Tag Archive | Love

Lovescapes of Hearts

Have you ever looked for love in the petals of a rose…. or a tulip? If the answer is yes, then this write-up is for you.

Just as in real life and in literature, opera, poetry and in lyrical music, love’s tenderness, beauty, joy and fall out has been eulogised in fantastic depictions on the silver screen. To many movie-goers, most of those vintage movie magic by renowned film personalities are like love letters, though short of handwritten in ink, but visual illustrations of romance set amidst glamour and mystery – joy and melancholy. Made to touch heart strings and to stay with the viewer long after it ends, few are nevertheless unabashedly sentimental and manipulative or even cheapo exploitation flicks.

Here below are representative posters of some renowned movies heralded in the romantic genre made in a span of 50 years during 1930s to 1970s:

Until next time, Jo

Note:

I have limited the selection of movies to those only forming part of my cinematic collection of 6,000 movies plus. The omission of many fine representations including details of the movies are simply due to lack of space.
Most of the movies in the pictorial section above are available with amazon.com, amazon.co.uk and other leading dealers.
Posters/DVD sleeves credits: amazon.com, en.wikipedia, imdb and from my private collection.
This illustrated article is an affectionate nosegay to movies of the past. Please refer to “About” of my webpage for more details.

(©Joseph Sébastine/Manningtree Archive)

UNDER THE MISTLETOE

Dec26

In a season for giving and sharing, of stocking the freezer and checking the lights, these are moments to treasure – special moments to share in twinship with the special one.

We are at home this Christmas time, after many Christmas spent far away from home – away from its relentless commercialisation.

We all have our favourite things about Christmas. Our Christmas tree and the little electric lights were brought out for the ritual of decorating it with enormous pleasure by my wife Carina, born in Germany where the tradition of decorating a tree for Christmas is thought to have originated. Her creative skills to try out new decorative ideas are evident on our tree decked out with readymade decorations (no edible decorations on this tree!) brightened by the magical glow of little lights.

A red tablecloth, embroidered by Carina’s mother, covered our dining table – its centrepiece, a beautiful floral arrangement in a crystal container. Two stars, white and silver, were hung on two locations. We love this time. It can be magical – of Peace, Hope and Love.

Love can give us a fairy tale – all the sweets of life…. It is said “Love is only a word until we find the person who gives it a sense”. We would not disagree on that…

We wish all of you more happiness and good health to light up this Festive and Family time of the year. – Jo

Some more Christmas scenes from our house:

(Photos: © Joseph Sebastine/Manningtree Archive)

An Affordable Gift …..

Mar17

Every girl deserves flowers. The first time I gave a flower to a sweet girl was at the age of 11. I was in the middle of school vacation and we were staying at my mother’s parental house in Fort Cochin. This Anglo-Indian girl, almost my age, is the sister of one of my friends.

She had shown great interest in me over the last one month when I saw her inadvertently at my friend’s house or when we hung out at the beach, though I didn’t have the nerve to utter a word other than smile back at her. I had spent hours imagining intimate conversations with her but when it actually happened, it was she who took the bull by the horn and spelled out that she liked me. El amor!!

A longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul. It brought me a touch of self-confidence charged with energy, enthusiasm – and more sensitivity. It also made me want to show her that she’s not just someone inconspicuous. Giving heeds to the whispers of my heart, I decided to give her a “special something”. But what could I give? The only thing that my student’s pocket could afford at that age was what the groundnuts (peanuts) seller sold by the beach.

It was on a Sunday evening when a friend suggested that he could help with the idea of flowers. Though only three years older than me, he appeared ingenious – a bit “learned” in such subjects. By the following Monday afternoon, my Mom was looking for a white rose that had suddenly gone missing from our garden. (If she remembers, that riddle will be cleared to her now with this post. Alright, Mom, my cell phone is switched on)

It is generally held that a red rose is a symbol of love – but the one available to me at that time was white. Later on I came to know that a white rose is nothing short of remarkable. A single white rose is a hopeful sign and means that the giver’s heart is innocent and hasn’t yet known love. That has to be true!

Well, the girl was over the moon when she received that “Oh, It’s-soooo-lovely” flower. It opened several buds of flowers of happiness in me, too. Then again, that teeny adoration fizzled out over time as we both moved on with our studies and lives. Even so, that white rose planted in me the first seeds of the significance of flowers.

Flowers will die, but the fragrance and memories they sometimes leave behind has a lasting quality. Jo