my perfumes

scents have been one of my long time interests. perhaps this is the only interest which hasn't diminished over the years. i recall old days when i would almost bathe in strong 'itars' from our local 'attar' ghulam saab of bijapur bes. it would create a sillage so powerful that at times it would cause so much annoyance to girls in my class that they would go and sit away from me, or ask me to change places. i think i would have at least 20 different itars at one time until 2004. some which still bring back old memories swiftly are mehfil, bakul, jannat-ul-firdaus, khus, brute musk and best of them all- sultan. after getting the job at tech mahindra, passion for scent made me explore fashion house perfumes. the first ones i bought cost me a fortune relative to my salary at that time. ck1 and ck eternity for men were my first bottles. i purchased them from shivaji nagar shoppers stop. those smells remind me of my time at 7th floor annexe building of tech mahindra at pune. i miss those simple days. i think i started to really experiment with other perfumes when i came to the uk in 2006. i bought a few perfumes from paris in that year, and also from local high street shops like boots and debenhams. hugo boss is my only regret. i don't know why i bought it, but it's smell was very near to ink- i gave it away to one of my brothers. apart from that all others ranged from bearable to enchanting. i must say chanel allure pour homme is one perfume that suits my senses the best. right from the top note to it's die down- it is a total pleasure. it costs a lot but surely is worth. it may surprise you if i say i am mainly into aquatics. but allure is exception. aquatics collection doesn't start or gets completed without eternal acqua di gio. it is again an expensive juice- but gives a super cool feeling all day. but die down of acqua smells not so great. but no aquatic comes nearer to elegance of creed's millesime imperiale. when i was using this- i had thought 'that's it' - it is end of my search for the best. but after some time- i was drawn back to allure.we went to rome last year, and as usual , i was on watch out for some scent truly roman in nature. got one from a boutique, not so plush though, near place which was 'ancient suburra'. i never got hang of that scent until i smelled shalimar at heathrow airport en route to 'terra mia'. they have some similarity which is reminiscent of a cockroach killing spray that is sold in india- no offence intended to fans ofshalimar. but i can bet my nose on that similarity :) on the same visit to heathrow i had opportunity to sample a few tom ford ones- especially from his iconic private blend. somehow they all reminded me of the pure itars i used years ago. they bore a lot of common elements. one that blew my senses out was grey vetiver. this is a winner from all tom fords i sampled. fresh, complex, yet pleasing to even a common nose. i didn't have chance to buy one yet- but that is on my wish list. finally- one perfume that deserves mention is the dreamer from versace. it is a unisex perfume. i would just say one line about it 'one must try this at least once in life'. one mention should find place towards end of this write up - and it is my unexplained dislike for a common favourite jpg le male. my wife says it is a great scent- but my nose detects some very depressing elements which remind of camphor placed in cloths wardrobe which haven't been used for months.

we 3 in rome 3 - bongiorno roma

we 3 in rome 3 - arrival in citta eterna

day 0

my son qaisar was named after julius caesar, most impressive roman in her long history. visiting rome was at top of our must-do activities while in england. it was 24th october 2010 and we embarked from ipswich in a freezing afternoon to reach stansted airport. it was to be a short trip with 3 days in rome and a day in venice. bus came on time and dropped us at airport on time. checked in all stuff except cabin bags and qaisar's buggy. there was ample time in

hand before security, so we enjoyed some italian refreshment in one of many superbly decorated stansted airport restaurants. our roman discovery started in that same restaurant where we discovered subtle taste of pesto pasta. out from security, without any hassles, our flight took off on time- meaning 30 minutes late than scheduled time :) it was smooth flight and qaisar did not trouble at all.

