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Showing posts with the label movies

Turtle Beach Resort

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Dad, Kunjunni, Kunji chechi and I held hands as the waves crashed on the shore. We could hear the roaring sound of the sea and feel the sand beneath our feet. The cold water pooled around us until we were hip-deep, before rushing back. The private beach was a beautiful one. The horizon stretched on with nothing interrupting its flow. No other people, not a single footprint. There was a breeze and everything was serene. Turtle Beach resort had plenty in store for us. But we were going back home in the evening so we couldn’t try out everything. My parents had arranged for a taxi to drive us in the morning, along with Kunjunni and Kunji chechi, to the resort. Valyamma and Valyachan would join us later. At the resort, we could hear the faint sound of roaring waves at the beach, which proved to be just too good to resist. Mom chose to stay out of the fun and watched us instead because a) she didn’t want to get wet and b) the waves were so huge anyway. “You won’t get wa

Hiya folks!

We’re currently in Kerala, where we arrived two days after the ending of our Swiss/German vacation. Either we’re seeing new impacts of global warming, or the world has lost its marbles. Somehow, Kerala is begging for rain, while simultaneously Saudi Arabia has received unexpected showers, heavy enough to make all schools give the students a day off. Due to no rain, the temperature in Kerala is sweltering. You can stand around and do nothing and you’ll still be drenched in sweat in twenty minutes. Three if you’re hard at work. On the other hand, I noticed all my friends in Riyadh changing their profile photos to pictures of the rain and their status to profoundly blessing it. Chalk one up for them. But let’s not forget the cinema theatres of Kerala. I watched “ Jungle Book ” at Nucleus mall, “ Kung fu panda 3 ” at Gold Souk, and “ Fan ” at Oberon. “Jungle book” was awe-some! Brilliant! We had our eyes glued to the screen the entire time. “Kung fu panda 3” was great t

And then there were none

Yesterday I watched the 1945 film “ And then there were none ”, based on the book by Agatha Christie! It was really entertaining, even though the end was nothing like how the book said. The pretty girl, Vera and the dashing guy who turned out not to be Philip Lombard, but his friend, managed to escape the island, possibly getting married after they reached home. The movie had also altered the crimes and names of some people, but other than that, it was nearly the same. I’d read the book before from our school library. According to everyone, it’s one of the best books Agatha Christie has ever written. Chocolate syrup was used in some of the old black-and-white movies as fake blood, like in the Hitchcock movie, “Psycho”, which I should have probably known earlier so that I could have prevented freaking out over the gruesome scenes.

Couch potato weekend

Exam week was upon us, and now it’s over! This officially marks the end of all the FA’s of ninth grade. It also marked the beginning of the weekend where I did nothing and acted like a total couch potato. Now all that’s left is the SA-2, and then curtains closed on this year. On the recommendation of my friends, I read the ‘ Wings ’ series by Aprilynne Pike . It was pretty great. Out of the four books in the series, “ Illusions ”, the third book, was the best. When the gang discovered Yuki was a winter faerie, I was like “Oh my god!” My parents and I watched the movie ‘ True Grit ’ yesterday. I liked the way the actress who played Mattie delivered her lines, for it was flawless and clear and her voice was perfect for the lines she spoke. TaylorSwift stuns everyone with her new music video ‘Out of the woods’! When the trees came up on the beach and formed the letters ‘Out of the woods’ that was totally sweet! Although from what I garnered from the video, T-Swift likes

You don't miss the school, do you?

I wish to convey this simple message to all parents- when your child says ‘I miss school’, he/she means that they miss their friends, the regular fun and their favorite teachers. Not the school. Because eventually, this simple line can backfire, when your parents make the mistake of thinking you miss the studies, the waking up early in the morning and the exams. News Flash: ‘ The Conjuring- Part 2 ’ releases on June 10 th ! I nearly fainted when I saw the news yesterday. I rather go bungee jumping, or parachute diving, or surfing with sharks, if it means I can stay out of the way of all creepy things possible. Of course, I applaud Valyamma and Valyachan for their bravery, for they saw ‘The Conjuring’, at the  theater , in 3D. If it had been me, eventually I would have been found lying on the ground yelling “MAKE IT GO AWAY! MAKE IT GO AWAY!” ­ Actually, since it being so scary, no one below the age of eighteen was allowed to watch the movie at the  theater . I find i

Winter vacation, big hero ...

