The Great Indian Wedding

This whole Ash-Abishek affair has gone too long, so much that its reached a point of irritation. Thank God they got married soon. Seems it was quite a private affair, with a guest list of about 150 people, with the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Ambani attending the wedding. Yes, it was quite a grand wedding...what with mehendi for Aishwarya Rai brought from Rajasthan, the who's who on the guest list, festivities going on till 3 AM in the morning...yes its all very fine.
It seems the whole affair had all the makings of a perfect bollywood movie. The affair, hyped by Indian media as “the wedding of the century,” was filled with the melodrama so beloved in Bollywood, India's flamboyant Hindi film industry: secrecy, dance routines and even a suicidal fan who claimed to be the groom's jilted lover. The whole thing actually looks very funny if one were to take a step back and look at it from an outsider's point of view. Aren't they also the same ordinary mortals that we are? I wonder of Aishwarya Rai's hands would have developed a permanent rash if she did not have flown in mehendi from Rajasthan. Some people just don't know what to do with their money!
But then again, its not their fault that the wedding was so hyped up. Blame the media for sensationalizing this marriage. I mean...its just another marriage isn't it? I'm not saying that it should not be reported(thats what the media should do...I should know..I study journalism!), but why take it to wholly different level of celebrating it more than the Bachhans and the Rais themselves?? Why don't they just stop with reporting it?

Hmm...I wonder what the media might say if they get divorced...that would be fun!

Dumb Bush

Well..the title says it all!

Green tinted sixties mind - Mr.Big

Another favorite song...from mr.Big. Its got an awesome intro.

Closer to the heart - Rush

One of my favorite songs from Rush. This video contains clips from three decades-the 70's, the 80's and the 90's. Awesome video!

Chimp scratch and sniff!

Classic video! Gave me hours of laughter!

Fools rush in...

Well...its been quite some time since I sat down to write a blog entry. Maybe I was just waiting for the right moment and the right topic to write on. Call it writer's block, but I've been busy with these things called exams. Hehe! Anyway, thats besides the point. Read on.

Its Akshaya Trithiya time again and everybody is rushing to pre-book their gold, advance-book their gold, pre-order gold and what not...Its crazy how many terms these gold stores are coming up with. Every advertisement on the local TV channels is about Akshaya Trithiya. Stuff like "Rush to pre-book your gold today!", "Hurry! Offer limited till stocks last!" and "Attractive discounts on gold bookings!" is quite a common sight on TV these days. One advertisement even goes like, "Buy gold today, and you may be on the next flight to Singapore!" Hmm...I'm pretty sure a flight ticket to Singapore is going to be less expensive than buying gold! On the bright side, you see famous actresses in these advertisements dressed in all their golden glory. Its hilarious to see people groaning under the weight of so much gold! Makes me remember that old Sprite ad...where Lisa Ray was apparently bathing in Sprite...cameraman in the ad says "some people do anything for money!"

But I wonder what all the big hue and cry is about. According to popular belief, if a person buys gold, even one gram of it, on Akshaya Trithiya, he or she would be extremely prosperous for the entire year. I don't understand how people can get richer by spending on gold. I wonder if anyone has taken a step back to try and find out what this auspicious day actually signifies. I asked my grandmother about it. Being the self-proclaimed expert on South Indian rituals and festivals that she is, she said that she had never heard about it in her days. She said, "If this festival was so big, I would have definitely known about it. But nothing of this sort happened when I was younger." Right now, on the day of Akshaya Trithiya, one can see hordes of people on Usman Road in T.Nagar(the gold destination of Chennai), standing in long queues outside the several jewelry shops right from 5 in the morning. Usually, this is the kind of behavior one would notice on the day of the release of a Harry Potter book, but this kicks everything else into orbit, including the worst New York rush hour. And the people crowding up there are not all rich people. Chennai can't even have that many rich citizens. We are talking about our own maid-servants and cooks. One of my grandmother's sisters said that her servants wanted her to buy them some gold on Akshaya Trithiya. And the cook in our house was in such a hurry for the day to arrive, that she thought that it happened the previous week itself.

Traditionally, the day of Akshaya Trithiya is supposed to be the birthday of the Hindu sage Parashurama, the sixth avatar (incarnation) of the God Vishnu. And if you did'nt know that, its an auspicious day and is believed to be a very good day to purchase something or start a new venture. I seriously don't know where the gold link came in. Blame it on the media. Even wikipedia says so. Sheesh!