Aura of Aurangabad

Well, trying to post this using the email option. Let me see if this works. If it does, it surely means a lottery to me, if not for the readers. ;)

Let me first test the image by adding this. A small rangoli I made for Diwali given the shortage of time since we were leaving for Aurangabad right after the morning oil bath and the rituals.


Post Diwali, we had a nice 4-day trip to the city of Aurangabad (of which 2 was spent in driving to and fro).
It took us 6 hrs drive from Mumbai to Aurangabad via the Pune route. We reached in the evening and just chilled out at the hotel. I must add that the Lemon Tree hotel where we were put up is fantastic. For the price of 2750 per night, they serve buffet breakfast as well and allow the usage of the swimming pool. The speciality of Lemon Tree Hotel is the fresh lemon fragrance that lingers always. They also have a uniqueness that there are almost 2000 jokes printed and framed onto the walls across the hotel. It was fun reading some weird ones.
Day 1 we covered Ajanta and Bibi Ka Maqbara. Ajanta needs no introduction. I was in awe looking at the Ajanta Ellora caves though they were in sorry state. I only wish our government was more serious in preserving the national heritage. One of the world heritage, the paintings and sculptures easily can be called the zenith in arts of all times. Maybe we, with our crumbling houses and dull paintings should look back and learn a thing or two. The 30 caves kept us busy for 2 hrs.
Bibi ka maqbara - the poor imitation of Taj was a case study of its own kind. The similarity and differences between the two were striking out. Heres a snap taken by my hubby! He was so engrossed in focussing on the tip of the maqbara that he missed the top of my poor girl !!!! Here she stands headless.

Day 2 found us in Ellora. Again the caves are too good to be missed. Divided into the Hindu, Buddhist and Jain caves, these mainly comprise of a more developed form of sculpture as compared to Ajanta. Kailash temple in cave no 16 is the highlight.
We missed going to Daulatabad fort. Oct heat was the deterrent. But people planning to visit Aurangabad must go there.
We also visited Panchakki - the water mill ( I did not find it impressive). We tried rushing to Paithan to see the silk weavers at work but alas, the factories close by 3 it seems. So, we had to return all the way back.
Even though the mornings and noons were packed, evenings gave us some relaxing times and left us with nothing much to do. Luckily, there was Fame multiplex right next to the hotel and yes, you guessed right. We saw 1 film each on both the free evenings ;) - Blue and All the best. Blue was a huge disappointment while All the best was too good and a riot! My tummy ached with too much laughter.
On the whole, a good break it was. And here I am, back to waiting for the next one :(

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Navratri Picture session!

Heres why I love this festival. I have already written about it earlier here. Here are the pics of my this years Golu

The 5 steps

Tried to make a hill temple!

The Ragi seeds refused to grow... truly failed rains this time :(

Attempted rangoli on top of water!! But the moment fan was switched on, the colours ran helter-skelter ;) ( CP, I will reply to your mail on this!)

Paper bags I made to give the haldi kumkum in.

Hope you all had a great navratri and heres wishing you happy Deepavali in advance. I love this festive season.

