Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Sarah with Pappa

It is difficult to get R to pose for a pic at times. I liked this one eventhough R is bit sleepy. We are in a local train, which is surprisingly empty and on the way to Colaba. Sarah was staring at someone who was entering the train.

Sarah and me

Colaba

Recently, we had been to Colaba. We visited the India gate, Leopold Cafe, Sarkari Bhandar and some street shops on Colaba causeway.

R lost in thought
err... Lost in thought againn

Apple pie!!

Hand Sanitisers and Immunity

In the Indian market, it was not easy to locate a hand sanitiser few years back. Today, common brands like Dettol and Himalaya have come up with their own versions of Hand Sanitisers. I have seen people, especially cleanliness freaks, using hand sanitisers as a full-time solution. They even carry miniature versions along with them in their purse. However, fulltime use of an alcohol-based hand sanitiser might prove that you are not using your common sense when needed. It is just like using a calculator to find out 1+1, when you dont need it to do such a simple calculation.

Then
During our school days, parents would insist us to wash our hands before touching the food after returning from the play ground or school. The is age-old option is the best and nothing can replace this practice.

Next, came the era of anti-bacterial soaps. I prefer to use an anti-bacterial soap on my wounds rather than as a daily-use soap for hand and body wash. However, the handwash bottle at my sink is an anti-bacterial one - which was not intentional. The benefit of using an anti-bacterial soap is that it does kills the harmful germs, but killing the harmful germs is not going to grant you immunity. Contrary to what we think, it decreases the immunity of our body. You need to be exposed to harmful germs to develop immunity against them. I remember my uncle saying that you shuld not drink boiled water all the time; it will hamper your immunity.

I also remember my little cousins coming down from USA and falling sick all the time. So the aboe theory stands correct in such cases. US, being a cleaner and germ-free place when compared to India, is not contributing much to the immunity of people who live there. Maybe they dont realise that as long as they stay there. In short, I must say that coming to India will give people from such cleaner countries a check on immunity :D.

I fell sick continously when I had moved to Mumbai 4 years back. The same theory applies here too - Bangalore being a cleaner place left me with less options to fall sick with contaminated food and water, whereas Mumbai was the other extreme. This also points to the fact that people born and brought up in Mumbai, who thrive on street food, manage to stay fine amidst all sorts of contamination - Rock-solid immunity in a way!

Avoid Overuse
Using hand sanitisers won't boost your immunity nor grant you a disease-free life, but if you have been to public places like malls or theatres, carrying a handsanitiser is useful as it helps in killing harmful viruses and even prevents the spread of it. Moreover, it comes handly when you cannot find water to wash your hands when needed.

Nowadays, hand sanitiser companies are taking advantage of the swine flue scare and other such aliments that can be contracted from public places. But using a hand sanitiser as a full-time option, especially on kids is not advised as it may lead to other side effects. Kids who bite nails or lick their fingers can consume the product and in the long term, it may cause other health problems.

To get the best results, rub a small amount of the product on your hands and allow it to dry completely, and remember, never overuse a handsanitiser. Trust our good old soap and water!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Senseless Censorship

Last night I happened to see the critically acclaimed movie "Rosemary's Baby." I do not like scary movies - the gore, blood, dirty zombies, etc. Surprisingly, this movie did not have much gore to feel nauseated.

Nowadays, most of the films aired in the English movie channels in India are "supercensored". Even the french kisses will show both the parties approaching, and bam!! it is over.

So, there is the infamous dream sequence where a demon rapes Rosemary - it was completely cut. I mean I was not sad that I missed that part, but I couldn't even see the devil. So, it was like both myself and Rosemary were clueless regarding the fate of the child she was carrying till the final scene, the climax.

In this movie, the devil actually arrives from the hell and rapes Rosemary. She is being drugged; so she is not aware of this. However, she dreams of some demon raping her instead. In fact, the entire movie she keeps doubting if her husband and her old neighbors are into witchcraft and are using her. Even we follow the same track of witchcraft till the last scene. But this is like a bigger mess - I mean Witchcraft is less serious a trouble when compared to an association with the DEVIL himself!!!

When the old woman Minnie screams "Look at him - he has his father's eyes" - I guess there were two people who were shocked - one was Rosemary herself and the other one was me. Well this post wont make any sense unless you see this movie on an Indian English movie channel.

What to say - the climax of the movie was doubly shocking - the spawn of Satan himself!!! - and guess what!? they did not show the baby!! - they cut that scene too - I mean do they really show the baby in that movie? If so, who is the great mind that censored this scene??? All other Indian viewers like me, who are seeing this movie for the first time yesterday, might be wondering of what was so damn scary in that thriller.

