27 June 2008

The Lion King

Finally...after several attempts managed to get tickets to see The Lion King last weekend. The couple of times I tried earlier, it was always sold out. Which is not in the least bit surprising...considering the show is brilliant...it has a magical escapism about it...

The show begins with a procession of animals that make their way down the aisle to powerfully rhythmic African-style singing. It's a wonderful spectacle with a giant elephant, baby elephant, giraffes, zebras, antelopes and many more animals brought to life by some stunning costumes, masks, puppetry and special effects.
I found myself smiling with glee just like the kids sitting next to me...

It was all so imaginative...especially they way they tried to depict a herd of antelopes and flocks of birds. For antelopes several actors had a headgear in the form of the antelope plus they had wooden antelopes in their hands and so each person depicted 3 antelopes...when 3 such actors galloped across the stage the effect was magnificent...
The life-size giraffes - stilted cast members - were quite convincing too. Infact the puppetry around all the animals was amazing...The hyenas actually came across as meanies...

The stage was quite simple ...but came alive with the special affects ...the sun, trees, plants made on curtains which fell down at appropriate times...
The way the mountain was done was brilliant too...steps that would roll and come up on the stage when needed and the floor would open and it would rotate and go under the stage when not needed...quite good technically.
At one point when Rafiki gives Simba the courage to go back to the pride lands, in the backdrop of "He Lives in You" Mufasa's face appears behind a waterfall...abso stunning...

Simba's high energy "I Just can’t wait to be King" and Mufasa's "They Live In You" were both brilliant. 'Circle Of Life' was good too though "Hakuna Matata" & "Can you feel the love tonight" I felt could have been better...

The farting warthog Pumbaa and the rubbery meerkat Timon are puppetry at its best...also the bird Zazu character was also brilliant...they way the actor moved the bird's body and the mimicry was hilarious...

The masks were incredible...more so because they were capable of movement...so as the actors would stretch, the masks would move and it would look just like the head of a lion when a real lion stretches...

Like it says on the posters..."This is a dazzling show with the heart of a lion."

24 June 2008

Sometimes...

Sometime you gotta runaway
So you can see who will run after you,
Sometimes you gotta talk quieter
Just to see who's listening,
Sometimes you gotta step up in a fight
Just to see who's by your side,
Sometimes you gotta make a wrong decision
To see who's there to fix it,
Sometimes you gotta let go off the one you love
Just to see if they love you enough to come back.

23 June 2008

Marriage???

For someone contemplating marriage...this can change the entire perspective...

20 June 2008

Lies

What do you do if you find out that someone you really trust, more than anyone else ever before, has lied to you about something? Should you confront them? Ignore the lie? Or ignore them?
Did they realise that you would be devastated when you found out? And if they did and still lied...does it mean they don’t care?
It could be a small lie...but small lies only turn into big ones. How will I know what to believe and what not to? Am I supposed to be forgiving?
It just seems ridiculous to me to lie, especially when I know that eventually the truth will come out.

Money Making Scheme

If I had a 1£ / Rs 100 for every time a married person asked me (first thing, before asking anything else) how come I am STILL not married (emphasis on still) ...I'd be a rich woman!!!

19 June 2008

Loo of the year!!!

It’s not like what it seems…I am NOT obsessed with toilets!!!
I know…the earlier post on the revolutionary toilet seat and now this picture makes one wonder but...a 'Loo of the year' award could not be left ignored :-))

18 June 2008

Feelings Poem...

Have you ever read a poem that made you laugh…and then if you gave it some thought you realised that had your situation been different, its one that could really make you cry?

There must be a wound!
No one can be this hurt
and not bleed.

How could she injure me so?
No marks
No bruise

Worse!
People say 'My, you're looking well'
…..God help me!
She's mummified me -
ALIVE!

~ Spike Milligan

17 June 2008

In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.
~ Albert Camus

My new coffee mug!



Beautiful...is'nt it??

