Do you work from home?

This is usually how the conversation flows, whenever I am asked about my work.

X: Do you work?

Me: Yes I do.

X: Which company?

Me: I have my own business. I am a freelance content writer and an essay editor.

X: Do you work from home? 

Me: Yes.

X: Wow, You are so lucky. It must be so good to work from your own home and not go out and work. No tension and no commute. 

Photo courtesy: Forbes.com

If I know the person well, I do go into a long winded explanation but usually I just say, it is not all luck, but involves tons of hard work.

Well for all of you who are sailing in the same boat like me, let me say this, I know exactly how it feels when people say you are lucky, because you work from home. Most of us have given up our well paying jobs to raise children, to provide a stable home, because we have health issues that do not allow us to take full time jobs or like me who had to give up countless jobs because Hubs constantly keeps moving from one city to another. I finally got fed up of hunting for work every time we moved and we have moved houses nearly 14 times in the past 13 years. I started my own content writing firm two years back.

I get upset when people think it is all fun when you work from home.

Though I agree working from home does have it upsides too:

• I don't have to get dressed, I work in my Pajamas.
• I don't have to rush in the morning to reach my work place on time.
• I don't have to bear farty bosses and rude colleagues.
• I can work when I want.
• I can work with music blaring loudly.
• I can have a snack any time I want.
• I was able to discover my passion for writing and now get paid for what I love to do.

It does have it downsides too, which most people don't bother think about. When you work from home:

• People don't take your work seriously.
• They think you are doing it for pocket money and do not consider your career choice to be a serious one.
• You never get bonus for achieving your targets and most times not even a pat on the back for a  job done well.
• It can get quite lonely when you work alone. No buddies who can perk you up when you are having a bad day. There are no birthday parties or office parties where you can let your hair down
• You don't get to dress up and go to work where your colleagues compliment you on your outfit.
• You never get to gossip with anyone in your "Chai" break
• Your work gets interrupted because you keep getting up to answer the countless number of times the doorbell rings.
• People who otherwise would not have thought of dropping in for a holiday, if you were working away from home, end up making visits because they know you are at home. You end up entertaining people on their break, when actually you should be looking for more work.
• Getting assignments is tough, you have to keep looking for work all the time. 
• If the client is rotten, you don't even get paid.
• The line between your home life and work life gets blurred.
• You get sucked up into doing household chores because they are right there in front of your eyes all the time.
• There are times when you have no work and days when it is pouring and you don't even have time to breathe.

There, I have now said it out loud and I feel much better after ranting about it. I hope that next time you meet someone, who works from home, you will think twice before you call them lucky. Cause baby, luck has got nothing to do with it, it is all hard work, sweat and tears.

Photo Courtesy: Dudelol

Do you work from home? What has been your experience?

Happy Birthday, 'Angry Young Man'

We all know that Amitabh Bachchan epitomised the angry young man of Bollywood. Till now, no one has been able to come even close to his charisma and his screen presence. 

Just like you, I am a huge fan of his Movies, not only those Movies, where he played the 'Angry young Man' character but also Movies such as 'Chupke Chupke', 'Satte pe Satta' and 'Cheeni Kum', where you could see that he has an incredible sense of timing, when it comes to humour.

Amitabh Bachchan has the talent to deliver his dialogues with such aplomb that even now, after many decades, we still remember them and repeat them any chance we get.

Here are some of his famous Movie dialogues:

1) "Haan, main sign karoonga, lekin pehle us aadmi ka sign leke aao, jisne mera baap ko chor kaha tha ; pehle us aadmi ka sign leke aao jisne meri maa ko gali deke naukri se nikal diya tha; pehle us aadmi ka sign leke aao jisne mere haath pe ye ('mera baap chor hai') leekh diya tha. Uske baad... Uske baad, mere bhai, tu jo kahega us par main sign karoonga." - Deewar

2) " Mai aaj bhi feke hue paise nahi uthata".- Deewar

3) "Aaj khush to bahot hoge tum"- Deewar


4) “Aaj mere paas bangla hain, gadi hai, bank balance hai... tumare paas kya hai.?”- Deewar

image courtesy: desimartini.com

5) "Jis tarah gobhi ka phool phool hokar bhi phool nahi hota, waise hi gainde ka phool bhi phool hokar phool nahi hota."- Chupke Chupke








