Reflected in You

Paperback: 352 pages
E-book: About 10 hrs
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd(1 August 2013)
Language: English

• ISBN-10: 1405910259
• ISBN-13: 978-1405910255

When I sit to write this review I have finished the Crossfire series till the books available now, ie Reflected to you and Entwined with you. Yet what follows have no spoilers.

This book, Reflected in You, is not a stand alone book, and yet this is the first book in this series that grabs my attention: simply because it was a NewYork Times best seller. But I chose to read the books in the intended order.
 I believe that relationships are always complicated. It ain't a relationship till it gets complicated, because people are complicated. So here's continuing with the...alright...romance between Eva Tramell & Gideon Cross.
The two were drawn to each other like moth to a flame, and what followed was a raw, fierce, hot and tumultuous relationship. Both of them want the same things out of their relationships, but neither of them have been in a healthy relationship long enough to know how to work it through. The books goes about how the couple deals with their own demons and evils, while trying to save the relationship. Both of them have their own set of demons from the past to deal with. To make things worse, Eva is quite often faced by blasts from her past.

So in the beginning Eva is the volatile and self-obsessed among the two. But advancing into the story see that Eva realizes how she has been in the relationship and decides to work harder at making things work. At one point she decides to stop running because her 'recovery was so fragile that she'd learned to protect it at all costs.' So, midst the self-discovery, self-realization and the struggle to stay together the couple more than anything depend more on physical bonding to bond emotionally (No, I'm not complaining!). In Reflected in You, Eva and Gideon fall more and more in love, instilling some hope in us, readers, so that we keep pining for the franchise.

Well written and feel-good, it's not a stand alone story. Nevertheless it's a good continuation to the 1st book. If you have read Bared to You, you are bound to love this one as it just adds to the experience.

Rating: 3/5

(I have a Kindle at hand which makes me grab the e-book. But if you still live the paperbacks, fret not, as they don't make much of a difference to your pockets. Though paperbacks come cheapest at Flipkart the e-books are out of stock. So for e-books you still have to go to Amazon.)

The many shades of 'Bared to You'

I was hardly ever a fan of the mills & boons kind of erotic novels. In all of my 26 years I have hardly read 1-2 of them. To me these excessively erotic novels, with a powerful and over-powering alpha male dominating a coy and demure female losing all their control over spacetime for orgasm-hungry sex,  were never always palatable. Being the girl I am, after reading thrillers for every single day over 6 months had me longing for a romantic novel. So here I was, one evening,  looking up the list of New York Times Bestsellers when I came across Bared To Me. I decided to give the book a random chance.
Diving into the book, the first person voice had my rapt attention right from the start. I felt like I was in Eva Tramell's head. Young, confident and ambitious Eva, bemused by the charms of her new home at New York seemed like someone you would instantly fall in love with. Gideon Cross, on the other hand is as Eva describes him, dark & dangerous, and all sinfully alpha and unattainable. That's their ying-yang factor in the relationship that makes them an instant hit.
But as they say, everything isn't half as perfect as it seems. The couple is fighting against all odds within themselves to get their dysfunctional bit out of them. And the story goes as they explore and unravel each other.
I was/am a crime-thriller/feel-good novel girl. Neither was I a fan of the 50 Shades of Grey series. So I was quick to dismiss any random allegations leveled on Sylvia Day about the many similarities in the plot between the Crossfire series and the 50 Shade series. Lucky for me, I didn't know of the allegations before I finished book and frankly the alleged similarities don't include sadomasochism and bondage in the sex scenes.

The sex scenes are hot, frequent and long; but what triggers me to move on to the the 2nd book in the series are the honesty and tenderness in the story. So look out for this space to know how I find 'Reflected in You'.

Romance between Eva & Gideon is wild, raw and passionate. But the cherry on the cake is the tenderness and honesty in their love.

Rating: 3/5

My Reading List of Oct '13

Reading list of July '13

Tawny, ageing books send me reeling into a nostalgic old world charm. They remind me that someone gazed into this very book and spiralled into a world quite different from what each one of us lives in. Someone grazed through these very pages that I hold and emoted similarly as I move from emotion to emotion. So if I'm sure of it being a good read, and if it's economical I would definitely buy second-hand books. And I came across just what I wanted when YMCA gave space to some second-hand book dealers space in one of their halls in Thiruvananthapuram. I grabbed a copy each of Don't Blink by James Patterson and The Girl who played with Fire by Steig Larsson.

