The Beautiful Predator and the Delicate Prey!

September 23, 2026 / queenbee / 0 Comments

*** this incident happened a couple of years ago***

GBee and KBee, my kids extraordinaire (the amount of T.V. they manage to watch without any boredom is extraordinary) were at it again, watching the idiot box, commonly known by mere mortals as T.V.

I wanted them to get away from any screens and play outside. I turned off theT.V. and brought them both, into the verandah. KBee is at an age, where every new particle, item or thing finds itself in his mouth! He is an explorer with a taste, LOL!

Anyways, I was chasing them both playfully in the verandah.

Suddenly, I saw something black fly past me, behind GBee, at probably 2 feet above the ground. I thought it was bat. We see bats on a regular basis near our house and after 7 p.m., I don’t let the kids out for playing, because bats scare me! (Thanks to COVID virus scare.) Someone also told me bats can suck blood, like vampires and draculas, as shown in movies like Van Helsing. I don’t think that is true, but I have no intention of experimenting.

The bats I have come across, love to hang around custard apple trees and we have one in our yard. I see bats daily from 6 p.m. till 10 p.m.

Fearing the worst, I still ran in the direction of the black shape, turns out, it was a beautiful black bird with maroon coloured wings, which swooped from behind GBee and took a spot on the telephone lines!

The bird, I found later is called Greater Coucal, found in India and other Asian countries.

Unknowingly, I began singing a Telugu song, Nee nagumome extraordinary…. (only hummable song from Telugu movie, Cameraman Ganga tho Rambabu!) Since the bird was so stunning and unique, I began singing songs, in its praise, like a poetess!

Anyway, it looked to me like the bird was staring at something on the floor. I followed it’s gaze and lo, behold, I saw a beautiful, jet black butterfly with lemon yellow dots on its wings. A beauty for sure!

On closer inspection, it looked half dead, unable to move or fly.

I put two and two together and came to a conclusion that the bird was the predator and the nearly dead butterfly was the prey.

I carefully picked up the butterfly, showed it to GBee and KBee for closer inspection and appraisal! I placed it gently, on the pillar, hoping that is enough motivation for it to fly away to safety.

The butterfly hardly moved.

GBee, brought a plastic chair, placed it carefully beside the pillar and continued his observations.

The bird, probably wanted to grab it’s prey but GBee was unknowingly protecting the butterfly. The bird was too afraid to be caught. (Poor Coucal didn’t know that GBee, KBee and QB were harmless humans!)

The Coucal kept coming back and forth, unsure if it was allowed near its prey.

Vexed at watching the plight of the Coucal, I brought the kids inside the house, closed the grill door and waited, in silence.

Once we were out of the butterfly ‘s personal space, I waited for 5 minutes, and slowly opened the grill door to check the progress of the situation. The beautiful bird had vanished, as did the delicate butterfly!

That’s when it struck me, that even a bird as beautiful and seemingly harmless one like an Coucal can still be a cruel predator in the eyes of lesser beings like butterflies, worms and the likes!

P.S :

1. Normally, I would have tried to save the life of the butterfly, but as it was already half dead, I decided the best course of action was to let it die.

2. As I was searching the net for images of the beautiful Coucal, I discovered that the male Coucal brings presents for the female, as a part of their flirting, so the butterfly could well have been just a present, than food for the female. Interesting!

3. I am still humming the above mentioned song. I wonder how a director who made Pokiri can make a movie like Liger! What a fall for director Puri Jagannath.

4. Incidentally, I saw another Coucal recently near Malpe Beach House, during our trip to Karnataka, about which I am writing as a part of my September vacation series.

Van Helsing is the first ever movie I had seen of Hugh Jackman. Interestingly, in the said movie, he turns into a werewolf at the end. Years later, he went on to play Wolverine!

P.P.S :

Both the images are from the Google search engine and I take no credit for them.

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Start of a September vacation!

September 22, 2026 / queenbee / 0 Comments

Hai to all my readers,

I had been in and out of hospital in June and had to take some time for myself. So, naturally, the blog took back seat. Now that I am up and about, I am getting my blog game-face on and back here.

Now for the actual post…..

What with lots happening in our lives, Mr.Bee, who has the most cortisol in our family, since he is the central pillar post, decided we need a long overdue vacation in September. (Both the kids have schools and all, but we decided to take a chance at going on vacation!)

