Vaksana Farms - Dec 2021 vacation

Vaksana Farms 

After a tiring trip in Kumbakonam visiting temples, a quiet and relaxing vacation is what we needed and that is exactly what the Pico farm delivered! The elegant farmhouse with it’s glass exteriors give you a view of the beautiful greenery around from the cool indoors. Set among farming lands in a somewhat remote village, you can be assured of peace and tranquility, far away from the hustle-bustle of the city and noise of the highways.

True to its name, the farmhouse is a small duplex house with a kitchen, study and living room on the ground floor and sleeping area in the first floor. The house is filled with posters of kid’s favorite – Tintin, Asterix-Obelix, etc., immediately drawing the kids in. There is also a variety of books if you would just want to sit back in the reading nook in the living room and enjoy some quiet reading time. While there is no TV, there is a good internet connection if you want to stream something on your device.

The farmhouse has few dogs, cows and a pony – and these kept our kids busy all the time! For once, I was not worried about where my kids are and what they are upto. The dogs and the puppies were safe and my kids couldn’t get enough of them! The pony is a different story J I can’t decide if he loves people and hence keeps coming to us, or just doesn’t want us there :D He needed some strong words and a pat from Mr Sivaraman to send him away. The pony unfortunately had to be tied up most of the time since he was just too big for us to deal with.

One key ingredient to make a place warm and happy are the hosts and the food -  Mr Sivaraman and his wife had this in abundance!  They made our stay all the more memorable with their warm welcome, home-cooked meals and regular check-in to make sure we are comfortable and have everything we need. I was truly amazed at the number of food items our hostess churned out for us! Within the realms of traditional vegetarian South Indian cooking, she managed to prepare so many different varieties of food and from different ingredients! I also felt guilty and wondered if I should lend a hand…….but then this is my vacation and I am a hopelessly lazy person :P A special mention to Shekar, his wife and Pushpa who support Mr Sivaraman and his wife in running the farm and farmhouse.

While I was not planning to step out anywhere, KIruba’s list of places to visit was tempting. So we ended up going to Akkarai Kali Amman temple. The drive was amazing with mostly a sea of greenery on both sides of the road! While I have driven through villages with paddy or sugarcane fields on both sides, this is the first time I came across clumps of plantain farms, sometimes casuarina trees, mango farm, etc. The temple is situated in the middle of a lake and you would have to walk through a shallow river to reach it. Since there was no one around to guide us, we didn’t want to risk going through the water – none of us know swimming and the water was quite slushy. However, we had a good time playing near the bank and attempting to reach the falls. Despite all the beauty of nature, here again we found trash and filth near the water falls. There was even an overturned garbage can. So we avoided the place where the water falls flows through the rocks.

Probably because of the timing of our trip (too soon after the heavy rains) there was not much to see or do on the farm. That is something I was looking forward to, especially for my kids to experience. I hope to visit again during a more appropriate season. Until then, thanks for a memorable 2021 year-end vacation!

Modern Love Chennai - Review

During my Kerala trip I started watching Modern Love Chennai, and managed to complete the series a few days back. I have watched the Mumbai, New York, and Amsterdam series. And by far the Chennai series is probably the only one where I found my most favourite and many favourites as well. I don't really remember the earlier ones that well but what stands out is Anne Hathaway’s ‘Take me as I am Whoever I am’, ‘Hers was a World of One’ on gay couple adoption in New York series; ‘Raat Rani’, ‘Mumbai Dragon’,  ‘My Beautiful Wrinkles’ in Mumbai series; ‘Episode 2’, ‘In the Eye of the storm’ from Amsterdam. Music was also mostly wonderful in the series. The composition of the theme song, and individual songs in most of the stories was quite good too. 

Before I start with the beautiful ones, let me get the biggest disappointment and in-retro redundant story out of the way - ‘Paravai Koottil Vaazhum Maangal’. Why tarnish the memory of a beautiful movie like Marupadiyum? Of all the philandering husband stories, Marupadiyum is probably the only one with a strong female lead who stands up for herself, decides to find her own identity and become an independent woman. 

I watched Marupadiyum when I didn’t fully understand the gravity of the story. But what struck me is the end to the story - I found it very refreshing, filled with hope and zest for life. And much later when I heard the song ‘Nallathor veenai seithei’ I could fully appreciate the depth of mental turmoil that Thulasi (Revathi’s character) goes through. The whole story is centred around how a woman - who is dependent on her husband financially and emotionally - maintains her dignity and self-respect, and finds her inner-strength to live independently in this world. While this might not be so scary or novel these days, it should be seen in the context of our society during the 1980s and 90s. Now to think about it, wonder if using Bharathiyaar’s song was yet another subtle hint at the strong woman he envisioned! 

