Some Fun with Studies

English in India has never felt more necessary than that last few years. Even though the regional languages are also having their influence with the support of state governments, coming up with new ways to promote them, trying to make sure that they are doing well, English has been increasing its hold on the students as well as the parents. Hindi also has its say, but it is English that is having an even bigger say in the nation as a whole at one point or the other, as it is having all around the world. With an influence that only gets better, learning the basics of English has been a need, more than a desire these days.

It is here that Nihar Naturals Shanti Amla comes to the picture with its Pathshala Funwala initiative that provides the option of good and smarter education everywhere, making it more accessible, and without discrimination, also possessing a special charm. It is more than just a need during these times, especially in those remote places far away from those cities and towns. But it is not just that, which Pathshala Funwala makes sure about, as they provide a unique toll free number, 8055667788 to help children who have no chance, but really wishes to learn English language.

A long time ago, when I was a child, I wasn’t that good at English either. My interest in the subject came only in the later high school, when I had a good teacher, Miss. Aleyamma Varghese, who happens to be one of the best teachers I ever had – she also went on to become the headmistress of the school later. Your desire to learn a language, especially a language which is not spoken widely among your people, only comes to us when we have good teachers, and Nihar Shanti Amla’s Pathshala Funwala’s toll free number becomes the right teacher, giving children the tips.

Yes, you can have the child sit in a classroom if there is such an option available. But you can be certain that this option could be rather better. Children want some fun to go with learning, and if the studies can connect with them really well, it will feel simple and a lot interesting. It is one way to make sure that they don’t forget the lessons that easily – during our times, they had the rod, they made us stand outside the classroom, they came up with those impositions which increased in number and they even asked us to bring our parents, especially father to meet the class teacher; but those times were different.

I know a number of people who make the excuses for not learning English, as their learning process was just too boring and forced upon them – never did they want to learn the language because they didn’t need to, and never really had to speak in English. Right after they get out of the school or college, they just let the language, along with its literature vanish into thin air. There is the exception of having Hollywood movies which you will feel the need to watch, but most of the movies are about visual extravaganze – at least those which gets wide release in India belong to that category and got less to contribute to the language.

Well, English is a lot of fun. Sooner or later, more and more people will realize that and work accordingly. So, it is up-to all children, including that child you know, who is not getting access to good English education, or even education as a whole, to get back to the track. It is a fast moving world, and we don’t want any child to be falling behind because he or she, or the father or mother never really knew that there was another option. We need them to know, and we need them to move forward, and not sink in the muddy place which is always there to take people in there instead of letting them fly.

The Tea Cerebration(s) recommend you to share this special service to the needy ones who can get the best out of this simple and fun way of learning the language. It is for us to be part of a change, which could make a difference in our world. When you can make a cause work, it is something that adds to your list of virtuous deeds rather than to that resume which you send to make a few thousands of money every month. In making the world around us better, starting with the children, we have the right thing to do for a group of future citizens who are capable of more than they seem to be. So, do keep the number in mind – 8055667788

I am blogging about Pathshala Funwala by Nihar Shanti Amla Oil in association with BlogAdda.

TeNy

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Spirit of the Warehouse

It was darkness all around. Rain had finally arrived to cool down the land and due to the same, darkness had intensified further. Vampire Bat and Vampire Owl slowly opened the door which was covered in spider webs. They entered a space which was separated into many divisions by walls made of some kind of wood. A few empty boxes were kept on the sides and there were barricaded rooms all around, but the central area was open, which they decided to investigate. The roof was leaking and so a lot of rain water had found the way inside.

Vampire Bat: Just keep the vampire twilight vision on. It will make sure that we are ready for any danger which may rise here.

Vampire Owl: The abandoned places are a lot cooler in our realm. Actually, they are not really abandoned as long as they are in our realm, you know – and haunted is rather awesome.

Vampire Bat: The whole design has changed here because these humans don’t know that the supernatural beings are a lot better people and their realm’s so called intelligent people are the boring, overrated creatures.

Vampire Owl: Yes, they should understand that there is the need for the supernatural creatures to remain attached to a particular piece of land or building. They should not be disturbed for the same reason, and the humans should co-exist with the creatures.

Vampire Bat: They don’t co-exist with the people of other religions, even though in the end, they are worshiping the same creator of the world – they are just too stupid. Even otherwise, there are castes, communities, languages and races to fight for. The reasons just never end for them.

Vampire Owl: So, this is an abandoned warehouse. That much is clear now. Why are we here actually?

Vampire Bat: We have to save this particular ghost from here before the evil humans bring a priest to destroy its existence.

Vampire Owl: Shameless humans showing their true colours as usual. Why would they want to do that? Can’t they co-exist with at least one ghost?

Vampire Bat: Co-existence has been historically their big problem. I once tried to count the wars which they have fought and I suddenly became weaker in Mathematics, even though that subject has been my dark nemesis for a long time already. Counting their wars is impossible; each war has too many battles, and it is the kind of list which the Lich Queen uses for the dead and the risen all over the world.

Vampire Owl: Wait! There is something here. Are those ashes flying in the air?

Vampire Bat: Oh no! They are the burnt part of a soul. It seems that we were late. They have already vanquished the spirit.

Vampire Owl: I guess they just wanted to start their programs in here as soon as possible, without respecting the spirits which were bound to the building. Quite a natural thing for disrespectful people.

Vampire Bat: The ashes are grey; light grey to be exact; there was no evil spirit here. This particular spirit would have disappeared after a few days. I can see that it just held onto an emotion, that of loss of a loved one. It is such a shame that they decided to vanquish it.

Vampire Owl: It is a terrible crime which was committed here. Shall we get these humans and take them to the inter-realm court of justice? or at least to the league of all races?

Vampire Bat: Let them live in peace because there will be none of it for them. They shall perish by murdering each other in the name of the multiple divisions which they themselves have created. They are the destroyers of their own kind, and no other creature can do that in a better way.

Vampire Owl: So be their means of destruction then. Divided they stay, the sooner they fall. As you said, lets leave it to what is in their blood, as the hate and the terror shall finish them off.

That ended the mission for them, as they prepared the notes on this journey to be taken to their world. They walked out into the rain, watched over by the greater and lighter part of the vanquished spirit’s soul which had transformed into a faerie of the wind.

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 animated movie, Hotel Transylvania.

TeNy

Birthday and the Conclave

March 12th is my birthday, and there are lots of facts which are related to this particular day. I have never been that much fond of celebrating this day, even though when the friends were there, it was kind of different – giving and taking those treats were essential things. It had become a tradition to celebrate the birthdays more than the rest of the celebrations. But things did change, and I was back to my normal situation, of not celebrating anything – celebrations did leave me, and I was a lot happy to skip them all.

But sometimes, the birthdays become more than just birthdays – it will have other memories and special things happening on the day which will make it the memorable day, but not directly related to being the day on which you were born. There is something special about this year’s birthday – it will be the first birthday of me on which I will be working; the first time on a birthday that actually have a job; it has a special status in that case, but there is something about the last year’s birthday too.

The last year’s birthday had me at three different cities – in the morning, I was at Cochin, at noon, I was at Mumbai and in the evening, I was at Delhi – well, that was surely a different day for me. Usually, it was like, each and every day, I am either at home or at the theatre watching a movie. This one special advantage of not going directly to a city – well, I had so much to spare at that time, and so this kind of journey was not going to waste my time! The return was through Bangalore for some change.

That was what happened on March 12th last year, and then the big moments were to be on the next few days. It was about attending the India Today Conclave at Delhi, and it was what I was there for, even though visiting Delhi for the first time was also a priority. After winning the contest, I found myself at Taj Palace, and right there in the hall to listen to those eminent personalities. I also found my new friends there, my co-winners and delegates – Arvind Passey, Shoma Abhyankar, Shreya Das and Yogita Aggarwal.

When a day has Sachin Tendulkar in the beginning, you know how awesome it can become. There were people like Katrina Kaif, Lisay Haydon, Chetan Bhagat, our honourable central ministers and others on that wonderful first day. On the second day, there were Viswanathan Anand, Ranveer Singh, the ambassadors to India, Shobhaa De and the others, along with the Chief Ministers of a number of states – and when everything ends, you are not happy that it ended, but you can’t wait to travel through Delhi!

