you

The Hitchhikers Guide To A Sane Life. I don’t know why it was so popular back then and why I wrote it.

6) A post that you thought did not get the attention it deserved

Traffic control gadgets for the ASIRW (Average Stupid Indian Road Warrior). I poured my heart and soul into it and came up with such innovative ideas and no one read them.

7) A post which you are most proud of

I liked the caption posts I did a long time back – Fear and Have you ever…

I would like to thank all those who read the post till the end and if you have scrolled down and this is the first line you are reading then you missed all the gossip from my personal life. Also, I am not tagging everyone because honestly I don’t think there is anyone left.

And for those who awarded me –

image from here.

Some Random lines on a paper

There was a time when I had a lot of time at my hands, time enough to paint and sketch. And then life happened.
I shifted home a year back. The most heart-strumming experince of moving a house is that all your memories which you have stacked away in boxes come tumbling out. You past dances a full-monty and your brain pulls out images which you thought were lost somewhere. So, as I picked up these sketches from a cardboard box ten years after they were made, there was a smile on my face remembering a life that seems like a forgotten dream now.
When I made these sketches, I thought they were perfect but now I can see the mistakes I have made. Urmila’s eyes need more work and Sridevi looks like a cross between herself and Divya Bharti. Raveena’s lips look as if she is straining them against a glass window and Aamir does not have teeth.
But let me not bore you with the nitty-gritty. Go ahead and enjoy these wisps of my memories.

If you liked the sketches, you might also like a few of my paintings.
Before you leave, I have a few more things to say. A few days back, I was given two blog awards. I haven’t thanked the bloggers who gave me those awards, so here goes –

Ricky gave me the Liebester award a few weeks back.
Sapna gave me the Best Blog of 2012 award.

Thank you Sapna and Rickie for all the praise and considering my blog. Both of you made my day.

And in the end, please do not forget to promote my story idea for the Get Published contest on Indiblogger sponsered by Harper Collins by pressing the Like button on this link –

http://www.indiblogger.in/getpublished/idea/237/

Of Awards, giants, faces and clouds

Rashid gave me the Inspiring blog award. To have the ability to inspire someone is a daunting prospect and I have no idea how to go about it but I (hurridly and gluttonously) accept the honour. A big thanks to Rashid for mentioning me and for the white pigeon (a word I could have never spelled correctly if someone had not thought of putting a red zigzag line below it)

Now, I am supposed to tell you seven facts about me as it is the second stage of the ceremony of passing the award. This will not be a great revelation sort of a stage where I will confess that I want to be an actor (which I don’t) and win Oscars (which I don’t) OR I find the way Sushma Swaraj speaks to be very aphrodisiacal (which I don’t) but I will tell you something very subtle and boring about me. So, do not expect fireworks. Here goes:

1. I like toilet rolls with small Braille like dots on them. You can find loads on them in Big Bazaar. When I sit in Auguste Rodin’s ‘The Thinker’ pose every morning, I love to run my fingers on the dots on the toilet roll. I imagine someone has left a secret message on the roll and I try to decipher it by running my fingers over it. The-treasure-is-in-a-house-which-is-on-the-darkest-cloud-at-the-end-of-the-world. That kind of messages.
2. I like houses with all the furniture and every essential commodity in them but devoid of any people. I roam around and visit every room, briskly touching things, rubbing memories off them. I imagine as if everyone in the world has died in a nuclear attack and I am the last survivor. This is a stranger’s house and I have entered it to see if I can find some food. Sometimes I try to see my own house through the eyes of a stranger. It is a funny feeling.
3. I like looking at people when they are not aware that I am looking at them. I hide myself and enjoy their expressions – happiness, despair, plain sadness, time travel, introspection. Our faces are like poetry. They say a lot when they are alone or when they think they are alone.
4. I watch movies when I read books. I wear my director’s cap and choose a star cast. It is a mix of Bollywood and Hollywood actors. I give them costumes, makeup, sets, outdoors, background score, expressions, voices and then I sit back and enjoy the movie. I am probably the only director who has reels of hundreds of movies stacked up in his brain – the movies only he could see.
5. I love to see Geet sleeping next to me. I find comfort in her rhythmic breathing. I could tell when she is drowning farther in the ocean of sleep by the way her breathing becomes deeper. I could tell when she is dreaming when I see her eyeballs moving here and there beneath the canvas of her eyelids. I could tell that the dream is good when she smiles.
6. I like to surround myself with mountains. Call it genetic because Mom was born on hills but I find a strange comfort in being dwarfed by peaks. They turn into giants surrounding me, protecting me in their valley. And I find vehicles moving on twisted roads on those mountains equally entertaining. They are like ants running on the cloaks of those giants. Imagine what would happen if they ruffle the cloak?
7. I like dark clouds. I do not like rains that much but I like to stare at the shades of grey and whites rushing past in the sky. They are like layers and layers of water flying in the air. I feel like a fish standing under them. Is that how a fish feels when he looks at the layers of ocean above him?

