Selecting the perfect flight seat in Economy!

As I was selecting my seat in economy on my way back from London to Bengaluru, I was thrilled that I was getting a window seat and I happily took it. The Non-Stop flight was to take about 10 hours to reach Bluru. After taking off, obviously, there is no scenic view that you can gape at from the window seat. So it is ideal to just close the flap as the afternoon sun rays have high UV radiation and are not good for the skin. The next thing you realise is that if you want any toilet breaks, you have to trouble the other 2 passengers sitting next to you. The leg room is so minimal that you just cannot walk past them.
So I resigned to drinking less water so that I trouble them minimally and was glad when the flight journey was over. Also, I was in the economy section which is at the tail end of the flight. This is where the food is served last and also, the oxygen content here is less than at the front of the aircraft.

So having learnt my lesson, I thought on my way back, I will select an economy seat in the section immediately starting after “premium economy”. So I took an aisle seat in the middle row of the economy. That way, the person in the middle will trouble me or the person at the other end. So the chances are reduced by half. More importantly, I can get up and have a walk whenever I want. So pleased with my seat selection, I took the aisle seat.
Well the funny thing I realised after sitting in my assigned seat is that I was right in the 2nd row and the first row is given to people flying with babies. They have baby seat props which help them to put the baby to sleep. So a row full of kids in front of you! The whole journey , their wails interrupted my sleep endlessly! Being a parent is such a difficult job. One of the mother’s whose kid was wailing constantly on the flight told me she is only on transit to London and she is going all the way to US! I couldn’t think of having another 10 hour journey to US and was glad my journey was ending right in London!

So friends, I have reached to the conclusion that if you want to select the right seat in economy, it is the economy section immediately after premium economy and the middle aisle where you take the aisle seat either side. But you have to select a row almost at the end (not the last row – as remember the lavatories are going to be there as well near the last row of the 1st section!), say a row after which there are still 4 rows behind you. I am going to try that next time! Let us see what experience I get Let me know if you think otherwise

 

Deal ya no Deal!

Wherever you see, you have an attractive Offer or a deal which lures you into the feeling of taking the offer right away! But how often have you pondered whether this deal is something you really wanted? And more often than not, you realise that you were actually fooled into spending more than you even intended to!
Here is one of my experiences where I should shamefully admit I was conned into a deal where ultimately I was the loser

I love the pizzas at Pizza Express and no doubt, their pizzas are lip smacking and way better than the other pizza chains around here in Britain. I generally eat a Pizza and have a drink with it when I go out.
One of my friends at work had told me that going to Pizza Express, you should always avail the 2 for 1 voucher or any other offer that is always available for Pizza Express! So this evening, while I on the spur of the moment decided with my husband to go for dinner there, my mind automatically rang the offer bell! As I do not own a smartphone like most other “smart” people, I ended up calling a friend who said there was a “Weekend Special” deal for £12.95 where I can have a  3-course meal consisting of a Starter, Main Course and Dessert.

Satisfied with my “smartness” in finding the right deal, I went in for the weekend spl deal and another Pizza. When I started ordering, I was told I had limited choice in my selection of starter and dessert. So I ended up having a starter which was just a Dough Ball with Garlic Sauce and a cheesecake as a Dessert. The main course was lovely and I happily devoured it. As I paid the bill, I ended up paying 25 £. The 12.95 for the weekend special, another 10 £ Pizza and a 2 £ Tomato Juice.

As I came out, I realised that had I come to the restaurant thinking of the deal in my mind and ended up eating things I did not want to eat. Had I stuck to ordering just 2 pizzas and the juice which, mind you is very filling, and most importantly, which I what I generally do, my total bill would have been about 20£. So basically being lured into the concept of offers, I overspent 5£ more than I would normally have for a crappy starter and an equally crappy dessert which just overstuffed my already bulging stomach!

How many times have we been victims of these “Muft Muft” offers. You think of it the more you realise the stupidity of your choices! 6 months ago, I saw a 1 way ticket on a First Class seating Train to Edinburgh was 25£ with complimentary food. “Voila, I hit a deal” I thought. I ended up spending 1000£ on that whole trip to Scotland. Did I really want to go there? I do not know! Did the offer make me go there! Ofcourse!

