Just About Everything

Barfi is a well made film. Directed by Anurag Basu, the film is about the friendship and  romance between a mentally challenged girl, and a deaf and mute boy. There are twist and turns in the film. The parts that could have been better were the portrayal of the flashback scenes. The way some of the scenes were going back and forth, it did add to some confusion. The good part was the uninhabited acting by Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra.Their innocent fun and  romantic ways was quite refreshing to watch. Ranbir's falling in love with a beautiful young girl Ileana, their romance, and struggle was also nicely depicted. Both Ranbir and Priyanka are brilliant in the film. I was quite impressed with Ileana's acting as well. She definitely ahs a screen presence and is beautiful. It is definitely a one-time watch. The comedy parts will remind you of Charlie Chaplin moments at times. Ranbir was really good in all aspects; whether comedy or romance, he just performed extraordi...

I am sharing some pictures of domesticated and wild animals of Ladakh, India. Yak, Ladakh, India Bactrian Camel, Ladakh Pashmina Goat, Ladakh Pashmina Goat, Ladakh Himalayan Marmot, Ladakh Himalayan Red Fox, Ladakh Kiang Wild Ass, Ladakh Woolly Hare, Ladakh, India

Ladakh remains to this day, one of the most beautiful places that I have visited. The memories of my visit to Ladakh, which happened quite some time back (when I was in school), is still etched in my mind. If you like traveling, Ladakh should definitely be in your list of "places to visit in India". The breathtaking beauty cannot be easily described, it has to be felt. Ladakh landscape Ladakh, India My father was posted in Leh for two years. Family was only allowed during summers. That's how we ended up visiting Leh in June. We spent almost a month in Leh with my dad. And during our stay we visited a lot of places in Ladakh. Just thinking about Ladakh makes me want to visit it. My cousin, Soma, who went to Ladakh, not so long back, clicked some really nice pictures of the beautiful Ladakh landscape (I am sharing some of the pictures taken by her)

With the onset of September, the festival time begins... "Ranna poojo", or  cooking festival, is not a well-known festival but is celebrated widely across West Bengal.It is celebrated on the same day as Vishwakarma puja, usually around the middle of September. The households prepare for this festival by cleaning up with home almost a month before the festival day. The whole house is cleaned; starting from bedding to all the washable items in the house are washed and dried. The floors of the house are scrubbed cleaned too. In this festival, Oshtonag or the Snake God /Goddess is prayed. The scientific reason behind this festival is quite interesting. During monsoons especially in villages, this festival is usually celebrated by villagers, ponds get over-flooded and there are incidents of snakes entering houses very often. Since, most of these household kitchens have stoves which are made of mud; snakes find these stoves ideal for hiding.  The cleaning of the whole house...

Sunbird There were Sunbirds and Bulbuls in our garden today. What a wonderful sight! There is nothing quite like nature. The sights and sounds of nature are so therapeutic and peaceful. Birds in our garden have become so rare that I wonder where the birds have gone! Our growing population has ensured that we do not share space with these wonderful creatures who seem to be rarely seen. Other than crows and sparrows (I think their numbers are going down too), I can't see any other birds in our garden anymore!  Bulbul Sunbird

Bandstand, Mumbai Posting some pictures from my short trip to Mumbai last week. I enjoyed eating and hanging out at Candies in Bandra (West). It is mostly a hangout for college students.The food is great. I liked the continental food and the yummy desserts! I was hoping it would rain, but unortunately it did not rain for the couple of days that I was there.The sea side is so much more beautiful when it rains. Bandstand Mumbai Candies, Bandra (West) Candies, a popular joint in Mumbai Assortment of delicious cookies Mumbia Skyline in Powai Rain clouds

When I saw the news yesterday, about the murder of a young girl, Pallavi, in Mumbai, in her own flat, it made me very sad and very-very insecure. What do you do when your protector turns against you? We are not safe in our homes, we are not safe when we are outside our homes; Are we safe anywhere? Even if you are living in a house full of people, you are not safe, let alone women who live all by themselves! Because of safely issues many of us consider shifting from our independent homes to multistory multistory buildings, where we think we are completely secure, after all there is 24X7 security, power back-up etc. So how do we ensure that we are completely secure? I don’t know if we can ever do that. The truth I guess is that we can never be completely secure. This heinous murder just showed us how easy it is for anyone to walk into our bedrooms. It is scary but that is the truth. We can’t be vigilant all the time. This can happen to any of us! The...