With this stupid ridiculous dedication, Bharathiraaja has muddled up the idea of a modern independent woman with being detached and emotionless. How else would you describe a woman who leaves her kids behind with her husband and the ‘other woman’ and decides to live an independent life? To me the character seemed a spineless sacrificial lamb! The story gives rise to so many questions! Who is she to decide that the kids should be separated from her?Don’t the kids have any say in it? Can a family life with kids be so easily replaced by work life? Is it so easy to make kids live with a new woman and they not even miss their mother? Is a woman’s role in her family so easily replaceable? The story ultimately reduces the role of a woman to being a wife, cook, maid, nanny…..but what about the emotional connect? the bonding? How can anybody in their right mind come up with a story like this?! 

And giving characters the real name of the actors in Marupadiyum is such a genius stroke! Arrgh….And what is with the husband character? During the whole awkward episode he seems like another furniture in the room, albeit smoking at times. The only thing the movie got perfectly right is the awkwardness of the whole situation. The extended silence, inability to make small talk, etc. If those weren’t bad enough, she invites the ‘other woman’ to stay over for the night. I kept watching the whole movie hoping there will be some sensible conclusion to this story. Maybe they all realize their mistake and decide to go back to their earlier life, or maybe decide to put this off until kids are out of the nest? But no……….the director managed to keep the awkwardness until the end. And what exactly was the point of belatedly telling us about their first meeting?! To show that she is still hopelessly in love? Or that a love based on intellectual interests will not last? All in all, the father character (Delhi Ganesh) seemed to be the only sensible one. But unfortunately he wasn’t heard by anyone and was made to feel like pazheya panchangam. Moving on……

‘Ninaivo oru paravai’ is the other story I wasn’t ok with. Not that there was anything bad, but I really didn’t get the point of it. A lot of banter between the couple, their interests, etc., were interesting and engaging but the story seemed over-sexualized and unnecessarily so. Until the end we dont get to know why they broke up their relationship. I don’t know if the intent of the story is their relationship arch and the reason for breakup is redundant? But somehow the relationship arch didn’t seem strong enough and warranted an explanation for their breakup. There was also a hint that what is happening in real life was written as a script by the hero - here again there was not much depth to this storyline. On the whole the story seemed very muddled up. What I did love about this story was the beautiful songs in the background. Of late I have taken to watching some English series where mood and feelings of the characters is expressed through beautiful songs in the background. So beautiful that I make it a point to read through the lyrics. It was refreshing to find a Tamil movie adopt a similar style. I especialy loved Kadal Alaigalil ‘Aanaal’ song, Thaen Mazhaiyo songs in this movie. 

All other stories were lovely and beautifully done. ‘Lalagunda Bommigal’ shows the stark reality of girls conned by lecherous men and the unlikely event of a serial conman turning out to be a loyal husband. ‘Margazhi’ is yet another beautifully crafted story of a young girl who finds love and attention during a difficult phase in her life,that helps her come out of her loneliness. The story is quite subtle and interlude between them when they play and disucss about music is very well done. When she realizes her innate qualities when he expresses what he loves about her is very touching. The story does have a documentary feel with tedious scenes. And I am not a big fan of Ilayaraja’s songs in this story. It vaguely reminded me of some old song and not in a very good way. And I wish he had allowed some young singer to lend voice, atleast that might have made the song more pleasing to listen to. I am not sure if this is a popular opinion, but I felt like the movie is trying to say Margazhi has many significance - it is a celebration of music of different kinds and not just Carnatic, music can be enjoyed in many ways and not just in the form of concerts, it reminds you to discover and enjoy music for the sake of it.

It is a very tough pick between ‘Imaigal’ and ‘Kaadhal enbadhu…..’. While one is a very deep and heart touching story the other is a breezy romantic story of a girl falling in and out of love and eventually finding her soul mate. Despite the short duration, Imaigal has packed a lot of layers into its story and is beautifully enacted by Ashok Selvan and TJBhanu. The story brings out the difficulties of a parent with a medical problem/disability while caring for a young child,  how our youthful dreams are overtaken by the practicalities of a family life, how our interests and hobbies go into the backburner once we get busy with out lives,  etc. The story not only shows the frustration of a woman who is partially blind, but also of the people surrounding her, especialy her husband. While you can feel the fear and frustration of the woman, you can also empathize with what the man is missing out in his life. It would seem tad selfish, but living a monotonous life day-in and day-out is sad. 

Where was this Ritu Verma all these years?! She seems like a very familiar face but not sure if I have actually seen her in any earlier movie (except Nitham oru vaanam’). She is so bubbly, spontaneous, cheerful, unabashed……it is like the younger day Khushbo, Jyothika, Laila, Asin, all packed into one! She manages to maintain her energy and humor throughout the movie! It is very refreshing to find a heroine with a great comedic sense. The story also manages to stay true to romantic-comedy genre by creating a humor out of every situation. Her quest for finding a breakup song for a woman is especially funny. The umpteen homages to significant scenes from Tamil romantic movies are so well done. The scene with Baradwaj Rangan is quite funny, especially since he comes across as a very serious film critic while the situation in the story is so naive and juvenile. 

I ended up watching Imaigal, kaadhal enbadhu….. and Margazhi twice in as many days. It was that good! I think this has set the bar really high for any future Modern love series. 

