Loyalty of Dragons

Among the awards which this blog has managed, the most interesting one should be this because it has dragon! – It is The Dragon’s Loyalty Award. Just a few days ago, Ruma nominated me for this one! Thank you Ruma 🙂

It is an award for the fellow bloggers who visit your blog regularly. Here are the rules:

• Accept the award with thanks.
• Give your readers 5 facts about you.
• Nominate other bloggers and let them know.

Five Facts About Me:

1. I sometimes feel that running far away from home and jumping off the top of a waterfall is the best way to get some direction in this life or afterlife.
2. I believe that people should respect each other all the time and the opinions should be expressed without taking things personally or abusing others.
3. I believe in keeping the promise; if someone can’t reach somewhere or can’t do something as promised earlier, I wish to be told and instead of trying to defend  and giving the idea that it can still happen when it can’t.
4. I am going through my second root canal, and this will provide me with two crowned teeth on the left side, with a possible problem coming up on the right side; I should be a dentist’s dream patient.
5. I don’t believe in changing my profile picture on Facebook and losing my identity and individuality just because others are doing it; I don’t believe in following the crowd, and I won’t do something just because everyone else is doing it.

My Nominations:

Archana (http://drishti.co)

Maniparna (http://maniparna5002.wordpress.com)

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

Namrata (http://namratakumari.com)

Hargun (http://hargunwahi.wordpress.com)

Thank You! 🙂

TeNy

Rock of the Eagle

Throughout my life, I have had special love for some birds; no, not the love birds, sparrows or doves – the birds of prey have been my favourites. Among them all, I was always interested in seeing an eagle flying in the sky. The standards and banners used by the Roman Empire and the later Byzantine Empire had my attention. I have loved the image of the double-headed eagle, and had the feeling that it was special. Then there were the ancient Eagle Warriors of Tenochtitlan, who were the elite infantry units of the Aztec Empire, seen in the game, Age of Empires II: The Conquerers.

Still part of the coats of arms of many cities and a few nations, eagle has always been the bird which inspired to rise and claim what we needed. It is the symbol of courage, will-power and strength, with its agility and superior vision, are used in connection with the greater gods, Zeus for Greeks, Jupiter for Romans and Odin for the Norse. There is the idea of flying high and free like the eagle. Then there was also this poem which I learned by-heart at school, but then I realized that I needn’t – a problem of leaving for CBSE from the state syllabus 😀

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring’d with the azure world, he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.
— The Eagle by Lord Alfred Tennyson.

So, let the dark clouds leave and we get to the destination I am talking about.

That brings us to the Rock of the Eagle or Eagle’s Rock, called Parunthumpara. With “eagle” associated with the name, I was always willing to have a look there. Located around six kilometres from the nearest town Peermade, it is a beautiful and interesting viewpoint which can be accessed while traveling through the Kottayam Kumily road. If you are traveling from the Northern side of Kerala, you can follow the route which goes through Perumbavoor, Muvattupuzha, Thodupuzha, Vagamon and then get to this road. It is not exactly on the way, and you will have to turn right before reaching Peermade.

This is the kind of path which you follow. Also note my car for no reason 😛

It is a good place to visit if you are traveling to Kumily, Thekkady or Kattappana through the road mentioned. The view that the place provides is amazingly good, and there is lot of area around to park the vehicle. There are some small tea shops there and you will find some bigger ones on the way, with more options of tea packets and chocolates. The road is mostly good except for a small area which has a certain absence of road and it will test the ground clearance of your vehicle in the case of the smaller cars.

You drive through the roads on the top and wander through the grasslands.

The advantage of going through this smaller, but good road is the bliss which is available while seeing so much of greenery and the wind providing inspiration. With all the beauty around, it is good enough to challenge any other location around. There is a little plastic problem which has to be dealt with though. Otherwise, it is well-maintained. It is still not fully developed, and so may be we can see some interesting changes some day. The place has a lot of beauty and space, and so this one can stand of its own one day with the rock having somewhat the shape of the head of an eagle.

Here is the vision which you should have very often to make life feel better.

Meanwhile, Peermade is the place to stop and have some food, and if you are not hungry yet, you can stop at Vandiperiyar later. There are many tea plantations around where you can stop and have the selfie with tea. One of the interesting places around includes the Pattumala Church which is a nice structure which can be noticed from the main road itself as it is located at some good height. The building catches our attention and so does the flowers around the tea plantations which surround the church. You can add these with Parunthumpara during your journey to Thekkady.

And this is the Pattumala Church which I have been talking about.

***The images used in this blog post were taken by me on Samsung Galaxy A5.

TeNy

For the Blogger Friend

It has been just few days after I completed the 350th post on this blog, The Tea Cerebration(s) on the 444th day of its existence, making it the fastest and the only blog of mine to reach that many number of posts. It is the newest blog which is just a little more than one year in age. It is also my fastest blog to 50,000 posts and all of my daily readers have played a big role in bringing the blog to this status. Without them, the beginning would have been a struggle like my other blogs which had almost no visitors in the first few months.

Blogger friends mean a lot to me in a world where most of the friends and relatives find it so difficult to support a blog, and the elders of the family tree will always classify this activity as the great waste of time when they compare this to what their sons and daughters are doing, earning a lot of money and getting married to people from rich families. So, I am taking this opportunity and writing this blog for one of such bloggers who has been a good friend and an amazing writer. There are a lot of them whom I have mentioned earlier, but here, I am writing for one particular blogger and supporting her in a contest.

Blogging has been the sea! It has remained strong and inspiring!

Even though I started blogging with the other blogs earlier, I have had the most number of blogger friends in the last one year, which is a lot more than I ever expected, as in the beginning, the whole thing was supposed to be anonymous. I had joined many blogger communities which meant that there was significant increase in the number of Indian bloggers on my blog. Movies of the Soul had the Vampire Bat with mostly Hollywood movie reviews, and I had almost finished with writing Travel Diaries; then The Divine Epic just had one post a month and wasn’t looking forward to be a big space for writing.

But as time changed and I met a lot of good and supporting bloggers, I decided not to remain anonymous because there was nothing special about it other than being the stranger. We need our friends who are in the blogging world, and they are our inspiration. Without the other writers and readers, there is not much about posting online. They are the motivation that we need on the internet where there is too much evil. I will always be indebted to them for making the blogging experience better with the support.

It was a few months ago that I came across another blogger, Amreen who has left an impression on me with her blog, Paint the World With Words. She recently started the 100 Deeds of Change Drive which you might want to have a look at, as it intends to bring small changes in everyone’s life through sharing such work by blogging on the same at her blog. With a hundred posts about hundred deeds by different bloggers are reached, the entire series is supposed to be published as an e-book.

I have recently come to know that she has participated in a Short Literary Work Contest in TATA Literature LIVE! and has been looking for Facebook votes to win the contest. It involves logging into Facebook and going to the link which is given at the end of this blog. There you can see her entry named “amreens44” and there is a text box to enter your e-mail ID and a green button to cast your vote which you can use to support Amreen. It works very well on Google Chrome, and sharing it is also easy!

We all use Facebook a lot and support a lot of things with likes, shares and comments. It has been part of our lives for a very long time. So, this is the time for some Facebook votes from the bloggers in support of something smart and creative. Her poem speaks about the topic of Child Marriage and if she wins, she will be given this opportunity, to share this message with the world and the society! Login to Facebook and follow this link, to cast your vote for her! Your one small gesture can bring a big change in someone’s world!
https://www.facebook.com/litlive?sk=app_248604521965078&app_data=entry_id%3D59426147

***The image used in this blog post was taken by me on my Samsung Galaxy A5 at Fort Cochin earlier this month.

TeNy

Colours and Variety

What are the usual colours that one chooses for the inside and the outside of a house? Some people keep telling us to choose the light colours and that the best colour is white. They say that everyone is choosing white or similar colours and so we should also choose the same. One of my uncles had once said “as we are part of a society and because they are choosing light shades, we should also do the same”. I immediately told him that I won’t, and that felt good. Yes, for some people, copying others is the only known thing.

