Stock taking for 2011

Its been a long time since I came here though I've been reading on others' posts. So, touching base here and trying to do a snapshot of what is going through my mind:

• I'm going to India (yay!! And yeah, a second time this year :) so, double yay!!)
• I'm also going to tick off another country off my travel list this year (despite my poor traveling this year (no new places except a national park(glacier) and a city (chicago) so far, even though I traveled every single month), I finally get to finish with a bang!)
• I'm planning a surprise - keeping fingers crossed that everything goes fine :) I'll update once things are complete.
• One of my friends, M is off to his wedding. I'm so happy for him and wish I can attend his wedding. Another of my friends is engaged as well, a couple more married/engaged, this seems to be a season of marriages among close friends group.
• Finally saw the finesse of balancing - Respecttttttt!!! I hope I can get to that state soon.
• One of my friends lost his dad :( And another lost her mom :( :( This makes me feel that our parents are not invincible :( :( :( #PainsOfGrowingUp
• Another couple of friends had/are having kids. Phew! So, I finally am getting into the akka to aunty transition (seri, seri, 25ku aprom akka sollanumnu expect panrathu konjam too much thaan!)  #PainsOfGrowingUp
• Purged three years worth of blog posts on google reader, as much mail as I can throw out in official and personal mail folders and as many tasks I can finish before I leave to India. Feels cathartic! I wish there was a way to take a snapshot of my mailbox and other stuff now and just diff the differences a year later so I can cleanup just one year's worth of trash.
• Plan to get off the grid once I go home - one month of Internetless, emailless, fbless life - I'm sure it would be a big challenge given that I'm on the net every minute of my waking time, either through the phone or my ipad or one of my three computers. Would it be bliss or hell? I frankly don't know. Its a lot more easier to be out of net in India than here. Ok... maybe, I'll restrict it to half an hour a week. Lets see!
• The above challenge is one other reason why I purged most stuff - I want to let everything pile on a clean plate instead of another older pile. I'm making sense, no? 
• Since I'm going netless, this is also going to double up as a resolution lookout post. Here is what I set out to do. " This year would be more a capture-and-go year. So, no resolutions to keep, no to-do lists, no must-finish stuff and definitely no must-experience stuff! For my resolution minded friends, I do have two but they are a secret and do not carry the pressure of resolutions - I've worded them 'nice to do stuff' - they really are nice to do but I can comfortably live without doing them. Also, I have a few things that 'can be done' but again, I can live with not doing them. It would definitely be a big change from my planned life. I plan to leave all the planning to others and if any planning HAS to be done by me, I'm going to do it fly-by-the-pants style. Should be interesting to see how that pans out! " It has definitely been an interesting year - I made a ton of new friends, learned more about balance, learned that I can live with some people and without some others, slowed down on traveling but enjoyed all what I can do, experienced new stuff but really didn't plan out for it, watched only movies that I was interested in (no more lists of movies to watch or books to read - it took some time to slow down but boy am I glad I slowed down!), did a couple of all nighters having fun, learned a few new things, did a fly-by-the-pants style trip to LA and more and more. Most important of all, I learned to let go of some things and learned that emotional roller coasters are definitely bad, for everyone involved. 
• That said, the next year has a couple of resolutions from me (yeah, I love the 'do as you go' style but that is not me all the time) - the main one would be to mix my resolutions with the 'do as you go' style. And this year, there are two types of resolutions - one for the whole year and another that changes periodically. As always, they are not to be shared until done. Watch out for 2012 posts to see how the next year shapes up.
• In terms of this blog, this year barely scrapped through being the bottom in terms of numbers. However, as part of no-obligations year, I think this is good enough and I'll aim for 40 posts a year and call it good enough every year from now on. So, no worries on that one.
• I attempted the veggie challenge a couple of times for a period of a month every time and it was a success. Thinking if I should try it for longer periods next year.
• Some minor ones: Loved some of the movies that came out this year; didn't understand how 'why this kolaveri di?' became a world sensation; none of the songs that came out this year stick out; same as none of the books.
• Time is a strange one - on one hand, this has been the most interesting year of my life, on another, this is the most cathartic, on another, this is a bubble year where nothing touched/stuck. I really don't know.
• Life at Neverland has changed SO MUCH, that I barely recognize it from a year back. Even though I was a participant in it, a bird's eye view is stunning.Oh well, guess that is life!

With all that dumped off my mind, I'm off for this year!

