Monday, June 15, 2009

Marathi Cultural Weekend.......

Its a Sunday again ......I seem to be blogging sunday ke sunday..........
Last night saw me and my parents at a Marathi play after years....
"U-Turn" was the name of the play (yeah...it was a marathi despite the name)
It was a light hearted play dealing with a serious social theme revolving around only 2 characters.....
Brillant acting by the actors (Ila Bhate & DrGirish Oak) .....good use of audiovideo medium with songs by Avadhyut Gupte.........All in all........an evening well spent........
Sunday saw me and my parents head to the nearby multiplex to catch "Mi Shivajiraje Bhosale Bholatoy" (yeah.....it was a Marathi cultural fest this weekend) ...................a Marathi movie that had won rave reviews and is declared a box-office hit too..........
It was an excellent movie with lots of points to ponder...........Top class acting by the entire star cast comprising of Sachin Khedekar,Suchitra Bandekar,Priya Bapat,Mahesh Manjrekar......

Friday, June 5, 2009

It's Raining.............

ITS RAINING............
Make that pouring heavily..................
Just when everyone was complaining of the sultry hot summers which showed no signs of going away.........Temperatures were soaring..........Hot weather was becoming unbearable.................when suddenly after the skies seemed cloudy for a while..........It started raining.............
First drops of rains for this year ? or is this also the pre-monsoon showers?
One doesn't know..........
What one does know is that different people have different ways of enjoying the rains........
Monsoon is the favourite season of die-hard romantics...... Poets & writers have written so much on the scenic beauty of the nature in monsoon.........
Overcast conditions.............The rumblings of thunder followed by crackle of lightning across the dark cloudy sky............ Eager Anticipation of the arrival of the first rains in the city..........Then...finally the first drops of rains.............The first smell of wet earth..........then the heavy downpour ........steaming hot ginger tea(adrakwali chai) and hot pakodas( bhajis ).........hearing the pittar-patter of raindrops falling on the rooftops or windows....the kids screaming with joy on getting holiday due to rain..........waddling through kneedeep water.........sailing paper boats in the stream.......or just splashing dirty water around........Going off to Lonavala,Khandala or Mahabaleshwar to enjoy the rains.........boating in the ...............going on a long drive in car........drenching in the rains by commuting on two-wheelers.............eating garamagaram bhuttas........sipping hot cups of coffee .......drinking hot soup ..... uff.......... and here i was blaming people for romanticising the monsoons ......talk of double standards.........The drops of rain on the flora and fauna..........The greenery all around......as if the dirt & dust has being washed off...........
The breathtaking beauty of the nature seen at its best...........
For me personally,the perfect way to enjoy the rains would be ..........sitting in the balcony reading a lovely interesting whodunit by Agatha Christie( i know while it is heavily raining outside(the rain sliding on the closed windows in the background while I m reading)........... wow .......i know........how predictable and boring .....par kya kare......everyone cannot be as interesting and unpredictable like a certain Ms.De............I must confess I m a big fan of her blog and cant wait to read what she has to say.....from food to travel to fashion to films to politics.........she says it all like only she knows...........
Hmm........what did i start saying and where has the topic come to.........
If my ramblings seem incoherent, you know who is to be blamed...........Who Else.........but the Incorrigible Rains...........
Meanwhile........Enjoy the Rains !!!!!!!!!!!!

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

It's a SUPER SUNDAY !!!!!!!

