My Report Card

Ahem!!!! My report card for the holiday I just had, which vanished into thin air...I just didn't realize that it was time to go back to work again. Now- Now - Now- To begin with, I followed a good friend's advice and also decided to enjoy the vacation as long as it lasts and not just keep ticking off my list. :-). Remember the list which I had made HERE, well here's what it is -->

Anyways, here's what it is:

1. I had decided to blog daily for the month of October, 11 as a part of a Blogger Challenge. Well- I blogged for a little more than half a month but come Diwali and I just forgot all about it.

2. Cooking / Baking: Well, I didn't go all exotic and stuff as much I'd like to do, but yes  COOK - I did. 3 meals a day. All the time.:-P

3. Guitar: Well, my sessions did pick and I have improved with my chords progressions and can even strum and hum a song or two *collars rolling up*

4. Photography: Well, the only photography I did was during Bhaiya Dooj and our family visit to Taj Mahal, Agra. I clicked like crazy. :-) And no - I did  not try to learn Photoshop :-P

5. Shopping / Cleaning / Dusting - NOW THAT - I did with full gusto. My home was sparkling and most importantly clutter free. *pats my own back*

6. Healthy regime - Ummmmm.....uhhhhhhhh *Still thinking*..... ummmmmm....uhhhhhh...*suffers from selective amnesia now* !!!!

7. I collated all my old photographs and re-organized them - ready to be printed and pasted. Scouting for a good deal. Got more than1000 photographs to print. Help required here. If any of selective, few readers who know a studio who could give me a good deal please get in touch :-)

8. Plants: *crying* :-( Well- they have all died thanks to the 15 days spent with my family and In-laws in Delhi :-(. The only survivor of this drought is my precious Christmas Tree !!!!

9. Read I did :-). Will be posting reviews on them soon. Currently reading Argumentative Indian by Amartya Sen. So far - I am liking it.

10. All in all, it was a good break. After a long long time, did I find so much time to gether to so do so much of Nothing. And I - terribly enjoyed it :-)

Yes - I could have been more active, could have extracted more....but I went slow...at my pace...with leisure and loads of pleasure ;-)

Cheers!!!!

Rockstar

There are a lot of things which worked for Rockstar and lot of which didn't. I, for one, didn't like the movie as much as I thought I would like. I was fairly disappointed. 

Well, to begin on a positive note, A R Rehman has composed some excellent music. There's variety of music and very soulful and addictive music. There's Kun Faya with a sufiana touch and the wonderful jugalbandi between the shennai and the guitar played onscreen by Late Shri Shammi Kapoor and Ranbir Kapoor. The song 'Sada Haq' takes some time getting used to but catches up wonderfully once you get the hang of it. 

As much as the music is wonderful, the singer Mohit Chauhan does apt justice to the compositions. Both - the composer and the singer have done a wonderful job with the music. Some of the music easily reflects a 'Jab We Met'.

Ranbir Kapoor is a natural. With each performance, he is improving by leaps and bounds. He easily fits into the role and does wonderful justice to it. Sometimes, more even when the script gets weak in between the movie becomes slow. There are places of boredom in between. Probably, the script / screen play  should have been tackled in a more effective manner.  

Nargis Fakhri could have very easily been avoided. She did not bring anything new to the table. It could very easily be one our own desi heroines. Dialogue delivery is such an effort and so in the process, the expressions are not happening. Sometimes, I wish, we'd get over our 'thing' with the firang face and the accent!!!!

More than Nargis Fakhri, I enjoyed the performance of Ranbir Kapoor's manager who advised him to get his heart broken to managing his contracts. 

Watch if you must but only for the music and Ranbir Kapoor's performance.

Rating: 3 / 5

The End of the Blogger Challenge

I had participated in a Blogger challenge for the entire month of October, 11. A bunch of bloggers got together via twitter and started to blog   for various reasons!!! I got in this simply because, one, I had never participated in a blogger challenge before, two, I wanted to improve on my writing skills and three push myself to write something worthwhile once a day. 

But...but...but...mother of all But's... *no pun intended*.... Diwali happened. It happened with my immediate family, in laws and all the gang of outlaws - my relatives!!! My uncles and aunts and cousins!!! Phew!!! A friend of mine commented that I am going on a two week holiday to Delhi to get pampered - EXCUSE ME!!!!! I had no breathing space, everyday was different!!!! More on that later...

Anyways, coming to the point, giving no excuses, the challenge went for a toss :-(. I could not continue. Could not even check my mails and apologize for not contributing....found the time to do so only when I came back. I could post only for half of the month. Got to complete a story I wrote somewhere in between... got to thank all my blogger buddies I made... and wish to thank all of them, because the interaction with them has only made me richer!!!!