"Hymn of Death"

Hello All, it has been a while since I posted on this blog. I have always been fan of Korean Drama and wanted to post my thoughts on this new Drama that I saw on Netflix.

(Picture Courtesy - NETFLIX)

"Hymn of Death" - An intense Korean mini series starring Lee Jong-Suk and Shin Hye-sun. It is one of the best Korean dramas I have seen in a long time. Emotionally Charged, it draws you in. For days after seeing it, I was still immersed in the despair, passion and love of the lead characters. Playwright Kim Woo-Jin and his love for Yun Sim-Deok, a talented Soprano set against a backdrop of Japanese occupied Korea, is what this drama is about. But to me it felt much more than that, it had intense longing and passion - towards country, towards writing, towards love. 

Lee Jung-Suk has just excelled in this role of Kim Woo-Jin. He is torn between his duties as a husband in his arranged marriage and between this fierce longing and love he feels towards the singer. It is a beautifully written tale of Love and does not drag on unnecessarily. You will notice that there are other people acting in this drama, but they all fall short in favor of the lead characters. Lee Jong-Suk especially stole the show as he displays the internal conflict so well. And as you go through the episodes, you can feel his turmoil as he struggles with what is expected from him and what his heart desires. And of course it helps that he looks devastatingly handsome in this three piece suit.

Shin Hye-Sun has shined in this drama. The Haughty singer, the helpless elder sister, the daughter who must make all the sacrifices for her family and her forbidden but unstoppable love for Woo-Jin. Her expressions of joy and sadness are so well done that you just absolutely get drawn in. She portrays a certain vulnerability in her character that I think is hard to do and she does it very gracefully. 

In the very first episode, Kim Woo-Jin will be reading a book by Takeo Arishima and the words are - “Watch, Watch how love takes from you. The moment you underestimate love as nothing but gentle strength, you have made a mistake. Love is something that you use to your advantage. To Love is to take unsparingly.” Sim-Deok walks in at that moment recognizing the author and she says she does not agree with the author. She says when you are in love it cannot be helped. To Love means give unsparingly no matter what. This was set well when the two lead characters meet and shows Sim-Deok’s passion and why she starts a relationship with Woo-Jin even after knowing he is married. Her enthusiasm for Woo-Jin’s writing, her encouragement that he write again, their comfortable silences when they meet - SIGH, it is all so poignant and so well written and of course so wonderfully enacted by Lee Jong-Suk and Shin Hye-Sun.

Hymn of Death is a romantic drama in essence, but the Japanese occupation of Korea plays an important role too. They have done a very good job balancing the history and romance part of it. It presents a story of a man and a woman who have been doing things to please and make sacrifices for their families when their own wishes are simple joys. He wants to write and she wants to sing. Living your life fiercely and joyfully does not need to be something Grand. Because more often than not, things that make us happy are simple things. Ending is something that I won’t comment on because whether I agree with it or not, maybe that is the way it needs to happen or that is the way it was. But overall, I absolutely loved this mini series and highly recommend it. 

Snail Mail Love

February is the month of IncoWriMo......What is this?

It is International Correspondence Writing Month

The goal is to hand write a letter, a postcard, note or anything and send it - I mean mail it via snail mail to someone everyday in the month of February.

Sounds interesting does it not? It is always easy to send an email or text or a message via the different social media, but it is really nice and relaxing to take some time out of your busy day to sit down and write some one a handwritten letter. This one is a true win-win because you and the recipient are happy.

As you can see in this photo, I am using some Global Forever Stamps - for international mail and some limited edition forever stamps for local mailing. If there are some stamp collectors in my recipients, I am sure they will be happy.

Here is the website for InCoWriMo 2018. The signups are closed now. But you can find addresses of people who have already signed up in the address list and you can still send some one a post card or a letter. 

Who to write to - You can pick some addresses from the InCoWriMo website, or write to your friends and family. You can send a thank you note to your local congress person, or your pastor/priest or teachers. It can be anybody. Ideally, you would mail the letter, but if that person is somebody who you meet often, you can of course hand deliver the mail. 

What to write does not have to be a big deal - you can write just about anything. Write about your pet, your car, your hobbies, your town, your passion, about yourself. Write about a book you read or movie you saw - almost like a review. Tell people about your day, your week...protocol is to keep it upbeat and positive. Recipients will be happy to get a letter about almost any topic in the world. 

