'Ajja'- Miss You!

My Cousins and me refer to him as Mysore 'Ajja' (Grandfather). His name- Lakshmi Narayan Ballal.If I ever had an idol in life it is him. He is whom i would call a Daring, Charismatic, Free Spirited Guy, who below all that toughness had a heart that would melt easily if he as much as saw someone cry in front of him.

There was not a single thing he had not tried his hand in, may it be, piloting air crafts, Wrestling ( he would often tell me about the Kusthi(Wrestling) Sessions that would take place during Dassera in the Mysore Palace, Fancy dress competitions again held during Dassera during the good old king reign days, He supposedly even did a small stint in some English Movie/Documentary and Of course, Politics, He was with the Indian National Congress(Gandhian Congress) and was involved in the freedom struggle during the independence days. He had done it all and wanted to do more.

By profession he was a hotelier. Ballal circle in Mysore was named after Ballal Hotel that was owned and managed by Ajja. If I sit back and think, it was the best profession for him given his passion for Good Food. He truly lived to eat, he was perfectly healthy, his stroke was a result of eating loads of chakkulis, kodbales and sweets all at once on Krishna Janmashtmi, both his sugar levels and Blood pressure levels shot up together. He was bedridden for a long time before he finally passed away.

Ajja stayed in a joint family ( His Brothers and their families) in what we call as the Ballal house or dodda Mane ( Big House), he would drive to our place pretty much everyday, there was not a single day that would go by without him visiting his grandkids. He would stop at every bakery and snack store on the way and buy up pretty much everything there for his grand kids.

He would take us to visit the Mysore Palace or exhibition as though it was his first time there, chatting up with the auto driver all the way from home to the palace. He did a lot for orphan kids, Helped them with their daily food by providing free food at his hotel, free accommodation. A few years ago when my Ajji and me were walking, we came across this stranger who stopped us and introduced himself to ajji as one of the kids whom Ajja had helped during his struggling period and that now he had a good job and a family. He told us how grateful he was for what Ajja did . When Ajja died, we were surprised at the number of strangers who showed up to pay their last respect to him, telling us how he had touched their lives and helped them in one way or the other. I had always heard about Ajja's popularity but this is when I realised how much of a"larger than Life' personality Ajja had.

Talking about personality, ajja had this huge frame, he was 6 foot something tall with broad shoulders. When he was bedridden, we needed at least 6-7 Adult men to Lift him in and out of bed. His last days were hard as he slowly stopped recognising and reacting to all of us. He was living only because of his tremendous Will Power. We had our exams starting in about 2-3 days time, his Doctor who was also his best buddy told us that he would pass away slowly the next day in the morning as he did not want to trouble his grandkids during their exams (sniff sniff). That he did, exactly the same day and the time of the day the doctor mentioned, it was a miracle of kinds or may be purely his will, I don't know. At the end all that matters is that he Lived Large and had no regrets.

Sometimes I feel like I get my stubbornness, rebelliousness and Freewill from him and I don't know whether that is a good thing or a bad thing but I am who I am. This morning I was remembering him a lot and felt that he had to be a part of my blog, otherwise my blog would be incomplete. Ajja, Love You and Miss you a lot!

My Playlist

I have been thinking of doing this for some time now, don't know what I have been waiting for. I love music and there was a time when my mom had to literally ban MTV and Channel V at home, I was so glued to the TV. Songs touch my soul, they throw me into another world, a world I like being in. I have been craving to listen to all the songs I had in my collection of Audio Cassettes during my college days (I know that sounds ancient now), but I miss listening to these songs. I didn't get them here, So the next best thing to do now is to make a you tube list of all my Favorite songs, the list is obviously very long, So I will keep adding songs as I remember them( I am sure I will miss out on so many, but I am only human). I will make 2 Separate lists, one Trance and the other everything else. I already have a few in my video collection on orkut, so will start with those and keep updating, may be you guys will find your favorites in the list too!