Before reading about James Patterson I had heard about him inCastle, the television series(I'm a huge fan!). I kept muttering that dialogue of and from Castle, "Oh, I'm not James Patterson rich, but I do ok" for all the few days I had Don't Blink with me but didn't read it. So finally I dig into it and I finished Don't Blink in the blink of an eye. And now I'm a James Patterson fan too, waiting to lay my hands of another book of his. Inspite of having read it in May this book deserved a mention here more so as this helped trigger my insatiable thirst for good books all through the month of June. Come June I had finished that and moved on to a bunch of interesting books.So here goes the tiny list of books that took me through Oct-Sept 2013.

The Shiva Trilogy:

Mythology has always been my favorite genre next only to crime-thrillers. I fell in love with the genre with Devdutt Patnaik's Jaya. Through I had issues with the passive language, the narrative and the inner meaning of the stories left me spell-bound, that I went on to read The Pregnant King, also by the same author. And no, I wasn't disappointed. But after the two books I never found anything worth my time in the genre till the Shiva Trilogy. Though I was reluctant to read it, The Immortals of Meluha reached me through a friend who insisted that I read the book.So I started the month with The Immortals of Meluha, the first from the Shiva Trilogy by Amish Tripathi.

While I dug into the book I heard many a friends, interested in the genre themselves, express their reservations about Shiva being depicted as a casual, pot smoking, free-willed mortal. They didn't want their beliefs about Lord Shiva to be questioned or influenced after turning a few leaves of the book. Frankly being an agnostic myself, I found the books a logical explanation of why Shiva is revered the way he is. Tripathi made me respect the intricacy with which myth is woven into a logical story, with the right amount of magic sprinkled on it. 

The language is plain and the story a melodramatic strain. Its runs a risk of sounding like a mythological drama somewhat like your everyday K-brand of television serials. While the war description is painstakingly long and laborious, Tripathi's language is simple and sweet in handling emotions and relationships.

Rating: 4/5

The Girl Who Played With Fire
I had read the 1st book from the Millennium series, 'The Girl with the Dragon tattoo,' a long time back. This girl, Lisbeth Salander fascinated me with her complete mysterious ways of detachment from the society. The 2nd installment in the series, 'The Girl who played with Fire,' gives you answers regarding her peculiar behavior. This book here is less about Mikael Blomkvist & more about Lisbeth Salander. Go, read it for her.

Gives you a better picture of why Lisbeth is the way she is.

Rating: 3/5

They Do It With Mirrors
They do it with mirrors pretty much refused to move. It gave me sleepless nights & restless days. This one being my first Agatha Christie book, I'm not sure I'll go back to one. Having said that, though the book was not all bad the exercise seemed oh-so-trivial.

This one is a neatly written slow story that dragged on to meet a rather flimsy climax.

Rating: 2/5

Whose Kahaani is it anyway?

Movie   :Kahaani (2012)
Director:Sujoy Ghosh

Actors   : Vidya Balan, Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Nawazuddin Siddiqe, Indraneil Sengupta, Kharaj Mukherjee, Saswata Chatterjee

Movies are always end-products of a collective creativity. Many might argue about whose craft a movie is in the end. The director, producer or the lead? With Vidya Balan soaking in all the glory for winning the National award for her stalwart performance in Dirty Picture, there couldn't have been a better timing for her to see Kahaani released. Undisputed that Kahaani is yet another feather on her cap, before showering praises let me just give the rest of the gang their shares of the credit.

