Kings and Queens of Grass

The break between the two Grandslams is over, and it is Wimbledon time now. You see the same on Star Sports from the evening onwards. As it started on the 29th, the one big event which happened on the first day is the exit of Lleyton Hewitt. He made his Wimbledon retreat with what would be his last defeat there, as it was the final appearance of him at the stage. He was twenty one years old when he last one a Grand Slam and when he won his only Wimbledon, and now he is thirty four, the age which Roger Federer will reach in a month and a week.

He exits after a big fight against Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen with the score of 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-0, 11-9 giving one last marathon on grass. He was one of those very few names which I knew at a time when I was not that much of a follower of tennis, and we will miss him despite the man not making it to the final stages for quite some time. The rest of the draw remains open, and it won’t be easy to predict this time too with the finalists, but Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams remain the favourites. About the Women’s division, it is a Serena domination all the way with a lesser chance for Maria Sharapova, but Men’s side go deeper!

Novak Djokovic: The man in form, the world number one, and the defending champion – anyone will find it easy to bet on Djokovic. He is four thousand points clear for the World Number 2 Roger Federer and six thousand points away from the World Number 3 Andy Murray. He has got more than double the points compared to the rest of the tennis world lead by Stanislas Wawrinka who had beaten him in French Open. Well, the loss at Paris will only make the Djoker stronger, and this is also a surface on which he is better. He also defeated the King of Clay at his own surface and it is a big positive defeating both Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray and losing only to the man who defeated Roger Federer, that too after finishing a marathon five-setter on the previous day.

There is always the Djoker looking for his opportunity to do even better.

Roger Federer: Even with Novak Djokovic doing nice with his time at the top and is sure to move to number five in the total number of weeks at the top as well as the total number of consecutive weeks as number one, Roger Federer is the one at the all-time top, and has no challenge to those records for quite a long time. He still remains the big name, and at Wimbledon where he was the last year’s finalist and having his favourite surface as grass, he is a powerful force too. He almost made it in the five-setter at the same place last year, and after winning Halle for the eighth time, the confidence level will be higher. If someone is to win Wimbledon when almost thirty four, it has to be him. He will still have to go through the winner of Murray-Nadal match and then face Djoker/Stan in the final.

Stanislas Wawrinka: The chances of this man increased considerably after the French Open victory, which was nothing less than unexpected. Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic were the favourites followed by Roger Federer and Andy Murray along with a few French men who were supposed to do good, but this man from Switzerland was never in most of those lists. But he has changed things around, and now, he is all prepared to get one step closer to that Career Slam because French Open was always the toughest title to win, and had the habit of eluding too many fine players. He is going to find this one a nice opportunity, and with that powerful backhand, may be he might overcome Djokovic again as the two collide in the semi-finals if things go as predicted.

Wawrinka will be at the highest level of confidence after the French Open win.

Andy Murray: The crowd favourite goes into the tournament with another grass win as he went to French Open with those clay wins. This time, things are sure to be more difficult as he has to defeat Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic to win the title if things go as expected. Stanislas Wawrinka in the final will also be brutal with Stan never losing a Grand Slam final and being at top form. Having a Karlovic ace challenge at Wimbledon just before the quarter finals can tire him too. He needs to get back to being one of the Big Four, and he is surely trailing. He has had two Grand Slam titles, and has been runner-up six times, each and every time facing Roger Federer or Novak Djokovic. He needs to get back and become part of that Fantastic Four, and Wimbledon is his right opportunity despite the final parts of the draw.

Rafael Nadal: The King of Clay faces the same problem as his nemesis for the quarter finals, as he has Andy Murray, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic for the last three matches of the tournament, and Stanislas Wawrinka in the final will also be no smaller challenge. It is a free run for him until the quarters though, and it is the one thing which can boost his confidence despite going down to the two digits in ranking after a long time and can easily go further down with not many big titles in his pocket. He is not defending much from the last year, and so he should use this opportunity to get to a better rating so that he will have a better quarter finals for the next Grand Slam, and a Nadal without injuries does have a chance even in this tournament.

***The images used in this blog post are from the Official Facebook Pages of the tennis players.

TeNy

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Celebrating Inspiration V3.0

I have blogged much more this year, and about seventy percent of the posts on this blog were written and posted this year, that too with half an year still to go. In the 179 days which have passed so far, I have did more than 180 posts. I have only recently got to 250 posts, and a lot of it has come in the last six months or so. From December 10 last year, I had decided to speed up things, and I have made sure that there is no day without a blog post or two.

I was tired with all these by April. March had something special for me with winning the BlogAdda contest “The World Remade” for the India Today Conclave at Delhi. March twelfth, my birthday was spent in three cities, Cochin, Mumbai and Delhi, and the month was a great one. But it came back down in April, and things came down further with nothing happening with my life expect for eating and sleeping. The energy for blogging was slowly disappearing.

The credit for bringing the inspiration back goes to Archana, who blogs at Drishti: The Gaze with her husband Desh, and has provided some of the most interesting ideas on a wide variety of topics. I haven’t seen a better blog with a husband and wife writing together, ever. There is a lot to learn from the blog, and the way in which it goes on with its ideas inspiring and spreading knowledge is worth the applause. She has been on my IB list of bloggers for more time, but we have been friends on Facebook from April.

A lot of people whom I know are not aware of how much I blog and there are people around me who think it is a waste of time. Well, sometimes I think that it is very clear for them that I am wasting my time not just in life, but also with the blogs, as someone has brought to my attention during my recent visit to my ancestral home. The advice is always to stop doing the blogging and do anything else. So, the need for inspiration only increases day by day. It is where Archana has been helpful in the last few months.

What Archana and Desh have been writing about at their blog has been very much thought-provoking, and when it is not doing that job, it is inspiring the other bloggers to write more and more. I have been going a little bit lazy about blogging for some time, especially because at one point, I had extra articles left in my computer to post for the next one week or two. Every time when I seem to go towards the end of my collection, I think about not writing, but Drishti and its frequency of posting has been a big inspiration.

Archana has been among the most frequently commenting bloggers on this blog, and in the last two months only, she has become the one with the third most highest comments on my posts. She is also the only person whose blog is not hosted on WordPress to comment with this high frequency. She has also been always there being among the first people to promote my blog in more than one platform. Now, it is some fine support which does motivate a lot to blog more.

She has also been there to clear those blogging doubts. She was also the one to introduce me to Blogmint, and she has told me that it will be very useful to me in my long blogging run. My favourite post from her is a Haiku, titled Beauty and the Beast, and her Haiku and Short Story Collection has been inspiring me to keep writing. The whole vampire team has acknowledged the same. I have also been inspired by the travel related posts from Desh on the Breath-taking Natural Wonders despite traveling so less these days – I rarely see such clarity on blogs 🙂

I’m blogging for #YouMakeMeWIN to honour a blogger who has influenced me and deserves to be nominated at WIN15.

***The image used in this blog post is also taken from the WIN15 activity from BlogAdda. #YouMakeMeWIN

TeNy

ICH: Our True Lifeline

Whenever we have travelled around Kerala in a car or on a two-wheeler, there was always the need for a place to have tea at regular intervals, and there was surely the need to have food. We couldn’t have food from here and there, because nobody can say for sure how good it is, especially by the quality. You might see the best looking restaurants, but there no guarantee about the quality, especially when wandering through those areas were there are no friends to recommend the best places.

The oldest memory that I ever had of a restaurant which still exists, goes back to the Indian Coffee House, even though that branch at Perumbavoor no longer exists, with another branch opening about eight kilometres from there instead. At that time, I used to say that I wanted to visit an Indian Coffee House, and any of those branches would do, because they were all the same, and there was quality. I had already visited every branch in Ernakulam district long before I was a teenager.

Indian Coffee House is spread all over Kerala, as it has the largest number of branches in the state. It has evolved into being the best choice of the Malayalis all around. It is fully owned by the employees of the restaurant chain as a co-operative society, with a committee elected for management. The biggest encouragement for starting this chain of restaurant goes to the popular communist leader of Kerala, A.K. Gopalan who was a leading social activist in the state. You can see his portrait at every branch of ICH.