I am sure you guys have faced similar situations!

 

Screenwriting

These recent months have instilled in me a new interest. Writing stories and scripts.The present day scripts are so ordinary that one craves for originality and creativity. One of my friend at work knowing my interest in cinema said that there was an offer to go for a 1 day Raindance Film Course for about 40 £. Now that was indeed a start! The course was to cover screenwriting, Film direction, Producing Films and finally entering the industry.

While this whole setup was in London, this did not stop my friends and me to go and attend it. With absolute zilch experience in theatre and drama and not knowing a soul in the film industry, I wonder how this interest has suddenly taken a serious note in me. I think about films, dream about films and hope to one day be associated with it. I know it is a tough path which people warn you not to tread on, but what is life without any challenges.

So the course started and the presenter Elliot Grove started with Screen Writing. It all started with excitement and we were asked to refer the handout and work the plot using techniques provided in the handout. We were also told that 1 min of a movie = 1 page of the script which means, ideally you should have 120 pages for a 2 Hr movie script. While he went on and on, I could not help thinking that theory is easy, but without creativity in my mind, how can I even start something. Add to that , the rules to be followed, I wonder where I would end up!

I have worked on a story which is about 30 Pages in a word document. For me, the whole film is there in those 30 pages, playing right in front of me. All I need now is to work it around in such a way that it satisfies the screenwriter’s expectations. The course on screen writing, though a bit boring to be frank, helped me a great deal in understanding how to make sure my script is detailed.

I happen to be one of those frustrated kannada audience who is fed the regular mass movies and remake movies and I do not want to watch them anymore. I know my kannada friends, they are intelligent and smart and most have given up watching kannada movies thanks to the situation it currently lies in.

I have become a fan of Pawan Kumar who made the movie Lifeu Ishtene which was a good entertainer although I wouldn’t call it a brilliant movie. But yes, it was neat, crisp and I guess one of the best that kannnada movies in recent times could generate! He has written a new script Lucia for which I support him wholly and I hope you as kannada audience help him in his endevaour.

I dream of the industry nurturing brilliant talent, giving new comers opportunity and getting its old great name back in the times of Ananth Nag, Shankar Nag , Raj Kumar and Vishnuvardhan. I hope my dream comes true.

 

Is Facebook really my network with my friends?

As Orkut was launched, I became one of its fans as I could connect to my old friends from school about whom I had no clue as to where they were.
As time passed by, the scrapbook was just a means to chat with one or the other friend. Then the testimonials were another feature within Orkut which I still wonder why it was added?!
Was it a resume to show my “goodness” and my “loyalty to friends” to anyone who happened to visit my profile by any chance? I still wonder. What made it even worse was that it was “kind of sad” not to have a testimonial” and the more you had, the more you were considered  ”popular”.

Then came “The Facebook” which outsmarted Orkut by miles! It has what was called “The wall”, where you could “post” what you wanted and also look at what others had written.  It’s interface was very intuitive no doubt and Orkut could hardly catch up again! To rub further salts on the wounds of Orkut, facebook further introduced games from Zynga which was an addiction to anyone and everyone.

I can’t help but laugh helplessly when I realised how I myself was a “victim” of Zynga when I played their game called Cafeville and Treasure Isle. While Cafeville was all about cooking where you had to “virtually” cook “delicious” food and serve them at the right time, else they would “spoil”, Treasure isle was digging the “never ending” gold. You could buy more burners and create a bigger restaurant with the money you made in Cafeville. The catch Facebook exploited here, was that “more” friends you added to your friend list participating in the same game,  the more advantages you had. So basically, this led me and I am sure many more, to send invitations to other friends unwittingly! What is worse, I even created 3 fake accounts to help me get more points in the games! My addiction had reached such a level with those games was when, I used to set food to be “cooked” for 9-10 hrs overnight, so that I could getup, brush my teeth and then login immediately to facebook and make sure I served the food on time! I am sure Farmville was the same way where our “Software Engineers” became expert “farmers” sowing seeds, buying cattle and sellling produce!

