Discover the Liebster

I was once again nominated for The Liebster Award, and I thank Gowthama Rajavelu of Creatikaa for the same. I have been busy, but is back to posting for the moment again 🙂 Here is his post related to the award: http://creatikaa.blogspot.in/2016/06/11-quick-facts-about-me-liebster-award.html

So, What is the Liebster Award?
The Liebster Award is an award that exists only on the internet and is given to bloggers by other bloggers. The earliest case of the award goes as far back as 2011. Liebster in German means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome.

Liebster Award Rules:

1. Thank the person who nominated you and link back to their blog.
2. Display the Liebster Award on your blog.
3. Share 11 random facts about yourself.
4. Answer the 11 questions you were asked.
5. Nominate 11 bloggers for the Award and have them answer 11 questions.
6. Let the other bloggers know you’ve nominated them.
7. Copy the rules into your post.

11 Random facts about me

1. I claim to have traveled through more potholes than anyone else in the world.
2. I prefer white chocolates to the other types; I used to be a Milky-bar demanding kid.
3. I have an Aloo Paratha whenever there is a chance.
4. Other than tea, Blackcurrant Milkshake has been a long time favourite drink.
5. 80% of the food I had this year was with sambar.
6. I have felt in the last few months that what happens outside work is not life at all.
7. Asus Zenfone is the first phone which I used with no complaints.
8. Among the Indian cities I have traveled outside Kerala, I would choose Kolkata to return to.
9. I believe that the truly realistic movies are horror movies.
10. The song which I watched the most on TV during childhood was “Bholi bhali ladki”.
11. The movie which I watched the most during those times was “Manichitrathazhu”.

11 Questions Answered

Who/What inspires you?

I have currently run out of inspiration. It is being re-filled.

Why do you blog?

I don’t really have a reason for this anymore.

Do you have a favorite book – if so, which one?

I have had many, and I have stopped taking one out of the long lists.

What do you value most in life?

I consider being good to others as more valuable than the rest.

What does a normal day in your life look like?

A normal day is traveling through roads with potholes and traffic problems.

What’s your most favourite food?

I like a lot of things, but I am happy with minimum amount of any food.

What’s the most memorable gift which you have ever received?

The gift, or the superpower of DISGUST against the vain and the prejudiced.

What do you admire most about yourself?

I am not really doing what others want me to do; that is working.

One favourite track that you like to listen on repeat and never get bored of it?

“Pee Loon” from Once Upon A Time in Mumbai.

What’s your dream travel destination?

Bran Castle, Poenari Castle and Hunyad Castle, Romania.

What’s your peace spot, the place you like to visit when you are down?

Under the bed, after throwing Bogeyman out.

Now, here are the 11 people, whom I would like to nominate for the award.

The Nominees Are

1. Ranju – Be the Quirky You
2. Archana – Travel with Archie
3. Felicia – Confused Mango
4. Namrata – A Wink of Wisdom
5. Aswathi – Pins N Ashes
6. Anoop – Tranquil Yet Alive
7. Maniparna – Scattered Thoughts
8. Deeshani – Inner Thoughts of a Taciturn
9. Sanjay – YESTEETHATSME!
10. Raja – Raja Reviews
11. Amreen – aka The Versatile

My 11 Questions to You

1. Will you be watching The Conjuring 2?
2. Did you travel to school in a school bus as a little kid?
3. From different types of tea, which one would you choose?
4. Which is your favourite blogger award?
5. Which character in any book or movie will you like to be?
6. Which is your favourite place in Kerala; visited or to visit?
7. What’s the strongest memory of the college that you have?
8. Which are the songs which you listen to when happy, and when sad?
9. Is there a movie sequel that you are really waiting for? Which one?
10. What’s the one vegetarian dish that you can recommend for me?
11. If I contest the elections as an independent candidate, will you vote for me? 😛

Thanks 🙂

TeNy

Advertisement

Award: Premio Dardos

The season of Christmas has arrived as we await the big day to bring some memories and a certain amount of happiness back to us again. It is that kind of a season when we look forward to gifts and more gifts. Meanwhile, here is an award which has come here after a long time; thanks to Akhil 🙂

You can see his post about the award here

PREMIO DARDOS AWARD
Premio Dardos is Italian for Prize Darts. This is given in the spirit of Friendship, Creativity, Community and Originality 🙂

And the rules…
# Include the Premio Dardos Award Picture and the name of the person that nominated you. (Include a link to their blog)
# Nominate 3 other blogs/bloggers which you want to (The number of blogs can be varied).
# Thank the blogger who nominated you in your blog and link back.

