the original sin

அவலம்

2010-06-02T16:46:00.001+05:30

நெடுநாள் கழித்து கவிதை வாசித்தேன்.
நெடுஞ்சாலை இரைச்சலில்
நிமிட நேரம் காதடைத்ததால்
நிகழும் பேரமைதி.
வாழ்க்கையிலிருந்து வெளியேறிய உணர்வுகள்
வெறும் வரிகளில் மட்டும்.

Sk-vithai

2010-02-10T15:41:00.007+05:30

காதல் கண்களை பறிப்பதில்லை -
வேறாக மாற்றி விடுகிறது.

பி.கு.
சில விளக்கங்கள் இங்கே தேவை என்று நினைக்கிறேன். இந்த கவிதை (அ) ஹைக்கூ வேற்று பாலிடம் தோன்றும் காதலை மட்டும் குறித்து அல்ல. காதலிக்கப்படுவது ஆணாகவோ இல்லை பெண்ணாகவோ தான் இருக்க வேண்டுமென்பதில்லை. ஒரு பொருளாகவோ, கருத்தாகவோ இருப்பினும் இது பொருந்தும். பொதுவாக, காதலுக்கு கண் இல்லை என்பார்கள். என்னை பொறுத்த வரை, அது பார்வை மாற்றம் மட்டுமே. அநேகமாக, இது இன்னும் விரிவாக அடுத்த பதிவில் தொடரும் என்று நினைக்கிறேன்.

Sk-vithai

2010-01-24T09:24:00.001+05:30

உறவுகளின் உரம் -
உணர்வுகளின் நிர்வாணம்.

EKSI!!!!

2009-07-17T16:48:00.001+05:30

காணாமல் போனவர் பற்றிய அறிவிப்பில் என் முகம்!!!
உன் கண்களில் நான் தொலைந்து போனதை யார் அறிவார்? ;)

Aging gracefully

2009-07-12T15:23:00.011+05:30

Beauty might not be as objective (size zero) as it is made to sound. It is defined as the quality of a person or thing that gives pleasure to the mind or senses. (link) This essentially points to excitation of senses: more of a sudden spurt in energy. Well, that part is pretty is easy to understand and relate to. Particularly because we feel it quite often as we have too many things to make hormones run like mad across our bodies. There is a obvious bias in such a view as this confines beauty to pleasurability. Is beauty just a matter of titillation?

Beauty, IMHO, could be much more just that. Apart from the mass marketed carnal aspect of beauty, there is still more significant spiritual face to it. Well, that aspect which lifts your spirits
up rather than just your you-know-what. It is that which you makes you feel calm/at peace rather than jumping around. It is that which leaves you feeling more energetic rather than drained. It is that which makes you feel relaxed rather than tense.

We see such beauty in a child's smile. Where do we lose our sense of such beauty as one grows up? While losing the innocence is essential part of growing up, it seems more often we lose our capacity for life/happiness along with that. Certainly, the spark of hope in our eyes continues to lose its brightness as we come across the dryness of reality. For most of us, it flickers now and then, leaving us shortly with a sense of disappointment. For few, it dies too early. However, quite a few of people around us manage to keep it alive.

You can see such souls around you in more numbers than you can imagine. That is, if you care to. If you can keep your open and see through the blinds of your own 'linked list' of problems. Yesterday, I met one such at Sankara Netralaya. A successful manager ~~doctor~~ , a doting mother and a caring grandmom. She was one of the few I have seen who have aged gracefully.

And aging gracefully is not about botox or any anti-aging miracle drug. It is about keeping the light of life alive despite all the hardships that drain your hope. She might have added a few wrinkles after all those hardships, but have managed to keep the spark alive. Not surprisingly, it seems the spark gets clearer, stronger, with each hardship.

Being young at heart is nothing but keeping the spark alive in your eyes. There are two things that make them stand apart from the rest: 1) Intelligence - to see ahead and not get bogged down by problems, and 2) Love - to spread life/hope to others. And, it really helps to borrow a little light from such beautiful souls. Better search for those eyes' twinkle among the wrinkles! ;)

Possibly related post:
On mom (link)

Sk-vithai

2009-07-03T09:40:00.005+05:30

கண்ட கனவு அத்தனையும்
கையில் கிடைத்தது,
கண்ணம்மா நின் கண்களில்
காதல் கண்ட பின்.
கட்டாயம் இனி சாத்தியமில்லை,
கனவொன்று - இதை மிஞ்ச.

Matter of choice ;)

2009-06-16T22:15:00.002+05:30

What is maturity? Intelligence overcoming instinct? It essentially implies exercise of your choice as opposed to just being a victim of circumstances. Well, yeh, maturity sounds like that for the major part. But, what constitutes intelligence? Does making a choice necessarily imply the existence of intelligence? I am afraid it is not the case.

The choice per se is fluid: it changes with the information that comes in. It is responsive to the stimuli. That said, the processing of the stimuli for generating a response depends on the system. The response can be just one out out of a fixed set of responses, which has been handed over to you. With this option, you have the safety of doing something that has been already tested and approved, even though you may not totally agree with it. In this case, the process of making the choice is more mechanical than intelligent. One may argue that even though the response set is already fixed, there is indeed a certain level of intelligence that is required to select the appropriate one (or the appropriate as you think). Well, I am talking about the making of those very responses in the first place.

Instead of the previous ‘mechanical’ option, you can make your own rules. But (and that is a big BUT), if you do so, you have to bear the responsibility for your choice. And that is not easy, if you have to satisfy too many people. Even if you are trying to satisfy just a few, it is going to be hard, given that people are unpredictable. Not unpredictable because they are so by nature, but their responses to same stimuli might be mightily different than you can guess. So, if it is so hard to make your own choices, why make it at all? The answer for that is – simple. Just to know how it feels to live your life your way instead of living it the others’ way. And of course, it takes a lot of brains to make your choices and guts to stick to them.

In sum, choice is good. Letting the others make the choice for you is easy; may very well earn you respect. ;) But making your choice by yourself is hard on your brains as well as guts. That said, you may feel it is practical to not overwork your brains and better keep your guts in. Well, you bet!!!

P.S.
Intha mokka matteruku ivlo periya post konjam overa thaan irukku. But, mokka poda yaarum illathappa, you dont have a better choice, u see.

SK-a-vithai

2009-03-19T13:39:00.002+05:30

அடுத்த சில நிமிடங்களில்,
அந்த பொம்மை எனக்கு அலுத்திருக்கும்.
அவசரமாய் நீ பறித்ததனால்,
அடிமனதில் ஆறாக் காயம்.

Culturally bankrupt

2009-02-08T15:50:00.007+05:30

After all the cries about the “rich culture” of India from the “self-declared watchmen” like Rama Sena’s Mutalik and in equal measure, from those against him, I really wonder what that creature is all about. I believe culture is, at its roots, attitude towards life, and towards fellow men and in particular, women. It reflects what do we, as a bunch of people, value in our lives most of the time. And all I can think of that thing called “Indian culture” is that it is decaying (not in the sense the cultural watchmen use) and at best, messy: decaying, because there is no one to inject little new life/thoughts into it. No one bothers to, at least in the mainstream media. One might argue that there are quite a few who bother to talk sense and you got to keep your eyes and ears open. But voices of those few who bother to think are hard to be in the deafening noise of the advertisements. The absence of such dialogue/ discussion is alarming. And the state of such 'apparently well-meaning' social discussions more often like Arattai Arangams, which are emotional, tear-jerking kind or mud-slinging. When intelligence is on the fringes, it seems really hard to have hope.

As a nation, we might have been culturally bankrupt for much longer than we think. We have been carrying the ‘cultural symbols’ for too long after they became useless. And to carry them without knowing or even attempting to know what they were really meant for is sheer foolishness. While the watchmen live in a time warp, hailing Ram and Sita as the “Perfect Symbols of India” conveniently forgetting the pranks of Krishna, the dickheads of MTV generation are not any better. They just pass off arrogance as intelligence. They are just as, if not more, arrogant as the watchmen. If you look at it, their arrogance is much more dangerous than that of the watchmen. They proudly wear their arrogance as crown of intelligence. Just wearing a Che t-shirt, they think they are revolutionaries/men of action. Well, let’s not get into whether all that is just a little muscle flexing to get a few brownie points from the fairer sex.

What is most frightening is that as a nation we probably are thinking less and less, despite the intelligence we claim to have. This is not surprising as we have let much of our time to be ruled by idiot boxes or silver screens. Well, what follows is just based on anecdotal evidence and not any statistics. Nonetheless, the trends are obvious almost everywhere to for us see. Going by what is on the mainstream TV, dancing your way to the top is made out to be sexiest thing to do. “Want to be happening? Want girls over you? Put on your shoes and dance. Leave the thinking stuff to out-of-the-world, irreparable nerds, who often are stupid in the ‘worldly’ matters.”

While this might seem like a petty issue of just mindless entertainment to relax after a hard day, the massive scale at which it is happening is alarming. There is not much time left to think after you drain your energy dancing to tunes of Simbu or Vijay (that $%&(@&^& donned Bharathiyar makeup and mouthed the most intelligent piece of dialogue of the year “Villu, power… Fullu!!” Etho milli adicha rangeku dialogue, @#@$#$%). Many of us had reservations against Slumdog Millionaire making money showing the ugly underbelly of India. As if the body-show in Bollywood trash is more Indian! Seems more like it is we who are in denial. There is a difference between sincerity and sinisterness. Probably Danny Boyle was sincere in his attempts to show things as he saw. But, can we be sure that things are the same when we talk about our movies? When you sell sleaze knowing well what it is, you are not sincere but sinister. Better we boycotted our movies! Let the Vijays/ Simbus/ Ajiths/ Dhanushs/ Rajnis/ Kamals go bankrupt. Teach ourselves to think a little. Spend it on books.

But the literary scene in Tamil Nadu is in a pitiable state. Landmark in Spencers Plaza has at most four racks for Tamil books, of which most of the space is taken by Sivagami and Ponniyin Selvan. Of course, with Tamil being the family property of Kalaingar MK, it is no wonder that not many people prefer to play there. Or rather the few rare trespassers who dare to jump over the fence can’t claim any ownership to Tamil. If the state of Tam novels is such, better do not think about the social commentaries. News channels are nothing but ways for pulling cover over our eyes and mongering votes 24x7. And more importantly, slinging mud at each other. There is apparently no voice other than those loudspeakers of parties. They used to have news service on Vijay TV. God... oopppss forgot I am in rationalist state! MK only knows what happened.

Our movies are full of depressingly ugly stereotypes and falsities. Novels of even some passable quality have stopped long ago. Such bankruptcy in literature/arts, though apparently harmless, can do more harm in the long run. It is not that such ‘entertaining’ dreams are by themselves harmful. But the enormous scale they fill our lives is overwhelming that we are easily blinded to reality. I don’t mean that all of this trash should be changed into some moral preacher stuff. Definitely not. But all this trash invisibly repeated over time has de-sensitized us to life at large. But we can change the way our cultural output reflects our lives. At least in our personal lives. How? We better switched our TVs off and did a little thinking about it.

Possibly related posts:

Kids???

Is Rama Godly?

The Original Sin

ஜே.ஜே. சில குறிப்புகள்

2008-12-26T10:12:00.005+05:30

I fell in love with this book right away when my friend read a few random passages from the second part, which is structured like the protagonist’s diary. To fall in love with it was more like falling in love with my self. Don’t know how many times you have felt that beautiful smile of delight spreading across your face when you read something that so much close to your heart that it could very well have been said by you. A smile that is out of happiness from recognizing that there is another who is just like you. Like the happiness that you get on seeing a long-lost friend. Well, yeah, this is not something you get too often. But, when my friend read this book to me, the delight was so much so that we both had quite a few good laughs. By the way, till now I haven’t read more than twenty pages of this book. But, what I had read in those few has pushed me so far into writing this post.

Leap of faith

I have this hate for the advice against what they call ‘Leap of faith’ in writing. They say you should put yourself in the readers’ shoes and make it easier for them to get what you say. In short, don't put faith in the reader, put everything on the platter: peeled and if possible, masticated. However noble-intentioned it may sound to be, IMHO, you can ask a writer to do that when the idea is to just inform. Not when he tries to make the reader THINK. Then, the process reverses: the reader has to get into writer’s shoes. Indeed, the writer on his faith: faith in the reader and his intelligence. Here, the writer has respect for the reader and puts him on the same platform as he is. Even if the reader is not, the writer knows he can jump on if poked properly. Spoon feeding here is an insult to the reader that he just can’t commit.

That said, we obviously can’t equate the level of incorrigibility with the author’s intelligence. Language is a fine sword. You can use it to poke, to cut, to cure and to kill. Or you can just feign all this with the sword still in its sheath. Most of the writers just have the sheath, and the rest of those with the sword, still have trouble using it. They are so much weak under the weight of the sword that they almost always cut, kill others and at times, themselves too. There are very few who have a strong intelligent arm to handle the sword. JJSK is one such show of fine swordsmanship.

அவன் பாஷை சவரக் கத்தி. சொல்முறை, நீண்ட படிக்கட்டில் ஒரு படி விட்டு ஒரு படி தாண்டிச் செல்வது. (JJSK, pg 16)

It is a masochistic pleasure to be cut, to be bled by such swordplay. And at times, I agree, it is indeed frightening. Still, it is worth it. But, no need to plunge headlong. Probably it might be too much for us. Just take a jab from JJ now and then.

ஜே.ஜே.யைப் படித்த போது பயம் ஏற்பட்டது என்றேன். என்ன பயம்? பயம் ஏற்பட என்ன இருக்கிறது? ஆனால் பயம் தான். நான் நம்பும் உலகத்தை இல்லாமல் ஆக்கிவிடுவானோ என்ற பயம். நான் நம்பும் உலகத்தை இல்லாமலாக்கி அதன் மூலம் என்னை இல்லாமல் ஆக்கி விடுவானோ என்ற பயம்.

கனவுகளுக்கு அவன் எதிரி. எனக்கோ அவை தின்பண்டம். (JJSK, pg 16)

Tailpiece:

Sometimes, I wonder all this “elitist” cry for the ‘real literature’ is all just out of helplessness and economics? Are such writers just among the high-ranking masochists and more often, sadists? On that, probably some time later.

Thus spake Sk

2008-12-22T13:35:00.001+05:30

When all that is required of you is to explain yourself to the other, know that you are in the autumn of the relationship.

Thus Spake Sk

2008-12-05T09:20:00.001+05:30

Love is God. Yeh, you can find them both nowhere.

நின்னை சரணடைந்தேன்

2008-11-28T23:58:00.014+05:30

A rather long prelude to even longer post

This post is probably first of its kind in this blog. Now that I have got your attention or rather lost it like the dud tam channels when they say “ulaga thollai kaatchi varalaatril muthal muraiyaaga…”, let me go on with the background of this post, which I believe is very essential to relish this post. This post was written listening to “Ninai Charanadaindhen” by Bombay Jayashri and Illayaraja for the film Bharathi. You would find sentences from Bharathi’s song interlaced with the post, to add “weight”. ;) This is broadly about the concept of surrender. Of course, there are bits, here and there, of things that man can’t live without: sex, philosophy and traces of doubts about himself, the world and life at large.

Mind you, you might find a few too mushy statements that might cause envy in even Karan Johar. A lot said here are debatable; but before you argue, make sure you read and understand. The description of certain qualities and states of mind like love in this post might seem to suggest that the author had indeed been under heavy intoxication of love for too long. The author would just like to point out that it is not exactly true. That said, he would love to get intoxicated if it is possible, and for forever. ;) And this post might seem to be an anti-thesis of my old post (here). But, it certainly is not. Try surrender ;) to the author of this post! Now, let's begin.

பொன்னை உயர்வை புகழை விரும்பிடும்

என்னை கவலைகள் தின்ன தகாதென்று

நின்னை சரணடைந்தேன் கண்ணம்மா நின்னை சரணடைந்தேன்

Being in love is being blinded (note it is not blind, for the other sensors of a blind are extra sensitive), to reality, how much ever badly constructed by the mind. Being blinded makes you lose your capacity to doubt and makes you do things that you wouldn’t ‘normally’ do. And that makes you beautiful/dumb, depends on where you see it from. It is beautiful/dumb, because it is out of the ordinary. So freshly different from the mundane that you feel like you ARE LIVING.

