Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Responsive Reaction

Response :
- n. 1 an answer given in word or act; a reply.
2 a feeling, movement, change, etc. caused by a stimulus or influence.
3 (often in pl) Eccl. any part of the liturgy said or sung in answer to the priest. (From Latin responsum)

Reaction :
- n. 1 the act or an instance of reacting; a responsive or reciprocal action.
2 a responsive feeling (what was your reaction to the news?)
b an immediate or first impression.
3 the occurence of a condition after a period of its opposite.
4 a a bodily response to an external stimulus
b an adverse response to a drug
5 a tendency to oppose change or to advocate return to a former system.
6 the interaction of substances undergoing chemical change.

Find out more about this at responsivereaction

my new blog... ;)

Gliteratti!!

What can you imagine when you see people like Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu, Sanjay Dutt and Priyanka Chopra, Yash and Pam Chopra and Karan Johar, Poonam Dhillon and Yukta Mookhey, Mithunda and Madhur Bhandarkar from the Hindi Film Industry and then you have people like Ronit and Manasi Roy, Manini De with Purbi Joshi, Tarana and Shweta Tiwari, and to add to the masala you have Rakhi Sawant! Well, I'm certainly not talking about a meeting of the film fraternity with the Tele - Stars, it just so happens that I was a witness to my first ever Gliteratti event!

Kelvinator sponsored this GR8 Women Achiever's Awards 2007 for the 5th time this year and the function was held at ITC Grand Maratha Sheraton with the collaboration of the women's wing of FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry) that is FLO (FICCI Ladies Organisation)

At this event great women achievers in various fields like Medicine and Healthcare, Special Education, Archery, Writing, Journalism, Beauty, Music, Dance, Fashion, Banking, Fine Arts, Cinema, Advertising, Entrepreneurship, Finance were presented with awards for excellence that they have achieved in these respective fields.

A special mention of Minister Renuka Chowdhury for her political leadership, along with Saira Banu as a lifetime achievement award for her contribution towards the Hindi Film Industry, and also one for Ms Neelam Katara for her acts of indomitable courage were acknowledged and presented.

Apart from the actual function which went off well no doubt, what striked me as odd was the fact that after the function was over there was so much chaos with all the news reporters running after people taking interviews on all topics whether or not they were related! I mean, I overheard someone interviewing Mithunda on his comments for the Indian World Cup Team!! What kind of a context are we talking about, here is a programme where they're talking about starting a movement to help the girl child and all our media is interested in knowing are the comments from the glamour world to act as fillers for their shows.

The post - function scenario has left me slightly baffled about the effectiveness of trying to spread a word using the power of the celebrities but then all we can do now is wait and watch.

The programme incidently will be telecasted on Sony Tv on the 11th of March at 8:00 pm. :)

Sunday, February 04, 2007

Kala Ghoda

The Kala Ghoda, literally meaning, the black horse, symbolizes art, freedom of expression for many and for the rest it's just another part of town.

From the 3rd - 11th of February, there's a Kala Ghoda Festival happening in town.. and i literally cursed myself for not having gone to this beautiful place ever before in my entire 19 years on existence in this city. I had the pleasure of going there for the first day and i was able to capture variety of folk dances, right from Rajasthan, Manipur, Karnataka, Gujarat and lots more I had never even heard of before! Apart from folk dances, in the late evening there was a performance by Sandip Soparkar and his troupe which completely enthralled me.. People were swaying to his beats and moves right there standing in the audience, and the men, well they couldn't take their eyes off the women who so gracefully moved on the stage.

Apart from the performances, there are so many stalls where there's a lot of interesting stuff happening!

This is one festival which should be a must-watch for all those who can make it there!

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Sab Kuch Chaltaa Hain

if you had to describe the typical indian attitude (what it used to be) it would be this line, Sab Kuch Chaltaa Hain.. Although now people are rising up to the government and they're standing up for the issues they believe in, for most of the people this attitude still remains...

In a recent movie, there was this word TIA which meant this is africa, we say TII this is india...

