Magic Moments

  Sungkyunkwan Scandal There are many historical dramas in South Korean cable television, set in Goryeon, Silla, and Josheon era. They bridge the gap between fact and fiction, generally intermingling the two to create a beautiful tale. They are called Sageuks- the Historical KDramas. These are popular as they showcase the life of the past; deal with storylines of royal families, their heritage, the conspiracies, and the fight for the throne; depict beautiful scenes from that era like horse riding, palanquins, the common folks, the countryside, the large weekly market, and love in those times; and use more honorifics in the language, elaborate mannerisms and etiquettes.   1.        The Moon That Embraces the Sun - Adapted from the novel of the same name it deals with shamanism and the Shaman life in Josheon era. It’s the story of a secret poignant and forbidden love story between the king and a female shaman. The king has some kind ...

8.  Bride of the Century  - A conglomerate family is under a curse for a hundred years that the first bride of the eldest son would always die. There are power struggles, conspiracies, doppelgangers and search for sincere love. Though the theme seems a bit cliche the plotline is interesting. 7. Prosecutor Princess - The plot is about law and crime and the happening lives of prosecutors. The lead actress has good acting skills and there is an equivalent proportion of romantic comedy, suspense and drama twists. 6.  Shining Inheritance  - This tale is marked by tragedy, teary eyes, and sadness. Eun Seong's father dies in a construction accident and her younger brother goes missing. She has to fend for herself while searching for her brother. Destiny happens and she inherits a vast fortune from an old woman whom she had helped in need. There is love, lost and found tale, and making one's life upon one's own terms. A very good watch. 5. ...

Doctor Crush/ Doctors You never know who would influence you so much that it changes the course of your life itself. When you meet them for the first time, you just know the person’s about to bring out the best in you.  Years later, you realize what a miracle it was to have them in your life. The role of a teacher or mentor is great- the one person that can show you the path you’d want to follow, the one person who can change your perspective and your life if you ever allow. In ‘Doctors’ the female lead character played by Park Shin Hye is influenced by her homeroom teacher to make something out of her life, and leave behind the careless wayward ways. You are lucky if you have a guide, who shows never tells; who acts never preaches and in turn inspires you to take the reins of your own life. He saves you from your own self-imposed doom, the reckless and uncertain future. He gives you something to look forward to in life- a dream, a wish to fulfill, an aim to work up...

Cheese in the Trap Cheese in the Trap is 16 episodes South Korean Drama series- one of the most honest, realistic, and un-sugarcoated portrayal of the human mind. One’s mind can be so diverse. It harbors so many thoughts at every single moment supported by so many different interpretations of the same situation. And minds of people can be the next unique identification key in a future world, after fingerprints and retinas. Yoo Jung Yoo Jung, the lead protagonist in ‘Cheese in the Trap’ is rather unconventional. He is strange as per the normal standards of human behavior. He has a weird way of drawing conclusions from situations. His logics and analytics are seriously beyond comprehension. He has a sort of ‘victim mentality’- he is rather too aware of people around him, who try to befriend him for their own needs and who care only about their own interests in the guise of friendship. He tries to avoid those people when he realizes their motives, but in vain. Then he se...

I felt satisfied with certain posts this month and didn’t like certain poor ones. The ones that managed to make me happy were those written from the heart, soulfully, without any pretensions. I learned I needed to write intimately and as personally as possible to feel satisfied at the end of the day. I needed to bare my heart out for it to work. To make that vulnerability breathe! I also learned to be more mindful of things around me and write about them. It really made me feel full of life.  I learned I needed to choose the topics from my own niche while slowing trying to grow that niche. I learned reading blog posts can be an idea gathering process too. I can read as many blogs and comment on most of them while building my own voice. It takes time to have that own genuine opinion, perspective, and feel of things, and it’s perfectly fine. It’s the first time I took part in such a daily blogging marathon, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was my first time in #TheUlti...

