IIFA Awards 2014 - Day 2 - April 24, 2014, Thursday - Part 2

.....Continuing from IIFA awards 2014 - Day 2 - Part 1

After the IIFA press conference, we relaxed for a bit in the lobby, and my friend talked to one of the media crew to see if they can set up a backstage interview with any of the actors.  Luckily, the media crew set up a backstage interview with Vivek Oberoi at Tampa Convention Center where he was rehearsing for the IIFA Rocks show.  He was going to be the host for IIFA Rocks along with Gauhar Khan.  We headed for the Tampa Convention Center and after waiting for about an hour, we were allowed to go backstage and there he was, coming down the stage, looking very handsome!!  It was amazing to see him up close!! I was completely taken back with his down-to-earth nature and simplicity!  He was talking to everyone patiently and didn't mind repeating the stories for all the interviewers about his flight from India to US, how his son was having fun on the flight and was a complete rock star for not giving him or his wife hard time on the flight, etc. etc.  He was veeeery nice!!

While other people were interviewing Vivek, I was able to spot Vishal Malhotra who was on stage waiting to get backstage interview with Vivek for official IIFA awards.  I went up to him and told him how I have seen him since he was in the show called Hip Hip Hurray!  Since that show he has been in so many movies such as Ishq Vishq, Kismat Konnection, Ek Vivaah...aisa bhi, etc.  He is also working on movies like Happy New Year and Don 3 with Shah Rukh Khan and it's amazing how far he has come!!  I got a picture with him and then went back to the place where Vivek was being interviewed.

After the interviewers had chance to interview Vivek , I squeezed in for a bit to get a picture with him and wished him best for the upcoming IIFA awards.  He was nominated for the Best Villain award and I told him "I really hope you win the best villain award!!", unfortunately he didn't win :(.

Once the interviews were done, we were debating whether to just stay there or go back to the hotel, change, and come back for the show.  I was leaning towards going back to the hotel and changing and my friends agreed with me, so we headed for the Hilton first to pick up the car.  While we were waiting for our car to come, we found Boman Irani standing just 2 feet away from us.  He had just arrived from the airport, so he was getting his bags out of the car, but it was just funny that we didn't recognize him at first :P.  When we did recognize him, I said hi, how his flight was, and asked him if we could get a picture with him and he was very friendly about it!  Our car came and we headed for our hotel to change.  It was all rush since we were already late for the IIFA Rocks show...but managed to get there in time and might have just missed maybe 5-10 minutes or so.

Gauhar Khan & Vivek Oberoi (IIFA Rocks)

First of all, the IIFA Rocks was hosted by Vivek Oberoi and Gauhar Khan.  Gauhar was looking stunning and Vivek was looking handsome!!  They both did a great job of hosting the show.  The show had music and dance performances by Ankit Tiwari (Aashiqui 2 - Sun raha hai na tu singer & composer), Bhoomi Trivedi (Ram chahe leela singer), and Monali Thakur (singer & actress).  It was fun and entertaining!

Nina Davulur, Miss America 2014

The show also had 3 packed fashion shows by the 3 top designers of Bollywood.  First fashion show showcased the collection of designer Manish Malhotra who had show stoppers like Sonakshi Sinha, Siddharth Malhotra, and Anil Kapoor.  The 2nd fashion show showcased the designs of Amita Bal who had Nina Davuluri, Miss America 2014, as her showstopper.  Nina Davuluri looked gorgeous as she walked down the ramp!

The last, but not the least, was Vikram Phadnis who showcased his collection with help of 2 gorgeous showstoppers, Yami Gautam and Malaika Aurora Khan.  His collection was beautiful.  Not that I didn't like Manish Malhotra's collection, but I felt Vikram Phadnis had very colorful collection with Red, Pink, and Orange colour combination clothes!! 

