Its been a mixed bag of year for me. We had a new baby in the family and moved into our own house. Itwas a tough year professionally but somehow I am able to tide overthings and move forward. Biggest joy of the year was Vanathy. She hasbeen too goood and Sibi has taken a very strong liking to her. Sibi hasgot a few prizes this year in fancy dresses and treasure hunts. That wasfun as well as something to be happy about. Hope he continues to do thatin his studies as well. All in all, a good year.
And hoping everyone has a very Happy new yearahead!!

Sibi, trains and stories

One of the things I do on a regular basis is to narrate a story to Sibi before going to sleep. The stories are normally about 4-5 minutes of narration and usually I make up stories as I go about saying it. There are only two types of stories he is interested in. One is any story of Krishna and the other is a story involving one of 'Thomas and friends' characters. Krishna's stories are the easier ones as I know them already. For Thomas stories, I usually make it up with some situations which Sibi faces in school or at home. Like his fights with his friends. Sibi usually sleeps once the story is over. Its kind of a cue to him that its time to sleep. And of course, I let him guess what happens next and some times you get some amazing things from him. Like this one time, when I was narrating a story about Krishna taking butter from a pot with great difficulty and eating it, Sibi asked 'did he eat with the paper?'. All Sibi knows about butter is the Aavin pack of butter sticks (which he usually takes it from the refrigerator and eats) and the sticks are wrapped in a thin sheet of paper. It was kind of sad that he probably may not even know that the real butter (churned from buttermilk) but think it’s the price for living in a jungle like Chennai.

Another regular father-son thing that we do is to go to the Guindy railway station (or sometimes the Alandur railway gate) to watch the trains. Sibi gets excited so much about trains and in fact, has drawn hundreds of pictures of trains in the notebooks, terrace and wherever he can. It is a great experience to let him watch the trains. He knows the electric trains, the 'blue' trains (passengers, super-fast trains etc). I usually end up talking to the others who are there a catch a train and look at me like a moron for wasting time at a station at the whims of the kid. But then what do they know, anyway? I even had a guy telling me the ways of bringing up children and he was drunk up to his brain. So its a mixed experience for me and a great feeling for my son anyway.

There are other things that we do together regularly (like going to the Fish market at Saidapet or to Food world for some vegetable shopping etc) and am waiting for the time when Vanathy will be able to join the fun...

Children's day and updates

It was Children’s day last week. And celebrations were on in Sibi’s school. There was a fancy dress competition and Jeysri took the easy route of dressing Sibi as a farmer and teaching him a few lines. Being the smarty he is, Sibi caught it easily and we were there in Mylapore to see my son don his new avatar and getting on stage. It was fun to see so many people sweating it out with their kids, dressing them as Muruga, Amman, Shiva, Krishna etc. It was tough for the kids with all the make-up and wigs etc. Sibi was dressed in a simple dhoti/banian with a Kutralam towel around the neck. A cardboard axe (made by Jeysri) completes the attire. No make-ups etc. So we waited and waited and the memorable time came around 6.30PM. Sibi came to the microphone and uttered “I am a farmer. Plant more trees and help us get more rainfall. Thank you”. Actually he forgot a line in between but the fact that he was able to speak up itself is a great moment for me. We came home after that as it was cloudy and Vanathy was restless. When Sibi brought the third prize he got, the next day from school, Jeysri was in tears and I felt like an idiot for leaving so soon. But anyway, there it is the first prize Sibi got in a competition. It was a small toy, but who cares?

 

Vanathy is doing well and is growing fast. She is able to identify Jeysri, me and Sibi. Sibi is head over tails about her and I was wondering what is this ‘Sibling rivalry’ people are talking about. I hope they continue like this even after they grow up.

 

Then has been reading a lot of stuff but am not finding time to write about them. “18vathu Atchakodu”(Asoka Mitran), “Pulinagakkondrai” (P.A.Krishnan), ‘Vasanthamallika” (Vaduvur Duraisamy Iyengar, “Subramaniya Rajuvin Kathaigal”  are some of them. All are good in their own way and will deserve an entry each.

Forum and thoughts..

