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For those of you who still dont know.. I was down at the massive ZEE CINE AWARDS LONDON ’08. I was the EVENT CO-ORDINATOR FOR ZEE based at the venue. I was also responsible for setting up a mojor part of the dressing rooms for the stars and supervising the RED CARPET on the day of the final event.

WHAT AN EVENT & WHAT AN EXPERIENCE !!!!

MASSIVE & GLAMOROUS IN EVERY WAY with half the BOLLYWOOD industry present!!

Well let’s get on with the photos & tell you a little more about this multi-multi-multi-multi Million pound event.

The first 4 photos below are the layout of the venue at the beginning of the week with the seats layout and the stage being erected. The seating area had seats from £1500 to £50 ticket areas.. and Yes .. every seat was taken.. SOLD OUT !

The next pic has the massive 50 member Ganesh Hegde dance troop from India rehersing their moves before the Stars come in for their practice. The man with the white back & curly hair is Ganesh Hegde. Photo 4135 has Mr. SAIF ALI KHAN on stage in brown rehersing. 4136 has KAREENA KAPOOR on there.. & YES.. the gossip is all true.. They do look like a good couple & together all the time. I saw them in their lovey-dovey moments with Kareena fixing his hair etc. through the rehersals. I was with these two most of the time through the event. If you have been watching Zee Cinema, you would have seen me escorting these guys around back stage on the event day. I was responsible of taking care of these two throughout. It was fun in the dressing room with them They both nice in person but obviously do have their starry tantrums as well..

4137 & 38 have VIDYA BALAN on stage in rehersals.. The most hard working person I saw of all the stars. Punctual & dedicated. Putting all the effort in every rehersal & no doubt she has the most beautiful smile. She would just hang around back stage & talk to everyone who would come to her. 4139 & 40 you see my hottie.. KATRINA KAIF walk in.. she was fun to be around.. very flexible & easy to communicate with. Probably she is more at home when in London.. lol

4141 & 4143 has Mr. KING SHARUKH KHAN shaking the leg right in the centre. This man shocked me with his work. He practised for exactly 2 hours for the grand finalle performance.. He is a professional !!! Was to arive at 8am to practise.. We were sleeping in our hotels thinking he would come around 12.. He was there at 7:50.. Left me stunned.. Came down in his massive Rolse Royse Phantom with the number plate JAADU.. [photo 9.27 below] lol.. Took his regular smoke [9.28 below.. sat on the left surrounded by his personal security] & coffee breaks. He does smoke a lot & a fact for big Sharukh fans.. He drinks black coffee with loads of sugar.. The man has a sweet tooth. I still have bills of his organic black coffee’s that I need to claim back from Zee.. But very humble and would ask me politely for whatever he wanted & thank for everything.

Then check out my photo
on Salmaan’s Kawasaki Ninja. He was supposed to make an entry on that but the dummer cancelled.. What a looser.. but I got the bike instead but only for a round Upen Patel took over his performance on the bike.

Check out the photos of the dressing rooms I setup & the backstage area with tons of equipment that took a week to setup and cost millions.. I loved all of it.. I then got to chat quite briefly with the hottest women at this show.. The most stunning I thought.. LARA DUTTA.. Ahhh.. she is gorgeous.. nuf said !!

We then got to the final event on the 26th April’08. The crowd started coming in & the event packed out in no time. The red carpet opened in and the celebrities started popping in from the big cars. I was supervising the Red Carpet area & so I saw some of the biggest cars & some of the biggest starts. The photographers lined around and the photos kept clicking. I got to see every star that came in at the closest. To name a few.. The full Kapoor family, Karishma & hubby, Randhir kapoor, Shammi Kapoor, the new guy in Saawariya, etc. Shilpa, Dia Mirza, Arjun Ramphal & wife, Govinda, Padmini Kolhapure, Rekha, Dilmple Kapadia, jay Sean, hard Kaur, Gauri Khan, AR REhman, Bappi Lahiri, Karan Johar, Sajid Khan, Boxer Amir Khan, etc etc.. the list goes on.. everyone you see on Tele at the show this sunday 18th May..

Check out the photos of the event & the Kareena, Sharukh, Jay Sean etc. performances.. some awards being given out etc. and the packed out audience.. What a fab event.. !!