The List (in no particular order)

1. Coldplay - Speed of Sound
2. Coldplay- Fix you
3. Coldplay- Talk
4. Coldplay- Viva La Vida
5. Goo Goo Dolls- Iris
6. Goo Goo Dolls- Slide
7. Red Hot Chili Peppers- Dani California
8. Red Hot Chili Peppers- Under the Bridge
9. Red hot Chili Peppers- Cant Stop
10. Nickelback- Far away
11. Nickelback- Hero
12. Maroon 5- Makes me wonder
13. Imogen Heap- Speeding Cars
14. Madonna- Holiday
15. Madonna- Vogue
16. Madonna- Papa Don't Preach
    
17. Madonna- Human Nature
18. Madonna- Ray Of Light
19. Madonna- Jump
20. Madonna- Like A Prayer
21. Madonna- Material Girl
    
22. Phil Collins- Another Day in Paradise
23. Tears for Fears - Everybody wants to rule the world
24. Alphaville- Forever Young
25. Seal- Kiss from a rose
26. Guns n Roses- Better
27. Guns n Roses- November Rain
28. Guns n Roses- Sweet Child O Mine
29. Boyz II Men- Motown Philly
30. Real McCoy- Another Night
31. Richard Marx- Right here waiting
32. September- Cry for you
33. Aerosmith- Crazy
34. Aerosmith- I dont want to miss a thing
35. Aerosmith- Pink
36. Def Leppard- Hysteria
37. Metallica- I dissapear
38. Ida Cor- Let me think about it
39. Scorpions- Wind of Change
40. Modern Talking- Brother Louie
41. Queen- We will rock you
42. Queen- I want to break free
43. Matchbox Twenty- unwell
44. Matchbox Twenty- Look how far we've come
45. Linkin Park- In the end
46. U2- with or without you
47. U2- One
48. E-type- I just wanna be with you
49. Jeff Buckley- Hallelujah
50. The Black Ghosts- Full Moon
51. Muse- Supermassive Black hole
52. Craig david- Rise and Fall
53. Micheal Bolton- Said i loved you but i lied
54. Sting- Fields of gold
55. Sting/Police- Every Breath You Take
56. Boy meets girl- Waiting for a star to fall
57. Art Company- Suzanna
58. The New radicals- get what you give
59. P.Diddy- Last Night
60. Kanye West- Homecoming
61. Gorillaz- windmill
62. The Rasmus- In the shadows
63. River Phoenix- Stand By Me
64. R.E.M- Losing My Religion
65. Eagles- Hotel California
66. Rihanna- Don't Stop The Music
67. Village People- YMCA
68. Nirvana- Smells Like Teen Spirit
69. Pink Floyd- Brick In The Wall
70. ABBA- Dancing Queen
71. ABBA- Mama Mia
72. Boney M- Ma Baker
73. Boney M- Daddy Cool
74. Ini Kamoze- Here Comes The Hot Stepper
75. Snow- Informer
76. Jimmy Ray- Are You Jimmy Ray
77. Diana King- L-L-Lies
78. Inner Circle- Games People Play
79. Whigfield- Saturday Night
80. Whigfield- Think of you
81. Whitney Houston- I Will Always Love You
82. Whitney Houston- My Love Is Your Love
83. Whitney Houston/ Mariah Carey -When You Believe
84. Mariah Carey- Hero
85. Mariah Carey- Always Be My Baby
86. Mariah Carey- Touch My Body
87. The Chemical Brothers- Hey Boy Hey Girl
88. The Verve- Bitter Sweet Symphony
89. Len- Steal My Sunshine
90. MLTR- Someday
91. MLTR- Sleeping Child
92. MLTR- Blue Night
93. Billy joel- We Din't Start The Fire
94. Billy Joel- Uptown Girl
95. Mr President- Coco jumbo
96. Chumbawumba- Thubthumping( I get knocked down)
97. No Mercy- Where Do You Go
98. Ace Of Base- All That She Wants
99. Ace Of Base- The Sign
100. Boyzone- Picture Of You
101. Boyzone- Love Me for a Reason
102. Elton John- Sacrifice