Have fun with your families and friends and see you in the new year!

Luv,

Alpine

Advaitam

One of the best short films I've seen in Telugu. I can totally envision this friendship - I've seen an instance of it in real life. Different people, different settings but the same friendship. Hope you like it as well!

Snapshot of a week

Ok... this is a snap shot of two weeks (let me pen it down before I forget them all):

• Trip to Glacier was good. The scenery was amazing. And I ran into R there. Small world! :)
• Saw triple fireworks for July 4th. That was a total new. Every July 4th is way different from the previous ones. This time, we were in neverland.
• Attended a tamil drama in which two of my friends were acting. We got to sit at the first row (probably the first time I've ever done it) but that experience was fun. Also, the sets were amazing - they had put in a lot of effort into getting it right. Even the small details were handled right - as they say, the devil is in the details and they had nailed the devil right, for most parts.
• Attended a dosa fest at a friend's place - man, first time I ate fish dosai :D
• Had a horrible dream from which I woke up in cold sweat :( Even thinking of it now, I can't stop shivering. I've never had a dream where I cried so much. I wouldn't go into the details, but suffice it to say that I wish I had not dreamed it at all.
• Met a school friend in a grocery shop and we spent an hour catching up :)
• One of my cousins is moving to Canada soon - am both happy for them and sad that I'd missing them.
• Porkodi and me did some egg shell dancing together! :D  
• Rest was all work, usual chaat with friends, lunch time and on and on.
• These two weeks were a lot quieter but I managed to waste a LOT OF time yapping with people. As a result, my work has suffered a bit. 
• And I'm no closer to getting anything done :( All coz of my yapping around. 
• My movie watching and music has taken a nose dive as well. I managed to finish a couple of books though (which is way less than what is average). Yapping again!! :(
• I missed watching Harry Potter at midnight this time :( 

I'm super tired of a few things/people. K says that they are as they are but that my image of them has gotten sharper and that is causing issues. I think I understand what K says but don't think that is the only thing to be blamed. I think their images have changed as well. We are good so far but I think we'll head butt soon - I hope to God that it doesn't happen. It is a bother and I don't want to cause much churn. Longer loops might help but that is problem avoidance and not problem solving. But I'm at a point where I can't solve the problem (they should change it) and the problem avoidance is all that I can do - so I do it gladly. But that takes a lot of effort and I'm so not used to putting in this much of effort into this sort of thing. And this is causing me to stress a lot :( I'm trying to push the stress on to work but I end up yapping to clear it out. Hmmm... so far not a very happy two weeks. Lets hope atleast the next week is more fun-filled and in general, happy.

Too much parenting?

I recently read an article about parenting and its effects; sorry, too much of too good parenting and its after effects. One of the best articles I've read on this issue, it kind of pushed me to take a serious look at the differences in parenting when I was a kid (sigh! yeah, there was a 'was' in that sentence) and now (colleagues, friends, my landlady, etc who are parents). Living with a five year old every day gives you a clear view of where the parent stands vs where the kid stands. I should say that some of my cousins and my landlady actually do a good job of it (I don't think I can resist the kids' cuteness when they ask for some more chocolate milk or some more TV/internet time - I've started saying 'lets check with your mom!' when put in a sticky situation).

I don't think I had much choices when growing up - we had a rule of eating what was made that day (even though it was just idlis (we had it EVERY DAY for breakfast) or dosai) and not asking for something that my mom hadn't made. The only allowance was Maggi day, when my mom would relent to our constant badgering and make Maggi (she had this yummy way of making it with veggies and stuff - but I think my sis and I would have eaten it even if it was just Maggi - we were (and still are) that crazed about it) for dinner one night out of two weeks. Even that, my dad would frown upon saying its not healthy. My mom was serious about healthy stuff and Maggi would take a back seat for the next two weeks. We had to cajole her for hours to get it out again!

The same rule applied to Rasna (does anyone remember that ad where they showed a Rasna girl with 'I love you, Rasna'? She was every kid's dream), TV time (homework first and then TV - oliyum oliyum (a song telecast show) on friday nights + movie on sunday were big deal when I was in 4th or 5th; 6th-college - I had to finish the long list of chores/practices to do before TV and novels), story books (only if we did really well in class - a story book for every A grade. I'm sure most of us would've had mini libraries of cherished books that we exchanged with each other simply because we couldn't buy them at will - I have friends who became friends just so we can exchange books :P), play time (two hours max), movies/excursions/trips (one or two a year??), etc, etc. And pocket money was practically non-existent at home. We could get however much we needed but we had to justify our purchases (the hardest was explaining to my mom that I wanted to eat at the canteen every day just for the heck of it - my mom frowned upon it unless it was some special day, like the last day of school or something). We would get one or two rupees once or twice every few weeks and that day was treat day amongst friends. We'd share one samosa or two pepsis between five friends and yet the part samosa was all the more delicious than the ten samosas that I buy now. 