I wont disclose who one which award… cause frankly.. I dont know much either as I was backstage most of the time or in the dressing rooms with these stars and all.. But you can sure find it all out this Sunday on Zee TV. But I do know that Aamir Khan won the best director award for Taare Zameen Par as I have the final award slip for that.. So Aamir Sir .. if you reading this please text me your address & I’ll post that to you … lol..

OH.. By the way.. I GOT TO HOLD THE 1ST ZEE CINE AWARD TROPHY in my hand since I transported them.. lol.. It’s quiet light in weight.. sadly.. not enough Gold on it..

Check out the videos below.. & disastrous photos of the wrap up the day after the show.. [Man that hurt !! I was soo sad.. Things that took months to setup.. gone down in a flash..] But then I got to drive a Porsche in the empty hall.. haha..

So I went to Birmingham to do a live set on the BOBBY FRICTION show on the BBC Asian Network.. what a brilliant day it was!!

I got of the canal’s to go to the St. Paul’s Cathedral. Lovely church.. but then I saw this poster for St. Paul’s Gallery which only hosts music Album covers. Loved the idea and walked into check it out. A super good collection of Floyd, Zeplin and many other rock band’s limited edition, signed, poster size album covers.. and all of them for sale normally above £500… some even around £2000. I couldn’t help but complement the owner who seemed quiet busy polishing things around. We got talking and I told him I was here to perform on BBC radio & do lot of music back in Wales. He told me about him and also that today a couple of hours later was their lauch night for the gallery. Seeing my interest, he was kind enough to invite me to the limited guestlist of 100 people and I had to say Yes.

P.S. – Dont try to sneak into my room to steal his autographed CD…. I have it locked up in a locker.. 

This blog has been lying in my saved articles for quite long now.. I finally decided to put it out in the open from the hiding dungeons of my save box…

Well the 1st weekend when I arrived to UK in September 06 was quite a “WALK” .. lol.. {It’s usually adjectives used to describe… but a noun suits fine herre.. }
I, jimmy & ash were the first few to get together on the Glam campus in Trefforest.. & we wanted to explore a bit of Trefforest & at the same time do loads of shopping. We had just settled down in our respective rooms & our wardrobes & kitchens felt empty. So, what do we do..?? Simple, get to Tesco’s.. we dint really know wat Tesco’s was then except for it’s a super dooper market n about a couple of miles away.. so with all the time in the world, we decided to take a walk down the new roads of Trefforest.

With no maps or any sense of direction we got on the road starting from the Uni campus & walking the way it “seemed” to be. & guess what.. it was correct.. but we walked for a couple of hours.. lol.. It was fun !!! We stopped here & there.. took loads of pics of our new scenic surroundings.. & even asked a couple of ppl the way.. lol.. It was fun all around.. Even passed a small little town on the way.. dont remember what it is called.. & then we bumped into these lovely horseees in an enclosed area.. & I love horses.. always did.. just could not just pass them away.. We spent some time with them.. Had a quick chat in the “grassy” language. Loved them… quite a couple the stallions were..

Next stop was the massive Tesco’s.. I had no idea what to expect for this.. It is just massive.. Too huge.. Took us like a couple of hours to navigate through it.. Shopped for like £40 in the very first week. So much so, that in between the 3 of us we had to call for a cab to ferry us back to the uni. But it was all worth it.. A day well spent.. Saw the unpassed area’s of our Uni, then Trefforest & figured out the way to Tesco’s on our own and then shopped out hearts out.. But after all this, dont ask us to cook or make anything as yet. So we head to our favourite place.. The Gallery - The best place forr all students on campus to fill their every empty tummies. I love the food their.. Well I dont remember when did I eat their last.. I guess it was just that first month I’d say.. lol.. mannn it’s been long.. I think I should head back there sometime soon..

Check out the photos down here from our lil expedition trip.. You even get to see quite a bit of our Glamorgan campus.. particularly of interest to all my dear friends in India & around…
& yes… Long live TESCO’s… !!!! haha…

I so wish to live those moments again.. What a wicked time.. !!! Loved every second of it.. Dint know nothing about Quad Biking before i actually stepped in there n did it. Everyone at the University told me to go & try this for our International Student’s Week at the Glamorgan. We had a few sports free to try & this was the most popular with all old students.. & well all I did was take their advice… Well worth it.. 

