2006

Finally 2005 is coming to an end. I say it with a kind of relief but on another level, it is interesting to know that as it is there is nothing that is going to change but only our perception that tomorrow somehow marks the end of another year and things will (may) be better from the next day somehow. Thats what my wife calls a cynical thought. But anyway, it gives a sense of measure to the life and going by that 2005 was not so good to me as 2004 but overall, I was happy about it. This year marked the end to the US life and settling down in Madras finally. It also marked the start of school for Sibi which is a big deal for me. And of course, the rapid progress Sibi is making in school is actually heartening. This year, more than the last, I think I am becoming more selfish and the tolerance has come down. Basically I am trying hard to losen some of the American traits and it ain't easy, anyway. Overall, happy to have come back and settled.

And it is something that I finalized the house on the last week of December(two days back!!). It is nice little house nearer to Sibi's school and has atleast most of what we were looking for (ofcourse, it is a flat and not a independent house). But to arrive at this point, I have to go through so much and waste many a weekends on looking at horrible to mediocre houses with exorbitant prices. The real estate in Chennai is essentially sellers market and there is no respite for small buyers who want to invest 10L or less. There are nothing available in that range and it is a horrible thing that space has become so much of a premium here. And the suburbs are just filthy and there is no point in finding a place there. Chennai needs a lot of infrastructure development to make the living in the suburbs at least tolerable. Anyway, enough bitching about it and am happy to have found a place.

And a happy new year to all of you who read this blog continuously. Especially Arun, hope you get married at least in 2006. And the friends in Hacienda Heights and all others, Happy new year to you all.

Thavamai thavamirunthu

Saw 'Thavamai thavamirunthu' over the weekend. First, hats off to Cheran for daring to take an offbeat movie without the 'commercial' aspects as defined by the producers/distributors of Tamil cinema. I have watched the movies of Cheran with interest over the years, because here is a person, working to bring the real rural life of Tamilnadu into the screen without any makeup. I always hated Bharathirajaa's village because of his trying to glamorize the village. Honestly, can we spot a Sreedevi in kottampatti?. And it never documented the people of the village (as the joke goes, his movies always started with an outsider(teacher/doctor) arriving in the village!). Compared with Cheran, the contrast is clear. Cheran focusses on the people of the village and when he introduces the outsider also, he does not lose this focus. What it gives is an experiance of the village without the frills. It is hard-hitting. Of course, while Autograph set some new standards in the narrative style, I rate it much lower than 'T.T'. 'T.T' is the story of a father aspiring to realize his dreams through his sons. Simple enough but told in a gripping 3.5 hours of emotional story. Having grown in a very similar household (probably true for a lot of guys!) with a father who never found a fault with me or my brother, it strikes a chord very close to heart. I think the success of 'T.T' is in making everyone to think a little about the father. And it did a lot of that for me. My father flunked his PUC and married my mother without any job. He worked hard and earned meagre. And it was tough sustenance as we grew older and borrowing money was part of the life. I still remember the insults he had to take to send me to a college. Money was a concern on a daily basis but still we never felt the misery because of my father always left his worries at the doorstep when he entered home. Its always jolly time and I dont remember a time when my father took his frustrations/anger out on us. Never. As he used to say everytime, he has given us the only asset he was able to give, our education. The fact that I am typing all these says a lot about this movie. Hats-off!!

Adhavan and an annual day...

I've completed reading Adhavan's 'Iravukku mun varuvathu Maalai' and Ambai's 'Veetin Moolaiyil oru samayalarai'. I.M.V.M is a collection of kuru Novels. Is there a genre of kuru Novels in English?. Remember reading a novelette by Charlotte Bronte ('The green Dwarf') sometime back. Think the Russians had also experimented with this (Dostoyevsky (Double), Pushkin (Captain's daughter) etc). But cannot think of a genre per se existing in English. Anyway, Adhavan's heroes/heroines are all people who have high aspirations who were met brutally with the reality of time and brought down to Earth. In 'siragugal' it is the girl who after finishing college tries to come out of the mould of getting married and tries to find a job. She finally succumbs to the pressure and get married taking solace in the fact that she went to a cinema with her would-be before marriage. Or 'meetchiyai thedi' where the hero longs to go back to his roots after living in Delhi for a long time. It resonates with the displacement loneliness I've felt while living in the states. Its a longing to attain something that is not there anymore. But what makes Adhavan different from others is his fantastic narrative style. Its more Marquez but at times better than him. The writing is more like a flow of thoughts than like 'writing'. I have always loved his stories from the day I read them first in 1996. But I think it is a sad thing that he has to die so young. I think its a curse if you are going to write in Tamil.

Sibi had his school annual day last weekend and for a change it was different from the normal school days I have known. The programme started with a one hour program on the life of Krishna (dances/skits based on 'Panchali sabatham' etc). All songs were written/composed/choreographed by the students and that was a great change from hearing the cinema songs. It was followed by a light music performance (one 60's song, one Bryan adams, one recent movie song) and some innovative dances like the 'searching lights' which I think is the highlight of the show with the students spread across the auditorium and the lights are off and the torch lights are used for the dances (choreographed by Ishwarya Dhanush). It was done very well. And the last part is about environmental awareness program with the five elements as leads. Entire program is interwoven with prize giving and honoring some veterens. And also, Rajni was there as a guest and that added some glitter but the show was completely done by Mrs. Rajni who did a wonderful job organizing and compereing the entire show.

Rain updates and Sibi's World

Things got bad this last week with the record rain on Friday night. Adyar and Cooum are in full spate and with the opening of the lakes and dams upriver, water is flowing to the brim in all the rivers. I saw the Saidapet kuppam people put up in Gandhi Mandabam opposite Anna university. Its very difficult to imagine life in such surroundings. It will be sometime before normal life returns here. Mercifully, no inundation in where I live and it was terrific to see people leave home in boats without knowing when they will return. With competetion between the irresponsible media networks intend on spreading rumors and their version of truth, it is disgusting to watch TV news at all. Truth is very different when seen through the Socially Unresponsible Network(SUN) and Jaya. It depends. Thats all.

Then watched a movie called 'ABCD' yesterday. Two things to recommend the movie. One, no college background. And no silly villains and mindless violence with the hero killing at will. So it was a bit different from the normal fare that passes for cinema these days. A wafer thin love story revolving around one guy and three girls, with a subtle social message running through, it was interesting to watch all the mushy romance on the screen. Waiting to watch 'Thavamai Thavamirunthu' and 'Kanda naal muthal'.

There is a series in NY times on India's golden quadrilateral project. Interesting read.

Sibi has this habit of talking to himself when he is playing alone or with the Dipsy plush he has. So I listened a little yesterday. He was diagnosing Dipsy for fever and was complaining that Dipsy bite his fingers while he was giving medicine. Then suddenly he talked about our former neighbours 2 year old daughter who has moved to a different house. Again back to Dipsy. His world revolved around simple things and pleasures and it is with a tinge of nostalgia that I watch him. Haven't we all yearn for that lost world of innocence when things were all fine and dandy and we were all happy in the true sense?.

A lot of rain and a few updates..

