What was that???

Last night just before sleeping was watching my current favorite program on Sab TV and there comes the advertisement break. One of the ad actually left me laughing, even when I was all alone in the room. It was not the funny ad but such a stupid one. 

A man is shown running away from the police force wearing a ghaghra choli (female dress) and the force enters a house where all the females are dressed similarly. One of the constables tries to put the veil off from the face of one of the ladies and the force is surrounded by all the ladies present in the room. The goon is also watching their pathetic situation. The head decides to call their boss over the mobile phone. The head is having his lunch and to pick up the phone, he needs to wash his hands but he could not wash. Why?? Any guesses, which product is this ad for? No, not the liquid soap.

V-Guard pumps. Since there was no water in the tank and the head's pump was out of service, there was no water in the tap and thus he could not wash his hands. I mean, c'mon, what was the need to show such a thrilling story? Right now, I cannot suggest some other plot for V-Guard pumps ad, but give me some time and I promise I can come out with a better and much more relevant plot for the pump to make an advertisement on.

Talking about recent ads, I love few of them:

1. Happy Dent ad where men eating Happy dent chewing gum replaces bulbs and lights in the entire village. 

2. Tanishq Wedding Jewelery ad, where a daughter falls in her mother's trap to get married by looking at all the pretty jewelery and the end is amazing. The wife, sitting at the rear seat of the car, sends the SMS to her husband, sitting in the front seat, taunting him of not understanding what a woman wants even after 25 years of marriage. 

3. ICICI bank ad, where an elderly lady keeps on talking to the ICICI executive even when the branch is about to close. Though, that ad still could not convince me that ICICI is such a lovely bank, since I know the reality, thanks to few of my friends working there, but the ad is nice.

4. Saffola Gold ad, though they use the same concept again and again, of a tired husband and a worried wife. This time, when the kid asks his father to become a horse and the father tells him to have a crocodile ride rather, because, crocodile lays still at a place and the father gets to sleep on the floor.

5. Another Ad of, if I am not wrong, Apollo Munich, where a husband and wife wakes up with all the clocks in their house ringing the alarm all at the same time and just when they were worried about whats happening, they saw their child standing at the door with his father's jogging shoes in hand, telling him to wake up early and do some exercises, for healthy living.

There were so many old ads which are still fresh in our minds for there were very limited number of ads and they were so simple to understand and apt for the products. But now in a day, you can watch atleast 10-15 different ads, of which most of them are such waste that you don't actually feel like watching them, forget about buying the product.

Few of the recent ads which I hate: 

1. As mentioned, the V-Guard pumps ad

2. Nirma- where a lady starts singing the traditional Nirma ad, in the most annoying way addressing not a human but the dirty water which was about to splash on her. When she is singing, everything (including the dirty water) becomes still and when the lady finishes her torturous song and indicates the water to fall down, it does... Pathetic.

3. Various undergarments ads, the most annoying being (don't remember the brand) where the chimps are playing around with the man's garments and the same brand, a lady is washing her man's undergarments along a river bank. And the Akshay Kumar's Ad of "Fit hai boss", where he fought as a blind man, only to be later realized by a lady that he is not a blind (when he points out in such stupid way, that her top button is open)

4. Uninor Ad, where a father is scolding his son when he has decided to opt for service over joining his father's shop. And just then his sister comes with his (or someone else's) mobile when he gets his joining confirmation and the father embarrassingly announces that he will bring the sweets in the evening. The son also announces with the utmost pride “Ab mera number hai”. Good, thats what the company Uninor wants to spread, but his joining confirmation could have come on Airtel as well. So, is it about the pride of a person whose fortune has turned skywards or about the mobile connection or its connectivity.

5. Intel Pentium ad, where the growing up of two friends is shown along-with the growth of Intel. Though concept is good, but the other dumb fellow is really irritating with his annoying exclamations and expressions.

6. Once upon a time came Surf Excel's ad where a small boy kicks and fights a pit in which his little sister has fallen and was thus crying. To make her happy, he fights.. so came the message: “daag lagne se agar kuch achcha hota hai, toh daag achche hai”. It was a cute and very relevant ad, but the recent one in which a student imitates like a dog to cheer up his teacher (Ms. Rosy), whose dog has died, it doesn't look cute to me atleast.

7. Akshay Kumar's Ad of a mobile phone where he messes up the entire kitchen of his hotel because he is playing tennis with his ad and laughing and his laughing is so very irritating that you want to change the channel immediately. 

