Tag: India

If winning was easy….!

March 28, 2024 / / 0 Comments

This incident happened during the ICC World Cup 2023. I had been wanting to share it since, but I got too distracted and it was super painful seeing India lose in the finals at home ground!

I didn’t have a single tear to shed, as I was too shocked to understand how a perfect team lost its most important game! Nerves can do that to the best of the teams or probably just a bad day.

Anyway…

As I was crying dramatically, (fake wiping my tears and all, to show how I was feeling), GBee asked me why I was sad. I told him our desi team lost to Australia in the finals. When will we ever get the chance to host the World Cup, play with the perfect team and win again? The simple thought caused me buckets and buckets of disappointment!

Crocodile tears, the father of all fake tears and fake crying!

As soon as GBee confirmed with me that I was indeed talking about the World Cup 2023,  which the whole family had been watching with much fervour and enthusiasm, he had a simple solution!

New T.V. = New match result!

Thank you Sweety, for kindly reminding me how simple the brain of a 6 year old works. But no, the match result can’t be altered with a simple deed as buying a new t.v.! It can be only altered if we can successfully bring in the foreign Time Machine from Back to the Future or our own pukka local Time Machine from Adithya 369! Or better still, we can bring in Hermione to give a special lecture on the successful usage of Time Turners and complete the task at hand!

P.S:

  1. I had written this post way back in 2023, right after the World Cup Final, but I was as depressed as Rohit Sharma probably was, so I refrained from posting it!
  2. November, December and January brought in exams for GBee and we had a hectic time, getting on with the home fun’s, tests, reports and the likes. Gawd! He is a first grader, but he had exams in every month, from November to January.  Then came the finals in March, so, ya, a season of exams came to an end at last.
  3. I shudder to think what will happen to me once GBee is in higher grade and KBee will also be joining school in a couple of years! I will probably make my very own version of Sleepless in Seattle, called Sleepless in Hyderabad! (Although Tom Hanks was not sleepless because his kid had exams every month!)
  4. I will get back to blogging in April, thanks to summer holidays. Till the next post, cheerio!

Of Successful Landings!

August 24, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Firstly, let us congratulate the ISRO! Bravo!

We should pat our backs and enjoy the proud moment, even though we hardly had anything to do with the Chandrayan-3 landing on the Moon. It is momentous, next only to India’s Independence!

Even the schools across India suggested that we should watch the Chandrayaan-3 land on the Moon. GBee’s school sent us messages to watch it with our kids and introduce them to Space Magic, which the general public refers to as Astronomy!

Anyway,Mr.Bee and I were busy discussing the Chandrayaan-3 on our terrace, no less, while intently staring at the Moon, as if naked eyes can perceive the Chandrayaan-3 from Earth!

Incidentally, the sky looked spectacular, with orange hues on one side of the sky, thanks to the setting Sun and the light blue coloured floating beauties, the clouds, near the milky Moon! Awesome view indeed. I clicked a few pictures, but I couldn’t justify the beauty with my poor photography skills!

While we were deep in our discussion, GBee and KBee were entertaining themselves with their own chichorapan and mischief!

Talking away with sky forming a dreamy background!

I began to guess the spot where Chandrayaan-3 must have landed and Mr.Bee was laughing at that. Suddenly we heard a loud BAM.

Going from 0 to 100 on the Fear Factor scale in a jiffy!

For less than 2 seconds, we looked at each other and ran towards the parapet wall, where both the kids had been playing. They are shorter than the wall and that gave us a temporary sense of security. Before the incident had happened I thought, they can’t climb the wall, they can’t see what’s on the other side, so let’s chat with Mr.Bee. That is the reason behind leaving the kids unattended!

Play time means – using a rock as a ball

KBee had found a rock for himself, which was the size of half a brick. He had thrown it over the parapet wall, not knowing that, there is an AC outdoor unit on the neighbours sun shade! The rock had landed on the AC outdoor unit, before rolling off to the ground. Thankfully, no dent was visible on the unit. We inspected it carefully.

The Chandrayaan-3 had successfully landed on the Moon and this weird rock has landed, albeit temporarily, on the AC unit. A historic moment indeed, both for India and KBee respectively! KBee got an earful from both Mr.Bee and me. He has an avid supporter in his elder brother, GBee, who pleaded his case, saying that KBee is still a baby, which is TRUE! Case closed! Khel Khatam, dukaan bandh! (which loosely translates to Game Over)

P.S:

  1. What happened next? Did the neighbours scold? Did they fight us? These questions will not be answered! This is an open ended thriller!
  2. I tried my best to draw the beautiful sky, but it was difficult with little time and little resources. I use ‘paint’ in my laptop! (I previously had a drawing tablet Wacom, but I couldn’t maintain it properly and it died on me.)
  3. This disclaimer is for all the good people who find fault with anything. I didn’t compare Chandrayaan-3 landing on the Moon to a rock falling on an AC. I am just drawing parallels. Some situations remind us of completely different or eerily similar stuff. It can go either way.
  4. If you find a mom, who looks like hell, it means she has had a scary moment recently. So don’t judge her and let her live in peace. She doesn’t need more stress in her life. Even a kid sleeping for an extra hour can cause stress!

