She-Wolf by Shakira

AAOOOO!
With this blog entry, i will be, simply, writing about a relatively new song by Shakira. Shakira firstly, is a colombian singer/dancer and wanna-be belly dancing act. And i would safely say that she's pretty good at the last one! Probably very good.
She professionally is known as a singer though and i have been coming across her tracks occasionally over the last couple of years. Some of her work, her songs, are decently good. In these, some of the lyrics in the songs are the sing-along kinds,

I'm not her "fan" and could never be designated as one. I listen to her music, if it happens to be playing. But i don't admire or like her in anyway.
Another point on her music is that, the beats are greatly influenced by belly dance music, probably so she can move to the beats that she's actually good at whilst trying to sell her music to the world. When it comes to her voice though: it's pretty ok. Nothing of the voice that i would or could admire anything about.
But yes, as is true and common amongst most music artists these days, she does exude a large sense of sexual ease in her videos. In that, she tries hard to be sexy-like.

I came across another of her songs just recently: She-wolf. If you have chanced upon the video, i don't know what you'd think about it, but i know what i feel about it.
Firstly it's a music video with not that much good music in it. In the sense, the lyrics & beats aren't great or good or nice. But, you ARE certainly free to have another opinion about it! When it comes to the portrayal of the song via it's video: Shakira has , like she always does, moved every single part of her human body in the aim of trying to make it as sexy and sexual to the audience in general.
But, if you were to look into the lyrics of the song, it's more of a woman's song to her man. A song wherein she wants to pass on a "real" point that's getting to her and eating her up. How does a girl moving her body like as though she's sexually turned on really pass on the meaning of the words of this song...? What happened to making good music videos or for that matter good music in the first place?
Of course, in this video, Shakira has conveniently tried to portray a she-wolf and has dressed somewhat like a wana-be lady, in a costume i dont understand, with large nails and expressions depecting a wolf. However, in some scenes, she wears a complete see- through outfit and moves in her "special-Shakira" way (this is not the belly-dance way). Her body moves in an obscene and cheap manner through this video, but, people at large i guess tend to appreciate that these days! However, i stick to the point about the video not matching the words of the song, rather meaning of the song. The point of the song gets lost amidst the wolf-acts and moves and sexual portrayal. The song is named She-Wolf and she enacts a she-wolf. But, what about the rest of the song.. what happened to that?

Anyhow, hats off to her, to be able to and want to move and sink and rise and fall with music she creates. I dont like her in this video.. although the song is just about OK. Maybe at some point in every woman's life, she would want to sing a song like this to her man. Just maybe.

Enjoy the music.

Why Rakhi Sawant's reality show on choosing a groom to marry was the 2nd most watched show on Indian Television

And here we have Rakhi Sawant doing it again.

Who is she really? Not a star kid. Not a heroin of any greatly acclaimed movie & not even an award winning actress. Neither an economist or academician. But still, a celebrity of sorts.

Rakhi Sawant was more of an item girl, the one who danced and gyrated to hindi music and maybe sometimes english too. She spoke and still speaks with a marathi based english accent, wears lots of make up and speaks her mind, freely.
She wasn't loved or adored by the media or fellow "actresses" alike.
However, her reality show in which she was to choose a groom amongst a prospective few turned out to be the 2nd most-watched tv series during the months of June/July '09 in India.
Why? No one even bothered to pay attention to the ramblings of this unknown before.
Well, the answer as to why she catapulted into a household name with fame is probably simple.
Marriage and a wedding and planning a wedding and having one in any family in typical India is not just a big thing, it's maybe,perhaps; the most-important scene a family "must" go through. Indian love weddings, are maybe even a tad bit obsessed with the concept of one.
One would have a father of a daughter start saving for his daughter's wedding from the time she was born!
However, in Rakhi Sawant's case & show, it was the dream of a girl, any girl , being shown live on real time TV.
As in, every girl, (it's quite a known fact), dreams of that perfect man, that perfect wedding, that perfect feeling of finally feeling like a well-loved princess.
Every girl, will open up to a fairy tale romance and whispered sweet nothings.