Was in Bangalore last week for a business trip. Went to Bangalore Central and the Forum. The amazing thing about both the places is that how well the reality outside has been dissolved in the candy floss colors and the obscenely priced products. I came out of forum and walked a 50 meters and found a small shop where people were drinking coffees without even realizing the absurdity of all. If Kafka were alive today, he will have a field day in today's India. This is nothing to do with Bangalore (or is it Bengaluru, just to be politically correct?) but is a phenomenon across India. It may be because we are looking at a transition from being a poor country to a rich one. But while inside Forum, couldn't think of anything other than the abject poverty outside. It is a shame!

Finished reading '18vathu Atchakkodu' by Asokamitran yesterday in one sitting. Amazing novel. Set in the background of the police action in Hyderabad, it records an event you dont get to read in your history books. The climax places it probably among the greatest tamil novels written. Why cant we keep novels such as these as supplements in schools to make our kids understand that there is no one version of history?

Vanathy!

It’s been two weeks since I've updated this. Anyway, the happy news is that we are proud parents of our second baby, Vanathy on 8/25/06. One thing that makes this different from Sibi's birth is that we knew this time to be a c-section and thus avoided lot of the emotional roller-coaster that happened when Sibi was born. Thus it was a much easier affair this time around (although Jeysri went through a lot of pain in the post-partum period). Only difference was the presence of mosquitoes the night before and the fact that the doctors in India do not allow the husband (or for that matter, anyone) into the operating room. So, it was like a cinematic climax when our doctor, arrived around 5AM on that Friday and announced that 'It’s a girl child!' (She was born at 4.42AM). Dramatic is too small a word!

More than that Sibi's reaction was more fantastic. He was sleeping in the room and somehow got up around 5AM and pulled my father to bring him to the outside of the operation theater. He was literally stunned by the baby and wanted to hold her immediately. That day onwards, he has become very protective of her and always hang around her, even when she is sleeping and goes into ecstasy telling us how she always looks at him and how she likes him more than any other person, including me and Jeysri. Just amazing!. In the past 2 weeks, he has grown much attached to her and it’s difficult to even sense a little amount of jealousy or anything in what he does. All of us are actually very happy to see him getting attached to her so much and I think he will be a doting brother when she grows up.

Updates

Its been a long time since I updated. Nothing other than laziness and there is not really much happening. Completed 'Ishmael' by Daniel Quinn. And in the process of reading 'The book of Navajo' by Raymond Locke. Its just a coincidence that I should be reading these books together. 'Ishmael' primarily talks about what we should be doing with the nature to 'save the world' and Navajo talks of a life style not very much known inside the 'civilized' world. Quinn postulates that unless we change our ways to live within the community of life, we may very well end our run on this planet and he does it through just 2 characters and by way of explaining 'how things came to be this way'. Amazing book.

What I am doing is to go through the books I have bought so far and identify books that I haven't read for some reason. Although I bought 'Ishmael' sometime in 1998, I have no idea why I never read it. 'Book of Navajo' was bought in a roadside gift shop somewhere in the deserts of Nevada/Arizona (probably 1999/2000) and not sure why I never read it. I still have books which I have bought but never read and am planning to at least bring down the count before buying more.

Anyways, Sibi's school life is full of excitement and daily incidents and it is fantastic to hear him narrate the stories every night before getting into sleep. Of course, at times, J is annoyed but a typical conversation goes like this.

 

J  - Sibi thoongitana?

me - Sibi, thoongitiya?

Sibi - Naan thoongiteanpa..

 

Usually, J gives up at this point and goes to sleep. The rest of my world is doing well and being happy.

 

Point to ponder, as a nation, why are we so filthy about our environment when we care to keep it clean inside our houses?

