New girl on the block

After watching the well deserved sweeping win of Slumdog Millionaire at the Golden Globe, I have been extremely impressed with - not Dev Patel, not Danny Boyle, not even A R Rahman - but with Freida Pinto, the girl who plays the character of adult Latika, the love interest in the movie.

While watching the movie, I was more engrossed in the amazing direction and awesome acting by the child artists - and so failed to notice her as anything more than a "regular" actor. But when I saw her on the stage with Shah Rukh Khan at the Golden Globe awards, I was struck by her confidence and her ability to hold herself alongside SRK.

Since then we have been scouring YouTube to catch what we can about her and the movie. And while at it, we came to know that these two young debutantes, Dev Patel and Freida Pinto - have appeared in a number of television interviews in the US. And as we watched her interviews in various award ceremonies and TV shows, my admiration for her grew. Just see how well she handles herself with Jay Leno on The Tonight Show. Compared to much experienced Aishwarya's appearances on network television in the US and the difference is obvious. Freida is poised and confident, knows how to talk well and her command of the English language shows.

At this point, I would have linked to the You Tube video of Freida's appearance on The Tonight Show. But unfortunately, the video's been removed from YouTube by NBC due to copyright reasons.

No wonder that one of the top agencies in Hollywood, Creative Artists Agency (CAA) that represents the likes of Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Kate Winslet, to name a few, has signed her up. The girl's gonna go places! Watch this space.

Aamir likes ShamWOW!

I was reading the recent entries of Aamir Khan's blog....and one post Homeward Bound (Nov,06,2008) interested me. In that post he mentions about US tele-shop products and how they sell unusual stuff and how tempted he is to buy some of them.

One such product that he mentions is this piece of cloth with amazing absorbing power. I am pretty sure Aamir is talking about ShamWOW.

It has one of TV's most irritating salesperson ever featured in its advertisement. But every time the ad comes on TV, I end up watching the entire ad, no matter how many times I have already seen it or how annoying that guy is! I just dont know why! He is even worse than Billy Mays who normally markets a lot of similar products on TV, from Kaboom to Mighty Putty. Do check out the ShamWOW ad, if you haven't already seen it. Maybe you can explain to me why I get transfixed everytime I see it on TV?

Politics and Technology

Like many people, we too were glued to the TV on the US Presidential election night. While V actually watched the election coverage the entire time, I went missing for a while to my friend's place to watch an election movie Recount, which focuses on the 2000 election between Bush and Al Gore and the mess that was Florida.



I know CNN has been the frontier in the election coverage since past many months, going on and on, day after day, hour after hour - bringing panel of experts from all fields discussing each and every aspect of the campaign.

But on Election Night, I was bowled over by CNN - not by their extensive coverage or detailed analysis, but by the technology they have used. The "Magic Wall" in the CNN studio is a piece of technology art - a huge multi touch screen on which Wolf Blitzer and the rest where swiping maps just by a flick of a finger. Just by a touch they could pull our charts and numbers. And it was so smooth and slick.

But the best part of it all was when they went all sci-fi and Star War-sy by beaming up a hologram image of a reporter who was located remotely, right into their studio! My! That was impressive to say the least. They even managed to beam in Will.i.am!

Learn more in cnn.com about the Magic Wall and the Hologram.

Minus 30

Folks,

Here's something on my hometown. CNN-IBN does this show called Minus 30 which focuses on the youth of India. Recently they went on a trip to the North East and this video below shows a slice of Gangtok. The piece on Gangtok starts at 56 secs on the video clock. Enjoy!

In case you cannot access the video, here's a direct URL for the same:

http://ibnlive.in.com/videos/43822/on-the-other-side-of-northeast.html

What a (Sun) day!!

Sunday was Superbowl day. Though not a big fan of the American football, I was still enthu to see the game since my 'hometown' team the Indianapolis Colts were in the final.

We and a couple of friends had decided to watch the game in V's apartment in Stamford with proper game party style food and snacks like chicken wings and hot dogs and pizzas.

However, come Sunday morning, from the moment I woke up, I started vomiting and having diarrhea. Within a couple of hours, I was completely drained out. Even the medicine I took, took no time to exit from my system. I was in a bad shape and soon V started worrying. A quick search in the internet and we couldn't find a prompt medical center where you can visit a doc without any appointment. A few phone calls to friends and we decided the best way would be to go to the emergency room of a local hospital.

