Dear Friends, I am so happy that one of my hub "10 Best Diwali - Deepavali Gift Ideas For Your Family in India" has been nominated for HubNuggets of the week.
Please kindly vote for me here. http://hubpages.com/topics/holidays-and-celebrations/2566
Thanks all for your support.
Warm Regards,
Mythili K.
Friday 29 October 2010
Monday 25 October 2010
Vote for our real hero in CNN
I got it in my email.... So resharing it here again...
======================================================================
If you had not heard of Narayanan Krishnan, as I had not, it is a collective failure. This is one of the most incredible stories of personal commitment.
Narayanan Krishnan, all of 29 years old now, does what he was professionally trained to do as a chef. Feed people. Only Krishnan does not do this in the swanky confines of a 5-star hotel. Every day, he wakes up at 4 am, cooks a simple hot meal and then, along with his team, loads it in a van and travels about 200 km feeding the homeless in Madurai , Tamil Nadu.
Krishnan feeds, often with his hands, almost 400 destitute people every day. And for those who need it, he provides a free haircut too.
According to CNN, eight years ago, this award-winning chef with a five-star hotel chain was all set to go to Switzerland for a high-profile posting. On a visit to a Madurai temple, he came across a homeless, old man eating his own human waste. That stark sight changed Krishnan's life.
Much to the dismay of his parents, CNN says, Krishnan abandoned his career plans and decided to spend his life and his professional training in looking after those who could not care for themselves. He has provided more than 1.2 million hot meals through his nonprofit organisation Akshaya Trust, and now hopes to extend this to shelter for the homeless too.
Krishnan is the only Indian in a list of 10 heroes that CNN has picked worldwide to honour. One of them will be chosen CNN Hero of the Year, selected by the public through an online poll. If many Indians get together to vote for this inspiring man, he can win by a long mile.
If Krishnan wins he will get $100,000 in addition to the $25,000 that he gets for being shortlisted for the Top 10. Akshaya Trust needs all the monetary support it can get to build on Krishnan's dream. Let's help him get there.
Vote for Krishnan here.
http://heroes.cnn.com/vote.aspx
The poll continues through November 18 at 6 a.m. ET.
======================================================================
If you had not heard of Narayanan Krishnan, as I had not, it is a collective failure. This is one of the most incredible stories of personal commitment.
Narayanan Krishnan, all of 29 years old now, does what he was professionally trained to do as a chef. Feed people. Only Krishnan does not do this in the swanky confines of a 5-star hotel. Every day, he wakes up at 4 am, cooks a simple hot meal and then, along with his team, loads it in a van and travels about 200 km feeding the homeless in Madurai , Tamil Nadu.
Krishnan feeds, often with his hands, almost 400 destitute people every day. And for those who need it, he provides a free haircut too.
According to CNN, eight years ago, this award-winning chef with a five-star hotel chain was all set to go to Switzerland for a high-profile posting. On a visit to a Madurai temple, he came across a homeless, old man eating his own human waste. That stark sight changed Krishnan's life.
Much to the dismay of his parents, CNN says, Krishnan abandoned his career plans and decided to spend his life and his professional training in looking after those who could not care for themselves. He has provided more than 1.2 million hot meals through his nonprofit organisation Akshaya Trust, and now hopes to extend this to shelter for the homeless too.
Krishnan is the only Indian in a list of 10 heroes that CNN has picked worldwide to honour. One of them will be chosen CNN Hero of the Year, selected by the public through an online poll. If many Indians get together to vote for this inspiring man, he can win by a long mile.
If Krishnan wins he will get $100,000 in addition to the $25,000 that he gets for being shortlisted for the Top 10. Akshaya Trust needs all the monetary support it can get to build on Krishnan's dream. Let's help him get there.
Vote for Krishnan here.
http://heroes.cnn.com/vote.aspx
The poll continues through November 18 at 6 a.m. ET.
Sunday 17 October 2010
Lime Juice - Good for Digestion after a heavy meal?????