Thomas & Friends

Elmo used to be the passion character for Sibi a long time. He's got a collection of tiny toys of all 'Elmo's world' characters along with a big plush of Elmo itself. But that was when he was 2-3 years old. Now his passion is the 'Thomas & friends' train engines. He's got a collection of DVDs (which play endlessly on weekends and whenever he feels like seeing it!), a conductor 8-figure train set with Thomas and the engines of James and Percy. He is already asking me for getting Gordon and Henry(two other engines). It makes him extremely happy to play with the train set and my wife tells me he plays with it for hours at home. And he tells me the stories of the engines which he watched in DVDs during bedtime. Usually I doze off while listening or he will start sleeping.
Another of his friends (who recently lost out to Thomas) is Noddy. He bugged my brother so much to get him a plush of Noddy from Delhi and promptly forgot it once he got it. Ofcourse, Teletubbies and Elmo still get remembered now and then.
As with the majority of toddler boys, his other obsession (going hand in hand with Thomas) is trucks and lorries. Not sure why he is not so interested in cars, but loves different kinds of trucks and has built a collection of die-cast trucks.
I dont know how long this latest one will last. Whatever it is, I am seeing that he loves playing with the toys and letting his imagination soar through the stories he builds up. So till the next big thing hits for him, I am going to get Gordon/Henry for him.

Moronic Tamil songs

"Loosu penne loosu penne loosu penne
Loosu payyan un mel
loosa suthuran"

Don't you want to puke on the face of the guy, who wrote this and calling it 'lyrics'?

Updates

Its been a while I posted anything. I have to start from my birthday. Got a bunch of books from J for the birthday. The bookset includes
1. 'Thernthedutha Sirukathaigai' by Sujatha - Sujatha is probably the one I have read continuously for the past 20 years. I remember reading 'En iniya iyanthira' in AnandaVikatan when it came as a serial and we used to discuss a lot in school. (Anantharaman was a great friend whom I used to discuss with but somehow lost track of him).
2. 'Hindu Dharma' by Gandhi - This is another classic. Although I have another edition of the same I bought some 10 years back, this is an extended edition with more essays by Gandhi on the subject. The 'Why am I a Hindu?' is something for everyone to read.
3. 'Other side of me' by Sidney Sheldon - This is a auto-bio and although I have'nt read any book by Sidney Sheldon or watched any movie written by him, biography is something that interests me a lot and this one happend during the depression era and has Cary Grant in it (felt like a teenage girl on hearing that!!).
4. 'Count of Monte Cristo' by Dumas - Do I need to say anything about this?. Although I already have 4 or 5 different editions of the same, this is a Bantam classics edition which I do not have and dont mind to have anyway. Is this the greatest adventure/vendetta story ever written? I still get my kicks when the count takes his revenge on each of the four villains so subtly. And Mercedes, the eternal tragic heroine who is torn between saving her husband(which she fails to do!) and on seeing her former lover turning into a demon exacting revenge. There is a scene when she meets the count for the first time and recognizes Dantes in him. Its probably a scene I've read a thousand times over. Anyway, the movie version (not the hollywood one) but the one done by Gerard Depardieu in French is brilliant although it deviates a little from the original. Sadly, its one of the DVDs I lost during my move from US back to India.
A thoughtful present by a loving wife. Thank you!

Anyway, thats that for the birthday celebrations and nothing much has happened in between. And Sibi is going to school. He is kind of sad because some of his LKG buddies have moved to new school but slowly he is making new friends. Hope he adjusts soon and have fun. Anyway, he is turning into such a sweet guy (is it something every father says?) and ofcourse, smart like his papa. He likes drawing and puts unexpectedly intricate details which can only explain the deep observation he does on anything. (Example, he drew a truck and a small rectangle thing near the front, when asked, explains that this is the step used by the driver to get into the truck, what do you say to that!). I absolutely love the 0.5-1 hour we spend together everyday.

Going on 30!

Today I am turning 30. It is a age when the tomfoolery of the 20s stop and the wisdom of 30s take over. Except in my case, I dont think it will happen. For one, I always thought I am somekind of a exceptionally talented guy who doesn't have to go with the rules. And for another, I never thought I am capable of tomfoolery anyway. That aside, I took a few moments to look back at what I have done with my life these past 30 years and its not that bad. On the personal front, I have done very well. Infact if one use money as a measure of success I've made money that I thought was impossible to make when I got this job 9 years back. Sadly, money doesn't measure anything.
I've always considered myself lucky. Lucky to have the right breaks and the right people in life. I had some very good friends (where the hell are they, anyway?), the girls were all pretty and never made much of a noise when I ditched them (Thank You all!!) and some were very obliging to ditch me, Wife was full of understanding and was willing to put up with me(Again, a big Thank you!), a son who actually is the only person who can impose his will on me, a great brother and loving parents. The list of good things in my life never seem to end.
On the social front, I dont think I hit anything that I wanted to do. No field works and no social contributions. It is something that I have to work on for the next 10 years.
I was going through my old journals and was looking a list of things that I wanted to do in my life. Written in 1993 and 1997, except for a few items, the list remains unfulfilled and have made a decision to start working on few of those things. It just goes to show that I haven't even crossed the middle mark in my life in terms of the goals. While I am happy with the way my life is unfolding, I am also dissatisfied with the way my social life is going. Need to work on that.