Ah the handwriting Dillemma - my advice is accept your handwriting for what it is, maybe writing more often will help you. Do the best you can, keep it as readable as you can and enjoy this part of letter writing too. It will help you practice your writing and give some rest from typing. 

Supplies - you hardly need anything fancy. Just any paper and pen will do. I am of course using my fountain pens and a clairefontane letter pad (which works well for fountain pens). But just a simple note on a cheap copy paper or any paper, or a store bought simple greeting card, anything will work. :)

Be unreasonable, do not give into reasons as to why you cannot do this. I firmly believe that writing forces you to focus, makes you think of things that are important to you, rekindle some of your passions/hobbies (now this might not sometimes be good on your wallet) and motivate you. I also think of it as some ME Time - relaxing and almost meditative. 

Hope to see some of you participate in InCoWriMo. And you can stick to your local country and not send anything international if you want to keep you postage costs low. 


Cheers and Happy Tuesday and happy upcoming Hump Day..

My Journey with Essential Oils

Essential Oils - It is a big thing here is USA and I had not really paid any attention to it. I am not big into jumping on these band wagons. I had seen my friend Terri use it several times. Then during my Realtor Classes, I fell sick with cold and cough and could not miss a class. So I tried Terri's Essential Oils. Basically I tried the Thieves oil (Put a few drops on my feet and rubbed my feet together and also tried RC for my breathing). It was like Miracle, where none of the medications had worked, the oils really worked for me. I was able to continue my classes without skipping a day. Terri was kind enough to make sure I had some Thieves oil for the next few day. I started feeling better right away. It took me a few more oils and few more experiments to convince me, but it did. I am now a big fan of Essential oils and very happy to have found them.

I think in our Hindu culture, we have always used Essential oils for natural health care, maybe not distilled and bottled. So, I think that I have just found my way back into roots with Essential oils. Being in oil form makes them more potent and easy to use and plus different parts of plants are used in extracting the oils improving the effectiveness.

I hope to share more of my EO experiences soon.

Thanks for stopping by,
Banu

Note: I have been mainly using Youngs Living Essential oils as that is what I got introduced to. But I have also used store bought and a few other. More on that soon.

Zurich Travelogue - Part1

Family get together in Zurich and I could not be more happier. This is the first time I am visiting Zurich. It is somewhat similar to other European Countries. Fashion is a bit more relaxed. Jeans are okay but not with Athletic shoes :) People are quite friendly even if you do not talk German.

Very fashionable place with all the designer stores as well as tons of Watch stores. Swatch of course but many others. Watch and Milk Products are in abundance and of great quality too.

Day 1 - I walked to Zurich Lake along Bahnhofstrasse . It was a fun walk. I had some expensive coffee and desert at Sprungli Bakery. Bought a Orange/Vodaphone SIM for my phone. YAY for me. Amma and Appa landed at night.

Day 2 - We went to Lake Zurich again with Amma and Appa, but we took the train all the way. It was nice. There was Saturday Thrift market going on and it was so much fun. We then came back home, had some lunch. Rested for a bit and then we went shopping to a Desi Store called Bharkat and also to the local grocery store called Coop. Got all kind of fruits and veggies.
It started Raining, so we cancelled our evening walk and we stayed home. Great day 2 so far.

Hoping for a good weather tomorrow.

More to come. Here are some pictures...

Lake Zurich - One View

Starting point of my walk - Zürich Hauptbahnhof - Main Station

 

A small church on the way in the Old Town. I did not go there.

My Expensive Coffee and desert at Sprungli Bakery

Bata Shoe store on my walk

One Little Word - Perseverance

This year I decided to follow Ali Edwards "One Little Word" idea. It spoke to me and as I read her Original Post on this and all the comments, it was just something that I felt that I needed to do.

I have been following Ali Edwards for a while now and love her ideas for Project Life :) So when she posted about the One Little word, that got me thinking. There were lot of words that came to my mind like - Re-Discover, Hope, Focus etc. I was almost going to chose Hope, but my cousin told me that Hope is something you had to have all the time without which life does not go on. So, I had to rethink my choice.

So I chose the next word that I kept thinking about - "Perseverance". This seemed to best define who I want to be this year and also where I want to be with some of my goals. I need to persevere to achieve my goals and to keep moving forward.

Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another.  ~Walter Elliott, The Spiritual Life
 

Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.  ~Newt Gingrich

So, here is to "Perseverance" in 2011...:)

Thanks for stopping by and please leave me a comment if you have a word for 2011, would love to hear about it.

Thanks and have a great Tuesday!!

Authors on my Shelf

My friend Dee tagged me to list the 15 authors on my shelf. She said not to think too long and to list Fifteen authors (poets, and screen-writers not included) who will always stick with me.. So here we go in no specific order,

1. Georgette Heyer
2. Clive Cussler
3. Arthur Conan Doyle
4. J K Rowling
5. Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
6. Ta Ra Su
7. Vasudhendra
8. Alistair MacLean
9. Paramahamsa Yogananda
10. James Herriot
11. Sidney Sheldon
12. Stephenie Meyer
13. Anton Chekov
14. Jeffery Archer
15. Sidney Sheldon

When I look at the list, I see a lot more fiction writers..but I guess I have always been a fiction reader :)

If I had some more spots, I would have loved to add Barbara Wood and Rick Riordan.

Have a good evening and it would be nice to hear your comments on this.

Top 5 Classics Movies that I want to see

I was listening to this interview on NPR Radio today morning with the German director Werner Herzog and his "Rogue" Film School. He said that he required all his students to read..loved loved that part. Along with that they were also talking about the movies that he wants his students to see and that sparked of this post.

1) The Treasure of Sierra Madre - it is interesting that WH also mentioned this movie in his list, but recently we have been talking a lot about this movie at work as well. Apparently, there is a dialogue in this movie about Badges. :) So I had been wanting to see this movie and then WH mentions it as well. So, more the reason.

Link to Wikipedia to know more about this "We don't need no Stinking Badges" Dialogue.

2) Tootsie - I have always liked Dustin Hoffman. I think he is an excellent actor and I wanted to see this movie for a long time. Just never got to it :)

3) Suspicion - I have been wanting to see all of Alfred Hitchcock movies after seeing the Movie The Rear Window directed by him and the description of this movie sounds interesting.

4) The Philadelphia Story - Just because this movie has three of my favor tie actors in the cast - Cary Grant, James Stewart and Katherine Hepburn

5) SwingTime - Starring Fred Astaire. I want to see this movie because WH mentioned it in his interview and his description of the movie was so fantastic that I wanted to see it and plus it was in AFI's top 100 Movie list as well.

Story of Geometry Box and other school memories

I was admiring my friend Ning's pencil holder today and then we started talking about different kind of Pencil Boxes. Her daughter has one from China which has levels that open up when you open the lid. She also remembered the foam pencil boxes with magnet closure that could be opened on either side. If the magnet got messed up, you would have a mess of pencils and erasers in your bag.

This reminded me of my quest for "Camel Geometry" Box. During my school days we used to get two different brands of Geometry boxes - Camel and Nataraja. Geometry box is basically a Tin Pencil holder with all the tools needed for a geometry class like Set Squares, Protractor, Compass, Divider etc. You could also carry a pencil, pen or eraser in this box. Nataraja brand was slightly cheaper compared to Camel, so my Mom was like just buy that, as I had a tendency to lose things. Also this cover of this brand had a matte finish. So, I would sit in the class room bench flanked by two of my friends who would open up their shiny Camel Geometry boxes and I would open my box stealthily under the desk and not keep it on top of the desk. Thus began my saga of convincing my parents that I just could not do without the CAMEL Geometry box. :)

Top 5 Childhood school memories that arose due to the discussion on Pencil box,

1. Chalk on white canvas shoes - We used to have white uniform along with white canvas shoes for Saturdays and I always used to forget to apply white shoe polish to my canvas shoes the day before. Since these were canvas shoes, we used to get this wet white polish - the shoe had to be washed, dried and then coated with this wet polish that needed some time to dry and hence had to be applied the day before. So, to avoid getting caught in the inspection line at School, I would take white chalk and methodically cover the whole shoe, so it would look like I had applied polish to it.

2. Distributing Chocolates on your birthday - We could wear a non Uniform dress on our birthdays to School (if it fell on a school day) and we could take some "chocolates" to distribute to the whole class. It would be something inexpensive like Individually wrapped Eclairs or something like that. It was really fun.

