The K-wave

Pari and I love all things Korean. The fascination began with k-dramas which were our window into the Korean culture and their way of life. Through these, we have learnt about the chaebols(the super rich Korean families - thinks Ambani's and Tata's in India), Korean seasons, their flora and fauna, their food - gimbap, Tteokbokki, rameon, soju et al, their traditional wear as well as current fashion trends, the education system in Korea, the work-culture, weddings, societal structure and values - so on and so forth. Our interest in Korean culture is manifesting in different ways, which so accurately reflect how each of us pursues a common interest. Pari is learning Korean language, and has already started framing short sentences. She even manages to understand some of the k-drama conversations without the subtitles. The husband is perusing menus of various Korean restuarants to taste all the great stuff that we see in the k-dramas. Many years ago, we had visited this Korean restaurant in Bangalore by the name Soora Sang. I didn't like the food one bit but the husband liked it enough to polish off both our portions. I am sure he will like it even more now. At my end, I am reading Pachinko - an epic novel by Min Jin Lee. The book is set in Korea in the 1930's, when the country was under Japanese colonial rule. I am only on Chapter 14 and it has already become one of the most moving works that I have read in recent years. Highly recommended!

My affair with K-dramas..

 ..started during the COVID lockdown. I had been hearing exciting things about Korean entertainment for a while, and the lockdown gave us ample opportunity to sample new stuff. Funnily, we started K-dramas as a family and the husband enjoyed it more than anyone else. However, he got over it fairly quickly while Pari and I got hooked to them. Here's what I have watched so far with my quick comments and ratings. I will try to list them in the order in which we watched them, as far as I can remember.

1. What's wrong with Secretary Kim?: The first drama we watched and which made us K-drama fans. Not much of a story, but a feel-good romance with lot of fun moments. 4/5

2. Crash landing on you: Commonly known as CLOY, this is amongst the most  successful k-dramas of all times. Really, it was absolutely perfect in all aspects - interesting story, tender romance, situational comedy, suspense, fast-pace action, superb performances, great background score, stunning visuals and chemistry. 10/5

3. Its okay to be not okay: Again, a phenomenal drama. All the things that I said about CLOY above stand true for this one as well. It is an exceptional work on human feelings, love, insecurities and trauma with a fairy tale feel. 5/5

4. Memories of Alhambra: I chose to watch this because I just couldn't get enough of Hyun bin after CLOY. The first couple of episodes were dreamy and I imagined this soon becoming my new obsession. A crackling chemistry between two good looking people, sights of Granada, and the enigma of Alhambra.. what is there to not like! However, it soon ventured into virtual territories, where the lined between reality and perception became blurred. The following episodes didn't work for me despite trying real hard and I gave up on this halfway. 3/5

5. Romance is a bonus book: A warm, comforting drama. Again, the lead pair were really great looking - I think the actress is the prettiest in all k-dramas that I have seen. 4/5

Alright, this post is getting really long. I haven't even watched my k-dramas tonight. My mother often scolds me for staying up late at night watching TV, and I tell her - mujhe apne Korean heroes ko dekhe bina neend nahi aati hain(I can't sleep without watching my Korean heroes). So long!

Udaipur - the city of lakes..

 ..and of amazing humans. We toured Udaipur and some neighbouring cities during the Diwali break. It was a 10 glorious days of mountains and lakes set in ochre land, of  palaces and forts steeped in history, of ancient temples and modern museums, of saffron sun-rises and vermillion sun-sets. There was never a dull moment as we spent all our waking hours taking in the sights, shopping for local crafts, enjoying cultural shows and savouring local and foreign cuisines. Yes, as always, for us it was gluttony before all else. 

There is so much that the three of us can talk about Udaipur- it was one of the rare vacations which each one of us termed as the most fulfilling experiences since COVID locked us up. I want to talk about the people of Udaipur. The city is known for its exceptional hospitality and that can be credited, in no small measure, for the huge inflow of foreign tourists. Every person with whom we interacted, left us feeling warm and welcome. That said, we still had a couple of unique experiences which warrant a mention. 

1. On day 1, we visited the City Palace. I had managed to get a nagging headache on my way from the airport, nothing new there. The palace was less than 1 km from our hotel. We bought tickets at the counter at about 1.30 pm, spent the afternoon marveling at the loveliness that is the palace and the sublime views of the city and lake from its various vantage points. My head started bothering me quite a bit by 5.00 pm and we promptly made it back to our lodgings for refreshments and a nap. Later that evening, we went for a cultural program close by- so enjoyable that it was the highlight of our Udaipur trip and I am grateful that we could catch the show. On the way to dinner, DH discovered that he was missing money. And it is then that we realised, 8 hours too late, that we had forgotten to collect the change at the City Palace ticket counter. It was all but a lost cause but we were about 200 meters away from the palace and I suggested that we try to get our money back. When we went back to the ticket counter, the staff had already left for the day. I explained my concern to the only person who was still at the desk. He took a few minutes to understand our concern and made a call to the person who had sold us the tickets, and put me on the line. I tried to recount our brief interaction during the afternoon in an effort to refresh the ticket-seller's memory of us. This man, not just managed to recall us but also confirmed that we had paid in excess, and requested the person at the desk to make a refund, while the husband and I gaped in amazement! I can't think of another place where this could have happened.

