Now, THAT's what I call a proposal !!

http://all-about-a-boy.blogspot.com/2005/12/mangalyam-thanthuna-navajeevana.html

Jillennu Oru Kalyanam

Before your eyebrows shoot all the way up your forehead, let me point out that I was referring to ,*sigh*, what is being dubbed by some media sources as the 'Wedding of the Decade' - the Surya-Jyothika wedding.

With a single move Sivakumar crushed the collective hopes and crushes of a million girls. But like every other girl is surely thinking, I say 'if it's not me I'm glad it's Jyothika !!'

*SIGH*

Singara Chennai

Pondy Bazaar, Kapaleeshwarar Koil, Shopping in Lifestyle, Krishna Gana Sabha, Surya's Aircell ad posters around town, Grand Sweets Murukku, Hindu's Friday special in print, the sound of road traffic in the distant background as I type this post . Just some of the things that affirm to me that I'm not dreaming - I really am in Chennai.

My fourth trip to this city in 6 years and I'm amazed how I feel a sense of absolute happiness and peace that experience only in this city. Between all London, L.A and everything in between, I'm both surprised and yet not to see how it is only in Madras I hardly miss my life on the other side of the planet.

"..................."

In today's connected world, when there are a million different ways to reach out to a person - IM, Email, Voice Mail, CellPhones, Landlines, SMS and the old fashioned face-to-face communication - what's a girl to make of a silent phone, a closed door, an empty inbox and zero offline messages ? Sometimes silence speaks louder than words and it's saying only one thing - "I'm not thinking about you".

Loser !!

How should I announce the fact that I'm 15 pounds lighter without sounding like I'm tooting my horn ? I could just tell you that news straight out or could slip it in in between completely irrelevant pieces of blog paragraphs (""Opal Mehta" is either one confused Indian or has roots in Sowcarpet, Chennai. I Lost 15 Pounds . But besides the sketchy family background, Opal is just plain confused. ).

But you know what, I'm going to skip the news. I think I will reserve it for a better time when you know, my advertisements endorsing 24-Hr fitness come on T.V. Until then... *self control!!!*

But given that I've let the cat out of the bag about the news that I work out at 24, I must confess that the toughest part of working out .. is getting to the gym. After that, it's smooth sailing or.. as in my case, running, cycling and stretching. Thank goodness for those nifty slots for headphones and those T.Vs. Had I been born in a pre-TV era, I wouldn't know how to burn off those calories without first dying of boredom.

Since we are on the topic of appearances, did I mention that I got this rocked out hairdo. Don't worry, we are not talking hair extensions and the like here. Just the usual salon treatment that involve extreme heat, conditioner and scissors in the hands of an expert stylist. I barely looked like myself after the 1 hour session.

Okay, okay, before you assume I'm going to launch into a plagiarized description of my new "look" a la Kaavya Viswanathan courtesy of "The Princess Diaries" ("There isn't a single inch of me that hasn't been pinched, cut, filed, painted, sloughed, blown dry, or moisturized. [...] Because I don't look a thing like Mia Thermopolis"), let me just say this : It is no longer a mystery to me that filmstars look as good as they do everytime. Because, honey, if you have an A-grade hair stylist, fashion stylist plus manicurist-pedicurist-all-rolled-in-one beutician going wherever you go, how can you not look like a million bucks ? Infact after this revelation, I pity those poor souls who, despite all this treatment, still look like something the cat dragged onto the red carpet.

That said, I have a confession to make: I dig Akon's "Belly Dancer" track. I am not a great fan of R&B, given that the lyrics are full of expletives and the videos are mainly about a bevy of sparsely clad girls. But in this case, I have not seen the video. All I know is that when I am on the verge of death after a 45 minute cardio on the treadmill, this song gets me supercharged to push another 15 minutes. Ladies, if you must work out, I also strongly recommend Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie" although this one's purely aspirational.

