Tag: Life

Manga Reco: Kagerou Inazuma Mizu no Tsuki (陽炎稲妻水の月)

Manga Reco: Kagerou Inazuma Mizu no Tsuki (陽炎稲妻水の月)

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I saw the cover photo on the website and the drawing style – I knew it had to be Ame Arare Sensei’s manga. And I was right. This mangaka’s drawings are so very intricate and delicate. I want to meet Sensei once in my lifetime TT_TT

Genre – Romance, Tragedy

Plot – Four one shots again. First three stories are tragedies and last one is a happy ending (which made the day I read it on, otherwise I would have drowned in the puddle of my own tears).

1. Kagerou no Shou – Kagerou was sold by her parents to become an oiran (read ahead). She was a bold child and became friendly with the person who transported her to the red-light district named Ryuuji. Before he left her there, she asked him to be her first customer. Now, years later, she is ready to take the customers but Ryuuji doesn’t have enough money to buy her services even for one night. Does her dream come true? Go and find out! TT_TT

2. Inazuma no Shou – Wakana is another oiran, and beautiful and popular one on that. She wants to free herself from the shackles of the prostitution and lures out rich men into giving her expensive presents which she pawns in order to save money. One of them is Mitsunori, who is a high ranking person in society and a shy guy who wants Wakana’s services only. But Wakana gets disappointed when Mitsunori gives her inexpensive presents out of love. After spending one proper night with her, he disappears for three months. On the other hand, Wakana becomes pregnant with his child. In the end, he comes to buy her out and make her his wife. What is the end to this love story? Go and find out! TT_TT

Kagerou Inazuma Mizu no Tsuki 2

3. Mizu no Tsuki no Shou – This is one of those stories, which start happily and you’re happy happy. And suddenly, tragedy befalls and all you can do is ponder what happened. This is the story of Suigetsu, who by chance meets her brother one night as a customer. Her brother promises to buy her out in future. But the poor guy he is, he can’t afford her services everyday and no one knows the secret that they are cousins. His master also gets surprised when he asks him to bring him there again considering he had been reluctant till now. But Suigetsu gets terminally ill before losing her virginity. Her brother tries to obtain medicine illegally but are his efforts enough to save her? Go an find out!  TT_TT

4. Nagasaki Bojou – This was the most different and definitely the most informative one. It is about the times when foreigners started coming to Japan. Otaki is chosen to serve in a colony of Dutchmen. It would be her first time but she has apprehensions about a foreign partner, the language barriers and other things. She is very reluctant but her luck, she meets a super nice guy who cares for her and doesn’t touch her without her consent. They fall for each other and Siebold (her partner) proposes to her. In the meantime, her very beloved senior catches a really bad illness. Otaki, against the rules, return back with the permission of Siebold. When discovered, she is asked to server other customers since she ran away. In the end, Siebold takes her as his wife before everyone’s eyes. Slap in your face, you bad people. Take that!!

Analysis – The topic is same as Hira Hira. Setting is kind of same, just that it deals with the time before Geishas appeared. The courtesans at that time were called oirans, and everything was much more complex and difficult during their time. More you can read here.

The theme is told by the title itself. It means something you have near you but you can’t have it – something on those lines. The major difference in both of the pieces is that the first one was more concerned with their lives, this time it’s more about love.

Kagerou Inazuma Mizu no Tsuki 3

Again, it teaches that human beings have no right to tamper with the lives of other people and treat them as trash. These ladies were the most intellectual and artistic beings of their times. They were in the power to reject the most influential people. But they weren’t in this position or profession by their choice. Call it fate or circumstances of their parents that they had to do the work against their wills.

They are not to be demeaned in any manner, no matter what! After all they are also human beings, with pride, feelings and emotions.

Other things – Art is awesome as expected from Ame Arare Sensei. I have read a lot of historical manga but those sharp lines, those details, from eyelashes to the flowers on their dresses, that is something I admire a lot about Sensei. If you read this sensei, I’m your very very very big fan, though I have read only 8 stories of yours.

Warnings – Doesn’t have that much details but contains a few scenes which may offend some people. But since topic is sensitive, scenes need to be so, to deliver the right emotions. So read on your discretion! It is definitely NOT hentai, take my word.

Read here – Kagerou Inazuma Mizu no Tsuki Manga

Today’s Song – Haha, this is a funny MV. It will definitely help after reading the manga, I’m telling you:

Manhua Recommendation: Once Again (初.末)

Manhua Recommendation: Once Again (初.末)

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

So, I’ve appeared with another review and this time it’s a manhua. You know what’s a Manhua is, right? No? Manhua is chinese version of manga. Many of those are colored and they are generally done by hands and not computer softwares, is what I’ve heard.

