The Blog Post No: 500

I have been moving towards this milestone, the five hundredth post on this blog for some time – there was a time when I thought that I could get to five hundred posts only while combining all my blogs together, but here I am, as The Tea Cerebration(s) has achieved that figure. I have been thinking about writing about a movie for this special occasion, but then I felt that I should stick to the personal side with this post. I really haven’t watched that special a movie for some time; so lets take this one back through the memories.

Lets talk about the awesome people I have met in the last one year or so. At a time when I was wondering what was next for me, the blogging fraternity has always been there for me – I am thankful to them for the same. I have met a number of my fellow bloggers, all of them at Cochin or Delhi. I have met a lot of people already from online communities, and last one year for so, has been special. I have met some of the most amazing people in these times, and I have been a lot of happy about the same.

At Delhi, there were four other bloggers for the conclave, as the winners of the writing contest on The World Remade; I met Arvind, Shoma, Shreya and Yogita at Taj Palace Hotel, Delhi. It was the best of times – I also met Mayank from India Today there. This one might always be my biggest win ever, and the only time when I have met so many bloggers at the same time. It was also one of the most interesting journeys of all-time, with the chance to see all those celebrities in person, and also to wander around the city as a tourist. I really needed a reason to visit Taj Mahal, and finally, there I was, with the suitable reason.

I was surely left with the feeling that I missed meeting so many other bloggers at Delhi though, with the chance there – maybe there is another opportunity on another day. Life has the ability to provide you with second chances, as I have felt and proven at many points of my time-line of existence. Well, hope has got wings, right? I am sure that we have read that somewhere in a poem. According to Emily Dickinson, it had feathers, I guess. It should never cease to exist – there were many situations when I thought that I was done with blogging, but here I am, with my existence still being there.

On another day, I managed to meet Anoop, at the Ernakulam South railway station, followed by four cups of tea. It was a meeting which was waiting to happen; I was sure that it was supposed to happen some day, and in the end, it did. At least before Batman was to go and battle Superman, it had to happen 😛 At my break between two movies – Paavada and Monsoon Mangoes, I met Ranjini at the mall – with the tea; that was another meeting which was due for so long, of course; well, we did happen to go to the same school at a point of our life too 😛 Well, a fine day is to be chosen for meeting such wonderful people. I was just lucky enough to find the best time 😀

I later met Deepa at Durbar Hall Art Gallery in Cochin during the exhibition of her paintings last month; feels good to see such awesome creativity at any time. It was just last day that I met Shrinidhi during his visit to Cochin. I am more than happy to meet such amazing people, they have been directly or indirectly a significant part of my life, as not only have they supported me, but their writings have always been a source of inspiration for me. People look at many fields for some motivation, but I have found the same among my friends – the bloggers about whom I have talked about a lot already.

It has taken me 642 days to get to 500 posts on this blog. I have been stuck at the score of 499 for too long after continuously writing for more than a year, and I am glad to have finally got to this milestone. Sometimes, you feel that you need these scores to make you remember, but there are occasions when you understand that it is all about the ideas and the people, and the records and achievements will just follow. I haven’t been able to blog much in the last few months due to work, but I hope to keep this going, as blogging has defined my life more than anything else, and the impact has surely been deeper than I felt earlier.

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

TeNy

Advertisement

The Thing About Relatives

There is something about relatives that we will never understand. Yes, there are those topics related to getting a job, finding oneself in matrimony and others, but this is more about being right and logical. Here are a certain examples of strange logic that I have found among them. The surprising thing that this logic is applied so much that I had to wonder if it is passed on to others through wind and water. Maybe it is a kind of infection, like what that zombie apocalypse brings as we have seen in Resident Evil and Warm Bodies.

We are doing you a favour by coming to stay at your place: I actually heard this one first when I was a child. Then I heard it again and then again. There were people coming around because they had to attend a course from our place, or because they had to attend exams or try some job. But the logic here is that they were coming to look after me and some others were going to give company to the little me. I should have been very desperate for company according to these ideas, but I don’t remember much of being given company – oh there was someone, and that one was a bloody video game.

Some of these people might even remember this from a long time ago. Many years later, these people are going to say that he or she had stayed with you and took care of you. We won’t even remember and they will ask us to do something for them just because they stayed with us. Share my computer, share my internet and share my food, and this is going to be like doing a favour for me, right? Help should be unconditional. There are a few people with whom they can try the same thing – the aliens at Uranus, the zombies asleep in the graveyards, the dinosaurs at Jurassic Park and the sweet little crocodiles from Lake Placid.

Maybe the journeys are not that smooth – but people are often too intolerable!

