The Need for Upgrade

Where does the need for an upgrade come? We all feel the need to upgrade our cars to something better – and it doesn’t matter how much satisfied we are with the existing vehicles, that this need will come sooner or later. Sometimes, the need will arrive and go only to come back later. It is like something that is embedded in everyone; the need to make things better can keep making an appearance again and again.

One of my uncles said a few years ago “When you grow up, you will need new and improved cars and then you will want even more” – even though I don’t completely agree with this statement, there is some truth about it as far as the desires of the common man are concerned. We never stop having that desire for something better than what we have without ourselves, and there is that desire gaining a lot more power when life gets a lot better.

So, here comes the need to travel to the different car shops around. With the shops selling second-hand cars, it is extremely difficult to find the right car at the right price. Some of them will ask for too much and a few other shops will not be that easy to locate. The best ones might also be located too much inside the city limits which will make traveling too difficult, especially if it is a busy life already.

So, you can go with the online option instead by choosing the cars and bikes option at the website of Quikr. You can choose from the most popular brands there, and the presence of so many options make sure that you are never disappointed. I could see some nice Maruti-Suzuki Swift and Honda Amaze cars which seem suitable to buy after I give an advertisement to sell my Chevrolet Beat. Swift has been an interesting choice for me since long ago.

I don’t think that a Mahindra Verito or Maruti-Suzuki Ritz would be lesser options for an upgrade either. There are so many options right there, waiting for me. I am sure that an advertisement can easily get my car sold there too. With the addition of Quikr NXT to the list of useful things, so many people are sure to approach me asking about the Chevrolet Beat. As you might already know, it has complete number privacy and history options.

I am hoping to have a good conversation to find the right buyer there. The chat option can be used to a good advantage for this as well as for buying the right car at the best price. Chevrolet Beat is a very good machine which should fetch a good price, and the right adjustment has to be made with the new car which is bought – all these are possible through Quikr NXT, as it seems.

Quikr is a name that you can trust with ease. The only thing that you need to be sure about having is a Quikr Id – everything else should go on like a breeze. As India’s biggest online and mobile classifieds portal, Quikr has already made a mark. It has clearly brought a nice change about how things are bought and sold online. You might find many other options offline, but Quikr is different and special – do try it online some day! It is the next level of online shopping!

The images used in this blog post are of my car and were taken on my Sony Cybershot DSC W-310. The blog post was written as part of the Happy Hours Campaign from Quikr NXT in association with Indiblogger. Quikr provides a great platform for buying and selling. Check here for more details about the same: http://www.quikr.com/

TeNy

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A Season of Beginning

Throughout my life, I have searched for spring or even autumn and found summer, the kind that has been the cruelest of them all, with no hope for rejuvenation. Even now, the heat surely takes over, and this year is one of the hottest of them all, and my aim has been to eat three ice creams every day, but still not helping me that much. This temperature runs parallel to the heat that I have to face in life with a black hole of emptiness which keeps pulling me towards it.

The amount of heat has kept me without a desire to go out during day time, but then something happened; it is more of the discovery of a spring that could be eternal, without being bothered much by the other seasons. I had remained clueless, even as the decisions were ready to be made – I even had a problem about going out of summer, because I was never used to the spring. The closest to the spring that I ever reached was with the green trees of Union Christian College.

I have been trying to restrict the summer with a few movies, as I had gone to watch another one, a Malayalam movie called Saaradhi to another town, adding to the list of the places where I have watched a movie. After watching the flick, I wandered around the city aimlessly, looking for a place to have another tea. Then, my eyes stuck at an advertisement about a PSC coaching centre and I noted down the number.

I had given this a lot of thought that a little coaching can only do good, but couldn’t find the right place with the best timing. But when I had a cup of tea and made a call to the number, I could find the most appropriate timing at this place, for the early morning batch. It was not like magic was going to happen, but a new beginning was needed – just like the spring.

I decided to work hard for the PSC exams, going for a coaching in the early morning, just some distance from home, inspiring a journey of about twenty one kilometres. A coaching in the early morning was the best option, as it was sure to bring the freshness of the spring and there is cool climate which gives a boost, not like the winter cold, but with a certain lowering of temperature that gives a nice feeling.

I personally feel that the mornings are the best time to study, and it brings out the spring inside you to make the brain work better. I have always chosen to wake up early in the case of examinations, and it has mostly worked for me, unless I never really had any sleep due to the pressure and ended up with less sense in the examination hall.

I hope this also works for me, and helps me better with the future tests. I have been caught with a deep struggle with Mathematics for a long time, and I can surely feel the loss of many other things which I had learnt at school level. I can feel time running about, and I do feel worried that if there is no lasting spring this time, there might be no other. I need the season of rejuvenation in a world that has had so much less of spring.

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

***The first image was taken on my Sony Cybershot DSC W-310.

TeNy

Tribute to the Teachers

My time at the Union Christian College was very good, and each of the lecturers at the English Department has played a big role in defining me – it is something that I can never forget. I have already written about my days at the college (https://theteacerebration.wordpress.com/2014/12/01/the-college-days-at-ucc/) which won a contest too, and I might come with a detailed tribute later. But for now, I would like to remember those teachers who defined my earlier days of studies at the school level. My memories about that time period remains less clear, but it is worth a try.

Among my favourite teachers, there are two who helped me with my English. One is Aleyamma teacher who was my all-time favourite teacher – I would give her credit for myself scoring very high in English for my tenth board exams. She was strict with her class, and always hesitated to give marks, and the best one could score for the English paper if it was evaluated by her – it was around eighty two out of hundred and sometimes nobody scored an eighty; not really inspiring the students to choose English as the favourite subject, but her level of teaching and valuation compared to the others was clear when the scores reached near cent percent for the board exams while the students who scored high in the local test papers and examinations got low marks.

Just reminding myself that I used to win some big prizes, even at state level 😀

I have had the opportunity to stand outside the class during her classes, but that only inspired me to work harder – from the way she managed the classes, it was all so clear to me. I tried to read more and make things work better, and I wished she had taught me English for a longer period of time. No longer being in her classes was the biggest miss for me after the tenth standard. Joseph sir who gave me tutions for English also provided the same, and he played a big role in making the English language and grammar interesting. As long as he taught me, I never had any doubt about which subject to study more than the others. But all subjects other than English were made so boring in comparison.

Another love for a subject goes to History, and the credit for that goes to Laila teacher who could come up with least boring History class that I have ever known. She had a special style of saying “Mao Tse-tung” and “Chiang Kai-shek” which made sure that the Chinese Revolution was never forgotten. I remember that I had once topped History for the first time and she was like “what took you so long?”. I could score high for the subject during the board exams too, and I was actually blessed with the certain fact that she was the one who taught me History throughout high school, a memory that I cherish. I don’t even remember seeing her in anger when teaching or dealing with matters of the class.

Then there was Uma teacher, who made the subject of Geography have any value. She also used to teach some English when there was the need, and I did feel that she made her points so clear with the class. If I have something of the subject remaining inside my brain, it is because she make me relate well with that subject which was never among my stronger areas. It is the base for Geography that she had provided, just like that base for History and English which were established. I managed to do fine with the subject for the tenth board exams, and make Social Science look nice in totality.

A portion of the scanned image – favourite teachers are third from left and first from right.