While doing my final year project in Bangalore, we, a group of friends used to go together for lunch. Generally we used to go to the simple hotels, have our lunch and rush back to our seats. Of course, we cannot spend the money in star hotels sent by our poor dads that time ;-)
One day, I guess, some time around Christmas, we all planned to go for a star hotel for lunch and celebrate. We have a proverb in tamil which says "Pattikaataan muttai kadayai vai polandhu parthadhu pola" which means, "A villager who looked at the confectionery shop with his mouth wide open". We all looked at the hotel like that (point to note here is, we were all from some small villages).
We had a great lunch together. We were prepared to pay the bill. Then came a bowl of water, with a piece of lemon floating in it. None of us knew what to do with it. We all looked at each other. Suddenly, one of my friend shouted "I knew what it is for. We had a heavy lunch. So, to avoid digestion problems, the hotel is providing lemon juice free of cost". Saying this, my friend started to crush the lemon in the warm water and started drinking.
We all felt proud of our friend's in-depth knowledge and were ready to follow to his foot mark. Everyone started crushing their lemon pieces. But before we put the bowl in our lips, a hotel attender ran to my friend and said politely "Sir, this is not drinking water. This is for hand wash purpose".
OK.... Now, no more questions like, what happened after that and how we all escaped from the hotel, without a piece of towel covering our faces, how we handled our friend after that, and who that friend is, and which country he is living now...
No no no... I am not going to give you the answer or clues ;-)
One day, I guess, some time around Christmas, we all planned to go for a star hotel for lunch and celebrate. We have a proverb in tamil which says "Pattikaataan muttai kadayai vai polandhu parthadhu pola" which means, "A villager who looked at the confectionery shop with his mouth wide open". We all looked at the hotel like that (point to note here is, we were all from some small villages).
We had a great lunch together. We were prepared to pay the bill. Then came a bowl of water, with a piece of lemon floating in it. None of us knew what to do with it. We all looked at each other. Suddenly, one of my friend shouted "I knew what it is for. We had a heavy lunch. So, to avoid digestion problems, the hotel is providing lemon juice free of cost". Saying this, my friend started to crush the lemon in the warm water and started drinking.
We all felt proud of our friend's in-depth knowledge and were ready to follow to his foot mark. Everyone started crushing their lemon pieces. But before we put the bowl in our lips, a hotel attender ran to my friend and said politely "Sir, this is not drinking water. This is for hand wash purpose".
OK.... Now, no more questions like, what happened after that and how we all escaped from the hotel, without a piece of towel covering our faces, how we handled our friend after that, and who that friend is, and which country he is living now...
No no no... I am not going to give you the answer or clues ;-)
Friday 15 October 2010
You or Me - Breaking the Iceberg
I was so busy cleaning my shelf and arranging all those old books. They are all nearly 7 to 10 years old, holding all those precious moments of my college days.
I touched each and every book, remembering whose subject it was, and the lecturer who handled the subject, his class moments, funny incidents and all those chit chats done during the class hours. All of a sudden, a small bit of paper popped out.
Oh, that was a chit paper, written by me and my close friend Savitha, full of our comments about the boring class. "Mythili, how many years jail punishment will this sir get for murdering me?"... "Hey look at that crow in that tree. It talks better than the person standing before me"... "What did amma cook today. I am bored with hostel food. Give me the tiffin box gal".... Lot more.
Since we were not able to abscond from the class and not able to talk, we made that chit chat.
My memories started flying back to those years, where we both used to be so thick friends that every one used to call us "Fevi Quicks". We always had the thought we cannot be away from each other and planned a lot of ways, on how to be together forever.
The days, we roamed together and time spent in each others home, full of fun and joy. But life changed all our track. After college, gradually the touch between us reduced and I don't remember exactly when it got vanished completely from the heart. In a ten years span, almost all are forgotten. Even when I remembered the college days in between my other works, I always had the feeling "Why me? She too has my contact details and she didn't respond to my mail that I sent 3 years before. Let her mail me, if she wants".
Now, the chit papers kindled my feelings, my friendship, from bottom of my heart. I opened my laptop and started typing a mail.