This manhua has been written by Feng Xi Shen Lei. Also called, The Beginning and the End: Once again, this particular piece reminds you that humans get so busy in work, that they forget why they were working in the first place.

Once Again 1

Plot – The manhua follows the story of a guy named Yuan Ge who is handsome and at a high post in some company. He sees everybody in the terms of gain the relationship with that particular person will bring to him. He travels in subway trains despite him being on a higher position because he thinks that traffic jams are a wastage of time.So you can basically see what kind of Scrooge he is!

Story opens with him ignoring the news of his wife’s death while being in a company meeting. Apparently he makes all the arrangements for his wife’s funeral but is unable to attend. On the top of that, he thinks that he has completed his duty towards his emotionless wife (which he thinks she was). He can’t even remember her face well.

After some days, he starts noticing a 14-15 year old girl in the train he takes. He has been shown intelligent enough to deduce what a person’s profession and position might be in their respective companies by their clothes (pretty much same as Sherlock Holmes, no, it’s not shown like that though). But this girl is mystery to him. He sees her everyday but as soon as he is distracted by even one thing, he loses sight of her.

Since he never gets to talk to her, she slowly starts driving him nuts. He goes as far as to get checked for pedophilic tendencies in him since the girl is way younger than him and he takes his feelings for love.

Once Again 2

*Spoilers start* – Can’t do without the ending can I? But if you’re still tempted to keep it unknown, I must say that it’s pretty interesting. So you can go and read the manhua yourself to uncover the girl’s identity.

He finally decides to chase her and reaches his old school where past memories come to him and it is revealed that the girl is his deceased wife only. Earlier, he blames his wife for everything but now he discovers that it was him all along. He had promised the girl that he would earn a lot of money to buy precious gifts for her. As he starts becoming ambitious and rising the ladder in his company, he asks his wife to change for him. She has to leave her job of kindergarten teacher, shun her cute image to be able to blend among the wives of higher ups, suck up to them for his husband and ultimately along the way, she falls sick. On the other hand, Yuan Ge stops coming to home, or comes late at night and goes early in the morning and such and such. The wife has been shown pretty caring. She prepares food for him as early as 4 o’clock. This finally breaks him and he realizes his mistake of ignoring her completely.

Analysis – From life point of view, I think that the author has shown a proper present life scenario. I mean, I don’t know if it happens everywhere around the world, but it does apply to Asian countries, especially patriarchal societies where they think that it’s a girl’s duty to look after the household and related chores.

Even if we don’t go to that side of the story, it in general depicts how the life has become so fast paced that we forget every thing, including our relationships. There is no time for talking, for sharing emotions, for anything. We’ve become too busy in earning our bread.

Thus we need to rediscover ourselves because we’re missing a hell lot as this guy Yuan Ge realizes. We need to re-remember main purpose in our lives which we have lost sight of, becoming too entangled in the society and material life.

Other things –  Art is good. Plot is awesome. I loved the self discovery thing and the author doesn’t fail to compare the thoughts of the guy pre and post his realisation of the truth like he hated the monotonous breakfast she used to keep for him every day on the table and later he finds out that even though she was sick and coughing all the time, she would get up every day to prepare fresh food for him. So he basically lives his life once again, through memories, to get to know that had he cared for her health earlier, she may have been alive today. But they say that we realize value of something or someone when we lose it. It’s the fact of life and that’s what has been shown here.

In just seven chapters author has shown all kind of emotions and I respect that. Oh, now I realize, this one also has seven chapters. In the end, I would say, highly recommended!!

Read here – http://www.mangahere.com/manga/once_again/

Bullying

Bullying

by eastasianlover ♥ 2 Comments

My eyes met hers when I was coming back from the class. She, all dressed in blue with her blue bag and blue cycle, was rushing for her class towards the institute building. I hadn’t seen her, the blue lover, the joker, the clumsy girl, for quite a while in the hostel or outside, so I got a little awkward. I didn’t know how to react when she saw me and all came on my face was an embarrassed smile. Why was I embarrassed, I don’t know.

Suddenly, some memories of my school days flashed before me. There used to be a girl in my class. An intelligent, master in English, a high class elite kind of girl for that small town. I was always among the top three in my class but even so, I envied her, her knowledge. She may not have been the most successful student academically, but she was intelligent, the kind of intelligence, I may not have achieved at that time however much hard work I might put, given the limitations of surroundings.

