Khano Ka Khan?? Tees Maar Khan!

     "Silent night, Holy night....."  the Christmas song in the background,yet its not a silent night! Whole of Singapore buzzing with activity. Hubby and I joined the crowd in Orchard Road on a Shopping Spree. Orchard, the epicentre for shopping . Series of Malls cramped with beautiful , expensive designer wear, electronic goods, and god knows what more..

Sipping on the hot 'TehTarik',in a local joint, "Coffee and Toast" we watched the crowd shop their way to madness! TehTarik means pulled tea, refers to the way its made.Tea is poured back and forth repeatedly between two vessels from a height, to thoroughly mix the tea with the condensed milk. It is also done to give the tea a better flavour. Teh= Tea, Tarik=Pull, Although Teh is a Mandarin word, Tarik is Malaysian..Then again, Singapore is multi-cultural so no surprise there..We walked around some more in the busy streets of orchard hunting for scented candles and window shopping.

Heres a glimpse of busy streets..

After a quiet dinner at Komalas, We headed to the theatres.. Tees Maar Khan.A movie gone wrong, thats what I would call it..I wont tell you the story of the movie, thats for you to watch. 

 I give you 3 words...Absurd, Wacky,Trashy... Except for the 'Sheila Ki Jawani' theres nothing much engaging in the movie. The movie is a series of meaningless, lousy jokes and painful one liners. 

"Copy karte student ko fail karna aur Tees Maar Khan ke dimag mein se chori ka plan mita na namunkin hai!"

"Kutte ke muh mein se haddi aur Tees Maar Khan ke hath se noto ki gaddi, dono cheenna bekar hai!"

and so on..Akshay Kumar the Con man  looks amazing, Katrina, the bimbo in the movie looks hot as usual, no acting skills needed in the movie. Akshaye Khanna, with his straight haired wig is a sight to see! 

Whats good about the movie? Cant think of any. The movie is a one time entertainer. The silliness of the movie would make it unbearable to watch it all over again.Overall a 2.5 out of 5.. (am I being generous there? )

Another Christmas gone by. Time to look forward to the new years!! More fun, more dreams, more to accomplish... 

Rhapsody of Christmas....

Its that time of the year again! Christmas is beautiful in Singapore.All the lights, the festivities, the crowd ... You can just feel the Christmas spirit everywhere..My Second Christmas in Singapore. Singapore is multi-cultural, yet Christmas is celebrated with such enthusiasm and vigor..
I celebrated Christmas last night with my colleagues at an enchanting Spanish restaurant- Esmirada @ Chjimes.


What an exquisite dining experience! The ambience, the food -a gastronomous experience. We arrived at the venue after work. 


Delectable dishes after dishes, and all of us chattering away , getting to know each other on another level.I am still a newbie, it was an ice-breaker for me. What touched me the most was that care was taken by my colleagues so that I was being served vegetarian food...I just love the place and the people..!


Anyway the dinner was a grand affair. The dinner menu was a feast to the eyes and the palate. After the delicious meal it was time to exchange gifts! How I love unwrapping gifts! I picked cute soft toys... On the way back home my colleagues even christened them... Chiku,Minku,Doggu... All Pics below in sequence of my wonderful, magical Christmas 2010.

JOY TO THE WORLD...!!

PEACE AND JOY! MERRY CHRISTMAS!- Joyeux Noël

A time for Reminiscence

At work a friend of mine brought up the subject. She asked me whether I had any emergency situations onboard any flight in Air Deccan... And that took me back in time...Like in the movies , flashback as they call it.
The vigorous emergency procedures , the grooming, the tests, the first aid training(particularly the CPR !).More than glamour the job revolves around safety.More than make-up time goes to fill in safety check list forms, performing safety procedures pre and post flight  ensuring passenger safety during flight. The job is more than just looking pretty and serving refreshments, its about being alert and keeping passengers safety first.Also sticking a plastic smile on your face even when the passengers are being obnoxious and impolite. I’ve found that working for an airline  has been one of the hardest jobs I ever had, and yet the most enjoyable.So what emergencies I had on board you ask? Can remember 3 major ones that I would love to share..

