Tag Archives: Mumbai

Q and A / Slumdog Millionaire – A Book Review

Q and A / Slumdog Millionaire by Vikas Swarup

This is the book on which the movie Slumdog Millionaire was made and is one of the few books that I am reading after watching (and enjoying) the movie. I usually tend to have read the book before watching the movie.

Anyway on to the plot…in a nutshell, the story is about a poor boy from the slums of Mumbai and Delhi who somehow manages to get on the popular TV show “Who Wants to be a Billionaire?” and manages to win 1 billion dollars. How does a poor, uneducated boy know the answers to all the questions? Has he cheated, or did he learn from the university of life? Well, that’s the rest of the plot…where he tells his life story showing how he knew the answers to the questions he was asked.

My Review:

I was quite surprised to find that the movie deviates quite significantly from the book. The book has far more anecdotes, and details. I welcome the extra detail but somehow the prose does not do justice to the story. Vikas Swarup’s writing is a bit flat, very straightforward, and I was having difficulties getting into the book. The main strengths of the movie were the energy of the kids, the cinematography, the music, and the concept of fate. None of these strengths are derived from the book.

The book meanders on with various anecdotes from Ram Mohammed Thomas’s life (yes, in the book this is his name, and the story of how he comes by a multi-religious name is as cliched as it comes). The book starts to come to life when Ram goes to Agra and falls in love, and decides to come on to the show…a little over midway through the book.

The story picks up the pace quite nicely and Vikas Swarup even manages to throw in a few twists and turns into the very predictable plot making the ending quite a nice surprise.

All in all, it’s not too bad a book. But I was somehow expecting it to touch my emotions a little bit more. I think this is one of those rare cases where the movie was more affecting than the book.

Have any of you read the book and seen the movie? How did you feel the two compared?

Note: I am including this read as one of the books towards completing the South Asian Authors Challenge hosted by S Krishna.

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Planning yet Another Vacation!

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It’s been just a little over a month after our fun trip to Mumbai and Goa, and here we are, planning another short stay holiday.

This time, we are thinking Delhi and Agra. Another close friend is getting married and we just cannot miss cheering him on

My dad is also currently living in Delhi, and this was also the perfect chance to visit him and hopefully spend some quality time.

And now I come to the point of this post…I am spending 2.5 days in Delhi, and it being such a big city with so much to see and do, I really want some ideas on places to visit, and some fun (preferably child-friendly) things to do.

I have been to Delhi a long time ago, and we have already seen all the standard historical, touristy places (Lal Qila, Qutab Minar, and so on…). So, this time we really want to do something a little less touristy. We just want to chill back, enjoy the place, do a little shopping (maybe), and bring back lovely memories.

So, any suggestions? Please feel free to post your favorite spots to visit in Delhi. Who knows, it may become one of mine too

Vacation- Days 1 and 2

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It’s been a bit of a challenge to decide exactly how much of my vacation to describe in my blog posts.

The easiest way to go about it is to describe my trip in blocks of days and hopefully manage to make it exciting rather than just a narration of events.

So, here I go…

Day 1

We had planned to catch a 1pm flight from Bangalore to Mumbai (formerly called Bombay). As per the plan, we would have reached Mumbai by 2:30, which would give us ample time to check in and maybe do a quick round of the city.

Unfortunately for all of us, our plane was delayed for 4 hours, leaving us stranded in the spanking new Bengalooru International Airport. We made the best of a bad situation by chilling out with our friends at Barista and the food courts. After generally stuffing our faces, we started looking around in the stores and generally doing some window-shopping and contemplating some purchases. The snubnose and her friend spent time running around from one side of the departure lounge to the other. Mr. K tried his best not to get stressed what with his runaway shopping-mad wife and his daughter who was running around getting under everyone’s feet. Thankfully, before any financial or physical damage was done, we were called for boarding .

Oh, I think the new airport rocks! It’s a little on the small side, but nevertheless, it was really clean, and well-maintained.

We reached Mumbai past seven, got stuck in rush-hour traffic and basically reached our rooms too pooped to do anything. Our hotel was on Bandra Hill Road, and after check-in, we just rushed to the nearest restaurant to fill up our insides with large quantities of street food.

Mumbai is famous for its cheap and plentiful street food known as chaat. And throughout our stay in Mumbai, this was what we primarily indulged in. Mr. K never ate anything other than pav bhaajis, while the snubnose and I lagaoed the yummy bhel puris.