Vikram Phadnis Fashion Show

Malaika Aurora Khan

Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan

Now, for the finale, they saved the best for the last!!  It was the live performance of Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan!  He has such soulful voice that truly touches your heart!!  He was mesmerizing that you couldn't think of anything else other than focusing on the songs he was singing and completely melt yourself into music (Am I making any sense?) :).  Lucky for us that a lot of people had left when his performance was going on, so we were able to move to the 1st row seats to enjoy the performance.

After his performance, it was a wrap and everyone started leaving.  There were not that many people and there wasn't really any security towards the entrance of back stage, so my friend decided to check it out and see if she can catch someone for a quick interview.  There weren't that many people left backstage either but, lucky for us, we were able to meet Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and get a picture with him as well as an autograph.  He was very nice person, very humble, and talked to us with a smile on his face.  It was an honour to meet him.  I also got an autograph from Ankit Tiwari who was backstage as well.

Phew...that was IIFA Rocks show! Amazing, surprising, beautiful, and entertaining!!  The show had an after party which started right around 12:30 am or so and unfortunately for us, my friend had the passes for us but he wasn't reachable after the show :(.  We tried hard to go pass the security but the security guard was adamant and didn't let us in (well, he was doing his job).  After sitting around for a while, hoping that someone would pity on us and let us in, someone walked up to us and handed us 3 after party passes!! How convenient!!  We went in, and due to starvation, we grabbed whatever we could and fed ourselves!!

We danced for some time and then headed back to the Hilton hotel to pick up our car.  I ran into my friend, K, and we hung out in the lobby of the Hilton until it was 3:30 am.  By the time we got to the hotel it was 3:45/50 am....we changed and by the time I went to bed, it was already 5 am :-o!! Time really flies and I set my alarm, again, for 7:45 am and went to bed.

Well, that was one looooong day but a lot of fun!!  It's not over yet...more to come for IIFA in next 2 days!!  Stay tuned!

IIFA Awards 2014 - Day 2 - April 24, 2014, Thursday - Part 1

Hi Friends,

Here I am, back with the day 2 activities of IIFA awards in Tampa! From my previous post of Day 1 activities, I had said that I went to bed around 4:15 am setting an alarm for 7:45 am, but that didn't go down as planned :-|.  It turns out that I slept through my alarm and woke up after my friend realized that it was close to 9 am! We both woke up with a jerk and made a run for the breakfast room since the breakfast was going to close at 9!  We made it in time..no worries!! Grabbed some things to eat and headed back to the room.  While my friend, Ka, and I slept through the alarm, one of Ka's friend landed in Tampa who was also going to join us for the IIFA weekend.  Once she arrived, we all got ready and headed for the downtown Hilton hotel around 11 am which was the main headquarters for all the stars for IIFA weekend!

Govinda @ Hilton Downtown Tampa (IIFA 2014)

We got our media accreditation from the hotel and relaxed in the media room for a bit before heading for the  lobby.  The original plan was to go to the airport for stars' airport arrivals, but there was not enough time to get to the airport, so the best choice was to stay at the hotel where the stars were going to arrive after the airport arrivals!  And surely, soon after, the actors started arriving.  First one to come was Govinda with wife Sunita.  He surely seems to have lost weight.

Shabana Aazmi

After that, there was a flood of actors who came one after another.  I saw Rajkumar Hirani near the elevator, saw Sameera Reddy and Shabana Azmi as she was heading out.  Next, Arshad Warsi came to the Hilton and my friend interviewed him which was interesting!  Next, was Mr. Milkha Singh with his family.  After that was Vivek Oberoi (didn't see his wife or son with him at that time).  He stopped for a second to also talk to the media for a bit and then headed to the elevator.

Vivek Oberoi

Next, it was the dhak dhak actress Madhuri Dixit who arrived with husband Ram.  She was looking great...unfortunately, she didn't stop to talk to anyone.  And then, the moment that took my breath away had come...the arrival of the heartthrob Hrithik Roshan!! He was looking handsome, dashing, and amaaaazing!! I couldn't take my eyes off him!! It was like people woke up all of a sudden when he came and crowded the place like crazy carnival!!  Here are some snaps of their arrival.