Flight delay/Cancellation:
It was the month of December. According to my roster,I was to fly Bangalore-Delhi-Bangalore flight on an Airbus(A320).We took off from Bangalore early morn and reached Delhi ,an uneventful flight..December time in Delhi can be very cold and foggy. At times the visibility drops to  'zero'. In such conditions the pilots are not allowed to fly for safety reasons. Our flight back to Bangalore was delayed due to dense fog which was not very uncommon.Delays in Air Deccan were not uncommon hahahaha.So we gals disembarked from the flight for a lay-over.. Little did we know that this would be a once in a lifetime experience..The Flight got cancelled again eventually as the conditions did not improve. The next morning we girls got the news that the weather conditions are still not favourable. Hence the continued delay. The aircraft sat at the tarmac for 2 whole days until we got the the thumbs-up sign to fly back to Bangalore.We were instructed to follow the security guards to enter our air-crafts..Why? The passengers who were stranded for 2 whole days were fumingly furious!The media was there, so were the TV Cameras..Its a sight I will never forget.. We were a crew of 4 girls being surrounded by the security guards protecting us from the angry ,threatening mob in the crowded terminals.The provoked passengers recognised the Air Deccan Crew by our uniforms and tried to pounce on us!I clearly remember a few chanting; "Air Deccan hai hai"
We reached the aircraft but the worst was not yet over. We had a fly back 180 angry passengers back to Bangalore! A two and a half hour flight of angry looks and mockery!! Luckily all the training and fake smiles got us through the day. Yet an horrifyingly unforgettable experience, almost being attacked by marroned irated crowd.

Cockpit window Crack:
Another Bangalore-Delhi-Bangalore flight. A320 flight.  (Why does it happen on Delhi flight? I wish I knew).After the flight announcements, headcount , safety demo with the passengers seated,their seat-belts fastened the plane was ready for a take off. We taxied alonng the runway. The 4 cabin crew seated in our respective stations.I was in the rear of the aircraft being the junior most among the crew. We were on our brace positions sitting on our jumpseats at the Galley area. And the purser informs us of the emergency situation on hand. The Pilot alerted the crew of a crack in the Cockpit window. The situation is serious than it sounds. As the plane flies to a higher altitude the pressure increases with altitude. The chances are the window might break complelety resulting in the rapid decompression. The oxygen inside the cabin depletes resulting in suffocation and ultimately death.The Captain took a wise decision of turning around immediately and landing  after getting the permission from the ATC(Air Traffic control). That day the aircraft was abandoned in the  ramp  to be serviced  and we had a lay-over.. again.The whole episode again horrifying as every minute was precious till we landed back to safety.Every minute praying for a safe landing at the same time recalling all the evacuation and safety & emergency procedures from our training days in case there should be a mishap. The pilot in commands presence of mind and all the prayers brought us back on sweet mother earth without a scratch whatsoever.. An amazing experience..

Fuel cap blew off during take off:
It was a 46 seater ATR 42-500, and guess what I was the only Cabin crew on board! Of course along with a Captain and a first officer. As far as my memory goes it was a Bangalore-Trivandrum-Bangalore flight. After all the pre-flight procedures , I took a head count finished all formalities and closed the aircraft door.The In-flight annoucements were done , also the safety demo showing the passengers how to fasten their seat-belts, how to use oxygen masks in case of decompression, how to use life-jacket in case of emergency. The passengers seated near the emergency exits were briefed how to operate the exits during an emergency. After the Captain-in-command announced the take-off I went back to my jump seat preparing the galley for the take off. The aircraft taxied along the runway and gained momentum for the take-off. While I was seated in my brace position I hear a commotion in the small bus-like aircraft. The seat-belts signs were on so it would'nt be right for me to unbrace and walk to the cabin. Yet curious about the passengers safety I walked my way to the emergency exit seats to find a panicky passenger sitting in the window seat yelling that he saw something fly off the wings. I was alarmed and immediatley informed the Pilot. All this while the aircraft was taking off! The pilot came to a safe alltitude and turned back to Bangalore to  land safely.The 'thing' the passenger saw flying off the wing was the fuel cap which would have proved fatal if the Captain had not decided to touch ground instantly. Either  we would run out of fuel soon while cruising OR the aircraft would explode mid-air . Phew...Was I scared?frankly  I dont remember..

The uniform in Air Deccan was pathetic!Compared to that of Kingfisher Red now that it is..I wish I had lots of picturesto show you.. But I have only a few to share..Back to my old ways???..Another post about ME   ;)

In Uniform...The only picture..

    Something happened last night.Something significant.

    I decided to change the way I write.For good. This place is always been about me(only).. I have  asked myself several times why not write about books , movies or music .Somehow I dont get down to do it.Travel & living would be a brilliant subject to write about.So would be lifestyle.. A lot goes into writing. For me its been just 'write and publish', . But real writing goes through a lot of edits a lot of sentences erased and rephrased.A draft sitting for days modified and redmodified and micro-modified(there! I penned a new word!).. A year and half of blogging was just writing a few words without any edits . Taking the easy way out.

   I am like a wild horse who needs blinders..To focus on my target. The target ,you ask? To write...Something serious and worthwhile. Maybe the frequency of posts will decrease as lot of work will go into 1 piece, but I want a materpiece rather than a bunch of worthless piece of crap. Priorities have changed, so has life.

