Wow - what can I say?
Today is a special day. Aditi turns 2 months, it is my grandfather's bday and we were all together today - me, my husband, my dad, my mom, my baby sis and ofcourse my baby, Aditi.
How time flies! I can't believe I'm a mommy! It is amazing that a little person depends on you so much... I am having a great time being a mommy!!
:) I hope we have as much fun in the next year!
Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year (in case I don't update the entries - I am afterall, a mommy now!)
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Aditi enters the world
It has been a long time since I wrote a blog entry. This is because I've been pregnant and have finally delivered my dear darling daughter Aditi last month. She is sleeping right now so I'm snatching some alone moments to record this entry. She is 19 days old today!!
It is so exciting becoming a parent. My husband and I are so enraptured by her that it is a sight to behold. And I think that it only gets better.
:) :) The sleepless nights, the staying awake during the day, the tireless efforts of her nani - egad, there is just so much activity around one little person. And it is all worth it !!
It is so exciting becoming a parent. My husband and I are so enraptured by her that it is a sight to behold. And I think that it only gets better.
:) :) The sleepless nights, the staying awake during the day, the tireless efforts of her nani - egad, there is just so much activity around one little person. And it is all worth it !!
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Exhibition at NGMA & Shesh Lekha
Well it is 150 years of Tagore's birth anniversary. One of India's nobel prize winners, at the NGMA they are displaying his works of art, alongwith those of his two brothers. His third brother was India's first Indian civil servant.
I liked the exhibition of Shesh Lekha - which was based on his poems. Massive watercolours, focusing on the sea and boats, made for good viewing. My husband and I managed to catch the exhibition on the last day.
Paresh Maity had done the exhibition. It was good. There were some pieces my husband and I didn't like. I liked his views of nature. It was awesome in its grandeur.
NGMA is a nice place to go to on a Sunday. I highly recommend it. Thankfully we don't have the same rush you see in other galleries, so you can take your time and see. You'll easily get parking and you can take your time. There are huge trees on the premises that one should admire as well. It is well located and a nice break from the hustle and bustle of Delhi's chaotic city life.
I just wished they advertised better. Their website is never updated for the new exhibits. You literally have to dig up things on your own. I know they say you can't expect much from government run things, but surely, how difficult can this be!?
I liked the exhibition of Shesh Lekha - which was based on his poems. Massive watercolours, focusing on the sea and boats, made for good viewing. My husband and I managed to catch the exhibition on the last day.
Paresh Maity had done the exhibition. It was good. There were some pieces my husband and I didn't like. I liked his views of nature. It was awesome in its grandeur.
NGMA is a nice place to go to on a Sunday. I highly recommend it. Thankfully we don't have the same rush you see in other galleries, so you can take your time and see. You'll easily get parking and you can take your time. There are huge trees on the premises that one should admire as well. It is well located and a nice break from the hustle and bustle of Delhi's chaotic city life.
I just wished they advertised better. Their website is never updated for the new exhibits. You literally have to dig up things on your own. I know they say you can't expect much from government run things, but surely, how difficult can this be!?
Friday, August 12, 2011
Zindagi Naa Milegi Dobara (2011)
Yups, the latest blockbuster, and I saw it.
Directed by Zoya Akhtar, the film follows three friends (plus one acquired along the way) as the journey across Spain doing adventure sports.
Simple? Not so.
A film for friends about friends, it tells you to sit back and enjoy life a little. After all, we are not machines. We are not just meant to work work work. Work is just one part of life. Life is not a part of work. We forget that most of the times!!
Because, as the film's title says, this life will not come again. In fact, the Sunscreen song is also full of the same wisdom that comprises the film.
"Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth" ... Baz Luhrman from the Sunscreen song
Directed by Zoya Akhtar, the film follows three friends (plus one acquired along the way) as the journey across Spain doing adventure sports.
Simple? Not so.
A film for friends about friends, it tells you to sit back and enjoy life a little. After all, we are not machines. We are not just meant to work work work. Work is just one part of life. Life is not a part of work. We forget that most of the times!!
Because, as the film's title says, this life will not come again. In fact, the Sunscreen song is also full of the same wisdom that comprises the film.
"Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth" ... Baz Luhrman from the Sunscreen song
Hazaro Khwaishey Aisi
I recently saw a two one act plays on the theme of temptation. Both were based on original stories by Premchand.
It was the first time I was seeing Premchand's writings in action, and frankly I myself don't know much about Premchand or his life. I've not read his books either, and I feel quite ashamed to say this.
But for his age and times, he was far ahead in thinking. An astute judge of human character, both plays I saw were a tribute to the baseness of human nature. In one, a dirty old man forgets his promise to his wife and looks instead at fulfilling his desires. In the other, jealousy and bitterness take over till the realisation dawns that what may satisfy one may not satisfy the other. How can someone be happy leaving the house in the morning and come back home hating the same place?
Is happiness relative on other people being miserable?
That's not the way one should live their life.
It was the first time I was seeing Premchand's writings in action, and frankly I myself don't know much about Premchand or his life. I've not read his books either, and I feel quite ashamed to say this.
