text:
Thank you to everyone who greeted me a happy early birthday! You all are so thoughtful and I appreciate it! Even though my birthday is tomorrow, the party already started!
My wonderful co-workers at work surprised me for my birthday before I left work yesterday, they got me my favorite- CUPCAKES! I LOVE cupcakes, and they made a cake out of cupcakes! OMG I was in HEAVEN!
Nothing is better in life than to have wonderful friends around you who take you for who you are and stand by you no matter what. I love that quote "Friends walk in when the whole world walks out". It's true.
Birthdays were so much fun when I was younger, I was the only child for 9 years, so mom and dad always threw elaborate, over the top parties and I loved it because I had fun with my friends and get tons of cool presents, even though my mom made me invite the ENTIRE class (including the teacher) because she said "If you bring a cookie to class, you need to bring one for everyone", LOL.
Now that I am 26, it's not about the big parties or gifts, but now I appreciate birthdays in the sense it's another great year I spent with close friends. :)
We arrived in Las Vegas safely, and it was HOT when we got here, and not even 2 hours from getting here, the BF won $300 and then later on won $500 on poker and craps! I was like yay makeup money! LOL jk.
He was like a little kid that just got a raise in his allowance, I just had to take a pic of him counting his winnings, his smile was from ear to ear...lol.
I will take more pics and blog more later! It's almost 5AM and I am STILL AWAKE.
Man I LOVE Vegas!
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Saturday, May 31, 2008
Birthday Surprise!
51 comments
- Anonymous said...
advance happyyyyyyyyy birthday! wow, i only get to celebrate mine two days earlier haha! go Gemini's! :D i wish you another year of happiness, health and success! *hugs*
- May 31, 2008 at 4:49 AM
- Anonymous said...
your cupcakes look so yummy! have a great bday! i didn't like the gambling aspect, because i guess it bored me. lol. i think i need to play poker and not the slots!
- May 31, 2008 at 6:31 AM
- Gee said...
Happy birthday!!!!!! Hope you have an awesome time in Vegas!!!! WIN BIG :)
Everyone is going to Vegas...I need to go too, lol
- May 31, 2008 at 7:32 AM
- IchigoBunnie said...
happy birthday!!!!
and congrats on your man winning a buncha money!!!! man those hundred dollar bills look niceeeee. haha i love his expression
- May 31, 2008 at 7:33 AM
- iamgrape1119 said...
HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY!! I wish you many more years to happiness to come. Your boyfriend is ADORABLE! LOL, you two are so lucky to have found each other!
- May 31, 2008 at 7:42 AM
- nee is... said...
- May 31, 2008 at 7:46 AM
- Divine Blackness said...
Happy Biiiiiirthday!!!
- May 31, 2008 at 8:12 AM
- Askmewhats said...
Happy Birthday Nessa!!! And your BF is sooo lucky to win all those money and it'll be well spent on your Birthday!!! yay!!!! hehehe Enjoy your day and I'm sure your co-workers are sweet because you are very nice :) they say the way people treat you is the reflection on how you treat them :) Enjoy your special day dear!
- May 31, 2008 at 8:16 AM
- mayaari said...
Looks like your birthday weekend is off to a great start :) Happy Birthday Vanessa!
- May 31, 2008 at 9:02 AM
- Linda said...
Happy Birthday! I hope you have lots of fun!!!!
- May 31, 2008 at 9:06 AM
- MeaganMonster said...
Yay cupcakes and winnings!!
Hope that you're having a great time.
This post totally made me all smiley.
- May 31, 2008 at 9:38 AM
- Audrey said...
Is your birthday June 1st? Mine is today! (May 31st) I just turned 18 :D happy birthday, girl!
- May 31, 2008 at 11:43 AM
- Christiana Divine @ Memoirs of A Shopping Addict said...
mMm... cupcakes and money. hahaha. ;) anyway, i already said this but i'll say it again, happy early birthday. i know it's not till tomorrow (i got a myspace notification. LOL.) but i just wanted to say it again. ;) glad you're having a blast in vegas!
- May 31, 2008 at 1:00 PM
- Fashionistax5 said...
Happy Birthday Vanessa!!! Have a great time in Vegas!!! :) Those cupcakes look yummyyy!
- May 31, 2008 at 1:08 PM
- Tiffany said...
Happy Birthday! I hope you're having a great time lol
- May 31, 2008 at 1:27 PM
- psychoexgirlfriend said...
Happy Birthday Vanessa!
- May 31, 2008 at 2:42 PM
- Anonymous said...
Costco cupcakes! Those are so good, and so big. Haha! I'm craving one now. Have a fun in Vegas & Happy Birthday!
- May 31, 2008 at 7:00 PM
- Makeupfairytale said...
awww glad your bf won so much money (we alll know it's makeup money for vanessa) hahaha =P happy early birthday! may you have a terrific new year and happiness, as well as a mountain of makeup =P
- May 31, 2008 at 7:17 PM
- Snickleoh said...
happy birthday nessa!!! i hope your loving vegas!!!
- May 31, 2008 at 9:48 PM
- Anonymous said...
Aww! Happy Birthday! You two looked like you had so much fun. Make sure that you get at least $200 from the winnings!
- May 31, 2008 at 10:28 PM
- said...
Happy Birthday Vanessa!! :)
Those cupcakes looks yummy! Your co-wokers are such sweeties. Sounds like the Vegas trip is going well. Have a great birthday!
- May 31, 2008 at 11:55 PM
- Anonymous said...
Happy birthday, Nessa! Hope you have a wonderful day :)
And what good luck does your boyfriend have! LOL
- June 1, 2008 at 12:29 AM
- Xuanie said...
HAppY birthday! and its soo sweet what your co workers did, and it was soo pretty, hoped you had a fun time in vegas!
- June 1, 2008 at 6:04 AM
- Claudia said...
Happy Birthday Vanessa!!
May all your dreams and wishes come true :)
May you receive lots of make up, money or make up-money.. haha!
Have a great trip in Vegas!
- June 1, 2008 at 6:16 AM
- iamsutil said...
happy birthday nessa! ;)
more success, happiness and love...
- June 1, 2008 at 6:19 AM
- Anonymous said...
Happy Birthday! I loooooove cupcakes too! and those look delicious :)
- June 1, 2008 at 8:54 AM
- Sarah said...
Hey V Just wishing you a happy Birthday
WOW I didn't know that our B-days are so close, MINE IS TOMORROW too bad I'm stuck with finale exams =( well it's been postponed till after the finales (this happens to be the case for years) GOD I can't wait till I graduate college
once again happy birthday and enjoy your time in sin city !!
- June 1, 2008 at 9:16 AM
- California Lucky said...
ha that's so funny! my friend ashley left for vegas today for her birthday. must be a popular time! well have a good one!
- June 1, 2008 at 11:07 AM
- alien man?! said...
happy bday, Nessa!! also, congrats on the nice vegas wins ;)
- June 1, 2008 at 11:24 AM
- Camilla said...
Happy Happy Birthday Vanessa!! :)
- June 1, 2008 at 11:57 AM
- Praveena said...
Happy Birthday! Hope you have a great time in Vegas!
- June 1, 2008 at 1:35 PM
- christy. said...
Wooooooooo Happy Birthday! :) Those cupcakes look scrumptious. Have fun in Vegas !
- June 1, 2008 at 1:46 PM
- d0rksta said...
Happy Birthday, Vanessa! Have fun!
- June 1, 2008 at 2:29 PM
- Lani said...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY NESSA!!! ;) be safe and have fun!
- June 1, 2008 at 3:57 PM
- Chiara said...
Happy Birthday Nessa :D Those cupcakes look soo scrumptious! I hope you have a GREAT time in LV. <3
- June 1, 2008 at 4:12 PM
- the Muse said...
happiest birthday my friend :)
- June 1, 2008 at 5:56 PM
- missxxmai said...
happy birthday! hope you are having/had fun in vegas! =)
- June 1, 2008 at 6:03 PM
- Anonymous said...
happy bday vanessa. hope you got a big cake and loooooooots of money for mac makeup. lol. come back already!
- June 1, 2008 at 10:21 PM
- Izar said...
A very happy birthday to you dear Vanessa! I hope you'll enjoy your time in Vegas and win a lot of makeup-money. ;-)
- June 2, 2008 at 7:22 AM
- Shen said...
belated happy birthday!! i'm now the one who's missing a lot!!
i'm praying for a wonderful new year for you!!
- June 2, 2008 at 8:40 AM
- Alice Mary said...
