IPL & More

Have you seen how well the relatively older players are playing in this installment of the IPL? Tendulkar (36 years), Kumble (39!!), Kaalis (34), Hayden (38!!) with his ‘mongoose’ which BTW is such a cute name for a bat, isn’t it? There's my all-time favorite Gilly, also 38. Chaminda Vaas. Muttiah Muralitharan who I find very cute. My favorite IPL commentary came from Harsha Bhogle, “There might be 1411 tigers left but there’s only one Murali left”. Ha ha...Priceless!

BTW, I read that the salaries of players in the IPL are the second highest of all the leagues in the world. They're lower only as compared to the NBA and higher then the EPL. There's no recession in Indian cricket or what?

My heart breaks for Sourav Ganguly. As The Knife had put it, “There is nothing more painful than seeing an aged and wounded tiger hounded in the jungles he once lorded in.”

The kind of feelings Ganguly evokes in his fans now couldn’t be described better. He was the King of playing spin, he was known for standing up for a team member even when the rest of the team management was against him. And of course, he proved that he will not take crap from anyone, lying down. That he can give back just as good as he gets.

See him play now…the boundaries are fewer and far between though his brilliance still shines through in the way he hits the ball for a six. He was never really known to be athletic or a brilliant fielder but he’s getting clumsier by the day. It’s sad to see one of your favorite sportsmen, who you liked not only for his game but also for his spirit & resilience, lose his flame gradually before dying out.

You were a good captain, Sourav Ganguly.

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The football World Cup is about to start! Ta Daa!! It’s time to don green & yellow! It's time to take my BRASIL jersey out!

BRASIIIIIIIIILLLL la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la Brasil......

I know some people who’re planning to go to South Africa for the semi-finals & finals, and it’s only going to set them back by a couple of lakhs each. For 3 matches & 2-3 days. Phew!!

Don't question the love of a Bong for football.

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Have you seen the promos of 'Kites'? I like Anurag Basu (Life In A Metro) but this movie doesn't look exciting to me for some reason. Maybe I'm judging too quickly but first impressions do matter. Even the 'Zindagi do pal ki' song that's playing across radio channels sounds a bit dated.

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There are confirmed reports - confirmed by the parties involved themselves - that Sania Mirza is marrying Shoaib Malik (ex-Pakistan cricket captain currently serving a 1 year ban from cricket for God know what reason) in April.

Errr...didn't she just call off her engagement to that biscuit guy a couple of months ago?

Apparently M & M fell in love with each other 6 months ago while she was still engaged to the biscuit guy.

Shoaib Malik confirmed the news on Twitter by posting "Thanks for all your support. And the news of me marrying to Sania is true".

Shoaib will marry to Sania and Sania will marry to Shoaib. Now will someone please find someone to marry to me too? :P

Lost Innocence?

School was about schoolbags, not big fashionista bags.

School was about playing anything from basketball to tag to hop skotch during lunch break, not talking on the cell phone.

School was about knee-length skirts, not mini skirts that show off waxed legs.

School was about playing with neighborhood kids in the evenings and reading Nancy Drews, not Cosmo Online.

Because there's the rest of your life for all of that. Someone please get these kids their childhood back!!

Ozz That!!

They might be sledgers of the highest order and more aggressive than we like, but you've got to give it to the Australians. They play (cricket) with such commitment. It's like they pour their hearts out on the field...give the game all they've got. And it's evident in every ball they put bat to & every ball they bowl. They might not be my favorite cricketing side in the world (far from it, actually) but you've got to admit they're right up there as far as the quality of their game is concerned. Especially players like Gilly, Hayden, Brett Lee & Glen McGrath...I've only seen them behave as gentlemen on the field.

What's your take on Australian cricketers?

A Big Shout Out

To one of my dearest friends, super fun blogger, and a wonderful manager to work with - Happy Birthday Moonshine!!

Wishin you a lot more readers through my blog :D

We Just Never Learn

Never will.