Updates

Was in Parthasarathy temple last saturday. This temple is probably the one place I can spend hours without even realizing it (I mean other than Landmark and HB). I sat there thinking why I want to come again and again here and never even visited the Kabali temple in Mylai. Strange. Parthasarathy with his big moustache always fascinated me. And having read Mahabharatha three times over, I am trying to appreciate the philosophical depth of being. Remembered a short story read long back called 'Just be'.
And watched the first 3 seasons of 'Seinfeld' in DVD. Seinfeld intrigues me because all the 4 characters in the sitcom has absolutely no life and they are not even bothered about it. I mean, Kramer, like George says, has a fantasy life and the other 3 are not farther off. But beyond all that, it has lots of moments when it just makes you feel good and laugh out loved. Gotta get the other 3 seasons.
While channel-hopping in night stumbled upon a French channel called 'TV5Monde Asie' which was telecasting a French movie 'Quasimodo d'el Paris' a parody of Hugo's 'Hunchback of Notre dame'. And it was good. But the deeper question is why the hell is someone taking time to telecast a 24hour French channel in India where the entire French speaking population can be counted with two hands. Does the French expect to colonize the country and make everyone speak French(that sucks!) or is it part of a bigger conspiracy that is going on?. Fodder for thought.
I am kind of worried about the way the blog is going. There is really nothing much I write other than the mundane things in life and not sure whether to continue keeping the blog. Bought a journal and thinking of start writing the journal after a 6 year break. Need to decide.

Draupadi / Yajnaseni

I am in the process of reading Mahabharatha. What makes it interesting is that I am reading 'Mahabharatha' by Rajaji, 'The Second turn' by M.T.Vasudevan Nair which is a retelling of the same from Bhima's viewpoint and 'Yajnaseni' by Prathiba Roy which again is a retelling from Draupadi's view. Obviously, there is no doubt that Mahabharath is the 'greatest story ever told'. I've always liked it when I heard the stories and Krishna still holds a hold over my thoughts as the greatest romantic hero. But Mahabharath works not just as a story but it works at different levels (that’s why it’s called an Epic, anyway!). The joy of reading these three is the difference one can find in the way things are perceived by people. The same story takes different forms and the same events are retold and the evaluation of values happens to differ for everyone.

'The Second turn' is a book I bought sometime in 1998 and it has remained one of the favorites. Bhima is always depicted as a boy who grew in the kitchen with brutal strength. In 'Second turn' M.T.V explores the emotional side of Bhima and the soft nature he posses along with his love for Draupadi. Almost everything he does is only for Draupadi and he enjoys doing it also. Second turn alludes to the fact that Bhima takes the second turn in his marriage with Draupadi after Yudhister and comes out hating it (at least in this novel). Everyone is depicted as humane as they can be and even Krishna loses His divinity and become a mortal. Draupadi has an interesting taste in having sex with Bhima and in all the instances have wild sex with blood dripping from Bhima's body. Fetishy!!

'Yajnaseni' is Draupadi's story (a translation from Oriya) and tells of her spiritual love for Krishna and infatuation with Karna apart from the love for Arjun. It has its own deviations from the other two. But this probably is the best of the three. It flows emotionally and the prose is beautiful and Draupadi comes out as a Dvaryug feminist who broke rules consistently. And the novel treats her as a human with jealousy for Subhadra, longing for Arjun. Nevertheless, it is a brilliant take on Mahabharath. Her dilemma at having to marry five husbands or her feelings for Karna or the constant flirting with Krishna tells the story of a female who was at odds with herself. She loves Arjun but also starts loving Bhima at some point in the story. Overall this is a story I enjoyed reading every page of it and it is a fascinating read.

