Masala Popcorn 5...a continuing series of spicy goodness.

Speaking of popcorn, I'm crunching on some extremely yummy organic popcorn from Pret (Pret a Manger) and to warn you in advance this post is a big (and very unpaid) promotion for Pret.

Pret a Manger is a British chain with a French name (go figure) which we are so lucky to have here in New York. What's the big deal you say? The big deal is that I'm sick of looking for food without ingredients that I can't prounounce, are more than 6 syllables long and would win high points in Scrabble. I can't find bread without High Fructose corn syrup. Eggs and chicken look like they're from a time when dinosaurs roamed the earth.
I'm not Fred Flintstone. I don't need a chicken leg bigger than my head. This is why Fred was a fat guy despite 'running' his car and bowling nights.

Pret, good ol' Pret actually gets that. I can go in there and know that everything is fresh, organic and yummy. Made with real-deal ingredients that mamma would use. Trust me. I have spent a lot of time on their website, reading the small print.

I'm not saying low-fat, I'm not saying carb-free, I'm talking about the good old days of regular size (meaning a quarter of the size you normally get) portions of wholesome food. No additives, artifical flavors or preservatives. Phew.

They source all their ingredients locally, supporting local businesses. They make everything fresh each morning and donate the day's leftovers to a charity that feeds New York's homeless. How great is that?

The ability to buy a half sandwich which looks like something I would make at home (meaning I don't need to dislodge my jaw to bite into it) coupled with a small cup of soul-warming not-out-of-a-can soup makes me a super happy person. And even though it's a 'soda' (albeit a healthier one) ...do try my favorite drink ever 'Yoga Bunny Detox'. I have a thing for good naming systems...

Arif & Pitt bond.

I have critical new information on Pitt-Jolie in Pune.

The rickshaw driver who took them on their famed 20 minute rickshaw ride through my beautiful home city has been identified as Arif Mohammed Hussain Bohri.
At 27 his life has changed forever. The media is hounding him, the rickshaw driving crowd all want to be him.

A simple man. Driving his rickshaw around town. This day was like any other. He picked up a couple in Lullanagar (very close to my house in Pune incidentally) who said they wanted to go to Le Meridien. They were a friendly couple and chattered excitedly about going to see a 'film shooting' at the hotel. He dropped them off. The hotel was chaotic with reporters and photographers. Must be someone famous he thought but wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. Just as he was about to zip off, a hotel employee grabbed him. " We need you just for 15 minutes," he said and led Arif into the basement of the hotel.

He had no idea how famous the three people were who sooned climbed into his rickshaw. He was instructed to drive them around the city for a bit -just generally show them around. But everywhere he zoomed, the photographers and journalists followed. It wasn't a fun ride and soon the man in the back seat asked him to return to the hotel.

This is my favorite part: He had no idea how famous these people were until an employee back at the hotel said to him "Jitna Amitabh Bachchan India mein famous hai, yeh dono utne duniya mein famous hai" (this couple is as famous around the world as Amitabh Bachchan is in India).

Pitt even patted him on the back and called him "a nice man, a good driver" and the hotel gave him 500 rupees (just over 10 dollars) for what would have been a 60 rupee ride.

Oh dear.

I'm turning into a trashy tabloid journalist. Sigh. Well at least I am not saying "Pitt and Jolie forced to flee in rickshaw after media hounds them". Forced? Flee? It was a rickshaw ride! Life is a rickshaw ride. Gettit?

Googleization of The Universe.

What did I say about Google on Friday? That they were buying YouTube. Of course it was all talk then but I just knew it would happen. Now of course it's all over the news. You heard it here first!

For a paltry $1.65 billion (did you say billion?) our beloved timepass, crack-me-up, video-sharing site is about to be Google-ized forever. But then poor Google "Sitting on some $10 billion in cash, Google CEO Eric Schmidt told TIME recently that figuring out what to do with all that money was one of the company's key priorities"
Let's see...can you spell "C-H-A-R-I-T-Y".

Talk to Bill (Gates) willya?

Sindh Society: Back to it's Roots.

Aundh (pronounced as Owwwwnthe) is a quiet, upscale area on the outskirts of Pune. Not downtown Pune. More like uptown. Jeez.

Not so quiet anymore. Pitt and Jolie are shooting in a gated community there called 'Sindh Society'. Coincidently, Sindh is a region in Pakistan, the capital of which is Karachi. Karachi is where Pearl was killed.

I'm answering my why Pune question from before (read the post below).

The people of Sindh (Sindhi's) are Hindu and were forced to flee Pakistan during the partition of India in 1947 and migrated all over India as refugees. Many of them congregated in and around Pune, including Aundh. And of course created a 'hood' for themselves called Sindh Society...filled with posh bungalows and several cars to a driveway. These were the not-so-poor refugees.

But let it be known that the partition was extremely painful to all Sindhis. They were forced out of their country which was technically now Pakistan. I have heard many stories from my grandparents of them leaving behind their homes, their palaces, their jewels and cars and servants, their Muslim neighbors whom they loved, their homeland, riding across the border hiding and trembling with fear in freight trains. Enduring a journey that lasted a whole day and a night knowing they may be discovered and killed any minute.
It was a time when Hindus crossing the border were likely to be killed by Muslims and vice versa.

How ironic now that Sindh Society with it's Pakistan-loathing, not-so-poor Sindhi refugees, is now being depicted as and transformed into Karachi for this movie...