The memories stay so well that I often wonder if this is my birthday or the conclave anniversary; a few things are a lot meaningful than the rest, and it changes according to the person; for not everyone thinks the same about their own lives. Maybe I was never really going to think about it as my birthday and as the reminder of myself getting older; it was going to be remembered for my big journey rather than anything else. I didn’t think that much in that way at that time, but now I feel that it might have been the biggest moment of my life, and nothing bigger is to come; especially related to writing.

There are more facts about the same – I have never seen a Malayalam writer this close, but Chetan Bhagat was right there; I have never seen a Kerala cricketer close enough in my life, but I have seen and heard Sachin Tendulkar speaking in that hall; I have never seen a Malayalam movie star in my life, but I have seen and listened to Ranveer Singh, Katrina Kaif and Lisa Haydon – I consider that surprising, but it is something that I am a lot happy about. I guess that some things just happen in life, and there are others which will never occur.

***The images used in this blog post were taken by me during the 2015 India Today Conclave at Delhi.

TeNy

Back to the Future’s Past

Vampire Bat had a chance to test the latest invention of the great Vampire Scientist, Doctor Frankenstein, who had risen from the dead again to serve the vampire world. Last time when he was dead and risen, he had invented the teleportation device, and this time, he was on to inventing the time portal which Dracula desperately wanted to possess after the recent werewolf raids and the return of the Lich Queen from the catacombs to raise a never-ending army of the undead. It was the season of trouble for the vampire race, and Dracula was determined to find a solution.

Vampire Bat volunteered to go through the time portal with a special time-travel device on his hands, and reach the past, as he finished at the Old Vampire World. He walked through the nothingness that used to be the vampire world at that time, and came upon the first of the twenty seven vampire elders whose names were recorded on the book of the undead. The whole place seemed to be that of a world after an apocalyptic event. It was not that much of a happy meeting as he had intended either. But he was the one to change the past for the future, and he knew that quite well.

Vampire Bat: And I have exiled that werewolf from this realm. I have heard that you are the oracle of these times. Please tell me whatever you see about our future.

Vampire Elder: I see that you are part of a great war which will unleash chaos and destruction all around. On the eighty fifth day of that war, you die.

Vampire Bat: What? No! A major war was averted when I prevented the werewolf refugee from entering the realm. There would be no refugees in our realm without him and his extended families, and with the same, I have also prevented the Lich Queen from joining the undead, because it is the werewolf expansion of territory that causes her transformation from the world of the living to the dead, and later the undead.

Vampire Elder: You might be able to stop the minor incidents from happening, but not the final effect of those incidents, because the universe always finds a way to balance things, and as it is you who have altered the time-line, things will be the worst in your case in the case of the new time-line which you have created – in that case, death will only come as relief for you.

Vampire Bat: Seriously? Now I know why the Vampire Owl told me not to meet you. Even in the future, you are talking about similar things only.

Vampire Elder: Well, I can speak only about the truth, and your future has gone from ordinary to bad; if you try to alter more things, it will go to terrible, and you don’t want that.

Vampire Bat: You should understand that what we had planned was for the betterment of not just the vampire community, but the whole realm, as a huge war was to be averted. So, how is this even possible? How is the war going to happen with all no cause, as it has been eliminated by me?

Vampire Elder: The war will be between the Vampires, the Dark Elves, the Goblins, the Dwarves and the Orcs. It will be a five-way disaster, and other races will also be forced to take sides despite their good, evil, neutral, pure good or pure evil allignments and loyalty towards the spheres of magic.

Vampire Bat: But we are allied with the Dark Elves, and there are pacts already made with the Orcs. The Goblins and Dwarves are afraid of us and got only a small territory, and a smaller army in their possession.

Vampire Elder: Well, Dark Elves are not really the Undead, and the power of Dark Magic is something that is far beyond the realm; it influences them and they are driven by the most evil of sorcery. With the Shadow World becoming closer to our realm with more and more portals to oblivion being opened, it is only a matter of time until they change their allignment as well as the sphere of magic. They will be no longer dark grey, but shall change to evil and later to pure evil. And Orcs are too primitive to keep holding on to those pacts.

Vampire Bat: That is certainly believable. But what about the rest?

Vampire Elder: You are not the first one to do time travel, you know. There is a fusion between sorcery and technology happening in the future, and the result of the same was sent to the past by the time-travelers from those days to save themselves from total annihilation. This technology is rather too dangerous, and it had to stay hidden forever; but with you finishing what should have been the lands of the werewolves, it will be taken over by the Dwarves and the Goblins who have always been interested in technology. Not spending their free-time in terrible anger like the werewolves, the Goblins and Dwarves will take over this technology, and modify it enough to go on a never-ending war between themselves after eliminating each and every other race including us.

Vampire Bat: So, I am causing the end of the vampire race by trying to make it better?

Vampire Elder: Exactly, young man. This is why you shouldn’t play with time-line stuff. You leave he space-time continuum alone, and tell that overrated Doctor Frankenstein to stop experimenting on things that he can’t understand.

Vampire Bat: But what will I do now? I can’t let this happen. Can I remove that technology from the future right now?

Vampire Elder: Well, the technology is not here yet, and you can’t stop the events from the future because you are not equipped to travel that far ahead. What you can do now is to guide the werewolf refugee to another area, a place where this version of you from the future won’t search. You have to make sure that you save that person, which will also mean that the relation between the vampires and werewolves will be slightly better in your time. But at no point of time should the other you who have arrived in this time period be able to see you which will create unnecessary complications, destroying the ability of both of you to travel to your time periods. After he admits his defeat and travel back to the time period which you consider as your present, you can follow him and join through the device of Doctor Frankenstein which will make you the person of that time.

Vampire Bat: I will try my best to make things right.

Vampire Elder: Yes, and please tell everyone to live in their time and not try to change the past. Living in the present is the right thing to do; trust me on this.

[Switches on the device].

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 animated movie, Hotel Transylvania.

TeNy

Saving the Idiot Box

Even though television has managed to become the big star of entertainment overtaking its predecessors like radio, the internet hasn’t really become the substitute of television – not completely, and not yet. Even though some channels come up with the most pathetic programmes, television continues to survive, as it has become part of life. But this television, which is more of an idiot box, will need better programmes to survive, and I am coming up with such an idea here to save it.

During this season of terrible serials showing pathetic humans who hate each other, what people need is a regular dose of goodness and kindness. In each and every popular television serial, there is too much foolishness in store, and so much of hate is in store, and the same thing repeats for so many episodes. To remove this abomination, there has to be light, as it is the only thing that can get rid of this highest level of darkness. So removing the pitch-black will require new and a lot better programmes.

We need a new sunrise to make television better, by a long way!

The complete annihilation of the fake reality shows have to happen first, because on the ruins of the same, should the new programme be built. The ruins of such pathetic shows will make us remember how terrible these were, and it will serve as inspiration for new and better things. Reality shows and serials remain the big curse for the idiot box, and make sure that they remain the great idiot box. So, the new television programme which will replace these should just have good men and women; those who have made a difference.

There is no shortage of such people in India, and so running the show for an hour every day from Monday to Saturday won’t be a problem at all – we will only have more and more of such amazing people because there is such potential, as long as the whole new generation is not consumed by the evil of modernity in such a way that they are not lost forever. But in any situation, there will be one person or the other, making some difference, and we will be looking for such people to base our television shows on.

There are people who work for the poor without asking anything in return. The friends of the rich might not like them that much, and will brand them as having some other hidden agenda – they will abuse these people for their religion, caste or community, but it is the kind of people whom we should be focusing on. We should give absolutely no importance to the celebrities who feed on the blind affection and love of the common man – they are not heroes at all; the one who does his or her duty to fellow beings is the true hero.

We take any person who has worked for the upliftment of the poor – his or her religion and other details won’t matter, and the mistakes are of less significance, because that person is doing something which most of us won’t do. We are going through with our own lives and these people are doing something for the lives of others – it is a beautiful thing, which is why we will need an episode for one such person each and every day, except for maybe Sunday which can be left for the special programmes – ours is not special, but real and of daily life.

We should go on a new path with television; take a big turn!