10:00pm in rome

arriving at ciampino was a great experience, weather was warmer than england and travertine floor everywhere gave some respite to eyes from seeing carpeted floor everywhere back in brittania. bus to roma termini departed 45 mins after our arrival. bit of a dampener to my wife's excitement of seeing rome for the first time. one thing i could never ever forget in my life is the euphoric feeling that filled me from time we landed in rome, till the time we woke up next morning. this welcome feeling comprised of supreme happiness, no regrets, no complains, no expectations and pure joy everywhere. possibly that's what romans call dolce vita :) what was the source of it, i still can't figure out. but i wished my entire life was like that - ah...what a feeling that was truly !! the bus reached termini winding through imposing roman backgrounds, first it was via appia on our left while on the highway, then aurelian wall near st.john's, then st.john's itself -bathed in artificial but not so excessive lights, then santa maria maggiore and then termini itself. misbha was already impressed with difference in architecture and definitely by very fact

that we had set foot in citta eterna. made our way to b&b , casa cerafina, which is on via turati- on the south eastern side of termini building proper. accommodation was very simple, clean yet pleasant. the gentleman, perhaps mr.serafina welcomed us warmly, though not speaking a single english word. but then all it did to misbha was to coin firmly the first impression of roman 'populusque' as friendly and welcoming. the photograph is of the same room where we stayed in rome. it is taken from b&b website. we perhaps had the sweetest sleep after a long long time.

simplest mobile phone in the world

i was always wondering if such device existed; perhaps some ingenious chinese maker would have already developed one. but it was to a dutch company the credit of making first simplest phone in the world goes. this phone is called 'john's phone' and is being dubbed as anti-iphone. reason- it has absolutely no feature except making calls. not even ability to send or receive sms. makers seem to have eaten humble pie as they have not given any wonderful statements about this gadget. they simply say, it can be a child's first phone. but honestly speaking, like me, there are many others who just like a basic, err, very basic mobile phone. now i realise why mobile phone operators give its users option of calling in to hear current balance :)

but in my view , the strangest part is phonebook of john's phone. it is literally a paper pen phonebook where one must write numbers to refer. wonderful idea- or possibly slightly outdated.

it's on offer at £67 when this post was written. this phone is out there not to take any market share, mostly it won't find more than a few thousand buyers, but it has left imprint on media being one of the coolest devices out there in the market.

palatine returns

indian multi industry baron mukesh ambani is moving into his 27 floor tower house in mumbai. first 6 floors have parking and garage. it is said to have been inspired by hanging gardens of babylon. on demand of madame ambani , no two rooms are alike in the whole palatial structure. i think when man gets plenty of money, i mean really plenty of money, he goes on to building legacy that will outlive him. reminds me of grand remains of various palaces atop palatine in rome. one even had in house stadium, only in its new avatar, it has taken form of health spa and home theatre. what amazes me is that the cost of the house has surpassed even that of mittal's at kensington palace gardens.

five cinquains

pain

seamless pain

smoulders my soul

relieves from futile hopes

indefinitely

soul

so undefined

yet so profound

longs for blissful peace

vainly

peace

sacred bird

flies so high

its beauty like dreams

illudes

beauty

ephemeral joy

serene like breeze

touches a loving heart

forever

heart

emotional abyss

drifting every moment

aching rejoicing feeling reflecting

endures

m.qaisar - 3 months

20/12/9 - qaisar's first pram, uk made
24/10/9 - dilip kumar expressions :)
4/12/9 - chinese look
9/12/9 - trying to look a debonair:)
13/11/9 - qaisar learns to smile
21/9/9 - qaisar just minutes after birth

mohamed qaisar, my boy was born on the morning of 21st september 2009, the day of eid-ul-fitr in india. it was a delightful coincidence and thought to be a holy omen by many. we had decided to name him qaisar even before he was born, not that we knew the sex of the baby, it's just that we had decided name of baby. only in case of girl, it would have been rumana. qaisar shares his name with julius caesar, since we can't use 'c' in the name due to various religious and social reasons. in the first 20 days or so after he was born, he suffered somewhat medium jaundice. he looked frail and yellow. his eyes didn't shine and his movements were not brisk. then we consulted dr.savaskar who properly treated his jaundice and then he started to gain weight. he turns 3months this 21st. doing well, and healthy, weighs approx 6.5 kg. here are some pics of qaisar with dates.