Most of the houses in Kerala are defined by one thing, about how to build a house like somebody else, with a bigger size. Every day, people think about how to make huge houses which are good enough to make a lot of pre-British kings of India shocked. There are so many big houses in Kerala, which makes one wonder if they build houses to take photos and videos instead of living. Some people make houses, but do they classify as homes? Is this copying of others and showing vanity the right thing?

Well, people will continue to do the same, because some people need to waste their money and the others will also get some housing loans. Having a big car and a big house determine just too many things. So, what we can change is the colour – we can at least choose different shades from our neighbours. Let me tell you something about my neighbourhood. Almost every house around here is white, and the remaining are all having some shade of yellow. No matter whose house they are, there is no variety here at all.

Even if we look at those churches, whether it is Catholic, Orthodox or some Pentecostal church, the colour is just white outside. That actually surprises me because it is usually the tomb which is whitewashed. Whenever I see something painted white, I feel a tomb – sorry Obama, that includes White House too. There got to be changes, and each building should have its own identity. There should be something special about each home, hall or place of worship.

Among all the available colours, I will choose red, because it is the colour of blood, and has high intensity. It is easily visible and its has a certain amount of energizing power. Blue is also my favourite colour, but for my room and the other bed rooms, red looks like the best choice. It should also be the colour outside, and the best would be the brick-red colour, because it gives an even better feeling. Actually my house is already painted red, and so the same colour works very well for me.

The blue shade comes to the picture in other rooms, especially the dining room and the main hall. I was checking the colour for this particular room, and it looked very good right there. It has to be the purple variant. There is something royal about it, and most of the blue shades actually gives a certain happy feeling. It brings the blue sky and the blue ocean, keeping one close to the feeling to wander around and at the same time, be happy. May be one bed room can also have the same colour or some other shade of blue.

The red is strength while blue is peaceful inspiration for me. Actually, the #PaintFinder feature from the Bed Bath and More website allows you to choose a colour and recreate your dreams. There is also the availability of preview in a virtual room. This will be nice option which makes sure that you make the right choice with colours. Lets paint something wild with all these available options and see the preview, so that we can know what awaits us, a long time before.

I am participating in the #PaintFinder activity in Association with BlogAdda & Bed Bath & More

TeNy

Root Canal and Commercials

“Vampire Alert! Vampire Alert!” the special alarms came up with the scary words which were not usual for the vampire team. It was meant to declare the highest level of emergency, like a werewolf attack, zombie raid, elf happiness, goblin cricket matches or it could be about something missing from the blood collection. There was also the special immortal music that accompanied the same. The team of vampires rushed to the main hall to find Dracula lying on the floor with his arms covering his mouth.

“What happened to him?” asked the Vampire Panda.

“Is Uncle Dracula dead? Can I mourn his death right now? I have this new selfie stick and may be I can start using this with his dead body – what do you think?” asked the Vampire Hamster.

“I think that his fangs are gone. Then, I can take over as the new vampire chief because I have strong battle claws. Let him retire” said the Vampire Owl.

“How can you take over? I am the one true symbol of vampirism. I even have crowned teeth, and so I should be crowned as the Lord Protector of all Vampires and some Zombies of the Realm” said the Vampire Bat.

“What are you talking about here? I am not dead, and I got my fangs, you idiots” screamed Dracula with his arms over his mouth.

“Oh! We are very much relieved about this disappointment, dear uncle” said the Vampire Owl.

“I was just watching this movie and there were more commercials than movie. It was a festival special movie for the humans stretched to five hours, and watching all these pathetic commercials made me bite my own teeth and one of them on the left side has just fallen down. I called our official vampire dentist and he has recommended a root canal because the teeth are very old. This is actually depressing because I am now the first elder vampire in the history to have a root canal. All these because of the advertisements” Dracula added.

“Don’t worry, uncle. I am a vampire with root canal. But tell us more about the advertisements” said the Vampire Bat.

“There was this advertisement in which humans were trying to look pale, and they were using a magic cream for the purpose. It says that having white skin is very important for having confidence and progressing in life. Only white people get good alliances in marriage and also high level jobs according to them”.

“What? Didn’t we ban that advertisement here? We are sorry, Uncle Dracula. We had banned those racist commercials, but it seems that these people managed to sneak in a few by bribing our zombie guards” informed the Vampire Owl.

“Then there were those jewellery commercials. There were so many of them and I was shocked to know how much these silly mortals value the yellow metal. It was another depressing thing, and I wondered why we are not so interested in that thing. I felt that they will keep killing each other for the same – shocking, isn’t it?” asked Dracula.

“Just like the Lich Queen, I guess” remarked the Vampire Panda.

“I also watched a few commercials in which people were doing strange things, like trying to die, but they don’t, and then they drink something which looks like chemical and still they don’t die. What is wrong with these people? May be some humans are immortal too” said Dracula.

“I know that one. I had asked Lady Death why they never died” said the Vampire Hamster.

“And then people studying at some place called IIN where they start hotels when they can’t study hotel management. Do they start a crisis if they can’t study crisis management? There is the teacher who wants to use internet instead of books and there is a village where women don’t go to college, but proudly stays at home with mobile phones. Thank God that we use telepathy and not telephones here”.

“These are old commercials. These humans bring these things late here, and still they are the ones outdated” said the Vampire Bat.

“But now you will go to the dentist. You have to get the root canal done” said the Vampire Owl.

“We should just let a druid prepare a magic potion and the remaining tooth will just come out and pain will disappear” suggested Dracula.

“You mean android?” asked the Vampire Hamster.

“Never mind. Damned be those television commercials” replied Dracula.

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 the movie, Hotel Transylvania.

TeNy

The Favourite Shots

I am sharing a few of the favourite shots taken on my camera through this post. I don’t claim that any of them is worthy of a special photography award, but as I have not shared them on this blog, I feel that I will share them anyway. The camera used is a Sony Cybershot DSC-W310 on each and every occasion, and they were all taken at different places. The first one is from Vagamon or somewhere near the place when we were on the way there. I loved this path! It was like the road less taken, and the journey was also very good towards the place of beauty!

We stayed at Coonoor during our journey to Ooty. Unlike most of the people who keep going on a trip to Ooty and Kodaikanal, I have only been the former once and I have never been to the latter, and that has come as a surprise to many people. I was more than happy to stay here though, as there was so much tea, and walking with tea all around, was always going to be a thing of joy. There are also some interesting place around this one, and Coonoor is not a lesser town.

Ilaveezhapoonjira remains that blessed tourist place which is so less explored. It will always be something of bliss to be there, and the view is always splendid. The fog actually provides an even better experience. It provides the feeling being somewhere beyond the world that we know, and it is during one of those days that I wish to be there again. I don’t think that I am that much of a traveller any more, but if I go into that more, may be I will be back there and witness the fog and rain.

The lovely model tourism village, Kumbalangy has been among my favourites for very long. It has a nice place to enjoy the beauty of nature in the form of backwaters. I have visited the place for a very long time, even before it developed. There are some nice shots which one can manage from here and it can be joined with a Fort Cochin-Mattanchery trip during the usual journey to Kochi, and the place also has some old churches around which adds to the beauty. The place gives the opportunity for more beautiful photos.

Athirappilly Falls might be the best known waterfalls in Kerala, and located well within reach from the Cochin International Airport, the place is visited a lot, and I have wandered around the place quite a number of times myself. With Vazhachal Falls also nearby, this is one shot which I always love. The shot actually reminds me of a number of computer games with waterfalls, and it is actually the place where parts of a lot of Indian movies were shot, including the most talked about flick of recent times, Baahubali and the upcoming Puli. There were also shots for movies like Dil Se, Pukar, Guru, Madras Cafe and many others.