Since Mr.Bee has always been a fan of Coorg like almost all software engineers, we charted our plans, made itinerary, jotted down the list and finalized our tour plan.

Day 1 :

We had Mr.Bee’s cousins visiting us and our house was buzzing with activity. We made some last minute additions to our luggage, went to my parents house to bid them farewell before our 11 day vacation.

Initially, the bus we were travelling was supposed to start at 9:30 p.m. at Kukatpally, Hyderabad. But, they called us at 7:30 p.m. to inform us to reach the stop at 8:30 p.m., as the departure has been pre-poned! (The sudden change in time meant we had little time for dinner!)

We got ready, made it on time and occupied our seats. Mr. Bee and KBee, I and GBee divided into teams of two. Thanks to the bus driver constantly reminding us of the existence of the break pedal, I felt nauseous! Mr.Bee bought me some mango candy and Kurkure at the first stop after boarding, to help me beat nausea, but it didn’t help me at all.

The only idea I came up with is to sleep and that subsided my nausea. (Since it was MIL’s birthday, we had biryani for dinner and that caused me nausea. Word of advice, eat atleast an hour before travelling and eat light!)

Before sleeping, KBee , GBee and I had played ATLAS game, which was like Antyakshari, except here we tell any nouns starting with last letter of a word. So if we start the game with ‘S’ as in (A-T-L-A-‘S’), a word like Singapore, the other player needs to think of a word with E (last letter of the word, Singapore), like an Elephant and so on.

Later, GBee and I chatted and played “country flag” game, where we guessed the flags of different countries.

We called it a night at 10 p.m. and slept.

Day 2 :

The next morning, at around 6 a.m. we reached the outskirts of Bangalore and GBee and I enjoyed looking out of the windows at the windmills, hills and the tiny towns, which were in the midst of nature. (The townsfolk don’t even know that some people like me are envious of them!)

By the time we reached our stop, at the Silk Board, it was already past 10:30 a.m.!

We reached R’s house, who is a close friend and colleague of Mr.Bee. He wondered why we had booked a bus service, which had been recently involved in a major fire accident! The bus driver was going slow for a reason, their service was under scrutiny, thanks to the fire accident and Mr.Bee had booked us in the same service, without any idea!

I should say I was actually worried about fire accidents in buses, but I refrained from sharing my concerns with Mr.Bee. Interestingly, I didn’t recall that the fire accident had been in the same bus service we were travelling in. If I had known, I wouldn’t have slept the whole night, like a scaredy cat!

Anyway, we had a hearty breakfast of idli sambar, had our baths, because it was nearly 11 a.m. and eating breakfast after bath seemed stupid.

We bade goodbye to R’s family, got into the taxi we had hired for the whole trip and started for Mysore.

P.S :

1. I admire the outskirts of Bangalore, with a tiny town, hills in the background and wind mills doing their job! It looked so beautiful that, it reinforced my desire to visit Mount Fuji, Japan. Once I visit Mt.Fuji, I can check it off my bucket list. (I checked off Australian Kangaroo in 2016, which had been in my list since my 10th grade.)

2. Although I admire the scenic beauty, I wonder how it would be to live in a scenic town.

3. I pity the Generation Alpha. Even when the scenery outside our bus window was exquisite, GBee wanted nothing to do with it. He kept demanding for the Samsung Tab, to play his Minecraft! (He got good many scoldings, so early in the morning)

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The Murder On The Links – A Review

June 22, 2026 / queenbee / 0 Comments

Have you ever observed a housefly? It rubs two of its feet, as if in anticipation! That was exactly how I felt, rubbing my palms together, as soon as I saw this novel in the bookstore. Dame, I am game!

Let’s get down to business….

One of the earlier editions book cover!

Review :

The Murder on the Links is one of the earliest works of Dame Agatha Christie featuring the 5’4″ egg – shape headed Belgian detective Hercule Poirot and his somewhat foolish friend Captain Hastings!

The story starts with Captain Hastings meeting a girl on the train from France to London. She is unladylike, unrefined but clever and inspite of his prejudices, Captain Hastings takes to her. They part ways with her giving him a false name, Cinderella. Even he knows that is not her real name!

