Activity wall in Grade 1 - ParenthoodDiaries #78

Here is a recent addition to our activity-walls at home. These are the activities of Bharat & Bhuvan in 1st standard, so far.

The ones at the center are made in N.R. & V.S.R girls high school, Inkollu, when we went on Diwali vacation.

A few other drawings were made during summer break when my mom & dad visited us.

I love decorating them on our walls and now kids are particular about pasting their art too!

Voting and kids - ParenthoodDiaries #77

The election was conducted in our kids' school recently. Bharat & Bhuvan came home and said - "Amma, we too had ink on our fingers, like how that aunty had on her finger (referring to the recent general elections".

I asked whom they had voted for, and if they answered, I intended to say that they should not be disclosing the answer as a rule. But their answer had me laughing.

Bharat said, "Amma, Bhuvan likes fans so he voted for the fan symbol, and I like kites, so I voted for the kite symbol".

I realized later while discussing with my mom, that while conducting elections for kids, we must not use symbols

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Self appraisal - Parenthood diaries #76

Self appraisal is the best appraisal.

We keep saying this in the corporate world, but the below work by my kids made me realize, that self apprising is part of core human behavior that makes us feel good about ourselves. In this undesirably competitive world, self apprising in its truest & honest form helps us to cultivate our learnings in a meaningful way.

By the way, please observe the forged signature of their madam on one of the pages above.

Movie - Amaran

Many stories are told. But some stories need to be told. One such story that needed to be told and that was told in a meaningful way was of the Indian Army Major and his wife, Mukund Varadarajan and Indu Varghese, through the movie Amaran.

I watched it in a theater in Tamil without english subtitles, despite of writing on the certificate page that the movie is in Tamil with subtitles. Well, since it's an army backdrop, i could follow the Hindi and English conversations. The rest of the part could be followed easily, mainly due to Sai Pallavi's expressive eyes.

College love story followed by the major's monumental work in the Army and his unfortunate demise in an Army operation, storyline is nothing different but the way the characters have been depicted and the picturization of key sequences in army operations make the movie a meaningful watch.

Sivakarthikeyan and Sai Pallavi have excelled in their roles as Mukund and Indu. Yet another beautiful script-choice by Sai Pallavi, who lived in the character and acted with ease! She would have been a definite contender for the national award, had her role been lengthy enough for consideration. I'm not completely aware of the rules though.

Background score and a couple of songs are extraordinary.

If you haven't watched it, please watch it on Netflix.

Pushpa 2 - The Rule

 Neither a wildfire nor a fire. Just a flower. A worthy flower for a 20-minute sequence and a smell-less one for 3 hours!

Story without soul. Characterization without essence. Emotions without relatability. Simply put, a wasted opportunity and a disappointing sequel. Now I understand why Sukumar said he did not have a story when he first narrated the sequences to Arjun.

Part 3 is announced and I wonder if the makers are planning to go from "international" to "interstellar", to depict the rampage!

The protagonist lives through the story to gain respect, but it seems the direction-department mistook respect for money; money earned through semi-vulgar scenes, mindless elevations, and a flaw-filled storyline.

Cake-taking scenes being, 2000 tons of wood getting shifted as a mere 100 bullock carts, as well as wishing for a daughter post conceiving. The director is said to be from a mathematics and physics background, but in this movie neither maths nor science is respected. Let alone respecting the audience, with a 3 hour 20 minute ride without knowing where it's headed.

On a lighter note, if it takes only 500 crores to change the CM, instead of making this movie with 500 crores of budget they could have changed the CM itself, which would have heavily benefited the fans and many more in the state!

Music is the next level mishap except one song, and the picturization of that song made me wish I never watched it.

Arjun got a national award for the film's first installment, which showed a commoner's successful rise to the top. But this time round, the demigod has failed to rule. Clearly.

All in all, not an impressive watch. And definitely not worthy of the hiked ticket prices or its IMAX or 3D releases! Looks like the makers had to gain as much money as they could, before the word of mouth starts spreading. Box office records are on one side, the makers know that they haven't produced a deserving sequel, to the humongous phenomenon that Pushpa created three years ago!

This is an honest perspective, straight from the heart of a cinema-lover, with all respect to the efforts put in by the entire cast and crew of the film. Feeling sorry about the way the end credits were designed, I bet anyone could read a single name out of the long list that escaped in a fast forward mode!