The very first thing that caught my eye about the movie Kahaani was it's trailer.Quite lucid and yet cryptic. Giving away almost nothing about the movie and yet keeping the viewer at their toes. I thought, "Wow! This is how trailers should be made!" Lot of times I've known what twists and turns to expect from a movie right after the trailer. Kahaani's trailer left me gnawing for answers. So 10/10 there.
Reviews for a movie good or bad,always begin with the director. We shall make no exceptions here, especially when the co-writer, director and co-producer of this wonder is one man. Sujoy Ghosh, who debuted his career with an off-beat like Jhankaar Beats hadn't been in many talks there after. With Home Delivery:Aapko...ghar tak and Aladin (inspite of Sanjay Dutt and Mr.Bachchan) bombing in the box office, there wasn't much to talk about. And hence Ghosh did a comeback and how?! Well, it wasnt intended as a comeback, says Ghosh. He was already toying on Kahaani's kahaani when Aladin was yet to release. So it was a natural progression? Fine by me.Sujoy Ghosh, bong by birth was brought up in London. And yet he has managed to keep Kolkatta a subtle character throughout the film, with seemingly deliberate attempts of avoiding the overwhelming tourist spots.But frankly, I would have enjoyed wee bit more of the bong flavor especially because it's been a relief to watch a city other than Mumbai,Delhi or even Punjab, in a Bollywood movie. But credits to Ghosh for choosing Bengali actors over Hindi speaking Bollywood actors who could  have spoit the whole deal for me.
Be it Parambrata Chattopadhyay as the doting policeman who turns  'Arjun ka saarathi' Satyaki' a.k.a Rana or Saswata Chatterjee as the contract killer and part-time insurance agent Bob Biswas, both were a spectacle, to say the least! But the list of Bengali actors in the crew does not end there, and that is a comfort. The freshness and authenticity is quite enjoyable. The 'V' being absent from Vidya and Vishnu making it both Bida and Bishnu, the reference to 'running hot water' and the frequented Bengali mixed Hindi have all added to the salt of the earth script of the movie.So hence arises the question again, who is the real star of the show? The writer (in this case writers), director, or lead? But with all this I also wish to mention how pretty much flawlessly the story was carried by the music. 

Be it 'Eklo cholo' by Big B himself, or 'Aami shotti bolchi' by Usha Uthup, the Visha-Shekhar duo deserve a round of applause for their un-intrusive melancholy of music. Each of the song has an individual character to boast about, which is interesting in itself. Not that 'Tore bina' & 'Piya tu kaahe' are not mention worthy, but 'Eklo cholo' and 'Aami shotti bolchi' are my personal favorites. the soulful rendition has made it stand apart for me. But what has really made the movie the talk of the town has to be Ms.Vidya (Bida) Balan!

This woman has definitely proven that she has some iron gut acting prowess! She isn't kidding anyone here. Her acting is pretty much flawless as the director puts it. But at the end of the whole exerciser one doubts if she began acting knowing it was a revenge driven story and not search hunt! More so because at times she doesn't come across just as serious as one might expect. But still the director-cum-writer was seen arguing that her playfulness is with Rana who she wanted to steer in her advantage without making her look like the obvious seductress. The bonding had to be innocuous and innocent in order to appeal to the sympathetic audience. So that part can be pardoned. But Ms. Balan is yet to astonish me with some unexpected, powerful performance, as some of it looks familiar from some of her earlier movies (Parineeta, No one killed Jessica, Dirty Picture). Also it wouldn't hurt to train on some variants of voice modulation. It's been some time since I've seen any from her. But all that said, Vidya Balan has now steered clear all the filmmakers who have been apprehensive about making women-centric movies. With a Priyanka Chopra in a possible shoulder-to-shoulder competition, atleast for now, Balan is a clear choice for the thinking man's muse for a woman-centric role. But my question still remains.

Sujoy Ghosh did show some real guts to bring out a movie with only a heroine, that too a pregnant one. Hats off to that! But Balan has also made the effort worthwhile. So who do you think is the real star here? Ghosh or Balan?

The Adventures of Sherlock Homes and his Funny Bone!

Watching movies could be the best way to idle away one's time. Movies not only take your thoughts away into an entirely different dimension, they also give you an insight into things you never gave a thought about. More so in the case of mystery, thrillers and fantasy movies. Mystery and thrillers not just keep one's brain engaged they also give you a fantastic adrenalin rush. So, nothing like watching something out of this genre when in blues as that is exactly when you need a distraction and an adrenalin rush to give you the pseudo rush of the happy hormones!

So here I picked this movie based on a character who even in literature fascinated me since a

very young age. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock

Homes could possibly be my first stint with literature. And oh boy did I enjoy it! My fascination led me to buy the books to posses them. And even set hands on the entire collection which I preserve till date. But sadly as age advanced I read Sherlock Homes no more. But I did some research on Arthur Conan Doyle and his Sherlock Homes. Like any Homes enthusiast would know I stumbled upon a few facts on Sherlock Homes and his characteristics. So all this grew on me and painted a picture of how Sherlock homes, if alive, would be. A maverick as he would have been, I also pictured him to be a pensive man of a rather austere demeanor with a pipe tightly held between his lips. As many a people have expressed anxiety on his sexual preferences, I would always try and imagine a woman who could excite Homes enough for him to pursue her. Now this is what brings us to this movie.

