The Pensive

My post is picked by Blogadda.com as the "WOW" post for the week:) Visit "this" link to read more posts  Tring Tring.. The phone rang...rather Grrrr grr, the phone vibrated as Preeti keeps it in silent mode most of the time. She some how doesn't like the sound of the phone ringing. May be as all are used to just messaging and chit chatting over FB Preeti got unused to the phone call. Phone call is like a telegram to her if the regular calls from parents and one or two close friends are excluded. A phone call always is some thing related to work or if there is some urgent news and most of the times it is from airtel customer care or a person requesting to get an ICICI credit card or a distance MBA degree. Even after the repeated refusals they keep trying to lure you by calling you from different numbers. On that fine morning the phone rang and Preeti answered with the same monotony in her voice. image source: "here" Preeti: "Hel...

Last summer we traveled to Manali by road and then to "Rohtang Pass" . Our day 2 in the itinerary was to visit Rohtang pass. We spent a good 6hrs on the road to cover a mere 52kms which should take less than 2hrs! The trip increased our patience, controlled our temperament, taught us to cooperate with each other and reminded God and gave the stark realization that the godly places are always tough to reach! The below one is the most classic shot on the way. Don't you feel like living in that house along with grazing horses and cattle? As we started taking turns on the zigzag road it started getting hazy and foggy. It was the month of July, the best time to visit Rohtang pass as during winter all the roads will be blocked with ice chunks which are 5ft in depth. Check the snaky traffic line. Not sure how many corn and tea breaks we took. Nothing passed the time and we were exhausted as we were stuck at the spot below for a good 2 and 1/2 hours...

After watching many inspiring TEDXvideos at the "Idea Caravan" by Franklin Templeton investments, the one which touched me is "Its a girl" video by Evan Grae Davis where gendercide is highlighted. Gendercide is a major issue in countries like China and India where male to female ratio is as high as 120:100 . Sex selective abortion , merciless infanticide and violence at any stage of life are some practices to get rid of the unwanted gender which most of the time is female. I was moved after watching the video and also the trailer of the short film he made. Evan being a film maker has roamed around the world and knows many unbelievable facts and statistics but he says the one which moved him immensely was the sight in a village some where in the fields of south India where a women strangled 8 girl children mercilessly and buried them in the inner parts of the field. I was baffled like Evan when I saw that she mentioned  what she did with zero emotions and zero rem...

It got awkward when Reshma was introduced to Sahil. She already knows him but had to exchange the pleasantries like she met him for the first time. To add to the awkwardness Ajay left her with Sahil as he got a phone call. Sahil: "Hmm. So you seem very happy?"   Reshma: "Of course. Ajay is a good man but I have not embraced life the way you did. I didn't climb the success ladder forgetting past so fast!"   Sahil smiled. The shadow of his smile held so many questions, answers and emotions but it was disrupted as Ajay came back. Written for Saturday’s 100 words prompt on Write Tribe.

Originally published  in Viewspaper. Read at   "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag - A review" . Read a detailed review and analysis below :) I only heard about Milkha Singh from my parents and was aware of the age old relaxing joke. I was eager to watch this "flying Sikh" on the big screen from the time I heard that a bio pic is being made. The star cast made me more happy as I saw Farhan Akhtar in it. Rakesh Omprakash Mishra's Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is straight from the heart. Milkha Singh's life mostly unedited is presented on the screen which captured almost all the important phases of this legend.The ups and downs, victories, disappointments and emotions are all very well portrayed. Farhan Akhtar seemed like a real athlete and his eerie resemblance to Milkha Singh made the movie more natural. Even if there are few camera tricks the way he moulded his body and presented himself are commendable! Story line The story opens with the 1960 Olympics where Milkha narr...

Located in the Uttarakhand state of India in the Kumaon foothills of  the outer Himalayas  Nainital is a famous hill station. It is at about 6000ft from the sea level. It is in a valley with a pear shaped lake. "Naina" is the highest of all the mountains surrounding the lake. "Tal" means lake and hence the name of the place became Nainital . Nainital lake is also called as Naini Lake. Last year in the sweltering May month we planned a sudden road trip to Nainital from Delhi for 2 days. Needless to say it was heavenly. My husband had a compensation off and after a long dilemma whether to go or not we packed our bags and started to Nainital with only Google maps in the I phone being the path finder and me a navigator next to the driver's seat .I couldn't enjoy the journey much as I was keeping an eye on the maps. The combination of chilling AC in car and the burning sun outside the car gave me an immediate migraine. I felt bad as I might not enjoy the tr...

Watching animation movies has become a ritual now as my husband works with "Dreamworks" . As we watched the  "Crood's" premiere at the same theater we know before hand about the limited parking space and that mobiles won't be allowed inside. As we got late we got the last parking slot but we thanked our stars as we at least got a vacant spot to park the car! We got bad seats inside the theater but as it is a 3D movie and as we were given 3D glasses of good quality the position of seats didn't matter much later. The movie started after the initial formalities like give aways, introductions and some prize distribution. Initially I felt I might be bored by the story line of the movie in which a snail wants to increase its pace and run a race and prove to his fellow mates that he can do something special but as the story and also the snail gained the pace my excitement increased too. Our protagonist snail is just a normal garden snail and lives with many...

Early morning road trips need immense patience and effort as getting up early needs all your strength and on a weekend it is more challenging. Weekend is supposed to start late. Getting up at 12 , having brunch at 1 and tea at five is our daily routine but few weeks back we decided we have to get our lazy bums off the bed as Nandi hills is famous for its sunrise.  Nandi Hills  or  Nandidurg  (Anglicised forms include  Nandidrug  and  Nandydroog ) is an ancient hill fortress of southern India, in the  Chikkaballapur district  of  Karnataka  state. It is located just 10 km from Chickballapur town and approximately 60 km from the city of  Bangalore . The hills are nestled between the neighboring towns of Nandi,  Muddenahalli , and  Kanivenarayanapura . (Source : Wiki ). Morning was breezy and it started drizzling as soon as we started at our home in white field at about 5:30. The drive ...