And my three nominees are:

Namrata

Sachin

Arvind

Let the good days leading to Christmas continue and hope that there will be something awesome coming through… 🙂

TeNy

On One Old Friend

We come across so many people throughout our lives, and most of them vanish from our memories leaving no trace. A few others come, stay and then go. Then there are others whom we want to stay, but they are never even close to being there. While, it is easy to forget people, there are a few who keep coming to the mind. There was one such friend whom I met again after sixteen years, but here, I am going to talk about someone whom I knew until eight years ago who is #madeofgreat.

I have had a number of such friends whom I met after so many years, but this one is special even though I haven’t met him after he moved from his home and ceased being my neighbour. It has been a long time, but he is going to be chosen here because he is not just #madeofgreat as I would write about it, as he has already proven it. He proved it once, twice and then again for the third time this year. So, no talk about #madeofgreat is complete for me without bringing something about him.

He was my senior by a few years, and he studied the same course which I started, but never finished. I had to skip my course and choose another one while he completed his own. We used to play a number of computer games together, and he was always interested in finding new ways to solve the puzzles in the games – Prince of Persia and Need For Speed were the games of that time, but the former was the one which I have always seen him playing. He could always find a way through the puzzles then.

It was when I returned from the college in front of his house that I found him, and I was introduced into the game, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. Not only was he good at finding a way, he was always looking to do something different. He had the ideas and he was always there to talk to others about doing things differently and that it was the right way. Most of us never really listened that much, but I knew that there was something in what he said. Even then, I was afraid to be branded different at that time.

One day, when I looked at his place, I found out that he had moved from there. I hadn’t seen him for a few days, and I realized that he had shifted home all of a sudden. Nobody really knew that he had shifted, and none of our mutual friends who were close to me had any idea. But years later, with a movie, I saw his name attached as the director. He had a name which was to be easily noticed, and his computer record was actually with me – so I knew that it was him and nobody else.

I went for the movie with one of our mutual friends who also hadn’t met the person for a very long time. We were actually surprised that he had such skills that we rarely noticed. The movie was a very nice debut for him as a director and it went on to become a hit, and that was only the beginning of his career which was only going to be better. I don’t know many other people who followed their passion and made it so big – he is indeed the person who is suitable for the tag #madeofgreat. I am sure that not a lot of people would have guessed and expected this, but he made his passion work so well.

Now, he is a well-known film director in the Malayalam movie industry, and has big hits under his name. I shall not name him though, as that would make people feel that I am inclined towards giving good opinions about his movies; but that is a wrong idea. I have never rated his movies that high or with prejudice – I have only given them as much as the experience has pushed me to provide and not based on who directed or acted in then. Well, I don’t even know if he will recognize me as of now, after so many years.

And here is a question: “What do you think of Tata Motors association with Lionel Messi?”

For more details about #madeofgreat, visit http://madeofgreat.tatamotors.com/

TeNy

The Lasting Impression

As we wander through the happy and sad corners of our mortal lives, there are many people who contribute in one way or the other. The number of such people will be very large, but there will be only a few people whose memories will last forever. It is a rare thing to find someone who is #madeofgreat, because not many people can belong to that category with ease. But some people and the memories about them are forever, and they will always be with us in one way or the other.

There was one such person, and he is also the first person who came to my mind when I first saw the hashtag and idea #madeofgreat. It is about that person who became the earliest brother figure, as he was one person whom I knew right from the earliest times as far as my memories go. Thinking about the elder brotherly figures, I can’t remember many who are not among my relatives, but when he comes to the mind, the strongest of my memories are right there, and they remain as strong as they have ever been.

This is my 400th post on this blog posted on the 493rd day of its existence, and I dedicate this one to that person who has been an inspiration to me for a very long time – Jean Mathew. I have mentioned him on a few of my posts on this blog earlier. He was the most hardworking and the smartest person I have ever known. He used to be my advisor for everything related to technology and I always took his advice whether I wanted to buy a new mobile, laptop, desktop or digital camera; he was an expert in such matters.

One of our earliest photos together, scanned from the old album collection.

During my Plus Two times with the Science-Computer branch, he was of great help, and he was a genius in matters related to technology. If I know something about computer, and related to the interest that I had in the same, I am always indebted to him. He was there to give the much needed advice during my early childhood entry into the world of computers. He was also my gaming guru, and I have always thought that he was the most intelligent and the one great expertise related to computers.