I have always loved the sculptures of gargoyles on the church buildings, and that interest increased with the movie I, Frankenstein. When I climbed to the top of this church tower at Thrissur, and looked down, I felt like a gargoyle on the tower even though the churches here don’t have that. But looking down from there looks good, as it is known to be Asia’s tallest church, and there is some good view from the top. You do see this church in a lot of movies shot in the city, dominating the skyline – like in Pranchiyettan and the Saint and Thiruvambadi Thamban.

Munnar has inspired a lot of interesting photos for me, but nothing like a walk through the tea gardens. It has been a long time favourite hill station for me as I have visited the place multiple times. This shot was taken on a beautiful day when we stopped on the side of the road for taking some photos. After some great morning tea, wandering through the tea plantations was going to be an interesting thing to do. After all, tea is life and most of my life has been about it. I still wonder what I will do without tea – I will be without my strength and also without many other things. Then there are movies like Life of Josutty which reminds you of the beauty of Kerala highlands!

TeNy

Absence of Thinking

The easiest thing to do in the world is to imitate without thinking. A few months ago, when the movie Premam released a few months ago, people were praising it so much, and overrating the movie just came naturally to them. Later, when they got bored, they started abusing the movie in the name of corrupting the youth. Now, they are abusing it because another movie, Ennu Ninte Moideen has released. The truth is that none of these activities make any sense.

Unfortunately, this is how some people work. One person come with something and creates many fake accounts to post the same thing everywhere; then most of the people just follow it without thinking. This is mostly initiated by fan-boys. This imitation of others is caused by people having no opinion by themselves. They will think as if this is the new trend, as everyone is saying that this new movie is good and the other old one is bad, it will go like this: “I will just follow the same even though I had earlier said that the other old movie was awesome”.

This comes as no surprise at all, because people change their colours so easily. They are always looking for a chance to degrade something or the other. They come up with many dumb reasons, and there is rarely any sense in it, because they are the same people who had said the exact opposite some time ago. In a few months, they will get another movie or person to love or hate. It is depressing that the educated people who use Facebook degrade to such a situation and fall into the traps set by fan-boys.

The biggest shame is that even the words used to do this remains the same. One day, one movie is “art” and when another one comes, these people showers abuse on the movie and praises the new one. Sometimes, it is the other way around. One has to wonder who creates fake profiles in Facebook and comes up with one trend or the other. Some people try to say that they are speaking for everyone and they know everything, but unfortunately for them, there is a huge community who don’t post in pathetic communities, and they know the truth.

Then there is the spread of hatred towards people. They call everyone names for no real reason. Sometimes the good people wonder where these guys find these names, and the reasons which make no sense One has to wonder where they find so much of such evil- is it from home itself? Do their parents teach to hate or is it just inherited from the friends? Finding hatred is easier, but the realization of the truth that people find so much time in hate is depressing.

May be most of the people don’t post and don’t like these posts can choose not to watch the movie supported by the maniacs who abuse. Their favourite stars could also be avoided, and then the superstars will tell their fans and fan clubs not to be abusive. They will have to listen to their favourite stars, right? May be they can use another title for the favourite movies of their superstars – Lies, Hate and Abuse; it is what they do. Their superstars can use the titles to their advantage because it is truth and people will instantly believe it.

The absence of brain is clearly evident in those posts. With mutual respect dead, is there any chance of nice comments from these people? Not anytime soon, I guess. But if movies are said to corrupt the youth, may be it is about some of these celebrities of whom these people are fans of. Will there be equality as long as there are blind fans? Superstars are created and so are the junior superstars. The people with real acting skills won’t be there to found. Whose fault is that? Those who imitate others and hate or love things like everyone else do?

***The images used in this blog spot are from the Official Facebook Page of the movie Premam.

TeNy

Truth Makes One Free

There are many types of truth in this world, and among them, the strongest ones might be the one which you want to hear and those which you want to avoid hearing at any cost. The strength of both of these lies in our perception of that truth. There are times when we can’t live with that truth, and at some other times, we can’t live without it. But knowing and accepting the truth is something that makes our lives better, most of the time. It makes us free, and often transforms us into better people.

I believed in God without the existentialist, absurdist, nihilist thoughts at that time – they came to me later with and after MA English. My thoughts about the world was not that complicated; I loved just the usual things and tried to stick with the crowd at that time. So, I wasn’t sure that I was there at the right place when I took the Commerce-Mathematics group for my Plus Two at a CBSE school, but still felt that God has put me at the right place, and if things needed to change, it will.

The clouds were always dark and strong over my head, but the rain mostly stayed away.

So, it was one of those days when I went to the school early morning at six when the school bus came to pick the sleepy me and bring me to the distant educational institution which had me in trouble. By that time, I had changed my stream and found that Commerce-Mathematics could never work even in the best scenario, and may be it can work with Commerce-Computer because Mathematics has always been the biggest evil of all times. But that didn’t do much good, because the true evil was something else.

Evil came in another form at that time, using the mask of Accountancy. I was sure that it sent me to sleep more than any other. Mathematics used to make me fall asleep, but it was in parts. This one actually sent me to sleep with such consistency that I have nightmares about this subject in the class. I used to say the definition of Accounting in sleep at that time, and still continues to remember that one particular definition. I wished that I could run away, but the school was located at some strange place from where there was no direct bus home.

The Accountancy teacher at that time knew that there was something wrong with me, and I was the one true zombie in the class while she was teaching, even though I never accepted that. I was determined to learn Accountancy by heart and not let it go, even though my habit of staying up late at night and leaving early for school had made Fried Rice out of my brain, and I was often the walking dead, and the feeling was very strong during the Accountancy classes.

My mother had asked me earlier to stop this meaningless program and return so that we can try at some State syllabus school which starts at 10 AM and also leave this Accountancy behind because she herself is unable to make me understand it despite working at a bank. But I decided to go on with the daily sleepy party until something which my Accountancy teacher said made a point in my zombified mind. I still can’t figure out most of it because I was sleepier than being cursed with sleep. It went through the fog of sleepiness and reached the core; #SachchiAdvice was there.

The journey of life continues, and there was that bridge which I always had to find.

She was sure that I didn’t like this at all; even though, there were others who scored lesser than me, it was only me who had absolutely no interest in this, and had come to sleep at class and then manage something to do just okay during the tests. My interest was at somewhere else, and I finally decided to get out of my sleepy school days and join another school with Science-Computer, but it was not my destination either. Still, I managed to survive there, and in the end, be the Plus Two graduate in science stream, and then later cut that connection too!

I am participating in the #SachchiAdvice Contest by MaxLife in Association with BlogAdda.

***The images used in this blog post were taken on my Sony Cybershot camera by me.

TeNy

The Twist of Fate

It was a long time ago that I had this doubt in choosing between English and History for graduation. The problem was that I liked both of the subjects almost equally, and couldn’t figure out a choice between them. I was also not confident about choosing between these two also because I was a very doubtful person, and wondered which of these would do me good and which one won’t be that good for me. There was not going to be much difference in the studies for me, but there was going to be certain change in the results.

I used to read both English Literature and History works, and so that was going to be a problem. So, I decided to ask a few people. The result was all on one side though, in favour of English. I tried tossing a coin, and even that showed English. Only the time spent in the games Age of Empires, Rise of Nations, Civilization and Caesar had me with another ideas. People were all so much in favour of English that I wondered why they hadn’t recommended Humanities to me for Plus Two. Still, I was closer to one of my two favourite courses then.

We need lighthouses in our lives to show where to go without hitting the rocks.

I was still going to tell these people when I joined and where, because letting too many people know things was the reason behind most of my problems. So, I called my friend who was studying outside Kerala, and as many of the others and almost every friend whom I had from school or neighbourhood, he was also going through Engineering. If he wasn’t going through that course, that would have been a surprise, because I have had the title of being the only one strange non-Engineer, non-Doctor person.