Madhuri Dixit with Husband Ram

Hrithik Roshan :) :)

As far as airport arrivals were considered, Hrithik was the last one to arrive in the afternoon and there was no one else coming until late evening.  We headed straight to a conference room where the IIFA press conference was going to be held.  The conference had speeches from Dr. Kiran Patel, the Mayor and Commissioner of the Tampa Bay, and of course, the actors, Priyanka Chopra, Anil Kapoor, and Sonakshi Sinha!  The press conference also unveiled the new album Back2love from singer Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan.  At the end of the press conference, all the actors came on stage along with the mayor of Tampa Bay and the CEO of Visit Tampa Bay and they all danced together on the Do Da Tampa (IIFA theme song).  In fact, Anil Kapoor showed some of his moves to the mayor and he tried those as well :)  Overall, the day was going pretty good, but it was far from being over.

For the rest of the day updates, I will continue in the next post giving you details of the backstage interview with Vivek Oberoi, running into Vishal Malhotra, and the main event of the evening, IIFA Rocks, which included fabulous fashion shows, dance and music performances, and finally the grand finale with Rahat Fateh Ali Khan's live performance (that I will never forget)!!

Till then, have fun!!

IIFA Awards 2014 - Day 1 - April 23, 2014, Wednesday - Part 2

....Continuing from Part 1

After almost 3 and half hours of flight, I landed in Tampa Bay, FL at around 10 pm.  I got to the terminal and the first thing I see is this IIFA welcome!!

IIFA Welcome banner at Tampa Bay, FL airport

I was sleepy, tired, but as soon as I saw the sign, I was wide awake :).  I called my friend and she asked me to come to the 9th floor.  Well, let me give you little background about this 9th floor.  The 9th floor of the airport is actually a short term parking floor but that had been converted to a green carpet welcome floor for all the stars arriving for IIFA!  The media and local audience sections were separate on the green carpet where the actors can first go to the fans' side and then give little speech on the stage (more like mini-stage) and then come towards the media side.  I headed to the 9th floor and I must say even at 10:30 pm, the welcome area was crowded with fans.  Luckily, my friend was already on the media side since she had already gotten in with her credentials (with an email as proof of media accreditation).  She got me in from the media side and as soon as I entered, just minutes later entered Randhir Kapoor and Rajeev Kapoor.  This was the first time I had ever seen any actors up so close.  Here is the pic of Randhir Kapoor on the mini-stage.

Randhir Kapoor @ IIFA airport welcome

After they were escorted to their cars, the next one to arrive was none other the rock star Priyanka Chopra!! She had long flight (just like all the other actors), she looked tired, but she still looked great! Luckily I got an autograph from her, couldn't get a pic with her though :(.  But when she was over on the fans' side, she was very friendly, taking her time to give selfies, giving autographs, and even talking to some of the fans.  Here is her snap while she was giving a small welcome speech.

Priyanka Chopra @ IIFA airport welcome

She was the last one to come for that day and after she was taken to her car, everyone headed for their homes.  I met up with my friend, K, who was on the green carpet with Priyanka, helping the IIFA crew.  My friend, Ka, and I headed to get the rental car.  The process was pretty quick and we got a nice 2014 Nissan car (don't remember the model).  It was late and we were both tired and maybe that might have been the reason that we got on the wrong Hwy which made a 5 mile journey into a 15 miles drive :-(.  Finally, got to the hotel, checked in, and I crashed on the bed for few minutes.  Both of us weren't sleepy, so we just chatted and caught up on things!!

In short time, my friend, K, came to the hotel room to hang out for a while after he wrapped up airport arrivals and meetings.  We all hung out until 4 am in the morning and soon after he took off.  Ka and I slept around 4:15 am, setting an alarm for 7:45 am!!  Well, that was the first day of IIFA for me, hectic, crazy, exciting, and tiring, but I am not complaining!! This is just the beginning of an exciting and amazing IIFA weekend!!  Next day is packed with lots of great activities...stay tuned!

