Being Smart is a Necessity

“I have wandered around the planet for too long. I have been to every corner of Earth’s human free areas” remarked the Frankenstein monster, finishing the tea in his cup.

“Has that made you a wiser or at least a smarter person? Does that at least leave you with certain vestige of being so?” asked Count Dracula.

“You have always been a man of doubt, Mr. Dracul. I have made it all the way here on this blood moon night with my smart use of magic. My mind is now complete with spells that go back many centuries. I am now full, with sorcery in my mind as well as soul” replied a confident monster, known to many by the name Adam, the first man on Earth.

“Where does magic stand in this age of science and technology? Even for the best trained creatures of the night like us, lack of knowledge of human technology has caused trouble in the past” said Dracula.

“Now, you are saying that you are placing human science and technology here, as a replacement for centuries old magic” wondered Adam.

“Yes, now you see that smart security camera? It has helped us to detect any human presence nearby, helping us to keep ourselves hidden from them – such cameras are placed all around the castle, and it is how we came to know that you were here. We have Smart Camera systems and Smart lights“.

“So, you didn’t use the natural vampire sense or the bats which used to carry your messages?” asked Adam.

“No, there are too many electricity lines and posts around. They get caught all the time, and so we have them working only within the yard. Nice drums, by the way”.

“No, don’t do that. It is not a drum – that thing is a smart wireless bluetooth speaker which is used to play simple and tension- relieving vampire music for our brothers and sisters inside the coffin” explained Dracula.

“I have heard that vampires have grown more health conscious. A little bird told me the same a few days ago in the Carpathians” remarked Adam.

“Yes, see this smart watch? It does almost everything for me. This light-weight version even senses vampire heartbeats. I can do some running and cycling with this – you know that I am a centuries old vampire, a lot older than you, and I have to keep myself healthy. It is a tough job to keep the vampire throne with the young blood around. I also have a smart fitness band in case this stops working”.

“The old age catches up with us all, doesn’t it? At least, you are immortal”.

“Being immortal has been a curse for too long, old friend. It is one advantage that you have, because you don’t really exist according to both science and religion, and therefore anything of this existence bother you less. I believe that you hold the key to the past, present and future. So, at least buy a mobile phone so that we can contact you in case the armageddon begins” remarked Dracula.

“I see that they have changed how the world works for you, but will that change mine?” wondered Adam.

“Yes, you should at least buy a smart watch or a fitness band, for they are the best of the Smart Wearable. Remember that you were created out of the unexpected. So, at least be health conscious. Search for a few of such items at Flipkart, one of the leading online electronic commerce websites”. advised Dracula.

“So be it. Who doesn’t want a  Smart Home? I have wanted a lot, but have managed to have very little” said Adam, as the blood moon spread its colours through the sky.

***The images used in this post were taken from the Flipkart website to be used in this blog post only.

#GetFitWithFlipkart and begin a #SmartHomeRevolution, as it is even more relevant in India these days.

TeNy

Requirement for a Dream

We all have our dreams; sometimes we keep them there, not wishing to get it out of that stage due to the high impossible nature, but there are those other dreams which we have no plan to keep there as dreams. We need to get hold of the second type, even though there are times when we are not really sure if they can actually go to the next stage. Maybe those related to competitive examinations and getting a better job can go on forever, but with those related to travel, we do have a certain amount of power to accomplish them.

There will always be the factors which try to keep us away though, and they might be stronger; still there will be a time when we just have to go. I have had mine, but I haven’t let them go, and I haven’t even tried to make them happen yet. I have my travelling list on hold right now, and I hope to keep reminding myself of the same, so that they don’t disappear right into one of those nightmares that I have during those darkest of nights. My dreams about travel go a long way back; and they are deep in those books, those belonging to the horror genre, beginning and ending with Bram Stoker’s Dracula, but not limited there.

Dracula and the rest of the Gothic: There is a certain call!

As I have told a good number of people already, the one dream related to travel, that I have had since my childhood days was to visit the Dracula Castle; not just to reach there, but to get to the destination after wandering through the Carpathian Mountains. I have read many other works which relates to the Gothic horror, located in places which are more appropriate to be called the “land of the dead”, but the Carpathians stayed, not just with the legend of the world’s best known vampire, but also with its natural beauty.

There are the locations which can make a normal person happy; that should include Paris being the City of Love, New York as the City of Skyscrapers, Rome known to be the Eternal City, and all those sobriquets that came with these – then there are the rest of the places in North America and Europe which should be second home to some of our relatives, the grand cities with huge shopping places in the Middle East, the places of pilgrimage, the frequently featured places of natural beauty and the rest which have made into news for one reason or the other.

Then there are those places, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand – it is as if everyone wants to go to at least one of the three nations; most of my friends have, if I go back and read flashback memories of us talking; and I have also been to two of the three already. Then, we know which are those few cities around here that everyone visits frequently – those names are even better known to the crowd. But they won’t make it to my priority list, as I haven’t been in that usual “normal list” for a long time; for I have evolved enough to get my name darkened so much that no sign of it remains there. This means that I will have to travel alone? That would be my pleasure.

So, with the lack of existence in that list of people, I have managed to get into another list, and instead of those usually preferred trips, here is the journey to the historical Bran Castle to which the legend is associated, and it will have to be one trip through those beautiful lands. The imposing Corvin Castle and Poenari Castle, the two other castles which are also connected to the legend, will also require a visit, because the dream is never limited; it is something that is spread over all these. The great castles will have tales to tell, all of which, I will be very happy to listen to, for I also have my own stories to tell in return.

All journeys need a big turn like this one even between all the beauty.

I have hoped to be there within that dark fantasy world which I had dreamt about; I have wished to be part of that special world of the unknown which was beyond human understanding, and to be part of myth and history at the same time. There was to be those days of the darker side of mysteries which go a long way beyond our knowledge – it was to make life better for me, even without that magic and that fantasy there, but is that to happen soon? Well, we will know at some point.

I am blogging about my dreams and passions for the Club Mahindra #DreamTrails activity at BlogAdda. You can get a Club Mahindra Membership to own your holidays!

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

TeNy

Back to the Future’s Past

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Switches on the device].

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

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

TeNy

2015 in Review

Happy New Year 🙂  [Official] 😀

The WordPress.com stats helper zombies prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog. According to Uncle Dracula, the Vampire Team has worked harder than he thought in order to make it more popular among the humans. He would like to thank all the readers on this blog and has promised to provide vampire shares when the New Vampire World takes over the realm and bring the New Utopia into existence. He would make a request to all of you in order to pray for the same. Btw, the Vampire Team hopes that you have watched Charlie, the movie of Christmas 🙂

Here’s an excerpt:

The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 81,000 times in 2015. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 3 days for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Newspaper of the Day

Newspapers have been with mostly unpleasant or depressing news, and it is usually not the best idea to read them. It is more of a source of demotivation and plays an interesting role in bringing sadness. The good news is no different, especially with certain newspapers which keep talking about the Bollywood news in particular. May be there are people who want to know what the celebrities love, want to do, who they wish to marry and what food they have. But it is never something of a true reader’s concern. So, here is the ideal news instead, even though these might never happen.