He was one person who was #madeofgreat, and I never had a doubt related to the same. He did prove the same when all odds were against him. He did fight hard throughout his life. It was while in the United States in 2008, working for IBS, that he was diagnosed with brain tumour. But facing the disease and going through the treatment with a positive outlook which I never had, he survived and managed to get better. His optimistic approach to life and belief in God had a positive influence on me too during those times.

There were some good times, but the disease showed signs of a relapse in 2011, and facing the tumour once again with a positive frame of mind, he left us for the better world on the third of March, 2013. He never complained, and he never lost hope. As he had gone for eternal sleep, I wondered how there will be no other person who was #madeofgreat like he lived his life, working hard, without complaints and always with hope and trust in this world as well as the other. His positive outlook has always made us closer to optimism.

There are stars which twinkle on the sky, and there are people #madeofgreat, like him, who will shine and twinkle in our minds forever. His amazing collection of brilliant photography and Bible Verses, both combined together, brought us hope, and he still comes to the mind and I often check his Facebook profile and blogs for those pictures and quotes. Times change and life moves forward, but a few things remain and a fewer number of people stay in our minds for eternity.

Cropped from his photo collections with inspirational Bible verses.

And here is a question: “What do you think of Tata Motors association with Lionel Messi?”

For more details about #madeofgreat, visit http://madeofgreat.tatamotors.com/

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

Creative Blogger Award

Ranju has nominated me for the Creative Blogger Award yesterday as I awaited the release of Mission Impossible 5 in India counting down to today. Thank you Ranju 🙂 May the vampire blessings be always with you 😀

Here are the rules:

• Thank the one who nominated you
• Nominate other bloggers
• Write 5 random facts about yourself

5 Random facts about me: 

•  I look at people getting married, and parents of friends and relatives boasting about the jobs of their sons and daughters; and I usually hope that they take their parents with them rather than leaving them in Central Kerala to bother me.
• Watching horror movies give me so much of a relief from these; it makes me realize that worst things can happen and this is kind of better. Yes, do watch those horror movies regularly because they prepare you to face the horrors of the world 😀
• I haven’t combed my hair for the last eight years. I have never cared much about it. I have been completely against a particular hairstyle defining my style. I also cut my hair late, like once in two months or so spending Rs.70 for it.
• I don’t like buying new clothes. I feel that I have enough of them for eternity. Still, if one of the relatives want to buy me one, I wouldn’t say no. I only try the dark ones; there is no shirt or t-shirt with light colours in my room.  Otherwise, I haven’t really bothered about what to wear.
• I have a good record of keeping on drinking tea, but my Paneer Masala Dosa eating record is at more than one per day since last March end. I hope to keep this record at the same level for a long time. I have had more than half of it from Saravana Bhavan. I had Paneer Masala Dosa from Delhi too.

Here is my list of creative bloggers:

Archana @http://drishti.co
Amreen @https://painttheworldwithwords.wordpress.com
Tara @http://www.crimsonapril.com
Purba @http://www.reverieofpurba.blogspot.in
Deeshani @http://www.deeshani.in

That will be all 😀

TeNy

Real Neat Blog Award

I have been nominated for a blog award, the first of its kind that Tea Cerebration(s) has received; the Real Neat Blog Award, from Amreen.

Here is her post on the same: https://painttheworldwithwords.wordpress.com/2015/07/30/the-real-neat-blog-award/

Thank You Amreen 🙂

The answer to the seven questions she asked:

What do you blog about?
A lot of things. Mostly movies, travel and fiction.
What inspired you to blog?
It was mostly loneliness.
Your Favorite Book/Quote/Poem?
“To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield” – Ulysses.
If you had a chance to keep another name, what would it be?
Dracula. I would like that. Or even Frankenstein.
Your Favorite Author?
Lord Tennyson. I like my name.
What’s your favorite sport?
Tennis on television. For a game on court, Badminton.
Your tips on blogging?
Just think and write. No need for anything else.

The rules of the award:

• Put the award logo on your blog.
• Answer 7 questions asked by the person who nominated you.
• Thank the people who nominated you, linking to their blogs.
• Nominate any number of bloggers you like, linking to their blogs.
• Let them know you nominated them (by commenting on their blog etc).

I nominate the following bloggers:

Maniparna
Namrata
Moon
Tara
Raja

My seven questions to them:

1. Which is your favourite movie?
2. Which is your favourite song?
3. Choose your favourite vampire?
4. Which is your most visited blog post?
5. Your Favorite tennis player?
6. Which browser do you use the most?
7. Which is your most commented blog post?

