De Luxe

Legacy

2011-03-31T19:38:00.000+01:00

Ferragamo and Boss.

Volkswagen and Fiat.

I'm not sure I can make peace with the fact that these companies supported dictators (Ferragamo and Boss indirectly) and are still respected today. Volkswagen and Fiat were, in fact, essential tools of propaganda for the dictators. Can a company be completely apolitical and amoral? Should it be?
I understand that these companies were later taken over, but its still something I struggle being comfortable with.

So what do you do with the good stuff that bad(!!!) people left behind? What do you do with the art? And the technology? Is the intention not important? Should it be seen in isolation?

I doubt there are any clear answers.

Gowariker does romance like nobody's business

2011-03-31T03:26:00.002+01:00

"Koi pooche toh main bolu kya ki mujhko hua hain kya
Mere ang ang mein hain sugandh jo tune hain choon liya"

"Dekho na, zara dekho na, tum ho, main hoon aur yeh parchhaiyan hain
Dekho na, zara dekho na, kaisi narm si yeh parchhaiyan hain"

"Mile dekho aise hain hum
Ke don sur ho jaise maddham
Koi jyada na, koi kam
Kisi raag mein..."

*shivers*

2010-12-20T01:13:00.000Z

I don't know how many times I have imagined you at the city centre. Or at the Christmas Markets you always said you wanted to take me to. I have tirelessly pictured the Fairytale Castle, and almost tasted the Vindaloo at Mango. I have dreamed about white sausage breakfasts together. And of us drinking coffee at the University. I can almost see you waiting at the airport two hours before my flight arrives.

I am going to fall in love with you all over again, in your city. In my fairyland.

Why can't Wednesday come already?

Rock star Dad

2010-12-15T01:33:00.000Z

If Harvey's Bristol Cream and Flush/Teen Patti/Flash reminds me of my dad(in a good way, my father is neither an alcoholic nor a gambler :P), taking into account that I haven't turned out that bad, my dad must be a rock star. I will consider myself successful if I'm half as cool as him(again, taking into account my kids are not that bad).

What beautiful Saturday nights are made of

2010-12-11T23:11:00.000Z

- Doner on chips with chili sauce
- Pear cider
- Autumn Apple candle
- Project Runway episodes

Snow!

2010-11-27T14:21:00.000Z

So apparently it snowed last night! Given that I had slept for 2 hours the night before thanks to a review submission, I slept at 9 and missed it. But look what I saw when I woke up!

I haven't been out yet, because, well, I'm lazy. But its SO pretty!
Accompanying the mood is some seriously good coffee, and a 'Winter' scented candle. Happiness.

What a bright, sunny, cold day!

2010-11-26T13:40:00.000Z

Funny how Sharan wrote about frost today! Not really funny, because, well, we do live in the same country and its fairly tiny.

My list of first-times since I came here is quite long. Shots, clubbing, living alone, cooking for more than 4 people...I could go on. Had my 16728th, 16729th and 16730th today--walking to the library in -2 deg. C. And seeing frost. And experiencing -2 deg.C and bright sunshine at the same time.

I didn't actually realise why the grass was white. It looked like it was sprinkled with icing sugar. Or flour.
I now also understand why people here love sunshine. I've converted. It is a beautiful day today.

Cannot wait for it to snow. It is going to be my first! They predict snow here, and its going to be snowing quite heavily in Munich when I'm there! :D Though I do realise that walking to the library or the supermarket in the snow(rather when it melts, I'm told) is going to be quity crazy.

Since I am discussing weather, I would like to sincerely thank my Clarks boots. They are a life saver. My feet would've frozen and broken into pieces by now if not for them. Also, my Colaba and Mussoorie shawls which I double up as scarves. Bless them.

Hope to be back!

2010-11-25T04:45:00.000Z

Coming to the U.K. has made me feel like venting out my feelings somewhere, because god knows, there have been overwhelming ones! So just as a way to cleanse me off them (so that there's room for more) and to document my personal graph, I will write here. And hopefully change things around.

The posts will, most probably be, quite personal. However, I will also try to document things that I find amusing/interesting. My motive for blogging, as most things, is selfish. I'm going to write for myself!

Here's hoping I keep going this time!

2009-06-07T19:22:00.001+01:00

Men are jerks. Period.

2009-06-02T13:00:00.000+01:00

Aim: 30 pages in 1 day.

