41 x 49: HNY!!

(c) Cartoonstock.com

In the season of lists and wishes, here is one more....
In 2009, we hope to have the following:

10 months of stock market increases (just stay flat during the remaining two, will you?)
9 more test centuries by Sachin Tendulkar to make it a round 50 (it is cricket, dear Watson!)
8 good habits to lead a healthy and peaceful life (one habit is enough: For Men - Listen to your wife! For Women - Tell him what to do!)
7 lucky numbers to win the Chinese New Year Toto (drool, drool...)
6 healthy ways to show the doctor the door (simple: Cut the intake!)
5 tough filters to reduce spams to zero (they should not filter this message, he he!)
4 pit-side tickets to the Singapore F1 (lightening of purse not required!)
3 gripping hours of Harry Potter magic (half blood or full blood - oh! what a tongue twister :-)
2 viable alternatives to coal and oil (is the sun not enough? Wear the research hats please!)
1 strong president to run the world's largest debtor (chaaannggeee!)
0 bank crashes! (Hail Bail!)

Have a happy, healthy and peaceful 2009 !!
SriBees

PS: Did you know that 2009 is the Year of Astronomy and also the Year of Natural Fibers?

The HNY message in Tamil is here.

Stock Split :-()

Decided to move the Tamil entries to a new blog.

Here on, the vernacular will be published at:

http://tamilsribees.blogspot.com/ entitled தேனீக்களின் ரா ரா...

Fret not; respective links will be available in the side bar :-)

Have fun.

7th Anniversary: Emotional Travails of a WTC Disaster Witness/Victim

Seven years ago... the world changed for ever.
Was very close to the epicentre of the change and one feels the impact even today.
Here is something that I wrote after about a week of 'The' 9/11.

*****

I was sad that so many years of toil and efforts have gone waste into a 100 feet rubble.
I was sad that so many lives were lost in (and due to) those four swift dastardly darts.
I was sad that there will be so many people including yours-truly, saying "I thought so!" about the security or lack of, in the US airports.
I was sad that New York's sky line has been punctured.
I was sad to see and hear that hate-crime has caught up in America as well.
I was sad that Osama Bin Laden has gotten away for the umpteenth time by inflicting serious wounds on the world.
I was sad to see the Palestinian kids and adults alike, jumping with joy on hearing the news.
I was sad to see Nostradamus 'predictions' flooding my email box about the disaster.
I was sad to note that US had to pay the price for fostering terrorism in the middle-east just because it could not change its policy.
I was sad that my passport, ticket and baggage got lost in the hotel that was 50 yards away from the WTC.

I was happy to see the never-say-die-spirit of the New Yorkers.
I was happy to see the endless queues of people donating blood.
I was happy to see Mayor Guiliani facing the tragedy like a true-braveheart, inspite of his ailment.
I was happy to see the world rallying behind the US in combatting terrorism.
I was happy to see a possibility of a reduction, if not the complete eradication, of the cross-border terrorism in Kashmir.
I was happy to see the Indian Consul General in New York being compassionate & efficient enough to issue new passports in a jiffy.
I was happy to be with friends during this period, so that we could lean on each other.
I was happy to have met those nice people in Bridgewater without whom I would have gone around like a chicken without head.
I was happy to have boarded my Singapore Airlines flight after some ten hours of travel, wait and security checks.

I laughed when Iran said that the act could only have been carried out by a "Zionist organization".
I laughed when the police officer in 19th precinct of NY, profiled us as "American Indian"
I laughed when the taxi driver from Penn Station thought that we were "Pakistanis".
I laughed when EMC said that 25 companies' data is intact inspite of the crash, because they chose EMC!
I laughed when Jayant, our hosts' six year old kid, wanted to play "Rock, Scissors, Paper, Show" I laughed when Aishu wanted me to get her Barney dolls from the US
I laughed when Patta asked me to swim across the Atlantic or Pacific to reach home. Forgive her, she is geographically challenged!
I laughed at the stupidity of a fellow passenger when the security personnel at JFK found a mini-box-cutter in his hand baggage. Duh!
I laughed when Mahesh, our dear host in Bridgewater, described the female-preying-mantle as a "Straight Bitch!"

