Elections

May 16th was election day; where we to vote or was it just another holiday?

Was not sure whom to vote for; the same false promises - was something really being done, or were we just moving like a pedulum, from left to right? Well this time we did have some one else as well in kerala; for for the first time did the lotus bloom here.

People come and go, parties come and go, problems remain. Any sensible Indian would agree that beef, jeans and skirts, Love marriages, westernisation, celebrating birthdays are not our problem.

We still have the age old problems persesting; that of inequality, poverty, casteism, unemployment, communalism, superstition, health system, coruption, infrastructure, sex ration, population explosion, crime accountability, literacy and education, black money, angry organisation etc.

Right is might, but no one ever wins if they do not fight. If you belive you are right, then stand up and fight for your place in the sun. If you belive you can do, hang in, if you do not win, you will earn the respect of everyone in the fight, including yourself, and in that sense you will have prevailed.

Being blessed with democracy it is our duty to vote, I have done mine. But there are still some more duty, which I neither have the energy not the ability to take up, wish and pray that I could do something.

The Year we got closer

She was confused and surprised, yet glad that he asked her out for a movie a year before; with mother. This was for the first time, someone had actually done that; and so it was completely a new experience for her. Sometimes we need someone to simply be there, not to fix anything, or to do anything in particular, but just to let us feel that we are cared for and supported; this is what she felt.

People come to one’s life for a reason, a season or for a lifetime; he had just completed one season of his life, and was on the bridge to the other; presumably he was just looking out for someone to fill the interim void or was that an invitation for genuine friendship only time would say.

They did not have anything much in common. A strong friendship doesn’t need daily conversation; doesn’t always need togetherness. As long as the relationship lives in the heart, true friends will never part; this is what she believed; initially when he got busy on reaching the other end of the bridge; not realising that the season was over. Though there was a gap in the new year; things appeared to be in place after three months.

By the end of a year, they realised, they have nothing to speak about. Life is not just about movies, and restaurants; and he was not interested in discussing his personal life and dreams; while she kept wondering, why men who respect women are mostly single? People who have been single are so independed and self-sufficient that it takes something extraordinary to convince them that they need you in their life. He would start telling about his professional problems, and stop in between, presuming it is not right to discuss them; leaving her in a dilemma. It is a psychological fact that people are generally more honest when physically tired; this is why people confess things during late night conversations. Next day; they would think why at all was it discussed?

At the end of a year, he was confused; and she was still confused and surprised. Stress, anxiety and depression are caused when we are living to please other, but they did not have to go through that here, as they were themselves; and had not put on masks to please other.

She still had lot of respect for him, for his passion, for his will, for the fight he took up for himself and others. His company made her happy, but she knew it would most probably be at its dawn. She did not know what had to be done, and because he wanted to work without distractions. So was she becoming a distraction now? She kept thinking about her friends warnings to be away from him.

Then she read Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg's explanation of life and death; especially on death that she realised after her husband Dave passed away. Most of us at one point or the other have to face loss of opportunity or adversity - in job, with health, with love and sometimes with life itself. We need to remember 3P's.

1. Pesonalization - Not everything that happens to us happens because of us.
2. Pervasiveness - The event will effect all areas of our life, there is nor running away,
3. Permanence - That nothing lasts for ever.

There are only two types of pain: The one that hurts you and the other that changes you.

If you care too much, forgive too much, in the end you get hurt too much. When you care for someone more than they deserve, you get hurt more than you deserve. Everyone is going to hurt you, you need to find the worth suffering for. It’s better to be alone; nobody can hurt you.

To the questions in your life, you are the only answer; to the problems in your life you are the only solution. If you are able to find them; and mould them to make you a better person; keep you positive, the pain would be worth going through. It would change you, make you stronger.

Finding gratitude and appreciation is the key to resilience. Live life, each day of it, with joy and meaning, without pain and with gratitude at each step.

Don’t depend too much on anyone. Everyone changes with time, with new people. Never assume that somebody loves you by their sweetness. Sometimes you are just an option. Some people are truly great manipulators. They can lie, cheat, treat you badly and somehow manage to make it all seem like your fault. Don’t fall for it.

Choices, Chances and Changes are basic reminders of life…We need to make a Choice, to take a Chance, otherwise our life will never Change…!!!

It takes love, respect, trust, understanding, friendship and faith in your relationship to make it last. Probably this did not have them all.

