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This is where I express my feelings, thoughts and views on various matters. |
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I agree with the idea that the way one expresses one's self through speech, gestures, likes and dislikes among many other things depict his/her personality. I got further evidence of this as I skimmed through the portfolios of many of my fellow members here. Just looking at the type of pieces they create and the titles they assign, we can guess a lot about the writer. Of course, the style of writing and narration gives many hints too. Thus, this makes our writing a part of who we are. This is just a passing thought I had just now. 
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| Blog Harbour Activity: Autumn Authors & Books Challenge This is a late entry. Prompt: The book I've read the most number of times is... ... This is a hard choice as I have numerous books in my book case. I would go with Swami and Friends by R. K. Narayan. I got this book when I was ten or eleven. My aunt recommended it to me and I had wanted it so much that my uncle had driven me to the nearest Crossword outlet and bought me a copy. Once I started reading the book, I could not keep it down. Its language and narration was simple and suited the village settings of the plot. The story is about a boy called Swami and his adventures and experiences with his friends, family and school. It is light and carries the innocence of childhood. When I first read it, I liked it for its realistic story line. Now I read it because it effectively brings out the thinking of children and also relieves me of stress. |
| Blog Harbour Activity: Autumn Authors & Books Challenge Prompt: A book I thought I would love but really disappointed me is... ... The Dark Quetzal by Katherine Roberts. This book is the last of the Echorium series and is of fantasy and YA fiction. When I was in my mid-teens, I had come across Crystal Mask, which was Dark Quetzal's prequel. The series is about Singers - people who are able to perform magic through singing songs. They have a set of songs which bring out the basic emotions (happiness, sadness, fear) in the listeners and also aid in healing. My best friend and I were fascinated by this book, as it opened a whole new realm of magic. It widened the horizons of our imagination. We began guessing the origin of the relationships among characters and ending of the book. Soon we lapped up the series' first book - The Song Quest. It enchanted further. We craved to read the final book, Dark Quetzal, but we could not get it at that time. Slowly, we forgot about it. Two years later, I got the book, at a good deal too. Some book store was selling its old stock at marvelous discounts and I chanced upon the Dark Quetzal there. Remembering my fond longing for it, I immediately made a grab for it. I excitedly conveyed this news to my friend and sat down to read it right after I bought it. But alas for me, I had lost the continuity of the story. It took some time for me to place the characters, the foundations of the plot and I had completely forgotten who the villain was! But that was remedied soon. However, as I read on, I began having doubts of enjoying the book. I found the details of the story to be somewhat disgusting and not as interesting as it's prequels. By the time I reached to the middle of the book, I had lost my interest and my disgust had strengthened. But since I had bought the book with such zeal, I decided to finish it no matter what. I did finish it and I never went back to it again. it still lies in my book shelf, to be the only book which I have not reread. I don't know what must have caused me such repulsion. Maybe I had grown out of its style (it was two years after I had read it's older siblings). Maybe I would have liked it had I got it when I was 15 and in the mind-frame of reading the series. Maybe I had not expected the plot to be like this. Maybes are many but all of them were there. However, I don't criticise the author here. She has an amazing imagination, which lent wings to ours. She is a very good author and I had at one time liked her better than J. K. Rowlings. Now my likes and interests have changed. |
| *Dusting cobwebs off this blog* Blog Harbour Activity: Autumn Authors & Books Challenge Week 1: Books Prompt: The Funniest book I've ever read is... Dating, Diapers and Denial. This book is written by Rachna Singh. I found this book the funniest because the author captures seemingly routine activities in humourous tones. She also tells about the obvious facts of human behaviour in cultural and gender contexts in a way that you can't help agree with her and also laugh at the same time. According to the title, she goes in the sequence of Dating, Diapers and Denial. Dating refers to how she met her husband and got married. Diapers is about her life when she gets two kids. Denial is on her middle age and old age (when people are in denial of their failing health and other stuff). Many times, her writing may seem overly ridiculous to read, but it tickles you all right. Here are a few excerpts: 'Dating' as we know it today, dd not exist in those times. In our days, it meant planning to 'bump' into each other 'by chance' at the local market. This had to be executed after a great deal of planning, with the key being in generating the right 'surprised' expression! It was incredible raising a little girl, listening to her prattle, dressing her up like a doll and reading fairy tales to her. She was a dream, in pink and white flounces, who would hug us daintily, chat nineteen to dozen and posse for photographs like a born model. And just when we thought we now knew how to raise a baby, we had a little boy, taking us back to the drawing board all over again. |
