Thank you

I've always loved writing all kinds of notes.
- with grocery lists - for my mother.
- things to do lists - for my mother, grandmother, sister and myself.
- i love you notes -  to family, boyfriends.
- just thought I'd say hi letters - mostly to my sister. I surprise her by leaving notes in her cupboard.

Ask my family. They've received tonnes of them over the years.
Infact I began writing these notes way back when I was in school. But, my mother found it highly annoying when I wrote her a note with questions to ask my teachers about me at the Parent-Teacher meetings at school.

Recently, after my sister's wedding, we thought why not send Thank you cards to all those who came. I just needed an excuse.

So, when I saw this website by Leah Dieterich I thought thank God for others who love writing silly notes. And she even managed to turn it into a book.

Here's a little sneak peek.

Inspired by this website I have decided to write a Thank you note every Sunday on this blog.
Something to look forward to on the weekend.

I secretly wish I had come up with it.

Parlez-Vous Français?

I was watching the French Open last night. I watched Nadal beat Soderling. Soderling was a strong competitior but was having a bad day and all he had going for him were his cute dimples. Nadal on the other hand pulled his underwear out of his butt after every two mintues and made countless number of monkey-like expressions. But, I heart Nadal. Way to go!
Wish I could've been at Rolland Garros. What a time to be in Paris.

Two of my friends live in Paris - Smita and Nam. Probably wake up and eat baguettes everyday.

I love French food. Mainly because it is covered in butter - such a beautiful thing in such a happy colour. Everything is avec Crème. Crème brûlée, Crème caramel. I think the French even go swimming in Crème.

In 2005 I went on a holiday to France with my sister and mother. We ate croissants (don't know if I'll ever say it right) and even Escargot (boneless meat that's easy to eat), and salmon before, during and after every meal. Everytime Aku and I ate Camembert we could feel firecrackers going off in our mouths. It has that certain Je ne sais quoi. You'll know when you're eating it. And we enjoyed saying it with our fake French accents just as much as we loved eating it.

Cam-om-bear-t



by Vahram Muratyan

There were also others that stuck on for a lot longer. Till today we say Weefee for Wifi. It's just more fun that way.
They even say Mc Do for Mc Donald's. How cute is that?

Before I learnt French, these are the few words I knew:

Papier mâché - I love craft.

Vol-au-vent - One of the dishes my mother makes for me on every birthday.

Petit four - the mini desserts I always love to buy (at Candies).

S'il vous plaît and Merci beaucoup - because I mind my p's and q's.

Croque-monsieur and Crepes - cheesy and yummesy.
Pot-pourri - it's so pointless but I'm so glad it was invented.

Au gratin - the way I like it.

Agent Provocateur - because I follow fashion.

When I was 15, I learnt a bit of French at the Alliance Française class and then studied it for 2 years in College. Here we learnt about La Sorbonne (I love saying Sorbonne for some reason), Arc de Triomphe & the Centre Georges Pompidou. I also learnt that the word Ananas is the same in Hindi and French. Incase you don't know, it's Pineapple.

It was fun doing the whole je suis, je m'apelle. Didn't quite make it to je t'aime. I figured that it required a couple of more years of learning to understand its proper use.

My friend Mallika went on to study French (higher level) and even mastered the art of having a Tête-à-tête with a Marathi accent. Only she can boast about such rare talents.

Mona Lisa by Graphic Nothing

Two of my friends are backpacking through Europe at the moment. I'm so jealous. I just received an email from one them.

He says "Paris is cold, the people are cold, the vibe is cold & the women are not hot". I guess all they can do is enjoy the food really. And maybe the Sienne.

But, France did have its Belle époque. With Art déco and Art Nouveau.

I'm a big fan of everything that's Art but, I'm not a fan of the Louvre. Yawn. I thought the Mona Lisa was overrated. Or did I miss something?

But France has definitely got some things going for it.

Like the Moulin Rouge - the show not the movie.