We need to Learn how to:
• Have fun without drinks
• Talk without cellphone
• Dream without drugs
• Smile without selfies
• Love without conditions

Be happy for no reason, like a child. If you are happy for a reason, you’re in trouble, because that reason can be taken from you. Remember, there is no market for our emotions, Keep up the positive attitude.

Stakeholder Management

Thanks to Sudeeptha from Transandix for a wonderful training session - both the trainer and training were captivating:


Any person, group or organisation who is affected by our work, would be our stakeholder.

For the project for which we are the Project Manager; our stakeholder could be:
 Project/programme team
 Shareholder or investor
 Public Interest group
 Government
 Community
 Upper Management
 Mid Management
 PM’s Manager
 End user
 Non Team Member
 Client owners
 Suppliers
 Internal & External Consultant.

Top 5 Qualities of Tom Kosnik and his stakeholders; where plotted on a graph, and an assessment was plotted of once own performance and that of the stakeholder. These can be jotted as a web, and linked to match the preferences.

 Integrity at the centre
 Chemistry/Sense of Humour
 Perspective/Humility
 Empathy
 Cooperation/Commitment
 Responsiveness
 Reliable
 Fairness
 Competence
 Communication
 Vision
 Grace Under Pressure
 Entrepreneurship


Stakeholder Management Involves two parts:

Paret 1: Stakeholder Analysis

Stakeholder Analysis means mapping and analysing your stakeholders. This involves Identifying, Prioritising and Understanding the Stakeholder:

Basic Analysis can be done using the Power interest Grid, and placing the stakeholders in 4 quadrants, and plotting them, to know if they have high or low power and interest.

Power HPLI: Keep Satisfied HPHI: Manage Closely
LPLI: Monitor LPHI: Keep Informed
Interest


Stakeholders would fall under one of the below category:
a. Advocates
b. Supporters
c. Blockers
d. Critics
e. Neutral
We need to remove the blockers – especially those who are in high power/high interest grid.
General points – based on role play:
 Don’t assume you know customers’ needs
 Asking people’s opinion is the first step in building relationship
 To gain trust of one stakeholder, never let other stakeholders down (ego)
 Stakeholders are not interested in why it did not happen, they would want to know how it would happen
 Patience
 1st Build trust
 Don’t say we failed, say we messed up
 Don’t get overly submissive – apologise and move on.
 All questions are equally important, answer first questions first.
 Clients/stakeholder likes to be heard, so hear.
 Don’t micro manage.
 Did a great job – seek help.
 Ask right questions
 What is important is how you enquire and what you enquire
 Push back, don’t push yourself
 If the conversation is going nowhere – start another line of discussion


Part 2: Stakeholder Planning – involves communication strategies:

1. Plan your Approach :

This has to be done, before during and after the project –
 Seek opinions/ideas
 Discuss the positives
 Discuss the challenges

2. Think Through your stakeholders
 Desired support
 Desired Project Role
 Actions Desired

3. Identify the message you need to convey
To persuade them to support you and engage with your projects or goals show:
a. Show the benefits to the person or organisation of what you are doing
b. Focus on key performance like increasing profitability or delivering real improvement.

4. Identify Actions and communciations
Work out and focus on
 HP/HI stakeholders first
 LP/LI Last

Always remember to include communciation in your project plan.
Implementation
T - Trust
I - Inquiry
P - Patience/Push Back
S - Satisfy

Three pillars of a project are: Trust, Patience and Expectation.


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Stakeholders are those who have a 'Stake' (investment or interest) in the success or actions taken by an organization. They include shareholders, management, and their families, industry in which the organisation operates, customers, competitors, suppliers, business partners, future generation etc. Corporations maximise shareholders value through profit maximisation.

Social obligation must complement and not compete for profit maximization. Business apply social responsibility approach by adopting socially responsible practices that wil be a positive force for change and help improve the quality of people's lives. Organizations naturally encounter a number of challenges in attempts to be socially responsible. For example, insider trading, layoffs, diversity issues, advertising, employee privacy issues, environmental issues, competition and international operations.

Even for Strategic Planning Organisations perform stakeholder analysis which provides a framework for weighing all the various claims and stakeholder concerns so as to reach a socially responsible decision. It also helps an organization learn:
- How people feel about the organization and the industry it is in
- What issues the organization should rethink/reevaluate its position on
- What the organisation should do differently to improve its position.