Hi Vanessa! I love it when cakes are made out of cupcakes!! For my Godson's blessing ceremony, we got him a cake that was actually in the shape of a Baby Einstein caterpillar and it was all made out of cupcakes. It was really cute lol. Anyway I hope you are having a wonderful time celebrating your birthday. It's always more special when you can spend it with that select few who have always been there for you. I think it's more meaningful than just having a huge party with a lot of people. Enjoy your week! =]
- June 2, 2008 at 10:19 AM
- BeautyChick101 said...
Happy birthday, girl! :)
- June 2, 2008 at 12:11 PM
- SiMPLY KRiSTEL said...
- June 2, 2008 at 1:18 PM
- Krystle said...
Happy Belated Birthday! I hope you had a lot of fun in Vegas!
- June 2, 2008 at 1:18 PM
- Joey said...
Aww! Romeo looks like a little kid! aha.
I hope you had a great birthday & had good luck in Vegas! I'm soo jealous, haha.
- June 2, 2008 at 4:36 PM
- Anonymous said...
ooooooooh sexy mama. i saw your profile pic.
- June 2, 2008 at 11:11 PM
- yummy411 said...
happy belated bday!!!
- June 3, 2008 at 6:01 AM
- shades of hue said...
I am glad you enjoyed your birthday! I love the azurrrr! I have the damier speedy and I'm getting that next! The purse looks so good on ya!
- June 3, 2008 at 12:37 PM
- Simple SEO said...
I love Vegas. So how did you do?
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- June 4, 2008 at 12:09 AM
- ' * : . b | u 3 . : * ' said...
awww your coworkers are so sweet! those cupcakes look yummy...*drool*
happy belated birthday! :)
- June 4, 2008 at 6:54 PM
- Vanessa said...
Thank you ladies for the sweet birthday greetings!!! You all are wonderful!
- June 4, 2008 at 11:43 PM


text:
Huskers Hope To Compete For National Championship
The Nebraska bowling team returns to the lanes for the 2012-13 season after continuing its national dominance by making it to the NCAA Tournament for the ninth straight season last year. The Huskers fell one round short of making it to the NCAA finals in 2012, but return a strong group of bowlers showing promise to lead the Huskers to their 10th straight NCAA Tournament appearance.
Head Coach Bill Straub likes what this year's squad brings to the table.
"Collectively, they have as much potential as anytime we have had here," Straub said. "We go through scrimmages now with everyone not only fighting to succeed, but succeeding. That is a rarity."
With the graduations of seniors Valerie Calberry and Kayla Johnson, this year's Husker bowling team will rely heavily on returning NCAA and NTCA All-American Kristina Mickelson. The senior from Bellevue, Neb., will be Nebraska's lone senior, but Straub said Mickelson is ready to carry the leadership load for the Huskers.
"Kristi returns after having a terrific junior year culminating in being named an All-American," Straub said. "Kristi is the leader of the Huskers. Besides her on-lane successes, she serves as captain/representative for the team on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC)."
Also returning for NU this year is junior Tan Yan Ling, who brings much needed experience for the young, but talented group of Husker bowlers. Ling, a native of Singapore, has adjusted to life in Nebraska well according to Straub.
"Yan has worked diligently in acclimating herself to the land of Huskers, academically, athletically, and socially," Straub said.
Amanda Burau rounds out the group of Husker upperclassmen this season. The junior from Lake in the Hills, Ill., will be looked upon to help lead the Husker bowling team this year. A transfer from Elgin Community College, Burau is expected to add depth to NU this year, and could contribute for the team. Straub likes Burau's work ethic, and said she has shown improvement since joining the Huskers last season.
"Amanda puts in hard hours of effort trying to better herself and her team," Straub said
Sophomore Elise Bolton will look to make an immediate impact for the Huskers this year. The native of Merritt Island, Fla., will be competing in her first season as a Husker after transferring from Sam Houston State. Straub said he had high hopes for Bolton this season and beyond.
"Elise has had a stellar junior career as shown by her current position with the USA National Junior Team," Straub said. "She has won multiple gold medals for Junior Team USA, and finished second in last year's Intercollegiate Singles Championships."
After competing at a high level for the Huskers as a freshman, sophomore Liz Kuhlkin looks to build on her rookie season. Straub said Kuhlkin's accomplishments were impressive, but could translate into even more success as a sophomore.
"One of the very few true freshmen to ever succeed so highly, Liz was a valuable starter at every tournament during the 2011-12 season for us, earning all-star status in four events," Straub said.
Another former transfer trying to make an impact for the Huskers this season will be Andrea Ruiz. The sophomore from Bogota, Columbia, will try and adjust to the difficulty bowling at the collegiate level. Straub likes the international experience Ruiz brings to NU.
"Andrea is a current member of the Columbian Junior National Team, having won medals for her country while competing in South America, North America, Europe and Asia."
Four freshmen will compete for NU this season, making this team one of the youngest squads in school history.
April Campbell, a native of Bellevue, Neb., will hope to add depth this season. The Nebraska all-state bowler will hope to settle into collegiate bowling this season.
"April begins this, her freshman year, with the Huskers ready to help extend the team's history of success," Straub said.
Emily Eckhoff will look to find success in her first season of collegiate bowling this year. Eckhoff, a freshman from Denver, Colo., brings strong amateur level experience to the lanes this year.
"Her performance there internationally successful professional bowlers will serve her well as she joins the Husker team." Straub said.
After finding international success before coming to Nebraska, Watford, England, native Beth Hedley is hoping to continue her successful bowling career for the Huskers.
"Hedley has been a multiple gold medal winner for Junior Team England, twice winning the European Youth Championship and helping her team win the title at the 2012 World Youth Games held in Bangkok, Thailand," Straub said.
Collierville, Tenn., native Emily Nykiel hopes to add depth to the talent-rich NU bowling team. Nykiel, a two-time state runner-up at the Tennessee State Championships, will hope to use her past success in competing for the Huskers this year.
The Nebraska bowling team will not host the Big Red Invite this year in Lincoln, instead the Huskers will start their season off on Nov. 11-13 at the Crusader Classic, in Valparaiso, Ind. The Huskers finished second in the tournament last season, and hope to start the season off strong with a win.
The Huskers will then go to the Track Kat Classic, hosted by Sam Houston State, in Huntsville Texas on Nov. 30. NU finished fourth in the tournament last year. After a month break due to winter break, the Huskers will head to the Mid-Winter Invitational in Jonesboro, Ark., on Jan. 11. NU finished fourth at the tournament last year.
After another month break, NU will head to Arlington, Texas for two consecutive tournaments in two weeks. The Huskers will compete at the Prairie View A&M Invite on Feb. 1 and then the Southern University Invite on Feb. 8.
NU will then go to the Greater Ozark Invitational on March 1, held in Kansas City, Mo. The Huskers did not compete at this tournament last year. In the last tournament of the season, the Huskers will head to the Music City Classic in Nashville, Tenn. The tournament was the lone Husker tournament win last year.
The NCAA Championships will be held on April 11, in Fenton, Mich. The Huskers will hope to win their ninth national championship.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Parker Brought Pregame Prayer to the Field
Randy York's N-Sider
The Official Blog of the Huskers
Stan Parker is 48 years old now. He's 90 pounds lighter than he was when he was a captain and a starting offensive guard on Nebraska's 1986 team that beat LSU in the Sugar Bowl. That '86 team finished 10-2 and ranked in the final top five teams in both major college polls. The Huskers' only losses that season were 20-10 at Colorado and 20-17 to Oklahoma in Lincoln when the Sooners scored 10 points in the last 3∏ minutes. It was a tough loss, to be sure, but in an ironic way, that Saturday, November 22nd game against OU included an experience that became one of the highlights of Stan Parker's college football career.
"It was a crushing defeat, especially when (OU tight end) Keith Jackson turned around and shoved one of our defensive backs away from him (also known as pass interference) before catching a long (41-yard) pass, so they could kick the game-winning field goal with six seconds left," Parker said in vivid detail. "Yet while that game represented the most painful loss, it also provided one of my most memorable experiences."
Let's rewind the clock back to the night before that 1986 game when Nebraska's and Oklahoma's teams happened to show up at the same movie theater in downtown Lincoln. "Going into the theatre, I didn't realize I was about to experience a 'chance' event that would set up what would happen the next day in the game. I looked across the lobby and saw (OU running back) Spencer Tillman. Spencer had written a letter to (Nebraska I-back) Doug Dubose after he pulled his hamstring and couldn't play, so I went over to Spencer that night in the lobby of the theater to tell him how much I appreciated him doing that."
NU's Parker, OU's Tillman Shared a Common Faith
In addition to hearing about Tillman's skill as a running back, Parker had heard they shared a common faith in Christ. "We left the movie theater that night and went down the street and sat in fellowship for two hours at a yogurt shop," recalled Parker, who is a longtime ministry partner with Ron Brown, Nebraska's running backs coach.
