The phase is over…for now!

OK…I am back to my writing phase…I have these spells…like cricketers…when I feel like writing and when I don’t atall! My last post was when IPL was happening and now FIFA World Cup’s started 😀 Awesome! I am just glad that I’ve never  really abandoned my blog….I always come back to it. Currently listening to some crap telugu songs…apparently they are this week’s top 10…huh..how it happens I don’t know. Watched MAA Stars cricket match yesterday for a while. It was alright I thought. I did not expect them to get so involved…like getting angry when a team-mate dropped a catch or mis-fielded…that Taraka Ratna guy was so angry at one point when he got the last wicket…I thought he will go break that poor chap’s bones. Paapamm…hits kuda levu kada athaniki 😦 hehehe It was alright…until the CM came and spoilt everything…and the worst part was when Dasari started talking….I just switched everything off and watched FIFA WC. I just cannot stand that guy….acts like he’s the King of all..the best director/producer/actor that ever walked the earth etc etc but frankly I never liked him or his films. Why can’t these politicians and wannabe politicians just keep out…they have to show up every where and once they arrive…we have to drop everything…how ever important it might be…and concentrate on them…and what do they do…give boring speeches…burp…fart…yawn and leave. Baahh!! When will this culture change in India???

Anyhoo, something good did happen yesterday…first, I bought two nice handbags for myself and my mom 😀 and Germany scored 4 goals..yes 4!! I was really tired of 0-0. 1-0, 1-1 results and was craving for some real football. Germany made it look so easy against Australia and apparently no one had any real expectations from the team since they are all just a bunch of freshers. I somehow feel they are the team to beat this time round…although we haven’t seen Brazil, Spain, Italy and Portugal yet. I was totally disappointed with England’s performance. They made it look so hard…the one goal they scored and the blunder from the goalie….poor Robert Green…I can only sympathise with him. Hopefully, they will do better…they have to if they want to beat teams like Germany and Brazil…God only knows how they will turn up this time.

Song of the day is

3 reasons why I like this song…

1. Rhythm
2. Awesome dancing from Mumaith
3. Venky bhai couldn’t have looked any cooler with his groovy moves and all 😀

Channel 4 and its Love Affair with the Slums of Mumbai

OK…at first when I saw a bunch of  Indians (and cows) getting out of a truck in their various outfits, holding variety of props…I had my doubts of how this Indian winter would turn out on Channel 4 and wallahh….it’s lived up to my expectations. It’s totally crap!!! What’s with channel 4 and its love affair with slums. Gimme a break but India is not all slums and stray dogs. I am not saying channel 4 should not show the slums at all, but I guess one program should’ve been enough. But no, the season started off with Slumdog Millionaire the movie, and then Kevin McCloud Slumming It, and Slumdog Secret Millionaire with Seema Sharma and The Slumdog Children of Mumbai. There’s just one show that appealed to me in this season and that is Gordon Ramsay’s The Great Escape. Watched the first episode yesterday and I really liked it. His trip to Lucknow and his meeting with the really old muslim chef (whose name I cannot remember now) was fantastic…and the biriyani…wow!

But enough with the slums already! India is not all slums and open drains and cows roaming about on the roads. There is so much more. Discovering Indian food is a step in the right direction. It is so diverse. Every state has its own cuisine. Classical dance of India, like its food, is unique to the states. The history of India is immense. The architecture of India does not end with the Taj Mahal…there is so much more…like Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh, Sun Temple in Orissa, the Meenakshi Temple in Tamil Nadu, Golconda Fort in Hyderabad just to name a few.

We really don’t need Kevin McCloud and Seema Sharma slumming it out for us to understand the problems of the slum dwellers. Though I really appreciate what they are doing…I think most of us already know that dreadful conditions these people live in. It is good if we can help but please please do not portray India as a country of slums. If you cannot resist, then at lease show some positives along with the negatives. I think Slumdog Millionaire did its jobs well when it comes to slums and Mumbai. We do not need anymore!!

‘Bore’Raaj and Max’Pain’

Went to watch Yuvvraaj over the weekend and man what a experience it was!!!!!! Terrible! The only best part during the film was me ringing up my friend and telling her how fab the movie was (she was watching Dostana at that time)…and she ended up watching the movie and I get a call during the interval with a very annoyed person on the other side. ROFL!!!!

There are so many faults with the movie that I don’t even want to start counting. It was absolutely rubbish….the only good thing about the movie was its music/songs.

Also watched Max Payne…which I thought was OK. Movie could have been edited better…but what the heck…it had Mark Wahlberg in it 😀

Body of Lies review coming up very soon….and I loved Dostana 🙂

Right…so what else was happening this weekend. Oh yea…cricket. Didn’t watch it ‘cuz of the rain in B’lore…but what a BORING series this has been…I mean c’mon….the English cricketers didn’t even put up a fight and India won the series. Just wondering though, didn’t the Australians ever get bored of watching their team winning all the time???

The weather as always is very gloomy. Depressing!! It definitely will be much better in India where I will be in the next 3 weeks. Yippee!!

I’ve updated my photoblog…do take a look and leave any comments

Housewives and Blogging

I blamed myself unnecessarily for not updating my blog regularly. Don’t think it’s my fault really. I was chopping vegetables today when I had one of those ‘Bodhi Tree’ moments. I realised that the reason for not being able to blog regularly was due to the amount of work at home. Not that I cook alot or do household chores daily…but the minimal work I do keeps me very much occupied…and now that spring is here…time seems to pass very quickly indeed.

I  go on walks with friends…so that keeps me occupied for the second half of the afternoon. I was telling my uni mate the other day that I founded this walking club called the Two Mile Ash South Indian Married Women’s Walking Club and I registered it with the Council and she believed me! ROFL!! 😀

This post is dedicated to all those married women…esp Asian…who do not think that the meaning of being married is just cooking, cleaning and bearing kids but also about spending time on the things we like…be it anything…blogging, photography, dancing, painting, driving etc (incidently, I happen to love the first three 😀

Some Sad NEWS: A Telugu girl was murdered last night by burglars at her University Accomodation. She was a student of Physiotherapy at Uni of Wolverhapton. If sources are to be believed, it was an attempted burglary gone wrong. She hails from Vijayawada. My heart goes out to the family. Jyothirmayi (the victim) came to the UK to study…just like I did some 7 yrs ago. Two other students who were with her at that time were seriously injured.

Okhay…gotta go! Walk time 😀

Recently Captured :)

Our long weekend will be ending in about 5 hours from now and what a wonderful weekend it was. S, I and couple of our friends went to Blemheim Palace near Oxford City. Except for the cloudy weather and the elaborate history on the life of Sir Winston Churchill at the Palace, it was excellent. The gardens were beautiful. Apparently, the current resident of the Palace is John George Vanderbilt Henry Spencer-Churchill, 11th Duke of Marlborough (No…I didn’t by heart the whole thing…I cut and paste it :D) and how lucky is he to be living in such a beautiful place.

The pictures below were taken in one of the palace gardens’ called the ‘Secret Garden’…sounds mystical doesn’t it? And it is equally beautiful. Two of the pics below…

PS: I thought the pictures looked good in Black & White. If anyone wants to take a look at the coloured ones….let me know 🙂 Hope you guys like ’em.

I will also be posting some pics of Jousting.…sport of the rich and noble 😀 If you don’t know what I mean…watch A Knight’s Tale starring the late Heath Ledger. So Stay Tuned….!