6) "Pura naam, Vijay Dinanath Chauhan. Baap ka naam, Dinanath Chauhan; Maa ka naam, Suhasini Chauhan, gaon Mandwa; umar chhattis saal".- Agneepath

image courtesy: movies.ndtv.com

7) "Jab tak baithne ko na kaha jaye sharafat se khade raho, Yeh police station hai tumhare baap ka ghar nahi."- Zanjeer

image courtesy: sholayevents.com

8) "Agar Kisine Hilne Ki Koshish Ki to Bhoon Ke Rakh Doonga".- Sholay

9) " Kya karu Mausi, mera to dil hi kuch aisa hai. Phir ye rishta pakka samjhu? "- Sholay

image courtesy: entertainmentbureau.in

10) "Hum Jaha pe khade ho jaate hein , line wahin se shuru hoti hai." - Kaalia

image courtesy: video247.tv

11) "I can talk English, I can walk English, I can laugh English because English is a very phunny language." - Namak Halal

image courtesy: songs9.com

12) "Rishte me to hum tumhare baap lagte hain , naam hai Shahenshah." - Shahenshah

image courtesy: spinonthis.com

13) "Apun wo kutte ki doom hai, jo baara baras nalli ke andar daal ke, nalli tedi hoti, apun sidha nahin hota!"- Yaraana

image courtesy: Wikepedia

14) "Jo mard hota hai, usse dard nahi hota" - Mard

image courtesy: desitorrets.com

15) "Agar apni maa ka doodh piya hai to saamne aa." -Laawaris










Happy Birthday, Amitabh Bachchan. Thank you for giving such amazing performances in your Movies. People might call 'Shahrukh Khan' the king of Bollywood, but for me you will always be that 'Angry Young Man' whose Movies are totally 'Paisa Vasool'.

For me, you will always be the one who fought injustice, spoke for the common man and taught me 'Ye Dosti, hum nahi todenge'. You serenaded your leading ladies with as much passion as you had, when you beat up gangsters and villains like 'Gabbar'. I admire your love for your  'Maa' and had a soft spot for you even when you played the anti hero. There is no one like you and I wish you many years of healthy and happy life. 

English-Vinglish- Movie Review

I know, I am going overboard with Movie reviews on this blog. But how could I not write about Sridevi's comeback Movie?
And boy, what a comeback. There is no one like her. Acting simply runs in her blood and she proved it with this fabulous, not to miss Movie, English-Vinglish.

Folks, book your tickets pronto and be prepared to get totally engrossed in Shashi's life. Sridevi plays the role of 'Shashi Godbole', a middle class housewife living in Pune. She lives with her husband who is a typical Indian husband, a teen aged daughter, a small son and a gentle mother-in-law.

Shashi is independent and earns her own money by making delicious 'Boondi Ladoos' at home, on order. Her life revolves around her family and she puts their priorities before her needs and happiness.  Her family keeps laughing at her bad English and humiliates her everytime she speaks bad English. Her husband underestimates her and does not have any respect for her talents. Her daughter is so ashamed of a mother who cannot speak English, that she even refuses to introduce her mother to her own friends.

Many women can identify with Sashi, as the dedicated wife and mother who is taken for granted by her family, and is made fun of because of her poor English.

One day, Shashi flies to New York to help her sister for her daughter's wedding.  There is comes across an English speaking course which promises to teach her English in just four weeks. The next four weeks you can slowly see the transformation in Shashi, as she moves across New York, to reach her class everyday. At first hesitant of the new landscape and later as comfortable as a New Yorker, walking with a cup of Coffee in her hand.



Her fellow classmates are equally handicapped when it comes to speaking English. Amongst them is the French actor 'Mehdi Nebou' who gets attracted to Shashi for her beauty and simplicity. There are no heavy romantic scenes, but superb dialogues, body language and the look in his eyes convey it all. 