This is not the first time that Sherlock Holmes is being painted into the silver screen. But there are stark differences from one Holmes to the other. Sherlock Holmes is British and hence is perceived a stereotypical Brit with a crisp accent and clean and disciplined lifestyle. But here the script-writers have taken a creative liberty to portray Holmes as an untidy maverick, who prefers boxing for a stress buster.The movie Sherlock Holmes has a narrative style most suited to literature of the same name. Showing the events happening in it's natural flow and then to go through it again with a proper explanation of things. But my personal favorite were the fight scenes where Holmes starts by analyzing the potential harm he could cause and then going about the act in a jiffy!The movie is no creative marvel. But it sure excites any Holmes enthusiast for the sheer creative imagination and ideation of characters.The movie is all about Sherlock Holmes finding his match. When many Holmes enthusiasts raise questions over his sexual orientation, the movie take a creative liberty of setting things right. Here in the movie, where Holmes obsession over Watson is not hidden, the fact that both have separate love interests is a laudable creative twist to the story.The background scores for the entire movie blends in with ease.Although I don't find many glitches in the movie, neither can I call it a marvelous movie. But the story is sufficiently gripping and has a good flow of events. The most apparent aspect of the movie that sets it apart from the literature is that unlike the literature, it is perceived as a comedy.

First and foremost, Robert Downey Jr. is pretty ugly for what I would have imagined Sherlock Holmes to be. I pretty much imagined Holmes to be a clean-shaved man. But the way Robert Downey Jr. sported a stub bringing logic into the untidiness and erratic lifestyle Holmes has in the literature has fascinated me. Robert Downey Jr. definitely is a breath of fresh air for an adaptation. He succeeds in giving a dash of his personality to the character while retaining the true essence of Sherlock Holmes. Unmistakably, that is true Robert Downey Jr. style where his mastery lies in portraying men the public has an assumption about. He brings to us a Holmes who is not a stereotypical British gentleman, but an extremely erratic intellectual who so much life-like. In Downey Jr. Holmes looses the larger than life package and gets closer to the logic of a viewer. The man shows a controlled acting reflecting the maturity he gathered through his many attempts to come clean. The actor has an amazing chemistry with every other actor he is paired with.This is most evident with Dr. Watson.

Jude Law, who plays Dr.Watson is quite a dish! But apart from that there is no magic in comparison to what Robert Downey Jr. has done to Holmes. But unlike literature, the movie has treated Dr. Watson as an equal to Holmes, if not less. And the way Jude Law carries it off deserves applause. Dr.Watson's medical skills are put to use from time to time, increasing his prominence in the movie. I doubt if Holmes was so evidently against Watson getting married in the literature. But here the relationship between Holmes and Watson is much more colourful and life-like. British himself Jude Law retains the flavor and culture of the nation throughout the movie.
This movie has deviated from the original literature in many counts. But the most significant deviation would be in the case of Irene Adler, Holmes' love interest. Rachel McAdams is absolutely breathtaking for Irene Adler.Although in literature she is the only woman who Holmes takes any interest in, the movie adds character into their relationship.Given that the literature has many discrepancies in terms of the chronological order of the events, the movie follows on and does not give us any time, date or event when the two of them first met. Although it might show us how exactly Holmes was beaten by Adler.i e if the 'beating' is not physical, but intellectual.

 "To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman. I have seldom heard him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex....”

Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Homes

Robert Downey Jr as Homes

The movie urged me to watch the old Sherlock Homes television series with Jeremy Brett as Mr. Homes and Dr.Watson portrayed by David Burke. The whole series was meant for a thoroughly British audience. As a comedian once said..."it was so cold & boring". I do not deny that the television series did more justice to the literature than the movie. But the movie is appreciable as a creative extension of the literature. It suits any viewer, irrespective of their nationality, race or gender. Jeremy Brett embodies Sherlock Homes and, if I might say, immortalises him. But Robert Downey Jr. goes on to add spice to the character making the experience a a brand new one, without losing its flavour.
The movie is enjoyable for the comic timing of the duo and the storyline. Performances have been good but could be better. The script was good and adds to the enjoyability of the movies. Kudos to the team...but I expect you to do better the next time. My hopes stands justifies as the directer, Guy Ritchie has not done any noteworthy movies as of yet.( the reference depends entirely on my discretion!) So I'll be waiting until the next Sherlock Homes movie!