"When we left to rejoin our teams at the theater, I told Spencer: 'Why don't we pray together after the game tomorrow?' Spencer looked at me and said: 'Why don't we pray together before the game?'"
Parker never will forget when he and Tillman, as captains, met for the coin toss, after which they were immediately joined by a small group of teammates to kneel in the center of the field in honor of the God that blessed them with their ability. "In the midst of all the hype and all the excitement, in those moments we experienced something even greater than the game itself," Parker reflected.
Parker has been told that day was the first known organized joint prayer in college football. "We had10 players total, five from each team," he said. "Now it's common to see a group of players from both teams praying after a game."
Kaelin, Nichols, Jones, Kroeker Joined Parker
Joining Parker in that prayer were teammates Ken Kaelin, a fullback from Westerfield (Ansley), Neb.; John Nichols, a center from Littleton, Colo.; Keith Jones, an I-back from Omaha Central; and John Kroeker, a punter from Henderson, Neb.
Happily married for 27 years and the father of three grown children, Parker is the team leader for My Bridge Radio, a ministry which offers Christian programming 24 hours a day, seven days a week from Alliance in Nebraska's Panhandle to Lincoln, the state's Capital City. "I love the opportunities I have to interact with Nebraskans from across our state every day," Parker said, "as well as the opportunities for ministry with Ron Brown, a man of passion, courage and integrity."
One of Parker's roles is co-hosting the Morning Conversation on My Bridge Radio from 6:30 to 8:30 five mornings a week. Parker says the show "is focused on connecting listeners to God, to each other and to the work of God in their communities." On Mondays throughout the football season, the Morning Conversation includes a feature with Ron Brown providing spiritual insights from the previous week's game.
Parker and Brown claim a joint role model in Tom Osborne, who will retire Jan. 1, 2013, as Nebraska's athletic director. "He will be missed," Parker said, "but his legacy will carry on in everyone he touched and everyone he will continue to touch."
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Voices from Husker Nation
I listen to Stan on the way to work. Thanks and have a Merry Christmas. Steve Adkisson, Middle School Principal, Geneva, Nebraska


text:
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Need a show of hands here....
I'm off to Singapore tomorrow. It has been an unusually hectic day today, ending with an art exhibition at the Jehangir Art Gallery. I rather liked Sujata Dharap's work - it was intense and felt and true. This show titled 'The Diary' ,was an attempt to document the past year through images that captured important moments in the artist's life. There were two large canvases with huge polka dots which were very pop art-ish - playful and fun. Sujata said the dots represented windows - 'one has to first look outside in order to look within,' she explained. I nodded sagely, had a cup of sweet, milky chai and came home. Dunno when I'll write the next post. I'll probably borrow my son's laptop and 'do the needful' while in Singapore. Meanwhile - here's my message for the day - don't let the Mangalore Monsters get away. Molestors must be punished. No mercy.If we don't raise our voices against this talibanisation of our culture, we are doomed. Keep up the pressure. The chief minister of Karnataka must apologise, take immediate action against the goondas, or resign. He is the worst thing to have happened to that state. Ask the people of Bangalore - this man has totally ruined that gorgeous city of young, vibrant , pub going people, by imposing his outdated rules and absurd restrictions. Worse - he has tacitly supported those hooligans who claimed they wanted to 'protect' traditional Indian values.Sure - by manhandling defenceless girls?? Shame on those fellows. Prosecute the lot. Or face the citizens' wrath.
126 comments:
- Grisham Benz said...
hello ma'am....donno 'bout others...but i'm an ardent follower of ur writings...thoroughly follow ur blog...plz keep (speed) posting ur work...n happy journey...
- January 29, 2009 at 12:06 AM
- iyer-the-gr8 said...
I show my hand for posting your column(s) here. Actually - you do not need permission ... you are the boss of this space... :-)
- January 29, 2009 at 12:10 AM
- Hellbound. said...
Well, I like the reason why you post stuff onto here. seriously. I mean, I dnt get ANY newspaper but I'd still like to see someone keeping a good tab in her own point of view on what's happening. Like Iyer-the-gr8 says, you're pretty much the bosso fthe space.
I enjoy reading your blog, and favour you keeping the column. Aye!
About Mangalore Monsters (I first thought they belonged to the league of Rajastan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders, then went on to read)...it is very shameful that such a derogatory act should take place that too piloted by someone who's paid to keep the order. I'd ask, on my part, that each education institute impart self-defense as a mandatory subject for every child, Boys too get to the receiving end of molestation. These cases hardly see the limelight, but yup- Break their arms before they break your limits of privacy.
Until then, ciao. Enjoy Singapore.
- January 29, 2009 at 12:22 AM
Hey Shobha,
I'm from a remote town called Fairburn in Georgia, USA. I do not have access to your write-ups which is why I've subscribed to your blog. Please keep posting everything.
P.S: Please write a detailed note on the spineless Sri Ram Sena Stupids. India needs famous people like you to stand up.
- January 29, 2009 at 12:36 AM
- Reflections said...
Same situation as the above anonymous, so keep posting everything.
- January 29, 2009 at 12:44 AM
- Digistrom said...
I'd welcome having your columns here! I'm not a regular newspaper person and mostly miss out on the print version.
- January 29, 2009 at 12:47 AM
- aasif said...
i have not gone through your blog.but that is because i am very busy in my exams.
i may go through them next time.
i just wrote to you this time to say that i admire you a lot.and that is to say that you are one of the few women whom i admire and don't fantasise about--notwithstanding the fact that i may never get to even see you face to face.i know too much about you through your books and articles.
next time i will write more.
do give me a 'All d bst'for my exams
- January 29, 2009 at 12:49 AM
- Harish said...
Hello, I think it is always good for us readers to have all the write-ups at one location, which in this case is your blog. I am totally for this, please do post all your columns, blogs, thoughts, views.....on this blog...thanks!
- January 29, 2009 at 1:18 AM
ECKHART TOLLE ~ ~ "The evolution of consciousness is inevitable. It seems we are living in an age of awakening. This may not be immediately apparent when we watch the daily news and witness the violence, the warfare, the horrific suffering that humans inflict on each other. Here it seems that nothing has changed or things are getting worse. What we are witnessing in fact is the unconsciousness of the human mind playing itself out in front of our eyes. This is the world we create when we are unaware of the one source that sustains and connects us all, and instead identify with opinions, judgments, labels and mental positions. The one source, the one consciousness that is prior to and beyond any form - color of skin, gender, culture, religion, or even any thought the mind can think.
When we witness world events on television, we are in fact seeing only the effect of human unconsciousness. However, it is only in yourself where the prime cause originates and thus can be dissolved. Only then a new world can come into existence".
- January 29, 2009 at 1:22 AM
- Sidhusaaheb said...
Well, I wouldn't mind the occasional syndicated column being re-published here, but it would be a bit of a let-down if no original content were to be produced for the blog or even if most of the space here were to be taken up by re-published columns.
I do like reading your columns, BTW, and try to follow the one you write for The Times of India. If I remember correctly, you used to write one for the Indian Express earlier and I used to read that too.
No offence meant, but I am not a huge fan of your novels!
- January 29, 2009 at 2:20 AM
- Ankit said...
Its better u dont blog...
- January 29, 2009 at 2:21 AM
Would love to read your columns here
- January 29, 2009 at 2:39 AM
- Another Kiran In NYC said...
Please do continue to post your columns along with regular blog posts.
Your "written-for-blog" posts do have a subtly different flavor from the columns, and are very fun and refreshing. And I like to think I am reading original matter written for me as a loyal blog reader. So dont stop posting those at all. I like them a lot.
I think your readers will appreciate both as long as you clearly identify your columns posts as "from TOI etc" and "written-for-blog posts" as just that.
Have fun in Singapore.
- January 29, 2009 at 3:14 AM
Pls continmue putting your columns here.. Its idfficult to follow many news papers looking for your columns. Thanks.
- January 29, 2009 at 3:33 AM
Please put up your columns. It difficult to get all the news papers
- January 29, 2009 at 4:08 AM
Please continue posting your columns here as it is the most effective way to reach all the people who want to ready your columns daily.
- January 29, 2009 at 5:12 AM
Columns and all.. we want Shobha !! Pls put your writing here.. btw, just finishd reading Superstar India.. quite a perspective for soemone like me who has been away from India for over 5 years now..
Wud luve to read more of you here..
- January 29, 2009 at 5:36 AM
I study in Mangalore and this has happened before on a small-scale here. I'm glad this time it brought a lot of media attention :), and please do write your colums here too. That would be awesome
- January 29, 2009 at 8:33 AM
- VaishVijay said...
