Pranchiyettan and the Saint

Finally , finally, one of the most well received malayalam movies of the last year became available online and we didn't think twice before watching it on TV. I for one , had been eagerly awaiting the release of this movie on the internet because the story is based in my home "Thrissur" and all the characters were said to be speaking in typical Thrissur slang. The movie did not dissappoint. It showed yet again , that Mammootty is becoming a master of situational comedy.(From Trivandrum slang in Rajamanikyam to Thrissur slang in this movie).


The movie has Mammooty playing "Cherammal Francis" an uneducated , but rich businessman in Thrissur , who is trying different ways to change his image and name from that of "Ari pranji" to something more respectable.He is very often bested by his childhood nemesis (Siddique as Dr Jose) who incidentally also stole his childhood sweetheart Omana(Khusboo) through nefarious schemes as well. Many hilarious situations that ensue in the process.

He shown trying to contest for "Regency Club" president elections ,organize a welcome for an oscar winner(an obvious take on Resul Pookutty) and even get a padmashree award.Innocent , tinyTom, Jayaraj warrier, the new face as Eyappan the cook and TG Ravi give ample support to his schemes. It is right after the failure of the last scheme (the one to get padmashree) that a lady with the very same name comes into his life.Priyamani as the smart modern girl changes not only the colours of his house , but the colours of his heart as well, as he falls in love with her,only to hear that she has already had enough of relationships and men from her experience with a failed marriage.Pranji is too busy to be dwelling on his heart break for long and takes it as another one of his failures. He now conentrates his attention on getting a weak student(Master Ganapaty as Pauli) in his friend Anthony mash's school to pass the SSLC exam,but fails at that too inspite of finding out that the boy was brilliant.But he finds out that Pauli is dealing with unimaginably huge personal problems and decide to adopt him as his son.

It is at this juncture that he goes to his church to have a talk with the Saint Francis of Assisi.
The whole movie is shown as a series of conversations between Pranji and the Saint , and hence the title.The movie is simple to the core and the uncomplicated narration style make it a pleasant watch.

Pranji thinks as every one does that his problems are huge and that he is always losing , when in the end , the saint shows him that life is not as we think and that he infact has everything that he needs.

A very endearing movie and one that evoked a lot of nostalgia of my favourite place "Thrissur" and its people.

Waiting...

Just read this  http://questforheaven.blogspot.com/2011/02/rain-on.html by Usha Ma'm on her blog and I'm all back to my favourite muse , the rain.Unfortunately , we have still weeks left before the snow melts and the rain falls.Having experienced it last year , felt like writing about the season here that is sooo different from the rain in kerala. Also put some sleeping beauty into it. Here it is

Waiting...

Pricked by the icy thimble
Life lay sleeping beneath the snow
Bound to slumber by a season's curse
Frozen cold as in death she lay

Winter fairy with hands nimble
Draped all in a white ensemble
A palace of snow and ice prevailed
Protecting her from eyes that pried.

Storms raged above and battles were fought
But the curse did not break and she slept on.
Waiting for her prince and waiting for her kiss
A kiss that would warm and make her alive

Then one day , as it was destined to be,
Some one came from far above ,
The frozen fortress melted away
As his warm hands made their way.

She stirred at his touch, a smile
Upon her cold dry lips she lay,
As drops of rain came pouring down..
Kissing her to life once again

My Take on Gone With the Wind

  

My take on one of my favourite novels "Gone With the

Wind". This is the story told as briefly as possible , trying to keep the essence of a thousand page book within a few hundred words , writtern way back in 2004.

Just reading it again showed me how simplistically I see  these books and characters.Initially it was sent as four emails to my husband and some of my friends after I'd just finished reading the novel myself.Here it is with a few minor edits for typos.

 

Part 1:

The book is set in the times of American civil war.Scarlett is the eldest daughter of Gerald O'Hara (who was Irish and made his money in cotton plantations) and Ellen Robillard a really nice lady and and excellent house manager .

She is described as some one who has the power to get things done with out actually raising her voice.Their plantation is called 'Tara'.It has many slaves.There are women slaves who specialise in getting ladies ready and also field hands who work in the field.Almost all the neighbours live in much the similar way.

Scarlett is a very different character.Not what you'd expect of a Heroine.She is attractive with green eyes red hair and all .But she only understands tangible things like money and land.She really does a lot of things that are not quite right just to get her own way and make money.

Scarlett loves Ashley one of the people in her neighbourhood.But he marries his cousin Melanie.On the day of engagement of Ashley and Melanie she confronts ashley and he confesses that he loves her but that they will never be happy together coz they cannot understand each other.she slaps him.

Rhett butler Overhears this conversation.He already has a very bad reputation and every one in the country hates him.Scarlett is mad at him and hates him instantly for seeing her in that shameful sitaution.