But I still think my childhood was amazing simply because we knew what the rules were and knew what the limits were. Most importantly, it was because we knew our parents won't change the limits. We could cry and cry but once my mom made some dinner, there was no changing it just because I didn't want to eat it. I could either not eat it (allowed for one day) or eat it but request what I wanted 'nicely' for another day (even then, it was at the discretion of my parents to really decide if it was good enough to eat). I still remember hating wheat upma but being forced to eat simply because it was healthy. I think that made me appreciate all kinds of foods and stop being a picky eater. I still have some pet peeves of preferring noodles over rice, chicken over veggies, etc. But those were habits that I picked up in grad school and not when I was growing up. Even now, if push comes to a shove, I can eat anything (eg: bland food) and still not complain much.

Now, I see most kids just getting all they want (or are my expectations too high?). Aakash sleeps every night after watching two hours of TV and gets a new toy every two weeks. He also gets to go to McDonalds (yeah, chicken nuggets are his favorite) every few days (otherwise he won't eat his dinner properly) and has a slew of Happy meal toys which he plays with for maybe half an hour and then throws them out. For his bday, the gifts he gets are in the range of $100 to $500 and he doesn't play with most of them anyways. His latest craze is Justin Bieber (can you imagine a five year old liking a pop star?? ) and thinks Superman is for 'kids' (don't ask me what he is!!). He has an iTouch already and demands that new games be downloaded every few days. He is the one who plays most games on my mobile (I stick to bubble burst most times) and thinks most games are boring. If things are boring even now, I don't know what will happen later in life. There is only so much entertainment and fun that the world can possibly provide.

I only picked Aakash as an example because I see him day in and day out and have known him since he was three and a half years old. Almost every kid that I know is super smart and don't minding showing that they are (which is good some times but then puts us adults in a weird position where you cannot count them as adults (which they are not) but cannot treat them as kids (which they are)). So, you tend to treat them as younger friends whom you can appreciate and play with but really cannot tell them if they are doing something wrong - some days, I've itched to tell a kid that what he is doing is wrong or is not the right thing to do but have held my tongue simply because his parents let him do it. If they are fine with it, then I cannot possibly say anything against it right? But I remember when I was growing up, everyone had a free rein in telling me what was right and what was wrong. Not just my parents, but my aunts, uncles, grand parents, my parents' friends, neighborhood uncles and aunties, my mom's colleagues, sometimes even the maids and driver that worked for us would tell me something is right and something is wrong. Atleast with the maids and my driver, my parents would consider if the advice was really right but with everyone else, my parents decided that since they were adults, they knew better than the kid (ie me). And the adults around us didn't hesitate in correcting me or my siblings if we did some mischief.

Further, us older kids were expected to be 'role models' for the younger ones - whether my own sister or my younger cousins or even the young kid in the colony who played with us. If they were caught doing something wrong, then we had to take some rap as well for not 'keeping an eye' on them and making sure they didn't do anything wrong. Mischief was fine whereas other things (like petty fights, jealousies, etc) were frowned upon. We had to resolve them amongst ourselves. I don't remember much incidences where my parents stepped in in the kids' fights. I even remember resolving fights and issues amongst playmates simply because I couldn't go home and tell my mom that I didn't want to play any more with kid X whose parent Y was opposite our house. And we didn't have much choice because we couldn't do much without our playmates anyways.