My PS-2 Review

Prologue: So I did read the book again after watching PS-1 though only until Arunmozhi’s ship sinks. I think a big miss in the movie is the visions of Mandakini that Sundara Chozar sees that makes him mentally unstable. Kundavai plots to bring Arunmozhi safely back to Tanjavur and not Sundara Chozar. A very interesting scene in the book that reveals a layer to Sundara Chozar’s character is the one with the poets. Unfortunately this is not shown in as much detail. Also, the conversation between Aditha and Parthibendran in Mahabalipuram where Aditha ruminates about the futility of war and how contribution to art and welfare is the true legacy left by a King is also a very interesting one. However, it is probably too much to ask from a movie. Now coming to PS-2……

I actually saw the movie twice. Once with kids and Anand in Chennai soon after it released, and again in Bangalore with my sister. I loved the movie both times :) Before I forget……what is with Satyam (or should I now say PVR) charging you for butter in the popcorn?! What cheapos?! I remember Satyam CEO writing a long letter to his patrons at the time of PVR takeover about the continuity in their quality of service, and specifically the continuity in the quality of popcorn. I suppose he left the pricing vague and the vultures in PVR zeroed in on it? Unfortunately I ended up giving money to PVR again when I saw the movie in Bangalore. Seriously pathetic. 

Back to the movie…….

Between the four of us, we were armed with the (refreshed) knowledge of two versions of translated Ponniyin Selvan books, 1 ACK version to quickly identify any deviations from the original! Considering the complexity of the story, we were pretty sure the movie would be highly disappointing. But we actually ended up falling in love with Mani’s version! Mani has managed to give it just the right amount of tweaks to stay true to the spirit of this story. 

While the first part was all about introducing the characters, the second was about their relationship, the pivotal role they play, and moving the story forward to bring it to a logical conclusion. 

I remember the whole episode of Aditha Karikalan-Nanthini’s past and the role Kundavai plays in it narrated very briefly in the book. But it made sense to go into the details of this relationship in the movie for the viewers to appreciate the depth of the relationship and Aditha’s anger and frustration. 

While none of the characters get much screen time (except Vikram of course!) the time they do get is very meaty and exhibits layers in their characters without making it obvious. The only characters I wish had more screen time were Vandiyathevan-Nambi, and Vandiyathevan-Kundavai. 

Without many scenes or interactions Mani has managed to show a strong connect between Vandiyathevan and Kundavai. I dont know if this is my own extrapolation but I felt their common interest and goals drew them closer and hence the chemistry between the actors as well. Both loved and wanted to defend the Chola empire, both were focused on protecting and keeping the two princes safe, despite knowing the dangers of the expedition Kundavai asked Vandiyathevan to go to Lanka and he in turn took on the mission with pride and bravery. And the actors are such an unlikely pair! I dont think we have seen them together in any movie before but they turned out to be so good together. 

One of the best scenes in the movie is when the three siblings meet. This doesn’t exist in the original. Despite deviating from the original, this scene is so beautifully crafted that you can’t really complain. Mani has exhibited enough restraint to keep this from wallowing into an emotional scene. What is particularly significant is Arunmozhi’s and Kundavai’s understanding of the emotional turmoil Aditha is going through and their unwilling acceptance of his decision to go to Kadambur palace. 

Another interesting deviation from the original is Kundavai putting together the pieces of Nanthini’s past and guessing her mother’s connection to Sundara Chozar. While the book exhibited Arunmozhi’s intelligence and generosity in the way he figured out and accepted Mandakini’s relation with his father (and Nanthini), in the movie he comes across as clueless as to why she looks like Nandhini. This unfortunately puts Arunmozhi in a bad light, but added more weight to Kundavai as she puts it together and confronts her father. The saving grace is how Arunmozhi handles the coronation at the end. Especially his dialogue ‘peraasai thaan arasar ku azhagu’. 

I think the whole twist in the tale of baby swapping and Madhuanthakar-Sendhan Amudhan backstory is too much for a movie, especially if it is a two-part movie for a 5-part book. Mani’s way of completely removing that piece and yet keeping the spirit of the book by showing the different faction’s love and loyalty towards their empire seemed apt. My daughter cried foul ‘But he is not the real Madhuranthakan?This is so wrong!’ But eventually (after we convinced her that Kalki’s is a fictional story and that is not what happens in reality) she agreed that the ending makes sense. On a side note: I am not sure how many mother-daughter tend to be fans of same actors but we can. I am a proud mother of a daughter who is also a fan of Vikram after this movie. By the way, she also loves the younger day Amitabh Bachchan (after a good dose of Sholay, 2 aur 2 paanch and few other ‘my younger day’ favorites of mine). 

Now coming to the other ‘best’ scenes and the actor who myself and my sister drooled over! It is a hard pick between his 3 scenes - when he enters Kadambur, his meeting with the chieftains, and his last scene with Nanthini. When he enters the Kadambur palace, the way he baits the Kadambur chieftain, piques on Pazhuvettarayar for marrying a young woman by repeatedly calling him ‘paatta’, the subtle transformation on seeing Nanthini all this while manoeuvring a restless horse is just amazing! 