It’s been a week into the winter vacation, and I have one more left. Dad makes it a point to wake me up every morning. Switching on the lights and creating all kinds of noise is the new way of making me roll off my bed and walk sleepily with my eyes closed. I still can’t believe 2015 is just a few days away from being over. I feel this year ended waaayyyy too quickly. There are so many things that happen at the beginning of every new year. It’s like tradition- I will write 2015 on my notebook next year, then realize what I did, and try to convert the 5 into a 6. Then when I start 10 th grade, I will write IX-B, realize what I did, and cross the extra line out. Then, I will tell everyone I study in ninth grade, catch myself, and say tenth. I watched “ Big Hero 6 ” a few days back. I had missed almost every opportunity I had to see it till then, so, I felt triumphant at the end. “Big Hero 6” is one of the many movies where it is absolutely embarrassing to te

Movie Time

 I watched a total of four movies in India this time- ‘ Inside-Out ’, ‘ Jurassic World ’, ‘ Premam ’ and ‘ Ant-Man ’.  They were amazing. But one notable mention is ‘Jurassic World’, which kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I hope one more movie comes out! I have watched all the ‘Jurassic’ movies and they get better every time! Raaawwrrrr!!! What I like about them the most is the suspense. One minute you give out a sigh of relief, next minute you’ll be screaming, and running like Usain Bolt from a hungry dino! Woo-hoo! Except ‘Premam’, I watched all the movies with Kunjunni and Kunji chechi, so it was double the fun. Kunjunni really wanted to see ‘Ant-Man’. But all I could say was ‘Seriously? Ant -Man?’ “It has a high rating.” “It’s going to be lame.” “You can decide that after the movie’’. In the end, I loved it. I declared that while we were leaving the  theater  and got a smug look in return, plus, an ‘I told you so.’ In fact, if there is a sequ

German Diary (Deutsch Tagebuch)

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I put down my headphones and observed everyone around me. Mom was sleeping with her mouth open and Dad was nodding off.  I had just watched ‘Night of the Museum 3’ on the TV in front of me, and I gotta admit, it was kinda lame compared to the first two movies. As the plane touched down, I quickly put in my earplugs and felt the pressure on my ears. I looked out of the window and saw Germany’s surface. Mom, who was now awake (and had quickly closed her mouth) looked out with me. Dad’s project had won an award from SAP and the award ceremony was to take place at Walldorf .  So Mom and I came too and we decided to stay in Heidelberg for 5 days. As we neared the exit of Frankfurt airport, I saw someone holding my name. Boy, was I surprised! I mean I have seen plenty of people do that, but for me…… awesome! Germany was amazing; in fact it was beautiful. It’s like how you see in those movies; lush green trees on both sides and then later endless green fields stretching on a

The awesome party at Chandana's home

Last night was an awesome, awesome night. Chandana held a party at her home again, and this time out of the 16 girls of 8-D, 12 people showed up, including me. Chandana lives in a huge compound that has a clubhouse, restaurant, shop and playgrounds filled with swings and slides at every corner. It’s practically a gateway to heaven. After everyone came, we had some starters, which were chocolate chip cookies, tuna sandwiches, laddoos, chicken puffs, fish pakodas and soup, all home-made by Chandu’s mom and totally delicious. When we reached the first playground during our tour of the compound, everyone took off like miniatures of Usain Bolt for the swings. People who snagged them first swung for some time. Then someone would jump on quickly after them. I swung a couple of times, and then got off when some younger children were looking at us. I felt pretty ridiculous. But hey, who can resist swings? The tour of the compound took a little more than an hour with quic

3 movies and 2 books

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A complete week of Hajj holidays has been over and now it is the second week. As Dad too has holidays for one week, he wakes me up every morning in a different way. One day, he shook me awake and sat next to me and kept talking until I forced myself out of bed. Another time, he placed the alarm clock under my bed. It did not wake me up, but instead it woke Mom.  I watched 3 movies this week- “ The Syrian Bride ”, “ Psycho ”, and “ Baran ”. After watching “Psycho”, I got a bit scared and never moved an inch away from my parents. But that was only for a day. “Psycho” is a classic 1960 horror-thriller movie directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It  wasn't  the plot, but the sudden-scary music that really got me. Seriously. Like ‘Scree! Scree! Scree!’ ‘‘The Syrian Bride’’ was full of suspense, mostly like “What’s going to happen? Will she be able to go? Huh? Huh?” “Baran” is very touching and sad, but it is funny also sometimes. According to Mom, I am now old enough to wat