2. After receiving our refund from the City palace, we started looking for a suitable place for dinner. This being the first dinner in Udaipur, the husband was really keen on a traditional dal-bati-choorma thali. We spotted a few policemen patrolling outside Jagdish temple and I decided to check with them on the local restaurants. One gentleman policeman, Anil Kumar suggested Krishna dal-bati, presumably the most authentic restaurant which was about 5 km from our location. He even got an auto-rickshaw to ferry us to the place. We thanked him and his team profusely, boarded the auto and set off to Krishna. When we reached the restaurant, guess who we found at the venue! Anil ji had followed us to the restaurant to ensure that we reach the right place. He even confirmed the fare charged to us with the auto driver, lest we got overcharged. Over the next few days, while passing by  the palace or the temple, we met Anil ji a couple of more times, and he continued to guide us on our local excursions. 

TV tales

We are a very TV loving family. Our parents - mine, husband's and now the child's are all big time TV-watchers. However, there is a difference here. My parents & parents-in-law have 3 television sets each in their houses with 6 & 3 members(2 after my sister moved out) respectively, while we have just 1 set with 4 people.  To our credit, we manage this abysmal TV:viewers ratio fairly well. Firstly, we supplement it with our 4 laptops. Also, fortunately, the timings are different for us. The child watches from 3.15(or as soon as she arrives from school) until 7.00 pm(or as soon as I reach home). The husband comes in by 8.00 pm and watches tv until 10.30 pm, which is when my sister returns from work, and takes over the control(remote). I don't get much of a window, and therefore prefer to stream and watch TV on my laptop. Yes, we are a cooperative bunch!

Coming to content, Pari, like her Dad, loves to watch pretty much anything as long as it is on the TV. Presently she is hooked to the Shiva cartoon. Last week, I just casually asked her about it, and she spent about 45 min just narrating Shiva's special powers. As much as I like hearing her talk, I got really bored after the first 3 min, at which point I switched off mentally and just pretended to listen to her. You know kids.. they don't really understand that tv shows are only enjoyable when you actually watch them, not when a 9 year old retells them. This brings me to last night's episode. We got in the bed really early, all set to sleep. 5 min in the bed, I started giggling. The husband asked me to share the fun.. BIG MISTAKE on his part! I had remembered this funny episode from the old show Dharma & Greg(am currently watching the entire series)..  and so went on to relate the entire episode, punch lines et al! The man had to literally ask me to stop, and allow the two of us some sleep. This morning, while driving to work, my mind wandered off to last night and thinking of this incident made me feel really foolish and worse still, so puerile. Then I thought somemore, and suddenly remembered the time when the husband had narrated an entire episode of Bhabhiji Ghar par hain  to me. This was about a couple of months back, when we used to regularly watch the show, and I had missed that particular telecast. I immediately started to feel so much better, and absolved of all guilt. I am not juvenile, we just happen to be a family of storytellers!

GREED DOESNT PAY, DATED: 2-11-12

One day, Fina fox saw Rafisa Rabbit dozing in the meadow. Wow! She'll be my next meal. Suddenly, Fina saw Kafisa Crow with Minna Mouse in her beak. I'll eat Minna first she thout(sic). She growled at Kafisa and a fritened(sic) Kafisa dropped Minna and flew away. Minna fel over sleeping Rafisa and woke her up. Rafisa and Minna ran into a burrow. Fina dug outside the burrow but contn catch them. I lost everything because of my greed.

Pari has written this story in her drawing book with illustrations. Though she has written it sitting before us all through, and so we know that it isn't copied, we obviously don't expect the plot to be an original.. and it isn't.. which is actually good, else I would've seriously fainted!  The good child is still baby enough to admit very candidly-- 'I've read this story in a magazine. But all the names are my own.' Not bad, I would say.. Fina, Rafisa, Kafisa -- boy.. it almost feels like sitting through a mushaira.

As you can guess, the poor child is bored beyond limits, courtesy the month long school holidays.. for Diwali.. what else! And this boredom has led to an unprecedented surge of creativity-- she makes greeting cards, several in number for each member of the extended family to cover every possible occasion-- birthdays, new yr, diwali, and such. We may need to rent a warehouse to store all these cards. And then the drawing book gets over, which means all the pages have been torn and folded into half to resemble greeting cards, with every corner filled with either art-work or loving messages, and not to forget-- her 'signature' which depends on the name she has chosen for the day.. the current favourite being 'Nisha/Missika'. Yes, Pari is very dissatisfied with her given name, and keeps renaming herself. The way she chooses her names is pretty interesting and warrants a separate post in itself. Alright.. where were we? Yes, when the drawing book gets over, she writes stories. This one was written almost a month back, and as I mentioned-- plagiarised. However, she has written some original stories since, very evident from the 'maturity' of the plot and the completely unrelated moral of the said story. Mind you-- all stories always have morals at the end. We usually lose most stories, because she writes them on the slate, and clears it off to make way for the new story. At times, she writes on some loose sheets, which get lost. I currently have just 2 saved on me, and am very determined to put down both of them here. Well.. losing them is not a great loss to humanity, but to my motherhood, it is.