She had transferred to our school from a big faraway city. More than anything, I envied that experience she had. I was also born in a bigger city. Why did I get to live in this town then? The endless prospects of a big city had always attracted me. Had I not been rotting here, I would have joined dance classes, martial arts classes, guitar classes and what not. Why was I here?

But the good student I was, I didn’t do anything, nor I had any intention to. What could have I done to her anyway? Better make friends with her. May be some of her experience helps me too. Who knows? I will be able to learn from her something after all. As the years passed by, we grew apart and got busy in ourselves. She changed too and I changed too, in many ways. She got adapted to the environment. She was not in THE group of my friends any way. She was in different section and we used to meet in one combined class only, for one year, so that was that.

Our paths crossed once again after four years, when she shifted to our class. Was she always there? Or had she gone to some other place and come back again? No idea. My reserved nature was coming out. I was growing quieter and quieter. I didn’t have anything to do with the world, people around me, though I was still talking to them. I wanted to talk to everyone, be everyone’s friend, but I was awkward again, not knowing what to do. I left it at that, with just the people I was comfortable with. Just Hi to others and that’s it.

Her grades had dropped down a lot after shifting to the class in which I was studying. Around the same time, a lot of weird things started happening in the class, like thefts, especially lunch boxes. She used to sleep in the class, something, Indian classrooms don’t get to see often. In my fourteen years of educational life, she was the first one to do that. After a lot of speculations, everybody came to the conclusion that it was her doing. Why we were so bent on that idea, I don’t know. But at that time, it looked the only plausible explanation of what was going on. Things weren’t well in her family side too probably. People stopped talking to her. And after that, things stopped happening too.

She tried to convince us. But we didn’t listen. And the good student I was, I didn’t want to associate myself with such kind of people. I never tried to know her side of story. Many of us didn’t. We totally isolated her. I don’t know how she endured everything for two years. Then she left the school.

At that time, it was just a small thing. Now I am here, looking at another girl, who was being mocked for her choices. I haven’t had any proper conversation with her. But the things I’ve heard are enough to see what people think of her. This girl is good with the art of baking. When anybody wants her help, they don’t even hesitate slightly to ask for her help. And the same day, they might be bitching about her.

She made a place in people’s heart by her talent. May be not all, but at least people look up to her when they need help. But she resembles that girl from six years ago too much. That girl couldn’t even do that. I was part of that too, bullying someone. Just that, the realisation hadn’t come till now.

We do so many things to hurt people with or without knowing. These kind of things make me disappointed in myself. Though I was one among the best, considered very intelligent, I wasn’t mature enough. The whole lot of eduction and titles don’t work. When I see myself as the person I was back then, all I can see is a black heart, a monster. Can’t say it’s better now, since I’ve met a whole lot of people and their mentality affects mine as happens with everybody. The set has changed, the scene has changed and the audience has changed too. Bullies have become bullied and vice versa has also happened. Some have left that kind of path and some have chosen the same after all those years. And where am I? I don’t know.

Where did that feeling that I’m good, so I must remain with good people come from? Who was I to judge people who was good and who was not. What was my definition of good – studious people, people who come in first ten in the class? I’m so ashamed of myself now. Will these criterion matter anyhow now? I’ve made a lot of people cry after all. And people say that I’m kind. I may have an attitude problem after all. And I try to justify it with my shyness when I hear something like this about me.

I can’t even apologize. And even if I do, it won’t give that girl, her two years back. All I know is, I don’t want to do anything like that ever again in my life, knowingly or unknowingly.

Was this a confession? Kind of. Was it true? A whole lot of it, yes but not all. What made me write it? I don’t know. Ah! So many unanswered questions…….

Am I ready for the world?

Am I ready for the world?

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

So, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately (I’ve got a lot of time on my hands) and with only two and a half months left in my graduation, the feeling is hitting me – the feeling that these days aren’t coming back. More than that, THAT I GOTTA FACE THE REAL WORLD NOW. But the major question is, am I ready for that?

If I dig deeper I may get to the answer or may be when I’ll face the really real challenges, then. But right now even I’m not sure. I mean, I’ve been studying for four years for the same thing right? My 20+ years of work, learning will now be put to the real test – REAL TEST, yes, that’s what it is.

Who knows what’s in the fate? All we can do is our best. Now that I’ve kind of parted from what I studied in my discipline, it’s totally unknown to me. Doesn’t that make it all more interesting? This excitement may be just a surface feeling though. I don’t know what I’m thinking or writing any more. And that, I think, is a sign that I’m getting a little nervous. I just want to get over it very soon – very very soon indeed. Or is it normal? I just don’t know.

