take these babies home!

Are you one of those individuals who have a weakness for all things pink? Then, well you have would have completely fallen in love at the sight of cake pops on display at the recently concluded Eventra Fair, Sunset Mall, Jumeriah. We were there last week and found ourselves drooling over the yummy, cutesy and adorable treats from Fuchsia Sweets! Fuchsia Sweets is the baby of Nouran Saad and we must say she is doing a wonderful job raising this one.

Here's a sneak peek of what got us smiling, grinning actually! The pictures are sure to make you feel jealous! :)

Look at the detailing, the stunning bow, the tiny hat, the half closed eyes, the rosy cheeks.... There is just one problem, how the hell will we convince ourselves to eat one of these? These are one of those babies you take home!

The white gets entangled with a soft pink and makes for a visual treat. The tiny pops are perfect to bring a smile to anyone on a rainy day. And please, these are not just for KIDS! We're going to gorge on these too!

Twinkling stars, we want these to light up my day, noon and night! And do you see the baby lanterns up there? Now that's what we call baby perfect presentation!

Want to know more? Meet them at https://www.facebook.com/FuchsiaSweet or follow them on Twitter at @FuchsiaSweets.

Images: personal album

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, a disappointment

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, a scene from the film

Milkha Singh

I am not a movie critic or an expert. In fact when someone asks me how a particular Bollywood flick was I steer away from saying, ‘Good’ or ‘Bad’. For I have never held a camera, given orders to a large crew and more. But I do feel ‘happy’ or ‘disappointed’ with films. Not in the ‘I will cry’ way or ‘It didn’t tickle my funny bone’ way but in the way that I feel a film could have been better for the maker is talented, the producer is rich, there is no dearth of talent, the theme was iconic and more.
So when yesterday I walked out of the theatre after watching Bhaag Milkha Bhaag I was disappointed. As I mentioned I am no expert neither do I belong to the generation – ‘I have a FB account so I have an opinion’ but these were the few things that popped up in my head. A lot of you may disagree and I would not want to debate on that.
·         Why were most of the dialogues of Milkha Singh in Hindi? While as a child we saw him talk in Punjabi and from what I know and read he does talk mostly in Punjabi?
·         If the Indian audience can watch films in French and Spanish & can swing to Punjabi numbers am sure a little more of Punjabi would have been acceptable.
·         I understand most films and film flockers go after big stars – But why was not an actor from Punjab chosen to play Milkha Singh? The actor, Jabtej Singh, who played Milkha Junior was far more convincing than Farhan.
·         Why was Sonam Kapoor in the film at all? When a fellow viewer (non-Indian) in the theatre raised a brow and asked me who Sonam was all I could say was ‘She is a model and fashion icon’. Even after her so-called ‘acting’ in Raanjhanaa it is going to take a while for me to call her an actor.
·         Why was Art Malik (a Pakistan born Brit actor) selected to play Milkha’s father? Even in the Hindi dialogues uttered by him one could sense the accent!
·         The script laid emphasis on the girls that came in Milkha’s life before he tied the knot. Why couldn’t there be at least a fleeting mention about the woman he married and is his wife?
·         I would say Pavan Malhotra who has played Milkha’s coach Gurudev would have done justice to the iconic role! Yet again, Divya Dutta was brilliant. Respect.
·         Prasoon Joshi’s lyrics failed too, the passion was lukewarm.
·         In the end, I still had hoped that there would be a befitting tribute to Milkha Singh – not a hazy collage of pictures. At least, the viewers, especially the youth, could have gotten a chance to see the real man or heard his voice.

Honestly, I missed the passion and patriotism in the film. I was expecting a lot more from the man who had us moist eyed and thinking in Rang De Basanti. For that matter, Chak De! India ( SRK - an actor we all love to criticise) touched me but this one completely failed.  This was one good chance to pay tribute to an icon and it was wasted by a team of people, who had the potential to do justice to it. There will never be another Milkha Singh and knowing our film industry nobody would ‘waste’ their time, effort and energies on attempting to make a film on him again. In fact, just reading up the Wikipedia page on Milkha Singh was far more inspiring than watching a three-hour film. Not one dialogue gave me goose-bumps in fact a status update on FB by one of my friends (journalist, Pallavi Rebbapragada) stirred a sea full of emotions. It read, “The rushes of Bhaag Milkha Bhaag remind me of the time we spoke to Milkha Singh for our India Today cover story on Olympics 2012. "Sorry beta, medal haath se nikal gaya" , after which he broke out into a hysterical monologue. Thank you Milkha Singh for adding emotion to our article and telling us how an Olympic contender lives every moment of his life with the despair of losing, and rarely, with the pride of winning.”

Bottom of Form

Image: here and here

our first step

We are live!! Presenting the debut issue of The Indian Trumpet magazine!
theindiantrumpet.com

To all the people I knew, got to know and will know through this magazine.

 Big fat Indian wedding. Friends, food, family. Tears and happy tears. Heena and happiness. NRI husband. Packing bags. Saying good bye to home.

 Big fat Indian magazine. Supporters, critics and stress. Enthusiasm and challenges. Dreams and deadlines. NRI readers. Proof reading. Uploading the magazine.

The last few weeks have been exciting, tiring, fascinating and challenging. I lived through moments that made me smile and scream at the same time. There were times when the laptop misbehaved, fonts got mixed up and writers and photographers missed deadlines, but then these were  complemented with times when my inbox got flooded with encouraging words, download speeds improved and colours and words just fell into place. And while the ‘new’ bride in me had made me believe that planning an Indian wedding was perhaps the toughest thing to do in the world, I realised that it was easier than living the dream of starting a magazine on your own. (Honestly, my mom-dad and sister were the real wedding planners and I was just the showstopper, but even watching them do it all was exhausting. And yes, they were patient with me both when I chattered about the wedding or mag! ) I also learnt that a husband could be a perfect roommate and be as supportive as a 4 am friend in the hostel room. (I was happy to watch the NRI husband switch roles between being a business development manager and a web-designer & proof-reader.) I even accepted that while I couldn’t do it all in one issue, each day would bring me one step closer than I was  the day before to achieving my dream of  starting my own magazine. I began to smile at the thought that as an NRI, I was getting a chance to love, miss and appreciate the ‘home’ as well as greet, explore and admire the ‘new home’. And honestly, even if someone had told me that this is how the journey would be from Delhi, India to Dubai, UAE, I would have still done exactly the same thing and with the same enthusiasm.

Yes, when this Indian girl landed in Dubai she felt she couldn’t leave behind her passion for journalism& love for home. At the same time, she couldn’t help but play with fonts, colours and words to create something for the fellow NRIs here. Little did she know that hearts & minds from all communities would greet her dream with the same passion and love.

So this is my story. And the story of how The Indian Trumpet magazine came into being. And from here on it is going to be our story for this is your space.

Till we meet next, happy tooting!

Purva

founder & editor

editor@theindiantrumpet.com