Well Done Benegal!

India has already made it the top of the international Hall of SHAME of corruption. Well, all thanks to one Mr.Kalmadi and his Rs. 4000 worth toilet paper rolls, which still couldn't keep the toilets clean. What an irony! Then came one minister named Raja (jiska baj gaya baaja) whose telephone calls became costlier than his own seat! Lalit Modi's name is not forgotten.(though the news channels seem to have!) But his 'journey' has been 'booked' now! But these aren't just names to be taken. These are epics to be remembered. The whole of the nation looks at them as they are 'epitomes' of corruption manifested. Who isn't aware that asking for/giving a bribe is like spiting on the road side. You are relived for the time being but are degrading yourself in a civic sense. Now this is what brings us to the movie Well Done Abba.

The movie directed by Shyam Benegal is a satirical comedy on the state of affairs in the state. The plot of the movie is very focussed on the system of corruption and does take an obvious dig

at the way the 50% reservation for women in panchayats has turned up. It is no longer a secret that in most of the cases where women are elected they are just rubber stamps of their husbands who

enjoy the power. The movie also aerially touches

on how some Muslim women from poor families are literally

sold off to Sheiks from the middle-east in the name of marriage. Of course there have been movies earlier which have bombarded the social and political issues with satire. But what makes this one special is its simplicity. In no way disregarding the Munnabhai series ( which I thought was splendid!) this

movie takes a similar approach and yet stays loyal to the

central theme, giving the viewer a lot of breathing space. The movie The movie has only two songs and that too sans the thumkas and jhatkas. And yet this is not a grey movie in any angle. It is so Bollywoodish in it's treatment and colour. The reference to the ever-so-sex-hungry

couple would ideally substitute sex quotient of the movie keeping with the theme of humor. (We know how sex hungry Bollywood is!) The movie also has a lot of optimism in it that you wonder if it isn't too much? Not trying to be pessimistic here, but lot of things in the movie simply fall into place. Well, at the end of the day it's a movie and has to sell! After all thats the director's job!

Shyam Benegal has passionately represented many civic

issue on the big screen. Muslim women have for long seen his constant objects of inspiration. In this movie his

admiration of Hyderabad and Hydrabadi muslim culture is very evident as the story does not require for it to happen there. All the characters mimic the dialect with near perfection. Even Telugu is used in one of the songs. The

human perfectionist! The reference to human is to pardon the errors. Now one might want to ask me,"Error, WHO?"

Well, in a particular song sequence, a mother who has just found out that her daughter who has been beaten up by her Sheikh husband, is on her way back to India via the embassy, is found to be rejoicing at her neighbor's wedding. To me it's too hard to digest! That is the only error that caught my lazy gaze. So after Welcome to Sajjanpur (which also did well on the box office!) Benegal must be getting good at comedy. But frankly I do miss the autobiographical Benegal at times. One cannot always depend on Ashutosh Gowarikar for history u see! But the shots at comedy and satire are always welcome. I mean, in a country with Boman

Irani and the likes there shouldn't be any scarcity of comedians who know their craft.

Boman Irani here plays both Armaan and Rehman Ali, the twin brothers.Though twins, both

of them are of opposite temperaments. And hence playing them

convincingly deserves due recognition. He emotes the responsible, kind-hearted and simpleton Armaan Ali and the street smart, deceitful and

irresponsible Rehman Ali with equal ease. The transformation is almost seamless. The Eid scene where both the brothers do away with their differences was the best of Boman Irani. The next best would be the scene where Armaan Ali decides to go on strike for his 'stolen' well and conveys it to the Minister. Here the audience gets a glimpse of the stoic, yet determinant Armaan Ali. Though Boman has a certain air of inactivity in his body language, the subtle mannerisms he introduces for his two characters are relatively similar. He could have been a tad more creative there. But the balance and stability he maintains with his two characters is a spectacle. Armaan Ali's charecter is also well designed to compliment

Muskan's character. (played by Minissha Lamba)

Ten movies old Minissha Lamba got to play a fairly substantial role here. But it is for one to

decide if she rightly utilized it! Yahaan being her first movie, where she was appreciated for her

performance, Well Done Abba was a fairly good platform to re-do the magic. Considering her roles in Dus Kahaniyaan, Corporate and Bachchna Ae Haseeno as those being barely visible, and then those like Rocky-The Rebel, Shaurya and Anamika which themselves were barely visible, this could have boosted her career in serious acting. Not like her stint posing for Maxim India. Nevertheless, Minissha is seen making an effort to get into the thoughtful actress mode lately. Which is not a bad thing to do. So all the best!

