Christmas Wish list

Dear Santa,

I am writing this list now so I can get your attention early before the flood of letters happen - I have been a fairly good girl this year - he is my boyfriend and that is allowed...I have not cheated or lied except in my job where it is expected and I have tried to eat my vegetables wherever possible. With that out of the way, we can move to the matter at hand which all I want for Christmas is

• My 2 front teeth, actually my 2 wisdom teeth
• L'Occitane Amande Shower oil
• Bath and Body works Oil to Cream Warming Body Wash [Japanese Cherry Blossom]
• Elizabeth Arden Green Tea Honey Drops Cream
• Urban Decay Primer potion
• Body Shop make up brushes
• Tickets and Hotel Stay in Eastern Europe
• Bottega Veneta bag
• Alberta Ferreti strapless draped dress
• Manolo Blahnik stilettoes
• Jimmy Choo stilettoes
• Hidesign bag
• Freeman Chocolate Mint bodywash
• Harry Winston Diamonds
• Leonardo Dicaprio

I would just like to add that this list does not need to be fulfilled this Christmas - take as many as you like till I turn 35.

Yours forever,
Curly Girlie.

I love you, Leo!

'What's eating Gilbert Grape?' has always been one of my favourite movies - mainly coz I have a huge huge crush on Johnny Depp [Crush is putting it mildly - let's just say if Mr. JD was in my vicinity, I am not responsible for my actions] but Gilbert's younger brother was also cute in the movie. Imagine my surprise, when a few years later, it turned out the brother was not autistic, could paint and spit far distances and would eventually drown to save his lady love - Jack Dawson in 'Titanic'. It seemed that with the Oscars, Leonardo Dicaprio had arrived. To me, it seemed like he was another one of the good looking actors like the 80's brat pack, who would act in a wide variety of movies doing essentially versions of the same role and continue being a super star. It still takes me by surprise that he has managed to override his good looks and do supremely interesting films time after time. The first time, he burst onto my consciousness post Titanic, was in 'Romeo+Juliet', which though I loved the movie, just enforced my belief that he was going to be a heart throb. Then 'Catch me if you can' happened and I was like ok then...After I saw 'The Aviator' I knew I was wrong. The man is fabulous - it's really not fair, how can you be so good looking and have the courage of your convictions to act in all these great films as well? and date these greek goddess type women as well....Gaah!Of all the Leo films I have watched,the most recent being 'Body of Lies', I have to say 'Blood Diamond' is my hands down favourite - his character in the movie and the last scene where he realises he can never leave Africa is so poignant...of course, the massive pink diamond helped as well.

I realise there is a reason people say to wait a while or not judge a book by the cover...If I can write off Leonardo Dicaprio, can you imagine the potential of the people I might have dismissed through the years??

Thank You for....

....my wonderful parents think I'm the best thing that happened to them
....my aunts and godmother who do not stop the process of actually giving birth to prevent them from mothering me
....for the wonderful boyfriend who is so tolerant and so loving, I'm amazed!
....best friends who I have had forever and still talk to me even though I drive them crazy
....a comfortable job where I get paid every month
....the short ride to work everyday which adds about an hour to my life
....all necessary working parts of a body barring strange skin
....no life scarring experiences that could shut me down for life
....the cutest niece in the universe
....the mother who made me want to travel
....the father who let me go even to places that they disapproved of
....the parents who showed me the joy of reading
....american TV!!
....all the yummy smelling products that my entire salary goes on!
....The Internet and on the world wide web - facebook, instant messenger, games
....a time when I straddle both the old and the new making me feel like anything is possible
....the friends in whose company many wonderful hours were spent doing nothing
....the various academic institutions I attended who contributed to making me who I am
....for friends who never let you forget where you come from

I just wanted to be publicly grateful for all that is right in my life - this list does not even cover half of it but it's a start!

Jaago Re!

I have been dilly dallying for 9 years now on registering myself as a voter - I have the intention and motivation of course but never the action! so when I saw the Tata tea commercial on TV, it really struck a chord and I was like I can do that - so I registered myself today online which is a form that most net users fill out like once a week in any case and they sent me a filled out registered voter's form - the only thing I need to do is go drop it off at the Bandra office - which is hopefully something I will do during the next week - at least one step is done! I have always had a reason for not registering - I went away to school for a while, I always miss the deadlines but I look around and now I sincerely believe apathy is ruining the country. If I don't vote, in a couple of years, I will need to move!!

In India, The list of things that are wrong seem to be growing at a rapid pace and the list of things that are right seem to be diminishing even faster -I wonder how much more does it have to fall before it can rise again? There are so many questions like does my vote make that much of a difference? Should I be doing something more instead of just cribbing? I always think that I should not talk about the state of the country because really I'm doing nothing to help it! Let's hope at least voting in the election will assuage my conscience and make a difference.

''In India, democracy is like cricket - it's a spectator sport" - I will try to participate more!