K-drama Part 3/4

We have only 2 days left in the month, and only 2 posts left for me to meet my target of 30 posts. It is important that we complete the K-drama list. 

 1.Vincenzo: Perfection, addiction, obsession! Again, one of the most highly-rated K-dramas, Vincenzo was a treat to watch. It had 20 episodes against the norm of 16, but even that left us wanting more. 10/5 

 2. Business Proposal: Average run of the mill stuff. Nothing worth remembering, except for the male lead's large nose. I think the guy is too young to get surgery yet. The actress was forgettable as well. 2.5/5 

 3. Suspicious Partner: Interesting drama with some high points. Both good looking leads. I swooned over the male lead while he had his hair neat and brushed back. Once he got the k-drama hero fringe, all love was lost. 3/5 

4. Something in the rain: I watched this one because of Son Ye Jin. It started off real strong, and I loved the initial episodes. The jazz music, the tender romance, the rains - all the right ingredients. Then it just went downhill with too much rona-dhona. What a waste of 2 great actors! I will still rate it 3.5/5. 

5. Sky castle: Very highly rated drama focused on the rot in the Korean education system. Super intense and powerful with exceptional production quality, but it was all stress and no fun. I dropped off mid-way. 4/5

We feel really safe now..

..with our 2 resident spiderkids.

High level security doesn't come cheap though. My mother has to play with them a minimum of 3-4 hours a day in exchange for the family's safety. In the evenings, Papa needs to carry one or both of them down to the park. Not a bad deal in this dangerous world, I say!

Of high aspirations

When one is young, there are few things that appear more desirable than growing older. Once you are old enough, there are few things more depressing than growing even older. I think the person can be considered as truly mature on the day this flip happens. We had put up a couple of numeric balloons with numbers 1 & 6 on Pari's birthday to mark it as her 16th. Not because we consider 16 as anything special, but because the balloons were part of the decorations that the neighbourhood general store owner had recommended and sold to us. Also, because on inflation, they looked nice and went well with our theme. After the party was over, I plucked the number balloons off the wall, bought them home and pasted the 16 in Pari's room. I thought it looked great on her wall. The following evening, I went to Pari's room to run an errand. The numeric balloons looked strange and unsettling. And then I realised that Pari has rotated the 6 to make a 9 and pasted it before the 1. Many of us would offer an arm and a leg to be 16 again, I have a child who can't wait to turn 91. I would appreciate her enthusiasm about life, but for the fact that I would either be long dead and gone or 115 years old. I prefer the former.

Of travelling fathers and lonely daughters..

Husband is just back from a 3 day business trip. The man rarely travels for business and it is a big deal for the family when he does. The newly-minted 16 yo who generally avoids parents like plague is surprisingly and severely impacted. 'The house looks so vacant without Papa', she rues on Monday, the day following her Dad's departure. She spends most of Tuesday looking forlorn - 'I miss Papa so much.. when will he be back?' she asks. The child starts brightening up as Wednesday progresses and joyfully proclaims in the afternoon - 'Papa will be here tonight.. I am so excited!'. Most of the evening is spent checking the flight status and once he lands, tracking his transit from the airport to home. At times, I feel like I don't know this girl at all!

Of birthday cakes..

I had mentioned Pari's birthday cake in a recent post. Most people who saw the cake were impressed with my idea of a piano cake as well the craft of the designer. My sister, however, wasn't. She felt that by ordering the cake, I am not putting any effort and insisted that I bake one for Pari. It is understandable. Sis bakes lovely cakes and dresses them so well that they can easily pass as store bought designer cakes. I have none of her talent, and zilch willingness to make extra work for myself. We ended up ordering a cake from a professional bakery but this incident reminded of some of the innovative cakes my parents had baked for my birthday. My mother is the kitchen goddess and baking queen. I think except for the first, second and a few later ones, she always baked cakes for my birthdays and continues to do so to this day. One cake that I specifically remember was the guitar cake for my 9th birthday. I was taking guitar classes at the time and my dad thought it was a cool idea to make a cake that reflected my current hobby. I have no clue how they did it. I may have been at school or my usual absent-minded self. I would imagine that Mom would have baked multiple cakes which Papa would have cut into shapes and decorated with chocolate and frosting. I just know that it was there on the table in the living room when I came to cut the cake, and I got super excited to see it. Fortunately, I still have a picture to show Pari.

Of Hindi film reviews..

8.8.2019 Pari is a potterhead. As is the routine, it started with the books, progressed with the movies, and now we are sitting on tons of Harry Potter memorabilia - charm pendants, bracelets, wands and Lego sets. The obsession with HP doesn't seem to be waning anytime soon and I have made my peace with it. Yesterday, however, she made a surprising request. She wants to watch 'Harry Potter and the philosopher's stone' movie dubbed in Hindi. I was really puzzled because Pari doesn't watch even Hindi movies in Hindi. The child still has trouble telling apart Amir, Salman and Shahrukh Khans! I prodded further to understand this sudden change of heart. It turns out that Pari has to write a movie review as part of the Hindi assignment in school. Being a devoted HP fan, she wants to review one of the HP movies.The plan is to watch the movie dubbed in Hindi(which, according to her makes it a Hindi movie, duh!) and then review it. I think it is a good plan. Let us just hope that the Hindi teacher thinks so too!

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!