We are doing you another favour by letting you stay at our place: Okay, this is somewhat true, especially when we make that choice to start from there to attend a function far away, or maybe even to attend exams. But I haven’t used any relatives’ place as base for such a thing. I have tried to avoid staying at any place because this is how some people are going to see things. I have been thinking why I should bother some relative by giving him or her trouble. Yes, there are people who really want us to stay, and I have stayed at a few places because the insisted, but generally that is not the case.

You should help us because you will need our help in the future: The great oracles of these lands! They never really lose their charm, do they? I wonder if they take oracles at Delphi nowadays too so that these people can be transported there. Their special powers are also forever because they had once predicted that I am not going to finish even my graduation; forget the post graduation. They are continuing to make such predictions, and I hear them being experts in the same. This prediction about me needing their help has been made long ago, and I don’t usually see them ready for help.

But I decided to provide help in return for a cup of tea; why should I help them because there is a chance that they might help me later? Isn’t helping our friends and relatives what we should do anyway? Still, I won’t be able to ask these people related to even those little things. What makes me wonder is why they can’t even give one share to a post of mine? I asked them to share my review of Charlie, and nothing happened. Yes, they have time only share the posts about whatever makes no sense along with those silly jokes.

As you look far far away, what is it that you see other than conditional help?

You are to provide us some help because we are going to be rich: Some people are really going to touch the clouds in the next few years because they so. Some of them have already touched the clouds just because of being married and having job. Some of these people are already helping each other because they think that the other person is going to make it huge and earn a lot, along with marrying someone from a rich family. Such great expectations there – it is a shame that people are nice to others just because the other person is going to have a lot of money in the future!

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

TeNy

Final Liebster of 2015

Another Liebster Award Nomination 🙂

I was nominated for the Liebster Awards by Felicia Nazareth.
Thank you for the nomination, Felicia 🙂

What are these Liebster awards?

Liebster Award is a new-comer award given by bloggers to bloggers, that creates a great platform for new blogs to be discovered and build communications. The best thing about this award is, it creates a lot of encouragement and support within our blogging community.

What are the Liebster Award Rules?

By accepting this award I am committing to the following:

1. Thank and Tag the person nominated you.
2. Answer 11 questions asked by your nominator.
3. Nominate 11 bloggers.
4. Create 11 questions for your 11 chosen bloggers.
5. Notify them so through social media.

Here were the questions asked to me and my answers to them:

1) What is the hardest thing you have ever had to do?
To keep trying when there seems to be no hope.
2) What do you love about weddings?
I don’t really like weddings and other functions.
3) If money is deposited into your account for adventure purposes only, where would you go?
That would be somewhere in Latin America.
4) Your favorite song, movie and TV show?
There are too many of them to name one right now.
5) What does your blog name mean to you?
It means all the tea which I can ever drink!
6) What is your motivational tagline or favorite quote?
For now, I will take “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield”.
7) What is your biggest problem/challenge when it comes to blogging?
To keep writing and have no appreciation from your relatives.
8) What is your favorite post that you’ve written? Link Please..
The Vision of a Lost Bat.
9) Chocolates Or Ice Cream? Choose One. Why?
Ice Cream, because it is cold.
10) If given a chance how would you change your past?
Too many things there; nobody knows what will bring the best!
11) Any advice / message for bloggers or me?
Just keep writing because blogging world needs you 😀

Do leave your post links in the comments so that I can read the answers.

My Questions For The People I Nominate:

1) Vampires or Zombies – who will you choose for company?

2) Which is the date on which you started blogging?

3) Which kind of posts do you prefer?

4) How has blogging changed your lives?

5) When do you usually wake up in the morning?

6) Dragons or Dinosaurs – whom do you prefer?

7) Which is your dream mobile phone?

8) Which is your favourite review at Movies of the Soul?

9) Where do you want to travel next?

10) Do you love a city so much to shift there? Which one?

11) Rain or Snow – which one inspires you more?

And my dear nominees are:-

Namrata
Nimitha
Hargun
Sachin
Clementia
Sanjay
Maitreni
Vinitha
Bindu
Roohi
Kiran

Keep writing 🙂

TeNy

Big Posts of 2015

Hitman vs. Transporter [Movies]
These are the seven most visited posts of the year 2015, and it comes as a flashback to what all happened at The Tea Cerebration(s) last year. The most visited post of the year was about Hitman: Agent 47 going face to face against The Transporter: Refueled here, as the date of release for the two movies were the same in India. The movies still only have 5.8/10 at IMDb and 8% at Rotten Tomatoes here in the case of the first movie, while the latter has 5.0/10 at IMDb and 17% at Rotten Tomatoes – but they were fine action flicks and worth the comparison; the post surely made it to the top of the list for the year!

