Forwarded SMS:

Do you know which is the best part of life?
It's when your family considers you as a friend and when your friends consider you as family!

I was reading about the death of yesteryear's actress Leela Naidu. That's how I came across the mention of the court case of K. M. Nanavati vs. State of Maharashtra. I remember my mom telling me about this when the movie Yeh Raaste Hai Pyar Ke was once being shown on the TV. But I didn't know that India had jury system till then and it was abolished as a result of this case. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K._M._Nanavati_vs._State_of_Maharashtra)

I used to think that the tendency to encash on someone else's tragedy is something that the 21st century brought with it. But I realized I was wrong when I read that at the time of this case the street vendors sold Ahuja towels and toy Nanavati revolvers - like hot cakes!

On a lighter note, I was floored when I read the star cast of the movie on the wiki page. Sunil Datt played Nanavati and Rehman was Prem. Now I wonder which woman in her sane mind would go for Rehman when she had a husband as handsome as Sunil Datt? :-)

I am now reading "Quite Honestly" by John Mortimer. - not the kind of book that I would have picked up, I must confess. But this happens to be the 4th (and last!) book in the collection that I had picked up at the library. I would have hated to return it without reading this one.

And "Quite Honestly" - I have liked what I have read so far. :-)

It was no different than the normal US Prez-in-danger movie that Hollywood seems to be dishing out every now and then. Yet I liked "Vantage Point" for its twists and turns and the unique way of taking the movie forward.

The plot, as I said, isn't very original. Agent Barnes is wounded while trying to save the POTUS (for the uninitiated, this is how the Secret Service refers to the US prez in the spy novels and movies!). While the others are not sure whether he is ready to be assigned to President's security duty as yet, Agent Taylor is convinced that Barnes is.

The President is in Spain for some function and as usual there is a threat to his life. He gets
attacked during a speech - on Taylor's and Barnes's watch! And then the story moves forward as the events leading up to this single moment are shown from the point of view of different characters - like the president, Agent Barnes and a tourist who has come to watch the speech.

A good movie to watch!

Finished reading Robert Ludlum's "The Ambler Warning" and loved it. Funny how some sentences manage to lodge themselves in a distant nook of our minds. Here's one from "The Ambler Warning" that I will find hard to forget.

The lobby was bathed in the silver glow of the winter sky.

You will ask me what I find so special about this sentence. I would be hard-pressed to explain. I just like it. That's all! :-)

I have always watched all episodes of Foodie (Times Now, Sunday, 11:30am) with 2 dominant feelings. One, envy for host Kunal Vijaykar because he gets paid to eat to his heart's content. And two, curiosity about how he manages to eat so much.

But this time as I watched him frolic about at the Eat Street and other foodie places in Hyderabad I was filled with another feeling. He was tasting various pickles and actually dipped his fingers in some of them to pick up a chilli here, a slice of lime there. And all the time, I was thinking 'I hope this vendor doesn't sell the same pickle to anyone'.

Fat Chance? I know! :-(

I watched another episode of "Highway On My Plate" on Sunday (NDTV Good Times channel) but got so swamped by work thereafter that I didn't get time to write about it.

This time it was Hyderabad and the duo gobbled up one mouth-watering dish after another. However, I realized once again that I am not a 100% carnivore when I cringed at the sight of the lamb tongue and hooves on their plate!

The bitter truth....
चन्द सिक्कों के ऐवज बिकता है इंसानका ज़मीर
कौन कहता है मेरे देस मे महंगाई है?
----
Who says "We don't exercise?"
We always....
Jump to conclusions.
Drag our feet.
Throw our weight around.
Stretch the truth.
Bend the rules and
Go around in circles :-)

आणि आता हां एक खूप छान एसएमएस:

सर माझ्या शब्दांची पाऊस होऊन पड़ते
दु:ख हळूच डोळ्यांच्या पापणीआड दडते
सहज ओठात रंगतात हळवी आर्त गाणी
मनात आणि उन्हात ओले श्रावण पाणी

A forwarded SMS:

Forget the things that made you sad.
Remember those that made you glad.
Forget the troubles that passed away.
Remember the blessings that come your way!

I watched the first episode of Star Trek's Season 3 - Spock's Brain. The storyline in a nutshell is like this - The Enterprise comes across a strange structure in space and the crew is puzzled by the advanced technology it apparently seems to be constructed from. Suddenly a woman appears on the Bridge.

Before anyone can react to her presence, she presses a button and the crew falls unconscious. She touches Spock and voila! his brain vanishes - without any blood loss, without any surgical incisions! That leads Captain Kirk and the others on a chase through the galaxy in search of Spock's missing brain - the deadline is 24 hours!

I couldn't help but wonder how India's politicians have managed to survive (and thrive!) for so long without any functioning brain :-) Surely Spock and Kirk could take a leaf out of their (cooked!) books :-)

I watched a new program on NDTV Good Times yesterday - Lean Is In. After the customary carrot, beetroot and Radish juices - that I know I will never drink in this lifetime - the anchors turned to the main dish. I missed out on the first one but the 2nd one was Ayurvedic Khichdi. And one of the ingredients was Broccoli! Hard to digest a foreign veggie in an Ayurvedic dish? I know! :-)

Let me begin today's blog on 2 notes - one sober and one jubilant.

The sober note is for the brave 533 soldiers who gave their lives 10 years ago at Kargil. I remember asking all my friends to send letters to those who were posted there. I also remember being shocked when so few of them had responded. :-( Here's a salute to all those who gave their lives for our country. I hope I can one day come there and pay my respects to you all personally!

And the jubilant note is for INS Arihant - India's first nuclear submarine - that was launched over the weekend. Though the naval experts say that it will take long to become fully operational, I don't doubt that when it does become operational, it will fulfill the promise its name has made to us - Arihant, the Destroyer of Enemies!

Way to go guys!