"T" for "T"akes "T"wo "T"o "T"ango"

I actually jotted down many words for "T" . I didn't do this for any letter. Trust , Tea , Toffee , Tradition , Theist , Tired , Time, Turmoil , Turmeric. Gosh . After writing down all words and banging my head on each one and a turmoil of about twenty minutes ,a friend of mine during chatting suddenly said "Its takes two to tango" and voila here I am with a "t"rendy title and amazing "t"opic. Huh !! Too many t's there and too many T's in my title too. Today I am passing on "t"oo many t words for free!

By far it takes two to tango is my favorite idiom. It actually means something in which more than one person or other entity are paired in an inextricably-related and active manner, occasionally with negative connotations.The tango is a dance which requires two partners moving in relation to each other, sometimes in tandem, sometimes in opposition.The phrase originated in a song, Takes Two to Tango, which was written and composed in 1952 by Al Hoffman and Dick Manning. (source : "wiki")

In simple words "Takes Two to Tango" means involvement of two people which results in a good or bad result. It is some times similar to -"A coin has two sides" which we generally use when we know that two people are equally guilty and are efficient partners in their own crime. Today I remember the time I first used this idiom. I used to be enthusiastic and energetic when ever I got a chance to learn a new word or phrase. I still am an enthu-cutlet when it comes to English. If a person uses a new word I am all ears . I used to read dictionary just to trace new words. It was the best weekend time pass. Anyway coming back to the topic, we had many happening triangle love stories in high school. A boy "X" loved "Y" but then shifted gears suddenly to "Z". Now Z was not half as good as Y. We all became investigators and tried finding reasons for this sudden behavioral change of X. "Z" acted innocent as if she was not aware of the reason for X-man's behavioral change. We trusted "Z" as she was part of the group. Then one fine day I suddenly was promoted to be the leader of the girls search squad. Unfortunately one of our teachers was also involved as she knew the whole thing and hence I couldn't say no.

I was given an offer which I couldn't refuse 

So I rolled up my sleeves and was all set to prove that X-man was  guilty. I wanted "Z" to come out clean. I followed them where ever they went. It was hectic . I even thought for a while that I should have got my self trained at PQRS detective agency or read Sherlock Holmes little more. Finally one fine day I found out that X man was trying to kiss Z in a vacant class room and she was not retorting. In fact I over heard the conversation and it seemed like she was provoking him! It was a big bummer to me. I took cautious and stealthy steps so carefully that one would think I was a cat. Of course I was one curious cat but in this XYZ case I was not killed !

Image source :"spy girl"

When I revealed the facts to my friends they refused to believe. We didn't have camera phones or sound recorders then .I didn't have much evidence but slowly they too observed and believed what ever I told. That day I used the idiom for the first time. "It definitely takes two to tango" you know. 

Few of them had  big question marks scrawled in bold all over their faces. I explained them the meaning of it. Every one loved it :)

My teacher was impressed by my efforts and no I was not given any gallantry award . She was so impressed that she promoted me to a higher level and asked me to keep an eye on whole classroom and report her if there is some thing malicious going. I wanted to shout " Why me ?!! " then .

Actually they wanted every one to concentrate on studies as we were about to enter SSC (Xth std- The final class of the school) . I obliged and shortlisted few names and handed it over to madam feeling bad about what I did. Our Sister (head mistress) counselled many from the class and warned them that next time consequences will be hard. Stories didn't end. They continued in hushed tonnes and were always under the wraps :p


Just before our final exams I saw X and Z walking hand in hand in the school ground while having an ice gola. My friend asked me , "You think they will marry ?". I replied , " They will definitely marry but with each other or not that I am not sure . It always takes two to tango!" I winked. She laughed. While every one was trying to write their love stories we were busy using idioms , savoring berries, kulfis and golas! It definitely doesn't take two to tango for what ever we did :P

By the way do you all know what is 2 2 2 2 2 2 (In alphabets - two to two to two two ). It is a homophonous phrase. Hope you know what is a homophone. If you don't know when will google come useful :P ?