Premam vs. Moideen [Movies]
The second most read post of the year is not that much far behind and is still getting a lot of visitors. With the potential to become the new topper for the year, this comparison has been something which the fans have been doing a lot. Premam and Ennu Ninte Moideen are the two top grossers of the year in Malayalam Cinema, and the fans of the latter flick are consistently trying to degrade the former movie. So, this post had become something essential, and there were many people searching with the same line as the title; some of them asked which one is better, and the rest asked which one is worse!

A Return to Tennis [Sports]
This is the tennis related post which I came up with after a long time, and it becomes one of those rare later sports posts. It was more of a random post about the tennis world, but it had a lot of visits, and the search engine was also very kind to this one. This post chases the write-up which is just above it with the steady number of visits. I wasn’t planning to come up with anything big related to this post, but things ended up really well here. So, with Novak Djokovic being the undisputed winner of the year, 2016 might not be that different in writing as far as the tennis posts are concerned.

Why Watch Rani Padmini? [Movies]
Another post about one of the most interesting and inspirational movies had to be written along with the review posted at Movies of the Soul – Rani Padmini is a movie which creates that kind of an impact. No matter what happens at the box-office, we just can’t avoid such movies. With movies like Mili, Su Su Sudhi Vathmeekam, My God and Jo and the Boy to go with it this year, this movie was also required to go bring only the right reasons, as inspiration was going to gain more strength. The movie review is also the third most visited post at Movies of the Soul after Kunjiramayanam and Anarkali, and this post also makes it to the top list.

The Storm Unleashed [Fiction]
This was one of the posts written as the BlogAdda WOW post, a fictional story which did win the badge for the same. The story of the fictional character coming alive was always a part of the dreams, and this one had me thinking about one of my favouite X-Men; it could have been Nightcrawler, Rogue or Mystique, but it was Storm in the end. This is one of my favourite WOW posts, and it did make it for a place among the most visited posts in a short time. There are a number of other fictional stories which made it to the WOW badge, and I have enjoyed writing each one of them.

The Vision of a Lost Bat [Fiction]
I consider this the most valuable post on this blog, thanks to the selection for the India Today Conclave at Taj Palace, Delhi. This one came as the game changer and has got a lot of visits from BlogAdda’s contest winning page. This was also the biggest surprise of the year, as I had mentioned in earlier posts – it also inspired more posts related to it, concerning the big program as well as the journey. It talks about the Vampire Bat’s journey to another planet where he found a new civilized way of life, as Dracula also gets there in the end, with teleportation working in full strength.

On Responsible Tourism [Journeys]
This is a post which is a lot visited which has come up to the top list in the recent days. This one was actually very quick to climb to the most visited posts list, and I was also invited for the Outlook Traveler Tourism Summit, but couldn’t make it to Delhi this time as I would have had to start packing at that moment when I heard that I was selected. I am not that quick, as you might already know. I think, and then I think more; so it was always going to take more time with booking the flights and arranging the accomodation. But I am happy that this post about responsible tourism was noticed!

***The images used in this blog post are from the Official Facebook Pages of the movies, Premam and Rani Padmini. Meanwhile, have you checked for the movie releases during the first quarter of 2016?

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

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

Liebster and the Facts

I once again got a Liebster Award nomination, this time from Sunaina. I have always loved reading her blog, and it feels great to receive another one. Thank you Sunaina 🙂 Here is her post.

THE RULES

1. Thank the nominator
2. Display the award
3. Nominate 10 more bloggers with 10 new questions
4. Answer the questions provided by the nominator
5. Notify the nominees

Now for the questions I have to answer:

Which of your blog posts is closest to your heart?

The College Days at UCC is the post which is right out of the heart and closest to it; not because it won a prize, but because I didn’t have to think about it – this one came instantly.

Who is your biggest critic?

That should be myself. I often have the kind of opinion about myself which I feel beyond my understanding – so much criticism.

What is happiness?

I am still searching for it. When I find it, I might be able to write a very long blog post about it.

Which is the most inspiring thing you have read recently?

I don’t really get that inspired. Many things are inspiring for common people, but when I give it a thought, nothing gets through me to provide inspiration.

Who is your favorite author/poet/writer?

That is a difficult question because I have loved works from different writers. But I would still prefer to answer my namesake, Lord Alfred Tennyson.

When it comes to appreciation, would you prefer a vote for your blog post or a comment?

I would prefer the comment if it is positive or interesting; otherwise I am ready to take the vote; well, you can vote anyway because it is so easy 😀

Walk at the beach or trip to the mall or a luxury cruise – what is your favorite kind of holiday?

I am not that interested in the three. About the malls, I go there so many times, and I have never been to a luxury cruise. I like the beaches, but it is still not an ideal holiday for me.

