Life Can't Wait!!

Sunsilk has made a dramatic comeback in the shampoo segment by undergoing a makeover. The brand signed up Priyanka Chopra, role model to millions of young women across the country, as brand ambassador, and has successfully re-positioned itself as a top-end brand by targeting upwardly mobile young women (http://www.sunsilkgangofgirls.com) and launching hair care solutions rather than following the usual shampoo-oil routine.

Sunsilk has now launched ‘Sunsilk Co-Creations’ – a range of 7 shampoo-conditioner combinations that have been created in association with several leading international hair stylists who specialize in different fields such as shine, curls, hair color, hair fall, straightening etc.
I generally use L’Oreal / Garnier / Dove for my hair & skin-care needs but I do experiment with other brands as well. The concept of Sunsilk Co-Creations got me interested, so I tried their Thick & Long variant, co-created with Teddy Charles, a Paris based hair expert. And let me tell you something – their product is GOOD.

Sunsilk Thick & Long contains Yogurt Protein Complex that nourishes thin & wispy hair all the way down to the tips, and makes hair look thicker. I have fine hair and this product gives it volume, holds my hairstyle in place without me having to use hair styling products (I hate having products in my hair!), and gives just the right amount of moisturization to my hair.

I still think that L’Oreal, Garnier & Dove make excellent products but Sunsilk might just have come up with something good with its Co-Creations range!

Time for Some Color...Swapnil Shinde (LFW Spring/Summer 2010)

Maybe this would've looked better without the trail?

Mandira Wirk...On Where Were You All This While?

Mandira Wirk's collection was titled 'Humble Luxe' - a range intended to combine both simplicity & affluence. Which I think it does pretty damn well. I would genuinely love to own each of these outfits....

A cowl neck top again...and love that skirt!

Age of the jumpsuits!

Love how this scarf-top is paired with white shorts. Can't think of a better pairing. The print on the scarf is so subtle yet so pretty. And don't miss that belt!

Don't you like them too?

And for those who're interested, this is the lady behind those designs...

Gauri & Nainika at LFW Spring 2010

Love the rosette detail on the shoulder!

The white dress against the black trail & with the black rosette gives the dress a 'starish' appeal...

Love this small black number. I love any dress with a cowl neck anyway. There's a rosette on the waist for those who didn't spot it...

This gown is simple yet striking. And very very elegant...


Like this floor-sweeping gown, without Dipika Padukone ofcourse (gaah, she's just so over-rated)

Which of these, if any, do you like the most?

Do You Like Smelling of Fruits?

Warning : Major plug-in post for Bath & Body Works. I hope the people over at the store are reading this & will send me free stuff. Shower gels, body lotions & body butter please ;-)

Green Apple
Orange Blossom
Sun-ripened Raspberry
Cherry Blossom
Cucumber Melon
Coconut Lime
Sweet Pea
Enchanted Orchid
Mango
Warm Vanilla Sugar
Brown Sugar & Fig
Honeysuckle
Coco Cabana
Basil Orange
Country Apple
Creamy Coconut
Green Tea & Cucumber
Lemongrass
Jasmine
Pear Strawberry
Grapefruit
Shea Butter
Freesia
Strawberry Lemon
Sweet Cinnamon
White Tea & Ginger
Blueberry
Honey Almond
Black Currant Vanilla
Lavender
Peach
Wild Berry
Coconut Vanilla
Creamy Caramel

These aren’t names of hybrid fruits & flowers under genetic engineering. These are varieties of shower gels, body scrubs, body lotions, body butter, hand cream, bubble bath, hand wash & perfumes that are headier than orgasms – if you are one for fragrances, that is. And they are all available at Bath & Body Works stores in the US & in certain countries (other than India :(((

Bath & Body Works, LLC is an American retail chain under the Limited Brands umbrella – the group that also owns Victoria’s Secret & La Senza, and previously owned clothing stores such as The Limited, New York & Co., Structure, Express (which make awesome men’s & women’s apparel BTW) and Abercrombie & Fitch.

Apart from personal care & body care stuff, they also make cosmetics, lip balms, hair care products, scented candles, room sprays, detergent & odor neutralizing fabric refreshers! Imagine if your clothes too smelt like fruits & flowers, wouldn’t that be awesome!!!!!

I lurrrve lurrrve lurrrrve Bath & Body Works...way more than The Body Shop. The thing is, I love fruity smells, and they have the widest range of high quality body care stuff to offer. I’m salivating just thinking of the options.

Like most women who run amok in lingerie stores, I run around like a mad woman in Bath & Body Works stores! Sadly (very very sobbing-type sadly) they have no stores or even retail counters in India, so if you ever come across their store abroad, PLEASE check it out! You will want to bring the entire store back home with you, I promise you that!!

