Gossipmongers Inc.

Everyone seems very busy... Here's something I want to share with you.Just a few from the many...

http://sports.in.msn.com/stories/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3113101&FORM=ZZNR8

http://newsblaze.com/story/20090722103827zzzz.nb/topstory.html

http://news.oneindia.in/2009/07/21/mary-kom-khel-ratna-award-wait-3-years-world-champ.html

http://www.topnews.in/mary-kom-be-awarded-khel-ratna-2191310

http://www.newkerala.com/nkfullnews-1-77516.html

http://www.samaylive.com/news/nominated-for-khel-ratna-marykom-regrets-it-came-so-late/639609.html

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090722/jsp/northeast/story_11264820.jsp

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/index.php?option=com_content&task=view§ionid=84&issueid=115&id=52729&Itemid=1

http://www.zeenews.com/news548703.html

I guess you know it all by now...

Sanjeeta just happened to mention this morning that Ronaldo was being bartered for some 60 million pounds. It started me off on this whole thing about how these popular sports like Football and Cricket have become blood-chillingly commercial. I think the politics of it along with the commercial aspect is what put me off Cricket. If I were to be very specific I would say the original break happened during the world cup of 1994 when Hanse Cronje, my favorite, was involved in a Match Fixing scam. That was long back and the game has changed since then. The new IPL series is a worse affront I think than anything that ever happened to the game before. I do not follow Cricket anymore and I am actually proud of saying that!

Well yes... I am talking about Baichung Bhutia who became another reality TV star from the "far corner of the country"! His winning the competition (Jhalak Dikhlaja) did not come as a surprise to many of us. Rather it was more like a rerun of the Tamang or Sourabhee episodes from Indian Idol!
In the first few performances, Baichung or "not my Baichung" (as one of the judges puts it), could not move to save his life!! The "chance pe dance kar le" sequence was more of a skin show than skills! Yes of course, Baichung did show off his little foot-balling skills at the end of the dance sequence which strictly speaking hardly qualified him as a dancer. It was much later in the competition that he actually learned to move (thanks to Sonia Jaffer!!). He gradually moved from a footballer learning the ABC's of dance to Vairabhi's and Saroj Khan's favourite soccer star who can actually dance! The journey was quite dramatic like any other reality TV shows. And the crowd (including myself, ahem!) was glued to the TV set or computer screen (in my case!!) every time this soccer star showed his foot-work on the dance floor! For most of us, it was more like an amusement... Believe me, I did not watch the shows because he was a good dancer but… just because of the mere amusement of watching Baichung trying to tune into and synchronise with the sensational Sonia with whom he shared an awesome chemistry (wonder what Madhuri would say about this...).
Baichung (am not talking about Sonia) actually showed some 'real' footwork with his samba, which was actually good. There was energy and, his body language improved much. And by the end of the show (31st May 2009) that is after some more dance sequences, Baichung had learned to dance... Watch the last episode and you will know what I meant (one of my friends messaged me saying that she was impressed by his improvement in the field!).
Anyway Baichung won! Though the judges decided that Gauhar was a better dancer, the public voted Baichung as the best…
All the same, the plot was quite predictable from the beginning of the competition even with all the dramatic twists and turns! But what more could have gotten the perfect 10, if not for the lesser known Football star from the “exotic corner of the country” winning the title! Baichung’s storyline reminds you of Amit Paul, Debojit and Sourabhee! Baichung (like I had told some of my friends) had everything going his way: an Indian soccer star! The soccer star had all the elements of a good masala flick… rags to riches story, the only Indian soccer star (not that soccer is a one man game!!), Soccer, the underdog element, anthropological features and nativity, exoticism and the list goes on… But this ‘cute’ footballer with an “always smiling and supportive wife” stole the hearts of all the young girls with rosy dreams… Added to that, the in-time controversy with Mohan Bagan gave him the much needed publicity (I wonder if his stint with the English second division side FC Bury got him as many fan following as it did after this show).
Nevertheless, it is quite interesting to note that since the last three four years the “Stars” from the far corner are making their presence felt! Whether they deserved it or not is not the question here… but the attention the region and the people from the region has received in these last few years makes me wonder if this would actually help in bringing the region closer to the mainstream or strain the relations further.

