2011, The Year of the Rabbit (and me)

2011, The Year of the Rabbit (and me)

January brings the snow that
Makes our feet and fingers glow.
Absolutely incredible year start with 1st year Anniversary, some more incredible gifts, even more incredible wishes! Incredulity of one year completion! phew!

February
My best friends' wedding, innumerous OCS chats with miss yous. One lovely wedding at Trivandrum. One tranquil Homenymoon II at Allepey. House boats, backwaters, pulichery. Ah. Can life be good too?? *thinks*

At Allepey, Kerala

March brings breezes sharp and shrill that
Shake the dancing Daffodils
Shift of office premises (tears), shift of house (smiles) and more makeshift appearances. Whew, the cliché nothing is permanent must have been true!

April, May, June
Summer at it's unscrupulous best. Tormenting heat and bouts of rain. A trip to Nagerkovil for his best friend's wedding. Waterfalls, travel and a piece of history? The history amazes me more than the waterfall? The truth I leave it to your guess!

those showers...

Hot July brings cooling showers,
Apricots and gillyflowers.
Birthday, aging, treats and yawn. Oh my... how excited is everyone about my birthday?? I better wear a smile too!! :/

August
Woo hoo!! Mom dad's wedding day! Party and all that's suave... :)

One of the Mukkani...

Warm September brings the fruit;
Sportsmen then begin to shoot.
Fabulous kolukattais adorn my Pooja room along with a smiling Ganesh - on his birthday!

October
Malaysia, truly Asia! One memorable trip, Tourquoise beaches, snorkelling and you are the KING (read : queen, ahem)

Ahh, truly Asia

Dull November brings the blast;
Then the leaves go whirling past.
Bloody hell... dull november?? that was THE best! A promotion and a silent motion (no, I am not saying what it is) and three baby LhasaApso pups!

Chill December brings the sleet,
Blazing fire and Christmas treat.
Aww.. am all waiting for the 20 twelve!
And I hope All Izz Well!! :D

Dear 2011,

You have been a darling in many ways. Taught me to cook those oh so lovely Murukku, Kolukattai, Sweet Pongal...

Made for Two, with love..

Gave me my share los libros buenisimos – The Great Gatsby, Cobra, Only Time will tell, Twilight series, The Kite Runner, Tuesdays with Morrie...

Some not so hallucinating  books – You are here, The life of Pi...

Some oh-I-am-gonna-yawn-nows – Wuthering Heights, The Portrait of an Artist as a Young man. 

Books and what goes along with it..

Some champagne-fizz-dinners at the renowned – Rain Tree, Park, GRT groups and whatnots. 

Some peaceful dinners at my loving aunts, uncles and home. 

Mee Goreng, Malaysian Cusine

Taught me to taste success and failure, former being more than the latter.

And again, you have been the best.

Bear hug

K


Fellow readers, 

Happy New Year!! 
What are you doing this New year? 
Any resolutions up?? 

Flower lover...

  




All the names I know from nurse:
Gardener's garters, Shepherd's purse,
Bachelor's buttons, Lady's smock,
And the Lady Hollyhock.

Fairy places, fairy things,
Fairy woods where the wild bee wings,
Tiny trees for tiny dames--
These must all be fairy names!

Tiny woods below whose boughs
Shady fairies weave a house;
Tiny tree-tops, rose or thyme,
Where the braver fairies climb!

Fair are grown-up people's trees,
But the fairest woods are these;
Where, if I were not so tall,
I should live for good and all.


Robert Louis Stevenson

Random clicks at random places..
K

AutoBioGeoCinemato'graphy

After years of dribbling with different subjects and not faring up to those teachers expectations (which were always phenomenally high). I vowed to move out of the school because it was morally agonizing! You lose your self-respect and more importantly faith in anything at all. There the supportive pillars, parents undoubtedly, came into picture. Saved the Tuna out of Freshwater and let it in Sea-water - where it was meant to be! 

High school was awww... Panache, Aplomb and equally large-happy words became adjectives tagging along with soft words like rendez-vous, s’il vous plait, joie de vivre – yep my virgin encounter with a Foreign Language :)

Thereafter, my life was a roller coaster ride an escalator ride... 