What are your thoughts about my blog or my style of writing?

I have always been interested in reading your blog. I don’t have thoughts about blogs that much to pass a judgment. Everyone is different in style and each is just unique.

Is it easy to forgive or forget?

Both are not really easy, but the former can be easier considering the situation and what it is about.

Who is your best friend?

As of now, I am afraid that I can’t talk about one. The position inside the soul is rather empty.

 

I am happy to nominate the following bloggers for this award:
Simon – http://simonsayswatchthis.wordpress.com
Raja – http://www.rajareviews.com
Ranjini – http://rangelz.wordpress.com
Sagarika – http://uncivilizedsophistication.wordpress.com
Sherna – http://meowconnect.blogspot.com
Namrata – http://namratakumari.com
Simran – http://myfriendshipsimran.blogspot.in
Amreen – http://painttheworldwithwords.wordpress.com
Roohi – http://www.roohibhatnagar.com
Sachin – http://jrnywithprabhu.blogspot.in

The questions for them are:

1. Which is your favourite comedy movie?
2. Which of my posts do you consider most interesting?
3. What do you think about end of the world?
4. Which is your favourite spiritual place?
5. Who will you choose between a zombie and a ghost?
6. Which is your favourite movie quote?
7. Which is the superpower that you need?
8. What kind of books do you read?
9. If you have to sacrifice one of the two, will you choose to get rid of Facebook or Twitter?
10. A cat or a dog? With spot for only one pet, which will you choose?

TeNy

The Liebster Returns

Thanks to Hema, for nominating me for the Liebster award 🙂

(http://jumbledhead.blogspot.in/2015/11/liebster-award-nomination-2015.html)

A long time had passed since my last blog award nomination, and longer time had passed since the last Liebster!

• 

   

  Rules related to LIEBSTER Award:

  1. As a token of acceptance of the award, do write a blog post regarding the award and post the link of the blogger who nominated you.
  2. Display the award on your blog.
  3. Answer the questions raised by the blogger who nominated you.
  4. Nominate other bloggers.
  5. Post questions to those bloggers.

Here are the answers to Hema’s  questions.

+Who/what inspires you in writing?
It is more of the need to do anything at a time when there is nothing to do.

+What’s the most difficult about blogging for you?
The feeling that this is going to be considered as a wastage of time by people.

+How are you managing time for your work life balance?
There is no work and there is no life for me. So it is very easy.

+What is the single activity which you love the most?
That should be drinking tea, and a lot more tea.

+What is the most special character in you which you adore in yourself?
I don’t really adore anything about me; it is not my plan.

+Which place you like to travel frequently?
To Indian Coffee House, for that tea and what comes with it.

+What 3 words describes you the best?
Thoughtful, Meaningless, Hopeless.

+List any 3 of your favorite bloggers at the moment?
Namrata, Maniparna, Raja.

+What is your favorite quote?
What comes to my mind right now: From the movie King Arthur (2004): “There is no worse death than the end of hope”.

+What are the tips/suggestions for the upcoming blogger?
Just don’t go for the prizes and glory; do what you love.

I am happy to nominate the following bloggers for this award:
Purba – http://www.purbablog.com
Vinitha – http://www.potpourriofmylife.wordpress.com
Roma – http://www.trulyyoursroma.blogspot.in
Bindu – http://www.moviereviewsbybinduc.blogspot.in
Swati – http://dreamerswati.blogspot.in

Here are the questions to my nominees:

*Which is your favourite movie of the 1990s?
*Where do you really want to go before you die?
*What will you choose between a Pista and a Chocolate Shake?
*Do you feel that life has a purpose? Why?
*If given a choice, will you choose arts or science?
*Which is your favourite post on this blog?
*What do you feel is the best thing about blogging?
*What do you think about Simona the Kitty?

TeNy

Loyalty of Dragons

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

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

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

Five Facts About Me:

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

My Nominations:

Archana (http://drishti.co)

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

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

Namrata (http://namratakumari.com)

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

Thank You! 🙂

TeNy

For the Blogger Friend

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TeNy

Of Blogging: My Choices

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TeNy

Official Prayer Time

Vampire Owl: My dear vampire brethren, lets take this opportunity to spend some time in prayer. We know that you are attacked by the evil forces from both outside and inside, and there is the need for prayer to get rid of them. Even as we are basically immortal, we are going to be under the same law according to which God has created humans, angels and devils. So, each of you rise and say this prayer which will be helpful in feeling the truth of life, and it is also helpful to those who are not here with us. The credit for this particular edition goes to the Vampire Bat.