I am nostalgic about the Windows on the World.
I am nostalgic about the Penny Rolls in the Observation Tower.
I am nostalgic about the giddy elevator ride to the top.
I am nostalgic when I see those great photographs that happened during that visit five years ago.

I felt lucky, that we did not have the meetings on Tower 1, 55th floor on that fateful day.
I felt lucky, that we decided to start the meetings at 8:30 am at Harborside rather than at 9:00 am.
I felt lucky, that I had my credit cards with which I could try the cash therapy out. (Bless that lady's soul, who turned in my wallet to the lost+found section in Fremont Mall, on 8th Sep!)
I felt lucky, that I had my mobile phone to contact people.
I felt lucky, that I was alive at that moment.

Yes, I watched the two towers collapse, from across the river. Was I feeling terrified at that time? No, I only felt lucky.

But I did feel terrified: On Sep 13 2001, Thursday. When the first reports of the hate-crime started pouring in. What do I do in front of a mob? This is America. The land of guns! Will I make it safe, if confronted by a few mis-directed gun-wielding American youth? No way! That was and still is, the more terrifying part. That is Osama's victory. West versus anybody who is deemed to be non-west!

I still get up at odd hours in the morning. I am not able to sleep for more than four hours at a stretch. I am NOT being haunted by any nightmares. But I still see those hi-tech circles that showed people jumping off the towers after the impact. And I did not "new pinch" G for wearing a new pair of trousers. They say that I am traumatised. I don't know.

*****

Forget the movies, guys!

Go get a DVD of the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony.

This is THE opening ceremony that you can be proud of, just for watching it!

London! You have the un-enviable task of just matching what happened today, leave alone bettering it!

The culture, colour, concept... it was simply breath-taking.

I do not want to use any more superlatives on this most positive event that I have witnessed. (Oops, could not help it!)

The OC showed what China, or rather FOCUS, can do. It showed a China which is so eager to show the world what it is capable of; how stereo-typed the world's view has been on China...

Now don't even start on all the things about human rights, righteousness etc. There is only one pope in this world and everybody else only preaches! Bush wants Indians to go hungry, Clinton says that India & China are cleaning up the natural resources and polluting like nobody's business, the whole of Europe is condescending towards Asia - and then Rajnikanth eats his words in public just for a few rupees of profit from a lousy movie... aargh!

Bertie: Jeeves, what is the word that has a hippo in it, that means that one does not practice what one preaches?
Jeeves: Hypocritical, Sir?
Bertie: Ho, hum! Jeeves.

Just go out and enjoy the spectacle that China has arranged for you.

Tail-piece: Li Ning's trapeze act to light the Olympic flame was as imaginative as all the other parts of the OC. But still he is only the third best in my list of best flame lighting...

#2 2006 Doha Asiad flame lighted by that great horseman, who climbed so many steep steps mounted on his thoroughbred - the commentator almost had a heart-attack describing that thrilling moment (Arabic is actually a very pleasing language!)

And, the #1 is...

1992 Barcelona Olympics flame lighting, when that intrepid archer lighted the flame with the help of a lighted-arrow accurately shot from his ancient bow! And we as viewers almost had a heart-attack, watching that! (Spanish is probably the most emotive language after Italian and Telugu!)

Phew!!!

Have not seen...

...Kuselan and hence no reviews yet.

Thanks for all those who were looking forward to the review.
Comments ranged from "I am disappointed with your blog; where is the review?" to "We have decided to wait for your review before watching the movie"... Touched folks...

டேய்! அடங்குடா! ரொம்ப ஃபிலிமாக இருக்கு!

Having said all these, hope to watch it this weekend...
Until then...