Off to an amazing college where I dunked inappropriate subjects - subjects I never knew existed but thoroughly loved - Fluid Mechanics was LIFE! So was Chemical Process Calculation, Transport phenomenon. That Electrical circuits I hated during high school were knots of fascination - so was my Electrical professor *batting-eyelids* (Now any girl here trying to act smart and deny this fact was super-short on hormones :P) 

So as in movies an aam-admi sorts of Hero becomes magnum Entrepreneur turned CEOs Son-in-law... there was the caterpillar transition. This could be simply put as ‘dream come true’ et al. But certainly those were not my dreams. Topping my class, getting that gold medal, good rapport with teachers to pinch that Externals. NO. However, there flew the bird (phoenix?) as a 'good' student competing with the cream?

Whoa what a transition! But a transition for what? 

Obviously, I gained nothing monetary out of all the education I had (which plainly means I have failed the motive of Education :P). Hey! We are no Albert Einsteins to say - Education is to train the mind to think and all that! So there! 

Yet again I was totally in the dark, uncertain of the path I had to traverse. Therefore, I did what one could do best! Jump on the Trampoline and land on whatever I could land on - BPO. Wondrous experience. Software support, phishing, key logging and more jargons to fill that thirsty mind of mine. Some little preparation and there goes the phoenix- to Anna University! 

Anna University! The Mother University. Yep and she was never tired of new jargons on her way - Drug Designing, ADME and BioChemistry - absolute wow. AMAZING professors. Sanctity, diverse knowledge and more. GAWD, I couldn't have asked for a different bunch of girls, every one amongst that 10 were a genius by theirselves - simBly enjoyed life ;)

Thereto ASV Sun Tech park - woo hoo! Viva Cognizant! IT is indeed the brook of my life. Over sometime I simply lost count of the number of times I had rib-shattering laughter, those love stories, project related horror stories. JAVA, Oracle and all crap called coming of age. The whole occurrence can all be summed up in ONE word - Bindass ;) Never stopped there - WCB was a maturing experience for me as a developer, learning Integration Broker included.

And there, at WCB,  came --> one more triad of girls! Simply to escalate the elevator ride one more floor high! 

Aww lovely God,

Wherelese are you taking me??

Whatelse are you giving me??

Ever SO curious...

Your daughter,

K

Why this Kolaveri di?

Rather question should be "When the Kolaveri di" instead of why. And answer being: It is then - When some one asks you...

1. Enna Samayal Veet'la?

Okay. I have no need to get all worked up for such a harmless question, except for it happens in the weird times. Some festive day when you are supposed to prepare a 5 course lunch, you did "the blunder" of coming up just with the Main course of a sambhar and sabji to go along with rice.

The caller at the other end of the phone is absolutely appalled at how I could be so nonchalant by not making that rasam, how could ever a festive lunch not end with paayasam. NO amount of "I was not feeling well" soothes the caller. The caller is COMATOSE! I am perceived as the black sheep that has fallen into the Khandhaan/clan/friend group.

Hey Caller,
I do my share of cooking. I do it without the help of my motherinlaw, cook and my husband. I do it not for the heck of it, but for the pleasure of it. Therefore, Caller, when I have stopped at course one, it means there is something seriously wrong with my immune system and not my thought system.

2. Oh both of you are earning then what's the delay in buying that Flat on area so and so? 

Hey hey hey, did the weather man by any chance say it's raining gold in my field? I, SO, appreciate your concern and all that. But more than concern, good intentions, all we need today is - Money? Nah, it was money back in Year 1977 when Abba sung - "Money Money Money". All I rather need now is PEACE. Take up a jar, fill all the big rocks, top it up with small ones - Voila you have completed the exercise with pomp and valour, sadly that is not life. More big rocks, more you hit the rock.

3. Hey, so any good news?

I am SO darn tempted to say - Yeah Kanimozhi is released which is certainly some good news to the DMK party, but inversely is not to the ADMK or something along those lines. I would SO love to add another clause before I end and say - hey you, are you gonna be around to change diapers for my baby? Or buy Lactogen? how about cleaning up and baby laundry? At least, are you helping me with the school tuition fund? - Nope? You sure you're not gonna help me with any of the above? Not one? - Then Go Fish.