IIFA Awards 2014 - Day 1 - April 23, 2014, Wednesday - Part 1

First of all, I have been wanting to write the details of my IIFA awards weekend from a long time, but it's been super hectic and busy on my end that I have not had any chance to write these updates :(.  But, today, I am going to start writing about each day and finish up all the days as soon as I can, starting with April 23rd :).  So, here it goes....

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April 23, 2014 - Day 1 (Wednesday)

With so much excitement of IIFA and very little planning for this trip, I actually slept really late the night before.  Usually I am done with packing and preparing for the trip at least 3-4 days in advance and then only last minute stuff is left to put in the hand bag, but this time, it was complete chaos since I had been busy with work so much.  Even though I had very little sleep, I woke up early with excitement :).  I still had things sitting outside that I needed to pack.  I went to work for half a day before my flight, came home, finished packing, and headed for the airport.  It was nice that the airport wasn't packed that much and I got through security in like 15 minutes and headed for the gate.  I wish I was able to rest at the gate for a bit before my flight but resting was far from the agenda :(.  I had to take care of some pending things before I boarded the plane which included canceling my previous car rental reservation (with 2 different companies) and making a new reservation with Enterprise Car Rental.  Reason?  Well, there was a difference in price with Budget vs. Enterprise and also I had made one reservation a month before and a 2nd one a week before and both of them needed to be cancelled before I make a new one (3rd one) :P.  With that taken care of, I had little bit time to relax at the gate (but not for long).

Thinking about IIFA awards, I knew I had a lot of things with me for this trip but I think even people around me must have guessed I am going for a month of trip, not because the size of my carry on bag but due to the amount of things I had packed in that carry on bag which was basically expanded and stretched from every possible angle :D.  Ohh, and I also had jam packed backpack!  Being concerned after looking at my bag, the lady sitting next to me mentioned that if we are taking carry on with frontier airlines, you need to get your boarding pass stamped.  The only way you get it stamped is if the Frontier Airlines agent check the size of your carry on and personal item and verify whether they fit in their designated carry on boxes. What?!?! What do I do now? There is no way my bag was going to fit in their designated size boxes...!!  I was a bit concerned myself after hearing what the concerned lady told me.  I gathered my courage and went to the counter to get the boarding pass stamped.   When I put the carry on bag over their box, it did not fit at all.  The lady was nice and asked me if it's just clothes and if I can squeeze them in little bit.  I agreed and she stamped my boarding pass!!  Phew....that would have been a disaster if I had to take stuff out from the bag!  I got on the flight and fell asleep as soon as plane took off.  I thought I had fallen asleep pretty good until a sudden plan turbulence shook the entire plane...that was bit scary for few minutes!  No complimentary drinks on Frontier anymore (actually that was when I flew.  Now, they even charge for taking your carry on bags on plane with you and getting assigned seats...rediculous!!).  I ate the masala paratha (tortilla) made by my mom and then tried to sleep again, but couldn't.  That's when I thought of writing up the happenings of today so far!  But, the day is not over yet.  More things to come in next couple of hours as soon as I land in Tampa Bay, FL!!

I have told myself that I will keep the posts short enough so that they don't get boring and loose its substance...so I will give you more updates in the 2nd part of April 23, 2014!  Until then, enjoy :)

IIFA Awards 2014 Fever

IIFA Awards in Tampa Bay, FL, USA from April 23 - 26, 2014

For those of you who don't know what IIFA is, here it is:  IIFA Awards are International Indian Film Academy Awards celebrated annually to honor the actors/technical staff/professionals from the Hindi Film Industry (known as the Bollywood)!! IIFA awards are always held outside of India in a different country each year.  This way IIFA brings the Indian culture to whichever country it chooses as well as brings the Bollywood to the millions and millions of fans across the world!!  It is no different from other awards show but it's still got a unique thing to it that attracts you towards it and that's the beauty of IIFA is that it takes you to different and exotic locations each year!!  It becomes a huge celebration!