The exit to the roof of the building (that was safe from the fire till the end) was locked. There was no spiral staircase on the outside of the building to help escape the inferno. Grills on windows prevented people from being rescued.

The fire department didn’t arrive with the hydraulic ladders for about an hour and did not use fire cushions that could have broken the fall of people jumping off the building to escape the fire. Why? Because they had some payment issues with the private company who supplied them the fire cushions due to which the company hadn’t given them a demonstration on how to use the cushions!!

The floors that caught fire were constructed illegally and the KMC, instead of preventing its construction, accepted money as penalty and let the builders carry on with the construction.

The fire claimed 25 people, several are missing and many others are battling for their lives in hospital. A helpless crowd watched people jump off the building to escape getting charred to death, but dying anyway. Common people that you and I would encounter lolling on the sidewalk tried to break their fall with bed sheets while the fire department, whose job description incidentally entails responding to emergency situations promptly & with urgency, took their own sweet time to arrive (one hour??) and came unprepared.

And as is typical to our country, the administration has “reacted” to the incident. The Fire Minister has admitting to having learnt a lesson - that hydraulic stairs & fire engines should be kept in Esplanade, the central business district of Calcutta, rather than the deep South Behala and the far flung Salt Lake. And that the fire department will now be inspecting all heritage structures for compliance to fire safety regulations.

Unlike a lot of people who have grown up in Calcutta, I have no such Park Street memories. But watching people jump to death, a thud and a piercing scream as they hit the ground and blood starts oozing out from all body parts, can wrench anyone’s heart.

It’s unbelievable how time and again we don’t fail to demonstrate that we are such a failed state.

A Personal Choice

To continue working or take a break is a question almost all women face when they have a kid. It’s a question that alters the course of a woman’s life.

While women who decide that the way their child grows up is much more important than their careers sometimes feel a twinge of regret about the lost opportunities, those who continue working feel guilty for not being around their kids more when they are needed, and overcompensate by indulging their kids.

Whether a woman decides to carry on with her career or become a stay-at-home mom is a matter of personal choice, and one should not make the other feel bad about the choice she made - which is what an article that I read recently revolved around.

The article presented the point of view of two women – a psychologist who quit her job to become a full-time mom and a marketing professional who continued working even after having a kid. The psychologist admitted to sometimes wondering what all she could’ve achieved professionally had she continued practicing, but she decided not to because she wanted to be hands-on as far as her son’s upbringing was concerned.

It’s the attitude of the marketing professional that bothered me – whenever her daughter would ask her why she can’t stay at home like some other moms, she’d tell her daughter that she was more educated and smarter than other moms who stayed at home, therefore she had to go to work. Her daughter has got so conditioned to this line of thinking - that women who work are smarter than women who choose not to - that she too wants to be a working woman when she grows up.

Feeding something like this to your kid is so wrong, I feel. You’re teaching your kids to look down upon other people and judge a person’s intellect simply by virtue of whether he/she works or not. And we know that impressions created on a developing mind stay on forever.

Stop Being a Home-Maker!

The Boy & I generally sleep till late on weekends. The maid is instructed not to enter the house before 11am for she is most likely to wake us up by the assortment of noises ranging from the clanking of vessels to the banging of doors to her squeals when she slips on water while hobbling around the house. These are all noises she uses to entertain herself and also to get back at me for being at her throat constantly to use less oil in her cooking, wash the colors & whites separately, sweep behind doors and in corners she is more than happy to overlook etc.

Sometimes however, she will insist on coming in at 8am over the weekend. She will keep ringing the bell till I get the door, and once in she'll stand outside my bedroom door and keep calling out my name non-stop, like a tape-recorder on loop, until I decide that I need to either throw a heavy vessel at her head or open the door & see what she wants.

Thankfully, good sense prevails - though not without some heavy duty swearing on my part & The Boy hissing at me that I need to learn to be patient - and I get the door. And then I run around after her shouting a host of instructions regarding what to cook, what surfaces to be cleaned for the day etc., while 'A' twists & turns around in bed looking for me.