But for his age and times, he was far ahead in thinking. An astute judge of human character, both plays I saw were a tribute to the baseness of human nature. In one, a dirty old man forgets his promise to his wife and looks instead at fulfilling his desires. In the other, jealousy and bitterness take over till the realisation dawns that what may satisfy one may not satisfy the other. How can someone be happy leaving the house in the morning and come back home hating the same place?
Is happiness relative on other people being miserable?
That's not the way one should live their life.
Having a kiddie
Well, yups, that stage of life has come.
30 weeks into the pregnancy, with the baby kicking away, it is indeed a miracle how human life comes into being. It's fascinating, and at the same time a humbling experience. You feel powerful and yet so vulnerable - that one being totally depends on you for its existence. And that you too were at this stage once in your life - that your parents raised you; did the doctor's appointments just as you are doing; the blood donations (aka blood tests); the ultrasounds....
We kid around a lot, my husband and I do. We keep telling the baby who loves the baby more, who will take care of the baby, how we irritate eachother... how the baby should only support one of us in our fights...
Loved even before we've seen the baby... amazing how human life is!!
30 weeks into the pregnancy, with the baby kicking away, it is indeed a miracle how human life comes into being. It's fascinating, and at the same time a humbling experience. You feel powerful and yet so vulnerable - that one being totally depends on you for its existence. And that you too were at this stage once in your life - that your parents raised you; did the doctor's appointments just as you are doing; the blood donations (aka blood tests); the ultrasounds....
We kid around a lot, my husband and I do. We keep telling the baby who loves the baby more, who will take care of the baby, how we irritate eachother... how the baby should only support one of us in our fights...
Loved even before we've seen the baby... amazing how human life is!!
Friday, July 1, 2011
Flipkart.com
There is a website that has picked up in India called Flipkart.com. And it is good.
You can get all the cheapest books there. I myself love browsing it, and it really is quite cost effective. Plus they home deliver!! What more could one ask for?
I've bought around 10 books from them so far. What I don't like is that no Indian website right now is selling second hand books - though there is a big market out there and can easily be tapped. Is it more difficult selling second hand books?
I wonder?
You can get all the cheapest books there. I myself love browsing it, and it really is quite cost effective. Plus they home deliver!! What more could one ask for?
I've bought around 10 books from them so far. What I don't like is that no Indian website right now is selling second hand books - though there is a big market out there and can easily be tapped. Is it more difficult selling second hand books?
I wonder?
Saturday, May 28, 2011
From a book I'm reading
From "Reading Lolita in Tehran" by Azar Nafisi
"That first day I asked my students what they thought fiction should accomplish, why one should bother to read fiction at all. It was an odd way to start, but I did succeed in getting their attention. I explained that we would in the course of the semester read and discuss many different authors, but that one thing these authors all had in common was their subversiveness. Some, like Gorky or Gold, were overtly subversive in their political aims; others like Fitzgerald and Mark Twain, were in my opinion more subversive, if less obviously so. I told them we would come back to this term, because my understanding of it was somewhat different from its usual definition. I wrote on the board one of my favourite lines from the German thinker Theodor Adorno:
"The highest form of morality is not to feel at home in one's own home."
I explained that most great works of the imagination were meant to make you feel like stranger in your own home. The best fiction always forced us to quesotin what we took for granted. It questioned traditions and expectations when they seemed too immutable. I told my students I wanted them in their readings to consider in what ways these works unsettled them, made them a little uneasy, made them look around and consider the world, like Alice in Wonderland, through different eyes."
"That first day I asked my students what they thought fiction should accomplish, why one should bother to read fiction at all. It was an odd way to start, but I did succeed in getting their attention. I explained that we would in the course of the semester read and discuss many different authors, but that one thing these authors all had in common was their subversiveness. Some, like Gorky or Gold, were overtly subversive in their political aims; others like Fitzgerald and Mark Twain, were in my opinion more subversive, if less obviously so. I told them we would come back to this term, because my understanding of it was somewhat different from its usual definition. I wrote on the board one of my favourite lines from the German thinker Theodor Adorno:
"The highest form of morality is not to feel at home in one's own home."
I explained that most great works of the imagination were meant to make you feel like stranger in your own home. The best fiction always forced us to quesotin what we took for granted. It questioned traditions and expectations when they seemed too immutable. I told my students I wanted them in their readings to consider in what ways these works unsettled them, made them a little uneasy, made them look around and consider the world, like Alice in Wonderland, through different eyes."
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Anish Kapoor in Paris
Yups, I was in Paris recently.
And I got to see the latest Anish Kapoor exhibit in the Grand Palais at Paris.
It was very unique and thought provoking. The Grand Palais itself is a lovely structure, built in 1900. Anish Kapoor's work dominated the structure, and I was glad that I made the effort to see it. I almost didn't - thinking I'd trade in my last evening at Paris and watch television instead in my hotel room. Even when I write this it sounds so stupid!! What was I thinking!!
I took a guided tour - and believe it or not, I got the nicest girl from the museum to translate for me! Plus there was a talk by Anish Kapoor which I also attended. I got back to the hotel pretty late - 10:30 PM, but it was well worth the visit, the effort and the walk back to my hotel down Champs Elysees!! :)
And I got to see the latest Anish Kapoor exhibit in the Grand Palais at Paris.
