The Mumbai Attack - November 2008

A Terrified and shaken India again…..these two days have been nightmare for not only the people of Mumbai and the tourists stuck in the hotels but for each one of us looking at those harrowing scenes of blood spattered people, roads and stations again n again.

A set of eight or nine coordinated attacks on the city's landmarks -- including the hyper-busy CST (formerly VT) rail terminus; the landmark Taj Hotel at the Gateway and the luxury Oberoi Trident at Nariman Point; the domestic airport at Santa Cruz; the Cama and GT hospitals near CST; the Metro Adlabs multiplex and Mazgaon Dockyard -- has claimed over 80 lives and injured over 200 as I write....

With a growing financial crisis situation, Rowdy Politicians encouraging hate crimes, Corruption in every single office, Nature not sparing farmers not for a single season, Companies laying off staff, Terror attacks is the last thing India wants!!!

As we hear of these reports with hostages taken and the innocent killed by "teams of gunmen" seizing Mumbai in a "coordinated attack," we wonder what is Deccan Mujahideen, the obscure terrorist organization that claims responsibility for today's horror.

Dressed in a black half T-shirt and jeans with a blue rucksack hung over his left shoulder and red sacred thread tied on his right wrist, one might just mistake him to be just another regular college going student.

What baffles the security agencies is the sacred thread tied on his wrist which many say could be a plot to show that the attack was undertaken by probably an extreme Hindu group.

An unknown outfit, Deccan Mujahideen, has sent an email to news organizations claiming that it carried out the Mumbai attacks. But, the claim by a terror organisation with a Muslim name has left the above theory in question, say experts

The attacks appeared to be aimed at getting international attention as the terrorists took upto 40 British nationals and other foreigners hostage. The chairman of Hindustan Unilever Harish Manwani and CEO of the company Nitin Paranjpe were among the guests trapped at the Oberoi. All the internal board members of the multinational giant were reported to be holed up in the Oberoi hotel.

A lot if my family stays in mumbai..... Also, Sanjeev and Hitesh were also in Mumbai for the Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year 2008 – Business Transformation” award, Vineet had flown yesterday night...... Was worried for them....

"Teams of gunmen" and phrases like "coordinated attacks" seems to fly in the face of the chaos associated with terrorism.

When I hear those phrases on the news this evening, I close my eyes to contemplate the impact. The people we call terrorists consider themselves strategists as well and undoubtedly believe that they are freedom fighters and heroes. How do we cross this chasm?

Photographs by Vinu of the saga.. http://www.flickr.com/photos/vinu/tags/blast/

This is what Walid Phares has to say on http://counterterrorismblog.org in a post tittled 'Mumbai Terror attacks: Urban Jihad comes to India' about the Type of Operation,
Design of the operations and Perpetrators. Dr Walid Phares is the Director of the Future Terrorism Project at the Foundationfor the Defense of Democracies.

Some unanswered questions by ghulam muhammed at questions in public arena about mumbais night of terror

My condolences and prayers to the families of the victims, police and army men lost in this battle, their families and my special salutes to Anti Terrorist Squad Chief Hemant Karkare, Mumbai's additional commissioner of police (east) Ashok Kamte and Encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar and my heart goes out to the staff in these two hotels.

The worry about the staff in these hotels multiplies as I have 2 brothers working in the hotel industry.

For Mumbaikars, our heart goes out to you guys - you deal with internal as well as external terrorism and have the energy to bounce back. Hats off to your shaken, not stirred attitude.

This is an image by " rAmmoRRison" after the 'Mumbai Blasts'... It still holds true......
Dear Terrorist , ur attempt was as SILLY as this.....
http://flickr.com/photos/rammorrison/199132620/

Praying for Peace.

Asian Pasta

My sister was leaving for Mumbai.... Thought of taking her out for a nice dinner...... No surprise, towards the evening, packing wasn't over.... so we dropped the idea of the dinner... I thought let me make something special at home....

She loves Olives.... had this recipe sitting in my head for a while... On the way back from work, stopped to buy the stuff ... [Imagine... me going vegetable shopping.... sister: you'd have better like what's going to be made.. ;-) ]

Bua was also at home.... she was just about to leave in a bit.... When she saw the preparation, she stayed back to checkout my experiment......

Thankfully everyone enjoyed it......

