Louis Vuitton's 2007 Print Ad

I quite liked Louis Vuitton’s new Print Ad.....featuring lazily reclined Steffi Graf & Andre Agassi. After being bombarded by an avalanche of hoardings featuring air-brushed models who haven’t had a decent conversation with calories in a long time…….this particular advert came as a welcome change.

The tagline ("Is there any greater journey than love?") is a bit trite. But the picture itself is simple and subtle. No dramatic statement. Jus' a travel-weary, much-married couple relaxing in the comfort and warmth of an anonymous hotel room.......

Heart-Whole And Stomach-Overload!!

So finally, after another colorful session of festivities and food Unltd.; I have stumbled back to my desk. I can barely move (mental note to self: invest in jeans with elasticated waist-band ---fashion police be damned!!), much less string together witty or snarky statements. So for a change, I am going to post a politically correct and religiously infused post.

The highlight of this Dassera for me was the Sarbojanin (literally meaning - "involving all") Durga Puja, held in true blue Bong-Style!!

It has all the elements of a mini-fair....an explosion of colours, complete with kitschy stalls selling everything from gorgeous Bengali Sarees to equally scrumptious Fish-fry!!! The main pandal is a pain-staking work of art. The lovely statuesque Devis with their sparkling almond-eyes, long black spiral curls and multiple hands wielding an array of weapons emanate an atmosphere of awe and splendour.

And paying respectful homage to the same is the surprisingly devout pundit.

Unlike the usual world-weary bunch of holy men (atleast the ones I have witnessed!!) who go through the proceedings with a dead-pan expression, dribbling out incoherent mantras with total detachment ……this particular pundit was a refreshing change. He performed the entire puja with single-minded veneration...eyes closed, smiling gently at the devis……and moving in perfect rhythm to the thunderous drums.

You can't help but be moved by the spectacle. Pulsating with sound, light and smoke....the effect is stupendous. Standing stock-still for over an hour, being jostled by sweaty aunties and having a toddler dribbling on my shoulder all somehow seemed worthwhile. I came away, feeling inspired and sporting a more friendlier disposition!!

And today.......the last day of Navratri, was a replay of Ganesh Chaturthi. Loads of cooking and hardwork followed by a loo-ong lunch with generous second and third helpings!! I am feeling full and content…all thoughts of calories and kilos once again relegated to the back-burner.

I don’t know how long this state of karmic bliss is going to last but till the euphoria dissipates (and I stop resembling a comatose walrus!!)…am gonna languish in it and crunch happily on another of Mukhi Taru’s sinfully rich "maa-ke-ladoos"!!!!

This strip deserves pride of place for it's sheer brilliance!! :)

One Issue. One Day. Thousands of Voices.

I am all for preserving what’s left of our environment. My latest “contribution”……signing up for innumerable causes on Facebook. Be it GreenPeace International, Stop Global Warming, World Wildlife Fund or any of the other myriad and noteworthy causes up for grabs.

Bursting with righteous pride, I felt I had done my bit for our shaky ecology. But before I began polishing my halo, I paused and wondered. If I actually had to take a stand and make a strong, constructive gesture or speak out against some wrong-doing, would I do so with firmness or smile sheepishly and retreat with my tail quivering between my legs. Morover, did I know enough about the causes I was backing with such ardour???

Observation has often shown that people who voice their beliefs and point out environmental no-nos, often get dumped with unflattering titles. Unless you are a stellar celebrity, or a brunch-happy; page 3 socialite....you become an interfering "do-gooder".....a beatnik throwback to the flower-power 70s and an all-round "pain-in-the-YouKnowWhat"!!

Take for example, the promenade outside my house. A long, relatively clean stretch of walking space, it is shrouded by generous clumps of greenery on both sides. Nestled against the sea, it provides a welcome haven for joggers and visitors alike. There are a group of concerned citizens who have contributed to the upkeep and maintainence of this walk……keeping the plants well-spruced and adding to the foliage whenever possible.

.....but ever so often, there come along people who don’t think twice before trashing the walk, spitting left-right-and center and breaking the minimal rules without a second-thought

When a pro-active citizen points out the error, he often gets a dirty look for his efforts. The wrong-doer rolls his eyes, smirks at his buddies and reluctantly cleans up his act.