Vikram is just as amazing when he confronts the chieftains for springing Madhuranthakan as the heir despite Sundara Chozar anointing Aditha as the prince. I couldn’t help but notice that Vikram is the shortest of the actors in that scene yet with the strongest screen presence. 

The final scene between Nanthini and Aditha is yet another gem in VIkram’s acting. How does someone look so handsome, confident and yet so vulnerable! His acting is just unbelievable in this scene. 

Unlike PS-1, music in this part was really good! My favorite is the Ilaiyoor Soodaar. It sounded like a very deep and poignant song. The composition, visuals and singing were very beautiful in the movie. Unfortunately I am unable to find the lyrics with translation. While Aga-naga is a little annoying to listen to, it is quite good in the movie. I guess there was nothing much to complain about the background score either, though it is not something I usually notice. 

While I don’t pay much attention to the settings or visuals, one worth mentioning is the sculpture of Raavana holding up Shiva and Parvathi. It is a very beautiful relief on a stone. While it looks like it is facing the King, it is actually facing a sculpture of Rama’s pattaabhishekam. Interestingly, I came across a Chariot which had Raavana carrying the idols of Shiva and Parvathi in Thiruvannamalai temple. 

I dont think I will finish the rest of the book. Unfortunately, now when I read the book I visualize with the actors from the movie. So it kinda kills your experience of reading the book. Also, I have got the scenes from the book and movie so jumbled up! However, the next time they put up the Ponniyin Selvan drama, I will take my daughter along. Few years back when I saw, I found it a drag because a) I had forgotten the story b) I was all alone so no one to discuss what is happening on stage and c) the Tamil was too tough to follow. This time I will have her for company. She has read the story 3 times - all translated versions but different authors. So hopefully it will make for some stimulating company! 

About the Shiva trilogy.......

I ended up reading The Secret of the Nagas (second in Shiva Trilogy) just to make sure it is safe for my 11yr old to read. Having read the book twice I really didn’t want to read it all over again! Now that I have finished the book, I so wish I hadn’t read it! Not just because I now HAVE TO read the third to remind myself of what happens next, but also because I found too many problems with Amish’s style of writing. Problems that I either ignored or refused to acknowledge in my earlier reads…..

After reading the first three books of Ram Chandra Series (am a little weary of reading the last one in the series) I really ddin’t want to read anymore of Amish’s books. His portrayal of Ravana as some psycho killer really leaves a very bad taste. I grew up listening to my grandmom and aunt singing praises of Ravan for his valor, intelligence, etc. Abduction of Sita was seen as a minor flaw in his character rather than a serious offense. While today with our maturity and awareness it seems unforgivable that a man would forcibly abduct a woman and keep her imprisoned, at that time all I could see was the sappy Arun Govil (as Ram) vs the regal and fearsome Arvind Trivedi (as Ravan) in Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan. My admiration for Ravan was reiterated with Vikram’s portrayal of Beera in Mani Ratnam’s Ravanan.

Anyways, coming back to the Shiva Trilogy…………….

The first time I read the books it was so exciting and thrilling! While we come across analogies and reproduction of many western mythological stories, we have rarely come across an Indian counterpart except what we see in Amar Chitra Katha or the serious ones written purely based on the classics. So Shiva Trilogy filled a gap that I didn’t even realize existed. What made the book even more dear to heart is your favorite god being the protagonist in the story. While I do know Amish takes a lot of creative liberties in his portrayal of Shiva it was hard to not fall for the charming, romantic and handsome fictional Shiva in the book.

So I thought it would only be a bit tedious to read the book all over again, otherwise it should be an ok read. Unfortunately, I was left with feeling extremely irritated with Amish’s style of writing. It is not just the poor choice of words, grammatical errors, poor proofreading,….

For instance, no one ever just laughs in this book. They almost always ‘burst out laughing’. Irrespective of the situation, the surrounding, mood of the scene, they burst out laughing. Is it so hard to find an alternative way to describe laughter?

If I hadn’t known better I would have thought the book is actually the script of a Sanjay Leela Bhansali book. Time and time again Amish insists on listing every single person who accompanies Shiva wherever he goes….whether he is in a Vishnu temple, or on a ship, or paying respects to a King. Every single time there is a list of people who have accompanied Shiva. By the way, the list almost never changes. So why get into this level of detail every single time?! It is almost as if Amish had a checklist of things to say at every scene and he was just making sure it is covered. But what was the proofreader doing?!

And coming to how a scene is described….you know how in SLB movies and TV Soaps one person says something and then the camera pans to every single person to show their expression? That is how most of the scenes feel in this book. Just like in those movies/soaps this level of detail doesn’t serve any purpose.

Many a time the dialogues are so petty and unrefined. Especially the ones by Kali. They seem unnecessarily insulting to the other person and overly self-appraising.

The first two times I read the book, I found Amish’s way to interspersing characters and stories from our mythology into this story very clever and also gave us an interesting perspective. But after reading the Ram Chandra series, I am not so sure anymore. Especially the way Jamadagni story turned into one of Honor Killing doesn’t seem right. Honor Killing is too serious a topic to be used here.  