With its fifty year anniversary celebrated in 2008, this group of restaurants having its headquarters at Thrissur has its most number of branches there itself, along with the same number at the capital city of Trivandrum. Considering the branches from Thrissur to Trivandrum, they have the same price everywhere. The northern version of Indian Coffee House from Palakkad to Kasargode is kind of different, even with the structure remaining the same. You can notice the difference on the logo itself.

Even though the Indian Coffee House from Central Kerala to the South which covers eight of the fourteen districts has been more of the thing of concern for me, I have found the quality very good in both cases, as I have tried both. The Thrissur based ICH does have the Poori Masala factor available at all times, which was replaced by Idli, and that too only in the morning for the Northern based ICH. The choices were less in the latter case. For the former though, most of the things shown on the menu are available throughout the day.

Lets get back to the Thrissur based ICH completely which deals with the Travancore-Cochin area, and you can actually check the rates from their website itself. After it opened a branch at Aluva, it had become our regular place to have some tea. I was highly disappointed when the branch at Muvattupuzha was closed, and it is quite an addition to the earlier shock given by the closing of their restaurant at Perumbavoor. Well, now Perumbavoor surely needs one, but not at that earlier location which is too crowded.

I would say that the best branch opened is at the Angamaly Bus Station, which is a very nice choice of location, as the town now got three of them. I have the opinion that each and every bus station, railway station, theatre and mall should have one Indian Coffee House near enough. Also imagine having one near those pilgrim centres. They have the best people serving food in their trademark clothing, and having the fine quality food. With the low costs and tasting nice and exactly the same in each branch, ICH always scores.

***The images used in this blog post were taken during some of my visits to ICH.

With love for the ICH tea
TeNy

All About the Food

I haven’t been too interested in food these days, as the taste has bothered me less; but still I have my favourite places for every food item, both the vegetarian and the non-vegetarian, as well as the drinks. This list is based on the restaurants around Aluva and Perumbavoor, on the north eastern side of the city of Cochin, and are part of the Greater Cochin Area or the extended Kochi Metropolitan Area, within fifty kilometres from the centre of the city, and not more than an hour and half journey from the city unless there is the worst traffic problem.

Masala Dosa is the best at Anna Gowri Restaurant, Aluva – I have found the right combination of both the masala and dosa with the quantity being exact, rather than having too much masala or just those huge potatoes which make it only a potato dosa. But if you want some special varities of the same, you might want to try the Saravana Bhavan at Perumbavoor which has Paneer Masala Dosa and a good number of special ones available after twelve PM, and the menu changes every day. The Idli there is nice too.

Navya Bakers brings the need to travel to Aluva and watch movie there.

For the Ghee Dosa, the Dosa Corner at Perumbavoor is a very nice choice, followed by the Annapoorna Restaurant at the same place. For Vegetable Biriyani, I have always tried the Kammath’s Inn at Aluva, while for Poori Masala I have preferred the Shenoy’s Restaurant at theh same town. For all kinds of Oothappam, whether it is of onion or tomato, I have always preferred Anna Lakshmi restaurant at Aluva, located at Desom to be exact – it was my best find during my times at the Union Christian College.

The best Biriyani Rice or Ghee Rice and the best Beef Biriyani is from Orma Restaurant, Perumbavoor, followed by the Honeywell Restaurant at the same town. The favourite in the case of Chicken Biriyani goes back to Aluva, at the Grand Restaurant while the best for all kinds of beef curry, especially Chill Beef goes to the Surya Restaurant at Aluva. The best curries of chicken was from Taal, a restaurant at Aluva which no longer exists, much to my disappointment.

The best tea is from Indian Coffee House, and as far as I know, they have the best coffee too. They are also the best when it comes to the cutlets, and they are close to the railway station and the bus stand at Aluva, which makes them an easy place to visit. Then there is the hope to have shake, and it should be the Navya Bakers at Aluva which can also boast about having the best Vegetable, Meat, Egg and Chicken Puffs – and they are like my all-time favourite bakery along with Ceecee which has its existence at Perumbavoor, followed by Kumars.

Ceecee Bakery has had a long “cutlet” relationship with my childhood.

From Aryaas at Aluva and Perumbavoor, there is also that nice combination of Fried Rice and Paneer Butter Masala. The new restaurants just keep coming, especially at Aluva, where there are so many more than those which had seen a few months ago. It just adds to the confusion about where to eat from, and even having tea has become more the confusion. We have often stood on the side of the road worried, as there were just too many options to choose from.

The doubts about food; we can never really move out of it. Indian Coffee House has been one entity – that chain of awesome restaurants which solved that problem up-to an extent. But the chain no longer works in Perumbavoor and Muvattupuzha which has left a big void on the MC Road, as it never existed at the next towns Koothattukulam, Kuravilangad and Ettumanoor either. Let’s hope that we can make a good list about the restaurants which are around the major towns. Who knows when we need to have that tea and some food? 😀

TeNy

Gone in Three or Four Days

This post is exactly on what the title seems to talk about. There are these movies which were removed from the theatres too early. Except for London Bridge which had an extended run due to star power even if not too much, the rest had almost no stay at the local theatres. This is based on the theatres near my place, and if it had a better run at your area, you can take them off your own list. Some movies deserved better fate, and these might be a few of them. It doesn’t matter what we watched and what we liked, because movies don’t deserve to be removed in less than week. Well, those which might come close to be deserving to be removed, run for months and collect one hundred crores or more!

Ozhimuri (2012) :: An actor who has been frequently seen in supporting roles, Madhupal might be the most talented director of our times, as he has only directed two critically acclaimed movies, Thalappavu and this one – the former was amazingly good, and I wanted to watch this one for the same reason. But when I went to the theatre after the weekend, it was gone! Seriously nowhere to be found and gone in three days? A movie which had so much of critical acclaim and all these awards replaced by something like Raaz 3 without the 3D? We also missed Lal’s best performance due to the same.

Arike (2012) :: When it is a movie directed by the veteran Shyamaprasad and having Dileep as the major actor, you expect this movie to stay, but unfortunately it didn’t. The movie was replaced too quickly, and it had to make people ask that question – if this can happen to movies with artists of such fame, what can happen to other good movies without such big names? Well, this is a question on which people can ponder about, but the answer is a long way from where the Malayalam movie industry or any movie world in India is standing right now.

Karmayogi (2012) :: This movie is an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet – do we need more reasons to know why it needed to stay in the theatres? Gone in three days and giving us no opportunity to see another Shakespeare adaptation, the one thing which I have to say is that, if this is a Shakesperean adaptation, it needed to stay, at least for us literature students to watch. If it had stayed, we could have convinced the rest of the people in the department to watch it, but the trend is rather to remove the movie because of the name “Shakespeare” – it is rather shameful.

Makaramanju (2011) :: An year later, I would never even know if Akasathinte Niram (2012) ever came to the theatres. But Makaramanju which dealt with the life of the famous painter Raja Ravi Varma’s life had also gone without staying there for long enough. I am not sure if it actually released here at the same time as the release date, but Karthika Nair’s Malayalam debut didn’t go that well, even though I am still looking forward to watching this one and Akasathinte Niram one day.

London Bridge (2014) :: This one was somewhat saved and seemed to end up with average business in the end, only due to that level at which Prithviraj Sukumaran was staying at that time – with his movies Celluloid, Ayalum Njanum Thammil, Mumbai Police and Memories – there was that belief that the new and stronger Prithviraj can’t go wrong. I loved the movie, but it seems that the general audience didn’t do that much. But it deserved to be watched, and could have done even better at the box-office. My review on the same is here: https://moviesofthesoul.wordpress.com/2014/02/03/london-bridge/

Reason for coming up with this post: Lukka Chuppi (2015) :: The reason for writing this post itself is the Jayasurya-Murali Gopy starrer Lukka Chuppi which disappeared from the theatre when I went to watch it. I had decided not to watch it on the first day first show and went for Nirnaayakam instead because the themes seemed to be related to drinking and lost love. But it turned out to be a missed opportunity for me – may be we need to watch and support these lesser known movies earlier. Also add Appavum Veenjum to the list.