Then there was Martin sir who made an impression for my Plus Two, but the major problem there was that, as a Mathematics teacher, he came too late to make a big impact – there was no love left for me with Maths, and even for the Science subject, the lack of good teachers during the earlier periods of schooling deprived me of any love for those subjects. My favourite subjects were formed due to the presence of some good teachers during the school days, and they were English, History and Geography – those were the three subjects which made me interested due to having the best teachers, the four whom I salute, and my respect for the fifth who tried so hard to make my Maths better, but couldn’t 😀

This blog post is inspired by Sucheta’s writing (https://suchetabiswas.wordpress.com/2015/02/23/we-the-people-and-the-teachers-we-have), and reminds me that I should have carried over the inspiration and knowledge which were provided by these teachers. But unfortunately, I did lose most of it for some time, and could only partially gain a part of it back. It was rather a near-impossible task because of my certain inabilities. ***The images used in this blog post are scanned and cropped photos from my distant past – the schooldays.

TeNy

Terror of Advertisements

A few things that disturb me include the quality of the advertisements that we see on these days. Yes, there are a few nice ones like the Alphenlibe Anti-boring Ad which has been one of my favourites, and the Zoozoos of the Vodafone’s past were nice, the latter making me shift to Vodafone from the dead Uninor. Idea has been always eating my brain with those Sirji Ads and now they have come up with so many of their terrible Ads between the Malayalam version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire/Kaun Banega Crorepathi – Ningalkum Aaakam Kodeeswaran has too many of them! Idea Internet Network = University = IIN? Seriously?

1. The bakery drone maker of IIN: I am surprised that Idea could go this low. No, you are not empowering the youth here, but making them believe that only by studying in IIT that you can be someone who is of significance in this world – even the IIN (Idea Internet Network) is made to sound like IIT making the people who study in regular college seem like idiots. Yes, if you don’t get admission in IIT, you needn’t study more and they make it clear. Be an engineer, and you can use internet to make the best gadgets of India; that is all right there – you will be awesome that way.

See this Vodafone Ad? This is enough to make a good point without lying.

2. The IIN girls who never go out: Yes, they don’t send women to college, but nobody cares to change that and to make sure that the female members of that village also have equal chances. If you have a mobile phone with Idea internet connection, women can stay locked in their houses. The kind of land where women are not allowed to go to college and study, can have the best android phones and 3G internet which the girls can use without any restrictions. Good bye, logic. You were never even in the extended picture.

3. The IIN student who searches for brain: Why would someone need internet to decide what to study? What a student needs is the brain to make decisions for himself and he can always choose the books instead. If someone thinks that the not-so-authentic information in the internet equals or is better than what he or she studies at the university, Indian Government can just ban all universities and tell the citizens to come and write exams which can be conducted every six months or so.

4. The IIN teacher who uses internet to teach: Here is the dumb teacher who thinks that she can only use internet with Idea, and still she is not fired. She can’t read books, and therefore chooses to use internet to teach students. This internet addict thinks that everything which is found on internet is true and updates her classes according to what all that she can find there and not from the books. I am glad that I finished the school early and won’t have to learn from a teacher like her.

BSNL doesn’t need Ads. Yes, their Ads are not good either, but they don’t need it.

Did Idea invent internet? It seems to be trying to make people think so. Internet is not the best place to study, dear Idea – it has too much of abuse, porn, hatred, wrong information and everything which can make the place the worst university to study. Internet can help for some knowledge, but is no real teacher. There were those terrible Honey Bunny Songs, No Ullu Banoing, What an Idea Sirji, and now this. This is the lowest point. I have once been a customer of Idea before using Airtel and Uninor. I am now using Vodafone – until they outsmart Idea in making such disgusting advertisements. I also do keep a BSNL number. My whole house has turned Idea-free due to their advertisements.

There are other Ads like those of Imperial Blue which generalize or stereotype men, and those Pepsi and Boost advertisements which bring too much of the Indian cricket team without knowing any of innovation. The jewelry advertisements of Kerala are very much unbearable as you can guess easily. Those irritating bike Ads with stunts are the perfect examples of having no creativity at all. Then there are the people of the toothpaste who come into bathrooms after kicking open the doors – do they do any good?

***The images used in this blog post are from the Facebook pages of Vodafone Kerala and BSNL Kerala which are the network connections which I use. I really hope that there are better advertisements for Idea too, so that I can watch the television programs in peace. And please value books more than internet. Thank you.

TeNy

A Little More Divinity

Here is another flashback of my spiritual journeys that go back a few years to a season of Honda Unicorn. I have my doubts if churches can be called “cute”, but here are a few of them if they can really be called so. All of them are from Kerala, and have left a permanent mark despite their small sizes and in spite of not being that famous. This is the season of Lent, and I would consider a few more of the abodes of God can only do good. After all, I am one of those very few unlucky people who always have their birthdays during the time of Lent.

Christ Church, Munnar: Belonging to Church of South India and having a history of over one hundred years, this one goes back to the people of the tea who had arrived here in relation with the tea plantations of Munnar from Britain. The stone laid in on 11th March, 1910, this church is really well-maintained and you can have a very good view of the hilly town from here, which is beautiful, only to be challenged by the beauty of the church itself. You can see India’s colonial past and understand that this one has a lot of stories to tell.

Church of Our Lady of Hope, Vypin: Located at the island of Vypin, which forms a part and is connected to the city of Kochi by the group of Goshree bridges, this is a small church which has the lake directly in front of it, and makes a very beautiful view if you are looking from the other side of the water body. There is a lawn, a cross and a grotto in front of this white church building, and also a number of Chinese nets and some huge trees which give enough to shades to have some spiritual rest.

St. Sebastian’s Church, Thoppumpady: The new bridge which was built at Thoppumpady made sure that you can only travel to Fort Cochin and Mattanchery through the road which goes on the side of this church. This is a protected monument by the archeology department and the renovation works were delayed as it couldn’t be done without permission – it has been renovated now, and the photo that I have is from before that. Its antiquity is its beauty, and there is also the lake on the back-side with a nice view of the historical Harbour Bridge.

Holy Cross Church, Mattanchery: More of a shrine than a church, this is a pilgrimage centre with historical significance. There is the presence of a small church-like area inside it though. It tells the tale of the historic oath which was made by the members of the Saint Thomas Christian community of Kerala that they would not submit to the rising Portuguese dominance which have been trying to forcibily Latinize the local Christian community that had existed with the Indianized version even before Christianity spread through Europe.

St. Mary’s Church, Njarakkal: A part and a major centre of Vypin that I had earlier mentioned, this church at Njarakkal is not that different from Church of Our Lady of Hope in its architecture, but can still claim an identity of its own. It has more space inside the structure and also has very beautiful and traditional altar. The style is just like a number of older churches built at that time and having the feeling of being very old, but the renovations have made sure that it stays beautiful and worth the admiration.

***I wish to leave the total statistics related to the number of the churches I have visited since 2009. The first one is the district-wise division, second on the list outside Kerala and third on the churches visited outside India. The only two districts missing are Kasargode and Malappuram. The districts might not be exact as I have my doubt about the borders, but the numbers are exact. *The photos used in this blog post are those taken by me on my Sony Cybershot DSC W-310 only.
(Ernakulam-174, Kottayam-69, Thrissur-39, Alappuzha-29, Pathanamthitta-17, Kollam-9, Kozhikode-7, Idukki-13, Kannur-4, Trivandrum-4, Wayanad-4, Palakkad-3)
(Tamil Nadu-59, Pondicherry-11, West Bengal-11, Karnataka-8)
(England-41, Scotland-9, Sri Lanka-8)

TeNy

The Simona Programme

February 28th is the celebration of the three month anniversary of finding Simona the Kitty. It would be another day of awesome tea party. I feel that the cats should celebrate birthdays every month as they are with us for such shorter time. Reaching home on the day of the release of the Malayalam movie Angels, Simona the Valiant Cat plays many roles here at her home, and lets see what her major programs are, on these days.