....In the first place, why did they air this movie?

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Leopold Cafe







Recently, R, myself and Sarah visited the famous Leopold Cafe at Colaba. Leopold was also affected by the 26/11 Mumbai bombings. We could still see the bullet marks on the glass windows inside. The ambiance at Leopold is awesome. Food is little overpriced, and you can find more of foreigners here. The walls are adorned with paintings, pictures, collages, etc. You can also take away souvenirs like T-shirts and coffee mugs. The cappuccino and papaya shake were good. Chicken sandwich was bit bland according to R, but I liked this blander version. Overall, the ambiance was the best.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Sarah's day out before Monsoons

Sarah insisting to go behind her Pappa who went to get the orders.
Finally settling on the table.French fries ... yumm..
Slurpp yummm... the ketchup. She kept dipping the fries in the ketchup and then licking it - she stained her dress with ketchup =/.
Slurrp :P
Resting at the Cafe - just for 5 mins she got lost in some thought. Then back to running around.
Insisting Pappa to give her the Caramel blast.
Finally success, but then she stained her dress and I had to change it then and there itself.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

I love..

Sarah is about to sleep and Babitha is looking out of the car's window - lost in some happy thought. Everytime I see both of them, I see love and affection.
Miriam is speaking over phone and Sarah is half sleepy at Coffee Day.

Clicked by Miriam at Balmuri Falls.
Sarah again at Coffee Day - all playful! and I love her tomboy look.

Sarah in my lap at the banks of Sangam - She was lost in deep thought.

Both of them were busy speaking about something and not posing at the Steps of Sangam.

Miriam looks stunning in this pic. I love the way the sunlight falls on her tresses.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Ganeshas and Wooden maal

While we got down at Sangam during our one-day trip, we came across many shops selling more of wooden stuff and toys. The quality of such street ware has definitely improved over years. May be the tourists have become more clever buyers than before, which might have forced these sellers to sell and display good stuff. If you know to bargain well, then you can take away some great souvenirs.
Ganeshas, Buddhas, Elephants, lamps and Hanumans - all in stone
Mobile phone holders (which look like cycle rickshaws), Sindoor dabbas, wooden spoons

Wodden baskets and spoons


Wooden Veenas (last row); you can also see Katrina Kaif's pic in one of the photo frames.

Wooden Vintage cars

Masks
Ganeshas again
Wooden Crocodiles


Wooden toys
An enthusiastic seller and his shop.

Yummalicious :P

This was the apple pie that me, Sarah, and the little sparrows feasted on at the Barista Lavazza in Bangaluru Airport. It is absolutely yummy.

I got this pic via a forward today.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Obsessed




Okies, good angles and picasa! :D

Friday, June 4, 2010

The friendly sparrows


While returning to Mumbai, I was surprised to see few sparrows in the Barrissta outlet in the Airport. They were feasting on the crumbs left by the travellers on the table and ground. Sarah was superdelighted to see the sparrows and she started running behind these sparrows excited, screaming "biiirrrdieeee biiiirrdie." Surprisingly, the sparrows that came hopping below out table were hardly scared when we tried to feed them with the crumbs of apple pie left out on the table.

Oh! and the apple pie was indeed delicious. I felt happy for the sparrows because of the good supply of food they received from the cafe. They might have come here in search of food as there were not much trees around. I was also happy with the assistance offered by Kingfisher Airline staff till the gate from which we had to board the flight.

I tied a bright green scarf around Sarah's head as she was running without any fear amidst the crowd - and this scarf helped me in locating her and of course running behind her before she enters the restricted areas. The funny part is that as soon as I catch her, she waves to all those on the way, blowing kisses and saying good bye. At times, when she realises that I am behind her, she increases her speed and runs like a pony, screeching and laughing.

We also met Pallavi, a cute Indian mom from Belgium, and her little baby Rani, who had really adorable eyes and a perfect white smile. Sarah spend some time socialising with Rani. We too had some new-mom chat. In fact, we were travelling in the same aircraft; however, I couldn't meet them after boarding the plane, but we promised to keep in touch by mail.

Take-offs and landings are nightmares to new moms - you can hear babies screaming their lungs out in the cabin. Sarah was rubbing her ear very hardly, but I started feeding her immediately to avoid more catastrophe. So this time, the flight was really peaceful and also we had a vacant seat near us, which was indeed great; so after her short nap, Sarah sat on that seat and became busy listening to music using the earphones they gave. (Earlier, when I had arrived to B'lore, Sarah had given me a real hard time - her bad mood had continued throughout the flight; by the time we landed, I was completely exhausted!)