So my mom made me read this article by a Chinese mother who raised her daughter to be the perfect child. It was called "Why the Chinese Mother is better than the American one."Staying away from drugs and teenage problems, easy admissions to IB League Colleges, piano perfectionist..the list never ends. And the way she brought up her daughter was in a world inscribed with zero play dates, studying, piano camp....you name it. It was published in the Wall Street journal and caused huge controversies. There was a retort article from an American mother."Why the American Mother is Better." Then, there was a third interview from the Chinese mother's child who talks about how her mother brought her up had made her the person she was now. That she attributed all her talent to her mother.
Now I'm not exactly in a position to talk about parenting. You have to be a parent for that. On the other hand, I am a teenage girl and I can talk about the kind of mother that I have and how I think she is the perfect combination.
When I was in second grade I wrote my mother a story for her birthday. It was like a version of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott and totally inappropriate for a 7 year old girl to write. My mother took it and explained to me about what I should write about. It was one of the best pieces of advice I ever got about my writing.
My mother lets me go to sleepovers and play dates. She wouldn't mind if I wanted to paint instead of play lacrosse. I can do things if I really enjoy them.
On the other hand.
Getting anything below an 18 out of 20 is completely unacceptable. Anything above that..the first question would be why it isn't a 20. If it's a conceptual problem than the first thing would be to learn the concept. And if it's a silly mistake..well then practise. Going to classes is a must. It's not healthy to just sit at home. So I do music and dance four days a week. It's not allowed to not do your homework, to skip my after school classes for no reason, to stay out late on a school night, to watch late night shows.
My mom certainly isn't the Chinese mother described in the article.
Nor the American one. But I doubt my mother would be differnt if she was Portugese.
Since when has nationalities defined parenting?
A good parent loves their child and wants then to be the best. The child, knowing this, strives to be just that.
Because we kids dont look back and see if out moms are Japanese, Korean,Indian or Portugese. We just see that they love us. They want us to be happy.
Happy is a different word from successful.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Tangled
So today I watched the Disney Princess movie Tangled. It's based on the story of the princess Rapunzal- the lady with the long, long, luscious hair. And what I realized is that the more recent Disney Movies have characters that are more likeable and realistic. They can be funny or disobedient. The perfect examples are Mulan, who goes behind her father, the adventourous Tiana from the Princess and the Frog, spunky Ariel, the little mermaid, the haughty Jasmine and our own excited, beautiful Rapunzal. They are quite contrary to our evergiving la-di-da Cinderella, our Snow White who sings while doing the laundry and Sleeping Beauty who dances while picking berries.
In fact, most movies these days have the kind of heroes or heroines who aren't perfect. Ditto with books. These people make mistakes, they have big problems which they can't solve,they cry, laugh, yell, lose and win. They are the kind of people who we can relate to but they are still far away from the average person's lives. After all, a movie about an average personw ould just be boring. Working, sleeping, eating. Not all of us meet tall, dark strangers or win big contests. Some of us just live. And not all of us have hapy endings.
Thats the beauty of a lot of new movies. They are so much more realistic. Cinema once revolved around people larger than lifw who we can look up to.
Now it revolves around people struggling with or enjoying life who we can looks beside us for. Because we are there too.
In fact, most movies these days have the kind of heroes or heroines who aren't perfect. Ditto with books. These people make mistakes, they have big problems which they can't solve,they cry, laugh, yell, lose and win. They are the kind of people who we can relate to but they are still far away from the average person's lives. After all, a movie about an average personw ould just be boring. Working, sleeping, eating. Not all of us meet tall, dark strangers or win big contests. Some of us just live. And not all of us have hapy endings.
Thats the beauty of a lot of new movies. They are so much more realistic. Cinema once revolved around people larger than lifw who we can look up to.