1. The Leg Hugger: Simona is a consistent leg hugger. It is almost impossible to avoid getting hugged by her. She will hide under the bed, table or even at a place with the lowest possibilities to hug your leg with a quick pounce and surprise. Yes, it is not permanent. She takes breaks between each hugs, and sometimes the procedure is very long, as she stays on the leg trying to give a leg shake. May be she actually wants to hug a tree, but there is none indoors.

So you know I hug legs. I am so cute, so give me your leg or I shall take it 😛

2. The Ball Finder: You can’t hide the ping-pong ball from her; you can only keep trying. She will find it and she will start kicking it, unless you keep it very high or lock it. She is becoming more and more fond of the orange colour and her football skills with the ping-pong ball might give her a chance in a possible future Kitty ISL. May be when you name her after an awesome tennis player, you have to expect something like that 😀

I can find anything. No matter what you do to hide, I shall find all the treasures 😀

3. The Spider Slayer: She punches the spiders whenever she finds them. It is a left right left punch which she has mastered. I am hoping for that to be added to the next video game of Mortal Kombat. Last time, she tried that with a cockroach, I had to throw the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary on it to finally finish it off, but she is making a good attempt despite having a basic non-violent nature 😛

The hunter is ready here. Do show me all spiders, lizards and cockroaches.

4. The Wire Puller: She just can’t stand those snake-like creatures called wires. She finds her mortal enemy there and bring all of them down. So, let your mobile charger cable come down even a little. There is a mighty hunter down there looking for some snake dance. No matter where she finds it or of what kind, she can hunt it down. It is a special skill that she has acquired.

This is my personal mobile charger. Find another one for yourself, human.

5. The Lap Jumper: You are watching the Malayalam version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire or Kaun Banega Crorepathi and then she jumps on your lap and watches the television. She would sit there as Queen Simona. I don’t think that Suresh Gopi or Amitabh Bachchan would mind that though. She would wait there until enough massage is received or watching the television won’t be very easy 😀

At the same time, the lady whose name our kitty has borrowed, Simona Halep also becomes the first woman player to win two big tennis tournaments this year with the recently concluded Dubai Open. She regains the world no.3 and looks good to go further. As the last year’s finalist in this clay’s own slam, I hope that she improves on that and wins the French Open this time.

TeNy

Eternal Mask of Vanity

“Uncle, I really don’t get your point here” she wondered.

“It seems that you can’t catch up with our family brilliance” he said.

“Err…I don’t know about that, but please make your point clear”.

“He gets twenty five thousand five hundred more salary than her, which should be a seventeen thousand two hundred and fifty more than what you earn too. He is also married to a girl who is richer by eighty seven cents of land. In your case, you almost have no land assets” he added.

“But uncle, how is that relevant here?” she asked with curiosity.

“Do you have any idea how awesome my son is?” he asked.

“Okay, but how is the significant in what we are discussing?” she asked again.

“Because he is my son and I am his father” he made a point as if it was the greatest he could ever make.

“But do you need to boast every now and then about it? I mean, you say that I am dark skinned, but your son is darker skinned, and you say that I am fat, but have you ever noticed how fat your daughter-in-law is? Why do you have to keep discussing about my fat and the colour of my skin everywhere? Why do you compare the salaries and possessions of everyone you know”?

“Because my son has everything that is needed, and he is better than all of you cousins combined. She is married to rich girl that he loved and with this grand salary, will live happily ever after” he said with pride.

“So you think that he will live like that forever. You feel that all these are forever?” she asked.

“Yes, why not? I have everything in the world forever. Some of you don’t have a job, some of you couldn’t find the right partner, and some of you are uneducated or working for some pathetic salary. You all have minuses, too many of them. We have none. We are perfect”.

“But how is that eternal?” she asked.

“Because I know that we are better than everybody else. Otherwise, you would have got a better salary. Can’t you be like my daughter-in-law? She is so good”.

“I can’t be like your daughter-in-law because I am your niece and another person; and your never-ending comparison of everyone you know will not help in anything” she added.

“Do you know that he is buying a new car with his own salary? I have written down the specifications. It is a big vehicle. You don’t have a car now, right?” he asked.

“This never stops” she murmered.

✠ The Vampire Bat finished writing on the board and turned around. “So my dear vampire apprentices, what kind of mask is this?”

“I think I know such an uncle, but doubtful about the mask” remarked the Vampire Crocodile.

“The Mask of…of…I forgot? Can I have the lifeline, may be Phone a Vampire?” asked the Vampire Hamster.

“What? No, not at all. This is a class. The quiz competition was yesterday” said the Vampire Bat.

“The Mask of Vanity?” asked the Vampire Alligator.

“Well done. It categorizes as an eternal mask, one of the eight of the eternal kind. It is a great disguise to be used when feeling the need to boast and make others feel inferior. It has enough in its dark soul to be considered as the best disguise, as it can hide one’s own mistakes and lack of capabilities by trying to bring down others. Now that finishes today’s class about the fourty seventh type of mask. Don’t forget to continue your work at home and always do your vampire studies home work” said the Vampire Bat as he dispersed the class an hour before the regular time.

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

***The images used in this blog post are from the Official Facebook Page of Hotel Transylvania, the animated movie.

TeNy

The Vision of a Lost Bat

Dracula was lead to that new world which was set on the newly baptized Planet Vampiris by the Vampire Bat. It was just recently discovered after the Vampire Bat teleported himself through a worm hole which had opened near Pluto during a superhuman vampiric abilities test conducted under the supervision of Doctor Frankenstein. It was considered a failed experiment until the Vampire Bat managed to contact Dracula through the intergalactic telepathy procedure which worked during its test experiment itself.

Dracula was lead through the first city of the newly civilized planet. The humanoids who selected the Vampire Bat as the leader were present everywhere. It was the “City of Righteous Spirituality” to be visited first. There were people worshipping different religions, and they were living in mutual respect and harmony. Those people who had nothing to believe in, and were fighting each other, had been transformed. There were non-believers among them who tried to make these believers of different deities fight each other, but that was solved by the ultimate realization that the God is indeed one, no matter by what name he is called.

There are always difficulties in creating new worlds, but nothing like the inherent evil

Then there was the “City of Eternal Wisdom” which took care of all needs of knowledge. There was the ultimate realization that only by knowledge and wisdom that the world can be changed for the better. Always acquiring knowledge and helping other cities with their needs, this city is the brain of the new world, like the former was the heart. The best people were trained here in various categories without inequality, as each and every subject as well as job was equal. Nobody was forced to be an engineer or doctor, and the profession in demand was that of a helper, a class which was present everywhere, selfless and caring.

As Dracula wished to have a drink, they started with a restaurant at the “City of Striving Legends”, which had people working hard to make things better for the other cities. It was the city of industries, and people earned according to how much they worked, and everyone who wanted a job was sure to get one here. There was no unemployment as this city was there to provide support. This restaurant itself was started for the industrial workers, and the basic food was always available free here, and they also made sure that there was no poverty by sending food to all the other cities.

There is no lack of grandeur within the cities, but the soul remains simple as it can be

They passed through one of the cities where they didn’t stop. It was the “City of Unlimited Compassion”, where the people with diseases were taken care of by healers. The medical care was free here, as half of the earnings of almost every person belonging to this civilization went here. Nobody needed to buy a Ferrari’s equivalent or a bloody supercomputer or mobile. Everybody wanted to help, and this was a place where Dracula only wanted to visit after he had come up with a certain amount for donation. There were no evil people in this world, but those who had chosen to be bad were sent here to help.