Dissenting opinion here is - this is not some stone-age age to have a dozen kids and not bringing up any of them. Letting them to fend for theirselves - calling it supremely - survival of the fittest? Absolute no. I know my dad mom gave me the best in ALL (education, vacation and most importantly TIME). They never hurried me into the world. Would I succumb to the whims of some abc whom I see once in a blue moon at some goddamed party. NO.

That dejected nose-ring-wearing nosy Aunty, who gasped when I said "We will plan for a baby after own-house, promotion and an abroad vacation" can take a walk now, cos I have achieved 2 of 3 ;)

Women these days know what they are doing. Sheeks! 

That SO kills people.

4. You have been working for almost three years, No plans of changing jobs? 

Throw a question for a question - or that's how Newton’s third law works - "Why does me being in a happy job kill you?" So, you don’t have an answer? That's rather cos you have been laboring all your life, never known the meaning of work or 'learning' things while at work. You have been shifting quite some number of companies, to draw some fat pay cheque. One fine day your reportee retorts to his colleague- There goes the shit head who never stayed long enough nowhere to learn the job?

Being happy and being complacent are two different things.

Go figure!

5. She is always on Facebook.

Duh. Question in statement format. I can afford to be on face book. I do my chores, my cooking, my office work. Meet my friends, relatives, ex-colleagues. Go out to malls, to swim, to the Library. Read my share of newspapers, novels, technical material. Spend super quality time with my hubby, parents, my doggie. And hell yeah - I am on Facebook. Kills ya?

Then comes, the I-am-not-complaining-no-more. :D

tee-hee!! That is some sort of disappointment for all those who waited for the rest 15 odd kolaveris!! Of course there are people who irritate you on the lift pushing the buttons too many a time. Guy who honks more than he drives. People applauding the Kolaveri song. Colleague, who says - Oh you are married, when you for once are looking like a beer jug. Ah!

Apparently those are poquito kolaveris that can be neglected! ;) Limit x tends to zero sorts! So, I am done cribbing, I am off to spend some happy happy moments with my friends at KFC! ;) Long live the chicks and the chickens! woo hoo!!

until next time,

K

7am Arivu, this and that...

No. I am not complaining that I have wasted 3 hours of my life watching the movie. But to think of Surya and how he wasted gazillion hours... and his hours of unproductive labour makes me feel better ;) ta da!


So where do I start complaining? Music – His Highness does an impeccable job of what he does best - plagiarism. Except for this time he has chosen to copy Chinese Nursery Rhymes (as BMG for Bhodi Dharman scenes - a way to finicky). The BGM in the climax fight was seriously omg - udukkai! I ain't complaining about songs - but bgm which was either clichéd or incongruous or both. I am thoroughly disappointed, even though I was prepared in prior.


// Knight in shining armour I was;
Yet the armour failed me //


Johnny Tri Nguyen was goddamnedly smart ;) Absolute no flaws, except for the hypnotism thingy went a little too far. That is not your fault Johnny. The director asked it and you did it. Shruti Hassan does a fair job of speaking Tamil, which is another way of saying she can move from fair to good or better by removing that English lilt to her accent. She should also improve on cussing. Perhaps, she should drive her car on Chennai roads every now and then...to get the cussing out with oomph. Her friend Malathi (Dhanya Balakrishna) – *whistles* for looks and acting. The Bhodi Dharma scenes were rustic, apt and impressive. It gave audience that rapt attention, however the length of the reel was minimal. We craved for more info?


The last 1 minute of the movie was what the movie was all about. As hinted in the movie, patents for Neem, Turmeric and like Indian herbs have shouted Bio-Piracy out loud in the past. Neem Patent, which by itself can be made into a full length movie, was revoked by Europe Patent Office under the pressure of The Green group after a fight of 15 years! The victory of Neem is succeeded by brother Turmeric, who also had patent revoked by US Patent Office. There are yet Amla, Karela and aplenty Ayurvedic herbs which need to win the war of BioPiracy.


