Beyonce....

I was reading about how Beyonce took the MTV Europe Music Awards by storm and won the Best Female singer, Best song and Best video award. Going by what I read her performance in Berlin was too good to be true and I would not have believed it had I not watched Beyonce in action last Thursday. The Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix took place on the 31st of October at the new Yas Marina Circuit at the Yas Island, Abu Dhabi. There were concerts by Beyonce, Jamiroquai, Kings of Leon and Aerosmith to mark the occasion. Since my radio station was the official station for the Grand Prix I was lucky enough to get passes to some of the concerts.

I have always enjoyed Beyonce's music ever since she was with Destiny's Child. I went to the concert not knowing what to expect and came out a total fan of hers. Beyonce is a superb performer - she sings beautifully, her moves are sexy, the number of costume changes she manages in a concert are the most I have seen ever, her band is an all-woman one and all in all what they put together is memorable and worth every penny spent on the fast selling tickets. She is an excellent entertainer and knows how to engage the audience. Everyone, including me, was in a frenzy and the one and a half hour concert seemed to get over all too soon. She sang Crazy in love, Naughty Girl, Single Ladies and ended the concert with Halo. She also paid tribute to Micheal Jackson while she was singing Halo and touched a chord there. She ended the concert on a promise - that she will always give her 100% to entertaining and said that it is a tradition of hers to sing Happy Birthday to anyone in the audience who happens to celebrate his/her birthday that day. Of course, all hands went up when she asked if it was anyone's birthday :)


It was a priviledge to watch Beyonce perform and I hope we have many years of good music from her to look forward to.

Two things that stayed in mind

In the midst of a lot of work in office and the busiest quarter of the year was Diwali. My in-laws spent a week with us here and thankfully, because of their enthusiasm, Diwali felt like Diwali this time.
My husband and I were waiting at the airport to receive them and I noticed two things that stayed in mind. I love airports...I love the anticipation of travel, I love watching the people around and when I am at the airport time seems to fly faster than it would any place else. The flight from Kolkata to Dubai had just landed. I first noticed an elderly woman, on a wheel-chair, waiting for somebody to come to fetch her. The guy who was pushing her wheel-chair waited about five minutes and then started getting impatient. He was from Bangladesh and spoke to her in Bengali and asked her if she had the number of her relatives in Dubai. He then gave her his mobile phone and waited while she made her call. My heart went out to her when I watched her. The way she looked so lost, searched her big purse for the small notepad that had the telephone number in it, and her concentration while listening to the voice on the mobile phone. Reminded me of my grandmother..... Eventually her son (I'm assuming) came to get her and I heaved a sigh of relief. He may have had valid reasons for being late but can anything be more important than being on time when an old parent has come visiting?
The second incident was even more touching. Another lady standing close to me asked me if I was waiting for someone on the flight from Kolkata. She said that she was waiting for her son who should have been out by now. She then went on to say that he was a slow learner which was why she was worried about him. I asked her if he was very small to which she said that he was 26 years old and would surely respond if he heard his name announced on the speakers. While my husband went to the Emirates customer service to ask if an announcement could be made she told me that her son was coming home to Dubai for Diwali. About three months ago she admitted him into what she called a 'rehabilitation centre' ( My understanding is that it is a learning centre) in Kolkata. He was in a centre in Mumbai before that but she found that place to be very commercial in their approach. He seemed to be happy in Kolkata and this was his first ever flight alone. It was a busy night at the Dubai airport last Thursday and we were advised to wait another thirty minutes before making an announcement for him. About twenty minutes later her son came out and there was sheer relief, both, on his face as well as hers. The way they greeted each other is something I will remember for a long time to come.
In just about an hour at the airport that night I felt I had witnessed different aspects of being a mother and these two things will stay in mind....

Julie and Julia

I just got back from the premiere of Julie and Julia and loved every bit it. Meryl Streep is excellent, as usual, and Amy Adams (this is the first movie of hers that I watched) is very endearing. After stepping out of the cinema hall, having watched this movie, one is tempted to either go into the kitchen and cook something exotic or sit at the computer and update one's blog. I chose the latter :)
I could associate with every step of Julie Powell's journey into the blogging world - from selecting the template, to naming the blog and to the excitement on getting a comment. I also loved the tagline of the movie - Passion. Ambition. Butter. Do you have what it takes?
It reminded me of the days when I used to work on the Priya Tendulkar Talk Show that was telecast on Star Plus, this is way back in 1997. I used to put in long hours at Priya's place, which was also my office and would feast on the food cooked by her cook-cum Man Friday - Bahadur. He used to put a lot of oil in his food and I soon started feeling the inches around my waist. On complaining he used to say "Memsaheb....khaane mein tel jitna jyada utna khaana swadisht hota hain!" Julie annd Julia seem to follow the same philosophy - the more the merrier (butter)
The movie also reminded me, yet again, of what a stress buster cooking can be. I am now motivated and hope to start trying out the recipes in the Kashmiri Kitchen (a book on Kashmiri cooking a very dear friend gifted me last year)
Julie and Julia is a must-watch. Do not watch this movie on an empty stomach.

