Author: queenbee (Page 2 of 12)

Dhurandhar – A review

January 11, 2026 / queenbee / 0 Comments

After lot of mulling over, whether I can take in the violence and after Mr.Bee had watched it with his friends, I decided to watch Dhurandhar. Mr.Bee promised that he would warn me at the violent parts, so that I could cringe and grit my teeth, without having to see the gore and blood shed, but only listen to the audio at those parts! (I was THAT set on watching Dhurandhar)

This is a fair warning to all the people who love a good movie, but get the jitters at violence, do watch the movie, to get a general idea of how much our Army is sacrificing for mediocre individuals like us!

Firstly, a person who is skilled about what to do and how to do is called a Dhurandhar!

Now let’s jump into the review….

Released on : 5th December, 2025

Queen Bee watched on : 9th January, 2026

Starring : Ranveer Singh, Akshay Khanna, R.Madhavan, Arjun Rampal, Sanjay Dutt, Gaurav Gera, Rakesh Bedi, Sara Arjun, Manav Gohil and more.

Directed by : Aditya Dhar

Review :

Movie starts with the 1999 Kandahar plane hijack and the killing of one of the passengers. It must have been a harrowing experience to all the passengers on the airplane. (Incidentally, all the Islamic terrorists had used Hindu code names during the hijack.)

We meet R.Madhavan, essaying the role of Ajay Sanyal, chief of National Security, who is patriotic and plans well ahead for the country. Project Dhurandhar is his brain child.

Next comes the 2001 terror attack of the Indian Parliament. The director included real footage of the incident too. I was not prepared for it, I shed a tear or two for the 9 brave hearts, the security personnel who died on that day, foiling the plans of the terrorists. Salute! (Imagine if only the suicide bomber had succeeded in entering the parliament, the damage would have been manifold.)

This incident puts the wheels in motion and the Dhurandhar, Ranveer Singh enters the enemy territory, as Hamza Ali Mazari. The song which introduces him is the best. Can’t get it out of my head! ( Na toh Karvan ki talaash hai….)

I was worried for him. Imagine living among enemies!

Anyway, by making the right moves, Hamza ends up in the close circle of Rehman Dakait (Akshay Khanna). Then there is Jameel Jamali (Rakesh Bedi), a PAP politician who uses Rehman Dakait, as an ally.

Hamza meets Yalina Jamali (Sara Arjun), the 19 year old daughter of Jameel Jamali, who falls for Hamza.

Through these links Hamza manages to get intelligence about the 500 and 1000 rupee note scam. (The information later is passed onto the IB chief Ajay Sanyal.)

The one at the center of this Indian currency scam is Major Iqbal (Arjun Rampal), somehow, he looked creepy from the get go! (Anyone remembers those days in our childhood when people took extra care to check if the 500 note is original or not. Somehow, the information got leaked to even general public, but nothing was done to stop the scam)

The Khanani brothers who were part of the Indian currency scam also join hands with Rehman Dakait, along with Major Iqbal to procure weapons. They plan another terror attack on India, on October 3rd, 2008 with the spearhead being Ajmal Kasab.

Hamza passes on the information to IB chief and the terror plan on October 3rd is foiled. Major Iqbal successfully catches hold of the Indian spy among the terrorists!

The next scene is probably the most haunting scene I have ever watched in a movie. The Indian spy is tortured and I could hardly look at the screen. ( Not even an enemy deserves that torture.)

Inspite of the terror warnings given by Hamza and the other tortured spy, 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks happen!

Hamza’s pain is real. He is living among enemies, doing stuff he normally doesn’t do, watches first hand, how the enemy nation is torturing the Indian spy and still the terror attack couldn’t be averted.

In the next scene, Hamza shows this angst by amputating the fingers, one by one of a mere employee of Rehman Dakait! ( powerful scene indeed)

The movie ends with Hamza marrying Yalina, helping SP Aslam ( Sanjay Dutt) encounter Rehman Dakait.

During the last fight scenes, when Rehman was not easily bowing down to both Hamza and SP, I was like, maar saale ko, khatam kardo…that shows how well Akshay Khanna lived in the role of a violent crime lord.

I know, by now everyone is all praises for Akshay Khanna, but for me, Ranveer Singh is the man! He truly brought out the best and I don’t know how he managed his generally over-the -top personality, contain it and bring out such nuanced performance. He emoted with his eyes and how! I have always known that he is a good actor and he proved himself once again.

Lastly, full credit to the director Aditya Dhar for bringing out such a movie. The 3 hour 34 minute runtime didn’t feel long at all. Everyone were engrossed in the movie. Young India needs to know, learn, adapt and decide it’s own future. Thanks to brave hearts and brave story tellers who inspire us.