13 June 2008

Illusions - Richard Bach

I just finished reading Illusions by Richard Bach...for the 2nd time if I don’t count all the times I have just opened it on a random page and started reading it.
Once again Richard Bach emerges a star as this book helps clear up my mind...helps me address all the apprehensions and concerns I have been facing lately.
There are 2 parts in this book that are my favourites. One is when Don is on the Radio Show and the way he insists that we have complete freedom to do just what makes us happy, is really inspiring.
The other is when he talks about the typical rant that we all hear in our lives –"I do unto others as I would have them do unto me but..." The results are never as we expect ...are they? His explanation as to what makes us think that the other people want to be treated like that, in the first place, makes one rethink all the times we wonder what went wrong?

A few of my favourite quotes from this book…

If your happiness depends on what somebody else does,
I guess you do have a problem.
**********************************************************
Don’t be
dismayed at good-byes.
A farewell is necessary before
you can meet
again.
And meeting
again, after moments or
lifetimes, is certain for
those who are
friends.
**********************************************************
You are
never given a wish
without also being given the
power to make it true.
You may
have to work for it,
however.
**********************************************************
Your
conscience is
the measure of the
honesty of your selfishness.
Listen to it
carefully.
**********************************************************
There is
no such thing as a problem
without a gift for you
in its hands.
You seek problems
because you need
their gifts

12 June 2008

Walking on a sword…

Doctors say...the new medicine is better for you in the long run...
But it is making me ill RIGHT NOW...
So how am I supposed to be convinced to take the medicine now...when I can barely make it to work, have a heavy head, feel dizzy all the time...
Someone convince me :-(

11 June 2008

Remember…

"You must remember this: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." So said Christopher Robin to Winnie the Pooh…

This is something that I have always agreed with…but somehow I need to jog my memory once in a while…and today…or rather this week is one such time when I need to tell myself…I am braver than I believe!!!

Loving somebody and...

I recently read a very interesting piece. Its one of the "Lisa Kogan Tells All" series from O, The Oprah Magazine…and am going to quote from it below.

"...Loving somebody and then having the guts to let them love you back doesn't always come easy. For the first three years of our life together I kept waiting for him to rip off his Mr. Nice Guy mask and turn into every boy who ever broke my heart. I poked, I prodded, I harangued, I guilted, I entrapped, I tested, I stopped short of waterboarding. But Johannes refused to take the bait. Instead, he maintained his calm, retained his benevolence, and developed migraines.

He made sure I understood that he was in it for the long haul...The man makes me feel loved - even when he hates me. And that, I've come to realize, is no small thing.

I have a friend, we'll call her Jane...Jane is married to this guy, let's call him Dick...I've had fun with Dick and Jane; we've gone to the theater and dinner and a couple of Knicks games together. With Johannes frequently in Europe, I became like a little dinghy tied to the boat of their marriage, just kind of bobbing along behind them in case of an emergency. One Sunday a few years ago, we were brunching in SoHo...Anyway, Jane knocked over her water glass, prompting Dick to spend the rest of the meal excoriating her for every single misstep she'd ever made. He opened his rant with "Christ, it's excruciating to sit next to you at a table," and closed with a reference to her "fat idiot sister." Check please!

Jane called the next morning to apologize for making me part of their Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? production. I wanted to say, You're not the one who should be sorry. I wanted to say, Your only mistake was in not lobbing the basket of stale sweet rolls at his head...I wanted to say, Janey, Janey, Janey, what's become of your self-respect? I wanted to say, It's not whether somebody loves you...it's how he treats you that counts. I found myself wondering: Is Jane afraid to be alone? Is it a money thing? Maybe she's an unindicted co-conspirator, provoking him in some way that I'm just not seeing? Or maybe she woke up one morning and 22 years and two sons had simply come and gone - right along with her energy and confidence. Maybe she just forgot who she'd wanted to be when she grew up. In the end all I managed was, "I'm here if you need me."

It makes just so much sense...something that I can relate to...especially the 1st para, where I can easily replace Johannes with A.

06 June 2008

Want a good laugh?

I nearly fell of my chair laughing when I went through this website for a revolutionary toilet seat...
Some more features...

05 June 2008

OPTIMISM!!!