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Whats in a surname

Let me on the onset admit that this is not a review of any movie but the fact is that I saw Kaminey last week and loved it to the core. It’s THE movie of recent times for sure. It had just the right combination of everything and made a perfect treat for hungry eyes, ears and minds.
A fistful of darkness
Liberal sprinkle of humor
Loads of guffaws
Earful of lovely music
Mouthful of awesome lyrics
2 hours of hot masala
And Tears to taste (for insane people like me, who can cry seeing a cute hero getting beaten up!)
All these made to simmer over brilliant direction made for something not to be missed.
But then this dish is like the continental and exotic serve. Either you have the taste for it and will love it. Or you will not! Simple. There have been a couple of my friends who have felt let down and have been found exclaiming “paisa bhi hum kharch karein aur bheja bhi? “ (Meaning why should we spend money as well as brains? ;) You get the drift!
I will not go into the storyline or a review here since I feel too inadequate for that. I am not one of those who can observe and comment on the nuances. You can read many of the brilliant posts already published.
The point of the post here is one among the many points which was raised in the movie- that of division on the basis of region.
I have already written once against the anti-north-indian attitude of certain politicians in Maharashtra. This movie beautifully brings forth the issue without dwelling too much upon it and yet making sure that it makes its presence felt.
But isn’t it true in our everyday affairs to categorize a person solely based on his surname and/or region, especially so in India. This categorization is not on the basis of external characteristics but more on traits.
I remember my growing up years in Delhi. My father had a shrewd, calculating, bully of a colleague who also happened to be a Sindhi. Needless to say, one of the favorite dialogues mouthed by my father was “trust a snake, but never trust a Sindhi” while I listened attentively and processed the information for future usage!
My father being a Palakkad Iyer, obviously has good words for his brethren. Oh, they are the neatest lot and the most hardworking at that.
After shifting to Mumbai, I started attending my PG classes. During one of the classes the Maharashtrian teached started rattling off in Marathi in answer to a query from a student. He did not even bother to notice that a few of us could hardly make head or tail of the conversation! Irked by this, one of my Tamil friends remarked “These marathi people are just so ill mannered. They start chattering in their language irrespective of other people around”.
It was quite ironic that years later, another of my juniors, who happened to be a Marathi, and working in Chennai, called me up and started complaining over the same issue- that in meetings, everyone starts speaking in Tamil while she has to look around clueless!
How can I forget to mention Gujjus. When I got to stay in Gujarat, there were ofcourse the typical statements like “oh these lazy gujjus. They sleep all through the afternoon!” Or, “These people live to eat”.
Ever wondered why is it that certain traits are attributed to regions?
Why is it that Maths teachers are generally Tamilians? Why are nurses and stenos from Kerala? Why are the most famous singers of Bollywood from Bengal? Why are most of the successful businessmen from Gujarat? Why are many of the soldiers from Gurkhaland?
Maybe regions do have an effect on the nature. Could it be that climatic conditions play a role in conditioning all this? Or is it the food habits that have been passed from generation to generation? Is it the traditions, the customs behind the display of such typical characteristics?
Here is the summary of various tidbits I collected based partly on hearsay and partly by observation.
1. Punjabi (Punjus)
Loving, believe in PDA (public display of affection), exhibitionists, Spend more than they can afford (you can see from their grand marriages)
2. Biharis
Polite Hindi speaking, more inclined towards public services and politics, hardworking.
3. Malayalees ( Mallus)
Systematic, Neat, Short-tempered, would readily help other mallus, a clos community.
4. Maharashtrians (Marathis)
Culture loving, fanatics (for good and for bad), extremely loyal to their state.
5. Bengalis (Bongs)
Like Marathis, these people love their state, language and culture, artistically oriented, a bit loud, believe-in-me-first, again a close community
6. Gujratis (Gujjus)
Laid back, great business mind, live-to-eat, loud
7. Tamilians (madrasi)
Religious, artistically inclined, good sloggers, timid (save a few politicians), too rigid, less tolerant.
There are exceptions to the rules but I feel that nature of a person is the resultant of the environment he is growing up in and that very well constitutes the region.
But having said all the above, the fact remains that India of today is changing for sure. There are people like me who are basically metro-born-and bred, who have mixture of habits borrowed from all around. So, this hybrid breed is surely breaking all the rules that have no basis. And till such time, this hybrid breed takes over India, we will keep having fight between states and our neighbours would keep using such differences as a weapon against us!
Jai Ho!
Take a look at this for a hilarious note on mallu habits
As for Bongs, read this for a good laugh

p.s. the mudra on the header is mine... some 20 years back. Gosh, even I cant believe it!

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This and That : When swine flew!

The alarm clock started singing mauja hi mauja. I hit it hard on its head and went back to sleep. And down went my walking plans for the nth time! So there! This is what happens if I let a little break creep into my nicely laid out routine life…and then the break becomes my routine. You get the drift. Yeah I am a routine freak. Newton would have loved to have me as a sample – a creature who loves to be in the state of whatever-state-she-is-in! But one fine day it dawned upon me that I have this tiny whiny cyberspace. So, now I just need to break this state of laziness; of setting-alarm-and-shutting-it-up-and-sleeping-back, carting-myself-to-work-to-get-bored, back-home-and-ofcos-sleep-again with nothing in between. And what could be better than scribbling on my blog.