Also, it is getting harder to wow kids nowadays. I had to rack my brain to gift something to Aakash for his bday that would wow him and still be useful and fun. He already had a number of toys, his other gifts were an iTouch, soccer shoes, motorbike, some high end toys, etc. Finally I had to settle for a group activity kit which he could do with his cousins and a new Wii game of his favorite Super Marios (that wowed him for exactly one week. Sigh!). Gone are the days where parents used to throw a simple bday party with cake and rasna and we were done. For Aakash's bday, my landlady booked a party room in Chucky Cheese, ordered pizza and drinks for all, had a special Super Mario cake and gave party gifts to every kid that came in. Its all well and good to do it sometime but gets harder to beat expectations every year. Aakash's fourth bday was similar with Sponge Bob cake - this year, he made it clear he didn't want anything less than a Super Marios or Bieber cake. Excuse me?? A cake is a cake, even a simple one should've given the same fun since we are all going to eat it anyways. And he forgot about that cake after a few days.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for wowing kids and giving them the best experiences parents can give. But life is not just a string of happy moments. You cannot eat just sweets for breakfast, lunch and dinner. There should be a balance in everything and failures and rejections are part of the deal. So, get your kids exposed to a wide variety of experiences, both good and bad, and let them grow up as mature adults and not some protected ones in a bubble.If not, they would become adults without a deep sense of commitment to anything, not even to having fun. Life, then, would become a meaningless set of events - that is the worst thing a parent can give his or her child. 

PS: I do know that all this is theory and that since I'm not a parent, I can't really talk about the choices parents make when bringing up their kids. I'm all for the choices that parents make, since after all, its their kid. But, all I ask is, keep a balance and show your kids what real life is like. Once they know that failures are not a big deal and that success is never elusive, they'll learn to love and enjoy life more. Treat them with an iron hand in a velvet glove and your kid might thank you years later even if he screams for icecream every night now. For, you cannot protect them forever and its best that they fail in your arms than fail where you cannot hold them.

A dream fulfilled!

Something dreamed,
Something dared,
Something attempted,
Something after.

Something wished,
Something wanted,
Something tried,
Something thought.

Finally,
Read through,
Done with,
Checked off the list.

Still,
Remembered,
Loved,
Cherished.

PS: I finally finished ALL the works of LM Montgomery (atleast all of her fiction). Though I love Anne, I've grown to love the Story girl, John, Matilla and thousand other characters and families (the Andrews, the Blythes and so on) as well. Now, all that needs to be done is to visit Avonlea and PE Island and see if the magic world exists. But, I might not because I love the image I have in mind and don't want it set right or wrong. Ah! the power of imagination :)

PPS: Yet another thing off my forever bucket list. Now, I really don't care how many other books I read or not read anymore. I've read the best of English (Anne) and the best of Tamil (Ponniyin Selvan). Blissed!

The other side of Metro

Here is a link from a bus driver whose experiences are all over the page and hilarious to say the least. Having taken the bus throughout my grad school (who can forget running to catch the last 2 AM bus from the lab (if I miss it, then its either sleeping in the lab or walking at the dead of the night) or the early morning 7 am bus (for my work or classes) and relying on the kindness of bus drivers to wait an extra minute as you cross the road to the bus stop?) and the first few months of my Neverland life (I got so used to traveling on bus that at one point, I knew all the buses through my route and their timetables (down to the last minute)........ and then I bought a car), I'm definitely grateful for all the buses and the bus drivers who are among the most punctual and patient ones I've seen. Even now, going to S in a bus is fun and definitely beats the car drive at some level, though I don't get to do it anymore. Here's to the Metro!

Happy Mother's day

Dearest Amma,
Where do I begin? What do I say? However I say it and how many ever times I say it, I know it'll be inadequate. Love you loads, amma!
Happy Mother's day! Hope you have all the fun in the world :)
Luv,
Alpine

PS: Happy mother's day to all moms around the world! You guys are doing an awesome job! Keep it up :)

கிரிக்கெட் கொண்டாட்டம்!

அன்பார்ந்த பெரியோர்களே, தாய்மார்களே, பொது மக்களே (எல்லாம் தேர்தல் effectட்டு தான்!)

                     நடக்கவிருக்கும் இந்தியா பாகிஸ்தான் கிரிக்கெட் போட்டியை முன்னிட்டு, இந்த வாரம் வரவிருக்கும் பதிவுகள் வர மாட்டா. அடுத்த வாரம்...... அது அப்போ பார்த்துப்போம்!

இப்படிக்கு,

ஆல்பைன்

PS: எல்லாரும் double duty போட்டு, இந்தியா ஜெயிக்க அவங்க அவங்க இஷ்ட தெய்வத்தை வேண்டிக்கோங்க! வர்ர்ர்ட்ட்டா!!!!

Kanasu

Death penalty - a yes or a no?