Wait... hold on...
Are you sure, she is checking mails regularly? Are you sure, she is going to respond your mail? I felt something raising and falling again and again inside my heart. No this time I am not giving up.
I ran to my book shelf again. My hands ran up and down, searching for something. Gotcha... Got it. The address book we created during our college days, having all our classmates phone number and home address. Now I feel a shivering inside me. I don't know why.
I ran to my Tata DOCOMO OneTouch Net Phone and started dialling Savitha's number. I know it is her home number and she got married within few years of our college and not sure where she is living now. But with hope I dialled the number.
Its ringing. I started hearing my heart beat. I didn't even had such a feeling, while waiting for my test results.
"Hello", a tiny little voice. "Yaaru venum ungalukku (whom do you want to speak?)".
"Savitha Irukkaala (Is Savitha available there)?"
"Amma unakkuthaan phone (Amma it is a call for you)"
Oh wow, is that Savitha's daughter? So sweet voice. I felt seeing that little tender.
"Hello yaaru (Hello, who is that)?"
I couldn't reply for a while. Her voice didn't change in this 8 years. She again asked the question who is this.
"Your friend. A forgotten friend". She recognized my voice. There was sudden silence.... and came a breaking little voice "Ammuuuuuuu" and this is how she used to call me...
"Yes... Your ammu... your forgotten ammu"... I felt my voice breaking and tears ready to roll out at any moment.
I heard Savitha's broken voice again and again saying "Ammu" and she was not able to talk any more. She cried. We consoled each other. After few emotional moments, we started talking... talking... talking... oh my goodness, it was nearly 1.5 hours I spoke to her.
She said she came home for vacation. We exchanged our contact numbers and promised each other to be in touch forever and for sure.
I felt light. The iceberg inside me is broken now. It is not heavy and all dissolved.
Note:
Dear Friends, this is an entry submitted for a contest in indiblogger.in. If you like my entry, please kindly vote here.
http://www.indiblogger.in/indipost.php?post=35903
Thanks.
I touched each and every book, remembering whose subject it was, and the lecturer who handled the subject, his class moments, funny incidents and all those chit chats done during the class hours. All of a sudden, a small bit of paper popped out.
Oh, that was a chit paper, written by me and my close friend Savitha, full of our comments about the boring class. "Mythili, how many years jail punishment will this sir get for murdering me?"... "Hey look at that crow in that tree. It talks better than the person standing before me"... "What did amma cook today. I am bored with hostel food. Give me the tiffin box gal".... Lot more.
Since we were not able to abscond from the class and not able to talk, we made that chit chat.
My memories started flying back to those years, where we both used to be so thick friends that every one used to call us "Fevi Quicks". We always had the thought we cannot be away from each other and planned a lot of ways, on how to be together forever.
The days, we roamed together and time spent in each others home, full of fun and joy. But life changed all our track. After college, gradually the touch between us reduced and I don't remember exactly when it got vanished completely from the heart. In a ten years span, almost all are forgotten. Even when I remembered the college days in between my other works, I always had the feeling "Why me? She too has my contact details and she didn't respond to my mail that I sent 3 years before. Let her mail me, if she wants".
Now, the chit papers kindled my feelings, my friendship, from bottom of my heart. I opened my laptop and started typing a mail.
Wait... hold on...
Are you sure, she is checking mails regularly? Are you sure, she is going to respond your mail? I felt something raising and falling again and again inside my heart. No this time I am not giving up.
I ran to my book shelf again. My hands ran up and down, searching for something. Gotcha... Got it. The address book we created during our college days, having all our classmates phone number and home address. Now I feel a shivering inside me. I don't know why.
I ran to my Tata DOCOMO OneTouch Net Phone and started dialling Savitha's number. I know it is her home number and she got married within few years of our college and not sure where she is living now. But with hope I dialled the number.
Its ringing. I started hearing my heart beat. I didn't even had such a feeling, while waiting for my test results.
"Hello", a tiny little voice. "Yaaru venum ungalukku (whom do you want to speak?)".
