For the love of reading...

On World Book Day, this is my tribute to my lifelong companions.

The first book I ever remember reading (and re-reading over and over again) on my own, was a book called Gordon the Goat by Munro Leaf.

It was a simple story of a goat who followed the herd, got caught in a twister and decided not to follow the herd again.

Simple. Yet as a child, it fascinated me as day after day I leafed through the book over and over again. I didn’t go anywhere without the book. If we went out of town the book came with me. It was my constant companion on long train journeys. Just one book. That I’d read, turn over and read again.

Years later, my mother asked me why I read and re-read the book. 

“Because I didn’t understand it!” I said.

What a revelation! Today I am not even sure why I said that. But something in the yellow book drew me to it. Gordon the Goat himself fascinated me. As a pretty confused creature with one slightly crooked horn, I feel as a child I could relate to his quirkiness. I could relate to the predictability in the book. I probably was fascinated with the fact that he got caught in a twister. So maybe the book appealed to my sense of adventure. And finally when all was done, Gordon came back to sanity and decided to lead a peaceful life grazing.

But more than anything Gordon the Goat gave me an undying relationship with books. It meant that a book could be a constant companion. A book could be a friend, a teacher, and an escape mechanism. And that relationship has not changed.

When my children were young, I not only gave them book, but read to them – always. (I will not mention painful bedtimes when I read The Little Mermaid or Goldilocks or Chicken Little for the 45^th time) but books were the glue for our time spent together.

As they grew up they started picking up their own books and became avid readers themselves. Many a tenacious parent would ask me how I got my children to read. How did I manage to ‘force’ them to read? 

“Force? “ I’d ask.

My answer was simple. “I read to them.And I read”

I believe the love of reading is something that we learn subconsciously from our parents by mimicking their behavior. And it’s something that one has to thank their parents for if they have cultivated it. 

I still have this enduring relationship with books. The genres have changed from fairy tales to children’s fiction, PG Wodehouse and Agatha Christies, to bestsellers, to classics and English and American Literature, self-help, spiritual, management, healthcare and what have you! 

I read some, like some, dislike some. Reread some again. I lose myself in books. Find myself in some books. Get involved. Can't seem to get uninvolved with some. Own some. Give away some. Share some. Never ever share some. Always gift some. And also get them as prized gifts. 

And the relationship has deepened and grown stronger. A relationship that has never let me down.

I could probably write a book on this! Couldn’t you?

This shoe does not quite fit!

The Cinderella movie left me feeling like something was wanting. Like a shoe that does not quite fit.

"Now, now, you say", pretty much like Cinderella’s mother, “Have courage and be kind.”

Okay I am going to do both. 

I had watched the trailer. With much magic the fairy godmother turns Ella’s dowdy ballet flats into glass slippers!

Cinderella exclaims, “But these are made of glass!” 
And the fairy godmother replies with aplomb, “And you’ll find them very comfortable!”

Now that’s a modern day fairy tale for me.

Brought up on large doses of fairy tales, I still love watching movies based on fairy tales! That part of me has not grown up I think. And most of these films respect the fact that a movie made for children will necessarily have a (maybe reluctant) adult audience. Most of these films therefore seek to amuse the adults while the children remain happily engaged.

I found Kenneth Branagh’s Cinderella sadly lacking in that department.

A modern remake of Cinderella necessarily had to have some contemporary overtones. The statement of the fairy godmother about the glass shoes being comfortable was one. But it seemed to begin and end there. I just wish they would have added more. So much more.

The movie stretched in the first half. Just to establish the overarching statement from Cinderella’s mother:  “Be kind and have courage”.I get that. I'm vacillating between both - kindness and courage as I write this. I will be kind, but I do have courage to say that the sugary sweetness of the film was almost bordering on large doses of aspartame. 

The stepmother! Most of Cinderella is about the stepmother isn't it? Yet, the stepmother is a somewhat insipid character sporting the latest makeup shades – her only misdeed after she moves in is that she loves partying! Cate Blanchett does do a fine job here but then that’s Cate for you, not the stepmother. 

Her two daughters, somewhat like Alice’s Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum (more Tweedle Dumb) could have been given smarter stupider lines, if you know what I mean. There could have been humour in dumb and dumber. Yet it ends with somewhat slapstick running around and fighting crassly.

The farmhouse setting for Cinderella’s home is idyllic, what with the adorable farm animals. Much could have been built around that. To be fair the four mice have been adequately portrayed – and the fat one does seem to love his cheese. The goose that goes honking to meet every arriving horse carriage is funny too.

But heigh-ho! There it stops. And you’re left wanting. More geese. More mice, even more lizards please? Oh yes, to be kind, the little touch of the lizard footman flicking his tongue for a passing fly was good. See? But that’s not enough.

I’ll be kind. I think the fairy godmother brilliantly redeemed not just Cinderella but even the film with her magic. The pumpkin outgrowing the greenhouse was unexpected and fun.  I loved the glass slippers. I loved how they are ‘slipped’ in with large doses of humour from the fairy godmother. (Watch the trailer if you haven’t seen the film yet). And the bit of the carriage and the coachman and the footmen turning back to their original selves was very well done.

But here comes courage. The song! The song: the lullaby that Cinderella’s mother sang to her in her childhood. Nice touch. Nice lullaby. But nowhere else is she seen singing that song. Nowhere else is she even singing!  Logic eludes me here. Something tells me that’s not the song Cinderella would be singing the day the prince arrived at her house. It’s neither happy nor sad. It’s a lullaby for God’s sake.

Yes, it’s a fairy tale. Yes, it's for children. Yes. I've to be kind. But, the Cinderella film leaves you wanting. Wanting for more. More wit. More humour. More fun. More song. More animals and maybe...more time. 

The clock striking twelve has left a lot of work undone, hasn't it? 
What did you think? 

Haven't seen the movie? Watch the trailer here!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20DF6U1HcGQ

                           

South by South East - Day Two

Words cannot describe... 

We turn to Nature when we want a breather.
And then Nature gives us this moment that just completely takes our breath away!

My second day was relaxed. With a planned outing to the Kovalam beach in the evening. I had heard about the beach being beautiful... but it was more than that... and I'll let the pictures do the talking!

An infinity pool greeted us as we walked in to The Leela Kovalam

The setting sun was in all its glory... but that was just the beginning

Going behind the main facade of the hotel we came upon the real picture!
If I saw this picture elsewhere I'd think it very cliched! 

But here it was a picture-perfect moment! 
And then! The Sun decided to get even more gorgeous!

Like this!

Or closer still... almost saturnine!

Till it set...

Leaving the sky like this...
And then finally giving way to a beautiful crescent moon

And then we had lovely dinner on the beach 
with the waves gently lapping the shore in the moonlight, little crabs scurrying along sideways on the wet sand,  
a light dinner served to us under the twinkling stars, 
feeling blithe after witnessing the beauty of the Sun, the Moon and the Sea, 
all in the space of one spectacular evening. 
SG, SV & AK.. thanks for a memorable evening
We'd see much more the next day, but that's Day Three, isn't it? 

Have you read Day One? If not, click here 
South by South East - Day One