Well, where do I begin? OK, I want to confess that I am one of those who got into panic due to recent flu in the town. But, it was certainly not on the day I read about the poor young little girl Reida, who was the first (recorded) victim of this swinest swine flu. Pune still seemed quite far off from Mumbai. But, the day I got to know that a class 12th student in the very school my kids go to, has contacted this virus and has been rushed to Kasturba hospital, thats the day I got my first panic attack. Somehow, it felt too close now. I admit, that I was one of those who paid an exorbitant 25 rs for masks which actually are worth only 5-10. But ofcourse, now I am recovering from the panic attack. I am seeing to it that hands are washed often with soap and water, lots of fluid intake is happening and overall hygiene s maintained in the household. Besides that certain herbs like turmeric and tulsi are being used more! I guess, awareness is the key. And here goes my prayer to the Almighty to cause no more deaths due to this viral attack.

That brings me to another point. I wanted to see Kaminey so very badly! But it will release in Mumbai only on monday. Sigh! Let me see if I can catch hold of tickets for monday then.

BTW, to all those who kept banging the doors of this sleeping blog to check if I am fine, you people are a sweetheart and hopefully I will be more regular now. To all those who tagged me, you people are also sweethearts for still having hopes on me :-), I will do them soon!

Oh yeah, and I bought a treadmill. Hopefully walking will happen more often now. and hope the same for blogging ;)

Heres wishing all a very happy independance day. Lets hope we learn to become more responsible citizens and India shines in the real sense of the word.

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Seeking 25 random secrets!

“Three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead.” as quoted by Benjamin Franklin.

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Since I have been tagged by Spike and Ava for 25 random things about me and then by Udtahaathi for 25 secrets, let me just scratch the surface and give you some not-so-dark-and yet-random secrets of my life.
1. I was a NAGIN in my previous birth. I do believe in reincarnation.
2. I have 184320 hair on my head out of which 164312 are grey.

3. I am size 0 beneath all these layers of fat.
4. I am a drunkard. I consume 1.153 litres of water every day.
5. I once finished 4th in a running race and there were only 4 runners.
6. I have never been to a pub or a discotheque ever.
7. While in confines of the loo, my mind is at its sharpest! I remember all the bill due-dates, the pending phone calls and the unanswered mails. The moment I step out, I forget.
8. I have not visited Kashmir even once even though I was in Delhi all through the 70s and 80s
9. I still bite my nails at times. Sometimes I end up eating the skin around too :(
10. I cant sleep in a completely quiet surrounding. I need a fan whirring or a snore or even some light music.
11. I am scared of sleeping alone in an empty house. I switch my living room lights on in such cases.

12. The 15-year old tomboy is still alive inside me and surfaces every now and then to my utter horror.
13. Some days I crave for sweets so much, I eat spoonful of sugar… and hold on I am not pregnant!
14. I cry easily when I sense a situation getting out of control. Once I cried after an altercation with boss while my poor colleague didn’t know where to hide!
15. I once got caught by a bus conductor when I was travelling without ticket in a bus. I escaped using the famous girl-smiles-heart-melts technique
16. I can whistle with or without my fingers. Ha!

17. Deep down I am basically a KANJOOS, a hoarder who spends and then feels guilty.
18. I managed to burn fast-to-cook-good-to-eat-Maggie once! Last Sunday I successfully burnt the outside of my cake while the insides were still raw.
19. I used to love biting my hair when young. Even now, I fiddle with my hair when in deep thoughts.
20. During my teen years, while taking the national pledge “India is my country and all Indians are my brothers and sisters”, I used to skip the brothers part.
21. I am superstitious about auspicious-days and number 13
22. I can be quick witted at rare times and “duh” most of the times making me wonder if I am a case of multiple-personality-disorder.
23. I once was an avid collector of match-box covers!
24. The only subject I ever failed in my school times was Drawing and Arts thanks to a too-perfect teacher
25. I am not on Facebook or Hi-5 or Tagged or any such. I only exist in Orkut in a completely unknown avtar which is also sleeping since a long time.
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As per answers.com open secret means
An *open secret* is a concept or idea that is "officially" secret or restricted in knowledge, but is actually widely known; or refers to something which is widely known to be true, but which none of the people most intimately concerned is willing to categorically acknowledge in public.

P.S. My friend Vee has come up with our very own, common man's MovieManiax Awards 2008. With the heavy politics taking away the very meaning of awards, we sure need to voice our opinion and give credit where its due. Please do visit and vote.

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