"Savitha Irukkaala (Is Savitha available there)?"
"Amma unakkuthaan phone (Amma it is a call for you)"
Oh wow, is that Savitha's daughter? So sweet voice. I felt seeing that little tender.
"Hello yaaru (Hello, who is that)?"
I couldn't reply for a while. Her voice didn't change in this 8 years. She again asked the question who is this.
"Your friend. A forgotten friend". She recognized my voice. There was sudden silence.... and came a breaking little voice "Ammuuuuuuu" and this is how she used to call me...
"Yes... Your ammu... your forgotten ammu"... I felt my voice breaking and tears ready to roll out at any moment.
I heard Savitha's broken voice again and again saying "Ammu" and she was not able to talk any more. She cried. We consoled each other. After few emotional moments, we started talking... talking... talking... oh my goodness, it was nearly 1.5 hours I spoke to her.
She said she came home for vacation. We exchanged our contact numbers and promised each other to be in touch forever and for sure.
I felt light. The iceberg inside me is broken now. It is not heavy and all dissolved.
Note:
Dear Friends, this is an entry submitted for a contest in indiblogger.in. If you like my entry, please kindly vote here.
http://www.indiblogger.in/indipost.php?post=35903
Thanks.
Thursday 7 October 2010
Bodyguard - Malayalam Movie Review
I have written the same review in the forum Digitalbhoomi. Digitalbhoomi is an Indian forum, where you can write about anything, and earn money for your writings. Also, Rs.3500 cash prize is given for best three posts, every month.
Click here, if you wish to join.
OK, coming to the Story
The entire movie is a flash back, which starts with Jayakrishna (Dileep), son of a school teachers who has a different way of thinking right from his childhood. It continues even when he grew. He hates people, who fears for anything and everything. He admires those who shows heroism (or Gundaism) and likes to move along with them as their bodyguard. He comes across a person called Ashokettan (Thiyagarajan), whom he admires for his bravery and wish to join as his bodyguard. Though didn't like to have a bodyguard, Ashokettan agrees later as Jayakrishna came with a recommendation from a person whom he cannot say a NO. Within few days, Ashokettan and family was attacked by one of his enemies and Jayakrishna saves them all. This makes Jayakrishna's post as permanent.
Later, Jayakrishna was asked by Ashokettan to join the college as student, where Ashokettan's daughter Ammu (Nayantara) and her friend Sethulakshmi (Mithra Kurian), daughter of Ashokettan's secretary was studying, just to continue as Ammu's bodyguard there. The fun starts there. Jayakrishna always follow Ammu and this irritates her and her friends. So, to escape Jayakrishna, Ammu uses a plan given by one of her friend. She tries to distract him with a love call. She calls him from a Caller ID restricted phone and talks romantically. Though not interested in the beginning, Jayakrishna slowly falls for that unknown girl. Later when Ammu learns the real good nature of Jayakrishna and his respect towards her and her family, she too started loving him, despite of her engagement happened already to some one in London.
Ammu fears that Jayakrishna may reject her, if he comes to know that she was the girl, loving him through phone, as he respects her family and her dad more than anything. So, she asks for a promise from Jayakrishna that he should not reject her, when she comes before him. She asks Jayakrishna to elope with her, and asks him to meet her in the railway station in the evening of their last day of the college. But before she gets there, she was caught by her father. So, to save Jayakrishna, she sends her friend Sethulakshmi to convey the message that "Ammu was the one who called him so far and she wants Jayakrishna to wait for a while and she will never marry any one else".
But the story takes a turn at the end, where Ammu's friend Sethulakshmi couldn't say a NO to the emotional Jayakrishna and continues with him as the girl who called him all those days. Though she lived happily with Jayakrishna, she dies because of sickness. She left a diary for her son (Smelling the movie, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai?"), from which the 8 or 9 years old boy learns all these old happenings. Jayakrishna was invited by Ashokettan, where he founds Ammu as unmarried. Jayakrishna's son requests her to join them as his mother and Ashokettan accepts it, as he knows her daughter's wish. Though hesitated first, Jayakrishna takes her along with him.