Then, there is sex. I make no moral judgments about it, premarital or even extra, if all the other partners agree. The question is whether it is out of an urge to relieve, just like the one you feel when your bladder is full, or an urge to share the probably the most intimate of your moments with someone out of love. Again, nothing moral or otherwise about it. Just that, if it is an urge to relieve, you are blinded and would not care about where/with whom you get it done. The focus is on the act and not the person. Or rather the focus is on the ‘best’ person you can ‘buy’. This, IMHO, is likely to slowly weaken your capacity to value another human. And, most likely, leave a vacuum inside over time. Apparently, Gandhi was just doing exactly that, when his father was on deathbed. I say this not to point out the need for discipline or any such stuff that Gandhi had spoken about, but just that how sex can so easily blind you to things around you. No wonder, in Mira Nair’s Kamasutra, towards the end, Maya chose to make love to Jai, her lover, and ask him indulge himself in the memories of their lovemaking to help himself not feel the torture.

That said, sex can make you ugly. Not in the physical sense. When sex blinds you so much that you don’t care for the other, not even the one whom you are doing it with, you are obviously ugly. Am I being sissy/prudish here? I think I am not. I would say the litmus test for the beauty of an act of sex would be the quantum of solace that both feel after sex. Well, this measure is a lot dicy one than the Bang Brothers’ kind of hard measures such as how long and how many etc. But, there is a high likelihood that you might stay with a person IF and till you feel peace after sex with him/her. It is about the awareness in sex: about not being blinded by the urge. This is probably what Vigyan Bairav Tantra and Kama Sutra try to do. While Tantra does it by focusing on breathing, like yoga, KS makes you explore many possibilities, at the end of which it fondly hopes you would realize the peace. And this, I believe, would probably increase your capacity for happiness, which just hopping across organs cannot give you.

Ask me why? Simple. Man is weak for emotions. Or rather, the thoughts that bring emotions, for that exactly is what makes him unique. Yeah, each one has one’s own bin of garbage, which is full of such ‘personal emotional thoughts’. And it is exactly this garbage that makes your life unique and beautiful, if you chose to call it that. Or else, if man is rational, life will be more of theorems than one of tears, whose beauty we seldom understand. ;) More on that sometime later. Probably after I get to shed them a lot, hopefully out of love and joy. ;)

தன் செயல் எண்ணி தவிப்பது தீங்கென்று

நின் செயல் செய்து நிறைவு பெரும் வண்ணம்

நின்னை சரணடைந்தேன் கண்ணம்மா நின்னை சரணடைந்தேன்

Now, on a slightly different note, a bit of symbols. When does a guy feel at peace with his lover? Holding her after great sex? When making her sit and cocoons her with himself, protecting her like his little daughter? Or when he rests his head on her lap, holding as much of her as possible with his hands? So much in love with her so that he wants to be part of her? To be as deep inside her as possible? To be born out of her? To be her son?

Well, if that appears hard to digest, just know that the last one, IMHO, is probably the most loving/respectful statement that she might hear from him. It is all about surrender, a complete one. Bharathi did that to Krishna: he considered Krishna to be his lover, his consort and at times, his son. (I don’t know about the songs where he considers him to be his parent.)

மிடிமையும் அச்சமும் மேவி என் நெஞ்சில் குடிமை புகுந்தன கொன்றவை போக்கென்று

நின்னை சரணடைந்தேன் கண்ணம்மா நின்னை சரணடைந்தேன்

Now, a lot of subtleness here, so much so that you might miss the point. So (t)read carefully. How often have you experienced the feeling of total surrender? Not in the sense of an act out of fear or force, but out of love. Mind you, surrender is not an act for the weak. It is the act of beheading oneself. If a weakling does it, it is suicide not surrender. The surrender I mean is out of love. Again, surrender is not about being a slave. Rather, it is the opposite. It is about liberation. The one who you surrender should be so that he/she liberates you. Surrender is so dangerous that you better carefully chose a better person to surrender to. It will help to contrast with the ‘religious surrender’: more often, it is out of fear rather than love. The ‘object of love’ there is god, who is perfect. I know absolute is an illusion. ;) Rather than fearing/doubting the absolute, I would better love the imperfect. Love dissolves your doubt and makes surrender very much natural. Philosopher’s stone is nothing but love. ;)

துன்பம் இனியில்லை சோர்வில்லை, தோற்பில்லை

நல்லது தீயது நாமறியோம் அன்பு நெறியில் அறங்கள் வளர்த்திட

நல்லது நாட்டுக தீமையை ஒட்டுக

நின்னை சரணடைந்தேன் கண்ணம்மா நின்னை சரணடைந்தேன்

Varutham Aayiram

2008-11-24T14:12:00.007+05:30

Well, the title says it all. Still, I know you have too much time at your disposal and would be happy to spend it on some rehashed crap rather than something worthwhile (which is almost non-existent). And don't worry, i won't list all the thousand worries here. And I guarantee you that this will be a lot less terrible experience than the film itself. Read on.

Surya, I hope, developed some brains while he is sculpting his bod. Well he is hot, though. All you girls out there have more than one reason to smile. Six, to be precise. He manages to look terrific throughout the film and at times, manages to act well too. Especially, that scene in Hotel Samco in the song “Ava enna thedi vantha anjala…” But, and that is a big BUT, he miraculously manages to do a scene à la Vijay in Police uniform in the great Pokkiri. Yeh, that’s when Surya is in that uniform of a Major with that Ray-Ban. Man!!! What a sight!!! And there is one more hilarious scene towards the end when Surya bares his bod. Well, NO!!! Not for any fight and all, you dumbos! How can you expect a so-piss-ticated creator like Mr. Gautam Vasudev Menon (GVM) to have a mindless scene like what they have in local Simbu/Dhanush films? It is just that Surya bares his packs, oh yeh six of them, when is packing for a mission. And God! You must see his moustache then… ROTFL. Me think, developing six packs sucks your brains out just like what happened with poor old Vishal in Satyam!

While VA is definitely much easier on your stomach than Jillunu Oru Kaadhal, it still is a dud. That said, VA had the makings of what-could-have-been-a-wonderful experience, but Mr. GVM managed to botch it all up in his inimitable style.

“Dear Sir, please tell me why you had to have that sequence in Delhi so long and at the end of it, Surya supposedly realizes what his calling is. Well not enlightening though! In fact, I lost whatever little light I had till then. I can understand if you were kind of clueless in Vettaiyadu Vilaiyaadu, probably because of that dumb Daniel Balaji who just cant get what a psycho is (Me think, all nutrients from his brains probably had been drained into his locks) and that other dimwit for whom Your Highness yourself had to lend your so soulful voice. But, this, VA is supposedly a take from your own life, if the tabloids are to be believed.

All we know is Surya loves his Dad and we know not why, but just that he mourns all through the film “Daddy, you did this…. Daddy you did that for me… Daddy I love you... Daddy!!!”. Well, Asin’s “Aiyoo… En perumala kudungo” probably was much bearable I guess (well no gender bias here!). And what is that with narrative, Dear Sir. Yeh, when we heard it Kaakka Kaakka, we did like it. But, don’t have to have that in all your films.

I would rather have relished some strong scenes between the father and the son, giving us a little glimpse over why the hell did Surya happen to love his father so much. Was it just because the “cool” dad proposed his love no holds barred and drove that lorry or that he gave his son a free ticket to pick up fight and bring girls home? Well, probably, I am just being too harsh here… Not many of us really remember what our parents really did for us. Yeh, I am guilty as charged. But I would still say, for all that 'ode to father' as you call this film of yours, the daddy was very much absent. And mere filling up screen is not what I meant.

And that big big treason to male audience. You haven’t been kind to Man here. You have had about one and a half bombs as your heroines. And what a criminal waste you have made out of them! God wouldn’t forgive you for this! (Remember the big G is Mr./He!) Well, I don’t mean a raw exhibitionism here as I very well know your taste is so so above the carnal sensitivity of us, mere mortals. FYI, even the God-like Mani has a sensual song in almost all his films, save Kannathil Muthamittal. While all the girls were dehydrating over Surya, we guys had to visit the restroom quite often to relieve ourselves, after all that Pepsi that Maayajal gave us after fleecing some 220 bucks for a @#$@$%@ experience. Sameera wasn’t great, IMHO, in most of the scenes. Of course, there was one frame in Nenjukkul peithidum song, where she walks in like a breeze, befitting her name, in a dark green sari. Absolute stunner. But the next frame, someone drains all the color and light out of the screen and all looks pale. Btw, Divya SPANdana said you had asked her to expand herself to fit in her role. You could very well have had Shakila chechi for that role. At least then, God's own country would have had a reason to be proud of its son and we, tams, too would have joined our mallu brothers in hailing you! Why all this hate towards us, poor guys? Appdi ungalukku enna paavam pannom naanga? And just the last one question, why the hell did Simran had to spout that Andaal Paasuram so 'beautifully' with probably a punju accent at the climax? Btw, by having this title, did u mean that it takes the strength of thousand elephants to bear all this?

All that said, a BIG THANKS to you dear sir, for COVERING YOUR FACE when you appear that fight towards the end and say "Jai Hind" and also for NOT HAVING LENT YOUR VOICE TO ANY OF THE CHARACTERS!

Tailpiece:

Sorry folks for such a long post. Of course, i know you would realize when one has so much of grief, thousand worries to be precise, one can't help but cry one's heart out. Kind of Catharsis u know... and thanks for listening! And if any of you have the same pheelings, i am ready to hear you out.

Boiled Frog

2008-10-08T18:22:00.001+05:30

Well, this post is not about some exotic East Asian recipe. Rather, it is about economics. Yeh, you are right. Of late, it is only Economics books that have come up with really hot (literally!) titles. How about ‘More Sex Is Safer Sex’?

Now, the blood bath on Wall Street and its first-cousin Streets in Europe and second- and third-cousin Streets all around the globe is grabbing much of the TV minutes. So much so that even Headlines Today had to dump poor Koel and her couch to have a story on the mean money makers on the streets. Sex sells. But, it seems the smell of death sells even more. And while the governments in US/UK/Europe rushed over to put money into the banks, the Streets are not satisfied yet. Their ‘dils’ maange more!

Man is seldom rational. Or probably, he is, when alone. Markets, it seems, are even worse. It is more like the parable of the boiled frog in which a frog that is thrown into boiling water will promptly jump out, but a frog that is put into a pot of room temperature water which is slowly boiled will not ‘notice’ the small increases in temperature of the water and eventually, will boil to death. While the toxic excesses have been regularly pointed out by few wise like Buffett (“Derivatives: ticking time bombs”), the markets’ assumption seemed to be “It is different, this time!”

Much of this has its roots in hope (euphemism for greed). And hope, by definition, is divorced from reality. Too much of that apparently good thing called hope in realty led to subprime mess. But why banks lent to those who have low willingness/ability to repay? And how did they get so much money? MAGIC! Enter financial engineering. Probably, it was here that realty and reality parted ways. Thanks to loads of bright MBAs, banks were able to put their existing loans into new packages (MBS: mortgage backed securites) and sell them and get more money. With more money to lend and Wall Street demanding more profits, they needed to find more people to lend to. When they could not find trust-worthy ones, they T-I-G-ed like true Americans and lent to other American who too had T-I-G. All was well as long as the house prices kept rising. When the house prices started heading south, banks found the worth of their collateral was much below what they had loaned.

And there’s an even more bigger bomb called Credit Default Swaps (CDS), which are essentially bets on whether a company will fail to pay its debt obligations. Simply put, CDS is insurance on corporate bonds. And you can have the bond and go on to buy the insurance just to make sure that you are safe in case the company defaults, which is called hedging. Also, you can bet on the company’s staying power and sell/buy the insurance without owning the bond, which is called speculation. When the company, which you bet would keep its promise on repaying debt, breaks its promise, you are caught naked. When you don’t have the papers to cover your vitals, you panic. AIG might know better how scary these bets might get! You sell off your other assets to cover as much as your skin as possible. If you are big enough in the trade, rest assured it sends a jolt down the spines of other smaller rats in the market. End of faith. And everyone starts eyeing each other with heavy suspicion. With nobody to LEND a helping hand, the biggies drown, pulling as many others as possible with them.

Essentially, this is crisis of confidence, which results in choking credit, particularly the short-term money. With no money to pay now, trust falls further and the cycle goes on till those who have money get bored with its smell and decide to have some fresh air. So, can the bail-out funds from governments save the confidence and keep lenders from hoarding money?

Remember Red, hope is good thing, may be the best of things, and no good thing ever dies. Yeh, Andy, better it shouldn't. At the least, not until we all are dead.

Perumal, prasadham, poi

2008-10-05T20:45:00.008+05:30

A breezy, beautiful evening in the garden of The Sk-ool. Master Sk and Mura-Lee are sitting on the low hanging branches of a hundred year old banyan tree watching the golden rays of the dying sun filtering through the foliage. Mura-Lee lets out a sigh and says

"Perumal koil... perumal koil thaan. Enna prasaadham! Enna dharisanam! Chancey illa."

Sk: "Can't agree more. Particularly about the dharisanam, given his huge fan base."

M: "Btw, inniku romba specialaa irunthuthu. Krishnar bday pola. Wish panna neraya per vanthurunthaanga. Semma treat vera. Aaanaa oru vishayam puriala. Avar vaalkaila unmai sonnatha vida poi thaan jaasthi sollittu irunthaar. Eppdi ippdi oru dubaakkur aasaamiya saami nu othukkaraanga?"

Sk: "Simple and straight. Just answer this question. When do you think you need to be creative? When you are telling the truth or lying?"

M: "Hmmm... lying obviously."

Sk: "So, basically lying is about creativity. How well you can lie depends on how much creative you are. And by their definition, God is the ultimate creator. Right? So, the more you lie, the more you are creative and by implication, the more godly you are."

M: "What!!! Becoming a God is so easy as lying, is it?"

Sk: "Who said lying is easy? You got to be skilled enough to make others believe and at the same time, not fall for your own lies. And the latter part is pretty much tricky one you see. You got to be really really careful here. Illa you might trick yourself into believing in your genius and end up doing a Sathyam or Dasavatharam."

M: "Poi sonnaa thaan saamiyaaga mudiyumaa. Athunaala thaan Shivan petha pulla, kattuna pondaatti kittayae avlo poi sollirukkaar?"

Sk: "Exactly."

M: "But, poi sonnaa ummaachi kanna kuthidum nu solraangalae? Poi sonna vaai ku bojanam kedaikkaathu nu solraangalae?"

Sk: "Pinna? Competition jaasthiyaana paavam avanga enna pannuvaanga? Ithellaam game theory. Avangala maathiri ellaarum poi solla aarambichuttaa aprom avanga business eppdi odum, buvvaa ku enna pannuvaanga? Athaan poi sonnaa, saappaadu kedaikkaathu nu establish pannittaanga."

M: "Appa oru vela avanga solrathu poi thaan nu therinjuruchunaa, aprom ellaarum koil ku poratha niruthittaa?"

Sk: "Athukku thaan kailaasam, vaigundam nu sollittu market pannirukkaangalae. Nee pannrathukku yethaa mathiri 2-tier AC illa Sleeper kedaikkum, illa gumbaloda unreserved la thaan finalaa poganum nu sollittaa aprom namma makkal seat reserve pannrathukkaaga eppdi irunthaalum varuvaanga la? Aanaa mostly waiting list illa RAC la thaan odittu irukkum, seat confirm panna maattaanga. Confirm pannitaa business gaali aagidum la."

M: "Aanaa, Ramanujar thaan ellaathukkum vaigundathukku porathukku season ticket kuduthuttaare."

Sk: "Ennathu?"

M: "Athaan Thirukottiyur la koil suvar mela yeri ninnu "Om Namo Narayanaya" nu Vaigundathukku travel passcode kuduthaare."

Sk: "Oh, athuvaa... but on a serious note, what do you think about it? Did he do the right thing or not?"

M: "I think he must have been too compassionate to tell that to public despite his guru's warnings. What's your take?"

Sk: "I would say he must have been a big fool to have done that."