Legs or not...

Read this post a few minutes back...

Naresh in Google

Definitely impressive. Chicken soup to the soul in the morning :-)

'When one door closes, God opens another door somewhere else!'

Cynics will always say that he would not have reached this far, if he did not have the problems that he faced.

But then what are cynics for - to make you think 'zara hatke', perhaps?

Would the following have happened, if he was normal?

(a) JC waiving his fees off
(b) Hospital taking care of his college fees
(c) Sundar paying his hostel fees
(d) Institute providing lifts, ramps, powered-wheel-chairs etc.

In his own words, he would have ended up as a farmer in Godavari district! The moral is: It takes some calamity for people to recognize the human inside them. Why wait for that calamity? What is important is the ability to help out under normal circumstances.

No use just to write cheques, only when there is an earthquake or a typhoon or what not. That is what we call as 'band-aid patch' in software parlance. The root cause has not been addressed (another software jargon). It is easy to give money and apply Tiger Balm to the tattered soul.

Ask yourself: Do you have the 'help-under-normal-circumstances' gene activated in your DNA?

Egg on the Face or வார்த்தை தவறி விட்டாய்...(well almost!)

Now the story of UN did not end with the previous post.

Picking up from the PS of the last one...

G did button-hole the great man. After the initial pleasantry exchanges,

UN: (in English) So, what language do you speak otherwise?

Now you know what Kamal's views are w.r.t. language...

Refer back to the subtle, yet hard-hitting piece in D'ram where Balram Naidu chides Govind about the fact that an Andhraite can talk Tamil but a Thanjavur educated Tamilian prefers to continue speaking in English.

No, this post is NOT about linguistic preferences and the need for us to converse in our mother-tongue. Continuing the dialogue between UN and G...

G: (in English) Well, Tamil is my mother-tongue (semblance of an apologetic tone, perhaps)
UN: Oh... well... D'ram will come out in Hindi shortly (absolute Kamal-speak; usually the man jumps a few steps of logical thought process in his mind and expects others to be in the same plane)
G: (continuing in English) That is good. One small request. Can you please autograph a message for me? I can assure you that I will preserve it, as I admire your works greatly (and all that BS..)
UN: No problems. Where do you want it? (remember Kalaignan?)
G: (produces the work notebook - the usual G'earth one)
UN does a nice half-pager.
G thanks him profusely and withdraws from the scene.

All fine so far.

The only problem is what G did afterwards.

Now he is a great guy with a fantastic IQ and a razor sharp mind. Well-read, different perspectives to life, wine connoisseur, high network guy etc. Sometimes absent-minded, but then who isn't?

He leaves the hotel and after a hard-day's work reaches the airport.
Goes to the internet cafe to do some last minute e-mailing.

Now it beats me (haven't asked him the reason yet), why somebody who has just put in the hard eight hours at office 'and' wields a blackberry, would go to the internet cafe after all that. Let us attribute it to the vagaries of life.

And then - horror of horrors - forgets The autograph work-book in the internet cafe... @#$#%$^

Catches the flight and only after landing in SG realizes the missing autograph.

Oh my! I have given my word to UN and have promptly screwed it up...

(Bertie: Jeeves, what is the word that starts with 're..' and means that one feels very bad after letting somebody down?
Jeeves: Remorse, Sir?
Bertie: Right ho, Jeeves)

You would not be wrong if you thought that the lines above went through G's mind. Indeed, they did. But he is a man of action and calls up his team member in India and directs him to the airport Internet cafe to retrieve the work-book.

Steve Jobs (Apple-fame) said that life is all about connecting the dots and what you do will never go waste and will come back to repay you (good or bad) later. In Tamil they say... முற்பகல் செயின் பிற்பகல் தானே விளையும்...

Moving along those lines, I think Kamal did that song (வார்த்தை தவறி விட்டாய்... in இளமை ஊஞ்சலாடுகிறது) especially for such incidents. Thankfully, G managed to retrieve the autograph and life is back to normal again.

