...shoOOonya...

Well ... hardly anything more to say other than the title about this picture of my wife Nisha !

I have posted about small stuff shopping in DSF ... well ... time for some BIG Bucks spending ...    I bought a TV ... an LCD .... a 32 inch LCD TV ... :)  My brother informed me that the TV at home in India conked off a week ago ... result ... buying of a Samsung LCD TV - LA32C450 - 32"

A few days ago, I came across this nice one … Current affairs in India JJ For the first time in the history of mankind 'Need', 'Comfort' and 'Luxury' are all being sold at the same price in India! Onions Rs.65   Petrol Rs.65 Beer Rs.65 J And then … a few days later … I came across an email forward titled ' The New Engagement Ring' … You gotta see it …  

The DSF started last week on 20 th Jan and I decided to step out with my wife the same evening to check out what was up … We decide to go to the Diera City Centre (DCC) and just roam around … I ended up entering Magrudy's and picking up about 6 books :)…  Reasons for picking these books ... Books seemed interesting I m currently reading Feluda, 3I and Sherlock .. All mystery and detective stuff I needed some other genre ... something different It was the first day of Dubai Shopping Festival :) And … last but not the least … They were all priced at 5 AED (clearance sale) besides some 5-10 other books The books put together were worth 300 AED and since they were part of the clearance sale … I got them for a paltry 30 AED … yep … at 10% of their price. Of course, only after I read them will I come to know if these 30 AED (approx. Rs. 400) were well spent or money wasted … I picked up the following books … Labyrinth   by Kate Mosse Wild Swans : Three Daughters of China ...

  I am sure at some point in time you would have received an email promising millions of dollars either in some raffle draw or lottery or some inheritance … Most would end up in the junk/spam folder of my Gmail so I had not seen any in quite some time. That's why I was surprised and shocked to see not 1 or 2 but FOUR such emails together in my inbox today, each offering me a generous Million Pounds :) What a day !! I am wondering ... should I start preparing my resignation letter and book myself for an extended World Tour … a la 'Around the World in 80 days' !!

2010 was indeed a fantastic year for me as far as reading is concerned. I read and read and read and continue to do so in 2011. I have probably read more in past year than what I might have read in past decade …   So here is a summary of my 2010 reading … January ... 3 1. One More Day - Mitch Albom 2. Seven Ancient Wonders - Matthew Reilley 3. Mystery Stories - collection of stories by various authors selected by Helen Cresswell February ....... 4 1. See Jane Die by Erica 2. Love, Rosie / Where Rainbows End by Cecelia Ahern 3. Murder in the Mews by Agatha Christie (Hercule Poirot Series) 4. Ice Station by Mathew Reilly MARCH ... 3 1. Six Suspects by Vikas Swarup 2. Area 7 by Matthew Reilly 3. Eight (8) Short Stories by Matthew Reilly 1. Complex 13 2. A Bad Day at Fort Bragg 3. The Mine 4. Time Tours 5. The Rock Princess and the Thriller Writer 6. The Dead Prince 7. Altitude Rush 8. Rewind (a screenplay for a short film) APRIL ... 3 1. RHYTHM by Shraddha Majalkar 2. Can You Keep a ...

  I read a lot during my school days but I was never fixated on authors. The book title and cover page design were the 2 things which helped me decide which books I picked from my school library. After all I was but a child J It was indeed the interesting titles and cover designs which led me to pick up one of the '3 Investigators' as well as 'Sherlock Holmes' books. Once I read them, the character names stuck in my memory rather than the author which I hardly noticed. Now … it has so happened that I have lived my life under the misconception that the 3 Investigators stories were authored by Alfred Hitchcock. It was only recently that I discovered that the author was actually Robert Arthur. This is how it happened. 'The Three Investigators' stories always began with an introduction or foreword which was penned not by the author but by Alfred Hitchcock. I never really cared for who the author was (in school days) so I never noticed the name 'Robert...

I saw 28 movies in theatre last year … in different genres and different languages (Hindi, English and Marathi too). I liked most of them and some were an utter waste of time, effort and money. Some surprises and some disappointments. I have blogged my views on each one of them thro' the year. Here is a list of all I saw … bringing it all under one post. The first half of the year was 'better' while second half got 'busier' so less movies ... January - 4 Avatar Raat Gayee Baat Gayee Harishchandrachi Factory Sherlock Holmes February - 1 Kartik Calling Kartik March - 5 It's Complicated Atithi Tum Kab Jaaoge? Road, Movie Rokkk Alice in Wonderland April - 4 Tum Milo To Sahi Paathshaala Date Night Bounty Hunter   May - 3 Housefull Hai Marjawa (It's a Wonderful Afterlife) Iron Man 2 June - 2 Sex and the City Raajneeti   July - 1 The Last Airbender (3D)  August - 2 Once Upon a Time in Mumbai Inception September - 1 Dabangg October - 2 Robot Khichdi November – 2 ...