Ingredients:

500 Gms Penne or Tagliatelle

3 Table Spoons Olive Oil [For Stir-Frying Vegetables]

60 gms each of diced Zuchinni, Mushrooms, Baby Corn, Red and Yellow Bell Peppers, Green Onions (The Green Parts separated from the bulb), Olives [green or black which ever you prefer, or maybe both if you like, my sister love them so I loaded them in]

1 pod chopped Garlic

150ml Cream

10gms Thai Red Curry Paste

Salt and White Pepper to Taste

Pine Nuts for Topping

Shredded cheese for Garnish

10gms Fresh Basil for Garnish

5gms Oregano or Rosemary for Garnish

Chilli Flakes for Garnish

Dash of salted butter

Method:

1. Blanch babycorn in a separate bowl. Keep aside.
2. Boil pasta in hot water with 2 table spoons of oil and 4 table spoons of salt. When soft, remove from stove and stain. Allow to cool in a strainer. When slightly cool, rub some olive oil in your palms and lightly grease the pasta so that it doesn’t stick after cooling.
3. Heat olive oil in a pan.
4. Stir in the garlic, cook till golden brown.
5. Add the diced onion bulbs, cook till just about crunchy, not very brown.
6. Add the peppers and Zuchinni, cook till just about crunchy
7. Donot over cook the vegetables or cover them. Just stir fry. Covering will make it lose the amazing colour.
8. In a separate sauce pan, add a dash of salted butter and put in the mushrooms, cook till the water has evaporated. [ Mom’s Special Tip: sprinkle some pepper, the mushrooms get a nice brown color instead of remaining pale white J ] Keep aside.
9. Use the same pan to put in the cream and add the red thai curry paste. Cook for a 1-2 minutes and adjust the seasoning as per taste.
10. Add the cream mixture to the stir-fry vegetables. Stir and remove from heat.
11. Sprinkle over with Pine Nuts, Shredded cheese, Chilli Flakes, Fresh Basil and Oregano or Rosemary for Garnish.

Serve with any interesting bread. [ I used garlic bread.]

Dostana - Movie Review - KKKKKUUUUUUNNNNNAAAALLLLLLL...... Really Funny :-)

This movie is directed by Karan Johar’s assistant Tarun Mansukhani.
Karan Johar and Tarun Mansukhani do pleasantly surprise us with their new offering - Dostana. The movie scratches the surface of a sensitive topic with comic timing and dollops of laughter.
They have extended the ‘kantaben’ spoof in Kal ho Naa ho and it has been delightfully taken to the next level, that my friends, is Dostana for you.

Coming from Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions, Tarun Mansukhani’s directorial debut is a good mixture of Karan Johar’s stamp of glossy class and a new age director’s hatke treatment.
Welcome to the world of Dharma Productions where opulence rules and even if someone needs to rent out two rooms, the apartment that she lives in even has its private pool! You see she just bought it casually and then realized that there were installments to pay, so.....

Watch the teaser below (courtesy youtube.com)


Dostana also seeks to find an answer to a similar question that has troubled our little globalised and [almost]recession-ridden world – can two guys hugging and hanging out with each other ever be just friends? Because it seems like ‘the sex part always gets in the way.’

What really rocks Dostana is John removing his clothes at the drop of a hat.... ooooooohhhhhh...... aaaaaahhhhhh..... is all we could do in our seats......



It's a refreshing change, that Dostana treats guys like sex objects instead of girls. The body of John Abraham is fully exploited [no one is complaining... The more the better... ;-) ] and I’m pretty sure all the girls loved it after listening to the claps and whistles during the movie.

Watching a movie with friends is really FUN..... we just rolled off our seats laughing... :-) It's a laugh riot. The film is stupid and nonsensical at times, but it succeeds fully in tickling your funny bone!

KUUUNNNAAAALLLLL...... OH... KUUUNNNAAAL...... ooohh...... Ek raat mein itni baar kissi ka naam nahin suna...... LOLzzzz......

The first half is a completely funny! Some sequences such as the Venice sequence and Kirron Kher turning up unexpectedly at Priyanka’s house bring the house down! In fact, you’ll find it difficult to stop laughing in these scenes!

I liked the styling in the movie...... all the characters were really looking their part and very very smart....