It is said that if you write it down, you get the motivation to do it. It has always proved to be right in my life. When I read the old journals I find many wishlists jotted down- half of it already fulfilled. The subconscious mind registers the attempts and leads you to find the right opportunities to realize your dreams. So here's my recent wishlist. I do have many: I want to watch an opera. Visit the theatre. Learn a new language perfectly to be able to read books in that language. I want to travel a lot. I also want to be able to travel alone. Cherry blossoms in Japan- the first thing that comes to my mind right now. I want to read a lot. Read all the books in my wishlist. Currently, to name a few- Shame by Salman Rushdie, The Ghost Bride , Empress Orchid, Sita's Sister, A thousand splendid suns, Love in the time of Cholera, etc. etc. I want to take many mini courses. On Art Journaling, clay modeling, pottery, creative writing, novel writing...

“Odd, how life makes twists and turns. I never would have guessed that I’d end up where I am now, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I wouldn’t trade this path I’m on for the whole solar system, for that matter. If I’ve learned anything these last several months, it’s that sometimes the most scenic roads in life are the detours you didn’t mean to take.”  ―  Angela N. Blount ,  Once Upon an Ever After Detours are a longer or roundabout way to reach the destination. Taking a detour can be a choice or a compulsion. Road construction or blockage of the paths leading to the place leave no choice but to take a detour. You don’t know what this path would bring. You don’t know if you’ll enjoy it or not. You just know the end point that is fixed. Are you apprehensive of detours? Do you like them? I have two experiences of beautiful detours. We were traveling to the Rohtang Pass which is about 50 km from Manali, at about 4 am in the morning. The roads were damp but...

'The Fastest Way to Success isn't what you Think'  reassured me that it's okay not to be 'faster, better and stronger' always. It's okay to be behind- as long as you are better than you were yesterday. It is fine to fail and accept it. You need to keep trying, and that is a creative and successful life. I got to know that Finland has a day for failure celebrated on 13th of October. Such an awesome endeavor to celebrate our mistakes, shortcomings, drawbacks, vulnerabilities, mistakes, awkward fails and all those embarrassing losses. I wish we would celebrate this day too, just to remind ourselves to feel the importance of these things in our lives. Journaling has been a subject very close to my heart. I have been keeping a diary jotting down my thoughts for about fifteen years. Now my blog records half of my thoughts, experiences, and emotions. So reading this article made me smile wide. My Therapy. My best listener. My best companion. I also discovere...

#thinkingOfAPlot #fiction Mourning Castle was a hub of learning for girls of all region, religion, culture, caste and class. Ladies from around the world came here to learn art, culture, music, instrument and other vocational courses. Even royalties from different nations graced this humble institution with their presence. Some learned the Japanese tea ceremony and calligraphy; some opted for Indian garba dance and leaf painting- patta chitra; and some others learned the various languages and dance forms from around the world. Every new art once discovered was immediately included in the institution’s agenda. Other than this it was a coveted place for its fun and frolic, secret beauty enhancing rituals and for the most beautiful lady hosts. Mourning Castle got its name from the waterfall nearby, the Mourning Fall. After the demise of the good old king, the castle was converted to an institution. An invitation was sent to the world’s eligible ladies to learn and add to the...

Zeenat Mahal takes care of human emotions and it's intricacies in a relationship so well. We are a complex jumble of paradox. We can love and manage to hate at the same time. We can harbour a protective instinct and a deep sence of resentment for the same person. We do lash out at someone we love the most. Human beings are unsolved puzzles, every mind and heart works in a different frequency. Zoella had her eyes for Fardeen, her best friend's brother, since she was ten. Fardeen hadn't even cared to spare a glance her way, in return for her decades of adoration. He had lived his life being the haughty, arrogantly dashing young man, with his arms around the waist of his gorgeous girlfriend. But with a tragic turn of events his dreamlike lifestyle came crashing down. A life-threatening accident permanently scarred half of his face. All that was left was melted skin and burned eyebrows. He was depressed and hopeless. His girlfriend broke off the engagement. He had to ma...