Of course, all this doesn’t take away the significance of this book and what it means to many of us. This is the first of its kind (at least to my knowledge?!) and gives the reader quite a thrilling and exciting ride. The book moves from adventure to adventure keeping the reader hooked and often wondering how did we get here? Like I said, this is my third read and I still wonder how did a certain situation come about?!

The philosophical discussions between Shiva and Vasudevs is quite interesting too, and is often thought provoking. Maybe because I usually don’t read spiritual or philosophical books, I found Amish’s take on Good vs Evil quite interesting. I also love how he made Mohini into the supreme goddess and the companion of Rudra. This puts a spin on how we view Rudra (as a representation of shiva in the form of chants and rudraksh seed) and Mohini (as Vishnu in the form of a beautiful woman). Considering how we revere Shiva and Vishnu as the two supreme deities, Amish’s take on Rudra and Mohini makes so much sense and fits right in place!

So now am off to get started with the 3rd and last instalment of this series. I only vaguely remember a little bit of what happens in this book, so am sure the suspense will still hold good 😊 Also since I have voiced most of what I find annoying, I should be able to ignore these flaws unless I find something new to complain about!

Kids these days......

Kids these days.....

This is my first experience of watching my kids do a group assignment, so am quite amazed at how independently they are able to do it without help from parents. 

For my son the teacher had formed groups and asked them to form a band and sing a Tamil poem as a group with music et all. And for my daughter - they had to enact a story from social studies. 

From the time he returned from school until the next morning my son and his band members formed a whatsapp group, did a gmeet call, assigned roles and instruments, decided on the beat for the drum, and then practiced on their own. The next morning they were all set to perform as a group with almost no in-person practice as a group! And their group was ranked first!

My daughter and her group decided on each person's role in school, once home they also created a whatsapp group. 1 kid took up script writing and promptly shared the script in a word doc in the group, while my daughter took up printing of 6 copies. The skit date moved to next week but they are already all set to perform! 

It is quite unnerving to see how easily they adapt to this virtual mode and don't let it come in the way of their routine!

Ponniyin Selvan part-1

Finally we saw Ponniyin Selvan! I must say it definitely lived upto the expectations built up by the positive reviews and ratnam fans, and I cant wait for the next part. 

Of all the great things in the movie the one that most impressed me was Karthi. He seems to naturally bring that perfect blend of humbleness, mischievousness, and macho-ism. In scenes with Nandhini devi and Kundavai, he somehow manages to hold his own even while showing how floored he is by their looks, stature, etc. And that holds true even in scenes with Aditha and Arulmozhi varman. He comes across as a valued warrior and a good friend even though he is doing their bidding. While every scene he was in was amazing, my favorite was his reaction to Poonguzhali when she asks him to give a message to Arulmozhi varman. 

Almost every actor fit the character perfectly……and I say almost because I didnt like Prakash Raj (esp after CCV) and I don’t understand what was Prabhu doing in this movie! In fact it took me a few mins to realise it was Prabhu. And after a few lame dialogues he vanished! Here is yet another role for Prakash Raj - a man who has seen better days, helpless in his current condition, commanding a certain respect from people around him due to his past glory even though they are backstabbing him, waiting for his sons to come home and take charge. Sounds familiar?! I think anyone could have fit that role however the key difference is he was called ‘Sundara’ chozar for a reason! So why Prakashraj?! 

Vikram was unbelievable! In the book, his history with Nandhini is said in bits and pieces and we need to piece it together. However, the movie brings it all out in one-rush and it doesn't even seem to be a secret or a discreet affair. While it might otherwise take a lot of songs and dialogues and context-setting to explain the history between them, his amazing acting takes care of all that! He is at his best when playing the role of a passionate person! Again, even when playing the role of Kundadvai’s brother, there was this subtle sibling equation between him and Kundavai when they meet. That scene was also wonderfully done. 

Kalki’s Ponniyin Selvan gave a lot of respect and importance to the female characters. Every one of them played a very significant role. Trisha, Aishwarya and Lekshmi deliver this really well.

Personally, my expectations from the movie were very low. I find ManiRatnam’s recent movies a little annoying. There is a lot of posturing, superfluous dialogues, forced acting. So I was actually dreading this movie. I thought - omg he is going to ruin it! But in reality, there was so much depth to the movie and a certain regard and respect to the original story. In many scenes the dialogues were so witty! Not the typical smart-ass dialogues we have been seeing of late. After seeing Baradwaj Rangan’s review I was convinced the movie has to be good - esp because he kinda voiced what I have always felt but couldnt articulate about CCV. 

I wonder i Maniratnam tried for a musical kinda of movie with so many songs interspersed into the story. For once, I found the songs actually annoying! Somehow they just slowed down the pace of the story and were an unnecessary distraction. Sorry ARR, somehow this time the songs just didn’t work. 