***The images used in this blog post are from the Official Facebook Pages of Ozhimuri and London Bridge.

TeNy

Kerala District 007: Ernakulam

You know which district comes to the mind when you see KL-7 on the number plates of a vehicle. The district can’t be determined by the plates any more, but the number seven remains. Ernakulam was the first cent percent literate district in India and has two universities, Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit and Cochin University of Science and Technology. It also has a high number of education institutions and rightly claims to be the commercial capital of Kerala. It is also known for its beaches and also has a good number of religious places of high significance. Lets just check six of the tourist destinations in the district right now.

Paniyeli Poru
It might be the closest big destination having so much greenery as far as the people visiting the City of Cochin are concerned. With the closest town being Perumbavoor at the tip of the Greater Cochin area, this is exactly the place you might want to go away from the city, but still connected to it. There is one low-floor KSRTC bus from Perumbavoor to this place of great natural beauty. There are big trees all around, and you can walk on the sides of the river Periyar, through the streams and on the rocks as you enjoy the beauty that surrounds you. The water here is dangerous though, and care is needed in case of getting in, and rocks can be slippery. It is around fifty five kilometres from the City of Cochin, thirteen kilometres from the nearby town of Perumbavoor, and twenty four kilometres from Cochin International Airport.

Kodanad
You should know this name. Most of the people I know, including the foreigners know, and so if you don’t know it yet, do realize that this place has been a big name in the list of tourist attractions when I was a kid. Located just eight kilometres from the nearest town of Perumbavoor, this is actually on the way to Paniyeli Poru and can ne joined to make a nice combined trip. There is a park there, and the Elephant training center is very famous. Even though it interests the locals less these days as it has been there for a very long time inspiring too many visits, this is a much loved place by the people coming from far away. You can also check Abhayaranyam Mini Zoo at Kaprikkad which keeps the other animals; it is not too far away from there.

Ezhaattumugham
A beautiful place which lies around the borders of the Ernakulam district, Ezhaattumugham is a peaceful place to spend some time with nature. It has so many similarities with Paniyeli Poru, and if you are going to visit the Athirappally Waterfalls, you might want to join this place and do a combined visit. The tourists are rather lesser in number and visits during different seasons give different feelings. Located just about ten kilometres from Angamaly, the nearest big town with railway station, and thirteen kilometres from Chalakudy, this place is also just around fifteen kilometres from the Cochin International Airport. When arriving from the Cochin city, it is fifty four kilometres, and most of the journey is through the National Highway.

Bhoothathankettu
There is some special love for this place, as I love the name right here – bhootham means ghost, and the supernatural name had me interested in the place; there is also some myth concerning the spirits related to the location. Located just around ten kilometres from the nearest town of Kothamangalam and sixty four kilometres from the City of Cochin, it is forty two kilometres from the Airport. Originally known for the dam and reservior along with a small park and closeness to nature, the place has developed into a bigger tourist desination having tree houses, boat rides, shops, restaurants and other facilities for the tourists; it is still going through the development process. Also do add Thattekkad Bird Sanctuary to this visit or to the one mentioned below.

Urulanthanni
No matter where or how you search for information, Urulanthanni is not a place which you can find with ease; not on the internet or not while talking with those people whom you usually meet. It is because Urulanthanni is far away from most of those places where you visit for a relief from the normal city routine. It is also because it is not that much explored by people of modernity. Urulanthanni remains a name which is not usually talked about among the travellers, but it is a place which deserves to. This is a journey right into nature. Read details at: https://theteacerebration.wordpress.com/2015/05/21/not-the-obvious

Fort Cochin
This one should be rather very well known. A journey to Fort Cochin shouldn’t be limited to one place. It should consist of four places – Fort Cochin, Mattanchery, Thoppumpady and Kumbalanghi, the last one being a tourist village and an island with so much of natural beauty – I certify the same. The second last one is on the way to Fort Cochin, and Saint Sebastian’s Church there, a heritage building and a famous religious structure, is worth your time, and you can also have a nice view of the lake from the back side of the building. The other two are rather the big names. Read details at: https://theteacerebration.wordpress.com/2015/01/17/never-say-no/

TeNy

Quote Challenge Special: Carroll

“Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
― Alice in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll)

I don’t have the book with me anymore, and I loved the 2010 movie having the same name with Mia Wasikowska as Alice Kingsley. Lets first look at those impossible things which she talks about in the movie. “I try to believe in as many as six impossible things before breakfast. Count them, Alice. One, there are drinks that make you shrink. Two, there are foods that make you grow. Three, animals can talk. Four, cats can disappear. Five, there is a place called Underland. Six, I can slay the Jabberwocky.” Lets ask each member of the Vampire Team about one impossible thing for humans these days.

Vampire Owl: It is love. It is almost non-existent. What you see nowadays is a lie. People act so much that some strange feelings and dramatic performances are often misjudged as the result of love, but they are not. There is infatuation in romance and the random creation of love and care which leads to no good. This is the same reason why people don’t like fairy-tales these days. It is just not possible, and some people are really working hard to make sure that there is no effort. Love as an impossible things will be instant success if you share on social media.

Vampire Bat: It is equality. It is more impossible than many other things combined. When was the last time you saw equality? Other than when Lady Death came to take the souls, when was the time? The equality in death is not transferred to life. What is it about life that death doesn’t have? It has the same beauty in the form of after-life. Life is full of inequalities, of wealth and of opportunities. No matter how hard you try, some opportunities will always be reserved, and this denial of opportunity is a human rights violation which happens only life and not with death.

Vampire Crocodile: It is forgiveness. It has never been an easy thing to do, if you look deep into the pages of history. People are only losing any remains of that skill further these days, because they are not taught to forgive, but to have that revenge which becomes their sweet little thing. Actually they watch too many revenge movies like Kill Bill and Django Unchained and have rather so much of addiction. People are even worried about having revenge for even the simplest of incidents, and one has to wonder how much humanity has learned after so many years of existence.

Vampire Alligator: It is tolerance. The situation is only getting worse. People just don’t like the other, the one who is not him or her. Intolerance is a Jabberwocky which cannot be slain, and so it is a permanent Mission Impossible. There are too many things happening around the world, and people always find a new reason to kill the other. It is religion at times, and even in the absence of the same, they find many other. These days, the lack of religion is even more intolerant. People just can’t stand the customs and traditions of others and their set of beliefs which they are following without troubling anybody else.

Vampire Penguin: It is appreciation. With those Seven Deadly Sins taking over humanity, how can there be appreciation? When there is too much avarice and vanity, how can the achievements of others be appreicaited? It is all about being better than others, isn’t it? Then how can we appreciate others because it is all about showing that you are better than others in front of the people you know? Too much ambition is fed to the children by the parents, and this is what should be expected as they grow up. At least everyone is moving together towards the same grave? Can’t at least that truth be accepted?

Vampire Panda: It is freedom. We long for it and we keep preaching the same, but we never strive hard enough to attain it. Instead, we are happy with the shadow of the same and being bound with the chains which have followed us. Some of those chains follow us, and the rest are provided to us by the society. It is not about what you want to be, but what society makes you. There is the need for civilization and education, but if they don’t make you a better person whom understands the significance for freedom and a number of other things, what is it?

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

This is a special extension of the three day quote challenge for which I was nominated by Kiran, and also dedicated to the challenges by my other friends who tagged me, Simran, Moon, Somali and Sreesha (at FB). I also declare that I shall not do any more quote challenges until further notice, because I am already surrounded by too many quotes 😀

TeNy

Quote Challenge Extra: Orwell

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”
― Animal Farm (George Orwell)

Even though I loved the vampire fiction, my initial feeling was fear for them. But things had to change. But I then realized that they were better, as never do they discriminate in their lives. It is more of a result of the later knowledge that I will never be considered equal to others, and I can never demand that status from people around me. I was always the person who scored more for the wrong subjects, and I was never as good as others in acting the love and care. Acting was not my department, because it never really came to me naturally.

