Coota

I love movies. My current favourite is "Do you or don't you know" (that's what the subtitle reads). Mealtimes are incomplete without this movie.

My favourite character in the movie is the nice looking girl who goes about indiscriminately "What's this'ing" anyone within earshot... Those who have seen this movie would know what I'm talking about. And those who haven't. Go watch it RIGHT NOW!!!!

Dad says "What's this" is a sadistic game this girl plays to entertain herself and torture the rest. If it were left to my Dad he would have no hesitation in clipping her one over the earhole and sending her straight to bed!

Me, I love her "What's this'es". Yes it is kinda silly, but then so am I. My favourite "What's this" moment is when she points out to a good old Bajaj scooter and sweetly "what's this'es" her boyfriend. Before the exasperated lad has a chance of replying back with a well-deserved piece of his mind, I look at my parents with a confident smile and shout "COOTA COOTA, mom itsa COOTA". That's the high point of the movie for me right there! I never fail to shout out a thumping "COOTA" every single time I watch that scene!

So next time anyone asks you "What's this?", shout out loudlyyyyy "COOTA"!!

Susan Boyle

Who doesn't love a good underdog, I certainly do. The world's full of them. I wonder what it is about them that's so fascinating..

David setup a pretty good example when he decided to flex his non existent muscles against Goliath and actually won. You see Goliath was having an off day. We all have off days now and again. But G chose the wrong day to nod off on the job. Look what happened to him! He ended up being the most celebrated failure in folklore. In the current economic climate, the D & G (not Dolce & Gabbana) story only serves as a constant reminder to minimize off days to weekends only ;).

Hindi movies from the 1970's though have long epitomised, idolized, even pedestalised them. From Inspector Vijay in Zanjeer, to Billa no 786 in Coolie, to the delightful Choti Si Baat, where Amol Palekar played the underdog lover who learns the hard way how to fend off his hopefully-to-be-girlfriend from an unwanted, smart alec "friend".

More recently, and certainly more pertinently, with IPL 2 just around the block, Rajasthan Royals splendid performance in the last IPL has only reinforced my belief in them.

Each one of us at some point of time has gone through an underdog experience. The first time I played football with older kids I scored an own goal. It wasn't my fault really. I had been given to understand that I have to hit between those 2 stones. Turned out the stones in question were my team's goal post.

At a philosophical level, an underdog holds a mirror to my face, asking me to get rid of my innermost insecurities and to get on with life.. Hmm, maybe...

Whetever the other reasons, an underdog never fails to provide a fascinating story to the paying public. Which bring me to the real reason I have been carping about underdogs. Bow wow.

Susan Boyle is an unemployed Scotswoman (or is it Scotslady?) who, at 47 years, is one of the older contestants on "Britain's Got Talent". Her performance moved me enough to force me to come out of my bloggers block/ writers hiatus/ watchamacalit after 8 long months and dedicate a post to her.

I couldn't stop watching her performance again and again and again. You can do the same here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY.

A high-five for this underdog. Slumdog, you can take a walk!!

And that's how you Macarena!

4th of July Fireworks!

And here's something more spectacular than the fireworks ;)).

Enjoy!

Happy birthday to you!!!

14th June was Mom's B'day. HAPPY 19th B'DAY MOM!

Aren't all women the same when it comes to age! Mom JUST wouldn't let me type her real age!

My Aunt though takes the cake when it comes to age matters (pun intended). She's just sweet 16. Ironic, isn't it! The elder sister is younger than the younger sister! That kind of Maths would have fooled even Al Ein, I'm just a kid!!! But tell me something, does anyone really understand women!!!

Anyways, so coming back on track.. We had a great time. We cut Mom's birthday cake in the morning and then went picnicing to Cove Island Park, which is a nice picnic spot near where we stay.

This park, I should tell you, is a very chilled out place; people come here to play volleyball or barbecue or laze around on the beach or swim in the cool Long Island Sound waters in summer. Incidentally, summer is the season Americans enjoy the most. They just love to tan up in the sub-40 deg C temperature. Send them all to India, I say!!

If they'd have to tolerate summer year-round, like we have to in India, it wouldn't have been as much fun after all!

But I guess that's just human isn't it;

a) You don't have what you really want.

b) You don't need what you have.

c) And when you have what you really want, you go back to point #b above!!

The proverbial bird in hand loses out once again to the one in the bush..

Well, coming back to CI Park.. The best thing about it (that is , apart from the pretty girls lying around in tiny bikinis) is the train ride that takes me around the park.

Mom's B'day seemed more like my B'day, 'coz Mom took me for a long long train ride around the park! Which I LOVVEEEDDDD!!

Like the chap once said..

Go East, Go West,
Momma is the BEST!

Thanks Mom!

Exotic new languages!

Yeah yeah. I know!

The lions and tigers and gorillas and orangutans of this world may not be as pleased with my efforts..

My efforts to speak their language that is...

But for the ducks, doggies, cats, birds, squirrels and electric trains of this world, I'm a straight-A student.

Watch on..

Laptop Hunter

The eagle is a very smart bird, and an even smarter hunter. It spots its prey from far away, then persists to find a chink in its prey's armour, finishing off whenever its armory lets off even for a second.

I employ a similar strategy when it comes to hunting down Dad's laptop!! If you have read my post on my earlier attempts at laptop hunting, you would know how serious a hunter I am when it comes to laptops!! Animal Planet, you have a successor to the "Crocodile Hunter"... Me as the "Laptop Hunter".. I can even work on my "Austraayylian" accent to give viewers a seamless experience.. What say you??

So the other day, I was following Dad's laptop from the corner of my eyes, hovering nearby all the time, waiting for the right time to swoop in. But the laptop was on the table. And me being 3-foot nothing, it was a little high for me (Yeah yeah, being tiny has its disadvantages!).

There was a chair near the table which i could use to get to it. But I had to be careful not to catch my parent's attention. Hehehehe (devious laugh)!!

Time to gather some logistics! I look around... Everyone seems to be doing their own thing. Mom, at 10 o'Clock is in the kitchen (wow, that smells yummy!). Maasi at 3 o'Clock is busy straightening her hair. And Dad at 5 o'Clock is massaging his potbelly and playing "surf the channel" with the TV. The coast looks clear...

But... If i so much as put half a toe-nail on that chair, Dad would see me and I'd be at the other end of the room even before I could say "Peekaboo"...

Hmmm, I'll have to come up with a different strategy.......

Decoy!!!

What If I keep my high chair in the way?? Dad won't be able to see what I'm upto, as the high chair would hide my 3-foot nothing frame behind it (being small has its advantages too you know! ;) And voila! I'm up!!

The camouflage didn't last too long though. Dad was faster than Andrei Arshavin (who, by the way, has just taken Russia into the UEFA cup semis).

But!!

I was able to open the laptop and press 2 keys before getting busted! :D :D :D

That was fun!

Laptop Hunter's the name (devious laugh)! And I specialize in guerrilla-camouflaging myself to get to the laptop at any cost (ditto devious laugh)!!

Only... Better luck next time ;).

Or like Confucius might have said, "You shall press more keys next time, smart boy!"