Charsadda Attack: Bleeding Once Again

At the dawn of 2016, the people of my country cry tears of blood once again. We have since long suffered at the hands of those who are hell bent on destroying the beacon of hope. But strangely never have we been shaken as we were when they attacked the heart of that hope, on 16th December 2014.
They tried to take our hope but we stood steadfast, we were strong. Yet once again we returned to being negligent. We forgot what it had meant to us, what we had felt when we saw small bundle of joy carried out of a place where the most he was supposed to be worried about were his papers, lifeless heading to a grave. Never to smile again, tease again, shout again, laugh again or walk again amongst us sinners. It was not just one such hope that was taken from us but several.
The battle ground had been firmly declared and it would be academics, they attacked our learning places and we promised to help so many more children learn and get education.
However as I said, we became neglectful, like always we forgot that the people had to do something, and we just let the army handle it. Resulting in 20th January 2016, when the future of this country was attacked and a University became the front line of this war.
There were tears again, and virtually we made promises like we did before. But no one can promise that this will not happen again. No one can assure that we will not let the army handle this situation without any transparency.
Without transparency how do we know that the person being hung by the military courts is actually linked to these monsters, because if he isn't then we are converting a whole family in to vulnerable supporters of these monsters. How do we know that small time manipulated pawns are not being hung to protect the big shots. And how do we not know about back channel deals, that might just as well be facilitating the terrorists.
Not trying to diminish the sacrifices of the soldiers in the operation against the terrorists. But unfortunately it has not been as effective as it should have been. Something is lacking and if we ever hope to win this war, we need to find that very problem. It might be withing the establishment, the government, the society, economy, culture or in all of these. But if we do not want the only sources of hope disappearing from our Country we need to solve this.

Silence

The strong silence, the stillness in the air.  Its almost frightening. Every loud sound vibrates through this stagnant silence and bursts an ear. Its like the weather is mourning, mourning a friend it has lost or a companion.
It affects the mood, there is a feeling of restlessness. As if there is no peace in anyone, just fury and irritability. Things that usually bring a smile on people's faces are just meaningless and futile. Even in light there is darkness. Nothing is comfortable and nothing is familiar.
People attempt different things, different ways to keep the joy going but the stifling air does not give them the permission.
The moon shining brightly is not beautiful anymore, the sun scorching you with the light breeze isn't refreshing. It just is.
Smiles are forced, conversations are empty, the eyes are glazed and there is a feeling of hopelessness.
This is not how I remembered winters in this beautiful city. But the dust on the leaves tell a story of how it is forgotten. Life is still going on but there is nothing that makes it interesting. No rain, no extreme cold. Nothing that would make you feel happy that winters are here. Just the stillness, just the loneliness and just hopelessness.
And we once again close of another year, because time does not stop even if everything else is still.

Better Late Than Never

I have been writing about Korean dramas quite frequently and I can assure myself and the world that I will be back obsessing over them. Its just that recently after about 3 months of ignoring Revenge, I finally caught up with it in one night. I had left the 2nd season after the 12th episode. And now, I went all the way to the end.
By the end of season one, I was pretty tired of the soap like intrigue served up in Revenge, till then two characters had me hooked, that of Victoria and Nolan, both amazing actors and both amazing characters. Then the season finale changed the game, I wanted more. I could not wait for the 2nd season to start and I was excited for once.
The truth is, I was never really bored in the second season, but I have a limit of watching intrigue and I hit that limit by episode 12. By the time episode 13 came, after the hiatus, I had too much to watch to care about a show that I only watched for two characters. But last night, I finally caught up. And woo...WOW. It was better than I had expected, the drama, the intrigue, the characterisation and the twists. Season two, 2nd half has been a pleasure to watch and once again I find myself waiting for the third season to come. It was good enough that I spent a whole night completing it and I knew that no matter what I could not sleep till I had seen the season finale.
One thing that is good about me catching up late is that season three starts at the end of this month, so my wait won't be too long. Till then I will start New Girl and complete Arrow. While also going back to Korean dramas and starting off a new year in uni. My life is interesting, even though some people will never understand the pleasure of the escape provided my any form of GOOD fiction, be it a movie, tv series or a book. It can be a doorway to a new world within our very own world.

Korean Drama Queen In Hyun's Man Review

The only reason I watched this show, was the high ratings and the good reviews it got back in 2012. As I started watching it, the first two, three episodes weren't that great, or maybe as I had read the recaps I wasn't that intrigued. It had pace though, it was fast in a strange way, something kept happening. So I guess it was well written. Then, as the mystery deepened my interest deepened too, yet there were characters that I was supposed to sympathise and I couldn't, especially the character of Yun Wol.