This Sunday was one such day.

A: It’s Sunday morning. Why’re you running after your maid, giving instructions? Please don’t act like a home-maker.

Me: If I don’t tell her what to do, I won’t even get a decent meal to eat all day.

A: So give her instructions once & get back to sleep.

Me: She needs constant supervision.

Boy: Relax. Stop acting like a home-maker. Stop!

Me: Okay

Boy: Now, go & make me some watermelon juice.

Errrrrr…

Was that my cue to stick something sharp up his ass?

Perhaps not. ‘A’ being ‘A’ made his own watermelon juice and our breakfast too :D

Will Someone Please Tell Me How This Transformation Took Place?

Photo Courtesy: www.idiva.com

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

I'm willing to fall at your feet & grovel. I'll be your slave for an entire month! Just tell me how the lady managed to knock off so much weight! Nita Ambani is looking fabulous, and she's glowing like a million watt lightbulb.

Anyone in on her secret?

Behenji's Mala

The (self-proclaimed) Dalit Queen is back to doing what she does best - act like a megalomaniac. Politics is what she does on the side, 'megalomania' is her full-time profession.

From using government funds to celebrate her birthday with a party that was attended by 30,000 people while 300 people of her state died of a bitter cold wave, to having gigantic statues of herself erected all over the state, her politics revolves around self-glorification. And now this....



Her party members garlanded her with a 'currency' garland made of Rs 1000 notes, amounting to a total of Rs 5 crores. That's 5,00,00,000 rupees that could have been used towards providing primary education to a larger number of rural children, better healthcare facilities, or providing water, electricity & sanitation to villages that currently have no potable water, electricity and lack basic sanitation (of which there are many in U.P.).

The biggest slight to our currency if there ever was one, and consequently to our nation and to the kind of people we Indians are. Question is will she be allowed to get away with such self-obsessed monstrosity yet again?

Something tells me she will.

This Is It

THE day is here. It seems like just another day. It seems the coming year will be like any other year. But my mind tells me that today is a really BIG day, and life SHOULD be different here onwards, or it will be one colossal waste. I’m confused. I don’t know who to listen to.

Yes, it’s scary being where I am. I know this is when ‘gravity’ starts hitting you and the only way to go is downhill. All of a sudden, I’m paranoid about dark spots, fine-lines & wrinkles…about the first grey hair…about the slowing down of metabolism…about creaks & pains in various parts of the body…all of which will make their presence felt very soon. There's also the pressure to make this year THE year that counts, professionally.

And the saddest part is that I’m not even excited about this day as I’ve been every year till now. Parties with friends have been replaced with a quiet cutting of the cake & a nice dinner with loved ones. Excitement has been replaced with an “Oh well, I’m down one more”.

It’s no fun turning 30. And every successive birthday is going to be just another number. Now I know why birthdays are no big deal for our parents.

Happy Birthday To Me. I want my 26 back :(

The IPL Is On

All teams have had at least one shot at the game, some two. They have had a chance to observe 'kaun kitne paani mein hai' (how good each team is). And I'd like to know what SRK has been feeding his team over the past 1 year. They have won both the games they've played till now (what what?), and from being at the bottom of the table last year, they're on top after 3 days of the tournament.

SRK, of course, is back to his signature tomfoolery which is making the guy fall rapidly out of favour with me. I used to like him quite a lot for the way he made his way to the top having started from nowhere - owning the most coveted property in one of the costliest cities in the world - but with each consecutive day he seems to be getting progressively insecure and narcissistic, and consequently making a fool of himself publicly in his media interactions (the worst was when he told a journalist who asked him if there's any actor who makes him feel insecure now that he's in his mid-40s, that no one can make him feel insecure b/c he is SRK. I wanted to gag).

The masterstroke came form Dada himself though. When asked during a presentation ceremony why their team was maintaining a low key profile this time around, he was quick to reply, "We've always been low key as a team. Our owner is high profile and is always surrounded by controversies. But that's something we just have to deal with." He said this in the presence of Shah Rukh Khan.

