Umrao Jaan is an adaptation of the book ‘Umrao Jaan Ada’ written in 1905 by a well known poet called ‘Ruswa.’ Whether the lovely courtesan, who was also known as the ‘heartbeat of Avadh’, and poetess existed or was the imagination of the poet is still debatable. His words were beautifully translated on celluloid by…
Movie Review : Dor
‘Dor’ is a thread or string. Something that binds things together and Nagesh Kukunoor couldn’t have chosen a better title for his movie. Zeenat (Gul Panang) is a tough, fiercely independent woman living life on her own terms in far away Himachal Pradesh. Meera (Ayesha Takia) is a traditional, duty-bound, daughter-in-law of a Rajput family…
Movie Review:The Devil Wears Prada
The title of the book, The Devil Wears Prada by Laura Weisberger, drew me to it exactly 3 years ago. As I turned the last page, my immediate thought was “This should be a movie!” . No talk of the book being filmed happened for a while and though I was surprised that no one…
Booked for life
We at ‘Times of India’ are starting a new series on Bookmark called BOOKED FOR LIFE. It will consist of first-person accounts by book lovers on their relationship with their collections, favorite books, unfavourite books, reading habits and so on. Essentially personal, the pieces can be funny, nostalgic, righteous, ironic, and even rants are more…
Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna – The Film : My Thoughts
The bad press that ‘Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna’ ( KANK) got from Day 1 was the reason I preferred to give it a miss. Nothing, not even Abhishek Bachchan as part of the cast, could change my decision. Then I happened to read this wonderful review by fellow-Caferatian Vandana Vasudevan and I couldn’t wait to see…
…Beijing
There is something intensely liberating about being in a place where no one speaks, or even attempts to speak, your language. This is why a trip to China, which included Beijing, Shanghai, and the picturesque Guilin, got the nod from me right away. My first morning there and I woke up to find out that…
…China
Best time to go: April to Nov. Spring starts mid March and in April the cherry blossoms are in full bloom. Currency: Yuan. 1 Yuan = 5.5 INR. (Mar ’05 rate) What to wear: Please do check the weather before you leave. In winter you will need your thermals, thick wool socks, gloves and skullcap…
…countries I painted Red!
create your own visited country map or write about it on the open travel guide Beijing, China Guilin, China Darjeeling, India Mumbai (Bombay), India Pune, India Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Langkawi, Malaysia London, England Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic Washington DC, DC, USA Budapest, Hungary Istanbul, Turkey New York City, NY, USA Prague, Czech Republic Beverly Hills,…
Think about it…
Look around.Our collective humanity is dying a little more every day. Technology is killing life on the street.Chat rooms, text messaging, IM are all, technically, forms of communication.But when they replace yakking over the back fence, or sitting huggermugger at the bar or simply walking with a friend — as they have for an increasing…
Being Tagged! :)
Ooooooohhhhhhh, I love being tagged! Shelly tagged me this time and I had loads of fun writing out my answers!:)))))))))))) Thanks,Shelly!:))))))))))) Ok, here goes….. I am thinking about…A lot, actually. Life, the future, my 2 new gorgeous Kurti’s and what to eat. I said…Something very funny to someone today. I was asked to ‘forgive’ a…