While most mythological/historical movies show actors with an overwhelming amount of jewelry and shiny clothes, in this it somehow wasnt so overwhelming. Despite the rich silk clothes and loads of jewelry, there was something radiant and beautiful, esp about Trisha and Aishwarya that had nothing to do with the clothes and accessories. And it was very very refreshing to see royalty wearing rich kanjeevaram silk. Except for very few scenes, almost all the sarees were rich kanjeevaram silks with beautiful color and border. Most historical/mythological movies resort to some weird georgette or some shiny clothes with embroidery and glittery stuff. But the sarees here were so classic - so rich and beautiful (sorry cant help repeating myself). However, what is with Aishwarya’s weird cheeks? Anyone else noticed?! One quick observation on accessories: Unlike the huge nose rings actors wear in such movies, these two wore very subtle and lovely nose rings. 

I unfortunately dont recall much of the story from the book - I read it 11yrs back while on maternity leave - in-between diaper change and feeding my babies :) I saw a drama version few years back, but couldn’t connect to most of the scenes. I definitely don’t recall reading lengthy fight scenes - neither the Rashtrakuta war nor the ones in Lanka. So I am getting back to the book and plan to watch the movie again to see just how much of a creative liberty has Maniratnam taken. 

Also, I think the movie must seem very disjointed and difficult to follow for those who haven’t read the book. I think it is too complicated to fit 2.5volumes of a book into a 3hrs movie. Since I had read the book and my kids had read the ACK version we could follow the story and appreciate every scene. So to anyone who says Maniratnam should send a book to help them follow the movie - well, it is a movie based on a book! So it goes without saying that a lot of details are bound to be missing if you haven’t read the original. And the beauty of watching a movie made from a book is to keep connecting it to the original and find out what is missing, what is handled smartly, what is handled even better than the book! So go read the book! And see it all over again….which is what I am going to do :)

THE Vacation 2022!!!

This year I decided to break away from our standard practice of going to a hill station around TN and instead explore a totally new place far away from home. I am not really much into travelling. Before marriage, our trips were always for visiting temples in TN - the usual Trichy-Madurai-Pazhani routine. The most exciting trip from my childhood was probably to Ooty! It was exciting because we went to sightsee in Ooty and not to see temples, and it is somewhat different from other trips because it was just our dad and us 3 sisters (mom couldn't join). I have been to Bombay and Delhi but I guess we spent more time at our grandparents' place rather than exploring the city. 

The travel bug caught me after my very first trip after marriage. My husband had planned an elaborate trip in Kerala full of experiences - we stayed in a Tree house, a Cave house, boathouse,etc across many places - Munnar, Idukki, Kumarakom, etc. Since then we have been to many more places - Mysore, Pune (Lonavala, Khandala), Thiruchendur, Thirunelveli, and close with Kutch - our last long trip before we settled down with kids. Few years back I took baby steps to travelling again with a 4-day trip to Kodai. But then my son fell sick and our doctor strictly advised us against going to a hill station. So since then we have been very conservative in our travels - mostly travelling to nearby towns and hill stations and often to places where we have a relative or close friend. So a week-long vacation to the North-East - a completely unfamiliar territory to all of us was very very exciting! To make it even better, my sister and her daughter joined in. 

I took help of my friend who was brought up in Guwahati and so very familiar with the Northeast region. She recommended a travel agent who put together an itinerary covering many places - though it was left to us to pick  and choose based on our interest. In the 7days we covered Guwahati, Shillong and Cherrapunjee. On the whole we were very impressed by the lush green vegetation, the people’s reticence in meddling too much with nature and instead making their life around it, the lovely valleys and mountains. A big disappointment was that we were unable to find anyone who would talk to us and give a little more context and backstory to the places we visited. We found maybe 2-3 people in this one week who were somewhat friendly and helpful. Also - shopping and traditional food completely evaded us! 

We landed in Guwahati on 24-Sep late evening around 7-30PM. The airport as such was quite devoid of people but when we stepped out we were very surprised to find hardly any vehicles or people on the streets! How can a city be so empty on a Saturday evening?! 

 

 

Just as I expected (although it is mighty obvious) there was bright sunlight streaming through the gaps in our curtain by 5AM! I thought - wow! More hours for our ‘Cultural Immersion!’ - a slogan I have been chanting since we landed in Guwahati (much to my kids’ annoyance). Shockingly,  for a city with early sunrise, no tea shops were open near our hotel. And we were in the middle of the city in a market area! 

Our agent had made a list of many places to see in Guwahati - museums, gardens, temples, zoo, etc. But we decided to prioritize -3 of them and visit any more places only if time permits. 

Our first stop was at the Sukreshwar Temple. The first thing that caught our eye was the beautiful bamboo frame for the foot bridge across the road of the temple. Later we found that many foot bridges in Guwahati have this bamboo frame. It gives a nice rustic touch to an otherwise mundane utilitarian bridge. 

