Wrong place Wrong time

Ok..It has been quite few weeks since I updated the happenings around me.

The first and foremost that I want to share here is my Delhi trip fiasco. My dear husband is currently employed in Delhi and ever since I returned from that ice-cold foreign nation I didn’t get a chance to meet him. So we promptly planned for the trip on May end. On the clutch of curiosity, my hubby completely forgot the horrendous climate Delhi had at the moment. I being a total naïve to northern part of India packed my bags eagerly to enjoy the trip. In this whole mishap, the soul that suffered hard was my baby daughter.

One thing that Delhi made me realises is that, it is a pure bliss to spend summer in Chennai. Delhi made Chennai a safe heaven. On the first day evening, we went to India gate in the whopping 44-degree hotness and my poor daughter cupped her cheeks unable to cope up with the blazing temperature. We soon cancelled all our plans to visit the world famous tourist spots except for the wonder Tajmahal.

Yes we couldn’t cancel our trip to the world wonder mainly because my hubby already booked tickets and it was not possible to cancel them later. That’s how we landed on the world most beautiful place in the worst possible climate. I don’t want to go in detail on this disaster further…

Now, coming to reading I have been quite consumed by the series ‘The song of Ice and Fire’. This is one of the most brilliant stories I have read recently. This series is comprised of seven volumes and I am still at fourth. Next to Harry potter, this series has already gained a special place in my heart. I would highly recommend it to anyone.

Well…this is for now.

The New found love…

For the past few months my old Samsung mobile which I bought couple of years back was in sick bed. So, I was in search for a good mobile. The most obvious choice was Iphone 5 or Samsung 3 or Samsung 4. My hubby has the iphone 5 and I couldn’t stand its interface. I took forever even to close an app in iphone. Personally I never have been a fan of apple. Their Itunes software is enough to put me off any time. Seriously, how such masterminds could produce duds as Itunes ? I know not!

Thus I pledged my loyalty to Samsung again and picked out Samsung 3 for the sheer reason Samsung 4 was not out then. Besides Samsung 3 had all the features I expect in a mobile. Ok, now I’m completely in love with this new gadget.

Be it video or music or browsing, this mobile has exceeded my expectations. Watching movies in its wide screen is a sheer pleasure. And the battery life is great. I could watch couple of movies without rushing for charger in between. That’s a relief.

Another surprise is camera. It gives quality picture. So if nothing else to do, my daughter and me are happily beaming in front of this. Also the camera application itself has lot of options to take a picture. For instance, there is an option called ‘Best face’ which when chosen would capture eight burst of shots in one click and later I could select once among the best. This is really helpful to capture my daughter face, which she forever shakes to avoid being captured in a photo. But in this option at least in one shot I could perfectly capture her cute face.

My only problem with this mobile is its slowness. Since I already used Iphone 5 for sometime I could clearly see the difference. Iphone 5 wins in this aspect. However, considering the price I would just let this go.

I mobile have many other options, which I can praise for all day long. I am just happy with this newfound love…

Settled down…

I really don’t know what I have been doing, but days are running fast. It’s almost a month since I came back, but it feels like yesterday. I can safely say, I have settled down at last.

 Upon landing, my daughter- for heaven known reason- got allergic towards everything she touched or breathed. This literally bothered me. So, for the past few weeks, we both were touring all the hospitals in and out. Needless to mention my baby’s aversion to doctors, and her innate skill to kick and scream at them. I tell you, crying babies are stronger than kick boxer. I had to drag myself between her and the doctor to avoid any nuisance. Now after so much of hardship, her health is improving a lot. She has once again regained her lost energy and that makes us all even busier.

 After a year gap, Chennai office suddenly appeared to me as an alien. During my absence, my colleagues seem to have picked up lots of naughty habits. Once that troubles me is that stealing of chairs. Yes you heard me right. I cannot fathom what had gone wrong in my co-habitants mind. But they are completely occupied by the thoughts of stealing other chairs. Leave your chair for a meeting and you will never find the trace of it in this lifetime. Simply gone. So far to my regret I have lost nearly 20 or so cushion seats to those predators. Now finding those seat stealers has become a part of my daily work.

 As I mentioned earlier, my daily 5hr eternal journey to office has kicked back in. And that provides ample time to read and relish. I have been devouring crime fictions with sweat dripping over me in an oven like office bus. But who cares ? J To my surprise, I have started to enjoy this long journey as well….

Back to Chennai ! :)

It’s been more than 3 weeks since I departed the snowy city to oven-baked Chennai. My London departure was totally unplanned. I simply had to pack everything in a day and rush back to homeland. I was extremely happy that I could finally drop all those deadly body covering garments and roam free in Chennai. Of course I forgot the blazing Chennai heat while I was busy complaining the layers of sweaters there.

Thus I finally landed here and it has only taken few weeks to get the gist of the Chennai heat. This climate shift is so major and I’m still struggling to judge, which can beat me to death – The horrendous hot Chennai or spine chilling London. Anyway, no more rants about climate. The grass is always greener at the other end.

