Film-Un-Fair Awards

Yes, I saw the filmfare awards. I am the kind who would skip Oscars to watch apun ke desi stars! The compering by SRK and KJohar duo was strictly okay. I felt it was more about themselves, their failed film KANK and SRK's failed attempt to imitate Big B as Don. Hello, where are the compering dialogues?

There were some nice perfomances by Amrita Rao, Bipsha Basu, Rani Mukherji, and my favorite Hrithik Roshan. But guess who the scene stealer was? The one and only SRIDEVI. It was such a delight to see her recreate the 80s and dance to her hit numbers. Wow! She still rocks!

The lifetime achievement awards went to Javed Akhtar and Jaya Bachchan. Rightly deserved, I must say! Listening to Javed Akhtar's thank you speech made me spellbound. He is such a fine orater. Such a powerful orater, a true master of words. Filmfare then thought, we can only honor two people with achievement awards for lifetime; so why not give our own Yash Chopra a power award. Duh! Get over it people.

I expected entertainment and appreciation for good work. I think the cinegoers in India would have expected the same. To the contrary, the filmfare award function just turned out to be like a "family get together". The most coveted and prestigious awards were distributed only to the Chopras, Kapoors, Khans, and Bachchans. I was utterly disappointed to not see any nominations for some finest films this year. To name a few Dor, Being Cyrus, and Khosla ka Ghosla were the neglected ones. I truely believe that these films were different and deserved acclaim. If not the award itself, at least a nomination would have done some justice.

Kuch Khatta Kuch Meetha (Sweet and Sour)...That was this year's Filmfare Awards. Or rather Film-Un-Fair awards!

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Food for Soul....My Way

One of my "Sahir Ludhianwi" favourite:

"Niklete the kahaan jaane ke liye,
Pahunche hain kahaan maalum nahin..
Ab apne bhatakte qadmon ko,
Manzil ka nishaan maalum nahin...."

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Of Webchutney

It started with "Chitthi aayi hai" and continued with "Songcatcher" and "Khul Ja Sim Sim". What I am talking about here is the appreciation for the creative advertisements by Webchutney. The name of the company itself is interactive, isn't it? So are their ads. Their clientele are the creme de la creme of the business world including names like Microsoft, Google, Intel, Maruti Suzuki, and many more. Interactive marketing, thats what they aim at. And bingo, they do hit the bulls eye. I can vouch for their innovative nature of ads. If you haven't had a chance to enjoy any of those different and funny commercials, here are some of them:

'Chitthi Ayi Hai' - Microsoft Outlook
'Jugalbandi' - Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Groove
'Songcatcher' - Airtel
'Khul Ja Sim Sim' - Airtel
'Aao' - Make my trip
'Chidiya Udi' - Make my trip
'Chalo Lanka' - Make my trip
'Seeta Haran' - Make my trip
'Referrals' - Make my trip
'Moving train' - Make my trip
'Daddu Ki Amanat - Protex

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The Meltdown

Yippeee! Mercury in the barometer is rising high. Good 'ol sunshine is back. Back to stay in Columbus at least for a week. Sure there is a high hope of the biggest meltdown of the season. With steadily rising temperatures, huge heaps of snow that have piled up are expected to melt down. Ahh...what more do I want!

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Britney spears is in news again and for all the wrong reasons. In the wake of her recently shaved head and recheck into a rehab, the 'once a sensation' pop star is being haunted by media continously. The paparazzi just can't get enough of her. Poor gal. Leave her alone. And why would we even care for the reason Britney shaves her head? Those are her hair. Let her manage them. It is okay if CNN tells me that a storm is approaching; that might help. Why would I love to see a 'Britney Spears' whenever I visit CNN? Give me news and not gossip. Also, let Britney live her life on her own.

The point I want to make is that every individual has his or her own life. Let them live it by themselves. No, I don't care what is happening with my neighbor or acquaintances from school. What I care about is MY life and I will pursue it as I like. Every person deserves this freedom.

Anyways, there is something to celebrate on the snow front.

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Emancipation

All I want is "Solitude"...........................

Really really bad.....................................

Up above the world so high..................

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It Is About Money

Read some Ralph Waldo Emerson quotations on money. I am still pondering over these. Grave truth, isn't it?

1) Money often costs too much.

2) Can anybody remember when the times were not hard and money not scarce?

These quotations have a shade of black reality that cannot be ignored. Those who have the bucks are lucky. Those who do not possess the moolah are happy as they are. And those somewhere in between, who don't have enough of it, are the ones the most unhappy creatures. Their entire life revolves around going from somewhere middle to somewhat high and in this process, happiness is lost.

In the morning I was discussing with a friend how human beings are the most evovled species on this earth. Right. But they are the most unhappy ones too. With our intelligence we have created a world that serves us with nothing but worries, troubles, tensions, and unhappiness. Animals with their less developed brains do not have a pseudo world and are free from such botherations. Gibberish, is it? If Darwin was alive, he would have seen how evolution is slowly leading to destruction of our inner world.

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Weather Hath Fury

Thanks to the weather god, my classes got cancelled yesterday and today. Yes, I am happy. Only students can experience the sheer joy of cancelled classes. Yippee! But then again, the weather is really horrible out here. The entire midwest endured this winter storm yesterday. As if it wasn't enough play for this destructive cold storm, the windy, icy, rainy, snowy weather continues to grace Midwest and Northeast today. Ah, what a lovely day to lash fury. Happy Valentine's Day ppl!

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Spoof on Prescription Drugs

Being a pharmacy professional, I occasionally enjoy related humor. If you are aware of the US health care system or know a bit about this high-priced and over-medicated society, then you would surely enjoy 'Drugs I Need' and 'License to Pill' spoofs. Don't worry if you know nothing about it, you will learn more from these (pun intended!).

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The Art of Persuasion

Oh, how I wonder and wish that I could persuade the people in my life - my family, friends, colleagues, and even those who don't know me! I knew it was a skill and it required at least some acumen. I just give up after a while even when I (in my hearts of hearts) know for sure that I am correct. I ain't proud of that. In fact, I need to work on my persuasion skills. And yes, verbal combat is not an answer to that! Even if it was, I would terribly fail. I just cannot be belligerently verbose.

'Persuasion' for me isn't the art of making people blindly believe and follow what I think. It is an art of conveying our thoughts agreeably. How do companies sell their products? Yes, by persuading people to believe them, right? How can one company keeps burgeoning more in the market than others? Thanks to their persuasive skills reaching out to people via the 'idot' box TV (Oh I still say TV and not Television). If not for persuasion, how would then a researcher demonstrate to people that his/her research has all the answers to fill the voids in scientific literature, despite the study being cap a pie flawed? This is life, a real world! We ought to know how to stick here!

I came across 'Introduction to Influence' while researching on Persuasion through Dr. KK. There are people who dedicate their lives to learning and delving more into persuasive skills. Strange, but again isn't that the whole point of this post - Persuasion? It is more than merely art, it is a science in itself.

No, I am not out of my mind. It does help.

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