     I dont know what I will write about, coz my favourite subject is 'me'.....hahhaaha but am sure this will open up horizons for me to look beyond just 'me'.Recently someone very dear to me said'I am running out of fuel..'Once in a while I have stimulating ideas popping into my little head, and they just vanish before I can transform them into words..

    My critic, mentor and technical guide ( teeheehee) Capt.Rao says its time I should do some serious writing, and I quite agree. On the contrary,I got a lot of readers only after I started writing about my life..Initial few posts were not about me and they did not receive any comments...Hmmmm now what does that imply??I will write in moderation about myself, my life and post interesting pictures, music videos sometimes.

     In journalism , the thumb rule is to write or present what the readers want..Nevertheless, its time.Time to focus on words than me now..

The Countdown has begun....

I have been pondering about what to write.....!  I sat in front of my laptop for several minutes, not having a clue what I wanted to write about.For me starting is the key.if I actually put down some words, chances are I’ll be able to continue.So here I am writing about 2010/2011.Another year gone by. Time sure flies fast. I made that statement last year here (click on here) during this time, and nothing has occurred during the past 365 days to change that outlook. 
 Its time for a short review of 2010. Could things have been better? Did I try hard enough? New year resolutions are always 
short lived. Today I will sit back and see how my resolutions worked out..

1. Got a better job                                             
2. Need to be more assertive    ( X )
3. Eating right    (???)                                                                        
4. Saving money  (Yes, saving for a month and spending in one go!)
5. Reduce Stress (Ya Right !! )     (  X )
6. There'll never be the end of scrapbooking..
7. Still trying to be MORE independent, almost there..
8. Learn something new? EVERYDAY!
9. Be less grumpy? I think this area need hell lot of improvement! ( X )
10. Yeah! continued French..and will through 2011..
11. Yes! Joined Guitar Classes too
12. Anger Management?? NO luck there....not yet..  (   X  )
13. Pampered myself... 
14. Blogged more often

Now thats 10 out of 14!!!!! I guess 2010 was a success!!!! 

Its time to make few more resolutions and look forward to another new year. I wrack my brain to think of resolutions to improve my life

1. Get Organised
2. Watch more movies
3. Get more positive
4. Lose 5 Kgs
5. Get more creative
6. Love myself more
7. Improve Cooking Skills   
8. Stop nagging/Cribbing(Yes I know I do that ...)
9. Buy more Shoes     
10. Own as many Prada bags, glasses..         
11. Stop giving my opinion on everything..   unless asked for..            
12. Donot waste time.......                                                                                                               Thats all I can think of... Maybe 2012 will have many more in the list. So What do you wanna do for 2011??

FRIENDS - Guitar Cover

This song was originally sung by The Remembrandts. But the only reason I know this song is because am a diehard fan of the series F.R.I.E.N.D.S  . I have watched every season, every episode and just love all the characters in this sitcom.

The lyrics for this song:


So no one told you life was gonna to be this way. 
Your job's a joke, you're broke, you're love life's DOA. 
It's like you're always stuck in second gear, 
Well, it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, or even your year. 


But, I'll be there for you, when the rain starts to pour. 
I'll be there for you, like I've been there before. 
I'll be there for you, cause you're there for me too. 


You're still in bed at ten, the work began at eight. 
You've burned your breakfast, so far, things are going great. 
Your mother warned you there'd be days like these, 
But she didn't tell you when the world has brought you down to your knees. 


That, I'll be there for you, when the rain starts to pour. 
I'll be there for you, like I've been there before. 
I'll be there for you, cause you're there for me too.

I could have done better, but the lighting , my mood  and the timing was just not so good.And so many chords too.. Yet, am happy that I did something productive this weekend too..

Glimpses of My World.

A well-fed Cat near my house 

A view from my desk in office..13th floor..

A messy desk is a sign of orderly mind :)

Alliance de Singapour..

Class in Progress.

In class- a good student.

A Pictorial presentation of my life this week... Words are not colorful enough..

Sunidhi Chauhan Live in Concert !

Singapore rocked to the Bollywood beat Saturday night(Nov 20th).The phenomenal Sunidhi chauhan live in concert!The venue was Esplanade, beautiful Art Performing Centre.

ESPLANADE

The  concert began with the proclamation from the MC that we have legend in the house – “Kuch  Kalaakar ,stage ke liye bante hain, aur kuch stage, Kalaakar ke  liye !”Any music lover would need no introduction to this singing Diva...!