Now it revolves around people struggling with or enjoying life who we can looks beside us for. Because we are there too.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Kerala
So as you all know my father is a travel writer...and this time he had to do some thing about bananas from the purest place and we went to KERALA. This place is in India, on the South Coast. I've been to India a couple of times before actually.
So anyway, I recorded my journey and I wanted to share it with y'all.
Day 1.
The plane ride was so..uneventful. Unless you can call the usual ear buzzing and queasy feelings an event. Which I don't.
But I am excited. We are at Kerala! God's own country!! Though technically we are going to the city Kochin.way a country. i think our driver is a Himesh Reshimya fan considering that was all e listened to in the car. personally, I dont like HR all that much but to each his own i guess!
I have a grey jacket which has been my faithful companion on many of these trips. It was a really good buy. and my kindle says thankyou to my mother. She gave it a very handsome new brown cover.
The hotel is called Abad Hotel, and it's pretty good. I especially like the curtains.
So we met Nidhi, who is my sister's friend from a year ago. (They were in the smae class.)We all to eat at Chicago Revolving Resteraunt...why is it called that? We are in Kerala, not Chicago.
Bizarre.
Well the food wasnt all that amazing but the ambience was very pretty and I liked the soup..it was thicker than average and full of my favourite things. And as usual I ended up taking care of the kids. It's very plausible really.
The interesting thing about this resteraunt was that it actually REVOLVES..like the Space Needle in Seattle.
We got back at midnight.
That's all for today.
Day 2.
Today we went on a boat..not the canoe types but his big ones with like 50 people in them. It was peaceul except for there was this annoying man who couldn't stop complaining. And also two very beautiful girls wearing these adorable gauchos. And a bunch of other people.
We saw some very interesting things actually. There was this boat that ferries cars across, a man-made island, and some very bashful dolphins. The lake was called the BcakWaters lake or the Kochi lake or really whatever you want to call it seeing as the guide didn't specify a name.
We went to a Jewish synagogue where there was this bazaar with a lot of really funky and useless things. The icecream was different somehow. More like vanilla with a hint of chocolate, I dont know? There was also this mueseum describing the Jewish peiod in Kerala. The Jews lived here for a very long time, starting as traders and staying much longer after Independence. They left on their own will a few decades back though some still say here. We also went to Saint Francis' Church. It's a Protestant church so there is no idol of Jesus Christ or the Virgin Mary.
A few hours and a dozen cocunuts later, we went to Cherai beach with Nidhi. It was really, really fun. The nice thing about that beach is that there are kites floating everywhere which is really special to look at.
Again we got home really late.
Day 3.
Today we were going to bid adieu to Cochin and move on to Munnar. On tghe way, we passed this heavenly waterfall where I climbed up to the top! Munnar is like a tea plantation. Correction- thousands of tea plantations. The views were beautiful.
We stayed at a place called Bellmount hotel and the view outside the balcony is splendid. you can see an old church, and a school. The ride to Munnar took a pretty long time (plus my sister threw up on me), so it was afternoon by the time we ended up there. We went to the Boating Centre where I road horse whose name was Starfire. My mom, sister and I took a boat ride in a paddle boat which was pretty interesting because my sister kept getting scared and my mom kept splashing. After that, we went to Echo Point. It's a realy cool place where if you call something out you can hear come back to you just as clearly. In Anne Of Green Gables, Anne has an echo friend named Violet. If she had one at echo point, they could have proper conversations. Another nice thing about the place was that there was a movie store right across with really cheap movies. We also went to the Madupetty Dam.
But the most spectaucular thing about Munnar is the view. The view looks like something God made when he was in a very good mood. So lush and green. We had dinner at Mahavir Resteraunt which serves pretty awesome food.
Day 4
And now we're going to Thekkady!!! On the way, we went to the amazingly beautiful Lukham Falls, where we did stone skidding which was fun! Plus my sister fell down..but oh well..you have to fall before you stand! It was quite amazing though. We also went to the Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary. We had to stand in an hour long line(ugh!)..and then go in a bus to a different spot. Then we had to walk. And walk. And walk.