He told me to go on with English because he knew that I wrote something which none of my friends wanted to read or understand. I felt that it was a fair suggestion because I had often wondered what I wrote about and why. Choosing English could give me a better direction at that time. There was the need to read more and direct my writings better. So, choosing English was the right thing to do, and History could happen on another day. So, the friend went back to the procedure of collecting supplementary exams, and I made clear about the choice again.

During these days, I wonder about the decisions, but choosing English hasn’t really bothered me at all, even as I couldn’t find a job after that; it is just that the route doesn’t make me sad. It is something that I had wanted and with both the BA as well as the MA, I have never really felt any big trouble during the course. Even now, I find happiness in being MA English graduate rather than any other, and this also meant that I could study in the one college where I always wanted to study. It was the right choice; may be History would have done just okay, but the choice was still fine.

Choices do make things happen – what if we take that wrong turn instead?

But I did take my second degree in History too, and so it wasn’t really a loss even there. In the end, it was about which degree to come first and which one to follow. With nothing lost in the end, the #SachchiAdvice worked better because the language had given me more power, and I could use a good amount of this acquired strength while writing for the History exams too. History had also come as one of the extra subjects to study for the English graduation. So everything was related.

Nowadays, when I wonder what I should have done different or what I could have chosen in another way, this choice doesn’t come to the list of bad decisions, and it happens to be the #SachchiAdvice which has made things work. There is always the need for some confirmation related to the decisions from people we trust, and I haven’t been that good in making decisions. But here, the decision was the kind which still inspires me to write. I feel that if I was not MA English, I wouldn’t have even started a blog at WordPress.

I am participating in the #SachchiAdvice Contest by MaxLife in Association with BlogAdda.

***The images used on this blog post were taken by me only.

TeNy

Vanity for Dummies

Vampire Bat: Greetings, vampire apprentices. Today, we are going to have a special class on Vanity. It is the Devil’s favourite sin and the most hated thing in the New Vampire World. We don’t tolerate vanity and we don’t allow it inside our souls. But it still gets in at times, but that is not normal. I apologize for calling this special class, but as the special festivities have brought too many holidays this week, we had to take this step, and it is approved by Uncle Dracula and the Vampire Elders. So, lets show you some instances of true vanity with sample humans who will tell you what they want.

Sir Money who knows the value of rupee: I earn more than you and later my son earns more than your son. Then there is the daughter who is married to that rich family with trees were money grows, while your children are not earning enough. I go to different homes and tell them that my children earns so much; I usually ask how much their off-springs earn, and then start talking about my child. I have been doing this for a very long time and so I know how much these people might earn under different circumstances. So establishing superiority here is quite easy.

The Legendary Property Master who requires a lot more: I look at how much property people own, and it has been my idea of a smart person. People should always buy more and more property, because what is a man without land? I remind people that my children were married to families which own a lot of property. Do you have money to buy some property? Then lets buy some. I can introduce you to a few people who are related to my son’s wife or my daughter’s husband. They are so rich that I often wonder why we are so rich, influential and awesome.

Book-er of Job who knows what everyone needs: I know what everyone needs, and it is the job. If you don’t have a job, you got nothing. Learn from my son and daughter who have such a high job and are earning a lot. They are so awesome that people at their office appreciate them each and every hour saying “Well done my boy” and “Well done my girl” – it keeps occuring so much that people know them by the name Well Done. You don’t even have a job. What is the point then? Why do people who don’t have a job even try to live? It means that you are nothing.

Lord Education who has no wisdom at all: My children are so brilliant that they search for notes on Google. They don’t even use text books. They are so loved in the school that the teachers call me every day to talk about them. All teachers tell me that they are awesome, and even the headmistress says that she has seen no kids like them. At a point of time, they were even able to smuggle a mobile into the classroom even when there was heavy checking all around. How cool is that? They are so smart that movies like Loham can use them for some smart moves.

The Status Seeker who finds a lot more: I have always felt that it is always about status, and related to what we show to the others. So, lets show a bigger image to them than what we really are. Only those who pretend that he or she is better than the others can have the power. So, I am going to be better than me. After all, my children are married to such big families, and their achievements should reflect through me. I am going to make a big impression out of nowhere just like Premam movie did.

The Great Knight of Marriage who wants people married: The true destination of everyone is to get married, and then there is the need for kids, then to get them to school and to college, then to their marriage and so on. What is a person who is not married? See how my children have chosen their partners from big and perfect families. If you need guidance about the same, you can contact me. As all my children are married, I am looking to find some people to give marriage advice.

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

TeNy

Through Movie Quotes

***Something from a few movie quotes.

Alice in Wonderland (2010): From the moment I fell down that rabbit hole I’ve been told where I must go and who I must be.
This keeps happening, no matter how much we try. Some people tell us to move out of it and that adults should take the decisions by themselves. But for people who have been taught to respect and obey the elders, it is not that easy. We have been taught this as part of our culture. Along with it, there is the commandment number four “Honour thy father and thy mother” – this comes as a very strong commandment, and the uncles, aunties along with the others also joins the party as the extention of this commandment. One can work, but only within the limits. Some people will find not obeying which points to not respecting very easy, but not every people can do that with ease; but, may be practice will help.

There is no wonderland. The world deserves to be called the bloody wasteland.

The Devil’s Advocate (1997): Vanity, definitely my favorite sin.
In one of my favourite movies which combines so many interesting things, this quote had my attention. It is not something that is not a secret, but surprisingly it becomes more and more relevant these days. As the movie ends with these lines, it leaves people with a never ending scope for false pride and leaves them considering the other as humans of a lower level. If there is something that evil can thrive on, it is this. The same feature has been carried on to both younger and older generations who boast about themselves as well as their sons and daughters who score high marks, marry from a rich family or earn a very high salary. Yes, these mean everything for them.

The Island (2005): The life you thought you had… it never happened.
Even though The Island is one of those lesser known science fiction movies questioning the reality of one’s existence, I have found it more engaging that a number of others. I have often wondered about this particular quotes, about the life that has seemed to exist. I have felt that my life has extended so much without nothing special happening with it. As it goes on to the third year of my times after finishing MA English, I wonder if that post graduation ever happened. My memories about the same fades, and with nothing much to memorize after that, I often feel that most of my life never really happened. Each and every day moves on as if nothing really happens – nothing really happened or happens, right?

King Arthur (2004): There is no worse death than the end of hope.
Even though this is closer to truth than ever, there is never any certainty about it. In this case, I have died so many times, and has remained dead for a very long time. Death takes us all, but one has to wonder why life doesn’t take everyone. There are very less cases of hope being personified; may be it doesn’t really exist, and to prevent death and the ultimate end, hope is invented so that people can live on. Meanwhile, death is personified so much and the same is the case of fate. So, is the hope something that we can hope for? If there is none and we are not even provided with the illusions about the same, aren’t we already dead? I should contact someone to dig a grave for me.

Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994): The world changes, we do not, there lies the irony that finally kills us.
This existed in the original book by Anne Rice with small changes, and this one haunts me very often. Even when we think outside the immortality, we understand that we are getting outdated so fast. I have felt that I was outdated even when I was in school. I struggled to keep up with the increasing pace of the world, and even though I learned computer very early, I have fallen out of that certain advantage. I feel very old already, with not able to keep up to the pace and the thought procedures of the new generation. Nowadays, I feel that I don’t need to choose to be different, because I am different, more than I have ever been. Each and every day, my strength disappears as modernity further progresses.

Immortality? Even mortality is so long when there is no hope or peace in the world.