Hopefully, I would not come across a loony after reading these 7 facts and you will not throw a stone at me when we meet?

I am supposed to pass the award to a few bloggers whose blog I love to read and who can now continue the cycle of pasing the award. Congratulations to everyone. This is a big honour, something similar to getting my autograph.

Here they are –

R’s Mom

GODYEARS

Some facts, Some Nonsense

The Shooting Star

This and That

The long and short of it…

Hello to all the fellow internet crawlers, to all my friends connected to me by zeroes and ones. Now now! Don’t jump from your seats and to conclusions. I am not back. It’s one of those three-months itch. Yes, I was missing my affair with my blog.

Like all other bloggers who go on a sabbatical, I am supposed to dive into an egotistic and pompous rant about the happenings in my life in the past few months, which I will dutifully indulge into, to satisfy all the masala hungry people here.

So, this is my first winter in Manchester and what a dull and gloomy place it has turned into. It gets dark at 4 in the afternoon and by the time I get up from my desk at 6, I feel like I have been working since eternity. There are cold winds bellowing all the time making those spooky horror movie sounds and turning my umbrella inside out. One thing that I really hate is wearing caps, which I have to do now because otherwise, I will not be able to feel my nose and ears by the time I reach home. It rains all the bloody (Yeah! Bloody and Bollocks are the two latest additions to my dictionary) day and the bell of my house gets short circuited in the rain and starts ringing continuously at 2 in the night. So, I have to get up from my bed and go to the door in freezing cold to throw out the batteries to make it stop hollering. Bollocks!

And do you think that an Indian landlord in Manchester would do you good? Well, think again. I shifted my house three months back and fell upon a smiling, obese Punjabi Uncle who acted like Mother India before I said Yes to the house. After I shifted, I literally had to rub my nose on the ground in front of him to get a few minuscule things to be fitted. He gives miserliness a new definition.

The reason I went on a break (and I am still on a break) was that I wanted to write a book. Now don’t hit me with a cliché by asking me the bloody story. As if I am going to tell you! Buy it and make some dough land in my wallet if it gets published. Ever! And it’s going on fine. Thank you very much. Some wise man said once – The first draft of anything is shit! Got the picture?

And then in between all this mayhem to which my life was subjected to…

I GOT ENGAGED!!!! YAY!!!

Well, long story short, it was through a matrimonial site. My parents had put my advertisement (I like imagining myself as a commodity. It’s quite aphrodisiacal) on a matrimonial site and had almost given up hope. It’s not because there were no takers. 😛 Far from it! It’s just that my parents had set some very high standards. You see, they think I am Hrithik Roshan and the rejection rate was as high as 50 girls/week. No kidding! Then along came Polly (Yeah, that’s what I’ll call her on the blog), and we started talking over phone. Our parents matched the horror-scopes and Voila! 33/36! They almost jumped out of their skin! So, we talked, talked on phone, talked on webcam and talked each other into saying yes without meeting. Kind of romantic, I think. So, I went back to India and there was a small ceremony called Roka. Done! Amit is sold! He is now Polly’s slave (this is such a turn on! 😉 ).

What else have I done in the previous months that was exciting….Ummm…

I saw a play for the first time in my life in the Palace Theatre here. It was a musical called Chicago (you might have seen the movie). Before the play started, I thought that live performances can never match the ‘razzle dazzle’ of the movies, but I was wrong. It was splendid (another word that I have picked up here. Everything is either splendid or wonderful or excellent). The downside? I went alone and missed Polly and thought that it would have been great if she was sitting next to me instead of the wonderfully fat lady who could barely fit in her seat and was brimming all over me.

Autumn was beautiful. I went around the city with my camera and took some photographs. I visited Style Mill with MB, a British friend and was literally transported a 100 years back, specially in the apprentice house. I’ll put the photographs soon. And now I think I am rambling.