KKR is playing well. Does it have anything to do with the new purple & gold uniform? Or has SRK finally realized that Saurav Ganguly is a Captain par excellence and that Kolkatans, who are known to switch off their TV sets when Dada gets out, will send mass negative vibes his way if he replaces their beloved Dada as Captain of their home team? Or is it b/c KKR now have a coach who believes in people instead of laptops?

This year I'm rooting for Mumbai - they look like a good team, and I like how Mukesh & Nita Ambani speak only when they need to and just as much as they need to.

The strongest team however seems to be the Deccan Chargers. Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds, Herschelle Gibbs, Chaminda Vaas, Rohit Sharma, RP Singh...good players all. And they played brilliantly against Chennai Super Kings yesterday.

Who are you supporting this IPL season?

PS: People seriously need to learn how to pronounce 'Kolkata' correctly. It's not "Call-cutta" or "Call-kata" or "Coal-cutta". It's "Coal-kaa-taa" (with a soft 't').

How Did You Celebrate Women's Day?

A man I met on the immensely stupid Women's Day wished me a Happy Women's Day and asked how the Women's Reservation was going to make my life better. He was mocking women, of course.

Now, I too am against reservation of any kind because I feel it takes an opportunity away from someone who deserves it on account of merit and gives it to someone who may be totally underserving, simply because he/she was born into a minority community. And most communities that continue to enjoy reservation in Government jobs & Government-run institutes are no longer as impoverished or deprived as they may have been at the time of independence. They have access to the same education and infrastructure that non-minorities in our country do. But the biggest injustice brought about by reservations - or Affirmative Action as it is called in the US - is that someone who deserves the spot is denied it simply b/c he's part of the majority.

Women's Reservation is a different issue altogether though, and I'm not saying this b/c I'm a woman. I'm saying this b/c I believe that women are the largest disenfranchised and unempowered minority in India.

Women in our country (and I'm not talking about financially independent career women like me who form less than maybe even 10% of the female population of India) are denied all kinds of social and personal rights even to this day.

We are still expected to adopt, or in the very least, append our husband's last name to our names after marriage. State-owned banks do not allow a married woman to open an account with her maiden name (I don't know whether this is true of private sector banks as well). A woman's identity continues to be defined by that of a man, be it her husband or her father. All forms, whether emanating from the private or the public sector, ask for her father's/husband's name.

Women are still expected to leave their parents' home and live with their in-laws after marriage, rather than it being an even playing field where both husband & wife set up their own home. A woman who expresses her desires to live apart from her in-laws is seen as an evil, vile woman who is trying to draw the son away from his parents. Never mind that she had to leave behind her own. This is particularly true in small towns.

Men try to harass women at every given opportunity. They lech at us in the most disgusting manner, violate us on the streets by touching us at the most private places, harass us sexually & emotionally, and try to take advantage of single women in every way they can.

Most Indian women (and remember, I'm not talking about you & I) don't even have control over their own bodies or what happens to them. They don't have any sexual or reproductive rights. They must give in to the man whenever he wishes to have sex or face the consequences, generally physical abuse. They often cannot insist on the use of protection during sex and have to bear children even if they don't want to, thanks to "mis-timing" on the part of the man who thinks he is some kind of a God & a blessing to womankind. They get no support from their families even if they're victims of domestic violence and wish to divorce their husbands.

They are expected to perform at the same level as their male counterparts at work, and also bear the primary responsibility of running a house, performing day-to-day household chores such as cooking & cleaning, and be the primary parent raising the child.

So what kind of women's empowerment do we celebrate on Women's Day?

Nothing.

And that is where I think the Women's Reservation Bill is going to help. It may not directly impact your's & my lives, but it WILL impact the lives of millions of other women who are not in a position to speak up for themselves. For every you & me, there are at aleast a thousand women who are forced to suffer silently.