P.S:

1. Whoever called this a propaganda movie is nuts.

2. The movie made me numb! Who even gives instructions during a terror attack, step by step! The audio during the 26/11 terror attacks was played and it was shocking how cold terrorists can be.

Army is doing so much for the country, what are we even doing to earn it?

3. I have never watched any movie remotely patriotic. I plan to watch URI and Sam Bahadur soon.

4. On a lighter note, I like the background score, at the scene when Hamza is fighting gang war, flips his long hair in slo-mo, Ramba Ho ho ho….! I wish I had such beautiful, untangled hair!

Music by Shashwat Sachdev is off the charts and awesome. The Arabic rap song Foos Foos by Fa9la is also unforgettable.

Waiting for Dhurandhar 2, on 19th March 2026.

Till the next post, ciao!

Munnar : Of Terror Attacks and No show safaris

December 3, 2025 / queenbee / 0 Comments

Day 6 (23rd April 2025):

We woke up, freshened up, had breakfast and sat in the hotel room. I was under the weather and Mr.Bee was sweet enough to take the boys out to play, by himself.

They played in the playground at the White House Hotel, while I had a rejuvenating nap. I woke feeling a little refreshed and active.

We had our lunch in the room, watched some random movie.

Incidentally, this was also the day after the Pahalgam terror attack, about which we came to know a little late. Since we had been on the road all day (Day 5), we couldn’t be in touch with anyone (no signals at most viewpoints) and that must have been terrible for both Mr.Bee’s and my parents. We didn’t know there was a terror attack and we didn’t know people were trying to get in touch with us!

Anyway, after our evening snacks, we got out of the room at last, to go for shopping. Mr.Bee bought me a Kasavu saree at the Kasavu Aalayam. (Yet to wear it)

Our next stop was the Munnar Chocolate Factory. GBee and KBee were excited about visiting MCF and even without eating a single chocolate, they seemed to be in a sweet-induced-high!

We reached room in time for our dinner and slept peacefully.

Day 7 :

As if Munnar was silently crying for the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack, the day had started out bleak, with a downpour!

Although we were on a holiday, we still felt sad for the effect the terrorists had on tourists. (Incidentally, Munnar is a safe place. Most of the population here follow Christianity.)

I kept thinking about …what goes inside the brain of a terrorist ? Are they even human ? Are they crazy ? And more such thoughts continued…

We had originally planned for a safari tour, to watch the animals in the majestic Munnar. Sadly, the rain was a deterrent.

After our lunch, we decided to go out anyway. Coming to Munnar and sitting inside the hotel room for most part of the day, seemed useless.

Once the heavy rain turned into a drizzle, we booked our safari, through a phone call. (Safari tours are just a phone call away)

Our rental Ertiga driver, who was still with us in Munnar had no major work for two straight days. He was happy chatting up with other drivers and sleeping lazily throughout the day.

Our safari tour guide brought a jeep, loaded us inside and we started out.

I packed a bag with some 45th Avenue cookies, water bottles, ear muffs and fully charged phones and we were ready for the elephants!

As soon as we reached Anachal, we took beautiful photos at various viewpoints.

@ Anachal

We entered the forest area and thanks to the heavy rain since the morning, the forest was replete with waterfalls and rain water run-offs.

You really need to be there to see the beauty of Munnar. I can’t explain it any better.

At one viewpoint (pic above), we saw a car driver, park his car on the rocky trail, fill up a bucket with the water from the foot of the waterfalls, to wash his car! Even that simple task seemed new to us. (Who even washes a car near waterfalls in the city? No one.) It was a novel experience, although using a soap is not exactly environment friendly in places like Anachal and Mankulam.

Munnar is a beauty and thanks to the rain, we got to see it, in its true glory.

By the time we reached Perumbankuthu Waterfalls, the rain was not a drizzle anymore. It was more of a downpour. Our safari driver stopped the jeep, gave us two umbrellas and pointed towards the bridge and the steel deck we needed to go to, to take in the view.

Angle 1

Angle 2

Angle 3

Steps leading to deck – on normal days, with no rains…

The bridge and the viewpoint were completely deserted. (Who even goes around for tours when there is a downpour? No one, except some rare specimens like QB and family!) Here too, inspite of the umbrella in my hands, drenched feet and cool breeze causing shivers, I still enjoyed the view. It will stay in my memories, for a long time to come.

@Tiger Cave – QueenBee and a bridge!

We later made a brief stop at the Tiger Cave, near Mankulam village. It was closed because of the rains and we returned to our jeep. Every village had small shops with noodles, tea, coffee and the forever unhealthy option of packets of half filled potato chips of Lays and others.

GBee loves potato and it’s byproducts, so he demanded me for a Lays packet. I complied his request, by giving him the millet cookie! He looked at me in silence, he has the whole life ahead of him, to complain, he will get there soon!

