Faces that would be missed

I love the movies, there is something magical about them that just seems right. With the right faces and the right storyline and songs that makes your heart throb- a combination that only seems possible in the old days when I was not even born but then great music and great actors is not based on a generation gap. In fact, sometimes I feel myself wanting to be in the era (I would certainly miss the internet) but then it did have a charm of its own. The music was pure and innocent, just like the love they portrayed on the silver screen. All thanks to the music directors and actors.

Last year where our beloved actors Dev Anand and Shammi Kapoor had passed away, I heard today when my favorite actor Joy Mukherjee, is no longer among us. But behind them, they have left some of the most excellent movies and songs that would make them ever green forever. Its hard to forget songs like Abhi na jao chodkar, Deewana hua badal and Bahut shukriya, badi meherbani.
 These faces just made romance on screen so alluring that you actually believe the happy endings with heros who will be with you forever and love you forever.

Dollar Bahu by Sudha Murthy - A BOOK REVIEW

My Take

 Dollar Bahu, with its simple plot and language promises to charm its readers despite the serious story line. Ms Murthy has originally written Dollar Bahu in kannada with the title Dollar Sose in the year 2001. The plot brings in the ever green 'saas' that gives a preference to the daughter-in-law who lives in the US and with sending them the dollars only becomes the favorite of hers. That poses problems for the other daughter-in-law who lives with her, helps her with the house work but still lacks because she does not have the dollar tag attached to her. Thus follows the battle of the dollar!
The mother-in-law, Gowri reminded me of several such greedy women that I have come across so its easy to empathize and sympathize with the situation. Of course in real life some people never learn their lesson but here Gowramma learns the importance of a good heart that comes before money. Of course being from India, it takes time for her to adjust to the values of the Americans. Her daughter-in-law living in the US is sharp and mean, not wanting to waste her money on her relatives living in India. She has no feelings for her husband's side of the family. So, she mechanically uses her mother-in-law to take care of her house and her new born baby. She always openly discusses how 'stupid' Gowramma was. That is when the mother-in-law realizes how foolish she had been in her treatment of her other submissive and hard working daughter-in-law in India.
Dollar Bahu resembles a good ol' soap opera but with taste and with a simplicity that is bound to make you read a few more of Ms Murthy's books.

U KNOW U R IN LOVE WID A SOLDIER WHEN.....♥♥

~You don't mind a phone call waking you up at 4 a.m.



~You tell people that ask that he's 'only' been gone a month.



~The smallest contact (short sms) from your man makes your entire week!


~You cry over an msg that says nothing more than hi and I miss U


~Those recruitment commercials on TV make you cry because you are so proud!



~You get super excited just knowing that your Soldier tried to call but wasn't able to get through.



~Your first Military Ball you go to as your Soldier's girlfriend, your name tag says"Mrs".



Is that a self fulfilling prophecy or what?!?



~A 30 second phone call after no calls from him for 2.5 months leaves you full of joy and happiness, and "No 


news is good news" becomes your motto.


~The motto "no shore too distant" becomes your life.



~You feel yourself growning more and more in love with your man even while he's so far away.



~You hold off on seeing certain moviEs so u can see them with your Soldier when he comes home.



~You want to roll your eyes when you hear someone say,"I havent seen my boyfriend in a week!"



~You can go from being happy,to sad, to lonely, to angry, to proud, and back to happy in amatter of less 


than an hour, and you sleep with the phone right next to you, just in case.


~If he's deployed you don't care how your hair looks nor care about wearing make-up, and thepeople at your 


work ask about your boyfriend every day to see if you've heard from him.


~The sight of any other man in a uniform makes you miss your boyfriend MORE than it makes you drool, and 


you try to explain to civilians what your boyfriend does for a living, they give you a blank look because they 


don't understand a third of what you just said......!!!!


Miss you my soldier :(

God and his mike

I have got the taste of both- the north and the south. My relationship with God has been different though. And its all thanks to the mike that the supposed devotees use whenever they want to talk to Him. 

North- They have 'Jagratas' usually starting just when we have just slipped into the bed, done with our daily soaps and also done with the day conversations. The dream fairy had just sprinkled sleep dust on us when comes that blaring sound of dhols and a man on mike, his mission to make God his business for the night. 

South- I know there is no fixed time to remember Him but in the morning, really? Just when I am done with having head banged with dhols, I get the bells of a temple near by getting louder by each second and my sleep is done by the day too.

I don't know why I am so sensitive to sounds when some don't notice them too much. But I don't understand devotees relationship with God and the mike. If He has the loud speakers attached to his seat, I don't know how he gets his sleep.   