103. Elton John- Can You Feel The Love Tonight
104. Elton John- Sorry seems to be the hardest word
105. Toni Braxton- Unbreak My Heart
106. Shania Twain- From This Moment
107. Shania Twain- You're the still the one
108. Shania Twain- That don't Impress me much
109. Shania Twain- Man! I feel like a women
110. Bryan Adams- Summer of 69
111. Bryan Adams- Everything i do
112. Bryan Adams- Please Forgive me
113. Brayn Adams- Run To You
114. Bryan Adams- The only thing that looks good on me is you
115. Bryan Adams- Im Ready
116. Bryan Adams- 18 Till I Die
117. Jon Bon Jovi- Livin on a prayer
118. Jon Bon Jovi- It's My Life
119. Jon Bon Jovi- Bed Of Roses
120. Jon Bon Jovi- Always
121. Jon Bon Jovi- Make a Memory
122. Jon Bon Jovi- I'll Be there for you
123. Jon Bon Jovi- Blaze of Glory
124. Enrique iglesias- Hero
125. Enrique Iglesias- Escape
126. Enrique Iglesias- Love To See You Cry
127. Sean Paul- Give it up to me
128. Mark Anthony- You sang to me
129. Mark Anthony- I Need to Know
130. Nelly Furtado- Say It Right
131. Nelly Furtado- Maneater
132. Justin Timberlake- What Goes Around
133. Justin Timberlake- Sexy Back
134. Wyclef Jean/Akon- Sweetest Girl
135. Santana- Maria Maria
136. Santana- Smooth
137. Pink- So What
138. Pink- Get This Party Started
139. Pink- Most Girls
140. Pink/ Christina Aguilera- Lady Marmalade
141. Christina Aguilera- Genie In The Bottle
142. Christina Aguilera/Ricky martin- Nobody Wants To Be Lonely
143. Kylie Minogue- Love At First Sight
144. Kylie Minogue- Can't Get You Out Of My Head
145. Kylie Minogue- Come Into My World
146. Alicia Keys- Fallin
147. Alicia Keys- No One
148. Alicia Keys/Jack White- Another Way To Die
149. Avril Lavigne- Complicated
150. Avril Lavigne- I'm With You
151. Katy Perry- I kissed A Girl
152. R. Kelly- I Believe I Can Fly
153. TLC- Waterfall
154. No Doubt- Don't Speak
155. George Michael- Faith
156. George Michael- Last Christmas
157. George Michael- Careless Whisper
158. Joan Jett and the Blackhearts- I Love Rock n Roll
159. Roxette- The Look
160. Evanescence- My Immortal
161. Evanescence- Going Under
162. Evanescence- Bring Me To Life
163. Natalie Imbruglia- Torn
164. Destiny's Child- Say My Name
165. Destiny's Child- Survivor
166. Destiny's Child- Bootylicious
167. Eminem- Real Slim Shady
168. Eminem- Lose Yourself
169. Eminem- Stan
170. Run DMC- Its Like That
171. Robbie Williams- Feel
172. Robbie Williams- Let Me Entertain You
173. Cranberries- Zombie
174. Crazy Town-Butterfly
175. Fatboy Slim- Right Here Right Now
176. Pussycat Dolls- Buttons
177. Pussycat Dolls- When I Grow Up
     
178. Shakira- Whenever Wherever
179. Shakira- Hips Don't Lie
180. Shakira/Beyonce- Beautiful Liar
181. Shakira- Objection
182. Fugees- Killing Me Softly
183. UB40- Can't Help Falling In Love With You
184. UB40- Red Red Wine
185. Outcast- Ms Jackson
186. Outcast- Hey Ya
187. Black Eyed Peas- Lets Get It Started
188. Gwen Stefani- Hollerback Girl
189. Europe- The Final Countdown
190. The bangles- Walk Like an Egyptian
191. KT Tunstall- Suddenly I See
192. Sarah McLachlan- Fallen
193. Sarah McLachlan- Angel
194. Sarah McLachlan- I Will Remember You
     