“The world finally decides to become one”
Zurich: After many hours long discussion, the world leaders finally decided to open the borders to create a world without walls. This was the result of the ever increasing refugee crisis and the mutual hatred in the name of nationalism and patriotism. With the atrocities committed in the name of patriotism becoming equal to terrorism, the leaders have decided to make it one big nation for humans where equality thrived. With most of the world leaders agreeing to this, it is expected that the others will also follow.

It is never right about limiting people to nations; humanity should be free.

“Scientists take a u-turn to save the world”
Copenhagen: There has been a big twist, and a strong decision was taken on this day during the final day of the conference of scientists today, as a stand was taken to prevent any research on weapons, after the leaders decided to break down the walls. All other researches were also to be put on hold until the medical care was developed to its maximum and until there was provisions to save enough food for the poor. “There is enough to feed the poor, but we just never care about it in the arms and space race and competition between the nations to prove who is better”, one of them was quoted saying.

“Nobody cares about the personal lives of celebrities”
Trivandrum: Frustrated by the news about celebrities whom they don’t even know or care about having a dog, drinking Pepsi, not liking another celebrity, going on a trip to Somalia, having a stomach upset, buying a new mobile phone, getting a haircut and many other things, movie fans decided to start a movement against what they called a case of pure nonsense. “May be they can reduce the price of the newspapers as they get rid of this nonsense which nobody wants to read” one of the fans were quoted saying. The fans are also trying to take the movement into the social media.

There are darker clouds which need attention instead of focusing on the ridiculous.

“India wins the FIFA World Cup”
Cochin: In a big twist which nobody had expected, India defeated Netherlands and has managed to win the FIFA World Cup, thanks to the last minute goal during the second half of the extra time from Sushanth Mathew assisted by Sandesh Jhingan. After two tough halfs which saw extremely strong defence which prevented the Dutch from scoring, the first half of the extra time almost saw Netherlands making it if it wasn’t for the crossbar. But in the 120th minute of the game, one goal sealed the game making sure that there was no need for the penality shootout.

“T20 matches banned along with IPL”
Mumbai: In an attempt to bring quality back to cricket, BCCI decided to ban T20 matches which goes along with its previous decision to ban IPL after taking into consideration, the amount of corruption involved in it. The best players of the times are already parts of too many cases of match-fixing, and this decision should have come earlier – many fans were heard saying. BCCI thus becomes the last cricket board of a test playing nation to ban T20 and has decided to stop playing T20 with the non-test playing nations because the regular members were not available.

“Roger Federer becomes the oldest player to win a Grandslam”
London: It has been a long time since he won a Grand Slam at his favourite surface, and he once again reached the final. He had lost a good number of finals earlier, but not this time, as he managed to go through his nemesis, Novak Djokovic after one of the longest tennis matches in a Grand Slam final. After losing the first two sets 5-7 and 4-6, Federer managed to win the next two by tie-breaks 7-6(13) and 7-6(16). The last set went on, and finally Federer had the last laugh with two SABR attacks in a row to break the man in form. Final score was 5-7, 4-6, 7-6(13), 7-6(16), 18-16.

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

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

TeNy

A Few Weird Wishes

I have had many wishes during my life-time, even though I have not retained many of them right now, not because they have happened, but because the chances are only becoming less as I become older; as I get older, I only become weaker. I haven’t been completely against miracles in my life, but when nothing really happens you have to cease believing in positive things – miracles is just one of them, and goodness can follow the route to extinction as there is a lot of time left for the world to end. At the same time, there will be wishes.

To see the world while falling down from the sky: I have been to a number of very tall towers, and even when I was standing at the top of those tall church towers here, I used to wonder about this. The view was very good from the top. What would happen if I jump from there, and how the image will be during my fall. I have only felt that during the first person shooter games which had quite a lot of buildings, and may be this real fall will help to have a more realistic view of the same.

To go to sleep and never wake up: This still remains one of my wishes. With life having no real point, this might be the right time to have this wish. I thought about this yesterday, day before yesterday, and the day before, but nothing reall worked. Well, the nights never end, and so lets see what can happen on the days to come. After all, what happens more than the rest of things in my life is sleep. Can I at least go the other dimension like in the Insidious movies? That should also be fair.

To be adopted by aliens: When we are denied too much by the humanity, we have to look for the next species not belonging to this planet. With the basic human nature returning to evil with ease, we have to depend on the others for hope. The undead should be the first option, but as too many humans are in this planet who outnumber the undead, we have to look for the best option, which will be on another planet. So, I have been looking for a spaceship to appear for quite a long time.

To die and return from the dead: Being dead and back; I have always thought about it as a lot of fun. The other world might be something which can provide a lot of valuable experience to make us succeed in life. After all, they should have met a lot of interesting dead people who have passed or still remain in that world. We will just have to make sure that the return is made before our bodies are buried or cremated – otherwise, we will be caught in that world forever with no existence left here.

To find a city underwater: I had special love for the underwater cities, a lot more than the cities built in the air, underground or on other planets. No, not under the smaller water bodies, but under the oceans rather than anywhere else, because the chance of being taken over by the saline water is more. The wish developed early, but got further strength after playing the game Bioshock, which had an underwater city of Rapture with enough horror to bring the enjoyment – the graphics remained so good too.

To have a detailed discussion with death: I have kept this on my wishlist for quite some time, and it still remains there. I have been interested with this since I read Emily Dickinson poetry for the first time. The interest had also developed earlier with Pappan Priyappetta Pappan, a Malayalam movie which features Yama and was the first movie of the famous Siddique-Lal team. Death is not the kind of person who has many friends, and so, I think that there will be no problem in having a discussion.

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

TeNy

300th Post Nihilism

This is my 300th post. The Tea Cerebration(s) has completed 300 posts in 394 days, after its beginning in July 2014. My last 200 posts were done in 194 days. I have done the last 100 posts in 95 days and the last 50 in 46. I did post a minimum of one post on every day. By doing these, I have once again proved that I have no other job. May be I should have another job, but unfortunately, I have none. In the next two hundred days, I will reach the 500 posts marks, if life keeps going this way. Well, there is not really any point about life.

I keep wondering where do I reach with my blogs. Sometimes I think why I should write here. It keeps going on and on, and nothing really happens that would bring a clear change to my life. Each and every day, I write about something or the other, and then I post it, and then nothing else happens. I just go to sleep, and then I wake up and I write. It seems to me more like a loop which goes on eternally. Well, people do many things which seem to be constructive and good for their future. I wonder where does blogging stand.

Doing good with blogging has very less effect on my daily life. I remain the random jobless, useless person as I have always been. The India Today Conclave Win came up as a small relief, but the situation still remains the same. Sometimes, I feel that the particular post came from a part of my brain which I know very less about. The fifth month has arrived after that positive thing, and I am sure that most people have forgotten about that. My life remains empty and I believe that worst things are waiting to happen without giving any slight chance of an escape.

