Carded at 27!

This past weekend, I was attending yet another family trip and this time we went to Atlantic City. Can I just say that AC is one of the ugliest towns in the US. I seriously felt like I was going to be gambling in the projects. Couple of streets down from the casinos were probably the projects....You know, the ones beyond the ultimate gamblers' last resort of "We buy Gold for Cash" Stores....So anyway, we got there drove around, picked Caesar's Palace as our parking lot and set out to walk towards the boardwalk. Came out of the lot and were of course lost and was trying to figure out which way was the ocean. Atlantic Ocean. Of course, the first person we asked turned out to be a Bengali, because we are freakin' EVERYWHERE! And the next person we asked turned out to be an Arab. So pretty much we covered both home countries and managed to finally to see the Atlantic Ocean, walk along the Boardwalk, and come to our final destination for the time being, Trump Palace where we were going to play and lose all our money in the cheap slot machines.

Long story short, after playing an entire hour and a half and asking hotel officials numerous times different questions, right as we were about to leave, I was stopped. Why? Can I see your id? The guy had a walkie-talkie and goes, we have a possible minor on the floor! WHATT??? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I could not stop laughing my ass off, and for some reason he didn't think it was funny! Come on! How can you not????

I whipped out my id and said,"I'll gladly give you my id" he looked at me twice..."WHAT?? you're 27? I'm sorry, Miss. We have a strict policy of not allowing anyone under the age of 21." Signalled his walkie-talkie and says,"It's a negative" and appologizes and walks away!

So after losing the 20 dollars i gambled which at one point brought it up to 50 but didn't react to, I was carded!!! Woohoo....I look under 21!

Mr Trump Palace Officer, You made my day and the trip of course!

The Unavailable Stalker

Religiously, EVERYDAY, roughly around noonish and again around 8ish, I've been getting a call from an unavailable number where the phone rings for the first 2 rings and sends it to my phone as a missed call...The person in question, whoever is ringing me, has yet to leave me a voice message or a txt, or just a plain call from a regular number. Now as much as I enjoy screening calls (NOT), I need to know who this moron is that makes me run to my phone only to be a blank call...So whoever you are, will you just bother to leave me a msg or better yet, wait for me to answer the damn phone?

Thanks!

Rumors of upcoming Dancing With the Stars Season Line Up!

Here's the full list:

• Former 'N Syncer Lance Bass; pro partner Lacey Schwimmer

• Keeping Up With the Kardashians star and socialite/boutique owner Kim Kardashian; pro partner Mark Ballas

• Grammy winner Toni Braxton, who just cut her Vegas show short due to heart problems; pro partner Alec Mazo

• Retired NFL defensive lineman Warren Sapp; pro partner Kym Johnson

• Toast of Beijing and one-half of Team USA's two-time Olympic gold medalist beach volleyball team, Misty May-Treanor; pro partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy

• All My Children's resident daytime diva Susan Lucci; pro partner Tony Dovolani

• Celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito; pro partner Karina Smirnoff

• Rock Star host and onetime E! personality Brooke Burke; pro partner Derek Hough

• Gold medalist sprinter for Team USA in the Athens and Sydney Olympics Maurice Greene; pro partner Cheryl Burke

• Up-and-coming Disney tween heartthrob and Hannah Montana costar Cody Linley; pro partner Julianne Hough

• Sitcom utility player Ted McGinley (Hope & Faith, Sports Night, Married…With Children); pro partner Inna Brayer

• Veteran Oscar-winning actress and recent Roast of Bob Saget scene-stealer Cloris Leachman; pro partner Corky Ballas

• Comedian Jeffrey Ross, this year's heir apparent to Adam Carolla's entertaining yet uncoordinated mantle; pro partner Edyta Sliwinska Kardashian has already handicapped herself, calling in to Good Morning America today to confirm that she was rushed to a New York emergency room Sunday night after slicing her foot open on a broken mirror in her hotel room. But she will go on with the show.

or so they say....Let's see what happens...Stay Tuned!

Today, for a brief moment I felt really happy. I was talking to my pasty white friend from one of the boondocks of the Midwest and I was sharing with him how recently I've been listening to a lot romantic music. Romantic Hindi songs to be in particular. As he diligently listened to me yap about how Urdu poetry is above and beyond because honestly speaking, a. I'm probably the only sheer entertainment he gets other than the local bar and b. doesn't have much clue about the rest of the world let alone what happens in New York City. (How did I manage to be his friend? We both wonder from time to time!) So as I was explaining to him, the song Man ki Lagan from the movie Paap came played on my Itunes. My heart and mouth stopped...I know...quite the difficult task.