But as a prof yesterday said, learn all you can in the starting years of your career, I’m gonna do just the same. Hope I get the right guidance at the right time. With that, I’ll start preparing to bid good bye to yet another phase of my life and enter a new one….

On Beauty and the Beast

On Beauty and the Beast

by eastasianlover ♥ 3 Comments

No no, this is not review of some movie or drama. This was something I wanted to publish when I was in Thailand but I couldn’t. I came across some article yesterday about plastic surgery and I remembered this post I had prepared long ago.

I never knew I would get to have a first hand experience of fad among girls to look more beautiful. Although many cultures influence Thailand including Japan, South Korea, China and India, I never thought they would be following some things to extreme level.

For me, Thailand’s culture is quite open (as against what I had read before going there). And by open, Indians generally mean clothes especially for girls. So whenever I bought the so called “short” clothes, I was always demanded an answer and I always had to assure them that I’d not wear them here in India.

Well, it was not that bad. I know it is gonna take time for Indian people especially elders, to fully open their mind and accept something like this which is totally opposite to our culture. I mean I showed my friends the clothes recently and they were awed, a reaction I was expecting totally opposite to my parents.

(That means although the thinking of girls in India is changing about the clothes, it is giving rise to crime against women on the other hand and hence parents of girls are sceptical about it. But I just don’t understand the mentality of guys there. Just clothes or a little lack of them I should say, make their brains go haywire eh? But that is totally going off-topic. I’m sure I’m gonna write on this in future for sure.)

Where was I by the way? Oh yes. So when I was there, I got to know that girls there are as crazy about good looks as we hear or read about in South Korea. I don’t give a shit about what you do with yourself. But I do get frustrated when it starts affecting your overall health. Plastic surgery gone wrong – you become a laughing stock. Whole lot of medicines – your body gets damaged. I didn’t know why the ladies there were facing so many health problems until I came to know it was due to their obsession for beauty.

Just recently I read an article by an English teacher in South Korea who, when told her very young students about inner beauty, was blankly stared at because they didn’t even know what inner beauty was. Well, it was unsurprising to me.

I just need to ask these people that ok, you want to look like someone else – more beautiful – I accept. But imagine a world where everyone looks the same. Ah! A person like me who already is weak in learning faces will go crazy (I already am, just by imagining it). What is the use? Who do you want to show? Your fellow guys? Ha! A person who can’t accept you whole as it is can never be a good friend let alone boyfriend (or girlfriend as a matter of fact).

I must say peer pressure is one of the major factor in going for such things. “Ah! She is so beautiful, I need to do better than her otherwise all the guys will see only her.” “Why don’t you, for once, just try it? You will need to go to salon some day or other.” The second one – I myself heard a lot, after which I had to give in and go to one last year. But those were nominal things like hair styling and all – normal things which girls in India generally start around 6-7 years before I started. I didn’t go before that because I never felt bad about myself. But my friends took me there and I still dread that painful eyebrow shaping thing.

Although I’m considered just average according to Indian society – I don’t have fair skin, I have a lot of dark circles, I don’t go for everyday treatments some girls generally go for and I don’t own beauty products like eyeliners, sunscreens and blah blah blah (Now I think about it I don’t even have a lip gloss!). Thus, I’m kind of, what you call it, backward in such knowledge (My 6 years younger sister knows more than me). But I do feel good about myself because I know I’m kind and honest. That is enough for me.

I again deviated from the topic. So what I’m trying to say is – go for beautification products, I’m not against it. Even if I’m , it’s not like people will stop using them. Who am I to tell people to stop what they do? Moreover, no girl cannot be using beauty products, otherwise she is considered a fool.

But my dear fellow human beings, you need to take care of your health. If you’re going for something which may go wrong and you may never get back what you already have, think twice. The ladies around me there had learnt the lesson already after going to hospitals for the same. If you’ve to spend money again on your fitness or the same procedure, don’t go for it. Just don’t. You need to love yourself and lessen comparing yourself with others. Because there is that one person in the world, who is going to be yours, no matter what you look like. So don’t worry and instead of spending money on beauty products, just keep your diet healthy, have lots of fruits, drink lots of water, do lots of exercise and have lots of sleep (who am I kidding?). That would benefit your face as well as your body.

I only wrote it because I felt strongly about it. My views are my own and no one else’s. So if they hurt you, that’s your problem. I’ll give rest to my rant here.