Wait for the next post, till then, cheerio!

Bengaluru Beckons!

June 19, 2023 / / 2 Comments

Mr.Bee and I had planned a short vacation, way back in November 2022. But LIFE happened and we cancelled our trip at the loss of some hard earned money. So this time, we wanted to travel, but with a flexible itinerary, to avoid cancellations and to not be disappointed. That is how we started our 14 day vacation, with 2 year old KBee , 6 year old GBee on our nearly 6 year old Vento!

Since Hyderabad felt like a sauna, we decided on a cooler destination and immediately zeroed in on Ooty. (I have fond memories of Ooty from my teens and Mr.Bee had never been to Ooty.)

Our trip started with buying loads of healthy snacks for our drive, a 10 litre Milton cooler for water needs of the kiddos, emergency medicines, medical kit and 4 suitcases full of clothes for all the 4 of us!

Day 1:

…..Started with our drive from Hyderabad to Bengaluru . We started at around 6 a.m., (originally planned on starting by 5 a.m.) drove to Kurnool, on time to have our breakfast. (Both the kids had fallen asleep on the car-bed we had installed on the back seat. ) I had masala dosa and it is the best I had in recent times. GBee demanded cell phone to have his breakfast, but thanks to the dozen or more police officers having breakfast at the Hangout, he stayed away from throwing tantrums and had his plain dosa in silence. (GBee is afraid of the police.)

Even though it was still 8:30 a.m., the Sun was already showing his might. So we kept ourselves and kids hydrated by drinking water and Gatorade in alterations.

At Ananthapur, we bought the juiciest and sweetest guavas ever. I ate two in a sitting. They were awesome. Thanks to the seller, we also had some guava leaves, which I placed on top of the dash board, to test my theory. Plants and flowers attract heat and cool the surrounding areas, so the leaves on dash board meant, they took the heat and the passengers have none. (If you are going out during peak summer heat, place an onion in your hand bag or shoulder bag and get on with your business. The onion prevents sun strokes by absorbing the heat, especially in tropical climates, it is very helpful.)

We reached the outskirts of Bengaluru at around, 1:30 p.m. and had our lunch at Nandi Upahar, near the road to Nandi Hills. There was a waiting line and although the restaurant needed a face-lift, we had our lunch and started our drive into the City of Traffic, Bengaluru! (Don’t get me wrong, I love Bengaluru and its pleasant climate, which is similar to that of my second home, Charlotte, NC,USA.)

We reached Mr.Bee’s colleague, R‘s house, at BTM Stage 2, took our time to freshen up ourselves and by the time it was 5 p.m., we went to the nearby park. GBee and KBee had a blast playing there. Once it started drizzling, we ran out of the park and rushed home. Our dinner that night was Dominos Pizza, because, the food delivery showed a waiting time of more than 1 hour, thanks to the heavy rain that night. We had a Vegetarian Gourmet Pizza, with added basil seasoning and it was good. GBee was over the Moon thanks to the junky dinner!

We slept, for a night of peace. Both the kiddos slept like logs, a long drive can do that to anyone!

I woke up at 7 a.m., as usual and was mesmerised by the silence of Bengaluru. I saw atleast fifty people going for walks, jogs in fitness gear. A retiree continued with his stretches, all the while, nodding his head to one or two familiar faces. Everyone was going about their business in silence. This pleasant scene tempted me to ditch Hyderabad and move to Bengaluru. But then, I am a pukka Hyderabadi.(Also, I had temporary lapse in judgement!)

R even tempted us guys by saying that the plot nearby was ready for sale! As if! We just enrolled GBee into a new school and that’s when it hit me, how easy it is to take decisions before having kids and after! We moved to India, in the blink of an eye from Charlotte, but something like that is unthinkable now.

Anyway…..

For breakfast we had scrumptious thatte idli (first time eating it) and medu vada with tasty pudina chutney.  

Thatte Idli –  Image Courtesy Google Search Engine

With that done and stuffing some Mango leaves onto the dashboard, Mr.Bee, I and the kids bid our farewells and started for Ooty! Chalo Ooty! That’s how we started our Day 2!