We continued our tour, the final destination being Anakulam. It was already half past five.

The jeep came to a halt at the junction which was prominently marked by Holy Mary with Baby Jesus in Her arms. Many vehicles were parked there, filled with tourists in all sizes and shapes. We even saw a white family, who waited for a glimpse of the elephants, patiently.

We met a desi family, who are NRIs from the U.K and we discussed the tour plans and feedbacks. They were past the age of 60 and the kiddos too didn’t shy away from telling them what they really thought about the safari tour!

We waited and waited till 6:30 and decided to return to Munnar from Anakulam, since it was already getting dark and the kids were hungry.

The safari tour guide had already warned us about a ‘no-show’ from the elephants, because, heavy rains meant cold climate and foggy pathways in the forests and the elephants preferred to stay together with their herds, than roam about towards the village or play in the water, like they usually did!

@ Anakulam – on a normal day

GBee was mighty disappointed and even after a month or so after the trip came to an end, the only thing he remembered was that we couldn’t spot a single elephant in our safari tour!

@ Anakulam – a “no – show” , when it rains.

After more than one hour, we finally reached the hotel. Mr.Bee, GBee and KBee had dozed off in the jeep but I stayed awake, looking at the deserted roads and sleepy forest, on our way back.

After a quick wash up and change of clothes, we were ready to call it a day. I wish I had seen some of the pukka local elephants, spray eachother with water, but one can’t have everything!

We slept like logs, thanks to the safari trip in the jeep.

P.S :

1. I admire the army personnel who were responsible for the Operation Sindoor. Thank you guys. I don’t know know how you do it, but thanks anyways!

2. I am also thankful that we have a pro active PM and not a meritorious silent puppet, who served the Desh Drohis in silence.

3. Since it is already December and I am yet to complete my April vacation posts, I decided to finish it off first, before writing about anything else. Timing sucks!

4. The photos which were taken by me or Mr.Bee have my blog name in them, but the others I have freely taken from online. Thanks to the kind sources, who let others use their photos, without plastering them with watermarks!

5. I seem to be attracting lots of spam messages. Thanks, but no thanks!

Till the next post, bubye!

For the love of Pizza

December 1, 2025 / queenbee / 0 Comments

My earliest memories of pizza are from my childhood, when my friends and I would haunt our favourite Global Bakery, order a small pizza, eat a slice each and go to our evening tutions.

When one of our friends had their birthday, we would celebrate with a pizza along with 200 ml each of Coca Cola or our desi favourite, Thumbs Up. Those were the best days, of no worries and screen-free childhood!

The nearby, Country Oven was somehow unsuccessful. Everyone preferred the Global Bakery.

Anyway, schooling was the time my love for pizza started.

Once I progressed to college, getting pizza delivered became a routine. Mid Land Bakery got most of our business. These orders grew manifold, once I began earning.

I miss those days when the Technical Division team girls had a fun lunch at the Pizza Hut and ate to our hearts content.

After marriage, when Mr.Bee and I, made Charlotte our new home, pizza had been the go-to lunch or dinner, during our lazy days.

Even though I have been in love with the Pizza, this post is not about me!

I remember my first ever pizza in Charlotte, which had nothing but mushrooms as the topping. (I hated the Mellow Mushrooms pizza, by the way. I am not a fan of mushrooms, even though they are one of the rare sources of protein for vegetarians.)

Then came the particularly soft Papa John’s pizza, who knew my heart and always sent extra pickles for this desi girl, Queen Bee! I could savour their soft pizza, thanks only to their pickles.

Then there was Vapiano Pizza, which had the best ambience and was the true Italian pizza, but I felt no connection! (Sadly, it was shut down during Covid lockdown and now the new pizzeria in it’s place is, the Bella Ciao)

The Pizza Hut pizza was good too, but could hardly conquer my taste buds.

The Fuel Pizzeria’s Garden Fresh Pizza with my all time favourite topping of Basil had me salivating like never before. Mr.Bee loved to have a Margarita Cheese Pizza. At Fuel, we ordered half and half, one half with my choice of toppings and the other half with three kinds of cheese for Mr.Bee. Sweet deal! The added advantage was of the ambience, which was friendly, but not too friendly.

Incidentally, the FUEL pizzeria was close to Mr.Bee’s office and that added to the charm. I also loved their Garlic Knots, which were my “soul” food, they made my soul happy!

The day we landed in Charlotte, we had pizza from Mellow Mushrooms, Mr.Bee got negative marks for this choice of pizza! He didn’t know about my aversion to mushrooms. To compensate, he took me to the Fuel pizzeria for dinner and that saved his neck!

Team lunches and dinners for Mr.Bee always meant Pizza, he must have eaten more than twice of my share of pizzas, but still, this post is not about him either!