I hope they come to India soon. They must! They must!!

Legends I : Steffi Graf

I have lost interest in women's tennis. I, who at one point of time, used to be glued to the television for all women’s tennis matches. That was when I was in school and Steffi Graf was the reigning women’s tennis champion.

Oh, I used to idolize Steffi Graf. And like any other pre-teen who wants to emulate his/her idol, I too wanted to become like her.

She won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second among male AND female players only to Margaret Court who won 24. She is, to date, the only player to achieve the "Golden Slam" by winning all four Grand Slam singles titles and the Olympic gold medal in the same year (1988). She was also ranked World No. 1 for a record 377 total weeks - the longest any player has held that position.

Steffi Graf’s biggest strength was her versatility across all surfaces, her most powerful shots being her forehand & backhand slice. Her main competitors were Monica Seles, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario & Gabriela Sabatini.

She got involved in two controversies in her life – one, when a mentally ill fan of hers stabbed Monica Seles in the back so Steffi Graf could regain her No.1 spot, and two, when her dad got imprisoned for tax evasion.

There hasn’t been a champion like Steffi Graf yet in women's tennis, nor will there be for a long long time. The reason I’ve lost interest in women’s tennis is due to the lack of a champion. Every Grand Slam is won by a different player and the World No.1 tag is being passed on from one player to another faster than a baton during a relay race!

There were people, such as Martina Hingis & Maria Sharapova, who showed glimpses of their potential to become successors to Steffi Graf but they fizzled away without even matching up to one-fourth of what she was. I'm hoping her (and Andre Agassi's) kids grow up to be great tennis players as their iconic parents...true to this ad.

Sorry Roger but That One Belonged to Andy

I love Roger Federer but I think Andy Roddick was more deserving of this year’s Wimbledon trophy. He held Federer off like only Nadal can do. His serve was so powerful that Roger had a hard time reaching it on numerous occasions. Roddick played bravely, he played big shots and he played with determination. He was motivated to win.

I wanted A-Rod to win last night. He’s always been the guy who made it to the semis or the finals but could never break that wall except at the 2003 US Open. He is a very talented player but he had a tough time with his game, leading him to almost give up on his career. He has come back from the brink and the way he played yesterday, he really showed the world what he is capable of. I’m really sad he didn’t win but he has a new fan in me!

So, congrats Roger but that one did belong to A-Rod.

PS: Funnily, Roddick is known for his outbursts against umpires (and I don’t blame him for it). One of his most notorious quotes was to umpire Emmanuel Joseph in an Australian Open 2008 match: "You're an idiot! Stay in school kids, or you'll end up being an umpire."

Death of a Star

Another example of the spectacular downfall of a star. Sad it had to happen this way. He was an achiever, a phenomenon & he's left behind an indelible mark on pop music, for he alone was called the 'King of Pop'.

Finger Lickin' Good

Conversation with ‘The Boy’ (A) yesterday:

Me : What are you doing after work?

Boy: Going swimming.

Me: Why’re you going swimming? Let’s do something.

Boy (1 second pause): We will. I’ll go swimming, you’re going to gym!

Me: I am?

Boy: Yes.

10 minutess later, I receive this text:

“I’ll come over after swimming. Will get KFC for dinner.”

Now we were talking! I have KFC cravings just like I have pizza, Chinese food & Italian food cravings. The post-consumption guilt associated with KFC is lesser if you feel you’ve earned it, so I dragged myself to gym.

I finished gym & called him:

Me: I’m done gymming. When are you getting KFC?

Boy: You just gymmed, no?

Me (Alarm bells going off inside my head like atoms spinning in a nuclear reactor): Yes, so?

Boy: So no KFC for you. I’m getting Subway.

Me: No fucking way!

Boy: But you love Subway.

Me: I do. But you can’t promise me KFC & give me Subway! I went to gym so I could eat KFC!

Boy: How shameless you are!

Me: I don’t care. Come fast & you better have a bag of KFC on you.

And that’s how I got my KFC :)

For the Love of Mangoes

Yup! I luuuuuuuuurrrrrrve mangoes. Sinful as they are, is there any other fruit that lends itself to milkshakes as beautifully as mangoes? Except maybe bananas….and strawberries….and custard apples....

Wait, that’s quite a few fruits! But you get my point, right?

I’ve been having mangoes everyday for the past month. Not a mango a day but many mangoes a day! I’ve been having mango shake everyday for breakfast, made with two mangoes and with chunks of the fruit floating in it. Yummmmeeee!! And I have a mango again for dinner. That’s 3 mangoes a day, whereas mangoes are FORBIDDEN in my diet chart!