Well, I think you get the picture now on what IIFA Awards are :) (and if not then Google it up).  Before I get into anything regarding IIFA, I have to take you all in a flashback to last year, end of September 2013, when I first found out about IIFA Awards coming to Tampa Bay, FL in 2014, for the first time in US!

Last year, I planned a Bahamas Cruise with few friends (I won't bore you with the cruise details) where I made a new friend, K!  K is very involved in the community and was the one to tell us that IIFA is coming to Tampa Bay, FL (in US for the very first time) and it was exciting enough that all the friends were like, oh yea, we should go for it!! That was then, just discussion on the fact that IIFA is coming to Tampa Bay and the talk was kind of over there.  Since then, every time I talked to K here and there, it was mentioned that IIFA is coming and we should plan a trip for sure.  Cut to January 2014, when the IIFA dates were announced to be April 23 - 26, 2014 and it was announced that the tickets for IIFA will go on sale from January 17, 2014, K kept me posted and told me I should not think twice and just buy the ticket since it'll be a lifetime experience.  I was not sure...but he definitely convinced me to come to IIFA since it was going to be in his home town!  I told him I am going to buy the ticket!! Then came the question of who will I go with and who will I sit with if I get the ticket (my brother was supposed to come initially but he wasn't too interested in this so he decided not to come)?? That's when I reconnected with another friend, Ka, who had already planned to go to the event.  We talked and bought our tickets together so we can have our seats together in this big stadium where the event was going to be held.  It's good to have a familiar face sitting next to you, otherwise it's no fun discussing the event to a stranger sitting next to you (without the stranger thinking you're a creep trying to strike a conversation)! Anyways, so the ticket was booked and now there was no turning back and the only thing on my mind was "IIFA, here I come!!" :)

I booked my air tickets and it was final....I was going to IIFA!!  I was too excited and just couldn't believe it!  And that's it, that's when IIFA fever started!!  It was down to counting months, and then days, and then just hours (at the airport) away from Tampa :) :)

The credit in the deciding factor for my IIFA trip goes to my friend, K, who convinced me to come to IIFA in Tampa Bay since it was coming to his home town, plus he took care of the accommodation in the hotel for me and my friends, plus he got IIFA Rocks passes for me and a friend, plus he got the IIFA Magic of the Movies Awards passes for me and a friend, plus he got after party passes for me and a friend!!!! That's A LOT that he did for a friend so selflessly and just shows how great of a person he is!!  I also know that he had been helping out IIFA committee day-in and day-out, putting lots of hours in the work...but that's him!  So a BIG thanks to him for my IIFA trip!!

In the meanwhile, I also got a message from my friend, Ka, who was in India visiting the IIFA group, that she was able to get media accreditation for herself, myself, and one of her friends.  It was kind of exciting to know that we were going to have media badges but I didn't know much on what that meant in terms of access at the IIFA.  But let me tell you that it surely made the IIFA experience more fun and felt like that extra extra cherry on top of the cake :).  So a Big thanks to her as well!!

This, my friends, is just the beginning of my IIFA fever!  Stay tuned for my day to day experiences with IIFA event, the craziness of each day, the close encounters with the actors, the fashion shows, the evening shows, the green carpet, and finally the main event of IIFA awards show!!

Hope you enjoyed reading this post!! Many more to come :)
Enjoy!!

Kadhai Paneer & Kulcha

Hello everyone,

It feels like ages since I wrote a cooking post on my blog, but I am back with a recent recipe that I tried out from a friend.  It is none other than Kadhai Paneer and Kulcha recipe.  First and for most, I want to thank my friend, D, who shared her recipe with me and because of the mouth watering picture of kadhai paneer and kulcha, I decided to try it out.