The retirement plan

I am probably going to be an army wife for a very (very) long time now and no hard feelings about it. Its like adjusting in a family and making your own decisions- making a home out of a shattered house. We keep moving and shifting things from one place to another. Maybe that's why we can become good interior decorators, Vaastu Shaatra experts, event managers and hosts. Also the jobs that any 'sakku bai' can do can becomes our forte too. Why do I feel like I am repeating my options of job hunting for my future life? And I am worrying about the future unnecessarily. There is a reason for it. The place where I grew up was where all the army officers settled after retiring and it worries me. One in particular worried me so much that I am still sweating.

My neighbour (a former colonel's wife) is now retired from her glam army life and making a life on her own with her son away for months being in Merchant Navy. She's lost her husband in harness during his service and got the flat that they had applied, an army widow getting the privilege and priority. Army has a habit to fuss over the ladies and it becomes like a bad habit later on since husband's manage to give very little time to their better halves. And this becomes like another bad habit. Life looks normal with the husband out 24/7. So she looks like the type who must have dedicated her life around her son. She also looks like a schizophrenic, preferring her own company than others. I see her peeping through her door before getting out. The innumerable number of plants around the balcony that have over grown because of excessive manure, the dark rooms where she lurks around in front of her TV, her four O' clock routines in the morning and her constant bickering about the people around. The garage is filled with the empty trunks that makes no sense in her life since she would never move now but she is reluctant to let them go because it had been a vital part of her prime years. So there is no one to address you as 'Mrs...' and no children to wish you 'goodmorning aunty' on your way, does that mean you become unsocial and unfriendly? From the world outside I see her wallowing away in her old memories. Is civil life so difficult to follow?

Is that how all lonely widows live? or perhaps is this the new trend of how to just pass life of being a woman on her own? Which is all fine. But making others life miserable too because you just cannot see anyone happy or being normal. It's a sad state of affairs. And most of the times when you see such examples of army wives I get determined not to while away my time being just that. 

I can still see myself down the years becoming a better person than I am today and making choices that will make me happy first than my family. 

SHE'S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW- A Book Review

Synopsis: Second Lieutenants Deepa Shekhar and Anjali Sharma have an important task at hand: convince their male counterparts that they too are assets to the Indian Army – rather than merely those with assets.

My Take:

This novel concentrates on two contrasting personalities, Deepa being the Army officer to the core wanting to be a part of an organization flooded with men while her friend Anju, also an officer who just wants to fit in and let things happen for her.

Sajita Nair’s SHE’S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW is a stark contrast to what you expect out of a chick lit. It does not have a loose plot that makes you all gooey over the protagonist fate. Here she takes the bull by its horns and winning everyone’s hearts in the process.

Rather than making the protagonist rant about wanting to find the love of her life, here is a woman who is focused on her career and at the same time jeopardizes it for the sake of her friendship. A woman of principles Deepa makes a deliberate choice of a career that makes everyone mock, yet she takes everything in a stride, proving her worth as an officer.

She’s A Jolly Good Fellow has everything that actually goes on in Army, describing elaborately from ranks of juniors to seniors and the kind of appointments they hold. This helps the non-army crowd to have a better understanding of the terms. The easy flow of words and events makes it an instant page turner. There are incidences where Deepa makes mistakes too, in finding love and adjusting with her new job and that make her so much more human and relatable.

The book cover is interesting with its signature army boots and pretty pink hanging out of it, symbolizing the women protagonists in the novel. A very attractive cover indeed for all those who are a fan of chick lits.

Ms Nair wastes no time going into details, explaining every detail of an officer’s life but she does gives us an overview about the difficulties that women face in a man’s world. She’s A Jolly God Fellow makes a versatile read for everyone who loves a good entertaining novel with a purpose to inspire.

Rating: 4.5/5

The New Year's IN...

This year has just come and by and I haven't celebrated it the way I used it. There were no drinks and no DJ, just the ol' lil me with my husband and parents. Sometimes the best way to welcome the New Year is sometimes forgetting that you are leaving behind the old. And its great to get rid of the old. Especially when you have an intense dislike to somethings and you are just tired of pretending otherwise. The new always does not began with a bang because then I never expect things to go my way but I sure want to try to make it go my way. I have certainly become a little recluse, liking my own company to the loudness of the crowd. Maybe it's just a stage when you get used to a way of life and when suddenly things begins to change in your life, you just want to be left alone without wanting to be judged. It could be for a while or could be forever but being in the organization that I am its difficult to be by myself for long. Anyhow I am trying to sort my thoughts- some good and some not so very good. Life is beginning to take new turns and I am still clueless as to how to hold on to them and not make a mistake. I have also begun to distrust people. It could be because of those bad people I have met in my life but they are gone now and I am going to have to believe in others again. It would take some time. Almost like I am coming out of a comma and I never want to get out of a room.