But it doesn’t stop the next spit-happy soul from adding his own personal mural to the sidewalk!!

More often than not, people keep shut……preferring to let bygones be bygones. No one like’s to be thought of as an interfering “paragon-of-virtue” with too-much free time on their hands. So things slowly but steadily unravel and all good intentions go flying out of the window.

All I can say is that...... if plunging head-long onto the environmental bandwagon seems like a scary step……do your bit by speaking up (atleast once!!!) and being more aware of the causes you support. Find out small but definitive steps to make atleast a miniscule contribution. Make this a cleaner and greener earth!! (couldn't resist adding a cliché in the end!!!)

Nigella Feasts!! (....or the other way 'round?!?)

Nigella Lawson, the domestic goddess ….who’s heating up the kitchen with more than just her hot stove and steaming oven!! Renowned for her smouldering sensuality and glorious curves, this smart chef manages to keep the audiences hooked (a sizeable portion of which comprises the slavering wolves who follow her every word and pout with ardent devotion!!!).

I had only heard about the lovely lady, catching her recipes occasionally on the net. But then I heard two of my cousins having a heated debate over the merits of hand-kneaded dough and mashed peas and other such epicurean fundas. To say that I was puzzled was an understatement. Two reasons…..

One, because they are predominantly “manly” men, who still believe that their mother was put on this earth for the sole purpose of feeding their bottomless pits and two, because they hadn’t yet advanced to the state of being termed as truly-uplifted metro- sexual males who knew their way around the kitchen effortlessly.

With clock-work regularity, popped up the statement…."but Nigella says". And whenever the name was mentioned they smiled dreamily and exchanged knowing looks.

To top it off, I read a normally acerbic scribe waxing lyrical about her show in his hard-hitting column. With almost loving detail, he had dedicated a sizeable portion of his space to the merits and wonders of luscious Lawson!.......and this was just the tip of the fast-melting iceberg!!

Who was this enchantress who had turned a majority of the male population into blithering babies?? I was intrigued and had to see the woman in action.

Luckily(?) for me, the show aired some days later. With almost indecent haste, my cousins had grabbed their seats in front of the tube. I managed to squeeze in between Twerp#1 and #2.

.......And there she was, in full “peaches and cream” grandeur…..all curves and no hollows! She smiled coyly, licked her lips suggestively and managed to convert the innocent art of rolling out cookie-dough into something definitely X-Rated!!

She sauntered around the kitchen, flirted with the camera and cast steamy looks at all her devoted viewers. I understood the appeal……a talented career woman-who can cook -and - who looks like all male-fantasies rolled into one delectable package!!!

I was with her through the entire chocolate fiesta; she made it sound quite sinfully tempting and mouth-watering. But then came the episode where she got to the part of the kidney beans (our humble l’il rajma) and rolled her RRRsss over how it was a lovely ric-hhhhh terracotta shade!! Chocolate, I get……but Rajma!! Even raw sensuality has it’s limits!! I’ll never be able to look at a kidney bean again without blushing furiously!!


I had had enough of cooking for the hormonally-supercharged.

Quietly (not that they would even notice an over-weight bull elephant rampaging through the room!!), I left my besotted cousins to their guilty pleasure and retired to my room.

Hell, one good thing out of the whole episode could be that the family could look forward to fledgling chefs who’ll whip up some tasty morsels, every now and then. I have no complaints, so long as they don’t start oozing a lot of unwanted sensuality all over the kitchen floor!!!!

2007 Nobel Prize in literature

The 2007 Nobel Prize in literature goes to Doris Lessing, 88.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071011/ap_on_en_ot/nobel_literature

The Sisterhood of The Traveling Pants

A sparkling breath of fresh air, this book captures the spirit of friendship in the most charming and sauciest manner possible!

The book is a far cry from the regular breed of YA novels which seem to dwell on the fixed notion that young girls basically fall into two main groups: One, the hatefully pretty, perpetually scheming Prom Queens with their nastier than “week-ol’ milk” cliques! And at the other end of the rainbow, the brave under-dog…..not much to look at, the general do-gooder, the faithful confidante and to nicely round it off....more often than not, armed with an IQ formidable enough to gain entry into MENSA!!!

