‘The House in the Cerulean Sea’ book review: Into a magical world
Some books are just great. The story is good, the writing witty and smooth, and the characters loveable. You wish for everyone to read them, and you talk about them every chance you get. ‘The House in the Cerulean Sea’ by T J Klune is one of those books I find myself thinking about with wistful longing every now and then.
The writer has created a magical world I wish were real. But it isn’t just a fantasy story either. It’s rather a stunning depiction of how we fear what we don’t understand and our inability to accept our differences and exist in harmony. A queer himself, the author has also weaved in a nuanced queer love story.
The House in the Cerulean Sea describes a world with magical creatures. And just like there are ministries to govern our world, there is a ministry to monitor those beings as well. Forty-year-old Linus Baker is a caseworker at the Department in Charge of Magical Youths who lives alone in a tiny house with a wily cat for company. He is assigned to go to an orphanage on a remote island where there are six magical children.
Linus has to determine whether these children are as dangerous as the ministry deems them to be, especially as one of them is supposed to be the son of Satan. But as Linus gets to know these mysterious children and the person who runs the orphanage, Arthur Parnassus, he is forced to consider that this strange place might be the one he can finally call home. What follows is a wonderful story of finding family and friendship in the unlikeliest of places, and love when you least expect it.
Klune is a fabulous writer. I found myself rereading several passages and laughing out loud a lot. Linus is a fun narrator. He is rigid in his ways but also aware of his flaws. The ensuing mental tussle makes him an endearing character. We all know someone like him, who we want to shake and hug at the same time. Arthur reminds you of that favorite professor in college whom you could turn to for all your problems. He is a comforting presence throughout the novel and you are charmed by his calm demeanor.
The children are all fascinating: Lucy, believed to be the ‘anti-Christ’, keeps threatening everybody about how he can and will use his powers to end the world. Sal is a shapeshifter and turns into a Pomeranian whenever he is scared. There’s Chaucey, an amorphous blob with tentacles, who wants to become a bellhop. Talia is a female gnome, Phee is a forest sprite and Theodore, a wyvern. It’s rare to find character-driven stories where you can’t decide on a favorite.
Even Linus’s cat, Calliope, has more personality that most people I know. In The House in the Cerulean Sea, every character has gotten their due and no one outshines the other. The result is a heartwarming and gripping story that you want to reread immediately after finishing it.
‘Bunty Aur Babli 2’ movie review: A sequel I should have never noticed
Tired of YouTube’s unfriendly algorithms (as far as movies are concerned) and misleading clickbait titles, I decided to get Amazon Prime Video. So from now on I’ll be alternately reviewing movies/series on Netflix and Prime.
As soon as I got Prime, my first instinct was to watch the hyper-famous “Pushpa: The Rise: Part 1” or the trending “Gehraiyaan”. Still, I decided not to as each has been discussed endlessly on social media and saying anything more about them would be a waste of time and space.
So I took on a movie I never knew existed before this week: “Bunty Aur Babli 2”. A sequel to “Bunty Aur Babli” (2005), this film had somehow eluded my watchful eyes. As a fan of the original installment, I decided to give it a go.
BB2 takes place around 16 years after the original duo of Bunty aka Rakesh Trivedi (Saif Ali Khan) and Babli aka Vimmi Saluja Trivedi (Rani Mukerji) retire from their life as cons and transition into their new quiet and obscure life as working-class folks. But when a new generation of con artists—Kunal Singh (Siddhant Chaturvedi) and Sonia Rawat (Sharvari Wagh)—start swindling people all over using the “Bunty Aur Babli” identity, the original duo are pulled into investigation by Inspector Jatayu Singh (Pankaj Tripathi), who is adamant on catching the thieves.
As it is, Rakesh and Vimmi are unhappy with their ‘brand’ being brought back to business by some random youngsters doing ‘petty crimes’. So it is their hurt egos and police pressure that get them involved in the cat-and-mouse game with Bunty Aur Babli 2.0.
In the film’s first edition, we saw two ambitious individuals from small towns fight the world to realize their dreams and then transform into swindlers because of the conditions around them. In the new edition, the duo of Bunty and Babli are a bit different. They are educated youth with startup dreams and equipped with technology and the knowledge of the law. In short, they are the modern, upgraded versions of the old Bunty and Babli. But does an upgrade always improve on the original? It’s for the audience to decide.