During the lockdown, the one person who missed pizza was none other than GBee. Yes, this post is about my elder munchkin and his love for the Pizza.

Thanks to lockdown and the after effects of it, we stopped eating out for a while. To satiate our demanding taste buds, we even made a pizza at home, with the head chef/ baker being Mr.Bee and the sous chef / baker being me!

Once GBee saw that we were making him a pizza, he was excited and I don’t remember how we made him sit for full 45 minutes, till it was done.

He was so excited, he rushed outside to the main gate, as soon as he heard the gate open. He shouted at the top of his voice about pizza being made at home. Sadly, the visitors were confused and were in too deep a conversation to even respond to the kiddo.

GBee sharing his happiness with random strangers!

Since we didn’t have an oven good enough to bake a sinful pizza, we made it with desi jugaad. That weekend had been memorable.

Before and After – Homemade pizza

Credit goes to Mr.Bee for the tasty pizza. Guess who loved it the most? GBee.

Although, he picked out every piece of vegetables on the pizza and piled it onto my plate, he still loved it! If only he ate it with all the vegetables, he would have been a bigger pizza fan!

Some day I would love to go to Italy and try the pizza there, probably made by a nonna . Does anyone have similar dream?

P.S :

1. Down the line, when we wanted to feed GBee to some sandwiches, we would bluff that they were just mini-pizza and he would believe us and eat them. Now, he is old enough to recognize the bluffs.

2. KBee, surprisingly doesn’t like pizza. We always order garlic bread for him to eat. Our choice of pizzeria in Hyderabad is the Pompeii. (The pizza is to die for!)

3. Before our flight to India, when we were finally returning home, Mr.Bee and I ate at the Fuel Pizza, one last time.

Do Not Disturb – Review

November 26, 2025 / queenbee / 0 Comments

On my good days, I can complete a novel of 350 or less pages in a day. But if the story is not engaging and if it’s a week day, which involves picking up and dropping off the kids at their schools, I can finish off a novel in two days, in style!

Luckily, I started this one on a Saturday and by night fall, I was ready to review it. So here goes the review….

Review:

Written By : Freida McFadden

Published On : Self Published in 2021

Read By Queen Bee On : 19 th October 2025

Do Not Disturb, rightly starts with Quinn Alexander, who doesn’t want to be disturbed!

Why?

Because she is busy washing off the blood on her hands. She had just killed her husband Derek Alexander!

Turns out Derek is a giant A**!

Although, Quinn’s ex boyfriend, a cop, Scott Dwyer is at her main door, investigationg the neighbour’s complaint, she manages to send him off, without raising his suspicion.

All the while, the dead body is in the kitchen, blimey!

Quinn could have just used the self defense theory to get out of the murder rap, but she doesn’t.

She is mighty scared and the best idea she comes up with is to run away! (Running away is a clear cut sign of guilt, any reader of crime thrillers and murder mysteries knows it.)

The story would have ended after a couple of pages, if Quinn had just surrendered to the police, showed him the bruises on her neck and proved the abuse, but nope.

Bumbling and painfully amateurish, she manages to reach a dilapidated motel called The Baxter Motel, all the while leaving enough clues for anyone to follow her. Turns out, she has always been lucky, but smart, she is not.

From this instance, the novel turns into a thriller, even reminding me of the classic Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock, which I had watched, as a teen. (Take a bow, Mr.Hitchcock. It is an unforgettable movie, made in 1960, but is still relevant. More on that later.)

We meet Nick Baxter, the owner of the motel, who has an invalid wife, Rosalie, who was once a celebrated chef, but now, she just sits by the window and spies on her husband, through a binoculars.

Then there are other characters like Claudia, elder sister to Quinn; Rob, her husband, who is a plumber. A psychic, who is a permanent guest at the motel etc.

We also get to know the back story of the motel owner and his wife. (I felt the backstory could have been a little short. It completely diverted me from the MC, Quinn.)

Incidentally, the Baxter Motel is infamous for the murder of one of its guest, Christina Marsh. (Two years prior to the current story line.)

Just as Quinn decides to run away from the motel, she is stabbed…

What will happen to her?

Is the motel owner guilty of crime?

Who stabbed Quinn?

Who killed Christina Marsh?

Who is Derek Alexander’s mysterious girlfriend?

All the questions are answered at the end. Some of them may surprise you and some may not!

P.S:

1. The novel is worth a read, probably one of the writer’s initial works. I, for one, loved being reminded of the Psycho. Go ahead and watch it, now! The movie is unforgettable.

2. It is the second novel of Freida, where the ex – boyfriend is a cop!

Till the next post, bubye.

Teaching Telugu – Part 2

November 7, 2025 / queenbee / 0 Comments

So, why is teaching Telugu important for me, to even write a post, not one but two?