At London, his roomie Poirot invites Hastings back into France, regarding a case. English born French millionaire businessman Renauld fears for his life and hires Poirot. But before Poirot can reach him, Renault is found in a golf course, in a freshly dug open grave, with a knife in his back, dead! His wife Eloise Renauld claims that she had been tied up by two masked men, who took Renauld away at knife-point. Turns out the knife was gifted to her by her son Jack. (That is the murder weapon)

While Poirot honours the dead man’s request and decides to solve the murder case, the local detective Giraud is hired by the police. Both the detectives are at loggerheads and Giraud, being the younger detective is bent on taunting Poirot for his old school detection tactics. (It is obvious who wins the unofficial competition between the detectives at the end. )

The list of suspects is long. There is a beautiful neighbour Madam Daubreuil, whom the police suspect was having an affair with the dead man. Captain Hastings thinks Martha Daubreuil, daughter of Madam Daubreuil is a breath taking beauty. But Poirot thinks she has anxious eyes! (Hastings can be swayed by superficial features, but the little grey cells of Poirot look beyond the superficial. That is the marking of a good detective)

Incidentally, Jack Renauld is in love with Martha Daubreuil! For obvious reasons, his father opposes the match!

Then there is Bella Duveen, ex-girlfriend of Jack, who is still in love with him. She knows he has a new woman in his life.

Gabriel Stonor, the personal assistant of the dead millionaire, who clearly states that Eloise and Renauld were devoted couple and still in love. He laughs at the idea of Renauld having an affair!

Just as Hastings begins to get on with his life, he meets the girl from the train, again. In a bid to win her, he shows off the scene of murder. It is later revealed that the murder weapon has been stolen.

All hell breaks loose, when a second dead body is found, with a knife in its chest. Incidentally, the person had died after seizures and later a knife had been driven into his chest! (The knife which was used in both the cases is the same)

Who is the double murderer?

Who gains most from the death of Renauld? Only his wife, who gets all of his estate.

But Poirot is more than convinced Eloise loved her husband dearly.

Meanwhile, it is revealed that Jack Renauld had a huge fight with his father, regarding his love life. Did he resent his father so much to kill him off??

Just as Jack is arrested for the death of his father, Bella Duveen surrenders before the law, claiming she is the murderer!

Is Bella guilty?

Just as we begin to think the story has come to an end, Eloise Renauld’s life is in danger!

All is well that ends well, inspite of a murder!

P.S:

1. This is one of the best works of Dame Agatha Christie. The dead body is found in a golf course, hence the name.

2. How does she come up with these wonderful stories? Beats me!

3. All the books and novels I have read after watching the T.V series of Hercule Poirot, I have been picturing David Suchet and Hugh Fraser as Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings. They nailed their parts. I don’t think anyone can erase their faces from my memory!

4. Do read the book and enjoy it with a hot cup of masala chai and a bowl of spicy puffed rice. Atleast, that’s what I did!

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Peddi – a Review

June 8, 2026 / queenbee / 3 Comments

Although the movie is rated as 16+, Mr.Bee and I decided to take our kids too, to watch the movie, since all of us were going to the theater. We couldn’t leave them anywhere at the last minute!

We had tough time finding a theater nearby, so had to book tickets at my least favourite mall, the S## Mall!

Starring : Ram Charan Tej, Jahnvi Kapoor, Boman Irani, Jagapathi Babu, my favourite mad scientist from Adithya 369 – Octogenarian Tinu Anand, Bhojpuri gem Ravi Kishen, Kannada Shiva Rajkumar, Divyendu, Upendra Limaye and others.

Directed by : Buchi Babu Sana

Music : A.R.Rahman

Released On : 4th June 2026

QB watched On : 7th June 2026

Review :

The movie starts with a sports official (Boman Irani), who is intrigued by name Peddi being associated with cricket, wrestling and track sports! (I rolled my eyes here, how can anyone excel at 3 different sports? Is he the village equivalent to Chuck Norris and Rajnikanth?) Similar disbelief leads Boman Irani into the far away nameless village in mountains.

Peddi (Ram Charan Tej), a tribal man, with his raw power, brute force and hunger to excel makes him a power hitter in the town cricket team, similar to Chris Gayle and the likes!

Then comes Achiamma (Jahnvi Kapoor), in a meaningless role, a girl who saunters around acting hauty and important. Peddi goes soft on her. Her character adds literally nothing to the story except spoil the good name of her mom, Sridevi. Even the director has succumbed to cheap thrills and objectified her, which I loathe, to say the least! Her scenes are in bad taste and cringe worthy.

