Off the Charts

These prints from Pop Chart Lab are a lot of fun and surprisingly informative. There are diagrams of all kinds of things, from pop star haircuts to varieties of pasta. I think they'd make a great Father's Day gift for your already well-informed dad.

An Diary entry from the Murdered Streets of Kolkata

I landed last night from New York into Mumbai and took a connecting flight to Calcutta or Kolkata – As a film maker and a newsmaker I always have to be diplomatic. But Last night, I lost my cool. I have come here with my small team of “Bengali Detective”. I had to re-schedule my entire interviews schedule thanks to a lost baggage scenario. My film is based on the documentary directed by Phil Cox, Searchlight acquired the remake rights at the Sundance festival. In all honesty today I am frustrated and could actually use a Bengali Detective to search my bags through this tumultuous journey ! I am jet lagged and have no clothes ! I was lucky enough to have the scripts in my check in bags which I have guarded with my life all the way here !

I made a few calls to Sabyasachi, he is a friend of a friend. For as much as I would love to float around the murdered streets of Kolkata in a bridal lehenga, I need to be Monsoon ready and Press-Interview Chic for tomorrow. He put me through his Stylist friend Anjali from StylistCriacker fame who suggested if I want a brand experience from the comfort of my room then I need to go Internet Shopping ! I laughed, this woman cracked me up ! In her words I am boho-chic and to find my style in Kolkata is going to be difficult. I did not need another difficult experience so I plugged in my laptop and tapped away !

The screen popped – a black shot ! Shop now, I went clikety click ! The only relief after this hectic 12 hours was that the website www.baggout.com was navigation friendly. I clicked Women and there …. I have some perfect style samples to choose from. And what’s more, for a celebrity like me, I am not big on brands – but I cannot wear a nobody and walk into a press interview. Nothing would be worse than that.

I quickly put together my thoughts and took a call. I selected a kurta, which is patent Mira Nair style. A chunky necklace to go with it. Some earings and a bracelet to complete the look. I may Money-Wise and was just happy to see competitive pricing from various other websites. It was like shopping with my friends from back home. Each time you pull something – they will quickly jump in to say the shop down the street has an offer of 2 for 1 on it. I chuckled… my friends Irene would be just do pleased that I thought of her. She must be on her way to our Yoga Class… Urrgghh… My bag also had my yoga mat.

Would it also give me a yoga mat deal.. ?? with a little back and forth I found a Yoga Mat , a book to go on my night stand. Of course I had a dinner with Govida too, my lead actor. Should I go with a different look ? I don’t think I will be able to match a style icon like Govida ! That’s too much pressure. But I do find something interesting. A red kurta, with the right styling I can totally own upto it !

Ofcourse… it has a cash back offer. The website is pretty clear on the way the mechanism works ! Atleast somebody is clear with their basics unlike the airlines – who have till now given me all vague answers. It almost makes them sound like an answering machine. “Madam, we would like to apologize for …” Nobody is dead ! But I will gun them down if they don’t get me my stuff back.  Thanks to Baggout, I at least have the essentials and toiletteries in place for the next two days.  I am tempted for some more… but more on it post the big interview ! 

PS : This post has been written as a contest entry for baggout.This post is not to demean any celebrity in any sense.Topic - Choose any interesting personality and write about his/her hypothetical experience of Shopping through