Secondly, as pointed out in the movie – as the Dynasties rose there were inventions in the fields of medicine, science and architecture – which were only destroyed as Dynasties fell. On a personal note, my visit to the Panchalankurichi kotai (much known as the birth place of Veerapandiya Kattabomman) mid of last year, had me stumped! The floorings made with a special mixture (limestone, egg whites, x, y, z). X, y, z were never identified also existing records of preparation of the mixture were claimed to be destructed. The beauty of the flooring is in the HOT dry sinful Thoothukudi sun, the floor is cool. My! I mean, seriously! Won’t such a roof cut on your AC costs? Aww.. am drifting, so yes, we agree the 1 minute message was the best portion of the movie.


The crew tried bringing out the flavor of the last minute throughout the movie by investing a lot of money, time and effort, only to fail miserably. For an 84 crore budget, is this what we get?


Rhetorical question, I ask.


By,
K


P/s Have you seen the movie 'The Happening by Manoj Shyamalan' or read 'Covert-One series by Robert Ludlum'?

Mankaatha : Thala 50

Well well well... so the overall review of Mankaatha is it is an Average Entertainment grosser. "DOT" :P

D - spoilers ahead!

I loved the portion 'Thala 50' where Ajit Kumars movie mélange comes up and he looks really smart in almost all of the pics in the collage that makes up the golden poker chip. Kudos!

In no order of appearance: the romance between Anjali & Vaibhav Reddy in the song 'Kannaadi Nee Kanjaadai Naan..' is awesome, they look TOO good in the wedding attire, esp the mala (garland) is simply yet stunning, it makes one notice it! Same goes with reception; she is decked in a very beautiful saari, subtly quiet for a bride, subtly stunning for an unplanned wedding.

The theme music is great! The Title song 'Aadi paaru mangatha' is too good. Balle lakka song is OK, picturization is nice bluey blue and cool. Venkat Prabhu movies make it a point to take the best of all available models and showcase them in songs eh?? Seems so!

Sadly Ajith Trisha duet picturization is LOL, it looks like a combo ad for tiles and furniture. Else is noise. Sorry dearest Yuvan. Before I start raving on how I had to buy I-Buprofens to reduce my headache, belated wishes for a courageous 2nd inning! Now, BGM was hopeless, sheer gunfight. The Thailand part.. more specifically the climax where the BGM was dappan kuthu which was incongruous :( *sighs* Bad kitty... this is not what we expect from you Yuvi..

Can't digest the fact that 500 C has NOT its deserved security, the guys who come to fill my office ATM daily have a better railed car and carry rifles. Man, get a life! 500 C! We dont wanna see just one car for a "convoy" for that kind of money.

Same goes with the Signal Hacking stuff. I am basically game for showing hacking/bookies/any such concepts in movies (Unnai Pol Oruvan shows it better, of course) cos it educates people about it. But hacking doesn’t mean going to the bureau and learning what is happening, if I am not wrong! That technique is called part-physically-hacking I guess :D Why does Premji 'go' there? Perhaps VP wanted to show the audience how his bro looks in a Shikari Shambu get up.. well...bros.... kudumba prechana.. namakkenna!

Jayaprakash has done a commendable job and this is no surprise :) Arjun looks smarrrt! 'Irukaaaaaana - Action King' was ek dham super! :D Andrea Jeremiah and Subbu Panchu: no reel space. Behind the scenes before the credits were not casual :( Trisha looks very cute. Love the portion where is creaks for her dad asking her bf's age.. way to go Mr Thala for answering her! Her violet, blood red nail polishes were stunning! The portion where she sees her dad being pushed out of the car - great acting by all stars involved in that scene.

Some portions were more confusion than needed. The movie had more cons than pros esp with some good movies on the deck like Avan Ivan, Aadukalam, Thenmerku Paruvakaatru, Nandhalala et all. This falls in no genre of the forementioned movies, thus we dont compare and leave a verdict of "not bad Venkat Prabhu" and applaud Ajith for pulling the movie through very well.

All said, the ending was goooooood. Doesnt disappoint - given the trouble taken to buy a ticket in the first week of release ;) So, go with an open mind! Enjoy it...

P/s I have suggested my folks cotton ear plugs :P
P/p/s I was mislead by the poker chips :(