I had been an avid fan of Sherlock Holmes during my school days and read any and every book / stories of him. The only other character(s) I so obsessively and completely read were the 'Three Investigators" by Alfred Hitchcock. I read ALL of the 3I books in my school library. As far as Sherlock Homes and Three Investigators were concerned, there was nothing in my school library that I had not read. A few months ago, my best friend Shraddha expressed that she might read 'The Lord of the Rings' again; which gave me a similar idea. I have read LOTR way back in time (well … 2002 is indeed way back in time J ) ... I am now going to read the entire 'Three Investigators" series all over again :) While I was doing some random reading on Wikipedia about subjects of my interest, I came across the list of Sherlock Holmes literature; 56 Short Stories and 4 Novels. I realized that it has been an awfully long time since I read those (almost 15 years) and I decided t...

     I used to read Sherlock Holmes stories in my school days. I even bought a 'complete collection' set of two fat books while in college. After all these years, I felt like reading them all over again. So, I decided that in this year and the next, I would try and read the entire collection of Sherlock Holmes stories. I began with 'A study in Scarlet', which is one of the 4 novels that were written. I will be reading the novels in the chronological sequence of their publishing timeline. The first 2 novels were followed by a lot of short stories and next novel came almost after 10 years followed by more short stories and another novel after 13 years. 'A Study in Scarlet' introduces Watson and Sherlock Holmes; how they meet and how Watson discovers the eccentricities of Sherlock. I realized the Sherlock Holmes literature by Sir Arthur Canon Doyle was not very easy to read. The sentence construction was complex and choice of words was not really suitable for child...

  New Memories have been formed this 7 th of Jan … The Burj Khalifa experience … In contrast to my feelings from exactly 2 years ago … this year on Jan 7 … I felt at the top of the world … Literally!! I visited the 124 th Floor Observation Deck of Burj Khalifa … the tallest tower of the world !! It was an awesome experience. I had particularly selected the timeslot of 4.30 PM so that I could go in and enjoy the Dubai city view in day time, then enjoy the sun set and before leaving, enjoy the Dubai city lights in the dark. It turned out to be an exhilarating experience to see the transition from day to night, watching the transformation of the city into a blanket of small tiny lights. It was an awesome experience. The journey to the top was in itself a treat. Riding the world's fastest elevator to reach the world's highest observation deck in about 60 seconds (travelling at about 10 m/s or 600 m/min) gave a tingling feeling in the ears as well as the stomach. ...

While 2 years ago, tragedy struck; the time exactly a year ago was a much better and happier one. I was to fly out to South Africa on 31 st Dec 2009 but it got cancelled and rescheduled for 7 th but even that got cancelled. Teenagers and young couples of my extended family had planned a trip to Lonavla which I was going to miss but the cancelled trip enabled me to go. It was 2 days of pure fun … we were about 20 of us. 3 Couples and all the rest were bachelors from our family. I was having fun after quite some time. I still remember those 2 days. They are pretty fresh in my otherwise non-dependable memory. I am not sure when the next such 2 day trip will be planned and if I will even be able to go with them since I am in Dubai-Sharjah … away from home, away from family. Hope … Fate can play some twisty turny game once again and enable to be close to home when the next fun event gets planned. Hope is the Rope to success … J

Exactly 2 years ago … on Jan 7, 2009 … I was in Dubai … In an office at Emaar Square … next to Burj Dubai (that's what it was called at that time … now it is called Burj Khalifa) The day marked the beginning of the Satyam Fiasco and the ensuing crisis. I was on call with IBM HR regarding a job opportunity and had just refused the same when my brother called and told me that Raju resigned. I told bro that it was not possible since it was his own company. I googled and found his Resignation letter at the first link. (I was feeling unlucky) That day marked the beginning of an ordeal which went on for months … life filled with uncertainty and all sorts of media fuelled rumors. Acquisition by Mahindra and rebranding as Mahindra Satyam and slowly the organization getting up on its feet An odyssey I was suddenly reminded of that day today … and the times that followed.

Recently, I noticed recently yet another stat from my blog. I made exactly 200 posts in past 2 years 2009 (128 posts) & 2010 (72 posts) besides crossing the 200 th and 300 th mark :) This is what my blog posting frequency looks like for 2010.

  Contrary to what most people do, I was destined to be indoors on the New Year eve. So that's what I did and stayed glued to the TV whole day watching movies and other things.   I saw a feature on Pixar's history followed by Pixar blockbusters like 'Toy Story 2' , 'Finding Nemo' and 'The Incredibles' followed by old comedy classics like 'Hot Shots' &    'Hot Shots 2' . The 'Hot Shots' movies were featured in 2011 while the Pixar animated wonders were in 2010. I am not even counting the several Hindi movies playing round the clock which we saw. Movies like 'Houseful', 'Heyy Baby' and an oldie called 'Jung' and a couple of others i dont even remember Phew … It almost adds up top about 6-8 movies in one day / 18 hours. I also saw the Fire, Light and Water show at 'The Dubai Mall' live on TV (channel Dubai One) at midnight followed by the Burj Khalifa New Year fireworks. I realized tha...