Priyanka Chopra looks good in the movie. If you thought Fashion was her best thing, think again! Priyanka takes it to whole next level both with her looks and performance. And how can we forget the scene in which she wears Golden swimsuit? I mean, you’ve to see the reaction of boys. Even we girls were whistling and that’s the magic of Priyanka in this movie. I guess lots of credit should be given to her stylist, make-up people n the cinematographer (Ayananka Bose) aswell... ;-)

Shilpa Shetty rocked the screen with 1 song...... WOW!!!!!!!!!!! Does she look good or what..... ;-)

Abhishek Bachchan is the pick of the actors, no doubt about it. Called on to play an over-the-top pink-loving straight man -- who seems far too interested in pretending to be gay -- He does a spot on job as he stays over the top and ends up being a pretty enjoyable buffoon.

Jumma Chumma dede.... act at Gold Rush.... was just amazing.... what I would give for watching Abhishek do something that like for me.....Muuuuuuuaaaaahhhh.. ;-)

Clearly an actor who likes getting under the skin of his character, this is a role that calls for much self-deprecation and embarrassment, and Bachchan embraces them quite well. I just loved the pink car and all the fun they had while driving around in it.....


Bobby Deol is good and efficient. He's looking so cute :-) Love his smile. He has a major role to play in the 2nd half and does a great job. The kid playing Bobby Deol’s son was cute!

Catch the plot at ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dostana_(2008_film)#Plot

Location of the movie Miami, was an amazing choice... the apartment where it's shot......... oooooooooo........ really nice.

The Dostana Look... Get the inside scoop of Dostana look.

Vishal-Shekhar’s music is already topping the charts and the picturisation of songs take it one notch higher.

The opening track shot on Shilpa Shetty at the beautiful sun kissed Miami beaches provides great eye candy.
The music is peppy and catchy with songs like ‘Desi Girl’ and ‘Maa Da Laadla Bigad Gaya‘ sure to rock the boat. I justlove the 2 songs... They play in my car constantly on repeat mode along with Rock on songs.

Also, what makes Dostana work for me is the sheer chemistry between John Abraham (his lack of expressions notwithstanding) and Abhishek Bachchan. The two seem so perfectly made for each other you begin wishing they were really gay.

However, what is really not happening, is that the makers have managed to totally waste three brilliant actors – Boman Irani, Kirron Kher and Sushmita Bundela Mukherjee. Boman plays the gay editor of a fashion magazine for about three scenes, Kirron plays Abhishek’s ‘full on Punjabi ham scene’ mom and Sushmita is Priyanka’s wannabe model aunt. Would like to ask Tarun Mansukhani just what on Earth was he thinking while picturising that song on Kirron anyway?

Kirron Kher earnestly hams her way through a scene where she makes John cross the threshold of the house, like a new bride..... Jite raho..... Jite raho..... baki rehne do.... LOL.....

Some of the best scenes in the film: (courtesy: Fenil Seta)
1. The songs ‘Shut Up & Bounce’, ‘Jaane Kyun’, ‘Desi Girl’, ‘Maa da Laadla’ & ‘Khabar Nahi’.
2. Abhi and John meeting the landlady for the first time
3. The ‘love at Venice’ scene (brilliant and quite imaginative!)
4. Abhi and John at the immigration center
5. Boman and Kirron at Priyanka’s house (funniest scene!)
6. Kirron cheering up Priyanka (Awwww... So sweet..)
7. John’s wonderful friendship dialogue!
8. The ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ scene! (Rain n music bit was just too mushy n cute)
9. The scene at the trail room
10. The basketball match sequence
11. The climax (idiotic but funny!)

Verdict – Dostana is an entertainer which you can’t afford to miss. Please don't miss the starting or the ending of the movie [ has 2 hot songs.. ;-)] It’s a must watch for everyone, especially for the teenagers. If you’re fed-up of silly comedies then this movie is a treat for you. These 2 hours and 15 minutes are the ones which you’ll cherish long after watching the film. DOSTANA rocks… have a blast!As we say in our Bollywood style, “Dostana is a Full Paisa Vasool film.” Highly recommended!

Go on... Humor me... Take this poll and put in comments at the end of the article....


Another teaser....


Since we tend to forget the people behind the scenes..... Here's what I could find....