Yes, please post your columns too...
Hope your columns are as passionate as your blog posts.
- January 29, 2009 at 8:57 AM
I think Shobhaa-ji, you should ontinue with both your columns & we can have your thoughts too, that we can share ... what say
- January 29, 2009 at 9:48 AM
Please continue...
Thankyou !
- January 29, 2009 at 9:53 AM
- Anju said...
Hello mam,
this is the first time I have vistied your blog following the "Bhajan aur Bhojan" from Vikram's blog. While I really liked your thoughts about the satsang, I want to share that publishing your articles in this space is an extremely good thought and practice and I think you must continue doing this. This space will be a quick access for people like me who are not frequent newspaper reader and miss out on a lot of interesting stuff. Infact I have added your blog's link in my favorites list and am sure to visit them frequently...:)
Happy Journey!!
- January 29, 2009 at 10:22 AM
- Nazish Rahman said...
Hello Shobhaa Mam,
well i think that you should post your columns here on this blog as the basic thing about blogs is having your thoughts, voice and experiences expressed and shared with others. Some how we do not follow all the magazines and newspapers and so it would not be possible to read the columns there. In this platform you are not only able to share your ideas but also have a two way easy communication.
Todays world is all about customization and differentiation. Blogs give you this freedom to do so....so why not make full use of that. If one has access to your columns here too then its great that more and more people can read your columns, otherwise they would miss it.
I would suggest you mam, you go with posting your columns here on this blog and as a matter of fact do have polling here on some topics as it would be possible to see as to what your readers think about the topic as this facility is provided, so why not use it.
- January 29, 2009 at 11:39 AM
please post your columns here ...
or you could post links to your columns here instead of copy pasting teh whole thing ...
- January 29, 2009 at 12:03 PM
- Renu said...
I will read whatever you write:) but i will say ..the day you publish any article, give us a separate blog post also..need not to be long..just a few sentences, they will satisfy us:) what say:)
- January 29, 2009 at 12:10 PM
- Nitin said...
I love to read your article in The Times of India - Sunday edition (Ahmedabad). So yesterday I saw your interview on NDTV or so. I am absolutely agreed with you about harming a woman or disabled/ni-shashtra persons. But I would like to ask you ONE Question also here.
What about RAVE parties in India ?
Is there any one or YOU specially asking for punishment for such people ? Like RAVE parties there are so many westernized bad culture which are known to all. NO ONE dare to ask or punish those people.
Is that what we want to head for ?
- January 29, 2009 at 12:23 PM
Well, it doesn't matter to us either way. You can of course continue writing whatever you want to. But my friendly advice is that you stick only to things you know about: parties and high-society gossip.
We are yet to forget that you went and watched a pirated copy of Slumdog Millionaire, after all your bombast of "enough is enough" after the Mumbai attack!
Regarding the movie itself (which had you reeeeeeeling!):
Scenes of poverty and squalour may appear romantic to Westerners and to our snooty elite but for us ordinary Indians they are nothing new. They are an everyday reality. However, one wonders what sort of mind can find such images aesthetically pleasing. Party-hopping socialites like you who are distanced from such reality may find this film an "eye-opener" but for us it IS just poverty-porn. Leaving that aside, I have eight other objections to the film.
1) The director seems to RELISH showing violence. Some of it (like the police-torture) is quite needless. And why was the boy arrested in the first place? On what charge? Was it realistic?
2) How can a boy growing up in slums speak such accented English? Even if one assumes that the language he actually uses to communicate with the game-show host and the police officer is Hindi (granting the director the creative license to use a language better suited for international audiences), there are 2 instances where it is stretched too far: (a) when the boy becomes a 'guide' for foreign tourists at the Taj Mahal & (b) when he becomes a substitute-operator at the call-centre.
3) When the boy uses his 'lifeline' during the game-show, his friend discovers that she has forgotten her mobile and has to run back for it. This is plain Bollywood masala! Did the director HAVE to make it so melodramatic?
4) How did the boy know who invented the revolver just by watching his brother use it?
How does his friend know about Benjamin Franklin?
5) "Darshan Do Ghanshyam" is NOT written by Surdas. It is written by Gopal Singh Nepali for the movie Narsi Bhagat (1957). This song is also credited as traditional and originally written by 15th century poet Narsi Mehta, whose life that film is based on.
6) After winning the game-show, the boy sits on the railway platform and nobody recognizes him! Considering the popularity of the show, is that realistic?
7) Two glaring omissions: To get invited to the show one has to answer several GK questions over phone or Internet. Even after making it to the show, a contestant can reach the hot-seat only after qualifying through "fastest finger first". All this is conveniently forgotten in the film.
8) And of course the greatest flaw in the storyline: programmes like 'Kaun Banega Crorepati' and 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' are NOT telecast live. As a result the entire structure of the film becomes unrealistic. For a film that boasts of being realistic such a flaw cannot be overlooked.
- January 29, 2009 at 12:56 PM
- Kalpesh said...
Dear Ma'am,
Please do continue blogging, whatever content you use. Because English Newspapers (in which your column being published) are show-piece in offices, Majority people doesn't read that. Even I read only your blog from my Google reader, so whatever content you use, it will always fresh for me.
- January 29, 2009 at 1:07 PM
- R. Ramesh said...
ya..any such breaking of law calls for a stern punishment..u hit the nail..
- January 29, 2009 at 1:07 PM
I agree with Sambit.
Stick to just what you know.
High-society gossip.
Writing smut.
And STOP calling yourself a columnist.
- January 29, 2009 at 1:27 PM
I disagree with Neha.
We all need a good laugh every now and then. Shobhaa posing as a columnist is the biggest joke I have come across.
So carry on crapping in public!
- January 29, 2009 at 1:32 PM
Hey people...would you just stop it!!
I know Shobhaa De maybe a bit over the top but that doesn't mean she cannot write!!
I won't lie...I am not a fan of her..but still she deserves to write..everyone does!!
So what if she is scandalous!! I agree that some of her posts are a bit hard to swallow...but that's her way of expressing...you need not call her a joke..If I didn't know much, I'd say you all are jealous of her!!
Ok she may not be oozing with talent...and she is not sugary sweet...but do you really need some one like that??
Yes I'd like to read your columns...and Shobhaa if you could turn your voice a li'l down...just a notch then maybe you'd not meet with such words!!
But I like the frankness and rawness you present!!
- January 29, 2009 at 1:47 PM
If I didn't know much, I'd say that she has offered her skinny physical charms to Jaideep Bose (TOI editor-in-chief)in order to be allowed to continue her column!
- January 29, 2009 at 1:57 PM
Yes, "Give Her A Break!!" (why 2 excamation marks, btw?), she is not a joke - she is an embarrassment. For herself, for her family, for TOI, for India.
- January 29, 2009 at 2:02 PM
Yes, "Give Her A Break!!" (why 2 exclamation marks, btw?), she is not a joke - she is an embarrassment. For herself, for her family, for TOI, for India.
- January 29, 2009 at 2:07 PM
Stop the expletives, guys.
Why are you all getting excited about Shobhaa De of all people? She isn't worth that much.
What I don't understand though (Sambit raised this point) is how she could support piracy? Isn't that supporting corruption. And after she did that, doesn't she deserve to be blacklisted?
- January 29, 2009 at 2:12 PM
Please keep writing and publish your columns here as well since some of us do not have access to all the megazines that you write for esp. the ones only in India
thanks ;)
- January 29, 2009 at 2:23 PM
please comment on the Padma Sree awards,do u think that some of the awardees really deserve it?like Akshay Kumar,a non actor.....
- January 29, 2009 at 3:01 PM
It's started to jolt the freedom that we are so used to...this intolerance that has been exhibited over the last few months.
I sincerely wish that all this provocation & the rage following it doesn't fall into a vicious circle that will let us forget the root cause of this nonsense.
I would like to go a little off-track here & emphasize the need to introduce compulsory moral science & value education right through the junior college level.
I must admit that it's been easier to adopt an understated approach in all my social endeavours...although I'm not one bit proud of it!! This has however not shaken my confidence one bit because I know that it is better to be wise than be assertive.
It's foolish on our part to expect justice & demand our rights from an already tainted administration.
Just play it safe. Life is still beautiful.
Nandini Rao.
- January 29, 2009 at 3:14 PM
- Oxy said...
Well, consider this in Bold n Capital; Write which you do not get published ELSEwhere. Period.
P.S. Wan me to elaborate on that? I can though!!!