3. Getting Autograph books signed at the end of every major school year end - Typically 7th grade, 10th grade and 12th grade. I am not even sure where my autograph books are now and what was the whole point of it. It was not like at that point we had cell phones, twitter/facebook accounts or anything. Many of us did not even have Landlines. So, it would be some sort of "you are the best friend" epithet followed by signature and lots of doodling. I cannot believe how much we used to search for the perfect Autograph book and have long discussions about whom we should ask and whom we should not ask.

4. Amarchitra Katha, Chandamama and other fun comics - I love these comics and would wait with bated breath for the release of new one. My favorites were Amar Chitra Katha, Wisdom, Tinkle and Chandamama. Chandamama used to have these series that I would be waiting for. Wisdom was perfect for all the trivia and for me to conduct quizzes for the youngsters in our neighborhood. I still remember the day when my cousins introduced me to TinTin and Asterix. Billions of Blue Blistering Barnacles, thousand of thundering typhoons...Amazing.

5. Games - There were all these different games that we would play. Four Squares, Gold Spot, Crocodile can we cross the river, hopscotch and what not....Another post another time to talk more about these games.

Please share some of your school related memories....

Artistry of Cooking - Banu's Epiphany #1

Artistry of Cooking ---- I always thought I hated cooking or thought that I had to cook because I had to and not because I wanted to. But I was talking with Jen about this topic today and had a epiphany about this. My brain considers Cooking to be an art form. So, I need time, energy and freedom to create whatever I want. As soon as there are rules put in about how much fat I can add, how much of calories the dish should be and what not....the art dies and it becomes a chore and then it becomes one of those Have To Do list. Then I lose interest in cooking and I am like I can eat whatever and it does not feel fun to cook!! Sometimes I want to be like one of those celebrity chefs who have this superb cool Kitchens, they do not have to clean after cooking and they do not have to watch what they put into the dish..

Following my epiphany, I started to think how can I make cooking interesting even with all my rules about it and figured out a few simple things that can help me,

1. Try to cook with colorful food, so even if you cook it with little or no oil, it still appeals to the artist within you
2. Try to use fancy ingredients that does not add any calories or fat to your dish, but still makes you feel nice about cooking. I added some Oregano and Lemon Pepper to my Chayote Squash Curry..making me feel nice about the creating part.
3. Last but not the least, I figured out that I felt good if I put the cooked food in a nice serving bowl or tray before I ate it. Even though the food was not up to my own high expectations - the nice display made up for it.

Thanks for stopping by and please leave comments about your own thoughts about this.

Mnemonics

I was working on a card challenge that needed me to incorporate all colors of a rainbow. Immediately, I thought of VIBGYOR. This is how I used to remember the colors of Rainbow. VIBGYOR is a Mnemonic. Mnemonic is a method or an aid to remember some complex lists or details. The term covers a wide variety of memory aids, but is now often used as a synonym for acronyms. Even though it means that you need to know what the individual letters of the Mnemonic means, once practiced, this can be an effective way of remembering lot of complex details.

Another Mnemonic that I know is HOMES to remember the names of America's Great Lakes (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior)

I could not think of any other Mnemonics...:) If you remember any, please do let me know.

I choose to go with Faith

"I choose to go with Faith. Because without it I am nothing. Faith is all I have"

This is a dialogue from Prison Break Television Series. The "Hero" Michael Scofield tells this to his girlfriend. Somehow this dialogue struck a chord with me. So many times you are doubting your decisions, your journey of life, the paths you took, the decisions you made. There are times when you are frustrated and asking "why me" questions. The only way to prevail and go on with life I guess is to have Faith. I am not talking about blind faith, just sit around and do nothing, but more about having Faith that things that are meant to will happen and if you are a good human being, good things will for sure happen to you despite having to go through some trials and tribulations.

So, I choose to go with Faith.

OSJ for Friday August 6th, 2010

Addicted to the Television Series "PRISON BREAK"!!!!!!!

Five things that made me happy today

1) Sparkling Clean tile floors in kitchen and bathroom - Thanks to my dear hubby
2) Herbal Essence Hydrating Shampoo...My hair is feeling nice and soft
3) Awesome Bangalore Style Masalapuri......Total road side style...
4) Soothing Rose Smell Candles from Ikea in a beautiful candle holder on the dining table
5) Guest Designer Spot at Paperworks Co Blog :)

Have a Great Sunday.