Instantly, I felt relaxed and he asked if everything was ok...I told him about the song how it calms me and moments later, I shared the song with him. The dimwit of course seconds later after hearing said the song wasn't in English...Quel suprise! As I translated the song to him, he commented on how truly deep this song was and even he started to like it and that probably there aren't that many English songs that share the poetic level. This reaction led me to send a few more tunes that were soon to be appreciated by a non desi. Although this whole incident may seem minuscule or insignificant to many others but right then there I felt a pang of satisfaction where I taught someone something about our regional culture. And of course, I couldn't help but share this moment with you...

Other songs that i shared were

Teri Ore - Singh Is Kinng
O Re Piya - Aaja Nachle
Jiya Dhadak - Kalyug
Aaoge Jab - Jab We Met
Baahon Ke Darmiyaan - Khamoshi
Kate Nahi Raat - 99.9FM
Jaan Meri Jaa Rahi - Lucky




Here is a taste of the song (i did try to find the best recording i could)

"The Unforgettable" Concert

It all began one night when I was surfing through crap TV. The screen went black and I wondered if something happened to my satellite and nanoseconds later, the Unforgettable Tour sign came on...
Earlier that day, I heard some rumors that there was going to be a concert soon but I didn't think much of it because the summer time is big around that. Deep down, I was curious so watched along and lo and behold, it was THE AMITABH BACHCHAN! He was coming to NEW YORK! of course along with him was his clan, son Abhishek and daughter-in-law Aishwariya - the new buy one get second one 50% off and third free deal, but who cares!! AMITABH was coming! Immediately the phones started ringing the instant messages started flourishing-call it the Barso Re Megha style. Within seconds 9 of us had been set to go to the show! Sulekha.com and Mr. Bharat Jotwani himself helped us get the seats we wanted and WE WERE SET TO SEE THE MAN on the 15th of August 2008!

Weeks came by, and the gossipy dialogue amongst friends were exchanged...You know, what we were going to wear yaddi yaddi yada.. Friends from Maryland and Boston were coming so apart from the show, what we will be doing for the rest of the weekend and the whole shebang. The planning was on full shebang!

The day finally arrived, one batch arrived at 130, the next at 4pm (after battling 2 hrs of traffic), one friend was meeting us straight at Nassau Coliseum, and the final leg, my loving father were to arrive at 6pm where we would pick him from the station. And that's when it all began!

Few moments before we were going to get my father from the train station, another friend called out of concern that there was a tornado watch warning for Westchester. We were soo consumed in getting ready that neither of us noticed what was going on beyond our windows. But nonetheless without thinking anything my mother and aunt left to pick up my father at 6 on the dot. 6:15 rolled by and still no sign of my mother, aunt or my father. I called to find out what was going on because the train is only a 4-min drive from my house. Apparently, he hadn't arrived as of yet. Call Waiting Blinking! I clicked on and it was my father...The storm had smacked a tree on to train tracks and the train is waiting to the tree to be moved. Doesn't know which train station they are near. So subsequently I called my mother to let her know to just come home because it's going to be a while, which it sure was. Finally dad reached home at 6:45 and was summoned to hurry up, change, eat something so we could still leave by 7 as planned. Little did we know what we had ahead of us!


So finally we all packed in the car at 7:05pm (great timing considering we aimed to leave by 7) and off we were to Hutchinson River Parkway South. We drove about 2 miles towards where the road splits, one going towards Queens and Long Island, where we needed to go, and the other to New Jersey and Manhattan and lo and behold, there is back to back traffic on every effing highway out of Scarsdale due to Bronx River overflowing hence blocked all roads. Here I had my friend waiting for us at the concert and we were no where near the theater... We kept on going back and forth trying different routes...but everything was closed. after 2 hrs of trying hard we almost gave up of not going to the concert but for some reason we decided to try one last time... Yes watching Abhishekh dance with his dad on stage was still in the cards for us. We barely made the show at 1030pm, two and a half hours later but just on time for Amitabh to make his presence for the very first time on stage that night..