Managing Conflicts

Thanks to Sudeeptha from Transandix for a wonderful training session - both the trainer and training were captivating:

Managing varied personalities to align their individual goals with that of the companies is crucial for the success of any business.
None of us is as good as all of us; Team itself means:
T- Together
E- Everyone
A-Achieve
M- More

Every team would have some dysfunctions, we need to confront and change them.
Inspire the team to thrive; use interpersonal skill to build effective teams. Be emotionally intelligent to be successful. Qualities for effective team are:

• Good interpersonal communication
• Clear Goals
• Relevant skills
• Mutual Trust
• Unified Commitment
• Internal & External support

Engaged Team is and Effective team; and every team would have the below team members – Engagement Matrix:
Information By Standars: Through 1X1’s need to understand key driving factor, and bring them to next level Champions: They are multitasking specialists, we need to start delegating daily and on-going jobs
Weaklinks: Need to provide on-going feedback pertaining to performance. May mostly need assisting, planning and organising their time and work. Loose Cannons: Need to sustain the commitment level, while working on the empowering knowledge
Commitment


The different roles people play are:
1) Action oriented role :- Give momentum to work.
2) People oriented role:- Bring in team spirit
3) Cerebral Roles:- Gives strategy and direction.

As per Belbin Associates – Team Role summary sheet; various Team-Role Descriptions are:
Team Role Contribution Allowable Weakness
Plant Creative, Imaginative, Unorthodox, solves difficult problems Ignores incidentals. Too Preoccupied to communicate effectively
Resource Investigator Extrovert, Enthusiastic, communicative. Explores opportunities. Develops contacts Over-optimistic. Loses interest once initial enthusiasm has passed.
Co-Ordinators Mature, Confident, good chairperson, clarifies goals, promotes decision-making, delegates well. Can be seen as manipulative. Offloads personal work.
Shaper Challenging, dynamic, thrives on pressure. The drive and courage to overcome obstacles. Prone to provocation. Offends people’s feelings.
Monitor Evaluator Sober, strategic and discerning. Sees all options. Judges accurately Lacks drive and ability to inspire others.
Teamworker Co-operative, mild, perceptive and diplomatic. Listens, builds, averts friction. Indecisive in crunch situations.
Implementer Disciplined, reliable, conservative and efficient. Turns ideas into practical actions Somewhat inflexible. Slow to respond to new possibilities.
Completer Finisher Painstaking, conscientious, anxious, Searches out errors and omissions. Delivers on time. Inclined to worry unduly. Reluctant to delegate.
Specialists Single-minded, self-starting, dedicated. Provides knowledge and skills in rare supply. Contributes on only a narrow front. Dwells on technicalities.


We need all of them, for different phases in a job viz:
Phase Role 1 Role 2
1) Need Identification Shaper Co-ordinator
2) Idea Generation Plant Resource Investigation specialist
3) Plans Monitor Evaluation
4) Contacts Resource Investigator Team worker
5) Organisation Implementer Co-ordinator
4) Follow Through Complete Finisher Implementor

Also the opposite roles are played by the below who can be very well buddied:
1. Shaper & Team worker
2. Resource investigator & Complete Finisher
3. Plant & Implementer
4. Co-ordinator & Specialist
5. Monitor Evaluator

The 5 Dysfunctions and the related role of a leader are:
Dysfunction Role of a Leader
Absence of Trust Be vulnerable (tell stories of failure without jeopardising own or organisations reputation)
Fear of Conflict Demand Debate. Demonstrate restraint when team members engage in conflict.
Lack of Commitment Force Clarity and Closure. Constantly push the group for closure around issues and adherence to schedule, the team has set.
Avoidance of Accountability Confront difficult issues. Be willing to serve as the ultimate arbitral of discipline when the team itself fail.
Inattention to Results Focus on collective outcome. Set the tone for a focus on result. Be selfless and reserve the R&R for those who make real contribution to achievement of group goals.

We need to learn from Geese – The lessons they teach are – Mutual respect, Courage & Encouragement:
• They stick together in a ‘V shaped’ formation
• 70% of the hit is taken by the first person.
• Different bird’s take leadership.
• Last one only glides.
• They all make noise during their flight.
• Empower – quality honking

We need to treat people as per their personality type. Give black smith treatment for Iron (touch) – and Diamond treatment for Coal (soft).

Migration

The universe is one being. Everything and everyone is interconnected through an invisible web of stories. Whether we are aware of it or not, we are all in a silent conversation. Do no harm. Practise compassion. And do not gossip behind anyone’s back – not even a seemingly innocent remark! The words that come out of our mouths do not vanish, but are perpetually stored in infinite space, and they will come back to us in due time. One man’s pain will hurt us all. One man’s joy will make everyone smile.