And this whole time I didn't see a bird, let alone a tiger.
But oh well..it was still pretty fun.
We reached Thekkady where we stayed at the Ambadi Hotel. My God, that place is regal.
Amazingly wooden and utterly perfect...
We went on an extremely dissapointing elephant ride..but oh well. We also went to DC Bookstore..and ate lunch a some really posh place which has this scrumptious mushroom preparation.
Day 5
So we set out early. Like really early when it was still dark outside. We were going to this very in demand safari. In fact, we were in an auto which was racing with a bunch of other autos to get to the gate first. Then we had to run..like really fast to get a place on the boat.
The safari itself was rather dissapointing but I consider the race the highlight of the trip.
Then we were off to Kumarakom.
In Kumarakom we stayed in this AMAZING house boat called the Mayura. It was heavenly..I felt so rich. There was such a baeutiful view and the whole ambience was scinntilating. I will never forget how it felt. Like a real experience.
We slept rocking on the water that night...it was so..romantic.
The entire trip was wonderful. I will never forget how beautiful the house boat was, or how good it felt to sit in a racing auto or how good I felt climbing a waterfall.
Kerala.
God's own country.
So anyway, I recorded my journey and I wanted to share it with y'all.
Day 1.
The plane ride was so..uneventful. Unless you can call the usual ear buzzing and queasy feelings an event. Which I don't.
But I am excited. We are at Kerala! God's own country!! Though technically we are going to the city Kochin.way a country. i think our driver is a Himesh Reshimya fan considering that was all e listened to in the car. personally, I dont like HR all that much but to each his own i guess!
I have a grey jacket which has been my faithful companion on many of these trips. It was a really good buy. and my kindle says thankyou to my mother. She gave it a very handsome new brown cover.
The hotel is called Abad Hotel, and it's pretty good. I especially like the curtains.
So we met Nidhi, who is my sister's friend from a year ago. (They were in the smae class.)We all to eat at Chicago Revolving Resteraunt...why is it called that? We are in Kerala, not Chicago.
Bizarre.
Well the food wasnt all that amazing but the ambience was very pretty and I liked the soup..it was thicker than average and full of my favourite things. And as usual I ended up taking care of the kids. It's very plausible really.
The interesting thing about this resteraunt was that it actually REVOLVES..like the Space Needle in Seattle.
We got back at midnight.
That's all for today.
Day 2.
Today we went on a boat..not the canoe types but his big ones with like 50 people in them. It was peaceul except for there was this annoying man who couldn't stop complaining. And also two very beautiful girls wearing these adorable gauchos. And a bunch of other people.
We saw some very interesting things actually. There was this boat that ferries cars across, a man-made island, and some very bashful dolphins. The lake was called the BcakWaters lake or the Kochi lake or really whatever you want to call it seeing as the guide didn't specify a name.
We went to a Jewish synagogue where there was this bazaar with a lot of really funky and useless things. The icecream was different somehow. More like vanilla with a hint of chocolate, I dont know? There was also this mueseum describing the Jewish peiod in Kerala. The Jews lived here for a very long time, starting as traders and staying much longer after Independence. They left on their own will a few decades back though some still say here. We also went to Saint Francis' Church. It's a Protestant church so there is no idol of Jesus Christ or the Virgin Mary.
A few hours and a dozen cocunuts later, we went to Cherai beach with Nidhi. It was really, really fun. The nice thing about that beach is that there are kites floating everywhere which is really special to look at.
Again we got home really late.
Day 3.
Today we were going to bid adieu to Cochin and move on to Munnar. On tghe way, we passed this heavenly waterfall where I climbed up to the top! Munnar is like a tea plantation. Correction- thousands of tea plantations. The views were beautiful.