It was very unique and thought provoking. The Grand Palais itself is a lovely structure, built in 1900. Anish Kapoor's work dominated the structure, and I was glad that I made the effort to see it. I almost didn't - thinking I'd trade in my last evening at Paris and watch television instead in my hotel room. Even when I write this it sounds so stupid!! What was I thinking!!
I took a guided tour - and believe it or not, I got the nicest girl from the museum to translate for me! Plus there was a talk by Anish Kapoor which I also attended. I got back to the hotel pretty late - 10:30 PM, but it was well worth the visit, the effort and the walk back to my hotel down Champs Elysees!! :)
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Chores in Delhi
I had some work around Lodhi Road yesterday. As I was walking around getting things done - moving from the post office to the metro station, within my eye's reach was Safdarjung's Tomb. I've passed it many many many times, but usually I've been in a car or in a hurry.
Today neither was the case.
So I said, let's go in and see it. I regretting not having a camera, but since this was an unscheduled visit I thought, there will always be photo opportunities later!!
It is a small structure - but magnificent none the less. The gardens that surround it are lovely, and yes, here you will find heroes and heroines sitting under the shade of palm trees romancing eachother (towards the back of the mausoleum, in case any one is interested).
It's always a little eerie seeing a tomb. The dome above echoes all the little noises that surround it, and you feel like you are intruding on someone's slumber.
You almost forget that you're in the 21st century.
Today neither was the case.
So I said, let's go in and see it. I regretting not having a camera, but since this was an unscheduled visit I thought, there will always be photo opportunities later!!
It is a small structure - but magnificent none the less. The gardens that surround it are lovely, and yes, here you will find heroes and heroines sitting under the shade of palm trees romancing eachother (towards the back of the mausoleum, in case any one is interested).
It's always a little eerie seeing a tomb. The dome above echoes all the little noises that surround it, and you feel like you are intruding on someone's slumber.
You almost forget that you're in the 21st century.
Bharat Rang Utsav 2011
Yesterday me and a friend (or a friend and I) went to see a play which is running as part of the Bharat Rang Utsav 2011. I must say, that I've never seen a play at LTG on Copernicus Marg, but it was a decent enough auditorium.
The play was "The Dragon" and it looked at the impact of totalitarian rule on a populace. Lancelot, the knight in shining armour, would be the saviour of the town from The Dragon, an omnipresent and ruthless dictator, personified as a dragon.
The play was in Sri Lankan.
The entrance was spectacular, and it sent chills up your spine. I really liked the way they showed through music, art and acting how affected people were by The Dragon.
One disappointing aspect was that even though subtitles were promised, there were none. Just a summary of each scene was posted on the LCD screens that were positioned on either side of the stage. (That's btw how subtitles run in a play.) This was in stark contrast to Mareechka, where every line was translated.
A lot of people left as a result, which was unfortunate, considering the time and energy that had gone into the performance.
In Sinhala, the play translated means "Makaraakshaya".
The playwright is Yevgeny Shvarts. The director was Dharmasiri Bandaranayake. From the Director's note
"I decided to do a new production of this play in the year 2010, because I believe that we are still not too late to understand the catastrophe faced by the whole society. Today, are we not submitting ourselves and applauding the same old fascism that the whole world once united to turn to ashes? Does this play make us think? If not, then what else does it do?"
The play was "The Dragon" and it looked at the impact of totalitarian rule on a populace. Lancelot, the knight in shining armour, would be the saviour of the town from The Dragon, an omnipresent and ruthless dictator, personified as a dragon.
The play was in Sri Lankan.
The entrance was spectacular, and it sent chills up your spine. I really liked the way they showed through music, art and acting how affected people were by The Dragon.
One disappointing aspect was that even though subtitles were promised, there were none. Just a summary of each scene was posted on the LCD screens that were positioned on either side of the stage. (That's btw how subtitles run in a play.) This was in stark contrast to Mareechka, where every line was translated.
A lot of people left as a result, which was unfortunate, considering the time and energy that had gone into the performance.
In Sinhala, the play translated means "Makaraakshaya".
The playwright is Yevgeny Shvarts. The director was Dharmasiri Bandaranayake. From the Director's note
"I decided to do a new production of this play in the year 2010, because I believe that we are still not too late to understand the catastrophe faced by the whole society. Today, are we not submitting ourselves and applauding the same old fascism that the whole world once united to turn to ashes? Does this play make us think? If not, then what else does it do?"
Monday, January 3, 2011
A spectacular photo
Courtesy National Geographic Magazine, I came across these pictures of a spectacular cave structure found in Vietnam.I've always wanted to visit Vietnam and Cambodia, and funnily enough a comment on the website also said that these two countries were a must-see if anyone was interested.
New Years Resolutions:
1. Eat less chocolate
2. Walk for at least half an hour every day
3. Lose some weight!!
4. Cook well
5. Learn about my craft
6. Destress a little
7. And Travel Widely!!
:) :) :)
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