A homophone is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning. The words may be spelled the same, such as rose (flower) and rose (past tense of "rise"), or differently, such as carat, caret, and carrot, or to, two, and too. (source : wiki)

Two to two to two two came from this - A  railway conductor, when asked how long will the train stay at the station, answered "From two to two to two two" (from 2 minutes to 2 o'clock until 2 minutes past 2 o'clock or 1:58 to 2:02). When asked the same question about a second train that will be at the station for the same period, he answered "From two to two to two two, too". The next day, he was asked the same questions but was less sure about the exact times. His answers were "From two to two to two to two to two two" and "From two to two to two to two to two two, too" (both trains will arrive at some point between 1:58 and 2:00, then will leave at some point between 2:00 and 2:02).  :-)

List of interesting homophonous phrases are- "here"

A small poem by me which has all first words starting with "T" :D

" Tulip flowers in the field swaying due to air.
  Tresses of hair dancing on the face so fair.
  Tangled hair was caressed by him gently.
 Tousled was his shirt which she held subtly.
  Their lips locked and the kiss was heavenly!"

"S" for "Shahrukh Khan"

Disclaimer : This post is not for the haters. If you belong to an anti SRK community (my experience says it exists) and want to post a hate comment hop on to an anti SRK blog and happily do that :P

Even before I start writing a few lines on today's "S" I can sense few frowns , smiles, excitements , raised jaws , eyebrows , love , loathe , few aaawss , few hmmpfs and much more. Ignoring all the love/hate reactions let me dive deep in to what I want to write. "Shahrukh Khan"- Every one in India and few in overseas must be familiar with this name. One of the Bollywood's super stars who is quite successful and girls at least 5 out of 10 can't resist ogling him ! He is fondly called as the King Khan and Bollywood Badshah . Keeping aside whether or not he deserves the titles and whether or not he tops the charts now I want to tell a tale of how I fell in love with SRK and his charm.

In the early 90s when we were still in to melodramatic movies and songs which span for more than 9-10min , when "KumarSanu" was the only nasal singer we knew, when heroines meant either Sridevi , Madhuri or Juhi Chawala I saw Shahrukh Khan in Baazigar which won him a film fare best actor award for the first time. Even before that he bagged best male debut for Deewana movie in which the bubbly Divya Bharathi acted. It was Baazigar when I first got attracted to this dimpled man , full of life and I so wanted to be Kajol in the movie. When ever I used to watch the below song I thought he was charming. We have had many romantic heroes till then but no one seemed so energetic and so full of life to me!

                                               

No wonder SRK- Kajol pair became India's favorite. They were so natural together. Where ever I go I used to search for some SRK look alike. There were few look alikes but none as charming as him. If a man had dimples I used to get excited but other than that nothing in him qualified him to be SRK.  If some one had a vivid adam's apple I used to look at him eagerly as if he would suddenly show some SRK trait but alas! No one was good enough.

Starting from Baazigar I watched all his hit/ flop movies. I remember getting Guddu and Oh Darling! Yeh Hai India! video cassettes which gave head ache to my mom but I enjoyed them. I used to rewind and watch SRK's scenes when my mom was not around. Yep it was the era of VCR's and VOLGA and TIME video tapes.  I was still in my primary school and that was the year when I was about to enter high school and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge got released . Its been 17 years and this movie is still running successfully in Maratha Mandir of Mumbai breaking the records of all the movies. A perfect love story set in a dreamy Europe back drop along with the desi punjab flavor which never ceases to steal my heart. I haven't counted how many times I watched it on TV. Raj Malhotra aka Shahrukh Khan in the movie tempted all girls and women and every boy and man was stressed as the expectations from them would rise.  I had his paper cut outs and posters after the movie. There are many sweet romantic movies in English and other languages but to me DDLJ is heart favorite. Many other movies were released mimicking DDLJ but not even one could recreate the same magic.

