A glass of steaming milky syrupy tea is best served cut. One by two or two by three, it embodies the spirit of sharing and camaraderie (and more significantly a resource crunch). Come, have a sip.
India's desi blog awards - The Indibloggies - are back after a year's hiatus. This blog - Cutting the Chai - had somehow made it to the final nominations for Best Topical Indiblog category, the last time around.
The last time I didn't file my own nomination (was a bit shy). Thanks to Amit who noticed this li'l blog. A couple of years after and with some of the hesitation lost, I didn't waste time and nominated myself.
Do send in your nominations here. And don't nominate Cutting the Chai, as I've already done that myself and the rules seem to imply that multiple (though no figure is mentioned) nominations may be interpreted as spam and could result in disqualification (you could if you desperately want this blog out of the race).
These awards are a great way to discover some great blogs. May the best blogger win. Hope CTC makes it to the nominations, multiple ones would be better. A win or two could make me a Rahman. Or some lobbying could atleast make me an Aamir (I'll then only post once every year).
But my biggest problem was that the nature of this blog doesn't exactly fit into any of the pre-defined categories. How would you classify Cutting the Chai? I settled for Personal Blog.
This Slice Aamsutra TVC appears to be an U-rated version of the Kaamsutra/Kamasutra, with some mango nectar involved in a sensuous play with one of Bollywood's most dazzling beauties - Katrina Kaif.
I found it to be quite... erotic. The Rasiya Aaja number in the background is quite pleasant to the ears.
Katrina is the ultimate trophy heroine (could term it as an 'item heroine' as different from an 'item girl'). She doesn't need to act or even mouth lines (things that exactly aren't her forte), she just needs to be there in the frame with some closeups (including the extreme ones).
I think that Katrina can't ever look vulgar. Even in Boom - that scare of a movie - which incidentally was Katrina's debut and where she wore the skimpiest outfits of her entire film career, she looked pretty (Potentially NSFW). That's what Katrina is and therefore she is the hottest keyword on the search engines.
Many people are landing on this post looking for the Slice Aamsutra Rasiya Aaja MP3/ringtone. Just to ensure that they don't return disappointed, here's the audio version:
Knowledge is man's (in this case a cat's) most valuable asset. And this is what this cat=and-a-leashed-dog ad for The Economic Times attempts to stress upon.
This is from the early 2000s and I had clipped and stored it in a file. It probably appeared in The Sunday Times of India.
Mesmerising. That's the music of AR Rahman. His Oscar nominations wins have brought his music to a bigger world stage. But is Slumdog Millionaire Rahman's best? You don't even need to think for the answer.
As a salute to the Mozart of Madras, I've picked up some of his best works and compiled them into a single video.
Since it is very difficult to be selective about songs from Rahman's oeuvre, I followed a simple procedure (though technically faulty):
Only his Hindi songs, or songs dubbed into Hindi, have been included. Because that's what I've listened to the most.
One song from each selected movie. With the exception of Dil Se, arguably Rahman's best work yet. How can you choose between a Chaiyya Chaiyya and a Dil Se Re?
Video - The Best of AR Rahman
The videos are in no particular order. If you disagree with my list (which I believe many would) please leave your suggestions (the songs that I've missed out on) in the comments.
List of songs included in the video (in order of appearance): 1. Dil Hain Chota Sa (Roja) 2. Humma Humma (Bombay) 3. Kabhi Neem Neem (Yuva) 4. Saathiya (Saathiya) 5. Azeem-o-Shaan Shahenshah (Jodhaa Akbar) 6. Mangal Mangal (Mangal Pandey - The Rising) 7. Roobaroo (Rang De Basanti) 8. Ye Jo Desh Hain Tera (Swadesh) 9. Rut Aa Gayi Re (1947 Earth) 10. Chaiyya Chaiyya (Dil Se) 11. Maa Tujhe Salaam (Vande Mataram) 12. Yai Re (Rangeela) 13. O Re Chori (Lagaan) 14. Tu Fiza Hain (Fiza)(This isn't a Rahman composition, as pointed out by Lyrical Craziness Personified) 15. Hum Hain Is Pal Yahan (Kisna) 16. Dil Se Re (Dil Se) 17. Masakkali (Delhi-6) 18. Jaage Hain Der Tak (Guru)
Slim legs of a girl clad in jens tower over the traffic. And she's trying to tuck in into her rear pocket a netbook - the Sony Vaio P. Though Sony slots it as a "Lifestyle PC" and is promoting it as "the world's lightest 8" notebook".
When I first came to know about Sony's netbook plans, a Sony ad for the bigger Vaio Z series came to my mind.
The ad made fun of the ultra-portable laptops, showing a man using a magnifying glass to work on it.
Video:
But the ways of the market and the needs of the consumer make even the high and mighty stoop. The phenomenal success of the netbook genre (and rightly so) has forced everyone to scamper aboard. But Sony being Sony, it comes with a steep price tag $900. The price of the Sony Vaio P in India is reported to be Rs 50,000 and Rs 65,000. But I must accept, it is the best looking one around.
Video:
Asus also seems to have taken Sony's que at promoting the netbook as a lifestyle statement. Received this via email a while ago:
Yesterday, a friend got an Acer Aspire One - I tinkered with it for a while and came to the conclusion that my Asus EeePC 1000H was a better buy.
India's desi blog awards - The Indibloggies - are back after a year's hiatus. This blog - Cutting the Chai - had somehow made it to the final nominations for Best Topical Indiblog category, the last time around. 
