The Academy award of Attention a.k.a Look at all the pretty gowns!

The Oscars, as always, was studded with the glamourous, the talented, the not-so-talented, the weirdos, and the stoned. Right away with no dilly-dallying about the history of the Oscars or more witty yet insightful comments from yours truly, let's get to the crux of the event: the attention.

The awards, don't mistake me, are very nice and all, but in the end it's about dressing up and entertaining the world with a glimpse of the best slice of the American pie: Hollywood. For Argo and Daniel Day-Lewis, the little gold man was obviously well deserved. However, what will this year's Oscars really be remembered for? Going by all the memes on Reddit, Jennifer Lawrence's little trip up on the stairs, that's what.

While the world talks about the awards for the next two weeks max, fashionistas and style blogs are fawning over and making snarky comments about the women's ensembles. Reddit and Facebook are full of memes, and utterly pointless disappointment and delight.Twitter is a-tweet with 140-character rhapsodies. The TV telecast and recast were eagerly watched by many, many people in India who were patting themselves on the back for Life of Pi bagging four Oscars because we Indians are always very delighted with any attention we get from the rest of the world, and especially from something as over the top as the Oscars.

Any-whoo. 

The Oscar trivia takeaway for this year, ye unfashionable TV watchers and people who don't really give a damn about who won, is:

The Oscar statuette's real name is Academy Award of Merit. Oscar is presumed to be the uncle of the then-Academy librarian Margaret Herrick, who thought that the statuette looked like him. Maybe he also stood on film reels without any clothes on, and carried a sword. Who knows.

Anyway, the people who named the little gold guy scratched their heads and said, 'Meh. Oscar's shorter.'

Read like a writer?

I read for pleasure. And I'm not ashamed to say it. Any book I take up, I get completely immersed in it and experience everything along with the characters. I go on journeys with them, mourn their losses, laugh at their jokes, and learn from their mistakes. There are takeaways and insights in all good books, and I learn from them.

However, I read today that to be a writer, it is not enough to merely read a book for entertainment.  You have to try to understand how it was written, how the sentences are formed and what kind of methods the author uses to introduce characters, build suspense, to end the story, to begin one and pretty much everything in between. Huh. I've got to start reading like a writer.

So I saw Argo

...and it was effing great! (By the way, read no more if you don't like spoilers.)


CIA 'exfil' agent, Tony Mendez, sets up a fake movie and production studio to smuggle out six Americans hiding in the Canadian Embassy in Iran. And Ben Affleck nails it. It's nothing short of impressive the way he's reconstructed the movie from actual photographs taken in 1979 when Iranian revolutionaries stormed the US Embassy. As an actor, there were no pretentious moments where he's the dashing agent come to the rescue. Most of the time he's frustrated, and desperately trying to help the six Americans out of the situation alive. There's no glamour, no heroics, just realistic acting.


In fact, the whole movie is characterized by a lack of sensationalism. What makes it so believable (of course, it is based on a true story culled from declassified CIA files) is that although the idea is preposterously movie-like, the actual implementation of that idea is so far from being theatrical, that it's almost ordinary. There is no 'villain' who is on the trail of the Americans and can anticipate all their moves, none of the six Americans are action heroes or super smart, and Ben Affleck does not hog the screen. I thought that it was more gripping for being so subtle and natural.


Do watch. It's hands-down one of the best movies I've seen.

Phoenix Market City

There’s a new mall in Chennai! Yes, another brand new mall much bigger than all the other already existing malls with an IMAX, and eleven Sathyam movie screens. And many fancy installations like the one below. And shops! Oh, the shops.

Um. Sorry.

It’s just that while Phoenix is a good mall with lots of shops and a Cream and Fudge with ridiculously good mint ice cream, I've just been there so many times already that I've almost memorized the layout of the place. This is the curse of all those who live relatively close to a mall. Ice cream? Mall. Clothes? Mall. Electronics? Mall. Bored? Mall.