Breaking the age-old mould with insouciance, Ann Brashares creates a world where it is possible for four friends, as different as chalk and cheese to form a deeply satisfying friendship. They care for each other, love each other, put aside fights and misunderstandings with a careless shrug and offer unstinted, non-judgmental support any time, everytime.

Lena, the reluctant beauty; feisty, big-tushied Carmen; the anti-everything, mad-at-the-world Tibby and the over-achieving, statuesque athlete Bridget are friends; literally since birth (their mums shared a preggers-aerobics class).

Having grown up in each other’s pockets, along comes a summer when the four are parted for the first time. Lena is off to Greece to meet her grandparents; Carmen to spend some quality time with her divorced dad in South Carolina; Bridget to Baja, California for summer camp and Tibby, the impotent rebel is stuck at home, cutting a minimum wage at Wallman’s.

A well-worn pair of soft jeans bought at a thrift-shop by Carmen but never-tried becomes an unexpected bond to hold the four pals together. Despite their vastly different body proportions, the seemingly-magical pair of jeans fits each of them like a dream……hugging the right curves, resting gracefully on the varying waistlines, making each teen feel sexy and infusing them with much-needed confidence!!!

They make a pact (complete with a set of serious-cum-nonsensical rules) to circulate the pants amongst themselves throughout their vacation, passing it on when the time is right. Thus begins the saga of the Sisterhood…….

As the long, glorious summer unravels, the pants become a source and symbol of the generous support which the sisterhood provides to each of the four buddies as they face unwieldy situations.

Sucker-punched by new emotions, the friends absorb confidence from their ever-reliable ‘magical pants’. For each, the pants seem to be infused with the strength and support of their fellow friends.Brimming with energy and vitality, the book effortlessly hops between the four friends as they deal with life, love and all-things ‘teen-achy’.

One of the best coming-of-age books in a long time, it’s a must read for everyone who is-a-teen, was-a-teen and will soon be-a-quakin’ in your boots-teen!.....It’s a tough world out there, but when you got your SIST –AHS, life’s just a wee bit more bearable!!

For reviews on the other Sisterhood books, please click on the following links:

> The Second Summer of The Sisterhood

> Girls In Pants : The Third Summer of The Sisterhood

> Forever in Blue : The Fourth Summer of The Sisterhood

A touch of cheekiness, a smidgen of impudence and a bunch of letters.....

Daddy Long-Legs by Jean Webster....a book that was long overdue. Have been hearing about it for ages and finally……in my current “youth-revival” wave, managed to read the much appreciated book.

Set in 1912, the story is about an 18 year-old orphan Jerusha ‘Judy’ Abbot…..the general dogsbody of John Grier Home, an orphanage. Judy’s life is a whirl of wearing cast-offs, attending to the younger inmates and generally resigning herself to a life of drudgery and routine.

By a stroke of good luck, an asylum trustee reads one of Judy’s impertinent school essays and makes a remarkable offer. He will pay her way through college coupled with a generous allowance. He believes that Judy has the makings of a writer and his only stipulation is that she write a monthly letter detailing the progress of her studies and her daily life in general.

The identity of this generous soul is unknown to Judy (and the readers). All she has seen of him is his elongated shadow thrown on the wall, reminding her of a huge “Daddy Long-Legs”. And it is with this moniker, than she addresses the requested letters.

Thus begins an epistolary, one-way correspondence…..a sequence of letters, detailing Judy’s social, cultural and emotional growth. She shares her new experiences, ranging from the mundane to the life-changing. What brightens them up is her unwavering impudence and wit...the uninhibited excitement in long-overdue pleasures and her rambling discourses on her spiffy new clothes.

Sometimes frivolous, sometimes serious…..she displays a strong streak of independence as she strives to pursue her writing career. Although her letters remain unanswered by her benefactor, she develops respect, gratitude and fondness for her Dear Daddy…..the only family she has ever known.