Today’s Song – It’s been long since I posted some song. Today, a Japanese song from OST of naruto – 

Anime Review: Speed Grapher (スピードグラファー)

Anime Review: Speed Grapher (スピードグラファー)

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

An anime marathon after sooo many months! The life is back. Alright, this is my first anime review (as far as I remember). I’ll try my best.

Speed grapher is an anime which shows what power and money can do to humans. This may not be the first anime to touch upon this subject, but it does take things to a little extreme with its plot. Let’s get started.

Speed Grapher 1

Plot – This is a story about a war photographer Saiga Tatsumi and a girl named Kagura Tennouzo. Saiga is in search of his perfect photograph and is working for a newspaper in the beginning. He gets a scoop about a secret club run by the biggest Tennouzo group and is able to get entry in there. What he sees there is beyond his belief. All the big names are present there and a lot of illegal activities are going on there including prostitution which they call pleasure. He sees a girl coming down from the roof who is being called Goddess. People come there to gain her blessing and he tries to capture her with his camera. Well, it turns out to be a taboo there and he is taken to the podium where, the goddess blesses him instead of the person who had come for the same. Saiga becomes a guy who can kill with his camera and abducts the Goddess who turns out to be the heir of the Tennouzo group, the only daughter of the family, Kagura Tennouzo. She has ability to give powers to the deepest desires of people’s heart and is the center of the whole mystery. Now Saiga takes upon himself to show Kagura the true freedom and their journey starts.

Deep Meaning – Well, it does show how weak the human heart is before money and power, how human beings don’t give a damn about others just for their profit. And it also tells how the government officials are working behind the backs of the people to fill up their accounts. That is something which most of us are aware of, but it does need a portrayal, from time to time. Revenge is also a subject in the anime, which destroys everything. Action plots are actually more about avenging for oneself or some family member or the whole family itself, which is the main motive from the starting itself or is gained in between. Here the case is the former one. And at the last, it is about the suffering and turmoil which common man has to go through due to selfish acts of those in power. No, there is more, the thing I like the best – How everything – money, pride, ego, selfishness and everything dissolves before death and we, the measly humans become so helpless before it that we are ready to give up everything we do so much slaughter of others’ emotions, pride, their selves and such , just to remain alive for few more moments. And this ends my analysis on the relation of the anime with the truth of life.

OSTs – There aren’t many. One main beginning and one ending. The beats for the beginning song are pretty good and ending is kind of slow. The lyrics are meaningful. Other than that, I remember encountering one different starting song and another ending song in one or two episodes in between. To be honest, I didn’t pay heed to them coz they didn’t kind of “grab my attention”. And there is a tune which plays throughout the anime which is playing in my head even now. So I’m sure I’m gonna download them soon.

Other details – First of all, it’s TV Asahi’s anime. I think it speaks more than anything. And it has got everything – romance, drama, mystery, action, sex (occasionally), science, supernatural phenomenon etc. etc. So it’s kind of full package in that sense. It has got fighting female police officers, big hideous mutants, awesome and somewhat unique abilities, handsome guys and many old geezers. Animation is pretty good, sometimes, the old geezers’ characters become distorted in between drawingwise. Rest is alright.

I think it’s more than enough to summarize my thoughts. If you want any cast, technical or any other info, you can refer to its Wikipedia page here.

Today’s song – I’ll post the OSTs of the same anime here –

Studying Japanese from Genki + Time management

Studying Japanese from Genki + Time management

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

So, I managed to grab an e-copy of Genki Integrated Elementary Japanese I and II from a friend and I’m glad I did. I probably haven’t given any time to a textbook like I’m giving to this one in my four years. It is a good practice for me. The workbook covers everything taught in the book extensively apart from the exercises in the book itself. I am printing and practicing everyday. Thus my reading, writing and listening skills are getting better.

The best thing is, it is providing a definite shape to my Japanese studies. I had always been clueless as to where to start from, after Hiragana and Katakana. Kanji has always been an obstacle for me. But now I’m finally starting to grasp the things. Loving the book totally!

I wish to get a Korean book like this too. Although I do own a lot of e-books and I’m doing what I can from Basic Korean – A Grammar and Workbook, I don’t have much to practice my writing with. I need some workbooks for that but I’m broke nowadays to buy any book. Ah! I need some money or some source of free e-books.

Now, the time management thingie. I’m pretty much satisfied with the pace my Korean and Japanese are going on. I’m at least giving time to them daily (excluding Sundays since very less time is left for me to give to Thailand). Now that my mentor has gone to Japan and I don’t have many projects at hand, I have a lot more time. But sometimes, I feel that the time is just flowing by and I’m not able to do much productive work. I’ve been neglecting my blog too.