The zenith for me was when one day, frustrated to the extent that I am not surprised, my husband sarcastically asked me when I would start cooking food “really” for him rather than “virtually” on Facebook.  I could not help but realise how true his statement was. I had all the time to cook “Belgian Waffles” which at that time I had no idea what it was, but I could not drag myself out for an hour to cook rice and sambhar for my husband! The only way I could get out of the addiction I realised was to delete the game altogether from my account because I knew I would never have the heart to stop playing otherwise! I was at level 52 and I wonder how many more levels are there! I deleted the games and my god, what a sigh of relief it was for me! I suddenly had so much time to spend on more fruitful things! I could only thank myself for not being foolish even to buy some points using money in Zynga!

Well, now coming to the point, I suddenly had 200 friends on Facebook and everyone was busy posting their pictures on Facebook. Some of them were in Australia, some in US , some in Europe and remaining in India.  Initially, the appreciations for the photos made me feel happy and more interested in adding more! Well after a point, I realised I did not care whether half of them really liked my photo or not. Even better, I started wondering why I should add photos into Facebook at all? Just so that a bunch of friends look at it and appreciate it? Well that arguement doesn’t suffice anymore for me!

Interestingly, of the 200, you can mark my words, I really care about 15-20 of them! That’s all. The others are just there, lurking there who were once upon a time my classmate in III or VIII, I have no clue about or met me in a trip to some place! After a point, you do not know what to talk to them at all. So in an effort to keep in touch, you randomly “like” some photo of theirs, for which they reciprocate equally.  The recently added timeline feature is Facebook’s audacity is all I can say where they do not allow you to “undo” what you tried and did not like!

Yes, I still have my account with Facebook but reality is nowadays, I do not feel the need to login because I have nothing to share to a bunch of people whom I hardly know better. It is becoming dormant and eventually well I might never use it. I have reached that stage!  The one’s I care about, I love calling them even now and talking regularly to them. It gives a feel which none of these networking sites fulfill. And they are my “good” friends not because I “accidentally” met them on facebook, but because they mattered to me from the time I knew them!

I sign off by adding what my husband always told me during my heights of addiction, “You do not need facebook or an orkut to keep in touch with the people you care about.  They will keep in touch with you irrespective of whether these sites exist or not!”

Think again, just for trial , utilise your day doing something which you cared about doing rather than staring at “the wall”! You will see you have loads of precious time that can be utilised in a much better way ) While you have “whiled” away your time staring at the Wall in FB, it is Mark Zuckerberg who is laughing his way to the bank making his millions

 

The Girl who kicked hornets Nest Book review

A film impacts one’s thinking so much that it drove me to borrow the books from library as I was so much keen to read the next 2 novels. The Girl who kicked the Hornets Nest dwells on justice for Lisabeth Salander from the secret police.
While the novel was indeed engaging, my expectations were much more.
I could not for a moment believe the Secret Police (Called the Section) could have such a ludicrous plan and it seemed more silly as it moved on.
Also, after the trial, my expectations were that Lisabeth’s life could have been made more interesting and engaging. I reached a stage where I did not care more as to what happened and I was surprised that couple of months ago, I was enchanted by this series.
Now no more.

 

The Girl who played with Fire

I happened to watch the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo last month and I had not read or heard of the novel until then. So being completely ignorant of the background, the movie was quite a treat to watch. I was in admiration for Lisbeth Salander and I must say that Rooney Mara left no stone unturned in giving an excellent performance. What I did not know until then was that the swedish had also made the Millenium Series into movies and Noomi Rapace was too good in the swedish version. So I must say that while Rooney had atleast Noomi to look at..Noomi had to be Lisabeth just from the Novel descriptions and she did a phenomenal job and I am so impressed that she no doubt wins browney points over Mara. This got me to visit the library and I borrowed the other 2 books namely “The Girl who played with Fire” and “The Girl who kicked the Hornet’s Nest”.
Since I started reading “The Girl who Played with Fire”, I hadn’t been able to put it down and finally when I completed it today, I realise what a great subject Stieg Larsson wrote on. Technically, the loose ends need to be still filled reading the next series and I have already started it!
Great book! If you haven’t read the series, its time you get your hands on one

 

Is it really Christmas?

I woke up to an unusually silent day today , there were no cars zooming by, no trains leaving the tracks and no snow. I live very close to the Railway station which helps me run to the station on weekdays helping me catch the train many a time at the last moment.