Peddi rubs some upperclassmen the wrong way, in his bid to help Achiamma and thereby looses his spot in the cricket team.

Meanwhile, Appala Suri (Jagapathi Babu, in a memorable role), who is set on getting their nameless village, some recognition and a railway station of their own, dies. Peddi’s life changes.

Peddi takes up wrestling under the tutelage of Gournaidu (Shiva Rajkumar), who proves he is a veteran once again through his scenes. Peddi is selected for the nationals and thanks to the grudge of a fellow student, ends up hurting his leg badly. That effectively puts an end to his career as a wrestler.

Even the silver medal, doesn’t get Peddi’s nameless village any recognition nor a railway station.

Once again he changes his sport and takes up track running and wins gold at Asian games and that ends the misery for the village and us, the audience! ( I swear, if he had taken up another sport or something, I would have cried some precious tears!)

His village gets a name, Appalavalasa and a railway station, thus developing it further. The movie ends with Peddi being acknowledged as a hero.

What I like :

1. Sincere performances of Ram Charan Tej, Jagapathi Babu and Shiva Rajkumar.

2. The fact that, if one door closes, another opens and to never stop trying.

3. Music by ARR

P . S :

What I don’t like :

1. The editing was bad. It drags at places.

2. There is no proper track between the main lead. Even the upperclass villains suddenly begin respecting Peddi!

3. Unnecessary item song by Sruthi Hasan who looks like she is having a hard time being sober. She also looked like she was unable to dance well, for some reason. If I had a universal remote, I would have fast forwarded some of the movie!

P . P . S :

Mr.Bee and I would close our kids eyes’ during the scenes of death. GBee enjoyed the music and background score too. Both GBee and KBee enjoyed the fight scenes, which were truly good.

Overall, it is a one time watch if you are a fan. If not, it is ok if you skip it too!

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The Twenty Third Man

March 21, 2026 / queenbee / 0 Comments

Ever had a feeling of deja-vu, like we already did something, like it is happening again, as if we are in a sci-fi movie and re-visited the moment in the past, like gamers playing the same level from the checkpoint? That is how I felt while reading the Twenty Third Man!

I felt like I read this one, ages ago, but I couldn’t recall the story at all. I had a nagging feeling that I read the book, but managed to forget it entirely!

Anyway, let me review this one, for everyone.

Published on : 1957

Read by QB : 10th February 2026

Written by : Gladys Mitchell

Review :

Dame Beatrice Bradley, a well known psychiatrist, psychoanalyst and amateur detective, (probably in her late sixties) lands on island of Hombres Muertos (literally means dead men) for her month long vacation.

She makes friends on the ship, from London to Spain. One Mr.Clun, a 29 year old, ex-prison bird who spent 3 years in prison for manslaughter (i.e. killing someone in a burst of anger or jealousy without premeditation) Then there is Mr.Telham and his newly widowed sister, Caroline Lockerby. Interestingly, the brother and sister seem to loathe Mr.Clun for some reason.

As the ship reaches the island, we meet more characters like Mr.Peterhouse, who organises local tours and is also into growing orchids, but it is later revealed that he is into growing poisonous plants!

Mrs.Angel, who is an enigma, rumour has it that she sends the local girls to South America, to work in estates illegally, in short, slave trade!

Ruiz and his daughter, run the beautiful hotel where everyone is staying at. They are the locals.

There are Clement, an obnoxious, loud boy and his adoptive parents and also Karl Emden, the English casanova, who makes many enemies from his two month long stay at the island. His incessant flirting with every girl on the island makes him notorious and everybody’s enemy. The story turns on it’s head, when Dame Beatrice discovers Karl Emden is missing!

The island Hombres Muertos is famous for its cave, where twenty three mummified kings (wearing fine jewellery) have been preserved. Their final resting place is also the main attraction and is the reason the island got its name .

When the latest batch of tourists enter the cave for their visit, hell breaks loose. Caroline Lockerby becomes hysterical, she thinks she saw one of the 23 dead kings move! Mr.Peterhouse, the tour guide notices nothing and Telham is calmer than ever. Dame herself notices that one of the dead man is taller than the rest, like he had been added recently!

One day later, Clement comments that there are 24 and not 23 dead men in the cave!

Who is the 24th dead body?

Is it Karl Emden? Who killed him?

Why is Mr.Peterhouse growing poisonous plants? Is he down with dementia?