DragonHeart (1996): Dreams die hard and you hold them in your hands long after they’ve turned to dust.
There is a lot said about the dreams, but do we do when there are none? What if there were so many of them one day and nowadays the only thing that remains is dust? Well, may be I should think about selling some ash. I wonder if some churches will be interested in buying ash from me for an Ash Wednesday. If dreams could stay as ashes, that could be a job to do, but ashes also gets scattered into the void and there is almost no sign left of it. Ashes of the Undead Dreams could be a nice title for a future novel with the dreams coming back as nightmares to haunt the sleep, bringing hopeless nights. Well, the hoplessness is eternally possible, even without that.

Braveheart (1995): Every man dies, not every man really lives.
I have often heard similar quotes and I have often wondered what would classify as living. I am pretty much confident that existence is just a part of living and there got to be something more about it. There had to be a meaning for life and my existential crisis has led me only to understand the absurd side of the same. Nihilism is such a natural thing, and it awaits all of us. May be one day, I can look back and see if I had lived, may be after my death. There can be only doubts about this, as the classification is really difficult. Living is more difficult than staying alive, even though from the viewpoint of those who feel dead already, they are both the same.

***The images used in this blog post are from the Official Facebook Pages of the two movies mentioned above.

TeNy

Hello on the Beach

It was once again not a good day. I wandered around the beach which was very much without any crowd. It was mid-noon and expecting a crowd there would have been rather a strange idea. But I was there, and I was glad to be there at that time. Nobody was around and with the mobile phone switched off, there was no words of nonsense advice coming up. So, I continued the walk until I heard the voice.

“Hello! Hello!” the voice came up with the same thing.

I looked around to find the person, but there was nobody. I checked the phone to make sure that it was switched on, but it was not. Then I turned around to face the rocks, and there I found the Lich Queen.

“So you are here again. It is always a pleasure of horror seeing you. How did you manage to resurrect yourself this time?” I asked.

“I am a simple undead creature who gets animated on magic. I thrive on your depression; it works like a spell to bring me back from the dead each and every time. I have often wondered from where you find the sources for this much depression. It has made me feel so much alive this time” she said.

Wandering through a beach at mid-noon – perfect for some extra thoughts!

“I have my interesting sources, and I have even listed them down. But you look so beautiful this time. What happened to the skeletal structure? This is against the third law of the undead which talks about bones. You are like the prettiest girl around here right now”.

“That was smart, because I am the only girl around here right now and so I will automatically be the prettiest; no need to say. Yes, I am more than just skeleton right now. Your depression has hit a new level, and it has helped me to get my own upgrades” she said.

“Stop feeding on my depression to come back to life. Why are you always after me? Why don’t you go to one of those sorcerers practicing black magic and make them bring you back from the dead?” I asked.

“They are not really good as they used to be. The modernity has taken a lot of their powers away, and they struggle to keep the magic going in the world of science. But that is no worry, as I have you here. Who is your source of depression this time? The ones who compare you with their children and keeps telling you that you should be like them?” Lich Queen asked.

“Yes, something like that and a little bit more” I answered.

“No way! I thought you had gone a long way beyond that. You have been listening to that ever since you were born. I was expecting something bigger! I thought that it would have something which I can tell my zombie minions. Yes, we are going to attack you together because my zombie kids need more territory and bones, but this is depressing for me to come alive feeding on this centuries old case of depression” she complained.

“I should just get rid of you because I need loneliness. This beach is supposed to be lonely at this time” I said.

“No, you can’t. I am the product of your depression and I will be with you until sunset when I will be free to go to my zombie team. We will have some horror fun around here. I will let you know about the total number of skeletons under this sea and we will count the number of crabs under the sands. I can even tell you when the sky will fall on your head” she said.

The sands, the sea and the coconut trees never judge people – fair enough!

“I really don’t need to know that. Do you know that you can go and sit under that coconut tree until sunset because you can see me from there and then you will be with me without bothering me?” I asked.

“Absolutely not. I have to cheer you up. Why don’t you start the process by saying a hello back?” Lich Queen asked.

“Why do you need a hello?” I wondered.

“Because you can write about how a hello lead you to the Lich Queen? Isn’t it a nice reason?” she asked.

“Yes, not that interesting though” I replied.

“Well, things are going to change now. We are going to talk about those people who think that you are not good enough. We will connect them to hell and then we can roast them in the Devil’s Chicken Curry. I still wonder why none of them have come to my place yet” she said and continued talking as if there was no end to the dialogues.

As the day came to an end, the time period of the existence of that ‘hello’ was beginning to disappear, and the Lich Queen scattered into the wind which carried her off to the nearby cemetery. It was also the time for me to leave as I kept a few things said by her in my mind and returned home.

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

***The images used in this blog post were taken by me on my Sony Cybershot Digital Camera a few years ago.

TeNy

Battle of Ten Vampires

The Great Vampire Library used to record almost all battles which the vampire kind had fought with the werewolves, zombies, dark elves, goblins, orcs, wood elves, satyrs, centaurs and high elves, but there was one battle which they fought among themselves. This particular battle was never recorded in any of the books, and so the gargoyles who guarded them never spread those stories among the masses of vampires. There was no word spoken about it inside or outside the vampire realm, but the vampires knew; at least all who fought or were witness to the battles.

It was the battle for the remote control of the television. It goes back to those years when television was first introduced in the vampire world which used dark magic to sneak into the cable television and bring the channels before that. This battle, which is often referred to as “Battle of Ten Vampires” in secret, had no blood involved, but there surely was the use of vampire powers for the possession of that one special weapon, the remote control. But the vampires were too ashamed to speak about such a meaningless battle.

The battle has actually turned more meaningless, with Tata Sky providing the option to record, transfer and carry the favourite movies and TV shows with the users. The Vampire Owl who created more problems than anybody else, really wanted to watch that match between Manchester United and Liverpool, but the Vampire Bat prevented the same by taking control of the remote control to watch US Open. It was the beginning of that battle which could have been prevented by Tata Sky+ Transfer, and it is still possible with the use of a time machine.

The battle had wide spread destruction inside the room because the vampire apprentices had decided to join. Vampire Hamster wasn’t sure what he wanted to watch and so kept changing the channel. Vampire Crocodile went on biting everyone around hoping to get control of the remote control and Vampire Alligator joined from another side. Vampire Crow used its connection with the dead to summon a few undead and Vampire Raven contacted the other world directly through the portal. With Vampire Cat joining in, Vampire Panda and Vampire Penguin contributed heavily to the chaos.

With Kung Fu Panda on Star Movies, Vampire Panda had no option but to go berserk, and was stopped by Vampire Penguin who wanted to watch Happy Feet. With Vampire Cat’s desire to watch Puss in Boots gone awry Vampire Crow decided to sneak in and put on The Crow on HBO, but that was thwarted by Vampire Crocodile who managed to put the National Geographic Channel. Vampire Alligator tried to defend the Discovery Channel, but the Vampire Raven sneaked in. With the undead minions joining, and the sofas, tables and chairs thrown around, the television barely survived.

Nowadays, things have calmed down and are getting more peaceful with #TATASkyTransfer being available, providing the customers with the option to watch the shows whenever we want to, with the programs stored in the devices in pockets. The shows can not only be watched in one of the rooms on one’s phone, laptop or tablet, but also while on a journey which might be too long. This surely seems like a better option than the internet download because things are rather more direct.

Now, there are wars to be fought outside, and it will be very good for the vampire community to have the internal problems solved. It is something that #TATASkyTransfer can bring everywhere and make sure that the fight for the remote is not there. The battle to watch a cricket, football or tennis match during the time of the television serials is something of epic proportions and there is the need for bring Tata Sky+ Transfer to save the day in most of the cases. So, this becomes a choice for peace and non-violence. Check here for more details about the same here: http://www.tatasky.com/transfer/

***The images used in this blog post are from the Official Facebook Page of Tata Sky, and are used to support this post.

TeNy

Airtel 4G at Trivandrum

Lets back to #Airtel4G again. No, I am not done with it, not yet! The immortality of the Vampire Bat has been brought to test many times, but he has survived, and so he is here to live another day, and that too with Airtel 4G at Trivandrum. He was there when it had launched at Cochin, attending the special blogger preview, and he was also invited to Trivandrum for the launch there as the Vampire Bat became a temporary Trivandrum blogger for a very short period of time.