What a man!!!!! Seriously there is no actor in today's time that can even come close to him to be at par with him...Maybe Aamir can be somewhat close but not really. Shahrukh can keep on trying but he will never be as amazing as AMITABH BACHCHAN. The moment he started dancing to Jahan Teri Ye Nazar Hai, the whole crowd was dancing along with him. Every person whether it be the Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles reliving their newlywed years or us kids who would dance with our parents on their toes to these dance numbers!!! Even kids today were on their toes dancing with the 64+ year old man! It was the best...

What was even better was when he read the monologue from Agneepath remembering his mother...it was one moment when everyone was dancing and the next moment crying along with him as he read the lines...Fabulous!!!

Abhishekh, Aishwariya, Preity and Ritiesh equally did a great job and were quite enjoyable but it was all of a sudden when you could literally hear everyone's heart pumping...in anticipation...it was the moment when none other than Madhuri came on stage. What a beauty...Being a straight woman, even I fell in love with her....Not only can the woman dance but she looks awesome!!! Even today. I remember seeing her on stage when i was a kid in Dubai but when I saw her that night...it was a different ball game all together...

They say Aishwariya is gorgeous..and she is no doubt but in all honesty, no one can even come near Madhuri's beauty and simplicity... I'm sorry all Ash fans! This concert made a point that old is gold and will never be unforgettable!!!

So after all these heart pumping numbers that not only reminded me of my childhood, we all came home starving yet fully satisfied with whomever we went to see the concert for, regardless of all the things we had to go through just to get there....

Excercising My First Right as an American

Khauwar Dol - The Food Blog

So my friends and I have started a food/recipe blog where we focus on food basically. Recipes galore and have plans of posting Restaurant Reviews et bla bla bla...
check it out and give us some feedback!

http://khauwardol.blogspot.com

Hope you enjoy it! Till my next post, which will be later TONIGHT!!!

The Grass is always greener on the other side..

I was just thinking the other day why this saying is soo true? When you walk around long enough, there are some of the things you usually get to overhear....

"Their lawn is better looking than ours...."

"I wish I was married.." vs. "I wish I was single again.."

"I wish I had bigger boobs.." vs. "I wish I had smaller boobs, I can't wear a lot of the clothes you can!!" (I actually overheard this very conversation when I was on the train going into the city to meet a few friends...but you know...these aren't uncommon wishes)

"Why can't I find someone?" (Again on the train (not the same train ride though), but the interesting part was that a few moments before a not soo cute but decent guy was trying to hit on her and she said NO WAY IN HELL....ok maybe not those exact words but it was the basic gist) I think I may have written a post about this very incident before...seems familiar yet very vague.

But seriously, why is it that we are never happy with what we have....What is it with the constant craving for having what others have. Why is it that we always fall for the societal pressure of looking good, or at least what we think the society accepts?

This may sound slightly far fetched or maybe not, but is it because the whole world suffers from some form of lack of confidence which can be molded into a form of fear of failure? If I don't have the best looking ____(fill in the blanks)_______, then I'm a failure?

In a way, I can see how certain standards can be effective such that it gives you guidance in life but who has the right to set those standards? What's with this "I'm better than you" syndrome? I'm probably rambling and not making in sense, but it's something that's been on my mind for a while and just thought I would just point it out.
You're probably just as confused as to what I'm talking about but deep down I feel that you know what I mean. Dammit!!! Why is the grass greener on the other side!!!?!!?!

any thoughts or ideas?

The Move

It's been almost over 2 years that I have been telling my friends that I will be moving to UAE at the end of year. But of course due to certain circumstances, I've have had to postpone my move and it's come to a point that I've changed my moving dates soo many times that it's almost become a joke. But now that it is official that I am moving in September, I've been going through soo many mixed emotions that I don't know what to even say. Of course, I am excited to the T that I'm going back home and going to be amongst all my childhood friends. I can't wait to relive my old lifestyle which is going to be heightened because i will be earning now and well will have far more liberties than I did then. Will no longer have to sneak to the mall when our parents were off to the Dubai which at most had a few clothing stores and an arcade store...haha....we were such innocent little goons. if only we had mobile phones then.