Anyways, the reason I actually started writing this post was because Visceral Observations had recently announced the Avant Garde Bloggies Awards, which is wonderful! Since this is a kind of beat-my-own-drum post, I must jog your memory cells and remind you that I won 8 awards last year and again thank all of you who voted for me. So, the nominations have started and are open till 20 December. Nominate your posts and the posts which you think are worthy of recognition. It’s fun, believe me!

And here are a few details to kick start the process (which I am shamefully copying from Oxy’s blog).

Here is once again the link to everything you need to know about the Awards as well as how to nominate your and other’s posts. CLICK HERE.

Conceived by Visceral Observations

Badges Designed by Chirag. Have a look at the Badges by CLICKING HERE.

Volunteers Vimal, Vee and Magik

Publicist Nikhil

The Categories CLICK HERE.

Official Video CLICK HERE.

So, go ahead and have fun and I’ll see you around.

Randomizer : Eurovision, Dances with Wolves & IPod touch

• A few of my British colleagues introduced me to Eurovision  just before the semifinals started this year. I was quite surprised that I have never heard of this contest before. When something has been going on from the last 50 years, you are bound to hear about it sometime. My faith in my “already gone to the dogs” general knowledge was yet again shaken and stirred. Anyways, Eurovision is a song competition in which all the active members of the European Broadcasting Union participate.

Right now, EBU spans 75 broadcasting organizations from 56 countries. Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television. People from all the countries vote for their favorite songs. You can’t vote for your own country. 😉 The program broadcasts each year since its inception in 1956 and is the most watched non sporting event in the world. Believe me, the statistics are mind boggling! An estimated 100-600 million people watch the show. 

This year’s Eurovision was held in Moscow and was a bit special. 42 countries participated this year with 25 countries reaching the finals. You can watch the 25 entries that made it to the finals here. The contest was finally won by 23 year old Alexander Rybak from Norway for his song “Fairytale”. The song was written and composed by him and Alexander won by a whooping 387 points, the highest ever in the 50+ year history of the Eurovision contest.

UK somehow managed to bag the fifth spot, which was very good(according to my colleagues here) because the country has been on a downslide from the past few years. I was a little taken aback when I saw Andrew Lloyd Webber playing the piano while Jade Ewen sang “Its my time”. That is when the enormity of the contest hit me. 🙂

“Fairytale” is a beautiful song and it has that old world charm. If you listen to all the 25 finalists, this one stands apart. I personally also liked Croatia’s entry “Lijepa Tena” for its “Kaun hai jo”-ish tune from Jhuk Gaya Aasmaan and Germany’s “Miss Kiss Kiss Bang” for obvious reasons. 😉 Do watch this performance by the 23 year old winner:

• Besides the usual popcorn flicks like XMen Origins(3/5), StarTrek(4/5) and Angels & Demons(2/5) I saw quite a few noteworthy movies last month. Dances with Wolves was one such movie. When I finished watching the movie, I realized what an Idiot I was for not watching it earlier. It has been lying in my laptop from almost a year now. 😐 Beautifully shot, its a story of a Civil War-era United States Army lieutenant who is sent to an American Frontier to find a military post. The story evolves around with his friendship with the local Sioux tribe. Most of the dialogues are in Lakota language. Do watch this movie if you haven’t seen it yet. Another notable movie was the German movie titled Das Leben der Anderen(The lives of Others). Its the story of a Stasi agent named Wiesler in East Germany of 1984. He is assigned to spy on a playwright named Georg Dreyman, who is a suspect because of his Western contacts. The movie has a very interesting screenplay and the end is just perfect. A must watch!

 

• Now since this is one of those I-will-blabber posts , The Great Indian elections left me with mixed feelings. I was expecting nothing less than a 90% turnout in Delhi and Mumbai because of what both the cities have gone through the past year and because of the ubiquitous Lead India initiative but the results were shocking. Somehow the Delhi crowd is too smart. They knew that even if its a 10% turnout, no one would ever let BJP win. So there. But, yes, it somehow made one thing very clear. The average citizen is tired. Tired of the foolery they are subjected to now and then.
• Well, in the end, some good news from my own life. No I am not getting married. 😐 Be a little less predictable. 😛 Ok. Here goes. I was awarded the Blog-o-laureate award by Arpit a few days back. Thanks Arpit for considering me for the honour!