“Thank you God for waking us on this day. It is a beautiful day. Life still seems to have no meaning, but there is a lot of time for finding the existence of that meaning; as much as you allow it. So bless us on this day by getting rid of those relatives who have become the shadow of worthlessness on us. It might be a difficult task because they pretend to pray a lot, and while doing the same, they end up as actually giving some prayers. But as you can see into their hearts, it will be quite easy for you to come up with a decision; you know their souls and the darkness in them. We are also seeing through the murkiness.

I hope that you will start by putting some effulgence in the minds of those uncles who are always boasting about their children. We have always been friends with these people because they were our cousin-brothers and cousin-sisters. But the relationship has been going awry and might reach a state of pitiable disaster unless something is done about the ridiculous talk done by these uncles. There is so much boasting of their own children and the degradation of the others going on around that it will only bring a radical animosity among the cousins. After all, there is a limit to everything.

We also love the fact that our cousins have come up with good achievements, whether it is about getting a job with a high salary, buying some new asset, having a respectable position in the society or marrying an incredibly rich person. It is always good to have friends and relatives at high places, and we are only proud of them. But the problem comes when these uncles who make the vain father figure, comes to attack us for not having what their children got. By degrading us and praising their sons and daughters, they create that cloud of acrimony which stays and only gets worse as time passes.

The advice that they provide is even more unendurable, as it is absolutely clear that they know nothing about us or what we have studied. With their pathetic knowledge of the world except for the little well in which they live with their tailless amphibian kind of contacts, they come to our homes to provide their nonsense. As we are not against good advice and positive opinions, we sometimes get fooled and end up agreeing to it, and the result is that our situation gets further worse. We just can’t help it and we really needs to be saved from them and their pathetic advice which they force upon us.

It is from these shameless people that we need to be saved, O Lord. It is from this situation that we need redemption, unless it is indirectly a part of our absolution. We haven’t known these in the form of concomitant worries in the path of our life, dear Lord. So, please save us from the iniquitous environment that surrounds us, for it devours any kind of effervescence that we are struggling to keep for ourselves. We are unable to keep ourselves away from the perpetual trepidation that surrounds us and refuses to let us go. We need to escape, but we don’t want to run away.

We are not asking for too much, O Lord. Just make sure that these uncles stay with their lovely children. Take them to their sweet, innocent off-springs for at least one week a month or three months an year. It will be better if you take them and keep these people there for their sweet little eternity. If their children are so awesome, the parents should also be with them and show us the example of a perfect family. Without doing that, staying away from them and the children rarely coming home, they have no right to criticize those sons who stay with their parents and a family taking care of each other. Isn’t this the deadly sin of envy, my Lord? Save us from these deadly sinners”.

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

TeNy

Photos from the Past

On this day which has me looking at the memories again, I will bring a few photos which reminds of a few things which I really miss these days. Some of them are clearly not going to come back, and the rest also might not return, and so I will post these pictures and keep thinking about it. We are planning to include a Vampire Butterfly for creating a Butterfly Effect and do what happened in the movie with the same name, but until then, we will keep this on the list of nostalgia.

1. The Random Search: There was always this random search as part of the continuous journeys. But it has completely disappeared right now. On the following image, you can see where we reached during one of our journeys with navigation using a printed map. It was the time when I had no internet connection on my mobile phone and there was also no Google Maps. Well, there was such a time, and it is good to remember.

2. The Legend of Kochi Tuskers Kerala: I will always miss Kochi Tuskers Kerala in the IPL. The games at Cochin were so much fun. I watched three matches of the IPL with seven different people. Out of the three, they only won one and that was against Kolkata Knight Riders. But it was good at that time. Nowadays, thinking about IPL itself gives a shock. Well, the past and the present are not even close in this case.

3. The Kochi Biennale Memories: There was that time when I visited Biennale four times during one season, and then there was the return of the Kochi Biennale two years which had me not visiting at all. I felt strange about it, but still couldn’t visit the program at all. Well, this is not the end, but for some reason, I doubt if I would visit it again. May be I am just doubting for no reason – may be there is a chance.

4. The Missing Ceylon Tea: During my visit to Sri Lanka, I bought a lot of packets of Ceylon Tea and distributed them among my friends. Well, what weighed more than the most of the other things during my return were those packets of tea. It is that tea world that I miss a lot! Yes, I have been to other places with a lot of tea after that, but nothing matched the tea at Nuwara Eliya in Sri Lanka.

5. The Cricket of the Past: I will define my lost love for cricket with just one picture. This was there at the Oberon Mall during the last Cricket World Cup, and despite not caring about cricket much these days, I wanted to think about some cricket. Yes, it was part of nostalgia, and this past will no longer come back. Considering the state of cricket these days, may be it is good to forget them all completely.