Finally a couple of days without rain here in Chennai. It has rained heavily throughout TN this time and it was sad to see the plight of people all around. Living in suburbs submerged in water, it is not easy to see your dream home drowned in water. All the encroachments and unplanned building is taking its toll.
Went to the Guildy Children's park yesterday. Although my wife takes Sibi every now and then, this is the first time and I was surprised to see that it was maintained well. So, there is scope that people will put trash in trash cans and keep a place neat. This gives some hope for the other 99% of the city looking like a huge dumpyard. Thats a little exaggeration but close to truth.
And the Cooum and Adyar rivers are in full spate and it was wonderful to see something other than sewage running in Cooum. But I also noted that the saidapet kuppam along cooum is fully submerged now and cannot but imagine the misery of the people living there. All the things that they value, the assets, are washed away in one flash flood and kind of hard to imagine the resilience it will need to re-build the lives again and again. Sad, but reality.
Another effect of the non-stopping rains is that Sibi's school is on leave and in the months of october and november, he has had school for about 5 days. Even he is bored and is incessantly asking when the school will re-open. Keeping him entertained is in itself a tough thing these days but he takes fun in playing all by himself and that helps a little.
Anyway, Sibi is becoming a lot more playful and talks really well and asks so many questions these days, it is getting difficult to answer him. He just makes me feel so good at times but also so mad some times. Yesterday we watched 'The bourne identity' together and he loved 'Home alone' the other day. He likes dancing and it was lot of fun to put on the music and start dancing with him. He has some good/strange moves.
And ofcourse, take time to visit this site on the Big temple in Thanjavur. This has a lot of interesting links and information.
I bought a bunch of books sometime back and am still to start even one of them ('Green Dwarf' - Charlotte Bronte, 'Double' - Dostoevsky and another one by Elizabeth Gaskell). Need to start sometime soon.

Aiyanars and Viral fevers!!

After a long stint with a viral fever and a couple of marriages and receptions (not for me!), it certainly tires one out to think of the trials one has to go through. The most interesting part of the last couple of weeks is the trip to Tuticorin and the marriage reception of Hari.

First the trip to Tuticorin. Not that tuticorin in itself is a good place, but we went to Thiruchendur, Eral and the Arunchunai katha Aiyyanar temple. It was raining all along and combined with bad roads, I am still recovering from the body pain it has caused. But the route was beautiful and with villages names like 'Thanneer panthal', the trip lent a wisp of poetic air also. The coastline of Thiruchendur has changed after the Tsunami but the temple remains the same. The seas have become rough and there is little resemblance of the beach that once was there. Eral has a temple on the banks of Tamirabarani (or a tributary of it, not sure) and it is a fascinating little temple. The most fantastic one is the Arunchunai Katha Aiyyanar temple in Ammanpuram beyond Thiruchendhur. Located in the midst of three 'sunais' or ponds, the temple houses the Arunchunai katha Aiyyanar. The sand is completely red in color and the surroundings exquisite. But the temple is crowded these days and on a sunday afternoon, the temple was brimming with people. There is a huge statue of the Aiyyanar mounted in a horse in the temple and a lot of other minor gods with names like 'Munnodi Murugan', 'Bairavan', 'Isakkiamman', 'periya natchi' etc are around. Aiyyannar worship in real terms is ancestor worship and what it means is that these are real people who lived a while ago and did something to merit being worshipped as gods. 'Arunchunai katha' is a clue but unfortunately, the real story is not known to many and I am still ignorant as to how the Aiyyanar saved the 'sunais' (although heard that the Aiyanar is actually a palayakar who saved the area from the foreigners and from religious conversions, not sure how he saved the 'sunais' yet). Here is a story on how he saved the sunai, but not sure how true this is. There is another temple for Karkuvel Aiyyanar (in Therimedu) which we couldn't visit for want of time. This is the family ancestor temple from my maternal side. Per my maternal grandfather and paternal grandfather, my ancestors were originally from these areas (therimedu and surroundings) and what it means is that my ancestors worshipped these same gods as I am doing today. And most of all, by exploring these areas with Sibi gives a totally new sense of learning about our roots together. There is still so much to read and know.

The marriage reception of one of my college mates happened and I went there in the hope of meeting some old friends. I did met a lot of them but there was absolutely no sense of happiness or a rush of adrenaline on seeing so many friends. Is it just that I dont treat them the same way as I used to do 8-9 years back or just that I have moved on with my life?. Puzzling.

Other than that the past 10-15 days is one of suffering from viral fever and taking heavy antibiotics and sleeping. Now am feeling a little OK. Sibi is doing fine and a gala time in his school children's day celebrations. He has grown a lot but Jeysri still stays at 21. Another puzzling thing!!!

Diwali, Sibi and Konastai

Its been a long gap since I last wrote. Anyway, belated Diwali wishes. We had a great first family diwali in India and Sibi enjoyed so much of it that he took to fire crackers very well. Anyway, it was rains, flooded roads and closed offices for most of the past 1 week. It was really good to see all that rain but it was boring to end up sitting in house all day without doing anything. And did a lot of shopping in the weekend and had a great Diwali!!

And Alliance books has republished all novels of Vaduvur Duraisamy Iyengar. I remember reading the detective Tigambara Samiyar's exploits at my grandma's house in Sivakasi long back while in school. But I never got to read a complete novel during that time and I am planning to get this set soon. It will be interesting to read the entire novel. BTW, anyone has heard of Konastai, who wrote in the 1940's?. I am searching for his novels also after reading a sample in my grandma's house long back.

Other than that, things are going as usual and Sibi is getting naughtier every day and I am not sure where to start on this. But of course, he has taken a liking to stories and everyday in the bed, instead of rhymes, we tell stories to each other till he dozes off. We had his head tonsured in Palani in the 2nd week of October and he had a musical toy which was grabbed by a monkey (he cried a river for that!). So, you should watch him explain the story of the monkey and the hat-seller. So funny and always with a reference to the 'monkey in palani'. Nothing like that. The long leave for rains, diwali and Ramzan has made him yearn for school and he wants to go to school now to avoid boredom at home!!

Death of Sundara Ramasamy @ Pasuviah

I remember reading 'J.J. Sila Kurippugal' when I was in college and got mesmerized by the writing. There are few novels in Tamil that deserves comparison with a novel of J.J's stature. Terribly intelligent and casually tragic, the novel can be read from anywhere and will still make a lot of sense. Thats how I got introduced to Sundara Ramasamy.

When Meyappan & Co (our college seniors) arranged for a 3 day literary workshop in Nagerkoil, I was lucky enough to be part of it. Apart from eating some wonderful food in Arun's house, I got the chance to meet Sundara Ramasamy during the meet (we also met Thoppil Meeran, Mangai and others). It was a up-close conversation with him and I listened a lot enamored by his towering personality and literary genius. Today, when I look back I think of all the questions I could've asked him and didn't.

Then, when I read 'Oru puliamarathin Kathai' I realized that he is not just good in writing intellectual novels but also a good story-teller. Then the collection '108 kavithaigal'. I read it when I was reading vorociously the modern poems in Tamil. It is the period I read Vikramathithyan, Pramil, Kalapriya, Kalyanji and many others and probably thats why I couldn't really convince myself that he is a great poet. Good but not great.

Of course, 'Kalachuvadu' is part of the small magazine world where it took part in its own share of controversies and discussions. Latest being over the 'Pillai keduththal vilai'. But I realize now that I have moved away from the left ideologues who still dominate the small magazine landscape but still buy the mags just to keep me posted on the thought process as well as the wonderful articles written (Did you read the 'Thamizhar food special' of Kalachuvadu?).

I cannot forget Sundara Ramasamy for the beautiful novels that has influenced me a lot (for good or bad!).

