'Big Girl' by Danielle Steel, It's not only about the weight :Book Review

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After days of reading action, thriller and romance, I finally found a novel I was touched by, and had important messages to its readers.

The novel was 'Big Girl' by Danielle Steel.

Whenever I get my hands on a Steel novel & see the advert for Big Girl, I made it a point to read this one day. And special thanks to a colleague who recently reminded me about the book :)

Being a one without weight gain issues so far, and having friends who are always in the mood to diet frantically, I was curious to know the the point of view of girls with weight issues, well, the book didn't disappoint me.

The story revolves around Victoria (named after Queen Victoria, for her chubby appearance and the nose) born to parents who are slender, model looking, self centered, outspoken and disappointed by her looks, making her constantly feel like the outcast of the family.

“.. that terrible feeling that you're not good enough to be loved by the people you love most, and eventually by anyone else.” 
― Danielle Steel, Big Girl

 "Big Girl: A novel on unconventional beauty, while exploring deeply resonant issues of weight, self image, sisterhood and family" (Daniellesteel.com)

While reading the book, it makes you realize that there may be people in this world to whom looks do matter a lot.

While the story does say about Victoria's constant urge to reduce wight, and how her dieting plans are ruined when she is depressed, it also reveals a few important aspects of life, something all of us can learn from, or relate to.

* Parenting, for example, how it should be and shouldn't be done, 'Comparison' between children being a big NO!! (Here, Victoria is compared with her sister Grace, who resembles her parents).

Every child born in this world is beautiful, and looks don't matter in life anyway, it is the heart that the people will remember till the end.

A child sees the world through it's parents eyes during its growing up period, and the way they view the child is how the child thinks that the world views him or her.

When a single parent or both the parents fail to be a moral support to the child, and constantly point out that the child will be a failure in life, and makes the child feel that he or she doesn't deserve to be loved as a result of how the child looks from the outside, it can have a great impact on the child's' life later on, affecting the child psychologically, making them question him / herself as to whether they really deserve what they have, and underestimate about themselves.

* Siblings also play a vital role in a child's future, when the parents fail to support a child, a kin to support, smile with, to give love and care, to speak to, can be a great consolation to the child. 

* All the people don't think that you deserve to be unloved, there are people out there who will love you for just the way you are.

* No matter who you are, how you look, what you go through, there's always a better half to whom your looks don't matter, and who will indeed make you feel better, loved, understands you, protects and celebrates you!!!

"Life has a way of working out, the lid for every pot theory seemed to work, if you waited long enough and were patient"  - Danielle Steel, Big Girl

 “People are so obsessed with that these days. As long as you're healthy, what difference do a few pounds make? Crazy diets. Thirteen-year-old girls on magazine covers who wind up in hospitals because they're so anorexic. Real women don't look like that. And who wants them to? No one wants a woman who looks sick or like she;s been from a refugee camp.” 
― Danielle Steel, Big Girl

I say it's a good read, a book for everyone, it makes you feel better, gives you hope, and makes you realize that you are not the only one who feels like an outcast within your own family, and that you can be loved and celebrated!!  

Mr. Perfect, Its all about adjusting and compromising in life: Movie Review

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When life takes a new twist, everything around turns out to be a lesson, even Movies….

I watched this movie, Mr. Perfect, a Telugu dubbed in Tamil movie, few months back, and here is the review for the movie, which teaches us the Importance of Adjusting and Compromising in life….

The Plot

Vicky (Prabhas), an expert in Gaming Software, lives in Australia, never compromises in life, a principle he adheres to since his childhood. He believes one should be oneself in a relationship and one shouldn’t change one’s orientation for the sake of the Partner. He also encourages his friends to follow his policies.

He says : About the Importance of fulfilling Dreams & that a Girl should change her world, if not the boy will have to sacrifice his dreams, which isn’t practical, and that the world we live in, is a busy scheduled one and a husband and wife get the chance to meet only 2hrs a day, so he asks what is the need to compromise even in that time limited period.

But Vicky’s principles and attitudes leads to a clash of interests with his father (Nasser), who constantly advices him since childhood to adjust his character for his and others happiness.

