Lalita Iyer

 I WOULD NOT LIKE TO FALL SICK The Health Minister Mr Harish Rao was apparently dissatisfied with the poor services available at the AIIMS, Bibinagar. Really, Mr Rao? He talks as if the facilities available in the government hospitals run in Hyderabad are top class. I shudder to think of the government facilities elsewhere. Sometime ago the state government wanted more people to go to government hospitals. Even I would like to go to a government hospital considering how much a private hospital charges. But one visit and that is enough for you to sell your soul to the insurance companies.  He talks about AIIMS with such a chip on his shoulder because it is a Centre run project. He could have had that right if the state government run hospitals were run tickety boo. with efficiency, cleanliness, doctors on call, clean toilets available for doctors and patients, That is not the case is it?  Did you guys know that the minister's permission is needed to hire a sweeper in the g...

 CAN'T BELITTLE THE PUZHU It was just yesterday that I praised Malayalam films and today I saw Puzhu, with none else than the handsome Mammooty as its hero. If the movie is about casteism then even that is not depicted well. The hero's sister, the charming Parvathy Thiruvothu marries outside her caste and Appuni Sasi is her life partner. He smiles through all the shots, to probably show that he is the agreeable kind. Direct opposites, even as she is pretty and fair, he is dark and from a lower caste to boot. So this high class family shuns the sister, while her husband holds her hand and his head high while they walk out of her maternal home, when her dying mother is not allowed to speak with her. But all this is shown towards the end of the film. And by the way, if someone does see the film, do tell me how we are to guess that good friend Mammooty is a retired cop. Considering he does not feed his son because of some mistake of playing cricket without his permission. The servi...

MOVIES AND MORE SERIALS I saw one movie and one serial one after the other. Unfortunately. The movie was Saani Kaayidam and the other was a serial called Mai. While the movie is a take off on the Kill Bill movies, is a hard core blood and gore film and revenge is its theme. Stark, with usage of rusty, old-fashioned arms, like swords, knives, axes, kerosene, etc. There is also some water boarding happening and all these violent scenes are stretched too much. While Keerthy Suresh looks her role, wearing some very good saris with matching blouses and hair meSSy just so, Selvaraghavan has lived his role, everything he does in slo-mo. His glasses add that much of misery to his role and that he wears shorts as part of the character in the film adds to the entire script. Mai, again is something else. Running into several episodes, Sakshi Tanwar is the heroine of this serial. And she kills without any compunctions. She gives injections, gives IV injections, ties up guys most professionally, hu...

 IT HAS BEEN A LONG TIME Something keeps happening everyday. A rosebud and of course this summer a few fragrant mogras on the little bush with barely some leaves. Even in the scorching heat new leaves struggle and they do look very good in the morning sun. The master bedroom gets the first rays of the sun, which is all very good and thank god I am an early riser, for on that very rare late Sunday morning it definitely hits you on your face. The other room which faces south west, where I sit and work, while I talk to the plants and they listen to the constant TV chatter, gets the morning rays, the afternoon heat and the feel of the setting sun. All I am saying is I feel I am in the hot chair always.  I, by-the-way, drove into Chennai with Ramesh and Kalpana. Left early morning and took the scenic route through the ORR. What a shockingly pleasant surprise it was. From Khajaguda on to the airport road and thank god for the signs for I did not recognise anything and I traverse the...