The list, again, can be endless with so many annoying and amazing ads- new or old. I can keep on writing, but you can also contribute with your most favorite and most annoying ads in the comments section. Thank you. And Ad agencies and the brands, please give some nice sensible ads, else you are hurting yourselves. CHEERS !!!

New Templates

Sometime back I was discussing with my friend about very limited template designs at the Blogger (Sorry, blogger, bitching against you on your site only). And guess what, yesterday only, I saw there is a new feature on blogger.com, new colorful templates, which can be customized in many different ways.

Ever since I found this out, I have been trying different templates. But either I am not able to put the correct template and matching customization or the templates are bright/too boring to match my taste.. Anyways, this is the third template which I have put up since yesterday and I swear I will keep on experimenting with them till I get the best according to my taste. Current one is very bright. Thanks Blogger. All you bloggers, keep experimenting...CHEERS !!!

This is the Rajneeti...

Went to watch the much awaited movie on this Saturday- Rajneeti. The reasons being- Prakash Jha's movie, amazing star-cast, anticipation of how Katrina Kaif would portray the role of Sonia Gandhi, it being a modern day Mahabharata, expecting a good direction and story etc etc. Though the story was more or less expected- how ugly the politics can become but was interested in its execution.

The songs had already become my personal favorites, slow and melodious but discovered that a fast number which I had become fan of (thanks to the FM radio) was of Rajneeti only. Anyways. The opening and reviews of the movie has been great, which further encouraged us to go and watch it.

We missed the beginning, thanks to my laziness on Saturday, for which I should not be blamed, because I get only the weekend to rest and if...Ok, sorry for diverting from the topic. So the movie. Before getting into the movie hall I thought that Katrina Kaif is the central character and Ranbir Kapoor has a real short role, kind of guest appearance. But as the movie moved on, I realized that Katrina has an important role but not the main protagonist and Ranbir Kapoor had the longest and the most important part to play. The pace of the movie was fast and gripping. Manoj Bajpai back in form after a long hibernation and as usual acted superbly as an angry son furious over being neglected by everyone as the next natural heir to the party supremo post, including his own father. Nana Patekar as silent pillar to Arjun Rampal and Ranbir Kapoor, playing the Rajneeti. No songs were included in the movie, apart from being played here and there in the background. The scene where Arjun Rampal is blown up in the blast was terrible. For a long time there was a silence and the noise kept ringing in my ears for long. I guess that scene reminded me (us) of Rajiv Gandhi's assassination. Arjun Rampal does have a very strong voice, I must say, though he remains expressionless most of the time ever since he has started acting.

Ajay Devgan is a superb actor but I think he could have done much better than this. He seemed confused and diverted from his character when Manoj Bajpai included him in the party. As in, he entered with lot of aggression but afterwards looked as if he was caught and dragged unaware of what is happening around; the expression on his face after seeing off Nana Patekar when he named his father as the candidate from his village and I thought he would react more aggressively when his biological mother would unfold the truth that he is her son. But he was cool and calm and much more concerned about his loyalty towards Manoj Bajpai.

Another thing. The sequence when Bharati tells her truth to Ajay Devgan, it was too much of Hindi which is not used in today's time, specially this coming from an urban lady was not acceptable. This kind of Hindi is expected to be used in official communications in politics but not in personal lives. Also, apart from everything else, I was not much convinced of so many murders and too much of violence shown in the movie. Those killed were not just the side kicks of the politicians, they were the prominent members of the leading parties of the nation. Amidst all the killings and violence, the elections were still on and Ranbir Kapoor, a suave and PhD student (far away from being political) managed to float an entirely new party in just few days prior to elections, get his brother married and manage funds for the party, file for the candidatures and even bribe away few of the ministers from Manoj's Party.

But all in all, I may rate it as 3 or 3.5 out of 5. Much much better than so many recent movies and must watch types after 3 Idiots, though 3 Idiots was like 5/5.

We will never grow up...

I reached home dead tired and hungry, already making a list of what all to do once I reach home, in how much time. Reached home, drank something and ate any and everything that came my way, eatable obviously and went out again to the market.

Our friendly neighborhood mall-Spencer, is a life saver. Quickly scanned through few t-shirts and selected the one which he once said that he liked. Went to the kids section and asked for the balloons. The salesman started showing me all kinds of balloons- mickey mouse shaped, heart shaped, random shaped, magic balloons (which will change its color once inflated). The magic balloons actually caught my attention for few seconds, like a temptation. But decided to get the normal random shaped ones and the small birthday candles.