Meanwhile in India, Vicky’s parents arrange a wedding alliance between him and Priya (Kajal Agarwal), Vicky’s childhood friend, who is a Doctor by profession, she and Vicky are poles apart, while Vicky is modern in thinking and is not ready to compromise in life, Priya is traditional, conservative and ready to compromise for others happiness.

Initially Vicky and Priya don’t get along very well, and both play practical jokes on one another, but later on her fathers’ advice, Priya attempts to change her attitudes toward Vicky, soon Priya falls in love for him, and changes in many ways like giving up her love for classical dance (as Vicky dislikes it), eating Non vegetarian , and wearing Modern clothes. Soon, Vicky falls for her too, and is ready to accept the proposal until he finds out that she has compromised on her interests for his sake, he rejects the proposal and leaves to Aussie.

Back in Australia, Vicky is matched up through a Cadbury Survey with Maggie (Taapsee Pannu), a free spirited, modern girl who shares his NO COMPROMISE attitude, soon, they meet, date and decide to get married. However Maggie’s father is none other than the brother of the head of MindGames, who is unwilling to let Vicky marry Maggie.

After much persuation from Vicky, Maggies father agrees to let Vicky marry Maggie, but on the condition, that Vicky should stay in his house for 4days, for Maggies sisters wedding, and if he manages to win over 2 relatives of Maggie, he would let Vicky have Maggie, and get a business in India, else he should forget Maggie and leave the contract.

Soon, relations start pouring from India, and to Vicky’s shock, one of them is Priya, the groom’s cousin. During the 4days with the help of Priya, Vicky manages to win over the entire family. It is clear that Vicky is going to win the challenge, so Priya leaves to India that night, heart broken, at the thought of Vicky marrying Maggie.

Vicky receives a message recorded by Priya prior to him rejecting her, on her mobile, where she had declared her love for him. He gains a change of heart, on seeing this, and realizes how much priya had loved him and was willing to change, inspite of his faults. He also realizes the need for compromises in life.

Vicky conveys his feeling to all the wedding guests and Maggie, and decides not to marry her, Maggie understands his feelings and accepts the decision.

Vicky returns to India to win back Priya, after initially playing hard to get, Priya accepts his love. 

The messages given through the movie

The movie may initially look like an ordinary Romantical comedy, but at the end, it has many simple things which makes us think and make use of in our lives too, the themes/ messages portrayed through the movie is given below ;

• Shows the Importance of socializing with people in a function, i.e staying away from Technos like Mobiles, Laptops etc

• When you do something you like, the happiness you get is limited, but if you do something  which others like, the happiness you get out of it is unlimited.

• Winning isn’t Important in life, adjusting is, the more you adjust, the more you will have your friends and relations beside you in life.

• What we give, comes back to us.

• We should adjust to come up in life.

• Every time you decide to win a game, u learn what the real success in life is, i.e the happiness you get by sacrificing ur happiness/ dreams for someone else’s happiness.

• That certain things in life make us happy, while some others make us sad when we think about them, It’s us who should decide what to and what not to think.

• If two people have to get together, one person should sacrifice/ compromise.

• Love is not what we like, but it is about adjusting to the way others like.

• We don’t regret if we adjust in Love, but we realize that Love becomes strong and lasts longer instead.

• Marriage isn’t what happens between 2 perfect people,  but it’s about making each other perfect according to each other.

• Marriage is a beginning for a new life, and if initiated with affection it will  last longer with beauty.

• AND IF U EXPECT TO BE HAPPY FOREVER, LITTLE WORRIES IN BETWEEN, IS NORMAL, and we should tolerate them in order to live a Happy life.

     

      So yes, such messages are indeed inspiring and they are included in the movie not only to entertain us, but also for us to make use of them in life and lead a fruitful life making us and others around us Happy J

None of us are born perfect, but made perfect by life, and this perfectness can be achieved only by ADJUSTING AND COMPROMISING!!! :D

Orribel Trust Cultural Show; an excellent one :)

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'Long Time Ago In Bethlehem'- Choir

Friday 7^th of December 2012 was definitely a special day for everyone who were present at the Methodist Memorial Church, situated in Moors Road, Wellawatte, as it was the Cultural Show of the students  of Orribel Trust,a school for children with special needs. The show was held in order to commemorate the schools’ 1^st year anniversary.

