My love affair with chai latte started long back in Singapore with Coffee Bean & Tea Leaves. It’s probably more of an acquired taste, but the first few sips got me hooked. A pity they don’t have Coffee Bean & Tea Leaves here as I DO think they serve better coffee than the over-priced Starbucks. Recently though, I noticed Starbucks here had Chai Tea Latte on their not-so-regular menu and I just had to ask for it. It may be Starbucks, but it’s the only chai tea I can get my hands on. Coffee Bean has spoilt me rotten and the chai which Starbucks made me, cannot be compared to what I would get from Coffee Bean & Tea leaves back in Singapore. What a pity! Oh well…better than nothing.

This movie pretty much sums up my sentiments that even in your darkest hour, you can derive pleasure in the simplest things in life. That you still will be able to conjure up a smile and laugh at yourself when faced with life’s adversity. It is, but the littlest thing in life that makes the situation much more bearable.

I’ve always loved foreign films and La vita è bella (Life is Beautiful) is one movie in which the story of human spirit is portrayed really well within the realms of a doomsday situation – a Nazi concentration camp in this case. The main character, Guido Orefice (Roberto Benigni), is always over-the-top cheerfully jovial. He does appear to be somewhat whimsical and even spastic, but is always smiling at and in the face of misfortune. The story carries a vivid imagination of a father and a husband who, in my opinion, acts the way he is to save himself from spiraling into desperation; and at the same time, gives hope to those around him. It is indeed a selfless attribute. The last bit of the movie is one of the most powerful symbolisms of human spirit where Guido had marched off together with the German soldiers in his silly, whimsical way while passing through a little box his son was hidden in, and, in doing so, managed a wink and a huge smile to his son in hiding. He probably knows the deal, but such is the magnitude of simple selflessness and making the best of things at hand.

You really gotta see the movie if you haven’t already. If you had, then you know what I’m talking about. A definite classic (released in 1997) and I’d watch it again for the 3rd time.