Pichkoo Sauce

When I reached home yesterday, an interesting conversation took place.

Wifey: सारे किये कराये पे क्या फेर दिया?

Kid: पान्ठा (thats how my kid pronounces परांठा )

Wifey: किसने फेर दिया?

Kid: नन्हू ने (नन्हू is how my kid refers to boys little older than him)

Wifey: कौनसे नन्हू ने

Kid: मोटे नन्हू ने

All I could do is watch both of them and smile

PS: If you have seen the Pichkoo sauce ad, you would be able to relate to this conversation better.

We completely missed it

28th November 1997 is the day when I heard the magical 3 words ‘I Love You’  for the first time in my life and that too from my wife who was my girlfriend then.

So it was the 12th anniversary of the day this year and how did it go? Well, to start with, I was returning from a marriage when the clock crossed midnight and unluckily my car’s front wheel got punctured right in the middle of a flyover and in the middle of a heavy jam. It has never happened my car’s tubeless wheels run out of air completely but this time they did. So I change the wheel and manage to get out of the jam somehow after an hour or so and the moment we are out of the jam, my kid vomits and starts saying ‘take me to the doctor’.

Kids don’t like docs for the medicines they give them and if a 2 year kid says he wants to go to the doc, then you better take him. So we see the doc, the kid gets some injections and goes to sleep. Next morning he has a blood test and the entire day goes off in such stuff.

And when the next day came, me and wifey realized, yesterday was that day of our life and we completely missed it.

Should I be charged for this?

Recently the traffic police of Delhi had plans to increase the fine for cell phone use while driving from Rs. 1000 to Rs. 2000 which may or may not be combined with a 6 month jail. This punishment will also be applied on the drivers who use hands free devices to talk while driving.

I am not exactly against this law but I am having my concerns over this. Talking on a cell phone while driving is definitely a distraction and since I do it myself many times I can confidently say it can cause accidents (though I have not been in any till now, touchwood). But this distraction is a two way distraction – one, your mind is distracted and two, one of your hands is busy. The second part can be eliminated by use of a hands free to do the talking.

But how is talking using a hands free different from talking to a person sitting right next to you in the car? I travel with my family a lot and most of the time I am driving and a lot many times I am talking to my wife and kid while driving. Should I be charged for this?

If your answer is no, then why should people talking using hands free be charged?

And if your answer is yes, should listening to music while driving also come under this law?

Fletcher shows how to hit a sweet volley

It was a sad beginning to the international break as Manchester United lost 1-0 to Chelsea (even after a good performance) but it was definitely a happy ending to the break as Manchester United rampaged to a 3-0 win against Everton at Old Trafford.

The game after the international break always gives me jitters due to the tiredness of all the international players we have in the Manchester United line up but the display in this game definitely made those jitters go away.

The line up boasted a return of Vidic to the center of the defence and there was no place for Nani, not even on the bench which pleases me. It was a start for Michael Owen and Berbatov didn’t feature even on the bench (injury?). Carrick and Fletcher started in the center of the midfield. I think Carrick is good in a game only when he is free to roam around and Fletcher provides him that freedom. It was a return for Saha to Old Trafford for the first time since his move to Everton.

In the first half it was all Manchester United and Everton were barely getting any of the ball. It seemed United meant all business and wanted to make a statement with this game improving their goal difference along the way. There was loads of crisp passing movement but the end product was not showing. Rooney and Giggs went close with the shots from outside the box but the scoreline was still 0-0.

In the 35th minute Patrice Evra crossed the ball into the box which was headed by Valencia into the path of Fletcher who hit a sweet volley into the top corner of the goal.

Fletcher Goal (Image Source: Soccernet)

What a shot… Bang 1-0!!! To be honest Fletcher would be the last man I would want to be at the end of such a chance. He has missed some easy chances with his feet. He is awesome at scoring with his head but I don’t trust his feet when it comes to scoring but didn’t he surprise me and for the good.

2nd half started with Yakubu coming on for Everton and for the initial few minutes it seemed that they would be no pushovers today. Yakubu went close with a shot.

In the 67th minute, Rooney had a shot which would have gone out for a throw but Giggs was there to collect it and provide a pass right to Carrick’s feet who slotted home a low shot into the goal. Whatever thoughts I was having of a nervy 2nd half went to dust.

Michael Carrick (Image Source: Telegraph)

After that it was smooth play for United and Valencia added a 3rd to the scoreline with a deflected shot. Valencia seems to be having a knack of scoring through deflections.

Overall it was a very convincing performance by Manchester United which kept the gap limited to 5 points at the top. And for a change the midfield pitched in with goals instead of the strikers which is a good thing but would have loved to see Michael Owen making the most of the chance he got since he had a full game today. Other than that almost everyone played well in the game.

Also loved what David Moyes had to say after the game “The fact is when we went 2 up front we conceded 2 goals, so there is no guarantee we would have done any better. “

To add to a good win was Arsenal’s loss to Sunderland courtesy a Darren Bent goal (that would have hurt but I am happy). Also Liverpool and Man City drew 2-2 – not sure which manager should be happy with that result.

And Tottenham scoring 9 against Wigan and 8 of those coming in 2nd half? Don’t we all miss EPL so much…

Whats Your Rashee (2009)

Image Source: Wikipedia

Directed By: Ashutosh Gowarikar

Written By: Madhu Rye

Genre: Comedy/Romance

Cast: Harman Baweja, Priyanka Chopra

Yogesh Patel’s (Harman Baweja) peaceful life in Chicago comes to an end with the news that his dad had a heart attack. He gets surprised when he sees his dad at the airport and is being told that he was called back to India to get married. Why plans of his marriage all of a sudden? Coz he’ll get loads of property as soon as he gets married and they can use that property to pay off the debt acquired by his brother. So, Yogesh decides to marry and decides that he would meet 12 girls – 1 from each sun sign (Rashee) and then decide whom to marry in a span of 10 days. Whether he ends up falling in love with any one of them is a different matter but he definitely ends up helping them out with their problems.

The film is based on the book “Kimball Revenswood” by Gujarati author Madhu Rye. For one, I am sure the book would be much more interesting than the movie. The story in the movie felt a little disjointed at times. Secondly, the movie was way too long. 3.5 hours of a movie? And why did we need songs for all characters of Priyanka Chopra? And the music was way off. Didn’t suit the movie at all. I didn’t watch even one of the songs. Forwarded all of them. So can’t comment on choreography if there was any.

The jokes in the movie were not very bright and would actually make you wonder if they were even jokes. As far as acting in concerned, Priyanka had barely anything to act about. All her roles were so small that there was barely any visibility. Harman Baweja sometimes had really good expressions on his face and sometimes was way off mark. So I would rate him so-so.

But one thing that the movie definitely made me thank for was that I had a love marriage. It was such a pain looking at a guy and girl trying to decide in one meeting if they are suitable for marrying each other, let alone actually going through the process. A few of my friends are actually going through that process and I have my sympathies with them.

Coming back to the movie, it is definitely one that can be left alone without watching. There is nothing in the movie that would make me recommend it to someone. It was a complete disaster especially considering that it came from Ashutosh Gowarikar.

By the way, A R Rahman didn’t give the music to this movie as against Ashutosh’s all previous movies as he was busy with the music of Slumdog Millionaire. Good move I must say.

I would rate it 1/5

Would I watch it again: Not a chance (unless someone puts a gun on my head)