Trip to Malaysia: A missed field trip

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Our school, instead of usually taking us to theme parks or the rides at malls, has planned a 5-day trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.   We were all like “WHAT??!! NOOO!! AAWWW!!!”  Our class was in a state of depression, confusion and anger. This was because of three reasons- A) We did not want to go somewhere alone for 5 days, without our parents. B) We already knew what the answer would be when we would go home. “NO”. C) We had just missed a field trip and now we would have to wait till next year. My Grandpa told me, “You are not yet old enough to go to another country alone, but we can always go together as family.” After seeing the movie “The Conjuring”, I avoided doors, closets, taking long showers, staying somewhere alone for more than 30 seconds, thinking about the scariest parts of the movie and a lot more. But that was only for a few days, thankfully. I was already getting tired of my father doing “Boo!” to me and me screaming. I was describing th

Horror movie at weekend party

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The music got faster. But the scene was very slow. Slowly, then slowly from inside the TV - AAAAARRRHHH! The people watching the movie- AAAAAAAAGH! My classmates and I were at Faiza’s home, where we were watching “ The Conjuring ”. Out of the 17 people in the class, there were 9 of us lying on the bed and holding each other’s hands and screaming occasionally. Our other classmates had not been able to come. Originally, the party timings were 5-7:30 but everyone stayed till 9:30. We phoned our parents telling them we would be late. In one of the last parts, where some people with cameras come to record the ghosts, Rakshanda said “O cute guy, your youth should be not wasted. Try not to die. Please save your awesomeness.” Fortunately for Rakshanda, he did not die. Chandana was squeezing my hand. Sauda was squeezing my other hand. This meant that both my hands were occupied. It also meant, both my hands were becoming sweaty. After we finished half of the mov

Aargh!! Back-2-school after 9 days

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After one more week, school’s going to reopen, which  means I have to get up early next week, which means  I don’t want to go to school, which means school is reopening, which means I have to get up early next week and ………blah blah blah. The days passed fast, like they always do when you are having a good time. And at school, time goes so slowly and every minute feels like a day. That’s just so…… cruel and……..unfair. These days, the book that most of my friends are reading is “ The Fault In Our Stars ” by John Green. Mostly because the book has been made into a movie which was showing at the theaters, and partly because it’s popular and partly because it’s now available in almost every bookstore. I read it too. Dad bought it for me at a store. It made me really sad at the part where (Spoiler alert) Augustus died and (Spoiler Alert) Hazel read the pages Augustus sent to Van Houton. On our way back from India, I watched “ Divergent ” in the plane, on the TV scre

In the Land of Coconuts ...

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It has been 2 weeks since I reached Kerala and we have had a family gathering, seen a movie and done some shopping. Unfortunately for me, my cousins’ exams are going on but they managed to squeeze some time to have a lot of fun with us. I, Kunjunni and Dad saw the movie “ How To train Your Dragon 2 ” at PVR and we enjoyed it a lot. Well, at least I and Kunjunni enjoyed. Dad never saw the first part so I don’t think he understood a lot. But in any case, the movie received loud cheers and applause at the end. Achamma (Dad’s mom) along with uncle Sujesh, reached Kerala from Bangalore the day after we reached India. So we had a family gathering with all our relatives, had a great time. Kunji chechi’s Fa-1 exams finished 2 days back and now she is a free bird. But for poor Kunjunni, his exams are finishing only tomorrow. His crafts teacher had told the class they needed to buy a pot and paint it. You get these materials in the store. So, the night before the Hindi exam

