Leavenworth is some 120 miles from Seattle. It is a German style village; they call these kinds of villages as Bavarian Village. So now we are going to take a trip to this village on a Sunny Saturday. You plan to start the drive by 8:15A.M and start at 9:15A.M. We are always on the dot! You swiftly catch up the navigator seat so that you have a control over travel direction and playing songs. Start with Annanoda pattu. The sceneries are ordinary till you merge with route U.S-2.After this, starts the country drive. The full area is sanctified by Mother Nature. One side of the road is filled with greenish trees and the other side you have a rail track (song in the player - Mottu ondru – Kushi)(pics here…). After few miles the trees are replaced by mountains and the rail track scene is replaced by a small river(pics here…). And you start imagining yourself as a hero and switch to romantic songs (ennavale adi ennavale type). After an hour or so you stop for a small tea break and your veins get lot fresher. Few minutes from there you see a good view point of the river and relax for a mini photo session. One more hour of drive and you reach Leavenworth. The entrance greets you with archetypal German buildings. You should be hungry by now. You reach information centre and get the necessary info, obviously restaurant details first. It’ll not be that good if you visit a German style village and didn’t try out German food. King Ludwig’s serves you lip smacking German/Hungarian food. I’ll write up a separate post about the food later. You come out and start exploring the village(pics here…). All buildings are designed in European style. That's what they say, I have never visited Europe. Looks like it is true, there is definite difference in the way the shops and houses are built, than the other places I visited in Seattle. Spend most of time in walking through the streets and posing for photos. Drop-in few shops and look for the any souvenir collections. You find few good T-shirts and you robotically recollect the much important 43rd table. Typical Indian mind set you see. Still swallow the hard-pill and buy it as a commemoration of the trip. Now it starts raining. You should do something passionate at this time. You spot an ice-cream shop. Try out Maple nut cone and it sucks. No other go you have to eat. Enjoy the climate and say goodbye to the place with reminiscences. After two hour drive reached Mayuri for a special hot chai and some good desi faces. This is the first trip in which I saw only one desi couple, wondering where have been the rest.
Mission accomplished! Enjoyed Chandramukhi on Wednesday. As expected the show was sold out and there was a long queue. I was welcomed warmly by a filly (ticket kudutha namba ooru figure).And when we went in, I was shocked. Most of the seats were occupied except few corner seats in the first few rows. We were five in number and got seats separately on the first two rows. Luckily I got a middle seat in the second row. After ‘Udayam’ (Nagarjuna and Amala movie) this is the film I have got a seat in second row! Few people got restless and the management couldn’t help them. They made themselves comfortable in the stairway! No other go, everyone wants to see the movie the same show. When the frame was filled with thalaivar’s shoe whistle sound reached skies. Couple of people in the first row went back immediately after being unable to adjust to the screens width and sound effects. First half of the movie was excellent. Rajini and Vadivel duo kept everyone entertaining. Second half was a bit dragging. This could be because of many reasons. I read many reviews informing Rajini’s importance was not felt. (Yes to an extent I am a media manipulated guy). The guy sitting next to me was also not interested in the way the screenplay went. And my own brain might also have felt the same! Vidyasagar rocks in “Annanoda pattu”. And Jo matches the audience tempo with her dance during that song. But the make-up and dance in the last song “Raa Raa” is a bit scary. Just imagine watching Jo so close in a 70mm screen that too her angry eyes. Guys believe me I didn’t have a proper sleep that night! The director has succeeded in maintaining ebullient feel of the viewers. Even when Prabhu cries, all of us were laughing. One guy promptly reminded that it is supposed to be a serious action. Most other reviews were praising Jo’s acting, I disagree. Many people felt that this is far better than Baba. I still feel lot of Rajini ingredients are missing. Rajini should get out of this pooja, mandhiram, swamiji, ghost etc., Recollect his blockbusters, all those movies were plain and simple with Super star-ism. That’s enough. And Rajini should reduce a layer or two in his lipstick. Still I am tempted to watch it for the second time.
We enjoyed the Tulip fest here couple of weeks ago. This occurs every year from April 1 to April 30.The whole area was overflowing with Tulip flowers of different colors. It was an outstanding view to watch. Click here to see few more pics…
And I am getting ready to see Chandramukhi in few hours from now. I am really thrilled to see the atmosphere and response here in Seattle. Almost all reviews about the movie cited that no Rajinism is present, so setting my expectations accordingly. I didn’t watch Baba (you see I said to you all earlier that I don’t watch crap), so going to see thalaivar’s movie after six long years! Don’t you feel Rajini is a bit harsh on his fans?
I watched Mumbai Express Friday. Though there was adequate laughing moments in the film, still it didn’t have anything special .Most of the scenes were like crazy Mohan’s dramas. Its Worth watching in TV or CD.
Last Sunday we were helping our friend in shifting his apartment. A small girl from the next door peeped in and questioned “What are you doing?” We said “we are moving out”. She continued “Sorry if I had bothered you with my question”. I was really stunned with the way she conducted herself. This is what we don’t teach to kids in India rather we fill their heads with maths and science which is of no use at that age.
Happy Tamil New Year to all people back home.
And “Muranpaadu” is going to get a face-lift soon!!!!Keep your fingers crossed.
Meanwhile Dravid is named as the captain for the rest of the series. And it’ll be interesting to see how he uses his resources. There will two spinners for sure. I bet the opponents score will never cross 275.You know he is a miser when it comes to giving runs for opponents, not as generous as Ganguly.
"Huzzah. While your English is not exactly perfect, you are still more grammatically correct than just about every American. Others admire the way you speak and could learn a lot from listening to you. Still, there is always room for improvement..."
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About Me
Rajkumar Dhanasekaran,currently residing in Glen Allen, VA, US
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