6. The Great Halloween Night: We have always loved those Halloween nights, because it was the time to get those costumes related to horror, get some collection and donate them to the poor. Yes, it was how our youth club used to work – not much during the other festivals or days of significance, but full power for the Halloween. Those were the funnier days, and we are glad that the horror was not contaminated 😛

***All photos used in this blog post were taken by me only.

TeNy

FPFS2: Lightning Strikes

It was not the appropriate day for such a big party, but the plans were already made and people arrived too early. Mavis Dracula was already the happiest vampire on the planet. The rain had arrived with the support of lightning. The Vampire Bat looked outside from the balcony as Mavis’ birthday party was at full flow. The Vampire Owl joined him with a bottle of Coca-cola.

Vampire Owl: The food is so good here. We need to take some of these items home. I shall keep it in the refrigerator for a month and keep eating until I get fat. You can also take some of the food and give most of it to that cat of yours.

Vampire Bat: What is the point of doing that? You see how the lightning strikes.

Vampire Owl: Today is the philosophy day? Or is this like the official vampire absurdist period of time? If yes, I can come back later. By the way, have you seen that beautiful girl talking to Uncle Dracula?

Vampire Bat: No, where is she? How does she look?

Vampire Owl: No, I haven’t seen her either. I just had a feeling.

Vampire Bat: Do you know that making stupid jokes when someone is seriously looking at the lightning, which reflects one’s own mind and that person is going through an extremely powerful melancholy stage, is a terrible thing to do?

Vampire Owl: Okay, that sounds strange and too long for me, even when without my owlification job. What is the problem? Or the absence of a problem?

Vampire Bat: I am a very old unmarried Vampire Bat with no job and getting twenty four hours of pathetic advice out of every possible person; is it supposed to feel good? Do I need any other problem right now?

Vampire Owl: Dude, you are like so many centuries old. All the girls you were infatuated with are dead and buried now. Yes, we can call the Lich Queen to animate a few bones, but I don’t think that the right bones can be found from the exact graves. Plus, she can’t add the flesh to skeletons which are too old, and so it is also going to be a problem.

Vampire Bat: I am actually not that upset. Only the lightnings, weddings, baptisms, birthday parties and deaths reminds me of the same and brings depression to my soul. Then there is a little bit of the sadness when I eat tapioca biriyani, idiyappam with gravy, potato chips, appam with stew, puttu with kadala, masala dosa, poori masala, vegetable fried-rice, ghee roast, idli with sambar…..

Vampire Owl: Stop! It is like all the time! Like when there is rain or when there is no rain! Like when you are sleeping or when not sleeping! Or when you are drinking tea or not drinking tea! It is not part-time melancholy, but full-time!

Uncle Dracula [entering with an ice cream]: I know what the current problem is. You might have gone to meet our official vampire psychologist. I have no idea why you did that. He is just there as we have such a post. You needn’t take what he says seriously. He thinks that he knows everything, and that he is the master of every mind. But the truth is that, it is you who is the captain of your mind.

Vampire Bat: He said that because he studied Psychology, I will never be successful.

Vampire Owl: Because he studied Psychology, only he should be without success – how is it related to you? He is such an idiot. He thinks that he knows how we think, what we think and why we think. He also thinks that only he knows what is right and what is wrong. Does it automatically come from learning psychology?

Uncle Dracula: I once had a relative who studied the same. He said that he knows everything because he studied that subject and that everybody else has the right to remain stupid. He told me that he could predict what people were going to do and how much success that they can have. I got so irritated with him that I finally decided to drink his blood. That was an act of aggression, but he has turned good now.

Vampire Owl: The season of the bloody idiots who think that having a high-salary job as soon as possible and getting married are the only things needed in life is back. They think that they know us, but they don’t.

Vampire Bat: I wonder why they think that I haven’t ever tried. They are like I have never done anything good with my life yet. They glorify their own deeds and keep saying that only they and their children can be right.

Uncle Dracula: I see that the thunder and lightning are rather going through your mind and heart. Lets have a cup of tea and think further about it. Mavis has gone to sleep after sharpening her teeth. There is someone here that I want you to meet.

Vampire Owl: I shall have the masala tea with extra sugar.

I have been tagged by Maniparna to take part in the Five Photos Five Stories (FPFS) challenge. This challenge works like: You post pictures for five consecutive days (with possible discounts like sometimes changing to alternate days :D) and attach posts to it, fiction, poem or short write-up. It can be anything that suits your taste. I am also tagging my awesome blogger friend, Namrata on Day Two, as part of the challenge, and I will tag a new person on Day Three. 