Dear S, It's been long since I sat down to write a letter to you. I love writing long never ending string of words that could fill tens of pages. Hope this one too will be as myself and the mirror of my thoughts as I intend them to be. Hope you will read with as much enthusiasm and love as you always have. Hope this thing will never change about us. I have downloaded a writing app from Google play store in my MotoG where I am typing this now. I am in office and am bored. Just me in my solitude. No, I don't have much work to do today, if you wonder. It's tough to get through a phase of free hours suddenly after months of hectic unending work. So I chose to write to you after having exhausted all my options of reading, browsing and studying. I look forward to having coffee with you some day, or tea if you prefer that. Or we could take an evening stroll around your colony as we always did in the past, and talk and talk endlessly for hours. Topics would flow in and ...

The movie overwhelmed me. I realize I have been using the word 'overwhelmed' for about everything that gives me goosebumps and leaves an imprint. I need to work on that. But it does that exactly. Overwhelm me. Fills me with such a storm of emotions, the amalgamation of so many kinds of them, that I cannot contain them within myself. It bursts out of me through tears. Tears that do not state happiness or sadness, just the state of being overwhelmed. I wish I knew the word for it. It burst out again afterward in quiet recollection of the entire experience, in tranquil solitude, through the words I wrote. What touched me most was the visual appeal; the earthly music that slowly reached its own crescendo, and fueled that burst I talked of; the subtle interpretation of love, relationships, and life through poetry; and that factor I still can't seem to point out. It is a surreal portrayal of the city of Benaras as a lady love. It's a pseudo-reality, almost magica...

dramacrazy.com It is a South Korean drama series of 16 episodes based on a novel of the same title published in 2011. The fact that it has four male leads and one female lead makes it comparable to the likes of ‘Boys Over Flowers’ and ‘Heirs’. The drama is about four differently passionate young people, probable heirs to a conglomerate family of business men, who happen to live together in the Sky House but don’t get well with one another. Eun Ha-won, the Cinderella here, gets to stay with them in Sky House following certain rules set by the Chairman, working on missions to get these guys together as one family. The characters are deep, emotional at the core. One is a kind hearted arrogant rebel, another a flamboyant playboy carrying deep wounds, another a gentle top singer-songwriter, and yet another a seemingly stoic yet sentimental bodyguard. The female lead is no damsel in distress, but she lets herself be protected by those who love her. I like the way they are decon...

It has been a year since I got posted in my hometown Bhubaneswar. A year since I left the Mysore campus and the hostel. Miss those days. We were trainees then. Four months of rigorous hard-work, fun and frolic, making of new friendships and discovering a new way of life away from home. It was the first time I had ever been to the hostel. My schooling and college was done in my hometown, so I could live with my family while studying. I haven't tasted much of the freedom that comes with hostel life. When we were posted in Bhubaneswar, it was just a few of us, not all. Some of my best friends, including my roommate had to stay in Mysore for another month. It felt lonely in the new surroundings at first. I had no project for the first week and the lack of work felt horrible. It was boredom and an idle mind that gave me an almost depression. And over the top the new people everywhere. Some friends remained close in this phase, and some didn't. It was a turning point. I used to go...

In real life the person’s appearance matters- you see the person physically and it’s the appearance that you first take note of. In reading a novel it is not so- the descriptions of the appearance don’t matter as much as the thoughts, the emotions and the core sentiments of the character. It is this that makes you root for the character. You see the person in the book with a new set of eyes- the ones that empathize more and are closer to your soul. How wonderful reality would be if we cared enough to see through those eyes that are perhaps often reserved for reading! It is true that reading increases empathy in individuals. It enhances the power of those eyes that are hidden somewhere within your own consciousness. It makes you observe, not just see the surface. You learn to see the beauty in the fragility of human beings, in unevenness and imperfection. You see meaning in dents, flaws and shades of grey. You witness such beautiful minds who know not their own worth. You encounte...