We stayed at a place called Bellmount hotel and the view outside the balcony is splendid. you can see an old church, and a school. The ride to Munnar took a pretty long time (plus my sister threw up on me), so it was afternoon by the time we ended up there. We went to the Boating Centre where I road horse whose name was Starfire. My mom, sister and I took a boat ride in a paddle boat which was pretty interesting because my sister kept getting scared and my mom kept splashing. After that, we went to Echo Point. It's a realy cool place where if you call something out you can hear come back to you just as clearly. In Anne Of Green Gables, Anne has an echo friend named Violet. If she had one at echo point, they could have proper conversations. Another nice thing about the place was that there was a movie store right across with really cheap movies. We also went to the Madupetty Dam.
But the most spectaucular thing about Munnar is the view. The view looks like something God made when he was in a very good mood. So lush and green. We had dinner at Mahavir Resteraunt which serves pretty awesome food.
Day 4
And now we're going to Thekkady!!! On the way, we went to the amazingly beautiful Lukham Falls, where we did stone skidding which was fun! Plus my sister fell down..but oh well..you have to fall before you stand! It was quite amazing though. We also went to the Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary. We had to stand in an hour long line(ugh!)..and then go in a bus to a different spot. Then we had to walk. And walk. And walk.
And this whole time I didn't see a bird, let alone a tiger.
But oh well..it was still pretty fun.
We reached Thekkady where we stayed at the Ambadi Hotel. My God, that place is regal.
Amazingly wooden and utterly perfect...
We went on an extremely dissapointing elephant ride..but oh well. We also went to DC Bookstore..and ate lunch a some really posh place which has this scrumptious mushroom preparation.
Day 5
So we set out early. Like really early when it was still dark outside. We were going to this very in demand safari. In fact, we were in an auto which was racing with a bunch of other autos to get to the gate first. Then we had to run..like really fast to get a place on the boat.
The safari itself was rather dissapointing but I consider the race the highlight of the trip.
Then we were off to Kumarakom.
In Kumarakom we stayed in this AMAZING house boat called the Mayura. It was heavenly..I felt so rich. There was such a baeutiful view and the whole ambience was scinntilating. I will never forget how it felt. Like a real experience.
We slept rocking on the water that night...it was so..romantic.
The entire trip was wonderful. I will never forget how beautiful the house boat was, or how good it felt to sit in a racing auto or how good I felt climbing a waterfall.
Kerala.
God's own country.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Underused amd overused terms
LOL- Laugh out Loud. It's one of the most overused terms in history. Check a facebook chat box and you will see LOL atleast 10 times. But the interesting thing is that when a person types lol most of the time they actually wouldnt have laughed in real life.
Eww- Overused. Where did eww come from anyway?
Beautiful- Underused. Nobody says beautiful anymore..apparently there are way too many synonms for it.
Eww- Overused. Where did eww come from anyway?
Beautiful- Underused. Nobody says beautiful anymore..apparently there are way too many synonms for it.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Quotes-
OK, these are some of my favourite quotes even though I dont have too much of a clue who they are by.
1. Live life like it's your last- OK I got this quote from a movie but it's till one of my favourites because well...its pretty meaningful even though it's easier said then done.
2.Every Cloud has a Silver Lining- I love this quote mainly beacause it's aboout positive thinking.
3.Is this is a fish market or what?- Every teacher I've ever had has asked my class this question. It doesnt mean anything but it's funny to hear it every year. i mean, why a fish market? Why not a cloth market? Or a fruits and vegetables market?
4.The pen is mightier than the sword- I like this quote mainly because I'm a writer not a warrior and it's good to know that if I was in a war, I owuld win.
1. Live life like it's your last- OK I got this quote from a movie but it's till one of my favourites because well...its pretty meaningful even though it's easier said then done.
2.Every Cloud has a Silver Lining- I love this quote mainly beacause it's aboout positive thinking.
