Tis the season to be jolly!

I was very jolly indeed coz I was going home for the hols.. The Christmas spirit had spread in the office too. Attached below are pics of the Christmas trees in my office, the former cute one near the lift and the latter bigger one at the entrance.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

 

A night to remember!

Music that touches your heart, food that tickles ur tastebuds, and the superstar to entertain you… thats an unforgettable night

Victim to running nose and throat ache, I was worried if I would be able to enjoy the Microsoft annual party. But when my friends told me that Sonu Nigam was to perform, I knew I wouldnt miss it at any cost. Armed with a dozen tissues and my huuuge,yet comfy jacket, I reached HICC last night.

Before the star of the show arrived, a female singer “entertained” us. She dint do justice to Shreya Ghoshal’s soft number “Yeh Ishq Hai” of “Jab We Met”, one of my personal faves… but she did her jaadu and made the audience dance to her tunes with “Beedi” and “Kajra re”.

But nevertheless, the audience screamed for Sonu… Finally when he entered amidst smoke and weird lights , I felt goosebumps and my heart pacing fasssst….

“Sach hein ki dil to dukha hein….. “

I dont usually run to join the crowd in front of the stage, but yesterday I cudnt help myself.. It was unbelievable, he was standing just a few feet away from me… I am a huge fan of all his songs, (listening to pal pal, when Im writing this ) , generally all those soft melodious ones that are made beautiful thanks to sonu nigam and shaan. ( I was lucky to attend shaan’s concert few months back.. )

The audience went mad when he started the peppy numbers like “Nachle Ve” of “Tara Rum Pum” and “Bijuria” and swayed to his soft numbers like “Main Agar Kahoon“,of OSO, which is currently my favourite song. I have to mention about a 4 year old who was rolling on the floor and doing somersaults rocking to the music, his parents were having a hard time trying in vain to control him.

To sum up, the performance was awesome… im a huge fan of the word awesome….but in fact… “Kisi zabaan pe woh labz hi nahin“, last night i realised how apt that was I couldnt find the perfect word to describe how good the show was.. So I came up with a new word… ooooooohhhhhhhsome…  – ooohhhh + awesome…  but still it fell short of what I felt…

The reason y i love his songs is coz he sings with so much emotion.. Take Tanhaayi for instance, it actually made me nearly cry… and even kal ho na ho.. was ammmmmmmaaazing. Thats what makes sonu nigam the king, his songs are too good..

Well, dont get me wrong , Im not a die hard fan of his … Im just a ardent lover of music and dance in any form and last night was one of those moments that I will never forget .. All thanks to my friends at Microsoft.

 

Keep us happy, get more work done !

What motivates people to work hard? What is it that employees want? Is it a hike in pay, or good cafeteria and pantry, or indoor and outdoor game courts?

One month back, work had turned real hectic, that I had to put in more working hours. The whole team was waiting for the hectic period to get over, and of course, for the team treat . Finally the hectic period passed, and manager went to US for our product demo. When he got back, I dint get my anticipated treat. Instead, I was given a bag and a pack of chocolates. There was nothing exceptional about that gift, but I felt a thrill, coz then I realised that my hard work had paid off. Well, maybe a treat wouldnt have given this special feeling.

This made me think, what do employees expect from their bosses in return for their hard work.

I guess what employees need is appreciation of their work. Occassional “good work”, “great job” will leave us craving for more praises and hence incite us to work harder. For those employees who dont deserve praise, a few words of advise wont hurt either. Employers might think that having gyms, and indoor games might reduce the efficiency of employees. Nope . Everyone needs to take time off work once in a while, and playing will help in relaxing. Of course, quality of food in the pantry and cafeteria matters too. I get hungry when I work a lot, and relaxing for me means having a snack :) . An employer who takes care of every need of the employee will definitely get the employee to work harder. Of course, I feel that challenging work and cooperative teammates also make us put in more effort. Work environment is a significant factor,but ehmm..lets not forget another important factor, a hike in paypacket .

 

Bhool Bhulaiya

Manichitrathaazhu is my favourite movie . When I heard that Priyadarshan was going to remake it in Hindi, I knew it wont hold a candle to the original. Take the case of all his Hindi movies

Hungama made from superhit “Poochakkaru manikettum”, Kyon Ki made from superhit “Thalavattom” , Chup Chup Ke from superhit “Punjabi House“, Hulchul from superhit “GodFather“, Hera Pheri from superhit “RamjiRao speaking“, Phir Hera Pheri from “Mannarmathai speaking” and now Bhool Bhulaiya from superhit “Manichitrathazhu” , the malayalam ones were awesome.. but the Hindi ones… The worst of all remakes was Kyon Ki… I nearly cried watching it, like I did watching the original… but this time for a totally different reason

But one might wonder why he never remade any of his films that were superhits , Vandanam, Chitram etc.