All of this reminded me of another great take on the story of Panchali by Bharathi ('Panchali sabatham'). Is there any other poem that packs the intensity of this one? ( Erithazhal kondu vaa, thambi!!). I still remember verbatim Bhima's words after Draupadi is brought to the court. Great poem!!

And I am becoming a big fan of the New York Times real estate section. Some really amazing articles are there to read.

Readings for the lonely..

Read 'inbakkeni' by Prabanjan. I like Prabanjan because his writings are natural and does tend to speak in a voice close to heart. Especially his 'Pudhuchery history' novels ('Vaanam Vasappadum', 'Manudam vellum', 'Kanneeral kathom') and this is another one in the series. This is about a 'Devar Adiyal' or devasai girl who built a pond in a water-scarce village in Pudhuchery when it was under Krishnadevaraya's rule. The historical fact lies in a 'kalvettu' and the pond is called by her name. And Prabanjan builds a beautiful story over this and what a story it is. A simple story of love, lust and greed but the treatment is unique and the story is like seeing your former lover's name coming up in a search suddenly. You know its true but you don’t know how to react. You are happy and sad. Aayi goes through her life with detachment and loves one but marries the God to be a prostitute for the village. Now, I was actually amazed to even figure that such a system existed in our cities and villages till recently. Looking with a 21st century perspective, it seems a gross injustice but I am intrigued by the mindsets of the wives of those days. The social system that demanded it sounds more like the ancient Greek temples of Aphrodite. And by demeaning the female body/soul, the male society was able to dominate more and more in the social sphere (sound like something straight out of 'From Volga to Ganges' by Rahul Sankrityayn). But that’s what I feel anyway.

Then watched all three parts of 'Godfather'. There is something about this movie that captivates the imagination every time you watch it. It may be the ultimate combination of Brando/Pacino/De niro or the dialogues or the fantastic music or the wonderful story. Probably the third is a let down compared to others but still good compared to other. But it’s a nice movie to watch if you are alone and don’t want to feel lonely.

Then it’s 'Straight from the gut' by Jack Welch. If you want to be a 'good' manager at any point of your career, a must read. Nothing more needs to be said.

TN Elections and Sibi's Birthday..

It’s been a long holiday at Madurai. The only regret is that I didn't get to see Meenakshi this time. The day we went to the temple, the temple was closed for the 'Ther thiruvizha'. Other than that one note, everything was perfect and I get to vote for the first time and what fun it was. The booth was not crowded and there was free auto service available from parties to go to the booth and back, all of them smooth-talking and asking you to vote for their symbol and the voting process was simple and easy. The results are out now and I am happy that I took the time to go and vote.

And Sibi had his 4th birthday party on the 10th. It was not a very grand affair but just his cousins and my cousins and for a whole day, he had lots of fun. He got gifts, cut a big cake, blew candles, ran around non-stop the whole day with his cousins, Jeysri organized a few games for the kids and Sibi was happy. That’s all that’s there to it. When I used to be in high school, I used to think that birthday celebrations are too individualistic and in a country with 700 million poor people, it has no place. Well, I've changed my opinion after seeing so much of happiness in Sibi's face.

Madurai is in the middle of the Chithirai festival and Azhagar is coming to town and gets into the river tomorrow. I wish I was around to see that. But then, there is always a next year.

Sibi's Birthday..

Another weekend. I am taking off to Madurai today to celebrate Sibi's birthday on May 10th. Happy birthday, baby!. Its unbelievable that he is turning 4 now. It tells that I am getting older and he is growing fast. This year his birthday is just a family affair and he is going to spend the day with his cousins and have a very personal, family-only birthday party.

Have read 'Koogai' by So.Dharmar. Book is about the life of the lower castes in southern Tamilnadu, specifically around Kovilpatti area. Its amazing how little I know about the society even though I grew up very close. Koogai or the blind-owl is a symbol for the dalits who were tortured, the women were treated as common prostitutes and the men were treated as slaves. But it is a lively novel without the gloominess surrounding such cause espousing novels. That itself is different. It shows a lifestyle which existed yesteryears in physical form and exists now in the minds in the midst of concrete jungles. Somebody should a write a novel titled 'Rats' about that.

