Tag Archives: Song

Songs we are Singing Around the House These Days

Posted in Jahnavi, Music, Videos by

Snubnose and I have traditionally gone through mad singing phases where we both latch on to a song, and it becomes our song for the next few weeks or months. I have mentioned some previous songs in some posts here, here, here, and here.

This summer, it’s the turn of the King of Pop himself – Elvis the Pelvis and his famous hit – Love me Tender.

It’s kinda funny that the snubnose loves this song so much considering he died almost fifty years? before she was born. But, she’s too young to be hipster/cool, and it’s a pleasure to hear her warble this song along with him.

I have even written out the lyrics for her in her notebook, and she’s ended up learning the complete song itself :) .

Another song that we sing around the house these days is much more modern. While talking recently with a friend about Western popular music I realized that I have absolutely no clue about what’s happening in Western music these days. My tastes seem to have gotten stuck around the grungeish phase of the early 90s.

Anyway, what’s youtube for if not to discover unfamiliar artists/music? And I stumbled upon this one by Demi Lovato – Skyscraper. I”ll be honest and say the song doesn’t do too much for me, but it’s easy to sing, the lyrics are simple, and the message is nice. So, snubnose is learning this song as well this summer.

Nothing like her childish, very off-tune voice to bring a smile to my face :)

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Why I Love the Beatles

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Random post I know…I have never blogged much about music, but when I introduced the snubnose to this song, and she loved it…well, it just reinforced to me how amazing and timeless Beatles music is, and how some of their songs simply transcend all barriers…

If you’re a big Beatles fan as well, you can use this Hot Topic coupon code to help you save on some cool gear!

The video I have shown here contains the original song, but this has been re-created (not by me) with these cute cartoon characters.

All was not Well in my Home This Week…

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The whole of last week, a nagging cough and cold troubled the snubnose. Of course, this is nothing new, and I dealt with it in the usual manner. Unfortunately, the usual medication did not work this time, and the cough culminated in high fever and vomiting.

This weekend was mostly spent nursing her, and trying to comfort and entertain a fretful 4 year old is not an easy job at all.

One easy entertainment option was the Karadi Tales Rhymes DVD. On most days, she does not really spend too much time watching TV as she is doing so many other things. But this is an ideal option for times when she is sick. She simply sacks out on the comfy sofa under a blanket watching all her favorite nursery rhymes sung out medlodiously by Usha Uthup (who does a marvellous job, I must say).

For those who don’t know too much about Karadi Rhymes, here’s a brief overview. Introduced as an initiative to provide more localized nursery rhymes that Indian kids can easily associate with their daily lives, this DVD contains simple rhymes based on Indian themes such as mangoes, cricket, and Indian festivals. It includes a couple of beautiful songs on Indian national integration, and one of my personal favorites on Indian festivals.

I think I enjoy these simple rhymes and songs almost as much as she does!

Another entertainment option is reading out books for the snubnose. I read out simple stories about Samba and Nala, the little mermaid – which she had some trouble getting into as she was so distracted by her tail, and The Three Little Pigs, which she simply loved.

The Three Little Pigs gives ample room for story dramatization. She enjoyed watching me imitate the huffing and puffing of the wolf as he tries to blow all the houses down, and kept asking me to repeat it. By the end of it all, I was quite breathless!

This is the second weekend in a row that has been extremely quiet. And what this means is that I got quite a lot of reading done. In this week alone, I managed to complete reading 4 (yes 4!) books. Usually, it takes me a month to complete reading 4 books.

So, expect to see some brief reviews of all the books that I read this week coming up soon on my blog :)

I could have danced all night …

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Today, I came back from my daughter’s PTM with her teachers sporting a huge smile on my face and just bursting with pride !

The snubnose is turning three this month, and we were all a bit concerned that her speech and vocab was not upto the mark for a child her age. In addition, she is a little shy and retiring and takes a lot of time to come out of her shell. Understandably, her participation in school activities was a little limited.