The next best thing about the movie was Arif Ali. I call him the eye candy for obvious reasons.

Sammir Dattani, the eye-candy in question, played the hardworking and progressive Arif Ali who falls for Muskan. The guy is the Saviour in the plot but somehow shies away the limelight. The script of the movie calls him physically handicaped as one of his legs are crippled. I fail to

understand which one as our eye-candy here had not taken the 'crippled' part of the script seriously. Not once did i figure out that Arif Ali was crippled until it was mentioned in one of the dialogues. Even after the mention I failed to take note of which leg it was! I wonder if he acted crippled atleast once! Being an actor both in Hindi and Kannada, one can expect Dattani to give if nothing else care to such basic detailing! But that apart, his character started as an eye-candy, grew into the intellectual Saviour of the plot and retained his eye-candy status. Almost as if his character grew, yet a retarded growth.

Rest of the characters of the movieplayed by Rajendra Gupta, Rajit Kapoor,Ravi Kishan, Sonali Kulkarni, all did their small bits perfectly well. Rajendra Gupta did a splendid politician there. He maintained a stoic smile which was fake in ever angle. Totally enjoyable. Rajit Kapoor's Inspector Srikant Reddy was totally pitiable. Mission accomplished!

The movie Well Done Abba becomes all the more relevent today because of the many scams that have been brought out by the media. It is indeed debatable whether in todays media influenced scenarios a 'stolen well' approach would be trivialized or gauged with adequate acumen. Though the movie tries to incite optimism if not in the system, then on the Aam Admi and his power. The idea looks bewitching, yet elusive. But the movie gives no false hope of depurgating the system of all it's malignancy. But it sure opens a hope of a peaceful well being. Hence I rest assured that if nothing happens revolutionary happens to the system (of which I myself am a part), I would get to watch such movies that incite me to think again and think wise!

No Marley for Me...NOT!!!

My uncle has a dog. It's white in colour, with grey ferocious eyes, viciously sharp tooth & claws. It has attacked almost every family member who has ever visited them & played with it. So I do neither play with it, nor like it! I cant stand street dogs. No, not because they are dirty or untamed, but because they are dogs.The only dog I can stand is a pug. (Yes, the ol' Hutch dog) But that too when it doesn't come near me! So note to whoever reads this: I HATE DOGS & I AM TOO SCARED OF THEM!!

But my uncle seems to like them. Particularly his dog. Inspite of being an absolutely lovely person, my uncle would not get rid of his attacker dog, He would take him out, feed him & all.I failed to understand his concern until now. Now that I've seen Marley & Me I am able to reason with his point of view.(click on the title for the synopsis of the movie)To start with, my prejudice against dogs did not stop me from enjoying the movie. Infact, the warmth & the depth of their relationship with the dog, actually moved me.The movie begins with a dog breaking loose it's collar & running away jumping hither thither. This kind of gives you a feel of what's in store for you. Being the exact opposite of a dog enthusiast, I wasn't really keen on watching further. But the way the movie unfolded got me interested. (yea..the cast did help!) Maybe the trailer would help you!

This movie is based on a book by John Grogan

named Marley and Me.And the movie directed by David Frankel is narrated from John Grogan's point of view. The man started off as a reporter,but took off as a feature writer. Marley was his one-point source of articles for a very long time.Grogan's articles were received so well that he wrote the book . Now the man is out with his 2nd book, a memoir, titled The Longest Trip

Home. You can get a whole lot of the John Grogan experience from his website which is a portal to his books and blog.

Being a budding Journalist myself it's a huge relief to know that it's okay to not know what exactly is going to

click for you. It's natural to think that you know what

suits you best and still go wrong.And that something, somewhere will work in your favor (too optimistic?! What can I say..am an optimist!)Infact that goes for not just any profession, but for life!