But what the heck? Dieticians are one of the most out-of-touch-with-reality people in the world. I’ve already written about how they prescribe diets that are unrealistic, troublesome & difficult to abide by. And then they go ahead and ban delicious fruits such as mangoes, bananas & grapes from your diet! Such morons! BTW…what’s the deal with ‘litchis’? Are they banned too?

Anyway, coming back to mangoes….I’ve discovered this new specie of mangoes called ‘Himsagar’. ‘Himsagar’ is a Bengal mango. It’s really sweet and heavenly. Mango experts consider it to be one of the most popular & lip-smacking varieties of mangoes. Unfortunately, unlike ‘Alphonso’, ‘Himsagar’ has not made it to foreign shelves yet as the quality checks required for exporting mangoes do not exist in West Bengal.

Speaking of ‘Alphonso’, I think they are way over-hyped. Like Deepika Padukone! There are other varieties of mangoes that are much sweeter and much more delicious than ‘Alphonsos’. Like ‘Zardalu’, ‘Dasheri’, ‘Langra’, ‘Maldah’ etc.

Did you know that India alone grows more than 40 varieties of mangoes? So how can those stupid dieticians expect Indians not to binge on them??!!

Fruits are supposed to be good for us, and last I checked mango was a fruit :D

The Four Hardest Tasks

To return love for hate
To include the excluded
To fogive without an apology
And to be able to say 'I was wrong'

Bing is Back!

Brett Lee is fit to play & will be playing today! He's such a pleasure to watch! Not only b/c of his pace but also b/c of his attitude, sportsmanship & ofcourse, his cute smile. Cutie he is!

Now that he's back, hope Sreesanth is out of the playing 11. I hate Sreesanth. The way he behaves on field, no wonder he's earned nicknames such as 'Appam C*****a'! No other word could describe him better than the 'C' word.

I mean, the guy gets slapped around for sixes & fours by Hayden throughout the over, and has the audacity to sledge him after ousting him!!

Actually, he's quite disgusting. Such an over-rated bowler and has an attitude from hell. The slap he got from Harbhajan Singh was so well deserved, I feel.

On the other hand, we have bowlers such as Brett Lee, Glenn McGrath & Anil Kumble. They're such better bowlers as compared to Sreesanth, so much more accomplished...yet there isn't an ounce of cockiness in them. You will never find them sledging batsmen. They celebrate wickets with their teammates, not by yelling at the ousted batsmen or making disgusting faces at them.

I think one of these big burly Australian cricketers, like Hayden or Symonds, who are twice Sreesanth's size should just beat him to pulp one of these days.

Skiing Down the Alps

I didn't (how I wish I could say I did!!). My friend did. Down this....

The tiny figure in the pictures is my friend.

PS: This is Austria

Aha!

Finally, men seem to be on the same page with women!

The male bra was launched in Japan a couple of months ago at a store called 'Wishroom' & has been selling like hot cakes, mainly online! The store sold almost 300 in the first month itself & had to waitlist customers.

The idea of a male bra originated from the owner of 'Wishroom' - a woman, of course - who knew quite a few men who were looking to "connect with their inner woman".

The male bra is a normal, underwired bra available in black, white & pink and can cost upto $30. And beat this...the Japanese have even coined a name for male boobs...they call them 'moobs'!! Yikes!!!

I think it's just a matter of time now when men start wanting to get their periods & to get pregnant. Afterall, what better way to "connect with your inner woman" than to ride the reproductive cycle!

Fusion Curry at the Oscars

A R Rahman performs 'O Saya', followed by a performance of 'Down to Earth' from Wall-E by John Legend (after Peter Gabriel, the original singer pulled out of the performance because the producers of the Academy Awards decided to present the 3 songs nominated in the Original Score category as a medley & allotted only 65 secs to Gabriel).

Then Rehman comes back with 'Jai Ho'. The track has been modified to give it a fusion feel. Towards the end of his performance, Rahman is joined by Legend & both sing their respective songs side by side, Rahman very careful not to drown out Legend's voice with a high-pitch rendition of 'Jai Ho'. We like :)

What we didn't like was Sukhvinder Singh's opening act being cancelled by the producers and Rahman not mentioning him & Gulzar in his acceptance speech. But this isn't time to be petty, is it? :)

Ladies & Gentleman, Put Your Hands Together For Our Next Champion

16-year old Yuki Bhambri won the Junior Australian Open Boy's Title & became the first Indian to do so. He trains at the Nick Bolletieri Tennis Academy in the US & is currently World No. 2. Only a matter of time till he becomes World No. 1, should we say? I just hope our great countru recognizes this talent & give him the support he deserves.

