This is for everyone who has been writing in saying that they can't get a copy of the Cosmopolitan anniv issue and are dying to see the Aishwarya Rai cover...

Saw The Legend of Zorro...pretty good movie, though I couldn't help but wonder on how good it could have been if Steven Spielberg was completely in control, rather than being one of the Exec. Producers. What I am trying to say, I guess, is that it was a good movie, but not a "great" one, like, say, Gladiator or Braveheart. Catherine Zeta-Jones was stunning as usual (though her age is now creeping up on her face, I still think she is one of the most gorgeous Hollywood actresses), but Antonio Banderas sometimes just comes across like the village idiot - not intentionally, I guess!!

More stunning than the movie was the spectacular display of fireworks happening outside on Marine Drive, which we caught on our way. I know Bombay has some great fireworks every year around Diwali, but some of yesterday's displays outshone everything I have seen in the last 4 years. Hope its gonna be on for a few more days.

By any standards it is a tame Diwali in Bombay this year. Very few houses can be seen lighted, its the retail establishments that are supplying all the sparkling to the night skyline. And since for most Mumbaikars, yesterday's Dhanteras pooja is the biggest ritual of the Diwali season, I think this is going to be as good as it gets. All the banks were officially working yesterday (even though it was a Sunday) to reap in the extra moolah of Dhanteras spending, and I believe there were phenomenal sales of gold coins through the day. Wonder why people would buy so much knowing that the yellow metal's just gotto be at an all-time high right now????

Anniversary Blowout!!!!

This month is anniversary time for our office...Good Housekeeping's first anniv, Cosmopolitan's ninth anniv and Design Today's fourth anniv. We killed ourselves during the month putting out the bumper special issues - Cosmopolitan is 600-plus pages and then celebrated by rocking the night away at Athena in Delhi!!

Cosmopolitan has hit the stands in Bombay today...the highlight for me is the write-up on Aishwarya Rai by Prahlad Kakkar. As always, in Cosmo, we believe in doing things differently. Aish, as we all know, is so media wary (and rightly so after the way she has been treated by the country's various publications) that we were unlikely to get anything beyond what's already been published umpteen times. So we went to one of the guys who knows her best - from Sanju in Pepsi to being her present day neighbour, Prahlad has seen Aishwarya through every success and pitfall right from the beginning. And while talking to him, I saw a side of Aish that nobody would have believed existed. It was an amazing eye-opener. I am not telling you more - go pick up the copy!!

Repeat after me: I will never attempt to sort out issues with my boss when I am PMS-ing, or am otherwise severeley stressed. I will wait for a good time, when I can think more rationally, and keep my mouth from blurting out things that should not be blurted out even under severe distress. This is a mantra everyone should follow religiously. Trust me - I have just learnt this from a shakey personal experience :(

I am back....!!!!

Its been a crazy couple of months of travelling...London, New York, Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, the inaugural Star Cruise to Lakshadweep, and the intermittent day trips to Delhi, Calcutta and Hyderabad mixed up with everything else...no, I am not boasting, merely trying to explain my absence from the blog for a long, long time!! But am very much back in Bombay now, so check back for updates :)