I was never to have the same status again, because I never studied any science after I got rid of the shadow of the forced courses over me. I would never be considered as good enough because I didn’t study science. With so many engineers and doctors around, how can I be of any good in this society? Then I thought that may be getting a job will be my key to getting closer to equality. It could make some relatives consider me to be of any good. For them, Bachelor of Arts go far below everything, with commerce also coming a long way above it.

My favourite demon; even he doesn’t discriminate in taking souls.

Then I thought that I will apply for Phd after MA. I saw the reservations list and realized that the only way I can study in any university from the General category is by death and later becoming a ghost. I am not denying that people do get admissions from every category, but people deserve more chances as humans and not due to belonging to a caste. Even the questions are like helping people who want to learn things byheart. I want to earn knowledge and not study things byheart. I want to know and not to memorize.

Death was pretty much a fine solution, but I did wonder if souls are allowed in such classes because they won’t be considered equal too. I have met so many people who have got admission for Phd and still struggles to write one full essay. Such people get admission to Phd and despite scoring a long way above and despite being the one to help all these people with grammar and spelling, I will get nowhere near. You get prepared for a Phd and for that you need to take a memory test through which people who can’t write an essay gets in.

Souls are taken without any reservation; all are devoured in the right order.

May be I should burn my books. There is no point in all these. When you go to write to English NET exams, you see an objective question paper which make sure that people who don’t know English grammar become the “qualified”. The rich Reserved gets in and the poor General category tries again and again. Things in life gets repeated, and I was again told that I am not equal. All Indians are my brothers and sisters, but I am not close to being equal to a good number of them. Well, it could be because I am useless and I should apply for equality after death.

“When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it”. Seriously? Paulo Coelho, you should be from another world. The only thing that the universe has already decided is to mess up people’s lives. May be it is how things work at Brazil, but calling a nation a universe is rather extreme a step, isn’t it? The universe here already got the reservations ready and will provide even more for vote banks. Yes, we have the equality in death, and is it the end that we should conspire to achieve?

PSC does the same thing, and it is like a struggle till death. This is that kind of a world where if you want to study, you are not allowed. Everything is bloody reserved. I am still glad that Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code is repealed. There is always the last chance. There is provision for suicide, and even a mental institution is a lot better than being in a world in which there is no equality. Why would someone read and study so much for absolutely no result when ending everything is so easy? How can someone blame the British before the independence while treating one’s own people without equality? Why should there be legal discrimination based on one’s religion, community or caste?

***All images used in this blog post are from the official Facebook page of Diablo game.

This is a special extension of the three day quote challenge for which I was nominated by Kiran, at https://drkiranacharya.wordpress.com/2015/06/19/day-three-quote-challenge.

TeNy

Quote Challenge 3: Stoker

“It is the fault of our science that it wants to explain all; and if it explain not, then it says there is nothing to explain.”
― Dracula (Bram Stoker)

I have my classic vampire love shared between three major vampire texts, which are among the first few of its kind. John William Polidori’s The Vampyre, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla and Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The last one was the first one I read as expected, and remains the best known vampire novel of all time, giving Count Dracula that cult status that others didn’t manage to achieve. I read the first copy of Dracula in Malayalam, and it was another reason why it felt good for me when I was a child.

You won’t get the other two works in most of the other languages here, and nobody can identify a vampire better than Count Dracula. How many people know Lord Ruthven or Countess Mircalla? Well, among the people I know from here, none so far. Yes, everybody knows Dracula. Even someone who has no literacy knows Dracula. Yes, they might have different version of him for knowing in detail, but they know him anyway. So, Dracula being such a big name, it only becomes a need for me to remember a few of the quotes from the work featuring the legendary vampire.

Christopher Lee playing the Count (photo from wiki)

Coming back to the quote, where does the fault lie? What all does science want to explain these days? There is the case of logical thinking. It has lead to people asking me too many “why”s. When I wanted to take Humanities group for Plus Two, they were like who studies history and why? I gave up to that question at that time because I thought that they knew better. This idea about science being better than everything else was injected into me like a virus; I was brainwashed and I was ready to fall into that bottomless pit which had absolutely nothing for me.

When I wanted to study literature, they were like, why read so many books of fiction? I had fallen into that trap too many times, and this time, I just didn’t tell them when I joined the course. It was my escape from that question about someone doing what he or she loved the most. Nowadays, I often wonder why that question exists, as another case of using “why”. The scientific answer to life after tenth was the Science Group and the Engineering degree. They needed explanations for me studying what I liked – how logical.

Bran Castle, commonly known as the Dracula Castle (photo from wiki)

Science asks for proof for too many things, for the existence of God, spirits, soul and may be even for Simona the Kitty being a cool cat. Among all these, the last one might be the more difficult one as I have to prove it all by myself. These are the days when people are judged by their skills to boast and ride on their vanity than their goodness – now that is logical, isn’t it? Emotions are less significant, as logic is all that matters. There are things that need logic, but that doesn’t apply to everything.

Into the past, we wander into those times when taking a degree was the thing to do. With the modernity, came science and it took over the minds of the people who were so attached to materialism and they took the creativity straight out of the hearts of their children. They forced the poets, the novelists, the historians and many others to pursue science. They thought and taught their children that science will be the answer to all their problems. In the process, they never tried to see through the little eyes and took away the true skills of their children.

The procedure still continues as if there is no end. They think that there is nothing to do with the arts degree. I have heard from many people that intelligent people don’t go for arts and humanities or languages. I would like these people to join and make sure that the intelligence is shared with us. Why don’t these people just make a visit and provide us with a long lesson on our stupidity of not studying science? Well, I don’t think that they have anything new to say, because I have heard most of it in my life.

I have been nominated by Kiran, at https://drkiranacharya.wordpress.com/2015/06/19/day-three-quote-challenge, for the three day quote challenge. Thanks for the tag 🙂

Rules for the challenge:

• Post one of your favourite quotes (different quote on each day) on three days. The quote can be from your favourite book, author, or your own.
• Nominate three bloggers to challenge them.
• Thank the blogger, who nominated you.

For my day three, I nominate my blogger friends:

Harsha (https://allresourceupdates.wordpress.com)

Clementia (http://dclementia.blogspot.in)

Anita (http://icecandy16blog.wordpress.com)

And this ends the challenge.

TeNy

Quote Challenge 2: Tennyson

“We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”
― Ulysses (Lord Tennyson)

Alfred, Lord Tennyson – that name itself had a lot to do with my life. I was often asked about by name by my English teachers, and they have always loved my name while I was in school. I never really realized that it would mean that I could be doing a degree and also the post-graduation in English Language and Literature, but yes, even though late, I did realize what I was supposed to do. Even then the name helped; having the same name as the greatest poet of an era and the longest reigning Poet Laureate has its advantages.

To add to it, I do love his works, and my favourite among them is Ulysses which I studied more than once, and read so many times – then there is this quote “Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all”. Well, it is a nice quote, but among those which I want to talk about and wish to relate with life includes most of the lines in Ulysses rather than anything else. Among them, the one I have mentioned here has a lot more significance, at least for this period of my life.

The quote is about something that we all face, about not being good as we used to be. I have always thought about the same. I am sure that as of now, I am able to write better and with more variety than I used to, just an year ago. I am able to write about things that I never thought I would write about. Two years ago, when I began my other blog with the pen name, The Vampire Bat, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. Why The Vampire Bat? I had no idea. But then things got better. I never knew I could bring anything new to my writing style.

But there are things with which I am not getting any better. They include most of the things which are not related to writing. I know that I won’t have the stamina to play more than one singles game in Badminton if I give it a try after such a long time. I know that I might not be able to bowl two consecutive deliveries without sending one for a wide. I also know that I might not have the energy to withstand one single football game any more. I am not that good, and I am not of that strength as I was when I was doing by degree.

I know that I don’t understand things that well as I used to, and I feel that I won’t be able to memorize things that well. I keep having that feeling that I have done with reading, studying and all; and even when writing about a movie, I feel that I might not be able to do justice. When I understand that almost everyone that I know from my college got a job and a good number of them are married, I do feel that I am trailing, and when I get to do one of these things, I won’t be as good as they are now, because I will be tired and older.