My husband has to pack his bags to Delhi on a work assignment. His future prospects looks like he has gladly escaped my presence and has no plans to get back to me. Now this has placed me in great dilemma on which state I will be migrated this year. This situation has stressed me so much and now I feel homeless. Phew !!!

Another hitch is my daughter. Her body is so used to the cool climate and now she literally struggles to survive at Chennai. Ever since we landed here, I am the frequent visitor to Paediatricians and skin specialists. Hence Chennai keeps me busy with all these and I have no time on personal front. That explains my absence.

To rub salt on wound, my 5 hr daily travel to office has kicked back in. Life has come down to a letter – RANT.

White Corridor by Christopher Fowler

Christopher Fowler books are my latest addiction. His books featuring elderly detectives Arthur Bryant and John May in Peculiar crime unit (PCU) are gems to read. So far, I have read three of his books and each of them made me glued to his story till I finish it off. The last one being ‘White corridor’. 

 

In this, the pathologist of Peculiar Crime Unit (PCU) has been found dead behind fastened mortuary making the entire team at PCU as suspects for the crime. For the first time, Arthur and May is not there to investigate the murder as they get struck in a blizzard. Hence the PCU has to solve the crime without the aid of their senior mentors.  In the meanwhile, Arthur and May finds another serial killer who waits to murder the stranded people in the blizzard.

 

The novel has two interesting plots and Christopher Flower has weaved a chilling suspense out of it. The chapters are intertwined with the happenings at PCU and Arthur/May’s adventure at blizzard. The elderly detectives crude humour and unorthodox approach are fun to read. And most importantly, the ending connected all knots making it a most satisfying read. I couldn’t pinpoint any cons in this novel. I would highly recommend Christopher’s novel to anyone who loves crime fiction.

Oscar Fever

Ever since the Oscar awards, I have been eyeing all those impressive movies that bagged the most prestigious awards in the world. Now weekend late nights are treat for me. So far managed to watch 4 of them.

Argo
If I need to express this film in one word, I would say ‘Brilliant’!!! Absolutely brilliant in every sense. This is probably one of the best thrillers I have seen recently. The nail baiting suspense pushed me to seat edge and I had to literally freeze myself from moving fast forward and watch the climax!!! Screenplay was handled at its best.

Lincoln
This movie is kind of tricky for me. Because before watching the movie I had no clue on what this 13th amendment is all about. So it took me some time to grasp what is going on in the screen. If someone wants to watch this movie, I would recommend you to read the review and get an idea on the theme of this movie. After some background study I did enjoy this movie thoroughly. Though it was dragging at parts, for a biography sort of work, I would say this movie is excellent in bringing out the crucial moments of Mr.Lincoln’s life.

It absolutely deserves in bagging the ‘Best actor award’. What a hell of acting by Daniel day lewis?

Flight
This is another quality movie. I was absolutely in awe with the flight crash that was shown in the first half. After which, the movie took a dip, and started to drag. Nothing much happened in the second half and climax was predictable. Nevertheless, the movie was okay.

Life of Pi
After a long time, Life is PI is probably one of the perfect adaptations of the book. The movie does every justice to the Man Booker prize-winning novel. The visual experience is top notch. Since I already knew the story before watching, there is no surprise there. In spite of that, I didn’t feel bored. Hence another good movie.

Still wanting to watch Les Miserables and Silver Lining playbook.

Libraries at London

I still remember the longing days when I was so obsessed with libraries and literally found none near to my home. We were the residents of Northern most part of Chennai where if you enquire about libraries, people would give you this scornful look. Library is something totally unheard of. In these parts, people have the notion that one would go to library if he were jobless. Moore market is the most we could have if we are so desperate for books. This is not exactly a library, but a place where you can get some precious books at cheaper price.

If I get so fanatical about book then I would travel to Purashavakkam in the scorching sun to visit Easwari Lending library, which was a saviour those days. So a visit to a library would cost me half of the day and I always feel so tired after coming back. Nevertheless, that library still holds special place in my heart. Then I bought the ebook reader after which my visit to that library gradually reduced.

After coming to London, the most tempting thing it offered was the numerous local libraries. Believe me, each local library here is 3-4 times bigger than the Easwari Lending library there at Chennai. And they have brilliant collection of books. This includes Tamil book as well. All the books are free. I can take up to 4 books and keep them for 3 weeks. I felt so overwhelmed. To top it all, this local library is just 5 min walk from my home.

People here just love reading. Just like Iphone, Kindle keeps everyone busy here. I am so surprised about this and I always wondered how everyone got into this habit.

Last week I took my daughter to the library just to give her the taste of the place. The library has very good collection of baby books. I took a book for my baby. While checking it out, the librarian said, I need to get separate card for kids. And using that kids could take up to ten books each time. I said Wow! And soon enrolled my daughter for it.

While my dear played with the kid’s books, I fetched four more books for her and went to the librarian again. The polite lady, on seeing my enthusiasm said – You know, we encourage kids here to read a lot. Whenever you return the baby books, we will track the number of books she reads and upon reaching certain limits we will give her a certificate to motivate her to read more books. There she said it beautifully!!!

Now I understood, how here reading has become an inbuilt habit. How much I long for these things to happen at Chennai. Sigh!
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