Also, I got my own Ipod Touch and Camera. Something very funny happened with my IPod touch after a month it was purchased. A thin horizontal line started appearing on the screen, which made me instantly sweat. I went to the nearest Apple store and they asked me to take an appointment. 😐 Appointment?!?

Anyways, I took the next day’s appointment and reached there 10 minutes late. The appointment was missed and the chewing gum chewing blonde asked me to fix an appointment for the next day! I grabbed her it for the next day and was there on time. Phew! I was expecting that the technical staff would have a look and probably keep the Ipod to find out what the problem was. Instead the guy looked at it for a few seconds, plugged it into his Mac and checked it again and coolly told me that he will be giving me a new piece. I stared at him for a good 10 seconds. And then ladies and gentlemen, I came back home with a brand new Ipod. 😉 It is definitely the coolest application made by Homo Sapiens. 

And, about my camera…well all of you have seen the results! All the flowers in my previous post were shot by it. If you still want to have a look, click here.
And now with great sadness, I announce the end of this blabber post. Over and Out!

Randomizer strikes back

• I think that the Pink Chaddi Campaign is the best bloody thing which has happened in India since our independence. Although, ironically, the presence of such a  campaign means that  “Independence” is still  just on papers because we are still being bullied. All the freedom fighters who gave their blood and sacrificed their lives must be crying in heaven seeing the animal like behaviour of the people of this country. I just hope that all the chaddis reach the Ram Sena office safely and drill some sense in the head of the Sena Chief that he can’t make RULES for us. He is NOT the government and must mind his OWN business. This photograph made my day.  
• While in Manchester, its exhilarating to see such clean roads and people obeying traffic rules and saying “thank you” and “sorry” as if these are the only two words they know. I think every Indian should be brought here are shown around. That would at least drill some civic sense in our minds. Although the youth is quite directionless here but then that’s universal. Its an age when you are in awe of yourself. 
• A lot of firsts happened the day I reached Manchester – 1) I witnessed my first snowfall. And yes, I did cried. 🙂  2) I saw the first public kiss. Not like the hush hush ones we are subjected to in Lodhi Gardens, but a full public smooch. 3) I had my first wine! A very eventful first day! And its freezing cold here. After a moment, your nose and ears stop functioning if you don’t cover/rub them! And what’s with the houses? They are all the same!! Its like a white paper stamped all over with the same stamp.

• Before everyone beat me up for forgetting, I was awarded by Nita, Kanagu, Apar, Reema and Vimmuuu in the past few days. Nita gave me the Premio Dardos award, Kanagu gave me the Versatile Blogger award, Apar gave me the Thanks For Writing award, Reema gave me the Garland award and Vimmuuu gave his whole blogroll a huge variety of awards. 🙂 

• Awards always make me happy. The more the merrier! I am not sure who all have not received these awards, so I would like to present them to my whole blogroll. 🙂

• I hope all of you will pardon me for this incredibly insane post which I don’t know why am I writing and why you are reading. I guess, we all have too much free time to spare. I am feeling a bit like a dislocated shoulder which would take some time to be in his normal self. Right now, I am going bonkers staring at the clean roads and the Firangi chicks and adjusting to my new office which is going great! I am going to watch Benjamin Button on Sunday. Hope its a good one. 😉 

So, its bye bye from the own-eye-eating monster for the time being! 

Feminism, A and the Award

Ages ago, I was tagged by Nita and Sulz and till now I have been shamelessly ignoring the tags. But the guilt is killing me and I must finish the task assigned to me. Keeping the melodrama aside, I’ll start with Nita’s tag. This is what she tagged me to write about.

What does Feminism means to me

First of all, I was not sure what the word meant, so I landed up in an online dictionary and this is what popped up there : 

fem·i·nism n.  

1. Belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes.

2. The movement organized around this belief.

Ahem! Well, I think, the socio economic structure of the society in which we live plays an important role in determining the level of the “movement”. When the First wave came, India was still fighting for its freedom and there was no way it could have affected her. When the second wave came in the 1960s, India was all up and ready for it. Even today when we are in the third wave, an American society is much mature when it comes to a woman choosing the kind of life she wants to lead. In India, we still beat up the girl if she falls in love with a guy outside her cast. Infact, even if you compare the freedom given to women in a city with a small town/village in India, you would be shocked by the difference. After three waves, we still have to go a long way in India. Even after having laws in place, there are rapes, sexual harassment, forced abortions, forced reproductions, domestic violence etc and what not! People still think that women are vulnerable because they are weak but its just because of the kind of environment we are all brought up in. I am sure any woman who is a black belt in Karate can throw me two feet towards the sky with a single chop. 🙂

The problem is in our brains. We are wired in a wrong fashion from the time we are born. Women are not born vulnerable but are taught to be so. Similarly men are not born strong. They pick it up from what they see in their family and surroundings. I could never understand how we reached a stage where a human has to ask for her rights? And what surprises me is that we are still there. 