Hollywood Rickshaw Rides.

Pune is finally on the world map. Thanks to Brangelina. That's right! Brad and Angie and little Maddox are camping out (in Le swanky Meridien of course) in "downtown" Pune (someone tell the media that Pune does not have a downtown. It has a "city" and a "camp". Thanks) shooting the new Daniel Pearl movie, A Mighty Heart, that Brad's (and ex-wife's) film company is producing. Interesting .
Pakistan refused to let them shoot the movie there so Pune it was (?) ...wonder why they picked Pune of all the non-Pakistan places?
Oh well. Good for my sleepy yet crazy little city except naturally the media and locals are going nuts.

So Brangelina decide to escape the papparazzi outside the hotel and dash out in a rickshaw. I love rickshaws (see picture on my profile). But let me tell you something about rickshaws-no windows, no doors = no privacy and lots of pollution. The average hottie in a rickshaw (I'm drawing from personal experience here :) has an average of 2-3 bikes chasing her so I really don't know what Brad and Jolie were thinking! No hats, no headscarfs, no weird masks...just plain old sunglasses (Brad where were your sunglasses?) and 5-yr old sunglassless Maddox sitting between mommy and daddy. Tres inconspicuous. Not. Of course it was going to get crazy! Cute but not so clever idea.

The only famous gora (white dude) who has managed to pull off the whole rickshaw deal was Richard Branson who drove around Delhi in a Virgin branded rickshaw to promote the airline's new London-Delhi route. Mighty famous but old bearded dude is not so fun to chase.

So anyway Brad & Angie's rickshaw ride didn't really work out for too long and they zipped back to the hotel 20 minutes later. I heard that the rickshaw driver was interviewed on the radio this morning...he must be so famous in the rickshaw scene right now.

The American media is making the whole mob slash papparazzi 'enthusiasm' sound so evil which is really pissing me off. "Brangelina attacked in India". Attacked? Oh please. The only person being attacked was some Brit Papparazzi dude who was almost strangled by the sexy couple's security guard (one of many) when he tried to snap a pic after being told not to. Yawn. Tell me something new.

Brangelina (can someone ban this conjoined naming system?) plan to be in Pune for a while shooting this movie..will keep you posted on the inside gossip!

Me Need A Drink.

How cool for students of Emory University that Salman Rushdie is joining their faculty for the next five years. Wow imagine having him as your English teacher? Sweet!

Is it just me or is every single website I use in Beta mode? It's driving me crazy! I mean I want to switch to Beta in the spirit of being a web early adopter and all but frankly there are so many bugs (as I have been encountering here at blogger) that it's a bit of a risk. Once you go Beta you can't go back.
Isn't that mean? They tempt you to experiment with them and their new tricks and tools but there is no way back to the old version.

Everywhere I turn I am being forced to make a committment. Damn it.

I think I've said this before but I essentially go through phases of major news abosrption and then major news ignorance. Everytime I come out of the ignorance phase as a result of ultimately feeling guiltily clueless, I want to run back into my sheltered news ignorant world. Why?

Because I don't want to hear that sweet little Amish buggy children are being shot (why does the media insist on repeating the words 'execution style'?) and other angels are being abused by asshole politicians and clergymen (can someone explain to me why castration hasn't been instituted as a federal punishment yet?) It's all so terribly sad and depressing. And yes Google is buying Youtube...Google is buying everything people. I refuse to bat an eyelid at any more Apple and Google related business news. GoogApple is here to rule the world one nano search at a time. Got it?

Now that we have that settled and out of the way...

Happy Weekend! I need to go find another Miss Sunshine-esque movie and get me some 80's dance moves...

Too Cool for A Twinkie.

Work is absorbing me like a premium quality diaper. That and I'm having committment issues. To my blog that is.
Sorry. September wasn't a hot blogging month for me. But October. Yes the turning leaves bring much hope.
Oh where shall I begin? So much has happened in the world!

Well let me start by saying I just couldn't get over Pervez on the Daily Show. I mean what was that all about!!! He got way more media attention chez Jon than any other official business he was here for. I mean what a load of media attention he got! Anyone have a clue what he was here for, other than promoting his book of course? And what is up with writing a book when you're still in office? Risky business my friend. His country must think so too as I just read about another attempted bombing near his house last night. Hmmm maybe he'll move to America.

Behind all that security and bullet-proof glass at the Daily Show studio, the President looked pretty darn spiffy. He's a smart chap, expensive suit, speaks well (no subtitles needed here), didn't say anything silly (even when Stewart begin with a "where's Osama?"), politelty laughed at Jon's comedy showing a lighter side and didn't touch the jasmine green tea or god forbid the 'twinkie'. Smart chap.

Black tea would have been the way to go.

And who in God's name offers a President in office a twinkie?

Yes it might be one of America's most loved and precious snacks that has been "tantalizing taste buds for the last 75 years" but so has Parle G and would we offer Parle G to Bush if he came to India? Ok maybe we might but at least it has glucose in it (that way he wouldn't fall asleep in public again). But Twinkies?

Twinkies are the ultimate junk food, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, lard, beef fat (gross)and about 17 chemical ingredients you have never heard of plus it comes in a plastic wrapper with a dubiously long shelf-life...did we say tantalizing?

Excuse me while I barf for a second here.