Freaky Friday

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Since today is the weekend, we have a couple of restaurants to try out in our mind and one of them is the ‘Red Lobster’. I don’t know if it’s good or not but my father had his heart set on eating big, fat lobsters so he seems very enthusiastic on going there. You see, Dad would be non- vegetarian the first 6 months and be vegetarian the other 6 months. Which is also one of the reasons I call him an omnivore. He loves eating salads a lot. But, in the very rare times we would buy ice-cream or if I would be having any fruit, he would request for a ‘small bite’, but by the time the ‘small bite’ would be taken, the fruit would not be seen. I saw the movie ‘Frozen’ a few days back and I really liked it. My favorite character was definitely Anna, and she looked very cute when she was young. There is a metro coming in Kochi, so according to the video, it is fun, you can save 20 to 50 per cent of your normal travelling time and more. The metro's starting point is at Pet

Alappuzha Trip

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“Mew!” A kitten mewed when I stroked it. The other one brushed against my legs as it walked past. Their mother sat on the ground lazily, and watched the kittens lie, lick and run.  I started to stroke the other kitten and it ran between my legs. We laughed. The mother cat was named Mickey as Savithri and her family thought Mickey was a male cat and Savithri and her younger brother Shanku, ended up naming it Mickey. It was only after she gave birth to 2 kittens that they realized they Mickey wasn’t a ‘he’, but a ‘she’. Sadly, one of the kittens (Chakki) died later.   And when I visited them a second time, I saw a crow lying on one of the electric post. It had got electrocuted.  A murdered crow was surrounded by a ‘ murder of crows ’ ! Even though, that would be sad news for the crow, I was so excited. I had never seen a dead crow. Especially not one that had been electrocuted.      Two people from Mathrubumi came to interview Savithri’s Achachan (Grandfather).  

Back from India...

Hey everybody! It’s me, Janaki. Whoops!  I am starting to sound like Mickey Mouse. You know, like how he says, “Hey everybody! It’s me, Mickey Mouse. Say, ya wanna see my club house?” And no matter how hard you scream “No!” he says, “Then let’s go to the club house. Oh, I forgot that we have to say the magic word. Misca Moosca Mouse ca doodles! Come on, say it with me” It’s pretty weird stuff, considering the fact that we have to say the words that make absolutely NO sense at all. I came back from India on the 11 th of August, with sadness and sleepiness, because we left home at 11 at night, so I had a quick nap in the car while going to the airport. So, I was pretty grumpy and sleepy when we reached the airport, for I had been having such a good dream. For a sec, I did not even care leaving India, which might have been a good thing because otherwise I would probably run screaming “I don’t want to go back!” to the car. But then, I remembered the fun I had all th

Jerry in my room

“The movie we are about to watch is a classic Iranian movie“, Dad said. He was talking about “ Children of Heaven ” The movie started and the three of us watched intently. It was a very touching movie, about 2 children who struggle with 1 pair of sneakers after a boy Ali loses his sister Zahra’s only pair of shoes.  They belonged to a poor family. Then Ali tries to win the 3 rd prize in a race because the 3 rd prize was sneakers. But he ends up winning 1 st prize instead.  We all enjoyed the movie. Dad told me a joke today. It was really funny. Look……. A family who did not know English very well went to London. In their room at their hotel, they found a mouse scurrying underneath their bed. The man called the front desk. Man – “Uh, hello” Manager – “How can I help you?’’ Man ( thinks for a while ) – “Um, you know ‘Tom and Jerry’? Manager ( surprised ) – “Yes sir” Man – “Jerry is here” I laughed aloud when I heard this. 

It happens only in Kerala..

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Hello everyone, I am back! Did you miss me? I went to India for 3 months and had a blast with my cousins and friends. Since my cousins Kunjunni (also known as Rockstar Nara ) and Kunji chechi (sister of Rockstar Nara) lived nearby they came over every day! And guess what? I saw 6 movies which are Thattathin Marayathu , Ustad Hotel , Madagascar 3 , Batman -The Dark Knight rises , The Amazing Spiderman and Ice Age 4: Continental Drift . All 6 of them were superb, exciting and funny. We just arrived today from the “Land Of Coconuts” and we were exhausted. We had hardly slept for 4 hours because our flight was overnight. Our ears popped when the plane took off and landed and it hurt a lot too.  We had ordered 25 books from FlipKart and Valyamma had bought a few for me, so I spent most of the days reading. My cousins Savithri and Sanku came all the way from Alappuzha to Thrippunithura and stayed with us for some days and we brought the house down with our noise. It