dreamland

I was walking to my stop to get on my ride back from office. Instead of taking the usual shuttle from my office block to the main gate, I got into the mood of walking, despite the laptop bag! The distance is close to 1 km. There were many people walking the same distance both ways so I was forced to alter the pace of walking. First 2 times someone slower to me was walking ahead of me, for a moment I got frustrated. Friday evening – the last thing I wanted to be was frustrated! Then suddenly I remembered the video games we have played as kids. Do you remember Contra and Mario? Those Video game era, where we had to share the video games and it was only allowed during summer holidays. Different video cassettes were exchanged and played! Well, I suddenly started thinking of each of the people walking alongside, as the obstacle we face in those video games! Also during that walk, the entrance/exit of other buildings are there. So the vehicles entering/exit also make you stop for a...

How life can change in a week! And that too in a total mixed bag. On one end we were celebrating the arrival of a new joy to our family and very soon on the other end, tearful farewell to another soul! Mind and heart needs the power to handle and deal with situations that we have to face suddenly. And such times are the ones when you see your parents and uncles/aunts at their emotional breakdown and you realize that you need to step up and take care of them and the roles have slowly reversed! There are times I wonder why life is cruel also. I got a chance to visit Vishranthi yesterday. It’s a place of destitute women. What started as a small Monday afternoon ladies club of meeting and sharing ideas and recipes and having “ladies time” soon turned to a charitable trust which led to this place called Vishranthi . Right now providing shelter for 170 women, this is one of the well known homes being run in Chennai. Ironically, the woman who started this amazing servic...

I was reading this news while watching Ocean’s Eleven! It was cool watching Clooney and Brad Pitt using their charms and wits to rob Casinos. Now watching a movie, where the Hero is performing such a heist is thrilling! C’mon we all agree that we will enjoy whatever the so-called “Heroes” do in the movie – be it a Dance, Romance scene, action, murder, theft anything. Period! They are the Hero – larger than life persona. Why else would a movie like Happy New Year, whose reviews I have been hearing are super bad(best being of Vigil guy’s) , but still the movie crossed 100 Cr mark making all those making the movie richer by god knows how many multiplications! Not just Happy New Year, but any movies in recent history and here I am talking only about Bollywood. Now this news also carried the headlines in many other news article mentioning, Bollywood style heist! You ask any movie makers and they will say they get inspired from real life incidents. So who got insp...

She woke up hearing her daughter crying. Radha, her 5 year old daughter, had another nightmare! She held her daughter closely wondering when will this even end. When her daughter stopped crying, she put her down and looked at the innocent face sadly, knowing things will never be fine for them! She got up to get ready to go work. One glance at kitchen and she realized that the stock will get over in few days. How will they survive after that? No one will let them buy anything even if she is ready to pay. Soon time was up to go to work.  Work - Cleaning the old lady's house in the other corner of the village who felt pity on her and still employed her. But she knew that the old lady was counting her days and the day she dies,  her own world will stop! As she and her daughter were walking through the narrow path, people looked up and stared at them. She felt their gazes piercing through them as if she was being stabbed. Men looked down as if she deserved to be ogled at. Women lo...

The Lunchbox Am not going to write review of the movie where most of it would be what the movie is all about! For that you can read this link or all those reviews thats making rounds! These are my thoughts/reflections after watching this movie. After English Vinglish, This is one such movie which brings into light how a woman gets entrapped in married life and loses her individuality and is taken for granted! Be it Ila or her mother or Mrs.Deshpande(the neighbor); each woman portrays life of so many women in our society , where their life after wedding revolves completely around their husband. Each stage of how, they as person have got so lost that even though they are lonely still they can't imagine a life alone! The difference from English Vinglish is that this movie has another angle, that of Men - of an Old man who is facing a life of retirement and a young man whose life is just starting!  The loneliness and  longingness of having someone around, of the small plea...

Appreciation: This is something we all yearn for! A hard day’s of work and when someone appreciates we feel happy. That small joy becomes worth all the troubles we take. There are times when we feel all our efforts are wasted when we are not appreciated on time. And worst when we end up feeling that someone else is being appreciated for what is due to us. On one side, it’s the professional environment set up, where one appreciation mail from client helps you tremendously or from supervisors/managers. And other side, even in personal life, when you cook something and your parents appreciate you, or siblings appreciate you for some support or some relative/friends appreciate you we feel happy and acknowledged. We truly become a part of that group which recognizes you be it in any situation/ reason! Why do we remember grandparents who only appreciate us, or that school friend who always gave thumbs-up when you won something, or that uncle who would appreciate wh...