M: "Why?"

Sk: "Religion is about transformation and there is no magic to it."

M: "Then what about so many mantras? You mean there is no meaning in that?"

Sk: "Exactly. But in the sense that they by themselves mean nothing. To define, "உணர்ந்த ஒரு சொல் - மந்திரம்." There is no magic in it. It will help only at the Tipping Point. It will work only when the travel has already been done and when the traveler is on the brink."

M: "But, then any word would do. Right?"

Sk: "Bingo. Any word can do the trick. Om. Dum. Sk. Rajni. Anything is fine, if and only if he is at the tipping point."

M: "So this is what Osho means when he says "drop" it?"

Sk: "Could be."

M: "Aanaa, neenga avara vida periyaa gnaani naa!!!"

Sk: "Nejammaavaaa solra??!!!!"

M: "Hahahaa, haiyo haiyo EKSI. I just tried to be Godly, Master!"

Sk: "@@#$@!$!@$#!@$#!@$%@!%!@%"

Tailpiece
Here is another post on Lies and what we stand to lose by not lying.

Sathya(m) Sothanai!

2008-09-10T17:20:00.004+05:30

This was supposed to be a post on deeper philosophical musings about The Joker, Into the wild, and life at large. But sloth does take its toll! However, watching Satyam (starring Vishal and Nayan) fills me with so much of hopelessness and hate (even after that steamy song of Nayan!) that I better let it out.

They say the best form of flattery is imitation. Here, Vishal has tried hard to flatter far too many people that I lost count almost within first half hour of the film. You feel a heavy, sustained sense of déjà vu all through the film. Home alone, Indian, Kaakka Kaakka, Saamy, Casino Royale (Yeh!! The chase at Airport!), ummhhh… and loads of tam and golti films. Heard Satyam is running to empty halls. How about a contest to identify as many films as possible that have “inspired” Satyam? And at the climax, Vishal shouts “Ithu thaanda Police!” Believe me, am not kidding!

After a point, which you get to too soon, you feel a sense of the calmness of a monk inside. You realise that nothing can be worse and in fact, start enjoying this comedy of (t)errors. Vishal takes himself so seriously that you cannot but help feeling loads of pity for that poor guy. But, of course, ovvovoru manushanukkum oru breaking point irukku! I found so much of inner peace that I watched this film in just three instalments. Great, right? After this, even Gautam Menon appears God! Vishal could have spent at least some of the time that he spent working out on his six-pack for thinking through this story, if you dare call it that.

Mothathula, Vishal-a on-screen mottai adichuttaanga, off-screen mukkaadu pottutaanga! Enna panrathu, aalu valarntha alavu arivu valarala pola!

A Spicy, Mallu note:

Now, to add a bit of spice to this insipid post, just a reco. Well, this might not be as spicy as you might have wished for seeing the title. If you are a non-veggie, the next time you go to Kumarakom, order Kozhi Varutharaichathu (KV) and kerala parottta. KV is so rich in flavor, with oodles of coconut oil and pepper, that it just bowls you over. Forget those loads of calories you need to burn, just relish the moment. Carpe diem fellas!

Killing Joke

2008-08-29T17:01:00.006+05:30

Finally after almost the whole world had seen The Dark Knight, I saw it at Satyam yesterday. With much of cyberspace filled with more DK stuff-than-you-could-possibly-read, nothing I am going to say here is new. That said, this is more of my exultation on seeing my all time fav comic book hero, the Batman, being returned to Where He Belongs – Darkness! Kudos to Chris Nolan, Batman finally found his soul! The previous attempts at bringing Batman to cinema by Tim Burton etc had merely made a mockery of the Caped Crusader.

To me, the appeal of Batman lies in the basic, simple fact: choice vs chance. Unlike other superheroes, who become what they are by some highly improbable freaky accident, Batman is what he is because of his choice. He has the brains of Sherlock Holmes (IMHO the DK is the only superhero with brains ;) ), the toys of James Bond, the mask from Zorro and the moves of Rambo. All that: by choice. He is human, yet rises above through sheer efforts, which is what really excites. Thanks to Frank Miller (the creator of Sin City), Batman grew from a freaky boy to a menacing mask.

My love affair with the Dark Knight began in my schooldays with the திகில் comics. If ever there was a passion in my life at that point in my life, it was comics. Even among the typical comic book heroes, I preferred to read heroes with different shades of characters. In fact, apart of from Batman, my next fav was the Prince team (Bernard Prince, Barney Jordan and little Djinn) that runs a small cargo boat called Cormoran (கழுகு in tamil comics).

Of all the Batman comics I read, the one I could never forget was titled “சிரிக்கும் மரணம்” (“Laughing Death”), which had the origins of The Joker. Many of the pages of that book were filled with frames with no dialogue bubbles. In fact, the last page, there would be no single utterance. All that you find is a series of images of rain splashing on the ground and slowly the lights of the Batmobile withdrawing. There were so many silent images, atypical of comics books, that spoke so much. I never got the Batman I wanted till Batman Begins. Never before Batman was a Real Man. In fact, in Batman and Robin, Clooney was more clowny. There is much more depth, philosophically/ psychologically, to Batman, which Nolan had portrayed beautifully.

Unlike the previous Batman films which were more like a circus with people wearing all weirdly colors possible and glistening unearthly buildings, the DK is set in the streets of Chicago, making it much more real now. It is more like a classic action film where a intelligent hero fights a maniac who wants nothing except chaos. That… is the beauty of The Joker. He is much more of an enigma than the DK himself. “You… complete me.” It is hard to deal with someone who wants nothing. At least nothing that you could possible think of.

Just as a ritual: Heath Ledger steals the show with his electrifying performance as The Joker, the arch nemesis of the Dark Knight. (I know this is the zillionth sentence in cyberspace saying this.) I just have not got enough of the movie yet. Yeh dil maange more!

Few one liners from the movie that I loved:

“Why so Serious?” ;)

“This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object.”

“If you're good at something, never do it for free.”

“See, I'm not a monster...I'm just ahead of the curve.” (To Harvey Dent at the hospital)

“Insanity is like gravity, all it needs is a little... push!"

After the movie, was zipping through Chennai which was Gotham to me then. Too bad, my Discover is no BatPod!

P.S:
After posting, I came to know that my favorite Batman comic that I mentioned in the post seems to be translation of Killing Joke that is among the most popular stories in Batman franchise. Apparently, The Killing Joke was used as reference by Heath Ledger and Chris Nolan for The Dark Knight.

Filler

2008-08-26T18:49:00.005+05:30

Note:
Wrote this for a friend's wedding invite. I know i will not write anything that even remotely resembles a poem. So, just published this hoping to make do for that.

Life is beautiful with a little madness
And that madness we call love
Mad we are, for each other
Time it is, to take it further
Our wedding is not farther
Without fail, be there.

Or soon you’ll have to meet your great great grandfather.

டப்பாவதாரம்

2008-06-12T12:05:00.005+05:30

OC-car producer is watching Sivaji on thiruttu vcd. On the TV screen, like a +2 tutorial teacher (Neengal +2 thervil failaa? Kavalai vendaam, engalidam vaarungal!!), Rajni explains how a black economy works and the evils of it. And a little later, he demos his ingenious plans to wash the black money white. This gets our producer to start thinking.

“Kai la karuppu panam vera jaasthiyaagiduchu… hmm enna pannalaam… Sivaji rangeku periya plan ellaam pottaa velaikaavathu… Odaatha padam eduthaa? Aaanaa... Anthaala vechu eduthaa epdi irunthaalum odidum… Vijay vechu eduthaa kooda rasigar mandrathula vasool panni ottiduvaanunga… enna pannarathu…” He calls his PA “Antha kolaignaniya konjam koopdu… vela iruku”.

O: Vaappaa… eppdi irukka. Unna vechu oru padam edukkalaam nu paakkuren.

K: Mikka magilchi. Aanaa budget Sivajiya vida perusa irukkanum. Appa thaan naan othukkuven.

O: Athellaam approm paakkalam. Un sambalam evlo sollu.

K: XXXX

O: Yeiii… ennappaa nee… nithaanathula thaan irukkiyaa… enna Avar rangeku kekkura… Etho irukka konjam karuppa vellai aakkalaam nu paathaa… nee enna mothathukkum mukkaadu poda vechuruva pola irukkae…

K: Enna koduma sir ithu… vitha vithamaa naalu wig maatitu nadanthu varrathukkae avlo kaasu vaangaraaru… naan ennoda pechu, moochu, mmm aprom en jatti baniyan nu ellaathayum kalaikkunnae vechu vaalkaiya nadathittu varren… naan kekkarathula enna thappu…

O: Oora yemaathara mathiri enna yemaatha nenaikkaatha… free madi… irunthaalum nee kekkarathu romba athigam…

K: Sir, venumnaa naan 10 role la nadikkaren.. mathavangalukku kudukkara kaasu koraiyum la… oru role ku ivlo nu neengala oru amount pottu kudunga…

O: Hmmm… ennappa nee ippdi kodairiyae… ethukku theva illaama 10 role pannanum…

K: Sir, ithu sonnaa ungalukku puriyaathu… oru kalaignaa irunthu paarunga… Anthaalu summaa wig-a maattitu vanthu nadanthaale atha paakkarathukku neeyaa naanaa nu adichukkaraanunga muttaa pasanga… naan nadanthaa paakkarathukku oru naai illa… ippdi naalu balti adichaaa thaan super actor nu othukkuvaanga…

O: Appaa saami…. Aala vudu… sari 10 role pannra… eppdi vithiyaasam kaatuva… paathaa kandu pudichuda maattangalaa?

K: Athellaam enakku ithu maathiri sir…

O: Yeii… ennappaaa nee.. mariyatha illaama hair mathiri nu sollitta… un kalai avlo thaana?

K: Athu appdi illa, Sir. Different permutation, combination pottu hair-a mathuna pothum.. 10 enna 100 role pannuven… kudumi vechu oru vesham, mottai adichu onnu, mottai adichu mukkaadu pottu onnu, karuppu wig vechu onnu… white wig vechu onnu… btw neenga inum konjam periya budgetaa pottu English padam edukkaren nu sollunga… red, pink, gold, green nu wig maathi maathiyae pala role panniduven…

O: Illa illa, naan tamil padamae pannren… unna vechu tamil naattula otta mudiyuthaa nu paathuttu apromaa mathathellaam try pannalaam… aamaa white wig vechu thaan neraya pannitiyae…

K: Inga thaan periya twist. Intha thadava white wig vechu, coat suit pottu Bush rangela varra poren… appdiyae namma mallikava romance pannren… Iyer kudumi vechuttu apdi pannaa tensionaagiduvaanga makkal…

O: yaaru Autograph la varumae… antha ponnaa? Avala kooda vittu vekka maatiyaa nee?

K: Sir, illa sir. Naan sonnathu Mallika Sherawat.

O: Athu irukka rangeku athu vera overaa kekkumae… unna vida jaasthiya avalukku kudukkanumae

K: Appdinaa venaa ennoda 10 role la 8 role ku mattum pay pannunga… 2 role free… Antha ponnu full padathukku kooda venaam sir… chinna Bit role pottruvom…

O: Bit roleaa? Un kalai aarvatha nenachaa romba perumaiyaa irukku…

Mid way through the shooting…

O: Ennappa eppa thaan mudippa… ippa odittu irukkarathu ellaaam kadan vaangi potta kaasu… konjamaavathu padam odanum… illa naan gaali…

K: Enna Sir neenga… kavala padaatheenga.. ungalukku technique-ae puriya maattenguthu… 10 role pannrom nu solittom… satttu puttu nu wig-a maathi seekiram eduthu mudichuttom naa sandhegam varaathu? Athaan, varusha kanakkula kashtappattu eduthurukkom nu buildup kudukkanum la

O: Athukku nu evlo naal thaan buildup layae ottitu irukkarathu…

K: Mudichuduvom Sir…

O: ippa vera IPL season odittu irukku… atha nenachaale allu vuduthu… Atleast athu mudinja udanae release panniduvom… illa Kuselan vanthudum…

K: Athunaala enna…

O: Athu vanthuchunnaa aprom namma padam odrathu kashtam.. oothikuchunaa avlo thaan… Manithanai manithan nesi.. anbae sivam nu dialogue vittutu padam ellaam edutha… athellaam summaavaa? Ivlo kaasu potta enakkaaga konjam kooda kavala pada maattengara?

K: Hahahaahahhaahaha…. Pazhamozhi sonna anubavikkanum… aaraya koodaathu..

O: Hmm… en thalai ezhuthu… yaar yaar kitta ellam anubavikkanum nu irukku... btw athu ennayaa paattu... kaari thupparaanga... ivlo kaasu pottu eduthu yen nalla music director kitta kudukkala nu kekkaraanga...

K: Neenga kudukkara kaasu wig vaangarathulayum, climax-kaaga thanni vaangiyumae mudinju pochu... nalla music director kitta ponaa neraya kaasu keppaanungalae.. ippa kooda onnum illa... innum konjam kaasu kudunga... nalla musicaa pottruvom...

O: Oru padathukku ethana thadava kaasu vaanguveenga... Naan enna manushanaa.. illa machineaa...

K: Hahhaha... Comedy pannaatheenga Sir... en pada dialogue enaake solreengala... athula vera situation la varum athu...

O: Ingayum athu thaane nadakkuthu...

K: Aprom release date June 13, Friday vechuduvom..

O: Aiyooo…. Raasi illatha naal ache Sir…

K: Enakku theriyaathaa? Naan yerkanavae Black shirtkaaran nu oru image maintain panni vechrukken.. so atha maintain pannanum… neenga romba kavala padaaatheenga… padathukku perae perumal edutha avatharamaa vechurukkom.. pathaa koraikku, padathula vera perumaalayae naan thaan kaappaathurengaraengara mathiri scene vechurukkom… ellaam naan kumbudura perumal paathuppaar… neenga poi nimmathiyaa thoongunga…

O: Perumaalae.. perumaalae…

K: One sec Sir. Hello… Make up man, ayyaakku nethila perusaa 111 podu… illa illa en kitta kudu… naanae pottu viduren.. Ippdiyae sollittae ponga Sir… Padathukku nalla velambaram kedaikkum.

O: ……

P.S:

Ivar nalla padam nadikkiraar endraal atharkkaga sandhosappadubavargalil naanum oruvan. Athae samayam, ivar mokka padathil nadikkiraar endraal atharkkaga kaduppaabavargalilum naan oruvan. Engeyoo kettaa maathiri irukku la.. ;)

Ha.. ha.. Haasini!

2008-04-30T16:55:00.003+05:30

Bommarillu – a beautiful dream.

A dream so beautiful that it is so hard to believe. A boy fed up of/choked by his dad’s overbearing love falls in love with a gal who lives for herself. Again it might be because I might have read too much into Ha Ha Haasini’s character and whatever she utters. For, I would love to think of her apparent asininity as something out of choice rather than by design. I would like to think of that as a choice to retain the child in her, which requires brains as well as lots of guts. Well, to put it shortly, not a dumb blonde. Half way into the movie, Sid asks Geni how come she believes things like “you’ll get horns if get your head butted on just one side”. She just says something like “Aren’t they beautiful?” Kaathaa?! ;)

Film buffs might trash this film as just another piece of totally mindless cinema. Well, I find even such lighter films equally interesting, though in a different way, as those of the serious “critically acclaimed” genre. It is the simple difference between carefully constructed logic and a simple dream. What was and what could have been. While ‘serious, real’ films deal with the complexities/nuances of human nature such as pre/extra marital affairs and violence, those like Bommarillu are about what could have been. It is about expression of oneself. That might seem too much for a light film like Bommarillu. That said, Bommarillu scores by keeping its narration simple, and its dialogues, crisp. Especially, the exchange between Sid and Prakashraj at the end is so beautiful because of its sheer simplicity. In sum, a dream that I would like watch over and over.

Santosh Subramaniam – Bommarillu botched up.

Raja and Ravi - Born to remake successful golti films that have Siddarth. And successfully make an unthinkably dumb imitation. The telugu tunes don’t fit well and songs sound so un-Tamil. Ravi can’t emote for nuts. His voice is also a sore point. Santhaanam’s comedy was kinda enjoyable. But somehow, I started finding Premji irritating right in his second film. Enna koduma sir ithu!