(some embellishments in the above post; but incidents are still true)

Fungus on the Face!

They say at 40, one tends to try different looks just for the heck of it.

Yeah, no young girl is going to look at you (You are already 'uncle', what?)

And the oldies don't care either. The wife does not care (too busy with her own looks, perhaps?) and the children are OK as long as you don't accompany them anywhere :-)

So, one tries different things...

Moustache today; None tomorrow.

After ten days - very short hair - almost GI cut...

Ten weeks later, try colouring the hair (usually it is after 5 weeks; but nowadays hair grows slowly! Could GM Food be the reason?)

Two weeks later, try left side parting...

You get the drift I suppose.

In this eternal search for change, one decided to grow some fungus on the face.

I don't know what is it with a beard - goatie/french, whatever you call it; people invariably show different emotions starting from the

left extreme: indifference to

right extreme: horror

traversing through 'wow', 'nice', 'why this sudden lunacy' etc.

So after a few days of careful saving of water, razor-time and shaving foam, one managed to grow a 'french'.

If you think that I am writing a treatise on growing a beard then please be rest assured that it is not the case.

This post is about

(a) 'Disadvantages of Having a Big Beard'

(b) How one 'Ulaga Nayagan (UN)' had a tough time because of his beard &

(c) Why Kamal is at his best - Reel or Real - when he does humour.

(Ulaga Nayagan = World's Hero or World Hero or (Other) Worldly Hero - depending on who you ask to translate)

Now, you all know that Kamal has decided to cultivate that great beard of his for 'Marma Yogi' and that the movie is to be produced by Walt Disney (The little wag says that Disney must have seen a great potential in Kamal to be an animated character after seeing Baby @ Khalifulla in D'ram!)

Last week in one of the Indian cities, G met Kamal in a 5* hotel break-fast hall. In G's words, it is his first brush with a celebrity. Quite an interesting brush, I should say! Read on.

Kamal, in his camoflage khakis, sneakers and that beard was drinking porridge (அட! நம்ப கஞ்சிப்பா!).

Very healthy, one opines.

UN then calls for a glass of butter-milk (watered down yoghurt for ye, psueds)

Mixes it with the porridge.

No problems so far.

UN then calls for pepper.

A pepper-grinder comes back. (You know those small bottle like things which have un-ground pepper in them and you twist the bottom to get freshly ground pepper powder. The trick is in twisting the bottom by holding the bottle straight and the pepper comes from the bottom opening)

UN tries to shake the bottle upside down. No pepper powder.

UN calls the waiter. (Remember Sathi Leelavathi's 'Waiter, where is the menu card?')

Waiter helps out in a jiffy, albeit with a suppressed smile.

UN mixes the freshly-ground pepper and pushes a spoonful of peppered-butter-milk-porridge (PBMP) into the bushy mouth.

Alamak! Half the gruel on the beard :(

Problem, problem, problem.

But then UN is not UN if he can't resolve this.

Calls the waiter and asks for something.

Waiter nods, smiles and returns in a second with a .... straw!

UN then uses the straw to drink the PBMP.

Break-fast over; Beard is safe!

இதைத்தான் ராயபுரத்திலே 'கூழுக்கும் ஆசை, மீசைக்கும் ஆசைன்னா, Straw போட்டுக் குடி'ன்னு சொல்லுவாங்களாம்! ( நன்றி: K) - Sorry can't translate this - no attempt will do justice to this gem!

Kamal is at his best, when he does humour - Reel or Real.
மேட்டர் ஓவர்! (Defence Rests!)

P.S. G later button-holes the great man and gets his autograph. Thanks for the scoop, mate!

Back to the Passion!

(c)www.vasantham.com



Been involved with the production of the Vasantham Challenge 2008 quiz show for primary children recently.


Very enriching experience to be working with those wonderful people from Pixel.


