Hair raising tales

... and I bit the bullet, packed my dictionary in my handbag, wrote down a list of (what I thought) were useful words and phrases, and walked into the hairdresser's salon.

The first sight of the stylist wasn't all that confidence inspiring. And it didn't help that my so-called useful phrases list turned out to be next to useless. Then the stylist handed me a few books and asked me to pick a style. Some of them looked quite nice... on Japanese women. Finally i gave up on the book and told him to just shorten it. I think that offended his professional ethics, and he asked me to wait a bit and disappeared. That was somewhat scary... was I getting my hair cut or not?? Then he came back with a glossy ad from a glossy magazine for one of the cosmetic giants. And pointed out to one of the models' styles. Alright. That looked comfortably simple, something which I could live with. If it didn't look good, at least it wouldn't look terrible.

The end result wasn't too bad. After lots of 'chotto skoshi' , 'o this or that kudasai' and plenty of 'onegaishimasu' I decided I could live with the look... It certainly doesn't make me look like the spokes-model for Estee Lauder, but at least I don't have the everyday-is-a-bad-hair-day look anymore.

Aditi, of course, thinks that I'm in disgrace for not combing my hair, which is why it's way shorter. I wonder if she'll still think that way once she's in her teens!

Movies, Movies, Movies

So just what have I been up to lately?? Watching movies!

Since we discovered the wonderful world of torrents (thanks, Nikhil), I've been downloading movies, old and new, by the dozen! After all, that's our second best entertainment option (#1 of course, is li'l sis, who got us hooked totally to 24).

Lets see, in the last fortnight we watched Cars, Khosla ka Ghosla, Pyar ke Side Effects to name a few.

Cars was, in one word, BRILLAINT! Loved the concept, loved the execution! It was worth waiting all those months till I could get a decent print!

Bollywood movies are definitely starting to break out of the stale old mold. We watched Khosla ka Ghosla earlier today. After I downloaded the movie, A read some reviews, none of which were even charitable. So we didn't get around to watching it for absolutely weeks... till today! And we really liked it. The characters are funny. The plotline: could happen to anyone.. very very real, and realistic! No unnecessary song and dance for no good reason. Anupam Kher, Kiran Juneja lead an exceptionally subtle and sublime cast. It's definitely worth watching. Do give it a try. Really entertaining!

Pyar ke Side Effects was another refreshing change from the usual ho-hum Bollywood plots. Rahul Bose and Mallika Sherawat (who really can act) are quite funny. I loved the bit where Mallika Sherawat tries to initiate a serious conversation about relationships... right in the middle of a cricket match (deja vu)! Again, a good timepass movie.

We still have Don and Dor on our to watch list. And we're saving those for snowy weekends when we're likely to be totally housebound! So more reviews will happen later.

So wish me luck....

Nonono... this isn't about the latest addition to the family.. All's smooth sailing on that front. Except of course for names... neither of us can agree on one... or rather, two, as we decided we didn't want to know the sex of the baby.

Later this week I embark on an adventure like none other. After having a series of progressively worse bad hair days, I decided to bite the bullet and do something about my hair. So after a lot of R&D (looking for good cuts that didn't look like the wearer was attacked by rodents) I asked one of A's colleagues who her stylist was. That lovely lady went one step further and booked an appointment for me.

Now we get to the catch. The stylist doesn't speak English. So I'm poring over the good old dictionary and making a list of what I think are important words that one needs to communicate with a stylist.

Worst case scenario: I don't get on the wrong side of a camera a few months. Considering that I'm the one doing at least 99.99% of any picture taking, that doesn't seem like such a big scare!

So wish me luck. This is my acid test. Whether or not I post any pictures will tell you whether or not all those Japanese lessons paid off.

Ave Caesar! Morituri te salutant!

Testing 1..2..3..

One of my readers (all countable on one hand) asked why there haven't been updates here in ages. Good question... No answer...

Honestly, nothing much has been happening out here. Since my last update, all that's happened is that I finally passed my driving test, got my license and the very next day backed the car into a pillar. Nono.. not to worry, the car had the mildest of scratches on it!

Now that I have my license, I've been exploring this little town, drive in any direction that seems interesting (advantage of living in a small town: can never get lost), going window shopping without harassing Arun.. You get the drift.

Right now, we're trying to get decent baby furniture, infant car-seats, woolen and other assorted warm clothes for Aditi (who's shooting up like a beanpole), warm clothes for the new baby... phew... Did I forget to mention heated carpets, room heaters and more stuff along those lines?? So all spare time's spent in stores checking out stuff.

The weathers starting to get chilly. Quite chilly actually. There's already been snow about 60kms north of here. Any sunny days are now spent airing out quilts, comforters, blankets and other assorted winter wear that's been sitting in storage for a few months. Or if its a really gloriously sunny day, I drag Arun and Aditi around somewhere for a long drive in the mountains and look at the pretty colours.

Other than that, nothing much. Will get around to posting some pics one of these days. Don't ask when, when I get around to it.. that's when!