While it's raining hard

Perumazhakkalam (While it's raining hard).
The most striking feature of this beautiful film(mallu) by kamal is that the central character of the story is not a human being , but its the rain. Not the light and soft rain, but fierce and powerful one. Its there when tragedy strikes and its there when the characters in the movie are having a happy time too(althogh this is very less).
It takes guts to make a movie in which the lead hero appears in a song and probably some 20 other shots and the second lead hero has only a song to appear in. We have had lots of heroine oriented movies till date in malayalam, but even in those, hero will definitely feature throughout the movie. Perumazhakkalam differs from these and stands out as a beautiful and sad poem.
Two strong female leads played by the most talented heroines currently present in the malayalam film industry. The film is a full emotions film. The anguish and fear for one lady at one end of a river(kallayi) and the loss and pain for the other at the other end of the same river (kalpathi). Two people on two different banks of the same river, tied to each other by destiny. One of them at the mercy of the other for getting her husband pardoned and the other silently asking god why she had to lose her husband at such a young age and at the same time burdened by god with the responsibilty of making a decision to spare a life. To giver her pardon for the man who killed her husband.
Taking another man's life is not going to get her husband back and so ganga does the god's work for raziya and we end up having that feeling of heaviness in the heart at the end of the movie, that which we get when we see a movie which moves us. Not by gory scenes and wailing heroines, but by the play of emotions from the lead pair. And when i say lead pair, here, unlike other typical mallu movies, its meera jasmine and kavya madhavan (In that order!!!!!!!)

Moving from the first job - painful

Its always a painful process when you move from your first job..well at least for me it is!! 4 years in the same company for my first job had made me helplessly loyal to it. Stuck on even though the pay was atrocious and the work was not cutting edge. Me being sentimental didnt help. After all, this is the company that took me straight from campus and then moulded a raw engineering mind into a tough(?!) software professional. So i should be loyal right?
Threw this one to a friend and pat came the reply "Arre yaar, if u have got something from the company, then they would have made the most use of you too and would have got more that that from you". Probably true. I was not lazy and was dedicated througout and i dont think i have even one supervisor who would tell me that my work used to stink.
But still, moving after 4 years feels like u are cutting something away from yourself and going to a new place feels like walking into a room and knocking on a door, without knowing what is inside there. The friends you have made over the years are not going to be there. The comfort zone is not there. The easy access to HR and Admin is not there. Being known as on of the "old" (as in, around for while) employees is not there. And the most important thing is that you need to prove yourself at the new place!!
Its going to be a whole new process again. Making friends (I am very poor at this cause i take a looooooooooong time to be friends with someone!), getting into the flow of the place, proving your mettle and in the whole process learning a lot of things. Its going to be a change and hopefully for the better.

Impact of Change Of Job!!

Came across this one ....and though as not dramatic as this(!!), i was left wondering what impact, the change of job (which is going to be next week) is going to have on me.....



A taxi passenger tapped the driver on the shoulder to ask him a question.
The driver screamed, lost control of the car, nearly hit a bus, went up on the footpath,and stopped centimeters from a shop window.
For a second everything went quiet in the cab,then the driver said:
"Look
mate, don't ever do that again.
You scared the daylights out of me! "The passenger apologized and said, "I didn't realize that a little tap would scare you so much."
The driver replied, "Sorry, it's not really your fault.
Today is my first day as a cab driver - I've been driving a van carrying dead bodies for the last 25 years."

There is something about sabarimala!!

There is something about sabarimala that makes us want to go back there again and again. Other than the fact that we get to see ayyappaswami only once an year, he seems to have a magnetic influence on the devotees. After the difficult climb and the darshan for a few seconds in the jostling crowd, when you climb down the hill and reach pampa, the feeling in your mind is NOT "Whew, i need to get back home as soon as possible", BUT, "Swamiye, i will come back to see you next year" and THAT is the magnetic appeal of the manikandan.For me, ayyappaswami is the embodiment of all the good things in the world. He is the god that i can relate to and who gives me a sense of being "real". A god, who did not perform miracles which cannot be fathomed by human beings, but again was not a mere mortal.His life had a meaning, to destroy an embodiment of an evil and he had as a friend, a muslim, which was a strong social message during the old times. Thousands and thousands of disciples go to sabarimala every year and on the way they visit the curch of "Vavar" who was ayyapas close muslim friend. The famous playback singer yesudas is an ardent disciple of lord ayyappa and everyday night at the sannidhanam, lord ayyappa is put to sleep by singing "Harivarasanam", which is the recorded song of yesudas. Where else can we see such a strong sense of unity of all the relegions? This is one of the things that make sabarimala a unique experience.http://www.manoramaonline.com/advt/sabarimala2004/index.htm

Dan Brown and Google!!

There is something about Dan Brown books that makes you want to run to google. Facts and figments waiting to be run through that great search engine. DVC and A&D dishes out a lot of things which can drive a believer into frenzy and a book lover like me thrilled. I have visited the google at least 10 times during the read of DVC and right now with A&D, being an online copy, the other page i always have open is the google.
The books are an interesting read, but then once you are through with it, it does not stick to you and grow on you like an ayn rand or even a good grisham or one of those terrific short stories of Forsyth. Its more like a refined version of hardy boys with some history and facts thrown in and a narration akin to a sheldon book.
Well, i am not a critic, but opinions - to each their own!!

Books!!!

Books. What better friend can a person have? You can turn to it when u are happy, when u are sad, when u feel lonely and when u feel tensed. Well, maybe when u have a headache, it wouldn’t be too good an idea!! Lol!!
I love books and they have been an important part of my growing up. When I used to be asked what I wanted as a birthday present, I would immediately come up with the name of the latest hardy boys or three investigators!!!
Like a lot of people, my transition followed this path.
The five find outers, Famous Five
The Three investigators
Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew (This was a craze)
Perry Mason
Agatha Christies (yeah, I know Sherlock Holmes is missing….it didn’t happen to me!! L )
Doctor Whos (this was a craze)
James hardly chases (I wish I could go back and un-read ‘em!!)
Sidney Sheldons
Jeffrey Archers
Frederick Forsyths
John Grishams
Erich Segals
Ayn Rands
Richard bachs
Mario Puzos
Rushdhies
Harry Potters
And the list goes on…..and in between these, the odd ones which would touch your heart like Anne frank….and yet others like god of small things which was so much hyped and well…no comments…I guess I have not yet become an intellectual giant to comment up on this one!! And those satirical ones – Heller….u are great!!

And of course those Archies and Tintins (was not very fond of asterix).
And even before that there was this small magazine called wisdom which was nice…..and then another Russian one called Misha of which I have fond memories!!!
Gimme a book anytime and leave me alone, I will be happy!!!