Next, the cake. I booked it at a place but when I came back, it was already sold. Not fair at all. Felt like kicking them hard. Ultimately had to get only the pastries. Arranged for a bunch of roses, a coffee mug and a card. Rushed home and did something which, I guess, I had not done in the past so many years- I blew up the balloons. Put everything neatly in my cupboard and pretended as if nothing has happened.

 

I was not preparing for any kid's birthday party. It was for my husband, Nimit- his first birthday with me. Won't disclose his age but he is way ahead of even the teen-age. Even I am nowhere close to the teen-age but somehow your birthday or someone's specials' birthday turns you back to a small kid. You feel like cutting the cake after blowing the candles, listening to the birthday song (how-so-ever badly sung by anyone, like I did), expecting surprise gifts, calls from your friends and relatives (all these at 12 o'clock specially), wearing something nice (new or old but which makes you look stunning), completely energetic, even when people around you may not be even aware of your birthday, trying to return thanks for the wishes in different ways, checking your social networking profile filled with wishes and comments, eating something nice....

Even when you keep on saying that “I am too old to celebrate my birthday”, but you do expect and feel all these things. I remember last year I was definitely happy as far as my birthday celebration go. But was deeply hurt by just 2 scraps on my orkut profile, only to discover later that I had turned off my “birth date to be displayed to others” option, hence my friends didn't know that it was my birthday.

 

So, even though Nimit may/may not have been expecting anything special at 12 o'clock, there I was, all set and ready with my little little surprises and the smile on his face was priceless. Eager to cut the cake (pastry), when I had to remind him to blow the candles before cutting the cake and one by one revealing the gifts.

I wish him a long and healthy and prosperous life ahead and that he celebrates each of his birthdays with me and I will make each one of them equally special for him. Love you Hubby and Happy Birthday again....

The Milestones...

15th May, 2010: I completed 4 years away from home.

22nd May, 2010: We completed 100 days of our marriage.

23rd May, 2010: I completed 2 years of corporate life and in 3i Infotech Limited.

Ok, I know it may sound weird but I don't know why girls/females are more particular about such "milestones" of life. Normally boys/males are not much enthusiastic about such petty milestones. They are indifferent. "100 days of marriage???!!! How does it help??? And why do you have to remember or celebrate it at all". But whenever I come across any such moment/event, I clearly remember the base day (the milestone may not always be some happy occassion).

I remember almost the complete day of 15th May, 2006 when I landed up at Gurgaon with all my luggage to join ICFAI. How we ran from pillar to post for the registeration, how it was such an irritating time to sit on those uncomfortable benches waiting for my turn of registration, how this girl was sitting beside me, who later happend to become my roomie and one of the best friends- Sushree, that irritating and chepu guy (will not take his name P.R.G.), finding my allocated hostel room all shattered because of heavy turbulence a day before and spending the night with such stranger girls, how I missed my parents and brother that day (and yes, cried as well) etc etc.

Wedding day, ofcourse, is not meant to be forgotten anyways. Each moment, that heavy lehenga and how I was managing to keep up the strength to carry out the ceremonies, how my baraat got delayed to reach Jaipur because of the traffic jam (they completed the 6 hours journey in almost 10 hours), etc etc.

So, like that. Females, I guess, are always looking for a reason to celebrate and gulp some tasty stuff in the name of completing those milestones, or the reason to keep quiet on that day (if the milestone is a sad moment). Thats my reason. Or may be the males look for some materialistic figure (Sales target, percentage marks, number of break ups etc etc) to look it up as the milestone and then celebrate achieving it. Apart from that, everything else is just too boring or miniscule to celebrate. Don't you think so? Or you can suggest some better reason? Or you totally disagree with this "fact"?

Whatever, but I am waiting to complete 150 days of my marriage on 11th July, 2010 :) :D :P (n btw, this happend to be my 60th blog post...milestone, you see)

CHEERS !!!!!!!!!!!

Surprise Surprise... We are here to Audit your System...

Just now my system at office underwent a "surprise" external audit by a lady from Microsoft (checking if any system is using the MS softwares without the license).I guess, she was not too old. Must be in late 20s, with the specs on and wearing western formals and talking sternly to our very own ETG guy, whom we have to plead for every small issue related to networking or system installation. But today I saw him really pissed off with the Auditor (following her orders and instantly answering her queries and we were really enjoying this site). I don't know why the Auditor always looks like a DEVIL and why they always show off their authority (which they get by default being an auditor)?