Cup the 2 points of this being any girl's dream + India being a country that loves weddings and marriages and you can somehow figure as to how & why the country gladly watched and paid "great" attention to her while she went through the series and spent time with each prospective groom before finally picking her Mr. Right.

Not only did the masses at large watch the show. They debated. Debated one prospective groom from the next. Debated about who Rakhi should and shouldn't choose and would and wouldn't choose.

The country gladly & unconsciously supported this girl's right to have a good match, her right to the near-perfect happy ending she so hoped & wished for, and morever, deserved.

Everyone deserves a chance at love.

On Sunday (August 2nd 2009), Rakhi Sawant, on live TV, in front of millions of indian viewers, smartly posed and chose who she thought best would fit into her Mr. Right concept. Eelesh, an NRI. I haven't researched on who he is and what he does for a living, i'd leave that alone, for now. This article is for Rakhi and her courage.
I don't and never did specifically admire her. Yes, she MAY be a tad bit pretty under all the make up she wears. Yes, agreed, she's just like another other girl out in the world looking for the same things you and i are. But, admiring someone takes alot more.
What i do know is that, according to me, a meagre writer, she's boldly and publicly hoped for a good life and has involved, unknowingly, every single one of us in her endeavour. She has, unknowingly MADE us care, MADE us watch and MADE us feel.

I would end this write-up by saying, her show has resulted in (most-probably) many young girls hoping that they too could, once, in some lifetime or some near day in their future, have a show wherein they starred with the aim of choosing the Right Prince for their fairy-tale journey.

p.s: I'm not one of them, i'm the by-stander who watches from a corner and writes about it all.

Flamboyante

I went for dinner to a restaurant the other day named Flamboyante (in Mumbai).

I live in the south of the city, i work somewhere in the south of the city too and i usually tend to choose places in & around the south to wine and dine within. No, that does surely not make me a pro on south-Mumbai city life, but it does give me the right to talk about goods and bads none the less!

Flamboyante, is a sweetly nestled asian/indian cuisine restaurant, rightly placed on the ground floors of one of the courtyards of the World Trade Center in Mumbai.

The first time i landed up dining there was probably in the middle of last year i.e. year:2008.
The ambience of the place was what drew me to it. It was one of the few open-air dining places in Mumbai, and it made me feel like as if i was sitting in one of those sweet open-air cafe's on a street in Paris.
I do believe that in order to review a place (eatery joint / lodging joint); one must visit the place a couple of times more than once. You can't have a good review or come out with a decently justified review with one visit. It's not right, it's not possible. It takes a series of experiences and visits to really understand, gauge & finally "feel" what the place is all about.
I've been to Flamboyante a few times more than once.
The asian food menu has a good mix to it. Mumbai boasts of alot of chineses and thai cuisine themed restos, but, an asian grill/bar is different and could work toward giving a guest a fair share of something new, something nice.
Flamboyante's Indian food menu is plentiful too; they offer the most famous north indian varieties of food. Their indian food menu, is quite entertainingly delicious, their chicken gravies of the indian variety have just the right mix of spice and flavor; where you won't feel too heavy after eating it.

However, the drawback that loomed out at me largely probably the 3rd or 4th time that i visited the place was in the service rather level or lack of service given.
Their staff aren't too friendly and helpful and further more, although the food offered is pretty yummy to eat, when served, they don't seem to care much about presentation of the dish.

The last and most recent time i visited Flamboyante, i found my indian chicken dish served on the table with the bowl overflowing. The gravy, the part that had probably dripped down, hadn't even been wiped clean by the server.
I'm not picky and choosy and didnt send it back, however, the writer in me decided to plainly take a picture of the "crime".

If you run a service joint, (restaurant / pub / boutique etc), you have to cater to a near 100% level of perfect service and after-service. Presentation of staff / of service is a key note and criteria that is often ignored by service oriented companies.

To sum it all up; a visit or 2 to Flamboyante is probably a good idea. The food is tasty. The ambience, pleasant.