- January 29, 2009 at 3:16 PM
You're doing a great job. This is your space, you are free to do whatever and your readers (like me) will gobble it up. If people don't like your writing, its style or content its upto them not to visit this page.
- January 29, 2009 at 3:26 PM
Hi Shobhaa..
I like your articles a lot. With everything that has happened over the last few months, I find it hard to gather any inspiration to vote. What will prompt you to go out there & vote this year?
Nandini Rao.
- January 29, 2009 at 3:31 PM
But how can a person who is herself corrupt (as she has proved by supporting piracy) - to whatever teeny degree she is capable of - take the "holier than thou" attitude that she feigns in her writings (not counting her smut, of course)?
- January 29, 2009 at 3:37 PM
Yes, she is bitchy and totally bankrupt morally. We don't need her.
- January 29, 2009 at 3:40 PM
That's a valid point: who is Shobhaa De ('porn writer' as Sonam Kapoor said) to take this "holier than thou" attitude?
- January 29, 2009 at 3:43 PM
Her writings are a bit silly (as she herself said that when she tied to endear herself to the west by writing her so-called "bold" stuff they didn't take her seriously) but that doesn't mean she should give up.
- January 29, 2009 at 3:48 PM
Oui, Please do continue to write columns .. Thank you,
- January 29, 2009 at 3:52 PM
Even though it was not pertinent to the present topic: can someone answer the points Sambit raised about Slumdog Millionaire?
- January 29, 2009 at 3:57 PM
bitchy gal is right.
Don't know if you all have noticed: she is always trying to put someone/something down! Even when she is praising somebody/something she does that by making comparisions and nasty comments about somebody/something else.
- January 29, 2009 at 4:02 PM
Hi everybody,
if you want to see Shobhaa being made to crap in public (my mind boggles to imagine the sight:o]) by Karan Thapar, watch this link:
- January 29, 2009 at 4:09 PM
Yes, yes.
Loved that interview on Devil's Advocate. Karan Thapar simply took Shobhaa pants off her! I specially like the ending where he gets with the "Mumbai or Bombay?" question.
- January 29, 2009 at 4:14 PM
How is Raj Thackeray any different from Pramod Muthalik? What are Shobha's reasons for supporting Raj, as she clearly does in the interview mentioned by Sanchayita?
- January 29, 2009 at 4:20 PM
I guess the last few responses are digressing a bit. The fact that Shobhaa De is a shallow, smutty slut is as well recognised as the fact that slums (and dogs) do exist in India.
The point is whether she should continue to write.
I think she should. As long as she writes about the only things she knows about (rave-parties, high-society gossip & pornography) and stays away from socio-political issues, I have no complaints.
- January 29, 2009 at 4:32 PM
- Usha Pisharody said...
@ The Mangalore Violence: Indeed if the public could whip themselves up to that kind of wrath, as the media portrayed it out to be, after it all happened, it would not have happened at all!
How does one educate the public on responding to similar instances which surely will recur... Drowning PUB culture is what party lines across the board are now focussing on!!!
- January 29, 2009 at 4:50 PM
my hands for freedom..India is already being ##%¤%& by problem of diplomacy. Everybody wants to play safe..and some freaks who r bold enough like thakreys n all are ¤%%%&&ing india harder.
- January 29, 2009 at 4:59 PM
Just watched the Karan Thapar interview.
How can this lady (if one can call her so!) go around in public after this? She is as bad as Raj Thackeray and Muthalik.
Worse: how can she keep writing such high-sounding stuff (full of vitriol and meanness) and continue posing as a "columnist"?
My advice to Shobhaa:
1) forget writing
2) dig a deep hole
3) or find the one Jamal uses in that "rivetting" crap-scene in the film which left you reeling
4) hide yourself in it, for the rest of your life
- January 29, 2009 at 6:04 PM
Shobhaa De herself admitted that she "watched Slumdog Millionaire on a pirated CD". Check out this link: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Columnists/Shobhaa_De/Politically_Incorrect/Slumming_it_out_in_Mumbai/articleshow/3961852.cms
My question is was the "reeling" bit an effect of the film or of the rave-party the night before?
Because, Shobhaa, you have chosen a miserable film to rave about!
It may win as many Oscars as you wish, but awards won't make it a g-r-e-a-t film.
I suggest: answer Sambit's points and then go dig that hole.
- January 29, 2009 at 6:19 PM
You are so much like the "aunties" shown in Page 3 by Madhur!!!
duh!! duh!! duh!!
- January 29, 2009 at 6:23 PM
Slumdog Millionaire, despite all its merits/demerits, may still be a hit. But that will be simply because of all this controversy surrounding it. There is no bigger publicity than controversy, as we all know.
And the first people scrambling to see it will be these "auntie" types!
- January 29, 2009 at 6:57 PM
- Mathew said...
I'm new to your blog but do read your columns in "The Week." They have the "kick" a regular reader needs to either start a day or end the night. Enjoy Singapore!!
- January 29, 2009 at 8:12 PM
- ek-ladki-anjaani-si said...
Dear De'
I show two hands! Yes I would really appreciate you posting your published writings as well, as I am lazier than you and hardly go hunting for it unless mentioned in a particular blog or comment. But please don't change your blog "attitude" for the blogs, as they are completely different from your publishings! I feel more of "YOU" in blogs than in publishings. So, YES YES YES and please YES!
Enjoy Singapore.... While I go off to working like a darn mule. Lately, work has been pouring in and I cannot seem to catch up :-(
- January 29, 2009 at 8:13 PM
- *Aham* said...
yes yes...Yaar! BlogDost. please please continue to post your published articles here... you know, we readers feel crippled when we feel like communicating our responses to readers. Please continue to paste it here.
Wish you great times in singa... Last time you had a lot of fun... visited teh bollywoodish pubs at orchard road then... I suggest you visit the zoo there now... (ohh! you have seen so many wild animals here... with no civic sence and absolute lawlessness). Talibanisation of India is On. Yes. Let them molest more people. Let our sisters and motehrs be molested too. We will react then. NOW IT IS ONE ISOLATED INCIDENT IN ONE CORNER OF THE WORLD, WHY BOTHER.
Thats the attituide, We indians need to keep it up.
We are a reacting Nation. Not an Acting nation. Let more damage happen... and see how we react!
Kudos India.
I am ashamed. I am apalled. At Being A silent India.
India is a country of shameless people...
- January 29, 2009 at 8:25 PM
- *Aham* said...
(i meant jingoism... ewww.. * pardon my typos... i need to go to school again)
- January 29, 2009 at 8:26 PM
- Mamma mia! Me a mamma? said...
A strong 'aye' from this corner in Kolkata!
- January 29, 2009 at 8:47 PM
- ankur kakkar said...
hi maam , as i said in my last comment that although i had read your article in the SUNDAY TIMES, but i still loved it and thanked you for publishing all that stuff because i usually dont have access to so many publications...
- January 29, 2009 at 8:53 PM
Yes, we need you to continue shitting in public! Who else but Shobhaa who can do that?
Psssst. What do your daughters think about you?
- January 29, 2009 at 9:03 PM
Hi Shobha,
Yes we definitely like to read your articles. Yes we want to see how people feel when they see their own supported hooligans kill and rape and harass people.
We want to see how you justify the death of a person by logicaly seperating yourself from supporting the cause of Raj. When people like you support him by articles and money, thats how he get the courage to ask his goons to kill people.
Thanks for all the deaths and goondaism you are promoting.
Yes I want to read your article.
- January 29, 2009 at 9:33 PM
a blog is a blog is a blog, and that's precisely why you have the freedom to do what you like on it (read posting articles that are already in print). i, for one, would like to read your articles here a) for the sheer convenience of it and b) i may not even know some of the newspapers/magazines you are writing for. paN, mi kaay mhaNtoy...i was always curious about this: i know you are fluent in marathi; but do you know it well enough to orate in it?!
and yes, i'm still confused as to why *you* might want to "support-support" raj thackeray?? i mean, for someone who is as intellectual and cosmo as you are!
- January 29, 2009 at 9:55 PM
- Tasneem Najmuddin said...
Kepp writing in.I would love to read your views on Akshay Kumar and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan getting the Padmashri Award and not the sport persons who performed at the olympics. Do you think that these actors actually deserved it?Common we all know, Akshay kumar's movies aren't worth receiving such a huge honour and Asihwarya only promotes herself during her foreign visits.Also she hasn't done anything that commendable last year. So, why? I'd love to read your views :(
- January 29, 2009 at 10:00 PM
- obssesor said...
heya..i certainly dont mind reading ur "columns" here....