I went to the movie along with all the girls in the class on the last day of the annual exams. We were in high spirits and in a celebration mood . Had lunch at a friends place and rushed to theater. We didn't want to even miss the curtain rising. Raj became a house hold name and every one wanted some one like Raj as their boy friend. I was seriously amazed by the movie and was stark silent after the movie. My friends kept on praising him , his dimples, the songs, emotions , the vibrancy and in a nut shell every thing linked to the movie including the subtitle - Come fall in love . We all were over whelmed. Others were over whelmed but I was madly in love with SRK. SRK or Raj it didn't matter but I decided that day that If I ever find a man he should be liking me the way Raj likes Simran in the movie. As I grew I was not overtly silly but that dream and hope to get Raj like lover was still intact .

Sarson ke khet - Sun flower fields are linked to love and romance
after this movie

and yes he looks hot with a moustache too. I LOVE this movie"Paheli"  . Highly entertaining just like the panchatantra stories!

I am tempted to post his images with many pretty ladies but don't want to drool over my own post  and get jealous as I am not in the pics :P 

Many more movies got released and SRK's trademark charm never faded . The charm and fondness only increased with every passing year. He gave few flops and few hits but whenever he acted in a romantic role wooing a lady he seemed and still seems natural. Be it Chalte Chalte , Veer-Zaara or Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi his charisma never failed to entice me. Most of the movies can be watched many times. Few seemed illogical to me like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai or Mohabbatein but even these movies were liked by many audiences. 

I firmly remember that friend ship bands got famous only after Kuch Kuch Hota Hai in India. When his haters were blaming him that he can only act in bubble gum romance and chick lit stuff and cant do a movie in a different genre he surprised every one with his rough look as Kabir Khan- coach of Indian Hockey women's team in Chak De! India. My heart as always was gone and I loved the way he pulled off the role so easily. Even if there are few disastrous movies there are many gems which can be watched again and again.

Chakde India - a movie which I watch any time it gets telecasted

Above is a cute KKHH snippet for you all

 SRK Rani and Kajol in Kuch Kuch hota hai were compared to the characters from Archie comics- Archie , Veronica and Betty. Its not an exaggeration if I say they indianised and recreated the roles. They didn't fail to amuse the viewers as Rahul , Tina and Anjali.  SRK acted with all ladies who were ruling then  like Sridevi , Madhuri , Karishma , Kajol , Juhi , Sonali and many more and now he is acting with many heroines like Deepika and Anushka who are topping the charts. Incidentally both the heroines have their precious entry in to bollywood with SRK. He is also lucky as he always gets best music , songs and choreographers and they are lucky as they get him in them!

Every time I watch a favorite SRK movie I discover a new thing. While watching Dilwale Dulhaniya lejayenge for I-dont-know-which'th time I realised that he seemed extra adorable in the red and white striped t shirt when Simran (Kajol) imagines him waving bye to her just outside her door. Sorry couldn't google out that pic. When I saw Darr I realised he wears the same shirt through out the song "Tu mere saamne" and looked extra handsome in that loose colorful shirt. The SRK-Kajol pair became so famous that people felt sad when she married her long time love Ajay Devgan. They so wanted to see them together always which was not possible.

I can continue pouring my SRK love all over the blog but I want to end it here so as not to bore the readers who are neutral to his charm and who enjoy the readers who loathe him whole-heartedly . For others who love him like me I know your eyes are glittering.

Lastly few more reasons why I like him

• He climbed the success ladder due to his hard work and it did not happen in a day or a month . Starting from television debut Fauji he performed well in serials like Circus which gave him a name and fame . He also acted in dil dariya , waghle ki duniya and doosra keval. Yep he acted in an episode of Waghle ki Duniya where he is just a teenager. He drives a maruthi 800 in it and he looks unbelievably cute.

• His energy and enthusiasm even at the age of 48 amuse me. He is aging gracefully. I did not like his latest Jab Tak Hai Jaan but I still loved it as he was far better than the leading ladies for a script with too many loopholes. Sadly Yash Raj's last but not a homage to all his love stories made before. Catch a glimpse of the hottie below .

• He has his share of failures but he is a good entrepreneur and he knows where to put his money . Come on after all one should know the art of earning too !

• He respects women and it shows in what ever he talks.

• He is one of the best entertainers India has. Be it an award ceremony or speech at YALE university people look forward to listen to him .
• I love the way he speaks upfront and straight forward which lands him in controversies many times which people believe he does on purpose !!