In fact, people are so unimaginative that they hang out in malls for Valentine’s Day. LH pointed out that we were also in said mall on said day, and all those people could be just like us: not giving a shit about Valentine’s day and just out because of ennui. I disagree. I mean, come on. You see the place packed exclusively with couples who are holding hands. The food courts are full. Archies is having a record breaking sale of teddy bears and heart-shaped pillows. Yeah, love is exciting these days.

Anyway, a quick guide for the uninitiated. These are a few stores in Phoenix Mall that you might like:

1.      CEX – They buy, they sell, they exchange cell phones, game consoles, DVDs, so on and so forth. Great idea, and the last time I saw the store, it was pulling in crowds like a boss.

2.      Lifestyle – Every Madrasvaasi by now knows about the wonders of Lifestyle. I see maamis, mummies, chicks, professionals, hipsters, geeks, and grandpas alike converge in on Lifestyle for retail therapy.

3.      Cotton World – Comfortable, stylish, and reasonably priced cotton and linen clothes. Summer’s around the corner. Stock up, yo.  

4.      Donut House – Good doughnuts!

5.      Cream and Fudge- Amazing ice creams and sundaes in any combination that you fancy. And they’ll create orgasmic food porn right in front of you on a frozen marble slab. Oh yeah, baby.

6.      Manchester United – The official Manchester United store. For all you Man-U fans out there.

7.      Big Bazaar – almost a staple in every mall these days, it’s a supermarket which all home makers and families are in love with. Where else can you get a broom, cauliflower, clothes, milk cookers, and dhal in the same place?

8.      The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf – A very woodsy décor and the quaint name lured us in. And we didn't regret it.

9.      Mamma Deli – Expensive, but delicious. And speaking from experience, you won’t have a choice on weekends, when the food courts are jam packed.

10.  Loads of electronics stores that my husband is in love with. Bose for speakers, Poorvika for mobiles, Reliance Digital for everything.

This is only a partial list because a lot of stores haven’t opened yet. Like Hard Rock Café and California Pizza Kitchen, both of which I’d like to try. Of course, we’d be first in line to watch a movie at IMAX, and will be regular movie-goers when Luxe opens up.

And Phoenix isn't just a mall; it’s a market city with office spaces, apartments and even a club, as I was told. Convenient, but a little up-market. Okay, a lot up-market.

Meh. I just go for the ice cream.

How does a housewife spend her time at home?

I've been unemployed for a month and a half till date, and this is the single most frequent question I get from anyone I talk to.

Most of the time, they're just trying to make small talk, and I completely understand that. I'm so conversationally awkward with people for the first half an hour of any meeting that I pounce on the least opportunity to nudge the conversation along. It's like a hundred tonne tortoise that you've got to push to the finish line. But after the fourth or fifth or twentieth time, I'm this close, this close to letting that tortoise keel over and die.

That's why I've made a list of everything I've done in the past month and a half. Maybe next time someone asks me, I'll ask them to read my blog.

1. 2-week trip with le Husband to places I've never been to before.

2. Cooking. Something I only began learning in earnest a month ago. 

3. Managing a house. This includes cleaning, laundry, the works. 

4. Weekends are fully spent : 

     a. Watching movies, 

     b.Visiting friends and family, 

     c.Friends and family coming over to our home,  

     d. Occasional trips to amusement parks and adventure camps,

     e. Shopping.

5. Reading. (I've cracked open Kurt Vonnegut's 'Slaughterhouse five', and I'm bravely sailing through Che Guevara's biography.)

6. Writing. (Or thinking about writing. Professionally and otherwise.)

7. Keeping up with Twitter and Facebook and Reddit and StumbleUpon and many, many food blogs for inspiration.

And of course, there are other things I must do apart from getting a job, like: 

1. Learn to drive a car. 

2. Start blogging seriously again.

3. Read more! 

This seems like a great list to me because finally, my list doesn't just read wake up-go to work-be bored-eat-sleep-repeat. I love the independence of having my own place, I love spending time with LH, and I love that I have the freedom to plan my day the way I want to.

So yeah. I'm a temporary housewife/amateur cook/avid reader/hopeful writer. Any other questions?