This morning when I was reading The Hindu I came across a statement in an article which was quite disturbing. It was a comment made by the Deputy Commissioner of Melbourne Kieran Walshe regarding the recent spate of assaults on Indian students in Australia. Amid speculations about the attacks being racial and the Indian High Commissioner to Australia Sujatha Singh stating that racism was a factor in some of the incidents, Walshe in a press statement said that the attacks are not racist crimes but just "opportunist activity". To quote his exact words: "We [Australians] think they[Indians] are vulnerable, we don't think it's racial, we think they are a weak target." My jaws simply dropped at walshe's notion of racism. Isn't it a racial stereotype to think of another race [read Indians] as "weak" and therefore, an easy prey to "opportunist activities" or to be taken as easy targets for such crimes. This is what I would call as "race selective crime" whereby you single out one race because you perceive them to be weak and make them a target. The belief that some races are superior to others  is the basic definition of racism that any dictionary will give. The foundation of such a notion as to think of Indians as weak arises from the very fact that they [read white Australians] consider themselves as superior racially/physically. And it does not require a rocket scientist to figure that out from Walshe's stupid statement. You don't even have to be trained in POCO to even understand what happened in the last couple of weeks in Australia is nothing but a racist crime. Australia over the past few years have been trying to revamp its image as a tolerant, anti-racist nation with the nation's Prime Minister offering a formal apology to Australia's stolen generation. However, these recent incidents and what Australia is trying to maintain as just an opportunist crime by trying to deny the racial angle is a testament in itself to the hidden truths of racism in Australia. 

I like it when I go for a ride but not when I taken for one!
I despise autowallahs and the fact that I have to depend on them...
I hate the fact that sometimes i am so desperate i have to give in to their unreasonable demands...
Oh I could go on for ever but I think you guys know what I mean...
Phew! That feels better... you too can air your grievances against that barbaric tribe and believe me you will feel better...

I was looking up "gossip" on the internet and our trusted source Wikipedia has a lot on it... I especially found the possible functions of gossip interesting especially since they make gossip out to be a productive activity to a large extent... This should interest Amitendu especially...

Gossip can serve to:

• normalise and reinforce moral boundaries in a speech-community
• foster and build a sense of community with shared interests and information
• build structures of social accountability
• further mutual social grooming (like many other uses of language, only more so)
• provide a mating tool that allows (for example) women to mutually identify socially desirable men and compare notes on which men are better than others.
• be used as a form of passive aggression, as a tool to isolate and harm others
• provide a peer-to-peer mechanism for disseminating information in organizations

Lemme know what you think about these....

These days my job entails writing product descriptions cakes, chocolates and any other food item apart from the cliched and boring newsletters I write every two hours. What I actually do is: I have to look up the ingredients of the particular product, go through the method of preparation and try and understand the USP (the term we use here) of the product! What else can understand cakes and chocolates better than your own salivary glands! It is a crazy thing to be doing. Staring into my computer screen, all day long I admire the beautifully decorated Cheesecakes, truffles and more chocolates!
Let's say... Peccan Truffle Cheesecake! This sinful cake is a chocolate fudge cheesecake baked in New York style! Coated with a thin layer of chocolate Ganache (ganache in French is cushion! Here chocolate ganache is the chocolate topping which is prepared with hot semi-sweet chocolate with loads of cream!) on which is a spread of Graham cracker crust with crushed peccans! This is not all! The cake is topped with pecan pralines! Now Pecan Pralines is pecan dropped in a creamy mixture of milk marshmallows, vanilla extracts, butter and sugar! How sinful can it get? By the time I finished reading the description myself I find my salivary gland revolting in manners I have never come across all my life! And this information has to be written with a marketing pitch (which I will never figure out how?). All I have understood about food is that I love it and love experimenting with it!
Nevertheless, I tell myself, "It is not the time to drool over it... If you want to go home early and eat your simple rice, dal and salad. Get the work done early!" Then I have to move on... Drool your heart out but keep your mind on work! Many a times I thought of going back stopping by Baker's Inn and grabbing a bite of their hot chocolate fudge with lots of cream for the topping but it never happens... Either i am in a hurry to reach home or I am so tired to get down and argue with another auto-wallah to drive me home in a reasonable rate!
Thankfully, I thought, the torture is over. The trauma of having to look at good food and eat vegetable biryani in real is just inexplicable! I have done around 30 such descriptions in the last two days!
BUT, this was not all, I was told today in the morning that I have some other assignments related to CHOCOLATES! (Smriti are you reading this?) And I have to write descriptions for that as well... I am at it again! Drooling, slavering, looking forward to the weekend where I am hoping to induldge myself to a hot chocolate fudge cheesecake all alone!

