Stand Up for what is right, Even if you stand Alone...!

There's a big controversy going on based on what actress Parvathy has said about Kasaba malayalam movie in which Mammootty is the main actor. 

When this movie came out me and my husband tried to watch this and we couldn't even go forward with it after 15 mins. It was disgusting and the only reaction I had was, how come the actor didn't feel anything in doing such a film?

Well, time went by and then I saw Parvathy's opinion about this movie in the film festival and to that I thought of writing a blog post and then I said to myself, ah! leave it!!
And then I started getting news about this everyday as Google has its way of feeding in based on what I read online.
I see there's a lot going on because what Parvathy has said about the movie. I find it so useless that people forget the main point and start attacking the person without understanding what the person is trying to convey.

"Social media is about sociology and psychology more than technology"

If anyone is watching that Kasaba movie, try to put yourself as a woman or your mom, sister and relative in that and try to understand how you will perceive for your own people. It's that feel is what is expressed by Parvathy which is not respectful and should not be glorified by the hero of the movie because in India that is considered as the hero's personal view even though he/she might be working on it based on the money they are receiving for acting in that movie.

Cinema is one of the medium which brings awareness and openness in the society. We all learn and sometimes we see what's happening in the society is also shown through the movie. At the end of every story there is a moral and what message we are trying to convey is what matters and I am not sure if Kasaba has that moral at the end because I have not seen that movie.

Having said all that, I think Mammootty being a senior actor of the Malayalam film fraternity should stand up next to Parvathy and support her opinion as anyone in this world has a right to have their opinion and freedom of speech. Mammootty should show at least that much of maturity. I have more respect for his son Dulquer Salmaan - who is also an actor who supported Parvathy and not went wild with Mammootty fans.

"Maturity comes when you stop making excuses and start making changes."

This is the time when one should stand together and show some respect for the industry that they work together, instead he is sitting quiet and people are taking a troll on this by harassing Parvathy and by using disrespectful words which again goes against women, against feminism and that shows the basic thinking of people how they are raised or being fed with such thoughts that they don't respect women and their freedom of speech.

Sad, Mammootty is one guy who can stop all this nonsense that's going around online. Show some respect towards your colleagues and members of your film fraternity!

"The world suffers a lot. Not because of the violence of the bad people, but because of the silence of good people"

~ Dawn

Life should not only be lived, it should be celebrated...!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Born and raised in a country where more than 22 languages are spoken and at least 9 recognized religions are practiced, I was a privileged citizen of India.
I enjoyed every festival luckily only because I was raised in National Defence Academy Pune, where people from all around India live and share their culture, festivities, food and clothes. This is where I learned about humanity.

"The past makes us who we are, celebrate it".

Twenty years ago when I decided to take off to an unknown journey to Toronto Canada, I had no idea where I would land up but here too I was lucky. I landed in the month of April and by the time Christmas came I had a family here in Canada. I call it luck because knowing people in a country where you have no idea about the people, culture, weather which you have never felt before and then the loneliness all surrounded with early darkness by shortening the day - this was all new to me specially when I have never stepped out of India to experience this.

"Nothing ever goes away until it teaches us what we need to know" ~ Pema Chodron

Meeting Carol on the phone while selling her a Visa card turned out to be a friendly gesture. I somehow felt the closeness or was I looking one for? No idea, but while talking to her she recognized me that I was not from here yet she loved that I speak British English and not the Canadian or American English. I spoke about India and she spoke about husband's love for Saree. I decided to get her a saree as a christmas gift and she too took that seriously.

Before it was Christmas she came home with her husband to get Saree as her gift. More than the gift, it was her visit to make sure if there are such people who talk on the phone and make friends for real.
I helped her wearing the saree and gave some of the jewelry that will go with the outfit and makeup. She was so thrilled and to her husband Stuart I gave some roti (Indian bread) and potato sabzi along with Indian mango pickle as for early dinner. 
Both of them were mesmerized by the Indian hospitality and the next question comes to me is enjoy your Christmas with family. When I heard family, it gave me the chills as my family is far away and how am I going to enjoy anything with them? Stuart, immediately guessed and invited me to his home in Milton, Ontario.