I hope this past Women's Day, rather than saying 'thank you' to every man who wished you a Happy Women's Day and enjoying free meals or free drinks at bars, you asked yourself some tough questions. Do the men in your life, be it your father, brother, husband, partner or boyfriend, respect you as a person? Do they ask you for your opinion even on issues that matter and value it, rather than consulting you only when it's time to decide what color walls you want in your house? Do they treat you as someone who is just as capable as themselves? Do you have your own identity rather than it being defined by that of your husband? Do they listen to you when you speak? Are your decisions you own and not taken by your husband? Are you allowed to do what you feel like, wear what you feel like, and meet whoever you feel like?

I hope you asked yourselves these questions and I hoped you answered them in the affirmative b/c these questions will determine whether you are truly empowered, not whether you got a gift or a free drink on Women's Day.

The Best Cities to Live in India

The Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and the Institute of Competitiveness (heard of them anyone?) recently conducted a study on the best cities to live in India. They concluded that New Delhi is the No. 1 city to live in! Among other things, the city ranked 1st terms of safety and transportation. Now that’s news to me!

According to me, Delhi is one of the most unsafe cities in India, for women at least. I’ve often been advised that when in Delhi I shouldn’t be relying on public transport such as rickshaws, taxis etc. at night. I’ve also been told “if you’re a woman, make sure someone drops you home after a night out. If you’re driving back home by yourself late at night, ask someone you know to follow you.” I’ve heard and read numerous stories about crimes against women taking place in Delhi, often in broad daylight, than in any other city. How then does that make Delhi the safest city in India? Or does women’s safety not count now that we have 33% reservation in Parliament?

Delhi is also not known for its public transport. Apart from the metro, getting around can be a major pain if one doesn’t own a vehicle. There are hardly any taxis in the city except for the ones plying on an 8-hour/80kms basis and we have all heard about the killer DTC buses that expect people to get on & off while the bus is still in motion.

Mumbai on the other hand ranked 1st in terms of housing (is anyone else about to faint reading this like I did?) and 4th in terms of safety!!

From personal experience I can vouch that finding a house to rent in Bombay is a nightmare and being able to afford to buy one in a decent area is next to impossible. And that Bombay is one of the safest cities - if not THE safest - for women in India. I loved the fact that I could hop onto a rickshaw or a local train by myself pretty late into the night without having to fear for my safety.

It came as a shock to me that Kolkata, a hotbed of culture and politics, should rank 3rd in "socio-cultural political environment" and 14th in terms of safety among 37 cities in India. Kolkata may not be a Mumbai in terms of safety but it’s a pretty safe city to live in.

Kozhikode, in Kerela, was ranked 1st among the 37 cities in India for the best healthcare and medical facilities.

Does any of this make sense to you? It doesn’t to me. And the researcher in me can’t help asking this question – what was the sample size for this study and who were the people they interviewed? Folks tripping on LSD??

A Post on Rahul Mahajan ka Swayamvar!!!!!!!

Oh Dear Lord, I never thought I'd do a post on fuckin' 'Rahul Mahajan ka Swayamwar', or that I'd watch the show in the first place (I never watched 'Rakhi ka Swayamvar') but a girl has her need to watch trash after dealing with crap all day long (you know what I'm talking about, dontcha? ;) So here it goes...

Would you marry a man whose only claim to fame is that he was found unconscious in a bath tub ODed on drug laced with alcohol, was divorced by his wife amidst allegations of physical abuse and who probably does nothing for a living except appear on reality shows?

Would you agree to marry him on a show that is televised across a nation of 1 billion plus people, where a woman will be eliminated everyday as she is not perceived to be "fit" to be his wife, and where three women will go through the entire ritual of marriage, right through to the D-Day, and only one will get selected by His Royal Highness to be his wife, where as the other two will be publicly humiliated and will go home with their self-esteem shredded into pieces?