As for finding out who is the winner in this battle of ‘old v new’, the audience is in for a cinematic experience that blows more cold than hot. Personally, my first letdown was the casting of Bunty. I love Saif Ali Khan as an actor but having him replace Abhishek Bachchan from the original Bunty Aur Babli seems a huge mistake that has almost ruined the film.
As talented and versatile he is, Khan fails to match the character of Bunty, originally personified by Bachchan. While Bachchan was at his natural best, Khan does not fit in his role and is evidently trying to overcompensate. As his opposite, Rani Mukerji seems aware of Khan’s weaknesses and tries to mask them, but she too ends up overcompensating for most parts and looks out of sync. The relative newcomers in Siddhant Chaturvedi and Sonia Rawat also seem lost for guidance.
But when a consistently well-performing actor like Pankaj Tripathi does not impress, the film’s writing and direction must come into scrutiny. Debutante writer/director Varun V. Sharma seems to be a culprit here as he tries to emulate the original film’s success without modifying it to suit the current audience.
The storytelling and stereotyping from 16 years ago do not work in the present context: with its more evolved society and technology. Now, the audience has watched plenty of heists movies not to be easily fooled. Most of the plot’s segments are unconvincing, as the movie appears more like a failed slapstick than an intelligent crime comedy.
Music is underwhelming too. Although immensely talented, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s music in BB2 is unnoticeable. While the original edition gave us the iconic “Kajra Re,” there’s nothing comparable to remember in BB2’s soundtracks.
Who should watch it?
Someone who’s not watched the original Bunty Aur Babli movie (also available on Prime Video) might enjoy BB2 because there would be no comparisons, and you’d also not miss Amitabh Bachchan’s distinguished presence.
Rating: 2 stars
Genre: Crime comedy
Run time: 2hr 18mins
Actors: Saif Ali Khan, Rani Mukerji, Sharvari Wagh, Siddhant Chaturvedi
Khem Prasad Prasai: The long journey of a beloved teacher
Khem Prasad Prasai must be one of the most loved teachers at St. Xavier’s College, Maitighar.
Born and raised in a poor farming family in Haldibari, Jhapa, his childhood memory is of penury and privation. The only thing that brought him joy as a young boy, he tells ApEX, was reading.
“I used to have a book or a newspaper with me even while I was plowing the field,” says Prasai, now 42, as we enter an empty classroom to sit and talk. “Reading was my only escape.”
Prasai used to sell pumpkin leaves in the market so that he could buy books and newspapers with the money he earned.
Early on in his life, poverty had taught him to be enterprising and fend for himself. He sold sweets and snacks to pay for his high school tuition. For college, he managed money by selling detergent powder.
“I grew up reading Nepali literature and newspapers, so I got my BA with Nepali and journalism as my majors,” he says. “I also briefly worked in a newspaper, but soon realized that journalism was not something I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”
In the early 2000s, Prasai moved to Kathmandu to get his Master’s degree. Until then he had never been to the capital city. When he arrived, he says, the only things in his possession were a sack of rice, some clothes, and a little money. But he had a big dream: turning his life around.
He enrolled in Tribhuvan University’s Master’s program in Nepali. In order to pay for his studies and expenses, he now started selling tea leaves.
“I still remember my days of struggle, walking around with containers of tea on the streets of Kalimati and Kirtipur,” Prasai says. “At one time, I was also selling lecture notes to cover my expenses.”
Prasai got his Master’s degree in 2005, and soon after was hired by a college as a Nepali teacher. He taught there for two years before joining St. Xavier’s—he was well on his way to starting the life he had envisioned.
“I have been teaching at St. Xavier’s for 14 years now and I couldn’t be happier,” he says.
His students, who refer to him as Khem sir, say he is an exceptional teacher with an uncanny ability to explain the lessons in ever-so-interesting and clear ways.
“It is because of his teaching that my grades in Nepali have improved,” says Priyanka Regmi, one of his plus two students. “He has this uncanny way of explaining things by connecting them to our daily lives.”
Prabhav Madip Baniya, a St. Xavier alumnus-turned-teacher, says he developed an interest in Nepali literature because he had Prasai as his Nepali teacher.