I had a early session booked in with my friends.. 3-5 in the evening. We were picked up in a mini bus & ferried to the “TAFF VALLEY QUAD BIKE & ACTIVITY CENTRE” just about 15mins drive from the uni. We were about 10-12 of us. This place was top of a hill bang opposite our Uni… We could see our uni from that end.. The overall sight was just WWWhhhoooaaa… Check out the pics below.. A completely green farm on the slopes of a hill… although flattish.. Sheep all around.. on Lush green grass.. & the next moment you know you are on there in between the sheep but rearing on the huge bike..

We 1st got dressed in the mud suits.. This was the worst part of it all. The suits are stinking dirty.. Mud, sweat & rain moisture.. all mixed up on our dear suits.. We were also given boots & gloves & a helmet too.. {Man it was tough to fit it on my head.. } After a quick brief on how to ride the monster Yamaha quad bikes we were put on bigger ones or the smaller ones depeding on our heights. The damn things are pretty easy to ride but difficult to control because of their awsome weight.

Well the 1st push off was the scariest. It just sped off with a slight touch on the pedal while it was just on the 1st gear. I wondered what it would be like on the 5th. We were split into 2 groups & escorted by 2 youngsters incharge on their bikes into a practice area. After about 10mins in this area going around at different speeds & in different formations to get used to hadling the bikes… we were then led into the fields… Right into the slopes among the sheep into the fields.. We were taked at different levels & at different speeds & then even on different circuits.. 1st it was just the green grass.. then it was rocky terrain & then we drove further up the hill to the heightest point. The sight just kept getting better n better & also our comfort level with th bike.. after about 30mins on the bke, I was pulling it up on the 5th gear with a lot of push on the pedal… going faster n stronger with all of it.. Crazy fun.!!!

After a quick 10min stop to rest the engines we got on to it again on a different area & this time we had rain to accompany us.. I was cold n shivering but the excitement level was too high to notice anything else. We finally came back to the base area after almost covering the whole damn hill on our 4 wheels… But just to sad to get off those deisel guzlers… After a change from our further messed up suits.. got back into the normal clothing & hopped back on to our mini bus back to the uni.. Got off the bus & it was decided there & then … “We are going back again soon..”… {Just waiting for th cold to warm up a lil.. } This is one adventure sport which is well worth every penny they charge.. Simply amazing… Recommendation:- if u ever get a chance to Quad bike.. do not miss it.. especially if you are in Wales.. where else on this earth will you get terrain like this..

Cheers to that !!!

Sporting can be fun… So I heard.. But dint know it could be soo much fun… I’m still sore from when I last played Cricket back in 1998….lol… guess that says it all about how sporty i am.. But that’s not it.. It doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy sports.. I LOVE THEM.. but i’m pretty limited in my sporting choices.. I consider working out & weight lifting as sports.. playing pool & snooker .. n badminton are my other popular choices.. But when i got here, I got to try loads of new stuff… sports that were only in my word dictionary as part of my general knowledge.

The 1st main sport i tried was Archery at the Universities sports center. No.. don’t worry… i just dint walk in & try it out.. It was under proper supervision with full training. I registered for it & then we were called for a 1.5 hour session with professional archery teachers… After good amount of health & safety talk, we finally got to touch the bow & arrow. Man that stuff is light & very stylish just to have.. I want to have one.. just to have one.. but i wouldn’t be able to keep myself from firing shots at just about anyone or anything.. {u don’t wanna be around when i actually get one.. } after getting to know how to hold the bow, we figured how to load up the arrow. Getting the right grip & holding it correctly is something that matters the most in this. After you master that, the next most important thing obviously is to get your aim right.. All i can say about that is.. [not boasting..] i got all of them on target .. you see it’s in our blood.. I’m an Indian.. Ramayan & Mahabharata times have passed.. but those genes have been passed on to every Indian.. atleast in my case.. haha.. I did get to the outer circles at times .. but you’ll know why when you actually do it.. The moment you release the sling, it hurts your finger tips real bad… pretty painful after a few shots… other than that.. its all good.. really love it.. we even increased the distance from the target in the last 15 minutes to add more excitement.. n it did work for that as well.. A definite recommend for some blood rushing action..