However, this time the teachers couldn’t stop singing her praises – she has started communicating a lot more than she used to, she interacts with everyone, has friends from all ages in the school. She loves all sorts of arts (mainly singing and dancing) and seems to be genuinely gifted in these areas. They suggest putting her in a song / dance class appropriate for her age, as she gets so much joy out of the whole thing.

I think she just needed some more time to grow into herself.

I just sat there listening to a list of her attributes and it was all I could do to not just jump up, run home, and give her a huge hug !

A pic taken from the web that kind of illustrates my state of mind right now !

Hugging Penguins

Hugging Penguins

A post about Dora the Explorer!

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Now, this is probably a somewhat unusual topic for me. But, I just had to blog about Dora coz she is my snub-nose’s fave character.

For those who don’t know who she is…here’s a brief background…

Dora is the greatest explorer of all time. Forget Christopher Columbus – a pretender who could not find his way to India, or Vasco da Gama – who took ages to finally make his way to India.

Dora the Explorer - with Boots and the Flying Map

Dora the Explorer - with Boots and the Flying Map

Dora gets anywhere she wants to go in three easy steps …with nothing but her trusty map and backpack, and her best friend Boots to help her. Of course, she has her troubles like the nasty Swiper who is always trying to derail her adventures.

Her adventures are too cute and too terrific that everyone in the family sits down to watch it on Nick TV with the snubnose. We sing along with all the songs with her and end up having a terrific time.

Some of my favorite sing-along songs are :

Dora the Explorer: Backpack song lyrics

Backpack (4 times)
I’m the Backpack
Loaded up with things and nick nacs too
Anything that you might need I got inside for you.
Backpack (4 times)
YEAH!

Dora the Explorer: Map song lyrics

If there’s a place you got to go
I’m the one you need to know
I’m the Map
I’m the Map
I’m the Map
If there’s a place you got to get
I can get you there I bet
I’m the Map

Travel song

Come on, vámonos.
Everybody let’s go.
Come on, let’s get to it.
I know that we can do it.

Where are we going?
To the little blue tree.
Where are we going?
To the little blue tree.
Where are we going?
To the little blue tree.
Where are we going?
To the little blue tree.

Hahahahahahaha.
Hahahahahahaha.
Little blue tree.

Where’s the charm in Dora ? I really don’t know, I just think that the snubnose is able to identify herself with her a lot. She’s a fun, rambunctious, not too girly-girl who has a good time singing and having adventures.

Why I like Dora ? It helps that she kinda resembles my daughter – similar haircut n all. Plus, I think I would love anything which makes the snubnose so happy and excited. It is also a very simple program with a very straight-forward structure, which helps snubnose pick up new words n phrases (constant repetition). She now says “Oh man” with a pronounced American accent if she does some goof-up :D .

Next up, a birthday cake with Dora the Explorer decoration. I am sure snubnose will be ever-so thrilled!

Yeh Lazy Lamhe

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I love that song (and not because of Ameesha Patel doing her thing in the green bikini). I thought she looked horrid. But anyway, that is not the point of this post.

To me, Lazy Lamhe is just a nice, pleasant song that describes the perfect weekend. This weekend came pretty close to being one.

Partly due to the petrol strike, and partly because we are both tired after the almost non-stop socializing in December, we decided to stay home n chill.

The little snubnose is having one of those days as well. She has been sleeping continuously for the past 3.5 hours, which gives me enough time to post my blog updates. Now off to drink my third cup of tea and curl up with Brisingr – one of my guilty but fun fantasy reads. How childish of me, but I love books with maps in them (ever since I started reading my first fantasy novel – The Hobbit).

Ahhh…I am just loving it :)

Rab ne Bana di Jodi – Movie Review (Kinda)

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During the shutdown, I started watching RNBDJ with a plan to writing some real snazzy n witty reviews where I just tear the movie apart. Everybody who has seen the movie had such funny stuff to say about it, I could have just compiled all their comments into one helluva funny review.

