Gravity - An Experience

Gravity – A spectacular movie and one Hell of a ride.

Unlike other space adventure movies, this one is a very realistic space movie. With no extra ordinary sound effects (we cant hear in space), the whole movie was thrilling and made me literally float in space along with the other characters. Till now I was under the impression that walking in space is a jolly good feel and astronauts do enjoy it. They did enjoy until the accident happened. When the satellite debris hit the Explorer, Sandra Bullock was pulled out and revolving in high speed along with a bar. It reminded me of the scary rides in the theme parks. This one is million times bigger than the scary rides. I could not even imagine the degree of fear. There is no purpose of a watch in space. Amazing and deadly scary at the same time. Sandra has a timer to set up time in minutes for calculating the re hitting time of the satellite debris. The space travel and the typical problems they face have been well depicted. The psychological turmoil she undergoes when she finds herself as the sole survivor amidst the space has been well brought out by Sandra Bullock. I sincerely hope she gets the best actress award in Oscars. It creates a great sympathy on sandra’s character when she goes from one stray satellite to other in order to find a way to survive. There are so many things to learn. No atmosphere in space so no sound and the pressure is abnormal. She didn’t notice the fire inside the satellite and fire spread because of the oxygen inside the satellite but there is no huge explosion due to absence of oxygen in atmosphere. Absence of gravity is making her to spin uncontrollably. Too much of psychological stress leads to hallucinations. I thought George Clooney is alive for one moment though it hit hard in my brain that it is not logical for him to be alive. But I thought he gave up too early. I secretly wished that he too found a stray satellite and landed beside her but no he didn’t. This is what made the film so realistic. The title of the film is so apt and it is proved in the last scene when Sandra finally lands successfully and holds the mud as if holding a mother’s hand after being lost. It explains a lot – Gravity is one almighty force holding every life on earth and it is a unique force which is the sole reason for the survival. Humans realize the importance of something only in its absence.

Ennama padam eduthirukanga. Neraya padam eanda ticket uku ivlo kasu koduthu waste panni timeum waste panni parthomnu irukum. Sila time intha padatha tv la “indiya tholaikatchigaliley muthal murayaga” la podumbothu parkalamnu thonum. Innum sila padangal tv leye naalavathu thadavaya podumbothu parthukalamnu wait pannuvom. Ana romba sila padam than innoru thadava theatre la poi kandippa parkanumeynu thonum. Intha padam kandippa thiruppi thiruppi theatre la poi parkanumnu thonum. Innaiku than urupadiya rendu manneram olunga oru padam entha disturbance um illam parthen. First scene la kallakitanga….Ippadiyellam eppadi imagine panni graphics panirupanga. Ippadiyellam kooda camera angle vaika mudyumanu. Oru 360 degress rotation…. Appadiye boomiyoda alagana neela vannam innoru angle a azhamaana anda sarasaram. Boomi than kuppaya irukumna….vinvezhi layum kuppa kotrangappa.. Ithey concept a romba azhaga “Wall –e” padathula katirupanga. Antha padam super comedy…Ana ithu bayangaramana tragedy. Sandra Bullock oru valiya uyiroda boomiku vanthu erangunappa than namakum uyir varum.

There was a trailer of "The Hobbit" screened before the start of the movie.

While watching the trailer, a man with long hair appeared in the trailer. He might be one of the important characters.

Senthil: Ivana engayo partha mathiri irukey. Ivan yetho oru important actor. Unaku theryutha?

Me: (mind voice: Who cares.... I don't like Lord of the rings series at all because of the "Gollum" character which is very scary to watch with its eerie voice. Antha padathoda back ground history than "The Hobbit". Athula evan nadicha enaku enna. Since Senthil was asking i try concentrating on his face but couldnt, since my eyes automatically went to his long hair and with a long sigh I said...) Enaku theriyaleye....

Almost one hour of the movie over and in the middle of the movie,

Senthil(in a "Eureka!" tone): Nan kandupidichiten. Avan "Prison Break" la nadichaney...avanoda annana oruthan vanthaney..Avan thana ivan... Hey nan kandupidichiten.

Me: What????? (Mind voice: I was watching the movie with full thrill. Athula Sandra Bullock romba parithabama, break down ana bus la irunthu erangi adutha busuku pora mathiri...udanchu pona ava satellite vitutu inoru nalla russian satellite thedi apram athuvum udanchathum innoru chinese satellite thedi kashtapatutu irukka....Senthil ennadana....Intha car a vachirunthu soppana sundariya ippo yaru vachirukka nu kandupichiten rangeuku oru reaction. Iyyo kadavuley!!! Pala Oscar award vanga pora movie key intha nelamaya???)