| Blog Harbour: May Merit Badge Mania, Day 3 I don't know how many times I can blog for this challenge, but here goes one anyway. Prompt: Kindheartedness This must be a coincidence because, for me in this semester, Kindness is one of the topics in the Positive Psychology paper... Kindheartedness is synonymous with kindness, meaning 'sympathetic concern for the well-being of others'. A world without kindness would be a nightmare to live in. If there was no any Good Samaritan out there, by now we would have become insensitive to the plight of others, inconsiderate and of course, there would be no positive vibes to make you feel happy that you are alive. Kindness or being kindhearted is not something which can be taught. A familiar phrase comes to mind - Random Acts of Kindness. Kindness is exactly that. One cannot plan in advance to be kind. A sudden surge of sympathy for the sufferer is what is meant by this phrase. Understanding the sufferer's situation, agony, pain; putting one's self in that person's shoes is what drives people to show kindness. There is yet another reason for showing kindness. Let me illustrate with a real-life example: Once when my best friend was going home from school on her bicycle, she suddenly encountered a swarm of angry bees. The bees ruthlessly stung her and utterly in pain, she called out for help. However, no one came to her aid. Passers-by simply passed by, giving empty glances at her, which made her even more miserable. Luckily for her, a classmate passing by came and helped her. She recounted this horrific experience to me the next day, feeling bad about the insensitivity of the people, despite witnessing her dilemma. She vowed then that, if in the future, she found someone who experienced the same condition as her, she would rush to their aid. From this, we can see that experience of the similar situation can drive a person to help another. I have also experienced kindness and shown kindness many times in my life. I think, in my case, being at the receiving end of kindness first made me to be kind to others. There were people who have helped me in times of need and i am very grateful to them. Therefore, I too wish to give back the kindness, if not to the same people, but to those who are in need.  The amount of relief and gratitude felt by the receiver is something inexplicable. Unconsciously, the Good Samaritan receives a blessing from the person he helps. |
| Its been a month since I've made an entry in my blog after the Blog Harbour's March Movie and TV Edition Challenge. Lack of time and ideas, I can say. Let me revive my blog with a little incident I experienced yesterday. Yesterday was a holiday for casting a vote for the Lok Sabha Elections and I was standing in a queue outside a polling booth, waiting for my turn. There, a family with four kids (eldest being around six years of age)had come too as the adults wanted to cast their vote. The children were getting impatient and tired of waiting. Their father was trying his best to console them. Then suddenly, I heard the eldest child snap, "I'm not going to talk to you again! Never, ever, ever am I going to talk to you!" I could not help smiling at this retort. I was immediately transported back to the days when I too used to make the same statements to my parents when I was about that age  But a while after making that "vow" I would find myself talking to them again.*sigh* The Innocence of Childhood! |
| March Memory Lane Challenge: Movies and TV Edition Prompt #14: What actor or actress do you like enough to watch in just about anything? I am not such a die hard fan of any actor or actress enough to watch any movie which they are in. However, one actor does come close to this title is the Bollywood actor Paresh Rawal. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0712546/?ref_=nv_sr_1 I first witnessed his stellar performance in Chachi 420, where he played the role of a middle aged, love-sick landlord. Later I watched his other movies, Hera Pheri (meaning wrong doings in English), Hungama (meaning Commotion), Malamal Weekly and Hera Pheri 2. I was convinced that he is an awesome actor for comic roles. He can easily blend into any kind of roles with equal ease. His acting seems so natural, that we feel as if the role he is playing is really a part of him. The latest movie of his I watched was Oh My God, where he donned the role of a miserly businessman, whose shop is destroyed in an earthquake. He is an atheist and decides to sue God for destroying his shop. He becomes his own lawyer when no lawyer agrees to defend his case. In this movie, he is shown to be a sharp tongued, strong willed and determined man, who is afraid of nothing, not even of God. Again his acting and dialogue delivery skills have made the movie very popular. In his younger days, Rawal used to play the part of villains in movies. I have not seen those movies. It was only with Chachi 420 did he start playing comic roles. So, according to me, if a comedy film has Rawal in it, it is sure to be worth a watch. |
