How to dress 'modestly' and preserve Indian culture.

Author : Shilpa Nair      Blog : A PotPourri of Sorts..      Date : 5/2/2013 10:11:00 AM

'You must be aware of the rapes happening in Delhi. Or in India for that matter. We are proud of our culture. We are proud that we may be having the largest number of male chauvinistic pigs in the world. We are proud that we as women, cannot walk alone in the Capital safe. We as women cannot dress 'provocatively' nor speak out our minds. Because guess what, any man on the street can take one look at us, grab his crotch and rape us. To avoid all that problem, we do have a solutio(...)'

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My Malayali-half's anguish.

Author : Shilpa Nair      Blog : A PotPourri of Sorts..      Date : 4/5/2013 6:06:00 AM

'It is only recently that I got interested in Kerala’s culture and stuff. Not that being called a ‘Madrasi’ in Gujjuland did ever make me 'feel' Madrasi.However digging back into my family's history, I found a lot of interesting stuff. How my mother’s family originates in a place called Thalassery, a British stronghold, where they probably traded in spices, from where they ran to Ponnani when Hyder Ali attacked it. In Ponnani the family ‘got into the warehouse business’ which as I un(...)'

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Vishwaroop - Movie Review

Author : Shilpa Nair      Blog : A PotPourri of Sorts..      Date : 2/2/2013 4:35:00 PM

'Cast: Kamal Haasan, Rahul Bose, Pooja Kumar, Andrea Jeremiah and Shekhar Kapur (in a guest appearance)After reading so much about the controversy around this film, MOH and I were in a desperate situation where we totally HAD to see this movie even in Russian! We did not get the Tamil version's tickets, but managed to grab the Hindi version before the censor board ate it up.If India sends this movie to the Oscars, at least the jury will feign some interest in watching it instead of p(...)'

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Nishant - Movie review

Author : Shilpa Nair      Blog : A PotPourri of Sorts..      Date : 11/30/2012 6:50:00 AM

'Year: 1975Director : Shyam BenegalMain cast: Shabana Azmi, Girish KarnadOther Prominent actors: Amrish Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Anant Nag, Smita PatilWhere I watched it: YoutubeSummary: One schoolteacher's fight against four corrupt feudal overlords of the village who have kidnapped his young wife. Read more »'

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Author : Shilpa Nair      Blog : A PotPourri of Sorts..      Date : 11/27/2012 7:55:00 AM

'Year: 1984Director : Goutam GhoseMain cast: Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin ShahOther Prominent actors: Om Puri, Utpal DuttWhere I watched it: YoutubeSummary: The film traces the helplessness and desperation of a poverty-stricken labourer and his pregnant wife in Kolkata, where they have fled to. The director cuts back and forth between the past and the present until the couple arrive in Kolkata. The plotline then follows their progress till the end.Read more »'

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I are Tagged....I you tag...

Author : Shilpa Nair      Blog : A PotPourri of Sorts..      Date : 11/15/2012 7:27:00 AM

'I have never been one very enthusiastic about being tagged or tagging others. Somehow all these years of being a rebel, protesting against 'this-is-the-way-to-do-it' rules and being used to people gravitating towards me and not the other way around, has led to me believing that if people like my writing, they will come to me, no matter what. How wrong I am. I am still queasy about joining blogger platforms because I find that it is expected of me to leave comments on their blog, pra(...)'

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Dream.

Author : Shilpa Nair      Blog : A PotPourri of Sorts..      Date : 10/10/2012 12:30:00 PM

'(I just finished reading this story and I was like WTF? Do you feel the same? I had to publish this because I wrote this story like I was gripped by something. Beats me.)She paid the taxi-guy ten bucks more. She was always generous when she was happy. Like today, when she had decided to celebrate her new-found singledom by travelling. The station was crowded as stations always are. But she minded not. A spring in her step, a buoyancy in her movements, not in the least helped by thos(...)'

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My Best Friend.

Author : Shilpa Nair      Blog : A PotPourri of Sorts..      Date : 7/25/2012 4:10:00 PM

'       She is my new best friend. I love everything about her. To tell the truth, I USED TO love everything about her. But I no longer do. I'm scared now and racked with guilt. There is no single moment that I recall, no single moment that I recall ever being free of her obsession. You see, she is obsessive to the degree of killing me, if I so much as even think of other things. No fantasies, no smiles, no happiness. These are the things I agreed to give up when (...)'

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Great Expectations.

Author : Shilpa Nair      Blog : A PotPourri of Sorts..      Date : 7/16/2012 5:51:00 AM

'       'That is him. That is himmmm!' - Malati called out. She clutched her handbag tight and brought up her hand to where her heart was. It beat wildly. Loudly. Her magenta suitcases fell down on each other, tumbled and collapsed like a house of cards. But she did not notice. They fell about her, while she mouthed 'That is him'.'What nonsense' - Reena snorts. 'That was ages ago. At least now toh forget him.''But I know it is him....Here, go and ask him." Malati (...)'

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Bawandar (2000) - Hindi - Movie review

Author : Shilpa Nair      Blog : A PotPourri of Sorts..      Date : 7/13/2012 3:44:00 AM

'Director : Jagmohan MundhraMain cast - Nandita Das, Deepti Naval, Raghubir Yadav.The movie is based on a true incident. Bhanwari Devi is a potter from the village of Bhateri near Jaipur, Rajasthan; who was gang-raped by five high-class men of her village. She is still waiting for justice after twenty years, as all the accused were acquited in 1995.Nandita Das portrays the role of Sanwari Devi and Raghubir Yadav plays her husand Sohan. Deepti Naval represents 'Saathin' an initia(...)'