The lead female character has a problem of calling herself a fool all the time, and whereas there is a scene where the hero tells her that "you are not a fool, you just lack knowledge", which is kind of true for her character, but for once I would like Koreans to show a happy woman who isn't always insinuating that she is a fool. But I do like it that they show that male lead is the one to realise her potential hence making him someone who values her, maybe even more than she values herself.
Even though the story required it, and it was justified, the later half of the show was filled with too many scenes of the female lead crying her eyes out. I think I had more problem with this, because Yoon In Na cries so hauntingly, that it makes one feel scared and distressed, her acting has to be appreciated.
The 2012 drama "Queen In Hyun's Man" is a story of an actress who plays Queen In Hyun in her debut role, who meets a man from the past, from the court of King Suk Jong, and who is a loyalist of the actual Queen In Hyun. The man from the past and the woman from the future from the future fall in love and have to fight enemies, nature, magic and time itself to stay together.
The drama stars Yoon In Na (Secret Garden, The Greatest Love) and Ji Hyun Woo (Invincible Lee Pyung Kang, My Precious Child) in the lead roles, supported by Kim Jin Woo (Twelve Men In a Year, Can't Lose), Ga Deuk Hee (Can't Lose, Nine), Jin Ye Sol (49 Days).

2013 Drama: I Can Hear Your Voice

The Four leads are extremely entertaining characters and wonderfully portrayed.

An older girl and a younger guy romance, has been handled in many Korean dramas. And it is mostly interesting to watch, if handled well. In "I Can Hear Your Voice" (2013) this romance is handled spectacularly.

With a little fantasy element in it

This 2013 drama is different in many ways as it has a little fantasy element in it. It is a drama about a high school senior Park Soo-Ha, who can read people's minds. He has for the past 10 years loved a single girl, a girl he met once, she came forward as a witness in the murder trial of his father. At that time Soo Ha had promised to protect her.10 years later he still hasn't found the girl, Jang Hye-Sung. And then he meets her again as she has become a public defender, just as the murderer of his father is released from the prison with plans of the taking revenge from the witness who put him in the prison. 

The show stars Lee Bo-Young (Athena: Goddess of War, Save Tha Last Dance For Me), Lee Jong Suk (Secret Garden, School 2013), Lee Da-Hee (Air City, Spy Myung-Wol) and Yoon Sang-Hyun (Secret Garden, Three Fathers One Mother).

The drama was extremely well acted and the story was amazingly acted. Unfortunately one of the minor characters, who had an emotional story to portray was not that good an actor. Kim Byung-Ok could not handle the amazing story line he was given.
The best character which was also well acted was played by Kim Hae-Sook, her character was so strong and admirable. Her acting was memorable, though for a character this good, the screen time given was too less.

A younger guy and older woman romance,
which is well handled.

Another thing I loved about this drama was that the female lead is a strong woman, not physically but emotionally. She doesn't need the men to protect her from the harsh realities of the world, and she reprimands them when they try to do so. The second lead has her faults, but she isn't obsessed with any single man, she is a career oriented woman who is strong as well. Both women love their careers. Through out the drama all characters grow up and learn some important practical lessons. 

And unlike many other dramas, this one does not advocate revenge, instead it tells that going after revenge is the weakness. As one character says "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, makes the whole world blind". And this sentiment is what I loved about "I Can Hear Your Voice".

Secret Garden 2011: A Korean Drama Review

As I wrote in my last post, that my obsession with Korean dramas has returned with full force. And there are many shows I am watching right now, but the one I have completed first is Secret Garden (2011), this was my 2nd attempt. And it was successful, for which I'm glad. Previously I had written that this drama irritated me, but now it was extremely enjoyable. 

An overview, for those who do not know (which is extremely unlikely). The show stars the beautiful and fantastic Ha Ji-Won (100 Days with Mr. Arrogant, Sector 7) and Hyun-Bin (My Name is Kim Sam Soon, Daddy-Long-Legs) in the lead, and these two are supported my an amazing cast of Yoon Sang-Hyun (Three Fathers One Mother, My Fair Lady), Kim Sa-Rang (Miss Korea 2001, King and I), Philip Lee (Faith), Lee Jong-Suk (School 2013, I Can Hear Your Voice) and Yoo In-Na (The Greatest Love, Queen In Hyun's Man). 

