Towards positivity - Day 1

I've joined Preeti's "7 Days of positivity" club.  I first found this concept here in priya's blog.  It's all about being positive and creating positivity around you, especially when you feel low.  Isn't it a great idea to jot down all small things that make you happy.  Read on!

Here, I am beginning “my 7 days” towards achieving positivity and being grateful!

1. The day started out to be gorgeous, especially with some extra hours of sleep in the morning; that was refreshing for me.
 
2. I am happy and grateful to Preeti for having created such a great idea towards spreading positivity.  People who think this as some idea that doesn't work out, please walk out or change your attitude.  This initiative is a phenomenal success and is spreading like a fire through blogosphere and more.

3. I had a great (read delicious) dinner with S at a vegetarian restaurant, after a very long time.  It's not we don't dine out often, but it's hard to find such good restaurants around.

4. I am grateful to S (again) for taking me to watch Toy story in 3D.  Its flawless comedy, satisfying 3D effects, exciting and touching story is all that I liked about it.  More than the movie, I liked the long walk we had post movie to reach back home, at midnight.

5. Should I say that I am glad about myself (can’t be too modest here), for writing this post at odd hour of this day (2.30AM), just because I WANTED to start it! 

I am enjoying penning down my small happy moments here, and I really find great happiness in reading others post about this. It works out buddy! Why not try it!

Are you team Edward or team Jacob??

“I can give you more than him. He probably can’t even kiss you without hurting you” - Werewolf to Bella Swan

“I know she’s in love with you but she’s in love with me too. She just doesn’t admit it.”-  Werewolf to the Vampire

This is what you will find in Twilight Saga: Eclipse and many more like these...

Book Saga:

When a book is transformed into a movie, it should meet the expectations that readers of the book held.  But, in reality, there are more movies that slaughter their legacies.  So, with eclipse, I had no expectations.  True! I found the novel elaborate and "aracha-maave-arachi" types.  It was my least favorite of all four.  To be honest I thought the movie was better than the book because it only took up 2 hours as opposed to a couple of weeks, and still, the movie managed to cover all the vital point of the novel, which is a huge achievement to Director Slade.

Pale face and Makeup Saga:

Edward is back, this time even paler, as if in severe need of a top-up. With poor sumptuous make-up  , he looked like a powder factory aka clown in some scenes, which could have been avoided.  Albeit with the pale looks, he was disgustingly sweet and I thought he had more screen time than the new moon.

Shirtless werewolf Saga:

The biggest scream and laughter sprung from the audience when Lautner’s Jacob appears bare chest.  He’s almost, all the time shirtless, or rips off his shirt and run! And he claims to Edward in one of the scenes “I am hotter than you”.  He had some melodramatic dialogues throughout, like the ones in the starting of this post and “You have to consider the idea, that I might be better for her than you are” and  “I am in love with you Bella, and I want you to pick me instead of him”. 

Annoying Saga:

She, the queen of twilight, Bella Swan prolongs to be torn between two “men” who love her and can’t decide what she wants to do with her life.  I found her irksome when she gives” I’ve-got-something-stuck-in-my-throat” kind of expression. She seems incapable of letting any of her million dollar expressions/emotions cross her face, which is a disgrace, considering her previous experiences.   And it was a total disappointment even for her fans like my husband who came with me to only jollu vittyfy her.  Even the attires she wore weren’t to the mark.  Maybe the director found satisfaction in her wearing sweatshirts, flannel (same flannel throughout the movie) and jean.

Vampire-Cullen Saga:

With every twilight film, I find myself really enjoying the Cullen family interactions- the beige contact lenses, deathly pallor, ghastly hairdo, brooding eyebrows and sparkling face continue to thrill me.  Something else I really liked in Eclipse was, how some of the supporting cast were given some time to shine. Jackson Rathbone as Jasper and Nikki Reed as Rosalie had some great scenes when they share their pre-vampire back stories. As always, Alice and Dr Carlisle Cullen were looking good onscreen.  The new cast for Victoria (some Bryce Dallas) makes a real impression in her looks, but I felt she was wasted in the movie.

Saga of interesting scenes:

The new born vampires headed by Victoria and the subsequent vampire action scenes were taken brilliantly.   The pre-vampire back stories of Jasper and Rosalie. The scene were Edward tries to control Bella’s sexual thoughts, and tells her that he wants to wait to have sex until marriage. “I’m from another time,” he says. “If I had met you then, I would have courted you.”

As lovely is the scene where Bella, Edy and Jac camp up in the mountain,  on a snow stormy day, while Edward is unable to comfort the shivering Bella, the warm blooded Jacob gets into the bed with Bella (to keep her warm).  “Face it” he tells Edy “I’m hotter than you”.  The long conversation goes, when Edward says to Jacob “If you were not my natural enemy, I might like you”.  Apart from this, the scene where werewolves and Cullens join hands to protect Bella, training session for werewolves and the climax battle, though short, where respectably thrilling. 

Overall:

I am not a Twilight “FAN” per se, but I "LIKE" twilight series – may be for the cullens, vampire-romance and the werewolves.  I found the action part more frequent and much better in this,which is a commendable addition by Director David Slade.    Eclipse is by far the best Twilight film to date, thanks to its strong and growing triangular love story.  Over and over again, Edward and Jacob square up; over and over again, they find themselves smoldering at each other, at close quarters; over and over again, Bella annoys!! And the pathetic BGM add glory to its many faults. Despite that, there is still something refreshing about Eclipse as most of the fantasy films.  If you’re into Twilight, then you must see this. For the rest, you can skip this one without shame.