I am always reminded of the same, by one person or the other, being the oldest person without a job, and about the rating in the marriage-alliance market going down as I get older. The strength of that old days – we all miss them, and I miss my friends from those wonderful days too. I also feel made weak by time and fate, but I hope to do well, and overcome the weaknesses that have come upon me. I am surrounded by two things, immortality of one world which I love and the mortality of the other which I have to embrace.

I cannot take a step backward, not at this period of time. May be we can dig through the dead end. There are people who want me to, and events which are fair enough to make that call for me. Inspired by my favourite single line of all-time, “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield”, I still leave myself with some hope for miracles, and at the same time keep doing what I hope that I can do well till the end end of time. In the name of the great poet with whom I shares my name, it might really be depressing for his soul if I gave up. Ulysses had a sea, and I have an ocean. But I am still younger. The last times were used to inspire athletes for London Olympics 2012, so why can’t it continue to do so for me?

***The images used in this blog post are from the game Age of Empires III which I used to play.

I have been nominated by Kiran, at https://drkiranacharya.wordpress.com/2015/06/19/day-three-quote-challenge, for the three day quote challenge. Thanks for the tag 🙂

Rules for the challenge:

• Post one of your favourite quotes (different quote on each day) on three days. The quote can be from your favourite book, author, or your own.
• Nominate three bloggers to challenge them.
• Thank the blogger, who nominated you.

For my day two, I nominate my blogger friends:

Ranjini (http://rangelz.wordpress.com)

Tara (http://crimsonapril.com)

Archana (http://drishti.co)

TeNy

My City for the Undead

It was something that they wanted to do for a long time, to build a city for the basic undead thanking their services to the New Vampire World. Without the help of the zombie minions, the New Vampire World could have never been constructed, and Dracula realized how important it would be to keep the support of the zombies as the influence of the Werewolves, Eldars and the Lich Queen were rising in the area taking advantage of the common heritage of the tomb which was shared by them all.

The Shattered Dreams refer to the four islands which lie between the New Vampire World and the Isles of Blood and comes directly under the influence of the Vampire Throne. It was on the second largest of those islands that the new city was planned to be built. There was a smaller island between that isle and the mainland which was to be connected to both lands by two bridges which were proposed to be built under the direct supervision of Dracula himself.

Dracula wanted to change from the usual architectural model of the Gothic and shift to the Aztec style after his recent visit to a certain unknown area in the human world. There is to be a city centre built like a ziggurat headed by two vampires and three zombies. Even though the vampires believed that the human model usually had only zombies as leaders, they preferred a change there. Attached to the city centre, there are to be two shopping centres on both sides, and two training centres on the other sides, one for civilians and the other for the keepers of the law.

There were to be more roads than buildings making sure that there were no traffic problems. The trees were to be planted on both sides of the roads as well as on the median which would also have stone paved footpaths and benches just like the sides. The Great Undead Centres are planned exactly five kilometres from the city centre on four sides of the island to make sure that the balance of control is maintained, and they were close to the sea to make sure that the immigration was also well handled.

The graves which were home to the undead were built hidden between the trees on the side of the road. Small parks are to be all around. They were to lead underground into a crypt which was to be divided into five sections, with stone coffins in each. All the buildings arre to follow the same pattern, except for the house of the leaders made as a mausoleum to serve as the home for them all. The parking facilities are provided more underground, with a further layered structure designed with special walls to ensure better protection from sounds.

A facility for rainwater collection wil be also maintained on the trees. As the undead are naturally farmers despite the never-ending desire for brain biriyani, they will like the best use of rainwater without them directly affecting the crops. The farmlands are to be created in open areas between The Great Undead Centres and the city centre exactly a kilometre from the latter. The former will have the study centres one kilometre from it. The chicken farms will be attached to the regular farmlands too.

Windmills, solar panels and wells are to provide energy and water for the city so that the undead population won’t have depend on external sources. The activities would depend on the solar power, and as the zombies have evolved enough to stand the sunlight, this will only work in their favour. The main tourist destination will be the Death Ride featuring the main undead heroes who are part of the legends, like the Headless Knight, the Brain Devourer and the Resident Zombie. There is also the provision for free wi-fi with instructions as I proclaim my dream city for the undead.

***The images used in this blog post are from the game, Age of Empires III which I used to play.

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

TeNy

Quote Challenge 1: Rice

“Revenge is the concern of those who are at some point or other beaten. I am not beaten, I told myself. No, not beaten. And victory is far more interesting to contemplate than revenge.”
― The Tale of the Body Thief (Anne Rice)

***250th post, btw 😀

Revenge has been something which managed to create superhit movies out of average flicks. What would have been Kill Bill, Django Unchained, Inglourious Basterds, I Spit on Your Grave and The Last House on the Left without the power of revenge? Vengeance has been too sweet in the movies, and the same has been reflected in literature and glorified by fans because there is that feeling of satisfaction that people have when they see the protagonist managing to finish the act of vengeance.

The lesser humane of the two main vampires from Interview with the Vampire, Lestat de Lioncourt says these words in the novel. He always has stories to tell us, and here we see his lack of interest in revenge. It is not something which he learnt from holy books or wise men, but from his experience. He is a man who creates his own interesting quotes, and we can see that from the different books of Vampire Chronicles series that he brings some nice quotes of wisdom for the readers.

Interview with the Vampire – there is more to that talk with quotes of wisdom.

Lestat not seeking revenge doesn’t mean that he is not angry, but he never accepts that he is beaten. In Interview with the Vampire, we can see that he keeps coming back, and his ultimate desire was never vengeance. He wants to be victorious every time, and a case of revenge will mean that he was once beaten and he is trying to turn the tables. He wouldn’t stand the chance of being beaten by anybody as he considers himself to be good enough to thrive in any environment.

Even for the death of his vampire daughter Claudia, he only blames himself, and as he has the results of a revenge which was brought upon her by other vampires in the name of what she did to him, he has only nightmares about it – the one revenge which happened in his name doesn’t give him any feeling of happiness. Once again, if that was a revenge, that would mean that he was beaten by a child vampire who tricked him into being a dumb vampire even with all his experience.

The Embrace of the Vampire – Why don’t you choose this one instead of revenge?

Well, if you have read Interview with the Vampire, you will know things from the viewpoint of the more humane vampire, Louis de Pointe du Lac. There is more to Lestat than what is written there; even the movie follows that path as the interview of the one vampire who proves to be the man with more conscience than most of the modern humans combined. It might seem that revenge was in his list there, but it never really was, as Lestat had risen above that already.

So, the quote of the day is not an invitation to be like Lestat. He will never be my favourite vampire character, and neither will Louis even though this one is closer. Claudia is actually even further closer. There are Clara and Eleanor from Byzantium if you are looking for movies alone, and in the case of books, there is the need to pay reverence to the legendary characters from Dracula, Carmilla, The Vampyre and a number of others. So, the quote can be taken outside the vampire world.

I have been against taking revenge, even though I cared less about those little ones. There is nothing that interesting in having vengeance, as it is something which has to be left to God, or fate if you want to think that way. If you try to take revenge, it is more of your weakness, and only by rising up from that state and moving towards victory can the replacement to revenge be done. Yes, be the better person, and your achievement is the true vengeance which is not evil, but a good result of an indirect inspiration provided by the evil which has been done against you.

***The images used in this blog post are from the Facebook Page of the movie Interview with the Vampire.

I have been nominated by Kiran, at https://drkiranacharya.wordpress.com/2015/06/19/day-three-quote-challenge, for the three day quote challenge. Thanks for the tag 🙂

Rules for the challenge:

• Post one of your favourite quotes (different quote on each day) on three days. The quote can be from your favourite book, author, or your own.
• Nominate three bloggers to challenge them.
• Thank the blogger, who nominated you.