Singers: Vishal Dadlani, Shankar Mahadevan, Sunidhi Chauhan, Master Saleem, Shreya Ghosal, Amanat Ali and Shaan

Lyricist: Anvita Dutt Guptan, Kumaar and Vishal Dadlani

Music Director: Vishal Dadlani and Shekhar Ravjiani

Cinematography: Ayananka Bose

Choreography: Farah Khan and Vaibhavi Merchant

Editor: Manan Sagar

Screenplay: Tarun Mansukhani

Sound: Baylon Fonseca

Dialogue: Anvita Dutt Guptan

Costume: Aki Narula and Manish Malhotra

Story / Writer: Tarun Mansukhani

You Can Kiss My Fingers - Strawberry Chocolate Swiss Roll & Lemon Chocolate Swiss Roll

Was totally inspired by this.... STRAWBERRY CHOCOLATE SWISS ROLL doneby Deeba Rajpal, she has a blog called 'Passionate About Baking'.

Had been staring at this page for many days.... then by chance someone gave me a strawberry sauce bottle thinking I'll russel up something with it for sure.... How right they were :-)

And lo behold.... this is exactly what I made without the awesome chocolate designing but decorated it with chocolate pips and the strawberry filling itself.....

Came out very well.....

Shuchi, Anuj, Babu and his brother wiped it all out.....

After the strawberry roll on the 8th, was quite confident of making variations as I got the basic thing going...

Yesterday, a friend kept raving about the lemon tarts I had done sometime back.

So I decided to give him a flavour of it without doing the hard work of making the tart shells. so I made 'Lemon n Chocolate Swiss Roll'.

It came out quite well. I loved swiping bits of it while making it on the pretext of tasting it......

:-)

Partha's Birthday Party

Finally after various changes in lots of plans... we decided to go to 'Pebble Street' in New Friend's Colony.

We had lots of fun....

For those who are wondering.... Partha is my boss.... :-)

My first drink was.... Death by chocolate... Vodka, Kahlua, Bailey's, Chocolate Syrup, Chocolate Icecream.... [Deadly na.... ;-) ]

From Happy B'day Partha Nov08

Then came the 2nd..... Bhaskar started calling me Ms. Happy Feet.. :-)

From Happy B'day Partha Nov08

It tasted so good that, some of it was kept as dessert... ;-)

We had yummy snacks.....

From Happy B'day Partha Nov08

Then came the Mumbai iced tea... Tequila, Vodka, White Rum, Gin, Triple Sec, Lime Juice and Kala Khatta.... Tasted quite nice.....

From Happy B'day Partha Nov08

Then came the Long island tea... Tequila, Vodka, White Rum, Gin, Triple Sec, Lime Juice and Kala Khatta.... Tasted quite nice.....

From Happy B'day Partha Nov08

It was such fun pulling each others foot... teasing each other to the core......

From Happy B'day Partha Nov08

We were talking about 'Chick Magnets', a post on my blog.....

From Happy B'day Partha Nov08

and were so amused with it......

From Happy B'day Partha Nov08

Nikhil was also made to have beer....

From Happy B'day Partha Nov08

Amit enjoyed his drinks...

From Happy B'day Partha Nov08

The guy at the next door table.... proposed to his gal.... Huge Diamond ring....... What a dumb guy... proposing in Pebble Street....... [needs some training....... ;-) ]

From Happy B'day Partha Nov08

Had lots to drink.... cause partha would be dropping me home... didn't have to drive..... :-)

From Happy B'day Partha Nov08

We had a very good time.....
That's all of us together.....

From Happy B'day Partha Nov08

Thanks for the lovely party, partha....

From Happy B'day Partha Nov08

In the parking lot..... [ equal and opposite forces..... ;-) ]

From Happy B'day Partha Nov08

Check out all the pictures with the captions and story broad at http://picasaweb.google.co.in/nachiketa.chandra/HappyBDayParthaNov08

Fashion - The Movie Experience

Madhur Bhandarkar has always had a flair for subjects with dark shades that brings out the cruelty and shocking facts prevalent in our society, a subject least attempted by many a directors. After giving us Satta, Chandni Bar, Page 3, Corporate and Traffic Signal, Madhur Bhandarkar is back with yet another realistic film, Fashion.

The common point in all the above films are strong women protagonists; focus on one particular aspect of the society; good research and then creating entertaining stories that move the critics, the audiences and the box office together. His films never compromise on the Entertainment quotient despite being preachy sometimes. It’s a formula that has clicked so far for Madhur and Fashion promises that the successful run will continue.