What Should I Pray?

 When I came to know the meaning of “Prayer”, I was almost finishing my primary school and entering secondary high school. We did have a small session of prayer and assembly in our school every start of the day in which we actually don’t pray but we chant the every day routine prayer songs pathetically in the name of prayer. On the contrary I have to join my Appa and Thatha (grand father) in an elaborative “clean the diyas and idols -glower it with sandal, kumkum and flowers- paint a nice rangoli - light the agarbathies-show aradhana with doopakal (aarthi) and ring the auspicious bell ding ding ding (my favourite) and chant a long relevant sloka (of course from a hidden paper)” in my house for every authentic festival. I remember those golden days though I crib and whine to clean the diyas which are difficult to clean the oil content but otherwise enjoyed every moment of the pooja during all the festivals. During my school days, when I was young and innocent (???!!!), my daily prayers in my pooja room follow a common protocol,

• Swami, Please at least one of my teachers should be on leave today.
• I should get the easiest question in the surprise rapid fire round.
• The class test should be postponed due to unknown reasons.
• My Dad should bring box full of yummy cakes when he returns back from office.(This specific prayer was been granted n number of times)
• Finally, School should be declared leave due to heavy rain. (Oh please rain heavily until they declare). 

When I somehow entered college, the protocol never changed only with minor change in the relevant attributes.

• Swami, at least two of my faculties should be on leave and we should get one free period.
• No surprise test at all.
• I shall bunk the class but still I should be in good books of the faculty.
• Finally, senior students should plan for a surprise strike demanding for tasty food in hostel mess. ( Fortunately, the Almighty answered this particular prayer one fine day)

Phew……I really had great reasons to pray then. 

I came to know the seriousness and severity of “Prayer” when I was forced to face the battle of Life. 

I prayed each and every minute from the bottom of my heart and top of my brain when I underwent a sequence of strenuous written exams and interview to get placed in a good company. 

I prayed to all the forms of God from all over the world to marry the one whom I loved the most. 

The ultimate prayer happened when I literally begged to the Almighty with all my cells of my body to give me mental and physical strength to face the painful stages of delivery and to carry a healthy baby girl in my hands.

God answered all my heartfelt prayers. I still keep praying daily for all silly and petty things. I am sure my daughter will follow me and her daughter too. It is in our hands to pass on the tradition and rituals to our future generation. Sampoorna Lakshmi Pooja Pack (available online from www.pureprayer.com) comes with the sloka CD, pooja ingredients and most importantly instruction booklet. It is an ideal gift for this Diwali which can be given to our younger generations so that they could do the pooja under parental supervision and learn the tradition as well. I am sure my daughter would be excited with this gift and I am damn sure that she would be having her own list of silly and naughty prayers.

Almost everything related to pooja is available in www.pureprayer.com. Though I wish there is a “Cleansing pack” which has scrubber, cleansing powder or liquid specifically to clean the silver and bronze idols, diyas. Hope my prayer gets answered!!

Image courtesy: www.projectinspired.com

This post is created for Cycle Pure ‘Your Reason To Pray’ contest by Ripple Links.

My First Web Publish

I am so happy that my write up "Born as a second girl child" has been published in a well known website "Women's Web" on my father's birthday.
I got lots of appreciations from all my friends and families. Above all it was a big hit in the website too.
You can find the blog in the below link.

Born As A Second Girl Child

Raja Rani - Review

Goods:
Costume of all the characters were awesome. Sathyaraj's characterisation was excellent. Father-Daughter duo of nayan-sathyaraj was so sentimental and it will sure bring tears in ur eyes in the first half. I enjoyed the detailing and naughtiness of the first half ie., Nayan-Jai love story. All the houses shown in this movie were good in interior design and extavagant and luxurious. It was a treat to the eye watching beautiful heroines, handsome hero (even sathyaraj looked handsome) wearing great costumes throughout the movie. Nayanthara has acted really good. I never know that she could be so expressionable. Nasriya was so cute. All the characters were shown in close up shots throughout the film. This gives a good impact for the viewers. The slow motion sequence of the accident was terrifying and it actually made the viewers experience on "What will happen to a human body when accident happen". Screenplay of the movie is commendable and it is the backbone of the entire movie. I really enjoyed the blooper bit shown in the last two minutes more than the actual movie. Dialogues were so sensible and realistic.
My Favourite dialogue by nayan to Aarya
""Eppovum nan enna solla varenney kavanikatha. Neeya yetho onnu nenachu neeye onnu mudivu panni yethavathu panniko" - This statement is too true to the core.
Overall it was a feel good film to watch.

