Spring Break 2021 – Port St. Lucie, Florida

So, it’s been nearly 2 years since we’d gone anywhere out of Michigan and it sure as hell felt like a lot longer than that, being cooped up in our homes due to the present extenuating circumstances. Seema had applied for a week off for the Easter weekend and that thankfully coincided with the kids’ spring break as well (Mar 29 – Apr 2). The common consensus was to make a trip to Florida, but where in Florida was the question, since we didn’t want to be around the hot spots that the partying spring breakers converged at like Daytona beach, Miami or Tallahassee. So, I just put my finger on the east coast of Florida, and it landed on Port Saint Lucie, and that’s where we were going.

Port Saint Lucie (PSL) is a sleepy retirement community, about 70 miles south of Orlando, with not many attractions from a touristy standpoint, which was just fine by us. We just wanted to go somewhere, anywhere. But what about the dog, dad? asked the kids. Well, we’d never left Charlie alone in a kennel or doggie daycare till now, and we weren’t prepared to leave him alone now. So, we planned to take him along with us as well, for a 20-hour car ride.

We booked a 7-seater SVU so that the pooch would have his own seat to sprawl out and the kids would have enough legroom for a long journey. We loaded the car and started driving early on Sat, Mar 27th, excited to be making a road trip after what seemed like an eternity. Two hours into the drive we could see white smoke emanating from the hood of the car accompanied by loud whirring noises. I was forced to pull over at the first exit, which happened to be in the middle of nowhere, a town in Ohio, called New Baltimore. Looking at the smoke emanating from the car, several passers’ byes stopped to ask if they could help, but I assured them that I’d called Hertz emergency roadside assistance and help was on the way. All of them who stopped were extremely affable and gracious, but it looked like they could have been coming back from a proud boys’ rally. J/K.

Help from Hertz arrived 3 hours later, the AAA tow truck that was supposed to tow the broken-down car and we were supposed to get a replacement vehicle from Columbus, Ohio. The cabbie that was supposed to come from Columbus, was nowhere close to arriving. So, I put on my mask and get down from the car to greet the tow truck driver. As he is walking towards me, I notice that he has a gun tucked in his belt, a long mullet, and has no mask. So, I quickly remove my mask as well. While in Rome…. I explain the situation to him, and he said he’d wait for the cabbie to arrive. He walks over to the rental car to inspect it and diagnoses that the car had no oil, and the engine could have quit on us any minute. We were lucky that the radiator gave way before the engine died.  He walked across to say hi to the family and starts petting the dog. I can’t really object to it since the dog doesn’t like being petted. But he’s the one with the gun, so he gets to pet the dog. Luckily the dog doesn’t seem to mind and seems to love this dude.

So, the AAA dude goes back and waits in his truck, for the cabbie to arrive. Actually, he was a really great chap. Gave me a lot of info about the surrounding areas and patiently chatted with me about his crazy workdays. The cabbie arrives after 2 hrs. and we unload everything to load it in the cab to dive off to Columbus airport to pick up a replacement car. When we reach Columbus, Ohio airport, the Hertz counter had closed. They close the rental counters at 2PM on Saturdays. #$%@. So, the family is sitting outside the rental counter at the airport, with an irate dog, bored kids, and wife who is bawling, with our bags, pressure cooker (we need our sambar rice), masala packets, bhujiya, and murukku packets are strewn around in full public view. Most folks walking past must’ve been thinking that we are Syrian or Mexican refugees. So far, it’d been a great start to the spring break!!! Eight hours into the trip and we were still in Ohio. Drat.

I call Hertz emergency roadside assistance again for a car and they say that they can’t do much for me at this stage and I had no choice but to rent another car from the Hertz franchisee location, that was still open at the airport. Apparently, I’d rented the original vehicle from Hertz corporate, and the franchisee rentals are completely separate from corporate Hertz. The franchisee rental has just one 5-seater left, which I’m forced to rent at an obscene amount, and we then head out to Florida. The kids had to share the second row with the slobbering pooch, which made the travel extremely uncomfortable for them and the pup. Anyhow, we reach Port Saint Lucie at around 1 AM on Monday after a stopover in Knoxville, where flash flood warnings the next morning prevented us from starting early. All that was needed now were locust attacks to make our travel an adventure of Biblical proportions.

Fortunately, the stay at PSL was rather uneventful as compared to the start of our journey. PLS is a sleepy retirement community that is growing rapidly, and we had a great Airbnb rental on a PGA golf course that accorded us great vistas every place we walked. We spent a day on the beach nearby, a day trip to Kennedy Space Center, trips to local parks and gardens and it was almost the end of the week and time to come home. What was surprising was that no one believes in masks in Florida or Georgia. We felt like aliens at grocery stores and rest stops, with the only ones or rather in the minority donning masks. We left Charlie at the local daycare when we went out for our day trips and by all accord, it seemed like he had a good time as well.

The ride back was relatively smooth except when Charlie fell sick due to motion sickness and threw up twice in the car. I just kept driving, since I was in the driver’s seat, and left the kids to deal with the vomit. We were forced to stop overnight at Spartanville, South Carolina, instead of stopping in Kentucky, where we’d originally planned to spend the night.

All in all, it was a great trip, entire rejuvenating and it was time well spent with Seema, was Spring break 2021 had to Florida.

 Movie Review: Joji (2021) Malayalam

We watched Dileesh Pothan/Farhadh Fasil’s ‘Joji’, a loose adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth last weekend, and while it's nowhere close to Pothans other masterpieces like ‘Maheshinthe Pathikaaram’, it’s a decent watch. It’s nowhere close to the best Hindi movie adaptation of Macbeth IMO, Vishal Bhardwaj’s ‘Maqbool’, but it’s a compelling watch, mostly due to Farhadh.

Joji (Farhadh) weaves the story of a slothful son of a rich, abusive coffee plantation owner Kuttapan, who has his three adult sons, all well under his control who runs his affairs with an iron fist. Joji is the lazy, scheming, unmarried son, who has dropped out of engineering and is dreaming up quick get rich schemes, but at the same time is steals from his father for his basic necessities and his business ideas.

He’s literally sleeping all day in his room after getting fed by his sister-in-law Bincy and only getting up to harass his teenage nephew and his obligatory smokes. He’s terrified of his father, who compared to the puny Joji, is built like an ox and has no compunctions with physically abusing his adult children. Joji hates living under his father’s shadow, but he has no recourse, except to vent his frustrations by punching and kicking into thin air.

Kuttapan suffers a stroke when helping his workers dig a well and is relegated to a paralyzed state, after almost losing his life post his stroke. Joji plans the murder of his father, to claim his share of the inheritance, and this sets of a series of unfortunate events that he can’t really control but is forced to react to cover his actions. Bincy, his sister-in-law is a silent witness to his machinations.

I watched this movie primarily because I’m a Farhadh Fasil fan and loved his work in movies like Kumbalangi Nights, Mahesinthe Paristhanam, 21 Female Kottayam, C you Soon, and a few others. He’s like a chameleon, who adapts to the character that he’s playing perfectly, someone who is in the same league as Nawaz Siddiqui, Manoj Bajpai, Aamir Khan, Rajkumar Rao, all actors who are on top of their games at most times. As Joji, he seems like a loaded gun that’s about to go off any second, constantly on the edge, his eyes plotting and scheming constantly. The underlying dark humor comes is provided by the local priest, who is fanatical about sticking to antiquated customs, and the eldest son Jomon, whose over-exuberant devotion to his father is demonstrated by him in questionable ways.

As I said earlier, not a compelling, but decent watch.

4 out of five stars.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13206926/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_1