“I wasn’t into Nepali literature until Khem sir taught me. His class helped me truly understand and appreciate Nepali literature,” he says.
As a colleague, Baniya finds Prasai humble and approachable, just like he is with his students.
“Khem sir always has right things to say to change our views,” says Kritika Bhandari, another student of Prasai. “He is a wellspring of wisdom. I go to him whenever I feel demotivated or discouraged.”
Soniya Bhetuwal echoes Bhadari’s sentiment. “Khem sir doesn’t just prepare us for exams, he prepares us for life,” she says.
Apart from teaching, Prasai is also interested in business and investment. He has made a small fortune by trading stocks. A part of the money he has thus made, he has invested in a tea farm that he owns with his brothers. Today, Prasai and his brothers run three factories in Jhapa—plus the tea farm.
But despite his financial success, Prasai still wants to teach. He says teaching is his true calling.
“Being a teacher gives me true joy. It is the one field where I can give my hundred percent,” he says. “As a teacher, I feel like I am only imparting knowledge to the younger generation, but also sharing my old joy of reading.”
Prasai has a curious disposition, a trait that he perhaps developed as a young boy who read voraciously. He is always learning new things. He is currently studying law and will soon be earning a degree in the discipline.
“I was always fascinated with the subject but hadn’t had the opportunity to study it deeply,” he says. “I want to see what I can learn from it and maybe teach some of it to my students.”
He believes sharing knowledge is life’s purpose.
“I believe in a teaching life,” Prasai says. “I get to interact with young and curious minds and teach them everything I’ve learned. It’s a beautiful feeling.”
Photo Feature | Tracking the fast track road project
As The Annapurna Express continues to break new grounds in reporting and analysis, we now bring to you our new weekly feature ‘InDepth’ under which we will surgically evaluate an issue of national importance for 10 consecutive weeks. To kick things off, we delve into the Kathmandu-Tarai fast track.
The proposed Nijgadh International Airport in Bara district is among the 22 ‘national pride projects’. But its construction has been halted following a 2019 Supreme Court order. The court ruled that the project, which includes the feeling of potentially millions of trees, was a threat to local wildlife and ecosystem.
To connect the airport with Kathmandu, a 72.5-km Kathmandu-Tarai expressway would be built. While airport construction has stopped, work on the expressway (fast track) continues, albeit at a leisurely pace: Nepal Army, which has been entrusted with the project, last reported a 16.1 percent progress. (The project was supposed to be completed by November 2021.)
Like most other big projects in Nepal, the fast track too has been mired in controversy since the army bagged it in 2017. The project has been hamstrung by allegations of foul-play, cost and time overruns as well as fears over its expected social and environmental impacts. Why this mess? What can be done to improve things? What role should the army play? And how to mitigate the project’s negative impacts? We will analyze them all over the next 10 weeks. We start with a photo feature to give our readers a glimpse of the state of the road project.
1. Photo feature (February 17)
2. Roundtable discussion (February 24)
3. Explainer (March 03)
4. Army’s involvement, pros and cons (March 10)
5. What if… it was completed in Sept 2021? (March 17)
6. Environmental concerns (March 24)
7. The politics behind it (March 31)
8. Social and cultural impact (April 07)
9. Land politics (April 14)
10. What next? (April 21)
A man walks at a construction site of Kathmandu-Nijgadh fast track at Bandare Kholchha, where excavators are cutting the hillside to make way for the expressway.
A signboard lies on the ground near the site of the Lendanda tunnel construction.
A dirt track opened at Godawari Municipality in Lalitpur.
A view of the worker living quarters and machine parking area at Bandare Kholchha.
A view of the track opened at Dakshinkali Municipality, Kathmandu.
A temporary base for Nepal Army soldiers working for the fast track project at Makawanpurgadhi Rural Municipality, Makawanpur.
A view of Khokana village in Lalitpur, whose residents have been opposing the fast track that passes through their land.
 opening coming from Kathmandu side "fast track tunnel work")
A worker welds a metal frame for the fast track at Bakaiya Rural Municipality, Makawanpur.
Shikali Temple at Khokana, Lalitpur, which the Nepal Army had previously planned to move to make way for the fast track. The plan was withdrawn following local protests.