Sometimes, I think whether it does anything which counts at all? 300 posts here and 200 posts at Movies of Soul later, with the extra on other two blogs making more than a 100, thus making it above 600 posts in total, I still remain the person I used to be when someone looks at me. Is it doing good or bad for me? I wonder how it will define my future. Can something really positive come out of this or will this go as how I wasted my life? Will it even make sense to most of the people, the majority of the world?

I have never thought that I would ever reach the number three hundred in my life time. I was completely out of ideas when I started my blogs. Now I do have more ideas, but not sure if it is really a positive thing. I have been just writing and writing without caring about anything else. But I have still reached nowhere even after trying regularly. I am still stuck at the abyss from which only depths call, and not a soul to return to the surface.

I wonder if many of you have read my previous post, Time Machine’s Child, which has been a reflection of my world. It has been recently selected as a WOW post at BlogAdda, and I have been wondering about the same situation. Is the search for a better timeline, or a deviation into a better reality just an illusion? Is there light at the end of the tunnel or is it just a fake belief just to make us explore more of a tunnel which is infinite, and ends for each person only with death?

Will the search for a better alternative end up in the worst situation? Or is that alternative waiting for us after death? Isn’t it easier to have trust in after-life than the present one? There is no justice in this world, and shouldn’t that make the idea of after-life more exciting than the present one? May be if death is the entrance to that better life as religions talk about it, embracing it before being a bigger sinner to ruin it is the better option, right? And if there is no after-life at all, still isn’t it better to finish it off now than later?

***The images used in blog post were taken on my Sony Cybershot Camera.

TeNy

The Fire Still Burns

The list of interesting movies which didn’t get the attention of the mainstream audience is endless. I would add a movie released in 2008 to the list. It had less scope to be popular here because the first big mall in my state opened only in 2009 and a multiplex in the form of Cinemax only followed at the same mall much later. So, I wouldn’t be surprised if most of the people I know haven’t watched this one. Yes, Star Movies is once again the channel which has made this movie known here.

I am hoping to have more people getting to know about this movie. It was a box-office flop, and I can only wonder about the reason for the same in North America. May be people misunderstood and expected the wrong thing from this movie. The reviews were positive to mixed, but things didn’t work well with the audience. This movie is an adaptation of a post-apocalyptic science fiction novel by Jeanne DuPrau which was published in 2003, and this lone flick which remains the only one in the franchise is known by the name, City of Ember.

The movie was released just about two months after the release of the last book in the series; The Diamond of Darkhold – but thanks to the terrible reception by the audience, it remains the only movie of the franchise, with any hope for a sequel lost without hope. City of Ember is a movie which deserved more. May be it released a little bit too early, considering the increase in the viewership of English movies now and also the better love for the movie adaptations from books. It can do well with a reboot during these times.

City of Ember has a very interesting setting. It takes us to a dystopia which has existed for a long time after something like an end of the world had happened. The human civilization is limited to this world underground which is actually running short of supplies. As the new world was established inside a giant cave, the generators falling apart meant continuous darkness and the trouble with plumbing works happened to be other reasons along with the food shortage. As the leaders refuse to accept the doom and won’t allow an exploration to the outside, there is no easy way out.

The movie uses the idea of the dystopia, and how it chooses to remain the same without going to explore the other possibilities due to concern, fear, anxiety and thoughts of losing power. The present city gives them what they want, and it goes on and on in the same way without any change, and it has worked for them. So, even in a distant future with things seemingly getting worse, they have that feeling that everything will get back to normal and everything will be all right.

The design of the world is indeed special and has a special dark beauty for itself. The performances add to the total charm. Saoirse Ronan leads the team with that charm that not many young actresses could come up with. It might be one of those movies which established her talents so early. Harry Treadaway follows and he does a significant job in keeping side efficient. I would still say that even with fair performances from the rest of the cast, nobody can match the leading lady on the screen.

City of Ember itself is a reflection of our present world in which the situation is getting worse and nobody cares. The only difference is that our planet can still be saved, and an escape is not the best solution. But the much needed qualities to inspire the same is missing, and people were fed with a need to win at any cost, right from their childhood – so it will actually be a strange thing if someone actually bothers about the humanity as a whole without caring for the personal gains.

***The images used in this blog post are cropped from the screenshots taken from the movie.

TeNy

The Judgment is Here

I was wandering through the hot topics which were running, and this week’s In(di)spire topic instantly caught my attention. It was about reviewing a great movie or a great book which failed to get the attention of the mainstream audience. I thought about it, and finally managed to keep the idea vampire-free. It was difficult, but I decided to choose a movie which failed at the box-office, and not many people I know realize its strength either. At the same time, it is also one of those movies which has a name with most of the people confuse with the spelling.

The reviews were positive, but it couldn’t bring people to the theatres at that time. Even I missed the movie on the big screen, but thankfully, it comes to Star Movies very often. This movie has one other speciality. Some time after its release, after it had disappeared from the theatres, people realized that it deserved a sequel, and the Facebook Page demanding a sequel has more than double the total number of likes which the movie has. With over one lakh fans hoping for a sequel even as the first part did bad business, this movie is Dredd.

I am confident that Dredd would have been a big hit if it had released these days. Mad Max: Fury Road with its post-apocalyptic mayhem was a huge success, and Dredd is much bigger than that in action, adventure, chaos and themes. The 1995 Sylvester Stallone and Diane Lane starrer Judge Dredd based on the same comics actually had better collection with negative reviews. I would say that Dredd was lost somewhere in between due to no fault of anyone associated with. If you consider the situation here, Dredd was never a character well-known, and needed more boost.

Dredd thrives on its imagery, of a future metropolis among the wasteland Mega-City One, a world of extreme violence where judges manage the law and order in the streets as they are police, judges and executioners, all at the same time. Among these criminals, some of them reign supreme, and one such figure is the queen of crimes, Ma-Ma (Lena Headey). The Judges Dredd (Karl Urban) and Anderson (Olivia Thirlby) will go to the two hundred storied tower where she rules, as three men are skinned alive and thrown from the top. But Ma-Ma will seal off the building with them inside and make sure that no more judges will come that way. Judges don’t think so though.

The movie is full of stylish violence which never really gets out of hand except for the blood – the limits are maintained. There is a lot of action involved and the efficient use of Slo-Mo and not the usual slow motion makes the sequences amazing to watch; there is an artistic beauty like never before. Slo-Mo is a drug which reduces the user’s perception of time heavily, and it is a smart excuse used here to make use of the slow motion in an efficient way and yet not disrupt the pace and flow of the movie. It would have been even more joy to watch it in 3D, but we all have missed that!

The cast brings some unbelievable amount of strength to this movie. Karl Urban does the incredible with most of his face covered. The character never removes the helmet, and it is a depressing thing that even as he continues to make nice impact in the leading role in a lot of movies, none of them have gone on to become big hits; not Pathfinder, not Doom and not this one. He brings the surprise here and so does Olivia Thirlby. It is an exceptional performance from her too, with her psychic side as well as in the role of a judge. I would say that this is her best ever; it is strong, emotional and stylish.