Actually, I don’t even sympathize with the two women who are rejected on the day of the wedding - anyone who goes on such a show to marry a guy like Rahul Mahajan has to be seriously demented. But really, I want to understand the thought-process of these women, their minds. Why would anyone wish to humiliate themselves publicly, worse still marry someone who has a notorious reputation, who they have never met before, and who they can’t possibly fall in love with in the matter of a couple of weeks which is spent jostling for his attention amidst a bunch of girls? That too a loser like Rahul Mahajan!

Did these women think it would be a launch-pad for their careers? Were they aware that they would get married on the show, unlike Rakhi Sawant whose Swayamvar was a complete hoax, and would have to settle into domesticity? They would definitely not be allowed to model or act in movies. Or was it the prospect of power that lured them, given that Rahul Mahajan harbors political ambitions? Do they know that chances are very high no party will give him a ticket, given his past antics?

Is the fact that most women who came on that show to marry Rahul Mahajan were in the age group of 20-23 years an explanation for why they came on the show in the first place?

Funny we should talk of women’s emancipation on account of the passage of the Women’s Reservation bill, while on the other hand 20 year olds are dying to get married to a drug addict and a probable wife beater. I guess they are emancipated too (they took their own decision, didn’t they?), just in a very warped sort of way.

Getting into my Sweats as I Type

Hi people!

Genelia D'Souza went to the gym today. So did Preity Zinta. Arjun Rampal played 2 hours of tennis in the hot Bombay sun and put up pictures of his sweaty self for us to drool over. And I'm sure everyone else worth their salt has worked out today too since they are all fitness-conscious people (weight-conscious is so passe, you know), motivated (with truckloads of money, yeah sure!) and disciplined.

So I've decided I need to go to the gym too. Today. NOW. The gym is calling out to me. I'm feelin' it. Totally. Hell, yeah! 45 minutes on the treadmill...can life get more exciting?

But before I go, let's play a fun game....Pick a list of 3-4 actors/actresses and write a line about them. It HAS to be bitchy & fun, OK? Not nice 'n' sweet. 'Coz that's passe too, you know? And boring...and sleep inducing.

Here's my list:

Deepika Padukone: All hype, no substance

Katrina Kaif: Pretty but useless

Kareena Kapoor: Majorly over-rated

Aishwarya Rai: Never seen more plastic on anyone than her. Not even on the obsessed-with-facelifts-and-boob-implants Californians.

What's on your list?

Mom's Mutton Curry

The Boy has finally accepted that my mom may just be a better cook than his (of course, he’s certain she is but loyalty to his mater prevents him from admitting as much).

The recipe in question was my mom’s Mutton Curry recipe (the famous 1kg onion : 1kg mutton recipe), and if a non-cook like me can whip up the dish that compels The Boy to make such a statement, you can imagine the power of the recipe.

So here, ladies & gentlemen, is my mother’s Mutton Curry recipe. Great with rice, pulao, puris and just about anything.

The star cast:

Mutton – 750gm
Onions, grated – 750 gm (that’s a hell lot of onions I know, but hang in there, soldier :)
Ginger paste – 2 tbsp
Garlic paste – 2 tbsp
Tomatoes, grated – 2 large
Yogurt (for marinating)
Bay leaves – 2-3
Salt to taste
Turmeric
Chilli Powder – 1 tsp
Coriander Powder – 2 tsp
Mustard oil (!!!)
Ghee – 2 tsp
Garam masala powder – ½ tsp

My mom makes this mutton curry in mustard oil. I don’t like mustard oil and never use it myself but she insists it gives the dish a robust flavor and it wouldn’t turn out even half as good with refined cooking oil. Hey, who am I to argue?

The script (the drama unfolds):

Marinate the mutton in mustard oil, yogurt, salt & turmeric for half an hour.

Heat mustard oil in a pan. Add the bay leaves once the oil is hot & let them splutter. Add the onions and fry till they are light brown in color. Add the ginger and garlic pastes. Fry till the mixture is a nice shade of brown. Add tomatoes and fry for another 2-3 minutes.

Add the mutton, salt & turmeric. Stir in the mutton well with the spices, cover the lid and let cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally.