Day 2

The purpose of our trip to Mumbai was to attend a friend’s wedding. Because of this, we really did not do too much sight-seeing. Day 2 mostly went in random street-shopping in Bandra’s Hill Road. We came back with some awesome junk jewelery for the snubnose and myself. The stuff here was totally dirt-cheap. I normally don’t buy fake jewelery finding them to be too expensive for fakes, but here I could totally indulge. Also, the designs were very beautiful and intricate, very much more my style than the stuff you get in Bangalore.

After shopping, and again stuffing ourselves with chaat, we made our way back to the hotel to meet the groom and have a short photo session with him before making our way to the church for the ceremony.

After a little hesitation, I decided to wear the blue churidhar kurta because it was a slightly dressier option. We then took a lot of pictures and then made our way to the church.

Before the wedding

Here, I must say that I was totally blown away by the ceremony. Our Hindu rituals are usually so loud, and filled with so much smoke and chatter that it is really difficult to focus on the couple. I loved that a church wedding demands a sense of discipline and quiet. We could actually listen to the very meaningful words uttered by the priest and feel completely involved in their wedding.

The bride’s wedding dress was really beautiful, it was a traditional white gown with a long veil…I was just sighing with satisfaction. The snubnose has also become really affected after seeing her. She started calling her “Princess aunty”, which I thought was really cute. After coming back, she has started wearing more frocks and draping dupattas around her neck so that she can also become Princess Jahnavi

The reception was total fun. There was an emcee, a DJ, and tons of dancing. We all had a whale of a time dancing the funky chicken and the Christmas polka, apart from the standard Bollywood dancing. The snubnose lost all her inhibitions and hit the dance floor and really let loose. She was the first to get on the floor and the last to come of it

I really need to find some really nice dance classes for her. She loves dancing so much!

Came back to our rooms completely exhausted. The snubnose continued to dance on the bed, until she dropped of exhaustion.

An eventful 2 days. After all this partying in Mumbai, we were all totally charged up for the second half of our trip – three days by the beach in Goa.

Back from Vacationitis…

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So, I am back from vacation and I have so much to blog about I just don’t know where to start. I am still so perked up after the short break that I am probably going to blather on in my blog for the next couple of weeks about the fun we had (interspersed with long pending reviews of course!).

I spent the whole of last week attending a friend’s wedding in Mumbai, and then traipsed off to Goa’s sunny shores for some much needed R and R.

Before I start off relating my travel saga, I just need to add some tidbits about the shopping preparations leading up to the trip. After all, that’s where the fun first started.

My friends and I went on a random shopping trip to Commercial Street (Bangalore’s top street shopping destination), when I suddenly got the brilliant idea of getting a new salwar kameez for my friend’s wedding. Popped in to Fazal’s and immediately hit on the perfect one for me. In muted shades of green and brown (I love this color combo, even my blog has a similar color scheme ) with just the right amount of sequins, I knew I had a winner with this one.

Here is a shot of the salwar:

The colors are really beautiful, here they appear a bit too bright

The colors are really beautiful in actuality, here they appear a bit too bright

One of my friends also mentioned seeing a gorgeous churidhar kameez at a newly opened boutique called Suvasa in Indra Nagar, suggesting that I might also like that one for the wedding. I didn’t really take her suggestion seriously but then I happened to pass the store a couple of days later, and saw it displayed. Walked in and within 10 mins, this one was also a part of my closet

Here is a shot of the churidhar (did I mention it is pure silk ):

Quite a steal for a silk churidhar kurta

So, everything clothes-related was set for the trip. Now, I only had to decide on the books I was planning to take with me.

I thought something light and not too taxing would be ideal, and so into the suitcase went Everyone Worth Knowing by Lauren Weisberger and Peony in Love by Lisa See.

I have finished with the Lauren Weisberger, which turned out to be a disappointing read. I pretty much love what I have read so far of Peony in Love, and am looking forward to seeing how the story evolves.

Also coming up are more photos and some fun travel memories that I’d like to share with you all

Ciao for now!

Tagged Again…

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…by Amrit of the The Midnight Sun. He has tagged me for the 8 wonders meme. Here are my responses:

8 TV Shows I Love to Watch:

None, I don’t watch TV at all. If I had to pick something it would be True Blood on HBO and award shows.

