Variety is the spice of life

Music has this special place in everyone's heart. Even the lyrics that you might not have heard for years, comes rushing to your mind the moment you think of it or hear the music associated with it. At times it becomes a ear worm that refuses to switch off, playing continuously in loop. Likewise are the singers i would say. Years back, when my friend mentioned about Mohammad Rafi, i was hearing his name for the very first time and was thinking of him as some foreign individual. It was several years later only i got accustomed to his mesmerizing talent and all those fantastic songs in his honey dipped voice. Kishor kumar got introduced as a comedian in movies and later only realized it was the same guy who sang all those master class songs. Even now, the moment i think of him, his performances in padosan or chalti ka naam gaadi comes to mind and then only his mellifluous voice. Ditto goes for SPB.  For long his name was a default one that i assumed to be present on every movie title...

 I started this book at around 3 AM one night, unable to sleep and wrapped it up by 8AM same day. At that time, I was still in the second part of Silent Parade which i had started almost a month back!!! Netflix seems to've bought all of Coben's novels and have made them into web series. The catch being that, most of them are set in Baltic or Eastern European region. So right from character names to the lead actors almost everything is European about it!! Naama enamo Americala poranthu valantha pola, somehow the American setup, seems to have a sense of familiarity about it that is strictly lacking in Europe, especially Baltic or Scandinavia, based stories. While the book was much easy a quick read, having been based on America, seems like the series by the same name, is set in Poland. For the first time, i get to see a Coben series, after reading the book. And going by the first episode, seems they've tweaked the story majorly!!! Adhey kadhai thaanannu lighta doubt coming. F...

There are many kinds of tortures in this wicked world. But the worst of all should be not knowing how the story ends in a book that you started but unable to finish it and yet not wanting to drop it without finishing!!! The story is so slow that at times, the words seem to simply hang in air, refusing to settle down into a sentence. To top it all, that this being a translated version with scores of characters having names that are as easy to remember as organic chemistry equations, doesn't make it any easier!! I began reading this book sometime early this year or was it a continuation from last year i don't remember. It picked pace when Thala mentioned it and i seemed to hit a dead end in the first part, that simply refused to move forward despite me doing hop skip and jump across several sections. The comfort of having seen "Galileo" series, which gave a face to Yukawa, Kishitani, Kusanagi and Utsumi, got lost pretty soon with the story dragging between two murders t...

Malayalam movie world has always been blessed with great looking actresses. But in recent years, they've churned out several good actors who are not just stars but fantastic performers as well. In the past decade or two, their lineup has been one of the best in the country which no other "wood" can boast off, right from Nivin Pauly to Fahadh, Dulqur, Kunchako, Tovino and in the recent years the list has only grown with the former lot holding steady. Basil thomas, Vineeth  srini are my latest favorite and looks like the general audience loves their movies as well. The more recent addition being that Gafoor boy who starred in Premalu and I am Kathalan. They seem to have the right set of actors for every age category with Mammooty and Mohan lal still going strong alongside Prithiviraj and co. And their way of storytelling has started to change as well, adapting to mainstream trends of other states. They were already master story tellers and melody still rules their songs, wi...

While watching Jurassic park with junior (for the umpteenth time) there was one guy who looked very familiar. If you've seen the same movie several dozen times, obviously some level of familiarity has to seep in. But this guy in particular, the one who steals the dino DNA/embryo thing from the lab, looked very familiar. It suddenly dawned on me from where and then only i realized he is from Seinfeld, where this guy plays a character called Newman, despite having seen that series several times i had never actually written about it!! Arthritis of the memory may be!! Many of my friends have told me that compared to Friends, they prefer Seinfeld better. While those who vouch for Friends are settled in India not one of the Seinfeld fans are here at the moment. Maybe it comes with the territory. The series is probably the most Americanist of series I've ever seen. It is openly racist in many situations, especially the one involving a Pakistani hotelier who gets deported back to his n...

Wifey has enrolled Junior in a group called Bala Muktas. That group is run by a dedicated bunch of ladies who teach slokas and stories on our Puranas to kids for free. They conduct bajans and special performances at their homes and whomever is graceful enough to give them space. It is such a positive group that kids relish going to their sessions. What started as an online class during Covid times is now a thriving weekly session attended by at least a dozen kids along with their parents. Last week they had arranged for a recital cum drama kind of a presentation on Ramayana (till Paaduka pattabishekam part), where in each kid was given a short speech on the character they play. They have to narrate their part as a character sketch and the filler portions where supported by the teachers and rest of the kids into making it a mini drama with small acts. Each kid aced their role and the way they spoke without stage fear, the eldest of the kid being from sixth standard with majority of the ...