They stopped at the “City of Ultimate Courage” then. There were the best trained people of the whole civilization who always dared to rise above fear. The big wall on one side of the city was meant to be used for training and it was also the city which was close to a possible natural disaster which lurked on the other side of the wall. But the ones here were dauntless and were ready to stop any lesser disasters and save their people from any problem. They also acted as part-time law enforcers, as law was obeyed most of the time.

“What about the reservation?” asked Dracula. The Vampire Bat replied that there is none, as everyone is equal, and stealing education and jobs is not the style here. “We are not a society that is based on divisions and selfishness, but we live for the other” added the Vampire Bat. Dracula had a deep thought about it. As he wondered about this new world and its possibilities, there was that moment when I turned around and told Dracula: “I am the Vampire Bat, and here’s the world which I remade, away from the known universe!”

I am participating in the #TheWorldRemade activity at BlogAdda in association with India Today #Conclave15

***The images used in this blog post are from the Official Facebook Page of the video game, Mass Effect.

TeNy

The Spiritual Variety

As I have been thinking about variety, there are a number of churches which come to mind – those which would seem like small structures, but manages to catch our attention with a certain amount of difference with their looks, as they are combined with beauty and spirituality in the right manner. Here are a few of those smaller, but beautiful structures which I wish to share here – all of them from Kerala, and to be more exact – from the Ernakulam district except for the first one in the special mention.

1. St. Joseph’s Cathedral, Muvattupuzha: On the way to Muvattupuzha from Perumbavoor, the dome of this beautiful structure catches our attention from a distance. The photo was taken before the church work for the rebuilding was complete and so it looks even better now. Unlike the other churches around here with a dome, this one has onion domes of different sizes. It reminds me of Saint Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow, and whenever I dream of traveling to Russia with all the churches with similar domes, I look at this cathedral and be happy, telling myself that I shall see more of it 😀

2. St. Joseph Church, Karayamparambu (Angamaly): I have waited very long for this church to complete its renovation or rather rebuilding. After the process, this surely looks like a structure that you can’t miss while traveling from Cochin to Trichur on the National Highway 47 connecting Salem and Kanyakumari, just after Angamaly, on the way to Chalakudi. It has a very beautiful altar and you have to look under that beautiful dome right after you enter. There is a lot of nice imagery surrounding the dove as the Holy Spirit. A small structure here, but still so Herculean in its beauty.

3. St. Xavier’s Church, Aluva: This rebuilt church at Alwaye has been my favourite church to attend a Holy Mass for quite a long time. They have the English Mass too, and what catches one’s attention more than anything else are those glass paintings which are around the altar and beyond. The saints are there, and so is the representation of the scriptures. The crucifix image is also different and catching our attention – there is a lot of spiritual feeling with the evening programs as the lights enter through the glasses. It is the major reason why I go for the evening mass too.

4. St. Thomas Church, Chowara (Aluva): Unlike what people think, Aluva surely has some of the most beautiful churches, scattered around the town and its outskirts, mostly Syro-Malabar and Latin in rite. It has a mixed design, and inside, part of the old altar is preserved. The floor has wood as well as tiles, and the option of AC is also there. The imagery is nice and so are the surroundings. You can see the top of the church building from quite a distance and is located just before the town when coming from Aluva on the route to Sreemoolanagaram/Kanjoor.

5. St. Thomas Church, Karumalloor (Paravur): With all the lights inside switched on at night and shining in the darkness around, I have found this one a very special structure. You can easily notice the beauty if you have travelled through the route at night. With some very effective lighting, the church has some simpler and yet effective imagery inside. The lighting as well as the borders and colour combinations make the images more beautiful. There are also some nice work on the glasses, even as they are lesser in number. This is on the right side while you travel from Aluva to Paravur.

Older churches: Special Mention:
St. Thomas Church, Palayur: This church founded by Saint Thomas the Apostle in 52 AD is believed to be the first Church and thus the oldest standing Christian worship place in India. Connected to many ancient trading centres through rivers and lakes, and with the existence of ancient Jewish settlements, this had become a perfect place to find the church, and this structure maintains the ancient Kerala architecture even with a lot of additions being made to it. It has a Saint Thomas Monument and a museum too.

St. Francis Church, Fort Kochi: Here is the oldest European church in India, and its antiquity is actually easily visible from a distance. Vasco da Gama died in Kochi in the year 1524 and was buried in this church before his remains were moved to Lisbon, Portugal. The structure has a great historical significance, as it was a witness to the colonial battles for supremacy and a long lasting symbol of India’s colonial past. There are a few things of interest inside the church, but as photography is not allowed inside, I have no pictures.

***All the images used in this blog post are from my camera (Sony Cybershot DSC W-310).

TeNy

A Few Unfamilar Rituals

Only a few months had passed since Mavis Dracula was born, and as Uncle Dracula thinks about this day of his past, it is our duty to take a look back to the day before Mavis’ first birthday with him. There are no questions to be asked, and there are no doubts to cleared, but accompany Uncle Dracula’s minions who take us back to that day. Let me assure you that Mavis is no lesser Dracula than our uncle, and it is something that she proved later.

It was quite a dark night, but still not enough for the vampires to celebrate their new festival, The Season of the Night. Dracula was inviting monsters for the first birthday of Mavis, his daughter who came to this world after sacrificing one hundred and twenty eight kilograms of potato chips mixed with blood. All the werewolves and zombies around the castle had agreed to come for the celebrations. But the big problem was at the castle when he was not there.

“This is not happening. I can’t do this at all” screamed the Vampire Panda.

“You are the cutest available vampire in the locality. You have to do this” said the Vampire Penguin.

“Actually, you are pretty much cute too” added the Vampire Owl.

“What? No, I am a dangerous penguin with survivor skills. One day, I was travelling through the Bermuda Triangle and…”

“I don’t think that the baby knows that though. So cute penguins can do” said the Vampire Panda.

“The baby is crying. Can something be done? I have done a few things on situations like this – but I have awesome memory loss problem” added the Vampire Hamster.

“Actually, where is the Vampire Bat?” asked the Vampire Crocodile.

“He is doing his vanishing act. He bought the new and improved Invisibility Cloak from the Goblin Market” said the Vampire Owl.

“Is it like this clock shows time and we can’t even see it?” asked the Vampire Hamster.

“What? No, not that clock! Who gives vampire badges to people like this”? yelled the Vampire Owl.

“I am back! And I am starting a ritual here” said the Vampire Bat as he appeared out of the Invisibility Cloak.

“What is that weapon that you have in your hands? It is the book Dracula and what is this Pampers Baby Dry Pants?” asked the Vampire Owl.

“Both are for Mavis. She needs to learn about the adventures of her father told in the words of other vampires. Any questions?” asked the Vampire Bat.

“Is that book to be used as a diaper?” asked the Vampire Hamster.

“Are you even listening? Is it so difficult to understand the vampire world which is right in front of you? Vampire Crocodile, get to work”.

In a few minutes, things were set, and the Vampire Crocodile started reading the story. Vampire Cat dropped in and added a lullaby in the “meow meow” vampire model. Vampire Bat and Vampire Owl were making future plans while Mavis Dracula was already asleep. The next day was to be her birthday, a memory which Uncle Dracula was to use a few days later – that would call for another drastic rewind.

***The image used in this blog post is from the Happy Hours campaign page at Indiblogger. This blog post is part of the Happy Hours campaign from Pampers in association with Indiblogger. Check here for further details about the same: http://www.rewardme.in/tag/Pampers

TeNy

That World Remade

I have often felt that my life needed to be remade with a time machine or just a random superpower to go back in time, but on a larger scale, it has never been just about my life. It has been about the world. There are too many things wrong with this world, and there is a certain disintegration happening around, no matter how hard the optimists try to deny it. The world is slowly, but steadily progressing towards an early chaos, and even though the human beings are mostly responsible for the same, it is our world as a whole that suffers.