We all look for comfort, stability, peace and happiness. But not all of us are blessed to have this. 93% of the people want to migrate from Syria, while 83% of people have been migrating into Lebanon, being host to refugees and asylum seekers mostly from Syria, and also from Palestine and Iraq.

The ongoing Syrian Civil War was inspired by the Arab Spring revolutions. It began in 2011 as a chain of peaceful protests, followed by a crackdown by the Syrian Army.In July 2011, army defectors declared the formation of the Free Syrian Army and began forming fighting units. The opposition is dominated by Sunni Muslims, whereas the leading government figures are Alawites. According to various sources, including the United Nations, up to 100,000 people had been killed by June 2013. To escape the violence, over 2.1 million Syrian refugees have fled to neighboring countries of Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Turkey. An estimated 450,000 Syrian Christians have fled their homes. As the civil war has dragged on, there have been worries that the country could become fragmented and cease to function as a state.

A colleague of mine from Germany, what she does is:
"In my spare time I support refugees mainly from Syria, Afghanistan, Eritrea and Mali who come to Germany with nothing apart their clothes.
Beside organizing what is needed on a daily life basis I organize translaters for them, psychologist, doctor appointment.

My organization has set up a pool of volunteers who help them out by organizing and accompany them to doctor’s appointments as almost all of them are traumatized, especially the woman who got raped in many cases. But also the children who have often lost their mothera or their fathers on their journey.

Beside the organizational part I am in touch with the local press and the mayor to coordinate the public relations part – mainly to convince local citizens more people will help us on a voluntary basis but I also try to convince companies to donate fabric, curtains whatever is needed. Most of them are happy to help but it has to be coordinated as well.

I also organize the monthly meeting with 30 volunteers and are in touch with several institution to set up German classes for the once who have arrived without speaking any German, try to convince teachers to “restart” on a volunteer basis to teach some German. A lot of refugees have to wait up to a year until they get their final residence and are not allowed to work or even to move out of the district without an extra permission which is hard to get."

It is still not enough and it depresses me but you can finally not save the whole world. Over the years I was able to engage more and more people . The main issue those refugees have is that they are isolated. It is not about the money. They simple want to belong to our society and this starts with the language.

The past is an interpretation. The future is an illusion. The world does not move through time as if it were a straight line, proceeding from the past to the future. Instead time moves through us and within us, in endless spirals. Eternity does not mean infinite time, but simply timelessness. If you want to experience eternal illumination, put the past and the future out of your mind and remain within the present moment. The present moment is all there is and all that there will ever be.

When people migrate, they suffer more - of loss of property, hardship, harrasment and what not. When we are unable to hear of face them in a stable life, the plight of the migrants are unbearable.

POSH

Hell is the here and now. So is heaven. Quit worrying about hell or dreaming about heaven, as they are both present in this very moment. Every time we fall in Love, we ascend to heaven. Every time we hate, envy or fight someone, we tumble straight into the fires of hell. Is there a worse hell than the torment a man suffers when he knows deep down in his conscience that he has done something awfully wrong? Ask that man. He will tell you what hell is. Is there a better paradise than the bliss that descends upon a man at those rare moments in life, when the bolts of the universe fly open and he feels in possession of all the secrets of eternity and united with God? Ask that man. He will tell you what heaven is. - Says Elif Shafak, in her book the 40 Rules of Love.

Indeed we can see this around us now. On this mother earth, where mothers are Torn, tormented, terrified. Tired of reading news on how women are tortured. Will there be no end to this? Nirbhaya, Sowmya, Jisha - some of the known ones, and so many unknown ones. What the heck is happening now? Is there hands of corrupt politicians behind this, at this point in time when elections are round the corner? In Kerala, after Perumbavoor and Varkala it is Mannarkadu!! 8 year old girl by her father..!!! This is just getting worst day by day..We need some action...Why still nobody is bothered? Why don't we see Arnab's of the country talking about this?

At one end people leave in posh, when we really need POSH - Prevention of sexual harrasment. As said by Siddique in Amar Akbar Antony, very few of us know the pain and react, unless something really happen to us. It is high time, we put an end to this. Undoubtedly it is a taboo on the society and mankind.