Alrighty, this post has cost me a pretty 500 calories - I skipped 24 to blog. That said, adios amigos.

Shaadi

Bugged and bullied, I finally gave into my friend's non-stop pestering about posting a profile on Shaadi. I wonder if Veena is more interested in my wedding than her own. And where do you start in writing a "profile". How do you "profile" yourself and "Mr.(prospective) Right" ?

While I cruised down the usual vital-stats, I paused at the "Hobbies" section. See, I'm way past stamp collecting, coin collecting, bird watching etc..and I don't exactly sit around solving cross-word puzzles in the weekend (like some people claim online!) or really take off into the woods for a hike at the drop of the hat. I'm a normal working girl with a not-too-common travel lifestyle as part of work, one who has more work than time and wishes she had more time to spend shopping.

And for a change, Veena keeps away from her usual advice of "be yourself". I'm told certain key-words are a no-no atleast in the beginning such as "Want to return to India". I disagree.

The other thing I find beyond me is how some people expect to get engaged if not married altogether over coffee. (Come to think of it, how do go about it ? "Hi, how are you ? Good, how are you ? Great, let's get married !!"). I can't decide between two cashmere sweaters under 20 minutes, so..you get the drift. If it's not getting-engaged-over-coffee, it's the getting-married-over-vacation which I'm convinced can only sound plausible in the Indian context. My American coworkers, after a recent spate of vacation-weddings of Indian dudes at work, strongly suspected I was going to return married from my recent trip to India.

Anyway, while I do manage to log on once in a while, I often abandon the main objective and wander away sifting through the vast number of "success" stories. While I won't openly admit to it, I'm fascinated by the sometimes long-winding, sometimes brief narrations of how people met their sweetie online. And with the snaps that accompany their notes, I'm beginning to revise my opinion that Indians are not quite the PDA-averse bunch I thought we were.

I'm puzzled as to why they all conclude their breathless narrations with a "sincere thanks to {insert your favorite wedding portal here}". DUH ! They did pay for the service right ?

At times I think some matches are a no-brainer - I mean if the girl looks that cute and the guy looks like a film-star !! And then there are others who I'm convinced took to shaadi as a last resort. (Kidding!). But when I see the pair so happy and smiling away in their bright wedding finery, it truly warms the heart. They indeed were really lucky to have found someone to share their dreams with !

Who doesn't love a happy ending ?

One thing others don't know about you ...

What do you do when someone throws a curveball like that at a team dinner? I blanked for a minute before I smiled and said "I Blog!" (and inwardly "or atleast used to").

What is the politically correct answer for questions like "what is the URL", "where can i read it?" et al. None, of course.

Rang De Basanti

Am I the only one to find Sharman Joshi C-U-T-E ?

I didn't think so, going by his popularity on the net. Try this

Christmas in June !

I finally joined the millions who trade their pennies for a song download ! I know I'm late to the Itunes party but hey, when MSN anounced their new promotion of 5 songs free for a single paid download, I caved ! It was a gotta-have-it thing and I already had a mental check list for songs that I'd been thinking of downloading - legally.

In my opinion, regardless of how many hundred songs you download later I think the first few downloads are special. Invariably it's always the top-of-the-mind recall, much craved for song that's been playing over and over again in one's head that translates to that first search. In my case it was, without a doubt, Mariah's "All I want for Christmas" ,

Mother of All Ironies

NBC hawking the show "I want to be a Hilton" hosted by Kathy Hilton, a certain Paris' Mom. A show that will talk about grooming, etiquette, being classy and the whole nine yards.

That advertisement quickly followed up by Paril Hilton's Car Washing-Sandwich Chomping-Vague Dancing-Multitasking act (for the hitherto unknown Carl's Jnr Burger ad) that will remind even the most forgetful viewer about Ms.Hilton's other, less fortunate brushes with the camera.

So, do you really want to be a Hilton ?