3.Is this is a fish market or what?- Every teacher I've ever had has asked my class this question. It doesnt mean anything but it's funny to hear it every year. i mean, why a fish market? Why not a cloth market? Or a fruits and vegetables market?
4.The pen is mightier than the sword- I like this quote mainly because I'm a writer not a warrior and it's good to know that if I was in a war, I owuld win.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Beautiful
Today, I was researching beauty and found out that one of the components of beauty is averageness. Apparently, humans are attracted to people that display a predominance of common or average features. Congratulations, MLIA-ers, we are beautiful. MLIA
So I read this post on mylifeisaverage.com today, and I realized that it'sa ctually reallly true. like technically when we call some one ugly, we say it's because their nose is too big or their eyes are too tiny or their eyebrows are too shaggy. But these are abnormailties in the face. It's more like when the face is made perfectly, when the nose is straight and the eyes are the right shape and the ears arent too pointy that we call someone really beautiful.
Is beauty really just that? Like if your face has no default, do we consider some-one beautiful? If that is true, then it is even more important about beauty being skin deep and all. After all, a face has to have that special something for it to be defined as truly beautiful..and if that something doesnt come in your feautures then where does it come in?
They say the face mirrors the soul. But I know a person who looks like they would be a villian in a book, but is the sweetest peron on this planet. I know another person who looks like a princess out of a fairy tale but would more likely play a witch.
So your character doesnt always define your beauty.
And what about all those movie stars who we read about in the papers and whose movies we see in the theatre? We know nothing about their character, yet we call them beautiful.
Why?
Maybe beauty really is aveargeness. Maybe to beautiful just means to not be imperfect.
What do you think?
So I read this post on mylifeisaverage.com today, and I realized that it'sa ctually reallly true. like technically when we call some one ugly, we say it's because their nose is too big or their eyes are too tiny or their eyebrows are too shaggy. But these are abnormailties in the face. It's more like when the face is made perfectly, when the nose is straight and the eyes are the right shape and the ears arent too pointy that we call someone really beautiful.
Is beauty really just that? Like if your face has no default, do we consider some-one beautiful? If that is true, then it is even more important about beauty being skin deep and all. After all, a face has to have that special something for it to be defined as truly beautiful..and if that something doesnt come in your feautures then where does it come in?
They say the face mirrors the soul. But I know a person who looks like they would be a villian in a book, but is the sweetest peron on this planet. I know another person who looks like a princess out of a fairy tale but would more likely play a witch.
So your character doesnt always define your beauty.
And what about all those movie stars who we read about in the papers and whose movies we see in the theatre? We know nothing about their character, yet we call them beautiful.
Why?
Maybe beauty really is aveargeness. Maybe to beautiful just means to not be imperfect.
What do you think?
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Impulse
So technically everything is supposed to have some sort of genesis right? Like a source..
Like if I buy capsicum at the store, the source could be that I'm making thai curry at home. And the source for that could be that I have guests and the source for that could be that my relatives are at town and the source for that could be that it's the summer vacation..and it would go on..
But then there are some ideas that have no source at all and that is an impulse. Like dying your hair blue or taking a random trip to the north pole or buying a really expensive car when you don't know how to drive.
Life must be so boring without impulse...so predictable..because every movement could be traced by it's source.
So..hooray for spontaneus moments and impluse and everything non predicatble@!!!! Togetehr we can fool the crystal balls!!
Like if I buy capsicum at the store, the source could be that I'm making thai curry at home. And the source for that could be that I have guests and the source for that could be that my relatives are at town and the source for that could be that it's the summer vacation..and it would go on..
But then there are some ideas that have no source at all and that is an impulse. Like dying your hair blue or taking a random trip to the north pole or buying a really expensive car when you don't know how to drive.
Life must be so boring without impulse...so predictable..because every movement could be traced by it's source.
So..hooray for spontaneus moments and impluse and everything non predicatble@!!!! Togetehr we can fool the crystal balls!!
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