Every time I listen to the news, I hear that some heinous crime has been committed by a repeat offender. The latest to hit Neverland was the one where a female correctional officer was sexually assaulted and killed by a convicted inmate. He was a repeat offender and the police had proof of his involvement in all the previous cases.In one of them, he burnt the girl and had his DNA on her charred body. But still.... the judge decided to give this guy 20 years of prison, in which he was a 'good' inmate and so was allowed to visit his wife (who is a professor whom he met at a church after committing those crimes - how the hell did that woman agree to marry him? What is the use of education if you can't figure who is morally right and wrong? Some professor she is, huh!) every 45 days. And yet, he decided to force himself on a correctional officer who was unarmed and killed her. And....... the judges are still thinking if he should be moved to a higher security prison or not.

I'm all for giving someone a second chance. But that is only for smaller offences and that too only for first time offenders. Crimes like murder, sexual assault, child molestation, etc. needs that these guys be given the death penalty. Atleast, repeat offenders should definitely get the death penalty. The advantages are many fold: First, others who commit such crimes would know the seriousness of this issue. As of now, people talk A LOT about all this but when they know that the punishments are not severe enough for you to die, people don't worry much about it. The American society is partly to blame; people don't really worry about what happens twenty years later. They are more worried about saving their a$$e$ right now. If I can live today, I'll gladly take it. Who cares about the next 20 years? 

Second, we can reduce the HUGE overload on the prison system. Are you the person who says that people should be shown compassion and so the financial strains of the prison system should not make the poor prisoners unhappy? They are prisons, for God's sake. Not some spa or vacation property where people go and relax after the strenous job of committing crimes. Especially, repeat offenders for these crimes should not be shown any compassion whatsoever. They don't belong to the race of humans in the first place. For, a human can never treat another human in such a demeaning fashion.

Third is an indirect effect. Once people know that the punishments are serious, lesser people would do the crimes -> lesser people would be affected -> lesser police needed to capture these people -> lesser money needed to spend on upkeep of the police and judiciary system -> more money to spend on needed things like education, social development, etc -> more educated people (and lets hope saner people with some sense in their heads) -> lesser people doing crimes. And the chain continues! Ideally this would lead to a society with zero percent crime rate.

Now comes the question! Why do we still not have death penalty for these crimes and criminals? I searched through a lot of articles and websites, but couldn't find much. If anyone can explain to me, this forum is all yours!

Leave letter to Dmgr

[Dedicated to Porkodi - who has been working day in and day out to make a biiiiiiigggggg ஆணி குவியல்]

Dmgr - அட அதுதாங்க நம்ம மேனேஜர் - அவர் அப்போப்போ damageum பண்றதால, செல்ல பேர், காரண பேர் எல்லாம் சேர்த்து வந்த பேர் dmgr.

Idea copied from some photo posted by someone on facebook - but slight change!

அவங்க டீச்சர்க்கு எழுதி இருந்தாங்க, நாம நம்ம Dmgrக்கு எழுதலாம். அவங்கவங்க கஷ்டம் அவங்கவங்களுக்கு!!

From,

நான் தான்,

உன் team தான்,

இதே company தான்யா,

அண்ணே! இதே ஊரு தாணே!

To,

உனக்கு தான்,

இந்த team தான்,

அதே மன்னார் அண்ட் கோ தான்

அட, அதே ஊரு தான்! சொல்றோம்ல!

Dear Dmgr,

                   ஆணி பிடுங்கி பிடுங்கி எனக்கு ஒரே tired ஆயிடுச்சு... So, இனி எவ்வளவு ஆணி இருந்தாலும், அதெல்லாத்தையும் நீயே பிளான் போட்டு புடுங்கிகோ! நான் இன்னிக்கு லீவுங்கோவ்வ்வ்வ்!!!

PS: எதையும் பிளான் பண்ணி தான் பண்ணனும். அண்ணனோட பேர damage பண்ணிடகூடாது. அண்டர்ஸ்டார்ண்டு??

ரெம்ப தேங்க்ஸ்,

நான்தானுங்க

Past - Present - Future

Phew! After a long time, I'm back to writing in English. It feels so damn good :) Also, this is a tag post done by a few of my friends on blogosphere. Here's my take on the ghosts haunting the past, bunnies lining the present and fairies flying in the future.