OMG…Petrol prices are soaring…A hike of Rs 5 is difficult to digest…
Should I seriously look at the option to run my car on water
But the pro of this hike is that …maybe …just maybe…it will discourage people from getting a car for each member of the family, they will seriously think of a ‘Car Pool’ …which means less traffic, less pollution, less road rage…
Now that’s OPTIMISM!!!

Maths!


Wish Maths was that simple in school !!!!

04 June 2008

Funny Games & Silly Stuff we did as kids!!!

Sometimes, I think back and reminisce about my childhood. We are having a team building outing (Robin Hood Events) next month and that kinda got me thinking of all the stupid games we played and things we did as kids…

1. D.O.N.K.E.Y: A couple of us with a ball can be quite noisy…We would aim the ball at each other and every time someone would get hit she would get labelled with a ‘D’. This would be followed by all of us screaming the letter at the top of our lungs…Next time she got hit she get the next letter. First one to get DONKEY was the donkey for the day!!!
2. Elastic: Wonder if they still play this one in Welhams!!! Min no of girls required was 3 and max 5. All that was needed was some 5-6 feet of elastic knotted at the ends so that 4(or 2) girls could put it around their ankles to form a square. Then the 5th girl would need to jump on the four sides of the square, and then hop on the 4 sides of the square, keeping the elastic on that side under her feet/foot. If successful, she moves to the next level, which means the 4 girls roll the elastic to their knees. The last level is elastic goes all the way up to the hips. Hopping at the hip level was quite difficult.
3.Slam Books: not really a game…but this was a hot favourite. We had a list of questions that we would ask our friends … a sample
YOUR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE...
SHAGORICA: To be a wek known interior decorator
HINNAH: Journalism
Ritu Singh: ?????
SAnskriti: To be an IAS or doctor
Amrita: Havent made any plans so far
Nik: To become a really good gymnast or athelete (hopefully)
P.Singh: Leave Welham first and foremost and then...
Meghna: A well known dress designer
Bindiya: A very well known surgeon
Ritu Lal: HAvent decided yet
Ashima Singhal: Computers
Shubhani: To take over my father's business and if failed then dress designing
Shweta: Havent decided yet, but maybe take over Papa's business
Aparajita: I plan to take up dress designing
Ramneet: Interpreter!
Jessica: To become a criminal lawyer
Aarti: Could you give me advise?
Sheenu: To keep flying all my life
Tara: Havent decided
Namrata: Eye Specialist
Vasudha: Psychiatrist

AN ABILITY YOU ARE PROUD OF...

Shagorica: My emotions
HinnaH: My 'fat' legs the way they carry me
Ritu Singh: Too many to jot down
Sanskriti: Have not found one in myself which I can really be proud of
Amrita: Making people believe me (ha ha ha)
Nik: Being a good athelete and gymnast
P. Singh: To go on and on and on
Meghna: My hair and my chinky eyes
Bindiya: Nothing
Ritu Lal: Dont really know
Ashima Singhal: My slow running
Shubhani: Long strides (not that long though)
Shweta: To make people believe in me
Aparajita: I can draw. And I can design clothes quite well (at least I think so)
Ramneet: Dont like boasting! ahem! I say!
Jessica: To carry on with life even though I may recieve a blow!
Aarti: None I suppose. Obviously I wont boast!
Sheenu: I'm no boaster
Tara: How am I supposed to know that?
Namrata: I dont know
Vasu: I dont blow my own trumpet
4. Mid Night Feasts: HT was the queen for this one. Before we left for the holidays we were given a list of stuff to get and then because the school rule was that the tuck had to be finished the day we returned for home that night we ate till we were sick!!! We would lie in bed giggling away as the food would get passed on from one to the next.
One time someone was going out during the term on a weekday for a wedding. She packed food for us and got it… that included ice cream. We had just about got to the melting ice cream when the ayah caught us. Someone tried to bribe her with chicken…stupid girls we didn’t know that she was vegetarian…and she reported us to the matron who confiscated the food and had her own MNF!
5.Bagsed: (I’m not sure I have spelt that one correctly…)
Basically for any school events, functions etc we would leave our hankies on the seat which meant that we had Bagsed that seat for our self or our friend. And the best was when we would drape our chunnies across the benches!!!