Congratulations and drink tea 🙂

TeNy

Blogging for Eternity

***My final inspirational bloggers list.

Tara @ Crimson April has been a continuous support to my blog, and The Tea Cerebration(s) with its two biggest super-vampires the Vampire Bat and the Vampire Owl would love to thank her not just for her comments here, but also for the creative ideas which she has been giving through her blog. I consider her blog as a source and exhibition of wonderful creativity. Still, above them all, it would be for that post-card which she sent and became a source of inspiration to write more and more. As she mentions on her blog, there is a creative energy magnet there 🙂

Moon @ Footloose Forever has been another source of inspiration for me. This place has been my favourite nature blog, and she has come up with some wonderful descriptions of places which has left me with a desire to travel a lot. She also has some amazing photos to support her blog posts. My blog, Movies of Soul has also been inspired from the design of her blog, and she has helped me with quite some insight into buying a domain at WordPress and related stuff. I hope to continue receiving the same inspiration 🙂

Purba @ Reverie of Purba has been a constant inspiration for me with her comments, and I have bought and read her book, The Hidden Letters from Amazon; and despite it not being my genre at all, liked it and the characters in it were very interesting. She has also written another book, Walking in the Streets of Love and Destiny; it feels very good to have an author reading your blogs and supporting you, doesn’t it? If you ask me, it surely does. I wish her best of luck for the upcoming works 🙂

Simran @ My Friendship is one of my newer friends in the blogosphere, and you know that good things often happen late, but it is a thing of joy when they do. I have been reading most of her poems, and loved the one called Lost Peace a lot. I have read a good number of her poems and hoping to read a lot more. What surprised me the most was she is a fan of Nazriya Nazim and she has watched a lot of movies/music with Nivin Pauly too – that was more than just surprising; her comment on my Om Shanti Oshana review was a welcome twist 😀

Kokila @ Sunshine n Blue Clouds has been a frequent commenter on my blogs, and is the one who has given me the most comments from Blogspot. I have always wondered how many people will comment on my blog from Blogspot; well, she is the one who does that the most, and has inspired me to comment back on the Blogspot blogs which were not among my priorities as I was stuck with my WordPress community for quite a long time. Along with her wonderful Haiku collection, she also writes awesome book reviews. I hope to continue being inspired from her blog 🙂

Maitreni @ The Style Symphony is the recent winner of the contest “My First Expert” from Godrej and it is amazing victory considering the number of posts and bloggers who were involved in the contest – it was much more than the usual number. The team of her and her mom has provided some of those nice posts at this place. I consider this winning post itself as their best ever My Inexpert Mother; My First Expert Mom! I wish her all the best for her future wins as contests are many and she is writing so well; and also thank her for her frequent visits to my blog.

Deeshani @ Inner Thoughts of a Taciturn made it to my blogger network and vice versa, quite recently. I have loved reading her poetry and among them, I have had special admiration for this poem, Rickshaw Driver. Then, Shades of Glee is another poetic work from her which I have enjoyed a lot. Recently providing me with the Sunshine Award, she has been the inspiration that came late, but was here with some of the best blog posts.

Bindu @ Movie Reviews by Bindu Cherungath is one movie blogger whom I have been very happy about meeting through the blogging universe. Her Om Shanti Oshana review has been my favourite since then. I have also loved to read her views on many other movies including Ormayundo Ee Mukham, Ivide and Premam. Her review on Iyobinte Pusthakam is something which I completely agree on, and it felt extra good to read the opinion there! This paragraph is to the movie love!

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

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

TeNy

Bloggers and Friends

I have written about a number of bloggers who have been very helpful and have managed to be a lot inspirational during my time in the blogging world. Actually, I have only shared three names with my previous three posts, and I have a lot more of them to talk about. So, I will share five other names and their blogs here, and then I will be left with one more post to write about the rest of my blogger friends. I am actually working on another big list, but now I am sharing something about five people who have inspired me.

#1. I managed to find Raja Reviews and its owner Raja Saravanan at a time when I was wandering around the blogging world aimlessly, or rather it was me and Movies of the Soul which was found. Among the first few friends from the blogging community, he has been a big technical help for my blogging situation, and continues to be so. Buying a domain for Movies of the Soul actually meant about an hour of talk on the phone. He has introduced me to his new place for movie lovers, Flixpack, which you might want to have a look at.