Foot bridge with Bamboo frame

The temple complex actually had many sights to see. There was Janardhan temple, a small sanctum for Shiva and family, a walkway leading to Brahmaputra riverbank,and then Sukreshwar temple a level higher. It was interesting to note that the Janardhan temple had a priest while theShiva sanctum and Sukreshwar temple were open to devotees to perform their own rituals. Coming from the south where all temples have a hierarchy of roles (priest, assistant priest, an admin to issue tickets, etc.) this was quite a cultural shock. The Janardhan temple was big but there was just one sanctum with the lord’s idol. So it was a very quick visit. We next went to the Shiva temple beside it. Another interesting departure from the south is the beautiful brass idols for all the deities. All the idols were beautifully carved and were shining as if they were just made. The complex had a big Shiv ling with water dripping from a pot above it. There was a big snake encircling the shivling, and a nandi further away. On a raised platform were the idols of Murugan, Shiva, Parvathi and Ganesh. 

 

 

 

All these idols were just there for anyone to walk-in,touch, offer their prayer, perform ceremony, etc. I was quite taken aback by the easy access to the deities. There was no aarthi, sacred water, offering of flowers to devotees or any such formalities. So basically there was no takeaway from the temple! It all seemed so strange, so carefree and lacking any order. I consider myself lucky (after paying some money) if I get to see Nataraja statue up close in the Chidambaram temple. And by ‘upclose’ I mean some 50-100ft away. Yet here I was with full access to all the deities. I could look at every single idol from all angels and appreciate its beauty. But all I could feel was an overwhelming feeling of discomfort, of being put in a very strange situation where I didnt know how to react. I vaguely remembered that something like  this was mentioned in Amish Tripathi’s Shiva Trilogy and Biswanath Ghosh’s Aimless in Banaras. I think both authors talk about going around the main idol in the Kashi Vishwanath temple and touching the idol. 

We then went to the Sukreshwar temple and that was quite a revelation! The Sukreshwar temple was a large hall  with devotees spread across the hall performing rituals(some with a pujari’s guidance). Yet again there were beautiful brass idols of Lakshmi, Durga, Shiva, Ganesh. The floor was mostly wet because of all the ongoing rituals all over the place. But once I got past all this the main Shivling was a sight to behold! At first the sight of the sanctum was very confusing until I realized what was happening. There were many people singing, chanting and pouring water. When I finally got to see the shivling it was a huge one made of stone,with water dripping from a pot on top of the idol. The devotees all around were pouring water, wiping down the water,applying kumkum, etc. Again no priest! There was particularly one man who was singing with such abandon that it was very mesmerising to watch. We went a little closer to go around the deity and noticed that there were multiple people performing the rituals. One family was pouring cured, milk, etc., on the idol,  while most others were bringing water and pouring into the pot. The men were all in pants,shorts, tee-shirts. No dress code! There was no one overseeing anything or telling people what to do or not to do. This way of worshipping was somewhat liberating. In the south we believe the deity in a temple is powerful because of all the rituals performed by the priest (being a learned man), denying physical access to the common man,  and strongly believing in the existence of God in the idol. Yet, here we are in a temple where the common man is performing all the rituals, praying with such abandon, displaying just pure strong belief in God. How can such a deity not be powerful! So it was quite a surreal and awakening experience for me. Much later, in retrospect, I realized there was no woman in that sanctum - except one who was helping a man by passing on items for  the ceremony he was performing. And she was rather quiet and discreet. Otherwise not a single woman.  Huh. 

Sukreshwar

 

Of course,  I do realize that this is not common across the north or even within the Northeast. And by the way, we still got caught by charlatans trying to make money by tying a sacred thread to our wrist. We next went to the riverbank behind the temple. The Brahmaputra river is truly astounding in its vastness! Not that I have seen any other river to compare it with. The only huge waterbody I have seen (apart from Idukki and Veeranai dam) is our beach. So the still water stretching across such a vast area was an amazing sight. There were many along the bank offering prayers and performing rituals. So we chose to stay at one of the viewing points built for looking at the river. These viewing points also had benches, lamp posts. It gave the feel of being a very quiet and peaceful spot at night. 

Brahmaputra riverbank behind the temple

 

My half-baked attempt at panorama 

We then went to the Guwahati Zoo - apparently the largest in the Northeast region and is the 4th largest in India. I must say, after visiting Vandaloor zoo, Bannerghatta, Mysore Zoo, Hyderabad Zoo, it is a little difficult to objectively appreciate any new zoos that we might see. While the Aviary section was a refreshing change from others, the rest of the zoo was pretty standard or even worse. Some of the big cat’s enclosure was so small that they hardly had any space to move around and the Panthers definitely looked sick. And there were no elephants! That is so strange! Even the snakes section was disappointing - an extremely small section with 10-12 snakes. On the plus side, the zoo looked very lush with greenery. Not that the other zoos aren’t green enough. But something about the combination of trees, plants and rest of greenery made it seem a lot more naturally green than other Zoo. It was like walking through a hilly region lush with foliage. 