• His comic timing is best. Once he said when ever he feels over confident , he will remember the insults he faces in airport when ever he was stopped at the immigration check.

• His real life love is like it is in his movies which makes him more adorable. His kinship with his wife is some thing in the lines of a bollywood movie. You can google it out if interested.

There are still many more reasons to list out  but I really don't want to make it an answer to  an essay question -Give 10 good reasons why you love SRK ? :P Also I don't want to give a heart ache to my husband who already finds every day a battle as he has to  bear with my never ending SRK love (just kidding). You will laugh at me but I was so glad when Imran (my husband) smiled the first time he met me. 

Any guesses why ?????

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He has dimples which resemble SRK's . LOL.  After sounding too filmy let me end this article by saying that I might be mad in this case but every man has his own traits and I don't push their buttons or point guns on their temples to change. I am glad the way they are. I feel more glad when they don't try to mimic some one , specially when they don't make a fool out of themselves imitating SRK :)

With lots of love

Afshan

Some one should literally hold my hands and stop me from typing. For now my husband has stopped me :P I want to end this with a srk collage and my most favorite love song !

This is my 19th post for  "A to Z blogging Challenge 2013" !

"R" for "Rohtang Pass"

The below are the snap shots from an unforgettable trip to Manali. Our day 2 in the itenary was to visit Rohtang pass which I actually want to rename as Rohtang DUR (far) as we spent a good 6hrs on the road to cover a mere 52kms which will not take more 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!

This was when we started

Now some facts--Rohtang Pass (Hindi: रोहतांग दर्रा) (Bhoti: Rohtang , lit: pile of corpses, due to people dying in bad weather trying to cross the pass) (altitude 3,978 m or 13,051 ft).

It is a high mountain pass on the eastern Pir Panjal Range of the Himalayas around 51 km (32 mi) from Manali. It connects the Kullu Valley with the Lahaul and Spiti Valleys of Himachal Pradesh, India.(DO REFER WIKI TO KNOW MORE) and I am dedicating the below poem written long back to this road journey.

Some times road is smooth some times with friction.

Some times Life is real some times with fiction!

Road has many milestones to cross.

Life has many phases to pass!!

Road shows us mirages at times.

Life shows us dreams And dimes! 

Road ends with destination.

Life ends with re-incarnation!

 --------By Afshan----

The first glance at Himalayas was some thing like below which made me sing "Kyun nai lagrahi hai ye dharti gagan . Maine Poocha to boli ye pagli pawan Pyar hua chupke se" - It is a song from the Hindi movie 1942 a love story. Call me mad, I was even changing songs on my I-pod as per the locations.

The below one is the most classic shot . Don't you feel like living in that house along with grazing horses and cattle. Its like living in heaven.

The below pic shows the back yard of the house where we asked permission to go to loo. I clicked so many pictures here. I wanted to stay here for long but as driver started scaring us mentioning the land slides and the traffic jam we left the spot. Isn't the spot dreamy ?

As we started taking turns and zig zags it started getting hazy , foggy and icy. We visited in the month of  July and hence we did not come across snow fall . It was actually the best time to visit Rohtang pass as during winter all the roads will be blocked with ice chunks which are about 5ft in depth.  Sometimes people get stuck due to land slides and when there is no transport they may also die it seems hence the title of the place Rohtang.

Check the snaky traffic line. Not sure how many hot bhutta (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. 

 Finally the traffic moved slowly after a total halt of 3 and 1/2 hrs.

The ice chunk was dirty as there is sadly no snow fall during that time of the year . The road flanked by ice both sides made me sing the song - Ye ishq haai baithe bithaye jannat dikhaye from Jab we met. The song was shot on these roads and I was continuously recollecting the song when our driver mentioned it. Needless to say I tuned in to the same song on my I-pod :) Trips and bollywood go hand in hand!

The day was both sunny and icy which troubled my sinuses. Many people puked on the way. I was later told it is called Acute Mountain Sickness. We ate nothing but still people were following the ritual to puke one by one which made the atmosphere uneasy and I got a bad head ache.

