Angels in the studio

I was seeing Indian Idol and thought, omg, Sunidhi is hot. That’s when I realized that there is a new breed of Indian playback singers who have some amazing looks in addition to the cherubic voices. So I thought of compiling some singers whom I know who share the aforementioned characteristics. And starting with…

Sunidhi Chauhan

This “rukhi rukhi” girl has come a long way since her debut. I started to pay special notice to her songs after listening to her in “Meri zindaghi mein aaye ho” from Armaan. Just stole my heart! My latest craze, “Chor bazari” is also hers. And of course, she has some killer looks!

Shreya Ghosal

Her singing is legendary. Not many singers have won four national awards by the age 25. After a nose job, extra make-up, and doing something with hair thingy, she is looking very cute nowadays!

Reena Bharadwaj

This London based girl has been a consistent fixture in ARR’s troupe. Remember “main vari vari” from Mangal Pandey or “baba kichu kichu tha” from Rajnikanth’s starrer Baba? Yup, it’s the same person. Not that we have to give such an introduction to her anymore. Her “Khilli Re” in Raavan for ARR is enough for the rest of the world to sit up and take notice. And just look how cute she is guys.

Mamta Mohandas

This south Indian actress is also an acclaimed singer. She has given some very peppy numbers, and the most famous of them all is “Daddy Mummy” for Vijay starrer Villu. Doesn’t look bad either, does she?

Andrea Jeremiah

Ok , now I just love this girl. She debuted in Gautam Menon’s Pachaikili Muthucharam opposite Sarathkumar, and immediately made the industry to notice her. But she saved her best looks for Aayirathil Oruvan. For the northies, She has lent her voice for “zara zara” song from Rakhee. But, this blog is not to about the singing talent anyway. Her song “maalai neram” for the movie Aayirathil Oruvan (Tamil) is one of my most favo songs

Anusha Mani

I discovered her during the latest IIT-saarang fest when she came along with Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy to perform. The “lazy lamhe” girl! So good looking na! She is also on facebook, if any of you crazies out there do care.

Shrradha Pandit

Not much to talk about her w.r.t songs, but she has a decent discography. Perhaps one of her better songs is “Aarti” from Dilli-6.

Tanvi Shah

This Jai ho girl needs no introduction!

Know any one else? Share the details in comment section.

My Kerala trip

So we 11 booked tickets for Kerala on March 3rd for April 1st- April 4th, or we thought we did, without knowing where we need to be. The waiting list; 221-231 on one of the busiest weekends of the year, Easter. With the day nearing, many of us weren't sure if we would be able to make the trips with projects and personal life trying to act as the spoil sport. With Arul Raj and Krishna bailing out at the last moment, 9 of us (Ram,Zaheer,CT,Me,Madhavan,Balaji,Nanda,Balaji and Prabhakar) finally managed to catch the Trivandrum express on April 1st at Chennai railway station. Or we thought we did. Ram, Balaji and CT decided to start the trip on high "spirits", and hence in order to buy them, they sacrificed their RAC seats in the train to come in unreserved in the next train. You guys!!! Not that rest of us complained anyway, the TTE was kind enough to give those seats to us. Btw, I believe that the train carried some of the most beautiful Indian women. My dear desi girls! You are soooo darn beautiful. muuuuuuuaaaahhhh.
Next day, we got down at a place called Changanaseri, some 25 km from Allepy. Deciding to be frugal, we took a government bus to Allepy or Allapuzha. After having an excellent breakfast, we waited for the Les Miss-erables. They came, and we were about to scold, and then they opened the bag to show the "bounty" and we went, "awww you guys!" From there, we had only one place to go. The one place where we always wanted to go after seeing Vinnai thaandi Varuvaya. The boat house.

Thanks to contacts of Krishna, we had a good deal on the house boat. To say the house boat was awesome is an understatement. It had a steering deck, 3 air-conditioned double bedrooms with attached bathrooms, a kitchen, and wait for it, a closed roof terrace with LCD tv, dvd player and a DTH connection. Then the other two heroes joined us from Bangalore. Harish and Krishnan. The party is complete...but our party has just started. Allapuzha is awesome guys. There is something about the sight with water all round and us in the middle. The afternoons and evenings were awesome, and we all were sharing good banter. Cooking was excellent; oh btw, we had in house cooks too. The evening was really awesome, and the sight of sun setting in the far west, was breathtaking. We decided to anchor around 6 PM. Some of the guys decided to jump into water (with life jackets ofcoz) for some swim. 8 P.M. and it we decided to watch...well wat else...IPL.