A World Without the Walls: Our world stands divided. The first thing I wish to bring out a world remade is a land which is not separated by its strange and ridiculous walls. Nature has created its own barriers, but for maintaining the harmony, but why has humans created new ones? In a new world, there shall be no separation in the name of religion, caste, race, language or any other. It is the time to take down the wall and rebuild – actually, as soon as the walls are down, the need to rebuild will be a lot lesser.

No, you don’t need to travel to space this time – the new world is right here.

Where Mutual Respect is Evident: A world of mutual respect is the world of equality. It is only by considering the other person as significant and respectable as ourselves is the next step in my world remade. There is no exact other in the new world, but just another version of yourself that exists like a mirror image of one another. Despite the fact that everyone look different, each shall be the mirror images of one another reflected by the same acts of love that they do to one another.

Where Love Dismantles Hatred: The existence of mutual hatred is evident in our world, which shall be taken out from the root itself. An obliteration of the hatred should be an aim embedded in all human beings of the new world. Can we destroy something which has driven humanity forward throughout the ages in too many cases like the Nazi Holocaust of Jews and the Turkish Holocaust of the Armenians? May be with love in a new world where hatred has absolutely no place.

How good a world can you build as a creator? What all can it possess?

Where Knowledge is Power: In this new world, knowledge replaces the prevalent method of lying and cheating to get to the top. Knowing is the first step to understanding the truth, and ignorance has brought too much chaos in the current world. Some people have just been to reluctant to know. It will be knowledge that will take the centre stage and guide the new world to the light. It shall not be money or power, and it can never be the “special ability to degrade others for one’s own benefit”.

Where Opinion is Valuable: The new world will be further built on the opinions of the people after having its base. Opinions will play a big role in advancing the world to a future that it envisages through every drop of sweat this shed on making the situation better. Here, opinions will be heard, and there will be nobody blasting the heads off or abusing people who exercise their right to opinion. Here, freedom of speech will not be abuse, but valuable opinion with mutual respect.

I haven’t seen this as an easy task with a new world coming out of nowhere. Even if I am given the task of this creator or is made the one who rebuilds a world that goes down in chaos, it is up-to the humanity to make this continue to work. If everything goes fine, and after a few years of awesomeness that can bring certainty about this new world, I can exclaim with pride and happiness – “Here’s The World, Remade!”

I am participating in the #TheWorldRemade activity at BlogAdda in association with India Today #Conclave15
***The images used in this blog post are from the Official Facebook Page of the movie, Jupiter Ascending, used only to support this piece of writing.

TeNy

Bucket List Reloaded

Don’t you wish to live the life you have always dreamed of? Don’t we all have that power of hope that is within us even during the most pessimistic of moments? We all do, and in my case, I have had a long bucket list which I am choosing to bring down to a small list of five. I have never been able to limit the list to five, but these are a few things which were in my mind for such a long time, some of them which my readers might have already known and the others not really brought to light.

1. To visit Florence and Rome: There are many cities that I wish to visit, but these two have been in the list for so long that I feel that this need come from my previous birth. Florence being the city of Renaissance and Rome being once a great city of ancient times, I would want to visit these two places first. It is only fair to start with these two cities as I can always travel more inside and outside Italy, from Venice and Milan to Barcelona and Lisbon outside the Mediterranean.

2. To spend a lot of time in a Buddhist monastery: I have never been to one in India, but I have been to a few in Sri Lanka. I have kept the list of a number of monasteries, and there are a few which I have liked more than the rest – they make me wish to travel to Ceylon, but Nepal, Bhutan, Burma and Thailand are also in my list. I have spend enough time in a number of Christian monasteries and it is time I add these to the long list too.

3. To tell Pope Francis that he is awesome: No, it is not that he needs to be told that, but still, with what he has been doing, I feel that it is my duty and privilege to go and say that. He has made people say that the Pope is awesome in such a small period of time. It should also mean a journey to St. Peter’s Square, which should another nice thing. St. Peter’s Basilica, sooner or later, I am coming there and I shall take those photos for my church photography collection.

4. To have a long Carpathian expedition: Carpathians! You should have heard the name. Count Dracula and Carpathians have that kind of a relationship with me that has made my brain remember the name of that mountain ranges a lot of more than I would have needed to. I have kept that in my list from childhood, and some day, I am going to travel to any castle around there and ask for the Count. I do hope that they have calling bells. Yes, I also wish to go back to Romania’s cities and get an autograph from Simona Halep. That means two things in one journey.

5. To volunteer for Missionaries of Charity: There is no other organization in the whole world which I consider with that much reverence as the Missionaries of Charity. I have visited a number of their convents and the places of work, and it is safe to say that being part of the congregation is one of the greatest things of service that one can do. Yes, I can be of service somewhere else now, but may be one day, volunteer for their work if possible. Kolkata is indeed a blessed city.

The list should go on and on, especially with the cities to be visited, which covers almost all of the Europe and a good area of Latin America. There are always more things in the bucket list than you can keep thinking about, and there are always more things in the world to add to that list. For now, these are the five things that I would do if I had nothing to hold me back and I was #BefikarUmarBhar.

*** The image used in this blog post is from the Happy Hours Campaign page at Indiblogger. This blog post was written as part of the Happy Hours contest from IDFI Federal Life Insurance in association with Indiblogger. Please check this link for further details: http://bit.ly/BefikarUmarBhar

🙂 TeNy

The Versatile Happens

On this beautiful day, I remember another award and feel very happy to have received The Versatile Blogger Award from Anita (https://icecandy16blog.wordpress.com) 🙂 I write this down while seeing a picture of Roger Federer holding an Indian cricket team t-shirt with the Bleed Blue hashtag – I love that feeling 😀

Thank you Anita for this wonderful award: (https://icecandy16blog.wordpress.com/2015/02/14/my-first-blogging-award).

Rules of the award:

Display the award on your blog.
Thank the person who nominated you.
Share 7 facts about yourself.
Nominate 15 blogs.
Link your nominee’s blogs.

7 facts about myself:

I believe that the Valentine’s Day is becoming more and more fake every year.
I have found the early morning, best time to read and study.
I can’t stand the dubbed versions of English movies on television channels.
I need more hours on a day – may be I should travel to Venus and claim them.
I believe that opinions should be respected and nobody has the right to abuse in return.
I feel that a movie experience is more personal than any other.
I support American Sniper for the Best Movie at the Oscars this year.

The 15 bloggers:
Anna (http://filmgrimoire.wordpress.com)
Natasha (http://allizzwell.net)
Jaideep (http://pebbleinthestillwaters.in)
Shibu (http://shibumathewn15.wordpress.com)
Sandeep (http://www.sandeeppatil.co.in)
Sanjeet (http://sanjeetv.wordpress.com)
Leo (http://leocraven.com)
Courtney (http://cinemaaxis.com)
Dan (http://dtmmr.com)
Indah (http://indahs.wordpress.com)
Susanne (http://susanneleist.wordpress.com)
Danny (https://dannybreslin.wordpress.com)
Bikramjit (http://mannbikram.wordpress.com)
Faith (http://faithsimone.wordpress.com)
Mark (http://mrmarakai.wordpress.com)

Enjoy your blogging… 🙂

Unconditional Asus Love

Asus Zenfone 5 has been my dream phone for quite a long time. This would be the third gadget from Asus I will be using if I could get to finally attain my love, the Asus Zenfone. For so many months, I have spent my time staring at her on various online shopping websites without saying a word. I have been a stalker of this phone for too long, and on this Valentine’s Day, I choose to tell her that she is my valentine.