In the railway station, Jayakrishna's son trashes the diary, as per his mother's wish that it should not be read by his dad at anytime. But Jayakrishna sees this and takes back the diary without his son's knowledge and learns all the truth. The train journey continues with all the three (Jayakrishna, Ammu and Jayakrishna's son) travelling together as one family.
Discussion
I didn't want to reveal the climax actually, so that the reader would like to watch the movie. But then, I really wanted to discuss few things about the movie here. So, just broke the secret.
The only strength of the movie is the commedy. Dileep is well known for his commical characters and he did justice for his job. The scences of the college days are all real good with full of fun dialogues to laugh aloud. Dileep's expression as bodyguard and his body language were all so good and a great applause to Dileep for that.
But there are lots of loop holes throughout the movie.
1. How come in all the movies, wife of the hero dies of sickness, if she is not the lady whom he loved or if she is not the main lead character? Bodyguard is no exception from Kuch kuch hota hai, where Rani Mukhrjee dies to unite Sharukhan with Kajol.
2. How come all the lead characters (the lover of the hero) waits till the return of the hero after the death of his wife? Nayantara is no exception from Kajol in that same movie Kuch kuch hota hai. In that Hindi movie, it was never shown why Kajol didn't marry anyone till that time, where Rani Mukharjee's daughter reads her mother's letter left for her and comes in search of Kajol and no reason why Kajol accepted to marry Salman khan after so many years, just before the return of Sharukhan. Similarly, no reason was shown about how Nayantara escapes from her marriage, which was already fixed and how she convinced her father and family to stop her marriage.
3. How come all those 7/8 years old kids read their mothers diary and understand the love feelings they expressed in writing? Because, at my age of 7 or 8, I was not even able to understand those romantic feelings, even by seeing the movies and pictures. Am I that stupid or are the kids now a days are so knowledged?
4. How come Jayakrishna's son got the diary of his mother who died when he was so young (like 2 or 3 years old) without his father's knowledge?
5. How come all mothers leave a note to their kids, thinking they will fulfill their wishes? Or why they leave note, if they don't want anyone to know it in future after their demisal?
6. How come all the heros able to replace their wives whom they loved for years, from their heart in a moment, when they find the truth that the other gal was the one they loved before marrying the wife?
I got lots of "How Come" questions.
But frankly, I have to accept the truth, that I had a good laugh watching this movie. No vulgar scenes, no dress less dances. Pure commedy, with little sentiments in the climax, which ends "Subham" as per the written law of Indian Cine Field.
So, if you keep aside your logical thinking for a while, then this movie gives you a guarantee to relax and laugh.
http://www.digitalbhoomi.in/forums/showthread.php?p=60805
Click here, if you wish to join.
OK, coming to the Story
The entire movie is a flash back, which starts with Jayakrishna (Dileep), son of a school teachers who has a different way of thinking right from his childhood. It continues even when he grew. He hates people, who fears for anything and everything. He admires those who shows heroism (or Gundaism) and likes to move along with them as their bodyguard. He comes across a person called Ashokettan (Thiyagarajan), whom he admires for his bravery and wish to join as his bodyguard. Though didn't like to have a bodyguard, Ashokettan agrees later as Jayakrishna came with a recommendation from a person whom he cannot say a NO. Within few days, Ashokettan and family was attacked by one of his enemies and Jayakrishna saves them all. This makes Jayakrishna's post as permanent.
Later, Jayakrishna was asked by Ashokettan to join the college as student, where Ashokettan's daughter Ammu (Nayantara) and her friend Sethulakshmi (Mithra Kurian), daughter of Ashokettan's secretary was studying, just to continue as Ammu's bodyguard there. The fun starts there. Jayakrishna always follow Ammu and this irritates her and her friends. So, to escape Jayakrishna, Ammu uses a plan given by one of her friend. She tries to distract him with a love call. She calls him from a Caller ID restricted phone and talks romantically. Though not interested in the beginning, Jayakrishna slowly falls for that unknown girl. Later when Ammu learns the real good nature of Jayakrishna and his respect towards her and her family, she too started loving him, despite of her engagement happened already to some one in London.