Melanie is the other heroine like character in the book.She is full of goodness.She cannot even imagine an evil inention in another person.She loves Ashley dearly.

To spite everyone Scarlett marries Melanie's brother Charles.

Then the civil war happens.................

Part 2

In the war many people were killed and the south was defeated.Among the dead were Charles-scarlett's first husband.She bears a child which she totally ignores.She never really loved Charles and hates the time of widowhood coz she cannott do anything that she likes.The fact that she can never have Ashley gnaws at her.

Then she goes to live with Melanie and Charles ' aunt in Atlanta.Scarlett hates Melanie.But Melanie always misinterprets Scarlett's behavior with something heroic.Rhett Butler makes many cameo appearances and he is the one person who can read what's exactly on Scarlett's mind.He doesn't care about reputation and he has no scruples about making money when the confederate (southern states) are falling.

Then war comes to Atlanta too and everyone flees .But Scarlett and Melanie cannot leave because Melanie is pregnant.Though she curses Melanie a lot in private,she stays with her and helps her.Then they go back to Tara together.There everything is scarce and they have barely enough to live and pay taxes.They try to get money .Very unconventionally scarlett seduces a guy called Frank Kennedy who owns a store and marries him knowing perfectly well that her sister loved him as well.But here she really does give the money to every one in her family which her sister would never have done.
She lives as the wife of Frank kennedy and gives birth to a daughter.But She starts managing the store and also buys mills.She turns out to be an excellent business lady .But as ladies of her time are not supposed to be outside houses.Frank gets ridiculed by every one.He Ashley and many others join the Klu Klux Klan against blacks and Frank gets killed.

Rhett helps Ashley.Even now Scarlett loves Ashley.Rhett loves her.

Part 3

Rhett Butler was unpopular because he was thought to have made a lot of money from war .Also he was known to have funded a prostitute set up her house and he was quite ungallant unlike the usual southerners.


Scarlett is by far the most unpopular female in town and only Melanie really likes her.Rhett confronts her one day and offers to marry her fully knowing alll her faults also telling her that he has virtually no feelings of any kind towards her.But that since they understand each other's character so well , they should get married.

Again a marriage for Scarlett and Rhett gives her everything money can buy and also independence to live as she likes which is a way unnatural to other southern ladies.

Ashley has virtually no money and no job .So scarlett offers him a job at one of her mills.Even now she has Ashley on her mind and wishes that Melanie were dead.Melanie on the other hand adores Scarlett and Rhett and has no suspicions abt her.

Scarlett starts liking Rhett but not loving him.They have a daughter 'Bonnie' whom Rhett adores.Rhett mends his ways and becomes the most caring father that Atlanta has ever seen.All the townspeople start liking Rhett.

Then an incident involving Ashley and Melanie occurs at the mills and causes scandal in the town.Every one hates scarlett and the whole town is abuzz with rumours.But melanie refuses to believe any rumour abt scarlett and even stops talking to those who talk ill of her.Neither Ashley nor Scarlett tell her the truth because truth would be unbelievable to Melanie.

Rhett becomes quite cold to scarlett and leaves Atlanta.She starts understanding him .But she is too head strong to admit it to him.

Part 4

The day Rhett comes back ,Scarlett is really happy to see him and wants to tell him that she is going to have a child.But they have an argument at the end of which she falls down the fleet of grand stairs and is very ill.

It is at this point that we understand how much Rhett had loved scarlett.And Scarlett delirious can only think that Rhet hates her and she never once calls his name.Melanie is there full time to care for her as well as console Rhett.

After Scarlett recovers , She pays a visit to Tara and comes back rejuvenated.Bonnie grows very fond of jumping over fences on her pony .Rhett is a very indulgent father and lets her do everything she fancies.
Then one day Bonnie tries to make the pony jump a very large fence and she falls off the horse and dies instantaneously.Scarlett blames Rhett.Rhett is devastated.

Rhett gets drunk everyday and goes back to his old ways .He doesn't even acknowledge Scarlett's existence.Scarlett feels very lonely.Then one day Rhett telegrams her saying that Melanie is seriously ill.

She had not heeded doctor's advice abt not having a baby and now was on her deathbed.

Melanie says she wants to speak to scarlett .She tells scarlett to look after Ashley and her kid.Scarlett suddenly realises how much Melanie meant to her and that her foolish love for Ashley evaporates away in a flash..

As she rushes back to her home thru the mist to tell Rhett that she loves him and that she wants him .But he calmly says that it is too late -his love for her has worn out and that he is abt to go on a long voyage.....

Scarlett is left all alone.But with charecteristic grit she says 'I'll think of some way to get him back'.'After all tomorrow is another day'.