Vampire Owl: But dude, she is just a phone. I mean, “it” is a phone. Choose the lady in the advertisement instead. That girl on the poster is a beauty too.

Never mind the Vampire Owl. He has been very jealous because he can’t use a phone without scratching it. It is in his blood to scratch. He never really owns a phone right now. He is a very sad owl and a depressed vampire. But I have got my Valentine on this wonderful day, and she is a Zenfone. Why is she my Valentine? Well, there are too many reasons for the same. I can give you five of them with ease.

1. The Beauty: There is some connection between love and beauty as far as the poets are concerned, and I choose to go through that connection with my future Zenfone. Among the mobile phones, I have considered Zenfone as the fairest of them all, and it doesn’t mean the one who doesn’t cheat with a line call during Badminton – but the most beautiful of them all. A Zenfone in red is so much of a joy to watch. It is not comparable to Kate Upton in red, but still too beautiful.

2. The Gaming Partner: I have always wanted a Valentine who could play games with me, and I have found one with Asus Zenfone. I feel that an amazing gaming experience awaits me with the phone, and I already have a small list of games ready, which I wish to expand once she becomes my Valentine. We shall play more games together than any immortal has played with his lovers. The games will keep us youthful for long. We might even come up with a gamer anthem.

3. The Honeymoon: I see that if I can make the Zenfone mine on this Valentine’s Day, I have a chance to fly to Singapore with her for honeymoon, and all the expenses will be covered by her only. Zenfone already has a honeymoon ready, and if still there is any doubt in my mind whether to propose to the wonderful phone, I have to ponder more on my thought procedures than anything else. Yes, I have been to Singapore and I love that place – another opportunity, this time with the loved one is only fair.

4. That Energy: I cannot question her energy either, as Zenfone has that long battery backup and performance which might surprise me, even with the clear knowledge about the same. Who wouldn’t want a valentine with so much of energy? After all, she would always have the power to light up my life. I might loss my powers, but she won’t. She will remain better than me – it is something that I shall cherish.

5. And Simplicity: ZenUI is intelligent and simple – who wouldn’t like a smart girl who has absolutely no vanity and talks with such simplicity? Zenfone is such a lovely character – never boasting about her skills and always keeping things simple; not falling into the Devil’s favourite sin. Lucifer might be very unhappy with that, but let him be so, because he should have a lot of free time at hell. Pride has no role in her heart. She is worth every word of love that you say for her.

This blog post is part of the Happy Hours campaign from Indiblogger in association with Asus India.

***The image used in this blog post is from the Happy Hours campaign page.

TeNy

After Friday the 13th

On this beautiful Friday the 13th, I was depressed in the absence of no horror movies being released. I just ended up watching a Malayalam movie, a thriller (https://moviesofthesoul.wordpress.com/2015/02/13/saaradhi). So I am choosing to go after some horror from my memories and bring back a few bad guys to life. No, Uncle Dracula will not be on the list because he was never a real bad person. Here are some of the villains of great horror from my favourite slasher movies. This time, I choose the psycho killers and make them better known.

Jason Voorhees (Friday the 13th): This lovely killer from Friday the 13th series needs a mention on every 13th Friday that you have in an year. Having a machete in his hands and murdering people at will, he was a grand character in the 1980s and 1990s only to come back to us with a reboot in 2009. The movie does exactly what it was supposed to do, and it is time Jason come back to us with another sequel. That one even had Julianna Guill who could be one of the best scream queens. Even if the movie name is forgotten, you might not forget his mask which has become the serial killer face that makes the most impact.

Jason needs something for his machete. After all, this is Friday 13th season.

Rusty Nail (Joy Ride): This part-time trucker and more of a serial killer comes from the three movies of the Joy Ride franchise. I like that name – it has something about that draws interest towards him. His face rarely has any chance to come near the camera, and the horror is drawn from the huge truck and his method of operations. Even as the first movie had a better cast, I would prefer the second – the third is not bad either. Rusty Nail in a truck might also be the smarter one around and will make sure that your love for Optimus Prime won’t be that much from admiration or respect.

Freddy Krueger (A Nightmare on Elm Street): Here is a villain who had me scared during my childhood. I remember it to be scarier at that time. Among all the killers here, he has that nice, scary supernatural side that work so well. He rules the dream world and in invincible there. He comes in your dreams and kill you, so there we see that reason for not falling asleep. All your fears come alive in his world as this burnt face and bladed gloves are sure to provide some nightmares and questions your decision to go to sleep. The last movie of the franchise did no justice to the villain though.

Be silent in your dreams. Freddy doesn’t like to be disturbed in his world.

Harry Warden (My Bloody Valentine): The imagery of the miner armed with pickaxe is a nice one, especially when there is that mask bein worn. The remake of the original, My Bloody Valentine 3D which came in 2009 carries the legacy of the killer. There are some nice moments of thrill and gore in the new version too which can establish this killer in your list of villains. This really matches the situation of having Friday the 13th and Valentine’s Day so close to each other, right? You might need to find a mine or a town near a mine to have that special feeling of having this killer though 😛

ChromeSkull (Laid to Rest): I first thought Michael Myers (Halloween) or Victor Crowley (Hatchet) would have been the right choices, but then replaced him with this one. A less known killer here, but he can still be a nice choice for your Halloween or Friday the 13th – even the name is so interesting, isn’t it? It is time this one gets his due as he has been ignored for too long. Moving around and murdering people, sending the video tapes of the murders to the authorities, ChromeSkull is one strange and lethal killer to bring the horror.

So, it is the Valentine’s Day that comes after Friday the 13th. It might sound strange to some people, but not for me, as I don’t find too much difference between the two. My Bloody Valentine is the movie which you can watch on both days. There will always be something common between romance and love – this closeness is the sign of that common thing being even more common this year. This should be a bloody valentine’s day indeed 😀 Even if you don’t need any of these people of the gore, there is always Hannibal 😉 ***The images used in this blog post are from the official Facebook pages of Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Happy Friday the 13th and Happy Valentine’s Day. May the combination work very well 😀 😀

TeNy

Movies Saving the Day

There are so many occasions when movies did save my day, and so you know there is another reason for falling in love with them. Movies are also a source of knowledge, and you don’t know when you can use them, especially when studying something like Literature or History for graduation and post-graduation. Movies are like superheroes – when they are not saving somebody else by moving away from your memories, you can always trust them to save you from different types of villainy; may the movies keep having their superpowers forever and ever 😀 Here are the list of those movies which saved my day:

Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994): I would consider this movie as something that changed my movie watching world, but other than that, this also served as the primary text for my thesis during my post graduation in English Language and Literature; the study called “Vampire as a Cultural Construct”. People have so many doubts about what to take for their MA thesis, and I knew I had to choose this – even as I had taken the book, the influence on the movie was more in my ideas and how I went on with the project. It is expected when a movie has cast like Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Antonio Banderas, Christian Slater and Kirsten Dunst.

Claudia the child vampire: the most haunting image of Interview with the Vampire

Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead (2008): The first ever quiz competition’s first round can keep one nervous, and even as I have continued to be nervous throughout, this horror slasher movie helped me to get past the preliminary stage. We all know the story of three bears, but I had not known the name of the girl in the fairy tale. In the movie, the serial killer phones and calls the potential victim who came into his abandoned house as Goldilocks because she is blonde. But to make her feel that he is not watching her, he tells her that the name was given as a comparison to the story Goldilocks and the three bears as she and her friends came into his house like that and rests there. Yes, slasher horror saves and Nicki Aycox is a beauty.