Produced by Ronnie Screwvala of UTV Motion Pictures, the film stars Priyanka Chopra, Kangana Ranaut, Mugdha Ghodse and Arjan Bajwa.

Priyanka Chopra plays Meghna Mathur, a starry-eyed girl from Chandigarh who comes to Mumbai and struggles to get a break in the modeling industry and attains stardom.
Kangana Ranaut plays a supermodel. She is the one who walks with full confidence and attitude on the ramp. I totally loved it. Moreover, the wardrobe malfunction scene was brilliantly performed by her.
Debutant Arjan Bajwa plays a struggling model and also the love interest of Priyanka Chopra.

The newcomer in the movie, Mugdha Godse, who is playing a role of an unsuccessful model, is a nice surprise. She is confident and can give a run for money to any actress out there. Mugdha Godse plays an unsuccessful model who doesn't make it to the top. She does odd jobs and is a funky and carefree woman. With a great figure and face that registers a spectrum of emotions, she gives a compelling consistency to her goodhearted model's character. She sported awesome looks and I totally loved her attitude.

Fashion is all about realism and Madhur doesn’t shy away from anything. One thing I liked about the movie is the portrayal of gay designers. Conundrum of male models to sleep with gay designers in order to get a show and condition of a mother whose son is a gay fashion designer and doesn’t want to marry are brilliantly shown. Drugs and booze are added bonus to the movie.

I know many male fashion designers are gays, but seriously, in Fashion, every male designer is being depicted as gay, which I found to be a bit unfair.

Jitna kam sochogi utna zyada kamaogi…… (The less you think, the more you earn) is the one line killer dialogue which yells all about Fashion in full volume!

Fashion ain’t without flaws though. The one thing that could go against it at the box-office is the pace of the film, which is dreadfully slow. It’s so slow that it takes a good amount of sheen away from the movie. Especially when a tired me starts a 10:30 movie at 11pm due to inefficiencies at ‘Priya’ Movie hall.

Priyanka could have done better, Whether it’s telling her parents that she’s decided to go to Mumbai to pursue a career in modelling, her tantrums or her confrontations with Manav (Arjan Bajwa), Abhijit Sarin (Arbaaz Khan), Anisha (Kitu Gidwani), Shonali (Kangana Ranaut) in the rest room or dress designer Vinay Khosla,

Priyanka Chopra shows no life in her acting and utterly fails to bring any drama to the screen. While Priyanka Chopra is not upto expectation in Fashion, Kitu Gidwani (as the modeling agency owner Anisha), Arjan Bajwa (as the struggling male model Manav), Mughda Godse (as the model Janet) and Sameer Soni (as a gay dress designer Rahul Arora) throw in decent performances. Harsh Chaya's 'gay lisp' was the only annoying appendage (as vinay )

The movie had less than impressive costumes and makeup. Priyanka’s makeup was quite terrible.

I think there is more to fashion industry than this. He forgets to talk about anorexia and how what all weird things models do to keep themselves fit and what about the much hyped size zero?? Apart from the dark side, why can’t we ever see the positive side of any industry? Every character in a Bhandarkar movie is either black or white…but are there no grey characters in real life. I believe in his urge to expose the fashion industry, he forgets to bring out a true and unbiased picture.

Despite the fact that it has got an 'A Certificate' from the censor board, the movie hall 'Priya' had so many kids watching it. The 'A Certificate' didn't seem to deter the parents from bringing the kids to the theatre. The only unreal aspect about Madhur Bhandarkar movies are the disclaimer tag before the opening credits ;-)

To sum up, immense amount of hard work has gone into making Fashion and it clearly shows in the final product.

Watch it!

Last laugh...... there's a scene in the movie which talks about women being 'eye-candy' in parties.... The men were the 'eye-candy' in this movie...... ;-)

Chick Magnets

Input=

iphone
ipod
Tattoo
Guitar
Sunglasses
Gym - body shody
Dance
Knows all about technology - Super Techie
Foodie
Sketching
New Car
Shopping Trips
Styled spikey Hair
New House
Wine
Hollywood Movies
Mr Networked
Will pick amazing b'day gifts
Writes amazing poetry

OUTPUT = NULL

Kya Faayeda?

[Contributed By: Partha, Nikhil and Nachiketa]

His friend, then converted all these efforts into Chuck Magnets.