A Glimpse of the stage before the concert

 Sunidhi sang her array of hits like Chaliyya Chaliyya, Beedi.By the time she hit Crazy Kiya Re the audience went crazy.The Desi girl looked ravishing, gorgeous, sensational!! The audience just couldnt get enough of her!Her energetic performance, the ambience, the lights, the crowd literally gave me the goosebumps..Just listening to her sing the fast-paced songs made the audience go bonkers  ...Particularly the slow numbers made me nostalgic .Its not just her voice that created magic, but her dance moves too.... A complete stage performer!

She really worked up the stage and got the crowd going.What caught my eye in this concert was not all were Indians! Many seemed like Malaysians ,also there were a  few Firangis...  shaking  their heads to the rhythm..I wont go  much into the intricasies of the concert. All in all ,the best one till date.Even Sonu Nigam Concert doesnot come up to the mark!Next in my list?? An Opera and French Theatre!

This is the best we could do.Clicking pics are not allowed inside . 

COURTESY I-PHONE  :)

Hypocrisy,Thy name is..

The feminist in me is struggling to come out...
I keep thinking about the women in the 70's and today... Lets face the truth..Women were mainly seen as a possessions.. still are...!Women have given up more and gotten less.They are considered as good wives only if they cook, clean and reproduce. like the women in olden days..
.Olden days women used to love cooking...why? The bitter truth...because the husbands  went to work ,women were  house-wives with only cooking skills!They knew nothing else about the outside world as they were confined to their homes,doing domestic chores and milking their cows.. Not much human contact as houses used to be far apart from each other, sometimes miles apart.. With only cooking and cleaning to do and raise kids,thats what comprised their whole world.Women those days loved to have company at home because it was rear...Women even looked forward to all festivals to cook delicacies because thats the time they would see some human activity buzzing around them...

TODAY-Women have easy access to education. They are more liberal in their approach.. As compared with past women in modern times have achieved a lot but in reality they have to still travel a long way. They are no more confined to their kitchens. Today women have reached the highest echelons in all walks of life..They not only take care of their families but also manage their career equally.The world is our Oyster!

                                        YET

 Society is uttertly biased,they claim to be modern but the truth is they want their women to be well dressed, out-going, socialising  and inside the walls of their homes transform into a Cook/maid! And the same men in public claim they want their wives to be independent..Also women still have to seek for their approval before doing the smallest silliest thing..When women get better than their men in any aspect men cant handle it..Women still make the effort of balancing their lives between the two-career and family... Well, I can go on and on about what I see around me.. But I have only one word to say .....Hypocrysy!Thy name is...

I wish I hadnt beaten you when you were naughty,I wish I had given you enough chocolates in the world. I wish I had let you inside the house everytime you howled,I wish I had spent enough time. I wish I hadnt leashed you all the time, I wish I has loved you enough.
I donot want to forget the way you barked, the way your big brown eyes shined. I dont want to forget how you wagged your fluffy tail, or the way you dreamt of chasing Tommy in your sleep.I want to remember forever your moist nose and the way you smelled like a baby.I dont want to forget the babytalk we used to have, Chucha, chachi,bucha, shoo...
They say time heals. I fear time also makes you forget.. And I dont want to..

An Obituary.

Snowy Rao

After a persisting illness and of old age, on Sunday, November 7, 2010, at the age of 15 years Snowy passed away .

Snowy will be lovingly remembered by her family. Snowy will also be fondly remembered by all the neightbours. She was so full of life.She was loving , kind and loyal.Shes the one stood by us through all our up;s and downs.

Not a single day will go by that I wont remember you. I already feel a void in my life.I only wish I could say a proper goodbye..You will always live in my heart..Words fail me beyond this. I love you.

A Dog's Tale

Snowy Rao.. Thats her name..Came into our lives when she was barely a month old, a little ball of fur... Exactly 15 years ago during Diwali time my bro got her home .I remember during Diwali ,because of all the loud fire-crackers and how scared she was as a puppy...

Since then Snowy has brought joy to our lives.Mom was sceptical in the beginning about raising a dog...Although now they are unseparable.. Snowy being a vegetarian is probably why she is 15 and still going strong....!She loves tomatoes,cucumber and bananas.. Thats all has kept her goin..Weird but true..She loves ice-cream, chocolates .During her puppy days just the scent of chocolate, tomato used to make her run around like crazy!

We've had our laughs at her cost...There were times she got electrocuted(twice actually) ,attacked by other dogs, gotten lost couple of times, fell down from the first storey(just a few days ago!) and not even a scratch!Snowy Rao the invincible??? And they say Cats have 9 lives...? Old wives tales indeed...!

Absolutely unselfish, giving unconditional love ,very child-like-thats my precious Snowy .This is a quote from the heart warming movie Marley and me,  "A dog doesn’t care if you’re rich or poor, educated or illiterate, clever or dull. Give him your heart and he will give you his."