April 3rd. Day 2. 06:00 hrs. We came back to the place where we started, the aptly named "finishing point." Of coz, after coming there we all were scratching our heads wondering where to go from there, and Krishnan made the sweetest offer, "come to my home guys." Only that it was in Trivandrum. Did that deter us, hell no! We caught a 07:15 train leaving for Trivandrum, and reached there around 10:00 AM. There is just something about a home that is soooooo soothing. I mean, you can be in the greatest of hotels, but you can never experience the warmth and comfort of a home. Home food, clean water=> heaven. After a small nap, we decided to go to the famous Kollam beach, some 18 km away. The beach was awesome!!! It was picture perfect, with a lighthouse built atop of rocks, and ofcoz bikini clad foreigners. Zaheer, Prabhakar and I decided to get into the water, with Balaji staying away coz he had an headache, and the rest decided to get themselves comfortable, very comfortable. Time just passes when you are in water. The beach was shallow for first 5-6 meters, and I must confess I had the best time ever in there. After 6 we caught multitude of transport to come back to Krishnan's home. We all were starving, and er...thirsty, so we all decided to hit a restaurant. With Harish zeroing on me (as usual), I decided to keep silent :D At 00:00 April 3rd, we were all walking back to home, again without knowing where to go after this. Some of us opined to start to Kochi, which is at a 6 hr drive, immediately, and enjoy at veega land on Sunday. Obviously Harish was pissed at our decision, as he couldn't join us as he had to catch an afternoon bus to head back to bangalore. Pissed at us, he cursed , but we started to bus station anyway.

After a 7 hour drive, we came to Kochi.Man...was it hot. It was man-it's-so-hot-i-need-to-get-into-a-freezer hot. We booked 3 small rooms to keep our belongings, and then after a small breakfast we went to veega land, on two share autos. Veega land is definitely not the largest theme park, as it is advertised, when you consider the total area under use. But you can't beat the scenery. Situated on top of a hill, it gives an awesome 360 degree view the lush green nature. So after general merriment, we start back to rooms so that we can pack our bags and catch a 00:50 train at Ernakulam leaving to Chennai. Or we thought we could. Couple of guys, in between their banter, asked, "dude..if it is 00:50, shouldn't the date be April 5th instead of April 4th as printed on the ticket." To which the reply was "the train is starting at Trivandrum at 20:30 hrs on Apil 4th." But still with lingering doubt, we decided to confirm. Zaheer, Ram and I went to railway station to enquire, and the railway chick was like, "dude, you are late by 24 hours." A wise man once said, never underestimate a fat guy's curse. Damn you Harish!! We are like, laughing at ourselves on this situation, and then decided to have tea. Anywhere, anytime, any situation is fun when your friends are around. There is this scene in Jab we met where Kareena situation, after escaping from goondas in train station, will pray to God, "Hey bhagwan, ...ab yeh din bore kardo." We all were praying for the same. After that with no where to go, we went back to our rooms and decided to sleep. We woke at 5:00 am, went to train station, got 9 tickets to Chennai on Allepy-Dhanbad express, and then came back to Chennai central at 10:00 PM. Phew, wat a journey, what a trip!!!

Whats life about anyway...

42. The answer by Deep Thought to the question "Ultimate question of Life, the Universe, and Everything" to the hyper intelligent, pan-dimensional beings. Unsatisfied, these creatures ask for a meaningful answer, and Deep Thought suggests that it will build a super computer that could provide one. And Deep Thought built Earth, only to be destroyed by Vogons before anyone could extract the answer to the ultimate question. This, the theme of Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy, is a light-hearted parody of humans for their search to find the meaning or purpose of life. How comical it may be, this book vividly describes the obsession we have in finding the answer to the ultimate question.

There are two types of people in this world; one who searches for the answer his entire life, and the other who assumes the answer and tries to spend his life accordingly. Apparently, religions say that there is a third type of people who actually do know the answer, but that is a different story and lets not get into that. So then, what is the meaning of our existence? Is it to prostrate before God and thank Him for the gift of life as the religions preach? Is it to attain the ultimate knowledge and use it for good as Aristotle, Plato and Kant concurred? Or is it just to wake up every darn day and try to do the same things all over again? It is actually this question which keeps us alive consciously. Imagine that if I know my purpose of life is to watch a Manchester United match at Old Trafford on December 12th 2016, will I bother about anything else? My example may be comical, but my argument is not.