Palani, Sivakasi and Srivilliputhur

Last week was a long long weekend and so we went to Palani to have Sibi's head tonsured. This is his second 'mottai' and he cried a lot this time. But he was OK immediately and now enjoying the mottai days. Anyway, Palani was a surprise. Somehow, they have cleaned the city to a good extent. Still, the roads are bad but the adivaram is very neat and more surprisingly, for Re.1 the public toilets are well maintained and no stench (near the rope car area). Anyone who has just walked by the public toilets can attest to the state they are in. So it was a pleasant surprise. And the temple itself is maintained neatly and the monkey are menacing the visitors as always. In fact, one monkey grabbed the toy in Sibi's hand and it took about 20 minutes to calm him down. He wanted to go to the monkey and get the toy back but I was not that fearless anyway.

And went to Sivakasi and Srivilliputur the next day. Sivakasi remains the same. Nothing much has changed. Roads, streets and even the people. The temples have changed beyond recognition and I still remember the dull interiors and it is fantastic to see the marble and granites and the big lights in the temples. Even the sand outside the Bathrakaliamman temple is paved now and somehow I miss the old days. And then the Nachiyar temple in Srivilliputhur. It was fantastic to read Thiruppavai written on the walls with Jeysri (Sibi was sleeping!) and kind of mesmerising to see Andal in the sannathi.

The rest of the days are spent in just shopping around and the north-east monsoon has started with rains from Madurai to chennai. So while the weather is wonderful, the roads have become death traps. Its horrible in OMR with the sewage overflows and the wastes floating around. Its pathetic to see that the corporation has gone into hiding when it is needed badly and the quality of life (if there is anything left) for those in Kanthan chavadi to Navalur is close to the negative maximum these days.

Moral polices and Mann Vasanai

All Tamil nadu is currently going through the moral policing(literally!) wave. There is the episode in the Park hotel and then came the dress code followed immediately by the Kushboo episode. It just goes to show that we, as a race, are a hypocritical lot and the morality hype is just to just convince ourselves that we are superior to other cultures/races. Now, I do not have the comment on the party in the Park hotel or what Kushboo said. I consider that a free speech issue and if a group of guys want to rub bodies with the girls in a private space, thats nobody's business. I dont think the police commissioner ever visited the Marina beach in the evenings (sometimes in the middle of the day) or Eliot's beach for that matter. What is he going to do when he does?. Shut down the beaches of Chennai?. These are public spaces which are made into staging ground by the so-called lovers from the schools and colleges of Chennai. On the other end of the spectrum, talk to these liberal feminists (do you hear Ms. Kanimozhi, Vanathi Thirunavukarasu, Arulmozhi et al?) about removing the censor board and see the reaction?. I think it will be fun. The common argument against a dress code is if the student of 18 years can be asked to vote, why cant he wear the dress he wants?. I ask the same question. Why do you need a censor board if a 18 year old can handle sex and violence maturely?. Thinking of it, except me, the whole bunch of Tamilnadu are hypocrites. No point arguing this anyway.

Anyway, watched 'mann vasanai' last weekend. Probably the best of Bharathiraja's movies. It also reminds one of the simple life and common values we have lost in the crowds of chennai (Kanthimathi on seeing Pandian coming home with a punjabi girl "Entha kaatu sirukkida ava?"). The sports, kootanchoru, ayyannar vazhipadu, I don't know whether Sibi will even read about it in his days. If you look at the movies of Cheran ('Pandavar boomi'. 'Autograph') or Thankarpachan ('Azhagi'), we can notice that the director is trying to record something that has lost its place in the hustle and bustle of our lives. These guys miss that life as much as their protoganists do in these movies.

Sibi goes for a vacation...

Today, Sibi completes his first term in school. As much as it sounds exciting, I cannot but imagine the monotonous repetion of this cycle for another 15 years of his life. Makes me sigh!. But hey, he got a 'V.Good' with a star from his Srimathy miss yesterday and was not very enthu about it anyway. I think he just takes that for granted!. Anyway, he is going to DG for his holidays and it will be difficult to think of living alone in the flat for another 10 days. Tough!

Anyway, Started 'Prathaba mudaliyar sarithiram' by Mayuram Vedanayagam pillai. This is the first novel written in Tamil and although at times, reads like a bunch of anecdotes than a novel. But its hilarious, interesting and informative. And completed another fantistically hilarious novel 'Three men in a bummel'. If you've loved the trio in 'Three men in a boat', you'll love the same here. Especially the digs they take at the Germans, you should read it to enjoy it. Available as part of project gutenberg.

Yuvan

I was listening to this song from 'Arinthum ariyamalum'. Dont you think this is a fantastic remix?. Or 'Kathal enbathu' from 'Oru kalluriyin kathai'. Both are by Yuvan sankar Raja. I think he is the one who is going to carry Ilaiyaraaja's mantle from now onwards. He has a unique way of capturing the mood in his beats and rhythms and translate it into some good music. Its really fantastic. The music is not only catchy but also captivating. May be a little early to suggest this. But definitely he is better than the other son, Karthik Raja.

Anyway, I've been meeting some old friends here and its actually good to talk about some of the fun we used to have in those days. Nothing like that.

Sibi's quarterly exams are starting next week. Nothing much but some oral recitations of rhymes and things. And following which he has a 10 days of leave. Funny to even to think of it.

Tamil inscriptions and Updates

I came across this fantastic article about the tamil inscriptions found in Southeast Asia. The most fantastic piece seems to be the 13th century shiva temple in the Quanzhou port in China.
Read more - 'The medieval Tamil-language inscriptions in Southeast Asia and China'
Also, ' EARLY CONTACTS OF SOUTH INDIA AND CHINA: AN EXPLORATION OF THE
PHENOMENON OF HINDU DIASPORA
' - Refers to the siva temple in Quanzhou. And finally
'The interactions of the Chola empire in the Chao Phraya delta' .

Based on the readings, I am finding that some of the inscriptions are housed in the
1. Museum Nasional in Jakarta.

2. Museum at Wat Khlong Thom, Krabi, on the west coast of peninsular Thailand.
3. Wat Mahadhatu at Nakhom Si Thammarat, south of Chaiya on the east coast of peninsular Thailand
4. Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi Nasional, Jakarta
5. Wat Naramiang temple , Takua-pa, Thailand

Sibi Update
Sibi is doing new things on a daily basis now and it is a sight to watch him start karate-ing or his fantastic dance. In fact, he loves to dance so much that we are seriously thinking of putting him in a dance class. His school days are moving with lots of daily fun and we (me and wifey) discuss about how well he is gel-ing into the school. He has made friends in school and in the apartments and plays with them and loves to tell me everything that has happened on that day when I reach home. Probably the happiest moments of our, otherwise routine, daily lives I guess.

Started reading a bunch of books and finding that I have a lot of ground to cover. Lets see. Currently reading Akilan's 'Vengaiyin Mainthan' (hating it already, but had to finish), and read a chapter in Samuel Butler's 'The way of all flesh' and a couple of chapters into Jerome.K.Jerome's hilarious 'Three men on a bummel' (which is terrific, by the way!).

Vanathy

I consider Vanathy as one of the most complex and intriguing character ever created in the Tamil novel world (OK, I still consider Yamini of Mogamull to be the best, but may be just above!). One character that will bear any comparison with Vanathy is Ophelia. If you have read 'Hamlet', you would have read about that girl who loves Hamlet and her father being killed by Hamlet, goes mad and ends drowning in the brook. Again personally, I consider 'Hamlet' to be the masterpiece of Shakespearean writings and it is no wonder that the best heroine he has produced is found in this play.