The mid-night oil burnt all these years on the various community club quizzes (and of course 'the' WC2007 exercise) is helping a lot. But doing something for the national TV audience is a different ball game altogether. Reminds one of the dialogue by Raghuvaran (may his soul rest in peace) in Mudhalvan about the trials and tribulations of being a Chief Minister...


And the children.... oh! they are great. So sharp and so smart! Keeps you on your toes, all the time.


Good fun inspite of the pressure!
Watch out for the episodes on Fridays at 8 pm on Vasantham!
My 15 milliseconds of fame :-)
But missing the hot sun and cricket umpiring !
Mosur is already threatening to take my name off the roster :-(

வேலையற்ற வீணர்களின்...

Got this via some spam.

எவ்வளவு பேர்டா இதமாதிரி கிளம்பியிருக்கீங்க?

அடுத்த படம் கமல் 100 வேஷம்னு கேள்விப் பட்டேன். உடனே மக்கள் அந்த நூறையும் மகாபாரதத்தோட கெளரவர்களோட link பண்ணிடுவாங்க... அடங்கமாட்டாங்கப்பா!

(Heard that Kamal is going to do 100 roles in his next movie. Guys will compare him to the 100 Kauravas from Mahabharata! Tough life!)


Perfect 10!!! Dasavataram

One thing we had noticed is why people didn't get the real subtext and reason for the various roles and hence the title. If you knew the real dasavatharams of Lord Vishnu and their characters you can appreciate the script more. Let me explain, starting with the best adapted role:

1. Krishna avatar - Vincent Poovaraghavan

Lord krishna is actually a dalit, he is dark-skinned [shyamalam]. He saved draupadi when she was being violated and he was the actual diplomat in mahabharatham. Lord krishna dies of an arrow striking his lower leg. Now look at how vincent was introduced.. he appears when asin is about to be molested and he saves her like draupadi. Vincent is the dalit diplomat, fights for land issue [soil issue to be exact] and dies from the metal rod striking his leg. Oh even five of vincent's men are drugged at P. Vasu's.. sounds familiar???

2. Balarama avatar - Balarama naidu

This is an easy one. As the name suggests and the role personifies you can easily get it.

3. Mathsya avatar - Ranagaraja nimbi

Nambi is thrown into water in an act of trying to save Lord from being thrown into sea, though vainly. what more clue?

4. Varaha avatar - Krishnaveni paatti

During the mukunda song, krishnaveni paatti does varaha avatar in the shadow puppetry. The frame freezes on it for a second. there is the clue. Moreover, in varaha avatar lord actually hides earth so as to protect life forms. Here too krishnaveni hides the germs - life form inside the statue so as to protect.

5. Vamana avatar - Kalifulla khan

Remember in vamana avatar, lord vishnu takes the vishvaroopa, that is the giant form! Hence the giant kalifulla here symbolises vamana avatar.

6. Parasurama avatar - Christian Fletcher

Parasurama is actually on an angry killing spree and killed 21 generations of the particular kshatriya vamsa. Hence the real KILLER... Guess what, thats what our Fletcher is! He comes around with the gun [modern upgrade for axe] and kills everyone around. I have to check if he kills 21 people though. :-D

7. Narasimha avatar - Shingen Narahashi

First of all the name itself is a play on the words singam [means lion in tamil] and narasimha [the avatar being symbolised]. Lord Narasimha manifests himelf to kill the bad guy and he also teaches prahaladha. In the movie, he shows up to kill the killer fletcher! and is also a teacher.. Lord Narasimha had to kill the asura with bare hands and hence the martial arts exponent here.. get it?

8. Rama avatar - Avatar Singh

Lord Rama stands for the one man one woman maxim, kind of symbolising true love.. Here Avatar portrays that spirit by saying that he loves his woman more than anything and wants to live for her.

9. Kalki avatar - Govindaraj Ramasamy

As you know, the hero in kaliyug can be none other than the Kalki avatar!!!

