Temperature Range

The temperature at the hill stations of Kerala has dipped down to minus 1degree at places like Chenduvarai and tea plantation towns like Munnar, Devikulam, Sevenmalai also have their mercury at a zero level. While the hill station cold delight the tourists from the coast and the plains, the widening of temperature range - rising during the day and declining at night - have had a destructive effect on Thermo-sensitive tea plants. With the wilting of leaves tea production have fallen during the months of January- February affecting many who are engaged in the industry. 

Two Films...

In 2022 film ' Licorice Pizza ' the writer and director Paul Thomas Anderson told the story of a 15 year old boy falling in love with a 25 year-old lady who came as a photographer's assistant to the school for the annual photo shoot for their year book. The film was beautifully filled with incidents that showed how Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman) was a grown up and Alana Kane (Alana Haim) was still an school girl for their age - the reason both could connect emotionally. 

The film went on to win 3 nominations at 94th Academy Awards; best picture, best director, best original screenplay. Such was the scale of creative film making of a rather unusual theme that it was named one of the best films of 2022 by the American Film institute. 

The recently released Malayalam Film 'Christy' has a similar storyline which with its beautiful cinematography the writer and director Alvin Henry created the teen vibe and romance from the boy's side very well; the lady's character remained strong and was apparently in no need for a teenage love and attention. Unfortunately, inspite of the good performance by actors the film ends with the bitterness and disappointment of a lame love story that pulls no strings of our hearts. World has no place for losers is the popular saying whether it be in love or anything else and how a story of love would fare when the one who loved did not try to take the bull by its horn. Worthy losers are heroes too. The boy it seems had failed to convey how much he wanted what he wanted before he took the self humiliating step unlike Gary Valentine who knew exactly what he felt for Alana Kane from the moment he saw her and told her clearly what he wanted her to be in his life when he reached the age and the film became endearing when he kept up his efforts for what he believed in till the very end despite being turned down by his love many times. 

Even the memory won't serve us right no matter how much we try to glorify it when what should have been done was not done in the first place. So much for "based on a true story".