Love, Actually

I purchased four DVDs this week – Love Actually, Bridget Jones’ Diary, Bridget Jones – The Edge of Reason & The Holiday.

When a couple of movie enthusiasts in office came to know which movies I bought, they balked. They asked me why I didn’t buy movies that are more realistic….serious, moving, heartrending movies.

I agree the movies I bought are by no means cerebral movies or classics, but my idea of buying movies is simple – I want to buy movies I would watch time & again. Such as ‘Love Actually’, ‘Bridget Jones’ & 'The Holiday'.

We have so many bad days in life. Days when we feel generally low or depressed (they certainly outnumber the days I come back home from work feeling on top of the world!) On such days, don’t we all wish to unwind with a light-hearted, funny movie? I know I do! So why would I want to buy movies that will depress me even further?

Love Actually is a brilliant movie, for those who haven’t watched it yet. It’s a perfect Christmas movie (haven’t come across a more heart-warming Christmas movie) but can also be watched any time of the year for feel-good factor. It’s nine stories in one, the characters related to each other by extension. The stories take place in London and culminate on Christmas eve.

There is a young couple who has just gotten married. The groom’s best friend video-records the marriage ceremony. The girl (Keira Knightly) later asks him for the tape, which he says is lost. One day she lands up at his house, insisting on looking for the tape herself, and finds it lying right in front of her! As she’s watching the tape, she realizes that the guy has been in love with her all along!

There is a man (Liam Neeson) who has just lost his wife & is left to take care of his pre-teen step-son with whom he has practically no bonding. However, in the process of helping his son win over the girl he (the son) is in love with, they come closer.

There is another girl (Laura Linney) with a brother who is in an asylum and a not-so-hidden crush on one of her exotic-looking colleagues. Finally, she & the colleague come together but just when they are having an intimate moment, there is a call from the brother who has had some kind of an attack. She eventually ends up breaking up with the guy because she always chooses to be with her brother, who because of his illness has a tendency to get violent.

There is an author (Colin Firth, people!!) whose wife has left him for his younger & more attractive brother (how could she! lol :). He moves to France to get some quiet time alone & continue writing his book, where he ends up falling in love with his Portugese housekeeper who speaks not a word of English or French! He does not speak Portugese either. They go their separate ways only to get reunited months later when he has learnt enough Portugese to ask her father to let his daughter marry him, in Portugese.

There is a much-married-with-kids man (Alan Rickman – Snape from Harry Potter movies!!) who is smitten by his Secretary, who keeps hitting on him. He buys her a diamond ring for Christmas, which the wife happens to see but thinks it’s a Christmas gift for her. When instead he gives her a CD on Christmas Eve, she realizes what is going on!

There is a couple who end up falling in love while shooting an erotic movie.

There is a guy who is desperate to get laid but is not able to in London. So he decides to travel to America because he thinks American women will dig him for being British.

Then there is the Prime Minister of Britain (the delicious Hugh Grant) who, the moment he steps into 10, Downing, is smitten with Natalie, his catering manager who had already screwed up at the first minute, and is marked by other staff for being rather ‘chunky’. The two share a back-stage kiss during the climax when the curtains are yanked, and there they are…exposed to the world!!

And finally there is an old rocker (Bill Nighy) who is climbing back up the charts after battling a heroin addiction, is on the radio & TV either trashing his new CD, insulting his manager or a new hearthrob boy band, or calling Britney Spears the worst sex he's ever had, and who promises to go naked on national television if his latest CD (which he has been trashing) does well! And it does! And he does go naked!!

The characters in Love Actually are falling in love, falling out of love. Some are with right people, some with wrong. It’s a snapshot of reality – love begins and love ends, and there’s not much we can do about it except accept it. Though the movie ends on a very happy, uplifting note.

My favorite scene in the movie is part of the track with the couple who’s just gotten married. It’s Christmas eve, they’re at home. Suddenly the bell rings. The girl gets the door. It’s the guy’s best friend, and he tells her through placards that maybe by Christmas next year, he'll be dating some hot woman, but for him she's perfect & he'll love her till the very end.

I'm planning to watch the movie this weekend. But why am I in such a mushy-gushy mood? How do I know??!! And who cares!!

I feel it in my fingers
I feel it in my toes
Love is all around me
And so the feeling grows
It's written on the wind
It's everywhere I go
So if you really love me
Come on & let it show
You know I love you, I always will
My minds made up by the way that I feel
There's no beginning, there'll be no end
Cause on my love you can depend....

Today's Fortune

My fortune on Orkut today : The guy who reads your fortune lost his psychic powers (and his job). We hope you are feeling lucky.

Hilarious! I wonder how they come up with such random fortunes!