Doha is round afterall!! (NaBloPoMo- Take- 16)

I know so is earth! But this discovery is more significant for me because I realized that come what may I will not get lost in this city. And for a person like me who is so bad with routes and navigation this is quite a prominent discovery

Ask R or anyone in my family and they will enlighten you all of my navigation skills, rather make that ‘pathetic navigation skills’. I love to drive around, maneuver through narrow streets and busy traffic, can drive for hours, but ask me how to get from point A to point B I’ll gape right back at you with the stupidest look possible. I may have driven around the place about 10 times but I still get confused with my turns and roundabouts. So those really know me well, more often than not, stay away from asking routes of me because they know they will end up getting a fair share of not-so-adrenaline-rushing adventure if they let me navigate them through the city. Don’t you give me that perplexed look! Even I dont know how I have managed this far by driving my way through Doha roads

Since R is well verse with this inane quality of mine, mostly he draws a map for me whenever I have to drive to a new place. And he draws it with such an impeccable manner that I never miss a T or a signal or a roundabout. Oh and by the way, this impeccable manner is not just because he draws well, and amazingly well at that, but also because he knows that if he doesnt draw it to the T, what a grave mistake he will be making by exposing himself to the possibility of enduring my harassing calls if and when I lose my way

And me being me I normally keep those maps grafted to me till I have got the routes crystal clear in my mind . And on occasions where R has not been around to draw me the routes and I have had to find my way I have even pestered my friends with constant calls for help .

And it was on one such occasion that I got to know the route to Namnam’s school. I sought a friend’s help to explain the route the first time I had to visit the school, because R was not in town. The sweet lady that she is, she gave me directions patiently every time I made frantic calls to her for clarifications. And I have stuck to that route ever since with no deviations whatsoever.

But today,(no)thanks to some wretched traffic diversion I had to take a deviation from my normal route on my way back from dropping Namnam at school. With R in a meeting, he couldnt take my call. And with office hours in full swing I didnt want to bother any of my friends too. Needless to say, I was fully convinced that I was going to lose my way today. Anyway I decided to drive back to the school and ask somebody if I could find an alternate way. And to my utter surprise I did find an alternate way and a much easier way at that and even better I didnt miss any roundabout or turn to get back home safely.

I know its not a big deal, but for someone like me who is so adept at goofing up with the simplest of routes in a small city like Doha, this was quite an achievement. You know the excitement you feel when you arrive at a tallied balance sheet in your Accountacy class or when you solve an algebra problem or when you get a chemical formula right or better still when you score a BINGO in a game of scrabble?? Yup, THAT’S how I felt today when I found my way home. A total ‘woohoo’ moment !!

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With this I’m heading into the weekend! No idea if I can post tomorrow. Will try and do a photo-post to stay in the Nablopomo game . So till I see you all next week, have a rocking week/end ahead

Wordless Wednesday- 8 (NaBloPoMo- Take 15)

Your day ends on a perfect note…

…when your daughter comes running to you and says, ‘ Oh, mama, the whole day I didnt give you a hug’ and gives you the tightest hug before heading off to sleep

Night-night,people !

Sometimes its best to leave some songs untouched! ( NaBloPoMo- Take 13)

Most of you must have guessed by now as to what prompted me to say that. Yes, I’m talking about this new trend of flicking old hindi songs and redoing them.

The first song that comes to my mind is yeh mera dil from Don, composed superbly by RD Burman originally but redone years later by Shankar Ehsaan Loy. Ok now here I agree it was not exactly redone, simply resung and maybe a little remixed with a jazz here and bass there by another singer. The song was not disturbed, per se. Nor were the lyrics. Which was fine for the ears of a devout RDB fan like me. I wont say I loved it but I liked it partly because I felt Sunidhi Chauhan did her best to do justice to the original version and I absolutely adore her voice. Of course, if asked to choose between the two I’ll pick Asha Bhonsle’s rendition any day.

But there is another song from the movie which has been redone in the true sense of the word. It is Khaike paan banaaraswala which sounds so peppy and cheerful in the original version sung by Kishore Kumar but sadly sounds so pathetic ( to my ears) in the redone version. Every time I hear the song I wonder why, whyever was there a need to redo that song? Was it not bad enough that the classic movie was remade? Why redo a song also and make it worse?

Just watch this song, dont you just feel like getting up and joining Amitabh Bachan and his gang to shake a leg or two? Why, a non-dancer like me is tempted!

And now watch this song..

Get my point?

What prompted me to write this post is another song that is being splashed all over the music channels movie theaters and being fiercely promoted by the movie makers- Dum Maaro Dum, a miserable rework of yet another RDB masterpiece from Hare Rama Hare Krishna.

Call me old fashioned but I just cant get myself to liking this new trend. And I dont even want to get started on the trend of movie-remakes. I hated Don. We all know what a dud Umrao Jaan- 2 was. And now I hear the movie makers are planning a remake of Satte Pe Satta.

Some songs and movies are so timeless that its best if left as they are. What do you think?