Actually, my last few posts were written and posted from Trivandrum itself, and I managed to meet a few bloggers out there too during the launch and preview. I have been wandering around Trivandrum since morning that day, and the trip to a place which I had never really visited that much was going to be a lot more interesting with the 4G. I was caught in the web of 3G just before that, and so getting to 4G like in Cochin was something which would speed up a lot of things, not just the data.

Here at this beach, the artists pay homage to the deeply saddening incident

I have been using Airtel 4G since August twenty fifth, and it seems that I will be testing the same for more time, and I am also hoping to keep it recharged with the 2G and 3G until the 4G comes to my town. Back to Trivandrum, it surely seemed faster here as the speed suggested. But there was something lacking in the continuity as it didn’t remain as consistent as it was at Cochin. The highest speed was seen in the speed test at Pattom, and even with those seconds of loss of connection, things remained real quick.

There was the trip to Kovalam which was pending for a long time, and it was done with a double-decker bus which was faster around here than at Cochin. From Karamana to Kizhakkekkota (East Fort) and to Kovalam, the 4G maintained its power, and I would expect the same at Vizhinjam too – but wandering through the three beaches, there was some nice 4G experience which ensured that it was easy to post higher quality pictures taken by me on Samsung Galaxy A5 – even the photos taken on lesser quality Asus Zenfone 5 camera used to take more time to upload on usual 3G.

Shankumugham Beach has its own Jalakanyaka a.k.a the mermaid

The most interesting area of Kovalam was indeed the Lighthouse Beach which has the lighthouse as the name suggests. It feels good to have some Cardamom Tea on the beach here along with high speed browsing with #Airtel4G. The internet had returned to consistency at that time unlike the previous day. The rocks at the Hawah Beach area also formed nice place to look at and rest while working with some 4G. Varkala Beach, also known as Papanasam Beach still remains my favourite beach in the Southern part of Kerala.

There were plans to visit a few other places including the Kowdiar Palace, Napier Museum, Thiruvananthapuram Zoo, Padmanabhaswamy Temple, Palayam Saint Joseph’s Metropolitan Church and even Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuary, but none of them really happened, and I adjusted with the Saint Mary’s Cathedral at Pattom which was closed, but provided a nice look from outside along with a white coloured church on the other side seemingly belonging to another Christian denomination; there was also the visit to Madre De Deus Church at Vettucad earlier.

And then there was the Lighthouse Beach at Kovalam, the best of the three there.

Airtel 4G surely has the advantage of launching first here along with being at Cochin and Calicut; it remains the biggest advantage of the network provider. I have also never heard about any mobile phone network provider giving a chance to the bloggers to experience the same when launching at this part of India, not at Cochin, Trivandrum or Kerala as a whole. May be I am not in touch with enough Keralite bloggers to know about such happenings, but as of now, it seems that along with that advertisement with a challenge, Airtel has gone ahead. Rakul Preet Singh of the earlier Airtel advertisements will be missed though 😀

Saint Mary’s Cathedral at Pattom is an interesting structure at the centre of the city.

***The images used in this blog post were taken by me on my Samsung Galaxy A5 during my visit to Trivandrum this week.

TeNy

Four Cups of Tea

The best incidents in the vampire world have always managed to begin with tea. The reason for this is that no vampire ever wakes up without smelling tea from the sleep or having that perfect tea dream which makes it the only non bloody thing that can be perfectly shared between vampires and humans. It has also eternally kept the werewolves and zombies away because they have never been the people of the tea, and it has been a title reserved for the vampires under the immortal clause 99A-2Z.

Yes, vampires do keep the people away, it has been the twenty seventh super power which they are known to possess. It has been officially recognized in thirteen realms of magic. But it has only did people good because the great vampire team has been mostly angry and none of them has ever fallen in love. They were always beyond that, of a higher existence. Still, there is that girl walking outside. She has been walking around with that phone for quite a long time. Who might be calling her? Vampire Bat finds her to be extremely cute…

Vampire Owl: You are going very far away from the topic.

Vampire Bat: What? Oh, yes. What was I talking about? Yes, the meeting which had the awesome tea.

So, the Vampire Bat hasn’t been always into meetings due to the same reason. He doesn’t meet other bloggers, even though he has met a few this year as they were brought together by fate. Still, the Vampire Bat decided to get the Yellow Vampire Mobile and travel on it to the meeting point which was many pot-holes and a lot of congested traffic away from his place. But the Vampire Bat knew that the time has come for him to come out of the shadows to enter the list of friends belonging to the living.

Vampire Hamster: Excuse me, Sir Vampire Bat. Do you travel on a mobile phone? Is that the Asus Zenfone 5?

Vampire Bat: What? No! Its like the Batmobile. Kindly stop talking if you really want to hear the full story.

Vampire Owl: Typical question from a vampire apprentice who doesn’t come to the blood sucking tutorials. You please continue, Mr. Vampire Bat.

The Vampire Bat had the meeting with the Man Who Lives, as the world of the undead met the world of the living at the land which is known to mankind as Cochin. Then we made to KR Bakes where we decided to not choose the Puffs with the dead and had Vegetable Puffs in the name of the immortal WordPress blogs. There, we also had four cups of tea and discussed very interesting things like life before death, movies of the soul, Kerala and the Middle East, how to have a job and not to, how the bats and owls are doing in the world of chaos etc.

As the Vampire Bat was once hit on the head with a selfie stick, he made the decision not to bring a selfie here. It was actually an accident, but that too counts. He never really encouraged the selfies even though he did pose on a few occasions just because they were taken and his absence would mean that his immortality had expired. The Vampire Bat has asked Uncle Dracula to declare this stick as a dangerous weapon along with the silver stakes, but that is pending approval from the vampire elders and the Elite Vampire Club.

Vampire Bat: So, my dear vampire team, please say this together with me.

Vampires [together]: We would like to thank the Man Who Lives, and also all his tranquility for bringing the meeting of the Living and the Undead at one place where there was awesome tea and Vegetable Puffs.

Vampire Bat: Please note this down in the New Vampire Book of Eternity, on page number thirteen.

Vampire Hamster: As you say, Sir Vampire Bat. I am going to work on that.

***This is the story of my first unofficial blogger meet with any blogger I have known before 😀 There were no photos taken, and so please adjust with the photos from the Official Facebook of the movie, Hotel Transylvania 😛

TeNy

What Do We Know?

There has been no shortage of newspapers in the vampire world which were smuggled through the portal to the other realm. One of them had the attention of Dracula who decided to teleport himself to the land of the humans, where the Vampire Bat awaited his arrival. “What is it about this India Today Woman Summit and what is this thing about women wanting to be treated specially or equally? What is wrong with these humans and what is it that these people require?” Dracula wondered. A certain understanding was reached with five situations at five different places.

They first stopped at a village where a woman was looking to keep her second child after losing the first one to female foeticide forced upon her by the relatives of her husband. She had her own doubts about this one too, and had left the house. Dracula refused to believe such incidents happening during this modern age and wondered if they had used the time machine instead of the teleportation device, but the Vampire Bat assured him that it is the right device, and to make sure about the same, pressed the button again to instantly teleport them to another location.

The device re-appeared at another location and it crashed into the garden of a house. They were quick to hide the machine and listened to the conversation going on inside home. While leaving, Dracula asked “Why should this girl stay with the idiot who is not worthy of marriage? Just because he is rich and has good looks, why should she tolerate this egoistic maniac? This is ridiculous”. “I would blame the parents in this case. They are always looking for the rich men from reputed families and not men with character. Some idiots think that a job with high salary and family reputation means everything” said the Vampire Bat.