Is the death of Caroline’s husband and Mr.Clun’s manslaughter case related in anyway?

Unable to get any clues in the island of Hombres Muertos, Dame Beatrice reaches London, to do a background check on all the tourists she had met on the island. Meanwhile, Dame sends her assistant, a new mother, Laura and her newborn baby to the island in her stead. (The dacoits on the island kidnap Laura, but once they find out that she has a newborn waiting at the hotel, eager for his dinner of milk, they let her go. Who knew even a newborn can be a saviour from dacoits!)

To find who really is the villain, it is better to read the book. I know you will!

P.S :

1. The writing style is very different to what I have been used to, since it was written in 1950’s. It is indirect and exhausting at first, but I got used to it pretty soon.

2. We get no clues at all about who the killer may be.

3. Since the detective, Dame Beatrice is psychology expert, her brilliance only proves Gladys herself was a genius. I will surely try to find more of her books. She is also a contemporary writer of Dame Agatha Cristie.

4. Incidentally, the dacoits kidnap Clement too, but let him go, unable to bear him! LOL!

I love the location where the novel is based on, which is new and unique.

Till the next post, cheerio.

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Dhurandhar : The Revenge

March 20, 2026 / queenbee / 0 Comments

Let’s just start with a prayer to all the people who said Dhurandhar is a propaganda movie! Dhurandhar : The Revenge has a 30 second clip of PM NaMo, giving his demonetization speech. Take that!

Our show was at 10:30 pm, but thanks to all the useless Ads, it started at 11:00 pm. Most of the audience was openly exasperated and complained loudly.

If you see full house at 10:30 pm, on a weekday, for a movie like Dhurandhar, you should know the audience is serious about it’s movie and not for fun. We came to watch our fearless Dhurandhar. I hope they refrain from wasting half an hour of our precious time.

Before anything else may divert you, let me put my two cents on the table, here goes the review.

Released On : 19th March 2026

Watched by QB on : 19th March 2026

Starring : Ranveer Singh, Arjun Rampal, R.Madhavan, Sanjay Dutt, Rakesh Bedi, Gaurav Gera, Yami Gautam and more

Run Time : 3 hrs 49 min

Directed By : G.O.A.T Aditya Dhar

Jaskirat Singh Rangi buys an AK-47 for his brutal rampage, (mind numbing action sequence by Ranveer Singh) killing 12 men of a high profile MLA family, which earns him a death sentence.

One detail I loved was the small town Jaskirat posing for a photo with his family. His body language shows his innocence, before he went on a killing rampage. The anguish and the change in Jaskirat seeps into the screen. We can feel his rage.

Enter Ajay Sanyal and Bansal, who recruit him into the Dhurandhar program. Jaskirat is now Hamza Ali Mazari, the babbar sher (king of beasts, the lion).

At the safe house in Afghanistan, Jaskirat burns his family photo, the last clue of his existence and new life ahead as Hamza.

Anyway, after the death of Rehman Dakait (Akshay Khanna), the throne of Lyari is up for grabs! Uzair Baloch is nothing compared to Rehman. Arshad Pappu becomes powerful by default.

Hamza, who is on a mission to eliminate as many terrorists as possible makes a move and Arshad Pappu is killed by Uzair Baloch, (A brutal killing here, just like the one Rehman Dakait commits in middle of the street), which lands Uzair Baloch in jail and that’s where he stays till the end. (I wondered why Hamza went soft on Uzair, but there is a reason for keeping him alive!)

Here, Hamza Ali Mazari is crowned the new Sher – e – Baloch. (This song has a little less pep than the Foos Foos song from Dhurandhar)

With the new title as King of Lyari, Hamza gets the chance to meet Bade Saab, Dawood Ibrahim. (Whoever said Emran Hashmi was playing Dawood Ibrahim needs to be reprimanded.)

Bade Saab, lives in a palatial bungalow with wires connected to him, living almost like a vegetable, but he still has enough hatred in his veins for more terror attacks on India! He asks Hamza to prove himself worthy of Lyari throne, like his predecessors and involves him in a drug racket. (The drug addicted Punjab needs to thank Bade saab for its drug culture.)

At this point, Hamza comes close to blowing his cover, but thanks to the pick pocketer from Rae Bareli, Hamza is saved. But, SP Aslam (Sanjay Dutt) has his doubts about Hamza being an Indian spy and that seals the deal for him!