Lena Headey makes one of the best female villains of all time. You might not even recognize this Cersei/Gorgo if you weren’t told. This is too good from her. That is not all. The world design, the judges costumes, the weapons, the interiors, all have been nicely adjusted to create a realistic and yet stylish environment and sequence of events. You need science fiction, crime drama, action thriller or something with a relevant theme? Dredd got them all, and it just needs you to watch it. Star Movies is there to make sure that you do.

TeNy

Tea for Inspiration

It has always been about the tea. Throughout my life, I have believed in the power of tea which has worked like the elixir of life for more than one occasion. Even this blog itself is carved out of the same stone of belief. We have heard it more related to our Prime Minister than anybody else. The drink which is known to mortals as tea, has changed too many lives. It has had a very significant role in my life, and there has been so much of tea each and every day.

This brings us back to the man whom this post is all about, Vijayan – he has had more travel experience than any of us by selling tea at Kochi. He has witnessed more variety in those landscapes and has set foot in more nations than I might ever manage to visit. The first time I heard about the journeys of him and his wife, I wondered if I can ever come close to those journeys in my entire life. The story of the man also gets a mention in the Malayalam movie How Old Are You.

So, here is the man who sells tea, but is just that elixir of life that he is providing? He is giving us hope, and a direct transfer for the realization that we have to go chase our dreams no matter how much limitations are there around us. It is not the limitations which define us, but how we manage to overcome them and chase our dreams, and it is a message well provided. It is the man’s spirit that we can take home; not for today or tomorrow, but forever.

Sometimes, it is all about seizing the moment and not worrying about what can happen in the future or what all factors can become the big villains in a later stage of our lives. It was never meant to be about being better than the rest each and every day, or about making the most money – it has always been about following your heart and doing what you think will be the bliss, and this man has done just that. There is no room for denial here.

People might stop travelling at an age which gets close to the seventies, but not this man for sure. There is no age for dreams; they can just fly as long as those wings are not cut off. The problem about being a dreamer in one’s own way is that people will come up with all wrong ideas about the person. They want to dream about all luxuries, but the true dreams are personal and not defined by the society. Our dreams should be ours alone, and it is to be no territory for others to do some random inception.

It might never be too late for us, and never should we be pulled back by the limitations. There is only one life and it belongs to us – as Lord Alfred Tennyson says in “Ulysses”:
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

There is something about #WillOfSteel. Sometimes, a few people are just credited with the same because it seems to be so for a certain number of people from a distance. But I would vote for Vijayan on any day. It is not because of any other reason, but for his will to go through a path which would be considered impossible by any average person at this part of the world. He decided to make the decision, and it was to make the right choice, worrying not of the limitations or any possible problem in future.

I’m voting for Vijayan’s #WillOfSteel and blogging on BlogAdda to help him get felicitated and eventually enabled by JSW.

***The image used in this blog post is from the BlogAdda page related to the same.

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

Of Fans and Cinema

We have always known that celebrities have blind fans, and some of them are a long way ahead in the level of stupidity. We have had our own ridiculous cricket fans, and there are those fans of the movie stars who take things to the next level. These days, we can see the bad and the more terrible fans as they are everywhere. It is hard to even recognize a good fan – it is a rare thing.

I have been watching less Malayalam movies these days. It has never been the plan, and there was never such an idea to avoid them. But the tendency to watch these movies are becoming so less. Some people say that the piracy is the reason for people not coming to the theatres to watch Malayalam movies, but the truth is that, it is the fans – they are the ones who are responsible for the decrease in the number of viewers in the theatres.

The multiplexes in the malls are better choices, but can you guess for how long?

These fans make life miserable for others who try to watch the movie in peace. The only thing which they can do is to keep yelling, clapping and howling depending on whose movie it is, and to which celebrity do they have that feeling of worship. It is a terrible feeling to be there at the local theatres, and even in multiplexes, they often try to create a pathetic situation. Yes, they do that when they are not abusing people who don’t like the movies of their favourite stars.

Well, sitting in the darkness of the theatre and between a number of friends, some people think that they can say anything even in the presence of families with kids. They have the privilege to make that kind of noise which makes it difficult for the others to watch the movie. They also got the right to shower abuses in the darkness of the movie hall because they think that the world is only theirs – they are like “Bane” with the exact meaning and also as that villain of Gotham.

A list without the presence of Malayalam movies is also possible in the future.

You get to watch Malayalam movies at any theatre near you and it is an advantage for the industry, but why are people, especially families and those who actually have a working intellect stay away from the movies for most of the time? It is because of these so called movie fans who provide a very unpleasant movie watching experience. When some people even choose to smoke inside the theatre, why are the authorities not ready to throw them out?

Is being decent too much to ask for? Is the use of respectable language that difficult? We keep watching that no smoking advertisement, and I have seen people smoking through it. We need an advertisement against indecent talks and behaviour, but that too will go over the head just like those smoking advertisements. Do these people even respect the views of others? The answer would be another question – why do they?

It is not easy for the fans to respect the opinions of others, but the more surprising thing is that they can’t even respect their fellow human beings. It is time that the theatre owners take a tough stand, and the movie stars should also try to make the situation better. The family viewers have already begun to prefer the multiplexes only, and with the same, they are moving to Hollywood and Bollywood. It is time for the Malayalam movie industry to have a cultured young audience, and in the absence of the same, there will be almost no family audience. The families have been the strength, and if the Malayalam movie industry no longer seems to feel the need for that section, it is a definite reason for a future downfall.

TeNy

Where Jupiter Can Go

Jupiter Ascending is the latest addition to the long list of science fiction movies in space as it follows the path of Guardians of the Galaxy. It is clear that the critics are biased on this one if we compare the ratings given to this one and a number of similar movies. May be they completely failed to get the point. Unfortunately, the 18+ rating mostly slams the door for it here too, when it could have been a big thing here otherwise with nobody knowing or caring about The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water.

They should have thought more about it – this might be one of the biggest mistakes that they have made with a movie which has kept the fans waiting for so long. They should have known the kind of audience to target – those who go for Captain America, Spider-Man, Iron Man, , Hulk, Thor, Superman and such audience. It might be a box-office flop because of the prejudice and the failure of people to catch on to ideas, but there are a few paths which this movie can follow with the story for a sequel.

1. The war between the successors: We are left with members of alien royalty not really able to stand each other as they hope for more conquests. Along with battling for the same worlds, there can also be war for acquiring those planets far away in other galaxies, and with our heroine basically against the idea of harvest, sparks should fly with this one, and the visuals should get the best boost. The action sequences can also be nicely packed with the visuals here. Mila Kunis will have a bigger and a stronger role to play in this one as the Queen of Earth and the rest of her share.

2. The defence against other royalty: Another possibility is the war against a better equipped alien race which can claim for the divided thrones, and in this case, even with hatred against each other, the members of the royal house can unite, but not without leaving chances for some treachery. The common enemy can be ruthless, but the differences remain, testing one’s allegience. Our hero would have a bigger role to play in this one, making those decisions which are beyond the direct control of royalty. There will be huge and better designed space ships, aliens and gadgets with a nice race of royalty entering the action.