Bhool Bhulaiya might be entertaining for those who havent seen the original and by original I mean the Malayalam one. Akshay tried to imitate Mohanlal a lot. But the manner in which he delivered the speeches were hopeless, devoid of any emotions , apart from the gravity on his face. He overdid all the comedy scenes, that few serious scenes were also handled comically. Shiney Ahuja was like he was expected to be – nothing more nothing less. I liked him better in Woh Lamhe. Now to Vidya Balan. She is a very talented and graceful dancer. She looked artificial as “Manjulika”. The voice of “Manjulika” was also pathetic.. there was no anger in it… just a rough tone. But she tried her best. Paresh Rawal was awesome as always. No one else can deliver such a beautiful performance. Rajpal Yadav also did a good job. Amisha Patel was her usual self too with her emotionless face..

The songs were ok. “Alla Hafiz” wasnt apt for the situation. “Labon Ko” is a wonderful composition but totally unnecessary. “Mere Dholna” was not scary enough…. try listening to “Oru Murai” …. I still get goosebumps listening to it

On the whole, I would recommend those who love the movie Manichitrathazhu not to watch Bhool Bhulaiya.

 

Musical tragedy

Im talking about Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s “Saawariya”…. I learnt from the previews that the movie was adapted from the novel “White Nights” (1848) by Dostoevsky. Curious to know the story, I read the novel. Thats when I understood why the audience dint accept “Saawariya”. The ending is pathetic. Taking story from such an old novel was a huge risk, because such a story makes no sense now. However, the setting was picturesque, one would feel caught in a fairytale. It reminded me of  the settings of Disney’s “Aladdin”.

A few words about the characters. I still dont understand why Rani Mukherjee was needed in the movie and this character was absent in the novel. There was not much scope for acting, except the protagonists who just had to act dumb. Emaan looked like a rowdy, one will never expect Sakina to fall for him, yet somehow she manages to do just that.. Sakina’s laugh irritated me , she used to start giggling every other second… Apart from that, I think SLB did justice to the story.

The worst part about the movie were the songs. Every 5 minutes, the characters sprung up with a song. The songs were unnecessary and I guess could be named as the major reason why the movie was not appreciated. Except for ”saawariya”, jab se tere naina and maybe the song thode badmaash, the songs were unnecessary. Out of the ten songs, I liked the title track and “jab se tere naina”.

 

Chicken Biriyani

I have been cooking for the past five months now, still I never attempted making chicken biriyani. Finally this weekend, I asked my mother for her recipe and tried it out. I was scared it wont come out properly, but it turned out to be a huge success. My first kerala-style chicken biriyani.

 

Spicy Paneer Fry

This is my version of chilli paneer

 

The Big Effect

My first trip to Imax …. for saturday morning show of Om Shanti Om
Big screen… awesome movie..

The songs are splendid,especially my favourites “Ajab Si” and “Dard-e-Disco”.
“Dastaan” is the perfect climax song, but I agree with my bro-in-law, who commented that one needs to see only this song instead of watching the whole movie – its more like a 5-minute summary of the 3-hour movie. “DhoomTana” reminds one of those “Old is Gold” songs, particularly the 3rd stanza with the tennis sequence.
Credit should be given to “Deewanagi”, the reason why Om Shanti Om is unique – first time 31 stars would have all made their appearance simultaneously in a Hindi song.

Shahrukh is his old self..Except for the one scene where he cries,I think he did a good job..and the 6 pack was a sight in the enormous screen..;)
Deepika is gorgeous, her eyes and her dimples stole the show.. and her acting is not bad either.
The 2nd half was superb, and it was backed by a superb background score.

However I felt that the reminiscences which the “new n improved” Om has of his past life was a bit over-the-edge,i mean how can someone
* remember the long speech that he gave in his past life,word-by-word
* watch a scene, that he witnessed in his past life and to top everything, see himself witnessing it in his past life…
Hmm…Another point that I forgot to mention, Om’s flashbacks are in colour,unlike the “negative-print” memories in Hindi movies

Well, I guess one should never question a story

I simply loved the ending,somehow the movie wouldnt have made its impact on me if it dint have such a beautiful ending.
Hats off to Farah for such a fantastic movie!

 

My prized possession

My Sony Ericsson k790i.
My first expenditure with my first salary.
I have yearned for a cool phone ever since I saw my sister’s and bro-in-law’s phone.
I wanted an N-series phone, but they told me that SE phones had Cybershot camera which was far better than the one with Nokia and the music player was good too.
Thank God I listened to them.
My phone is awesome, the photos I take with it are as clear as if it were from a digicam and Im addicted to the fm and the music player too.The camera is amazing, that I am tempted to capture almost everything that happens around me.
Visit official site of k790i

I love my phone

 

Birthday Baby :)

This year, I celebrated my birthday in Hyderabad. The traditional cake cutting at office and a half litre ‘paal-paayasam’ that i made in my flat.. The cake was yummy and of butterscotch icing , which incidently is my favourite flavour. These icecream cakes are so scrumptious, delicious… and what not.. see it for yourself.