All Off...

Short hair rocks...this is the message I got from a fellow blogger in a recent bloggers' meet and I quiet agree to it.

The short hair look wasn't always a part of me. As a kid my sister and I had long hair. Our annual visits to the salon happened when we visited our maternal grandparents in summers. Nani used to take us to the parlour and get our hair chopped because she could not deal with all the inhabitants in there. Yes...Yes...I mean lice. Speaking of which I should remind you the old jingle that said, 'jahan mile do sar, juon ko mila naya ghar' and as kids we really din't know how to stay away from those heads.

All the chopping and snipping stopped when I went to the senior section i.e 6th grade. It was an all girls' convent school and we were supposed to tie our hair in neat plates as part of our uniform. For 6 good years my hair weren't touched. Sometimes they grew so much so that I could just fold my plates into double. Those with thick rimmed glasses made me look like a crazy nerd. A time came when people (read parents' friends) started assuming that I was the eldest of the three sisters.

One day I just folded my hair to make them look shorter. The very next day my elder sister drove 5 kms on a freezing winter afternoon and took me to a parlor to get my hair shortened. The rest of the incident was pretty much like a scene from Roman Holiday. Remember when Audrey Hepburn asks an astonished barber to chop her long tresses? 'All Off', she says and the hair dresser furiously cuts them. Well, my dresser didn't get that angry but yes, she was pretty amazed. Finally, I chopped my hair from waist length to small blunt and regained my position as the younger sister.

Bloggers calling Bloggers

Almost two years back, after an amazing trip to Kerela the writer in me came out and this blog was born. Few months back when I joined IndiBloggers I thought that it'll be a good platform to connect with the fellow bloggers. But I never knew that I'll ever meet them personally. So two weeks back when I saw an invitation for an all Women Bloggers Meet in my inbox (a free hair spa and foot massage by Dove followed by lunch at Four Seasons in Worli), I instantly hit the register tab. What more can a woman ask for on a Sunday. I also asked my sister who recently started blogging, to sign up on IndiBlogger and register for the meet.

On the day of the meet we arrived a bit late and missed the introduction session. But the ladies were friendly enough to come and introduce themselves. I met some really wonderful women/bloggers there.

Some of them are listed here:

Nisha: The lonely backpaker who roams around the world and shares her experiences on her blog.
Poornima: The gamer/game developer.
Somya: who like me chopped her hair to look younger. :)
Laxmi, Vasudha and her lovely daughter Harini, Julie, Priyanka and many more.

After a lovely lunch we proceeded for a discussion round. Ideas were exchanged on how to make our blogs more visible and SEO friendly. After that we were given a blank paper to hang on our backs and get it autographed by the other bloggers. It was fun. After a tiring round of games we were given a relaxing 10 mins foot massage which was totally awesome. It was a Sunday well spent.

Thanks to Dove and IndiBlogger for an amazing day and such lovely gift hampers (psst...I got one delivered at home too).

Kahaan tum chale gaye...

A void crept in when I heard the news of Jagjit Singh's demise. I didn't know him but he was more than just a ghazal singer to me. He was a part of my growing up days. My father was a big fan...he still is. Thanks to him that I was introduced to Singh Saab's world of music (yes, we used to call him Singh Saab). The only regret is that we could never hear him live. This post is my tribute to him and here are my five favorite ghazals (by Jagjit Singh) which were a part of my childhood.

Baat niklegi to: The first time I heard this nazm my father was singing it. i didn't get the head or tail of it but fell in love instantly. It still is my top favorite.

Apne hothon par sajana chahta hoon: Akhri hichki tere zanon pe aye...maut bhi main shayrana chahta hoon...Love this sher...

Apko dekhkar dekhta reh gaya:

Koi ye kaise batae ki wo tanha kyun hai: This one is from the movie Arth. Very beautiful, very soulful and very melancholic.

Pyar mujhse jo kiya tumne: From the movie Saath Saath. Even the negativity in this ghazal sounds so lovely.