3. The return of the master villain [spoilers here]: We know what happened by the end of the movie, and you better don’t read this paragraph if you don’t want to know before watching the flick. But otherwise, there was the supposed end of the biggest antagonist and the owner of Earth who hoped to harvest the planet for the serum that would give him eternal youth. Well, we can’t be sure that he was dead there, and in a movie like this, there is very low chance of people remaining dead. Ask Groot of Guardians of the Galaxy. Even Interstellar had our protagonist not dying even after going through the black hole. Megatron of the Transformers franchise know the best about how to keep coming alive. So, we can have him better here.

4. A background story of royalty: This one can go on without having to go forward with the tale. A prequel telling the original story of the royalty can do this movie a lot good as long as the plot is solid. Mila Kunis can keep her role, this time as the mother, and this origin of the harvest in Earth can have a better and clear explanation. Everybody needs an origin story, and what we have here only works as an origin tale for Jupiter Jones. A lot more goes back in the past, and that can be nicely explored to give this movie more power. It will also be a work of immense beauty on the screen.

Jupiter Ascending could have had better business here with another certificate and more shows. Its sequel or prequel should do better than this one for sure. This was kind of a perfect week for its release considering the fact that there are no big challenges for its genre this time, and most of the theatres choosing The Boy Next Door instead of this is a big shame. People only need movies which brings things too direct like Guardians of the Galaxy or be the pseudo-intellectual like Interstellar, I guess. But if you haven’t watched the visuals of Jupiter Ascending in 3D, you have seen nothing. Check for my review on the same: (https://moviesofthesoul.wordpress.com/2015/02/06/jupiter-ascending)

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

TeNy

The Introvert Opinion

Malayalam movie industry had two inspirational movies in the earlier part both the years 2014 and 2015. But the fact remains that Mili hasn’t got the attention that the movie How Old Are You had, and the reason is mostly the presence of Manju Warrier in that movie, as one of the best and the most popular actresses in the industry had returned to the big screen after such a long time. Some people who had an easy path in life won’t be able to digest the problems of Mili either with their lack of empathy and having no consideration for others. But there are a number of reasons why Mili rises and stands much above How Old Are You.

Mili is more realistic: Among the two movies, Mili is the more realistic one, as our heroine remains the same, and she only does what any person can do. But How Old Are You brings too much into the scene, including the Indian President, a huge vegetable garden and the quick change of the protagonist for almost no real reason. There is even a lady who abuses a security personnel for just doing his job – wonder what is the goodness there. Mili is full of goodness, and has had better and more realistic turning points. Mili thrives on its simplicity, and thanks to the same, almost everyone can relate with her.

Mili has a better protagonist: Another advantage of Mili is the presence of a protagonist with which almost everyone can relate. She is someone who had problems since her childhood while How Old Are You has a heroine who was always super and has lived her married life pretending to be what she is not. She had ability and she was a pretender for which she deserves no applause. She had a good government job and still she had chosen to be not her. Mili Nair is not the same, as she could never find herself, and she had actually struggled a lot – had no job, hope or love.

Mili is straight to the point: As How Old Are You deviates from making its point on too many occasions, Mili is always there and never goes behind in making its point. Mili is a voice for the introverts, children as well as for the women. It can also be used for motivation by most of the subaltern, unlike How Old Are You which is limited in its scope and yet tries too many things just because it has a veteran actress playing the major role. Mili is life, and Mili belongs to the heart and soul.

Mili has to succeed for the introverts and those children who were forced to compete and were considered good for nothing just because they couldn’t live up-to the expectations. It is a voice for hope for the future. It will help to raise a better generation of children who are taught to be good instead of being achievers in one way or the other. This better development of a future generation and the youth is the gift of this movie towards the society. It will help the greedy people to realize that money isn’t everything, and it is more about goodness than anything else.

I have been blessed with many relatives who boast about their sons and daughters just because they are studying in a reputed university or are earning so much with their jobs. The sad thing about the same is that they try to degrade the others along with doing the same. They think that everyone else is useless. It is okay to say good things about people, but why would they want to degrade others? Ask Mili Nair, and ask every other kid who has been forced to be someone else and couldn’t. Mili is one of those children who had to suffer due to the third rate demands of the society. Mili is future, and Mili is hope.

About the relatives, it took me about twenty years to get the evil out of my life and somehow manage to get their violent ways away, deciding on my life. They still bother me at times with their boasting, but I know their true colours now. Mili Nair was actually faster – and she did that so well. May be children who watch Mili can plan their lives better and the new age parents can be better guardians as well as friends to their children. Isn’t that a much needed thing in the current world where relationships begin to make no sense?

As William Wordsworth had mentioned in his poem My Heart Leaps Up or The Rainbow, “The Child is father of the Man”, and it is reiterated in this movie – lets understand our children better and not blame them for their lack of skills, which is why Mili is so significant. ***All the images used in this blog post are from the official Facebook page of Mili the movie (https://www.facebook.com/milimovieofficial). Read my full review: (https://moviesofthesoul.wordpress.com/2015/01/27/mili)

TeNy

The Choices of Life

Gillette Venus and BlogAdda want you to write about someone, a woman who made a journey from ‘OR’ to ‘AND’, the one who immediately comes to my mind is my mother. I would think that the same applies to many other people too, and I had always wanted to write something about her, and it is good to be given such an opportunity rather than keep thinking about it.

There are a few things that I have heard about her from her brothers and cousins. Among them, the most prominent one is about her double promotion in the school. It is something that I have not heard much about, but I know that only the best gets that. Another thing that I have known is that my grandparents wanted her to be a doctor as my grandfather himself was one. But yes, my mother always had better ideas.

That old wedding photo – half of it serves as the “mandatory photo of the person” 😀

Her first preference was always to get a job at a firm owned by the government, and for which she attended MA Sociology at Saint Teresa’s College, Cochin. Obviously, getting her married off was the need for her parents, especially as her sister was married off very early. But she made sure that she got a job right after her course making sure that it was not just an OR for her, but an AND – she was going to work and then get married.

It was not really the pattern to follow at that time among her relatives as there were not many working women among her close relatives, and neither would there be among my father’s family whom she was to marry after a few years. But she had chosen to be ahead of the age, and get that job at the Union Bank of India. That was her journey from OR to AND, not without difficulty, but with confidence.

On the day she retired, even the rain never stopped for more than a few minutes 😀

She could follow her heart at that time period, and remains an inspiration for me when I struggle to follow mine. I am surprised at so many so called “achieving aunties” who think only about money twenty four hours a day, and I am glad to have a mother who acknowledges my right to study more, and also my privilege to stay single until I get settled in my way. There are always those relatives who are not ready to agree and pass on the judgments, and there is always one person who knows better; my mother. Now she has just retired after thirty seven years of service at the bank, after balancing her work and family life so well.