John Grogan could never tame Marley,though he always wanted to! He tried his best to train him, but in vain! So when not at home, John would never..and I mean NEVER let his leash loose. Owing to his behaviors Marley soon became sort of an impediment for the couple to have a baby, let alone have a vacation. But they worked things out patiently overcoming those rare thoughts of giving up on him. So the puppy unintentionally taught the couple to be patient about relationships. It made me think how difficult it could be to hold on to a relationship. And yet how wonderful it feels to look back at the years well spent. It made me think how easy it is to give up on someone or something. But to hold on to it means a hell lot of love, passion, adjustments and wit. And it's not wrong to adjust as long as it weighs less than your desire to make it work. And that is exactly what Jenny Grogan,played by Jennifer Aniston, does.

Jenny, wife of John Grogan, a journalist herself

wrote for the Post when she got married to John. She was a feature writer there.

As and when their family grew she decided o give up her job because bringing up the family was her priority. Sounds much like a trademark Ekta Kapoor K-series serial doesn't it?(Those of you who are

unaware of the Ekta magic may fondly click on her name.) Jenny relentlessly supports John in his career despite the fact that a career like his was something she had dreamed for herself. And she never tried to fulfill her dream through him by forcing him to do anything. And yes, she was constantly pregnant in the movie.Not once or twice, but thrice.Juggling her time between the three kids and Marley can't be as easy as it sounds. But Jenny manages to sail through all this with some patience, tolerence and a lot of love. To me Jenny Grogan sounded like a true blue bharathiya nari who is often picturised as the one to sacrifice her career for her family. As I may reserve my comments on the matter, this is not the only part I felt was probably larger than life.

The variety of troubles Marley puts the

Grogans through sometimes catched you by surprise. One tends to wonder if Marley was actually 'the world's worst dog'?! There were even some who wondered if Marley's erratic and high strung behavior was due to some psychological condition. There is a scene when Jenny asks John to get rid of Marley immediately. To be frank my heart goes out to Jenny just as it does to Marley at that point. Here is a list of some of Marley's

naughty feats.

• Eating the sofa cushions and every other piece of furniture edible to him.
• Wrecking the couples relationship with all the babysitters, mailmen and sorts in the locality
• Swallowing a necklace John intends to gift Jenny when she was pregnantthe 1st time(It eventually gets gifted..dogs poop u know!)
• Pooping on one of the only beached open to dogs leading the cops to find it out and shutting it for dogs.

But all is not bad. Marley did a lot of good deeds to the family too!Here is a list of those.

• Getting John to realize that it's time to move on with the 'plan' and have a baby.
• Sort of console Jenny when she miscarried their 1st baby.
• Helped John from freaking out when the Grogans actually had their baby.
• Being the same ol' Marley when the whole world was changing around John and he wanted to be grounded.

The biggest grief that Marley could give the family was his death. The columnist John Grogan once said that the most response he got for his column was for the eulogy he wrote for Marley after his death.

So a journalist by profession, it is but natural that John Grogan writes about his experiences with 'the world's worst dog'. But what are the odds that it gets made into a motion picture?! But as OwenWilson(who plays John Grogan) says in the movie, "I have a tendency to surprise myself!" Well, that seems to be the story of his life!(Read John Grogan's 2nd book for reference.)

The trend of the time seems to be making movies from either real life incidents, books or both.

I wouldn't start taking names, but you can just look around

for names!Is it because it's an easier to get a good story that way? One doesn't have to churn their brains a lot for an appealing story. Or is it because we love slice-of-life stories these days?

The best thing about this movie is that you would enjoy it irrespective of whether or not you own a dog. It is about the love and patience that goes into building a relationship. Though humans might not need to have such a hell lot of patience to get to stand one another, it got me thinking that how often we give up on each other. There is little though on why and how we gave up, on be it an idea or a person. But does that mean that we work on impulse? I think not. But just as a Karan Johar movie would say, the heart can seldom go wrong(oh wait! He says the heart can never go wrong. But I beg to differ)

I don't feel the urge to comment on any of the performances except for Marley. The dog who played Marley was fabulous. He really brought out the essence of the movie& the dog. The marvelous actor would be a labrador retriever named Rudy/Brownie. Let us not forget to appreciate his trainer, when we congratulate Marley. So kudos to his trainer Jim Warren who has been in the trade for quite some time now. One cant expect it to be as easy as it looks! Here is this interesting read about training animals in movies. Click!

All this about Marley leaves us with an urge to see the real marvel, Marley. The real Marley acted in a movie called The Last Home Run.

So here's signing off with a thought. A quote from the movie. "How many people can make you feel rare, and pure, and special? How many people can make you feel extraordinary?"