Simplistic and generously peppered with Judy’s doodles, the book may lack punch for readers in search of intrigue and drama. It is however, the ideal read to drive away the blues. Judy’s insistent optimism, her mood-swings and guilty bouts of narcissim, the activity-laden college life and her eventual discovery of love are all moments we have savoured sometime in our life. Light and frothy with a surprising, fairy-tale ending….it is a girly book to be enjoyed for it’s old-world charm and irreverent cheekiness!!

Lines that stayed with me…..

It isn't the big troubles in life that require character.
Anybody can rise to a crisis and face a crushing tragedy with courage, but to
meet the petty hazards of the day with a laugh -- I really think that requires
spirit.

I think the most necessary quality for any person to have is imagination. It
makes people able to put themselves in other people's places. It makes them kind
and sympathetic and understanding. It ought to be cultivated in children.

Say Hello to the Human Gola!

My legs are fairly deceptive......a quick glance reveals scrawny ankles, slender calves and knobbly knees. The general perception is…ok, slim girl in the vicinity. It’s only as the unsuspecting eyes travel upwards and they widen in disbelief!!

W-oah!!…stocky lass perched precariously on spindly legs!?! How do my weedy legs bear the weight of my ‘pleasantly-plump’ body? How? How? I have been a passive member of the fitness brigade since time immemorial. I routinely get inspired by the toned bods, the diet-fads, the workout-sessions and all the ‘get-healthy’ paraphernalia that drops out like pigeon-goop from the dailies.

Sounds so easy and looks so promising. Could I actually look like that? Could the mini-van tires and not-so-lovely love handles disappear in a month? Could I actually fit into all that gorgeous spandex without looking like a human pig-in-the-blanket??

Being painfully shy to approach the local gym, I settle for the unfettered joys of walking. One more excuse to shop for some delectable joggin’ togs! Walking suits me to a tee. Minimum friction, minimum jiggle, minimum embarrassment and minimum exertion.

So am off, strutting my colourful plumage for all it’s worth…beaming broadly at fellow-walkers. .........My new found happiness vanishes quickly enough when a person of “considerable substance” (am all for being politically correct!!) overtakes me effortlessly. In a feeble attempt at one-upmanship, I buckle up and try to overtake her. After a couple of pants and wheezes, I manage to do just that.

My pea-sized brain marvels at this mini-victory. Hey, I am not so bad after all!! As I continue to strut, basking in my new-found glory……I am rudely overtaken by a bunch of chirpy and bandy-legged senior citizens!....WHAT??....WHERE!?!....HOW!!!.....Not happening…so not happening! I have got to get my act together!! Getting my sorry a** whipped by people twice my size and thrice my age is ripping my already-fragile ego to tiny bits!....ARRRRRRGH!!!

Jinxed, Hexed and Bewitched……..yet again

16-year old Jean Honeychurch has had a life-time of bad-luck……so much so, that she’s been lumped with the unflattering nickname – JINX. To escape yet another unfortunate situation (involving a stalker).....she is parceled off to live with her aunt in Manhattan...at their up-market, East-Side townhouse.

Jinx’s encounters with her über-chic cousin, Tory leave much to be desired. Tory’s antagonism is blatantly obvious and she never fails to make Jinx feel like a klutzy, unwanted country cousin. Jinx, jotting it down as one more addition to her bucketful of bad-luck is willing to go with the flow and deal with things as best as she can. But she soon discovers that there are more sinister depths to Tory than she could ever have imagined!!!

Thanks to a legendary family story, Tory believes that she is a witch.....and a powerful one at that. Moreover, she is convinced that Jinx is one too and persistently tries to make the latter join her coven. But Jinx has had a taste of witch-craft gone awry and it’s nasty repercussions.

Jinx’s constant refusals and her gradual acceptance into the “in-crowd” doesn’t go down well with Tory and pretty soon things turn nasty....with a vengeance! Tory’s desperate attempts for attention, coupled with her mental instability and thirst for Wiccan powers proves to be a dangerous concoction for Jinx.

The only way to deal with a situation gone horribly wrong is for Jinx to rein in her own mysterious powers and accept her “gift” for what it is.

Meg Cabot delights yet again.....with her winning combo of fast-paced dialogue, humour and unexpected twists and turns. Definitely a fun, enjoyable read!!