And then when it is the time to honour and celebrate the women in my life, there is just one who stands above the rest. Yes, there are not many other women who would let me share their stories and give me permission to put their photos on a blog too 😀 I had my difficulties in getting this photo too, but this was the better option as she didn’t want any of her newer photos to be used. Yes, this is also one of my favourite photos of my parents 😛

This post is a part of #UseYourAnd activity at BlogAdda in association with Gillette Venus

I thank BlogAdda and Gillette for the opportunity to write on this topic. I acknowledge the tag of Ranjini for this blog post from http://rangelz.wordpress.com/2015/01/10/and-is-given-for-a-reason-use-it/. I also take this opportunity to tag Vartika, Tara, Namrata and Sagarika to share their awesome views on the topic. Click on this link to know more about it: http://blog.blogadda.com/2015/01/08/useyourand-break-free-with-gillette-venus-indian-women-bloggers. And don’t forget to acknowledge me in your posts. Thank you. *The photos used in this blog post are mine.

TeNy

The Effect of Mass Effect

There are times when you remember those lessons from teachers, and among them, there were games, about which I had written earlier. Along with Age of Empires‘ lessons in history, Age of Mythology‘s myth related classes and Tomb Raider‘s attempt to improve my puzzle solving skills to which Prince of Persia also contributed, there was always Unreal Tournament and Quake 3 Arena to teach how to control anger by helping us blow a computer bot’s head off and shout “Head Shot”. But among these games, what Mass Effect taught was more of an endless collection of things. Here are a few.

Spare some time to look at the beautiful world of Mass Effect – gaming can wait 😀

1. It is a big, strange world, and there is the need for tolerance: You take control of SSV Normandy, a powerful spaceship as Commander Shepard, with missions and a chance to meet different species of aliens along with completing the objectives. It is not so different from being in our own world except for the appearances of the aliens and all the shooting that can happen at anytime. We are all aliens on Earth as these people are when travelling through different parts of the galaxy. Every species is different, but we can get along with most of them with some tolerance.

Isn’t this the best time to travel to Mercury? Or should we wait for Santa Claus? 😀

2. Exploration is a must and without it, there is a void: The game’s vast universe is something to be explored. There are some strange planets, and we don’t know what awaits us there. The only thing that we can confirm is about the nature of the elements there. After we get there, there is the chance to get lost in the beauty of the detail there. There are times when creatures come out of nowhere, and the sand serpent kind of things might be common. We face the dangers of the world there as we struggle with the competition in the society in the world outside gaming. It is only then that we get better.

Here is another planet to explore, and a vehicle which suits the terrains of these worlds.

3. Choices make big impact, not just for you, but for many others: There are many choices that we have to make in this game. Not only our actions, but also our words make a difference. It can make a hostile drop his gun, one of our allies turn against us or a friend shoot us. It can lead to the death of one of our soldiers, and there are times when we have to choose a life over the other, or the life of someone over the mission. The game is full of choices, and I had never played a game which had made me choose so much and also suffer the consequences in a few more minutes of play. Not so different from real life, is it?

Make the choice. Meanwhile, note the point from Ashley Williams who speaks the truth 😀

4. There is always something more than what meets the eye: Mass Effect does have a twisted story, and a lot of effort has been put in there to make sure that it doesn’t end up as just another shooter with guns and blood making the rules. Even as things would eventually lead to an alien race called The Reapers who would come and harvest the developed life as they always did, there are lots of twists concerning the same, and our protagonist has to fight more than just the harbingers or the final agents of Armageddon.

An ancient civilization devastated. But it should still have a few surprises for our captain.

5. Settle your differences before it is too late: Mass Effect is a game that thrives on relationships. There is friendship as well as the romantic relationship that blossoms for the protagonist, and displeasure is another side of the same. Just like in the game, we are aware of a possible end of the world considering the recent terrorist attacks and acts of hatred – so it becomes our duty to be tolerant of others, and hope for a better future. There was something more about this, but by memory is a little faded.

You are already in the middle of a big battle. Better before death than later in afterlife.

I have never played another game like Mass Effect. Most of you have watched Interstellar, but this game which came in 2007 had a lot of space exploration elements. It is one of those rare games that give so much choice. There is the movie on the same, which is a work in progress – it is going to be huge. There is already an animated movie Mass Effect: Paragon Lost, and two sequels to the game. Do you know that Mass Effect 2 is considered one of the greatest games of all time? I have a lot less idea about Mass Effect 3, but all three games were received with a lot of acclaim.

Oh no! This is not that area of the galaxy where I parked my fantastic spaceship, or is it? 😀

*All images used in this blog post are the screenshots of my game-play from Mass Effect.

TeNy

The Nightmare Fallen

I have nightmares every night. It is as if I belong to them. The nightmare creatures come to me and gives me a wake up call in the middle of the night. Sometimes they create the good dream to which the nightmares are injected, like a plague virus in a needle to slowly transform them to the new form. Otherwise, they come directly, making a stand to my already existing meaningless world, and successfully haunts each and every moment of them. *All images used in this blog post are from the official page of Diablo game.

I have seen the demons in my nightmares for years now, and it hasn’t been a big problem for me. They rarely scare me with their methods, and there is nothing in The Conjuring, Insidious and Annabelle to come into my already dreadful nightmares. There is a lot of variety in the mutant creatures, demons, monsters and even some presence that I had my nightmares about. I have imagined a lot more than just that. But no, they are not the ones who scare me anymore.

A sample red demon of fire who used to be pretty much awesome in my nightmares.

The creatures rarely come into my nightmares these days. May be they have felt that they are not good enough anymore as they have been replaced, as the past and the present run wild like a river in the rainy season, bringing up the old and the new generations of human presence here, troubling the sleep like never before. They are not the ones that can be taken care of, as they exist and show their presence in real life. They are like forever, the hounds of eternity in human form.

They are the ones who advice and scold like bloody cyclops who accidentally got lucky as their sons or daughters somehow got out of the monstrous self, and became the kind of people who have been going on like those politicians of Athens, but are being compared to the Oracle of Delphi. Now, it is them who come in the nightmares, and devil has decided to recall his minions and take the backseat. The uncles and aunties talking nonsense in the nightmares – this is not even a creative nightmare! The years that I have spent in obedience are coming back to hurt me.

My favourite demon; I wish that this one comes and scares me instead of the humans.

I didn’t know that getting a job was the most important thing in the world. If I had known that, I would have stopped my studies much earlier. I thought that education was more important, that learning was the significant thing, and the only thing that can help me in future life. But it turns out that nobody really cares about learning, and the only thing that mattered was how much money I could make. When I hope to study and try a few exams in hope to get a job, there is the attempt to take that away; to get a job out thin air – who am I? a sorcererer? I am going to be judged further and further, and everyone around me is a judge.

It is what being jobless brings. These people who blames you twenty four hours a day, seven days a week and three hundred and sixty five days an year. Whenever they come anywhere close to you, there is the realization that they are going to talk about why their sons and daughters are so awesome, and how you are so pathetic and disgusting because you don’t have a job. The result is that you can’t think properly, can’t make any decision with not even able to do what you have been good at, and leaves you in anxiety and fear.