Currently, reading on the 'Mahabaratham' by Rajaji and rereading 'The second turn' by M.T.Vasudevan Nair, which is a retelling of Mahabharatham through the eyes of Bheema. It is interesting to read about the same events with different perspectives.

How Kaavya got caught, internalized apologies and learnt a lesson..

It is amusing to watch Kaavya Viswanathan's trials and tribulations in Indian and Western media. I say amusing not because I am happy about her fall but actually amused to read her attempt at different kinds of apologies and the indecisiveness she portrays to do the 'right' thing. I am not going to tell that she should be trashed for copying passages but at least a honest and straight forward apology would have at least made her look honest. For someone who feigns interest in the likes of Bronte and Ishiguro(now I have my doubts about that!), it may be hard to admit that she copied stuff from chick-lit. Lack of integrity is what is bothering about all this mess thats going on but as someone said Kaavya will learn an important lesson through this, that any publicity helps in selling books and so I dont think she will be too bothered about it.

Gone with the wind..

Just finished reading 'Gone with the wind' and 'Ratham ore niram'. I bought 'Gone with the wind' back in 1998 but never got to read it because the size of it was frightening. But after I watched the movie sometime back, decided to read it in full. And what a story it is. It does not pretend to preach anything(which is important to me!) and looks squarly at life without any frills to go along with it. Scarlett is flighty, brave, does not have moral values, does what she thinks as right and is terribly opinionated. But the spirit with which she makes a life for herself in the post-war Georgia is amazing. Rhett is just as vile, oppurtunistic and speaks what he thinks. But you end up liking him anyway. Somehow, whenever I was reading about Rhett, the image of Clark Gable standing in the bottom of the stairs came repeatedly and it tells something about the film. Since I lived for sometime in most of the places and visited everyone of the places add to the charm (Marietta, Jonesboro, Peachtree boulevard, Charleston, Decautur and Atlanta etc!).

"Ratham Ore Niram' by Sujatha is about the First war of independance or the sepoy mutiny of 1857. It tells a simple story but the backdrop is the Kanpur rebellion lead by Nana Sahib and Tantiya Thope. The Ghatt massacre and the Bibigar massacre form the backdrop of the story and it is interesting to note that Sujata takes a center position regards to the atrocities of the British and the sepoys. He criticizes both and blames none. That was not so fair anyway. There was a cause and the effect was savagery. But it was interesting to read a historical novel which was more honest to history than reading about the slender waists of the heroine and the swahbuckling sword-plays of the hero.

Gully Cricket..

The summer holidays are here and Sibi is on a tour to his grandmas. He is talking like there is no tomorrow and its a pleasure to hear him admonish me for saying something a little too loudly. He tells me not to shout and say things calmly as otherwise, his mom will feel upset. How cute is that!!. So he keeps my father and mother busy and we try hard to keep him busy.

Three days in Madurai went fast and the get-together of our families (I mean, my father and his brothers families along with all cousins) invoked all sorts of pleasant memories and especially my elder cousins who still treat me like a little brother. I was thinking of the 'gully cricket' we used to play in the narrow plot of land in front of my paternal grandma's house. It used to be a small plot with barely place for all of us to field, bowl and bat. But anyway, we used to play. This is sometime in the 1987-1990 timeline. I was the one guy who couldn't bat, bowl or field. But I was included in the teams so that there are equal number of people on either side. Sometimes, the chittappas and periappas join in and it will be a riot before the game ends. Since 'every dog had its own day', I had my days when I took 3 wickets(out of 5 players!) or hit some 15-20 runs. But it happened rarely. We used to play till it becomes night and mom and everyone calls for dinner. It means returning home after the dinner and followed by the dreaded monday. Even though I felt bad over everyone fussing over whose team my brother should be playing in(he bats/bowls excellently!!) and I usually got to a team short of one player. But the fact is that it created a camaraderie which exists even today between us. And ofcourse, the memories are priceless.

Its amazing how the little things you did makes you happy even after years. Or how little you realize the love of people you take for granted (my periamma brought filter to make coffee yesterday for me because I like the bitter coffee she makes!!). Its just we have become older but the bonds that ties us are still stronger..

What I am reading...