Well, for one, I only learnt to read and write Telugu after my seventh birthday. Hindi, had been my first language till then and the language I was most comfortable in, at that time.

I had many Urdu and Hindi speaking friends and that meant, I learnt Hindi more and almost no Telugu.

Summer holidays meant having my own private Telugu classes with my mom. She would borrow my sister’s old Telugu books, roll up her sleeves, rub her palms and start my classes!

Lucky for me, she had always been a patient teacher and never believed in violence. That being said, I always found reasons to not learn Telugu.

Textbook is out = Emergency Evacuation!

It took me nearly 4 years to learn the basics, the Varnamala, since I always ran away. I would hide somewhere, till mom got diverted by some other work or till she forgot that it was our study session! I don’t know why I hated it so much, it probably had something to do with, having to learn it, during summer vacation.

Interestingly, when I finally learnt it, I did it in 15 days flat!

Why?

I had to change schools, thanks to us moving into our own new house. The new school only had seats available in the first language Telugu sections. The section with first language Hindi had no available seats for new students. They were filled up.

With lack of seats looming over my head, I performed brilliantly in my admission test and got into the school.

Studying with sincerity..

Imagine my happiness, when I scored 90 out of 100 in Telugu, in my first quarterly exam at the new school. That was my first brush at hardwork.

I also remember crying tears of happiness (I do that from time to time!) when I scored 88 in my tenth grade public exams in Telugu. The 95 in Maths seemed trivial.

That’s why mother tongue is important. It takes little effort to learn and is as comforting as a mother’s touch. We can emote better in our mother tongue.

My chocolate munchkins, my kiddos, GBee and KBee talk in British English at home, thanks to the very British Peppa Pig.

They also talk in Telugu, but make it sound like British Telugu!

Thanks, but no thanks, Peppa, you Pig!

P.S:

1. The first cartoon shows me running away, leaving behind a thin film of dust. It’s not soul leaving the body! Thank you very much!

2. In Telugu, Vadhuvu is a Bride, Vidhava is a Widow. There is only subtle difference when writing them in Telugu script, but if one word is used instead of another word, it is a blunder. During my initial days of learning Telugu, these two words confused me.

3. Although my cartoons are basic, they take up 2 hours of my time, every time.

Till the next post, cheerio.

Teaching Telugu

November 3, 2025 / queenbee / 1 Comment

* I have the habit of jotting down ideas and writing full length posts in my diary, but some get lost in my indecisions (to post or not to!) This one, was written during the bleak period of COVID and here, it is, making a late appearance on the blog*

It all started with the lock down.

Normally, I wouldn’t have started teaching GBee Telugu, because, firstly he enjoys listening only to English rhymes. Secondly, he told me himself, that he is not a fan of Telugu.

Inspite of that, I tried teaching him Telugu and the results were unsatisfactory.

GBee : Avoiding eye contact and feigning ignorance!

But then, COVID happened and the lock down was implemented, which meant, GBee had nowhere to go, no friends to play with and had very little entertainment except for YouTube and the miserable light emitting diodes called T.V! ( We stay in an independent house and GBee had been an only child at that time)

One fine day, I tried my luck with him again by introducing the first two alphabets in Telugu and GBee didn’t shut me up!

That was most promising outcome, more so than my non-existent career!

This started the chain reaction in me and GBee found himself a Telugu teacher at home. (He must have surrendered, since he had no place to go and no other person to use as a friendly ally)

After a week of daily grilling of all the 52 alphabets (4 alphabets are not in usage now), GBee began recognising Telugu.

Tiring out GBee with repetitions.

GBee caved in….!

He had to accept defeat and even began taking interest in learning the dreaded ‘Italian of the East’!

As the days progressed, one day I asked him to tell me the Varnamala, which I knew GBee has learnt ‘by-heart’.

Instead of reciting all the 52 alphabets of Telugu, GBee only replied me, with the first and last alphabets!

The re-emergence of the Smart Alec!

After almost a fortnight, the kid became too clever for his own good…

I patted my own back, who likes a boring kid? Give me a smart Alec, any day!

P.S:

1. Telugu is called the Italian of the East, since it is rhythmic, just like Italian language. It is a language apt for poetry and songs. Any person with a little knowledge of classical music will vouch for that.

2. Sri Krishnadevaraya, the Tulu Emperor of the Vijayanagara Empire had quoted, “Desa Bhashalandu, Telugu lessa!” in his Telugu epic, Amuktamalyada. It translates to, “Among all the languages in our country, Telugu is the best.”

3. On a completely unrelated note, let me give a shout out to Rishabh Shetty and hope he makes a movie on Sri Krishnadevaraya, one of my favourite Emperors, along with Chhatrapathi Shivaji Maharaj and ‘Chhaava’ Chhatrapathi Sambhaji Maharaj.