The story of this 2011 show, at first glance, seems very cliched. A rich man/ Chaebol falling for a poor woman. But it had a little fantasy in it too, with a body swapping story wrapped up in all the romance, and might I say it was well wrapped. But what made this show really different, wasn't the fantasy element, it was the characterisation.

This show I think can be seen as the start of the use of the faulty/scarred chaebol, which was later used in shows like "Protect the Boss" and a gutsy, butt-kicking heroine. Well not gutsy but definitely  butt- kicking as Gil Ra-Im (Ha Ji-Won) is a stunt woman. The second leads aren't really defined, the character of Im Jong-Suk (Philip Lee) definitely likes our heroine but he respects her as a colleague too and is really professional. Yoon Seul (Kim Sa-Rang) is a rich lady who pursues our hero Kim Joo Won (Hyun-Bin) but never hides the fact that she wants to marry him for her family business. Later she even admits that she pursues him to hurt his cousin Oska (Yoon Sang-Hyun), who has hurt her previously. And then there is Lee Jong Suk's character Han Tae Sun, who is openly gay and is into Oska. 

My favourite scene that I have to mention is when the heiress Yoon Seul, who has lived in the U.S, comes and meets the director of the Action School Im Jong Suk, who has just studied abroad and is NOT a Chaebol. She comes to him and to show her superiority she talks in English and he replies in the same language. The funny thing occurs when his English is more fluent and he has a better accent than her. This I believe is not how the real world works.

An Old Obsession

There was a point in 2011 when I updated this blog regularly, for the sole reason of talking about the new Korean drama I had watched. Then life happened and I stopped blogging about this certain obsession of mine. Not that I gave up on this obsession, but truthfully I watched far less dramas, but I kept myself up to date by reading recaps of all the famous dramas of the season.
Recently as the summers started, I found myself watching three new Korean Dramas, well two new ones and one old one that I had given up on previously. Plus this weekend as I got together with my Korean drama obsessed but not so well versed in the Kdrama obsession, cousin. To introduce her to some old dramas that I had watched and loved, I showed her many MVs (Music Videos) of the Korean dramas that had started my obsession. Like My Princess (2011), Goong (2005), Oh! My Lady (2010), Coffee Prince (2010),  My Girl (2006), Full House (2004) etc.
And while showing her these videos, I realised that these dramas had a special part in my life and that watching them made me happy. So these days when I'm not watching one of the dramas I'm trying to watch an MV of some Korean drama I watched a while back. But there was a problem in this, I could not remember all the dramas I watched, and I wanted to. So I checked my blog, I'm sure I made a list but I couldn't find it. Although I did find my reviews and found them interesting.
This is the reason I am going to write down the name of every Korean drama I have seen and I will keep adding to it. So here it goes, if I have a list like this before, then lets jott this down to that fact that I'm getting older and hence a little forgetful.
1. My Princess
2. Goong
3 Coffee Prince
4. Oh! My Lady
5. My Girl
6. Full House
7. My Name is Kim Sam Soon
8. Smile Again
9. When Its At Night
10. City Hunter
11. The Greatest Love
12. Hello! My Teacher
13. Can You Hear My Heart
14. My Sister In Law Is Nineteen
15. Stars Falling From The Sky
16. Scent Of A Woman
17. Dal Ja's Spring
18. Nice Guy
20. Answer Me 1997
21. You're Beautiful
22. Lie To Me
23. Myung Wol The Spy
24. Save The Last Dance For Me
25. Wonderful Life
26. Protect The Boss
27. 49 Days
28. You've Fallen For me @ Heartstrings
29. 9 End 2 Out
30. City Hall
31. Dae Mul
32. Delightful Girl Choon Hyang
33. Spring Waltz
34. Take Care Of Us, Captain
35. Summer Scent
36. The Snow Queen
37. Will It Snow For Christmas
38. What Star Did You Come From?
39. I Hear Your Voice
40. Secret
41. Secret Garden
42. Fated To Love You
43. Bride Of the Century
44. Master's Sun
45. My Lovely Girl
46.

So Far this is all I remember, I am currently watching Scandal, I Hear Your Voice and finally completing a little drama called The Secret Garden

FALL

Sometimes we cross the same staircase everyday. We know every inch of these staircase, so well that we believe that we can walk down those stairs in the darkness of the night. And then one day in the bright morning you fall down those very stairs and you can't believe it. But you console yourself saying that once in a while this happens, its alright to fall once in a while from a familiar place, but this won't happen again. And then the next day when we walk down the same staircase we think about the fall and smile at the incident and then before we know it, we have fallen again, from the same familiar staircase.
And one never gets the reason for the same consecutive fall from the same place.