International Dance Day

So according to Wiki/Alicia - today is International Dance Day! :) The videos below are a tribute to the styles that I've loved and learnt - hip-hop, salsa, merengue, bachata, kathak, bollywood, belly-dance.

Here's a classical Kathak / Bollywood song which is beautiful in it's fusion of the old and new. We're actually reproducing this for Kathak Ensemble's performance in June at the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater. Very excited about this!! :)



Thanks to Alicia for pointing out this video. Looks like my man can dance... ;-) Go (The) Edge!!



And y'all must have seen this one! :)

This makes me very happy!

Coming up in a few weeks......Pirates of the Caribeean - 3 and Harry Potter - 5 ....YAY!!! :-)

हिंदी में पहला पोस्ट

हिंदी में ये मेरा पहला पोस्ट है। शुक्रिया राजेश का कि उसने मुझे ये फीचर दिखाया।
वाह वाह :) बहुत मज़ा आ राहा है हिंदी में लिख कर।

Yosemite!!

I spent this past weekend in Yosemite national park - camping, hiking and being one with nature (excuse the cliche!). It was breathtaking! The camping was super fun - the hiking was super exciting - the experience was mindblowing!! Here are some pictures for you to see what I saw :-)

Cloud covered Yosemite Valley. El Capitan on the left, Bridal Veil Fall and Cathedral rock on the right. Somewhere down the middle is Half Dome and Sentinal Rock...blocked by clouds.



View of the Upper Yosemite Falls from the road. I took this shot with negative exposure and I really like how it turned out :)



Aahhhh - once we setup our camp site by the river - Sri and I took a breather and this was captured perfectly by Mads.



The next morning.....




Some portfolio shots courtesy Sri ;)



Me being myself :)

Recap

I know I know...a whole month between posts....not good/fair!! I cant believe it myself. It's been a whirlwhind month too. London-Bath-Stonehenge-Windsor. Then 2 weeks of quality time with friends who were visiting (day trips to Philly and Brooklyn). Topped with a few weeks of something crazy good. And a very interesting trip to Chicago last weekend. Life's been hectic man! I get a 3 day break before heading off to a camping adventure in Cali. Just thought I'd write in before that. Also to ensure my loyal readers that I am alive :-)
Here are some pics from London meanwhile....

The Great Court of the British Museum



Big Ben at night from the London Eye



Me in the streets of London :)



St.Paul's looms over London city



Keep smiling. Take care. Baila!
-Amrita

When dreams come true

I'm in London....better believe it!
After dreaming about it for more than a decade.....the end result of a totally whimsical plan....I'm in London.

Can I get a Yipppeeeee?? ;)

Cheers!

(adding a pic as proof for Mosi...)

Tagged by the witch doctor

I've been tagged by Mosi.... :)

3 things that scare me -
-Insects & Reptiles
-Dentists
-Horror movies

3 people who make me laugh -
-Maddy
-Poths
-Shwe

3 things I love
-Music
-Family & Friends
-Dancing

3 things I hate
-Hypocrisy
-Dental problems
-

3 things I don't understand
-Hypocrisy - just dont get it!!
-Dental problems - dont get me started
-How Dubya got re-elected in 2004??

3 things on my desk
-Cellphone
-iPod
-Camera

3 things i'm doing right now
-Listening to music
-Drinking water
-Yawning

3 things I want to do before I die
-Go to Egypt!!
-Hike the Inca trail
-Color my hair red

3 things I can do
-Dance
-Sing
-Love

3 things you should listen to
-'Steady as she goes' by The Raconteurs
-'Club Foot' by Kasabian
-'Break it off' by Rihanna & Sean 'the' Paul

3 things you should never listen to
Hmmm....I agree with what Mos said. Listen to everything but only retain what you need.

3 things i'd like to learn
-French (Already started....but it's going slow. Lova - I need help)
-Guitar
-Rollerblading

3 favourite foods
-Idlis with Chatni!! - yum yum yum.
-Anything paneer
-Hummus

3 beverages I drink regularly
-Coffee
-Water
-Vodka ;-) Just Messin....Orange Juice

3 childhood TV shows / books
-Tom & Jerry
-Tintin (book)
-Enid Blyton collection (book)

Cheers and love,
-Amrita

Food fears

There are some fears/notions about food that stay with us over the years and we just cant seem to shake them off. I encountered two such funny food-related incidents today.

Take me for instance:- I cant eat any vegetable that's cut into large pieces. It mortally scares me. The veggies have to be small enough for me to be able to eat them. This is a problem mostly with Broccoli and Cauliflower. I absolutely love broccoli - but since it usually comes in huge sizes, I skip eating it till I find a piece small enough. I'm strange - I know :P

So this issue surfaced today at the cafe at work. A few coworkers and I were standing in the panini line and the only veggie option had huuuge slices of eggplant in it. One look at it, and I shrunk back! I ended up eating soup and salad instead...ahem!!