An hour a day for six days at a time between eight and nine will be appropriate tribute to these people who spend their time and energy for the others, as they are the real heroes. They should be seen at the representation of India in the right way, and not the selfish ones – no actor, actress, model, politician, businessman, cricketer or anyone else who keeps earning so much money and appreciation from the nation, but provides nothing in return deserve a chance. We need television shows on the real great people!

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 DSC-W310.

TeNy

The Special Valentine’s Guide

1. Create hell and play with fire: There are some nice and interesting things to do on Valentine’s Day in order to celebrate it, and I would like to start with the creation of hell and maintaining its charming fire. There are a few people whom you can consult on this, and I will mention the name of one such person in the next few paragraph – his name starts with “M” and ends with “S”; that will be all related to the clue. Please don’t be late to create hellfire because not that much of the same will be available on Earth – there will be other lovers in need for the same, and so get it soon – don’t let it go!

2. Watch My Bloody Valentine 3D and if possible, other slasher movies too: The 2009 movie was a remake of the 1981 Canadian slasher flick of the same name, and as the Valentine’s Day should have a movie which has nice happenings on that particular day, this movie will really help. Well, what better than a slasher movie on a Valentine’s Day? Leave the romantic movies behind as they are exaggerated; instead choose this one which is closer to reality – days like February the fourteenth deserves movies like these with all the blood and dead people. This movie in 3D would actually be even better for the day.

3. Play Unreal Tournament or Quake 3 Arena: What can be better than shooting him or her on the head with a headshot? Yes, these two games make sure that you can do just that. Take a two player game and murder each other at will, only to come back to life and kill again. A classic deathmatch, the every-man-for-himself player vs player battle will make sure that this Valentine’s Day is a beautiful one. Maybe blowing each other up will be the best thing to do during this time of the year. There is one particular map in Unreal Tournament which is played in space jumping around three huge buildings – it is a nice venue for some suicide attempts too.

4. Have a visit to the cemetery: Nothing matches a visit to the cemetery, and the best adviced time will be between midnight and three in the morning, as the witching hour can prove to be the most effective thing on this Valentine’s Day. I would also recommend staying there from the day before February Fourteenth if the day before that is a Friday. This way, you can enjoy both Friday the Thirteenth and the Valentine’s Day together, and it will be an even better experience. You should take special care in listening to what the souls as well as the corpses which can animate have to say to you regarding your relationship – they have the right to opinion too.

5. Use an Ouija board to celebrate the day: This can be crucial in going through the day, which is loved by some, detested by some others and not cared about by the rest of the world. Talking with the people from the other world will help you to come up with interesting conclusions about your present relationships. If possible, call out for Mr. Mephistopheles – he is a skilled man in this, and he might even be able to present you with a special contract which can unite your souls forever in hell; it will make sure that the demons will live happily ever after even though I am not sure about your case. But if you ever meet him, you have to promise me that you will ask him about Doctor Faustus.

These are my favourite five, and I will add four more, making the points nine in number.

6. What to do with Valentine’s Day Cards: Get a card and feed it to fire, and declare that your love is not slave to such meaningless days, when love is forever and not restricted to just one day; for we don’t celebrate with the world but between us.

7. And then with Valentine’s Day Gifts: The next step is to avoid them completely and let the world know that such fake gifts have no place in our life which is not determined by all that is fake and glorified for no reason.

8. And about people tagging us in their photos: We get tagged on Facebook during all the nonsense every year, and now we have to suffer for this meaningless day too – lets think about removing a few such people from friends lists.

9. And escape from the romantic song and movie overdose on television channels: Once again, this is the kind of reminder that nobody needs; the rescue operation here should include cutting the cables as soon as possible.

Happy Valentine’s Day 🙂 😀

***The images used in this blog post are from the Official Facebook Pages of the movies, My Bloody Valentine 3D and Ouija.

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

TeNy

Muse from the Dark

There are dark times, which lead to the existence of vigilantes, and the same is actually justified in the presence of evil, and the lack of ability from the side of the good side, or rather the law to stop them. Fiction has got Batman, Hellby, Catwoman, Green Arrow, The Punisher, Green Hornet, Ghost Rider, Batgirl, and all those can provide the person who can fill that space. It is the existence of evil and the absence of law and order that inspires the vigilantes. It is where the world need The Joker, The Riddler, Poison Ivy and others for the existence of Batman.

Considering this vigilante situation and the stories, I would say the same about my muse. There is no beautiful lady for my muse or even a wonderful destination, and there are not many positive things that inspire me to write regularly, and on the contrary, it is the absence of the same which you can see, and you know that I had to fill that void. But to this void, negativity has been flowing in, and to bring the balance, I had to write better, come up with a lot more and I also had to do it quicker.

The Green Arrow choice will be nice for a vigilante with a muse!

So, in the absence of that usual muse, I had to get inspired to write from this negativity which spread from this void to create the dark clouds. So, this negativity is my muse. It will define me like The Joker has defined The Dark Knight, and it is in many case, a necessity. It is not the presence of a positive thing, but the presence of a negative thing which has a certain effect which can be converted into the positive. It makes one feel the need to bring the opposition in one way or the other.

I have had this negativity reinforced on me by my relatives. It has been a regular practice, and so I shall credit them with providing this muse for me. So, just like Batman needed his villains, I guess that I need these people at least in the blogging world; but can’t say the same related to the life outside. Maybe I should call them Uncle Muse and Aunt Muse, for their contributions to my writings. Their vain talks about their sons and daughters having potato chips made of gold have worked here.

There are those talks about the significance of their children marrying a richer person, and you know how significant it is to check that when falling in love – in the end, they just need that achievement in money, even if not in the official salary count. The attempts have been made to remind how pathetic I am and that is depressing, but when I am in front of this laptop, that is an inspiration. I have written a number of blog posts about what I have heard from them, if you have been following this blog for some time.

Yes, such people are needed, but it is the increasing number of such people which is taking things a little bit out of control. Think about Batman taking on two Jokers; it is not that good. But I will survive, because I have the other side of the coin, the side with the image of the muse. The other side which they show, the side of the fool’s gold, the great illusion of the vault of plenty, will fade on this day or the other. On that day, they will realize that it is not all about being rich; until that day, I will be the vigilante, and keep them in the muse list.

Batman surely had all that he needed to be a vigilante!

So, the one realization that I have come up with which is also the conclusion, is that they are my muse, and I am their vigilante – it is a situation worth a long tale. But whether it is an evil empire that they are building or a fake impression of an utopia, I am not buying that. I am even hoping to develop my own superpowers. I would still try not to have the power to read minds, because if I ever read what was inside such vain people, I might have to give up my soul to the darkness; but I intend to keep it, at least for now.

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 Pages of Arrow (TV Series) and Gotham (TV series).

TeNy

Listening to Silence

Vampire Bat: What are you doing here? This is rather too early, don’t you think?

Vampire Owl: I am listening to the voice of silence and making an attempt to communicate through it.

Vampire Bat: By which, you mean to say that you are standing on one leg and looking at the sky.

Vampire Owl: What? No. This is just what you see. It is just an external feature, and what you see on the outside is just an illusion. Internally, I am making connections with the other world, to the land of the dead. Lady Death will be contacting any moment now. Please go and return with a chair. A wooden one will be nice.

Vampire Bat: Oh! In that case, you should have done it at your place. Why did you come to my home instead? Don’t you have open spaces there?

Vampire Owl: Because I needed silence. It is a little crowded at my house. Can you please stop talking? Only by connecting with the voice of silence can I send my message to the other world. Wait! What is that noise? A cat? Tell it to stop.

Vampire Bat: It is Simona the Kitty. She is one year old now and takes her own decisions. She won’t stop until that squirrel on the tree stops making faces at her. That thing has been bothering her for many days.

Vampire Owl: I was concentrating so well on the voice of silence! This cat is so evil!

Vampire Bat: Wait! Is that lady in black on your right the side the person you were looking for? I think that she needs a visit to the dentist soon.

Vampire Owl: Oh! Yes, it is Lady Death. She made it here, and that too so quickly.

Lady Death: I received your message and roasted two souls in hell-fire.

Vampire Bat: You didn’t tell me that you were having Soul Fry these days, Mr. Vampire Owl?

Vampire Owl: I don’t understand what you are talking about. I don’t try new types of food these days.

Lady Death: I was working according to your message about the noise of violence. Don’t you know that I have always been violent? Your message came to me as a case of special inspiration.