Only one month more to go and I’ll be in India. My stay in Thailand is coming to an end and I think I am getting depressed about that. If only I had the books, my new phone for awesome apps and GoGo Korean Beginners course from Pegasus Society and very inspiring fellow bloggers who are learning languages themselves earlier, I would’ve been one level up by now in both the languages. But I don’t want to regret and fret over the things, hence I’m trying to accomplish more in the given time. But even then, the time is flying too fast. In a blink of an eye, it is lunch time!

***After Lunch***

Ah! Why do we need to eat food? Why was this thing called stomach given to us? If only, we had the power to make food from sunlight like plants. Wastes a lot of time! This is going to happen again – I’ll become sleepy – then sleep for probably half an hour and it will be 3! Then in last two hours, I’ll study some Korean and waste some more time considering the body becomes so sluggish. I don’t have concept like Power Nap – a big tragedy in my life. Better chug down some coffee again and not sleep at all. I wonder, what I will do in my college if I get addicted again here…….

Side Story 1 – Day before yesterday, we went to the Platinum Fashion mall (This particular mall in Bangkok is just full of clothes and anything you name. I call it heaven for girls) again for probably 5th-6th time. There was a shop with traditional Chinese dresses that I saw for the first time yesterday. Those red and black beautiful dresses! I wanted to buy but I was running low on cash, so I had to postpone it. ㅠ_ㅠ

Side Story 2 – I’m sure, from my talks about money in this or other posts, you may think I’m stingy. I admit to the fact, I am. I tend to be very careful while spending money. But my friend here managed to convince me that, this whole trip of mine is being sponsored by me myself (credits to the company of course). Hence I should not think much. Moreover the clothes and accessories have far greater variety here than in India and are cheaper too. I have collected a lot now.

Side Story 3 – Now that I’ve mentioned in above story, clothes and accessories, I feel like writing about the fact that I’ve completely changed with regards to shopping attitude. I was never even interested in accessories, let alone buying them. But my friend has made me such a shopaholic that I want to take whatever I like including bags, earrings, lockets etc. etc. I shouldn’t become that spendthrift but when she says – In India, these are very expensive and you’ll need them when you start your office, even if you can’t use them in the deserted isolated college – BITS Pilani, of yours – I get allured by it.

Today’s song – Since, in my last post I said, I was listening to OSTs, I’ll post one again. In my school related dramas post I mentioned this anime and I just love such a peppy song. Again there are TV size and full size versions. Hope you enjoy this one –

What do actors do anyway?

What do actors do anyway?

by eastasianlover ♥ 3 Comments

So today, there was a heated discussion going on on the lunch table and all they were saying was “What do actors do by the way?” “They are probably earning way more than they work.” “See us, we work so hard and yet we don’t get what we deserve.” “What is their social contribution?” “They only entertain people, making fool out of them.” and so on and so forth.

I don’t understand how can people just bash someone else’s profession? (Seems like my tag line has changed from “they are also human beings” to “how can they do this to others?”) I so wanted to say these things – Then can you act? Can you keep awake more than one day consecutively like they do? Is it so easy to become someone else? If they are making fool out of people, then public is idiot too. Moreover, you people are the one who say “Let’s go to watch that movie, it’s got awesome reviews.” That time you don’t think that they are fooling you? If they are sucking out your money, then whose fault is it? Theirs? Then just don’t go, don’t watch them.

Social Contribution you ask? Imagine a world without the dramas and movies – What? Can you watch News and Sports all the time? Talk about engineers (I’m one too so no offence). Aren’t they making fool out of people – introducing new technologies day by day – just making few changes here and there and you get a new product – happening so much nowadays?

If they are not there, who would I fangirl over? Who would introduce me to their countries’ culture? How would I learn my languages. Taking their countries to an international level, isn’t that a social contribution? At so many instances, they are bringing glory to their land, just like sports players, then would you say same thing about the players too? Do you even know, how much hardwork goes in just maintaining themselves, according to YOU – you, who think they are doing useless work?

I mean, I can think of so many things. I can’t even imagine what they really go through, just to entertain the audience. But again on a table of eight, if seven people are in agreement, what could the last person, who has no standing among those seven, do? I only left the table as soon as I could, which I think was the best decision. If only, people would grow up and start thinking about others. I guess, the world would be a lot better place.