Things used happen in my mind, and now it is becoming more clueless and hopeless.

Along with the inability to even read anything with concentration, it leaves you doubtful about your own abilities, not sure what to do, and the end product of these is the nightmares. The end product of the same is sleepless nights; I can’t even remember when was the last night I could go smoothly without the nightmares. They come to me in the nightmares, and wake me up many times a night. Sometimes, there is falling from the bed, and I lose count how many times my head and shoulders hit the floor. Does the shampoo with the same have the ability to any favour? I wonder.

One hope: A possible future peace of mind, and may be I can write a number of tests and get a job.

TeNy

The Wizards’ Choice

*This is an allegory inspired by a comment from Raja Saravanan (http://rajareviews.com) at https://theteacerebration.wordpress.com/2014/11/20/theory-of-relative-it. This is purely fictional in nature with its base on fantasy, as you can see – but the idea is real and applicable anywhere, especially when equality and freedom of choice are denied 😀 *The images used in this post are screenshots from my time spent in one of my favourite games, Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic. There are influences from the same game and another two games Disciples and Overlord, as well as The Lord of the Rings.

On the top of the tower of Pling, the five wizards joined on a feast. The eldest one held control over the Sphere of Life, followed by the four younger ones holding powers over the Spheres of Wind, Earth, Water and Fire respectively in the order of their ages. The joining of the five Spheres was significant to create a wall of magic on the day of Christmas, when the stars aligned with the underworld, forming a passage between the worlds. For years, they have done the same, making sure that the worlds don’t touch each other.

“The world has been saved, for now. We are doing great as usual” announced the Wizard of Life.

“But you need to save the world again” added the Wizard of Fire. “You have to tell your son. He is not following the Dwarven engineering. See the sons and daughters of our wizard brethren and the sorceress sisters, and some of them even possess the Elven healing skills, taking training from the high elves. You should have taken him under your wing and forced him to follow you. A young kid should always grow up under his father. Mothers know nothing about leading the children in their path, and relatives of the mother are always quite bad” he said.

“Professionalism is the path, you know. Dwarves are skilled people. If he was trained with them, he would have been working in an armoury by now, making weapons and earning money in gold. Just look at how well my son is doing. Money is a very important thing in the world of magic, or may be it is the most important thing, as there is limitation to what sorcery can do. Even we are getting weaker in power due to the development of science” remarked the Wizard of Wind.

“Just send him to a centaur then. He can teach him enough to be successful in life. We can’t have young wizards wandering around without associating themselves with the Dwarves or the Elves. They have to learn engineering or medicine. Otherwise, what is different from them and a bloody underground goblin or an orc from a cave?” asked the Wizard of Earth.

The wizards join at the central tower…

“May be there is still time for him. It is the best if we don’t interfere much in the lives of the children, right? I think we have already did that a lot, or rather too much in the case of your son” said the Wizard of Water.

“We have saved the world again. It is so amazing isn’t it? I have never thought we could do this good. I mean, we don’t have that much of a great background, right? So we should be doing a lot worse” said a thinking Wizard of Life.

“Yes, it is a big achievement that we have come so far. We are just below average people holding a wand and chanting spells about which we have absolutely no idea. But we are still moving away from the topic” said the Wizard of Earth.

“I don’t think that my son is the only problem. There is also that daughter of the sorceress of the mountains who has gone for social service among the Wood Elves. How could she do that? We belong to an elite class. We don’t do social service. We are wizards. We don’t go down the level, we have to go high up the ladder, and all these sons and daughters in our family have to be ready for the higher calling, making as much money as possible in the process” said the Wizard of Life.

“Actually, it is kind of better. She could have actually gone with the Dark Elves. She got many friends there too. This is kind of better” said the Wizard of Water.

The rest of the world outside the Dwarven-High Elf territory

“You can say that with ease. Your sons and daughters are already part of the Dwarven heavy armaments engineering system. Here, we have children who are going the wrong path. Our elder wizard’s son is creating literature with Halflings! Can you believe that? I mean, they are just Hobbits in disguise. Writing worthless things and working in the local garden. How can we approve of such a thing which earns no money and is not a high class profession? asked the Wizard of Earth.

“He has still not mingled with the undead yet” said the Wizard of Water.

“An engineer is an engineer. It is a title that the Dwarves directly pass on and is worth a lot in the society. Now, he has only one option. To be a teacher. He has to go to the dragon scholars for that. The wise dragon hybrids can teach him how to be an educator of spells, something that can improve his skills a lot, and will speed up the process of becoming a wizard” said the Wizard of Earth.

“Or make him do some business. He can start a business by selling magic wands in the market. As he has wizard blood in his veins, he will be successful, and soon can become the best in the business, as there is no established wand-seller in our realm” said the Wizard of Fire.

“We should consult the sorceress group to finalize on this. After all, we shouldn’t let out sons and daughters have free-will. It is only our opinions that should count. We also have to bring some opinions about the grand-sons and grand-daughters wherever applicable, and shouldn’t let them take decisions by themselves. We are the wizards who know everything, and so we should interfere. Remember that I have better control of the Partial Sphere of Mind more than you all do” said the Wizard of Life.

“There can still be a few things which should be left to the children” said the Wizard of Water.

“I know not many things of that kind” added the Wizard of Fire.

The wizards packed their magic wands and set on a journey to discuss and come up with ideas to make sure that none of their children will follow a path out of free-will. They had to deviate them because they knew everything and were the saviours of the world. Two things ran through their minds – engineering and medicine; they had to bring the dwarves and high elves to come and persuade their lost children to bring them back on the path by displaying engineering and healing skills.

[The saga continues…]

TeNy

Theory of Relative-IT

So many years have passed since Albert Einstein came up with that theory of relativity, and even now it is thrown at us through the science fiction movies like Interstellar. Remember those theories that we hated in Physics? Well, I don’t usually remember the theories that I hate, especially belonging to Physics and Mathematics, but here is one exception, as for me, it becomes more of a theory of Philosophy than Physics.

This different thing, the new derivative is called the Theory of Relative-IT. This theory brings to light a problem rather than bringing a solution to anything. It acknowledges the trouble of the common man, the person who hasn’t studied IT, but has got many relatives in that field. The concepts introduced by the Theory of Relative-IT includes the following, but is not limited to them, and are open to further additions:

1. Measurements of various qualities of a person are dependent on the velocities of older observers. In particular, it includes the parents of those working in the IT field.

2. All other courses (not including medicine and other engineering fields) should be combined together and should be considered inferior to IT.

3. The power of IT is nonetheless beyond all comparisons, and is always the most superior thing, considered with that much respect as one would have for medicine.

The light is reserved only for the IT, not applicable for us (taken on my DSC W310)

Applications of the Theory in human life (Warning: Fictional situations and parts of my nightmares included):

Aunt no.1: Your life is wasted because you didn’t study engineering like my son. Look how well he is doing. See the girl in the neighbourhood with twenty five back papers. Even she is doing so well. After all, she is an engineer too.