Although Kalki tells the events in flashbacks and as reminescences, the first time Vanathy meets Arulmozhi is when he comes in an elephant and rescues a nestful of birdlings. I still consider this the best chapter in the entire PS and the most romantic. After this high start, her life goes downhill, she realizes soon that the mahouth was Arulmozhi, the prince and faints the first time. Her love for him and the realization that there are many a princesses who are vying for his hand are so conflicting that she becomes physically weak and faints regularly. Her conflicts with Poongulazhi stems from the same thought process, where she tries to prove that she loves Arulmozhi no less. She even drowns herself in the process (in kudanthai). We see her gaining strength as soon as she starts realizing that Arulmozhi also loves her. Infact she even rescues Poongulazhi during this time.

I think she is more like the teen age girls. Emotional, thoughtful, sensitive and a bit confused to know whether Arulmozhi loves her or not. There is nothing much to deduce here. If you read PS closely, you will realize that Vanathy does not do anything other than thinking of Arulmozhi and all her actions are focussed on his welfare and ways to impress him, which I think is very normal for a girl in her late teens or in the starting 20s. Whereas Kundavai or Poongulazhi has other aspirations, Vanathy's only thought and actions are towards achieving her love. You can even call that obsessesion.

Ophelia bears comparison because she is in the same age group as Vanathy and she exhibits all the characteristic of Vanathy. She loves Hamlet, but when it is not reciprocated and she was treated badly, she goes mad. Hamlet is older and more mature and although cannot be compared to Arulmozhi in temper and other aspects, he is a complex hero himself. Just like Vanathy, Ophelia's love is tragic in the sense that she never get to know that Hamlet loves her (at least Vanathy does in the end!). The only deviation in their otherwise fanatical love is that Vanathy realizes her love and Ophelia does not.

I cannot really comment on the historical Vanathy but literarily, I think she is probably a masterpiece of Kalki. There is no similar character that can hold a candle to what she is. It is either because of the complexity of describing the innocent love. It is so pure, it usually ends up consuming oneself. I would even say once Vanathy realized her love by marrying Arulmozhi, she lost the will to live as she had her love and died prematurely at an young age. Nothing like it.

As an aside, when we ran a tamil magazine during my college days in Tirunelveli, I used to write under the pen name 'Vanathy'!!.

Kite flying and Katrina

We went to Jeysri's aunt's house yesterday. It is in Rayapuram. So in the evening, we took to the terrace for some kite-flying. It was amazing to see so many people in their terraces with a large 'gandu' or roll of thread, flying kites. Haven't seen anything like that in the south Madras. And it brought back memories of the old kite-flying days. I do not have a vivid interest in flying kites. But we were 2-3 boys in the same age group and we used to buy the kites and fly them in the evenings. As in Rayapuram yesterday, there used to be lots of people on terraces flying kites in the evenings. I think its during september-october time of every year and there used to be competitions as to who flies high etc. Of course, the preparation of 'maanja' for 'dealing' the kites is quite famous although I have never done that. Jeysri's nephew yesterday explained how the 'maanja' is prepared and his exploits in preparing the same during school days (he is married now!) like using pressure cookers or the 'ammi's for mixing the toxic ingredients etc. It was fun.

'Kalachuvadu' has come up with a issue on the food of the tamils. There are some very interesting articles. The online issue is not updated yet. Look out for it. Do you know that the sangam book 'Sirpaanatrupadai' describes mutton biriyani as 'oon soru'?. Amazing stuff. I was thinking of all the stuff we used to have and probably my son will end up hearing only from me.

One of the things that you notice on OMR while going down is the removal of trees and buildings for the new IT corridor that is coming up. While it is good that we are getting a 6 lane highway, it is equally bad that so many trees have to go for this?. Isn't there something called 'sustainable development'?. And this is supposed to be a eco-friendly development. Hmm.

And Katrina. Watching 'BBC world' New Orleans was looking surrealistic. I am more amazed by the slow response by the Federal government. I think it even made me realize that lot of wealth does not mean that a lot of effective people are with you. In comparison, I think the response to the Tsunami was quick and swift and the TN government and the NGOs were quick to respond. Its just tragic to see all those dead bodies strewn around the superdome and the desperate people asking water and food. It probably exposed the soft underbelly of the FEMA and I hope something is learned in the process.

Updates and an anniversary

After a discussion with my father, I have a few corrections to the previous entry and a few updates. The first 'P' in 'PPKT' is PathaMuthu Aiyanar who is our 'kula deivam'. The next 'P' is Ponnappa nadar, not Ponnaiah Nadar. Now, there is no straight evidence that Ponnappa nadar was the one who moved from the 'karisal' lands to the 'tharisal' lands of Sivakasi. Also it looks like the houses in Sivakasi (one for my grand father and one for PPKR) are purchased by our great-grandma Avudai ammal with her savings from selling milk everyday.

Yesterday was our marriage anniversary. I took the day off. It started off with sending Sibi to school. As a sidenote, Sibi actually loves to go to school now-a-days and likes his 'miss' Srimathi and his new friends Aswin and Vishal. He also likes to play around and tell us tales about his exploits in school. Its amazing to watch him talk non-stop. Then me and Jeysri went out for shopping. After buying clothes and other stuff, we brought Sibi back to home. Had lunch and a little nap. We had guests in between and my brother took the afternoon off to be with us. In the evening, went to Parthasarathy temple. Here is the conversation between me and Sibi (translated from tamil).

Me: Sibi, did you see this God?. He is Aranganathar, see he is sleeping..
Sibi: Sleeping? (thinks a bit) but why the lights are on?.
Me: errr..just so..see he is 'saami'
Sibi: will he get up at 6'o clock?
Me: probably..
Sibi: ok..(looking at Arangan) Good night..

Sometimes, his questions are so unexpected, it bowls me over!.

After a good dinner at Amaravathy, returned home. And as usual, Ambals has sent the wishes already!. Happy anniversary to you too man!.

And a happy 'Janmastami' for all those who celebrate, otherwise enjoy the long weekend..

Gopallagrammathu makkal and a walk down the memory lane!

Its been a week since I blogged. What with a long weekend followed by a busy week in office, I am unable to even log into the site. Anyway, last week was spent in MGM Dizzee world and in the beaches and restaurants of Singara Chennai. Nothing much to write about that.

Sibi knows my mobile number and dials it by himself and calls me. How cool is that?.

I am reading 'Gopallagramatthu makkal' by Ki. Rajanarayanan. The date on the book tells me I bought it in 1996. Now, what interested me in this book is the chapter when Ki.Ra explains the day in the life of 'oor panai eri' sammuga nadar. Now, my grand father, father's father, used to tell us a hundred times that we are 'panai eri's. i.e my ancestors have lived off the palm tree in the karisal regions around Tuticorin, till one of them, I think it was Ponnaiah Nadar, decided to come to a small village called Sivakasi and settle there instead. He and his son (who is also a Ponnaiah)lived in Sivakasi with a small shop for their sustenance. I don't remember whether he had more than one son or any other details. By the next generation, which is the generation of Kaliappa nadar(around 1940s-1950s) the family climbs the social ladder with a small 'palasarakku' shop. He and his wife, Avudai ammal, begets five children, two male and three female. One of them is my grand father, P.P.K.Thangamani Nadar. He moves to Madurai sometime in the '60s to start his own shop and the elder brother, P.P.K.Rathnam Nadar stays back in Sivakasi and starts a small fireworks factory. We are still referred in Madurai as the 'PPKT family'. So much for a little family history. Now back to Ki.Ra. So it naturally interested me to see how my ancestors lived. And Ki.Ra explains very clearly what sammuga nadar does in a day. He drinks, brings the 'pathani' and eats 'oru padi' rice with 'netthili karuvattu kozhambhu' and goes around the village selling the 'pathani'. I contrast that with a day in my life today!.