I remember the first day I moved into this home about more than a year ago, happy in the fact that it is going to be very convenient for me. What I had not realised at that time was I could not sleep properly for couple of weeks because of the sound of the cars and trains. Well I guess I have got used to it over the months.

So this morning’s unusually silent demeanor made me realise with a start that it was Christmas! A funny incident comes to my mind thinking of Christmas. I remember last year that I wanted to travel to India for a vacation during December. So I ended up buying air tickets on Christmas Day as the tickets were relatively cheap to other days.What I did not know at that time though was there are no train services, basically no public transport on that day! The taxi fares were so exorbitant that I could only gasp hearing the prices.! For my stupidity in saving a few pounds, I ended up travelling to London Heathrow on Christmas Eve (i.e 24th) trudging my huge suitcases and staying in a travel lodge near the Airport which ultimately cost me more than the tickets on other days!

This christmas, that am here, I realised some more things! It is not only public transport that is closed, everything else and I mean literally everything else is closed!

All the shops, restaurants, the pubs and cinema is closed today. As all the non-christians are then confined to the 4 walls of their homes, I decided to take a stroll outside to just feel the air of festivity. I walk down the small lanes passing by various homes wanting to take in the festive fervor. There is no music I can hear, no carols and even the church is empty. The houses are dimly lit, the x-mas trees are beautifully decorated inside and I can see few people moving about with my sneaky eyes. A small figure of Santa lies outside most houses asking him to stop by their place.

Though I do know that people are having get-together’s and fun at home with a huge turkey being grilled in the oven and families meeting maybe the 1st time in the year having their moments, the eerie silence reminds me of how different the festivities are in India where it is hard to miss the fervor especially during Deepavali. Families meet, there is laughter in the air, the occasional cracker bursting in the air, shops bursting with delicacies that tempt your taste buds , the waft of aroma of food from each house that makes your stomach growl!

I wonder how it would be in India to shut all the shops, restaurants and public transport on Diwali maybe!  I do believe all deserve the break for the festival, but I do not want the eerie silence to overshadow it though!

My friend Padma and I talked about our thoughts of the festival today and her idea gave me inspiration to write this blog

 

Have you ever tried Event Management?! Do it ;)

When no where out of the blue, you do not know how you suddenly have ended up being given a task on your plate to organise an event /party, with a shoe-string budget and then have the event planned out to be executed within the next 4 days, a person like me or anyone for that matter who has never organised parties/event is gonna shake head and be clueless! This is not a task on reality TV that am talking about, but a practical one with about 50-60 attendees in-addition to 12 kids!

It is Christmas time in UK with most people on holiday and most party halls would have not been available. I did not know whom to go for support. Google is the best friend during these times to help find the realistic options available to you. Found few party hall phone numbers online, all going to voicemail! Great. What next?!

As I was pacing the floor helplessly, I met a colleague whom I had briefly interacted with before. She was very friendly and instinct told me I could rely on her. From here , our tasks began!

Day 1

When you keep 2 or more venues in mind, you complicate matters for yourself as options are more and you are all the more confused. That was where we were exactly on Day1. On top of it, we were asked to find people’s choices as well. Nevertheless, we sent the mail knowing that hardly 10% would bother to reply. As we waited for that to be decided, in parallel, realistically we wanted to see where we stand on getting party halls in the place where we worked! So with some suggestions from friends, we found 5-6 halls could be tried out. 5 out of the 6 were closed until new year and as luck would have it, one of the halls was available for the event on a Friday evening! Our joy knew bounds and the rates,well it just overshot our budget and with catering to be taken care of, there was not going to be a penny for anything else to spend money on!

Keeping this hall as an option was only possible if people contributed some money from their pockets. I hate asking people to contribute money as then it is not actually a “Party” and people are going to be frustrated and show the least interest!  We next thought of looking for caterers as getting a hall is fine, but there should be a caterer as well to provide the food on the D-day. As we were looking for Indian food, we have 5-6 restaurants where we thought we could bargain. Well who knew that this is gonna be tough as well with 5 out of the 6 refusing us. The 6th one out rightly told us that Friday was impossible for him but he could consider a Thursday! Oh What a Day!

