well, i just thought i would try out a new template on my blog.... the old one was just fine, but was just a little 'blah' ! - so just thought that i would step up the look a little bit....
will have to wait and see how i like it in the days to come, and if it doesn't go down well with me, might try to change it again...
well, when i have nothing worthwhile to write about, what to do but fiddle around with these cosmetic changes ?!
Monday, 22 June 2009
Thursday, 4 June 2009
gaga over zoozoo !
i'm almost always late in catching up with things....and more so if it has the faintest connection with cricket - which maybe the reason why i was ignorant till a few days back about the existence of zoozoos - those creepy yet cute characters which seem to have taken the indian ad world by storm....
i had missed seeing the vodafone ads as i prefer not be in the vicinity of a cricket match, even though every IPL match was running on our TV screen (thanks to K ,who, like most other indian guys, is a walking Wisden when it comes to cricket ! ).
coming back to zoozoos, i found out and saw these ads on youtube (when you miss something on tv, where else to catch it but on youtube ! ) after my cousin enlightened me....one can't help admiring the innovative concept behind these characters....within 25 seconds, and without any dialogues or eye catching locations, the ads convey the message with such an impact that its impossible to forget them for a long time to come.... no wonder they have such a huge following - with thousands of fans in facebook and orkut...
O&M, the agency behind the ads, really deserves appreciation for creating the campaign - the mobile phone industry in india is a huge one with much more potential for growth in the coming years, and the popularity of cricket in the country of course needs no explanation - so what better idea than to launch the campaign during the IPL season... and the ads seem to have caught on much more rapidly than the proverbial house on fire....the concept of the characters, seperate ads for each value added service, the crisp and effective presentation that takes home the message, all deserve to be lauded - and not to forget the fact that the characters are not graphics, but real people in costumes !
well, i guess vodafone always strikes the right chords when it comes to ads - who can forget the endearing Pug puppy and the cute kids in the ads when Vodafone was still Hutch ? (personally, i think i still like them more than the zoozoo series :) )
of course, whether the fan following for the ads are any indicators of increased revenue is something to wait and watch, i guess....
(image source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Zoozoo-vodafone-1.jpg )
Friday, 1 May 2009
spring is in the air....
when winter comes....
- the view outside my window - first pic taken around jan end, the second in end of april ....
can spring be far behind...?
- the view outside my window - first pic taken around jan end, the second in end of april ....
Thursday, 23 April 2009
going paperless...
somedays back we decided that it was high time that we took a back up of my husband's laptop...as the files were getting transferred to an external hard disk, i realised that the photos we had accumulated over the past three years alone amounted to some 4GB (it would have been more, had not our camera broken down for the second half of 2008, when we made some very good trips) ...
and out of this, we have taken prints of hardly 10 photos...hmmm.... a far cry from the days when i didn't have a digital camera and would impatiently wait for the photo studio to deliver my prints, after grudgingly shelling out close to a couple of hundred bucks - and open them in the studio itself, since i could'nt wait to see how my pics turned out :)
now, i have hundreds of pics for even a small weekend getaway, but no prints or albums to flip through - which is one of the easiest ways to brighten up a dull evening - sipping tea and going through old snaps, recollecting memories...
while maybe it is a good thing that so much of paper is saved, i wonder if something else is getting lost...little things that we used to treasure, things that would remind us of good times when the going was not so good...
and out of this, we have taken prints of hardly 10 photos...hmmm.... a far cry from the days when i didn't have a digital camera and would impatiently wait for the photo studio to deliver my prints, after grudgingly shelling out close to a couple of hundred bucks - and open them in the studio itself, since i could'nt wait to see how my pics turned out :)
now, i have hundreds of pics for even a small weekend getaway, but no prints or albums to flip through - which is one of the easiest ways to brighten up a dull evening - sipping tea and going through old snaps, recollecting memories...
while maybe it is a good thing that so much of paper is saved, i wonder if something else is getting lost...little things that we used to treasure, things that would remind us of good times when the going was not so good...
a few weeks back, when my cousin's wife gave me a card, it made me happy to actually get a card after so many years....i have a whole stack of cards which i had received over the years carefully preserved back at my mom's house...and going through them brings back a lot of memories of times gone by, of friends whom i haven't seen in ages....hmmm...
getting prints of a few snaps from each trip is a project that i'm hoping that i'll get around to, someday.... till then, i guess i'll have to rely on my memory and that of the hard disk's :)
Friday, 27 March 2009
yummm !!
yesterday was PBM nite, after a long time... i love Paneer so much that a paneer dish is a must-have when i go to a restuarant that serves north-indian food...
and paneer butter masala is one of those things which bring you one step closer to heaven :)
when i made it yesterday, i simply couldn't resist taking a pic of it...cottage cheese with tomato and onion purees, cooked in butter...hmmm...pure poetry :)
Wednesday, 11 March 2009
a holi mess !
personally, i've never been a big fan of holi, and the idea of getting my face and clothes smeared with chemical colours that refuse to budge for the next few days has, for some reason, never appealed to me !