And I remembered the Theory of Relative-IT, and that it was beginning to affect me like garlic on a vampire. But the silver bullets and the stake through the heart are yet to arrive. I am pretty sure that even that Oracle of Delphi could have predicted this.

Uncle no.1: You have one big fault.

I wondered what I was doing so wrong, and I thought it was going to make me a better person; but then the words of wisdom came out.

Uncle no.1 (continues): You didn’t study engineering. So you don’t have a job. It is ruining you right there. You should have studied engineering, and even if you had back papers, you would have had a job by now. My son already had two jobs in the IT field and is not at his third.

Uncle no.2: See, everyone including your cousins younger than you are now married. You should have tried engineering or medicine, and you would have been working and married by now. Why would someone study arts? It is rubbish. Do you know how ridiculous it is when the elder cousins get married before you do?

Uncle no.3: May be you should study BEd. It is your only hope now. Then, may be you can somehow get into a low class school and teach the students. But even then, you shouldn’t have taken language. Anybody can teach language. Social science is so stupid. You should have taken Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Zoology or Botony even in that case.

Aunt no.2: Why should he do anything now. It is quite certain that he won’t get a job now. He will simply waste his time, thats all he can do with a Masters in English. He should do some business instead. If he was any good, he would have gone for engineering or medicine. He doesn’t even have an MBA. Everyone has an MBA. What is it that he can do that engineers can’t?

Uncle no.4: How can we blame him though? We are all just average and below average people in intellect. It is a great achievement that we have engineers in our family. Nobody thought that it was possible. He will never get a job, and will remain just another post-graduate of no use. I think we should live with it and concentrate on getting our engineers married to high families so that we will have good connections with big, respected, rich families.

Aunt no.3: This is exactly what we should do. Lets put the profiles of our engineers in the matrimony websites and get them married. After all, only engineers are worthy people. Who cares about the rest. Look at these people studying B.Com, BSW and BBA – whats the point? Lets make sure that the families that we find also have enough people in the IT field. A certain number of doctors will also be nice. It doesn’t matter if they are good or bad, no problem if they are anti-social; they just need to be of these fields.

It is a sample of illuminated life for everyone except me (taken on my DSC W310)

Dad: There are so many people in the IT field that I know. I am proud of all of them. They are so awesome. They are so brilliant. I should go to their houses and congratulate them every-time they come home. They should be given the hero’s welcome every time they arrive at the railway station. They are the only intelligent people in our family because they belong to the IT field. Why would anybody study anything else?

This is indeed why Suarez bites people. This is also why aliens won’t talk to us. This means we are no longer the favourites of the Divine One. This is also a reason for Uncle Dracula not to retire from his biting business. My prayer to God these days is this: “Never provide a good person who takes a graduation in the arts subjects with a relative who is in the IT field”. The relative-IT is a dangerous and terrible situation. It is disappointing and makes you hopeless. It makes you not want to live life like you should. It is like putting ice in a fire-breathing dragon’s mouth. I wonder what would Albert Einstein say about this Theory of Relative-IT.

TeNy

The Bright Future

As this year’s movie watching adventures come to a close, there are a number of movies which I am looking forward to in the next year, not including the sequels. As far as the quality and the variety of movies which released in 2014 are concerned, I would consider the year far behind 2013, whether we are considering Hollywood, Bollywood or even the Malayalam movie industry. There are only a few movies that are left for release in 2014, which can change that, but there is hope for the next year. It might be too early now, but these are the five non-sequel movies which I am looking forward to in 2015.

The Last Witch Hunter: Even as it kind of brings some doubt into our minds with sounding like The Last Airbender, I would trust Vin Diesel on this one, and joining him is Rose Leslie from Game of Thrones, this time with a hero who knows a lot, and this should keep the standards. As witches seek to unleash a plague, it is this hunter who stands between them. I would have like The Rock to do such a role, but it seems that Vin Diesel would do nicely – he hunts witches this time, and not aliens or humans, works perfectly well for me. May this one not be the last witch hunter you will ever want to see, hoping that this will do only good to the genre – meanwhile look at this poster’s similarities to the creature in Mama.

This should be a fascinating story (Pic from movie’s FB Page)

Victor Frankenstein: As James McAvoy plays Victor Frankenstein and Daniel Radcliffe is Igor in this different adaptation of the original classic from Mary Shelley, there is the certainty of some beauty in variety here. We have had the perspectives of the monster as well as the scientist, and it is time we get the viewpoint of the scientist’s assistant. Coming up on Gandhi Jayanthi next year, lets hope that this one is not lost and not shown here due to some random stupid Bollywood movie with any superstar releasing in India, like Besharam in 2013 and Bang Bang! in 2014.

Hitman: Agent 47: As this movie which needs no introduction comes to the big screen as a reboot, this adaptation of the game franchise should do even better than the other one which released earlier. Hitman is that kind of a character with immense possibilities and a lot less chance to go wrong. Lets hope that this movie twists the wrong idea about video game adaptations and turn it into something better. Paul Walker would have been an amazing Hitman, and it is saddening that he had to be replaced with the accident. We should give this assassin a chance, because video games can certainly make good movies without getting the critical appreciation, and it is a proven fact.

Hitman was never just another game for us (Pic from movie’s FB Page)

Crimson Peak: Its been sometimes since we saw something from Guillermo del Toro, and I have to say that whenever his name is involved, I consider the movie a must watch, and that feeling has never failed me. It has Mia Wasikowska in the lead role. If you have seen her in Stoker, you would know how good she would be in a movie like this. The nineteen century setting in a Gothic mansion far away from the city, sounds too good to go wrong. As it is supposed to be not just a ghost story, but also a Gothic romance, there is going to be mysterious feel about this one which is going to be special. Our own Loki, Tom Hiddleston is going to be there – something big is surely coming here!

Jupiter Ascending: This one has been making us wait rather too much. Along with having Channing Tatum and Mila Kunis together, this movie provides us with a huge universe extending through different planets and solar systems and if what we see in the trailer keeps happening a lot, we can be sure that there will be some incredibly powerful action and magnificent visual effects which will rule the screen. This should be an amazing new world if it can rightly deliver what it seems to possess. Check the posters and the trailer and you will know. Lets trust The Wachowskis once again to bring that awesome science fiction movie of the year to us.

Such awesome visuals and action (Pic from movie’s FB Page)

Among the sequels, my best bet would be on Avengers: Age of Ultron and Furious 7 – no surprises there. I also have high hopes for Insidious: Chapter 3, Sinister 2, Jurrasic World, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, The Woman in Black: Angel of Death, The Transporter Legacy, Terminator: Genisys, Taken 3, The Divergent Series: Insurgent, Kung Fu Panda 3, Mission: Impossible 5 and London has Fallen. There are also the upcoming James Bond and Star Wars movies, plus Fifty Shades of Grey. It is a long list of movies yet again, and my guess is that it will surely be a better year than 2014.

TeNy