Material: 2 not-so-inspiring movies

Apparatus: Cocoa, MS Word

Procedure: Work ass off

Conclusion: Impossible! :(

Cuban Salsa on Masakalli

2009-05-09T12:41:00.000+01:00

Cuban Salsa on Masakalli, on Dance India Dance(and I'm not the biggest fan of reality shows) managed to save my otherwise miserable day at 3:40 am.

Sharan and Piu, I was so thinking of you guys!

My First Tag, and a great one!

2009-05-07T23:12:00.001+01:00

Thanks for the tag, Sharan! This was fun.

-Choose 12 films that you would want to run at a famous movie theatre.

-Explain why you chose them. However you want to. I'm going to stick to the theme-a

-day idea.

-Link back to Lazy Eye Theatre's post.

-Tag 5 other people but I don't really have anyone left. J

So here goes...

Out and Out Bollywood Day

Hum Aapke Hain Kaun...! and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge

We Don't Just Make HAHKs and DDLJs Day

Khosla Ka Ghosla and Iqbal

Revolutionary Women's Day

Dor and Revolutionary Road

Movies That Dad Introduced

Me To Day

Chhoti Si Baat and Mackenna's Gold

You Just Can't Miss These Directors Day

The Terminal(Steven Spielberg) and Guddi(Hrishikesh Mukherjee)

Just Be 'Happy' Day!

The Sound of Music and The Holiday

These are merely some of my favourites. Bollywood because love it or hate it, you just can't ignore it! The Revolutionary Women in both these movies are very interesting. Whereas Gul Panag in Dor keeps me awed everytime I watch it, Winslet in Revolutionary Road keeps me confused. Guddi is probably not an apt selection for Hrishikesh Mukherjee, but I love the movie. He has much more brilliance to his credit.

Make Me Happy

2009-03-26T09:09:00.000Z

So I've been watching movies. Brilliant movies that were nominated/won at the Oscars, and some older ones from Sharan's collection.

-The Reader

-Revolutionary Road

-Milk

-Wall-E

-Dead Poet's Society

-The Great Debaters

Among these samples of utter brilliance, I HAD to catch up with happier chick-flicks that I'd already seen, as you see, most of the above do not, let me repeat, DO NOT make a-frustrated-girl-who-desperately-wants-to-go-home-and-not-EXAP feel any better. They make you sad, and feel ashamed with your uselessness. They also instill you with a tremendous amount of fodder for thought. Yeah I know that's supposed to be good, but these movies strip you off your existing beliefs and make you doubt what-you-think-you-know. Hence, not recommended if one wants to rejuvenate.

I still haven't figured Revolutionary Road out, its that brilliant, and here I don't mean it in the Peter Keating way. Its rare that I don't have an opinion. Its the way the characters are moulded-so utterly grey. Kate Winslet's character, i thought, was a half-way between a Rand heroine and a non-Rand person, a very vulnerable area to exist in. Please leave your comments on the movie, might help me.

Anyway, so my question is why brilliance is synonymous with sadness. Wall-E was the only completely happy one, but not considered right now since it was animated, also about robots-in-love(which, by the way, I thought was adorable). The Great Debaters was a great and happy movie, hence will not be included in the discussion. Also Milk, since its a true story. The Sound of Music is a beautiful exception, too.

So why do all 'good' movies have to be sad? I know about the reality theory, that sadness is real. Isn't happiness? Or is it not worth to be portrayed? One might think its easy to be happy. Trust me on this one, its not, but its important. I'm also aware of the you-learn-more-from-sadness theory. Might be true, but that doesn't mean one stops making happy and good movies. Chick-flicks are hardly considered to be 'good' movies, though I personally believe some of them are. They don't get the awards, anyway. But the awards issue is yet another one.

So please remind me of some happy and brilliant movies and make me happy. :)

P.S.- I seriously think Kate Winslet is a goddess in disguise of an actress. Anyone to second me?

Statuatory Warning:This is a personal log. Those not aware of the following days might find it boring.

2009-01-23T17:14:00.000Z

A random attempt to keep a log of some of the days I remember that took my breath away, since my life in Sophia’s started.

· A conversation Piu, Sharan and I had at UTBT with baked potatoes and cold pasta(I think it was something to do with kids)

· The day Vini wouldn’t accept that she had met AND spoken to T (I deliberately keep the identity discreet)

· India-Pakistan final Twenty20 World Cup match (we had a salsa workshop and then we ran home to catch the match; Piu came home. People exchanged scores in the traffic through cars and cabs!)