The entrance to the zoo

A really huge python

One of the selfie spots from the zoo

Now coming to the Aviary section - this is something I almost always avoid. Something about the caged birds sitting on a rod with their feathers, poop and half-eaten food around makes it a very ugly sight for me. However beautiful a bird might be, the sight and smell is too overwhelming for me to appreciate it. So when my niece insisted that we take a look at the section we unwillingly followed. But what a wonderful experience it turned out to be! The Aviary section was a huge area with lots of plants and trees (esp plantain) and a walkway carved out for us in the middle. You will find parrots, mynah, crane and many other birds (not the predatory ones, of course) happily roaming around with no fear of the humans walking among them. A peacock even walked past us at a touching distance! There were also loads and loads of rats that kept coming out of their burrow and sneaking food from the birds. Towards the end of the Aviary we came across a cute little mynah that was actually responding to people. It kept repeating ‘Moynah’ whenever someone called its name. Sometimes it would switch to a different sound - which sounded like it was tired of responding to us. It was one of the best sights I have ever seen of a bird!

Crane at the Aviary

The Mynah that kept talking! 

 

After almost 4hrs in the zoo we were terribly hungry. As we had already booked for the evening Brahmaputra Cruise, we had very limited time to have lunch. We tried looking for a vegetarian restaurant near the zoo or our hotel on Google and Zomato but found only cafes. We eventually ended up going to a very small fast food kind of place called 'Food Mantra' - a place we wouldn't step-in over here. It was so congested and the surrounding wasn't very clean. But on seeing us (and our visibly shocked faces!) the owner walked out to welcome us and insisted that we wait a few minutes for the table (the one and only,  except the bench against the wall) to clear. We quickly succumbed as we were so very hungry and tired and didn’t have the patience to look for anymore vegetarian places. 

There was not a single traditional Assamese food - just your standard fried rice, pulav, roti, sabji - dishes you would find in any standard North Indian and Chinese restaurant. However, the food was very yummy and quite economically priced too. We were a little worried about the kids catching any bugs as the place didn’t look very clean. It was almost a hole-in-the-wall kinda place with space for 12 (when tightly packed!). And the little glimpses of the kitchen we saw didn't fill us with anymore confidence. Thankfully kids didn’t show any negative reaction to the food. 

Grumpy and tired at Food Mantra

After a very brief rest at the room we started off for the Brahmaputra cruise by the Alfresco Grand cruise line company. When we booked the cruise, we only knew of two options - a sunset cruise and a cultural one with folk dance,food,etc. The latter was expensive for a group of 6 and was at 6-30 to 8 or so. So we opted for the sunset cruise. However, on arriving at the riverbank, we found that there was also another cruise where they take you to an island in the middle of the river and visit Umananda temple, which is supposed to be a very beautiful temple. Am sure by now you know we didn't get to go on this cruise. There was also a ropecar option that took you from shore to island and back. We couldn't go on this as well. I am not sure if people just want to answer your questions to the point or indifferent to a tourist’s interest in exploring their city. But no one gave us the complete options of what all we can do at the Brahmaputra. Though my friend told me about the temple and Sunset cruise, it was sometime back and too confusing to put it together until you are on the spot. Even our driver kept insisting that the ropecar was broken, whereas we saw people going back and forth right in front of our eyes! 

Anyways, the Sunset Cruise was a wonderful experience in itself. Not that we actually saw the setting sun…….there was slight darkness at one point and soon it was completely dark. So we didn't really see the sunset. But the slow moving of the ship, the wonderful music onboard and the discotheque was a great experience in itself. The cruise was very neatly arranged and well organized.  There was no confusion or hassle over which table to occupy. There was already a table for 6 that had our name plate. Likewise, everyone’s table was prebooked with no cause for confusion. 

Before boarding the cruise

Live music onboard

Guess who is not enjoying the cruise :p 

View from the cruise before it got dark

A final pic before leaving

The cruise had a mixed set of people onboard and I realized it serves different purposes for different people - a lot like a park! It was like a place to hangout for a group of young girls, a quiet evening for a family with older adults, a fun outing for a couple with a small kid, and a break from routine for a young mother who had come with her mother, child and a friend. The cruise had a mini bar-cum-restaurant  and live music, and much later a DJ as well. We ordered some snacks and tea for ourselves. Unlike all other places that are frank about serving only Nescafe or Machine coffee, this one had a cryptic coffee called ‘handmade coffee’. On enquiry we found out that they mix nescafe ‘by hand’ and make the coffee. Ahem….so again we avoided the coffee and went for the tea. However, my sister tried coffee a few times (not on the cruise though) and almost always repented. 

The live music included some melodious songs from 80s and 90s bollywood movies. All the songs were humworthy and were beautifully rendered by the singer. This was followed by a DJ who combined different catchy songs of Bollywood and turned the floor into a discotheque. It was so nice to see people of different age groups dancing to the music. A few in particular were having a lot of fun dancing. Anywhere else I would have been weary of the combination of discotheque and bar but here it was just people having harmless fun and minding their own business. We begged and begged the kids to join the crowd - and we have two dancers in our group! Still none of them would budge and unfortunately none of us have ever been on a dance floor. So we closed the evening on some borrowed fun, but exhilarated all the same!