Unfortunately, I have a conscience, and it requires that I actually see the movie before writing a review about it. And, that I write what I feel about the movie.

So, I sat down to watch it on video. I have yet to finish watching it. The movie is soooo damn boring, that I ended up snoozing halfway through (right after that Dance pe chance song). And, I have just not felt the inclination to continue watching it. That’s the reason this post is titled “Movie Review (Kinda)“.

Some aspects of the movie were just intolerable, such as:

  • Shah Rukh Khan as a Punjabi – I think he just didn’t look the part. He also looked way too old when he comes as Raj. Actually, Shahid Kapoor would have been a better fit for the role. Aditya Chopra needs to get over his Shah Rukh fixation.
  • The movie is so uncool – This is a little hard for me to explain, but I will try. I find that Chopras are never able to create cool characters in their movies. They all have only one single aspect to their personality and come across so blah. One very strong example of this is Mohabbatein – where none of the 3 young couples came across as fun / cool / any personality at all. Contrast this with Jaane tu ya Jaane na, or Dil Chahta Hai, or even Rang de Basanti, where the characters had some attitude and panache. In RNBDJ, both Shah Rukh and Anoushka are as bland as corn flakes.
  • Golden Temple shots – I am getting very irritated with this constant barrage of shots of the Golden Temple of late. It was very nice to see in Rang de Basanti. I could tolerate it in Singh is Kingg. But once again ?? That too, such poorly taken visuals. Golden Temple is such a beautiful structure, it is actually insulting when it is shot in such a shabby manner.
  • Rab’s role – Why is Rab responsible for making jodis? Surely, he has far more important work to do. Also, it seems a sad way to make a jodi by killing of the unfortunate fiance.

Strangely, the one aspect that everyone found unbelievable (that Anoushka could not recognize her husband after his makeover) somewhat easy to swallow. If you allow for the fact that they were newly weds, she hardly knows him and is not close to him, and she is grieving over her dead fiance – it makes sense that she would not recognize him at all. In fact, during most conversations with her husband, she is barely even looking at him.

Question ? – Do bank officers in Amritsar take bath out of a tap in the outside of the house? without a geyser? in winter also ?

Second question? – Do you think it is worth-while for me to watch the rest of the film?

Varanam Aayiram – Movie Review

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I am going to make this as short as I possibly can – unlike Gautham Menon (the director) who has tried to include an entire life history within his movie.

Varanam Aayiram - Surya and Sameera

Varanam Aayiram - Surya and Sameera

Varanam Aayiram (Thousand elephants -my friend Deepa will probably blog about the title in her blog post at http://dewdropdeepa.blogspot.com/) tells the story of the hero’s (Surya) love for his father (Surya). Yep, he plays a double role ensuring that there is not even a single frame where he is not present. I like Surya, so this is not necessarily a bad thing ! But, even Surya cannot carry off curly hair, seventies square-rimmed glasses, and Michael Jackson-esque flowing locks and hat. Yup, he appears in these getups in a flash-back romancing Simran who is decked up like Sharmila Tagore. Awful ! that entire song should have been cut on the editing table.

Apart from these eyesore moments, the film is beautiful cinematographically. San Francisco (especially the shots of the Golden Gate bridge) is simply awesome. The people look good (even Sameera Reddy) who looks lovely with very less makeup and very preppy everyday wear clothes. What a difference from her awful look and acting in Race ! The Sameera Reddy fan in our group (I didn’t know she even had one) had a very dreamy smile for quite some time after the movie :) . Such a pity for him that she got killed off before the interval only :D

The songs in the movie are melodious and picturised well. However, there are too many of them, and they make an already long movie even longer.

My beef with this movie is – it reflects the normal everyday life way too much, and automatically the plot is not very interesting. It moves at its own pace, just like normal day-to-day life. The audience (at least I was) empathizing with the son’s grief and memories of his dead father, just like we would listen to a friend verbalizing about his father who has died. Caring and sharing, but not particularly enjoying the moment. And, in the end, this is why, I failed to enjoy this movie.