SP Aslam is eliminated. (One clean execution here!)

We come to understand the fate of a spy, once Yalina (Sara Arjun) begins to doubt Hamza. Jaskirat ‘s days as Hamza are numbered.

Meanwhile, at Dubai, Hamza is given autonomy by Ajay Sanyal, to do as he pleases and all hell breaks loose. We see unknown men gunning down terrorists, terrorists suddenly dying from heart attacks and what not! (Salute to the unnamed and unknown masked men, who are serving the country in shadows)

Meanwhile, Omar, ASP, is after Hamza. He relays the information to Major Iqbal (Arjun Rampal), who is shocked and frustrated.

A long drawn fight ensues, between Major Iqbal and Hamza. I, particularly love the scene where Hamza brings out a bazooka, to fire at Major Iqbal. (It is almost as beautiful as Rambha ho ho , scene from Dhurandhar!) Epic!

Major Iqbal dies and Hamza is captured!

Let me stop the story at that. The rest needs to be watched onscreen.

What I loved :

Ranveer Singh as Hamza Ali Mazari. It is a role of a lifetime for him. When people talk about Ranveer Singh, it will always be the talking point, B.D and A.D.(Before Dhurandhar and After Dhurandhar!) He killed it, lived it, breathed it and no one can ever take that away from him.

Rakesh Bedi as the true blue politician, Arjun Rampal as the twisted army officer, Sanjay Dutt as the brash SP, R. Madhavan as the pukka patriotic security chief and Sara Arjun, as a hopeless wife and loyal mother of a child, too were good.

Finally, the gripping direction and screenplay needs special mention. Take a bow!

P.S :

1. Who even manages to make 2 movies of bombastic content, in a duration of one and half year? No one! For that alone, Aditya Dhar is a GOAT.

2. The run time in no way made the movie boring. I have the habit of checking audience reaction and frankly, no one was sleepy or bored even at 3:00 am in the morning, when the movie finally ended.

3. The music and background score are good, but I loved the ones from Dhurandhar than Dhurandhar: The Revenge.

4. Just so you know, the video clip of PM Narendra Modi brought cheers from audience, just like the ones we get when a super star makes a cameo in a movie, interesting!

Overall, a not-to-miss experience. Do watch it.

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The Monster!

March 1, 2026 / queenbee / 0 Comments

This little incident happened recently when all the four of us were returning home late, one night.

Mr.Bee was driving, I sat beside him. GBee was seated in the seat behind us and KBee was feeling sleepy, so he sat in my lap. We were hardly 5 minutes away from our home.

Suddenly, he saw the road sign to our right side….

I don’t know in what angle the road sign looked like a monster. It was either the lack of street light or the radium paint on the road sign shining under our headlights or the weird stick figure dropping litter, which must have looked like black liquid leaking from his stretched hand, or, KBee’s over- active imagination…Whatever!

I turned my head to look at what caused the panic….understood that the road sign was the culprit. I pacified the kid saying, it is just a road sign.

That soothed his brain.

He began playing again, with the cars in his hands. (His hands are never empty. He has something or other always in his hands.)

This little incident made me realize that even harmless stuff like a road sign can be a cause of worry for little kids.

Just like the lump of coat hanging from a peg, which dances at night, thanks to the high speed fan, anything can be a monster!

P.S :

1. This particular incident had taken place inside the car, but, drawing the inside of the car is too tedious. So, I have kept it simple. The cartoons are supposed to show KBee and me sitting in the front seat but all the extra details of car would have made the cartoon clustered.

2. While this incident was happening, Mr.Bee was silently driving the car and GBee was shouting at the top of his lungs about his friends who stay nearby, etc. They were not involved in our conversation, so I refrained from drawing them.

3. Turns out KBee is giving me lots of material for my blog posts. Incidentally, both the kiddos name all their cars. We have vroom vroom car, First Asha, MK- 1 (short for Mortal Kombat), Point – 1 and Lighter! (These are some of their favourite cars)

Till the next post, cheerio!

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The Anaemic Pomegranate!

February 25, 2026 / queenbee / 0 Comments

One fine afternoon, GBee had yet to return home from school. KBee was busy watching his favourite Blippi in YouTube and I was surfing through the phone, doing my daily dose of mobile-cart shopping!