The theme of the show was “We Can do”, and the students DID prove that they can do and stand out extra special.

The Arabian Dance

The Chief guest for the evening was Mrs. Penny Jayawardhene, and the proceedings began with the lighting of the Lamp. The Chief guest was welcomed by Miss.Rizana, a student of the school, who also lit the lamp on behalf of the students.

Following this,3 students came on stage to welcome the audience in 3 languages, and next was the welcome dance by 2 female students, who performed a Bharatha natyam remembering the tough steps perfectly and impressed everyone.

The Show had varieties of performances, like dance for songs of different languages and styles, like “Nila Kaigiradhu’, ‘Punchi Babala’, ‘Tak gaanawa tik gaanwa’, ‘paayana ira’ & ‘The Finger song’, songs which most of us would have heard since our childhood.

'Tak gaanawa'- Sinhala Song

And other songs which had different themes, like ‘Kaalai Padai’ which was about the Army & Airforce, ‘Baby by Justin Bieber’, whick rocked the floor and it was amazing to see the kids dance, rap and some even do DJ actions to the song. And then ‘Fishermen folks’ which was regarding the fishing community.

'Fisherman Folks'

And 3 special eye-catching performances of the day, ‘The Work Out’ dance, which was similar to a drill display (The kids did the actions beautifully), ‘Snake Dance’ & ‘Arabian Dance’.

The Teachers also showed their dancing talents through the Teachers Dance, anyone would have easily guessed  after seeing this how the students performed so well.

This was followed by the Choir ‘Long time in Bethlehem’ which showed the story of Christmas.

Teachers' Dance

However, the specialty in all these performances was that the theme of the particular item/ performance was portrayed very well, and costumes were selected accordingly (here the own costumes of the students were mixed and matched, hence a very low cost had been spent by the parents for the costumes), and each and everything and everyone had been given special attention in order to make the performance perfect.

The show also had 3 other performances where three students Ifshan, Naflia & Ram described about ‘Myself’, ‘My School’ & ‘My Mother’ respectively.

Work out Dance

The students were very brave enough to act on stage, while most of us usually forget what we have to do and get tensed when we get on to the stage and see lights and audience, those barriers were nothing to these lovely kids, they were completely at ease with the Stage, Lights & Audience.

Dr.Latiff giving the speech of gratitude on behalf of Parents

Next in the Show were speeches of gratitude by Dr.Latiff & Mrs.Nisha on behalf of parents, and Mrs. Yashoda on behalf of the school.

Special thanks were given to the Teachers: Sudharshini, Priya, Udeni, Krishanthi & Maheshi for training the students in a very short period of time, Gayathri for Make-Up & Costumes, Suman & Sudha for Sounds  and Video, Rev.Jacob for the church and all others who helped including the Sponsors.

All their efforts together to bring the hidden talents of these kids made the evening successful and memorable in everyone’s hearts.

Kudos all of you….

And oh, I forgot to mention the decorations, awed, got all of us in to the festive mode with wreaths, X-mas trees & Snow man, plus last but not the least, Santa’s surprise visit to the kids.

And the show ended with the audience standing together with the students to sing the choir ‘We are one of you’ to show that they are indeed one of us, after all, we are all human beings,not any other more or lesser than that.

Anyhow the entire show was filled with Joy, Cheerfulness, Warmth and kept the audience and the student themselves well entertained.

Even few days after the show I realized how much the training for the show has influenced the students, after seeing my own little brother, a student of the school, dance and sing with the lyrics and steps for almost all the items performed, since the attendance to this school we kept seeing great improvements in my brother in a very short period.

‘If there is a will there is a way’, I wonder whether this mixed with love, affection & care is the secret formula used by the teachers to these students.

Orribel Trust & Its Teachers deserve something more than just appreciations, Kudos!!!!

(If anyone wishes to donate for the school, you may contact Priya- 0770780399)