"Life is what you celebrate. All of it. Even its end." ~ Joanne Harris

I am coming to pick you on Christmas Eve morning and I will drop you back home on boxing day :), you are now part of our family. That day and then until Carol lived I celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas as part of Carol and Stuart's family. It was good to be part of Canadian family as it taught me about the culture, food and festivities and the way of celebrations which is different. I consider myself to be lucky and today I have my own family in Niles, California and feels blessed.

A tradition, celebration and loads of memories that I am reflecting upon today and want to say live life with happiness and joy as at the end it's these memories which will give you much happiness and peace in life.

"I have a handful of close friends, and I have my family, and I haven't known life to be any happier" ~ Brad Pitt

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

~ Dawn

Freedom of choice is more to be treasured than any possession earth can give...!

These days we see so many incidents, messages, tweets, videos in social media talking about 'stand up'!
Yes, I don't want to mix this with the usual tech industry norms of 'stand-up' meeting.

Standing up for self and for others is basically asking defend and be strong. This is what I teach my kids because I always have this fact behind my mind that one day I will be gone and kids will have to face this world all by themselves.
We all know how this world is and it's not easy to live in. My thinking used to be that as we move forward in life we will be more intelligent and will be more human but that's not the reality.

"Charity begins at home, and justice begins next door" ~ Charles Dickens

My son is a big fan of Katy Perry the American songwriter and singer, since he was 5 years old. He loves her songs and he sings them as well. Since then he has been after me to go for Katy Perry's concert and not only this but he would also check if she is performing anywhere. Years passed but he would come and tell she is performing in London or Costa Rica, can we go and I had to tell him it's far and expensive to go for a concert in those places.
Finally, it happened and Katy Perry's tour was announced on the 101.3 radio and I got excited about it only because I could imagine my son's excitement if he would know about it.

I went ahead and booked the ticket even though it was way too early. His excitement and happiness had no limits and at the same time he thanked a million times for this opportunity to watch Katy Perry's live concert.

He also requested if possible can we buy her t-shirt at the concert and I said sure!

"Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything" ~ Plato

The concert was good, we all enjoyed it as by now we knew all the songs that Katy Perry has sung and more over those who have attended her concert know that she is a great performer and entertainer as well. We bought t-shirt and my son was so happy and excited that he was ready to wear the t-shirt to his school and let the world know that he finally did attend Katy Perry's concert.

I was really happy for him being a music lover I know the excitement of attending the concerts as I do all the time.

He went to school wearing Katy Perry's t-shirt and couple of kids teased him why he is wearing a t-shirt that has a girl on it. We got to know all this only when he returned that afternoon from school. What I saw was a strong person in my son. He clearly told them he is a big fan of Katy Perry and he likes her and hence he is wearing the t-shirt. He also said, I support her, don't you support your mom and/or sister?
I was amazed at his stand! However, I didn't like when I heard his friend was nagging about this as why he wore that t-shirt. I felt this should be reported to the office, because no one should tell anyone what they should do. It's everyone's individual choice.
I was reading few quotes to my son on the internet and I showed some of Martin Luther King Jr. quotes which spoke about standing up for self and for others. I told my son, today what you did is for self and I am proud of you.

"Our children have to be educated in the values of equality, freedom of choice and democracy" ~Ehud Barak

Couple weeks went by and as I was folding the clothes from the laundry wash, he sees the t-shirt is washed and the response comes, yay! I see my t-shirt seems got washed, nice and clean so I can wear this tomorrow to school!
I was surprised and happy too!
I was surprised because last time when he wore that t-shirt he had an incident at school and now he is again going to wear it and I was nervous again things will be different. So, I asked my son, 'are you sure? You want to wear this even though you know what happened last time?'

My son's response was cute, 'I don't care what anyone says. I like Katy Perry and I will wear the t-shirt again.'

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter" ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

This made me feel very proud about my son. It could be a small thing but this is important step in life, to stand up for self. One should have the freedom to choose what they want and not others to choose for them.

His best friend asked again, why you are wearing that girl's t-shirt and my son had an answer for him.
'Would you support your mom, sister and your girl cats?' If your answer is yes, then this is for Katy Perry and I support her!'

It is very important to have that freedom to choose for self. Today he stood for himself and I am sure he will stand for others too!

"There is no such thing as freedom of choice unless there is freedom to refuse" ~David Hume

~ Dawn