It is said that the ones who managed to escape from the 9/11 attacks on twin towers are those who helped others to cross the road, waited to tie their shoes, and decided to skip a crowded train. Not to sound preachy, but what is there to our life if we don't bother to enjoy all the small things. For me life is definitely not a race. For me, life is like taking a gentle walk along the seashore, with my friends and family beside. I don't give a tiny rat's ass if I manage to come before or after anyone. I may not finish the race, but hell, I would have experienced a lot more than the guy who just kept on running only to roll over and die at the end without seeing the finishing line. There are two types of people in this world. I belong to the second type. My answer to the ultimate question? I exist so that I can feel the love around me. I love, therefore I am.

Many people have problems, worries and what not. Most of us, including me, try to look for God only when we are in a quandary. And we get so darn pissed at Him for not being there at that crucial time. If God were to solve all our problems when we pray, then what is the purpose of OUR existence. I believe that the answer to this question is never meant to be found, at least in our life on Earth (or to any other planet to which we may go in future). As someone who was close to me used to say, the real fun of life is to expect the unexpected. Enjoy the journey of life, as it tells you so many stories, and perhaps, just perhaps, if you bother to listen to them keenly, you might find that your life has been telling you the answer to the ultimate question all along!

And the best actor award goes to...

"All the world's a stage
And all the men and women merely players..."
-by William Shakespeare in "As You Like It"

Shakespeare used this monologue to portray the various stages of womanhood in his play. However, this phrase of his is now often quoted to show how fickle humans have become. Each of us, more often than not, has to act to pass everyday of our existence. From waking up next to an unfaithful spouse, putting on a smile to the vagaries of an undeserving boss, agreeing to the whimsical perceptions of the society, and sacrificing the life for unappreciative children, we seem to wear a different character to help us get out, or at least maintain our sanity. Perhaps not many would accept a person for exactly what he his. Parents wish their kids study a bit better. Spouses hope their partners are a bit understanding. Our whole life seems to revolve around a ten letter word. Compromise. If I ask you the question "when was the last time you were yourself for on full day"? And if you happen to think really hard to answer, just sit back and think about the direction in which you are taking your life. Exactly, how deserving are our fellow actors to have our identity sacrificed for them? This question was asked to me by my conscience very recently. With my right brain displaying soap opera-esque emotion to this riddle, my left brain gently patted it and said "I'll take it from here."

According to my left brain, my analytical and logical syndicate, respectfully disagrees. The "acting" is our only ally in helping us to wither the everyday storm a.k.a our daily life. Ever since the collapse of the mythological "tower of babel", we humans have always struggled to communicate. Humans invented languages and customs which enabled them to pass a few thousand years of existence without much fuss. Then came the renaissance, then industrial and now we are in the nuclear age. Now it is not enough to communicate. To use the business term, we must communicate "effectively." And all of it need not be acting. For so many years people have grown up with their own customs, and for us to know them better, we have to come to a common ground. This is where "acting" helps. We are not changing our self, but merely performing a part for a specified amount of time so that both us and others could derive maximum benefit of our meeting. And after this specified time, we need not be acting at all. My left brain concludes that instead of considering acting as a noun which means "performing a role", consider "acting" as an adjective which means "serving temporarily especially as a substitute" as in "the acting President."

"Objection your Honor", interrupts my right brain, my source of impetuousness, imagination and emotion. Oh by the way, I am the "honorable" one. As per right brain, in the current fast moving world, we have to put on so many acts together, which sometimes even overlaps; we really do not have time to "clear the makeup." In fact, we become so tired of changing we decide to stay with the character(s) we portray for some time. And invariably, the time to remove the makeup, the masks and the costumes never comes. We end up being someone else for the rest of our lives.

Both my left and right brain look at me expectingly (and respectfully :D) for my verdict. Well, honestly I agree and disagree with both of them. There really can't be a black or white about this as the world we live in is far from ideal. We might have to rely on both of them to help us tread on this gray path. The right brain, which I consider to be white for its pure emotional thinking, and the left brain, the black for its cold calculation and practicality, mixing together to help us. Perhaps that’s why the gray matter in brain is called "gray" matter, a proper mix of black and white. There is a reason why we are the most advanced (known) species; we evolve, with the help of our gray matter. Personally, I always like to give a chance. Initially, I had let my right brain to guide me, and many a time I got hurt in trying to understand what people are really about. But those who saw me beyond all that have remained my close to me. And now, my left brain helps me to quantify these results and store them in a safe place as "experiences" so that next time I come across one such role, I am well prepared to play my part. However, I myself don't change; I just project myself in a way the rest will like to see. I am not acting; I am merely performing an illusion. What about you?