- January 29, 2009 at 10:07 PM
- t o m s o n CHERIAN said...
keep on blogging...i belong to scores of others who dont have access to your publications and writings..
take care
- January 29, 2009 at 10:12 PM
Well, since someone asked about Shobhaa De's daughters:
I don't know about my sisters, but I AM continously embarrassed about Mom. Not so much by her silliness or her sluttiness as by her meanness of spirit, which Mr. Pawan has mentioned above.
- January 29, 2009 at 10:13 PM
"By living through mental definitions of who you are, you desensitize yourself to the deeper aliveness of who you truly are beyond your thoughts.
What arises then is a conceptual identity: I'm this or that. Once you're trapped in your own conceptual identity, which is based on thinking and image-making by the mind, then you do the same to others. This is the beginning of pronouncing judgments on another person, and then you believe that judgment to be the truth. It's the beginning of desensitizing yourself to who that human being truly is."
- January 29, 2009 at 10:17 PM
Arre, mujhe toh maalum nahi tha Shobhaa aisi cheez hai!!! Raj Thackeray ko support karti hai tu??? Ek baar aa jana Bihar me. Phir hum dikha denge - jitne cock chahiye tujhe mil jayenge!!!
- January 29, 2009 at 10:39 PM
- Riaz-NJ said...
I think you should go beyond posting in this blog... You should have a searchable site wherein you can collate all your work. your work is what you are!! Future, generations can refer your work.. who knows someday some one would like to get a Ph.D thesis about your work... Good Luck.. Have a nice trip...
- January 30, 2009 at 12:50 AM
Even your daughter has spoken against you! This must be a sad day for you, Shobhaa.
Have you heard of sportspersons retiring while the going is still good?
If you have, then you should try ("meanness of spirit" notwithstanding) to emulate them.
- January 30, 2009 at 8:00 AM
You asked:"and yes, i'm still confused as to why *you* might want to "support-support" raj thackeray?? i mean, for someone who is as intellectual and cosmo as you are!"
Well, I guess the answer lies in her "meanness of spirit" and in intolerance. She is unable, like many others, unfortunately, to see beyond the interests of her own community. This is what is pushing our country and the world further into the whirlpool of hatred and intolerance.
So Sobhaa, we will be better off without you, without "Danny Boy" (to use your own laughable epithet), without Raj Thackeray, without Pramod Muthalik.
- January 30, 2009 at 8:12 AM
Good observations, Sambit.
I must admit I did not watch the film with such a critical eye, but I did catch a few of those goof-ups.
Do you really need to analyse the film so much though?
- January 30, 2009 at 8:50 AM
- Renu said...
seems to me that i am quite ignorant here, Does Shobha support Raj thackerey?
- January 30, 2009 at 10:13 AM
See this interview, Renu, and decide for yourself:
She tries to defend Raj and gets thoroughly grilled by Mr. Karan Thapar.
To answer Agnosticlown's question: this film is being analysed so much only because of the pretentious claims of the film-makers of having made a gritty, no-holds-barred, realistic film. Nobody would do that with a David Dhawan or Manmohan Desai film.
- January 30, 2009 at 10:33 AM
Please write anything you feel like writing about. If people are complaining about the columns being here, that obviously means they look forward to your columns and want to read more new stuff from you.
Thats not bad in any way.Its a compliment bogged down by the anticipation and expectation to see more of your writing.
- January 30, 2009 at 12:06 PM
Even if Shobhaa De continues to write after all the criticsm here (she is shameless enough to do so), I'll wager that she won't acknowledge Sambit's objections to her favourite film.
I have seen the film AFTER reading Sambit's comments and I must admit I do not have any answers to his observations.
I wonder if all those critics and pundits who are raving about the film will be able to answer his points either.
My advice to Mrs. Shobhaa De: prove all the people here who are calling you "mean" (btw, is Avantikka really your daughter?) by acknowledging that you have goofed up in praising Slumdog Millionaire.
- January 30, 2009 at 1:11 PM
Even if Shobhaa De continues to write after all the criticsm here (she is shameless enough to do so), I'll wager that she won't acknowledge Sambit's objections to her favourite film.
I have seen the film AFTER reading Sambit's comments and I must admit I do not have any answers to his observations.
I wonder if all those critics and pundits who are raving about the film will be able to answer his points either.
My advice to Mrs. Shobhaa De: prove all the people here who are calling you "mean" (btw, is Avantikka really your daughter?) wrong by acknowledging that you have goofed up in praising Slumdog Millionaire.
- January 30, 2009 at 1:13 PM
Please keep up your postings.
- January 30, 2009 at 2:01 PM
- IndojinPot said...
I dont know about others you current approach is correct and i feel no need to change. You may though clearly classify what is what. In other words just mention would suffice that it was originally written for so and so publication, reproduced here for your "blogdosts"
- January 30, 2009 at 2:03 PM
- KSH said...
It seems to me that Sambit and Nadeem - both of them need some good education.
1. Sambit's attempt at criticism is nothing more than fault-finding. His review of the SM speaks more of his creative blindedness than an attempt at insightful writing. My advice to Sandip, stop thrashing SM as if it were a "real documentary drama". SM is a work of fiction. What elevates it from other fictional romantic stories however is its setting in "real surrounds" – the underbelly of Bombay captured brilliantly on camera and enacted with equal brilliance by supposed non-actors, particularly the "real" slum children. So stop being so myopic in your supposed critique of the film. Appreciate cinema at a bigger, broader level than getting into the nitty gritties of whether or not KBC is telecasted live.
2. And Nadeem, stop plaguing this space with your worthless rants and cries. Advise yourself to read better to be able to advice better.
3. Finally, De you needn't worry about whether or not to blog columns published elsewhere. Its all about making a point and you for one, are surely not missing out on any.
- January 30, 2009 at 2:26 PM
KSH, like Shobhaa De, seems to have made up his mind that Slumdog is a great film even before seeing it! Because if you can suspend your emotions and see it critically (as it, being an Oscar-contender, has to be seen) then you will find that (though technically excellent) the film is a very average one. No film with as many flaws in the basic storyline (including the major point of KBC NOT being a live show) cannot be called great. And more so if its producer and director goes around bragging about showing "reality".
- January 30, 2009 at 3:25 PM
Please post everything here.
Re Mangalore incident; glad that you're taking it up. Looking at the widespread reaction from women all across the country I have to say that it's a bit like all Indian women suddenly feel under threat. and are therefore angry - sort of the way Indian Muslims react to similar incidents (Gujarat) involving them. How's that for a minority to minority insight?
- January 30, 2009 at 3:57 PM
- fazal said...
hii maam i read your columes and blog regularelly your blog adress is always in my favourite and bookmark list whether its my home pc, iPhone , ofice PC etc..... whenever i get any free time to read i get a time out to read your Blog !......... what would i suguest is keep your blog they way it is and keep bloging there ......... and make another different blog where we can Read your coloums & Articals of newspaper,Magazines etc............Best of luck for the Singapore trip !
- January 30, 2009 at 4:07 PM
- Nilu said...
Hi Ms. De,
Please keep writing in your blog. I've recently started following your blog and would love to find all your writings here.
Would request you to read my writings and give your valuable feedback to this wannabe writer.
- January 30, 2009 at 4:15 PM
I see a lot of people don't treat Mrs. De with a lot of respect, which is sad. If you don't like the way she writes, don't read. For example, I don't subscribe to the STOI anymore.
@Shobha: Do learn to string together a sentence, dear. All these ellipses are rather irritating.
- January 30, 2009 at 4:18 PM
I can understand why Sambit, CRITICAL EYE & Nadeem are getting irritated. Slumdog is certainly not the worst film in 2008, but the way the film-makers and these "high-society aunties" go on about it does get on one's nerves.
Problem is: now that Shobhaa has already praised the film, how can she admit that she has made a fool of herself?
P.S. Don't be surprised if the film does win the Best Picture & the Best Director awards. The people lobbying for it are in pretty high places.
- January 30, 2009 at 4:55 PM
- Mads said...
i suggest post ur columns here too. it will help u in getting better reviews for ur work, i think....
of course the molestors should be punished...as a law student, i know how little laws help the people in our country....its a shame...
- January 30, 2009 at 5:29 PM
- Usha said...
Plz keep writing here coz its one window where we can read whatever u have written at diff places
Plzzzzzzzzz continue here
- January 30, 2009 at 7:15 PM
- sp said...
Madam De,
Here in BLOGS, just forget what you really are(Your social status or existance doesn't matter is what i am trying to say). We do not particularly care about who is writing but what is being written.
For once as many have pointed out, just make decisions for yourself. Do not try to see if you have enough "FANS" or not here. Try to be honest to yourself forgetting about being a celebrity or whatever you think of yourself. In other words, be your own boss!!