But as I write this post, I figured I should tribute this one to all the things I'm going to miss about New York.
(1) The friends, of course....after living here for a good 14 years, I've developed some great friendships that i will cherish till the end.
(2) Random singing hangout sessions till the wee hours of the morning. Although, I'm sure a few of my UAE friends are musically talented, but I'm truly going to miss the jamming sessions with actual musicians who are quite well known in the scene and not only that but who are really passionate about their music. What can I say...it's just a different feeling all together..
(3) High-Speed Internet...do I even need to explain this further??? lol actually...its not just high speed Internet. I would also include the ability to visit any site i want. Last time i was there, they freakin' blocked something as random as Naseeb. Like what's soo inappropriate about that site, besides it being where all a bunch a hypocrites mingle-the so-called religious freaks but have affairs behind their spouses' backs.....
(4) MY HOUSE.....(MY HOUSE IS A VERY VERY FINE HOUSE..) I'm not going to say much because my house deserves a post in itself and I don't want to start pouring out tears...Not ready yet...
(5) Being able to get everywhere by the subway, especially when there is too much traffic.
(6) The quintessential New Yorkers that are only found in New York. I swear there is that eccentric breed that can't be found anywhere....not even in another US State....

There are soo many other things I'm going to miss about New York but right now, for some reason, I can't continue. I'm not really choking up....just the fact about thinking about the move is making me all overwhelmed.....(the packing...the change....u know....dream coming to reality...the whole shebang)

Anyways.....so here's to a new life ahead filled with new challenges and excitement.

Hello Bloggers!

Aaah it feels soo good to blog again!! Where did I disappear to really???Anyway, as you can see that even though I'm back, I've written about bollywood, which sort of is a half-assed attempt of coming back to blogging.. but hey something is better than nothing right?

anyway just to let u know that even though it is slightly related to bollywood, it would be nice for you guys to know that a few of my family members, ( family according to my dearest mother) have started blogging as well..

Aamir Khan's Blog is at http://www.aamirkhan.com/blog.htm

Amitabh Bachchan's Blog is at http://blogs.bigadda.com/ab/

The Love of my life, Salman Khan's Blog is at http://duskadum.blogspot.com/

Please check those out as I slowly return in the full blogswing!

The Kids of K.A.P.P.S.T.H.

I don't know if it's my maternal instincts that are coming out, but the kids on the Indian version of "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" titled "Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain?", are absolutely adorable!!!

Girls, NO, I'm not talking about Shahrukh Khan being the kid who is cute! For those of you who don't know, he is the host of the show that airs on Star Plus. The actual 5th graders of the show are just absolutely adorable.

My fave is Dheirya Sorecha. (on your right) He is like a mini archie character...Every single time I see him on TV giggling away while sitting down and his scrawny little legs unable to reach the floor makes me want to hug him and tickle him even more...I don't know how to correctly translate this in English but every time I see this kid, 'amar atoo maaya laagey, je pichita ki asholey kichu parbe?!!" The translation will probably come to me later...so until then all my bangali friends can help me/you out.

Another cutie-patootie is this one...Sriporna Ghoshal! Her soundless laugh is just too cute and hilarious. She is very bubbly and is a complete chatterbox. The way she just runs up to the podium and smiles you want to just squeeze her cheeks!



The other three are equally adorable. We have Shreya Sharma, who is probably the smartest of the lot. When you see her, she looks like a polite little cute girl. And those of you who have seen the movie Makdee or Iqbal she looks a lot like the girl in those movies. Can't remember her name. Oh Right, Shweta Prasad..(Don't you just love Google...heehee!)


Anubhav Motilal!...Every time I see this kid, i instantly get the instinct that is the naughtiest of the lot! literally! every time he dances on stage with full force and vigor it's just too cute! Look at his pic... doesn't he look like he planning some notorious pranks on ppl!?! If there ever is a Hindi version of Home Alone, he would definitely be the ideal candidate!

Last but definitely not least!!! The most innocent child of crew is Milanjeet Singh Bhatti! He is innocent and naive that whenever he is picked he says the cutest things ever! It's not that he is dumb or anything he just get confused in his own confusion and makes the cutest mistakes!

So here are the adorable kids of Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain! 5 cutie-patooties of Indian silver screen. Some of them are going to be featured in upcoming movies so when you see them definitely cheer them on. But if you ever get a chance, do check them out on Star Plus at 9pm on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and see why i think they are absolute gems!

You can find out more about them on the Paanchvi Pass site