2015 Reflections

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The clock is ticking and in some 40 odd hours, 2015 will come to a close and a brand spanking new year will start. For many of us the 1st of January is a time to reflect on the year that has gone by and maybe make some resolutions for the coming year. I thought of doing a reflections post on what 2015 was to me and my family.

2015 was not a very good year, both for the children as well as me.

2015 was supposed to be a stressful year as this was the year that BB & GG were going to give their PSLE exams. We were prepared for that, what we were not prepared for was how stressful the year turned out to be! If I could rewind time, I would have started preparations a lot sooner than we when we did. I also didn’t have a lot of luck with the tutor we hired. We had gotten the name of another tutor who came recommended by a friend of S’.

Unfortunately when the children were in Primary 5, she got admission into a Masters programme lasting for a year and so she turned the children to a colleague and left. In hindsight, I should not have accepted this as fait accompli, and instead should have researched more options. The tutor P whom we had for 1.5 years left a lot to be desired. I think BB & GG were the first Primary 6 students she was tutoring and it showed. She would constantly change class timings at the drop of a hat and also skip classes which showed in the results. Also sometime after school started, around April I think, she suddenly hiked her fees, knowing parents would not skimp at this crucial year. The worst I feel was when the children texted her about their results, she didn’t reply for a while, and when she did, it was just a “Oh dear”! Anyway, that’s water beneath the bridge now. Lessons learnt and this year and onwards, I will check a tutor’s credentials very carefully before hiring them.

I think somewhere there is a sense of guilt in me that perhaps I didn’t push GG & BB as much as I should have – if I did that, would they have done better than they did? I really won’t know that, will I. Maybe this was for the the best and the two of them will shine in the schools they have been placed in.

Speaking of schools, we still have not heard back from GG’s first choice school and after reading an article in the Straits Times that schools will not be able to admit those with lesser score than their cut off point makes me more and more sure that GG will have to grow to love her second choice school.

Work-wise, this year was very unsatisfactory. I started the year with lots of hope and anticipation, which, as the months passed by started shattering down to earth (too dramatic right!). My new manager was nothing like what I expected, having had his country-man as my previous manager, who is a wonderful person and an excellent manager (the reason he got promoted and left this country I guess). When I realized this, I was in a bind, since I didn’t want to change jobs during the PSLE year. So I stayed put and now in the new year, I am going to have a conversation with Big B (aka my manager) and if the conversation does not have any news on career growth for me, then my time here will have to come to an end, sooner rather than later.

One thing I am really happy is that in 2015 I have been consistently blogging – both in this blog as well as my other one. Sometime in December 2014, I suddenly wanted to revive my blog and start writing again and though I never gave it any voice, I wanted to blog everyday, which I am really happy to announce, I Did! So kudos to me there….
So as I say good bye to 2015, I want all the negativity and bitterness (and I have a lot as you know – lots of unfulfilled wishes this year) to stay in this year and for 2016 to start on a clean slate – one that is filled with optimism and positivity!

What are my wishes for 2016? Wait for the next post….

In My Hands Today…

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The Last Queen of India – Michelle Moran

When the British Empire sets its sights on India in the 1850s, it expects a quick and easy conquest. After all, India is not even a country, but a collection of kingdoms on the subcontinent. But when the British arrive in the Kingdom of Jhansi, expecting its queen to forfeit her crown, they are met with a surprise. Instead of surrendering, Queen Lakshmi raises two armies—one male, one female—and rides into battle like Joan of Arc. Although her soldiers are little match against superior British weaponry and training, Lakshmi fights against an empire determined to take away the land she loves.

Told from the perspective of Sita, one of the guards in Lakshmi’s all-female army and the queen’s most trusted warrior, The Last Queen of India traces the astonishing tale of a fearless ruler making her way in a world dominated by men. In the tradition of her bestselling novel Nefertiti, which Diana Gabaldon, author of the Outlander series, called “a heroic story with a very human heart,” Michelle Moran once again brings a time and place rarely explored in historical fiction to rich, vibrant life.