Aside
Dasavatharam audio cd release function was a foolishly big ego-fest. The speakers had no other job other than blow up egos of Kamal and Kalaingar. I just don't get why Jackie Chan and Amitabh were needed in the first place. Kamal's speech was totally unpalatable even for the few minutes that I watched. Kamal again proved he has a dumb side to himself by choosing the monkey-cap music director. Why the hell did he have to do that when he had all the time and money to get ARR or at least, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy? Just beats me. With the music already declared disappointing, I hope the film doesn’t turn out to be another unprofitable extravaganza like Aalavandhaan.

Thus spake Sk

2008-03-19T09:50:00.001+05:30

More often than not, beauty, it seems, is something that is almost always in short supply.

Anjaathe

2008-03-14T14:11:00.004+05:30

It’s been long since I saw Anjaathe and decided to write about it. So I have forgotten a lot of what I initially had planned to write. Even after hearing raving reviews of the film, I wasn’t expecting too much from the movie and it turned out to be a surprisingly enjoyable experience overall. It has been quite a while I really enjoyed watching a movie. Despite few glaringly stupid moments (like the one where a cop explains to his team that they have been fooled by the villains by leading the police away from them in a totally opposite direction by letting the police “track” them via their mobile signal), the movie had quite a few ORIGINAL scenes which were kind of totally unexpected. Well, at least not something that you would normally expect in a Tamil movie. While the story, admittedly, is not entirely different, the treatment is quite refreshingly new for a tam film. In particular, the scene where all you see on the screen is just the legs of the actors. Well, this movie does it really, unlike Billa, which according to many "has taken tam cinema to Hollywood level".

The film as a whole packs a lot of surprises in terms of scenes as well as the actors chosen for the different roles. Especially Prasanna’s performance was pleasantly surprising, his terrible wig notwithstanding. One look at that horrible wig, it dawns upon you this is a film is a damn low budget one! While all that he does almost throughout the first half of the film is to just stand, head hanging down and those odd strands of that eccentric wig falling all over his face, you see him slowly transform into a totally convincing villain in the later half. That too, without raising the decibel levels and without any punch dialogues. I wonder whether Naren really “acted”, because he was bumbling in a program on Sun Music, just as he was in the movie.

And it seems Mysskin has a penchant for yellow sari: Malavika was in yellow in Vaala meenukkum and the girl in Kathaazha kannaala also is decked up in the same color. The climax was a real thriller… cat-mouse game set in a sugarcane field. A lot lot better than the supposedly “the most thrilling cop flick of 2007” – Vettaiyadu Vilayadu, which was absolute crap. That said, the film could have done without the portion that extends for really longgg after Prasanna is killed. Again, unlike VV, which had possibly the worst ever BGM for a thriller, the background music of Anjaathe was a lot intelligent and interesting. The songs weren’t bad either; at least you feel that way once you see the movie.

Equally entertaining was the crowd at Mayajaal with lots of hilarious comments all through the movie. Here’s few that I remember: When Naren washes his hands on receiving a call while eating (as we typically see in a lot of movies) “Deii… yenda enthiruchu poi kai kaluva maatiyaa? Antha saapada vera yaaravathu saapduvaangalla..” And when Ponvannan tells Naren that they will go to his house and change clothes and then go… “Appavae sonnen shirt romba gabbadikuthu… thovaichu podu nu… paaru ippa ivanum athaae thaan solraan…” And finally, my dear roommate’s gem for the opening scene where the camera is almost on the ground focusing on the clouds above for a long time… “Windows XP!!!”

Ecce Homo!

2008-02-20T14:09:00.011+05:30

Note
This post is better left unread. This article might appear to be full of snobbery, dropping names all over and everything that can apparently provide evidence for my "refined artistic tastes". So be warned. This is just about my observations and not meant to be any study/guide for appreciating art.

February 9, 2008.

Probably today was the best day in my trip here to London I guess. I visited The National Gallery near Trafalgar Square. Spent about 4 hours over there gazing at quite a few paintings from different eras. After the first half hour, I had a slight doubt whether I had taken too bad a decision, in a vain effort to just to prove, if not to others at least to myself, that I have "refined artistic" tastes and "unlike the masses" I can appreciate art. Which anyway is just BS, I know. Except for Da Vinci's most revered "Madonna on the Rocks" and another of Da Vinci's pencil sketches, I did not find anything quite interesting. In fact, I was kind of put off by most of the paintings especially because of their painstaking detail and bright colors that you find in calendar pictures. Most of the paintings were about Christ - different variations of Virgin Mary, Adoration of the Kings and Lamentation of dead Christ.

And that was until I reached the room 16, a pretty small room which had Early Rembrandt and other Dutch Landscapes. After a distasteful garishness of the previous paintings I saw, it was a delightful relief to see a few early Rembrandts. And the work that I fell in love at first sight and for which my awe is still growing, was Ecce Homo (Behold the Man), which is supposedly Rembrandt's full-scale study for an etching. Again, Ecce Home is also based on a scene from Bible, where Christ is presented to the public before his crucifixion. I couldn’t have enough of the painting even after gazing at it for about 20-25 minutes from different angles.

The striking difference between the others and Rembrandt is the amazingly sensible use of 1. Lighting 2. Space/composition 3. Subtle harmony of colors. You can see that in The Woman Taken in Adultery, A Woman bathing in a stream, Anna and the Blind Hobbit and The Lamentation over the Dead Christ.

One of the few things I wanted to do in life was to see some Van Gogh masterpieces for real. AND I HAVE DONE THAT! It was so terribly unfortunate that The National Gallery didn’t have all the pieces that I wanted to see. But, anyway... Gosh! I had goose bumps just entering hall 45 which had the Van Goghs! Among them, there were a few of his famous works – Van Gogh’s chair, Sunflowers and A wheat field, with Cypresses. It was terribly sad that I couldn’t see Cafe on Terrace or Wheatfield with crows. To me, Van Gogh is The Artist. Somehow I seem to have irretrievably fallen in love with his works - particularly because of the way he uses his brush strokes to create a sense of flow/life into his paintings like Wheatfield with crows or A wheat field with cypresses.

So what is that art does other than literally add colors to the bland walls of our houses? And given that so much subjectivity goes into creation of art, in the first place, and that we all tend to see ‘the truth’ through our colored lenses, appreciating art is, not surprisingly, even more subjective.

So, how does one say one artist is better than the other? I know I am not equipped enough to answer that. But when I just try to understand why I love one painting over another, it appears to be largely dependent on how much the viewer understands or rather identifies with the work, which I think is a better word to use here, given that almost all artists, genuine or otherwise, have always been asked “So, what do you intend to communicate in this painting?” by stupid viewers, most often in an effort just to “intelligently” tackle the artist and make him uncomfortable instead of a real wish to understand. All in the name of “understanding art”! As if the artist’s answer to their “intelligent” question would make their understanding of the painting any better.

To me, it is all about your experience. What you experience when you happen to see the work. It may appear to be too simple or plain stupid to say this. But, most often, in our efforts to “understand”, we miss the real experience. For me, art is a key. A key that opens the doors to your own experience. It is all about increasing your sensitivity or awareness. And all this might make it sound too complex, but, it is not.

P.S.

Couldn't think of a better title than what it is now. Even Nietzsche named his autobiography- Ecce Homo! Btw, the zoom function in the National Gallery website links that you would find in this post is pretty good to have a close look at the paintings...

Thus spake Sk

2008-02-19T10:12:00.000+05:30

Faith is something that you have before you start thinking.

Happy Val's day!

2008-02-14T18:36:00.003+05:30

Note: Was too tired to think of anything new to post about. So just doing something that am used to do.... ctrl c +ctrl v my post for Val's day I wrote last year. This is one post that I had real fun writing.. ;) Happy Val's day! ;)

Valentine's day a munnittu namma blog-la oru VIP guestoda interview.... Vazhakkamaa ellaa thinathukkum, be it, Independence day, Republic Day, Diwali, Pongal.. ellaathukkum ella channel-layum ethavathu marketae illaatha oru actor/actress interview thaan irukkum. This highly esteemed blog and its even more highly respected author, in line with their tradition of thinking different and intelligent, bring you, the most-intelligent souls on Mother Earth, a totally different experience for this fateful day!!!

Sari, program-ukku polaamaa? neenga ivlo neram kashtappattu yosichu vecha list-la irukkavanga yaarum illa. As we told you, this blog is Different!!! antha VIP vera yaarum illa... the balloon seller on the street...

Vaanga vaanga, vanakkam!!!
Interview-va Konjam seekiram mudichutteengannaa naan kelambuven. Time is wealthunga. Seekkiram ponaa 4 balloon serthu vithuduven. Apdiyae, innum neraya theru mudichuttu... beachukku poganum...

Unga business-a valathukka enna enna puthusaa seireenga?
Actuallaa paatheengannaa national level-la oru in-the-film promos thodarnthu pannittu irukkom. Enga promo la Shah Rukh la irunthu Jeyam Ravi varaikkum use pannirukkom.

Wow!! Shah Rukh Khan balloon vithaaraa? Nambavae mudiyalayae? Konjam puriyara maathiri sollreengalaa?
Athu illeenga. Main Hoon Na padathula paatheengannaa "Gori... Gori...", athaanga antha party song, athula paatheenganna fullaa white and red balloon use panni setting pottruppanga. Atha paathu Prabhu Deva-vum Nuvvosthanante Nenodhantanaa (happaa saami, padathukku peru vekkaaranga paaru... 7 mile neelathukku!!!) la athae maathiri pannaru. Aprom, Jeyam Raviyum avanga annan Remake Raja-vum Something Something padathulayum balloon-a use pannaanga.

Wow!! great!! Ellaa kadailayum thaan balloon kedaikuthu, avanga avangalae vaangi oothikka maattaangala? Appo unga business adi padaathaa?
Illeenga... athukku chancea illeenga.

Athu yepdi avlo sure-aa solreenga? Ethana padathula lover-oda moochu kathu irukkunnu hero kadaisi varaikkum antha balloon-a bathiramaa vechuruppaar?
Naan business nallaa pogum nu solrathukku kaaranam intha kaalathu pasangaloda intelligence thaanga kaaranam. Munna maathiri illa pasanga, neraya per MBA padichuttu thelivaayittanga. At least oru vishayathulayavathu, avanga padicha diversification principle-a apply pannraanga. Munna maathiri orey ponnukku mattum balloon kudukkarathu illa. Periya portfolio-vae vechurukkaanga. So engaloda regular customer segment la irunthu nalla demand irukkum.

In fact, we expect the number and size of such portfolios to grow manifold. We further plan to promote this with "Hearts Highness", a popular crush contest wherein we ask "how many hearts do you have?" at the end of the day and the boy/gal with the highest number of hearts, i mean heart-shaped balloons, win exciting prizes including a year's supply of balloons!!!

Aamaa, entha maathiri balloonukku neraya demand irukkum?
Heart shape la irukka balloonukku thaanga yegappatta giraakki. Athuvum red colorla irunthaa thaan vaanguvaanga. Vera colorla irunthaa vaanga maattanga.

Sari, athu yen eppovum heart shapela balloon vikkireenga? Brain shape la vikka koodaathaa?
Athaavathu, kandippa irukkunnu therinja onna kudukkalaam. Neraya perukku irukkaa, illiyaa nu theriyaatha onna epdi gift-aa kudukkarathu... Brain shape balloon kudukkarathula neraya problem... The receiver might say "Why are you giving me brains? Don't you think I have one?" or (s)he might ask "unakku thaan yerkanave athu illaennu theriyum, aprom yenga irunthu itha pudicha? enakku venaam, neeyae vechukko. unakku thaan romba useful-laa irukkum..."

Exactly!! Vera enna enna plan vechurukkeenga...unga business-a improve panna?
Enga product positioning-a konjam maathi neraya different target segments-ku cater pannra maathiri promotion pannalaamnu irukkom.

Epdi? Can you please explain?
Of course, you know who the biggest target customer segment is - the easy-to-fool young softies and their "equally intelligent" relatives in ITES sectors.We also try to target the loners with a philosophical bent with the mantra "kaayamae ithu poiyadaa, verum kaatradaitha paiyyadaa". Balloon exemplifies this important truth.

Ya, quite true. So how about people without gf/bf-s? How do you plan to cater ot their needs?
Some of what i am going to say now, i mean the positioning content, won't be suitable for children. [So the "good" people among the readers of this blog are advised to exercise their discretion and skip this answer and move on to the next question. Aprom vanthu enna paathu "ivlo kettavanaa nee?" apdinnu kekkaatheenga. Athaan sonnam la adutha questionukku pongannu... All this is the balloon seller's views.]

Of course, we plan to sell more to the winners, by highlighting the dual-purpose utility of our special balloons. For the losers, who have no gf/bf-s, we have the "Yeh dil do more" range of products. Made from imported wear and tear resistant rubber. Available in "exciting" forms. We believe this product range is going to be a rage among the Indian majority - i mean, the intelligent people who understand that a relationship with the opposite gender is essentially economic-loss making proposal and look out for smarter means to the end.

And more than that, unlike the heart-shaped balloons which are seasonally driven, we expect the "Yeh dil do more" range to a be a major stable revenue source, for we see strong demand all through the year. So you will see a lot of innovation happening here on the material technology front and design forms in the coming years.

Just one more question. You seem to know a lot of marketing stuff? How come?
Well I am a marketing prof in a MBA institute. Money i get from selling balloons is much more than what i get for a year. And more over, I get free workforce: i meant the "intelligent" people who spend lakhs and lakhs, apart from their energy for preparing for the entrance exams, to get into MBA courses, especially marketing disciplines. I just design this as part of the on-the-field experience for the marketing "studs" among my students. Btw, however hard i try, finance guys are too intelligent!!!

Ok, thanks for your valuable time, Mr.Prof!!!

Thus spake sk

2008-02-07T11:45:00.001+05:30

God is a habit picked up unknowingly very early in our lives. And just like any old habit, it dies hard. It takes time and effort to get out of it.

Calvin's Corner

2008-01-04T18:46:00.000+05:30

Hey folks,
Happy new year!!
Oh yeh, yeh, a belated one... fine. And what better way to start the year with one of my fav C&H strips! Especially one that is so profound! That too, something that is line with what i already said here.

C'mon, let's fight!

2007-12-26T14:27:00.000+05:30

Try answering this pretty straightforward question before you read on.

“When do you think you really know a person? When you both are having a great time together? When you have a fight with him/her? When he/she is by your side when you are down?”

So, now that you have gotten your answer, let me go on with mine. Yesterday, I happened to watch Matrix Reloaded on Zee Studio. There is this scene where Neo goes to meet the Oracle and on his way, meets Seraph, the personal bodyguard of the Oracle. And Seraph asks for forgiveness and starts attacking Neo, even before Neo realizes it. After a few moments of breathtaking stunts, he says

"You do not truly know someone until you fight them."

How true! Hit the nail bang on its head! By now, the intelligent souls among you, and which I think is almost all of you as evident from you being the readers of this blog, would immediately recognize the hard hitting truth of this statement. Nevertheless, I don’t intend to have this post ended here.

Now, I would rather say we do not know even ourselves until we fight someone. You can get to know a lot about someone, including yourself, by just watching them for a few minutes when they are in a fight. For the simple reason that a fight is when one is really exposed and how one behaves at that time says a lot about him. That is exactly when he loses his head and how fast he can get that thing back on his shoulders depends a lot on what he really is. It reveals his strength of character as well as the concern he does/doesn’t have for the other.

Anger is the emotion that is the hardest to express I guess. Or rather the most unintelligently expressed. No surprise there, anyway, for we lose our heads then. Anger unleashes a energy that we wouldn’t normally have. And it has to be spent. The problem here is the confusion that arises when we are told: “Be yourself. Don’t control your emotions, particularly anger. Repressing anger is dangerous.”

But the catch lies in how you choose to express your anger. Do you take it on the person who caused it? If you choose to do that, will you be able to choose what you say and how you say that, so that you don’t end up setting off a chain reaction/ vicious loop that harms you both? Would you feel vindicated only if you see him sulk (even better, crying) or when you see him coming back to you (preferably with a smile)?