Vampire Owl: It was the voice of silence! But how do you know about my method of connecting with you?

Lady Death: There was this message with the connection – “this connection is made through and for the noise of violence”. So, I started some burning a few souls.

Vampire Bat: Bloody advertisements!

Vampire Owl: Stop talking about violence. It is the voice of silence. And also stop thinking about burning souls all the time. Here, we don’t even get LPG and the gas subsidy is going to removed. I always wonder how you manage the hell-fire out there. Is it true that it burns forever? The idea of perpetual damnation is very popular among the zombies.

Lady Death: We burn the souls which create certain energy which is converted into fire and then we burn the souls in the same fire. Souls are replenishable energy. There are so many new ones arriving there and we often have so much extra fire that we sell some of it to the Dwarves for their gold and special engineering products. It is a secret pact, just don’t tell anyone.

Vampire Owl: The other world is indeed strange.

Vampire Bat: I told you that she is a bad underworld queen. You should be very careful; you know how it works after you cross the gates of the dead. You are going to be fried too.

Lady Death: So, where do you keep the fire in this side of the realm?

Vampire Bat: Feel free to show her your version of hell-fire at your place. I am not part of this pact.

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

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

TeNy

What I Shall Not Do

I hereby make a promise that I won’t do what I want to do or what the others want to do as long as those things are on this list of what not to be done in 2016. If I don’t want to do these things, I surely won’t do them either. If it is impossible to do these things, I shall keep myself from doing them with happiness. If something special comes up related to these things, that won’t matter too. Okay, here are the five things that I won’t do in 2016. This is the not-to-do list and the great anti-resolution resolution which I am coming up with.

1. I shall not watch Bollywood romance: This is a resolution which I should have taken very long ago, and I did somewhat manage that. But that didn’t include the Bollywood movies which are not really romance, but it has so much romance that you will wonder why it is not known to be romance but something else. So many Bollywood movies have romance, and I consider it an unreal part which needs to be removed for the flicks to go realistic. I am looking for something which doesn’t keep going romantic all the way, especially when there is not real need.

Okay, there is the need for romantic movies at times. I won’t deny that, and I haven’t disliked all romantic movies; I did grow up watching Bollywood romance too. There are movies like Charlie which has a background romance of high spiritual and intellectual quality going on, along with Anarkali and Ennu Ninte Moideen which has the elements of true love and eternal romance. From there, these days we are introduced into those things which needs to have the words “this is actually love and so please do think that it is so” written all over there so that we will feel the intensity of love.

Athirappilly Waterfalls is romantic, but Bollywood romance these days is not!

2. I am not going to read fiction anymore: I have read a lot of fiction in my life, or rather too much of it. In the year 2016, the only fiction that I will be reading is going to be what is written on the blogs. Yes, there will no more comparison of the book and movie – kind of review like it was there in the case of The Hunger Games, Interview With the Vampire, Queen of the Damned and others. I watch too many movies that I forget them too early, and so adding these books to the list will make me forget the movie in a day or two!

3. I shall not sleep during the day from day after tomorrow: Yes, vampires do sleep inside their coffins, but this is twenty first century and coffins are very costly. Okay, lets leave that behind – I am jobless and sometimes during the daytime, there is nothing to do at all. So, I would choose to sleep when I am not writing. Well, only a small percent of what I actually write reaches this blog – so, maybe I should create more that makes it to light rather than keep sleeping. I have thought about that quite a lot.

4. I shall know no taste of coffee in 2016: Yes, I don’t usually drink coffee. But there are times when we accidentally land at some relatives’ home and what we get turns out to be coffee and as we had started it, we need to finish it. That mistake did happen in 2015, and for the same reason, in the name of cardamom tea, ginger tea and all the other types of tea available at Cochin and its suburbs, I take the pledge not to have coffee at all. Before drinking anything, I shall confirm with people that it is actually tea.

5. I will not attend most of the weddings to which I am invited: Yes, I had enough of these weddings which are nothing more than showing how much money everyone has got. To add to that, some people say that I am next. Seriously? It has been one year and one day after this was said – Did I get married? No! If they were sharing my blog posts that would have actually motivated me to attend their weddings. But if these people want me to get married, that is not a positive thing and I shall just skip the weddings 😛

Simona the Kitty shows the right expression towards relatives who say so! 😀

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 only.

TeNy

A Letter to Vampire Santa

Vampire Owl: Good evening, my dear vampire apprentices. I know that this is Christmas, but this will be a very short class after which we can have the Christmas celebrations. Standing once again before you in this class, it is my honour and great privilege to read this letter which was written by the Vampire Bat to Vampire Santa when he was a little fang-less one, and it was sent only to be returned by the cruel postman. This comes as a part of the second semester Part IV paper twenty seven. There will be annotation questions coming from this one. So, please listen carefully.

Vampire Crocodile: Sir, we are going on a Christmas carol in two hours. The transportation is waiting outside.

Vampire Owl: Sure, you are allowed to go for that. Actually, this will be very short. I will just take a few minutes of your time. I am taking this class right now because you can actually keep talking about it when you go for the carol or arrange the crib and put the stars. This topic will suit the occasion, and it will make sure that you remember the whole thing in a better way, making things better for the examinations. Now, here is the letter. You can note down the points, and I shall provide you with a photostat copy of it later. Whatever you do, try your best to remember what comes next.

Dear Vampire Santa,

I know that you are very busy gifting those toothless little vampires with those special things. I have read a lot about the bloody cakes and those variety blood-wine which you provide them with. But I am asking you not to forget me. I had asked for something during the last year’s Christmas too? I think that you forgot that because it was blood-moon season at that time, and you were working only as a part-time Santa. It must have been difficult to work with those wolves instead of the reindeer, as you took over as the first Vampire Santa only last year.

I know your problems and limitations, but I also feel your abilities have improved this year, and you are no longer working as a part-time Vampire Santa. This year’s vampire programs are sponsored by the vampire elders, as I came to know from a letter sent to me as a reply from Uncle Dracula’s office. I have also understood that you are now paid in blood for your services, and that you are also training Easter Bunny for Easter, while developing a special relationship with Mahabali during your last visit to the underworld, which was clearly defined during the latter’s visit to Kerala during last Onam.

So, please try to bring these gifts for me. The first thing that I want is an autographed work from Uncle Dracula. I have heard that he is writing a new work on the truth behind the legend about him. I would like one of those very first fan editions from him. There has been some rumours that he will give these books only to the vampire elders and those who are part of his vampire guard of honour. Even if that is true, I know that you can get this because you are the Vampire Santa. There are not many things that you can’t do on a Christmas Day; this is December 25th – your own special day.

There is another present that I need you to provide. It is not for me, but for a few others. I am not sure if you provide presents to the older people, but this is a special scenario. I am asking you to provide some brain to my relatives who have always been so irritating. I want you provide them with the knowledge that money isn’t everything, and maybe you can implant this idea directly into their brains. Providing them with the ability to think will be easier, but they just don’t want to think at all, and it is depressing. You are the person with the skills, and so please do make the right decision about them here.

I also wish for our vampire world and the future New Vampire World which Uncle Dracula is working on, to be perfect. I hope that you provide enough strength and blessings to him and his minions. I have heard that your blessings have been touched by the Great Vampire Orb of Eternity, and I know that you are the one in command during this time of the year. There are things that you can do, which most people don’t know about yet. But I know, because I have always believed in magic, and I have chosen to keep my faith. You are my hope to seeing a better world order at least among the vampires.

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 Tales of 2015

Another year is coming to an end, and 2015 has been a different year – all years have been different frome each other, even though nothing huge happens with life, and whatever happens, things just go back to nothingness which has been part of my life. 2015 will also have its own tales which the year doesn’t want to share with 2014 or 2016. There will be something different each and every time making the years not the same. It was better defined when we were in school or college as each year had something special; but now we have to think more to find those events.

Maybe the best or the worst of the year are yet to happen, but as of now, the best moment was winning the passes for the India Today Conclave at Delhi with BlogAdda. It should be my best win ever at any stage, and that happened with the post The Vision of a Lost Bat. I did go to attend the conclave where the main talkers were Sachin Tendulkar, Ranveer Singh, Katrina Kaif, Lisa Haydon, Viswanathan Anand, Chetan Bhagat and others. It was a great experience for me and it also made sure that I should blog more, and I would credit BlogAdda for that motivation to write more.