***The image used in this blog post was taken by me on my Sony Cybershot DSC-W310 camera.

TeNy

TVB: The Grand Award

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

Now as The Versatile Blogger Award rule says:

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

Seven Facts about me:

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

The Fifteen  Nominations:

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

Thanks and Congratulations…

The Versatile Season

I have been nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award by Moon Roy (http://footlooseforever.com/2015/02/04/versatile-blogger-award-it-feels-great-to-be-appreciated/).

Yes, I say again as she has told her readers, that it is a wonderful feeling to be appreciated for the efforts. She has been a good support and an awesome presence on my blog too. Her blog (http://footlooseforever.com/) has always been a place worth visiting for me too. A big thanks to her 🙂

The rules for the award:

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

The seven facts about myself:

1. I have fallen in love with the never-ending running games on Android.
2. The first city I visited outside Kerala was Kolkata.
3. The first nation I traveled abroad was Singapore.
4. I have done zero exercise in the last few months; feels like I never even moved 😀
5. I am waiting for someone to gift me tea packets just because I can 😀
6. I haven’t traveled away from home for a distance more than seventy five kilometres for about six months now, and that is a new thing.
7. Free Simona the Kitty Fact: Simona now spends most of the time hugging human legs 😀

The fifteen blogs I choose:

1. Anoop (http://anooppillaiz.wordpress.com)
2. Simon (http://simonsayswatchthis.wordpress.com)
3. Ananya (http://www.ananyatales.com)
4. Alok (https://singhalalok.wordpress.com)
5. Mary (http://marythelittlewriter.wordpress.com)
6. Najm (http://angellicfrenzy.blogspot.in)
7. Sreesha (http://petrchorandclouds.blogspot.com)
8. Shibu (http://shibumathewn15.wordpress.com)
9. Umashankar (http://uspandey.com)
10. Raja (http://rajareviews.com)
11. Rohit (http://rohitthebest.blogspot.com)
12. Shrinidhi (http://www.enidhi.net)
13. Mirna (http://mirnamorgan62.wordpress.com)
14. Christy (http://poeticparfait.com)
15. Sakshi (http://www.sakshinanda.com)

Enjoy blogging. Thank you!

Inspiration: Episode Two

Shweta Dave (http://www.sunshineandzephyr.com) has nominated this blog for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award. This is the second time for this award and for any award on this blog (http://www.sunshineandzephyr.com/2015/01/happy-new-year-and-very-inspiring-blog-award/). Thank you, Shweta 🙂

Hoping that this kind of awards are a nice start, I have kept a page separate for the same, which can be accessed from the top bar of the blog 😀 (https://theteacerebration.wordpress.com/blog-awards/). Shweta has some inspiring stuff at her blog too, where I am a regular reader.

The Very inspiring Blogger Award rules:

• Display the award on your blog

• Link back to the person who nominated you

• State 7 things about yourself

• Nominate 15 bloggers and link to them

Seven things about myself:

1. I support Sanju Samson as the next wicket keeper of the Indian Cricket Team.
2. I wish to visit the four Italian cities Rome, Venice, Florence and Milan as soon as possible 😀
3. The farthest I have traveled is to Glasgow, Scotland.
4. Among the non-Keralite cities to which I have traveled in India, I love Kolkata the most.
5. I don’t like my chances of getting a job.
6. I believe that I am going to get hit by a reckless driver when on road, sooner or later.
7. I have discovered many reasons to be a pessimist 😀

Fifteen blogger friends for this award:

1. Simon (http://simonsayswatchthis.wordpress.com)
2. Ulkar (http://moviemovesme.com)
3. Moon (http://footlooseforever.com)
4. Jatin (http://wanderingjatin.wordpress.com)
5. Lorrie (http://lorriebowden.com)
6. Kalpana (http://www.kalpanaawrites.com)
7. Lynn (http://backtowalking.wordpress.com)
8. Harsha (http://allresourceupdates.wordpress.com)
9. Leyla (http://darkpink.wordpress.com)
10. Risty (http://garasi82.com)
11. Anita (http://icecandy16blog.wordpress.com)
12. Christy (http://poeticparfait.com)
13. Philip (http://pmespeak.com)
14. Nitin (http://greybmusings.wordpress.com)
15. Seema (http://travelholid.wordpress.com)

Have a wonderful year ahead! 🙂

First of the Awards

I am glad to announce a first time for this blog: Jay Shah (http://thoughtburps.wordpress.com/) has nominated my blog for  Very Inspiring Blogger Award! Yes, there have been a long list of awards for my other blog Movies of the Soul (http://moviesofthesoul.wordpress.com/blog-awards/) and also a few for my Travel Diaries, but this is the first one for this blog.