Or one of my favourite movies - Amélie. I wish I had written that story.

Or French Onion soup - the oceany broth that never disappoints.

The Monaco Grand prix and the Cannes film festival - for entertainment.

Or simply coq au vin - because I am that immature that just saying the name makes me giggle.

I love the language because it sounds so beautiful.

But, more so because it's hilarious when Indians try to speak it.

As much as I say it right when I'm referring to the city, when I'm talking about the biscuit I automatically say Mon-ack-oh.

It's an Indian thing.

Hey! Don't judge.

Atleast I know how to pronounce Champs-Élysées.

So let's sing it now.

And here's another song I learnt. I pretty much only sang the word discothèque. Have a listen.

Ciao.

My Very Educated Mother...

When we were children, this is how we were taught to learn the names of the planets in our solar system in the correct order from the Sun.

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune & Pluto was learnt as

My Very Educated Mother Just Showed Us Nine Planets or Just Served Us Nine Pizzas.

I'd prefer going with the latter.

About 5 years ago Pluto was suddenly declared to be a dwarf planet so, how does that change my favourite mnemonic? This is what I came up with:

My Very Enthusiastic Mother Just Showed Us Nagpur?

OR

Madagascar's Very Enlightened Man Just Served Us Noodles?

It's just not the same without Pluto.

by ilovedoodle

And this is why Pluto got dropped.

If a planet was to be dropped, it should've been Uranus, I mean seriously, who ever came up with that name?

I'm sure the Mnemonic's going to change drastically in the next 10 years. I recently read online about it having already changed to something random. They decided to add 3 dwarf planets and had a contest for the best mnemonic. Blah!

I've always found planets to be intimidatingly beautiful things. I didn't want to use the word things. They seem too large to be called things. Do you get what I mean? But what's the right word? Celestial Body sounds way too complex.

I was watching Juno the other day and found it very funny when she called herself a planet. I guess when you're bursting with pregnancy, you actually do look like one. 

So, if you're interested in looking like a planet, you know how to do it.

And if you're more ambitious and want to look like the Milky Way galaxy, just go shopping in the wedding section of any store. For some reason, people think it's cool to stick Swarovski crystals all over your clothes.

Happy New Year to me

It's Year No. 26 for me.

Do I feel older? Nope.
Do I look older? No no. I still get asked if I'm above 18 at movie theatres.

But am I getting older? Yes. Unfortunately I don't have a choice there.

And wiser? Umm...

I'm planning on celebrating with a glass of wine because let's face it - Life through the wine glass seems a little rosier.

So, here's some borrowed wisdom from the ilovedoodle blog. I think the work on this website is inspirational.

by ilovedoodle

Spread your legs, stretch your arms and open your heart.
You will realize that you are actually a star.

Swimming in the pond of Youth

Or so I'd like to believe.

Illustration by Grant Snider



It's the end of my 25th year.

Now what?

Animazing

I loved Wednesday's Martha Graham Google Doodle by Ryan Woodward. It was the best I've seen so far.

Ryan Woodward's animation is just lovely. Simple lines that flow into each other making the movement look so effortless.

Here's another cool video. Ryan has managed to animate in the most incredible way showing a man and a woman dancing to the tune of a very sweet song.

Thought of You.

He manages to show so much emotion through simple line drawings. Watch how his fluid lines metamorphose into the human form and flow into each other to the rhythm and fall into an embrace.

Simply incredible.

Sarcasm or honesty?

Something I would love to have said to 98% of the people I've done any design work for.

by Graham Smith

The designer was kind enough to leave this note:

You can download the A3 JPEG version of this poster direct via Flickr, so you can throw darts at it or wipe you’re bottom with it.

I've got the power

Good morning.

I'm still not sure about how I made it out of bed in one piece.

I did such a crazy yoga class yesterday.

Now I feel like I can start every sentence by raising my Power Sword or realistically speaking, by raising my arm and saying "By the power of grayskull".