10. Koorma avatar – Bush

This is the most loose (பார்த்த நாங்களும் லூசுதாம்பா!) adaptation I couldn't clearly comprehend. But if you look at the real koorma avatar, the lord is the turtle/tortoise that helps in stirring the ksheera sagara and bringing out the amruth. This essentially creates war among the devas and asuras. Similarly today Bush facilitates war between you know whom... May be Kamal also indicates that this avatar is a bit dumb like the tortoise...

Kuselan Songs: எப்படா திருந்துவீங்க?

Hearing the songs on the net just now.

Immediate reaction is given in the title. (Loosely translated: When will you ever change?)

Three out of five songs, extol the virtues of Super Star and that tells you the story. Nothing sells like Super Star and hence the reports about Pasupathy getting peeved on being sidelined in the audio release exercise is justified from both sides :-)

(a) Who would want to devote real estate on CD covers for a person who has probably only one song in the movie?
(b) But then atleast two sqcm of area could have been given for a role which is supposed to be the backbone of the movie!

Well, the mythological story of Kuselan was told to exhibit the benevolence of Lord Krishna, right? So, beggars cannot be choosers - no pun intended here!

As far as the lyrics of Super * songs, the poets (?) have come up with new sobriquets and newer ways to whip up the S* frenzy - why is one word springing to my mind, throughout the listening experience - Sycophancy ?

Without the sword of Rajini hanging over their heads, they have tried to redeem themselves in sollamma & chaaral.

எல்லாம் இந்த ஒரு சாண் வயிறுக்குத்தானே ஐயா?
(After all, it is all for money, right?)

GV Prakash has rehashed ARR's tunes and pieces all over the place and you get the feeling that you have heard the song somewhere before. One of the famous axioms of Broadway musicals is, "People should always feel that they have heard the song before!" - GVP has achieved that pretty much.

So, in short, music is nothing to write home about.

Yet,
- people will - yours truly included - buy the CD/cassette/movie tickets/VCD/DVD at the drop of a hat.
- intellectuals will crib that the movie was not as good as the original (all ye mallu friends! you can have a field day ridiculing this paandi movie as well!)

We shall wait for the next offering of mindless trash from either Rajini or Kamal or Vijay or Ajit or Vishal or Dhanush or ...

What to do? We are like that only!

Dasavatharam: Papa Don't Preach!

Finally, watched the latest offering from Kamal - probably the 17000th show of the movie post release! And to think that the movie is hardly three days old; shows the excessive dependence of openings by all and sundry in the industry. The wag inside says "அப்பதானே ஒண்ணும் தெரியாத அப்பாவி மக்கள அமுக்கிப் போட முடியும்!"... (only then, you can catch the innocent people unawares!)

Coming to D'ram... as the late great Sujatha used to say, can write the storyline at the back of a postage stamp.

Dangerous virus nullified by Tsunami and not God.

If the story had stayed with the first five words then it would have won the hearts of people. But the addition of last three words has caused the potential loss of a blockbuster status for the movie.

[But please don't confuse this with the 5 vs 8 discussion that takes place in the movie; the numbers mentioned above are purely coincidental!]

As usual, Kamal Rocks - not once, but ten times...as

- Rangarajan Nambi - fights for the Vaishnavism;
- Govindarajan (son of Ramasamy Naicker - an artist; not Periyar, not Kalaignar we are clearly told) tries to keep monkeys away from virii which are more potent than Ebola times thousand;
- George Bush - decides that the virus is better off being sent to India than returning back to USA;
- Chris Fletcher - shows us why ex-CIA agents are better than anybody else except...
- Nikkumo Nikkado (I made that name up:)) - perhaps the odd Japanese Karate Master who is out to avenge his sister's death;
- Avtaar Singh - loves his wife so much to give up singing, only to be cured by a bullet;
- Baby @ Khalifulla - overlords everybody as a graphics-induced-lighthouse
- Balram Naidu - tickles you pink as the aravam-spewing, telugu-loving bumbling cop
- Poovarahan Vincent - talks green-Dalitism in that fabulous Thirunelveli-Kerala tamil
- Krishnaveni - a senile 95-year old woman - drags Perumaal (yes, the Lord Himself) into the story!