Do Deewane Shehar Mein

I wanted to share this awesome Song with you all - Superb lyrics, music and acting from the Movie Gharonda - Do Deewane Shehar Mein.



Sung by Bhupinder and Runa Laila so well...and of course superb acting by Zarina Wahab and Amol Palekar. There are no dress changes, no fancy locale - in fact most of the shooting is done in an apartment construction site in Mumbai, no background dancers, nothing fancy. But some how this song makes such a big impact. There is so much love shown between the two and I love how Amol Palekar keeps carrying her purse through the song in such a nonchalant way. Using the construction workers as part of the song is neat as well - reminiscent of Gurudutt using similar concept in the movie Aar Paar. Owning a home is not just an American Dream..it is everyone's dream.

Gulzaar's lyrics and Jaidev's music makes this song so easy to sing with and it is just so much fun.

Do Diwaane Shahar Me, Raat Mein Yaa Dopahar Mein
Aabodaanaa Dhoondhate Hai, Yek Aashiyaanaa Dhoondhate Hain

In Bhoolabhoolaiyyaa Galiyon Mein Apanaa Bhee Koee Yek Ghar Hogaa
Anbar Pe Khoolegee Khidakee, Yaa Khidakee Pe Khulaa Anbar Hogaa
Asamaanee Rang Kee Aakhon Me, Basane Kaa Bahaanaa Dhoondhate Hain

Jab Taare Jameen Par Jalate Hain, Aakaash Jameen Ho Jaataa Hain
Us Raat Naheen Fir Ghar Jaataa, Wo Chaand Yahee So Jaataa Hain
Palabhar Ke Liye In Aakhon Mein, Hum Yek Jamaanaa Dhoondhate Hain


The other songs of this movie are nice as well - Ek Akela (a bit sad), Tumhe Ho Na Ho.....

Have a good weekend, listen to some good music and feel happy :)

OSJ for June 13th Sunday

Apple never falls far from the tree.

OSJ for June 12th, 2010

Precious are simple happy moments of life and I count my blessings for having them.

OSJ For June 9th, 2010

OSJ for today is,

I deserve to be happy and healthy :)

Please see this post of mine for more info on OSJ.

Forgiveness and Reconciliation

We saw the movie "Invictus" yesterday. The film is a true story of how Nelson Mandela tried to unite South Africa by working with Captain of South Africa's Rugby Team. Mandela understood that Rugby is hated by the Black South Africans who saw it as a symbol of Oppression and also violence. But at the same time Mandela, being a man who was imprisoned in a tiny cell for 27 years also foresaw and believed that winning the Rugby world cup could be the thing that the country needed to feel unified. The overwhelming theme of the movie is Reconciliation and forgiveness and in turn to foster a new "Rainbow Nation".

I was very impressed with a scene in the first 30 mins of the of the film when Mandela's Head of Security is not too happy with the white bodyguards being added to his detail, and that is when Mandela's talks about Forgiveness. This particular statement that he says made a very deep impact on me.

"Yes I know, forgiveness starts here. Forgiveness liberates the soul. It removes fear. That is why it is such a powerful weapon."

Invictus is at its very essence a classically Hollywood, inspirational underdog sports movie--but very well executed by Clint Eastwood. I enjoyed the movie immensely. I think Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon have acted extremely well. Clint Eastwood has set up the context very well and the movie has been woven well enough for the audience to realize what the winning of the Rugby World cup means to the entire nation of South Africa.

Even though the movie has it's share of cliches, it offered me an insight into the power of forgiveness and how it can change the hearts and attitudes of others. I hope you can see the movie and share your thoughts as well.

I am the Captain of my soul

I saw the movie Invictus today and it was very inspiring. Look out for another post on my review of the movie. But today I wanted so share the Poem by English Poet William Henley that President Mandela quotes in the movie. I was very very impressed by that poem. The entire poem (as I found it on wikipedia is given below), but here are the four lines that made an impact on me,

I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

It was just awesome and very inspiring. "I am the captain of my soul".

Here is the entire poem,

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

OSJ for May 28th, 2010

My friend Deepthi introduced me to the Happiness Project website and in turn I was impressed by the One Sentence Journal Concept that Gretchen Rubin has introduced on this website.

So, today OSJ is,

If Life gives you Lemons, make Lemonade :)