Whenever I think of Sri Krishnadevaraya, the image that appears before my eyes is that of N.T.Rama Rao, in Mahamantri Thimmarusu. My maamma (paternal grandmother) is the reason I watched this movie while I was still in primary school. Although I don’t remember half of it!

N.T.Rama Rao as Sri Krishnadevaraya

4. The sequel of this post will be up next. TATA everyone!

The Air Blower!

October 29, 2025 / queenbee / 0 Comments

This little incident happened while we were in Munnar and well, I found the incident hilarious and that’s why, here it goes, into my blog….

One morning, as usual, Mr.Bee was happily watching reels on his phone. He sat by the windows, with his feet up the Teepai, all the while looking up reels and laughing out loud.

KBee was curious. He didn’t understand why the windows had to stay open!

Mr.Bee reasoned that, since we are in Munnar and near what looked like a valley, he told KBee that forest air is good. We need fresh air and also the greenery is pleasing.

But, surprise, surprise! KBee understood only part of it.

He closed the windows shut!

He thought his father needed air, so he began blowing air onto his face!

If you or anyone, ever need fresh air, you know what you have to do? Blow some air, windows are over-rated!

Thanks KBee for the valuable lesson!

P.S:

1. I love it when my kids give me valuable material to blog about!

2. I have more cartoons coming up, but right now I am enjoying a piping hot cup of masala chai on this rainy dull cold day.

Tea, anyone?

Mohiniattam, Kathakali and Kalariyapattu : c/o Munnar

October 24, 2025 / queenbee / 1 Comment

Day 5 – Part 2

After all of us took hot water baths, we changed into fresh clothes and were ready for our evening plans to fall through.

N, took us to the Raga Traditional Arts Performing Theater, a 10 minute drive from the White House hotel.

But, as soon as he stopped the car, GBee opened the car door on his side of the car and managed to scrape it against the wall. Turns out N’s boss is the Devil’s reincarnate, because, at once N lost his composure and started reprimanding GBee and Mr.Bee. By the anxiety N was going through, I had imagined the door must have been mangled and is on the verge of collapse, but the scraping on the door was hardly visible, even in the day light! (All this was to probably demand extra bucks from us for which Mr.Bee complied, since GBee was at fault.)

Anyway, with that discussion about compensation out of our way, N allowed us to go inside to watch our program.

The first program of the evening was Mohiniattam. Later Bharatanatyam dancers too joined in the dance and it was one mesmerising show. I love watching dance shows. (Mr.Bee and I have been to actress Shobana’s dance show, where she played Lord Krishna. This memory is locked inside my brain, as a part of Charlotte, USA folder!)

Bharatanatyam dance

The next leg of the performance was Kathakali, which had been my dream to watch live. (Dreams, do come true!) The skit was based on an incident from Mahabharata, Dushasana Vadha, i.e. Bheema killing off Dushasana, for disrobing Panchali, Draupadi, in the court room.

All the performers together at the end

As you can see in the above pic, Bheema is standing to the left, where as Roudra Bheema (when he is extremely angry, because of insult to his wife) is in the middle, while Dushasana is on the extreme right.

The Mohiniattam performer is flanked by Bharatanatyam dancers on either side.

When Bheema is angry, he is portrayed by the guy in the middle and I think that his aura is red and dangerous, hence the costume. He looks very similar to Bhoot Kola performers from Kantara and we had to close KBee’s eyes for him to not be scared. The performance of Roudra Bheema was intense. (They may not be paid as much for the effort they are putting in!)

Bheema and Dushasana- warning each other.

After the performance, the audience were allowed to take pics and selfies with the artists. We took a photo with them and incidentally, KBee was not facing the camera, but one of the Kathakali performers! (It was hilarious.)

Eye catching, vibrant Kathakali performer – KBee’s person of interest!

As soon as we were done with one performance, we had to rush towards the arena of Kalariyapattu! I never knew I needed this!

Kalariyapattu students and their Guru performed various stunts.

The performers pray to their weapons before start of the stunts.

Jumping through Rings of Fire!

Then there is this stunt….

Playing with fire!

It is difficult to explain but, I had most fun watching the stunts live. Even GBee and KBee who were like, let’s go to the hotel and sleep, after watching Kathakali, but Kalariyapattu, brought new life in their dull faces!

With renewed energy, we returned to the hotel. We pacified N again, promising him that we will pay the charges for the scratch.

As soon as we pressed the number 4 in the lift, we understood that the key card of our hotel room is nowhere to be seen! GBee had asked Mr.Bee for the card and put it in his pocket, but it was nowhere to be seen. (GBee had put the key card in his pocket, but before the start of the performances at the Raga, we were made to stand for the national anthem. That must have been the time GBee lost the key card from his pocket.)