Side Story 1 – I finally came to a decision as to what I should ask my mentor to bring from Japan. I asked her to buy me manga for elementary students so that I may learn Kanji and one for an acquaintance of mine who asked me to bring something Japanese as a souvenir from Thailand. Unfortunately, I’m not getting anything original Japanese or Korean here which suits me. So, now I just hope, she gets what I want

Side Story 2 – If I had known earlier that she had plans to go to Japan, I would have introduced her to J and K pop. In four months, she would have become a total fan. I’m sure, now she’ll get to meet so many idols but she would never know they are one. I would’ve asked for autographs and all.

Side Story 3 – I finished Sungkyunkwan Scandal in three days. But because of that, the current shows I was following – The Suspicious Housekeeper, The Future’s Choice and The Heirs – lagged behind. But I don’t want to resume them now because, they’ll take my variety shows time then. I don’t know what to do……

Side Story 4 – I’ve again come back to Japanese songs. This will go on for probably one week. I have been listening to OSTs of Cardcaptor Sakura, Gintama, One Piece, Naruto, Inuyasha, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, Angel Beats, Natsume Yuujinchou, Mirmo, and many many more. With each of them, my college memories are associated and it comes back like it happened just yesterday.

Today’s song – Then, I would post an OST today. Oh! Because, I’m writing this in lunch time from my office and I can’t play it, I don’t know if the larger one has video or not or if the smaller one is the TV size one or not. So I’ll post both. I’m sure many have watched the anime. Just revisiting the  childhood –

Status

The abundance of slowness (via medium.com)

by eastasianlover ♥ 1 Comment

The abundance of slowness — Content Creators & Curators — Medium.

Needed to share this no matter what. Coz I’ve been there and done that. Needed some inspiration.

Because, we need our time too, hence we need to learn to say no. Some people including me can totally relate this post, people who just say yes and take unnecessary loads of work over them. I need to slow down too and become more efficient. A must read…….

Underestimating a language

Underestimating a language

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Some two months ago, I had this strange experience. What happened was, I was asking the word for “home” from a Thai person and got confused with the ending of the word. The word is ‘Baan’. I just wanted to know if it is ‘Baal’ or ‘Baan’. I didn’t ask the Thai lady if it was Baan or Baal. I said something like this – Is it Baa ”n” or “l”? And the guy was sitting in the same room listening to us. The conversation from then on went as follows:

Him: They can’t perceive how you are saying. You shouldn’t ask like this.

Me: Why? They do have alphabets right?

Him: But still they won’t get it. Theirs is a different language and they just can’t understand like that.

Me: But ‘क’ (reads as ‘cu’ as in ‘cut’ in Hindi) will remain that only, right? It will be in English also, Hindi also and Thai as well

Him: But still

Me: Arey? Ok, tell me this. If a Japanese person comes to you and say ‘か’ (read as ‘ka’ in ‘kappa’ in Hiragana), you’ll think ‘ka’ (as in k+a in English) only right?

Him: That’s because I know English, they don’t.

Me (Still desperately trying): Then they’ll think in Thai alphabets..…

Him: They don’t have alphabets like that.

Me: How do you know? Do you know the alphabets?

Him: Because they can’t perceive it.

Me: Your thinking na, I don’t know what to do with it. (Was it a little harsh to say?)

Me to lady: Tell me, is it Baa ‘n’ or ‘l’?

Lady: Baan

Me to him: See? They got it.

Him: I wasn’t saying that.

Me: But I was saying this only. I don’t know what you were……

Him: Don’t argue on everything……….

……. And the door slams.

It was our time to go home and Thai people start saying “go home, go home” almost half an hour before the prescribed time. I still don’t know his side of story and I’m not asking you to judge the guy. Just that the fact that a language was being underestimated for not having some trivial capability infuriated me. Have you gone to their mind and see how they think? Come on!

Ok, I’ll admit. I did feel pretty bad afterwards thinking if it was mistake on my part. May be. May be I was wrong. While thinking of the things over again, I found out why I did that. The languages are the only passion I have in my life. Language learning is like my first love. I surely, don’t give that much time to actual learning but I get pretty excited on the thought of another language or culture (and Indian people here, my friends, get pretty amused on seeing my face suddenly light up when they talk to send me to South Korea and Japan, even when I know that they are joking).

 

Another such encounter happened sometime back. Thai has same thing for ‘r’ and ‘l’ as happens in Japanese and Korean. They have only one alphabet which lies in between “r” and “l”. Now, they sometimes use proper “r” sound and sometimes proper “l” sound as and when they feel comfortable. That’s how they have been living and using it. I was asking the meaning of word “aloy” (meaning delicious in Thai) from my mentor when another person (not the same one as above) says “It’s alright in pronunciation but it is wrong otherwise. The spellings are “a” “r” “o” “y” and hence should be pronounced like that.”