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Half Broken Things - Morag Joss - book review

Author : Shilpa Nair      Blog : A PotPourri of Sorts..      Date : 7/13/2012 1:02:00 AM

'(In 4 months in this place, in at least 16 weeks in this place, I have got about 72 books issued form the library. Last year in London, I read about 156 books in 3 months. And then the bad thing happens, I fumble when someone asks me whether a particular book I read was good or not. Also writing book review on my FB notes page is like 'bhes ke aage bhajan gaana'. But I have to put them down somewhere. Then my friend asked me to put it in my scrapbook - which is my blog! So here they(...)'

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" 'Fat' Aishwarya Rai Hahaha" - Sorry, was that meant to be a joke?

Author : Shilpa Nair      Blog : A PotPourri of Sorts..      Date : 7/9/2012 4:27:00 AM

'There is no shortage of idiots and moron in the world is there?I am no fan of Aishwarya Rai. Even though I have admired her 'beauty' (I mean let's face it, even 500 kgs of botox can only go so far as to improve your looks. She is blessed with natural beauty and if she enhances it with Botox it is her life, her wish.); I have never felt she has had any acting skills, any versatility with regards to her expressions; and maintained my opinion that she over-reacts and is (...)'

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Two Minutes

Author : Shilpa Nair      Blog : A PotPourri of Sorts..      Date : 7/7/2012 8:36:00 AM

'I had written this for the Blog-A-Ton contest this month, but could could not post the entry due to some nonsensical reason - anyway here it is :)            I try and try, yet I cannot remember anything from that day. Hazy, unfocused images come swooshing into my face and disappear. Voices, too. I cannot make out what they say.Now when I think of it, I wonder if the signs were there. If, that morning, I had worn the shoe on the wrong foot, or if I had (...)'

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Vidaai

Author : Shilpa Nair      Blog : A PotPourri of Sorts..      Date : 6/22/2012 8:01:00 AM

'There is a lump in my throat and a black hole in my heart.Both I have conjured for this moment.You are leaving and I am glad.Yet, you do not knowThat I am going to be dancing with joyOnce you step out of that door.So here I bid you farewell and send you off with mutterings of 'May God keep you happy'.For everyone's entertainment we hug, kiss and shed tears.Though the tears are Genuine, this is an Act we have put on.For you too are Happy to leave.I see to it that all the stuff you wi(...)'

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For my brother.

Author : Shilpa Nair      Blog : A PotPourri of Sorts..      Date : 6/21/2012 2:52:00 AM

'For all the times I carried u in my arms singing stupid make-up-your-words-as-you-sing-along-lullabies until you wriggled out; For all the times you caught frogs and I pleaded with you to set them free; For all the times we traded a thousand insults with each other, as we did bites and scratches and kicks and screams, until Mum spanked us both; For all the times you tagged along with my gang, and I with yours until we grew up and wanted our own space; For all the times we woke up Mu(...)'

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Restless - Photography - Templates :(

Author : Shilpa Nair      Blog : A PotPourri of Sorts..      Date : 6/11/2012 9:54:00 AM

'I have been absolutely restless all of last week and the week before. I started off with an idea to revamp my blog but now after all the tweaking and creaking, I want to have a new template. Have been exploring WordPress and it seems to be quite close to what I am looking at. Simpler and Cleaner. Somehow I now feel that blogger sucks. I will stick around for a while and see how long I go before I completely destroy this template-thingy.Meanwhile, Arjun gave me a DSLR as a birthday p(...)'

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The last of the Embers

Author : Shilpa Nair      Blog : A PotPourri of Sorts..      Date : 5/23/2012 11:22:00 AM

'This Flesh that you, O Novice, just Seared was already burning from last night's horror. Pray tell, what you shall do tomorrow,  when I am but a handful of ash?'

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6 reasons why I will never be invited to the Satyamev Jayate Show as 'audience'. Jayate :(

Author : Shilpa Nair      Blog : A PotPourri of Sorts..      Date : 5/22/2012 3:56:00 AM

'Why would Aamir Khan be unhappy, even scared to have ME on the show? 1) I would probably slap him across the face every time he said 'Acchha' after the guest tells him his/her dukhbhari story.  2) I would probably pinch my nose shut every time he puffs his cheeks and blows out air when he actually wants to sigh. 3) I would probably hand out my Kara wet Tissues (Aloe-Vera) everytime he pokes his'

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My conversations with Siri :/

Author : Shilpa Nair      Blog : A PotPourri of Sorts..      Date : 5/12/2012 5:17:00 PM

'So there I was, absolutely bored and thinking of a way to kill time, when I thought of Siri. Actually I sat on the phone and the 'round' button got pressed activating her. It is a little frustrating because she is a female in this country so Zi really cannot compare her responses to a male Siri, but it was fun while it lasted. Here are some screenshots from my phone! Please note these are actual'

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Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara - Review by Seelpaben

Author : Shilpa Nair      Blog : A PotPourri of Sorts..      Date : 5/11/2012 2:56:00 AM

'This movie review was written by me last year, but since I had this sudden burst of idea that once my blog was on the public search lists, I must put up the reviews too, I have copied it out here. My FB account is more or less like a blog with all sorts of debates, criticisms, discussions storming it, so it just makes sense for me to past from there.  Sunday, August 7, 2011 at 11:29pm ·       We'

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