The lady at Cafe Forant:- I had dinner with a buddy of mine today and we then strolled into this really cute basement cafe for dessert and java. It was run by a very adorable lady who baked and cooked everything in that store (and her dog Chula was amazing!). My eyes fell on some delicious oatmeal-cranberry cookies. They were heavenly....yum yum! :) I asked her why not the regular oatmeal-raisin? She said that when she was a kid, she had assumed that the raisins were actually chocolate chips. When she found out the truth, she could never bring herself to eat oatmeal-raisin cookies ever again!! She was heartbroken...so she resorted to making oatmeal cookies cranberries instead....good for me eh? haha.

So what are your food fears? :-)
-Amrita

Images changing India today

Women-only cab service in Mumbai

"It addresses real concerns of female commuters. More women are traveling alone as they break with traditional roles and enter the workplace or even just to go out for the evening. Although Mumbai is considered safer than most cities on the subcontinent, where sexual harassment is rife, Indian women and visiting tourists often complain about being leered at by male cab drivers."

This is an excellent idea. We definitely need this in all metropolitans in India. I remember feeling really helpless in Delhi this year when I couldn't travel anywhere after sunset. Kudos to Roy. I hope Forsche works and takes off well.

As for the cliche about women drivers, Roy says: "It's mainly men who are involved in road arguments and accidents. Women are safe drivers and my women will rock."

Hear! Hear! Below image courtesy BBC.

__________________________________________________

Indian Air Force celebrates Platinum jubilee

Really impressive display. Read the article to get the full story.

Below image courtesy BBC.

A relax(zz)ing Sunday

What is the probability that on 2 separate weekends, my continental airlines flight to Chicago gets cancelled because of storms? The first was in November and then now this weekend in March. It's a cruel joke really.

So considering that I found myself totally free this weekend (except for a few social commitments on Saturday), I decided to do something that I hadnt done in a loooong long time - Spend Sunday lazing about the house. It is seriously the best form of bliss there is.

I woke up and had chai with my neighbor who is also a really good friend. We pontificated about life in general while listening to some amazing music. The soundtrack was Motorcycle Diaries and we drifted off to a world of adventures, greenery, trains and history. Then I proceeded to listen to more music while catching up with friends online and doing nothing of any significance. This was immediately followed by a beatific siesta. And then a dinner date with 2 of my good friends. So that in my opinion was the best Sunday in a long time :-)

Books I've read/am reading of late:-

Kite Runner by Khaled husseini:- Emotional rollercoaster. Loved it. Even cried while reading it.

Namesake by Jhumpa Laheri :- I really wanted to find out what the big deal about this book was. It is a really deep story and I was really distraught while reading it. I cant say I loved the book but that's probably due to the high expectations built about it. I am really excited about the movie though - especially cos it has Kal Penn playing the part of Gogol Ganguli. Really cool article about him in the amNewYork today. I've loved him since the days of American Desi....so i cant wait! :)

The Argumentative Indian by Amartya Sen :- Still on the first chapter.

The India Model by Gurcharan Das: - Fantastic piece of work. This paper was pointed out to me by a friend. I was impressed by it so much that I have to list it here. Give it a read. A few facts that jumped out at me: I was not aware that the outsourcing industry in India accounts for 20$ B! Or that half of our population is under the age of 25!!

Albums of Sunday:

- The Motorcycle Diaires OST
- Samandar by Rahul Sharma
- Garden State OST
- Corrine Bailey Rae's self titled album

The Taj (Dilli Diaries Day 2)

Here are some pictures from the second day of my trip back home. A visit to the Taj with my best friend from high school. Took a ride on a 2nd class seating taj express....quite adventurous to say the least. Took the whole architecture of the beautiful bldg in. One of the best trips of my life. I was surprised by how clean and well maintained the Taj really was. (But of course Smits and me decided that Shah Jahan was a pompous arse ;-) ..)









Adios!
-Amrita :)

Home

If this isnt utopia...I dont know what is.

Happy Birthday dearest dancer

Happy Birthday my dearest Noreen!
Love you, miss you...I'm sure you're dancing in heaven :)



~Amri

Wassup wassup? Movies!

You know the feeling when you keep piling up things to do and nothing gets done? That's the way I've been feeling about blogging over the last month or so. I have so many stories to recite from my trip to India and life in general....that I keep thinking that I'll sit down one day and just post them. But it just hasnt happened. So what the fuck...I'm just going to blog anyway cos I'm missing it. I'll slip in all my stories now and then. Cheers!