That is not all. What happens after a fight also matters a lot. If at all you feel vulnerable after a fight and feel you might lose the other person, then right away know that that is your best chance to judge how far and how long the relationship is going to last. It is your chance to show that you understand and provide the space for the other.

However, as I said in my earlier post, there is also a possibility that providing space might be mistakenly construed as aloofness/ indifference. You got to be right there, yet invisible. Be present, but not intrusive. It is a very fine balance.

All said, just like alcohol, many other things, including fights, in moderation, are good. However, just a word of caution.

வம்பு சண்டைக்கு போகாதீங்க,
வந்த சண்டைய விடாதீங்க!

Happy fighting! ;)

Billa – Nil-aa?

2007-12-21T14:56:00.000+05:30

Yaarukkum theriyaatha mathiri copy adikkaravan buthisali. Aanaa, itha thaan copy adikkaraen nu sollittu copy adikkaravan thairiyasaali.

Unfortunately, with Billa, Vishnuvardhan proves himself to be neither of these. The hero of the film is Nirav Shah, the lensman, and to an extent, Anuvardhan, the costume designer and wife of the director. Except for few "inspired" pieces of BGM, Yuvan was more of a disappointment compared to his scores for other supposedly "normal run-of-the-mill" films.

If at all Filmfare comes up with an award for “the worst looking female artiste”, I am pretty much sure that would go to Namitha. Though Nayan, on the other hand, looks hot showing ample cleavage in real skimpy outfits, has a real tough time walking around with her high heels that are really really high. Especially, in the particular scene where she walks on the Polis car to save Billa, when she has so much space to walk on the side. Attitude kaattraangalaamaa… Enna koduma sir ithu! One of my dear friends told me that she must have fallen off the car at least 11 times while shooting that scene.

If at all you shift+del the scenes where Thala does nothing except to stand or walk, the film would be over in not more than 10 mins. Well, that might be a too optimistic estimate. Thala could have given some respect to his audience and put in some efforts to talk properly, leave alone acting, instead of putting on some more weight.

Notwithstanding the glaring loopholes in the original (more on that later), the original remake (sounds like an oxymoron huh!) was better I think. Ajith can’t walk, leave alone dance, can’t talk – I mean like you would expect a stylish Don would do. Now to the loophole I was talking about: I just fail to understand how you can just turn a babbling idiot into a Don over a few months of “training”. How can he just like that acquire “the survival instincts” which the Don would have acquired over several years? I should say Farhan Akhtar kind of plugged that yawning hole in his remake, twisting the “original” Don to keep the Don alive. The Don kills Vijay, who was supposed to impersonate him, and then goes on to act as Vijay masquerading as Don. Now, that’s what I call a real TWIST!

And with such films, you expect to see some attitude on the main characters in terms of the dialogue content as well as delivery. But, Billa fails pathetically and falls flat on that count. In fact, at times Ajith makes even a passable “punch” line a totally hilarious one. Just before intermission, he supposedly remembers everything about himself and says “I’m back.” It sounded like “Naan bekku.”

Yaarukkum theriyaathunnu nenachuttu copy adikkarathu kevalam. Aanaa, itha thaan copy adikkaren nu oorukkae sollittu, appuramum olungaa copy adikkalanaa athu atha vida kevalam.

Billa – romba dullaa…

love chokes

2007-12-06T13:52:00.000+05:30

Thanks to innumerable oft-repeated forwards that clog our mailboxes and “wise” status messages on gtalk, it is common knowledge that the one who hurts you the most is the one you love the most. But common sense, if any little shred of it is left in you, would say that should not have been the case, for love is almost an antonym of hurt. How then would you explain this apparent contradiction?

The answer probably lies in the way we see love. Relationships are all about sharing spaces, particularly emotional, and not invading each other’s spaces. But, invade we do - that too, so righteously, without even thinking about it for a second. For we take it as our right, sanctioned by just being in a relationship, however fleeting it is, to load up our expectations about the other person.

As I said in my old post, the existence of love is contingent upon the extent to which the expectations are met. Love is all about managing expectations. More often than not, we tend to force our expectations on the other. And we end up choking the very person we supposedly “love”. The more you “love”, the higher the chance that the other will be choked to death by “your love”.

And the irony is increasingly friends, who are supposedly “loving angels”, are rapidly taking over other relationships to win the hideous title of “The Biggest Chokers”. Probably large part of the problem lies in the very tag attached to a friend - “the one who listens to you without any judgment”. We are fooled into thinking that listening is essentially obedience. No wonder then that "perceived" disobedience leads to punishment and hurt!

Now, let me add to the heap of numerous platitudes that use the syntax ‘This is like that. Blah blah…”

Relationships are like trees. They need space – both sides: above and below the ground. The more they have space, the more they grow. So if you want your tree to grow, break the pot and plant it in the ground. Give it more space. If you insist on retaining it in the pot, you are stunting its growth.

That said, there is also a possibility that providing space might be mistakenly construed as aloofness/indifference, which might kill the tree straightaway. I for one would prefer giving space and ending up without a tree rather than having just the plastic "beauty" of a bonsai in the place of the full blown magnificence of a tree. It is up to you to decide whether you want bonsais! A tree is a tree is a tree.

Vilaichalin sumaiyai naan
vithaiyin muthugil yettruvathillai.
Vithai valarattum virumbiya vannam.

Tale i love the most!

2007-11-20T16:03:00.001+05:30

One fine, sunny day. On his way to take over the world, Alexander just sees a naked man sunbathing on the banks of a river. He was just swept off his feet by that man’s radiance (Well, this is not to imply anything about Alex’s sexual orientation).

So much so that, Alex went straight to the man and said “Sir, I am immensely impressed by your being, and I would like to do something for you. Is there something that I can do for you?”

And that man, most probably the only one whom Alex, the haughty prince of Greece, himself called “Sir” was Diogenes.

Pat came the reply. "Dude, just stand to the side. You are blocking the sun! That's all. Nothing else do I need."

Alex sighed, "If I have another chance to come to the earth, I will ask God, instead of making me Alexander again, to make me Diogenes."

Rolling over on the warm sand, Diogenes laughed, "You can become a Diogenes right now, right here. Who is preventing you right now? Where are you going?"

“I am going to conquer the whole world."

"And then what are you going to do?"

And Alex said, "Then I will rest."

Now, sitting up, Diogenes laughed again.

"Are you mad? Can’t you see that is exactly what I am doing right now? Who told you that before resting, you have to conquer the world? And I tell you: if you don't rest now, then you never will. Something or other will always remain to be conquered... and time is fleeting. You will die in the middle of your journey. Everybody dies in the middle of the journey."

And poor Alex died in the middle on the way back home from India.

Dude, Where's Your Engine?

2007-11-12T22:35:00.000+05:30

I have always been intrigued by tales of people who have an absolute disregard for the disconcerting prospect of death, how much ever short lived their disrespect for death is. Mind you, this doesn’t in any way refer to those sick souls with suicidal tendencies, who are driven by fear. Rather this post is about that rare breed of people who have an exactly opposite mindset. While the first lot is those being chased to death by life, the latter is those who chase after life.

When you are able to give a nasty look at death and have a good laugh at its inevitability, it just bloats up your ego so much big that you feel like God. In his final moments on the cross, Jesus was just a man when he asked “Father, why me?” But, the moment he realized “Sorry Father. You can’t be wrong”, he was one with Him.

This is all about those who have consciously tried to delete the very word “safety” from their dictionaries. I would rather say it is a deeper exploration of the theme of my previous post – travel. The most intriguing part of the story is the reason(s), if at all there is any, that drives such thirsty travelers to take the road less traveled or rather the one never traveled. If there is any such reason(s), is it worthwhile to think about it, leave alone follow it? Is it wise enough to leave the known confines of family/society for that apparent foolishness? What sets an adventurer apart from a madman? Or is it just that absolute adventure is misconstrued as mere madness? While I can’t say for sure that theirs is the best way to be/live, I certainly feel they who seek the unknown “live” more than those who settle for the comfort of the known.

What drives such souls? What makes them go after life, the search which ends not till the last breath, unlike the others who morbidly wait for Mr Yamadharmaraja to visit them? Are they pulled by the lure of the unknown rather than driven by the boredom of the known? A passable answer would be that they have got so much energy inside them that they find “the known” severely lacking to provide them with satisfying ways to expend it here and now. So the search for the alternative channels becomes inevitable for them. The hardships of the search make the explorer realize the unexplored terrains both within himself and without. The more you explore, the more you feel stronger.

How do you find your own internal engines and kick start them? Probably a bit of madness might help to prime the engine. Once it gets started, I believe it can be made to keep running with minimum effort, for it seems to be a virtuous cycle. The more you expend the energy, the more you create it inside. Yeah, I know it goes against the conventional wisdom of the law of conservation of energy. But it seems to work that way. Probably, it is not so much about the creation of energy per se. Rather, it is all about the alternative utilization of energy that might have been wasted in other boring conventional ways. (Hopefully, more on this some time later in another such long drab post.)

But, how is this very search justified? Do we really have to start our engines, if at all we are able to find them? Well, as I had said earlier in the tailpiece of this post, what we go through is more important than where we end up.

Aside
This post was inspired by the movie "Into the wild", which I am dying to see. Hope it lives up to my expectations! Please don't forget to read the synopsis at the site!

Travel = Living?

2007-10-26T15:27:00.000+05:30

Have you ever at least observed, leave alone thinking about it, that more often than not, we tend to feel closer to people after going on a trip with them? I am pretty much sure that you must have come across quite a few instances during your college days, where new “pairs” form or old pairs break up for new partners, leaving some poor souls in lurch. All after THAT college tour! Apdi tourukku approm thanni adikka aarambicha pasanga/ponnunga ethana ethana!!! ;)

Not just romance, but also friendship also takes a different color and strength after an outing. Have you ever wondered why? They say relationships take time to build. Speaking relativistically, what happens during a tour is that you are accelerating that process. Remember? According to relativity theory, time is another dimension of space. By traveling across physical space, you make up for the extra time that would be needed for the relationship to grow.

What essentially happens behind this common phenomenon has got a lot to do with our inhibitions. After multiple years of mind-numbing education, we tend to seek reasons to let go of ourselves; we need "reasons" to break the invisible barriers we have built around us. And given a different setting/background, it is easier for us to let our guards down. A different place helps us to let open the windows to our own selves. That helps us to see more of ourselves as well as others.

Come to think of it, all that makes the difference is how much we observe. When we travel, we tend to observe a lot, particularly because we are not in a mad rush as we have “apparently nothing worthwhile” to do.

If you have ever felt your life “richer” after a trip, it is all because of the simple fact that you have literally “filled” yourself with so many things that you observed.

Observation is the best antidote for the numbing grayness of life. In fact, that very grayness is due to the lack of observation. Typically, when we travel, we tend to carry the “cozy cubicle” along with us: stay in star hotels, travel first class or at least 2 tier AC and drive in AC vehicles. And when you are in the same “cubicle” of your life, you tend to lose your skills to observe, which made you look at everything with wonder in your eyes when you were a child.

Being a addict of the Travel & Living stuff (especially lonely planet/globetrekker – Ian Wright, Justine … ooohhh Shapiro and Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations), I am all for venturing out at least a bit out of our cozy cubicles, if not outright break out of it. Instead of eating that dumb buffet, get out and have a chaat on the street; briskly walk through the bazaars instead of lazing around in the well-lit showrooms; get the flavor and taste of the place you go to. Damn sure, you would feel “full” of life! ;)

In fact, you don’t have to go too far to break the tedium of your life! Just stop and have a tea at that corner tea stall on the way that you have been riding through every day but you never bothered to stop at. Mind you, the grayness is due to the “been there, done it all” attitude, which essentially is out of the “very predictable routine” of your life.

So, plan chaos.

Aside:

Interesting movies based on travel: Motorcycle Diaries (fantastic one on Che Guevara's early days) and our own "anbe sivam"! Please let me know of your other recommendations! ;)

Will the real dumb crappy please stand up?

2007-09-24T14:01:00.000+05:30

We live in an age of experts, most often self-proclaimed and self-hypnotized, who can discourse on anything and everything. You can find them all around you. They are on the TV, 24 by 7, in the papers and unfortunately, in your offices too, sharing the cubicle with you. To the greenhorns among you: beware of such creatures and stay as far as possible to save your senses, whatever little you have. For these guys are, as Deepak, my ex-roommate at BIM, would fondly put it, “All fart and no shit”.

That said, we have no other option but to live with Gas, physical as well as figurative. If you have any doubts, borrow a clip from your mom and try having it on your nose for 10 minutes. To know the inevitability of ‘figurative’ gas, a quick trip to your local library would be more than sufficient. Life without God is possible, but without Gas? Hahaha. If you are discerning enough, you would know that God is a special case of ‘figurative’ Gas. Okay. Now that you have perfectly experienced the criticality of Gas for our lives, let us get to the 101s of how to live with Gas.

In the longstanding tradition of this blog to impart unparalleled wisdom to its readers, this post too is about to do exactly the same. Hop on! Now, towards the light of enlightenment!

The key to survival in such a Gaseous world is to the ability to discern between the nature of gases: to know the essential gases from ideal ones, the noble from the toxic. Before we get any further into the muzzier world of figurative gas/intellectual crap (just ‘crap’ from here on), getting a few basic definitions right is in order. In essence, crap is fun, if both the one who talks crap (crapper from now on) and his audience know it is crap and can treat it like it is.

Based on the ability to identify crap and the intent/attitude of the crapper, we can identify four types:

Clueless crappers: These are among the hopeless lot. They are so dumb that they themselves don’t realize all they say is crap. Despite their innumerability, they are less harmful compared to the next lot.

Cocky crappers: These are the most dangerous ones, because they believe in their own crap. To talk crap, knowing that it is crap is one thing. But to believe in one’s own crap is quite another. They know that what they talk is crap, but they steadfastly believe in it and more than that, want others to do the same. And to argue with these guys is hell.

More often than not, you can identify such Cocky crappers when it comes to criticizing art. Just a sample: to make you wiser. Listen to them talk about cinema: These apparent heirs of Aristotle want tighter screenplays and of all, logic, in all films they see. In their relentless pursuit of “intellectual high ground”, they tend to crystallize their brains so much so that they leave you wondering whether all they have inside their skulls is more of osseous stuff. In short, boneheads. If you are perceptive, you can see that these wannabe intellectuals try to earn brownie points by putting down others. If you have come across such Cocky crappers and have any interesting ways to deal with such souls, please share with the readers of this blog.

Crafty crappers: Such people cleverly employ the art of crap to manipulate the dumb millions that dot Planet Earth, particularly the Clueless crappers. The places where you can most often find such wily creatures are behind microphones – more often on grandly decorated podiums. Yeh, you got it right! Politicians, Professors and Philosophers. So now you know whom you should not listen to. And should you be made to sit in their audience, better shut down your systems and sleep off.

Cool crappers: What sets this adorable bunch of people, which the author is also part of, apart from the rest is that they talk crap just for the fun of it. Because of the rarity of such souls, most often, they are mistaken for other wily crapper categories.

Aside:

To avoid crap is impossible, for it is all pervasive. It is all about being open to challenges to one’s ideas. The gravest danger lies in taking one’s own opinions to be facts. It is essential to qualify whatever you hear/say. Who said it is as important, if not more than, what is being said. Whenever things appear complex, break it down: your English grammar exercises at school such as the “fact/opinion” or the 5Ws (what, who, why, where, whom) would be of great help.

Crap is complex, but truth is simple. Do talk crap, but don't forget to wrap it properly. After all, wrapped properly, you can sell any crap: election manifestos, "critically acclaimed" films (Mani Ratnam to Mel Gibson), all philosophy/self-help stuff (Paul Coelho to Robin Sharma), Harry Potter series, and the list continues.

And when in doubt, think simple.

Elementary, My Dear Watson!

Dump ur memories!!!

2007-09-18T15:55:00.000+05:30

I had originally thought of calling this post “The science of forgetting”, which would have been as deeply meaningful as all that follows but so drab that it probably would have let you continue in your blissful ignorance. So the new title – a call for action like that of Ulysses’ call to his men “To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield.”