For my day one, I nominate my blogger friends:

Anoop (http://anooppillaiz.wordpress.com)

Amreen (http://painttheworldwithwords.wordpress.com)

Namrata (http://namratakumari.blogspot.in)

TeNy

Tribute to Haiku Queen

I have known only a few people during my early days of WordPress blogging, and even on the day of the third anniversary of Travel Diaries and the first of Movies of the Soul, I had only two as friends. For most of my blogging time, I have had only two people on my friends list in the social networking sites, and the second blogger to be my friends list was Maniparna. I have been reading her posts since early 2014, during those days when she had another theme and a pet blog dog called Gulgul 😀

I have been thinking about getting a pet for a long time, and then I noticed the blog pet – it caught my attention first; then everything else; not many people got a blog pet, and I have seen nobody else with one. That was my strange reason at that time, but there has been a long list of book reviews and haiku which I continued to read as her Scattered Thoughts went on to become one of the very first blogs which I read consistently.

Along with those writing skills, there is also something about her photography that you need to look out for. Even though I have never really tried to write haiku or book reviews with the inspiration from her blog, I have always been inspired by her fiction, and more than that, her supportive comments on my two blogs, Movies of the Soul and The Tea Cerebration(s) . She has more than one hundred and fifty comments on my blog, more than anybody else.

She has commented more than one hundred times on this blog alone, more than double of those who comes second and third, and she has done that so consistently – now that is inspiration to come up with more and more posts. She was also helpful in helping my early doubts with the blogging sites. I have been a very doubtful person in the earlier blogging days, especially when related to BlogAdda and IndiBlogger.

She was also the first one to follow me on Twitter and also the one before everybody else to favourite on of my tweets. Yes, Twitter came very late for me, and my social networking idea was limited to Facebook and Orkut earlier – so needed some help with making an entrance into the world of tweeting. We have also been the runners-up of the Godrej Aer Pan India Blogging Contest, and that was the first contest which I had ever had won any prize for.

She has a long list of contest wins and runner-up trophies as you can see on her blog. For people like me who have a slow internet, her blog is also one of the fastest to load. Her work has inspired me for the last one year and a few months; she deserves to be nominated at WIN 15 and I don’t really need to hope that she nominates her blog in any of those categories there because I know that she already did that and also got her badge 😀 Here is one my favourite Haiku works at her place.

Uncle Dracula has said a quote about immortality which I shall not bring to anybody’s attention. Still, a few things are forever, and even though I shall attribute immortality more to the Team Vampire, there is nothing like a Haiku on a beautiful monsoon day with rain drops creating poetry. Long Live the Haiku Queen! Here is a tribute to the inspirational blogger, and Queen of Haiku! #YouMakeMeWIN

I’m blogging for #YouMakeMeWIN to honour a blogger who has influenced me and deserves to be nominated at WIN15.

*The Vampire Bat and the Vampire Owl sends their regards 😀

***The image used in this blog post is also taken from the WIN15 activity from BlogAdda.

TeNy

All Hail the Lord Protractor

Vampire Hamster: All Hail the Lord Protractor, the greatest of our times, and the undisputed ruler of the New Vampire World!

Vampire Bat: It is Lord Protector! Stop reminding me of my terrible Mathematics teacher.

Vampire Hamster: Oh! My bad. I am still getting closer to it. Last time I had said Lord Potato. Don’t you remember? Please notice the improvement and give a recommendation to Lord Dracula to reward me.

Vampire Owl: I think he passed the tenth exams when free A+ were given by the government, forget the memory problems – he can remember his mistakes, but not the corrections. This is also the reason why one should have passed the tenth a lot earlier. Even the cat who came into the examination hall to catch a lizard managed to get out with full A+. What is wrong with the humans these days?

Vampire Bat: Well, things could get much worse with humans and their politics. It is actually nice that we have our own realm here. And what is that smell? Is it from the graveyard which is below the house or is the smell from the house itself? There is belief that there are souls trapped inside the walls of this castle house.

Vampire Hamster: I had discovered the source very early, but forgot that exactly fifty four seconds ago, sir. I even recorded my loss of memory on my new tablet phone. Can we take a selfie right now? I haven’t updated my Facebook profile picture for the last five years or so.

Vampire Bat: Who put him on duty here? Where is the Vampire Crocodile? And the Vampire Alligator? He is supposed to be in charge of the internal duties. This is not the place for him.

Vampire Owl: I think that everyone is on leave due to the after-effects of the grand party. The program was too huge, and vampires are not known to be people of parties. You don’t even want to know what the Vampire Penguin has been doing.

Vampire Bat: No, I don’t want to know that at all. But we have to find where that foul smell is coming from. Our life depends on it. What if Uncle Dracula gets that smell and faints? We don’t even have an adult heir to the throne yet. We immediately need to go from #SmellyToSmiley.

Vampire Hamster: There was a party? Did I miss a blood bath? I am going to sue my phone – there was supposed to be a reminder there.

Vampire Owl: I am more worried about making this place better for the vampire elders. It is a mess. They are not going to like this at all.

Vampire Bat: Is that smell from the kitchen? It is not good.

Vampire Owl: I think that it is from the bathroom, or the bedroom attached with the bathroom.

Vampire Bat: It is from that fish which the Vampire Cat had brought here and left without finishing. How many times do I have to tell him? He has to think about the good of the whole vampire community instead of being so selfish.

Vampire Owl: I don’t think that it was ever part of his plan.

Vampire Hamster: I have sprayed Ambi Pur everywhere, sir. I even got rid of the garbage as the trash van had arrived.

Vampire Owl: I don’t believe this. He is not supposed to have done things correctly. Something is not right here.

Vampire Bat: Are you sure you did what was needed and not something else which puts us directly into trouble? I have my doubts.

Vampire Hamster: I don’t even remember the thing called trouble; I don’t know the meaning, sir.

Vampire Owl: See! The memory problem is working positively. He is a strong fighter against odour. We should officially give him some title related to his special skills. What about the Defender of the Fragrance Reloaded?

Vampire Bat: That was not really the role in which I expected him. Is it truly you or the Vampire Panda in disguise?

Vampire Hamster: Ambi Pur worked like a dream, sir. It was easy to get rid of the odour. I even remember that name this time. It has easily gone #SmellyToSmiley.

Vampire Bat: Yes, this is getting better. You knew that he could do better, didn’t you, Mr. Owl? Wait! What is the cricket bat for? I thought you hated cricket. You even led a movement against Cricket World Cup and fought to get it banned in the New Vampire World, and it was even somewhat successful.

Vampire Owl: This is for the Vampire Cat. I am going to deal with his fishy love with the fish. I have to make use of this bat in one way or the other. After all, vampires don’t play cricket any more, not with the new rules for sure.

Vampire Hamster: All Hail the Lord Potato!

Vampire Owl: What? No! Here goes the improvement, all the way down the abyss. Not a good sign for substitute guards and caretakers.

Vampire Hamster: All Hail the Lord Protractor!

Vampire Bat: Never mind. Nothing has been said, and there is nothing to be done. At least we got the Ambi Pur with us and it did work so well. And the foul smell has disappeared, and it was what mattered the most. Just get rid of the incense sticks and flowers. They were never really suiting the castle house architecture.

***The image used in this blog post is from the Ambi Pur contest page at BlogAdda.

I am blogging for #SmellyToSmiley activity atBlogAdda.com in association with Ambi Pur

TeNy

Best Offer Provided

Vampire Alligator: Do you know how much of a miser the Vampire Crocodile is?

Vampire Hamster: How can I know? I have no memory. Who is this Vampire Crocodile? Is he your long lost brother whom you found while eating 5 Star chocolates on a sunny day?

Vampire Alligator: Okay. Sir Owl and Sir Bat, do you know about the strange deeds of the Vampire Crocodile? On him being a big miser?

Vampire Owl: Yes, he didn’t let me travel in his car on the other day.

Vampire Alligator: Actually, that is because he doesn’t like you and not because you weigh a lot. A crocodile weighs more than many owls together, you know.

Vampire Owl: I knew that he was a smart evil crocodile! Didn’t I tell you all to be careful about him? Then why am I not careful? Damn!

Vampire Bat: What were you actually planning to talk about? Are there things that we don’t know about the Vampire Crocodile?