but last weekend, we happened to go to a (pre)holi bash organised by my husband's colleagues...it was a get-together of around 15 -20 indian families, and we had a good time, with lunch, music, and a little bit of fun and games :)
and the interesting part - both my husband and i did something we normally don't - my husband tried to shake his legs and joined in the dancing (or atleast attempted to dance !) with his colleagues,
and i let myself get my face smeared with colour ! - of course, i kept telling everyone "only a little bit, on the face..." but when close to forty people get their own "little bits", its nowhere close to little ! but everyone was kind enough to let me off without a smear on my dress, which was all i wanted !
well, it was good fun, and a great start to the weekend... especially as we generally don't get a chance to unwind as often as we would like...
as to the colours - well, wet wipes, some cleansing milk, and a good face scrub as soon as we got home took care of that :)
but last weekend, we happened to go to a (pre)holi bash organised by my husband's colleagues...it was a get-together of around 15 -20 indian families, and we had a good time, with lunch, music, and a little bit of fun and games :)
and the interesting part - both my husband and i did something we normally don't - my husband tried to shake his legs and joined in the dancing (or atleast attempted to dance !) with his colleagues,
and i let myself get my face smeared with colour ! - of course, i kept telling everyone "only a little bit, on the face..." but when close to forty people get their own "little bits", its nowhere close to little ! but everyone was kind enough to let me off without a smear on my dress, which was all i wanted !
well, it was good fun, and a great start to the weekend... especially as we generally don't get a chance to unwind as often as we would like...
as to the colours - well, wet wipes, some cleansing milk, and a good face scrub as soon as we got home took care of that :)
Thursday, 5 March 2009
In sync with time !
I remembered a couple of days back that we had already stepped into March, and in a few days, it would be time to adjust our clocks for daylight saving.
As I checked the internet to confirm the date, I was amused by the thought that I don’t have a wall-clock hanging anywhere in my house, and most of the devices I use to tell time are not actually meant to be clocks !
Mankind has come a long way, from the days of the sundial to the fancy Tag Heuers, Omegas and Cartiers…
My life now, however, doesn’t seem to need any of these… I don’t even remember where the humble Titan I used to possess is now lying.
There are only four spots in my house between which the majority of my time is now divided – My bed, in front of the computer, in the kitchen, and in front of the TV.
My bedside clock/alarm/other-features-that-I-don’t-use comes in handy only when I get into or out of the bed – I take a look at it and groan that either I’ve been up for so long, or that its already time to get up, depending on what time it is…
The rest of the day, I use three things to tell time –
when I am in the kitchen, it is the microwave – I use the clock feature of the microwave more than I use the microwave itself… and since its right above the stove top, it is of great assistance to my not so punctual self to finish cooking lunch before it becomes too late call it lunch time...
when I’m in front of the pc, of course, it is the clock at the right hand corner of the monitor that reminds me that I have spent too much time reading through the Indian news sites, uselessly getting myself worked up about lawless lawyers and politicians playing petty politics…
in the evenings I usually leave the TV on…and more often than not, I go about doing my work around the house to the accompaniment of its sound – the time that I actually spend sitting in front of the TV is very less !
As I go about putting away the laundry, preparing for dinner or doing the ironing, I keep track of the time as the shows change! I know what time it is depending on what show it is !
Considering the fact that until a few years back I used to feel irritated and incomplete on the days I forgot my watch at home, hmmm… time changes, and the times change... !
As I checked the internet to confirm the date, I was amused by the thought that I don’t have a wall-clock hanging anywhere in my house, and most of the devices I use to tell time are not actually meant to be clocks !
Mankind has come a long way, from the days of the sundial to the fancy Tag Heuers, Omegas and Cartiers…
My life now, however, doesn’t seem to need any of these… I don’t even remember where the humble Titan I used to possess is now lying.
There are only four spots in my house between which the majority of my time is now divided – My bed, in front of the computer, in the kitchen, and in front of the TV.
My bedside clock/alarm/other-features-that-I-don’t-use comes in handy only when I get into or out of the bed – I take a look at it and groan that either I’ve been up for so long, or that its already time to get up, depending on what time it is…
The rest of the day, I use three things to tell time –
when I am in the kitchen, it is the microwave – I use the clock feature of the microwave more than I use the microwave itself… and since its right above the stove top, it is of great assistance to my not so punctual self to finish cooking lunch before it becomes too late call it lunch time...
when I’m in front of the pc, of course, it is the clock at the right hand corner of the monitor that reminds me that I have spent too much time reading through the Indian news sites, uselessly getting myself worked up about lawless lawyers and politicians playing petty politics…
in the evenings I usually leave the TV on…and more often than not, I go about doing my work around the house to the accompaniment of its sound – the time that I actually spend sitting in front of the TV is very less !
As I go about putting away the laundry, preparing for dinner or doing the ironing, I keep track of the time as the shows change! I know what time it is depending on what show it is !
Considering the fact that until a few years back I used to feel irritated and incomplete on the days I forgot my watch at home, hmmm… time changes, and the times change... !
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