Valentine's Day Cards

Till date , I can say without much regret  that I have never receieved even one V'day card , either in school , college or even after my wedding  except for one or 2 from hopeful suitors of my beautiful best friend ,giving cards to the two of us in-order to avoid getting the taste of her block heeled shoes. This year too , getting cards for myself is not a likely probability , but I did spend a good half an hour yesterday , making V'day cards with my son's name signed in them with stuffed candy all ready for him to give it to his friends in daycare.After I was done, it looked soo cute , that I took a picture of it on my phone.

Anyway, manu can't complain about not having experience in giving v'day cards. He is defiitely starting young..

Here is a cute little love poem I wrote years ago.

Happy Valentine's day.

A different Anniversary

I am almost back to my normal bubbly self after a hugely stressful week . My husband and I have been going through a gruelling work schedule leaving us even no time to really celebrate our sixth anniversary even.And there was this event that happened this week that I feel I need to write about.


It happened on Sunday 30th Jan . It was our sixth anniversary and I had just woken up and was making tea ,resolving to cook something much better than what I'd been doing the past week for breakfast and lunch , when hubby got a phone call from one of his team members. It wasn't unusual, since the whole team had been working day in and day out , and I had helped my husband and him for debugging a java requirement the previous night. Today how ever , he sounded really agitated and on the verge of a breakdown. I heard my husband asking him to come over to our place. I cursed inwardly. Why did this guy have to come over and work at our house on a Sunday morning , that too on our anniversary? But then , when I actually saw what a nervous wreck the guy looked like, my stance softened. I served coffee and also offered my suggestions to their web development problems.


As time dragged on ,and it was apparent that the problem was more psychological than technical. He pointedly refused to have any food and insisted that he was alright , when he looked as far from it as could be. We began to get worried and my husband suggested that they go out and buy lunch. After they bought lunch, I persuaded both of them to come and eat, and then as he tried to get up, fell flat down the carpeted floor unconscious. My husband revived him with water whilst I got our friends to come and help, and made him have food But the guy was a nervous wreck. He kept apologizing for causing us trouble and was on the verge of tears. My husband then took him home to his friend's place and left him there to take rest.


Nevertheless,the incident left many disturbing thoughts in my mind. Was IT causing so much pressure that it was causing nervous breakdowns in employees? Where the companies in their greed to meet unreasonable deadlines , making the employees (their golden egg laying geese) to work just too hard?My husband and others in his team had been working into the wee hours of the night to meet their expected goals.


I looked at my husband. He looked as disturbed as I did , and I knew it was more than meeting the project deadline that was causing it. I then decided that I wasn't going to give him any more pressure than he was already having, for not spending time with me. It was an anniversary sans celebrations , but it was not going to be one without love and understanding.

In rememberance of a Friend

A pen with the initials RSM inscribed on it which she used to say she would have inscribed on all the Nokia phones once she became CEO, a box of thoughts(suvisheshams) handed out to any one feeling blue, a big smile for her friends,the asbsolute freedom to say what ever you pleased with out minding the language,and the absolute terrbile way she destroyed the most beautiful songs .That is the Rekha Susan Mani I remember.

I wish I had never seen the mail, never heard the news , never known that she is no more in this world, for I would do anything in the world today to know that the smiling facebook photo is for real and that she is still alive and well.


From a cobweb of memories old,
I can still see your smiling face
Oh thoughts , they come in a flood
flashing scenes in my mind's maze

I remember the smiles , the jokes and fights,
Those rainy nights , when all was dark
I remember the laughter that echoed our room
The clouds too that made our friendships strong

When we parted ways , and you moved away
New friendships came and blocked our way
Time moved on , future beckoned
To distant lands we flew away.

We drifted apart ,as friends would do,
Not keeping in touch as we so promised to
With a pang in my heart , I realise today,
That you are gone for ever ,with angels for friends,

 Now I can see your smiling face,
in my mind ,clearer than ever before,
As I close eyes and let tears fall,
To grieve for a friend forever lost.

Wonders of Social Networking

Well, one of the wonders of social networking as we know it or can I just say Facebook is that gives intelligent suggestions as to who your friends might be ,and today , I found that a class mate from school (4th standard) had invited me on facebook.It was amazing to think that I was adding somebody that I had never seen , may be never even thought of after my primary school.But it brought back memories . I remembered our class being in the auditorium split up with separators. New classrooms were just being built, and the teachers had decided to place one girl between 2 boys on every bench. I was placed between , this guy say N and another guy who used to crack absolutely horrible jokes and N never used to open his mouth. What a pathetic place to be. But ultimately , N and I did become good friends, mostly because we couldn't stand the other guy and also because just before exams , he would come to my home with his mom and get my notes to get his notes corrected. Now I see his FB page and looks like he has become a hotshot mobile platform developer or something. My,how time does fly...I wonder if he remembers any of this himself, or  just add ed me seeing an intelligent suggesion from FB showing "You have many common friends , you come from same school, common sense says you might have come across each other somewhere" . Probably the latter . I would have done the same myself.