The most oft repeated yet least understood philosophical tagline is Carpe Diem – Pluck/seize the day. Live the moment! It seems impossible to do that when you have your memories intact, for the simple reason that you or rather your mind, your personal database management system (pDMBS), is loaded with so many GBs of old, dusty memories which are instantaneously retrieved based on the tags generated for the current situation and compared with ‘now’, to make you miserable. To put it in simple terms, you are overloaded with your past! Though your gurus wouldn’t ask you to be a ghajini, remembering not more than 15 min of your past, they put it rather more poetically and beautifully - “Be like a child”.

Becoming a child is one of those successfully marketed philosophical sutra. More often than not, we tend to fondly romanticize the “good old days of our childhood” and go gaga over the “absolute bliss and freedom” that we enjoyed then. Were we really “happy and free” children? An utterly honest answer would be “No” and a workable one would be “Not always”. This apparent bliss of childhood is rather a result of selective filtering and processing of the data that was available. Basically, we tend to remember the “good/emotionally pleasing” memories of our early days.

So when do we lose “the child inside us”? It is when our memories start working full steam and when we lose our control on what we choose to remember. To be precise, it is when we unconsciously choose not to actively control what we remember. In the pursuit of “reality”, we cram our minds with all kinds of memories – more often, we store the most unpleasant ones, that too indelibly by consistently reinforcing those memories.

Life would be a lot simpler if we know what not to remember and choose to forget them. Sounds too simple huh? Yeh, most often, truth is so simple that its very simplicity leads us away from it. Let me explain.

Human memory is not as efficient in storage as those that man himself created. Unlike your computer’s hard disk, the data-write speeds of your brain are pretty low. Probe deeper, you will find that your memory acts more like a volatile storage device, particularly in the short term and thankfully so. It needs be powered/reinforced to move the short term data to the dusty archives, where it is stored for a longer time.

Reinforcement – there lies the key. So forgetting is all about choosing not to reinforce. You can choose what to reinforce and what not to. So you can choose not to reinforce the memory of how unceremoniously you were turned down by that horrible female when you finally made yourself propose to her. Or you can choose not to reinforce the cold reaction from your darling when you went out with a new friend of yours.

But, you ask, Why at all should I make that choice? Better make it for yourself, before your faulty pDMBS makes it for you.

As Abraham Maslow put it elegantly "We can consider the process of healthy growth to be a never ending series of free choice situations, confronting each individual at every point throughout his life, in which he must choose between the delights of safety and growth, dependence and independence, regression and progression, immaturity and maturity."

So where’s your progress report?

Caste: Experiment in Evolution? 2

2007-08-28T16:00:00.000+05:30

As I said before, evolution is essentially every being's response to the environment. So to seclude the superior gene, it is essential to keep the laboratory conditions under control. By providing the signal with as low noise as possible, varnasharama tries to create the conditions for the "superior gene" to evolve.

While the effect of geography on physiology is pretty obvious, the effect of caste on psychology is not so apparent. More so after it had become laughing stock, particularly because of the distasteful dialogues in tamil/Indian films: "Kavundanukku maanam thaanda perusu. Kudutha vaakka kaappaatha uyira kooda viduvaan." But, consider this: caste and attendant customs/culture carries subliminal messages that form an important aspect of our learning and hence, our attitudes too. Now, seemingly absurd statement like "Enna verum 38 kilo thaane nu paakkuriya? Verum body weighta vechu thappaa kanakku podatha di. En odambula odarathu Thevar raththam di." acquires a different color.

In a sense, casteism is broadly in sync with Frederick Taylor's Principles of Scientific Management and Division of Labor. Broadly, the castes have been defined based on the work the people in that community do. It is very important to remember that the defining feature of castes is the work. By imposing strict rules, the system tries to maintain the environment as constant as possible and tries to keep the noise out, all in an effort to create "the better worker". Viewed through this paradigm, the water-tight compartmentalization of castes acquire unforeseen ground for their "imposed" sanctity.

Thus, marriages within the caste ensured a minimum workable compatibility between the couple. But, all this is not relevant, once the public school started replacing the family (read caste) as the source of "education". Now, armed with new knowledge, people are employed outside the definitions of the work according to their caste. With this, the caste should be changed as the work has changed: so we have TCSian, Wiproite and Infosyian. Again, the compatibility between two Wiproites is moot. Even if the compatibility is great, it is better not to get married, unless you want to ruin your not-so-spicy office life even further. Probably, the "perils of marrying your colleague" requires another long post.

Now, most of you would have realized the hopelessness of the situation you are in. No matter how hard to try to find the "best" partner, your signals to genes are going to get distorted by the information deluge around us and the odds of getting a "better" offspring are stacked against you. Pray to probability.

George Bernard Shaw was approached by a famous actress.
"Mr.Shaw, we should have a child. Wouldn't it be wonderful if it was born with your brains and my beauty?"

"But have you considered, Madam," he replied, "how terrible it would be for the poor creature if it were born with my beauty and your brains?"

A little longer disclaimer...

This is NOT to justify, in whatever little way, the atrocities committed in the name of caste. I know there is a big fallacy in attributing such "superior, scientific meaning" to anything, let alone casteism, post facto. Also, I have conveniently avoided a look at the innumerable subdivisions in the caste system.

That said, this is in no way to provide any reason, however flimsy it might be, against inter-caste marriages, for the simple yet unavoidable fact that the evolution cannot be done in vitro: the lab conditions cannot be replicated in the real flesh and blood world. To keep the environment constant is impossible.

Caste: Experiment in Evolution?

2007-08-19T17:48:00.000+05:30

Was Varnashrama Dharma a quest for a super gene? Was it to create our own indie versions of Superman or X-men? What if Varnashrama was a countrywide mega experiment in evolution gone haywire?

The varnas are more about psychological tendencies of man than anything else says Osho in one of his discourses. It is based on broad classification of the elements that man tends to seek satisfaction from: while a Kshatriya seeks power, a Brahman runs behind knowledge, a Vaishya craves wealth, and a Sudra seeks bliss from creation/work. Call it our own Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Mind you, this categories are not cast in iron, they had gates in between one another, albeit very narrow and tightly guarded.

Before we go on, let me state whatever little I understand of evolution in my own simplistic way. So, Evolutionary Biologists out there, please keep your complex theories to yourselves. I very well know you are intelligent enough to guess that I am politely asking you to shut your traps. ;)

Imbarrmaeshion is wealth. And much more. Evolution is all about information. It is essentially "our response" to the information we get from the environment. Genes carry the blueprint for our bodies - how tall I should be, how fair my complexion should be or in short, should I like Keanu Reaves or Koundamani. But regarding the intelligence levels being determined by genes, I have my own doubts, because I believe the IQ is more about learning ability, which again I believe is not solely determined by the genes.

Learning brings about a lot of observable psychological changes in a relatively shorter time span, but physiological changes takes eons to come about. That's because the information has to be routed through genes. And basically, genes are dumb things. Probably dumber than your managers. Remember? It took several centuries for our ancestors to tell their own genes that their tails are useless, so shed them and start growing that mushy grey thing inside their skulls.

When we have such dumb things as our bosses, I don't think I have to overemphasize the need for CLARITY in communication. The caste system tries to pass on the signals to our genes with minimum distortion possible. These signals carry information about the environment we are in, the nature of work we do and a lot more, which prods the genes to decide whether we should have webbed feet or bigger lungs. So, the caste system is essentially a high-fidelity communication system.

Inter-caste marriages are against evolution, as they distort the signals to the genes. You said BS? Read on.

To be continued...

Chak De

2007-08-17T14:32:00.000+05:30

Yesterday would be easily one of the most interesting days in my life. Well, I got the first free service (Engine oil billable to customer) for my new Avenger. Right after that, loads of “designer droppings” for free, thanks to all the birds in that corner tree in the Satyam parking lot. Of course, you guessed it right: these certainly are not among the interesting things that happened yesterday. Chak De India was there among the things that raised my happiness quotient, though not exactly at the top of the list. ;)

Bollywood seems to be carrying out interesting experiments these days. Not many “movie buffs/purists” would agree. While we had the sixty-four, still sexy Big B romancing the lustrous Tabu in Cheeni Kum not so long ago, here we have the King Khan himself coming out with Chak De, surrounded by 16 girls. And God!! Those gals with SRK are not in bikinis, but in some drab blue hockey gear.

However, some time into the movie, you feel you are going through an emotional saga of the triumph of collective human spirit (to be specific the spirit of Indian women). Almost all the gals he has for company, except for the gorgeous Preeti Sabharwal (anyway my vote goes to the dusky Vidhya Kapoor – more on her later), are the ones who you wouldn’t have a second look at. Delightful performances by the whole girl team easily endear them to you. Particularly, the tomboy, Komal Chautala from Haryana, whose dialogues I never understood. Yet, she was so adorable. And also the rich Preeti Sabharwal (who is in love with a star cricketer), Punjabi kudi Balbir Kaul and Sui Moi from Jharkand are also unforgettable. (Proof? I could remember so many names after watching the movie. Need any more?)

And then, the Captain of the Indian Women’s hockey team, the just-married Vidhya Sharma. I still have no clue what makes me fall for someone like Vidhya, who has a glimpse of sadness, strength, conviction, all together, in her eyes. Probably the same thing that makes me go weak at my knees whenever I see Rani Mukherji on the screen. Hmmm.

Shah Rukh’s histrionics and predictable story line notwithstanding, the movie packs a lot of pace, spiced up with patriotism and some inspiring dialogues. SRK’s idea of “serious acting” doesn’t seem to go very much beyond having a stubble. That said, his conviction in the role is apparent through out the film. Though he wouldn’t have charged any lesser for his appearance in this movie, that he chose to do a film knowing thoroughly well that he would be at the background with no songs, leave alone item numbers, and more than anything, no shapely heroines (note the use of multiples) in skimpy clothes to dance with is just amazing. Still, King Khan has a point to prove and he does it convincingly. Kudos to you, SRK!!!

Thus spake Sk...

2007-07-19T09:10:00.000+05:30

Heart is that part of the mind where memory has failed.

Post Background:
"If u have reasons for liking someone, then you are using your mind.
But if you like someone for no reason, then you are using your heart."
- a sms forward

Uravugal Sirukathai

2007-07-11T12:36:00.000+05:30

The title says it all. But, I am so bored that I am going to continue to add fluff till I run out of energy or someone buzzes me or I am called for lunch. Moreover my trips to several towns across Tamil Nadu to attend about eight weddings last month aren’t helpful either. Rather they made me realize the acutely short lives of our relationships.

More often than not, we tend to think of our lives as one of those TV soaps whose end is nowhere near in sight and that we have time to add chapters later to make up for the ones lost on the way. Seldom do we realize that it is string of short stories connected in space and time by what is defined to be our ‘egos’.

Mind you, relationships are made out of the stuff that resides in your memory. It is on strings of these memories, albeit colored by your egos, that relationships are built. So the better each byte of these memories is, the stronger the relationships are. And it takes a lot of creativity (not in the regular sense but to be sensitive to the moment and be able to be original in your response) to make every moment count and thereby make relationships memorable.

Seems a philosopher named Kant had written volumes about human tendency to invariably relate to things in terms of time and space. More often than not, we tend to assume that we got more-than-required, if not unlimited, time with us. This patently erroneous assumption lulls us into a pitiable state where we continue to fail to make every moment count. That leaves us with loads of insipid if not outright repulsive stories and then we complain.

Let us blow a K.I.S.S. (Keep It Short and Sweet or Keep It Short, Stupid) to ourselves and try to make our short stories a lot more interesting! Let’s find the Gods (in the sense of Creator) within!

Carpe diem fellas!!

Next:
Back to The SK-ool
Master SK speaks on how to K.I.S.S., personal bubbles and a lot more!

Shriya Sinks Pfizer!!!

2007-06-22T12:19:00.001+05:30

Source: "Shreya" Sathiyan

Thus spake Sk...

2007-06-21T12:41:00.000+05:30

Being young is all about thinking less and less
- about what others think.

Thus spake Sk...

2007-06-15T09:13:00.001+05:30

If this is how it feels like,
then, love is hell.

Jarugandi.. jarugandi...

2007-06-12T16:06:00.000+05:30

There is nothing to lose except Time. And there is a lot to gain.

Go to places you wanted to go to, but never did. Go out, talk to people you wanted to talk to, but hardly did. They may be here with you today. You may not find them by your side when you want to. For there is little time left, dear friend! The prospect of death puts everything into perspective.

“Unheard melodies are sweeter!” Damn! What are the ears for then? Songs are meant to be heard, words are to be said. Sing your heart’s songs loud and clear!

Let go! Talk crap, have fun like a fool! For those moments are more memorable! (yeh, intelligent exchanges require several GBs of memory while the not-so-intelligent stuff require only a few bytes! So don't clog your memory and overload your system!)

The clock is ticking. You he(a)re?

Why are you still carrying the girl?

2007-06-07T12:51:00.001+05:30

One day, Master SK and his disciple Saw-Raw were on their way to The SK-ool, after trying to impart some intelligence to the idiots of nearby village. As usual, the unstoppable Saw-Raw continues to strain his brain and pose “tough” questions.

“Vara vara, neenga overaa kadalai podreenga. Yen enna maathiri content-oda ponnunga kooda pesa maattengareenga?”

Pinna content-oda pesi unna maathiri Raw-Saw mathiri mokka poda solriyaa? Idam, porul, yeval paathu thaan content-oda pesanum. Un kitta naan eppavavathu content-oda pesirukkanaa sollu. Annaikku oru naal, ji-Know oru Confucius-oda quote sonna. Do you remember?

“Ethu?”

Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level and beat you with experience. So that is exactly why I don’t talk with content most often. Moreover, if you talk with content to them, they will think that they are also, as intelligent as, if not more than, you. And obviously you know that no one is as intelligent as you. So why give them even a slim chance to think so? So don’t talk content, talk crap just like you do with me.

“Aprom, ponnunga enna muttaalunnu nenaikka arambichaanganna, how will I be able get a gal?”

Hahaha, Don’t worry Saw-Raw. Ponnungalukku theriyum nu solara aambalaingala vida theriyaathu nu solra aambalaingala thaan pudikkum. You know why? They feel insecure with intelligent guys, because these guys make them realize their lack of it. Ithukku innum vilakkam venumna namma SK-ool la rettai piravinga irukkaanga illa. Vela vetti illaama anga anga kuli thondi copper thedaraen, gold thedaren nu velayaadittu iruppaangale. Avanga kitta kelu.

“You mean, naa(n)-Veen and shoe-Boo?”

Yeh, right. Athulayum naa(n)-Veen has a lot more expertise and experience in this Matter. He knows more than 64 arts.

Meanwhile, they come across a stream and it seemed the water level had risen after they crossed it the day before on their way to the village. And the small, dilapidated wooden bridge that used to stand there had been washed away.

“Thala, anga paarunga. Shriyavayum, Asinayum sethu panna mathiri oru statue nikkuthu.”

Irunthuttu poguthu. Namakkenna atha pathi. Namma velaya pathuttu polaam vaa.

“Cha, enna manushan neenga. Paavam antha ponnu, stream-a cross panna mudiyaama thavichittu nikkuthu. Naan poi help panna poren. Neenga vanthaalum sari, varalannaalum sari.”

As Saw-Raw approaches the Shriya-Asin Club-edit remix, she briskly walks to the Master and starts talking.

“Hi Master. I can’t cross the stream without getting wet completely. Ungala paathaa romba nallavar maathiri theriyuthu. Can you please carry me across the stream?”

Being the kindest human being that he is, Master SK agrees after thinking for a few minutes. Saw-Raw rummages through his backpack to find anything sharp. Meanwhile, the Master lifts the gal on his shoulders and carries her across the stream. She thanks him and leaves. Saw-Raw crosses the stream and joins his Master. So unexpected of Saw-Raw, he keeps silence and walks behind the Master till they reach the gates of The SK-ool. He stops the Master.

“Neenga pannathu konjam kooda sari illa. Yen antha ponnukku help panneenga. How can you claim to be a “Master” after you have touched a gal?”

“Saw-Raw, I left the gal right there on the banks of the stream. Why are you still carrying her in your head?”