Well, I have written at least one post on every day of this year in this year, and I am still continuing that trend which I hope that I never have to stop soon. 2015 also had many other contest wins for me, and I would call it a rich year which has inspired me to write more and more. 2015 has made me realize that I should do many things, but the one thing that I should always do is to blog, which is why I bought the domain for Movies of the Soul, about which I feel very good. Until 2014, I was only a blogger who wrote something when I had time, but now I find time for writing each and every day, and I shall carry this over to the next year.

Life just keeps hitting the rocks, doesn’t it? But there is always hope.

But there is one big New Year resolution which I really need to make with 2016 right around the corner. In 2014, I fell short of watching 100 movies in the theatres with the final count at 89, and this year, it is at 81 so far, and it seems to be all prepared to end before touching the nineties too. So, in 2016, I want to get it to one hundred movies like I watched 109 of them at the theatres in 2013. I need to take the pledge to be more consistent with this; the problem with this year was that we shifted home and I prepared for some of the PSC examinations. But now I believe that I should keep my movie world alive with the rest too!

I also hope to get a job next year, and it has been the Mission Impossible for me this year. I had sent a huge number of resumes this year at various e-mails, but only a few of them replied and only an even lesser number gave me an appointment. It is a hope which I really need to provide the wings because the relatives are becoming more and more violent every day – the salaries of the cousins are getting higher and they are getting married to rich people which brings a lot of contempt on me. I really need to get somewhere to come up with a direct reply.

Somehow, this relative problem has to be dealt with – we call it The Relative-IT Theory about which I have already written a long time ago. Surrounded by the relatives who are always trying to boast about the salaries and bank balance of their children along with the acres of land and the properties which the children’s off-springs own, will only get worse next year. They will get richer and I will get older in 2016, and so the only precaution to be taken here is to be prepared for those words of vanity, but try to avoid them as much as possible. I have also prepared a few dialogues in case of an emergency situation.

So, you are on this boat to 2016 – lets go through the troubles.

The biggest hope is to become a better person than I am now; but that is going to be complicated because when I get older, I don’t get any stronger. Still, I hope that the upcoming year will bring something better. We have thought in a similar manner about other years too, but this time, Lets think that 2016 is going to be different. Maybe we can take life as one year at a time. The world might be the same anyway, but we can change and above all, we can hope. After all, it is something which costs nothing. May the year 2016 be better than 2015, and lets wish for the best to happen!

I’m sharing my #TalesOf2015 with BlogAdda.

***The images used in this blog post were taken by me on my Sony Cybershot DSC-W310.

TeNy

Like Music to My Ears

He was riding the scooter continuously for the last few hours despite the fact that it was raining for most of the time. The road was terrible, but he decided not to stop because he felt that he would change the idea and might decide to go back. He didn’t want to return, no matter what happened, but he wasn’t sure that his mind would allow him to keep going if he had a second thought about it. He took a sudden left and then a right turn to reach a narrow road and continued through the route. The place was getting rather deserted, and finally he saw someone on the left.

“Where does this road end? Or does this reach some special place?” he stopped the scooter on the side and asked the man selling tea on the road side.

“It goes just a few kilometres ahead. After that, you can walk to the edge of the cliff there” said the tea seller.

“I haven’t heard much about this area. This is not really a tourist destination, right?” he asked.

“No, not really. It used to be visited by more people earlier though. Now, the roads are so bad, and a better tourist spot has been set up a few kilometres away on the other side. The local politician owns a resort and partially owns two restaurants there and so he promotes that place instead of this location. The families go there. Only some college kids come here, but none at this time of the day. The path is clearly not suitable for the scooters like the one you are riding now. People come here on big motor-bikes and bigger cars”.

“The business should be very dull then. You are like the last witch hunter; I mean the last tea seller” he added.

“Yes, but during the weekends and the other holidays, it gets better” the man said while looking at the empty glasses on the side.

“This should be the perfect place for me, the exact location which I have been looking for” he said.

“You have to be careful about walking near the edges. It can be slippery” the man warned.

“I will just go and have a look now” he said.

“Do you need a cup of tea? And maybe some snacks like parippu vada, uzhunnu vada or onion vada?” the man asked.

“Not now. Maybe when I return from there; if I do. I am not really sure if I will be back” he said while continuing his journey.

He could hear the tea seller shouting from behind, but he wouldn’t stop. He continued through the road. The pot-holes were many and it was more than what the scooter could handle. But he was sure that he was not going to use this scooter again, and so it didn’t really matter for him. The petrol was almost getting over when he reached the end of the road. He stopped the vehicle on the deserted area on the side of the road and started walking towards the end of the cliff.

He was waiting for that news which was to be music to his ears. He had waited for that for too long. He was so impatient that he himself asked if that particular thing was going to happen. But nothing really happened, and he was left waiting, and each moment was like eternity for him. It was only last night that he decided that enough is enough, and he had spent more than the time which was required. He decided to leave that behind and begin this journey.

He walked around the place for a few minutes and enjoyed the beauty of nature. There was greenery all around except for the small buildings which seemed far away. As he stood at the edge and looked down, his mobile phone started ringing. He decided not to take it, but it continued ringing for some time. After some hesitation, he attended the call and listened to that news which was music to his ears. Yes, what he wanted to hear had finally reached his ears then.

“But it is too late now. No more music to my ears, only the terrible noise of chaos” he told himself.

He had decided about what he had to do and there was no changing it now, as he closed his eyes and jumped off the top. The tea seller arrived on a bicycle a few minutes later to find an yellow scooter with the key and a bag left on it. He searched inside the bag to find a towel and a note which said – “No more music to my ears; but death is only the beginning”.

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 Sony Cybershot DSC-W310 and Samsung Galaxy A5

TeNy

Special Class: Great Traditions

Vampire Hamster: Greetings, my dear fellow vampire appendicitis, and I welcome all of you here.

Vampire Crocodile: Wait a minute! Did he just call us appendicitis?

Vampire Alligator: On some occasions, that is also true.

Vampire Panda: I would have been surprised if he had managed to get that one correct.

Vampire Bat: It is apprentice, Squire Hamster.

Vampire Hamster: Oh! I apologize! Yes, my dear fellow vampire apprentices, you are welcome to this special class on the “Great Vampire Family Traditions” which will taken by the Vampire Owl and watched over by the Vampire Bat.This will be the final class before the tea party.

Vampire Owl: Good evening, students. I hope your coffins are all in good condition and you are enjoyed the darkness inside there. I would like to begin with the most important tradition that we follow here, which the humans never know about. It is called respecting each other ass a person, no matter from where and from what background the other person comes from. This has been a part of the great vampire tradition.

Vampire Crow: I know that very well. The humans disrespect crows every day. They don’t even have wings, and still they do this. I often wonder how evil they would have been if they could fly and had my special colour.

Vampire Penguin: They think that I am cute, and that is the most disrespectful thing.

Vampire Owl: Then there is the tradition of drinking tea. The artificial blood chemical mixed into tea makes the drink a usual part of our tradition. It was introduced for us with the second stage of the New Vampire World, but the roots go back to the Old Vampire Isles. This way, we remain mostly vegetarian.

Vampire Crocodile: The tea is my favourite. When we mix this tradition with the crocodile tradition of Lake Placid, it makes clear that the crocodiles need more tea than the others.

Vampire Panda: That makes no sense. We are from the Kungfu Panda tradition. We need more tea for more energy to practice martial arts.

Vampire Bat: Silence! The individual traditions will be dealt with during another class. This one will be on collective vampire traditions only.

Vampire Owl: Well, you know the tradition of not living according to the advice of the society. It is the elders of the realm and some people who call themselves professionals that keeps telling us that we have to do something and nothing else; that we are not capable of anything else. We have worked hard on this, but we haven’t been able to achieve this like our predecessors did. Still, we will keep trying, and soon we will achieve perfection in this.

Vampire Penguin: I have forgotten the happy feet dance completely. I am good at that.

Vampire Panda: And in my case, the noodles making procedure. I don’t even eat noodles these days.

Vampire Bat: That is once again not part of our class and discussion. Kindly listen to the class. There will time provided for asking questions.