Vampire Alligator: He has his special skills in bargaining. He comes from a very rich and reputed crocodile family around the Lake Placid, but pretends that he is very poor. He does such a huge bargaining that it shocks everyone.

Vampire Bat: We never knew that. We could have used his bargaining skills during the next conflict with the werewolves over territory.

Vampire Alligator: But it is a secret, and so he will never bargain for you; neither will he agree to this. He will only do that for himself. Have you seen the clothes which he use? They are also the cheaper ones which are the result of further bargaining.

Vampire Owl: See how shell-fish he is.

Vampire Bat: Why do you say selfish like shell-fish? Are you hungry?

Vampire Owl: I thought that it would sound cooler that way.

Vampire Hamster: Excuse me sir, Is this Vampire Crocodile the one whom we call the VC?

Vampire Bat: No, not at all! It is Vice-chancellor, and that position is held by Uncle Dracula until the end of his times…no I mean until the end of the Vampire University as he is de facto immortal and cent percent perpetual vampire.

Vampire Owl: He is still better than the Vampire Crocodile, I would say.

Vampire Alligator: Have you seen the Vampire Crocodile’s chappals? Do you know how old it is? It is older than any human alive on Earth. It has already achieved immortality, but it has so much stitches done to it that if you look closer, you will know that it is nothing less than a distant cousin of the Frankenstein monster.

Vampire Owl: Now we know why he doesn’t climb the rocks. It should have no grip at all.

Vampire Alligator: Most of the shirts that he wear were inherited from his great great grandfather. They might be older than most of the vampire apprentices here. As I am young and cool, they should surely be older than me. He has some special tailoring skills which make them look better.

Vampire Owl: I say we shift him to the tailoring department of the castle.

Vampire Bat: I have actually noticed the happiness in his eyes whenever he got a discount or when something was given to him for free. But that joy seems to be bigger than everything.

Vampire Owl: Yes, I know that you understand that very well because whenever there is any discount at Flipkart, Snapdeal or Amazon, you are like – “attackkkkk!”

Vampire Alligator: That reminds me; the Vampire Crocodile even wrote a letter to Flipkart asking if there is special discount for crocodiles who are vampires.

Vampire Owl: What? That is bloody racist! How can he ask something like that?

Vampire Bat: I agree that it is unfair. We, the Vampire Clan are only allowed to ask for discount in the name of the greatest of them all, the Lord Protector, Uncle Dracula.

Vampire Alligator: He is actually smart. When he last bought my old PC, he was saying like crocodiles and alligators like brothers belonging to the lovely reptiles community and so I should give him extra discount. He also said that therefore he needed a graphics card and a joystick for free.

Vampire Hamster: I think I remember now. When he bought my old mobile from me, he was like it was available at a smaller price at Lake Placid, and that crocodiles have always been tolerant of hamsters and so there should be special discount for him.

Vampire Bat: That’s it! We are also going to go through a Paisa Vasool offer and we are not going to inform him about it!

Vampire Owl: Now you are talking in the right way.

Vampire Hamster: Is it party time? An economical party?

Vampire Alligator: Is it a trip sponsored by Uncle Dracula’s Vampire Apprentice Travel Relief Fund?

Vampire Bat: No, we are going to travel to Germany in Lufthansa Premium Economy class, which might be the extra bang for our buck. It will be the best option that we have for a paisa vasool travel, and we have always wanted to go to Germany, right? Yes, some of us want to go to Italy, others to Spain and some others to France, but Germany is like a common place of love. We are going to Germany in a Lufthansa!

Vampire Owl: Now, you are talking very smart!

Vampire Hamster: I am going to get a new video camera for this!

Vampire Alligator: I will inform the Vampire Panda and the Vampire Penguin. Hail #LufthansaPremiumEconomy.

The idea of Paisa Vasool runs through the minds of us all. We Indians do think about that a lot while purchasing something. If there is any doubt, you can choose a random person from the common people and ask, and the signs will always be there. We all need to make the maximum utilization of the money that we spend, and Lufthansa manages to come up with something which provides us exactly that. Lufthansa Premium Economy is another nice innovation from the reputed airlines from Germany, which you will need to check. It is economy, but is also bigger than regular economy, but not the costly business class either. This is going to prove very interesting for the long distance flights in particular. Go to think link for more details about the same: http://premium-economy.lufthansa.com/

***The images used in this blog post belong to Lufthansa. #LufthansaPremiumEconomy

TeNy

And then the Big Hug

This is father’s day and the need to hug dad is here. So before we go deep into the hug, there is the need to remember those reasons for which the same has to be done. I have come up with my own collection of things. It might not be something which can be related to, for most of my readers, but I am going to stay with this list of six things before the big hug happens on the father’s day.

The Sympathy: It is quite a lot, even though not that much for me. Simona the Kitty knows his sympathy and tries to make a cute fact to take advantage of it, but kitchen and the food was never anywhere near being his department. I have got a little bit of that from him even though mutual sympathy was never in the cards. But a good number of local people did get the selective sympathy effect.

The History: The knowledge of history has been nicely passed on. There has been a lot of talk about history as well as politics, which did define my path for the future, even though some relatives managed to interfere and divert my road to the future. Still, the history which was learned earlier has remained in my mind, and has helped me to make sure that I took my second degree in History only.

The Curiosity: He thinks that I always have problems, and due to the same, he keeps checking. One day, he looked at my grammar sentence which said “I do not sleep at night” as part of my grammar studies, and without checking the rest of the available information on tenses, he decided to take action based on my sleeplessness. That grand curiosity had given me some special attention, even though not that much of a fair one.

The Self-righteousness: This one has been there all the time, and on display. Well, it has helped me to remain a good person, because I knew that there was no other way to make an impression, because the genius tag of the childhood was fast disappearing and had almost gone by the time I got admission for the Science-Computer group for Plus Two. So, I had to be the good person while the others were to be the achievers. That helped me to not go into the wilderness of evil.

The Disbelief: Yes, I have inherited the same disbelief, even though I haven’t got that ability to trust relatives or old friends who speak sweet. I have been careful with people, and it has helped me not to jump into any pits of hopelessness. As time progressed, I have turned out to be more of a non-believer in people than anyone I know about. I might have been a bigger loser if Ihad believed in people, but I have turned out to be a lesser one with this special skill that I inherited.

The Preferences: His love for the engineers and doctors have meant that I learnt to love those people who were different, and I decided to get rid of all Science and Mathematics because I realized that my right place was not with them. I belonged with the creative thinkers and not those people who worked only on logic. I realized that I should be human first and that matters. Well, most of my relatives don’t think so as they are always after counting the money in job or in marriage – but I understood 😀 #HugYourDad

This father’s day, I am expressing my love towards my dad by participating in the #HugYourDad activity at BlogAdda in association with Vicks.

***The image used in this blog post is from the page of activity itself.

TeNy

Odours of the House

A house has many odours. If you take a list of all kinds of smell which you come against, it can go on and on with no end. If you ask me about my favourite fragrance, it would be related to tea. A few of my friends had given me that kind of tea which I could smell and feel; one from Kenya and Tanzania; the other from Assam and the Middle East. My cousin had earlier provided me with Yorkshire tea which had that beautiful aroma which I still miss.

Tea has always been my favourite fragrance at home. The kitchen has been also a source of the best smell for a long time, despite us eating from outside quite a lot. Mostly, they have been the ones which cannot be defeated, and you just have to fall into the pit of temptation to eat your favourite dish. Simona the Kitty knows that better as she knows which house in the locality has fish, beef or chicken. We are mostly vegetarian and buy separate food for her, but she knows the houses where fish is prepared and stares at that direction.

Talking about Simona the Kitty or the most valiant one, she is the one who knows what everybody is cooking! You can fool many people, but not her with the smell and the hearing ability as she listens to each footstep and knows each and every odour around. If I could ask someone about the odours of home, it would be her, but she is not interested in sharing the skills of her nose with the inferior humans, and so I have to deal with this, at least until she changes her decision.