Ammu fears that Jayakrishna may reject her, if he comes to know that she was the girl, loving him through phone, as he respects her family and her dad more than anything. So, she asks for a promise from Jayakrishna that he should not reject her, when she comes before him. She asks Jayakrishna to elope with her, and asks him to meet her in the railway station in the evening of their last day of the college. But before she gets there, she was caught by her father. So, to save Jayakrishna, she sends her friend Sethulakshmi to convey the message that "Ammu was the one who called him so far and she wants Jayakrishna to wait for a while and she will never marry any one else".
But the story takes a turn at the end, where Ammu's friend Sethulakshmi couldn't say a NO to the emotional Jayakrishna and continues with him as the girl who called him all those days. Though she lived happily with Jayakrishna, she dies because of sickness. She left a diary for her son (Smelling the movie, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai?"), from which the 8 or 9 years old boy learns all these old happenings. Jayakrishna was invited by Ashokettan, where he founds Ammu as unmarried. Jayakrishna's son requests her to join them as his mother and Ashokettan accepts it, as he knows her daughter's wish. Though hesitated first, Jayakrishna takes her along with him.
In the railway station, Jayakrishna's son trashes the diary, as per his mother's wish that it should not be read by his dad at anytime. But Jayakrishna sees this and takes back the diary without his son's knowledge and learns all the truth. The train journey continues with all the three (Jayakrishna, Ammu and Jayakrishna's son) travelling together as one family.
Discussion
I didn't want to reveal the climax actually, so that the reader would like to watch the movie. But then, I really wanted to discuss few things about the movie here. So, just broke the secret.
The only strength of the movie is the commedy. Dileep is well known for his commical characters and he did justice for his job. The scences of the college days are all real good with full of fun dialogues to laugh aloud. Dileep's expression as bodyguard and his body language were all so good and a great applause to Dileep for that.
But there are lots of loop holes throughout the movie.
1. How come in all the movies, wife of the hero dies of sickness, if she is not the lady whom he loved or if she is not the main lead character? Bodyguard is no exception from Kuch kuch hota hai, where Rani Mukhrjee dies to unite Sharukhan with Kajol.
2. How come all the lead characters (the lover of the hero) waits till the return of the hero after the death of his wife? Nayantara is no exception from Kajol in that same movie Kuch kuch hota hai. In that Hindi movie, it was never shown why Kajol didn't marry anyone till that time, where Rani Mukharjee's daughter reads her mother's letter left for her and comes in search of Kajol and no reason why Kajol accepted to marry Salman khan after so many years, just before the return of Sharukhan. Similarly, no reason was shown about how Nayantara escapes from her marriage, which was already fixed and how she convinced her father and family to stop her marriage.
3. How come all those 7/8 years old kids read their mothers diary and understand the love feelings they expressed in writing? Because, at my age of 7 or 8, I was not even able to understand those romantic feelings, even by seeing the movies and pictures. Am I that stupid or are the kids now a days are so knowledged?
4. How come Jayakrishna's son got the diary of his mother who died when he was so young (like 2 or 3 years old) without his father's knowledge?
5. How come all mothers leave a note to their kids, thinking they will fulfill their wishes? Or why they leave note, if they don't want anyone to know it in future after their demisal?
6. How come all the heros able to replace their wives whom they loved for years, from their heart in a moment, when they find the truth that the other gal was the one they loved before marrying the wife?
I got lots of "How Come" questions.
But frankly, I have to accept the truth, that I had a good laugh watching this movie. No vulgar scenes, no dress less dances. Pure commedy, with little sentiments in the climax, which ends "Subham" as per the written law of Indian Cine Field.
So, if you keep aside your logical thinking for a while, then this movie gives you a guarantee to relax and laugh.
http://www.digitalbhoomi.in/forums/showthread.php?p=60805
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