Welcome 2009 !

By this time, you must have woken up to the second morning of new year, got over the fervour of the celebrations, turned a lot sober and got on with the life. Life, that means going to work every morning, shopping and watching movies in the weekends and eating to stay alive. Oh ! don't talk all that as I am sure you also have a whole lot of resolutions this new year which ranges from losing weight to saving a lot more to going on that long awaited holiday tour. Wish ALL your dreams come true ! No, really I mean it - from ALL my heart.

I am glad all the 'Ghajini' hype is now over and Aamir and team is happy that it paid off। It was getting nauseating watching that 'takla' hairdo splattered everywhere and reading a hundred times over what it was all about. I finally did watch it last weekend and I thought it was pretty hard on the nerves and the bones and flesh as well.

It was great watching my kiddo making cards for the new year with great enthu। Yes, the real ones ! It made me recall my own childhood when I, along with my elder brother used to sit with Dad by the last week of december and make all those cards with scissors, glue and hard paper scattered all over. Thanks to our kids, we still know what pencils, pens, crayons, erasers, sharpeners, paints, brushes, scissors, Fevicol etc. look and smell like. Else, we would be happy typing away on our keyboards and sending messages at the cliched ' click of the mouse'.

I have been hearing a lot of Ghazals lately। I have observed that I tend to get into a 'zone' as far as the kind of music I listen to peridically। I am sure it happens with you as well. A song or two that takes over and rules your heart and mind and lips day in and out for a week or two until another one takes over. A few ghazals that are ruling my heart at the moment are:

1. 'Aah ko chahiye ek umr asar hone tak' - Jagjit Singh
2. 'Ranjish hi sahi' - Mehdi Hassan
3. 'Aap jinke kareeb hote hain' - Pankaj Udhas
4. 'Hosh waalon ko khabar kya'- Jagjit Singh
5. 'Kisi Ranjish ko hawa do' and 'Ek na ek shama andhere mein' - Chitra Singh
6. 'Aahat si koi aaye' - Bhupinder Singh
7. 'Kaun aayega yahaan' - Jagjit Singh
8. 'Karoge yaad' - Bhupinder Singh

One reason why ghazals are playing in my jukebox is my 7 year old is away on vacation at his grandpa. When he is here, 'Pappu can't dance saala', 'Bhool Bhulaiyya', 'Mauja hi Mauja', 'Singh is Kinng', 'Dard-e-Disco' etc don't allow anything else to even make a guest appearence. I am missing him a lot and so is his mom. When he returns, he will a whole lot to narrate I am sure. I can't wait for that moment!

Wish you all a very happy new year!