#2. Anoop is another person for whom I need to share some space here. Tranquil Yet Alive is another one of those blogs which go quite some way back in my blogging timeline. He is also my favourite Kerala traveler and I hope to accompany him on a trip. He is the second most frequent commenter on this blog as well as Movies of the Soul. He has been here, and also there, most of the time being the first one to comment on a post. His comments have been a frequent inspiration for me to write more, and the Vampire Bat and the Vampire Owl have acknowledged the same.

#3. A Few Handpicked Things in Life from Ranjini is the closest available blog to any of my blogs. That would be a total of 23.9km as the distance between the locations of the blogs, and those two towns of Kerala. I have taken some extra interest for Game of Thrones from her, and did manage to watch all the five episodes; that inspiration also worked very well and I have accepted her GoT guidance. I am particularly interested in her new 100 Happy Days writings, and she is also the one with the fifth most comments on this blog and the sixth on Movies of the Soul.

#4. Shweta and her blog Sunshine and Zephyr have been another strong source of inspiration for me. I have loved to read her posts about Iceland more than the rest, and there were a number of quote-related posts which have recently caught my attention, through which she has shared quotes from her upcoming novel – she has also been there at my blog with comments, the earliest going back to the time when I had just started writing here. She has also left me with the Sunshine Award just recently as you might have noticed earlier.

#5. Harsha might be the first Indian blogger to have visited and commented on my blog regularly. All Resource Updates might be the first Indian blog which I had followed, and it started at a time when I did nothing at any place which boosted my blogging and had almost no contact with other Indian bloggers. He let me know that I really need to get my blog accepted at these websites to make things work better. Even though he has been less active on his blog for some time, he has been more active as of now.

The list is incomplete as expected; there are many names which I would love to add, and more of them to come in the final post of this series. There are many bloggers from outside India too, but this activity is limited to Indian bloggers, and so I have kept this blog post in this way. I take this opportunity to appreciate the help and motivation which have been provided by these five bloggers. Thank you all for the support, and #YouMakeMeWIN!

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

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

TeNy

Back to the Memories

Vampire Bat: You said that you wanted to ask a question. What was that?

Vampire Owl: Yes. Do you know how I got this scar?

Vampire Bat: I believe that there are plenty of wonderful reasons for that, and if I start counting, I shall find myself in need of a calculator.

Vampire Hamster: Vampire Knight, sir, do you need a calculator right now? I have ordered one from Flipkart. I can show you the model and you can tell me if it is enough.

Vampire Bat: That was not supposed to show an actual need for a calculator. Why is this guy always here whenever we are talking something seriously?

Vampire Owl: The rest of the vampire team takes too many holidays. This person here forgets to take vacations due to his memory problems, and so he is here for most of the time.

Vampire Bat: Okay, you can still tell me one reason for this particular scar.

Vampire Owl: It is a very long story. Once upon a time, not that long ago, but still enough years behind to have a subplot to my story…

Vampire Bat: We won’t be needing that much detail. You can start with just a few hours or rather a few minutes before getting that scar.

Vampire Owl: In that case, I can deal with this in seconds. When Mavis was little, she hit me with the immortal claw while we were playing.

Vampire Bat: The immortal claw? Who gave that to a little child?

Vampire Owl: Nobody. She was ready with that when I returned to her after giving some instructions on what not to do.

Vampire Hamster: Sir, can you look at my claws and see if they are immortal?

Vampire Bat: They are not really claws. So Mr. Vampire Owl, you were instructing her on something.

Vampire Owl: Yes, I had given her a list about things not to do, and objects not to touch, and in failure of the same, I threatened to punish her.

Vampire Bat: You shouldn’t have been allowed to take care of anyone above the vampire toddler level. It is where your expertise ends. You can’t be the boss to any kid these days, and this one is the youngest known member of the immortal vampire clan. She is the legacy, and you can’t talk to her like that. Considering what the new generation kids do these days, you are lucky to be alive.

Vampire Owl: I didn’t know that the situation was this bad. I have been taking care of kids for centuries. I have even taught a few kids to take over the world.

Vampire Bat: What? You were responsible for those wars? Well, the influences on the generation are pretty bad. They have terrible role-models among their own people and celebrities, and you know that the effect of modernity has showed up here too.

Vampire Owl: Yes, I am the only good role-model around here. It is written on my scar; I mean, the face.

Vampire Bat: The problem has to be solved at the root level itself. Parents these days have no time for the children; just like Uncle Dracula. The current friends of the children are mobiles and laptops. Parents need to be like friends, or they can’t gain the trust of the children.