P.S:

  1. Interestingly, if you want to convince your mom that you don’t want to go to school or college, an onion in one’s armpit, raises the body temperature and causes fever! Now take a blood oath that you won’t tell your mom, this is where you read it. I don’t want any mothers cursing me!
  2. It is always better to check leaves for caterpillars. Thankfully, GBee was quick to observe that the mango branch of Bengaluru tree had a very active caterpillar. I jumped out of my skin, car came to a sudden halt and the branch went right out of the window! No one was hurt by the above incident!
  3. I couldn’t post for more than 3 weeks, because, we were busy with the vacation, the return, the laundry, the school induction programs, the books, the uniforms and the likes.  Hopefully, I will bore you guys silly with more posts. The next post will be about Udhagamandalam, Ooty for short!

Cheerio till the next post.

Sculpting the Ice

April 9, 2023 / / 0 Comments

As you must have guessed, this hobby post I am blogging about has little relevance in India, thanks to it being a Tropical country! Only the people at the tip of the Northern India have any semblance of continuing this hobby! But there is no harm in learning more about Ice Sculpting.

So, let’s check out, I for Ice Sculpting.

Ice sculpting is all about sculpting naturally formed or artificially made ice. It is also one of the most temporary kind of art form (Ice melts away, isn’t it?)

Ice sculptures made of clear ice look like crystal, more like Swarovski crystal!

Cupid ice sculpture

The ice sculptures made of clouded ice look something like this, resembling snow.

Ice sculpture-China

Ice sculpting requires tools like chisels, hand saws and hair dryers and is mostly taught at culinary institutes and schools. Clear water ice, which is free from impurities is used for sculpting. Frozen rivers are generally cut into blocks of ice and used in the sculpting.

The sculptor must work at top speed if the sculpting is not being done under cold climate.

International Ice festivals and sculpting competitions take place around the world.  Basics of Ice sculpting are sometimes taught at the Ice Festivals.

Ice Sculpting is also a part of Winter Olympics, not as a sport, but for showcasing the talent.

Wait! Did I mention Ice Hotel, in Sweden? Yup. If you ever visit Sweden, go ahead and check out the Ice Hotel where you can even stay for a night or two! (There are around 20 such hotels around the world. I just mentioned one of the oldest.)

What a beauty!

India also boasts of an Igloo Stay at Manali. Why not plan a night stay?

P.S:

  1. Ice Sculptures are also used as decorations at wedding receptions. If you are not happy with just ice decorations, why not go the Phoebe Buffay  way and marry during a snowfall! (A silly FRIENDS fan here!)
  2. The other hobbies which start with an I are also related to Ice, they are, Ice Skating and Ice Fishing.

Till the next post, ta-ta!

Start Fencing!

April 7, 2023 / / 0 Comments

If you have always been interested in movies about fierce kings and competent queens, who fought for their loved ones and their kingdoms, if you loved watching the epic sword fight sequences in movies, then Fencing may be the right hobby for you!

Let’s learn about F for Fencing.

Fencing is a combat sport, which involves sword fighting and is also an Olympics recognized sport. Although it is not popular or widely known in India, it is an interesting sport. You will need safety gear and a sword for Fencing.

There are three types of fencing swords and the target areas differ for each.

There is also a French connection with Fencing, since most terms used in the sport are French. (I only know Touche, Allez!) I have come to love the sport, thanks to the Korean Drama Twenty Five Twenty One, where the main female lead is a world famous fencer.

If you have a new found interest in fencing, why not try watching some old Olympic matches to learn more about it. Or better yet, go ahead and watch the K-drama too! (It is an absolute favourite of mine. It has my favourite Korean actor Nam Joo‑hyuk as the male lead.)

P.S:

  1. India has a lone fencer, C. A. Bhavani Devi, who represented India in 2020 Olympics. I hope the sport gains more popularity.
  2. In Tollywood, during the Golden Era of superstars, there was an actor  who was famous for his sword fights in movies! He was Katthi Yuddham Kantha Rao. In almost all his movies, he would surely have a sword fight scene with the main villain. (He acted mostly in fantasy movies, with kings, Naga Kanyas, magical super villains etc)  Kantha Rao and Rajanala sword fight sequences were very popular in early 1900s. This has little relevance in a post about fencing, but I wanted to give Kantha Rao an honorable mention, because he was under rated in the industry.
  3. The other hobbies which start with F are Fishing, Flying Kites and Figure Skating. But I picked Fencing for obvious reasons. Till the next hobby post, cheerio!

 

Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey!

February 24, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Long ago, but not very long ago, in 2019 B.C. (Before Covid!), Mr.Bee , I and GBee, then an only child, flew to Maldives, for our summer vacation. (Do visit Maldives if you love to travel, because, nothing beats the quaint little cluster islands! Nope, Tourism Department of Maldives has no idea I am promoting their country. It’s just goodwill.)