Vampire Owl: The grand tradition is to respect our history which has defined us and made us what we are now. It lives in us and it shall live through us. We have gone through the times of trouble and fought big wars, but all of us have come out of them stronger and with better understanding, having further care for each life and all that defines us, which has been proven to be very important.

Vampire Bat: And that is my personal favourite.

Vampire Owl: And our final and the most important tradition, to live in harmony with nature, not to exploit it, but to do whatever we can for conservation. We shall return to nature the love that it has provided us, at least in parts. This is a tradition which we intend to teach the humans soon because they are the only creatures who have absolutely no plan of respecting nature.

Vampire Bat: That finishes the lecture.

Vampire Hamster: I believe that will be all from the class, and now we are open to questions and some discussion.

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

373 posts in 365 days

At one point of time, I wondered why I should blog. I have had many doubts about how effective this would be for me considering the fact that there is a large number of people blogging. I rarely had any Indian readers at the earlier times, and most of my visitors were from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. If you look at my blogs as of now, the situation has changed and on this blog as well as on Movies of the Soul, the most visiting people are from India itself and same is the case of the comments – not that many comments from the people currently living in my home state of Kerala though.

So a wonderful run and a great cycle  for this particular blog ends on this day with this blog post. There was a set of events which were set in motion on December tenth, last year. I had decided to start the cycle just a little bit earlier, but something happened and so it was delayed to December tenth, 2014. I am not feeling that well today, but this cycle post had to come on this day. There is something special on this day because I started blogging continuously since last December tenth, and there has been never even one day without a post on this blog for these last 365 days.

I have posted a total of 373 posts in these 365 days on this blog and there were 84 posts on Movies of the Soul, with 12 posts on The Divine Epic. Except for one, the rest of the sixteen contests prizes were all won during this period of time, and most of the campaigns also came during this time. The nominations for all Blog Awards happened during this season too with a total of 17. 183 out of 195 Top Posts on IndiBlogger came during this time, and all 31 of the BlogAdda WOW Posts came during these 365 days. It is also the season with the most visits for not only thing blog, but also for Movies of the Soul and The Divine Epic.

The most comments on these three blogs also happened during these days, and the same is the case of most likes as well as the social media sharing. This blog made sure that I thought about coming up with new ideas. The same is the reason why I am so determined to finish this cycle despite not feeling well with fever. I have posted on this blog from not just here; I have posted from Delhi, Trivandrum, Trichur, Kollam or whichever city where I was staying at that time. At least one post was a necessary thing, and sometimes I kept extra posts ready in case there is the need.

I wrote many exams in between, but still managed to come with a new post every day – I found it more as a need. It never mattered if I was not that well, and the absence of electricity was no trouble either. I sometimes went to some other place to post a new one and at other times I came up with something in the very last moment. I have participated in almost all contests which I cam across, and the missed ones usually about coming up with a video or writing about married life or babies. Still, I came up with two posts related to babies, and that worked for some happy hours.

I have come up with almost all topics possible for me – yes, fashion and related things are impossible for me. I have posted about movies, fiction, sports, games, television series, history and all which have came into my mind at times. I liked some of the posts and I didn’t care that much about the others, but I still wrote something in every case. I felt that if I stopped on a day, I might just stop writing at all. Continuous writing was necessary, because I wanted to keep going at something or the other.

This is a milestone day for me, and maybe I can choose to slow down things a bit as of now. I don’t really want to slow down as of now, and I wish to continue to keep writing until I have a job. I wish that the ideas keep coming easily and there will also be more contests on which I can write on. It doesn’t really matter if I win or not, but what bothers me is not to try – I am still to win something huge, even though the post The Vision of a Lost Bat for the India Today Conclave is quite the win which I love more than anything else. I will hope to keep writing, and if someone don’t accept my resume in this birth, you will see a lot my writing till death 😀

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

TeNy

Through the Oubliette

Werewolf Anger: The dungeons here are quite interesting. I am becoming a big fan of these things.

Vampire Bat: Actually, that is not a dungeon. It is an oubliette. You can see the difference from the style itself.

Werewolf Anger: In our world, there is no difference. We call them the Dungeons of Transformation.

Vampire Bat: Maybe it is case in the werewolf lands. But, here we keep them separately. We consider them different, both in the brain and the heart. These oubliettes can only be accessed by a hatch on the top while dungeons are like rooms, just with a lock which is rarely opened. Dungeons make it too easy for the evil ones.

Werewolf Anger: Is there a difference in the type of prisoners who are supposed to be here? As of now, I see nobody inside – or are they invisible creatures which can’t be detected by the werewolf eyes? I have had eye problems, but I should be able to see anything not belonging to magical spheres of fire and air.

Vampire Bat: Actually, we could manage none so far. The people to be imprisoned here are not the usual kind of people. They are not found in this realm, but belongs to the world of humans.

Werewolf Anger: I understand. So, what kind of people are we talking about here?

Vampire Bat: You will know that. Do you see that greenery around our castle?

Werewolf Anger: Yes, I do. It is a nice view.

Vampire Bat: I saw such greenery in the human world on a beautiful day and in the next year, it wasn’t there. So, we decided to keep this place open for such people who destroy the beauty of nature by littering, deforestation and bothering wildlife in the name of tourism. We are actually planning to create special trashbins for them and plant trees in some lesser visited areas when they are not looking.

Werewolf Anger: I have to say that I like that idea a lot. Conservation of nature is a very important thing. Our kind has evolved in the forests and not the cities or towns. I consider these modernity as a terrible thing which we should fight together.

Vampire Bat: There is also space here for those who write, draw and spit on the monuments. They call themselves tourists, but if they are involved in such activities, I can only call them vandals or barbarians. We consider each monument as significant as our Great Vampire Castle. We won’t spare any of them. Nobody has the right to diminish the beauty of architecture which is a work of art.

Werewolf Anger: I am not sure about that because we live in caves, made with special rocks, of course. But I understand your feelings.

Vampire Bat: I have also expanded the list by adding those people who don’t value the local culture. It is very much needed because humans have always been fighting over cultures, languages, customs and traditions along with their religion, caste and race based problems. Everyone needs to be a good guest who respects the host no matter where they are visiting! When there are things which are not to be done, they shouldn’t be done! No alcohol means none, and no non-vegetarian food means a clear no! When photos are not allowed, capture the sights with your eyes or pen and paper.

Werewolf Anger: Yes, like we respect each other and the two separate cultures divided by the blood-moon and the blue-moon, united by the aversion towards silver. So, when can I see some prisoners here? I am already very angry at them.

Vampire Bat: Well, we can’t be sure about that. The official permission letter hasn’t been received from the Vampire Elders. We are waiting for the same. After we are able to get that, we can contact some of the human governments to send them some of these irresponsible people.

Werewolf Anger: I shall keep the anger restricted to my name until then. It is really depressing to have all the anger in the name and not able to put it in display. My services will be available to you whenever there is the need.

Vampire Bat: I hope that the humans understand that responsible tourism is the path to follow. Otherwise, Werewolf Anger will see them in the oubliette for whatever kind of pollution and harm they have caused. The wood elves will also have something to say and a lot more to contribute. The world needs nature and all that are associated with it; the historical monuments are the symbols of the collective achievement of the known universe, and we need to keep them in the best way possible.

I am blogging for #ResponsibleTourism activity by Outlook Traveller in association with BlogAdda

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

TeNy

On Responsible Tourism

Exploration is a fine thing to do, and occasional travel refreshes our mind and soul as we wander around those wonderful destinations, whether they are the much visited ones or the locations lesser known. There is the never-ending need to travel, and as we go through these journeys, we arrange our food and stay at some nice place, and take photos of the beauty which is around us. When we are on such a journey, especially through the beauty of nature, we not only have the right to enjoy all these, but also got some responsibilities.

1. The first thing which I would consider as part of the responsible tourism is not to litter, no matter whatever be the circumstances. Well, the situation might differ everywhere, but the nature and our responsibility remains the same. It is a bad idea to leave the trace of our visits here and there. If there is something to be left behind, I would suggest that we leave some love and take home only the beauty which we have captured on our cameras and phones along with those rejuvenating memories.

Why someone feel the need to litter at places like these is beyond understanding!