Well, this is an award about inspiration, and I am glad that even if I rarely get inspired myself, I still ended up being an inspiring blogger 😀 That should make this award more significant than most of the other awards though 😉 Here is the post concerning the same: (http://thoughtburps.wordpress.com/2014/12/22/so-glad-to-receive-very-inspiring-blogger-award/)

There is also a first in everything, which is why I chose to publish this one as a post rather than as the page like I used to do with the awards for my other blogs. Thank you Jay, for the nomination; you have a very inspiring blog right there 🙂

Here, I have to mention seven things about myself:

• I have always believed more in death than in life, and I hope for a better world after death.
• I am now at a new level of tea addiction which you might not want to know about 😉
• I don’t usually trust people. It has never been my kind of thing; may be I can get a superpower for that.
• I hate crowds. I would prefer to be left alone or with just a few people, because it feels better.
• I don’t believe much in winning. I rarely give much value to it. Doing your part well is the better thing.
• I have become a cricket hater from cricket lover, and the credit for the same goes directly to BCCI as it is now, and I thank them for saving lot of my time.
• I am a jobless person with not much hope for getting to work in this birth or the next – not even in inferno or purgatario.

Here are the fifteen blogs I’d like to nominate:

1. Maniparna (http://maniparna5002.wordpress.com)
2. Namrata (http://namratakumari.blogspot.in)
3. Gowtham (http://snapometer.blogspot.in)
4. Kokila (http://sunshineandblueclouds.blogspot.in)
5. Anita (http://anitaexplorer.com)
6. Raja (http://rajareviews.com)
7. Najm (http://angellicfrenzy.blogspot.in)
8. Tara (http://crimsonapril.wordpress.com)
9. Shaun (http://beyondboredom.wordpress.com)
10. Sagarika (http://123sag.wordpress.com)
11. Vartika (http://vartikaforu.wordpress.com)
12. Shabab (http://vbothransh.wordpress.com)
13. Vandana (http://vanduchoudhary.blogspot.in)
14. Sucheta (http://suchetabiswas.wordpress.com)
15. Ranjini (http://rangelz.wordpress.com)

Do share the award, and also try to:

• Display the award on your blog.
• Link back to the person who nominated you.
• State seven things about yourself.
• Nominate 15 bloggers, linking to them.

Keep Blogging. May this New Year bring awesome results for you. Welcome 2015 🙂

The Loss of Power

You might have noticed that the last movie I watched in the theatre was on December eight, and I have only published two more reviews of two older movies which I had watched much earlier. I don’t think that this is closer to the end, as the Vampire Bat is running out of Vampire Owls, but this is as close to it as it gets. Nowadays an owl is available only on the phone.

I am not denying the fact that I have watched many movies alone, and going to the theatre all by myself has been part of my life. But the situation seems that nowadays I have to go to the theatre alone all the time. I don’t consider it that interesting, because I need opinions of the people who come to watch a movie with me, and it helps to make sure that my opinion is not completely personal.

Movies keep coming like the waterfalls on a rainy season (taken on my DSC W310)

Until the weekend before the last two, the Vampire Bat could find one person to accompany him to the theatre. But things have changed now, especially this year has seen too many of my friends going outside India for studies or work. There have been one friend leaving for Germany, another for Italy, one for the Middle East, one for the United Kingdom, one for Mauritius and seven for the United States of America.

The procedure was complete with last weekend as I was left with nobody to accompany me to the theatres. There are also a number of friends already at Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai and Pune, with no hope for a movie watching partner. The presence of the eternal NET exams and the never-ending question of a job also complicates things. Then there is the most awesome kitten, Simona the Lionhearted who asks for presence.

I had expectation that I might reach the one hundred with the number of movies I watched this year, but now it seems that I am certain to lag behind, with an improvement of the last year’s statistics nowhere near possible. May be I can get some of my cousins to accompany me, but I don’t have hopes on them, and all those friends and cousins who are married seem completely out of the equation.

The Vampire Bat becomes more of the lone tree (photo details as previous)

I am also having more and more thoughts about concentrating more on this blog, even as Movies of the Soul remain my most popular blog, and it was the one which helped me to go on with something consistently for the first time. But now it seems that it gets me tired and lonely. I feel the a similar emotion as I could sense with Travel Diaries which hasn’t had a post from me for quite a long time, or The Divine Epic which has me posting once in a month. No wonder I am posting on this blog a lot more.

There is still the joy that one gets out of reviewing a movie, which has been more than what I have had while watching one. May be the Vampire Bat is even older than he claims, dating back to more centuries. May be vampirism is slowly becoming extinct. There is no beginning or end to my stories of life, but the Vampire Bat is an entity who hasn’t been too proud of his immortality. May be he can stick to writing reviews about those movies which have left the theatres and may be bring in one flick here or there from the theatre during some lone visits. He actually wants to watch one movie right now. Who knows what the future brings.

TeNy