The repaired device stopped at the top of an Airtel mobile tower. They looked around with their exaggerated visions to notice two separate incidents, one where a girl was stalked by three men, and another where four men were acquitted by the court nearby as the accusation on them for molestation was wrong. “This is rather confusing. Which one is real? One of them is an illusion, right?” asked Dracula. “Both are real. There are just good men and women and then there are the evil ones” replied the Vampire Bat. “It is just not that simple as it is in the vampire world. Humans are too unpredictable” he added.

“See that one on the left side!” the Vampire Bat screamed. Dracula turned around to see a man yelling about shortage of dowry. “That idiot! I don’t understand why the families get the women to marry these men who ask for money. There is no favour being done here, and marriage is not about saving the girl. They should say no to the men who ask dowry, no matter what he has to offer. This is not love, but an insult to women. It is a shame that they even give dowry for love marriages” said Dracula. “I have told you many times that these humans are strange. Even most of the good men don’t have the right to choose what to study and whom or when to marry” said the Vampire Bat.

They rested under a tree behind a stage on which a lady was speaking about why all men are evil and how they should leave the women alone to achieve what they have always wanted. They remembered that the same lady had asked for more reservations for women in various fields along with some special treatment at another venue. She had also asked for hatred against men. “Who is she?” Dracula asked. “It is a human thing. They don’t really know what they want, but they find ways to hate each other every day. She is just a very good contributor in one particular field. The religion and caste based hate fields are more popular” the Vampire Bat replied.

“Forget them. Nobody has any idea. At least do you actually know what you want?” Dracula asked. “I don’t know it either. But I have understood that there will never be true equality unless everyone tries to achieve it, stopping the discrimination on the basis of not just sex, but also social status, caste, religion, community, money, race, language and everything else which divides the world including the extremities of nationalism” said the Vampire Bat. “I am delighted to know that you are thinking exactly the same way as I have been directing my thoughts” said Dracula as he disappeared into the shadows.

I’m blogging for the India Today Woman Summit 2015 #WomenPower activity at BlogAdda.

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

TeNy

We are Still Waiting

As we await the release of movies like Spectre, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Peanuts Movie, Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension and The Martian, my wait for a few of the other movies continue. The fact remains that I don’t expect at least half of the movies in this list to release here, or find enough screens here. But there is no limit to waiting, and we will watch some of them at Star Movies or HBO if the theatres don’t shower enough blessings to the lesser known ones. The need for the same actually begins with Guillermo del Toro’s Crimson Peak for me.

1. Crimson Peak: My most awaited movie of the year, Guillermo del Toro’s new adventure which is to be combination of many things, continues to make me wait. With Tom Hiddleston and Mia Wasikowska around, we know that there is the best possible cast for such a Gothic environment of mystery and horror. The trailer was really interesting and it promises a different kind of Gothic horror, the kind which we have dreamt about a lot – I believe that a lot of literature students would have wanted true Gothic horror, and may be this one will deliver the best of them all on the big screen. After all, we know what Guillermo del Toro is capable of.

2. Sinister 2, Maggie and Dark Places: This sequel to Sinister was expected to be another big horror movie of this year, but it never really impressed the critics and haven’t released here yet either. Another horror movie, Dark Places also seems to have faced the same fate. Arnold Schwarzenegger starrer Maggie is the third movie to face that fate, but with better critical reception which stands as mixed. These three movies make the three horror flicks which never came here despite promising to be there through the multiplexes – I would guess that they did release at some other cities of India, or may be they will come here much later with another release date?

3. Rings: The star power of Arnold Schwarzenegger couldn’t bring Maggie here and the name Charlize Theron couldn’t bring Dark Places to our theatres yet. So the question would remain about this movie releasing here even though the name has its own power. Insidious: Chapter 3 made much less impact here just like Insidious: Chapter 2 and lets hope that this third film in the Hollywood horror based on the Japanese horror flick Ringu, and the third after The Ring and The Ring Two can create enough impact in the United States to release here. It is surely not good times for horror. But Crimson Peak can change that before the release of this one, but that would still depend on many factors.

4. The Last Witch Hunter and Victor Frankenstein: While the Keanu Reeves starrer Knock Knock should be an interesting watch, it might not get a chance to release here, but for these two movies, there is chance for big collection here. The Last Witch Hunter has Vin Diesel as the immortal witch hunter looking forward to save the world with the help of another witch, played by Rose Leslie – she was there in Game of Thrones for so less time, and needs to be there for us on the big screen. The latter, which is another adaptation of the classic horror story with James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe leading the way. Both can use the star power to get to victory with ease.

5. Hotel Transylvania 2 and The Good Dinosaur: The good monsters lead by the vampires return here to bring the fun back. This year had animated movies having big box-office collections, even with Minions which was not considered that good as Despicable Me and its sequel, there is a big chance for this movie. The first one never released here, and I hope that the second one do because this is good time for that. It was rather too predictable too, and lets see what the second movie brings with Dracula’s father being a character too. Meanwhile, The Good Dinosaur is expected to be simpler and to appeal more to the kids. But it should also be fun anyway.

6. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 and Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials: With The Hobbit finished and out of the way, one franchise looks to finish well like The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies and another one looks to do the second job. Both of them are surely to attract enough of the audience. The would expect the second part of the book’s third part to do better than its predecessor, and the second movie of the other franchise also to do better than the first. Both are sure to have some very nice moments which can leave some lasting impression on the audience. The combination of science-fiction, dystopia and adventure can never really fail to work completely.

***The images used in this blog post are from the Official Facebook Pages of the movies mentioned here.

TeNy

The Game of Three

In the year 2015, there has been no movie which has created that big an impact for me other than Mili. The same was the case of 2014 which had only Iyobinte Pusthakam, even though 2013 had Celluloid, Amen, Drishyam, Philips and the Monkey Pen, Memories, North 24 Kaatham and Left Right Left as part of that golden year for Malayalam Cinema. But the year surely has the chance to bring the change, with three movies ready for release. I have very high expectation about the first two, and the third should be the surprise big one. There is also another special movie to go with these.

Life of Josutty: Coming from the man who has never failed to impress, this might be the simplest and yet a heavy contender for becoming the big movie of the year. Jeethu Joseph not only has the success of “the family thrillers” in the form of Drishyam and its Tamil remake, but also awesomeness in different genres, like one of the best psycho-crime thrillers in the form of Memories, full comedy entertainer in the form of My Boss, family drama in the form of Mummy and Me, and his highly interesting debut work which was the investigative thriller Detective – I have liked each of them a lot, and I am banking on him to make this one another interesting flick.

Dileep also returns to the territory which will do great for him, the signs of the same already being there with Love 24×7 and Chandrettan Evideya. It is supposed to be a simple family story with messages about life, and Jeethu Joseph can manage it considering what he has already created for the audience. It is also the first Malayalam movie from Eros International. This should be as close to life as it can, and the audience can hope that they can return home with that emotional and feel-good effect and lessons for life. Simple can be powerful, and I don’t doubt the strength of simplicity – coming to theatres on the eighteenth of September.

Ennu Ninte Moideen: Set in the 1960s in the backdrops of Kozhikode/Malabar and based on the real life love story of Moideen and Kanchanamala, this is a romantic story which was talked about a lot and what most of the Keralite audience have been waiting for. With Prithviraj Sukumaran and Parvathy in the lead, this one is certain to bring the much needed strength to the Malayalam movie list of the year which needs more quality for 2015. Even though the trailer music sounds too familiar, there is the power of visuals and a certain presence of the revolutionary theme which strengthens the movie further.

