PudhuKavithai - Part I

As always, I wanted to start 'Kaatil oru maan' and ended up starting the collection of poems by Athmanam. And started thinking about my adventures about poems. Somehow, poem does not bring out the essence of it like 'Kavithai' in tamil. And specifically I am talking about the 'Puthukavithai'. When I first heard about it, first thing I did was to start writing one. It was so easy. Just write what you want and break it into 2-3 word per line. Thats all. And the 'kavithai's were all call to a revolution or something similar. Once I get past that rhetoric phase, I started writing about love. Read a lot of Mehta, Vairamuthu and other puthu kavithai writers who were churning out kavithais in huge quantities. Thats when(around 1989-90) I got my first introduction to the international poetry, courtesy of Abdul Rahman. It was an eye opener. Although I continue to write a lot in the next 2-3 years, the realization was dawning on me that 'puthukavithai' is different from good 'kavithai'. While I was writing poems at dime a dozen, I was thinking all it took was to put some fancy words and start constructing it. There is no personal experiance in it. The reader actually can enjoy the rhyme of the poem, but there is no possibility of deriving a personal experiance from it. Once that realization came, I started looking into my personal experiances and try to put them in words. Some came out good and some bad.

Anyway, I am going for a vacation starting today and so will not be updating the blog for another 10 days. Will continue after that.

Parthasarathy, Adhavan, Ambai and a poem...

Yesterday, went to Parthasarathy temple. Its been more than three years since I went to the temple and so I wanted to go and pay Him a visit. Thiruallikeni is one of my favorite temple for many a reasons. Its one of the places I used to go when I first came to Chennai in 1997 and one of the few places which will make all worries fly away. It is a temple where you feel completely at peace with the Perumal and it makes one feel good also. So it was yesterday also. There are more lights and the KarbaGraha has been air-conditioned. But the serenity of the koil remains the same and the wonderful pragaras and the sight of Thelliyasinga perumal makes one surrender everything at His feet and a feeling of elated happiness permeates the mind. Being a 1500 year old temple, sung by Alwars and which has withstood the various assaults on it through the times, it is amazing that nothing much has changed inside the temple. And it is wonderful to know of the fantastic foresightedness of the Rajas of building such big temples so as to enable the future generation to get the same peace of mind. I am thinking of going to Thiruvidanthai next.

Just finished Adhavan's 'En peyar Ramaseshan'. It is a fantastic novel and it took only 3 hours over 2 days to finish it. Although written in the 80's, it is not possible to wonder how contemperory the subject matter is. Terrific is the one word that comes to mind. Next up is Ambai's 'Kaatil oru maan'.

And finally, a poem I (re-)read recently..

Ae Fond Kiss

Ae fond kiss, and then we sever!
A farewell, and then forever!
Deep in heart-wrung tears I'll pledge thee,
Warring sighs and groans I'll wage thee.

Who shall say that Fortune grieves him,
While the star of hope she leaves him?
Me, nae cheerful twinkle lights me,
Dark despair around benights me.

I'll ne'er blame my partial fancy;
Naething could resist my Nancy;
But to see her was to love her,
Love but her, and love for ever.

Had we never loved sae kindly,
Had we never loved sae blindly,
Never met—or never parted,
We had ne'er been broken-hearted

Fare thee weel, thou first and fairest!
Fare thee weel, thou best and dearest!
Thine be ilka joy and treasure,
Peace, enjoyment, love, and pleasure!

Ae fond kiss, and then we sever!
Ae fareweel, alas, for ever!
Deep in heart-wrung tears I'll pledge thee,
Warring sighs and groans I'll wage thee!

Robert Burns

At Chepauk

At Chepauk,
originally uploaded by rprakas.

This is a picture of my brother, me and Khishore in Chepauk grounds for the corporate cricket match on Apr 3,2005

Chandramukhi - First day, First show and a superstar

Yesterday was the release of 'Chandramukhi'. Being one of the longtime fan of Rajni, I wanted to see the movie on the first day. Seeing Rajni's movie on first day was one of the routines that I went through till the end of the college days. After that, job and the long stint in US and it means I missed the excitement of the first-day shows.