I still remember the trip I took to Eral with my family during one of my school holidays. There is a tomb temple on the banks of Tamiraparani for 'Chairmakani nadar', I dont know the history of it but I also remember going to the 'Arunchunai kaatha Aiyanar' temple nearby. The road was reddish in color (chemman). And there was a lotus pond and it was a grove. But you come outside that area, you enter the 'karisal kaadu', where water is scarce and not many crops grow. It is the same from there till the Madurai district. Sivakasi is another wasteland (till Ayya nadar and Shanmuga nadar brought the fireworks industry) with no cultivable land and no rain.

I cannot even comprehend the leap of faith that my great, great grandfather took when he took the decision to move to Sivakasi. What a difference it made in my life!.

Sun and Moon

When I was a school-going kid, I used to go to the terrace and stare at the sun. I still remember the bright yellowish ball with flares in the edges. It was a fantastic sight. I remember thinking a lot of silly thoughts while doing that. About how we can fly towards the sun without hurting oneself, or what it would be like to be in sun. I even remember doing a diary entry while watching the sun. Today, when I was coming to office, I noticed sun again. Bright, far and with a fantastic yellowish glow, it has not lost the beauty to my eyes yet.

For the past week, Sibi was not well. He was down with cold and fever. Is there a way to treat cold completely?. I am so sick of it and its hard to see my son suffering from the same. Anyway, he is OK now.

Yesterday, had a team dinner in the rooftop restaurant in the new Residency towers. The food was just OK. But the view of the city it offered was breathtaking. That along with a 'pirai nila' and the soothing flow of water was all that is needed to make it memorable. Beautiful place to go for dinner (if you are not particular about the food!).

Favorite Historical Novels (Non-Indian)

1. 'Masters of Rome' series by Colleed McCullough. This is actually five novels tracing life in Ancient Rome (110B.C till the ascendency of Octavius in 31B.C). It is a fantastic novel which traces the end of the Republican Rome and the start of the Empire. In my opinion, this is probably one of the best historical novel which uses hundreds of Roman sources (from Cinna to Cicero to Ceaser) and constructs the events skillfully. I still read the novels now and then and it is still interesting. The best of the series is 'Ceaser' Which traces the rise of Julius Ceaser and his death followed by the revenge taken by Octavian and Agrippa. Its mind boggling to read of such great characters like Marius, Sulla, Ceaser, Cato, Cicero and many more. If you are a history buff, this is a must read.

2. 'Julian' by Gore Vidal. This is not available freely and I had to order it through the Atlanta central libarary to get it. But it is well worth it. It follows the life of Julian the Apostate one of the emperors of Rome who rallied Rome against Christianity for one last stand and failed.

3. 'Creation' by Gore Vidal. Another rare book. It traces the travels of Cyrus Spitama, the grandson of Prophet Zoraster, from Greece to China in around 440B.C. Another meticulously researched novel and Cyrus visits India during the time of MahaVira and during the reigh of BinduSara(in Patliputra). It is a very interesting novel in that it attempts to describe the social life as well.

4. 'American Empire' series by Gore Vidal. I haven't read all the novels but it traces the history of America from 1776 to around 1960's. I have read '1876', 'Burr' and 'Lincoln' from the series and because it is recent history, the novels are researched well and interesting.

5. Ofcourse, can't leave the master, Alexandre Dumas, from this list. Greatest romance writer and ofcourse, his novels are more stories than based on historical facts.

6. 'Over the Edge of the World' - Laurence Bergreen. A very interesting novel about the circumnavigation of the world by Megallen and his crew.

Then, there is 'Gates of Fire', Jeffrey Shaara's series on the American Civil war, Leon Uris and many more.

There are another set of crappy novels which I have vowed never to go near. But thats for another day.

Sibi

I missed out a few other places we visit but not so often as the others like ponnusamy, Kaaraikudi, Noodle house or Marrybrown. But that way I have to list another 10-20 places.

Anyway, Sibi is now going school without fussing about it and the good thing is he is enjoying a lot in school. He has a few friends in school and what I like is that lunch is given in school itself and it used to be such a big activity but now that he eats with the kids in school and he is eating regularly. Of course, he wants to go out and is now playing a lot of make-believe games. Like cooking or going to school/beach or just plain rhymes-singing. It never was so much fun to be with Sibi. He is so engaging and is ready to play all the time and is full of energy and fun. He learns new things every day and is very eager to share them also.

Eating out

When we were in US, eating out every week is like a ritual performed without fail and with dedication. Wherever we were, be it the LA/Atlanta suburbs or the poconos, we patronized the surrounding chinese/Thai/Malay and sometimes American eateries till we made friends with the waiters or moved on to a different place. We still think of the Fried rice in the Chin Chin or the Kung pao chicken in the Xian or the buffet in the China Buffet. So when we came to India, we wanted to continue the same spirit. Now, the regular eateries become Anjappar, Anjappar is a chettinad restaurant and I prefer the parottas, Sibi loves the fried rice here. Sangeetha/Saravana bhavan are our Veg alternatives and when my wife wants to eat a rava dosa or just plain veg food (like yesterday), we end up in these restaurants. What I have noticed is the veg food costs more than the non-veg restaurants mentioned above, especially Saravana Bhavan. There is a buffet in SB in the upper floor (Swathi) which serves some fantastic varieties of food. Then there is the occasional pizza from the Pizza Hut (which is preferred over others by Sibi and J). Instead of the crunchy chicken, Sibi likes the Teekha chicken now. And with the vadas and idlis from the nearby messes and hotels, the eating out never has been so much fun.

OMR and Romance

I travel by old mahabalipuram road everyday to office. Now the work has started on the IT corridor project which basically is expanding the now sorry excuse of a road into a six lane tollwwy by 2006. Its kind of surprising to the pace at which the project is executed. I am used to see huge tar machines making tar and a host of people working with jalli and sand for making roads when I grow up. Now all I see is huge machines which just dig and do whatever other stuff that is needed for road construction. The quality of roads is also a huge improvement from the older ones and I think if only we can make all the roads in the state with this quality, it will be a huge leap forward for the TN.

This week was a busy one with a lot of project related things going on simultaneously. Thus am having only less time to blog.

I am in the third part of the Ponniyin selvan and this is one book that never bores the reader. I just read probably the one part that is the romantic chapter written. This is the episode when Kundavai comes to prison to meet Vandhiyathevan and offers her hand. Probably the only other instance that compares with it when Arulmozhi rescues the sparrows coming in a elephant and the subsequent dialogs with Vanathy. Then probably we can include the love scenes in 'Ivan hoe' between Ivanhoe and Rowena. How can I forget the talk between Darcy and Eliza in 'Pride and prejudice' after they were engaged?. Probably I need to come up with the top 10 romantic scenes in literature. Now, thats a thought.

Why?

1. I was reading three books, as always, and that took the focus out of blogging.
I was reading 'A history of south India' by K.A.Nilakanta Sastri, 'Ponniyin Selvan' by Kalki and 'The DaVinci Code' by Dan Brown. Have finished the DaVinci code and 1 part of PS. I find it always easy to read books parallely than sequentially, since it enables me to compare the books and discard one if I dont find it as interesting as the others. Of course, 'history of India' has made me re-read Ponniyin Selvan after a long interval and it is as fresh as the first time I have read it back in 1987. Davinci Code was more of a curiosity to know all the controversies surrounding it and it was OK. I can totally see Tom Hanks seriously explaining everything about the pentacle to a pretty Audrey Tautou.