The SK-ool

2007-06-04T05:31:00.000+05:30

One fine, breezy evening. Bhagwan Sk is busy preparing for his exam. His prime disciple Saw-Raw walks in with others - yew-Sha, ma-Haa, gaya-Tree, ji-Know.

Saw-Raw, yew-Sha, ma-Haa, gaya-Tree and ji-Know: (in chorus) "Pranaam Bhagwan!"

Great to see you all. So what brings you all here to The SK-ool?

Saw-Raw: We would like to get some gyan on your Kids??? post. You say having kids is choice one has to make based on 'evolved thinking'? Don't you think procreation is man's nature? In what way is the 'evolved thinking' better?

What is nature? It is one of the most abused and misunderstood word. A weaver bird builds its nest. Would you agree if i call it natural?

Saw-Raw: yeah.

Then, in the same way, man building skyscrapers is also natural - part of evolution. Man, through a process of intelligent learning over generations and generations, has acquired skills and intelligence to do what he does. So intelligence is part of nature just like sex is. How do you say it is unnatural to question the need for procreation? The decision to have kids is contingent upon a lot of reasons - some obvious, some not so obvious. But everything happens for a reason. All I am asking you to do is to question the reasons behind whatever you do. Be it falling in love or having kids.

Saw-Raw: But if you have read Kant, you would realize that there is no point in thinking. Every thought framework is too limited in its ability to deal with reality. All reason is farce.

All frameworks are essentially limited as they are abstractions of reality. Agreed. But that doesn't take away the need to think and form frameworks. That a tool is less effective to deal with something doesn't mean that there is no need for tools. In fact, it calls for a more intense, intelligent search to make the tool more effective or invent a new tool. Absolute is an illusion - shaped by the tools you have.

yew-Sha: But how can you make preposterous statements such as kids are extensions of your egos. How can you call it "The Truth"? Why do want to hurt the sentiments of people who have kids? How can you say it is out of boredom and lack of passion? People have kids as a sign of their love for each other.

Ego is the basic identity of an individual. Your whole world is defined based on "I". Take out the "I", your whole world disappears! So how can you do anything or even exist without ego. Ego is there, however subtle and invisible it is. Mind you, we are talking about the normal humans and not talking about the "ego-less" ones like Buddha.

yew-Sha: Ego and greediness are two different things. Naan, enadhu-nu solradhu ego. Enaku, enakkaga-nu solradhu possessiveness.

Again yew-Sha, you are looking at the symptoms. You are looking at leaves and branches of a tree forgetting the root and the seed. Don't you see that the root of all that possessiveness is the ego - the "I"? All our "happiness" comes out of the gratification of our egos. Happiness or sadness can be reduced/increased if we think about it.

Saw-Raw: But everything is in pairs in nature. Day-night, male-female, yin-yang. So why would I need to short circuit one? I can enjoy my "sadness" as I enjoy my "happiness". That's what even Osho says.

I think you probably misunderstood what he said. Osho said do anything; but do it with awareness. It is very important to understand a basic difference here. It is also essential to remember your ego/identity essentially is a result of a mishmash of selectively filtered thoughts of others about you. Now, unlike the other examples you quoted like day-night, which exist outside you, happiness and sadness are created inside you. To be precise, created by your mind/ego. Duality is of the mind.

I am concerned with reducing "sadness" through thinking about it. Why? It might seem like short-circuiting as my dear Saw-Raw said. But understand, happiness is a physiological high and intelligence seldom works there. So by exercising intelligence on "sadness", you gradually build your awareness. And slowly, the fire of awareness makes you realize the futility of the mind and the happiness/sadness dichotomy resulting from it. And you start walking towards nirvana.

Saw-Raw: Nirvana? Kool!! Sounds exciting!!

Saw-Raw, adangu!!!

Just remember dear disciples, Truth is not a compromise.

And Ego is good! Enough for today.

Saw-Raw, yew-Sha, ma-Haa, gaya-Tree and ji-Know: (in chorus) "Unga gnyanathukku oru ellaiyae illa."

Sk smiles.

Thus spake Sk

2007-06-04T05:22:00.000+05:30

Absolute is an illusion.

Kids???

2007-05-17T19:21:00.000+05:30

Why do people go on having kids? Kids are the biggest demonstration of their egos. That is the “grandest” way to flaunt their egos. It is the favorite past time of human race. Kids are sure-fire means to kill time, which people have in plenty because of their lack of creativity. Since they feel too bored by being themselves, they “procreate” problems, which then go on to consume all their time.

Remember the Akbar-Birbal story, where the king draws a line and asks people to make shorter without rubbing it and Birbal draws a longer line next to it. In a similar vein, kids are the longer lines that make the problems of being with your spouse (assuming you are fooled into marriage) “appear” smaller. And it works fabulously! More often than not, it becomes a BIG inescapable trap that backfires on you both. And you spend the rest of your lives looking for better ways to deal with the trap!

This post sets out to show how surprisingly shorter the line is - without kids relative to the one with kids.

If you are one of those with enough intelligence not to be teachers/professors, then you are dead. If you are intelligent enough not to be a teacher, then obviously you would not waste your brains remembering inane stuff like science, biotech and history. You would rather use it to store important stuff like the Shakira’s ‘Hips don’t lie’ lyrics or Sharon Stone’s haunting dialogues from BI or Tyra Banks’ amazing statistics. So imagine how hard it would be to talk your kids to sleep, which teachers/profs can do so artfully to even a bunch of pranksters. Btw, was it Shrek who kissed The Sleeping Beauty out of her slumber?

If you can handle him/her even then – in the cradle, how will you be able to when he/she grows up to be more intelligent than you, which is inevitable by evolution?

When they drill you with their innumerous stupid questions, your super-intelligence will be of no avail. You can’t give a straight, logical answer (assuming you know it), for children are too stupid to understand your genius. This is what Thiruvalluvar, the famous Tamil sage poet said:

Thammintham makkal arivudaimai maanilathu
Mannuyirk kellaam inithu

This means Children who are more intelligent than parents are sources of happiness for the whole world. Except the parents. The whole world goes on laughing at you, while your own kid makes you look like a moron. So they drag you down to their level of stupidity. Over time, you become dumber and dumber to a point, where you forget you were intelligent before this brat was born.

With you getting dumber, they quickly take control your life – particularly the omnipotent TV remote, which you had been wielding till then to show who is in power. Nimmathiyaa nallathaa vaazhkaiku thevaiyaana naalu Namitha dance paaka mudiyaathu, naammalum ukkaanthu Power Rangers –Time Force, Pokemon nu paathu tholaikkanum. By taking over the TV, the only intelligent trusty companion you had in your house against the bully that your wife is, they make you lose your self-respect.

Before you realize, your wallet falls victim to “Pester Power”, apart from the “Pondaatti Power” that till then had had unquestioned authority over your hard-earned money. You become the dumb ATM of your house that gets punched day in and day out for money.

Moreover, you would have absolutely no control over your kids, who are now less idiotic than you. You can’t even have the happiness of giving them any advice for 1. they don’t need as your intelligence is now reduced to below their levels and also, 2. they would not care a damn.

So why would you want to create something that robs you of your time, happiness, self-respect and more than anything, money – the supreme power. So maapla, naan solratha nallaa kelu. Wear rubber. Save your self.

Vaazhkaiya yosingada, thala ezhutha nallaa vaasingadaa

Yosichu paarungadaa, ellaarum onna koodungada

Chennai 600028

P.S.

Whether the world is getting any more a safe place for children is a serious question. Think of what all they would be facing – sexual abuse, drugs and adverse climate changes (check out this interesting post). If you call these inane ramblings of an inexorable pessimist, think again. These issues are very much real and their incidence and prevalence are also on the rise. Generally, Indians are forced into having children right after marriage, which restricts them from exploring any further passions, including sex. Ithula “Kuzhantha kuttingala thavira vera enna irukku vaazhkaila?” nu kelvi vera. What worth is life without kids? It is high time many of us started seeking answer for that.

P.P.S.

1. Understand kids are statements of your BIG Egos. The apparent happiness you get from kids is from the satisfaction of your egos! That happiness is so individual, just like orgasms. You might have it or might not. Even if you have it, it would a short-lived one. And there are better, healthier ways to groom your egos.

Search out the ego in these: "En kooda padicha Annalaksmi-oda paiyyan evlo thuru thuru nu irukkan theriyumaa. Enakkum athu maathiri oru kutti paappa venum", "Enakkae enakkunnu oru jeevan", "My girl always gets first rank", "En ponnu periya singer, Vijay Super Singer la second round varaikkum vanthurukka!", "En paiyyan naan kilicha kotta thaanda maattan." And here is the winner: "Naalaikku enakku kolli poda oru paiyyan venaamaa." Adinga! Dei, kolli podrathukku Carbon Credits vaanguniyaa da?

2. Daddy! I Shrunk Your World: Your world gets shrunk to a pint sized, irrepressible brat. (assuming you have enough intelligence left to stop with one!)

3. Kids form costly and ineffective substitues for passions.

4. Kids are born out of fear.

5. Would you never learn from your parents' experiences? Don't you remember how your parents suffered because of you? Do you want something much more intense than that for you?

6. Kids give meaning to your life? BS. The meaning of life is what you give to it. So, give a better one!

naanaaga naanillai...

2007-05-15T09:40:00.000+05:30

The most remarkable woman in my life - Sulo, my mom.

Well, this is not a mother's day special. But the hype given by chennai FM stations for that day. Aama, avanunga ethukku thaan hype kudukkala! Tom Cruise veettu naai naalavathu kutti pottrukkunnu sambhandhame illaama chennaila naal fullaa discussion, sms contest nu koothadippaanunga. I just hate celebrating all these Special days - Mother's day, brother's day, onnu vitta chithappa day, oora vittu odippona periyappa paiyyan day and veetta vittu odipoi vera castela kalyanam pannikkitta maama ponnu day. Yuck! It is just foolish. Everybody knows it is all made up by Archies and Hallmarks of the First World to sell more of scrap paper to the innumerable losers around the world.

But, I just take this opportunity to remind myself what my mom means to me. I don't intend to do some "poignant" stuff à la Cheran or Karan Johar. All that I want to do is reflect on the sheer strength of her character - the woman that she is. If the post has any shades of amma sentiment in tam films despite my intentions, it is because of the love and awe I have for her.

I am what I am today, because of her. Her self respect and strong will is just amazing. It should have been very easy for her to turn negative in the face of what happened right after her marriage. But she decided otherwise and persisted despite all the putdowns by our relatives. Surviving on a few hundreds of rupees, she decided to give me and my brothers the best of education in an English medium school nearby. I remember some caring words from relatives - Sothukkae vazhi illiyaamaa, english mediathula padikka vekkaraalaamaa.

I still remember how she would walk us to the school on exam days, conducting Q-A sessions all along the way. And how we had to be on our knees for about an hour on the day we ate sathunavu saappadu at a government school nearby. But that food was a lot better than what I get in most of the hotels in Chennai.

I remember my answer to the question "Who is your favorite manager?" in the interview for MBA admission. "My mother. She does everything that a manager is supposed to do - strategic planning, resource management, goal setting, performance appraisals and reward management."

She had 1001 ways to earn that extra money so that she can cook a better meal for us. I just wonder at how she made our wet-grinder an earning member of our family. Oru padi arisikku 75 paisa. Then, she and dad would carry bundles of saris from Trichy to our colony. Her selections were quite a rage among the gals of our colony. Rajni pada release maathiri, ammavoda sari collection release. In fact, i still remember a lot of those gals from a street complaining to my mom that she had given a better sari to other gals from a different street.

To top it all, Sulo's sense of humor and culinary skills are extraordinary. A lot of our family friends and neighbours would swear by the taste of her sambhar. The only thing we disagree is God. In fact, my previous posts on Rama and God were out of my arguments with her. She used to say "Work hard. Pray for a better result". Being the lazy idiot that I was, I conveniently missed her emphasis on the first part - hard work. I don't understand why she gave me so many gods (existent or otherwise) to look up to, when I had her right in front of me to look up to.

Knowing her makes you realize how little relevant "education" is for character. One amazing thing about her is that she just turns silent whenever she is angry. Mind you, this is not submission. She is very well aware of the pointlessness in talking when you blow your top. Once you cool down, she minces no words in telling you what she thinks. I just compare her with the old lady next door, who almost always shouts at the top of lungs at her husband. Free tuition on swear words in English for those on our street. Most often, the poor old man shuts her mouth up by banging something on the floor. I just wonder at how this little lady from Kallivalasu (a small village near Dharapuram, Erode district) speaks so loudly with her silence.

I don't know whether I really deserve such a great mom but i am very much certain that she deserves a much better son than me.

reverse aapu raisal

2007-04-27T20:10:00.000+05:30

Please make sure that you read the previous post before this.

run Mala run...

Now, a rapid temporal resequencing of events - athu onnum illa, what if those events happened in a different sequence...

That fateful day.
Tidel Park.
07:38:47 PM

Someone shouts "Mala, the Manager wants you in his office immediately!!"

"Best of luck,di. Night treatukku The Park-ku poiduvomo?" Muffled voice from the seat nearby.

"Children's park ku kooda kedayaathu. velaya paarudi. un engagement treat-a mothalla mudi. aprom paakkalaam".

07:39:06 PM

Buzz. Buzzz.

Mala picks up her mobile.

"Hi Mala, this is Swathi Palekar from Macrosoft. I m very happy to inform you that you have been selected. Welcome to Macrosoft!"

"Oh, thanks a lot Swathi."

KOOL.

07:40:54 PM

Mala saunters to the rest room, humming to herself. Takes her own sweet time to wash up her face. Then she pours out the "Essentials of the Super Girl" from her handbag. Applies some foundation and then raises the building, layer by layer with the nonchalance of a makeup expert. In the process, adding her huge share to the profits of Garnier.

"Hey Mala, unna manager thedittu irunthaaru di. Seekiram po..."

"mmm. ok ok... polaam polaam enna avasaram..."

08:02:13 PM

Just pushes herself through the doors of the manager's cabin.

"Hi."

“Hey Abhijit, How you doing?”

"umm. Ya. Great. Please come in, Mala. Take your seat. So worried about your appraisal huh?."

“Do I look like I’m worried?”

"Nah nah. Just asked. Anyway. First of all, let me congratulate you. You have been promoted as Project Manager. How do you feel?"

"mmhm. So another intangible item? Hope it translates into something real hard and nice."

"WHAT…??”

“Nothing. I meant Money.”

“Oh ok. You totally deserve the promotion. Keep up the good work."

"Hahaha. Yeah I know. Thanks for acknowledging that. Then…"

"Ummm. As you would have already known from my address a week ago, last fiscal has been terrific for our company. Thanks to hardworking people like you. Of course, you would got the Color TV gift we gave to our employees, right? After all, TVs are bigger and better than those ishods na?" Wink.

"Oh yeah. Better we can cut all this BS and move ahead. But tell me something. Did you get those TVs from the ration shops or the party office? I saw some marks on the set."

"Ah... Ah…Well honestly I don’t have any idea. Let’s leave that aside. So what do you think? I mean what is your expectation regarding the hike."

"Well, I don't think worrying about % hike really matters. I think I should be getting CTC of about XX lakhs."

"Oh dear... dear. I think the figure won't be as high as you think." Slowly glances through the paper in his hand. “Let me see what you have got. But, the hike isn't what you expected. It is a bit less.”

"So you, I mean the management doesn’t really want me to stay, uh?"

"NO. No. Nothing like that. We always would like to have hardworking people like you here.”

“Yeh. And pay them peanuts…? And if you can just let me go through MY appraisal paper…”

“Sure. Here you go. As you know, we have gone through a lot of discussions regarding the compensation philosophy. We have conducted market compensation survey to ensure that you are compensated at market rates."

" You mean my salary was decided based on a compensation survey? Was it done in 2007? Are you sure?"

“Yeah.”

“You must be kidding. And how come I got promoted when this paper says I have got below average rating?”

08:24:36 PM

"I would love to give you a higher rating, considering your good work. But, it seems your current PM says you still need to improve your communication. Mein kya karoon Mala?"

"Come on Abhijit. The client has given me nine over ten for my performance. And you very well know that my client particulary praised my communication skills..."