Vampire Owl: I understand that we can’t depend on fear. Even in my case, I was the one who ended up being afraid. Kids these days are dangerous. I need to get into their good books or get some armour.

Vampire Bat: Find a way to bond with them, or your end will come from your times with the vampire kids. Mavis has grown up and is in control. But you can’t say that same about the human kids who are ignored by their parents.

Vampire Owl: I would start the next season by eating Chocos with them.

Vampire Bat: Fair idea. Develop on it, and make sure that they don’t bite you. If they are working on any of those electronic devices, there are more chances of them biting you. There is no chance for guessing what all they are exposed to, with the internet so much readily available.

Vampire Owl: The infection of modernity and its gadgets; we have to be very careful about it. I understand.

Vampire Hamster: We will beat this infection together, sir.

Vampire Bat: Can you at least stop looking at your mobile phone while you talk against it?

Vampire Owl: He would make a nice kid; at least better than the new generation children. He is surely not going to go Lord of the Flies on me.

On this occasion, do have some Chocos 😀 : https://www.facebook.com/mychocos

***The images used in this blog post are from the Official Facebook Page of Kellogg’s Chocos which I have mentioned just above.

TeNy

A Second Sunshine

Shweta has recommended me for The Sunshine Blogger Award @ http://www.sunshineandzephyr.com/2015/07/and-the-sunshine-award-goes-to

This is my second award of the kind – an award which I am not that familiar with, and I am glad to receive this at the moment. Thanks Shweta 🙂

 

Now for the rules

Rules

• Thank the person who nominated you.
• Answer the questions from the person who has nominated you.
• Nominate some other bloggers for this award.
• Write the same amount of questions for the bloggers you have nominated.
• Notify the bloggers you have nominated.

My nominees

Shoma (http://shomaabhyankar.wordpress.com)
Yogita (http://www.letuspublish.com)
Tara (http://crimsonapril.com)
Gowthama (http://creatikaa.blogspot.in)
Roohi (http://www.roohibhatnagar.com)

As there are no questions for me, I would like to keep the number of questions same 🙂

I don’t usually publish the money spent, because my relatives will instantly consider it a squander of money. I would still like to share my movie watching statistics at the theatres for the last two years as the “sun shines” 😀

2013 – Total: 103; Cost: 10234 @99.36 per movie
English: 44; Malayalam: 43; Hindi: 12; Tamil: 4.
Most movies @ PVR Cinemas (27); Cinemax (15).

2014 – Total: 89; Cost: 7705 @ 86.57 per movie
English: 44; Malayalam: 32; Hindi: 10; Tamil: 3.
Most movies @ PVR Cinemas (33); Carnival Cinemas (14).

2015* – Total: 32; Cost: 2995 @ 93.59 per movie
English: 16; Malayalam: 11; Hindi: 3 Tamil: 2.
Most movies @ Aashirvad Cinemas (8); Carnival Cinemas (5).
*As of 3rd July, 2015.

Congrats to all 🙂

When the Sun Shines

 

I was nominated for the Sunshine Blogger Award by Deeshani 🙂 @ http://www.deeshani.in/2015/07/sunshine-blogger-award.html
Thanks to her for the same 🙂 As a part of the award nomination, I will be answering a few questions.

1.Tell me about your proudest achievement.
Winning the pass for the India Today Conclave with this blog post, The Vision of a Lost Bat.
2.How much time do you spend blogging?
An average would be about four to five hours a day.
3.Do you believe in destiny. Why/why not?
I believe in fate, related to all negative happenings.
4.How do you evaluate success?
That should be by satisfaction.
5.Have you been an inspiration to someone?
I don’t believe that anyone thinks so.
6.What is the most difficult part of the writing process, according to you?
The beginning and the end.
7.Tell me about one interesting and one frustrating thing about blogging.
It is what the “normal non-blogging people” talk about it; both positive and negative.
8.What’s the best thing a blogger can give to his readers?
Content right from the heart.

I am nominating a few other bloggers for the same 🙂
Anoop (http://anooppillaiz.wordpress.com)
Geethu (http://chococurrent.wordpress.com)
Zainab (http://zainabattari.wordpress.com)
Ranjini (http://rangelz.wordpress.com)
Fathima (http://mutafariqkhayalat.com)

Rules

• Thank the person who nominated you.
• Answer the questions from the person who has nominated you.
• Nominate some other bloggers for this award.
• Write the same amount of questions for the bloggers you have nominated.
• Notify the bloggers you have nominated

Questions to nominees

1.Tell me about your favourite movie.
2.How much time do you spend at other blogs?
3.Do you believe in life after death?
4.Which is your favourite food item?
5.Which are your favourite mobile and laptop brands?
6.Between cricket and football, what would you choose?
7.What was the best thing you purchased online?
8.Will you watch Terminator Genisys this weekend?