Finished reading 'Tamizh Ilakkiya Varalaru' by Mu.Va. My wife told me that she had a paper on the same in her literature class and how they hated it. Hmm. But it was an interesting read and lot of small interesting tid-bits on literature like why Tamil women chose not to wear gold anklets or 'kolusu' (the answer is in Silappathikaram) etc. And lot more info on some little known great Tamil poets like Arumuga Navalar, Suddananda Bharati, Vai.Mu. Kothai nayagi ammal and others. Just need to remember and find the books. One of the books I've been wanting to purchase but couldn't find in the past 10 years is 'Putham veedu' by Hepzibah yesudasan. Not even sure whether it is in print anymore and Mu.Va talks highly of the same. While he mentions Thi.Janakiraman, La.sa.ra, M.V.Venkatram, Sundara Ramasamy et al(the book was written in 1972), there is no mention of the new crop of poets who rode to prominence in the post-manikkodi era like Pramil, Pasuvvaiyah etc. Also the prominent feminists of the day like Rajam Krishnan or Ambai is also missed out. Not sure whether they were this prominent in 1972. Ashokamitran gets a passing remark(blasphemy!!) but Jeyakandan is discussed in detail(although I dont give a fig about him,anyway!). Over all, a good introductory book but just wondering why there is no follow-up on this and whether there is a good book covering the post 1972 Tamil literature. Need to search.

Then 'Vasanthamallika' by Vaduvoor Duraisamy Iyengar. As I mentioned somewhere else, I've searching for any books written in the 1880-1940 perios especially novels by Kothai Nayagi, Rangaraju or Vaduvoor Duraisamy Iyengar. All these are what we call pulp these days but make very interesting read about the customs and life in those times. So I read not for the literary value but to understand how the writing style has evolved and to understand the social customs of the day. This is just a love story with some funny episodes and a happy ending for everyone. What is interesting is the Dickenseque sequence when the heroine runs from home and ends up in a pond trying to drown herself and find herself rescued by a drama troupe. Also the details on the Tamjore Maratha descendants life and customs. Contrast this with the writing of Thi.Ja in 'Mogamull' where the heroine is from the same background (Maharashtriyan girl born out of wedlock) and you can see that the status of this group in Tanjore hasn't changed from 1920 to 1965(when 'mogamull' was written). Thats what makes it an interesting read. Can't wait to lay hands on the Thigambara Samiyar mysteries..

Narnia and Pride & Prejudice

Last week, went to see two movies in Sathyam. 'The chronicles of Narnia' and 'Pride & Prejudice'. Narnia was kind of a let-down. Actually it was good but was not great. Story telling was the best part of it but the story is kind of a fantasy in a fantasy and that was not digestable (at least to  me!). Sibi liked the lion (but likes Alex the lion in Madagascar far better!!). Somehow he is captivated by lion. Maybe it is just a passing phase or may be he is intrigued by the animal. But the thing is he does not like the lion in 'The lion king'. So it must be either Chris Rock (who voices the lion in Madagascar) or some 'lions' that make him like them. Anyway, its a confusing thing if I try to understand his likings.

 

'Pride & Prejudice' with Keira Knightley was much better than I expected. Darcy could've been better but the Bennet's were actually depicted well. Its amazing that I am watching versions and versions of this same story and it never bores me down (or my wife either). If there is a family novel (like the songs in Tamil movies!), 'P&P' will win hands down in our family at least. As much as I like Lizzie, J likes Darcy. This movie version is a must watch, if you've read the novel a hundred times or have a hardback and 4 or 5 paperbacks of the same novel or watched the BBC version (which runs 6 hours!) tens of times. We qualify on all the essentials and it was a terrific experience to watch it on screen.

The Left of the moral side

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." ~ C.S. Lewis

Sincerely made me think of the leftists of this country, coincidence?

Exhibition and Child labor

We went to the exhibition last week(11th). Whoever had the idea that having the exhibition on the banks of Cooum would be great idea must be really sick. Probably, Island grounds was a great place 150 years back. But now, it is only an piece of land surrounded by Cooum flowing to its brim in dark black color and a stench to match it. And it is not a great idea to put a blanket on the banks and eat giant appalams anyway. Pollution in Cooum is amazingly uncontrolled and the way everyone walks around taking it for granted is unbelievable. Simple solution: construct a 15 polluted water recycling plants or sewage treatment plants along the baks of cooum in Chennai alone and clean the water and send it into the river again. Simple but difficult to implement. Read here about how NYC treats Hudson and North river sewage using 14 plant. But for a country like US, it took 67 years to proceed from proposal to implementation. So, I dont think I will survive to see the day Cooum will be flowing like a normal river!!