Even if I have not done anything wrong/illegal, you say Auditor/ Audit, and I would start thinking if I have done anything wrong.

This reminded me of my school days, when we were informed about the "Surprise Inspection" some 2 weeks before it was supposed to take place, so that students could completely fill in their registers/notebooks in the best handwriting and the teachers get enough time to check them and neatly put their signatures as if they have been checking them with the utmost precision regularly. We would be told to trim our nails, polish our shoes, wear nicely ironed uniforms, no one should make noise, not even allowed to go out to fill in our water bottles or go to the wash rooms to show that the corridors are traffic free.

My question: Are schools supposed to be No-Horn, No-noise Pollution, No-Traffic Zone? No. Kids, and ya, grown up kids also go to schools. And kids are supposed to play,make noise, run here and there, ofcourse in a disciplined way. But that doesn't mean that schools should show off that our students don't even go out to drink water...!!!!

Instead, if they actually make students trim their nails, wear ironed uniforms, regularly do their homeworks and make proper notes on the daily basis, and the teachers check them as their regular and mandatory duty, I guess their would be no need for such Inspection and creating a fuss about it. Rather would actually make students and the teachers more responsible...

But thats how it has always been. Show off your good side only when required (emergency) else Don't Bother...

To be Hanged till death...

Two days back one of my friend pinged me on the gtalk, commenting on my gtalk status which said: “Forget Modi, Kasab is de new hot topic...". He was wondering if my next blog post would be on Kasab.

I was just thinking about the case and by 4:30 p.m. that day I got the news that Kasab has been found guilty and faces the Death sentence. I thought about it for sometime and actually felt an anger within me which said that “yes, Kasab should be hanged or made to die in the most horrible way and all others facing the death sentence should also be hanged with immediate effect”.

Instantly I opened up a window and started my search on Google and typed: “different types of execution”. Clicked on one of the headings: Top 10 Modern Methods of Execution- Listverse. After reading the methods and the way the executions are carried out, I could feel the goosebumps on my skin. How can a family or a witness watch a person dying or made to die?

Lethal injection, electric chair, gas chamber, single person shooting, firing squad, hanging, beheading, guillotine, stoning, garrote. Each method was explained in detail and the pictures were attached. Thankfully, those images were blocked at my office. In few of the methods/countries, the executions must be witnessed by the family members as well. This must be horrible.

I am not saying that no one should be given the death sentence but after reading this, for sometime I thought that death sentence is the most insane punishment. But I guess, those who face death penalty must be interrogated thoroughly and then given the sentence. Its like, mind wants the criminals to be hanged till death and heart says no, death sentences must be abolished from the system. This reminds me of my visit to Andaman's “kala paani Jail” where I saw the gallows. There was nothing. It was a very small underground room where the bodies were kept after the prisoner was hanged and has died. It was empty obviously- no blood stain, no body, no smell. But it was suffocating to be standing there. In hanging, the executor would have to visit the prisoner and take his measurements to prepare the noose. The size of the rope and the length should be such that the prisoner die instantly. What if he makes some mistake in this measurement? In lethal injection, after the first dose the convict must die, if not then second dose and still not, then the third and final dose. How about him lying on the execution table alive after the first dose, waiting for the second one?

There are methods in which there are more than one executor. In some, multiple executors are kept behind the curtain so that no one comes to know who actually executed the convict. But the actual executor would surely know that he was the one. How about the guilt that builds up in him? In some methods, multiple executors are kept and all of them are told to press the trigger for execution at the same time so that none of them knows who has actually executed the convict. But what about other methods, where there are normally one executor? I have read a story in my school days of such an executor, who had to execute some one and after the execution only he came to know that the convict was his own son.

In case of terrorists, who themselves say that they have committed the crime, the countries still keep them in jail for years and years on the grounds that they can give some vital information or the lack of ample evidences, until some other terror attacks by his friends to take revenge or get him freed. In such cases, I believe, there is no need to keep them in jails and waste the country's time, money and resources after him. In five years, whatever information they might be having they must have told and if they had any intention to lead a normal life, they would have changed. But if not, then keeping them in jails forever will never help. So, again, mind says, Hang them till death. But...

What can be the alternative to death penalties?

I have written above about what I have searched. I know many of you might try to search for the same on Google. Don't do this if you don't want your day or mood to be spoiled. I had spoiled my mood that day.