While I was on an assignment, Amul sent me a message... "Sanjee, Full House2 is suppose to be out by July (or August) know?" My instant reaction to that was "What? You didn't tell me about it! You knew it all the way and you did not tell me about it!" Then the first thing I did was google Full House! By now it has become a routine to google names of Korean movies and series whenever I get spare time (am not alone in this addiction, many of my friends does the same!). The search result showed "Famous korean serial Full House season 2 in the making!"
This was it! I called Smriti (she was already in Lucknow), screamed out to Shilpa, who was in the drawing room, messaged (online) Avinandan to share the good news with Tali! I was glad.
The best thing about Korean movies and serials is that most of these serials are refreshing. Most have very predictable storyline and are not as complex as that of the Hollywood movies BUT the treatment is something which you just cannot ignore!
I started watching Korean serials and movies four years back. The first movie I watched was Classic. I just fell in love with the cinematography! It is emotionally engaging though some would say its slow. The firefly scene, the scene where the guy pretends he is not blind and the girl discovers it, the shots in the rain and the difference between the two generations and yet the similarities between the two are some of the scenes that leaves a lasting impression on your mind. The characters are well developed and the story just touches your heart! It is very simple and very authentic in its presentation. After this I have watch a hundred more movies and serials. With Sassy Girl and Full House being my all time favourite...
Coming to Full House, I was told that, in Mizoram, people were going crazy about this new Korean serial where Rain is the male lead. I had seen Rain a few times on ShowBiz Extra on Arirang TV and had thought "wow! what a girlie one." But much later did I realise that he is so charming in his own way. Sawm, Kimi, Babie and Sangi pestered me to watch the last two episodes of the serial (they just had those two episodes!). I just loved it... and the rest is history!
Full House is now the most talked about topic when it comes to anything Korean! We can just go on and on about the movie and we always have lots to talk about and more. Some of my friends have watched it for a record 25 times and some are eager to beat that (they should tell us why 25 or 30 times!). For me Full House is one of those soul lifting, feel good serials which you don't get tired of. I just love it for all the stupidity (no offense) and beauty of the love story of the kiddish couple! The characters make an impression... You just cant stop yourself but hate Hyewon, fall in love with Rain and Min Hyuk, you feel sorry for poor Han ji Eun! Even the minor characters are very well rounded. But the best part in the serial is the humor. You laugh your heart out throughout the 16 episodes and fall in love with the characters!
Really, everytime I watch this serial I think everyone should watch this serial once in their lifetime. And mind you, please do not carry your Theory books along with you. It just spoils the fun.
Anyway, I am hoping and keeping my fingers crossed that the second season would be as good as the first...

These are some websites on Korean Movies and Drama-
http://asian-movie-drama.blogspot.com/2007/12/top-10-highest-rated-korean-drama.html
http://asiaenglish.visitkorea.or.kr/ena/HA/HA_EN_7_2_1.jsp

Avinandan and I ate at Wonton, Gachibowli on Saturday (09.05.09) totally disgusted with the idea of entering that torture chamber we call 'Kitchen' and cooking our dinner for that evening. It was my first trip to Wonton's Gachibowli branch. It looks rather small from the outside but it is not as crammed up inside as it looks. The seating arrangement has been done properly so it is not at all conjusted. The ambience is soothing but slightly looks fake. We were greeted at the door by a lanky receptionist with a weird accent which left me wondering for a few seconds whether he spoke to me in some foreign language. A bit dazed I managed to utter that we need a table for two. We were seated promptly. After taking my seat, I started to look around and found men in white shirts and black pants with black waist aprons wrapped around their waists walking all over the place rather awkwardly. I thought Penguins would look better in their shoes. After a thorough examination of the menu we decided to order Hong Kong noodles, sweet and sour prawns and mutton in hot vegetable sauce. I managed to call a rather funny looking man who came to take our orders. All this time I was praying hard that there would be someone who can speak in English. He turned out to be no different from the receptionist. So it left me wondering whether there was a Wonton accent because both sounded the same. Everything seemed to be going on well when we found to our utter dismay that the management had made a mistake and had given us S&S Veg instead of Prawns. But since we had helped ourselves to some of it we decided to just go ahead with it. We informed them and asked them to make sure that the changes are made on our bill. After the sumptuous meal which was followed by litchi with ice-cream as dessert, we were baffled to find that the bill didn't turn out to be that much. However, as we left the place both of us agreed that the food was good but the service was pathetic.
Wonton, no doubt, has quality stuff on their menu which by many standards is affordable and doesn't seem to put a hole on your wallet. However, what makes a food joint worth the money is its service as well. Service leaves an impression on our minds to such an extent that it somehow influences us on how we eventually rate their food. Wonton gets a big zero and thumbs down for service. First, the fact that we didn't realise that there was a mistake with our order was because the waiter who brought the food mumbled something and left in a hurry before we could even dare to ask him to repeat what he had managed to mumble. Secondly, they took so much time to go back, talk to the staff in the kitchen and get back to us by which time we were in no mood to wait for them to bring us the prawns; the order itself took so much time. Thirdly, they didn't even apologise thinking of which the tip that we left behind seems too generous. Fourthly, the cutleries on our table were missing. When our food was being served the waiter grabbed the cutleries from an empty table next to ours and handed it to us. When we wiped the cutleries with the tissue, the white tissues just turned black. The cutleries were terribly dirty! Now, when I come to think of it it was indeed a wanton place. The waiters lacked training and discipline, and they managed to show it off wantonly. But thankfully they were not playing any fake Chinese music which would have been a double turn off.