Rating : 3.5 / 5

Celebrity galore

I have known him from the times of his first few hit songs like manja kaatu maina, aval ulaga azhagiye.  I was falling for him his voice, that I became his ardent fan, which was ruled by one and only SPB. 

And one day while listening to one of his songs from the movie Star, my dad interrupted, “I know this guy who has sung this song”.

I jumped  from the sofa, “Really? How?”.  

“He is my colleagues’s son”, dad said.

And I started asking him too many questions “Have you met him?”, “Have you been to their house”, “We never knew that you had such a friend in SRF”,that he got annoyed and said “Enough.  Now go and study”.

I was so certain, that one day I am sure to meet him.  And the further hits he made , made a lasting impression on me, that he is the recent best.  Am sure he was!!

He had hits after hits, and he was so famous, and I was so sad, that I wasn’t able to meet him even a single time, and say “I am your ardent fan, and I love your songs so much”.   Days and years went by, and one fine day, my dad told that he is going to get married. I thought his family will invite us on the wedding, and I will get a chance to meet him.  But, they kept the marriage simple up to their relatives. 

What friends they are?? Can’t they invite my dad to his house atleast once with the family??  For his marriage,  kolu or one of thousand other occasions??

I was upset with myself and for my dad, for not able to see him once.  Then again, months rolled by, and I got married, and again months rolled by. 

2 months back, while in Chennai,I had more than a few chances to watch the IPL matches at Chepauk, when I had a distant view of Karthik singing and cheering up the crowd.  I couldn’t even see his face clearly but in the TV display.  Add to my dismay.  I cursed myself!$#%$#&%

Later sometime, our family went for a dinner at Veg Nation, one of the infamous (is it famous?) restaurants in Chennai Anna Salai.   

When we entered, I was busy talking with my husband, and my Dad burst out saying “Hi…What a surprise?  Eppadi irukeenga" (means How are you?).   

When I looked up, what I saw I couldn’t believe even today. It was Karthik sitting before me along with his family.  That's when I came to know that both of Karthik’s parents were working along with my dad. 

Karthik was wearing some simple black T-Shirt and jean, seated along with his wife.  She was wearing a simple thread woven salwar suit.   She was very pretty. And my eyes moved towards their little  princess.  She was even more cuter, at the age of must be 18-20 months older. 

My father went and sat near them and started chatting while we waited, no sooner, my dad raised to us and introduced us.  The very moment I had been longing for has come.  And he said “This is my wife”, “This is my son-in-law”, “and this is my daughter”.   

I immediately told all that I wanted to say in these years "Hi Karthik.  I am such a die-hard fan of yours.  You sing extremely well..."   He just smiled, and remained silent. 

Then we went to our seat to begin making orders for dinner.  After sometime, his parents(both) came to our place and started their conversation all over again.  This time they took their little princes along with them. 10 minutes passed, Karthik and his wife came, just standing on their side, as a gesture to leave the hotel.  He smiled and vanished. 

Me to S:  “I couldn’t fathom it.   Are these celebrities always like this?  When they see a normal person, do they behave so abnormal, not even to say hello, hi, or talk something and react?”

S:“Why do you say so”?

Me: “Because, I have been longing to see him, and when I saw him I got no response from him.  He thinks too big of himself, not wanting to talk with ordinary people, not even to his father’s friend”.

S:“Okay.  So that is it.  What do you want him to do.  To fall in your feet and say “Oh..thank you so much for your love for my songs.  I am blessed for that.  I am so happy that I have such a die hard fan like you”.  Is this what you expect”?

Even before I started to show my reaction,

S: “He was way normal.  You are strange, and imagining too my things that a person can do to a stranger”. 

Grrrrr.   

And I had my dinner silently :(

And for now, I continue to hear his songs, having satisfied that I atleast met him.  No further comments!!   Here are some of my favorite songs sung by him (not in the particular order)...

and ofcourse his latest hit....

Reconnecting with Paati

Ever since my childhood, I wanted to have Paati (Grandma) in my home, and with an extensive competition from my cousins, I couldn’t succeed, as they were in CBE (Coimbatore), and I was in Chennai. Last few years saw paati moving out of CBE and travelling to one of her daughter's house every sometime. And now it’s our turn. Regrettably, for now, I am not blessed to be with her :(

But, I am connecting with her everyday through skype, talking for almost 2-3 hours. She tells me about everything. About her childhood, how she got married at the age of 12 wearing a pattu pavadai, being in a huge joint family, travelling to temples and places that time, her schools and so many things. She tells me about all the rest of her grand children that “she did this when she was so young”, “he does that so well”, and I could see a great proud in her face. She even recites me some stories from Ramayana and Mahabharata that I never heard of.

She asks me so many questions that even my mom never asked me! She wants me to tell her about the country, europe, cost of living here, transport, politics, food, clothes, girls, mountains, rivers, and endless anything.

And now I see my days are running faster and more refreshing that ever. I am enjoying this, and the moments I am spending with her, seeing her talking, giving expressions, smiles, small frowns. To me, she’s divine. I feel glad and blessed, to bond with her again.

Encounter with Tamil Dictionary

I was searching a relevant tamil translation for Zucchini, since my amma and patti wanted to know.  Have known vaguely that it's some kind of Sorakkai family, but not sure!  So I gathered my skills to do google.  Voila!! I found this website...

http://www.tamildict.com/

Even interesting is, there are options to do word translation from Tamil to German and vice versa.  To my friends those who are interested, try the link.