8 Favorite Places to Eat:

Little Italy
Herbs & Spice
Ginseng
Coffee Day (for the great capuccinos and small eats)
Cascade (Chennai)
Duchess (Chennai -not sure it is still around. It used to be my fave joint once upon a time)
Corner House (for the great ice-creams and milkshakes)
Nanking

8 Things That Happened Yesterday:

Tons of work
Rained a lot
Updated my blog
Started working on this meme
Spoke to my mom
Made a new week resolution (yes, I make resolutions each week)
Taught the snubnose a new song (Vande Mataram – we are being very patriotic this week)
Surfed on the net a lot

8 Things I Look Forward To:

My project release
Reading “The Graveyard Book” by Neil Gaiman
The weekend
Travelling to Mumbai for my friend’s wedding
Everyone in my house getting healthy again after the viral fever bout
Restarting my workouts again
Diwali
Seeing Kaminay

8 Things I Love About Winter:

Days starting later
Cuddling up with the snubnose
Cups of hot tea
Wearing smart jackets, sweaters, and shawls
Not sweating
Not getting tanned
The rains
Staying at home

8 Things on my Wish List:

Time to relax and chill out
Meet up with old friends scattered across the globe and just catch up in person (instead of just Facebook and chat)
Take yoga classes and become super-flexible
Wish I could be more photogenic (really wishful thinking, I know…but I always cringe when I see my photos)
Stick to exercise routines
A bigger house (or maybe less junk in my present house)
Someone with super good taste will magically revamp my wardrobe
Win a contest on radio/TV/anything

8 Things I’m Passionate About :

Books
Writing
Blogs
Fashion
Travel
Great coffee and conversations
Friends
Family

8 Words or Phrases I Use Often:

Yabba (only tams can understand this one )
OK, fine! (when I am giving in to somebody)
da (again a Tam-specific slang)
cool
Too much
Actually (which I am really, really trying to curb )
Simply superb

8 Things I Have Learned From My Past:

You cannot change anybody’s bad habits or behaviors, it has to come from within them. Stop trying and getting frustrated
Not being a topper at school does not mean you cannot be a topper outside it
Not to be too trusting and naive about people. Have an open mind but don’t open your heart to others fully until you are sure about yourself and them
Being around negative people can be very draining, be kind to yourself, avoid people who enjoy making you feel bad about yourself
Some things about your life cannot be changed, they must be endured gracefully
Health and peace of mind are the 2 most important things. Everything comes later
Holding petty grievances is tiring and affects you badly. Forget about things, move on…
You are changing all the time. What once worked for you may not be good for you any longer. Recognize that fact and keep evolving

8 Places I Would Love to Go or See or Visit:

France (Paris and the south of France)
Italy
Himalayas (I have never been north of New Delhi, and I am just dying to go)
Eastern states of India
New York
Maldives
South Africa
Brazil

8 Things I Currently Need or Want:

A new hair-do
A great party (I”m still not satisfied after last month’s shenanigans)
A relaxing massage
Some alone time
Nice shoes
A faster computer, which does not hang when I open 2 Firefox tabs
More healthy dining options in the food court near my place
More fun in my life!

Whew! that was tiring. I really had to stop and think for some of these…

I am not tagging anybody specific for this one. If you like this meme, feel free to use it on your own blog, and link back to me. I would love to read your answers.

Aamchi Mumbai Burning!

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This is the first time, I am writing on anything this horrendous. I prefer my blog to be a very happy and upbeat place. But, I guess that is not possible after 2 and a 1/2 days of non-stop TV watching and reading about the Mumbai terror attack. This week has been simply too depressing.

Some things that I saw on the TV had me wincing with shame and horror:

The non-stop filming of some very mundane activities and the continuous chatter of the journalist who is somehow trying to fill the time till the next explosion occurs, or the moment they can catch someone who can provide a sound-bite. I have seen posts and articles highlighting the bravery of the media. But, I am sorry to say, that to me it looked more like foolishness and getting in the way of the actual work.
Manmohan Singh’s speech – this was one of the most important press conferences in his life and he simply BLEW it. I mean a dummy could have showed more animation! When you contrast his speech with the soundbites the Pakistani ambassador gave on CNN, you just wince with shame. The Pakis definitely won the media war here.
The crowd of gawkers and rowdies hanging on the sidelines watching the tamasha. I even saw some of them with liquor bottles in their hands. Morons !
The Congress party – No way in hell will they win the next election after this pathetic show. They might as well just hand over the gaddi to the BJP and move on. At least, a lot of money will be saved that way.
The CM of Kerala- who stated that even dogs would not visit Unnikrishnan’s (martyr) house.
A restaurant manager of the Taj Mumbai who in an interview with the BBC was so full of self-importance that he forgot to mention the names of his staff who died saving lives in the restaurant, or to thank God he was lucky to be near the service exit and was able to move out quickly with a bunch of people. He spoke non-stop about his quick reaction, and his bravery. I applaud his actions, but the tone and the bravado were really not in keeping with the occasion, and might have hurt the sentiments of relatives / friends of others who were not as lucky as he was.

And so many more such ….if I cataloged them further, I would be even more depressed and upset. I have generally heard it say that tragedy brings out the best in people’s natures. Sad to say that this time, I feel it didn’t.