Movie Review: Bajirao Mastani

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Over the long Christmas weekend, we decided to catch Bajirao Mastani. This was one film I was quite eager to watch, having studied the history of the Maratha Kingdom in school. Also, outside of regional movies, you don’t actually see such characters in mainstream Bollywood movies and so it was something I wanted to see how the director interprets history. Last, it was a Sanjay Leela Bansali film and enough said I guess…

The film is rich, lush and every scene is very lovingly crafted. I guess showing around 20 odd years of a character’s life in something like 150 minutes is difficult, hence the bits and pieces look of the movie. Sometimes during this movement across years, it felt a bit jarring and sudden and takes the viewer a couple of seconds to figure that the scene now is not a continuation of the previous one, but something that is happening in the future.

The movie had a PG 13 classification in Singapore due to some of the violence and bedroom sequences in the film. But I think BB & GG, at the cusp of age 13, took it well…

Ranveer Singh is spot on as the valiant Peshwa Bajirao I, after this movie, I can’t imagine anyone else acting the same role, though in parts, I did find him being his usual flamboyant self. I also thought he and Priyanka Chopra as Kashibai (Bajirao’s first wife) had authentic Marathi accents, not being locals themselves. Deepika Padukone as the epynomous Mastani was fantastic, her eyes conveying a lot that dialogues do not…

Mastani who is said to be the daughter of Raja Chatrasal of Bundelkhand from his muslim wife and who is raised as one is married to a Peshwa Bajirao under a Bundelkhandi tradition where people marry by exchanging daggers when Bajirao comes to help her father fight the Mughals. She then comes to Pune and there starts the real movie where Bajirao’s family who are Chitvapan Brahmins do not want to have a Muslim Mastani to taint their lineage and who start their courtly intrigues to stop Bajirao and Mastani from meeting.

The film is not historically accurate, which they announce right at the beginning of the film, more of what goes inside the bedrooms of Mastani and Kashibai and the intrigues of Shanivarwada (the official palace of the Peshwas in Pune).

Priyanka Chopra as Kashibai gives a very understated and elegant performance, something that I really didn’t expect and Tanvi Azmi as Radhabai who was Bajirao’s ambitious mother was fantastic! Vaibhav Tatwavdi who played Bajirao’s brother, Chimaji who wanted to keep the purity of the Peshwa lineage at any cost was very good.

The Pinga song however, brought memories of Dola Re from Devdas to mind and comparisions are inevitable there. Pinga, a song liked very much was not really a match for Dola Re!

The movie is a must-watch according to me, especially since it showcases some of the lesser known historical figures of India. For students of Maratha history (casual ones like me), it was fun as I knew pretty much all the principal characters, having read about them in school. For those who don’t know about Maratha history, this is a good starting point to get interested in it and read more…

BB enjoyed the movie while GG found parts boring. S found it quite boring, so I think it will be a hit or miss with children and some adults!

 

The Pinga Song

2015 Week 51 Update

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A not-so-good week for us as GG didn’t get into her first choice school. She got into the second choice, which, initially she was not too happy with. BB on the other hand got into his first choice of school. He’s very happy as his bestie is also in the same school, though not in the same class!

We’ve appealed to GG’s first choice of school which is the school that BB has been posted to. Due to the new MOE ruling which states that unless the child’s T-score meets the school’s Cut Off Point (COP), they will not be successful in appealing, we are not very hopeful with the appeal. But, the school has a music learning programme which may work in GG’s favour since she’s been in the choir and has represented her primary school for the Singapore Youth Festival winning Distinctions…

Work-wise, this was a very short week as I was only at work for two days…But there are some serious decisions I need to take and soon here. More soon when I do a yearly update!

This is the last weekend of 2015, hope 2016 is more kind to us….

In My Hands Today…

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Arjuna: Saga of a Pandava Warrior-Prince – Anuja Chandramouli

Arjuna is the immortal tale of one of India’s greatest heroes. These pages retell in riveting detail the story of the Pandava Warrior-Prince who has captured the imagination of millions across centuries. This is the intense and human story of his loves, friendship, ambitions, weaknesses and follies, as well as his untimely death and revival, his stint as a eunuch, and the innermost reaches of his thoughts. Told in a refreshingly modern and humourous style and set against the staggering backdrop of the Mahabharata. Arjunas story appeals equally to the average, discerning reader and the scholar. It spans the epic journey from before his birth, when omens foretold his greatness, across the fabled, wondrous landscape that was his life.