2. My father was not well.
Well, he had some tissue overgrowth coupled with a enlargement of the prostate coupled with a kidney stone. And so has to be operated and was in Hospital for about a week followed by a month of bed rest. Generally this is not a good month for me as I am spending more time in hospitals than in office.

Other than these, the regular project pressures and if you are not convinced of all these excuses, I admit that I am just too lazy to write. Any way, am having a few things in mind to write about and 'Ponniyin Selvan' is one of them. Soon.

Thiruvasagam..

Finally bought the 'Thirvasagam' by Illaiyaraaja CD. There is no 'in symphony' in the name of the CD as told by Raaja himself. It comes in a nice package with a booklet containing all the songs in the handwriting of Raaja. Heard the songs yesterday morning once I got up. I dont know where to start this. With praise for writing the songs which even after a 1000 years can be sung with a chorus in Budapest without any damage to the meaning and the reverence they invoke or the attempt by Raaja to take the songs and write music that transcends borders and inspire listeners without regard to the content of the songs. This is not your normal recitation of the songs in the traditional ways (On a different note, there was a beautiful rendition of 'Nalayira Divya Prabhantam' by the priests in the Perumal temple in Bridgewater,NJ which still is ringing in the ears!) but taking the songs and blending it with choruses and a 120 instruments to come up with awefully beautiful music that just blows one away. It is not sung in the traditional order also and Illaiyaraaja has taken some liberties to come up with the songs but he has sung them with fervor and his voice has made a big difference in the listening experiance. This is a must-have for anyone and BUY it.

Best of Software Writing

I am reading through a bunch of software essays collected and published by Joel Spolsky as a book. All these are available in web and are very creative and interesting. This page has a collection of links to all the essays and all of them are a must-read. If you want to read it as a book, buy it from Amazon. My favorite is the one about the search cow in Google. Definite to bring a smile to the face.


Seriously I was wondering why Microsoft takes so much of flak for everything. But then today, I was reading through a document in MS Word 2003 and the following pops-up into my face.
Mind you, I was only reading a design document and was not typing anything. Why in the world should I be interested in installing French Auto corrections in my PC while reading through a plain English document?. Annoying at the least and will make me rant for another 200 words at the most. Now I know.

Updates...

Sibi has started school. Now, he has started school last week itself and I was there for a couple of days to send him off and bring him back. He is crying and ofcourse, now saying that 'school vendam' but once he comes back from school he says 'school alama ponum'. But he cries anyway the next day. He is talking cutely these days and there is no way to tell him anything harshly. I often wonder about that kural 'Kulazinithu Yazhinithu enbartham makkal mazhalai sol kelathar'. That is so true. At home, he writes a few words and numbers and is making progress in learning rhymes and Tamil. Hopefully he learns to adapt in school and like it.

As promised here is my take on the conversion of Nadars/saanars into christianity. Since one of my grand mother was a converted christian and many other relatives of mine are christians, I had an interest in understanding the history and thereby try to reason the conversions that goes on within the Nadar community. There is a very good document by a missionary which studies the spread of christianity in the Thirunelveli district and the conversion activites in the area in the past 300 years. This is interesting because there are passing references to the reasons for the local converting into the fold. Nadars/Saanars are the people in the south tamil nadu area who are dependant on the palmyra trees for their livelihood. In fact, my grandfather used to tell us that we are the 'panai eri kootam' (people who climb palm trees). They are not caste hindus (like the vellalas of north TN) or the untouchables. They are somewhere in between and this is one of the major reasons why the conversions took place. The aspiration for a social status within the community was high and there were riots and struggles by the Nadars in the south recorded by the Bristish demanding social justice in the 19th century. Christianity promised a social status for these people if they converted. This was one of the major inducements for converting and there are records showing conversion of entire villages(of nadars). Since the conversion was in groups, there was not much friction in the social fabric of the village except that there is church in the village now. One of the events that triggered the large scale conversion was the 'thol seelai' struggle in the Travancore samasthanam(which included Kanyakumari, Nagerkoil and other areas of south TN) in 1860. Before these times, anyone other than the caste Hindus were prohibited from wearing the upper garments. The struggle for wearing the upper garments started sometime in the 1850s and there were riots and uprisings in support of this. This was the period when the missionaries were able to convert large number of Hindus (including Nadars) promising (and delivering) them the rights to wear upper garments. Uthram Thirunal Marthanda Varma, the ruler of Travancore, noticed this and gave the same right to everyone by 1860. This ,along with the temple entry for lower castes, seems to be the major reasons why a large number of Nadars converted into Christianity. One other aspect is the educational oppurtunities available for the christians in the area. Even today, Thirunelveli is literally swarmed with schools and colleges, most of which were run by Christian missionaries and institutions. Education offered a chance for the community to rise beyond the daily grind of palmyra business and respect gained because of it is another bonus. Thus by 1895, the missionaries had accomplished their mission in the southern TN to a large extent. There were resistance from the Hindus for these activities from earlier days and the notable ones include Arumuga Navalar, who basically took on the missionaries in refuting their claims on Hinduism and was able to re-convert a few as well as convince a lot more not to convert. Of course, the missionaries view of this and the Arya Samaj activities is to cry persecution. By 1900s, the conversion activites has slowed down and the social reform movements were in full swing. I really have no idea about the current state of affairs. But as it is, it goes to show that till social justice is meted out, these activities will continue.

Whiz Kids and Tamil blogs...

All my life I have read about the whiz kids. 4 year old Kids who can remember 1330 Thirukurals, 3 year olds who can name 130 countries and their flags along with the national bird, animal, flower and other crap or 5 year olds who swim across the Palk strait or climb up the KanchenJunga, 6 year olds who recite the entire Thevaram along with other Thirumarais. Where are these kids now?. While I was busy playing roadside cricket (OK, watching), reading Ponniyin Selvan and cycling around Teppakulam, these kids were doing all these things. Now, I am wondering what happened to these kids?. The assumption was that if these kids are so good at an early stage they must've become high achievers in their later life also. Now its 10-15 years since that and definitely all these kids must've grown up by now. Whatever happened to them?. Of course, I am reading about the current crop of whiz kids in Hindu and elsewhere. Strange.

There is a site, Tamizhmanam ,which publishes all the blogs that are published in Tamil. There is a surprising number of blogs there and the number of people who publish in Tamil is astounding. Infact I found Manushyaputran's blog there. It was quite a surprise. I don't know who else is lurking there (Sujatha?).

Should I publish in Tamil?. Not for now anyway. Not that I am anti-tamil or anything. But if I start writing in tamil, I will end up using a lot of english words. So until I feel that I can do justice to the entries I am not attempting it.

Sibi - Updates

Sibi was not well these past few days and that had a direct impact on the frequency of blogs. It looks nothing but some common cold with some throwing up. Anyway, important thing is he is doing well now. Weekend was busy with shopping and other mundane activities with visits to a pediatrician. Surprising part is that, Sibi behaved wonderfully during the doctor visit, which was a total surprise to me. Last time I remmeber, he was crying and wouldn't even let the doctot touch him (but that was in Alpharetta, anyway). So is it because it is an Indian doctor or is it because he has just grown now?. Ofcourse, he is starting school on Wednesday and it is a great occasion for us. He is going to start L.K.G and I dont think he is that enthused about it. I really pray he start liking the school and make a few friends.