Day 2

We were still on square one on Day 2. One thing was decided though. We would do the party in the place where we worked! It was near for everyone and as it was a small place, options are less and it is easier to manage with the limited options. With some directions from the town council, we got a list of around 10-15 halls in the place. While some did pick our calls and either didn’t have the hall on Thursday, some others let them only for kids parties. The others that did not pick our call were visited by both of us spending our entire morning walking all the way and hoping we would find the right place. We had 3 caterers who could provide us dinner on thursday , but the right hall was not in sight.

We finally found a hall that was going to available on hourly rate and extremely expensive. We found another which was very cheap but the hall was small for the number we had in mind!

We were on the verge of booking the costly hall as we had just 2 more days! While I was almost closing on the hall booking, a person sitting nearby told us to try a hall which he said was quite cheap and big enough for us. We instantly remembered the hall he was talking about, we had called the number they had given 100 times, nobody picked. We even visited the place and it was locked! He gave us a out of office hours number to call, and said the place is open on Wednesdays and told us to be optimistic.  I asked my friend to check out the place the first thing in the morning.

Both of us surprisingly had dreams of getting the hall which would save us money to use for entertainment and many other options.

Day 3 – First Half

My friend visited the place and called me in despair saying it was closed and that no one picked her call as usual!. People started asking questions on where the party was gonna take place and were all excited about it and discussions started taking place. We both were still unsure in our mind if we could have anything feasible, but kept our thoughts to ourselves!

As I contacted the person who gave me the number explaining our troubles, he told us to email the lady and hopefully she would reply. There was nothing else he could do! My friend sent her a mail and we just prayed silently in our hearts as if we were waiting for results on our exam to be announced any time shortly!

Most of the time when your intentions are good, God does listen to you! The lady replied instantly saying the hall was available! We were getting the hall for 1/3rd of the price of the other one we had almost ended up booking yesterday! Wow, my friend and I just wanted to hug each other in joy as if we had passed with flying colors.

In no time, she got the hall booked and I got the caterer selected by the simple reasoning that he was the cheapest and gave a more interesting Menu than the others!

Day 3 -Second Half

The event was not just to get a hall and provide people food, but provide people entertainment. The most difficult part of any event is people management. You need to have interesting ideas to keep people engaged and you need to make every hour that people spend at the party count! It should be an unforgettable event for them and relish it. As a starting point, as the hall and the caterer was sorted out, and also that we had spare money, we wanted interesting events at the party. As my friend and I had limited bandwidth, we created a core committee where while some were responsible for coming up with Games, others were tasked with decoration, some more in the music and sound department, others had to give us ideas to entertain the children and some more had to be in the food disposal and cleaning committee.

We sent an invitation to all the people announcing the party for the Day 4 and almost all responded saying they would come!

We completed one round of shopping on decoration items, kiddy stuff and some games raw materials and retired for the day.

Day 4- The D-Day

Last minute shopping for prizes on games, hard and soft drinks and crisps saw us overshoot our budget in no time! How do you get the money back? With interesting idea from my friend and another manager, we thought of another game Bingo! Make people buy tickets for Bingo at the party at a nominal price and have nice prizes, but ensure you recover the overshot budget back!

The evening had us both a bit nervous and jittery and the core committee met in the party hall 1 hour before and recapped the agenda. In no time, people started coming. We placed welcome drinks and allowed them to mingle! The kids were all excited with the toys, masks and toffees they received! Then while the games were being played in another room , the food was delivered and we laid it out tastefully and then went to be part of Bingo. Many people bought tickets for the game and we recovered most of our money back!

After interesting games and bingo which had people competitive and cheering for their team, they came all hungry for dinner. Luckily the food turned out tasty and people then turned to the dance floor.

The party was finally over with people having the best time and showering all of us with praises! The best was someone saying that it was the most interesting party that he had attended in the last 4 years!

My friend and I looked at each other satisfied and content at what we had achieved in just 4 days!

I dedicate this blog to her for her relentless help and cheerful attitude.- Padma this is for you!

 

Tere Mere Sapne (1971) Dev Anand, Mumtaz, Vijay Anand

As a tribute to remember the ever green hero Dev Anand who passed away on Dec 3rd 2011, I wanted to watch one of his movies. I started by listening to some of his songs which are master pieces. I saw the song “Hey Maine kasam Li”. It has been one of my favourites , surprisingly I never knew who were the actors in that song. I had always imagined Rajesh Khanna in that song, I wonder why!