Sunday saw me travelling to Yeh Hai Mumbai , Meri Jaan with my entire khandaan.......
To the surprise of all and sundry, me & my sis put in a long overdue special appearance(which by the way happens only once in many blue moons) along with my parents to Mumbai....
We woke at the crack of dawn thanks to dad's ultimatum(be ready or stay behind) and were actually well on our way by 6:30 am.......
The first stop saw us at J's.........enjoying a hearty South Indian breakfast or brunch , courtesy excellent chef,cousin K's wife B(Madam B..please take a bow)comprising of soft Idlis with chatni & awesome sambhar, yummy rasam-vada and piping hot meduvadas straight from the kadai.......& how can any South Indian breakfast be complete without the gunpowder chatni,present in all its glory (to be endeavoured with oil) and the icing on the cake was amazing caaffee(as they say in Chennai) The coffee deserves rich praise simply because it managed to impress MOI, in spite of the fact that i am a certified CAFFEINE-HATER......Lots of time after breakfast was spent in browsing through the amazing collection of books or library as we call it of cousin K......(its your turn now to take a bow,K) K is a certified book lover with amazing collection of lovely books........... I walked out with a full stomach and enriched knowledge.......what else does one need really!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was time for Baba's meeting with his client at Cartier Road's Cafe Coffee Day(some days are sigh..just coffee days) where Madam A(that's my lovely sis ) slurped Cappacino to all its creamy and frothy glory and me being really excited on spotting a TV actor,right behind us(really....how star stuck can we be..ahem.......cough) ....actually to my defense.......there is a small, little child in all of us........hehe..........I was put firmly in my rightful place by my polished and elegant little sis,who was shell shocked at me recognising a TV actor....forget being excited at seeing him.....
C'est la vie..........
Then,it was time for actual reason for our Mumbai visit......... discussions with our architect,Mr.P regarding the furniture with sofas and all.....
And after gruelling two hours of discussions we finally took pity on Mr.P , and left his office for our next destination ............residence of our uncle,the Gs (mom's younger brother)whose entire family was eagerly waiting for us for lunch.......It was past 3 PM.........luckily, as we had informed them of the delay in the schedule....my younger cousins(M & N) had their lunch and were ready with their beaming 1000 watt smiles to welcome us....... Lovely & delicious lunch of mouth-watering usal,kobichi bhaji,amti,kheer was awaiting us along with mama and mami....... the pick of the lunch was amti.........mouthwatering,simple and amazingly tasty........and my favourites fresh kachche tomato - khakdi, sprinkled with chaat masala...yum......
It was a heavy lunch and lots of gappa with G's(I was meeting them after ages) and my two little Rapunzels as I fondly call them(my cousins,M & N)
Later, I was off to shop in the sultry oppressive Mumbai heat to Oberoi Mall at Goregaon with A,M & N in tow.......rather they were ready to shop dragging me along,courtesy madam A who insisted that the world would come to an end if she didn't find the lovely pair of shorts at Bossini and insisted on us praying for their availability en route(ahem).........The story behind the shorts is that A had seen "THE SHORTS" at Bossini at Pune and was in two minds..to buy or not to buy was the question.......she chose not to only to regret it later and dragged me across Bossini in Pune but hai ram..........there were out of stock....available in every other size except hers........
Anyways,that day ..............it was a double whammy for M & N..........M just passed her 10th std with flying colors & it was little chubby cheeks ,N's birthday the next day so we went shopping for their gifts.......
M & N managed to find tops for themselves and alas for A.......THE shorts which were her reason for existence was not available in her size even in Mumbai............ab kya kare.........
After 2 full hours spent by her in trial rooms trying a size smaller shorts ,we finally managed to drag her out of the trial room,taking pity on the rest of bechare shoppers..........
It was time to pay a visit to my aatya,V who was ailing for some time but is on her way to recovery now........ Parlyachi aatya(as I fondly call her) and "V" aatya and kaka were early waiting for us........we were meeting after ages and running behind our schedule(what else is new)............it was a absolute delight to see "V "aatya looking fit and beautiful(as usual) and recovering quite well........... And believe it or faint there was lots of food awaiting us.....baap re.... after having late lunch that too heavy.........we wanted to skip but the aroma of the tempting food was too good to resist...... Garmagaram aloo paranthas with green chatni,dahi raita, achar and home made"loni" made an appearance........True to my diet habits.....I skipped the loni of course(but i ate the parathas .....so there),tomato pulav and that was not all........... refreshing fresh mango milkshare(chilled) which I again skipped(the least i could do) wow.............Pick of the evening.............Its a tie between the lovely Ms.Parathas & good looking Mr.Rice........Lovely delicious food and lots & lots of gappa........in all this we managed to see the video of one of my cousin(S) engagement too(which I ragged him saying its going be child marriage as both he and his fiancee are not only young but also have baby faces)........
And we managed to search back home well before midnight........

Didn't I say that It was A SUPER SUNDAY????? So how did you spend yours?