I was a huge He-man fan while growing up. I pretty much had the same hairstyle as him. I watched the show everyday on TV along with the Mahabharat and have no clue what happened in either. I guess all I did was stare at the screen at He-Man's popcorn-like arms. My mother had bought my sister and me a He-man and a Skeletor toy but, I was so clueless about the show and so young and gullible that my sister actually tricked me into believing that evil Skeletor was the good guy. So, most of my childhood was spent playing with Skull faced Skeletor. My youthful innocence/ stupidity made me believe in something called trust. Oh well!

It's a good thing I grew up. 

But, what I still can't understand is why my mother didn't just buy us 2 He-man's?

But I'm not worried anymore.

I have the power.

Going for the kill

Am I a fitness freak? No.

I did a handstand at yoga yesterday which felt pretty awesome.

A rush of blood to the head.

I've never joined a gym and it's been months since I've played any tennis.

The reason - My sister got engaged to her friend/ my tennis coach/ the only one who pretended to believe in my career as a tennis star.

My life has gone from

to

I'm going for the kill. It's war.

I'm always the one in the room bitten by mosquitoes even if there are 100 other people. I did extensive research to understand why this happens (on google). Am I unlucky? Is life that unfair? Is my blood oh so sweet à la Bella Swan?

Well, the answer is simple. We O+ve people emit some different stuff through our skin which is like dessert for the mosquitoes.

It's scary how I've begun playing with the mosquito racket like its a sport. Practising my backhand, forehand and even some volleys. Maybe ill even throw in some Monica Seles-esque screams for extra effect.

Sad. Yes.

Thank you China. You manufacture some awesome but rather questionable products.

Just trying to save the world from Dengue fever. Please don't add to my bad karma.

by ilovedoodle

Movie Talk

I watched a couple of movies recently. Here's my opinion on each of them. Why? Just trying to save the world by helping people avoid watching crappy movies and wasting 2 hours of their lives that could've been spent doing something more life changing like learning Chinese.

Pictogram Movie Posters by Viktor Hertz

Inception poster for design geeks via tumblr

Source Code
I had no idea what the movie was about or who was starring in it. According to me that's the perfect way to watch a movie -  not influenced by trailers, friends or critics. The movie was definitely good. It was like Inception but in this case even people other than Christopher Nolan can understand the plot.

Dum Maaro Dum
Ok, so I generally am not a fan of Bollywood movies since I'm not into slapstick or movies inspired by Hollywood movies.
But, this one was pretty good. Good story, performances and its shot pretty well too.
And Rana Duggabatti/ Daggubatti / Agarbatti - whatever his name is, is pretty hot.
What I can't seem to understand is why Abhishek Bachchan insists on doing a rap song randomly in the middle of the movie with his very yo dance steps.

Eat Pray Love
If you've been reading my blog you will know that that's the last book I tried reading. I only finished Eat. Wasn't ready for Pray or Love. Finally rented the DVD and it was ooook. Seemed to be slower than reading the book. Nice story overall with the happy ending etc. Was pretty disappointed with the way India was shown - as the poor, dirty, overcrowded country where "you shouldn't touch anything but yourself". I guess even Italy and Bali have their dirty little corners but Liz Gilbert didn't really bother to explore those areas.

Water for Elephants
Umm. Highly stupid movie. Silly story and not even enough romance. Blah! What got me through it was Robert Pattinson's good looks. He's a good combination of manly and gay which seems to work for me.
After the movie this was the conversation between my sister, Aku & my friend, Mallika:

A : So, who was in this elephant movie? I thought it was animated.
M : Laura Witherspoon (Mallika being silly after just having wikied Reese Witherspoon and learning that that's her first name).
A : Is that Reese Witherspoon's real name? And why would you even know that?
M : You didn't know that?
A : So, do you know what Brad Pitt's real name is? (Aku trying to show off her Hollywood knowledge)
M : Yea, its Arm but obviously he couldn't use that.

Now imagine if that was true.

It's actually William.