Congratulations to all 🙂

Celebrating Inspiration V3.0

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TeNy

Quote Challenge 1: Rice

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

***250th post, btw 😀

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rules for the challenge:

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

For my day one, I nominate my blogger friends:

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

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

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

TeNy

Tribute to Haiku Queen

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TeNy

Joy of Being Together

There are many forms of happiness in one’s life, as they become the other side of that coin which has sadness on one side. One of them is that bliss of being together with your loved ones – friends, relatives, and all those who find a nice place in your heart. The need for people in our life is a certainty, and we need some good support to remain motivated through the dark times – after all, life is not a soft bed of flowers on which you can just lie down and enjoy.

This brings me back to a memory from some time ago. We had shifted to our old home again, and it was a return to the past. But there were still not many friends around there, and couldn’t find most of my childhood friends there, as most of them were having jobs somewhere else, and a few others couldn’t be contacted at all. I was lonely there and the scope was there to be eternally alone unless there was a nice twist to come.

Then one day, I had a Facebook message from an old friend of mine who stay near my present home to which we have returned after a gap of around fifteen years. We had studied together for the tution classes, and it was good to hear from him. He was getting married and told me that he will be coming to visit me. I told him to come whenever he wanted because I wasn’t much hopeful about it – this had happened before with nobody really coming and I was pessimistic.

But that was not the case this time. As I was going through my normal pessimistic model, he came to my home on the very next holiday. We talked about a lot of things, like how he was going through the difficult times in his life, especially with facing people without a job, and it was easy to relate for me because it was the same on this side too. Society wants all of us to get a job, then get married and afterwards, bring kids to this world.

He told me that it will pass, like in his case, as it has only gotten better for him. He had been going through the same phase as I was, without a job and writing for entrance for his post graduation. There might have been times when his case was worse, as I always had some other things to do. He was like for this all the time, but never really achieved the good results for a very long time. He struggled real hard, and I have been the lazy one with my studies, even with my good scores.

He told me that there is always the right time for the right thing, as it happened with him. After his marriage, he was going to go for the Doctor of Medicine, and his wife was also going to pursue the same. He made it clear that things did finally came right for him, and what you have to do was to keep trying. There was never going to be a substitute for hardwork, and he was another example for the same.

So, we had porotta and paneer butter masala at the nearby restaurant, talking a bit more about it, finishing the small meeting with a cup of tea each. It was a fine day which proved with ease that being #together is very important, and we all need our friends in our life. This was that little nudge that I needed to get back on track, and just like Housing.com, lets believe in the power of optimism which can be attained in one way or the other. Check this link for more details about Housing.com and how they can be helpful: https://housing.com/

***The images used in this blog are those of St George Basilica, Angamaly – another symbol of optimism for me. These two photos were taken by me on my Sony Cybershot DSC-W310 #together.

TeNy

Inspiration for the Soul

This is my 100th post at Tea Cerebrations, and an interesting fact is that this century was attained on the 200th day of this blog – 100 (200) with one post on every two days : Not bad for a test match hundred, right? 😀

I have got my hat-trick extended with the Very Inspiring Award here 😀 And thanks to Namrata (http://namratakumari.blogspot.in) this happened so fast 😉 There are certain special facts about her being the inspirational one for my blogs: 1. She has been commenting on all my blogs for a very long time; 2: She was the first one to comment on this blog; 3: She was the first blogger friend to be on my Facebook friends list. So, Namrata the inspirational blogger has provided me with this inspirational award (http://namratakumari.blogspot.in/2015/01/very-inspiring-blog-award.html) which inspires me and makes me feel like an inspirational blogger 😀 Thank you 🙂

Seven things about me:
1. I feel that working for Romanian tourism will be nice, especially concentrating on a castle 😀
2. My favourite among the sweet ones are white chocolate and milk peda.
3. The only vouchers I have ever known are from Flipkart.
4. The only district in Kerala where I have not gone on a trip is Kasargod (have just traveled through).
5. I seem to think more than The Thinker 😉
6. I doubt what is easier in this modern world; me getting a job or finding goodness in people.
7. I strongly believe that Vikram is the greatest actor India has ever produced.