20 years ago
1) Started school - a wonderland where I could play all day with new friends and I got to be a big girl without Mommy and Daddy around!
2) Totally in love with my kid sister (who was a teeny tiny 2 year old then) who used to imitate everything I did. Even things like eating and tying shoe laces. I now see the same thing with my nieces.
3) Proud owner of a 'Made in Germany' sharpener that my dad brought from one of his trips. That was 'the' thing to have in my class that year! I still have that sharpener, tucked somewhere in my home in India.

10 years ago
1) I was in 11th grade and was dreading the 12th public exams already. Not to mention the tuition classes that came with it.
2) Had some of the best times with friends at classes, tuitions and test hours!
3) Had to let life decide things for me.

5 years ago
1) I was preparing hard for placements and MS. Because I wasn't sure what to do in life! I wanted to be home but still come to US... I know, a hard wish to satisfy. So, I had to be ready for both.
2) I had my first accident on my Spirit due to my impatience - that too, right before my parents' eyes! My mom still talks of the shock I gave her that day. My helmet took the brunt of that crash and I escaped with minor hits. I still went to college that day - I had exams! And that was the cause of my impatience.
3) I earned my first salary of 2k :) (ok, that was more a prize money, but we won almost all competitions we entered and got a good collection of money)

3 years ago
1) I took one of the hardest decisions of my life - work at a company I loved or go to US without any funding in sight to study more (I got funding after I came. But at the point of deciding, I had no clue how life would turn out - I was choosing between the known path and the unknown path). And I chose the latter after a hfriend knocked some sense into me.
2) US, my lab and research happened!
3) A whole load of traveling happened!! Got to go to NYC every season! And loved it :)

2 years ago
1) A dream internship. Guess that was the best summer I've seen!
2) Life happened and I learned a lot! Miss my friends at grad school!
3) Got a great job, one that I'm working at right now.

1 year ago
1) Graduated with masters. Alpine Path, MS!
2) Moved Neverland from one coast to another.
3) My car! And more traveling (visited a country other than the ones I've lived - that took so long to cross off my check list!).

So far this year
1) Papers, books, exams, trainings - should I start that bandwagon again?
2) Fell in love with my new phone!
3) Realized that a year of forced movie watching has had some effects after all! I catch myself watching movies/shows whenever I'm bored rather than doing something else. My latest watch is Psych :)

Yesterday
1) Office the whole day and it just whizzed past. Didn't have time even to eat lunch.
2) Did a crap telephone call to my mom and seriously considered changing a lot of things in life.
3) Made the paruppu usili to perfection! Finally!! Finally! :)

Today I
1) Planned a surprise bday party for one of my colleagues.... and it was a success! :)
2) Spent a whole lot of time trying to get something, anything at all, done.
3) Realized that all the 'change ideas' I spoke last night would not work... or rather, I am actually happy with the way things are.

Tomorrow I
1) Plan to cut my to-do list length to a respectable size. Now, its the size of the Autobahn!
2) Meet a few friends for dinner and plan a surprise bday party. Looks like its the year of parties!
3) Get things ready for the next holiday; its fast approaching!

In the next year, I hopefully will
1) Do more traveling. Got a few things to do/see. California, anyone?
2) Check off a few more things on my '101 things to do in US' list. Probably, sky diving!

Forever,
1) Have fun, all through!

Take this tag just for the kicks of it :)

Aankhon Mein...

Random Youtube browsings can lead to stumbling on old forgotten songs and some of those songs are so connected to certain times in life that you go back to it pronto! Here's such a song:

This song was a craze among my friends during school (7th or 8th). I remember us dancing to this song and all others (Falguni Pathak anyone?) at a friend's place and collapsing into laughter (bringing aunty to see what the hell we were upto). Then, love was something funny that we saw only in movies and M&B books. And, we were more interested in the short stories that each of these album songs portrayed than the songs themselves. Album songs were new to our group then and totally different from the movie songs or the english singles. Now, as I think back, every one in our group has moved to different places, are in different jobs and doing different things. But those memories are still so fresh and good... Here's to school life and all the friends and the happy memories made there!

PS: Shahid still looks kind of cute... not the handsome hunk way, but more the guy-next-door way. This song to Jab we met is a good transition. Lets see how it turns out all the way!

Life, the next time

Heard about this question from a few friends recently: What do you want to be in the next birth? An interesting thing to think about but totally against my decision to plan less. Here, I decide not to plan anything and then pops a question to plan about next life :P Talk about Nature's sense of humor!!