We remember what Thalappavu with Prithviraj himself as the revolutionary could do, and then there was Left Right Left with that unparalleled strength of finding change and bring the right revolution from the people; also remember the power of revolution withi Iyobinte Pusthakam. This one brings romance to that scene, and lets see how big this one makes – may be the biggest solo hit of Prithviraj ever. There is truth in the righteous revolution and lets see how well it combined with the romance of the age. This is going to begin by bringing the masses into the theatre on September eighteenth.

Kohinoor: There is the promise of an interesting story with Kohinoor. There seems to be a game of smuggling and heist in store in this movie which stars Asif Ali and Indrajith Sukumaran in the main roles, and is supported by a long list of cast starting with Aju Varghese, Chemban Vinod Jose and Vinay Forrt. A new face, Aparna Vinod will also be seen in the movie as the leading actress. “Hemanthamen” song from Rahul Raj sung by Vijay Yesudas from the movie is a melodious return to the music of the past, and it is another highlight of Kohinoor. There will be surprises with this movie, that is for sure.

Kaliyachan: This is the non-commercial side as the story of this movie goes backs to the 2012 Kerala State Film Awards. It is based on the 1959 poem Kaliyachan by P. Kunhiraman Nair and won the Best Debut Director Award for Farook Abdul Rahiman in that year, along with Second Best Actor Award for Manoj K. Jayan and the Award for Best Background Music which it shared with Ozhimuri. Bijibal also won the National Award for Background Music with this movie. It is finally getting the release here at the theatres on September twenty fifth. This should prove to be an interesting watch outside the commercial movie area.

***The images used in this blog post are from the Official Facebook Pages of the respective movies and the actors who are part of the same.

TeNy

The Chaser of Dreams

He was always good at chasing dreams. The result was that he could always find the right paths which lead him to great success multiple times. But he often felt that he had chased them so much that he often forgot to live. His friends had also warned him about the same. His parents had also told him to work less and live more. He used to spend a lot of time thinking about the same. It was at night on a rainy day, that he found what had followed his earlier dreams and what should be done. He decided to come back at the same time every day for weeks, until there was some progress in the later stage of his story. On that special day, the rain was once again there and so was the lady.

“How many times do I have to tell you not to chase me. I am not the one you are looking for. You don’t need me at all” she screamed.

“But you are the only person whom I ever wanted. I have known this throughout my life, and I am sure about it now” he said.

“Don’t you have your dreams? I know that you have a lot of things which you desperately want to accomplish in your life. Can’t you go after them instead of bothering me?” she asked.

“You are my dream. Not just any dream, but the one true dream. You just keep following me inside my head whatever I try to do. I feel very much inspired for the same” he said.

Darkness spreads very fast. Dreams often get completely lost in them.

“I have a lot of work to do. Do you see this list? This is the list of people whom I have to meet tomorrow, and I have this complete list of work which I have to do before the next Christmas. There are lots of special days in between too. There is nothing about us here. Do you have any idea how difficult it is already for me? Do you understand that I have no time for this?” she asked.

“Yes, I know all that. I have been seeing you every night at this exact time. You are a busy person, and so am I. But I can help you with these. I just need to be with you. Just be kind enough to provide me with a chance” he begged.

“This is really getting ridiculous. You seem adamant. Okay, you have been asking for so long. I agree. You are going to get what you want” she said.

“What? Did I hear it right? You really do agree? So we will be together forever like a beautiful fairy tale which has no ending?” he asked with a certain amount of surprise.

“Yes, for eternity; forever and ever as they say in those strange little stories, even though I don’t believe in even one of them” said the lady as he fell down dead. Lady Death took out a diary from her bag and tore up a page. She put the paper in the trash can on the road side and told herself “I hope that the minions at the other world won’t mind a few extra souls coming early. Some people will just keep asking for it, and it is so heart-breaking for me to refuse. After all, I am such a good person”.

Is that sign of possible relief among the dark clouds actually the symbol of the end?

She had a look around. As it rained heavily, she opened the umbrella and walked towards the distant light. The flickering source of light seemed to be moving away, but she kept following it slowly. Meanwhile, two figures emerged out of the shadows and looked at the corpse.

“And then he quit the conventional way of love and life. Some people really ask for death, don’t they? Do you have any idea what his inspiration might have been for doing so? How could this have become a dream for him?” asked the Vampire Bat.

“I have absolutely no idea even after such a long time on this planet, even though I have surely made a lot of guesses. It should be a human thing and often even what these creatures thinks about thinking is completely beyond my understanding. Actually, it is good that we are immortals and back from the dead. Otherwise you and your good friend might have been already dead” said Dracula as both of them had one stare at a police jeep approaching before going back into the shadows.

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

***The images used in this blog post were taken by me on my Asus Zenfone 5.

TeNy

Of Blogging: My Choices

I am writing this post in favour of my friends whose blogs have been nominated for #WIN15. I have already written about most of them on this blog, but I would like to do more. The voting is possible till the thirteenth of September, and all the people whom I am talking about here are the bloggers whom I know personally, and are writing some very high quality content. I know that some of you might wonder if this is needed, but I feel so much of the need to do the same. The Vampire Team has had a long discussion about the same before coming up with the list.

Category: Personal :: Scattered Thoughts – If you ask me which is the blog that I have read the most number of times, it would be this beautiful thought-provoking space from Maniparna, which I might immediately nominate for a lot of awards, not just belonging to one category. She has been coming up with amazing posts, and providing great support to the other bloggers. The Vampire Bat and the Vampire Owl highly recommend this one, and Uncle Dracula is looking forward to your vote 😀
Vote for Maniparna here

Category: Arts Crafts & Design :: Crimson April – This one came easy for me as Tara has been one of the earliest Malayali bloggers whom I have ever known, and I have read more creativity on her blog related to arts and crafts than anywhere else in my life-time. For quite a long time, Crimson April has been my source of seeing and reading about beautiful art. There has been something special out there all the time, and even related to a few posts which were less related to my interests and knowledge, I have found myself very much interested in reading them due to her wonderful way of presenting them.
Vote for Tara here

Catgegory: Entertainment :: Movie Reviews by Bindu Cherungath – Movies of the Soul loves the movie reviews from the fellow movie enthusiast and friend, Bindu, and really hope that she wins this category. She does an amazing job with her reviews, and I hope and believe that a lot of you have already read and appreciated her reviews; if you haven’t, please do soon. Her blog is often the first place I look for reviews without doing Google Search, and they are special.
Vote for Bindu here

Category: Creative Writing :: Petrichor and Clouds – I have been very less into reading Blogspot blogs, but Sreesha has provided some of the most interesting poems and fiction which makes it near impossible not to be at the non-Wordpress platform. Her blog has now shifted to WordPress, and that is a very interesting news for me. I have provided the link to the Blogspot blog to avoid confusion, and you can go to her other blog about book reviews and the new WordPress place from there itself. There is your place to read some great creative writing.
Vote for Sreesha here

Category: Parenting :: Momscribe – This blog from Uma will be my choice in the next big category. She has a very detailed blog out there. Meanwhile, I am skipping the category Beauty & Skin because that has never been, and might never be my department; I don’t read much from those blogs mentioned there either. The same is the case of Fashion & Lifestyle. I also leave Political, Health & Fitness, Food & Drinks, Hindi and Humor & Satire, leaving you to make some recommendations for me.
Vote for Uma here

Category: Photo & Video :: i Share – I vote for Indrani in this category, and if you have seen her Faces of India series and the beautiful photos from Spain, I am sure that you will do the same too.
Vote for Indrani here

Category: Technology & Internet :: Mono-live – I vote for Raj here, as this one is of another level with the details – this has been my best source of such information.
Vote for Raj here

Category: Travel & Living :: From My Window Seat – I vote for Ragini whose interesting travel posts have been inspiring me for quite some time!
Vote for Ragini here

***The image used in this blog post is from the #WIN15 page of BlogAdda.

I didn’t nominate Movies of the Soul for the awards. I am still trying to figure out why. May be I got a very low opinion about myself; may be I had no confidence at all.

TeNy