The recent general elections have been quite a starry "tamasha", thanks to our incurable obessesion with Bollywood celebs. Years ago, Amitabh Bachchan had made a bigger fool of himself by jumping into politics than he probably did by donnig that hedious costume in "Jhoom Barabar Jhoom"; his legacy continues in the spectacularly disastrous (non-)performances of jobless actors like Govinda and Sanjay Dutt. However, what is more disturbing than these actors' presumption to represent people whose lives they have nothing in common with is the inordinate amount of publicity that the popular media give these stars. In fact, this is part of a larger cultural trend that involves highlighting a few famous and glamorous personalities rather than issues that concern the not-so-glamorous lives of ordinary folk. Be it film stars or the Next-Gen dynasty kids, it's only a few easily recognizable names that now command public attention, while the rather too familiar and painfully mundane realities of the lives of the masses are relegated to the background. Not surprisingly, pictures of Bollywood stars, fashionably attired in their pristine white chiffons and branded sunglasses and carefully guarded from the "aam janta" by their bodyguards, claim an inordinate amount of newspaper space. And while our film stars pose for photographs as they stand in the queue to cast their glamorous votes, our media experts and political analyists have profound discussions about Rahul baba's next little step towards the Prime Ministerial pram that has been waiting for him since he was half an embryo! So long as the glitter of these stars in the sky continues to fascinate us, we needn't look around at the darkness around us on earth. Or do we?

http://www.destinationcrm.com/Articles/CRM-News/Daily-News/Social-Media-The-Five-Year-Forecast-53635.aspx

http://www.cracked.com/article_17298_6-random-coincidences-that-created-modern-world.html

Staying on Campus is like staying in a bubble... One tends to become complacent, lazy and disinterested... but most importantly it generates in one a false sense of security especially if you are a girl... Staying outside campus has a thrill of its own... it's easier to go out at night and also a lil dangerous. You need to be on your guard as we discovered when we decided to go out to eat last evening... We went to eat street around ten thirty... we thought it would be deserted but there were plenty of people milling about despite the late hour... While we were ordering our food we encountered a lil commotion... two girls were bravely facing up to two guys who had been taking a video of them without the girls' knowledge... On being discovered, the guys refused to apologise or even own up... the whole episode turned violent as the girls decided to take the matter in their own hands... what was surprising however was the delayed reaction of the bystanders... despite the commotion and the fact that one of the guys shoved at a girl and tried to hit her... nobody really came forward till much later... I admire the guts of the girls however who instead of shying away from a confrontation rose up to the occasion and put up a good defense of their rights... Bravo!!! Those guys sure as hell will think twice before doing the same thing again... We returned in high spirits and took the long way back home to celebrate! ;)

The evening out at Ohri's (courtesy Sarad) was a delight... Thanks again Sarad... and since Tali's B'day is nearing ... it brings back memories of his treat at Chinese Pavilion last year... Strange how intermingled with most memorable incidents is the memory of food (good or bad)... Talk about campus and you talk about repetitive mess food... bad Gops food and delicacies prepared in hostel rooms on hot plates... you go home and though you get bored to death you can't complain about home food... dieting is one of the toughest thing to do which only goes on to prove how much food matters in our lives... so I have come to the conclusion that why should we eat to live when we can live to eat...

Rakhi Sawant has done it again! She is on her way to acting out a "role" that conflates her public and private self almost seamlessly: she is hunting for a groom on televsion. It is easy to just sideline her latest "act" as a publicity gimmick, but Ms. Sawant's "performance" is really not significantly different from Karan Johar cracking in-jokes with his close friends over a cup of coffee, or Big B "interviewing" his celebrity beta and bahu. Playing out private lives in the public domain is at the heart of contemporary celebrity culture, and Rakhi Sawant's proposed search for a partner adheres to that money-spinning formula. In any case, the great Indian wedding is typically a "spectacle" that involves the expenditure of huge amounts of money, so it makes perfect business sense for the bride to claim her share of the moolah too!

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge is celebrating its 700th weeks of love...
Smriti, Sarad, Abhinandan and I went for the movie this Friday. It was fun and we laughed our hearts out, especially Abhinandan and I went all out and laughed at every single dialogue and every scene... But I have to confess there were a few audiences amongst us who got teary eyed for the 200th or 300th time watching the movie.
The movie has been acclaimed as the longest running blockbuster in India. There is nothing new in the movie - Boy meets girl, they fall in love, girl's father against them, takes her away, boy follows girl, wins the heart of the family and ultimately wins her.
Even with the "corny" and cliched dialogues, the predictable storyline and the preachy melodrama, the film seems to draw a huge crowd every time it is screened...
Selling a dream!