195. New Kids On The Block- The Right Stuff
196. Timbaland- The Way I Are
197. Timbaland- Apologise
198. Foreigner- I Want To Know What Love Is
199. Los Lobos- La Bamba
200. Kaoma- lambada
201. Glen Mederios- Nothings Gonna Change My Love
202. Gloria Estefan- Rythms Gonna Get You
203. Kool n The Gang- Fresh
204. Coolio- Gangsters Paradise
205. Amy Grant- Baby Baby
     
206. La Bouche- Be My Lover
207. 2 Unlimited- Twilight Zone
208. The Tamperer/Maya- Feel It( Chimney On Her)
209. Haddaway- What Is Love
210. Rednex- Cotton Eyed Joe
211. Scatman John- Scatman
212. Kid Cudi- Day and Night
213. Lauryn Hill- That Thing
214. Dead Or Alive- Spin Me Round
     
215. Wes- Alane
216. Kevin Rudolf- Let It Rock
     

Trance/Techno

1. ATB- 9 Pm Till I Come
2. Alice Deejay- Better Off Alone
3. Robert Miles- Children
4. Robert Miles- Fable
5. DJ Quicksilver- Bellissima
6. Sash- Mysterious Times
7. Sash- Raindrops
8. Lady Gaga- Just Dance
9. Modjo- Lady
10. Chicane/Bryan Adams- Don't Give Up
11. Eiffel 65- Blue
12. Eiffel 65- Move Your Body
13. Run DMC- Its Like That
14. Darude- Sandstorm
15. Darude- Feel The Beat
16. Faithless- God Is a DJ
17. N Trance- D.I.S.C.O
18. N. Trance- Set You Free
19. Bob Sinclar- World,Hold On
20. Wamdue Project- King Of My Castle
21. Fugees- Ready Or Not Remix
22. Bellini- Samba De Janeiro
23. Michael Gray- Weekend
24. DJ Sammy- Heaven
25. Supermode- Tell Me Why
26. Dario G- Carnaval De Paris
    

Phew!...this is not as easy as I thought it would be...sometimes you don't remember any and then sometimes you remember all at once that by the time you start listing them out you forget a few again...anyways I think I have a few more to add in both the categories...Taking a break for now

Aishwarya Rai- not just another 'Plastic' Beauty Queen

I personally have been a big fan of hers ever since i saw the very popular 'Hi I am Sanjana , got another Pepsi' Ad with Aamir Khan Pepsi Ad. Then she went on to win the 1994 Miss World Pageant..people clearly knew and predicted she would win days before the contest took place. She is gorgeous, that goes without saying, she has a face that has such perfectly carved features that is undeniable but I think she is also one of the most Graceful and Dignified not to forget Classy Actresses that i have seen in recent Cinema.

When she started out , I dint think she was a good actress, she was just this beautiful face, but she has now evolved from being just a beauty queen to something more substantial. I admire her not just for her beauty but for the persona she represents, the elegance and grace with which she carries herself. I must say that the last few movies i have seen of hers were worth appreciating, Jodha Akbar, Guru, Raincoat, Choker Bali , Provoked,Devdas and Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. She has the capacity to portray a sexy character(without making it look sleazy) in Dhoom 2 and at the same time portray an Indian Queen with strong conviction in the period film Jodha Akbar, these 2 movies, world apart in their scripts, prove her versatility.