"arre, Mala. Communication is just not about grammar and spelling. Your accent needs to be improved a lot. You tend to put on a heavy Indian accent, you know."

"Accent? But, you seem to forgetting too much. My client is Estonese and I converse with him in Estonese. And he is pretty impressed with my proficiency in that language."

"Baath woh nahi Mala. Just do you remember the presentation you made to your team? I heard many among the team were not able to follow you. You see what I mean?"

"Hahaha. What can I do if the team members can't understand English?"

"You see, you might know Estonese. But, its really of no use. Samjhaa?"

"So you mean knowing hindi or bengali or gujarati serves me well than knowing English?"

"Uggh... Tell me what other issues you have."

"Well, I have none expect that my compensation should have been higher considering that I have put in more than five years in the company and that I have completed my PCMMIX and MCDXIIA certification long back. Moreover, I have successfully completed the projects I have been given..."

"That exactly is the point, Mala. You always concentrate only on the work you are given. You got to take more initiatives. You get what I mean?"

"But, I have done a lot to streamline the processes and lowered the turnaround time. I have created process and role documentations so that transitions, if any, are smooth... and I have..."

"Mala. I think you still don't get what I say. You got to show more initiatives. You have to do something more than what you are expected to do."

"But, I think it would be easy if you can tell me what is expected from me before itself."

"Hahaha. Still, you need to learn a lot. Our expectations about you keep growing as you stay longer in the company. It is natural to expect more from experienced staff like you right?"

"Now, I understand. So you say what we can be given is fixed and then our performance goals are invented to support that?"

"You should take initiatives. Just see Hrithik. He took so much efforts to arrange for the caterer. Makes sure that we celebrate birthdays of our staff. I think you wouldn't forgotten the sandwiches he got for us on trip to Vizag... It was so good that I myself ate some three of them. You should show some enterprise like him... Catch my point?"

"Oh, I thought Hritik was our in-house caterer. Never knew he was a business analyst. And by the way, I think my question is still unanswered."

"Let's leave that aside. I think we have given you a hike of nearly one-third of your CTC. I think this is one of the highest. If you see, what you have got is just about a lakh less than your target. After all, a lakh after taxes just comes to about 6 to 7k on hand. So you have not missed much. Don't worry about such small things. Keep up the good work. Bonus is just a few months away."

"If it is so, tell me something. Would you take a pay cut of one lakh in your salary?"

"Are you mad?..."

"Yes, I am. To be working under you."

"..."

08:48:53 PM

"You know what. I fought so much for your promotion. Last week, we had discussions and I insisted on promoting you. You have been one of our top performers. You totally deserve it."

"But why should you fight in the first place?"

"Let me be frank with you. The client has been so impressed with your performance that he has agreed to expand to four additional roles. In fact, I should be thanking you."

"After all this, you plan to make up for the large hole in my pay packet with your big thanks, huh?"

"I know you have been very patient and have put in a lot of hard work for the company for so many years. But, I can't make for your lost years."

"Hahaha. Meaning you want me to stay here and remain a fool and get paid lower and lower than dumb and dumbers who joined after me?"

"Now. Don't make any hasty decisions. Don't let your hard work of all these years go waste. Continue to put in efforts as you have till now. I will fight for your on site client visit."

"Again, you have been fighting too much for me already. Don't waste your energy. You might need loads and loads of it at night."

08:59:10 PM

"You know tamil, right?"

"kunjam... kunjam theriyum..."

"Ippo naan velila ponathukkappuram enna velaya vittu thooki, inga enna nadanthuthu nu kaamichukkatha. Athu unakku thaan asingam"

"..."

aapu raisal

2007-04-23T18:19:00.000+05:30

run Mala run...

That fateful day.
Tidel Park.
o7:38:47 PM

Someone shouts "Mala, the Manager wants you in his office immediately!!"

"Best of luck,di. Night treatukku The Park-ku poiduvomo?" Muffled voice from the seat nearby.

"Children's park ku kooda kedayaathu. velaya paarudi. un engagement treat-a mothalla mudi. aprom paakkalaam".

Mala rushes to the cabin nearby. Before knocking, she tries desperately like Kamal in Punnagai Mannan when Rekha asks him to smile before jumping off the cliff.

In vain.

07:39:12 PM

"Hi."

"Please come in, Mala. Take your seat. So you seem to be tense. Just relax."

"First of all, let me congratulate you. You have been promoted as Project Manager. How do you feel?"

"Oh great!! Thank you very much. It is such a surprise. I am excited!"

"No, there is nothing to be surprised. You totally deserve it. Keep up the good work."

"Uggh, oh. Thanks a lot sir. Sure, I would continue to keep improving my performance."

"As you would have already known from my address a week ago, last fiscal has been terrific for our company. Thanks to hardworking people like you. Of course, you would got the Color TV gift we gave to our employees, right? After all, TVs are bigger and better than those ishods na?" Wink.

"umm. Yes sir, I am really happy for our company's success. I got the gift, thanks."

"Good. So what do you think? What is your expectation? I mean regarding the hike."

"Aah. Well, I don't have an idea how much % hike would be. But I think I would get CTC of about XX lakhs."

"Oh dear... dear. I think the figure won't be as high as you think."

"Oh."

"Let me see what you have got. ummm. Ok. You have got promoted as PM. Great... na?" Looks up and gives of one of his "charismatic" smirks.

"..."

"Ahem. But, the hike isn't what you expected. It is a bit less. As you know, we have gone through a lot of discussions regarding the compensation philosophy. We have conducted market compensation survey to ensure that you are compensated at market rates."

"...ok."

07:42:36 PM

"Here. Have a look at your compensation and your rating."

"Thank you... Umm.... but the rating i think is pretty low for me to get promoted sir. Don't you think I should have been rated higher than this?"

"I would love to give you a higher rating, considering your good work. But, it seems your current PM says you still need to improve your communication. Mein kya karoon Mala?"

"But, sir, the client has given me nine over ten for my performance. And I think my client particulary praised my communication skills. I think... "

"arre, Mala. Communication is just not about grammar and spelling. Your accent needs to be improved a lot. You tend to put on a heavy Indian accent, you know."

"Sir, but, my client is Estonese and I converse with him in Estonese. And he is pretty impressed with my proficiency in that language."

"Baath woh nahi Mala. Just do you remember the presentation you made to your team? I heard many among the team were not able to follow you. You see what I mean?"

"umm. Yes... umm"

"You see, you might know Estonese. But, its really of no use. Samjhaa?"

"..."

"Tell me whatever issues you have."

"Well, I think my compensation should have been higher considering that I have put in more than five years in the company and that I have completed my PCMMIX and MCDXIIA certification long back. Moreover, I have successfully completed the projects I have been given..."

"That exactly is the point, Mala. You always concentrate only on the work you are given. You got to take more initiatives. You get what I mean?"

"But, I have done a lot to streamline the processes and lowered the turnaround time. I have created process and role documentations so that transitions, if any, are smooth... and I have..."

"Mala. I think you still don't get what I say. You got to show more initiatives. You have to do something more than what you are expected to do."

"But, I think it would be easy if you can tell me what is expected from me before itself."

"Hahaha. Still, you need to learn a lot. Our expectations about you keep growing as you stay longer in the company. It is natural to expect more from experienced staff like you right?"

"... But the pay is pretty low considering my experience and moreo..."

"You should take initiatives. Just see Hrithik. He took so much efforts to arrange for the caterer. Makes sure that we celebrate birthdays of our staff. I think you wouldn't forgotten the sandwiches he got for us on trip to Vizag... It was so good that I myself ate some three of them. You should show some enterprise like him... Catch my point?"

"..."

"Moreover, I think we have given you a hike of nearly one-third of your CTC. I think this is one of the highest. If you see, what you have got is just about a lakh less than your target. After all, a lakh after taxes just comes to about 6 to 7k on hand. So you have not missed much. Don't worry about such small things. Keep up the good work. Bonus is just a few months away."

"ummm, yeah. Sure."

07:48:53 PM

"You know what. I fought so much for your promotion. Last week, we had discussions and I insisted on promoting you. You have been one of our top performers. You totally deserve it."

"oh really? Thanks a lot."

"Let me be frank with you. The client has been so impressed with your performance that he has agreed to expand to four additional roles. In fact, I should be thanking you."

"... oh."

"I know you have been very patient and have put in a lot of hard work for the company for so many years. But, I can't make for your lost years."

"Yeah. I do understand."

"Now. Don't make any hasty decisions. Don't let your hard work of all these years go waste. Continue to put in efforts as you have till now. I will fight for your on site client visit."

"Uggh. Sure, sir. I would do that. Thank you very much."

"Please send in Hrithik next."

07:59:10 PM

Buzz. Buzzz.

Mala picks up her mobile.

"Hi Mala, this is Swathi Palekar from Macrosoft. I m very happy to inform you that you have been selected. Welcome to Macrosoft!"

"Oh, thanks a lot Swathi."

SHIT.

Next: Reverse aapu raisal
Now, a rapid temporal resequencing of events - athu onnum illa, what if these events happened in a different sequence...

Is Sk godly?

2007-04-12T15:20:00.001+05:30

Tell The Truth, rest assured no one would believe you.

Is Rama Godly?

2007-04-10T06:37:00.000+05:30

We call Rama, the ultimate God and the paragon of virtue.

What did he do? He killed Ravana, who stole his wife, the beautiful Sita. And there is nothing on record to indicate that Ravana even touched Sita, when she was in his custody. The claim to Rama's fame was that he was the "ekapathini virathar" - the king who was a monogamist among the polygynous maharajahs of India. I think it was not much out of choice. Probably, no girl was ready to marry him after knowing what he did to Sita.

Most of you would know about Akalya, who was turned into stone by her hubby and later emancipated by the touch of Rama's feet. And what did she do? She was the dutiful and beautiful wife of sage Gautam. She was raped unaware (sexual assault) by Indra, who was in the guise of Gautam (forgery). Sage Gautam comes to know of that and turns poor Akalya into stone, to be later freed by Rama kicking her with his feet. Why didn't Gautam have the balls (or boons if you will. After all, he was a sage right!) to petrify Indra? Probably he was a poor human victim of the system. But, what did 'divine' Rama do? Should not he have killed Indra for raping another man's wife, when he could so "righteously" kill Ravana for just kidnapping? Is kidnapping an offense of higher order than sexual assualt and forgery? Probably, Rama was a mere human avenging HIS WIFE's kidnapping. Nothing more, nothing less.

That said, he readily takes the life of Vaali, by stealthily shooting an arrow into that poor guy, who was busy fighting his brother, Sugriva. Why did Rama, the great warrior, climbed down so low to kill a monkey king? They say it is because Vaali coveted his own brother’s wife. Would he have done the same if a normal monkey citizen had done that? Or would he have done that to his dad, Dasaratha, who supposedly had 11k wives, at least a few among them would have been other’s wives? After all, Dasaratha couldn’t have done anything with the diversified portfolio of his wives, if he really were spending time to validate the virginity of all his wives. The simple reason for Vaali vatha was to ready the logistics to get his wife back from Ravana, whom obviously Rama cannot fight without some help. Rama can’t get Vaali to help him, for he had nothing to offer in exchange. So, by taking revenge on behalf of Sugriva, he ensures he gets an army of monkeys to fight Ravana.

After killing Ravana, he asks Sita to walk through the fire to prove her "purity". They say this part of the story should be taken in an allegorical sense. But even then, how does it justify subjecting Sita to such a mental torture that is equivalent to walking over fire?

Sita was undoubtedly better off in Asokavana than Ayodhya. Just think of what all Sita had in Asokavana. She was more than a queen with a host of maids to take care of her. And a mighty man who loved her more than his own wife. She came back to Rama just to be banished by him to the jungle again, this time all alone. Just because Rama heard a dhobhi expressing his doubts about the “purity” of Maa Sita.

Regarding this episode, it is said that Rama banished Sita because his dharma as a king came before his duty as a husband. Now, doesn’t sending the pregnant Sita away so blatantly expresses the doubts that Rama himself had about Sita, even after she proved her purity by walking over fire? He keeps setting new records of insecurity and doubtfulness. If he was so much worried about public opinion, why did he not give up the throne to one of his loving brothers and keep Sita with him? Didn't he have faith in his brothers? After all, as I said in my previous post, a chair is a chair is a chair. Why keep blaming today's politicians when the 'divine' Rama himself was so much tempted by The Chair?

Sita gives birth to Lava and Kusha in the jungle and after she unites them with Rama, she just goes back to her mom, the Bhoomadevi, who is more than ready to just swallow her. After all, she knows how much Sita had suffered because of Rama. And as a king, he had the duty to provide the heir to the throne. If allegation against Sita was true, how can he crown her sons, as he did later?

Now, which girl in her right senses would want to get married to someone like ever-doubting Rama? Yet, he is being marketed as the perfect husband in India. Rama! Rama!

Next: Is SK Godly?

Is God Godly?

2007-04-07T18:55:00.001+05:30

Who has more power? God or Devil?

Think for a moment before answering. Did you say God? BAM!BAM!BAM! Wrong my dear reader. Who needs God if there is no devil? What good is God who has nothing to do that a man can't? God needs the Devil, without whom God has no purpose. In fact, it is the Devil that makes God what He is - God.

If you believe in God, you have to believe in Devil before you place your faith in God. So, obviously God derives the reason for His existence from the Devil. God markets Himself based on his ability to beat the Devil. That says it all.

Of all religious baddies communities, the Hindu system of villains is pretty complicated than any other. And the one that comes the closest to today's scenario. You got three layers to that - the Devas (who dwell the upperworld), Nara (human race occupying the middleworld) and Asuras (who live in the underworld). And then there are generations and generations of Asuras.

Devas are the laziest buggers who do nothing except to get drunk and keep staring at the heavenly, perfectly shaped beauties (and these bloody satyrs have not just one but four of them!!) dancing all the time. And you have all sorts of cases filed against them - from civil to criminal. Stealing other's wives, gross misuse of power and authority, forgery and what not. Pedophilia was added recently, I heard. Especially against the head of them all - Indra, whose sexual appetite never seems to be satiated. He has a particular weakness for married women. He devours any form feminine - not only the deva kannigas, but also rishi patnis, nara kannigas. Of his asura kanniga preys, I don't know much. Probably, the Devas bureaucracy was effective in brushing it under the carpet. Or probably the media at that time was not as eager and able as today "to seek justice and equity". Think of how CNN IBN would have covered such a story with "intelligent investigations and meaningful discussions"!!!

Now, to the Asuras. They are the hard-working ones, who work their way up, by doing yogas of varying levels of difficulty to get "power" from the Lords. In fact, most Asuras are more devout than most Devas. With their new "powers", they try to restore some sense in the system that has been utterly ruined by Devas. So, they challenge the Devas to bring justice and peace not only to them but also the mankind that suffers at the hands of Devas.

Obviously, how can you expect those lusty loafers, Devas, to save themselves, let alone fight and win the mighty Asuras? Always, they lose their wars to Asuras and then go on begging to the Lords to save them. But, it seems merit has no place in this world and That world, whatsoever. Forgetting or rather ignoring the right of Asuras, the Gods, who are assigned to specific type of complaint or a particular asura, just like we have surgeons for specific ailments today, go and kill that poor asura, who asked for nothing but justice. Seems we don't have communists among Gods!!!

Or rather, is it a preemption of Darwin's "survival of fittest"? Gods helping the morally weak and powerless Devas survive against the mighty, fittest Asuras. After all, Gods seem to be security guards or goondas if you will, of the dirty Devas, saving their chairs from Asuras. After all, a chair is a chair is a chair. Be it, loksabha, rajyasabha or the heavenly devasabha.

They say "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely". Imagine how corrupted the devious Devas would be, given their powers - they are immortal, they can get away with any misdeed and they have their faithful guards - the Gods, to save them if somebody bullies them.

Why would someone with a shred of common sense have faith in a safety system full of saviors who seem to be so utterly biased against a specific race - Asuras? And have you ever thought about the typical depiction of Devas and Asuras - Devas are fair, slim and almost effeminate and live up north; Asuras are dark, fattish, with a bushy mustache and live almost always down south and down under. Does it mean anything to you?

Next: Is Rama really Godly?