Gone are the days of window shopping, of hanging out with a bunch of friends in the shops and malls. The latest fad is to do the same in Virtual reality, dropping the goods in the cart, online, when in doubt, just wishlisting them, then forgetting all about it!

While I was stalking the online shelves of Myntra, KBee informed me that he was, indeed, very hungry.

I decided to feed him a Pomegranate.

The hungry baby

That day, three fourth of the fruit was red and a quarter of the pomegranate seeds were white and tiny. ( I think the pomegranate was a little Anemic!)

I didn’t want the kiddo to find fault with the fruit, so I told him that the pomegranate was still a baby and the white seeds were baby seeds! The fruit was in no way spoiled, it just had some colourless seeds.

Extra gyaan to the baby

After telling the kid the pomegranate as good to eat, I went into the kitchen to make myself a hot cuppa tea of apple cranberry flavour.

A little over 10 minutes of time had elapsed. I walked into the hall, with tea in my hand.

I saw KBee standing over the doormat and busy watering it!

KBee told me that he didn’t like the taste of the white pomegranate seeds. Since I told him they were still babies, he decided to plant them and water them.

What better place to plant them, than the turf – look – alike doormat, which resembles freshly mowed grass?

That is what he was doing.

He put all the white seeds on the doormat and began watering them with such enthusiasm.

I was left wondering about how he got the idea, that plants can grow on doormats!

P.S :

1. I have not come across many white pomegranate seeds. It is an acquired taste, astringent!

2. I am not an expert in nutrition but pomegranate without red pigment looks like it is anaemic.

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Stand By Me – A Review

February 24, 2026 / queenbee / 0 Comments

I love watching Hollywood movies, especially of America when it was less mad! (Before the Epstein files took the world by the storm)

Thanks to the AI in the Netflix, I got suggestions in my feed, the movies and shows which may suit my taste and that is how I came upon Stand By Me!

And…here goes the review.

Released In : 1986

QB watched On : 13th February, 2026

Directed by : Rob Reiner

Starring : *surprise… surprise* Will Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O’Connell, John Cusack and the likes.

Review :

The story starts with Gordie, who reads a paper about the death of a lawyer and there begins the flash back.

Gordie Lachance (Wil Wheaton) and his friends, Chris Chambers (River Phoenix), Teddy Duchamp (Corey Feldman) and Vern Tessio (Jerry O’Connell) meet at a tree house regularly for playing cards, smoking cigarettes and whatnot. All the 4 friends are around 12 years old. (No way is it the age to be smoking!)

The common feature among them is that none of them have a happy family. While Chris’s father is a drunkard, Teddy’s father has mental health issues and Vern’s family is not exactly a loving and caring one. The saddest life is of nerdy Gordie, whose elder brother, Denny, a gifted baseball player, dies in a car crash. Both his parents never get over the death and his father even tells Gordie, it should have been him and not his elder brother who had died! (Who even tells that to a 12 year old??)

Poor Gordie, the stories he writes are of little consequence to his father, who is more into sports. Incidentally, his brother Denny was the only one who was remotely interested in his younger brother’s talent.

Each kid has his own trauma to get over.

One day Vern tells his friends about overhearing, his brother talk about finding the dead body of the missing teen, Ray Brower. Vern’s brother and his friend are scared about informing the police, since they are delinquents and no one believes they can be innocent of foul play!

Vern and his friends decide to find the dead body by themselves so that they can become local heroes if they help the police discover the body. They pack their bags, Chris brings a revolver from his father’s desk, for safety purposes. Gordie brings a water bottle, Vern brings a comb!(He expects newspaper notoriety, so he wanted to look presentable for the photos) The one thing Teddy had to bring was food and he brings none.

The gang of four go away for the hike, running away from a dog, narrowly escape being run over by a train, get their blood sucked by some very creepy leeches. (seeing them first time in mainstream cinema!) They also spend the night by campfire, while Gordie tells his friends the latest story he wrote about a kid named David “Lard-Ass” Hogan. Chris, the leader of the gang, the cleverest and the most passionate one tells Gordie that he is a good writer.

They take turns keeping a watch for any wild animals while in the forest. That is when Chris and Gordie bond better and share their sorrows and become better friends.

Next morning, they find the dead body of Ray Brower. This is when Gordie has a meltdown, since he is yet to get over the death of his brother Denny.

Parallelly, Vern’s brother and his gang of delinquents also reaches the dead body. Gordie scares the delinquents away with the revolver. But neither the delinquents nor Gordie and his gang get credit for their discovery of dead body. They make an anonymous call!