I do like your point of views sometimes and do not agree with many others. If you feel you should add your other published work here or NOT, it doesn't bother me one way or the other.
If you haven't got it yet ... Bottom line - Just be your true self. Enjoy life and everything that comes with it because in all respects, you deserve it.
- January 30, 2009 at 8:09 PM
- Sameer said...
I dont think it really matters if you post a column here or any article... As long as your view comes up on the blog it is perfect. Wondering why people dont like it...And I am not sure why anyone should have a view on whether a person blogs or not....
- January 30, 2009 at 8:13 PM
- Shatrughan Singh said...
Hi ma'm
Please keep posting ur colomns here because there is no harm in it. people who don't want to read it or have already read it, can simply avoid it. I read your colomns here in hyderabad in deccan chronicle and times of india, but sometimes I miss it due to different reasons. In fact, I will be happy to read some parts of your books here also. Please give it a thought.
- January 30, 2009 at 10:05 PM
Shobhaa De exposed by her own daughter!!! I've got to mail this to all my friends!!!
- January 30, 2009 at 11:44 PM
- Francis said...
Hello Shobaji! I totally agree with you that it is all about reaching out, it doesn't matter if it is through column, blog or whatever other means. I am very impressed with your stand on social issues and the way you convey your ideas. I was particularly quite impressed with the peices you wrote on Mumbai Terror Attack and now on Padma Awards. You are blessed with a very special gift for using words so effectively to convey your thoughts and the gutsy stance you take on issues is quite commendable. Keep it up!
- January 31, 2009 at 1:03 AM
There seems to be a lot of resentment building against you. The issues are:
1) your meanness of spirit
2) Slumdog Millionaire
3) Raj Thackeray
As Nadeem said: you should reply to all that. In fact, the best way to prove your critics wrong is to take up those issues. Not by haughtily shutting yourself up in your ivory tower.
- January 31, 2009 at 7:52 AM
Hi, please do blog and even if the are articles that you have already written for a magazine or newspaper.
Here in US, it very difficult for me to even get those articles online or paper.
Thanks again, keep up the good work.
- January 31, 2009 at 8:23 AM
Since people like Shobhaa De like big names, here's what Salman Rushdie (who, along with Amartya Sen, are the only 2 Indians in "Prospect" magazines list of smartest people alive)says:
"I'm not a very big fan of 'Slumdog Millionaire. I think it's visually brilliant. But I have problems with the story line. I find the storyline unconvincing. It just couldn't happen. I'm not adverse to magic realism but there has to be a level of plausibility, and I felt there were three or four moments in the film where the storyline breached that rule."
- January 31, 2009 at 8:26 AM
- Apurva chaudhary said...
Being a student its not possible to be buy each and every newspaper and magazines..
Looking forward for your posts
- January 31, 2009 at 9:54 AM
I would like to read your columns in the blog. Please mention the date & publication of the
column. Please let me know in which newspapers & magazines your columns appear regularly.
- January 31, 2009 at 10:28 AM
seems there are enough sadists in the country to watch you humiliate yourself in public.
So carry on slogging, oops blogging!
- January 31, 2009 at 1:04 PM
Shobhaa, very frankly your writing is worthless and people who read your books are of below-average intelligence.
But if TOI is not embarrased to publish your zilch there's no reason why you shouldn't keep producing it, is there :o)?
And regarding your blog: as some guys have said, perhaps you can prove that you are not as mean as they say by continuing blogging.
After all, your public image can't possibly get any worse than what it is already!
- January 31, 2009 at 4:07 PM
- Miss Cynical said...
Pls keep writing..
- January 31, 2009 at 4:28 PM
- Maddy said...
Publish your columns here on the condition that(See this is the problem when you ask dosts like us!!)…..You will continue to blog like the way you always do here.
Your published work won't overtake this page( No excuse of laziness or busy Schdule..for copy pasting your published works)
- January 31, 2009 at 4:42 PM
- romulus said...
'bitchy gal' and 'tipsy' clearly should not be here, as they do not appreciate the intelligent work of shobhaa. why not go and dabble in something that you actually like instead of bringing your utter stupidity to the blog.
as for the column(s)- Great idea!!
- January 31, 2009 at 6:45 PM
On the contrary, Romulus, it is the "bitchy" and "tipsy" people who belong here. Because our beloved aunt Shobhaa is like that!
- January 31, 2009 at 9:13 PM
- robi said...
i always read ur writings on DECCAN chronicle.But it would be too long to read in a PC screen if u post them in ur blog.
- January 31, 2009 at 9:24 PM
Whether we like Slumdog is not is immaterial any more. It is going to win the Oscars this year. Just as that book by Aravind Adiga ("The White Tiger") won the Booker.
Sad part is we can't even judge a film/book ourselves on its own merit. We end up calling something very mediocre as "great" in blind imitation of the West.
- January 31, 2009 at 9:36 PM
You are a bitch and you even look like one.
But please carry on blogging, because we love to hate you!
- January 31, 2009 at 10:05 PM
Good point about Slumdog & White Tiger, CRITICAL EYE.
I fully agree.
Neither is bad, of course.
But both are overrated.
- January 31, 2009 at 10:09 PM
- Panduram Ganpathrao Dhule said...
We read this page every day, please do share column with us....
- January 31, 2009 at 10:28 PM
- oo7 said...
Do write here..yours is one of the place i frequently visit.
stay and enlighten us
take care
- February 1, 2009 at 10:43 AM
- Zlaek said...
I don't touch the newspaper or the magazines...
Please continue this. It's way easier. Both for you and for us.
- February 1, 2009 at 4:58 PM
- Siddique Imran said...
- February 1, 2009 at 7:19 PM
- Rhett said...
Please, please, please, please do not stop blogging. I think the reasons are too obvious to be stated... After all, you are also just another person, expressing herself by way of blogging and reaching out, isinit? In fact, that is the way I see it. And I think that is enough, and there isn't any need to complicate it further.
So many care -- including me --, others don't, so blog for those who do, eh? :)
PS bas dil de likhiye, aur apne dil ki hi suniye
- February 1, 2009 at 8:22 PM
- Moumita B said...
Ms De,
My vote will go for being able to read all your columns together. I love hearing what you have to say.
- February 2, 2009 at 9:53 AM
- aZoed said...
I was in class five and the teachers had started cooing us about the importance of reading newspaper... my dad gave me some tips, and I was on with it... six months on, and I had graduated from reading the comic strips to some 'real' stuff... when my dad saw me reading your column in The Indian Express. "That was not what I wanted to see you reading at your age", he said with a sarcastic smile... I didn't get it then, but by the time I did, I had graduated to a tougher life where reading wasn't too high on priorities... and now when I am writing myself, I come across the easiest way to read all that you have to write... Pleas e keep the blog going!
- February 2, 2009 at 10:58 PM
- Serendipity said...
OMG. Im a little aghast at what people have to say...guess anonymity helps when u gotta say unnecessary mean things.
Im guessing your taking the high road - ignore. :)
And, continue pls.
- February 3, 2009 at 11:13 AM
- Pritesh Patel said...
Please do continue to post your column/s along with regular blog posts.
- February 3, 2009 at 9:46 PM
I just recently discovered your blog and I think it's so refreshing to read your no-bull approach to writing. Would love to see your columns on this blog.
- February 7, 2009 at 1:28 PM
- maha said...
very nice writing...
Work from home India
- November 9, 2009 at 4:34 PM
- Siva Cool said...
A truly motivational and life changing book
This book is really a good book which shows us right path. but i read
one more book named "ONE BOOK FOR LIFE SUCCESS" which is truly
motivational and life changing . .The writer has described in Plain English with lot of examples which is easy to understand...For More
Please watch the videohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biORjS8ngv0
- July 4, 2014 at 12:43 PM


text:
A new multiplayer Tribes game has been announced by Global Agenda developer Hi-Rez Studios, who acquired the shooter franchise last year.
Hi-Rez describes Tribes: Ascend as "the multiplayer successor to the much lauded Tribes 2 and a re-introduction of the franchise to the gaming world." Jetpacks, skiing and vehicles are all set to feature.
Built upon Unreal Engine 3, Tribes: Ascend will be released for download on PC and Xbox 360 "in late 2011." Hi-Rez notes that "Additional platforms are currently under consideration as well."
Hi-Rez is also working on a PvP-focused Tribes MMO, named Tribes Universe, set in a persistent world with territory control. This will follow after Ascend.
"Tribes fans appreciate the game's essence--athletic FPS combat combined with teamwork and strategy," said Hi-Rez COO Todd Harris in the announcement. "As we began development of Tribes Universe, we focused first on capturing that essence--refining and modernizing iconic elements like jetpacks, skiing, and vehicles. We've had tremendous fun play-testing and realized the potential of a multiplayer focused title ahead of Tribes Universe. The community has been waiting for a multi-player shooter that is the modern successor to T2. Tribes: Ascend is that game."