2. I would also suggest treating these places as if they are our own homes. Will we make our own homes dirty? We are supposed to keep these places clean as we would do to our own houses. We do see those historical monuments which are not in the best shape due to the visitors who find some fun in writing on them as well as spitting here and there. Along with conservation of nature, there is the need to preserve these archaeological monuments which tells the story of our past; it is also our duty to consider them as part of our culture.

3. We should also respect the local culture with their customs and traditions. After all, it is their world into which we enter. If something is banned somewhere, lets not use it, whether it is parts of the law or the tradition. If alcohol is banned, do not use it; the same goes for smoking. If some place has a vegetarian traditions, lets follow the same. If beef or pork is not supposed to be part of the culture at some place, respect that too. Wherever photography is prohibited, lets not take photos; there will always be other areas where it can be done.

4. There is also the choice to minimize the pollution in other ways. When there are four people on a journey, you don’t need to use two cars. But unfortunately, some parents who provide too much for their children make sure that they go on and show some style with the extra vehicle. It is mostly in the name of the homes being a few kilometres away from each other. If you are entering a place close to nature, I would suggest keeping the vehicle some more distance away from the place than you are expected to.

5. One should also stop making noises causing disturbance to other people as well as creatures of nature. This kind of people create more terror than most of the others, because they instantly destroy the peace which prevails in areas close to nature. It is a case of lack of respect, and unfortunately, this one can’t be taught by anyone else, but their own people. There is too much disrespect going on among people, especially the new generation and it might to be too much to ask this, but we have to.

So, you really want to disturb nature and the other visitors – then be ashamed.

6. As a visitor, it is our duty to be aware of where we are going and what we are doing, not just one of us, but the whole group of people. It will help us to cause the minimum impact during our visits and there is nothing which makes a negative impression is left behind. Enough information about the place, its people and nature will help us to make sure that the journey is a responsible one. Even if a place is mostly unexplored, there will be always something available at least related to the surrounding areas.

I am blogging for #ResponsibleTourism activity by Outlook Traveller in association with BlogAdda

***The images used in this blog post were taken by me on my Sony Cybershot DSC-W310.

TeNy

Day of the Fire-starter

The title refers to Sunday, and it has been the special day, the one holiday at the end of the week which everyone has been waiting for. Throughout our lives, we have prayed for Sunday to come earlier, especially during the school and college days – Saturdays were mostly holidays, but the threat of the arrival of special classes was eternally present. So, Sunday was the one safe day, and it was the day on which the plans could be made without thinking too much about what else could happen on the day. A nice Sunday treat makes a better Monday!

Plan A: The movie :: Watching a movie is always the best choice. Even as I watch one movie on Friday or the first day of its release itself, there are always more movies around here to give a try. Sunday movie watching program means that there will be also another person to accompany you. Well, it is needed for me because not everyone is that jobless as I am. I try to leave the more family-oriented movie for the Sunday if I go with parents or relatives; otherwise I leave the more fun movie for later, watching the lesser known movie on the first of day of release.

Plan B: The mall :: The malls came here quite late, but the biggest mall in India did come to Kochi in the form of Lulu Mall. With a total of six malls in the city area itself, we are provided with the option to spend the Sundays there in peace. Five out of the six malls actually have the movie option with the multiplexes too. So, it is only fair to spend some time there and the movie option can also add to it. The option of watching three or four movies on one day itself is also there in these malls considering the number of screens available.

A shot on one of the early days of Lulu Mall; isn’t this a nice weekend choice?

Plan C: The beach :: Kochi has no shortage of beaches, as the new tourism initiatives have made it better. A day at the beach will be another nice option, even though the rush will be higher at those more popular beaches like Fort Cochin and Cherai, but then we have those smaller and lesser known beaches which can give us the peaceful experience. I used to try this beach option very often when the friends were around the city, but not that much anymore with almost all of them working far away.

Plan D: The nature :: The closest destinations in the heart of nature includes Paniyeli Poru, Bhoothathankettu, Ezhattumugham, Thommankuthu and many others. As Kerala is blessed with such natural beauty, there is no need to travel much, with beautiful locations exist near and around the river Periyar, the state’s longest river. We friends used to go to some of these places on every Sunday – those were some wonderful days, which can be brought back at some point of time, I hope.

We go through places like this, and we wonder why not choose nature right away?

Plan E: The relations :: There are the relatives who join us on a nice Sunday, but that situation has been brought down a lot to very less impact these days in our case. Not many relatives remain around here, and I am sure that I can find more relatives at Bangalore than in our district. But it wasn’t the case until a few years ago. The relatives were here and we could go to places with them. Nowadays, we still go to their houses at times, only two find the parents there who await the arrival of their children some day!

Plan Z: Home sweet home :: We call it Plan Z because it is the last plan. But it has been a usual plan for me during the last few months. There are not many friends left to go out with, and most of the time, the number remains a zero. So, the “home sweet home” option usually becomes the right choice. It is still a nice option to spend some time home with parents and the pet. After all, there is no other place like home, and there will be some nice movies on the television which can be watched together.

The images used in this blog post were taken by me on my Sony Cybershot DSC-W310.

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

TeNy

Hate Brings No Good

Vampire Owl: Are you sure that we are supposed to be here? This is the world of the dead and we are kind of immortal. By arriving here, we become the immortal dead which is kind of paradox.

Vampire Bat: You are now an emissary to the world of the dead. We are the only connection between the dead and the undead, which in turn connects the living and the dead. So, lets not think about unnecessary things and wait for the Representative and the Left Hand of Lady Death to arrive.

Vampire Owl: I don’t want to, but that creature is looking at us. It feels strange. What is that thing? I have never known that one.

Vampire Bat: Maybe we should go and ask.

Vampire Owl: Are you sure? It looks angry and frustrated.

Vampire Bat: It looks sad and depressed. We are diplomatic representatives, and we gave immunity against all attacks from the dead. Don’t worry.

The Creature: One plus one plus one and add another one to the total, makes it a hundred; I killed a hundred and I don’t know why even now.

Vampire Owl: I think that this one failed in Mathematics. It is a subject that makes many people mad. A dangerous thing indeed.

Vampire Bat: What is your name, creature?

The Creature: I have had many other names, but for now, please call me The Disfigured. I am not of this world, but I decided to belong here as I was dumb.

Vampire Owl: So, you have nobody to blame. It is really a sad thing. You should make more friends.

The Disfigured: I used to have many, and one day, I lost them all. I made the decision to choose the wrong ones, and that made me miss them all.

Vampire Bat: Why do you talk in riddles, The Disfigured? And why do you call yourself by that name?

The Disfigured: It is part of my penance. I disfigured myself and made me what I am now. The world of the dead has its own special punishments, and among them, I was given the choice; I decided to choose the one which I inflicted upon myself.

Vampire Owl: You are too weird even for the vampire standards. Are you really dead? And if yes, what has brought you to this situation?

The Disfigured: I lived at a place where people of all religions were leading happy lives, respecting each other for their beliefs. I had friends from all religions and communities. I was a religious person, but never felt anything bad about the other religions. I studied science and scored well in the subjects, but kept religion and God close to my heart. But one day, that man came to our land, and he changed things a lot. Even after he left, some people followed his path and made things worse.

Vampire Owl: The great bringer of death?

The Disfigured: Something like that, yes. He came to our worship place and told us how the people from other religions will one day come and murder us. He told us that our religion was perfect and the other religions were worshiping the devil, and their cults needed to be destroyed. He brought a long list which he carried inside his huge bag. It was so long and as he told us the problems of other religions and made us believe that our religion was never wrong and will always be right till the end of the world. He gave us the idea that only our religion can save the world with us as the selected people, and that is the will of the God, the right God, which is our God.
Vampire Bat: That is quite natural for some people; but an educated person like you fell for that speech? Didn’t you study a lot of science?

The Disfigured: I learnt things by heart for the exams. That was all which was needed. I was never really taught values with studies. I was told to study everything by heart, get good score, find a job and bring money home. But then, this idea sounded better. I could stop studying and get my reward in another way. I could be a hero of my religion and my people who would keep screaming my name.

Vampire Bat: But what about the people from other religions with whom you were very close? Were they not your people too?

The Disfigured: I forgot them at that time. They were my friends and brothers by love, but I decided to go through them too. I was taught the art and science of murder in the name of God. I had decided that those who said something unpleasant about my God and also everyone else from that religion should die; if the ones from other religions also died, it came as a bonus because only we worshiped the real God.

