Saturday, February 11, 2012

Ideal couple

One more scar, I hope this conciller does its job well

Madam, sir is asking if you are ready for the shoot

5 minutes

And then she walked downstairs where photographer of a leading newspaper was waiting to click her with her husband for the Valentine’s special series 'City's Ideal couple'.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Ay Hairathe Aashiqui...

I was in second year when I first heard this song and I quite liked it. The music was nice, it was soothing that’s all mattered to me then. I would listen ( I still do ) again and again without bothering about the deep and meaning lyrics.

I don’t know when and why exactly I started listening to this number for its lyrics but I every time I hear it I smile.

Ay hairathe aashiqui jagaa mat
Pairon se zameen zameen laga mat

I love the feeling of being in love , please don’t ever wake me up and let my feet touch the ground.

True. I guess I know how it feels being in love. You still hold the feeling even when you forget the person. It makes you want to fly. The world around becomes so beautiful even it’s illusory and you never want to come back to real world. I can live in that feeling all my life.

kyon urdu faarsi bolthe ho
das kehthe ho do tolthe ho
jhooton ke shehenshah bolo na

Why can’t you just say what you mean?

kabhi jhaankhon meri aankhen
sunaaye ek daastaan
jo honton se kholna

Need I say everything? Look into my eyes and you will see what you mean to me :P

do chaar maheen se lamhon mein
do chaar maheen se lamhon mein
umron ke hisaab bhi hothe hain

I can totally relate to that line. I have been into moments which feel like lifetime and what would I not give up to live those moments again.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

JLF Action

I am writing this for Pesto and just for pesto. So, my bedardi Raja your lit fest queen is here with all her actions and reactions. It all started in January 2008 when I read a story on Jaipur Literature Fest in India Today (My future employers). And little did I know that I will get to work in Jaipur. Before I write my lit fest adventure I want to thank my editor. Because it was because of her I got chance to attend lit fest as a journalist. And I might attend lit fest again and again but then first time is always first time! One resignation letter changed my life and I am glad that I didn’t let her down ( Well, I would like to believe that) and I also know that she will never read this. I might sound rude, arrogant and you name it but I hold very high regards for her and I am not drunk.

My preparation for lit fest started almost 10 days before it was started. I was all set with my list of authors I wanted to interview and I had already spoken to some musicians and actors who were going to be the part of fest. But out of 12 I could speak to only four.

So with that media pass hanging around my neck I was all set for the day one. Looking at that enormous crowd, first question that cropped in my mind was ‘Are they really here to attend those sessions.’ DU girls dressed in attempt to look ‘different’, aunties wearing dresses that were showing their bra straps, guys with spikes, long and coloured hair, I could see all kind of creatures. And of course those Media people. And there were was Ritu Kumar stall and food stalls almost everywhere. Is that why they say ‘Jaipur is all lit up’.

Well, I too had my clothes and shoes ready for the occasion but thanks to my fractured toe, I lost all the enthusiasm. And I was there with my shabby look!

Rushdie coming or not was the story every media house wanted to run on day as if those 258 authors who were already there didn’t matter to them at all. Rushdie was never on my agenda list (I was NOT supposed to write about him).

There were four venues at Diggi Palace, namely Front lawns, baithak, Mughal tent and durball hall where they had back to back sessions. It was jam packed and people were confused where to go and so was I. But then I was not there to attend sessions but to... well I was not sure what was I doing there. I found an awesome place called Press terrace which was reserved for Media people and almost all the authors were coming there for Media interaction after their sessions but all the overzealous media (Mind you, not me) was interested was RUSHDIE. And then came the organiser only to announce that Rushie is not coming. And then I could see everybody breaking the story from their laptops, ipad and what not.

Authors were pouring in after sessions and I didn’t know what to do with them. I cosawuld see an attractive face, she was Kamin Mohammaddi. I googled her and hell yeah she was a perfect page one material for the four page supplement I work for. She is a broadcaster who also writes about fashion and has recently written a book called Cypress Tree( my current read) which has nothing to do with fashion. I immediately prepared my questions and I was ready for interview which went quite fine. The room inside the press terrace where systems were kept was full and I was lucky to find a corner on floor for myself. Sunil Sethi, the host of NDTV Bookshelf was also there and was shouting like crazy , I don’t know why.

Lunch and dinner was free for Media people and of course authors. Food was not great but they were serving Sula wines but then I was on job.