All these issues are way too big, but people need to understand the basic rights of an individual. I can understand when a father asks her daughter to return home before twilight because raping a girl is becoming an activity as common as wiping your ass with a tissue. But, I cannot understand when he asks her to forget the guy she loves because he does not belong to the same community. I find that laughable. Similarly, I don’t believe that a homemaker is worse off than a working woman. Its a very individual choice and depends on many factors. Equality of sexes certainly does not mean that a woman has to work to be a true blue feminist. 

It all boils down to the theory of Live and let live. We all make sacrifices in our life, but let’s not force someone to make a sacrifice because of her gender.

The alphabet A

Sulz’s tag. I have to write 7(?) words starting with alphabet A. I am putting up words which describe me. Here goes :

Absurd – Yes!Yes! I am ridiculous, illogical and senseless at times, but then even God is sometimes! So you see, no one is perfect. 😛 

Able – Leaving aside the fact that I am destiny’s favourite toy, I am quite able if I am left to my own means. If I find something interesting enough, I’ll take it up with perfect dexterity till the time I get completely bored of it. I told you I was absurd! 😛

Assiduous – I have obtained this quality from my Mom. Whenever I have to shop for clothes and I take her with me, she picks up clothes which are poles apart from my taste and then both of us “assiduously” attempt to disparage each other. 😐 Well, I consider it to be a good quality. Atleast I pick up clothes of my choice and I always win! 🙂

Aloof – I can be alarmingly aloof with strangers, so much that I am mistaken as an Egotist whose nose is always at an angle of 80 degrees from the ground. Many of my friends were surprised when they dared to know me better after that initial cold shoulder. 

Amiable – Well! That is what I actually become once I allow you to be my friend. 🙂 Its a difficult path and only a few daredevils have dared. 😛

Anchor – Whenever I become a part of a group, I end up becoming the anchor which holds the group together after everyone moves away to their new life/city. I met a group of friends recently after 7 years and again(!!!!) it was me who made all the phone calls and arranged the meeting. Good old Amit!

The awards

Finally, the awards. I was given the Friendship Embracelet by Kiran sometime back and the Garland Award by Kanagu. Thankyou both of you. 🙂

 

That is all guys and girls. Over and out.

Its raining awards!!!

Results for The Avant Grade Bloggies Awards were announced today. To say that I was pleasantly surprised would be a colossal understatement. I nearly jumped out of my skin initially but then accepted the results with all humility. 🙂 Frankly speaking, I was expecting to win in 2-3 categories, but winning in 8 categories was too much to handle. I was overwhelmed! 

Thankyou Poonam for coming up with this concept and spreading all this happiness. Thankyou Judges and the scrutinizing committee members who thought that my posts were worthy enough to be considered as there were some wonderful posts nominated alongside mine. And finally Thankyou everyone who voted for me. I am short of words right now to express my gratitude.

I wish that the Avant Grade Awards return every year and become a benchmark for bloggers.

Here is the list of Awards I won:

Most interesting personal rant post : The Burning Taxi and the Eggless Mob

 

Most insane post : The Hitchhikers Guide to Lose A Guy

 

Best current affairs post : Raping Bonanza in Orissa

 

Most informative post award (link blogging) : Invisible Dimensions

 

Best visual post :  Paintings

Best satirical post : Delhi Bomb Blasts: A Pigeons View

 

Best “About me” page award

Most interesting sidebar award(Shared with Nita)

Most humorous post(Runner Up) : Matrimonially Yours

Thankyou everyone for the encouragement!!!

Notes to myself : I might shall could may have to create a new awards page this weekend.

Randomizer Revolutions

Smita and Vishesh awarded me the Butterfly award and the Cup. Thank you so much guys!!! I really have to make a new page for my awards section before my sidebar exceeds the distance between the Earth and the moon. I am supposed to pass this award to  bloggers I like. So, I would like this opportunity to pass this award to Nita, Liju Philip, Amreekan Desi, Pr3rna and Trailblazer. 