Bads:
Raja Rani is a double sequenced "Mouna Ragam". It reminds a lot of Mouna Ragam. Most of the viewers could easily assume the second half story. The second half didnt make a great impact at all. Nayanthara had too much of make up. A patient who recently suffered a stroke and admitted in ICU cannot be that fresh and with full make up and hair do. That was so artificial and it sometimes lowers the seriousness of the scene. The entire second half and climax of the film was predictable.

Pregnancy and Mood Swings

 

Image courtesy freedigitalphotoes.net 

 As the old saying goes "Pregnancy is a rebirth for every woman" I would say "It is a battle a woman faces every time to bring a new life into the world”

When a girl becomes pregnant, she undergoes a tremendous change in all dimensions of her life especially her thoughts. She is often bumped with questions like

 “What is happening to my body?”
“Is this me talking or the hormones talking?”
“Why am I getting weird fantasy dreams?”
“Why am I crying for no reasons?”
“Why am I angry all the time?”
“Who am I?”
It happens with every girl who undergoes the big long journey of motherhood.

If you are pregnant you might experience any or all the following happenings.

1. In the first trimester, it is common to suffer with morning sickness. Your taste buds take up a different job of tasting entirely different and your digestive system rejects what ever arrives inside. Though it is very difficult to eat up to the expectation, better try to keep something in the tummy. You might very often find yourself sleepy in the day time and wide awake in the night time. Your mood will be very low and you would have started thinking “Pregnancy is not easy at all”.  These times you should keep yourself cheered up by doing things which ever you might be interested like reading books, hearing music or even joining pregnancy forums in the web.
2. The second trimester is the best and interesting phase since you would have got ridden of most of the morning sickness. Your energy levels will be up and you might even get fantasy and weird dreams which you have not experienced so far. These dreams are mostly because of the pregnancy hormones. You might feel very sensitive to trivial issues. Small misunderstandings get amplified and give a lasting impact in your brain. This is the phase you should be patient, put all the blame on the pregnancy hormones and be peaceful. Most of the women at this stage face a lot of mental trauma that too in Indian families. Though Indian women are meant to have the maximum threshold in handling relationship issues, you should refrain yourself from all the problems and give a “deaf ear” to the surroundings. This will keep you and your baby sane. If the problems are too endangering, better to get away from the atmosphere temporarily which keeps the situation boiling. Once you are out of the problematic environment, you might think more placidly and you will be able to prioritize appropriately. Most of the problems will be solved when it is approached from out of the box.
3. The third trimester goes like “I want to see and hold my baby”. All these three months are mostly on “Baby thinking”. You might feel very tired even to sit and stand. You always pretend yourself carrying the baby and watch your “bulging tummy” in your shadow. You would have started reading on “delivery stories” and get emotional on seeing any thing related to baby. You will be directing your own delivery sequences in your mind. Finally the big day arrives and you actually hold your precious baby with all the pain in your body.
Disclaimer: This article does not have any medical evidence. This article is based on general experience of pregnant women.

 

Monthly Budget Plan for a normal Indian family

Are you a person in a family who is paying a major part of the salary as EMI and keep thinking "When does this going to end?"?
Are you the person who thinks more than twice before shopping anything for you or for your family members and still wonder "Where does our salary go?" every month?
Here is a solution to actually analyze the monthly income and expenditure happening in a normal "EMI paying family", plan to save and invest optimally.
Once the salary is received every start of the month disintegrate it under the below said categories. It can be either done in an excel sheet or a simple account notebook.

Static expenses
    List the expenses which are fixed for every month. These static expense parameters are almost the same throughout the year. So it may include expenses like
•    EMI
•    Insurance paid for the family members or vehicle.
For easy reference maintain a calendar separately in the back of the accounts notebook or a separate excel and note down the amount to be paid for every month for each family members. This may be monthly or term or annual payment. So each month you might be paying for at least one of your family members. Adjust maximum payment in the month where you might get the maximum salary with arrears or reimbursement money or bonus compensation so that it does not affect other expenses.
•    Gold investment/Chit
Since gold rate is rocketing high, people has got the mind set to opt for monthly gold investment scheme or term investment. Some might even prefer to save money in the form of monthly chits.
•    Maintenance amount paid for the apartment association.
•    Electricity bill
•    Mobile bill
•    Internet bill/Television cable provider bill
•    LPG Gas bill
•    Maid salary
•    School Fees
This might be term payment in most of the schools but it is wise to allot one third of the fees every month to avoid the last minute shortage.
•    Monthly Savings
This is the most important factor which everyone has to ponder. Allot at least 10-20% of the salary as savings and transfer it to your savings account once you receive your salary so that this part of money is not available for you to spend. Never ever touch this money until and unless it is an emergency.
•    Credit card bill
It is better to have the credit card bill under static expenses in order to keep the bill constant every month so that you won’t be tempted to purchase more than the monthly limit and keep the monthly limit to the minimum. Also avoid using credit card in all possible ways. This amount is entered in the last week of the month when the bill arrives.