No tickets for Anniyan this week also. Only tickets left are for the 7.30AM show. For a Vikram starrer, I have no inclination to lose my precious early morning sleep. So next week it is. Anyway, I am not that worked up to see the movie anyway.

And I can write a huge volume about finding some affordable housing in this crazy city where the real market prices resemble the black market prices for food in the starved Africa. Its very high, insane and driven up by completely idiotic logic. I am sticking to my budget and hell will freeze over before I change it. What a rip off!. I am just wondering how a person with a 15000Rs salary (which is the median income p.m for most of the Govt. employees and others employed in non-IT jobs) can afford a house/flat in this city?. Had to write a post on my adventures on this end also.

Anniyan and Batman

This is the week that sees the releast of 'Anniyan' and 'Batman Begins'. I am trying to see whether I can see at least one of these two. Of course 'Anniyan' is booked for the week. Need to enquire about Batman. Surprisingly, it has good some very good reviews so far and so I want to see it. After seeing Clooney in the Bat suit and the pathetic excuse of a movie called 'Batman & Robin', I am really very skeptical about this one. But being a childhood fan of Batman, I had to watch it. Of course, I am waiting for the reviews on 'Anniyan' and looks like it will be another week before I can see it. Never mind.

Read this article about the riots in rural China. I wonder what the communists in this country had to say about it. Probably, they will denounce it as the conspiracy of capitalists to tarnish the 'glorious revolution'. I wonder why noone asks these questions to the stalwarts of the Party in this country.

Eventful Weekend and in defence of chickflicks..

Surprisingly, I did a lot of things this weekend against my best instincts to lay bck and rest. Went to Higginbothams and bought a few books ('Purananuru - Oru arimugam' by Sujatha). Shopped around in Spencers (vcd's/shirts/snacks for home etc). With my wife not in town, I was taking solace in shopping around wildly. Almost like the chocalate-munching post-depression dumbos. Actually, I abolutely had no idea what I wanted to do. Horrible. Anyway, you shop in the glittering shops in Spencers and come out, you see a lady with her(?) child begging for money. While the paradox is quite interesting for the thought process, it will not feed that female. Reminds me of a poem by Pasuvaiah (Pesinom/vivathithom/melum pesinom/ ennathan sathithom?). Not exactly the same words. But makes the point. There should be a way to help all these poor people in this city. How?.

One of the things that confounded me all these days after reading the detailed, multiple-perspective histories of Greece/Rome/China in the eons, why there is no such thing for the 'oldest civilization' of all, Tamils?. While we take pride in the fact that our grammer was defined 2000 years back and hence, the language, by extension the people, should at least be another 1000 year older, there is no hard evidence for this and you dont see the amount of literature it warrants in the world space. Why?. We talk of the kumari kandam, people from lemuria, the first Tamil sangam with Lord Shiva, Lord Murugan in it. How much of it can be scientifically proven?. In the preface to 'Purananuru - oru arimugam', Sujatha raises few of these questions himself. One differnce is that he knows some answers or at least people who have researched on this front. One such person is Prof. S. Vaiyapuri pillai. His 'History of Tamil language and literature' is supposed to be very scientific and is very good in placing the various Tamil epics in different time periods. Basically he places all the epics between 200B.C to 200AD. This did not go well with the other Tamil scholars who are very emotional about the fact that Tamil cannot be dated. This is the kind of approach that resulted in us not having a decent history of our culture before the Pallavas and Later Cholas. There needs to be a lot of research to be done in this area and there should be an effort to jot down and write a concise history of our culture and language for the period 500BC to 500AD. This is a daunting task and needs to be done if we are to have any history other than just rheotoric. By the way, I am looking for this book by Vaiyapuri Pillai and anyone knows where I can get this let me know.

And there is a fight going on over a story called 'Pillai Keduthan Vilai' by Su.Raa. The original story can be read here and the reaction by AzhakiyaPeriyavan is here. I couldn't find link to the article by Charu Nivedita on the same in 'Theera Nadhi'(I read it in the published version). But you can try to search and find. Also the responses in Kalachuvadu are in the April and May editions. Personally, I think the story is good and the fight is unwarranted.

Yesterday went to ThiruAlliKeni Parthasarathy temple. Met an interesting blind man in the MTC bus by name Woodrow Wilson. Howz that?. I know there are enough comrades around there to name their kids Stalin and Lenin and such but a Woodrow Wilson is not what I dreamt of. But of course, his father is a history prof in St.Stephans in Delhi and thus the name. Had a interesting chit-chat with him for a while. And the temple was crowded because it was sunday and a lot of tourists were there. After dharsanam, listened to a speech some acharyar about the songs of ThondaradipodiAlwar. It was very interesting. Then returned back home and watched 'Kandukondein Kandukondein'.

I remember a conversation I had with a friend called Prasanna (whatever happened to him, last heard he was in SanJose). He was actually making fun of me for watching the chickflicks with such regularity and on top of it, buying the DVDs and watching them also. I ,for one, believe that chickflicks are actually good for the soul, in that, they bring out the emotions from within and makes you realize that you are a human being, after all. Long time back (7 years, perhaps), I used to have a visitor to my apartment for weekends (I was in Omaha, NE then). He was a 34-35 year old man with wife and kids in India. All he will do is watch the weather channel from morning to evening and very much interested in weather talks. What the ..?. I used to joke with Hari that 5-6 years of married life will make you into a specimen like that. Now, watch chickflicks and you will never be want of lively interests in life.

Now, when Ajith leaves Tabu in the climax or the scene where Aish convinces Mamooty that she really loves him may not go into filmi history as the best pieces of cinematic excellence but the jerk they make inside the heart with the slight tug into the throat that chokes a little emotion out of you is indeed wonderful. Of course, watched 'Sense and Sensibility' immediately after that. Again the climax. Ferrars (Hugh Grant) tells Elinor (Emma Thompson) that it is his brother who is married and so he is free to love anyone, there is a moment of surprise in Emma's eyes then comes the breakdown, tears, sobs and full-fledged crying. Isn't it heart-wrenching?. But then, why is Hugh Grant always act like he is half-drunk and is sleep-walking into the frames?.

I am reading a lot about the conversion of Nadar/Saanar community in the south Tamilnadu into Christianity. But thats for another day...

Upper berth with viruthappa

Its been a boring week. Except for the one day when I went out to pick students from a different campus this time and had fun travelling to Coimbatore and then on to Sathyamangalam. But this is not about it. This is about the wonderful rail network run by Indian Railways. After starting to go for the campuses, I am travelling regularly by trains (in second/third class A/C). All the times the trains leave on time and reach the destination on time and the comfort is without parallels. Sleeping in a upper berth(somehow I like upper berths,reminding me of the superb short story written by Adhavan by the same name) with the vents blowing A/C , there is no tiredness whatsoever when you reach the destination. Comparing it with the dreary 7 hour red-eye flight, in economy class,from LA to EWR, I feel Indian Railways is the hands-down winner. Of course, reserving is much easier with the online reservation system and tracking the trains online, IR is into the internet world also. Hats-off!.

Was reading Gnanakoothan's 'Andru Veru Kilamai' yesternight. I bought this book in 1995 and it is amazing that the kavithai are still fresh and puts a smile on your face whenever you read it. Another such book is Vikramadityan's 'Thiruuttarakosamangai'.

I found that 'Thiruvasagam in Symphony' is going to be released on June 20. So, do not download/bit torrent/share it but buy it from your neighbourhood shop and enjoy.