You guessed it right, we paid a fine, to get a new key card! Turns out GBee was having a bad day, after all!

P.S:

1. Even after the car door incident and key card incident, we could hardly scold GBee. He is a careful boy, 95% of the time. Today was just not his day!

2. Wait, I forgot to mention, GBee managed to pull a weapon from the Kalariyapattu arena and all the weapons toppled, like you see in movies! Yup, bad bad day! (I was busy running after KBee and GBee managed to create quite a ruckus)

3. Mr.Bee re-lived his Muay Thai Kick Boxing days, by shaking hands with Kalariyapattu experts and taking a photo with them.

Mr.Bee posing with a Kalariyapattu exponent.

4. At one point, the Kathakali performers stood among the audience and KBee was shaken. He is scared of people wearing heavy makeup and costume. He had a similar scare, when he had watched the Varaha Roopam song from Kantara, when he was hardly a 2 year old baby. He had screamed loudly and wouldn’t stop crying till I had turned the t.v. off. (In my defense, he had been playing in the bedroom while I was watching the song in the hall!)

5. All the images of Kalariyapattu stunts are NOT mine. I have downloaded them from search engine.

6. We had a hearty dinner of vegetable fried rice, tomato soup and the usual and retired for the night.

Till the next post, cheerio.

Spice Garden and Rose Garden : c/o Munnar

October 23, 2025 / queenbee / 0 Comments

Day 5 – Part 1:

Mr.Bee and I woke up early in the morning, sat across each other in the balcony, looking at the huge trees of various kinds. The only one I could recognise was that of Eucalyptus. I saw a beautiful red nosed green parrot on the trees and that made my day. (I remember seeing a green parrot in Rajamundry, during my stay at my dodda’s place.)

I woke the kids up and after our baths, we went to have our breakfast downstairs. We met fellow Telugu tourists, chatted with them and parted ways. (Wherever you go, Kerala, Kashmir, Kashi or Kanyakumari, anywhere in India, you will find at least one Telugu tourist! That’s my personal experience talking.)

The kids and I didn’t like eating anything, except for plain old bread and jam. Mr.Bee is surprisingly a non-picky eatery, during travels.

After our breakfast, we decided to pass our time in the playground. I love the swings, it brings back memories of my school days and all. GBee loves playing on the swing, just like me, whereas KBee hates it, like Mr.Bee (Mr.Bee doesn’t mind Bungee jumping, but he can’t sit even for a minute on a swing!) Since it was our anniversary, we asked GBee to take a couple of pics of us. Even though a 7 yr old does not have much experience with taking pics, GBee not only took good pics, he also suggested various poses for us to mimic!

We returned to our room and started planning for the morning and afternoon hours. Our evening plan was already in place.

N, our tour driver suggested the Greenland Spices and Ayurvedic Garden tour. I was like, why not!

We booked ourselves a garden guide, who would show each tree and plant and explain the finer points. She knew Telugu too and it was fun, listening to Telugu in a Malayalam accent and I didn’t mind it a bit.

Red Ginger Lily

Princess Flower Plant

Red Banana plant

Cardamom plant with Inch Plant at its feet

If you wonder how a cardamom looks before being Sun dried, then, this is how it looks….

Queen Bee holding a cardamom, with KBee in the background playing with seeds and what not!

We had a blast, looking at all the plants of Aswagandha, Brahmi, Bringaraj, cocoa, Punarnava plant, red ivy (used to heal wounds) etc. She even showed us plants and the combination of which is used as medication for different health issues. It was an informative tour. (Since I was worried about presence of snakes in the Spice Garden, she assured me that one particular plant repels snakes, the Sarpagandha)

With that, we returned to the car, ready to go to our next destination, Munnar Rose Garden. Once again, we saw many colourful flowering plants and other garden plants, which were cut in interesting shapes and looked ornamental. (GBee and KBee wondered why we were looking at so many plants in a single day!)

My overly enthusiastic (pun intended) chocolate muffins, enjoying their time @ Munnar Rose Garden

We took atleast two dozen pics, spent close to 45 minutes in the garden and got into the car.

Our next stop was the Echo Point, Munnar.

Echo Point – Munnar

We paid the entry fee, stood there at the end of the tiny mound of a hill and shouted out, to hear the echo which boomeranged at us from among the trees, on the opposite side. There was boating option available too, for those interested. If you want to attract the full force of the Sun, boating is the way to go!!

Incidentally, we were yet to eat our lunch and extremely tired from all the walking. We returned to the car, after buying beautiful soveneirs, a.k.a, the fridge magnets and some wooden figurines.

We had originally planned on paying a visit to the Idukki dam, but later shelved the idea. We stuffed ourselves with all the snacks available at various locations.

While N drove us back to the Munnar town, all the 4 of us had a power nap. We woke up refreshed and happy, as we reached the White House hotel.