So I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was a Dev Anand -Mumtaz Song. So I decided I would watch the movie Tere Mere Sapne. Directed by Vijay Anand, the movie is about a Doctor (Dev Anand) who wants to serve the people with love and compassion and who is honest and goes to the extent of using the money being saved for his child to save a villager’s child. The movie beautifully portrays how money changes man from his basic principles and lust after it.

Tere Mere Sapne 1971 (From Google Search)

While there is a beautiful actress (Hema Malini as Malathi Mala) who has all the money in the world, but craves for being cared, loved by a simple man and have a simple life even if it means living in a small house, on the other hand there is the doctor who dedicates his life for the poor , but learns it the hard way that money does all the talking. His wife (Mumtaz) is sad by how her husband has changed and who doesn’t even know that she is pregnant.

Whether he will fall for the beautiful actress or go back to his wife forms the rest of the story. Ofcourse, no brownie points for guessing what is the end.

After watching this movie, I realised that the actual hero of this movie is Vijay Anand, who has not only directed the movie, but has also done the screenplay, dialogues , editing and has even acted as Dev Anand’s friend. This movie has been directed beautifully and the dialogues are marvellous.

One which I still remember is Vijay Anand explaining to his friend ” Zindagi ki jhadon ko pyar se seencha jaai , toh hee usmein phool khilte hai, pyaar hee sookh jaaye, toh naam shoharat, daulat sab kaagaz ke phool hai, jinme na doosron ke liye kushboo hai aur apne liye kushi. Pyar ka jharna jiske zindagi mein na behata ho, us aadmi ko doctor ban ne ka adhikar hee nahi hai.

Where do we get dialogues like this nowadays. We have the so called yo hinglish movies where the dialogues are so artificial and fake that you yearn to hear something which sounds natural!  How I wish we still depict our beautiful culture, our historically famous dances and other things in the movies.. well life does turn full circle.. so let us hope for the best

 

30th Birthday Celebrations!

Being 30 is a weird moment in your life.. it makes you feel you are no more the 20 something youngster..and inadvertently places you in a position where you are in the danger of being in a mid-life crisis..you have crossed 30 years of your life! So to make the 30th birthday memorable is what we all strive to do!

As my husband was turning 30, I wanted it to make it very memorable for him! When we are old, I want him to reminisce these moments and cherish them!

So I set up searching google as to what could be the most memorable gift I could give him. There were things from expensive watches, wallets, electronic gadgets and what not! But still I was not satisfied. I wanted something different.

The fact that we both are in UK also limited my ideas. In India, I could plan something where we could go to some hillstation, have a bonfire , call my friends at midnight, scare the shit out of him and what not! But with hardly my friends being here, that option was obviously ruled out and I do not want to get into any issues with police here , in a foreign country!

At Elstree Aerodrome

My friend had mentioned helicopter rides in London starting at 100 £ from Adventure 001  and I was sure my husband would love to do it once in his lifetime. The next, I heard about was the Below Zero Ice Bar in London where it is below 0 Degrees and you are given a gown to wear and go inside. Inside, you are served with a cocktail! So I booked it. Next, I knew that my husband was always hung up on buying a Super Dry jacket which I had always stopped him from buying saying it was “extravagant”. But I allowed myself to be extravagant and bought the jacket he always wanted to buy.

I kept it a surprise till the D-Day. When he woke up, I presented him the jacket and told him we need to leave early as we have “something” to do in London. He was agitated and wanted to know what we would do in London. I made him keep guessing He was pleasantly surprised when we reached Elstree Aerodrome and he came to know about the ride. It was even nice when he got a co-pilot seat for an additional 10 £. So off we were off on the helicoper. While , he was in the Co-pilot seat, I was in the passenger seats.

Below Zero, Ice Bar London

When we got down finally after a brilliant view of London on a sunny day, he raved about the experience from the Co-Pilot seat and am glad he got that experience as the view was ordinary from Passenger seat!

The Ice bar experience was very nice with the fiery cocktail making my body feel warm all over that I felt I no longer needed the jacket! Ha ha.

All in all, it was a memorable experience which I hope we cherish in years to come!