BOOM video 8416


text:
A while ago I saw how Lisa dipped some fresh figs in chocolate and I loved that idea so much that I decided to do the same thing! Well, not exactly...
Last week I got that chocolate candy bar mold from the picture and I really really had to use it. You know the felling when you have a new toy, right? I'm not the only one like that, am I?
You know what? Fresh figs and dark chocolate are gooooooood! But again, can you please tell me what's not good with chocolate?! What did you say? Shoes? Oh well, you can allways just lick the chocolate and leave the shoe! Can you please ignore that, I must be high on chocolate...
Anyway, you've gotta love a recipe with just 2 ingredients! Even if you don't have a chocolate candy bar mold, you can do as Lisa did or do bonbons with small paper cups, as you would do if you were to make peanut butter cups. You don't wanna bother? Just get a chocolate bar and some fresh figs, eat them together and you'll be done!
Me, I've put dark chocolate on the bottom and sides of the mold, let the chocolate set, filled with fresh figs mashed with a fork and then covered the all thing with chocolate. My mold is quite thin, so there's not a lot of fig filling but it was still very good. I think next time I'll do molded bonbons. The good thing is that figs don't oxidIZE, so they keep that gorgeous pink color inside the dark chocolate. I like that!
Go on, open your mouth! Carefull don't bite my fingers!
Meeta from What's for lunch honey? is hosting the Monthly Mingle August 2008: Fruit & Chocolate, so I'm sending this her way.
Too much chocolate today! Something lighter tomorrow, ok?


text:
Brandy Norwood helped reinvent the sound of R&B when she was just 15: Her self-titled debut as Brandy came out in 1994. She also starred in the television show Moesha and won a Grammy for "The Boy Is Mine," her 1998 duet with singer Monica. Brandy's most impressive distinction? She can honestly say that the late, great Whitney Houston was her fairy godmother.
That's the role Houston played opposite Brandy in a television adaptation of Cinderella. But it also represents the way Houston became an idol and mentor to the young singer — a story that stretches back to the night a prepubescent Brandy attended her first Whitney Houston concert and deserted her assigned seat to try to meet her hero.
"I was determined," Brandy says. "I promised every usher ... that I would remember them when I became famous, and that I would pay all their bills and take care of them if they just let me down to the next section. I talked my way all the way backstage — but by the time I got there, the concert was over and Whitney had left. So my whole world was destroyed."
Brandy's newest album is called Two Eleven — the date of both her own birth and Houston's death. She discusses it here with NPR's Scott Simon.
Brandy Norwood helped reinvent the sound of R&B in 1994, when she was just 15 years old, and became known by one name - Brandy.
BRANDY: (Singing) Sitting up in my room, back here thinking about you, I must confess, I'm a mess for you...
SIMON: Brandy also starred in the television show "Moesha," and she can genuinely say that the late, great Whitney Houston was her fairy godmother.
BRANDY: (as Cinderella) I've always hoped that someone would come and take me away from here.
WHITNEY HOUSTON: (as Fairy Godmother) Cinderella, if you want to get out of here, you going to have to do it yourself. The music's in you, deep down in your soul.
SIMON: That was Whitney Houston and Brandy, in the television adaptation of Disney's "Cinderella." Nearly 20 years since her debut, and with a multitude of awards, Brandy has a new album now, "Two Eleven." She joins us from our studios in New York. Thanks so much for being with us.
BRANDY: Good to be with you.
SIMON: Tell us about the title of this album, "Two Eleven."
BRANDY: Well, 2-11 is the day that I was born, and it's also the day that I lost Whitney as my idol. It's my way of tributing - her, and what she meant to me; you know, just sticking with my purpose. And that's something that I promised her that I would do. And I'm just so excited, going forward, and so excited about the new album.
SIMON: Can I ask about Whitney Houston?
BRANDY: Yes, you can.
SIMON: First concert you went to, was one of hers?
BRANDY: First concert I've ever gone to, was a Whitney Houston concert. And I was all the way at the top. I couldn't really see her face; I could only see her body. And I was irritated. So I talked my way all the way backstage. I missed the entire concert because I was so busy talking my way, to get to her. I was determined.
SIMON: How do you talk your way backstage, when you're 8 or 9?
BRANDY: Because I promised every usher that was in charge of each of the sections - promised them that I would remember them, when I became famous; and that I would pay all their bills, and I would just take care of them, if they just let me down to the next section. And I talked my way all the way backstage. But by the time I got there, the concert was over, and Whitney had left. So my whole world was destroyed. Such a memory - I remember it like it was yesterday.
SIMON: Let's listen to a cut, if we can, from this new album. This is "Scared of Beautiful."
BRANDY: (Singing) Turn the lamp on, let me talk to you. See, the lightbulb does something to you...
SIMON: You have such a distinctive voice. What do you look for, in a song? What do you try and bring to it?
BRANDY: I try to bring the truth to a song. I think songs - different songs with different melodies, different instruments, different beats inspire a different side of who I am, vocally.
BRANDY: (Singing) Turn the lamp down, don't talk to me. That light bulb took something from me, or gave something to me. I can't decide, I can't decide...
But I also love country music and pop music, or dance music. Like, it's fun to sing those songs, too. But R&B is where I came from. It hits the soul.
BRANDY: (Singing) Scared of the good more than the evil, scared of the light more than the dark. Scared of the truth so much more than the lie. I'm scared for you....
SIMON: Your father, Willie, was a...
BRANDY: Yes.
SIMON: ... gospel singer, and a church choir director.
BRANDY: He was - he still is.
SIMON: Still is - God bless. Well, what did he teach you about music, do you think?
BRANDY: Oh, my dad taught me everything about music. He introduced me to so many wonderful gospel artists. And in our church, we would sing a cappella music. So, I learned how to do harmony, singing with my dad. And we would always sing together. We would sing in weddings together. And, you know, he really helped me discover the voice within me - because when I was younger, I didn't really like the way my voice sounded.
SIMON: What did you hear, in your voice, that made you uncomfortable?
BRANDY: When I was younger, I felt like I sounded like a chipmunk.
SIMON: They're big stars, though, the Chipmunks...
BRANDY: Yeah, aren't they? And now, I - I mean, I just...
SIMON: ...Alvin, Simon...
BRANDY: ...and Theodore.
SIMON: Yeah, Theodore, right.
BRANDY: I love them, I love them. But I got used to it. And I started to embrace it and say, oh well, maybe there's something different about my voice. And you know, I started to like it, over the years.
SIMON: Let's listen, if we could, to another song from this album.
SIMON: This is "Without You."
BRANDY: (Singing) Boy, can you slow down for a minute. I just want to talk to you, baby, and let you know what I'm thinking. Oh, please, boy, I'm done with all the lying...
SIMON: Is this song about anyone in particular?
BRANDY: Well, it's just about a relationship where the woman pretty much carries her baggage into her present relationship. And basically, she's confronting the fact that she can't live without this person. I think the record is very honest. It has a great melody to it, and so many of us can relate to that.
BRANDY: (Singing) Oh, boy, I never meant to put you down, you're so much better than that. Yes, you are. Don't want to be who I was before, I want to give you so much more...
SIMON: You have a daughter now.
BRANDY: I do, Sy'rai.
SIMON: Does she listen to you?
BRANDY: She does listen to me. She listens to me sing, she listens to me talk. I'm her mom. Of course. She'd better listen to me.
SIMON: Well, I kind of meant the studio stuff, all right?
BRANDY: Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I was saying it as a joke. It was probably a bad joke. I'm sorry, Scott. But yeah, she likes Justin Bieber more, but I'm working on it.
SIMON: Oh, my. Well, she has plenty of time to acquire more mature tastes, right?
BRANDY: Yes. But Justin Bieber's music is great. I have Bieber fever, too. So I definitely understand her love for him.
SIMON: Is there a song, on this album, you'd like to point us to?
BRANDY: Sure, "No Such Thing as Too Late." It's a beautiful love song, and it has a very powerful message to it. So check it out.
SIMON: Brandy Norwood - Brandy - speaking with us from New York. Her new album, "Two Eleven," is out now. You can hear more songs from Brandy at our website, nprmusic.org. Brandy, very nice speaking with you. Thanks so much.
BRANDY: Nice speaking with you, too.
BRANDY: (Singing) I know you think I be trippin', thinking I be playing, you be saying I ain't into you. Just take a second...
SIMON: This is WEEKEND EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.