Online friends

There was a phase, not too long ago, when my husband was hooked on to some chatrooms and had made some new 'online friends'. They discussed books, movies and politics and he seemed to enjoy his interaction with them but I always wondered - Are online friends real friends?
Curious to know what the experience is like I entered an Indian chatroom on Meebo and got talking to a young medical student from Ahmedabad. We exchanged names and some generic details and soon this guy asked me what kind of a chat I wanted. Nervous about what to answer I said a general one. I must admit that my chat with him was extremely boring but what was unnerving was his level of dependance on his chat-mates. No sooner had I chatted him than he gave me his personal email ID and asked for mine. Not too comfortable with sharing my details I politely refused. Soon he got down to begging for it and scared the living daylights out of me. I have not visited Meebo since :)
Some of my husband's colleagues spend their spare moments in office chatting with their online friends. Some have fictitious chat names and a separate account for chatting purposes. I personally get very uncomfortable when I hear of something like this. I guess I am old fashioned in many more ways than I'd like to admit. But I cannot help but wonder - are online friends real friends?

My new car

Since my blog and the one and a half people who follow it have witnessed my transition from a nervous trying-to-learn-to-drive person to one who finally got her license in Dubai it seems only fitting that I post the pictures of my car on it. It's a Peugeot 207. It's my first big purchase ever but what makes it special is that it is a symbol of my success in overcoming a deep rooted fear. Now that I have been driving to and fro work for more than a fortnight, that too on a busy road like Sheikh Zayed road, I can confidently say that the only way to overcome fear is to attack it - persistently and to give yourself loads of positive reinforcement.

For my nephew who grew up in one day

Ever since I can remember, my cousin’s children Akshay and Avanti have been the apples of my eye and all through the years of my struggle in the media in Mumbai, they have been my reason for living. They are aged 25 and 21 respectively, but I always seem to think of them as kids, eager to take them out for a movie and some ice cream and fattening junk food thereafter. My nephew is studying Audio Engineering at SAE Byron Bay (Australia). After I heard about the controversial attacks on Indian students in Melbourne, I enquired after Akshay’s well-being and when I read the email he sent in response I realized that he’s no longer the little toddler I used to carry around what seems like just a few years ago. I guess I was so caught up in my own world that I didn’t realize that Akshay is now an adult and someone who thinks independently and expresses himself beautifully. As I read his mail I thought to myself " He sounds so grown up. Where was I when he was growing up?" I felt like I was reading an email from a friend or a colleague and I suddenly saw my nephew for what he is - another individual capable of taking care of himself and not someone I need to mollycoddle anymore.
I’m pasting part of his email –
“There is a bit of a media hype about the whole racism violence and I'm pretty sure that the attacks are more opportunistic than racist. However, I cannot deny the fact that Indians are easy targets because it is our nature to shut up and tolerate rather than defend ourselves with twice the power that we're attacked with. But all said and done, if you roam about in any part of this planet at unearthly hours all alone, you're bound to get robbed or beaten up!

Byron Bay is absolute paradise though. There is absolutely no hint of racism here and Indians are really respected for their modesty, simplicity and humility. Quite a lot of people have been to India and are in absolute awe of the place, and they love our culture. In fact people here respect and treat me a lot better than most Indians do!!!!”

Time flies and while we think we are in touch with the people around us, we may not in reality be as connected as we think we are. It takes something simple like this to drive the point home that time and tide wait for no one. Incidentally I am writing this on the last day of the month of June. I cannot believe that half the year has gone by already and the second half starts tomorrow!

Driving license and more.....

I finally passed my driving test last Monday, in my third attempt, and am now the proud owner of a Dubai driving license. It is the talking point of my life these days - how I drove beautifully in those seven minutes of my test and how polite and patient the examiner was etc. It is all a matter of luck, I guess. The biggest challenge is to actually drive on a day to day basis and to gain confidence on the roads. Somehow my brains seem to go on a walk when I drive and I manage to get honked at even when there are only two cars on the road out of which I am one.

As I write this I am reminded of what my younger sister had said to me a couple of years ago. I don't remember what we were talking about - probably about learning swimming or some such thing and she said "Everything needs practice, except failure"

I hope to write another post soon on how much I am enjoying driving in Dubai. The traffic laws are strict and hence there is much more discipline on the roads here than I have witnessed back home in Mumbai or Pune. So this is probably the best time and place for me to perfect my driving skills.

So beware the roads/people of Dubai.....here I come!