an idle afternoon with iphone

iphone is most certainly the best gadget i ever used. my wife insisted to buy one so did i on 14th april. i wasn't 'too' excited about the purchase; but i must say that this sleek device has taken me over. today i came back early from work. the first thing i wanted to do after coming was to test the rebel sim card with my wife's talkmobile sim card on iphone. all iphones are by default locked to operator o2 in the uk; like they are with at&n in the usa. and guess what; after a couple of failed attempts, it finally started working, with wifi connectivity. this will be used in india by my wife. i will be going with her to india in 2nd week of may for a week. after a heartful lunch; my wife slept sound and i took it easy; on my laptop and iphone. listening to ghazals on last.fm app which is one of the most wonderful apps. think iphone is worth it's money; it has easy to use interface and is extremely user friendly. it is one of those things which has ability to kill boredom quite efficiently. i would recommend strongly to invest in iphone, preferably 3g. i would be stopping at 8pm for maghrib prayer; then looks i will be sleeping early tonight, given i must go to office at 7am tomorrow. but before that i am now going to make myself a warm cup of tea....yes this is life :)

vignettes of recession - 1

my experience with recession had been only theoretical; until tonight. my wife insisted to eat outside and we went straight to our latest favourite 'mumbai buffet' near silent street. we started at about 8pm and streets in the town centre were deserted beyond belief; i was aware it was monday and people don't generally return to pubs and places immediately after weekend. but the thing that did upset me most was the scale of the impact global economic slowdown is having onthe local businesses. take for instance, there is a posh bar near st.nicholas street called 'tonic' where one would normally find handsome number of customers; but it was virtually empty save a couple of tables. after passing by 'tonic', another surprise, the only truly spanish 'tapas' restaurant - closed, locked, not sure if permanently or for only monday. 'pals' one of ipswich's top attractions for joy makers, was silent and bartenders looked amazingly at ease. i remember the hayday of nightlife when i first came to britain during june 2006; it was never so bad until late 2008 when tide turned against local businesses. finally when we entered mumbai buffet, guess what, we were the only customer they had. wow, 8:30pm and none but 1 pair of people !! i did a small mental calculation, if they would have 15 customers tonight; that wouldn't exceed 200£ mark. assuming they have golden figure of food industry, 100£ would be pure profit. if they had 3 waiters, 2 cooks, and a manager, everyone would end up getting peanuts !!! after an hour of dinner; only 3 other people made themselves comfortable at the restaurant, taking it to 5 people till 9:15pm. i constantly looked outside the window glass, a taxi driver waited (as though in anticipation) of customers from 'pals' and other pubs and bars for at least 30 minutes, a customer turned up, and the taxi was back at the same spot in 5 minutes. i remember there was a second taxi also waiting in the queue, but its driver would have thought his chances were bleak, he left without a customer. recession is hitting hard, hard enough to make it perceptible. businesses which were known to work have started to crumble under customers' new appetite to save money.

funniest novel ever

j.d.salinger has not yet sold the rights to make a movie of the classic 'the catcher in the rye'. so if you want to enjoy it; you have to read it- and movie could never convey same pure pleasure of reading it; and every time i do; i am transformed into the mind of holden caulfied; probably one of the most unheroic heroes in literature history. it is a kind of novel which sticks on mind for a long time and colours your communication style as long as it's fresh.

it begins like this...

"if you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where i was born, an what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that david copperfield kind of crap, but i don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. in the first place, that stuff bores me, and in the second place, my parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if i told anything pretty personal about them. they're quite touchy about anything like that, especially my father. they're nice and all--i'm not saying that--but they're also touchy as hell. besides, i'm not going to tell you my whole goddam autobiography or anything."