Here are the fifteen blogs:
I wanted to mention my friend late Jean‘s blog here first as it is going to be two years since he left us. He was always an inspiration. (http://photoshealingwords.blogspot.in)
Heera (http://thereadingbud.wordpress.com)
Leena (https://fashionokplease.wordpress.com)
Bikramjit (http://mannbikram.wordpress.com)
Mary (http://marythelittlewriter.wordpress.com)
Shibu (http://shibumathewn15.wordpress.com)
Harsha (http://allresourceupdates.wordpress.com)
Aneesh (http://gangsofedathua.wordpress.com)
Mirna (http://mirnamorgan62.wordpress.com)
Simon (http://simonsayswatchthis.wordpress.com)
Avinash (http://avirandom.com)
Ashley (http://ashleyblancospeaks.com)
Charly (http://charlypriest.wordpress.com)
Ada (http://ada2writes.wordpress.com)
Bhaswati (http://adoniszone.blogspot.com)

Remember, tea is forever; and congratulations 🙂

A Question: Who’s Next?

The 2011 slasher movie You’re Next leaves one a message, and it is in no way having a redeemable quality considering the current situation. It talks about one quality that is gone, which is the power of blood relations and even those of romantic relationships. It pours acidic blood over all kinds of relationships and makes the viewers realize that chaos will come sooner or later and nobody can consider themselves free from it. You feel that you will see slasher horror with lots of blood and gore, but this movie is more than that as it reflects a consistently degenerating society that we live in.

It is a known fact that the current world is a quick one and possibly too fast for the traditional people. The new generation goes on trying to enjoy their life or to become successful so that they can enjoy life later, with a Carpe Diem attitude. Seize the day by hook or crook? The newly formed parents are also responsible for the same, asking their children to study and get a job rather than become a good person. This is why they ask every child go and choose science, because that makes more money. This concentration only on a future full of money leads to things such as what is depicted in this movie. Be aware that the next few paragraphs will have spoilers.

Sharni Vinson as Erin caught in the wrong family (screenshot from the movie)

You’re Next is a home invasion movie. It has sons who hire murderers to kill their brothers, sisters and parents, plus even their lovers as they are attending a big family re-union. The whole point is about getting the family inheritance for themselves. Now, you can’t put the blame on movies or some wild imagination of the film maker who wanted to make this gory movie more disturbing, because you read such stuff every day in newspapers, like father murdering the son, daughter murdering the mother, son murdering both the parents, mother murdering her newborn child for eloping with her new-found lover and such things which marks presence.

Even as the increase in such incidents is the result of this age, the greed and jealousy has always got the better of the blood relations. In the Holy Bible, the first murder was committed by Cain on his brother Abel which proved such relationships incredibly weak. This makes one wonder if some people of this age are the descendents of that same man who committed that sin and the crime. They can surely ask that question, if they are their brother’s keepers. May be they do have the mark of Cain on them. Meanwhile Kauravas did the unjustifiable fought their cousins Pandavas fought against each other during another time.

That doesn’t end that so many years ago. With kings being overthrown by their sons, nephews, brothers or other relatives, the royal world itself has seen such cruelty done to the bloodlines. But how can they do the same in the modern world? Weren’t humans supposed to have gotten better? There are people whom I know who have told that the absence of religion has made people better and all problems are due to religion. But here, we see the exact opposite. In a modern world with less religion, there is no respect for elders or love for the fellow human beings. The only contribution is a Facebook post which should automatically save people.

You’re Next has its big family re-union (screenshot from the movie)

You’re Next has people being murdered in the most gruesome manner, and all that for the money. But we see that one person who is not part of the family chooses to care for them. This is where the rare goodness takes itself in, proving that relatives are not everything. We have brothers fighting over a will and partition in about seventy five percent of the households, at least half of them actually showing them in public. We have brothers and sisters filing cases against each other and even against their parents, sometimes taking the matter into their owns hands. It happens in movies, and when it happens in real life, its real worse.

Some people do pretend to value such relationships, but that is just plain acting. Some of them does the same to a certain someone to keep others away and a few others to gain something by love. There are a few others who stick to their blood relations to hate the relatives of their spouse, but then the question remains how they can love their wife and children in that case? How can someone just hate a person just because he is his or her spouse’s relative, in an attempt to make one’s own relatives seem superior? How can someone fight his or her own bloodline over money even when there is something to take for everyone in the family? Why doesn’t family come first any more rather than the word “me”? If things go like this, “You’re Next”.

TeNy