So, yesterday was a way of re-living the excitement and fun of those old days. It was the Tamil new year and the release of 'Chandramukhi'. We were in the theater by 1.30PM for the 2.30PM show(which didn't start till 3.10PM anyway!). The fans were there in full throng or as one of my brother's friend pointed out they are the 'veriyans'(of course he himself is one!). There were poojas to the cut-outs, abhishekams with milk,lathi-charges by police and the anxiety of hearing the verdict on the movie itself.

The movie started aroung 3.10PM and the theater was in uproar for the first 10 minutes. But there was police presence inside the theater and so it was very controlled and surprisingly, everyone was able to watch the movie.

Chandramukhi is the re-make of Manichitrathazhu (by Fazil). I saw Manichitrathazhu when it was released in Madurai some 10-12 years back. I think the movie ran for 50 days in Madurai itself. Chandramukhi's basic premise is same as the original, but ofcourse with Rajni as hero, you cannot introduce him just before interval (Mohanlal appears only before interval in Manichitrathazhu). So there are masala items like songs, a heroine and some comedy added. And the centric piece of story is the story of Chandramukhi and the influence on Ganga(Jo). Again, being a Rajni-centric film, the ghost of Chandramukhi has to take a side-stage while Rajni takes the centerstage.

As for performances, I was fondly recalling the spine-chilling performance of Shobana in the original with the above-average performance of Jo. Ofcourse, Manichitrathazhu sits there as the best ever thriller in the Indian cinema (cannot think of another one that even comes near that!). And Rajni is Rajni and there is no way to compare his performance with Mohanlal's(whom I would rate as a better actor than anyone in Indian cinema except probably Mammooty) in the original also. But Chandramukhi is probably a different Rajni movie which has less action and relies on the story telling to pace up.

Overall, the film will be a hit and ofcourse, will bring the families to theaters like all Rajni films do.

Another interesting blog..

Another one I started reading consistently...

Its pouring!!

I took my time to come to office today and its pouring down here in Chennai. And apart from the fact that most of the roads will be flooded, it looks fantastic outside with all the drops of rain gliding in the glass pane. Good thing is, there is no thunders today. Only the slight shishing of the rain drops falling in the ground or bumping of the walls. I have a cup of tea watching it and thinking of the great Bharathiyar verse describing rain as the dance of Kali.

Raining in Chennai!

Lot of things to write about. Its raining today in Chennai. Its so beautiful outside. With the sound of thunders echoing, rain is falling silently on the glass window of my cube. Just went for lunch and had a walk in the rain. Almost felt like Gene Kelly in 'Singin' in the rain'. Wanted to belt out a song and run around. I was in a good mood but had to get back to the seat and watch the rain falling on the glass pane for some more time.

Yesterday went to Chepauk for a company sponsered cricket match. And one word to describe the stadium is awesome. Never thought the stadium will be so well maintained and be able to watch the players so closely (even from the far end of the stands). Decided to definitely go watch the next ODI or test. Enjoyed the drizzle in the afternoon and the exciting matches.

Watched 'SindhuBhairavi' in the weekend. I have never seen this movie in full till date and this is the first time. And what a movie it is!. I cannot think of anyone else fitting the roles of Suhasini or Sivakumar. And ofcourse, probably the best music score of Ilayaraja (i.e if you exclude Punnagai Mannan, Moga Mull and coutless others) and especially the Bharatiyar songs. Timeless classic!.

I am reading a lot about the end of Paganism a.k.a Hellenism in the 4th century due to the rise of Christianity. Gibbon has a chapter for it in his 'Decline and fall of the Roman Empire'. It is interesting to draw parallels and think about it. Will write more once I reach a stage when it needs to be written.

Moved finally!!!

Finally I have decided to move out of blog city. There were a lot of disadvantages as a lot of features were premium features and it was turning into more of a text blog whereas I want to see some colors and pictures. So here it is. A brand new blog but the concept and the postings will remain the same..