Later on, the kids return home, Gordie and Chris both get into colleges. Gordie is a writer and Chris is a lawyer. Vern and Teddy drift apart.

The movie ends with Gordie remembering his friend Chris who has been shot dead. He wonders if anyone ever makes good friends apart from childhood friends?

What I loved:

The actors did a great job and lived the roles. It felt like I was part of their world and it was not a movie!

One of the best coming of age movies. It stays with you, just like Dead Poet’s Society.

Interestingly, it was nominated for Academy Awards for best Adapted Screenplay.

P.S :

1. I was especially drawn to Chris and his acting. Gordie was good too. As the credits rolled, I understood why I loved Chris. He was River Phoenix! I have only heard about the brilliant actor River Phoenix was, but this is the first time I watched his movie. I felt immensely sad, because, he had such potential.

He was the elder brother of Joaquin Phoenix. River, died at the young age of 23, by accidental drug overdose! (He is super talented and his death caused a rise in fame for other actors like Leonardo Di Caprio. I hope he was not removed out of picture to make way for others! You know whose name is in the E*stein files, right?) River Phoenix was supposed to work in The Titanic, for the role of Jack.

2. Any The Big Bang Theory fans know Wil Wheaton and Wil Wheaton played Gordie, the main character in Stand By Me. No wonder I had familiar vibes.

3. This movie was adapted from the writer Stephen King’s novella, The Body.

Have you watched Shawshank Redemption? It is a classic, one of the top ten and top 100 all time movies, by IMDb rating. Well, that too is an adaptation of Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, a novella by Stephen King, who also wrote IT.

4. Watch the movie and thank me later!

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The Intruder – Review

January 28, 2026 / queenbee / 1 Comment

Thanks to the Republic Day sale at our local mall, I decided to buy books. Incidentally, the books which were dead cheap had some obsolete titles, ones that bookworms like me, never ever heard about. I bought 10 books and will complete them one by one.

The first one of the lot that I wanted to read is The Intruder. Let me review it for the fellow bookworms, waiting to get their hands on a book!

Published on : October 2025

QB read on : 26th January 2026, (Republic Day of India)

Author : Freida McFadden (my latest favourite)

Review :

The story starts with Casey, who is living in the middle of nowhere, but still within the reach of basic necessities.

The cabin that Casey rented has a questionable roof. The weather forecast warns of a heavy storm in the horizon. What’s more, even the tree in her yard is dangerously old and may fall on the house anytime soon.

Either the storm or the fallen tree may kill Casey. But then, she finds a pale face looking through her bedroom window!

Is it a hallucination caused by the fear of facing a storm alone or is it a shadow caused due to weird angle of flickering light?

Casey is well prepared for any adversity, thanks to her father, who trained her well. I love how she keeps thinking about her father and what he would have done at different situations. It shows the deep friendship she had with her dad. (I love a good father daughter bonding story)

Then there is her lone neighbour, Lee Traynor, who is concerned for Casey’s safety. He may or may not be the one who is trespassing her property!

Who is Lee? Does he have secrets of his own, like Casey?

During the blackout, Casey manages to find out the tool shed in her property is suddenly lit up. She decides to check out who it is! (Why go to all the trouble of facing the intruder?)

Who is the intruder?

Is it wise to face an intruder on your own, when alone?

As we read through the story of the Casey and the intruder, we also alternate to the life of Ella.

Who is Ella?

Then there is Ella’s mother. This is the first instance where I have read about a character who is in severe depression. I could only pity Ella. Such a pitiful childhood.

Ella finds respite in the friendship of Anton. (Anton is one such character which is good inspite of the circumstances around him. He is a good guy but flawed.)

Finally, when the story unfolds, it brings chills down my spine.

It shows the plight of a kid who has an irresponsible parent.

Scary and sad!

If you had a good childhood with loving parents, then count yourselves lucky instead of taking things for granted. Some kids are not so lucky.

P.S :

1. True to her style, Freida McFadden has some twists up her sleeves and she uses them well at some places.

2. I hate staying alone in a cabin, but if at all I was, I wouldn’t go ahead and search who the intruder was, in the tool shed, that too during a storm!

3. Worth a read. It gives some valuable lessons of how parenting should be done and how important parenting is.

Till the next post, ciao!

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