The next day morning, I was booked for a mountain biking session. I had no idea how i would go about it as I’ve not even sat at the back of a 2 wheeler in years… forget riding one.. n that too up n down a hill.. I was expecting the venue to be somewhere close by. Crazy heavy rain made me think twice if i really wanted to do this but i decided to go anyway. It was well worth it!! 8 of us were put in a mini bus & drove for about an hour to an adventure sports complex up in the hills. The drive was beautiful. Something that anyone would look forward to in his 1st week in a new country. After we reached the activity center.. we were greeted by our trainer for the day… it was 9 in the morning.. We had a chit chat session along with some coffee & juice while we waited for the rain to go down. But it had no intensions of subsiding so we decided to go ahead with it anyway.. After a change we got down to the bike’s room to select our rides… What bikes man..!! Loved them.. double gears.. broad wheels & very sturdy.. After that the tough time started.. I had to get on them.. But as they say.. one can never forger to ride a bicycle .. that worked for it… { but after falling a couple of times..lol..} We put on mud suits n helmets & set out on the road to the top of the hill… This was the worst ride… going up took the life out of me.. man i’m getting old.. need to work on my stamina.. We all went up doing regular stops at check points… riding through all the deep muck on the way by slippery moss rocks … the rain is terrible thing to have during mountain biking.

We finally got to the top & as you would imagine.. the view up there was breathtaking… Phenomenal.. could see the whole valley from up there..very beautiful n that’s when the sun showed up too.. so it was all good… But just for a few minutes.. after a small halt we moved on our way down in the rain again.. As much as I thought this would be fun.. it was more challenging than going up… We actually rode the bike on waterfalls.. could not see the ground… just rolling over water n stones.. by butt was sore for the next few weeks with all the bouncing.. It was crazy… but definitely worth all the experience.. My cycle went out of control a number of times & i even fell a couple of times.. but all in the name of sport.. dint actually bleed so it’s cool.. dint hurt myself that bad.. It was painful at times but it reminded me of the excitement & pleasure with that pain.. what a combo!!!

A definite recommend to get some blood rushing action.. it’s all good… remember to do it in crazy Welch rain for added excitement.. lol..

Coming up next.. a trip to the famous Big Pit coal mine & the most fabulous sport action.. ‘Quad biking’ in the fields..
Keep it tuned..!!

Living in a small town called ‘Trefforest’ you don’t expect all the luxuries even though you are in UK. But this time gives you the basic of all you need. It has a small little market area, it’s own railway station, loads of bars & pubs … and obviously…. THE UNIVERSITY OF GLAMORGAN…

Stepping out of cities like Mumbai & Delhi from India.. I wanted to stay in a quite place with no crazy traffic sound all day & night.. and NO pollution for God sake.. So this town matches my requirements.. I stayed in the university halls of residence for about 4 days when I arrived in Wales & went looking for a neat house at the same time…

After lot of searching.. got this one on river street.. Everything is great about it.. Bang at the end of the market.. next to the corner shop.. opposite the best pub in the area…. 2 minutes from the train station & facing the lovely Taffs river on one side..  And the house was neat & tidy as it was newly done. New carpets, beds, microwave, washing machine.. etc.

I picked it up at the first shot. The thing I loved most about this house is the view from the kitchen & mainly from my rooms window… & to top it all… I was the 1st one to come in & so had a good choice from all the 4 rooms.. And then the Goddess of “womenliness“  blessed me for some unknown reason…. I got 3 new housemates… n all WoMeN…. haha…. All my life.. running away from girls.. n now I have 3 living with me.. under the same damn roof.. wat an awesome life man…

Check out the photos below to know what I going on about.. Description in order of the pics..

1. The market street outside my house.
2. The corner shop called Boughan just outside my house.. My house is behind it. It is owned & run by a punjabi family… lol
3. The best pub in the area called Raffles opposite Boughan.
4. My house lane.
5. My house on the entry door side.
6. The front view & the kitchen fire exit getaway.
7. The road on the other side & the view above the river.
8. The lovely Taffs river at an arms distance.
9. Full front view from across the road.
10. Entrance lobby through the main door.
11. My kitchen with the most gorgeous view of the hill opposite through it’s huge windows.
12. The living room.
13. Aahhh…. In Bed in my bedroom.
14. My study area.. also my dressing area…
15. Jimmy makes a grand entrance to my room..
16. The view outside my window.
17. Up close to nature outside my window. Stops my breath every time I look out.. Awww..

I have an extra room yet.. If you are hot enough.. you can come in & stay… free..

Cheers..