| March Memory Lane Challenge: Movies and TV Edition Prompt #13: What's the first movie you remember seeing in a theater? It took me some time to go back to my first theater experience. I kept remembering my mother telling me that once, when I was a baby, they had taken me along to watch Flintstones or 101 Dalmatians, but they had to come back home halfway as if I was throwing a tantrum (so typical of little kids  Later, I remembered my first movie... It was Lagaan. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0169102/?ref_=nv_sr_1 I was only nine years old at that time and even at that age, I was certain that it would win the Oscars. Well, it did go to be nominated for the Oscars, but was beat by another movie, One Man's Army (wow, I still remember the name of the rival movie  ).It had made a very strong impression on me. I had read about the oppression our ancestors had faced at the hands of the British just that year and was burning with unspoken revenge underneath. This movie had somehow relieved me of the feeling of anger against the injustice of the British. This movie got an extra point because my favourite actor, Amir Khan was the lead actor, the one who leads his village to victory against the oppressors. With every pain they experienced at the hands of the Britishers, I felt the pain, and with the small moments of defiance they displayed, I rejoiced with them. I wanted to dance to the beat of most of the songs of that movie. The crowning glory was when the hero and his hardworking team of villagers, who with no prior knowledge of cricket, beat the Englishmen at their own game! The next day, I remember telling my best friend about this movie and showed her the dance steps of my favourite song of the movie. For many years, this was my favourite movie, before it was replaced by others I started watching when I was older. |
| March Memory Lane Challenge: Movies and TV Edition Prompt #12: Talk about a movie or television show that you feel has particularly strong writing. Forget the actors and directors and production value and special effects; what property dazzles you with the dialogue and storytelling? For this, the best movie is a Bollywood movie called A Wednesday. Here's the IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1280558/ I don't remember much of this movie's dialogues. However, I still remember the impact it had on me; not only the novelty but the prospect of a common man taking the task of disposing off terrorist in his own hands. India is troubled with terrorists since Independance and the Indian Law is very slow in punishing criminals. The criminals wallow in jail for a while and are let out on bail. Their cases go on for decades in court, and by the time the criminals are finally given death sentence, they would have lost memory of the crime they had committed. This movie has famous actors, but that is not why I liked it. Common man's freedom is twisted in the modern democracy. Despite that, a common man decides to get the rusty wheels of the law moving with an ingenious but dangerous idea. He went about the whole plan with such precision and alertness, that he fooled the most experienced policeman in believing that he was an accomplice of the captured terrorists. This particular aspect is why I have not forgotten it completely. Till the very end, we are left in dark as to who the man is. His face is revealed but we do not now who he is. He blends in the crowd of Mumbai easily as he is a common man. Sadly, this was a small budget film and despite the presence of two famous actors - Anupam Kher and Naseeruddin Shah, it did not rise to popularity. However, I think it went farther than most films of its kind. |
| March Memory Lane Challenge: Movies and TV Edition. Prompt #11: Are there any long-running shows you've seen every single episode of? No one-season wonders here; let's say a show has to have a run of at least 48 episodes to count. If you haven't seen every episode of a show, tell me about one you'd like to consider watching from beginning to end.I guess that would be How I met Your Mother. Sorry for repeating this show, guys, I have not watched many serials. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460649/?ref_=nv_sr_1 I've seen only the first 5 seasons of it. After the fifth season, I did not enjoy the show anymore. I used to devour the episodes for its novelty, witticism, one-liners and absurd theories. Even now, though I'm fed up with the show, I don't mind watching any episode of the first five seasons. I simply marvel at the plot construction, direction and the superb acting of the actors. |
| March Memory Lane Challenge: Movies and TV Edition Prompt #10: What's the best adaptation of a book (or book series) you've seen? Usually, movies made on books will not be as good as the original. Some examples of disappointment are Slumdog Millionaire and Eragon in the Hollywood movies' Guide in Bollywood movies. However, I've two candidates for this place. One is Life of Pi and the other is The Adventures of Tintin (The latest 3D animated movie of TIntin). Its a difficult choice, but I've made it. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454876/?ref_=nv_sr_1 I had not read the book before watching the movie. In fact, I had got to know about the book through this movie. However, I read the book after I watched the movie, so I could draw my conclusions. I found that the movie has done justice to the book. Right from the time the writer comes in search of Pi till he leaves developing a faith in God, the movie has captured everything that is important. The life of young Pi, the history behind his funny name, the start of his adventures on the vast ocean and how he survives it by cohabiting with a Royal Bengal Tiger. All this was covered in duration of 127 minutes. The graphics and special effects made me feel as though I was watching the scene unfolding in reality in front of me. Especially when the shoal of flying fish arrive and huge waves come threatening to drown the heroes. I literally curled up and cringed at that time (I had watched it in a Multiplex). My favourite parts of the movie was of the whale which glides out of the water at night, upsetting Pi's sleeping arrangements and dives back inside. What makes this movie special is that it has retained the essence and mesmerising magic of the novel. Pi's struggle on the ocean changes his personality. He not only learns survival, but also learns to care for other living things. He gets rid of his childhood terror of tigers. |
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