If these lady and gentlemen are not enough, there is Asin to represent the I-shall-stick-to-the-Lord-like-Fevicol generation, PVasu-SanthanaBharati-Sundararajan sand-baggers, the delightful Jayaprada as Ranjeet Singh (Kaur?), Nagesh-KRVijaya Koran-and-People loving parents...oh! I forgot, the professional translator-cum-killer Mallika Sheravat (I think Gowthami Todimalla ran out of budget while designing her costumes and therefore...) the list goes on. But nobody gets etched in your memory as Kamal easily overshadows anybody and everybody in sight.

This is a movie that tries to show its intelligence in each and every frame, not to mention the intellectual inclination of Kamal!

Examples abound including...
- Ebola virus
- NaCl (until a very passing mention in the end, non-chemistry students will not be wiser that NaCl is actually common salt and that sea water has that in abundance; duh!)
- Puns between Nambi and Cholan (Napoleon)
- Blatant and not-so-blatant religious situations - way too many, starting from Kamal getting knocked on his forehead similar to Sri-Choornam only to be plastered immediately resembling a cross, the 'Amman Thunai' boat thrown on top of CSI along with the Perumal idol, how the Tsunami spares the people inside a mosque... it became tiresome after sometime.
- Too many 'விதண்டாவாதம்' dialogues - even the movie ends with one... 'கடவுள் இல்லைன்னு சொல்லலை! கடவுள் இருந்திருந்தா நல்லா இருக்கும்னு தான் சொல்றேன்!' (I am not saying that there is no God! It would have been great if He had been there!) but this has the potential to become as powerful as 'நீங்க நல்லவரா? கெட்டவரா? தெரியலேயேப்பா!' (Are you a good man or a bad man? But I don't know my dear!)

It is precisely this intelligence that has moved the movie to be more preachy than out-and-out entertaining.

Nambi preaches Vaishnavism, Govindarajan spews anything that could be atheistic to agnostic, Chris Fletcher vows by Capitalism, George Bush: escapism, Krishnaveni: sentiment; Poovarahan: Environment - you get the drift, I suppose.

What Kamal has tried to do is to give an 'Anbe Sivam' in a commercial container - being more explicit; being grander but ending being more confused.

Technically, the movie is a marvel, except a few frames, where the graphics were very clearly just that...graphics.

In the incessant chase between New York to Chennai to Chengalput to Chidambaram to Dindivanam to somewhere on the east coast to Nehru Stadium, one easily forgot that there are ten Kamals in the movie. As a result, the effort put in by Kamal and his crew to manage some very nifty multi-shots might get poo-pooed by people. But believe me, those are out there and they are fantastic. In a way, the hectic - albeit contrived - movement of the story can be attributed to the same.

Overall, full paisa-vasool because of the efforts that Kamal has put in - a good tail-piece in the end shows how much of prosthetic material has been used to get all the avataars...

But due to the inherent preachiness and confusion on the message to be conveyed, one should therefore pray for this movie to be a blockbuster (as against a normal hit), so that Kamal can continue his experiments in cinema.

To pray, i.e. தசாவதாரம் புஸ்ஸாவதாரம் ஆகாமல் இருக்க ... you can pick your choice - given purely based on alphabetical order)

(1) Allah
(2) Buddha
(3) Guru Govind
(4) Dollars
(5) Jehova (some reference to Jews, while the story was in Washington DC)
(6) Jesus
(7) Vishnu
(8) All of the above
(9) Some of the above
(10) None of the above

Confused? So am I.

