Pazhassi raja

We saw Pazhassi Raja on Friday and really enjoyed it. The three and a half hours flew by without our noticing it at all. The movie followed Pazhassi Raja's last years faithfully. The sound mixing by Resul Pookuty is awesome. At some points especially during the rain sequences I had the feeling of being drenched in the torrential rain and most of us had this feel of 'Oh Cheenja Mazha' . The acting was excellent with each actor outdoing the other. The foreigners were not up to mark and I found their costumes too ill fitting and loose. Is that how those coats are worn by men then? Or is it because the Indian weather took a toll on their health what with malaria and all and made them lose weight. I don't think British ladies wore their hair loose in 1796, it was piled up in elaborate styles. Though I am sure MT and Hariharan had done diligent research before the movie, the costumes of the British were badly cut and more college drama standard than epic class especially for a movie with this big a budget.

VLCC ripoff

Anti-Obesity day is around the corner and all fitness outlets have promotions on. A good money spinning business if any. So this outfit called VLCC advertises an offer of free consultation and a couple of us go over to get a free consultation. We reach the place, knowing well enough that we were fat nay obese and we need help, great, but we also knew this was major time, too expensive rip off. The other friends we talked to, some said it works and others that it was a waste of time. So off we go and get the consultation and after nearly an hour of telling us that we were too fat, they informed us that the free consultation actually cost AED 50.00/-. Okay that was just not right, when you advertise free consultation, it should be free or we should be informed before the consultation that there is a fee if we do not  take the package they intend to hoist on us. Well AED 50.00/- is a lot of money especially when you think that it could buy me 10 good paperbacks at Magrudy's warehouse sale, or a nice breakfast of uthappams and idlis and vadas and dosas from Venus restaurant or a nice little shopping at LuLu Hypermarket or got me a threading and waxing at a beauty salon. Damn, I had to spend AED 50.00/- to listen to fat lady tell me, I am fat and worse it was a free consultation. I am pissed off and very angry. The least they could do was have slim and toned looking ladies do the consultations, The weight and fitness consultant was fat and totally untoned and the beauty consultant had more open pores and dull skin than a 90 year old and her hair looked like shit and unwashed and she looks at me and tells me I am fat and that my skin care regimen is not right. Well ma'am , go look in a mirror. 

Because we can

I am now reading Lisey's Story by Stephen King. He writes real neat stories sure but I think what I really love about his stories is the way he gives an insiders view into people, communities, small towns etc. While in "Salem's Lot" and I think the "The Mist" he showed how small towns, where supposedly everyone knows everyone and there is greater neighborly relationships than in cities, things go  wrong because the people there are really too small minded and inward looking than in large towns or cities where people have greater exposure to life. Anyway in this book that I AM READING  there is this line 

"In both the fading grin and growing hurt in his eyes she saw how he loved her, and knew this increased her power to hurt him. Still, she would cut. And why? Because she could"

Are we all not like that? Why do we strike the child when we are angry and not the husband when we are angry with him, because we can, with the child and we cannot, with the husband. One is weak and other strong. No matter what we think of ourselves, we are not much better than beasts and bullies because we use our power and strength against those weaker than us but will bow and scrape before those stronger than us. 

Dreamy boy

Jo's friend's young son started blogging and his first blog is very good. He had wanted to do journalism after high school but parental pressure and the fact that his father is an engineer forced him to do the same. Though he was never happy with the choice, he scraped through and is now a certified mechanical engineer with a job. But it is good to know that he has not given up on his first love, writing. And he writes quite well too. 

Thom day dreams a lot, even his teacher calls him dreamy boy in class but he is only six and i do not if that is normal. I used to do it too, but started around the age of ten when the abuse started and for me it was an escape to a safe and secure world. But why is this boy dreaming so much, sometimes it is scary because as you day dream, you tend to pay less and less attention to the world around and just exist in this dream world most of the time. Today he brought home a blank Arabic notebook and I only came to know that work was done in Arabic class because his friend's mother called to ask me about a word her daughter had got wrong.  My son, meanwhile has no reason for his not doing the work and what in God's name was he doing, when the rest of the class was writing and what about his teacher. I feel so angry and frustrated about all this.

husband trouble

I feel depression setting in. Chu is giving her resignation today and she was very upset, she called and cried her heart out. I am upset too and Am crying, I can't seem to stop. everything was so good three years back that is till her marriage and then things started going down hill. Both vena and chu has had bad luck with their hubbys. Vena's wouldn't go to work and by the time she was pregnant with Apps he lost his job and overstayed his visa and had to be repatriated by the government when UAE offered amnesity. But as she did not have a job, getting her out of the country before all the hell broke out was the priority.

But with chu, things are different. She has a job and a good one at that. But her bastard hubby lost his and is in india with the twins. the babies are just one year old and needs good care which her in laws are providing. But she does not trust them and her lazy hubby just lies around the house, without making any effort to find a job. All this has ended up in her having to resign to put things straight but she loves her job. I hope some miracle takes place. and everything works out for her.

getting married is a real mess, especially in a country like India where getting out of a marriage is difficult and messy, even when you know it was a mistake. While people in more liberalised societies take divorce for granted, and sometimes misuse it, for people like my sisters trapped in bad marriages, if getting out were possible it would have been the biggest blessing of all. now instead of divorce we hope and pray that these bad eggs drop dead and leave us in peace.