Anyways, assuming the same technology growth chart as it has been in the past few years and wanting to do something I cannot do now, I came up with different pieces of next-life puzzle. Right now, I know that I want to work with dreams in my next life: the type where you dream and that is your job... all you have to do is sleep and dream and sleep and dream :D Ah! Bliss!

PS: I'll update this question as and when other pieces fall into place.About the job, I sure am taking enough training already in this birth! So shouldn't be hard at all :)

A look at the new year!

After the new year's eve partying and wishing settled down, there came a moment where I realized that this is the start of a new year, a new decade, all waiting for us to put our stamps on it and make memories out of it. It is like the fresh pristine snow with no footprints or marks on it. 

This year would be more a capture-and-go year. So, no resolutions to keep, no to-do lists, no must-finish stuff and definitely no must-experience stuff! For my resolution minded friends, I do have two but they are a secret and do not carry the pressure of resolutions - I've worded them 'nice to do stuff' - they really are nice to do but I can comfortably live without doing them. Also, I have a few things that 'can be done' but again, I can live with not doing them. It would definitely be a big change from my planned life. I plan to leave all the planning to others and if any planning HAS to be done by me, I'm going to do it fly-by-the-pants style. Should be interesting to see how that pans out! 

Lets make sure that this new year and decade see the best of us. Let us grow with time, with hope in our hearts and a song in our lips, with life a rainbow of colors and a gleeful mix of experiences. I'm excited about the journey to come, aren't you?

Manmadan Ambu!

Not a review post but I'm hitting the top fifteen things that are on my mind about the movie (this is what happens when you see a late night show and are all hyped up to go and sleep):

1) Loved the witty one-liners. Yosichu ezhuthi irukaanga. Adhuvum Sangeetha character sema supera dialogue solranga. 

2) The first half of the movie was slow (not the unbearable slowness of No country for Old Men but still slow enough for a Kamal movie) but second half seekiram poiduchu. First halfla makkal phonela pesiyae konnutaanga. 

3) The movie could be cut short by atleast half an hour and it would be crispier and more effective.

4) The song with reverse shot was too good. Kozhapaama, supera thandhu irukaanga. I wonder how they matched Kamal's forward lip sync with the reverse shot.

5) The entire movie is taken outside India (except for a few scenes). But location supera choose pannama sothapitaanga. I wonder if normal people would appreciate the Pantheon. Padathula Madhavan characterkae adhellam avlo puriyala (seriously can a hot shot businessman be this much of a kinatru thavalai? bad characterisation). Idhula enga irundhu normal makkalku puriyarathu? 

6) Thank God there were no aruvai duets between Kamal and Trisha or Madhavan and Trisha... I was totally bracing myself for one.

7) Kavidhai solrenu comedy pannitaanga... avanga sonna rendu poemum sema weight subject. Can't expect the common man to understand the whole meaning of it in the fast pace that they say it. Avangalum slowaa solla try panni irukaanga... but adhu work out aagala.

8) Minus the kavidhai scene, I really didn't understand how Trisha and Kamal started loving each other. Acquaintances ivlo seekiram lovers nu aanathu lightaa comedyaa irundhadhu.

9) Ambujaakshi - interesting and different name. But sadly Trishaku acting ku chance romba kammiya kuduthutaanga. Sangeetha had more chances to act than Trisha, which she had used really well. She's got some great talent. Another person who got wasted was Usha. Avanga character semaya start panni, villi rangeku ethi apdiyae lite pannitaanga.

10) The kutti payyan and ponnu were good. Extra kelvi kettu kozhaparathula andha payyan nallave panni irukaan. But en kannadi rendu perukkum?

11) Restroom scene vakaama, Kamalku padamae panna theriyaathu pola iruku. Worsht guy!

12) Sadly, the entire cast is looking OLD. Madhavan looks bad bad and bad, Kamal has too much muscle ( but avar ageku he looks good), Sangeetha is trying to look great (and does manage it most of the time) but age does show, Trisha looks jaded. Ramesh Arvind and Urvashi kekave vendaam. When I first saw Urvashi, naan apdiyae shock aayiten! MMKR la vandha andha cute girlaa idhunu.

13) The Mallu couple were plain irritating after the first time. Avangala vida, they could've added a proper comedian like Santhanam for the effect.

14) The last thirty minutes (?) of the movie was a laugh riot. A mindless laugh riot, but a laugh riot nonetheless.    

15) They crowded the second half too much and stretched the first half thin with no story. A better break would have been right after Trisha knows about the accident from Kamal. It would have given more substance to the first half and more explanation of their love in the second half.