If we try to look at why? wondering if it be because need to touch and be touched is one of the basic necessity which many cannot resist. In our society if a girl and a boy talk to each other or continuous to do so for two or three days, people start talking about them, and taking that relationship in the wrong sense. Am not claiming that all that is done in the west is correct, we do have our tradition's and values, and these are highly respected. But earlier tradition allowed some kind of relationship in Indian culture, which are prohibited now. So to fulfill the basic needs, which some are unable to resist, the cruel animal instinct creep into some human beings, and they act violently. They should be treated violently as well.

Sexual violence can come in many forms.

The term sexual assault refers to sexual contact or behavior that occurs without explicit consent of the victim.

Sexual assault victims may be forced through threats or physical means. In about 8 out of 10 sexual assaults, no weapon is used other than physical force. Anyone may be a victim of sexual assault: women, men or children, straight or gay.

So, how can you figure if what happened was rape? There are a few questions to consider.

There are three main considerations in judging whether or not a sexual act is consensual (which means that both people are old enough to consent, have the capacity to consent, and agreed to the sexual contact) or is a crime.

1) Are the participants old enough to consent? Each state sets an “age of consent,” which is the minimum age someone must be to have sex. People below this age are considered children and cannot legally agree to have sex. In other words, even if the child or teenager says yes, the law says no.

2) Do both people have the capacity to consent? States also define who has the mental and legal capacity to consent. Those with diminished capacity — for example, some people with disabilities, some elderly people and people who have been drugged or are unconscious — may not have the legal ability to agree to have sex.

3) Did both participants agree to take part? Did someone use physical force to make you have sexual contact with him/her? Has someone threatened you to make you have intercourse with them? If so, it is rape.

It is brutal, and strict action needs to be taken against those involved. The victim and their family get's into mental depression, and are at times sidelined by the society with a stigma attached, when it is they who need the support. Let us join hands to support them, and ensure that the people who carry out these atrocities are severely punished; to such an extend that those who hear about it, fear of ever thinking of doing such act.

Money Matters...

Money Matters, and it is important to know about Money when we travell.

1. Rupee – The new sign is an amalgam of the Devanagari letter (Ra) and the Latin capital letter “R”. The parallel lines at the top (with white space between them) make an allusion to the tricolored Indian flag.
2. U.S. Dollar – Back in 1794, ‘ps’ : the abbreviated unit for the Spanish Peso was frequently traded. A shorthand version, with the p and the s overlapping, has come to be known as the dollar symbol of today.
3. Japanese Yen – The word ‘yen’, (actually pronounced as ‘en’) means ‘round object’ in Japanese. It describes the shape of coins globally. Foreigners often pronounced ‘en’ with a ‘y’ preceding it. Which is probably how it has come to symbolized as a ‘Y’.
4. Euro – The symbol is inspired by the Greek symbol ‘Epsilon’, popularly, the “E” in English and represents the first letter of the word “Europe”. The parallel lines across the epsilon are to certify the stability of the currency.
5. Riyal – This is the term given to currencies of various Arabian countries. The Saudi riyal is denoted by the sign SR in English and was first introduced in 1963. It is divided into 100 parts, each of which is refrred to as “hallalah”
6. Chinese Renminbi – Abbreviated, as RMB, the Renminbi is the official currency of the People’s Republic of China. The Renminbi is commonly referred to as the ‘people’s currency’ and is the legal tender in mainland China, excluding Hong Kong and Macau. Its units are the Yuan, Jiao and Fen.
7. British Pound – The pound sterling (formally), is the official unit of currency used in the United Kingdom. It is denote rarely as L and find their origin from ‘Libra’, the Latin word for ‘pound’. It is less formally referred to as ‘quid’.
8. Dirham – The Dirham, a unit of currency in UAE, was introduced in 1971. The name derives from the Greek currency ‘drachma’. It is most commonly represented as AED and sometimes, as Dh or Dhs.
9. South African Rand – Symbolized by the letter ‘R’, the rand was introduced on 14th February 1961, the same year in which the Republic of South Africa was established. The name ‘rand’ was taken after Witwatersrand, the ridge upon which Johannesburg is built and where most of South Africa’s gold deposits were found.
10. Turkish Lira – The lira was introduced in 1844, replacing the ‘kurus’ as the principal unit of currency. In late December 2003, the Lira was redenominated by the removal of six zeros to create the new currency of Turkey. This new currency came to be known as the ‘new Lira’.
11. Swedish Krona – The Swedish Krona came into existence in the year 1873. Krona, literally ‘Crown’ in Swedish, is often depicted with “Kr” and is called “Kronor” in plural form.
12. Pesos – Peso (literally meaning weight in Spanish) was the name of a coin that originated in Spain and became immensely important internationally. Peso is now the monetary unit of several former Spanish colonies including Argentina, Philippines, Mexico, Cuba and Colombia.