I suppose in a country like india with its tabboos and cultural sensitivities, a lot of women pray god to take up their better halves to his heavenly abode.

money, money ,money!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Inspite of all the reading and researching and watching the Secret books and movies and of course the napoean hill and wattles and the master key and so on and so forth, I still can feel my stomach churn when i get a phone call from my sisters or mother or for that matter from anyone at home. I, like my father, live in constant dread of the next bad news that inevetably comes from my home. It is as if it is a  curse, with no way to escape, you pick up the phone and it is bound to be bad news. But I am trying hard to attract the positive vibes to me, things will turn around and they usually do too but it always needs patience to see us through this hell. Cho is resigning as her son needs another operation and so she is returning to India. 

 Money is really the only problem and if I had two million dollars now, all my problems would be over but where do I get the twoo million.

Congress freaks

I was just going through the Indian Express opinions to see how people reacted to Congress wins in kerala. 99 % of those who commented think the result sucks and that only the manipulations of the election commision (Chawla) and the electronic voting machines helped them win. i added my voice to it too. italian are bad mouthed, as is corruption. It is as if i am back at the university. 

Before marrying into a congress family, I used to wonder what type of people, congress supporters must be? I always thought of them as corrupt, rich people who invariably made money from kickbacks, as people who hated poor or socially disadvantaged groups, intolerant and almost anything bad imaginable. But they turned out to not so bad,  just more tolerant of corruption than us. Of course most of them are rich and they have no problems breaking any rules. but still they are humans just like us not the little sick freaks I imagined them to be.

Abdullakutty and the donkeys

People are strange, they voted for Abdullakutty and made him their representative in the kerala state Assembly. This same Abdullakutty was a few months back in the CPM party and now he is Congress ans yet the people had no problem. It just goes onto  show that the public is donkey, with absolutely no discerning power of its own. A person like that with no morals is dangerous, after all he cares for nothing but power and power alone and if tomorrow he disowns his father for being too inconvenient for his rise to power, that would be no surprise too. I for one am ashamed for the people of Kannur and electing someone like him, Even BJP would have been better than this.

I am happy and grateful for having this lovely beautician come in the morning, do a pedicure and manicure, then a facial and a scrub and also washing and setting up my hair and also for the make up she does. Life is good, the garden is in full bloom, winter is setting in and christmas is around the corner.

Law of Attraction

I am very happy today because I have peace of mind, happiness and a great family. I see happy faces around me and people around me are rich and happy and satisfied with their lives. I have 200 million Euros in my bank account, and a beautiful 12 bedroom house on 10 acres of land. The house is set on a small hill in a garden of flowers and lovely green grassy lawn of one acre. On one end of the lawn, the land overlooks acres and acres of paddy fields. The cool breeze from the paddy fields and crisp green of the paddy are intoxicating. Beautiful shade trees giving of sweet fragrance from their flowers are scattered on the lawn. Benches and chairs are placed on the lawn under the tree, so that we can relax in the shade of the tree. The children are playing on the grass, sometimes swimming in the clear waters of the pool, climbing the fruit laden trees. J loves this beautiful house and spends a lot of time here now. Amma stays here and Vena looks after the land. The paddy fields bordering the lawns, nearly 50 acres of it are mine. Life is good. Vena has money now and her problems are all over, the children are happy and her husband is a changed man. Chu is also happy, She has enough money so she had returned home and are with her children and her husband is working in a well paid job. the children are doing well. Amma is happy again. Our land at Allapra has been donated to the church and there is a new St. Antony's church coming up there. Bcha is happy, as his daughter has been married off to a good boy. I took care of the expenses. Life is good and will continue like this for ever and ever.

Good Week

I upgraded my dial up to broadband and am still excited by how fast Internet is right now. So now most of the time I am online, surfing, playing, researching. I am in web heaven right now. Last week the visit to magrudy's warehouse sale in jumeira was another high point. There were books, books and more books. The paperbacks selling for AED 5/-, I bought a mountain of paperbacks and now am stocked up with books for a whole year or till the next warehouse sale comes along. Right now life is good, though J has some problems at work and the land problem festers on life is good. I AM REALLY waiting for AED 600,000/- which is on its way to me, for the land problem to end and am now into the "Law of Attraction"attracting all that good vibes to me along with some money.

It is 3.30 pm and after a starchy rice lunch, I am feeling sleepy, all i want to do is sleep but Thom has to be helped with his homework and then send off to play with his friends. If I don't get that out of the way I will soon have a lot of five and six year olds banging at my door, asking me to let Thom out. As if I am the evil witch who has locked Thom, making him do his homework, when he should be out playing, God knows, what with his friends.

he didnot go to school today as we had to go for the emirates ID. It just took 10 or 1 minutes and staff were all friendly and sweet but still we let him stay at home.

mothers and daughters

I love my mother to distraction but i hate her as much. Why i love my mother, I do not know but the reasons for hating her are easy to list. Yet, even in the reasons to hate, I love her a lot. How this works I do not know. The smallest thing she does makes me want to shout at her but no matter what she does I love her. Now with all the problems related to our land and the mess surrounding it, I nearly always end up shouting at her the moment she answers my phone call. She listens to it, and then when I am finished shouting and bangs the phone down, disconnecting the call, the call ends. The next time I call she behaves as if nothing happened. I know she is as helpless as I am but somehow she turns into the villain each time this land problem comes up.

Do all mother's and daughter's always have this love hate relationship.