This is how I first saw the ice with my shades on :) Then I realized I have to remove them to actually see the hills , clouds and ice in real shades! We were lured by the shops on the way , who charged some 500 for the jacket and rain boots which we took on rent. Boots were useful but jacket was a waste as it was not freezing.

Aaahh. Isn't the above scene scenic? After all the hard ships , too many people falling sick in our jeep and an unnerving traffic jam it felt worth it when we touched the ice. We were actually on Himalayas. That made me sit on cloud 9 :) 

Yep ! I am holding the ice for the first time in my life!!

I started feeling slightly cold as it was evening 5 and as we ate nothing since morning my stomach started rumbling and the head ache got worse. I just rested on the shining rocks by the side for a while where we got a chance to get clicked again.

 

 

Finally this stall made me happy. We had piping hot ginger chai(tea) and maggi . Where ever you go you can find solace in maggi - the universal food and you can say the staple food of hill stations. Due to dizziness and nausea-tic feeling I couldn't have more than 2 spoons :(

Maggi - hot

The sight of this energized us

Some people wanted to go to bathrooms and I avoided them for the reasons best known to us. They were just booths covered with some wooden planks and there was no water available.

I kept staring at this for more than half hour and the furry mountain dog in the below pic was very cute. Couldn't click it from front. 

 

The below pic is my most favorite. I appreciate myself every time I see it . My best Rohtang pass pic

Lastly my pic with my favorite travel partner - Harnoor from Chandigarh who made me smile all the way with her silly jokes and doubts . She was a relief when ever the journey seemed endless. Enjoyed her company hence a click was must. Among other partners there were Harnoor's parents , 3 fiery, feisty girls who worked in Delhi and Gurgaon, who were very co operative and offered us the middle and front seats when the back seat of the jeep made us sick! Half of the clan fell sick and I just wanted the trip of that day to end but in the return journey we again faced a Jam though it was not a prolonged one!

we enjoyed the sledge ride too on the ice where the person
pushes the sledge down the ice slope.

me with Harnoor

Thus our trip ended and even if the journey was little stressful I can never ever forget this first time Himalaya experience in my life. Lastly the song which one must watch when you read about Rohtang Pass. Do visit when you can :) 

My next dream destination is Leh- Ladakh.  A tunnel is being constructed from Rohtang to Ladakh to travel in all seasons. The works gets halted now and then as its very challenging to build the "tunnel" due to extreme weather conditions. I hope its soon completed . A glimpse of the tunnel below. Next time probably I will go till Ladakh and see a real snow fall. If you to go Manali in December you can experience the snow fall.

The Rohtang tunnel.

Happy weekend one and all !

This is my 18th post for  "A to Z blogging Challenge 2013" !

"Q" for "Queue" and "Quit"

When I was a kid I used to think "why is the spelling of queue so long"? I always wanted it to be
"Que" or much better just the alphabet "Q" then I came up with a wonderful logical explanation for it. The spelling is long as queue is meant to be long. Queue means a line of people , vehicles or any thing waiting for their turn. We understand the meaning of queue like no one else does. We here refers to Indians. We face queues from birth to death. Its like we daily have a practical session in the subject queue at times punctuated by hot vivas read fights. Some times the end result of the experiment is a disaster . At times it is success and that part ,that small part of our lives is called "HappYness!"

The year starts with queue when kids go to a famous stationary store to get their text books , stickers, notebooks , brown sheets and loads of other stuff needed for that year. Many parent kid pairs are queued up and the shopkeeper is almost in tears due to the dilemma he faces every second. During my school days we used to give a list and then go to the Kwality Fast food and  Ice cream parlor  with in the complex . I always used to have a tooty-frooty and a masala dosa. I used to eagerly wait for the year to begin to savor the food. This queue actually led to celebrations. Hence I never bothered much. Those were not the pizza or cappuccino days. Having food outside is a rare event which is as good as a Christmas celebration!