Partner for life

You never realise, when you start missing someone- When life itself is temporary, how can we have someone permanent in life.

People come to our life for a reason, season or life time (of one of us). But when you expect someone to be with you untill 'death do you apart', and the relationship do not last, it is terrible. Especially when you have children. Irrespective of whether you are in the east or the west.

You cry day and night until you realise that you have no choice anymore than to act rather than react.

You become a single mother with children who don’t understand their parent(s). You are still under shock about the physical violence if any and very very angry inside. You might want time to cool down to speak without crying . You might want time to reconsider and to speak without any anger in summer or fall. But if the spouse do not taken that chance, rather the opposite; you are shattered.

You feel like junk thrown in a bin, a marriage , everything becomes replaceable. It is important to have an individual life style and do anything one wants … almost everything has become replaceable. But this is not possible with a marriage and family life, is what one feels; but with time even this has changed. There are more failed marriages than successful ones.

You have with you tears all the time, you drive tears are comming up, you are under the shower, you have tears, you wrap the kids around, and there is tears.

Then spouse find someone from the internet dating portal. Tell THE CHILDREN that he needs time to try it and the relationship out. The message the children get is : "and if it is not the right one, mum is second choice." What does this mean to them and what does this mean to the lady?

You are not even angry at him. You are deeply hurt and to be honest devastated , sad and have to take care of two teenagers’ feelings because their father has taken that decision. Leaving your spouse after marriage physically and emotionally damages each person's life and the children’s future. What does this mean for their future relationships? That you can drop a family and try a new partner out easy like that? That in bad times you go on the internet, looking for a substitute . It is leaving a bit question mark in their souls for all their lives … that is making it hard. Future generation has to cope with this as well.

And I doubt that the kids can ever forget what the parents do. It will follow them their whole life and parents leaves this burden with them. That is the worst.

Two Countries & Charlie

The first of the movies this year was Two countries - we were two countries, who had been to watch Two countries; our first movie in Gold Souk - and to grab a ticket for this we went into Oberon, Lulu and finally thought of give a try here.

Ullas (Dileep) is a Jack of all trades with oodles of energy and a quirky character. He tries every conceivable trick to liven up his life which lacks the fizz that he yearns for. He has his accomplices in his pursuits for quick fix solutions to his problems. There comes a Proposal for his Namesake from Mamta who is in Canada - and trying to break it - he describes all his vitures to be negative.

Finally they end up marring - and the best part is how he has saved his memory of her. His marriage to Laya (Mamtha) which was supposed to turn his life on its head , turns out to be topsyturvy.

Aju Varghese, Mukesh and Suraj Venjarumoodu are well and truly in their elements and their dynamism and inventive humor perks up the momentum of Two Countries two fold. Rafi, Lena, Srinda, Vinaya Prasad, Jagadeesh, Ashokan, Vijayaraghavan,Makarand Deshpande etc. are there and ensure that they don't just make up the numbers. Mamta Mohanad deserves Kudos.

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Neil's favourate and often watch is Charlie.

After she flees from home mainly to avoid an alliance that she doesn’t like, Tessa (Parvathy) checks into one mess of a room in an old building. As she begins to clean the room, she discovers some interesting aspects about a bohemian youth, who lived there before she came. Martin Prakkat’s Charlie is about her search to find that amazing guy.

From a storybook that he had sketched about a fascinating adventure with a small time robber, she learns that the man in question had a quirky idea of fun but was at the same time, an extremely genuine human being. As we learn new stories about his kindness along with Tessa, we too feel attracted to this elusive young man, wearing colourfully printed shirts and sporting an unkempt beard. Each of the stories are touching - small-time thief (Soubin Shahir), Doctor Kani (Aparna Gopinath), Mariya (Kalpana), Kunjappan (Nedumudi Venu).

Charlie sweeps you off the feat with its inherent charm. It may be far from perfect, but is an entertaining film for sure, and I see Tessa in me - who has traces of her grandmother K.P.A.C.Lalitha as Rahel Ammachi.


Read more at: http://www.sify.com/movies/charlie-review-malayalam-pmywMDbhfdaag.html