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Sydenham Career Fair

The first image that comes to the mind of most people after reading that title would probably be something serious and boring, but then the reality is far more different..

How many times in your life have you heard discussions about your future, and how many times have numerous people asked you about your preferred career options and the university you prefer, etc?

Frankly, I'm sure each and every one has been bombarded with these questions till we have settled with a job and a stable career path.

and hence, we have organised this event in order to solve your doubts. In most of the events you will find that the events organised are primarily to ensure that the students organise an event and invite students to participate in the college. Here, the story is completely different. The focus of are entire event right from the start has beent the crowd and we have done as much publicity as we could afford to... :)

So for now, it's just upto how far we've gone with our publicity, I'm extending a sincere request to all the people who're reading this and are in bombay, please do come for the event. and make sure you invite your friends and parents as well.

:)

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Happy New Year!

I wonder what the whole hype about new year is.. Someone has so rightly said that New Year is the most over hyped event and definitely the most under satisfying event of the year...

In spite of numerous plans and elaborate menus, somehow things never click!

I don't know whether it's just with me, or is it the general phenomena.. But one thing i'd definitely say, the more the hype, the less the actual fun!

So here's wishing you all a very Happy New Year.. :)

Saturday, November 25, 2006

La cigale et La fourmi

For those of you who aren't familar with the french language, this story or fable rather is in english known as the cricket and the ant.

This was a fable that was told to us when we were young and in school when our connaissance de la vie (the knowledge of life) was very little. I've been learning french at alliance francaise and i have had the best professor, she's an amazing person who has got a lot of knowledge about literature, paintings and culture, and she's also got a very different point of view about things.

So, talking about the cricket and the ant, what do you remember? probably the same image that came to my mind when we started with this story.. What we learnt was the while the cricket was busy singing away and whiling away his time in summer, the ant was working hard to collect food for the winter. and then winter comes and the cricket goes to the ant for help as he has no provisions for the winter.. so moral of the story being, not to waste time and prepare for the future.

Now you may wonder as to why i have written a post on this, but the fact is, i came across this story in my french class and the thing was that this story written in french has so many nuances that it changes the perspective totally. obviously my prof, helped us see these nuances but once she mentioned them, it became obvious to us all.. so this is what i'm going to share with you'll..

The cricket is shown to be enjoying the summer by singing, dancing and playing in the summer while the ant is shown to be working and gathering food.. the interesting thing is that, if you decided to use these characteristics to conjure up images of people who'll fit them, what can you see ? this is what i saw, i can imagine the cricket as an artist, a painter, a writer or a poet.. artists are people who are expressive of the life within them and they merge that with the surroundings. the summer for the artist is a new life and a time to rejoice and that's precisely what the cricket did, his passion for singing and dancing was fuelled by the atmosphere and the surroundings and he did as he pleased, on the other hand, the ant reminds me of an employee who is tied down by the work that he has to do no matter what. he reminds me of the person who doesn't like what he has to do but does it because it's mechanical and it's needed to.

the cricket lives his life on his terms while the ant strives to exist. in the end, maybe the ant will survive through the winter, but what a life did he live! a life where he never enjoyed a moment, where he never experienced the joy and the beauty of nature.. par contraire the cricket might not survive the winter due to lack of food, but he lived the life he loved.. the artists do that usually don't they, they live their lives in misery and utter poverty only to find that after they're gone, their work is recognised..

i'm leaving you on this note, think, reflechir, because you need to stop and smell the flowers once in a while.....

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Senses

I see girlfriends hanging out together,
I see a couple walking together,
I see a family enjoying together,
and I see love.

I see the leaves flirt with the wind,
I see the trees trying to touch the sky,
I see the clouds shielding the sun,
and I see love.

I sense the touch of a hand,
I hear the sound of silence,
I see the moon kiss the sky,
and now I can feel the love.

Love is nothing but an emotion,
the one you can neither see nor hear,
for it is meant only to be felt,
'tis is love my dear...