Vampire Owl: So you killed your own friends and neighbours in the end?

The Disfigured: Yes, I pulled the trigger. I saw the river of blood, fire and the ashes as I felt myself becoming the abomination in their eyes during the few last moments of devastation. During those moments between life and death, I saw and heard the screams of the mothers, the cries of the helpless orphaned children, and the souls of the little children leaving that world for the other. I saw my former best friend, and he pointed at me and I knew he was asking me why. I was here, and I found nothing here; not the glory of a martyr or the reward for being a murderer for God. I understood that I made myself unworthy of even going near that God whom I once worshipped.

Vampire Bat: I don’t understand why you would think that God would want you to kill his own creations? It is a terrible misunderstanding. You felt that murder can bring you heaven and not good selfless deeds? Even zombies know better.

Vampire Owl: And now what has happened to you?

The Disfigured: I still awaited my chance to be lifted to firmament, but nothing like that happened. I was left here surrounding by the inferno and I could see the people I killed right on the golden clouds high above me, with wings made of star-dust. I tried to jump into the fire, but it brought me back each and every time, more and more burnt.

Vampire Owl: I am not surprised at all.

The Disfigured: One day a woman appeared before me, pale and wearing dark clothes, with a huge black cat and a big dog which burned bright on her side. She was wearing a crown made of parts of a giant skull and bones decorated it. She told me that I had a choice, to enter the inferno of eternal torment to be punished by the demons of the other world or to stay here, in the world of the dead as a symbol of what happens to those who hate their fellow beings, and punish myself as instructed. I decided to choose the latter, as I stand here, burning and impaling myself, being the symbol of what reward hate brings. May be doing these myself as penance can give me a second chance. I haven’t lost hope yet.

Messenger of Death: Greetings, emissaries from the Vampire World. Lady Death’s representative will see you now.

The Disfigured: Let me get back to my schedule then. I have to jump into some boiling oil now. You should go and meet them, but please be careful about that dog.

Vampire Bat and Vampire Owl continued their journey into the interior circles of the world of the dead with the Messenger of Death. They wondered what it would take to make the humans stop hating each other. There will be religion, caste, race and community now, and during other times, there will be some other reasons. They felt very much relieved that they were not among the humans. They reached the Dark Gate of the Palace of Death, and as they looked on, the gate opened by itself.

#BloggingForPeace with BlogAdda

TeNy

Three Simple Words

Vampire Bat: Okay, the first person to start this round is the Vampire Owl from my left side.

Vampire Owl: Oh! You mean to say that I have to say three of my favourite words right now.

Vampire Bat: Yes, it is how this whole thing works. This is also a game which we can play once in every week.

Vampire Owl: But I have no idea where to start. I have never been good with this type of ideas. I don’t play such games either.

Vampire Hamster: Let me say then, sir. I am ready to come up with mine. You will surely like them. There are vampires, zombies and undead as the three…..

Vampire Bat: No! Your turn will come. Don’t talk now. I hate it when vampire apprentices try to intervene early.

Vampire Crocodile: I told you that this game is turn-based. Like the games Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic and Disciples: Sacred Lands. You are just not playing enough computer games.

Vampire Owl: Do you know how difficult this is for me. I could use a clue.

Vampire Bat: Okay, I will provide you with one myself. You can add this as the first letter on your list. Tea.

Vampire Owl: What? Tea? Why would that be so?

Vampire Bat: Well, tea has been part of our lives for quite a long time. You should have read all my tales related to tea. We have always had some good time with tea, and it is the one true elixir of life. It has defined my childhood with its taste, and I have had more tea than ice cream even as a kid. Just don’t tell Uncle Dracula because he will only talk about blood, but this is the truth.

Vampire Owl: That was some nice description. Tea should keep its greatness as the one grand drink. Now, I will require two more words. Here is my first word and the second of the series. Death.

Vampire Bat: Death, yes related to Lady Death, isn’t it? The one who has refused to see you for so long? I didn’t think that you would like to choose this one; otherwise I would have given a better clue earlier.

Vampire Owl: No, not directly. Yes, the Lady Death influence cannot be denied because she is always present everywhere. Even when she is not known to be with me, she is there; she is with us all. She knows us all and she can easily predict where most of our actions are leading us. Death does have an existence also without its personification.

Vampire Bat: You mean, as the great leveler, the one who brings equality to a world where everyone considers the other as inferior. There are not many problems that death cannot solve. What lies under the tombs shall always be the same.

Vampire Owl: Yes, and the talk about tombs bring me to the third word – Graveyard which is an extension of death. That makes it three; tea, death and graveyard. This should finish my role in this game.

Vampire Bat: Yes, graveyard has had a special place for us throughout the history. I don’t see why can’t it become a favourite word. It has always been the place where things became better and there, all sufferings end. There is no better location which has given quality resting time.

Vampire Owl: It has also played a big role in the battles which were fought there, most of them being won by our kind. It has the record of being a lucky place for us, and it is approved by my zombie minions.

Vampire Bat: The zombies will surely find it the best word ever. But it is still not as powerful as death with all its glory. Graveyard needs death; more and more of it. May be the angel of death will bring more.

Vampire Owl: In the end, it all comes to death, the end of the story of lives, and it is undoubtedly the best word ever.

Vampire Bat: But for a lot of us, life is death and vice versa. Most of us never really live and we all die in the end. There are not many things which can equal living a dead man’s life with its melancholy.

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

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

TeNy

We are all Special

We are all different individuals with a large variety of tastes. If we look closer, the similarities become a lot lesser in number and this lack of similarities will assure each one of us that we have our own personalities. There are lots of things that contribute to this individuality, but in my case, I am going to come up with some weird reasons. Different might be nice, but weird is better. It is also special! What is the fun in everyone being the same kind of person?

The first point here would be that I don’t comb my hair. Well, I can’t remember when was the last time I did that. Nowadays, I don’t even have hair style. All the style depends on how my hair manages to be. I have cared very less about how I look like; it has been one my least concerns. If you see me right out of the bed, my looks will be the exact same as how you see me on the road. The looks should be one thing on which people are never to be judged, and I hope I won’t be. Seventy rupees in every one and half months and the hair is done.

Then there is the point about tea. Most of you should already know it and this blog is also based on the same as you might have noticed the presence of tea already. My special skills include drinking a lot of tea; or rather it is my special need – I drink a lot of tea each and every day. It makes sure that I will write again and without tea, my life is empty. There might be other things among food and drinks, but nothing for me like a cup of tea. Even now, I had to find my tea for inspiration.

This is where I would park my car. There is tea all around, and so inspiration.

I have always loved the celebrities who were not crowd favourites. Even as a child, I tried to bring my own interests to light. Whether it was cricket, football or WWE, I used to come up with my own favourites who were not the biggest names at that time. I wanted my choices to be different and the kind of people whom everyone else loved. I guess that there was a certain amount of selfishness there as I also wanted to love these people without sharing with a huge crowd.

I try my best not to smile while taking a photo, or at times come up with half a smile. I have felt that there is no point in smiling in front of the camera when there is not much happiness in life and people hate other so much. As true happiness is rarely there and so difficult to find, I consider my smile to be fake and therefore will make an attempt to hide it whenever possible. True happiness is more of a fairy tale than true love, and I am not going to bring that one to light. If smiles are missing, I hope others smile for me too.

One thing different in my belief system is that I believe that we are all striving for one aim, which is death. I have good set of positive beliefs about death which I keep close to my heart. I used to have a few points printed about the same, but then decided not to keep that piece of paper because someone will think that I am suicidal. It is not like I am suicidal, but I wait for the moment of my end, and I started this waiting quite some time ago. Only death can bring the much needed equality.

So, let the dark clouds arrive and remind us about that dark end to our lives.

I am yet to really understand why I write blogs. I keep writing as if it is something which my life depends on. There has been no day without at least one blog post from last December onward. Sometimes I think that I know the reason, but most of the time, I feel that there was no real understanding about the same. Usually, people have an aim, they have ambitions and they know where they are going with their blogs. But with all my weirdness, I know nothing about it. Maybe I am a blog post robot who managed to gather a human soul.

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 on Samsung Galaxy A5.

TeNy