Ghost Rider (2007): Johny Blaze a.k.a. Ghost Rider is my Doctor Faustus, and yes, those things which I had felt while watching this movie could be used with my study of The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe. That’s right, my ideas about Faustus has derived from my earlier watching of this movie, which has helped me a lot in working something for those seminars and assignments, rightly combining this with that world and making the necessary changes. Well, a movie with the same Mephistopheles, and a gorgeous Eva Mendes as extra with soul being sold in a contract – you can’t stop yourself from drawing a parallel here, no matter it is of Renaissance Era or the Modern Age.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002): This is my favourite Harry Potter movie, and that is not where my appreciation for this movie ends. There was a question in one of those exams about who Mrs Norris is, in Harry Potter. Yes, she is the lovely pet cat of Argus Filch, the caretaker of Hogwarts, and I seemed to be the only person knowing it. Every question paper has the last few questions, which are not directly from the text books. But this was completely unrelated to anything that we had studied, and I could gladly answer this and pray for more out of syllabus questions – a prayer which is sure to make me enemies among the usual students. This was Harry Potter saving the day in Kerala.

The English Patient: One of the best movie adaptations ever, and proven by the Oscars

The English Patient (1996): Well, this is a secret, as I had told everyone that I was going to read this one, but I never really tried until I was an MA graduate. Yes, I read books which are in the syllabus after I complete the course – then it will not feel like a text book. Then how did I answer those questions for exams? The credit for the same goes to this movie with Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche and Kristin Scott Thomas. This was one awesome movie, and my addiction to it made me watch it again and again, getting me prepared for the exams rather than the book or the guide. I had those things I had found out about the movie and used them effectively for the exams, which I am sure, should have worked very nicely.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992): This is the first Dracula movie that I have ever watched and the second vampire movie after John Carpenter’s Vampires. Yes, it is a fact that is recorded in golden letters in my vampire admiration history, approved by my fellow vampire lovers. Even as I have known Dracula and his minions since childhood, this one surely made the difference, and every time some Gothic stuff needs clarification, this is the memory that flashes into my mind. Yes, this one has saved my world on multiple occasions, even as I have now watched too many Dracula and vampire movies and so many of such books to need this one for reference.

*Keep calm and let movies save the day 😀 All the images used in this blog post are from the Official Facebook Pages of these movies.

TeNy

That Strange World Cup

Another Cricket World Cup comes to the fans, and the Indian team is going to Australia with that ridiculous and selfish motto “We won’t give it back!” as if it has been made the private property of BCCI after stealing it from someone else. This is the season of those fake patriots and new age nationalists who are going to temporarily love their country until this tournament is over. This is also the season of the abusers who are waiting to abuse the players from other countries and some of them might have even got a whole book of abuse ready for the process. Not having a look here means no patriotism and so I will have a look at the chances here.

1. Australia: The bigger one among the hosts missed out on making a four out of four because the last World Cup was held in the sub continent. This competition at their place makes things so easy for them, as we have seen how well they did in the last tournament involving three teams in total. They have fine batting power, deadly bowling and the strength of some of the best all-rounders. When you look at the Australian team, you can say that this is an excellent group of players, something that you never expected when players like Gilchrist, Hayden and Ponting were gone. They might also be having a strong emotional side this time due to the comrade that they lost. Steven Smith will be the key, and even when he is not, there will be someone else on fire – if one man won’t score a century, another one will.

2. India: With an amazing partnership from Dhoni and Srinivasan alienating most of the educated Indian cricket fans, the team still have so much firepower with the batting even as flat-track bullies in the team cannot be trusted. But the batting should click heavily at some point. By avoiding the services of Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh, the experience factor disappeared and so did a lot of fans. Another big mistake was committed by not including Robin Uthappa and Varun Aaron. But still with BCCI controlling most the ICC and as most of the cricket fans are in India, some special treatment should be given to the Indian team or team BCCI. If you look at the points table, India can easily finish second in their group and Sri Lanka third in theirs, thus making sure that India won’t have to defeat a good non-Asian team till semi-finals – that is a relatively easy path.

3. South Africa: With the official chokers tag, they have somehow managed to loss all the matches which they should have won. With always having a nice team, they have never been to the final and it is a shame. But, things can change this time. AB de Villiers will be a big problem for the opposition and the key player along with Hashim Amla, as the rest of the teams will have to wait an eternity to have both of these players out of form. But it is also a batting line-up that can go deeper, and then there is Dale Steyn and team that can boast of being one of the best bowling line-ups of this World Cup. This might be their time – they should be ready. They can only be given the third best chance due to their history and reputation.

4. New Zealand: Here is another team which has played too many semi-finals, but the engine stops there. Well, even Kenya has been to the semi-finals of a World Cup. This time, they also come to the World Cup as co-hosts, and this is a situation which they should use to their best advantage. The neve-ending form of the young star Kane Williamson and the experienced Ross Taylor can bring fear into the minds of the opposition. Then, everyone also know what Brendon McCullum and Corey Anderson are capable of – total annihilation. With no shortage of the all-round skills and the bowling that can use the conditions well, the black caps should consider this their best chance ever.

5. Sri Lanka: For Sri Lanka, the young captain and the nice finisher Angelo Mathews will be the key along with the experienced Sangakkara-Jayawardane-Dilshan combination and the Malinga power. The middle order might be depending too much on Sangakkara and Jayawardane, but they should deliver enough. When there is the need, Thisira Perera should fire too. People are surely going to under-estimate this team, and it is going to be their strengths. They have been finalists for too many occasions, and it is time that they clinch a World Cup. I hope they make use of the opportunity this time – they have been one of my favourite teams.

6. England and Pakistan: Along with England, I was going to put West Indies here, and then I looked at that team, suddenly shifting to Pakistan. They also have a slight chance here, and for that Shahid Afridi has to play a big role along with the talented youngsters. It surely has a better chance than a remotely possible Gayle Storm. England can do well at these conditions as they have proved, but nothing much can be said. About United Arab Emirates, Ireland, Afghanistan, Scotland, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, I have no idea why they are playing other than to increase the total number of teams and to give runs to the major teams. But I hope these teams prove me wrong, especially Afghanistan, Zimbabwe and Ireland.

*The images used in this blog post are from the official Facebook Page of ICC Cricket World Cup 2015.

TeNy

A New School of Abuse

These days, we see people thriving on a school of abuse. May be they are striving for graduation and post-graduation on the same instead of doing something constructive. Whenever there is a chance for a debate, things turn to abuse and it is all about who can be the bigger foul-mouthed creature. May be they have the experience of winning so many battles with abuses. But does that win them the war of life? Have they won all the battles and still lost the big war? Do they even care? What has education provided these people with? An extreme case of nothingness?

It has been a few months since the Maria Sharapova abuse program was launched by Indians, lead by Keralites seemingly making an attempt to be champions at that high quality program which is going to win India medals in Olympics. They flourished through her Facebook Page hurling the worst kind of misogynistic and degrading comments, and after giving the worst possible abuse, all they have earned is a bloody elephant egg that never really existed. I had never thought that so many people in Facebook are so anti-female – but that helped me because I could remove a few idiots from my friends list in Facebook.

Maria Sharapova has the best fans, but the worst are at this part of the world.