· Welcoming the Indian cricket team after winning the Twenty20 World Cup

· The day I realised who one of Antu’s close family member was

· Piu’s carol singing and Leopold’s

· The Lit conference, especially the ‘space’ paper

· When all of us mass-bunked psycho to educate and get educated about, ahem, ‘colours’

· The day I had kheema paratha and mint tea with Piu and Antu at Samovar during the Kala Ghoda festival last year(it was very cold and I was wearing Gauri’s college sweatshirt)

· The day we (Jo, Piu and I)shared a single blueberry cheesecake at Moshe’s coz I was 19 years and 19 days old and Piu was 20 years and 10 days old

· Flowers and Sex and the City!

· 15th and 16th March 2008

· The night we(Sharan, Vini, I) spent at Piu’s granny’s place before EXAP seminar component presentation(the topics of discussions covered almost everything I can think of right now)

· EXAP seminar component presentation(I know what euphoria feels like)

· The night Piu, Jo and I slept really late at Ooty, chatting in front of the heater

· Ganpati at Gauri’s home with HAHK!

· Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2009

· Today :)

I am pretty sure I am forgetting many more. Will try my best to remember them and update this list.

Material Girl?

2009-01-13T15:44:00.000Z

Just when I thought that I don’t really need anything more in life to be content, I also realised that I want...

· Admission at Oxford University

· A Mini-Cooper

· A walk-in wardrobe with a separate custom made section for earrings and shoes

· Jewellery- Diamonds from Tiffany’s, Pink Diamonds set in Platinum, Rajasthani jewellery in Uncut Diamonds, Frey Wille jewellery

· Jimmy Choos

· A trip on The Palace on Wheels

· A stay at the Taj Lake Palace, Udaipur

· An apartment in La Reve, Dubai

· Outfits designed by Abu-Sandeep, Ritu Kumar, Sabyasachi Mukherjee

· Own personal DVDs of- F.R.I.E.N.D.S., Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, I Dream of Jeannie, Full House and innumerable favourite movies

· Gourmet food with expensive wine twice a month

· Many, many, many more gorgeous earrings

Gosh, when will I stop being so materialistic? :P

Mumbai, my Bombay

2009-01-07T17:53:00.000Z

Bombay has always been Mumbai for me; I never had a conflict of calling it Bombay or Mumbai. Perhaps Bombay reminds me of the British influence that made it ‘Bombay’-South Mumbai architecture, trains, Gateway of India, etc. Not that I don’t like these, mind you, if South Mumbai was a food item, I could have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I can’t be thankful enough for my college being in an area I so love. At the same time, it makes me uncomfortable, to not see Mumbai in its totality-including the suburbs, the koliwadas, the beauty of the Marathiness of Dadar, the new developments in areas like Bandra Kurla Complex and Powai, and the history of the city before the Brits made it ‘Bombay’. After all, these are the things made by us.

Maybe I prefer calling the city Mumbai since I am a Maharashtrian. Would Parisians call Paris the way we call it? Would the Germans call Munich the same? Palestine? Mumbai, for me, retains my roots, my Maharashtrianess.

I, having been fortunate enough to study the history of Shivaji Maharaj, don’t have a problem with naming landmarks his name. I am proud of my history. Why do I call a station by some Brit Queen of the 1800s, who exploited colonies, which incidentally, includes my country? What’s wrong with calling it instead by the name of someone who resisted the Mughal invasion of this very region commendably? Those who complain of the complicated pronunciations and long name of ‘Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’ , ‘Franz Josef Strauss’ is the name of the airport in Munich, ‘Charles De Gaulles’ is of Paris and of course, ‘John F. Kennedy’ of New York. It is probably our more Anglicised exposure as compared to our own language, that makes it easier for us to pronounce and remember the others better. Those who still want to be critical should be excused to call it as they please. Their choice should be respected.

It is a wonder, how infrequently I speak Marathi once I step out of home. Thankfully I get my enough dose at home, where it is the only language spoken, however my level of fluency in it may be. How many of us learn an extra foreign language, but have never attempted to learn Marathi in spite of calling Mumbai our home? Because it is not exotic enough? I have never gone out of my way and explored the rich culture my language provides; never made an attempt to read Marathi newspapers which might have something different to say. Shame on me!

Mumbai is a cosmopolitan city, yes. It is secular, yes. It is welcoming, yes. But let us not ignore the roots.