P.S: Guys had panned the music; it is actually good; three of the songs were pretty hummable considering that I heard them for the first time in the theatre.

Lightest moment of the movie: The huge applause that greeted the shot that showed Chennai Airport after the story moved to India from US of A!!!! So much for America craze!

Remote Killing

After what seemed to be like a million noisy days and nights in the so-called condominium, we finally shifted home – or should I say shifted boxes – to the friendly neighborhood: HDB heartland.

Well, this post is not about house shifting or any such mundane activities. Yeah, right! Mundane, my foot! What with about 100 boxes and three round-trips of the truck and a tipsy bribe to the movers (he, he! The wine bottles were just lying there and decided to be generous :-), the move was anything but mundane. Exciting to say the least.

The marathon exercise started at around an un-Godly hour of 9 in the morning and ended at around seven in the evening.

Like a true warrior, yours truly, went about fixing the cable TV (cannot live without IPL!) and the cable modem (How can I do my Macbeth assignment without computer and internet?). And success it was, on the first attempt.

TV connected to power mains?
Check.
Cable Set-top box connected to power mains?
Check.
Cables snaked to different slots?
Check.
Power on?
Check.
Correct channel on?
Eeee… it is Sun TV. Where is IPL?
Where is the remote?

‘Patta! Where is the remote?’

Dear lady was fixing the gas stove and other such stupid things just to ensure that the next day’s food would be available! What impertinence? Is the gas stove more important than the TV remote?

Acid levels in the tummy increase manifold. Decibel levels multiply (it is logarithmic, you see!). Whining starts. Frantic search ensues. Boxes being torn open.

‘Did you pack it in one of the living room boxes?’
‘I remember putting it in the box along with the CDs and cassettes.’
‘Appa, I want to watch Kathu Karuppu!’
‘If you don’t mind, can we watch the news?’
‘I am hungry and angry’

Mood swing was uni-directional almost akin to the US dollar rate against all-comers.

It took at least 25 boxes to be opened before…
.
.
.
we gave up and reconciled to the drudgery that was (is?) being served by Maaran brothers in the name of entertainment. But then WYSIWYG – a slight change to the classic computer acronym – What You Sow Is What You Get ;-)

In the mean time, telephone calls were being made to the cable TV company to get a new remote delivered (‘Dad! It is only 20 dollars if we go and get it tomorrow morning first thing, else it is 30 dollars for delivery you know. I think we have a good deal to go and collect it!’)

After having spent so much on the new house, 20 (or thirty for that matter) seemed to be a pittance, but then all ye middle-class Madhavans, fret not! I did not succumb to the pressures of Gen-Z and stood my ground.

We shall overcome the tyranny of the remote by searching for it in the remaining 75 boxes. If we don’t find it in the next one week, then we shall search the next week and so on.

The mind definitely willed. But the flesh is weakening by the hour…So...
.
.
.

Do you happen to have a spare cable TV remote? I will return it as soon as I trace it in one of the remaining cartons...No, no! I am not shaking. It is just the damn air-conditioner temparature setting, I think... What? The air-conditioner is not on?
Let it be... Do you happen to have a spare cable TV remote?

அரிசிமணி முதல் கவிதைமணி வரை...

நண்பர் சேவியர் ஒரு கவிதைப் பிரியர்.

அழகு கவிதைகள் எழுதுவதில் வல்லவர்.

இனிப்புக் கவணி (னி?) அரிசி [பர்மாவிலிருந்து வந்ததாம்!] தந்து என்னைக் கவிழ்த்துவிட்டார் என்றே சொல்ல வேண்டும்.

அவர் எழுதி என்னைக் கவர்ந்த சில சாம்பிள்கள் இங்கே...

நிச்சயிக்கப்பட்ட திருமணம்

ஒரு ஊர் குருவி சிறைப்பறவை ஆகிறது

முப்பெருவெளியின் சங்கமம்

மற்றவற்றை திண்ணையில் தேடுங்கள்.