FACEPALM.

Tomorrow you’ll say since in English, “g” is pronounced both as “g” in “got” and “g” in “rage” and Hindi has two different alphabets for the two different pronunciations – ‘ग’ for first one and ‘ज’ for second one, hence, the English language is wrong.

I just don’t understand, how can someone be so ignorant and rude to consider the whole language itself to be wrong or inadequate. People, that is their problem and their easiness, how they understand things. It is enough to communicate. Please, don’t disregard others’ language. They are one of the most important part of the culture and at least I can’t bear this behaviour. But I’m helpless too. I can’t do much in that regard can I, besides defending? But that may be difficult too, especially when they are my seniors. But such things, I can’t take out of my mind. I don’t know what to do anymore……

Side Story 1 – Right now, I just don’t want to do anything besides learning languages. I want to immerse myself in that. I did do pretty good last week. But as my internship is nearing its end, I am getting a little more load and little more stress of going back and appearing for interviews. But, even still I want to just learn my languages and do nothing else.

Side Story 2 – I wanted to write a post about the place I got to visit on Wednesday, but I’m still waiting for the photos. And it was such a surprise thing. I had no plan for that holiday. Suddenly my friend called at 8 am and asked me if I could get ready by 8:30. It was such a hassle but we did get to go. But, guess I’ll have to postpone it a little. Even this post is a little late. I was preparing another manga review when the second story happened and I just felt the need to write it out.

I’ll listen to this song again and calm down – 

Time to be serious

Time to be serious

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

October has started and I didn’t realize that. Now it’s time to get serious about studies for placement. I don’t have much time left and have a lot of coursework to do. Added to that is learning swimming, serious Thai lessons and much more…… I have to prepare gifts for everyone too. And I will possibly be giving English lessons to daughter of one of the workers.

So I’ve decided upon some things. I’ll write posts twice a week only – one on Wednesdays or Thursdays and one on Saturdays or Sundays. I’ll keep sharing other things as I find them but they would probably be quick posts. This does give my heart a rest. Now my writing schedule will become regular too.

I do have a lot of things to talk about. A lot of places to write about and a lot of manga, anime and dramas names stacked up in my list. But I seriously need to balance everything, now that the time is drawing near.

That reminds me, in the final presentation by the assessors providing summary of their thoughts about the company, the starting went by like this – “One should give importance to his/her strengths and try to strengthen them even more because that does 90% work for you. One should not forget about his/her weaknesses but working on strengths can be more fruitful.” So I’ve decided to make languages my strengths. Not that I’m forgetting about my Chemical Engineering studies but languages will certainly give an edge to me. So I’m taking them seriously now, even learning Thai. Strangest thing is I was so afraid of tones, on the top of that Thai has 5 tones! But one of my seniors, who is Thailand born Indian said, “So what? Hindi has two tones. What’s the problem with 5 tones?” And I was like, “How could I forget that?” I became so oblivious to my native language that I forgot even we start with tones! This new perspective has made learning Thai easier. Today I discovered, they have same sounds as in our language. If only, I had realized that earlier! Sigh!

Anyways, I can put new and more efforts now.

In the end, today’s song – 

Fast Update – Very Busy

Fast Update – Very Busy

by eastasianlover ♥ 1 Comment

There is an audit going on now at the company and everyone is so very busy. We worked yesterday, yup, Sunday, till 12 midnight (not complaining, I’m flaunting, yes, flaunting). It was my choice though. I was asked to go home at 7 in the evening but I said, I wanted to help in any way I could. I know I’m an intern and ultimately, my mentor has to revise every document she makes me work on. But her work reduces too. I am helping her with designing work also. Countdown posters and small small animations. I have been asked to design banners for the company now! I’m glad, I’m doing all sorts of work.

But even now I don’t have time to write the essays, where the deadline is today itself. I tried to find time but couldn’t. I’m happy about the work. We have a lot of fun in between, making jokes, clicking photos, eating, and celebrating when even the smallest task gets completed. But my Korean studies are suffering and GoGo course is coming to an end soon. How am I going to take the exam!! I already couldn’t attend the online classes thus missing so many things. I get so tired in the night, that I enter the house and then no memory remains. I just walk out of the bed in the morning, even forgetting how I reached home (though I come myself by bicycle).

Today, not even some song is coming to my mind. I’m running out of songs now? My life is going down it seems. Anyways, I need to find some good new K-pop songs. Recently I wrote a post on Monkey Majik, so I guess, today I’ll post a Japanese song instead of Korean (hope I haven’t posted that already, in some other post of mine) –