Our kind neighbor suggested we go to another town, Greenwich's hospital since the one in Stamford would be too crowded. He had us follow him all the way to the hospital which was 30 mins away! So nice of him! In the hospital, he made me sit in the wheelchair and the hospital guy wheeled me in. Gosh! It was so embarrassing. I admit, I felt weak and all, but not that weak that I couldn't walk! And so I had to fake my condition a bit, moaning now and then, holding my head, so that at least I looked genuine enough to be sitting in the wheelchair!

The doc/nurse who did my stats was so cute..his name was Nicholas. Yeah, even in my condition, I noticed his name :D After my stats were taken, I had to wait for them to call me. As the wait grew longer, I was glad to be sitting in the wheelchair, coz my uneasiness was increasing, I got cramps all over my body and all I wanted to do was to lie down. After a while, I was wheeled into the room where the nurse asked me to change to the hospital gown. That piece of clothing is quite embarrassing, but luckily it was not as bad as the ones I had seen on TV and movies. Once I was 'settled in', in and out came a series of nurses and docs (after 9 I lost count) poking and tapping me here and there and asking all kinda questions. As my luck would have it, my doctor was not handsome Nick, but a roundly kind faced chubby bearded fellow. I was then given a saline drip to re-hydrate my body. My very first saline drip!

After spending 4-5hrs in the hospital, I was convinced I felt better and ready to go home. I was feeling cold since the bedsheet they gave to cover was not enough. Just then the doc reappeared saying that I seem to have some infection and that they need to do a cat-scan. I was like, what!!??! I appeared calm outwardly, but my mind was racing within. Cat-scan? Wasn't that something that they do to someone who's seriously ill? Am I that sick??!!! What's wrong with me?!! The doc left to get me some drink which I was to take for the cat scan. I let go of my self control and jumped on V. I asked me to please take me home, that I was alright, that I just need some rest. Poor guy, he tried his best to sooth me. A nurse entered with 2 glass of Gatorade type of drink for me to finish in 10 mins. I gulped it down in 2! It seems, you have to wait 45 mins after you take the drink to be able to do the cat-scan. By then the Superbowl pre game show had already started. Fidgety and restless, I tried to watch the TV and soon dosed off to sleep.

I got up when another cute male nurse came to wheel me to the cat-scan room. I noticed, the game was just about to begin. The doc there took a few pics of me and gave me some injection for the final picture. The thing in the injection made me warm all over till the tip of my fingers and left a funny taste in my mouth. In no time it was all over and I was wheeled back into the room. And the first thing I noticed was that within this few minutes that we were out, the Chicago Bears had already scored a touchdown and they were 7 points ahead of the Colts!! Damn!

We spent the time watching the game while waiting for the results of the tests. I was drowsing on and off to sleep. After almost an hour, the doc came back and tada! I was free to go home! I was alright! Seems I had got Gastroenteritis or Stomach Flu, common in the area since last few weeks. I just had to take care of what I was eating till I felt better.

V watched the remaining game at home while I again went on and off to sleep. I still vaguely remember hearing that the Colts did win after all! I didn't go to work on Monday and neither did V. He drove me back to Pennsylvania in the eve when I felt fit to travel. Due to his and my flatmate S's care and strict diet, I am now back to normal.

Though our game party was ruined, it was still an exciting day. But I would NOT want it to repeat again. I had quite an experience and I am glad its over. It gave V quite a scare and my stomach a much needed rest.

Clothes with a secret

I was watching one episode of CSI:NY when I came to know about this website www.edoclaundry.com.

The whole concept of edoclaundry is pretty cool. This guy designs a series of t-shirts which has code hidden in the graphic. (scramble the letters 'edoc' and you get 'code' - hence the name). Once you have figured out the hidden code, you need to go to the website and enter the code. There's a series of t-shirts and you need to figure out the codes in all and eventually in the end, u apparantly get to know the deep dark secret behind edoclaundry.

Pretty innovative way to sell t-shirts, dont you think? And quite a pricey way to entertain one self!

Paune barah baje - whats going on?

Hey guys...I know its been a long time since I have been active in blogsville. Nothing much happening...just that dont feel like writing anything. Thought I'd update you all on whats going on at my end.

Blog-wise

Not writing or commenting. But have been reading your posts.

TV-wise

Have been following KKusum, Jassi and Yeh Meri Life Hai...and sometimes even CID Special Bereau. Also been following Fame Gurukul pretty regularly. More than interest, its lack of having anything else to do or watch that drives me to watch the episodes every day.