Star Wars

Finally, watched "Star Wars - ROTS" this weekend. I have mixed feelings about the movie. It was much better than the first 2 prequels and more interesting too. But as usual the acting/dialogues were horrible. Having read quite a bit about the Sith lords and their history, it was interesting to watch it unfold in the screen. The movie ends with the birth of Leia and Luke and it is a relief to see the franchise come to an end.

Since the wife and kid are off to Madurai, its getting boring everyday and the weekends are the worst. Watched 4-5 movies in the cable and that pretty much tells the story of the weekend. 'Moondru mudichu' was a fantastic movie with great acting by Rajni and Sridevi. Actually I was surprised to see how beautiful Sridevi is in the B/W screen. I never noticed it before. A beautiful story with a great bit of villainy by Rajni and how Sridevi solves the problems. The other movies I watched were so-so timepasses not even worth writing about.

A scene in the bus and remembrance of things past..

I ususally come to office by office bus/van. But in days when I wake up late, like today, I prefer to take MTC (a.k.a Pallavan) to office. There is a bus stop nearby and there are frequent buses to OMR where the office is located. I prefer not to take the autorickshaws for two reasons. One is that I tend to be a little frugal and the other is that MTC provides a variety of life happening which I will miss if I take an auto ride. Today, I got into a 19B after being dropped by my brother in the Saidapet terminus. There was a 20 minute interval from the time I boarded the bus to the time it started its journey. First the usual vendors (water packets, cotton candy and there was a man who was a mini-stationary shop!). Then came the myriad of passengers from girls in capris(probably from Malaysia/Singapore) with their mom complaining heavily to the husband about the non-availability of taxis and then the kids who ran around without bothering about anything and ofcourse, the most interesting piece of conversation in my back seat. They look like newly married couple and from their conversation I deduce that both are working as lecturers (Have I got no scruples listening to other people's conversations? apparently, Yes). Looked like they had their fight started back in home and the female was fuming and the guy was actually very nonchalant about the whole thing. He didn't bother to pacify her but was just casually letting some snide remarks escape his mouth now and then. It was not a street fight or anything, just a very decent quarrel conducted in hush tones. The female was complaining about how bad it is going to be in the coming days if they are fighting even as newly marrieds. It was interesting and I was trying to think of the first fight we(me and wifey) had. Surprisingly I dont seem to remember. Although we fight frequently over various things, it is not possible for both of us to sustain it for long so the fight fizzes of in no time. I think its because we love each other and understand each other very well. Love uda..

Before getting too mushy here, I was going through my old diaries yesterday. I have the diaries from 1988 onwards and somewhere around the year 2000, this habit has stopped (or at least slowed down to a large extent). But reading the diaries is like a little window into the mind of self and the evolution of the same over the years. Fascinating. One thing is the poems I have written. While most of the ones written (there is a statistics in one page claiming that in 1988 a total of 74 were churned out!) between 1988-90 were praises to nature or laments about the country or calls to revolution(with lots of exclamation marks!!), the ones in 1990-92 are primarily love-lorn scribbles. There is a marked improvement in the standard of the writing from 1992 onwards (when I started reading books other than 'vaaramalar'). I hope to publish all these in net and hopefully soon. Infact one of the things I want to do is to do a complete publication of the diaries in another,say, 20 years. But it is purely my discretion and so I may even say 'boo' after 20 years, so dont wait for it anyway.

Campus interview..

After 8 long years, last week I was in my old college for recruiting freshers. Its kind of a role reversal from where I came from. I was a campus recruit for my current employer and it felt good go back to the same college to recruit newer talent. There is nothing like it, I guess. The college (Government college of Engineering, Thirunelveli) looks old but is full of the youthful energy and the cherished memories that permeates the campuses. I went around and had a chat with a few of my lecturers and visited the classrooms and labs. Nothing much has changed and the college essentialy looks and feels the same way it felt 8 years back. Talked with few of the juniors and they are all enthusiastic and positive and care-free just the way we were. Its kind of odd that you start feeling older than you are once you start seeing the college we studied. It just emphasizes the point that we have moved on with our life to an extent where we can only turn back and sigh on the older days and cannot expect to re-live them. It just makes one feel old anyway.

Ofcourse, Thirunelveli was hot. Actually hotter than chennai. But the city itself hasn't changed much except for a few building that have cropped up here and there. It again goes to show that the growth in this country is not even and across the board. We are creating so much of wealth in the cities which is not getting distributed across the country for sustained even-development. While I am not advocating a socialist model, it would be definitely worthwhile to improve the infrastructure and facilities in cities like Madurai, Thirunelveli, Salem which can then be used to lure investors to set up shops here. This will generate employment and consequently wealth-generation. While this sounds simple enough, with the Indian bureacracy this task will become something of a cash-cow for funneling money into their pockets. At times, its even disgusting to think of these people and puts into question the entire moralness of this country.

Sibi - Three years Old...

Yesterday was Sibi's third birthday. Its amazing to see time flying so fast. It seems like only yesterday I was standing outside the opration room looking pathetic. And he is now three years old and going to start school. We didn't celebrate it but kept it a small family function. Sibi had a blue sherwani and was looking absolutely terrific. Will post some pics soon.
Then went to Santham for 'Chandramukhi' and it was good. Saw the trailer for Anniyan and it looked disturbingly similar to 'Indian'. Vikram looked stunning and this is one movie I want to watch anyway. The other movie which I am hoping to see soon is StarWars - III which by the way is going to the last Star Wars movie. Although the first two parts sucked bigtime, I hope this one is good enough to watch.
Dinner was in the food court in Spencers. In a place called 'The Noodle House'. It was interesting to notice the difference between the American Chinese food(looks spicy, tastes bland) and the Indian Chinese (looks spicy, tastes spicy with Indian flavors)food. I really want to know what the actual Chinese Chinese food will be like.

Vacation, Sibi and other updates...

After a vacation that became some sort of sick leave, I am actually bored and feel horrible to sit in office and work. But one has to do what one has to. Having said that, vacation was not that bad after meeting so many of the relatives and a cool, calm trip to Kodai for a couple of days. In fact Kodai trip was much relaxing than expected and the only activity was to take Sibi to cycle. Infact, Sibi had loads of fun by just cycling around the lake. And ofcourse, went and saw Azhagar during the Chithirai festival and there is nothing like the crowd for the festival. And Meenakshi amman temple is now well-maintained and is having the same charm it held during my school days. One way, it was a way to get nostalgic and remember the old days of chithirai thiruvizha. I think I have seen Azhagar after an interval of about 12-13 years and so it is very special.

Then Sibi is now speaking a lot and is becoming very mischevious. Not that I am complaining, but just that it is amazing to see the changes in him in the past 2 months. Next week he is turning 3 and we are planning to keep it a low-key affair this time.

Anyways, I had a bunch of things to blog about but couldn't remember a single thing now. Strange. I come to office through the Taramani road. NIFT is situated in the same road and was surprised to see a man hanging in the entrance yesterday (today also). Then on closer look it is a man created out of news papers and he is hanging with his hands outstretched towards the sky like he is asking for something. And there was another newspaper man on the building terrace standing like a scarecrow. It was an interesting thing to see on the otherwise dreary ride to office.

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
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.

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..

கீழடி அருங்காட்சியகம்.

உலகம் முழுவதும் இருக்கும் பல அருங்காட்சியகங்களுக்கு சென்றிருக்கிறேன். நியூ யார்க், கத்தார், துபாய், வாஷிங்டன், லாஸ் ஏஞ்சல்ஸ் போன்ற நகரங்களின...