That was their global problem. The abusers did go back to their local level after that incident. The question that Maria Sharapova asked was just one of their problems. Being active in local programs was always in their blood. There was always the need for controversies. Prithviraj Sukumaran hasn’t been giving much interviews, but once their found that his daughter’s name had the “Menon” in it, they came up with the caste based controversy. The big surprise is that it came from those people who won’t say no to reservation for their caste. They still need to go after a name and enter the abuse mode – this one was short-lived though.

Abuse at television and news paper pages happens to be another common thing. Without realizing that there is an unlike option on every page, these people wander around hoping to come up with an abuse here or there. Some of them come with extra fake accounts and the rest with their friends. They choose some random news and start the daily program. They have special love for entertainment news and after passing some rude comments at celebrities, they starts advice-oriented abuse. The moral policing and abuse combination begins here and spreads to celebrity pages.

There was the recent controversy about them teaching an actress how to wear clothes. Yes, there was teaching class available for free, but not without abuse which comes along with the same. At another time, they had problems with another actress becoming the news-maker of the year 2014. What they don’t understand is that this choice was made by people – those who were inspired by her performance in a motivating movie. She was far above the level of the movie, and it had inspired too many women, which was why people voted for her. So the abuse should go to the common people who voted right? Why don’t they try abusing everyone on the streets?

He was selected by Asianet as the youth icon of the year – eat it or leave it.

Then there were the blind fans becoming so sad that their favourite young actor who had so many flops in 2014 didn’t become the youth icon of the year. They were a developing category in the school of abuse and decided to protest against it in a foul-mouthed manner. Yes, they just did that and finished it as if it is a program conducted for some festival. The celebrity fans are the biggest abusers available. The problem with them is that they donate their brains to that celebrity when they should have instead given a kidney. If you abuse one celebrity for another one, you are showing your lack of brain which hurts the zombies who want to eat them.

Some people were after Suresh Gopi because of something he said. If he had mentioned that one community should strive for something doesn’t mean that the others shouldn’t. The only mistake he has done is by giving some help to the contestants coming for his reality show. Seriously, one has to wonder how many other celebrities are as philanthropic as he is. The other crowd favourites for abuse include Rimi Tomy and Ranjini Haridas. Sometimes, I am so surprised at the reasons that they find for abuse that, I doubt if I belong to this world. This world is slowly, but steadily going to the school of abuse. Being a cent percent literate state, Kerala is showing the rest of the country that literacy means so less when online.

Isn’t it a good thing to stop interfering in the lives of others and begin to respect their opinions; being nice to others? ***The images used in this blog post are from the official Facebook Pages of the celebrities.

TeNy

TVB: The Grand Award

Aditya Sinha (http://facetsofadienglish.blogspot.in) has nominated me for an award, the third of this kind – Thanks a lot for nominating me for ‘The Versatile Blogger Award’ (http://facetsofadienglish.blogspot.in/2015/02/the-versatile-blogger-award_6.html). This comes from a blogger who is a lot versatile himself. Do check and see the poem he has come up with, on the nomination; he has also made some nice points about blogging 🙂

Now as The Versatile Blogger Award rule says:

• Display the award on your blog
• Thank the person who nominated you
• Share 7 facts about yourself
• Nominate 15 blogs
• Link your nominee’s blogs and let them know

Seven Facts about me:

1. I have studied in total five schools.
2. I have always hated Mathematics.
3. Physics was my second biggest enemy at school.
4. I feared Chemistry, but it did me no wrong in the end.
5. I have been on a flight which caught fire.
6. Every morning, I hope to get a Flipkart voucher 😀
7. I feel the need for Yorkshire Tea today 😀

The Fifteen  Nominations:

Ulkar (http://moviemovesme.com)
Jackson (http://moviemanjackson.wordpress.com)
Josna (http://josna.wordpress.com)
Samjoth (https://samjothsashidharan.wordpress.com)
Razia (http://noorsrecipes.com/2015/01/03/mooli-paratha)
Heila (http://heilablog.com)
Aneesh (http://gangsofedathua.wordpress.com)
Nishant (http://www.cheontheroad.com)
Fenil (http://www.fenilandbollywood.com)
Himanshu (https://ourindia.wordpress.com)
Ratnakar (https://historyunderyourfeet.wordpress.com)
Rohit (http://www.rohitontheroad.blogspot.in)
Sujata (http://sujatasharmas.blogspot.com)
Reji (http://www.digitaldimensions4u.com)
Ajay (http://ajthedad.blogspot.in)

Thanks and Congratulations…

Where Jupiter Can Go

Jupiter Ascending is the latest addition to the long list of science fiction movies in space as it follows the path of Guardians of the Galaxy. It is clear that the critics are biased on this one if we compare the ratings given to this one and a number of similar movies. May be they completely failed to get the point. Unfortunately, the 18+ rating mostly slams the door for it here too, when it could have been a big thing here otherwise with nobody knowing or caring about The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water.

They should have thought more about it – this might be one of the biggest mistakes that they have made with a movie which has kept the fans waiting for so long. They should have known the kind of audience to target – those who go for Captain America, Spider-Man, Iron Man, , Hulk, Thor, Superman and such audience. It might be a box-office flop because of the prejudice and the failure of people to catch on to ideas, but there are a few paths which this movie can follow with the story for a sequel.

1. The war between the successors: We are left with members of alien royalty not really able to stand each other as they hope for more conquests. Along with battling for the same worlds, there can also be war for acquiring those planets far away in other galaxies, and with our heroine basically against the idea of harvest, sparks should fly with this one, and the visuals should get the best boost. The action sequences can also be nicely packed with the visuals here. Mila Kunis will have a bigger and a stronger role to play in this one as the Queen of Earth and the rest of her share.

2. The defence against other royalty: Another possibility is the war against a better equipped alien race which can claim for the divided thrones, and in this case, even with hatred against each other, the members of the royal house can unite, but not without leaving chances for some treachery. The common enemy can be ruthless, but the differences remain, testing one’s allegience. Our hero would have a bigger role to play in this one, making those decisions which are beyond the direct control of royalty. There will be huge and better designed space ships, aliens and gadgets with a nice race of royalty entering the action.

3. The return of the master villain [spoilers here]: We know what happened by the end of the movie, and you better don’t read this paragraph if you don’t want to know before watching the flick. But otherwise, there was the supposed end of the biggest antagonist and the owner of Earth who hoped to harvest the planet for the serum that would give him eternal youth. Well, we can’t be sure that he was dead there, and in a movie like this, there is very low chance of people remaining dead. Ask Groot of Guardians of the Galaxy. Even Interstellar had our protagonist not dying even after going through the black hole. Megatron of the Transformers franchise know the best about how to keep coming alive. So, we can have him better here.

4. A background story of royalty: This one can go on without having to go forward with the tale. A prequel telling the original story of the royalty can do this movie a lot good as long as the plot is solid. Mila Kunis can keep her role, this time as the mother, and this origin of the harvest in Earth can have a better and clear explanation. Everybody needs an origin story, and what we have here only works as an origin tale for Jupiter Jones. A lot more goes back in the past, and that can be nicely explored to give this movie more power. It will also be a work of immense beauty on the screen.

Jupiter Ascending could have had better business here with another certificate and more shows. Its sequel or prequel should do better than this one for sure. This was kind of a perfect week for its release considering the fact that there are no big challenges for its genre this time, and most of the theatres choosing The Boy Next Door instead of this is a big shame. People only need movies which brings things too direct like Guardians of the Galaxy or be the pseudo-intellectual like Interstellar, I guess. But if you haven’t watched the visuals of Jupiter Ascending in 3D, you have seen nothing. Check for my review on the same: (https://moviesofthesoul.wordpress.com/2015/02/06/jupiter-ascending)

***All the images used in this blog post are from the official Facebook Page of the movie.

TeNy