Have been watching lots of Sienfeld and Food Network too.

I guess, what tops the list however is me watching Anandam. Anandam is a Tamil soap on Sun TV. Though I dont understand a word, I follow it everyday since thats my landlady's fav show and falls right during dinner time. She is so into it that she makes sure I follow whats happening in the show! LOL. Her aim is to make me learn Tamil so that it'll be easier for me to follow Malyalam. :-P

Lovelife-wise

Last weekend V was here. The weekend was too short and within no time he was on his flight back to Columbus.

Food-wise

Have discovered this lovely Thai place that delivers food to my office for lunch. During the heavy downpour of last week, we took solace to this place and had scrumptious Thai food. I love their

During V's visit I took him to the Indian street here in NJ. After years we got to eat Dhabeli. I dont know whether staying away for so long has made me forget the real taste or whether they really did make the dhabeli good...but we sure did enjoy it a lot. Also had paan after a long time...twice... followed by Ravalgon's Pan Pasand.

Movie-wise

Since my move to NJ, my movie count had reduced drastically. Lack of time and more importantly lack of company lead to it. Plus my landlord doesnt have HBO. Anyway, I saw Wallace and Gromit - Curse of the Were-Rabbit last weekend with V. I have always loved Wallace and Gromit so enjoyed the movie a lot.

Song-wise

Have been listening to a lottttt of Tu Jahan from Salaam Namaste. Infact thats my current top song. I loveee the music and the words and the way it has been sung. Also, have been listening to Green Day's American Idiot album. Fav song in that album is Boulevard of Broken Dreams

Work-wise

C'mon ...u seriously want to know about my work? ... I didnt think so either..so am giving this a pass :-) But yes..to gain a few symphaties from you, let me share my commute woes. Last week was terrible...either the buses were on adjusted schedule due to some holiday or other (which meant adjustment from our side which is not good, right?), or they were delayed due to the bad weather or they broke down! Not once did I reach my work on time. And to add to it, twice I had to stand on my way home...for the entire 1.5hrs of bus drive! Sigh!

So, I hope I have covered all. Dunno when will I write next...but I am sure it will be soon enough. No one can stay away for long, isnt it?

Breaking grounds

Recently while surfing through the channels on TV, I stopped short when I saw Rahul Khanna smiling back at me! They were showing 'Bollywood/Hollywood' on the Sundance Channel. It was a delightful surprise to see an Indian movie on a regular movie channel here. I was doubly delighted coz I hadn't seen this movie earlier. Found the movie to be quite nice and funny. The next day once again I was surfing and this time I saw Rahul Khanna on a different getup. They were now showing 'Earth'. And today, it was 'The Guru' playing on the USA channel!!!

Its really pleasing to see Indian movie breaking grounds into the American homes. I wonder how long will it be before I get to see SRK!!

Weekend roundup

Nothing much happening lately. Days are passing by and life is going on. A roundup on the weekend activities....
Last week Indiana saw a lot of water. Flood everywhere...so much that roads were blocked and few towns had blackouts. Luckily nothing happened around where I stay except for some deep potholes on the road. Columbus saw the heaviest rainfall since 1913! This winters been weird for Columbus with record breaking weather. V came over to Indy instead of me going there.
It snowed again in Indy on Fri night. Woke up on Sat morning or rather Sat noon to a beautiful surrounding. Since the snow wasn't as heavy as the last time, the greens peeping out of the white blanket looked superb. Me and V clicked a lot of pics.

Went to Columbus and registered ourselves along with a friend to Ice Skating classes. We missed one of the 8 classes and we'll start from next Sat. We tried our hands on roller skates and me and V were pathetic! Our friend N on the other hand skated away like a pro! I am sure he will leave us far behind on ice skating too.
Saw 'The Hero' movie. Found it worse than Crouching Tiger... Wanted to watch Veer Zara, but haven't got the chance yet.

Rest of the weekend went by in a pretty normally. When I came back to Indy I had a pleasant surprise in store for me. My cable-wala was showing an Indian channel! I haven't subscribed to any Indian channel so when I discovered TV Asia while flipping through the channels, I was a happy. The first thing I saw was Shh.. Koi Hai. I remembered it vaguely from India...Vikraal. Though it was a nice change, I still couldn't bear to see it for more than 5 mins. Hindi news is also a god change. Yesterday saw some golden oldie songs.

Now am getting bored. So now uploading all my pics and also listening to Hindi net radio. Got to get back to my pics.