Still in other cases, there is the bad smell which competes with the good ones. The former gives us that big challenge which we have to overcome. Often, it is not an easy task. Simona the Kitty used to do something that she should have done outside in the soil, inside the home occasionally. But with more time spent outside, and as we kept her there for a longer time, that problem was solved forever, and she has turned into the extra smart kitten.

The smell of fish has been the biggest challenge, and even when not having fish ourselves, the odour of the special fish food gravy bought for Simona the Kitty has been pretty bad. Thank God for the facility provided by Municipality for the waste disposal, it has been mostly solved. Our garden does have some flowers to help with the problem, but it is still an “upcoming garden” with not enough to deal with the same – still, we adjust with what we have.

We also have the air freshener to deal with the same and hope that the fragrance stays. We haven’t had many visitors in the last few months, but when they do, there is the need to keep them away from any possible bad odour. We have that bad feeling about smell when we visit some houses, and lets not have the others to feel the same about our home – it is surely not a proud thing.

When it is a wonderful day and something smells dreadful, the day is not that thing of wonder any more. When the house looks clean and awesome and still the bad odour stays, home is not that good as you expect it to be. For this, there is the need for the #SmellytoSmiley effect with the Ambi Pur Air Effects. The monsoon season has started, even though it doesn’t look that convincing the amount of rain received. Lets just make sure that nothing wet makes it smell bad!

***The image used in this blog post is from the Ambi Pur contest page at BlogAdda.

I am blogging for #SmellyToSmiley activity atBlogAdda.com in association with Ambi Pur

TeNy

Presence and Absence of Hug

The season of the mother’s day is over, and this is time period calls for the other parent. As time has passed after the day for the loving mother, one can recollect that it was one of the more popular times of contests and there was a lot of sharing related to mother on Facebook and Twitter. It is certain that a lot of hugs were received by mothers all around the world. A hug is the best gift you can give your dad too on this father’s day.

It is one’s duty to be thankful to the parents, and every religion has a provision for being respectful and loving towards parents – no matter how much the world has advanced, and up-to what extent the modernity, competition and the brutality of science and technology have taken over, the relationship remains the same in its core. Indian culture has had a great place for the same, and it remains one of the most beautiful things.

There would be many reasons for hugging one’s father, and I am sure that there will be some in my life too even if not too many, but the one big reason about which I want to talk about here is of a lot of significance. The reason is actually the absence of the result itself. It is simple – there was never a hug, not one which I can remember about. It is a case of the complete absence of the hug. It is the prolonged absence of something which creates the desire for that thing, right? So it is the lack of presence of the hug.

Yes, it was missing and no notice could find it. I used to search for it a lot during my childhood days, but neve really found it. Mom had tried a lot to find it for me, but as time passed, I have refused its strength all together; I kept saying, no hugs and not touching. I apologize to Munna Bhai on this – there have been no “Jadoo Ki Jhappi”; no magic there. Circuit might not like that either, but that is the truth.

As I grew up, I used to wonder why people hug, until I watched Munnabhai MBBS. It became further clear at that time, but that never really explained why I should give anybody a hug. I have remained hug-free even though I haven’t really boasted about that. I have often wondered how I would have managed not to hug if I had ever been a tennis player – it would have been declared an act of shame and also disrespectful to fellow players by some fans.

Well, dad has been hug-free for quite a long time too, and that is a relief. If he was hugging someone else, that would made me wonder why I didn’t do that yet. I wanted to do a hug when I get a job, but that doesn’t seem to be happening in this birth. I wanted to do that on the day of my wedding, but that seems to be too far away a thing in life. Then there is the father’s day which remains the last hope.

A hug will be a nice option for this father’s day, especially for us jobless people who are in no position to buy something for the parents. Yes, there is hope in those contest wins, but we can’t really have the vanity to think that we will win them all, right? Not even with the First Come First Serve basis with such a slow and miserable internet connection. I would say that a hug is a nice option for me – and there is also some variety associated with it 😀 #HugYourDad

This father’s day, I am expressing my love towards my dad by participating in the #HugYourDad activity at BlogAdda in association with Vicks.

***The image used in this blog post is from the page of activity itself.

TeNy

Closer to Radiance

There was a question which my mom used to ask me even from my schooldays. It was about how much water I managed to drink on a day. Drink more water for the skin was the idea. I never really managed to meet that requirement of twelve glasses of water and she decreased it to eight, and I still struggled to reach there. I cared very less about health at those days, and so the idea of giving the skin more water was rather lost on me. I hope to use that tip more in future though.

The next tip was to eat your vegetables, and you will be healthier and will look better with healthier skin. Then I was like, everybody knows that already and refused my vegetables as the grand non-vegetarian kid of the time. At that time, it felt cooler to refuse the vegetables, but not that much nowadays, with going semi-vegetarian. May be I should have done that a long time ago. It is good to eat some of those vegetables, and it is good for the skin as the earlier generation always used to say.

A few years ago, she had also adviced to eat less of the spicy food or it will show on the skin. She was against those grand Chicken Biriyani adventures which we friends had and had told to have vegetables meals even when we go on a trip. It sounded too much for us at that time, but nowadays, often I choose the meals instead of the spicy things. The non-vegetarian world was rather a smaller one, but it is the healthy one as she used to say.

There was also this advice from the past, about being stress-free, as higher the stress, more chance is there for skin problems, just like the problems inside our heads. The tip was to keep calm – never really worked out for me living a life surrounded by the pathetic relatives who judge people by money and job. Stress has been part of my problems, but may be if I could lie better, I could be further stress-free and live a happier life with better skin.

My parents had always adviced me not to play cricket at noon just because some World Cup or Mini World Cup is going on. This was kind of a regular advice given to me to save my skin from the sun, and even though it was repeated so many times, I used to play the whole day until late night at that time, something which started early morning. Yes, those days had me in direct contact with sun, and they were those moments which I could have avoided for the skin.

Mom had special concern for my Vitamin C. Yes, the fruits rich in that particular vitamin was a nice preference. It was something related to the human body’s production of collagen, and the skin was to benefitted from the same. I always loved the oranges, and so this skin-care tip worked in a much better way. Lime juice was also a regular drink which I had and so this one came naturally in favour of the skin.

#ComeCloser to Radiant Skin as VICCO Turmeric Cream could be a wonderful solution for the skin problems like oily skin, pimples and blackheads, and claims to have an Ayurvedic formula with special properties of turmeric; also known to prevent and cure skin infections, rashes and allergies, with some help in dealing with injuries too. There seems to be something quite interesting about it. Do check VICCO Turmeric Cream and the related products here at their website: http://www.viccolabs.com/product-turmeric-cream-with-foam-base.php

TeNy

All About Simona

After the Simona the Kitty kidnap and return, a lot of people have asked me about her and how is she doing. A lot of people haven’t asked about me, but did ask about her. Well, she is the celebrity and I am more like the manager. So, I guess that this is the time to post her photos after the whole episode and the return. She is very much okay and going through the good times again. Here I share seven of her photos after the incident. Things are rather normal for her these days, and she has returned to brutally murder more of the spiders, cockroaches and lizards at home. I have often wondered if those creatures had a role in Simona going missing 😛

Falling asleep remains a major program for her, and she is an expert in the field.

And also falling asleep in different ways; there is so much variety right there.

Taking over the chair meant for the oldest member of the house is just too easy.

And then sleeping in the sunlight as well as in the moonlight with no worries.

Still, there is no loss of style in being Simona, and she rests after having her Whiskas.

She prefers to ride Honda Dio from there – surely the smartest kitten of the area!

Then she becomes the gangster, turns back and chases cockroaches and spiders.

***The photos used in this blog post were taken on my Asus Zenfone 5. Yes, Simona is getting older and is becoming an integral part of the family as well as the neighbourhood. One has to wonder what would happen if she ever goes missing again. Making the wish that she remains with us forever, we are going to buy more Whiskas, or we might need to have more non-vegetarian food so that we can share with her! She has been proving to get more and more hungry, and lets hope that she remains healthy. This is also her house now, and she would want to stay inside her world with her people. If you like the photos and Simona, clap your hands 😀