Since it was well past our lunch time, we ordered snacks and juice and patiently waited for our room service to make their appearance!

To follow our schedule, we had to be out of the room by 4:30 p.m., so we got busy, by getting ready for our interesting evening. The Raga, here we come!

P.S:

1. Long ago, I saw snow white cockatoos in Sydney, not in a zoo, but in the balcony of an apartment and more of them on the streets, where they fly freely!

2. After visiting the spices garden I understood why the spices are costly. The process of picking them and making them usable is a time taking process which takes lots of patience. Even plucking them from the tree needs to be done carefully and requires expertise.

3. We also stopped at a random point on the road, near the tea and coffee estates, saw a couple of deers running about.

4. Dodda amma is a Telugu term used to refer to one’s maternal aunt, older sibling of mom. Pinni is an aunt, who is younger sibling of mom.

5. During our visit to the nursery in Sangareddy district, the admin told us there are snakes and to be cautious when coming with kids. Luckily, Munnar Spice Garden administration knows what they are doing, since they have Sarpagandha too!

6. All the photos except the one showing the Echo Point were taken by Mr.Bee. This post is of the travel series, previous one being Munnar, at last!

The Boyfriend – Review

October 20, 2025 / queenbee / 0 Comments

One fine Saturday afternoon, after PTM at GBee’s school, Mr.Bee, I and the kids went to the Ashoka One Mall, which is the closest mall to his school, like less than 1km away. (There is another mall which is even closer, but it is still under construction) Incidentally, Ashoka One Mall is GBee’s favourite mall. (KBee loves the Nexus Mall, we alternate between the malls, to satisfy them both!)

Anyway, after the usual car rides and toy train rides, both the kiddos were happy. That’s when I saw the bookstore. (During my days as a working woman, I would spend most of my lunch hours, browsing through Walden, the bookstore in our office premises. I sorely miss those days!)

Once inside, I quickly got what I wanted. Two books by Freida McFadden and one by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. I started reading the first book after returning home.

So here comes the review….

Review:

Written by : Freida McFadden

Published on : 1st October 2024

Read by Queen Bee on : 16th October 2025

This is the 4th Freida McFadden’s book, that I have read.

The book starts with Tom and his weird and mad love for Daisy Driscoll. It makes us wonder, do people like him even exist, but I guess they do!

Tom is a poor but handsome, clever but a little scaredy guy. He loves Daisy but also dreams of killing her. He probably has some mania related to blood like hemomania because he enjoys looking at blood or imagining blood! Yuk!

Daisy Driscoll, the school beauty, the girl Tom loves the most and the girl who loves and adores Tom.

Then there is Slug, Tom’s best friend, who has the habit of eating insects! (I have never read about two or more such characters in a book, ever.) Weird bunch, I tell you.

Also, there is Alison, bestie of Daisy, who hates Tom. She is one of those rare individuals who knows about the kind of a guy Tom is. She gets a weird vibe from him. These are one side of the story.

The story alternates between two sets of characters.

The other set of characters include Sydney Shaw, who has been unsuccessful in love and is into dating apps. She wants a steady boyfriend, marry him and settle down. But all she ever meets are weirdos like Kevin, who later becomes her stalker.

Sydney has two girl besties, Bonnie and Gretchen. Bonnie is in a serious relationship with a doctor, not even her friends have seen him.

Suddenly, Bonnie is found in her flat, dead, apparently tortured to death.

How did she die? Is the stalker Kevin the murderer or the super of the apartment Randy, who always gave Bonnie the creeps?

Meanwhile Sydney begins to date Dr.Tom Brewer, who has many secrets of his own. Who even contacts his girlfriend from a burner phone? Who lies about his name and place of work? Only suspicious individuals do.

Then there is Jake, Sydney’s ex, a cop who is set on finding Bonnie’s killer.

Just as Sydney begins to put two and two together, to guess the killer, she is in grave danger.

So many innocent people end up dead because of one supremely psychotic brain, so who is the killer?

What I like:

Each chapter is a page turner. It has twists and turns, rightly so, since it is a thriller.

What I don’t like:

The heroine Sydney is a little slow. She is gullible too, she is like a lesser liked version of Rachel Green from F.R.I.E.N.D.S!

When Sydney is in a near death situation, the only thing that’s on her side is, luck. She does nothing to save herself.

I don’t like the killer getting away with crime, after killing innocent people. No, not one bit!

But that’s not a good enough reason not to read, go ahead and read it. Tell me what you make of it.

P.S:

1. The next time someone in power like a cop, volunteers to do a background check on the person you are dating, ALWAYS say yes, take help. This is my advice to all potential heroines in thrillers and mysteries!

Let me bring my bowl of puffed rice. Time to read, Do Not Disturb!

Cheerio…

Recent Posts