Here is her site for you to check out her recipe:
http://fun4friends.net/indian-recipes/kadai-paneer-with-kulcha

Even though I am going to write down the full recipe with different variants and portions of the ingredients, the first credit goes to my friend!

Kadhai Paneer:
Ingredients
Vegetables:
Onions (1 small onion) 
Green/Red/Orange bell pepper (capsicum): think of a bell pepper having 4 sides.  I cut 2 sides of each color bell pepper into cubes
Green chillies (1 small)
Tomatoes (2 big or 4 small)
Cilantro

Spices:
Cloves (3-4), Cinnamon (2 sticks), Cumin seeds (Jeera), Coriander powder, Red chili powder, Garam masala

Other:
Tomato sauce (2 spoons), 1/2 pound paneer (cut in cubes), oil, ginger garlic paste

Preparation:
- Finely chop onions
- Finely chop tomatoes
- Chop bell peppers into small cube sizes
- Chop cilantro
- Finely chop green chillies
- Cut Paneer into cubs






Method:
1) Heat oil in a pan and once oil is little warm, add cumin seeds, cloves, cinnamon sticks, and stir them for a minute or so.
2) Add ginger garlic paste and chopped onions and mix it well for a minute or so
3) Add salt and chopped green chillies and stir until onions are little transparent
4) Add chopped bell peppers, mix it well and let it cook for couple of minutes
5) For adding the spices, just so that they don't burn as I add them to the pan, I made a paste.  For the paste, you add coriander power, red chilli powder, and garam masala all in one bowl and add little bit water (as needed) to make a paste out of it which is not too liquid but not too thick either.
6) I added the paste in the pan and mixed everything and let the spices cook
7) Add chopped tomatoes, and tomato sauce to this and let the tomatoes cook for about 3-4 minutes by mixing it well and stirring in between
8) Now add paneer cubes and mix it with everything else (make sure you don't stir it such that your paneer is squished)
9) Add chopped cilantro and turn off the heat
10) It's ready to be served hot :)

Kulcha:
Ingredients:
2 & 1/2 cup Maida (all purpose flour) & little bit more for rolling the dough balls
Baking powder (I didn't measure it according to my friend's instructions, but I think it was close to a teaspoon)
Baking soda (not that much, maybe just 2 pinch of it)
Salt
Sugar
3 tbsp oil
1/4 cup curd (plain yogurt)
1 cup milk (I had to use 1 cup milk to make the dough)
Sesame seeds (to mix it in dough balls)
Shredded garlic (to mix it in dough balls)
Chopped cilantro (to mix it in dough balls)

Preparation:
- Mix all the above ingredients and let the dough soak for about 3-4 hours (I kept it for 3 hours)

Process:
1) Once the dough is kept for 3 hours, just mix it one more time nicely and make medium size balls out of it
2) Use the extra maida (flour) to dust the balls and roll them into small tortilla shape
3) Sprinkle sesame seeds, shredded garlic, and chopped cilantro on it and make it into a ball again
4) Roll them again into big tortilla shape size
5) Place it on a flat pan
6) Switch the side once the other side is half cooked
7) Once both sides are half cooked, apply oil or butter (ghee) on both sides and cook them until they have light brown spots on them
8) Your Kulcha is ready to be served!

Well, here you have it, a delicious Kadhai Paneer and Kulcha :)

The reason I posted the recipe steps again is because it's little bit different than my friend's in some of the steps and some portions as well, so thought of sharing both the ways.

Hope you enjoy making and even more enjoy eating it!!

Little late for happy new year....

Hi Everyone,

It's good to be back on the blog and post something.  I have been really busy for a while now and haven't had the chance to be back on the blog.  But now, I'm going to make a conscious effort to visit the blog and post something once or twice a month.  I can't believe that March of 2014 has already started and this year is already zooming by fast!  Hope to be back soon with more posts :)

Until next time, have a great day!