Petrol expenses
    Owing to the increasing petrol rate everyday, it is better to keep the petrol expenses as one single section so that you will come to know how much you are spending on petrol every month. This will actually inspire you go for car pooling or public transport or healthy options such as cycling.

Groceries/Vegetables
    The better way is to buy groceries once every month probably the first week end of every month. Attach the monthly groceries bill on the corresponding month page of the account book or take a photo of it and attach it to the excel sheet for future comparison of groceries rates. Better buy vegetables twice every month in bulk from wholesale market available in your location. This actually reduces a lot of expenses every month.

Eat out expenses
    Once we start seeing our expenses which we spend for eating outside, we actually will start cooking and take home food or go for healthy and economic hotels. If you are really tempted you can go for an expensive hotel once in a month. Try to avoid frequent intake of pizza or burger since those are very costly and not good for health.

Medical expenses
    This section includes the unexpected medical expenses and vaccination expenses for the kids. Though this could not be avoided, we will come to know how often you are falling sick and we may analyse the root cause of it. It might be even directly proportional to eat out expenses which will encourage us to take home food often. It is advisable to go for Master health check once we cross the age of 30. This will put an end to our recurrent problem like frequent stomach upset or heart burns.

Entertainment/Shopping/Miscellaneous expenses   
    Movie ticket bills, weekend shopping expenses, gift expenses, travel ticket expenses, parking expenses come under this category.

Diaper expenses
    Most of you might wonder why there is a separate category for diapers. Diapers are one of the costliest and expensive purchases every month if there is a baby or toddler in your family. Once you come to know the amount you are spending on diapers, you will actually go for alternates like reusable cloth diapers or start potty training the baby which has been postponed so many times.


Most of the expenses are covered in the above said categories. They should be marked "cc" for expense spent from credit card to avoid double entry. Now at the end of every month sum up all the expenses in different categories and do not forget to subtract the credit card bill considering the credit card bill. Now deduct the expense amount from your monthly income. If your answer is positive, "Congrats!" you are a good financial planner and you have started saving and this amount and the Savings amount from the Static expense can be paid for the loan apart from EMI so that you could close the loan sooner than expected or split the money and keep it aside for emergency. But if your answer is negative "Wake up!” you should gear up and look into the category where there are out of pocket expenses. Those categories should be given a limitation from the next month. So if these rules are followed it is quite easy to lead a hassle free and contented life.

“It is not our abilities that show what we truly are. It is our choices.” – Albus Dumbledore

These words are my inspiration. When I started reading Harry potter i was not even in my early or late teens. I was 24 years old. I was awestruck when i watched the first part "Harry potter and the Sorceress stone" as a movie when i was in college. By then i was determined to read the book. But unfortunately i was able to get hold of the book only after i got a job. The book entirely captured my brain. It went to the extent that after reading the book, I would get dreams in my deep sleep (visualization of whatever i read). Sometimes even I get dreams which were not even in the book. Once i finished reading the first part, I rushed to the store to get the next and subsequent parts. Sixth and Seventh part was not published by then. I used to stack up all the books near my pillow in the bed. Once i am back from work, i have dinner and start reading HP from where i left previously. It would go on till i fall asleep. There are times when i use to keep alarm at 4 'o'clock in the morning just to read Harry Potter. Sometimes i could not stand the suspense and just flip to the last page and make sure all the characters are healthy, fine and happy. J.K.Rowling, author of the book has done a fantastic job of making the audience to be glued to the book until they finish it. She has actually done a great work of making young kids to actually "read books" who are otherwise busy with social networks. Hats off to J.K.Rowling! I hope she writes lot more books like this. I keep wondering the power of her imagination and the strength to actually put in in words and make a novel out of it. The characters Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione are going to be immortal and be loved and cherished by all the current and future generations.