I saw Blood Diamond today. What a movie?! Action packed - Moving - Well shot - Beautiful people - Excellent acting. It covers the story of lives destroyed during the war over conflict diamonds in Africa. I wont reveal the story here of course...no worries. I did learn a new acronym though - TIA (This is Africa) - very negative feeling. (I'm trying to keep away from ranting about that issue)

Anyway, back to the movie...I've had a crush on Leo DiCaprio since...well...Titanic. Now, now, stop shaking your heads. I was in high school and completely entitled to fall in love with him then ;-) So the crush continued over the years and Leo has vindicated me. You can see his amazing acting in movies like Catch me if you can, The Aviator, The Departed and now Blood Diamon. I reckon he'll win an Oscar this year! :-D The other beautiful people in the movie were Jennifer Connelly and Djimon Hounsou. So quite an excellent movie to watch on a Tuesday night ;-) heh.

Other movies that I caught up on - all Indian of course as I'm still on a 'des' induced appetite.
- Guru - Abhishek Bacchan and Mani Ratnam - great piece of work!
- Salaam e Ishq - Too long but funny and Govinda was hot!
- Nayagan - as part of a Mani Ratnam movie bonanza
- Roja (for the 20th time) - ditto.

So yeah. Movies, friends and work - that's what I've been upto since I came back. The weeks are melting away and it's already time to say goodbye to January 2007. Jeeez!

I did break the jinx and finally visited a New York museum! :-) I went to the Museum of Natural History and also saw an IMAX movie there. This one was called 'Roving Mars'. My favorite though will always be 'Grand Canyon - The Hidden Secrets'. That one's just amazing.

Think I've rambled enough for now. I'll be back again...with stories and pictures this time.
Cheers...and happy hump day.
Love,
-Amrita

It snowed today

In Manhattan....and it actually collected on the streets! :-)

I woke up to a really dark day. I couldnt figure out why it was still so dark considering it was 6 a.m. I looked out the window to see tiny snowflakes falling and the street covered in a thin sheet of whiteness. That made my day.

A little later, I could see the snow coming down hard. So I opened up my window to catch a few flakes and the wind blew a few hundred flakes in. I giggled. It was beautiful. Have you ever stuck your tongue out to catch a flake? Try it...It's the most childlike experience you could have.

(And yes, I'm back. I'll post a few pictures and give you all my stories hopefully soon)

Music to rise to:
The Strokes - "You only live once"
The Strokes - "Razorblade"
Shamur - "Gonna make it"
Ustad Sultan Khan - "Leja Leja Re"
Atif Aslam - "Mahiya Ve Soniya"

Love,
-Amrita

Ammu is Des-bound

Dilli Diaries - Day Zero

It's time to go home...

It's time for a little romance with the wind over the Aravalis,
The same questions ("Do you cook there?"; "Do you have friends? Are they Indians?") ,
The same once-overs ("You've become so dark/fair"; "You've lost/gained so much weight") ,
Feeling the familiar rush of patriotism as I cruise down Rajpath and Shantipath,
Ducking behind my mother as she expertly plays the bargain game in Janpath,
Wrapping myself in a shawl on a foggy winter morning, sipping coffee and chatting with dad,
Eating peanuts on the terrace on a sunny Sunday afternoon in the winter,
All this; while my stomach transforms into a bottomless pit as I gorge on Idlis - Bathure Chole - Sambaar - Koottu - Kachoris - Gaajar ka halwa - Tharatipaal - Filter coffee - Nirula's Hot Chocolate Fuge - Adai - ... ,

And just like that; for a few beatific days; my soul is at peace.

*sigh*

As Ozzy would say - "Mama I'm coming home!"

:-)

Awwwwwww

Filling the gaps

To fill in the gaps between blog entries ....

• You. You are the Person of the Year! (And me too)
• The 10 Tech Concepts you need to know for 2007
• The best romantic movie ever. I've watched it twice this morning already. The link has a music video made around the movie. Josh Groban's voice is delightful in it. And of course....Mr.Darcy is divine!!! :-) Giving in to some girliness ;-)
• A really amusing article about Indian men (no offense!)

There will be an upcoming hiatus from blogging....will try to keep you all updated.

Cheers,

-Amrita

Gotta love Today's Horoscope

I love the amNewYork newspaper. Why?
- Perfect for the subway ride to work.
- Good summary of everything I need to know to start the day
- It's Free
- Good horoscopes!

The newspaper is my daily staple now. Now I generally dont believe in horoscopes...but it's hard to not want to believe in something which reads as: -

"Leo (July 23 - Aug 22): A wonderful feeling gets more wonderful when it's shared. Falling in love now is easy, and practically required."

Will do!! ;-)

Cheers cheers! And a happy Friday!

World Aids Day - You Me Us

I'm not going to say more about this...except...take action today!!