The last thirty minutes laugh riot, the witty one liners and of course, Surya on screen, are the main reasons for paisa vasool for this movie! Yosichu paatha, this movie has so many things in common with Sathi Leelavathi, Thenali, Panchathanthiram, etc. But sadly the quality has been going down as the years go by. Makkalku idhuve pothumnu nenaichutaanga pola! 

Verdict - a one time watch movie; can watch certain scenes again for the dialogues.

Rating - 6!! (imdbla indha padathukku entryae illanga!!)

Manmadhan Ambu - good enough, but not excellent!

PS: Surya on screen was one of the best scenes in this movie, even though he did a cameo! ;-)

After death, now what?

This idea popped up in one of the random conversations that happen over a day. 

"What happens after death?"

Now, now, I'm not going to get into ghosts and spirits and souls and stuff. Lets get more mundane. What do people do to the body after death? And what do you want to be done to yours? My host wanted his body cremated in Varanasi and strewn in streets there since he loved India so much. His wife wanted to be buried just outside their house overlooking the hills. Her reason was that she can have the same view forever that she enjoyed every day while drinking tea. 

Frankly, both creep me out. I don't want to be thrown as ashes in a place where no one knows me and I know no one, even if I loved that place. I love Kodaikanal and some of my happiest memories are there. But I know no one there and no one knows me. However much I love those places, I don't want my ashes on Coaker's walk or at the Devil's kitchen or Berijam Lake. And, I don't want to be buried anywhere because it would be damn uncomfortable to let the body be. Hollywood movies have greatly contributed to my imagination of what happens to the body after it is buried. The maggots feast on them, the worms hit the body and so on and so forth. Ugh! No way am I subjecting mine to that state. 

Guess, that leaves only cremation. The old style of "from ashes to ashes and from dust to dust". However, you have no physical way to remember someone. Once they go to ashes and dust, that is it. Pictures and memories fade and there is nothing tangible. If someone wants to grieve and express it, then there is no way it can be done. I remember my granny's death some five years ago. That was the first death I've seen in close family and was in denial for almost a year. I think having a place where I can go and think about her (some place other than home) would have helped me come to terms with it quicker. The 12 day grieving process that Indian customs have is sometimes not enough since the mind is in shock. Now, that one of my grand dads is dead and I haven't even grieved properly, I'm not sure how things would be if I went back home and saw his chair, house and everything related to him. His house where I went for holidays and special occasions would never be the same. I can't imagine him not being around chasing us for all the pranks that we did.

So, I'm torn between the choices. Maybe be cremated and have the ashes buried in some place nice? Yeah! That seems like the best option. But what if seeing it, my loved ones grieve more? Uh! Then its the worst option. Guess I'll stick to cremation, nice and simple. And have my ashes thrown into Kaveri! 

What do you want to do after death?

A twirl and a swirl

A twirl and a swirl,
Then a swirl and a twirl
Tell me Alice, at the end
Does the twirl become a swirl
And a swirl a twirl?

Perceptions

Perceptions change at the most unexpected of events; today was one such day. I had a normal day with work and got back home after discussions. Then came K's call: that one call changed priorities and made me appreciate life and think about what-if scenarios which were all less-than-good than what is happening now. Truly, God knows to give what we need rather than what we want.  Though sometimes the medicine is bitter, swallowing it is the best thing we can do.

For the past few months, I've gotten into a ok-now-then-what mood which, by itself, is not too bad but combined with elements like impatience, is dangerous to handle. This has been a great time to figure things out and I'm glad for it(had you asked me a few hours back, I'd have totally cribbed! And now I'm grateful for life and its choices!). Life throws so many curve balls and I saw a teeny-tiny one today that has led to subtle shifts.

On a different note, looking back at my blog, I don't seem to be writing a lot nowadays. I'm not promising to belt out posts but lets see if I can capture daily life onto these pages. Should be interesting!

Eggshell walk

Pretty are the eggshells

But they are still eggshells

Be careful when you walk around them

Coz you might break some and wish you hadn't

It all requires an intricate dance
To keep the world intact

It takes a hop and halt
For the sunny yellow egg
A quick ballet
For the gorgeous green one
A twist and turn
For the pretty pink one
But what move do you use
For the ruby red one?

That is a hard one
For it requires not only
A twist, a turn and a ballet
But also a triple point shoot
To make sure you go right thru
The basket called life!