 

Then went to Besant nagar beach this weekend (18th). If the Tamilnadu government is serious enough to implement the child labor laws it should look no further. No, I am not taking about the kids selling sundal or balloons or bajji there. You watch any family with a small kid (1-5 years of age), you will find another kid(always a girl in the 8-14 age range) watching over the kid. This will be true always for families where both the parents are working. Even my neighbor has a small girl to care of their kid. The treatment meted out to these kids vary from bad to worse. And it teaches a kind of class awareness to the kids who also start treating the girls as bosses. These girls always live with the family all the time and are not even allowed to visit their parents or have vacation etc. While the middle class is vociferous about their perks, they don't even have a conscience to treat these girls atleast moderately well. Probably, these people will argue strongly against child labor with these girls around. The lack of compassion and the skewed moral compass of these people is just horrendous. A sound case to describe middle class hypocrisy!!

Sun tech days...

I was attending the 'Sun Tech days' for the past three days and was annoyed to hell with it. Before launching the tirade, the good things. The lunch (catered by Chola Sheraton) was exemplary. The evening entertainment with Sivamani and 'Vikku' Vinayakram was fantastic and the goodie bag was excellent. Thats pretty much it. The sessions were all total bores with very less technical content and it was one long promotional session for 'Netbeans', Java studio creator and other Sun products. Obviously it is a sponsored show by Sun but at least the focus could be on Java itself for a change. I slept throught the SAP key note delivered by a guy named Venkatesh who couldn't modulate his voice and was talking in a flat pitch which will make a bear hibernate in summer. Other sessions were not much to say anything of worth. And the college crowd was pleased to have the good food along with the attendance and the goodies. And we decided not to attend it anymore.

And Sibi was not feeling well for the past 3 days and finally got well now. He is having fun time drawing anything and everything that comes to his mind. Its kind of amazing to note some of the things he draws. Some odd things (at least to me, not to him!!) he has drawn are the toilet, TV with rhymes in it, tortoise mosquito coil, himself etc. How his mind works is totally amazing!!

Sibi...

Sibi has started in a drawing class now. I, for one, do not believe in sending kids to schools all the time since it tend to make them tired. But after watching Sibi drawing all over the apartment, we bought him lots of coloring books and a big black board. The books were done as soon as they were brought to home and he demands to draw new things on the board. So, we decided to put him in the drawing class. And he is doing pretty well there also. I think it acts like a valve to release all the energy he has within him. Its sometimes amazing to see the creativity he exhibits when playing. He sends the teletubbies to school, play catch, shouts at the students and enjoys playing with his grandpa. He listens well and asks questions. Makes interesting and surprising things with play-doh (like the tortoise mosquito roll). Its a joy just to watch him go about doing his things.

I read 'Nanjil naatu vellalar vazhkkai' by Nanjil Nadan. Its a record of the life of the vellalars in the Nanjil region. Its an amazing document on the life and culture of the vellalars. Then watched 'Kamaraj' on VCD in the weekend and I can just sigh on the difference between him and the current crop of leader we have.

One of the things I want to write for long is about the left parties in India but think that has to wait a little. I am also thinking of blogging in unicode-Tamil in the coming days.

Chennai book fair

Went to chennai book fair last weekend. It was a good experience. There were a lot of publishers and a great number of visitors. Bought some of the books that I have been wanting to buy for sometime. The list include Pramil's collections, Mouni's stories, Sugirtharani's poem collections, one translated novel by SriRanga (NBT publication), a VCD on Kamaraj and much more. I chose only to buy books that I may not get outside and so limited myself to specific publishers and was able to get some good books. The only deterrent was the crowd. It was suffocatingly crowded and while it is a good thing to see so many people buying books, I really hope that they find a more spacious place to host the fair next year. Overall, a fantastic fair.

Not much is happening otherwise. Got drowned in work this past week and so couldn't actually put anything on the blog. Will update when I have time.

கீழடி அருங்காட்சியகம்.

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