Anyway, while we were returning to the airport, (There will be a detailed post about our travel, soon), we met a fellow Indian, a doctor at that. She was serving the people of Maldives. It is my privilege meeting her, because, anyone working on an island, for people’s health needs all the respect one can give! The said doctor , KV became a very good friend of mine. (I don’t make friends easily. I am an introvert and introverts generally treasure their friends.)

We have stayed in touch and I hope to meet her again some day. She stays in Pondicherry, so I need to plan well ahead to visit her!

Meanwhile, KV once suggested all her friends to watch Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey! (a Malayalam movie on Disney Hotstar) As soon as she did, I watched it, sacrificing my precious sleep and I don’t mind it one bit.

It is one such movie you should never miss. What a movie!

Movie Name: Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey!

Released in: 2022

Actors : None that I know of. (No Malayalam Super stars in the movie)

Queen Bee watched in : December 2022

Firstly, if you thought the story has hints of patriotism, since the title is the lyrics of our Indian National Anthem, then you are greatly mistaken.

The movie is about Jaya, a lower middle class girl from Kerala, whose life decisions are always made by her father and maternal uncle and after marriage by her husband. She is not even allowed to study as per her choice. Her uncle is against her studying away from home and manages to convince her dad that studying in a local college is the best choice for Jaya.

She adjusts to a course, falls in love with a lecturer there, who in fact encourages her to study well. Turns out, he is not as good as he lets on, he is a possessive guy who is also abusive. (Yuk! Possessiveness and abusive nature are both repulsive, in both men and women.)

Like all Indian parents,once her love story gets out, she is soon married off to the first guy her parents find for her. I liked the subtle emotions the heroine Jaya shows, like how she is frustrated when her uncle is crying during her bidaai. (He was the one who spearheaded her marriage!)

The initial days of her marriage show that her husband Rajesh is a guy of routine, who hates trying anything new. It is, personally,  so off putting and exasperating at once. He eats the same food every single day! I mean, how is that even possible? If someone takes the pain to cook something new each day, they should be appreciated for putting in effort. But Rajesh begins to abuse Jaya! (Maybe the song from Saaho, Saiyya Psycho, would have been apt here!)

At first, he feels bad that he slapped Jaya. He takes her out on a date to appease her.  But the same story keeps happening in a loop, slapping her, taking her out.

Jaya’s mother in law and sister in law, who stay with the newly weds, have no say in the house.  Jaya reaches out to her parents and they tell her to shut up. Just when we begin to think the movie is going to take a routine turn, Jaya shows us what a topper with a will of steel can do. She gives back what she gets, the abuse, to her husband! (That is the moment which made me sit up and watch!)

From this point on, the movie is on an upward curve. It is more like who will let their guard down first and who will win.

I really loved the acting of the lead pair. Jaya made me admire her grit and determination, Rajesh made me want to kick him repeatedly. Top class!

Even when everyone is against Jaya for turning against her abusive husband, only her brother seems to understand her, which was unexpected. We never see much bonding, but, when they have a common enemy, it shows, blood is truly thicker than water!  (In typical Telugu movie style, it is called Rakta Sambandham!)

The one scene that I liked a lot is the one, where the egoistic, chauvinistic hero, (I have never used such adjective for a movie hero, ever!) finds his mom and sister in the kitchen. His mom had been a young widow, his sister had been abandoned within a year of marriage by her husband.  But both manage to survive, because women are mentally strong. The hero is already defeated, because, he knows he can’t survive as a single man!

Thankfully, it is not a sob story. It is more about women empowerment and teaches us without being preachy and I love it more for that! If you are up for watching a movie, why not go ahead and watch Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey and you can thank me later!

P.S:

  1. The most important thing that one needs to remember is that women listen! So be careful about what you talk around her. She may look homely and demure, but she packs quite a punch and she can accomplish anything she sets her mind to!
  2. This is one such movie which gets top marks for the effort, the story, the presentation.  I watched the movie when I was feeling low and it instantly cheered me up. Why not watch it and decide on my credibility?
  3. The other malayalam movies that I love are Mohanlal’s Drishyam (Sorry Venkatesh, I love the original better, even if I saw it a lot later than yours!) and Ayyappanum Koshiyum.
  4. Bidaai or Vidaai is the process of sending away one’s daughter after marriage.
  5. Dear friends, if you ever meet someone who is being abused or if a victim confides in you about his/her partner being abusive, kindly help and support them. Even a famous actor like Johnny Depp was abused by his wife, so men and women can both be victims of domestic abuse.

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