I am officially closing the Salsa Diaries Category. I have attended the first few classes with enthusiasm but then this new work came along and I got really busy. We are creating a new website for our client which is supposed to go live in January, so loads of work and no time for Salsa. I was really doing great. 😦

 

I was also busy with photo shoot and release of my new album. I had such a great time recording it and it was really sweet of Paris to come and release it in front of the press. Also I would like to thank Madonna for being a part of the video shoot and for singing a song with me. The female models were great during the promotional photo shoots but I am a little unhappy about my pictures in the exhibition. I didn’t like the red ones. Here is a sneak peek.  

 Here is Paris unfolding my new album in front of the media

Madonna grooving to my new song – “You gave me wings at the wrong place”

A model at the promotional photo shoot for the new album. The designers of the dress had such a harrowing time as it kept on unhooking. It was quite fragile.

The promotional Exhibition in New York

I always knew that our directors copy Hollywood movies and our Music directors copy Korean songs blatantly but can we at least make original movie posters? 

At least they could have changed the positions of the males and females OR AM I ASKING FOR TOO MUCH? Never mind! 😐

So, Congress won again in Delhi!!! Well, I think the simple logic is that if the people have to choose between a government “who is incapable of fighting terrorism and is elemental in the development of the area” AND the one “who is incapable of fighting terrorism”, then they would definitely choose the former. Its another story that the “development” is happening because of the Commonwealth Games and both the parties are equally bad at handling terrorism. 

I am having this feeling that I am turning into a major success as an Agony Uncle. Many of my friends turn to me whenever they have problems in their love life. I sit and listen to them very very patiently and give some sound advise, which thankfully has not backfired till date. One of my friend even took my advice about whether he should go ahead and have sex with this girl he met a few months back. Ok, that’s not the full story. The girl was about to get married to someone else and just wanted to “have” my friend once before she got married to the other guy. I don’t remember the last time I moved my head from right to left to right so vigorously. My friend who was ready to take the plunge under the stress of testosterone was somehow rescued by Yours truly. And………………………………………….I just now realised that he reads my blog. 

I am completely in love…….with this song. There is something very suave and romantic about it. (the video is not that great and it would be good if you don’t see the message which comes at the end of the video. I have been laughing ever since I saw it)

 

Do you believe in signs? Sometimes such strange things happen which do not make sense at all. A few days back, mom was coming back from the market and she took a rickshaw. After she got down and paid the rickshaw puller, he returned back the balance. This is what he gave her – 

Now last I remember, the Britishers left in 1947 and my mom gave him 10 Rs while he returned back 85 Rs(=1 Pound). Does that make sense? Is this some sort of a sign for me? Am I going visit the Queen’s land?

With this incredibly positive thought, I will end this post.

Vote for me!!!

The final nominations of the Avant Garde Bloggies Awards have been released today! It was a painstakingly long and exhilarating process which was initiated by Poonam in September by this post. The Judges and the scrutinising committee worked for almost a month to reach the final list of nominations. The beautiful badges were created by Chirag. 

Now why the hell am I telling you about this? Well, like politicians, I too have my own selfish reasons which are twofold. One, I want all of you to go and vote for my posts which have been nominated and second, I want all of you to read all the other beautiful posts which are nominated! Ok, the second one is a little lame but you can read the other posts after you have voted for me. That’s fair enough! 🙂

So vote for me! This is your only chance to do something meaningful and exciting in your boring and meandering life! To ease the course of action, here are the links to the categories in which I am nominated. Just click on the link and vote in the poll box. In case you want to read my posts which are nominated, the links are available in the poll posts.

Best Current Affairs Post – Raping Bonanza in Orissa

Best Book Review – A Thousand Splendid Suns/The Book Thief

Best Satirical Post – Delhi Bomb Blasts : A Pegion’s View

Best Social Issues Post – The Price of being different

Most Informative Post – Invisible Dimensions

Best Short story Post – Valentine Valium

Most Insane post – The Hitchhiker’s Guide to lose a guy

Best Personal Rant Post – The Burning taxi and the Eggless Mob

Most Humorous Post – Matrimonially Yours

Best Visual Post – Paintings

Best “About Me”

Most Interesting Sidebar

That’s it!!! Get going people. Lots of ground to cover!! 😀