She, unfortunately has also been one of the most criticized actors , whether it was her break up with the ever abusive Salman Khan or her decision to do more Hollywood movies. I think she deserves a little credit, she has been one of the few Actors in Bollywood who has created such an impact in the international scene. At 36, she still is one of the highest paid and popular actors in Hindi Cinema and recently she has been featured in Forbes' most bankable stars list Forbes List leaving all the Khans and Roshans of the film Industry way behind, which says something about her credentials. My American born Cousins and few ex Colleagues here only recognise 3 things indian ,Aishwarya Rai, Chicken Tikka Masala and now ofcourse the very popular Slumdog Millionaire. She has definitely come a long way and has some really interesting projects in 2009, one that i am looking forward to is Mani Ratnam's Ravan. I just wish the media was just a little more appreciative of her work. She has been going strong for the last few years and I am sure her fame is not one that will die soon.

Coffee Bar Meeting! II

So, I finally met up with my old time Col buddy Bini on this Sunday! We did gossip a lot...but luckily for me her hubby is in IT too, so my hubby and him hit it off very well...Frankly I have no clues of what they spoke about for that one and a half hours as I was so busy in my conversation with Bini...and the University Cafe, at University Ave, Palo Alto was the perfect place with its Stanfordian like atmosphere (the feeling of being among students...ha...perfect) took us back to our College days. Thank you Bini for making the time to meet us inspite of your busy schedule.

Coffee Bar Meeting!

It has been almost 5 years since i graduated from my B-school and i have only met one of my old buddies so far, Kunal, he is based out of Florida now and had come down to SF a few months back, it was really fun catching up with him and gossiping about the good old college days, who is dating whom, who broke up with whom and why (the interesting part as always, when you are not the one in question...mean ha!) who married whom.....blah blah...we bored our spouses to death. Today i will be meeting another one of my B-School buddies, Binitha/Bini or Bini babes, i am really excited about it. Though we keep in touch over the phone, meeting one on one is any day more fun, will be also meeting her husband. Plan to meet at a Coffee Bar between 3:00-4:00. Will have loads to gossip about i am sure. Lot of catching up to do. The funny part is you sometimes don't know where to start.Will post some pictures later!...Till then wish me fun!

Designing Plans or Planning Designs

We are really excited about our move next month....1. As we are moving into a bigger space, a townhome from a one bedroom condo....2. We are looking forward to a change after Five years of living in this same space. I, ofcourse have my own special reasons. An empty space to me is like an empty canvas that needs to be filled with colour and paint, I am so excited about doing up the place in a totally different color scheme and design theme.Though I must say I love the Earthy,Warm,Spa retreat like feel, which is what I have at my current place now, I am so done with it and look forward to something more modern, contemporary, clean say a Sand 'n' Beach theme.

A friend of mine was asking me about what I intend to do in this new house. It goes like this, I plan to incorporate a few of my favourite colors White, Blue, Black, Patterns in this house. I want my sofas to be white( i know its a housewive's deadliest nightmare) but I can afford to have it now Vs later with a child. The cushions will be bright mostly consisting of blues, creams , dotted patterns , brown and black n white prints. The rug (looks more like a runner, which I happened to find when I was cleaning my closet). It again has different shades of blue, white, black, pink n other colours. I also have an idea of what kind of lamps I want, I am looking at Arc Floor Lamps, hopefully will find one within my budget. I have also picked up a couple of low cost, discounted Decorative Accents to go with the theme. Some pieces like the coffe table , side table will be black in color inorder to highlight the pieces of accent and also to provide contrast to the sofa and rug.My Wall Art, will consist of some of the pictures that my husband has taken with his Nikon D90, why buy when i can find good, poster quality stuff at home. The key is to pick up as many pieces from sites like craigslist and keep the cost low.

If everything that I have envisioned falls in place, then what I will have is a bright, open, airy living room that screams ' WELCOME TO THE BEACH RETREAT'. Where did i get the inspiration from?. You won't believe when i say the 'RUG'. The whole theme was designed around the rug...interesting ha!...you never know where you draw your inspiration from. So for now, back to the drawingboard and packing ofcourse. I will put up some pictures of the current and the new house when done!..