At first, Shashi is shocked by the revelation, but eventually takes it in her stride. She tells him in 'Hindi' that she is married and has two children, and nothing is possible between them. I found this one of the most beautifully directed scenes in the Movie. Language does not become a barrier for communication. The tone and her eyes say it all. The ending of the Movie is the icing on the cake, where Shashi finally shows to her family that she is person with feelings who has self esteem and is not just a wife and mother.

The Movie is as smooth as melted Butter on hot toast. There are no breaks in the storytelling and you cannot find fault with the dialogues or the screenplay. The songs are at the right place and do not hamper the rhythm of the story.

Amitabh Bachchan is superb in his special appearance. Shashi's classmates and her English teacher have all acted well and provide many light moments in the Movie. 

There are a few drawbacks in the Movie. Since this Movie is based on a Marathi family, the ambience in the house does not come close to a Marathi household. Also, very few Marathi middle class women will read read a Hindi Newspaper. They should have shown Shashi reading a 'Sakal' or a 'Kesari'. Also, why did Shashi wait to learn English till she came to New York? She could have studied it in India too.

Apart from these few drawbacks, I feel the Movie is delightful. Sridevi chose the right film for making a comeback. She is still beautiful and age has added a certain edge to her acting. Her bubbliness and effervescence is hidden well to show her as  mature and rooted, but can still be seen in many places. 

A few scenes that stuck with me are, when Shashi encounters a rude Barista at a Cafe and when she meets Amitabh on the Plane to New York. 

I give this Movie a rating of 4.5 out of 5. A must watch Movie especially for Sridevi fans as she brings back her magic on the silver screen.

Director: Gauri Shinde Running time: 129 minutes Producer: R. Balki Screenplay: Gauri Shinde Cast: Sridevi Kapoor, Mehdi Nebbou, Priya Anand,Sulabha Deshpande.

Kabootar Ja Ja Ja

Does it ever happen to you, that one of God's creatures manages to get on your nerves every time it flaps it's wings?

The title (Kabootar Ja Ja or Pigeon fly away) of this post aptly describes the feeling I have about Pigeons. These rats with wings have been hounding me everyday and have surrounded my house from everywhere. My house is under total lock down these days, with all the windows shut in the daytime, with only a little gap left for ventilation.

The culprits

 Every day, without fail, I am woken up not by the jangle of the alarm clock but by the scratching of claws on empty cardboard boxes stored on the kitchen ledge. Those dratted pigeons never fail to make an appearance early in the morning making that peculiar noise and dropping feathers everywhere. Even before I have managed to open my eyes completely, I am out of the bed, running behind these feathered monsters to shoo them away. Things have become so bad that these days, I have dreams of shooting these suckers with a gun. The other, day I threw a wooden coaster at one. It just gave me a disdainful look which said 'Missed me, ha ha' and flew away.

The pigeons in my society have lost all the fear of humans. Today, the kitchen window was left open by mistake and one wily pigeon took this opportunity and entered the house.It took a merry stroll all the way from the Kitchen to the Living room and even said a quick hello to hubs who was in the living room, before it got chased away.

Another specimen

I cannot figure out the usefulness of having so many pigeons all over the world. Apart from pooping everywhere, spreading diseases and troubling people like me, what do these birds actually do?

Pigeons are considered to be very intelligent (I have doubts) birds and were used to send messages in earlier time, especially during wars. I guess with Postal service and now because of Internet, they are jobless, except  getting roles in Bollywood Movies.

Come to think of it, these nasty birds are there everywhere. They were even there in the UK where you can see signs posted everywhere, 'do not feed Pigeons' or 'Pigeons carry diseases'. Even then you could see people feeding them. Here too a family from the building opposite to mine keeps feeding these birds everyday. They get free food and keep producing even more pigeons.

Bollywood might wax lyrical about the Masakalli of Delhi 6, the beloved Kabootar from the Movie 'Maine Pyar Kiya' or the Pigeon in the song 'Chadh Gaya Upar re' from the Movie 'Dala'l, I dislike these birds. They are a nuisance, especially because they are foul and end up making me feel like a 'Jack-in-the-box' every time these birds are nearby.

Disclaimer: No pigeons were harmed during the writing of this post, though there was an intense desire to catch hold of one and....... rest I leave it to your imagination.