The mutton will ooze water which will start resembling a semi-thick gravy. When the gravy has dried up and the mutton has started oozing oil (mutton fat), remove the lid. Add chilli powder & coriander powder and fry on medium-high heat till the mutton turns brown.

Remember not to take the lid off and start frying before the water has dried up and the mutton starts oozing oil. This will cause the gravy to splutter and the mutton & spices will stick to the bottom and char due to lack of oil.

Transfer the contents into a pressure cooker, add a glass (250ml) of hot water and seal the cooker. Let it whistle once on high heat and 2-3 times on low heat.

For some reason, my mom always adds warm/hot water while she's cooking rather than water at room temperature. It's a little bit of a pain but if you have a micro, life's good :)

Let the cooker stay shut till all the vapor has been released, open, add ghee & garam masala powder. Stir well & serve.

My mom also always adds the garam masala powder right before taking the dish off the stove. I don't know why though, never asked.

This curry will take about 2 hours on the gas. You need to have patience to cook it. Many people cook the mutton in the pressure cooker before adding it to the pot in which they are cooking the spices but that will give you a very average kind of curry. Cooking the mutton with the spices first for more than an hour (that's how much time it will take) will get the spices to really infuse into the meat.

I wish I had pictures but what to do...I'm lazy and a little squeamish about clicking pictures of everything I cook :P

PZ on Twitter

Preity Zinta is one of the funniest celebrities to follow on Twitter, and not in a good way. Reading her updates will make you wonder if she’s become delusional.

For instance, she once tweeted that she will get back to movies once this year's IPL is over.

Err…umm…does she have anything left to get back to??

Another time, right before the Filmfare awards, she tweeted that she’s really nervous about attending the awards and that actors generally are b/c they don’t know if they’ll win!

Excuse me once again…have I been missing all the Bollywood action happening in Preity Zinta’s life? Has she been doing movies by the dozen and getting nominated for them? Have I been living in Iceland and socializing with Eskimos all the while that was happening?

She has also tweeted about how “stunning” Aishwarya Rai looked at the party hosted by Anil & Tina Ambani for the film industry a few days ago. She was talking about THIS…

Photo Courtesy: http://highheelconfidential.com

Sorry, but I find nothing "stunning" about a satin shirt from the 1960s, red 'puja' thread (why do people wear those threads...ugh!) and black pants that merge into your funny looking black boots that aren't even nice!

Ms Zinta has also been rambling on Twitter and how!

“There is so much i want to do, so much i want 2 change in this world ! Time slips away like sand through my hands . I wish i have d strength to bring about that change . "When the going gets tough the tough get going" This was what i was taught by my father . I hope i can.... I find myself 1dering if d system in r country is like quicksand . Will i be able 2 stand my ground or will i be sucked in ? Time will tell ! The past week has shaken me up as i have witnessed things that have hurt my self respect as an Indian . Is it really that easy to commit fraud and forgery and get buy your way through it in our great country . I saw it happening to a common man and it broke my heart . Today I have decided that i will be that change . I stand alone but every moment gives me strength and my resolve strengthens . Its high time now ! Actions speak louder than words ! Its time 2 get into action now ! I know the IPL is on my head, I know i am an actress with no muscle power nor pots of money to buy my way around or influence politicians... but i have the power of the truth ! good always wins over evil though ! This is probably the most challenging and redefining moment of my life . I am an eternal optimistic so on a happy note... Villians beware ! Tomorrow morning will be a bright new day ! I know the sun will shine on me ! Till then good night my friends . I think i will finally be able to sleep now ! Round one begins now ! If this was a movie then the dishum dishum time has started ;-) love you all ! ciao !"

Besides the fact that I hate SMS/Twitter lingo, is she one of those people who put a space between the last word of every sentence and the punctuation following it? Ughhh…can we have some English writing classes for Ms Zinta please? Along with a gentle reminder that Twitter isn’t the place to publish a short story or sort out the emotional turmoil going on inside of you.

And for a person who has a pretty delectable sense of style herself, maybe a refresher course in Fashion 101.