The evenings at Lit fest are dedicated to music and I was supposed to interview some of the musicians during lunch time but hell I couldn’t catch hold on them on day one and I paid heavily for it. End of day one and I reached office at 10:30 hungry and tired but damn excited.

I knew what to expect on day two. I was loving each and every moment of it. I was comfortable at my adda ( Press terrace ) with my cigarettes and chai. Authors and Bollywood people all were coming there for Media making things easy for us. And during lunch I found musicians too. Day two was smooth. Also I stayed back for dinner and some wine!

Day three was even smoother, more celebs , more authors, more food and more cigarettes except I started chumming.

I was supposed to cover book launch of some designer which was out the lit fest venue on day four. Now that was a problem, reaching there after so much of running was a real pain, but then did I have a choice?

Day five was easy and it was once again Rushdie. The video conferencing thing pulled some Moulanas outside Diggi palace but everything was sorted out. I was roaming around and meeting people. Also, I interviewed Rahul Bose. Nothing exciting about him. And then I was told that I will be covering party meant for writers and mind you the place had more jaipur Faaltu page three people than writers.

So, Pesto this was lit fest for you through my eyes. I loved it, I loved it to the core and I got memories I will cherish till I am alive. And I am already waiting for JLF 2013! And I will look sexy

Friday, January 6, 2012

Life is beautiful

Not that he was the most attractive guy ( man) in the entire party. But my eyes were glued to him. There was something about him- it was the way he was dancing. He was so engrossed in those rhythms, it seemed like world beyond those beats and lyrics didn’t matter to him. His steps were saying he had a deep knowledge of music.

He was dancing alone. Yes, I wanted to ask him for dance. “Shall we dance,” I went to him and asked. “Wait a minute. Now say”, he said after plugging those hearing aids he had in his pockets

Thursday, December 29, 2011

L I F E

Black coffee. Green tea

skipping gym. Greasy food

Work Problem colleagues. Dream, loads of it

Smoke. Vodka

Bitchy roommates. Dream of living in one RK

Fuck I am single. Thank god I am single

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

This is dedicated to all those

Who watched wake up Sid and dreamt of living alone

Who is living with roommates and tired of hearing their Boyfriend Puran

Who work hard and still get all the flak at work

Who wake up every morning with a question "what do i cook today"

Who live on Maggie and worries about her weight

Who doesn’t like washing her clothes and eventually sit with piles of clothes one weekend

Who sit in coffee shop and look at the couple sitting next to her from the corner of her eye with a book in her hand

Who sleep and wake up with her laptop

Who hate romantic songs

Who watche movies all alone


Inspired by this. But hell, her list is much happening

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

of internet , roommates and their boyfriends and cooking

I must say internet has made me really dumb. The first thing I do in the morning is to check the online edition of the paper I work with to see if my byline is there. And then I do all the useless stuffs, like FBing, Gtalk and all that jazz. Not that I am a social butterfly but still I don’t know why I check FB status every minute and I don’t even chat! It’s been nine months since I last read a book and I have all the time in the world! OK, I am not getting my MTS recharged next month.

It was my off and I ended up doing stuffs I did not want to do, yes I was glued to my laptop. All my roommates eagerly wait for their offs while I am only better when I am working. They all have boyfriends, some are in the same city some are not. Those who are here have gala time and those who are not here have their weekly dose of “ muaah and I love you” on phone. Great. So, the moral of the story clearly is – No boyfriend, no life. That’s fine , what is not fine is the ‘sympathetic’ words I get to hear from these girls time to time. You will also get one soon. Why do you want to have a boyfriend when you old enough to get married and hell like that.

There’s one roommate who shares each and every detail of her sex life like she and her boyfriend are the only creatures on the planet who ever had sex. My god I find that a bit cheap, it’s fine once in a while but why to talk about it everytime you do it!

And thank god I never get offs on Sundays else it would have been so boring. I mean imagine being alone in the flat when others are having fun with their men. Weekdays are no different, they would not go for movies as they always watch movies their boyfriends only. They won’t out to eat because they have to meet their boyfriends. And even if they do, they would call their boyfriends too and it’s definitely no fun watching them holding hands, hugging and kissing. Sigh

Yes, they only think of me when their boyfriends ditch them. Obviously they know I have nobody to go out with!

But man these girls have pataoed nice guys. They get their girls loads and loads of chocolates and I eat most of them.

And cooking, it’s fun but what I don’t like is vegetable shopping. I stock up and they finish so fast! And also I hate dish washing. But cooking is much better than eating outside. And I haven’t learnt to make perfect roties.