Man of Steel

Finally I went to watch Iron Man 2 with my friends last week. I really liked it. I feel not many sequels appeal to the audiences mainly cos of the high expectations they have after watching the first part. But this movie was well made..of course, it did have some drawbacks. Here's my take on the movie-

The Good:
1. I'm not a big fan of super hero/action movies...but this is the only one that I love...mainly cos of the fact that the hero is not someone who is extraordinarily nice or the one with an impeccable character. Instead, he's a very arrogant man, one who does not care what others think of him!
2. The dialogues - especially the witty ones!
3. Scarlett Johansson's action sequence
4. The background score
5. The formula-one race scene

The Bad:
1. Two cliched tracks - A guy ditching his best friend only to realize his mistake at the end!
A beautiful (??) secretary who actually is a spy!

 And The Ugly:
1. Scarlett Johansson - I just don't like her.Don't ask why!!
2. The unkempt look of the villain.


All in all, it was an entertainer and definitely worth watching once. (Considering we have no other good releases now!)

Leave Letter

When I was in my 12th standard, the college I was studying in, was a very strict one....they usually did not give permission to leave the college during lunch or would call home if we missed college even for a day...But then students always knew how to work around these rules...
Each class had an in-charge, who would be responsible for granting permission to leave the college...We had to write a letter to this person, asking for permission, in case we wanted to get out...They usually maintained a list of who all left college for the day and the reason for that...
My lazy friend did not feel like sitting in the class one day. She wrote a letter to the in-charge on the lines of "...I am not feeling well...I would be highly obliged if you could grant me permission to leave the college..." The in-charge who usually never gives permission to anyone, immediately agreed to let her go...When we saw her list, we knew exactly why...under the "reason for leave", she had clearly written - 'Highly Obliged'.

What's in a name??!

Well!! I'd say a lot....people either smile or smirk when they hear a name (ofcourse, that is based on the person's character)....Raj, Rahul, Vijay...naam tho suna hoga...ok ok...enough of filmi dialogues, let me get to the point without digressing...

Few months ago, we had a training session which was all about how to improve our communication skills...the instructor started asking for our names....She repeated all the names and even managed to pronounce some of the Indian names correctly...then she came to me..."Niharika", I said...**Silence**...after she recovered from the shock, she went.."Oh My God!! I'm so sorry I did not get it correctly...can you say it again?"..."Niharika", I repeated..."Umm.. I will try to remember that", she said and moved on to the next person :/

To get us all involved in the lecture, she started including our names in the conversation...every time she tried to say my name, she would pause for a few seconds and would instead use my neighbor's name.In the break, she came up to me and asked me to say my name so that she could write down the pronunciation ..."Nee-ha-ree-ka", she carefully wrote down on a piece of paper..."you can call me Niha", I said politely.."But your name is so good...I want to say it all...I like the second part..its so beautiful", she said...And then the unimaginable thing happened...she was talking about some topic..and said, " So if Nyharicky is working in a team...", I looked around and found my colleagues trying hard to control their laughter...Nyharicky??? Seriously!!! Lady, I thought you said you liked the last part of my name!!! and mind you its definitely not "RICKY" :/

Walk on the beach

Walking on the beach

Surrounded by the serenity of the night

As the calmness of the ocean

Soothed the soul

A whiff of fresh air

Phased out the past

The sparkling water

Promised a bright future

While the waves rising and falling

Reminded of the path in between

Home

The air in the street smelled of strong filter coffee…Meenakshi stepped into the old tiled house…she was visiting her native village after five years…She examined the house from one corner to another like a tourist examining an art work in a temple… the rocking chair, that was once strong and adorned the living room, was now rickety. It was moved from the centre of the house to a corner, like a neglected old family member. The strong aroma from the kitchen tingled her senses…while one part of the house smelled of sambar, the other side was filled with the scent of the incense sticks lit in the puja room….though nothing has changed in this house in the past few years, she felt like a total stranger…She moved to the bedroom, that still had the old bed with bright blue bed sheet with huge yellow flowers printed on it…”did we always use such bright sheets?” she thought to herself... she couldn’t recollect what it was like when she was a kid…she thought of her own bedroom which had a color theme…she chose the most sophisticated colors that reflected her classy taste …

As a kid she used to observe her mom get ready in the morning, the kanjeevaram saris, the gold jewelry, the big bottu…she loved it all...when the other kids at school made fun of Meenakshi’s long oiled braid decorated with a string of jasmines, ”they are just jealous”, her mom used to say…and she didn’t care much as she wanted to look like her mom, dress like her,be her…she looked at herself in the mirror now - cropped pants and a t-shirt, her long braid was now replaced with an above-the-shoulder layered cut. She did not look anything like her mom….

She went into the kitchen, where her family members were running around, preparing a traditional spread for her welcome…They were delighted to see her after a long time...showered her with all their love and affection. For the first time since she walked into that house, she did not feel like a stranger…she realized that it was not about the things in the house…it was the people, that she longed for…her people who were a part of her memories, her childhood, her life and this home…her home…