As kids we did not face many queues as we were always accompanied by Mama and Papa. The only queue which felt bad then was the queue at a cinema hall if I want to watch the first day first show. It was a big disappointment to see the counter getting closed and a housefull sign being put up . Feels more worse when you are standing just behind the one who succeeded in getting the last ticket . Feels good when some one suddenly sells his tickets due to change in plans. We as kids used to be satisfied by anything. If movie plan failed we always had time and energy for new and instant plans like going to a park or friends house or just playing in the school ground. Those were simple days before .com's and .in's were discovered!

 As days went by queues increased and celebrations decreased as I was on my own and no one would give me the wonderful offer to sit some where when he / she faced the music, I mean the queue.

You need to train your self in gym as you should be strong enough to push and shove! It will be written in big bold letters- "Please stand in queue" at theaters , banks , railway stations , reception counters and so on so forth but people are literally blind to such boards. Every one is in a hurry. Every one wants to overtake you be it a busy road or a jam packed railway station. I have stopped counting the number of times I have fought with people who jump the queues. Do they think they are walking wearing an invisibility cloak? I shout, "Hey ! Hulllllow. We are already waiting here." I am sure all of you would have shouted this line at some or the other point of your life. Most of the times people who jump the queues are damsels in distress. They look as if they are going to attend the Nobel prize ceremony the same evening and they want to make it on time as they are nominated for "Nobel prize for restlessness". They intelligently try overtaking you by  simultaneously being busy on their mobile and paying a deaf ear to your ear shattering shouts. I literally feel like slapping such people. I some times fight till my last ounce of energy oozes out and bring them back to where they belong :) which is behind me or some one else :D I also excelled in the art of shoving as I need it when some one shoves me.

A random queue joke

The worst possible queues in India are the queues in super markets, malls, cloth stores or any kind of marts where you want to call quits most of the times . There are 100s of billing counters out of which only five work. Among those five two counters don't have people who can punch the bills. The other two have long queues so you immediately join the queue which is short at the last counter. To your disgust the person behind whom you are standing doesn't flinch. You poke your head at the billing machine as if you can rectify the issue just by your glare. Nothing happens. He cannot identify the bar code and makes you wait 15more minutes. The long queue in the other counter ends and you are still standing behind the man with bar code fiasco. In such cases I curse the billing machine , the mysterious product which barred the bar code and the person who is happily waiting for his bill sipping a diet coke. I am just holding 5-6 things and waiting for my turn in the queue from half an hour. Some times I just drop my bags there and leave if I am really getting late. Quitting feels better at times rather than getting sandwiched in a queue.


Few "Queue" trues (facts)

• When ever you change queues the queue you were standing before shifting starts moving faster.

• Five minutes after quitting and walking out of the shop you check if the queue moved and to your dismay it has moved :-/ Its funny how we feel happy if every one continues being statues but things get better you know :)

• You plan to go to food court by 12 O'clock  as queues in office food courts are also worst. A separate blog post is needed for it. So, you go by sharp 12 but there is some parantha festival or some pongal special lunch and the long snaky queue ends at the main gate of the office.

• The ATM machine is not working. You go to the ATM in the other end of the road and by the time you come back the machine is up and running.

• You are asked to wait for your turn in the beauty parlor. You wait patiently for half hour for a five minute threading which is done in installments due to some unattended facial or some others' long tresses which have to be washed after sharp 15min.

• You politely ask a person who is running on treadmill in the gym - "Excuse me! How much more time you will be doing?" The offended man replies :" 15min" . You unwillingly do some weights or cycling again. To your horror you see that after 10min the traitor offered the treadmill to his friend. This is a very common scenario in gym and I ended up complaining many times.

These are just few queue facts in India. What is your worst queue experience ? Did you wait patiently or did you call it quits ?

Now life has become easy as people have become lazy and spendthrifts. "Online" is the answer to every thing but there's nothing like shopping in real. Virtual shopping saves time but we all roll our sleeves to enter the queues and are equipped with patience to face the crowds.

So what is your queue story ?!
This is my 17th post for  "A to Z blogging Challenge 2013" !

Now a PJ : -source "Queue humour"
Q: What do you call a waiting line of little girls' dolls?
A: A Barbie-queue.